It's true. I was obviously not at the meeting where the decision was made - before my time - but I've read the transcripts stored on the Zionist database. In retrospect, totally our bad:

The economic crisis began on August 15, 1971, when President Nixon canceled the Bretton Woods agreement, which linked the old gold dollar to the Jewish gold. Thus, the dollar was severed from gold, and became subjected to the whims and schemes of the Zionist lobby, whose goal was, and still is, to take control of the world's gold, which is deposited in Swiss banks... With the American political and economic pressure on governments around the world to sever their currencies from the gold standard... the Zionist economic war against the peoples of the world – began. That is when the purchasing power of the banknotes collapsed vis-a-vis gold...

This may be called the period of the first death of the dollar. The world governments and their economic advisors at the time should have stopped using the American dollar, which lost, as I said, 90% of its gold value... The economic research that we conducted in 1989 revealed the economic war planned by the Zionists even before 1944, when they promised the US government to back the US dollar with their gold...In the 1960s, President John Kennedy decided to establish governmental banks to protect the dollar, in which the gold that was pouring into America would be deposited. What became of Kennedy? He was killed by the Zionist lobby. This is a fact that nobody is aware of – but a fact it is. That was the reason Kennedy was killed.

Actually this is nonsense. First of all, we don't keep our gold in Swiss banks any more. Obvi. And more importantly - can you believe he brought up Jew Gold? It's actually come to this. Syrian nutjobs are now getting their anti-Semitic conspiracy theories from South Park:

Well, either South Park or Ron Paul. But still.

References:
* Syrian Economist Muhammad Sharif Mazloum: Jews Assassinated President Kennedy and Are Responsible for Economic Crisis [MEMRI]
* The Odd Alliance Supporting Ron Paul [Walden / American Thinker]

Previously:
* Syrian And Hezbollah Conspiracy Mongers: Israel's Defensive Drills Are Clever Ruse For Launching New War
* The Paranoid Style in The Left's Anti-Palin Viciousness
* Austrian Neo-Nazis: Jews Killed Haider (Plus: Jews Also Caused Financial Meltdown)

You can tell that it's become chic to hate someone when liberals start bragging about it in sex columns and on hipster blogs. It's not that the hatred is necessarily classy - it's more declasse in exactly that obnoxious "aren't we all such wacky, viciously neurotic Blue Staters" Annie Hall kind of way. So more like this:

A friend’s late-night call cast light on the undecided’s milieu. She was filling out her ballot at home and had made every choice but one. The presidential ticket. "I just can’t quite bring myself to do it. I hate Sarah Palin. Help me out here." I laughed. I refilled my glass. And why not? Life in these United States, as Reader’s Digest used to say, isn’t perfect, but neither is it Somalia.

Good point Kathleen Parker. We're not in Somalia. But even in Somalia, I doubt that people exasperatedly admit that they've been driven beyond rationality by hatred. Nor do they try to impress their neighbors by sneeringly hanging political opponents in effigy as Halloween displays. When they have hangings in Somalia, I presume that they're are for real - which means that not only are lawless Somalia warlords just as vicious as Palin haters, they're actually more politically serious. And what's the difference between the West Hollywood tool who hung a Palin replica and the two Kentucky cretins who just got arrested for hanging Obama in effigy? I mean other than the obvious one about how the legal system was only brought to bear against the anti-Obama offenders. The two Kentucky cretins had to hide what they were doing. In their political community their behavior is unacceptable. But hanging Palin in effigy in a deep blue California city? Hiiiiilarious.

Anyway, Palin came off looking great after meeting the Israeli ambassador. Some liberal journalists are even starting to admit what's been long been obvious to anyone not filled with pathological resentment: Palin is brilliant and determined:

Eh. What's the occasional anti-tank missile among friends?

Two antitank missiles were fired Friday morning at an IDF force patrolling the area near the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip. There were no reports of injuries. This is the first incident of its kind since the truce in Gaze went into effect about five months ago. At around 6:30 am, a paratroopers' force was dispatched to the border fence opposite Kibbutz Nir Oz, for fear that terrorists had planted an explosive device in the area. When the force arrived in the area, two antitank missiles were fired at the soldiers, without causing any injuries or damage.

While it's true that soldiers haven't been targeted, that's at least partly because the Palestinians have been spending their time shaking the shaky ceasefire by firing at civilians. They launched another rocket at Israeli schools and hospitals just yesterday:

Israel temporarily shut its border crossings with Gaza on Thursday after Palestinian militants fired a Qassam rocket into the western Negev. The rocket struck an open area. The attack, which caused no casualties or property damage, was the latest violation of an Israel-Hamas truce in the Gaza Strip. Hezbollah Palestine, a little-known group, claimed responsibility the attack, which did not cause any casualties or property damage.

"Little known group." I love that trick.

