Entries Tagged '1389 Message Blog' ↓
February 27th, 2010 — energy, climate change, taxes, economic collapse, Obama, geology, Latin America, secession, media, U.S. Constitution, disaster preparedness, PSA, history, 1389, government spending, 1389 Message Blog, American South, politics
Is central US prepared for a major earthquake?
While earthquakes sometimes kill people directly through mudslides and flooding, most earthquake deaths are actually caused by collapsing infrastructure; hence the oft-repeated statement, “Earthquakes don’t kill people, bad buildings do.” The earthquake body count, and the depth and breadth of hardship and economic disruption, depend on the level of earthquake preparedness. Up-to-date and well-enforced building codes, appropriate infrastructure, and well-equipped disaster response teams minimize the impact of earthquakes.
Windybon recently commented on the Grouchy Conservative Pundits forum, comparing the January 12, 2010 magnitude 7 earthquake in Haiti to the February 27, 2010 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile:
Yes, that’s huge, but you’re going to see the difference between a country that is prepared for earthquakes (Chile) and one that isn’t (Haiti).
I replied:
The central U.S. isn’t.
I’m wondering what will happen when stresses that have accumulated around the New Madrid fault zone erupt again, either directly on the fault itself or elsewhere in the central US.
The central US terrain transmits seismic forces a considerable distance, so that any major earthquake could cause widespread destruction. There are natural gas pipelines, densely populated areas, and busy transportation corridors, including the Mississippi River itself, close to the fault zone. Much of the infrastructure has not been earthquake-hardened.
The 1811-1812 earthquakes were fearsome, but caused comparatively little damage, owing to the sparse population and almost nonexistent infrastructure in the region at that time.
New Madrid Seismic Zone
1812 New Madrid Earthquake
Uncovering Hidden Hazards in the Mississippi Valley
St. Louis University Earthquake Center
Southern Illinois University New Madrid Earthquake Information Pages
Fastac 6’s reply was telling:
Say goodbye to Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. None built for quakes, whatever that really means.
New Madrid fault is the basis for the 2011 national disaster drill. As a planner, let me be the first to say: we’d all be f—-d. A “Katrina level” event, and then some.
The lessons of history
Indeed, Chile has made the effort to prepare itself for seismic activity following the catastrophic magnitude 9.5 Valdivia earthquake in 1960, which is the strongest earthquake yet recorded. The epicenter of the Valdivia quake was not far from that of the 2010 quake, which was just offshore of the Maule Region.
When it comes to earthquakes, history does tend to repeat itself, though not always on a predictable time frame. There is evidence of a previous severe earthquake and flood in Valdivia in 1575, and of several subsequent, somewhat lesser earthquakes.
“What, me worry?”
It’s human nature to look for excuses to ignore situations that are difficult to deal with. The Cleveland Plain Dealer article, New Madrid fault no problem, geophysicists Seth Stein and Eric Calais say, reports that these two scientists claim that the New Madrid fault is shutting down, so that it isn’t worth the expense to strengthen the infrastructure in the fault zone. But other scientists warn that Stein and Calais base their conclusion on too little evidence:
“Politicians don’t get re-elected spending lots of money on an event that may not happen in the next 50 years — until Katrina,” said geologist Gary Patterson of the University of Memphis’ Center for Earthquake Research and Information, known as CERI. “That absolutely changed the paradigm.”
The New Madrid situation is further complicated by the lack of scientific agreement on what the new findings mean.
“I’d hate to stick my own neck out and say there’s not going to be [another] earthquake” in the fault zone, said seismologist and CERI director Charles Langston. “That’s really a radical statement, based on a piece of data that has other interpretations.”
…
Other scientists aren’t convinced Stein and Calais are right about the New Madrid. Several note that GPS readings in China showed similarly slight intraplate movements before the devastating Sichuan quake last August, which killed 69,000.
Yes, worry!
A careful reading of that same article reveals that Stein and Calais never actually claimed that there is no earthquake risk, but rather, that the seismic action could occur in the nearby Wabash fault zone instead of on the New Madrid fault itself:
Assuming Stein and Calais are right, where might the New Madrid strain migrate? What fault system would be the next to switch on, and when? The researchers don’t know.
“One would think that the most likely place is to move up north into either southern Illinois or southern Indiana,” Stein said. He and Calais are working with other researchers on a computer model that may help show what’s going on.
As the above map suggests, that’s certainly close enough for discomfort to major populated areas and transportation corridors. I am not a seismologist, but I would suggest that the seismic risk warrants further investigation in both the New Madrid and Wabash fault regions.
So any way you slice it, there’s a significant seismic risk in the central US, and residents and business owners in those states need to think about how to cope with it.
