Don't Ever Dream Of Freedom

While the international community and much of the world's media has been focused on the so-called "Arab Spring" and on events transpiring across the Middle East, they seem to have turned a blind eye to South East Asia and in particular on West Papua and the plight of the West Papuan's.

There was hope that with President Obama's visit last month, that the United States would take a tougher stance on Indonesia's brutal human rights abuses in West Papua but sadly the people of West Papua are coming to the bitter realization that their cries for freedom and self-determination have fallen on deaf ears.

The only crime of the West Papuan's has been to peacefully raise their national flag and declare independence from Indonesia and for that they have and continue to suffer the wrath of the Indonesian government.

There was a time when the United States supported the West Papuans and their right to self-determination, but it would seem no more.

Less than a month ago this is what Hillary Clinton had to say...

"There needs to be continuing dialogue and political reforms in order to meet the legitimate needs of the Papua people, and we will be raising that again directly and encouraging that kind of approach....[sic]"

Take a look at the video above, this is how Indonesia deals with the West Papuans.  The comments in the video regarding the pig sty deserve a closer examination and give a glimpse into the mindset of the Indonesian soldiers who see the West Papuans, the majority of which are Christians, as infidels.

For the Indonesians, the separatist conflict in West Papua has little to do with state sovereignty and more so to do with religious strife. 

The West Papuans deserve more than noncommittal gobbledygook from America.  They deserve freedom.

Obama:  Throwing Papua Under the Bus

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Curing Alesha's Lesbianism

Looking at Alesha, it is hard to imagine that she is any different than your typical twenty-something girl, petite with colored auburn hair,  she goes to college during the day and works at Starbucks in the afternoon as a barista, she listens to Lady Gaga on her Ipod and likes to watch CSI Miami on television when she has the time.

Like anyone Alesha has dreams, she dreams of one day becoming a fashion designer... she also dreams of a day when she longer has to live her life in fear.   You see, Alesha likes girls and she lives in Malaysia, a country where her sexual peccadilloes could see her behind bars or worse.

It is not uncommon that Alesha finds herself often preyed upon by vile lecherous policemen and other so-called "authorities".  Poking and grabbing at her, her oppressors feel that she is free game and they snicker among themselves as they offer to cure her of her lesbianism.  If Alesha had enough to fear, she has more now.

The Malaysian state of Malacca has said it will amend its state Islamic enactment to prosecute gays and lesbians by applying the same type of Shariah legal mechanism used against deviant Muslim sects.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said Wednesday 9 November:

“We will revise the current enactment to specifically deal with homosexuals and lesbians in the state, including groups that promote such uncanny sex.”

It was needed, he said, because no specific law at present exists to prosecute such groups.

“We will suggest the enactment to also cover bisexuals and transsexuals,” he said, adding that action could also be taken against any non-governmental organisation promoting and supporting such sexual practices.

“We don’t want such unsavoury culture creeping in and damaging the moral fabric of our society,” Mohd Ali said.

Mohd Ali also attacked the group Sisters in Islam, calling on them to drop the word “Islam” from their name as he claimed they had been “frequently issuing contradicting and confusing statements on Islam”. Sisters in Islam is one of the groups who supported the banned ‘Seksualiti Merdeka’ festival.

Seksualiti Merdeka has been held since 2008 in Kuala Lumpur, and represents a coalition of Malaysian NGOs (including Malaysian Bar Council, SUARAM, Empower, PT Foundation, United Nations, Amnesty International) and individuals. Apart from the annual festival, they also organize workshops, talks, film screenings and letter writings. It was banned by Kuala Lumpur City Hall who vowed to scupper any attempts at reviving or promoting the “immoral” event.

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Obama's Attack Watch - Comical or Kafkaesque

Hu Is Watching Yu

While many Americans are laughing at the Attack Watch video now going viral on the web or reading how Obama's ominous threats are "pointless", there are some Americans who are not laughing.

Perhaps someone should ask Gibson Guitar's CEO Henry Juszkiewicz just how funny opposing Barack Obama can be.

It's not like Americans were not warned or did not see this coming, before Obama's Attack Watch there was Fight the Smears where Barack Obama's campaign responded that the president would "respond to any smears forcefully with all means at our disposal".  Sadly there are some Americans who are finding out the hard way just what that means.

I can't help but ask myself if Americans deserving of freedom or liberty when they seem to have lost all respect for it.  Our children are being groped in the nation's airports and now a sitting president is urging his political supporters to spy on and report their fellow citizens.  Where is the outrage?

  

Seriously this is the kind of surreal spy vs. spy crap is something we would expect from some Cold War era totalitarian regime where some poor sod forfeits a kidney for listening to the wrong radio station.

