November 9, 2009

Major Hasan: Stereotypes and Dual Loyalties

Why was the Palestinian Muslim terrorist / U.S. Army major such a hot potato for the mainstream media last week that they tried various misdirection ploys, such as the New York Times' November 7th article "When Soldiers Snap"?

A few reasons:

1. The press has indoctrinated itself to despise stereotypes, partly for ideological reasons, partly for economic ones -- "Man Bites Dog" is a better headline than "Dog Bites Man." Yet another Palestinian Muslim terrorist is a "Dog Bites Man" story.

2. Another reason is that Major Hasan is such a classic example of "dual loyalties." We've all been told over and over again that the entire concept of dual loyalties is a baseless anti-Semitic smear and therefore doesn't exist.

In truth, of course, multiple loyalties are an unavoidable reality of life, which is precisely why George Washington's Farewell Address (the single most carefully considered utterance by the Founding Fathers -- it was worked on over four years by Washington, Hamilton, Madison, and Jay) devotes so much effort to warning about how to handle them. For example:
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

3. There's the Barack Hussein Obama angle. The press has a strong feeling that they must protect Obama from anything that could tangentially tarnish him. Of course, if they would just read Obama's memoir carefully, they would see that Islam never had any appeal for him -- it's too universalist. The President liked all of The Autobiography of Malcolm X until the uninspiring conclusion when Malcolm converts from the Nation of Islam to orthodox Islam after seeing the races mix on pilgrimage in Mecca.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

63 comments:

  1. Haha ... not following my "don't f with the jews or the gays" advice?

    I look forward to the thread with both extreme Israeli nationalists letting us know that if we don't bomb its enemies New York is getting nuked and complaints that masterpieces exposing Jewish conspiracies didn't survive "Komment Kontrol".

    I don't mind that a lot of Americans have a strong attachment to Israel. Jews pay a lot of taxes here in the US without using nearly as much in government services. It's only fair some of this big surplus goes to help their cousins and one of the USA's oldest and most steadfast ally in both military and international policy issues like global warming.

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  2. Jews pay a lot of taxes here in the US without using nearly as much in government services.

    Income is taxed. Wealth is not.

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  3. "and international policy issues like global warming."

    Aaack.

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  4. "Haha ... not following my "don't f with the jews or the gays" advice?

    I look forward to the thread with both extreme Israeli nationalists letting us know that if we don't bomb its enemies New York is getting nuked and complaints that masterpieces exposing Jewish conspiracies didn't survive "Komment Kontrol".

    I don't mind that a lot of Americans have a strong attachment to Israel. Jews pay a lot of taxes here in the US without using nearly as much in government services. It's only fair some of this big surplus goes to help their cousins and one of the USA's oldest and most steadfast ally in both military and international policy issues like global warming."
    -----
    I'm not Jewish, but I hate how it is so hard for many to see the evil of Islam due to hatred of the Jews.

    I'm from the Deep South (rural and suburban) and as such, can count on one hand the number of Jews I've known (in real life, not cyber-space) and that's pretty typical for an average Southerner. I have come to the conclusion that Southerners on the whole are more clear-eyed than other conservatives about Muslims because their are few emotions about the Jews group to cloud our judgement.
    There are the pro-Israeli fundamentalist Christians, but their pro-Jewish sentiments weren't passionately felt until after 9-11. Despite being in the heart of the Bible belt, I didn't start hearing about "Rapture" until then. I remember anti-Islam discussions taking place in the '90s (in h.s. and college), but I honestly can't recall even once a discussion about the Jews and what our feelings were.

    Anyway, great post, Steve.

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  5. Check out this quote from Army Chief of Staff General Casey.

    “Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse."

    http://blogs.reuters.com/frontrow/2009/11/08/general-casey-diversity-shouldnt-be-casualty-of-fort-hood/

    Maybe the reporters are trying like Casey to protect diversity.

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  6. Why in the world does the U.S. allow dual citizenship? This needs to be ended as soon as possible. To me its the equivalent of claiming to be a Yankees AND a Red Sox fan. Pick a damn team already.

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  7. Reply to Bob;

    What you say is ludicrous. The USA "needs" Israel like one needs a chainsaw labotomy. Without Israel America could probably live in peace with the Arab world, as it did before 1948. Israel is to America what Serbia was to Czarist Russia. We all know what happened to Czarist Russia...

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  8. Advocatus Diaboli11/9/09, 9:46 PM

    Why would someone who people like you consider as a lesser species be loyal to you?

