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A Blog Smith is analogous to Hephaestus (as a blacksmith) in that they create from writing by "forging" the basic materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: ideas, IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
David Horowitz, UCLA
The Palestinian Wall of Lies
A short film by the David Horowitz Freedom Center that uncovers the lies of "Israel Apartheid Week"
David Horowitz at UCLA - Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7, Q and A
Part 8, Q and A
Part 9, Q and A
Monday, May 30, 2011
WESTERN BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN LIBYA
News
World news
Libya
Al-Jazeera footage captures 'western troops on the ground' in Libya
Five of Gaddafi's generals are among latest defectors to rebels as South African president seeks to broker ceasefire
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Julian Borger and Martin Chulov
guardian.co.uk, Monday 30 May 2011 15.33 BST
Article history
Armed westerners have been filmed on the front line with rebels near Misrata in the first apparent confirmation that foreign special forces are playing an active role in the Libyan conflict.
A group of six westerners are clearly visible in a report by al-Jazeera from Dafniya, described as the westernmost point of the rebel lines west of the town of Misrata. Five of them were armed and wearing sand-coloured clothes, peaked caps, and cotton Arab scarves.
The sixth, apparently the most senior of the group, was carrying no visible weapon and wore a pink, short-sleeve shirt. He may be an intelligence officer. The group is seen talking to rebels and then quickly leaving on being spotted by the television crew.
Ancient Tunnel Discovered by Jerusalem's Old City
South of the Old City, visitors to Jerusalem can enter a tunnel chipped from the bedrock by a Judean king 2,500 years ago and walk through knee-deep water under the Arab neighborhood of Silwan. Beginning this summer, a new passage will be open nearby: a sewer Jewish rebels are thought to have used to flee the Roman legions who destroyed the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D.
The sewer leads uphill, passing beneath the Old City walls before expelling visitors into sunlight next to the rectangular enclosure where the temple once stood, now home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the gold-capped Dome of the Rock.
From there, it’s a short walk to a third passage, the Western Wall tunnel, which continues north from the Jewish holy site past stones cut by masons working for King Herod and an ancient water system. Visitors emerge near the entrance to an ancient quarry called Zedekiah’s Cave that descends under the Muslim Quarter.
The next major project, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority, will follow the course of one of the city’s main Roman-era streets underneath the prayer plaza at the Western Wall. This route, scheduled for completion in three years, will link up with the Western Wall tunnel.
The excavations and flood of visitors exist against a backdrop of acute distrust between Israeli Jews and Palestinian Muslims, who are suspicious of any government moves in the Old City and particularly around the Al-Aqsa compound, Islam’s third-holiest shrine. Jews know the compound as the Temple Mount, site of two destroyed temples and the center of the Jewish faith for three millennia.
Muslim fears have led to violence in the past: The 1996 opening of a new exit to the Western Wall tunnel sparked rumors among Palestinians that Israel meant to damage the mosques, and dozens were killed in the ensuing riots. In recent years, however, work has gone ahead without incident.
Mindful that the compound has the potential to trigger devastating conflict, Israel’s policy is to allow no excavations there. Digging under Temple Mount, the Israeli historian Gershom Gorenberg has written, “would be like trying to figure out how a hand grenade works by pulling the pin and peering inside.”
Despite the Israeli assurances, however, rumors persist that the excavations are undermining the physical stability of the Islamic holy sites.
“I believe the Israelis are tunneling under the mosques,” said Najeh Bkerat, an official of the Waqf, the Muslim religious body that runs the compound under Israel’s overall security control.
Samir Abu Leil, another Waqf official, said he had heard hammering that very morning underneath the Waqf’s offices, in a Mamluk-era building that sits just outside the holy compound and directly over the route of the Western Wall tunnel, and had filed a complaint with police.
The closest thing to an excavation on the mount, Israeli archaeologists point out, was done by the Waqf itself: In the 1990s, the Waqf opened a new entrance to a subterranean prayer space and dumped truckloads of rubble outside the Old City, drawing outrage from scholars who said priceless artifacts were being destroyed.
This month, an Israeli government watchdog released a report saying Waqf construction work in the compound in recent years had been done without supervision and had damaged antiquities. The issue is deemed so sensitive that the details of the report were kept classified.
