Editor and Researcher Elisa Vandernoot

American Freedom Alliance Weekly Gazette

THE WEEK AT A GLANCE

This Week's Editorial

A Pyrrhic Victory
By Avi Davis

Bells rang out across the land.   The people, freed from centuries of oppression by a feudal system of health care, rushed into village streets, banging drums and shaking timbrels.  Thirty- two million people, in one voice, wept with gratitude as their redemptive leader read them the new order.  No longer would they be at the mercy of avaricious insurance companies.  No longer would anyone reject them for a prior medical condition or their age;  no longer would a citizen’s income dictate whether or not he or she could see a doctor.

That certainly is the reaction Barack Obama is longing for as he sets his pen to the most important change to national health care since Lyndon Johnson’s landmark Medicare legislation 45 years ago.

There are plenty of people around the world who are declaring that its about time.  After all, Germany had introduced government sanctioned  sicknes and accident insurance  as long ago as 1883 when Otto von Bismarck was Chancellor and most European countries have enjoyed some variety of nationalized health for at least 60 years. 

Yet, there were always good reasons the United States did not have a universal health care system.  For all their claims of success, the Europeans, Canadians and other Western nations’ systems operated as notorious drains on their treasuries, reducing the overall quality of care and consigning many aged, terminally ill individuals to wait lists that sometimes extended years.

But more important than this was the notion that a Government managed health care system vitiated against the country’s bedrock belief in free enterprise and the efficacy of market mechanisms in regulating the application of a service vital service to the public.  Health care, for generations of Americans, was never regarded so much as a  right, as much as it was a privilege to which one worked hard to obtain – and then maintain.

Yesterday, that changed.  Health care has now become an entitlement in the United States of America which will almost certainly bring with it most of the other ills that have attached to similar systems. Who will pay for it in an era when government is already heaving under a merciless burden of debt, is still anyone’s guess.

For all the euphoria, it is not certain that anyone has a comprehensive understanding  of what is in this health bill.  From its earlier incarnations, pages have been ripped out, amendments slapped on to politically sensitive sections, whole chapters eviscerated – it has begun to resemble one of those study guides high school students carry into their open book exams with sections pasted in from assigned texts, yellow post-its dangling from its edges and hundreds of dog-eared pages marking important areas of concentration.     It may take many months for the final version to be published and even then there is no certainty that anyone willl be able to get a handle on its Byzantine complexity. Obamacare enters history as a modern day version of the Rosetta Stone, to be interpreted and reinterpreted by our judges and legislators for many generations into the future.

What then of the political maneuvering to took to get this bird in the air?   The Obama flight plan, which only two months ago, damaged by incessant flak with its engines on fire and billowing smoke, was in a tailspin, its future grim.  It now appears now to have pulled out of it of its death dive, albeit with its  fuselage singed and rattling away at low altitude.

But that might not be for long.  The extra cargo this administration has taken on in passing the legislation, with pet projects of representatives now demanding be fed, will be a heavy burden that it will only unload at great expense to its future.

And at least one thing is for certain.  Gone is any pretense of Barack Obama as this century’s first post-partisan president, having repudiated his election night promise that he would be the president of   “all Americans”.   We should not forget the other historical first achieved last night – the health care bill  legislation passed the House with not even one Republican vote.   Never in this country’s history has so important a piece of legislation failed to win any bi-partisan support.  

The effect of this reality may be seismic.  Popular opinion in the country may be stirred in outrage, leading to a devastating rout for Democrats at the polls in only eight months time.  In that event, Obama’s great victory will have wilted into a tragic mistake that might have been avoided with the application of restraint and moderation.

The Obama  administration should therefore not forget  Plutarch’s retelling to Dionysis of the Pyrrhic Wars:

“The armies separated; and, it is said, Pyrrhus replied to one that gave him joy of his victory that one more such victory would utterly undo him. For he had lost a great part of the forces he brought with him, and almost all his particular friends and principal commanders and there were no others there to make recruits.  On the other hand, as from a fountain continually flowing out of the city, the Roman camp was quickly and plentifully filled up with fresh men, not at all abating in courage for the loss they sustained, but even from their very anger gaining new force and resolution to go on with the war.“.

The Obamaites would do well to heed Pyrrhus’ historical lesson.

