‘I’m just quitting’: A scene right out of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ in Birmingham

by David McElroy


If it had been a scene in “Atlas Shrugged,” the guy would have disappeared into the secrecy of Colorado with a shadowy figure who we would later learn to be John Galt. In real life, the story will probably be more complex. But I wonder how long it’s going to be before businesspeople really do start walking away and deciding it’s not worth doing business in America today. Or it it already happening and we just don’t know it?


The man you see in the picture at the right is named Ronnie Bryant. He operates coal mines in Alabama. I’d never heard of him until this morning, but after what I saw and heard from him, I’d say he’s a bit like a southern version of Ellis Wyatt from Ayn Rand’s novel. What I saw made an impression on me.

Read more at: David McElroy (don't forget the comments)

The Wrench In the Plans

By William Warren – After listening to Obama’s address last night, it’s evident that he is the wrench in the debt ceiling plans.

Afghanistan: Jihad/martyrdom suicide bomber murders Kandahar mayor with bomb hidden in turban

Reinforcing Islamophobic stereotypes

Will the Islamophobia never end? "Kandahar mayor killed by suicide bomber with explosives in turban," by Jon Boone in the Guardian, July 27 (thanks to Bill):

Read it all on: Jihad Watch (and don't forget to read the comments!)

Obama's Legacy

Center for Security Policy

Jul 05, 2011

By Frank Gaffney, Jr.


For some time, the outlines of an Obama Doctrine have been apparent. It can be summarized in nine damning words: Embolden our enemies. Undermine our friends. Diminish our country. These days, it is hard to avoid proof that these outcomes are not inadvertent, or attributable to sheer and sustained incompetence. Rather, they are a product of deliberate decisions approved, we must assume, by the President himself.

Consider last week's announcement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the United States was going to "engage" the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. At one fell swoop, Team Obama hit its doctrinal trifecta:


Read more at: Center for Security Policy

In his 1,500-page manifesto, Anders Behring Breivik slides alarmingly from a legitimate concern about the rise of Islam in Europe to propose 'terror as a method for waking up the masses.

By BRUCE BAWER

When bombs exploded on Friday in a compound of government office buildings in the heart of Oslo, I assumed, as did pretty much everyone, that the perpetrators were Islamic terrorists. But over the course of the day—as the bombings were overshadowed by the gunning down of dozens of young people at a Labor Party youth camp on a nearby island, Utøya—it emerged that these atrocities were not the work of an international jihadist organization. Instead, the perpetrator was a 32-year-old Oslo native named Anders Behring Breivik. He was motivated by a hostility to multicultural policies that, in his view, are leading his country down the path to Islamization. His response was a murderous rampage that has taken the lives of at least 92 people.

It came as stunning news that Norway had been attacked by a blond, blue-eyed, anti-Islamic terrorist. It should not have been: Several of us who have written about the rise of Islam in Europe have warned that the failure of mainstream political leaders to responsibly address the attendant challenges would result in the emergence of extremists like Breivik.

Read more at: The Wall Street Journal

Executive truth-tellers about Obama's disastrous policies

July 21, 2011
Thomas Lifson

Two billionaire magnates, the founds of huge successful enterprises, have dramatically spoken out against President Obama's management of the economy. They have been joined in criticizing the president by several CEOs of big companies. Normally, the heads of huge enterprises are cautious about offending presidents, but the magnitude of the disaster apparently has caused these men to speak truth to power.

Home Depot founder Bernie Marcus did not mince words speaking with Investor's Business Daily:

Having built a small business into a big one, I can tell you that today the impediments that the government imposes are impossible to deal with. Home Depot would never have succeeded if we'd tried to start it today. Every day you see rules and regulations from a group of Washington bureaucrats who know nothing about running a business. And I mean every day. It's become stifling.

If you're a small businessman, the only way to deal with it is to work harder, put in more hours, and let people go. When you consider that something like 70% of the American people work for small businesses, you are talking about a big economic impact.

Read more at: American Thinker

Black Privilege

July 20, 2011
By Robin of Berkeley

One of my friends voluntarily attended an event recently, one that I wouldn't go to for a million bucks (well, maybe a million bucks). It was called Erasing White Privilege.

