Pigilito says...

Swiss ban minarets

2009-11-29T11:43:00.008-05:00

In a stunning vote held today, the Swiss have banned construction of all new minarets by a 57-43 margin.

I would have expected the referendum to go down in a close vote. Although the article doesn't mention it, I'm sure the German-speaking part passed the ban overwhelmingly, with the French- and Italian-speaking parts narrowly defeated it.

Just last week polling indicated that only 37% were prepared to vote for the ban, with another 10% undecided. I guess this is another instance of citizens not responding honestly to pollers when asked a PC-type question.

This result doesn't mean that no more mosques can be built, only that minarets, which are usually attached to mosques to call the faithful to prayer, can no longer be built.

Although it can be thought of a a simple dispute over national zoning rules, for the Swiss (and Europe) it has deeper implications. Many Muslim leaders continue to bank in Switzerland, and Swiss banks have been very responsive of their Middle Eastern clients' needs and preferences. This result will doubtless lead to calls for a boycott and strained diplomatic relations.

For Europe. this is a shot across the bow of multi-culti accommodationists and a slap down to Islamist political ambitions, as the minaret is seen by some as a symbol of rising Islamic power in Europe. A Swiss commentator called it a proxy war:

Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf had argued strongly against a ban on minaret construction.

"The initiative is a kind of 'proxy war'. Its supporters say they are against minarets. But they want to fight what they consider creeping Islamicisation and sharia law," she said ahead of the vote.

I thought the ban too draconian, and the characterization of minarets as laden with symbolism as too paranoid, however, this is a valid -- if heavy handed -- response to Islamic fundamentalism in Europe.

Nevertheless, the Swiss are clearly leading the rest of Europe in pushing back against multi-culti values and rising fundamentalism.

Minarets in Switzerland?

2009-10-14T09:29:00.008-04:00

Want to know what the hot political topic in Switzerland is now? Of course you do!

Well, since you asked, the Swiss will vote next month on a referendum banning new construction of minarets on mosques.

If passed, the referendum, which has just one line, "The building of minarets is forbidden", will ban all future minarets, but not mosques.

At present, only a few mosques have minarets, but applications to add to existing mosques have led to disagreements, and more than 100,000 Swiss voters signed a petition to put the question to the voters by direct referendum.

Below are posters for and against the ban. Shouldn't be difficult to tell which is which.

Some cities, mostly in the Francophone west of the country, have banned the posters advocating a yes vote, while most large German speaking cities have allowed them -- citing free speech guarantees.

The UN is now involved. How unexpected is that?

Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize

2009-10-09T11:45:00.003-04:00

Why should we Americans be the only ones fooled by the guy?

Woody Allen's famous dictum, "80% of success is just showing up" is again demonstrated to be true -- especially if many imbue you with their hopes and dreams such that you become the walking avatar of Hope.

Obama showed up at Harvard Law... and was made editor of the Law Review. Of course, while there he failed to pen an article (most editors do contribute to their own issue -- it's kind of expected). Later he shows up in a few living rooms of influential supporters and is elected to the Illinois state senate. Beginning to see a pattern?

Finally, after duping 53% of the American electorate, he dupes 100% of the Nobel electors.

I wonder how they'll feel once the Peace Laureate annonces that his Afganistan strategy involves sending Predator drones and missles into Pakistan's airspace, and sending ground troops onto Pakistani soil at a rate not contemplated by his predecessor.

Last I heard, these are not the actions of a peace loving person. Rather, they are causus belli.

Will Obama be known as the man who lost Iran, Iraq, and Afganistan?

2009-10-05T08:08:00.003-04:00

The question "who lost China?" was asked soon after Mao kicked Chiang Kai-shek's bony rump off the mainland in 1949. Immediate popular sentiment blamed Harry Truman and the old China hands at the State Department. Republicans used China's loss as a cudgel to beat Democrats for years.

Likely, no one "lost" China (except for Kai-shek), but people were still playing the blame game when I was a child.

