billandiris.com

I won’t give you any quotes from the filth known as the Koran because I’m sure that you would simply pull out the Bible and saw, “This is just as bad.” Instead, let’s hear from Muslims and non-Muslims about their religion. Also, Imams are more than just priest in the Islamic faith, they have the power to decide who lives and who dies. They can issue Jihad or they can cancel it. Each Imam is like a mini-Pope but with an army of follows that do his bidding.

“They [those who claim Islam is against slavery] are merely writers. They are ignorant, not scholars… Whoever says such things is an infidel. Slavery is part of Islam. Slavery is part of jihad, and jihad will remain as long as their is Islam.” -Shiek Saleh Al-Fawzn, Sadui cleric, author and imam of the Price Mataeb Mosque, Riyadh, 2003.

“These Germans, these atheists, these Europeans don’t shave under their arms and their sweat collects under their hair with a revolting smell and they stink. Hell lives for the infidels! Down with all democracies and all democrats!” -Imam Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al-Amari, Preaching the Friday sermon in a Berlin Mosque, 2006

“The Europeans were once our slaves; today is is the Muslims. This must change. We must drive the unbelievers into deepest hell. We must stick together and hold our peace until the time comes. You can’t see anything yet, but everything is being prepared in secret. You must hold yourself in readiness for the right moment. We must exploit democracy for our cause. We must cover Europe with mosques and schools.” -Sermon recorded in a Bavarian mosque, Early 21st Century

“We must be open and tolerant towards Islam and Muslims because when we become a minority, the will be so towards us.” -Jens Orback, Swedish Minister for Democracy, Metropolitan Affairs, Integration and Gender Equality, 2004.

“The weakness of the Arab nations stems from the fact that they buy weapons instead of choosing to do their own research. If it chose the latter course, an Arab state could pull off two miracles with one stroke: invest in an army of researchers and engineers, thus contributing to full employment, and free itself from military dependence on the West.” -Fatima Mernissi, modern, enlightened, liberal, Muslim feminist.

“Certain persons have been begging me for the past five years to write about war against the Turks [Muslims], and encourage our people and stir them up to it, and now that the Turk is actually approaching, my friends are compelling me to do this duty, especially since there are some stupid preachers among us Germans (as I am sorry to hear) who are making the people believe that we ought not and must not fight against the Turks. Some are even so crazy as to say that is it not proper for Christians to bear the temporal sword or to be rulers; also because our German people are such a wild and uncivilized folks that there are some who want the Turk to come and rule. ” -Martin Luther, “On War Against the Turks,” 1528 AD

“Islam is a revolutionary ideology and program which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with it own tenets and ideals. Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the Earth which are opposed to the ideology and program of Islam, regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it.” -Sayyed Abul Ala Maududi, founder of Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami, April, 1939.

“We have the right to kill four million Americans - two million of them children - and to exile twice as many would and cripple hundreds of thousands” -Suleiman Abu Gheith, Al Qaeda Spokesman, June 2002

“It is permissible to set fire to the lands of the enemy, his stores of grain, his beasts of burden - if it is not possible for the Muslims to take possession of them - as well to cut down his trees, to raze his cities, in a word, to do everything that might ruin and discourage him, provided that the imam deems these measures appropriate, suited to hastening the Islamization of that enemy or to weakening him. Indeed, all this contributes to a military triumph over him or to forcing him to capitulate.” -Ibn Hudayl, 14th Century Granadan theorist on the subject of jihad.

“I will not blame Norwegian women for the rapes. But Norwegian women must understand that we live in a multi-cultural society and adapt themselves to it.” -Professor Unni Wikan, Oslo, Norway, 6 September 2001.

(to be continued)

-bill

I’ve never been the biggest fan of organized religions that forced rules on its followers or even worse non-believers.  Christianity went through hundreds of years of this kind of bullshit.  From the various Inquisitions supported by the Church in which common people were striped of their freedoms and money in order to help feed the power of the Pope and his minions to the brutal missionary work in the Americas.  The Catholic Church went through a lot of changes over the years as it has grown and lost its influence around the world.

On the other hand, Islam has yet to go through a reformation.  And even if it did, the core principles of Islam would never allow it to become more passive and peaceful. Christians corrupted the bible. The Koran is already corrupted.

