Lest We Forget: D-Day 65th Anniversary

Reenactment from Saving Private Ryan:

More detailed information here and many more videos here.

World War 2 Naval History

On John Batchelor's most recent show (at 20:00) he interviewed Maxwell Taylor Kennedy, the author of Danger's Hour: The Story of the USS Bunker Hill and the Kamikaze Pilot Who Crippled Her.
The interview is mostly focused on the U.S. Navy, especially toward the end of WW2.

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One interesting fact that was also revealed was that throughout the entire Cold War the USSR failed to build even one aircraft carrier "because it was too complicated". That should speak volumes to everyone about why ingenuity rarely comes out of the public sector, yet if a poll were done today I doubt that many would be immediately cognizant of this fact.

Hamas & PETA

Here's a video showing Hamas booby-trapping a small zoo:


I wrote PETA, passing on the video and asking them to immediately speak out against it! Do you think they will?

Barbarians Inside the Gates

Please watch the following videos:




Muslim protesters fighting with police in Oslo

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Now ask yourself why liberal "progressives" the world over are defending such people, citing moral equivalency and portraying them as victims.

I know plenty of Muslim people. Each & every one of them is a great person. They would never act in a manner such as you've seen above. Defending these upstanding citizens is a fine & noble thing to do.

But how on earth did we get to a point where some now believe that defending violent Muslims is somehow "supporting a minority" and thus the right thing to do? Sometimes I wonder if we're once again living in the Europe of the 1930's and the world is about to get turned upside down again en masse.

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If you want to see just how depraved some in Canada have become, read this posting by a "progressive" blogger whose tagline claims to be "rolling back the tide of extremism". The only way he could do that would be to detach his fingers from his keyboard. Clearly his brain has been detached from even the tiniest thread of decency for some time. If one didn't know better, you'd think that this pile of filth would be one of those bandana-wearing anarchists seeking to destroy society. Yet up until now he has been a proud supporter of the Liberal Party of Canada.

Gaza Debate in Canada

The Hypocrisy of the UN and Europe

Alan Dershowitz, a prominent American liberal, has a very different take on Israel than many of his compatriots. Thank goodness! He has published a compelling editorial about Israel's Right to Defend itself. Here's a snippet:

The firing of rockets at civilians from densely populated civilian areas is the newest tactic in the war between terrorists who love death and democracies that love life. The terrorists have learned how to exploit the morality of democracies against those who do not want to kill civilians, even enemy civilians. In one recent incident, Israeli intelligence learned that a particular house was being used to manufacture and store rockets. It was a clear military target since their rockets were being fired at Israeli civilians. But the house was also being lived in by a family. So the Israeli military phoned the house, informed the owner that it was a military target, and gave him thirty minutes to leave with his family before the house was attacked. The owner called Hamas, which immediately sent dozens of mothers carrying babies to stand on the roof of the house. Hamas knew that Israel would never fire at a home with civilians in it. They also knew that if, by some fluke, the Israeli authorities did not learn that there were civilians in the house, and fired on it, Hamas would win a public relations victory by displaying the dead civilians to the media. In this case, Israel did learn of the civilians and withheld its fire. The rockets that were spared destruction by the human shields were then used against Israeli civilians.

There have been three types of international response to the Israeli military actions against the Hamas rockets. Not surprisingly, Iran, Hamas, and other knee-jerk Israeli-bashers have argued that the Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians are entirely legitimate, and that the Israeli counterattacks are war crimes. Equally unsurprising is the response of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia, and others who, at least when it comes to Israel, see a moral and legal equivalence between terrorists who target civilians and a democracy that responds by targeting the terrorists.

The most dangerous of the three responses is not the Iranian-Hamas absurdity, which is largely ignored by thinking and moral people, but the United Nations and European Union response, which equate the willful murder of civilians with legitimate self-defense pursuant to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. This false moral equivalence only encourages terrorists to persist in their unlawful actions against civilians. The United States has it exactly right by placing the blame on Hamas, while urging Israel to do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties.

The Dirty War of Hamas

Watch this video and you will see precisely what Israel is up against. They're doomed if they don't fight back and damned [by many] if they do.

To those condemning Israel for fighting back to stop the rocket barrages I ask, "What would you do if you were in their shoes?" If your only response is "talk with Hamas" then please know that "Cop-Out" is your middle name.

A Letter from Israel

Today, Charles Adler read a letter from a woman who lived in Israel. You can listen to it here at 7:00. Do listen.

