Have been busy with work & life lately… Just got this from a friend – yet more proof that American goodwill brings nothing but more hatred. They say feed them, shelter them, die for them and they will love you… Isn’t that what happened in Kuwait? Iraq? Somolia? Afghanistan?
Recently the tune has been slightly changed to “talk to them and ye shall prosper together”… One wonders how such ideas garner any support when the enemy is speaking quite plainly on their views of “talk”. Listen to what this man says about dialogue, what part of the “Koran forbids it” didn’t you understand?! He is echoing the openly-stated sentiments of the terror groups he supports. The same views make up a prominent part of the Hamas Charter & Hezbollah’s continued beligerence.
Those that protest on behalf of these monsters and those that believe “foreign policy” is to blame I remind you that when this man talks of corpses he talks of your rotting flesh alongside mine.
Wingless rarely posts full articles without commenting or contributing our own original content. Reason being is that there are already enough “link-to-” blogs. Today I read a post by Jonathan Kay and was thoroughly impressed. As usual, this Canadian Writer hit it on the head.
For those not familiar with “Israel Apartheid Week”, let me explain: every year kaffeya clad Pal-Sympathizers & totally clueless victims of Far Left brainwashing (an epidemic in Canadian Universities) get together to bash everything Israeli, and some things Jewish while filling the air with their favorite rheotrical yipyap. In recent years, they have been getting more beligerent and violent & there is nearly always a great deal of noise, intimidation (of Jewish students), broken windows and violence.
I can tell you from experience that the vast majority at these terrorist sympathizers have little to no idea that which they are protesting. I’ve visited York and challenged several of these “celebrators” covertly (and not covertly when I was young and dumb 2-3 years back :-~), they will declare that Palestine was a country, that Hamas aids its people, that Israeli Arabs are 2nd class citizens, that Jerusalem has “belonged to Arabs for generations” (not in my history books), that Jews own the world (wishful thinking?), and that the Arabs and the MidEast was doing just fine before the Jew came.
Did I mention this mess takes place on most University campuses throughout Canada? Yes, coast to coast on the largest nation on Earth (and we have so so so many campuses). York University alone has over 50,000 students.
Without further ado: Anti-Semitism, then and now
Jew hatred, once a creature of the extreme right, now has been embraced by the fashionable left
Jonathan Kay
People speak of anti-Semitism as if it were a monolithic evil. But it’s not. There are two distinct strains of Jew hatred. Unfortunately, our society is still fixated on fighting the one that went out of style four decades ago.
The difference between the two begins with the way Jews are depicted. Look at the images on this page. The one on the left, a poster published in German-occupied Poland in 1941, exemplifies the Jew-hatred spouted by the Nazis. (The caption reads: “Jews and Lice: They cause typhus.”) The image on the right, a poster circulated on Canadian campuses this week to mark “Israel Apartheid Week,” typifies the more recent variant.
Aside from the obvious — the language and style of illustration — what crucial difference do you notice?
In the Nazi poster, the Jew is a piece of filth — a rogue pathogen within gentile society. The image perfectly captures Hitler’s view of Jews as a “bacillus infecting the life of peoples.”
Now look at the image on the right. Aside from retaining the general sense that the Jew (or, to give the fig leaf its due, “the Jewish state”) is a scourge upon the world, everything has changed. The Jew is no longer diseased and wretched. Just the opposite: He is an omnipotent, teched-up superman, murdering a defenceless Palestinian child from above.
In this latter detail — the use of a child victim to communicate the extent of the Jew’s evil — the anti-Israeli propaganda of today is similar to the posters and textbooks of the Nazi era, which often showed shadowy Hebrews menacing German children. But the Nazis usually took care to personalize the Jew as a craggy, hook-nosed ghoul — an image meant to further the idea that Jews were so genetically inferior as to be literally inhuman.
Aside from editorial cartoonists in the Arab world (many of whom faithfully copy Nazi-era stereotypes to this day), anti-Semitic propagandists of our own age typically omit the Jew’s features altogether in favour of a faceless, Star-of-Zion-emblazoned tank or helicopter. As in the Nazi era, the Jew isn’t fully human — but now he’s an all-powerful Nazgul instead of a pitiful Gollum.
What explains this radical transition in the presentation of anti-Semitic propaganda? Three factors.
The first is ideology: When the Nazis went down to defeat, they took with them the intellectual basis of “germ-theory” anti-Semitism — the toxic notion that certain races or groups are genetically inferior or parasitical. In our era, to compare Jews to leeches is to announce oneself as a bigoted creature from society’s discredited fringe.
