Printed in last Collegian of the Semester

Way to go Blog readers, we got printed!! And this time the only thing they left out was the reference to the Quran that I put in there. Apparently someone must have looked it up and realized that in fact I wasn't just talking out of my ass. But in true liberal fashion they probably took it out to make me look like some regular "neo-con" hatemonger. Whatever, I'll hopefully have some emails to respond to tomorrow regarding the piece. Here is how it was written in the Collegian:

Middle East ignorance hurts PSU community

This letter is in response to Heather Barton's guest column, "Lack of respect for Muslims common for many students on campus," April 27.

I think some people are too quick to interpret things as biased against them because of their own bias. A Muslim may see a poster depicting a traditional Muslim in garb with the words, "I am a killer," on them and think it is an attack on all of Islam. Yet, I see a social remark on the religion(WHY IS THIS FUCKING COMMA HERE=>), to which 99 percent of all terrorists prescribe: Islam. However, I am just a simple kafir whose life should be forfeit according to Islamic Sharia.

If only more people would understand the issues at hand and the history of the Middle East, we could all have somewhat intelligent conversation on the issue.

But because 98 percent of the students here on Penn State's campus know absolutely nothing about the history of Islam and its impact through violence on the world for the last 1,400 years, we will continue to have people who support the censorship of artwork, such as that of Josh Stulman, the person to which I assume Barton is referring.

Jonathan Yimin

senior - electrical engineering

Well, minus the Quran reference I have to commend the Collegian for actually printing this one WITH the references to Islam's 1400 years of violence. Have a good finals week bitches!!



Michael Buble is AWESOME!!!

Letter to the Collegian

I read an opinion column today written by the VP of Muslim Student Association, HEATHER BARTON (I hope you understand why that is bolded). It goes thus:

Lack of respect for Muslims common for many students on campus

Respect. The first line in the Penn State Principles, those simple yet deep words that each of us had drilled into our minds at freshman orientation, states: "I will respect the dignity of all individuals within the Penn State community." It continues: "I will demonstrate respect for others by striving to learn from the differences between people, ideas and opinions, and by avoiding behaviors that inhibit the ability of other community members to feel safe or welcome as they pursue their academic goals."

Imagine then what it must have felt like for a Muslim student to wake up one day, walk to class and notice the campus being filled with flyers portraying a Muslim, on whose forehead the phrase, "I am a killer," appears?

Looking closely at the flyer, this student notices that this is an exhibit about the "faces of terror."

How unfortunate is it then that so often words promoting hate, intolerance and prejudice are cloaked under the garb of free speech. Someone will draw a swastika on a synagogue door. Another will burn a cross in front of a black man's home. And yet another will draw a vicious caricature portraying all Muslims as terrorists. The perpetrators behind all of these actions will say they are exercising their right to freedom of speech.

Yet, to most of us, the line between our own personal civil liberties and those of others is usually clear.

We understand and recognize that there is a line between one person or group of people's freedom of expression and expression that, even if unintentionally, comes at the significant expense of another.

It's a blurry subject in many situations, but when the situation is one where a large company or organization, such as a university, comes into play, the guidelines become significantly clearer. Such institutions won't use or support the use of the "n-word" or support a musician whose concert revolves around the ideas that Jews are an evil breed of people. Equally, such an institution shouldn't support an art exhibit that juxtaposes portraits of Muslims and Arabs as terrorists with paintings of Holocaust imagery.

In today's post-Sept. 11 world, it's not too hard to stir up feelings of fear and hatred, particularly against those who are associated in some way, shape or form with the Middle East. It is important, now more than ever, that we always consider others when trying to make a point.

In a scholastic setting as diverse as Penn State, we would be especially ignorant to think that we can promote understanding and education while offending and insulting each other. Instead, as people of the world, we should use our talents and privileges to do good and spread understanding rather than the opposite.

It is not an issue of whether we have the right to express ourselves or not, because those rights are already well respected and understood. It is an issue of tolerance, respect, and understanding that a better goal is worth concentrating on: peace.

I wrote in with thus:

This is in response to Heather Barton's opinion piece.

I think maybe some people are too quick to interpret because of their own bias. A Mu'min may see a poster depicting a traditional Moslem in garb with the words "I am a killer" on them and think it is an attack on all of Islam. Yet, I see a social remark on the religion that 99% of all terrorists prescribe to. Islam. However, I am just a simple kafir whose life should be forfeit according to Islamic Sharia (Quran 8:12-16).

