Much of the blogosphere is appalled, as well it should be, at the selection of Yusuf Islam — né Cat Stevens — to perform at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert’s now absurdly named “Rally to Restore Sanity.” As the world well knows, Islam/Stevens is the man who endorsed the fatwa on Salman Rushdie and on more than one occasion said he wished he could carry it out and murder Rushdie himself.
And if that isn’t enough — and it should be — Islam is a misogynist who won’t talk to women. (Take another listen to the paternalistic “Wild World” if you want to hear the psychological roots of his profound “religious” belief.)
So what’s up with Stewart and Colbert? Why would they have a man like that singing at their event? Is this PC cultural relativism gone berserk? (“Hey, dude, it’s cool. Yusuf’s into the fatwa thing, you dig? He loves Khomeini just like Foucault did. All cultures are equal, you know. Who are we to judge?”) If that’s so, why not invite Khalid Sheik Mohammed to perform? He actually took the head off Daniel Pearl. He didn’t just talk the talk. He walked the walk.
But I think there’s another explanation for Islam’s appearance and it’s much simpler: Stewart and Colbert are dumb and uniniformed. Although they pretend to be more, they are just mildly talented entertainers with the depth of a petri dish who rely on their writers to stoke them with material and ideas. And no one told them Cat Stevens supported killing a fellow artist merely for exercising free expression. And unlike many of you, they simply didn’t know themselves. They thought he was, you know, just a peaceful ex-hippie dude who went Islamic spiritual instead of zen. (Okay, that irritated some people, but so what? It would be nice to see them squirm.)
Yusuf Islam has a comic book vibe to the name, a Johnny Tsunami kind of tone. I guess that’s expected from anyone willing to call themselves Cat…at one time.
Cat Stevens, né Steven Demetre Georgiou
A self-hating Greek!
No, most likely Greek ( middle name) and Romanian or Georgian via the -iou prefix….ah , immigration from eastern euroland to the Land of the Free and oft ill-educated, to boot…their ancestors would be horrified at this demonstrated ignorance and ill-informed cavalier attitude.Yes, folks our culture is mongrelized ’cause we do NOT require the study of our Anglo-Dutch North Sea political roots- what a shameful waste.
La quenta , por favor Senor Obamama! Pay up now , on Nov. 02……los hombres de mierda de toro. Sorry if I got that wrong , English is my first language….proudly!
The two rally-clowns are certainly uninformed and they can’t tell good sense from nonsense. I vote for clueless over dumb.
I vote for stupid. as for colbert when he was living in South Carolina his name was pronounced col-burt not col-berh.
IF we are at all interested in cluing in Jon boy, and his sidekick,to the perils of Islamism,(and his dangerous genuflection to Cat boy) I offer up this reality show based suggestion – a day trip, a performance junket to S’derot. They must set up their podium and speakers, up close and personal, to the Gaza Hamas border.
The lessons they will learn will be swift and forthwith.They will(if they have the cajones to stand there more than a nanosecond) be the recipients of Islamic hospitality-rockets and missiles. To wit, they will absolutely wet their pants, rooted in their spots from fright, as the less than ‘peaceful’, hapless residents of S’derot run for cover-Tzeva Adom-(Color Red alert)like.
If we’re lucky, someone will catch their fright on a camera phone,ready to upload their humiliating performance anxiety to the world stage.
Now, that’s a performance I would gladly attend!!
true that, applied experience is the enemy of stupidity
“They (Stewart and Colbert) are above the fray, smarter than the rest of us…”
And hiding in their ivory towers with bodyguards surrounding them while the rest of us take our chances out here with Fatwas and Jihads and burning, collapsing towers.
I hope they have bullet-proof vests and bomb-sniffing dogs at the “Rally to Re-institute inSanity”.
you all suck
Man, that’s a pretty name. I hope my granddaughters can share that beautiful prose – first and last.
You’d know all about that. Didn’t your name used to be Mo’Niquisha Lewinsky?
I agree it is quite possible that neither Stewart nor Colbert know about Yusuf’s endorsement of the fatwa against Rushdie, but it wouldn’t matter if they did. Conservatives are held eternally accountable for every misstep from age two and up, regardless of remorse and change; progressives are soon forgiven and their misdeeds are dismissed as ancient history.
In any case, Stewart and Colbert would surely appreciate Yusuf’s ludicrous claim that he was only “joking” about wishing to see Rushdie killed. Isn’t that their own excuse whenever they cross the lines of decency or fair play? Isn’t everything a joke?
The worst part, Wolfie, is that our ‘youth’ (my daughter excluded-ahem) think Jon Stewart is “NEWS”.
F*CK!
Of course, it is the Fox “News” Channel that doesn’t distinguish between the few moments a day they actually broadcast news and the majority of their programming that more closely resembles paid political advertising for the Republican Party.
Based on content and accuracy, it is clear that there is more useful news in a half-hour of Jon Stewart’s Daily Show than in a week of Fox News programming. I suppose that is the point though. It is more important to BE fair and reasonable than to spend all of your energy telling people how “Fair and Balanced” you are while you act as a propagandist.
Mere assertion, Larry, the left’s typical modus operandi. (Assertion is what little kids try on, to get their way.)
How about some proof–chapter and verse?
Assignment: watch Chris Wallace (Mike Wallace’s son) and then assess. Make your case.
Have a good day!
and reasoning like this is exactly why our country is falling apartblahblahblah
….if not for FOX we would not hear what is really going on. At least FOX gives you facts that you can track down and find they didn’t lie about it or twist the words, or exclude the main part.
Yeah the youth thinks Stewart is “cool”, they are still a long way from earning an actual living, being responsible for their life,waking up and actually having a life (not a coffee break), or having loved ones giving their life o defend our country, or having your parents, or your own, savings wiped out by people in the current administration.. When they reach that point, they will realize they have been fooled by the clowns..
fatwa?
Seems you’ve never “really” watched Fox News. Or maybe you , too, are to silly to be able to reason what is commentary and what is news. I can tell the difference and put each into a perspective.
Fox News is not afraid to put BOTH sides out there for me to choose which I want to believe. Liberal MSNBC tells me what THEY want me to believe…and just skips the other side of the story.
I remember watching some economic program where Fox News had a panel of six people to provide “diverse” viewpoints.
This panel included three conservative partisan hacks, one libertarian, one liberal partisan hack, and one academic who seemed to understand the issue, but couldn’t get a word in over the shouting.
It was a diverse group, but the show was mostly the conservative hacks (and occasionally the libertarian) shouting at the liberal hack and the liberal shouting back.
The sadder thing is that the viewers of the “real news” networks aren’t any better informed.
Fox News is right-wing propaganda, MSNBC is left-wing propaganda, and CNN is just garbage.
I guess you’ve never watched Bret Baier, Brit Hume, or Chris Wallace at Fox. Their programs are intelligent and informative.
