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We have mentioned before that according to Islamic understanding, Obama was born a Muslim since his father was Muslim. Becoming Christian made him an apostate, subject to the death penalty anywhere sharia law prevails.

Al Qaeda Calls Obama an Apostate.

Zawahiri also criticised Mr Obama - whose father is Muslim - for betraying the Islamic world.

"You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews, although you claim to be Christian, in order to climb the rungs of leadership in America," he said.

Mr Obama was not an "honourable black American" like Malcolm X, he said, but an "abeed al-beit" - a word that translates as house slave but was rendered "house negro" in the message's English subtitles.


I recall that bin Laden also used the term "slave" to refer to blacks.
Drudge today has lots of news about pirates, mostly operating out of Somalia.

A few thoughts.

1. More and more shipping in the world is done under Third-World flags--Liberia, for example--in order to avoid the wage and health & safety regulations, and taxes, of First-World Nations. My first reaction is to let the companies reap the harvest they sowed. If you chose to register your vessel in a small, back-water nation, then let the Liberian Navy rescue your ship. You deliberately chose not to pay taxes to support things like a military navy, so why should we rescue you?

2. Many First-World nations, such as Canada and many European countries, have chosen to diminish their military capabilities in order to maintain their elaborate social-welfare systems. Why should they be able to count on the U.S. Navy to police the seas while not maintaining the strength to protect their own interests. My second reaction is to let the nation whose cargo it is go get their ship.

3. Somalia is no longer a country. It is a bit of territory without an effectively functioning government. We probably need to bring back Teddy Roosevelt's doctrine that the civilized nations of the world bear a responsibility to maintain order. But, and this is my third thought, doing something about Somalia should not be a U.S. responsibility. Give Multilateralism a chance. Force the U.N. to demonstrate whether it is useful or not. If not, evict it from New York and let the U.S. partner up with nations of similar interests and values.

4. Pirates should not be treated as domestic criminals. They have declared war on the rest of the world. Bring back the old meaning of the word "outlaw," one who has placed himself outside the protection of the law. My fourth thought is that upon capture pirates should be hung from the neck until dead without delay. No trials. And, like in the Old West where "ride with outlaws, hang with outlaws" was the motto; Sail with pirates, hang with pirates.

5. As a corollary, pirate ships should be sunk without remorse. Recently a British frigate launched Royal Marines in inflatable boats to capture a pirate ship. The pirates opened fire on the Marines who returned fire, killing a few pirates without suffering casualties themselves, and capturing the remaining pirates. My fifth thought is that those Royal Marines, and others like them, should not have been put at risk. If you are sure it's a pirate ship, blow it away.

p.s. If I were Obama, and wanted to get my bona fides early at low cost, I'd go aggressive, sink some pirate ships and shell some havens.
forwarded from photognome

Somebody remind me, why do we buy stuff from these guys?

CLENBUTEROL FOOD POISONING - CHINA
*************************************
A ProMED-mail post
ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases


Date: 17 Nov 2008
Source: Epoch Times [edited]


Clenbuterol food poisoning was reported in Jiaxing City, Zhejiang
Province. Since 10 Nov 2008, 70 employees of the Zhongmao Plastics
Products company in Jiaxing have been diagnosed. A pork dish served at
the Zhongmao cafeteria lunch meal was identified as the source.

A Chinese hospital doctor, Hao Jun (alias), confirmed to The Epoch
Times that the patients shared similar and obvious symptoms:
palpitation, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, chest tightness, uneasiness,
shaking, trembling, weakness, and instability.

Hao said, "Some patients have been seen at the hospital. More than 20
patients suffered from severe poisoning. Others were seen at other
hospitals. Most patients have been released. Those who were in
critical condition have also been stabilized, although the side
effects are yet to be observed."

Dr. Hao Jun indicated that clenbuterol is an asthma medicine. It will
speed up the catabolism of fat in pigs if used in pig feed. It will
also enhance the lean meat and muscle in pigs. It is heat stable and
will not decompose until it's heated to over 172 C. Therefore, cooking
will not eliminate clenbuterol toxicity. It will accumulate in the
human body through ingestion. Long term consumption will lead to
malignant tumors and pose particular danger to patients who have high
blood pressure or diabetes. If the intake is excessive, the poisoning
can be life-threatening.

Dr. Hao mentioned that because one of his relatives owns a pig feed
company, he was made aware of the "secret" about pig feed additives.
Clenbuterol added to feed will not only shorten the growth time but
also increase the sale price. Growth hormone is also added. Poison
chemicals such as arsenic have also been added to enhance the redness
and shine of the pork skin and hair. Some might even add tranquilizers
or sleeping pills to make pigs sleep. Long term consumption of pork
adulterated with these feeds might lead to retardation. The hormones
and chemicals could also endanger lives and lead to many illnesses.