If more people would only understand the issues at hand in the middle east and the history of the middle east, we could all have somewhat intelligent conversation on the issue. But because 98% of the students here on campus know absolutely nothing about the history of Islam and its impact through violence on the world for the last 1400 years, we will continue to have people who support the censorship of such works as Stulman's, who I am guessing Heather Barton is referring to.

Http://DoctorAwkward.Blogspot.com

I always tone things down for the Daily Liberal. But one thing I forgot to say was in reference to her last paragraph: How can we possibly move forward with tolerance and respect and understanding when no one understands the history of the middle east and the spread of Islam? How can we possibly go about this great conference of tolerance when we are only taught that Islam is peaceful, and not about it's extremely violent 1400 year history? When an issue is only taught from one side, tolerance can not be had because it is a false understanding of the issue at hand.

Oh well, maybe we'll get printed.




LISTEN TO IT!!!

Black Caucus, toned down...

On Saturday April 6, 1997, my father woke me and my brother up and told us to get dressed; we we're going downtown. He gave us shirts to wear with four different colored arms all grabbing at the wrist in a square, the words "Love has no color," underneath them. We were going to a KKK rally at the City-County Building steps. My dad is infinitely wise about these sort of things. He wanted us to know that there are people out there who just hate us, and other people, for no real reason. So, we got in the green Sentra and headed dahntahn to the County Building. It was hot as hell. When we got there we were told that if we were protesting we would have to go and stand in a chainlink fenced-off parking lot adjacent to the County Building. My dad made sure we were right up against the fence so that we could see and hear everything that was going on. By the time the rally started there was about 300 people packed into that little chainlink cubicle. From what I could hear the clan saying I found out that they had versatile uses for the words, "nigger, kike, jew, wetback, Catholic and wop". I found out that day that no matter what someones skin color is, or their cultural background, there will always be people out there to hate them unconditionally, no matter what. No matter how much they were taught or how many books they read; they would always hate. And, when it comes down to it, they had every right to do it. They also have every option that a group that preaches love has. Police escort, security, etc.

When I learned what the Black Caucus had said about the College Republicans, of which I am NOT a member, I was more infuriated than I was at that KKK rally. How could these supposed college educated people confuse the hatred of the KKK and the Nazi party with a rally for Immigration Awareness, something that is highly deficient in our MTV laced youth? How could they equate the desire to secure our infiltrated borders from the illegal mass of people flooding in from Mexico (whether the people are Mexican or South American is not the issue) who are effectivly straining our public and legal systems and flaunting a hole in our National Security? Were they actually that stupid? Did they actually believe what they were saying? Are they assholes? I figured that only 1 of those resulted in a yes. I believe, as I have said before, that race can be used in a multitide of terrible ways:

• As a reason to kill someone
• As a reason to commit genocide
• As a reason to hire someone
• As a reason not to hire someone
• As a reason not to let someone patronize a certain establishment
• As leverage for a specific agenda

Yes, folks, I believe the Black Caucus has evolved into a bunch of whiny black kids who will stop at nothing to get their way, as they did with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The Black Caucus simply shouted "racist" because of their angst and wrath for the College Republicans and their fellow white students. The College Republicans didn't do one damn thing that was even remotely racist. It may have been discriminatory but only to people who are breaking our fucking laws and committing crimes in our fucking borders. Grow the fuck up Black Caucus, everybody doesn't hate you, at least not yet. There is a big difference between racism and discrimination.

I am no stranger to racist events in recent history. I attended the lecture here at Penn State on Tuesday, Feb. 29, 2000 of Leonard Weinglass, then Attorney of Mumia Abu-Jamal, which was sponsored by Students and Youth Against Racism, a club which my brother was a member of before they lost their wits. I lived through the carnage of the Johhny Gamage case in October of 1995 in Brentwood, literally 3 minutes away from my house. I also had to live with, something I never really told anyone, going to grade school and opening my notebooks only to have "sand nigger" sprawled on them, with pictures of camels emblazoning the pages only because some of the kids knew I was proud of being Lebanese. I am no stranger to real racism and I am sure many members of the Black Caucus are in the same boat, just much worse because they're black. I am not trying to play down real racism. We all know it exists. I just disagree that here at Penn State there is some fucking mysterious conspiracy against all the black students. It is total bullshit.