Avi Davis is the President of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. His writings and blog entries can be found at The Intermediate Zone. 

 

__________________________________________________________________

View the best of The Intermediate Zone from last week:

Bombers for Settlements
How English is Your Burqa?
On the Border
The Portrayal of Islam in Textbooks
Petraeus of Arabia
The President’s Middle East Playbook

Avi Davis can be contacted at adavis@americanfreedomalliance.org

NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA

Jihad as American as apple pie, says US-born cleric-AFP
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Violent jihad, or Islamic holy war, is "becoming as American as apple pie," US-born fugitive cleric Anwar Al-Awlaqi said in an unauthenticated message released Friday. "Western jihad is here to stay," warned Awlaqi as he commented on a blonde American who dubbed herself "JihadJane" and has pleaded not guilty to trying to recruit Islamist militants to murder a Swedish cartoonist. "Jihad is becoming as American as apple pie and as British as afternoon tea," the US-Yemeni cleric said in an English-language message posted on militant forums and released by the US-based SITE monitoring agency. Western attempts to stop the spread of violent jihad to people who do not fit the usual profile of a potential extremist have failed, he argued, amid a rash of home-grown terrorism cases in the United States. "Eight years after 9/11 and the declaration of war against terrorism, jihad is still reaching the shores of Europe and America. Not from the outside, but from within. Jihad is not being imported but is being homegrown," read the message attributed to Awlaqi. (News.yahoo.com)

Muslim Brotherhood to construct new mosque in Warsaw- Jan Wójcik
Officially it is claimed to be Muslim Cultural Center, but unofficially by opponents and supporters it is referred to as mosque because the plan includes a praying hall and even a minaret. But it is not the building itself that worries the citizens of Warsaw, but preaching that could be spread inside. The investor of the mosque is Liga Muzulmañska w RP (Muslim League in Republic of Poland), a member of Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), which is known as umbrella organization for Muslim Brotherhood organizations across the Europe. LM does not hide its affiliation and on its pages often quotes not only FIOE official statements but also fatwas and teachings of Jusuf Al Qaradawi, widely known Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader. Although LM tries to keep PR of moderate Muslim faction some of its leaders already exposed their views. Ali Abi Issa, head of imam council, translated and disseminated hadiths where the killing of apostates and adulterers is justified in Muslim state. Samir Ismail the head of LM wrote article about FGM where he presents Muslim jurists' opinions justifying or allowing FGM to be in decision of parents. (Europenews.dk)

Baroness Deech: Risks of cousin marriage not discussed for fear of offending Muslims- Martin Beckford
The risks of cousins marrying are not discussed for fear of offending Muslims, according to an expert in family law.
Baroness Deech believes first cousins who marry are far more likely to have disabled babies, and that the practice is far more common among immigrants from Pakistan.
However she says that the dangers are not spoken about by politicians or doctors in case Muslims are offended. Lady Deech contrasts this approach to the Government’s attitude to health problems such as obesity or smoking, which are the subject of aggressive publicity campaigns. But she concludes that it would be wrong to ban cousins marrying, as there are no prohibitions on other types of family that are bad for children such as being raised without a father figure. Lady Deech, Professor of Law at Gresham College, London, will make her comments on Tuesday in the final lecture of a controversial series in which she has raised the idea that families could be forced to look after grandparents in their old age, claimed that only “the gold digger” would benefit from rules giving cohabiting couples the same rights as spouses, and argued that there is no longer a clear concept of marriage in English law. (Telegraph.co.uk)

Netherlands: News-site removes Vilks cartoon
Once again, this story demonstrates the Streisand effect. By trying to force a site to remove the picture, and even succeeding, the Muslims in question hit the news and caused more sites to publish the cartoon. And though one could argue that a news item about a plot to murder a cartoonist for a certain cartoon does not merit showing that cartoon, what other illustration could you bring for a story about censoring that cartoon? Dutch news site AD used the Vilks cartoon to illustrate a story on the plot to murder the Swedish cartoonist. An email campaign was organized by the As-Soenna mosque in the Hague. "Under the cloak of freedom of expression, our beloved prophet continues to be insulted. It's time to stop this." AD later removed the cartoon, but said they did not do so because of angry responses. Acting editor Bart Verkade said that they've gotten many offended responses, and that calls attention to the fact that it's a sensitive topic. "But that is not why we removed the cartoon. That happened after internal discussion. It had been decided too quickly that it was an appropriate illustration. We thought the illustration was not relevant." Before that, he said, they showed the cartoon when they thought it was functional. The news item now has a picture of Vilks. (Islamineurope)

