German Tolerance and Openness.

Very carefully - the way Euros insert anti-Semitic statements or arguments into conversation.


And once again - why articles that are 8 years old (this one is from November 1, 2002).

Why?  because very nearly every attack and criticism of the US is based on drivel pulled out of someones rusty file cabinet, and or just printed and taken from one of those sites that highlight change and masquerade as lucid while they have no change to spare and clearly need more sense than they have.  I am so tired of contending with ancient wrongs by the US, culled from a media so willing to make available the opinions of reporters, taken for fact by willing accomplices and spread like butter for the masses to swallow. 

If they can do it, I think all these articles, factual and evidenced by sources - are equally as useful to delve into the character of a government or people - as useful as what is so often done by those who are so effortlessly propelled to the highest levels of the media in Europe and the US from where they pontificate their sad and miserable views onto a public who knows only what they hear and read ... from a media so ready to capitalize on the negative.

And if Americans are all racist for X, then most certainly we can use news stories of German efforts to .... maintain, as evidence.  Fair is fair.






Berliners protest move to put 'Jewish' back into street name


Berlin (dpa) - Crowds of angry residents in Berlin Friday protested attempts to return a road to its pre-Nazi-era name of Jewish Street, with several shouting, ;The Jews have made us suffer enough.''

The protest began peacefully enough Friday afternoon when about 40 people turned out to protest the changing of Kinkel Strasse to Jueden Strasse, which had been approved by the Berlin city council.

Local residents, particularly several retailers, said they had not been adequately informed about the name change and they resented the inconvenience of changing business cards and advertisements.

The protest turned ugly, however, when representatives of Berlin's Jewish community arrived for the formal name-changing ceremonies. Then there were chants of ;You Jews have had enough say'' and ;The Jews have made us suffer enough.''

Jewish Community Chairman Alexander Brenner attempted to fend off the attacks as TV camera crews filmed the scene, but as the vehemence rose, he responded, ;You people are siding yourselves with the Nazis with such remarks,'' and turned and left.

Afterward, several retailers said the confrontation had been taken over by neo-Nazis.

I heard someone shout terrible things at him,'' one retailer told SFB television. ;I heard someone say, 'You Jews are to blame for the German plight,' and that is a horrible thing to hear. I was absolutely appalled.''

Other businesspeople said they had come to protest the fact that the street name was being changed at all and were not concerned that it involved a Jewish name.

I've had a business on this street for 39 years and object to having to change all my business cards and make new advertisements now,'' one business owner said. ;I don't care what the city council has decided the new name should be; I just want it to remain as it has been.''

Jueden Strasse was the name of the road until the Nazis changed it in the 1930s to an Aryan name. After World War II, it was changed to Kinkel Strasse in honour of a resistance fighter.

The move to return the street its historical name came after the Social Democrats gained control of the Berlin city government last year.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Germany

Anti-Semitic Euros

European Anti-Semitism Worse Since 2008




by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu and Yoni Kempinski
israelnationalnews.com


Anti-Semitism in Western Europe last year was the worst since World War II, according to the Jewish Agency’s arm for fighting attacks and incitement against Jews.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein directly linked worsening anti-Semitism with the United Nations “Goldstone Report” on alleged war crimes in last year’s Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign aimed at putting a halt to eight years of lethal rocket attacks on Israeli civilians.


Israel is preparing a response to the Goldstone report, and Edelstein commented Sunday, "It is certainly already clear that, for many of the 'incidents' and 'crimes' described in the report, no proof was found.” He said he will tell U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon that the report fueled attacks, many of them violent, against Jews around the world.

“Another flare-up in the region, similar to the Gaza operation, will probably lead to an even more severe outbreak of anti-Semitic activity against communities worldwide,” warned the Jewish Agency’s Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism

The Jewish Agency’s report Sunday comes three days before the U.N.-designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday, which coincides with the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Nazi Germany.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told the Cabinet Sunday, "This anti-Semitism comes with a new twist, which is the bid to deprive the Jewish state of the right to self-defense."

Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky said he will increase from 19 to more than 100 the number of emissaries to fight anti-Semitism, primarily on university campuses. The Agency’s report linked radical left elements and Muslims who spur incitement against Jews.

The member of attacks against Jews and synagogues in many places in Western Europe in the first six months of 2009 was more than the number for the entire previous year, according to the report. It pointed out that the “left and labor unions, at times [acted] in coordination with Muslims."


The anti-Semitic attacks “were mostly perpetrated by Muslims from large local Muslim communities, including Palestinians, mainly in France, Britain, Belgium, Scandinavia, Germany and the United States,” the report stated. In France, there were 631 incidents in the first six months compared with 464 for all of 2008, and more than 100 incidents were recorded in Paris, where the involvement of Muslim teenagers was noted. Among the attacks in France was one on a handicapped Jewish woman.

“The demonization and de-legitimatization of Israel in propaganda by the radical left and human rights organizations intensifies the hostile mood against Israel and its supporters, encouraging the extreme stands of local Muslims,” the Coordination Forum for Countering Anti-Semitism added in summing up the report's findings.













 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
euro

French Racism and Hate-Mongering

French perfume designer under fire for racial slur


By The CNN Wire Staff
October 16, 2010 5:08 p.m. EDT


Paris, France -- French anti-racism group SOS-Racisme plans to file a legal complaint against perfume designer Jean-Paul Guerlain following a racist remark he made on French television.

Guerlain -- who is no longer connected with the perfume company that bears his name -- made the remarks during an interview with France 2 on Friday about his career and the making of Samsara, one of his famous perfumes he created to impress a woman.

"One day I told her -- and I still called her Madame -- 'What would seduce you if one was to make a perfume for you?' and she told me, 'I love jasmine, rose and sandalwood,'" Guerlain recalled.

"And for once I started working like a [racial epithet]. I don't know if [racial epithet] ever worked that hard," he said.

Guerlain issued an apology following the interview's broadcast, which a France 2 anchor read during the network's evening newscast.

"My words do not reflect in any way my profound thoughts but are due to an inopportune misspeaking which I vividly regret," the apology read.