Our brokeback limp President Graham Spanier gave into the Black Caucus last year, unfortunately, and now they think they can get away with this shit again. When you label everyone who is white a racist you start to adopt the same principles of the people you love to hate, the real racists. You, Black Caucus members, are turning into racists (big surprise), if you weren't already there.

Another problem I see is all this "We aren't different" bullshit that every "anti-racism" activist tries to spew forth. We ARE different. VERY different. I am nothing like the average black kid that walks down the street at PSU. That doesn't make me hate him though. The black comunity and the white community are two entirely different groups of people. But that doesn't mean there is something wrong with that.

I could go on and on for days about this and I would end up being called a racist for some of my more extreme views (on how to raise your fucking kids) because some people are just near-sighted. I will say something though; the one largest epidemic that is spreading through the black community is not AIDS or black on black violence (94% of black victims were killed by blacks) or drug related homicides (65% of black offenders and 64% black victims) but is the whole mentality and society of Rap, the most degrading music to ever be played. I truly believe a lot of the crime in the black community can be attributed to the early lifestyle of black youths leaning towards rap and its terrible values towards women, authority and honest money. I will say this though, the Black Caucus is doing one thing right, contrary to what rap proselytizes; they are going to college. (Understand this, also; I do distinguish between hip-hop and rap, something a lot of people don't do. I frequently listen to Saul Williams, someone, I think, everybody should listen to. He is one of the greatest hip-hop artists there is.)





Where is the fucking S.O.D. when you need them.


















I post this picture in disgust. In disgust for our Government. A government that puts FOREIGN LANGUAGES ON FUCKING VOTER BALLOTS. If you want to live here, learn the language. This problem with Illegal Immigration starts with the Government and their lackadaisical approach to immigration. The local police need jurisdiction and the right to use force. We need secure, armed borders. You will find immigration no where else in the world like it is in the United States. And that's a fucking shame.

Thanks

A DIFFERENT CHRISTMAS POEM

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.

My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.

Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.

The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.

My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.

In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.

Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow..

My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.

Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.

A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.

Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!

Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"

For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..

To the window that danced with a warm fire's light
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,

I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night.
Sleep without fear as you turn out your lights."

"It's my duty to stand at the front of this line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.

No one has asked or begged or implored me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.

My Gramps died at 'Pearl' on a day in December,
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembered."

My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.

I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile."

Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.

"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family, my house and my home.

I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.

I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..

Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."

"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."

"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you some money, prepare you a feast?

It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.

To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.

For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled,

Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

http://www.rafip.org/aroundthenet.htm

The WeatherMan Speaks on Islam

I am copying a comment from the beneath post to the main board. The author of the post is WeatherMan, a friend who attends Penn State.

Hey man nice blog!! Here are some more tid bits about Islam before you go onto the Black Caucus.

1: ‘There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet’

Our interviewees affirm their belief that Islamic violence is entirely orthodox behavior for Muslims and stems directly from the teachings and example of the Prophet Muhammad and the commands of the Koran. We learn that the example of Muhammad is one of a violent warlord who killed numerous people. The Koran – the verbatim words of Allah – prescribes violence against non-Muslims and Muhammad is the perfect example of the Koran in action.

2: The Struggle

We learn that jihad, while literally meaning 'struggle', in fact denotes war fought against non-Muslims in order to bring the rule of Islamic law to the world. Violent death in jihad is, according to the Koran, the only assurance of salvation. One of our interviewees tells of his personal involvement in terrorism and of his conversion to Christianity.

3: Expansion

Following the death of Muhammad, his 'rightly-guided' successors carried his wars to three continents, fighting, enslaving, and massacring countless Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Islam did not spread through evangelism or through its natural appeal, but through aggressive wars of conquest. The Crusades were largely a belated response on the part of Christian Europe to rescue Christians in the Holy Land suffering under Muslim oppression. The Muslim world today, while no longer the unified empire of the Caliphs, is exceptional for being responsible for the vast majority of conflicts around the world and for almost all of international terrorism.

4: ‘War is Deceit’

A great problem with Western efforts to understand Islam is due to the Islamic principle of 'religious deception', which enjoins Muslims to deceive non-Muslims in order to advance the cause of Islam. Muslim groups today in the West employ deception and omission to give the impression that 'Islam is a religion of peace', an utter fiction.

5: More than a Religion

The most important characteristic of Islam not understood by the West is that it is more a system of government than a personal religion. Unlike Christianity, Islam has never recognized a distinction between the religious and the secular/political. Islamic law governs every aspect of religious, political, and personal action, which amounts to a form of totalitarianism that is divinely enjoined to dominate the world, analogous in many ways to Communism.

