Remember to Behave During Ramadan

Now that the month of Ramadan has begun, Malaysia's channel 8TV thought this would be an opportune time to remind all the non-muslims in Malaysia how to behave by urging them to "please understand and respect the significance of Ramadan".

Released as a public service announcement on 8TV, the three commercials  targeting non-muslims depict a socially-inept “Chinese” girl eating in public, wearing revealing clothing and being loud and obnoxious during the Muslim fasting month.

Needless to say a fury of outrage over the condescending tone and racism depicted in the ads on Twitter ensued after which 8TV's chief operating officer Ahmad Izham Omar grudgingly had them taken down.

Oh and to answer your questions, no there are never any public service announcements urging Malaysians to "please understand and respect the significance of Christmas".

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Washington's Dog and Pony Show

Across Southeast Asia there is an ubiquitous feeling of repugnance that has replaced the overall malaise here as millions watched America's politicians in Washington sip champagne and celebrate the "victory" of adding another 2.4 trillion to the nation's debt.  Many here are perplexed to say the least, asking the simple question - "What is there to celebrate?"

America's talking heads in the media have all spoke about how the markets will rebound throughout the world on the good news, but that has not been the case nor the reality here on the ground.  Reflecting not only the mood here but the reality, the markets are down and so is the dollar with the bottom sadly no where in sight.  Expect the decline to continue.

Despite what some of our politicians might think, the debt crisis is not rocket science and Americans understand it clearly and so do our creditors overseas. It would be nice if Americans could just dictate to the bank what their credit limit would be but we can't.  Sure you might be able to run up a million dollar tab on a black American Express Centurion card, but you can be well rest assured that the good folks at American Express are going to be asking how you intend to pay your bill at the end of the month.

So how does one ever dig themselves out of a US14.29 trillion dollar hole?  That is the most pertinent question today that is on everyone's mind, the one that no one seems to be answering is perhaps one of the biggest reasons why the gloom in the markets and the dollar will remain until real change comes to America and to Washington. 

The mindless hope and change mantra that has been droning on from Washington for the last few years has become about as welcome here in Southeast Asia as a dengue mosquito.  Look around and you see millions here clamoring for Iphones and Ipads not for the right to  eat the rich or bugger each other with a government imprimatur.  Where are the priorities?

Faith in our nation and our economy will return when meritocracy rules rather than militant egalitarianism and when our nation's president is seen as a true leader and not the ringmaster of some macabre dog and pony show as we saw with the  handling of the nation's debt crisis.

Common sense dictates that when you are in a hole you stop digging and it is America's ingenuity unmolested by bureaucracy that will lift us from the abyss and not the government.   

CONTINUE READING

Zainuddin Maidin - Malaysia's "Baghdad Bob"

As I watched the video and the telephone interview with of Malaysia's  former information minister Zainuddin Maidin concerning the brutal government crackdown of the recent protests in Malaysia for freedom and democratic reform, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Laugh because it reminded me of Iraq's past information minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf who came to prominence during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Nicknamed "Baghdad Bob" he is best known for his grandiose and grossly unrealistic propaganda broadcasts prior to and during the war, extolling the invincibility of the Iraqi Army and the permanence of Saddam's rule.

Cry because, like "Baghdad Bob" this man does not have a clue as to how ridiculous he looks and how badly this now reflects on Malaysia. Even when the reporter informs him that the viewers are watching scenes of the violence he continues his bodoh sombong rant claiming that there is no violence and that the Malaysian "people" are laughing at the  foreign journalists and reporters for fabricating their reporting.  Sadly, Mr. Zainuddin Maidin does not live in the real world.

What is going on in Malaysia echoes Plato's allegory - the Myth of the Cave  and perhaps it serves as the perfect metaphor for what is transpiring here - a delusional reality and an ignorance of the truth. 

Like Baghdad Bob, Zainuddin's announcements were intended for an domestic audience that for years has been enslaved and subjected to a cult of personality who's brutal repression of the opposition, government media control and fabrication of the truth has been the only reality that many Malaysians have known and have become accustomed to.  Malaysian's don't want to overthrow Malaysia, they want what anyone wants, and that is the light of freedom and the rights that any democratic society should have.  It is the Malaysian government who  quite clearly cares more about retaining power than the well-being of their own citizens.

Enjoy this classic comedic gold from "Baghdad Bob"

CONTINUE READING

Democracy, Freedom And The Malaysian Summer

Bullets and government repression might have stalled the youthful push for an Arab Spring, but  the Arab Spring has now  led to a Malaysian summer here in Southeast Asia and the heat and humidity is leaving many here thirsting for freedom and democratic reform.

In 2007 then-Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi brought the calls for reform to an abrupt end using the old tried and true methods of repressing the media and then quelling the peaceful  protesters with chemical-laced water cannons and teargas.    It's questionable whether such old-school tactics will work this time and quite possibly they could backfire.

Not unlike their Arab counterparts, Tech-savy Malaysians have taken to the internet to spread their message of civil resistance using social media tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to organize, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of traditional government attempts at repression and media censorship.

Seemingly oblivious to the sociopolitical changes and technology advances being employed,  the authorities in Malaysia have in recent weeks detained over 100 people for supporting a political rally in Kuala Lumpur by wearing yellow T-shirts blazoned with the words "Bersih 2.0" - "Bersih" is the Malaysian word for "Clean".  - In response, Malaysians have taken to Facebook and Twitter urging their supporters to defiantly don the yellow t-shirts.