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  9. "There's the Barack Hussein Obama angle. The press has a strong feeling that they must protect Obama from anything that could tangentially tarnish him. Of course, if they would just read Obama's memoir carefully, they would see that Islam never had any appeal for him -- it's too universalist."

    Islam may never have had any appeal to Obama but by not identifying with and renouncing the religion of his birth, Obama risks incurring the wrath of jihadists who take apostasy seriously. Having been born to a Muslim father (however unobservant), Obama certainly fits the definition of an apostate and so warrants death in the eyes of fervent jihadists. If this topic of Obama's apostasy is harped on more often, we can expect more Hasan's and worse to emerge since it would be a known fact that America is being lead by a traitor to Islam.

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  10. "1. The press has indoctrinated itself to despise stereotypes, partly for ideological reasons, partly for economic ones -- "Man Bites Dog" is a better headline than "Dog Bites Man." Yet another Palestinian Muslim terrorist is a "Dog Bites Man" story."

    This is also true with my co-workers in NZ and on a legal discussion board in the UK I visit.

    People were offering up all kinds of explanations to avoid the sin of stereotyping.

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  11. If Israel did not exist we would still face this problem. In fact, China, with no Jews at all, faces this problem, and makes its deterrence by constant executions of XianXing Uigher and China-wide based Hui terrorists.

    Seymour Hersh has a New Yorker piece out in which basically, no one in the DoD knows what is going on with Pakistani nukes.

    Yeah of course NYC will get nuked, because Pakistan is filled with guys like Hassan -- can't find a "proper Muslim wife," no family (parents both dead), nothing to "tie him to life" and so he chose violent death. Duh. Sodini and Cho did the same -- but Hassan has an ideology to focus him.

    Israel has been cut loose anyway by Obama, it knows it is on its own. It may or may not choose to nuke first, or simply accept being nuked. But two Islamist nuclear powers, filled with tribal chiefs and factional chiefs eager to seek advantage over a weak, easily pushed around America with deniable pawns like a Hassan plus nukes = dead American cities unless there is active deterrence.

    That means not speeches, deals, or bargains (these guys always renege and there are too many players to strike deals with) but acting ... Chinese. Being feared but rationally feared, down to the decision maker level (tribal/factional leaders). About 30+ years of Nixon-Ford-Carter-Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama weakness make us required to do a lot "more" to get the point across than the Chinese.

    Pakistanis know what the Chinese did with Tibet, Xianxing Province, and their war with both Vietnam and India. No one doubts China's ability to rock and roll if planes or nukes crash into Shanghai skyscrapers.

    It is not 1948 anymore. Pakistan can't even keep raw sewage off the street that runs past the Presidential Palace in Monsoon season, and they have nukes. Iran hangs 16 year old girls for having sex in public, and they likely have nukes. Technology gives even the most failed, inept groups like Aum Shin Rykio or AQ the ability to kill potentially millions.

    Which in turn requires utter, utter ruthlessness. Even shortly after Washington's day, the British could use the ocean as a highway and burn the White House out to a shell. The US is a lot stronger now but so too are its non-state, lunatic Hassan enemies.

    There is no deal, payoff, bribe, rhetoric, agreement, posturing, or bargain you can make. Merely deter by proven threat of force. Which is greater the more it is put off.

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  12. Steve said:
    Another reason is that Major Hasan is such a classic example of 'dual loyalties.' We've all been told over and over again that the entire concept of dual loyalties is a baseless anti-Semitic smear and therefore doesn't exist.

    My, aren't we ideological victims! Anti-anti-Semitism is so crushingly powerful that we enslaved Gentiles even apply its shibboleths to Moslems!

    It's like saying "no one feels safe calling a white man lazy, because that's a baseless anti-black smear!"

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  13. I will add that Muslims alone DO face a conflict, a fundamental one, in the West that Jews, Buddhists, Bahais, Confucionists, Animists, Santeria-ists, Voodoo-practicioners, and what not do not.

    Muslims adhere to the supremacy of God's Law. ALL Law according to Muslims has been handed down in perfect, unchanging, and eternal form. From God himself. Which supersedes and obliterates any "blasphemous" attempt to create law on its own.

    Thus a Muslim cannot be a true American, or Brit, or Frenchman. Because all those nations have supreme laws that come from their nations, NOT GOD. And in fact conflict with God's Law (Sharia) as set down by Mohammed, the Hadiths, and so on.

    For an American, the Constitution is supreme in law. It is the law that supersedes all others. For a Muslim, it is Sharia, that supersedes the Constitution which is blasphemous anyway.