"It is not realistic to expect the public [to] be cautious. The
critical point is the monitoring mechanism of the government," Dr. Hao
expressed, "The government's response has always been the same: "The
case is being investigated, and sanction is warranted." However, it
always ends with no action. Therefore, those who committed the crime
have nothing to fear. I believe there's some sort of collusion and
conflict of interest between the business and the officials."

Pork containing clenbuterol often has a bright red skin with very little fat.

According to partial data, since 1998, there have been at least 18
clenbuterol food poisoning cases in China. More than 1700 people have
been poisoned, with one confirmed death.

Between 8-18 Oct 2008, there were 3 food poisonings confirmed caused
by clenbuterol in pork meals in Guangdong Province.

During September 2006, a series of food borne illnesses occurred in
Shanghai and sickened more than 300 people. These were confirmed to be
related to meals with pork or pig intestines containing clenbuterol.
In June of the same year, employees of a hotel in Foshan suffered from
clenbuterol food poisoning. Also, hundreds of workers in a glass
factory in Guangdong Province were poisoned by meals containing
clenbuterol in May 2006.

Hao Jun emphasized, "Considering the infant formula food borne illness
[melamine poisoning], and the massive incidences of poor food quality
and safety, problems in China's processed foods are increasingly
worrisome."

[Byline: Xin Fei]

-- Communicated by: HealthMap Alerts via ProMED-mail

[It is well known that clenbuterol is a metabolic stimulator resulting
in a lower fat level. It is illegal to use in livestock in the US.

Clenbuterol is also used as a bronchodilator in human patients and
illegally used as a weight loss stimulant in humans.

Although the mechanism is not understood, clenbuterol in swine can and
does seem to cause problems in humans. - Mod.TG]

[ProMED-mail would like to thank Dr. Angela Huang
for submitting a similar article translated
from Chinese.

In a report on food safety by the Institute for Agricultural Sciences
of Viet Nam, discusses the use of beta agonists in swine feed. This
document mentions that only a small amount of clenbuterol is excreted
and metabolized, with the majority of the drug remaining in muscles
and organs (liver and kidney). Humans, when using food processed from
these animals show the same manifestations as if they had directly
inhaled a treatment dose of clenbuterol with increased heart rate
leading to coronary arteriectasia (arterial distension) ,
bronchoectasia (irreversible local bronchial dilitation), and a
concommitant stimulation of insulin release and glycolysis.

.
Symptoms compatible with the description provided in the above
newswire.

Of note, a similar incident occurred in Hong Kong in 1998 involving 9
people eating pork lungs that were found to have concentrations of
clenbuterol ranging between 1 and 24 micrograms per kilogram. (see
Pork, contaminated, clenbuterol - China (Hong Kong) 19980505.0876).

For a map of China, see
.

For the interactive HealthMap/ProMED map of China with links to other
recent ProMED postings on events in China and neighboring countries,
see .

selected references:

1 Martinez-Navarro JF, Food poisoning related to consumption of
illicit beta-agonist in liver, Lancet 336 (1990), p. 1311.

2. Brambilla G, Loizzo A, Fontana L et al., Food poisoning following
consumption of clenbuterol-treated veal in Italy, J Am Med Assoc 278
(1997), p. 635.

3 Brambilla G, Cenci T, Franconi F., Clinical and pharmacological
profile in a clembuterol epidemic poisoning of contaminated beef meat
in Italy, Toxicol Lett 114 (2000), pp. 47–53.

4. Ramos F, silveira I, Silva JM, Barbosa J, Cruz C, Martins J, Neves
C, Alves C.Proposed guidelines for clenbuterol food poisoning. Am J
Med. 1 September 2004. 117(5): 362-362
- Mod.MPP]
Here are two politically incorrect questions that I think will need to be answered before we can consider the possibility of assimilation by Arab Muslims, or their near neighbors. These questions also raise possibilites in the psychology of Islamic terrorists.

1. Are Arab Muslims and others influenced by them willing to give up first-cousing marriage?

Patrilateral parallel cousin marriage is evidently ancient in the Near East, from whence it spread during the Arab conquests to adjacent peoples through the vehicles of clientship, intermarriage, and religious conversion. *

In other words, the ancient tradition, and common current practice, is to marry a first or second cousin on the father's side. This practice both reflects and helps to produce inward-focused families with intense family loyalty that trumps other loyalties such as to one's nation, or to the common good. It helps lead to nepotism.

In regard to Islamic terrorists, we must ask if ages and ages of inbreeding have produced higher-than-necessary numbers of unstable individuals. It is no accident that researchers of genetic diseases regard Saudi Arabia as a great place to study their topic.

2. Are Arab Muslims and others influenced by them willing to give up sexual relationships between men and boys?

They talked about Islam, especially about the sequestering of women. They said it forced the native men into prisonlike expedients. On night patrols, they said, they would bump into Afghans hooking up with animals. And they joked about “Man-Love Thursday,” when they’d spot Afghan men and boys together, grabbing a quick sin before the redemptive Sabbath.

