Freedom Lawyers of America

THE MAN SAYS IT ALL

2007-05-25T16:54:00.000-04:00

Kenny Johnsson interviews Lew Rockwell for The Liberal Post http://www.lewrockwell.com/rockwell/liberal-post-interview.htmlJohnsson: Do you consider yourself a libertarian?

Rockwell: Most certainly. What are the choices? Conservative is obviously out, even though the media describe us this way. The term's heritage dates to the Tory party in Britain, the very mercantilist-landowners who resisted change in the Corn Laws. This group opposed capitalism as socially destabilizing. They didn't like the merchant class to making more money than the old families – meaning that they didn't want to lose their privileges. In the US, the term conservative came about after World War II. It had no meaning, really, other than to refer to the general desire to be prudent in public affairs, in contrast to the revolutionary tendencies on the left. The problem is that it amounted to a defense of the status quo, and, after Buckley, it was irretrievably wrapped up with the Cold War cause. I like the term liberal since genuine liberalism is our heritage. It was their insight that society is self-managing, and this is the greatest political idea ever advanced in human history. But there are two problems here. The first is that the term was hijacked by socialists during the Progressive Era and especially after the New Deal, when the liberals finally sold out to the state. The second is more obscure but it is important: even the good kind of liberalism was very much bound up with republican theory, that you could have a government made up of the people rather than the elites. This error, which is really utopian, led to a commitment to government as an essential institution. Advances in economics and political philosophy since that time have shown that this is a misnomer. There is no way to keep government in check, since by definition it is guilty of committing the very aggressions it is supposedly designed to keep at bay: namely, theft, murder, counterfeiting, kidnapping, and the like. So the liberal critique of the state just wasn't radical enough. There are other options, such as the term I once used, "paleolibertarian," which refers to libertarianism before the movement emerged to institutionalize it as an ideological wing of the state's political apparatus. This term was designed to address a very serious problem that libertarians in Washington had come to see themselves as a pleading pressure group hoping to find "market-based" solutions to public policy problems but within public policy, and thus do they support school vouchers, limited wars, managed trade, forced savings as an alternative to social security, and the like. Unfortunately, the term paleolibertarian became confused because of its association with paleoconservative, so it came to mean some sort of socially conservative libertarian, which wasn't the point at all – though the attempted definition of libertarian as necessarily socially leftist is a problem too. There are other strange terms bandied about from time to time, but in the end, I think we have to be happy with the term libertarian, while knowing that politics tends to taint all word usage issues. What is a libertarian? It is a person who believes in the absolute right of private property ownership. All else follows from that one proposition.

Johnsson: Your slogan on LewRockwell.com is Anti-War, Anti-State, Pro-Market; how do you define anti-state?

Rockwell: To be anti-state is to hold the intellectual position that there is nothing that society needs that the state can do better than the market. If you hold that view, you are anti-state. So in some ways, to say anti-war, anti-state, and pro-market is to propose redundancies of the same idea. I would defend the anti-state idea in every aspect of human life. The market is better in schools, energy, food, housing, charity, trade, consumer protection, justice, security, and even international relations. I know of no exceptions. The major burden of all the editorial work that I do is to make this point again and again. Does it grow weary? Not in any way. The number one, central, ubiquitous problem of our time and all time is the state. Whenever a criminal band manages to bamboozle the public that it alone should be granted the legal right to aggress on others, there is a problem that needs to be uprooted. The struggle for freedom is precisely this and no other.

Johnsson: What about anti-war? Are there no wars libertarians can support?

Rockwell: We can support any defense of person and property. But war as we understand the term in modern times is a government program like any other, meaning that it over-utilizes resources, causes destruction of property and life, and fails to achieve its stated aims. On the last point, war often leads to the opposite of its stated aims. Iraq is a good example. But it is important for us to realize that in this respect, it is like any other government program. Western history had this idea of "just war" that was supposed to prevent war from starting and prevent them from becoming total. But who is left to decide what is just and what is not? The finally authority here is the state. Of course it sees itself as just. That's why we need not just rules but institutional change.

Johnsson: Who would you support in the 2008 elections?

Rockwell: I would like to see elections for public office abolished, and that is particularly true for the presidency. The idea of the president was initially that some far-seeing, wise person would emerge from the aristocratic class who would sit atop the apparatus of the state and make sure that all things ran well. The founders were not stupid: they knew there was potential for abuse. So they made it possible to impeach the president if there was the slightest slip up. Unfortunately, this didn't work. It was like putting the chief inmates in charge of overseeing the conduct of the other inmates. The problem is that they all end up working together. If you look at the crop of people who are running for president today, you gain new understanding of Hayek's phrase "the worst get on top." What an amazing bunch of dangerous nothings they are. The Democrats look positively dreadful. The antiwar people among them have touted the idea that every young person should be enslaved into national service. What are these people thinking? Most of them are nothing but voices for a special interest cause. The Republicans are creepy too: people in love with the idea of military force and who think more jails and more wars will solve all the world's problems. In many ways, it seems like the 30s all over again, when everyone thought we had to choose between socialism and fascism and that there was no other path. At least the confusions of the 30s have the excuse that a depression was raging. What's our excuse for forgetting the liberal vision today? It is really disgusting. Of course I'm cheering on Ron Paul because he is exposing the nature of the whole system. He is not running for president. He is running against the presidency as it is currently understood. Ultimately, however, I do not believe that politics offers a way out. What we need is a new consciousness concerning the idea of human liberty.

Johnsson: Would you vote for a libertarian in any election?

Rockwell: I don’t vote. Why play along? Your vote doesn’t count, unless the election is decided by one vote, and you have far more chance of being killed on the way to the polls than that happening. Besides, the vote is the sign and symbol of the democratic state. I abstain.

Johnsson: Do you think we should reform taxes?

Rockwell: The tax reform game is an old one. The idea is to tell people that taxes can be made simpler, easier, less intrusive, less distortive, less onerous, and all the rest. But it never seems to pan out, and for one simple reason: taxing always and everywhere means taking money from people by force. They try to disguise that in various ways, and that is really what is going on with tax reform. It's like negotiating with a robber, who proposes to enter your house at night so he won't disturb you, or asks for a key to the front door so that he won't have to break in, or suggests that you give him some cash so that he won't have to take the family silver. In the end, your property is gone. So reform doesn't seem like a good path to me. What we need are lower taxes, or, ideally, no taxes. We should start by abolishing certain tax programs, such as the income tax.

Johnsson: Some say your an anarchist; is that true?

Rockwell: The term anarchist is mostly used to mean someone who believes that if the state and law are gotten rid of, all property would become collectively owned. It was the great insight of Murray Rothbard that this is not the case: private ownership and the law that support it are natural, while the state is artificial. So he was an anarchist in this sense but to avoid confusion he used the term anarcho-capitalist. This doesn't mean that he favored somehow establishing a capitalist system in place of the state. What he said is that capitalism is the de facto result in a civilized society without a state. Has this position made advances? Yes, but not so many that we can use the term anarchism without causing confusion. If the purpose of words is to communicate, I'm not sure that the term does that well. As to my own views, I do believe that society thrives best without a state. But I'm with Rothbard, Nock, Molinari, Chodorov, and others who believe in law and private government, such as we find in corporations, housing subdivisions, and church hierarchies. So if by anarchism we mean a society without law, I'm completely against that idea.

Johnsson: How did the Mises Institute get started?

Rockwell: I founded the Mises Institute in 1982 in cooperation with Mises's widow Margit. The idea was to provide an infrastructure of support for Misesian thought, primarily in economics but also in other areas. Rothbard was an enormous help. We ended up as his main publisher at a time when others found him to be too radical, just as people found Mises to be too radical. The Mises Institute is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It has become a major force in the world of ideas. I'm thrilled at the progress we've made.

Johnsson: Some have said Murray N. Rothbard's view on economic thought is not reliable; do you agree or disagree with that?

Rockwell: Did Murray make mistakes? Of course. There are no oracles who see all and know all. But no one can read a masterpiece like Man, Economy, and State, or browse his massive History of Economic Thought, and say that his economic thought was unreliable. He was a great theorist and teacher in every way.

Johnsson: Do you agree with Ron Paul that we should go by the Constitution and that's it?

Rockwell: The Constitution would be a major improvement over what we have today. But we need to realize that the Constitution itself represented a major increase in government power over the Articles of Confederation, which would have served us quite well had it not been overthrown. I'm not impressed by the bunch that foisted the Constitution on us. They were really up to no good. We've all but forgotten that most everyone opposed it at the time. It only squeaked through once the Bill of Rights was tacked on. The Bill of Rights isn't perfect, but it at least had the advantage of spelling out what the government could not do. In a rather ingenious twist, even that has been perverted: it is now seen as a mandate for the federal government to tell lower orders of government what they cannot do, meaning that it ends up being a force for centralization. This is such a tragedy. If Patrick Henry could see what became of it, I'm sure he never would have tolerated it. The same might be true of Hamilton, for that matter. So long as we are talking about founding documents, the one that really deserves more attention is the Declaration of Independence. Now here is an inspiring document that shows us where we should go in the future!
May 25, 2007Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. [send him mail] is president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, editor of LewRockwell.com, and author of Speaking of Liberty. Lew Rockwell Archives

THEY CALL IT INFLATION

2007-03-30T20:11:00.000-04:00

BUT IT IS NOT. IT IS DEVALUATION OF THE CURRENCY. WHY DO YOU THINK THAT OUR MONEY IS TAKING ON MORE ZEROS AND IS WORTH LESS ALL THE TIME. IT IS NOT INFLATION, WHICH IS THE INCREASE IN PRICES?? THEY WANT YOU TO BELIEVE THAT IS THE REASON. THEREFORE, THEY DON'T HAVE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR IT. THEY CAN'T HELP SELLERS FROM RAISING THEIR PRICES.