    Christians, Jews, Bahais, Daoists, Voodoo practitioners, and so on have moral precepts, that they may find supreme, but not laws. God did not give Moses, Jesus, the Buddha, or Papa Legba a complete criminal and civil code, but he did with Mohammed.

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  14. Miles here gents,


    What is even more upsetting than the attack itself (43 dead or wounded. He probably shot at 55-60 people, and if he was not stopped by a five-foot armed female, he might have been able to kill a hundred) is the fact our own FBI lied to us IMMEDIATELY (Dammit!) and declared that this was not an act of terrorism right off the bat.

    ABC news has already shown that Hasan was communicating online with a iman who was calling for just these kinds of acts by muslims in the West. If its planned, its war folks. This was planned out. Extra gun, extra magazines. He talked about it with others online. He told his own psychiatric colleagues in the Army that all non-muslims (infidels) deserved to be killed (boiling oil poured down their throats, how about that kids?).


    The elite is prepared to take (or prepared for white rednecks and recent immigrants in flyover country) to take several "hits" like this before they would even consider altering or modifying their commitment to our demographic transformation. They could not care less about 43 hicks and accent-Americans dead or injured-for-life on some po-dunk Army base.

    If Hasan had stood outside the Ritz Carlton with an Uzi, or had mowed down a line of policy-wonks at a Council of Foreign Relations confab in Manhattan (and scored 20+ kills of 'people-who-matter'), you bet your life they'd be more concerned.



    I know Ive harped on it over-and-over until it annoys all of you (Steve included), but the physical self-removal of our wealthy behind barricades and via-private security to psuedo-secure areas of our cities and suburbs leads our elite to see themselves as further apart from the masses than they physically really are, hence they are able to delude themselves about their own safety.



    If you really ponder it, we really lucked out on even 9/11. If Mohammad Atta had been canny enough to had a couple of assets working in baggage on those flights, he might have been able to make certain a couple of suitcase nukes would have been on those planes and had he been smart enough to fly them right down to the bull&bear statue outside Wall Street........who knows how many truly big-shots would have felt the effects of our lax visa policy on that day?





    But don't jump to any conclusions y'all, just like J'Obama, our prez, has read to us off his idiotocracy teleprompter (our real leader-straight from Axelrod)


    **Note: now that we have 10% unemployment (and 8 million employed illegal aliens), can we start calling him "JOBama", so you cant spell 'Obama' without spelling "Job"-something 15 million Americans wished they had.

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  15. "Of course, if they would just read Obama's memoir carefully, they would see that Islam never had any appeal for him -- it's too universalist. The President liked all of The Autobiography of Malcolm X until the uninspiring conclusion when Malcolm converts from the Nation of Islam to orthodox Islam after seeing the races mix on pilgrimage in Mecca."

    Steve, come on. I mean, come on. I mean, it's good you have finally given up on the "radical Muslim with a Jewish chief of staff" thing but this is just silly.

    Can we please move on to the "socialist-communist with the backing of the world's richest men who love giving their money away" thing?

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  16. Why not follow the WW2 policy: we didn't send the Japanese-Americans to fight the Japanese. Why are we sending Muslims to fight other Muslims?

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  17. Jimmy Crackedcorn11/9/09, 10:57 PM

    What you say is ludicrous. The USA "needs" Israel like one needs a chainsaw labotomy. Without Israel America could probably live in peace with the Arab world, as it did before 1948.

    BS. The Arab-Muslim world hates us. It has always hated us. It will always hate us, with or without Israel, with or without the Jews. We, the United States, just happen to be the biggest BMOC on the planet and remind them of how inferior they are in almost every way.

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  18. "Income is taxed. Wealth is not."

    It is in Florida. And, in any case, it's hard to accumulate wealth without incurring taxable income or capital gains.

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  19. "Without Israel America could probably live in peace with the Arab world, as it did before 1948."

    The existence of Israel certainly stirs the pot more, but we've had our frictions with the Arab world since well before the establishment of modern Israel. Today is the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps. Think back to the second line in their hymn.

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  20. Anonymous, only westerners have raised the Obama-apostate angle. There have been numerous prominent apostates from islam, including heads of state, that nobody cared about. GNXP on that angle here and here.

    Whiskey:
    Israel has been "cut loose"? I guess I wasn't paying attention when they stopped being the #1 recipient of U.S aid! I checked out terrorism in China on Wikipedia, the total amount of deaths from Muslim terrorist attacks they list is 12. I think they have more problems with rioting muslims (also a problem with Tibetans). I'd also like to hear your support for Uighur/Hui executions being "constant" relative to Han.