Islam is a quasi-religion steeped in war, misogyny, enslavement and the domination of the world.  The Koran focuses so much of its text on these four principles that one simple can not compare the body of Koran to a few limited passages in the Bible and say, “See, the Christians are just as evil.”  While the God of the Old Testament and the God of the Koran are both vengeful, petty, selfish, and jealous, the God of the New Testament and the lessons of Jesus Christ are radically different.  This is where Islam fails.  It does not teach peace except when the world is dominated by Islam.

Islam is the only world religion that does not teach, ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’  That means something.  Christianity, Buddhism, Hindu, all teach this valuable lesson of peace.  Why doesn’t Islam?

A lot of folks look at the Koran and say, ‘well ya it’s extreme, but only people that take things verbatim would use its violent content in today’s world.’  But that’s part of the problem.  When Christian Fundamentalist will do things like protest abortions, handle snakes, believe in creationism, and search for the Arc… Islamic Fundamentalists will kill all unbelievers, kill women for dishonoring their men (this includes murdering them for being victims of rape), and lie to all unbelievers in order to help spread Islam… all of these things are condoned in the Koran.

So only a ‘few’ fundamentalists cause problem and that’s what it looks like, right?  Terrorists represent only a minor portion of the Muslim population.  However what you must understand is that Islam demands that everyone wage Jihad, even if they can only participate through financial donations, hiding the jihadists, or even apathy.  Recent surveys of ‘friendly’ Islamic nations show that more than 60% of their population support global jihad.

Islam is basically a religion that focuses on sex and war.  There are countless rules and passages about when you can rape, when you can get a prostitute, when you can get multiple wives, when you can have sex with a nine year old, when your Imam can marry you to a woman for 3 days for debauchery.  And their Coup de grâce for living the holy Muslim lifestyle?  72 Virgins!  Yep… not peace, not knowledge, not family.  More sex with virgins.  Everything in the Koran is linked to domination… domination of their fellow man, woman and child and sex and beheadings are the method.

And now we come to a bigger problem, a majority of Muslims can’t read the Koran.  The Koran, for Muslims, can not be translated and most Muslims don’t speak let alone read Arabic.  These Muslims simply follow the rules laid out my the imams.  The Imams spoon feed the faithful the Koran in easy doses, slowly poisoning their minds and corrupting their spirit.

Let’s take a look at other things that are required of all Muslims:

1. If a Muslim converts to another religion, he must be killed
2. Women are property of men
3. No art, no music no freedom of expression.
4. A Woman’s testimony represents 1/2 of a mans testimony in Sharia courts.
5. Infidels must not be forced to convert, instead they must be offered three choices
a. Death (actually beheading)
b. Enslavement
c. Dhimitude

Now Dhimitude is an interesting aspect of Islam.  Basically you can be a faithful Christian and live in Muslim lands under the protection of Islam.  Sounds good, right?  A few caveats:
1. You must pay a tax.  The tax is set by the Imams and can be whatever they want.  Failure to pay the tax results in enslavement or death.
2. You must wear special clothing to distinguish yourself from Muslims
3. You can’t practice your religion in public; no funerals, parades, etc.
4. You may not build a new church or repair an existing church
5. You must submit to the will of any Muslim (entry into your home, confiscation of your property, etc)

The goal of Dhimitude is to place such a heavy burden on the infidel that conversion to Islam is the best option.  Thus, Islam was not forced upon you, but a choice.  See, Islam isn’t hostile, right?
6. Wage Jihad against Christians and Jews.

The EU and America are already bowing down to Sharia law.  There are parts of some European cities where the police simply will not go and the Imams are responsible for all law enforcement.  We allow CAIR to operate within our borders despite being a front group for the Islamic Brotherhood and a co-conspirator with Islamic Jihad groups like Hamas.

When we hear about Islamic misogyny will simple say, we’ll that’s their culture and we look the other way.

When Sir Salman Rushdie was marked for Execution my foreign leaders the west did nothing.  We blamed the author for writing an offensive book.

When Muslims killed thousands of American on 9/11 we called their religion a ‘Religion of Peace’.

We are sliding down the slope of domination.  Every concession is a sign of weakness and empowers Muslims.

In the EU, snobby Europeans aren’t breeding so that they can enjoy their lives and their wealth while at the same time they are allowing hundreds of thousands of young Muslims into their countries that breed like rabbits thus replacing Christians as the dominate social group.  And where are all these Muslims finding work?  Well, luckily most of the EU is socialist with huge, bloated governments so a lot of them are finding jobs there.  The rest are living in slums, getting angry and listening to their Imams talking about Muslim superiority and the failings of Western Culture.

