The End of the Year, the Beginning of Another

The end of one year and the beginning of another is always a good time to read, or re-read, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Address: Solzhenitsyn's Harvard Address

Just a Short 'Un

Victor Davis Hanson has this to say about the current situation in the Middle East (formerly known as the Near East): Victor Davis Hanson on Middle East on National Review Online. Mr Davis is probably the most realistic and practical observer or the Middle East and of the military that can be accessed without paying a lot of jack.

And if you disagree with Hanson and the inhabitants of Bloody Nib Manor you are just wrong, Wrong and WRONG.

Watch Remains of the Day starring Anthony Hopkins and James Fox and you may see yourself. And remember that James Fox is an actor and is a Christian. He was playing a role. Are you?

In Favor of Cheap Instruments. Again.

Long time readers of the Bloody Nib are aware that we at the Manor are all in favor of doing certain things on the cheap. Why spend $300 on a Honda lawn mower (along with the price of gas used to power the thing) when a manual push mower and a healthy fifteen year old kid will do the same job, and probably better than the smog spouter? Anyone who tries to make his patch of grass look like a putting green has a problem. A lawn is meant to be used and torn up by kids, dogs, horse shoes or lawn darts.

But each person has their own concerns on this type of thing. Each man sees his plot of land in his own way and some are more concerned about appearance than usage. Usually these people are called celebrities or politicians: both classes of people who seem to think that they deserve your attention and disposable income.

But one thing that your faithful correspondent is adamant about is the value of cheap musical instruments for both youth and adults. Consider the fact that most of us who mess about with cheap musical instruments such as the harmonica, ukulele, penny whistle, department store guitar or bodhran, never really master the instrument. So why invest more than a one hundred bucks for a Lyon guitar from Target (beware of the First Act guitar from Wal-Mart since it is so badly made as to be almost unplayable) or a dulcimer or a bodhran or a uke, or more than twenty bucks for a harmonica or penny whistle?

This came to mind the other day while talking to a co-worker at the dark Satanic mill. Said co-worker stated that his son, a lad of seventeen years, had told him that he wanted a drum set for Christmas. The kid had never owned any type of drum before; no snare, no marching drum, no kettle drum. The boy had "fooled around" with a neighbor kid's drum set and liked it. My co-worker, being a soft touch, went to the local music store and ended up spending over $600 for a drum set for the boy for Christmas. Yours truly would have suggested buying the lad a bodhran, a set of bongos or a conga drum and told him to work on one drum and become proficient at it before thinking of a drum set. Buying the kid a bodhran, a couple of Chieftains CDs and a couple of Mel Bay music books would have cost a lot less and been a lot more valuable than a drum set. If the boy wants to drum he'll drum on a coffee can and a Quaker Oats box. The cheap drums give the kid a chance to find out if drumming is what he thinks it is. As it is, he'll be starting out with a set that would have made Gene Krupa's mouth water. A bongo collecting dust in March is a lot easier to look at than a $600 drum set.

Sometimes cheap is good.

Finally, if you're thinking of drinking egg nog this season, please reconsider. A hot toddy is a much better deal.

Breaking the Silence Once Again

The Iraq Study Group released their findings this week and it was as expected -- a call for the United States to follow the example of Neville Chamberlain. The next thing you know a "blue ribbon" committee will be calling for us all to convert to Islam in the interest of world peace. Your faithful correspondent is not interested in placating the Islamic monster, not is he interested in abandoning Our Lord Jesus Christ in favor of following the teachings of an epileptic desert merchant with a taste for blood.

Baron Bodissey at The Gates of Vienna sounds the right note regarding the resistance to the prayer rug crowd: Gates of Vienna: WeÂ’re on Our Own

And Robert Fitzgerald at Jihad Watch reaffirms the need for not caving in: Jihad Watch: Fitzgerald: No opting-out

This week has seen accusations that the Associated Press has relied on "sources" for stories who have either been not who they claim they are, or non-existent. I'll not go into the controversy, but instead offer this link that graphically illustrates the trustworthiness of the established press organs: YouTube - All Your Fakes Are Belong to Us

Remember when you read a story about Iraq in your local newspaper that the person under whose by-line the story appears has probably not been an eyewitness to the story and has probably spent most of his or her time in Iraq in the Green Zone. That person has relied on Iraqi stringers to bring information. This is like an American war correspondent during World War Two using German stringers during the Battle of the Bulge to detail American progress.

Bustin' the silence again

The Great American Novel is delayed because of current events.

The next time you hear a politician, commentator, CAIR lackey. liberal theologian or useful idiot talk about Islam being the religion of peace, consider the following: Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims - washingtonpost.com and Compass Direct News : BANGLADESH - ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS FACE DEATH FOR KILLING C We in the West are supposed to be the world's Gumbys by letting every kooky religion on the face of the earth (and according to some, other planets) proselytize here and corrupt our youth and insane, while the Islamic monster is unable to bear the telling of the Truth in the Arabic homeland.

UPDATE!

This has just crossed the threshold at Bloody Nib Manor: Protestant missionaries face nine years for insult to Islam - World - Times On

Here's a thought. If you are a Christian or Jew you might want to consider praying loudly and visibly in the boarding area before your next flight, especially if there are any identifiable Muslims on the flight. The worst thing that could happen is that you'll get thrown off the plane. Then you can sue the airline and make some easy jack. The best place to try this is AirSaudia the national airline of our eternal friends. Good luck!

Another Break in the Silence

Some nations pride themselves on being "neutral" during times of war. Switzerland immediately comes to mind. The Swiss often break their arms patting themselves on the back about their "neutrality" during the two world wars. Of course, they never mention that the nation was making money hand over fist from the wars. Your faithful correspondent once worked with a German who, as a lad, lived near the Swiss border during World War II. He claimed that he used to stand on a hillside and watch Swiss manufactured Panzer tanks being transported into Germany during the war. And, of course, we all know that the Swiss banks had no trouble in confiscating the accounts of Jews who had been caught up by the Nazis and thrown into concentration camps. Why not? The proper owners of the money were ashes. There's no point in looking for survivors if one can get away with taking money that's just lying around.

Portugal and Spain played neutral during the Second World War while allowing German U-Boats to dock and re-supply on the sly while denying the Allies the same courtesy.

Well, a Swedish writer has written a book about Swedish neutrality during the Big War and it's not flattering to the Swedish government and royal family. The details of the book are here: Gates of Vienna: Swedish Service to the Reich .

This may all seem ancient history to some readers, but the point is that neutrality is often not neutrality. It is quiet submission to the bigger boot. Not to make a decision is to make a decision and it's usually a bad decision. The refusal to take a side may result in one's avoiding a fight, but it kills the soul. There is a right and there is a wrong. Or, more properly, there is a mostly right and a mostly wrong. The neutral decision is a selfish decision with the expectation that once the walls stop falling one will be ready will trowel and mortar to repair what one has helped destroy by selling the wrecking ball, both figuratively and literally, to the wrecker.

Much of Europe, and many "opinion makers" in the US strive toward neutrality in the war against the Islamic monster while refusing to admit, or not realizing that their silence regarding the assault on the West is aiding the assault on the West.

Our Lord Jesus Christ said that those who are not with us are against us.

Those who are not for the West and Christianity (either religiously or culturally) are aiding the Muslim juggernaut. It would be much better for the West if these "neutrals" to throw themselves under the wheels of the juggernaut and leave the rest of us to disable it without their interference. In other words. Lead, follow or get out of the way. And don't expect bystanders to be rewarded by either side.

A Break in the Silence

Your faithful correspondent is breaking his silence from this blog and taking time from his other project in order to let you, the wise reader in on this piece from Patterico: Patterico’s Pontifications » Is the L.A. Times Repeating Enemy Propaganda...

If you have the misfortune of having the Los Angeles Times as your local newspaper, remember this piece as you read any article from the pile on Spring Street. And to think that at one time war correspondents went to the war instead of having it delivered to them by stringers. It would not surprise yours' to find that the Times' reporters depend on stringers to get their stories that oringinate east of the L.A. River while they (the reporters) sit and sip double lattes at Peet's in Westwood.

May Be Down For a Week or Two

Your faithful correspondent regrets to inform his readers that the Bloody Nib may not be posting for a week or two.

For those who may be concerned, please know that this situation is not due to to any health problems on the part of your faithful correspondent. It is due to the lack of yours' attention to his other blog --Mr. Barnett.

The ever lovely and ever wise Lady Nib has lately been demanding that the story be continued, and so, in the interest of domestic peace and a good cup of tea, the next couple of week's labor on the part of yours, will be expended on honest fiction instead of the foul fiction of the media.

Life Proves the Bloody Nib Wrong

As regular readers of this space may recall, last week there was an opinion piece about the Army Times calling for the resignation Donald Rumsfeld. In light of the resignation of Mr. Rumsfeld, your faithful correspondent is still of the opinion that he should have not resigned. But, due to the poor performance by the Republican Party in last week's elections, the President decided he had the need to make a sacrifice to the Democrats. It's Mr. Bush's prerogative to throw overboard who he wants, but he shouldn't be surprised if he finds out that he has inserted the thin end of the wedge separating him from his political policy. But you know how it is; politics always trumps principle.