Federal boondoggles bleed money and attention away from real priorities
Not long ago, the New Madrid fault enjoyed a brief flurry of attention in the media and the trade press. I remember seeing a very informative show, part of the Mega-Disasters series on The History Channel, about present-day seismic dangers in the New Madrid fault zone. But as of this writing, only a cursory mention of the 1811-1812 New Madrid earthquake - and no mention of the Mega-Disasters episode - is on their website.
The July 2007 issue of TVPPA News, which describes itself as the magazine for electric system management in the Tennessee Valley, featured an article entitled “New Madrid: Is the Valley Quake-Ready?”
When Don Drumm and several of his TVA colleagues dealt with a New Madrid fault earthquake late last year, it was only a drill. The consequence of the real thing, he said, could be described with one word. “I wouldn’t call it catastrophic,” he said. “I’d call it cataclysmic.”
As far as I have been able to determine, earthquake preparedness in the New Madrid zone has departed from the public’s radar screen. Little or nothing is being said about it at present. One obvious reason is that the pre-Climategate campaign against “global warming,” the current economic depression, and the misnamed “economic stimulus” tax-and-spend program, have bled away both attention and available funds.
With all the deceptive fanfare about the “economic stimulus money” that was supposed to be spent on “shovel-ready infrastructure projects” throughout the US, I have heard absolutely no mention whatsoever of any plans to strengthen the buildings, highways, rail corridors, fuel pipelines, and other infrastructure in the vicinity of New Madrid. Taxpayers’ money is being squandered on all manner of ridiculous, irrelevant, and counterproductive causes and beneficiaries - everything from bailing out Wall Street arch-criminals to nonexistent “green jobs” to crippling what’s left of domestic industry by enacting draconian regulations against “global warming.” There was never any intention of allowing states and cities, much less private companies and organizations, to set their own priorities regarding how best to prepare for the future.
Crying wolf
As readers of my other blog already know, the recent “Climategate” scandal has eroded the credibility of the scientific community in general. The long and the short of it is that the “powers that be” in the scientific community have been caught “crying wolf” for several decades. So when scientists tell us to account for seismic risks in our plans to build or upgrade infrastructure in the central US, it’s no surprise that financially beleaguered cities, states, contractors, utility companies, and other corporations and organizations ignore their warnings and go on with “business as usual.”
The answer? State sovereignty and local privatization
We need to oust the federal government from control over our finances, our commerce (including, but not limited to, health care), and our disaster preparedness. At the VERY least, we need a Constitutional amendment to repeal the flagrantly abused “commerce clause.” I do not believe that this is enough. I see the need for dismantling the federal government once and for all, in much the same way as the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact was dissolved. The federal government has failed in all of the duties for which it was originally formed. Even the smallest of the individual States are big enough to take care of themselves. It’s time for a new “velvet divorce” - stateside version. The way to get there without bloodshed is by educating people, and that is what this blog aims to do.
Watch this space for more on this topic!
Dixie flag flies as a symbol of liberty as the Berlin Wall comes down
December 1st, 2007 — Islam, 1389 Message Blog, CzechRebel (author), Orthodox Christianity, tyranny, crime, MSM corruption, counterjihad, fraud, Russia, Serbia, Kosovo, Nazism, Europe
Serbs: A Politically-Correct Outlet for Pent-Up Racism
By CzechRebel
For the past decade and a half, or so, we have been witnessing one of the most flagrant examples of a racially-charged atmosphere against any ethnic people. Prior to the break up of Yugoslavia, hardly a soul seemed to know where Serbia was. We all knew that Serbia had something do to with the start of World War I, but the actual location of Serbia seemed to escape most people. Back in the early 1970s, I remember someone mistakenly saying that the Archduke was assassinated in Siberia. Although I knew the statement was wrong, I almost felt relieved. Finding Siberia within the USSR certainly would have been easier than finding Serbia within the Balkans.
Blog Comment Serves as a Catalyst
Since the early 1990s, Serbia has become much easier for many of us to find. Yugoslavia and its breakup have been in the news ever since. Commenting on a previous article, 1389 Blog reader Ed Mahmoud wrote us:
1389- OK, my understanding of the Yugoslavian civil war is mainly from MSM sources. And I know the fundamental, root cause, was the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans, and I am fully aware the Serbs resisted the Nazis more forcefully than any other Southern Slav group (that many Croats and Muslims collaborated with the Germans).
Ed Mahmoud asks some worthwhile questions. We are answering them here, because the matter is important enough, and complex enough, to deserve its own blog post, rather than be submerged within the comment thread of another article.
