RICHMOND, Va. - A member of the state's Commission of Immigration resigned Thursday, a few hours after Gov. Timothy M. Kaine was told about online videos showing the appointee condemning Israel and advocating "the jihad way."Kaine learned of the videos from a caller to his live monthly radio program and accepted the resignation of Dr. Esam S. Omeish about three hours later. -- from this news article
One small step for mankind.
But the moral of the tale is this: in order to avoid a misstep that will come to haunt you, if you are a political figure, and that will undoubtedly be used at this point -- and with full justification -- by your political opponents as an example of your naiveté or failure to exercise due diligence, do not meet with, do not have smiling photographs taken with, do not endorse in any way, and certainly do not appoint to any office, someone who believes in Jihad as a central duty, Jihad through whatever means. That includes almost every Believer. And do not accept, ever, either someone's claim to be a "moderate" or someone else's description of someone -- especially if that someone is in the hopelessly naive Interfaith Dialogue racket -- as a "great guy, no problem, he's really on our side."
Use your head. Enough running from all those in positions of political or academic or other power running around like candidates for Jay Leno's Jaywalkers.
Take, for example, the supposedly "tough" performance of Columbia University President Lee Bollinger, who still has yet to inform himself about Islam. Despite the tongue-lashing he inflicted on Ahmadinejad (and here fortiter in re, suaviter in modo, might have been just the ticket) he became helpless, nearly tongue-tied, when it came to answering back Ahmadinejad when he made his absurd remarks about, for example, Israel. Was it a surprise to Bollinger that that would have been raised? Was he unable to rise to the occasion and to show up the idiocy of the claim, a claim so common that Bollinger should have fully anticipated it, that "the poor 'Palestinians' should not have to pay for the Holocaust"? For god's sake. Someone well-informed, particularly in dealing with the theme of the rights of non-Arabs -- Jews and Persians and Armenians and Copts to start with -- in the Middle East, should have been standing right next to Bollinger at that moment. Bollinger was also given, on a platter, a chance to discuss Persian history and the successful Persian effort to prevent the arabization and cultural and linguistic imperialism of the Arabs, that has been such a feature of islamization worldwide. His doing so would have amazed not just Ahmadinejad, but would have deeply shaken up Iranians back in Iran, and caused them to think. But Bollinger seems only interested in protecting himself, and no doubt preserving the loyalty of alumni. Has he lost the ability to study and think, in the heady rise to the top? Perhaps he can reacquire that skill. It may inspire some of the undergraduates.
And now Virginia Governor Kaine has had to rethink, and so too has the man he was about to appoint, a man whom Robert Spencer has debated and has tapes of those debates, and can easily show that Esam Omeish lies. He denies that death is the punishment prescribed for apostasy in Islam, with textual authority. He has also admitted that he looks forward to the extension of Shari'a across the United States. Had he been appointed and that information come out and been widely distributed -- and it would have been -- it would have inflicted severe political damage, rightly, on Governor Kaine. There is no need for this, anymore than there was a need for Mayor Menino, without knowing a thing about Islam, a few years ago to enthusiastically support the building of that deplorable mosque, with all the behind-the-scenes below-market sale of city land and the Saudi connection and the BRA employee who, as far as is known, may still be on the BRA payroll. I know many people who have because of that permanently lost any enthusiasm they might have had for Mayor Menino.
For god's sake, did no one think to do a little googling? Or to check, say, with "The Investigative Project" or with "Jihad Watch" to see if there was anything about Mr. X that might, just might, be the kind of thing the governor or mayor or Congressman deciding whom to hire for his staff, would have liked to have known in advance? Or if not those sources, then others -- just something so that one is fully alerted to the real views, not the feigned ones that may be expressed, or the evasions of taqiyya-and-tu-quoque that by now we are all getting so used to, and that must be seen right through, and if not by the Great and Good of this earth themselves, then by members of their staffs, whose duty it is to guide and protect them from such blunders that, in the end, might prove fatal for those who commit them, in one way, and fatal in quite another, much grimmer way, for those who in brief (or, alas, not so brief) authority presume to instruct and protect.