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Jihad Jane in the Classroom-Mary Grabar
In the days after the 9/11 attacks, average Americans donated money and festooned American flags to vehicles in a show of unity and support. Educators, in contrast, took advantage for further anti-American indoctrination and plastered school walls with “Understanding Islam” posters. They did this at the University of Georgia where I was finishing up my Ph.D. program. Since then, the Islamists have wormed their ways into our culture, reaching the most vulnerable: our children. It is no surprise to me that blonde American women, like Jihad Jane and Jihad Jamie [1], would be converting to Islam and supporting jihad. The most depraved murderers on death row attract the support of soft-hearted and weak-minded women. They are aided by educators and the propagandists they invite into the classroom. In fact, proselytizing occurs in high schools and colleges without a peep from principals or college presidents, who fret about such Christian symbols as Christmas trees on their campuses. (Frontpagemagazine)

Ed Morgan: Canadian educators need education on hate speechEducate yourself about Canada’s hate laws, the Provost of the University of Ottawa told conservative pundit Ann Coulter in advance of her visit. Campus authorities apparently fear Coulter’s reputation for provocative views. They would remind her that unlike in the United States, hate speech is outlawed here and our defamation laws are strictly enforced. Well, there’s nothing wrong with education, but as long as we’re encouraging it for our guests we might also think about educating ourselves. As all of our university officials know, the willful promotion of hatred against an identifiable group is a crime. The problem is that the offence – or, rather, the specter of the offence – is used more as a threat to silence speakers than as a basis for actual prosecutions. The threat is easy to invoke and is often effective in chilling the very debate that campus life is supposed to foster. Our universities encourage diversity in their student and faculty bodies, but as the Coulter case demonstrates, they often bridle at too much diversity of opinion. (Nationalpost)

Statement of Professor John Ellis to the Joint Committee on the Master Plan for Higher Education of the California Legislature, March 22, 2010
Editor's note: The following is a statement by John Ellis presented at the March 22, 2010 meeting of the California legislature. The "master plan" referenced in the title is a document that sets out the differing roles of the state's three public systems: University of California, California State University, and California Community College. It is occasionally revised by the Joint Committee. I am John Ellis, and I’m the President of the California Association of Scholars. I’ve been a Professor of German Literature at the UC Santa Cruz since 1966.I should like to take your concern with accountability in the widest sense: that is, public higher education’s accountability to the tax-paying public for teaching its children how to think in a disciplined way: how to shape arguments and recognize weak ones, how to marshal evidence, how to analyze issues, how to weigh differing interpretations of complex problems against each other. That is the core of a college education, and nothing is more important than to make sure we are not failing in this. And if we are failing in it, as I think we are, then our highest priority should be to do something about that. Training students to think for themselves means that we must never give them a comfortable environment of intellectual uniformity and conformity where they know what to think at the outset and are never challenged. What it requires is intellectual diversity, and that is where the universities at the moment have a real problem. (NAS)

MEDIA BIAS

Fox Turns On Wilders-Rich Trzupek
If there is one major news outlet that would be expected to leap to the defense of free speech when that vital linchpin of liberty is under attack, one would expect that Fox News would be the one organization to do so. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that the Obama administration tried to cut Fox out of access to the White House. To their credit, Fox’s competitors leapt to defend – not Fox, whom the rest of the mainstream networks despise – but free speech. That episode makes the way that all the networks, and Fox in particular, are ignoring the Geert Wilders trial so troubling and, in the case of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp., rather mystifying, at least until one scratches the surface a bit. Nobody expects CNN, ABC, NBC, etc. to cover the Wilders trial because those networks have established beyond any reasonable doubt that they are not going to cover issues related to Islam if the story in question doesn’t fit neatly within their “Islam isn’t the problem, it’s just a few explosive bad apples” narrative. Journalists who bend over backward to disconnect Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan from his jihadist inspirations aren’t likely to care about a political leader living across the pond who is obviously nothing more than a fringe, right-wing Islamophobe. But Fox? We’ve come to expect more from Fox. Perhaps it’s time to start expecting less, at least when issues involving Islam are involved. (Frontpagemagazine)