Sorry No Yellow T-Shirts

The opposition political parties and NGOs that operate under the "Bersih 2.0" banner are demanding more honest elections. They are campaigning for measures to ensure that each person votes only once, the removal of fraudulent names from electoral rolls and an end to gerrymandering of constituencies to benefit the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO). All are reasonable requests that would boost political competition.    Instead of responding to the substance of these demands, UMNO has chosen to intimidate  and threaten those who make them. 

Malaysian officials have declared the rally illegal because, they say, the participants are trying to overthrow the government.   Authorities have warned people not to attend with the police threatening to use everything at their disposal to prevent the rally from taking place.

In 2007, the social media was in it's infancy as was the widespread use of internet enabled devices.  This time around the revolution wont just be televised it will be on Facebook and Twitter as it happens and the world will be watching.

Prime Minister Najib Razak should be welcoming democratic reform rather suppressing it or Malaysians  might come the conclusion that the government cares more about retaining power than it does the country's well-being.

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Sorry Michelle But The Thrill Is Gone

"Fortunately, we have help from the media. I have to say this: I am very grateful for the support and kindness that we've gotten. People have respected their privacy, and in that way, no matter what people may feel about my husband's policies or what-have-you, they care about children, and that's been good to see."

Mrs Obama's admiration of the media's supposed respect and love of children makes us wince.  I can't help but wonder who this lady is talking to, it surely isn't me or anyone that I know.  Where was Michelle Obama when the trials and tribulations of Sarah Palin's children was on the nightly news? 

As disconnected as she is, Mrs. Obama is right about one thing, and that is that the media has bent over backwards to help them.  Not just the Obama children but the Obama's themselves.

For Mrs. Obama, it's almost comical, there are not many first ladies who can get away with lecturing a nation on their unhealthy eating habits while carrying an extra thirty pounds of fat in their own ass.  

For Mr. Obama, where can we begin to start.  The harsh reality is that eligibility and meritocracy played second fiddle to the color of Barack Obama's skin and as such he will always be seen as America's first affirmative action president.

But for most of America, the thrill is gone.  We've done it!  We have overcome the scourge of racism that once plagued our country.  We elected a black president!   But now it is time to move on and hopefully the main-stream media that has coddled and protected Barack Obama will come to that realization as well.





Related Posts

Obama and CNN:  Black, White or Yellow

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Obama The Terrorist - The Silent Moderates

Osama is mujahid - Obama is a terrorist

While the initial reaction to Osama Bin Laden's death throughout Southeast Asia was surprisingly muted with many expressing disbelief on his demise, the general mood is disturbingly changing.   Yesterday afternoon the mosques were packed full from Indonesia and Malaysia to the Philippines with thousands of Al Qaeda supporters and sympathizers taking to the streets afterwards protesting and marching on the respective United States embassies.  

The show of sympathy for Al Qaeda's leader was stunning with many shocked at the large number of supporters who came out.   To those in America and Europe who still think that Al Qaeda's virulent strain of Islam had but a few supporters, yesterday was an eye-opener.   Manila's Golden Mosque which normally attracts only around 500 worshipers for Friday prayers was filled to the brim with over 5000 worshipers yesterday afternoon.  In Malaysia,  Al Qaeda's sympathizers took to the streets and in Indonesia posters were put up denouncing Obama as a terrorist and Osama as a mujahid.

In provocative displays of religious chauvinism Islam's fieriest orators took this unique opportunity to stoke the flames of recrudescent radicalism from a vast new contingent of self-radicalized moderates, by denouncing the West and praising Osama Bin Laden.   It is this new contingent, the "silent moderates" who will seek no rapprochement  and offer no quarter with the West.  Emboldened by the West's appeasement, deference and lack of resolve, they number in the millions and range from bomb-makers to home-makers but each one shares a common goal and that is absolute victory.

While our adversaries overseas are plotting to one day soon deliver the nuclear coup de grâce - our TSA agents are back home are either busy groping preteens in the nation's airports or attending Muslim sensitivity classes.   Time is not on our side and neither will be victory if we don't pull our heads out of the sand.

To paraphrase Churchill, the West has been offered a choice between war and shame.  She has chosen shame and will get war.

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Sila Sahin's Bigotry and Intolerance

Virginity..... questionable....

In posing nude for Germany's Playboy Magazine, provocateur Sila Sahin knew full well that her bigoted and intolerant act would needlessly inflame and provoke Muslims throughout the world.

With complete disregard for the religious sensitivities of her co-religionists Ms. Sahin had this to say,

"For too long I tried to do everything right. I want these photos to show young Turkish women it's okay for you to live however you choose. Many of my countrymen think it's great that I can be so free. With the shoot I hoped to say to them that we do not necessarily have to live under these rules given to us."

To paraphrase Time Magazine's Joe Klein, 

Sila Sahin has a right to pose nude. And Islam's religious leaders have a right–no, more than a right: a moral responsibly–to blast Sahin for the nitwit bigot she is, and to rally conservative muslims against this profoundly disgusting, and extremely dangerous, act.  This type of unIslamic behavior, endangers the lives of  the publishers of Playboy magazine and innocent civilians and it should rightfully be condemned.

But there should be no confusion about this: Sila Sahin's act was murderous as any suicide bomber's. If there is a hell, she's just guaranteed herself an afterlifetime membership.

.

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Janny Scott's Racist Obsession

In her upcoming book, A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother, New York Times' Janny Scott recounts the life of Stanley Ann Dunham and her life as an expatriate in Indonesia.