Melanie Phillips has an interesting view of the elections from her home in Great Britain -- Melanie Phillips’s Diary » America falters

The Church of England is finding itself hoisted on its own petard -- BREITBART.COM - Church posts anger at Britain's Christ-free Christmas stamps After years of Anglican clerics leading Druid ceremonies, participating in deep ecumenical conferences where priests, rabbis, yogis, gurus, roshis and the occasional renegade mullah stand around and compliment each other as being one more road to God and that no one has the Truth, the C of E is surprised that the British postal system has decided to take Canterbury at its word.

And finally, if you're a Christian and you think that the world is looking pretty bleak, read this --- Banner of Truth Trust General Articles

Sunday Round Up

The French, who have for many years, held themselves to be the conscience of the world with their mix of French existentialism and such organizations such as Doctors Without Borders, Reporters Without Borders et all, have been shown to be a nation governed by a government more concerned with expediency rather than conscience as regards the genocide in Rwanda: Independent Online Edition > Africa As an aside, have you ever noticed that whenever the French decide to send troops into dangerous places they only send the Foreign Legion, which is made up of non-French soldiers, i.e mercenaries, instead of the French Army or Marines?

During the Vietnam War it was not uncommon to see, on television, a Buddhist monk in Vietnam emolating himself in protest against the war. I somehow think that this will get little coverage on Al-Jazeera: Priest burns himself to death over Islam - World - Times Online

It seems that push may have finally come to shove in Great Britain: Bishop attacks 'victim' Muslims - Sunday Times - Times Online The bishop in question, Michael Nazir-Ali was at one time considered a candidate for the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. Nazir-Ali knows, from personal experience, the evil of Islam. But, unfortunately a Dhimmi was elected to the post. And other Protestants in Great Britain are beginning to wonder if they have been sold out by the government: Telegraph News Christians ask if force is needed to protect their religiou .

And finally a Baptist in the US is speaking up: United Press International - Security & Terrorism - Baptist says Msulims want .

All we have to wait for is for CAIR to start screaming that their feelings have been hurt. The proper answer is, "Who cares?"

The Army Times

Apparently the Army Times is about to publish an editorial calling for the Secretary of War (the modern world calls the position the Secretary of Defense) Donald Rumsfeld (or perhaps it's Rumsfield -- if it isn't an English name your faithful correspondent is lost) to resign his post. ... The Army Times is published by the Gannet chain of newspapers. These are the same people who publish that great organ of intellectual analysis and journalism known as USA Today. The only thing about the Army Times is the word "Army."

The Army Times is not Stars and Stripes. It is not Leatherneck Magazine. The Army Times is edited and written by people not in the Army, less soldiers in Iraq.

Your faithful correspondent is of the opinion that Mr. Rumsfeld's (or is it Rumfield's?) biggest mistake in his strategy in Iraq is that he was not, and had not, been harsh enough with the Iraqis. The only reason that the Germans and the Japanese succumbed to Allied warfare during World War Two is because the populace of those nations had been bombed into submission. They were just too damn tired to fight anymore. The Iraqis have been, in reality, treated with kid gloves because the various media are now capable of instantly showing what a rotten thing war is. But sometimes rotten things advance the growth of things that are good. Just look in your garden and the way that you plants and lawn thrive on composted cow manure or plant compost.

But Mr. Rumsfeld has access to men who are more educated in the ways of warfare than your faithful correspondent and probably the Army Times. .. As an aside, your faithful correspondent was a Zumwalt sailor when the rights and feelings of the individual swabjockey were deemed more important than the needs of the Navy as a whole. And it was probably the worse Navy this great nation has ever seen.

What's the Gag With TR?

Recently your faithful correspondent has heard, more than once and from more than one yakker, the question, "What the hell was so great about Theodore Roosevelt? He was over rated." ... The question just shows the ignorance of history and the idiocy of the average talk show host, whether liberal or conservative: Republican or Democrat.

TR was a man who stood for the people of the nation without being a socialist or communist. He was a man who cared more about the populace than the the business interests. TR was a man who was willing to put his life on the line for a cause he believed in -- the Spanish-American War -- instead of sitting in Washington D.C. and urging on the troops. TR raised a group of volunteers and led said volunteers against the Spanish. He didn't just stand in Washington urging others to spill their blood. ... TR, once he became President, was a Trust Buster (meaning he was against monopolies) and started the Food and Drug Administration to prevent Big Meat from selling the populace the meat from sick and cancerous cattle and pork, and Big Pharma from selling us nostrums made of nothing more than molasses and sulfer as cures for anything from the flu to cancer. TR negotiated the end of the Russo-Japanese War and won the Noble Peace Prize for his efforts. TR cared about the nation, even to the point of losing one son during World War One while other pols protected their sons in colleges or government jobs. ... TR saw in the United States something more than an economic entity. He saw a nation or free men and women striving to build something greater than a nation.

The modern politician seems to see his/her service as an elected official as a means to get a pretty good retirement and/or a way to get a road/bridge/freeway named after themselves.

If George Bush, who yours faithful correspondent grudgingly supports, had been half the man of TR in character, Mr. Bush's daughters would have at least joined the Navy as WAVES or the Air Force as WAFS during the "War on Terror." Instead the silly girls moo about teaching underprivileged children in the US.

Here's the deal on the modern radio yakkers' take on TR. Most modern radio talk show hosts see the United States as an economic entity instead of a nation. It's the old gag about what is good for business is good for the US. TR, on the other hand, realized that Big Business was only concerned about Big Business, not what is good for the Grand Republic TR was concerned about, whether rich or poor, the most important thing about the nation were the freedoms that the national government guaranteed, through the Constitution, to the populace.

Finally, consider this. When TR died there were established throughout the Untied States, many Theodore Roosevelt Clubs with many members. The clubs were established by people who knew and appreciated the legacy of TR. And that was the last time that clubs were established under the names of ex-presidents except for the Bill Clinton Blow-Job club. Which should tell the reader something.

Bullets? Women and children first!

In the late 19th century during either the Boer War or the Zulu Wars, a troop ship from Great Britain (back in the days when it was "great" and not wimpy) approached the coast of South Africa. During the approach the ship the HMS Birkenhead either ran aground or hit a reef. As was not unusual for the time, the Birkenhead carried not only soldiers, but also the wives and children of officers and non-commissioned officers. When the Birkenhead began to sink the officers on the ship, both army and navy, ordered the soldiers and sailors to assemble in formation on the tilting decks while the women and children were loaded into what few lifeboats were available. One officer, whose name has been, unfortunately, forgotten, let it be known to the assembled military men that women and children were to be saved first. The first recorded cry of "women and children first" was from the decks of the Birkenhead. And that cry, during times of sinking ships, fires and disasters, has been the norm in the English speaking world. Any man who took the place of a woman or child in a lifeboat or exit was considered a scoundrel whose life was worthless and a rat of the lowest sort. The same cry was shouted during the sinking of the Titanic and those men who escaped the disaster by dressing as women were considered less than human men.

The modern age has, in the West, denigrated the idea of "women and children first" as a left over from the age of chivalry, which, as we all know, according to feminists, was an age when women were held in lower esteem than men. For some reason, feminist think that selfishness on the part of men for their own lives instead of their wives and children is some sort expression of male dominance over women. But feminists were, are, and will be mad (meaning crazy) until they are facing danger, then they will insist that they get to the lifeboat first because their wombs are the "future" of the race despite the fact that not a few of them are stone lesbians with no intention of using their wombs for nothing other than some sort of strange sex acts in gay bars.

But be that as it may, this from the Middle East shows the difference between the West and the Islamic monster: Hamas Urges Women, Children to Shield Gunmen in Mosque -- 11/03/2006.

Ain't Islam and the Arab world great?

A New Link

A new link has been added to the Bloody Nib Blog Roll: The Desire to Conserve . This blog is written by a Finn (from Finland, of all places!) and the blogger has good points to make. He also has the talent to add interesting pictures to his posts. Check it out and go, "Umm."

Meanwhile, the right to spread one's religious beliefs continues to go only one way -- NEPA News - Pa. man charged with distributing anti-Islamic pamphlet in Kenya. At first blush one reading the headline would think that the missionaries were taking the Koran and stomping on it and calling Mohammed the rat that he was. But keep in mind that the very act of promoting one religion is to denigrate other religions. Kenyan Muslims throw rocks and pout and jump around like teenage girls having been called skanks, while at the same time their Koran claims that Jesus Christ, while being a "prophet" was a liar and a cheat ( the Koran claims that it was Judas who was crucified and that Jesus ducked out the back door when no one was looking). In other words, the Sons of Allah can call Christianity a lie and a fraud, but Christians can't call Islam a load of nonsense.