6: The House of War

Islamic theology divides the world into two spheres locked in perpetual combat, dar al-Islam (House of Islam - where Islamic law predominates), and dar al-harb (House of War - the rest of the world). It is incumbent on dar al-Islam to fight and conquer dar al-harb and permanently assimilate it. Muslims in Western nations are called to subvert the secular regimes in which they now live in accordance with Allah's command. Due to political correctness and general government and media irresponsibility, the danger posed by observant Muslims in the West remains largely unappreciated.
Text from , http://www.whatthewestneedstoknow.com


Thanks to the WeatherMan for the great post.

Pop-Ups

It has come to my attention that users who don't use Firefox, for whatever retarded reason that may be, are seeing a pop-up from Fastclick Media. I fucking hate pop-ups and this problem really pissed me off because I had no idea where it was coming from. However, I was checking around on my NoScript Extension, something that EVERYONE should install if they have Firefox, and I saw that the script was trying to run when I went to this site. I never realized this before and I apologize for this. I have isolated the problem, which happened to be the TagBoard, and I removed it so that you guys/gals will now see a pop-up free DrAwkwArD Blog. Again, much apologies!

Also, I am looking for writers for the blog. I am tied up a lot with school work and I think if I could add articles from other like-minded writers so that we could update more than once or twice a week it would be much better. If you have any interest let me know and send me an article you wrote or something and we'll see about getting it posted.

Thanks Nug,

Doctor Awkward

P.S. If anyone, who classifies as a human and not a cyborg or other robot/human entity, can beat Ikaruga without cheating, I will personally be your slave for a whole entire year. It is, without question, the hardest video game ever created. By far.

More More More

5:33 The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter; (Beware, the picture linked here is very graphic)

See also 8:12-16, Remember thy Lord inspired the angels (with the message): "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instil terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them....

I would like to show you, wait for it, MORE on this subject of Islam. Kathy Heel, in her letter to me, wrote of Iran as a democratic country. I would like to show you a few things. This is the first:
I realize that the picture is propaganda, but the penal code that is contained within it is NOT. Iran's penal code encompasses all Islamic law. This is no democracy, it is an Islamic Theocracy bent on destroying all who don't believe.

Women sentenced to death by stoning are buried in the ground up to their necks. Iranian law regulates the size of the stones used by the executioner crowd; stones cannot be big enough to kill the sentenced woman too quickly, as the purpose of this barbaric ritual is to inflict as much pain as possible before death. On the other hand, stones cannot be too small, as each blow must be dramatically painful.
While stoning captures the imagination of Westerners as the most barbaric act committed under Shariah laws, other forms of sentencing perpetrated by the Islamic Republic are just as horrific. For example, Iran employs several types of body mutilation, from the amputation of hands, arms and legs to the macabre procedure of plucking out the eyeballs of the sentenced without the use of anesthetics. Several photos exist to document such occurrences, in dossiers kept by human rights organizations.

The text is linked to the site where I found the pictures and the text. Here are some more sites of interest for Kathy and our friend Jared. Maybe next time you decide to email me thinking that I am just some punk with no brain in his head, you'll think twice and realize that not everyone is running around spewing forth the garbage of propaganda that the both of you seem to love so much.

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
http://www.faithfreedom.org/

This isn't some joke we are dealing with radical Islam (and the teachings of Islam in general). It is evil. Some people don't want to know the truth, and those are the ones who will ultimately pay for their ignorance. I implore all of you to read the information on the sites I have provided and comment here on the Blog with whatever you find, whether good or bad. I want to discuss this with you people. I want to know what you all think.

Thanks,

Dr.Awkward

My letter to the editor backlash....

My letter to the Editor was published in the Collegian today. By 11:30am I had already recieved one hate email from a lady and one e-mail from a member of our Armed Services. I just checked my email again and there is another hate email.

