Medical marijuana advocacy group Americans for Safe Access filed legal briefs Monday accusing the city of Montebello of contempt of court for refusing to return medical marijuana wrongfully seized more than four years ago. On Oct. 15, 2004, local police seized marijuana plants, growing equipment, and personal correspondence from Terry Walker.
Global Warming: Reasons Why It Might Not Actually Exist December 31, 2008
2008 was the year man-made global warming was disproved, according to the Telegraph’s Christopher Booker. Sceptics have long argued that there are other explanations for climate change other than man-made CO2 and here we look at some of the arguments put forward by those who believe that global warming is all a hoax.
How Healthy Are America’s Coasts? December 29, 2008
The overall condition of the nation’s coastal waters has improved slightly, based on a recently released environmental assessment. The National Coastal Condition Report III (NCCRIII) is the third in a series of environmental assessments of U.S. coastal and Great Lakes waters.
Getting renewable power to the people December 29, 2008
The Southern California desert could produce a gusher of renewable energy. Strong sunlight bathes its open plains, and powerful winds stream through its mountain passes. Fractures in the earth along fault lines heat pools of underground water – perfect for geothermal power plants. There is, however, a problem. Most Californians don’t live there.
A New Place for Solar Energy: Highway Right of Way December 29, 2008
Right of way highway solar could be a solution to our nation
’s energy needs and could also reduce costs to manage these right of ways. Another benefit would be to help wildlife managers create wildlife corridors for both human and wildlife safety.
Green Energy Thwarted by Winter December 27, 2008
Winter’s bitter cold can stall wind turbine blades, congeal biodiesel and render solar panels useless, say U.S. power developers.
Medical Marijuana Will Be Legal By 2021 December 23, 2008
i believe the timeline is a little off. my feelings are change will happen within the next 6 years. everyone knows someone who is disabled or has a chronic illness. excellent article none the less. well written.
The 100 Most Popular Photoshop Tutorials of 2008 December 22, 2008
Sometimes it’s difficult to find the highest quality photoshop tutorials using search engines, especially since almost all tutorials label themselves as being the best. So in order to save your time Photoshop Lady has spent almost a whole year to bring you the best of the best. Here’s the top 100 high-quality, most popular photoshop tutorials of 08
Scientists discover new forest, species on Google Earth December 22, 2008
Conservationists have found a host of new species after discovering uncharted new territory on the internet map Google Earth.
New York City to Roll Out LED Street Lighting December 21, 2008
New York City
’s Department of Transportation has tapped the Office for Visual Interaction for testing LED street lighting around the Big Apple. If successful, all of the city’s 300,000 street lamps could one day be made up of LEDs.
250000 tiny greenhouses, each containing one head of lettuce December 21, 2008
During the early 1900s, Parisian urban gardeners employed the bell jars — called cloches — to protect their plants and raise salad greens early in the season. This was known as a practical guide to “intensive” farming the French way.
LEDs, Smart Lighting Could Save Trillions, Spark Innovation December 21, 2008
A “revolution” in the way we illuminate our world is imminent, according to a paper published this week by two professors. Innovations in photonics and solid state lighting will lead to trillions of dollars in cost savings, along with a massive reduction in the amount of energy required to light homes and businesses around the globe.
Japan Launches First Solar cargo ship December 20, 2008
The world’s first cargo ship partly propelled by solar power took to the seas on Friday in Japan, aiming to cut fuel costs and carbon emissions when automakers export their products.
Paint-by-Number Color Plan for Your House December 19, 2008
From the FIXITIPS Press Center:
Paint-by-Number Color Plan for Your House
Many homeowners quake at the prospect of selecting exterior paint colors for large outdoor expanses. The walls of a house suddenly seem so public; it’s too expensive to make a color mistake when you can avoid it with a little planning. This paint plan helps the DIYer find what colors can best be used to breathe new life into a house, and still be colors we can live with for a long time. For the rest of this article and more home care ideas visit www.FIXITIPS.com
Technorati Tags: house painting, paints, exterior paint, Fixitips
UK Seeks to Tap Algae on its Shores for Biofuels December 19, 2008
Marine scientists in Scotland are set to initiate a £5 million study which could transform seaweeds and marine plant algae into major sources of low emission automobile fuel in Britain. The scientists are calling them the mari-fuels and they hope that fuels produced from the seaweeds and algae would in part replace the controversial biofuels
Attacking Alzheimer’s with Red Wine and Marijuana December 15, 2008
Attacking Alzheimer’s with Red Wine and
Marijuana
-
By Tom Jacobs
Miller-McCune.com, via Alternet, December 8, 2008
Two new studies point to a wonderful way to ward off Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of age-related memory loss.