USA Today and NASA’s Bogus Data: ‘Global Warming’ Handmaiden-Christopher Horner
Recently, USA Today ran a story about Michael Mann, the lead author of the debunked “Hockey Stick” fable and principal actor in ClimateGate. Specifically, the paper bemoans the inevitable slowing of Mann’s ultra-important, (even “stimulus”-funded) research due to McCarthyites like us skeptics who refuse to just accept an economically harmful ideological agenda ostensibly grounded in what has turned out to be the biggest scientific scandal of our time. This strange assist in the ongoing effort to rehabilitate the warmmongers offers a nice opportunity to mention an email I just found going through a massive document dump from NASA under the Freedom of Information Act. These 1,500 pages were apparently produced at the 11th hour seeking to forestall litigation we had signaled was coming for NASA’s refusal to come into compliance with the transparency statute. We’re still suing for their refusal to turn over entire categories of information for which the taxpayer paid, and which are highly relevant to the unfolding scandals, which withholding was not changed by these documents. We just have to go over the documents first. And among the gems we found was an admission that NASA (specifically, its Goddard Institute for Space Studies, or GISS and its GISTEMP data) passes no one’s test for credibility. Rather, according to NASA, it’s worse than the “CRU” temperature data that was the central issue in ClimateGate. That is the temperature record which we now know was for all intents and purposes fabricated. (Bigjournalism)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

A New Fight: Lt. Col. Allen West Pursues a House Seat-Alyssa A. Lappen
Back in 2003, few Americans had heard of Lt. Col. Allen West, then commanding a battalion of roughly 600 in Iraq. Attacks on his platoon suddenly spiked, and his intelligence operations got wind of an Iraqi policeman having leaked their maneuvers, in advance, to Islamic terrorists. West got nowhere by interrogating the suspected collaborator for several hours. Ever mindful of his men’s safety — and of a rumored plot to assassinate him and attack the entire battalion — West drew his service revolver and fired near the man’s head. The policeman started talking. West averted the plot, but also faced a potential court martial, and was called to testify before Congress. “I’d go through hell with a gasoline can [1]” to save his men’s lives, a nonplussed West told Congress. The Army merely fined West and relieved him of his command, ending his otherwise stellar 22-year Army career. But to West, every day offers a new opportunity. After briefly teaching in a high school, then serving as a civilian military adviser in Afghanistan, West decided to seek to fulfill his yen for public service from another route. In 2008, he sought the congressional seat in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, running against incumbent Ron Klein. West garnered 48% of the vote, despite raising only $500,000 against Klein’s millions. And in the tradition of his never-say-die, lower-middle class, Atlanta inner-city parents, the late Herman West Sr. and Elizabeth West, the 48-year-old retired lieutenant colonel is running again — more resolute than ever. (Pajamasmedia)

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Wilders channels anger-John Tyler
Ayaan Hirsi Ali has returned to the Netherlands with the same message as when she left: Islam needs its own period of 'Enlightenment'. Ms Hirsi Ali is back for one week to promote her most recent book, Nomad. It's her first substantial visit since leaving the Dutch parliament four years ago to live in the United States. Her main point still is that Muslim integration into Dutch society can only succeed if Muslim immigrants fully embrace Dutch values and leave their own values behind. The two systems of thought cannot be combined. "The idea that the two can be combined is why the problem has lasted so long, and become so entrenched as to be nearly intractable: people have contradictory expectations." Wilders good In her criticism of Muslim integration, the former Dutch conservative VVD party MP echoes many of the ideas of Geert Wilders, once her VVD colleague and now leader of his 'own' Freedom Party (PVV). Mr Wilders' party is likely to become one of the largest, if not the largest, in the country after the general election on 9 June. He is currently on trial facing charges of inciting hatred toward Muslims. Ms Hirsi Ali disagrees. She says that on the contrary, Mr Wilders is preventing violence by allowing a segment of the population to channel their anger by voting rather than rioting. Wilders is good for the Netherlands she says. But she also criticises the Freedom Party leader for raising false expectations. "I have also learned that you have to translate political proposals into policy, and my critique for Geert Wilders is that his proposals have raised expectations that cannot be translated into policy." Ms Hirsi Ali portrays herself as more pragmatic than Mr Wilders.(Rnw.nl)

