Myth vs Fact

Myth	Fact
Islam: Religion of peace.	Malik's Muwatta Book 48, Number 48.1.1: Yahya related to me from Malik from Zayd ibn Aslam that Jabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansari said, "We went out with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, in the raid on the Banu Ammar tribe." Jabir said, "I was resting under a tree when the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, came. I said, 'Messenger of Allah; come to the shade.' So the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, sat down, and I stood up and went to a sack of ours. I looked in it for something and found a small cucumber and broke it. Then I brought it to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. He said, 'From where did you get this?' I said, 'We brought it from Madina, Messenger of Allah.' " Jabir continued, "We had a friend of ours with us whom we used to equip to go out to guard our mounts. I gave him what was necessary and then he turned about to go to the mounts and he was wearing two threadbare cloaks of his. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, looked at him and said, 'Does he have two garments other than these?' I said, 'Yes, Messenger of Allah. He has two garments in the bag.' I gave them to him. He said, 'Let him go and put them on.' I let him go to put them on. As he turned to go, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, exclaimed, 'May Allah strike his neck. Isn't that better for him?' He said (taking him literally), 'Messenger of Allah, in the way of Allah.' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'In the way of Allah.' " Jabir added, "The man was killed in the way of Allah."
Tafsir

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Dear Gayle Williams --

Kabul, Afghanistan
Gayle Williams, 34, who had dual British and South African nationality, was shot dead on Monday by gunmen on a motorbike in Kabul.

Dear Gayle Williams --
I know you cannot read this letter now, but I am writing to you as though you can, as though you are still here somehow, and because for some reason you are still here with me. I have written two articles about you now. Articles about how you were killed and why. Especially the why. The why is what this is all about, isn't it? The why is why you died, why they killed you. The why is what's important, yet so impossible to comprehend.

I have tried in these two articles to express some of the anger, the outrage and the disbelief that so many of us feel, but it's impossible. There aren't the right words. I couldn't write this if I thought too hard about your grieving parents right now. I'd feel foolish and intrusive, because I've never even met you. But for some reason I realize now that those two articles just weren't enough. I don't know what would ever be enough, but that wasn't it. You deserve more. Your death deserves more. And I'll try very hard to say what's in my heart at this moment.

"She was a person who always loved the Afghans and was dedicated to serving those who are disabled...Needless to say, we are all in shock."

"...one of the inspiring people of the world who truly put others before herself."

"She was killed violently while caring for the most forgotten people in the world; the poor and the disabled," the statement said. "She herself would not regret taking the risk of working in Afghanistan. She was where she wanted to be -- holding out a helping hand to those in need."

This is what they're saying about you now, Gayle Williams. Now that you're gone. How ironic that you who lived your life so unobtrusively, so quietly and humbly are now famous in your death. Thousands, perhaps millions, of people all over the world now know your name and have looked at your face in that picture.

We are in a great war of shadows. Our enemies are illusive and indistinct. Only occasionally -- such as at times like this -- do we see them clearly. They have deftly hidden themselves beneath innumerable veils of half-truths, clever rationalizations and devious obfuscations. Our enemies have sought and gained sanctuary in the sacred temples of religion. Thus, to many, they remain inviolate and unassailable. Our enemy is great but amorphous, a master of disguise. Their greatest disguise is complete invisibility. This is the nature of our war of shadows.

Only half of us can actually see them. They have successfully convinced the others that they don't exist, that they are merely fictional villains, hypothetical constructs of our overwrought imaginations. This is who we are fighting -- or almost fighting. We're not sure yet. We're besieged with doubts and mired in confusion. Is our enemy Islam? Or just some small fanatical core of pitiless brutes who have perverted the great message?

We've been taught to be tolerant of others, to be especially tolerant of other people's religious beliefs. To attack someone because of their religious beliefs goes against everything that we hold sacred. And our ruthless adversaries have used this innate civility to their infinite advantage, haven't they? Coming from the very highest authorities in our own government we have been admonished to not hold the entire religion of Islam accountable for the brutal actions of a few. We have been advised by our experts that Islam is a religion of peace, a great religion which has been hijacked by a few crazy fanatics.