Some Israeli critics of the tunnels point to what they call an exaggerated emphasis on a Jewish narrative.
“The tunnels all say: We were here 2,000 years ago, and now we’re back, and here’s proof,” said Yonathan Mizrachi, an Israeli archaeologist. “Living here means recognizing that other stories exist alongside ours.”
Yuval Baruch, the Antiquities Authority archaeologist in charge of Jerusalem, said his diggers are careful to preserve worthy finds from all of the city’s historical periods. “This city is of interest to at least half the people on Earth, and we will continue uncovering the past in the most professional way we can,” he said.
John Wayne Tributes on Memorial Day
Why Are You Marching, Son? 4:01
"Taps" 2:56
The history of "Taps" written by John Mitchum and spoken by John Wayne.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Afterlife of the Soul
The psyche for the Greeks is the breath of life, ghost, vital principle, soul, or anima (Peters, Francis, Greek Philosophical Terms: A Historical Lexicon, p. 166). Aristotle addresses two main elements of the soul, movement (kinesis) and perception (aisthesis). Both of these elements have been troublesome points of contention and debate in regards to the soul. Aristotle is on the right track in that the soul may be seen as intertwined with the human body: Homer strayed along the wrong lines and separated the two.
The question of the Human Body (Eliade, Mircea, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 6, God - Ichi, 6:499) and its disposition is intriguing. What survives human life? Organic life exists for a finite period of time, then ceases to be.
I would come down on the side of a dualist which radically differentiates the life principle from all else, as opposed to the homologization of microcosm and macrocosm (which systematically correlates the body with the world outside, p. 499).
"With regard to the first, dualistic physiology posits a radical distinction between base matter and some non-material life principle which inheres only within certain material aggregates for a period of finite duration. the entry of the life principle--be it defined as soul, spirit, breath, warmth, or the life--vivifies and energizes the matter in which it resides: when it departs, death is the result. Such a dualism is implicit in the familiar account of the creation of the first human being in Genesis 2:7 (p. 499).
There are elaborate religious conceptions of origin, existence, and explanations of the soul but what intrigues me is the scientific application of the life force. Energy, insofar as I understand it, does not simply go poof! So what happens scientifically to energy, or a force, and an organic life force at the cessation of death? Ordinarily, and only for the sake of discussion, this is the soul.
David Hume is the skeptic who doubts that "we have any idea of the self" (Stumpf, Samuel Enoch, Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 301). There is no myself that truly exists according to Hume since what I really can catch is only some perception of myself, not the self, itself.
The question of the Human Body (Eliade, Mircea, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol. 6, God - Ichi, 6:499) and its disposition is intriguing. What survives human life? Organic life exists for a finite period of time, then ceases to be.
I would come down on the side of a dualist which radically differentiates the life principle from all else, as opposed to the homologization of microcosm and macrocosm (which systematically correlates the body with the world outside, p. 499).
"With regard to the first, dualistic physiology posits a radical distinction between base matter and some non-material life principle which inheres only within certain material aggregates for a period of finite duration. the entry of the life principle--be it defined as soul, spirit, breath, warmth, or the life--vivifies and energizes the matter in which it resides: when it departs, death is the result. Such a dualism is implicit in the familiar account of the creation of the first human being in Genesis 2:7 (p. 499).
There are elaborate religious conceptions of origin, existence, and explanations of the soul but what intrigues me is the scientific application of the life force. Energy, insofar as I understand it, does not simply go poof! So what happens scientifically to energy, or a force, and an organic life force at the cessation of death? Ordinarily, and only for the sake of discussion, this is the soul.
David Hume is the skeptic who doubts that "we have any idea of the self" (Stumpf, Samuel Enoch, Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, p. 301). There is no myself that truly exists according to Hume since what I really can catch is only some perception of myself, not the self, itself.
A Warning to America | The Facts of Islam
In May 12, 2011, Bill Warner spoke at the Cornerstone Church in Nashville, TN. His speech was part of Geert Wilders’ event, “A Warning to America”, sponsored by the Tennessee Freedom Coalition.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
9/11 Families Can Not State "Muslim" on Memorial to Son
Peter Gadiel of 9/11 Families for a Secure America is discussed on the Bill O'Reilly news show concerning a new memorial for Peter's son who was murdered in the 9/11 attacks. Peter is insistent that the memorial in Kent, Connecticut state that his son was killed by Muslim terrorists. According to O'Reilly, the city is objecting on the grounds of political correctness.