According to a Guerlain company spokesperson, Guerlain has not been an employee since 2002. He now counsels the company as a "nose" for some perfumes.

SOS-Racisme said it is not satisfied with Guerlain's apology and will bring action against him. Guerlain could be issued a fine if the complaint goes before a magistrate.

Louis-Georges Tin, a spokesman for the Council Representative of Black Associations, told French radio RTL that his group also will join in the complaint.

"Until now we thought that Mr. Guerlain was the ambassador of grace, and he made comments particularly disgraceful, even a bit foul," Tin said.

"That's why we are shocked. These comments are racist, of course, which harken back to the colonial period and it seems unacceptable. For now, we are planning to file a complaint," he said.

France's finance minister, Christine Laguarde, also weighed in on the comments, telling RTL on Saturday, "It's pathetic. I simply hope this is just senile and grotesque, that the apologies will really be sincere and gracious, but this is truly pathetic."





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
RACE

MULTICULTURALISM HAS FAILED: So says Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium ...

Merkel says German multiculturalism has failed


12:46am BST
By Sabine Siebold


POTSDAM, Germany (Reuters) - Germany's attempt to create a multicultural society has "utterly failed," Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday, adding fuel to a debate over immigration and Islam polarising her conservative camp.

Speaking to a meeting of young members of her Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel said allowing people of different cultural backgrounds to live side by side without integrating had not worked in a country that is home to some four million Muslims.

"This (multicultural) approach has failed, utterly failed," Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, south of Berlin.

Merkel faces pressure from within her CDU to take a tougher line on immigrants who don't show a willingness to adapt to German society and her comments appeared intended to pacify her critics.

She said too little had been required of immigrants in the past and repeated her usual line that they should learn German in order to get by in school and have opportunities on the labour market.

The debate over foreigners in Germany has shifted since former central banker Thilo Sarrazin published a book accusing Muslim immigrants of lowering the intelligence of German society.

Sarrazin was censured for his views and dismissed from the Bundesbank, but his book proved highly popular and polls showed a majority of Germans agreed with the thrust of his arguments.

Merkel has tried to accommodate both sides of the debate, talking tough on integration but also telling Germans that they must accept that mosques have become part of their landscape.

She said on Saturday that the education of unemployed Germans should take priority over recruiting workers from abroad, while noting Germany could not get by without skilled foreign workers.

In a weekend newspaper interview, her Labour Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) raised the possibility of lowering barriers to entry for some foreign workers in order to fight the lack of skilled workers in Europe's largest economy.

"For a few years, more people have been leaving our country than entering it," she told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. "Wherever it is possible, we must lower the entry hurdles for those who bring the country forward."

The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) says Germany lacks about 400,000 skilled workers.

Yet Horst Seehofer, chairman of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the CDU's sister party, has rejected any relaxation of immigration laws and said last week there was no room in Germany for more people from "alien cultures.





 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
germany

Europeans: Racists to the Core (but they pretend well)

Down with America: the Anti-American Dance (2)


From the desk of Luc Van Braekel on Sat, 2005-09-10 12:17


"Down with America" is the title of a recent song by the popular Belgian musician Raymond van het Groenewoud. Written in Dutch and published by EMI , "Weg met Amerika" ("Down with America") will be available in record shops as of next week, and was played on Belgian state radio last Thursday and Friday. Here is a quote from the lyrics of the song:


Hamburgers and coke, yes you already knew
But do you also know the cause of the general decay?
Short-sighted thinking, loud talking
Sticking to one-liners forever
Down with America! Down with the jerks from America
Down with America! [...]


Down with American colonialism
Down with that ugly, biting English
All the Anglo-Saxon pretence, arrogance
Yes, a hot pick up their ass
And that is that [...]


I am from the Belgian, the European panel
And I ask you: “Clear my channel! Clear my channel!”
Megalomaniac unicellular idiots
Kiss my ass, yes, kiss my balls



Incitement to hatred against people based on (i.a.) nationality is a crime in Belgium. In practice however, this law is only enforced when Arab, muslim or African minorities are criticized. Hate speech against the Americans or the British remains unsanctioned, as was recently shown when the leftist newspaper De Morgen published an article that complained about the British, "with their unique mixture of wantonness and arrogance, their pathetic addiction to drink, their bad taste, and actually just their ugliness and thickheaded presence".

In January 2003, the Flemish commercial radio station Q-Music was sanctioned by the Flemish Council for Disputes in Radio and Television, after a complaint from the Center for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism (CEOOR). In their radio show, presenters Erwin Deckers and Sven Ornelis had described Venus and Serena Williams as 'monkeys'. The CEOOR decided that their way of reporting was "a gross insult to all our non-white citizens. The vulgar language [...] contributes to the banalization of racist speech. Hence, the program incited to hate based on race".

More and more, it seems that racist or semi-racist expressions are punished when they originate from popular culture or from right-wing politicians and are directed against muslims, Arabs or Africans, but that similar expressions remain unpunished when they come from 'progressive' artists and leftist intellectuals and are directed against the Americans, the British or the Dutch. In my opinion, the CEOOR and its policies are leading us to a less tolerant society, with more social irritation, distrust and friction. When the state tries to control the thoughts and minds of the people, it will only lose their respect.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
europeans

Euroabia? Europe a distinct culture?

In fear of 'Eurabia'?




By Mark LeVine
al jazeera.com
December 3, 2009



The images were clearly intended to get out the vote, and judging by the 57 per cent "yes" vote to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland on Sunday, they worked all too well.

They included the depiction of minarets piercing through the Swiss flag; minarets on top of the flag, with a menacing, niqab-wearing Muslim woman in the foreground.

One could be forgiven for imagining that the Muslims were at the gates of Vienna, or even Lucerne, threatening to overrun Christian Europe. And of course, for the proponents of the ban, that is precisely the situation Europe faces today.

For centuries, the peoples of Europe have defined their continental identity against the threat of Islam. So much so that it is hard to imagine a European identity that does not have Islam as its foil.

