Tim Blair

Virtually everything the Palestinian Arabs do is a violation of international law. From targeting civilians, to using ambulances to carry weapons and fighters, to hiding their munitions factories amid civilians (as they did at Jenin). the Palestinian Authority violates international law with every deed it does and every breath one of its thuggish leaders takes. Where are the proponents of international law when the Palestinian Authority violates it? Denouncing Israel or America, invariably for acts that do not actually violate that law. Those who shriek so often about international law are its worst enemies.

Oooh!
Tim - you and your friends are such mean hearted bitches!!!
To live in that space is not sustainable you poor thing.
And besides, every time you bitch about something, it shows your level of understanding of the bigger picture.
May you grow out of it in time.
Think i'll mix with the more constructive....

Of course no one from among the usual suspects is up in arms over the little kid asked to unwittingly be a suicide bomber. They're racists. They assume that this sort of savagery is par the course for arabs, because arabs are, after all, murderous brutes, right? It's not their fault, they're made that way and don't know any better.

Talk about the soft racism of low expectations.

This mother sounds like a character in P.J. O'Rourke's 'The CEO of the Sofa' - 'the babysitters mother'. She invents dumb games like 'tug'o'peace' - (two teams hold a rope, but instead of trying to pull the other side across the line, they try to help them across) and 'Significant Pursuit' - (like Trivial Pursuit, except the questions are really deep and meaningful).
'My mom,' says the babysitter several times in the book, 'is a total flake'.

Despite mom's best efforts to nueter the "l'il tyke", I would bet he wields an imaginary sword to go with the real shield!

Obviously passengers in Israeli buses and diners in Haifa pizza bars are found guilty and sentenced to death in absentia by due Palestinian process.

One can only hope for poetic justice: that while playing with the shield he pretends he's Captain America.

Instant classic pun from Steyn: when the Europeans say “Never again!” they mean “Neville again.”

Good question, "where is the due process?" How come the Palestinians let him live?

Christ. Ugly.

But oddly enough, Tim - what stopped Abdallah Quran was, depending on your definitions, the shield, not the sword...

Has anybody tried to buy politically incorrect toys for young boys? Eg guns, kníves, soldiers, etc. I tried in Sydney, only to find most stores ban them in favour of poofy "éducational" items. Thank god for Toys R Us where you can still find toys that teach boys to be men.

Mark Latham should be applying his formidable intellect to this crisis of masculinity!

Talking of Abdullah, check out the last paragraph (if you can) of this article mentioning him:

Journalist Huda al-Hussein, asked in the London-based Sharq al-Awsat already three years ago: "What kind of independence is built on the blood of children, while the leaders, including their own kids and grandkids, remain safe?" Good question.

No longer are the leaders safe.

Some time ago, I was in a busy doctor's surgery which had a toy box for children, containing among other things a toy revolver. A toddler picked up the gun, walked around the surgery 'shooting' all the waiting patients, most of whom responded in the time-honoured way of pretending to be shot, putting their hands over their chests, pulling faces etc. The doctor emerged to call the next patient, was also 'shot' and responded in the same way. It was the funniest thing I've ever seen.

My little girl asked me the other day why were there wars? I thought about giving a non answer as she is only 3 but instead I thought she should know the truth.

I answered, because there are evil people in the world and they get other people to start wars for their own gain. They call it fancy words like religion or self determination but somehow the money always ends up in their bank accounts.

Good people sometimes have to go to war to stop them as nothing else seems to work.

Jeebus, Allan, why aren't you in politics?

I was just exiting childhood when the ban on 'realistic' weapons came in. My pride and joy as a kid was a replica M-16. Note to toy makers - having a removable clip, that i could tap before reloading was the *coolest* thing ever. The toy submachinegun of choice for kids then was the Uzi, rather than the H&K MP5, which rather dates me unfortunately...

You guys can carry the swords. I'm fighting back with air-to-ground missiles from my helicopter.

But oddly enough, Tim - what stopped Abdallah Quran was, depending on your definitions, the shield, not the sword...

