Posted 12/24/2002 06:08:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Here's another perspective on the Temple Mount:

Just the other day, an Israeli archaeologist took me through a 3,800-year-old passageway where old Jerusalem's early inhabitants, the Jebusites, and later King David collected water for what became the old city of Jerusalem. Then he showed me a relatively new dig in the passageway, whose characteristics perplexed archaeologists until someone remembered a passage in the Book of Kings.

I was standing precisely where King David had Solomon anointed 3,000 years ago. I am by nature a skeptic, but cross-referencing the hard evidence of archaeology with Biblical passages makes a strong case. The archaeological site is called Ir David. It constitutes a massive endorsement of Biblical authenticity and is eminently deserving of book-length treatment.

There are other digs in the Old City that are not so encouraging. Whereas the Israelis respect sacred places, the Palestinian Authority does not. Their police have taken over the Temple Mount with the sufferance of the Israeli government that controls it. Against the will of Jews and Christians, who judge it sacred, and of archaeologists, who consider it worthy of careful study, these religious bigots are carting away tons of ancient earth to build a huge mosque for political purposes. They are defiling a sacred and archaeologically invaluable location on a 3,000-year-old site to establish a political claim to the site, and no one is stopping them. read more...

Posted 12/23/2002 09:05:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Hanoi Jane visits Jerusalem. I have to admit, I am glad to see that her traitorous past is not forgotten... even in Israel.

Posted 12/20/2002 09:27:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Occupation:

It is a cruel and ruthless military occupation, one which has persisted for decades and been declared illegal by international organizations. Hundreds of thousands of Arabs have been turned into refugees, as settlers sent by the occupying power slowly but steadily alter the tenuous demographic balance.

Human rights abuses are rampant, and although the government signed a peace treaty years ago, intended to grant the residents a voice in determining their own future, it has done everything in its power to prevent the deal from being realized.

Guess what, it is NOT in Israel.... read the rest here.

Posted 12/20/2002 09:25:00 AM by Ocean Guy
It seems that much of the world needs a reminder of some of the history of the Palestinian Mandate. Gerald Honigman at Jewish Express sheds some light on the facts that most of the world ignores.

In 1922 Colonial Secretary Churchill, to reward Arab allies in World War I, chopped off 80% of the original Palestinian Mandate issued to Great Britain on April 25, 1920 --all theÊ land east of the Jordan River-- and created the purely Arab Emirate of Transjordan, today's Jordan. Emir Abdullah, who received this gift on behalf of the Hashemites of Arabia, attributed the separation of this land from the area promised to the Jews to an 'act of Allah' in his memoirs. Sir Alec Kirkbride, Britain's East Bank representative, had much to say about this as well. The Jordan-Palestine connection is just one of many well-documented facts (not 'Zionist propaganda') completely ignored or distorted by Arab spokesmen and, unfortunately, little known by the rest of the world. In a Washington Post piece by the P.L.O.'s Marwan Barghouti, for example, he claimed Jews got 78% of all of the land, the standard Arab line. Leading newspapers typically prepare segments on the Middle East ignoring this Jordan-Palestine connection as well. In reality, not only do Arabs today have twenty-two states, but they've had one in most of 'Palestine' for well over half a century. What's now being debated is the creation of a 23rd Arab state, their second one in 'Palestine'. And for this to occur, they expect Israel to consent to national suicide.

you can also read it here...

Posted 12/18/2002 02:19:00 PM by Ocean Guy
And from Carl Hiaasen writing for Trent Lott:

Upon reflection, I realize that there's no good explanation and that many people could reasonably assume from my remarks that I'm a hapless peckerwood who has no business running the U.S. Senate.

Hapless peckerwood... fitting.

Posted 12/17/2002 10:39:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The idiocy of Trent Lott's comments while celebrating the hundredth birthday of a colleague is apparent to everyone. The only question is whether the Republican Party will allow him to remain as Senate Majority Leader. They should not, unless they are interested in making the new poster child for Racism the spokesman for the majority party.

Whether or not you believe Lott is a Racist, the fact remains he has a history of making insensitive remarks and of voting on the "racist" side of controversial issues. It is much too late for his backstroke to save him. His appearance on BET, both to apologize and to promise to change, seemed both insincere and even dishonest. Maybe he can redeem himself in the eyes of his doubters, but he should not maintain the leadership of the Senate Republicans while we wait to see if he's successful.

Lott's credibility has been seriously challenged. He does not have the backing of the White house, he does not have the backing of most Americans. The fact is, many people were hurt by his words, and he should not go unchallenged. He should be removed from any position of leadership within Congress and even censured for his statements. The Republican Party has to LEAD by taking a stand for what is moral an ethical. This is much more than a question of Political Correctness.

If Lott is allowed to keep his position, Republicans will be making the statement that minorities are not welcome in their party. They cannot afford to sweep the incident under the rug and deny the problem exists. Ignoring the furor that Lott's words have caused is to ignore all those minorities the Party hopes to attract to its message. Part of that message must be that racism, racial bias and bigotry will not be tolerated.

Lott must go.

Posted 12/13/2002 11:10:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Here's a weekly journal that everyone interested in Israeli/Arab relations ought to read. You can subscribe to bitterlemons.org or just go read it. It consists of two articles from a Palestinian perspective and two articles from the Israeli perspective each week. It's also a good source for reading documents applicable to the conflict. Can't believe I've missed this until now.

Posted 12/12/2002 10:50:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Twelve bad arguments for a State of Palestine
from Israeli Insider:

1] It will rectify an historic injustice to the Arabs.
2] It will end Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory.
3] Israel must comply with United Nations resolutions.
4] It will bring peace and stability to the Middle East.
5] It will satisfy the demands of the Palestinian Arabs, who will give up terrorism and war and settle down to building a society.
6] A State of Palestine will honor a pledge to respect Israel's right to exist.
7] A State of Palestine will be demilitarized and thus no danger to Israel.
8] It will secure the human rights of the Palestinian Arabs.
9] It will solve the Arab refugee problem.
10] It will encourage civic and economic development, raise the standard of living and bring contentment to the people.
11] It will win the respect of world opinion for Israel.
12] If a State of Palestine commits aggression against Israel, then Israel can fight its military forces and win back what it gave away.

Read the entire article.

Posted 12/12/2002 09:17:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Israeli residential development in the Territories, is undeniably a controversial issue. Many, if not most, who sympathize with the settlers also believe that peace is unlikely without giving up some of the settlements. Ha'aretz surprised me today with an article arguing that withdrawal will only lead to more violence. I'm afraid they're right.

I wonder, though, why there is no Arab "settlement" activity. Do the palestinians prefer living in 50 year old refugee camps? Certainly there is no lack of funds in the Arab world to pay for building decent housing and pleasant neighborhoods for the "refugees." They lay claim to the land, yet, do nothing to develop it. I fear the answer is that their real claim is to the whole of Israel, and that they are more interested in driving the Jews from the region than creating a separate State. Actions DO speak louder than words. Their actions tell us that Arabs don't want peace. Their promises, whether to the Israelis, the Americans or their own people, have meant nothing. Until that changes there will not be peace.

Posted 12/10/2002 02:57:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch: From MEMRI

The Extremists have Corrupted the Minds of Our Youth

"The extremist groups have stuffed their minds with a fanatic ideology and a faulty interpretation of Jihad and Da'wa in Islam, whereas, Jihad in reality means self-defense. They have been taught that it is a tool to oppress and dominate others."

"These misguided youth were made to believe in the ideology of dividing society into believers and non-believers, and hold that every other idea amounted to apostasy. They were taught not to accept any other viewpoint other than [the one] held by their own group, and that the whole world is full of infidels and heretics."

"The extremists have inculcated brutality, violence, and killing in the minds of their followers who blindly and thoughtlessly go on fighting without assessing the real power of their enemy."

"Religious Literature Introduced a Culture of Violence to Saudi Arabia"

"When the Afghan war against the Communists began, the extremists wore a religious mask to win over Saudi society's participation in the war, firstly through donations and voluntary humanitarian services, and later on through volunteer military operations. Al-Rashed said that, 'The Afghan War became a popular struggle fed by religious literature that introduced a culture of violence for the first time in the Saudi society. The call for Jihad became the order of the day and the society was politicized through preachers in mosques and universities, something unknown before. The golden rule was further broken when young men were allowed to go abroad to fight against the Soviets.'"

"Our Youths Must be Re-educated"

"This is the most apt diagnosis of the problem of our society. To regain its peace and innocence and reconciliation with the world, our youths must be reeducated and violence – a concept alien to our society – must be discarded."

Posted 12/09/2002 09:04:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Here's a column by one of my favorite writers, Carl Hiaasen. Because the Miami Herald's links have been short lived in the past, I am pasting the entire column here.

Why no Muslim outrage about Nigeria?

As we in the Western world struggle to comprehend Islamic fanaticism, along comes a boob named Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi.

He is deputy governor of Kamfara, a largely Muslim state in northern Nigeria. Last Monday he decreed that true Islamic believers should rush out and kill a writer named Isioma Daniel. She writes about fashion, which is usually not the most dangerous job in journalism. Her death-deserving offense was to pen a column suggesting that the Prophet Mohammed would approve of the Miss World Pageant, which at the time was being staged in Nigeria.

She wrote: ``The Muslims thought it was immoral to bring 92 women to Nigeria to ask them to revel in vanity. What would Mohammed think? In all honesty, he would probably have chosen a wife from one of them.''