Islam is slowly spreading around the world and using the West’s “don’t hate, love everyone, respect their rights’ mentality against us.  They will soon be demanding separate court systems in the West.  In Minneapolis they demanded and were given their own public school.

Back to my Christianity vs. Islam argument earlier.  Don’t be deceived by the whole “CRUSADES! CRUSADES!” argument.  Muslim apologists want you to think that Islam was all quiet and peaceful until the evil Christians went empire building.  Wrong.  Islam had been pushing into Christian lands for hundreds of years.  Hundreds of thousands of Christians were killed, enslaved or assumed dhimi status in order to survive under Islamic rule.  The Crusades were nothing more than a delayed retaliation for Islamic warmongering.  The Crusaders were going south to recapture the Holy lands… well how the hell do you think they lost them in the first place?  You think the Christians were just migrating to Italy and Germany and France for the wine?  No, Muslims were spreading like a disease across the globe and the Christians just took a long damn time to get their crap together and push back.

Show me the Mozart of the Muslim world.
Show me the Michelangelo or the Dante.
Show me the Oppenheimer, the Ford, the Currie, or the Hawking.
Show me the ways in which our lives are richer thanks to Islam.

And don’t be fooled by Islam’s ‘golden age’.  They didn’t invent crap.  Almost all ‘Islamic’ inventions were stolen from the Persian empire and the Ottomans when they conquered their lands.  Yes some of these folks were Muslim, but they were converts from other religions first. Islam frowns upon advancement and achievement.  If we needed it, Allah would have given it to us.  There is not ‘god helps those that help themselves.’

Look at the Middle East Today.  Everything they have is because of Christianity and Western Culture.  Their buildings are designed by Westerners and built by foreigners.  Their wealth comes from the discovery and exploitation of oil.  From their mega-yachts to their private jets… everything they have they owe to the freedom offered by Christianity.  And they hate us for it.

When Islam began to expand they said that it was because of Allah’s will.  And when the Christians kicked their asses back to the stone age it wasn’t because Allah was wrong (Allah is infallible), it was because of the Great Satan.  The Great Satan became Christians and later the Western Cultures of England and the U.S.  The Muslims were emasculated and had to blame someone… they blamed us rather than the shortcomings of their own beliefs.  This is why they hate us.  Allah promised them the world and we haven’t delivered it to them.

The apathy of Westerners is appalling.  I’ve grown tired of us giving in to their demands, believing their lies, and relinquishing all that has brought peace and prosperity in this world for a few years of peace with the murderous death cult known as Islam.

Which brings me to this… you are reading this entry and thinking, “Wow, Bill hates.  Hating is wrong.  Bill should be more peaceful and open minded.”  My friends, you’re wrong.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with hating.  You do not have to embrace evil.  You don’t have to pardon atrocities.  If I see a man raping a nine year old girl I will stop it because it is wrong.  I don’t have to consider the rapists religion or his feelings.  He’s evil and I will kill him and then I will ask God to understand why I did what I did and to give me the strength to overcome any guilt I would feel for taking the life of one of his children.  Period.  But I would do it again.

Being a Christian isn’t about laying down and letting everyone walk over for you and that certainly is not what is means to be an American.  It’s okay to say, I don’t like the Islamic religion and I will not be friendly with its followers for they are evil.  Tolerating evil is evil. You are not preaching your superiority over others by acting against evil.  You are simple enabling your moral superiority and protecting the lives and freedoms of your fellow man.  No religion should make murder and rape acceptable.  Those that follow Islam are beneath us.  They are not worthy of our respect nor of our graciousness.

Does this mean you go hunt them down and kill them man woman and child?  God no.  But you simply deny them their right to practice their religion in a manner in which it imposes itself onto anyone else.  You want to be a Muslim and read the Koran in your own home?  Fine.  Want to marry a nine year old like Muhammad?  Not fine.  You want to pray five times a day.  Good for you.  You want to kill all Christians and Jews and enslave the world under the foot of Islamic Power… not so good.

I’ll come back on later tonight and provide quotes and links to additional reading.

Will and I drove up to Santa Rosa and watched Monster Truck racing.  What a blast.  HERE are some photos.

-bill

April 2008

I’m sitting here on the patio while Lily and Will chase each other around the yard. As i forgot my book at work, I thought I would just randomly jot down ideas. Basically, here are some laws or policies that I would pass when I become the leader of America.