DO YOU GET IT??? IF YOU DO, YOU ARE A RARE PERSON.

Freedom's Further Deterioration

2007-01-05T10:51:00.000-05:00

Bush extends illegal search policy to mail
Seattle Times

"President Bush quietly has claimed sweeping new powers to open Americans' mail without a judge's warrant. Bush asserted the new authority Dec. 20 after signing legislation that overhauls some postal regulations. He then issued a 'signing statement' that declared his right to open mail under emergency conditions, contrary to existing law and contradicting the bill he had just signed, according to experts who have reviewed it. A White House spokeswoman disputed claims that the move gives Bush any new powers, saying the Constitution allows such searches." (01/04/07) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003508676_mail04.html

FBI: Rehnquist used powerful sleep aid for a decadeUSA Today"A physician at the U.S. Capitol prescribed a powerful sleep aid for William Rehnquist for nearly a decade while he was an associate justice of the Supreme Court, according to newly released FBI records. The records present a picture of a justice with chronic back pain who for many months took three times the recommended dosage of the drug Placidyl and then went into withdrawal in 1981 when he abruptly stopped taking it. Rehnquist checked himself into George Washington University Hospital, where he tried to escape in his pajamas and imagined that the CIA was plotting against him, the records indicate." (01/04/07) http://tinyurl.com/y37y44

UK: Cab driver's 420mph CavalierThe Sun [UK]"Cabbie Tom Matthews reckons cops are pulling a fast one -- after they accused him of speeding at 420MPH. Tom was in his 12-year-old Vauxhall Cavalier when he was snapped by a speed camera. But when notice of a £60 fine and three penalty points arrived, the recorded speed was 420mph -- in a 30mph zone.Tom, 34, said: 'I drive an old Cavalier -- not a jumbo jet. According to this, I've broken the land speed record.'" (01/04/07)http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007000423,00.html

IL: Police seize roadblock protestor's carThe Newspaper"Elgin, Illinois police confiscated the car belonging to a sober man who protested on Thursday against officers for wasting his time at a holiday drunk driving roadblock. Innocent motorists on that day and throughout the weekend were pulled over and subjected to search and interrogations at the Pace bus station on Highland Avenue. Police issued expensive tickets to anyone whose papers were not in order. One motorist became so angry at being detained because he chose not to wear a seatbelt that he honked his horn and blasted his stereo in protest. For that, police confiscated his car, issued a $250 ticket and forced the motorist to walk home." (01/01/07) http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/15/1526.asp

MO: Police harassment caught on tapeThe Newspaper"A teenager harassed by police in St. Louis, Missouri caught the incident on tape. Brett Darrow, 19, had his video camera rolling last month as he drove his 1997 Maxima, minding his own business. He approached a drunk driving roadblock where he was stopped, detained and threatened with arrest when he declined to enter a conversation with a police officer about his personal travel habits. Now Darrow is considering filing suit against St. Louis County Police. ... On that late November night, videotape confirms that Darrow had been ordered out of his vehicle after telling a policeman, 'I don't wish to discuss my personal life with you, officer.' Another officer attempted to move Darrow's car until he realized, 'I can't drive stick!' The officer took the opportunity to undertake a thorough search of the interior without probable cause. He found nothing. When Darrow asked why he was being detained, an officer explained, 'If you don't stop running your mouth, we're going to find a reason to lock you up tonight.' The threats ended when Darrow informed officers that they were being recorded. After speaking to a supervisor Darrow was finally released." (12/30/06) http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/15/1522.asp

Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, J.D. http://www.thelawyer.infoIC Specialist http://www.independentcontractor.info NewPulp Literary Productions-- http://www.newpulp.net

my mom died today--ann waxman--RIP

2006-12-31T21:24:00.000-05:00

Her name was Ann. Came to Toronto from Russia at age 3. Then to Detroit; then Chicago. Then South Haven. She had a hard life. Her entire family ---mother, father, sister and brother were killed in a gas explosion while she at 14 was staying at a friend's house. She awoke to find a hole in the ground where her two story house once stood. It appeared to be a mob hit in Chicago to target someone who lived on the first floor. Her family being on the second. She was married to my father and that wasn't a blast either. She had been raised as a "cinderella" by the mean stepmother and her ugly daughter--her aunt. She was a strong woman. She worked most of her life while taking care of my brother and me. She was a super saleswoman and had her own gift shop, called Ann's Petite Gift Shop. I loved her even though she was difficult at time. She was 95 and took her time dying. The blessed die hard. Anyway, if you want to celebrate her life, have a Brandy Alexander at your favorite bar on her behalf. Her famous words to a friend of mine were, "That Sheldon, he sure knows how to spend money."

Drugs and James Brown

2006-12-26T10:19:00.000-05:00

Ex-drug thug plans video on how to hide drugs Forbes"

A one-time Texas drug agent described by his former boss as perhaps the best narcotics officer in the country plans to market a how-to video on concealing drugs and fooling police.Barry Cooper, who has worked for small police departments in East Texas, plans to launch a Web site next week where he will sell his video, 'Never Get Busted Again,' the Tyler Morning Telegraph reported in its online edition Thursday. A promotional video says Cooper will show viewers how to 'conceal their stash,' 'avoid narcotics profiling' and 'fool canines every time.' Cooper, who said he favors the legalization of marijuana, made the video in part because he believes the nation's fight against drugs is a waste of resources. Busting marijuana users fills up prisons with nonviolent offenders, he said. 'My main motivation in all of this is to teach Americans their civil liberties and what drives me in this is injustice and unfairness in our system,' Cooper told the newspaper." (12/22/06) http://tinyurl.com/y4l4nf
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James Brown, 1933-2006 Clarksville Leaf Chronicle"

James Brown, the undeniable 'Godfather of Soul,' told friends from his hospital bed that he was looking forward to performing on New Year's Eve, even though he was ill with pneumonia. His heart gave out a few hours later, on Christmas morning. The pompadoured dynamo whose classic singles include 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag' and 'I Got You (I Feel Good)' died Monday of heart failure, said his agent, Frank Copsidas of Intrigue Music. He was 73." (12/25/06) http://tinyurl.com/ydlfd5

THE END OF TIMES

2006-12-05T08:43:00.000-05:00

Have You Been Ahmadinejadized?
by Robert Spencer

“I have travelled to all the continents except for one,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said recently, “and I know what is going on out there. Everybody is eager to hear the Iranian people’s message. The world is rapidly becoming Ahmadinejadised.”

And he’s right: Ahmadinejadization is spreading. Its symptoms are clear from his Friday letter to the American people. Addressed to “Noble Americans,” in the letter Ahmadinejad calls on America to withdraw from Iraq, end support for Israel, and convert to Islam. If we do those three things, peace will ensue: we’ll be…Ahmadinejadized.

“Now that Iraq has a Constitution and an independent Assembly and Government,” he says, “would it not be more beneficial to bring the US officers and soldiers home, and to spend the astronomical US military expenditures in Iraq for the welfare and prosperity of the American people?” (When Tokyo Rose said things like that, at least she played some catchy pop tunes). Ahmadinejad, of course, has a deep concern for the welfare of the American people, as demonstrated by his earlier statement: “I say accomplishment of a world without America and Israel is both possible and feasible.”

At the UN in September, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez echoed these words, saying: “The United States empire is on its way down and it will be finished in the near future, inshallah.” Chavez, you see, has been Ahmadinejadized.

“Persistent aggressions by the Zionists,” Ahmadinejad asserts, “are making life more and more difficult for the rightful owners of the land of Palestine…. What has blind support for the Zionists by the US administration brought for the American people? It is regrettable that for the US administration, the interests of these occupiers supersedes the interests of the American people and of the other nations of the world.” This manifestation of Ahmadinejadization is spreading even more rapidly than the first one.

On November 17 the United Nations General Assembly voted 156-7 to call upon Israel to end its defensive actions in the Gaza Strip, while making no mention of the terror attacks Palestinian jihad groups have launched from Gaza since the September 2005 Israeli withdrawal from the Strip was supposed to usher in an era of peace. The UN, too, has been Ahmadinejadized.