The Media
Few people in the mainstream media have a clue concerning the Balkans. Few of them have ever been there. Those who have, generally show up for the filming of an event, and then take their helicopter out to spend the night in some nation further west where they feel more comfortable. Or they hole up in some hotel and rely on hearsay. But I have interviewed enough reporters and witnesses who are less in the mainstream, who have actually been there and spent several nights there. So, you are right in taking the mainstream media with a grain of salt.
However, the first thing that we need to look at is the religion. It is important to remember that nearly all Serbs who have any religion at all are Eastern Orthodox Christians.
The Ottoman Invasion
You are right about the Islamic invasion of the Balkans being the root cause. However, you must realize that it goes considerably deeper. To understand the significance of this Islamic invasion, you must also look at the goings on in the Christian world in that era and before. For centuries, the Early Church had been diverging into the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, until the schism became official in the year 1054. If you don’t have a background in Orthodox Christianity, understanding the interface of Islam with the Balkans can be difficult.
Suffice it to say that that many of the issues between the Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church resurfaced during the Reformation. So, from a Protestant viewpoint, one might say that the Catholic Church didn’t learn from the Great Schism, so they had to relive it in the Reformation. From a Roman Catholic perspective, one might say that one departs from the Pope’s leadership at one’s own peril.
But that was to come later. The world of the Orthodox Church was being seriously threatened from the rise of Islam. That threat provided a motive for the Orthodox Church to “return to the fold.” The Byzantine Empire was rapidly falling and Russia was still a fledgling land. Help from the Western world might have saved the Balkans from Islamic invasion.
Yet, the Orthodox Church world felt it had no alternative but to go it alone against Islamic rule rather than submit to Rome. Considering some of the misdeeds of the Crusaders toward the Orthodox, one cannot blame them. Even so, at one time, all but one of the major Orthodox bishops had agreed to accept the Pope’s leadership in order to get Western military aid. Unlike Roman Catholicism, the Orthodox structure is decentralized and requires a consensus from the bottom up. What Orthodox bishops decide in their councils must be ratified both by their priests and by the people they serve. The general feeling amongst Orthodox Christians was that they would rather be Godly slaves under Muslim tyranny, than heretical servants of the Pope.
Resisting the Nazis
To really understand the World War II resistance movements in the Balkans, we must again look to religion. Everyone knows that Hitler hated the Jews. However, he also hated other ethnic peoples and religions. Hitler hated most Slavic peoples and all Orthodox Christians. He also hated the Roma people, a/k/a Gypsies. Western history tells us of Hitler’s extermination of the Jews, and to a lesser extent, that of the Gypsies. We do hear a little bit of discussion of Hitler’s of mass killings of Russians and Poles. However, the Serbs were about number three on Hitler’s hit parade - and that is practically never mentioned.
So, while some other European ethnic groups may have had motives either to fight against the Nazis or to join them, the Serbs did not face a nice welcome mat with a Swastika in the center. This was because the Serbian people had vehemently refused to cooperate with the Nazis, so the feeling was mutual. After all, the Serbs had just freed themselves from centuries of domination from the both the Ottoman Turks and Austria-Hungarian Empire.
Was it a Snake or Slobodan Milosevic Who Tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden?
Well, yes, this is a ridiculous question, but after what the media has done to the story about the Balkan in 1990s, it almost seems logical. Our reader continues:
But I get the impression that Slobodan Milosevic led the Serbian people (and Serbs in other Yugoslav states) into violently surpressing the breakup of Yugoslavia, which may have had its roots, (besides the obvious ethnic and religious differences) in the perceived preferential treatment of Serbs in Tito’s Yugoslavia was also a factor.
Milosevic’s Trial
In The Hague’s dubious international court, Slobodan Milosevic presented one of the most skillfully self-defended cases in recent memory. In over a year’s time, the prosecution simply could not present any credible evidence of wrongdoing. The court faced a dilemma: either clear Milosevic, who had already been tried and convicted in world press, or convict him and incur the wrath and derision of every honest legal scholar for years, if not centuries, to come.
Instead, they looked to the precedent set in organized crime and quietly arranged for his death. While the court had no official power to impose a death penalty, they did have the power to deny him medical treatment. Russia offered to treat him and return him to The Hague when he recovered, but this kangaroo court could not risk the possibility Milosevic recovering.
If there had been any evidence that Milosevic was involved in any violent suppression, it would certainly have come up at his trial. It did not, so connect the dots.
Yugoslavian Civil Wars
Like it or not, wars are violent. The breakup of Yugoslavia was not inevitable. It might not have taken place at that time, but for the encouragement of Germany, the Vatican, and the US. If it did occur, the breakup of Yugoslavia need not have involved violence. Be that as it may, the formation of Yugoslavia was the outcome of poor judgment in the first place. (We are working on an article to this effect, which should be posted soon.)