The idea of a government or it's president attempting to restrict freedom of speech and/or inducing and encouraging it's citizens to spy on each other is not representative of a free demographic society respectful of human rights, rather it is the staple of an authoritative and at times totalitarian regime who is unwilling to embrace the principles of freedom or liberty.

Regardless of where Barack Obama was born, he is not an American.  He is an enemy of the State and should be treated as such.

Related Posts:

Barack Obama Vs. America

Time Magazine Reporting For Duty

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We Won't Get Fooled Again

"We'll be fighting in the streets with our children at our feet, And the morals that they worship will be gone. And the men who spurred us on sit in judgment of all wrong. They decide and then the shotgun sings the song. I'll tip my hat to the new constitution."   

'Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who

The prescience in Pete Townshend's words ring true across Britain tonight as  violence rages in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and other cities throughout England.  Impotent to stop the spread of violence the authorities have threatened to use rubber bullets in a sophomoric attempt to establish law and order.  Someone might wish to inform Messiers David Cameron and crew that lead bullets are much more effective.

Ask anyone the reason for the devastating riots and you will get a plethora of reasons ranging from economic uncertainty to racial strife. In a supposed rare glimpse of sobriety a couple of inebriated ladettes share their learned thoughts with the BBC and mumble that they are just showing the rich that "we can do what we want".

Well, score one for the ladettes.  You see this is not about economics or race, but rather relativism.  Reaping what it has sown, England is now discovering  that simple aphorism that cultural relativism inevitably drags moral relativism in it's wake.

Growing up in an environment that eschews moral absolutism and embraces cultural relativism and the "diversity of opinions", these drunken ladettes find themselves cursed now with the inability to distinguish right from wrong, where the truth now becomes subjective depending merely on one's point of view.  This isn't the first time we have seen this, we saw it in the aftermath of Katrina when countless celebrities and liberal politicians defended the actions of the looters and we see it today with a growing tide of politicians such as David Cameron and Barack Obama who believe that a nation's fiscal ineptitude can be rectified simply by fleecing the rich.

It was another politician, John Adams who in 1787 said  - "The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shalt not covet" and "Thou shalt not steal" were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."

In the name of tolerance, diversity and political correctness we have drifted away from God and embraced moral relativism. In our arrogance, we as a society have by "secular edict" decreed that sin no longer exists and moral precepts are unfounded. In complete defiance of the laws of nature and of God we have chosen to live our lives as we see fit and by "choice" - not by what is right and what is wrong.

"I'll tip my hat to the new constitution. Take a bow for the new revolution. Smile and grin at the change all around. Pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday. Then I'll get on my knees and pray We don't get fooled again. Don't get fooled again, no no."

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Monday Bloody Monday

In a few hours from now, the Asian Markets will open, all weekend the concerns have been growing as to how badly Standard and Poor's downgrade of the U.S.'s credit rating from AAA to AA+  will  affect the Asian financial markets.

In the city state of Singapore a few money changers over the weekend were either were refusing to accept the US dollar or grudgingly accepting it on parity with the US dollar.

Faith in the greenback and faith in America's financial strength, stability and leadership are now gone.  The hardest thing to accept I suppose as an American here is the realization that this dethroning or change as Barack Obama likes to call it is irreversible.   The debt crisis was but one of  many factors contributing to our fall from grace.  It didn't help having a president who did not believe in the greatness of our nation.  Needless to say, when our president believes that American Exceptionalism is nothing more than a myth, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  

Our role as the sole remaining superpower in the world is now over.  Our role in Southeast Asia as a partner and defender of peace and freedom has now come to an end.  This isn't pessimism my friends this is the reality, a reality that many Americans will ultimately need to come to terms with.  You see, at the end of the day, it is all about confidence, and once the confidence is gone then there is not much left.  Confidence in our currency and our nation would require a president and government that is attuned to brand-building not to self-deprecation.  The world wants to see America as that bright city on the hill, a leader and not simply a nation who sees themselves as one of the guys.

If you are wondering if the confidence can ever be restored - sure it can.  Pay back the 14.7 trillion and then the confidence might slowly return.  Other than that, no amount of half-measures or talk is ever going to undo the damage done.  Paying back the trillions in debt would require cuts in spending that would be too painful for Americans to accept and as such Americans will need to get used to their new role in the world, a role that Obama envisioned for us.

The problems America has are not just financial though, American themselves are to blame.  You see it is not Obama that ails us,  but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.  It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.

The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince.

The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.

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Zainuddin Maidin - Malaysia's "Baghdad Bob"

As I watched the video and the telephone interview with of Malaysia's  former information minister Zainuddin Maidin concerning the brutal government crackdown of the recent protests in Malaysia for freedom and democratic reform, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Laugh because it reminded me of Iraq's past information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf who came to prominence during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Nicknamed "Baghdad Bob" he is best known for his grandiose and grossly unrealistic propaganda broadcasts prior to and during the war, extolling the invincibility of the Iraqi Army and the permanence of Saddam's rule.

