Going out of Town!!

Kennels slow. Mel will watch house, kennel, animals etc. What a jewel she is. I mean who else would stay at our house, look after the kennel, (walk dogs, clean up shit etc). Not to mention feeding (at last count not including paying boarders....13 chickens, a horse, a donkey (brand new rescue!), four racoons, 5 dogs and a number of cats. AND clean(and I mean windows and floors and bathrooms and cat boxes etc) and plant and garden and, and , and........whew, makes me tired just thinkg about it.

Anyway, we're going to Ft Lauderdale to go to the Tut Exhibit (http://www.kingtut.org/). I am really excited about this. Gave Dolly a Valentines present (ain't I just the thoughtful hubby!!) that she's crazy about. I mean cats and Egypt how could I go wrong. More later and maybe pics!, I know, promises, promises.......


The Present!

Even more

More from those folks in the Middle East

Tensions rise in Denmark-Iran row

Several hundred Iranian protesters showed their anger at Denmark

Denmark says it holds Iran responsible after its Tehran embassy was attacked by hundreds of people protesting about cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Several hundred angry Iranians hurled stones and fire bombs and were forced back by police with tear gas.

The attacks came as Iran said it was cutting all trade ties with Denmark.

The anti-Danish protests have been repeated across the Muslim world, and have led to at least five deaths in Afghanistan and one in Somalia.

Many Muslims are angry at the publishing of cartoons of Muhammad in a Danish paper.

Islamic tradition explicitly prohibits images of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.

The cartoons published in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten, and since reprinted in Norway and other European countries, included an image portraying Muhammad with a bomb in his turban.

With tension rising:

Hundreds of Muslims gather on Tuesday in Cotabato, the southern Philippines, demanding Denmark punish Jyllands-Posten

Norway demands compensation from Syria after its embassy in Damascus was set on fire on Saturday

The Turkish and Spanish prime ministers make a joint plea for respect and calm in an article in the International Herald Tribune

In Indonesia, protesters target the Danish and US consulates in Surabaya, the country's second-largest city. Protests are also held in the capital, Jakarta

Shops and businesses across Indian-administered Kashmir close after a general strike is called in protest at the drawings.

Trade pressure

On Monday evening a crowd of about 400 demonstrators bore down on the Danish embassy in Tehran, which Denmark had closed the day before.

They burned Danish flags and chanted "Death to Denmark".

CARTOON ROW 30 Sept 2005: Danish paper publishes cartoons 20 Oct: Muslim ambassadors complain to Danish PM 10 Jan 2006: Norwegian publication reprints cartoons 26 Jan: Saudi Arabia recalls its ambassador 30 Jan: Gunmen raid EU's Gaza office demanding apology 31 Jan: Danish paper apologises 1 Feb: Papers in France, Germany, Italy and Spain reprint cartoons 4 Feb: Syrians attack Danish and Norwegian embassies in Damascus 5 Feb: Protesters sack Danish embassy in Beirut Cartoon row: Your views Do economic boycotts work?

The embassy gate and two trees caught fire, before Iranian police intervened, forcing the protesters back with tear gas.

At least nine protesters were hurt, police said.

Denmark's foreign minister, Per Stig Moeller, told a Danish radio station that he would hold Iran responsible for any damage to the embassy, and was asking for security guarantees for its citizens still in the country.

But Mr Moeller said he could do little about the trade embargo, under which Iran has banned all Danish imports as well as any other business dealings.

Iran currently imports $280m (£160m) worth of goods from Denmark each year. That works out at about 0.3% of Denmark's total exports.

Some 200 protesters took to the streets in the Afghan capital Kabul

Denmark's embassies in Damascus, Syria, and Beirut, Lebanon were set on fire by protesters at the weekend.

Earlier on Monday protesters attacked the Austrian embassy in Tehran, breaking windows and starting small fires. Austria is the current president of the European Union.

Tehran has already recalled its ambassador to Denmark and has also summoned the ambassadors of Denmark, Norway and Austria to express its anger.

The offending cartoons first appeared in a Danish newspaper last September.

Last week the row escalated after a number of European newspapers republished the pictures, saying they were defending freedom of expression.

And some more.....

Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 11:29 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Blair warning to Iran on weapons

Western powers suspect Iran's nuclear ambitions are not peaceful Iran is making "a very, very serious mistake" if it thinks the international community will allow it to develop nuclear weapons, Tony Blair has said. But the prime minister insisted that the potential for military action against Iran "is not on our agenda". He told the Commons liaison committee that the problem could be dealt with by "peaceful and diplomatic means". The United Nations nuclear watchdog has voted to report Iran to the Security Council over its nuclear activities. Mr Blair told MPs: "There is a real concern about Iran at the moment - there has got to be - not just on nuclear weapons, but in respect of their support for terrorists." But he insisted that "Iran is not Iraq", in an attempt to allay fears about future military action. However, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad makes comments that "Israel must be wiped off the map", it increases concern about whether Iran can be trusted not to develop nuclear weapons, he said.