But then there is you, Gayle Williams. And you are immense now. You are a scathing indictment that cannot be answered. You are the truth. Inarguable, unassailable truth. The men who took your life were not fanatics, they were the personification of the purest and most uncorrupted form of Islam. They were most closely following the Prophet's commandments. They are Islam with all the veils removed. Your killers were not perverting the message, they were delivering it.

One of the reasons why we have been so shamefully ineffective in this great war of shadows is our inability to comprehend the enormity of this truth. That one of the world's major religions could be the source of the world's most menacing evils. It is too much to grasp. We seek solace in our delusions. We use metaphors and euphemisms to almost but not quite describe our enemies. We comfort ourselves with the unsustainable hypothesis that most Muslims are good. That Islam itself is not the problem.

But then there is you, Gayle Williams. And you are immense now. How can our homegrown Islamist apologists and multiculturalists answer your scathing indictment. Did you, by ministering to the poor and disabled in Afghanistan bring it on yourself, as we purportedly brought the events of 9/11 on ourselves? How will they argue for your culpability in this crime as they did ours? The very thought of this is sickening to me.

If the purest of all forms of Islam could call for your death, you who have done nothing but give of yourself in your kind quiet way, then who among us is safe? Who among us can argue for tolerance and understanding of the bestial religion that murdered you? Who among us can still not see beneath those veils, even after you have pulled them away.

These are the best words I can come up with, Gayle Williams. This is the best I can do. I wish I could do more. I wish we all could do more. - rg




http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/10/taliban-kill-christian-aid-worker-in.html

http://radarsite.blogspot.com/2008/10/reclaiming-power-of-hate-revisted.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/10/21/afghanistan.violence.aid.groups/?iref=mpstoryview

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Palin Gives Obama A Nickname: 'Barack the Wealth Spender'

Cross posted from Wake up America

I love it.

Sarah Palin added a little something into her stump speech, something we mentioned yesterday after reading a piece at the NRO, about "Phil the bricklayer", "Rose the teacher" and hundreds of other people that identify with "Joe the Plumber".

Long story short for those that somehow missed the talk of who Joe The Plumber is, his name is Joe Wurzelbacher and when Barack Obama came to his street, his driveway, Joe asked Obama a simple question about his tax plan, to which Obama made the comment heard around the world in saying "spread the wealth" which means income redistribution.

Now at Rallies, people are all showing up, plumbers, construction workers, teachers and bricklayers as well as hundreds of other occupations, all wondering why Obama's answer wasn't spoken about by the media, but instead they all attacked "Joe" for asking the question.

Caught up? Good.

In that NRO piece yesterday, another name came up, Tito Munoz, a Colombian immigrant who came here and built his American dream. Tito was noticed at a recent rally when he took on the media angrily about their behavior toward Joe, their savaging him for daring ask Obama a question.

Sarah Palin noticed Tito as well it seems and she had some things to say about him.

Palin revealed the new moniker at an outdoor rally in Grand Junction, Colorado, where she also introduced a new working-class hero into the ever-expanding pantheon of “Joe the plumber”-types who oppose to Obama’s tax plan.

His name? Tito Munoz, christened by Palin as “Tito the builder.”

The McCain campaign discovered Munoz on Saturday at a rally in Woodbridge, Virginia, where the Colombian-born construction worker took on a group of reporters for digging into Joe Wurzelbacher’s background after the Toledo-based plumber questioned Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on workers making over $250,000 a year.

Munoz’s stand against the media was detailed by Byron York on the web site of the National Review magazine, and Palin was eager to thrust the tale into the political spotlight.

“Tito is not pleased with how the Barack Obama campaign and some of the media friends there have been roughing up Joe the Plumber,” Palin said, after accusing the Obama campaign of “investigating” Wurzelbacher’s background.

“He has a question of his own, and Barack Obama is not going to like this one either. Tito wants to know, and I quote, he asked, ‘Why the heck are you going after Joe the Plumber? Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something greater. He wants to be something else. Why is that so wrong?’”

“Tito explained that he’s an immigrant from Colombia and he also had this reminder for us,” Palin continued. “He says, quote, ‘Everything is possible in America. I made it.’”

