1201. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #179612 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:35 pm

I read this trash this morning.



It is a sad that the New York Times continues to employ such ignoble commentators, who really find it a stretch to think beyond the simple minded drivel that they "analyze".



Such fools and idiots that help shape the public opinion. I like the term "bewildered herd", and here we see the sheep dog.

1202. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179609 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Geez, I said I was joking...

Geez, so was I.

1203. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179603 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:26 pm

Anna,






No one called you a smelly hippie. I said this isn't "smelly hippie.net". Don't make things up.

1204. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179601 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:24 pm

MaxD,






Yes, I detect similar hostility. Don't tug on Superman's cape I say.

1205. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179597 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:22 pm

Anna,





Meathead? I was discussing several things... US aid to Israel. Massacres in Iraq. And several other points. If this is your definition of meathead.... well come back to this universe if you would. I might start charging you to have my face (meathead) on your avatar.

1206. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179578 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:11 pm

Excuse me,





I think some of you have mistaken RD.net for "Smelly Hippie.net", please check your browsers.

1207. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179574 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 12:09 pm

rustylix,







You are correct. The price of gas takes into account several things:


1) Supply
2) Demand
3) Projections of future supply
4) projections of future demand
5) Political risk
6) Weather risk


So instability falls under political risk. So this is calculated into the price of the oil futures market. The problem with this market is that the oil producers will always mark to market at this market price. The speculators really help drive the price of oil.


So if a long futures contract on oil goes up based on projections, the oil producers can make the market. For instance if oil is trading at $110 per barrell, and the September contract is trading at a notional value of $120 per barrell, there is no way that the actual value of oil won't reach that value if it remains priced as such.


So in short, yes, instability is directly linked to oil price. For instance the latest spike in Light Sweet Crude prices was due to a terrorist act in Nigeria.

1208. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179565 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 11:58 am

Fanusi,



And now for the balance of the post from you.

and the Grand Mufti enjoyed major support from the overwhelming majority of the Muslim Arabs.

So you are saying the following:

Fact one: The Grand Mufti was in bed with the Nazis
Fact two: Most Arabs supported the Grand Mufti
Conclusion: Therefore Arabs are Nazi supporters.


The falsity is obvious. The Grand Mufti was supported for a number of reasons, one of which was his being the figurehead of the resistance. Arabs tend to support fellow Arabs who defy the imperialists. For instance Saddam Hussein enjoyed spikes in support whenever he stood up to the west or whenever he did something similar. And he received a notable sympathetic wave after he refused to be hung like a coward. But for the rest of the time, the Arabs hated Saddam (by and large).

as the idea that the actions of a handful of nightguards at an obscure prison is equivalent to the barbarity committed day in and out by their opponents.

You usually have much better reading comprehension than this. What I said was, and this was my initial point (also misconstrued by jayalenik), that governments tend to employ shitty people. You can continue to amuse yourself with these Marine Corps posters "The Few the Proud", but the military tends to attract some sick fucks. Just ask some people in the military about those that actually do the sick stuff. They are mostly disturbed kids with a fascination with guns and killing animals. Future psycopaths. This isn't a majority, and I certainly didn' say it was.

As for "a few night guards". These were American soldiers, not rent-a-cops. They did so with the knowledge and approval of superior officers, and the knowledge may have gone as high as Donald Rumsfeld. Your attempt to downplay and whitewash American misdeeds reminds me of Chomsky trying to whitewash Khmer Rouge atrocities.


I was also going to bring up the Stanford Prison Experiment. There has to be oversight, and there was, this oversight at Abu Ghraib approved these tactics, and knew very well what was happening. This kind of indifference to human suffering is the mark of a sick person and a sick organization.

To put it bluntly, it is entirely legitimate to shoot them like rats.

Sometimes you really border on the racist. It is only my hope that you are a good person that keeps from being more critical of these kind of statements.

1209. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179554 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 11:47 am

Fanusi,


A point you need to rectify:

They, instead, chose to follow their leaders who commanded them to leave so that they could join with their fellow Muslim Arabs in slaughtering the Jews. The Arabs lost those wars; tough luck to them. They lost the land with it.

This is a common and pernicious myth. There have long been lies about "Arab broadcasts" circulated by the Israelis. There is not one shred of evidence to suggest that Arab governments broadcast to the Palestinians to leave their homes. What was recorded was Israeli trucks with loud speakers driving around telling Arabs that the Jews would slaughter them and use "nuclear weapons" in order to scare the Arabs away, it partially worked.

