OT -- Warning: graphic

Drudge has a photo up that shows the savagery some Iraqis can perform against our soldiers.

At best this is ironic, but I could find you twenty jillion (approximately) examples of similar irony in the United States without a problem. Toy guns? Wow! Must be a culture of death! We don't stop selling Grand Theft Auto because it's Christmas...we sell it MORE...why would you expect Muslims to be any different? Ramadan is a time of celebration. When I was a kid, I had replicas of guns...not with those silly orange caps on the barrels, either. I haven't blown myself up yet. This is not a key factor in violence in the middle east.

Charles,

I don't put up comments on LGF - but I have small sons that come shopping with me once a week. That looks a hell of a lot like the same sort of toys I would find in a supermarket toy display here in Oz. Doesn't look unusual to me at all

Look similar to the toy sections at some wal-marts, kmart's, grocery stores, etc.

It isn't the toys, its what the kids are taught.

I agree with the above comments that toy guns are pretty common and shouldnt be a big deal iwhen you talk about a normal peaceloving society. their society is anything but a normal peace loving society.

These must be the toys for the girls because I am pretty sure that the little boys are getting real guns and ammo
/ (but only half sarcastic)

its not the guns i'm worried about--its the bombs inside the bears

How soon we forget.

Here’s what Palestinians do with these toys:

[Link: littlegreenfootballs.com...]

Me again. Not to spam, but...Maybe, just maybe, you are nursing a bias against anything and anyone Palestinian? Maybe? I mean, that's understandable, but you need to get over this if you really want to criticize them effectively. I agree with you that elements of Palestinian society support a cult of death, but that doesn't mean they're all going to rush out and kill people.

Did you ever read that link about the Israeli army chief criticizing the Sharon administration's tactics? Did you? I sent it to you, I thought you'd find it pretty interesting.

I'm not against you. Your intention is fine (I think) but I find your method increasingly xenophobic and reactionary. You cannot fight terror by making inaccurate blanket judgments and spewing venom. But, it's your website. Say what you will. Maybe I'm mistaken.

#7 Charles

Like I said, it's not the toys, it's the parents and what they're teaching the kids.

I'm a HUGE fan of this site, but I have to agree with Mike on this one. Of course, knowing what we all know about pal life and culture, ANY weapons they can get their hands on, even fake, is pretty disturbing. I wonder if the pal kids play jihadis and Jews like kids over here used to play cowboys and indians?

i agree somewhat on the above comments i have 5 nephews 1-12 and i'm not allowed to send them toy guns but i do notice lots of them in our stores only in the usa we dont use them to indoctrinate our kids

Mike (#2),

OK, mom bought you a toy gun, but then did she dress you up in fatigues with a little red beret so you could march in unison with the other kids on the block, while carrying your toy gun?

OT -- more annoying reporting from the Left

Iraqis Find Little to Celebrate in Ramadan

You get paragraph after paragraph full of stuff like this:

"This Ramadan is different, because our country is under occupation and lacks security and comfort," said the mosque's cleric, Sheik Moayad al-Azami.

Common crime has skyrocketed as well, with citizens complaining of kidnappings, theft and carjacking. Many businesses are hesitant to remain open at night because of the security situation.

"It's better to go home," said Mohsen Mohammed, closing his clothes shop in the Kadhimiya neighborhood at 10 p.m. Sales are down, and he said he was afraid of robbery.

But at the very end, they slip this in:

Despite the security problems, however, some advantages this year.

Fahem Malek, a retired general, has seen his monthly pension more than quadruple from $26 to $120 since the Americans replaced Saddam Hussein's government. That means a more plentiful Ramadan meal than in previous years.

"The dining table this year is much better than last," said Malek, 65, offering a plate of apples, pomegranates, grapes and oranges to a reporter. "It includes meat every day."

And, Malek said, there are improvements beyond the food.

"On top of everything, there is freedom," he said.

Oh yeah. Freedom. I guess that's okay...

Given their proclivity for violence, I agree with Charles.

Little pali children should not be encouraged like that.

Yeah,

I surprisingly agree with Mike here - we sell toy guns, water pistols etc.

However, we DON"T then encourage our children to go out and kill some Jews.

Giving toys like that to little pali children is like giving gasoline to a pyromaniac. All he needs is the matches.

Maybe Im just the odd one here... but I look at that and think ..."Did anyone in the middle east make ANY of this stuff?"

Now I know tha most of the crap we buy in target or whatever is made in China... but America does make stuff. Cars, software, and more importantly even if lots of plastic crap is made in China, they are made for American companies.

