How to Suck Thumb and Not Influence People

A year ago today I set off for my week's holiday in Paris.  Before I left I spoke with the UUP's Alex Kane by phone and we discussed the ongoing refusal of Sinn Fein/IRA to work devolved government due to their childish fit of pique over the devolution of polcing and justice 'powers' (in reality it is nothing more than transferring the budget from London to Belfast as the police will retain operational independence).  On Tuesday I depart for two and a half weeks to India, and I'm wondering whether I'll be having a similar conversation one year on.

Sinn Fein/IRA are once again behaving like Harvey Korman in Blazing Saddles (the scene when he couldn't find his 'froggy' in the bath).  Instead of the bearded barman or the butcher of Londonderry, this time we had a relatively insignificant hick in the form of 'national' chairman, Declan Kearney, wheeled out to make the customary threats.  He message that the political process will go into 'free fall' unless those power are devolved is just another example of how Irish republicans can both misread and misinterpret an agreement they signed up to.

This is not about the principle of sharing power with former IRA terrorists and whether those same terrorists should one day have that budget withing their grasp.  Regular visitors to ATW will be well versed in my opinions on both matters.  No, this is about the republican movement effectively lying to the rubbish that consitutes its support base in claiming that pressure would be brought to bear on Unionists in the event of slow progress towards policing and justice devolution.  The St Andrews Agreement makes no such provision.  It states categorically that it is for the parties of the Assembly - collectively - to determine when the move should take place.  Although I have no time for the DUP since they reneged on their promise never to share power with terrorists, on this matter I entirely agree with Peter Robinson. 

So what could the Provo excusers do?  Collapse the Assembly?  In a re-election atmosphere where the DUP could effectively claim it had called Sinn Fein's bluff it is highly unlikely to suffer the same haemorrhaging of support to the TUV as we witnessed back in June.  Ergo, it is more than likely that the DUP would again return as the largest party.  So where do the Shinners go then?  Bleating to the Republic's government who are busily trying to prop up their basket case of a country?  Bleating to the Americans who've just, yet again, experienced the reality of terrorism (make no mistake, Ft Hood was a terrorist attack in all but name) within their borders?

Sinn Fein have been brought up in an atmosphere of making threats whenever they couldn't get their own way fast enough.  Nearly twelve years after the Belfast Agreement and with completely different circumstances, dometically and globally, prevailing, such childishness no longer works.  It didn't work a year ago and it won't work now!

Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, A Disloyal American?

New Jersey's Kareem Khan was only 14 on September 11, 20O1.  He had to wait until 2007, when he was twenty, to die in the service of his country in Iraq as a member of the 2nd Infantry Division.   He was awarded the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. 

He happened to be Muslim, like thousands of others who have served their country with honor.

One can recognize the real dangers of radical Islamic terrorists without having to resort to slandering an entire people.   I don't recall too many of the armchair warriors of ATW taking a leave of absence from blogging to serve in the wars they advocate, do you?  Corporal Khan made the supreme sacrifice, and among the things he died for was the freedom of speech for those who would use it to label him disloyal based merely upon his religious beliefs.  Perhaps, if they had the capacity to reflect upon his sacrifice, they would be less quick to sterotype all Muslims.           

ALLAHU AKBAR!

"Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. "

All very well but surely the BIG issue, the one which really concerns the BBC for example, is to ensure that Muslims are not discriminated against by those racist whites.

ATW FRIDAY JUKEBOX 2

Been out all night - at a soiree in Stormont.

So, before the witching hour, a song from me to finish my first week back!

FORFEIT!

Unelected leader warned: "Despised government will have forfeited its right to international support if it fails to root out corruption and improve the governance of the country"

"I understand" says Brown, "But we'll be voted out soon anyway."

ATW FRIDAY NIGHT JUKEBOX

NOW you too can play that dishwasher advert music whenever you like. As my niece would say: cool.

WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT GOVERNMENT?

IN a place where six year old girls aren't 'logged' as 'racist' as required 'by law'.

There's one way to find the truth - give her a bowl of Bombay Mix and see if she pulls a face.

THE IRON LAWS OF ECONOMICS WILL NOT BE DENIED

We have a public sector awash with printed cash, and a private sector squeezed by broken banks.