My friend, whom I'll call Andrea, sat in a room with other whites on one side, and people of color on the other. Then the whites sheepishly confessed any real or imagined offenses perpetuated against a person of color.

After the whites tried to atone for their guilt, the people of color got involved: yelling at them, preaching, and discharging much rage. Andrea's rendition of the events reminded me of those angerfests that were popular in the '70s.

Back then, people would pay to be in encounter groups, where they'd holler and smack each other with foam bats. The idea was that by releasing anger, everyone would feel better.

But guess what the research eventually found? By raging at another person (whether he deserves it or not), our anger doesn't dissipate; it grows. And the deleterious effects are not just emotional. Blood pressure rises and muscle tension increases, promoting hypertension and musculoskeletal pain.

But the studies don't matter; these days it's all about white guilt and minority rage. And the endgame isn't reconciliation and racial healing. We're living in a creepy age where revenge is the order of the day, where the left wants to seize power under the lofty guise of justice.

Read more at: American Thinker

Citaat van de week

"Er is niets wat zichzelf zo ondermijnt als vrijgevigheid."

Machiavelli
Florentijns staatsfilosoof (1469-1527)

THE PAGEANT PASSES

Five Years Ago

Sunday, 10 July 2011

This piece from half a decade ago seems relevant as the west's fetishization flotilla sets off in support of Palestinian house pets:

A few years back, when folks talked airily about "the Middle East peace process" and "a two-state solution," I used to say that the trouble was the Palestinians saw a two-state solution as an interim stage en route to a one-state solution. I underestimated Islamist depravity. As we now see in Gaza and southern Lebanon, any two-state solution would be an interim stage en route to a no-state solution.

In one of the most admirably straightforward of Islamic declarations, Hussein Massawi, the Hezbollah leader behind the slaughter of U.S. and French forces 20 years ago, put it this way:

We are not fighting so that you will offer us something. We are fighting to eliminate you.

Read more at: SteynOnline

De tegenwoordige tijdgeest

Op straat, in de kroeg, op de sportvereniging, op het werk, waar dan ook, gaan de gesprekken over twee niet direct aan Nederland gerelateerde problemen. Ofwel het gaat over de EU, en dan met name over de beoogde financiële steun aan Zuid-Europese lidstaten, ofwel over de 'zegeningen' van de multiculturele samenleving.

Ook de nationale media worden door dezelfde problematiek beheerst.
Dit roept natuurlijk vele vragen op. Logischerwijs vragen mensen zich af: zou Nederland wellicht niet beter af geweest zijn zonder de massa immigratie? Zou Nederland niet beter af geweest zijn zonder toetreding tot de huidige EU? Hadden we niet beter, net als Denemarken een uitzonderingspositie moeten claimen, of, beter nog, net als Noorwegen en Zwitserland buiten de Unie moeten blijven? Immers die landen kennen veel minder problemen dan wij.

Het roept ook de vraag op 'is er soms iets mis met onze huidige rechtsstaat?' Bestaat er nog wel een democratie? Worden we niet 'overruled' door een politachtig bureau, dat haar hoofdzetel in Brussel heeft? Zijn we nog wel 'baas in eigen huis', en zo ja, is dat huis nog wel 'van ons'?
Deze thema's keren telkenmale terug en houdt de gemoederen flink bezig. Critici van die thema's worden niet zelden weggezet als 'populist', 'nationalist' of soms zelfs als 'fascist'.

Lees meer op: Keizers & Kleren

Tyrannus Obama Rex

By Jay Clarke

Barack Obama has many names. He's been called Savior, Messiah, and The Annointed One. He's the first biracial and, some say, first post-racial president. He is charged as the leader of the free world, defender of democracy, and America's head of state. He's an accomplished organizer, spellbinding orator, and historically significant occupant of the Oval Office. And, he is a tyrant.

Americans hate tyrants. Tyrants are ruthless villains, hostile to the basic freedoms granted to humanity by God. Enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have spoken hope to Americans and to freedom-loving people around the world for 235 years. But, these basic, God-given rights are under assault. Not by international forces, but from within. From within America. From within the U.S. government itself and directly from the Office of the President.

