[sarc]

Graffitti is just so cool and transgressive and like arrty...............!

the Socialist disease....

The following excerpt is from a letter that Vaclav Havel wrote to the Czech Dictator Husák in April 1975.
It could (should?) have been written to both Gillard and Rudd.

"So far," Havel scolded Husák, "you and your government have chosen the easy way out for yourselves, and the most dangerous road for society: the path of inner decay for the sake of outward appearances; of deadening life for the sake of increasing uniformity; of deepening the spiritual and moral crisis of our society, and ceaselessly degrading human dignity, for the puny sake of protecting your own power."

War myth

Speaking to the myth that religion is the cause of all wars:

Philip and Axelrod’s three-volume Encyclopedia of Wars, which chronicles some 1,763 wars that have been waged over the course of human history. Of those wars, the authors categorize 123 as being religious in nature, which is an astonishingly low 6.98% of all wars. However, when one subtracts out those waged in the name of Islam (66), the percentage is cut by more than half to 3.23%.

 

     

That means that all faiths combined – minus Islam – have caused less than 4% of all of humanity’s wars and violent conflicts. Further, they played no motivating role in the major wars that have resulted in the most loss of life.

The truth is, non-religious motivations and naturalistic philosophies bear the blame for nearly all of humankind’s wars. Lives lost during religious conflict pales in comparison to those experienced during the regimes who wanted nothing to do with the idea of God – something showcased in R. J. Rummel’s work Lethal Politics and Death by Government:

Non-Religious Dictator Lives Lost

·         Joseph Stalin - 42,672,000

·         Mao Zedong - 37,828,000

·         Adolf Hitler - 20,946,000

·         Chiang Kai-shek - 10,214,000

·         Vladimir Lenin - 4,017,000

·         Hideki Tojo - 3,990,000

·         Pol Pot - 2,397,0003

Rummel says: “Almost 170 million men, women and children have been shot, beaten, tortured, knifed, burned, starved, frozen, crushed or worked to death; buried alive, drowned, hung, bombed or killed in any other of a myriad of ways governments have inflicted death on unarmed, helpless citizens and foreigners. The dead could conceivably be nearly 360 million people. It is though our species has been devastated by a modern Black Plague. And indeed it has, but a plague of Power, not germs.”4

The historical evidence is quite clear: Religion is not the #1 cause of war.

“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1–2).

In the end, the evidence shows that the atheists are quite wrong about the wars they claim to so desperately despise. Sin is the #1 cause of war and violence, not religion, and certainly not Christianity.

 

 

 

 

A feral journo!

The thoughts of a typical left-wing turkey:

As regular readers will be aware, Ms Penny is inclined to hyperbolical nihilism and has some intriguing views on the subject of violence and on whom it may be inflicted. In August 2011 on the BBC’s World Tonight, Laurie offered her “intelligent analysis” of the aforementioned criminal spree. What frightens her, she said, isn’t the beating and murder of pensioners, the mugging of children or the gleeful attempts to burn people in their homes, but the use of the word “feral” to describe the people doing so.

Marriage a No-No!

Oh how I long to say "I told you so" to my fellow believers in America who fell under Obama's spell. However being a forgiving and benign brother I shall refrain and say instead; be of good cheer, hardships and persecutions develop perseverance and perseverance hope....now where have I heard that before?

The heinous intrusions into our lives as a result of ObamaCare swell each day. Now, in true Marxist form, the ludicrously named "Affordable Care Act" mounts an all-out attack on marriage. In 2010, in a Web Memo, the Heritage Foundation pointed out that Under the bill, couples would face massive financial penalties if they marry or remain married. Conversely, couples who cohabit without marriage are given highly preferential financial treatment. If the Senate bill becomes law, saying 'I do' would cost some couples over $10,000 per year.

In fact, the "... anti-marriage penalties and heavy 'cohabitation bonuses [were] built into the Senate ObamaCare bill [.]'" Furthermore, "low income couples are not immune from the bill's aggressive wedding taxes. A 60-year old husband and wife, each with an income of $15,000 would pay over $4,000 per year if they remain married. Put in other terms, the government would offer an annual bonus of $4,212 if the couple divorces and then cohabits."
Well, ObamaCare is now law and the effects are being felt nationwide. As a continuing job killer, ObamaCare will now adversely impact clergy, wedding halls, caterers, musicians, singers, floral arrangers, and other party planners.
 

Consequently, "an all-out war on 'old and outdated' institutions like marriage and family" is being conducted "so dominance of the state can be achieved." In

Communist Russia this was euphemistically known as "unions of affection and comradeship."