Do your homework, for god's sake. Do it.
"... a chance to discuss Persian history and the successful Persian effort to prevent the arabization and cultural and linguistic imperialism of the Arabs ..."
Weren't the Persians easily overrun by Islam in a less than two decades?
At some point in their lives, many Americans have sworn an oath to protect the U.S. Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic. Supplanting our form of government with sharia is a direct assault on the Constitution.
I e-mailed Kaine and congratulated him for getting rid of the Muslim.
Here is a congressman, New York Republican Peter King who is not afraid to confront the threats posed by so many funded Madrasses in the US.
Is he politically correct?
Lebanese-born Christian activist Brigitte Gabriel, founder and president of the American Congress for Truth,defends Congressman Peter King
http://www.onenewsnow.com/2007/09/the_aclu_is_the_devil_says_lebanese_activist.php
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is a democrat
Our political geniuses simply have NOT been reading their Korans, thus six YEARS after 9/11 they have no clue as to the nature of the mortal danger we are facing.
As far as Mayor Menino of Boston is concerned, unfortunately, I live in "The Peoples Republic of Taxachusetts" ( I am working on moving out, but it is a painfully slow process ) and I can tell you that never was there a more clueless, dull witted, politically correct dhimmi FOOL than "Mumbles Menino" ( he quite literally MUMBLES when speaking, at times it is bad enough so as to render him almost unintelligible.)
Menino is in fact, just as big an IMBECILE as Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans. We are just lucky we aren't below sea level.
Boston is already part of the Caliphate.
I've also e-mailed Peter King congratulating him for his "too many mosques" comments. When you can, take the time to fill out the e-mail forms at these politicians' websites - it's worth it.
Note: for several years in a row, Massachusetts has been experiencing a net LOSS of population, on the order of 8,000 people a year, in spite of a large influx of ILLEGAL ALIENS.
Hopefully, I will be able to flee within a year.
Video: Omesh at rally ugust 12,2006
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdcZ4-IhfE
Video: Omesh at rally Sept.2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbdnMWHNPU
The people in DC are what happens when you vote to send someone away so they stop doing bad things locally
"For god's sake, did no one think to do a little googling? Or to check, say, with "The Investigative Project" or with "Jihad Watch" to see if there was anything about Mr. X that might, just might, be the kind of thing the governor or mayor or Congressman deciding whom to hire for his staff, would have liked to have known in advance"?-Hugh
Up till recently liar-deceivers such as Dr. Esam S. Omeish have been quite successful at "poisoning the well" via their smear attacks and accusations of "racism" against people such as Robert and others(as if the Muslim countries are known for their ethnic diversity where Kurds, Armenians, Negro Africans from Darfur, Jewish people, etc. are welcome to settle in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, etc.). So it has been a tough road to the place where mayors, congressmen, Govs, etc. are able to listen to the truth.
People such as Omeish have been very effective propagandists, painting themselves as Goebbels-Sudetenland style "victims", shaking down real victims, claiming they are "oppressed minorities"-as was done by the Nazis at Munich. Propaganda can be very effective and as Goebbels noted-that's all that matters. Propaganda does not have to be true, logical or even intelligent as per Goebbels. It only has to be effective.
People have begun to see through the propaganda process and the "poisoning the well" methods are not as effective as they were in the past. Their deception is becoming apparent. Even challenged minds like Fibrihim "Farfur style propaganda" Hooper are probably seeing the truthful writing on the wall and Dr. Esam S. Omeish is gazing upon it as a deer looking into the headlights of an oncoming tractor-trailer-truck.
tgusa-
"Islamophobe"-Man if that isn't already a tired propaganda term. Same old, same old with them. Soon it will be comic.
tgusa
It would be interesting to have Hugh Fitzgerald, or Robert disect the PRNewswire-USNewswire/article that you posted above.