The best part though is the nickname Palin now has given Barack Obama. "Barack the Wealth Spender", what an appropriate name too. The man that wants to take other peoples hard earned wealth and spread it around, spend it as he sees fit and hand it out like welfare to those that did not earn it.

LA Times is talking about Tito as well:

At a John McCain rally in Virginia on Saturday, Tito Munoz had come to face the enemy: the news media, which had declared war on Joe Wurzelbacher.

"Why the hell are you going after Joe the Plumber?" he yelled at a group of reporters, including my National Review colleague, Byron York. "Joe the Plumber has an idea. He has a future. He wants to be something else. Why is that wrong? Everything is possible in America. I made it. Joe the Plumber could make it even better than me. ... I was born in Colombia, but I was made in the U.S.A."

Lest fools think Obama's plan is not to take from hard working Americans to hand out to those that did not earn it, here is his tax plan broken down for you, via the Wall Street Journal:

Titled "Obama Talks Nonsense on Tax Cuts"

Now, if you have been following this so far, you have learned that people who pay no income tax will get an income tax refund. You have also learned that this check will represent relief for the payroll taxes these people do pay. And you have been assured that this rebate check won't actually come out of payroll taxes, lest we harm Social Security.

You have to admire the audacity. With one touch of the Obama magic, what otherwise would be described as taking money from Peter to pay Paul is now transformed into Paul's tax relief. Where a tax cut for payroll taxes paid will not in fact come from payroll taxes. And where all these plans come together under the rhetorical umbrella of "Making Work Pay."

Not everyone is persuaded. Andrew Biggs is a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Social Security Administration official who has written a great deal about Mr. Obama's plans on his blog (AndrewBiggs.blogspot.com). He notes that to understand the unintended consequences, it helps to remember that while people at the bottom pay a higher percentage of their income in payroll taxes, they are accruing benefits in excess of what they pay in.

"It's interesting that Mr. Obama calls his plan 'Making Work Pay,'" says Mr. Biggs, "because the incentives are just the opposite. By expanding benefits for people whose benefits exceed their taxes, you're increasing their disincentive for work. And you're doing the same at the top of the income scale, where you are raising their taxes so you can distribute the revenue to others."

Even more interesting is what Mr. Obama's "tax cuts" do to Social Security financing. As Mr. Biggs notes, had Mr. Obama proposed to pay for payroll tax relief out of, well, payroll taxes, his plan would never have a chance in Congress. Most members would look at a plan that defunded a trust fund that seniors are counting on for their retirement as political suicide.

And that leads us to the heart of this problem. If the government is going to give tax cuts to 44% of American based on their Social Security taxes -- without actually refunding to them the money they are paying into Social Security -- Mr. Obama will have to get the funds elsewhere. And this is where "general revenues" turns out to be a more agreeable way of saying "Other People's Money."

That is just the beginning of looking into the "fine print" of Barack Obama's so-called "tax cuts". He seems to think if he simply changes the name of what he is doing to make it "sound" pretty, people will actually believe him and run around repeating it.

Some idiots actually do too, so he is right in thinking certain folks are too stupid to read the plan and understand the illusion he has created is nothing more than an illusion.



All previous WUA pieces about Joe "The Plumber" Wurzelbacher found here.

.

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Reclaiming the Power of Hate: Revisited

Gayle Williams

A note from Radarsite: I am resurrecting this older article in response to two current developments. The first is the report by Holger Awakens of the brutal murder of a defenseless female Western Aid Worker [in photo above] in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
The second reason is to respond to the avalanche of outraged and indignant liberal commenters to my October in New England article cross posted to Susan Duclos' fine Wake Up America website.
Basically, October in New England attempts to address the liberals adamant refusal to acknowledge the existential threats that confront us, or to accept the premise that an Obama presidency is one of the worst of these threats. Interwoven into this premise is a refutation of the liberal concept of tolerating the intolerant. This is the offending paragraph:

Then I see another little sign, tacked up on a telephone pole. An innocuous little sign, weather beaten and torn at the edges -- it's been up there for quite a while now. "No room in this town for hate" it reads. And I shudder to myself. This is the sign that advertises our vulnerabilities and our weaknesses. This is what makes this beautiful little town of mine so friendly and pleasant and so blind to the steady encroachment of that other less friendly reality. We have no room here for hate. And without hate we are vulnerable to those who hate us. We are, this sign proclaims, a community determined to be tolerant and just. We are fair-minded and trusting. We don't just welcome the Other into our midst,we eagerly embrace them. And if you are different than us, we say, if your culture is different than ours, and if your values are different from ours, no matter, we will embrace you just the same. Our survival is secondary to our tolerance.