1) For 8 years, cease all foreign aid. All money would instead be diverted to energy research. A massive, nation-wide effort to finding a revolutionary source of unlimited power. This would result in a few things: 1) Effectively cripple the Middle East (no oil sales = stone aged civilization) 2) Drastically change our foreign policy henceforth 3) Bring about the dawn a new age of industrial and technological change 4) Teach the world what life would be like without us.

2) Limit presidential terms to a single run at 6 years. No re-election. No private jobs for 4 years following his term. In fact, no income for 4 years (no book deals, no speaking engagements)

3) Combine all 5 branches of the military into a single fighting force and reduce waste due to duplicity.

4) Disband the Department of Education, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and HUD.

5) Truth in sentencing for all crimes. No early-out, no parole, no pardons.

6) Age limits for Supreme Court Justices (70 years of age)

7) Remove all restrictions on gun ownership except for licensing and background checks.

8 ) Turn all Indian Reservations over to the tribes and be done with it.

9) Ban female soldiers from any battlefield or area in which they are or may be put in harms way (face it, Americans just aren’t ready for images of mothers and daughters dead on the front).

10) Flat Tax for income over $20,000. 5% for salaries under that amount. Businesses pay a fixed flat tax as well. No ifs ands or buts. Also, remove all tax shelters and offshore accounts for companies. (Did you know that a lot of companies will actually file a patent for their product via a dummy corporation offshore, and then they take their profits and pay it to the dummy company as a ‘royalty fee’ thus avoiding tax? )

11) Put a base on the moon.

12) Create a new NATO-like organization in which 1)member nations support each other when called 2)member nations share weapon technology 3)member nations enjoy special tariff rates 4)the U.S. calls the shots and it is not open for debate.

13) Remove ourselves from the UN. (The UN was the basis for a world democracy but is now made up of totalitarian and Muslim nations that have no interest in Democracy yet we expect them to have the same values and morals)

14) Support democracy even through the forceful removal of dictators and hostile regimes anywhere in the world. Democracies are generally more stable and less likely to attack the U.S., have better human rights records and act more civil in international affairs. We should support those nations in order to protect ourselves and to spread democracy globally. The Declaration of Independence clearly states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Note that it doesn’t limit the wording to just Americans, but ALL MEN! We have a moral obligation to help mankind.

15) Stop all on AIDS cure research. In the US, AIDS is primarily a lifestyle disease and people have to make choices in order to catch. Divert the funds to cure other diseases like leukemia, Parkinson’s, etc…

16) 100% immigration policy enforcement. Withhold federal funds to any state or city that does not comply.

17) Force the Supreme Court to rule on Abortion. Roe v. Wade was not about abortion, it was about privacy and the Supreme Court created a brand new constitutional ‘right’ of privacy, something that they are not empowered to do. If a criminal shoots a pregnant woman and kills her unborn fetus and the court rules it murder than the same must apply to voluntary abortions, or vice versa. But either way the Supreme Court needs to settle this once and for all.

18) Do away with the Death Penalty. Although it should work, our court system makes it expensive, costly and ultimately ineffective in preventing crime. Quit wasting money and time and just sentence them to life. (see #5)

19) Massive infrastructure upgrades. Our aging interstate highway system, power distribution system, dams and ports should be modernized in order to maintain Americans through the 22nd century and keep us competitive in the global marketplace.

20) …

more later

-bill

I was going to take the kids to the zoo ‘where the elephants poop’, but at the exit for the Oakland Zoo there was a line of cars.  I pull off and called the zoo; there was a ‘head start’ day at the zoo and they were chock full of people.  Yuck, not my idea of a nice morning with the kids on my day off.  So instead we went to the Oakland Air Museum and then over to the bay for lunch.  There were ground squirrels all over the place so we shared our wafers and bananas with them.

Sean the Painter will be here Monday to paint.  We’re pretty excited.

The weather is very very nice (about 72)… we’re going to go for an evening walk tonight and maybe stay up and watch Horton Hears a Who and eat popcorn.

Speaking of popcorn, for those of you that pop your own corn I strongly recommend using Coconut Oil.  It’s lack of flavor and perfect smoke point make it ideal for wholesome and natural popcorn.  I then sprinkle a flavored topping like Sour Cream & Onion or Parmesan & Garlic.  Yummy!  Our Whirly Pop works perfect and is one of the best Christmas gifts we’ve gotten.

So Sean, our painter helped us pick two colors:

This is the color of all the walls.

This is the accent color on our shelf-wall and part of the stairs.

We debated the ceiling and decided to wait. We’re going to put a ceiling fan up which will help break up the ceiling.