The UN, of course, was the site of the most celebrated instance of Ahmadinejadization: when he addressed the General Assembly in September 2005, he said later that “one of our group told me that…he saw a green light come from around me, and I was placed inside this aura. I felt it myself. I felt that the atmosphere suddenly changed, and for those 27 or 28 minutes, all the leaders of the world did not blink. When I say they didn’t move an eyelid, I’m not exaggerating. They were looking as if a hand was holding them there, and had just opened their eyes – Alhamdulillah [thanks be to Allah]!” The leaders of the world were Ahmadinejadized.

And now the intrepid Iranian President wants the entire United States to experience the glories of Ahmadinejadization. “It is possible to govern based on an approach that is distinctly different from one of coercion, force and injustice. It is possible to sincerely serve and promote common human values, and honesty and compassion. It is possible to provide welfare and prosperity without tension, threats, imposition or war. It is possible to lead the world towards the aspired perfection by adhering to unity, monotheism, morality and spirituality and drawing upon the teachings of the Divine Prophets.

Then, the American people, who are God-fearing and followers of Divine religions, will overcome every difficulty….We should all heed the Divine Word of the Holy Qur’an: ‘But those who repent, have faith and do good may receive Salvation. Your Lord, alone, creates and chooses as He will, and others have no part in His choice; Glorified is God and Exalted above any partners they ascribe to Him’ (28:67-68).”

That he chose a verse that rules out “partners” of Allah indicates that he intended a swipe at Christianity, as in the Islamic view Christians have associated “partners” with Allah by regarding Jesus as divine. Thus Ahmadinejad is calling upon Americans, and the world, to forsake Christianity for Islam. If we heeded this call, of course, we would be Ahmadinejadized.
He has skillfully couched his call in the language of freedom from “coercion, force and injustice,” and the promotion of “common human values, and honesty and compassion.” But no one should be fooled: behind his carefully chosen words is a reality, thinly disguised, of aspirations to genocide, along with the institutionalized subjugation of women and religious minorities, and the extinguishing of the freedoms of speech and conscience.

Those things are what the President of Iran wants for us most of all. They are the quintessence of Ahmadinejadization.

THOUGHTS OF A SUICIDE BOMBER--SICK, SICK, SICK

2006-11-26T10:27:00.000-05:00

Jewish reporter meets want-to-be bomber
Recruited attacker for terror group talks to WND about 'serving Allah by blasting unbelievers to hell'
Aaron Klein, WND
Published:
11.26.06, 14:35

JENIN – WND was granted access through the Islamic Jihad terror group to a 23-year old Palestinian man who has volunteered to become a suicide bomber and who the organization says has "great potential" to carry out one of the next attempted suicide attacks against Israeli civilians.

According to Islamic Jihad leaders, the potential bomber interviewed is one of over "hundreds" of young Palestinians in the northern West Bank who passed necessary recruitment stages and is available to attempt to infiltrate Jewish population centers wearing an explosive belt with the goal of blowing up as many Israelis as possible.

The interview took place in a remote building in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a well-known Islamic Jihad stronghold from which the majority of recent Palestinian suicide bombers have originated.

The Islamic Jihad terror group has taken responsibility for every suicide attack inside Israel the past two years, including a bombing in Tel Aviv in April that killed American teenager Daniel Wultz and nine Israelis.

Islamic Jihad also has carried out scores of recent deadly shootings and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

Islamic Jihad leaders allowed WND to interview the potential suicide bomber in a room together with his recruiter, who is a senior member of the terror group.

Both the recruiter and potential bomber were aware WND's reporter is Jewish.

The recruiter several times ordered the want-to-be bomber to refrain from answering certain questions during the interview, which was conducted using an English-Arabic translator.

The potential bomber's face was not covered during the interview, but he was told by the Islamic Jihad recruiter not to provide his name or extensive biographical information.

Following are excerpts from WND's conversation with the potential bomber, which includes topics such as the supposed reward of 72 dark-eyed virgins for carrying out an attack; the belief among some Muslims that Jews descended from pigs and monkeys; and the potential suicide bomber's desire to kill WND's reporter in a suicide operation.

'I pray Allah makes me dead in a (suicide) operation'
WND: Tell me about your life and what you do with your free time.

BOMBER: I study at a West Bank university and I have great hopes of getting married within the next couple of months. My life is very normal. I watch television, particularly news, and historical and religious programs. From time to time I play soccer and lift weights.

WND: Is your family poor?

BOMBER: No. We are regular but far from being wealthy. I share my bedroom with my brothers but now there is less pressure because last summer one of my brothers was married and moved to live outside.

WND: Why do you want to become a suicide bomber?

BOMBER: I originally decided to become a martyr after I saw what the Israeli army did in the refugee camp of Jenin in the big military campaign of April, 2002.

But this idea became stronger when I understood what status I will have in heaven if I scarify myself for Allah. Every time somebody else dies as a martyr in a suicide bomb attack, I pray for him but I feel jealous. I want to be where he is now and I pray that Allah will one day offer me this occasion and this honor.

(Editor's note: The potential bomber was referring to an Israeli anti-terror raid in his hometown of Jenin in 2002 in which Palestinian leaders accused the Jewish state of a "massacre," claiming the Israeli Defense Forces killed over 500 Palestinian civilians, including many women and children. It was later determined 56 Palestinians, mostly gunmen, were killed in the raid, which followed a series of deadly suicide attacks inside Israel that were reportedly planned and directed from the terror infrastructure in Jenin. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers died in the Jenin battle, in which IDF troops conducted house-to-house searches to minimize civilian casualties by avoiding air attacks.)

WND: Is your main motivation for becoming a bomber is to serve Allah?

BOMBER: Yes, of course. Allah gave Muslims the possibility to gain their prize and payment in different ways. There are those (Muslims) who pray and fast only and respect Allah's commandments, and there are those who wish a higher prize. And the highest prize is given to those who scarify themselves, their lives, their bodies and everything in this world.

WND: What you are saying is interesting because a lot of academics in the United States and many of my colleagues in the media claim Palestinians become suicide bombers because they are poor and desperate and because of so-called Israeli occupation. Are you telling me these are not the reasons you want to blow yourself up amongst Israelis?

BOMBER: The will to scarify myself for Allah is the first and most major reason. It is true that the Zionists are occupying our lands and that it is our religious duty to fight them, including through suicide attacks. The goal is not the killing of the Jews, but that this is the way to reach Allah.

The goal is satisfying Allah and his instructions. No money interests, nothing. No brainwash, no pressure; it is my decision. All the other lies are pathetic Israeli propaganda.
I pray that Allah gives me the honor to be dead in an operation. This is the supreme and the noblest way to ascend to Allah.

These martyrs have special status in the next world and have bigger chances to watch Allah's face and enjoy the magnificent pleasures he offers us.
'It is our duty to fight Jews but our goal is to please Allah'

WND: Did I hear you say your goal is not to kill Jews? Isn't that exactly what you will do as a suicide bomber?

BOMBER: Maybe the fact that I was born here has sharpened my religious conscience, but I believe that even if I was in Chechnya, in Iraq, Afghanistan on anywhere else I would want to be a martyr.
It is Allah's satisfaction that is important to me no matter where I live. But as we live in this part of the world the way to reach Allah for me is through fighting the Zionist enemy. It is the jihad, the sacrificing that is important.

WND: These cliches are impressive but I know you are aware that you are speaking to a Jew. Perhaps you are telling me what I want to hear. Tell me the truth. You want to kill Jews, don't you?

BOMBER: We were never taught to hate Jews but to hate the occupation of the Zionists to our Islamic land that the Zionist entity with the conspiracy of the world has stolen and occupied. Jews can have their state but not on our lands and until this goal is achieved every Muslim must fight this entity.

The Jews stole this holy Islamic land and we must fight them, but I am looking to receive what waits for me in the next world.

'Enjoy your tea before I send you to hell'
WND: You talk about fighting them, the Jews. I'm an American Jew. Do you want to kill me?

BOMBER: You are here and nobody hurts you and nobody thinks to do so. But if, unfortunately for you, if you will be in a place where my (suicide) operation will take place, I will not feel sorrow.

You American Jews are fully partners with the Zionists and even more dangerous than the Israelis because of the international support you give to the Israelis in their massacres against our people and the maintenance of the occupation.

WND: So if after today's meeting you saw me in a cafe in Jerusalem that you were sent to attack, you'd still try to blow it up?

BOMBER: At the moment there will not be a place for feelings and hesitations. If I go in an operation it means that I decided to leave behind my loved ones – my mother, my father, brothers and sisters, all my family and my friends. And if I am capable of this I would not give you a break just because we met for one time.

Meanwhile and before I drive you to hell in an operation, enjoy your tea and our hospitality. (Laughing).

'And Allah shouted: Be pigs and monkeys'
WND: Many programs on Palestinian television have been teaching viewers Jews are descended from pigs and monkeys and that we use Palestinian and Christian blood to bake our Passover matzos. Is this what you believe?

BOMBER: I know where this question comes from. You think that we all are naive or bad from birth or that we were exposed to brainwashing. We just follow what we are demanded in the Quran to do because if we do not do so we will be attacked, occupied, controlled and killed by these enemies of Islam.

WND: You didn't answer my question. Do you believe I come from pigs and monkeys?

