The abuse can be amusing at times though. I am, for instance, often accused of being a Christian bigot. Seeing that I am an atheist, the lack of insight in such comments is remarkable.

Sometimes I am told that I am just an old man who cannot keep up with the modern world and resist change for that reason. I am now 66 but have been a conservative since my early teens so that is a bad guess too.

And it is amazing the number of organizations that I am “in the pay” of. That I am just a retired academic sitting in front of my computer in an upstairs room in a backstreet of a city that most people have never heard of doesn’t seem to be envisaged. The last organization I was “in the pay” of was the University of New South Wales in Sydney in 1983, at which time I retired from academic employment. After that I just developed my business interests — with a degree of success that would enrage leftists even more if they knew about it.

And, of course, the antisemites are often out, accusing me of being a dupe of the Jews etc. Since I have written at great length about Jews — not all of it complimentary (See the sidebar of DISSECTING LEFTISM) — and also about the history, psychology and sociology of antisemitism, I think I am at least not a “dupe”. I read the “Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion” in my teens and even then thought they were rather bizarre. Yet “The Protocols” are the Bible of antisemites (hugely popular in the Middle East) and I am often told that I should read them.

And so it goes. What I have listed is just a tiny sample of the hate-filled comments that I receive. Hate is really what the Left is about. Other conservative bloggers also occasionally mention the unreasoning hate they get from Leftists. Michelle Malkin seems to get it in spades.

That people who are so brimming over with hate are always alert to find something in conservatives that they can characterize as hate is, I suppose, understandable. It deflects attention from what they are.

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

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If it’s anti-west, anti-British, Anti-American, Anti-Israeli… well, be sure that Amnesty International supports it. Here’s another bit of proof for that bromide with AmNasty International’s suspension of human rights specialist Gita Sahgal. Why was Sahgal removed from her AI position? Because she criticized AI for supporting Moazzam Begg, Britain’s biggest supporter of al Qaeda, the Taliban and religious oppression against women.

Interesting to see the clash of political correctness here, isn’t it? They’ve booted a female, minority civil rights worker from her position because she came out against an Islamofascist that AI is in love with.

I am sure this had the PC heads at AI roiling in a tizzy. Their dilemma was do they support, a). the female, minority, civil rights worker, or b). the aggrieved Islamofascist that was once held at Guantanamo. What a dilemma for the politically correct, eh?

Tellingly, Amnesty International chose to support the fanatic Muslim that supports al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Here’s what occurred: Last January Gita Sahgal, who was head of the “Gender Unit” at Amnesty International, became alarmed that AI was aligning itself with Moazzam Begg. At that time she sent a letter to her employers at AI saying in part, “To be appearing on platforms with Britain’s most famous supporter of the Taliban, whom we treat as a human rights defender, is a gross error of judgment.”

AI replied by suspending her and launching an “internal investigation.” This prompted Sahgal to release a public statement.

“Amnesty International has sanitised the history and politics of ex-Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg, and completely failed to recognise the nature of his organisation Cageprisoners.”

“The issue is a fundamental one about the importance of the human rights movement maintaining an objective distance from groups and ideas that are committed to systematic discrimination and fundamentally undermine the universality of human rights. I have raised this issue because of my firm belief in human rights for all.”

So, who is this Begg character? He runs an organization called Cageprisoners and has been an outspoken supporter of the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Originally from Birmingham, Mr Begg went to a training camp in Afghanistan in 1993 and then moved there with his family in 2001.

In his memoirs, he said the Taliban were “better than anything Afghanistan has had in 20 years.”

He was picked up by the CIA in 2002 after fleeing to Pakistan. The U.S. claimed he was a member of al-Qaeda who had helped recruit others and fund training camps.

Since his release, he has been a vocal campaigner for the rights of detainees and has been involved with Amnesty for several years.

Begg’s group has come to the aid of Islamic hate preacher al Al-Awlaki (linked to Major Hassan’s act of terror in Texas in late 2009) as well as 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the group has also given support to Abu Hamza, and Abu Qatada.

Sahgal says that Cageprisoners “‘actively promotes Islamic Right ideas and individuals.” Obviously she is right.

Yet she is the one that got canned by Amnesty International. AI claims they don’t support terrorists, but this action makes this claim very, very hard to believe.

