Daily Archives: November 18, 2012

11/18/12

First They Came For The Cupcakes, And I Did Not Speak Out

By: Citizen Scribe

From LaborUnionReport.com

Please pardon me for borrowing the opening line from pastor Martin Niemöller’s condemnation of standing mute.

His quote is only tangentially related… and yet… germane. Allow me to expand.

On Friday, an American icon in the baked goods industry, famous for breads, cakes, pies and assorted snacks, was pushed over the financial cliff, leaving only the carcass and the name, embodied as closed factories and orphaned brands.

Over the last two days, a couple of themes have emerged in the reportage of this event: 1) that it was all Capitalism’s fault, despite repeated investments from and attempts by capital management firms to save it, and 2) they deserved it; that’s right, they had somehow earned extinction.

Yes, the killing of Hostess was righteous. And why was it righteous? Because, well, they were evil… or something. Well, at the very least, Michelle Obama had an axe to grind with them (or was that a guillotine?), because they were the cause of food deserts or something. And so they got their just desserts.

Now, stay with me here, the elimination of a corporation — a purveyor of American snacks and staples for more than eighty years — and the 18,500 jobs that went with it, was acceptable because people who arrogated unto themselves the authority to tell you what you may eat, and how much had deemed them undesirable.

Undesirable. It doesn’t matter what you and I might have desired. Your government parents deemed it so.

In Terresa’s earlier post, Going Galt and the Neo-Comms, the point was made that people are not property:

Remember, though: people are not property. When Ayn Rand shared the vision of Galt, that was the theme and spirit of it. You may take what I have, but you don’t own me. I am not a slave.

And a beleaguered Hostess, after years of struggling under the yoke of parasitic Neo-Comm manipulation, despite the investment of millions by “evil greedy capitalist bastards” trying to keep it alive, has finally said, “you may take what I’ve built, but you don’t own me.” That’s the essence of going Galt.

People are not property.

Much is implied by that. If I am not property then some other person or body or persons does not own me. If I am not owned then, absent my consent, the product of my labors is not an obligation and is mine to keep, sell or give away. And if I commission the labor to be done as work for hire and pay for it as agreed, the product and all that derives from it are also mine; I owe them to no one. If my work belongs to someone else without my consent, I am a slave.

But if one is to believe the philosophy of envy perpetrated by an impoverished, but angry, business and life failure — an epic loser who died in 1883 — all that is required to achieve entitlement to someone else’s work product, and whatever they have built, is the simple desire to own it. That’s all. It is sufficient to deem that you should have it, and until you then possess it, whatever situation obtains that prevents your having it is, by definition, unfair. You drive a nicer car than I do. I want the nice one that you have, not the junker that is all I can afford. Therefore, justice can only be served when either I obtain your car, or at least you are reduced to owning something as miserable as what I have. Equality of misery is fair.

Success clearly isn’t fair, since it is in its very nature an unequal outcome. It matters not that I may have worked eighty hour weeks. It matters not that I may have lived for months or years on cans of beans and corn, with an occasional sausage. It matters not that I drove an old beater, lived in a run-down apartment, wore faded clothes and had a bad haircut, all while I struggled to bring something viable into being. Once I achieve some measure of success, once my efforts bring me some measure of comfort and an improved measure of quality in my life, magically this is unfair and I should permit it to be distributed among those of lesser ability, lesser initiative, lesser motivation and certainly lesser invested effort. In other words, whatever my initiative, effort and inventiveness yields, it is properly the property of a whole bunch of other people who didn’t build it; I am thus a slave to a self-appointed mob. We want what you have and there are more of us than of you, so resistance is futile; we have elected someone “official” to seize it for us.

Whatever the pie is, regardless of who baked it, we are all entitled to an equal slice, without any need of having worked for it.

And if you won’t give it to us, or give us the share to which we feel we are entitled, we will destroy you.

And then, having bled you dry, we will justify it by declaring that a) you were unfair, and b) that you were undesirable.

Yes, you were undesirable, and that is justification sufficient to erect the gibbet from which to hang you and let your corpse swing in the breeze as an example to all those others who might have similar, unfair, inclinations.

You will do our bidding, or you will wind up like them.

But … but … aren’t we safe? After all, we’re not undesirable, right? We play by all the rules. I mean, those are the rules, right? Nobody would change the rules to make us undesirable… would they?

Yeah, sure, I didn’t have anything personal against Hostess, but what the hell, it’s only a Twinkie. Who cares about a Twinkie?

Oh, I dunno, maybe some of those EIGHTEEN THOUSAND families whose Christmas this year is looking a bit bleaker than last year’s. Maybe they cared about a Twinkie.

