Leauki

Reply to The Shah Died Today 30 Years Ago in International JoeUser Forums

1968, I think, was the year when the world changed. Ever since then has it been fashionable to criticise those who are open to criticism but ignore those who are not. Ever since then has it been considered brave by society to attack those who have many enemies. And ever since then do we find this weird alliance between the left and the religious fundamentalists, between those who believe they are questioning authority and those who insist that their authority must not be questioned.</

Reply to The (American) Liberal Dictionary in The Media JoeUser Forums

New words: "aid" "occupied" Updated: "Palestine"

Reply to Poster Children for Insanity in Religion JoeUser Forums

[quote] And if the Church be the Catholic Church, the Holy Bible would contain 73 Books. Protestants short themselves 7 Old Testament Books. [/quote] I understand the Ethiopian Church has even more books. If the amount of salvation one receives is proportional to the number of books in one's Bible, I recommend the Ethiopian Church.

Reply to The Shah Died Today 30 Years Ago in International JoeUser Forums

...

The Shah Died Today 30 Years Ago in International JoeUser Forums

On the 27th of July 1980 the Shah died in Egypt. His reforms in Iran were undone and Iran was taken from the path to power and wealth and transformed into a barbaric state where women are treated like property. The world had lost one of the greatest men of our time and gained war and destruction instead. Left-wing protesters acting in unison with Iranian "clerics" (Iran's land owners) undid the work of the Shah and transformed Iran from a modern state into the barbaric

Reply to Gaza in The Media JoeUser Forums

[quote who="Nitro Cruiser" reply="6" id="2696295"]The evil FOX News recently ran a story on the new shopping mall in Gaza... er camp market.[/quote] The vast majority of western news sites don't cover that. Incidentally, Palestinian news outlets do. The PA have no interest in hiding what Palestinians achieve using PA funds despite Hamas.

Reply to First Female Arab Combat Soldier in IDF in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] AND her beauty. [/quote] Most Israeli girls are very beautiful. It's the levantine mixture, I guess. It holds true for all nationalities, Jewish, Arab or Phoenician (Lebanese).

Reply to First Female Arab Combat Soldier in IDF in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

An Arab Christian woman can certainly make it further in the military of "apartheid" Israel than a Jewish man in the military of any Arab country, is my guess. (Although I am not convinced that the Jordanian secret service doesn't have several Jewish members.)

Reply to First Female Arab Combat Soldier in IDF in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] So she falls under the Arab group? [/quote] I guess so. She didn't have to serve but apparently came from a family who did. Her father served and she originally planned to study medicine if I recall correctly. Arab Christians are comparatively rare in the Israeli army. Not only are Arab Christians a small minority in the country but they are also less likely, so I have been told, to feel loyal to the Jewish state than Muslims and Druze. But I don't know

Reply to First Female Arab Combat Soldier in IDF in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] But I am a bit confused (naturally). I thought all citizens were required to serve 2 years in the IDF. Or is that just the males, and the females are given alternative choices? [/quote] It's by nationality: 1. Jewish: all drafted 2. Circassian: all drafted (community insisted) 3. Druze: men drafted (community insisted to be treated differently from other Arabs) 4. Arab: none drafted (but many Bedouin and some Christia

Reply to First Female Arab Combat Soldier in IDF in War on Terror Stardock Forums

More of the poetry: http://nizos.blogspot.com/2010/07/zajal-super-star-druze-boy-vs-hizbullah.html A Lebanese Druze boy about Nasrallah and Hizbullah.

First Female Arab Combat Soldier in IDF in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Female soldiers are not rare in Israel. Even female combat soldiers are becoming normal. Arab solders and combat soldiers are not rare either with entire clans of Druze and Bedouin controlling the most decorated front units. But a Christian Arab female combat soldier is new: Cpl. Elinor Joseph was born and raised in an integrated neighborhood of Jews and Arabs in Haifa, but attended a school in which all her classmates were Arab. She later moved to Wadi Nis

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

I still think there is a difference between slavery as described above in the picture and real slavery. forced to work without pay under threat of violence and unable to walk away That's a possible definition, but it's not really slavery. For example, being forced to work with pay under threat of violence without a choice is not much different either. (And no, I am not referring to so-called "wage slavery" here. Wage slavery i

Reply to Reality has a left wing biast. in Blogging JoeUser Forums

[quote] If excerpts are evil, then every TV news outlet is guilty everyday. [/quote] Not saying that TV news outlets are not guilty of this too but it is possible to show an excerpt that isn't taken out of context.

