The Corner (National Review)

A great bit by Mark Steyn on NR's 'The corner'

Saturday, October 20, 2007


Re: I have returned [Mark Steyn]

Jonah, re your comments on Montreal: lots of great restaurants but what would appear to be an insufficient populace to support them, etc. Many Americans have made similar observations to me.

One reason is a simple cultural difference: If I recall correctly, Quebec has the highest number of restaurants per capita of any jurisdiction in North America. Our Corner colleague Peter Robinson, who used to jet in to New Hampshire from California on Dartmouth College business, would occasionally ask me where the nearest decent restaurant to Dartmouth was, and I'd reply Magog, Quebec. Accustomed to all those West Coast arugula joints, Peter would marvel: "You have to leave the country to get a good local meal?" I love my favorite North Country diners, but to be honest I sometimes envy a small town like Victoriaville north of the border which is a broken-down nowheresville loser burg that nevertheless manages to sustain a Main Street (or rue principale) hippity-hopping with a dozen good eateries.

Thereason for all this quickly becomes evident in the rest....

Fjordman: Islam, the Greeks and the Scientific Revolution, part 1

September 20, 2007

Original here.....

The renowned European essayist Fjordman discusses Islam's encounter with Greek philosophy:
I have written a couple of essays regarding the Greek impact on the rise of modern science, and why the Scientific Revolution didn't happen in the Islamic world. I find this to be an interesting topic, especially since there are so many myths regarding this perpetrated by Muslims and their apologists today, so I will explore the subject in some detail........

The dog ate my homework............revisited.

Seems that the Y2K bug is being blamed for a big chunk of number fudging! Not that Algore and the rest of the eco-fascist care.

Via Small Dead Animals

, I found this- Watts Up With That?

why the gun is civilization.

The Munchkin Rambler has a great piece on civilization-

Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it.

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

Read the rest of it......

GW Actually took a stand on Radical Muslims!

I dropped by The Big Picture and found this-

With many Conservatives slamming Bush these days, due to his endorsement of the immigration bill (which I had great concerns about as well), he can use some support.

Yesterday GWB went to a mosque in Washington D.C. LGF reports that this is a Saudi-funded mosque - in other words, it is part of the multi-billion dollar operation run by Saudi Arabia to spread Wahhabism around the world. From Frontpage: ( picture from LGF )

The religious and philosophical justifications for promoting Jihad -which means holy war - around the world, is found in the Quran, says Dr. Hussein Shehata, a professor at al-Azhar University in Cairo. According to Dr. Shehata, the following terms in the Quran combine to justify the spreading of Jihad: in Arabic- Al-Jihad bi-al-Lisan - which means - Jihad of the Tongue, and al-Jihad bi-al-Qalam - Jihad of the Pen. Both combine for preaching and writing to promote Jihad.

This command is complemented by Al-Jihad bi-al-Mal - the Financial Jihad; namely, raising money for needy Muslims and supporting the Jihad warriors - known as the Mujahideen. These are the commands that form the justification to spread the Jihad.

On his website, on March 3, 2004, the same Dr. Shehata explained the uniqueness and the reason for the financial Jihad commandment as being, quote: "a trial of strength of Muslim faith" and "a means to purify the soul from stinginess". It is through the financial Jihad, he says, that Allah gives the wealthy Muslims the opportunity to allocate some of their money for the Da'awa (literally - the call for Islam), which is the Islamic effort to teach or convert people to Islam.

Far from the expected pandering, Bush actually had a hard line approach-

This is what freedom offers: societies where people can live and worship as they choose without intimidation, without suspicion, without a knock on the door from the secret police. The freedom of religion is the very first protection offered in America's Bill of Rights. It is a precious freedom. It is a basic compact under which people of faith agree not to impose their spiritual vision on others, and in return to practice their own beliefs as they see fit. This is the promise of our Constitution, and the calling of our conscience, and a source of our strength.

The freedom to worship is so central to America's character that we tend to take it personally when that freedom is denied to others. Our country was a leading voice on behalf of the Jewish refusniks in the Soviet Union. Americans joined in common cause with Catholics and Protestants who prayed in secret behind an Iron Curtain. America has stood with Muslims seeking to freely practice their beliefs in places such as Burma and China.

You MUST go read the whole thing!

MSM and Whimsical Links.......

I was reading an article on the Quebec budget, where the epitomy of liberals, Charet, (lib.PC/cons.lib/power! power!at any cost!) is proposing to bribe voters with OUR money, when the trailer headline list caught my eye-

B.C.'s premier finds environmental soul mate
Mob boss, Vito Rizzuto, sentenced to 10 years in prison

One has to wonder if the webguy looks at the page, just bangs the stuff in, or bored almost to tears, just has to have some fun with the news.

Once Upon A Time In Kazakhstan

Found a great article over on Russell Sietz' site, ADAMANT

To most Americans , Central Asia means the Kazakh Never Never Land of Sascha Cohen's alter ego. But Borat was shot on location in Romania, while once upon a time , the real Kazakhstan was the Wild West of the Soviet Union-- vast, horsey, dusty, and above all heavily armed. The Evil Empire ran its strategic weapons programs and its nuclear gulag side by side in Kazakh badlands , once home to literally thousands of tons of plutonium and weapons grade uranium.

But then, so were Nevada, New Mexico and Texas- so what ?.

The answer is that while the US government is still very much in charge of the former--and present-- nuclear weapons facilities in our none too wild west, The Kremlin cut loose Kazakhstan and the half dozen other 'Stans hosting its arsenals a generation ago. Much of the dangerously weaponizable content of those far flung facilities were rounded up with considerable derring-do in the first few years after the Soviet collapse.

Go read the rest, it's excellent.

Ian