Moving forward

The latest edition of Charlie Hebdo has been released in defiance of those who tried to shut down this group of political commentators and cartoonists.  The cover depicts Mohammed with a tear in the eye and a sign that says “I am Charlie”.

The usual suspects who become rage boy are ready to rage again. However, in a lot of places there is a call to stay calm. This is the case in France where the imams of the most important of the mosques have decried the violence and at the same time have called for no reaction to the cartoons.

I reiterate that there are good Muslims out there who mean us no harm at all. One such Muslim is a French citizen, British cafe owner who has a chalkboard outside his shop stating “I am Charlie”. He has been threatened by a man of “Asian” appearance. This particular Muslim has stated he will continue with the chalkboard and that his neighbours and those at the mosque have no objections to his chalkboard. The perpetually aggrieved have no sense of humour.

Luz, the cartoonist who survived because he was late for work, has stated what is obvious: “that some have lost the soul of their inner child”.  Luz’s cartoon is more complex than is supposed and one should try to look at this picture upside down, and look at the turban with fresh eyes.

If there is to be a resolution to the crisis that has been ongoing since ISIS gained control in Iraq then I think that we personally need to be doing a lot of praying. Secular France has been shocked by what took place. The French have suddenly discovered that anti-Semitism is rampant. Why did they not see that anti-Semitism had been ongoing over a period of years? Why had they done nothing before now. In true French style they are protecting Jewish schools etc. and at the same time they are arresting those responsible for damage to the Mosques.

I am not sure whether to believe him or not, but the man who was the mentor to the two brothers has actually condemned their actions. This man, who was in prison because of his terrorist activities seems to be reformed and is working as a nurse at the hospital where Jewish victims of the deli massacre were taken. He came out against what had taken place.. has he really turned his life around, or in the future will he participate once again in terrorist activity?

Moving forward, we all need to be on the alert. If we see anything that is suspicious we need to be prepared to report it to the police. At the same time we need to be vigilant against those who want to impose Sharia upon us.

A sad end to the week

First of all, it is necessary to pay a tribute to 17 people who were killed as well as all who were injured over the past week in France. The people who were killed at the Jewish Supermarket died because they were Jews and in my mind this is the most disgusting of the events.  Equally disgusting was the murder of the policewoman and the murder of the policeman, because their murders in particular were merciless.

I want to take the time to praise a young man from Mali. This young man worked for the Jewish grocer, and he is a Muslim. He was quick thinking because he sheperded a group of people into a freezer to protect them, and then he managed to slip outside to warn the police about what was happening and to give them a key to the shutters at the front of the store. He was also able to give them details regarding the inside of the store.  The young man was quick thinking but more than that, he considered those Jews to be his brothers.

There were others who faced an ordeal on that same day, including the woman teacher who had her car hijacked from her, and she was lucky to be dumped from the car, as well as the owner of the print works and the other employee who was on the same premises but who was hiding. Once again, this young man communicated with the police and provided vital details regarding the print works.

Seventeen people paid a heavy price. Five of the 17 were Jews. Three of the 17 were Muslim – the policewoman Clarissa. the policeman Ahmed and the Charlie Hebdo employee Mustapha. The remainder were a mixture, probably atheist.

The whole episode has been chilling because no one knows if there will be more strikes, or when those strikes might happen next. I personally think that it is no accident that the perpetrators were criminals.

We all need to be on the alert against this kind of fanaticism.

A very bad week – the empire strikes back

Ok, yes it is true, I am a Star Wars fanatic!!  I hope that any reader who knows the trilogy will in fact get my meaning here because the “Empire” consists of the baddies. This is a theme that is consistent in such things as Lord of the Rings and yes even the Hunger Games which is a story about striking back against oppression, and evil overcoming the world.

Evil. Yes, that is a word that I am deliberately using to describe what took place in France this week. Last night I heard some sketchy story about 4 hostages being killed, but the message was so mixed up I thought it was the original pair who had killed more people. This morning the full extent of the unfolding tragedy was laid before me… it was another gunman, the same one who had killed the young police woman who had started his own siege and had killed 4 people he had taken hostage in a Jewish grocery store. The Empire had struck back.

