In Dymphna’s recent post about Saudi Arabia, commenter westbankmama took exception to some of the questions that were being asked and posed her own:

	…some more pertinent questions would be:
	What do you drive?
	Is there a commuter rail system where you live — and if not, why not?
	How do you heat your house — and how much larger is it per person than the house you grew up in?

Putting aside the somewhat self-righteous tone of the questions, westbankmama has a point: the demand for oil — particularly by the United States — allows the despotic Saudi regime to accumulate the wealth that it uses to oppress its own populace and fund terrorist activities and propaganda worldwide.

So put on an extra sweater! Bike to work! Forego your vacation! Every penny kept out of King Abdullah’s hands is a penny earned.

And somehow we will have to persuade India and China to halt their economic development, since it is the recent and enormous increase in their demand which is largely responsible for the steep rise in oil prices over the last several years. Tell the farmers in Gujarat that they’ll have to do without electricity, in order to stop the Great Islamic Jihad in its tracks!

There’s something not quite right with this argument…

Just for fun, imagine that tomorrow a huge new gold field is discovered by Pakistani geologists under the mountains of northern Waziristan. Thousands of tons of gold are suddenly added to Pakistan’s treasury, giving it the kind of international leverage that is normally reserved for the members of OPEC.

Despite the chumminess with Pervez Musharraf forced upon President Bush by the exigencies of statecraft, it is definitely not in the interests of the United States that Pakistan acquire the same buying power as Saudi Arabia. Worldwide Deobandism would join Wahhabism as a primary engine of the Great Jihad.

So, in the interests of national security, we’d have to abandon the use of gold as an international currency, revoke its status as a precious metal, and force the goldbugs to relinquish forever the dream of overturning Bretton Woods, right?

Or maybe not.

Look at it from another angle: For the past thirty years Norway has received enormous revenues from North Sea oil. Therefore it would be a good idea to cut back on petroleum usage in order to de-fund the export of Scandinavian terror, and keep the Viking zealots from imposing strict Norse law on the rest of the world. If they had their way, we’d all be eating lutefisk and climbing into the sauna with — gasp! — members of the opposite sex.

Obviously, the problem isn’t the transfer of wealth, but the behavior of the recipients.

The appropriate analogy is the mother of a tired two-year-old. When the little darling is ready to use any nearby object as a projectile, the savvy mother doesn’t try to keep ahead of the toddler by removing the next likely weapon. She puts the little bugger into bed with his blanket and bottle, and makes sure that he stays there till he starts snoring.

At some point we are going to have to stop referring to the dictators of certain Islamic countries as our “good friends”, and name the enemy for what he is.

In the meantime, I just wish our President could manage to conduct the necessary diplomacy without holding hands with the infantile tyrants.

 
Remember the shoes? Well, now a designer of jeans is getting in on the act. According to Opinion Journal, Bjorn Atldax — a Swedish designer — has turned out a special line of anti-Christian denims:

Mr. Atldax has added a Satanic logo–with a cross turned upside down on the forehead of a skull–to his product specifically to make Christians angry, he recently told the Religion News Service. “I think organized religion is not good for the society,” he explained.

Shrinkwrapped recently had a post on bear-baiting, and this peculiar behavior by Mr. Atldax seems to be along those same lines.

Opinion Journal continues

The jeans have proved so popular with Swedish youth that Mr. Atldax has announced plans “to make something anti-Hindu because I think its caste system is awful.” But he is not considering any anti-Islamic designs because, he observed, “there are already a lot of anti-Islamic sentiments.”…

Let’s fisk, this shall we?

For one thing precisely which subset of “Swedish youth” are making these jeans so popular? Are they anything like the “French youth” who like to set cars on fire? Any similarities there?

And, of course, making fun of the Hindus is safe. How many militant Hindus do you suppose reside in Sweden?

As for his lame excuse about not making any anti-Islam jeans? That explanation is so transparent you could use it for plastic wrap. Mr. Atldax doesn’t want to get vanGoghed, that’s all. If he dared to “design” his Eurotrash jeans depicting anything vaguely disrespectful toward Islam, he’d would have his throat cut in a Muslim minute.

As Caribpundit notes:

By his willingness to offend Christians and Hindus, and his hands off attitude to Islam, Atldax is proving himself to be very European. Would the last courageous man in Europe turn the lights out when he leaves [?].

Unfortunately, Europe has gotten so used to the twilight in which it dwells that it has lost the capacity to see beyond today.

Thanks to Caribpundit for the new verb: “to be vangoghed.” The murderous actions of Muslims force us to create neologisms to describe their bloody behavior. It is perhaps a sign of our resiliency that we manage to be that creative.

 
UPDATE: a commenter here says he’s received about fourteen thousand death threats since putting his Mohammed comics online. That’s an awful lot of fear loose in the world. Imagine being that thin-skinned.