BOMBER: The Quran tells us that Allah was upset with the Jews because of their negative behavior towards Moses and Allah's commandments and Allah shouted to the Jews, 'Be pigs and monkeys.'

I don't know if physically Allah turned them to pigs and monkeys, or it was a way to tell them that they are as terrible as pigs and monkeys. The most important thing is that this is what Allah, may he be blessed, thinks that the Jews deserve to be.

I don't know about the Passover matzo but I know the Jews are the nation who was known for killing Allah's prophets and the nation that in our days wants to control the world or at least this part of the world, from the Nile to the Euphrates.

Meanwhile they (Jews) are controlling the US, its media, its financial system and its administration.

'You'll go to hell while virgins await me in paradise'
WND: When you mentioned before the pleasures that await you after a suicide bombing, I assume you were referring to the 72 dark-eyed virgins you believe will be waiting for you in heaven?

(Potential bomber nods to signal yes.)

WND: You talk about so-called martyrdom being divine. About being rewarded in the next world on supreme spiritual levels for what you say is a gift to Allah. And yet you tell me that what awaits you after a suicide operation is an eternity of sex with virgins. This is the most baseline physical pleasure imaginable. This is your religious version of heaven?

BOMBER: Let me explain something to you. The world, the lower one we are in now, it is temporary. Allah examines the loyalty of human beings, asking you in this materialistic world to avoid all that is tempting, all that pleasures you on earth, and to dedicate yourself to Allah.

This doesn't mean that Allah does not think it is good to take part in these needs of sex, in the pleasure of drinking alcohol, enjoying nature and other stuff. The point is that non-Muslims do those things in this world while ignoring Allah and all moral rules, while Muslims are asked to do a tremendous spiritual effort on earth in order to gain these other (physical) pleasures in the next world.

I don't know how you Jews see these physical pleasures, especially after the Torah that Allah gave you was falsified, but in our religion all spiritual efforts are asked from us on earth and it is much more difficult. So it is not that all the story is about sex. You do free sex now, I do not.

But you will go to hell after living 50, 60, 70, 80 years, and I will go, I pray that Allah accepts, to heaven and there I will do and will enjoy what you did during these 80 years. The difference is that after these years you will burn in hell forever and I will, after my years in this world of faith, restraint and patience, enjoy Allah's pleasures forever.

WND: Let's say your concept of heaven is accurate. You are indeed rewarded with 72 dark-eyed virgins for living the kind of life you describe. Do you really think you will go to heaven for killing innocent civilians during a suicide operation?

BOMBER: You are treating in a ridiculous way this issue, but this is in the Quran. Go and, Allah forbid, ask Allah about this point. We are promised in the Quran to have the dark-eyed virgins and that's it. The Quran is full of verses glorifying the shahid, the martyr.

WND: Show me exactly where in the Quran it states you will get 72 dark-eyed virgins for blowing yourself up amongst civilians.

BOMBER: You and I, we do not discuss Allah and the Quran. I will tell you more the moment that I will explode myself when there will be one dark-eyed virgin who will carry up my soul to the sky.
This is the important part of our mission – fulfilling Allah's commandments and hoping to receive the prizes we were promised in the Quran.

'America is a culture of immorality and free sex'
WND: What do you think about the Unites States?

BOMBER: I have no interest in the American culture which is an empty culture with no values. It is full of immorality and elements that are forbidden by Allah, like free sex and violence.

WND: So I take it you don't listen to American music or watch American movies?

BOMBER: I do not watch American movies and regret those days before the intifada (the Palestinian terror war that started in 2000) when I used to watch American movies like "Platoon" and that film that was made under the water.

These are stupid things and I ask Allah to forgive me for those hours I spent watching this nonsense.

In my opinion, America is the big enemy leading the war against Islam, Muslims, Palestinians and against anything that threatens the Zionist enemy.

WND: In the last suicide bombing, which took place in Tel Aviv earlier this year, an American teenager named Daniel Wultz was severely injured and later died of his wounds. In general, are Americans part of your target?

BOMBER: America is destroying and exploiting the Arabic and the Islamic world as part of a Zionist and Crusader plan. The American Jews, we say, are the godfathers of this Zionist entity in America.
Therefore this Daniel, I am sure, participated in the army activity. If not, he collected money for this Zionist entity. If not, he would decide one day to come to live here as a settler. Therefore there is no way that he can be defined as innocent.

WND: Do you think your family will miss you if you became a suicide bomber. Would blowing yourself up amongst Israeli men, women and children make them proud?

BOMBER: My family, I think especially my mother, they have the feeling that one day they will hear that I carried out an operation. I do not think that they will be sad that I killed myself in an operation. It is the will to satisfy Allah.

I do not think my family will be surprised if I do it but I never told them anything because there may be some pressure and all our ideology is based on avoiding pressures and temptations connecting us to this lower world. It is the other world that I am seeking to join with all the love I have to my mother and my family. Now they love me and I hope in the future they will still love me but also be proud of me.

THE MAKING OF A GARRISON STATE

2006-11-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

US to require passports for nearly all
Lufkin Daily News"

Nearly all air travelers entering the U.S. will be required to showpassports beginning Jan. 23, including returning Americans and peoplef rom Canada and other nations in the Western Hemisphere. The date was disclosed Tuesday by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in an interview with The Associated Press. The Homeland Security Department plans to announce the change on Wednesday." (11/21/06)
http://tinyurl.com/ygnzth

DARK FORCES AND THE GOOD OF ANARCHY

2006-11-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

Pope condemns Gemayel killing, warns of "Dark forces"
Published:
11.22.06, 13:17

Pope Benedict on Wednesday called the assassination of Lebanese cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel a "brutal attack" and urged the country's people to beware "the dark forces who are trying to destroy the country".

The Pope made his comments to some 20,000 pilgrims and tourists gathered in a rainy St. Peter's Square for his weekly general audience. (Reuters)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I ALWAYS WONDERED ABOUT WHETHER THIS WOULD WORK. THE NOTION OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY IS KEY TO A LIBERTARIAN SOCIETY

Anarchy comes to European roads Der Spiegel"Are streets without traffic signs conceivable?

Seven cities and regions in Europe are giving it a try -- with good results. ...European traffic planners are dreaming of streets free of rules and directives. They want drivers and pedestrians to interact in a free and humane way, as brethren -- by means of friendly gestures, nods of the head and eye contact, without the harassment of prohibitions,restrictions and warning signs. ... 'The many rules strip us of the most important thing: the ability to be considerate. We're losing our capacity for socially responsible behavior,' says Dutch traffic guru Hans Monderman, one of the project's co-founders. 'The greater the number of prescriptions, the more people's sense of personal responsibility dwindles.'" (11/16/06)

Go Jewboy--Texas Ain't What You Think It Is

2006-11-18T11:22:00.000-05:00

Kinky Friedman. "Maybe people misunderstand me, but that doesn't bother me. Great people are always misunderstood. So if people don't understand me, I like it. It puts me up there with Socrates, Jesus, Van Gogh and Copernicus." (Michael O'Brien)
Why the hell not
By Dea Hadar

AUSTIN, Texas - Deb Orazi wanted to buy a doll. She arrived at the large storage room at the election headquarters of Kinky ("the Kinkster") Friedman, the singing Jewish cowboy who was running for governor of Texas. It was a day before the midterm elections, but she had already voted via early ballot. The editor of a music magazine, she had known Kinky casually for some time. The young volunteer at the headquarters told her that everything the doll said - all 25 one-liners - was in Kinky's real voice. But the doll was sold out. He went to scrounge around in the back and this time returned with one. There was a miniature Kinky, lying in a large plastic box, 13 inches long and wearing a black cowboy hat, jeans and a belt with a heavy buckle and a fake-leather vest. Stuffed into his mouth was the ubiquitous cigar. "There's only one left, but it doesn't work," the volunteer explained. He tried to push a button on Kinky's lower back. "Yes," he confirmed, "he doesn't talk." He offered the doll to Deb for half price - $10 - but in the end relented and let her have it for free. She went home with little Kinky, who presumably kept quiet the whole way.

