Light Posting, Again

It's that time of year again: exam time. And unfortunately, that necessitates me spending almost all of my waking hours studying, hence the light posting. Don't go away, dear readers. I should be back on May 6 or 7, depending on how the middle of next week works out.

As of right now, I am 40% finished with exams--I've taken two out of the five that I have.

Thanks, Robert

Imagine my surprise this evening when I checked my site counter and one of the referring links to my blog was from Jihad Watch. That means that someone clicked on a link to my site from Jihad Watch, meaning that I was somehow linked on there. I headed on over and, to my surprise and delight, found out that I am on the Jihad Watch blogroll now. I looked at Yahoo's cache of Jihad Watch, which I think was from last night, and my blog was not yet on there, so I believe I am accurate in saying that I was recently added.

I really am so honoured to be included on the blogroll. I think many of my readers know by now that I hold Robert Spencer in very high esteem, so I really cannot do justice to my happiness on this matter. Thank you, Robert. I truly am honoured.

Spencer To Johnson: Epic Pwnage

Robert Spencer makes my life, seriously. I got up this morning and found the following link in my email: Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs falls for fauxtography!

Yesterday, Johnson posted the following entry, Robert Spencer Confirmed to Attend Eurofascist Conference, which alleged that Filip Dewinter and Markus Beisicht had attended some sort of seemingly neo-Nazi rally. He posted the following photo:


Take a close look at the photo, dear readers. You can click on it to make it larger if you so desire. It's a lovely photo, except for one thing: it's fake. Note the following things wrong with it:

1. The lighting on Dewinter and Beisicht does not match the rest of the background.

2. There is no depth of field. The camera appears to be equally well-focused on both the people and the background. I've done a fair amount of photography and this is not possible. A camera lens can only focus on one thing at once.

3. It looks like there's a bite taken out of Dewinter's right shoulder.

What happened was that someone edited the following photo (from here):


...and put the people onto this photo (from here, found from this LGF comment):


I don't know who did the editing (though I have my suspicions). Interestingly enough, whoever did wiped the metadata from the photo, at least from what I can see. There is no image manipulation program associated with it when I looked at the file info in Photoshop.

Johnson, in his usual mendacious fashion, posted in response to this whole fiasco that it doesn't matter that the photo was edited--what matters is that these alleged "Eurofascists" are "associates".

Of course, it obviously does matter. Giving Johnson the benefit of the doubt, that it was an honest mistake, calls into question the credibility of his arguments (not that they weren't questionable already--for about the past year and a half, at the least, this man has been spelling Filip Dewinter's name incorrectly with a capitalised "w"; Dewinter's website does not capitalise it). If one wishes to believe more nefarious intentions from Johnson (that he knew it was fake but posted it anyway to suit his own purposes, or that he did the editing himself), then Mr. Johnson is lying outright. So yes, the fact that the image was edited does matter.

Charles Johnson's attacks on the excellent Robert Spencer are so unfounded that it's ridiculous. Robert Spencer is an amazing person. He is extremely kind and funny and is in no way whatsoever a fascist or Nazi. He harbours no such sympathies. He spoke at my university in March and in no way advocated any sort of violence. He stressed the importance of human rights quite a bit, as well as freedom of speech. He is also an ardent supporter of the Jews and Israel. Does that sound Nazi-like or fascist to you? I also had dinner with Robert afterwards, which only confirmed my view that he is an extremely warm and kind human being who does not deserve to be stabbed in the back and defamed by former friends.

Little Green Footballs went crazy quite a while ago. Charles Johnson sees pro-free speech "fascists" everywhere he looks, as well as pro-Israel, pro-Jewish "Nazis". LGF has outlived its usefulness and Johnson is showing his true colours: he is a narcissist. Note how he can never, ever admit that he's wrong or unimportant. He's a leftist at heart and is no longer an asset to the counterjihad movement.

I am sorry if I have bored anyone with my recent postings about Johnson, but I feel that I cannot stay silent on this topic because that would look like I agreed. I feel it is important to stand up to the ravings against admirable people I support, like Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller, and Baron Bodissey and Dymphna of Gates of Vienna.