In Russia in 1920, abortion on demand arrived. Hence, how convenient that via ObamaCare, every American must now pay for someone else's abortion -- a direct assault on religious freedom. Thus, the state's monstrous power keeps enlarging under the dictator occupying the White House.
 

........Eric Hoffer in his 1951 book entitled The True Believer writes that "one of the most potent attractions of a mass movement is its offering of a substitute for individual hope" (15). Obama and the Democrats keep undermining Americans ability to succeed, inculcating the idea that there is no future in America unless it is totally guided by the government. Obama continues to destroy individual hope when jobs are scarce, college tuition is exorbitant, unemployment benefits are worth more than solid, honest work -- each of these disaffects far too many Americans who see no future before them.

Obama, an ideologue who is "so fanatically committed to this cause that no amount of reality can make him abandon it" keeps offering his empty "hope and change" speech. But, as the evidence mounts and the facts become known, it is up to us to come out of our stupor and halt this battering ram that is deliberately grinding down the people. It is equally important to remember Pascal's advice that "...the embarrassment wherein [a person] finds himself produces in him the most unjust and criminal passions imaginable, for he conceives a mortal hatred against that truth which blames him and convinces him of his faults." As Obama is thwarted, be prepared for the true vision of this demagogue

The true cost of Anthropogenic global warming.

The latest 'prediction' from the AG warmists would have us believe that the worlds food harvests are going to suffer catastrophic failure in the years to come. However like all of their 'warnings' to date; the rainfall, wild weather, water shortages, overpopulation, commodity scarcity etc, it is nothing more than a stand-over tactic to extort more money from the public purse. It's like a giant ponzy scheme wherein taxpayers money can be funnelled into the few warming-elites pockets at the top of the pyramid. Take note of how wealthy these warming-elites have actually become. How many houses they own, their lifestyles which make a joke of their apocalyptic warnings...it is no wonder that they fight so hard even in the face of increasing factual evidences,to maintain their hold on the levers of power.

Such manufactured scaremongering is not going to go away just because the warmist 'facts' are disproved. It is going to take a transformation of the power structures to bring this lot of snake-oil salesmen down, because as Blaise Pascal once stated:"...the embarrassment wherein [a person] finds himself produces in him the most unjust and criminal passions imaginable, for he conceives a mortal hatred against that truth which blames him and convinces him of his faults."

Consider this small example of their epic failure to 'predict' the future:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2001 predicted global warming would cut wheat and rice production in India:

Acute water shortage conditions combined with thermal stress should adversely affect wheat and, more severely, rice productivity in India even under the positive effects of elevated CO2 in the future.

That prediction of 12 years ago has so far proved completely false. The news from India a fortnight ago:

India looks set for bumper harvests of winter crops such as wheat, chickpeas and rapeseed in the wake of a strong monsoon that has left the soil moist and topped up reservoirs.

The crops will follow bountiful summer harvests of rice and soybeans due to the rains… With next year’s wheat output seen matching 2013’s strong 92.46 million tonnes, the government ... could allow more exports.
 

and............

Global production of corn, wheat and rice have all more than doubled since 1970 as global warming occurred. Corn production, the current flavor of the week for Internet fear-mongering, has more than tripled since 1970. So, too, has global vegetable production as a whole.

The New York Times’ claim that “sweeping impacts from climate change [are] already occurring across the planet” is also false, contradicted last month by the very IPCC that the Times now cites as its source:

It was embarrassing enough for the IPCC in the summary released last Friday to admit there has been a 15-year pause or dramatic slowdown in global warming, and that its climate models didn’t predict that or the increase in Antarctic sea ice.
But now the IPCC can’t be sure at all we’re suffering from many extreme weather events, either. It even admits its past warnings of more droughts were “overstated”.

Examples are legion, everywhere their predictions are falling into disrepute. However, as with all such dissemblers they are nimbly adapting to the changing circumstances. Whereas they once claimed that the rain in Australia had dried up and was never going to return and even if it did the ground was going to be so dry that the rain would just evaporate and therefore not fill our dams and waterways. When the rains did come in such abundance that floods were the order of the day and all the dams filled and all of the salt-water purification plants built at an enormous waste of taxpayers money have now been mothballed.....they are now claiming that these excessive rains were caused by....global warming!

It would be a joke if it had not been so expensive and that so much of the money had not been diverted into so few pockets and if genuine ecological problems had not been ignored or starved of funds because all available capital had been diverted into 'stopping' an imaginary problem.

As it stands the 'catastrophic scare' of AGW has been a myth but the catastrophic 'solutions' have created untold havoc.

Cough, cough, gasp.....