References:
* Antitank missiles fired at IDF force for 1st time since truce [YNet]
* State Dept Gives $150M To Fatah Gov't That's About To Become Hamas Gov't (Plus: Shaky Ceasefire Shaken Again) [MR]
* Israel shuts Gaza crossings after Qassam hits west Negev [Ha'aretz]
* Unknown But Vaguely Familiar And Well-Armed Palestinian Group Attacks Palestinian School. Again [MR]

Previously:
* Hamas Hooks Up Smuggling Tunnels To Israeli-Supplied Electricity Grid (Plus: Hamas Online Courses Teach Math, Genocidal Terrorism)
* New Data Confirms Old Data: Blaming Israel For Gaza's Medical Collapse Is A Vicious Lie
* Palestinians On Molotov Cocktail Bender, Armies Of Suicide Bomber Brides Failing To Blow Themselves Up

This is who they are, and this is what they do. They use legal threats to shut down events and kill political messages that they don't like, up to and including threatening jail time. But even given all that, you'd think they'd be a more decent than to persecute student journalists with threats of vague legal retribution:

The student journalists Tiffany Wilson and Shelby Holliday (not professionals) are AGGRESSIVE in pursuing voter fraud in Ohio and have uncovered ACTUAL voter fraud... As a result of their journalism, votes already cast for President have had to be withdrawn. So what is the students’ reward for exposing crime? An intimidating letter from the Senator Obama campaign lawyer to one of the students...

From: Rosenberg, Thomas
Date: Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 2:32 PM
Subject: At least in today’s blog you spelled my last name right
To: tiffany
In other words, I am going to read what you write and watch what you say. Hopefully you will be fair and impartial as you told me you would be.

And then there is this... a blogger on the Daily Kos I am told... investigating the student journalists?

Joe The Plumber's personal family records were accessed by an Obama donor, Barbara West felt the full brunt of Obama's digital brownshirts, whistleblowers faced the threat of federal investigation, and not a few prominent conservatives have faced out and out blackmail.

And then there are times when legal thuggery and digital swarming don't work. For those times, it's probably better to directly firebomb the houses of McCain supporters and attack the people inside GOP campaign offices. What you lose in shadowy intimidation you more than make up for by reminding people that they can be physically harmed. Some property destruction might also be called for: in a nice little tie-in to one of today's other themes, the most recent aspiring Obamabot vandal appears to be a 9-year old boy. I wonder how he got the idea that destroying property is justified if it's in the name of Hope N' Change.

References and previously after the jump...

There are two kinds of cults: cults that brainwash kids and cults that fail. To be totally precise, there's also a third category: cults that brainwash kids but fail anyway. But since that's not going to happen, guess which one of the first two Obama supporters are creating:

Still more cynical political use of children at the official Barack Obama web site: Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Kids HQ Blog. Includes this classic line: "I am eight years old," says Zoe, "and George Bush has been the president my whole life. I want to finally have a president I can be proud of." I’m sure this 8-year old came up with that all by herself.

So in addition to the textbooks about Obama's "life of service" and the illustrated children's books about the "name the whole world knows," they've now turned over a part of Obama's webspace so parents can emote and post pictures of their adorable little Obamabots. Isn't that just so precious?

A few more of these brainwashed little darlings after the jump. I especially like the repeated emphasis on utopian global peace. I think it's important to start dulling kids early to the complexities of geopolitics. That way they don't have to wait till college to learn idiotic slogans that substitute for genuine thought. And if these parents try really hard, they might even reach this exalted level of indescribable creepiness:

I kind of raised my eyebrows last February when Obama went on his glib little diatribe against "an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel." That kind of language is very particular and very revelatory. Likud Prime Ministers are the ones who made peace with Egypt, handed over Hebron to Arafat, and handed over Gaza to the Palestinians. So someone who's just studying Middle East history would never naturally end up using "pro-Likud" as a synonym for "intransigent Zionist right winger." Dozens of one-sided lectures and conversations are necessary before that kind of rhetoric seems quotidian.

There is one specific community that talks like that all the time - where "pro-Likud" actually means "pro-Israel" and both are supposed to be derisive. That would be the radical, Israel-hating academic community that was so well-represented at Khalidi's celebration. And why wouldn't their best and brightest be there? Khalidi himself was a master at that kind of rhetoric:

The dominant neoconservative elements in the administration were already predisposed to accept a hard-line Likud analysis... these necon "Sharonistas" in official and unofficial Washington has long espoused extremist Likud views...[this] line of thinking was shared by the Bush administration's ascendant neocons and the new Likud government

Khalidi has also been known to express his vicious, batshit crazy conspiracy theories in the same charming language: "for these American Likudniks and their Israeli counterparts, sad to say, the tragedy of September 11 was a godsend."

