obby

Again, this guy is "keep'n it real" Common sense at it's finest! July 11, 2005 How to Lose a War by Victor Davis Hanson National Post http://victorhanson.com/ Thursday's attack in London is the latest blow struck in the war that began on Sept. 11. Its origins are easy to fathom: A minority of Muslim extremists, their numbers in the few millions, resents deeply the erosion of life in the Middle East and other Muslim areas. A globalized communications system reminds them daily how far behind a Pakistan is from India, how much better a South Korea or China is doing than Egypt, or how more humane life is in an Infidel North America or Europe than in Syria or Algeria. Autocratic regimes, statist economies, gender apartheid, corruption, the absence of a free press — all that and more retard economic growth from the Gulf to Morocco. In response, theocratic regimes like the Taliban and the Iranian mullocracy blame the West for their own self-inflicted misery and inadequacies. But more often, clever dictators such as a Baathist Saddam, the Saudi Royal family, an Egyptian kleptocracy, or the Pakistani military regime allow Islamicists some rein, if not covert support, to deflect blame from their own failures onto the United States and the "Jews." A shamed Islamic street — ill-housed, ill-fed, and ill-informed — is nourished on the mythology that a purer creed and a return to the 8th century alone can reclaim past glories of the caliphate, and stop the decadent intrusion of Western consumerism and popular culture. So when terrorists strike in London — or Bali, New York or Madrid — they operate on a variety of assumptions. Middle Eastern governments may publicly deplore their methods, but privately sigh relief that al-Qaeda agents are still not yet after their own heads. Islamicist ganglia go deep into the central nervous system of the Pakistani intelligence service, not to mention the House of Saud. Likewise, the Muslim public in the Middle East may decry terror, but privately often gets satisfaction when Westerners too are humbled. Their schadenfraude is cultivated by the old anti-Semitism — they can always say the Jews or Israel caused 9/11 or the London bombing — as well as by a deep shame over their own attraction toward Western affluence and consumerism. So we see the eerie spectacle after a 9/11 or 7/7 of imams assuring us that "Islam does not condone such things," even as bin Laden T-shirts and copies of Mein Kampf sell like hot-cakes on the Arab Street. A third critical assumption is the deniability of culpability: only al Qaeda or its Mcfranchises in Europe are ever deemed responsible for something like Madrid or London. Apparently, such groups never visit the Pakistani border areas, never take a dime from Saudi princes, never travel through Syria on their way to this or that terrorist camp. And thus no terror-abetting nation ever faces any real accounting. That the attacks are periodic rather than daily, and that most of the world's oil reserves are in the Middle East make it easier for Westerners to live with the bloodshed rather than issue real ultimatums. Fourth, and most important, the terrorists and their supporters understand that in a strange way the West is not only split, but also increasingly illiberal as well. It has lost confidence in its old commitment to rationalism, free speech and empiricism, and now embraces the deductive near-religious doctrines of moral equivalence and utopian pacifism. Al Qaeda's supporters will say that Thursday's victims were killed because of Afghanistan or Iraq. Westerners will duly repeat the dull refrain that "Bush lied, thousands died" in their guilt-ridden search for something we did to cause this. And so, rather than focus our attention on the madrassas and the mosques that preach hatred, we will strive to learn more about Islamic culture, as if our own insensitivity were the true culprit. Our grandfathers could despise Bushido — Japan's warrior cult — without worrying whether they were being unfair to Buddhists; we of less conviction and even less courage, cannot do likewise. In short, we now know what to expect from the London bombings and the others to follow. There will be no effort to punish the states that subsidize al Qaeda. Critics will cling to the myth that the British got what they had coming. The primary obsession of many Westerners will be to extend sensitivity to Islam, not the victims of those who kill in its name. And all will be consoled that just a few dozen were harvested this time. What a strange way to fight a war. ©2005 Victor Davis Hanson

Your voice DOES make a difference but there is still more you can do to help get the word out: Please help One.org tell your friends and family about The ONE Campaign and how they too can lend their voice to help beat global AIDS and poverty. Tell them to sign the declaration now at ONE.org ONE by ONE, we can make the difference.