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  21. The First Barbary War was fought against muslims, but the region was inhabited by Berbers and ruled by Turks. Arabs were a subject people under the Ottoman empire.

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  22. Is there anything more hilarious than the Israel-first, neocon American Jews having a field day over the Jihadist Maj. Hasan's "dual loyaties"? And then trying to use this incident to win us over to their position which is based on their unique dual-loyalties? Is there anything more hypocritical?

    They should be the last people in the world to accuse anyone of "dual" anything. These are the same people who either tried to lobby for the release of the convicted spy Jonathan Pollard or just think he's a wonderful guy(but would never say so in front of the Goyim). Of course, Americans who lack dual loyalties think a bit differently about Pollard, which must mean they are incorrigible "anti-semites".

    Because of this terrible massacre in Fort Hood, all the other dual-loyalties don't all of a sudden vanish or become transformed into "good" dual-loyalties. That said, banning Muslim immigration to the U.S sounds like a very good idea; I fail to see how we benefit from having more Muslims here. I see eye to eye with Israel when it comes to this, but why can't Israel's liberal friends in the U.S?

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  23. "Modern "reform" judaism is basically protestantized."

    The biggest reform synagogue in NYC even has a choir.

    "The First Barbary War was fought against muslims, but the region was inhabited by Berbers and ruled by Turks. Arabs were a subject people under the Ottoman empire."

    And after the Ottomans the British and French controlled most of the Arab world until after WWII. The Arabs made more of a ruckus after they became independent, which roughly coincided with the establishment of Israel.

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  24. pamela anderson11/10/09, 12:05 AM

    there is a noticeable high level of consciousness and erudition on display in that washington farewell address.

    it's laughable to compare it to a modern day american equivalent. nothing so profound could be mustered by the modern politicos because they don't have the enlightenment education behind the thinking of the men who worked on that speech.

    the politically correct culture is doing its dirty work and moving us into a post-enlightenment civilization phase. this shift is achieved by altering and destroying the clarity of our thoughts at the core level.

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  25. The reaction of the US media (and leadership) has been breathtaking. Even the foreign media seem surprised.

    At this point no one should let their children enlist in the US military, to be Diversity-ed to death.

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  26. Antoine Zhang11/10/09, 1:25 AM

    "I'd also like to hear your support for Uighur/Hui executions being "constant" relative to Han."

    Whiskey is completely out of his depths here. I think multiple references to the non-existent "Xingxian province" is a significent clue - the place he most likely means is called "Xinjiang", it's a province-level administrative division, but formally speaking, an ethnic autonomous region.

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  27. "Why would someone who people like you consider as a lesser species be loyal to you?"

    Go back to trolling Roissy, loser.

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  28. Ah, I see you've jumped on the "call Obama by his middle name everywhere" angle.

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  29. I wonder what the media elite's attitude would be towards a religion whose leaders advocated the oppression of unbelievers -- say, by limiting their reproductive freedoms.

    I wonder what the media elite's attitude would be towards a religion whose leaders advocated the oppression of unbelievers -- say, by celebrating their executions.

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  30. I find it hard to believe the Rambo who rose from the dead story.

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  31. WHY DO WE ALLOW DUAL CITIZENSHIP? BECAUSE THE SUPREME COURT IN AFROYIM VS. RUSK RULED IN 1967 THAT CONGRESS CAN’T PLACE CONDITIONS ON CITIZENSHIP BASED ON ACTIONS TAKEN, SUCH AS VOTING IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY OR SERVING IN THE ARMY OF A FOREIGN STATE. THE FOLLOWING IS A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE FACTS OF THAT CASE WHICH WAS A 5 TO 4 DECISION (VOTING FOR DUAL CITIZENSHIP: WARREN; BLACK; FORTAS; BRENNAN; DOUGLAS-VOTING AGAINST: TOM C. CLARK;, JOHN MARSHALL HARLAN II: POTTER STEWART; BYRON R. WHITE):


    Afroyim, born in Poland, was naturalized as an American citizen in 1926. He moved to Israel in 1950 and voted in an Israeli election in 1951, but he never renounced his American citizenship. In 1960, the U.S. State Department refused to renew his passport, ruling that he had lost his citizenship by voting in a foreign election. He sued the secretary of state, seeking a declaratory judgment that the law was unconstitutional. Applying Perez v. Brownell, the district court and court of appeals both rejected his argument, and he asked the Supreme Court for review. The court Held that the Fourteenth Amendment prevents Congress from adopting any laws divesting American citizens of their citizenship. The ruling overturned the 1958 decision in Perez v. Brownell, which found that Congress had the authority to provide for involuntary expatriation of a citizen who voted in a foreign election. The Court concluded that the Fourteenth Amendment provides that once citizenship is granted, it cannot be "shifted, canceled, or diluted at the will of the Federal Government."

