Sunday, September 11, 2011

A message to the world’s militant Islamists on the 10 year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks

First of all, there is something that you do not hear or read often enough, at least not in the mainstream press. But it’s something that many – probably most – of us feel all the time.

Fuck you.

We know what you want. And it’s not to “drive out the invaders” or “free the Muslims from oppression.” You seek the global supremacy of Islam, nothing more, nothing less.

Fuck you.

What you seek is never going to happen. As long as we have a single bullet to fire, and a single soldier to fire it, we will fight you.

Let’s get something straight. Your ancestors fought under the banner of Islam. Do you know what that means? A banner is a flag that identifies who you are and what you fight for.

You do not fight under any banner. Instead, you disguise yourselves as civilians. Many of you invoke the name of Saladin as inspiration for your cause. When you do so, you sully his name. Saladin fought under a banner in open warfare.

You fight in civilian disguise. It is dirty and dishonorable. It deserves no respect. You deserve no respect.

Many of your fighters knowingly kill large numbers of civilians by disguising themselves as civilians, maneuvering themselves to a location that they could not reach if they fought in the open, and then blowing themselves up. They, and you, are certain that they are rewarded for this act. But there is no honor in this.

Let's say that you conduct a survey of adult men, anywhere in the world, and at any time in history. You ask them, “Would you accept the following deal: First, you meet a violent and instantaneous death. After that, you are guaranteed an eternity of sex with a virtually limitless number of beautiful young virgins. Will you take this deal?”

Most men would probably take that deal. In other words, your fighters are extraordinary only in that they actually believe that this is what will happen to them, but not in their courage.

Amid all of their other motivations, they are motivated by sex, and such a motivation brings no honor and deserves no respect. It is base. It does not matter whether other Muslims believe that such is the reward for suicide bombing – the bombers themselves believe it with all their hearts.

They do it for the pussy. That’s why so much time and effort is put into convincing them that this will be their reward. The many statements of individuals who started down the road of being a suicide bomber, but for one reason or another did not reach that point, back this up.

They do it for the pussy.

No honor. No respect.

You are losing, and you know it. You’ve been losing for decades, as nation after nation adopts democracy. And make no mistake about it – democracy means secular democracy. When people are able to choose their own leaders and their own lawmakers, the result is a legal system that treats all religions equally. It may take time, but it is inevitable that a free people will see the benefits of secular governance.

Western Muslims already know these benefits first hand. That is why you are working so hard to make them miserable. You do not want them to live comfortable, happy lives, because you see that this will fatally undermine your cause.

You are hoping that the west will turn on Muslims and that Muslims will rise up. But, as you can see, in spite of an increase in tensions, it has not happened. And it will not, because Western Muslims have made it clear that they prefer to live under democratic systems. And now, the entire Arab world is undergoing the same transition.

You have already lost. Your own supporters cannot bring themselves to acknowledge what you do. Even the most radical and fundamentalist Islamic bulletin boards react to your treacherous actions by blaming them on Jews or the CIA. They cannot accept that someone fighting for Islam could do this.

And yet they always find out that it was indeed you. And then they look away, because they have no choice. They would like to believe that this war can be fought with honor, but you never fight with honor.

You disguise yourselves as civilians and then murder defenseless people. You do it on purpose. In order to take control, you must create fear, and in order to create fear, innocent people must know that they will be killed if they oppose you. It’s how you fight and it’s how you control territory. It is, in fact, the only way you exert control.

You fight from mosques and scream when the mosque is damaged in returned fire. Other times, you simply blow up mosques yourselves, or blow yourselves up inside mosques.

And then, you wave your hand and use your ready excuse: they were infidels, and God will be merciful to the truly innocent.

It's the perfect way to make any murder acceptable.

None of this is honorable fighting. None of it is fighting like a warrior. It is fighting like a liar, a cheat, a wretch who cannot tolerate not getting his way. It is fighting like a child, not a man.

You are simply fouling the earth. The only question is, how many more murders will you commit? How many more times will you dishonor those who identify themselves and fight under a banner?

Fuck you, you dirty, dishonorable murderers.