President Obama, though, is looking history in its bloody and unforgiving maw. After the stabilizing of Iraq under Bush, Obama's policies threaten to weaken Iraq's government so that sectarian violence again flares up. His dithering on Iran, coupled with his inability to coerce China and Russia into supporting meaningful sanctions, means that Iran will almost assuredly become the world's next nuclear power.

It's hard to blame solely Obama if Iran gets the bomb, and Iraq seems pretty sure to make continual improvements (albiet slower and bloodier than necessary), but Obama's contemplated Afgan strategy looks certain to result in the return to power of the Taliban. Should that happen, Iran's nuclear bombs and Iraq's continuing difficulties will be placed at Obama's feet -- and he can expect Rebublicans to beat him and the Democrats for years to come with that club.

History and the electorate won't look kindly on the man who muffed his biggest foreign policy challenge and lost a whole region to the bad guys. Because Obama knows this, I'm guessing that he'll send more troops but not the amount Gen. McChyrstal asked for, all while hoping to run bin Laden to ground in order to forestall criticisms from the Right

Swiss hockey team bests NHL's Blackhawks

2009-09-30T14:09:00.003-04:00

Some serious over acheiving by the top Swiss club.

Zurich's ZSC Lions may have roared into history with a 2-1 upset over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday, but coach Sean Simpson says the big winner is Swiss ice hockey.
The match at Zurich's Hallenstadion marked the first time a Swiss side has bested a team from the National Hockey League (NHL). It also ended European hockey's 18-year losing streak to NHL teams.

[...]

The Blackhawks had not lost to a European team since 1991. [....]

Hopp Schwiez!

Mathematics confirms conservatives are racist, and Carter was right

2009-09-20T08:16:00.007-04:00

Yes, fellow conservatives, it's true. By opposing Obama's policies, we are showing our true racist colors. Know how I know? Through the power of lower order math.

See, it's like this: Obama won in 2008 with 53% of the vote, which means that 47% voted against him. Those 47% were, to a first approximation, conservatives. Now we learn that about 56% of the population opposes Obama's proposal to overhaul healthcare, which is intended to be his legacy legislation.

In addition, Jimmy Carter has thoughtfully informed us that "an overwhelming portion" of that opposition "is based on the fact that he is a black man."

I looked up the standard mathematical definition for "overwhelming portion" (turns out it's 84%), and multiplied it by the 56% of folks opposed to Obama's heathcare reform, and amazingly enough, it comes out to 47%! Which is the exact percentage of conservative racist bastards who voted against Obama!

QED: Conservative = racist.

UPDATE: Apparently, conservative racism is spreading to the world, as these examples of opposition to Obama demonstrate:

[...] European nations have refused to send significant numbers of new troops to aid the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan. Few countries have agreed to accept detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Scottish officials ignored Obama's plea to keep the Lockerbie bomber in prison, and U.S. efforts to head off a coup in Honduras were ineffective. North Korea continues to develop nuclear weapons, Iran may be doing so, and Middle East leaders have rebuffed Obama's efforts at peacemaking. [....]

Case for abiogenic origin of petroleum strengthened

2009-09-13T15:25:00.003-04:00

A non-biologic origin for petroleum -- things like natural gas and crude oil -- has long been pushed by a dedicated fringe of geologists and geochemists, most of them from the old USSR, where the idea was first forcelfully expounded in the 1950s.

Western oil professionals mostly scoffed at the idea. After all, nearly all the petroleum ever found had been found operating under the assumption that what went into the oil had once been alive and had lived in certain environmental areas (such as shallow seas).

Now there is a new paper -- in Nature Geoscience (abstract) no less -- that claims to have discovered how the non-biological origin (abiogenic) of petroleum occurs. Apart from advancing an esoteric argument, what this means is that petroleum need not be a finite resource. Should the experiment be able to predict where petroleum is found, we will have practically unlimited amounts of oil and natural gas.