The Brussels Journal continues to carry forward an important story which the MSM continues to avoid most studiously. It is difficult to find mention anywhere of the on-going and almost-universal p.c. pressure on Denmark to stifle free speech by making their leading newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, Take Back The Cartoons.

Unlike the mainstream media, who (apart from Denmark) are not interested in the case, we think it is very important for the future of Europe.

The full weight of Muslim outrage is being brought to bear on Denmark for refusing to bow to Islam:

An influential Islamic organisation, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), has called upon its 51 member states to boycott Denmark unless the Danish government “presents an official apology for the drawings that have offended the world’s Muslims.” Last Thursday, the foreign ministers of the 22 members of the Arab League also expressed their dissatisfaction with the Danish government. They demand that the Danish government change its attitude. So far Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has consistently refused to interfere, saying that his government has no power over what the media do.

The Danes are a breath of fresh air in Europe, one of the few remaining Old World countries with any spine.

Since September, a predictable variety of outraged Islamists have delivered official nastygrams from dozens of countries, have vilified Denmark publicly and officially, have ginned up the populace into hysterical temper tantrums, threatened boycotts and generally acted as though they have the leverage and the muscle to do anything to a country (some of) whose citizens acted in way that they found offensive. Predictably the UN has put in its grossly inflated two cents’ worth, and like foreign service officers everywhere, a group of retired Danish diplomats sent a stern letter to the Prime Minister.

This kind of supremely ignorant hubris would be funny if it were not potentially so lethal. But when you have Islamic countries (Islamic democracy seems to be an oxymoron) led by the ignorant or the psychologically unstable, it raises concern for the future of a free press anywhere, especially given the Euro attraction to the hideously malformed — whether it be aesthetics or ethics or philosophy. Islam demands that Europe commit suicide and many are only too happy to oblige.

Can you imagine the Queen of England saying the things that the Queen of Denmark has? Poor England is slipping into dhimmitude a little more each day whilst noisily proclaiming it is doing no such thing. Meanwhile, Denmark quietly and firmly grasps its first principles, refusing to let go.

Thank God for Denmark.

Joining the Council of Weasel Watchers was one of the best decisions I made in 2005. I’ve learned a lot from a huge variety of posts I’d not have seen otherwise, and it’s been educational trying to understand what “clicks” for the majority of the council — what components go in to making a first place winner. I’ve been in that position a few times and sometimes I understand the appeal of one of my posts. This one surprised me, though. It’s a personal reminiscence and those aren’t particularly appealing in a milieu mostly devoted to current events. Perhaps it was the timelessness of Christmases past — maybe it appealed to people for the same reason we love Dylan Thomas’ “ A Child’s Christmas in Wales.” For myself, I’ve always wished I’d written the last two lines in that story. Anyway, I’m grateful for the nod from the Watchers. That was a hard story to tell and the vote was a kind of balm.

The Suicidal Pursuit of Perfection took second place. Shrinkwrapped growing strength in making metaphorical and analogical connections between ideas and events is enthralling to watch. Speaking of those who seek an absolute perfection which can never be attained, he says:

When their pursuit of perfection, in themselves and others, fails, as it inevitably must, they are prone to terribly self-destructive despair and depression. It is important to note that the despair has always been lurking; it is held at bay by short term success in using external buttresses to defend their fragile self-esteem. As long as they are seen as smarter, or more ethical, or more correct, or more powerful; as long as they have an audience, people who will look up to them, they can maintain their image of themselves as better than others. It is when such maneuvers fail that they are prone to despair.

The opportunistic Democrats need to hold onto their power; they need the fawning MSM elites to confirm their conviction that they are smarter and better than their opponents, and they are often willing to do anything to regain that power, even if it damages their country and harms other people.

The first “political” psychoanalyst I remember reading was Karen Horney’s work from the 1940’s. Shrinkwrapped is coming ’round the bend and moving up on her.

In the non-Council posts, the first and second places also went to psychologically-oriented posts. Sigmund, Carl and Alfred in The New, Updated Alice in Wonderland

	In what has to be one of the most hypocritical and spectacular displays of chutzpah, Palestinian writer Lucy Nusseibeh write in the Daily Star that the Israelis must address media fed misconceptions of Palestinians. In her moronic piece, she takes offense that some innocuous remarks may have been ‘misunderstood’.
	Nowhere does she address the rabid hatred, anti-Semitism propensity for violence seen on the nightly news. Nowhere does she address the blatant remarks of hatred, taught in schools, preached from mosques. Nowhere does she address the public statements of Hamas and Jihad, extolling the violent ‘liberation’ and ‘rivers of blood’, nor does she address the incessant broadcast on Palestinian Authority TV of vile, hateful programming. She carefully paints an image of the Palestinian as victim, once more (see this, for a further explanation). She shakes her head and asks, ‘Can’t we all get along?’
	The only reason we just can’t get along is because of the hatred- Arab and Muslim hatred, plain and simple. See MEMRI, MEMRITV and PMW, to hear and see it, in their own words. Ask yourselves why our media refuses to report on what is being said about Americans, Jews and Christians. If you think you have a reason to distrust the MSM now, spend a few minutes on those sites.