Gaza Watch

Here's a sampling of editorials from around the world concerning what's going on in Gaza right now:

Melanie Phillips reports on the despicable "moral inversion" of the MSM here and here. Here's a sampling:

Untold numbers of [Israeli] soldiers will lose their lives as the result not merely of the genocidal aims of Hamas (and its Iranian puppet-master) but also the indifference and pusillanimity towards Palestinian terror displayed by world governments over the past six decades of Israel’s fight for survival, along with the active encouragement of genocidal Islamists by leftists, Jew-haters, Muslims and useful idiots who were on such thuggish display yesterday in the co-ordinated demonstrations in British and other western cities.

David Berner, a Vancouver based commenter and someone who would normally describe himself on the left-side of the political spectrum, shares a similar view to Phillips here. Here's a little bit of his take on things:

Where have these two young know-it-alls been the past year while Hamas rockets have maintained a steady rain on Israeli towns?

When did these "journalists" ask Hamas leaders when they plan to stop hiding under women's skirts?

When will they ask Hamas and other Arab leaders when they plan to accept the right of 7 million people to live in a sovereign state called Israel? Or when will they stop teaching their children that Jews are rats and vermin, that must be exterminated from the earth?

Israel is under siege. It has been for a long time. It will continue to be as long as the hundred million people who surround it hate everything about it and everyone in it.

The Gaza attacks from Israel show, if anything, amazing restraint.

I have not spoken for a few days with my Jewish friends in Chicago - Democrats all - but do wonder if they now finally understand the extreme bias that conservatives and Christians have felt against them from the media for years.

Speaking of Democrats, Barack Obama's silence on this issue is absolutely deafening. Sorry to say "I told you so", but this is of zero surprise to me. His whole raison d'etre during the campaign was to say as little meaningful as possible and to try to take every side on every issue whenever possible.

In a strange turn of events for the Huffington Post, they've published an hilarious but telling satire by Martin Lewis. He juxtaposes Israel with Britain and Palestine with Germany and then provides a World War 2 like account of what reporting would be like back then. Hmmm, look who laid out exactly the same scenario back on December 30th! Here's a brilliant part of Lewis' piece:

Of course England has a right to exist. Of course England has a right to defend itself. But it should ensure that its responses are PROPORTIONATE.Since many more Germans are dying than English - the English should either tone down the success and accuracy of their bombing - or allow the Germans to catch up on the death count.

To be honest - if more English women and children were dying - we wouldn't feel quite so bad about the number of Germans dying. But it's just so UNFAIR that more Germans are dying...

Perhaps some English people could arrange to kill themselves to match the number of Germans dying as a result of the English retaliation bombing? It would be so considerate - and it might help England's critics feel less miserable about the number of Nazis dying. Something that is causing them so much concern.

Finally, Mark Steyn illustrates the insanity of the hypocrisy of those criticizing Israel. Here's a portion:

In Gaza, they don't vote for Hamas because they want access to university education. Or, if they do, it's to get Junior into the Saudi-funded, Hamas-run Islamic University of Gaza, where majoring in rocket science involves making one and firing it at the Zionist Entity. In 2007, as part of their attempt to recover Gaza from Hamas, Fatah seized 1,000 Qassam rockets at the university, as well as seven Iranian military trainers.

At a certain unspoken level, we understand that the Huntington thesis is right, and the Rice view is wishful thinking. After all, when French President Sarkozy and other European critics bemoan Israel's "disproportionate" response, what really are they saying? That they expect better from the despised Jews than from Hamas. That they regard Israel as a Western society bound by civilized norms, whereas any old barbarism issuing forth from Gaza is to be excused on grounds of "desperation."

Hence, this slightly surreal headline from The New York Times: "Israel Rejects Cease-Fire, But Offers Gaza Aid." For whatever that's worth. Wafa Samir Ibrahim al-Biss, a young Palestinian woman who received considerate and exemplary treatment at an Israeli hospital in Beersheba, returned to that same hospital packed with explosives in order to blow herself up and kill the doctors and nurses who restored her to health. Well, what do you expect? It's "desperation" born of "poverty" and "occupation."

Something You Won't See on the Regular News

Hamas using ambulances with UN insignia to transport their able-bodied soldiers:

What's the UN saying about this? Nothing
What's the MSM (Mainstream Media) saying about this? Nothing

Anti-Semitism Alive & Well at Reuters

Without a word of editorial comment, Reuters, spoke volumes with these 3 photos, presented in precisely this order (Palestinians, Jews, Palestinians) :



What "intelligent" person wouldn't come to the logical [Reuters] conclusion: "Jews are hideous, evil bastards who laugh and smile while Palestinian children are severely injured & killed and their homes are destroyed."

