Liberal Club 2008 Canberra Trip

Tomorrow I will be heading off with a dozen members of the Liberal Club to Canberra where we will meet with a few MPs and listen to the Budget Reply Speech. We will be meeting the following MP’s:

1. Bronwyn Bishop
2. Alex Hawke

We will also meet the Senator, The Hon. Eric Abetz at a cocktail party. We will be meeting a few other people involved in Liberal think tanks such as Menzies Research Centre, Philosophical Underpinnings of the Centre Right and International Developments and the Centre Right. I also intend to ask MP Bishop this question:

“In 2005 you spoke about banning head scarves in public schools where headscarves are not part of the school uniform. You spoke to Radio National, specifically Terry Lane about women enjoying freedom in Australia as opposed to living under Sharia law. If that is the case, why are you against women who want to wear a headscarf (for religious reasons) at public schools?”

Hopefully I will be able to remember her answer to write it down for this blog. Plenty of pictures to follow!

Daily Kos Hits Earth’s Core, Digs

Sorry guys for the large break. I’ve had a lot of work to get through, but know the worst is over, yay! Israel has made it to her 60th birthday which is something to celebrate, even if there those who can’t appreciate it, here and here, hat tip to LGF.

My favourite of these links is the Daily Kos one, just read this and laugh.

It thus emerged as a major power and a formidable challenger of existing Arabic powers that will decide the fate of the world, coordinated assassination of President Kennedy which unnaturally led to the hasty re-evaluation of American foreign policy for adjustion that align with the interests of Israeli state for total compatibility in irreversibly entangled alliance.

A Time To Mourn And A Time To Remember

I’m sure you’ve all heard by now of the cyclone in Burma which devastated the country. What I find so appalling is that the ruling military Junta is not allowing any foreign aid into the country! The obvious reason of course is they don’t want the UN to come in with aid and then see the human rights violations that have been committed. I’ve just recently found out that approximately 80,000 people have been killed by this cyclone.

“The storm came into our village, and a giant wave washed in, dragging everything into the sea,” said one man in his 20s, who had trekked in from Kanyinkone village. “Houses collapsed, buildings collapsed, and people were swept away. I only survived by hanging on to a big tree. “Only about 20 per cent of the people survived in our village. I am the only one who survived in my family. My wife and my two children died in the storm.”

The Labutta district was hard hit when Nargis and its huge storm surge slammed ashore on Saturday, devastating the low-lying Irrawaddy delta. “The waves were so strong, they ripped off all my clothes. I was left naked hanging in a tree,” said one teenage survivor. Based on stories from people emerging from the countryside, only about 20 per cent of people in the area survived, Labutta residents said.

Absolutely disgusting. As for remembering, its Israel’s birthday in a few days, yay! Israel has been celebrating its dependence in a very IDF way, with Paratroopers from around the world jumping in Israel. Also, here is a very interesting and special story from a man who served in the 2nd Lebanon War. Some of the things he and his men had to cope with are just incredible. Its interesting because the person being interviewed, Dr. Yehuda David, believes that Israel could have won the war if given 3 more days.

Iron Man

Just saw Iron Man yesterday and it was fricken awesome. The acting was great and all the actors worked well with each other. Its pretty much an action film with comedic moments. And no, it doesn’t ruin the trailer. Go see it for yourself right now!

On Various Things…

I’m going to be talking and linking about a few things here, but first how’s this for an eye-catching title? “Lesbians Pick Fight With Gay Women”. This is not joke, its an article about a court case in which the residents from the island of Lesbos are suing gay women!

Next, I’m sure everyone has heard about what happened to those poor children in Austria (locked in a cellar for their whole life). The most interesting thing (and very disturbing) to emerge from this is the fact that the kids thought they were in heaven when they emerged into the sunlight. As well as this, these kids speak in their own private ‘language’ to each other. Words can’t really describe just how, excuse my french, f**ked up that is. Their development is going to be damaged for life, besides being born from incest, I doubt these kids will ever have a normal life. I feel so sorry for them.

Now here is another strange situation that just happened on our metaphorical doorstep (for Australia that is). ‘Timor troops party with rebels’, yep you read right, these people, who many would consider terrorists are being treated like a ‘commander in chief.’

Opposition Fretilin MPs said the party was “bizarre” and sent the wrong message to the people of East Timor.

You think?

“It’s quite immature and also looks bizarre that some, who you call as a rebel who has also been accused of conducting an attack against state, is welcomed like a big head or commander in chief - it is not the right message,” said Arsenio Bano, a Fretilin MP and member of the parliamentary defence and security committee. “Anyone in this country will think now that if you need to get attention from the President or important men, you just need to make trouble - a lot of trouble will allow them to talk to you and negotiate with you.”

Today Israel and Jews all across the world have celebrated Holocaust Day. I have a couple of friends in Poland at the moment who are marking this day while being in Auschwitz on a program called March of the Living. I myself attended this program 2 years ago and I definitely recommend it. The Palestinians however are remembering this day in a different manner (link above).

Meanwhile, Hamas television marked the 63rd anniversary of the Holocaust by suggesting it was orchestrated by Jews to wipe out the disabled among them in preparation for the creation of the state of Israel.

According to the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Media Watch, the head of the Palestinian Centre for Strategic Research, Amin Dabur, said: “The Israeli Holocaust - the whole thing was a joke, and part of the perfect show that (Zionist leader and future Israeli prime minister) Ben Gurion put on”.

The “young energetic and able” were sent to Israel, while the handicapped were sent “so there would be a Holocaust”.

How disgusting is that?

A two-minute siren sounded across Israel at 10am yesterday in memory of the estimated six million Jews who died in the Nazi death camps. People stopped were they were and cars came to a standstill.