We should everything done by next Friday (Sean will finalize the schedule later tonight).

-bill

Finally!  I used a service called Service Master which links service providers (painters, plumbers, etc) to customers.  I got three responses and we picked one (owner/operator) painter that came over this morning and gave us an estimate (and a suggestion on color and accent).  He thinks that the brown we chose will be too dark (we had a feeling) and that any color besides white will really pop because of the white railings, shutters, and the quilt on the wall.  So where going a few shades lighter than the dark cocoa brown.  We’re also doing an accent color on the shelf in a darker brown.  We were considering the ceiling but it adds $300.  Hmmmm.  What do you think?

We also put in an offer on the couch set that you saw earlier (The Ashely furniture).  It’s interesting and in great condition (5 months old).  It’s wood, leather and fabric so I think the eclectic look and feel will go nicely in the room.  It comes with couch, loveseat, two end tables and a coffee table.  She wants $1800, we offered $1100.

Tomorrow - my day off -i’m taking the kids to the Oakland Zoo.

On Sunday I’m taking Will up north to Santa Rosa for…. MONSTER TRUCK RACING!!!!!!  I’ve got to pick up some ear plugs but I think it’s going to be awesome.  We jumped up on YouTube.com last night and watched some videos of Monster Trucks and Will thought they were cool.

My hosting company moved my site to a new server but they broke something in the process.  After a letter to their tech-support, everything came back up in about 4 hours.

We’re back to looking at Venetian plaster for the living room.  I drove past a truck advertising plaster services… it must have been a ’sign’ so we called and someone is going to come out and give us a quote.

Iris has been busy.  She dug out our two property drains (their were clogged) only to learn that the builder never connected them to the street.  The pipes stop about 3 feet from the sidewalk and end in buckets underground.  What the hell?  We may have to check with the city but they should go to the street, right?

We lost a big tree limb during the high winds on Monday.  It looks like the front tree has some disease so we may have to remove the whole thing.  The city will inspect trees for free.

I spent Friday down in Long Beach aboard a ship fixing a rampant virus on the network.  And then today I was out at Richmond installing software and trying to make things a bit better.

We’ve got Mack and Reanna tonight as Pam and Mike are on their date night.  We’ll take ours in a couple of weeks and dump our kids on them.  Actually it’s not bad.  The kids play well.  Mack and Lily zonk out first.  I’ve got Reanna and Will sitting here beside me watching Tom and Jerry while Iris gets the beds ready.  It’s a possibility that Pam will just come get the kids in the morning.

Otherwise my job is getting a bit busy.  Iris and Pam go for a walk every morning at 5:30.  Will had an ear infection (which accounted for the ‘what?  What’d you say’ that he’s been doing the past few weeks.  Me?  I’ve got ‘post nasal drip’ so I’m on flonase and Robitusin AC (codeine).

more later.  just glad the site is back up.

-bill

Friday, my day off, I took the kids to the Micke Grove Zoo; it wasn’t crowded so we got to spend some time watching them feed the baboons and then play on the big playground equipment near by. They’re expanding the park and adding in a 3 acre lake so hopefully later this summer we can do some paddle boats.

Saturday was errand day. I got new pants, belt, shoes, shirts, underwear and socks. I don’t do ‘maintenance’ shopping and instead just buy a lot at once every few years. Iris picked up a new dress for her Republican Party formal tea - which was on Saturday afternoon.

Today, Carol came and got Sunny. Will was a bit bummed but got over it. Iris got the manual for the sprinkler system and set it all up tonight. We had a couple of zones disabled and we had a patch of grass turning brown. Now that it’s all working correctly, I’ll get some fertilizer tomorrow to help keep it green - especially now as the weather is getting warmer.

We picked out our living room idea today. We really like Venetian platser (we have it in the guest bath and thought it would go good in the living room) but the cost would be really, really high. We can’t pick a dark brown and a light brown to do the room in two colors so we decided to go all dark brown. With our Wedding Quilt up on one wall, white hand rails on the stairs and we’ll add white window molding around our four small 2nd story windows, the white accents will break up the brown nicely.

We’re going to add a ceilng fan in the room eventually to help break up the big ceiling.

Because it’s so much wall, we’ll probably get a painter to do it. The room is around 340 sq ft, two stories, partially hardware, stairwell and vestibule. It’s a lot. Iris will call our contractor tomorrow and get a quote.

