Well to the German government it appears to be any speech that does not offend them. I always thought free speech was giving an idiot the power to open his mouth and prove himself an idiot, seems the German Government and I disagree.

Germany is to revive plans to criminalise Holocaust denial as well as the use of Nazi symbols in all EU countries, making them punishable by up to three years in prison.

Ministers in Berlin have identified the move as a priority of Germany's six-month presidency of the EU which began on 1 January. Its efforts come against the background of the formation in the European Parliament of a far-right group, Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition.

However, the proposal is certain to provoke controversy, particularly in the EU's new members in eastern Europe where politicians have objected to any legislation that would ban Nazi insignia but permit the use of Communist symbols.

Brigitte Zypries, Germany's justice minister, said: "We have always said that it can't be the case it should still be acceptable in Europe to say the Holocaust never existed and that six million Jews were never killed."

The first essay on the page is the one I am talking about. LTC Myers attempts to look at our enemies through the prism of their religion. It is about 10 pages long and is the most informative I have read thus far on the topic.

Brohi places jihad in the context of communal if not imperial obligation; both controversial formulations:

When a believer sees that someone is trying to obstruct another believer from traveling the road that leads to God, spirit of Jehad requires that such a man who is imposing obstacles should be prevented from doing so and the obstacles placed by him should also be removed, so that mankind may be freely able to negotiate its own path that leads to Heaven.” To do otherwise, “by not striving to clear or straighten the path we [Muslims] become passive spectators of the counter-initiatory forces imposing a blockade in the way of those who mean to keep their faith with God.¹⁹

This viewpoint appears to reflect the classic, collective duty within jihad doctrine, to defend the Islamic community from threats—the concept of defensive jihad. Brohi is saying much more than that; however, he is attempting to delineate the duty—the proactive duty—to clear the path for Islam. It is necessary not only to defend the individual believer if he is being hindered in his faith, but also to remove the obstacles of those counter-initiatory forces hindering his Islamic development. This begs the question of what is actually meant by the initiatory forces. The answer is clear to Brohi; the force of initiative is Islam and its Muslim members. “It is the duty of a believer to carry forward the Message of God and to bring it to notice of his fellow-men in handsome ways. But if someone attempts to obstruct him from doing so he is entitled as a matter of defense, to retaliate.”²⁰

This formulation would appear to turn the concept of defense on its head. To the extent that a Muslim may proclaim Islam and proselytize, or Islam, as a faith, seeks to extend its invitation and reach—initiate its advance—but is unable to do so, then that represents an overt threat justifying—a defensive jihad. According to Brohi, this does not result in the “ordinary wars which mankind has been fighting for the sake of either revenge or for securing . . . more land or more booty . . . [this] striving must be [is] for the sake of God. Wars in the theory of Islam are . . . to advance God’s purposes on earth, and invariably they are defensive in character.” In other words, everywhere the message of God and Islam is or can be hindered from expansion, resisted or opposed by some “obstruction” (a term not clearly defined) Islam is intrinsically entitled to defend its manifest destiny.

They defiantly have a different  concept of defense over there.

Gore is definitely out. Can someone talk also ran Kerry into the same please?

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said on Monday he would not run in the next presidential race, despite rumors that he might build on the higher profile created by his environmental campaign to do so.

Asked whether he had plans to stand in the 2008 election, Gore ruled it out, adding: "I'm involved in a different kind of campaign."

Over at Blue Crab Boulevard, Gaius receives news that his son's tour has been extended. He has one request that I take very seriously. He asks:

But the men and women serving in this war, voluntarily, continue to keep the faith. They continue to do what is asked of them. The carry out their mission. Even in the face of flagging public support, even when politicians are busy trying to use them as political weapons, they carry on. They have faith in us.

Is it too much to ask that we also have faith in them?

 

Frank J got a few emails from democrats.org and AIUSA and decides to fisk them.

Five years ago, the U.S. began detaining people at Guantánamo Bay without charges . . . without trial . . . without legal recourse . . . and without hope.

The funny thing is that the military could have just shot these guys - without a trial! - on the battlefield and you wouldn't even be complaining. But, because these guys lucked out and got captured instead of shot, you're complaining. Fine, Amnesty International USA, we'll just shoot everybody from now on. I hope that makes you happy, ya sick bastards!