Even the AK 47s and the RPG's are made in other nations. Middle easterners may make home-made versions of the weapons but they could never design them. Everything... EVERYTHING has to be inported. And nothing is exported or created.

Well... except fot the Zam-Zam cola and suicide bombers. So while I dont see anything odd about this pic (could find scense just like it at any local flea market) It still must suck to be them.

Context, context, context.

The photo by itself seems perfectly innocuous, hell, it could be here in the good ol' USA, but the context of the Palestinian Fatah/Al-Asqa/Hamas Death Cult it is, indeed, more than a bit disturbing.

Interesting.

So we're now going to completely ignore all context, everything I've been posting for the past two years, the incitement, the murders, the children dressed as suicide bombers, the children taught to hate and kill Jews and infidels, the sermons, the schoolbooks, the after-school TV specials glorifying martyrdom, the posters, the martyr badges, the school exhibits, the Hamas jihad camps, children jumping through flaming hoops, shooting at models of Jewish settlements, dancing in the streets on 9/11 ...

and say this is just like a swap meet in the US?

Interesting.

17 Mr. E. Train 11/23/2003 10:05PM PST

Middle easterners may make home-made versions of the weapons but they could never design them. Everything... EVERYTHING has to be inported. And nothing is exported or created.

That's not entirely true. Charles has informed us that the arabs have developed and built the world's first forehead-activated buzzing prayer rug using mostly indigenous materials (except for the electrical parts which had to imported from Israel).

The points about toy guns being a very common child's toy are valid. But only if they are taken out of the context of the environment where they are being sold in the image above. Sorry, a double standard applies here.
We have seen time and time again that such toys are used for the indoctrination of Pali Arab children towards violence. The suggested targets will be human beings, and most likely, Jews.

Also, I have to say that the contrast of the fluffy bears with hearts and the toy guns strikes me as odd. Even in most toy selections, we do not see them so closely mixed.
It just seems strange to me.

Who would be surprised to see a Pali child holding a gun to one of the bear's heads?

Charles,

I think far too many of us have had our senses dulled by the habit (intentional or otherwise) of the mainstream media's out-of-context soundbite journalism. Hey, you know the old phrase "a picture says a thousand words", so who needs context. Too much work, don't you know...

One thing that makes this display different from most toy sections in American stores, though, is the absence of other kinds of "action" toys-- model cars, trucks, and trains, kites, soccer or volley balls, building blocks or Lego-type sets, etc. It looks as if everything is either a stuffed animal or a gun, which means the kids don't learn about other ways to use their energy.

charles maybe if you showed a pict of the kids goosestepping dressed up in military uniforms right next to it more people would get the point you are trying to get across as for me i already posted my two cents worth of the picture by itself

#1 Let's Roll

Interesting how the AP doesn't mince words here -

Iraqi teenagers dragged the bloody bodies of two American soldiers from a wrecked vehicle and pummeled them with concrete blocks Sunday, witnesses said, describing a burst of savagery in a city once safe for Americans.

The savagery of the attack was unusual for Mosul

I wonder what the Paleostinians would have to do to get that kind of wording from the AP.

hmmm now that it was pointed out where are the other toys cars trucks action figures plastic models etc...

#1 Let's Roll
#26 K

I wonder what kind of toys those teenagers were given when they were little kids. The Palis are probably not the only ones with "little shops of horrors."

#4 - good point

My kids see me wearing a sidearm everyday as I head out to work - they are taught that I am armed to "keep bad guys from hurting innocent people." And that being armed to keep the peace and/or for self-defense is a big responsibility that only adults can choose to accept.

These toy guns are to indoctrinate kids in the cult of violence that will destroy their very souls.

Big difference. What these folks do to their children is nothing short of satanic.

#28   Connecticut Yankee
#26 K

I'm more than a little nervous about this. Not about what happened-- that's beyond horrible of course-- but the fact that this story is big right now, and has been all day ong. I've got a sick feeling in my stomach that this Somalia-like incident might have a Somalia-like result in the American public's mind. And we all know how that turned out.

#25 jimmytheclaw: Good point. Let's say this is my blog for the sake of argument, and I post a picture of myself sipping on a beer. No biggie right? But what if I was an alcoholic that's been dry for five years, something regular readers knew?

I totally agree that given the context of Jordyptian society this is alarming, sickening and infuriating. But my guess is that to visitors without a proper sense of context and history, it looks "hypocritical" (one of idiotarians' favorite words) and small to, on the surface, "be so uptight as to single out a particular people for playing with toys, the kind that are quite popular here." It's not fair, but since when is this something we should expect? I do applaud the keen eyes and mind Charles has to see the ramifications of what looks like a harmless display.