Aaron Klein is also pretty convinced that Obama picked up his "Israel is a constant sore" line from Khalidi:

This is why we're losing. We don't know how to throw a protest. A potentially explosive national issue with questions about judgment that are at the center of a Presidential election. And do you see a single gigantic puppet? No. Idiots on stilts? Not a one. People chaining themselves to private property? Nary a lock to be seen.

Nonetheless, there were a lot more people than the visibly confused police officers had been led to expect. I've posted three pictures above the jump. After the jump there are a few more pictures, plus two videos that YouTube has taken the liberty of compressing almost beyond recognition. I have to go to class right now, but in a few hours I'll also upload the complete set of 25 full-sized photos to a Picasa gallery that you can check out.

Favorite sign: either "Nixon released his tapes" or "Free the tape!"

90% of American Muslims are voting for Obama, beating even the figures that James Zogby was using when he gloated about how Democratic Jews boost objectively anti-Israel policies. UN employees are overwhelmingly pulling for Obama. Hamas is setting up phone banks and individual Israeli-hating Gazans are launching personal, impromptu pro-Obama GOTV efforts.

Qaddafi? Check. Farrakhan Check. The Speaker of the Parliament of the Iranian Republican, which as a matter of fundamental national policy will never stop trying to wipe out Israel? Checkity fucking check.

Israelis, of course overwhelmingly support McCain. Maybe they just haven't thought about it as much as American Jews have. What's that you're saying? American Jews actually haven't actually thought about their electoral interests at all? Well that sucks.

References and previously after the jump...

There's a famous part of The Interpretation Of Dreams, where Freud talks about the structure of contradiction and denial:

[A man] was charged by one of his neighbours with having given him back a borrowed kettle in a damaged condition. The defendant asserted, first, that he had given it back undamaged; secondly that the kettle had a hole in it when he borrowed it; and, thirdly, that he never borrowed a kettle from his neighbour at all. So much the better if only a single one of these three lines of defence were to be accepted as valid the man would have to be acquitted.

So far the LA Times has come up with the following excuses for not releasing the tape showing PLO terrorist Rashid Khalidi toasting Obama:

(1) "We release the details by reporting what's in the tape"
(2) "We can't release the details because it's unethical"
(3) "We're not going to comment about how we're not releasing the details"

Which means that not only is the Los Angeles Times in clinical denial about their breathtaking lack of ethics - they're actually regressing. Their excuses are getting worse. They're so bad now that Ben Smith is now just openly mocking them:

L.A. Times spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan wouldn't discuss the decision not to release the tape in detail. "When we reported on the tape six months ago, that was our full report," she said, and asked, "Does Politico release unpublished information?" The answer to that question is yes — Politico and most news outlets constantly make available videos and documents, after describing them in part, which is why the Times' decision not to release the video is puzzling. My instinct, and many reporters', is to share as much source material as possible.

This is a cretin who as recently as December 2003 was spreading anti-Semitic propaganda on Al Jazeera. Wouldn't it be nice to know how Obama was reacting when Khalidi was toasting him with potentially similar rhetoric? Reports have already established that there were speeches comparing Jewish settlers - who, of course, have run airplanes into no buildings and beheaded no one - to Al Qaeda. It's not unfair to ask what other vicious anti-Israel shibboleths were being bandied about that evening.

References:
* McCain Demands That LA Times Release Hidden Tape [LGF]
* McCain camp demands L.A. Times release video [Politico / Ben Smith]
* Rashid Khalidi Ranted About the 'Zionist Lobby' on Al Jazeera [LGF]

Previously:
* ABC News: McCain "Falsely Accusing" Obama Of Doing Exactly What The Crowd Who Heard His "Pig" Comment Thought He Was Doing (UPDATED: Ben Smith Wasn't In The Room, Rhetorical Sophistication Invoked!)
* Spectacular Media Bias In Jerusalem Attack Coverage
* AP Headline: "Palin Adds To Wardrobe Before Reno Campaign Stop"

Remember that huge debate over whether Pope Benedict would lead the Church in a pro-Western direction that Jews could still be comfortable with? The one where liberal Jews "expressed concern" about his "conservative leanings" because they don't understand how Catholic theology or Vatican politics work? The one where I expressed confidence in his pro-Jewish and anti-Islamist bona fides? And now we reach the part of the post where I politely request that you never question me in front of the children again:

Though the Oct. 5-26 Synod of Bishops was hardly defined by electric theological debate, the final propositions submitted to Pope Benedict XVI nonetheless represent a victory for what might be called a "moderate" line... Several propositions reflected a desire on the part of the bishops to send signals of sensitivity to other Christians and to Jews – including a call to review the lectionary, or the collection of scripture readings for the Mass, to ensure that it doesn’t promote a negative theology about Judaism... A proposition devoted to Islam, however, struck a slightly tougher line, insisting that an important part of any dialogue must be "reciprocity and liberty of conscience and religion." Complaints about the treatment of religious minorities, including Christians, in several majority Muslim states have long been a flashpoint in Catholic/Muslim relations.