Looking forward to it!

We are definitely troopers for heading out in such weather. Joey did a great job setting the room up for Ralph to then take over and we both had fun upstairs (as usual). Crobar has been nothing but great to Joey and in turn Joey had been great in inviting me to join him during these opportunities. Definitely the friendliest club team we have worked with which is rare. Thanks to Crobar and you clubbers who made it out with us. One Nation.....Underground! Funk, enjoy your vacation.

Does that even work?

July 08, 2005 The Same Old, Same Old . . . An anatomy of the London bombing. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson070805.html The British may react very differently than the Spanish did after Madrid — by doing nothing rather than by retreating from Iraq. In the corrupt West these days, that is something. We all know the score of this war now in the near four years since September 11. The London bombings should remind us how the old tired game works. Causes Failed states in the Middle East — autocratic, statist, unfree, intolerant of women and other religions — blame the West for their self-inflicted miseries. Sometimes they are theocratic, like the late Taliban or the current Iranian mullahs. But more often they are dictatorial like the Syrians, Pakistanis, Saudis, or Egyptians, who all, in varying degrees and in lieu of reform, have come to accommodations with the terrorists to shift popular anguish onto the West and the Jews. That is the Petri dish of Islamic fascism, an evil that will only disappear when the dictatorships that allow it or nourish it do as well. Whether the jihadists are in Iraq, the United States, or Europe, they all share a sick notion that someone else (the decadent Western oppressor and unbeliever) is responsible for their own poverty and backwardness rather than the fundamentalism, corruption, bias, and intolerance endemic to the Middle East. Propaganda In WWII we didn’t care much whether in fighting Bushido some thought we were in a war against Buddhists. We weren’t, and that was enough. We knew the enemy were Nazis, not simply Germans, and didn’t froth and whine to prove that distinction. But not now. To criticize Islamic fascism is supposedly to be unfair to Islam, so we allow on our own shores mullahs and madrassas to spread hatred and intolerance, as part of our illiberal acceptance of “not offending Islam.†It is not that we don’t believe in Western values as much as we don’t even know what they are anymore. The London bombings were only a reification of what goes on daily with impunity blocks away in the mosques and Islamist schools of London. The enemy knows that and thrives on it. That refuge in religion is why imams shout that “Islam doesn’t condone such things†— even as bin Laden has become a folk hero on the Arab Street. Jihadists sense that even here at home more Americans are more concerned about a flushed Koran at Guantanamo Bay than five Americans fighting for the Iraqi jihadists or Taliban sympathizers in Lodi, California. As long as there is not any price to be paid for Islamism, either by governments abroad or purveyors of its hatred in the West, the propaganda works and the killing will go on. But when a renegade Saudi Prince, Pakistani general, London imam, or Lodi mosque leader screams out to the jihadist, “Stop that before those crazy Americans really do go to war,†the war, in fact, will be over and won. Methods Terror is the signature of the Islamist: hit, back off; hit, back off — hoping in a few years to erode the will and nerve of affluent and leisured Western countries. Bin Laden has so far only made one mistake: He took down the entire World Trade Center rather than the top floors, and had the misfortune of having George Bush as president. Thus he lost Afghanistan and ended up with democratic reform from Iraq and Lebanon to the