In the New York Times' article promoting the book, Janny Scott weaves together a  vast collection of  unlikely anecdotes and interviews that oftentimes overshadows Dunham herself and instead attempts to give us a glimpse into the young life of Barry Soetoro and the experiences that helped to shape his life.

Scott's attempt to understand Dunham and the idiosyncrasies associated with the life of an expatriate in Indonesia seem to be labored, and as a result she resorts to simply linking together a collection of anecdotes and stories related to her by others.  And so, instead of dealing with subjects such as expatriatism and an attempt to understand Dunham's mindset as such,  Scott predictably drifts towards the one subject that she is passionate about and that is racism.

As member of the team awarded the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for "How Race Is Lived In America," Janny Scott knows her stuff when it comes to racism in America and she frequently writes about the subject  for the New York Times.  Judging from how often Ms. Scott writes about racism, one might even think she is obsessed with the subject.

Unfortunately Janny Scott knows little if anything about racism in Indonesia or she would have realized that unlike the United States, where racism is based primarily on skin color, racism in Indonesia  has historically manifested itself through discrimination based on ethnicity and religion.  It is the ethnic Chinese and the non-muslims who are the victims of racism in Indonesia.

Take a close look at the photo above.  Is the color of  Barry Soetoro's skin closer to that of his mother or that of his father Lolo Soetoro? 

In her yet-to-be released book the author claims to shed light on the racial abuse that a young Barry Soetoro  supposedly endured as a child.  In one incident, the author writes:

"...After lunch, the group took a walk, with Barry running ahead. A flock of Indonesian children began lobbing rocks in his direction. They ducked behind a wall and shouted racial epithets. He seemed unfazed, dancing around as though playing dodge ball "with unseen players," [fellow American and friend Elizabeth] Bryant said. Ann did not react. Assuming she must not have understood the words, Bryant offered to intervene. "No, he’s O.K.," Ann said. "He's used to it.""

Used to what and what racial epithets?  Neither Bryant or the author say.  I can't even imagine in  the Indonesian language what racial epithets a young child would use.

I will go so far to say that the recalled incident never took place and is a complete fabrication of Janny Scott.

The author later writes, quoting the the same source,  Elizabeth Bryant as stating:

"We were floored that she’d bring a half-black child to Indonesia, knowing the disrespect they have for blacks."

How can you have a disrespect for someone or some race that you have had no exposure to?

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The Jihadi Propagandist

"Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack."

Sun Tzu ~ The Art of War

The war we are engaged in today is a war like no other war that our nation has ever experienced and the challenges are like none that we have ever faced before. We are engaged in a war where the lines between politics, religion, soldier and civilian have been blurred. Whether we like it or not, we are all on the front lines of this war.

Our troops in Afghanistan are demoralized, it does not help the situation when their commander Gen. David Petraeus is more interested in appeasing our enemies rather than destroying them. That Petraeus would have the audacity to condemn the desecration of what he describes as the "Holy Qu'ran" by Rev. Terry Jones and not have the courage to condemn the blood-lusting jihadists who murdered in the name of Islam just proves that he has become nothing more than an Islamophile who has lost his ability to command.

To achieve victory in what is now America's longest war according to General David Petraeus it is incumbent on us all to appease the enemy by curtailing that very thing that we are supposedly fighting for - freedom.



The front line has shifted once more and our nation's leadership and military now feel compelled to require us to sacrifice our ardent beliefs and convictions on the altar of political correctness instead of standing up for what we believe in.

In the recent Koran desecration incident, no one seems to be asking the questions as to why are they only rioting in Afghanistan or why did it take two weeks for the rioting to commence from the time that Rev. Terry Jones had set the Koran alight. No one seems to find it ironic that President Hamid Karzai who instigated these illiterate reprobates to go on a rampage is now calling on the the United States Congress not only to condemn the Koran burning but asking that the Rev. Terry Jones be arrested. Is Hamid Karzai really on our side?

Am I the only one aware of the enemy propaganda and noticing a pattern of coercive persuasion here? These riots and killings are not spontaneous, they are organized and organized with a purpose. Signs are printed in English and calls go out to the mosques urging the masses to take the streets. It is nothing more than a form of enemy propaganda designed to exploit and divide us in the hopes that we will alter or change our beliefs. They seem to be working because each time the jihadis do this, we react, and there are calls for us to restrict our freedoms.

How many of in our nation and the West including Graham, Petraeus and Reid have already fallen victim to the enemy psyops?



Related Posts:

Word Don't Kill People, People Kill People

CONTINUE READING

Damn You All To Hell !!

In more ways than one, this is the end.

CONTINUE READING

Larry Martin Vs. Time Magazine

I sent Ms. Claire Suddath with Time magazine an email immediately after I read the interview with myself entitled "The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job". My email to Claire simply said "There were a few minor errors in your article." For a brief moment I guess I was expecting to hear back from Time magazine acknowledging the error and perhaps printing an apology and retraction, but as I hit the send button on my email I came to the bitter realization that Time magazine had accomplished exactly what they had initially set out to do and that was to damage and discredit both Dr. Corsi and myself.

In their zeal to discredit Corsi, Time Magazine takes on one of Dr. Corsi's main sources for his book "The Obama Nation", that being myself. Superciliously dismissive of both my blog and myself, Time magazine goes on to describe me as being a "less-than-authoritative source" and then proceeds with the character assassination.

