There is tide in the affairs of men,
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current where it serves,
Or lose our ventures.
— William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar
I don’t have time for much reading these days, but, thanks to Larwyn and LGF, I at least keep abreast of what’s going on. A lot of things are happening at once — the fake “news” stories coming out of Iraq, the imminent Shia coup in Lebanon, the Pope’s visit to Turkey, the fallout from the recent election and the possibility of a cut-and-run from Iraq — all are being covered in depth by the blogs and alternative media.
Some of these are important stories. So why do most of them feel like ephemera?
The daily news is like the wind-whipped whitecaps on the ocean, a lot of violent froth on the surface, dangerous to surfers and small craft, but having nothing to do with the larger movement of the sea. The deep swells are the movement of history; they are scarcely noticeable to a beleaguered swimmer treading water and gulping spray on the surface. But their slow-moving effects are much larger and more permanent.
When Aldwulf and Hunwald set off in a tiny boat from 6th-century Schleswig, headed for the coast of Britain, they didn’t know that they were part of the “Anglo-Saxon settlement of England”. They were just a couple of cousins looking for a better life, escaping bad harvests and population pressure in the lowlands of pagan Germany. If there were newspapers in those days, there would have been no headlines saying, “Colonization of Celtic Britain Begins”. By the time the import of these events became clear, the English kingdoms of southern Britain were well-established, and Aldwulf and Hunwald were long dead.
And so it is with our current events. Larger forces are in motion, ones which will take decades or centuries to resolve into historic clarity. None of us can see what’s really going on; we can blink away the salt foam, crane our necks up, and maybe see the beginning of another large swell heading our way. But the flow of the tide and the destination of the coming storm are not — and cannot be — known to us.
Yet we must take the current where it serves, or lose our ventures.
The emergence of Coalition to Preserve Civilization and the 910 Group is part of the deeper swell. The time has come for events like these, as many individuals wake up and realize that they are not alone in their determination to resist the twin juggernauts of Islamic Fascism and Multiculturalism.
The Instapundit link to my CPC post has generated a lot of interest, and reactions are starting to come in. Arguments within the Right are particularly strident, and I will eventually post about some of the issues raised. The libertarians at reason.com checked in, quoting from my post simply to ridicule me.
But that’s OK. When you put on the gloves and get into the ring, you expect a bloody nose every now and again.
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Here’s another kind of reaction, one that is more typical of the responses. This is from our Swedish commenter and correspondent LN, whom many of you know from his earlier guest posts. This was his comment on the CPC post last night:
Obviously I must elucidate what I earlier proposed — I take the liberty to use the Baron’s own words.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
You of the 910 group assert that you are an international movement, with members in India, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Norway, and Canada, as well as the U.S.A. You comprise a self-selected group of people who share common goals: to oppose Islamic Fascism wherever it is found, and to promote the emergence of liberty in all the dark corners of the planet where ordinary people are degraded and oppressed.And now a new “network of networks” is said to have been formed under the 910 umbrella, calling itself “The Coalition to Preserve Civilization”. This Anti-Islamofascist movement needs to become a world wide coalition, with its own Anti-Islamofascist portal on the Internet.
You will be required to overcome the stifling fog of Political Correctness and Multiculturalism that infuses every aspect of modern discourse, and would enervate those who seek to preserve our culture.
You will need to identify and work with other organizations in Europe and elsewhere who are working against the Islamofascist threat.
Not only Americans are sleepwalking, just as almost everybody used to do before the world wars of the last century.
Most people prefer not to see the changes, many people, not seldom with almost a religious keenness, pretend nothing is happening — dhimmitude, what is that?
None of this is about government action. This is not an outline or plan for a government program. It’s not a strategy for military action. It’s about an information war.
Our leaders are in the process of abandoning us, and are beginning to cut deals with all the nice, moderate muslims and even with the terror masters. This is a grass-root networking effort designed to fight the threatening Islamicization of the western world. Time is 5 to 12, active Muslims are sneaking into our parliaments and municipalities — the walls of Vienna are being sapped.
But you cannot act in silence and darkness. You must be known to the world — at least initially you must be known to the governments, the press and the ‘citizens who care’ in the relevant countries.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
According to the Swedish Constitution, documents, all mail etc. that arrives at the Swedish Government, to Ministers, to the Parliament, to Municipalities etc. is registered — cannot disappear — and is public domain. Everybody is entitled to read it or get a copy if they pay for it. Every large newspaper with self-esteem cover the daily mail harvest at the different departments in Stockholm. This is called ‘The Principle of Public Access to Official Records’ and is supposed to be a very rare phenomenon on this globe.Seen from my Swedish standpoint, therefore Mr. Fitzgerald’s idea of questioning Ehud Olmert about his knowledge of Islam, appeared to be an efficient way to challenge a president, a prime minister, a foreign minister, a minister for immigration, etc. and to awake and create public awareness in the body of citizens.