What surprises me about this story, is that the governor fired the person so quickly. I would have expected days or weeks of sandbagging, excuse-making, hurling of accusations of racism, and scape-goating of whoever could be found to take the fall. Is that governor, *gasp*, an honest fellow? Or, has he perhaps sensed a turning of the tide, away from appeasement?
This warning to politicians puts me firmly in mind of one George W. Bush, who had Sami al-Arian campaigning for him in 2000 -- he nicknamed Sami's kid 'Big Dude' -- al-Arian later bragged that Florida Muslims had put Bush in the White House, as the Muslim vote he turned out for W was several times over the disputed votes count in that state.
I wonder how many Brotherhood front groups Bush has spoken to or appeared with. As the President, apparently he must politically correctly lead us all into the abyss.
Congressman King gets the Patriot award of the week. And I can only guess that what he was getting at was there are too many mosques and not enough avenues for itelligence gathering from them all. Just an opinion of mine from seeing his interview.
I'm sure Omesh wont be out of a job with the government long, good ole Ted would probably hire him as a misundertood Muslim.
People are just not getting it, the usual background checks dont look for radical affiliations. Reality check!
A lot of People are lambasting Governor Kaine for not properly vetting Omeish before his appointment--rightly so.
But I have to admit I am heartened by this story for a number of reasons. Firstly, kudos to the caller who brought the issue of the Jihad videos to the governor's attention, for both making himself aware of this kind of material and then for passing the warning along. Kudos to Governor Kaine for first taking the call at all, then for admitting that he hadn't heard about the situation, and for saying he would look into it--and then actually doing so, and promptly.
Then--when he did find out about the pro-Jihad comments and videos, calling for Omeish's resignation--within three hours! There was no obfuscation, waffling, excuse-making, or cover up. As Hugh says, One Small Step.
Dr. Omeish's response, however, was entirely predictable:
“The smear campaign brings forward comments and speech excerpts which were taken out of context . . . and used to undermine a whole community of faith in a relentless campaign of Islamophobia intimidation,” Omeish said in an 11 a.m. news conference,
Omeish submitted his resignation to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) yesterday after video surfaced of one speech in which he referred to the “Israeli war machine” and another 38-second excerpt from a speech he made at a December 2000 rally in support of the “Jihad way.”
“All these allegations revolve around obsolete historical associations, out of context statements wrapped in hateful, misleading insinuations by individuals who are bent on alienating and intimidating Muslim leaders and activists,” Omeish said. ...
Omeish told the Associated Press late Thursday that his comments in the videos were taken out of context and that his reference to “the jihad way” was not a call for violent attacks.
“In Islam, jihad is a broad word that means constant struggle — struggling spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically — in all respects. So my words were in support of people who are resisting occupation and people who are trying to . . . remove oppression from their land,” Omeish said.
Could it be, that the persons tasked with the vetting process for Omeish had JihadWatch.org blocked by their internet filter?
fortiter in re, suaviter in modo
Hugh, I know that you are a very bright individual, an intellectual teaching people like me who learned thermodynamics instead of philosophy. You do not have to prove to me how smart you are by putting crap like "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo" in your essays. I'm certain that you could be able to find the proper English.
Had it not been for the Romans, Palestine might still have been called Judea into the 20th Century. That would have been a good response to Mr. A.
Robert Spencer,
I believe you referenced a debate you had with Mr. Omeish on the radio, in which he admitted that he would like to see America under Sh'aria Law. Might I suggest you send a copy of that tape along to the reporter on this story, especially while it is still hot? Now that CAIR has played its weak hand, it would be great to trump them completely with what is really much more damning evidence that the "jihad way" quote they are so quickly giving the "out of context" treatment. It's another chance to get Mr. Spencer's name out there, and it has to be done right away because the MSM will be back on crotch-shots of Brittany Spears in a couple of days.
"Had he been appointed and that information come out and been widely distributed -- and it would have been -- it would have inflicted severe political damage, rightly, on Governor Kaine."