Good point. Anti-Christian massacres are getting a bit out of hand in the Muslim world. And while none of these recommendations have been given Benedict's seal yet, his surrogates were certainly making his preferences known during the synod. It might even be time for liberal Jews to consider that maybe the greatest threat to world Jewry isn't coming from the Christian world.

References:
* Mere Rhetoric Really Likes the Pope [MR]
* We Knew We Liked That Guy [MR]
* Synod: Moderate line prevails; bishops give thumbs-up to women, laity [National Catholic Reporter]
* New "Convert To Islam Or Die" Policy Replacing Old "Convert To Christianity And Die" Rules In Iraq And Pakistan [MR]

Previously:
* SCORE! Iran Blames the Jews for Benedict's Statement!
* Pope Benedict: "Everything Must Be Done To Dispel Every Shadow" Of Anti-Semitism
* Benedict Media Coverage Wrapup

While foreign policy experts run out of their bad excuses for why Iran might not be developing nukes, the whole "they're building up their non-nuclear assets and deepening their international terrorist network" thing is barely even being discussed:

As the West anxiously scrutinizes every development in Iran's nuclear program, it seems the land of the ayatollahs has another frightening weapon in its arsenal that some experts believe may be equally dangerous - the Al-Quds Force (QF). Operating out of the Iranian parliament's - and even the president's - reach, the clandestine QF answers directly only to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah 'Ali Khamanai... the QF's annual budget... is estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars... The QF is one of IRGC's five arms, alongside IRGC's Navy, Ground Force, Air Force and the Basij (a 12-million volunteer force), which are all operating separately from the Iranian Army. It is the external operations force of the IRGC, operating most extensively in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, but also - it is reported - in other Middle Eastern countries such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Syria, Qatar and more. It is also said to have been operating outside the Middle East, in Argentina and Austria, for example.

As for the other parts of the IRGC - hey, what's their Navy been up to?

Iran has inaugurated a new naval base on the eastern part of the strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, state radio said. Tuesday's report quoted Iran's naval chief, Adm. Habibollah Sayyari. He said the base on the Strait of Hormuz creates a new line of defense. Sayyari said if necessary, the base could allow Iran to block entry of any "enemy" into the Persian Gulf. The base is in the port town of Jask, about 1,050 miles (1,700 kilometers) south of Teheran.

Mid-level State Department personnel have nonetheless hit upon a solution to Iranian expansionism: have the UN enforce anti-Iranian sanctions. Brilliant. ideal. Let's do that.

References:
* New Iranian Reactor Online Within Months (Plus: This Week's List Of Useless Sanctions And Talks) [MR]
* Iran's al-Quds octopus spreads its arms [JPost]
* Iran opens naval base at Straight of Hormuz [JPost]
* 'UN must monitor sanctions compliance' [JPost]

Previously:
* Iran Takes Over Hezbollah After Hezbollah Takes Over Lebanon (Plus: State Department Naturally Urging Israel To Cede More Land... To Hezbollah)
* Media Slightly Exaggerating Ahmadinejad's Acceptance Of Israel, Willingness To Give Up Nukes
* Fear Of Iran Triggers Biggest Middle East Arms Race Ever

No kidding:

"Joe the Plumber," the small business aspirant and overnight media sensation, endorsed John McCain's presidential campaign Tuesday and said Barack Obama would make America a socialist nation. The Ohio plumber, whose real name is Samuel Wurzelbacher, also agreed with a McCain supporter who asked him if he believed "a vote for Obama is a vote for the death of Israel." "I'll go ahead and agree with you on that," Wurzelbacher told the man, retired Florida lawyer Stan Chapman who was visiting Ohio.

First Sarkozy and now Joe the Plumber. The only people who haven't gotten that memo on this are the overwhelming number of American Jews who are voting for the most anti-Israel foreign policy team ever. And why? Interesting you'd ask. The North American Jewish Data Bank - the central repository of social scientific studies about North American Jewry - just put out a new survey about Jewish-American voting patterns [PDF]. Tell me if I'm overreaching, but in what way aren't these numbers scientific proof that Democratic Jews are fucking retarded?

I don't really expect radical jihadists to not murder Christian converts. I mean, it'd be nice if there wasn't a wave of beheadings in Somalia or if fathers and teenage girls weren't being killed in Britain. But I understand that you can't really go around giving people freedom of religion - what if they exercise it? But is it really too much to ask people not to ethnically cleanse Iraq?

