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Thursday, June 29, 2006

Soccer + Islam = ?

So, which one is it? Is soccer against Islam or should all Muslims (well - excluding women) join the fun?

UK jihadists attack 'religion of soccer,' warn Muslims against taking part in 'colonial crusader scheme'

The Saved Sect website, which calls on Muslims to work to establish an Islamic state in Britain, has attacked "football fever," saying that soccer has "captivated the masses, dedicating their time and effort towards it." (YnetNews)

Oh - maybe I should dedicate my time and effort toward religious mambojambo instead (no, I don't watch soccer - it's boring and the field is too big)? Getting up early in the morning to worship some imaginary creature is not a waste of time?

In Iran things are always better - even when it comes to soccer:

Six girls wearing baseball caps and baggy shirts mope around in a makeshift prison just outside the walls of Tehran's Azadi Stadium... Under arrest for trying to sneak into the football match disguised as boys, the girls await their punishment — but being so tantalizingly close to the game is torture enough. (Time)

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Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Into It

The situation now unfolding in Gaza (follow the events at Israellycool blog) is a perfect example of a "state" failure. First you have the Palestinian leadership that is completely incompetent, unwilling and unable to deal with its own terrorists. They could and would find the missing Israeli soldier if they had the resources and the will. But they're not getting any money for as long as they refuse to admit that Israel has a right to exist and for as long as they keep supporting violence as a way to fight the Jews. This leadership, along with the terrorists who arranged the kidnapping, is responsbile for the current situation and should be held responsible for any unhappy results.
Then you have a bunch of badly screwed up religious people who're willing to put their fellow countrymen in grave danger by kidnapping soldiers. They're not going to achieve anything (unless they count having the IDF next to your house as an achievement). Israel will not be wiped off the map and the Palestinians will never return to Israel in order to turn it into another underdeveloped Arab state. And an underdeveloped culture like the Arab-Islam culture is simply (at least at this point in history) unable to deal with nutcases (well Saddam did a fine job but eventually he was just pushing the issue - not getting rid off it).

The best bet for Israel is to withdraw from the West Bank (just to clear them of any responsibility - it's not that the Arabs deserve the land - they don't - no liberty-minded person can support handing any piece of land over to religious fanatics), finish the wall and keep fighting the terrorists. Only when the Palestinian leadership is willing to let go of its aim to destroy Israel will there be a possibility of peace. Only a state that recognizes Israel is able and willing to fight its home-bred terrorists that do not recognize Israel. If the IDF retreats from violence (the left-wing fantasy) it will achieve nothing because the opposing side is not interested in making peace.

And as I mentioned in last update the current Abbas proposal is not a proposal to recognize Israel.

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Sunday, June 25, 2006

Who set the thing on fire, again?

All Hell breaks loose in the Middle East - again. Hamas vowed to break a year and a half long truce and the IDF has launched a (well needed although very limited) ground assault into Gaza.
All this because a family died on a beach. Palestinian terrorism pays off - civilians used as human shields and propaganda tools work in the Palestinian favor despite the fact that there has, so far, not been any evidence supporting the argument that the shell responsible for the death of this family was fired by the IDF. Not to mention the huge moral and legal gap between deliberately killing innocent civilians (the Muslim tactic) and accidentally inflicting collateral damage.
And as for the truce - what truce?:

"Palestinian militants have fired rockets toward Israel almost daily since Israel completed the Gaza withdrawal in September."

"The Hamas-led Palestinian government, however, has done little to stop the rockets, saying the attacks are legitimate acts of "resistance" against Israel."

"...militants fired three more rockets, bringing the total to more than 140 this month"

Imagine an everyday life in Gaza: You wake up at 7 am, have a cup of coffee, open your closet to grab a rocket launcher, go out and fire it to the other side of the border hoping that someone will get hurt.

Another fine example of how the Palestinian militants couldn't care less about how their acts of "resistance" affect on the lives of decent Palestinians:

"The attack Sunday immediately touched off a closure of these crossings, including Rafah and the Karni passage between Gaza and Egypt, which is crucial to the Palestinian economy because it is the main conduit for goods coming in and out of Gaza."

Hamas, plus other Palestinian political and non-political groups, has failed to recognize Israel's right to exist. This single issue has been maybe the biggest contributor to the conflict. Two-state solutions (1938, 1947, 1967, 2001) have all been rejected by the Palestinians because they have included the recognition of Israel. The behavior continues to this day.
Worth noting is the latest Palestinian attempt to "recognize" Israel and lay foundation for a two-state solution:

"The Palestinian National Conciliation Document of the Prisoners, written by a bunch of convicted terrorist murderers imprisoned in Israel for their crimes, endorses neither a “two-state solution,” nor the creation of a Palestinian state “alongside Israel.” Read it for yourself at the link above."

And like last summer (the Gaza pullout), it might be (once again) time for Israel to take unilateral action due to the opposing side's complete incompetence:

"Olmert has said he will carry out a unilateral pullout from much of the West Bank if peace efforts fail. The Palestinians, who claim all of the West Bank, oppose the unilateral approach."

