The winner of our crossword for August is James Daley of Essex. He will receive an autographed copy of Raphael Israeli's Muslim Antisemitism in Christian Europe.
As a man, of course, I do not gossip: but, now retired, I do sometimes discuss my erstwhile colleagues with others of my erstwhile colleagues, out of purely scientific interest. more>>>
The Good Letters: The Decline of Literary Education and its Consequences
by Mark Anthony Signorelli (September 2010)
In his most recent State of the Union address, our President decried the lagging state of our educational system, warning in particular of the superiority of mathematical and scientific instruction among our international competitors. In his emphasis on the importance of these two subjects, and his implicit assumption of the link between these disciplines and economic prosperity, he certainly displayed no singularity of belief. These are the convictions of the age. more>>>
Anyone who has paid any attention to media coverage regarding the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s General Assembly which took place in Minneapolis in early July has good reason to scratch his head in bewilderment. more>>>
American Jews’ Paradoxical Allegiance to the Democratic Party
by Norman Berdichevsky (September 2010)
Time and time again, I read in websites and blogs around the internet the question and puzzling paradox posed by Gentiles who strongly support Israel, how can it be that so many Jews continue to blindly vote for ultra-liberal causes that are inherently ultra-critical of Israel and even subliminally of Jews. more>>>
I lay in my clean, but spartan hospital bed, a legacy of British imperialism, where I suppose comfort in a hospital would have then been considered a luxury by the crisply attired and no nonsense nurses of yesteryear. However, this was the beginning of a new century and the fact that this was still the only fully functional modern hospital in the entire East African region explained a certain accidental, cultural continuity. more>>>
“Sacrificing Survivors” - A New Film about 9/11 and the Ground Zero Mosque
by Jerry Gordon (September 2010)
Nine years ago on a brilliant late summer day on September 11, 2001 I witnessed the murders of 2700 innocent victims of Muslim terrorism and the destruction of an icon on the lower Manhattan skyline, the twin towers of the World Trade center. “This is the Pearl Harbor of the 21st Century,” I commented to my son and his partners in a midtown law firm as we witnessed their collapse into plumes and incalculable carnage in lives lost. Not unlike the Japanese Shinto militarist pilots who took the lives of American sailors, marines, soldiers and airmen on December 7, 1941, the shaheeds, martyrs in Arabic were xenophobic Arab Muslim jihadis from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. They were schooled in hate against us as infidels for occupying their holy lands. more>>>
Beneath a gloomy square of the sky
in the shadow of awesome, looming walls,
a crowd of kids met day after day
to test and learn in that well of twilight
which boys in the block were destined to die. more>>>
I passed my driving test in 1978. I was living at the time in Leyton, East London. I took my driving lessons locally and once I bought my own car later that year I regularly drove across and around east London and into the countryside. more>>>
Coming to a Mosque Near You: “Pimping for Terrorists”
by Jerry Gordon
The eruption of mega-mosque conflicts across America has raised numerous questions, in more than a dozen cases, about who is funding these multi-million dollar projects. And, in addition, whether there could be any Muslim Brotherhood connections and any possibility of their raising funds for foreign terrorist groups like Hamas.
"Money continues to flow in the other direction, as well," said Mosab Hassan Yousef "Son of Hamas."
He noted the FBI documented that the Holy Land Foundation sent $12.4 million from the U.S. to Hamas committees. But based on his 10 years of experience as a spy for the Israeli internal security service Shin Bet, he believes many times that amount has been smuggled to Hamas in cash.
As an example, Yousef cited the case of a Palestinian terror operative he met in prison who was arrested transporting $100,000 after Shin Bet provided information to law enforcement authorities.
"I guarantee you that there still people who collect money in mosques that go directly to Hamas in cash," Yousef said. "And this is a problem that the government doesn't have control over. Obama doesn't have control over this money."
On June 14, 2009, George Galloway appeared at an event sponsored by the Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF). Also in attendance was Mahdi Bray executive director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation (MASFF) at Imam Muhammad Musri's Al Rahman mosque in Orlando, Florida. The mosque is owned by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). They raised over $55,000 in support of Galloway’s Viva Palestina, a Hamas terror finance conduit. An undercover team of investigators from ACT! For America Jacksonville and Orlando chapters attended the Viva Palestina event. They videoed Galloway and Bray raising funds for Viva Palestina using the cover of the 501(c)(3) tax exempt status of the MASFF.