RT's Adam Kokesh vs. The Man
4:24
RT's Adam vs the Man host Adam Kokesh and several other activists participating in a flash-mob were body slammed, choked and arrested at the publicly-funded Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Their crime? Silently dancing, in celebration of the first amendment's champion and in response to US District Judge John D. Bates' ruling that denounced dancing on the site.
The Most Beautiful Woman in the World: Michelle
CabooseLook at her shoulders and posture compared to France’s first lady and the princess of Spain.
Religion vs. State, Crosses in Utah
I disagree; the cross is a religious symbol and should not be paid for at state expense. On the other hand, these are religious symbols that are historically important for a time when America adhered to Judeo-Christian values. The First Amendment states that the government should neither promote nor prohibit religious observance. Thus, the existing monuments should remain as historically significant, and be paid for by the state, until such time as citizens abandon religious symbols altogether, or, if they decide they would like to be religious once again. In this way, the state is neutral in regards to religious observance which is what I believe is what the Founders intended.
Parents Not Raising Children Who Are Passive Enough for the Federal Government
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNSNews.com on Wednesday that the administration's new $500 million early learning initiative is designed to deal with children from birth onward to prevent such problems as 5-year olds who "can't sit still" in a kindergarten classroom.
“You really need to look at the range of issues, because if a 5-year-old can’t sit still, it is unlikely that they can do well in a kindergarten class, and it has to be the whole range of issues that go into healthy child development,” Sebelius said during a telephone news conference on Wednesday to announce the Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Medvedev says Russia, U.S. may reach agreement on missile shield by 2020
Medvedev Uncorks a Stunner on U.S. Missile Defense Shield
It wasn’t merely that Medvedev had chosen a date almost comically far into the future to suggest when the two nations might come to terms; the particular date he chose carried special meaning. 2020 is the year when the State Department has estimated the U.S. will deploy the SM-3 Block IIB, a missile still on the drawing board but being designed to intercept medium- and intermediate-range missiles that might be launched from the Middle East.
College Students Sign Petition to End Free Speech
This reference to the video was gone after I posted it.
Joe Schoffstall out to see just how far liberals would go to silence conservative speech. Joe went around Georgetown in DC with a petition to "Ban Conservative Hate Sites" that said this:
"The undersigned hereby adamantly demand that the United States government shut down right wing hate sites. The hate speech propagated by sites like the Drudge Report, Hot Air, Instapundit, Big Government, and others must not be allowed to corrupt our political discourse any longer. These sites are dangerous not only to truth and freedom but also to our society as a whole. BAN THEM NOW!"
Good Thing the Americans Are Not in Debt to the Communists
Australian TV reporter Stephen McDonnell recently went to Beijing to report on the underground church booming in China. But he wasn’t in the country long before he started noticing something: he was being followed.
Clarke asleep during Obama speech
Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke naps while Obummer rambles on at Westminster.
U.S. Congressman Says The Obama Administration Materially Supporting Terrorist
Rep. Gohmert on the Sean Hannity Show
Rep. Gohmert has more information on how Obama is supporting terrorist's organizations.
Indiana Citizens Take Back 4th Amendment
http://RTR.org | After the unconstitutional Indiana Supreme Court ruling removing the protections of the 4th Amendment, the people of Indiana spontaneously organized in a trans-partisan alliance uniting for the Constitution at their state capitol. Gary Franchi was on the scene to report.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Honor Killing in Florida
Did Fatima Abdallah really cause her own death by repeatedly striking her face against a coffee table as reported by Tampa Police or was her demise an honor killing? Kudos to Pamela Geller for publicizing the report compiled by a researcher.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Netanyahu: Israel Will Always Be Pro-American
Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu is congratulating America for killing bin Laden, saying `good riddance,' and adding the U.S. has a permanent partner for peace in Israel. (May 24)
Monday, May 23, 2011
Bobby Jindal's Birth Certificate
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's birth certificate indicates he was born on June 10, 1971, in Baton Rouge, La.