Governor Kaine has already inflicted severe political damage on himself in the form of ridiculous fines if a Virginian is caught speeding, in Virginia, starting this past July. The fines can go as high as $3000 per incident. These fines are not applicable for non-resident drivers. I don't think Governor Kaine understands the concept of "equal protection under the law." Virginians have been fighting these fines in court and have been winning all over the Commonwealth.
Tim Kaine, being a tax-and-spend Democrat, thinks that this is a good way to raise money to repair Virginia roads. Actually, it's a good way to ensure that he never gets elected to any office ever again.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-06-29-Va-new-driving-laws_N.htm
Here's more information on those pesky Virginia driving fines.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201781.html
http://www.courts.state.va.us/publications/hb_3202.pdf
http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/18/1818.asp
It doesn't surprise me at all that Tim Kaine would appoint a known Muslim rabblerouser to guard the hens in the chicken coop. He is completely out of touch with reality when it comes to what the people of Virginia want.
A poster above comments on my use of a well-known Latin tag thus:
"fortiter in re, suaviter in modo
Hugh, I know that you are a very bright individual, an intellectual teaching people like me who learned thermodynamics instead of philosophy. You do not have to prove to me how smart you are by putting crap like "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo" in your essays. I'm certain that you could be able to find the proper English."
Now let's see. What would be the proper English for "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo"? The 42nd Reserve Squadron of the Royal Air Force may help us, for it takes as its motto the first part of the phrase -- "fortiter in re” – while the rest is left off because the methods of the Royal Air Force's 42nd Squadron could hardly be described as "suaviter in modo.”
At the 42nd Squadron’s website we find:
“The Squadron motto "Fortiter In Re" comes from the old Latin tag: "Fortiter in Re, suaviter in modo" (Sometimes quotes the other way round) which means forcibly (Or resolutely) in deed, gentle in manner.
The motto – that is the “fortiter in re” part -- is translated by Brewer as follows:
’Firmness in doing what is to be done; an unflinching resolution to persevere to the end.’”
Even though the Latin tag is one of those most commonly used in English (every schoolboy would once have known it – and if you disbelieve, look at the reprinted McGuffey’s Readers, or the literature and grammar books most commonly-used in nineteenth-century American schoolrooms) he thinks the Latin phrase should not be used. Why? Because he doesn’t know it, and what’s more, he doesn’t want to look in a book, or even to click once to find out what the phrase means. Why not? Why be so lazy, so incurious?
Why should the language constrict, why should we give up the use of phrases that have been in constant use in English prose, since English prose began? Yes, I know that our leading newpapers dumb down the prose of their contributors (as all those who have ever submitted an Op/Ed know), and that their ideal level of English is that which the average thirteen or fourteen-year-old can understand, and radio and television are worse But why should we participate in this? Why should I, or you, or anyone, become collaborators in this deliberate shrinking of the lexicon, or the limits put on allusions so that language becomes as bland as possible, and where nothing at all can be assumed on the part of the audience. Shouldn’t it go the other way? Shouldn’t we deliberately attempt to widen the vocabulary of readers, to make them look things up by alluding to this or that bit of history, just as one uses such words as “jizyah” and “dhimmi” in order to force people to find out what those terms mean?
Both the active and passive vocabularies of Americans have been shrinking, steadily, decade by decade, from 1900 to 2000. It’s worrisome. A vast dumbing-down is the result of newpapers, radio, and television, all together having decided that their only responsibility is to enlarge the size of their audience for the purposes of attracting advertisers and being able to charge those advertisers large sums, and anything that might be a strain on some readers or listeners or viewers, will be regarded with alarm and antipathy.
I would never change my phrasing in order to appeal to, or satisfy, the laziest common denominator. The poster’s sentence “You do not have to prove to me how smart you are by putting crap like "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo" in your essays” is crude. And to describe as “crap” a Latin phrase that has been in continuous use, by English writers, over at least the past six centuries, and then to be almost prideful of one's not knowing, but dismissing nonetheless, what is one of the best-known Latin tags, is strange.