There are, of course, good historical reasons for this.

From the eighth century Europe was in fact surrounded by Muslims to the East and South, who ruled much of the Eastern continent for the next millennium.

Of course, except in the wildest dreams of jihadists, Europe will not be taken down by Muslim swords today. But for right-wing fear mongers, the contemporary Muslim threat is just as nefarious, only the weapon is different.

The ultimate 'other'

That Muslim woman in the now infamous poster is not just the ultimate 'other' - totally impenetrable to the Western gaze in a social space where topless women are de rigeur on billboards, magazines, TV commercials and the beach - but, the niqab or burka-wearing Muslim woman is believed to stand for all Muslim women, who, it is assumed, possess little or no control over their own bodies.

And because of this, she is as dangerous as the H1N1 virus currently scaring people across the continent. Underneath her niqab lies a human bomb - not a suicide vest, but a baby; lots of babies, if you believe the hype.

All these Muslims babies threaten to transform the fundamental identity of Europe as a "Western," "modern," "secular-yet-Christian" space - the very antithesis of what most Europeans imagine Muslims to be.

In some sense, of course, the return of a robust Muslim presence in Europe would be a return to history, to a time when a good share of Europe was Muslim. But that is a history few Europeans hearken to. In fact, Europe's first post-Cold War conflict, in the Balkans, was driven in good measure by just this fear.

Beneath the fear, however, lies that undeniable reality that the combination in Europe of very low indigenous (meaning white and Christian) birth rates and increasing immigration of Muslims with higher birth rates means that the percentage of Muslims will continue to grow.

They will not, however, become a majority in Europe under any conceivable scenario in the coming decades.

In fact, the actual demographic trends show a decline in birth rates by Muslim women as they become settled into Europe, which corresponds to the declining birth rates across the Muslim world (many of whose governments have initiated aggressive family planning programmes).

Indeed, as Muslim women live in Europe, learn the languages, get educated and join the workforce, they become more "European" - or more accurately, like women globally, who, if they have the resources and freedom to control their reproduction, choose to have smaller families.

Of course, if they are marginalised and, along with their male counterparts, not given sufficient chance to become a functioning part of their new societies, this process will happen more slowly, if at all, creating a self-fulfilling cycle of recrimination and disintegration.

From Europe to 'Eurabia'?

Either way, it is clear that Europe is going to become more Muslim in the coming decades. The question is whether in the process it will become more Islamic - that is, publicly religious and impacted by Muslim religious symbols and practices - and which version of Islam will define the emerging European Islam.

Will it be a "Euro-Islam" that respects core liberal values of tolerance, openness and respect for the rule of law, or a "Ghetto Islam" that produces subcultures that are largely isolated and hostile to the European self-image (one which, it must be remembered, largely excludes Muslims in the first place)?

The fear mongers behind the rising tide of Islamophobia in Europe argue that the continent is on the way to becoming "Eurabia" - that is, taken over by a Muslim tide and losing its core Europeanness in the process.

It is hard to know how many Europeans buy into this argument. But, while it is rarely a good idea to generalise, the majority would likely prefer Muslims to assimilate into their host societies, to shed the outward appearances of difference, and not integrate - a process that inevitably changes the host culture as well, as it takes on elements of the newer arrival and, inevitably, loses some of its traditions in the process.

Picture-postcard Europe

It is not surprising that in Switzerland the focus would be on minarets.

More than most countries, Switzerland defines itself by its visual aesthetic. It is the picture postcard of Europe, with nothing out of place, the quintessential European destination.

Never mind that Swiss Muslims are among the least conservative in Europe and that the call to prayer is already banned in Switzerland; the presence of more minarets would call out to the Swiss, saying: "We are here and we're not going anywhere. And we're not just going to assimilate to your culture. We intend to keep core parts of ours as well."

Thus the referendum slogans calling for a halt to the "Islamisation of Switzerland". The minaret, as a highly visible sign of Islam's presence, becomes a "spearhead" of that Islamisation, "the symbol of political-societal power claim of Islam" as the website of the Swiss People's Party (SVP), the party behind the vote, describes it.

Never mind that most of the claims by the minaret ban's backers about Islam and the demographic threat are inaccurate. Islam, in their view, cannot exist without asserting unique claims to social and ultimately political power, which is why it is an existential threat by its very presence.

Muslims cannot just be; they have to convert others, and the voice of the muezzin "proclaiming down from the minaret" is the most powerful manifestation of this. Or so the backers of the minaret ban imagine.

Even Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf, Switzerland's justice minister, admitted that the result "reflects fears among the population of Islamic fundamentalist tendencies," as if one cannot be Islamic without being fundamentalist.

This is the underlying problem in the debate over minarets, hijabs, or yet more troubling, attempts by European Muslims to establish separate courts and laws aligned with their interpretation of sharia to cover personal status issues.

At best, it says Muslims are willing to integrate, not assimilate into European society.

Comparisons to anti-Semitism

In the aftermath of Sunday's vote, many commentators, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, are comparing Islamophobia in Europe today to the anti-Semitism that plagued the continent in the first half of the 20th century.

While understandable, such comparisons miss the fundamental difference between the position of Jews in Europe then and Muslims in Europe today.

Jews had lived in Europe for centuries and, despite anti-Jewish sentiments among huge swaths of Europe's population, were very much a part of their societies' cultures, economies, and increasingly politics.

Indeed, in Germany it was precisely the increasing full participation of Jews in so many parts of national life that made them such an existential threat.

They were Europe's most intimate 'other', inside the very fabric of European identity and increasingly, impossible to tell from "real" Europeans.

As such they became a lethal virus that, in the Nazi logic, had to be eradicated to restore the purity of the race.

The situation for Muslims today is very different.

Muslims are still relatively new to most European societies; at most a couple of generations old. As one Fox news report put it after a riot in Muslim neighbourhoods of the Swedish town of Malmö, they are "outsiders who are already inside" European societies.

What is worrying is that as a new generation of European Muslims come of age and move deeper inside European culture, economies and politics, the fears and prejudices against them will surely grow, especially if, as in Germany of the 1930s, the economic situation continues to deteriorate.