 - John Redwood

Finally, the dirty secret is out there. If you thought the Bank of England's counterfeiting of our currency is intended to keep inflation up (going by their erroneous definition of inflation), think again. Before this week the BoE had printed up £175billion to ease liquidity in a cash-strapped economy, so goes the official line. However, the BoE has bought just £2billion of commercial paper and £173billion of Treasury gilts. This week the Bank announced that another £25billion will be bought up. Can you guess where that's going? Over to Redwood:

The Bank has decided to print another £25 billion, presumably to boost inflation more. I think they will find inflation goes up in the New Year anyway. The decision will also have the effect of making sure the government does not run out of cash for its current spending spree in the important period of the run up to the election. Very convenient.

Click to read more ...

JUST AN ALL AMERICAN SOLDIER...

Have you seen this? It's all American soldier Major Hasan yesterday some seven hours before the shooting.

THAT LEPRECHAUN LANGUAGE

I see that the Traditional Unionist Voice has apologised for its "childishness" after issuing a statement describing Irish as a "leprechaun language".

The statement was issued under the name of TUV vice-chairman Keith Harbinson and condemned the Department of Education for "wasting" money on Irish. However after being distributed to the media, the press release on the party's website was changed to remove the term.

Good call by Jim Alister and Keith to alter this. There is no need to call the Irish language a "Leprechaun" language and this was a silly error. However there are worse things one could do - such as share power with terrorists. A young party like the TUV need to realise that press releases are a two edged sword and ensure that all such releases are authorised by someone with an eye for such obvious howlers.

I plan to be at the TUV annual conference tomorrow and will report back. My old pal Bob McCartney is a speaker and it will be nice to hear him after all these years.

I saw Jim Allister being interviewed on H&M last night and thought he did well in what was a tough interview by Noel Thompson.

GREEN SHOOTS OF RECOVERY EVERYWHERE!

Looks like all the talk of green shoots is paying off...

"A record 35,000 people were declared insolvent during the three months to the end of September, the largest number in at least half a century."

The stimulus is really working. 

A MAJOR VICTIM?

So, in true fashion, it turns out that the mass murderer Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is actually the VICTIM.

Yes, you see his aunt Noel (?) Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.

She knows all about this racism

“I know what that is like; I have experienced it myself while working as a bank executive.”

Ah - that would be those racist Americans for you!

Poor Nidal - the pain he had to suffer. But at least he had his faith.

"He came to mosque one or two times to see if there were any suitable girls to marry,” Khan said. “I don't think he ever had a match, because he had too many conditions. He wanted a girl who was very religious, prays five times a day, which is all very good.”

So, a devout Muslim.  Got that?

Then, of course, we discover he also thought he was Palestinian, even though he was born in the USA.

On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said. "I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."

So, we have one picture of Nidal as a poor oppressed but devout Muslim who considered himself Palestinian.

Then there is the other one of a evil mass murdering Islamic Jihadist.

Wonder which one the media will run with....?

BLAMING THE VICTIMS..

Let me see if I have this right.

A Shopkeeper who named and shamed a vandal who smashed his shop window has been warned by police to stop infringing the thugs "civil liberties".

What SORT of policing is this - where the victim of crime is turned into a culprit because he dares to name and shame a criminal? Confidence in policing is sapping away as the law is increasingly seen as more about helping the lawbreakers and oppreessing their victims. 

RUBBER SOUL...

I was tickled to read that waxworks of The Beatles have reportedly melted in the Indian heat at the same event where the group's original drummer, Pete Best, performed.

"Intense heat in New Delhi softened the wax in John Lennon's feet and began to distort the features of fellow band members Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, according to India's Mail Today newspaper. The figures - with an insurance value of £100,000 - were taken to India by Liverpool museum The Beatles Story and are on display at a shopping mall in south Delhi."

I don't know about you but I find all these waxworks a little bit creepy and somehow or another the figures never seem that real. Madame Tussauds seems to draw huge crowds but having been there once, I would never bother going back. 

HIS NAME WAS BENNY...

I see that the dismal political correctness narrative has claimed another victim this time in the somewhat unlikely shape of deceased UK comedian Benny Hill.

It seems that Benny was to appear on a set of stamps issued by the Mail but that a decision was taken to axe him because of concerns about his saucy style. Royal Mail deemed that his jokes were 'in direct opposition to the company's policies on harassment in the work place'. 

How pathetic is that? Benny Hill was a funny man of his time and so I play tribute to him with this musical gem from the 1970's!