And the attribution of a motive to me for using such a phrase (“you do not have to prove to me now smart you are…”) is absurd.
It is hard to believe that you think I, or anyone, should obey not the dictates of our own linguistic instincts and conscience, but instead should gauge or weigh or estimate the effect on some posited "average reader" of this or that word or phrase, in English or Latin or some other tongue (but not borrowed yesterday, rather domesticated a long time ago). so that no onerous mental demands are made on that reader. “Fortiter in re, suaviter in modo” makes no such onerous demands. Should you decide to look up the phrase "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo" (it will take about ten seconds) and find out what it means, you may start to use it yourself. You may come to agree that it expresses in lapidary fashion something that cannot be expressed so well, in such brief compass, in any other way. You may even come to take pleasure in using it, rather than being offended when others use it.
A little Latin, even or perhaps especially in Manhattan, can go a long way.
Easiest way to avoid missteps...
Use common sense instead of this political correctness pahblum puking...that way it won't come back to bite them in the @$$.
It works every time it's tried.
Hugh-
My favorite Latin concerning Islam is:
"Venenum in auro bibitur."
(Poison is drunk from a cup of gold.)
Although:
"Si vis pacem, para bellum."
makes more sense.
(Want peace?- then be ready for war.)
And one without translation:
"Leve fit, quod bene fertur, onus."
Cheers!
The Vatican would go into a public-relations tizzy if the Pope were asked to abandon the phrase "urbi et orbi." Society would come apart if we couldn't rely, now and again, on a "quid pro quo." Shakespeare himself would have had a tough time of it had Hamlet not been able, in his ubi-sunt cemetery speech, to mention the lawyer's quodlibets, described as quiditties and quillities. Come to think of it, where would the "ubi sunt" theme itself be, or that of "lachrymae rerum," or that of "procul negotiis," if writer and reader could no longer count on just a little Latin (though we could manage with even less Greek). And let us pass over in demure silence, shall we, just how many limericks of the "There-Was-a-Young-Girl-From-Pawtucket" variety contain lines that end with the word "sex," and require of readers, if those readers are to enjoy the writer's satisfying climax (it should be good for them too), that they comprehend the Latin in the rhyming line, which inevitably will consist of the phrase "De minimis non curat lex."
I rest my case.
If only the 9th circus court of schlemiels would adopt that...LOL
Tsk,tsk,Hugh..... you must remember that most of us are vict... uh, I mean, uh, "graduates" of the public school system, and thus no longer have the benefits of a classical education. If we were to actually LEARN something about the history of Western Civilization it would be much more difficult to replace the electorate ( us ) with illegal aliens or turn us all into good little dhimmis.
*LOL* I decided to do a google search for "Latin phrases" and found this link:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/arch/omnibus.html
Under "Insults" you will find this entry:
"I'm not interested in your dopey religious cult."
"Nihil curo de ista tua stulta superstitione."
*** ROFLMAO ***
Hugh,
Personally, I like it when you use terms not often heard in everyday speech. In this case it brought me way, way back to another era - when Latin was a requisite.
I use a very good, tiny, and free program that sits in the tool tray called Wordweb. Whenever a word or term appears that is unfamiliar I just highlight it and click on the Wordweb icon. It calls a local and online dictionary, as well as Wikipedia and Wiktionary. In this case, a "search for term in existing articles" on Wikipedia brought up four entries. It confirmed that I was close enough in my interpretation of the term and I now know where Concordia College is. Thanks Hugh.
"ROFLMAO..."
-- from a posting above
Now a poster above has used a term with which I was unfamiliar. Did I get mad? Did I pick up my Elgin marbles and go home? Did I insist that he not use such a term?
No. I googled to find out what it meant. And now. having employed my celebrated computer skills, I know exactly what it means.
"ROFLMAO" stands for "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco."
Hugh, sorry for posting in the other thread, but I did not know if you would revisit this thread any time soon. I got miffed and responded like Pavlov's dog.