CODENAME SMART ALEC?: UK police label Obama with 'mildly offensive' Punjabi word...
A Punjabi speaker told the paper the word Chalaque is 'not considered rude', but could be 'mildly offensive'.
It is also said to mean 'cheeky, crafty and cunning'.
Codename 'smart alec': British police label Obama with 'mildly offensive' Punjabi word for visit to UK
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz: THE GIRL FROM IPANEMA - 1964
"The Girl from Ipanema" ("Garota de Ipanema") is a well-known bossa nova song, a worldwide hit in the mid-1960s that won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 1965. It was written in 1962, with music by Antonio Carlos Jobim and Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes. English lyrics were written later by Norman Gimbel.
The first commercial recording was in 1962, by Pery Ribeiro. The version performed by Astrud Gilberto, along with João Gilberto and Stan Getz, from the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto, became an international hit, reaching number five in the United States pop chart, number 29 in the United Kingdom, and charting highly throughout the world. Numerous recordings have been used in films, sometimes as an elevator music cliché (for example, near the end of The Blues Brothers). In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
The first commercial recording was in 1962, by Pery Ribeiro. The version performed by Astrud Gilberto, along with João Gilberto and Stan Getz, from the 1964 album Getz/Gilberto, became an international hit, reaching number five in the United States pop chart, number 29 in the United Kingdom, and charting highly throughout the world. Numerous recordings have been used in films, sometimes as an elevator music cliché (for example, near the end of The Blues Brothers). In 2004, it was one of 50 recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.
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Yes, You Can Make a 150-Foot Basketball Shot With a Homemade Catapult
The Legendary Shots are a group of basketball fans who go to great lengths to get the ball in the net – literally.
The Alabama friends recently scored a basket from around 150 feet – potentially a new world record – but it was actually the method of the shot that pleased them more than the distance.
The nine-strong gang built a wooden catapult which they used to fire the ball across a street and through the rim.
Free fall shot
The End of the World
Skeeter Davis -- The End Of The World, 2:34
Her best-known hit was the pop classic "The End of the World" in 1963; the video is from a television appearance in 1965.
Music video by R.E.M. performing It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) (2003 Digital Remaster), 4:04
Little Man, Big Man - Atlas Shrugs
Little Man, Big Man - Atlas Shrugs
This speech is from Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, from November 2010.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Obama to Congress; I Don't Need Your Permission, Constitution Thwarted
White House on War Powers Deadline: 'Limited' US Role in Libya Means No Need to Get Congressional Authorization
If Obama's ignorance of the Constitution holds, then limited actions such as Vietnam, which led to the deaths of 58,000 Americans, is a legitimate presidential action. In addition, if we are taking orders from an international body such as NATO, then we do not need the approval of not only Congress but the American people as well.
“Since April 4,” Obama wrote, “U.S. participation has consisted of: (1) non-kinetic support to the NATO-led operation, including intelligence, logistical support, and search and rescue assistance; (2) aircraft that have assisted in the suppression and destruction of air defenses in support of the no-fly zone; and (3) since April 23, precision strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles against a limited set of clearly defined targets in support of the NATO-led coalition's efforts.”
Friday, May 20, 2011
Students Who "Support" Free Speech Want to Ban Conservatives From Radio & TV
College students who claim to support the freedom of speech wish to ban conservative talk-show hosts from both radio & TV (filmed at CSU Fresno).
Check out our website http://www.ExposingLeftists.com and follow us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ExposingLeftists
Netanyhu Schools Obama
This is a shorter clip but you do not see Obama's rigid and unmoved body language in it.
1967 Israel Borders
The original Mandate for Palestine, agreed to unanimously by the League of Nations in 1920, designated 124,466 sq. km. for the Jewish National Homeland, to be known as Israel. Israel did not receive that territory – but legally, the territory is still theirs today.
Here’s the map of that area legally belonging to Israel (unchanged today) as granted by the League of Nations:
Two years later, that 120,466 sq. km. had been reduced to 28,166 sq. km., as requested by the British trustees and approved by the League of Nation. The remaining 77% of the land originally proposed for the Jewish homeland was to become the Arab state of Jordan.