That passage offended many hard-line Muslims, who thought it insulting to the prophet.

Mohammed himself is long gone and thus unable to offer his wisdom on the topic of beauty pageants, but those professing to worship him demonstrated their piety by going on a murderous spree of looting and arson. By the time it was over, 215 persons were dead -- because of a magazine column about a beauty contest. The absurdity is staggering.

Americans are no strangers to moronic mob behavior -- witness last week's football rioting at Ohio State -- but even for us, it's difficult to grasp how something as inane as the Miss World Pageant could provoke slaughter as a form of protest.

The same religious zealots who complained about the immorality of a bathing-suit competition expressed no qualms about the bloodbath. In Zamfara, Mamuda Aliyu Shinkafi publicly declared that the fashion columnist should die for what she'd written.

Said he: ``Like the blasphemous Indian writer Salman Rushdie, the blood of Isioma Daniel can be shed. It is binding on all Muslims wherever they are to consider the killing of the writer as a religious duty.''

Several prominent Muslims in Nigeria refused to support the impromptu fatwa, and a Nigerian government spokesman said the death order was unconstitutional and should not be carried out. Nonetheless, Daniel has gone into hiding.

In most of Western society it would be hard to imagine a circumstance that would drive a fashion writer, or any writer, underground.

If I wrote a column saying that Jesus Christ would have been a cool casting choice for The Bachelor, the worst I could anticipate would be a stack of angry mail, or getting trashed by Pat Robertson on his TV show. Some jerkwater politician might urge readers to cancel their newspaper subscriptions, but that's not nearly as severe as a public beheading.

Nigeria is, of course, a world away. Zamfara and 11 other states are reintroducing Islamic law and administering the harshest possible interpretations.

Several of the Miss World contestants had threatened to boycott the event because a woman convicted of adultery was sentenced to death by stoning, a dirty little ceremony abandoned long ago in most cultures. To quell the controversy, Nigerian officials spared the defendant from her court-ordered pummeling. However, when the riots erupted following the publication of Daniel's column, pageant organizers rounded up the Miss World beauties and fled to London.

For Nigeria's radical Muslims, it was a proud victory over Western decadence. For everybody else in the country, it was a tragedy and a humiliation.

Salman Rushdie, whose name was contemptuously invoked by Shinkafi, remains the most famous survivor of a fatwa. Marked for death in 1989 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, Rushdie today is writing as brilliantly and bravely as ever. Of the carnage in Nigeria and other recent inhumanities by hard-line Islamists, he asked in The New York Times:

``Where, after all, is the Muslim outrage at these events? As their ancient, deeply civilized culture of love, art and philosophical reflection is hijacked by paranoiacs, racists, liars, male supremacists, tyrants, fanatics and violence junkies, why are they not screaming?''

Perhaps the question is simplistic, but what deep and mystical explanation can there possibly be for maiming and murdering innocent people in response to a fashion column? Or a swimsuit contest?

To those on the outside looking in, the only logical conclusion is that some of these fundamentalist loons will jump at any excuse, no matter how lame, to kill in the name of Allah.

Until strong Islamic voices of peace and tolerance are heard, the gap of understanding between that world and ours will remain as vast a black hole in space.

Posted 12/03/2002 04:17:00 PM by Ocean Guy
The cover of The Economist this week is a chilling skull on a black background. The skull is a modified globe with the Earth's land mass pictured in Blood Red. The world is threatened everywhere by terrorism..... Islamic Extremist Terrorism.

Yoel Marcus in Haaretz gives us his take on the article and the general situation. He notes that nowhere in the Economist do they mention Israel as a cause of the terrorism. The Bloody Borders of Islam have nothing to do with Israel.

The world is not lacking places where religion and nationalism have yielded terror and flames - the Philippines, Indonesia, Kashmir, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Chechnya and a long list of African countries. None has anything to do with Israel. Khomeini and Khomeinism were not born because of Israel.

Iraq and Iran did not fight for eight years because of Israel. Iraq did not conquer Kuwait because of Israel. Al Qaeda's target is America, and now all of Western Europe...

...Even if bin Laden is no longer alive, someone has taken command. The organization is alive and well and its purpose is to draw the Arab countries into a war against the world. For that purpose, fanning the hatred of Israel is good bait. It doesn't matter if Israel concedes or doesn't concede the settlements, if it leaves or stays in the territories. As long as it is in the Islamic sphere, al Qaeda has another flag. For Islamic fundamentalists, Zionism and imperialism justify the mega-attacks against the Western world. This sophisticated gang isn't fighting over borders. The border is their ability to expand and cause damage. To Israel's credit, it must be said that ever since the phenomenon of the suicide bomb for Allah was born, when killing civilians, women and children turned into a commandment that leads to heaven, Israel was the first to point out that it was a worldwide danger.

Posted 11/27/2002 08:19:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Thomas Friedman writing as if he were The President:

You say all this is happening because we support Israel. I know we need to do more to bring peace, but I don't think that nurse was shot, or that Bali bomb was made "holy," because we support Israel. I think it has to do with the rise within your midst of a deeply intolerant strain of Islam that is not simply a reaction to Israel, but is a response to your failing states, squandered oil wealth, broken ideologies (Nasserism) and generations of autocracy and illiteracy. Armed and angry, this harsh fundamentalism now seems to totally intimidate Muslim moderates.

But the values it propagates will bring ruin to you and conflict with us. As Brink Lindsey of the Cato Institute wrote in National Review, "No faith will make rote memorization of ancient texts, suppression of critical inquiry and dissent, subjugation of women, and a servile deference to authority the recipe for anything other than civilizational decline."

The decent, but passive, Muslim center must go to war against this harsh fundamentalism. Yes, we have our intolerant bigots too. I just publicly distanced myself from those Christians who smear Islam with a broad brush. But our moderate majority and press regularly denounce them too. They are not dominating our society. We've had our civil war against intolerance. Now I'm urging you to have yours. Don't tell me you can't. Look at those courageous Iranian students who are now taking on the extreme fundamentalists within their own society — risking their lives to fight those who want to take Islam, and Iran, back to the Dark Ages. God bless them.

I only disagree with Mr. Friedman, because I think he is in denial... It appears to me that his "civilizational war" started as early as 1979. Others can argue that September 11, 2001 was the beginning of the war.
Whether or not we in America recognize it, much of Islam is, in fact, engaged in a civilizational war with us and has been for years. Mr. Friedman is right that it is not yet too late for Moderate Islam to save us from all out war, but their silence is deafening.

Posted 11/13/2002 01:49:00 PM by Ocean Guy
According to the World Bank sources, since the signing of the Oslo accords in 1993, the PA has received nearly $4 billion in the form of direct aid.

$4 Billion is a lot of money to go unaccounted for by its providers. Where is the outcry from the EUnuchs, the Arab League, the UN, from anyone to investigate the whereabouts of the money. Or are the donors complicit in its disappearance? Was any of the aid money spent to better the lives of palestinians? Is the corruption in the PA simply a given? Is lining Arafat's personal pockets simply a cost of doing business?

Joel Bainerman, in an article that gives us reason for hope for real reform, tells us of some Arab opposition to the state of affairs within the PA.

Posted 11/12/2002 08:57:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Revisionists are succeeding in changing perceptions by re-writing some history. When bringing more light to the truth, that can be a good thing, but when the revision is accopmplished through constantly repeated lies, everyone's interests are hurt.

Joseph Farah reminds us of the often repeated lies that have led many to believe that palestinians were forced from their homes by the Jews in 1948. He also provides us with conflicting versions from surprising sources.... surprising only because of the success of Arab apologists and revisionists in convincing too many that the blame for the refugee problem lies with Israel.

Yasser Arafat may have lost some of his personal political clout of late, but the political movement he began demanding justice for Palestinian Arabs expelled from their homes in 1948 remains as strong as ever. There's just one problem. There's not the slightest historical evidence to suggest Arabs were expelled in significant numbers -- certainly not by Jews. I know this statement is going to be met with gasps, guffaws and gnashing of teeth.

Nevertheless, let me defend it, not with my own words, not with the words of Jews and Israelis, but with the words of Arabs closer to the time of the events.

''The fact that there are these refugees is the direct consequence of the act of the Arab states in opposing partition and the Jewish state. The Arab states agree upon this policy unanimously and they must share in the solution of the problem.'' Emile Ghoury, secretary of the Palestinian Arab Higher Committee, in an interview with the Beirut Telegraph Sept. 6, 1948.
''The Arab state which had encouraged the Palestine Arabs to leave their homes temporarily in order to be out of the way of the Arab invasion armies, have failed to keep their promise to help these refugees.'' The Jordanian daily newspaper Falastin, Feb. 19, 1949.

''Who brought the Palestinians to Lebanon as refugees, suffering now from the malign attitude of newspapers and communal leaders, who have neither honor nor conscience? Who brought them over in dire straits and penniless, after they lost their honor? The Arab states, and Lebanon amongst them, did it.'' The Beirut Muslim weekly Kul-Shay, Aug. 19, 1951.
''The 15th May, 1948, arrived . . . On that day the mufti of Jerusalem appealed to the Arabs of Palestine to leave the country, because the Arab armies were about to enter and fight in their stead.'' Cairo daily Akhbar el Yom, Oct. 12, 1963. Read More...