Then again, wouldn't it be hilarious if this photo were the tipping point for lefties, especially European ones, howling at the notion of kids having toy guns. Nah, they don't lose a moment's sleep when these kids are marching with real loaded weapons.

OT:They slaughter protesters, too

[Link: observer.guardian.co.uk...]

#31 Let's Roll: Different president. Though that comes with different expectations, that he doesn't appear to be addressing currently. Dunno how this is playing out in the ranks, but doing their turn in the shooting gallery has got to be taking some amount of toll. Going after the enemy and fighting would probably go down far better.

"Flypaper strategy" is bullshit, as it gives all the advantages to the enemy. Somehow, somewhere, we'd better be laying into someone's ass, hard. Overt, covert, collective, into sovereign countries... the message has got to get out that you don't fuck with our boys. I don't see it happening. Just give a loser jihadi with a lifetime of nothing but illiteracy, sunstroke and goat-milking a sermon, a Koran and a handgun, and have him walk up and start capping in his civvies.

There are people we could be leaning on to clean this up. I say we should.

You know, I hope this isn't reading too much into the toy display in Charles' photo, but another type of toy that's missing is toys that bring kids together in groups-- like tea party sets, tents or playhouses, baseballs or frisbees, toys that a kid has to have friends to use. Do these kids ever play team sports? One thing I've noticed over the past few months in the news stories that Charles has posted about parents' pride in their martyred sons or daughters is that the shahid is glorified as an individual acting alone-- there isn't much said about the "martyr" being part of a "team" or "unit." Whereas the men and women in the IDF seem to have a much stronger sense of being part of a group rather than "Lone Rangers." The cult of violence in the ME seems to romanticize the individual "hero" as well as the violence itself.

#31 Let's Roll

I agree-- I've been worried about another Somalia too. Especially since it wasn't that long ago that that twit on the faculty of Columbia was calling for more Mogadishus.

#35 CY

If so, thats a dark reflection of American individualism if there ever was one. At least we know when to act ina group for the common good...well, most of us do, anyway.

#36   Connecticut Yankee

Exactly. And since both the media and the political Left (Ted Kennedy comes to mind immediately) seem to latch onto any anti-war (read: anti-Bush) issue such as the flag-draped coffins not being televised, this one could be a big selling point for them. Every other sentence might become "mutilated American bodies in the Iraqi street".

#38 Let's Roll

I wonder what would happen if Fox or the blogosphere were to print or post photos of Saddam's mass graves or the morgue of the hospital where the victims of the Bali bombing were taken.

There's a new petition to demand that UNICEF begin fighting against the incitement of Palestinian children to become shahiddim. UNICEF gets millions of dollars to protect Palestinian children, but they haven't done anything about this.

Go see it and sign it here: UNICEF petition

(It seems that HonestReporting is sponsoring it)

Do these kids ever play team sports?

[Link: bulletin.ninemsn.com.au...]

Today, it's hard to find a trace of the squad once considered the best in Hebron; many locals deny that it ever existed. That's not surprising, because the Jihad soccer team has also earned a more terrifying distinction. Beginning last fall, six active players and one – former member of the squad, including the player-coach, carried out a wave of suicide attacks against Israelis.

The Jihad team came to life in 1998 as the project and consuming passion of Muhsin Kawasmeh (a distant relation to Abdullah). A bright student who had dropped out of school at 16, Muhsin ran his own small bookshop specializing in computer and Islamic texts. He also spent a lot of time at the Jihad mosque, across the street from the house he shared with his parents, siblings and their children. Muhsin tutored the Qur'an to kids, coached a Ping-Pong squad and recruited 15 boys and young men from the neighborhood to join a soccer squad. He had only one requirement for membership: that all pray five times a day and fast on Mondays and Thursdays. He set up matches against a dozen other mosques in Hebron, acquired blue-and-white soccer jerseys and stenciled each with the logo AL-JIHAD: PREPARE FOR THEM. "They were unbeatable," says Mazen Kawasmeh, Muhsin's older brother.

Yes, it is the context and the environment and values.

Also we can remind ourselves that in this same venue/context --Barbies are considered "evil" and immoral for "instilling the wrong" values. Since they believe that toys instill "moral values" the assault toy weapons can be taken in that context as well.

As other have mentioned, I too had toy guns and bow/arrows as a child, and I was a girl --and even real ones when I was a teen and have never killed any living thing. Though there were a number of mutilated tin cans left behind.

I had a chemistry set too and haven't blown anything up yet either.

Charles is right --taken in context the weapons are more than just toys for imaginary playing and comparing it to similar toys available here --it is apples and oranges.