Gulf and Egypt. Train bombings in Madrid and bus explosions in London, like the carnage in Iraq, are preferable, since they are enough to terrify and demoralize the Westerner but not quite enough to knock sense into him that only military resistance and victory will save his civilization. So the attacks will never quite be of such a stature to convince Western voters that one more such explosion will destroy their societies. The trick is instead to wage war insidiously, incrementally, and stealthily to avoid an overwhelming response. A cooling-off period in between 9/11 and 7/7 in which Western apologists, pacifists, and Islamist sympathizers go to work is essential for the terror to continue. Second, the denial of culpability is equally critical: a Syria, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia must always be able to profess that it deplores terrorism, and that to its knowledge no jihadists are in transit on its territory; bin Laden & co. are not in its country; and its royal family are not funding killers. Within Europe itself, a madrassa that indoctrinates directionless youth, or an imam who shouts hatred to his audience, must always simultaneously when called upon “condemn†terrorism, and then seek victimhood when the rare scrutiny of an outraged public nears. Finally Western self-loathing and guilt is essential: A fascist agenda of the jihadist — religious persecution, gender apartheid, racism, militarist autocracy, and xenophobia — all that must be embedded deeply within the postmodern landscape of the oppressed. A non-Christian and non-Western “other†can mask his venom only through victim status, grafting his cause to the same exploited groups that seek from Western society benefaction and compensation. Aims The jihadists expect that Westerners will slink out of the Middle East, allowing fascist fundamentalists to gain control of half the world’s oil and thus buy enough weapons to blackmail their way back to the caliphate. Destroying Israel, killing Christians in Africa, running Westerners out of the Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia, or Bali, all that is mere relish. In Europe, the goal for the unhinged is the creation of another al Andalus; for the more calculating it is enough intimidation and terror to carve out zones of Muslim sanctuary, where millions can live parasite-like, within the largess of Western society, but without its bothersome liberal agenda of freedom and equality, in hopes of implanting the universal law of sharia. So here we are. Even though the killers profess revenge equally for Afghanistan (the so-called “right†war), they expect Westerners to scream “Iraq.†Even though such bombings are predicated on infiltration, careful stealthy reconnaissance, and long sojourns within London, expect cries of anguish and worrying about the stereotyping of Middle Eastern males. Look for the same scripted crocodile tears and “concern†from the Middle East’s illegitimate leaders, even as much of the Islamic Street takes a secret delight in the daring of the jihadists, and the governments sense relief that the target was Westerners and not themselves. Anticipate Western leaders condemning the terrorists in the same breadth as they call for “eliminating poverty†and “bringing them to justice†— as if the jihadists and their patrons are mere wayward and impoverished felons. In the short term, Bush and Blair will appear as islands in the storm amid an angry and anguished public. But as 7/7 fades, as did 9/11, expect them to become even more unpopular, as the voices of appeasement assure us that if they just go away, maybe so will the terrorists. It is our task, each of us according to our station, to speak the truth to all these falsehoods, and remember that we did not inherit a wonderful civilization just to lose it to the Dark Ages. ©2005 Victor Davis Hanson POW!!!!! GET SUM!!!!!