Narcissism Knows No Bounds

Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs has gone increasingly insane these past few weeks. He's been attacking some of the bloggers who I respect most, including Robert Spencer, Gates of Vienna, and Pamela Geller. And tonight, he has really shown how much of a narcissist he is with this post: Wall Street Journal Expels Paul Belien's Fascist Website.

According to Johnson, the Brussels Journal was removed from the Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal Federation Page. He's actually correct about that: I personally believe that it happened in the past month or so, because last time I was on the OpinionJournal Federation Page, the Brussels Journal was definitely there.

He goes on to suggest that his own libelous and misleading post (from December 2008!) may have effected this change. Now, I do not know what made the Brussels Journal be removed, so in theory it could have been LGF. But honestly, isn't that more than a tad narcissistic to say so? I mean, let's be honest: it could have been a number of things. But in Charles Johnson's mind, of course the only cause of the removal is of course Charles Johnson himself! How could the rest of us have been so foolish as to think otherwise? I mean, really!

Seriously, Charles Johnson needs to get a life: his site is not that popular, and he is really not nearly as great as he thinks he is. He also needs to stop seeing "fascism" everywhere and perhaps learn what fascism (and Nazism, for that matter) is. Jonah Goldberg's Liberal Fascism is a good start. Just a bit of advice (that he probably will never heed, but that I have given nonetheless).

I Love You, Medvedev

I apologise in advance to all my male readers because you probably don't feel quite the same way about the president of Russia as I do.

OK, I admit it: I find Dmitry Medvedev, the president of Russia, to be extremely attractive. So you can only imagine my elation this afternoon when I discovered a website called Я люблю тебя, Медведев! (Ya lyublyu tebya, Medvedev!). The name means "I love you, Medvedev" and it full of wonderful pictures of the man.

Just for the record, there's one for Putin as well: Я люблю тебя, Путин! But unfortunately for dear Volodya, I don't quite like him in the same way...

And my dear mum, who knows how I feel about Medvedev, sent me the following picture. I think she said she got it off this site, but I am not sure.


Isn't he adorable?

Ahmadinejad: Still Murderous, Still Genocidal, Still Stupid

And I bet the world will continue to not take his remarks seriously and The Anointed One will continue to ask him to "unclench" or whatever stupid metaphor he used with regards to Iran.

Iranian: Israel Is a Racist State.

PARIS, April 20 -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad argued before a U.N. anti-racism conference Monday that Israel is a "paragon of racism" founded on "the pretext of Jewish sufferings" during World War II.

The comments, a hard-edged version of Ahmadinejad's often-repeated anti-Zionist views, prompted several dozen European diplomats to walk out of the opening session of the week-long Geneva meeting, which the Obama administration and eight other Western nations already were boycotting. In addition, a handful of pro-Israel demonstrators shouting "shame, shame" and "racist, racist" threw red clown noses at the podium and prevented Ahmadinejad from entering a room where he was to hold a news conference.

[...]

Ahmadinejad, who just a week ago had suggested that Iran was ready for a new relationship with the United States, blamed America and its allies for a long list of ills, including the world economic crisis. He suggested that the Western model of economic liberalism was exhausted and that Western leaders, in their efforts to contain the crisis, "are simply thinking about maintaining power and wealth."

[...]

"Following World War II," he continued, according to an official English-language text of his remarks, "they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless, on the pretext of Jewish sufferings and the ambiguous and dubious question" of the Holocaust.

Is this really a surprise to anyone? This idiot (I would call him a nutjob but that would imply that he's crazy and not serious about what he says, and he really is anything but) has been calling for the destruction of Israel for such a long time now. Come on, Westerners: open your ears and listen. This is just the same old offensive garbage he's been saying, and he means it. Given the opportunity, this man would wipe an entire nation of innocent people off the earth, which is why it is so important that he never be given that opportunity.

My favourite part from the article:

Israel, preparing to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day starting at sundown Monday, derided the U.N. gathering for giving Ahmadinejad a forum. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called him "a racist and a Holocaust denier who doesn't conceal his intention to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth."