In fact the Arab governments had everything to gain by keeping the Palestinians in place, they would serve as a friendly local population, and serve as a 5th column wherever Israel took lands.

So my challenge is to find one credible source suggesting there were "Arab evacuation broadcasts". This my has been exploded by Norman Finkelstein, as well as numerous Israeli scholars.

1210. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179530 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 11:18 am

Uh Oh!

1211. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179528 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 11:17 am

http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/Fucktard






Too late. This page says it all.

1212. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179523 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 11:13 am

I am undecided. I really am.





I would want to upload a photo of someon. But I don't have a photo of wooter, so I don't know what I could do instead.

1213. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179518 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 11:04 am

I knew what you meant.




But it was so much more assholish for me to post a definition. I feel like an Englishman today. And as I dig through my pocket to find some change, I feel like a Scotsman as well.



I am on my way to make a wiki page for fucktard.

1214. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179507 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:52 am

jayalenik,






That depends on how long your are going to make non sequiter assumptions to attack a pretty solid position. Namely that both the Iraqi and US governments employ some really shitty people.

It is sad that I need to remind people of the criteria for federal employment:


1) Breathing: Yes
2) Able to blink: Yes
3) Willing to take orders: Yes
4) Strong aversion to ambition: Yes
5) Willing to work for no money: Yes
6) Can you start now: Yes



There you have it, the United States Government, employing the best of the worst since 1776.

1215. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179504 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:47 am

To the gym!




Actually I had 6 glasses of whiskey on a 3 hour flight last night. I am not in the mood to strain at all.



Bonzai,



I was going to mention that. And why did the US overthrow Mossadegh? Eisenhower was initially against it, until MI6 told the US he was heading for the Soviet sphere, which was false.

And why did the British say this, because they were sick of the Iranians nationalising things like oil and tobacco and tea.


And what did the progenitors of the Islamic Revolution say with regards to democracy? Khomeini, among others, (including Shariatti) said that they only demanded that the Shah honor the 1909 constitution. This was the demand of the 'Ulema prior to the revolution, the Shah's constant refusal to adhere to a constitution helped fire the flames of revolution. That and slaughtering 20,000 people in one day in Tehran in what is now known as Martyr's Square.

The Shah had gotten so bad that the protestors arrived wearing funeral shrouds in preperation for their coming deaths. They were then gunned down by Iranian (and some say Israeli) troops.

1216. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179496 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:34 am

Ass clown came to me through a friend. A Jew from Los Angeles. But I guess ass clown is actually derived from WWE, an obnoxious fake sport, indeed popular with red necks.

It was used in Office Space and by radio host Todd Schnitt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ass_Clown#Similar_compounds_with_ass



But I think it came to me as "No talent ass clown". So there you have it.

1217. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179495 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:31 am

Jayalenik,







I am awful at determining sarcasm on the web. It is one rep at 350 lbs.


Anyhow. The argument that one government should be destroyed because it employs some assholes, should equally apply to the US. Dick Cheney is an asshole, and the people involved with Abu Ghraib are ass holes. Human sadism comes out in different ways. Some people kill their daughters, and some people torture Iraqis to death. Either way it is sadism.

The point is that the Iraqi jack ass fucktard should be tried for murder, and so should the Americans who killed an Iraqi. We are not in the business of handicapping Iraqi lives, one Iraqi death is one Iraqi death.

Hypocrisy doesn't draw much water. It is not a currency we can spend in the war of ideas. If western civilization is superior, we should be able to prove it through our actions. Right now, it is still too ambiguous for the likes of Chomsky to figure it out.

1218. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179488 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:20 am

Diacanu,





I was worried that no one else saw the greater picture. Blind belief in anything is bad.





Eagle,



I need it sometimes. I have eaten my words more than once. Thankfully they taste good.

1219. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179485 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:16 am

Eagle,






Thank you very much. Jayalenik is still bitter about some gun control debate 2-3 months ago. some of these people cannot let it go.