The second reason is tied up with the history of Israel itself: After the Jews established their own state in 1948, it became impossible to typecast them as mere parasites contaminating foreign hosts. This was especially true after the Six-Day War of 1967, in which Israel scored a crushing military victory against Egypt, Jordan and Syria — not the sort of manoeuvre you’d expect from typhus-stricken old men.
The third reason is political: The leaders who find anti-Semitism useful today aren’t extreme nationalists such as Hitler, Stalin or Mussolini (though Hugo Chavez admittedly has been wandering into that territory). Instead, they are radical Muslims — and their allies in Western activist groups, who speak the tropes of anti-colonialism, anti-imperialism, anti-
Americanism, anti-racism and all the other fashionable antis.
In this left-wing intellectual climate, disparaging any race or religion per se is off limits. The preferred tactic is to disparage the allegedly colonial, imperialist, racist nature of their actions.
In keeping with our society’s obsession with victimhood, the propaganda strategy against Israel now is entirely passive aggressive. While the Nazis loved to dwell on the virility and superhuman indomitability of Aryans, the Jews’ enemies now are represented in propaganda by five-year-olds carrying teddy bears. (For more in this vein, watch the 60-second promotional movie on apartheidweek.org,in which you will see a cartoon mock-up of Gaza’s population that contains no men of military age — just a bunch of sorrowful kids, mommies and granddads.) The moral dimension of the conflict — terrorism versus counter-terrorism, a society seeking peace versus one that seems addicted to war — has been replaced by a sentimental Marxist-inspired tale of the virtuous oppressed rising up against an evil oppressor.
Broadly speaking, in other words, the locus of anti-Semitism has moved almost entirely from the right side of the political spectrum to the left. Here in Canada, you still do see a few isolated anti-Semites of the Nazi persuasion here and there — David Ahenakew is one rare example. But for the most part, the neo-Nazi movement is confined to a few self-parodic Internet chat rooms (many of whose members, we’ve learned in recent years, are actually bored human-rights bureaucrats looking to stir up hate-speech charges).
These days, the hatemongers targeting Jews’ right to live peacefully spout the mantras of “social justice” and “peace studies,” not racial purity. Their movement is dominated by the sort of leftists and minority activists whom the Nazis (neo or otherwise) would have up against the wall in a heartbeat if they had the chance. (Running down through the published list of 11 speakers at the University of Toronto’s Israel Apartheid Week, for instance, you will find no fewer than three Canadian aboriginal activists. Who knew these people were such experts on the Middle East?)
It also must be admitted that the anti-Semitism of today is a lot more subtle than the old-fashioned variety: Except in clear cases of blood libel such as the IAH poster, it’s often hard to tell where legitimate criticism of Israel ends and Jew-hatred begins. As a result, Jews themselves — middle-aged university professors and career feminists, most typically — are often drawn into radicalized campaigns against Israel, and sometimes even can be seen marching gullibly arm-in-arm with kafiyah-clad protesters chanting for Jewish blood in Arabic.
It’s a disgusting spectacle, especially when you hear their maudlin rhetoric — “massacre,” “crime against humanity,” “genocide,” “holocaust.” If these words may be applied to the unintentional killing of several hundred Gazans during a counterterrorist operation, how does one describe the wholesale slaughter of tens or hundreds of thousands in places such as Chechnya and Darfur? (”Megamassacre”? “Giga-genocide”?)
You don’t have to be anti-Semitic to pervert language or logic in this way, but it certainly helps. And I can see why many of my correspondents want universities to ban Israel Apartheid Week, or at least the most vicious IAW propaganda.
Though I personally don’t care much for censorship, one might even think that this is the sort of issue in which our country’s human rights commissions (last seen defending a Muslim woman’s right to appear masked in court) might take an interest. But you’d be wrong.
Our entire human rights establishment was built in the 1960s and 1970s on the assumption that anti-Semitism would always be a creature of the extreme right. And to this day, the dinosaurs who run the nation’s HRCs — along with their allies in the identity politics industry — persist in the ridiculous notion that the main threat to Jews emanates from drunken old fossils like Ahenakew or the eight unemployed hamburger-flippers who get together in Calgary every year to exchange badly rehearsed Hitler salutes.
They treasure this conceit for an obvious self-serving reason: Vilifying Nazis is easy. Taking on politically correct Muslims and campus lefties on parade is hard. Anti-Semitism thrives when lazy people look the other way. That much, at least, hasn’t changed.