Mass violence against Muslims comparable to that visited against Jews is unimaginable. But as Muslims become, welcomed or not, part of the European fabric, the prejudices against them could begin to take on some of the form of the anti-Semitism that plagued pre-war Europe.

The larger picture

Ultimately, the vote to ban minarets, like other anti-Islamic legislation, is a symptom of a larger problem within contemporary European societies.

It is not just that Europeans are increasingly inhospitable to Muslims and other immigrants. These sentiments reflect the fraying of the social fabric of Europe more broadly, particularly of countries that have had strong recent traditions of social solidarity and welfare.

The larger implications have not been touched on in most of the commentary and reporting in the multi-lingual Swiss media, or the European press more broadly.

Instead, papers such as the German language Neue Zürcher Zeitung, described the vote as a revolt of "the people over the elites" and emphasised the need for rulers to "listen to the people" (a terminology which, in German at least, has alarming historical connotations).

The French language Le Temps questioned: "How can you dialogue when you're crushed by the weight of stereotypes?"

The answer is that people are increasingly scared that their social safety nets are fraying and that life is inexorably going to become harder. And they want quick solutions, not long and complicated dialogues.

And herein lies the real problem underlying the vote. It is not merely about Islam. It is also about the solidification of neo-liberalism economically and conservatism politically across the continent, and ultimately, about globalisation more broadly.

Together, the political, economic and social dynamics are creating a situation in which governments are less able to deliver the high level of services that post-war Europeans have gotten used to, at the moment that ideologically, people are increasingly unwilling to look out for their fellow citizens' welfare as they did previously - when, of course, they also happened to look, speak and act much more like them.

Sweden, where I'm currently living, has long had one of Europe's most generous welfare states, which is coming under severe strain just as the Muslim population is growing rapidly.

But as a priest who works with immigrants pointed out to me, the unwillingness of Swedes in the wealthy town of Vellinge (to cite one example), to allow a home for child war refugees from Muslim countries in their town owes not merely to a fear or loathing against Muslims.

In the "new" and increasingly inegalitarian Sweden, the emerging wealthy class living comfortably in low tax areas like Vellinge are equally unwilling to pay high taxes to support their fellow Swedes.

Of course, it is much easier to blame it on the Muslims and to continue to push them away even as they find their way inside Europe.

But if history is any guide, Europeans will start out blaming the 'inside other' for their problems, but it will not be too long before their anger, and violence, turns on each other.


Mark LeVine is currently visiting professor at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University, Sweden. His most recent books include Impossible Peace: Israel/Palestine Since 1989 (Zed Books, 2009) and Reapproaching Borders: New Perspectives on the Study of Israel-Palestine (Rowman Littlefield, 2008).







 
 
 
 
 
 
 
islam

Spending, Euros, and Racists

I have always had a hard time believing that Americans do not have the resources to go out and buy 'stuff'. Of course my examples are purely personal, and when I reflect upon what I have spent in the last six months, I wish I had that much cash in my hands.


I am but one person, and I am not in the upper reaches of spending - I am in the lower middle quartile, or thereabouts. While there are many below me who may not spend much, I know they are spending some - because I know people who consider themselves quite poor - and they are forever on vacation. I was thinking - maybe they are like the British - all on benefit, or like the indomitable French - who just will not shut up and go away quietly. For that matter - like any European.



I had a student come back and visit me. She brought me a rock from Switzerland. I collect rocks from every country I have gone to - a total of 9, and I request students who return to their home country or go on vacation, to bring me back a smallish rock from that place. I have over 47 rocks and I should be getting a couple more in the next few weeks.


So this student returned from spending nearly five weeks in Switzerland visiting her husband. he works there and has for (I may be off a bit) about four years (which is odd because she never lived there so I am not 100% certain about the four years but it is several or more). She told me if I wanted to go to Switzerland, I could stay with her husband. A very friendly and open woman who has my complete respect, as does her husband who I have never met - but the fact she would make that offer, shows something. I do not often find a student who has family in Nebraska telling me I could stay with them if I ever went to Nebraska - not that I would ask such a thing, but it is a very giving person and shows a great deal about her character.

She has lived in the US for several years and is here legally, trying now to get her husband over here legally (using the legal route of standing in line and waiting). Her husband has a skill, an education, and is standing in line to be a legal citizen. Why am I so suspicious. Could it be because millions with no skills, just expectations and demands, sneak across into this country, break the laws, get paid tax free, put very little back into the system they take much from, and feel they do not need to stand in line. Maybe I am so used to these other sorts.

There is another difference. My former student and her husband are Muslim.


What she told me about her nearly five weeks in Switzerland, with excursions into France, Germany, and Austria. She told me about her experiences, those of her husband living there everyday, and those of a Russian girl on vacation in Switzerland, who attends university in the United States. Racism and discrimination all the time everywhere, by many of the people.


If I make a comment in a class about how rude and arrogant the french are, how they refuse to speak English if a person who speaks English tries to ask for help from them ... students giggle as if it is just Americanisms, or ethnocentric attitudes on display. It isn't - I have spent as much time in France as anyone who travels to or from that place, spending a day or two at a time in any given town or city. Doesn't matter.


It was not cross burning, lynching, throw stones at you in the streets racism - although that does exist, it is unlikely to be more than 2-3% of the entire European population. What is more dangerous and more insidious is the not so explicit racism - the condescending hatred that oozes over. I will call the former student Maria (I like the name) - Maria's husband, prior to her arrival, was out with some friends and a scuffle broke out between his friends and another group of foreigners (I believe they were Bengalis). Maria's husband got in between the two groups to try to quite them down, settle the issue, and keep the peace. The Bengali's called the police and when the police arrived they immediately scooped up the friends of Maria's husband and her husband and hauled them off to jail. They did not arrest the Bengalis. Why? That is the fun part and I am paraphrasing what she told me:


Both parties in the fight were foreigners so we arrest whichever one called. If the person hit had been Swiss, the foreigner would have been arrested. You cannot hit a naturalized Swiss citizen. However - you can hit a foreigner - if a Swiss citizen had hit a foreigner, that would not be prosecuted.