This article first appeared on Miller-McCune.com.
Two new studies suggest that substances usually associated with
dulling the mind — marijuana and red wine — may help ward off
Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of age-related memory loss. Their
addition comes as another study dethrones folk remedy ginkgo biloba as proof against the disease.
At a November meeting of the Society of Neuroscience in Washington, D.C., researchers from Ohio State University reported that
THC, the main psychoactive substance in the cannabis plant, may reduce
inflammation in the brain and even stimulate the formation of new brain
cells.
Meanwhile, in the Nov. 21 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, neurologist David Teplow of the University of California, Los Angeles reported that
polyphenols — naturally occurring components of red wine — block the
formation of proteins that build the toxic plaques thought to destroy
brain cells. In addition, these substances can reduce the toxicity of
existing plaques, thus reducing cognitive deterioration.
Together, the studies suggest scientists are gaining a clearer
understanding of the mechanics of memory deterioration and discovering
some promising approaches to prevention.
Previous research has suggested that polyphenols
– which are found in high concentrations in tea, nuts and berries, as
well as cabernets and merlots — may inhibit or prevent the buildup of
toxic fibers in the brain. These fibers, which are primarily composed
of two specific proteins, form the plaques that have long been
associated with Alzheimer’s disease.
UCLA’s Teplow and his colleagues monitored how these proteins folded
up and stuck to each other to produce aggregates that killed nerve
cells in mice. They then treated the proteins with a polyphenol
compound extracted from grape seeds. They discovered the polyphenols
blocked the formation of the toxic aggregates.
“What we found is pretty straightforward,” Teplow declared. “If the
amyloid beta proteins can’t assemble, toxic aggregates can’t form, and,
thus, there is no toxicity.” If this also proves true in human brains,
it means administration of the compound to Alzheimer’s patients could
“prevent disease development and also ameliorate existing disease,” he
said. Human clinical trials are upcoming.
At Ohio State, researchers led by psychologist Gary Wenk are
studying the protective effects of tetrahydrocannabinol, commonly known
as THC. They found that administering a THC-like synthetic drug to
older rats performed better at a memory test than a control group of
non-medicated elderly rodents.
In some of the rats, the drug apparently lowered inflammation in the
hippocampus — the region of the brain responsible for short-term
memory. It also seems to have stimulated the generation of new brain
cells.
“When we’re young, we reproduce neurons and our memory works fine,” said co-author Yannick Marchalant,
another Ohio State psychologist. “When we age, the process slows down,
so we have a decrease in new cell formation in normal aging. You need
those cells to come back and help form new memories, and we found that
this THC-like agent can influence creation of those cells.”
Wenk added two cautionary notes to his report. First, to be
effective, any such treatment along these lines would have to take
place before memory loss is obvious. Second, the researchers still have
much work to do.
“We need to find exactly which receptors are most crucial” to the
generation of new brain cells, he said. This discovery would “ideally
lead to the development of drugs that specifically activate those
receptors.”
In the meantime, should aging baby boomers who are worried about
old-age mental impairment light up a joint? Wenk was cautious in his
answer, no doubt because marijuana is suspected to be harmful to health in other ways.
“Could people smoke marijuana to prevent Alzheimer’s disease if the
disease is in the family? We’re not saying that, but it might actually
work,” he said. “What we are saying is it appears that a safe, legal
substance the mimics those important properties of marijuana can work
on receptors in the brain to prevent memory impairments in aging. So
that’s really hopeful.”
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Toiletology 101 ~ Complete Toilet Repair Course December 14, 2008
Toiletology 101 ~ Complete Toilet Repair Course
< http://www.toiletology.com >
Since 1995, Toiletology 101, has helped do-it-yourselfers flush out the facts of toilet repairs. Each day hundreds of students plunge in and plumb the depths of fixing toilets. All alumnae are encouraged to return at any time for a refresher. In Toiletology 101, you’ll learn almost everything you ever wanted to know about your toilets, and some things you probably never knew you needed to know.
Advertisers pay your tuition for this course in toilet repairs, and they provide the support to keep Toiletology 101 on line, up-to-date and free. Stop giggling; this no-nonsense site tells you how a toilet works, what can go wrong, and what you can do to fix it with engaging text and excellent graphics.
The flush toilet is the unsung hero and technological foundation of civilized living. Combine toilet know-how and the internet for the ultimate learning experience.
Toiletology 101 shows you how to fix a toilet and most problems can be fixed, but it must be remembered that there are some UNFIXABLE problems and/or problems best left to professional plumbers. For example, you can’t fix a cracked toilet tank or bowl, and few do-it-yourselfers should be climbing up on their roof to attempt to clear the main plumbing stack of their home.
