Monday - February 21, 2011

take note cwinamals … cwime wil not bee tolerated hearboutes ..this iz kwik wesponce to cwrime.

To the ppl responsible for finding a woman guilty of THEFT by FINDING .. (WTH)

This isn’t a new story. In fact, I’m just a week late in getting to it. No doubt some of you may have already seen it. For those who haven’t, well , this is how serious the criminal justice system is in the nanny state. By gosh and by golly these folks will not put up with this sort of criminal behavior you betcha.

H/T Current.com

A woman was handcuffed and ‘treated like a hardened criminal’ after she helped herself to food worth £200 that had been thrown away by a Tesco store following a power cut.

Dozens of people could not believe their luck after the outlet of the supermarket giant bagged up thousands of pounds of spoiled stock and left it out in the street.

Sasha Hall, 21, helped herself to potato waffles, pies and ham from outside the Tesco Express in Great Baddow, Essex.
But she was stunned when police arrived at her home and arrested her for suspected ‘theft by finding’ and took her to the station in handcuffs.

‘There was £3,000 worth of food going to waste on the street,’ she told the Essex Chronicle. ‘It had been thrown out, so I thought I could put it to better use.
‘When the police came round I was so upset. I felt like a terrible criminal.’

The shop worker said the supermarket - which has the motto ‘Every little helps’ - should have been pleased that the food would be put to good use.

She said: ‘I would think the police have better things to be doing with their time than going after people who pick up potato waffles from the street. It’s all been blown totally out of proportion.

‘Tesco clearly did not want the food. They dumped it and rather than see it go to waste, I thought I could help feed me and my family for a week or two.’
Ms Hall, from Great Baddow, said she was shocked by the way the police dealt with the incident.

‘They knocked at the door and said if I didn’t open up they would use a battering ram,’ she said. ‘They handcuffed me and treated me like I was a hardened criminal and when we left they raided my house.

‘I haven’t got lots of money. I only make £600 a month. I’m on the brink of getting kicked out of my flat because I can’t pay my arrears.’
A Tesco spokesman said: ‘We are assisting the police with their inquiries. We seek to minimise waste in all our stores and where possible will seek to reuse and recycle it.’
Ms Hall, who works part-time at a rival supermarket in Chelmsford, is to appear in magistrates court on February 16 charged with theft by finding.

CURRENT DOT COM AND THE DAILY MAIL

I haven’t seen any updates yet to know how the trial went.

Posted by peiper     on 02/21/2011 at 11:23 AM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • Justice - LACK OF •  
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Michelle Obama still hopes for an invitation to William and Kate’s wedding.

Oh good grief. Hasn’t this woman a clue? Isn’t there anyone working in the white house that knows anything about protocol ?

America’s first lady is embarrassing quite frankly.

I don’t care about royal weddings to be honest. I don’t even follow who becomes Miss America since Bert Parks died. But ... an awful lot of other folks do and it’s becoming a big deal here. Well you’d imagine that of course. Of course also ... the wedding doesn’t take place till the end of April, I think, but the news coverage on it is everywhere already and it’s every day. I’m glad we don’t have a TV.

What Mrs O. has done is pretty much ask for an invitation. Exasperate courtiers?  I’d say they’re driven to the edge. Lets not forget the Obamas will be making an official state visit to these shores anyway, a month after the royal wedding. You probably can figure out what a logistical nightmare that’s gonna be. Oh the Brits will handle it all okay. But much of London will be off limits no doubt and the usual airports will more then likely be closed. There will be HUGE inconveniences to the locals. It’s my understanding that he can’t fly into one of the military bases and so will have to use civilian airport. Can you imagine what that will entail?  OK, he’s a head of state. I understand. But if Mrs. Obama’s “hope” were realized, it would create a double nightmare withing a very short span of time. 
Talk about party crashing. Jeesh.

Lets hope someone can disabuse her of the ridiculous “hope” to attend that to which she has not been invited.

Michelle Obama is likely to exasperate courtiers with her comments about the royal wedding after they went to such lengths to accommodate the White House

by Tim Walker

Even after it was clear that Prince William and Kate Middleton would not be sending a wedding invitation to the White House, Michelle Obama still appears not to have given up hope.
“If I get invited, I’ll go,” the First Lady said on the Live With Regis and Kelly Show on American television. She conceded, however, that, as things stand, she had not been invited.