From Science Daily:

[...] Together with two research colleagues, Vladimir Kutcherov has simulated the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the primary component in oil and natural gas.

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared.

He adds that there is no way that fossil oil, with the help of gravity or other forces, could have seeped down to a depth of 10.5 kilometers in the state of Texas, for example, which is rich in oil deposits. As Vladimir Kutcherov sees it, this is further proof, alongside his own research findings, of the genesis of these energy sources – that they can be created in other ways than via fossils. This has long been a matter of lively discussion among scientists. [....]

If true, this upends a century of what geologists -- myself included -- have been taught about how petroleum is formed and where it should be found. This would be an unbelievable scientific breakthrough.

Which is sort of why I don't see it panning out. It's one thing to determine that petroleum is capable of being formed under the crust of the Earth, but quite another to use that knowledge to find abiogenic oil. The biligenic theory of petroleum formation has explained very well how and where oil is created and found.

Future zombie v. humans war outcome doubtful

2009-08-18T21:40:00.007-04:00

The Beeb has the lowdown on the seminal study:

If zombies actually existed, an attack by them would lead to the collapse of civilisation unless dealt with quickly and aggressively.That is the conclusion of a mathematical exercise carried out by researchers in Canada.They say only frequent counter-attacks with increasing force would eradicate the fictional creatures.The scientific paper is published in a book - Infectious Diseases Modelling Research Progress.

Not just the best use of research dolloars, also the most necessary.

The Ignoble prize for science or math (perhaps both given the groundbreaking work involved) is locked up.

I sure hope there's some money for this contingency in Obama's defense budget.

Hands off Swiss banking system, says NYT op-ed

2009-08-03T20:47:00.005-04:00

And I agree. This op-ed piece, written by a Swiss, explains why the Swiss like their banking to be private and away from the prying eyes and grasping hands of governments.

Until recently, the Swiss government had steadfastly insisted on Swiss sovereignty and refused to provide assistance to other governments in cases of tax evasion — that is, cases in which a taxpayer failed to declare income, either intentionally or unintentionally. While tax fraud is considered a crime here, tax evasion is not (though it can be subject to fines).

This Swiss peculiarity of considering tax evasion as a mere administrative offense has a long history. We think government exists to serve us, not the other way around. We understand that we have to pay taxes — and we do, with numerous studies showing that the Swiss are extraordinarily honest about paying what we owe — but we do not think it is the government’s role to intrude on our privacy and wrench them from us.

This attitude goes back to Switzerland’s founding in the 13th century. The original Swiss communities’ resentment of what they saw as the Hapsburgs’ oppressive taxes helped push them to claim their independence in 1291.

Today, Swiss citizens continue to vote on any tax increases in referendums (and sometimes even accept them). These healthy curbs on government contrast with the Orwellian concept of the “transparent citizen” whose every act is known to government. We see our system as a social pact between citizens and the state.

Swiss privacy laws help preserve basic property rights. Bank secrecy was introduced in 1934, most notably to protect the identities and assets of Jews in Nazi Germany. (Unfortunately, those same rules made it difficult for some heirs to gain access to these accounts without proper documentation, leading to an out-of-court agreement in 1998 by Swiss banks to pay $1.25 billion to settle Holocaust-related lawsuits.) Corruption, expropriation, crime and the persecution of various minorities remain risks in most of the world. For people threatened by such risks, financial privacy can protect their legitimate property.

Defending opposition to GM crops becoming more difficult

2009-08-02T13:04:00.004-04:00

Many Greens in the West are dead set against GM food, often labeling it Frankenfood, and generally using fear tactics to keep it from catching on. Notwithstanding their best efforts, more and more of today's crops (not always used for food, though) being planted have been bioengineered.

The latest to show promise comes from Switzerland's top university. They've manged to create a new strain of super rice with up to six times the normal level of iron. This breakthrough, if capitalized on, can help lower rates of anemia in the developing world.