"Corsi repeatedly relies on Martin's accounts of Indonesian news reports to bolster his case for Obama's connections to Islam. For example, in a translated article about a secular school that Obama later attended, Martin writes: "Each Friday, all the school childen [sic] must wear Muslim clothes and that also includes children who are non-muslim [sic]." But that line does not appear in the original news report. What was Martin's source for his repeated insistence that Obama's former school requires students to dress in traditional Muslim attire on Fridays?"

Oh, but that line does appear in the original news report and here it is in the complete context. The following line below is from the original Indonesian news report used as a source. Kaltim Post - 27 January 2007

"Itu sekolah Islam? Bukan, itu sekolah umum berstatus negeri sejak 1970. Tiap Jumat, anak sekolah mengenakan pakaian Muslimah, termasuk yang beragama non-Muslim."

It is an Islamic school? No, it has been a State school since 1970. But every Friday, the children are required to wear Muslim clothes, and that includes the non-Muslim children.

Unusual? Hardly, a US State Department report on religious freedom in Indonesia clearly states that elementary and secondary students in Indonesia are at times forced to undergo religious instruction in a religion other than their own and recently there have been reports of female Catholic students being forced to wear the Islamic veil.

Its one thing for the biased Time magazine to be superciliously dismissive of both myself and my blog. It's another to defame and libel me.


To be continued...

CONTINUE READING

Time Magazine Reporting For Duty

It is one thing to be called "The Blogger Behind the Obama Hit Job" and quite another to be referred to as a "less-than-authoritative source". Needless to say, it naturally begs the question - Who would be an authoritative source? For much of America's mainstream media, the answer is of course themselves. But alas the times they are a changing.

On to the rebuttal.

"The first mention of Martin's blog comes on Page 52 of Obama Nation, when it is cited as the source for Corsi's assertion that when Obama's Muslim stepfather registered him at a Catholic school in Indonesia, Obama's religion was recorded as "Islam." No one disputes that."

Actually, the Obama camp and America's mainstream media has been disputing this from the very first day it was reported on this blog.

"In fact, Martin is not the only one who reported the information; on Jan. 25, 2007, the same day that Martin posted it on his blog, the Associated Press reported the same information, from the Fransiskus Assisi Catholic school, and ran a photograph of the document."

Actually, the post Time magazine is referring to was posted here on the 24th of January 2007 and not the 25th. And not to split hairs or anything, but don't forget that over here in Southeast Asia we are a day ahead of you guys back in America. (International Date Line). That would make my posting actually 2 days prior to the Associated Press report.


"Although Lolo Soetero, Obama's stepfather, was nominally a Muslim, Obama (then known as Barry Soetoro), studied Catholic catechism at the school."

Nope false. Obama never studied "Catholic catechism" at school, he studied Islam.


"What was Martin's source for his repeated insistence that Obama's former school requires students to dress in traditional Muslim attire on Fridays? "I've lived [in Southeast Asia] for 20 years; I go to schools all the time," he says. However, he admits that he never visited Obama's former school on a Friday."

Martin's source is... Martin himself. Did you think I was going to use CNN as a source?

Having spent almost my entire adult life in Southeast Asia, I think I might have an idea of what goes on in the schools here and believe it or not, but after 20 years I don't need a weatherman to tell me which way the wind blows.

Obama and the Audacity of CNN


"In a 2007 post, Martin also claims that the Indonesian title of Obama's book The Audacity of Hope — Menerjang Harapan — means "Jihad." This, says Martin, is what Indonesians see when they encounter Obama's book. However, his translation is a distortion of the Indonesian phrase, which in English is literally "To Challenge Hope."'

"Menerjang Harapan" is not an Indonesian phrase nor is it a distortion. It is two Indonesian words that are never used together. Google it (the two words together) and the only references you will find will be Barack Obama's own self-serving book.

In the context the words are used it leaves the actual meaning open to ambiguous interpretation, kind of like poetry if you will. As I stated and as many of the comments have conceded, the translation is incorrect and done in such a way as to excite the Indonesians. How exactly it excites the Indonesians is the only area of contention.

It is the truth that always prevails.


Justice Holmes once wrote, "when men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths, they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas - that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market."

Barack Obama can fight back all he wants and accuse his adversaries of bigotry and racism, he can coerce a compliant and malleable mainstream media to do the same, he can publish long-winded rebuttals and set up websites to "fight the smears" and when worse comes to worse he can always threaten his opponents. Why not... it is what they would do in Indonesia.

I've seen many people over the years here in Southeast Asia who have dared to speak out, many who were imprisoned, bankrupted or beaten for simply speaking out. I've seen many who have been denied both political and religious freedom and I've seen their oppressors employ the very same exact tactics that Barack Obama is employing. The accusations of bigotry and racism, the state-controlled media and untimately the threats.

Like Barack Obama, I've lived in Southeast Asia, albeit a long longer than Obama did. But unlike Barack Obama I've never been subscriber to cultural or moral equivalency nor have I felt compelled to deride my own country in a a pathetic effort to establish that equivalency. I know that deriding my own country overseas only emboldens those who deny freedom and liberty to others. As an advocate of American exceptionalism, I've always felt myself compelled to spread the message of what is good about America rather than what is bad and for me that normally starts with steaming bowl of chili con carne and a plate of tacos.

"Peace, Love and American hegemony, one plate of tacos at a time"

Have you seen the look on a Malaysian or Indonesian's face as they timidly for the first time in their lives poke around at a plate of crispy tacos, when they lift that crispy, crunchy tortilla shell and bite into that Tex-Mex goodness? I have seen it and it is a sight of beauty and love that completely transcends all political, ideological and religious differences.