As it happened, that's also what the real Kinky did for most of that day. He was on his ranch, not far from Austin, where he lives with his five dogs ("the Friedmans"), quietly chain-smoking Cuban cigars. A year and a half after the announcement that he was entering the race for governor on an independent ticket, which was followed by an exhausting campaign, the moment of truth had arrived: At this stage the most eccentric and outspoken candidate Texas has ever known had little more to say. Everything had already been said, endless times, and anyone who still wanted to hear his repertoire of one-liners could press the button on the back of the doll (12,000 of them were manufactured, at an investment of $45,000) and listen to Kinky the Kinkster rattle off his campaign slogans in rapid-fire succession. "As the first Jewish governor I will reduce the speed limit to 54.95 mph." "I don't now how many supporters I have, but they all carry guns." "Friedman's just another word for nothing left to lose" (a play on the Kris Kristofferson song "Me & Bobby McGee," whose refrain is "Freedom's just another word ..."). "I'm not helping the Cuban economy, I'm burning their fields." And finally, the ultimate slogan, the rationale behind his decision to run, and the words emblazoned on his campaign T-shirts: "Kinky 2006: Why the hell not?" According to the polls, at one point in the race, nearly a quarter of the Texas electorate shrugged their shoulders and asked themselves that very question. Friedman was then in second place, behind only the incumbent Republican governor, and the impossible idea of "Kinky Friedman - governor of Texas" seemed almost plausible. Friedman and the Jewboys Kinky was born in 1946 as Richard Friedman, the eldest of three children, to a well-heeled Chicago family. When he was a year old the Friedmans moved to a ranch in Texas, where they ran a children's summer camp. His father was a psychology professor and his mother was a speech therapist, who was once chosen outstanding citizen of Texas. Little Richard liked music and chess, and insists - even though he grew up in 1950s Texas - that he never encountered anti-Semitism. He attended the University of Texas, where he was given the nickname "Kinky" because of his frizzy hair. He has been Kinky Friedman ever since. After a brief stint in the Peace Corps in Borneo, he returned to the United States and began to cultivate his musical career. The first band he founded, while still a student, King Arthur and the Carrots, didn't take off. His second band, which he put together in the early 1970s, Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys, had more serious ambitions. Kinky and the Jewboys were mercilessly mocking and infuriating, and had no compunctions about doing or singing the most outrageous things. They were booed by women, blacks, southerners, you name it, and that inspired them to continue. The group's repertoire - country-style parodies - eventually attained cult status, not least because of hits like "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore." On one occasion Friedman riled Jews and Christians alike when he declared that both he and Jesus never had work or a home, never married and they both toured and annoyed people. He hit his artistic peak in 1976, when he toured with Bob Dylan in his Rolling Thunder Revue. But in the 1980s, when the Jewboys began to tread water and drugs started to take a heavy toll on them, Kinky returned to the ranch where he grew up. He kicked the drug habit and reinvented himself as a mystery writer. It wasn't hard to spot autobiographical elements amid the whiskey-drenched, labyrinthine plots, dirty jokes and profound insights. Especially not when the hero of the novels was named Kinky Friedman. "My primary aim is to amuse Americans on the airplane," he once quipped modestly, but his books were actually quite successful. One of his faithful readers was Bill Clinton, who also got in touch with him. They became friends and Kinky even got to sleep in the White House. Friedman has published more than 20 books and a new one, "The Christmas Pig," is due out in a few weeks. Kinky, dressed as Santa Claus, appears on the cover. About six years ago he started to write a column for the Texas Monthly. He has never married, and since returning to the ranch has never left it. Not far away is his Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, where he cares for dozens of stray and abused dogs that he has saved ("I do it because I like stray dogs a lot better than I like fat cats," he says). Kinky Friedman is a complex individual with an elusive, hard-to-define personality. On the one hand he's an authentic cowboy; on the other, an intellectual. He is vulgar but also sensitive and generous. And whenever people think they are starting to understand who he is, the man, who finishes between eight and 12 cigars a day, reinvents himself. In 2005 he decided that he wanted to reinvent himself as the governor of Texas. All a joke At first a lot of people thought it was just a joke. After all, it's not every day that the conservative, Christian Lone Star State gets a candidate for high office who is a Jewish cowboy, who has admitted to sniffing mountains of cocaine, declared that he wants the job because he needs more closet space, and created a talking doll of himself and special salsa sauce as part of his campaign. The race - which originally shaped up as a dreary contest between the incumbent, Rick Perry, and his Democratic challenger, Chris Bell - suddenly took on an intriguing, funny, even slightly perverse twist, like almost everything Kinky touches. With many Texans deeply disappointed with the two-party system, an independent who tells it like it is and doesn't try to butter up the voters proved attractive to no few voters. During 18 exhausting months on the campaign trail the uninhibited candidate, who promised not to be a politician if elected, unleashed a chain of jokes, some of them biting, others lame, which reflected subversive, courageous views. As expected, he received more media coverage than any other candidate. He says he wants Texas to lead in something besides executions and taxes. Asked for his opinion on same-sex marriage, he fired off: "I support gay marriage because I believe they have the right to be just as miserable as the rest of us!" On Friday evening, a week and a half before election day, Friedman was sitting in his bus on the last leg of his campaign. His day had started early, in Dallas; from there, he and his entourage had proceeded to Amarillo. He said he enjoyed being on the road, a place he got used to during his period as a musician. "I think it's a bit easier than making music. I think musicians could run this country a lot better than politicians. Maybe we wouldn't get much done in the morning, but we would work until late and we'd be honest," he said. Kinky is the first to admit that he never had a conventional job, but he saw himself stepping easily into the governor's boots. "I think I was born to be governor. Texas and I are a perfect match. And it's not hard work." Asked about his lack of political experience, he had a standard reply: "Politics is the only field where the more experience you have, the worse you get." "Politician" is another epithet that Kinky tried to shake off at every opportunity. "I am not going to be very political. I won't be like that. I want to be the 'good shepherd,' with an agenda to do the right thing. I want to be a governor who is not a politician." There is such an animal, he insisted, as long as he or she is not a Republican or a Democrat: "Only an independent candidate can fix what's wrong with Texas. I think that people across the continent are fed up with the two-party system, and for sure they're fed up with George [Bush] and with the war. If we win, that will convey a very important message, it will be a wake-up call." Slim chances Friedman knew that his chances of winning were slim. He got massive coverage in the local and national press, appeared on the popular Leno and Letterman nighttime talk-shows and was profiled in The New Yorker, which encouraged a more serious approach toward his candidacy. The turnout in the previous election had been 29 percent; Kinky thought that a higher turnout would give him the governorship. "It's definitely possible to win," he said. "It could happen. What will need to happen is that a lot of people who are waiting on line to see Willie [Nelson, a popular country singer and personal friend] will have to wait on line for Texas. That's the hardest thing. In my opinion the voter turnout this time will be tremendous. And if I'm right, we will win. If a lot of people vote, you're talking to the governor," he said in a phone interview during that nighttime journey on the campaign bus. For a moment he sounded like a politician. "I think we have to be practical. Many people outside America are following these elections, and they think I'm going to win. But we are running against an incumbent governor with plenty of money in a red [Republican] state. It would take a real revolution, almost a miracle." Friedman explained that he had the support of the Jewish community, but actually got his strongest support from the Christians. "Texans are among the biggest supporters of Israel. There's a kind of spiritual bond between Texans and Israelis, something of a John Wayne spirit that's different from the rest of America. They share the same sensibilities and dreams. They are tough people and feel very independent, and they have this 'us against the world' attitude." He himself has visited Israel twice. The first time was in 1968, and he doesn't actually remember when the second time was. "It's been far too long. I thought it was beautiful there," he said in diplomat-speak. Maybe he'll be back. The entourage Toward the end of the campaign Kinky got tired of being treated as some sort of curiosity. "I don't know why people would think that. I am a comedian, I am a joker, but one eye is laughing and the other is crying. Humor is often very close to reality." He promised to fight for the rights of teachers, the poor and animals, and not long ago held a press conference with his friend Willie Nelson about abuse of horses. Kinky said that if he won he would appoint the singer as the top environmental authority in the state. Nelson wasn't the only Friedman buddy who helped in the campaign. Singer-friends Jimmy Buffett and Lyle Lovett joined in the effort to make Kinky governor, and Jesse Ventura - the former wrestler who against all the odds became governor of Minnesota - also accompanied him on the campaign trail. But the closest person to Friedman is Jeff "Jewford" Shelby, who was with him the entire time. They have been friends for about 50 years, since they were children. Jewford was also a member of the Jewboys band. "He's a Jew and he drives a Ford," Kinky said, explaining the name of the somewhat testy type with the short curly hair who accompanies him loyally everywhere. Friedman proclaimed at every opportunity that if he won, Jewford would immediately become "the First Lady of the State of Texas." The "lady" is not a practitioner of diplomatese. "I need a gig," Jewford said, explaining his possible role. In contrast to the candidates of the two major parties, Kinky ran on a modest budget and insisted that he could never be bought for a fistful of dollars. Nor did he hesitate to cast doubt on the penal system of a state which he says is second only to China in the number of executions that take place within its territory. "I think there are people who deserve to die. But on the other hand, I ask, when was the last time someone rich was executed in Texas? The answer, of course, is never. And if the system is so flawed, it is not a good system, and it hasn't improved in the last 2,000 years. It's a very ugly business." But the more the campaign heated up, the more slips of the tongue and scandals from the Kinkster's past began to surface and haunt him. A problematic remark about the "crackheads and thugs" among the refugees in Houston from hurricane Katrina proved offensive to many, and a standup routine from 20 years ago contained what at first seemed to be a disparaging remark about blacks. Even though Friedman had been an anti-racism activist as a young man, he was accused of being racist. His drug-saturated past also put people off. In addition, he wasn't very impressive in a televised debate against the other candidates, and did not persuade people that he had anything much to say beyond the punch-lines he recycled day after day. His support in the polls dwindled. Of course, he expressed no regrets for his past escapades. "I do not apologize, unless I am wrong or I hurt someone. I also find no reason to regret what I see as the rich and beautiful life I have lived," he explained. "I think political correctness has taken a heavy toll in America. It's bad for art, for politics - it's bad for all of us. I think Americans are sick of it. The term 'political correctness' was invented by Stalin. It is the enemy of free thought." Still, as the campaign progressed the jokes about the size of the clothes closet he coveted were no longer heard. When I asked him whether he was becoming a politically correct and paler version of himself, he denied it vehemently. "I don't think I can be like that. I think there is something more important than being politically correct, which is to be morally correct. That is what I aspire to be." He added: "Maybe people misunderstand me, but that doesn't bother me. Great people are often misunderstood. I don't know if people know how smart I am, I don't know if they know a lot of things. So if people don't understand me, I like it. It puts me up there with Socrates, Jesus, Van Gogh and Copernicus," he said. Mount Rushmore On the day before the elections, Kinky Friedman's campaign headquarters in downtown Houston looked quite calm. The souvenir storeroom looked as if it were after a liquidation sale, with surplus T-shirts, glasses, stickers with the famous slogans and one silent talking doll. In another hall in the building, activists were making last-minute arrangements, but mostly worked the phones energetically, trying to persuade people to get out and vote. The place was littered with stickers containing slogans such as "My governor is a Jewish cowboy," posters of Kinky in a toga, Kinky as Cupid, B.B. King and Hank Williams. In small offices, many with dim lighting, the Kinkster's hit songs were playing. Occasionally his voice emanated from one of the dolls, mouthing yet another slogan that everyone could recite in his sleep. At this stage the most optimistic poll gave Kinky just 17 percent of the votes, but the atmosphere was still merry. A young man frolicked around the room and offered people a piece of the "dancing pizza" he was holding. Frank Mason, a 62-year-old campaign volunteer from Georgia, has known Kinky for years. He first met him when he worked as a bouncer at a New York nightclub where Kinky performed every week. Sometimes he went onstage and sang with him. When Mason heard that his friend of a quarter-of-a-century was running for governor, he called him immediately to offer his help. "I think he'll win," Mason said. "People are tired of everything going to the rich, and the poor getting only the crumbs. We are going to fight to the end. You really have to know him up close to understand him. I'm wild about the Kinkster. He loves people, he loves horses, he loves life." The allegations of racism are unfounded, Mason added. "It's not true. I know how to get a joke." The next evening, when the voting had ended, Kinky's "victory party" began at an Austin beer garden. Hundreds of his supporters - wearing cowboy hats and jeans, and including tattooed types, one guy with a giant parrot and a few official-looking individuals - gathered to wait for the results. On the stage a local folk group played. Between the endlessly flowing beer, the French fries, the ribs and the sausages that the crowd gorged on, and through the slightly sweet cigar smoke, the numbers started to come in. The exit polls on the TV monitors gave Kinky only 10 percent of the vote. Now the man himself has arrived. "Here he is: Kinnnnnnnnky Frrrrrrrrriedman, the next governor of Texas," one of the band members announced. The swarm of reporters and television crews that were lurking about in wait for the wannabe governor surrounded him. With cigar in mouth and beer in hand, the Kinkster made the rounds. "God bless you, Kinky," someone called out. "Kinky Friedman, our governor," others shouted. Kinky hugged and kissed the supporters, had his photo taken with them and autographed a few T-shirts and dolls. Jewford was constantly half a step behind him. "You're our First Lady," someone said to him, but Jewford looked plumb worn out. He reported that Kinky had smoked somewhere between 10 to 14 cigars that day. "I have a picture with Kinky. Tonight I'm going to get another one," boasted Peg Pother, who was nursing her umpteenth mug of beer that night. "The man is a rock star. He's in paradise now. A good shepherd and a rock star in the same person, I love it," she mumbled. "He's so good to dogs. How can you not vote for someone who's so good to dogs?" asked Lisa Milner, another somewhat inebriated fan. "But all these society ladies in Dallas don't rightly appreciate Kinky." At 9 P.M. he took the stage. "Okay, guys. It doesn't look good, but it's not over yet." He started to thank everyone. First Jewford, then all the others. "We fought like Gypsies on a pirate ship," he said. "We did what we could. I left Texas a message with my phone number, now we'll wait and see if she calls me back." And for dessert, he pulled a historical anecdote out of his cowboy hat: When Kissinger met with Mao, the secretary of state asked the leader of China how he thought the French Revolution had influenced mankind. "It's still too soon to say," Mao replied, according to Kinky. The crowd tried to grapple with the message. Even though there was a high voter turnout, Texas did not hear Kinky's message: He finished fourth and last with only 12 percent of the vote. Perry was reelected. The crowd at the party tried to put a brave face on the developments and a few started square dancing. But the people were down. Ulrika Rohde, who came from Germany and will soon go back, defeated, wept bitterly. Mason was still optimistic. "We'll be back," he promised. Kinky will probably not run again. But it's clear to everyone that he hasn't yet said the last word. The question is what he will be next time. Deb Orazi suddenly appeared, festively attired with generous cleavage and heavy makeup. She knew Kinky wouldn't make it. "Kinky's race made a very strong statement. He exposed the fact that many people in America are not happy and want something else. But Kinky won anyway. His career was on the skids before he started the campaign. This whole story jump-started his career. Now he'll probably go first thing to vacation in Las Vegas". He can give lectures and he'll probably sell a lot more books, and even salsa and dolls. Orazi related that after going home the day before, she tried again, for the last time, to press the back of the speechless Kinky talking doll she got for free. "You'll never believe it," she exclaimed. "he talks."