Her comments are likely to exasperate senior courtiers, who – as I reported on Nov 14 last year – had to put off naming the wedding date until a week after announcing the engagement because White House officials were not at first certain when Barack Obama and his wife would make their first state visit to Britain.

Obama’s men, adamant that the two events should not clash, subsequently agreed May 24 to 26, almost a month after the royal wedding, as the dates for his visit.

Although the wedding will clearly be exclusive – I disclosed on Saturday that Sarah, Duchess of York, is not invited – the President may feel he had a lucky escape. One confirmed guest at the wedding will be Hamad bin Isa Khalifa, the King of Bahrain. Last week, to the dismay of the White House, his kingdom’s security forces opened fire on protesters demanding reforms.

STAY HOME MICHELLEand forget about the wedding

Posted by peiper     on 02/21/2011 at 10:49 AM   
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People •  
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   Sunday - February 20, 2011

Oops They Did It Again

FREDERICTON — A $200-million wind farm in northern New Brunswick is frozen solid, cutting off a potential supply of renewable energy for NB Power.

The 25-kilometre stretch of wind turbines, located 70 kilometres northwest of Bathurst, N.B. has been completely shutdown for several weeks due to heavy ice covering the blades.

Wintery conditions also temporarily shutdown the site last winter, just months after its completion. Some or all of the turbines were offline for several days, with “particularly severe icing” blamed.

The accumulated ice alters the aerodynamics of the blades, rendering them ineffective as airfoils. The added weight further immobilizes the structures.

Vitek says workers are trying to find a way to prevent ice buildup from occurring again in the future. The shutdown has not had any effect on employment at the site, which provides 12 permanent jobs.

Now, if they’d thought of this ahead of time, and realized that it actually gets cold in Canada in the winter, they would have built the turbine blades with electric heating elements in them. Yeah, that’ll fix it. Or maybe if they got government funding to build giant greenhouses over the pylons to keep the weather off. Yup, that’s another brilliant solution. Thank you, thank you very much.

But you know how the leftist/greenie mind works. They’ll blame anything and everything before admitting that their ideas are wrong.

Posted by Drew458     on 02/20/2011 at 09:19 AM   
Filed Under: • Climate-Weather • Humor •  
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   Saturday - February 19, 2011

Easy Cheesy Goodness

Pretty much a direct steal from The Joy of Cooking, with just a few small enhancements. But unlike most Drew recipes, this one is NOT over the top. You can even leave out the onions if they don’t agree with you.

There is this side dish in America called “Mac ‘n Cheese”. It comes out of a thin blue box. It’s easy to prepare, and it doesn’t cost much. The result is a sticky orange substance on your plate. Children will eat it, and with a couple hot dogs it makes a meal, sans veg. But it’s a sin against real food. It’s barely macaroni. It certainly isn’t cheese. I had a hankering for the real stuff this afternoon, so I made this recipe. Just like mother used to make, only better.

2 cups of elbow macaroni - half of a 1lb box
Fill a big pot of water, throw in a small handful of salt, and set it to boiling. You want the pasta to come out just past al dente, but not watery, gooshy, limp, and overcooked.

Take a large skillet and make a roux. By which I mean, take a heaping tablespoon of flour and spread it on the uphill side of the cold pan. Take a quarter stick of butter - 2 tablespoons - and put it in the downhill corner of the pan. Turn the heat on low. Melt the butter. Take a whisk and work the warmed flour into the melted butter a little at a time until it’s all in. Keep whisking away as the mixture cooks for another 3 to 5 minutes. You want a white roux, not a brown one, so don’t cook it too long or too hot. Easy does it. [ yeah, I actually wrote that. ]

Warm 2 cups of milk in the microwave. 60-90 seconds should get it nice and toasty. Not boiling. Not hot enough for the fat to skim on top. Just not ice cold or barely lukewarm.

Mince half a medium yellow onion. Or 1/3 of a big yellow onion. Whatever. Just chop it up until the bits are less than 1/2”. You want a decent but not heaping handful. That’s plenty. You can start them simmering in a little pan if you want; softened onions have a little softer taste than raw ones.

Add the milk to the roux a half cup at a time, whisking gently. Turn the heat up a little and get the liquid close to boiling. Add 1/2 teaspoon of regular paprika and toss in a couple bay leaves. Add the onions. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes, but stir it once or twice a minute.

