Free Speech Only For the Followers of Muhammad?

ב"ה

Maybe it's because I'm an American. Maybe it's because I've seen, in my life, what suppression of Free Speech has done around the world, the repressive, anti-equality, anti-Freedom, anti-feminist, anti-Jewish, anti-American regimes it has created. But I cringe when I hear about groups of people trying to kill others based totally on something that the other group believes or said.

That's why my feathers are ruffled. That's why I'm incensed that Hillary Clinton is talking and other people are talking about mobs attacking US embassies and talking about the Ambassador being killed in an attack in Libya over a movie that THEY see as being uncomplimentary about Muhammad.

It is time for the talking and the rhetoric and the speechifying to stop. It is past the time of asking Muslim leaders to control their people. It is past the time of diplomacy and negotiations. It is time for us to protect our rights to create a movie that is controversial. It is time for us to protect our television producers and our movie makers. It is time for us to show our enemies that we can "talk their language", that we can fight back and that we have just as much of a right to our opinions as they do.

The only way to do this is to fight for our rights, literally. And, while I don't for one moment underestimate the sacrifice our military people make, but the reason we have a strong military is to protect our freedom, our way of life and our lives. I appreciate the brave men and women who protect our freedom and our lives, but we are not being fair to them if we send them in to do a job and many of them lose their limbs or lives and then we pull out before the job is done. It's sort of like having a virulent, life-threatening infection and only treating part of it. By doing that, you create antibiotic resistant bacteria. By only fighting part of the war, we create an enemy that thinks we are weak and that strengthens them.

We, unfortunately, have a long history of striking hard and moving out. This started with Carter and his washy-washy way of handling the Ayatollah. It continued with Bush hitting but not finishing off Saddam Hussein. And it's still going on today with our indecisive handling of Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention Al-Qaeda, post 9-11.

This embassy attack is a symptom of the problem. It's a symptom of the entitlement that men in the Muslim world feel. It's a symptom of the Muslim world's belief that they are better than everyone else. As long as we appear weak to them, they believe that G-d is on their side. And we can't allow them to believe that. We have to fight for the real Face of G-d, the G-d who gave us an equal chance to succeed, an equal chance to shine in His/Her world. If we allow them to define G-d, if we allow the worst opinion of G-d to hold sway, we do ourselves and this world a disservice. Let's stand up for our values. Let's show our strength. Let's prove to the Muslim world that freedom is something we think is worth fighting for.

Repeating Bad Mistakes

B"H

I believe it was Einstein who said that "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

I realize that it doesn't exactly take a Rhodes Scholar to be president of the United States (though we have had one). And it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to be Prime Minister of Israel. But even these esteemed leaders ought to be able to figure out after the Gaza debacle that "peace talks" with Hamas and Fata and discussions about carving up Israel proper and Jerusalem will not bring peace with the "Palestinian Authority".

It is quite clear that the only way we could possibly have peace with "elected" terrorist dictatorship of Gaza is to defeat them in an all-out, not holds bar war. Until we show them that their actions have consequences, they will never stop doing them.

For some absolutely bizarre reason which I cannot fathom, the world seems to think that giving the "Palestinians" what they say they want will get them to leave everyone alone. But since Al Qaida has stated their goal is to make the world into one big unhappy Sharia state the world is either so blinded by hatred of Jews or just so incredibly stupid as to think that these terror mongers can be appeased by a few acres of land. These people will not be happy until they own the world. Which, G-d willing, will be never.

But if, G-d forbid, they ever got what they wanted, it would be the end of the world because having the world and ruling the world are altogether different things. Hamas already has Gaza. And what are they doing with it? Nothing really. They are not using it to build homes for Palestinian refugees. They are not establishing a peaceful state, building schools, hospitals, and a general infrastructure for their people.

When Jews resettled Israel, they spent their time and effort building a country. That country has its problems, but it generally runs well and gives its people the services they need to survive. The same cannot be said for Gaza. Gaza is a case study, a laboratory experiment in terrorist statehood. And that experiment is a dismal failure. Is the Gaza experiment what we want for the whole of Israel? Is it what we want for the whole world? If we don't want the entire world or even the entire Israel to turn into the failed experiment named "Gaza" we must work hard to elect intelligent, aware leaders. The French, despite their dismal history in this regard, have taken a giant step in the right direction by electing a leader who may just help them solve their internal and external terrorism issues. We in the US and Israel need to do the same.