Galloway and Bray were caught on video misleading the audience telling them their contributions were tax deductible as the MASFF is a tax exempt 501(c)(3) non profit institution.
Ignorance & Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom
Justin O. Smith writes from Murfreesboro, TN.
Americans have often disagreed on the nature of our nation and the manner in which it should be governed, and the United States has successfully struggled with enemies abroad as well as within. Today, as in years past, the nation's struggle to maintain its sovereignty, identity and the freedoms for which so many gave their lives is becoming increasingly difficult; "E Pluribus Unum"..."from many one" and the very principles upon which the U.S. was built are being assaulted and dismantled by socialists and multicultural activists in conjunction with the real enemies of our nation.
Socialists and outright communists have been infiltrating the U.S. government since the 1900s, not long after Karl Marx's 1848 publication of 'The Communist Manifesto'. In the 1950s and long afterwards, Sen. Joseph McCarthy was accused of ruining many a good man in what many Democrats called "a communist witch-hunt"; time and the declassification of the government's Venona Files in 1995 have since vindicated Sen. McCarthy by revealing each and every person accused by him was in fact a communist agent.
Now I love America more than most men love their wives and their Harley's, so one can probably imagine my dismay to find a website at Middle Tennessee State University's Dept. of Student Affairs that supported and advocated for the membership of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). This is a communist front organization that espouses Marxist tenets; there is nothing democratic about this throw-back to the 1960s era radical groups that started peacefully and peaked with some of the worse violence in U.S. history, and herein lies the problem. From the first grade through the university level, the U.S. education system has, by and large, filled too many teaching positions with teachers who actually advocate, in not too subtle fashion, the implementation of Marxist theories. While the 1st Amendment protects the teaching of Marxian theory, teachers should never suggest, as many have, Marxist philosophy as a viable alternative to our capitalist/free market system and the U.S. representative republic.
Middle Tennesseans for Religious Freedom (MTRF) made their presence known last month in a counter-protest favoring Murfreesboro's mosque expansion. Claire Rogers and Jase Short, lead spokepersons and organizers for MTRF, are also members of SDS and founders of the local chapter of another communist organization called "Solidarity." Solidarity's platform comes straight from 'The Communist Manifesto' and states the following: 1) Capitalism is an outmoded social system now in deep crisis (note: they fail to recognize the part government implemented programs and interference in the economy has played in this crisis, i.e. Soc. Sec., Medicaire, Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac.) (2) We must seek the political and economic rule of the working class production under social ownership of the working class. (3) We call for a revolutionary mass political movement of the working class to end the political rule of the capitalist class and private ownership of the means of production...and the list rambles on with more such despicable tripe.
Jase Short chanted with protesters in 2005, "5-6-7-8 organize and smash the state!" In 2008, he praised Karl Marx by stating, "The revolutionary idea of Karl Marx are just as applicable today as they were in the 19th century."
Claire Rogers has stated that the substantial opposition to Murfreesboro's mosque expansion is due to "Islamophobia" and "xenophobia" and that the movement is composed of "ignorant and uneducated right-wing extremists," but it is not "Islamophobia" when Islamic terrorists are plotting to kill or are actually killing Americans. Then we see where Ms. Rogers has posted "Iya Basta!" (Enough!), which is the slogan used by Mexican Zapatista communist guerrillas from the forests of Chiapas who seek to crush Mexico's economic ideology in favor of a "grass roots" power base. Ms. Rogers continues with "enough propaganda stations, enough enforced reality, enough police brutality! enough nuclear arms, enough factory farms, enough stolen women's choices, enough silenced women's voices."
Most of the membership of MTRF are either current or former MTSU students and also SDS and Solidarity members, and I find it highly unlikely that there are any Republicans affiliated with their group as asserted by Ms. Rogers; when one looks at MTRF in depth, one must question the overall intelligence of such a group. Everyone except for them and the Obama Administration knows that Marxism has never worked since its inception; Claire Rogers claims to be against propaganda, enforced reality, police brutality, stealing women's choices and silencing women's voices, and yet, she has proceeded to support Islam, which commits all of the aforementioned transgressions and more, on the whole and by and large. Where, if not within Islam, are women more mistreated?
It is extremely ironic that Rogers and Short are advocating for the Murfreesboro Muslim community's 1st Amendment rights, while they themselves espouse an ideology that, in the final analysis, is a deception hiding behind pretty words and does not respect individual rights, the U.S. Constitution or religion any more than Islam respects them and other religions; both communism and Islam are totalitarian in nature, and therefore, they make natural and historic allies. Also, one should remember that Pol Pot killed 2 million Cambodians, Stalin killed 20 million Russians and Mao killed 60 million Chinese in the name of communism.