According to the World Health Organization, iron deficiency anaemia is one of the most important contributing factors to the global burden of disease. Pregnant women and children are particularly vulnerable.

The Left will howl, but this is serious progress to improving survial rates and quality of life for a major portion of the planet.

America's Cup in less than 6 months

2009-07-22T12:53:00.004-04:00

The 33rd America's Cup is slated to take place in February 2010. At this point nobody knows where, but the Cup holders (Alinghi) are in mediated talks with the challenger of record (BMW Oracle).

For those who enjoy the racing aspect, rather than the legal side of the America's Cup, I can tell you that BMW plans on using a giant trimaran (some 90 ft long), whereas the Swiss defenders have just begun testing their new catamaran.

This is a complete departure for what we normally see every few years, but is not without precedent. In 1988, a syndicate from New Zealand challenged with a montrous boat. The US defenders at the time knew they couldn't match the boat (due to time and money constraints), so they raced with a much smaller catamaran and easily won.

The current challenge will be settled first in court, and then on the water. I'll enjoy both parts.

Intercepted note from Obama to ice cream shop

2009-06-21T13:58:00.005-04:00

Guys, loved the ice cream last night. Just one suggestion: could you rename your vanilla frozen custard "Neda"? It will always remind me of the great time the girls and I had at your shop.

Hope to see you soon.

Your President, bringing the hope and change to the world -- except for Iran, Barrack

Obama's message to Iran is failing

2009-06-21T13:39:00.003-04:00

Yes, I know Obama wants to send a measured and -- dare I say it -- nuanced message to Iran's leadership in the hopes of eventually getting Iran to foreswear their nuclear ambitions. On its face this shows how naive the administration is. Iran has no intentions of giving up it's dream of being a regional hegemon, and no matter how Obama tries to put a friend-to-the Muslim-world face on his administration, he'll get little from his efforts.

Perhaps Arab nations will appreciate his not taking Iran out to the verbal woodshed, but it is unlikely any nation will see their national interests altered by Obama's not stepping in with harsh words for Iran's terroristic government.

Other than offer to hold Iran's coat while it puts the boot into its own citizens, Obama has done little in this affair. Being a global realist is one thing, but refusing to speak out forcefully against a theocratic regime is quite another. Obama and his advisors miscalulated on a grand scale.

America is a Muslim nation (as least compared to Muslim nations)

2009-06-06T21:53:00.006-04:00

If Muhammad came back to Earth, which countries would he think are doing a better job of upholding the pillars of Islam? Sure wouldn't be any Arab country. They are so corrupt and do so little for their poor that Muhammad would weep to think that nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt claim a special prestige among the faithful. Arab nations also do very little about cleanliness -- something quite important to the prophet; streets are filthy, government buildings even more so.

Same for non-Arab Muslim nations. Iran and Indonesia? Corrupt and venal to the bone.

Certainly individuals struggle to keep behave as Muhammad would want, but the governments, many of which claim to act in accordance with Islamic values, would be viewed as abominations.

No, Muhammad would look around and pick out Japan, North America and Western Europe as doing the best job of putting his principles into action. People are clean, respectful (well, in Japan, at least), and take good care of the poor. Compared to Muslim nations, which tend to be dirty, corrupt and whose Islamic observances are fixated on the performance of public acts of faith (prayer five times a day) and are obsessed with alcohol and sex, the West is far more in tune with what we understand Muslim values to be.

You can help me win this bike!

2009-06-04T07:10:00.003-04:00

I'd really like to win this bike. You can help by clicking this photo. Thanks.

Followed the link from the Podium Cafe, a really good place to follow road bike racing.

Sotomayor: physiology is destiny

2009-05-29T09:36:00.004-04:00

Pretty bad on its face. Hopefully she doesn't really think being born female and Hispanic produces a superior person/Supreme Ct. justice:

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life....”

