If the French say "Non" and the Dutch say "Nee"; in three months we could see the death of "Europe à la Française." I have my doubts, but; does anyone have an extra bottle of California Sparkling Wine just in case?I don't know if we should be drinking yet.
In the city everyone realized that the great moment had come. During Monday, May 28, some last repairs were done on the walls and the stockades, in the collapsed sections, were reinforced. In the city, while the bells of the churches rang mournfully, citizens and soldiers joined a long procession behind the holy relics brought out of the churches. Singing hymns in Greek, Italian or Catalan, Orthodox and Catholic, men, women, children, soldiers, civilians, clergy, monks and nuns, knowing that they were going to die shortly, made peace with themselves, with God and with eternity.
When the procession ended the Emperor met with his commanders and the notables of the city. In a philosophical speech he told his subjects that the end of their time had come. In essence he told them that Man had to be ready to face death when he had to fight for his faith, for his country, for his family or for his sovereign. All four reasons were now present. Furthermore, his subjects, who were the descendants of Greeks and Romans, had to emulate their great ancestors. They had to fight and sacrifice themselves without fear. They had lived in a great city and they were now going to die defending it. As for himself, he was going to die fighting for his faith, for his city and for his people. He also thanked the Italian soldiers, who had not abandoned the great city in its final moments. He still believed that the garrison could repulse the enemy. They all had to be brave, proud warriors and do their duty. He thanked all present for their contribution to the defense of the city and asked them to forgive him, if he had ever treated them without kindness. Meanwhile the great church of Saint Sophia was crowded. Thousands of people were moving towards the church. Inside, Orthodox and Catholic priests were holding mass. People were singing hymns, others were openly crying, others were asking each other for forgiveness. Those who were not serving on the ramparts also went to the church, among them was seen, for a brief moment, the Emperor. People confessed and took communion. Then those who were going to fight rode or walked back to the ramparts.
From the great church the Emperor rode to the Palace at Blachernae. There he asked his household to forgive him. He bade the emotionally shattered men and women farewell, left his Palace and rode away, into the night, for a last inspection of the defense positions. Then he took his battle position.
The assault began after midnight, into the 29th of May 1453. Wave after wave the attackers charged. Battle cries, accompanied by the sound of drums, trumpets and fifes, filled the air. The bells of the city churches began ringing frantically. Orders, screams and the sound of trumpets shattered the night. First came the irregulars, an unreliable, multinational crowd of Christians and Moslems, who were attracted by the opportunity of enriching themselves by looting the great city, the last capital of the Roman Empire. They attacked throughout the line of fortifications and they were massacred by the tough professionals, who were fighting under the orders of Giustiniani. The battle lasted two hours and the irregulars withdrew in disorder, leaving behind an unknown number of dead and wounded.
Next came the Anatolian troops of Ishak Pasha. They tried to storm the stockades. They fought tenaciously, even desperately trying to break through the compact ranks of the defenders. The narrow area in which fighting went on helped the defenders. They could hack left and right with their maces and swords and shoot missiles onto the mass of attackers without having to aim. A group of attackers crashed through a gap and for a moment it seemed that they could enter the city. They were assaulted by the Emperor and his men and were soon slain. This second attack also failed.
But now came the Janissaries, disciplined, professional, ruthless warriors, superbly trained, ready to die for their master, the Sultan. They assaulted the now exhausted defenders, they were pushing their way over bodies of dead and dying Moslem and Christian soldiers. With tremendous effort the Greek and Italian fighters were hitting back and continued repulsing the enemy. Then a group of enemy soldiers unexpectedly entered the city from a small sally-port called Kerkoporta, on the wall of Blachernae, where this wall joined the triple wall. Fighting broke near the small gate with the defenders trying to eliminate the intruders.
It was almost day now, the first light, before sunrise, when a shot fired from a calverin hit Giustiniani. The shot pierced his breastplate and he fell on the ground. Shaken by his wound and physically exhausted, his fighting spirit collapsed. Despite the pleas of the Emperor, who was fighting nearby, not to leave his post, the Genoese commander ordered his men to take him out of the battle-field. A Gate in the inner wall was opened for the group of Genoese soldiers, who were carrying their wounded commander, to come into the city. The soldiers who were fighting near the area saw the Gate open, their comrades carrying their leader crossing into the city, and they though that the defense line had been broken. They all rushed through the Gate leaving the Emperor and the Greek fighters alone between the two walls. This sudden movement did not escape the attention of the Ottoman commanders. Frantic orders were issued to the troops to concentrate their attack on the weakened position. Thousands rushed to the area. The stockade was broken. The Greeks were now squeezed by crowds of Janissaries between the stockade and the wall. More Janissaries came in and many reached the inner wall.