Pull the pasta off when it’s right and drain it. Shake the colander around to get as much water out as you can. Set it aside.

Take a 2lb block of sharp cheddar cheese and cut it in half. Now cut off about another thumb’s thickness. Cut the cheese into 1/4” cubes. Take a palm’s width of Velveeta from the big block - about half a pound - and chunk it up a bit. That’s hard to do, but try.

Butter up the inside of a 9x9 baking dish. Or a round casserole dish. Don’t be cheap with the butter. Turn the oven on to 350.

Turn off the simmering milk mixture. Take out the bay leaves. Toss in all the Velveeta and half the cheddar cubes. Stir them around and they’ll melt. Now add all the macaroni, and stir it about for a couple minutes. You want to mixture to coat everything and get inside the noodles.

Pour about a third of the coated noodles into the baking dish. Give this layer a good grinding of black pepper. Then sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of seasoned breadcrumbs on it, and toss on a handful of cheddar.

Pour another third of the coated noodles in the baking dish. Give this layer a good grinding of black pepper. Then sprinkle a heaping tablespoon of seasoned breadcrumbs on it. Now cover the whole layer with 4 - 6 slices of Swiss cheese. I like the sharp kind myself, and the slices I get from the deli are about twice the usual thickness. Don’t overdo the Swiss, just don’t be cheap.

Pour in the last of the coated noodles. Again with the breadcrumbs. Toss on the last of the cheddar chunks, and if you don’t have enough to fully cover the top then slice up some more. Push the cubes down with a fork. You don’t need to bury them, just get them into the top of the noodles.

Into the oven. Come back in half an hour. Is it bubbling up around the edges yet? If not, give it another 10 minutes. Then crank the oven up to 425 to brown up the top cheese. This takes another 5 to 10 minutes, but you’ve got to check it every minute or two. Turn off the oven. Pull the baking dish out if the top cheese is looking a little too crispy. If not, leave it in while you make the rest of dinner. Better yet, make the dish at least a couple hours before dinner time, so you can pull it out and let it cool some. Then you can cut chunks off of it just like brownies. No, not the racist kind, the chocolate kind! Then you give them another shot of pepper, and a little salt, and heat your portion up for 45 seconds in the microwave.

Damn, this is good eating. It’s a $9 side dish. Eat your heart out Kra**. You can’t hold a candle to this with your silly little blue box product.

Posted by Drew458     on 02/19/2011 at 07:44 PM   
Filed Under: • Fine-Dining •  
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Death Panels? It’s a tough call

React.

Then go read this short blog post.

React. Then start reading the comments there. Duane’s got a very good discussion going on. It actually stays on topic for more than the first 10 comments, and avoids the mud slinging for a really extended time period. Read the first dozen comments or so. Pick your side. Think about what you’d like to add.

Then stop, and go read another news article on the same situation.

Has this new information changed your reaction? It turned mine around completely. But maybe I’m strange.

Now discuss, here, or back at Duane’s. Because you WILL have something to say. That’s my prediction, not an order. But how can you not? And don’t forget to mention if you have or have had children of your own. I think that may play a role here, but then again, it might not.

Posted by Drew458     on 02/19/2011 at 06:43 PM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias • Medical • Nanny State •  
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Getting Louder …

Posted by Drew458     on 02/19/2011 at 05:45 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor •  
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The US of A is going to the dogs.

Homeowners associations suck. Seriously suck. If you’ve ever read a news article about some patriotic veteran whose HOA is fining him for flying the American flag you know what I mean. Personally I would never buy a home in such a neighborhood. If I did, I would NOT sign any HOA agreements. It’s my property.

So it’s with some glee that I read about a HOA in Annandale, VA. They held elections for the new president of the HOA. They elected a bitch. They are not happy about it.

This past election, to make the meeting move faster, only the names and qualifications of the candidates were announced. Running for president, Ms. Beatha Lee was described as a relatively new resident, interested in neighborhood activities and the outdoors, and who had experience in Maine overseeing an estate of 26 acres.

Though unfamiliar with Lee’s name, the crowd of about 50 raised their hands, assuming that the candidate was a civic-minded newcomer. These days, it’s hard to get anyone to volunteer to devote the time needed to serve as an officer. The slate that Lee headed was unanimously elected. Everyone ate ice cream, watched a karate demonstration and went home.