Boy do I feel safe........

More.....

If you doubt what I've been saying look at this article for the BBC.

Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 February 2006, 11:18 GMT E-mail this to a friend Printable version

Iran paper seeks cartoon revenge

Some of the angriest protests have been in Tehran An Iranian paper is holding a contest for cartoons about the Holocaust, to retaliate against the publication of images of the Prophet Muhammad. Hamshahri says it wants to test the boundaries of free speech, echoing the reasons European papers gave for publishing the caricatures. There have been protests about the images across the Muslim world, where they are seen as insulting and racist. One showed Muhammad, whose image is banned in Islam, as a terrorist bomber. "Does the West's freedom of expression extend to... an event such as the Holocaust or is this freedom of expression only for the desecration of the sanctities of divine religions?" the best-selling paper said in its announcement. It also asks for cartoons covering "America and Israel's crimes and plundering". Iran's conservative rulers are supportive of so-called Holocaust revisionist historians, who argue that the systematic slaughter of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II has been exaggerated for political ends. Hitler formula Graphics editor Farid Mortazavi, who announced the contest, challenged Western newspapers to publish the Iranian cartoons as they did the European ones. As the row has escalated, Tehran has cut trade ties with Denmark because of the cartoons, first published there last September by the conservative Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and recalled its ambassador in Copenhagen. Hamshahri is offering gold coins to the best 12 artists - the same number of cartoons that were commissioned by Jyllands-Posten. It claims to be "keeping its distance from vindictive or irrational conduct" and says full details will be published on 13 February. The dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a Jewish human rights and educational organisation, condemned the competition. "They're following the classic formula of Adolf Hitler, which says if there's a problem, it's the fault of the Jews," said Rabbi Marvin Hier in an interview with AFP.

These people are not rational, and the're trying to build nuclear weapons. Be afraid, be verry afraid.

Enough is enough

OK so I know I haven't been blogging lately. Although there's plenty going on I just can't seem to be as motivated as I once was. It's OK, this is really for me. I alos noticed that almost no-one is reading. Well there's not much to read if you don't blog ne's pa? Anywho, I wanted to comment on this muslim stuff that's going around. I spent many years living (and growing up) in the middle east, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and parts east. My Dad worked for oil companies so we went where the work was. Not a bad life at that time (60's and 70's). Servants, extra-territorial protection etc. I grew to like many of the arabs that I met and became great friends with many of them. I knew then (even as a stupid youth) that they were different. They think a little differently and have a different set of morals values. That all being said I don't recognize what is going on there. These people are becoming dangerous. For years I supported the Palestinains right to self-determination and thought (still do) that they got a raw deal. I never supported their terrorism and was appaled at the Olympic hostage mess and all the hi-jackings in the 70's and 80's. But I still think that the Isreali's are high handed and do exactly what they accuse everyone else of having done to them. I recognize that they are there are not going away and we all have to live with that.

Lately I have been seeing statements from the middle east about the "war against the west", the "crusader actions in Iraq and Afghanistan". Now we have aluntic in Iran trying to build the "Sword of Allah" and making all kinds of weird remarks about the west, the jews and now this stuff about the cartoons. These perople are dangerous! We have tendency to dismiss them as luntics but these people are willing to blow themselves up to prove a point. It's been a long time since Christians "martyred" themselves. I'm begining to agree with my dear wife that these people need to be dealt with. We can wait until a suitcase nuke (Iranian made?) goes off in Denmark, or France or New Jersy or we can start to take these people seriously. Credit to George W., he has kept them fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan instead of Chicago and Chattanooga but for how long? The rhetoric from Osama and Co is that they are planning a strike in the US.

I am begininng to belive that we are already at war with Islam, we just realize it (well, most of us). We tend to dismiss it as radicalism and lunacy but these people are serious. Burning the Danish embassy, occupying the EU offices in Gaza, Mr Lunatic in Iran saying that they have a right to do anything they want. Rhetoric about the "evil crusaders", suicide bombings in London, In Irag and now in Afghanistan.

These are people to be afraid of. Think of this way, It is you that they want to kill. You that they want to convert to Islam. Don't give that "oh sure" stuff. Look through the comments of the leaders. One of their stated aims is to Islamisize the west. They are a real danger and if we don't get our priorities straight we'll all be at the mosque together.....or dead, your choice.