Several months ago I reported that Iraq was turning into the Islamic Republic of Iraq , as Christianity is clearly under attack there. Today a new report comes out showing that the situation for Iraqi Christians has gotten even worse.... Christians flee Iraqi city after killings, threats, officials say... At least 900 Christian families have fled Mosul in the past week, terrified by a series of killings and threats by Muslim extremists ordering them to convert to Islam or face possible death, officials said Saturday.

And the fate of Christians who don't get out is exactly what you think it is:

One grey-haired woman understands more than most the fear that has gripped Iraq's beleaguered Christian community over the past month. Her brother, Bashar al-Hazim, was among the first to be murdered in a wave of targeted killings that has forced more than 2,000 Christian families to flee the northern city of Mosul. Masked gunmen walked up to Mr Hashim as he stood with his two children outside their house in the east-side of Mosul in late September. They demanded to see his identity card, confirmed he was Christian and executed the 41-year-old on the spot... "We're peaceful people. When my brother was executed he had no enemies. Why was he killed? He was not a member of a party. There was no reason except for being Christian," the woman, dressed in a black gown, said.

If this "convert or die" thing seems familiar, it's because the exact same thing is happening in the Punjab province of Pakistan right now. In Kabul, on the other hand, they're not even going through the motions of coercing conversions. They're just outright massacring Christians. Why? Probably because of something Israel did.

References:
* Muslims behead Christian convert from Islam in Somalia [Spencer]
* Islamists killed my husband because he had converted to Christianity – widow [Scotsman]
* Imam's daughter in hiding after her conversion to Christianity sparked death threats [Mail Online]
* Iraqi Christians Told to Convert, pay Jizyah or Die [IsraPundit]
* Pakistani Christians told to convert or die [Spero]
* 'We are killed because we are Christians' [Times Online]
* Taliban Agents Stalking Christians In Kabul [MR]

Previously:
* Underwhelming Global Outrage As Iran Enforces New "You Convert From Islam, You Die" Law
* Bush's Pilgrimage To Bethlehem Presents Ripe Opportunity For Irony, Frustration
* Another Day, Another Blisteringly Stupid Article About Evangelical Christianity From A Sophisticated Liberal (Plus: Messianic Christianity Got Jews The Balfour Declaration)

Before I get to Sarkozy's staggering contempt for Obama's asinine foreign policy, lets review the basis for Dennis Ross's endorsement of Obama:

I was with Obama in Israel and in Europe, and I saw how he focused on the urgency of the Iranian threat. Obama understands that weak sticks and weak carrots -- the current policy -- can't work. We need strong sticks... [and] strong carrots... Engaging without illusions might be one way to describe how diplomacy would be conducted in an Obama administration.

Ross was so overwhelmed by Obama's Iran-related discussions that he repeated the narrative in several interviews. And now let's see what some actual European leaders - who, in contrast to Dennis Ross, have not helped usher a 15 year Middle East terrorist war - thought about Obama's understanding of the "urgency of the Iranian threat":

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is very critical of U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama's positions on Iran, according to reports that have reached Israel's government. Sarkozy has made his criticisms only in closed forums in France. But according to a senior Israeli government source, the reports reaching Israel indicate that Sarkozy views the Democratic candidate's stance on Iran as "utterly immature" and comprised of "formulations empty of all content." Obama visited Paris in July, and the Iranian issue was at the heart of his meeting with Sarkozy... Sarkozy fears that Obama might "arrogantly" ignore the other members of [the UNSC] front and open a direct dialogue with Iran without preconditions.

I'm surprised to hear him say that, because the Speaker of the Iranian parliament is actually pretty psyched about Obama getting elected. I suppose world leaders will differ. One can only wonder how the British are feeling about Obama's "strong carrots" now that Iran's threatening to attack them too. That's two out of four of the other permanent UNSC members who are probably terrified about Obama's Iran policy. At least we've still got Russia and China!

This morning the IAEA complained that Iran is blocking access to its nuclear sites. I don't know why Iran dropped their IAEA bid in favor of Syria. It would have been so perfect. Tick tock.

References:
* Dennis Ross: "I'm Endorsing Obama Because He'll Make Iran And Iran's Financial Backers Like Us" [MR]
* Dennis Ross on why he's working for Obama and how he'd talk to Iran [Ha'aretz]
* Sources: Sarkozy views Obama stance on Iran as 'utterly immature' [Ha'aretz]
* Speaker Of Iranian Parliament: Of Course We Want Obama To Win [MR]
* Iranian official calls for attack on UK [JPost]
* UN nuclear chief says Iran blocking progress [WaPo]
* Iran drops IAEA seat nomination for Syria [AFP]

Previously:
* US Military: "Nearly Daily" Incidents At Sea Between US Navy And Iran
* Surprise: Ahmadinejad-Hugging, Israel-Condemning UN General Assembly President Is An Anti-Western Marxist Hack
* Iran: We're Going To Preemptively Attack Israel

I always get screwed up trying to line up the news cycle across time zones, but I'm pretty sure that State's asinine plan to arm Lebanon's army to the teeth was announced almost two full days before Nasrallah met with Hariri and symbolically affirmed Hezbollah's control over Lebanon:

Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and Sunni leader Saad Hariri met for the first time in over two years, according to Hizbullah's al-Manar television station. A statement issued by both parties after the Sunday night meeting stated that "there was an affirmation of national unity and civil peace and the need to take all measures to prevent tension ... and to reinforce dialogue and to avoid strife regardless of political differences." The mutual statement described the meeting, part of which was aired on the Hizbullah TV station, as "honest and open, and added that the two men would be "in mutual contact."