Cry because, like "Baghdad Bob" this man does not have a clue as to how ridiculous he looks and how badly this now reflects on Malaysia. Even when the reporter informs him that the viewers are watching scenes of the violence he continues his bodoh sombong rant claiming that there is no violence and that the Malaysian "people" are laughing at the  foreign journalists and reporters for fabricating their reporting.  Sadly, Mr. Zainuddin Maidin does not live in the real world.

What is going on in Malaysia echoes Plato's allegory - the Myth of the Cave  and perhaps it serves as the perfect metaphor for what is transpiring here - a delusional reality and an ignorance of the truth. 

Like Baghdad Bob, Zainuddin's announcements were intended for an domestic audience that for years has been enslaved and subjected to a cult of personality who's brutal repression of the opposition, government media control and fabrication of the truth has been the only reality that many Malaysians have known and have become accustomed to.  Malaysian's don't want to overthrow Malaysia, they want what anyone wants, and that is the light of freedom and the rights that any democratic society should have.  It is the Malaysian government who  quite clearly cares more about retaining power than the well-being of their own citizens.

Enjoy this classic comedic gold from "Baghdad Bob"

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Democracy, Freedom And The Malaysian Summer

Bullets and government repression might have stalled the youthful push for an Arab Spring, but  the Arab Spring has now  led to a Malaysian summer here in Southeast Asia and the heat and humidity is leaving many here thirsting for freedom and democratic reform.

In 2007 then-Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi brought the calls for reform to an abrupt end using the old tried and true methods of repressing the media and then quelling the peaceful  protesters with chemical-laced water cannons and teargas.    It's questionable whether such old-school tactics will work this time and quite possibly they could backfire.

Not unlike their Arab counterparts, Tech-savy Malaysians have taken to the internet to spread their message of civil resistance using social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of traditional government attempts at repression and media censorship.

Seemingly oblivious to the sociopolitical changes and technology advances being employed,  the authorities in Malaysia have in recent weeks detained over 100 people for supporting a political rally in Kuala Lumpur by wearing yellow T-shirts blazoned with the words "Bersih 2.0" - "Bersih" is the Malaysian word for "Clean".  - In response, Malaysians have taken to Facebook and Twitter urging their supporters to defiantly don the yellow t-shirts.

Sorry No Yellow T-Shirts

The opposition political parties and NGOs that operate under the "Bersih 2.0" banner are demanding more honest elections. They are campaigning for measures to ensure that each person votes only once, the removal of fraudulent names from electoral rolls and an end to gerrymandering of constituencies to benefit the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO). All are reasonable requests that would boost political competition.    Instead of responding to the substance of these demands, UMNO has chosen to intimidate  and threaten those who make them. 

Malaysian officials have declared the rally illegal because, they say, the participants are trying to overthrow the government.   Authorities have warned people not to attend with the police threatening to use everything at their disposal to prevent the rally from taking place.

In 2007, the social media was in it's infancy as was the widespread use of internet enabled devices.  This time around the revolution wont just be televised it will be on Facebook and Twitter as it happens and the world will be watching.

Prime Minister Najib Razak should be welcoming democratic reform rather suppressing it or Malaysians  might come the conclusion that the government cares more about retaining power than it does the country's well-being.

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Obama and Osama - Inspiring Islamic Radicalization

Osama Bin Laden Death Photo - Dear Jihadis, this is what happens when you listen to Al Qaeda

"Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."   

~  Barack Hussein Obama

As if these unwashed reprobates in the Middle East needed an excuse to get inflamed.  Might I remind you that they will always find something to get inflamed about.  And yes,  Mr. Obama they will claim that the photos are doctored because of your indecisiveness and over-concern for Muslim sensitivities in releasing them.   But just who's sensitivities are you  so concerned with?  Moderate peace-loving Muslims or the fanatical extremist Muslims?   Surely moderate peace-loving Muslims will be relieved to see actual proof that this fanatical tyrant who proselytized a perverted form of Islam is dead and gone.  The only people who might be irritated or offended are Al Qaeda's supporters and sympathizers.  

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said  -   "If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight, and if not split and reevaluate."

Might I remind you Mr. Obama, that we are at war and the majority of Americans could care less about our enemies delicate sensitivities.  You though are different.

Did you ever wonder why so many Americans think you are foreign born Mr. Obama?  It has nothing to do with racism or your lack of transparency in showing your birth certificate, but more so to do with where your loyalties lie.  You are an islamophile Mr. Obama who fails to see the United States as an exceptional nation and who relentlessly spouts his anti-american rhetoric overseas.