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Barack Obama started his presidency with an astounding 83% approval rating among American Jews. Nine months later, that support had dropped to 64%, and he ended 2009 with a dismal 48% approval rating. The president is clearly no longer on the same page.

[Jewish conservative Norman] Podhoretz recently delivered a stinging rebuke to the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman specifically (and the left generally) for sabotaging American Jewish interests. He set the record straight: “Our interests and our ideals, both as Americans and as Jews, have come in recent decades to be better served by the forces of the right.”

Podhoretz not only argues that anti-Semitism has been banished from the right over the past 40 years but points to a long history of ADF “seeing an anti-Semite under every conservative bed” while remaining blind to the reality that “anti-Semitism has found a hospitable new home on the left, especially where Israel is concerned.”

This could be why Hamas heartily endorsed Chairman Zero, going so far as to run phone banks from Gaza (they were of course rewarded with our money after the election) — and why the Moonbat Messiah’s popularity in Israel is in the basement. Closer to home, Dems reflexively side with rabidly anti-Semitic blacks like Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan — the guy who actually called Obama the Messiah. In economic terms, Jews tend not to benefit from the Dems’ increasingly alarming eat the rich attitude, especially as their notion of “the rich” comes to include ever more of the middle class.

Self-hatred among left-wing Jews goes back at least to Karl Marx, explaining why Jewish support for the Dems hasn’t fallen even faster. But Podhoretz isn’t the only Jew to make a name for himself among conservatives. Just among conservative radio hosts there are Mark Levin, Michael Savage, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, and probably more. There are enough Jewish conservatives now that moonbats use the term “Neocon” as a slur against Jews.

Dems have the black vote sewn up for now, having bought it with race-based privileges and wealth redistribution. The Jewish vote is another matter.

On a tip from Byron. Cross-posted at Moonbattery.

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Every once in a while I like to blow off some steam and deliver a good rant. So get ready for my rant du jour…

It’s like a bad parody of the worst propensity of the American professoriate to be, well, as un-American as one can get. But here we have another prosaic example of yet another half-wit, left-wing professor — this one a prof of “international law” — using his perch in a state sponsored school, with his taxpayer’s supported (and obviously undeserved) salary to help foreigners launch an attack on his own county… if this particular pinko even bothers to claim he IS a U.S. citizen, that is. With these university pinheads it isn’t a safe bet to assume that they even consider themselves Americans.

Anyway, this particular pointy-headed geek is named Francis A. Boyle (no not boil, that is only what he is, not what he’s named) and he is a professor of International Law at the University of Illinois in Champaign. Mr. Boil… uh, I mean Boyle… has filed with the International Criminal Court in The Hague, The Netherlands, a “complaint” against George W. Bush and his whole administration. What is this little complaint whining about? Two guesses and the first one doesn’t count.

Yeah, you guessed correctly. This commie prof is trying to get Bush, et al, brought up on faux war crimes charges. Get a load of this child’s ranting.

It shouldn’t be surprising, though, This crank is one of those nuts that is a perennial at all sorts of fringe conferences and is a wild-eyed supporter of all sorts of extremely odd ideas. He is a typical Jew hater of wacko pedigree, a “Palestinian” and Iranian terror supporter, and has for years been the shrill voice of Hawaiian “independence.” About the only thing I’ve ever seen him advocate for that is remotely sensible is his contention that Amnesty International as a publicity hog that cares more about raking in money than it does in promoting anyone’s human rights. But this guy is such a wackjob that I’d question that the sky is blue were he to say it is.

But as to his latest carnival sideshow act, I have to say it is so quaint that this “professor” has cloaked his anti-Americanism in the language of the law. He’s filing a “complaint,” with the so-called International “Criminal Court.” It is so cute that they are all pretending that this is a real court and not a kangaroo court created solely with the goal of attacking the U.S.A. It’s so precious that they’ve glommed onto real terms of the law in order to try and give their silly, faux legal game some sort of legitimacy. It is guffaw worthy that they are pretending to be seriously interested in a real rule of law. Bless their tiny little hearts, but it is a hoot that they are pretending that they are acting in the best interests of peace and the law.