Posted 11/01/2002 11:20:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Fill in the Blanks

"We call on all colleagues to boycott all _________ activities and events and not to provide any media coverage until further notice," the __________Journalist said in a statement. "We hold ________ fully responsible for the attack on the journalists and for endangering their lives."

Answers here.

Posted 10/31/2002 12:03:00 PM by Ocean Guy
I want to come back to this and offer a more personal impression, but that will have to wait until I have a little more time. Thanks to the Instantman for the link to this interview with Christopher Hitchens. Hitchens' view of multi-culturalism's influence on the left deserves much more attention.

Though it is a risk to summarize Hitchens' carefully nuanced opinions, it is fair to say that he sees in the left's reaction to Sept. 11 a failure to understand a profound change in world relations — a failure that makes the left irrelevant. The old political conflicts — and the old paradigm of opposition — are largely fading, and they've been replaced by a global conflict of theocratic states or movements against secular states. A conflict between God and reason, perhaps, with Hitchens very much allied with the latter. And that is a natural position for a leftist, he says, but the left has become so mesmerized by multiculturalism that it will not criticize even those cultures that oppose freedom.

His mention of Political Correctness, also deserves attention.

Then there are things about the language. The great lesson Orwell taught me was the connection between the struggle over language and the struggle for freedom — for free thinking — and that you have to realize that so many traps lurk in the language so that a term like "collateral damage" I think would obviously be easy meat for him as a way of describing dead civilians. I'm impressed that when people hear phrases like that, they think of Orwell. But I think he would also object to people who say: "No war on or with Iraq." That's using language for propaganda also, in a very base and I think a very crude and obvious way.

Does it surprise you that that would happen on the left? Would it have surprised Orwell?

It certainly wouldn't have surprised him because his essay "Politics and the English Language" and his other reflections on this certainly do address themselves to power and the way that power distorts. And in particular most of his favorite examples are from what the French used to call the langue du bois, the wooden tongue, which I'm afraid to say we know under its more farcical pseudo-compassionate form of political correctness. It used to be better known as a language of thuggery used by the Communist left. Actually, a bit of both of these is involved in the witless slogan "no war with Iraq," or "no war on Iraq."

In telling us why he has become disillusioned with the left in America and why he left The Nation, Hitchins touches on so many feelings that influenced my change from Yellow Dog Democrat. I need to write more about that.

Posted 10/30/2002 01:26:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Thanks to Mark Lane for pointing me to the Subversive Intellectual Society's The Situation Room. There you will find an enlightening little note about the antiquated polling machines being used in NYC. The society also tells us that in the 2001 mayoral election in NYC there were more uncounted votes than in all of Florida in 2000. They link to a NYT article with the whole scoop. I'll be regularly enjoying visits to the The Situation Room despite the annoying choice of font and the black background . Give them a try

Posted 10/30/2002 01:02:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Jihad is defined by The London-based Islamist Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad, leader of the Al-Muhajiroun movement, who describes himself as the principal lecturer at the "London School of Shari`ah." In the translation from MEMRI, he explains the 3 common mistaken meanings of "Jihad"

Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad begins the article by rejecting three different but, in his view, equally mistaken interpretations of the term Jihad. These interpretations are: 1) that the purpose of Jihad is the forcible conversion of non-Muslims; 2) that its purpose is the establishment of an Islamic state; 3) that Jihad refers to the personal efforts of the individual to become "a model citizen in whatever society one finds oneself in." Having rejected all of these interpretations, he continues: "Rather, Jihad is the method adopted by Islam to protect land, honor and life and to save humanity from slavery to man-made regimes."

Sheikh Bakri argues that Jihad today should be understood and applied in a restricted sense. At the end of a long and repetitious presentation of the positions of eminent medieval Muslim scholars, Sheikh Bakri reaches the following conclusion: "The question of whether Jihad can be used to remove existing regimes is a relatively new issue which must be addressed. The Muslim Ummah has never before been in a position where we are divided into over 55 nations each with its own oppressive kufr [infidel] regime ruling above us. There is no doubt therefore that the vital issue for the Muslims today is to establish the Khilafah [caliphate].

Posted 10/29/2002 03:56:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Families ripped apart, lives lost, survivors' lives decimated by suicide bombers. What purpose have these murderous acts served?
The individual stories of all the lives affected by the senseless killings, only serve to make me more resolute in denying these terrorists any gratification at all. Anger, brought on by their disrespect for life only makes me certain that their cause cannot be just.

Still there are stories that inspire hope. There are a couple of them here. Stories like this of little Noam Hane:

Natanel Hane is the father of 2 1/2-year-old Noam whose liver was ripped open by the blast. Natti and three of his four children were riding in the family car in front of and to the left of the bomb vehicle. A jagged piece of metal the size of a football, perhaps part of the bomb itself, tore a wide trench through Hane's car's rear light, through the trunk, through the steel body of the car, and decimated the baby seat in which little Noam was sitting.

In what Noam's mother calls, "a huge miracle," the deadly projectile stopped at the baby seat, its jagged protrusion tearing into the toddler's liver, but going no further. Surgeons succeeded in sewing up Noam's liver, which is an organ that regenerates itself. Natti Hane, a former paratrooper who served in Lebanon, had experience in helping injured comrades. While the bus burst into flames beside them, Natti was able, as he put it, "to separate my emotions as a father from my intellect," and give his little daughter first aid.

Posted 10/29/2002 11:15:00 AM by Ocean Guy
During more than 3 years that I spent in and around the Persian Gulf Region the United States never considered Iran a friendly entity. It looks like that is beginning to change. It's a great sign if Iran is cooperating with the Iraqi Oil embargo. Positive news from Iran is becoming a regular occurance, and the difference between the government by mullah and the Iranian people is becoming clearer to the average American.

NITV, broadcasting from Los Angeles, is beaming Farsi language programming with freedom loving, Iranian pride as its focus. NITV, founded by Zia Atabay, the "Tom Jones of Iran," is a wildly successful venture, if making money isn't essential to a definition of success.

Everywhere you look you can find good news from Iran, I hope that trend continues.

Posted 10/25/2002 10:34:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Go see Israeli Guy and weigh in with your solution to the palestinian problem. Gil is giving up on comments for a while, so get yours in while he still has the patience to listen.

Posted 10/24/2002 03:45:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch

From MEMRI:

Extremism Begins in Schools

"Following 9/11, all Muslim youth who fought with the Taliban were branded as extremists, although it is a known fact that the majority of them left their countries with the knowledge of their families and their governments. Their plunge into extremism was gradual, but we have to admit that it started out with [their] education and [their] social environment..."

"What are the religious and cultural components that those 'Arab Afghans' learned from their educational curriculum and religious environment? [What are the components] that molded their opinions and feelings and led them to abandon their families, cities, and lives, which seemed boring to them because they did not measure up to the religious culture that brainwashed them...?"

"We must realize that our children, teenagers, men, and women, are always exposed to a [distorted] religious culture that permits hatred of others. [We must realize] that there is some connection between the Islamic culture as reflected in the educational curriculum, at home, and in the neighborhood, and the culture that breeds religious fanaticism... [This Islamic culture] offers partial information, full of unjustified hatred towards other peoples' religions and cultures, as if those peoples do not do anything but plan wars against Muslims."

"The Western cultures, the Eastern cultures and their peoples [are described as] enemies of Muslims, and some of the fundamentalist preachers emphasize every Friday the evil deeds of those cultures and peoples... but when one of those preachers falls ill, his life is saved by a physician from the enemy camp [i.e. the West], and he takes medication developed and manufactured by that camp."

"No doubt that adopting this brand of religious culture will produce, at best, confused thoughts and mixed-up behavior towards others, some times to the point of having a split personality."

"Furthermore, [adopting this religious culture] results in conflicts between the religious directives that the individual receives, and civil society and modern human culture."

"This is why the migration of our youth to the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' did not seem to them extreme, but was an attempt to reconcile the religious culture that they absorbed and the ideal religious perception that was formed in their minds..."

Posted 10/23/2002 11:45:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Barbeque

As a Native North Carolinian, and a huge SEC football fan, this report in the NYT got my attention. Especially when a home town place is featured in the accompanying photo.

While war rages in Israel, while we debate probable war in Iraq, while India an Pakistan face-off, while diplomatic problems appear in every corner, I thought I'd take a little break and try to get some opinions from BBQ lovers on other issues. The debate may not be earth shattering, but it's a whole lot more fun.

Culinary authorities shed heat, if not necessarily light, on exactly the kinds of questions that baffle diplomats. Precisely where, for instance, is the border between Down East and Piedmont barbecue in North Carolina? That line proved every bit as difficult to define as the one between India and Pakistan in Kashmir.

Age-old questions were revisited: Wood or charcoal? Pork or beef (or mutton or goat)? Chopped or sliced? Sauce based on tomatoes, vinegar or mustard? Sauce on top, sauce on the side, or no sauce at all? And what about side dishes? Coleslaw, baked beans and potato salad, not much controversy there; but what about fries? Are they too tainted by McDonald's?

Well right off the bat I see an oversight... What about Brunswick Stew? Corn Sticks, corn bread, biscuits or toast? Whatever the arguement it's a pleasure to have such multi-cultural, multi-ethnic debate. BBQ not Kosher, you say? Well...