No one said drop the shield. The point is not to drop the sword. A shield won't stop the guys who gave the boy a bomb.

Sortelli - you're assuming again, and so you've missed my point again. "No-one said drop the shield". No, no-one said that. And no-one said "drop the sword" either, except somewhere in your imagination.

Nicely, put Allan. I will borrow your words when I talk to my own kids, so thanks.

You are really something, Nemesis. Forgive me for assuming that you were trying to make a coy little case for non pre-emptive measures. Is your new tactic to say as little as possible so that you can call strawman whenever someone argues with your implications?

Here, I'll paste it again for you so you can remember the context of this thread:

That's how the "peace" crowd thinks the West should fight terrorism: eschew the sword, but keep the shield if you absolutely have to.

No, Nemesis, you seemed to have missed Steyn's point - that the "peace" crowd thinks the West should eschew the sword (look it up, it doesnt mean the same as 'drop', but will do for our purposes). And the IDF, even when mounting checkpoints, is most definitely more swordlike than shieldlike. And what a nice sharp pointy sword it is too.

Damn you sortelli! Beaten by a minute..

The assasination of Yassin reminds me of a past LGF post: October 9 2003: Peres: Israel Has "Schwarzenegger Government"

Maybe I should consider it a victory of sorts for our side that my own teenagers now ask me what the hell is going on in the world, when just a few short years ago it was all "Chinpokomon" and shit.

Anybody else out there tired of Europe fuckin' things up nearly past the point of all recognition, only to call out for the 7th Cav of the former colonies at the last possible moment?

I'd hate like hell to think one of my grandkids will have to suit up to bail out that jerkoff Zapatero or one of HIS grandkids... when is enough enough?

If I wasn't convinced Dubya is a lock, I swear to God I'd.... I'd.... well, I'd be pretty fucking bummed, I guess.

Atilla, we should totally get some Mexican wrestling masks and become a tag team.

Hell yeah - can i be the Mad Mongolian? Nemesis can be our b_tch, with Tim the fast talking loud mouthed manager. WWE glory awaits.

Anyone see the NYC subway ads for some storage company? Shows a toy soldier - and the quote is something along the lines of "My mommy put me away until all the fighting dies down"

Yeah, WWII veterans are turning in their graves.

You want dated people? Try this:

The best toy weapon I ever saw was Thompson submachine. It had a spring loaded ratchet that you cocked with the charging lever on the right side. When you pulled the trigger, a hammer hit a metal plate inside, making an "BRAAAAAPPPPP!" sound. Cool!

I didn't own it, a neighbor did. But he let me use it now and then. It was great when we played war -- how could I be a Nazi with an American weapon?

I am very sorry that the US has not STRONGLY SUPPORTED the actions taken by the Israelis. Instead we hear mumblings of nothings.

What hypocrites we are if we can't rejoice in Israel eliminating the 'spiritual leader' of Hamas!! I'm very disappointed.

Isn't it obvious there is a world-wide war going on? No matter what they call themselves, we have groups of Muslim fanatics waging war against the rest of us, including Israel. Taking out the 'spiritual leader' of Hamas should be a cause for celebration like taking out Osama.

Muslims will not escape the rule the fanatics want to impose. Witness Afghanistan. A nation of mainly Muslim people who were treated terribly by those who came to impose 'true Islam' in Afghanistan.

It seems, to me, very fitting that the 'spiritual leader' who encouraged 'suicide martyrs' has been 'martyred'. Now he can set an example for his followers. I should think his followers would be pleased that he has now gone to 'Paradise'.

Hopefully, we'll get the chance to grant others the same wish.

I recall Ashrawi being asked a year or two ago on a live TV appearance to condemn that particular day's repugnant and barbaric Palestinian attack on innocents (I believe it was an attack that killed many children). She said "this is no time to take the moral high road," alluding to the ongoing conflict which at that point was at a relatively high pitch. With sophisticated, Americanized "moderates" like this, who needs barbaric lunatic extremists?

If they're on the left, how could you possibly expect them to react otherwise?

The Left=IslamoNazis. Period. Dot.