As economists paint an ever-grimmer picture of the state of the American economy; while bailout figures surpass the unimaginable; as more & more industries are wiped out by this disaster; and of course, as levels of unemployment & social assistance rise & rise……..AMERICA HAS PLEDGED ALMOST 1 BILLION DOLLARS TO HELP “REBUILD GAZA”!
ABSURD REASONING
The stated reasons are almost as odd the pledge itself. This money is supposed to raise the popularity & “strengthen” Mahmoud Abbas while at the same time helping to “rebuild Gaza”… How this money “strengthens” Abbas (or why the US would want to) has me scatching my head.
Neither Abbas, nor any member, affiliate, or colleague of the PA has been able to set foot in Gaza for several years. After being chased out by the forces of Hamas, entering Gaza would be a death sentence. Even distant colleagues or family members of those ‘friendly with the PA’ are in constant danger.
Those that stayed in Gaza are under constant scrutiny and danger. Their weddings have been interrupted by gunmen who fire indiscrimately into crowds, they have been shot in the street, they by armed Hamas gunmen who don’t think twice about firing indiscriminately into a crowd of civilians.
DEVOID OF ALL LOGIC
Beyond the odd reasoning presented by the Obama Administration such a decision is absolutely devoid of logic, not to mention morality & a clear analysis of it’s negative affects!
The US claims the money will not be handed over by Hamas but instead given & then administered by the UN! THE UN?! The same UN that has allowed its schools & bases to be used by Hamas to fire rockets from, at the same time as civilians are using it as a santuary? The same organization that has allowed it’s UNWRA organization to be infiltrated by known Hamas operatives? The same organization that declared the Gaza situation “DIRE” while at the same time standing by idly as Hamas attacked & robbed UN supply convoys filled with aid for civilians!? The same organization that gives voting rights, not to mention seats on the Security Council to such human rights champions as Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, & the UAE?!
UNDEMOCRATIC, AIDS IN INVALIDATING THE “WAR ON TERROR” AND AIDS IN HAMAS’ REIGN OF TERROR AGAINST ITS OWN PEOPLE (not to mention Israel)
We expected Obama to bring in some “Change” from the Bush administration but I would not have guessed he would undermine longtime policies of not funding or in any way negotiating with terrorism. Furthermore, I am quite perplexed that the USA would grant this much money to an undemocratic (they pushed the Palestinian President & his party in a bloody coup d’etat), violent and downright careless group.
Hamas is in a league of it’s own when it comes to mass child-abuse. They use multiple media forms to target children. From a televised Mickey Mouse character that teaches children the Jews are inherently vile & dishonest, a Bee mascot that toddlers idolized before the producers told them their beloved Nahul the Bee died due to his ambulance being stopped by Israel, to the most recent “anti-Jewish educator for toddlers”: Assud the Rabbit… Hamas television also proudly presents the product of this “education”. Children as young as 3 identify Jews as “the eternal enemy of Islam”, they say they “want to kill Jews and commit Shehade when they are 18″ as hosts & parents encourage them and tell them “they are good Muslims”
Hamas targets anything and anybody that does not present the group as a benevolent force of sugar, spice and everything nice. This includes any member of the Press, anyone even remotely linked to the PA/Fatah, any large ‘clan’ whose numbers could one day threaten them, and of course – all Christians or those that do not practice their form of Islam (from uncovered women, to different forms of Islam)
Masked Hamas gunmen (masked Hamas gunmen? what other kind is there?) nabbed Sawah Abu Saif from his Gaza home last Saturday during a mass weekend roundup of alleged activists of the rival Fatah movement… the [German] broadcaster [that employs Saif] said the 42-year-old man had been tortured during his five days in detention. “We now need to consider carefully how further news coverage from Gaza can be assured, given that Hamas is in such obvious contempt of the freedom of press.”
Other victims of Hamas “purification campaign” include the Hilles clan, who were saved by Israel after Hamas targetted them:
Hamas has been busy capturing and intimidating the members of this Fatah aligned family. This treasonous group needed to be dealt with quickly for they were obviously guilty of the vicious crime of ‘disagreeing with the regime’. At least 9 people have died and more than 90 people injured because of the “police action”.
The Hilles clan saw the writing on the wall & realizes that Hamas enforcement is much more ‘direct’ & permanent (death is forever) than Israel’s so opted to flee.