Related Posts:


America's Ambassadors or America's Shame

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Barack Obama Vs. America

"His is just one of what will likely be many more lie-filled books rushed to print this election cycle, which are cobbled together from debunked internet sources to make money and advance a partisan agenda. We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

For freedom loving Americans, the words above should be downright chilling, they are hateful and combined with the ominous threats issued from Obama's team are downright Orwellian. But what is more disturbing though than the words themselves is the collusion of the mainstream media and those who have traditionally assumed the role in America as the vanguards of free speech.

Emboldened and aided by a sycophantical mainstream media eager to tag-team and pummel Corsi relentlessly with vile ad hominem attacks and characterize both him and his book in the most defamatory and vituperative of terms. Where is the outrage? It was Barack Obama himself who touted his foreign policy credentials with the cute anecdotal stories of his childhood in Indonesia. To paraphrase Justice Stewart, where does he get off crying "Smear", when an opponent or an industrious blogger or reporter discovers and proves that Barack Obama or rather Barry Soetoro was all the while being dishonest with the American people. For Obama, the best test of truth is not to get itself accepted in the competition of the market but to kill the messenger. Not only is this un-American, but unacceptable.

Our country's forefathers and those who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom would be rolling over in the graves at the prospect of Obama's "change" and progression evolving in policy.

For the advocates of this perverse militant egalitarianism, reasoned argument is replaced by a conditioned reflex as Obama's legions of lickspittle automatons mindlessly parrot as "evidence" whatever Obama himself has written in any one of his own self-serving books. You see this has never been about the free interchange of ideas or even the ascertainment of truth, this is all about entitlement and nothing not even freedom or liberty is going to get in the way.

"Unfit For Publication"? I'm sorry Barack Obama, but this is America and not some tinpot dictatorship and if Penthouse Magazine and Jet Magazine are fit for publication then so is Jerry Corsi's book. Having said that though, there is no doubt in my mind that you and your legion of jackbooted apparatchiks would have Corsi's book consigned to the flames if you had the power and that Mr. Obama is why you must be stopped at all costs.

So back to the threat that "We will respond to these smears forcefully with all means at our disposal."

Well Mr. Obama, I am one of Jerry Corsi's "debunked internet sources", now vindicated and I say, bring it on.

CONTINUE READING

Obama and CNN: Black, White or Yellow

"...If anyone is still puzzled about the facts, in fact I have never been a Muslim. We had to send CNN to look at the school that I attended in Indonesia where kids were wearing short pants and listening to ipods to indicate that this was not a madrassa but was a secular school in Indonesia..." ~ Barack Obama, 24 February 2008

In a recent episode of Saturday Night Live that featured a parody of a Clinton Obama debate, a faux Campbell Brown chirped "Like nearly everyone in the news media, the three of us are totally in the tank for Senator Obama". Funny? Yes, but this might have hit a bit too close to home.

Surely Barack Obama wouldn't lie now would he? But did the Obama camp really send CNN to Indonesia? Are we to believe that when the accusations of Barack Obama attending a madrassa as a child first broke on Fox News last year that Sam Feist's reply to the Obama camp would be "Please relax. You furnish the money, I'll furnish the debunk."

Like many Americans, my parents raised me to believe that it is the truth that matters. It is. Network news broadcasts and newspaper reports have the power to shape our perceptions, consciously and subliminally and as consumers we naturally expect a bit of integrity on behalf of the networks and media outlets. We expect that opinion and commentary are clearly identified as such. What we don't expect is that the news has been manufactured or bought and paid for. That CNN would assist Obama in deceiving the American people is downright despicable and I think if what Obama is saying is true, then both CNN and Obama owe the American people an apology.

For Barack Obama, the facts are that he is a liar and no one, not CNN or Sam Feist is ever going to change that fact. There is no amount of spin, flooding the internet or debunking that is ever going to change the fact that Barack Hussein Obama was born a Muslim and that he practiced Islam as a child, no more than I can change the fact that I was born and baptized a Catholic and attended Catholic school as a child.

Barack Obama often speaks of hope and change, but for a man that truly aspires to lead our nation, hope and change will simply not suffice, there can be no dignity without honesty.


If you haven't read the two related posts below, you need to

Related Posts

CNN Calls The Kettle Black

Obama and the Audacity of CNN

CONTINUE READING

Obama On Indonesian Television - Part 1

This is the beginning of a two part series here at "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" entitled "Obama on Indonesian Television". The videos below are from DetikTV in Jakarta who ran a small series in February 2008 entitled tracking Barack Obama in Indonesia. The information you will find in the videos below confirms and substantiates much of what we originally translated and reported in our series of posts on "Obama in Indonesia" back in January of 2007.

The picture above is seen in the following video, showing a young Barry Soetoro (Barack Hussein Obama) posing with his mother, Ann, half sister, Maya, and maternal grandfather Stanley Dunham in Hawaii in the early 1970s after the family returned from Indonesia. Ann Dunham would return to Indonesia and shortly after this picture was taken, Lolo Soetoro Mangunharjo would later divorce Ann and then remarry, fathering another two children.

Right click to open in a new window:

*Video* Tracking Barack Obama: From Menteng to Dempo



In the next video below, a photo is shown of a young Barack Obama and his father Hussein Obama, a Muslim from Kenya and then his mother and stepfather Lolo Soetoro.