It’s only a cupcake and an undesirable one at that. Don’t make a fuss, you’ll only attract attention and make them angry. Turn away. Maybe they’ll leave you alone.

After all, you’re not undesirable. You’re fair-minded. You play by the rules… as they are… today.

Today.

And today they came for the cupcakes.

Will you speak out?

Or will you be next?

11/18/12

Kurt Westergaard press release November 19, 2012

From: FreeSpeech

Terrorists Miss Out on 11 Million Dollars


Photo by: Claus Sjödin – fotojournalist

The world famous Mohammed cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, 77, recently suffered a serious double pneumonia that almost succeeded where terrorists have failed. Today he is too old, ill and tired to promote his own book, which has recently been published in English. Of the 82 drawings in the book, the Danish Security and Intelligence Service and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs fear that at least seven could generate renewed unrest among extremist Muslims.

Kurt Westergaard and journalist and author John Lykkegaard were invited to attend two major events at Soho House in London and New York to launch the English version of Kurt Westergaard’s autobiography, ‘The Man Behind the Mohammed Cartoon’ – which is now available worldwide on Amazon.com and on Lulu.com as an e-book and in paperback.

“The plan was to be in London on 19 November and then proceed directly to New York. Invitations were sent out, and the publishing world and the media from all over the world showed considerable interest. However, it turned out that the chosen venue was too small, and we were offered larger premises,” says the Danish publisher.

John Lykkegaard received the first request in May 2012, but due to the European Football Championships, the Olympic Games in London and the Tour de France, he consulted the Danish Security and Intelligence Service, and chose to postpone the event until November 2012. Now, though, because of Mr. Westergaard’s health, they have had to cancel altogether.

“Kurt Westergaard was to have signed his book and promoted it in the Anglophone world, but now he is now regrettably too weak to travel. We started by cancelling New York, hoping he would still be able to manage the event in London and had planned to fly home immediately after the presentation, but we have had to cancel this event as well,” John Lykkegaard explains.

“When you have spent quite some time in intensive care on oxygen and suffered occasional bouts of unconsciousness, you tend to think that there are only two options. At my age I could not help thinking that I was heading in the wrong direction. At one stage we feared I might have cancer. It all began with double pneumonia, but the doctors were puzzled by subsequent complications that led to a continued worsening of my condition. Over the last few months I have undergone numerous examinations and been hospitalized on several occasions. Luckily, I did not have cancer, but my illness has weakened me so much that I was unable to walk for a time and had to use a Zimmer frame. Although I am undergoing rehabilitation, I feel my health is deteriorating from one day to the next, says Kurt Westergaard.

“There is a prize totaling 11 million dollars on Kurt Westergaard’s head. At one point it seemed the terrorists would miss out,” the Danish publisher comments sarcastically, and continues:

“On the other hand the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Danish Security and Intelligence Service (PET), will probably breathe a sigh of relief after the cancellation of the trips promoting the English version of the book on Kurt Westergaard – whose drawing of the prophet Mohammed with a bomb in his turban inflamed the Middle East.”

MORE PICTURES YOU CAN USE!

The publisher, John Lykkegaard, can be contacted at [email protected] and +45 2239 6979

The book “The Man Behind The Muhammed Cartoon” can be ordered here: http://www.amazon.com

Everything is approved by John Lykkegaard, Kurt Westergaard’s autobiographist!

Links to new spots with and about Kurt Westergaard…

The Man behind the Mohammed Cartoon – Kurt Westergaard

Mohammed Cartoons – Kurt Westergaards statement

11/18/12

Fighting on All Fronts

Arlene from Israel

I’ve alluded to some of this already, but want to return to look in some more detail at the various “fronts” we are dealing with in this conflict.

I wrote yesterday about the fact that Hamas fights “dirty,” and that we will never lower ourselves to their level. But what we do have to do is contend with that dirty fighting.

There are two aspects to this. The first is the use of human shields — the storage in and launching of rockets from civilian areas, which puts Israel in the impossible position of either avoiding air attack on certain sites or risking considerable civilian damage. This, in spite of surgical strikes, warnings to the populace, etc.

As The Israel Project put it:

“Hamas has turned hospitals, homes, schools, and mosques into military bases…”

See here rockets being fired from a civilian area:

Credit: Brucesmideastsoundbites

An enormous amount of intelligence work by Israel went into locating the sites of rocket storage. We know where the rockets, especially long-range rockets, and missiles are. They are not “hidden,” in that sense. But this human shield aspect makes taking them out sometimes very difficult.

~~~~~~~~~~

The simple logic of the situation tell me that this is why we’ve amassed troops and tanks at the Gaza border. Not for an escalated operation intended to take down Hamas completely or re-take Gaza, but because it may be impossible to remove those rockets and missiles and related terrorist infrastructure by air without unacceptable levels of civilian causalities. If we cannot do what we need to do by air, we may send in troops. (More on the possibility of a ground operation below.)

