Displaying posts published in

August 2012

INVENTING PLURALIST AMERICA: KEVIN ZDIARA

http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/4698/features/inventing-pluralist-america/?print

With the United States of 2012 more culturally diverse than ever, it is tempting to think that the country’s social pluralism was foreordained. After all, aren’t we a nation of immigrants?

In fact, however, a tolerant pluralism was not the only possibility for America. It emerged as the dominant view of how our society should be organized only after a bitter debate that began with the wave of Eastern European immigration at the end of the 19th century and finally dissipated only in the crucible of World War II. One of the chief theorists of American pluralism—indeed, the man who coined the term “cultural pluralism”—was a German-born American Jew named Horace Meyer Kallen. This coming Saturday will mark the 130th anniversary of his birth. It is a date worth celebrating.

About a century ago, Kallen was at the height of his fame. He had just edited the last book by his late teacher, the Harvard philosopher William James; he was about to publish an extraordinary comparative study of James and the French philosopher Henri Bergson; and he was at the center of a heated debate about America’s future.

The wave of immigration from Eastern and Central Europe at the beginning of the 20th century was being met by aggressive anti-immigrant sentiment from the WASP elite. Theodore Roosevelt, for one, inveighed against “hyphenated Americans.” Others were less subtle. Sociologist Edward A. Ross warned in his 1914 book, The Old World in the New, that “the blood now injected into the veins of our people is ‘subcommon.’”

Kallen, who had emigrated with his family from Germany at the age of four, felt that those sentiments betrayed the ideals of the United States and needed to be refuted. He was an advocate of James’s philosophical pluralism and undertook to apply this concept to social, political, and religious problems.

In his famous essay, “Democracy vs. the Melting Pot,” Kallen argued that the United States was a commonwealth based on an idea, not on blood or territory. The idea was that people are different, and that this difference was good; the equality postulated in the Declaration of Independence didn’t mean sameness but equal rights for individuals fundamentally different from each other.

Kallen’s pluralism, therefore, was descriptive as well as prescriptive. His starting point was the idea that each individual had a unique perspective on the world, which was influenced by one’s geographical situation and cultural, religious, and political environment. The individual could then contribute this perspective to a more comprehensive understanding of the world. Although for Kallen there was no preferred point of view as such, he did recognize the importance of providing a common ground from which the differences could grow and flourish. That common ground was democracy, which protected the individual’s “right to be different,” as Kallen would come to call it in the 1930s, and enabled a pluralist society.

Relatedly, Kallen was cognizant of the dangers posed to pluralism by totalitarianism and intolerance. Following his travels through Fascist Italy and Soviet Russia at the end of the 1920s, he became a vocal critic of totalitarianism, long before other progressives and liberals did so. The same was true for religions: Though Kallen acknowledged their importance for shaping identities, he was appalled by their history of coercion and violence, and especially opposed those which were obstructing scientific development or which acted intolerantly toward other religious groups.

Kallen’s hostility toward religious groups also applied to his own. He exchanged harsh words with Reform Rabbis Samuel Schulman and Abba Hillel Silver for their exclusively religious definition of Judaism; he was equally critical of some Orthodox Jews for their religious intolerance; and he was no less outspoken against zealous anti-Zionists from all Jewish camps.

TABITHA KOROL: THE SHARIA COMPLIANT OLYMPICS

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/korol/120806

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went to Istanbul on June 7 for the Global Counterterrorism Forum, comprised of 29 countries and the European Union, to confront terrorism, the country most terrorized and, indeed, most experienced in dealing with terrorism, Israel, wasn’t invited. Clinton, long recognized as not a friend of Israel, along with co-chair Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davotoglu, named the countries most beset by terrorism, and declared their commitment to oppose it, without once naming Israel or her terrorists, Hamas and Hezbollah. Clinton’s defense, too foolish and insufficient to be pondered, could never cover the truth — that our State Department, representing our current administration and the Islamists that have infiltrated, continues to pander to those who have sworn to defeat and conquer our sharia-compliant America. And to my knowledge, protests by Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) have gone unanswered.