Referring to a young Barack Obama, the reporter states in Indonesian "juga hidup tengah-tengah orang muslim" (he lived his life in the middle of Muslims) - an interesting choice of words to use which can have an ambiguous meaning depending on how exactly it is translated. Highlighting the United States presidential campaign, the reporter states that Obama's enemies have been making a political issue out of Obama's "life among the Muslims". The reporter then states, "Barry yang punya wajah lucu sering dimainkan teman-teman pernah dipakaikan sarong meski tak pernah ikut solat" (Barry had a funny face and his friends made fun of him by putting a sarong on him even though he didn't pray). The emphasis here is that even though Barry was a Muslim and was in the mosque and was wearing Islamic clothes, that he was only "playing" and not really "praying". I suppose you can interpret that any way you wish.

In the second part of the video, Zulfan Adi, a former neighborhood playmate of Obama's who has been cited in numerous news reports claiming that Obama regularly attended Friday prayers with his stepfather Lolo Soetoro points out the "Musholla Al-Rahman" (Al-Rahman Prayer Room) to the reporter where he then goes out of his way to explain that Obama wasn't "praying" in the prayer room, he only "playing". That Zulfan Adi found it necessary to use and emphasize the English word "praying" in the Indonesian language report leads us to the self-evident conclusion that this part of the report if not all of it was simply staged for foreign consumption.

Right click to open in a new window:

*Video* The Prayer Room Where Obama Played


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Related Posts

Tracking Down Obama in Indonesia

Tracking Down Obama in Indonesia - Part 2

Tracking Down Obama in Indonesia - Part 3

CONTINUE READING

Washington Post: Enabling The Enemy

Last Sunday, The Washington Post and several other newspapers around the country did not run Sunday's installment of Berkeley Breathed's "Opus," in which the spiritual fad-seeking character Lola Granola appears in a headscarf and explains to her boyfriend, Steve, why she wants to become a radical Islamist. The cartoon that the cowardly Washington Post refused to publish can be viewed right here.

The irony of all this is that a week earlier the Washington Post had no reservations to running a political cartoon by the same artist that took a swipe at the Rev. Jerry Falwell and Christians. Donald E. Graham the Chief Executive Officer of The Washington Post Company shares his views on the free flow of information and leadership below.

History and Leadership

"We all share a belief that the free flow of information is essential to a successful democracy. Over the years the company's leaders have taken great risks to ensure that citizens have unfettered access to the news."

Perhaps Donald E. Graham the Chief Executive Officer of The Washington Post Company should respect the freedom and rights of the people and do it's utmost to promote the free flow of ideas and opinions instead of trying to promote or urge tolerance and understanding. Our nation's sons and daughters are at this very moment fighting and sacrificing their lives for freedom and liberty, not for diversity, tolerance or understanding. Shame on you Mr. Graham. Shame on you for continuing to enable the enemy. An enemy who is determined to strip from us those very freedoms that our nation's best have sacrificed their lives to protect.

There are those of us who see through your smokescreen Mr. Graham. We know the real reasons why the Washington Post wouldn't publish the cartoon, and it wasn't because of political correctness and tolerance. It was out of cowardly fear. Fear from the wrath of Rageboy.

I'm sorry Mr. Graham, but as the Chief Executive Officer of The Washington Post Company you ought to be ashamed. Ashamed of using your position in a pathetic attempt to stymy the free flow of information and for inadvertently enabling our nation's enemies.

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Where are God's Christian Warriors?

A newspaper catering to Malaysia's ethnic Indians published a front-page apology Thursday after causing an outrage by printing an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette. Malaysia's national news agency Bernama would report that, Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi slammed the picture as hurtful and an insult to Christians, and called on people not to play with religion. Malaysia's Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi would further state -- "If the Christians get to know about it, it will create problems". Well, guess what Mr. Badawi, the Christians have already found out about it, and needless to say, many of us are still befuddled. Where is the global outrage, the violent worldwide protests and the calls to behead those who insult Christianity?

Leading in what Charles Johnson of LGF would describe as "CNN's Moral Equivalence Marathon" would be veteran reporter Christiane Amanpour who would endeavor to prove throughout a "unprecedented six-hour television event," that there exists no moral or ethical hierarchy between the three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and that all three religions are equally capable of producing virulent warriors in support of their beliefs. The problem is that CNN's viewers and the world hardly need to be convinced that Islam is capable of producing violent warriors, and so Amanpour's crusade (for lack of a better word) is to convince her viewers that Christianity and Judaism are just as bad. And so, a preview for the segment "God's Christian Warriors" juxtaposes file footage from the bombing of an abortion clinic in into segments of her interview with the late Jerry Falwell.

The majority of the segment "God's Christian Warriors" however would focus on a Christian fundamentalist movement called "Battlecry" and an interview with it's founder Ron Luce. Accompanied by an ominous soundtrack, Amanpour would describe the scene at the Battlecry event as - "22,000 screaming teenagers and adults, Christian conservatives armed with their faith and ready to do battle."

It was at this point in the show that Amanpour might have come to the realization that she was about to falter and yet like Monty Python's Black Knight she continued. The coup de grâce would be delivered with Amanpour's sanctimoniously smug remark where she had the audacity to compare the modest dress of the girls in attendance to that of the Taliban.

John with Verum Serum would have these words to say

"Amanpour’s strained and tendentious effort at secularist fear mongering and moral equivalence is finally brought down under the weight of its own desperation. Though she tries repeatedly to put frightening words in other’s mouths, in the end there’s just nothing there, or not much anyway..."

And so, back to our original question - "Where is the global outrage, the violent worldwide protests and the calls to behead those who insult Christianity?" Armed solely with their faith rather than machetes, the Christians it would seem are much more interested in collecting souls rather than collecting heads.