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  32. People need to look up the story of Dr Mary Hanna again. He was the Egyptian Coptic Christian who managed to wiggle out of payback to the U.S. Army for her medical school/residency by claiming to be a conscientious objector.

    My guess is that Dr Hasan used militant Islam to enable his grievance that the U.S. Army was not allowing him to scam out of his medical education payback.

    As long as he was living a civilian like life while working at Walter Reed, he did not care that much. However, being sent to Fort Hood and scheduled for deployment pushed him over the edge in his paranoid delusions.

    Instead of worrying about militant Islam, this could easily be a story of minority groups trying to scam the government.

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  33. Why in the world does the U.S. allow dual citizenship?

    Blame the Supremes. Court decisions back in the 60s made it much harder to strip American citizen from those holding citizenship elsewhere, though as far as I know it still may be technically illegal to do so.

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  34. Thomas Sowell has an interesting comment on this in his latest column:

    "It was fascinating to see Barack Obama warning us not to leap to conclusions about the killings at Fort Hood, Texas-- after the way he leaped to conclusions over the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, when he knew less about the facts than we already know about the massacre at Fort Hood."

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  35. The so called "muslim terrorism" in China is simply a battle for independence. China has no muslim problem, they have a colonial problem. Uighurs are Turks, they're not Chinese, many of them could walk down a New York street and pass for Italian.

    Probably lots of muslims would hate us if Israel didn't exist. So what? The existence of Israel isn't making the US any safer. And if there were no Israel it would be much much easier for the US to play the old divide and conquer game pitting the Turks vs. the Persians vs. the Egyptians vs. the Gulf Arabs. The Brits used to be masters at that sort of stuff. Muslims hate each other, it's not that hard to deal with them if you have Israel out of the way (and , more importantly, stop letting them immigrate).

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  36. complaints that masterpieces exposing Jewish conspiracies didn't survive "Komment Kontrol"

    Ironic because my attempt to post to this thread was expunged [although it had nothing to do with Judaism per se].


    And, in any case, it's hard to accumulate wealth without incurring taxable income or capital gains.

    Capital Gains are taxed at 15%.

    Income is taxed at [upwards of] 35% + [upwards of] 12.4% Social Security + [absolute] 2.9% Medicare + state unemployment tax + state income tax + city/county income tax + etc etc etc.

    One tax rate for thee; another tax rate for me.

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  37. It's like saying "no one feels safe calling a white man lazy, because that's a baseless anti-black smear!"

    You make a point that on the surface makes sense, then you back it up with a hilariously shoddy analogy. One, there's no taboo against criticizing whites, in fact the opposite is true. Two, the analogy wouldn't be appropriate regardless of who or what you substitute in for "black" and "white" and "lazy" because it omits important steps.

    And the funny thing about your point, which is intended to be sarcastic, is that it's pretty much the case...

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  38. As an engineering student, I had a fair bit of contact with Arabs and the degree to which they share many character traits with Jews is indeed stunning.

    There are obviously differences between the two groups, but traits like paranoia, hypersensitivity, moral-particularism, and a high level of self-deception stand out. Other aspects, such as their largely decentralized social organizing structures and their economic habits, including often being traders or controlling cartels (the diamond trade (Jewish) or oil (Arab) as examples) also stand out.

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  39. Bob said

    > I don't mind that a lot of Americans have a strong attachment to Israel. Jews pay a lot of taxes here in the US without using nearly as much in government services. It's only fair some of this big surplus goes to help their cousins <

    In other words, we're bought, and ought to stay bought.

    Why should anyone here write "masterpieces exposing Jewish conspiracies" when you do it so well yourself?

    Let's! said

    > aren't we ideological victims! Anti-anti-Semitism is so crushingly powerful that we enslaved Gentiles even apply its shibboleths to Moslems! <

    Say the term "dual loyalties" - even referring to Muslims - around any politically aware Jew, and watch the eyes get sharper and the hair bristle. Try mentioning the term a few times around your workplace and then get back to us.

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  40. Dual loyalties and foreign influence were manageable back in the days of a non-interventionist foreign policy (at least outside the western hemisphere). Since then we have played catspaw for British Imperialism (1917-45)in the days of WASP ascendancy and now Zionism (1947 - ?)in the continuing period of Jewish ascendancy. Dual loyalties are not benign - they mean war and American interests subordinated to those of foreign powers.