(Bill O’Reilly, not so much.)
I thought Yusuf was on our no fly list because of some of his views/statements. Or was that under a different administration?
But, but, but, Leigh, we are under a new and ‘enlightened’ regime now (you know, where ‘muslim terrorist attacks’ are merely ‘man-made’ disaster) but, no fears…surely now that we have a Muslim president (*cough-cough*) America will find peace with the Middle East (*cough_choke_cough*).
Ah yes…we have a president who can identify “modified toner cartridges” as terrorist activity but the guy with the car in Times Square, nope, and the guy at Ft. Hood, nope, not him either. I am so glad this has been clarified during the past few days.
According to Ye old wikipedia:
On 21 September 2004, Yusuf was on a United Airlines flight from London to Washington, travelling to a meeting with singer Dolly Parton, who had recorded “Peace Train” several years earlier and was planning to include another Cat Stevens song on an upcoming album.[47] While the plane was in flight, his name was flagged as being on a no fly list. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers alerted the United States Transportation Security Administration, which then diverted his flight to Bangor, Maine, where he was detained by officers from the Department of Homeland Security.[59]
…
Two years later, in December 2006 Yusuf was admitted without incident into the United States for several radio concert performances and interviews to promote his new record.[67] Yusuf said of the incident at the time, that, “No reason was ever given, but being asked to repeat the spelling of my name again and again, made me think it was a fairly simple mistake of identity. Rumors which circulated after made me imagine otherwise.”[68]
So it was the same administration who put him on the no fly list also removed him and let him in.
And Stephan/Cat/Yusef hasn’t sold more than a MiniCooper-full of albums since he was Cat. Nada, nothing, boring, snooze. I’m surprised at Colbert. I thought there might be 30 more IQ points there.
Remember Stewart dropped his surname Liebowitz because it was “too Hollywood”. ‘Cause that’s what you think when you think Liebowitz, just like Katz and Cohen and Goldberg, “too Hollywood”. Riiiiight. Dropping his Jewish surname to ‘fit in better’ tells me everything I need to know about Stewart née Liebowitz.
As if to prove the point, during the Gaza War in early 2009 Stewart sank to a nadir he has yet to surpass (even with the invite to Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens), shilly condemning the Jews oh I mean Israel for daring to fight back against Hamas after their relentless rocket barrages fired into Israel. He accused the US media of one-sidedness in favour of Israel and ignoring the Palestinian side of the conflict (“it’s like a moebius strip” Stewart dumbly opined to applause from the Jew-haters in his audience). He wasn’t kidding either. Just check youtube for this odious lowpoint in the Stewart “oeuvre”, which was heavily praised by anti-Semites of every persuasion all over the web. Yes Stewart the Joooos control the US media, that’s why it’s so biased in favour of the Jooo nation and the sea levels are rising a hundred feet a year because the ice caps are melting and the polar bears are all drowned because of global warming because National Geographic and Newsweek says so blalba.
One has to wonder which NY Times Stewart reads, is it the NY Times in some parallel universe? What about the WPost, LA Times, SF Chronicle etc and their long-standing bias against Israel? Stewart is utterly clueless as Simon points out. Doubtless he has never heard of CAMERA, their files on blatant US media bias against Israel and whitewashing of Arab Muslim terror can fill an encyclopedia. Calling Stewart dumb devalues the meaning of the word.
Excellent points!
Larry, wasn’t Jon’s sister the Faun Liebowitz who was killed in a kiln explosion at Wellesley College?
I believe it was Emily Dickenson College.
“…and can you bring three dates for my friends?”
“….hey Otis, he LOVES us!”
“…I know (wink) She told me”
Way to go, Larry in Tel Aviv. Right on!
your anger got the best of you. worst article/post i have read regarding the stewart/colbert show put on today.
you use poor axamples and speak for others (almost literally) to justify your anger and slanted views.
you try to make the typical viewer of the show seem like an uninformed kid (“hey dude…”), when really those who watch these shows are more educated than those who watch bill o’reilly and the likes.
poor form sir
“when really those who watch these shows are more educated than those who watch bill o’reilly and the likes.”
I’m sure you have a source for the statement like that. I would estimate that a large share of the comedians’ audience is under 18.
Well, I don’t see a citation in the original comment, but a couple of seconds on Google can give you studies about how exposure to talk radio affects the level of accuracy when it comes to being politically informed. (Thats a more focused comment than just “educated” since what we are really talking about here is the accuracy of the beliefs and information put out by talk radio and outlets like Fox)
For a roundup of some of the studies you are looking for, you can check “Americans’ exposure to political talk radio and their knowledge of public affairs.” http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/84971982_1.html (Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media) The article is from 2002, but I think it’s probably still interesting because talk radio and TV punditry has not really matured since then … actually, it has matured into a more potent and focused ratings machine, but as far as the “information” part of the product goes, it has only gotten more ideological.
This study does not say one group is “more educated” than another, but it is interesting that the people who most listen to political talk radio or get most of their information from political talk radio are curiously not listening for information. Odd, but considering the increasing ideological agenda of political media, it makes sense that a person would not seek information, but seek confirmation of their own biases.
I really can’t wait to see what the moderator does with this comment especially considering the number of ad hominem attacks already posted (apparently in violation of the Pajamas Media guidelines posted at the top of this page.
Well, Larry, I decided to check your link. I got as far as this line;
“The data for this study came from the 1996 and 1998 National Election Studies…”.
Yes I recently heard from someone that the viewers of the Jon Stewart show on TV believe that they are watching an actual and factual news program! Tells me a lot about today’s public education system.
So…..you just pulled out the busted and tired socially elite BS? Give it a rest. You’re not anywhere near MY IQ equal.
Nolan: I hate to inform you that your spelling and grammar needs some major rework. Apparently, your texting has withered your ability to communicate in written form.
Steven Demetre Georgiou…
This man has a personality disorder
Cat Stevens?
Yusuf Islam?
He is one confused cookie.
Do you think that “Cat Stevens” Peace Train could have actually been a reference to the trains that carried million of Jews as well as others to death camps, I think it is highly possible considering his choice of Islam and their co-operation with Hitler during WW2!
Assuming you think it is a good thing for Yusef Islam to be on a no-fly list do think Britain is right to keep Michael Savage on theirs. He did advocate killing 100 million Muslims (or was that a joke?)
No, it was not a joke, it was a good idea. If the statistics are correct, there are about 100 million Islamists who wish to see the destruction of the U.S. and all other infidels. If that 100 million terrorist contingent was eradicated, the world would be much safer. The problem is getting all 100 million Islamists in one place. Until then, many innocent people will die at their hands and as collateral damage.
I did not hear Savage’s remark, but if he meant 100 million jihadists, he has a point. If he meant 100 million Muslims at random, that’s unworkable and unethical.
However, if Jihadists explode a nuke by one means or the other in a Western country, the entire equation will change.