I seriously love Netanyahu. At least one civilised country has a decent leader who's not afraid to call a spade a spade. Honestly, as of right now, some of the West's last best hopes lie with Israel.

And Western political leaders, do us a favour: take Ahmadinejad (and his Islamic brethren) seriously. They're the ones saying that Israel should be wiped off the map and they mean it. The Religion of Peace™ is not nearly as peaceful as the average brainwashed person believes. (Hey, I know it's a lot to wish for, but I can hope.)

All emphases in quoted article are mine.

Antagonising Russia

The true enemy of the United States and the Western world is the all-encompassing totalitarian ideology of Islam, which seeks to subjugate and destroy us. The Western world, which boasts one of the greatest civilisations that the world has ever seen, ought to be fully united in the face of this very dangerous enemy.

Yet instead, this country's leadership (both our past president and The Anointed One™) insists on antagonising a country that could be a valuable ally: Russia. I just really do not understand. Let's examine the following story on the BBC: Nato exercises 'a dangerous move'.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has condemned Nato's "dangerous decision" to hold military exercises in Georgia next month.

He said such decisions "are aimed at muscle-flexing" and would impede the resumption of full-scale contacts between Moscow and Nato.

Moscow's envoy to Nato said on Thursday he had asked the Western military alliance to postpone the exercises.

Nato says the exercises, from 6 May to 1 June, represent no threat to Moscow.

Held some 20km (12 miles) east of Georgia's capital Tbilisi, they will be non-aggressive and based on a fictitious UN-mandated, Nato-led crisis response operation, the alliance said.

"There should really be no element of surprise for anyone," Nato spokesman Robert Pszczel said. "There is no heavy armour involved at all, it's just people."

Nato has said the exercises, expected to involve 1,300 troops from 19 countries, were planned before last year's conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia.

Georgia hopes eventually to join Nato, a move strongly opposed by Russia, which says the alliance's eastward expansion is a threat to its security.

[...]

The ambassador [i.e., Russia's ambassador to NATO] also said the exercises could be exploited by Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in his stand-off with opposition parties, which have recently held a series of mass protests.

The opposition accuses him of mishandling the war with Russia, during which Georgia's attempts to regain control of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia were repelled by Russian forces.

Under an EU-sponsored ceasefire, monitors were sent to Georgia. But thousands of Russian troops remain in both breakaway regions.

Russia does not like NATO (and for that matter, neither do I--it's an outdated and criminal organisation that ought to be disbanded) because NATO expansion threatens their sphere of influence. Let's be honest here: if Russia formed some sort of alliance and began to conduct military exercises in Canada while pushing for Canada's membership in this theoretical alliance, Americans would not be too happy. That's how Russia feels about Georgia's prospective membership in NATO.

It is not that NATO has not served a purpose. During the Cold War, I think it was a useful and even necessary organisation. But since the collapse of the Soviet Union, it has only done harm--one need look no further than its criminal role in the destruction of the former Yugoslavia with the bombing of Serbia in 1999.

Hillary Clinton may have tried to "reset" relations with Russia, but I'm not seeing any changes, and Russia does not appear to be either. It would be in the best interest of both of our countries to unite against our common enemy instead of continuing this ridiculous and petty infighting.

Good Ol' Joe And Barry

I get weekly emails from Karl Rove, and there was a link in this week's email to what is possibly the most hilarious video ever. It's of some guy making fun of Joe Biden on Saturday Night Live--he's way better than any of those Sarah Palin ones were (seriously, the first Palin one was kind of funny, but then the whole thing just got really old after a little bit). I present to you "Obama Homecoming Open":

Sewing Machines With Dangerous Chemicals Popular In Saudi Arabia

Only in Saudi Arabia would this happen: Sewing machine hoax hits S Arabia [and in my opinion, only the BBC would shorten it to "S Arabia"].

Saudi police say they are investigating a hoax that has seen people rushing to buy old-fashioned sewing machines for up to $50,000 (£33,500).