Of course, it's possible to take her comments as dumping on her own people. That is, it takes a "wise" Latina to perform better than an average white male, but I think that interpretation can be dismissed given that the context of her quote is comparing wise white males with wise Latinas. Nor is it conceivable that she could have put down her own people -- especially as it appears she embraces her identity.

One thing is certain, any white male uttering such drivel would be forced to withdraw, and rightly so.

This can't be good: potential for warming rate underestimated

2009-05-22T07:02:00.004-04:00

From MIT comes this sobering assessment:

The most comprehensive modeling yet carried out on the likelihood of how much hotter the Earth's climate will get in this century shows that without rapid and massive action, the problem will be about twice as severe as previously estimated six years ago - and could be even worse than that.

The study uses the MIT Integrated Global Systems Model, a detailed computer simulation of global economic activity and climate processes that has been developed and refined by the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change since the early 1990s. The new research involved 400 runs of the model with each run using slight variations in input parameters, selected so that each run has about an equal probability of being correct based on present observations and knowledge. Other research groups have estimated the probabilities of various outcomes, based on variations in the physical response of the climate system itself. But the MIT model is the only one that interactively includes detailed treatment of possible changes in human activities as well - such as the degree of economic growth, with its associated energy use, in different countries.

Time to invest in companies positioned to provide geo-engineering services, because if these predictions are correct, only geo-engineering can have an effect on global temperatures. Certainly China, which is committed to raising its peoples' standard of living, won't slow its rush to build coal fired plants. Nor will the rest of the developing world put aside their dreams of better lives.

Followed the link from The Cost of Energy

Obama nearly had me w/his national security speech

2009-05-21T21:47:00.007-04:00

Overall, I was enjoying Obama's national security speech. Yes, he got in several gratuitous political digs, but on the whole he sounded pretty good. Good, that is, until I heard this, which made wonder if he really understands the nature of Islamic terror (emphasis supplied):

And I do know with certainty that we can defeat al Qaeda. Because the terrorists can only succeed if they swell their ranks and alienate America from our allies, and they will never be able to do that if we stay true to who we are; if we forge tough and durable approaches to fighting terrorism that are anchored in our timeless ideals.

Actually, what swells the terrorists' ranks is the fact that America is America. They can't abide our tolerance, our values, our culture. In short they hate us, and join terrorist plots precisely because we stay true to who we are, not because of anything we've done since 9/11. Closing Gitmo, and ceasing all EITs will make us feel better about ourselves, but it won't stop terrorists from seeking our destruction or subjugation. Only a naif would claim this.

Soaring rhetoric, to be sure. But it masks a blind spot big enough to fly a jumbo jet through.

Study: Muslims misunderstood, blame natives for not being nicer to them

2009-05-07T20:17:00.004-04:00

So quoth the AP:

Joblessness and poverty are a more potent source of tension between Muslims and wider European and U.S. society than religious differences, one of the first major studies of Muslim integration since the Sept. 11 terror attacks claimed on Thursday.

I see it as a chicken or egg question. Many Muslims spent years refusing to integrate (at the same time, little was asked of them by their host countries). Consequently, jobs and education were hard to come by, leading to reduced opportunities and expectations.

The survey also offers this, which is contradicted by nearly all previous studies, and by Muslim protesters around Europe:

Another key finding of the study was that that Muslims don't prioritize their faith over patriotism

If we listen to many of the more firebrand (and thus quoted) imans, to be a Muslim requires a certain separation between Muslim and non-Muslim, making integration a tricky thing, indeed.

I suspect many of the responses to this latest survey were self-serving. Perhaps a survey of how Muslims sought to integrate and were rebuffed could be performed.

Hmm, maybe Obama is changing the world's opinion of America

2009-04-26T07:36:00.003-04:00

Many of my favorite bloggers on the right side of blogland are quick to point out that Obama's election hasn't materialy changed the world's opinion of us. After all, they rightly point out, Muslim terrorists haven't loosened their grip on their weapons in order to respond to our Messiah., and just because people love the man, doesn't mean that nations will alter their policies to dovetail with our interests.