The Hilles Clan saved by the Great Satan… I wonder, if the tables were turned…
“Great Satan” to the rescue! Israel opened it’s hermetic seal on the Gaza Strip and saved the Hilles clan in an act of defiance against the Hamas government. They allowed over a hundred of the Hilles clan to enter Israel, then bussed them to the other Palestinian State, “Lesser Palestine”, aka Fatahstan.
Hamas has also used IDF incursions as cover & excuse for murdering these people. Over 125 people that Hamas claimed “were killed by Israel” in the recent Gaza incursion are likely victims of the Islamist group who has just about admitted to their role in the murders. Their bodies contained bullets and/or shrapnel from weapons Israel does not use, but Hamas does.
With this type of record, why would the USA send any money their way. This group is the archtype of everything America stands against. They violate freedom of the press, religion, association, & assembly. They brainwash and abuse children, ensuring future generations of terrorists. They are undemocratic, initiating a violent coup d’etat that was essentially a takeover & occupation of Gaza. They have recieved billions over the years but have yet to build anything signifigant for its people; most of the funds – donated for civilian development have shamelessly misappropriated. Hamas makes no secret that it has begun to institute Sharia Law. And they target their own civilians daily, detaining & executing without any cause or judicial review.
As Americans die on the front-lines in the War on Terror, one has to wonder how the soldiers feel when their commander in chief funds a bailout for a group that shares idealogy, funds & weapons with those that target them and their families on the American mainland.
Even if Hamas lived up to it’s delusional view of itself as sugar & spice – I would have to question why the USA would send funds their way. With its current economic woes deepening it’s in no position to be dolling out funds to anyone. If this is Obama’s idea of “mending fences” he’s far more naive that I’ve given him credit for. How a man who presents himself as a force of “positive change” can fund a child abusing, civilian killing, undemocratic, right-denying, region destabilizng, human shield forcing terror force defies all logic.
A terrorist or genocidal regime does not change when it’s strengthend by an influx of cash… It simply becomes a richer, and more capable genocidal terrorist group.
I feel really naive today! I was sure that after worldwide media coverage AND especialy after sponsors had pulled funds & TV contracts fizzled that Shahar Peer would be allowed into the UAE. After all – the UAE is a country that seems to be moving away from oil and staking its future on International tourism. They’ve been advertising worldwide & have poured unfathomable amounts into Dubia… Then again, judging by much of the world’s silence it seems the Jews must fend for themselves. Amnesty? B’tselem? Human Rights Watch? Anti-racism groupts? ACLU? UN? ANYONE?!
The UAE is taking a media battering over its decision to ban Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer. And the Dubai tournament at the heart of the matter isn’t doing too great, either. First, Tennis Channel pulled the plug on international broadcasts in disgust for Peer’s treatment. Then, Wall Street Journal Europe yanked its sponsorship, along with a special tennis-themed advertising section it had planned.
Most interestingly, the WSJ said it was motivated to act because the affair contradicts the paper’s editorial policies. “The Wall Street Journal’s editorial philosophy is free markets and free people, and this action runs counter to the Journal’s editorial direction,” the paper said in a statement.
In an op-ed in yesterday’s paper, the WSJ keep up the pressure, rejecting UAE’s claim that security (Peer’s, that is) and not politics was the primary motivation for keeping the country Jew-free:
Oh, wait: Dubai already forbids Israeli passport holders from setting foot on its soil. Which gives the lie to the emirate’s excuse for excluding Israel’s Shahar Peer, currently ranked 45 in the world, from competing in next week’s Barclay’s Dubai Tennis Championships. In another twist, the tournament’s director added that Ms. Peer’s presence on the court might have “antagonized our fans.” We used to feel that way about John McEnroe, but that didn’t stop us from watching.
With this kind of high-profile discrimination taking place, one can’t help but wonder where the boycott folks have gone. I remember protest movements proclaiming “no one is free unless everyone is free.” Unless you hold an Israeli passport, apparently.
A quiet corner of Sweden became a microcosm of the Middle-East as a peaceful pro-Israeli rally was terrorized by a mob that fired rockets & threw pipe bombs at the demonstrators.
Far from the actions of an isolated fanatic, the entire mob erupted in cheers & calls of Allah Akbar as the weapons exploded near the peaceful rally. It seems solidarity with “Palestinians” has taken yet another ugly turn. As if excusing the barbarism of Hamas (against both Israelis & fellow Arabs) was not enough, supports are now employing the same terror tactics favored by the group.