~~~~~~~~~~

The other part of the “dirty” fighting is utilization by Hamas of the media and left wing NGOs to propagate images of an aggressive Israel deliberately hitting poor innocents in Gaza. Unfortunately, the media and those NGOs, substantially predisposed against Israel, are more than ready to cooperate by telling these stories, which lack balance and context. Which lie.

Here is one stunning example of a lie that was believed:
“A dead Gazan child, whose picture made world media headlines claiming him to be a victim of an Israeli airstrike, appears to have been killed by a Hamas rocket that fell short of its target, landing inside Gaza instead of Israel, according to evidence brought to light by…blogger Elder of Ziyon. [http://elderofziyon.blogspot.com]

“…International publications including CNN and Britain’s Mirror ran the tragic images of Egypt’s Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, Hamas terror chief Ismail Haniyeh and others cradling the dead child, and the media outlets explicitly blamed Israel for the child’s death.

“‘Egypt’s Prime Minister wept today as he kissed the forehead of a boy killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza,’ reads the Mirror’s caption under the photo. CNN reporter Sara Sidner referred to the boy as ‘another victim of an [Israeli] air strike.'”

But when Yiftah Shapir, a ballistics expert who is the Director of the Middle East Military Balance Project at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, studied CNN’s video footage of the explosion, what he saw were “a lot of small holes.”

“It is reasonable to say that this damage is from a relatively small explosion at close range…If it was a very heavy bomb the damage would be worse, and at long range the shrapnel would be spread much more widely because of the long distance.”

The IDF denies that it had carried out any strikes at the time the child was hit, in the area where he was.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/11/18/shocking-evidence-indicates-child-whose-death-was-blamed-on-israel-was-actually-killed-by-hamas-rocket-video/

Please see at the bottom of this Algemeiner piece a video of the vile anti-Israel CNN report.

~~~~~~~~~~

This tactic enormously exacerbates diplomatic pressure on Israel. People believe what they are reading about the evils of the Israel self-defense operation and conclude that we must be forced to stop to save the poor Palestinian Arabs of Gaza.

The French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, is due here today, and UN Sec.-Gen. Ban on Wednesday. This is in addition to phone communication between Netanyahu and other leaders, most significantly President Obama and including German Chancellor Andrea Merkel. And there’s more to come, rest assured.

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel has been waging a PR war of its own, and putting out videos presenting the Israeli side. But, as this front is often the most difficult to fight, I implore you to help get the facts out wherever you can. Information you can use follows:

Israel is so careful about civilian life that sometimes an operation is aborted because civilians are observed entering the area intended for attack.

A story about this here:

http://www.idf.il/1283-17615-en/Dover.aspx

“…in the early hours of the morning, a squadron of intelligence collecting aircraft took to the sky. Through sophisticated observation equipment and cameras the pilots were able to identify a rocket launch, and Air Force aircraft were sent to strike the area. But things didn’t go as planned. ‘We saw that innocent civilians were approaching the area of the underground launch site,’ said Lt. Omer, a source within the intelligence squadron who took part in the operation. ‘We immediately contacted the forces and instructed them to abort the strike.'”

~~~~~~~~~~

Here you have more complete information from the IDF on how we minimize harm to civilians:

http://www.idfblog.com/2012/11/15/how-does-the-idf-minimize-harm-to-palestinian-civilians/

Read this and share it, it’s amazing. Not only pinpoint targeting, and leaflets of warning in Arabic and phone calls warning people of strikes imminent in their area. There is also sometimes diversion of a missile on its way to strike. And there is “roof knocking”: a non-lethal bomb is exploded on the roof of a building where weapons or ammunition are stored, which warns people to flee the building before the target is hit by live ammunition.

~~~~~~~~~~

Col. Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces testified at the UN in 2010 about IDF behavior, following Israel’s last action in Gaza.

The IDF, he said, “did more to safeguard the lives of civilians in a combat zone than any other military force in history.”

See and share the video of his testimony, which addresses Hamas tactics and lies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hmT4Ri78aM

