http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/ In the wake of the latest instability everyone has an opinion on the future of Egypt. But the future of Egypt is the past, not the distant past of its pre-Arab culture, but a repetition of the last century. In a region that has never escaped from the past, history is not a road, […]
http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/11/20/hedy-lamarr-biography-hedy-s-folly-by-richard-rhodes-review.html
How the world’s most beautiful woman helped invent GPS, Wi-Fi, and a homing torpedo.
Actresses often long to turn director, but how many of them yearn to turn inventor? Given the success that the screen siren Hedy Lamarr achieved in that realm—revealed in Richard Rhodes’s fascinating biography, Hedy’s Folly—it’s a pity more of them don’t consider it.
In 1940, while acting alongside Jimmy Stewart and Judy Garland in the MGM musical Ziegfeld Girl, the 26-year-old Lamarr spent her free time devising a radio-controlled submarine missile-guidance system to help the U.S. Navy in World War II. What moved her to do this? “She didn’t drink and she didn’t like to party, so she took up inventing,” Rhodes explains. Of course, there was more to it than that. The torpedo was not the starlet’s only invention: she also came up with an antiaircraft shell with a proximity fuse, and a fizzing cube that could turn a plain glass of water into soda.
How did a woman who couldn’t spell (by some accounts) make such signif-icant contributions to science? Born Hedwig Kiesler into a refined Viennese Jewish family in 1914, she dropped out of high school to act on stage and screen. In 1931, when she was 16, the director Max Reinhardt cast her in the play The Weaker Sex and called her “the most beautiful woman in the world”—an epithet that stuck. Two years later, she attained notoriety for her memorable (if fleeting) nude scenes in a Czech art film called Ecstasy. The film horrified her parents but thrilled munitions mogul Fritz Mandl.
THE AMERICAN HOLIDAY OF THANKSGIVING certainly has its roots in the Jewish tradition of giving thanks to God, and many historians believe that the early “Pilgrims” (members of a larger “Puritan” group) derived the idea directly from the Biblical festival of Sukkot (i.e., “Tabernacles”). According to scholars, before coming to the New World, the Pilgrims lived for a decade among the Sephardic Jews in Holland, since Holland was considered a safe haven from religious persecution at the time. Since the Pilgrims were devout Calvinists and Puritans, their religious idealism led them to regard themselves as “New Israel,” and it is likely that they learned that Sukkot commemorated Israel’s deliverance from their religious persecution in ancient Egypt at that time. [This connection with being the “New Israel” explains the popular biblical names of the Pilgrims/Puritans such as Abigail, Ebenezer, Ezekiel, Ezra, Miriam, etc.]
After they emigrated to the “Promised Land” of America, it is not surprising that the pilgrims may have chosen the festival of Sukkot as the paradigm for their own celebration. The highly religious pilgrims regarded their perilous journey to the new world as a form of “Exodus” and therefore sought the appropriate Biblical holiday to commemorate their safe arrival in a land full of new promise…
After their lengthy pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the ancient Israelites lived for a week in temporary huts while giving thanks for a plentiful harvest. Likewise, during their first winter in Massachusetts, the pilgrims dwelled in makeshift huts, wigwams that the Wampanoag Indians helped them build.
While Sukkot remains a seven-day observance, the first Thanksgiving celebration continued for three days, a time frame more similar to the Jewish harvest festival than today’s Thanksgiving dinner, which often begins in late afternoon and ends several hours later. However, with its pumpkin pies and cranberry garlands, Thanksgiving mirrors many of Sukkot’s customs and culinary themes.
Here’s a slideshow that addresses the relationship between Sukkot and Thanksgiving.
http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.10889,css.print/pub_detail.asp At a 1999 conference sponsored by the Hudson Institute at Weston Park in England, Lady Margaret Thatcher was asked her opinion of the European Union. She replied, “it begins with false assumptions and will die of illusions.” Lady Thatcher as one of the advocates of Euro skepticism, hit the nail on the proverbial head. […]
Did Castro Get Kennedy? Posted By Humberto Fontova
URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/11/23/did-castro-get-kennedy/
“Of all the people I interviewed in New Orleans regarding the Kennedy assassination, Carlos Bringuier was the one I trusted most. I could see in his eyes he was always telling me the complete truth.” (Oriana Fallaci, L, Europeo, 1969.)
“That weasel walked into my store and started looking around,” recalls Carlos Bringuier about the afternoon of August 5, 1963. “But I could sense he wasn’t a shopper. Sure enough, after a few minutes of browsing he came up and extended his hand. “Good afternoon,” he said. “I’m Lee Harvey Oswald.”
In 1963 the CIA regarded the Directorio Revolucionario Estudiantil (DRE) “the most militant and deeply motivated of all the Cuban exile organizations seeking to oust Castro.” Carlos Bringuier was their representative in New Orleans. It was DRE agents who infiltrated Cuba and brought out the first reports of Soviet missile installations–to the scoffs of everyone from Camelot’s CIA to the State Department’s wizards, to the White House’s Best and Brightest. It took two months for anyone to finally take them seriously. A U-2 flight then confirmed every last detail of what the DRE boys had been risking their lives for months to report.
