Left-wing media takes opportunity to smear Israel

This past weekend, an event took place that many in the left-wing media only dream about seeing: a ship carrying "peaceful, humanitarian activists" (quote-unquote) headed for Palestine carrying "relief supplies" (wink-wink, nudge-nudge). The Israeli military took the bait, attempted to board the ship, were then attacked by the "peaceful, humanitarian activists" (quote-unquote)--thus giving the left-wing media here (CBS, ABC, PMSNBC) and around the world (BBC, Speigel, etc) the chance to launch another of their patented smear campaigns against the one entity they hate as much as (if not more than) former president George W. Bush.

However, before you open wide and swallow what they are trying to feed you, read these articles. First, from Daniel Pipes (you really need to go to the links in the article):

Israel's command structure, having mastered the old ways of war (the ones that lasted to 1973), has shown utter strategic incompetence at the new ways of war (in place since 1982). The new rules require an agile sense of public relations, which means that a powerful state never physically harms, even inadvertently, its rag-tag political adversaries.

Rachel Corrie has been an albatross around Israel's neck since 2003; today's dead on the seas off Gaza will prove an even worse source of anti-Zionism. Thus did the "armada of hate and violence" achieve its purpose. Thus did the Israelis fall into a trap.

And the UK Spectator (Again, check out the links contained therein):

And this flotilla was but the latest jihadi attack, deploying the Islamists’ signature strategy of violence and media manipulation. Here from MEMRI (via Just Journalism) is a clip showing the hysteria against Israel being whipped up on board before the ships set sail, with the chanting of intifada songs about ‘Khaybar’ – the iconic slaughter of Jews by Muslims in the 7^th century which is used as a rallying cry to kill the Jews today -- and threats of ‘martyrdom’. This was not merely a propaganda stunt, but a terrorist attack.

Some of this footage is now available on the web but much of it is hard to follow: as ever, the Israelis have been far too slow in making the most telling images and information available in comprehensible form (including in English rather than in Hebrew, for heaven’s sake!). This clip appears to show masked and armed flotilla activists beating Israeli soldiers (although here is the BBC report accompanying that footage, in which the voiceover appears to be claiming, perversely, that the people in masks were Israeli soldiers. That said, the report on Radio Four’s World at One was fair and balanced).

This clip shows an Israeli soldier being stabbed. This IDF clip and this one show attacks on the commandoes including throwing one off the deck, attacking others with a metal pole and a firebomb and an attempted kidnap of another.

"He paid his life for his faith, for his dignity, and the dignity of the Bible and Jesus Christ"

The owner of a Christian bookstore in Gaza has been murdered by Islamists because he was a Christian. From Yahoo News (h/t: Jawa Report):

The body of Rami Khader Ayyad, the 32-year-old director of Gaza's only Christian bookstore, bore a visible gunshot wound to the head, and an official at Gaza's Shifa Hospital said he was also stabbed numerous times. Ayyad had been missing since Saturday afternoon.

Ayyad regularly received anonymous death threats from angry people who accused him of missionary work, a rarity among Gaza's Christians. His store, which is associated with a Christian group called the Palestinian Bible Society, was firebombed in April.

"We feel Rami was killed for his Christian faith," said Simon Azazian, a spokesman at the Bible Society's head office in Jerusalem.

About 3,200 Christians live in Gaza among 1.4 million Muslims, and the Christian community has grown uneasy since Hamas routed forces of the secular Fatah movement and seized control of the coastal strip in June. During the takeover, vandals ransacked a Roman Catholic convent and an adjacent school, breaking crosses and smashing the face of a ceramic Jesus.

Ayyad had been increasingly worried about threats on his store, Azazian said.

On Friday, he noticed that he was being followed by a car with no license plates. Ayyad called his family Saturday afternoon to tell them he had been abducted but would be freed later in the evening, said Azazian. Police were notified, but his body was found the next morning.

Ayyad left two young children and a pregnant wife.

This is what we are up against. We are up against an enemy that will kill innocent men for the simple crime of being a Christian, and selling Christian books. And don't be so comfortable in your life that you think it can't happen here. Many in positions of power are eager to convince this country to bow down at the feet of Islam, rather than fight it.