The gunmen responsible for 12 deaths at the Charlie Hebdo premises claimed that they were from AQIP (Yemen). There is a claim that one of them was trained by people loyal to Anwar a-Awlaki who was killed back in 2011. This strike was all about revenge over a bunch of cartoon drawings that had depicted Mohammed the goat herder who claimed to have been a prophet of God (but was no such thing). Mohammed is not holy. Mohammed is not divine. There is nothing sacred about Mohammed the camel driver and goat herder. The gunman who laid siege to a Jewish grocery store had a particular hatred of Jews. He also hated the police.  All of these incidents are linked. (BTW I am now of the opinion that the grocery store gunman was in fact the 3rd person involved at the offices of Charlie Hebdo if there really was a 3rd person).

Al Qaeda and its offshoots, is the face of evil. The current leader of Al Qaeda, Zawahiri had a role in the death of Anwar Sadat, as did Muslim Brotherhood. The ideology of Al Qaeda, I.S. and similar organizations is that of the Ummah and the idea of the world-wide caliphate. This is also the belief of the Afghanistan Taliban and the Pakistani Taliban. They all believe the same thing.

The hate preachers within Islam here in Australia also preach the same thing about the world-wide caliphate and their belief in the Ummah. We who are Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist etc etc are in peril so long as we refuse to embrace Islam.

The hate preachers of Islam have for a long time been manipulating the Muslim adherents. They stirred up rage over a bunch of innocuous cartoons of the pedophile Mohammed. After the Friday hate preaching there were scenes of mayhem and rage all over the world… and we saw the birth of “Rage-boy”. The hate preachers set to work convincing the crazed ones that the West was killing Muslim children… when in fact it was Muslim killing Muslim in countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq.  Yes, we did go into Iraq and yes people were killed, but those people were attacking the soldiers who were present for peaceful purposes after the ejection of Saddam Hussein. This does not stop the lies of the hate preachers.

Another source of distortion is that relating to the “Palestinians” and Israel. We are supposed to believe that Israel is suppressing the Palestinians when in fact it is Hamas that is oppressing its own people, using them as human shields and generally committing war crimes. What else can you expect from a bunch of criminals.

This time the Empire successfully struck back, but we are a long way from being defeated. Yes some cartoonists were killed at Charlie Hebdo, but the tradition will continue, thanks to this particular attack.

I will note here that I have seen cartoons that I consider to be offensive, but I am exercising my free choice to not be offended over those particular cartoons. What matters to me is the right to freedom of expression whether or not I am offended by such expression.

Je Suis Charlie Hebdo – a tribute to the 12 who were massacred.

First of all I want to express my sympathy and condolences to the families of the 12 who were massacred. In particular I want to express my condolences to the family of the policeman who was executed in cold blood.

Charbo knew that his life was at risk and he continued to thumb his nose at the Islamic extremists. The magazine, Charlie Hedbo had some of the best cartoonists in the world. This was the one magazine that had been willing to show images of Mohammed the pedophile, butcher, and extremist. A lot of those cartoons are in fact quite funny and that includes one cartoon which should have had me feeling very offended.

Charlie Hebdo magazine is all about lampooning people on the political stage. The fact that the cartoonists had not been afraid to publish in my view is to their credit. They stood up to the extremists within Islam but they lost their lives because they stood up to the intimidation. (this is one of the messages in the Hunger Games, that is standing up to intimidation).

Why should a cartoonist’s expression of Mohammed be considered as blasphemous anyway? The claim is that this butcher, thief and pedophile was a prophet of God, but nowhere in the history of the world is a real prophet of God anything like Mohammed. Prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nathan, John the Baptist, Ezekiel and others did not go around demanding that people either convert to a religion or die by the sword. No, they were interpreters of their time, and some of their words apply to events at other times. This is why the words of Isaiah are applied to the birth of Jesus Christ. Mohammed was an ordinary man but Jesus is the Son of God.