Mr. Fitzgerald: “And come to think of it, why shouldn’t this little quiz, which so clearly will elicit for us information about the comprehension of Infidel leaders everywhere, be given, in one form or another, all over the world”, beginning with those in Washington (President Bush, Condi Rice, Karen Hughes, Nancy Pelosi — [insert additional names here]), [and in] London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, Wien, Bruxelles, Amsterdam, Reykjavik, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki, Warszawa and Copenhagen?
“Why shouldn’t we all demand that those who presume to protect and instruct us take this test?”
Synchronous all over the western world by ordinary mail — not email, the press and all the appropriate leaders receive this letter — the press receive the same letter as an ‘open letter’. In this magnificent way the “The Coalition to Preserve Civilization”
1. announces its coming into being, and 2. challenges the person in question. Of course the calamity howlers will maintain that this is too complicated, too expensive.
HELL NO!
I proffer my services and I will pay for paper, envelopes, and the postage in the Swedish theatre of operations.
DO THINK ABOUT IT.
ln
I forwarded LN’s proposal to the 910 Group and suggested that he contact them and offer his services. His education and skills are very valuable. He could abandon the flame wars in Gates of Vienna comment threads and become part of the deeper swell, to take the current where it leads.
The process that is unfolding right now is much larger than any of us, and is not controllable by any one person or group of people. Each of us can only contribute what he has to offer, working towards what he knows is right, and accept the fact that the final result is not currently knowable.
| Frodo: | I wish it need not have happened in my time. | |
| Gandalf: | So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. |
Image credit: Tony Hopkinson.
life just good
Frodo: I wish it need not have happened in my time.
Gandalf: So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.
Edmund Burke, the English philosopher believed that each generation had to handle the problems at hand at that time and place. His predicate was that men are not given to see the future, only live in the here and now.
Here and now the Islamic threat is already beyond our control. That is not to say it can not be eliminated once illuminated to hoi polloi. The 910 group will hopefully galvinize the uninformed into a force to resist Islams assurtions. Resist not in the Oxford Debating Society for that is lost on Islam. Resist with physical force. Islam has shown us it is the only way they will be contained.
We do not fight for treasure or conquest but for the Rights of Man and freedom’s sweet embrace.
Parallel to some of my earlier remarks here, I wonder if things already turned for the better, that at least in some parts of Europe the Islamic wave has crested. Islam in Europe has a story noting that in the wake of anti-immigration legislation passed by the Danes, the non-Western population of that country, as well as non-Western immigration, is already running significantly below 2001 projections.
I like the idea of a coordinated campaign to question elected officials (at various levels, not just the highest) about the key elements of Islam that make it what it is today. It would inform them, their staffs, and their constituents.
Too bad George Bush and his cronies didn’t know more about Iraqi history and the differences between Sunni and Shia before launching their ill-advised invasion. Like the posers on this blog they made the mistake of thinking that all Muslims are alike.
Stupid is as stupid does.
So when are you brave warriors gonna head down to the recruiting office? If this is the existential war you claim it is why aren’t you out there fighting? Are you cowards, hypocrites or both?
Hey hey, I wanted to join the RAF as a pilot flyng their lovely Hurculese planes, but my dicky shoulder disqualified me from just about everything. That do you?
Bush’s mistake wasn’t in invading, but in execution of the invasion and subsequent war. We stoped fighting when we should have kept pressing. Faluja and Basra should have been flatened. Strike teams should have been sent hunting Al Quaida leaders and their entourage, and they should ahve been shot where they stood instead of wasting effort trying to “capture” them.
A Hermit,
True, we aren’t courageous enough to use our children and our grandparents as self-detonating human explosives, but we are courageous enough to speak the truth and do our best to spread it through non violent means, so other people will be ready to defend themselves the way Christian in Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, and Lebanon are forced to, the way Buddhists in Thailand are forced to, the Sikhs and Hindus in Pakistan and India are forced to, the Jews in Israel are forced, to the way little children in Russia, and commuters in Spain and Britian and America didn’t have a chance to. And I’m just talking aboout the past five years. If these people massacring thousands of people everyday have hijacked your religion to perpetrate this evil on this planet, then why don’t you join your voice to speak out against it, or are you to cowardly, hypocritical, evil, or all three?
Well a hermit,
You said all muslims were the same not me. Personally, I’m well aware of differences between Salafi and Wahabi strains of Islam relative to its traditional version as well as their origins. And their means of ascension in modern history.