Don't let anybody sell you that whole "Islam is a religion of peace" nonsense. The goal of Islam is for the whole world to bow to Allah. They will fight until "religion [is] only for Allah." (Sura 2:193). They will "then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, an seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)" (Sura 9:5). Because, according to the Hadith, "[A] martyr’s privileges are guaranteed by Allah; forgiveness with the first gush of his blood...he will be...[married] to seventy-two [virgins] and his intercession on the behalf of seventy of his relatives will be accepted." What better way to convince young men to kill and maim than to promise them eternal sex? Yet some people try to claim that this is the same God we Christians worship. Baloney!

Verdict in Padilla case. Update--GUILTY!!

The jury has reached a verdict in the case of Jose Padilla. From FOX News:

MIAMI — Jurors reached a verdict Thursday in the trial of Jose Padilla and two co-defendants charged with supporting Al Qaeda and other violent Islamic extremist groups overseas.

The verdict was to be read at 2 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about a day and a half following a three-month trial.

Padilla, Adham Amin Hassoun and Kifah Wael Jayyousi face possible sentences of life in prison if convicted of all three charges in the case.

The three are accused of being part of a North American support cell that provided supplies, money and recruits to groups of Islamic extremists. The defense contended they were trying to help persecuted Muslims in war zones with relief and humanitarian aid.

Michelle Malkin has a rundown of the charges. More when the verdict is announced.

UPDATE: GUILTY!!! On all counts! Pdailla and his co-defendants have been found guilty on all counts (From CNN.com):

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The jury in the Jose Padilla terror trial has convicted the American on charges of conspiracy to support Islamic terrorism overseas.

The verdict came after less than two days of deliberations, according to a U.S. District Court official.

Padilla and two co-defendants were convicted on all counts.

Padilla pleaded not guilty. At his trial, defense attorneys argued Padilla went overseas only to study Islam.

During the trial, prosecutors played more than 70 intercepted phone calls among the defendants for jurors, including seven that featured Padilla, 36. He is a Brooklyn-born convert to Islam originally arrested as a suspect in a "dirty bomb" plot.

FBI agent John Kavanaugh testified that the calls were made in code, which Padilla used to discuss traveling overseas to fight with Islamic militants, along with side trips to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan.

In closing arguments, Padilla's lawyers argued he never spoke in code. His voice is heard on only seven of 300,000 taped conversations.

They also tried to rebut a key piece of prosecution evidence -- an al Qaeda terrorist training camp application or "mujahedeen data form."

Well, what do you know! There IS justice in this world! Just hope the sentence fits the crime.

UPDATE: The lefties are going ballistic!! Yeah, I know, no surprise. Too much to write about here. You can read more at Jammie Wearing Fool.

Dictionary of Liberalism

Following are the true definitions of many words and phrases. Will be updated occasionally.

Carbon offsets (CAR-bun OFF-sets) n. A way for rich liberals to assuage their guilt about the contributions their SUV's make to "global warming". (See also Ordering a Diet Coke with your Double Whopper and large fries.)

Dhimmi (ZHIM-ee) n. A person who kowtows to Islamists, and encourages others to do the same. They are ususally used by Islamic extremists for political gains against the people they wish to kill. (See also Nancy Pelosi, Jimmy Carter.)

Dinosaur (DI-nuh-sor) n. A big, huge animal that used to rule its environment, but was too slow, stubborn and sluggish to change and adapt, thus ushering in its extinction. (See also New York Times, SeeBS News, Time Magazine.)

Global Warming (glo-BULL WARM-ing) n. The invention of a bunch of "scientists" who want to make you feel guilty for everything you do. One of the latest ploys by the liberal left to bring about the end of western civilization. (See also AlGore, ManBearPig, junk science.)

Liberal (LIB-er-al) n. A person who supports "freedom of speech" as long as they agree with what you're saying. If not, then it's "offensive" and should be outlawed, even though they think that "offensive" speech is protected by the Constitution. (See also Political Correctness.)

New Mexico (NOO MEX-i-co) n. A country bordered by the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, Canada, and the Rio Grande River. It was formerly known as the United States of America.

Truther (TROO-ther) n. Someone who clings desperately to a fading hope that President Bush might have known somebody who knew someone else who went to school with someone who once hired one of the 9/11 terrorists to work at his Tastee-Freeze. So, yes, it was Bush's fault. (See also Rosie O'Donnell, Charlie Sheen, Ron Paul.)

Shhh! Don't tell Rosie!!