No American or Muslim can honestly state that mosques within the U.S. are not used to promote terror activities. In 2004, even the New York Times was forced to admit that the al Farouq mosque in Brooklyn, NY has served for years as a center for terrorist activities and a recruiting station for al Qaeda. Jose Padilla planned to detonate a radiological bomb in Manhattan; Imran Mandhai was convicted of attempting to blow-up nuclear power plants in Florida; and Moessa Jokhan was arrested in a plot to blow-up Jewish community centers. These terrorists all had a common connection to radical cleric Adnan el-Shukrijumah and the Masjid al-Hijrah mosque in Miramar, FLA. The list of such mosques is extensive, and three in four U.S. mega-mosques are considered breeding grounds for terrorism.
While many immigrants historically came here seeking to assimilate and become real and loyal U.S. citizens and Americans, such is no longer the case. More and more we are witnessing Muslims arriving with intentions to create bases of operations, as exemplified through the recent arrest of twelve Somali al-Shabaab terrorists.
If Islam is so peaceful, how does it give birth to the likes of Hamas and Hezbollah? If the mosque at Ground Zero is supposed to represent a healing and peaceful gesture, rather than a slap in America's face and an insult, why was it initially called "Cordoba" alluding to the 8th century conquest of Spain? If our Murfreesboro Muslim community is so peaceful and loyal to the U.S., how does it reconcile its allegiance to the U.S. with its enmasse support of Hamas?
Myself and hundreds of others in opposition to the Murfreesboro mosque expansion, for a multitude of valid reasons, are all university graduates from many different walks of life. Educated as they may be, Claire Rogers, Jase Short and their "comrades" are lacking in discerning intuition, real historical knowledge and the common sense that comes with living through years of lifetime experiences, so, "No thanks, MTRF." I'll take my group with all their supposed shortcomings over your anti-American brand of blathering "uneducated ignorance" any day of the week; groups like yours always seek absolute power in an attempt to create your own version of heaven on earth, but you are the very ones who always create the most hellish tyranny!
David Cameron went recently to Turkey, to deliver a speech in Ankara, one that would “establish a new partnership” between Great Britain and Turkey that he characterized as “ a vital strategic relationship for our country.” The speech tells us many things about Cameron, about, his knowledge of the changes in Turkey over the past century, changes in one direction, and then in another, his grasp of the nature of Islam and his understanding of what Islam inculcates and, above all, his own knowledge and appreciation of the country of which he is now, very much faute-de-mieux, the Prime Minister. more>>>
The one thing that many environmentalists seem not to care about is the environment. By this I mean its visual appearance. They would happily empty any landscape or any city of beauty so that the planet might survive. Like the village in Vietnam, it has become necessary to destroy the world in order to save it. And, of course, destruction of beauty has the additional advantage of being socially just: for if everyone cannot live in beautiful surroundings, why should anyone do so? Since it is far easier to create ugliness than to create beauty, equality is to be reached by the former rather than by the latter. more>>>
Our crossword puzzle winner for the month of July is Aymenn Jawad of Cardiff, Wales. He will receive an autographed copy of Ibn Warraq's new book, Virgins? What Virgins?
Honorable mention goes to David Odell down in Australia.