I took my time posting this to give the more “mainstream moderate Palestinian supporters” a chance to condemn these actions & distance themselves from this group… As they say: The Silence was deafening
Post continues below this video of the event:
Very telling is the “police” action, or lack thereof. Although the man who taped this piece said police later arrested the perpetrators, the video shows officers that seem completely indifferent to this type of violence. The officer in front of the mob doesn’t even flinch as the weapon is produced, aimed and fired in broad daylight!
The brave eyewitness who captured this video reported that this was not an isolated incident. He also noted how the media in Sweden covered this event. It seems the major Swedish daily practices the same type of “fair reporting” one sees in much of the world (note: the site of the newspaper cited is in Swedish-only so we had a hard time verifying):
The largest newspaper in the south, Sydsvenskan, did what the usually do and distort and bend the truth. The article title was “Several arrested during Israel manifestation”. Thats pretty odd. The only ones arrested was the arabs, so the titel should have been “Counterdemonstrators arrested during Israel manifestation” or something like that. (how about: Peaceful Israeli demonstration bombed by Mob? or: Hamas supporters recreate Sderot at peaceful protest?)
They continue and write that The expected violence did not occur. Was the reporters from Sydsvenskan not there when two rockets [and] two bombs exploded? If that’s not violence, what is? The paper also first reported that the pro-israelis numbered at 200 and the arabs about 400, which is a lie. They than later changed those number to 400 pro-israelis and 200-300 pro-arabs. (sic)
Protests in Europe have gotten more & more outrageous over the past few years. In the name of ‘tolerance’ everything is allowed – even the most violent forms of intolerance. It is not uncommon to witness massive parades coming down major streets where hundreds of Hezbollah & Hamas flags are waved. Because of political correctness, or perhaps because the “silent majority” is ignorant to the fact that such groups advocate the death of a great portion of the European population – such events go unchallenged.
As expected appeasement has only lead to further escalation. The genocidal worldview of some of these “protestor’s” is no longer even sugar-coated as evidenced by the disgusting placards that have been flaunted, not to mention flag burning & intimidation. And now we are seeing violence & weapons – and it will only get worse.
It’s high time the silent majority confronts a minority that is attempting to undermine everything the West stands for. I am a big proponent of free-speech but even if I were not, I do not think censorship is the answer to the disintegration of the European backbone!
People seem too afraid, too disinterested or too stuck in “appeasement” mode to confront this existential threat to Western mores & values. Could it be they believe they are being “tolerant” when they allow intolerance to flourish? Even tolerance has limits for without them it’s analogous to anarchy.
In other words: Being tolerant does not mean one allows intolerance to go unchallenged.
UPDATE: In case you thought these were “just” fireworks, here is a better picture of the rocket hitting a building. Had this hit the rally, which was clearly the intent, fatalities or serious injuries would have been the result… AGAIN: If the majority of “Palestinian” sympathizers are “peaceful moderates” where is the outcry over the violent hijacking of “their issue”… Heck, where are the moderate Europeans? Or has bombing peaceful rallies in broad daylight the new face of ‘refined European culture’?! OUTRAGEOUS!
Bravo to the blogger who taped this and showed it to the world.
It seems Wal-Mart cannot account for 15,800 ”glow in the dark” exit signs. Not any “glow-in-dark-signs” but the radioactive kind! Made of a by-product from Nuclear Reactors called tritium, they have the potential to cause alot of harm.
If tritium is ingested, for example, by a child who breaks a sign with a hockey stick, it’s much more potent. If only 5 per cent of the tritium in a large exit sign is ingested, it would be equivalent to 208 years of natural background radiation, according to a report from the Product Stewardship Institute at the University of Massachusetts.
Even more alarming are the circumstances of this loss. As Wal-Mart auditted individual stores, it found more and more of the same. The audit eventually spread coast to coast, and last month Wal-Mart disclosed that 20% of it’s total radioactive sign inventory is missing! The geographic spread indicates that this was not a one-time error or theft. We are not talking of one large lot that has mysteriously gone missing. This raises the chances of a coordinated effort, one that purposely sacrificed speed in favor of concealment; that is, it would have been far easier to steal a truckload of signs but this would have immediately alerted authorities.
Security experts are alarmed for not only is tritium gas deadly (vs. radioactive materials found in other household items) it’s almost tailor made for a dirty bomb. And I’m not talking of the “ghetto dirty bomb”, a conventional explosion with radioactive traces added for the purpose of increasing the “shock value” & “fear factor”. A tritium gas laced bomb would actually increase deaths.