Reply to Reality has a left wing biast. in Blogging Stardock Forums

[quote] That's actually the funniest thing I've heard this week. "It wasn't hacked, it was just edited to mislead people" [/quote] That's now what he said. Either way, the lady is not a racist. And not only Breitbart but also the administration and the NAACP made complete fools of themselves over this. The only one who got out of this with their dignity preserved was the intended victim. Andrew Breitbart should shut up now before all moderate v

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] I first learned about Simon Deng when my freshman son was given a writing assignment and chose to write about the plight of the Nuba people in the Sudan. It was quite an eye-opener. Everyone knows about all the diseases and having no clean water, but we learned that Christians and tribal Africans have been persecuted, starved and the women and children raped and enslaved by Islamists for years. He didn't know that modern slavery existed and I didn't know it existed to that

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

Slavery is the most vicious crime and the least talked about. It doesn't fit into the world view of progressives, not only because it is a crime usually committed by those progressives see as fighters against imperialism but also because it is practices where journalists cannot live in luxury hotels and hence never cover. And its victims are not valuable allies for whomever acts on their behalf and eradicating slavery is hence an act without reward. Indeed, expect condemnation

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] Doesn't the Qur'an permit these? [/quote] I suppose so, just as the Bible does, both yours and mine. However, both Bible and Qur'an were written at a time (and in regions) slavery was common and accepted. Hence G-d's law as supposedly written in those works was expressed such that the existing system must be reformed. It is an error to assume that if G-d tells us that slaves must be treated decently it means that G-d permits us to keep slaves. He does n

Reply to Gaza in The Media JoeUser Forums

Maybe there should be a law requiring journalists to publish details of the hotel they stay in while covering a particularly destitute and desperate region. "People here are hungry and desperate. They have nothing. The city is completely destroyed. Not one building survived the attack of the evil snake people. People are living on the streets because there is no cement to build houses and nobody knows what wood is. Disclaimer: I am writing this in a local hotel with golden walls and b

Reply to "Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking." in Politics JoeUser Forums

[quote] What is very disturbing is that when she is telling her story, the audience, the NAACP, finds her early racism to be amusing, not frightening. [/quote] If the NAACP would consist of only people like her, we wouldn't have this discussion. I also disagree with her politics. But she did her job and she did it well. She is no racist and, even better, realised that she was a minor part of the problem and not an automatic solution. She didn't attack white rac

Reply to Gaza in The Media JoeUser Forums

[quote] That is fairly typical of an American Hotel. Not a sleeze bag one, but your standard Hilton or Sheraton. [/quote] I would assume hotels like that would be rare in Gaza-sized parts of the US where people are "suffering" and don't have enough food.

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] The issue is not ancient slavery, nor is it relevant. I would expect everyone has slave owners and slaves in their ancestry. That the world woke up to the evils and now universally (almost) condemns it is the foundation for this revelation. That some still maintain a barbaric and malevolent mindset to slavery is the issue. [/quote] You are right of course about the history of slavery. However, I don't think the problem currently is tha

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

[quote] The Church's efforts to better the lot of slaves by emphasizing their human dignity led to its virtual eradication by the fifth century although slavery returned when the barbarians swept through Europe. [/quote] Serfdom was abolished in Europe around 1800. Slavery was abolished in Israel when the Persians liberated Jerusalem from Assyrian rule. Zoroastrianism prohibited slavery and deems it a great sin. Before that Jewish law allowed slavery wi

Reply to "Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking." in Politics JoeUser Forums

I thought by using those terms she was referring to how people thought back then and how she tried to overcome that kind of thinking. As for Republicans and blacks, I find it amazing how many people have forgotten (or simply ignore) history.

Reply to Slavery Alive and Well in Yemen in War on Terror JoeUser Forums

I don't know about that. Several popes held (Muslim) slaves, as far as I know. And while the Catholic Church has consistently opposed slavery officially, it has never actually excommunicatied the Spanish and Portuguese rulers who enslaved Africans and Indians in South-America.