Now, with the Summer Olympics, the Western nations have again forsaken the honorable resolves of Olympics and yielded to Sharia-compliance. The many principles to which there were dedication, including ethics, good governance, fair play, sport, strengthening unity, acting against discrimination, promoting peace, and opposing any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes, were immediately negated by Muslim athletes who brought with them their bigotry, bullying and coercions of all they might do if Israel’s presence offended them, and the West was quick to comply. Once again, the Islamists were victorious and America and other western nations acquiesced to no public moment of silence for the 11 Israeli athletes who were killed by Palestinian terrorists in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Although International Olympic Committee president, Jacques Rogge, held an appropriate minute’s silence in 2010 in memory of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili who died in a training accident, he refused the minute for the Israeli murder victims, stating we would also have to memorialize the Palestinians (the murderers).

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PAVES THE WAY FOR SHARIA LAW: WILLIAM BIGELOW

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/08/03/Obama-administration-paves-the-way-for-sharia-law
The most terrifying danger Americans face from a second Barack Obama term isn’t the economy, which is scary enough.

The most harrowing prospect is the Obama Administration’s passivity in the face of attempts to introduce aspects of sharia law into our legal system. Now there is strong and open evidence of the Obama administration collaborating with Islamist activists to ensure the path toward sharia law is accelerated.

Just last week, Thomas Perez, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division, was asked this question by Trent Franks (R-AZ), a member of the House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on the Constitution: “Will you tell us here today that this Administration’s Department of Justice will never entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion?”

Perez refused to answer. Four times.

And why would Franks target Perez?

CHET NAGLE: BEHIND THE WHITE HOUSE’S SECRET SYRIA PLAN

http://dailycaller.com/2012/08/06/behind-the-white-houses-secret-syria-plan/

The White House won’t keep its own secrets, never mind those of the SEALs, Pentagon, or Israel — especially if leaking secrets helps President Obama look like a tough guy in his uphill re-election campaign.

The latest leak is a gusher, and reveals the Obama administration is secretly aiding the rebels in Syria. Unfortunately, in a replay of what happened in Egypt last year, the State Department still does not recognize that many Syrian rebel leaders are in the Muslim Brotherhood and Al Qaida. Nor does the State Department, which seems to rely on rebel propaganda and breathless mainstream media reports for information about Syria, know what is really happening there. But the truth is being revealed.

Reuters reported last Wednesday that President Obama has signed a secret order, an intelligence “finding,” directing the Pentagon, State Department, and other government agencies to support the Syrian rebels. Those agencies are doing so, and they have put the United States firmly on the side of Sunni Muslims who want to crush the Shia Alawites in Damascus. The plotters include: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and, of course, the United States. Bashar al-Assad, the vilified president of Syria, is absolutely correct when he says civil unrest in Syria is being fomented by “outside forces.”

RICHARD COHEN : A DIFFERENCE BEYOND QUESTION…..SEE NOTE PLEASE

RICHARD COHEN IS A HARSH CRITIC OF ISRAEL…WHICH MAKES THIS COLUMN ALL THE MORE NOTEWORTHY…..RSK

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/richard-cohen-for-israelis-and-palestinians-a-difference-beyond-question/2012/08/06/86a374ae-dfe5-11e1-8fc5-a7dcf1fc161d_story.html

Before the Jews of Hungary were emancipated in the 19th century, they were not permitted to own land. By the end of the century, they were on their way to owning fully one-fifth of Hungary’s large estates and were hugely successful in business and the arts. The Jews of Germany had a similar history. In the early 20th century, they comprised many if not most of the country’s lawyers, doctors, composers, playwrights and scientists, and were so astonishingly successful in business that while they were just 1 percent of the population, they were 31 percent of the richest families. What did it? Was it nature (Jews were smarter) or nurture (Jews had a certain culture)? Here’s my answer: I don’t know.