1220. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179483 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:14 am

sickofgod,







The tyrants you support have killed vastly more innocent people than Islamists have. I am afraid I don't understand your criteria, maybe I should say criterion. Is it ok to murder innocents or not? It is a matter of principles. Murdering innocent people is not acceptable. Suharto's purges (1 million deaths) are not acceptable. Massacres in East Timor are not acceptable. Using civilians to see how well Iraq can target its weapons is not acceptable. So when you support vile dictators, you actively recruit for radical groups.


Religion is not the root of all evil, dogmatism is the root of all evil, religion is a form of dogmatism. Unless, of course, you are a fan of Stalinism, in which case your opinion might be different.


As for your false dichotomy (Shah or Khomeini), I will play along. I would once again support the revolution in Iran. Self determination is a human right, and we must let a few Islamists come to power, and then fail miserably then we can watch the ideology crumble. People in Iran are not fans of the regime, by and large, that will be the greatest victory.

Of course if one of these elected governments decides to attack the United States, you then have a state to fight and spend all that tax money on to recycle it to the corporations that helped get you elected.

1221. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179474 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 10:01 am

jayalenik,







Actually there are allegations of homicide at Abu Ghraib, I believe.

The original comment assuming you can read, and have read it was about governments employing unsavory people. I said the US government also employs unsavory people. Thus my point has been completely proven, you simply are either too lazy or stupid to go back and figure this out. I vote a combination of both.

As for the tank and rifle, both are domestically produced in Israel, and both are considered among the finest in the world. Which goes to show that Israel does not need American weapons technology to defend itself, and was part of my larger point that aid to Israel should be reduced, as it is an unecessary drain on the American economy. It had nothing to do with "tuff". Of course tuff is a form of volcanic rock, you were no doubt looking for the word "tough". But no matter, your post remains irrelevant as it doesn't even address the issue.



And finally 350 lbs.


Thanks for playing, ass clown.

1222. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179459 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 9:28 am

sickofgod,




The logic:


"He is a son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch."


So populations can be oppressed, people murdered, democracies overturned, so long as it supports an American way of life and detracts from Islam? I hope you are not an elected official.

1223. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179450 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 9:03 am

huzonfirst,







Can you explain exactly how Israel is a "near-theocracy"? I am willing to be convinced, but I need to hear exactly how it is a near-theocracy.

1224. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179441 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 8:50 am

hmmm

Best way to deal with gas prices (and this applies outside the states): Build nuke plants and work toward all electrical. When the eco-panicked show up to stop the construction, treat them like the saboteurs they are.

What about Iran? How are they going to get around? Just let them keep using gasoline, keep the nuclear power out of their hands?

1225. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179429 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 8:36 am

kaiserkriss,

For Europeans paying more than double, blame it on your governments who use fuel taxes to pay for other things they want to bribe the electorate with to remain in power.

Wait a second, don't you want the government to take your money away calling this process "taxation" then spend it on their pet projects and programs to trick the bewildered herd into voting them into power again? I cannot believe this. Obese bureacrats certainly know better than you do how to spend your money.


You forgot to smash the notion of hydrogen fuel cells. Hydrogen is cheaply produced by using natural gas.... and natural gas comes from...

1226. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179422 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 8:28 am

THere are plenty of crazies that are western educated.


But like I said, I found the Saudis to be much more reasonable. They have no need to rock the boat in the west, especially since they are making money in western economies. The domestically educated are the crazy ones. But westernized Saudis are very hopeful with Abdullah's rule. I don't know why, but they keep saying he is a moderate, who supports reform.

1227. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179407 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 8:06 am

Elephant,





Ha. You won't get me to disagree that the Saudis are whacked. They imprison people for witchcraft still.

But to be honest, most of the upper strata of Saudi society is western educated, and not particularly radical. Hopefully those people inherit the kingdom. Once Abdullah dies, power will leave the Sudayri Seven and there will be quite a power struggle inside the Saudi royal family. That will propel oil prices higher, and precipitate a potential US intervention.

Saudi Arabia's most interesting days are ahead of it.

1228. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179392 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 7:46 am

elephant,





That is true. So if you fly Saudi Flags, you also have to fly Venezuelan flags. And if you want to see total deaths, I think the socialist whackjob in Venezuela is a good candidate to starve his own population and start a war with Columbia which will devestate Venezuela.


I don't want to talk oil with Tertornis. He seems convinced we are running out. Which isn't the case, near as anyone in the oil world can tell.