~~~~~~~~~~

Then there is information from the IDF on our right to defend ourselves:

http://www.idfblog.com/2012/11/15/what-gives-israel-the-right-to-defend-itself/

Hamas is sworn to the destruction of Israel. This blog page provides videos of people, ostensibly “religious leaders,” who incite in their sermons and provide “religious justification for unimaginable depravity.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel still supplies Gaza with 70% of its electric power. I have been asked by several readers why we don’t just cut off that power. Legally we are within our right to do so. But it seems fairly clear to me that we refrain doing so because this would not be a pinpoint targeted action: all Gazans would suffer from that lack of electricity. And while this would be a non-lethal approach, it would open us further to accusations of being a cruel state that fosters the suffering of innocent civilians.

~~~~~~~~~~

It should be noted that today Israel opened the Keren Shalom Crossing into Gaza to allow in humanitarian supplies. Every effort is being made to ensure that civilians are not affected by the conflict any more than absolutely necessary.

~~~~~~~~~~

There are repeated reports of some Hamas willingness to agree to a ceasefire now. But that “willingness” — conveyed by third parties and via the media — carries conditions. Once again I’m seeing a demand that we stop the sea blockade of Gaza, and promise not to do targeted killings, even if we have evidence of someone who is preparing or involved in an attack.

As might be expected, PM Netanyahu dismisses out of hand any ceasefire proposal that carries conditions.

~~~~~~~~~~

I hold my breath, with the prayer that Netanyahu will remain strong and stay the course until what needs to be done is completed. What is needed is the elimination of the Hamas capacity to attack us.

The involvement of the tough-talking Foreign Minister Lieberman is reassuring in this regard. As Likud and Yisrael Beitenu are supposed to run as a unified list in the election, Netanyahu cannot unduly cross Lieberman.

~~~~~~~~~~

As of today, Israel has hit 1,000 targets in Gaza. There is no question but that the long-range rockets and missiles supplied by Iran have been taken out to some considerable extent. But what is evident is that they have not all been taken out yet: Today another rocket was shot at Tel Aviv.

~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday, the Daily Beast ran with a report, based on information from US sources only, that Netanyahu and Obama had spoken and the prime minister had assured the president that there would not be a ground incursion into Gaza unless the rocket attacks were escalated or there were serious injury to Israelis in the course of an attack.

This latter brings me close to apoplexy. For there exists the same justification for hitting in Gaza if Hamas has the capacity to cause serious injury, even if such a tragedy has not occurred (yet). That we should need to wait for it to occur before acting is unconscionable, in my opinion.

~~~~~~~~~~

But in the end I give this report scant credence. The US does not want Israel to initiate a ground operation. Obama has made this quite clear. He speaks about supporting our right to defend ourselves, but would hesitate to give us the latitude to actually do so.

~~~~~~~~~~

Today, at the weekly Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Netanyahu said (emphasis added):

“We are exacting a heavy price from Hamas and the [other] terrorist organizations, and the IDF is prepared for a significant expansion of its operations.”

And, reports Israel Hayom, “One possible sign of this were reports from Arab and international media outlets that the IDF had taken over the radio frequencies in Gaza and was broadcasting warnings to residents living near the Israel border to move away.”

In addition, we have a report from the JPost today regarding suggestions from some members of Likud that Netanyahu is thinking of moving back the Likud primaries, coming soon, and possibly even the election in January, if the action in Gaza continues. This suggests some expectation that it will not be over soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

However, Minister of Security Affairs Moshe Ya’alon (Likud) wrote on Twitter, “If there is quiet in the south and no rockets and missiles are fired at Israel’s citizens, nor terrorist attacks engineered from the Gaza Strip, we will not attack.” This bewilders me, as he seems to be pulling back and ignoring the goals of the operation.

And ahram.org reports that:

“An Israeli official landed in Cairo on Sunday for Egypt-mediated truce talks with Hamas to end the Gaza crisis, Egyptian security officials said.”

http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=59073

True? We cannot trust the Egyptians as honest brokers. Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil just visited Gaza a couple of days ago, in a show of solidarity.

~~~~~~~~~~

But on the other hand, we have the comments at the Cabinet meeting of Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu):

“We are not yet at the point of a cease-fire. A cease-fire now would be a serious mistake. The goals of the operation must be achieved at any price, even with a ground incursion, if it can’t be avoided. We can’t repeat the mistakes of the past, when we stopped operations in the middle, before ensuring that we had destroyed the terrorist infrastructure and before ensuring that…they could no longer smuggle weapons. This matter requires perseverance and patience.” (Emphasis added)

“Ensuring they could no longer smuggle weapons.” Another related issue, which I will not address today, if at all I can yet.

~~~~~~~~~~

And last week, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz appeared before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and told them:

“In the past year and a half, all of the combat troops have undergone training on mission-related models to prepare them for a ground operation. The sense that we are getting from the soldiers is, ‘Let us in.'”