ANTISEMITISM

Anti-Semitic Vandals Deface Montreal Synagogue-Hana Levi Julian
Two Nazi swastikas were scrawled inside a Montreal synagogue this past Sabbath, according to a police report, which classified the graffiti as a hate crime. The swastikas were drawn on the bima – the stand upon which the Torah scroll is placed when the portion of the week is read before the congregation. Worshipers who arrived Saturday morning at Ahavath Israel d’Chasidei Viznitz synagogue for Sabbath services also found prayer shawls and prayer books scattered about on the floor. Mayer Feig, executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Council for Community Relations of Montreal, told reporters there are approximately 100 members in the congregation. There are approximately a dozen Chassidic congregations in the neighborhood, he added. (INN)

Israel as Czechoslovakia-Melanie Phillips
So it’s now not just a crisis between the Obama administration and Israel. By a remarkable coincidence, the UK government has now upped the ante too against its sole ‘friend’ and ‘ally’ in the Middle East. First the Obamites deliberately and gratuitously escalated the non-event of Israeli building permits just across the ‘green line’ in Jerusalem – in a Jewish area which is hemmed in between other Jewish areas – into a full-scale dressing down of Israel, provoking the worst crisis between America and Israel for three decades. Then today, Israel’s ambassador to the UK was summoned into the Foreign Office and told that, to mark Britain’s deep displeasure at the alleged theft by Mossad of the passport identities of a number of British/Israeli citizens in order to kill the Hamas terrorist Mahmoud al Mabhouh in Dubai last January, an Israeli diplomat – said to be a Mossad operative – was to be expelled from Britain. The word ‘disproportionate’ comes to mind.There is still much about the killing of Mabhouh which remains mysterious and indeed inexplicable – such as the enormous number of some 27 agents apparently involved in the operation. And Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that the Mossad was involved, although Britain says there are ‘compelling reasons’ to believe that it was involved in the misuse of the British passports. (Spectator.co.uk)

UNICEF Funded Anti-Semitic Ad Promoting Israel Boycott-Gil Ronen
An advertisement featuring anti-Semitic imagery bearing the UNICEF logo was placed by an NGO that enjoys the United Nations agency's support. The advertisement was placed by a Palestinian Authority youth organization, PYALARA (Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation), which is funded by UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund. The ad is for a PA television show produced by PYALARA. According to Palestinian Media Watch's Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik, the advertisement is “another example of the misuse of UN funding.” The ad shows an axe destroying a Star of David. The large Star of David that has been destroyed is decorated with stars and stripes, presumably representing the USA, and an additional smaller Star of David - a common theme in anti-Semitic cartoons that imply Jewish control of the US. (INN)

Column One: Obama’s war on Israel-Caroline Glick
Obama claims he's launched a political war against Israel in the interest of promoting peace. But this claim, too, does not stand up to scrutiny. Why has President Barak Obama decided to foment a crisis in US relations with Israel? Some commentators have claimed that it is Israel’s fault. As they tell it, the news that Israel has not banned Jewish construction in Jerusalem – after repeatedly refusing to ban such construction – drove Obama into a fit of uncontrolled rage from which he has yet to recover. While popular, this claim makes no sense. Obama didn’t come to be called “No drama Obama” for nothing. It is not credible to argue that Jerusalem’s local planning board’s decision to approve the construction of 1,600 housing units in Ramat Shlomo drove cool Obama into a fit of wild rage at Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Obama himself claims that he has launched a political war against Israel in the interest of promoting peace. But this claim, too, does not stand up to scrutiny. (Jpost)