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  41. Jimmy Crackedcorn,
    what does "BMOC" stand for?

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  42. And after the Ottomans the British and French controlled most of the Arab world until after WWII. The Arabs made more of a ruckus after they became independent, which roughly coincided with the establishment of Israel.

    The Arabs believed that if they assisted the allies in WW1 against the Ottomans, they would secure their independence. Instead, the West replaced the Ottomans as masters, created artificial borders among the Arabs and carved out Israel. Maybe that helped contribute to the instability and hostility observed today.

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  43. Truth:

    I mean, it's good you have finally given up on the "radical Muslim with a Jewish chief of staff" thing but this is just silly.

    When did Steve ever cast Obama as a radical Muslim? It's you who's
    silly.

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  44. Off topic - Steve, have you looked into the connection between prosperity gospel, so beloved of Latino immigrants, and the housing crisis?

    Interesting article here http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/rosin-prosperity-gospel

    It's infecting lower class whites as well. America seems to be abandoning traditional Christianity and Christian values for a religion that calls itself "Christian" but in substance is little different from a cargo cult or any of the animist/pagan religions where the focus is always on getting the Gods to give you stuff.

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  45. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, speaking in Abu Dhabi, said her agency is "working with state and local groups to try to deflect any anti-Muslim anger."

    Now is this reference to state and local groups

    A. An empty diplomatic gesture before a foreign audience

    B. An indication that Islam has significant patronage and influence networks.

    C. Something else?

    Who are these groups she's talking about? Is there coordination going on between USGov and Muslim groups?

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  46. Anonymous said...
    "Islam may never have had any appeal to Obama but by not identifying with and renouncing the religion of his birth, Obama risks incurring the wrath of jihadists who take apostasy seriously."
    The practice of taqqiya allows muslims considerable leeway in violating islamic laws and traditions provided those actions advance the religion of peace.
    Obama has gone to considerable lengths to legitimize islam in the us.
    He is in no danger from any islamic murderer.
    Further, islam can be notoriously lax in enforcing the brutality of sharia.
    article 7 of the The united arab emirate constitution states in part; "Islam is the official religion of the Union. The Islamic Tiara's shall be a main source of legislation in the Union...", yet dubai offers diversions that can be found in any tourist town throughout the west.
    Why no islamic backlash there?

    tggp--
    "The First Barbary War was fought against muslims, but the region was inhabited by Berbers and ruled by Turks. Arabs were a subject people under the Ottoman empire."
    The Turks were (and are) muslims.

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  47. The dual loyalties of Jewish big shots (thats being kind of "glass half-full" anyway;imagining Jews having "dual" loyalties implies they have some to US)should be cause for worry,if the best interests of Israel should somehow conflict with the best interests of the USA. Fortunately for us,this has never happened(and never will):). We keep hearing more re Hasans big speech in front of his fellow doctors,the one whre he advocates cutting off our heads and pouring oil down our throats. I mean---come on!!!! It would be funny(I could def see Larry David doing wonders with a character like this,tho its likely he'll stick to less dicey topics,like peeing on images of our Savior!! I see him and Bill Maher getting drunk,and giving each other hand jobs on a regular basis :) )if it wasnt so sincere. The army is truly truly under the care of idiots. BTW,This reminds me of a phrase the Marine DI's use to use on us whenever they were moved to anger:I'm gonna cut off your head and shit down your throat. (Another good one:I am going to gouge out your eyes and skull fuck you.)There were no muslems among the DI's at that time,thank heavens.

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  48. I would weight it 30% #2 and 70% #3.

    Jews were very prominent in the old Confederacy. Proportionately more Jews fought and died for Dixie than for the Union.

    http://www.jewishmag.com/112mag/confederates/confederates.htm

    Muslims hate us for all sorts of reasons, Israel among them. But mostly they hate us because we are kuffar.

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  49. Jews were very prominent in the old Confederacy. Proportionately more Jews fought and died for Dixie than for the Union.

    So what? There were Jews in the Nazi army as well. Ever heard of "Hitler's Jewish Soldiers?

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  50. I was reading a history of the Milwaukee Journal by an old school reporter (not a "journalist"). His description of the lead-up to WWI and the brutal treatment of Germans in the press was breathtaking.

    Germans were the majority population of Wisconsin and Milwaukee in particular, yet they were hounded to death in the press.