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Exposing God's Muslim Warriors

In a six hour documentary entitled "God's Warriors" CNN reports on fundamentalism in the three major Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. For the segment entitled "God's Muslim Warriors", Christiane Amanpour speaks with Rehan Seyam an American-born Muslim who lives in New Jersey and who is allegedly part of a new generation of Muslim-Americans who are suddenly finding themselves compelled to embrace their faith.

In a fallacious appeal to emotion CNN allows Rehan Seyam to recall an improbable anecdote where she claims to have been intimidated and tormented by a man who sang "The 12 Days of Christmas" using insulting lyrics about terrorism and Osama bin Laden. Instead of avoiding the man or running off like any normal person might do, the alleged victim would courageously confront her oppressor and boldly ask "Do I look like a terrorist to you?" In an effort to support Mrs. Seyam's story, CNN would claim that stories like Mrs. Rehan Seyam's are "not altogether uncommon" and then à la Michael Moore proceeds to cite statistics that would appear to substantiate Mrs. Rehan Seyam's claim. The viewer is needless to say, led to a predicable and self-evident conclusion.

The reality is that Mrs. Rehan Seyam and individuals like her represent a new generation of self-radicalized Muslim-American extremists who have come to reject Western cultural values and who are continuously abusing a nation's tolerance. By Mrs. Rehan's own admission, her commitment to Islam while living in a "materialistic America" is her own "jihad". Lets not kid ourselves, these are hardly the words of a "victim" desirous solely of expressing her religious beliefs without persecution.

Equipped with a degree in applied clinical psychology Mrs. Rehan Seyam has the audacity to claim that "people look at me as if I am threatening and I do not feel like I am threatening looking ... I don't feel I should instill fear in anybody's heart ..." By her own admission, she is making people anxious and uncomfortable, and that is entirely understandable considering the fact that we happen to be at war with Mrs. Rehan Seyam's co-religionists who have already attacked our homeland once before. It's hardly likely that Mrs. Rehan Seyam's is oblivious to the anxiety that she puts many Americans through with her arrogant display of chauvinism. So we are left with a nagging question, why does she do it?

Simply put, it's a political statement and a repudiation of everything that our nation stands for, it is the so-called moderate's way of instinctively showing their fraternal support for their violent co-religionists. Inadvertently, Mrs. Rehan Seyam makes it quite clear that the hijab for her is a symbol of Islamic self-assertion and ethnic chauvinism, it is a reactive revolutionary response and a rejection to assimilation and integration. You might notice that many of these displays of Islamic self-assertion and ethnic chauvinism only became popular after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Prior to September 11th it was a rare occurrence to find someone asking if they can pray before a flight departure or insisting to wear a hijab. You'd be hard pressed to find a cabdriver who would refuse a passenger simply because he was carrying a bottle of wine and you can rest assured that no one would have the audacity to demand that you finance and build "foot basins" for them to wash their feet.

It goes without saying that the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 in fact played an instrumental role in radicalizing many individuals such as Rehan Seyam not only in the United States, but around the world. The challenge the West faces is to determine not only the source of the radicalization, but who has already been radicalized and to what degree. Alluding to her insignificance and professing a dualistic worldview, Rehan Seyam's closing comments might actually shed some light into the source of her radicalization - "I'm not here to live my life and do whatever I want. I'm here to worship God,"... "I don't think that everybody has that, and I think that I'm lucky for it."

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Debunking The Debunkers

Most of us are familar with informative websites such as Snopes.Com and perhaps to a lesser extent websites like Ask.Com, websites that educate and in the process attempt to dispell any rumors or urban legends that seem to persist on the internet. Many people are predisposed to think that a lot of investigation and research goes into dispelling netlore and rumors and therefore expect that much of what they read on these websites is in fact factual. One might be led to believe that credibility is an issue of paramount importance to websites such as these. But is it?

On the 20th of January 2007 I first translated an Indonesian media report on presidential hopeful Senator Barack Hussein Obama entitled "Tracking Down Obama in Indonesia" , this would be the first of several postings I made on the subject of Barack Hussein Obama's education and childhood during his formative years in Indonesia.

At the time, there were rumors circulating that a young Barack Hussein Obama was educated in a Wabbabist madrasah. While there was some truth in the rumors concerning Obama's childhood, the madrasah rumor was false and on the 23rd of Janauary (here in Southeast Asia) I posted the first "debunking" of this rumor in a post entitled "Tracking Down Obama in Indonesia - Part 2". Keep in mind, that over here in Southeast Asia we are one day ahead of those of you who live in the United States.

The very next day, CNN would report the following story from Indonesia where they claimed to debunk the false reports on Obama.

CNN's reporting from Indonesia was misleading and contained numerous factual inaccuracies of what Obama's previous school is like now and what Obama's education was like during the late 60's and early 70's. On the same day as CNN's report, I posted the following entry entitled CNN Calls The Kettle Black.

I would later post two reports "debunking" CNN's report from Indonesia. If you have not read them, please do. You might ask yourself as I did, what exactly CNN debunked?

Obama and the Audacity of CNN

This first report focuses of CNN's biased, misleading and deliberately deceptive reporting from Indonesia. How they ignored certain prominent witnesses, friends and teachers of young "Barry Soetero". Even more shocking is how they were seemingly ignorant of recent changes in Indonesia's constitution "that restrict religious freedom by forcing elementary and secondary school students to undergo religious instruction, sometimes in a religion other than their own".