Maria spoke to the Russian girl, to get her experiences in Switzerland and around Europe - very discriminatory toward her, even though she is as white as the Swiss, the fact she is a foreigner is cause enough to be discriminated against - the way people spoke to her, treated her, helped her or not. It was clear to Maria and the Russian girl, not to mention Maria's husband - they were not wanted.


Maria has lived in the US for several years and has traveled to a couple states and several cities. The Russian girl has traveled more extensively in the US and attends a US university. Comparing treatment in Europe to treatment here - the Russian said she was treated like anyone else, never felt discrimination, never treated badly. Maria has never felt like an outsider, never been shamed or afraid or intimidated. She has always felt she has been treated well.

Americans complain and criticize - we are forever hearing from people like Al "Tawana Brawley" Sharpton and Jesse "Hire blacks or we picket your business" Jackson, tell us how racist America is. It isn't relative to every country in Europe. And Asia is no better, in fact, in many ways, it is much worse. Racism and discrimination often end in death in several countries in Asia, but we just pretend not to notice while we are busy changing, changing to be more accommodating - which I assume must mean, ignoring the gaping huge flaws in these cultures we are trying to be friendly with.

America is, compared to the world community - free of racism, discrimination, and hate. The only reason we still belabor the issue is because we hold ourselves to standards no other people dare stand under, for fear it would illustrate their failings. Yet often we have the media from around the world highlighting just how racist we are ... now how is that possible?



Because our media tell us how racist we are, and people like Jackson and Sharpton run around repeating it over and over how racist Americans are, our media publish it, the world gobbles it up, the print vast tomes about how racist we are, smile about how open and tolerant their societies are, and views us as peculiarly racist.

Ironic it is. We are the least racist, most open nation in the history of the world, and we have show this over and over again. We have led the fight to free man across the globe irregardless of their color. The Euros don't ... they look at economics and profit margins, and then color - before they act. We have the history - Rwanda is one example, Congo another, Sudan another, Somalia another, Ivory Coast another ... the examples are legion.

By repeating the crap in our media, they do a great disservice to real racism, whether here in the US or anywhere around the globe. For if we are indeed racist, when a racist act occurs, it should not be a shock or surprise, and in fact, we should act as if it was the norm - rather than how we do respond. As a whole we are not, individually - there will always be people who hate. Europe as a whole is racist, elitist, and ethnocentric in their world view - on a micro level, they can be very nice - sometimes.

Which is why I will go out and buy more 'stuff' - spend money and help the economy, save the US from utter collpase and failure. We all have an obligation to ... to save the country from becoming like Europe.

Europe: US Economic Woes are its Own Fault (and Greenspan)

Europeans on left and right ridicule U.S. money meltdown

By Sebastian Rotella and Janet Stobart, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers
September 20, 2008

LONDON -- It's a rare day when finance officials, leftist intellectuals and ordinary salespeople can agree on something. But the economic meltdown that wrought its wrath from Rome to Madrid to Berlin this week brought Europeans together in a harsh chorus of condemnation of the excess and disarray on Wall Street.The finance minister of Italy's conservative and pro-U.S.

government warned of nothing less than a systemic breakdown. Giulio Tremonti excoriated the "voracious selfishness" of speculators and "stupid sluggishness" of regulators. And he singled out Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, with startling scorn.

"Greenspan was considered a master," Tremonti declared. "Now we must ask ourselves whether he is not, after [Osama] bin Laden, the man who hurt America the most. . . . It is clear that what is happening is a disease. It is not the failure of a bank, but the failure of a system.

Until a few days ago, very few were willing to realize the intensity and the dramatic nature of the crisis."In an interview Thursday in the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Tremonti drew a comparison to corruption-ridden Albania in 1997, when a nationwide pyramid scheme cost hundreds of thousands of people their savings and ignited anarchic civil conflict."The system is collapsing, exactly like the Albanian pyramids collapsed," Tremonti said. "The idea is gaining ground that the way out of the crisis is mainly with large public investments. . . . The return of rules is accompanied by a return of the public sector."

[to read the rest of the article click on the title link - and there is a lot more good stuff from the Euros on this issue, in the article]


***********************************************

I do not dispute the greed factor. The dot.com bubble was all about greed. The billions made (personal wealth on Wall Street) between 1996 and 2000 ... greed that made the 80s look downright altruistic.

Greenspan - fine, blame someone. Of course Europeans would blame him - he is Jewish. You love scapegoats.

But to mock the US Treasury for its offer to assist other nations and their banking systems ... a little bit petty of them. Very small of them. Jealous much.

Without the reasons why this all fell apart - and greed is a piece of it. Beginning with mortgages, then banks, and institutions betting on mortgages (why this even happened I do not know) ... we find ourselves in the trouble we are in ... here. So why has Russia melted down. Why did London nearly collapse. Why has the world economic system teetered on collapse? If they have not given out mortgages that due to declining home prices, lost value, yet still forced to pay mortgages for at a higher rate given the value of their home, and then foolishly bet on the mortgages - why is their economic system teetering on collapse? Why is European unemployment (EU average and country specific) 4-5% higher than in the US? Why is their growth not considerably better than that which the US is currently doing during these economic difficulties.

One very good reason - the global interceonnectedness of our economies. For this, I support the anti-globalists. I prefer small units. Not large. Go back the way it was, we can still do the trade, we can still do everything we do now ... without the interconnectedness.

What they just do not get, because we whine and complain so much, is we can do it because ... we can. They couldn't if they even wanted to, which they would never want to do.

The world hears from us how in debt we are and think - well, they have no money yet they spend like they have it. Yes, and ... so what? Their dollar is valued less than ours and they think they can ... yes, and so what? They are in murky waters, and they think they can offer us a source to reach for funds from ... yes, and so what? Oh, but the world buys your debt (China) and if you were so economically well off, you'd be able to handle it yourself ... yes, and so what?