Meanwhile more were pouring in through the Kerkoporta, where the defenders had not been able to eliminate the first intruders. Soon the first enemy flags were seen on the walls. The Emperor and his commanders were trying frantically to rally their troops and push back the enemy. It was too late. Waves of Janissaries, followed by other regular units of the Ottoman army, were crashing through the open Gates, mixed with fleeing and slaughtered Christian soldiers. Then the Emperor, realizing that everything was lost, removed his Imperial insignia, and followed by his cousin Theophilus Palaeologus, the Castilian Don Francisco of Toledo, and John Dalmatus, all four holding their swords, charged into the sea of the enemy soldiers, hitting left and right in a final act of defiance. They were never seen again.
Now thousands of Ottoman soldiers were pouring into the city. One after the other the city Gates were opened. The Ottoman flags began appearing on the walls, on the towers, on the Palace at Blachernae. Civilians in panic were rushing to the churches. Others locked themselves in their homes, some continued fighting in the streets, crowds of Greeks and foreigners were rushing towards the port area. The allied ships were still there and began collecting refugees. The Cretan soldiers and sailors, manning three towers near the entrance of the Golden Horn, were still fighting and had no intention of surrendering. At the end, the Ottoman commanders had to agree to a truce and let them sail away, carrying their arms.
The excesses which followed, during the early hours of the Ottoman victory, are described in detail by eyewitnesses. They were, and unfortunately still are, a common practice, almost a ritual, among all armies capturing enemy strongholds and territory after a prolonged and violent struggle. Thus, bands of soldiers began now looting. Doors were broken, private homes were looted, their tenants were massacred. Shops in the city markets were looted. Monasteries and Convents were broken in. Their tenants were killed, nuns were raped, many, to avoid dishonor, killed themselves. Killing, raping, looting, burning, enslaving, went on and on according to tradition. The troops had to satisfy themselves. The great doors of Saint Sophia were forced open, and crowds of angry soldiers came in and fell upon the unfortunate worshippers. Pillaging and killing in the holy place went on for hours. Similar was the fate of worshippers in most churches in the city. Everything that could be taken from the splendid buildings was taken by the new masters of the Imperial capital. Icons were destroyed, precious manuscripts were lost forever. Thousands of civilians were enslaved, soldiers fought over young boys and young women. Death and enslavement did not distinguish among social classes. Nobles and peasants were treated with equal ruthlessness.
Your plans for the World Trade Center Site are not worthy, ugly, late, uninspired, and not worthy of this Nation or New York City. (my words)Here is The Donald. He has a better way of putting it.
"It's a building that's essentially a skeleton," he said.
Trump said the plan "looks like a junkyard."
"You take a look at a the roofs of those buildings, they're all at different angles, different shapes," he said. "It is the worst pile of crap architecture I have ever seen in my life."
Trump's alternative would be replicas of the original 110-story towers, only a bit taller. The design and model by architect Ken Gardner, embraced by Trump, offered buildings that would be 1,474 feet -- more than a hundred feet taller than the original towers, once the world's tallest buildings.
"What we need is support to build a bigger and better version of two buildings and more that were taken down by people that were animals," Trump said. "If something happened to the Statue of Liberty, you wouldn't rebuild it as something other than the Statue of Liberty."
“We watch too much TV anyway. We fuss at the children, we should practice what we fuss. I don’t think we need to watch that show next season.”I know better than to argue with her. She has a good point, but L&O: CI was my favorite. OK, the lead is
A judge has ordered best-selling writer and journalist Oriana Fallaci to stand trial in her native Italy on charges she defamed Islam in a recent book. … In "La Forza della Ragione," Fallaci wrote that terrorists had killed 6,000 people over the past 20 years in the name of the Koran and said the Islamic faith "sows hatred in the place of love and slavery in the place of freedom."
State prosecutors originally dismissed accusations of defamation from an Italian Muslim organization, and said Fallaci should not stand trial because she was merely exercising her right to freedom of speech.
But a preliminary judge in the northern Italian city of Bergamo, Armando Grasso, rejected the prosecutors advice at a hearing on Tuesday and said Fallaci should be indicted.
Grasso's ruling homed in on 18 sentences in the book, saying some of Fallaci's words were "without doubt offensive to Islam and to those who practice that religious faith."