Me, I got your “international law” right here, buddy. I will deign to follow any sort of “international law” when the rest of the world decides to do so first instead of just mealy mouthing the claim but otherwise carrying on with their own interests, business-as-usual wise. Until then, Professor Pustulated Boils, please do take your anti-American diatribe and stick it in your taxpayer supported rear-end.

Now, here is another question I have… is it right and good that we have taxpayer’s money paying this twit for his garbage done on state time, using state funds, in a state facility? Should we not have a say in what this twit does with our tax money?

If this pinko creep wants to waste his obviously ample time on such stupidity as this effort proves to be, let him do so on his own time and without the imprimatur of our state sponsored university attached to it as if it were a blanket substantiation of his actions.

I, for one, would rather see The Hague burned to the ground before any American appears there as an accused criminal. I wouldn’t even hand over Tim McVeigh or Charles Manson to these commie bastards in Europe. Who the hell do they think they are to judge an American?

If we have a citizen that needs disciplining, WE should be the ones to punish him.

Wait… maybe I would turn over at least one idiot to the Euro trash he so loves. Consider this a call to Benedict Boils to move to Europe where he belongs. Take a hike Boil. Go be a boil on Europe’s bum, not ours. He’s one boil I’d love to see lanced.

Take your fake, self-flagellating, warped sense of “law” and shove it, prof. We don’t need traitors like you here.

Proving that all change is necessarily good, if this were the 1800s, this freak would rightly be institutionalized as a menace to those around him. Since he lives in our century, though, we make him a teacher of our children. So much for “progress.”

…end rant.

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“When our ways of life trap us into a closed world of friends who look, look, or believe like us, elaborating great and beautiful philosophies of tolerance and pluralism is a highly virtual petition of generosity, an extremely subtle way of avoiding the need to be open-minded. Those are but good intentions that amounts to making a show of being anti-racist in intellectual terms, even though we come across no –or almost no—Blacks, Arabs or Asians (or White, or others, if you are Black, Arab or Asian) in our day to day lives. Being opposed to anti-Semitism or Islamophobia whilst living, deliberately or otherwise, at a respectable distance from Jews and Muslims is certainly an honourable intellectual stance, but basically it tells us nothing about the real personal attitudes of the human being who theorizes in that way.

He goes on to say that racial animosity rarely springs from theory but from life experiences:

When ‘the others’ seem to be confident and serene when we ourselves are unsure of our truths; when their visibility disturbs our living space and their presence upsets our habits; when whey seem to steal the few jobs available; when their prosperity reminds us of our difficulties or even poverty .. then they stir up within us emotions that are to human beings what the survival instinct is to animals. The reaction is almost uncontrollable: all our fine words become meaningless, and we are back to our raw humanity. We have to come to terms with emotions, dispositions of the heart and our ‘gut’ reactions that colonize our minds with fear, suspicion, rejection and prejudices. Purely intellectual racism is a minority, and often, marginal phenomenon. The rejection –conscious or otherwise—of the other always feeds on a mixture of doubts, fear, insecurity and habits that have been upset, combined with real or fantasized rivalry for wealth, numbers or strength: the day to day problems of immigration, unemployment, poverty, of the feeling of being dispossessed, invaded and so on. We are indeed at the heart of humanity and of life: we may well despise and denounce the dogmatists and the racists in our cosy spaces but it is most unfair not to take full account of the often highly instinctive fears and doubts which, in concrete situations, produce the worst rejections of the other.

Source

There is much truth in that but I think he is limited in seeing only negative explanations for ethnic consciousness. He omits the old “birds of a feather flock together” explanation. It is natural (and probably safest) to feel most at ease among others like ourselves and we tend to seek out others like ourselves for that reason. That is why many social clubs used to have ethnic criteria for admission until such rules were mostly outlawed.

I myself am always especially delighted to see red-headed children about the place so does that make me a “hairist”? Maybe it does but since my father had red hair and my son has a red beard, I hope I can be excused. If I can’t like what is close to me it would be a sad day. Just today when I was walking home I passed a young mother who had two little redheaded children in tow. As we passed, I said to her how lucky she was to have two little carrot-tops. She agreed.