RIP Milton Friedman

2006-11-16T13:07:00.000-05:00

Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman has died: reports

By Gabriel Madway
Last Update: 12:33 PM ET Nov 16, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman has died at the age of 94, according to media reports Thursday. Friedman, one of the most influential economists of the past century, died last night, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site, citing an official at the Cato Institute in Washington. Friedman was a professor at the University of Chicago from 1946 until 1976. He was awarded the Nobel in 1976.

MORE WAR COMING

2006-10-20T10:02:00.000-04:00

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3401 October 20, 2006, 12:37 PM (GMT+02:00) DEBKAfile reports:

The American Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group joins US build-up opposite Iran Tuesday, Oct. 17, the Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group steamed into the Persian Gulf to join the US naval, air and marine concentration piling up opposite Iran’s shores. It consists of the amphibious transport dock USS Nashville, the guided-missile destroyers USS Cole and USS Bulkeley, the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the attack submarine USS Albuquerque, and the dock landing ship USS Whidbey Island. The Iwo Jima group is now cruising 60 km from Kuwait off Iran’s coast.

As DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly reported exclusively two weeks ago, three US naval task forces will be in place opposite Iran in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea by October 21. The other two are the USS Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group and the USS Enterprise Strike Group. http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=3400

Another of his outrageous speeches was delivered Friday to a pro-Palestinian rally marking the Islami Republic’s “al Qods Day” (Jerusalem Liberation Day). In further inflammatory remarks, Ahmadinejad said “the world knows the US and Britain are enemies of the Iranian nation.” He warned European nations not to harm Iran, saying that if anger in the region boiled over, Europe would get hurt because of its support for Israel. “Europe must distance itself from Israel at once. That is Iran’s ultimatum. “

He went on to brand the UN Security Council and its decisions “illegitimate.” DEBKAfile adds: These words amounted to an Iranian threat of harm to the European UN forces deployed in Lebanon unless they left forthwith.

His harsh words followed two events: one, the Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert’s statement in Moscow this week after he met with Russian leaders: “They need to fear that something that they do not want to happen will happen. In no case, Olmert stressed, “will we reconcile with nuclear arms in Iranian hands. There is no margin for error here.”

The other event was the arrival in the Persian Gulf of the giant US carrier Iwo Jima with its Expeditionary Strike Group to join the American naval, air and marine might piling up opposite Iran’s shores.

SOON TO COME

2006-10-05T15:48:00.000-04:00

Tunnels feed new Hamas army
Intelligence officials express worry over expanding Hamas forces, say confrontation with IDF soon to come
Alex Fishman
Published:
10.05.06, 10:39

The Hamas organization in the Gaza Strip has assembled an armed and trained force of about 7,500 fighters. A senior military official emphasized that it was not just a large guerilla force, but an organized military force.

This new Hamas army consists of several specialized units, including a short-range missile unit, a long-range missile unit, an anti-tank unit, and a sniper unit, among others.

Intelligence sources estimated the army would reach operational capacity, and be capable of confronting the IDF as soon as the coming summer, if the flow of arms, military experts, and money into the Gaza Strip was not stopped.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Haniyeh Speaks
Haniyeh: Hamas gov't won't step down / Associated Press
Top UN official says conditions in Gaza have reached breaking point; yet instead of forcing Hamas to moderate, tough policies have made Palestinians more intransigent, she adds
Full Story. The army did not only have defensive capabilities against the IDF, but offensive capabilities that would allow it to launch long-range missiles towards settlements within the Green Line, and to infiltrate Israel through hidden tunnels.