Savage is a hit & miss guy, so if he says 100, it would likely be only 10, who cares. What is much worse, he wants most drugs legalized. That should really get you going.
wow I’ve never heard such ignorant posts. If anyone of you has ever watched the daily or the colbert report I’ll eat my hat. Every point Stewert makes is backed with facts unlike that faux news. You can brush off whatever Jon has to say but and blow him off as someone who out of touch. However that won’t change the fact that a comedian is a far more effective reporter then 90%of main stream news. And yes we “young” people consider him news. Thats because he provides more facts then Fox, CNN or MSNBC. In fact I do get my facts from many sources and still Jon and Colbert provide better info then any of the other coverage. So we young people will continue to be informed, y’all can maintain ignorance. Have fun with that,enjoy being lied to perpetually by Fox, and MSNBC and just plain stupid from CNN
Start eating.
You say you are informed, and show disdain for the media, so exactly where do you get your information….Huffpo? You remind me of someone I know that refuses to acknowledge that his own sources may (and likely are) be tainted.
You do realize that it is a comedy show. Maybe you should also get your news from “Weekend Update” on SNL. Yikes!
You want fries with your chapeau?
I watch Stewart and Colbert practically every night. Sometimes they’re funny, notwithstanding the relentless left-wing spin. But facts???. I Imagine you think Michael Moore presents facts, too.
You see, unlike lefties, we conservatives can take a joke.
Also unlike lefties, we don’t live by the smug assumption that everyone who disagrees with us is a toothless, slack-jawed yokel.
Now, my (mentally) young friend: defend the decision to invite a known Islamic extremist to perform. G’wan, I dare ya.
Only “stoner” lefties could possibly believe that Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz (Jon Stewart) and Stephen Colbert, of COMEDY CENTAL network are newsmen and/or present the NEWS !!!
Even their own supporters publicly describe their shows as follows:
“The Colbert Report. Following The Daily Show’s news-parody concept, The Colbert Report is a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows…”
That doesn’t remotely sound like “news” or even “political commentary.” Parody may be funny, but not FACT.
It is true, I know people (not friends) who defend the Stewart show as being a news broadcast, and they get their “news” from that show only.
Only if you consider DNC talking points to be fact. I never missed a show when they were on Hulu. They are entertaining, but facts are not their strong point.
Y’all want some fries with that hat? Does your manager know you are fouling his keyboard with your grease-smeared fingers?
Better wipe down that keyboard and get back to the Fry-o-later if you want t okeep that minimum wage job..
Mr. Simon I was delighted to see that you’d written a piece on this because I knew that you’d present it with truth and flair! “Stewart and Colbert are dumb and uniformed.” Yes, that sums up them and most of their audience. A big reason they stay that way is because their main philosophical outlook is hyper-relativism. The answer to every question for these “ironic hipsters” is, “hey, you know, it really doesn’t matter because we’re (the US, the West, Judeo-Christian cultures, etc) just as bad if not worse than them (anyone other than we/us). So the solution is always there and they don’t have to think very much about it.
Hey, I say some might be taking this a bit to serious, Roger is right, they are entertainers and sometimes can be damn funny. I remember the Truman thingy from a couple years ago when Whittle took Stewart apart. I notice Stewart pretty much sticks to comedy now as that had to be a painful lesson.
And the way Stewart blubbered on air after 9/11, I thought he would take some things more seriously.
So Steven Cat Yusuf Islam Stevens Georgiou won’t speak to unveiled women. Oy. I’m a public librarian, and my very favorite work anecdote goes like this: I was at the information desk (our institution’s first line of defense, so to speak) when two guys with Pakistani accents came in. (I lived over there for a time, so I know the accent.) One asks me, “Is there a MAN we can talk to?” So I answer, in keeping with our required customer-service policies, “I am the librarian on duty at this station. How may I help you?” What I wanted to say: “Welcome to the United States of America. Now get out.”
The irony is that there is a very small demographic of fanatically religious Jews whose men also will not speak to unrelated women. The differences in this case are that 1)such men generally do their best to avoid the situation, e.g., they stay within their own insular community as much as possible, and keep quiet when forced out of it; 2) the media, academia, and other sectors of the doucheousie are very quick to denounce these sectarians as deliberately offensive and a menace to society. All cultures are equal, but some more equal than others, as usual…
doucheousie LOL lovin it
says so much in so few letters
may I borrow it?
Thank you, but I only wish I could claim that delicious term for myself; it comes from a comment on Chicago Boyz by someone far cleverer than me. We should all be trying to get it into general circulation, though…
From Jim Treacher’s live blog as he watched the rally http://dailycaller.com/2010/10/29/the-liveblog-to-restore-whatever/:
“1:12: Colbert just made a book-burning joke. For all you moderates out there.”
A book-burning joke by a faux-conservative, in-character Colbert just a few minutes before Jon Stewart introduced a guy who wanted to see someone MURDERED for writing a book?
It’s hard for me to believe they, or their producers, didn’t know about the Rushdie fatwa. Maybe it’s all about Irony. Or Restoring Fear. Or something.
The prohibition against photography tells me everything I want to know. That the participants acquiesced to this prohibition is truly disturbing. What are they afraid of? And why did this Stewart guy (I don’t have TV and have never seen him) jettison of his real name?
Prohibition on photography? then, um, why are there so many great photos on flickr?
I think you shouldn’t believe everything you read on conservative blogs. Like most live performances, there will have been restrictions on video and sound recording. that’s just boilerplate. but I doubt that will have stopped anyone taking photos, and enforcing any blanket ban would have been impossible. The purpose is to outlaw bootleg recordings.
If you bother to look, you’ll find plenty of photos and I suspect we’ll start to see videos uploaded soon.
The TRIED to prohibit photographs by unapproved journalists. This was illegal.
The photography ban is standard for most concerts.
But, wasn’t this a public rally, not a concert?
Leftards will use any excuse, aka dirty tricks, to shut out/down their political opponents.
This “rally” has barely had an impact on me; what’s the impact on the U.S.A. as a whole?
How stupid can they be, really? After all, they are smart enough to never, ever, cross any lines that could put they themselves in the Islamists’ crosshairs.
From what I read about them, they are both uninformed and stupid. Their comedy appeals to the hate America left and those with an IQ of room temperature. If Islam took over, those two useful idiots would be at the top of the list to be beheaded.
watching hollyweird making happy with the muslims is like watching children play with matches. these people think that they are safe with the muslims. ha, satan is alive and well. fool the fools. these muslim people are very dangerous and are laughing at us everyday.
our GOD will not be mocked. he has shown us what these muslims are about, beheadings, and for the USA to include them in our society is crazy. the muslims that are in our country now are just waiting for the jihad call.
be at the polls on tuesday and vote out these radical democrats and their destruction of america.