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.). For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. To keep up with attacks on free speech see TONGUE-TIED. Also, don’t forget your daily roundup of pro-environment but anti-Greenie news and commentary at GREENIE WATCH . Email me here

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Did you know that Israel has destroyed life for Christians in the town of Bethlehem to the point that Christians have exited in a “massive flight.?” Have you ever thought of Israel being a menace to Bethlehem? No, I had not thought of either of these, but the worldwide mainstream media reports this untruth every year at the Christmas season.

WorldNetDaily has this story, and I found it via AmerIsrael. According to WND’s Aaron Klein, Reuters, the GuardianUK and others, are in the habit of reporting, each year at this time, the terrible treatment of Christians by Jews in Bethlehem. If you do not have time to read the portions below, or time to go directly to WND to read the entire piece, read the three paragraphs in bold text below, and you will get the idea.

TEL AVIV – Like clockwork, every year at this time reporters file misleading and, in some cases, outright false reports about the state of Christmas in Bethlehem [blaming Israel for the demise of the Christian population].

They claim Israeli policies have wreaked havoc on the city’s economy and that Israel is responsible for the massive flight of Christians from Bethlehem. Yet the news media completely ignore Muslim intimidation and get their facts wrong on documented history and the true state of affairs in this ancient town.

A widely circulated Reuters article, for example, laments “Christmas cheer hasn’t spread to all of Bethlehem’s residents,” squarely blaming “an Israeli wall” for the town’s misfortunes. Britains’ Press and Journal also paints a dismal picture of Bethlehem, claiming the city is “divided by a huge wall” and that the “26ft-high security wall completes the isolation of Bethlehem and prevents it from ever expanding.” The piece also wrongly states that about 2 percent of Bethlehem’s population is Christian.

An opinion piece by Austen Ivereigh in the London Guardian, meanwhile, also claims Bethlehem is “shuttered and depressed” by an “Israeli separation wall.”

“I don’t just mean the structure itself – 30 feet high, bristling with watchtowers and formed of grey concrete slabs – but where it is built, deep into the town itself, far into the West Bank, severing Bethlehem from Jerusalem and ensuring the relentless expansion eastwards of Jewish-only settlements built on land seized from Palestinian farmers,” the Guardian piece claims. Regarding the “wall” that “surrounds” Bethlehem: Israel built a fence in 2002 in the area where northern Bethlehem interfaces with Jerusalem. A tiny segment of the barrier, facing a major Israeli roadway, is a concrete wall that Israel says is meant to prevent gunmen from shooting at Israeli motorists….

Amazingly, Ivereigh’s piece in the Guardian falsely claimed: “Bethlehem is shuttered and depressed not because of Koran-wielding thugs but because the wall has smashed its economy. The town has become a ghetto, severed from lands to the north and west by the wall, and to the south and east by settler-only roads and a forest of checkpoints, leaving it barely able to trade.”

Simple demographic facts disprove this contention entirely. Israel built the barrier seven years ago. But Bethlehem’s Christian population started to drastically decline in 1995, the very year Arafat’s Palestinian Authority took over the holy Christian city in line with the U.S.-backed Oslo Accords.

Bethlehem was more than 80 percent Christian when Israel was founded in 1948. But after Arafat took control, the city’s Christian population plummeted to its current 23 percent. And that statistic is considered generous since it includes the satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem’s actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating each year.

As soon as he took over Bethlehem, Arafat unilaterally fired the city’s Christian politicians and replaced them with Muslim cronies. He appointed a Muslim governor, Muhammed Rashad A-Jabar, and deposed of Bethlehem’s city council, which had nine Christians and two Muslims, reducing the number of Christians councilors to a 50-50 split.

Arafat then converted a Greek Orthodox monastery next to the Church of Nativity, the believed birthplace of Jesus, into his official Bethlehem residence.
Suddenly, after the Palestinians gained the territory, reports of Christian intimidation by Muslims began to surface.

Christian leaders and residents told this reporter they face an atmosphere of regular hostility. They said Palestinian armed groups stir tension by holding militant demonstrations and marches in the streets. They spoke of instances in which Christian shopkeepers’ stores were ransacked and Christian homes attacked.

They said in the past, Palestinian gunmen fired at Israelis from Christian hilltop communities, drawing Israeli anti-terror raids to their towns.