GOOD NEWS ON THE CLIMATE FRONT

Pleased to report that the hopes of the one-worlders to impose their Climate Bill upon us at Copenhagen seem to have faltered and they are now wittering that it may be a year away before they get the chance to legally have their way.

The UK government says it is highly unlikely that a new legally binding climate treaty can be agreed this year - and a full treaty may be a year away.  Two years ago, the world's governments vowed to finalise a new treaty at next month's climate summit in Copenhagen. Climate Secretary Ed Miliband has until now said it could be done - but now he says only a political deal is likely, echoing some other senior figures.

Great to hear that they have failed - at least for the time being. Make no mistake, this Climate Treaty is nothing but a power grab by avaricious politicians using the eco-agenda as the pretext for imposing their liberal views on the rest of us. If such a Treaty was to become law ("International Law") it would do no good whatsoever other than centralise power, allow for further redistribution of wealth, and damage our economies.

No wonder they are all feeling "disappointed" this morning.  

ISLAMIC JIHAD AT THE HEART OF THE US MILITARY

OK time for an update on the mass murders committed by Muslim Army Major Nadil Malik Hasan. 

The line being retailed by the media here in the UK is that he was an Army Major who was a psychiatrist. That he killed so many of his colleagues is attributed to a sense of "anger" he felt about how the US was conducting the war in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

There's a wee bit more to it than that, of course...

Terry Lee, a retired Army colonel who knew Hasan, told Fox News about a story he heard secondhand. He said a fellow colleague had told him that Hasan had made “outlandish comments” about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and US involvement in them and that “Muslims had a right to rise up and attack Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.” “[He] made comments about how we shouldn’t be over there – you need to lock it up, Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressor,” Lee added.

There are also reports that 

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

Quite the patriot, eh? If these stories are true WHY was he not behind bars?

The UK media skirts over the central fact that Hasan's Islamic background is a central and very disturbing element in this story.

He's not the first Muslim "with issues" who has served in the US military. You will, of course, remember Sgt Asan Akbar - as will the families of those US soldiers he callously murdered. Then there was Beltway sniper John Mohammad - another follower of the ROP who "had issues." 

So, here's a question that the MSM will never ask but one that we should consider;

Is it safe to allow Muslims to serve in our military at a time when we are at war with militant Islam?

And while you are reaching for your keyboard, can someone point me to the links from prominent Muslim clerics castigating the actions of Hasan in unambiguous terms? That would be comforting to report - since it would show that Islam distances itself from this killer. 

Some of these points may make uncomfortable reading, I do understand that. However those grieving the loss of family this morning are having to come to terms with the awful reality of Islamic Jihad at the heart of the US military.

WHY DAVID CAMERON CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

Compare and contrast.

This is Conservative leader David Cameron and the likely next UK PM speaking on the issue of Turkey and the EU just the other day.

"We will press to keep the doors of the European Union open to new member states, especially to entrench stability in the Western Balkans where so much European blood has flowed, and also to Turkey. "

And then here is Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan speaking...

"Those who criticize Iran's nuclear program continue to possess the same weapons," Erdogan said. "I think that those who take this stance, who want these arrogant sanctions, need to first give these weapons up. We shared this opinion with our Iranian friends, our brothers."

Yes, Cameron - open the doors of the EU and let in 71 millions Muslims in. What a great idea. I am sure their Iranian "brothers" will just love that.

JIHAD AT FORT HOOD?

I am picking up on the BREAKING news that there have been several murders of US military at the Fort Hood location in Texas. It seems that up to three "shooters" have been mowing down soldiers at this location. More to follow....it would seem odd that this is a "rogue" soldier event which means that something much worse has happened here. My initial thoughts are with the families of the seven murdered US military people and all those who have been injured. This is a horrendous event and we await more news.

Update on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 09:37PM by David Vance

FBI now ruling out terrorist nexus.

More to come.

Update on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 09:42PM by David Vance

Sadly, the number of those people killed has risen from 7 to 9 with 27 injured.

Update on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at 09:52PM by David Vance

12 dead and 31 injured.

One shooter shot dead and then two others arrested. The shooters were US soldiers.

Hand guns were used to cause all these murders. 

The People Own the Government

Make no mistake about it, the Tea Party Protests, a movement that continues to resonate and grow, and that finally has on board some of the elected Republican leadership, is about liberty. Individual liberty. The Democrat controlled Congress, and the Obama Administration is attempting to take this liberty away.  This power grab is not going over well with freedom-loving middle America.

video from politico