I want to pay tribute to the men and women who stood up to the attempts at intimidation. I pay tribute even though these men and women do not equate to my own politics. For me, it is about the fact that Chabo was prepared to continue publishing the cartoons because he wanted to stand up to the fanatics since he would rather die standing up than being forced to kneel on the ground. (at least as Christians we are not forced to kneel but do so willingly as we adore the person of Jesus Christ – and if we cannot kneel because of arthritis then that is ok too).

The cartoonists of the world have been responding to the massacre of so many of their own community by publishing their own images. Some of those images are funny but some make a very strong point. The Australian press has published some of those images.

As a conservative voice, I am joining with those who are willing to say “Je suis Charlie”. I am standing up for the freedom of expression and the right to freedom of speech. Even if a cartoon offends my sensibilities I believe that the cartoonist has a right to express an opinion, and I can decide to ignore that particular cartoon.

The Hunger Games

I am not a true fan of Sci-Fi, but every now and again there is a movie or series of movies that get me hooked. The Hunger Games fits into that category. So, a long story, short, over the last three days I have watched the first three Hunger Games movies. Based upon comments from my husband, I am going to make my own assessment and hopefully deal with “criticism” or otherwise of these movies.

First of all, I felt very disturbed over the idea of girls aged around 11 being forced to kill or be killed. In the first movie there were two young girls. The white girl was killed very quickly but Rhu became an important part of the story. Rhu, the black girl was resourceful. She allied herself to Kaitness, and when Kaitness was overcome by the killer wasps it was Rhu who applied the poultices that saved her life. The death of Rhu was really hard to watch and in my mind I found it unacceptable that someone so young should be forced to die in that way… BUT….

In the first century A.D. there were young girls who became martyrs after they were thrown to the lions or faced other indignity in the Coliseum. St. Agatha was one of those young girls who died as a martyr after being gored by a lion.  Many of the same saints also faced gladiators, being forced to fight to the death for the entertainment of the Roman Emperor.

President Snow can be compared to those Roman Emperors who enjoyed watching people being killed in the arena. The people of the Capitol in the Hunger Games behaved in a similar way to the Roman citizens who would come and watch as gladiators fought to the death. The Hunger Games, therefore is a reminder of what took place in a much less civilized society.

Second, apparently some critics are claiming that the protesters at Ferguson have adopted the hand signal that one sees in the Hunger Games. Well, I think that such claims are absolute b.s. because I cannot imagine the fiends who have been protesting either reading a book or watching a movie at the theatre (especially when they need to sit through 3 movies). Yes, the theme is that of rebelling against oppression, but there is no similarity in the Ferguson case, the New York case or any other case that has been hitting the headlines in recent months for the simple reason there is no oppression in Ferguson or New York or Los Angeles. If one has to talk about enslavement then one needs to look at the way in which the Democrats keep the Black community hooked on welfare and drugs.

The people in the districts in the Hunger Games are in fact very oppressed. The whole idea that two children from each district are chosen to fight against each other to the death is horrific, and it is a method that is used to keep the people enslaved or obedient. The “guards” are dressed in the same fashion as storm troopers. In this regard there is a similarity to the Storm Troopers in the Star Wars movies and likewise this is a reminder of the S.S., as well as the Chinese military, the Soviet military and the Korean military. In each case the dictator of that country puts the military forces on display as a method of intimidation towards the population. Intimidation of the populace is a very strong theme.

It is Katniss who does a three finger hand signal. The first man from district 11 who uses this hand signal is grabbed and beaten to death.  It is this hand signal that becomes a unifying sign amongst a population that has been oppressed and is ready to rebel. The people have faced public humiliation and execution, sometimes for no reason at all. There is no similarity at all to the events in Ferguson.