According to Israel Hayom, “It appears that senior IDF officers, among them Gantz, believe that if a diplomatic solution cannot be reached, a ground operation would be required, which according to the plan would be conducted on a larger scale than Operation Cast Lead.

“GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Tal Russo said: ‘We have a plan in place that is incremental in its use of force. In Gaza there is a huge arsenal of weapons and missiles, and we will have to take care of it with whatever means necessary. The Fajr missile threat has mainly been destroyed, but there could be several more here and there.'”

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=6452

~~~~~~~~~~

A few final thoughts before closing:

Hamas is using long-range rockets from Iran, and operates at the behest of Iran. Our battle here extends far beyond Gaza.

Hezbollah, which is, similarly, an Iranian proxy, is following the happenings in Gaza closely because they have critical implications for this group. They are stepping with caution at the moment and there are reports surfacing of some doubts among Hezbollah leadership as to whether targeting Israel at Iran’s behest would be in its best interest.

Iran is proceeding with its nuclear development and President Obama is hoping, ludicrously, to proceed with “negotiations” with the Iranians. Something else to be visited in short order.

~~~~~~~~~~

Please see the very supportive resolutions from the Senate and the House:

http://imra.org.il/story.php3?id=59049

~~~~~~~~~~

And as I write, the troops continue to amass at the Gaza border.

Credit: JPost

11/18/12

Living in the Obamanation

By: Gerald Loeffers

Hello all… I know it’s been a while since you have heard from me. I thought I would take some time and wax thoughtful on what to do now with so many worrisome things happening here and in Israel right now.

OBAMA’S REELECTION

Well, this was no surprise. You can’t vote against a gift horse and with the percentage of third party voters basically throwing away the votes and three million other voters that stayed home, and of course the 47% of welfare bums that wanted free Obama money, it’s no wonder he won the race. Mitt Romney is an honorable guy, but he wasn’t a Ronald Reagan conservative. He ran a weak campaign in the last half of the race and it didn’t help him much. Then there’s all the back and forth voter fraud claims, but we already knew the Democrat’s favorite voters are zombies, inmates, clones (double counting) and illegals. Others claimed that some touch screen machines changed their votes.

THE PILE DRIVING FEW DAYS

What a difference an election makes! Within 24 hours, the UN disarmament treaty went back on the table and is looking to cause the greatest loss of life on American soil that anyone has seen since the civil war. The unemployment rate is skyrocketing up as we speak from Boeing to Hostess to Applebees to Papa John’s pizza… this is just the start. Within 6 months, we will see thousands of small businesses close and thousands more layoffs and hours of cutbacks. Obama is keeping one promise – his flexibility in a second term with the death of a US ambassador and Navy SEALs (second time around for Obama), to signing hundreds of new regulations we won’t be able to get rid of. Obamacare has already effected the work force. Companies and even unions are finding out it won’t help them with their collective bargaining power they now don’t have. With Israel officially at war with Palestine and Obama leaving Bibi out in the cold, we have to find a way to help families over there who are victims of Palestinian rocket attacks without government agency help.

All this seems overwhelming. It should, it was designed to be overwhelming in order for us to give up and let the Muslim Nazi be flexible. Here are some ideas to get through this Nazi-occupied White House.

1. We have to find out which law enforcement and military units will or will not comply with the UN advisers when they start their door to door gun grab. We have until March 2013 to plan a way to interrupt and/or blockade these guys and to convince both LEOS and milspec communities NOT TO COMPLY, because if they do comply, the slaughter and death toll will be high. This is a first priority!

2. We know that artificial price hikes and shortages of food and basic necessities are coming sooner than you think, so… prepare. Buy canned food, water, clothes, basic tools, guns, ammunition, first aid kits and long term food (one year’s worth per family member). If you have a federal tax stamp vice like booze and tobacco, quit them and get in shape. Don’t give the government any more money for your weaknesses.

3. Plan for a bartering economy. Food, small animals, medical alcohol, homemade items, clean water, common caliber ammunition, extra guns, work or skill set trading, duct tape, WD40, clothing and medicine.

4. Be sure to work together and help others out when things get really bad and be prepared to be cut off from the Internet, social media, certain books, magazines and music. Radio and TV programs will be banned or restricted. This is where we will have to stop being on the computer all the time.
Stop watching TV and using cell phones unless you want them to record and track everything you do or say to imprison you. Don’t forget that will happen to thousands of Americans soon enough.

5. Don’t panic and don’t get depressed. That’s what those scumbags want, so you won’t do anything and comply out of apathy.

Gerald Loeffers 11/17/2012