I do know, though, that if you eliminate what would certainly be condemned as a racist explanation — Jews as inherently smarter than non-Jews — then you are left with culture: There was something in the Jewish experience — 1,000 or so years of persecution and being shunted into dishonorable occupations such as money lending — that prepared Europe’s Jews for the onset of capitalism. Countless books have been written to explain this phenomenon, which continues to this day with Israel’s intellectual domination of its region. In his new book, “The Future of the Jews,” Stuart E. Eizenstat provides an example: “Between 1980 and 2000, 7,652 patents were registered by Israelis in the United States.” The figure for the entire Arab world? 367.

ALL THE LATEST FROM CLIMATE DEPOT FIGHTING THE CULT OF CLIMATE SCIENCE

For latest go to www.ClimateDepot.com

Morano: ‘Sen. Kerry once called the UN climate panel the ‘gold standard’ of science. Well Climategate exposed the IPCC as ‘fool’s gold.’ Kerry would have you believe is that somehow acts of U.S. Congress can control the weather: If we pass a climate bill, we can reduce droughts, hurricanes & tornadoes. This is now akin to medieval witchcraft where we used to blame witches for controlling the weather. Now akin to Nostradamus & the Mayan calendar’

Gov’t scientist vs. Gov’t Scientist: Hansen’s new study rebuked by Martin P. Hoerling of NOAA: ‘This isn’t a serious science paper. It’s mainly about perception…Perception is not a science’

NYT: ‘Hoerling has published research suggesting that the 2010 Russian heat wave was largely a consequence of natural climate variability, and a forthcoming study he carried out on the Texas drought of 2011 also says natural factors were the main cause. Dr. Hoerling contended that Dr. Hansen’s new paper confuses drought, caused primarily by a lack of rainfall, with heat waves’

NYT’s Justin Gillis reports on Hansen: ‘The percentage of earth’s land surface covered by extreme heat in summer has soared, from less than 1% in years before 1980 to as much as 13% in recent years’

Rebuttal: More accurate NYT headline would have been: ‘New Hansen Paper Cherrypicks The 1970s Ice Age Scare For Comparing Heatwaves’ — ‘Yes, the 1970s were cold. Why not compare against the 1930s? This is junk science at its worst’

Slate Mag. conjures up witchcraft as it blames humans for bad weather: ‘There’s finally somebody to thoroughly blame for this miserable summer heat: ourselves’

Flashback: Medieval Pope’s version of today’s warmists’ claims: ‘Therefore it is reasonable to conclude that, just as easily as they (witches) raise hailstorms, so can they cause lightning and storms at sea; and so no doubt at all remains on these points’

NASA’s James Hansen’s latest claims dismantled: ‘This is nothing but a political ploy from a man who has abandoned any pretext of professionally done science in favor of activism’

Iran, Jerusalem, and Al Ahwaz… Gerald Honigman ****

www.geraldahonigman.com

Let’s get the ball rolling here with a question…
Whom and what do you think the following excerpts are referring to below?
_ _ _ _ _ has discriminated against the Arabs of _ _ _ _ _ since their homeland’s occupation and annexation; they are being treated as third-class citizens, abandoned to primitive living standards and without even the basic political rights.

The dispossessed _ _ _ _ _ Arabs…accuse the I_ _ _ _ government of racially-based political and economic prejudice, which is why some groups are calling for _ _ _ _ _ to be liberated and recognised as an independent Arab state. However, the government is attempting to manipulate demographics by setting-up self-contained farming settlements and bringing in _ _ _ _ _ to work there.

According to Amnesty International, “Land expropriation by the I_ _ _ _ authorities is reportedly so widespread that it appears to amount to a policy aimed at dispossessing Arabs of their traditional lands…”

It is believed that the government is also trying to eradicate the _ _ _ _ _ culture. I_ _ _ _ authorities will not register birth certificates to Arab new-borns unless they assume _ _ _ _ _ names. Schools in _ _ _ _ _ are barred from teaching Arabic, which is also banned from parliament and ministries. Arabic media is forbidden in the territory. Journalists who write against this cultural barbarism are routinely imprisoned.

Eight million _ _ _ _ _ Arabs…have as much Arab blood flowing through their veins as nationals of GCC states. I would, therefore, request Arab countries to call upon the Arab League to put their right of self-determination before the UN Security Council. Their abandonment is nothing less than a stain upon the Arab Nation to which the Arabs of _ _ _ _ _ proudly belong.