It could've been only a day afterward, although that just kind of seems rude. And here I was really counting on the much-vaunted "marring" of Hezbollah's reputation in the Sunni community. Ditto for March 14's promise of bitter resistance to Hezbollah dominance. I guess a bunch of Iranian and Syrian-supplied weapons smuggled under the nose of a supine UN outweighs "marring," huh?

Speaking of which, Iran just announced - again - that of course they fund Sunni and Shiite terrorists throughout the Middle East. This is obviously a surprise to noone except Obama.

References:
* Great News: US Providing Even More Weapons To Lebanese Military [MR]
* Nasrallah meets Hariri after two years [JPost]
* 'Military occupation´ mars Hezbollah reputation [Wash Times]
* Lebanese politician warns of civil war [JPost]
* Iran: Of Course Sunnis And Shiites Cooperate, Iran Will Never Abandon Hamas [MR]
* Iran: We arm Middle Eastern 'liberation armies' [JPost]
* Obama Debate Strutting: Hey, Turns Out Iran Is Funding Sunni Terrorists [MR]

Previously:
* State Department Ready To Pull Entirely Predictable Anti-Israel Bait And Switch On Har Dov
* Syria Following Iranian Model, Building Multiple Redundant Nuclear Facilities
* Lebanon: In Addition To Stealing Our Land, Israel Is Also Stealing Our Hummus And Falafel

They made her dad watch while they ran her down with hungry dogs and then shot her:

A 17-year-old Pakistani girl was mauled by dogs and shot to death in front of him over a land dispute... Ibrahim Solangi, 28, has been in custody ever since Taslim's death... [he is also] her first cousin.... Taslim's father said he was locked up in his home and forced to watch from a window as dogs chased her and then mauled her when she fell down exhausted. She then was shot, he said... Zameer Hussain Solangi, the girl's father-in-law, claimed Monday that his son confessed to the killing under police torture and that the allegation regarding the dogs was "baseless." He said a tribal council later declared the dead woman an adulterer and compensated the husband with her jewelry.

Oh - well if a tribal council gave him her jewelry, then obviously it's just a big misunderstanding. Notice that the debate is over whether the victim was an adulterer and not over whether, say, we should use vicious dogs to hunt down adulterous women and then shoot them. See also: Somalia, where a sharia court just punished a woman by burying her to her neck and bludgeoning her to death in front of thousands of people in one of the city's main squares.

If I was this Pakistani guy, though, I'd be kind of upset that all I got was my murdered wife's jewelry. This other Pakistani guy - a 62-year old - not only got away with killing his wife. He also got the tribal council to award him three prepubescent girls from the family of the adulterous man - the man's 10 year old girl, plus two of the man's nieces. Plus 20 buffaloes:

A man who killed his second wife for allegedly having an illicit relationship with another received impunity... [the illegal tribal court] has also ordered the other party who allegedly had the relationship... to hand over three girls together with 20 buffaloes as compensation... Police arrested the killer but soon released him and have respected the decision of the Jirga. According to the information received, Mr. Sher Dil Jatoi, 62 years old, killed his second wife in an honour killing... The decision said Sher Dil Jatoi was the victim of honour and innocent in killing his second wife... "as Shahoo Jatoi developed the illicit relationship... [he] was order to compensate Sher Dil by handing over his three minor daughers". Since Shahoo has only one girl, a 10-year-old daughter, the Jirga decided that the brothers Mr. Miro Jatoi and Mr. Khanan Jatoi should give their daughters of ages between 13 and 11 years to Sher Dil. Besides, it also ordered Shahoo's family to deliver 20 buffaloes.

Or you could just let someone rape your wife and force her to become a suicide bomber. But come on - dogs? That's just primitive.