It has been said; here, there, and everywhere, that a countries treatment of its Jewish citizens reflects on the spiritual atmosphere of that country in much the same way as a canary in a coal mine warns  miners of toxic gases befouling the mines air.

If so this excerpt from Ireland offers a dim view of the prevailing Irish atmosphere:

It would be nice if we could all raise our eyebrows and dismiss such anti-Semitic rants as the ramblings of impotent fundamentalists, but in the light of the growing power of Iran, its funding and support of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the worrying rise of anti-Semitism worldwide, we would do well to sit up and listen.

Last week it was reported that there had been a 58 per cent rise in anti-Semitic attacks in France and a 30 per cent rise in Belgium; 2012 was the third worst year on record for anti-Semitic attacks in the UK. These figures are mirrored worldwide as anti-Semitic political parties gain ground during these austere times.

Here in Ireland of course, as has recently been indignantly pointed out in the wake of the 'Caherciveen scandal' we are not anti-Semitic at all. Just anti-Israel. So that's all right then.

When Sarah Honig wrote about the anti-Semitic ramblings she heard from a few schoolchildren in Co Kerry, she was immediately vilified as a liar and propagandist. As Honig later wrote: "Apart from two follow-ups which I initiated, the news reporting was astoundingly uniform. . . Simplistic, one-sided news accounts of what was presented as my attack on virtually the entire Irish nation bordered on the hysterical."

Well yes, the responses to Honig's piece were a little astonishing. They included such gems (published on Irish newspaper websites) as: "The state of Israel is the most racist state on the planet"; "They (Israelis) have been playing the 'anti-Semitic card' to justify their greed for Lebens-raum"; "Typical Israeli overreaction to everything – play the Jewish card" and "Screaming anti-Semitism is the most powerful Israeli weapon used in their colonisation of the Middle East" and many, many more in similar vein (these are the polite ones).

As Honig notes, there is a "3-D" test for "Judeophobia". It occurs when "purported criticism slips into demonisation, delegitimisation and double-standards". Does our coverage of Jewish and Israeli affairs pass it?

Eh, yes. Irish critics routinely demonise Israel. They question its right to exist. And they hold it to a standard not required of its neighbours. But, as they keep insisting, they are definitely not anti-Semitic, how dare anyone suggest it? Criticising the motives of people who routinely single out the state of Israel for demonisation is not tolerated in Ireland.

Suggestions that there may be other enemies of the Palestinian peoples who deserve censure are met with indignation and derision. Well-orchestrated campaigns ensure that anti-Israeli bias is kept in the headlines.

The double standards of those who seek to demonise democratic Israel yet are strangely silent on the atrocities committed by its neighbours would seem (to outsiders anyway) to support the accusation that many Irish "human rights campaigners" are indeed motivated by anti-Semitism.

But to even suggest that there's something strange about the way in which so-called "pro-Palestinians" routinely and defiantly ignore the injustices inflicted on these people by countries other than Israel, is to risk personal abuse and censure – at best.

That a leading Irish political commentator can describe Israel, the democratic home of Jewish people, where Christians, Muslims and atheists

– be they male, straight, gay or female – enjoy far more civil rights than they do in neighbouring countries, as "a cancer" on national TV and be applauded by many, is more than worrying.

Being gay is punishable by death in Gaza. No one is protesting that, are they? But of course, that doesn't mean we're anti-Semitic does it? Just anti the Jews that live in Israel.

Last October, on Arab- News.com, Abdulateef Al-Mulhim, a former Royal Saudi Naval officer wrote a ground-breaking op-ed piece called 'Arab Spring and the Israel Enemy'. In it he called for Arabs to stop demonising and blaming Israel as the source of their problems.

He wrote: "The real enemies of the Arab world are corruption, lack of good education, lack of good health care, lack of freedom, lack of respect for human lives and, finally, the Arab world had many dictators who used the Arab-Israeli conflict to suppress their own people."

He added: "Many Arabs don't know that the life expectancy of the Palestinians living in Israel is far longer than in many Arab states and they enjoy far better political and social freedom than many of their Arab brothers. Even the Palestinians living under Israeli occupation in the West Bank enjoy more political and social rights than in some places of the Arab world."

Where are the Irish activists protesting against the lack of rights afforded to Palestinians by Arabs? Non-existent. But that doesn't make our "pro-Palestinians" anti-Semitic, does it?

The facts and history of the Middle East support Al-Mulhim's comments. But just suggest to the many vociferous Irish critics of Israel – including the Catholic charity Trocaire – that their energies may be better directed elsewhere and you'll get a blast of abuse as they righteously defend their attitude.

(Irish Independent)
 

You would think that Ireland has enough problems of its own to deal with without having to import a biblical curse as well (Genesis 12).