Displaying posts published in

September 2012

RUTH KING’S REVIEW OF “SPRING FEVER-THE ILLUSION OF ISLAMIC DEMOCRACY” BY ANDREW McCARTHY

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/review-of-spring-fever-the-illusion-of-islamic-democracy-by-andrew-c-mccarthy

Andrew McCarthy’s second book The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America (Encounter Books May 2010)begins with the words: “And so he bowed” referring to April 2,2009, when only a few months into his term America’s 44th President’s reverentially bowed to Saudi King Abdullah, a moment captured in a photograph that is being recirculated as the Arab/Muslim world has exploded into a violent rampage against the United States. Was it to protect America’s oil supply? No, as his subsequent obsequious Cairo speech disclosed, it was abnegation of the leader of the free world to a tyrant who is the keeper of the holy Muslim city of Mecca, home of Mohammed and site of pilgrimage and travel for millions of Muslims. Furthermore, The World Assembly of Moslem Youth (WAMI) is a collaboration between the Saudi government and the Moslem Brotherhood whose chief aim is to “arm the Muslim youth with full confidence in the supremacy of the Islamic system over other systems.”

In the conclusion, McCarthy laments craven American response to a concatenation of Moslem outrages and adds very presciently: “A half a world away, King Abdullah smiled. He knew a bow when he heard one.”

The Moslem Brotherhood and assorted tribes, sects and radicals also heard the bow, while American pundits and commentators, many of whom were alert to the depredations of Communism, but seemed either blind or indifferent to totalitarian Islam, were virtually giddy with the Arab Spring.

Andrew McCarthy begins his new book “Spring Fever: The illusion of Islamic Democracy” with the following words: “Well, that didn’t take very long.” Effectively, his (Morsi’s)election has converted Egypt from a military dictatorship to a sharia dictatorship. As this book argues, that is the end to which “Islamic democracy” leads.

As events now demonstrate, we see exactly where it leads. Using a film that insults Islam as a pretext, Muslims are rioting throughout the Muslim world- Egypt, Lebanon. Libya, Tunisia, Pakistan chanting “death to America.” Why the surprise? An old saw states “if you want to know what a person is thinking, listen to what he says.” As McCarthy demonstrates, Moslems wasted no time in doing their Spring cleaning by escalating the persecution of Christians, and averring time and again: “There is no place in the Arab and Muslim world for liberal and secular democratic values,” and for good measure they reaffirmed their “struggle against Zionism.”

In a chapter appositely titled “Sharia and Factophobia” McCarthy observes, the Moslem Brotherhood clearly dominates the presentation of Islam in America, and in a witty and biting statement he derides “a government so desperate to “reach out” to Muslims that it is reliably found canoodling with, and thus increasing the cachet of, Islamic supremacists whose defining trait is contempt for the West.”

Others are not spared his wit and sarcasm. About inter-faith “dialogue” he describes how “Christian and Jewish clerics explain how much they admire Islam, then Muslim clerics reciprocate by explaining how much they admire Islam.” Touche!

THE SPIN WE CAN EXPECT FROM PRESIDENT OBAMA AT THE U.N. BY ANNE BAYEFSKY

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/09/24/spin-can-expect-from-obama-at-un/ http://www.eyeontheun.org/ President Obama is fond of boasting about his foreign policy prowess and is anxious to use his UN General Assembly address on September 25 to amplify that claim. His competence took a hit this past week after he pontificated on CBS – less than 24 hours after the murder of our Libyan ambassador […]

HILLARY CLINTON’S AIDE LOSES HIS COOL AND WORDS FAIL HIM….READ THE TRANSCRIPT

http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics/hillary-clinton-aide-tells-reporter-to-fuck-off

On Sunday morning, BuzzFeed correspondent Michael Hastings emailed Philippe Reines, Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide and personal spokesman at the State Department, asking a series of pointed questions about State’s handling of the Benghazi fiasco, and Reines’ over-the-top attack on CNN. The emails quickly got personal, with Reines calling Hastings an “unmitigated asshole” before an exchange of harsh words on both sides.

The email chain concluded with Reines writing that Hastings should “Fuck Off” and “Have a good life.”

The full exchange (with one typo fixed) is below.