As for being a coward or hypocrite, well, I did my time in the military. Now I have a career and a family and a substantial tax bill each year. So, I participate in civil discourse and the political process.
That can all change though.
Your prose is poetry to this “tempest-tost” ear:
“A lot of violent froth on the surface“
Hermit,
All Muslims read and follow the quran. It is a book of hate and a tale of murder and subjugation. One does not need to know more than the fact that a man has a pistol pointed at him to know he is in peril. We are not fools.
So come get some and we will see.
P.S. Hermit
I did my time in the United States Marine Corps. However as Mike said above … my time can come again, and I am in fact looking forward to it with great relish.
All our gullible conduct down the gully-hole!
The following is a quote from faithfreedom.org
Let us join forces!
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
It’s Time for Islam to Face Legal Action… by Stephen J. Hulbert
[…]
“In non-Muslim countries, Muslim actions are always ultimately aimed at regime change – for us, the removal of democracy. The Islamic goal of a global caliphate under Islamic law is an outcome which I find unacceptable. Where I come from, attempting to replace the democratically elected government by subversion is called “treason”.”
“I believe, therefore, that Islam itself should be challenged LEGALLY: Not just in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom, Europe and elsewhere.”
“Our aim should be to:
1) Challenge the legitimacy of Islam as a religion (especially since it is not actually a religion at all, but an all-embracing social, political and religious system). Our aim should be a total ban on Islam in all democratic nations. As far as I am aware, Islam is a “religion” that is unique on two counts: 1) it aims to overthrow all other religions and 2) it continues to actively pursue holy war. We must ban Islam and only review such a ban only once it has been re-interpreted as a peaceful religion that utterly rejects the subjugation of others.
2) Challenging Islam’s legality within democracy. Accepting Islam results in the rejection of fundamental human rights and the basis of democracy itself (equality, freedom of speech, justice for all, etc.) This opens Islam to legal claims: it is undemocratic and may well be “treason”. Islam as a system that is institutionally subversive to democracy. That is, someone accepting Islam is deliberately accepting a religious and political doctrine whose political aim is the overthrow of democratic rule (and that’s a conflict of interests on a massive scale).”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
http://www.news.faithfreedom.org/index.php?name
=News&file=article&sid=776
If we’re going to make a difference, it will rest upon those who not only can organize, but those who can lead. To run a loose confederation of interested souls will not work. I shouted this time and time when I was part of 910, to only find an audience already deaf. There must be organization, and there must be division of responsibilities and then follow-up. This is not something we can afford to play around with any longer. If we are in an age where strength is required, we cannot fight as though we were couch potatoes.
Defense against all dangers begins and ends at home.
Don’t depend on anyone else to defend or save your family or yourself.
That is your responsibility. It is your responsibility and duty to train, prepare and give your life for them and for your Republic.
Anything less, is not only folly, but dangerous to the extreme.
Gather in your community, like minded friends. Make plans, divide responsibilities and duties.
Speak, make your voices heard. Attend meetings, city, county, state.
Don’t neglect your schools, there is where we must make our first stand.
What our children learn, they do. What they do must not weaken our Republic, but make it safe and strong for them and their children.
Papa Ray
West Texas
USA
Quote from http://inrussetshadows.blogspot.com/
– – – – – – –
[…]
…There is no cause for alarm. There is no danger. Sleep now you, sleep, sleep, for someone else will take care of things. Whether the earth mother, the goddess government, or the authorities whom you can always trust — someone else will do it. Someone else, not you.
Such words are infernal lies, a concoction spawned in the very furnaces of everlasting torment. What is the price of liberty, friends? ETERNAL VIGILANCE! Who is this vigilance for? A standing army, only? The government, only? Someone else, only?
No, the vigilance is for us, and its faithful execution lies upon our shoulders. Our freedom depends upon us. And if we are to remain free, then we must take out those who would subjugate us as soon as possible. We must neutralize their plans far from shore. We must poison their plans upon their turf. We must crush them before they dare to act. This is not only the most efficient way to handle external threats, but it saves the most lives (both of ours, and of theirs). How can we do this?
Participate in the information war.
We all have talents and now is the time to use them in the cause of liberty. No more talk of ideas; the time has come for us to breathe life into sketches and outlines, and put our shoulders to the plow. History will judge us as slothful surely if we did not stand now, now while we could, now while it was easy to do so. Even a coward will fight for his own life when directly threatened.
[…]
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posted by Russet Shadows at 11:28:00 PM Saturday, December 02, 2006
http://inrussetshadows.blogspot.com/2006/12/returning-fire.html