Britain Warns Citizens on Traveling to Israel-Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu(Israelnationalnews.com) Britain dealt a potentially damaging blow to Israel’s tourism industry Wednesday by warning its citizens that traveling to the Jewish State may lead to their passports details being "captured" for “improper uses.” France also is conducting a probe into the alleged forgery of French passports. "Further investigation has revealed that these four passports were actually false, as the photos did not correspond to the names appearing in each document," a statement by the French prosecutor said. The British warning follows Britain’s expulsion of an unnamed senior Israeli diplomat from Britain, a retaliatory move for Israel’s allegedly cloning 12 British passports that were used by a counter terrorist team that assassinated Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai in January. The Mossad has widely been considered responsible for the highly sophisticated operation. Israel has not denied or confirmed participation in the elimination of the terrorist, but British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Tuesday that there are "compelling reasons" to believe Israel was behind it. (INN)

TERRORISM, security and policy

Israel's top 10 airport security technologies-Karin Kloosterman
Since the attempted terror attack on board a US airplane last Christmas day, airport authorities around the world are in a race to find novel solutions to fight terror. Israeli strategic and technical tactics feature high on their lists. What's the secret to the country's success in keeping Ben Gurion Airport terror free? "Israel concentrates on the passengers and not their luggage so we have a real edge over the rest of the world in protecting travelers," says Rafi Sela, a top security consultant and former chief security officer at the Israel Airport Authority. "This is in addition to us protecting the whole airport, while the others merely try to achieve aviation security," he tells ISRAEL21c. Sela, who advises governments and airport authorities all over the world, has become the leading figure advocating Israel's unique approach to airport security in the past six years. Through his company AR Challenges, he uses approaches and technology services rooted in Israeli innovation to try to help his clients stay one-step ahead of potential terrorists. The global transportation security consultancy, of which he is president, works with high profile clients including Canada's RCMP, the US Navy Seals and airports around the world. (israel21c)

Britain on 'dirty bomb' alert: Threat of terror attack using nuclear or chemical weapons is rising, says Home Office-Tim Shipman
The threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear or chemical weapons is rising - and significant gaps have been identified in Britain's ability to prevent it or cope with the aftermath. Security minister Lord West made the chilling assessment as he published the first counter-terrorism strategy to prevent a 'dirty bomb' attack in this country. The Home Office warned that the threat of terrorists spreading weapons of mass destruction is 'more realistic' than ever. And it said that intelligence chiefs are working round the clock to prevent a dirty bomb blast at the London Olympics. The counter-terror documents reveal that a recent and still classified 'review of counter terrorist related work since 9/11' had identified 'gaps' in the capabilities of the security services. Among these is the need for more 'stockpiling of drugs and vaccines'. The report also outlines the need for more work to detect the use of chemical, biological or nuclear materials at the scene of an attack. Ministers will soon outline a government-wide initiative to solve the problems. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Cell Carriers Bow to Taliban Threat- YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
ZHARI, Afghanistan—Every evening at dusk, cellphones go dead in this district just outside Kandahar, Afghanistan's second-largest city. All three mobile-phone companies operating here turn off their antennas, returning to air only when the sun rises above the jagged hills to the east. The reason for this nightly blackout, implemented across southern and eastern Afghanistan: a Taliban decree that aims to prevent villagers from passing tips to coalition forces. The Taliban also are trying to show who's really in charge in this part of the country by intimidating the cellphone industry, one of the rare Afghan economic success stories. When carriers tried to defy the edict in the past, insurgents destroyed cellphone towers and killed staff in response. The American surge into southern Afghanistan, including here in Kandahar province, has dealt setbacks to the Taliban. Yet the insurgents are far from defeated. Despite the offensive by tens of thousands of extra U.S. troops in the south, fear of the Taliban still reigns across much of the country. The cellphone shutdown is a sign of how deeply entrenched the insurgency is in the day-to-day functioning of the area, where the Taliban effectively operate a shadow government more powerful than the state. (WSJ)