Men in Hats

In the upper right hand corner we have a photo of Lord Jim of Eagle Rock. As you can see, Lord Jim is wearing a contempory version of the Fedora hat. In the US the Fedora is usually associated with hard-boiled private detectives and Mafia wise guys. Your faithful correspondent can attest to the fact that Lord Jim is neither of those. He was, before his retirement, yours' boss, and was, and is, one of the greatest guys in the world. He is yours' best friend, but, of course, this may be due to the fact that aristocrats in a democracy always find and appreciate one another. Unfortunately Lord Jim did not wear this hat at work in the Satanic Mill, and left it to yours' to wear Stetson's version of a large brimmed Fedora and be called "Cowboy" by the Mexican employees. But Mexicans consider any hat other than a chapparel or a baseball cap a cowboy hat.

Anyway, here's to Lord Jim for donning the lid while at the computer. It reminds one of a hairier version of Walter Winchell.

Finding a Dead Rat in the Cobb Salad

To quote the old comic strip character Snuffy Smith, "Times shore doo change."

When you faithful correspondent was a laddie there were two radio stations that were not broadcast in the United States. One was Radio Free Europe. RFE was broadcast into Eastern Europe and the USSR as a voice of American freedom into European nations under Communist control. The other was the Voice of America. VOA was, to the best of yours' memory, broadcast world wide. It was, in a sense, the Yank version of the BBC without the posh accents and radio dramas.

Those days are long gone. Those were the days when the Republic had confidence in itself and it was assume that the American way of life was pretty darn good. Nowadays the elites of the nation have lost their confidence in the nation and claim that some Hottentot pounding on a hollow long with a stick is equal to a Samuel Barber piece and that female circumcision is not much more than an ear piercing. In other words, RFE and VOA were defunded and disestablished years ago and the world has to depend on reruns of Seinfeld and Gilligan's Island, and movie releases of The Short Bus and Magnolia to see what the good ol' USA is all about.

Meanwhile France, Germany, Great Britain, China, et al have shortwave radio broadcasts giving their particular nations' point of view on the news. They also have website. As does the Islamic Monster. And here's the point. The US has been doing a damn bad job of stating its position to our Islamic "brothers." -- U.S. seen balking at challenge by Islamist Web - Yahoo! News There are a jillion damn blogs in the US and the government can't even work up the energy to counter the propaganda from the Sons of Allah on the Internet. But we mustn't be judgmental, the guy said before his head was lopped off.

Once upon a time there was actually a mayor of Dublin, Ireland who was Jewish. The old joke was that during a Saint Patrick's Day Parade in New York in which the mayor was grand marshall a Jewish woman was told that the mayor of Dublin was a Jew. With tears in her eyes she answered, "Only in America." Well kids, those days are long gone -- Ireland: Pro-Palestinian protesters attack Israeli ambassador - News from Isra .

Our neighbor to the North -- Canada -- has done yeoman's work in Afghanistan. In fact, the longest recorded successful sniper shot was done by a Canadian sniper in Afghanistan. It was close to a mile shot. But Canada, as a society, seems to have, at least among the elites, seems to have taken the Chamberlain route regarding militant Mohammedans. There's a reason that militant Islamist move to Canada instead of, say, Mexico or Japan. But some Muslims just want the whole damn pie -- Al-Qaeda warns Canada. While reading the article note the complaint about Canada's "fanatic adherence to Christianity." Two points here. The first is that Canada is not a particularly Christian nation in its active faith. What Christianity that is there is from habit, not belief. Secondly, what does Al-Qaeda expect Canadians to be? Animists? Mohammedans? Sikhs? Do these idiots think that Canada is part of Andalusia?

This type of stuff is enough to make one want to drink gin straight from the bottle.

Watching the World Go to Hell. From Ringside

To be absolutely honest, there are times when your faithful correspondent wishes that his entries were concerned with things like, oh, I don't know, pandas riding unicycles or the niceties of Korean karaoke as performed by Korean teenagers - YouTube - Crazy Korean Girls.

But life gets in the way and one finds oneself trying to make sense of a world that seems to have become populated by tweekers , i.e. meth addicts, enablers, excusers or the clueless.

Yours' suffers for your benefit.

So let's start on an up note and descend to the basement.

Orianna Fallaci bequeathed her library to the Vatican Library - Atheist gifts pontifical school in will - Yahoo! News. As those in the know are aware, Signora Fallaci was an atheist, but she had enough sense to know that the future of the West lies with Christianity, not with secularism, multiculturalism or the Islamic monster. Let us all be grateful that she did not will her library to an American university (where it would have remained hidden in deference to the Saudi donors of the intuition) or a mainline Protestant denomination (where it would have remained hidden in deference to the "feelings" of the Islamic monster). One wonders if Signora Fallaci, despite her self-professed atheism, is not at this moment interviewing St. Peter.

Melanie Phillips takes a look at the problem in Great Britain - Banner of Truth Trust General Articles . Even the upper level of the Church of England seems to have figured this out, though perhaps too late. Long gone are the days when a son of Allah would feel the need to convert to the True Faith, even if an insincere conversion, to progress into British culture and politics. One wonders if Benjamin Disraeli is not kicking himself for converting from Judaism to the C of E to enter politics. Meanwhile, the BBC seems to have been exposed as a base tool of multiculturalism - We are biased, admit the stars of BBC News the Daily Mail . Your faithful correspondent remembers when the BBC News was considered the most objective of news organizations. That was back in the days when the news readers all struggled to acquire the "BBC accent." But that was long ago. Now the news readers mumbled away in accents ranging from Cockney to Scouse to Jamaican to Arabic. How the mighty have fallen!

A little news from France. As an aside, one longs for the France from the days of Inspector Maigret when the French, while being arrogant French, were at least French. The police are apparently the canary in the mine in La Belle France - Here We Go Again The Brussels Journal . And while the cops are being beat up by "Islamic youth" a lot of people are losing their cars - Why 112 cars are burning every day - World - Times Online . But, never fear, Inspector Clouseau is on the case, about five years too late - Muslim airport workers lose clearances - Yahoo! News . Is it not a strange thing that Marie Antoinette was Austrian by birth, is held in disregard by the French, and yet they seem to have her blindness to what is happening around them.

Finally, on a local note. A group of actors and surfers gathered in Malibu to protest the building of an off-shore natural gas plant. The said protesters claimed that the plant would be dangerous, harmful to the ecology and just plain ugly. One wonders what they would have done if said plant was planned for San Bernardino County, Compton or Bakersfield. The silence could be deafening. But only the working class live in those areas. Your needs, as a working class person, matter less to the elite than does their view. Ain't it great?

A couple of three of things

Great Britain seems to be undergoing some sort of schizophrenic crisis.

First we have this: Christian BA employee to take legal action over suspension for wearing cross For those not in the know, BA stands for British Airlines. The woman in the story was not even wearing a crucifix. She was wearing a cross on a chain. But the wise men at BA thought that such a display of religious affiliation by a Christian might be offensive to... who? One wonders if the officials at BA might not think it a good idea to take down the crosses from all the churches in Great Britain to avoid offending ....who?

Of course, we all know who the "who" referred to by your faithful correspondent. But they shall remain nameless. Let's just say that if Great Britain continues on its present course the guild of church bell ringers will be abolished and screaming prayer callers in church steeples will take the place of the clarions.

But some Englishmen seem to understand that there is a difference between the fear of offending and the expectation of assimilation: The Standard - China's Business Newspaper. Be it known that the wearing of a veil across a Muslim woman's face is a nationally cultural norm. It is not a religious requirement for Muslim women. Muslim women in India, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Egypt have gone for years without veiling their faces. If the veiling of the face were a religious requirement your faithful correspondent might be more sympathetic to the woman in question. But once one immigrates to another nation it is only to be expected that one conform to the norms of that nation. Otherwise, why immigrate?

Several years ago there was a controversy in Central California dealing with a Sikh boy who wore a knife on his belt to school. The school thought the carrying of the knife was dangerous to other students because of the fear that the boy might go nutty and attack other students with his knife. The boy carried the knife because it is one of the requirements of the Sikh religion that all men carry either a knife or a sword. One reason for this requirement is due to the persecution the Sikhs suffered under the Mughals (Mohammedan) dynasty in India during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The school district finally decided that the boy could carry the knife if it was riveted to the scabbard. And the Sikh religious leaders in the area agreed, seeing that the knife was, in the US, a symbol more than a weapon. The Sikhs moderated to the larger American culture. But the sons of Allah do not seem to be willing to do so. It makes one wonder if followers of Islam immigrated to the West to become citizens of the West or to take over the West.

Finally, Fjordman, a resident of one of the Nordic countries, has a few suggestions for the West: Gates of Vienna: Recommendations for the West . Republicans should take note. Democrats are hopeless on this matter. Every matter dealing with the sons of Allah is a new Gates of Vienna, a new Battle of Lepanto. And where are our Charles Martel, Roland, John Sobieski, Andrea Doria, El Cid? They aren't beating the bushes for campaign money because real defenders of the West act even if their swords are spotted with rust.