    The Germans were the major manufacturers, the skilled tradesmen, the benefactors, the hospital builders, and the thinkers of Wisconsin, yet all their ethnic meetings were infiltrated by reporters, their newspapers were translated into English so other Americans could know what was going on, their every utterance was analyzed and their loyalty questioned relentlessly.

    The Germans were the Jews of Wisconsin. When they tried to persuade America to side with the Kaiser or(preferably)stay out of WWI, they were crushed.

    The ethnic strife was tremendous and simmering just under the surface for over a year.

    The Germans ultimately bent and broke, they even changed the names of their ethnic clubs.

    The Turnverein became the Milwaukee Turners.

    The German Club became the University Club.

    Old Doc Hines' dad changed the family name from "Heinz" to "Hines".

    In a majority German state, in which German was still a common languagein homes and on the street, German was no longer taught as a language, preachers who could only preach in German were fired, and German language teachers were hounded out of their jobs.

    It was brutal, but it worked. German culture was crushed and the Germans were made into Americans.

    They went out under arms and killed their ethnic brethren (and co-religionists) in what many of them still thought a terrible mistaken war.

    Anything to avoid the stink of dual loyalty.

    We should do the same to forge our multicultural brethren into Americans.

    It takes a hammer, not a Baby Wipe to convert a foreigner to an American.

    I guarantee you that the citizens of Milwaukee would never have tolerated a Major Hasan.

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  51. If Hasan had stood outside the Ritz Carlton with an Uzi, or had mowed down a line of policy-wonks at a Council of Foreign Relations confab in Manhattan (and scored 20+ kills of 'people-who-matter'), you bet your life they'd be more concerned.

    If he had walked into a museum with a 22 rifle "they" might say something like, "Round Up Hate-Promoters Now, Before Any More Holocaust Museum Attacks".

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  52. Steve, I agree with much of what you've stated. I think there is an issue of dual loyalties at issue between Islam and Christianity. Clearly, Obama identifies with Islam on many levels. He was born to a Muslim-albeit Muslim-Socialist father, a Muslim step-father, befriended Muslims throughout his college years c.f. Pakistan trip & Khalid Al-Mansour. Yet, he did join a Christian church, albeit of the bizarre Black Liberation variety lead by a pastor-Rev. Wrong who has a M.Div in Islamic Theology that fuses Marxism and Christianity.

    When the furor broke over Obama, Trinity Church, and Rev. Wrong, it reminded me of a similar controversy in the Episcopal Church that wasn't resolved until this year.

    Ann Holmes Redding was an ordained Episcopal priest in Seattle who was defrocked because she attempted to become a practicing Muslim while simultaneously being a practicing Episcopalian. Even more shocking than the fact that the Episcopal Church has limits to tolerable behavior was that Redding attempted to fuse theology between Christianity and Islam. She saw no problem with the contradictions between Islam and Christianity-I'm not sure how, I don't recall Jesus Christ making a career out of raping, looting, pillaging, and killing his way across the Levant.

    Anyway, the more I look at Obama and his attempts to place himself as mediator between clashing civilizations and races, the more I believe that he also sees himself as a nexus between Islam and Christianity. I'm willing to wager that like Redding, he sees no contradictions between Islam and Christianity. Perhaps he sees himself as the best representative and best able to negotiate between both faiths.

    Whether these nutty beliefs stem from Obama's narcissism or as some have suggested, sociopathic tendencies, I can't say for sure. However, I'd wager that the Redding analog isn't that far off.

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  53. Glenn Greenwald's Salon.com | The right's game-playing with "dual loyalty" and "anti-Semitism" accusations, from July 2008, is all about American jews of various political orientations arguing about what's best for Israel.

    Greenwald's attempt to blame "the right" is similar to how others often blame "neocons" or "liberals" when the description that best fits the group is jewish, or at least pro-jewish.

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  54. "The Arabs believed that if they assisted the allies in WW1 against the Ottomans, they would secure their independence. Instead, the West replaced the Ottomans as masters, created artificial borders among the Arabs and carved out Israel. Maybe that helped contribute to the instability and hostility observed today."

    Arabs generally don't like Turks. They think they are bad Muslims and Muslim Arabs also believe that only an Arab from Qurayshi descent deserves to be caliph. From the Arab point of view, Western colonialism was kind of good. The European powers did not try to convert the Muslim Arabs away from Islam and although the Euros did exploit the Arabs in various ways, they still did more for Arab infastructure than any Turkish regime. Obviously, Israel was another story and the Arabs did not like that one bit. With the exception of Iraq, the borders weren't that bad and definitely not as messy as the borders in Africa. Most Arab nationalities were represented and new ones emerged. The only ones I could imagine that would be pissed off would be the Kurds who aren't Arab and Armenians to a lesser extent. It was a good deal for Muslim Arabs IMO.