Mr. Trillin argued that even the most observant of his fellow Jews could feel free to eat barbecued pork because of a little-known "easement" granted by the equally little-known Joplin (Mo.) Rebbe. But it was left to Marcie Cohen Ferris, a young scholar who grew up near Memphis, to disclose, less facetiously, that an Orthodox congregation there has held a kosher barbecue for the last 14 years, and that Corky's BBQ Restaurant has nearly perfected a kosher sauce.

So take a stand.... Beef or Pork ?? Sliced, chopped, or pulled? Sauce ?? Sides ?? And what's the best way to wash it down ?? Swee'tea or beer? I want to know!

Posted 10/22/2002 03:24:00 PM by Ocean Guy
If this interview with a leader of the Islamic Jihad gives you any hope for peace between Israel and the palestinians, then please tell me how.

Where is the Palestinian uprising, the Intifada heading, at the beginning of its third year?

The Palestinian people are realizing more now than ever before, that resistance, unity and the dismissal of all so-called “peace agreements” should be our strategy. Returning to negotiations and dialogue with the enemy will get us nowhere. We have no other option but to remain united and to stick to the option of resistance and to cancel all the agreements that have been signed. Our people have already dropped any hope of going back to negotiations. Our people have learned from the experience of past years and will no longer be betting on such solutions, negotiations or Arab Summits; (our people) will not allow anyone to compromise on their rights.

I ought to mention here that I have read some of the biographies of Zionist leaders who have admitted that they have thought on many occasions of lifting their arms and surrendering. But they were always surprised that the Arabs had surrendered first. This is why we hope that the Intifada will continue. The experience of the Palestinian resistance, especially during these times, proves that we have strong will and a vision; enough to carry us throughout the struggle. However, what is needed from all (Palestinian) factions is doubling their efforts in support of the Palestinian people, and strengthening its steadfastness in acquiring a clear strategy of resistance. We also call on Arab and Muslim nations to support us during this battle. They have to remember that our defeat is the defeat of the Arab World as a whole.

Posted 10/17/2002 05:33:00 PM by Ocean Guy
This made me angry.

Posted 10/17/2002 05:26:00 PM by Ocean Guy
How will Muhammad Dahlan's comments play in the Palestinian Press? MEMRI has a translation of an interview with him that was reported in the London-based Arabic daily, Al-Hayat. Most interesting is:

"[Dahlan] revealed that following the events of September 11, he sent a report to President Arafat suggesting that 'we leave the Intifada behind us. The Intifada is the means, not the purpose... We should have turned it into a popular Intifada and stopped the armed activity, but we didn't, because we don't have the courage, as a leadership, to do so.'"

"After he said that the Palestinian people is 'a mob that opts to extremism and rejection,' Dahlan added: 'The Palestinian leadership must force its decisions on the people, in some issue, even if it has to use a stick.' He said that Ben Gurion, 'the most important statesman in the history of the Israeli state, agreed to the establishment of a state without Jerusalem, just in order to establish a [political] entity and then to strengthen it. He agreed to resolution 181, made the decision, and announced the establishment of Israel, even though many Israelis objected to that. We can force a [certain] faction to stop launching mortar shells, because the Israelis are bulldozing 200 dunums in response. Had Arafat declared a state without Jerusalem, he would have been labeled 'a traitor,' even by the Fatah.'"

"Dahlan added: 'The Palestinian leadership missed no opportunity to make mistakes... The Palestinian people has the peculiar ability to die a martyr's death and to [be] steadfast. There are two streams in the PA: Those who say the people can suffer and [are] steadfast, and those who say the people has collapsed. Both are wrong. The people can suffer if its sacrifice will be politically rewarded.'"

Also, fighting words for Hamas:

"'We were soft on Hamas. They caused us problems with the Americans and the Israelis and after all this they treat us as if we were idiots. They burnt down police stations and said: 'the people burnt them down.' We will get the people out [on the street] to burn all the Hamas centers down.'"

Posted 10/14/2002 09:23:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Coming home from Ramallah, by Zev Roth.

Posted 10/14/2002 09:16:00 AM by Ocean Guy
John Leo has written about the way that palestinian/ Muslim "certification" as a victimized poeple by the PC elite is causing problems for Jews on college campuses across the country. Is it a Campus Hate Parade?

An op-ed writer at The Detroit News asked, "When did anti-Semitism lose its seat on the bus of political correctness?" He meant, why doesn't the PC culture protect Jews? The answer is that seats on the PC bus are reserved for certified victim groups, but Jews don't count. They have been historical victims for centuries, but they are doing too well in America to qualify as officially aggrieved. And as Muslims have been welcomed into the grievance culture, the status of Jews on campus, the stronghold of PC, has become problematic.

Posted 10/10/2002 08:57:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The debate on attacking Iraq has been unremarkable because of the simplicity of the arguments being presented. The traditional media treats us as if we are incapable of understanding any complex issue. Has our collective attention span been reduced to 10 second intervals?

One of the issues involved in any action in Iraq is addressed by Senator Bob Graham in today's Miami Herald. Graham, rightly wants more attention focused on groups like Hezbollah, and less tunnel vision on Saddam Hussein. Graham warns us that action in Iraq will inflame the region and make attacks on Americans at home more likely. His warning should be heeded.

But Graham said that many members of Congress and the administration are fixated on Hussein as ''the one evil'' while overlooking threats from ''the sleepers among us, waiting for an assault.'' And he predicted that threat will increase if the United States does go ahead and invade Iraq.

''If you reject that, [and say] that the American people are not going to be at an additional threat, then basically, to use a term, the blood is going to be on your hands,'' Graham told the Senate.

He said he favored more actions by the FBI ''to rout out terrorists among us'' and would support military actions against terrorist training camps in Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

The five groups he named -- Hezbollah, Hamas, the Abu Nidal group, the Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Palestine Liberation Front -- have not launched attacks in the United States.

But Graham said that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, has killed Americans in the Middle East for 20 years and has cells in the United States ready to strike.

''I will defy anybody to say that Iraq meets those standards. We're not talking about a threat 90 days from now,'' Graham said.

``We're not talking about a threat that may come a year from now if nuclear material is made available. I'm talking about a threat that could happen this afternoon.''

I'm thankful I was wrong about a September invasion of Iraq, but I still think the action will be necessary. The President, so far has been taking the right steps, but too many seek a quick solution that will never come about.

Critics argue that America has a bad record in helping foreign governments with insurrections or revolutions. Where they are wrong is in making the comparisons to situations in South America, where America chose expedient methods to oppose our rival in a bi-polar world. The true correlation ought to be with our efforts in changing regimes in Japan and Germany and helping democracy get started. The right solution will be a long-term, expensive endeavor more like the latter. If the 'expedient' route is chosen, I'm afraid we are doomed for failure.

The issue on attacking Iraq is extremely complex, and deserves a complete open and honest debate. At least we have a leader in the White House who is trying to frame the debate instead of a follower of opinion polls who had no courage to take an unpopular stand. Still , the debate must go on. We should embrace it and contribute the best way we can. But let's hear the entire debate... It cannot be reduced to sound bites.

Posted 10/08/2002 09:46:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch

ONe Arab joournalist writes an article saying that suicide bombers have caused grave damage to the palestinian cause, another Arab journalist writes a column questioning Arab support for Sadaam Hussein and both are threatened with expulsion from the Arab Journalists Association. Was this so bad?:

"What is the reason for this unprecedented campaign in the Arab world in defense of Saddam Hussein," al-Mawri wrote.

He noted that only a few Iraqis benefited from the Baghdad regime, which he blamed for many disasters which have plagued the Iraqi people over the past 25 years.

"The present Iraqi regime has proven its failure in using its massive power and abundant resources for the comfort of the Iraqi people," al Mawri wrote.

"Saddam has succeeded in turning his people from one of the richest in the Third World to one of the poorest. The Iraqi people's condition is so bad that some families had to throw their sons into the sea when they were denied political asylum in Australia. Why are Iraqis anyway thinking of emigrating? Isn't it because of the injustice they are experiencing at the hands of the Iraqi authorities."

Posted 10/07/2002 12:40:00 PM by Ocean Guy
This next phase of the Arab-Israeli conflict pits Hamas against the palestinian Authority. Hamas is just as brutal with their Arab brothers as they are with Israelis.

Gunmen disguised as police officers kidnapped the chief of the Palestinian riot police Monday and killed him with at least 10 shots in an apparent revenge attack blamed on members of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

The car of the police chief, Col. Rajeh Abu Lehiya, was intercepted at a fake checkpoint set up by the assailants, police said.

Posted 10/06/2002 09:29:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Jeff Jacoby makes some sense of the debate on bi-lingual education.

The enemies of English-immersion will say anything to discredit those who press for reform. At a rally at the Massachusetts State House this week, Question 2 was denounced by the president of the state AFL-CIO as "hateful and spiteful;" Ron Unz, the California businessman who has been the moving force behind these ballot measures, was compared by the head of the Hispanic American Chamber of Commerce to a Nazi. The thuggishness of such "arguments" says much about what the bilingual industry has become and the lengths to which it will go to protect its empire. If I were Hispanic, there is nothing I would want more than to see that empire dismantled

Posted 10/02/2002 01:09:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Meet Ari Weiss: Texan, Israeli, brother, son...... gone.

Posted 10/01/2002 10:40:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by in the past few days while I've been busy elsewhere. At the moment I'm in the land of Sliflay Hraka on some family business. I've been intrigued by the Senate campaign commercials here in the Tarheel state. Bowles' ads portray Dole as a meanie who only carees about big business and Dole's ads label Bowles as a tax and spend liberal interesting.