Amazed and befuddled at your anti-american rhetoric, Lebanese born Fouad Ajami  said of you - "Steeped in an overarching idea of American guilt, Mr. Obama and his lieutenants offered nothing less than a doctrine, and a policy, of American penance. No one told Mr. Obama that the Islamic world, where American power is engaged and so dangerously exposed, it is considered bad form, nay a great moral lapse, to speak ill of one’s own tribe when in the midst, and in the lands, of others."

It's sad to say, but it you Mr. Obama who has done more to inspire radicalism in the Islamic world than Osama Bin Laden has.   It was Osama Bin Laden  who  professed Islamic superiority to throngs of vulnerable jihadi wannabes around the world and you  Mr. Obama have professed American inferiority to the same people.  In an upcoming post here we will explain in detail exactly how you have changed the face of Islamic radicalization and how Islamic extremism is now changing.

It was in early 2008, well before your world tour that we warned Americans of what was to come  and how Islamic radicalization and extremism would change and they didn't listen, but they will in 2012.
    
"To suitably prejudiced Indonesians Obama's pledge to "rid the American mind-set of militarism" substantiates the position of the Islamic militants by rekindling the prophecies of Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden. That America is a decadent and vile ogre, bloodied with the guilt of imperialism and inescapably tainted by an anti-Islamic history. It is this symbolically violent imagery that Indonesia's fundamentalist orators will use to radicalize a new contingent of militants from the ranks of Islam's moderates. Individuals who are mesmerized by the phantasmagorical image of one of their own now inhabiting the White House and who will see it as a sign of America's impending submission and our nation's acquiescence to the superiority of Islam."

It was a bullet that brought down Osama Bin Laden, it will be the vote of the American people that brings down Barack Hussein Obama.

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Sila Sahin's Bigotry and Intolerance

Virginity..... questionable....

In posing nude for Germany's Playboy Magazine, provocateur Sila Sahin knew full well that her bigoted and intolerant act would needlessly inflame and provoke Muslims throughout the world.

With complete disregard for the religious sensitivities of her co-religionists Ms. Sahin had this to say,

"For too long I tried to do everything right. I want these photos to show young Turkish women it's okay for you to live however you choose. Many of my countrymen think it's great that I can be so free. With the shoot I hoped to say to them that we do not necessarily have to live under these rules given to us."

To paraphrase Time Magazine's Joe Klein, 

Sila Sahin has a right to pose nude. And Islam's religious leaders have a right–no, more than a right: a moral responsibly–to blast Sahin for the nitwit bigot she is, and to rally conservative muslims against this profoundly disgusting, and extremely dangerous, act.  This type of unIslamic behavior, endangers the lives of  the publishers of Playboy magazine and innocent civilians and it should rightfully be condemned.

But there should be no confusion about this: Sila Sahin's act was murderous as any suicide bomber's. If there is a hell, she's just guaranteed herself an afterlifetime membership.

.

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New BC Requirements For a US Passport

Your Papers Please !

Do you know who was in the delivery room when you were born or if your mother received pre-natal or post-natal medical care?   If you can't answer those questions then you might just be denied a US passport.

Beginning April 1, 2011, the U.S. Department of State will require the full names of the applicant’s parent(s) to be listed on all certified birth certificates to be considered as primary evidence of U.S. citizenship for all passport applicants, regardless of age.  Certified birth certificates* missing this information will not be acceptable as evidence of citizenship.  This will not affect applications already in-process that have been submitted or accepted before the effective date.

*A certified birth certificate has a registrar's raised, embossed, impressed or multicolored seal, registrar's signature, and the date the certificate was filed with the registrar's office, which must be within 1 year of your birth. Please note, some short (abstract) versions of birth certificates may not be acceptable for passport purposes.

New Requirements For US Birth Certificates

Interestingly enough, Barack Hussein Obama's forged birth certificate would not be valid as proof of United States citizenship under the new rules now issued by the State Department.  Add that to the fact that no one seems to even know which hospital he was born in.  

Ask about Obama's birth certificate though and we're subjected to this fallacious clintonian pseudobabble  from White House Spokesman Jay Carney,

"This is a settled issue.  The birth certificate that the campaign put up online has been available for everyone to see around the globe.  It’s the same birth certificate you get to get a driver’s license.  Anybody who was born in Hawaii who asks for their birth certificate gets the same thing that the campaign and the White House has provided to the press  ....   So I just think this is -- it’s a distraction, and it’s an unfortunate distraction from the issues that I think most Americans care about.  I think anybody who is watching this exchange in the West Wing of the White House would be appalled -- or most Americans would be appalled that this is what concerns us here when, in fact, there are so many major issues that are facing this country that need to be addressed by the President and by the Congress.  And he’s -- that’s what he’s focused on.  I’ll leave it at that."

No Mr. Jay Carney this is not a settled issue.