The interrogation regime there led to many allegations of torture and ill-treatment. These abuses continue despite widespread domestic and international outrage. Help put a stop to these abuses.

I'm a bit confused. Do you want to stop the abuses or the allegations of abuses? Because if it's the latter, then the best solution is to abuse whomever is making the allegations.

The government wants us to think that all people held at Guantánamo Bay are known terrorists.

It's working! I'm thinking that right now!

GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

Today we celebrate the life of one of America's proudest and brightest shining lights, Doctor Martin Luther King.

Hang Right Politics celebrates the man in his own words posting his famous 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail'.

Dean's World has a Youtube video featuring the another of Dr King's lesser known beliefs. His support for the state of Israel and the Jewish people.

Powerline has commentary on Doctor King's letter from above.

The Volokh Conspiracy has video of MLK's famous 'I Have a Dream' speech.





 

Jason shows us what our leftwing friends struggle with...

Seriously, this is a real pathology here - it reminds me of anorexic girls getting together to form starvation clubs and share tips on how to look hot slowly kill themselves.

I am seriously hoping against hope that this reporter is the new Stephen Glass. This looks like something Glass would invent.

They really need help.

I have nothing to say besides God bless the President.

I disagree in a large part, but am pleased to see some cogent reasoning. Most offer stupid emotional fare, I am glad to say TMP doesn't.

New troops will be in Iraq not to police the streets and hold the line against the creeping violence, but to expand the war by taking on the Shia militias. This is an escalation strategy. Will it work; maybe, maybe not. But it runs the risk that it may very well provoke a Shia insurgency—something Iraq has not so far witnessed. Thus far the U.S. has faced a Sunni insurgency (which by most estimates continues to account for 80% of U.S. casualties), and sectarian violence in which Shias and Sunnis are killing each other. Shia militias are violent, destructive and radical, but Shia militias are a very different problem from the Sunni insurgency. Shia militias, unlike te insurgency, are not targeting American troops. But it looks like the administration is set to change that. Over the past year Washington and its Baghdad embassy have alienated the Shia and undermined the authority of the more moderate Ayatollah Sistani. Anti-Americanism has grown in Shia ranks as they accuse U.S. of favoring Sunnis by focusing on Shia militias rather than Sunni insurgency. By going to war with the increasingly popular Sadr Washington runs the danger of losing the Shia altogether.

Not surprisingly I disagree, It is well passed time to hobble the Shia militias but I like the fact that they are thinking about it... Finally.

But he makes a number of valid points. He and I agree on one thing however:

What was good about the President’s speech? He remains committed to victory. Whether he will achieve it or not is a separate matter; the mere fact that he seeks it sets him on a moral plane above the mass of the American left that thinks defeat a wholly palatable option. These men reject the rhetoric of a “surge,” preferring instead “escalation,” apparently on the premise that fighting harder is somehow discrediting and bad. This is to be expected from that corner, of whom no more need be said here. The President also spoke openly of what has been obvious to observers of this war for years: that Iran and Syria are actively engaged on the battlefield against us. One wishes he had been this forthright when United States Marines were grappling with Iranian jihadis in Najaf in April 2004, but better late than never. The warning to these enemy states — coupled with the odd and portentous mention of Patriot batteries and a carrier battle group — is a step in the right direction. This war is bigger than Iraq: and it may have to get bigger still before it is won.

My thanks to Paul at Redstate for the link. BTW personally believe the correct term is reinforcement. As Random House Unabridged Dictionary defines it (I chose number 4).

Often, reinforcements. an additional supply of personnel, ships, aircraft, etc., for a military force.

Newsweek gets their hands on his book (or at least a chapter) and it is surprisingly close to the police's theories.

He parks in the dark alley behind her condo and dons the knit wool cap and gloves he keeps handy to ward off the chill on the golf course. He also has a knife in the Bronco, protection against L.A. "crazies." He intends to scare her. He enters through a broken back gate—he's told her a "million times" to get the buzzer and latch fixed—and encounters Goldman, who is returning the glasses of Nicole's mother, Juditha. She had left them at Mezzaluna, where the Brown family dined after Sydney's recital and where Goldman is a waiter. Simpson accuses Goldman of planning a sexual encounter with Nicole, which Goldman denies. Nicole tells Simpson to leave him alone. Goldman's fate is sealed when Kato, Nicole's Akita, emerges and gives him a friendly tail wag. "You've been here before," Simpson screams at Goldman.