According to military sources, the strengthening of Hamas’ army was a calculated aspect of a long-term plan that began with the rise of the Hamas government, and did not cease for a single day since then.

Even recent internal struggles and IDF operations did not hinder the moving forward of the plan. The manufacturing of short-term missiles took place in Gaza, and there was evidence of anti-tank missiles entering the Strip.

Hamas’ offensive abilities are based mainly on tunnels that leave Gaza and enter the Green Line. In September alone, 12 tunnels were discovered in a single kilometer near the Gaza Strip town of Dahaniya.

Three of the tunnel openings where found by Egypt, and another three were destroyed by the IAF. It was difficult for Israel to make an exact estimate as to the number of working tunnels there were on the Philidelphi route, but a rough estimate showed several dozen tunnels which were sophisticated, professionally quarried, and fully equipped with tracks and wheeled carts.

Israeli military sources said they would have to decide soon how this new and growing military force in the Strip would be dealt with.

JUST IN CASE YOU EVER HAD ANY HOPE THAT THERE WILL BE PEACE

2006-10-04T14:40:00.000-04:00

Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades leader explains PA president's ultimate goal is to destroy Jewish state

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' stated recognition of Israel's right to exist is part of a "political calculation" aimed at ultimately destroying the Jewish state, a terror group leader and member of Abbas' Fatah party told WND in an interview.

The leader said the Fatah party does not recognize Israel and that any final accord that doesn't include flooding the Jewish state with millions of Palestinians will not be supported by the Fatah party and will lead to Palestinian civil war.

"The base of our Fatah movement keeps dreaming of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa and Akko," said Abu Ahmed, Fatah member and leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip. "There is no change in our position. Abbas recognizes Israel because of pressure that the Zionists and the Americans are exercising on him. We understand this is part of his obligations and political calculations."

The Brigades is the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party. Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv this past April that killed an American teenager and nine Israelis. The Brigades also has carried out scores of deadly shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in recent months.

Brigades leaders are members of Fatah. The terror group's founder, Marwan Barghouti, is an elected Fatah official and is largely considered one of the most popular Fatah figures. Several top Brigades members serve in Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail.

Abbas and Hamas the past few months have been negotiating the possibility of forming a national unity government in part to end international sanctions imposed on the Palestinian Authority after Hamas won the majority of parliamentary seats earlier this year. But the unity talks reportedly fell through because of Hamas' refusal to recognize Israel's right to exist.

Fatah and Hamas have been clashing in Gaza and the West Bank the past few days.
The US and Europe label Hamas a terror group, while Fatah largely is considered "moderate," in part for its purported willingness to accept Israel. The U.S. has given large sums of financial aid and weapons to Fatah since late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accords with the Jewish state in 1993.

Abu Ahmed explained Fatah itself has never officially recognized Israel.
"It is the PLO, which is a separate entity, that recognized Israel,and this was a step, a tactical step that had as its goal to bring the resistance and the revolution closer to the lands of Palestine," Abu Ahmed said.

The PLO was the official governing body of the Palestinians until the PA was formed following the Oslo Accords. Subsequent Israeli-Palestinian agreements were signed officially by the Fatah-led PA but not by Fatah as a party. Still, Fatah leaders, including Abbas, have made scores of statements recognizing the Jewish state.

But Abu Ahmed commented, "There is an opportunistic class at the head of the Fatah leadership that for personal and political interests says it accepts the existence of Israel. There is no change in our official position. Fatah as a movement never recognized Israel. It is the PLO who did so for the reasons I mentioned."

A State Department spokesman yesterday told WND the Brigades is "separate" from Abbas' Fatah party. But Abu Ahmed explained his Brigades group is "one and the same" with the Fatah party.

"We are members of Fatah, and there are normal organic relations between us and the Fatah. We are in the Al Aqsa Brigades because we are Fatah members. We participate in all political decisions making of the Fatah movement." Abu Ahmed said Brigades members consider Abbas their legitimate leader and answer ultimately to the PA president.

"Of course we are loyal to Abbas. He is our elected leader. We would of course prefer if his policy toward Israel was different, but we understand his obligations and calculations, and we do not consider ourselves limited by these calculations," the terror leader said. Abu Ahmed explained the difference between Hamas and Fatah is that the Fatah party "is ready to discuss a political arrangement for the Jews." But he said any arrangement must include the "right of return" of millions of Palestinians to Israel.

"We demand (any agreement with Israel) be based upon the principles that the great majority of our people support and first of all the right of return to the refugees, which mean that there cannot be any recognition of the Zionist entity. "If any Palestinian government will dare sign a deal without this it means that this government has decided to throw away the fate and destiny of more than four million Palestinian refugees, and we cannot accept this."

The "right of return" is widely seen by Israelis as a ploy to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians, thus threatening the country's Jewish character. Israel has a population of about 6.9 million; about 5.3 million are Jewish; nearly 1.3 million are Arab. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank claim a population of 3.8 million, but recent studies found the current Palestinian population may be inflated by up to 50 percent, with some major cities even being counted twice.

Abu Ahmed pointed to recent opinion polls showing upwards of 70 percent of the Palestinian public does not support Israel's right to exist. He warned if the PA concludes an agreement with Israel that does not include the "right of return," it will result in civil war.

"We will fight such a government that would make an agreement (without the 'right of return'), even if this may lead to a civil war. We are of course not interested in such a war but we want to ensure that any political process does not give up any of our holy principles," Abu Ahmed said.

Reprinted with permission of WorldNetDaily

three trillion times a second

2006-09-27T08:54:00.000-04:00

Speed of odd particle is measured

Arizona Republic

"The discovery that a bizarre particle travels between the real worldof matter and the spooky realm of antimatter 3 trillion times a second may open the door to a new era of physics, Fermilab researchersannounced Monday. The incredibly rapid commuting rate of the B sub smeson particle had been predicted by the Standard Model, thesuccessful but incomplete theory aimed at explaining how matter andenergy interact to form the visible universe. After 20 years oftrying, scientists have now confirmed the rate, providing strong evidence for the theory. The monumentally precise technology developed to measure the meson's back and forth dashes also may open the way to discovering a new family of fundamental particles and possibly a setof new forces that could be harnessed for technological applications,physicists suggested." (09/26/06)http://tinyurl.com/q6pac

Temple treasure is in West Bank

2006-09-25T19:31:00.000-04:00

Researcher: Temple treasure is in West Bank

British expert on archeology of holy land says that despite claims that treasures of Temple are in Vatican, they are actually located in Palestinian Authority, a revelation which is about to 'shock the religions of the world'
Ynet
Published:
09.26.06, 00:52

Where are the treasures of the Temple? A British archeologist is arguing that despite the claims that the treasures of the Temple are in the vaults of the Vatican, they are actually located in their original place – the Holy Land.
The London Times reported that Dr. Sean Kingsley, an expert on the archeology of the Holy Land, claims that he found a series of treasures, including silver trumpets, golden candlesticks, and other jewelry, which were a part of the a cargo shipment that was headed for Rome after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. According to him, his study is based on historical writings of Josephus from the first century CE and on other historical writings from that era.
After decades of searching and probing the holy scriptures, the archeologist reached the conclusion that the treasure was taken out of Rome in the fifth century CE. He discovered that it was transported to Carthage, a city-state near Tunisia which became an empire that controlled North Africa and the Mediterranean, and to Constantinople (Turkey) and Algeria. The treasures were then returned to Jerusalem and hidden under a monastery.
Kingsley explained that during the 1990s Israeli and Vatican officials confronted each other on the issue of location of these treasures. Israel even claimed that the Pope was hiding them in Rome. "The Temple treasure remains a deadly political tool in the volatile Arab-Israeli conflict centered on the Temple Mount," said Kingsley. “The treasure’s final hiding place – in the modern West Bank . . . deep in Hamas territory – will rock world religions,” he added.
The Vatican has told Dr. Kingsley that there is no evidence that the treasure is located within their territory. "I am the first person to prove that the Temple treasures no longer languish in Rome,” said Kingsley.

Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, J.D. http://www.thelawyer.infoIC Specialist http://www.independentcontractor.info NewPulp Literary Productions-- http://www.newpulp.net

RIGHT, IT'S NOT A RELIGIOUS WAR

2006-09-18T17:34:00.000-04:00

Associated Press
Published:
09.18.06, 17:15

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An al-Qaeda-linked extremist group warned Pope Benedict XVI on Monday that he and the West were "doomed," as protesters returned to the streets across the Muslim world to demand more of an apology from the pontiff for his remarks about Islam and violence.

The Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, issued a statement on a Web forum vowing to continue its holy war against the West. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified.

The group said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross" saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. ... We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose head tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (killed by) the sword."

Islam forbids drinking alcohol and requires non-Muslims to pay a head tax to safeguard their lives if conquered by Muslims. They are exempt if they convert to Islam.

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, meanwhile, shops, businesses and schools shut down in response to a strike call by the head of a hard-line Muslim separatist leader to denounce Benedict. For the third day running, people burned tires and shouted "down with the pope."

Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, J.D. http://www.thelawyer.infoIC Specialist http://www.independentcontractor.info NewPulp Literary Productions-- http://www.newpulp.net

DISINTEGRATION OF AN EMPIRE

2006-09-18T15:20:00.000-04:00

Mint: Liberty Dollar competition "a federal crime" US Mint Pressroom
"The United States Mint urges consumers considering the purchase or use of 'Liberty Dollar' medallions, marketed by the National Organization for the Repeal of the Federal Reserve Act and the Internal Revenue Code (NORFED), to be aware that they are not genuine United States Mint bullion coins, and not legal tender. These medallions are privately produced products that are neither backed by, nor affiliated with, the United States Government. Prosecutors with the Department of Justice have determined that the use of these gold and silver NORFED 'Liberty Dollar' medallions as circulating money is a Federal crime." [http://tinyurl.com/ehbk9

NATO hails Afghan offensive as "success" Elmira Star-Gazette
"NATO said Sunday that its two-week offensive in south Afghanistan was a 'significant success' that had driven Taliban insurgents from their positions and opened the way for development. But violence was unabated, with suicide bombers killing two civilians and wounding six soldiers. Militants also took control of a district in the west of the country after chasing away the police, an official said, in an apparent attempt to open a new front." http://tinyurl.com/rgooc

GA: Jackbooted thugs destroy town, abduct residents Yahoo! News
"Trailer parks lie abandoned. The poultry plant is scrambling to replace more than half its workforce. Business has dried up at stores where Mexican laborers once lined up to buy food, beer and cigarettes just weeks ago. This Georgia community of about 1,000 people has become little more than a ghost town since Sept. 1, when federal agents began rounding up illegal immigrants. ... More than 120 illegal immigrants have been loaded onto buses bound for immigration courts in Atlanta, 189 miles away. Hundreds more fled Emanuel County. Residents say many scattered into the woods, camping out for days. ... Federal agents also swarmed into a trailer park operated by David Robinson. Illegal immigrants were handcuffed and taken away. Almost none have returned. Robinson bought an American flag and posted it by the pond out front -- upside down, in protest. ... Crider President David Purtle said the agents began inspecting the company's employment records in May. They found 700 suspected illegal immigrants, and supervisors handed out letters over the summer ordering them to prove they came to the U.S. legally or be fired. Only about 100 kept their jobs. The arrests started at the plant Sept. 1. Over the Labor Day weekend, agents with guns and bulletproof vests converged on workers' homes after getting the addresses from Crider's files." (09/15/06) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060915/ap_on_re_us/immigration_aftermath

Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, J.D. http://www.thelawyer.infoIC Specialist http://www.independentcontractor.info NewPulp Literary Productions-- http://www.newpulp.net

IS IT COMING

2006-09-17T14:34:00.000-04:00

Light earthquake rattles central Israel for second time in a week on 9/17/06
By Haaretz Service and agencies

A minor earthquake shook central Israel Sunday, an official at Israel's Geophysical Institute said.Seismologist Rami Hofstetter said the tremor, which occurred at about 11:00 A.M., was a 4 magnitude quake. No injuries or damage were reported.It was the second such temblor in the space of a week.
The Syrian-African rift, one of the world's major fault lines, runs north-south along the eastern edge of Israel and the West Bank - under the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea and the Jordan River, which connects the two bodies of water. Mild quakes are common in the area.

Zechariah 14
1 Behold, a day of Yahweh comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst.2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.3 Then Yahweh will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.4 His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.5 You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.6 It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost.7 It will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.8 It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.9 Yahweh will be King over all the earth. In that day Yahweh will be one, and his name one.10 All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin's gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king's winepresses.11 Men will dwell therein, and there will be no more curse; but Jerusalem will dwell safely.12 This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.13 It will happen in that day, that a great panic from Yahweh will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.14 Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.15 So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague.16 It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents.17 It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn't go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, on them there will be no rain.18 If the family of Egypt doesn't go up, and doesn't come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents.19 This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don't go up to keep the feast of tents.20 In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, "HOLY TO YAHWEH;" and the pots in Yahweh's house will be like the bowls before the altar.21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to Yahweh of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of Yahweh of Armies.
Sheldon (Shelly) Waxman, J.D. http://www.thelawyer.infoIC Specialist http://www.independentcontractor.info NewPulp Literary Productions-- http://www.newpulp.net

ISLAM WORSHIPS DEATH

2006-09-15T09:19:00.000-04:00

'Hizbullah youths' train in terrorism

Thousands of children, teens prepare for apocalyptic battle against 'evil'
Aaron Klein, WND
Published:
09.15.06, 12:44

Hizbullah leads a youth movement that instructs tens of thousands of children and teenagers in military tactics and indoctrinates them with radical Shia Islam beliefs – including the waging of a final, apocalyptic world battle against "evil," according to materials
found by Israel during last month's war in Lebanon.
"Hizbullah established its Imam Mahdi Scouts to attract Shiite children and adolescents, to influence their hearts and minds and to prepare new generations of youth indoctrinated with radical Shiite Islam, which propounds the idea of the return of the Mahdi (messiah) as one of Hizbullah's central principles," states a report by the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies.
"Hizbullah wants to create a new generation of operatives for its own ranks who will take part in its violent campaign against Israel," the report states.
The Center for Special Studies, a think tank here specializing in terrorism information, analyzed scores of documents and material captured last month by the Israeli Defense Forces during military confrontation's with Hizbullah. The documents relating to Hizbullah's Mahdi Scouts evidence the recruitment of youth to fight eventually alongside Hizbullah, the center stated.
Hizbullah's Mahdi Scouts was established by the terror group in 1982 and operates under the jurisdiction of the Lebanese Ministry of Education. According to the Center for Special Studies, the Scouts have about 42,000 Lebanese males and females between the ages of 8-16 organized into 499 groups.
The scouts' namesake comes from a decedent of Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Shia Muslims believe Muhammad's immediate decedents – a series of 12 imams, or Muslim leaders – are the most trusted carriers of Islamic tradition.
Most Shia Muslims believe the 12th Imam, Mahdi, is still alive but cannot be seen until Allah determines it is time to prepare the faithful for Judgment Day. They believe Mahdi will eventually reveal himself and lead the forces of righteousness against the forces of evil in a final, apocalyptic world battle.
Hizbullah's Mahdi Scouts reportedly undergo military training at summer camps in Shiite communities in Beirut, the Beqaa Valley and south Lebanon.
The Center for Special Studies stated major activities at Mahdi Scouts summer camps, including sports and social programs, aim to inculcate Hizbullah and Islamic revolutionary principles into scout members.
The center's report said there are camps in which youth learn the basic use of arms along with physical training and march exercises while dressed in scout uniforms or camouflage suits. The center reviewed dozens of captured pictures of Mahdi Scouts in military uniforms holding plastic assault rifles.
An investigative report published in August by the Egyptian daily Ruz al-Yusuf claimed the scout movement trains “armed militias” in south Lebanon made up of children aged 10-15.

Lesson one: Destroy Israel The first lesson Hizbullah teaches scouts, stated the Egyptian article, is the destruction of Israel.
“(This lesson) is always an important part of the curriculum and is always aimed at children and adolescents who are new to the program. (The objective is to train a) high-caliber Islamic generation of children who would be willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Allah in the campaign against Israel."

The Center for Special Studies noted evidence of Iranian involvement in the scouting program. The center's report states Iranian Revolutionary Guard units played a central role in establishing the Mahdi Scouts and its regular programs and summer camps.

The report says a large volume of materials collected in Lebanon by the IDF "illustrates how members of Hizbullah's youth movement had been indoctrinated with the principles of the Iranian Islamic revolution and the personality cult of (Supreme Iranian leader) Ali Khamenei."
Among the scouting literature discovered were books and magazines glorifying Khamenei as a hero worthy of emulation.

The center also found a Mahdi Scouts calendar in which dates considered important to Hizbullah were highlighted. Dates marked for celebration in September, for example, include Imam Mahdi's birthday and the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

According to the center report, when male Mahdi scouts turn 17 they make their way into Hizbullah's fighting ranks.
Several previous scouts reportedly died during confrontations with Israel in July and August. Hizbullah member Hassan Qassem Hamid, head of the scout branch in the south Lebanese Hizbullah stronghold of Bint Jbail, was killed after he attempted to attack Israeli troops.
The Mahdi Scouts calendar boasts more than 120 of the movement's members died during Hizbullah actions, including suicide bombings against Israeli targets.

Many Western analysts fear the Shia belief in Mahdi's return is a driving force behind Iran's suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran is the primary sponsor of Hizbullah.

Some contend Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be pursuing nuclear weapons in part to precipitate the final, Mahdi-led battle.

In a speech in Tehran in November, Ahmadinejad reportedly said his main mission is to "pave the path for the glorious reappearance of Imam Mahdi, may Allah hasten his reappearance."

Ahmadinejad's cabinet reportedly has given USD 17 million to the Jamkaran mosque, site of a well at which Shia Muslims believe Mahdi disappeared over 1,000 years ago.

Reprinted with the permission of World Net Daily