I suspect these two clowns would not know the difference between an fatwa and fat wade. Give me a break, not only are they ignorant to the prose of the cult of islam, they could not even be aware of the true threat it wishes to impose upon even them. Good Lord, dumb and dumber is more appropriate
Let’s see… The rules fpr posting replies to a commentary that states “Stewart and Colbert are dumb and uniformed.” include “Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.”
Now that we have that little bit of absurdity out of the way, let;s address the bigger issue, which is Islam tod and, by extention, the person of Yusef Islam.
It should be remembered that when Christianity was the same age as Islam is today, Christians were burning people alive, and basing it on scripture. (See John 15:6) Likewise, the earliest centuries of Judaism (my religion) were packed with all sorts of barbarism. But Judaism and Christianity have been engaged in ongoing moral reformation for,respectively, millenia and centuries.
It is becoming increasingly clear that Islam (the religion) is on the cusp of such reformation. In the midst of suicide bombings, beheadings and fatwas, Islamic peace movements arew springing up all the time.
This birngs me back to Yuesf Islam. Is he the radical Islamist woman hater the author paints him to be? Or is it impossible for him to personally change and grow? I cannot answer this. But I suspect that if the former Cat Stevens is today as the author depicts, performing a song like “Peace Train” might be too problematic to pull off.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that Islam (the religion) is on the cusp of such reformation.”
Unfortunately, the Islamic Reformation already happened long ago: and it’s as if Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans won, totally: wiping out not only Catholicism but moderate Protestantism as well. The intellectually and artistically vibrant Islamic culture of the early Middle Ages (blood-orgies notwithstanding- hey, it was the Middle Ages) was crushed under a relentless and mentally static fundamentalism. Islam today is the Christianity of Cotton Mather and Jonathan Edwards.
(NB- I except minority and persecuted sects like the Alawites, Bahai, Ahmadis, the semi-Muslim Druze and the followers of Sufism)
Actually your comment is a slander on Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Cromwell was prejudiced against Catholics; something about them burning Protestants and massacres he thought they had committed in Ireland in 1641. He was quite tolerant of Protestant Christian sects. In fact, that was the genesis of his break with the Long Parliament. The Presbyterians in Parliament wanted effectively to suppress the various Independent Protestant sects and Cromwell wanted them not to do so. Also, Cromwell was the one who persuaded the English government to let Jews live openly in England again. Previously they had to pretend to be Christians or be expelled under a law of 1290, if I recall correctly.
No the Muslim radicals are not like any Christians in history. They are a peculiar mixture of Early Medieval religious ideas and primitive beduin cultural traditions with modern totalitarianism.
The problem is Mark, the comparisons you make really aren’t valid.
When “Christians” (so called) kill in the name of Christianity, they are acting in direct opposition to the central tenets of what Jesus taught, as revealed in many clear and unambiguous statements in the New Testament – indeed, against the very character of Jesus. The fact that people have deliberately disregarded the bulk of New Testament teaching in favour of extremely spurious interpretations of select passages is no reflection on real followers of Jesus, who historically have been persecuted for speaking out against such distortions. In one afternoon the apostate and power hungry Catholic Church killed more Christians than all the Roman emperors put together.
Buddhism and most other religions at least have a core of tolerance and peacefulness intrinsic to their nature. Even Judaism, which is a slightly different kettle of fish being born out of a national theocracy, kept it’s conquest within the small area of Israel (an area seven times smaller than Florida). Conquest outside that area of land was and still is prohibited, and even that is under attack by the world today.
By contrast, Islam actively encourages the subjugation of the whole world, by force and lying if necessary. The so-called peaceful surahs in Islam tend to come from the early Meccan writings, and are largely annulled by the later Median verses, which directly advocate far harsher treatment of non-Muslims and the spread of Islam through war (i.e, Mohammed wasn’t getting very far through peaceful means, so he quickly dropped the pretence). The Satanic Verses come from here too.
I’m not sure how you conclude Islam is getting more peaceful – certain small sections are getting westernised perhaps, but that means little. Given the practice of “taqiyya”, lying to save oneself or advance the cause of Islam, even these sections should be taken with a pinch of salt. Islam is in bold resurgence after a period of dormancy, and all non-Muslims, whether Christian, Jew, Buddhist or Atheist, should be concerned and on guard.
Your basic point is valid and important, and it’s important to say that.
It’s only too bad that most Christian Conservatives can’t post on these topics without a backslap at Judaism. Judaism is not a ‘religion’ but a way of life for a nation that is elected. It is chosen, and while many, including assimilated Jews (and there are many on this Board) quail and shirk at use of the word, interpretation of its meaning is the first sign of non-Jewish ignorance. Which is fine, because most people are ignorant about the beliefs of people in other groups. Sometimes even about their own history.
What is always astonishing to me is how readily Christians ignore the bloody violence in their own history, the constant rationalizing away, the denial and the belief that those who did those things ‘were not really Christian.’ Let’s forget Christianity and the Jews. Look at real history, real American history, in Hawaii. The missionaries were convinced they were doing a great favor to the natives, no doubt. Yet, along with the colonists (sailors etc.) came disease and devastation. The missionaries’ children (because they were Protestant) became predatory ‘real-estate’ men seizing virtually all Hawaiian land in the manner of the purchase of Manhattan. And their children and grandchildren, including those with mixed blood, became the aristocracy, keeping its power and its money tight. It’s really hard to take Christianity seriously when so many even American Christians will now tell Jews to our faces that there was no Christian participation in the Shoah/Holocaust, since Hitler was against Christainity. Well, yes, but most of the actual killers were in fact raised in churches and believed in Jesus as their messiah. And the ‘salvation’ clause – by which someone like Eichmann could be ‘saved’ on the verge of his death while his priest declared that all his Jewish victims remained lost – this is a startling admission of spiritual superficiality.
Please don’t tell us that the ‘real’ Christians have only been victims. Judaism has always assigned individual responsibility for deeds. We are not born ‘fallen’, unlike you, and we don’t wriggle out of monstrosities such as belonged to Adolf Eichmann by saying a few words to a priest when we face our ends.
You are of the blame America first crowd. Also a real Christian basher – or perhaps you prefer Christophobe. Sine the Hitler crowd rejected their church upbringings and went pagan I don’t know why you just can’t accept that sometimes men do creepy things that has nothing to do with religion or nationalism.
Hollow Headed Hipsters have struck again.Nothing cool about a 3-H’er,just the pure stupidly that got “The Un-Cool-1″ elected POTUS.Dumb-Asses will wake up 1 day & will say in collective unison -”WTF”???
I wonder if these two jerks were forced to fight with the 101st Airborn Division in Afghanistan for one year, they would still have the same attitudes towards Islam as they do now? Remember, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. After viewing conservative Islam up close and personal for a year in Afghanistan, I wonder if Stuart and Colbert would still have someone like “Cat” Stevens at one of their events.