Posted 9/27/2002 07:17:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Don't miss Mark Steyn.

Listen up, folks: Don't beat yourselves up, there's plenty of crazy Saudis willing to do it for you. I don't have a problem with attempts to identify the ''root causes'' of 9/11, only with the particular root cause everyone settles on--to wit, poverty. The late Osama bin Laden was a wealthy man. Loaded. Mohammed Atta and most of the other killers belonged to the privileged middle class. Omar Sheikh, who kidnapped and beheaded the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, is a British ''public'' (i.e., private) schoolboy and graduate of the London School of Economics. Saddam Hussein's personal fortune is estimated at $7 billion, a career in public service in Baghdad being rather more lucrative than one in, say, Copenhagen. And let's not forget the representative two or three hundred Saudi princes currently accompanying King Fahd on his convalescence in Spain. A lucky London escort agency has landed the contract for servicing the Saudi swingers: The gals all have to be blond and they're replaced every two weeks, having been thoroughly, er, exhausted by then.

Posted 9/25/2002 06:03:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The translation is on the iviews site, but Salama A Salama's article originally appeared in Egypt's Al Ahram Weekly. This part could not have been too popular:

The sad fact, however, is that the image of Arabs and Muslims cannot be revamped, regardless of how many millions we spend, so long as the political and human situation in the Arab world remains unchanged. Unfortunately, neither our regimes nor populations appear to have fully grasped the extent of the uphill struggle we face. Our public elections are still won by landslides of the 99.9 per cent sort. Phone tapping and police surveillance is common, and as an inevitable result individual freedoms are curtailed. Restricting press freedom continues to be seen as a cornerstone of political life. The culture of fanaticism and terror still has supporters in our midst. Corruption is so deep-rooted that judicial processes are proving incapable of curtailing the problem, let alone eradicating it. Democracy and the transition of power by peaceful means are distant dreams.

Whatever we do, our PR makeover is unlikely to succeed. However hard we try, the world knows too much about us.

Posted 9/25/2002 05:54:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown doesn't like double standards in the Muslim world. He also thinks that more dialogue is needed with Moderate Islam:

Looking at our ever more perilous world, where new chasms open up daily between Islam and the West, you would think that politicians, non-governmental organizations and worthy bodies committed to building civic, non-violent societies would make it their priority to engage with European Muslims, particular those with reformist sentiments and agendas. The shock waves which have followed since the Salman Rushdie affair in 1988, culminating in the attacks on 11 September, should have told perceptive people that without deep, genuine and informed political and intellectual engagement with enlightened Muslims, chaos, and further chaos, is guaranteed...

...To ignore reformist Muslims is to abandon hope for any of us in the future. What do I mean by reformist? I mean people who see that there are universal principles of rights, freedoms, democracy and justice which apply as much to Muslims as others. I mean people insulted by the idea that they must be "tolerated" and who have the brains and guts to engage fully as democratic citizens.

I mean risk takers such as Zaki Badawi, the wise Egyptian head of the Muslim College who offered Salman Rushdie sanctuary in his home in the week following the fatwa. Or Ghiyassudin Siddique, leader of the once infamous "Islamic Parliament", who today boldly attacks the Government as well as the treatment of women in many Muslim families. I mean young Muslims like the young university student, Sama, who wrote to me last week to say: "I think we must be brave enough to say that no religion can continue to be relevant if it remains ahistorical. We live in a world where certain important values were not part of that old world. We must adapt or die."

What is the double standard that Mr Alibhai-Brown is talking about?:

I have had it with apologists who think that Muslims, whatever they do, only do these foul things because they are upset, humiliated, angry, despised and maltreated. There is no excuse big enough to explain the actions of cold-eyed slaughterers who descend on helpless Christians in Muslim states; the men who cut the throat of Daniel Pearl, the young Jewish American journalist; the grisly crowds in Nigeria who want to stone to death a young mother; the gang rape of children which is ordered as "punishment" by Muslim tribal leaders in Pakistan; the people who danced in the streets to see exploded bits of Americans and others.

I cannot stomach Muslim leaders and writers who jump up when there are signs of injustice against us (discrimination against Muslims is a serious problem, no doubt about that) but who never speak out to denounce outright the various discriminations which ruin the lives of common people (regardless of color or creed) in various parts of the world.

He's right, of course. These moderate muslims must take some of the responsibility in letting themselves be heard just as we need to share that responsibility by offering fora for their views to be heard .

Posted 9/25/2002 05:36:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Moderate Islam Watch

From MEMRI, we have translations from the London Arabic Daily Al-Hayat, which talks about hte Arabs' role in missig the opportunities of camp David. One interesting contention:

"Since regional tensions, including the Arab-Israeli conflict, were one of the fronts of the Cold War, when the reorganization of the world began... the military (ex-revolutionary) Arab democracies suffered from pressure caused by this reorganization – for example, with the erosion of national sovereignty, the free market, the globalization of human rights, the [establishment of] international courts, and the rise of the era of the peoples. The Arab regime tried to create a kind of new Cold War, by forming an alliance with Islamic fundamentalism and establishing a new shadow empire in Central Asia."

Posted 9/21/2002 07:13:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Don't miss the post and discussion about AIDS Activists hindering their own cause over at The Daily Pundit. As usual, Bill Quick and his readers are the best read of the day.

Posted 9/20/2002 06:37:00 AM by Ocean Guy
What is the real message in Rumsfeld asking Israel not to respond? It is probably an unreasonable request. If the 'invavsion' is very quick, there may be a benefit to both us and Israel if they show some restraint. But, beyond a couple of days, I'm not sure it makes any difference in the way anyone sees things. How much more can the Arabs be incited against Israel? Not responding would simply be a sign of weakness which serves no purpose. I'll be looking for more discussion on this one. I had been under the assumption that Israel will certainly retaliate....

Posted 9/20/2002 06:14:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Maybe now he'll be elected to the Hall of Fame. The "World's Fastest Man" is gone.

Posted 9/20/2002 05:53:00 AM by Ocean Guy
How can anyone negotiate a peaceful co-existance with those who do not value life? This infuriates me.

Posted 9/19/2002 06:29:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Another Islamikaze strike.

Posted 9/19/2002 06:26:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Here's the deal. Iraq, through Tariq Aziz, says they will allow the inspectors, clearly giving the EUnuchs the impression that they are willing to cooperate. What I don't like is the US response. The President and his minions, together with the media, all whine, "Nuh-UH, they don't really mean it, they'll fool us again, they can't be trusted."

Instead, the President ought to, or rather should have, quietly assembled an acceptable team of Inspectors. He should have worked with Security Council members to get a qualified team, acceptable to all. They should have been mustering UN equipment, including helicopters and MASH type mobile quarters and anything else they need, to make the team self sustaining. It doesn't appear they have done any of that.

So here's how they should proceed. Then they should load the equipment and inspectors on a few big aircraft, and fly them to Baghdad. While they are enroute the President can announce to the world his gratitude to Iraq for co-operating with the UN, with all of the appropriate overstated, flowery, complimentary language. He should end his announcement by saying the inspectors will be landing in 2 hours.

Instead of whining about what Iraq is likely to do, and wasting precious time, take advantage of what they said they will do. Flush the liars out, regain the upper hand. We’ve GOT the invitation, give them the freaking RSVP and GO.

Posted 9/17/2002 07:25:00 PM by Ocean Guy
It's fitting, Arafat defeats himself. By using suicide bombers he ultimatley commits political suicide.

Posted 9/15/2002 12:26:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Bruce Hill, at War Now, is a self-proclaimed reformed 'lefty.' Today he posts an entire article by James J. Cramer in which he wholeheartedly agrees. The Making of a Hawk

From:

Until 19 Arab hijackers killed thousands of Americans a year ago, I thought the world was a pretty safe place. I favored a smaller military, an open and free society and a rigorous support of the Bill of Rights, one that would guarantee privileges to all who lived in this country -- yes, even the aliens among us who struggled so hard to get here.

I believed that if we could get Arabs and Israelis together in a room, we could solve that crisis, just as the Northern Irish crisis was defanged through negotiation and patience. I even thought we would see peace, a world dominated by a Pax Americana, in which economic growth would lead to a safer, stronger community that would be safe for my children and their children and their children's children. I love you, you love me, we are a happy family, this land is your land, this land is my land; you get the picture.

To:

I now regard our great bulwark of laws that protect individual rights against the right of a potential intrusive government as a plaything of our enemies. I regard the defenders of the Middle Eastern status quo, where the hijackers got their sponsorship as appeasers, as the kind that Winston Churchill faced in Neville Chamberlain and his appeasement policy. I regard the dissent from the war effort against the nations that hide and nurture Al Qaeda terrorists as a flirtation with treason. And I think the way to remember the dead is not so much to view them as the casualties of a horrid moment but as a precursor to what will happen to you and me if we act as if this were a matter of law enforcement for a free society.

Stop the mourning, and start the bombing, if you want it in the plain Wall Street way we are taught to express ourselves. If we act like this is business as usual, just another enemy like the Soviets during the Cold War, or yes, even the Nazis of World War II, we will be playing into precisely the hopes of the terrorists: that we approach their unconventional American genocide with a conventional, and ultimately, Vietnam-like, war effort, one that ends with us exhausted and them triumphant.