A display of American flags for sale in the street would be innocuous - in America.

A display of American flags for sale in the streets of Gaza would be sinister, because we would guess what they'd be used for.

Right?

Neither the flags nor the toy guns are unequivocally sinister. In both cases, there are no doubt some Gazans who would purchase them for praiseworthy reasons.

We must never forget that such people exist, but given the context, given what we know, those are not the people who spring to mind when we see that picture.

#41 piglet

Interesting-- thanks for the link.

The problem is not just that these toys represent another link in a long chain of incitement that infects and degrades Palestinian Arab culture, although that is certainly true.

The children who will be given these toys live in a war zone, a place where active military units are on constant patrol for armed combatants whose modus operandi is to mix in with the civilian population. Many of these belligerents are very young.

Giving a realistic toy gun to a child in these circumstances is a reckless invitation to violent mishap. The parents are setting their children up for "martyrdom" at the expense of what seems the most basic, primal human instinct to protect our young.

This culture is displaying a disregard for the survival of their offspring with hardly a parallel anywhere. Cats, dogs, bears, elephant seals, in fact mammals generally, spend enormous energy to safeguard the next generation. Palestinian Arab parents frequently seem content to turn their children into targets. Maybe it helps them justify their deep-seated and inexhaustible sense of outrage, maybe they really believe the children will go to heaven, or it could be for the checks to the families of the dead, but something very, very wrong is happening here.

Not sure how I feel about the pic, in general I'm much more concerned with the terrorist-named streets, terrorist-named soccer tournaments (and terrorist soccer teams), the posters, the glorification of terror on government media, the glorification of terror by religious figures, the societal pressures that would convince teenagers to try to storm Jewish villages, and well, the over-all culture that can lead parents to dress their children in Islamic Jihad headgear and name their freakin kids "Jihad".

Pictures of toy guns? Not much to get excited about. Pictures of toy guns being sold to a kid named Jihad... well...

Serious non-story, here.

Especially considering what's going on in Iraq...

[Link: news.independent.co.uk...]

Hmmm - is this the end result - concrete blocks? Also I thought Mosul was Kurdish - maybe they should have allowed the Kurds to complete their resistance to occupation by arab settlers...

hi all..
hmmm..
my first thought when i saw this picture was " looks like a shuk stall"( shuk is our outdoor markets here) but thinking more about it, i cant remember guns being displayed with so much prominence , especially for a holiday...
and now, thinking of all of our toy stores and junk toy stores here in Jerusalem, i do a memory review...,,, the " happening " on the Jerusalem pedestrian mall has bratz dolls, and action figures, and thosebig silly stuffed animal slippers( i have fallen victim to the bratz dolls already this year,,grrr) " Hahn s" has dolls and "action cars"... no guns.. as for the Jerusalem mall... toys are us, etc,,, do have guns, but in the boys section along with boy dolls that change into dragons, etc... again, in the front windows is mainly stuffed animals. dolls , and legos that make dragon sets..
near the shuk, in the cheaper discount toy stores , the guns aren't displayed in a line in the window like this, and definitely do not take precedence among the other toys.. lots of family games and board games on sale, as since observant Jews dont watch TV on Shabbat, , families often spend hours playing board games, card games , etc... spending a cozy Shabbat playing risk and eating tons of cake etc is one of life's great pleasures.
the only real time they have any kind of guns on display is those annoying cap guns that are sold for Purim, in noise and boisterousness perhaps comparable to guy fawlkes day , or 4th of July..

just to pararell societies , as Charles is trying to do,, i live in a country where 18 year olds, boys and girls are conscripted into the army.. and have to schlep a gun( i had an Uzi for a while in my army service, ), people living out in Judea Samaria wear licensed sidearm for protection guns are everywhere,, its the only country in the world where that 18 year old kid holding the m16 STILL has to wait on line in the bank.. but despite this, this is not a gun worshipping culture by any means or form...
you can see that reflected in the toy stores in Jerusalem, and im sure the rest of the country as well..
seeing this stuff in Gaza, ,, well,, i cant imagine giving my child a gun for Passover,,, nor would i have the inevitable parade for him to march with it, as they do it Gaza,,, the more you think about this picture the more disturbing it becomes...

This is absurd.

There are 'them fluffy bears and cuddly rabbits, and replicas of military assault rifles, handguns, and grenades' given to Christian kids after Christmass.

According to this site, then, Christian kids cellabrate killing.

This is a sillly and misleading claim, not something this site should be proud of.

Kind of OT:

Here is one for the WTF? column

Sources: Palestinian Prime Minister delays expected meeting with Israeli counterpart

and why the delay you might ask?