The Singer sewing machines are said to contain traces of red mercury, a substance that may not exist.

But it is widely thought that it can be used to find treasure, ward off evil spirits or even make nuclear bombs [emphasis added].

What a strange story in general. My favourite part is how they believe that red mercury can "ward off evil spirits". I told my mum about this and she was greatly amused, being that she sews. She says that ironically enough, the sewing machines aren't even that great anyway.

Obama: Always Wrong

Seriously, can this man do absolutely nothing right? I find it to almost be an accomplishment, in a sad sort of way, that The Anointed One can't even manage to adopt a dog properly. I've been hearing for ages about how the Obamas were going to adopt a dog. The best thing to do would have been to adopt a dog from an animal shelter, but no, such unwanted dogs apparently aren't good enough for Barack Hussein Obama. The Obamas got a Portuguese Water Dog from a breeder. Imagine what an amazing message that would have sent to the American people if they'd adopted a shelter dog. And now our dear leader is facing criticism over his decision: Animal rescuers disappointed over first dog choice. I think the article is worth reproducing in its entirety:

Animal rescuers voiced disappointment on Monday that President Barack Obama and his family chose a purebred dog from a breeder over rescuing an unwanted animal from a shelter.

Bo, the first family's new Portuguese Water Dog, is six-month-old puppy who was returned to his Texas breeder by a previous owner.

"I think all of us who work trying to place homeless animals had hoped that they would choose a shelter dog," said Steve Gruber, spokesman for the Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals in New York City.

"His choosing to go to a breeder is a disappointment. Choosing a shelter dog, that would have been a really powerful message to the American people," he said.

The Portuguese Water Dog was chosen in part because the breed is hypoallergenic and Malia Obama has allergies.

However such a dog could have been found on any number of Internet rescue sites or through Portuguese Water Dog rescue groups, said Antonia Kwalick, adoption coordinator for the Infinite Hope rescue group in Brooklyn, New York.

Take Pepper, a young Portuguese Water Dog up for adoption in nearby Arlington, Virginia, found online with just a few quick keys strokes on the computer, Kwalick said. The shaggy brown-eyed Pepper is described by her rescuers as an "adorable and sweet" dog who "loves kids."

"I am really disappointed," Kwalick said, calling the Obamas' decision "elitist" for "wanting a pure breed and getting it from a breeder so that it is presumed perfect."

"It would have been good for the girls to actually walk into a shelter to see how many animals need homes. They should have set a better example," she said.

In the blogosphere, opinions were mixed. While some bloggers were critical, others noted that Bo already had been returned by one owner and needed a home.

Others noted first-time dog owners might fare poorly with a rescue dog, and others felt the decision was a private matter. Also, the Obamas will reportedly make a donation to an animal shelter.

Some rescuers voiced concern of a possible surge in the number of people wanting Portuguese Water Dogs who could find themselves unable to care for the high-energy canines. Those dogs could land in shelters, where millions of unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized every year, they said.

"It's a cycle that should stop," said Kwalick.

It's interesting that one of the people quoted used the term "elitist"--that is precisely what I thought when I heard about this. What is also interesting is how this story is from the UK news media, not ours. I mean, I found some stories in US media that were along the same lines as this, but they were not in as well-known sources as Reuters. It's just interesting that often we have to read the British media for news in our own country.

The Killing Fields Of Kosovo

Gates of Vienna has a great post about the true events that took place during the Balkan Wars of the 1990s: The Killing Fields of Kosovo. A few excerpts:

Ten years have passed, and the narrative has remained largely unchanged. Nonetheless, there always was another story behind the war in Kosovo, but the media outside Serbia largely failed to report it. The TV news reports set the Serbs up as neo-Nazis and made the KLA look like a brave band of freedom fighters, but that was not the end of the story.

The ethnic Albanians of the KLA were at least as ruthless and bloodthirsty as any of the other armed groups in the Balkans. As soon as UN protection afforded them the opportunity, they ethnically cleansed their territory of Serbs and made a concerted effort to rid Kosovo of every vestige of Christianity.