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I Will Stand With Rev. Terry Jones

"I wish we could find some way to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but we are in a war... [sic]" ~ Senator Lindsey Graham

It is disgraceful that one of our nation's leaders would display such ignorance to what makes our nation, the nation that it is and that is an exceptional nation. It is also rare that I would ever find myself agreeing with Andrew Sullivan. What I found more unnerving than Sullivan though was the relentless vilification of Rev. Terry Jones.

Think about it, a mob of unwashed reprobates from the religion of peace goes on another of their blood lusting rampages and suddenly we start demonizing Rev. Terry Jones?

What about Molly Norris, Theo Van Gogh, Salman Rushdie and the hundreds of others who have had the bravery to speak out and defend that very creed by which we all live by? Why is Jones singled out?

So you don't like Jones and you don't agree with what he has to say, he looks scruffy and unkempt, a small-town hick pastor from Florida. I'm would not try to convince anyone that we should like what the Rev. Jones has done. But I am wondering, where is the deference to the quote attributed to Voltaire that states "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".

The Rev. Terry Jones says that Islam is not a religion of peace, well the rampage and murders in Afghanistan would seem lend credence to what Jones has to say and if these killings and murders are the byproduct of living life according to the Koran, then Jones is right and our nation should come off of this moral relativism trip and take a realistic look at Islam.

Graham was right about one thing. We are at war. We are engaged in a war where the lines between politics, religion. soldier and civilian are blurred. What is at stake is freedom.



So once again, we have a choice to make, we can prostate ourselves before the tenets of multiculturalism, diversity and religious tolerance and thrust another of our own tribe into the volcano of Islamic rage hoping that we can appease and quell the insatiable hunger of our perpetually offended adversaries or we can stand firm and resolute in our commitment to moral absolutism, human dignity, individual freedom, social justice and the sanctity of life. The choice is ours.

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Nothing New Under The Sun

"Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so."

~ Douglas Adams

Click on the image to enlarge

H/T P.U.M.A

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Damn You All To Hell !!

In more ways than one, this is the end.

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"A Time for Choosing"

Forty-four years ago today, Ronald Reagan gave a speech entitled "A Time For Choosing", a speech that is as pertinent and timely today as it was back then. Listen to the speech and then replace Johnson's "Great Society" with Barack Obama's mindless mantra of "Hope" and Change" and Senator Fullbright's remarks that "the Constitution is outmoded" with Obama's claim that the Constitution of our nation is "fundamentally flawed".

For those of us who love our nation and who value property above fraternity and liberty above equality, there is but one thing we ultimately expect from someone who aspires to lead our nation... and that is that he will solemnly affirm to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States".

Very soon all of us will face our own time of choosing and the the only question we need ask ourselves is how we can expect someone to preserve, protect and defend a document that they believe is "fundamentally flawed"?

"You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down--up to a man's age-old dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order--or down to the ant heap totalitarianism, and regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course."

In this vote-harvesting time, they use terms like the "Great Society," or as we were told a few days ago by the President, we must accept a "greater government activity in the affairs of the people." But they have been a little more explicit in the past and among themselves--and all of the things that I now will quote have appeared in print. These are not Republican accusations.

For example, they have voices that say "the cold war will end through acceptance of a not undemocratic socialism." Another voice says that the profit motive has become outmoded, it must be replaced by the incentives of the welfare state; or our traditional system of individual freedom is incapable of solving the complex problems of the 20th century. Senator Fullbright has said at Stanford University that the Constitution is outmoded. He referred to the president as our moral teacher and our leader, and he said he is hobbled in his task by the restrictions in power imposed on him by this antiquated document. He must be freed so that he can do for us what he knows is best. And Senator Clark of Pennsylvania, another articulate spokesman, defines liberalism as "meeting the material needs of the masses through the full power of centralized government." Well, I for one resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me--the free man and woman of this country--as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government"--this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose.

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Burn Baby Burn

No Bailout!

You don't PRIVATIZE profits and SOCIALIZE losses.

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Time Magazine Reporting For Duty

It is one thing to be called "The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job" and quite another to be referred to as a "less-than-authoritative source". Needless to say, it naturally begs the question - Who would be an authoritative source? For much of America's mainstream media, the answer is of course themselves. But alas the times they are a changing.

On to the rebuttal.

"The first mention of Martin's blog comes on Page 52 of Obama Nation, when it is cited as the source for Corsi's assertion that when Obama's Muslim stepfather registered him at a Catholic school in Indonesia, Obama's religion was recorded as "Islam." No one disputes that."

Actually, the Obama camp and America's mainstream media has been disputing this from the very first day it was reported on this blog.

"In fact, Martin is not the only one who reported the information; on Jan. 25, 2007, the same day that Martin posted it on his blog, the Associated Press reported the same information, from the Fransiskus Assisi Catholic school, and ran a photograph of the document."