“The problem is that because it’s hydrogen it can actually become part of your body,” says Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace Canada. “The radiation doesn’t emit far, but when it actually becomes part of your cell it’s right next to your DNA.”
And what about exposure from thousands of signs dumped near a source of drinking water, or packed with explosives in the back of a truck that has been driven into a crowded building?
“I’m sure thousands of them would create a credible dirty bomb,” says Norm Rubin, director of nuclear research at Energy Probe in Toronto. “Most experts think the main purpose of a dirty bomb is to cause panic, disruption and expensive cleanup rather than lots of dead bodies. A bunch of tritium, especially if oxidized in an explosion, would probably do that job fine.”
And it gets worse!!! AS IF 15,800 missing radioactive components isn’t scary enough – their maker – Canadian SRB Technologies has sold almost 5x that amount to everyones favorite theocracy:
Tritium is also a component in nuclear warheads. In 2005, SRB Technologies got permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to export 70,000 of its tritium exit signs to Iran. Foreign Affairs Canada blasted the regulator for allowing shipment to a country that’s attempting to develop weapons of mass destruction. The shipment went through.
As a Canadian citizen & resident I wish I can say I was surprised but this is hardly news. For years our country seems to be more interested in selling Candu reactors & the materials required to run them & their by products than with the security of the civilized world. Wal-Mart Canada didn’t even have to do an inventory as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission only requires that such items be marked radioactive (no licensing, auditting or listing required!). That’s right – no centralized list, no licensing, auditting or listing required! We know almost 16,000 such signs are missing from Wal-Mart in the USA, but there is no way to tell how many such signs have gone missing or have been sold directly too nefarious organizations in Canada!
Stensil of Greenpeace said it’s a strange way for a government to treat a radioactive device, but he’s not surprised. He said the federal government has always had lax rules when it comes to tritium, partly because Canada, through its Candu nuclear plants, is one of the biggest producers of the substance in the world.
$490 a month in food stamps to feed, cloth & provide for 14 young children!
It is an especially bleak portrait of struggle, a grim picture indeed. But this is not a story of a family that has fallen upon hard times. Far from it.
The steps required to arrive at these circumstances were meticulously planned & carefully timed. They required incredible effort & intervention – believe it or not – 14 young children brought into this world with neither care nor regard – was…is…by design.
By now everyone will have heard of the “octuplets” – but the world’s ‘awe’ has faded to disbelief as it was revealed that the ‘miracle mother’ already has 6 children. AND not just 6 children, that’s 6 children under the age of 7! AND it gets worse – these 6 children are now in the care of the grandmother, who claims the mother already has a hard time providing for them!
The Mother
As the story progresses more and more evidence is shining a not-so-positive light on this mother and her ability to care for this many children. I would argue that even a happily married millionaire would have a hard time caring for 16 children under the age of 7; with 8 of these children requiring regular diaper changes, feedings, not to mention their conflicting sleep patterns! Of course, I am not making light of the situation, this woman is clearly lacking in judgement skills (I’m feeling polite tonight ) & her children will likely be the ultimate victims once the 15 minutes of fame is over.
As most already realize – having 8 babies at once is neither act of G*d nor freak of nature – it took human ingenuity & careless disregard to make this happen. Like most multiple-multiple-multiple births, this one was initiated by in-vitro fertilization. Say what you will about the mother — armchair psychologists have diagnosed everything from Münchausen syndrome by proxy to just plain stupidity (the jury is still out) — I’m reserving the bulk of my ’displeasure’ for the so-called medical-professionals that made this happen!
The Doctor
The doctor responsible for this woman’s most recent litter is the same doctor responsible for her other 6 children. Not only did he go against established medical standards this time, he did so for all 6 of her pregnancies! Instead of the recommended maximum of 3, he implanted 6 embryos each time. This establishes a pattern of repeatedly breaching medical guidelines. One wonders how many other women he has attempted to “bless” with the “gift” of 8 hungry mouths, 8 simultaneous dirty diapers, 8 different sleep patterns.
Besides breaching medical standards, this doctor has clearly breached his Hippocratic Oath of “do not harm”. As the human body has not evolved (or designed ) to carry 8 simultaneous fetuses to term, he put the woman under extreme strain & risk. And few would dispute the fact that he harmed the babies, for it’s established that the more births carried at once, the higher the chances of life altering or life taking complications. In fairness to the medical professional(s) – there have been reports that the woman was counseled on the options of terminating some of the pregnancies early on but refused.