Only weeks later did many discover that their new president was, in fact, a dog.

Read the article here.

She is, in fact, a “… a shaggy, dirty-white Wheaten terrier.” Owned by the former president.

Guess she won’t fine you. She’ll just bite your ankles!

(I used the Outstanding Achievement tag because how often has a dog been elected president of anything?)

Posted by Christopher     on 02/19/2011 at 09:07 AM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE • OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT •  
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In which …. the wife and I visit a pub in Crawley, Hampshire, Eng. The Fox and Hounds

The day after Valentine’s day, the wife and I revisited a pub we hadn’t been to in a couple of years. Only approx. five miles away from us, I don’t know why we hadn’t made the effort to go back sooner. Could have been the prices which then were fairly high. It was a last minute thought to go out for lunch HERE.

I know I have too many photos here, and believe it or not, I did a lot of editing and culling before posting these to share with everyone. The village of Crawley is so darn pretty and so peaceful looking, it really was hard to resist not putting in everything. Even the bad pix.

There is more then one Crawley, England. This one is in the county of Hampshire, AND, it is recorded in The Doomsday Book. (The Domesday Book is a great land survey from 1086, commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess the extent of the land and resources being owned in England at the time, and the extent of the taxes he could raise. The information collected was recorded by hand in two huge books, in the space of around a year. William died before it was fully completed.) Crawley has one main street and one other side street. There are no convenience stores and the FOX and HOUNDS Pub is it for lunch and dinners.  There is one ancient church, St. Mary’s Church.

To own a home in Crawley takes some doing. First of all, you won’t see many listings.  There isn’t any new building going on and hopefully there won’t be but with the push for homes in the “affordable range,” who can predict the future?
Crawley is in what is called “The Stockbrokers Belt.” These are VERY costly homes. 

In the spring, many of these houses open their gardens for public viewing with all proceeds going to various charities.  Some of those gardens are nothing short of spectacular. And please note that in this flower and garden mad country, the gardens are NOT designed by professionals.  Folks here take a great deal of pride in their home designed and worked gardens.  A late friend of my wife’s mom with an eye for flowers and all things growing, worked her place even when she was using a walker.  Up the road from us in a small area of a few houses, I once saw an old lady with oxygen working her patch. No kidding. These people are very serious on the subject.

Unfortunatley, some of my pix, in fact most, were not taken in the spring or summer. I took all these photos a few years ago when the wife took us (her mum was still living and able to get out with help, to lunch here.

I took a walk around the place and even went a bit outside the village itself to shoot a house we passed on the way into the village.  It reminded me of a Shakespearian kind of house and frankly it even looked like it could be haunted.  So after the wife found parking, I walked back to the place and up a hill to reach it.  Wasn’t long before I was stopped by someone asking me why I was taking photos here.
I told em because there were no places like this in the California desert. That seemed to allay any fears I was casing the place. Which in any even looked then and still looks today, uninhabited.

Crawley today looks exactly as it did when I first saw the place about 25 years ago.  But the Fox and Hounds has changed hands even since I have been here (2004), and I can’t say it’s as good as it was on the visit when these pix were shot a few years ago.  Only two choices for salad dressing, and no menus in hard copy. Had to order from written posts on blackboard.  You can see it at the link above. The waitress said their new menus were being printed. Used to be the things posted were items that weren’t all on the menu. Still, there is something I’m going back to try. But if disappointed again we won’t return. Frustrating however not to be able to have Blue Cheese Dressing. And their tarter sauce was not at all to our taste.  It tasted like it had too much vinegar, and the wife’s scallops were she says, like something left too long in the freezer.  It’s the second pub outing for us where the tarter was more like, like, ?  I can’t even think of an example.  I’m sure there are folks who like it, we didn’t.  Next time I have a meal out where tarter is needed, instead I’ll ask for a side of Mayo and a Lemon.  That works okay for me.

Having said all of that, I want to go back and try their Mushroom Stroganoff.  But no salad. Even if it comes with it. Which I doubt. They still bring fresh hot bread to the table, with enough (real) butter to cover only half of what they bring to table.  Wife says what with the big brother attitudes here on health, we we lucky to get any butter to begin with. And maybe that’s why there wasn’t any Blue Cheese.