Here is one response:

I don't know what Sharia law and socialism have to do with what Roger was warning against. Does he mean that these are evils and that only hatred can protect us from them?

And another:

This post reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw recently..."All Fanatics Must Be Killed" it said...Apart from the hysterical thinking behind the idea that a Democratic administration won't care about protecting America, or that the public sector's role in responsible regulation of the economy is somehow equivalent to Stalinism I would point out that hate is always the product of fear. I refuse to live in fear, and it frankly saddens me to see how many Americans have chosen to do otherwise.There is nothing courageous or noble or useful about hatred; being able to defend ourselves depends on courage, foresight and thoughtfulness while hatred brings blindness, paralysis and violence. I wish more Americans would forget their hatred and embrace courage.

And here is a short exchange with a commenter to that original article:

All hate is self hate.
Mr. Golyadkin 12.04.07 - 11:33 pm #

--------------------------------------------------------

Sounds pretty catchy Mr. G., but it just ain't true.
Hate is not always some sort of psychological transference of a self-destructive impulse. It's not always a sign of moral sickness or weakness.

Hate is a legitimate emotion, like love or fear, and sometimes, under certain circumstances, it's quite appropriate. Sometimes, as I tried to point out in that article, it's even essential as a source of strength.

I'm sorry, but if an enemy hates you enough to want to kill you, and is attempting to do just that, clever words like yours just won't help us.

It would be wonderful to live in a world where hate was unnecessary, but I'm afraid we're not quite there yet. And until we are, hate is a weapon we still need in our arsenal. You can not win a battle against people you merely dislike; your lack of passion will be your downfall.

Save your pacifist wisdom for a battle against other pacifists. Against naked aggression your lofty sentiments are useless.
Roger W. Gardner Homepage 12.05.07 - 2:09 am #

-------------------------------------------------------------

This I believe has become a truly crucial topic, perhaps even more critical today than when this article was first written over a year ago. To put oneself in the position of promoting hatred, violence and war is certainly not a way of winning any popularity contests. But, unfortunately, the problems addressed in these essays are not just going to go away because we find them unpleasant to deal with; if anything, they have become even more pertinent and deadly.

At the very core of this monumental debate is the concept that we are presently in a war, a war for our very existence. If you still doubt the validity of this basic premise, if you still honestly believe that this recent Taliban murder of this innocent and defenseless young aid worker is just an aberration, an unfortunate episode that should be addressed as an isolated criminal act; that the proper response to this criminal act should be some form of formal diplomatic indignation; if you still believe that the threats posed to our nation by unchecked Muslim immigration and the slow, subtle but undeniable infiltration of sharia law into our American judicial system; and the the gradual Socialization of America and the accompanying inevitable loss of our national sovereignty are merely the twin bogeymen of right-winger conspiracies, then there is probably no point in reading further.

If, however, this particular Afghan murder of this particular young woman makes your blood boil and pushes you beyond outrage and indignation; if you see this great nation of ours slipping away from us; and all of the core values upon which this great and noble experiment was founded being eroded, undermined and displaced; if you feel, as I do, that within a very short span of time our national resolve will be tested in ways which today may be inconceivable; and that we are in so many ways increasingly vulnerable and imperilled, then please read on. - rg

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Incredible: Murtha Unhinged - Racists and Rednecks

~Snooper~

I try and stay away from writing about John Murtha because every time I do, I feel soiled and violated and no matter how much I scrub and no matter how many times I shower, the filth doesn't seem to be gone. The man is a lout and he disgusts me and besmirches the names of the Troops all for the Almighty Political Power.

He destroyed the lives and the careers of eight of his "fellow" Marines for political expediency and he is one of the subjects in my research in my quest to expose the Dems and Terrorists Syndrome or, DTS. All but one Marine have been exonerated and hopefully the last one will also be cleared...he was once but someone is now trying to save face. Pathetic.