Still, my main qualm with the medical professionals is not that of medical malfeasance. I am far more troubled by the total lack discretion. How was a woman who already required assistance in caring for her 6 children — able to so lackadaisically get medical assistance in creating 8 more hungry mouths? For myself, this is the most striking aspect of this story – it raises several fascinating ethical & philosophical questions.
Ethical & Moral Conundrums
A woman walks into a doctor’s office and asks to be “made pregnant”… Beyond the transfer of large sums of money & a physical examination are there no other prerequisites to assisted pregnancy? Should there be? How would one decide who to grant & who to deny the ability to reproduce? All extremely difficult questions, ones I do not claim to be able to answer.
There is no questionnaire, no audit, or licensing procedure that qualifies people to ‘make babies’ (unless they are of the canine species). There is nothing (outside of China) that forbids healthy adults from bringing life into this world. The question thus becomes a moral/ethical dilemma: is it right to audit or qualify people who require a doctors assistance to get pregnant when the rest of the world can just make a baby with no questions asked?
If we hold the doctor responsible for this fertilization then do we also reprimand doctors who don’t counsel those on welfare or are unemployed against having babies?
What of doctors who aid or encourage those with a high likelihood of passing a genetic disease onto their progeny?
What of those that aid in the pregnancies of the mentally ill? the physically disabled? the mentally challenged?…the unwed?
Still, should a doctor be denied the right to refuse a woman that treats life like a cheap commodity?
Does a doctor not have a duty to discourage lives created for the sole purpose of sale & the enduring of unimaginable abuse?
As Israel allows aid meant for an enemy population to land at its airport and coordinates its transfer along its roads and borders into Gaza… Hamas is busy stealing the blankets and food meant for its people!
Hamas policemen have seized thousands of blankets and food parcels that were meant to be distributed to Palestinian civilians in Gaza, UN officials say.
A UN spokesman said policemen raided a UN warehouse on Tuesday after officials refused to hand over the aid to a Hamas-controlled ministry.
The UN aid agency in Gaza says it has suspended all aid shipments, accusing the Hamas government of seizing hundreds of tonnes of food supplies.
Ten lorries carrying flour and rice were taken from the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom crossing, the UN’s Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) said.
Hamas admitted a “mistake” had been made [Wingless adds: ya, the mistake was that they got caught!] and says it will return the goods.
But Unrwa says deliveries will not restart until it has assurances that such seizures will not happen again.
This disgusting behaviour is nothing new for Hamas. This is the same organization that has done nothing to improve the lives of the population in Gaza. Even though the area has been Jew free for years Hamas has squandered billions in aid on rockets & weapons while the population must rely on infrastructure built by Israel , electricity provided by Israel & clean water provided by Israel. This is the same organization that took advantage of cease-fire talks with Egypt in order to smuggle in millions of dollars into their coffers.
On a side-note, take a look at the “interesting use of quotations” by the BBC when reporting this story:
Hamas Police‘seize aid for Gaza‘and UN halts Gaza aid over ‘thefts‘… Is there something controversial here? Hamas gunmen demanded aid, raided aid trucks, and broke into an aid warehouse. They stole food and other provisions meant for the people of Gaza! Pretty Straight Forward isn’t it?! Why the quotes?!
Another blow has been dealt to the forces of destruction & despotism in the Middle East… not to mention those that would declare Iraq a failure & abandon it hastily!
Not only has Iraq had another successful election, it’s people have dealt a blow to Islamists by rejecting their parties & voting in an American ‘ally’.
Supreme Iraqi Election Board sources have said that after 90% of votes were counted, it was clear that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki’s Law and Order list had taken nine of 14 provinces, including Baghdad, Basra, and Najaf, and that in the other five provinces other lists won.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki rode a nationalist, law-and-order message to a decisive victory over the Shi’ite religious parties who previously dominated Iraq, preliminary election results showed on Thursday.
…A group backed by Shi’ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr placed second in Baghdad with just 9 percent of the vote. In Basra, ISCI placed second with 11.6 percent.
Several observers have commented that Al-Maliki ran a “Western Style” campaign, favoring issues of law & order over religious rheotric. And he wasn’t the only one who benefitted from this tactic…
[Al-Maliki] campaigned with virtually no reference to religion, a tactic that seemed to appeal to voters exhausted by years of sectarian warfare.
Secularist and independent parties also fared well across Iraq, the results showed, after being largely swamped by religious parties in the last election in 2005.