Now lets all go upstairs, crawl under the covers and SOB until the American media gets a clue.

A neighbour of mine loves to let her boy play with "militaristic" toys. So when a friend gave the l'il tyke a plastic anti-personnel mine , mom was jumping with glee. And for a while, on my drive down to town, I'd pass Junior in the yard playing with his mine, mastering the art of killing other humans more effectively.

That's how the "war" crowd thinks the West should fight terrorism: kill 'em all.

and Bush stole the election, right?

Drat... and here I thought I was finally gonna catch me a troll... and get him to grant me my three wishes and shit....

Mebbe next time, I guess...

Sincerity- Nuh-uh, sometimes we flagrantly violate their human rights by sending them to Gitmo.

Never catch a troll, Geezer. Like frogs and turtles, they will pee in your hands and run.

Sincerity: "Faith and Begorrah! They're after me Lucky Charms!"

HA! Sometimes the ignorance of the Left can actually be A Good Thing! ^_^

We need to get that kid to talk to a SCA member or 2. There's all sorts of good attacks with a shield known to history that Mommy needn't know about! ^_~

Sincerity:

"That's how the "war" crowd thinks the West should fight terrorism: kill 'em all."

And the problem with that is...?

> nine days ago, Mr Beach said: "The people of Madrid are reaping the fruits of our intolerance towards those of different races and religions." (quoted by Steyn)

The man knows nothing about crops, unless they've got raisins to grow on the top of wheat or something. It might be genetic engineering in the EU.

Sincerity Slips, if you ever have to visit the previously mentioned doctor, there's also a rag doll in the toy bin which you can cuddle while you suck your thumb.

And having seen the doc., if your condition proves to be too serious for you to bear, you can always ask the aforementioned kid to shoot you on the way out.

Win win.

There's no such thing as a toy anti-personnel mine, Sincerity.

Perhaps you'd be more comfortable on a site where clumsy lies are acceptable. DU, perhaps?

That's how the "war" crowd thinks the West should fight terrorism: kill 'em all.

Depends on whom "'em" is - kill all the terrorists? Yep. Kill everybody? No.

I'll see if I can find a link to a "Kill 'em all" sound file tomorrow.

"That's how the "war" crowd thinks the West should fight terrorism: kill 'em all".

Well, we could always understand their grievances
and address the root causes.

Only trouble is one "root cause" is blind fucking
hatred and fanaticism.

Ever tried counselling a kamikaze pilot?

Fuck off to your next anger management class.

"I should think his followers would be pleased that he has now gone to 'Paradise'. "

I don't know about them but I'm happy for him.

My co-author at our site worked as a specialist doctor in East Timor, and knows all about damage from AP mines and the actions of Muslim militias in dealing with civilians; if you have any doubts, I suggest you chat with him by e-mail.
he is no-where near as rabid as myself, but I think he would be happier than a truckload of dead babies about wheelie-boy getting his martyrdom.

There's no such thing as a toy anti-personnel mine, Sincerity.

No, but an old dinner plate works well as a stand-in.

Certainly wasn't being facetious there with that "kill 'em all" line.
Glad you all got that.

Sortelli, Atilla;

¡Mucha Lucha!

And I'm quite sure that Ashrawi would have been delighted to see Yassin handed over to Israeli officials so that he could get his day in court, due process and all. Right.

Due process? These Palestinian apologists aren't in favor of ANY process where prosecuting terrorists is concerned, so their protestations about the formality of law is nothing short of insulting.

Now, now, Sincerity, Yassin himself said that the day he became a shaheed would be the happiest day of his life. You don't want to stand between an individual and that individual's ultimate achievement of self-esteem, do you?

Little boys are natural-born killers. That needs to be safely channeled into play. Taking away their toy guns and punishing them for playing "war" or "cops and robbers" is just going to ensure a crop of seriously mal-adjusted young men made to feel guilty about their maleness. Just some dime-store psychology.

Yo, Slip, when I was a kid we made hand grenades out of pop cans filled with sand and wrapped with electrical tape. Didn't have any mines, though. I like the dinner-plate idea - maybe the neighbor kid will kife one from your son's Easy-Bake oven.