Tito and the Serbs
On the issue of Tito, or reader is completely mistaken. Tito certainly did not give the Serbs any preferential treatment. In fact, they were expected to surrender their Serbian identity and become “Yugoslavs.” Tito was a lifelong enemy of the Serbian people. He believed that a strong Yugoslavia meant a weak Serbia, and that a strong Serbia meant a weak Yugoslavia.
While many remember Tito as leading Yugoslavia in peace, that peace came at a great price, to the Serbs most of all.
False Allegations of Genocide Are Criminal
Our reader continues:
But the Serbs did drive out Bosnians, especially Muslims, put some in camps, and killed a fair number. Where the pictures of starving prisoners in Serb camps fabricated? BTW, I have no respect for the UN, but I also clearly recall that Serbs kidnapped UN troops, and handcuffed some of them (I have seen the pictures) to light posts as hostages or human shields.
“Bosnians” Is a Misleading Term
There is no such ethnic group as “Bosnians.” Bosnia is a place. Anyone who lives there is a Bosnian, just as anyone residing in New York is called a “New Yorker.” If you and I moved to Bosnia, we would become Bosnians. Serbs, Croats and Muslims of Slavic descent all live there, and all can be called Bosnians.
Yes, Virginia, Those Were Fake Photos
Jared Israel debunked the myth of Serbian camps years ago. There is a film available that caught them in the act of faking those photos. To make a long story short, the camera crew, not the people being photographed, stood behind a fence. The people shown in the photo were outside the fence and were free to come and go. The man in the foreground who looks starved was suffering from a congenital disease; few people noticed that everyone else in the photo looks normal.
But once those photos came out, many unsubstantiated tales were embroidered around them and published in the media.
Where Are the Bodies?
We have heard so much about these alleged death camps. But no bodies, and no other evidence of such mass executions, have been found in the many years that the NATO powers have controlled the parts of Yugoslavia that were once at war. After World War II, there was massive evidence of Nazi death camps. In the 60-plus years since WWII, great strides have been made in forensic science.
I don’t remember seeing any pictures of Serbs holding UN troops hostage. However, not all pictures of Serbs doing nefarious acts actually involve Serbs. Unless you know the Serb in question, the first thing that you need to ask yourself is: Who is trying to make the Serbs look bad this time? There is ample evidence that Muslims have dressed up as Serbs in order to do bad things for the deception of news reporters and camera crews. This practice continues to this day in Kosovo.
Don’t Minimize - A Century Is Not a Decade
Our reader continues:
I am also aware that the Muslims in Kosovo have been on a jihad against Serbian civilians for almost a decade now.
Albanian Muslims have been playing the population bomb game in Kosovo for over 100 years. In 1900, there were very few Albanian Muslims in Kosovo. They have been moving in, legally or otherwise, and their religious leaders have been encourage them to multiply and overpopulate the province, ever since.
The Albanian Muslims sided with the Axis powers during World War II. Many of them served with Mussolini’s Fascist forces, where they took the opportunity to kill the Serbs, who, of course, were fighting for the Allies. Same jihad, different decades.
Ever Met an Actual Serb?
Our reader continues:
But unless I’m grossly misinformed (and I realize the MSM would spin towards Muslims against Christians), the Serbs were generally the aggressors in Bosnia and Croatia, and were responsible for radicalizing what were probably the most moderate Muslims (or apostates, as a Muslim who doesn’t want to dominate the kafir is not following the teaching of Muhammad) in the world, and drawing Arab jihadis to the region.
Yes, you were grossly misinformed. The Serbs were not the aggressors. People who are not acquainted with Serbs or Serbian-Americans are liable to fall for these allegations hook, line and sinker. People who know Serbs generally find it unbelievable that the Serbs would ever be the aggressor in any struggle. As a gentleman from Macedonia once told me, “The problem with the Serbs is that they are a bunch of Albanian lovers. They trust everybody and don’t understand why they are always getting attacked.”
Don’t get me wrong; I am not saying that there were no skirmishes where a Serb fired the first shot. Nor am I saying that the Serbs never went on the offensive. But the US government wanted to have the Serbs as enemies to satisfy some shortsighted political goals. Its propaganda arm, the mainstream media, provided stories to back them up. In the US, we consider all aggressors to be wrong. Therefore, if its propagandists can paint one side as the “aggressor,” we are halfway to going to war on the side of the supposed “underdog.”
