| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| tericee |
Posted - 03/22/2006 : 04:20:42 AM
The Middle East
Tuesday 14 March 2006 @ 10:08 am
In reading “Time” this week, I’ve come to the conclusion that I never want to go to the Middle East. I don’t think they’d really care for my particular brand of whimsy over there.
The region is so fucking volatile, it seems like the crazy dude on the subway you just don’t want to sit near. At all. And yet, said crazy dude needs to be watched by a Transit Cop - ‘lest he start getting all crazy violent on folks in the other cars. At the end of the day, the crazy dude needs to be policed, to keep him from hurting people. I’m just sorry our troops are the Transit Cops in question.
Naturally, I haven’t factored into the equation how the crazy dude is also a fucking geyser of petro-dollars. Maybe it’s a crazy dude on the subway that nobody wants to sit near who needs to be policed… who’s holding pockets full of winning rub-off tickets. And not just the “Free Ticket” rub-offs either; we’re talking $10,000-a-pop winning rub-off tickets. And his pockets are bulging with them, too. And the Transit Cop’s boss is like “Watch that nut-bar and make sure he doesn’t kill anyone on the train…” but his real agenda is to secure all those winning rub-off tickets for himself.
And meanwhile, in the midst of all this, said crazy dude on the subway who’s stuffed to the gills with winning rub-off lottery tickets is building a suitcase bomb that’ll take out a large section of the train, if not the whole fucking thing at once.
This is why I don’t teach Civics or Social Studies.
I don’t know. It’s just wacky over there in the Middle East. And you don’t need Nostradamus to figure out the end of the world is gonna have something to do with that region. For years, this country was deeply afraid of the Russians. Now, the Middle East makes Khrushchev beating his shoe on a podium and telling the U.S. “We will bury you!” seem as threatening as Elmer Fudd during Wabbit Season.
I mean, back during the Cold War, the two “Super Powers” held one another in check with the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction; neither side would rush into battle, because neither side saw the benefit in being dead. But with Middle Eastern extremists, you have an adversary who couldn’t give a fuck about M.A.D., so long as the decadence of the west is wiped out (not to mention all western inhabitants).
Even in their most cartoonish, Rambo-like villainy, the “Commies” still seemed human; and that, I believe, had a lot to do with their investment in this world. As a Godless bunch, they didn’t look to an afterlife for justice/reward; it was all about right here, right now. Now, the U.S. is at odds with a bunch of religious zealots who couldn’t give a fuck about the present, beyond making sure we’re not in it for very long. They look to the next life, where shit’s gotta be better than it is for them in the here and now. And when you read about what life over there is like, who can blame them? I, too, would be looking to run to Jesus (or Allah) if my world was as full of unrest, poverty, hatred and fear as their world seems to be. Fuck life, at that point - “Let’s get busy dying; anything’s gotta be better than this horse-shit existence.”
I’ve got no answers, and I’m too terrified to even ask the questions. And even if I was equipped with all the facts, who am I to tell a motherfucker how to run their kitchen? Even if their kitchen threatens to blow up mine? All I know how to do is make movies (and some would say I can barely do that), so I should just shut my mouth and jot down some dopey shit for Jay and Silent Bob to do next.
Whoever said “May you live in interesting times” needs a smack in the mouth. I’d prefer shit to be PBS-boring over the current geo-political climate any day.
For more of this stuff, visit http://silentbobspeaks.com/ |
| 8 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| tericee |
Posted - 03/25/2006 : 10:49:22 AM
I agree with that, Pam. And it's more than just the discussion we're having on this thread. They have some pretty crazy taxes over here, too, although I don't have to pay some of them because of the NATO "status of forces agreement."
Every EU nation has a value-added tax (VAT), which is basically sales tax, between higher than 15 percent. The highest one I can think of in the States is 8.75.
AUSTRIA 20
BELGIUM 21
DENMARK 25
FINLAND 22
FRANCE 19.6
GERMANY 16
GREECE 18
IRELAND 21
ITALY 20
LUXEMBOURG 15
NETHERLANDS 17.5
PORTUGAL 17
SPAIN 16
UK 17.5
SWEDEN 25
CZECH REPUBLIC 22
ESTONIA 18
HUNGARY 25
NORWAY 23
SWITZERLAND 7.5
In many countries they also have special taxes on TVs, dogs, etc. Strange but true.
- UK: A colour television licence is £116 a year (around $192 US) and a black and white TV licence costs £38.50 a year (around $64 US).
- Netherlands: Dog owners must register their dog(s) at the Town Hall. The dog tax varies per municipality, from € 75 for the first dog. The tariff per additional dog gets considerably higher. In some towns pet owners with more than one dog are taxed at a higher rate.
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| PJK |
Posted - 03/24/2006 : 3:54:46 PM
Women Muslim Fundamentalists have next to no rights. Female genital mutilation is rampant amoung Muslim Fundamentalists in Europe, as is wife beating, and murder to keep family honor. If a Muslim woman is raped, she is labled a whore and murdered, usually by a family member. If a Muslim man rapes a women, either Muslim or non-muslim, it is seen as the womans fault and nothing happens to him.
Again I stress that this is not all Muslims, but all Muslim Fundamentalists and this is the group that is rapidly expanding in Europe.