OK, enough of that. Here are my photos and welcome all to Crawley, Hants.  That’s the abbreviation for Hampshire.

It’s named The Pond House.

And for very inexplicable reasons, I don’t think I ever got more then this one shot in the summer. Or maybe one or two.
I hate the spring and summers for photos cos there’s always too damn many ppl around to spoil the scenery.

Here are a few of the homes to be seen in this village.

This ppl is a Victorian water tower.  I guess they thought a water tank was unsightly and so this was their answer.

LINK, INFO ST. MARY’S CHURCH, CRAWLEY

a Shakespearian kind of house and frankly it even looks like it could be haunted. It’s about a quarter mile before coming to the Pond at the village start. I thought a half mile. Wife says quarter mile. Since I had to walk uphill, I originally thought it felt like a mile.

All houses shown here btw ... are on the main street of the village. There are other houses tucked away in places you can not go.  The lady who helps my wife do things in our little patch that wife can’t do anymore, does some work in the summer evenings helping an owner who she says has a huge house here, not seen from any road and behind walls and gate. She describes it as massive.

I call it Crawley’s White House and in the summer, you can’t even see it when everything is in bloom in the front.

Posted by peiper     on 02/19/2011 at 07:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Architecture • Art-Photography • Blog Stuff • Personal • UK •  
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a rare legal victory for common sense.  lets see how long it will last.

At very long and much awaited last, a shimmering glimpse of logic is sighted at the far end of the tunnel.

How long will it last and how far might it go?  Who knows. But the law abiding Brit taxpayer for the moment at least, has something to cheer about.

See for yourself and as always …
Stay Tuned. Because this is not over yet. This is just phase one.

Payback time for grasping prisoners: Inmates to pay £76 costs each as judge throws out vote-ban compensation claim

By STEVE DOUGHTY
Last updated at 1:47 AM on 19th February 2011

Almost 600 criminals trying to make money out of the voting ban on prisoners were slapped down by a High Court judge yesterday.

They had sought £5,000 each compensation for being unable to vote at the last election. Instead, Mr Justice Langstaff ordered them to PAY £76 each towards the costs of their action.

In a decision hailed as a rare legal victory for common sense, he ruled that European judgments should never be allowed to trump laws passed at Westminster.
It was a decisive blow for the authority of Parliament over the European Court of Human Rights – and the legal vultures demanding millions of pounds in compensation for prisoners.

Tens of thousands of prisoners had been expected to try to sue the Government because it has not bowed to Strasbourg and presented them with the right to vote in elections. Government lawyers had estimated an eventual bill to the taxpayer of close to £150million.
But that threat evaporated following yesterday’s ruling.

None of the 588 prisoners involved had been able to keep the services of lawyers to represent them because they were denied taxpayer-funded legal aid by the Legal Services Commission and no lawyer was willing to take on the case on a no-win no-fee basis.

Similarly, without legal aid they must pay the costs of their lost action themselves.
The risk of having to pay costs appears to have affected the willingness of prisoners to pursue their claims once they realised they would not be given legal aid.

We CAN ignore Europe over prisoner votes
By Steve Doughty

Britain could defy European human rights judges over prisoner voting with minimal risk of any penalty, ministers have been advised.
There is only an outside chance of serious punishment for any politician who decides to defy outright the judgments of Strasbourg.
Government lawyers who drew up the leaked analysis for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said it was unlikely that Britain would be thrown out of the Council of Europe, the 47-nation European organisation that runs the European Court on Human Rights.

In theory David Cameron or any other politician who refuses to obey the rulings of the court could face the seizure of his or her home and assets by a British court.
There could also be a conviction for contempt of court, a crime that can carry a jail sentence.

In practice, the greatest loss would be to this country’s prestige as a leader in the human rights movement.

The Government legal advice shoots down the Liberal Democrats’ central objection to any British move to reject Strasbourg’s orders – that refusing to give the vote to prisoners would lead to Britain being thrown out of the Council of Europe, with punishing international consequences including doubts over continued membership of the EU.

Britain could follow one of two policies, the advice said.
If the Government explained to Strasbourg that it had tried to obey the Euro-judges’ instructions to give prisoners the vote but failed, then ‘it seems highly unlikely that the UK would face anything more than criticism at a political level’.

Such criticism is already flying in without major effect. This week European Court president Jean-Paul Costa accused Britain of being on a par with the last country to refuse to accept its authority, Greece under the dictatorship of the colonels’ junta in the 1960s.