Islamic Round Up

Let's take another look at the Sons of Allah:

THE MUSLIM QUESTION: Agenda of Islam - A War Between Civilizations Your faithful correspondent has often said that co-existence between Islam and the West is difficult, if not impossible. This article concurs with your faithful Solon.

Telegraph News Muslims are waging civil war against us, claims police union Les Flics seem to have become the canary in the mine.

Telegraph News Drive for multi-faith Britain deepens rifts, says Church The Church of England may have finally figured out that one reaps what one sows. Now they're complaining about the tares they've scattered over fair Albion.

Australia: GirlÂ’s conversion results in motherÂ’s death One has to love the logic of Muslim men. And for the religion tolerance.

Know who wants to dominate you. It isn't Focus on the Family or the Roman Catholic Church or the local Jewish/Hindu/Buddhist/Bahai/Mormon/Zorotastrian/Sikh temple.

A Personal Testimony

In the past your faithful correspondent has suggested that you, the reader, go to the following link: Brigitte Gabriel / American Congress For Truth

Please go to the link again and then scroll down until you reach the listing on the left side of the page that reads: Watch Brigitte Gabriel's Interview. Click on that entry and you will see an interview with Ms Gabriel in which she recounts her experiences with the Muslims while she lived in Lebanon. Then ask yourself why the media are so soft on the Sons of Allah.

A Couple of Interesting Items from Britain

Jack Straw set off a little rumble among the Muslims in Great Britain with his suggestion that Muslim women ditch the veil: BBC NEWS UK UK Politics 'Remove full veils' urges Straw Your faithful correspondent believes that what Mr. Straw was referring to was the burkha and other veils that cover the face of the wearer. And your faithful correspondent believes that Mr. Straw is correct in his assessment. The hajib or the chador don't cause problems. Roman Catholic nuns have worn attire similar to those for centuries, and no one kicked a bitch about it. It wasn't so long ago that conservative Protestant women made it a habit to cover their hair in public or lt least in church. But when women insist on walking around looking like Cousin It in full dress, a problem arises. It's like dealing with a person who insists on wearing sunglasses inside. No face. No person.

If a Catholic employer wants to hire only Catholic employees the world comes down on that guy. But, for some reason a Muslim doesn't want to carry a seeing eye dog in his cab there are people who will be cutting excuses for his action: 'Unclean' guide dog banned by Muslim cab driver the Daily Mail But consider the source. Any person who doesn't like dogs is an idiot. Ergo Muslims are idiots.

There is an old Red Indian legend that when God was splitting the world between man and animal the dog jumped across the gap to be with man. One wonders if the potential Muslim jumped across the gap to be with the snakes.

La Fallaci: An Appreciation

The Italian journalist and interviewer Oriana Fallaci died a couple of weeks ago.

For those not in the know La Fallaci was one of those rare journalists who was independent of any label. She was neither Left nor Right. She embarrassed Henry Kissinger and angered the Ayatollah Khomeni. During the riots at the University of Mexico, while reporting, she was shot several times by the Mexican police.

Since September 11, 2001 she focused in on Islam and the effects of Islam in the West. Her book, The Rage and the Pride, earned her lawsuits from various Islamic organizations and individuals in Europe. The nation of Switzerland tried to have her extradited from Italy to face criminal charges for what they considered "hate speech." In a rare example of grit the Italian government told the Swiss to go blow their alpenhorns and leave the woman alone.

La Fallaci, who participated in the resistance against the Fascist government of Italy during World War II, was one of the all too rare European intellectuals who loved the United States. She kept an apartment in New York City, as well as a domicile in Italy.

As far as your faithful correspondent knows, her last book to be translated into English (translated by herself so it sometimes reads odd) was The Force of Reason. The book is a long tirade against Islam and the Islamification of Europe. One could even say it is one long scream of rage by a woman who sees her homeland ruined by the Son of Allah. It is sharp. It is hard. It is sometimes cruel. But it all makes sense for those who know that the civilization of Europe is superior than that of the desert kingdoms and that Christianity, even for those who are not Christians, is a better religion for freedom and reason loving societies than is Islam. ... La Fallaci was one of those rare people who were able to admit that she hated with an exquisite hate. She hated Islam and everything it stood for. And despite her self admitted atheism she loved what Christianity, culturally, stood for and the values that it brought to the Western world.

What follows are quotations from The Force of Reason that may excite some thought:

"What I say is that today's Islamic invasion of Europe is nothing else than a revival of its century-old expansionism, of its centuries-old imperialism, of its centuries-old colonialism. More underhand, though. More treacherous. Because this time it is characterized not only by the current Kara Mustafas and Lala Mustafas and Ali Pashas and Ahmet Pashas and Suleymans the Magnificent, that is by Bin Ladens and the Al Zarkawis and the various Arafats and the butchers who blow themselves up with the skyscrapers and buses. It is characterized also by the immigrants who settle in our countries, our homelands. And without any respect for our laws impose on us their own laws. Their own customs, their God."

"Last summer in Florence don Roberto Tassi, parish priest of Santa Maria de' Ricci (the little church where in 1274 Dante Alighieri first saw his beloved Beatrice), put up two moving posters. The first, in front of the main altar. A poster which simply said: 'Hail our Cross, out only hope! Those bearded zealots want to destroy all of us!' The second, in the churchyard along with an image of the disintegrated Twin Towers. A poster which offered a perfect syllogism: 'Islam is theocracy. Theocracy denies democracy. Ergo, Islam is against democracy.'"

(Quoting the economist Hayek) "It is not only the principles of Adam Smith and Hume and Locke and Milton which are being abandoned. It is also the bedrock of civilization developed by the Greeks and the Romans and Christianity. Meaning the western civilization. What is being relinquished is not only the liberalism of the 18th and 19th centuries, that is the liberalism which completed that civilization."

"In my lecture 'Wake up, West, wake up' I said that the West has lost its passion. That we must regain our passion, the force of passion. And God knows if this is true. Living takes passion. Refusing to submit, to comply, to surrender, means living with passion. But Europe does not refuse at all to submit. to comply, to surrender. On the contrary, it cowardly waves a white flag of servitude and resignation which is suicide itself..."

And here is a longer speech by La Fallaci herslef made in 2003: FrontPage magazine.com :: A Sermon for the West by Oriana Fallaci

She will be missed more than she ever knew.

Links Galore

Well, it official and you can take it to the bank. That great sage of our age, Rosie O'Donnell, has pronounced Fundamentalist Christianity as dangerous to the West, if not more so, as the Islamic Monster. That must be why there has been an epidemic of bombings of mosques, synagogues, temples and television stations done by Primitive Baptists, Pentecostals and Latin Mass Catholics. Wait a minute. None of that stuff happened. The worse we here at Bloody Nib Manor were calls for boycotts against the purported singer named Madonna.

The ever lovely Lady Nib, the Marquis of Nib, the Princess of the Antipodes and your faithful correspondent saw Mr. O'Donnell some 20 years ago at a comedy club. She was not well known and she was funny. Now she's famous, angry and isn't funny. But she's a sage and an opinion maker. Who can argue with those particulars.

Yours has been wondering about the double standard that the media uses in describing Mohammedanism versus Christianity and Western Values. Islam, among the hand wringing class, is excused the most egregious behaviour. A Christian or Westerner mildly insults Mohammad or his sham religion and the chattering classes (the professorial crowd, the liberal opinion makers, the liberal churchmen) wring their hands and tell us that we, in the West, are the monsters.

Yours is a Mozart fan.I've not heard all the operas, but I am somewhat familiar with most of them. The Berlin Opera decided to mount a production of Mozart's Idomeo. In this particular production, the closing act features a character offering the king the heads of Christ, Buddha and (gasp!) Mohammed. But the opera company decided not to mount the product because they thought it might offend, not Christians, not Buddhist, but the Sons of Allah: Dhimmi Watch: German opera house dumps Mozart opera depicting Mohammed . Be it known that Angela Merkel, the PM (or maybe it's President) of Germany, had the courage to say that the cancellation was an act of cowardice. But the arty are only brave when it comes to losing other people's money, not getting their heinies kicked by savages.

The Metropolitan Police in London, England have decided that it might be best to consult with the enemy before mounting a raid: Dhimmi Watch: UK: Police to brief Muslims before terror raids .

In the nation of Azerbaijan it is apparently illegal to name one's children after Biblical persons: Compass Direct News : AZERBAIJAN - OFFICIALS DEPRIVE CHRISTIAN BABY OF NAME . Actually, the French used to have laws concerning the naming of children. The names used to be required to be proper Western names -- no Bucks or Buffys allowed. But since the infestation of La Belle France such names as Mohammed, Rashid and Yassar are not only allowed, but are more popular than Jacques, Yves or Christian. But that's the French -- still recovering from the Terror.

And while it may seem that the Western World has succumbed completely to the Grendal of Mecca, there are a few Beowulfs taking the sword (or at least pen and voice) against that abortion that some call the "Religion of Peace (Pieces).