Obama's Years of Living Dangerously

This second report focuses on what CNN didn't tell you about Indonesia in the late 60's and early 70's when a young Barack Hussein Obama would have actually attended school there. Seriously, if you wanted to have an insight into what Obama's education was like in Indonesia during the late 60's and early 70's then why would you make a sophmoric attempt to show what a school is like in the year 2007?

Cited in the link above, is a March 1976 publication by Lambert Kelabora entitled, Religious Instruction Policy in Indonesia followed by a 1979 publication entitled, Assumptions Underlying Religious Instruction in Indonesia both these publications can give the reader a fair assessment of exactly how much religious instruction and Islam did in fact play a prominent role in Indonesia's government and so-called secular schools during the time when a young Barack Hussein Obama would have attended school there.

My reason for reposting this synopsis is because recently my attention has been brought to the fact that two self-proclaimed non-biased websites both who profess to dispell netlore, urban legends and web rumors are in fact promoting just that ~ what they claim to dispell.

Both websites, Ask.Com / About.Com and Snopes.Com seem predisposed to use Barack Hussein Obama's own self-serving books and the notoriously cannibalized CNN's "debunking" as authorities in their bids to dispell what they perceive to be rumors concerning Obama's religious upbringing and his previous education in Indonesia.

Asked if Barack Hussein Obama was ever a Muslim, David Emery with Ask.Com had this to say:

"Once a Muslim? When? Unless I missed it while skimming Obama's two books and sundry interviews, the senator has never mentioned being a Muslim at any point in his life. Yes, he lived in a Muslim country during part of his childhood and briefly attended a Muslim school there, but he certainly wasn't raised a Muslim and has never been, so far as I can determine, a practitioner of that faith...[sic]"

Sorry, Mr. Emery, but you are wrong, and this isn't a "crass, politically-motivated smear" it is the truth.

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Obama's Years of Living Dangerously

"A man who ceases to believe in God does not believe in nothing; he believes in anything."

G.K. Chesterton

It would seem that many of our nation's liberals are fully satisfied with CNN's "drive by" reporting on the Obama story. Insight reported... CNN flew in and debunked and that is it... story is over. Pack up the camera crew and jet off somewhere else.

In the wake of everything, many of us though are left dumbfounded because we just can't seem to put our finger on what exactly CNN supposedly debunked.

CNN's claim that Obama attended a multi-confessional, secular public school in Jakarta, Indonesia that has hardly changed in the last 35 years seems hard to believe.

Many are not interested in what CNN claims Obama's school is like now. We want to know what was it like back then in the late 60's and early 70's.

And so... on to what CNN's "drive by" reporting left out.

As reported, a young "Barry Soetoro" registered for school at the Franciscan Asisi Primary School on 1 January 1968. The late sixties and early seventies would be see an Indonesia in turmoil with the pro-communist Sukarno being overthown by the pro-muslim Suharto.

Less than a year before a young "Barry Soetoro" had registered for school, Indonesia would have witnessed one of the worst slaughters of the twentieth century, when over half a million PKI (Parti Komunis Indonesia) members and their supporters were slaughtered by General Suharto's principally Muslim military and their supporters. A vivid portrayal of the events leading up to Sukarno's overthrow can be seen in the Mel Gibson movie entitled "The Year of Living Dangerously"

In 1967 the nationalist and pro-communist Sukarno was overthrown by General Suharto. On 21 March 1968, Suharto would be formally elected as President.

Under Suharto, Sukarno's state ideology of Pancasila taught in all schools would under go an "indigenization" process in which all Marxist and Western elements of the ideology would be systematically eradicated and replaced with indigenous elements. Religious teachings and ethics related to Islam would become more pronounced in Pancasila as a unifying factor for the mostly Muslim country.

During this "indigenization" process and time of instability it is safe to assume that there would be a fair amount of backlash against any Western individuals living in Indonesia.

Witnesses reported here below that "there were claims that the child was from Papau" when asked about a young Barry Soetoro. It is hard to imagine what life might have been like for a young American mother and her child living in Indonesia at this time.

There have been no explanations as to why Barack Obama's family moved from their original residence to Dempo Street or why Obama's family removed him from the Franciscan Asisi School and enrolled him in Besuki Primary.

What is known is that Indonesia's education system was experiencing a major transformation with religion (Islam) now playing a much more pivotal role.

In 1976, Lambert Kelabora published a paper entitled "Religious Instruction Policy in Indonesia" which addresses many of the questions regarding what Barack Obama's Indonesian education was like in the late 1960's and early 70's.

An excerpt from the first page of this paper reads clearly indicates it's relevency:

"Religion permeates every section of life in Indonesia. It occupies an enormously important place in politics, economics, education, and the arts. For this reason, the study of religious education will have to include almost almost all aspects of Indonesian society. This article, however, is intended to study the development of religious instruction in the government schools - only a small section of the wider spectrum of religious education. The term religious instruction is used advisedly to refer to the religious lessons provided in secular education institutions under the Ministry of Education."

Another paper published in the late 70's entitled "Assumptions Underlying Religious Instruction in Indonesia" explains in great detail how Indonesia's education system was changing.

"However the changing political and security situation in the country since 1949 has made religion a compulsory subject for all, from pre-primary to tertiary level..."

Over the last week, I have received many emails, many supportive and many others downright hateful accusing me of being anything from a bigot, a racist and and even an islamophobe.

The truth is that I am not any of these things. Like many others, I simply wanted to know the truth.

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