Actually, the post Time magazine is referring to was posted here on the 24th of January 2007 and not the 25th. And not to split hairs or anything, but don't forget that over here in Southeast Asia we are a day ahead of you guys back in America. (International Date Line). That would make my posting actually 2 days prior to the Associated Press report.


"Although Lolo Soetero, Obama's stepfather, was nominally a Muslim, Obama (then known as Barry Soetoro), studied Catholic catechism at the school."

Nope false. Obama never studied "Catholic catechism" at school, he studied Islam.


"What was Martin's source for his repeated insistence that Obama's former school requires students to dress in traditional Muslim attire on Fridays? "I've lived [in Southeast Asia] for 20 years; I go to schools all the time," he says. However, he admits that he never visited Obama's former school on a Friday."

Martin's source is... Martin himself. Did you think I was going to use CNN as a source?

Having spent almost my entire adult life in Southeast Asia, I think I might have an idea of what goes on in the schools here and believe it or not, but after 20 years I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind blows.

Obama and the Audacity of CNN


"In a 2007 post, Martin also claims that the Indonesian title of Obama's book The Audacity of Hope — Menerjang Harapan — means "Jihad." This, says Martin, is what Indonesians see when they encounter Obama's book. However, his translation is a distortion of the Indonesian phrase, which in English is literally "To Challenge Hope."'

"Menerjang Harapan" is not an Indonesian phrase nor is it a distortion. It is two Indonesian words that are never used together. Google it (the two words together) and the only references you will find will be Barack Obama's own self-serving book.

In the context the words are used it leaves the actual meaning open to ambiguous interpretation, kind of like poetry if you will. As I stated and as many of the comments have conceded, the translation is incorrect and done in such a way as to excite the Indonesians. How exactly it excites the Indonesians is the only area of contention.

It is the truth that always prevails.


Justice Holmes once wrote, "when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market."

Barack Obama can fight back all he wants and accuse his adversaries of bigotry and racism, he can coerce a compliant and malleable mainstream media to do the same, he can publish long-winded rebuttals and set up websites to "fight the smears" and when worse comes to worse he can always threaten his opponents. Why not... it is what they would do in Indonesia.

I've seen many people over the years here in Southeast Asia who have dared to speak out, many who were imprisoned, bankrupted or beaten for simply speaking out. I've seen many who have been denied both political and religious freedom and I've seen their oppressors employ the very same exact tactics that Barack Obama is employing. The accusations of bigotry and racism, the state-controlled media and untimately the threats.

Like Barack Obama, I've lived in Southeast Asia, albeit a long longer than Obama did. But unlike Barack Obama I've never been subscriber to cultural or moral equivalency nor have I felt compelled to deride my own country in a a pathetic effort to establish that equivalency. I know that deriding my own country overseas only emboldens those who deny freedom and liberty to others. As an advocate of American exceptionalism, I've always felt myself compelled to spread the message of what is good about America rather than what is bad and for me that normally starts with steaming bowl of chili con carne and a plate of tacos.

"Peace, Love and American hegemony, one plate of tacos at a time"

Have you seen the look on a Malaysian or Indonesian's face as they timidly for the first time in their lives poke around at a plate of crispy tacos, when they lift that crispy, crunchy tortilla shell and bite into that Tex-Mex goodness? I have seen it and it is a sight of beauty and love that completely transcends all political, ideological and religious differences.



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America's Ambassadors or America's Shame

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Obama: A Vote for Servitude

"In America," Obama says, "we have this strong bias toward individual action. You know, we idolize the John Wayne hero who comes in to correct things with both guns blazing. But individual actions, individual dreams, are not sufficient."

Barack Obama ~ Interview with the Chicago Reader 1995


You are reading the words of a man, a man vying for the presidency of the United States of America and who does not have the faintest clue of what America stands for.

Barack Obama's call for sacrifice is the direct opposite of what America stands for, of why America has became a beacon of hope for the oppressed throughout the world. They have come here to escape poverty and dictatorship; they have come here to live their own lives, where they can exist by right and not by permission of the government, the community or any collective. Obama's philosophy of duty, obligation and sacrifice that which he calls "change " differs little from that of countries like Iran or Venezuela.

To quote Ayn Rand, "America's abundance was not created by public sacrifices to "the common good," but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes." That includes the free men and the shareholders of companies like Exxon Mobil or General Electric and of men like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.

It was John Adams who once said, "The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence. If "Thou shalt not covet" and "Thou shalt not steal" were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free."

Dick Durban's veiled threat to the oil companies that there is a limit to the amount of profit they can make should give an indication to all of what this "change" is that Obama speaks of. Today it will be the oil companies and then who will it be tomorrow...?