Bruce, like Mr. Cramer, like many others of us, have had reality smack us between the eyes. It struck hard enough to make us realize that idealism is not enough, caring is not enough, good intentions are not enough, intelligence is not enough... The fact remains: Evil exists and no amount of education or 'enlightenment' will make it go away.

Like Many, I was once a 'lefty'. Maturity, experience and tragedy combined to change that. Reality struck the first time 30 years ago on September 5, 1972 when the Olympic games were hijacked by evil, but the blow was indirect. It struck again on November 4, 1979 when the American Embassy in Tehran was taken and even though I was a young Naval Officer, I held to my idealistic views.[I did not vote for Ronald Reagan.] But on October 23, 1983 reality struck the blow that changed my perspective.

On that day 241 US Servicemen, including dozens I knew, were killed by a suicide bomber. They were killed in a place I had been sitting just a couple of weeks earlier. They were Peace Keepers, not combatants, part of the Multi-National Peacekeeping Force, and they were senselessly murdered. The murderers were the same people who had dealt both the first and the last blow of reality to my liberal ideals.

I know it’s a good thing that there are so many liberals who still hold fast to their idealism. For that shows me that there are still many who have not had life changing confrontations with evil. I wish I was still a part of that group. Our Republic and its democratic values allow idealism flourish, and I’m proud to be one who has served and fought to protect it. The Idealism – Realism dichotomy makes our society strong. But, it’s certainly frustrating when so many intelligent people are blind to the realities of the world.

As Mr. Cramer writes:

And then, on Sept. 11, a quarter of a mile away from where I was sitting, something occurred that was so horrific, so despicable, so evil and so darned foreshadowing of the future, that I realize in retrospect that I was a dreamer, an appeaser and, alas, a fool. In my lifetime we, as a people, have had enemies who wanted to win us over to their ways, enemies who wished we would change our culture and enemies who would fight our soldiers if we fought theirs.

It’s almost sad that another idealist was lost. But as long as we maintain our underlying idealism as we confront the reality we face, we’ll be fine. The events of September 11, 2001 have changed our world. Our success will be measured by the manner we deal with its message and with its consequences. In Mr. Cramer’s words:

In years to come, there will be people who stayed pacifist or ignorant or oblivious to what has happened, and they will be looked upon in later history as cowards or dreamers or fools. And then there will be the people who saw Sept. 11 for what it was, a declaration of war against us, and acted accordingly. I want nothing more than to be in the latter camp, if only because yesterday was and always will be Sept. 11 until our enemies are vanquished.

And in the end I hope we can all be idealists.

Posted 9/14/2002 03:39:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Susanna Cornett has posted a letter from a friend to a TV station about the events of 9/11 and the one year anniversary. So head on over to cut on the bias and read it.

Posted 9/13/2002 06:17:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Lynn B. puts an incredible claim In Context. An article in Haaretz, The Massacring of the Truth, by Amnon Rubinstein, points out the outrageous claim made by some Palestinians, that

no Palestinians had spread false rumors of a massacre in Jenin and that the "myth" of the Palestinians accusing the IDF of a massacre was part of an anti-Palestinian plot.

Lynn B. has everything in a neat package.

Tal G also mentions it.

Posted 9/12/2002 10:41:00 PM by Ocean Guy
"Sleeper" agents, operatives who blend in to America and wait for years before striking, are a necessary component of many terrorist actions. But how do these Sleepers manage to avoid detection? Recently released excerpts from Osama bin Laden's pamphlet, the Sleeper's Handbook, detail the chilling sophistication of our enemies and their terrifying familiarity with Western Culture.

Posted 9/12/2002 10:34:00 PM by Ocean Guy
MEMRI has an anthology of Arab clippings which continue to deny Arab involvement in the 9/11 attacks on the USA. The Arab press, in seeking legitimacy for their accusation, quotes authorities like David Duke:

"There are two solid pieces of evidence indicating the Mossad's prior knowledge of the September 11 attacks." He goes on to enumerate: "Having only one Israeli casualty among the 4,500 dead at the WTC is simply a statistical impossibility," and "The Israeli daily, Ha'aretz, also confirmed the prior warnings to Israel… an Israeli communication company, Odigo, with offices in both the World Trade Center and in Israel, received a number of warnings just two hours before the attack"

And Thierry Meyssan the French author whose best seller claims that no plane hit the Pentagon:

"It was not logical," Meyssan claimed, "that a plane could enter Pentagon airspace without being shot down. Moreover, a photo taken a few minutes after the event showed no evidence of fire, and there was also no hole in the building where the plane had allegedly penetrated it." Meyssan depicted Osama bin Laden as a CIA agent who had been treated in an American hospital in Dubai two months before September 11. There, he said, bin Laden had been visited by a top CIA official.

Read it if you can stand the obscenity.

Posted 9/12/2002 10:20:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Don't miss William Safire's column today on The Split in the Saudi Royal Family.

One faction is headed by Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto monarch today, backed by most of the Faisal branch of the royals; one Faisal is foreign minister. Abdullah, while no moderate, recognizes that Saudi girls will have to get some education, and I'm told he worries that the Palestinian dream of taking over Israel is dragging out a war that will one day trigger an internal Saudi explosion.

The opposition within the House of Saud is the Sudairi branch, headed by Prince Sultan, now the defense minister (and father of the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Prince Bandar, a k a "Mr. Smoothie"). Sultan has a brother in charge of internal security, has control of oil and gas production and is locked into both the influential bin Laden family and the radical Wahhabi imams. Sultan spells trouble.

The rivals are both past their prime: Abdullah is 79, Sultan only a few years younger. The betting is that when the ailing King Fahd, now 83, dies, the Sudairis will let Abdullah become king, stepping up as crown princes are supposed to — on condition that the Faisal branch agree to appoint Sultan to be Abdullah's crown prince and successor.

But Abdullah knows he won't be king for long and does not want to pave the way for Sultan and his ultra-conservative Wahhabi backers. (Office politics are complicated everywhere.)

Go read it all.

Posted 9/12/2002 07:30:00 AM by Ocean Guy
I'm sure this will be everywhere, but I wanted to blog it for myself. It is the text of Binyamin Netanyahu's speech that was cancelled due to Palestinian rioting in Montreal. The opening line:

I have come here to voice what I believe is an urgently needed reminder: that the war on terror can be won with clarity and courage or lost with confusion and vacillation.

Please see Middle East Realities for a first hand account, photos, and much more.

Posted 9/11/2002 08:25:00 AM by Ocean Guy
There is a lot to laugh at over at Amish Tech Support, but there's somthing else too.

Posted 9/11/2002 07:32:00 AM by Ocean Guy
It's not unbelievable, though I wish it was: more election problems in Florida. Here in North Florida they switched to the simpler optical scanners instead of the slick touch screen monitors. The touch screen monitors, by one report, took almost 6 minutes to set up and boot up.... there were problems. As in most of the state there were few problems to report, but oh how the problems were highlighted by their sheer stupidity. More...

One precinct's poll workers didn't realize they had to turn the machines on delaying poll opening by 90 minutes. More than one precinct had no poll workers show up and other volunteers had to be found to get the polls open. One local precinct gave voters the wrong ballots, and many voters weren't sharp enough to realize they had the wrong party's ballot. Thankfully someone was,

"The names [on the ballot] were slightly familiar, but I didn't find most of the people I was looking for," said Stephen Bowen, among those who brought ballot problems at East Pointe Baptist Church in Arlington to the attention of election officials.

Other precincts closed at the originally scheduled time, ignoring media and voters’ reports that the governor had ordered the polls to stay open until nine. The local news interviewed one such precinct supervisor sometime past 7, after she had turned voters away. Her response was that the last official word she got was the polls close at 7pm..... I guess the governor isn't official. But then she had the audacity to blame the media for spreading the word that the polls were open till nine..... That was unbelievable. Still More...

Another precinct didn't have any Republican ballots, machines crashed at another but the best story was an interview with one of the gubernatorial candidates, Daryl Jones, who had boasted, during the campaign, of all his work in election reform. I'll post a link as soon as I find it. But here's some more...

The sad part of the story is that virtually all of the problems were in precincts that had problems in the 2000 General Election. Then Polling place workers in some areas were instructing everyone to, "Make sure you vote for someone on every page." Too bad there were two pages of presidential candidates and well over 10,000 over-votes were cast aside. Perhaps there was too much effort in the Get Out the Vote drive and too little effort into even minimal training for poll volunteers.

Whatever the problems, it appears we are in for a couple of more days in the spotlight for what Congresswoman Corrine Brown called yesterday's "Widespread election irregularities." Janet Reno will likely contest the election results... Stay tuned this could get interesting.

Posted 9/10/2002 06:53:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Today is Primary Day in Florida. We have a phenomenon here that goes with the polls opening that I've not seen many other places.... The living campaign sign.

During most of the day today, especially during the rush hours, Candidates, Families and Campaign workers will be holding small campaign signs, standing on street corners, waving at passing cars... all while wearing Big Idiot Grins. If nothing else, the spectacle may remind a few people that it's Election Day, but generally I don't understand it. The thing is everyone does it, nobody wants to be left out.

The busiest intersections may have two or three competing camps... Candidate for state legislature, his wife, school age children and his Mom, all in their Sunday best, standing in the heat or rain, smiling, waving, flashing a thumbs up for a tooted horn, in 'Car Door to Car Door Campaigning.' It's comical. It's kind of a miniature political convention. In fact, every once in a while a candidate with a large family invades and occupies an entire major intersection. Not all are so well supported, we'll also see a Lone Campaigner or two. Maybe the loners are the judges, the independent ones, but that's just speculation, I've never paid close attention. I'll just enjoy the little bit of people watching that the event gives us, and wonder, "Do Living Campaign Signs exist anywhere else?"