I’ll try to take some photos of the room so you can see the before view

-bill

“Free Tibet”  You’ve seen this bumper sticker on a number of cars driven by enlightened and socially aware people for years.  Recently you’ve watched the news reports on China’s crackdown on Tibet ‘freedom fighters’.  And of course you know all about the peaceful and benevolent Buddhist leader the Great Dalai Lama .  Right?  You have come to believe that China sent troops into Shangri-La and destroyed the land of milk and honey where peaceful farmers and holy monks had lived in a Utopian society for eons, right?

WRONG.

First off let me start by saying that the Chinese Government sucks.  They are oppressive and murderous.  I don’t support them or their methods in any way.

Okay, let’s start with a little history and some facts:  Prior to Chinese occupation Tibet was a fuedal theocracy and an overwhelming majority of its citizenry lived as serfs, tied to the land and their Buddhist rulers.  The ruling class consisted of the wealthy aristocracy, Buddist monks and the Lamas all overseen by the Dalai Lama.

Until 1959, when the Dalai Lama last presided over Tibet, most of the arable land was still organized into manorial estates worked by serfs. These estates were owned by two social groups: the rich secular landlords and the rich theocratic lamas. Even a writer sympathetic to the old order allows that “a great deal of real estate belonged to the monasteries, and most of them amassed great riches.” Much of the wealth was accumulated “through active participation in trade, commerce, and money lending.” The Dalai Lama himself “lived richly in the 1000-room, 14-story Potala Palace,” while the population lived in squalor.

Using the Buddhist teachings of Karma, the Lamas kept control over the masses by telling them that their lot in life was due to the wickedness of their previous lives and that their only hope of redemption was to lead a good life today - a good life being one of servitude and slavery in support of the Lamas.

Young Tibetan boys were regularly taken from their peasant families and brought into the monasteries to be trained as monks. Once there, they were bonded for life.

In old Tibet there were small numbers of farmers who subsisted as a kind of free peasantry, and perhaps an additional 10,000 people who composed the “middle-class” families of merchants, shopkeepers, and small traders. Thousands of others were beggars. There also were slaves, usually domestic servants, who owned nothing. Their offspring were born into slavery. The majority of the rural population were serfs. Treated little better than slaves, the serfs went without schooling or medical care, They were under a lifetime bond to work the lord’s land—or the monastery’s land—without pay, to repair the lord’s houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand. Their masters told them what crops to grow and what animals to raise. They could not get married without the consent of their lord or lama. And they might easily be separated from their families should their owners lease them out to work in a distant location.

As in a free labor system and unlike slavery, the overlords had no responsibility for the serf’s maintenance and no direct interest in his or her survival as an expensive piece of property. The serfs had to support themselves. Yet as in a slave system, they were bound to their masters, guaranteeing a fixed and permanent workforce that could neither organize nor strike nor freely depart as might laborers in a market context. The overlords had the best of both worlds.

The serfs were taxed upon getting married, taxed for the birth of each child and for every death in the family. They were taxed for planting a tree in their yard and for keeping animals. They were taxed for religious festivals and for public dancing and drumming, for being sent to prison and upon being released. Those who could not find work were taxed for being unemployed, and if they traveled to another village in search of work, they paid a passage tax. When people could not pay, the monasteries lent them money at 20 to 50 percent interest. Some debts were handed down from father to son to grandson. Debtors who could not meet their obligations risked being cast into slavery.

The Tibetan serfs were something more than superstitious victims, blind to their own oppression. As we have seen, some ran away; others openly resisted, sometimes suffering dire consequences. In feudal Tibet, torture and mutilation—including eye gouging, the pulling out of tongues, hamstringing, and amputation—were favored punishments inflicted upon thieves, and runaway or resistant serfs. Journeying through Tibet in the 1960s, Stuart and Roma Gelder interviewed a former serf, Tsereh Wang Tuei, who had stolen two sheep belonging to a monastery. For this he had both his eyes gouged out and his hand mutilated beyond use. He explains that he no longer is a Buddhist: “When a holy lama told them to blind me I thought there was no good in religion.” Since it was against Buddhist teachings to take human life, some offenders were severely lashed and then “left to God” in the freezing night to die. “The parallels between Tibet and medieval Europe are striking,” concludes Tom Grunfeld in his book on Tibet.

So while the Chinese rule over Tibet (which was never really a true recognized nation in the first place - in fact, the Dalai Lama isn’t even seeking nationhood, just a return of power and control over his serfs) isn’t a shining example of peaceful reform and modernization it’s a leap above what the people of Tibet suffered through under the greedy rule of the Lamas.