I  will reiterate what I know about those events in Ferguson. Michael Brown and his companion had been involved in a strong arm robbery at a store. A customer inside the store called the police. The store clerk and the owner were so intimidated by the black gangs in the area that they were upset over the police being called in the first place. Officer WIlson had been on a call in the area. He spotted Brown and his companion walking in the middle of the road, and he spoke to them, telling them to get off the road. At the same time Officer Wilson heard the call over the radio regarding the robbery and heard a description of the felons. He realized that the two individuals he had spoken to fitted the description and so he backed up his car to speak with them again. Brown had the cigarellos in his hand and he passed them to his companion. This time Brown was angry and he punched the police officer in the face. He also attempted to grab Wilson’s gun – the gun discharged the first time during that struggle in the car. Brown took off and WIlson took off after him, telling Brown to stop. Brown turned around but instead of stopping Brown began to charge at Wilson, who then shot at Brown several times, wounding him in the arm.  Brown gave one final charge at Wilson, lowering his head at the same time. Wilson had fired again, only this time the shot was fatal.

Unless someone has no arms and hands, it is ridiculous to claim that such a person is unarmed. People use their hands to murder others e.g through strangulation, punching someone in the head etc. Brown was a very large male and he had a lot of strength in his hands. Wilson was no match for Brown when it came to throwing punches, especially in the confines of the car, neither was he a match in terms of weight.  As such, I believe that Brown was in fact armed with his hands.  Wilson told Brown to stop, but Brown refused to obey. In other words Brown was resisting arrest over the stolen box of cigarellos.

Dorian Johnson lied about what took place. His “hands up, don’t shoot” scenario never happened. That scenario was the product of something made up by someone who appeared on the scene later.  It is this “Hands up, don’t shoot” that is being compared to the hand signal in the Hunger Games, even though there is absolutely no similarity within the symbolism. If there are other hand signals being used then they are signals that belong to the gangs, especially the Crips.

Criminals bring about their own demise and that is what happened in at least 2 of the cases that have gained so much publicity. Both Michael Brown and Eric Garner resisted arrest. In the case of Eric Garner though, it is doubtful that the police offier’s actions actually caused his death. I have doubts that the hold that was applied was even a chokehold. Yes hands were applied to Garner’s neck but that was not necessarily a chokehold. The reason Garner could not breathe was due to his asthma. The mere fact that he could say “I can’t breathe” is evidence that the hold was not a chokehold. However, the radical Left, the Communists and the Anarchists have taken up a cry of wanting an indictment where there is not sufficient reason to charge anyone with a homicide. The latest case from Berkley Missouri fits into the same category (unless new information comes to light). Garner was being arrested because he was selling single cigarettes in an attempt to avoid paying tax. That is an offence. He was resisting arrest.

In other words, the Hunger Games have proved to be movies of a certain genre that grabs one’s attention, in the same way that Star Wars grabbed the attention of my generation. There were many comparisons to be made e.g. the comparison to ancient Rome, and to Star Wars itself, and of course it is good vs. evil. The movies will grab the attention of some people, but not others. There is one more comparison and that is with I.S. in the way that intimidation is used to cow the population (until the oppressed population in the rebellious districts say no more). However, when it comes to something like Ferguson, there is no comparison because whoever made that claim is talking through his backside!!

I told you so!!

Today’s Telegraph has information on the perpetrator of the Lindt Cafe siege that confirms my suspicions that he was a part of the extremist Islamist group Hizb-ut-tahrir.

From the start I kept on mentioning this group and the possible association with this extremist group, and I was right!!

I fault the writer on claiming that Monis was radicalized by Hizb-ut-tahrir because I think that he was already a radical.

What is missing here is the fact that Hizb-ut-tahrir has been uttering all the extremist stuff and yet nothing seems to be done about them. The people who have been “radicalized” have a link to Hizb-ut-tahrir, and to be honest that is the first place that I would look in trying to explain why so many Australians have been disappearing and being found in Turkey or Syria. They have been listening to members of this group at their rallies, and sadly they believe what they are hearing.