The Islamist-Environmentalist Alliance Posted By Daniel Greenfield URL to article: http://frontpagemag.com/2011/11/23/the-islamist-environmentalist-alliance/ Saudi Arabia has no better friend than the Sierra Club, and the Emirates have no better salesmen than the environmentalists who keep the country hooked on conflict oil. The administration’s sabotage of the Keystone XL project through delays aimed at killing the pipeline is […]
Scoring the #CNNDebate http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2011/11/22/scoring-the-cnndebate/ The 11th GOP debate of the year began with an odd note. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer started things off by introducing himself to show the candidates how to introduce themselves briefly, and in his intro Blitzer noted that yes, his name is in fact Wolf Blizter. When Mitt Romney’s turn came, the […]
http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2011/11/where_ron_paul_meets_barack_obama.html Where Ron Paul Meets Barack Obama By Shoshana Bryen They look like political opposites: Ron Paul is a traditional isolationist; Barack Obama sees himself comfortable with many cultures and religions. But they share an odd understanding that the United States is, by nature and by history, a cause of tension in the world, and […]
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
No country falls but from within. Given a sufficient population and resources to hold off its enemies, the only sufficient explanation for its fall is internal.
Take the decline of the West, which is often talked about and attributed to leftist conspiracies and Islamic colonialism. But why is Japan, a First World nation whose culture and geography differs dramatically from America and Europe also in a state of economic, political and cultural decline? Not to mention demographic decline.
The Japanese left is certainly active, but blaming it for the country’s decline is a more difficult proposition. Japan has a long history of Islamic outreach, but it isn’t about to be Islamized and immigration is not a factor. Nor did Japan have a religious heritage that was lost to secularism. Nevertheless with its dwindling population, escapist culture, dysfunctional politics and tremulous foreign policy– Japan’s follies seem to resemble those of the West. The origins of its problems may be different, but the outcome is the same.
Rick Perry’s Jihad Problem By Robert Spencer
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/rick_perrys_jihad_problem_comments.html#disqus_thread#ixzz1eWyiseO7
Rick Perry is woefully unfit to be president of the United States, but not because he couldn’t remember a key element of his own program during a recent debate, or because he gave a speech while possibly drunk. Rick Perry is woefully unfit to be president of the United States because he is a tool of Grover Norquist, the man who may be more responsible than anyone else for enabling Muslim Brotherhood access to the highest levels of power in the U.S. While it is hard for any Republican candidate to avoid Norquist altogether, so all-pervasive is his influence and power, Norquist is clearly much closer to Perry than to other candidates. Perry and Grover Norquist held a joint press conference in March 2011. Perry appeared at a fundraiser for Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform group. Also, Norquist actively campaigned for Perry back in 2009. Their association is longstanding: Perry was investigated by the Texas Ethics Commission in 2004 for allegations that the governor illegally used campaign money to finance…. (Read Full Article)
JIHADWATCH…SPENCER’S WEBSITE AND HIS BOOKS HAVE DONE A TREMENDOUS SERVICE IN EXPOSING JIHAD….IN EVERY CONTINENT AND VIRTUALLY EVERY STATE IN AMERICA. IT IS A MYSTERY THAT HE HAS SPENT SO MUCH FUEL AND BILE AND HYPERBOLE ON RICK PERRY A MOST DECENT AND UNDERESTIMATED GOP CANDIDATE ….THE COMMENTS TO HIS AWFUL HATCHET JOB SUM IT UP BEST.
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/rick_perrys_jihad_problem_comments.html#disqus_thread
rhondarue Yesterday 10:13 AM
What a ridiculous hit piece. Most people who actually do any type of research on Rick Perry will see that he is a absolute friend to Israel. And the fact that he’s been associated with Norquist would cancel out just about anybody in the GOP race. The fact an article like this has been written goes to show the desperation of Perry’s opponents in the race.
jma Yesterday 10:43 AM
If you listened to Gov. Perry’s entire speech, you will agree he was not drunk. Actually, he reminds me of the minister who served my grandparents’ Texas church for over 20 years. It a “style of presentation” issue. I don’t know where or how any of the other complaints affect Perry personally. He serves a large state representing many religions and cultures and various businesses. His position on tax reform differs very little from many fiscal conservatives. Mr. Spencer, your bias is showing. Do some research before using the term “jihad”.
zanecofield Yesterday 11:55 AM
I have seen some hack pieces in my time but this one is beyond the pale. Mr. Spencer obviously also writes copy for Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura. What a piece of tripe – unsubstantiated scurrilous accusations, not a shred of sourcing, a total hack-job. Good lord.
Dr. Dave Yesterday 08:17 PM
I must plead guilty to ignorance about Grover Norquist. All this time the only thing I knew about him was that he is adamant about tax reform. His views are frequently discussed in articles on NRO. Imagine my surprise when I learned right here on AT that he is a vile jihadist…a covert Muslim Islamist out to subvert the GOP and the USA. That he describes himself as a plain, white bread Methodist only PROVES he’s diabolical. Why…he MARRIED a women from Kuwait! Imagine my shock and dismay when I read his Wikipedia profile and learned this “subversive” was a co-founder of something called the Islamic Free Market Institute. I’m just sure this is code for “Muslim Brotherhood.” Of course we should now shun Perry because he once rode on an airplane with Norquist.
Until very recently I was quite fond of Robert Spencer. I thoroughly enjoyed the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam. Believe me…I ain’t no fan of Islam. But this dreadful article was a shameless and pointless hit job on Perry. It truly disgusted me. I enjoyed the line prom a previous commenter that Spencer must be writing copy for Alex Jones and Jesse Ventura. This article was as big a load of hooey as Pamela Geller’s article yesterday when she described the barbarism of halal slaughter…which is identical to kosher slaughter.
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Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/11/rick_perrys_jihad_problem_comments.html#disqus_thread#ixzz1eWnyvrGA