Other noteworthy items:

-John McCain on Republican spending

-"Multiculturalism breeds terrorism" at Capitalism Magazine:

Multiculturalism—a creation of leftist, Western, nihilistic, post-modern philosophy professors—begins by promoting “cultural relativism,” which holds that all cultures are of equal value; no culture is better or worse than any other. Logically, this serves to de-value Western values, such as reason, science, productiveness, and each individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, by equating them with the most irrational and destructive practices of primitive, mystical cultures such as voodoo medicine, the subjugation of women by men, genital mutilation, and even cannibalism. As essentialized by Peter Schwartz, “Multiculturalism is the debased attempt to obliterate values by claiming that they are indistinguishable from non-values.”

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Monday, June 19, 2006

Turhuuden puolesta

Nipullinen vasemmistohippejä valtasi purettavaksi määrätyn talon:

"Aamulla luin lehdestä, että turkulaiset taiteilijat olivat vallanneet talon Ratapihankadun ja Brahenkadun kalmauksesta."

"Vallatut talot ovat vanhoja kaupungin omistuksessa olevia puutaloja, jotka on jätetty tyhjilleen jo reilu pari vuotta sitten. Taloja on suunniteltu purettaviksi asemakaavamuutoksen myötä ja tilalle rakennettaneen liiketiloja."



"Kuinka hullua, että kaupungilla on varaa pitää hyväkuntoisia rakennuksia tyhjillään vuosikausia ja samaan aikaan varaa olla tukematta paikallisia taiteilijoita, jotka ovat vailla toimitiloja."


Onko työtön taiteilija jotenkin arvokkaampi kuin työtön yleensä? Pitäisikö kaupungin olla vastuussa uuden atk-yrityksen perustamisesta, jos lauma atk-työläisiä jäisi jostain syystä työttömäksi, tai olisi ilman toimitiloja? On tietenkin naurettavaa, että byrokratian takia potentiaalisia liiketiloja pidetään vuosikaupalla tyhjillään, mutta veikkaampa, että Turusta(kin) löytyisi n. miljoona ryhmittymää, jotka haluaisivat veronmaksajien kustantavan heille omat tilat ja vielä maksavan siitä, että nämä ovat sattuneet valitsemaan taiteilijan ammattinimikkeekseen.

Oikea ratkaisu tilanteeseen olisi, että vasurit, taiteilijat jms. hakisivat rahoitusta yksityisiltä, tai vaikkapa keräisivät kolehdin, jolla sitten pelastaisivat talonsa. Taiteilijoiden tuottavuus määräisi, mitenkö pitkälle tälläistä taidetalohanketta voitaisiin jatkaa.

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The Divine Social Model

From RedState.com:

Sweden's unemployment rate is 15 per cent, three times the figure being used by the government, according to new research from McKinsey Global Institute, the think tank.

The consultancy's calculations indicate unemployment is set to rise further, with between 100,000 and 200,000 jobs outsourced to cheaper countries over the next 10 years if no corrective action is taken.

The numbers cast a pall over Sweden's international reputation as a thriving welfare state with low unemployment and will help focus attention on jobs ahead of September's national elections.

McKinsey reached its conclusions by including those who want to work and those who could do so, meaning people on government programmes as well as those on prolonged sick leave.

In its first assessment of the country's economy since 1995, it said: "Sweden's economy has reached a critical juncture. If nothing is done, the problems will become much more serious."

It praised Sweden for achieving average GDP growth of 2.7 per cent a year since 1995, which it attibuted to deregulation and improvements in private sector productivity.

But it said the country could not rely on future improvements in private-sector productivity, as the catch-up effect that had driven these developments would decline over time.

The ageing population would put the public sector under "intolerable pressure" unless productivity improved, it added.

"If nothing else changes, the resulting increase in welfare costs would become too large to finance through the current tax system in only 10 to 20 years," McKinsey said.


Some comments that were posted at RedState:

2.7 % GDP growth is lousy. If they consider that an improvement, things must've been miserable -Steven

On the plus side - when the last factory closes, they'll hit their Kyoto targets! -Neil Stevens

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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

The Big Government Socialist Republicans are back

Once again, George Bush is at it - trying to extend the government's authority over people (although just to keep his base happy). It's indeed sad that the good old Goldwater Republicans are losing their power to Socialist Christian Republicans who want the government to have a monopoly in some personal social issues (gays, abortions, drugs, tv/video game censorship etc.).
This is simply another example of how the Christian Right is from the same tree as the Communist Left. Both have a set of morals and both want to use them for the purpose of control. And to them - facts have no meaning: It is okay to redistribute money because it is right - It is okay to ban gay marriage because it is right.
But the question everyone should be asking is not whether the government should grant gays the right to marry but whether governments should play any role at all in granting marriage "licenses".

And here's another wacko:

Bill O'Reilly:
"Secular progressives like Ted Kennedy want a new America, one that nurtures everyone"

Ted Kennedy might want to see a new Socialist America but the one advocating nurturing here is Bill O'Reilly and others who support banning gay marriage. Is it not nurturing when the government decides for you what's right and what's not?

"The belief that heterosexual marriage is a stabilizing force is a strong one."

But without any real evidence. This is another example of how some people believe that the old times were the good times. However, according to almost every indicator, things have never been better. And some say things are going to fall apart - today...

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