The above quote is from an embedded reporter with an American unit in Afghanistan. Similar observations have been made by many other allied units of various nationalities. It reminds one of the reaction Europeans had to the Turks and their similar practice. Anecdotal evidence also points to the practice in Arab culture.

In regard to Islamic terrorists, we must ask if being abused as a boy helps to produce angry men ready to lash out at "the enemy."

» Read More

From National Review Online, Jay Nordlinger on the sorry state of Middle Eastern Studies. During the Cold War Sovietologists were often apologists for the Soviet Union. Sinologists often parrot the Chinese government's positions. Middle Eastern studies may be worse, in part because of the combination of Political Correctness and funding from the Mideast. A ray of hope,

Last year, an encouraging event occurred: the founding of a new organization, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). Their website is here. ASMEA was to be, in brief, what MESA should be, and almost certainly used to be. (The older group was founded in 1966, before the rot set in.) The new group’s chairman is Bernard Lewis, the great nonagenarian British-born scholar. On the academic council sits George Shultz — who, as I said at the outset, is so desirous of new and helpful institutions.

From City Journal (link from NRO), "Five Days at the End of the World: My visit to Afghanistan, and the War on Terror movie that Hollywood would never make". The author Andrew Klavan travels to Afghanistan, recounts his experiences, and outlines the movie he would make of the experience.

Here, then, is the movie I would make. It would be something like this, anyway. With maybe Ed Norton as Rory—Alda’s too old now. And Dennis Haysbert, President Palmer from 24, as Mitchell. Someone fresh like Jim Sturgess for Baronner. Perez? George Clooney doesn’t deserve to play him, but he could.

I would probably make the mission to build the bridge and the mission to buy the FOB site into one mission. A bridge is more visual, but the tensions with the natives over the site make good drama. I’d have the ambush happen at the end of the first act, with a likable gunner getting killed. Then maybe our guys wouldn’t be able to return to base because of the weather. They’d be stuck up in nowhere with some locals they couldn’t trust and the bad guys still in the woods. It would become a matter of life and death whether the PRT guys could count on the goodwill of the natives in order to smoke out the bad guys before getting smoked themselves.

That would be the theme, see: the frustrations of building goodwill in wartime. Because goodwill is the key to this multifront counterinsurgency. It’s the only way to win the locals away from the brutal scum who’ve enslaved them in the past and over to some semblance of liberty and the rule of law. That’s why Information Operations—what they used to call propaganda—is so important. That’s why the bad guys work so hard to spread lies about us.


And from Jihad Watch, another episode in the ministry of Father Zakaria Botros who I've posted on before as the most important man in the world you've never heard of.

Though he is little known in the West, Coptic priest Zakaria Botros — named Islam’s “Public Enemy #1” by the Arabic newspaper, al-Insan al-Jadid — has been making waves in the Islamic world. Along with fellow missionaries — mostly Muslim converts — he appears frequently on the Arabic channel al-Hayat (i.e., “Life TV”). There, he addresses controversial topics of theological significance — free from the censorship imposed by Islamic authorities or self-imposed through fear of the zealous mobs who fulminated against the infamous cartoons of Mohammed. Botros’s excurses on little-known but embarrassing aspects of Islamic law and tradition have become a thorn in the side of Islamic leaders throughout the Middle East.

Botros is an unusual figure onscreen: robed, with a huge cross around his neck, he sits with both the Koran and the Bible in easy reach. Egypt’s Copts — members of one of the oldest Christian communities in the Middle East — have in many respects come to personify the demeaning Islamic institution of “dhimmitude” (which demands submissiveness from non-Muslims, in accordance with Koran 9:29). But the fiery Botros does not submit, and minces no words. He has famously made of Islam “ten demands,” whose radical nature he uses to highlight Islam’s own radical demands on non-Muslims.


In a recent program on al-Hayat he challenged the notion that Mohammad was a true prophet.

For the first characteristic regarding prophethood, Botros opened by quoting Jesus’ famous saying: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:15-16).

However, since Muslims may think that verse has been “corrupted”—the accusation of tahrif being commonplace when wanting to avoid biblical debates—Botros also went on to quote from none other than Ibn Taymiyya himself, radical Islam’s most favorite son, in regards to the characteristics of prophets.

According to Sheikh al-Islam’s Minhaj Al Sunna Al Nabawayya, Taymiyya said that false prophets, such as Musailima the Liar, were exposed by the fact that they were liars, oppressors, and possibly possessed by demons and jinn. However, when sober minded individuals studied their lives and deeds, they were able to discern that they were false prophets, that they were exposed.

After reading the relatively long quote from Taymiyya, Botros put his book down, looked directly at the screen, and flatly said that everyone of those negative characteristics indicative of false-prophethood mentioned by Taymiyya in fact apply to Muhammad.