But if David Cameron openly refuses to accept the five-year-old Strasbourg order that prisoners should have the vote, the consequences, the document said, are a matter of speculation.

He could face personal penalties if British courts hold that he had failed to meet his obligations to uphold the Strasbourg court’s authority.

READ MORE ON BOTH HERE

Posted by peiper     on 02/19/2011 at 05:55 AM   
Filed Under: • Big Brother • Judges-Courts-Lawyers • UK •  
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   Friday - February 18, 2011

How far the Brits have fallen

Not fair to title this post so. Peiper’s been chronicling the constantly accelerating decline of the former British Empire for a few years now. I only post this one because I’ve read of the same thing being done here in the soon-to-be-formerly-free US of A.

Read the story here.

A MOTHER who left her son of 14 to mind his three-year-old brother while she went to the shops was given a police caution for “cruelty” and was suspended from work.

Last night the case ignited a debate over when it is acceptable for parents to briefly leave older siblings home alone as carers.

Police found that the un-named healthcare assistant left the brothers alone together for just 30 minutes.

Thirty minutes. In the late ‘60’s, when I was 8 or 9, I was routinely left caring for my younger sisters, not just for thirty minutes, but for the evening while Mom and Dad went dancing, or playing bridge, or something. (when I was older, some family friends dropped hints of more salacious escapades. I really don’t care.) My point is I was left in ‘charge’ for the evening. I always a phone number to call my parents. I always had neighbors to run to if I needed to. And, my youngest sister no longer needed her diaper changed. I’d done that too, but I was never left in charge back then. Mom thought it was a good idea. Indeed it was, because when I was 12, I started making money by babysitting.

She left her 14-yr-old in charge for thirty minutes.

Let me show you how far the Brits/English have fallen in this case. Let’s go back to 1346…

In 1346 the English won a great victory over the French at the battle of Crecy. The leader of the English/Brit forces? The Black Prince, Edward, Prince of Wales, born in 1330.

Do the math. A 16-yr-old is allowed to lead the army, but a 14-yr-old can’t watch his baby brother for half an hour?

I do fear that the decline of the Brits are going to drag the rest of the West with them.

Posted by Christopher     on 02/18/2011 at 06:31 PM   
Filed Under: • CULTURE IN DECLINE •  
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Spooky

I’ve got a genealogy post I’m thinking about doing, so I was putting my toe in those waters online this morning. My mother is the family keeper of the family tree, and she’s spent years doing research by hand. These days, suddenly it’s all online. I was diddling about with some of it this morning, and found

Actually, I’ve met “myself” before at a party. My old buddy Dr. Scott calls me over to this slightly older fellow, brings us close together and says “Hey, I’d like to introduce you to Andrew T. Pearce” and then walks away. Wise ass. We had middle names in common, and both had graduated the same college as well, but years apart. Pretty strange. But not quite as strange as this. OooooOooo-weee-ooOOoo!

Posted by Drew458     on 02/18/2011 at 03:05 PM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff •  
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Egypt Gets Its Khomeini, but lets hope it isn’t permanent

There’s a fella named Barry Rubin who runs a blog called ... The Rubin Report.  Good writer and very interesting.

There’s a feature in his newsletter today you may find of special interest and the focus isn’t just Egypt but someone who has just returned.
And it sure looks familiar.

One of Qaradawi’s initiatives has been urging Muslims to settle in the West, of which he said, “that powerful West, which has come to rule the world, should not be left to the influence of the Jews alone.” He contends that the three major threats Muslims face are Zionism, internal integration, and globalization. To survive, he argues, Muslims must fight the Zionists, Crusaders, idolators, and Communists.
Make no mistake, Qaradawi is not some fossilized Islamic ideologue. He is brilliant and innovative, tactically flexible and strategically sophisticated. He is subtle enough to sell himself as a moderate to those who don’t understand the implications of his words or look beneath the surface of his presentation.
What is his view of both the Mubarak regime and the young, Facebook-flourishing liberals who made the revolution? As he said in 2004: “Some Arab and Muslim secularists are following the U.S. government by advocating the kind of reform that will disarm the nation from the elements of strength that are holding our people together.”
Have no doubt. It is Qaradawi, not bin Ladin, who is the most dangerous revolutinary Islamist in the world and he is about to unleash the full force of his power and persuasion on Egypt.