So what’s up with the ‘Free Tibet” movement which seems so popular.  Well when the Chinese marched troops in Tibet (because the Lamas had failed to improve the lives of their people as dictated by the Chinese government) the aristocracy and the Lamas beat feet to the Indian border (and by the way, sought the assistance of the CIA to overthrow the Chinese government) they brought all the money they could carry.  Since the 50’s, the Lamas have been waging a public relations war again China.  China, being a closed society, doesn’t do PR very good so they are losing the fight.

For example all the skirmishes last month in Tibet and the ‘crackdown’ by Chinese military troops… false.  The ‘freedom fighters’ were mostly youths trashing banks and stores, overturning cars and smashing windows.

The footage seen on CNN was actually taken from Nepal, a completely autonomous country.  CNN and other major news organizations labeled their footage as being from ‘Tibet’ and they’ve been slammed by people in the know for lying to the American public.

So in closing:  The Dalai Lama is rich, greedy asshat that wants back his power and money in order to return his country to a feudal theocracy.  Tibet is better off being under Chinese rule.  China sucks but they are making a lot of economic and social headway.  People with ‘Free Tibet’ bumper stickers are kool-aide drinkers that have no concept of history or facts.

(Dalai Lama and SS Nazi Officer and Death Squad Leader Heinrich Harrer)

-bill

Too often - hell, almost consistently - the media fails to report anything good about what’s going on in Iraq. This biased and cynical reporting has even forced the exlusion of stories about Medal of Honor recipients (like Lt. Michael Murphy); the media just won’t talk about talk about Iraq unless it’s to bash the military or George Bush.  And today they did it again.   What? You haven’t heard of PO2 Michael Monsoor? I’m not surprised. If an American soldier does anything good, noble, brave or heroic you won’t find the MSM anywhere around. But call one Islamic fundamentalist with a bomb vest a terrorist and the dirtbags at the NY Times will be all over you.

Rather than provide a link to the story of Michael Monsoor I will reprint the stories I have found so far and post it here so that you will see it for a while.

From the Navy:

Petty Officer Second Class (SEAL) Michael A. Monsoor will receive the Medal of Honor posthumously in a ceremony at the White House April 8, 2008. He will receive the award for his actions in Ar Ramadi, Iraq on Sept. 29, 2006. On that day, Monsoor was part of a sniper overwatch security position with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi Army (IA) soldiers. An insurgent closed in and threw a fragmentation grenade into the overwatch position. The grenade hit Monsoor in the chest before falling to the ground. Positioned next to the single exit, Monsoor was the only one who could have escaped harm. Instead, he dropped onto the grenade to shield the others from the blast. Monsoor died approximately 30 minutes later from wounds sustained from the blast. Because of Petty Officer Monsoor’s actions, he saved the lives of his 3 teammates and the IA soldiers. Monsoor also received the Silver Star for his actions during the same deployment in May 2006, when he exposed himself to heavy enemy fire to rescue and treat an injured teammate.

His biography (hat tip to Blackfive)

Petty Officer Second Class Michael Anthony Monsoor was born April 5, 1981 in Long Beach, Calif. Michael grew up in Garden Grove, Calif., as the third of four children of George and Sally Monsoor. He has an older brother James and older sister Sara, and a younger brother Joseph.

Michael attended Dr. Walter C. Ralston Intermediate School and Garden Grove High School where he played tight end on the Argonaut football team and graduated in 1999. An incredible athlete, Mike enjoyed snowboarding, body boarding, spear fishing, motorcycle riding, and driving his Corvette. His quiet demeanor and dedication to his friends matched the “Silent Warrior” SEAL mentality that was to become his calling in life.

Michael enlisted in the U.S. Navy March 21, 2001, and attended Basic Training at Recruit Training Command, Great Lakes, Ill. Upon graduation from basic training, he attended Quartermaster “A” School, and then transferred to Naval Air Station, Sigonella, Italy for a short period of time.

Petty Officer Monsoor entered Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training in Coronado, Calif., and subsequently graduated with Class 250 on Sept. 2, 2004 as one of the top performers in his class.

After BUD/S, he completed advanced SEAL training courses including parachute training at Basic Airborne School, Fort Benning, Ga., cold weather combat training in Kodiak, Alaska, and six months of SEAL Qualification Training in Coronado, graduating in March 2005.

The following month, his rating changed from Quartermaster to Master-at-Arms, and he was assigned to SEAL Team 3 Delta Platoon. He deployed with his platoon to Iraq in April 2006 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and was assigned to Task Unit Bravo in Ar Ramadi.