Tennessee is considered to be the heart of the Bible belt in the United States. Yet, the swirl of controversies surrounding the acquisition and development of so-called mega-mosques in Tennessee is emblematic of a civilizational conflict emerging in the American heartland between Muslim and non-Muslim communities over how Islam and Sharia are viewed and defined. More fundamentally, it is about the question of whether Islam is a religion or a political doctrine seeking domination with a thin veneer of religious practices. What is a mosque? Is a mosque a worship center or something else? more>>>
Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed recently arrived in Nashville to take his post as imam at the Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN) on 12th Avenue and was welcomed by a flattering profile in The Tennessean written by religious affairs editor Bob Smietana. Smietana, like most local reporters covering Islamic issues has little more than a passing acquaintance with the doctrine of Islam and tends to champion Muslims as underdogs and a misunderstood minority. Had he more detailed knowledge of contemporary Islam, the educational background of Mr. Ahmed might have raised questions about the 12th Avenue mosque’s intentions; specifically, whether the ICN is deepening or strengthening its connections with the Muslim Brotherhood. more>>>
To The Lighthouse: Feminine Mastery Of Inner Dialogue
by Thomas J. Scheff (August 2010)
Can artists point the way toward solutions of the complex problems of human experience? There is a tradition in literature of the study of the stream of consciousness that might provide hints on the sources and structure of consciousness. A crucial problem for social scientists who study consciousness is that most of us, indeed, virtually all of us, are not highly gifted in noticing and remembering a vast array of concrete details. In this respect, we are much like the rest of the human race. more>>>
The declining literacy of our present age has been lamented many times, and yet, it seems to me, never sufficiently. The enormous changes in our culture and in our laws, which we have observed and which we are likely to observe in the future, stemming from the decline of our common discourse ought to be a matter of urgent concern to any sensible person, and yet I sense little urgency towards this phenomenon in the writings of most contemporary authors. more>>>
Abstract. Although fiction treats themes of psychological importance, it has been excluded from psychology because it is seen as flawed empirical method. But fiction is not empirical truth. It is simulation that runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers. In any simulation coherence truths have priority over correspondences. Moreover, in the simulations of fiction, personal truths can be explored that allow readers to experience emotions — their own emotions — and understand aspects of them that are obscure, in relation to contexts in which the emotions arise. more>>>
Book after translated book, a soft-spoken poet who spent a long life writing in an awkward minority language unrelated to most others is taking his rightful place among the giants of world literature -- even in his homeland.more>>>
Le grand prix de la baguette de tradition française de la ville de Paris was awarded on March 27th to Michel Galloyer, proprietor of Le Grenier à Pain, a network of 25 boulangeries in France, soon to be extended to Japan in partnership with Nihon Gastronomie Kenkyujo. The Grenier à Pain, which will be purveyor of baguettes to the presidential palace for one year, is in fact made up of small local bakeries, and the winning baguette was crafted in the Montmartre shop by Djibril Bodian a master baker of Senegalese origin. “La baguette tradition” is a richer, tastier, heartier, more elastic version of the ordinary baguette, which ranges from horrible to middling. La tradition, as its name indicates, is good old fashioned genuine bread. And whatever you say for or against France, you’ve got to admit that our bread is phenomenal. more>>>
The Golden Calf Idols of the World Cup, The Olympics, and What Happened in Berlin, 1936
by Norman Berdichevsky (August 2010) Few NER articles have resulted in the avalanche of readers’ responses as did Theodore Dalrymple’s July 2010 piece “Of Snobbery and Soccer.” The reason is the enormous controversy over Dalrymple’s critical look at those aspects of the World Cup that appeal to hero worship, the manipulation of national pride, and the absurdities of a mega-billion dollar industry hiding behind the facade of sport. For me, as for Dalrymple, The World Cup represents the worst aspects of chauvinism in which tens of millions of spectators invest the players on the field with a national mission designed and elevate their own egos. For many Americans soccer is not just a "boring" sport but frequently looks corrupt with more than just a few players routinely acting out feigned injuries to win a referee’s penalty award of a free kick or the punishment of yellow or red cards handed to an opposing player. more>>>
Gordon: Greetings Mr. Solomon and thank you for consenting to this interview. Let us start with the simple question, what is a mosque and what is its basic function in the Muslim community?
Solomon: A mosque, totally unlike a church or a synagogue, serves the function of orchestrating and mandating every aspect of “life” in a Muslim community from the religious, to the political, to the economic, to the social, to the military. In Islam, religion and life are not separate. They are indivisible. more>>>
In the year 2001 of the Christian era my wife and I became Israeli citizens and moved from New York City to Netanya in Israel. We are living there still. I guess that makes me a Zionist. But when people in Israel ask me why I gave up our comfortable life in the United States to live in a nation under siege, I have trouble coming up with a good answer. I usually say, “Because I want to live in a Jewish neighborhood.”
That answer is not false, but it’s not entirely true either. more>>>
Many years ago, while walking through the grounds of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian's greatest temple, the Hagia Sophia, in what is now the city of Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, I marveled at how it is that some great civilizations decline, disappear and are renewed from the outside.more>>>
The intense political discord currently on display in the United States no longer has its basis in a conflict between left and right, conservative and liberal, Democratic and Republican. This fundamental shift in the nature of the debates around culture, politics, foreign policy, history, immigration, and so many other contentious issues is indicative of a shift to polar opposites within the culture.
We are no longer Democrats and Republicans, Liberals and Conservatives, now we are utopians or not. more>>>
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