Adel Smith, a high-profile Muslim activist who brought the original law suit, hailed the decision.
"It is the first time a judge has ordered a trial for defamation of the Islamic faith," he told reporters. "But this isn't just about defamation. We would also like (the court) to recognize that this is an incitement to religious hatred."
I’m not going to hold my breath for Judge Grasso to rule on The Last Temptation of Christ.
At least someone it Italy if fighting this attack on freedom of speech.
Piss off the Islamofascist and the Dhimmi;Justice Minister Roberto Castelli, who has a prickly relationship with the Italian judiciary, said the ruling represented an attack on freedom of expression.
"In Europe we are seeing the birth of a movement that is looking to silence those who don't follow a single mindset, within which it is forbidden to speak ill of Islam, of homosexuals or of the children of homosexuals," Castelli was quoted as saying in an interview with Radio Padania.
"In Fallaci's book there is very strong criticism but not defamation," Italian news agency ANSA quoted him as saying.
There was no immediate comment from Fallaci who is in her 70s and suffers from cancer.
.Michael: You went to school to learn, girlThat is just so wrong in so many ways. It does explain why Michael Jackson has such a dorked up view of sexuality. Hopefully, the 10 yr old girls singing and dancing to this song don’t process the lyrics. Mea Culpa here. I didn’t process the lyrics in time to ask the other adults “Do you know what those lyrics you have Katelyn, Brittany, Emma, and Emily dancing to are about?”
Things you never, never knew before...
Jermaine: Like I before E except after C...
Michael: And why 2 plus 2 makes four
Now now now, I'm gonna teach you...
J5: Teach you, teach you
Michael: All about love, dear...
J5: All about love
….
Tito: Come on, let me love you just a little bit!
Jackie: Come on, let me love you just a little bit!
Jermaine: I'm a going to teach how to sing it out!
Michael: Come on, come one, come on
Let me show you what it's all about!
….
Michael: Your education ain't complete
T-T-T-Teacher's gonna show you
J5: Show you, show you
Michael: How to get an A!
…
Michael: Sit down, girl!
I think I love you!
No!
Get up, girl!
Show me what you can do!
Shake it, shake it, baby, come on now!
Shake it, shake it, baby, ooo oooh!
Shake it shake it, baby, huh!
123, baby, oo ooo!
ABC, baby, nah nah!
Do re mi, baby, huh!
That's how easy love can be.
GOLIATHSee the trend?
10pm 2005-05-24 ALL NEW!
VIOLENT POLICE BEHAVIOR IS LINKED TO AN ANTI-MALARIA DRUG, ADMINISTERED TO THEM BY THE U.S. ARMY-When two Police officers from separate precincts attack their wives and demonstrate suicidal behavior, Detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay) and Stabler (Chris Meloni) investigate, and connect the incidents to both men serving in the same Reserve unit in Afghanistan. Linking this behavior to a similar trail of attacks in 2002 by officers, Benson and Stabler connect this to a drug called Quinium, which the Army prescribes to fight malaria. When they discover that the Army is aware of its side affects, Novak (Diane Neal) goes after the government for administering the drug. Meanwhile, Detective Stabler faces some tough personal issues at home with his wife. Dann Florek, Richard Belzer, Ice-T and B.D. Wong also star. TV-14
Napoleon is said to have observed that “history is a set of lies agreed upon.” There is no better example of this than in how modern-day pundits have rewritten the history of the Vietnam War.This is one reason why, though I understand the anger of the
..by March 1972, when the North Vietnamese launched a conventional assault dubbed the Easter Offensive. With American air support, the South Vietnamese Army was able to hold on to every one of 44 provincial capitals except Quang Tri, which was later retaken. … but in 1975, the post-Watergate Democratic majority in the Senate (61 to 37) and House (291 to 144) voted to cut off all aid to South Vietnam, despite the fact that the 1973 Paris Peace Accords called specifically for “unlimited military replacement aid” for South Vietnam.
This time there would be no American sir support or aide. It was congressional Democrats and their allies in the media, … who ensured South Vietnam’s defeat and ushered in an era of mass carnage, boat people and re-education camps that resulted in more deaths after the war than during it.
After Saigon’s “liberation” the summary executions of tens of thousands of South Vietnamese began. Hundreds of thousands more were forced into re-education camps as 1 million boat people fled on anything that would float, with countless thousands perishing in the South China Sea. And let us not forget the killing fields of Cambodia, where 3 million were slaughtered.