Exclusive: Understanding the EMP Threat Could Save Your Life-Jena Baker McNeill
Americans know to dial 911 and wait for first responders when a medical emergency occurs. We go about our daily lives confident that, if needed, an ambulance will arrive quickly and whisk us to an emergency room for medical attention. But another threat to the health of all Americans remains largely ignored. It’s one that could bring down the entire health care system in just a matter of minutes. EMP – electromagnetic pulse – is a phenomenon first discovered by scientists doing nuclear testing in the 1940s. They observed that this high frequency pulse, produced by the explosion of a nuclear weapon in the earth’s atmosphere, could create a pulse that destroys electronics and electrical systems. Under certain conditions, an EMP could bring down America’s digital infrastructure. This pulse could halt water supplies and shut down hospitals, as well as the entire power grid, the source of electricity for almost everything that makes society run. Everything in America is electronic. Just ask any parent who has had to buy 40 packs of batteries on Christmas Eve. Or folks with robo-vacuums or programmable thermostats. But this isn’t just about modern conveniences. It’s about medical devices, emergency response equipment and a health care system that relies on a functioning power grid. President Barack Obama has emphasized his push towards electronic medical records for all Americans, but an EMP would make it next to impossible to access those records. That could have major consequences in terms of drug interactions and prognoses. (Familysecuritymatters)

Get full body scanners in all airports now or face terror attacks, warns damning report-Tim Shipman
Ministers are accused of sitting around waiting for terrorists to strike at British airports in a damning report published today. The Home Affairs Select Committee warns that the introduction of body scanners and explosive detection equipment at airports must be hastened in order to prevent unnecessary deaths. The cross-party group of MPs accused ministers of taking a ‘laissez-faire’ approach to security and said the government must be more proactive in preventing attacks using new technology. Their report concludes: ‘The Government's position of adopting "proportionate" measures is a euphemism for adopting a wholly reactive stance and waiting for terrorists to demonstrate their new capabilities before implementing improved security measures. ‘In view of the ongoing terrorist threat to airline passengers and staff we urge the Government to constantly look for further technological measures to improve airport security. This should be a matter of the utmost priority for the ministers concerned.’ (Dailymail.co.uk)

Somali pirates hijack ships outside patrol area as they move further east
Somali pirates hijacked two ships on Tuesday in a series of attacks that shows the pirates are moving further east, officials said.
The hijacking of the Malta-flagged MV Frigia took place more than 1,000 miles out at sea and represents a substantial increase in the pirates' range, said Cmdr. John Harbour, spokesman for the EU Naval Force. The attack took place more than 400 miles outside where the naval force operates. The second hijacking, of the MV Talca, took place about 120 miles off the coast of Oman, said Harbour. It was 60 miles from the easternmost limits of the 1.5 million square mile area patrolled by around 35 warships from the European Union Naval Force, Nato, the US and other nations. The Talca, a refrigerated cargo vessel, had 23 Sri Lankans, 1 Filipino and Syrian on-board. The hijacking of the Frigia is potentially more complicated. It is unclear if its cargo of fertiliser is nitrate-based, which could be used for bomb-making in Somalia. The country's beleaguered government is battling an Islamic insurgency. (Telegraph.co.uk)

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM

Environmental 'Crisis' and Government Power-Barun S. Mitra
The IPCC's climate-change fearmongering is only the latest excuse to expand the public sector. The United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change admitted for the first time last month that it is facing a crisis of confidence. But the IPCC's failings go far beyond the recent spate of errors identified in its reports. The problem began with the global political climate that led to the formation of the IPCC two decades ago. Contrary to popular perception, the IPCC is not a scientific organization. It does no research of its own. Composed of scientists nominated by different governments, its key function is to collate evidence of human-induced climate change, not just changes in climate. It is hardly surprising that with such an inherently biased objective the scientists lost their objectivity. Many of them went on a crusade to support the political goal of proving anthropogenic global warming. Concerns about scientific objectivity and critical discourse were thrown overboard. Why did political masters set such a nonscientific mandate for their scientists at the IPCC? Because over the past half century, governments have often ridden the green bandwagon to justify public-sector expansion. (WSJ)

Russian weatherman strikes blow for climate change lobby by announcing winter in Siberia may be coldest on record- Will Stewart
In a new blow to the climate change lobby, Russia's top weatherman today announced that the winter now drawing to a close in Siberia may turn out to be the coldest on record. 'The winter of 2009-10 was one of the most severe in European part of Russia for more than 30 years, and in Siberia it was perhaps the record breaking coldest ever,' said Dr Alexander Frolov, head of state meteorological service Rosgidromet. Statistics are still being analysed in detail, but it is known that in western Siberia the mean temperature was minus 23.2C, with more colder days than in previous years. Some 63 days were colder than minus 25C and 39 days below minus 30C. For this part of Siberia, this represents the coldest conditions in 40 years and the second harshest winter in 110 years. Equivalent statistics for colder eastern Siberia have not been issued yet. The coldest recorded temperature in the recent winter is believed to have been minus 57.4C degrees in Oymyakon on 20 January. (Dailymail.co.uk)

SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

Decoding an Ancient Therapy-Melinda Beck
High-Tech Tools Show How Acupuncture Works in Treating Arthritis, Back Pain, Other Ills
Acupuncture has long baffled medical experts and no wonder: It holds that an invisible life force called qi (pronounced chee) travels up and down the body in 14 meridians. Illness and pain are due to blockages and imbalances in qi. Inserting thin needles into the body at precise points can unblock the meridians, practitioners believe, and treat everything from arthritis and asthma to anxiety, acne and infertility. As fanciful as that seems, acupuncture does have real effects on the human body, which scientists are documenting using high-tech tools. Neuroimaging studies show that it seems to calm areas of the brain that register pain and activate those involved in rest and recuperation. Doppler ultrasound shows that acupuncture increases blood flow in treated areas. Thermal imaging shows that it can make inflammation subside. Scientists are also finding parallels between the ancient concepts and modern anatomy. Many of the 365 acupuncture points correspond to nerve bundles or muscle trigger points. Several meridians track major arteries and nerves. "If people have a heart attack, the pain will radiate up across the chest and down the left arm. That's where the heart meridian goes," says Peter Dorsher, a specialist in pain management and rehabilitation at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. "Gallbladder pain will radiate to the right upper shoulder, just where the gallbladder meridian goes." (WSJ)

Contested Will: Who Wrote Shakespeare? by James Shapiro
James Shapiro’s prize-winning book 1599 was a work of micro-history. It showed how the plays Shakespeare wrote that year reflected current political tensions, and how, as a working dramatist, he had to cope with day-to-day pressures, from quarrels among his fellow actors to struggles with the first draft of Hamlet. This new book seems wildly different, but, like 1599, it is a search for historical causes. It tells the story of the generations of sceptics who have denied, over the years, that Shakespeare wrote the plays that bear his name. Shapiro is clear that they are wrong, but he wants to know why they started going wrong when they did. To answer that question he identifies a historic change in the way people thought about art and literature. For two centuries after Shakespeare’s death, he points out, nobody doubted that Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. Doubts started because a powerful new idea took hold in the early 19th century, which was that artworks are expressions of their creator’s inner self, and should be interpreted as spiritual autobiography. This change was part of the tectonic shift that we call Romanticism, and it affected Shakespeare because the few surviving documents relating to his life in Stratford did not suggest he was a spiritual sort of person at all. They showed that part of his income came from moneylending, and that he took neighbours to court when they failed to pay their debts. Could the lofty poet and the hard-nosed businessman be one and the same? (Timesonliine.co.uk)

The Peculiar Generation-Richard Pells
We've all heard about the "greatest generation," which lived through the Depression of the 1930s and won World War II (with a little help from our Russian friends). We've also been subjected to innumerable analyses about the "baby boomers," born in the late 1940s and 1950s, who instigated the social and cultural upheavals of the 1960s and have shaped American society ever since. But what about the people born between the beginning of World War II, in 1939, and its end, in 1945? Those members of a transitionally awkward generation who were too young to have personally experienced the Depression or the war, but too old to have been embroiled in the turmoil on college campuses in the late 1960s. Who were presumably too blasé or sedate to have participated in the battles against the Vietnam War or for the equality of women, much less in the revels at Woodstock. Who came of age in an America that was obsessed with the cold war and was not yet bombarded daily by technological innovations, new waves of immigrants, or cataclysms in the stock market. What contributions, if any, has this generation made to American political and cultural life?Quite a lot, as it happens. In fact, many in this cohort were responsible for some of the principal transformations—especially in movies, music, and journalism—that have occurred in America over the past 60 years. (Thechronicleofhighereducation)

www.americanfreedomalliance.org

  Links:

• Foundation for the   Defense of Democracy
• MEMRI
• Jihad Watch
• Simon Wiesenthal   Center
• The Investigative Project    On Terrorism
• Eye on the UN  
• Atlas Shrugs