Well, to wait for the official signing of the Geneva Accords, of course. The one the Israeli Left made behind the governments back and is a total load of crap.

A leader in The Daily Telegraph, 'Muslims have just as much to fear from militant Islam'

[Link: www.telegraph.co.uk...]

The trouble is that you can get Muslims to condemn violence and terrorism if they are hard pressed enough but what we should try and get them to do is to condemn The JIHAD. That is the acid test.

OT: America-hating cartoonist Ted Rall has endorsed Howard Dean. Need I say more?

Attention bigel: Cannibals in Germany!

[Link: news.bbc.co.uk...]

#53 Abu

Old news actually

Thanks though.

D'Oh!

Just hoping today is not the day the Muslims choose to celebrate the end of the Holy Fasting Month of Ramadan ( Batman!!) by bombing the hotel/food court/shopping mall/ice rink/office tower complex at the same latitude as Eilat, IL.

The picture looks fairly innocuous to me. I'm not saying that isn't a culture that celebrates shooting infant girls in the head or showing off blood covered hands after ripping Israelis to death. I'm just saying this photo doesn't show that.

BTW, it is currently 26C in Eilat, IL while it is only 2C in HOU.

As I asked in a previous thread, granted it is the Promised Land and all, where the heroes of the Bible trod, but don't you Israelis sometimes get jealous of Texas, which enjoys all four seasons ( but not in an ugly Minnesotta -40 way) and has college football ( yes, Oklahoma has even better college football this year, but OK has more tornadoes per square mile than any other state).

Debka posted a warning - anyone have anymore details?

DEBKAfile picks up fresh Al Qaeda warning of countdown to the terror network’s “biggest operation in the United States” which is due “very shortly” and will cut America off from its armies in Muslim countries. American Muslims are urged to flee. New Bin Laden tape promised soon. More below

Can't help thinking that if they could launch a massive attack, they would have done so already.

OT: Ariel Sharon blasts Europe for its Jew-hatred:

[Link: www.nypost.com...]

Seeing pictures of the humanoids in Gaza all I can say is thank God

1. for the IDF
2. the fence around Gaza.

Anyone here actually remember a toy gun being sold in America anytime recently? I remember having some very realistic looking toy guns 20 years ago, but it's been a very long time since I have even seen even a fake looking toy gun in this country.

It's been a long time since I have seen even a clear plastic water pistol or toy laser weapon in this country.

By the way, for the euros reading/posting here who think American kids still get fake guns for any holiday anymore, realistic looking toy guns were banned from American stores years ago. Aside from these facts, you might as well keep trying to make a weak comparison between palestinian terrorists and an American coming across anything resembling a gun (like a broken up piece of bread or a banana or someones hand with index finger and thumb extended).

Another "No Peace without Justice, No Wall without Bridges" dhimmispeak message follows:

***

Vatican Message to Muslims at Conclusion of Ramadan
Constructing Peace Today

Dear Muslim Friends,

1. The time of Ramadan comes round again, and it is my pleasure to greet you on this occasion and to offer you my very best wishes. During this special month the communal meal, iftâr, which breaks the fast at the end of the day, brings family members and friends together in an atmosphere of joy. Quite often people of other religions are invited to share in this moment of conviviality, and there is a growing custom of Christians organizing an iftâr for their Muslim friends. Such signs of friendship are appreciable, especially at this time when there is so much unrest and tension in the world. It is in this spirit of fraternity that I extend my greetings and those of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue to all Muslims throughout the world, in particular on the occasion of 'Id al-Fitr, the Feast which concludes the month of Ramadan.

2. As has become customary with this annual message, I should like to share with you some reflections, and it would seem appropriate to center these on the need to construct peace. My starting point is a letter which Pope John XXIII addressed to all people of good will forty years ago, in 1963. In this letter, entitled "Pacem in Terris," Peace on Earth, it was suggested that peace is an edifice resting on four pillars: Truth, Justice, Love and Freedom. Each of these values has to be present if there are to be good and harmonious relations between peoples and between nations.

3. Truth is the first pillar, for it includes the recognition that human beings are not their own masters, but are called to fulfill the will of God, the Creator of all, who is the Absolute Truth. In human relations truth implies sincerity, essential to mutual confidence and fruitful dialogue leading to peace. Truth moreover brings each individual to acknowledge his or her own rights, but also to recognize his or her own duties towards others.

4. Yet peace cannot exist without justice, respect for the dignity and rights of each human person. It is the lack of justice, in individual, social and international relations, that causes so much unrest in our world today, and brings about violence.