The actual saying was that a Neoconservative is a liberal who has been mugged by reality. It was an allusion to the liberals who moved rightward in response to their realization that their previous ideas about the Welfare State had failed to improve things for the people receiving welfare, or in response to the Democratic Party abandoning resistance to Communism.
Liberals who don’t pay any attention to the failures of the policies they advocate remain liberals, or perhaps move further to the left, and consequently to even more failure-prone policies.
Well stated Michael. Even more than that liberals will never take responsibility for the results of their disasterous policies and how much pain and suffering these polices inflict on people. And they vilify and attack those of us on the right that bring facts to the argument that point this out.
I believe Yusuf Islam was tossed out of the country in 2004 because of his ties to Hamas and to Yusuf Qaradawi. But that was another time, another administration, less eager to embrace dhimmitude.
what a disappointing article for one of my favorite site…while, from everything i have found, it does appear that yes islam/stevens did in fact endorse the fatwa on salman rushdie which is enough reason he should not have been at the rally but the not talking to women part is false..i expect better from this site…. http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/cat-stevens-wins-libel-damages-over-sexist-allegations_1074737
“The singer formerly know as Cat Stevens has won libel damages over claims he refused to talk to a women not wearing a veil.”
You Marxists just can’t tell the truth to save your soul, can you? The FACT is that Stevens won a judgment for libel, because a British paper claimed that he had specific ties to terrorism. The judgment had NOTHING to do with whether or not he would speak to a woman without a veil.
By the way, your LINK goes to a website that starts with a pop-up ADVERTISEMENT. Having been aware of it, I didn’t bite. Do you get paid per click, for people who reach that site via your link?
Did Ludacris perform this while there?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9JAKP4OhWM
I wonder if the Hill is still pissed off about this little hit job and will be thinking about challenging Hussein in ’12 because of his incompetence and failures?
Quoting Yusef Islam from, his own website… “I never called for the death of Salman Rushdie; nor backed the Fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini–and still don’t. The book ["The Satanic Verses"] itself destroyed the harmony between peoples and created an unnecessary international crisis.
When asked about my opinion regarding blasphemy, I could not tell a lie and confirmed that–like both the Torah and the Gospel–the Qur’an considers it, without repentance, as a capital offense. The Bible is full of similar harsh laws if you’re looking for them. However, the application of such Biblical and Qur’anic injunctions is not to be outside of due process of law, in a place or land where such law is accepted and applied by the society as a whole…”
Make of it what you will.
In that case Stevens is a liar as well as an islamofascist.
Stevens on the BBC in 1989:
Robertson: You don’t think that this man deserves to die?
Y. Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?
Robertson: Yes.
Y. Islam: Yes, yes.
Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?
Y. Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act – perhaps, yes.
[Some minutes later, Robertson on the subject of a protest where an effigy of the author is to be burned]
Robertson: Would you be part of that protest, Yusuf Islam, would you go to a demonstration where you knew that an effigy was going to be burned?
Y. Islam: I would have hoped that it’d be the real thing
…If Rushdie turned up at my doorstep looking for help] I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I’d try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is
Unfortunately, it’s just not possible to argue with a self-hating Jew. The tragic corollary to the Will to Power is the Will to Submit. Nihilism runs strong in some and Mr. Kaufman’s no exception.
Stupid of course . . . . people have been redeemed from islamonazism when the had that face to face with allah. But, you can’t fix stupid!
The Cat Stevens issue is a distraction of minor significance to the majority of Americans.
Our focus should remain on the fact that it would be an understatement to say that Stewart’s and Colbert’s silly so-called “rally” was a dismal and pathetic flop; the purpose of which was what? It accomplished nothing, absolutely nothing, except that it gave a bunch of losers without a life somewhere to go and mill around together aimlessly yesterday.
Only the looniest, dumbest and most extreme of extremist left-wing loonies will stubbornly refuse to concede that Stewart, Colbert and other participants in that bizarre debacle made complete fools of themselves in front of the whole world yesterday.
Never interfere when your foe is making seriously bad mistakes that will destroy him you might change the outcome and lose.
Roger: please insert “n” in
Stewart and Colbert are dumb and uniformed.
in the 4th para.
They may be wearing a uniform, but thats another matter.
(Feel free to delete this afterwards)
Wow, Mr. Simon. Just wow. If you are really reading this much into John Stewart’s motives, then you have obviously missed the fact that the whole rally was a JOKE! Apparently, so have all of your readers. The saddest part is, your words echo the very hate and divisive name-calling that Stewart spent most of the rally speaking against! And as far as Yusuf goes, good music is good music. Are Polanski’s films stupid too, because he has some values that differ from yours?
Horsehockey. It’s part and parcel of Stewart’s patented “clown nose on, clown nose off” dodge. It was not “Henny Youngman plays DC!” This thing was blatantly political (just look at the groups represented), and intended for one purpose and one purpose only: to mock conservatives and the Tea Party.
Of course, the thing turned out to be a pathetic joke, but that’s happenstance.
Snarky remarks, sly deprecating comments, feigned offense, and general smarminess are the stock and trade of insecure late adolescent college sophmores who have entered a world they know nothing of and are working their way through recalcitrant zits and an inability to get laid. That is why Stewart is so popular with this demographic. They identify with and try to emulate him. Stewart is Mr.cool. It’s silly to discuss his intellectual bona fides; there is nothing there. He’s a clever clown. It was startling to hear Obama refer to Stewart as the best interviewer ever; either he was merely pandering to the youth vote or he is even shallower than given credit for. Jon has begun to appear a bit puffy. As his girth and his jowls increase, his audience will decrease. Even college sophmores eventually realize that there are better ways to gain attention that acting like a middle aged schmuck. It appears to me that Jon Stewart has almost completed his run and will soon be heading off to the Comedy Central rest home so as to commune with
Soupy, Larry, Moe and Curly and deepen his intellectual powers…
I will vote for dumb.
The left is made up of cargo-cultists, the smartest people in the world and the ignorant. Stewert nee Leibowitz is a typical Jewish leftie. He fits into the latter two categories.
This piece is excellent. Roger has nailed Stewart. The cynic who makes his living daily mocking his betters is an uninformed boob who plays to a like-minded audience.
Watch the MSM ignore a blunder that reveals the essence of Stewart.
Jon Stewart and Yusuf Islam: Maintaining Stupidity and Dishonor
I think everyone may be giving them too much and/or too little credit.
I think the reason Yousef Islam was invited was because they needed him to make the peace/crazy/love train joke work. And it did!