I will start by saying this; The Daily Collegian did not print my whole article. They left out some of the more infuriating details that I had really hoped they wouldn't. My article printed in the collegian is located here. My original was this:

I have never in my time here at State College read a more infuriating article printed in the Collegian. Ben Praster seems to have everything figured out but in reality he understands nothing about the culture or religion of the Middle East. The Middle East is not interested in "talking" or "sharing" with the West. As more and more countries fall victim to Muslim tyranny, more and more options for peace are wiped away. To even suggest that sending our students to the Middle East to study abroad is absurd. The Islamic theocracies of Afghanistan, Iran etc. are not interested in expanding their "culture" unless it involves killing Americans or anyone else who isn't interested in becoming a Muslim. Praster's idea of dropping "piles of cash" for "indepentdent radio stations or newspapers" or "international schools" lacks any rational thought. He is suggesting that we spend money to fund independent radio stations in vicious theocracies that would surely use them to push the ever famous Muslim agenda of "kill all infidels". Mohammad said it best, "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." The Muslim nations must ask themselves what can they do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them. This sort of diplomacy that Ben Praster is suggesting is the same hippie thought that would have had us stand back and fund radio stations and semester abroads for Nazi Germany whilst Hitler raped the land and killed off the entire Jewish population. Surprisingly enough, Praster says we should save the money we are going to inevitably spend fighting a war in Iran to fund these diplomatic projects. That's funny to me, especially since the President of Iran is intent on killing all the Jews in Jerusalem. But, sure, let's just send him some money for a radio station so he has something to occupy his time, instead of genocide through nuclear armament. http://DoctorAwkward.blogspot.com

I have bolded and enlarged the portion they left out so that the two people, which I will respond to shortly, can read what they had missed.

Ok, on to the first email, written by Kathy Heel was full of great information that an idiot like me couldn't possibly understand. I will do with this as I have done before and "disect" her email so that I may address everything appropriately.
First:

Jon,

You must be the biggest brainwashed,narrow-minded idiot in penn State.period.

Here is why:
Ben Praster seems to have everything figured out, but in reality he actually understands nothing about the Middle East.

oh well.jon you must be an expert in Middle East then.

The Middle East is not interested in "talking" or "sharing" with the West. As more countries fall victim to Islamic tyranny, more options for peace are wiped away. To suggest sending our students to the Middle East to study abroad is absurd. The Islamic theocracies of Afghanistan, Iran and various other countries are not interested in expanding their "culture" unless it involves killing Americans or anyone else who isn't interested in becoming a Muslim. Praster's idea of dropping "piles of cash" for "independent radio stations or newspapers" lacks any rational thought.

Here are some facts Jon.

in 1953,CIA overthrown a democratically elected President of Iran because he refused to give up his oil to British Petroleum.

read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammed_Mossadegh

we removed their democratically elected leader and installed a puppet leader and we blamed them when they were mad with us??

I'll set aside the insults because frankly I could care less what this lady has to say about me. Especially since she can barely write. Anyways. Kathy wrote about Mossadegh, but it goes a little deeper than her small anti-American propaganda speech. The Coup of Mohammed Mossadegh in 1953 had everything to do with something called the Abadan Crisis, which lasted from 1951 to 1954. Basically, Mossadegh initiated a group called the National Front of Iran to expell all foreign intrests who owned and operated oil refineries and wells in Iran, which at the time was basically one company which ruled them all, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company(AIOC). The previous Prime minister General Haji-Ali Razmara, who was elected in June 1950, right before Mossadegh, had opposed the Oil Nationalisation Act on grounds of technicality (being that the company was owned by the British, the Iranians couldn't just out them). He was assassinated on March 7 1951 by a member of the Fadayan-e Islam after a group of Muslim clerics issued a fatwa calling for his death. On April 28 1951, Mossadegh was elected BY THE IRANIAN PARLIMENT with a vote of 79-12. Mossadegh, shortly after being voted in, passed the Oil Nationalization Act, which involved the expropriation of the AIOC's assets (an illegal act in world business). The Abadan Crisis ensued and Mossadegh was ousted. I think you see my point here folks, or at least I hope you do. We are NOT working with a government in Iran, we are working with a network of terrorist Muslim Clerics who decide EVERYTHING about their country's future, a Muslim Theocracy. I suppose, Kathy, that maybe you should read into these links that you send to me before you spit your Liberal rhetoric at me.

Second:

Islamic theocracies involved killing the Americans ugh? well,let see....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1741699,00.html

From the article:

He claims that US soldiers such as him were told little about Iraq, Iraqis or Islam before serving there; other than a book of Arabic phrases, "the message was always: 'Islam is evil' and 'They hate us.' Most of the guys I was with believed it."

Blake says that the turning point for him came one day when his unit spent eight hours guarding a group of Iraqi women and children whose men were being questioned. He recalls: "The men were taken away and the women were screaming and crying, and I just remember thinking: this was exactly what Saddam used to do - and now we're doing it."


sound familiar Jon?how brainwashed our soldiers are,just like you.