From April to Sept. 29, 2006, Mike served as a heavy weapons machine gunner in Delta Platoon, SEAL Team 3. During combat patrols he walked behind the platoon point man with his Mk 48 machinegun so that he could protect his platoon from a frontal enemy attack.

Mike was also a SEAL communicator. On 15 operations, he carried a rucksack full of communications equipment in addition to his machinegun and full ammunition load-out. Collectively it weighed more than 100 pounds. He bore the weight without a single complaint, even in the midst of the 130 degree Western Iraqi summer.

Mike and his platoon operated in a highly contested part of Ramadi city called the Ma’laab district. During their deployment, Mike and his fellow SEALS came under enemy attack on 75 percent of their missions. On May 9, 2006 Mike rescued a SEAL who was shot in the leg. He ran out into the street with another SEAL, shot cover fire and dragged his comrade to safety while enemy bullets kicked up the concrete at their feet. For this brave action, he earned a Silver Star.

The enemy could not deter Michael and his SEAL platoon. They fought in 35 heated firefights; during these incidents Mike shot tens of thousands of 7.62 millimeter rounds to cover Delta Platoon’s movement through streets that seemed to be paved with fire. In the Ma’laab district, Michael perfected his skills as an urban machine gunner. Once he and his men established a sniper overwatch position, he deftly transitioned to his role as a SEAL communicator calling in tank support and transmitting enemy situation reports to the 1-506 PIR Commander.

Delta Platoon executed a broad spectrum of combat operations in and around Ramadi. They patrolled bravely through the city streets engaging in firefights while on other occasions, they ambushed insurgent mortar teams near the banks of the Euphrates River. Mike and his fellow SEALs accounted for 84 enemy fighters killed in action and the detainment of numerous insurgents. Most notably, the Army Infantry, Navy SEAL and Iraqi Army combined force helped to pacify the most violent city in Al Anbar province setting conditions for the Sunni Awakening.

Petty Officer Monsoor was subsequently awarded the Bronze Star as the Task Unit Ramadi, Iraq Combat Advisor from April to September 2006. His leadership, guidance and decisive actions during 11 different combat operations saved the lives of his teammates, other Coalition Forces and Iraqi Army soldiers.

VIDEO TRIBUTE

You may not have noticed but I’ve upgraded WordPress - the blogging software I use - from version 2.3.2 to 2.5.  My ISP provides a front-end called Fantastico to help automate installs and upgrades but Fantastico is managed by a 3rd party and are slow to roll our new versions; hence, i did a manual upgrade this morning.  It was pretty easy and I’m glad that I’m now able to keep up with the latests releases of WP both for functionality and security.

Don’t forget, Battlestar: Gallactica Season 4 airs tonight on SciFi.  They are running most of Season 3 throughout the day so try to catch up if you missed the award winning and BEST show on TV.

I’m trying to figure out if I should pay someone to paint the living room or do it myself.  Do it myself = $200 ladder, time to paint, delays in completion, questionable deliverable.  Pay someone: $500, may have to buy ladder anyway to hang quilt.  I’d like the satisfaction of doing it myself but two floors of painting just doesn’t sound like fun and I may be able to rent a ladder.. .man, I hate these kinds of decisions.

And finally this bit of news from World Meteorological Organization’s secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, ‘…global temperatures have not risen since 1998…’  Yep, you read that right.  The article HERE has some more conjecture but the most important thing relayed by the BBC is one simple fact, GLOBAL TEMPERATURES HAVE NOT RISEN IN 10 YEARS.  Suck it Al Gore.

And as always, when dealing with fear mongers: Correlation does not imply causation.  For example:

Yet this is exactly the hair-brained thinking supported by Al Gore.  Cars produce CO2 and CO2 impacts atmospheric conditions, hence mankind is causing global warming.  This ignores: the sun, water vapor, volcanoes, the moon, the earth’s orbit, cyclic weather patterns and everything else out there.

-bill

HERE are the photos from our drive up highway-1.

We’ve been looking around for furniture and ideas for the living room and I think I finally found a set that I like:

This is the sofa (there’s also a loveseat) from Ashley Furniture. I think with one wall (the upstairs portion of our 2-story living room) being a dark brown and the other walls being a camel/caramel this couch would go nicely and then our recliners would be accent pieces. Pretty cool, eh?

Also here’s a video of Will and Lily laughing and giggling together while eating dinner.

-bill