1229. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179380 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 7:28 am

Richard Dawkins,




Most of our oil here in the US does not come from Saudi Arabia. It is a common mistake for people who don't know about either the Middle East or the oil trade to simply assume we get most of our oil from KSA. We get a far greater % of our oil from other places. For Year To Date, we get most of our oil from Canada. Saudi Arabia is our second largest supplier, but as a % of total supply, it is not overwhelming (14% of our total supply is Saudi).


So the comment:

might just as well carry little Saudi flags

Isn't necessarily accurate.


Although your criticisms of the regime are correct.

1230. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179355 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 6:47 am

Peace,






I understand. But sometimes people take the dumbest shit quite serious. It never ceases to amaze me.



Fanusi,


I have read through some of you shit here.


Jordan isn't a Palestinian state. It is a Jordian (Hashemite) state. Palestinians are treated as second class citizens and largely abused in the society.

There were some Palestinians that collaborated with the Holocaust. But it was not "in a big way". Hajj Amin al-Husayni indeed visited death camps and other Nazi tourist attractions, and yes he helped in organizing a single Muslim brigade of Bosnian soldiers to fight for the Nazis in the Balkans. But much of the Nazi attempts to enlist Arabs failed. Maybe this was on prinicple or maybe Arab apathy, but it was certainly not a "big way".


I would say a reduction in aid to Israel is a good thing, but it is financial reasons. It is a waste of my tax money to fund settlers in the West Bank. I have no need to fund radical Jewish whackos. Israel has a thriving economy and is a country full of capable people.

The US should sign a mutual defense treaty with Israel (like what we have with Taiwan) and save a little money. There is no reason we have to pretend to be neutral with the Arabs, simply say "Israel will exist, we will ensure that. Everything after that can be discussed. Thanks." Continue to sell jets to Israel, and allow their arms companies to manufacture the rest.

The idea that Israel cannot take care of itself is pretty ludicrous. Two items that evidence this:


1) Merkava tank
2) Tavor rifle

Two of the finest pieces of military arms, and both designed and manufactured in Israel.



So I get sick of the weak and whimpering Jew argument. These are a resourceful people, they can take care of themselves.

1231. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #179350 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 6:35 am

I read the Communist Manifesto.





Some things I was wrong about.


1) Marx did not support an end to property ownership. He wanted an end to boureois property, acquired on the back of the labor of the proletariat.


2) He didn't mention an end to currency. He did mention a progressive tax that is punitive on anyone who isn't an empoverished laborer.


Some things I learned that will be a strike against Marx.


1) He viewed freedom of press and other similar freedoms as Bourgeois contructions (this was from some of his other collected works I read through).

2) His entire worldview is based around a strongly agricultural and labor centered society, and he speaks of the Industrial Revolution with disdain.

3) He supported the transfer of populations from urban centers to be spread out throughout the countryside. He would have known that this would, of course, be a forced transfer. This is a Nazi-like policy.

4) He decries much of European socialism as "fake".

There were some other things, but I will have to flip through the works again to find them.



D'Arcy,



I agree that Capitalism is in need of changes and potentially more socialisation. I never argued otherwise. But to have socialized systems in a capitalist country is far better than trying to have a socialized system. Because incentives are always present in capitalism, including social, personal and financial.

No scientist stopped innovating for the benefit of human kind because he lived and worked in a Capitalist country. However plenty of innovation went uninnovated in Socialist/Communist countries because there was no incentive.

But the innovations achieved in socialist countries was done because special incentives WERE in place. I also read Orwell this weekend (1984), the inner party had all the coffee and tobacco they wanted. So it goes in every socialist country. Special incentives for people who help the system, so it is basically capitalist. So in that sense, Socialism has never done one thing to incentivise innovation.

1232. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #179338 by al-rawandi on May 13, 2008 at 6:17 am

jayalenik,





And Abu Ghraib, pre-meditated and systematic torture of human beings.


I can compare that form of sadism. So think about the point I was trying to make instead of just trying to score some points because you are bitter about a gun rights debate 2 months ago.





Fanusi,




I can always count on you to whitewash American acts.


_riverrun_ thought Chomsky was always right, and you seem to think America is always right. Such black and white thinking in a "Clear thinking oasis".

And the Abu Ghraib atrocities were certainly comparable. But I would pre-empt your obvious response and say the US did prosecute the soldiers involved, while the Iraqis have not prosecuted this man. Then I will in turn answer this and say that those prosecuted were not high ranking when it seems to be there were more senior officers aware of what is going on.