Try not to over tax yourself (literally and figuratively) ... we will be just fine, and it will not be because you saved us, it will be because we over came these issues, and rose above.

Imagining Europe as anything but what it is - an indignant, pontificating pot of annoyance, would be far too taxing, and would require me to enter the realm of science fiction and fantasy.

Our economic woes need to be addressed (less spending) and they will be, but that will not change the fundamental nature of our system, even if the Euros would prefer Obama - he has a more internationalist approach to the US economy - place our fate in the hands of the twits in London or Europe. It will not happen. Our economy is too large. And for all the threats that the dollar will lose its position - please, better bet - bet that a meteor hits you as you read this post, you would be more likely to win the bet.











European indigant




economic woes

Racism? Racially Insensitive?

We Americans, racially insensitive that we are - but those Euros - whoa, they are surely more open minded, and tolerant, and respectful.

Beijing Olympics: Second Spanish team photographed making 'slit-eyed' gesture
A second group of Spanish Olympic athletes has been photographed making “slit-eyed” gestures, threatening to overshadow the Beijing Games with a row over racial stereotyping.





and it isn't just Europe - Argentina also

Yeah, and pigs fly.

The point is not that everyone else is racially insensitive, and the US is racially sensitive, rather, it is that they are all hypocrites when they criticize the US over issues of race.

y

Raciall insensitive Euros

Hate Speech or Free Speech

In a previous post, I mentioned an article in Macleans magazine in Canada, reviewing a book AMERICA ALONE: The End of the World As We Know It by Mark Styne. The magazine and Styne were being charged with inciting hate and discrimination by the Canadian Islamic League.

We have heard a tired refrain for seven years about Bush and what he has done to take away our civil liberties. We have heard about a Supreme Court, that has, for seven years, been taking away our civil liberties.

We have watched as Americans have fled the US for the saner Canada. We have watched as Americans, unwilling to fight in an illegal war (we sorted that out in a previous post) have fled to Canada.

We have watched as Americans have left the US for much more sane places like England (we just sorted that place out yesterday with their 'yuk' laws).

Silly rabbits, tricks are for kids and for them to remain in those places shows just how dense they really are, and why we are better off with them gone.

Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, India - all have laws or signed international conventions banning hate speech.
Israel, France, and Russia ban the sale of Nazi items like swastikas or flags.
Canada, Germany, France - it is against the law to DENY the holocaust occurred.

In France, Brigitte Bardot, THE sex symbol of the 60s and 70s, was fined $23,000 for suggesting that 'they' should give up their practice of slaughtering sheep. THEY being Muslims.

In Switzerland, THE NEUTRAL state on earth, the governing party won, based on the idea of exclusion (and deportation) of the other, for crimes. Included in CRIMES is speech that is explicit or implicit in urging a change of government or conversion of government to Islamic sharia law.

Belgium - it is against the law to oppose or stand against the dual language system, and to speak out or write statements for public consumption urging opposition to bilingualism / opposition of one or the other of the languages as this incites hatred and discrimination.

Several of these countries also have laws pertaining to the flying of flags not of that country - say flags from their birth state.


What we value in the US is free speech and you have free speech. You can say anything you wish (within certain time/place/manner restrictions). You can shout down with Bush, up with Islam, down with whatever, up with whatever. We believe that is what makes us peculiarly unique. yet, some Americans have fled this country to join up elsewhere - more free, more open, more tolerant.

MORE TOLERANT? Which drugs are you taking?

All of the above is what is known and public - what about the extensive secret monitoring in those countries - to ensure everyone is abiding by the laws. The laws against government spying on its citizens are vague to non-existent in each of the countries listed above, and government monitoring does occur. The difference - the media can't report that it is as that would violate the laws. Only when American media report or media from outside the country in question report it, can the media inside report the report.

Domestic intelligence services spying on citizens, laws against free speech, restrictions on the media as to what they can and cannot report - THIS from countries so many Americans think are MORE OPEN and free than our own.

Yet, there is an argument in favor of this 'oversight' and Jeremy Waldron, a legal philosopher, pointed it out in a book review in the New York Times: when they say that a liberal democracy must take affirmative responsibility for protecting the atmosphere of mutual respect against certain forms of vicious attack.

He defended the speech laws, and touched on the right of the state to protect itself from that which would destroy it. The state could limit immigration from Muslim countries, or could deport Muslims who are illegal and or commit criminal acts, even if they were born here. That citizenship is not dependent upon birth alone, but on actions the majority determine to be outside tolerable behavior. Waldron didn't quite make it this far, but he broached the gulf and for that we should be thankful.

The article is from the International Herald Tribune, from Wednesday June, 11, 2008: Hate Speech or free speech? What much of the West bans is protected in US.



I think I have just sorted out most of the European countries, I may have previously not sorted out.






Hate speech





free speech

World Opinion - Moment of Truth: The Magic is Over - Part Cinq

A brilliant article in the International Herald Tribune (owned by The New York Times) March 12, 2008 entitled 'Magic is over' for the US, says foreign minister of France.

"Bernard Koucher, the foreign minister of France ... says that whoever succeeds President George W. Bush (they) may restore something of the United States' battered image and standing overseas, but that "the magic is over.""

Why? Our reputation has suffered especially since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

This is the prevailing attitude of the world, led by the Europeans and the media - by those who have an insatiable hate for most things American. They love Americans of course, just not anything else.

Often this is couched in terms even the simplest can grasp - in no way do they dislike individual Americans, they often come to Disneyland or Disney world and love America, they just do not like how we conduct ourselves in foreign policy.