Okay…I think most of the world would agree that the answer to this question is a “no brainer,” as my students would say.

I mean, who else could those poor souls described above be but victims of those allegedly nasty Jews–the “Palestinians”…correct ?

That’s the message Iran’s Ahmadinejad and the murderous mullahs like to send out.

PEPE ESCOBAR: SLOUCHING TOWARDS GREATER KURDISTAN/

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3255/slouching-towards-greater-kurdistan Of course I’m just scratching the (Martian) surface. In fact this is much more complex than Curiosity landing in Mars. And we have no CalTech geniuses to guide us. In this article I’m trying to make sense of Syria from the Pipelineistan angle. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/08/201285133440424621.html#disqus_thread The cast of characters is worthy of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, […]

Young Obama’s Dreams of a Communist Revolution in America by Jamie Glazov

A professor who knew Obama in college wonders when the president’s conversion from Marxism occurred.

http://frontpagemag.com/2012/jamie-glazov/young-obama%E2%80%99s-dreams-of-a-communist-revolution-in-america/

Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Dr. John C. Drew, a political scientist who tried, without success, to alert the media and the John McCain campaign back in 2008 that young Occidental sophomore Obama had been a Marxist socialist looking forward to an inevitable Communist revolution. Since then, Drew’s take on young Obama’s ideological extremism has been featured in books including Michael Savage’s Trickle Up Poverty, Paul Kengor’s Dupes, Stanley Kurtz’s Radical-In-Chief, Jack Cashill’s Deconstructing Obama and most recently in Paul Kengor’s newest book, The Communist – Frank Marshall Davis: The Untold Story of Barack Obama’s Mentor. Dr. Drew has contributed at least four articles regarding young Obama’s ideological extremism to American Thinker and has posted articles at Breitbart.com and PJMedia. Key elements of Dr. Drew’s story have been verified by liberal authors including David Remnick in The Bridge and most recently David Maraniss in Barack Obama: The Story.

FP: Dr. John C. Drew, welcome to Frontpage Interview.

Let’s begin with you sharing how you met the young Barack Obama.

Drew: Thanks Jamie.

I met him through my girlfriend, Caroline Boss. She had taken two political science classes with young Obama at Occidental College – one in the spring of 1980 and one in the fall of 1980. She was the co-president of the Democrat Socialist Alliance at Occidental College and wanted to introduce young Obama to me over Christmas break 1980 as “one of us.” By that time, I was in my second year of graduate school at Cornell University where I was working on my Ph.D. in political science.

FP: What was the young Obama like ideologically?

Drew: The young Obama was a garden variety Marxist-Leninist. He and Boss and his sophomore year roommate, Hasan Chandoo, believed that social forces where creating an inevitable Communist revolution in the U.S. and that it was important to have a highly trained elite of educated leaders guide this revolutionary process and oversee it once the revolution took place. Remember, this was at the height of the Cold War in 1980. Ronald Reagan had just been elected president and the USSR was still our mortal enemy. In a lot of ways, the young Obama was more radical than me because by that Christmas break I had stopped believing in the possibility of a Communist revolution and no longer believed a pure Communist economic and social system – one without private property or profits – was possible anymore.

FP: What did Obama say that made you think he was a Marxist?

Drew: I only remember bits and fragments of the actual conversation. I remember that Obama reacted negatively to my suggestion that it was wrong to ever expect a Communist revolution in the U.S. given the experience of Western Europe. I definitely remember him taking about the need to prepare ourselves and the people for the coming Communist revolution. I remember that he was particularly good at arguing the perspective of Frantz Fanon’s anti-colonial revolutionary thought. I had read Fanon, but his writing was not authoritative to me the way it seemed to be for Boss and Obama.

ANDREW MCARTHY: THE HISTORY OF MPAC

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/313257/history-mpac-andrew-c-mccarthy On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans in an operation that marked the second major attack by violent jihadists against the World Trade Center. There wasn’t much mystery about who had carried out these atrocities — unless you were Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Marayati warned […]