You also ignored the balance of my post on high ranking thiefs and liars such as Dick (head) Cheneny.

1233. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178905 by al-rawandi on May 12, 2008 at 8:07 am

Christopher DAvis,





There is a Hadith, where Muhammad said that during pre-Islamic times he saw a group of monkeys stoning a she monkey because it had committed adultery, and that he himself joined in.

So at least the pre-Islamic monkeys did it.

1234. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178903 by al-rawandi on May 12, 2008 at 8:06 am

Uh?

It absolutely sickens me that American soldiers are dying to protect a government that employs such a man as this.

What about defending the US government that employs Dick Cheney.

And I am sure there are a few federal employees somewhere that are pretty sick people. Like perhaps the soldiers that massacre people at Haditha.

There that's it, I cannot believe the American soldiers are fighting to defend a US government that employs soldiers who massacre women and children. There we go, that is about as useless as your comment. Didn't think I could do it, but I did.

1235. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178531 by al-rawandi on May 11, 2008 at 2:47 pm

Here we go again....




News Story: "A Muslim in Iraq did something repellent."

Benighted RD.net Peanut Gallery: "Bomb their country to shit and let them starve to death."


Clear thinking oasis? I think not.

1236. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #178529 by al-rawandi on May 11, 2008 at 2:44 pm

MaxD,





Chomsky said Faurisson was "not an anti-semite". I think defending free speech is fine. Saying that Holocaust denial is not anti-semitism is plain wrong. Holocaust denial is the following:


1) Says that Jews are conspiring to perpetrate a lie in order to extort gentile money.
2) Says all Jews are involved in this.
3) Thus all Jews lie to extort gentile money.



This is my problem. I never said I cared whether Hitch of Chomsky defend free speech. Holocaust denial laws are stupid. I do have a problem with Chomsky saying that Holocaust denial is not anti-semitism, and I have a problem with him saying categorically that a Holocaust denying neo-Nazi is not an anti-semite. I have said this over and over and over. Nothing more.

1237. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #178330 by al-rawandi on May 11, 2008 at 8:34 am

windweaver,






I would say the author is an idiot. First because he claims that the US Army Rangers were created (in modern day form) after Vietnam to rejuvenate US Imperialism.

In fact the Rangers were created in the Second World War, and created to be a more dynamic fighting force.


It is standard liberal arm chair generalling. Whiny whiny and more whiny. For instance the fact that the US did have a humanitarian intention is left out. Second, these same people insist that the US enter Sudan and save the people of Darfu. But once the Americans did this, these same whiners would dig up some NY Times editorial from 1988 where it was noted that the US sent a shipment of arms to Sudan or something of the sort, at which point the US would once again be evil colonial power #1 all over again.

He says the Somalians were portrayed as savages. I have a very close friend who is Somali and left during one of the series of wars that took place. He has mentioned to me, the absolute brutality of the tribalism that takes place. Let's not forget that Somali warlords orchestrated an assault on the US embassy trying to kill America civilians, and it was the Army Rangers which came to bail them out.

The Somalis were all too willing to allow their fellow countrymen to die. And took the bodies of American soldiers and dragged them behind a truck through the streets of Mogadishu.

And finally he calls the Vietnam war a struggle for national liberation. Are you sure the Communists were trying to liberate the South?

1238. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #178151 by al-rawandi on May 10, 2008 at 3:51 pm

windweaver,







Israel reserves the right to say "never again". They go about this in all the wrong ways, but I certainly understand the sentiment on their part.

Israelis really come in many shades, a vocal few are grotesquely racist, but many Israelis are secular and rational people.

Rockets land in Israel every few minutes these days, and this is nothing new. Since its inception Israel has been subjected to a campaign of terror. Once Israel established itself and was nearly annihilated by genocidal Arab armies, it was subjected to a wave of fadayeen (Arab terrorist groups, organized and supported by Arab governments) attacks. Most of these directed against civilians. Including one notable instance in 1954 where 17 civilians were slaughtered on a bus in Israel. This precipitated a debate in 1956 among Israelis. Those who wished to preempt a coming Egyptian attack and those that didn't. For instance Moshe Dayan insisted (as head of the general staff) on a preemptive attack while former Prime Minister Moshe Sharett felt this was a cover to get more weapons from allies. There has never been a monolithic opinion on Israeli actions, the way some of these anti-Israel scholars claim. The hook nosed Jew waiting to prey on the blood of gentile babies, is more stereotyping.