Just a block I took out of his commentary.  Take a look.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2011

Egypt Gets Its Khomeini: Qaradawi Returns in Triumph

By Barry Rubin

Friday, February 18 may be a turning point in Egyptian history. On this day Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the best-known Muslim Brotherhood cleric in the world and one of the most famous Islamist thinkers, will address a mass rally in Cairo.

It was 32 years ago almost to the day when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini returned in triumph to Tehran to take the leadership of that country. Qaradawi has a tougher job but he’s up to the challenge if his health holds up.

Up until now, the Egyptian revolution generally, and the Brotherhood in particular, has lacked a charismatic thinker, someone who could really mobilize the masses. Qaradawi is that man. Long resident in the Gulf, he is returning to his homeland in triumph. Through internet, radio, his 100 books, and his weekly satellite television program, Qaradawi has been an articulate voice for revolutionary Islamism. He is literally a living legend.

Under the old regime, Qaradawi was banned from the country. He is now 84 years old--two years older than the fallen President Husni Mubarak--but he is tremendously energetic and clear-minded.

It was Qaradawi who, in critiquing Usama bin Ladin and al-Qaida, argued that Islamists should always participate in elections because they would, he claims, invariably win them. Hamas and Hizballah have shown that he was right on that point.

Doesn’t hurt to be informed, and you can by linking to THE RUBIN REPORT

Posted by peiper     on 02/18/2011 at 02:33 PM   
Filed Under: • muslims •  
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   Thursday - February 17, 2011

A BMEWS podcast?

Over a year ago I subscribed via iTunes to the Ricochet podcast. You can still subscribe to it if you have iTunes.

The Ricochet guys (Peter Robinson, Rob Long) spent most of their ‘advertising time’ promoting the upcoming launch of the website Ricochet.com.

Well, Ricochet.com launched. I was still listening to the weekly podcasts, which featured Peter Robinson (former Reagan speech-writer), Rob Long (squishy RINO, but writes Hollywood scripts), and Mark Steyn (undocumented alien who subs for Rush Limbaugh from EIB Ice Station New Hampshire.) I should mention that James Lileks seems to be taking over as eemcee of Ricochet podcast.

Why do I mention this? Simple. I’m now a paid subscriber to Ricochet.com.

Why does this matter to BMEWS? Also simple. I want BMEWS to expand. I’d have to research the technical crap, but Drew, peiper, and myself might be able to do a podcast.

Might. Just asking opinions. (and waiting for Drew and/or peiper to say ‘nyet’.)

Posted by Christopher     on 02/17/2011 at 04:49 PM   
Filed Under: • Editorials •  
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Another Non-Merde Moment From France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has joined the chorus. The other day, he said, “My answer is clearly yes, it is a failure.” The “it” was multiculturalism, and he was on French national television. In pronouncing multiculturalism defunct, the French president joins German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Spain’s former Premier Jose Maria Aznar and, most recently, British Prime Minister David Cameron in heaving a failed policy into history’s dustbin.

“If you come to France, you accept to melt into a single community, which is the national community, and if you do not want to accept that, you cannot be welcome in France,” Mr. Sarkozy explained.

So how did the Europeans end up with multiculturalism, a multiculturalism that seems to favor Islam over other cultures? The Germans have outlawed Nazi culture. The Italians are not particularly hospitable to fascism, and as I have already pointed out, the French are appalled at cannibalism and do not even have a good word for McDonald’s or KFC. I think it started with the way they teach their history. Militarism, colonialism and racism are all prominent ingredients of European history, particularly British history. For that matter, American history also stresses these ingredients. I have been reading American college history texts, and they present an alarmingly ugly view of the Western past.

By presenting the West as repugnant and other civilizations as our prey, particularly during colonial days but also in modern times, we encourage such social pathologies as jihadism. Mr. Sarkozy says he is not going to tolerate the kind of fundamentalism in France that leads ultimately to jihadism. How is he going to achieve this without calling for a fundamental reform in how French history is taught?

There’s more to read if you want.

The very first comment is all, Hey, where’s Obama in this? How come he hasn’t figured it out yet?

Posted by Drew458     on 02/17/2011 at 11:47 AM   
Filed Under: • History • Patriotism • Politically Correct B.S. •  
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