Considering the fact that Spain only managed to kick out Muslim rule from that nation in 1492 one would think that the Spanish would want nothing to do with the Islamics. But, after the bombing of the trains a couple of years ago the voters decided to cave-in to the threat of the barbarians like a shoebox under a steam roller. But the former Prime Minister has come out with this: Aznar:“Muslims should apologize for occupying Spain for 800 years”

And Down Under John Howard and his cabinet have been saying things that our own elected masters are afraid to say: Costello urges Muslim nations to separate church, state. 23/09/2006. ABC News : A French (French! Must be related to Joan of Arc somehow) teacher has written an editorial decrying the Islamification of France, and a German has written an article in the same vein: Michelle Malkin: The forbidden op-eds .

A blogger, with a Master's degree in anthropology who has spent time in the Middle East as well as Eastern Europe, has this to say about the difference between the Western and the Muslim mind: Rants and Raves: Observations on Arabs .

And while the media cry oveoverer the West's misunderstanding of the Muslims and their ways, they want to censor, for the good of the children, Judeo-Christian messages in children's cartoons: Hot Air » Blog Archive » Muzzling the Veggie Tales . Those Christians are so dangerous.

Once you've gone through the links you may want to study this one: Irish Stick Fighting, Faction Fighting, Celtic Martial Arts . Then you'll know how to whack a Mo(hammed).

Tomorrow: An appreciation of Oriana Fallaci with quotes.

On Second Thought

Several posts ago your faithful correspondent wondered why American Muslims had not joined in, great numbers, the US military after the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. After all, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 Japanese-Americans joined the US Army in enough numbers to constitute a division of enlisted men (the 442nd Division -- one of the highest decorated divisions in the US Army in the European theatre).

Now that yours has considered the question he has decided that the proper thing for the US military do is exclude Muslims from the military.

Recently it has come out that the commander of the Thai military, when questioned why the Thai military does not recruit Thai Muslims for either the enlisted and officer ranks stated, "We don't trust Muslims to put Thailand and our king before Islam."

If the Thais, who have had centuries of Muslim presence in their nation, have decided that Muslims are not to be trusted, why should we?


Never mind that there has been a coup, in favor of the king, in Thailand in the last week. The military supported their duly appointed king in favor of a waffling PM.

If the Thais, who have experienced centuries of Islamic presence, don't trust the Muslims, why should we?

Jump Under Your Desk!

Let's see how this works.

The Pope says something that the Islamic Monster doesn't like and the Mohammedans riot, jump up and down, burn the Pope in effigy and shoot and kill a 70 odd year old nun working in a hospital in Somalia and the US pres points it's finger at the West and says "Tsk, tsk. It's all your fault because you hurt the Muslims feelings. Christians and Catholics are nasty and evil."

Meanwhile, this comes down the tube: Next Attack Imminent: Muslims ordered to leave the United States . The American press doesn't even report it and if they ever do the result will probably be something like, "Tsk, tsk. It's all your fault all you Christians and Catholics." And then if the threat is realized the press will blame the government while crying for the head of every Muslim in the nation. Especially if the offices of the New York Times is hit.

Let's just hope that the Muslims in the US heed the warning. If nothing else, it'll drive down housing prices in the LA Basin.

Ain't modern life great?

Food for Thought

Read this and think about it the next time John Kerry, Rosie O'Donnell et al drool out their nonsense about the struggle against the Islamic Monster: OpinionJournal - From WSJ.com

An Idea that Will Go No Where

While reading a mystery novel entitled Some Danger Involved by Will Thomas your faithful correspondent came up with an idea that will probably go no where.

In the novel, in order to protest violent anti-Semitism in Victorian London, a group of Orthodox Jews march down Petticoat Lane. They march behind a banner featuring a depiction of the Golem (a magically created protector of Jews in one of the Eastern European ghettos) in rank and file. They carry blunt swords in the event of attack by anti-Semites and use them as clubs.

Considering the fact that the Islamic Monster is not loathe to take to the streets, would it not be right for those who are subjects of Islamic anger to march in defense of themselves?

Here's the idea. Since relations between even the most Orthodox Jews and Hasidic Jews and Christians (at least of the evangelical bent) have been good for the past fifty years, would it not be a good idea for these groups to get together to march against the Islamic Monster? ... Imagine a march being done in front of the King Faud Mosque in Glendale. But instead of the usual rag tag amnner of modern day marches the march being held in the military style in rank and file. The march would be lead by Orthodox and Hasdic Jews wearing blue ribbons or kippahs marching behind a banner depicting Father Abraham, Moses or King David. Following would be Evangelical Christians and Catholics wearing red shirts, red hats or even red kippahs signifying the Blood of Our Lord and marching behind banners depicting the Lamb of God. Behind them would be mainstream Christians and conservative and liberal Jews wearing either blue or red and marching behind a banner depicting the Magen David and Cross. And finally would be the secularists, enlightened Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists secularists and Wiccans, wearing red, white and blue ribbons or shirts marching behind the Great Seal of the United States. All would be in ranks and file as an army refusing to kowtow to the terrorism than is modern Islam.And instead of marching down a sidewalk, they would march down the middle of the street to show that they are willing to suffer the penalty for expressing their faith in the Western form of government and society.

No swords, no batons. Just feet and banners to show that the West in the United States will not bow before a fascists religious philosophy.

Why the King Faud Mosque, you may ask? Simply because the King Faud Mosque is supported by the Wahabist regime of Saudi Arabia. Wahabism is the Islamic form of Reformation Islam and has given rise to the most violent forms of that religion.

It is only when we, as a nation and as a group of non-Islamic religions, make the Islamic Monster understand that we will not put up with their aspirations toward Sharia Law, that we, as a nation and as a groups of religions, will be free from Islamism.

Weekend Round up

Oriana Fallaci died this past week. Her passing was not unexpected, but still saddening for those of us who love Western culture. She was a fierce and passionate writer and interview and she stepped on a lot of bunions during her career. During the past few years she was the target of thin-skinned Mohammedans who used the Western legal system in Europe to file lawsuits against her for hurting their feelings. She realized the threats to the West by the Islamic Monster.

Here's an article she wrote in July 2005: Oriana Fallaci --"The Enemy We Treat Like A Friend" (London bombings) .

And here's an appreciation by Mark Steyn:Topical Take .

Christopher Hitchens is, drunk, a clearer thinker and writer than the usual ink stained scribe in the employ of newspapers and periodicals. In fact, the man makes one want to include a fifth of Johnny Walker Red and Camel cigarettes in one's daily diet to plumb the depths of one's own thinking. But that would probably be a bad idea for most of us. Hitchens has an interesting take on the fifth anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center by the Islamic Monster: OpinionJournal - Featured Article Note that he, in effect, states that it's just damn silly to even consider building a "9/11 Memorial" until the war is won. Our own take is that to concentrate on the memorial at this time is to build a memorial to a state of victimology instead a memorial to what the West stands for and what it can do.

The Pope said something that angered the Muslims. He quoted a 14th Century Byzantine Emperor. Said Emperor stated, in effect, that Islam was cruel and inhuman. The reaction by the Islamic Monster was the bombings of churches in the Middle East, death threats and demonstrations. These people are apparently the most thin skinned people on the planet. Christians and Jews have been daily denigrated by Islamic and secular leaders and the results have been nothing more than the occasional boycott. Could it be that Christians and Jews are more comfortable in their own religions and skins than Muslims?

Capitalism versus Corporatism

Somewhere along the way to now the old fashioned American form of Capitalism has been pretty much swallowed up by Corporatism and the result is pretty damn rotten. The old Capitalism meant a man, a family or a company making a product or providing a service while making a fair profit, paying the employees, if any, a fair wage and giving the consumer a good value for the dollar. Corporatism, on the other hand, means the providing of a product or service paying the employees as little as possible (it's especially easy to do if the work is outsourced to China or Vietnam where wages are dirt low and the executives don't have to face the workers every day), providing goods and services of indifferent quality and making big profits for stockholders who consider their dividends a major source of income instead of a source of extra income.

When a company becomes a corporation the vision of the founder is often lost. A man may have wanted to start a company to build cars or airplanes or print books or ground coffee turns into a corporation whose first concern is to make money. And when the goal is to make money the managers become ruthless. The lives of the employees become abstractions.

A case is point is Harry Stonecipher, the former CEO of Boeing Aircraft. It was during Stonecipher's tenure at Boeing that Boeing acquired McDonnell-Douglas. The result of the acquisition was that thousands of workers were laid off (former Douglas employees) and Boeing decided to abandon the Douglas plants in California except the Long Beach C-17 plant. Stonecipher made the decision and did not have to stand in the shops and face the men and women who were losing their jobs. He sat in Seattle and saw the ruined lives as nothing more than numbers on a computer screen. Stonecipher also is responsible for the outsourcing of Boeing components to Japan, China, Italy, France and Germany. It was not because any of these countries could do the work any better than American workers, but Stonecipher saw them as cheaper labor.