Posted 9/09/2002 07:10:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Martin Peretz helps make the case for action in Iraq.

It is not the pursuit of good government, however, that has put this country on a collision course with the leadership in Palestine and Iraq. Our motives are more fundamental than that: The U.S. government has made a decision that it will not permit either mass terror by Baghdad or random terror by the many Palestinian militias to set the norms of how others, in the region and beyond, live or die. This is the critical principle underlying our Iraqi policy and our Palestinian policy. It is, at root, a statement about how we define civilization and how we defend it from its unconventionally armed discontents.

Posted 9/09/2002 07:07:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Stating the obvious, Daniel Pipes says More Americans have been killed by militant Islamics than any other enemy since the Vietnam War. He calls it a mistake that Americans largely ignored the 800 lives lost between Novermber 1979 and 9/11.

Interestingly, a Marine sergeant present at the embassy that fateful day in November 1979 agrees with this assessment. As the militant Islamic mob invaded the embassy, Rodney V. Sickmann followed orders and protected neither himself nor the embassy. As a result, he was taken hostage and lived to tell the tale. (He now works for Anheuser-Busch.)

In retrospect, he believes that passivity was a mistake. The Marines should have done their assigned duty, even if it cost their lives. "Had we opened fire on them, maybe we would only have lasted an hour." But had they done that, they "could have changed history."

Standing their ground would have sent a powerful signal that the United States of America cannot be attacked with impunity. In contrast, the embassy's surrender sent the opposite signal - that it's open season on Americans. "If you look back, it started in 1979; it's just escalated," Sickmann correctly concludes.

It makes you wonder...

Posted 9/06/2002 02:50:00 PM by Ocean Guy

L'Shana Tova....

Posted 9/06/2002 10:55:00 AM by Ocean Guy

I hesitate to post this because it's so long, but since it's not available except as an e-mail, and that I find it interesting, I'll paste it all. The substance of the debate is so familiar:

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon provided the public with the real reason for Israel's descent into the Oslo disaster. In a speech that he delivered to the first grade in the Ben Zvi School in Ramleh, on the occasion of the opening of the school year, he said: "Israel is the only place in the Middle East, and possibly in the world, in which the first word taught in school is 'shalom' [literally, peace, in the Hebrew for welcome to the first grade - shalom kitah alef]." his seems to be a fine and moving thought. But there's a catch to it.

We all agree that it is good to teach Israeli children that "peace" s an exalted value. The problem begins when the educational system - that is dominated by the left, even when the right is in power - distorts the meaning of the word "peace" for its political purposes, and keeps from our children information about the true meaning of the word shalom that is to be found in the Jewish sources. And so the word "peace" has become synonymous with total capitulation to the demands by the enemy, for the handing over of regions of the homeland to the enemy, for waiving the values of Judaism. Israeli children who study in the State
educational system sing ad nauseum "Shir ha-Shalom" [the "Song of Peace"], and at times are even exposed to the verse "Oseh shalom bi- mromav - May the One who makes peace in the heights make peace for us, and for all Israel. Now say: Amen" - but they do not learn the warnings by our prophets against a false peace.

Who in the State educational system has learned of the admonition by Jeremiah (6:14): "They offer healing offhand for the wounds of My people, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace"? There, and in other passages, the prophet Jeremiah warns the people of Israel against false leaders and prophets who delude the people that there will be peace, and lull the public with false promises that, even if the situation seems difficult, there is no need to worry, the evil will not come(sounds familiar and up to date?). The prophet Ezekiel also warns us time and again: "the prophets of Israel who prophesy about Jerusalem and see a vision of shalom when there is no shalom" (13:16).

But most Israeli schoolchildren do not receive this important information from our sources. Their minds are poisoned by the lies and false hopes that the leftists drum into them from the first to the twelfth grades, through very "special" politicized textbooks. Dr. Yoram Hazony, the President of the Shalem Center, has been warning for years against the quiet de-Judaizing revolution that is underway in Israeli schools and universities. We all recall the uproar about two years ago regarding a new ninth grade history book that was written in a post-Zionist and anti-Jewish spirit. The problem, however, is not any specific book.

As Hazony explains, in an article that appeared in the New Republic about two years ago ("Who Removed Zionism from Israel's Textbooks ?"), the real problem is those academics who decide about the curriculum of the educational system. People such as Israel Bartel and the historian Moshe Zimmermann admit in interviews with them that they brought about a revision in the entire educational system. According to them, it was necessary to give new meaning to Jewish history, and to downplay its value and importance!! The fact that these anti-Jewish individuals continued to be active, even when the right was in power, is an unforgivable crime. Because of them, the emphasis in Israel in recent decades has been on universal history, and not on Jewish history. The study of the Jewish people, of Jewish culture, and of the State of Israel appears in the curriculum, but only in marginal chapters, in a sea of chapters on Greek, African, Brazilian, and American culture, and who knows what else.

The Israeli-Arab conflict, as well, is explained in the history books from a "universal" perspective, so that the Israeli pupil does not
identify with the Zionist pioneers who established the State of Israel, but - at best - feels neutral towards the subject, and - at worst - because he did not receive the proper tools and the information concerning the special bond of the people of Israel with Eretz Israel, identifies specifically with the Arab side.

And so, because of the distortion of the meaning of the word "peace" and all that this implies, a new generation has grown up in Israel in the past twenty years, one that has undergone brainwashing, one that received a spoilt education that undermines the basic principles of Judaism, and our right to our land. This is the generation that allowed its leaders to sign the cursed Oslo accords.

Let us not deceive ourselves: even those who received a Zionist State-Religious education have been adversely influenced by the
entire Oslo atmosphere that polluted our air in the last decade, not only in the textbooks, but also in the state media. How many young people who belong to the national camp are really capable of debating with "Peace Now" people and win the debate by refuting all of their lying slogans? Have our young people, who complete the twelfth grade and enter the world at large, received the tools and the information to reject the incorrect claims that are disseminated in the media, in the university, in the army, and everywhere else, such as: "According to international law, the presence of Israelis in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza is a violation of international law"? Or another widespread lie: "The settlements in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza are situated on occupied Arab land." Or, who knows that the slogan "The Jewish people never had any historical connection to the Gaza district" is a total falsehood? How many of our young people are capable of facing a leftist and, based on clear and accurate information, convincing him that the word "Israeli occupation" is total nonsense and that in fact the opposite is true: it is the Arabs who occupy our Jewish land! Or that the concept "Jewish state" is not a "racist" concept, as the extreme left claims?

In the past two years, the two years of the bloody Oslo War, the Jewish people has sobered up and understood that the education that it received was warped education for a false peace. The Education Minister, Limor Livnat, announced the introduction of a curriculum that will impart more Jewish heritage, more Zionism, and more Judaism to our children, but it will take many years until this moderate program will have an effect, if at all.

What is needed now is renewed and expedited education that will correct the educational distortion that was committed, and that will give our young people the tools to face the many challenges, with strength and vigor. Already this year, we can, and must, begin to initiate classes with the participation of both parents and their children, beginning from the ninth grade and up, in which they will make up the material that they never received: Bible, Jewish history, Zionist history, our right to Eretz Israel, refuting the lies of our enemies - the list goes on and on. Gandhi (Rehavam Ze'evi),HY"D, always recalled to us the verse: "May the Lord grant strength to His people, may the Lord bestow on His people shalom" (Psalms 29:11). First we must see strength and vigor, and then and only then shalom will come. Only if we give our children a more Jewish education, will, with God's help, a new generation grow up in Israel, with greater strength. A generation that will no longer fall into the trap of a false peace.

Posted 9/06/2002 10:24:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Shlomo Ben-Ami argues that Force Won't Work in the war against Islamists. He's absolutely right that force, alone, will not solve the problem. He's also right in saying that the "war" is a long-term problem that will take years to realize a modern Islamic society. My fear is that Americans will not be patient enough to follow through with the required effort. While Ben-Ami says:

THE SOLUTION does not lie in vying for supremacy over the rival bloc, or in the kind of arms race that broke the USSR's neck. We are dealing with Islamic civilization which for centuries has failed in finding its way to socioeconomic modernity or democracy; a civilization that has not been able to develop a civic society and freedom of speech, and which is rebelling now against globalization perceived as the reflection of American cultural hegemony. No force of any kind will solve the complex problems of Islam and Muslim societies. This was as true before September 11 as it is now: the solution has to be a long-term one, rooted in a historical perspective of changes of regime, economic development, the emergence of a middle class, and gradual adaptation to a culture founded on trust, transparency, and a civic society.

It will take years.

The emphasis placed by the Bush administration on the need for democracy in the Arab world is, in principle, the correct approach. But in practice, it becomes apparent that there is very little maneuvering room for change; moreover, American policy is woefully inconsistent. Democracy is not a matter to be decided by presidential decree. Democracy emerges from depth processes. In the Arab and Muslim world, the alternative, unfortunately, does not lie between democracy and dictatorship. The only alternatives are secular dictatorship such as those of Hosni Mubarak, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Mohammad VI, Muammar Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, and Saddam Hussein - or Islamic democracy, i.e., a fundamentalist regime.