Stewart/Colbert etc. have achieved an new high in tone deafness. In the words of Bob Dylan and something you’d think that American “comedians” might keep in mind …
“Me, I romp and stomp
Thankful as I romp
Without freedom of speech
I might be in the swamp”
A little window into the depth of his intellect…(I think it was) last February one of those evil right wing websites that we all like to read noted an article (maybe from the NYT) claiming that one of the administration’s accomplishments had been to strengthen our regulatory agencies. The right wing website appropriately asked the question “Huh? Where did that come from?” and highlighted the absurdity of the puff piece. That day, or maybe the next (2/4/2010?) Stewart appeared on O’Reilly and was asked what the administration had accomplished so far and Stewart’s earnest answer was short and to the point…that he had strengthened our regulatory agencies.
Uh-oh. I can’t believe I’m about to do this, Roger. I’m going to defend Jon Stewart on these pages and potentially unleash a pretty significant backlash.
First, let me get out the easy part. Cat Stevens or Yusuf or Fatwah Albert or whatever he calls himself these days…is a degenerate, deranged, unhinged, poster child for the Inversion Narrative. He sings songs of “peace” while issuing death warrants, if that doesn’t signal to every rational person around that this guy has one green wire touching one yellow wire, not much else would.
Juxtaposing “Crazy Train” by Ozzy and “Peace Train” by this human road apple inadvertently worked as irony on a level unintended. By letting Cat out of the bag, leftists were exposed once again as being the precise opposite of what their carefully constructed “persona” pretends to be. Peace is a prop.
Jon Stewart is not dumb. Far from it. And…I believe…he is not a leftist. He’s a liberal and there is a difference. In my opinion, a huge difference. I once wrote an entire essay in response to an article that Roger Kimball had written, I believe about Chris Buckley in which I outlined those differences. Time and space do not permit that here.
Suffice it to say, Jon Stewart had more courage in confronting Obama for 20 minutes, than the entirety of the journolista media did in 20 months. True, Jon went after him mostly from his left, which I found a bit disappointing. But, even at the rally, Jon said if we can’t tell the difference between a real racist and the Tea Party, or between a real bigot and Juan Williams…we have lost our grip on sanity.
Moreover, Jon took down Keith Olbermann on his show…with a very loud “Cmon!!!!!”.
Jon is an important voice in American politics and a huge influence to the 20 somethings. He is also NOT a kneejerk leftist. In fact, he has shown enormous courage in taking down the excesses of extreme leftism. THAT…is what a liberal should do. I don’t see anyone else on the center-left (other than Joe Lieberman), willing to stand up and take shots to their portside.
They would pay a heavy price, as Lieberman did…EXCEPT…if they are more powerful than the extremist left. Jon is. And that, is a huge boost for those of us on the center-right.
I love Jon Stewart. I think he has found a niche, almost created it out of whole cloth, and fills it with style, grace, wit, charm and aplomb. And, he is one of the best friends the center-right could ever have. Because he can say things and receive instant credibility, and gain purchase…acceptance…that we never could.
So, yes…the Cat Stevens misstep was a horrific booking. But even in light of that, I place myself directly in the line of fire between my friends here (and you know I think the world of you) and Jon. To get at him, you have to go through me. I think he’s that important and deserves to be in my protectorate.
(As for Colbert…he’s Ed McMahon to Jon’s Johnny Carson as far as I’m concerned, talentwise and in terms of national importance.)
Ok guys…let me have it if you so desire! LOL
No, I think you make a powerful point. I don’t care for Stewart’s Jewish identity, but I think he is relatively bright and does go after the Left at times. Folks here are too quick to call liberals and leftists stupid. Take Tom Friedman – I think his stuff on Israel is mostly all wrong, but he is not intellectually challenged. On the issue of the Jewish state, his emotional-assimilationist urges, or his lurking anti-Zionism (where ‘Light unto the Nations’ translates into seeking out helplessness) simply emerge.
There are a lot of bright lefties and liberals. Those same people are simply morally crippled, which does stunt their thinking.
another well reasoned argument I tend to agree with.
The duo of Stewart/Colbert best can be described as dumb and dumber. As for Steward’s Jewishness, He’s the typical
representation of Stupid Lefty American Jew who never study or learn from history.
Antisemites often ascribe super powers to Jews. They think that Jews are smarter and tougher, more cooperative and more competitive, faster to react and more given to long term planning, more artistic and more practical than other people. All that without having to go into a phone booth and change into fancy underwear with a cape. Which is good because there no longer are phone booths. Jon Stewart serves the valuable function of proving that members of the tribe can be just as opportunistic and short sighted as everyone else.
Stewart is a clown but not a funny one. Laugh at him but not with him. Do not let the cloak of comedy cover his real offenses. For his association with hate mongers and bigots like Yusuf Islam and Hamas he should be coldly confronted. When he attempts to weasel out with a smile respond with a firm refusal to play his game and return to the facts. Yesterday conservatives were gushing in Twitter over his line “We can have animus, and not be enemies.” It works just as well reversed into “We can be enemies and not have animus.” That is a simple test that his argument was vapid. If Jon Stewart spoke up for both apple and cherry pie, kittens and puppies the MSM would hail him as a unifier.
Stewart brings no content to his discourse. His emotions are shallow and no basis for establishing policy. He offers his admirers nothing but a sense of entitlement and hostility to their proximate authority figures who demand personal responsibility and productivity. His politics amounts to attacking those his followers resent, their parents, religion, bosses and America, while exculpating or supporting the more distant and probably more dangerous authority of the organs of a bureaucratic government. He toys with representatives from distant and genuinely oppressive cultures secure in the belief that they could never threaten him. All the while those real malevolent threats wait off stage and watch.
Stephen Colbert on the other hand is simply a public idiot and should be treated with open contempt. Maybe the Democrats will try to get him into the US Senate.
“Cat” lost my support the DAY he proclaimed islam his ‘new’ faith. To this day when I hear his music, I change the channel. As far as the ‘hosts’ of the event being stupid or pro islamofascist I hypothesize that these types of displays are vociferous proclamations of their acceptance of personal dhimmitude, should it be offered, prior to beheading once they fall under the ‘jurisdiction’ of islam. In other words, they are surrendering, taking a knee, publicly and loudly so they can point back and say, “hey, dudes, I’m with you!”
Face it, these are people who have never had to sacrifice a day in their lives and wouldn’t understand the sacrifice made to start, build, defend and perpetuate this nation in the first place.
There is a hierarchy of the left wing commentator comics. Stewart is probably the most functional. Colbert does function as his shadow. The idea that anyone as vulgar as Al Franken could be in the Senate, based on nothing more than his Harvard degree and the reluctance of sane people to soil themselves by confronting him, is so traumatizing that it is hard to respond to. That is an example of the “audacity” that Obama also used to advance himself. The worst of the lot is the odious Keith Olberman, who was not part of the Rally to Restore Sanity/or Fear. Unlike Obama the other four, Stewart, Colbert, Franken and Olberman have held what can be considered jobs. It is unlikely that Obama could hold down a comedy show after he leaves Washington. Maybe he can find an empty seat on Parker/Spitzer.