From plumbing hygiene and testing for leaks to the mysteries of the Blue Goo there is something for everyone to learn. Even professional plumbers have benefited from Toiletology 101. Bob the plumber wrote:
“Thank you for the very good information on the Lazy Toilet and the Blue Goo. I have been plagued with both of those things for quite some time now. I never gave it a thought about the density of the water used in the toilet, and I am a retired Plumber, and always glad to learn something new. Thank you for your most informative web page, It solved my problem’s, everything is working in great shape now.”
So please find a seat; class begins as soon as you are seated.
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35 Best Tools for Writing Online December 14, 2008
Whether you
’re new to the world of authorship or a veteran trying to make the most of Web services and applications, there are a number of online tools for writers of all types.
Searching the heavens for Life [pics] December 13, 2008
In Northern California, among the Cascade Mountains about a 90-minute drive from Redding, is the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, the home of the Allen Telescope Array. The ATA, as it’s called, is a collection of radio antennas, that together make up the world’s first telescope dedicated to the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) project.
Scientists turning CO2 from coal-fired plants,algae into oil December 9, 2008
Eliminating greenhouse gases and developing new, non-petroleum-based fuels are two of America’s biggest environmental challenges. University of Kentucky researchers think algae might offer an answer.They propose to employ algae to scrub CO2 from the flue-gases of coal-fired power plants and use the algae to produce an oil and then refined into fuel
New trojan in mass DNS hijack December 6, 2008
Researchers have identified a new trojan that can tamper with a wide array of devices on a local network, an exploit that sends them to impostor websites even if they are hardened machines that are fully patched or run non-Windows operating systems.
World’s first personal supercomputer unveiled December 6, 2008
The world’s first personal supercomputer, which is 250 times faster than the average PC, has been unveiled. The gadget’s power will allow doctors to process the results of brain and body scans much more quickly. This would allow them to tell patients within hours instead of days whether they have a tumour.
Biggest Installation of Silent Urban-Styled Wind Turbines December 6, 2008
Wind may be picking up faster than any other energy source, but harnessing its power is largely left to remote wind farms that not everyone is crazy about. Keen to see the wind change in the way wind power is perceived on the street, Quietrevolution (QR) has done a makeover on the design of wind turbines.
Smoke ‘em Up: Medical Marijuana Now Legal In Michigan December 5, 2008
There may be no jobs, but at least you can smoke weed. Qualifying patients can register with the state and receive ID cards allowing them to legally acquire, possess, grow, transport and use a limited amount _ no more than 2.5 ounces and 12 plants _ of marijuana. They also can designate a primary caregiver to receive similar protection.
Subject: Who Lost Europe? December 4, 2008
3 Dec 08: For those who may not recognize his name, Geert Wilders was born 6 September1963; he is a Dutch politician. He has been a member of the Dutch Parliament since 1998, first for the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy and from 2006 on the Party for Freedom, a party which he founded and of which he is the political leader.
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Subject: Who Lost Europe?
Subject: Who Lost Europe?
A sobering read’ In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe?’
Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, chairman Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem. The speech was sponsored by the Hudson Institute on September 25.
Dear Friends,
Thank you very much for inviting me. Great to be at the Four Seasons. I come from a country that has one season only: a rainy season that starts January 1st and ends December 31st. When we have three sunny days in a row, the governmen t declares a national emergency. So Four Seasons, that’s new to me.
It’s great to be in New York. When I see the skyscrapers and office buildings, I think of what Ayn Rand said: ‘The sky over New York and the will of man made visible.’ Of course. Without the Dutch you would have been nowhere, still figuring out how to buy this island from the Indians. But we are glad we did it for you. And, frankly, you did a far better job than we possibly could have done.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a thre at to America and the sheer survival of the West.
The danger I see looming is the scenario of America as the last man standing. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe. In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: who lost Europe? Patriots from around Europe risk their lives every day to prevent precisely this scenario form becoming a reality.
My short lecture consists of 4 parts.
First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe.
Then, I will say a few things about Islam.
Thirdly, if you are still here, I will talk a little bit about the movie you just saw.
To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.
The Europe you know is changing. You have probably seen the landmarks. The Eiffel Tower and Trafalgar Square and Rome’s ancient buildings and maybe the canals of Amsterdam. They are still there.
And they still look very much the same as they did a hundred years ago. But in all of these c ities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world, a world very few visitors see – and one that does not appear in your tourist guidebook. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.
All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It’s the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corner. The shops have sig ns you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhoods, city by city. There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.
Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities. In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims. Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims.
Non-Muslim women routinely hear ‘whore, whore’. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin. In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the holocaust can in many cases no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.
In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan. Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.
A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century. Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if theMuslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that.
The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Center for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate.
A Dutch study reported that half of Dutch Muslims admit they ‘understand’ the 9/11 attacks. Muslims demand what they call ‘respect’. And this is how we give them respect. Our elites are willing to give in. To give up.
In my own country we have gone from calls by one cabinet member to turn Muslim holidays into official state holidays, to statements by another cabinet member, that Islam is part of Dutch culture, to an affirmation by the Christian-Democratic attorney general that he is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.
Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. Some prefer to see these as isolated incidents, but I call it a Muslim intifada. I call the perpetrators ’settlers’. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies, they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.
Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Politicians shy away from taking a stand against this creeping sharia. They believe in the equality of all cultures. Moreover, on a mundane level, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.
Our many problems with Islam cannot be explained by poverty, repression or the European colonial past, as the Left claims. Nor does it have anything to do with Palestinians or American troops in Iraq. The problem is Islam itself. Allow me to give you a brief Islam 101.
The first thing you need to know about Islam is the importance of the book of the Quran. The Quran is Allah’s personal word, revealed by an angel to Mohammed, the prophet. This is where the trouble starts. Every word in the Quran is Allah’s word and therefore not open to discussion or interpretation. It is valid for every Muslim and for all times. Therefore, there is no such a thing as moderate Islam.
Sure, there are a lot of moderate Muslims. But a moderate Islam is non-existent. The Quran calls for hatred, violence, submission, murder, and terrorism. The Quran calls for Muslims to kill non-Muslims, to terrorize non-Muslims and to fulfil their duty to wage war: violent jihad. Jihad is a duty for every Muslim, Islam is to rule the world – by the sword. The Quran is clearly anti-Semitic, describing Jews as monkeys and pigs.
The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an exampl e to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages – at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. He advised on matters of slavery, but never advised to liberate slaves. Islam has no other morality than the advancement of Islam. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad. There is no gray area or other side.
Quran as Allah’s own word and Mohammed as the perfect man are the two most important facets of Islam.
Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means ’submission’. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.
This is what you need to know about Islam, in order to understand what is going on in Europe. For millions of Muslims the Quran and the life of Mohammed are not 14 centuries old, but are an everyday reality, an ideal, that guide every aspect of their lives. Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam ‘the most retrograde force in the world’, and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. Which brings me to my movie, Fitna.
I am a lawmaker, and not a movie maker. But I felt I had the moral duty to educate about Islam. The duty to make clear that the Quran stands at the heart of what some people call terrorism but is in reality jihad. I wanted to show tha t the problems of Islam are at the core of Islam, and do not belong to its fringes.
Now, from the day the plan for my movie was made public, it caused quite a stir, in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. First, there was a political storm, with government leaders, across the continent in sheer panic. The Netherlands was put under a heightened terror alert, because of possible attacks or a revolt by our Muslim population. The Dutch branch of the Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir declared that the Netherlands was due for an attack. Internationally, there was a series of incidents. The Taliban threatened to organize additional attacks against Dutch troops in Afghanistan, and a website linked to Al Qaeda published the message that I ought to be killed, while various muftis in the Middle East stated that I would be responsible for all the bloodshed after the screening of the movie.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan the Dutch flag was burned on several occasions. Dolls representing me were also burned. The Indonesian President announced that I will never be admitted into Indonesia again, while the UN Secretary General and the European Union issued cowardly statements in the same vein as those made by the Dutch Government. I could go on and on. It was an absolute disgrace, a sell-out. A plethora of legal troubles also followed, and have not ended yet. Currently the state of Jordan is litigating against me. Only last week there were renewed security agency reports about a heightened terror alert for the Netherlands because of Fitna.
Now, I would like to say a few things about Israel. Because, very soon, we will get together in its capital. The best way for a politician in Europe to lose votes is to say something positive about Israel. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I, however, will continue to speak up for Israel. I see defending Israel as a matter of principle.
I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz. Second because it is a democracy, and third because Israel is our first line of defense. Samuel Huntington writes it so aptly: ‘Islam has bloody borders’. Israel is located precisely on that border. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam’s territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia.
Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War. The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic impe rialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lie awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.
Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West. It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values.
On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. Therefore, it is not that the West has a stake in Israel. It is Israel.
