Beirut's and Gaza's exports to Germany (and beyond): anti-Semitism.
...it is hard to overlook how hatred imported from Beirut and Gaza resurfaces in the form of daily acts of anti-Semitism in schools and athletic clubs, on streets and in the subway. Young children raised to be anti-Semitic are already using the phrase "You Jew!" as a derogatory expression in kindergartens and on playgrounds. Schoolchildren berate their teachers, calling them Jew dogs, for not offering Sharia-compatible instruction, and Jewish schoolchildren are attacked and feel compelled to switch to Berlin's Jewish high school and to hide the insignia of their Jewish faith -- the yarmulke and the Star of David -- when in public.
Germany's domestic intelligence agency has warned of "extremist structures" within the Left Party. A new report lists a number of left-wing extremist factions within the party, including the Communist Platform, the Marxist Forum and a pro-Cuba group.
An Australian journalist trying to set the record straight:
It matters not that, in the year before the tsunami, the US provided $2.4 billion in humanitarian relief: 40 per cent of all the relief aid given to the world in 2003. Never mind that development and emergency relief rose from $10 billion during the last year of Bill Clinton's administration to $24 billion under George W. Bush in 2003. Or that, according to a German study, Americans contribute to charities nearly seven times as much a head as Germans do. Or that, adjusted for population, American philanthropy is more than two-thirds more than British giving.
There is a teenaged immaturity about the rest of the world's relationship with the US. Whenever a serious crisis erupts somewhere, our dependence on the US becomes obvious, and many hate the US because of it. That the hatred is irrational is beside the point.
We can denounce the Yanks for being Muslim-hating flouters of international law while demanding the US rescue Bosnian Muslims from Serbia without UN authority. We can be disgusted by crass American materialism and ridiculous stockpiling of worldly goods yet also be the first to demand material help from the US when disaster strikes.
The really unfortunate part about this adolescent love-hate relationship with the US is that, unlike most teenagers, many never seem to grow out of it. Within each new generation is a vicious strain of irrational anti-Americanism. But unlike a parent, the US could just get sick of it all and walk away.
Warships patrolling pirate-infested waters, such as those off Somalia, have been warned that there is also a risk that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain."
From doctors to opera singers, teachers to truant schoolchildren, the extermination of European Jews was the work of roughly 200,000 ordinary Germans and their helpers. Years of research -- not yet complete -- reveal how sane members of a modern society committed murder for an evil regime.
Five year old Noor Taha Najee kisses 1st Lt. Michael Kendrick, platoon leader, 2nd Platoon, 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. Noor's corneas are underdeveloped, and she has been blind since birth. The Soldiers of this Platoon are working with NGO Eye Defects Research Foundation of Los Angeles, to get Noor surgery that may let her see for the first time.
At this great moment in history, you have a vital role. There are many people who don't appear to understand why it takes so long to build a democracy. You can tell them how hard it is to put in place a new and complex system of government for the first time. There are those who actually wonder if people were better off under their old tyranny. You can tell them that freedom is the only real path to prosperity and security and peace. And there are those who ask whether the pain and sacrifices for freedom are worth the costs. And they should come to Croatia. And you can show them that freedom is worth fighting for.
The great church in this square has stood since the Middle Ages. Over the centuries, it has seen long, dark winters of occupation and tyranny and war. But the spring is here at last. This is an era in history that generations of Croatians have prayed for. It is an era that Pope John Paul the Second envisioned when he came to this land, and prayed with the Croatian people, and asked for "a culture of peace." Today in this square, before this great church, we can now proudly say: Those prayers have been answered.
Insulted, spat at and attacked -- by ordinary Germans. Unable to bear the daily racism, a pastor's family fled from a small town in eastern Germany back to the their former home in the west.
[He] and his troop were on patrol last month near their base in Sangin, Helmand province, [Afghanistan] when he stepped into a tripwire that pulled the pin from a boobytrap grenade.
He said: “I thought, I’ve set this bloody thing off and I’m going to do whatever it takes to protect the others. I’m very tight with the three other guys. There have been a few times when they have saved my bacon.
“I knew a grenade like this has a killing circumference of about five metres. So I got down with my back to the grenade and used my body as a shield. It was a case of either having four of us as fatalities or badly wounded, or one.”
Reading PowerLine's post on Kipling brought back the sadness, awe, and redemptory feelings I had after 9/11 when I discovered the man who was Rick Rescorla. Kipling is still relevant today as he ever was. Rick Rescorla is a man for all seasons. Go read the whole post. You won't regret it.
These are the guys that managed to make it impossible for air passengers to carry water bottles, perfume, toothpaste, shampoos, contact lens solutions, etc., etc., on board.
Below is the trailer of a new documentary about Iraq, Outside the Wire, directed by JD Johannes, who is "a former Marine, television news producer, US Senate staffer, political campaign manager and Assistant to Kansas' Attorney General."
Mr. Johannes explains the reason behind the documentary and asks for our support. In his own words:
My documentaries take a different approach--actually showing Soldiers and Marines IN IRAQ . In 2007 I spent months living with Army paratroopers, grunts, Marines and Iraqi 'Neighborhood Watch' members.
No one wants to see Iraq war movies. No matter what we put out there in terms of great cast or trailers, people were completely turned off. It's a function of the marketplace not being ready to address this conflict in a dramatic way because the war itself is something that's unresolved yet. It's a shame because it's a good movie that's just ahead of its time.
....Will take the failure of 'Outside The Wire' to beat 'Redacted' as confirming their spin.
But I think there is a market for a pro-troop, pro-victory documentary. And if Hollywood is about anything--it is about making money.
My thesis is this: If it can be demonstrated that a pro-troop, pro-victory documentary can succeed in the market place by beating the domestic box office gross of an anti-war film like 'Redacted' the money loving side of Hollywood will back a pro-troop movie.
If 2,900 documentaries sell , Hollywood's spin of "No one wants to see Iraq war movies" will be exposed and blame for the failure of movies like 'Redacted' and 'Home of the Brave' will be recognized: the public doesn't want to see anti-war, anti-troop crap.
"They keep making 'em even though we keep not watching 'em, which shows you how committed they are to the message and/or fearful of testing that "America's not ready yet" hypothesis with a pro-war flick."
So, what would you like to see happen on May 7th? Hollywood's 'America's not ready yet' spin confirmed or exposed?
If you would like to see it exposed, here is what you can do:
I don't have any money to run TV ads or radio ads. I don't have the backing of an agency or a PR firm. I don't get invited on the Today Show to promote my documentaries *.
I only have you...and I have a question for you: How much do you want to prove Hollywood wrong?
Christopher Hitchens: "There are two kinds of deliberate and premeditated deceit, commonly known as suggestio falsi and suppressio veri. (Neither of them is covered by the additionally lying claim of having "misspoken.") The first involves what seems to be most obvious in the present case: the putting forward of a bogus or misleading account of events. But the second, and often the more serious, means that the liar in question has also attempted to bury or to obscure something that actually is true. Let us examine how Sen. Clinton has managed to commit both of these offenses to veracity and decency and how in doing so she has rivaled, if not indeed surpassed, the disbarred and perjured hack who is her husband and tutor."
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