And old fashioned American-style capitalist, when forced to make cuts, would at least have the decency to face the the men who lives he was ruining and would have mourned with them. There were exceptions of course -- coal, textile and steel barons were especially nasty men -- but for the most part the owner of the company not only knew how to run a company, but how to build the product. The owners were seen regularly on the shop floor. They may not have known all their employees personally, but they knew them corporately. They knew they employed people, not numbers.

The result has been the shrinking of the American manufacturing base and the slow transformation of the American economy from an engine of production to a service economy. Consider Wal-Mart. When Sam Walton was alive his vow was to sell as many American made products as possible at a competitive price. Since Sam Walton died his children have taken over and become corporatized. They don't even pretend to give American made products preference. Most of the stuff sold at Wal-Mart is made in China. In fact, Wal-Mart is the largest single importer of Chinese made goods in the US. The result is that many Americans in the manufacturing sector have been thrown out of work and have been forced to seek lower paying jobs as "associates" at Wal-Mart stores. The corporate mentality of one retail giant has ruined the lives of people who don't even work for it.

It stinks. But that's life.

But there are still companies that feel responsible for not only the consumer, but for the employee. A case in point is Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. Emil Bronner founded the company during the mid-twentieth century in Escondido, California. His purpose was to make soap specifically Castillian soap. By the time of his death Dr. Bronner had fifteen employees, a loyal following and has donated one thousand acres near Mount Palomar to the Boys and Girl Club of San Diego. Today the company makes 7 million dollars a year. It is operated by Dr. Bronner's grandson. Several corporations have offered to buy the company and have been rebuffed because it was not Dr. Bronner's vision to be part of a corporation. The family has maintained Dr. Bronner's philosophy, perhaps because of Dr. Bronner's writings, which he called The Moral ABC and which were printed on the inside of the soap wrapper. Dr. Bronner's writings were a little kooky, but they were from the mind of a man who cared more about people and the world than money.

Dr. Bronner had the best definition of what capitalism should be that we at Bloody Nib Manor have ever read: Constructive capitalism is where you share the profit with the workers and the earth from which you made it. ...Here's a link to the company web site: Dr Bronner's Magic Soaps Make sure to click on the Social Responsibilty tab to get more of the Bronner philosophy. And spend two bucks to get a copy of the Moral ABC. And buy the soap if you can. It's good stuff.

Charities often fall into a form of corporatism. Consider the Red Cross and the United Way. Top heavy and more money spent for administration than what hits the ground. We here at the Manor donate to the Salvation Army, which answers to a Higher Power than a board of directors. But there are many, many small organizations and even individuals, who make a big difference every day doing the work that many won't. An example is Gloria Kim, who runs the Zion Gospel Mission Church in Los Angeles. Miss Kim, despite having her car stolen, still ministers to the homeless every day with food and prayers. The LA Times did a short article about her: Carjacking Can't Make a Dent in Aid to Homeless - Los Angeles Times . If you have the time, say a prayer for her and those like her.

Men in Hats

To the right is a photo of Pope Benedict, or as we call him here at Bloody Nib Manor, Pope Benny. But we are rock ribbed Protestants. He is your faithful correspondent's favorite Pope since he is not as much a Barney the Dinosaur Pope (I love you, you love me, we are a happy family) as was JPII.

In the photo the Pope is wearing a hat called a "saturno." It is called a saturno because Italian think it looks like Saturn. But Italians think a lot of things that are odd.

Unfortunately the hat is red and it looks like something like an old lady in Palm Springs would wear to a car show. The best color is black, as been worn by many Anglican clerics while working as missionaries in tropical climes. But the Pope, for some reason, is required to wear a red hat. ... But the hat does look dapper and it shades his face from the sun. What more be asked?

Where's the Muslim 442nd?

Over at Gates of Vienna the Baron has an interesting post: Gates of Vienna: Why We Cannot Rely on Moderate Muslims While you read it think of the boilerplate pronouncements by the Council of American Islamic Relations or the American Muslim Public Relations Whatever. Those organizations always halfways denounce whatever Muslim originated atrocity happens, but they never offer support to the victims. The leaders want to sit in their leather couches in Orange County or Dearborn while watching reruns of Sex in the City or the editors cut of Deep Throat instead of really addressing the problem at hand.

During World War II there was the 442 Division in the US Army. The 442nd was made up of Japanese-Americans who enlisted in the Army after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The 442nd fought in Europe and was the most decorated unit during the war. American-Muslims, on the other hand, have done nothing but cut excuses for their co-religionists for bad behavior. There was no upsurge of enlistments in the military by Muslims after September 11.

Are they lazy? Unpatriotic? Hostile? You decide. But until there is a Muslim version of the 442nd guarding the borders of Korea, thus releasing others to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan I choose the latter. If they are not for us they are against us. And if they are not actively for the US they are carpetbaggers, which is just as bad.

How's That McMuffin?

Assume for a moment that something terrible has happened to you in the wee hours of the morning. Something like your house burning down or an earthquake destroying your house. A kindly neighbor take sympathy on you and offers to give you a big breakfast while you digest the disaster that you've just experienced. In fact, the neighbor offers you a "farmer's breakfast" i.e., three eggs, sausage, breakfast ham, buttermilk biscuits, red eye gravy, scalding hot coffee and a cinnamon roll. After dealing with the firemen and insurance agents you go to your neighbor's house and sit down at the kitchen table. Your neighbor, wet with the milk of human kindness, sets before you a paper bag. You open it and find ... an Egg McMuffin and a Styrofoam cup of lukewarm coffee.

While you are appreciative for the breakfast, you're disappointed that a farmer's breakfast has turned into corporate swill.

We here at Bloody Nib Manor are not among the 9/11 fetishists. In fact, we refuse to refer to the incident as "9/11." We refer it to it as the attack on the World Trade Center or September 11. But that being said, we remember that after the event the United States government, through its various governing and administrative bodies, promised the population of the United States that it would do everything within its power to prevent further acts of terrorism within the US and terrorism on US targets outside the US. In other words, we were promised a farmer's breakfast of security.

But something happened between the sound and the action. We don't know what it was. It may have been political correctness. It may have been lack of will. It may have been just plain old government ineptness. And that something has been the giving of an Eggs McMuffin instead of the farmer's breakfast.

This past week the Ayatollah Katami has been on a mosque to mosque speaking tour in the United States. Katami has been trying to play the Islamic version of Pope John Paul II during his tour, but that doesn't negate the fact that while he was numero uno in Iran he was hostile to the US and to any Jew anywhere. This coming week the Iranian President Ahmeniwhackjob will be visiting the United States to give one of his nutty speeches at the UN, over 5,000 Saudi men will be coming to the US to attend various universities and countless numbers of people will enter the US from the southern border.

This is tantamount to letting Goebbels make a speaking tour of the US, Hitler speak before the Organization of American States, 5,000 Italians attend American universities and allow countless numbers of Bulgarians to enter the US through whatever border, all in 1940.

Meanwhile, the government crows about code yellow and code red and code this and that while really not, apparently, doing much.

The government promised to be hard. Instead it has been soft. It promised to be vigilant. Instead it has been lackadaisical.

One finds oneself wondering why the United States government did not close it borders completely, or at least to any Muslim majority nation. Instead we have hostile elements allowed into the nation to move around at will.

That McMuffin is tasting pretty dry.

The Border Crossed Us?

Recently Linda Ronstadt stated the her family did not cross the Mexican- American border, but that the border crossed her family. One hears the same cry from illegal alien activists.

It is a cry of nonsense. The border between the United States and Mexico changed in the 1840s. No Mexicans were displaced during this border changing. Those Mexican living in the newly American territory were not driven out. Those for whom the border had changed were allowed to remain in the US.

Those Mexicans who have deigned to illegally enter the United States have crossed the border. They have come from Oaxaca, Jalisco and other Mexican states deep within the nation of Mexico. The present border between Mexico and the United States has long been recognized as a true and proper border despite the fact that Mexican textbooks do not recognize it as so. There is no living Mexican who the border crossed. Mexico is conforming, in slow motion, to, Hitler's claim of the Sudanland in Czechoslovakia.. But then, the Mexican government has never been adverse to the taking of United States territory by whatever means they have as is evinced by the beatification of Pancho Villa and the Zimmerman letter during World War One.

Would the US be cruel by deporting illegals? The answer is no. The US would be hard in deporting and punishing illegal aliens, but there is no sin in a nation being hard in protecting its borders and citizens. Life is hard and a nation's job is to make it easier for its citizens even if it is at the expense of those who have snuck in to it to take advantage of benefits and freedoms that were meant for citizens.

Convert or Die

Al-Queda has released a new video yammering on about their problems with the West, and the only wonder is why can't we find the origin of these videos so we can squash those bugs.

In the video is an appeal by the Mohammedan version of Axis Sally, Adam Gadahn, telling us all that we should all convert to Islam or suffer the consequences. It makes one wonder if the Fox News Channel correspondent and cameraman who were released last week after having "converted" to Islam on videotape were given the same offer.