Muslims, on the other hand, don’t need to be radicalized. They have a 1400-year history of springing into violent action. Sure, you can find “moderates” here and there, who claim that Islam is a religion of peace. But their claims are belied by history. Jihad has always been a crime of opportunity, not a retaliation against provocation.
Also See:
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November 24th, 2007 — treason, political correctness, blog censorship, enemy propaganda, censorware, leftist-jihadist convergence, 1389 Message Blog, littlegreenfootballs, forum, Europe, 1389, Bury Brigade, Gates of Vienna, Digg
1389 was banned from Little Green Footballs as of November 24, 2007
No explanation was given, nor is any explanation needed
I could read the handwriting on the wall. Since the onset of the huge feud that Charles Johnson deliberately started with Gates of Vienna and the rest of the antijihadist blogosphere, which involved Charles hurling very thinly substantiated accusations of fascist links to European antijihadist organizations, I could see that LGF had changed, and not for the better.
Six or more degrees of politically incorrect = BANNED
Ever since then, no one has been free to speak his or her mind as a commenter on LGF without fear of being viciously ridiculed and then banned. Nor could anyone feel free to post links to other sites without having to worry about being banned for linking to something that is “six degrees of politically incorrect.”
Anybody who reads the comment threads can observe what the remaining members of LGF feel that they must do to prove their loyalty. They search constantly for any evidence of LGF members or ex-members expressing any support for, linking to, or communicating with anyone on Dear Leader’s ever-growing disapproved list.
The old sense of camaraderie at LGF has long since vanished, along with most of the people with whom I would have wanted to exchange messages. There is nothing left but paranoia and a competition for who can launch the most mean-spirited ridicule against Charles Johnson’s latest batch of officially-designated enemies.
Everyone who wants to remain an active member of LGF must fall in line, because if they don’t, sooner or later they’ll be banned too!
No Stalinist purges for 1389 Blog
I do a great deal of blogging and commenting that has nothing to do with LGF. Just for starters, I am primary admin for 1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech and for 1389 Message Blog. I post regularly Fort Hard Knox*, and occasionally at Screw the UN and Thought Mechanics. I am fairly active on StumbleUpon and Twitter.
To remain a member of LGF, I would have had to drop all of the officially designated “nonpersons,” especially banned former LGF members, from the blogrolls and link lists on my own blogs. I would have had to be careful not to link to news stories from any proscribed persons or organizations in my own blog posts. I would not have been able to review those stories on StumbleUpon or mention them on Twitter or other sites I frequent.
In other words, I would have had to surrender my own freedom of expression and association. This I was unwilling to do. True, I miss what LGF once was, or perhaps could have been, but I am realistic enough to see it for what it is. And it’s none of Charles Johnson’s business who else I cite or associate with.
Why send LGF any more traffic?
The conflict still continues at LGF. The last few remaining dissenters on LGF are speaking up, though not for long. After this blog post has been up for a little while, no doubt someone will post snarky comments on LGF about the infamous banned user 1389, same as they do with everyone else. But I have no intention of lurking on LGF to ego-surf for remarks about me. I have also removed the LGF news feed reader widget from the sidebar. If you still want it, you can get it directly from them. But why send LGF that extra little bit of traffic?
LGF has joined the dark side
LGF is no longer an antijihadist site, if it ever was. Whether Charles Johnson is consciously aware of it or not, LGF has gone over to the other side, or perhaps it has always been there. It is covertly helping our enemies by sowing dissention and by muzzling genuine antijihadist voices everywhere.
LGF takes no part in activism against jihadism. Nor does it make any effort to help any other antijihadist sites or organizations. I have become convinced that LGF never had any intention of doing anything effective to begin with, and that this was the real reason for its boycott of Counterjihad Brussels 2007. LGF merely wishes to appear to be an antijihadist site, and to that end, it posts a sprinkling of terrorist news stories to draw readership. In other words, LGF is nothing more than a disguised version of Daily Kos or the ACLU. I don’t know who has bought out LGF, and I don’t even care at this point. Their declining traffic figures are already rendering them irrelevant.
Tragic irony: the censored has become the censor
The saddest thing of all is that, some months ago, I helped LGF by launching a campaign to get them, and other sites, unbanned from various “censorware” blacklists. Before that, I had worked hard to promote LGF stories on Digg, against the efforts of the infamous “Bury Brigade.” Now LGF has retaliated, if that’s the proper word, by banning me.
It is time to punt littlegreenfootballs, once and for all.
Addenda
*Update 11/26/07, by Jenn Sierra who is an author here and admin of the Ft. Hard Knox project, with the permission of 1389:
The opinions of our authors, expressed in their posts on FHK or elsewhere on the web, do not necessarily reflect the opinion of FHK. We do, however, thank our authors for their contributions and their widely-varying perspectives on an impressive variety of topics.
