Firm grip.

At any rate, the Abu Sayaf spent the afternoon burning people alive, blowing open all the bank vaults and generally murdering and pillaging [in Zamboanga del Sur province, the Philippines].

And so it was . . . that I was somewhat amused to hear my seatmate on the plane, a doctor from Medicins Sans Frontiere, confidently declare to me that he would be protected by humanitarian law when he reached Jolo. I told him if he went much beyond town he’d be kidnapped before he could say Jacques Robinson, which he was. You really have to be well educated to believe that stuff about the “religion of peace”.

"Wild, wild east." By Richard Fernandez, Belmont Club, 11/24/09.

Intellectual dishonesty and stupidity.

Finally, the [House and Senate health care “reform”] bills are fiscally dishonest, using every budget gimmick and trick in the book: Leave out inconvenient spending, back-load spending to disguise the true scale, front-load tax revenues, let inflation push up tax revenues, promise spending cuts to doctors and hospitals that have no record of materializing, and so on.

* * * *

In short, any combination of what is moving through Congress is economically dangerous and invites the rapid acceleration of a debt crisis. It is a dramatic statement to financial markets that the federal government does not understand that it must get its fiscal house in order.

Mr. Holtz-Eakin , former director of the Congressional Budget Office, concludes by arguing that responsible conduct

will avert a potentially devastating credit crisis, increase national savings, drive productivity and wage growth, and enhance our international competitiveness.

Let’s see . . . . Which way should we go? Little Rascals on Meth Excellent Health Care Socialist Adventure or . . . kick ass action to set our house in order?

For administration and congressional leftists in the grip of a life-long redistributionist, foul-the-nest frenzy, it’s a closer call than you think.

What part of "disaster" don't they understand?

"The Coming Deficit Disaster." By Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Wall Street Journal, 11/20/09 (emphasis added).

Other than that, it’s fanTAStic.

The Muslim is subservient to Sharia; the woman is subservient to the man; Dhimmis and slaves are subservient to Muslims. As for Infidels, Islam does not even give them the status of humans. They are ranked with pigs and excrement.

This is the society that the proponents of Islamic ideology are pushing France towards, that which has already imprisoned hundreds of millions of Muslims. Violence, absence of liberty, disdain of humanist values, rejection of Democracy, oppression, fanaticism, and backwardness.

Lexington quoted in "The Incompatibility of Political Islam With Our Society." By Baron Bodissey, Gates of Vienna, 11/24/09.

Closing in on a working hypothesis.

H/t: big-pete comment on "Spy agencies: Ignoring the elephant in the room." By Marisol, Jihad Watch, 11/18/09.

Muslim panacea.

Ah, yes ... fear, cruelty, pain, blood and death -- the answer to all social ills.

Comment by Kinneddar on "20-year-old woman stoned to death for adultery in Somalia." By Marisol, Jihad Watch, 11/18/09.

Secret meeting.

Does this portend good for Europeans? How healthy can this election be if it had to be held in secret? What does this suggest about the mindset of European politicians?

The President of Europe has not been elected; he was appointed in a secret meeting of the heads of government of the 27 EU member states.

"Meet the President of Europe." By Paul Belien, Brussels Journal, 11/20/09.

The uncomprehending American electorate.

Socialism has bankrupted and failed every society, while capitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other system.

There is no perfect society. There are no perfect people. Critics say that greed is the driving force of capitalism. My answer is that envy is the driving force of socialism. Change to socialism is not an improvement on the imperfections of the current system.

The slogans of "fairness and equality" sound better than the slogans of capitalism. But unlike at the beginning of the 20th century, when these slogans and ideas were yet to be tested, we have accumulated history and reality.

Today we can define the better system not by slogans, but by looking at the accumulated facts. We can compare which ideology leads to the most oppression and which brings the most opportunity.

When I came to America in 1980 and experienced life in this country, I thought it was fortunate that those living in the USSR did not know how unfortunate they were.

Now in 2009, I realize how unfortunate it is that many Americans do not understand how fortunate they are. They vote to give government more and more power without understanding the consequences.

"The Perspective Of A Russian Immigrant." By Svetlana Kunin, Investor's Business Daily, 9/10/09. One of three articles.

A monstrous and destructive Muslim vortex.

Nothing to add to this:

Because Muslims wherever they form a majority choose Islamic norms over the broader more tolerant standards of the West. If given a chance, as has been clearly demonstrated the world over, they would unravel hundreds of years of hard fought human rights gains and replace them with the medieval practices of their faith. As such, both Hardi and Mubarka [two seemingly westernized but devout Muslim women in Canada] are simply bit players in a monstrous and destructive Muslim vortex that would drag civilization backwards hundreds of years.

See the YouTube clip at this post for Wafa Sultan’s firm statement that the real problem is a clash between eras and with plain vanilla Islam itself.

"Why the Peaceful Majority May be Dangerous." By Paul, Celelstial Junk, 11/16/09.

See also Paul’s excellent post "Why the Peaceful Majority is Irrelevant."