Those of us who can see through the propaganda, that's who. What couldn't escape my attention is how closely Reuters' portrayal of Jews is compared to what the Nazis in Germany did in the 1930's. Different medium, same end effect.

Note: This is not the first time Reuters has used photographs in their PR war against Israel.

Charles Krauthammer & George Jonas on the Never-ending War

Charles Krauthammer has just written a new column, as has George Jonas. Both are well worth a read. From the former comes this snippet:

Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons.

-- Associated Press, Dec. 27

Israel is so scrupulous about civilian life that, risking the element of surprise, it contacts enemy noncombatants in advance to warn them of approaching danger. Hamas, which started this conflict with unrelenting rocket and mortar attacks on unarmed Israelis -- 6,464 launched from Gaza in the past three years -- deliberately places its weapons in and near the homes of its own people.

For Hamas, the only thing more prized than dead Jews are dead Palestinians. The religion of Jew-murder and self-martyrdom is ubiquitous.

Those Killed by Israel vs. Those Hamas is Attempting to Kill

I just watched this video, provided by Israel's Defense Forces:

It shows a number of Palestinian terrorists/militants/soldiers (or whatever politically correct term you prefer) loading missiles onto the back of a truck.

The precision guided bomb sent down by Israel undoubtedly killed them all, as well as destroyed the rockets. We keep hearing about 400 Palestinians killed so far in this conflict. I have heard nothing to dispute the assertion that these men were among that 400. Knowing what they were about to do, are we supposed to feel sorrow for them and anger towards Israel? I'm sorry, but I can't.

Israel vs. Iran's Proxy Warrior, Hamas

Whenever things heat up in the never-ending battle between Israel and the Palestinians, the response of the Usual Suspects is so incredibly predictable. The UN, the Radical Left, Palestinian expats, and the MSM (Mainstream Media) all do their usual spin, almost as if they're actors returning to a stage play that they've performed a dozen times before.

The talking points are well rehearsed, though make no more sense today than when they were repeated last time. Here's a sampling:

• Israel is the aggressor
• Israel is to blame
• It's fighter jets vs. little kids throwing rocks
  

The most galling of all is that "Israel should only use a Proportional Response". Really? I mean seriously, REALLY?!?

Do any of these people stop for a second to realize what would have happened in World War 2 if the Allied Forces had stuck to a "proportional response"? Here are a few end effects of what a proportional response back then would mean today:

1. The war would almost certainly still be going on.
   
2. All of Western Europe would be controlled by Nazi Germany.
3. All of Asia would be controlled by Imperialist Japan.
4. Hundreds of millions more people would be dead.
   
5. All Jews in Europe would long ago have been exterminated.
6. So would all homosexuals in Europe have been executed.
7. So would all "progressives", who dared to speak out, been executed.
   
8. Many young non-Japanese women in Asia would be forced into prostitution.

There are three simple questions I have for those who condemn Israel in such matters:

1. Do you truly and honestly think the current Palestinian leadership wants peace with Israel?
2. Do you believe that Israel has the right to exist?
3. If missiles were being sent into your neighborhood from a nearby independent Indian Reserve, would you just sit back and say, "That's alright" ?
   

An Israeli Journalist's Perspective

Here's an interesting interview with an Israeli journalist, Herb Keinon, beginning at 33:30.

John Batchelor on Iran's Role in Gaza

Interesting tidbit: Batchelor's mother is of Iranian descent.
Related audio can be heard in the first 9 minutes of this audio file (15.5MB).

Remembrance Day

A Truly Loyal Canadian

Gentlemen like this one have given much more to their country and your freedom than you or I likely ever have. Please don't take them for granted. Get a poppy, make a donation, and recognize your country's past.

Russia and the $70 Barrel of Oil

A few months ago I heard a rather foreboding prediction that if the price of oil were to drop below US$70 per barrel for too long then Russia would engage in some sort of military action in order to cause uncertainty and drive the price up. The theory behind this being that oil was their major export and source of revenue.

So periodically I check in on what oil is selling for.

Who knows if this theory is true or false. Assuming it is true, one could argue that the Russians will deliberately not do anything until after the U.S. Election on November 4th, so as to not give John McCain any extra advantage of getting elected president.

Strange times we live in.

The Speech Sarah Palin Never Gave

Here's a fascinating article in the liberal Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, about the speech that Sarah Palin was to give at an anti-Ahmadinejad rally at the UN in New York. Unfortunately Hillary Clinton and the Democrat party ensured that this speech was never delivered. Sadder than sad.

More important graphics here.