It is very difficult to be an optimist in the face of the growing Islamization of Europe. All the tides are against us. On all fronts we are losing. Demographically the momentum is with Islam. Muslim immigration is even a source of pride within ruling liberal parties. Academia, the arts, the media, trade unions, the churches, the business world, the entire political establishment have all converted to the suicidal theory of multiculturalism.
So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a ‘right-wing extremists’ or ‘racists’. The entire establishment has sided with our enemy.
Leftists, liberals and Christian-Democrats are now all in bed with Islam. This is the most painful thing to see: the betrayal by our elit es. At this moment in Europe’s history, our elites are supposed to lead us. To stand up for centuries of civilization. To defend our heritage. To honor our eternal Judeo-Christian values that made Europe what it is today. But there are very few signs of hope to be seen at the governmental level.
Sarkozy, Merkel, Brown, Berlusconi; in private, they probably know how grave the situation is. But when the little red light goes on, they stare into the camera and tell us that Islam is a religion of peace, and we should all try to get along nicely and sing Kumbaya. They willingly participate in, what President Reagan so aptly called: ‘the betrayal of our past, the squandering of our freedom.’ If there i s hope in Europe, it comes from the people, not from the elites. Change can only come from a grass-roots level. It has to come from the citizens themselves. Yet these patriots will have to take on the entire political, legal and media establishment.
Over the past years there have been some small, but encouraging, signs of a rebirth of the original European spirit. Maybe the elites turn their backs on freedom, the public does not.
In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now se es the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat to our national identity. I don’t think the public opinion in Holland is very different from other European countries. Patriotic parties that oppose jihad are growing, against all odds. My own party debuted two years ago, with five percent of the vote. Now it stands at ten percent in the polls. The same is true of all similarly-minded parties in Europe. They are fighting the liberal establishment, and are gaining footholds on the political arena, one voter at the time. Now, for the first time, these patriotic parties will come together and exchange experiences. It may be the start of something big. Something that might change the map of Europe for decades to come. It might also be Europe’s last chance.
This December a conference will take place in Jerusalem. Thanks to Professor Aryeh Eldad, a member of Knesset, we will be able to watch Fitna in the Knesset building and discuss the jihad. We are organizing this event in Israel to emphasize the fact that we are all in the same boat together, and that Israel is part of our common heritage. Those attending will be a select audience. No racist organizations will be allowed.
And we will only admit parties that are solidly democratic. This conference will be the start of an Alliance of European patriots. This Alliance will serve as the backbone for all organizations and political parties that oppose jihad and Islamization. For this Alliance I seek your support. This endeavor may be crucial to America and to the West.
America may hold fast to the dream that, thanks to its location, it is safe from jihad and sharia. But seven years ago to the day, there was still smoke rising from ground zero, following the attacks that forever shattered that dream. Yet there is an even greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can im agine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America – as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.
Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe’s children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so. This is not the first time our civilization is under threat. We have seen dangers before. We have been betrayed by our elites before. They have sidedwith our enemies before. And yet, then, freedom prevailed. These are not times in which to take lessons from appeasement, capitulation, giving away, giving up or giving in. These are not times in which to draw lessons from Mr. Chamberlain.
These are times calling us to draw lessons from Mr. Churchill and the words he spoke in 1942: ‘Never give in, never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy’.
A Different Christmas Poem December 3, 2008
A Different Christmas Poem
The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn’t loud, and it wasn’t too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn’t quite know, Then the
sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
”What are you doing?” I asked without fear,
”Come in this moment, it’s freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!”
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire’s light
Then he sighed and he said “Its really all right,
I’m out here by choice. I’m here every night.”
”It’s my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I’m proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at ‘ Pearl on a day in December,”
Then he sighed, “That’s a Christmas ‘Gram always remembers.”
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of ‘ Nam ‘,
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I’ve not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he’s sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue… an American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall.”
” So go back inside,” he said, “harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I’ll be all right.”
”But isn’t there something I can do, at the least,
”Give you money,” I asked, “or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you’ve done,
For being away from your wife and your son.”
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
”Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we’re gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.”
PLEASE, would you do me the kind favor of sending this to as many
people as you can? Christmas will be coming soon and some credit is due to our
U.S service men an d women for our being able to celebrate these
festivities. Let’s try in this small way to pay a tiny bit of what we owe. Make people
stop and think of our heroes, living and dead, who sacrificed themselves for us.
LCDR Jeff Giles, SC, USN
30th Naval Construction Regiment
OIC, Logistics Cell One
Al Taqq adum, Iraq
Technorati Tags: Christmas Poem
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I’m passionate about textures. I
’ve already published some compilations, such as 30 free paper backgrounds and textures at my Creative Closeup blog and 10 grunge, rusty and dirty tileable textures at this site.