What I find intriguing about what the Soldier mentioned and quoted in this article is that he gives us no insight as to WHY those men were being questioned. It is articles like that, Kathy, that spread more and more anti-American propaganda. Black claims that we are not seeing the "real" war. The media is covering ONLY THE BAD things that happen in Iraq. I have talked to countless Soldiers who have returned who have nothing but good things to say about what we are doing. Young Iraqi children hugging them, women thanking them. But you will never hear about that on the news. It is always the negative that you will hear. Our Soldiers aren't brainwashed, Kathy, they are the ones over there every fucking day getting killed and protecting your right to despise them and spread more of your garbage about them. THEY protect YOU, remember that. And another thing; we don't need to kill Iraqis, they're not the ones killing us. But they are the ones killing themselves. They are killing their own people indiscriminantly. The attack today in Baghdad was not intended for any American Occupiers, they were targeting and killing their own people. THEY ARE KILLING THEIR OWN PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Third:

Here is the worse:
Yahoo Article

Griffin said he believed US soldiers had no respect for Iraqis, whom they regarded as "sub-human".

"You could almost split the Americans into two groups: ones who were complete crusaders, intent on killing Iraqis, and the others who were in Iraq because the army was going to pay their college fees," he said.

"They had no understanding or interest in the Arab culture. The Americans would talk to the Iraqis as if they were stupid and these weren't isolated cases, this was from the top down.

"There might be one or two enlightened officers who understood the situation a bit better but on the whole that was their general attitude. Their attitude fuelled the insurgency. I think the Iraqis detested them."

Again, Kathy, propaganda. This British soldier talks about how Americans were "rounding" up "innocent" Iraqis to question them, old men and farmers too. You, and many people like you, don't seem to understand the type of enemy we are fighting. They are faceless. They are the 10 year old walking down the street or the old man sitting at the bus station. I REFUSE to be your teacher on the Insurgence but I IMPLORE you to watch this program on PBS:Frontline. It is called The Insurgency. Maybe that will be the spittle and dirt that rubs your eyes and gives you sight.

Fourth:

Oh Jon...killing the Jews in Jerusalem?There are more Arabs in Jerusalem you know.

What about the Jews who can't wait to expel the Arabs from Israel..or Israeli youths who can't wait to kill the Arabs:

Just last week I visited a well-known high school in Jerusalem. A good many of the students I spoke to told me appalling things. They said: When we are soldiers, we will kill old people, women and children without giving it a thought. They said: We will expel them, we will
put them on planes and fly them to Iraq. We will fly hundreds of thousands of them. Millions. And most of the students in the audience applauded those opinions. They supported them even when I pointed out that that is how people talked 60 years ago in Europe.

-- Avrum Burg, former Speaker of the Knesset: On The Eve Of Destruction

68% of racist Jews refused to live next door to the Arabs:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3231048,00.html


I AM SICK READING YOUR LETTER. please jon,go and pick some books.

You again don't amaze me. What does the fact that there are more Arabs in Jerusalem than Jews have ANYTHING TO DO WITH WHAT I SAID??? Do you even know? You talk about the Jewish children who want to expel the Arabs from Jerusalem without a brain in your head, Kathy. You don't seem to understand that these CHILDREN have grown up and witnessed absolutely NOTHING but Muslim acts of terrorism in their own backyards. And the same goes for the Palestinian children who hold the exact same feelings about the Jews as they do for them. You can't just throw a quote out in the air and expect everyone to be in a trance because of it. You must dig deeper and understand the history of the Middle East. You clearly don't. Thanks for writing me, I've enjoyed this, however infuriating it may have been.

The next email is from Jared Bendes, and it goes a little something like this:

Dude,

WTF is wrong with you?

No letter made me so mad than your letter.If I was not inside the bus when I was reading it,I would be tearing it apart.

dude,

get a life.get out and learn something.

My friends are in American University of Cairo and they are having bricks of fun.The Muslims treat them with great respect.Nobody wants to kill them becoz they hail from USA as you stupidly wrote.

When we are killing the infidels,the non-Christians,the non-westerners in Iraq...you ignored that with memes like freedom and democracy.saving the Muslims from the "salvages" gave us right to have preemptive strike,ugh.

btw idiot,Afghanistan is not a Middle east nation.get an Atlas.