, we are finding more and more folks from the traditional Left Nightfall, Jan. 30. Eight-million Iraqi voters have finished risking their lives to endorse freedom and defy fascism. Three things happen in rapid succession. The right cheers. The left demurs. I walk away from a long-term intimate relationship. I'm separating not from a person but a cause: the political philosophy that for more than three decades has shaped my character and consciousness, my sense of self and community, even my sense of cosmos. ...I love that last part. This guy isn't just a bumper-sticker Leftist...wasn't-excuse me.
My estrangement hasn't happened overnight. Out of the corner of my eye I watched what was coming for more than three decades, yet refused to truly see. Now it's all too obvious. Leading voices in America's "peace" movement are actually cheering against self-determination for a long-suffering Third World country because they hate George W. Bush more than they love freedom. ...
These days the postmodern left demands that government and private institutions guarantee equality of outcomes. Any racial or gender "disparities" are to be considered evidence of culpable bias, regardless of factors such as personal motivation, training, and skill. This goal is neither liberal nor progressive; but it is what the left has chosen. In a very real sense it may be the last card held by a movement increasingly ensnared in resentful questing for group-specific rights and the subordination of citizenship to group identity. There's a word for this: pathetic.
Now, I find myself in a swirling metamorphosis. Think Kafka, without the bug. Think Kuhnian paradigm shift, without the buzz. ...
I began my activist career championing the 1968 presidential candidacies of Robert Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy, because both promised to end America's misadventure in Vietnam. I marched for peace and farm worker justice, lobbied for women's right to choose and environmental protections, signed up with George McGovern in 1972 and got elected as the youngest delegate ever to a Democratic convention.As always, you need to read it all. He goes through, in detail, where he believes the Left has lost its way. He leaves with a good closer.
Eventually I joined the staff of U.S. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio. In short, I became a card-carrying liberal, although I never actually got a card.
All of which is why I have come to believe, and gladly join with others who have discovered for themselves, that the single most important thing a genuinely liberal person can do now is walk away from the house the left has built. The renewal of any tradition that deserves the name "progressive" becomes more likely with each step in a better direction.Welcome aboard friend - glad to have you at last. Lucky for me, I had an empiphany early on in life. I had a
ADMIRAL NELSON saw off the mighty Franco-Spanish fleet at the battle of Trafalgar but 200 years on, he has been sunk by a wave of political correctness.Well, screw the French and Spanish. They WERE the aggressors in a war where they supported a murdering megalomaniac hell-bent on creating a super-state based on nothing but his own ego (AKA Napoleon); they were sunk for their vanity, pride, arrogance, and military ineptitude (with some help from an Admiral of unique brilliance).
Organisers of a re-enactment to mark the bicentenary of the battle next month have decided it should be between “a Red Fleet and a Blue Fleet” not British and French/Spanish forces.
Otherwise they fear visiting dignitaries, particularly the French, would be embarrassed at seeing their side routed.
A spokeswoman for the Royal Navy said: “This is an illustration and theatre on water. Nelson is featured, but we are not billing it as Britain versus France . . . This will not be a French-bashing opportunity.”War is not theater or theatre. Admiral Nelson,
The battle will be staged in the evening of the international fleet review on June 28. The Queen and senior royals will attend the day’s events and government leaders from 73 countries have been invited.
'Nuff said.Firstly you must always implicitly obey orders, without attempting to form any opinion of your own regarding their propriety. Secondly, you must consider every man your enemy who speaks ill of your king; and thirdly you must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil.
-Horatio Nelson
As a Muslim, I am able to purchase copies of the Quran in any bookstore in any American city, and study its contents in countless American universities. American museums spend millions to exhibit and celebrate Muslim arts and heritage. On the other hand, my Christian and other non-Muslim brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia--where I come from--are not even allowed to own a copy of their holy books. Indeed, the Saudi government desecrates and burns Bibles that its security forces confiscate at immigration points into the kingdom or during raids on Christian expatriates worshiping privately.I want to share a lunch of
...
Although considered as holy in Islam and mentioned in the Quran dozens of times, the Bible is banned in Saudi Arabia. This would seem curious to most people because of the fact that to most Muslims, the Bible is a holy book. But when it comes to Saudi Arabia we are not talking about most Muslims, but a tiny minority of hard-liners who constitute the Wahhabi Sect.
...
The Bible in Saudi Arabia may get a person killed, arrested, or deported. In September 1993, Sadeq Mallallah, 23, was beheaded in Qateef on a charge of apostasy for owning a Bible. ... As Muslims, we have not been as generous as our Christian and Jewish counterparts in respecting others' holy books and religious symbols. Saudi Arabia bans the importation or the display of crosses, Stars of David or any other religious symbols not approved by the Wahhabi establishment. TV programs that show Christian clergymen, crosses or Stars of David are censored.
