Clipmarks | ratilfar's Comments

Taking Our Own Medicine - Policing America

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:55:25 GMT

A Lawrence of Arabia Solution for Afghanistan?

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:08:41 GMT

clipped by: nedhamson1
clipper's remarks: Go to Netflix or where ever you get films - rent Larence of Arabia and watch it as if you were looking for ideas of how to create a success out of Afghanistan. Not a bad idea but remember that - in the end - the Imperialists got the upper hand and that today, we are still paying the price.

Clip Source: circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com

Gant argues passionately that the key to success against the Taliban is to work with the tribes. He says: We demonstrated month in and month out that a small effective fighting force could unite with an Afghan tribe, become trusted and respected brothers-in-arms with their leaders and families, and make a difference in the US effort in Afghanistan. In doing so, we discovered what I believe to be the seed of enduring success in that country."
His strategy is based on the idea of Tribal Engagement Teams, working as part of an overall strategy that allows these teams working closely with a tribal group to decide how to engage the enemy. As Gant says: "TETs must be allowed to be on their own, grow beards, wear local garb, and interact with the tribesmen at all levels. They must be allowed to be what they are: American tribesmen...Rules of Engagement must change.

Tags: afghanistan, must, strategy

Living in the Bible Belt

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:01:01 GMT

clipped by: AtlLiberal
clipper's remarks: What may seem unconscionable to most Americans is the rule of thumb in the Bible Belt. Most people I meet every day most likely would agree that anyone who doesn't believe in God is not fit to hold public office. People simply do not think these non-believers stand on firm moral ground.

Clip Source: www.citizen-times.com

Critics of Cecil Bothwell cite N.C. bar to atheists

ASHEVILLE — North Carolina's constitution is clear: politicians who deny the existence of God are barred from holding office.

Opponents of Cecil Bothwell are seizing on that law to argue he should not be seated as a City Council member today, even though federal courts have ruled religious tests for public office are unlawful under the U.S. Constitution.

Voters elected the writer and builder to the council last month.

“I'm not saying that Cecil Bothwell is not a good man, but if he's an atheist, he's not eligible to serve in public office, according to the state constitution,” said H.K. Edgerton, a former Asheville NAACP president.

Article 6, section 8 of the state constitution says: “The following persons shall be disqualified for office: First, any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.”

JAMMED DOOR. REMEMBER. . . PROCRASTINATION NEVER HURT ANYONE.

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:24:27 GMT

clipped by: tanyamm

Clip Source: icanhascheezburger.com

A Lawrence of Arabia Solution for Afghanistan?

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 03:08:41 GMT

Clip Source: circlingthelionsden.blogspot.com

Tags: afghanistan, must, strategy

The Steam-Punked House

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 18:32:00 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly

Clip Source: acidcow.com

Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum from Massachusetts have restored their house into a steampunk home called ModVic (Modern Victorian) Home.
Every corner of the house and every piece of furniture has some steampunk features and materials: wood carvings, moving gears, steel, iron and brass decorations.
Isnt’t it amazing?

In fear of 'Eurabia'?

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:19:50 GMT

clipped by: tabsey

Clip Source: english.aljazeera.net

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.

Tags: racism

amy goodman detained at canadian border.......

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 08:15:44 GMT

clipped by: doodleicious
clipper's remarks: r u kidding me? brother........

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

While traveling to Vancouver, Canada to speak at the Vancouver Public Library at a benefit for community radio stations, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her two colleagues were detained by Canadian authorities. Amy was questioned extensively about the speech she intended to give; their car was gone through by armed border guards, and their papers and laptop computers were scoured. The armed interrogators were particularly interested in whether she would be speaking about the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.[includes rush transcript]

Tags: seige, under

Dear Michelle Malkin: Here are some other law-enforcement officers you forgot to mourn

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:40:09 GMT

clipped by: ratilfar
clipper's remarks: Oh, I dunno. Maybe it comes from conservatives like Michelle Malkin, who shriek and holler when mean "liberals" at the Department of Homeland Security issue an important bulletin to law-enforcement officers warning them of the threat posed by right-wing extremists to their health and well-being, crying that in doing so they're just "smearing conservatives."

Clip Source: crooksandliars.com

Michelle Malkin's latest column wants to turn the deaths of police officers around the country -- spurred by the recent horror in Lakewood, WA -- into a chance to blame liberals for the deaths.

The Left has a popular mantra: “Stop the hate.” Why don’t they start applying it to the men and women who protect and serve?

She listed some officers killed in a couple of different incidents involving career criminals and a bizarre recent case here in Seattle.

Well, I've got a few other officers here she seemed to have forgotten about:

Pittsburgh officers Eric Kelly, Paul Sciullo III and Stephen Mayhle, gunned down by budding neo-Nazi Richard Poplawski, because he believed the officers were part of a nefarious plan to take citizens' guns away.

Security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, shot down by extremist nutcase James von Brunn at the Holocaust Museum.

Later in her column, Malkin asks:

From where does the deadened and deadly callousness toward the thin blue line come?

Tags: michelle malkin, far-right, police, hate crimes, facts