5. Justice must nevertheless be tempered by love. This implies the ability to recognize that we all belong to one human family, and so to see our fellow human beings as our brothers and sisters. It gives the capacity to share in both sorrows and joys. It makes people feel the needs of others as if they were one's own, and this empathy leads them to share their own gifts with others, not only material goods but also the values of mind and spirit. Love also makes allowances for weakness, and so includes the ability to forgive. This forgiveness is essential to the restoration of peace when conflict has broken out, for it opens up the possibility of beginning again, on a new basis, in a restored relationship.

6. All this supposes freedom, an essential characteristic of the human person. For freedom allows people to act according to reason and to assume responsibility for their own actions. Indeed each of us is responsible before God for our contribution to society.

7. To these four pillars I would be inclined to add a fifth, namely prayer. For we know that, as human beings, we are weak. We find it hard to live up to these ideals. We need God's help, and this we have to implore humbly. Let me quote here some words of Pope John Paul II: "If peace is God's gift and has its source in him, where are we to seek it and how can we build it, if not in a deep and intimate relationship with God? To build the peace of order, justice and freedom requires, therefore, a priority commitment to prayer, which is openness, listening, dialogue and finally union with God, the prime wellspring of true peace" (Address on the Day of Prayer for Peace, Assisi, 24 January 2002).

The Pope went on to say that prayer is not a form of escapism. On the contrary, it allows us to face up to reality with a strength which comes from God.

8. The month of Ramadan is not only a time of fasting, but also a period of intense prayer. I wish to assure you, my Muslim friends, that we are united with you in prayer to the Almighty and Merciful God. May He bless each one of you and all the members of your families. May this blessing be a source of comfort in particular for those who have suffered, or who are still suffering, on account of armed conflict. May the Good God give all of us the strength to be true constructors of peace.

With best wishes for a Blessed Feast, 'Id mubârak.

Archbishop Michael L. Fitzgerald
President

[Original text: French. Translation issued by Vatican press office]

This picture proves that Islam is the RoP.
After all, there are many more toys for sale of bears with valentines then guns.
On the other hand, maybe that reflects what has been sold and whats left to sell.

Anyway, all the comparisons to the west are legitimate.
The US is a violent society as well, what's the surprise there.

(#53) Abu Messerschmitt

America-hating cartoonist Ted Rall has endorsed Howard Dean. Need I say more?

I wonder if John Kerry paid Ted Rall to endorse Howard Dean.

___

Re: this photo.

Are those all bears, bunnies and pokeman things? What? No apes and pigs thrown in?

OT

If you've run out of reasons to dislike the UN, try this, from this week's edition of the Economist

"Since the UN never gets all the money it wants for disaster relief, some of its officials hint that donations should be compulsory. In a press release this week, for example, it mused that “many humanitarians would like to see aid evolve from a free-floating act of kindness to [an arrangement] based on law.” It is not obvious that this is a good idea. It may be tiresome for the UN to have to persuade donors of the worthiness of each cause, but it means that money goes where donors (mostly elected governments or individuals in rich countries) want it to, not where unelected bureaucrats choose."

The story also points out:

"The UN’s own list shows a hint of bias, too: it asks for $305m for the Palestinians, but only $187m for Congo, though the death toll from Congo’s war is more than 1,000 times greater than that during the intifada."

The mind boggles...

#65 M2: Illustrates why getting the UN out of the US has gone from a fringe-loony cause to the edge of the political mainstream. Perhaps within a generation, we will see the UN dissolved or, at least, relocated to Brussels, Berlin, Mumbai, Jerusalem, or Buenos Aires.

As if we needed a reason to question the Geneva Accords...Jimmy love it!

[Link: www.spacewar.com...]

Ot, but the Blixie Chicks have taken another blue pill.

>8. The month of Ramadan is not only a time of fasting, but also a period of intense prayer. I wish to assure you, my Muslim friends, that we are united with you in prayer to the Almighty and Merciful God

As many Mullas pray for the destruction of Israel and America, perhaps the good Archbishop is should re-consider his words

#68 Neo: Good morning, Zandi 11/24/2003 07:20AM PST

wrong link.

If the Archbishops boiler plate Bombadon message keeps one church in the Philippines, Indonesia or Nigeria from having a grenade thrown into it next Sunday during services, it'll do what it was designed to.

( Granted, that is slightly dhimmi in attitude.)

62 Steve Hall 11/24/2003 06:09AM PST

Another "No Peace without Justice, No Wall without Bridges" dhimmispeak message

That poor catholic bishop is completely obvlivious to the fact that islam has no tradition of ecumenism. They even kill other muslims over religious differences for crissakes, and they call for religious tolerance only when they are in the minority.

