Kerfuffles

Pirates have commandeered an American-flagged (NOT Liberian) container ship off the coast of Somalia. This story is true (you are NOT reading “The Onion”) as it has been reported by Al Jazeera News. The 21st century swash-bucklers have kidnapped the ship’s captain, an American, and are holding him hostage, just in case the U.S. Navy contemplates any of those Cowboy tactics left over from the George W. Bush reign.

President Barack Obama has once again referred to this latest national disaster as one that he inherited. However, Obama did not blame the pirates’ uprising on his usual scapegoat, George W. Bush. Obama explained to fawning American news outlets that these Swashbucklers of the High Seas were inherited directly from former President Thomas Jefferson, who obviously failed to quell the piracy problem during “Jefferson’s War on Terror.”

For more than 200 years, that dead white President, Thomas Jefferson, has been given credit for successfully swashbuckling the Barbary Pirates, giving birth to the United States Navy for that mission, and creating a pep song for the US Marines about “the Shores of Tripoli,” President Obama revealed. He continued: “those dead white historians got it all wrong! The swashbuckling evil buccaneers continue to cruise high on the high seas, and Thomas Jefferson’s failure has been dropped at my doorstep on Pennsylvania Avenue more than 200 years later.” The adoring White House Press Corps swooned.

The United States Marines performed with honor at the first war proclaimed by our new nation. In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became president, he refused to accede to the Barbary pirates of Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. This refusal brought about the first ‘war’ the U.S. would fight as a country. The first line of the Marine hymn, ‘from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli’, references the 600-mile march across the Libyan Desert of a group of Navy men and others to capture the port city of Derna, Tripoli. It took a concerted effort by England, France, Spain, and the United States to end over 400 years of Muslim piracy on the Barbary Coast.” (”Happy Birthday Marines” by Edna Barney)

Obama continued his explanation. “Thomas Jefferson had his chance to contain piracy when this nation was young, and he failed miserably, as seen by these man-made disasters now terrorizing shipping lanes on the high seas. Jefferson even instigated a war with those North African Islamic potentates whose modern lands are known today as Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia, which is more proof for America and the world, that gains won by force do not endure. It was up to America’s Founding Fathers to secure free navigation of the seas for the new United States of America, and their posterity, which is ME, and they punted” complained Obama. “This is one more ‘inherited’ problem that the country is now depending on me to solve, which I will as soon as I can escape the glow of the glory of my European tour.”

“I’ve had my historians researching ancient history to find the root problem of today’s Somalian piracy. They discovered that these “man-made disasters” we are experiencing today all stem directly from a meeting in London in March of 1785, between American founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams and Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli. The Founding Fathers inquired of the ‘Mussulman’ Ambassador for the reason that the Barbary states were impeding American ships, pirating their cargo and enslaving their crews and passengers. Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman gave the answer to America’s illustrious Founders, but they were absolutely tone-deaf to the ‘Mussulman’s’ words:”

“It was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.” ~Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli to John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, London, 1785.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has expressed concern and called upon the world to “come together to end the scourge of piracy.” (Good Luck on that one, Hillary.) President Barack Obama reassured Americans that with his new leadership skills the country will be able to resolve this historic first time boarding by pirates of an American ship. He has already promised that, unlike his predecessor Thomas Jefferson, America under Barack Obama will never wage war on any Muslim nation. We are a nation of laws, and if our lawyers find that these man-made pirates have broken any international laws, we will prosecute them to the fullest extent in whatever world court they find agreeable to their cultural mores. In addition, Barack Obama has dispatched a special communique to the Somalian Pirate King reminding him that America’s president is now a “brother.” All those dead white American presidents and founding fathers, are just that - dead white men!

Yes - It’s Satire, but it’s still true!

No Terrorist Attacks In the United States! Why?