“based on nothing more than his Harvard degree and the reluctance of sane people to soil themselves by confronting him”
You left out “massive vote fraud.”
I didn’t know until today that Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam did not speak to women.
The women of the world are surely grateful.
Maybe someone already made this point and I missed it, but it could very easily be that Cat Stevens was booked as a gesture to prevent any terrorists from attacking the rally. Remember, for the first time Stewart and Colbert are out in the open and engaged in a much more overt form of political activity. From the way Rushdie was taken down — his career as a celebrity was effectively over when the fatwa came out because other celebrities, cowards that they are, were no longer willing to be publicly associated with him — all that would be needed is a believable and public threat of violence from a prominent Islamofascist.
cfbleachers – I believe Stewart is a Left leaning person with the occasional ‘Liberal’ slant. Dependent upon the guest and/or headline he’s speaking/ridiculing.
The reason a Leftist may survive on t.v. and a Liberal cannot.. compare Stewart to a Sanchez, Matthews, Olbermann and Maddow. These people are incapable of conversation.
Their quest to ‘win’ or have an edge with emotional diatribes or faux background (Hi BC!) is so insatiable, reason and reflectivity is nonexistent.
Stewart’s tepid questions with Obama (granted this is Comedy Central though I anticipated more grilling from Stewart as well. I don’t believe he wanted Obama attempting to speak off the cuff.. exposing the ‘real man’) were no different than the softball queries thrown to Obama by the alphabet networks.
Though Jon did toss in the occasional ‘Dude’ and hamming it up gestures with his audience.
I like what Dennis Miller says often about ‘Liberalism’. It turns inward on the host organism. It’s what Obama does on a CONSTANT basis. To his constituents, colleagues and adoring crowds. It’s incredible!
It just hit me, I know what kind of television comedy / reality show that could become #1, let’s have Jon Stewert interview Barry Barak Hussen Soetoro Obama, Karzai, Karza’s brother, and the Taliban while their picking the poppys in the fields for the heroin that they ship to America. What do ya think people? Since Jon and Comedy Central have proven that nothing is sacred for satire and that they will even give in to the threat by a group of radical muslims (like the press likes to call them) or just “the un-named” (like Barry “the Anointed One” likes to call them) or toilet paper (like Americans over the ages of twelve like to call them), it could be a hit. Hollyweird would go wild. One additional thought, to make it hit #1 internationally over the globe, let’s have the United Nations thrown in to be interviewed. Well, come to think of it, maybe that’s not such a good idea, if the U.N. is involved, they will steal everything and then say the the US took it.
Are they pro-islamofascist or stupid? Both. They are both of those things.
Sorry, Mr. Simon, but I must quibble with your opening sentence. Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, né Steven Demetre Georgiou was the fundamentalist murder-inciter on stage at the National Mall yesterday.
Since his parents are probably embarrassed enough over their son, I thought I’d spare them the further embarrassment of having people think they named their boy “Cat.”
Kidding aside, I love your stuff.
J
Cat Stevens was booked because they needed a train song! Did you watch the rally? My God people it was a comedy skit with a “lets agree on something” moral ending. Everything is not a conspiracy.
I got the joke.
“Peace Train/Crazy Train/Love Train” is a really good joke. Very funny, actually. Three awesome songs — hearkening back to a time for which folks have some nostalgia, these days.
It’s too bad that Mr. Islam’s public statements present some very serious issues that distract from the simple CrazyLovePeace, the-70′s-were-so-cute joke.
Poor taste, or lack of awareness of Mr. Islam’s baggage is not a conspiracy.
Someone called out Mr. Stewart the other day as someone who has mastered the art of being very serious up to the point where he gets a few points scored on him, then he retreats to “I’m just a funny man” mode. It’s good entertainment and works for him and his audience.
Mr. Stewart is very funny and seems like a nice guy. But he invited someone onto his stage who will sanction his murder if he commits blasphemy. Now that’s comedy!
In the last week, he’s flirted with the difference between political observer and political actor. The rules change when you move from your studio to the National Mall and he singed his fingers a bit. He’ll recover.
This is the first time I’ve read this blog, or I should say, smog. How one-sided and right wing it sounds, rather like a tentacle of Fox News (an oxymoron, if ever there was one). Although I don’t watch Fox because of its hate mongering and b.s, i.e., statements made by so-called reporters with no facts to back them up, I do consider the Fox network to be the dark side of very bad entertainment. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert offer more intellectual entertainment and they certainly report current politics and world events with their deft sardonic interpretations. In addition to VOA, the BBC news and Reuters, I’d rather go to the Daily Show for the latest in politics than hear it rewritten by idiots like Glen Beck, Karl Rove (how did he become a “journalist”) and Bill O’Reilly. If non compos mentis mopes like Sarah Palin and Christine O’Donnell are supposed to be the future of this country, Goodbye America. Re the reference to Jon Stewart’s name being Leibowitz, many actors and comics have stage names; Charlie (Estevez) Sheen is a great example. He’s a drunk with no morals who gets paid millions to play a drunk with no morals on what is said to be the most popular TV show on air today. Where’s the righteous anger about his phony name, his atrocious behavior? I’ll bet your bloggers sit on their couches with sugary drinks, fattening snacks and laugh their way through his show. Perhaps I’m late in saying Goodbye America. We used to have a population that read, thought independently and was not boondoggled by shows like Fox News. Most of your blogger comments are beyond ignorant and off course and speak volumes for what you attract.
I love it;Pakalani,Like all liberals Hate Fox news,And any other outlet thats BI-Partisan,Pro-America,Pro-God,Pro-Family,Pro-Military,Pro-liberty,And PRO-Free Speech.Or maybe its Just like he admitted.He’ll never watch,Listen to,Or Go,Where truth is told;I’ll pray for you though.While I still can,An Lucifer’s Liberal Deciples still allow it.Jimmy Joe,”The Liarfryer”
Well, hey, you convinced me. Uh-huh.
Jon Stewart, at least, criticized Viacom on his show over their treatment of Parker & Stone at the height of the “South Park” troubles, so any claim that the guy is a supporter of Islamist terrorism is more than a bit wild.
I think the real question should be: can one enjoy someone’s art (music, etc.) while questioning their character? If I am not mistaken, Roger has praised the work of one Harold Pinter on this page. I’m not sure the blogger would turn down an audience with him. Jay Nordlinger respects Gabriel Garcia Marquez as a writer, despite the latter man’s softness on Castro. On & on it goes…
I think characterizing Jon Stewart as a deliberate “supporter of Islamofascism” is a bit strong. But I think he and his colleagues are too dismissive of or accommodating toward some forms of Islamic aggression.
The current understanding of Islam by most westerners is rather limited, I think. Until we understand it better, caution in promoting a Muslim who lied about supporting a fatwa against an author seems prudent. Especially when that person does not have the excuse of having grown up in a “poor, backward” country.