    Would have the Muslim Arabs been mad at America if Israel never came into being? Probably because Americans would have mostly likely involved themselves in Middle Eastern politics because of the oil issue. Would it have been easier to get along with the Arabs if Israel didn't exist. Yes, it would have. However, that doesn't mean that they would actually like America but that's the best you can hope for with a Muslim power.

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  55. OT (kinda/sorta): Denmark offers immigrants £12,000 to return home

    "Denmark has increased by tenfold the amount of money offered to immigrants who return home permanently to 100,000 kroner (£12,000), officials said on Monday"

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  56. "Glenn Greenwald's Salon.com | The right's game-playing with "dual loyalty" and "anti-Semitism" accusations, from July 2008, is all about American jews of various political orientations arguing about what's best for Israel.

    Greenwald's attempt to blame "the right" is similar to how others often blame "neocons" or "liberals" when the description that best fits the group is jewish, or at least pro-jewish."

    The names Greenwald lists in that article are Jewish neocons and Greenwald is very matter of fact about it. I really don't see what your gripe is.

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  57. "It was a good deal for Muslim Arabs IMO."

    With all possible respect, unless you are thinking of strapping on a backpack full of explosives and blowing up a crowded market, or rigging up a few IEDs, your opinion is roughly as significant as a milk bucket under a bull here.

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  58. "Income is taxed. Wealth is not."

    The hell it's not. I have paid almost $40,000 in taxes on my house since I bought in '93. And it is only worth about $240,000.

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  59. "With all possible respect, unless you are thinking of strapping on a backpack full of explosives and blowing up a crowded market, or rigging up a few IEDs, your opinion is roughly as significant as a milk bucket under a bull here."

    I don't think my opinion is important. If I did, then I wouldn't post anonymously. I was merely politely disagreeing with a poster and gave my reasons as to why.

    Euro colonialism in the Muslim Arab world wasn't as bad as it is made out to be. It wasn't perfect and the Arabs were exploited to a certain extent but comparatively speaking, Muslim Arabs have very little to complain about. Israel really should only concern its immediate neighbours and the Palestinians, not every Arab nation. Persians and Kurds have more legitimate reasons to be pissed off at America and Europe.

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  60. Jimmy Crackedcorn11/10/09, 9:10 PM

    meek Christians should have been getting their asses kicked by holy-warring jews throughout history, but what precepts of religions say they believe don't matter that much

    Genuine Christianity has never abandoned the Old Testament, so it is not now nor has it ever been simply a "Gospel of Love." I think a lot of young Christian SWPLs like to claim it's a gospel of love because, frankly, much of the Old Testament is just plain damn embarrassing.

    Is there anything more hilarious than the Israel-first, neocon American Jews having a field day over the Jihadist Maj. Hasan's "dual loyaties"?

    "Dual" loyalties? That's to imply that Major Hasan has ever felt any loyalty to the United States at all. And why would he have? He certainly wasn't taught to feel such loyalty in any public school he attended.

    Capital Gains are taxed at 15%. Income is taxed at [upwards of] 35% + [upwards of] 12.4% Social Security + [absolute] 2.9% Medicare + state unemployment tax + state income tax + city/county income tax + etc etc etc.

    Indeed. Also, the value of homes is taxed but not the value of stocks.

    It was brutal, but it worked. German culture was crushed and the Germans were made into Americans.

    Thanks to television, the press today has the power to make the smallest offenses seem like world-ending disasters (if they choose to use it). For that reason, we will never again be able to forge new ethnic groups into Americans, the way we did to the Germans and Japanese.

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  61. > the value of homes is taxed but not the value of stocks. <

    As Fred pointed out, Florida used to tax the value of one's stocks.

    In pre-Revolutionary "let-them-eat-cake" France, even windows were taxed.

    What did the Beatles say? The tax man wants a cut even for the air one breathes? Sounds about right. But if anyone objects to high taxes, the former and current elites of the US Govt publicly accuse him of letting homosexual men dangle their testicles into his mouth (i.e., he is a "Tea Bagger," a term used even by former President Bill Clinton here [paragraph 6]). Marie Antoinette might have kept her head if the French peasants had credit cards.

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  62. "Put it this way," says one official familiar with the conversations that took place. "Everybody felt that if you were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, you would not want Nidal Hasan in your foxhole."

    Walter Reed Officials Asked: Was Hasan Psychotic?

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