As for the occupation, this is something that is overly simplified. The 1967 war was another preemptive war which was highly controversial. People like Aba Eban exaggerated certain claims to bolster the case, and once again MOshe Dayan pushed for an attack. After the 1967 war, Israel felt that it needed to hold certain lands for strategic purposes (for instance to widen the Jerusalem corridor to prevent Israel being cut into two by another attack). Israel also felt that they could use the captured land to bargain for peace with the Arabs, another potentially foolish concept.

The settlements became popular after the 1973 war. Before 1973, two defenses were erected between Egypt and Israel. One was a flat defensive line (traditional defense) the other was suggested by Ariel Sharon (then General Sharon). He felt that a series of interconnected outposts of citizen soldiers, connected by a series of access roads would provide a more dynamic defense of the territory. In the 1973 attack, the flat defense was instantaneously overrun by Egyptian forces while the Sharon-plan was quite effective. The foolish thing was to expand this settlement plan, staffing these outposts with armed religious fanatics. In a multi-party democracy like Israel, small religious parties can gain sway by entering a coalition. The larger parties were always willing to give in over settlements and allow the fanatics to move in, figuring they could remove them later for peace.

This was also flawed, but I don't think your generalization of Israeli motives or conduct is at all accurate, though your general condemnations are. Palestinian rights are subjugated to Israeli demands, however describing this as a monolithic Israeli position, is at best un-true and unhelpful and at worst lending credence to racism.

1239. British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus

Comment #178147 by al-rawandi on May 10, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Can't these cow worshippers just hot eat beef. Are BA passengers force fed beef or something?



"If you don't eat this steak, you will be forcibly ejected from the plane over the Atlantic Ocean."



Why are the religious such whiny bitches?

1240. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #178142 by al-rawandi on May 10, 2008 at 3:16 pm

D'Arcy,

Does your textbook on economics show that capitalism is built into our genes?

Uh, natural selection is a process of competition. Capitalism is competition. Humans are social animals that remain competitive. I think that is a good balance.

1241. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #178141 by al-rawandi on May 10, 2008 at 3:14 pm

Alexander Heritage,







Yes to that. I will be finished with the Manifesto shortly.


I work in finance and have a pretty good grasp of economics, despite the fact I majored in Islamic Studies.

1242. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #178096 by al-rawandi on May 10, 2008 at 1:31 pm

Shit. Leave for a few days, and look what happens.


Well this doesn't shock me.


I guess _riverrun_'s hope is that if he removes all of his posts, then my posts (which apparently respond to nothing, if one is not aware of what had happened) make me look crazy.Argue with someone, then delete your posts so this someone looks insane. BRILLIANT.Well I think my critique of Chomsky was pretty modest.


1) He downplayed the Khmer Rouge genocide.

2) He erroneously compared this to E. Timor.

3) He vacillated between blaming the US for
directly support Pol Pot, for exaggerating its death toll, then downplaying its death toll.

4) Made questionable statements regarding Serbian genocide of Bosnians.

5) Said Holocaust denial is not anti-semitism.

6) Said a Holocaust denier and neo-Nazi allied Frenchman was not an anti-semite.


This was the totality of my claim. I think I had proved it again and again. And I never received straight answers.



Fanusi,




Your most astute observation was your comparison of this kind of thinking (Chomskyphilia) with fundamentalism. Dogmatism is the enemy of reason, not just religion. Any dogmatism is repellent, not just the "Jesus saves" or "Muhammad is the apostle of god" kind either.



_Riverrun_ kept telling me I had some "need" to demonize Chomsky. This isn't the case, I simply care about facts. I was more than ready to say "I was wrong on Chomsky" had their been any evidence to suggest I was. I abhor lies and anti-facts. Chomsky peddles these from time to time, and he will not get a free pass. No one should get a free pass, not David Robertson, not Chomsky, not Dawkins, and not myself.

1243. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #177630 by al-rawandi on May 9, 2008 at 11:48 am

Finally.




The issue with Holocaust denial which I raised, you ignored. The denial itself suggests a worldwide Jewish conspiracy, to extort gentile money. This is how it works:


1) Holocaust is a conspiracy to lie to extort money
2) This conspiracy involves every Jew
3) Thus all Jews lie and extort money.