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October 26th, 2007 — political correctness, enemy propaganda, women's issues, medical, Islam, 1389 Message Blog, Bush, Israel, clothing, cancer
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Remember the Nancy Pelosi hijab flap?
Pelosi had no business going to Syria, undermining Bush Administration foreign policy, and giving an undeserved PR boost to Bashar Assad in the first place. She had to compound that error by wearing the symbol of a religion that she (supposedly) does not believe in, and by embracing a symbol for the oppression of women. But then, tasteless behavior and bad judgment is exactly what one would expect from a liberal Democrat, especially one from California. (See Syrian Reformists: The Damage from Pelosi’s Visit Will Be Felt for Years.)
Covering the cranium to cuddle up to CAIR
Bush officials don the hijab for the rededication ceremony of The Islamic Center in Washington June 27, 2007. They took some heat in the blogosphere for that. Here again, they had no business attending such a gathering at all.
Did Laura Bush get the take-home lesson?
Photo op: Touring the Middle East for breast cancer awareness
Laura Bush plans six-day tour of the Middle East; spokeswoman says she won’t wear abaya
Laura Bush departs Saturday on a six-day tour of the Middle East, with stops planned in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Jordan. The White House says the first lady plans to meet with government officials and leaders of medical and women’s groups during her overseas trip.
Given that the first lady wore a headscarf when she visited a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem and a mantilla when she met with Pope Benedict XVI, we asked if Bush will be wearing some sort of abaya while she’s in Saudi Arabia. “No,” Sally McDonough, the first lady’s spokeswoman, tells USA TODAY’s David Jackson, adding: “they do not expect nor encourage it” of Western visitors.
There’s nothing wrong with working for improved detection and cure of breast cancer, or any other type of cancer. I’m all for that, and you may recall that I have blogged about cancer both here and on the 1389 Message Blog. But some have questioned Laura Bush’s priorities in taking that quest to the Muslim world, where there are more severe and immediate threats to females’ health and survival. To put it bluntly, too many girls will not live long enough to be at much risk for a disease that mainly afflicts mature women.
But that’s not all: Laura Bush went back on her word about not wearing the abaya, as you can see from the photo above.
“So she’s wearing an abaya. Why does this matter?”
Why does breast cancer goes untreated in the Middle East?
See Breast cancer often untreated in Mideast, Lifting the Veil From A Deadly Disease, and Cancer in Saudi Arabia.
Evidently, Laura Bush donned the abaya because it was a gift and she felt that it would be appropriate to be photographed in it. Unfortunately, this was a setup that sends exactly the wrong message, on so many levels!
In a nutshell, when women are veiled and kept in seclusion according to Islamic principles, how likely are they to go out and get proper medical care, which would include screening for, and treatment of, breast cancer? In Saudi Arabia, women still aren’t allowed to drive. Many Muslim women are unwilling to be examined by male doctors. Girls are too often discouraged from becoming educated in medicine or anything else.
And don’t forget that the country that is responsible for the bulk of the advances in medical treatment in the Middle East is, of course, Israel. But Israeli physicians are not welcome in the Muslim Middle East.
Poor Longevity for Saudi Women
Stein hoist to mean Gene on LGF for the above link and for these statistics:
I often use the CIA World Fact Book’s stats about demographics.
In regards the “kingdom,” the stats show an incredible drop off in women after age 15….
0-14 years:
male 5,369,285
female 5,162,585
15-64 years:
male 9,316,694
female 7,089,370
What does this picture reveal?
In this picture, Laura herself is unveiled, but she is seated between two veiled breast cancer survivors. If women like these were free to seek whatever medical care they needed, without the necessity of wearing veils, of finding a male relative to drive them, and finding a female doctor to examine them, wouldn’t their chances of early detection and remission be far better?
It’s about CANCER, not photo ops and protocol!
By wearing an abaya to meet with dignitaries, Laura Bush is promoting the anti-woman Islamic ideology that is causing the problem in the first place!
Updated 10/27/07:
Accepting such “gifts” means accepting Islamization!
The handlers for the Bush entourage should have made it clear, before the trip, that gifts of an Islamic nature should not be given and cannot be accepted. The Saudis don’t even allow Christian or Jewish items into the Tragic Kingdom at all!
Update (10/28/07): Laura Bush missed a great opportunity to keep quiet
“They do not see covering as some sort of subjugation of women:” Laura Bush defends the hijab.
Note: wearing the abaya in Saudi Arabia is not a “choice.” It’s mandatory for all women when they are in public. If they show even a little bit of ankle, they’re subject to being beaten and arrested by the Saudi religious police (mutaween).