Here.

Strategypage.com has:

Osama lighter for sale

they call for religious tolerance only when they are in the minority.

And anyone who points this out is labeled a racist.

Has anyone in the newsmedia ever asked one of the numerous Saudi PR flacks about (the complete lack of) religious tolerance in the Magic Kingdom?

OT

Anyone having an idea what 'black wind' may mean in the islamic imagery?

Got this form somewhere and did not save the url as my browser crashed.

In one of his taped messages, OBL revealed that 2003 will be the year of his demise "in the belly of an eagle." Even though the Taliban/al-Qaeda's strength has been significantly diminished, sadly a blending of the old vanquished and a new terror will soon confront the world. It will be this group that has the prophetic hopes of ushering in the 12th Imam Mahdi, thereby escalating Islamic world domination, and, as a result, bring about the end to U.S. hegemony. Quoting from another message from OBL, he said, "America will witness great events so great that they will be beyond the believable. They will exceed those ever imagined, and those of 11 September. We are ready to execute the events on orders. They will devastate the region...A great Black Wind will affect the infidels, the people of the book [Christians; Ahl al-Kitab or Kufaar] are awaiting this battle, a Armageddon...It will not be us, but America who will be effected. A Black Wind will blow across the land."

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Ramadan ends tomorrow (11/25)

Candy-filled hand grenade anyone?

A christian website comments on your "Black Wind."

#76 ata jazfid - Reads like the plot of a Tom Clancy novel.

I'm kind of surprised at the general 'sanctimonousness' that most postings here reveal.

First ... we need to be encouraging the moderate and conservative Muslims to take the peaceful side of their Ramadan & Eid seriously, to try to affect (infect?) their radical bretheren with the idea that peace on earth is where its at. Not denigrating each and every piece of evidence that many of the religion, in the fairly primative lands of the middle east, are outwardwardly manifesting their base (and inappropriate - even for Ramadan) proclivities.

Second, the Pope in '63, and the French Bishop that reminds the world of the Pope's words, is bringing a message that dies if forgotten, and only stands a chance of being remembered if repeated, again and again, each year.

Third, I find it pretty amazing that many of us can snipe at the sale of toy guns when in virtually every "Big 5" Sporting Goods store across the land, one can buy shotguns, rifles, ammunition... well no hand-grenades, I suppose - but real weapons, not toys. 9 out of 10 Boy Scouts troops offer and generally have no problem filling the sign-up sheets for the firearm-safety and marksmanship courses. 20 gauge shotguns... 22 caliber rifles... airguns, etc.

The challenge, see, is to take a camera and a long afternoon walk through any of the schmaltzy strip-mall toy stores, or open-air bazaars in the states: you'll easily be able to take pix of furries and toy kalishnakovs juxtipositioned equally tastelessly. "Stupid is as stupid does", and you know - there are plenty of enterprising people that sell stuff - that also do their part to keep IQ 100 "average".

GoatGuy

Goat guy:

Objectively speaking you have a point. But candy-filled hand grenades take on a different meaning in light of this and this.

Neo:

You're quite right. There's something so nasty, so base, so dastardly about a candy-filled hand-grenade, that it makes me sick inside. Oooh, the lil' perty hand grenade for junior! Fatima, we just have to get a dozen!!!

Grrr ... grr... grrr ...

GoatGuy

Goat guy:

you must not have clicked on the links. That, or their significance flew right over your head.

Take off the blindfolds Goat guy.

Neo: Really, old chum, there's no need to get all pedantic and uppity with me. No, I did not click your links - sorry. I had seen these images of the "Littlest Hezbullah" on another article, here, a couple of days back, and found them nauseating. I had just gotten finished scanning the new articles, and there were those bigger'n'life candy grenades. Pissed me off. So, that is what I was referring to.

And no, I have no blinders on, my neoconservative friend. I'm just trying hard - really, really hard to not become a vacuous, hard-ass, hatred-spouting rightwinger (or leftist, depending on the weather). The "bright minded middle" is where its at, which is the reason why I so much enjoy my new-found LGF site.

At a base level, I know it is becoming an "us versus them" world, if only because they see it as the Holy Way. It doesn't need to be, but a population that doubles ever 17-to-20 years on spits of sand that long ago were insufficient to feed and provide raw materials for the populus ... is going to blow at some point. A human tsunami - no more stoppable than one of Mother Nature's.

GoatGuy

PS - thanks Neo - you're the first person that's responded to my comments so far. Now I feel a bit more welcome. G G

Well said G. Karp.