But it was even worse than that. For a long time the horror stories were restricted to the Serbian and Serb-expat media, and were thus relegated to “fever swamp” status and could be safely ignored in the rest of the West. However, detailed reports of Albanian Kosovar atrocities against Serbs have now moved into the MSM.

According to the latest articles, the KLA abducted Serb civilians and gathered them into prison camps where they were beaten, tortured, starved, and killed.

I'd highly recommend reading the whole thing--it's quite interesting. And Baron Bodissey makes an interesting point when he wonders what the motives are for this story being revealed ten years after the fact.

Light Posting

I just wanted to warn my readers: the posting is going to be a bit light at least through the rest of this week and most likely next week as well. April is the worst month ever: I have no fewer than three papers due, as well as exams to study for.

I'll leave you with an interesting, but not very surprising, piece of news, courtesy of the BBC: Putin 'earns more than Medvedev'. The essence of the article is that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earns an entire eleven percent more than President Dmitry Medvedev does. Of course, the article does say that no one is tasked with verifying these claims. Still though, I can definitely imagine Putin earning more money than the man who appoints him (in the Russian government, the President appoints the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister can be replaced at any time at the President's discretion). It just seems very typical of good old Volodya.

The Stupid Get Stupider

Whenever I think Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs can sink no lower, he always proves me wrong. One would think I would have learnt by now that there really are no depths to his stupidity. He has defended Barack Obama since time immemorial and I am getting really, really sick of his lies.

Today, he has a post titled "Bush Bowed Too" with video footage that allegedly proves that George W. Bush also bowed to the Saudi king just like Obama did.

Except... not. Bush bent forward slightly to accept some sort of award. The video is here--don't take my word for it. You can watch for yourself and see what happens. Obama on the other hand actually bowed to a foreign leader, a shameful act that no president of this country should ever do.

Are Charles and his sycophantic "lizards" really this stupid that they cannot see the difference between Bush's actions and Obama's actions? Apparently they must be. The whole situation is absolutely absurd. I know that LGF ceased to be relevant back in October 2007 with Charles' shameful attacks on the excellent Filip Dewinter and Vlaams Belang political party, but I honestly had not realised that he could sink this low.

Progressive Guilt Quiz

The excellent and always hilarious website The People's Cube has this amusing quiz called the "Progressive Guilt Quiz". I took it and got a score of 550, which apparently means that I am a "non-person":

You and your life's work are barred from being mentioned in media publications. Ineligible for re-education. After the Revolution subject to Revolutionary Tribunal Che Guevara style (shot in the head without trial). Everyone you ever came in contact with has been contaminated and is therefore also guilty. We will find them, too. You are all incorrigible corporate war-mongering Zionist terrorists; the people will continue to resist your capitalist attacks by any and all means.

Of course it's satire, but there's quite an element of truth in it regarding the way the left views us.

Where's Putin?

So back on March 19 there was this story that broke that Putin was allegedly in Red Square when Ronald Reagan was there with Gorbachev in 1988. I've included the photo below (from here, because it's better quality):


Personally, I do not think it is actually Putin because the facial bone structure is all off, but that's just me.

Anyway, apparently this story inspired FreakingNews to have a Photoshop contest called Where's Putin?. I browsed through the entries and was very amused. Some of my favourites are here, here, here, here, and here.

Uncovering Diplomatic Intentions Towards Russia

I am sure that most people have heard of Hillary Clinton's diplomatic gaffe towards Russia, but I do not feel that the mainstream Western media has accurately reported on it, so I have prepared this essay, which will hopefully help people see the incident in a new light.