Btw your previous letter to the Collegian was showing your holier than thou attitude:

http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2005/12/12-09-05tdc/12-09-05dops-letter-04.asp


The heroes of WWII are remembered except we don't go and say to others with a condescending voice " shame on you for not remembering them".

get a life.

Your friends that attend the American University in CAIRO aren't exactly at the center of Islamic Jihad, Jared. You seem to have misunderstood everything that I have said. The Islamic Theocracies of the Middle East want nothing but Islam in their countries, anything else is punishable by death, as was the fucking case with Abdul Rahman, who was to be put to death because he converted from Islam to Christianity in a "democratic" country. His next paragraph is illegible, so I am not even going to try and write anything about it. He then turns to calling me an idiot because he thinks I don't know where Afghanistan is. I, uh, I'm still not really sure what the hell to say to that third grade bullshit. And lastly he attacks my previous article about Pearl Harbor. He must not have read that article either. We do NOT remember our WWII heroes when we blatantly disregard the anniversity of Pearl Harbor. Shame on you Jared for your lack of reading comprehension, shame on you.

Lastly, I will post in its entirety the email I got from Daniel Dougherty, a brave Soldier fighting for us ALL in the Middle East. Thanks for your email Dan, and thank you even more for defending our freedom!

Jon-

My name is Dan Dougherty and I am a former PSU student now serving in the military over in the Middle East. During downtimes I tend to read the collegian online and usually get a laugh when I open up the opinions page. For some reason many of the students think just because they are in college, they have a creative writing style, and a first amendment right that what they are really saying is intelligent. It baffles me that people sometimes have such strong convictions about issues they don’t have a darn clue about. Sure, they probably read up on cnn.com and maybe some message boards but the fact is that they really think they are making valid points. What they need to understand is that its an “opinion” page and to stop acting like its some political revolution they are starting by writing about some topic.

Why I was writing….

I RARELY see intelligent comments on that page and just wanted to tell you I thoroughly enjoyed what you had to say. While I was at PSU people had this vision that there is going to be peace on earth, and that every single nation will respect one another. That we will do anything we can by learning about other cultures in an after school club or semester overseas and magically become the Dali Lama. That’s why I had to get out of the college environment. I wanted to experience the world with my own eyes. I get to sit down with Muslims of all the middle Eastern countries on my days off and just shoot the shit about life and other general stuff.

People are people. Doesn’t matter where you go. Some of these people don’t see their families for 3-5 years and make $200 a month just to put food on their tables. AND they’re happy! Some others have children in US colleges for them to learn business and take over their jewelry businesses over here. I might be rambling but I was just trying to say that human being are all the same but where they are from makes a huge difference. These American kids don’t understand that countries over where I am have been with their ways of life for hundreds of thousands of years and they really don’t give a shit to have Americans infiltrate their country and try to be peace makers and save the world. The best bet is just respect other countries ways of life if they don’t appreciate outsiders. If you want to learn so much about these countries pick up a book. Theres plenty other places in the world to visit. Of course you don’t have to respect radicalism from certain groups but just the strict lifestyles that protect their history. Their history that feels like it could be damaged by others bringing their cultures and beliefs inside their borders. Let sleeping dogs lye.

I really rambled and was jumping the gun on what I just wrote so take it all with a grain of salt. I was just responding merely on emotion from being upset about certain people.

I hope you are enjoying your time in Happy Valley and I look forward to your next post!

Dan

Thanks again Dan for serving us All!

Comment it up!!

Are you actually serious?

Right before I decided I would go to bed tonight I browsed on over to the Daily Collegian. What a FUCKING MISTAKE. I just read the biggest piece of shit article I have ever come into contact with. This trumps all:

1. Gay Activist Articles
2. Gay Pride Articles
3. Biology of Gays
4. Muslim Tolerance
5. Bush is responsible for (insert any disaster) article
6. Penn State is Segregated Articles (which I will be writing about tomorrow)
7. Smoking Bans Articles
8. Feminism Articles
9. Pro-Vegan Articles

It is in a category of stupid of its own.
I am really shaken up by this one.
I actually feel like challenging this kid to a cage match, Mankind-style. Here it is:


Peaceful Middle East relations cheaper than war

When the story about Abdul Rahman, a man who faced death for rejecting Islam and converting to Christianity, broke for the first time, I skimmed right by it.

Religious intolerance and inhumane treatment in the Middle East is not really a new or fascinating topic. Obviously this story has received a lot coverage because it happened in Afghanistan, where the U.S. supposedly ended a horrendous theocratic government and replaced it with something better.