Many stores in the U.S. stopped selling toy guns that looked at all realistic because in a few instances cops had to make a split second choice when children - sometimes teens - brandished the toys.

In the territories, it is not cops but soldiers who would have to make that terrible choice to shoot a child. When the surrounding culture hides suicide vests under cribs, the sensible decision will result in many shahids.

Next those reckless Palestinians will be have their naive children standing in front of bulldozers. Except that they already have American 20-somethings doing that for them.

Goat Guy & Ed Moran

Truth is the first pillar, for it includes the recognition that human beings are not their own masters, but are called to fulfill the will of God, the Creator of all, who is the Absolute Truth. In human relations truth implies sincerity, essential to mutual confidence and fruitful dialogue leading to peace.

In light of your comments (and the popes), apparently the truth is not that important. When you analyze the history and the situation, what you're saying is that peaceful coexistence with Islam to the point of submission for the sake of unity is the only thing.
The statement above is two very separate concepts. Fulfilling the Will of G-d and "mutual confidence and fruitful dialogue.
If that's what it takes to pacify the Muslims vs. the Catholic Church, embrace it wiith fervor.
Take it past your nose, please. All it really means is 1) more grenades against the Jews and others who take a stand, and 2) delaying the inevitable. Or don't you see that?

as the NRA likes to say, guns dont kill people, people do.

Nowhere in the US do any children learn that G-d wants them to kill unbelievers..and if they do, paradise and sex awaits them

Sorry I got on the thread so late.

G. Karp #45 is right on the money and I speak from personal experience.

As I pointed out on another thread I'm a lawyer in Israel.

I had a case in which an Arab resident of the territories was shot by an undercover Army unit while holding a toy semi-automatic pistol.

He claimed that he'd seen some children playing with it and he took it in order to throw it away when he ran into the Army unit. They were behind him and shouted at him to drop the weapon. When they shouted he whirled around towards them and they fired.

I saw the toy pistol and let me tell you as someone with experience with firearms, even at distance of 6 inches it looked real.

As far as I concerned an Arab resident of the territories who lets his kid wander around with toy weapons should be prosecuted for reckless endangerment.

Here is a Palestinian Arab mother using her child in what appears to be an effort to draw fire, as the child aims what appears to be a toy gun from behind some sand bags:

[Link: www.strangecosmos.com...]
 

Looking at the issue from that aspect does make sense. It's not the toy itself that's bad, but rather the relative safety of playing with it inside a war zone. I think Motti has convinced me this isn't a good idea as a gift. I know that I made a "rule" that my son had to carry his paintball gun in the trunk when driving over to where they played with them. His car had a loud muffler, so he got pulled over a lot. I didn't want a police officer to see the thing and get jumpy.

Re: the Black wind prophecy, this is from a group that receives mysterious revelations. You can find the site w/google using 'black wind' and '12th imam mahdi' but the original link is broken, use google cache.

Black wind seems to be an authentic prophecy, by which I mean it prob wasn't made up recently. There must be a billion prophecies floating around, the rational reaction is so what? OBL may have made a statement about death in the "belly of an eagle" but all the references I could find were 2nd hand reports that a tape was released that said this and that, maybe he did, maybe he didn't as far as I can see. 12th imam mahdi is a Shi'ite concern, as a little googling will confirm. There is a branch called the Twelvers who await this event, other branches of Shi'ism look to other imams. OBL is unlikely to have made a message about the 12th imam mahdi, he is a Sunni and of a sect that regards Shiites as heretics. So a whacko Xian group cobbled together a bunch of unrelated stuff and built a scare out of it using it own supernatural source of data. Some un-named new group, obviously shi'ia could run a strike but to me someone half-clever is just bracketing OBL around unrelated material to weave a convincing whole. Relating OBL to the 12th imam mahdi is a tipoff this is crap.

"Belly of an Eagle" could just as easily means OBL expects to be captured and to die en-route to the USA in an airplane. Black wind does make nice imagery for terror war.

As to the weird tenor of this post, any society with spine suffering military incursions and repression will react by becoming militarized, and even come to expect its children to die violent deaths, which become a part of a weak group responding to a strong state. In other words, a picture of a toy display in Palestine showing guns, which I could find in any Walgreens or Target or Walmart etc etc in America, is hardly surprising or even meaningful unless you think these people shouldn't even pretend to play with guns but just keep their heads down and hope the enemy army just goes away.

IOW you start teaching your kids young about the military in hopes of someday raising effective forces to drive off the invaders. I'm not taking sides on who is what just saying in Palestinian eyes resisting Israel is no different than American resisting Soviets a la the film Red Dawn. Ongoing war develops a cult of violence and death in every society involved.