Mr Coucher, perhaps we .. excuse me Kucher, although I am sure there is little difference in the person whether it is a C or K ... should reflect upon a dozen events in the 20th century. I opted for DOZEN because of time. We could choose 40 events and the results would be very similar. I think a dozen will satisfy most people (save the left and the French, and the media, and for that matter anyone else who is unable to grasp perspective and reality):


1900 - 2008:

Time: 1914-1919
Place: Europe
Event: World War I
Ever fearful of the expanding power of the Germans, the French rush off to Russia for help. Diplomacy was not, apparently, on the front burner for the French. They were hoping for military force to scare the Germans and Austrians. Didn't work.
Result: War and millions died.
Consequence: France is so hateful after the war is won by the US intervention, that in conjunction with the British, the French go on a spree of 'taking' and dismantling the colonies and empires associated with the Turks, Germans, and Austrians. Instead of German colonies - French colonies. Instead of lands controlled by the Turks, the French and British took control. Instead of any foresight - they levied fines and punishments upon the Germans that situated it smack dab in the middle of a cause that led them toward the Second World War.
Thank you France, Germany, England, Italy, Austria, Russia - so responsible of you. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.



Time: 1920
Place: Europe
Event: Signing of Treaty of Versailles
A little man from Indo-China arrived to beg Wilson and the world community to take their words seriously - that it was the right of indigenous peoples to determine their future and control. Wilson had spoken of the right of self-determination of all peoples and Ho had come to collect.
Result: The Americans and Europeans dismissed the little man as of no interest.
Consequence: The French went to war against the communists in Vietnam and gave up, leaving Vietnam to the US.
Thank you France - so responsible of you. Your arrogance and hatred for other peoples led us to the point where Ho turned to the communists and the US lost 58,000 lives for having tolerated French occupation of Indo-China. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.

Now, perhaps the French will say they have learned and these events were 90 years ago. Fine. We can keep going.



Time: 1939-1941
Place: Europe
Event: Hitler
Dalladier and Chamberlain go to Hitler and make a deal. They accept the inevitable - the conquest of the Sudetenland by Germany in return for world peace and harmony. The French return and sing in the streets. After all, diplomacy has worked. It is what you do best - negotiate. Everyone has something to give and everyone has a price. You are great at figuring out the price. Instead of standing up, even if it meant losing, to a mad man, you gave up your principles and your honor and helped to usher in the end of an epoch of sorts. Over 80 million would be dead when he was finished with Europe. The French would participate in several ways: they fled when the Germans, all 5000 of them holding 2500 weapons each with 1 bullet, marched into the Rhineland area. The french fled. In fact, for the most part the french did everything they could to flee each and every time the Germans showed up ... perhaps that explains why their government forbid any French soldier from leaving France before the Germans arrived. All passports had to be given up, weapons turned in, and to help the Germans - all Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps IN FRANCE.
Result: We all know. France and the French people were complicit in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Jews and have denied their role to this day.
Consequence: Their spine showed - what they had of one. French soldiers attacked Americans as they landed in Normandy.

Thank you France - so responsible of you. Your arrogance and hatred for the British, who you were convinced would fall to the Germans, led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.

Oh but this event was 65 years ago. Come on, get over it.



Time: 1958-1966
Place: France
Event: France began to pull out of NATO
Result: France pulled out of NATO
Consequence: France believed it was time to act on its own and it wanted to be a serious partner, not part of any military force controlled by the US. Further, influence from within France, by the people, who at this time were far more left leaning than at any previous time, regarded the US as too militaristic and their actions would pull France in to a war it did not want or choose.

Thank you France - so responsible of you. Your arrogance and hatred for the US, led to your feckless attempts at grandstanding that only contributed to pleasing the Russians and annoying the US and our allies and resulted in you doing very little of anything but to show us all how bloody foolish you are. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.



Come on - that was decades ago. Old stuff, nothing serious. Move on.



Time: 1968 - 2003
Place: France / Germany / Iraq
Event: Arms Sales
Result: Mitterand sold Iraq a nuclear power plant, then ended up building Iraq's first and only nuclear power plant. This would be the plant the Israelis blew up in 1981. That would have been very fun if in 1982, Saddam had the nuclear material to build a nuclear bomb - 1991 would have turned out a lot different.
The Germans didn't have clean hands either - busy selling to Saddam technology, that was dual usage - military and non-military. Given what we have learned about the monster, nothing was for non-military purposes and the German government knew this. Money was however more important.
Between 1968 and 2003, France sold Iraq approximately 65-70 percent of its military supplies. from bullets to planes to bombs. The 2003 invasion and removal of Saddam interfered with an order that had recently been paid for and was en route to Iraq from France. Over 300,000 Shia have a lot to thank France for.
Consequence: Over 400,000 dead from weapons and technology sold to Iraq by the French and Germans.

Thank you France and Germany - so responsible of you. Your arrogance and hatred for the US, led to your feckless attempts at grandstanding resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.


Time: July 1985
Place: South Pacific
Event: Sinking of the Greenpeace ship
Result: Mitterrand gave the go ahead and permission to neutralize a Greenpeace ship. the french secret service blew the ship up, sank the ship, and killed one Greenpeace photographer on board.
Consequence: We learned to respect the might of the French intelligence forces.

Thank you France. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.



Come on, everyone was selling to Iraq and so a boat was blown up. It doesn't reflect upon the French.



Time: 1954-1962
Place: Algeria
Event: War - France versus the People of Algeria
Result: Over 200,000 dead on both sides
Consequence: Algeria leans to the extreme on the Islamic meter.
France decided that it needed a colony for its citizens to visit and live in and that the little brown people in Algeria wanted to be French whether they knew it or not, so France decided to make them French. Clearly they were not that interested, but that was not a problem for the French. In the end, several hundred thousand people were dead, the French had wasted the last putt putt from their military engine, and the people turned to militancy and Islamic extremism for an answer.

Thank you France. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.



Time: 1975-1979
Place: Cambodia
Event: The genocidal Pol Pot
Result: Over 2 million dead
Consequence: never fully realized. Losing 2 million citizens deprives an area of quite a bit of hope and opportunity. The French involvement in this was - Cambodia had been a French colony. Pulling out, left little to no infrastructure to support a system that was crumbling from the wars in Vietnam that would quickly spread to Laos. Pol Pot meanwhile and other Khmer Rougists had fled Cambodia earlier and gone to ... where else ... France, to study communist and socialist thought at the universities of the most cultured country on earth. With a society and culture that nurtured anarchist and communist thought, the Rougists would learn all the needed before they went back to Cambodia and began the killing fields.