References:
* Pakistani Man Claims Teen Daughter Mauled by Dogs, Shot to Death in 'Honor Killing' [Fox News]
* Pakistan: Honor Killer Awarded 10, 11, 13-Year-Old Girls in Marriage From man who had "Illicit" Relationship With his Wife..... [Zippers]
* Love, blackmail and rape – how al-Qaeda grooms women as ‘perfect weapons’ [Times Online]
* Woman stoned to death for adultery after Somali court ruling [AFP]

Previously:
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - If You're An American Woman Talking With A Guy In Saudi Arabia, You Might Have To Be Arrested And Beaten
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - If You're A Female Student Who Tries To Have Coffee With Your Professor, He Might Have To Be Lashed To Pieces (Also: If Your Man Is Neurotic And Impotent, You Might Have To Die)
* Hey Gals, Check This Out - Great News! Islam Has Nothing To Do With Honor Killings.

Nice to see that modernization is having the predicted ameliorating effect on radical Islam. There were these two, who planned "indiscriminate and wholesale murder"...

Two NHS doctors planned a campaign of "indiscriminate and wholesale murder" with a series of car bomb attacks across Britain which culminated in a failed suicide attack on Glasgow Airport, a jury has been told. ... [they] tried and failed to blow up cars packed with gas canisters, nails and petrol outside a nightclub in London's West End in June 2007. When those devices failed to detonate, Abdulla and Ahmed launched the alleged suicide attack on Glasgow Airport the following day... Saudi-born Asha, a senior house officer in the neurology department of University Hospital of North Staffordshire... supplied money to buy the cars and bomb components, was in touch with the other two men at crucial stages of the plot and may have offered "spiritual and ideological guidance"

... and now there's the Muslims doctor who wants the police to beat homosexuals in the streets so they don't spread diseases:

A leading Muslim doctor called for gays to feel 'the stick of the law' to protect society from their 'ravages'... Dr Muhammad Siddiq, president of the Islamic Medical Association, wrote to a magazine for GPs accusing homosexuals of spreading disease with their 'irresponsible behaviour'... 'the gays are worse than the ordinary careless citizen, they are causing the spread of illness and they are the root cause of many sexually transmitted diseases... they neither need sympathy or help, what they need is the stick of the law to put them on the right path and mend their ways and behaviour. 'We need to protect society from their ravages. They are preying on society.'

Meanwhile one of the UK's nutjob clerics is now telling Muslim boys to walk around with knives. That doesn't really have anything to do with doctors or modernization, but it's still depressing in that "I'm going to miss Westminster Abbey" kind of way.

References:
* Terror trial: NHS doctors planned terrorist 'spectacular' [Telegraph]
* Top Muslim doctor faces sack for saying 'transsexuals are twisted and society needs protection from gays' [Daily Mail]
* UK: Radical Cleric Says Kids Over 15 Should be Carrying Knives..... [Zippers]

Previously:
* I'm Going To Miss Westminster Abbey - London Olympic Bathrooms Built Facing Away From Mecca (Plus: British Muslims Seemingly Unmoved By Multicultural Gestures Of Friendship)
* UK Keeps Deploying Domestic Nuclear And Biological Counterterror Teams. No One Really Sure Why.
* Shariamania Sweeps Across Syria, Britain, and... US Treasury Dept

You know those organized mobs of digital brownshirts that the Obama campaign brags about? The ones that they activate to "take on" and "get in the face" of their political opponents? Digital brownshirts, meet Barbara West. Barbara West, digital brownshirts:

ACTION ITEM: Tell WFTV Orlando And Barbara West To Apologize For Biden Hatchet Job. Here's Orlando wingnut TV personality Barbara West "interviewing" Joe Biden. My favorite part is when she implies that a return to Clinton-era tax levels is akin to Marxism. Local news is an advertising-driven business. It's all about eyeballs, and station managers really, really hate it when they lose them over stupid shit like this. And WFTV deserves to. West is married to a GOP media consultant, and her bio, in which she delights in covering Clinton's impeachment and seems to brag about scuttling HillaryCare, tells you everything you need to know about her objectivity. Let them WFTV know we're not amused. Sign the petition and pass it on.

These geniuses actually think that they've cracked some outrageous scandal. A biased journalist was allowed to interview a political candidate! They couldn't be more smug or more proud of themselves: "did you forget that long time locals have long memories", "I know people who worked with Wade West", etc. Like this was some orchestrated cover-up. Like Barbara West is in the closet about being a conservative journalist, and now they're going to destroy her life by outing her.

Liberal journalists are allowed to open fantasize about shooting GOP candidates. They are allowed to be so willfully oblivious and one-sided that Joe Biden - who, let's remember, is an idiot - ends up seeming smart. But a Republican-connected journalist? Talking to a Democrat? Important Action Alert! Barbara West must be made to grovel! Over to you, DKos cretins.

Just for completion's sake: here are progressives telling "the bitch to F off and Die" and here are progressives calling her a "dumb bitch" and here is some brave Southern California hipster saying the exact same thing, except with an air of defiance because "sorry it has to be said." I was going to punchline this post with "at least they're not calling her a cunt yet" but of course they are.