To claim there is some historical issue here, is nonsense. That is like saying that ID is not creationism. It simply doesn't fly.

AS for US students and Vietnam, that is due to manifest ignorance of the Vietnam war perpetuated by shitty American schools. So in this instance:


1) the Vietnamese are not getting billions in reparations and touting it publicly.
2) American students aren't exposed to the death tolls the way people are to Holocaust totals.
3) Even shoddy scholarship would find Holocaust totals to be pretty accurate, the same cannot be said in Vietnam.

Those are not analogous.


I never said Chomsky was a denier. Quite the opposite. What I said was that if he cannot see that Faurisson is an anti-semite, he is morally blind.

I am in South Carolina so I don't have my Chomsky books with me. So no, right now, I cannot quote any prior or subsequent lines. On Tuesday or Wednesday, perhaps.

But what is Chomsky labeled all of these things? To silence him. Why did I say the things I said? Because the evidence points that way. I have no need for Chomsky to be right or to be wrong.


Dershowitz is a piece of shit because he defended, vigorously and pro-bono, the traitor Jonathan Pollard, spy for Israel. To do so for free belies Dershowitz's actual loyalties. He is a disgrace to the United States, a disgrace to Harvard, and a disgrace to Jews. However he is probably an accurate representation of many lawyers.

1244. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #177532 by al-rawandi on May 9, 2008 at 8:49 am

windweaver,





Well, Fanusi and I have had plenty of run ins in the past. Specifically with regard to Islamic History. I call any number of people "my friend" it is rhetorical, I have never met Fanusi and can't claim him as a friend. So when Keith said you are being literal minded, I think he hit the nail on the head.


Chomsky is a pacifist? What kind of pacifist minimizes genocide? What kind of pacifist supports the regimes he has lent intellectual support to? Good try.

Champion of the underdog? Certainly you don't mean the underdogs slaughtered by Pol Pot? The only thing he champions is hatred of America, the only reason he is seen as insightful is because more often than not, the US has done some shitty stuff that deserves criticism and condemnation. That is serendipitous not moral. He would flog the US even if it was doing right. He managed to bitch and moan (whine) about the US in Somalia. Trying to feed starving Africans even receives condemnation from this man.

He is not a lover of freedom. Fanusi posted "undeniable facts about Chomsky". Including his support of the least free societies in the history of the world. Neither you nor _riverrun_ answered this, you instead volleyed ad hominem salvos at Fanusi. So until you answer those "undeniable facts" I will take Fanusi at his word. And it wouldn't surprise me to know Chomsky supported some un-free societies in the past, with his clever "Libertarian socialism".


So your characterizations of CHomsky are wrong. Your characterizations of Fanusi are irrelevant. Who cares if he comments on the KKK site, he has put forward information and offered to back it up with facts. That is all I need, I don't need to know who he supports in the US election.

Answer the arguments, not the man. Can you manage this.


And apologies, you are not a dogmatist, from what I can see. But siding with a dogmatist like _riverrun_ will always be dangerous. But I guess you could say the same for me and Fanusi. So again I apologize.

1245. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #177526 by al-rawandi on May 9, 2008 at 8:37 am

I leave for one day....




lastgreekstanding,




Fanusi is right. Islam is inherently violent. The reason (I shall keep this brief) lies in the theory of al-Jihad al-Ibtida'iyya (offensive or initial jihad), this is a Fard Kifaya (Communal obligation) in Islam. It is incumbent on the Nation of Muhammad (Mila Muhammad) to wage non-stop offensive Jihad. The only jihad which is obligatory for all Muslims is the internal jihad, but the violent external jihad remains obligatory, including Jihad al-Sayf (Jihad of the Sword).


This is an undeniable fact, and it resides in the body of works of almost every classical scholar, especially with scholars who grow more popular every day (Ibn Taymiyya, Ibn Qayyim al-JAwziyya).




Fanusi,






You were doing well until you called the Crusades defensive. Remember the Finns, remember the Finns. The conflict in that region was inevitable, who started what was almost irrelevant, the two empires were certain to clash, especially over the Holy Land, I fault religion in general, not either one specifically.

1246. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #176891 by al-rawandi on May 8, 2008 at 9:15 am

_riverrun_,







You still refuse to answer my questions.