By contrast, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (ISCI) — until now Iraq’s dominant Shi’a party — relied on religious images and slogans extensively throughout in its campaign, and did not win a single province.
A successful, relatively peaceful election; a rejection of Islamist parties; the victory of a secular, law & order, American-’ally’ – IT IS A GOOD DAY!
I am awaiting a comment from the Bush bashers – or will they give Obama the credit .
This is yet another indication of the nation’s rehabilitation & positive progress. It means that millions of Iraqis are on the path to self-determination & freedom. These developments are a testament to George W. Bush, who remained steadfast despite the loss of prestige and popularity.
Had Democrats had their way and forced a premature retreat (they still might), then many of the Iraqis experiencing Democracy for the first time would instead be fighting for their lives. The last time America retreated prematurely, it did itself great deal of harm by abandoning those that heeded its call to rise up. These brave Shias & Kurds, along with their entire families were slaughtered by Saddam’s Mukabarat. It’s their remains that make up the mass ‘bone yards’ of Al-Mahawil.
A premature withdrawal this time would be far worse as it would endanger the great progress that has been made in that country. Such an act would not serve the best interests of Iraqis or Iraq’s fragile young democracy; it would dishonor the sacrifice made by Iraqi & American military & political branches; it would destabilize the region by creating a ‘hot zone’, not to mention taking away a great deterrent to Iran (the American army next door).
Long Live Democracy! Long Live a Free Secular Iraq!
There must be something in that European Air! Belgium has announced it’s government has agreed to no longer sell weapons to the IDF! Not to be outdone, a Brussels research group has accused Israel of utilizing “child soldiers”.
[The report] accuses Israel of human rights violations… Quoting a 2003 amendment to Belgian law which forbids the sale of weapons to armies with child soldiers, the report says that Israel “accepts and arms underage volunteers.” Further on, the report mentions “use of underage Palestinians as informants and sometimes human shields.”
…Israel is the fourth largest importer of Belgian arms in the Middle East. In 2007, Belgium sold Israel weapons (mostly light firearms) to the tune of $5,409,223. Haaretz
If Beligum would end trade with its fourth largest partner for mearly defending itself, one wonders which champions of human rights make up it’s top 3! Switzerland? Sweden? Maybe Canada? Nope!
Belgium’s #2 & #3 trading partners are noted human rights violators & dictatorships of Jordan (the Hashemite Kingdom of Palestine) & the United Arab Emirates! But who is numero uno? I will give you a hint:
Belgium’s #1 trading partner is none other thanSaudi Arabia!
It seems Belgium is ok with public beheadings; floggings; torture; corrupt courts; female circumcision; forbidding women from driving or leaving home unescorted & barring them from occupations; discrimination & attack on homosexuals; victimization & persecution of female rape victims; preventing of non-Muslims from setting foot in Mecca; the indoctrination of children; funding of worldwide terror; misappropriation of national resources & funds; not to mention a brutal dictatorship (did I miss anything?)
I will not address the absurd claims of human rights violations as I have responded to them extensively in the past. I will make an observation however: have you ever noticed how those that level accusations of ‘human rights’ & ‘international law’ violations will rarely elaborate on which specific laws or rights have been broken?
As for the claims of utilizing “child soldiers” – VERY ORIGINAL – but also very easily refuted with the facts:
The Israeli Defense Forces’ Gadna program runs a one-week military training session on a base as part of the curriculum at most Israeli high schools. The army accepts volunteers from the age of 17 into non-combat posts.
As of this post I have yet to hear of any signifigant backlash regarding this decision. It seems Belgium’s feminists, human rights advocates, & defenders of democracy have something in common with the rest of the world’s leftist organizations – they are ok with blatant human rights violations so long as they are Arab on Arab; t’seems they are more concerned with ensuring the Jews ‘know their place’ than with ending persecution & bloodshed.
) & her children will likely be the ultimate victims once the 15 minutes of fame is over.
) to carry 8 simultaneous fetuses to term, he put the woman under extreme strain & risk. And few would dispute the fact that he harmed the babies, for it’s established that the more births carried at once, the higher the chances of life altering or life taking complications. In fairness to the medical professional(s) – there have been reports that the woman was counseled on the options of terminating some of the pregnancies early on but refused.
Is there something controversial here? Hamas gunmen demanded aid, raided aid trucks, and broke into an aid warehouse. They stole food and other provisions meant for the people of Gaza! Pretty Straight Forward isn’t it?! Why the quotes?!