The right to liberty and freedom gives us the right to act on our own judgment, the right not to have a gun pointed at our heads, forcing us to part with our property for the collective good or to just simply exist as a mere tool to serve the goals of others.

Transformed by the language of conflict and coercion, Obama's philosophy of "change" not unlike Marxism or Islamic totalitarianism has become an ideology of violence to be resisted uncompromisingly by those among us who value property above fraternity and liberty above equality.

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A Brilliant Liberal Mind

"I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?' " ~ Danielle Allen

It is not often that I read something from back home that puts a chill down my spine, but the recent article in the Washington Post by Matthew Mosk entitled "An Attack that Came out of the Ether" did just that.

In the article, an enamoured Mosk fawns over the diabolical musings of Dr. Danielle Allen who obsesses over the "secret identities" of 23 individuals and how they can be silenced. Their crimes you may ask? Speaking ill of the left's golden calf. While both Mosk and Allen agonize over the alleged rumors concerning Barack Hussein Obama's Muslim heritage neither makes the attempt to simply refute the allegations and instead subtly implies that the government should be able to control what people write and say.

It is a central tenet of the first amendment that the government must remain neutral in the marketplace of ideas. But Dr. Danielle Allen is not alone is her desire to stifle and inhibit the free flow of ideas, just last year I posted an essay here entitled "Freedom From Fear" where one of Dr. Allen's liberal comrades Dr. Eddison Richardson called for Ann Coulter to be arrested for implying that John Edwards was a faggot.

In the words of Justice Holmes,

"...when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out."

It's been said that one never truly appreciates something until they have lost it. For the majority of Americans it is difficult to imagine what the loss of freedom and liberty is like. Many can't imagine living in a country where you can be arrested for you say or write. Like many of you, growing up in America I had always taken my liberty and freedom for granted. That all changed when I moved overseas and discovered firsthand that it is our love of freedom and liberty that has made our country an exceptional nation, it is today what we fight for.

Our forefathers before and our brave soldiers today are fighting and sacrificing their lives for freedom and liberty, not for diversity, respect, tolerance, "politcal correctness" or for that matter "Hope" and "Change".

Shame on you Danielle Allen and shame on the Washington Post.

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Britain's Islamic Fatalism

"I ask him to bring a new spirit of urgency to the fight against the Zeus of Iran and his attempt to kidnap our freedoms; and by doing so, to show New Labour's commitment to the true spirit of Europe - not just to an economic community, or to monetary union, but to European civilization itself."

The excerpt above is from a letter written by Salman Rushdie to Britain's "The Guardian" newspaper on 14 February 1997. It was on this day, the eighth anniversary of the fatwa against him, that Salman Rushdie would castigate Europe's politicians for cynically abandoning the ideals of free expression and human rights. In retrospect, Sir Salman Rushdie's words would offer a veiled glimpse at the coming future of European and Western civilization. A civilization that would one day willingly subjugate itself to dhimmitude, all in the name of diversity and "religious tolerance".

You might have expected a strongly worded statement on the 14th of February from 10 Downing Street, perhaps even in response to Hamid Ansari's declaration on Iranian State television that the "fatwa" calling for the death of Sir Salman Rushdie still stands, but this is not the courageous and proud Britain of the past, this is a nation now resigned to fatalism. Islamic fatalism.

It is hard to imagine that Sir Salman Rushdie could have possibly imagined that just eleven years later not only would the Archbishop of Canterbury be conceding that Britain's acceptance of Islamic law was inevitable, but that Iran would be on the very verge of developing a deliverable nuclear weapon. Is there truly any hope for a civilization hopelessly consumed with a "pathological self-hatred", a self-hatred that has now become dangerously fused with both anti-rationalism and as the Archbishop has so demonstrated, an Islamic fatalism?

Britain's latest disgrace is to unwittingly assist Islamic extremists in perpetuating their "us versus them" dichotomy by issuing special "Islamic bonds". What was wrong with the regular bonds you might ask? Well, the for Britain's Islamic fundamentalists, the regular bonds are "unclean" by Islamic standards. Make no doubt about it, with the assistance of quislings like Rowan Williams and Chancellor Alistair Darling, Islam's foot soldiers are busy with the task to ensure that Islam's religious precepts are all being duly incorporated into civil law.

For a government hopelessly enamored with the concepts of diversity and multiculturalism, these sharia-compliant bonds are a naive and misguided way of tapping Middle-East money and building bridges with the Muslim community, but the reality is that this "banking apartheid" contributes not to economic prosperity, but only to racial and ethnic chauvinism. What Britain's leaders lack is foresight, the foresight to see that that by rejecting their own principles and values and then bolstering Islamic self-assertion, chauvinism and values, they only substantiate the dualistic sociopolitical ideology professed by Islam's hardcore fundamentalists. It is the relentless accommodation and appeasement of these fundamentalists that continues to embolden them.