President Bush has found building new utopian democracies a little tougher then he thought. I know, a Bush being surprised by a policy failure in the Middle East is nothing new or fascinating either. The Bush administration will never be good at nation-building because it put the cart in front of the horse. The administration's mantra since it gave up on the first two rationales for Iraq was that we'd bring democracy to the Middle East and it will be some kind of shining beacon.

The outcome was inevitable. Democratic elections in Palestine gave us Hamas, Iraq's varying sects vie for votes in power in a de facto civil war and Afghanistan uses Sharia law. Changing the government's structure is no way to change the hearts and minds of people living in the Middle East. All this does is shuffle around the upper classes.

If we want to see peace in the Middle East, or an even loftier goal of a universal suffrage and religious tolerance, we're going to have to reach past the governments and communicate with everyone in the Middle East. So far we've only tried to do this with bombs and bullets, which rarely make any friends. What we need to do is take a lesson from our ancient ancestors.

During the Middle Ages, Europe was at war basically all the time. When they wanted to make peace they would sign a treaty and then seal the pact with a marriage, the idea being warring entities would be tied by blood.

Now I'm not proposing that we ship every woman in America off to Saudi Arabia. Granted there are times, usually in shoe stores, when I'm quite tempted to do so. I'm proposing that we start engaging in a real cultural exchange with the Middle East. We should be encouraging Americans to go there and people from the Middle East to come here. We should offer tuition credits to Middle Eastern students who want to study here. We should also be using funding to encourage kids to spend the semesters abroad in the Middle East.

We should take some of the money we have earmarked for our next war in Iran, and start using it to fund initiatives to improve cultural norms in the Middle East. Want to build an international school? Here's a pile of cash. Want to open an independent radio station or newspaper? Here's a pile of cash. With funding tied to upholding modern standards of freedom of religion and freedom of speech, we could give moderate and progressive voices the funding and shelter that their current regimes could never provide.

These plans won't be cheap. They'll cost us both in increased foreign aid and possibly through retaliatory oil price increases.

But in the end it will be cheaper than waging war after war across the Middle East, because those will never end. Every war we wage fuels imperialist fears and creates terrorists from the "collateral damage." Our other option is to withdraw from the Middle East, leaving another section of the world in the hands of tyrants and despots.

Our best option is to start taking the war for the hearts and minds of the Arab world seriously. We used to talk about it, but that talked died out when we discovered that it directly conflicted with maintaining a military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have to start taking the cultural aspect of this war seriously now or we really are going to be in for the Pentagon's newest buzzword. A "long war" indeed.

Ben Praster


I have responded by writing this "Letter to the Editor" that I just sent in. Here it is:

I have never in my time here at State College read a more infuriating article printed in the Collegian. Ben Praster seems to have everything figured out but in reality he understands nothing about the culture or religion of the Middle East. The Middle East is not interested in "talking" or "sharing" with the West. As more and more countries fall victim to Muslim tyranny, more and more options for peace are wiped away. To even suggest that sending our students to the Middle East to study abroad is absurd. The Islamic theocracies of Afghanistan, Iran etc. are not interested in expanding their "culture" unless it involves killing Americans or anyone else who isn't interested in becoming a Muslim. Praster's idea of dropping "piles of cash" for "indepentdent radio stations or newspapers" or "international schools" lacks any rational thought. He is suggesting that we spend money to fund independent radio stations in vicious theocracies that would surely use them to push the ever famous Muslim agenda of "kill all infidels". Mohammad said it best, "I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah and His Messenger." The Muslim nations must ask themselves what can they do for humankind, before they demand that humankind respect them. This sort of diplomacy that Ben Praster is suggesting is the same hippie thought that would have had us stand back and fund radio stations and semester abroads for Nazi Germany whilst Hitler raped the land and killed off the entire Jewish population. Surprisingly enough, Praster says we should save the money we are going to inevitably spend fighting a war in Iran to fund these diplomatic projects. That's funny to me, especially since the President of Iran is intent on killing all the Jews in Jerusalem. But, sure, let's just send him some money for a radio station so he has something to occupy his time, instead of genocide through nuclear armament. http://DoctorAwkward.blogspot.com

I will publicly shit my pants if they run it (no, I won't, but that would be fucking funny). I don't really have anything else to say. I mean, I do but I am so f/n uncharacteristicly tired right now that I can't do it. Comment it up bitches!!! (and I mean that endearingly).