The majority of my critique of Chomsky came straight from his books, which I own, this was in post #243, not in any "hate site", it was Chomsky's own words from his own books.


You have had 2-3 (EDIT) days to answer. You haven't and all you do is ask more questions to deflect.



As for your ass clownery, I, unlike you will have the testicular fortitude and human decency to actually answer each point, despite the fact that it is part of your elaborate smokescreen to deflect from the actual issues.

More lies from the fraud.

1) It's not what I said.
2) I Said: "According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar during the 1980-1992 time period, and was the eighth most-cited scholar in history."

This is hardly a lie. You said he was the most cited scholar in the humanities from 1980-1992. I apologize for not including the time line. That is no doubt a part of the anti-Chomsky conspiracy, organized from my personal black helicopter.

So what is the difference here:

"The most cited scholar in the humanities"

and

"Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar".

More flailing and dodging.

al-rawandi tells me that I am avoiding, dodging, when I wrote just yesterday:

You have had since Monday. Stop dodging, you coward. And answer Fanusi.... skip the ad hominems and answer him, double coward.

There was NO link in the comment

You are right. It was in the comment above to Fanusi, and it was the wrong link. I reposted the link later, and noted where I did so.

Unlike you, who have been constantly editing your posts without note, this was noticed and commented upon by righton. I at least have the honor to post what I post and note any substantive corrections.


I denounce Hitchens for his comments, the way I denounce Chomsky for his. The denunciations are precisely the same. If Hitchens did this, as you say he is a disgusting man as well. Perhaps he will have revised this, perhaps you could email him and ask what he thinks now?



As for the quotations you cite, your right the sentence was left out. But the sentence doesn't change the fact that it is a plain lie that the evacuation saved lives. This is obvious bullshit. So nice try on the semantics, but the meaning remains the same.



So now that I have shown your feeble mind how to actually answer a post honestly, you can do the same.


But I have no hope for such a cowardly person. You began posting on this thread, April 30th. It is May 8th. 9 days of discussion, much of it on Chomsky, and still no reply from you. You sir are like a soldier, when the enemy comes into sight, you drop your rifle, shit your pants, and run full speed in the other direction. It is a good thing you are a Chomsky catamite coward, this way you will never become a deserter.


I have answered all of your points, perhaps you can answer even one of mine. Now I have to catch a plane. If anyone who isn't a sniveling coward would care to post on the topic go ahead.

1247. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #176865 by al-rawandi on May 8, 2008 at 7:44 am

ligfietser,





However, let us be clear. Islam is the most bigoted ideology that I can think of currently. And the most bigoted ideology to claim over 1 billion members (or according to seeker_of_truth, 100 trillion).

So when these Imams talk about stoning women, beheading apostates, and jamming needles into the gums of homosexual dental patients, they mean it, and I don't think there is a comparable ideology of hate on the western side.


On the other hand, secular liberal democracy is superior to Shariah and thus we would not expect for similar ideologies to be present in western societies.

1248. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #176851 by al-rawandi on May 8, 2008 at 7:06 am

I gave up on forest once overlap passing became less wonderous. And again when they lost a pretty good goal keeper.

1249. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #176847 by al-rawandi on May 8, 2008 at 6:54 am

Elephant,







Man. U, ruddy clad whackos. The Branch Davidians of the English Premier League. I am a Nottingham Forest man myself, but they got moved down. Shame.


But if Man. U fans are the Branch Davidians, Liverpool fans are some cross between Kamikazes, Hells Angels, and al-Qaeda.

1250. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #176844 by al-rawandi on May 8, 2008 at 6:49 am

windweaver,

Even some of his most vehement detractors (eg Hitchens) concede that Chomsky is a brilliant intellectual with a first class mind. In 2005, he was voted the world's leading intellectual:

Two egregious, glaring, flagrant, blatant mistakes in one post.



1) I already said Chomsky is brilliant. But he is a nit wit when it comes to stretching the truth to fit his insane thesis. I am still waiting for Chomsky to write the op-ed that suggests that American offers of assistance to Myanmar are actually attempts to exterminate everyone in Asia.


2) You provide an argument from authority (fallacy), fellow dogmatist _riverrun_ made the same mistake when he said Chomsky was the most cited scholar in the humanities. Neither of these egregious logical fallacies have any bearing on the specific claims I have made.


So your point is virtually irrelevant.