When the day of maturity comes, and it will, these bonds will be repaid with English blood and not with sterling.

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Britain's Archbishop of Panderbury

"Our modern western definition of humanity is clearly not working very well. There is something about western modernity which really does eat away at the soul." so says Britain's leading Islamophile and closet druid Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Hopelessly naive, if not anachronistic it seems almost predictable that Rowan Williams, a pagan druid, completely devoid of any moral compass would seem to revere the austere primitive purity of Rousseau's "noble savage". But William's 'conflict of conscience' is more founded in what Ratzinger referred to as a "pathological self-hatred" rather than his own misguided philosophical beliefs.

Joseph Ratzinger's 2004 essay entitled "If Europe Hates Itself" gives a glimpse into the source of a faithless Archbishop's torment when he states that "The West reveals here a hatred of itself, which is strange and can be only considered pathological; the West is laudably trying to open itself, full of understanding, to external values, but it no longer loves itself; in its own history, it now sees only what is deplorable and destructive, while it is no longer able to perceive what is great and pure."

The Constitutions of numerous nations, all with their emphasis on the principles of secularism, democracy, the rule of law and, above all, the equality of all human beings irrespective of caste, community, language or ethnicity are all derived from the British colonial legacy and Britain's gift to the world, the Magna Carta. There is a Commonwealth of Nations from Australia and New Zealand to India, Malaysia and Singapore who still value, cherish and respect their judiciary, legal system, bureaucracy and police. All cherished institutions, and all derived from British colonial administration.

There are millions of Singaporeans who see the statue of Sir Stamford Raffles on a daily basis as a warm reminder of their British colonial legacy. Millions of people around the globe who have been lifted from poverty to self-sustainability all thanks to the British. Having lived in Southeast Asia myself for over twenty years, the only thing that I think the British can justifiably be reviled for is their culinary legacy. Baked beans on toast and mushy peas. Vile and disgusting.

But as Joseph Ratzinger noted, none of this matters or is even seen by people like Rowan Williams, they are consumed with self-loathing and a "pathological self-hatred" and as Orwell stated in his 1941 essay entitled "England Your England", they are "unteachable", "only when their money and power are gone will the younger among them begin to grasp what century they are living in."

For Rowan Williams and the rest of his ilk, it is easy to place the blame on what they see to be an impersonal nation, they fail to realize that is not the nation, but themselves whom they hate. They hate themselves for what they have become. In Williams case, a faithless man of the cloth who has lost his way. This is not the first time Williams has found himself compelled to pee on the carpet and it won't be the last. Considering this, it should be obvious to all that William's would be best suited kicking around his misguided ideas on multiculturalism on some liberal university campus and not in his current position as the Archbishop of Canterbury.

In his book Millennium, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto writes, "I find it hard to believe that this generation will be able to muster the courage to fight for the sort of imperfect humanity which is willing to abort innocent lives while sanctifying those of criminals, or which undermines it's own principles by banning moral absolutes as politically incorrect."

In an environment that eschews moral absolutism and embraces cultural relativism and the "diversity of opinions", it is almost to be expected that someone like Rowan Williams' or his liberal cohorts would make the mindless suggestion that Islamic law be introduced as some sort of "supplementary jurisdiction". In what Burke warned us against, William's suggestion is tantamount to simply dismissing the "rule of law" as nothing more than some sort of abstract universalism in which all individual identity is lost, stripped as Burke said, and standing "in the nakedness and solitude of metaphysical abstraction." What happens when the laws overlap as they often do in countries like Malaysia? Which law would supersede the other? One of the central themes of this blog has been the dangers of diversity and multiculturalism. Hopefully, this incident will serve as an example of how cultural relativism inevitably drags moral relativism in it's wake. If what is wrong for one society can somehow be right for another, then what is wrong for one generation can justifiably be right for the next.

Rowan Williams' reckless comments will not soon be forgotten, they will be seen as a sign of weakness and will continue to embolden extremist groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir and others who wish to see Islamic laws implemented. Only in September of last year, Malaysia's Chief Justice made the push for reforms to introduce hardline Islamic law here in Malaysia. Ironically his justification for change was very similar to Rowan Williams reasons, and that is the "us versus them" dichotomy, the post entitled "The Clutches of Colonialism" can be read here.

To paraphrase Orwell, "The intellectuals who hope to see England Islamicized will be disappointed. The gentleness, the hypocrisy, the thoughtlessness, the reverence for law and the hatred of uniforms will remain, along with the suet puddings and the misty skies. It needs some very great disaster, such as prolonged subjugation by a foreign enemy, to destroy a national culture."

Subjugation by way of multiculturalism is already underway. Today was the first strike on England's reverence for law.

Rowan Williams the Archbishop of Canterbury must either resign or be removed from office.

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