• On October 12, 2002, in Bali, Indonesia, Al-Qaeda’s Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists targeted packed nightspots, killing 202 people, including more than 160 foreigners. There are even more nightclubs in the United States, why didn’t al-Qaeda target us here?
• On March 11, 2004 in Madrid, Spain, 191 people were killed and more than 1,800 injured in a series of explosions on four trains. al-Qaeda took responsibility for that accomplishment to avenge the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq. But why didn’t the terrorists bomb American trains on American soil? We had even more troops in Iraq than did the Spanish.
• On the morning of Wednesday September 1, 2004, in Beslan, Russia Muslim terrorists and Arab mercenaries wearing explosive belts stormed a school taking 1,200 parents, students, children, and infants hostage. They wired the room with explosives and threatened to blow up the school during a three-day standoff. The children were refused food and water and were held in stifling heat in a gymnasium while the world waited. As Russian forces were collecting corpses from the initial raid outside the school, the militants in the school triggered the explosives inside the school. As the surviving hostages attempted to flee, the terrorists shot them and their rescuers in their backs. At least 326 people — 156 of them children — were murdered at that school and more than 700 wounded. Although 26 of the terrorists were killed, several escaped. Why did not these terrorists take over an American school on American soil? We have lots of schools here.
• On July 11, 2006, in Mumbai, India, seven high-powered blasts on suburban trains killed more than 200 commuters and injured at least 800. America has commuter trains too, why did not al-Qaeda target American trains with bombs?
• On November 26 of this year, again in Mumbai, India, Islamist gunmen launched attacks against luxury hotels. Gunmen from al-Qaeda’s Deccan Mujahedeen group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which killed more than 100. A rabbi, Gavriel Hertzberg, and his pregnant wife were sought out and murdered as were other Jews and Americans. America has many luxury hotels, many Jews and many, many more Americans. Why did al-Qaeda spare American hotels and tourist on American soil?

Could these “Seven Years of Calm in America” have had anything to do with the leadership of America’s Commander in Chief, George W. Bush, his administration and the fighting men and women of his military?

Happy Birthday United States Marine Corps. On November 10th, 1775, the Second Continental Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Continental Marines. The rest is history.

In March of 1785, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were in London to meet Ambassador Abd Al-Rahman of Tripoli and inquire of him why it was that Barbary states felt a right to impede American ships, pirating their cargo and enslaving their crews and passengers. America’s two most illustrious Founding Fathers were told by the “Mussulman” Ambassador: “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.”

Jefferson’s new nation found itself immediately at war with North Africa’s Islamic potentates who occupied the lands that are today Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. No longer under the protection of the British Royal Navy, the Founding Fathers had to decide how to secure free navigation of the seas for the new United States of America. In 1801, when Thomas Jefferson became president, he refused to accede to the Barbary pirates of Tripoli’s demands for an immediate payment of $225,000 and an annual payment of $25,000. This refusal brought about the first “war” the U.S. would fight as a country. The first line of the Marine hymn, “from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli,” references the 600-mile march across the Libyan Desert of a group of Navy men and others to capture the port city of Derna, Tripoli. It took a concerted effort by England, France, Spain, and the United States to end over 400 years of Muslim piracy on the Barbary Coast.

It seems that it was our beloved Democrat Thomas Jefferson who first decided to make war upon the Muslim Barbaries, instead of appeasing them. President George W. Bush has been struggling to follow in Jefferson’s mighty footsteps as the ancient battle continues. Give thanks for Jefferson’s foresight and courage and say a prayer for George W, who has a much tougher task than Jefferson. Commander-in-chief George W. Bush has had to fight against his own nation’s enemies, as well as many of his own countrymen, who wish America to fail.

“TJ and the Barbaries” by Kerfuffles
“Jefferson’s War on Terror” by Edna Barney

Britain socks it to Muslim Women. Forget the Magna Carta, if you are a Muslim woman. Welcome to Sharia law, even here in Britain.

“A woman, a dog and a walnut tree, the harder you beat them, the better they be.” ~~Old English Proverb

British ministers have quietly given Sharia courts power to rule on Muslim civil cases, ranging from divorce and financial disputes to domestic violence. The traditional British legal system is not available to all Britons. Britain is now a segregated society; there are women with rights and women with none. Sharia judges have been sanctioned at five courts in London, Birmingham, Bradford, Manchester and Nuneaton, Warwicks and two more are planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The British ministers tell British women that there is nothing to worry about if they are not Muslim, as both parties in a dispute must agree to abide by the Sharia rulings. Once that happens, Sharia rulings are enforceable with the full power of the British judicial system. Many British lawyers consider this an advancement into what they see as “legal pluralism.”