Ben-Ami seems to assume that those of us who support the application of force to the problem are looking for a quick fix. He is wrong.

My fear is that, in the end, Americans will lose their patience because they want instant gratification. Our clash with Islamism is not a short term problem, we will not see a quick resolution. A decisive application of overwhelming force will only be the first step in a process that will take years, even a generation. Without application of force the Arabs continue their attempts to recapture some sort of nebulous lost honor. Without that application of military strength, nothing changes.

Force is not the solution, it will not solve the centuries old problems in the Middle East. However, force is necessary to change the circumstances and to produce conditions that will allow the changes to take place. We must be steadfast in our determination to follow through on the change.... It will take years.

Posted 9/05/2002 09:57:00 PM by Ocean Guy
One Battle may be over, but the war continues. If Zev Chafets is right and The Intifadah's Over and the Israelis Won, the opportunity should not mean relaxing vigilance.

Posted 9/05/2002 09:58:00 AM by Ocean Guy
The following article is part of a blogburst - a simultaneous and cross-linked posting of many blogs on the same theme. This blogburst commemorates the Munich Olympics Massacre which began in the dawn
hour of September 5th, 1972. Go to the The Index of the Munich Massacre Blogburst to find links to all the other articles.

September 5, 1972
Even before the events of September 5, 1972, the XXth Olympiad was the most memorable gathering of the World’s athletes in modern history. Mark Spitz won 7 gold medals, more than any athlete in history in a single Olympiad. Olga Korbut won gold and the hearts of the world with a virtually perfect performance. The USA basketball team lost the Gold to the Russians in a controversial 3 seconds. But these performances, as memorable as they are, were completely overshadowed by the events of this date thirty years ago. Today we remember the lives lost and the shattered innocence during those Games.

September 5, 1972 is the day the PLO introduced themselves to me. I saw them on TV only as heartless, selfish, evil criminals. As a young teen I didn’t really know what a terrorist was until their masked figures appeared on our TVs and shattered my naivety. Those PLO terrorists wanted to bring attention to their “cause”. They got my attention, all right but they got no sympathy for their cause. In destroying the showcase event of International cooperation, they gave up any chance of getting my sympathy for whatever ‘cause’ they claimed to stand for. They were simply criminals, dangerous, evil criminals.

The Olympic Games were, for many, a respite from Cold War tensions. They were a peaceful, exuberant gathering of athletes beyond the politics of a bi-polar world. The Olympic spirit is illustrated by this story, told by Ankie Spitzer in One Day in September by Simon Reeve. Ankie’s husband Andre was the Israeli Fencing Coach… one of the 11 murdered.

…with Andre in his element as a participant in a uniquely international event. He was a man who passionately believed the Olympics could break down national barriers, and after one of his competitions he spotted members of the Lebanese team and told Ankie he was gong to say hello to them.
Ankie had immediate reservations. “I said to him,” ‘Are you out of your mind?! They’re from Lebanon!” Israel was in a state of war with Lebanon at the time.”

“Ankie,” said Andre calmly, “that’s exactly what the Olympics are about. Here I can go to them, I can talk to them, I can ask them how they are. That’s exactly what the Olympics are all about.”

“So he went…towards this Lebanese team, and…he asked them, ‘How you’re your results?’ and ‘I’m from Israel and how did it go?’ And to my amazement, I saw that the [Lebanese] responded and they shook hands with him and they talked to him and they asked him about his results. I’ll never forget when he turned around and came back towards me with this huge smile on his face. ‘You see!’ said Andre excitedly. ‘This is what I was dreaming about, I knew it was going to happen.’ ”

Andre’ realized his dream and then had it shattered.

Many, many dreams were shattered as we listened to Jim McKay, the voice of The Wide World of Sports, and the voice of the Olympics, relay the tragic events. Mr. McKay’s innocent joy in athletic competition was ripped from him, just as it was from us, as he was forced into focusing on the horrible crime as America, in shock, watched and waited. Innocent enjoyment evaporated into fear and anger as those evil figures murdered eleven people simply to get some attention.

Andre Spitzer….. Yossef Romano….. Moshe Weinberg….. Jacov Springer….. Amitzur Shapira….. Eliezer Halfin….. Zeev Friedman….. Yossef Gutfreund….. Mark Slavin….. Kehat Shorr….. David Berger All murdered.

During a visit to Munich in 1983, I took a ride on a bus that passed the Olympic Stadium. Before we came upon the stadium I was presented with a haunting view of a group of Apartment buildings which I immediately recognized as the one time Olympic Village. I was surprised by the depth of emotion that the sudden memory of the murders and the events from 11 years earlier. One of the emotions that grabbed me was fear. I felt fear at being reminded of the evil people involvedin the horrendous act. This tiem it was on a sight seeing tour instead of watching TV, but once again innocent joy was replaced by fear and anger. That flash from the past brought me starkly into the present. My short visit to Munich was just a short diversion on journey way to Beirut.

I was heading, for a short time, to be a part of the multi-national Peacekeeping force deployed in Beirut. The fear I felt that day in Munich was a fear and loathing of the evil methods and evil leadership of the PLO. Those senseless murders in 1972 were just the beginning of a different evil, a more violent and vicious campaign of terror whose epicenter, in 1983, had moved to Lebanon… and I was on my way there.

In 1972 I was introduced to the PLO by watching masked criminals on TV in Munich. In 1983, while standing in Munich, I was reminded, not only of the Olympic murders, but that the murderers, the PLO, were the same people who would soon be posing a threat to my life. Suddenly the Munich terror was very real to me.

Today, thirty years later, I hope the events are real to you. I hope you take the time to remember the lives lost, the families torn apart, and the collective loss of innocence we all experienced as a result of that one day in September 1972.

Posted 9/03/2002 09:14:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Yisrael Medad thinks that D-Day is fast approaching for Yassir Arafat...

...and the Palestinian leadership. It is the responsibility of those countries that pressured Israel to accept the Oslo process to now pressure the Palestinian Authority. They must be made to understand that either they change direction or they will lose all ability of ever achieving any of the goals they set for themselves over 40 years ago. D-Day for Arafat is that day when he adopts a four-pronged program of denouncing, disarming, disbanding and democratizing. Read it all.

Posted 9/03/2002 09:06:00 AM by Ocean Guy
Jeff Jacoby has some harsh words for the President. This is why:

All of these fuel American antipathy toward Saudi Arabia. But more significant perhaps than any of them is the widening realization that the values and aspirations of Saudi society are fundamentally at odds with the values and aspirations of our own. Virtually everything our civic culture venerates - religious and political tolerance, freedom of speech and expression, constitutional self-government, liberal democracy, sexual equality - Saudi culture abominates. The Saudi princes run an intolerant and repressive totalitarian theocracy - backward, bigoted, and closed. There may be no country on earth with which we have less in common. Read the rest...

Posted 9/02/2002 07:24:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Thanks to Meryl, I'll never again think of my favorite Southern Pines in the same way,

Posted 8/31/2002 10:17:00 PM by Ocean Guy
A Greeting from King Fahd: Message of Friendship to the citizens of the United States....

Posted 8/31/2002 07:09:00 PM by Ocean Guy
Thank you Charles at lgf for this link to an article on Rolling Back Islam.

You cannot win a war if you do not fight, and you cannot win a peace through inattention. In peace and war, the American response to the violent extremism that so damages the Islamic world has been as halting and reactive as it has been reluctant. We simply do not want to get involved more deeply than “necessary.” But Muslim extremists are determined to remain involved with us.

We are not at war with Islam. But the most radical elements within the Muslim world are convinced that they are at war with us. Our fight is with the few, but our struggle must be with the many. For decades we have downplayed—or simply ignored—the hate-filled speech directed toward us, the monstrous lessons taught by extremists to children, and the duplicity of so many states we insisted were our friends. But nations do not have friends—at best, they have allies with a confluence of interests. We imagine a will to support our endeavors where there is only a pursuit of advantage. And we deal with cynical, corrupt old men who know which words to say to soothe our diplomats, while the future lies with the discontented young, to whom the poison of blame is always delicious. Read More

emphasis added

Posted 8/31/2002 12:27:00 PM by Ocean Guy
The latest trend in diets: Never Cook again.

The raw-foodist subculture is a mix of alternative-health types, spiritual seekers and the aggressively trendy. (Celebrity devotees include Demi Moore and Angela Bassett.) Many people turn to the movement after struggling with chronic illness or obesity. Numerous Web sites peddle juicers, suggest recipes and offer testimonials that read like conversion experiences. ''It was about two years ago, at the height of my suffering from deadly cancer, that I was introduced to the raw-food diet, which completely changed my life,'' proclaims one of the faithful on rawfood.com. There are potlucks in Little Rock, festivals in Portland, conferences in Boston, tropical retreats in Bali. A small library's worth of ''uncookbooks'' have been published, and there is a movement afoot to pressure the Food Network into producing a raw-foods show.

It would be easy to dismiss raw cookery as kookery, and many do. But the rise of raw also reflects something about America's current mood. Extreme dietary regimens tend to crop up during times of crisis as a simple fix for society's ills. Amid the wave of social reforms in the 19th century, Sylvester Graham (of cracker fame) linked vegetarianism -- and home-baked bread in particular -- to spiritual salvation. A short time later, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, inventor of cornflakes, promoted a regimen of ''biologic living,'' which, in addition to some visionary ideas about diet and exercise, included five daily enemas and radium therapy. Read More