July 08, 2005 The Same Old, Same Old . . . An anatomy of the London bombing. by Victor Davis Hanson National Review Online http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson070805.html The British may react very differently than the Spanish did after Madrid — by doing nothing rather than by retreating from Iraq. In the corrupt West these days, that is something. We all know the score of this war now in the near four years since September 11. The London bombings should remind us how the old tired game works. Causes Failed states in the Middle East — autocratic, statist, unfree, intolerant of women and other religions — blame the West for their self-inflicted miseries. Sometimes they are theocratic, like the late Taliban or the current Iranian mullahs. But more often they are dictatorial like the Syrians, Pakistanis, Saudis, or Egyptians, who all, in varying degrees and in lieu of reform, have come to accommodations with the terrorists to shift popular anguish onto the West and the Jews. That is the Petri dish of Islamic fascism, an evil that will only disappear when the dictatorships that allow it or nourish it do as well. Whether the jihadists are in Iraq, the United States, or Europe, they all share a sick notion that someone else (the decadent Western oppressor and unbeliever) is responsible for their own poverty and backwardness rather than the fundamentalism, corruption, bias, and intolerance endemic to the Middle East. Propaganda In WWII we didn’t care much whether in fighting Bushido some thought we were in a war against Buddhists. We weren’t, and that was enough. We knew the enemy were Nazis, not simply Germans, and didn’t froth and whine to prove that distinction. But not now. To criticize Islamic fascism is supposedly to be unfair to Islam, so we allow on our own shores mullahs and madrassas to spread hatred and intolerance, as part of our illiberal acceptance of “not offending Islam.†It is not that we don’t believe in Western values as much as we don’t even know what they are anymore. The London bombings were only a reification of what goes on daily with impunity blocks away in the mosques and Islamist schools of London. The enemy knows that and thrives on it. That refuge in religion is why imams shout that “Islam doesn’t condone such things†— even as bin Laden has become a folk hero on the Arab Street. Jihadists sense that even here at home more Americans are more concerned about a flushed Koran at Guantanamo Bay than five Americans fighting for the Iraqi jihadists or Taliban sympathizers in Lodi, California. As long as there is not any price to be paid for Islamism, either by governments abroad or purveyors of its hatred in the West, the propaganda works and the killing will go on. But when a renegade Saudi Prince, Pakistani general, London imam, or Lodi mosque leader screams out to the jihadist, “Stop that before those crazy Americans really do go to war,†the war, in fact, will be over and won. Methods Terror is the signature of the Islamist: hit, back off; hit, back off — hoping in a few years to erode the will and nerve of affluent and leisured Western countries. Bin Laden has so far only made one mistake: He took down the entire World Trade Center rather than the top floors, and had the misfortune of having George Bush as president. Thus he lost Afghanistan and ended up with democratic reform from Iraq and Lebanon to the Gulf and Egypt. Train bombings in Madrid and bus explosions in London, like the carnage in Iraq, are preferable, since they are enough to terrify and demoralize the Westerner but not quite enough to knock sense into him that only military resistance and victory will save his civilization. So the attacks will never quite be of such a stature to convince Western voters that one more such explosion will destroy their societies. The trick is instead to wage war insidiously, incrementally, and stealthily to avoid an overwhelming response. A cooling-off period in between 9/11 and 7/7 in which Western apologists, pacifists, and Islamist sympathizers go to work is essential for the terror to continue. Second, the denial of culpability is equally critical: a Syria, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia must always be able to profess that it deplores terrorism, and that to its knowledge no jihadists are in transit on its territory; bin Laden & co. are not in its country; and its royal family are not funding killers. Within Europe itself, a madrassa that indoctrinates directionless youth, or an imam who shouts hatred to his audience, must always simultaneously when called upon “condemn†terrorism, and then seek victimhood when the rare scrutiny of an outraged public nears. Finally Western self-loathing and guilt is essential: A fascist agenda of the jihadist — religious persecution, gender apartheid, racism, militarist autocracy, and xenophobia — all that must be embedded deeply within the postmodern landscape of the oppressed. A non-Christian and non-Western “other†can mask his venom only through victim status, grafting his cause to the same exploited groups that seek from Western society benefaction and compensation. Aims The jihadists expect that Westerners will slink out of the Middle East, allowing fascist fundamentalists to gain control of half the world’s oil and thus buy enough weapons to blackmail their way back to the caliphate. Destroying Israel, killing Christians in Africa, running Westerners out of the Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia, or Bali, all that is mere relish. In Europe, the goal for the unhinged is the creation of another al Andalus; for the more calculating it is enough intimidation and terror to carve out zones of Muslim sanctuary, where millions can live parasite-like, within the largess of Western society, but without its bothersome liberal agenda of freedom and equality, in hopes of implanting the universal law of sharia. So here we are. Even though the killers profess revenge equally for Afghanistan (the so-called “right†war), they expect Westerners to scream “Iraq.†Even though such bombings are predicated on infiltration, careful stealthy reconnaissance, and long sojourns within London, expect cries of anguish and worrying about the stereotyping of Middle Eastern males. Look for the same scripted crocodile tears and “concern†from the Middle East’s illegitimate leaders, even as much of the Islamic Street takes a secret delight in the daring of the jihadists, and the governments sense relief that the target was Westerners and not themselves. Anticipate Western leaders condemning the terrorists in the same breadth as they call for “eliminating poverty†and “bringing them to justice†— as if the jihadists and their patrons are mere wayward and impoverished felons. In the short term, Bush and Blair will appear as islands in the storm amid an angry and anguished public. But as 7/7 fades, as did 9/11, expect them to become even more unpopular, as the voices of appeasement assure us that if they just go away, maybe so will the terrorists. It is our task, each of us according to our station, to speak the truth to all these falsehoods, and remember that we did not inherit a wonderful civilization just to lose it to the Dark Ages. ©2005 Victor Davis Hanson POW!!!!! GET SUM!!!!!