The creation of an Arab state in eastern Palestine (today Jordan) on 77 percent of the landmass of the original Mandate intended for a Jewish National Home in no way changed the status of Jews west of the Jordan River, nor did it inhibit their right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.
These documents are the last legally binding documents regarding the status of what is commonly called “the West Bank and Gaza.”
The Jewish homeland was to consist of all the land west of the Jordan River, stretching to the Mediterranean Sea – and including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The the Arabs would not have it. The League of Nations dissolved into the United Nations and the problem was handed over to the U.N., including the trusteeship of the British mandate to make a Jewish state a reality. The Mandate stood.
U.N. Resolution 181, known also as the U.N. 1947 Partition Resolution, was passed by the U.N. General Assembly, and implemented but never accepted by the Arabs. The Iraq spokesman took to the podium and put on record “Iraq does not recognize the validity of this decision.”
From Syria: “My country will never recognize such a decision [Partition]. It will never agree to be responsible for it.” From Yemen: “the Government of Yemen does not consider itself bound by such a decision.”
The Partition Plan was met not only by verbal rejection on the Arab side but also by concrete, bellicose steps to block its implementation and destroy the Jewish polity by force of arms, a goal the Arabs publicly declared even before Resolution 181 was brought to a vote.
Arabs not only rejected the compromise and took action to prevent establishment of a Jewish state but also blocked establishment of an Arab state under the partition plan not just before the Israel War of Independence, but also after the war when they themselves controlled the West Bank (1948-1967), rendering the recommendation ‘a still birth.’
The UN itself recognized that 181 had not been accepted by the Arab side, rendering it a dead issue: …
The U.N. partition began. More land was taken from the Jewish homeland.
The partition plan took on a checkerboard appearance. This was largely because Jewish towns and villages were spread throughout Palestine. This did not complicate the plan as much as the fact that the high living standards in Jewish cities and towns had attracted large Arab populations. This demographic factor insured that any partition would result in a Jewish state that included a substantial Arab population. Recognizing the need to allow for additional Jewish settlement, the majority proposal allotted the Jews land in the northern part of the country, Galilee, and the large, arid Negev desert in the south. The remainder was to form the Arab state.
The map now looked like this:
These boundaries were based solely on demographics. The borders of the Jewish State were arranged with no consideration of security; hence, the new state’s frontiers were virtually indefensible. Overall, the Jewish State was to be comprised of roughly 5,500 square miles and the population was to be 538,000 Jews and 397,000 Arabs. The Arab State was to be 4,500 square miles with a population of 804,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews. Though the Jews were allotted more total land, the majority of that land was in the desert.
Israel’s land which was originally mandated at 126,000+ sq. km., was now to be a mere 14,245 sq. kms. In addition to limiting Jewish lands, the immigration of Jews was also limited so that a majority of Jews in the land would never be accomplished.
Arab immigration had no immigration restrictions.
Israel accepted the partition, but in reality, it did not change or diminish the legality of the lands mandated for Israel – which still included the West Bank and the Gaza Strip – because the Arabs would agree to nothing which facilitated Jews in Palestine.
Creating the Arab state of Jordan in no way affected or “changed the status of Jews west of the Jordan River, nor did it inhibit their right to settle anywhere in western Palestine, the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.” Nothing from the time of the Mandate until today, changes the fact that under international law, the West Bank and Gaza is open to Jewish settlement.
Under international law, neither Jordan nor the Palestinian Arab ‘people’ of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip have a substantial claim to the sovereign possession of the occupied territories.
The UN Charter’s Article 80 implicitly recognizes the “Mandate for Palestine” of the League of Nations. The International Court of Justice has reaffirmed the validity of Article of 80.
In other words, neither the ICJ nor the UN General Assembly can arbitrarily change the status of Jewish settlement as set forth in the “Mandate for Palestine,” an international accord that has never been amended.
All of western Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, including the West Bank and Gaza, remains open to Jewish settlement under international law.
The new Jewish state was to have the right to self-determination of political, civil and religious rights. “Not once are Arabs as a people mentioned in the Mandate for Palestine. At no point in the entire document is there any granting of political rights to non-Jewish