Meanwhile, One Cosmos has the most entertaining entomological view of the current goings-on that you’re likely to see:

	Some political behavior is just so primitive that human psychology falls short of explaining it. Instead, a keen-eyed psychologist has to rely on other sciences, like, oh, I don’t know, entomology.
	Ever notice how ants, in their busy peregrinations, are constantly rushing up to each other and bumping heads? It turns out that it’s not just to exchange pleasantries with one another, but to feed one another. If one ant is well fed and the other one hungry, the former will produce a drop from its mouth that the other one gratefully gobbles down.
	Apparently, ants have what is known as a “social stomach” in addition to a personal stomach. Until food passes into the personal stomach and becomes the private property of said ant, any ant can stake a claim to it. They have even done experiments on this, for example, feeding a few ants honey that has been colored with a blue-tinted dye. Soon enough, all of the ants in the community will show a blue tint in their abdomen.
	This is pretty much how the left/liberal world works. It is filled with media ants, Hollywood ants, academic ants, singing ants, judicial ants, educational establishment ants, and lastly, political ants who all run around randomly bumping their heads together, so that they’re constantly regurgitating little half-digested bits of information and feeding them to one another. Pretty soon, just like the ants, they’re all the same color.

One Cosmos then proceeds to explain how the whole blue world can fall into line with whatever current Bush Derangement Rantings are making the circuit in this Blue Bubble. Fascinating. You knew they did this stuff, you just didn’t know how the rants got disseminated. Now you do, thanks to One Cosmos.

For the whole deal, go visit The Watcher’s post. There’s some intriguing stuff, including encouraging news about Iraq from America’s Son.

 
Shrinkwrapped has a fascinating explanation — metaphorical but nonetheless applicable in this case — for the strange behavior of The New York Times in its recent revelation of national security issues.

To use a layman’s term for what follows, where I (and The New York Post) think that the paper of record is toying with treason, Shrinkwrapped thinks they’re nuts:

There is a curious reaction that is sometimes seen in patients who have had a stroke (CVA or Cerebral-Vascular Accident in medical parlance) in which they do not recognize the loss of function in the area affected by the stroke. They may have been paralyzed on one side of their body but act as if nothing is wrong or they may have cortical blindness for half their visual field but be completely unaware of their visual defect.

So, then…the Old Grey One is simply suffering from some vascular problems — the ones usually associated with old age — and can’t help what it’s doing:

In today’s New York Times, there is an example of “news reporting neglect syndrome” that is so significant that it suggests a life threatening condition which has thus far not been recognized by the victim.

Shrinkwrapped goes on to quote from the follow-up story (an Associated Press article), printed by the Times, in which it is noted that a “firestorm of criticism of the administration” resulted from the Times’ revelations of spying being done inside the US on people suspected of having ties to terrorism. Then he ponders the situation:

There is no mention in this or later in the story, that much of the “firestorm of criticism” was, in fact, directed at the Times and the leakers who have imperiled our national security and safety for reasons that at best are misguided and at worst are down right treasonous. For a newspaper which touts itself as the “paper of record” and printing “all the news that’s fit to print” to leave out much more than half of the story, merely because it doesn’t fit their agenda is dangerously misguided. This is a major story about a very significant breach, yet that aspect is ignored or minimized by the Times.

Well, he’s right, of course. They left out half the story. They’ve been doing that for decades, Doctor. The fact is, they’ve been ignoring and minimizing reality — cutting it into tiny pieces to shape their agenda — for decades. But your medical explanation certainly fits the symptoms. The New York Times is simply senile and contentious:

It is possible that the Times and its reporters literally do not recognize that they are neglecting the 75% of the world who do not agree with their stance. As such, they would not be omitting the news because they do not agree with it, but because they literally do not see it as news.

If a stroke patient who neglects half his visual field is allowed to continue driving, they will almost certainly have a major accident before too long. They may not be suicidal, which requires intent, but instead are in deadly danger because of their own disability, lack of awareness of their disability, and poor judgment. For a so-called news organization to continue publishing when they exhibit such an obvious disability when it comes to recognizing news is likely to prove fatal in the long run.

Shrinkwrapped’s version is much nice than mine: I think the whole organization is rotten, and the remaining bits of healthy flesh don’t begin to cover what is basically necrosis. And nuts or not, they’re a treasonous bunch who ought to be investigated for sedition. Their perfidy is matched only by their mendacity — i.e., they published the story when they did to get publicity for a book one of their writers is launching.

Well, I am fortunate: Shrinkwrapped reads the New York Times so I don’t have to. I hope he wears gloves, and a mask and a gown. Otherwise…