Who stopped them? Did France intervene? nope. Did the high German kulture intervene to restore order? nope. Did the US intervene to help or prevent 2 million Cambodians from being murdered? Did Jimmy and his moral agenda try to help? nope. Did Italy, Greece, Romania, Hungary - you know, all the usual suspects? Nope. Too busy. Not interested.



Thank you World. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.



Time: 1994
Place: Rwanda
Event: Rwandan Genocide
Result: Up to 1 million people butchered
Consequence: No one cared.

The history of Rwanda in 3 lines or less: Germany and Belgium - colonizers, and don't forget the French involvement. Germany and Belgium leave, independence, light skinned Tutsi take over, Hutu (dark skinned resentful, murder central.

The Euros believed in the 19th century that the way we determine brain power is by skin color. Their scientists had all concluded (READ: CONSENSUS, Debate closed) that white was the most perfect of colors and darkest black the dumbest of colors. So any shade closer to white must necessarily be smarter. When the Belgique, Germans, and French left Rwanda - they left it in the control of lighter skinned more Euro looking Tutsi. The Tutsi were the power and the Hutu were their little workmen. The french didn't mind this as it was quite similar in Algeria or for that matter any where else in the bloody world (even though Algeria is 100 years later, the same philosophy dominated their colonial holdings, as with the British). It took a turn for the worse in 1994 when the Hutu seized power and a blood bath ensued.

Who stepped up to stop it? Clearly the UN - you know, the world of peace and love and negotiation and debate and discussion. Nope. They pulled out and let the bloodbath unfold. The Germans? nope. they completely ignored it. The Belgique? They sent some troops but when 10 were killed, the rest quickly ran for the planes and fled leaving behind their responsibility and soiled pants. The US? Nope. Bill was busy. He had more important things to deal with - Monica.

Within 100 days nearly 1 million people had been butchered.

Thank you World. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts. But an especially important thanks to France for arming the Hutu!


Time: Anytime up until now
Place: Cote d'ivorie (Ivory Coast)
Event: French Subjugation
Result: Destruction of the Ivory Coasts Air force and preservation of a capitulate government
Consequence: imposition of french will upon a people who wish to be free of tyranny. They want to be free of your control, they sought to topple a government imposed upon the people by you to preserve the trade in diamonds and minerals, to feed your wealth. You sent in troops, destroyed their itsy bitsy airforce and forced the people to capitulate. For now.




Thank you France. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts.



Time: Now
Place: Congo
Event: Attempted genocide
Result: None.

An ongoing effort to extinguish a people and a culture. Over 4 million dead and or displaced. And the world's response: Anxiety over having to contend with yet another group of dark skinned people killing each other. They have condemned the killings and demanded they cease. They have negotiated and talked ... and the murders continue.

Thank you World. We learned to respect you so much for these efforts. It is also nice to know you haven't learned from Algeria, Iraq, Germany, or any of your other follies. You are still as arrogant and as deadly for those you climb into bed with.


I tire of examples. If you want more, we can find another eight easily. All in Africa, all countries that have large mineral resources: oil or tantalum, or diamonds, or the UN oil for food program and the banks that held those billions and where it was located and who profited off the wealth. The French are in bed with the governments in over eight African countries to secure their diamonds and other natural resources for processing by French companies and eventual sale. De Beers is a name and means little more than a name! The subjugation and oppression, death and poverty by France is in large part perpetuated by European companies who profit off the blood diamonds and or diamonds in general (there is no difference nor can any jeweler tell you otherwise).
I tire of Mr Koucher and others of his ilk. Mr. Koucher, Europe lost its magic in the first decade of the 20th century and became little more than soiled bloomers. While you fiddled the world burned and you did nothing or you aided the death and destruction to your benefit. We have nothing to apologize for. The world has a great deal to beg forgiveness for doing and more importantly, for not doing.

Now those who wish to bring up Israel (and if you wish to mention Israel - well, they were a purchaser of French weapons as was Saddam - the same weapons that killed the poor innocent Palestinians - that would be another monkey to hang around their neck) or the Palestinians or the US aide to Saddam - phooey. I do not need to defend the US actions, I am simply pulling those cultured Euros down to our level. If we do not have any magic left, their magic left over a century ago, if not eons before.

Pathetic, insipid little minds reach up as high as they might and always come out looking like spoiled children who hate and resent the United States because of your own complexes. Deal with your genocidal history and in a few hundred years, we can revisit the issue of magic.

I am actually disgusted having to think about dealing with the world. How do you walk into a room knowing they are all pedophiles, and not want to throw up.

La Francais

Que pouvons-nous dire du francais ?

A l'Universite de Delaware, les 'Resident Assistants' subissent un programme d'entrainement dans lequel tous brins sont definis dans un de deux groupes : les racistes ou les racistes dans le dementi.

Les idiots sur le cote gauche de l'equation n'ont jamais compris le racisme jusqu'a ce qu'ils commencent a detruire leur propre philosophie et ils doivent commencer avec le francais.

It is so deeply held that it is not racism as much as a way of life. In considering the southern states through the 1860s, racism was palpable and one could sense it in words and expressions. Racism was very nearly a tangible thing throughout the early and mid 19th century in the US. It was never so tangible nor palpable in Europe yet it was more pervasive - then and now.

One may argue the US is racist and the US invades poor little countries whose inhabitants are merely peace loving families, while Europe stands ready to protect the down-trodden. While this is an exageration of the condition many believe and accept, it is a foolish pipe dream believed by those who are in the later stages of dementia.

We need to fix and repair and help - may seem inoculous enough, but is no more inoculous than the US position of invading and installing. In fact, it is intellectually more dishonest and as immoral or more, for it hides its true intentions and motivations in a cloak of goodwill.

The French may not even know how deeply racist they and their actions really are, but that is why we have the University of Delaware and other stellar instiututions - to let us know that there are les racistes ou les racistes dans le dementi.

Zoe's Ark does exactly what and for what reason? Why do they need to and who says they should, based upon what international law are they entitled.