From: Michael Hastings

Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 10:32 AM

To: Reines, Philippe I 

Subject: Request for comment



Hey Philippe:

A few quick questions for you. Why didn’t the State Department search the consulate and find AMB Steven’s diary first? What other potential valuable intelligence was left behind that could have been picked up by apparently anyone searching the grounds? Was any classified or top secret material also left? Do you still feel that there was adequate security at the compound, considering it was not only overrun but sensitive personal effects and possibly other intelligence remained out for anyone passing through to pick up? Your statement on CNN sounded pretty defensive–do you think it’s the media’s responsibility to help secure State Department assets overseas after they’ve been attacked?

Let me know if you have a second.Michael

______________________________________
On Sun, Sep 23, 2012 at 11:28 AM, Reines, Philippe I wrote:


Good morning Michael

I’m adding my colleague Toria Nuland who I believe you know. She has addressed much of your questions below during her daily press briefings, so I’ll let her weigh in to remind you of what’s already been thoroughly answered. As far as the tone of my email, I think you’re misreading mine as much as I’m misreading yours as being needlessly antagonistic.

But on your questions pertaining to CNN’s handling of the diary:

• You know that all USG personnel were evacuated from Benghazi after the attack. So I’m not sure why you’re asking why State didn’t find the diary first.

• On material, I’ll let Toria reiterate, but the answer is no. Though you might want to ask CNN if they took anything else from the crime scene that they haven’t yet told anyone about.

• In terms of the media’s responsibility, I’ll start with the outlandish statement that I believe the media does have responsibilities. Your question seems to imply they have none and any expectation of responsible behavior is too much to ask. To be specific:I believe CNN had the responsibility to act as human beings and be sensitive to their loss when they first approached the family.

I believe CNN had a responsibility to not make promises to the family it would not keep.

If that’s too much to ask, I believe CNN had at the very least a responsibility to make their intentions on the use of Chris’s diary clear to the family from the outset.

I believe CNN had a responsibility to not deceive its own viewers for more than 48 hours on the source of their reporting, using convoluted attribution they themselves had to clarify, before admitting it was the diary they were relying on.

I believe that when they finally did admit to using Chris’s diary, they had a responsibility to their viewers and to the family to explain why they broke their pledge.

I believe that many within CNN agree with everything I’m saying.

More than anything else, I believe that CNN – since they had already read every word of the diary before calling the family on Friday the 14th, the day Chris’s remains were returned home – had all the information they needed at that point to make an editorial decision on whether the contents of the diary compelled them to report on it. I believe the time to invoke their standards to justify using the diary came six days late. I believe that CNN, if they felt strongly that they had an obligation to use the diary should never have presented the family with a choice in the first place that they’d later disregard.

Why the Media Spin on Nov. 6 is Wrong By Wes Pruden

http://www.prudenpolitics.com/newsletter?utm_source=P&P%20Auto%201&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=4563 A few more “really bad weeks” like last week for Mitt Romney and somebody will have to stick a fork in President Obama. He’ll be done. Despite the hammering Mr. Romney took from the president and his media claque, he moved from 5 or 6 points behind in the Gallup Poll to a dead-even […]

The Tip of the Iceberg of Christian Persecution by Raymond Ibrahim

http://www.meforum.org/3343/christian-persecution Two Christians living in the Islamic world under arrest and awaiting execution—the one charged with apostasy, the other with blasphemy—were just released. According to a September 8 report on CNN, “A Christian pastor sentenced to death in Iran for apostasy was reunited with his family Saturday after a trial court acquitted him… Pastor Youcef […]

The “Offense Against the Prophet” Wars by Douglas Murray

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3365/offense-against-the-prophet Politicians in the world’s most powerful nation are trying to outdo themselves in showing they feel more offense even than those people who claim to be most offended. If a film flops in the middle of the internet and nobody hears it, can it still be “offensive?” “Anti-Muslim film” is by now probably one […]

Peter Martino: Kick Me: European Union Backs Iran’s Hezbollah

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3364/european-union-hezbollah These measures indicate that Western Governments are aware of the threat Hezbollah poses to Western security. Nevertheless for reasons of appeasement, they refuse to declare the organization a terrorist group — a classification which would allow the blocking of Hezbollah funds and the seizure of its assets. The Lebanon-based Islamic organization Hezbollah is one […]