In 2002, dozens of terrorists holed up inside the Church of the Nativity for 39 days while fleeing a massive Israeli anti-terror operation. Israel surrounded the church area but refused to storm the structure….

Some Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs.

One religious novelty store owner recently told WND that Muslim gangs regularly deface Christian property.

“We are harassed, but you wouldn’t know the truth. No one says anything publicly about the Muslims. This is why Christians are running away.”

The City of the birth of Christ, the birth of King David, and the tomb of Rachel is under Palestinian governance, and has a Muslim majority population.

In 2007 the city had approximately 25,000 residents with Christians making up 20% of the citizenry. With life made difficult for Christians, and the fact that Christians propagate at a much slower rate than Muslims, the Christian presence in Bethlehem is dwindling.

Read about Christmas observances by Christians in Bethlehem here and about the Church of the Nativity and the birthplace of Christ here.

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“The founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center voiced dismay and disappointment Monday at weekend Vatican moves to raise controversial wartime pope Pius XII to sainthood. The Vatican sparked anger in Jewish communities worldwide with moves to nudge Pius — whose beatification process was launched in 1967 — closer to sainthood, its ultimate honor.

The Catholic Church argues that Pius saved many Jews who were hidden away in religious institutions, and that his silence during the Holocaust — when millions of Jews were exterminated by Germany’s Nazi regime — was born out of a wish to avoid aggravating their situation. But others believe Pius’s inaction when it mattered to the lives of so many was appallingly wrong.”

Source:

[There is still a lot of hatred for ALL Christians among Jews. More on Pius XII here and here]

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).

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As Jim Hoft points out, Hillary stated that the Obama admin has stood by the Iranian protesters. Jim points out otherwise. Furthermore, has anyone heard word one from the President regarding the protests going on since the summer, and ramped up since Monday the 7th? A State Dept. flunky gave a tepid measure of support for the protesters, and President Chump sorta referred to them in a roundabout generic way during his Nobel speech.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Rubin smacks Hillary around for a bit over her doubletalk.

Also, Iran claims that they have test fired another missile capable of hitting Israel and US targets in the Middle East. More provocation. What now, President Chump?

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove

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Today’s announcement by the Government of Israel helps move forward toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We believe that through good-faith negotiations the parties can mutually agree on an outcome which ends the conflict and reconciles the Palestinian goal of an independent and viable state based on the 1967 lines, with agreed swaps, and the Israeli goal of a Jewish state with secure and recognized borders that reflect subsequent developments and meet Israeli security requirements. Let me say to all the people of the region and world: our commitment to achieving a solution with two states living side by side in peace and security is unwavering.

Israel won the land in 1967 fair and square after being attacked by Arab nations. They were not the aggressor.

I have to wonder: the Progressives constantly say we should not be interfering around the world, yet, they find it A-OK to dictate terms to Israel. Is it just blind hatred, or something else? Eh, we’ll just go with blind Israel hatred and anti-Semitism.

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In another in a long series of swift kicks to Israel and American Jews, the Obama Administration has announced that it is slashing the guest list and budget for its 2009 Hanukkah celebration.

According to the Jerusalem Post the guest list is being cut in half causing some American Jews to wonder if Obama is giving them the cold shoulder… again.

In case no one has been paying attention, President Obama has been slighting Israel and American Jews since before he became president. His pick of Samantha Power, the Palestinian apologist, for his Mid East policy team was a fine example of his obvious disdain for Jews. And she isn’t his only pro-Palestinian adviser.

Of course, were I president I’d cancel Hanukkah entirely. Just as I’d immediately stop any recognition of any other holidays except the officially recognized, Christian holidays of American history and culture. No slight meant to those religious celebrations at all. They just aren’t American unlike Christmas, Easter, and the like are.

In fact, this willy nilly waste of the American taxpayer’s money on these idiotic grand celebrations where 400 guests are pampered at the taxpayer’s expense is entirely obscene. They should all be canceled. This isn’t the gilded age anymore.

Still, it’s disheartening to see Obama constantly jabbing his thumb in the eyes of Jews everywhere. Even though I’d cancel the Hanukkah celebration, I am one of Israel’s best friends. After all, I wouldn’t pick policy advisers that want Israel wiped off the face of the Earth like Obama has!

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