Advice for the Lovelorn

A very funny (or is it just the usual standard?) post from Iowahawk here. Enjoy!

Hat tip to LGF.

An Anatomy of Surrender

Firstly, I had a really great Pesach Seder, lots of people. I got a present from my aunt, a book called Tobruk by Peter Fitzsimons which I will start reading as soon as I get the chance. In the meantime, here’s a nice piece from Bruce Bawer detailing how the West has surrended culturally to Islamism. The paper talks about how the West’s media, acedemia and artists have betrayed their ideals (namely freedom of speech) to kowtow to Islamism. The byline of this article is Motivated by fear and multiculturalism, too many Westerners are acquiescing to creeping sharia. Hat tip to LGF for this one. Here’s the link to the article.

Enough. We need to recognize that the cultural jihadists hate our freedoms because those freedoms defy sharia, which they’re determined to impose on us. So far, they have been far less successful at rolling back freedom of speech and other liberties in the U.S. than in Europe, thanks in no small part to the First Amendment. Yet America is proving increasingly susceptible to their pressures.

The key question for Westerners is: Do we love our freedoms as much as they hate them? Many free people, alas, have become so accustomed to freedom, and to the comfortable position of not having to stand up for it, that they’re incapable of defending it when it’s imperiled—or even, in many cases, of recognizing that it is imperiled. As for Muslims living in the West, surveys suggest that many of them, though not actively involved in jihad, are prepared to look on passively—and some, approvingly—while their coreligionists drag the Western world into the House of Submission.

But we certainly can’t expect them to take a stand for liberty if we don’t stand up for it ourselves.

Actually after reading this, I sometimes wonder if in Australia we should have a Bill of Rights as well in order to further cement our ideals and values to stop Islamists or some other group trying to censor what we say. If anyone here has an opinion on this feel welcome to share it in the comments section.

Israel ‘Ready To Return Golan’

Great, why Olmert just why? Why would you give up a strategic peace of land for peace? Lets look at the situation realistically. Syria is no threat to Israel, hell if Syria even twitches we can move in and do what the fuck we want. As an example just think back to September 2007. I know I sound like a war monger dissing peace and all, but it makes no sense to give Syria the high ground (literally) and making them promise not to supply Hezbollah, etc. We know they are going to keep on doing it, We know that the Syrian public will PROBABLY never really accept Israel so why should we bother? Read the full story from the BBC here.

On second thoughts, the giving up of the Golan will probably not help Olmert’s popularity at home. So, go for it Olmert and see how long you last.

Happy Pesach and Chag Sameach!

Just wishing everybody a happy Pesach and Chag Sameach! I am definitely looking forward to this Pesach as my mother will be making her trademark (and best) chocolate Matza’s as well as this, the Seder which I will be going to will have around 40 people! Before I leave, here’s the link for Michael Totten’s new post about the tribes in Iraq and how the Marines are trying to use them to contain a sustainable democracy.

Captain Quintin Jones and Mayor Abu Abdullah

Also I leave you with another link to an article written by Margot Dudkevitch from Infolive.tv about the amount of weapons that are being smuggled into the Gaza Strip through the most interesting ways.

In recent months,  Iran has increased its efforts to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip via the sea and also tunnels between Egypt and Gaza, sending the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror groups there not only weapons and rifles but advanced Iranian made rockets and mortar shells.

…

A report in the Jerusalem Post says that many of the weapons are too big to smuggle through the tunnels built underneath the Philadelphi Corridor linking Egypt and the Gaza Strip, and therefore resort to dropping them off the waters in Gaza in waterproof sealed tubes.

Is Gaza Israel’s New Lebanon?

No. I’m not talking about the current situation between Lebanon and Israel. I am talking about Lebanon pre-2000. When Hezbollah was easily Israel’s most dangerous foe at the time, as explored in the novel, Beaufort by Ron Leshem.

Infolive.tv has given a wonderful overview of the situation which you can view here.

Despite the fact that senior government officials have stated a number of times that it is only a matter of time before a large scale military operation will be launched in the Gaza Strip, Israel appears reluctant and instead opts to launch frequent limited incursions on the ground and rely on air force strikes, rather then a major ground offensive.

I’m pretty sure the reason why this is so is Shalit. The Knesset does’t want to endanger his life and lose whatever credibility it has left. However, leaving the problem to fester as Olmert is just plain wrong, the reasons of which I explored in this post.

In conversations with Israeli defense officials in recent months, there were those who supported continuing with the current IDF strategy, relying on small but frequent ground incursions and air strikes to do the job and eventually reap results. There were other officials who declared that after almost eight years of intifada, constant rocket attacks on Israeli communities in the South, it was time to act, and harshly. Time to make the terrorists pay. The method ? To issue warnings to residents in Gaza informing them that they have until the following day to leave their homes., and then bomb the neighborhoods and flatten them. Only then the officials said, will the Palestinians realize that Israel means business and if the terror continues there will be heavy and harsh price to pay.

I’ve always believed in destroying every part of Hamas. There can be simply no negotiation with them. All they seem to understand is force. Their version of a cease-fire with Israel is that of a Hudna, or a temporary cease-fire in which they can rearm and regroup. Right now, Hamas doesn’t give a damn about what might happen if they capture an Israeli solider because there will be no real consequence. Sure they may lose a few men, but who cares when they can ransom off their hostages for dozens of Palestinian prisoners in Isreal. This is just one of the reasons why I believe that Israel needs to act now in order to deter any future attacks.

As the violence in the South threatens to mar the Pessah holiday once again, perhaps Israel’s government echelon owes it to its citizens to take more decisive and determined action, and take the necssary steps once and for all, to protect its citizens and halt the terror.

So very true.