Sounds like a muslim honor killing to me.

This was a shocking game. Never ever underestimate Tom Brady. As a Panthers fan, I know that is a stone cold fact.

The San Diego Chargers gave Tom Brady one chance too many, and that’s all the three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback needed.

Brady and the New England Patriots shocked league MVP LaDainian Tomlinson and the Chargers on Sunday, winning 24-21 to move within one win of their fourth Super Bowl trip in six seasons.

Brady overcame three interceptions, his career playoff high, to lead the Patriots to 11 points in 3:26 late in the game. He now has a 12-1 postseason record heading to Indianapolis for the AFC championship game next Sunday.

Economists are tripping over each other to upgrade the economy from 'soft landing' to accelerating growth. Not bad at all if you ask me. Now how long before the Democrats try to claim it as their own?

Economists are hastily upgrading their forecasts for the US economy after a series of surprisingly strong reports suggesting the so-called "soft landing" may be over and growth is accelerating.

Over the past week, surprises have come in stronger-than-expected reports on US job creation, the trade balance and retail sales -- all key contributors to economic activity.

Lehman Brothers chief US economist Ethan Harris on Friday boosted his forecast for fourth quarter 2006 growth to an annualized rate of 3.3 percent, a leap from the firm's prior call for just 2.0 percent growth.

"After slowing in November, the economy seems to have regained its stride," Harris said.

"With the last of the major data in, we are now revising fourth quarter GDP to an above-trend 3.3 percent. A wide range of indicators have been stronger than expected. Most important have been the strong consumption data and the surprising improvement in the trade balance."

They had a surprisingly close friendship. My thanks to Thad.

No major Republican congressional leader stood by Nixon more fulsomely than Gerald Ford. Ford was the man Nixon trusted on Capitol Hill. The mutual friendship continued well past the throes of Watergate, Nixon's resignation, and Ford's ascension to the Oval Office. Exiled at Casa Pacifica, his home in San Clemente, California, Nixon, hoping to repay the friend who had campaigned for him in 1960, 1968, and 1972, was hell-bent on returning the favor. Unbeknownst to history until now, Nixon was occasionally offering Ford both strategic advice and morale boosts from retirement throughout the 1976 campaign. Nixon presented himself in letters as a scarred veteran of political bloodbaths, a California sage with an instinct for the jugular. On April 22, 1976, for example, he urged Ford to lambaste the Humphrey-Hawkins Bill, which sought to trim unemployment by offering a wide range of public-service jobs to citizens willing to take them. To Nixon, the bill was a "monstrosity," and he urged Ford to score points with independents by denouncing it as socialist. Nixon also advised Ford to aggressively paint Carter, and the Democratic congress, as wimpish on Communism. "Your 'guts' comment on the Congress' failure to support you on Angola was tops," Nixon wrote Ford on February 12, referring to Ford's thwarted bid to fund anti-Marxist guerrillas in the African country. "You will take a little heat on it—but sometimes the right four letter word is the best way to get a message across."

That August, when Ford's approval rating was down around 30 percent, Nixon rallied to Jerry's side. In political lore, Nixon was known as a "comeback" artist, and now he peppered Ford with advice that reflected a surprising faith in the power of positive thinking. "Keep that confident, fighting spirit—and the only poll that matters will come out alright on November 2," Nixon wrote. "The next two months will be the longest and hardest of your life. But I am sure you are ready to give the opposition the fight of their lives."

And dare I say, he sounds a little like American Republicans used to? 

"My values are yours, those of the republican right," Sarkozy said. "These are the values of fairness, order, merit, work, responsibility. I accept them. But in these values in which I believe, there is also movement. I am not a conservative. I do not want an immobile France. I want innovation, creativity, the struggle against injustices."

Despite the French republican ideal that ignores religious and ethnic differences, for example, Sarkozy broke with tradition by referring to the French as the "heirs of 2000 years of Christianity."

He said that Turkey "does not have its place" as a member of the European Union.

In a veiled reference to those Muslims and immigrants who resist the French model of integration, he said it was unacceptable to "want to live in France without respecting and loving France," and learning the French language. He added, "If you live in France then you respect the laws and values of the Republic."