Oh happy day for Muslim women! Now they can freely “choose” to inherit much, much less than their brothers. They can “choose” NOT to press criminal charges against their male-batterers. Now they can show their dedication to their Muslim faith and families by “choosing” to submit to Sharia law. However, one wonders, did anyone ask these Muslim women if they would feel safer from beatings and honor killings under Sharia law, than under traditional British law?

Sharia Law Now In Britain

It was the “Fear of Freedom” which begot the murder yesterday of a woman freedom fighter, Benazir Bhutto. She was a Muslim woman, a Muslim mother who, because she believed in freedom, was martyred in her own native Muslim land of Pakistan by her fellow Muslim brothers.

Where religions, creeds, nations and lands espouse “Fear of Freedom”, truth becomes an unknown commodity. All truth is from God; freedom is God’s gift to all of mankind. Those who teach “Fear of Freedom” to their people are enemies of the true God. Yesterday’s tragic murder of a woman for her belief in freedom is one more example of the “Fear of Freedom’s” tyranny of the human mind, its debasement of the human soul and its degradation of human life on earth.

Thank God for the man named Jesus who preached freedom. Jesus taught HIS followers to seek freedom, not to fear it, and hence influenced HIS civilized world to carry freedom’s torch: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John Chapter 8).

“I’m standing up for the principle of democracy. I’m standing up for moderation. And I’m standing up for hope for all the people in Pakistan who today are poor and miserable and really quite desperate..” ~~ Benazir Bhutto, CNN Interview of 28 September 2007.

In 1775, Patrick Henry declared “Give me Liberty or Give me Death,” at Saint John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia. That declaration set the course for revolution and independence for Americans. It was the cry that has reverberated in the hearts of mankind ever since. Many freedom lovers around the world have met death in their quest for liberty for themselves and others.

Today it was the American educated, woman freedom fighter, Benazir Bhutto, who was martyred in the name of freedom in her own native land of Pakistan. Today, it was a Muslim woman, murdered in a Muslim land, by her fellow male Muslims.

The news story is at BBC News; Christopher Hitchens names her “A Daughter of Destiny

The image, Benazir Bhutto last moments-5, is subject to copyright by PAKlSTAN. It is posted here with permission via the Flickr API by Kerfuffles.

The Koran has many beautiful verses that will be thrown forth as a smoke screen one more time as Muslims again attempt to convince you that only a very few of them actually want to murder you, your babies and the rest of the non-Muslim world. The true Muslim, they will claim, believes in peace and love as taught in the Koran, and Islam is just another world religion on a par with Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etcetera.

In Christendom, we have a sacred verse also and it is: “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”

What are the fruits of the Muslim world? We see that Islam’s intolerance produces hatred of others, its violent teachings lead to the murder of innocents, its subjugation of women leads to the destruction of nature’s maternal instinct, convincing mothers to turn their own children into living bombs for the cause of murdering non-believers. Islam turns its young males into sexual perverts by glorifying the winning of 72 virgins in exchange for the murder of Jews. Yes, we see the fruits of Islam, and yes, we know them well; all too well.

“The Koranic Verses“

Is Islamism causing a loss of faith in liberalism amongst Europeans?

Holland, the most progressive nation in the world, is a demonstration of the result of Europe’s experiment with multiculturalism. Through official policies, the government created its idea of Utopia; a multicultural society in which cultural and ethnic differences would be celebrated. Immigrants were encouraged with generous social programs, to bring their extended families into the Netherlands. The Dutch people supplied funding for mosques, religious schools, language courses and housing for the new immigrants. Although people at the street level knew of the problems being caused by these government policies, political correctness, enforced by the liberal elite who lived and worked far from the Muslim streets, forbade any discussion of immigration, crime, culture, or national identity. Better to stay silent than risk being labeled as “racist” and/or “Nazi”. Today, native Dutch are are a minority in Rotterdam. When the September 11th attacks shocked the world in 2001, the streets of that famous Dutch city broke out in jubilant cheers. A large number of the residents of Rotterdam believed the murderous attacks were justified. The indigenous Dutch were shocked! Today, some outspoken members of the Netherland’s Parliament live on military bases and are surrounded by guards to prevent their beheadings, as have been threatened. Is this the future of western liberal democracies?