Read more at: American Thinker

The Sugar Daddy Has Run Out of Sugar; Now We Need New Leaders

by Sarah Palin on Saturday, July 9, 2011 at 3:22pm

Barack Obama’s big government policies continue to fail. He should put a link to the national debt clock on his BlackBerry. The gears on that clock have nearly exploded during his administration. Yesterday’s terrible job numbers should not be a surprise because it all goes back to our debt. Our dangerously unsustainable debt is wiping out our jobs, crippling our economic growth, and jeopardizing our position in the global economy as the leader of the free world.

As a governor, I had to deal with facts, even unpleasant ones. I dealt with the world as it is, not as I wished it to be. The “elite” political class in this country with their heads in the sand had better face some unpleasant facts about the world as it is. They’ve run out of money and no amount of accounting gimmicks or happy talk will change this reality. Those of us who live in the real world could see this day coming.

Back in January 2009, as governor of Alaska, I announced: “We also have to be mindful about the effect of the stimulus package on the national debt and the future economic health of the country. We won’t achieve long-term stability if we continue borrowing massive sums from foreign countries and remain dependent on foreign sources of oil and gas.” Then I urged President Obama to veto the stimulus bill because it was loaded with absolutely useless pork and unfunded mandates. Everyone knows my early and vocal opposition to that mother of all unfunded mandates known as Obamacare starting back in August 2009, and many recall my objections to the Federal Reserves’ inflationary games with our currency known as QE2 from November 2010. It’s a matter of public record that I did not go to Harvard Law School, but I can add.

Read more at: Facebook

California’s long-term cooling trend cited as evidence FOR global warming

Want to know why global warming alarmists and climate scientists in general have lost credibility with the American public? Consider a new study released today — and the unintentionally hilarious weasel words of its author — as Exhibit A.

As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle today, a meteorologist did a 30-year survey of temperature and precipitation data for most of the largest cities up and down the state of California. Conclusion? In 75% of the sites, the weather has grown colder and rainier than it used to be:

Read more at: Pajamas Media

Mietjes krijgen slaag

Brussel anno 2011. Jonge Maghrebijnen bedreigen op straat een homoseksueel en proberen hem te wurgen. Hij vlucht een nabijgelegen pittazaak binnen en smeekt om hulp maar daar wordt hij pas gewelddadig in elkaar getimmerd. Op facebook verwerken sommige mensen een stopbord in hun profielfoto als symbool tegen “agressie op homo’s”. Daarnaast is er een litanie van verontwaardiging in zowel pers als parlement over “homohaat”.

Vervreemding
Mijn verontwaardiging over deze laffe agressie werd enkel overstegen door het zelfbedrog van de reacties erop. Er zijn immers nog meer mensen die fysiek aangevallen worden door moslims, maar blijkbaar tellen enkel homoseksuelen.
Enkele voorbeelden uit mijn eigen omgeving, in volgorde van kwaad naar erger:
Gent.
Na middernacht keer ik alleen huiswaarts na een avond kroegbezoek. Twee Marokkanen stoppen met een brommer en roepen me iets toe. Nietsvermoedend ga ik er op af en vraag wat ze bedoelen. Uit het niets krijg ik een harde vuistslag in het gezicht en val achteruit. Instinctief sta ik op en ga op hen af. Ineens weer die vuist vanuit het niets. Ik val achterover maar voel niets. Ik besef dat het beter is af te druipen want te geïntoxiceerd om me te verdedigen.
Sint-Niklaas.
Een vriend keert huiswaarts ’s avonds en komt voorbij een Marokkaanse vzw (soort café). Men trekt hem naar binnen en doet de deur op slot. Men dwingt hem om al zijn geld af te geven maar hij verweert zich, fysiek en luidruchtig. Na veel geduw en getrek duwen ze hem buiten.
Eens buiten beseft hij een paar gemene messteken in de buikstreek te hebben gekregen. Gelukkig enkel vleeswonden.
Brussel.
Een vriendin gaat naar huis van haar werk, wordt letterlijk de struiken in getrokken en verkracht. De Marokkaanse dader wordt later gepakt en veroordeeld omdat er meerdere klachten waren tegen hem. (Vergelijk het Zweedse Malmö waar bijna alle verkrachtingen op blanke vrouwen – 8O% van de slachtoffers – worden gepleegd door moslims)

Lees meer op: Keizers & kleren