We here at Bloody Nib Manor have no intention of converting to Islam. We'll take the consequences. But, since we are both conservative (even fundamentalist {gasp!}) Christians, the only consequence we will suffer is going to Heaven to join the angelic Host after we die. ... Mark Steyn has an interesting take on the kowtowing and seeming conversions of kidnap victims in the past: Why abduct us? We cede our values for free
To be absolutely honest, I don't know what I would do if I were in the situation that Mr. Centanni found himself. I hope and pray that I would stand for my faith, and if I did not I would spend the rest of my life in a state of suicidcal depression for abandoning, in word, if not in fact, my Lord, and praying for forgiveness.

Shut Up and Sing

We here at Bloody Nib Manor have always preferred Tony Bennett as a singer to Frank Sinatra We've always felt that his voice was more pleasing, that he had a better songbook and that he was, and is, a nicer man than the Chairman of the Board.

But Mr. Bennett should remember that it has been, and is, his job to sing. He is not a cultural critic, an anthropologist or a sociologist. But like many people who have attained fame and fortune in one area of life, he feels that his opinion in other areas of life is worth serious consideration, as is evinced by this article: TONY BENNETT - TONY BENNETT: 'AMERICA IS CULTURALLY VOID'

I think that what Mr. Bennett really means is that there is not a culture in contemporary America that he likes except jazz. Whether or not jazz is a cultural contribution is arguable. There are some who believe that jazz since the 1950s is tantamount to aural masturbation. He seems to have forgotten that world has taken to rock and roll, barbeque, film animation, surfing and fast food in a way that it never did to French Impressionism, atonal music, croquet and Italian food.

I believe that what Mr. Bennett really means is that there is not an American originated culture that appeals to the cultural elites. But that's what America is all about. It is the populace that makes the culture while ignoring the elites. The majority have their fun, kick out the jams and rock and roll (and export this stuff to the world) while the elites east of the Appalachias and north of the Delaware piss and moan about what a barbaric nation they live in, and long to curtsey before the Queen of England. It is the aspiration toward the European definition of culture that will make America culturally void because it will make the States a weak sister of a weak sister.

Anyone who looks to a singer for a critique of American culture is as vapid as someone who gets their religion from a movie.

The painting at the top is called The Arts of the West, and was painted by Thomas Hart Benton. Benton has never been a favorite here at the Manor (his stuff looks often like he painted it while suffering a hangover), but this painting defines the arts of the common man of the West at the time the painting was done -- music, dancing, horseshoes, shooting, etc. If an Australian aborigine blowing through a tube can be called culture why can't a man busting a bronco not be?

Rice Christians

As a callow youth your faithful correspondent used to hear spoken, by those of the atheistic persuasion, denigrating comments about Christian missions in pre-revolutionary China, and the term of "rice Christians" being used as descriptions of those Chinese who became Christians. The idea of a rice Christian was that during famines in China the Chinese would go to the Christian missions to get rice stored in those missions and either pretend to be Christians to get the rice, or that they would get rice only after having formally converted to Christianity.

I don't know how true these stories are. Not very, I suspect, especially in the case of China Inland Missions.

But consider the fact that there are very few instances of non-Christians being forced to convert to the True Faith since the Crusades. Hawaiians may have been bothered by missionaries, drunks on Skid Row may have to put up with a sermon and a prayer to get a meal and a bed from the Salvation Army and a Burmese may listen to a Christian missionary in order to get a new shirt, but in no case has a knife been held to the throat of an innocent, Buddhist, Mohammedan or pagan to make that person embrace Christ. ... On the other hand, Steve Centanni and his cameraman, during their captivity, were forced to convert to Islam. Mr. Centanni states, after his release, that he still has high regard for Islam. One wonders whether the poor man has learned nothing while being threatened and tied up in a garage. And one wonders if he has ever reported stories denigrating Christian missions and "rice Christians."

The Law of Bloody Tooth and Nail

To the right is a photograph of the American writer Jack London. London began life as a poor lad in Oakland, California and used his brains and experiences to make himself the highest paid writer in the world by the time he died. He was, as a man, what Hemingway aspired to be. A man of adventure, a man of rough culture and a damn good writer. In fact, in some ways London was a better writer than Hemingway for the simple fact that he wasn't afraid to lay his themes out in the open for the view of the reading public, while Ernie decided to cloak his themes with "art." This is an unpopular opinion among academics, but academics make their livings by spinning thread when there is no wool. And your faithful correspondent is not an academic. Academics love Woodrow Wilson (a pious pinhead despite his Princeton education) who lied worse than either Bill Clinton, or as is claimed by some, George W. Bush, and was as naive as Jimmy Carter. And they brush off Theodore Roosevelt as an American imperialist despite the fact that TR brokered the end of the Russo-Japanese War and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts and the fact that the only "imperialistic" thing that TR ever did was send the White Fleet on an around the world cruise to make clear to the world that the US had a claim to part of the Pacific Ocean. Most academics know nothing of the world simply because they have spent their lives in school, first learning from the age of five to sometime in their twenties, and then teaching in schools, colleges or universities. They live in a hothouse environment despite the fact they occasionally venture out to "study" during sabbaticals (and when was the last time you had a sabbatical? I'm due for four and haven't gotten one yet). Your average faithful and pious Roman Catholic priest has a better idea of the world than your average academic because the priest deals with people everyday outside the world of academia.

But I digress.

Jack London is an under-appreciated writer in this modern world. The reason may be due to the fact that he realized that much of life is dictated by the law of bloody tooth and nail. In other words, life is a struggle, civilization is a thin verneer that once scratched, reveals the basic savage or Adamic man, those who do not strive for dominance are crushed.

London was not a Christian. In fact, he had no use for Christianity. We here at Bloody Nib Manor are Christians of the old fashioned Protestant type. But your faithful correspondent sees the wisdom of London's stance. While we are willing to turn the other cheek once when struck, we expect our nation not to tolerate such a thing. Nations are different things than individuals. The purpose of a nation is to serve an protect its populace. If it does not do so, it has no purpose and deserves to be held in contempt at the least and overthrown at the worst. A nation that does not strive for dominace is a nation that settles for submission.

To take London's themes to the modern world, the nations of the world are like a wolf pack. There can only be one lead wolf. Other wolves are either trying to take the lead or are submissive. The only way a lead wolf can remain dominate is to show it by tooth or claw. Once an aspirant tries to take the lead the lead wolf, in order to survive, must re-assert its position by growl, claw or tooth.

But the leaders in the West, and in the United States in particular seem to have come to the conclusion that the nations of the world are not wolves, but a a herd of moose plodding "to the future and peace" while the Islamic world realizes that wolves control the territory. Until the Western powers realize this our lives and freedoms are at jeopardy. The West (and let's face it, there are really only two Western nations anymore that have the stuff to aspire to leadership -- the US and the UK -- the rest are termite ridden), in order to survive and not be submissive, has to get used to the idea that any nation or religion that tries to take the leadership of the world must be clawed or bitten. The Western world has to hold the knife to the Islamic throat just in order to get on with day to day life.

It's not nice, but the modern world isn't nice. The purpose of a national government is to make it possible for its citizens to be nice to one another while using not nice methods against other nations and cultures to make it possible.

What the Heck's Happening?

As those in the know know, Bloody Nib Manor is in Los Angeles County near the border of Orange County. .. As a wee laddie yours remembers growing up hearing Country-Western music as the sound track of the area. There were at least three Country-Western radio stations and not a few television programs dedicated to the genre.

This week it has developed that the only Country-Western radio station in the county has decided to change its format to some sort of boring mild rock thing. The radio station, KZLA, was the most listened to C&W radio station in the country. Now it will become one of the many mild rock stations that are half listened to. ... The San Bernardino based radio station, KFRG, will supposedly take up the disaffected C&W listeners. But KFRG's signal does not cover all of L.A. County.

Meanwhile, several Spanish language radio stations within the county offer Norteno and Frontiera music, which are the Mexican forms of country-western music.

Somebody's getting screwed and it isn't the illegal aliens.

Men in Hats

After a long absence, the feature, Men In Hats as returned.

To the right is a photograph of the English novelist and essayist G.K. Chesterton. For those not in the know, Chesterton wrote the novel The Man Who Was Thursday, the Father Brown mystery stories and was pretty much the man responsible for the serious appreciation for the writings of Charles Dickens. He was also an English apologist for the Roman Catholic Church and was, for many years, the most quoted man in the English language except for Shakespeare.

But being able to string words together does not mean good taste in hats. In the photograph Chesterton is shown wearing a trilby hat. Please note the shape of the crown and brim, especially the dent of the crown and the "V" shape of the front of the brim. It's a true trilby hat, not what some hat stores call a trilby (which run from porkpies to fedoras).

This particular hat was a bad choice for G.K. The hat appears too small and it is not a very good shape for his build. A much better choice for him would have been something along the lines of a properly fitted bowler, a deerstalker or even a skull cap as was worn by John Owen.