I knew of these things before reading Bruce Bawer's book, While Europe Slept, but I had no idea how widespread it was. Reading his book is making me much more appreciative of being an American.
Like many, I have been increasingly cynical of our country, but the more I learn about Europe and the world, the more I feel that even with all it's problems, I would rather live here than anywhere else. |
| tericee |
Posted - 03/24/2006 : 10:37:57 AM
quote:
Originally posted by guitfiddler
I haven't heard about this welfare problem. You have inspired me to read up on it.
We probably don't hear much about it because many people in the media are afraid to report on this stuff. They learned from the the Dutch and the Danes that you don't want to go around offending fundamentalist muslims.
In fact, that was the whole reason for the Danish cartoon thing in the first place. The editor of the newspaper thought there was too much "self-censorship" on the part of the media because they were afraid of retaliation. (Denmark is next door to the Netherlands, where director Theo Van Gogh was murdered by fundamentalists because he made an anti-muslim movie.) They decided to do an experiment to test the level of self-censorship. With only twelve submissions, I think the editor got more data points than he ever imagined.
Working from a script written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, van Gogh created the 10-minute movie Submission. The movie deals with the topic of violence against women in Islamic societies; telling the stories of four abused Muslim women. The title itself, "Submission", is the translation of the word "Islam" in english. In the film, the women's naked bodies are veiled with semi-transparent shrouds as they kneel in prayer, telling their stories as if they are speaking to Allah. Qur'anic verses unfavourable to women are painted on their bodies in Arabic . After the movie was released in 2004, both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali received death threats. Van Gogh did not take these very seriously and refused any protection - reportedly telling Hirsi Ali: "Who would want to kill the village idiot?" The movie was perceived by the Islamic community as an inaccurate perception of Islamic teachings. (From Wikipedia entry on Theo Van Gogh)
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| guitfiddler |
Posted - 03/22/2006 : 10:54:34 PM
I haven't heard about this welfare problem. You have inspired me to read up on it. |
| PJK |
Posted - 03/22/2006 : 10:43:43 PM
Actually something can be done in Europe, changing immigration laws and welfare.
Currently in Europe there is something called "family reunification" which allows people to bring family members into a country and gain residency. This is how most Muslims are getting in. Muslim immigrants in Europe tend to come from poor remote villages, not the large cities, so they are more likely to be religious conservatives who are both unfamiliar with and hostile to Western values. Many have become even more conservative after moving to Europe. This is why the European Muslim tends to be more intolerant than his cousins in his homeland.
Also the way many countries have their welfare systems set up, enables these immigrants to "milk the system" and live quite well on welfare. Many send some of this welfare money back to their homelands to relatives.
It is frightening. Yes, not all Muslims are fundamentalists, just like not all Christians are fundamentalists, but the growing numbers of Muslim Fundamentalists in Europe are making the statement that Europe will be Muslim by the end of this century a very real possibility..........unless of course global warming kills us all first.
Let me add that while the surge of European Muslim fundamentalists and global warming both scare me, it also makes me very aware of what I have now and I am very appreciative of everything and everyone in my life. I won't remain silent on issues that I believe threaten future generations, but I also won't live in fear. I'm aware of the dangers, I make a serious effort to do what I can to make changes, however small they may seem, and I take pleasure in living. I take nothing for granted.
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| guitfiddler |
Posted - 03/22/2006 : 8:49:11 PM
That is a scary point because there is nothing that we can do about it. Profiling all Muslims just is not fair and it never will be. What would we do, set up internment camps like we did for the Japanese? It is inhuman, although it might "solve" that problem. It would never be allowed. I would protest it. Although all terrorists seem to be Muslim, not all Muslims are terrorists. That is why the point that PJK makes scares the shit out of me. WE CAN NOT STOP IT! |
| PJK |
Posted - 03/22/2006 : 4:16:49 PM
Not only the Middle East, how many are aware that Europe will become Eurabia? Seriously, Muslim fundamentalists are taking over many European countries and the governments seem not to be concerned.
You think Christian Fundamentalists are "out there?" They can't hold a candle to Muslim Fundamentalists. In a nutshell, Muslim Fundamentalists are flocking to European countries, taking up residence but are not desiring to "melt"or "blend" into their new country. They keep all of their beliefs, stay closely knit, reproduce at far greater percentages than those native to the country, and have one goal in mind, to have a Muslim state. All non-muslims are seen as infidels and are subject to attacks. We are not talking terrorists, but many of the terrorists are coming from these pockets of Muslims residing around major European cities. Certainly because of their philosophies they see the terrorists as heros of Islam.
Most of these Muslims are living off of welfare programs in the country they relocated to. The four terrorists suspects in the London bombings raked in more than half a million pounds in welfare benefits from the British government.
This is scary shit! Omar Bakri Muhammed (who preached that "we will conquer the White House.....we will be in charge and Muslims will control the earth") was getting L331.28 a month in incapacity benefits and L183.30 a month in disability living allowance. He also got numerous other benefits including a free car under a government program!
I could go on and on but I won't. Instead of being in Iraq, America would do better watching Europe and keeping an eye on the Muslims in our own country.
I am not trying to be prejudice with my comments, but being tolerant of everyone and trying to be so politically correct all the time, may well be Europe's downfall, if not ours. |
| guitfiddler |
Posted - 03/22/2006 : 05:13:04 AM
Preach on Silent Bob, preach on. |
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