Next up: this Philly station.

References:
* EDITORIAL: The new 'digital brownshirts' [Wash Times]
* Newsweek Reporter Wanted to 'Take Out' Giuliani [Kevin D. Williamson / NRO Media Blog]
* Breathtakingly Stupid VP Candidate Very Lucky The Media's In The Tank For Obama [MR]
* Katie Couric invites viewers to admire the impressive constitutional expertise of Joe Biden. [Althouse]
* Video: Biden cuts off Philly station for asking tough questions, too? [Hot Air]

Previously:
* Liberals Unsure Whether Obama Is Jesus Or Just A Very, Very Holy Saint
* Obama Using Full Range Of Federal And State Power To Silence Dissent, Intimidate Voters
* Obama In 2001: "Coalitions Of Power" Need To Be Formed To Redistribute Wealth, Warren Court Neglected "Economic Justice"

I like to think that my threshold for these kinds of soft conspiracy claims is pretty high. Yes: for low-salience issues pollsters are basically making up public opinion. But do pollsters wake up in the morning looking to mislead voters about the state of the Presidential race? It's just tough to imagine how that would play out on the ground. And yet:

I was having dinner a night ago with a friend of mine who is a statistician for a well-regarded private polling company... her companies [sic] conclusion is that the election will come down to Colorado, New Hampshire and the Republican leaning district in Maine, which in her opinion might very well decide the Presidency (apparently the district in Nebraska that Obama thought he might be able to get is now off the table). She said she has very little doubt that the public polling is part of a "concerted voter suppression effort" by the MSM.

And it's definitely the case that Obama partisans think of polls as weapons in their unending battle against the monsters on the right:

After releasing this morning’s numbers showing McCain ahead in Ohio and Florida, the Strategic Vision polling company received several death threats through the contact e-mail on the company’s web site... The company has contacted the FBI and appropriate authorities, Johnson said. There was, thankfully, nothing in the messages that indicated that the sender had actually sought out the location of the company or its employees... Johnson said he’s not fearful, but taking appropriate measures. "It’s probably just a bunch of nut cases, but this is first time we’ve ever experienced something like this." Johnson said. "It’s highly, highly unusual."

Not that unusual, actually. The homes of Florida McCain supporters are being shot up. Fantasies of anti-conservative violence are so mainstream that reporters talk out loud about how they'd like to shoot GOP candidates. After the jump, a laundry list of some of the newer - and some of the more classic - intimidation tactics that Obama supporters have availed themselves of.

Hey, real quick before I get to the political stuff: there's a new meme developing that blames the collapse of the peace process on Livni's decision to call elections. Just for the record - Hamas was already set to take over the Palestinian Authority within the next months, which would have had a less than copacetic effect on negotiations. And also, come on.

Now that that's out of the way - I'm really starting to hate elections:

A day after Kadima leader Tzipi Livni handed back the mandate President Shimon Peres gave her last month to form a government, new opinion polls gave Kadima a small edge over Likud. A poll by the Dahaf Research Institute showed Kadima winning 29 of the Knesset's 120 seats and Likud taking 26. Meanwhile, Labor was projected to win 11 seats, compared with the 19 mandates it holds in the current Knesset. A TNS Teleseker survey gives Kadima 31 seats to Likud's 29.

I'm skeptical. I know that last week I wrote about how Livni was taking the best political option available by pinning the government breakdown on Shas. But Aluf Benn thinks otherwise and he actually knows stuff. And I know that right before that I wrote about how Likud is going out of its way to lose the election by forcing Mofaz to stay in Kadima (which is exactly what happened). But even with Mofaz back as Livni's security fig leaf, Kadima should still be splitting the social vote with Labor and Netanyahu should still be getting the bulk of the national security vote.

I don't have the crosstabs for these two polls, but still - makes. no. sense. The Labor thing makes sense - keeping an unpopular Prime Minister in power while transfering weapons to the Palestinians is apparently not the way into the Israeli public's heart. But is the national security vote really only worth 26 seats? Yeah there are some signs that the Israeli public is less than resolved when it comes to forming a united front against terrorism. But soldier abductions are kind of a national pathology so it's hard to extrapolate, plus there's plenty of evidence going the other way. And the polls that show overwhelming support for land-for-peace swaps are hardly unequivocal.

Best guess if the numbers fade: it was an anti-Shas boost. Best guess if the numbers hold up: no idea. Maybe strong anti-settler sentiment?

In the meantime, go read erstwhile Obama shill Shmuel Rosner's new article on Shas's political power. Sure it's not as bold or prescient as my fearless Sept. 21 prediction that Shas would leave Livni out to dry and trigger new elections. But it's longer and smarter and your only other option is to go read another poll about how the most anti-Israel Presidential candidate ever is about to become Commander of Chief.

References and previously behind the jump...