By the way, the name and shape of the trilby hat came from the novel Trilby by George du Maurier. This is the novel that introduced the character Svengali to the world.

Let's Get Rollin'

Some people live lives of great adventure. Other people have great adventures in otherwise bland lives. Adventure happens to some. Others look for it. To quote Thoreau, "most men live lives of quiet desperation." ... Your faithful correspondent has always been interested in people who look for adventure, whether great or small: Joshua Slocum and his around the world voyage in a small sailboat, Miles Smeeton and his recreation of Bligh's voyage from the Bounty, Sir Edmund Hillary. Those men had great adventures. Other men have had small adventures. Roger Bannister breaking the four minute mile was a small adventure, as is/was walking or bicycling across the United States or paddle boarding to Santa Catalina Island. Each man's adventure and sense of adventure is unique to himself. For some just getting to work unscathed is an adventure.

A man has decided to skateboard the 6000 kilometers (that's about 4,000 miles in real distance) across Australia: Brit to skate across Australia NEWS.com.au . Is it nutty? Probably. But the fellow is not only having an adventure, but is trying to raise money for charity while doing it.

If you're interested, check out his website:BoardFree: Rolling Around Australia 2006.

And to see the skateboard he's using look here: rolls rolls carbon longboard .

And finally, to keep track of his progress, look here: Elsa and I: the story of a man, a longboard and an awful lot of road...

Godspeed and good luck, Dave.

Islamophobic Round-Up

When you faithful correspondent first started this blog it was with the intention of dealing with light topics and emphasizing the more humorous aspects of life. After all, life here at Bloody Nib Manor is not all that unlike that as recorded in Wodehouse's book, Blandings Castle.

But life gets in the way and we find ourselves having to live under the reign of bone-headed, politically correct diversity freaks. The result of this bureaucratic we-are-the-world, I-wanna-buy-the-world-a-Coke love-in is that the government of the Grand Republic refuses to admit that the United States, in fact the Western world (hitherto known as Christendom) is at war with radical and fascistic Mohammedism. We are supposed to be at war against "terrorism." The "War on Terrorism". or "Global War on Terrorism" is a fake and a fraud. One can no more declare war on terrorism than one can declare war on, say, carpet bombing or naval engagements. Terrorism is a tactic. It is not an entity. And even assuming that terrorism is an entity, the Tamil Tigers in Ceylon have been getting damn little attention from the United States government. There have been not raids on the remaining elements of the IRA, the Basque separatists or the Shining Path guerrillas in Peru. All energy, such as has been expended, has been directed at Islamic triumphalists. So let's call a spade a spade and just say that the danger to the West does not come from Ireland, Pyrennes or the Sri Lanka. The threat is from Islam.

Winston Churchill, in his account of the River Wars in Northeast Africa (Sudan) stated that Moslems can be dealt with and can be quite friendly when dealt with one on one. But when addressed and confronted by a group they were hopelessly barbaric, violent and hostile to non-Moslems. One might as well try to hug a porcupine. ... Having said all that, here are a group of links about the "enlightened" faith in the modern world.

Walid Shoebat has an interesting story: Walid Shoebat - Former PLO Terrorist who speaks out for Israel .

Another piece by Melanie Phillips, this time from the National Review: Melanie Phillips on Londonistan on National Review Online We plan to buy her book and mourn the England that was.

The Baron and Dymphna always have something interesting to offer. This may explain why Corsica doesn't have a problem with Mohammedans: Gates of Vienna: Flying the “Islamophobic” Colours We'll have to see if we can get a flag like that of Corsica.

Mark Steyn . Nothing more be said about Mark.

The wonderful program of assimilation oadherentsts to Allah continues apace in Italy: Independent Online Edition > Europe For some reason there's a controversy about this incident in Italy. I can't think of a reason why.

Victor Davis Hanson is one of the best war writers and thinkers around. It's too bad that the gov't doesn't appoint him as special secretary to the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Mideast. But the man's a historian, and history, these days, is about as well regarded as a bad case of piles. Victor Davis Hanson on War on National Review Online .

And finally, as aexplanationon of the title of this entry, the word Islamophobic here means "fear of Islam." Not "dislike of Islam." Your faithful correspondent carries within him both sentiments, but the fear came before the dislike.

Something odd

Here's an interesting article from an English newspaper:Telegraph Opinion Americans will die for liberty ... And here's an interesting article from an American magazine: Victor Davis Hanson on War on National Review Online

U.N. Treaty?

If you have been watching the television or listening to the radio you doubtless know that the United Nations claims to have brokered a cease fire between Israel and Hizbollah. Actually, the claim is that the UN has brokered a cease fire between Israel and Lebanon.

Here's the problem: Israel is not fighting the nation of Lebanon. Israel is fighting Hizbollah. Hizbollah is not a state. Hizbollah is a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

As much as many of the members of the UN would like, Hizbollah is no more a member of the UN than is the Loyal Order of Moose. The UN, in cases like this, is useless. It's a sad thing to see, but not unexpected.

The League of Nations, after World War One, made the ridiculous claim that it would be able to prevent wars. The results of their prevention was the Italian war on Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War. The culmination was World War Two.

The UN is, in fact, an anti-Western and anti-Israel, organization. Many of the European members of the UN are so guilt ridden about their success in the world that they are not content with self flagellation. They want their "little brown brothers" to beat them.

We here at Bloody Nib Manor refuse to be beat by our cultural lessers. We refuse to feel guilt for our country's success. We refuse to let our Jewish (whether religious or cultural) brothers and sisters in Israel be eliminated by a group of people who have no more concept of right and wrong than a gopher.

The flag at the upper right of this entry is the flag flown by the Bosnia Nazi Divisions during World War Two. Their work resulted in a 90% reduction of Jews in Bosnia. Note that the right half of the flag resembles that of Hizbollah. .. Is that what you want?

Move along. Nuthin' happen' here.

Earlier this week we here at Bloody Nib Manor received the news, via the wireless, that a dastardly plot by British born Muslims, most of Pakastani descent, to blow up, using a form of liquid or gel explosive, aeroplanes traveling from the UK to the US over American territory. The last report we heard there had been approximately 24 people, both men and women, arrested in England and there is a search for more people with bad intentions.

The discovery of the conspiracy resulted in airports in both the Grand Republic and the Land of Green and Verdant Fields instituting a ban on liquids such as bottled water, duty free booze, and sports drinks, and gels such as hair gels, some toothpastes and mascara from being carried onto the planes as carry-on luggage. Flights have been delayed flights have been cancelled and lines at the airports have become long and slow.

It seems that most airline passengers have taken the new restrictions with good cheer. Some on the local talk radio stations have, on the other hand, taken the view that to place such restrictions on air travel have shown that the "terrorists have won" because the authorities have moved to restrict what is included in carry-on luggage. Your faithful correspondent has even heard cries that the liberties of the sons and daughters of the American Revolution have been violated because a traveler cannot take a bottle of Gatorade on the aerial conveyance. One radio yakker has even gone as far as to call the ban on liquids, gels, small electronic devices a case of "the further 'wussification' of America."

Besides the fact that said commentator's use of the word "wussification" when the more proper and stronger word "pussification" (or at least "bussification") the cry that the banning of certain materials as elements of carry-on luggage is a sign that the comptemporary opinion bender has become soft.

When your faithful correspondent was a laddie air travel was something done by the vulgar wealthy. Most people took the bus, the train or a car to reach their destination. Those going overseas booked passage on a ship. And, as an aside, a gentleman and gentlewoman still travel by sea instead of by air. Carry-on luggage on an aeroplane was unknown. And the carrying of bottles on water and sports drink was unheard of. Any air traveler expected to buy a gin and tonic or scotch and water to brace oneself for the unnatural act of flying and the drinks were brought to the passenger by a trim and lovely stewardess instead of a Denny's wait(ress) sporting a pair of wings on his/her chest. Business travelers worked out of notebooks instead of laptop computers. But then, it wasn't until about fifteen years ago that people became as attached to their bottles of water as they used to be attached to a pack of Camel. ...Here's the deal. We are at war. We are as much at war as we were during World War One or World War Two. The mistake that was made after September 11, 2001 was that the President and the government tried to play the game that there was nothing different and that we, as a society could just carry on as usual. This is not true. There are people both within and without the Republic who mean the United States no good. They mean to do us harm. They may even intend to institute Sharia law within the US. Just because we do not have massive armies and navies battling other massive armies and navies does not mean that we are not at war and that we do not have to make sacrifices both actual and symbolic.

During World War Two the civilian populace was subjected to food rationing, gas rationing, mandatory blackouts, racial and ethnic profiling, massive overtime in the defense industries and censorship. The result was the preservation of the liberties that we take for granted, and even abuse.

Now we're in a situation where the chattering classes try to foment a controversy about not carrying Dippity Do and iPods and Arrowhead water as carry-on luggage. How we have become to bitch about sacrificing water, music and hair gel for a few hours. It's enough to gag a maggot.