Visit the ancient cathedrals while there still be time. View the Christian icons of bygone days; the religious paintings by the masters, that have been tucked into every nook and corner of Europe. These may never been seen again. So much that we descendants of Europe admire as our cultural heritage, is despised by Allah. So much of what we love is now endangered.

“Is Europe Losing Faith in Liberalism?” is from TheTimesOnLine of December 04, 2004:

From Norway to Sicily, governments, politicians and the media are laying aside their doctrines of diversity and insisting that “Islamism”, as the French call the fundamentalist form that pervades the housing estates, is incompatible with Europe’s liberal values.

In Germany, with its three million — mainly Turkish — Muslims, and France, with its five million of mainly North African descent, television viewers were shocked when local young Muslims approved of Van Gogh’s murder. “If you insult Islam, you have to pay,” was a typical response.

“The notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart,” said Angela Merkel, leader of Germany’s Christian Democrat opposition. “Anyone coming here must respect our constitution and tolerate our Western and Christian roots.” Italy’s traditional tolerance towards immigrants has been eroded by fear of Islamism. An Ipsos poll in September showed that 48 per cent of Italians believed that a “clash of civilisations” between Islam and the West was under way and that Islam was “a religion more fanatical than any other”.

This post was originally published by Kerfuffles on 2 March 2005 at kerfuffles.blogspot.com.

Eat your heart out Larry Summers. You should have hired this guy as your media consultant and you could still be working at Harvard. In 2001, Laurence H. Summers was working at Harvard University and Rehmatullah Hashmi was working for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Fast forward to 2006 and Larry Summers is out of a job because of his so-called insensitivity to women and Rehmatullah Hashmi is at Yale University. (“An Aspirin for Larry Summers”)

Life in Afghanistan 2001 | A Taliban official
Taliban official Rehmatullah Hashmi, from the Taliban’s foreign ministry, shows a book conficsated from the International Assistance Mission, IAM. Eight foreign aid workers have been arrested and are on trial on charges of preaching Christianity.

New York Times. September 7, 2001. p. A1.

Afghans Present Aid Team’s Sins, Complete With Theology Lesson By BARRY BEARAK, ABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 6

The news conference came on the third day of closed-door court proceedings for eight foreign aid workers accused of preaching Christianity, a crime that the Taliban have suggested may bring them the death penalty. Mr. Muttawakil used the news conference to display what he called more evidence of Christian evangelism: confiscated Bibles in local languages, audio tapes and videos.

“O.K., turn it on,” said Rehmatullah Hashmi, a foreign ministry official. A television set — itself a forbidden thing — brightened into life. A movie called “Jesus” appeared, its narrator extolling “the good news of the Virgin Mother and the Savior’s birth.” Soon, a young Jesus was on screen asking precocious questions of startled rabbis.

“That’s enough,” said Mr. Hashmi, who tried some levity to accompany the grave accusations. “We have to put it off. Otherwise, we will also be proselytizing.”

He then held up various items, including a children’s book with Bible lessons on flash cards. “These books say Jesus Christ was the son of God,” Mr. Hashmi patiently explained. “We don’t believe this. We believe Jesus was a prophet but not the son of God.”

As a result of her blunt and provocative words on Al Jazeera television, Arab-American Psychologist Wafa Sultan is now being regarded internationally as either a fresh voice of reason or an heretical infidel who deserves to die. Her interview has been viewed on the Internet more than one million times and deserves to reach at least a million more. Dr. Sultan bitterly criticizes Muslim clerics, warriors and political leaders of the past 14 centuries who she says have distorted the teachings of Muhammad and the Koran. She says that today’s Muslims are wallowing in self-pity and violence instead of taking lessons from their neighbors - the Jews. She says that the present battle between modernity and barbarism is a battle that violent and reactionary Islam is destined to lose.

Listen to Arab-American Psychologist, Wafa Sultan, as she voices her views on MEMRI TV: (in Arabic with English subtitles)

"There Is No Clash of Civilizations but a Clash between the Mentality of the Middle Ages and That of the 21st Century Following are excerpts from an interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. The interview was aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 21, 2006 . Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings."

VIDEO: Dr. Wafa Sultan on Al Jazeera | Transcript

Ruffles and Flourishes to Blue Star Mom Pebble Pie and Michael Yon. Linked at “Sister Toldjah”