I'm sure he doesn't need luck so I'll just wish him a good time.

Glad you had a good time Dave. We too found it to be a great night concidering the long weekend madness. Hope you'll join us again in the near future.

Happy B Day !

You too?

Russian Astrologer Sues NASA Over Comet http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050705/D8B578DG0.html Jul 5, 7:51 AM (ET) (AP) In this photo released by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory/University of Maryland, the Tempel 1 comet... Full Image MOSCOW (AP) - NASA's mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust - it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer. Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said. The probe's comet crash sent up a cloud of debris that scientists hope to examine to learn how the solar system was formed. Bai is seeking damages totaling 8.7 billion rubles ($300 million) - the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost - for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope." NASA representatives in Russia could not immediately be reached for comment. Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet's orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth.

Yeah T, I too wanted to pass by but ended up getting to the beach at 12:00am. Really glad to hear you guys had a good time (without me ). Spread the sounds.........bitchezezezez

Check out the pics and vids here: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html http://www.space.com/deepimpact/ Those who want 24/7 access to NASA'a press conferences: Right Click and Save Here Some pics:

83 million miles away from earth!

Drinks on Candy!

For those astronomy freaks like me. http://space.com/scienceastronomy/050701_deep_impact_web.html Watch Deep Impact's Comet Collision Via Webcast By Tariq Malik Staff Writer posted: 1 July 2005 7:00 a.m. ET You don’t have to be a scientist to grab a front row seat when the NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft bears down on a comet between July 3 and 4. Live webcasts of the event will be provided by NASA and several observatories, large and small, to offer skywatchers a digital view to the cometary collision. NASA’s Deep Impact mission is slated to crash an 820-pound (371-kilogram) Impactor probe into Comet Tempel 1 and record the event via a Flyby mothership, orbital observatories like the Hubble and Spitzer space telescope, and a myriad of ground-based telescopes from around the world. The impact is expected to take place at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) on July 4. Here’s a handy list to track Deep Impact’s progress on the web: NASA has arranged to webcast a series of press briefings leading up to Deep Impact’s crash day, and will provide live mission coverage between July 3 and 4 on NASA TV. Click here to access SPACE.com’s feed of NASA TV. A schedule of NASA TV broadcasts can be found here. The Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona will provide a live webcast of the collision beginning about an hour before the comet collision. Click here to tap into the webcast. In Bathurst, Australia, astronomers with the Charles Stuart University’s Remote Telescope will broadcast live Deep Impact observations from sunset to midnight local time. The remote telescope can be accessed here. Atop Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, the W.M. Keck Observatory will post near-real time images of Deep Impact’s Tempel 1 crash here as seen through a Celestron 11-inch CGE telescope. In Sonora, Mexico, the Carl Sagan Observatory will offer a live webcast in Spanish, and also contains some feature video on comets and the Deep Impact mission. Click here to visit the observatory’s webcast. Have a satellite television link? If so, you can listen in the European Space Agency’s pre-comet crash features on the Deep Impact mission, as well as a live broadcast of crash day itself, via ESA Television. Coordinates and programming information can be found by clicking here. While the above links are free to the public, the subscription service Slooh.com will also offer a live webcast Deep Impact’s comet crash. In addition to live webcasts, Deep Impact mission scientists have set up image cache where both professional and amateur astronomers can post their own observations of Comet Tempel 1.

and the ending sucks IMO they could have gone into more details.

Saw it! Didn't like it.

another fine production by the O crew !!!!! Peace, OBBY

and that's why most of my vinyl's come from their! We share the same opinion Orisha.

DP (made you look)

is it me or liberals have finally found a group of people in Cuba whom they think deserve to be rescued? How sad!