Now, however, there is evidence that Obama's appeal is leading to opportunities to push the fabled "reset" button. Hillary Clinton is in Lebanon to urge the Lebanese to vote for moderates, something that under Bush would have been the kiss of death -- probably literally -- for the moderates.

Let's see if Obama's coat tails extend to the Near East.

We really do elect cultural idiots in this country

2009-04-06T09:07:00.005-04:00

After eight years of Bush and less than 100 days of Obama, it seems there is no denying it: this country cannot produce a leader with any cultural knowledge, or interest in the outside world.

From a report on Obama's recent press conference we get this gem (emphasis supplied):

At a news conference afterward, Obama said his debut on the international stage had convinced him that “political interaction in Europe is not that different from the United States Senate,” where he served before entering the White House.

“There’s a lot of -- I don’t know what the term is in
Austrian -- wheeling and dealing, and people are pursuing their interests, and everybody has their own particular issues and their own particular politics,” he said in response to an Austrian reporter’s question.

Res ipsa loquitur

Followed the link from Tim Blair, who may be as confused by the start of the F1 season as am I.

"Peace, bread and roses" to be new national slogan

2009-04-03T20:13:00.005-04:00

Yes, the old Socialist/Communist dream of a just and fair world (the phrase was used by the Rosenbergs when signing their death house letters), will be resurrected -- in a different form -- to push President Obama's goal of "fairness".

Charles Krauthammer peers into the future, and sees Europe, except without the superior beer, authentic coffee houses, and fast cars. All thanks to our president's vision.

Fairness through leveling is the essence of Obamaism. (Asked by Charlie Gibson during a campaign debate about his support for raising capital gains taxes -- even if they caused a net revenue loss to the government -- Obama stuck to the tax hike "for purposes of fairness.") The elements are highly progressive taxation, federalized health care and higher education, and revenue-producing energy controls.

The Rosenbergs' shades will surely be pleased.

Followed the link from Ace

Obama soon to run GM

2009-03-31T11:05:00.003-04:00

Does this mean many of his sycophantic supporters will ditch their Volvos and BMWs for Chevys and Buicks? Perhaps Hollywood will make GM the new Prius.

Obamabots, you have your orders; it will be a hardship, but ya gotta follow the Messiah. Consider it slumming

Obama brings the drama

2009-03-24T21:05:00.004-04:00

Or the pathos, at any rate. Listening to him relate at his press conference (overall grade A-) how he anguished over whether to sign an order allowing federally funded embryonic stem cell research, one would think he went through Hamlet-level difficulties in coming to his decision.

Actually, what he did was fulfill an old campaign promise. His mind was made up months ago, and didn't require extra convincing. But he seems to have decided that to show that one wrestled with one's conscience is somehow presidential. At the moment, it's about all he can offer on that score.

Memo to Obama: time to take responsibility

2009-03-17T08:33:00.006-04:00

Obama, after more than 50 days in office, you continue to complain that you inherited a financial mess. Well, here's some advice: stop whining. You campaigned to become president; you wanted the job more than a child wants Christmas. You knew what you were getting when you sought the office; start taking responsibility for the nation.

Also, tell your employees not to engage in partisan politics. If Rush gets under your skin, ignore him; you can be sure that he'll self destruct in time. Remember, you promised to be post-partisan. Leave the mud slinging to congress and the MSM. The executive branch should be above that sort of behavior -- at least you said it should be. Time to live up to your rhetoric, time to be the person so many voted for.

UPDATE (3/18): He just can't help himself. While watching Obama speak to the press, in one sentence he noted (perhaps to remind himself?) that he is the President and thus is responsible for the AIG bonus fiasco. In the very next sentence, he claims that it's not his fault. It's beginning to look like Bill Clinton redux. What a whiny politician he has revealed himself to be.