BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

by David Warren In Toronto, on Thursday, I witnessed a little incident of some value to the interpretation of world affairs. It happened on a crowded westbound King Street trolley, trapped at Yonge Street by the early rush hour crowds. (Ottawans may envy any kind of functioning transit service.) Three young men, whom one might characterize as voluntary members of the underclass from the way they were dressed (expensive ghetto gear), jumped the back door of the trolley, in order to avoid paying fares. It is the sort of thing people just get used to in a decaying society. The drivers have their hands full processing paying customers through the front entrance, and can hardly be expected to guard the rear. But in this case, the driver more than noticed what was happening, apparently through his rear-view mirror. He shut the front doors, stalled the car, and elbowed his way through the standing passengers to confront his unpaid guests. "I've got bad news for you punks," he de...

Hey Barry? CAN YA' HEAR ME NOW? By Sayed Salahuddin Taliban insurgents rejected on Wednesday a U.S. offer of "honorable reconciliation" as a "lunatic idea" and said the withdrawal of foreign troops was the only way to end the war in Afghanistan. With the Afghan conflict now in its eighth year, NATO-led forces and the Taliban are locked in a bloody stalemate with violence set to rise further this year as more U.S. troops arrive and seek to contain the insurgency ahead of August elections. President Barack Obama is redoubling U.S. efforts with more troops, more diplomatic effort and more economic assistance, but he has also already spoken of the need for an "exit strategy." If the U.S. plan fails to show results, analysts say, time is on the Taliban side. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an international conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday that those members of the Taliban who abandoned extremism must be granted an "honorable form of re...

Obama's Charm Offensive and the Global Jihad By Jeff Jacoby EARLY IN HIS presidency, Jimmy Carter set about to a letter US policy toward the Soviet Union. Six days after his inauguration he sent a letter to Soviet ruler Leonid Brezhnev, hailing the two countries' "common efforts towards formation of a more peaceful, just, and humane world" and saluting Brezhnev's supposed "aspiration for strengthening and preserving. . . peace." In a commencement address at Notre Dame, he declared that Americans had shed their "inordinate fear of communism." In the months that followed, Carter slashed the defense budget, scrapped the B-1 bomber, welcomed the Sandinista coup in Nicaragua, and launched diplomatic relations with Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro. It wasn't until the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979 that Carter finally woke up to his naiveté. Moscow's brutal aggression "made a more dramatic change in my opinion of what the Soviets...

FATAH, HAMAS & THE TERRORIST CLOWN-CAR Every time I see news like this I think "if we're lucky they will kill each off!" Then I remember that Abbasssss (snake like hiss at the end) handed off 'intel' to Hamas and that Fatah and Hamas were ...um, supposed to be joining forces. Wait! Abbas is powerless isn't he? Dang... so confusing! Like a clown car at the circus, you never know what's gonna spill out. Yet when I check my news feeds off and on during the day, I see posts and articles galore about the poor poor Palestinians. How Israel is conducting an 'ethnic cleansing' on them. People just can't seem to remember Israel is the only democracy in the area. They are the only ones using military force DEFENSIVELY. There are none so blind as those that cannot see. And the Palis can't see beyond shooting more kassams and sniper fire into Israel and each other. What's it going to take before people wake up to the fact that their ac...

INTIFADA DEBBIE MEANS "CRY BABY" Ms. Altamonser, you lose. Get it? You and all your militant islamic buddies can stop the whining. Spare us all with the legal argument that you were "merely asking the meaning of intifada." We stepped on your 'Free Speech' rights? Ms. Altamonser, I know a lot about free speech. My free speech says you're either a terrorist or a terrorist sympathizer. You don't belong here and you certainly don't belong in our schools. Not only do I not want you near the students of NYC, Ms. Altamonser - I don't want you within an ocean of students who may, someday, interact with my children. Ever. Game over. Ex-principal of Arabic Khalil Gibran school loses round in court BY THOMAS ZAMBITO A federal judge Wednesday shot down a last-minute attempt by the former principal of a Brooklyn Arabic-language school to keep the city from selecting her successor. Debbie Almontaser, the short-lived head of the new Khalil Gibran Int...

Nazis and Islamists I am sure I am not the only blogger who has posted this article. But it is so compelling, so important and goes right to the heart of my belief that the Islamists can NOT be reasoned with, negotiated with or talked to because they are fundamentally evil in their thinking and intent. So I am giving it some bandwith here, for the 2 people that probably stumble on to my blog daily. Maybe it will reach one of them. By Paul Belien During the Second World War, the Nazis worked on plans to build the "Amerikabomber," an airplane specially devised to fly suicide missions into Manhattan's skyscrapers. Albert Speer, the Nazi minister for armaments, recalled in his diary: "It was almost as if [Hitler] was in a delirium when he described to us how New York would go up in flames. He imagined how the skyscrapers would turn into huge blazing torches. How they would crumble while the reflection of the flames would light the skyline against the dark sky." H...

The Talibanization of Iraq Under mounting repression, courageous women fight for their rights and their lives. Is this how the U.S. brought “freedom” to the country? by Bay Fang Yanar Mohammed returned to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime because she thought the veil of tyranny had finally been lifted from her native country. She and two other women started the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), with the goal of fighting for women’s rights. But since those days, her OWFI cofounders have fled the country, and Mohammed herself has received numerous death threats for her work. OWFI , one of the few remaining nongovernmental organizations left in Iraq, has been forced to operate in complete secrecy. “Because of the chaos on the streets and in the government, women have been forced to leave work and hide at home,” says Mohammed, 47. “ We live in a state of continuous fear—if our hair shows on the street, if we’re not veiled enough at work,” says Mohammed. “It’s...

PBS SUPRESSES DOCUMENTARY "ISLAM vs. ISLAMISTS" from CAMERA.org: Last week, we sent an alert regarding PBS's suppression of an important documentary entitled "Islam vs. Islamists," that was supposed to be included in PBS's series "America at a Crossroads." "Islam vs Islamists" is an inspirational look at moderate Muslims in the West who speak out against Muslim supremacists, despite death threats and harassment. We further noted that PBS commissioned a film to replace "Islam vs Islamists," "The Muslim Americans," produced by series host Robin MacNeil's company, which was quite flawed. PBS did include in the Crossroads series an excellent film, "Faith Without Fear," about Irshad Manji, a moderate Muslim woman who speaks out against fundamentalist interpretations of Islam, but that film focused mainly on women's issues. "Islam vs Islamists" involves a broader range of issues. CAMERA member...