Does Laura Bush really think those women will be honest about their opinions on this misogynistic practice?
More bizarre pix!
Updated 1/1/08:
Lack of sunlight is unhealthy for women, unborn babies, and nursing infants.
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October 13th, 2007 — Islam, Orthodox Christianity, 1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech, 1389 Message Blog, Serbia, Kosovo, Europe
Ever wondered what 1389 is all about?
This question came up on October 13, 2007, in the Little Green Footballs: Saturday Afternoon Open thread, and I gave a brief answer there. Fellow Lizardoids followed with comments that added a broader perspective to my answer.
#14 1389
Why the rash of Houston-area school bus thefts?
A bizarre mystery that may be linked with plans for terror attacks on schools.
#23 Ma Sands
re: #14 1389
What happened in 1389? 
#96 1389
re: #23 Ma Sands
1389 was the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The Serbian army, along with some allies, under the leadership of Prince Saint Lazar, knowing that they were about to die, sacrificed themselves to fight the Turkish invasion to a standstill. Their sacrifice prevented much of Europe from being overrun at that time. In their honor, I have chosen 1389 as my nom de guerre.
We are still fighting the same fight, but the weapons are more complex these days. 1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech is a team blog, whose purpose is to offer hard-to-find news, along with Web 2.0 and tech savvy, to the antijihadist community.
I also have another, less formal, blog that offers links and notes that others can use for their own blogging; look for it here: 1389 Message Blog.
#110 cpuller
re: #96 1389
Many different battles over the years have stemmed the attacks of Muslims.
- 732 Battle of Poitiers
- 1529 Battle of Vienna
- 1683 Battle of Vienna
Good work. It is helpful for us to realize that since the 7th century, Western civilization has been under almost uninterrupted attack by Muslims.
#128 dentate
re: #110 cpuller
Battle of Talas, 751. Chinese lost, but cost the Arabs enough to stop them there. As in Europe, Islam continued to spread, but as a trickle instead of a tsunami.
#196 Thanos
re: #128 dentate
There were also the back and forth battles of the 1460’s — eventually the Prince of Wallachia, Vlad Tepes III, aka Dracula lost, as you can tell by the blood libels heaped upon history afterwards.
#218 cpuller
re: #196 Thanos
And also, one must wonder how Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks. One definitely wonders. =)
#262 Spiny Norman
re: #218 cpuller
Partly because help from Rome (Catholic Europe) depended on the Orthodox Church renouncing their “error” and recognizing the authority of the Pope.
And a Hungarian selling his new-fangled cannon to the Turks.
Politics, money and treachery. Nothing ever changes…
Well, yes, but there are always saints and heroes, then as now…
Discover more about this inspiring story for yourself…
Prince Saint Lazar:
The Battle of Kosovo, and its meaning for all of us today:
Technorati : 1389 Blog, Islam, Kosovo, Orthodox Christianity, Serbia
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September 15th, 2007 — sites we like, geography, leftist-jihadist convergence, food and drink, Goose Creek, energy, climate change, Israel, humor, PSA, 1389 Message Blog, blog censorship, blogging
…To visit these other sites!
Antijihadist 24×7: We need a break, but we never get to take one.
Are you a blogger? Do you suffer from blogger burnout?
Hungry for inspiration?
Just plain hungry?
- The Fresh Loaf is a huge website all about bread and baking. Yum! They have a news aggregator, bread baking lessons, all sorts of things. Their email address is at the very bottom of their webpage.
- Hmmm…that gives me an idea. Since The Fresh Loaf is a news aggregator, would any of you readers like to write to The Fresh Loaf and tell them about the problems with SonicWALL censorware on the Panera Bread WiFi?
Into geography? The Northwest Passage may exist after all.
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The explorers of old searched for centuries to find the fabled Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia by water. They never found it, because no such passage existed at that time. But that’s about to change.
What we call “global warming” is part of a natural cycle, and it isn’t all bad. This article, Northwest Passage Ice Shrinks to New Low, explains that melting of the Arctic ice pack will soon allow ships to make the passage during the summer. It will also open up a potentially oil-rich region for exploration.
When that happens, be prepared for a showdown here in the US. You can expect that left-wing environmentalists will render aid and comfort to the jihadists by doing all they can to stop any exploration for oil that could lessen our dependence on sources in the Middle East.
Still keeping up on the counterterrorist beat…
Need something to write about for your own blog?
- 1389 Message Blog is 1389’s other blog. It’s a place where 1389 puts links to interesting articles and news stories, both for future reference and for everyone’s use. Raid those links to your heart’s content!