Latin is dead, as dead as can be
It first killed the Romans,
And now it's killing me.
Kindly post here what you posted on the other thread, so that I can respond to a real, and not a seemingly phantom, objection.
This is what I put on the other article:
Latin Phrases:
Hugh, somepeople turn their intellectual pursuits to other directions, such as making life less of a struggle for society. I certainly would not put
Q = U x A x (Ti-To) in an essay written for broad consumption and then criticize someone for not looking it up themselves. Q=UxAxdeltaT is just as obscure to a non-engineer as some Latin phrases are to me.
"I certainly would not put Q = U x A x (Ti-To)
in an essay written for broad consumption and then criticize someone for not looking it up themselves. Q=UxAxdeltaT is just as obscure to a non-engineer as some Latin phrases are to me."
-- from a posting above
No. And I wouldn't either. Nor would I use just any Latin phrase that came to mind. "Eheu fugaces Postume, Postume" can appear in "Speak, Memory" but might be out of place in an Op/Ed article. But the phrase "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo" has been in common English usage for centuries.
Some knowledge of mathematical formulae can be assumed, while much cannot. A lot depends on the size, and level, of the intended audience, and even where that audience may be. An Italian journalist can put all kinds of Latin into his Italian, and cheerfully assume he will be understood. A Russian journalist can put all kinds of scientific formulas into his articles for the popular press, and ditto.
In this case I thought, and think still, "fortiter in re, suaviter in modo" was perfectly appropriate, and it did not make unusual demands on readers. You disagree. Therein lies the quarrel.
I'm waving a white flag, I surrender. I did find a word for my problem toward Latin - Xenoglossophobia.
Pelayo, Hugh, and fellow JW-ers/DW-ers,
Hugh wrote: "Therein lies the quarrel."
Indeed, but I must admit that this has been a FUN thread. Yup, a real thigh-slapper. So let me reiterate: *ROFLMAO*
Which, of course, means: "Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco!"
No need to "surrender." If you would just decide to make that mental leap, and welcome, rather than to feel annoyance at, the occasional use by me of an occasional phrase that is not in English but in Latin or French, but is used so commonly by English writers in time and space, that one has a right to think it not unreasonable to use it, you would be happier, I would be happier, all God's chillun would be happier.
And all you would have to do should such a phrase, or even an unusual word in English, swim into your now-handsomely-unbegrudging ken, is not to drive all the way to some distant library, but merely to click to find the meaning on the Internet.
Oh, I know what you're going to say at this point. You're going to say: "But how does Hugh know I have a computer? How does he know, even if I have a computer, that I would be able to use it with such ease? "
To which I reply: Don't try to fool me. I wasn't born yesterday, you know.
Let's be on the same side. It's so much easier that way.
Pelayo --
At another website I have, in several parts, posted our back-and-forth at this particular tertulia. And there, the final part bears the title "How I Learned The Word 'Xenoglossophobia.'"
Here's the link:
http://newenglishreview.org/blog_direct_link.cfm/blog_id/10463
Pelayo,
Here is a handy phrase to use while speaking to Hugh when admitting you are wrong.
"Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa."
Which is:
"Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault."
Xenoglossophobia - that's Greek of course.
Re Latin. Since el Presidente Arbusto, aka Imam Abu’shila when he blesses us with the pearls of wisdom from his vast knowledge of Islam, has decided that we must become a Latino-speaking nation, and since he is joined in that decision by McCain, Kennedy, the Clintons, Obama, Pelosi and all those other great purveyors of wisdom residing in Washington, why not adopt Latin as our national language? Latin, unlike the dialect spoken south of the border, a descendant from a degenerate version of barracks-room Latin, is a sophisticated and dignified language. Furthermore it was the language of science, scholarship and diplomacy until the 18th century; Newton’s great Principia was written in Latin. So given that English must be replaced, let’s, at least, replace it by the real thing.
Tancredo ad Domum Albam.