The media has reported about the event in their usual broad way, seeking no depth the story at all. Basically, Joe Biden (the war criminal who is rather unfortunately the vice president of the United States) said something about wanting to reset relations with Russia. So during her visit to Russia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented her Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov with a button that said "reset" in both Russian and English. See the photo below:


Now, even to a person who knows absolutely no Russian at all, there is a glaring problem: the Russian word is absurdly written in Latin characters. Russian is always written in the Cyrillic alphabet. It should not read peregruzka, instead it should be перегрузка. And there's another problem: перегрузка does not mean "reset". Our secretary of state found this out when she asked Lavrov if it was correct or not (watch it in this video--it's priceless). Lavrov informed her that the correct word would be перезагрузка (perezagruzka) and that перегрузка actually means "overcharge", to which Clinton replied that we won't let Russia do that to us.

She should have just not said that last quip because she made an even bigger fool of herself. Lavrov did not mean overcharge in a monetary sense--he meant it in the sense of electricity, so perhaps a better translation would be "overload" instead. Oleg Atbashian does a great job of explaining here. Imagine the confusion of Russians who speak no English learning about this: Hillary Clinton basically said that we won't let the Russians give us too much electrical charge. I know I'd be confused.

Interestingly enough, перегрузка apparently can be translated as "reload" as well, according to this article. I find this interesting--my dictionary says that "to reload" (as in reloading a weapon) is перезаряжать/перезарядить (perezaryazhat/perezaryadit) and I unfortunately do not know enough Russian to verify who's right in this case.

The whole thing is quite ridiculous, in my opinion. Why would it be so hard to get an accurate translation of this word? Someone in the State Department should have called up Russian professors at universities to ask--I currently study with an excellent professor and I am sure he would have been more than willing to provide a translation. There is no excuse for not getting the right word and absolutely no excuse for not having it in Cyrillic.

I heard that they are going to remake the button with the correct word on it. What do you bet that it still won't be in Cyrillic? I know I'm certainly not holding my breath waiting.

Photo credit.

Beauty And The Beast

I confess, the title for this post came from my mum. She told me yesterday that she saw a picture of Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev meeting at the G20 summit.

Now, I must say that I find Barack Obama to be a particularly ugly man. No, this is not clouded by my extreme dislike of him because when I first saw him when he was getting ready to run for president, I knew nothing about him. At that point, I was completely neutral about him because I did not have enough knowledge to form an opinion on him. All I knew was that I found him to be very ugly. And it's not like I hate all ugly politicians--Fred Thompson was my favourite candidate in the primaries, and he's not that great looking.

In contrast there is Dmitry Medvedev, who is extraordinarily attractive. I mean, seriously, why can't all world leaders be as amazingly good-looking as he is?

So I present to you the picture that I will dub "Beauty and the Beast":


And another completely random picture of Medvedev, just for your viewing pleasure (you can click on it to make it bigger, and I would highly urge you to do so).


I mean, I just don't understand all the people who say that Obama is attractive. He cannot compare at all to Medvedev, as proven by the above photo. :-)

Credit for first photo, credit for second photo.

Israel Has A Decent Leader, Finally

Excellent news from Israel that I saw last night: Netanyahu sworn in as Israeli PM.

Israel's parliament has sworn in Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister and approved the new right-leaning coalition cabinet by 69 votes to 45.

Mr Netanyahu had earlier asked the country's parliament to trust in him to lead Israel through the economic and security challenges it faces.

He said he would negotiate with the Palestinians but made no reference to a two-state solution to the conflict.

The new cabinet is the largest in Israel's political history.

It combines the centre-right, centre-left and far-right parties, with hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman confirmed as foreign minister and Labour veteran Ehud Barak as minister of defence.

This is just excellent news, especially the appointment of Lieberman as foreign minister. But this is my favourite quote from the article:

Mr Netanyahu has said in the past that he sees no need for the Palestinians to have full separate statehood.

Go him!

Going back to Avigdor Lieberman, here's an interesting story about him: Israel FM rejects Annapolis deal.

Israel's new ultra-nationalist foreign minister has said it is not bound by a US-sponsored 2007 agreement to reach a peace deal with the Palestinians.

"The Annapolis conference, it has no validity," Avigdor Lieberman said.

I really don't blame him on this one--there's no point in negotiating with people who not only do not honour agreements, but want to kill you as well. I had not heard of this Lieberman guy before Netanyahu's election, but I must say, I am liking him so far.