Freedom of speech in the blogosphere
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If you are uncomfortable with the use of the word evil, be advised that there is a difference between good and evil. The attack on September 11, 2001, was, and is, evil. It is not “hate speech” to label evildoers and evil deeds for what they are.
Society can survive only as long as enough people know good from evil and protect that which is good. We are not motivated by hatred, but by love for the Lord and for all His creation, especially our family, home, neighbors, friends, and country. Refusing to recognize evil when you encounter it will only leave you defenseless against it.
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Why do we have to explain such a simple thing? By choosing to go up against jihadists, we have made some enemies, exactly as we expected would happen. Our adversaries are trying to shut down access to this blog, and other antijihadist/counterterrorist blogs, by falsely reporting it to content-filtering or “censorware” vendors as containing “hate/racism/violence”. This sharply reduces the number of places from which our audience can access our sites.
But if you look at 1389 Blog, you will find that there is no hate speech on this blog. No trash talk. No incitement to violence. No mention of anything pertaining to racial issues. No ad hominem attacks. No bloody pictures. Comments are moderated, and we don’t even allow swear words.
Any site that does not go along with the prevailing left-wing “political correctness” - especially sites that expose jihadist acivities - is at risk for the same type of de facto censorship. Follow this category link to keep track of our efforts to preserve freedom of speech in the blogosphere.
Technorati : Goose Creek, Homeland Security, Israel, PSA, Panera Bread, SonicWALL, blacklisting of antijihadists, climate change, cyberjihadism, e-jihadisblogging, energy, food, geography, humor, incident tracking, sites we like
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August 31st, 2007 — Greece, incident tracking, ecoterrorism, Islam, 1389 Message Blog, trees, disaster preparedness, counterjihad, drought
If you saw the earlier article in this blog, Greek Wildfires Blamed on Arson - Evidence of Terrorism, you might be wondering whether the same thing could be happening in the U.S.
After all, we have had a serious problem with fires in the U.S. earlier in 2007 (see Florida Drought, Wildfire, and Storm Preparedness News Roundup and Storm and fire updates).
According to this article, the answer is yes.
In 2003 an FBI memo alerted law enforcement agencies that an al-Qaeda terrorist being held in detention had talked of masterminding a plot to set a series of devastating forest fires around the western United States.
It was reported that the detainee, who was not identified, said the plan involved three or four people setting wildfires using timed devices in Colorado, Montana, Utah and Wyoming that would detonate in forests and grasslands after the operatives had left the country.
“The detainee believed that significant damage to the U.S. economy would result and once it was realized that the fires were terrorist acts, U.S. citizens would put pressure on the U.S. government to change its policies,” the memo said.
(Quoted from National Terror Alert Response Center: Pyro-Terror: Are Greek Wildfires An Act of Terrorism?)
From a firefighter’s perspective, with some spectacular photos, see:
Greek Wildfires: Terrorism or Lack of Firefighting Resources?
This site makes the valid point that, as with Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., the disaster revealed poor emergency preparedness. Inadequate firefighting equipment was a major factor in the delay in bringing outbreaks of fire under control.
Update 9/2/07:
Update 9/17/07:
Update 10/24/07:
Technorati : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
Del.icio.us : Greece, Islam, disaster preparedness, drought, ecoterrorism, incident reporting, incident tracking, jihadism, photos, terrorism, trees, wildfire
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July 30th, 2007 — Gleamd, Pownce, Ft. Hard Knox, 1389 Message Blog, 1389 Blog - Antijihadist Tech, e-jihadis, counterjihad, 1389, StumbleUpon, blogging, Slashdot, Blogger.com, Grasshoppers, Wordpress
1389 Blog on Blogspot has been migrated to 1389 Blog on Wordpress.
The WordPress blogging system will allow more features to be added to the blog, but the purpose will be the same. It’ll be an antijihadist/techie blog, as it is now, with emphasis on exposing jihadism and particularly cyberjihadism, and of providing access to the technical news, tools, and techniques that help antijihadist activists to be more effective on the Web.
Other blogs are not affected:
Also see 1389 Elsewhere on the Web.
Subscribe to 1389 Blog!
Technorati : 1389, AntiJihadist, Blogger.com, Ft. Hard Knox, Gleamd, Grasshoppers, Pownce, Slashdot, StumbleUpon, WordPress, about 1389 Blog, counterterrorism, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis
Del.icio.us : 1389, AntiJihadist, Blogger.com, Ft. Hard Knox, Gleamd, Grasshoppers, Pownce, Slashdot, StumbleUpon, WordPress, about 1389 Blog, counterterrorism, cyberjihadism, e-jihadis
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