...
Around 30,000 (Americans) live and work in various parts of Saudi Arabia. These people are not allowed to celebrate their religious or even secular holidays. These include Christmas and Easter, but also Thanksgiving.
...
The Saudi Embassy and other Saudi organizations in Washington have distributed hundreds of thousands of Qurans and many more Muslim books, some that have libeled Christians, Jews and others as pigs and monkeys. In Saudi school curricula, Jews and Christians are considered deviants and eternal enemies. By contrast, Muslim communities in the West are the first to admit that Western countries--especially the U.S.--provide Muslims the strongest freedoms and protections that allow Islam to thrive in the West. Meanwhile Christianity and Judaism, both indigenous to the Middle East, are maligned through systematic hostility by Middle Eastern governments and their religious apparatuses.
The lesson here is simple: If Muslims wish other religions to respect their beliefs and their Holy book, they should lead by example.
“Do you ever remember anything? BTW, your torpedoes still suck – the
'Long Lance' still laughs at you.”
“Jacksonville would gain Patrol Wing 5 and its P-3 maritime patrol aircraft squadrons from Brunswick Naval Air Station…”Really? Mmmmm. As my P-3 spy tells me, in the Cold War each P-3 wing had 6 squadrons. They now have 3 (+1 VQ or VPU depending on where you are). NAS Jacksonville already has 3 VP squadrons and Patrol Wing 11. Do you really think there is a reason to have Wing 5 AND Wing 11 on the same base? With
``Members of Congress are under more scrutiny from various interest groups who play a larger role in politics in every single way than they did in the past,'' Democratic consultant Jim Jordan says. ``That makes it very difficult for even well-meaning and sensible members of Congress to come together for compromise.''Look where he
Jordan comes to Westhill Partners from his own successful consulting firm, Thunder Road Group, where he directed political and communications strategy for several “527” groups in the 2004 election, including America Coming Together and The Media Fund. Previously, Jordan served as campaign manager for presidential candidate Senator John Kerry. Prior to that, he served as Executive Director, Communications Director and Political Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.OK. Let's find that balance.
If the Senate GOP leadership accepts anything less than a vote on each of Bush's nominees, ``I think people will be extremely upset,'' said Wendy Long of theWe have a 1 to 1 tie. Next round.Judicial Confirmation Network .
``You cannot back down from bullies,'' said Nancy Keenan, president ofThat was easy. L2 - R1.NARAL Pro-Choice America .
``If we fail to step back from the abyss, we will descend into a dark, protracted era of divisive partisanship,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania who has not indicated publicly what course he will take.Senator Specter is a tie. Argue if you want, but he's a tie - leaning left.
Fred Wertheimer, president ofD21 takes a bit of digging until you find out a little more by President and founder byDemocracy 21 , a congressional watchdog group, said the judicial fight is a reflection of intensely partisan times.
"Ron is usually happiest with a piece of metal in his hands!"Oh, wait, that is another
Hat tipWhat does the pious person get in return for all of his or her time and effort? A church full of passionate members; a community of people deeply involved in one another's lives and more willing than most to come to one another's aid; a peer group of knowledgeable souls who speak the same language (or languages), are moved by the same texts, and cherish the same dreams. Religion is a " 'commodity' that people produce collectively," says Iannaccone. "My religious satisfaction thus depends both on my 'inputs' and those of others." If a rich and textured spiritual experience is what you seek, then a storefront Holy Roller church or an Orthodox shtiebl is a better fit than a suburban church made up of distracted, ambitious people who can barely manage to find a morning free for Sunday services, let alone several evenings a week for text study and volunteer work. ...
... if strictness, judiciously enforced, provides an advantage in the spiritual marketplace, then it makes sense that America, one of the few countries with no state religion and a truly open market in religion, should be home to so many varieties of fundamentalism and orthodoxy. The explosive growth of conservative Christianity, Judaism, and Islam and the slow decline of more genteel denominations such as Episcopalianism may well represent not the triumph of reactionary forces, but the natural outcome of religious competition.
Todd Zywicki and me, … ran our campaigns independently of each other, but we both concentrated our attention on a couple of themes, including a demand for the College to sweep aside its de facto speech code in favor of true freedom of speech on campus. And we won.Free speech. Radical.
Hat tip"
And miles to go before I sleep, "
Miles to go before I sleep.