You have lost it all, you will never get what you seek, and as each day passes, more and more of the world repudiates you while embracing freedom and democracy.

We will never stop fighting you.

We will never abandon democracy.

We will never submit to the authority of any religion.

Never.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Posted ...

I posted this to Ambushed In Tahrir Square

It's good to see that many people saw clearly what happened on Friday, and recognize what Egypt is up against. How will it play out?

The only force capable of standing up to the Islamists, who will resort to every dirty trick in the book in order to suppress the voice of the people, and use violence against civilians without hesitation, is the Egyptian military. What a turn of events! For decades, the excuse brought out by dictators and dictatorial regimes (not just in Egypt, but in other secular dictatorships in the Middle East) has been "it's us or chaos". And now, Islamists are proving them right.

It's horrible. Can there be just governance in the Muslim world? Are the only options an oppressive secular regime or an oppressive religious regime?

The Arab Spring is a good thing. Let the Islamists unmask themselves, and make it clear to the world that they are the enemies not just of oppressive regimes, and not just of the west and Israel, but of every citizen who seeks freedom and a respect for basic human rights. It might be a bloody lesson to learn, but it has to be learned.

And when the Islamists begin their naked violence against the Egyptian people, the world must stand with the people, and not simply pour money into the Egyptian military. And for their part, the military must make it clear that they oppose the Islamists on behalf of the Egyptian people, and in pursuit of the freedom, democracy, pluralism, and respect for human rights that the Egyptian people want and deserve.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Three sided to every coin ...

In Middle Eastern countries, the three sides are:

  1. The masses (who want true democracy, and are largely secular in that they do not want to see strict enforcement of Sharia Law)
  2. Secular dictators (who are secular not out of any sense of fairness, or because they believe in separation of mosque and state, but only because they want all power to themselves, and so do not want anyone to wield religious power)
  3. Religious dictators (the worst of the worst)
And so in Egypt, we saw 1) overthrow 2), but now 3) is making a move for power. No doubt 1) and 2) will be at war soon.

In Libya, 1) is attempting to overthrow 2), but now 3) is beginning to intimidate 1) even before the overthrow has happened.

In Tunisia, 1) overthrew 2), and, as in Egypt, there are rumblings from the 3) camp. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Hilarious!

I posted (tried to, that is) this in response to an article in The Rolling Stone:

By the time the 2012 elections roll around, public acceptance of gay marriage will most likely be even greater than it is today. Anyone who has painted him/herself into the opposition corner will have even less of a chance of winning.

Bachmann and Perry are being politically savvy. Gay marriage is here to stay, and they don't want that to be an albatross in '12.

Unfortunately, it would not post, and I got the following message:

Your comment includes inappropriate words. Please edit.

Pretty hilarious. What did they object to? Gay? In an article about gay marriage?



Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Meanwhile, over at RedState ...

I have to hand it to Erick Erickson - he's an honest guy. While FOX news tries to talk around the Mitch McConnell proposal to let Obama raise the debt limit while giving Congress the option of washing their hands of the whole affair, Erick calls it what it is - a complete capitulation. And several other RedState denizens are on to the truth of what just happened.

But nobody seems willing to state plainly what is really happening, not even my bud Lawrence O'Donnell. He has been doing some gloating, somewhat justified, that Obama is now getting everything he wants. Over at The Last Word, we see that "Lawrence explains how President Obama continues to outsmart, out-strategize and out-talk the Republicans, in the debt ceiling standoff."

Both Erick and Lawrence have to admit that this is a child's play scenario. Republicans can't agree to raise any taxes, ever, because the Tea Party has a gun to the head of every Republican who wants to have a political future. The "never raise taxes" position (which, by the way, is not synonymous with the "be fiscally responsible" position or the "balance the budget" position, but, rather, with the "we don't want to pay for poor people's stuff" position) is simply untenable. All Obama has had to do is be a reasonable person and wait. This capitulation had to happen.

I have to say, watching the effect of the Tea Party on the Republican party, while scary at times, is really fun. And things are only going to get better as election season moves along. I don't envy rational Republicans. They are like moderate Muslims - unable to say what they really want or think for fear of drastic reprisal.