Psst!! Hey, guess what? Professors at Purdue University (a school that knows a thing or two about engineering) have carefully developed an animation of just what exactly happened when the first jet ripped through the North Tower on 9/11. (h/t: Hot Air)

If you click on the above link to Purdue U., when you get there click the link at the upper-left. And give it a minute for the animation to load (it's 9 MB)

FYI, these are not a bunch of Rove-Bushco-Halliburton knee-jerk neocon Nazis. These are professional engineering instructors at a highly-regarded engineering school (although they can't put a decent football team together. Sorry, had to say it. Go Blue!!) that assessed and examined every aspect of the incident.

Uh, Rosie, before you go spouting off again, you might want to look at what people who actually KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT have to say (And that goes double for your buddy Joy Behar). Unless, of course, you just want to stay ignorant. But, if you really want to know the truth--THE TRUTH--then maybe you ought to listen to the PROFESSIONALS who said:

The simulation depicts how a plane tore through several stories of the World Trade Center north tower within a half-second and found that the weight of the fuel acted like a flash flood of flaming liquid, knocking out essential structural columns within the building and removing fireproofing insulation from other support structures.

[...]

"The crashes and computer models you often see on television are not scientifically accurate," he says. "This provides an alternative that is useful to the nonexpert but is also scientifically accurate, so it provides a more realistic picture of the event."

[...]

As with an earlier simulation developed by this team that examined the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, the World Trade Center simulation showed that it was the weight of the 10,000 gallons of fuel more than anything else that caused the damage.

"It is the weight, the kinetic energy of the fuel that causes much of the damage in these events," Hoffmann says. "If it weren't for the subsequent fire, the structural damage might be almost the same if the planes had been filled with water instead of fuel."

But, but, but...Rosie said that fire can't melt steel!!! She said it, it has to be true!! She knows more about engineering and metallurgy than any stupid university professor!!! She is Rosie O'Donnell, you know!!

Putting the "mental" in "environmental"

A tree-hugging, dirt-worshipping environmentalist whacko was sentenced to more than four years for terrorists activities in Oregon. (From the Medford (OR) Mail Tribune, via Free Republic Online):

May 31, 2007 EUGENE — A federal judge today sentenced an Applegate woman to more than four years in prison for her role in a string of arsons around the West that caused more than $40 million in damage over a five-year period.

Suzanne Savoie was the fifth of 10 radical environmentalists to be sentenced in U.S. District Court in Eugene after they pleaded guilty to arson and conspiracy charges. All were members of an underground cell of the Earth Liberation Front known as “The Family.”

The sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken was eight months less than the proposed sentence in a plea bargain with Savoie in order to recognize her cooperation with investigators and the fact that she left the conspiracy in 2001 and has committed no crimes since then.

Savoie was convicted of particpating in two arsons, the first at Superior Lumber Co. in Glendale in January 2001, and the second at the Jefferson Poplar Farm in Clatskanie in May 2001.

And...Second verse, same as the first:

EUGENE — Confessed ecosaboteur Jonathan Paul of the Greensprings was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison Tuesday, but the judge withdrew the sentence almost immediately following a strong objection by the defendant's attorney.

U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken held off imposing the sentence after attorney Marc Blackman objected to her reading of the federal sentencing guidelines.

The two concurrent sentences Aiken imposed on Paul for crimes of arson and conspiracy were six months shorter than the time requested by prosecutor Stephen Peifer, an assistant U.S. attorney handling the case. But it was substantially more than the maximum 33 months Blackman had calculated in his reading of the guidelines under a plea bargain.

Paul, who tearfully read a statement renouncing arson during Tuesday's hearing, pleaded guilty in November to arson and conspiracy charges for his role in the July 21, 1997, firebombing of the Cavel West horse meatpacking plant in Redmond. The blaze destroyed the plant and caused $1.2 million in damage. He confessed to mixing the diesel and soap fuel known as "vegan Jell-O" and serving as a lookout.

Paul, 41, is the last of 10 defendants in what prosecutors described as The Family, a Eugene-based cell of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. The defendants were sentenced this year by Aiken after pleading guilty to arson and conspiracy charges connected to a string of 20 fires that caused $40 million in damage in five states from 1996 through 2001. Three other members of the group are expected to be sentenced in federal court in Seattle later this year.

I guess this serves as a warning: If you plan to move to the Left Coast, STAY AWAY FROM OREGON!!! THE ENVIRONMENTALIST WHACKOS THERE ARE CERTIFIABLY INSANE!!