Anyway, we have all heard by now that he made the claim that Western Pennsylvania was a racist area namely because Obama is doing poorly there and since he made that statement, Barack began to fair worse. Murtha then went on and said that he really didn't mean what he said. He is a typical member of the Leftinistra and as Jim O'Neill stated in his article at Canada Free Press in regards to Obama, Murtha is now in the SOP mode by conducting himself as follows: "Obfuscate, misdirect, and downplay all dangerous questions, but most importantly, simply deny." Murtha is in the OWM...Official Waffle Mode. It isn't working.

Murtha canceled the scheduled debate with his opponent LTC William Russell, of whom Cyber Pastor and myself had lunch with him in DC during a Vets For Freedom event. I also accompanied, by invitation, LTC Russell and at least two Haditha Marines to Murtha's office in DC. At first, he wasn't there but then we learned he was there and did not have the time to visit with his constituents but later on had the time to meet with Code Skank. The man, and I use that term very loosely, is a coward. I was there when LTC Russell issued the Debate Challenge to one of Murtha's "helpers" there in his office and heard for myself that "Rep Murtha always puts the Troops first".

All of us in the group mentioned that we are the Troops and we didn't see it that way.

Now, in light of his political cowardice of not visiting with his constituents that oppose his standings and will meet with constituents and non-constituents that agree with him, and having lied about the Haditha non-Massacre, and calling his constituents racists and then "un-calling" them that, he cancels his debate with LTC Russell. And now...and now the worthless toad Murtha has come out and shot himself in the foot one more time. His district is now not racists but they are rednecks.

From Saleno Zito of the Forty-Fourth Estate:

On the heels of telling the Pittsburgh Tribune Review that racism would play into the vote in Western Pennsylvania for president next month, Rep. Jack Murtha told local Pittsburgh television station WTAE that it's difficult for many in the area to change, saying just five to 10 years ago the entire area was "redneck."

You have to wonder how residents of Pennsylvania like the descriptive phrases that have been piled on in the past few months. First, it was bitter and God and gun clinging, then it was racist, now they are rednecks.

In an interview with reporter David Brown at the Trib today, John McCain took exception to the “good people in Western Pennsylvania’ being framed as racists.

"I'm going to tell people in Western Pennsylvania that I don't believe they are racists, as Congressman Murtha alleges," said McCain, in the interview. He called the comment "disgraceful." Murtha, a Johnstown Democrat, has apologized for the racist comments.

Murtha last week said that a racist mindset in Western Pennsylvania could cost Obama as much as four percentage points at the polls.

"Congressman Murtha made inexcusable statements. I'm glad he apologized but that's the nature of Congressman Murtha,” McCain said. "Why anybody would say that about the good people in Western Pennsylvania or anywhere else in America is utterly inexcusable."

No word on McCain’s feelings about rednecks.

Well, I know how he feels about it and so does everyone else. Murtha doesn't and Murtha is in a panic. Nothing will please me more than watching Murtha pack his crap and move out of DC.

The following are articles, pieces and posts I have read to develop the above post and no authors were injured in the development:

Vets 4 Russell, Weasel Zippers, Pat Dollard, CEM, Ace, CR, NB, BF, MM, GP, Ace, HA, TCB, PL, drillanwr,

Yid With Lid wrote this a while back in regards to Murtha...

"You can wipe the rest of your life Mister, you will never wipe off that yellow stain"-Caine Mutiny

At the end of the Caine Mutiny, Jose Ferrer delivers that classic line as he flings a glass of champagne into Fred McMurray's face. The reason for the outburst was McMurray's character's cynicism.

It is not often that one can call a former US Marine a COWARD, but John Murtha fits that bill. He is a disgrace to congress, but even worse, he is a disgrace to that uniform that he once wore. Not only did he commit slander against US Troops in Iraq saddling them with false massacre charges but he also called his constituents RACISTS. Now he is refusing to debate his challenger, Army Lt. Col. Bill Russell: [...]

Bingo and Roger That.

More at Pittsburgh News with video here...and the Power Line post linked above is gathering data that may be pointing to a LTC Russell win over Murtha, Saints be Praised!

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