Sincerity Slips:

That's how the "war" crowd thinks the West should fight terrorism: kill 'em all.

You are, in fact, 180 degrees wrong. The entire point of the Bush World War IV strategy is to prevent massive death among Muslims by first, keeping WMD out of terrorist hands and second, injecting a lethal dose of freedom into Islam. This strategy is being followed even though it risks higher US and allied casualties. So far, major initial gains have been made at miniscule cost but the issue remains in doubt.

This is a race and a hope aimed a preventing Belmont Club #3 by substituting ideological death. Will it work? Tune in around 2007 to find out. By then, the outcome may have become reasonably predictable.

Historical analogy: we are roughly at the point in WWIV as we were in November 1942 during WWII. I compare The British stopping of Rommel in Egypt to Gulf War I; it stopped enemy progress and attained a standoff but promised only a continuing and costly stalemate keeping allied resources from more productive application. I compare the invasion of Iraq to Operation Torch which opened a new front behind enemy lines and led eventually to enemy collapse across a major theater. And in both WWII and WWIV, the aim was and is to prevent use of ME oil for warmaking purposes by the enemy.

Without a global perspective on the current global war, it is impossible to understand, much less assess the invasion of Iraq. In fact, the current administration did not start a war in Iraq by its invasion, rather it liberated a country occupied by Saddam and his thugocracy, just as Operation Torch liberated a country occupied, in effect, by Hitler and his thugocracy. This was a major campaign within a global conflict and should no more be referred to as "The Iraq War" than was Operation Torch referred to as the "Casablanca" war. (BTW, It was in that same month that the great movie of the same name was released.)

Odd, didn't this mother know that a shield can be used offensively?

Oh wait, that might require something besides wallowing in ignorance.

Drat, someone mentioned Captain America already.

Slipping Sincerity: Mimes kill children? The horror... the horror.

An anti-personnel mine toy???

Actually, when I spend some time thinking about it, that might actually be fun.

It would certainly have livened up my 'Capture the Flag' games growing up.

There aren't even any toy area denial munitions.

When my daughter was born 14 years ago I explained to people how I planned to deal with the future "teenage boy" problem: I'd teach her how to use a shotgun, figuring that a reputation for being handy with such tools would filter out the undesirables.

Now I'm not actually a gun person, so I never put this into practice. Didn't need to, as it turned out. Around age 12 she fell in with some boys who were into catapults and trebuchets and so on. She did her 8th grade "big" project on medieval armor (made her own chainmaille coif, which she wore to her first day in high school (but that's another story)). Her current project is a japanese pole weapon, a naginata, with a nice pointy blade at one end.

So I figure that a reputation for being handy with sharp pointy things is as good as my original plan...we'll see soon enough I suppose.

Oh, she's also terribly smart and sweet, of course.

"There's no such thing as a toy anti-personnel mine, Sincerity.
No, but an old dinner plate works well as a stand-in."

Worked for the Hungarians in Budapest in 1956. They actually used them to set up tank-killer ambushes inside the city. Successfully.

Fred -

if you're posting from Australia, they do have some dojo affiliated with the International Naginata Federation that might be of interest to your daughter.

And now back to our regularly scheduled program .....

If there is such a toy as an anti-personnel mine, I want to know where to get one for my nephew. I haven't seen any at Toys R Us, unfortunately.

Damn lefties know nothing about war. After all, an anti-personnel mine in its most common application is essentially a DEFENSIVE weapon; a glorified shield.

Now a toy Tomahawk cruise missile...

At a guess, the lad might have been given a practice anti-personnel mine, maybe the claymore model. These are inert (for left wing dummies, that means they can't go BOOM), but otherwise are identical to the real McCoy. They have to be, soldiers train with them.

The claymore is an excellent weapon, being directional, lethal, flexible, and effective. I hope the lad was taught the proper method of placing it, so he doesn't practice his mistakes.

But, hey, a dinner plate WOULD work as well, and help simulate the imagination.