At the link below, an interesting discussion of Islamic theology, introduced by someone who lives in Turkey, wants Americans to support “moderate” Muslims and who recognizes that they are prime targets of Islamic extremists. Maybe, many centuries ago, the major strain of Islamic theology was more compatible with the Western world than it is today.
http://ricochet.com/conversations/Hume-the-Ash-arites-Causality-and-Islamism
Oh Boy, I can tell by these comments that the American Gestapo is alive and well and still ignant. I’d check the backside of those jammies because it’s starting to smell of pooh. Like the kind inside your head
Colbert and Stewart; listening to them it was almost like going back to the days of yesterday when the left was calling the American troops in Vietnam murderers and baby killers.
Matter of fact, you don’t have to site those two nimrods.
Out in Delaware, Coons went on a tangent in one of his tirades and invoked the American right’s tendency to kill and murder babies, ignoring the left’s fixation with abortion.
However, regardless of what Coons may have learned in Kenya, U.S. soldiers are not murderers and baby killers.
John Kerry learned that the hard way. But that’s the only way some people learn.
I hate to go back to that article Chris Coons wrote in his college newspaper (“the bearded Marxist” one) upon returning from keyna; the article choke-full of anti American sentiments, railing about America’s “faults and failures,” but when you’re running for the Senate (or the Presidency) the voting public should know if you’ve ever admitted in writing that you hate the red, white and blue.
My advice to Chris is that he stops repeating and writing and defining “America’s faults and failures” if he wants to get elected. When asked to clarify, Coons says he was joking in the headline but serious in the body copy. Which, in 35 years of writing, I’ve never heard of doing. Even the “NY Times Style Book” would discourage such a tact.
Unless you’re making a point.
Coons got into enough trouble with the fact that Harry Reid still calls Coons his pet. What an awful thing for any Delaware voter to believe. I can’t understand why Chris hasn’t denied it. Or did Coons think it was another joke?
To any taxpayer, though, the following isn’t funny.
The fact that Coons is on the record pledging to vote in favor of Obama’s Cap and Trade Bill which newspapers from Riverhead, LI, to Huntington Beach, California have pointed out will send energy prices through the roof bothers me to no end.
And completes the Coons pattern of raising taxes like rabbits raise families.
“Chris Coons, with his record of raising taxes has shown throughout his career that he would rather take orders and directives from Nancy Pelosi and Reid than do what’s right for Delaware and his country; the nation with all the “faults and failures” which, of course, appeared in that infamous Coons’ article.” (Delaware Spokesman, Thomas Doheny)
“Coons, 47, is the top executive of New Castle County, home to a majority of Delaware’s population. From a Republican perspective, there’s one really important thing to know about his time in office: In 2004, when Coons first ran for the job, he promised not to raise taxes. Since then he has raised taxes not once, not twice, but three times.
“Coons inherited a surplus. Celebrating victory on election night in 2004, he said his “top priority would be to continue balancing the budget without increasing property taxes,” according to an account in the local News Journal. Yet in 2006, he pushed through a 5 percent increase in property taxes. In 2007, he raised property taxes 17.5 percent. In 2009, he raised them another 25 percent.
“Coons wanted to raise other taxes, too. He proposed a hotel tax, a tax on paramedic services, even a tax on people who call 911 from cell phones.” (Byron York, Washington Examiner, 9/17/10)
Christine O’Donnell is on the side of small government and big economy. And that’s how she’ll vote. Better still, she’ll vote to repeal ObamaCare because she thinks there’s nothing funny about deep-sixing the best medical care in the world. Isn’t the United States a great country; it’s nothing short of the best country in the world. Regardless of the size of the smirk on the face of Chris Coons.
You make me wish that I could vote in Delaware, well, only because, as a write-in candidate, I would have a better chance of winning than that ditz, McDonnell, will.
This must be a bad dream. Can you people not see,hear,feel,believe that our beloved country like a flushed toilet is circling the drain? You can’t hang that on Obama. Jon Stewart was right. Your resumes show that you have in fact done the work. Nothing left to do now but sit back and watch her go down the drain
I’ve watched Stewart and Colbert and separate the two – kind of.
Colbert is neither funny or witty – the closest I can come up with a descriptor is a sissified buffoon. He needs to bitch slapped a little for his abject stupidity and then discarded.
Stewart can be clever and funny though he is incredibly superficial in his assessment of anything important and complex. But his audience participation to his commentary is about on par with “The View.” Is that a laugh track, or something? Sounds like laughing hyenas.
This guy looks strangely like the same Cat Stevens who was a dope smoking, long-haired, louse infested hippie from my youth. Now this guy thinks he is a Muslim?? Ha, ha, ha! Too much acid. As far as the rest of them, stupid, stupid, stupid.
Perhaps Stewart and Colbert just aren’t sane.
That crowd was a comedy motherlode for ‘man in the street’ interviews; I wonder
if we’ll see any.
On Tuesday,
remember September Eleven. Then remember that this administration says that there is no “War on Terror(ism)”.
Then remember that the president is in favor of the mosque at Ground Zero.
Then remember this last concert-show in which an homicidal fanatic has been on the stage for the “liberals” (commies).
I know, the economy is the important theme.
But…
“On Tuesday,
remember February Twenty-three. Then remember that this Weimar parliament says that there is no “Jewish Problem”.
Then remember that the president is in favor of the synagogue at Berlin.
Then remember this last concert-show in which an homicidal fanatic has been on the stage for the communists.
I know, the economy is the important theme.
But…”
I think we’ve seen this movie before.
It’s hysterical having listened to the premises of the rally, to contrast their message to this blog. If the absolute best arguments you can field against a pair of comedians is that they included a famous believer (not famously misguided believer) in their rally to (ironically) promote tolerance, that’s a pretty weak stance. To extend a single oversight to such extremes as to attempt to construe them as islamofascist and / or stupid only strengthens the arguments they had posed at their rally.
I’d love to have seen this blog’s reactions to Bush were he a democrat ceteris paribus.
You should get together with Pakalani above. You two seem to think a lot alike, even linking to the same story.
Busted. We’re not idiots here. Go back to HuffPo.
It is clear that both Stewart and Colbert root for the same political party. And Beck and Palin root for their same political party. So long as there is no bi-partisanship in either of these performances, the outcomes are guaranteed to be simply supportive of their partisan leanings. To suppose otherwise is just plain silly, no matter how dressed up the subterfuge.
Well, last time I checked, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert both do nightly news shows that every around the world, except for the rabid American right wing, think is brilliant and intelligent. They both have earned Emmys and Peabodys. And the last time I checked, no one knew who the hell Roger L. Simon was. Looks like one time you were nominated for an Oscar but didn’t win. But I bet that was because big ole mean Hollywood hates you, right? You can sit in your sandbox and call Stewart and Colbert stupid as much as you like; it’s clear that you wish it was you up on that stage and you hate them for it.
“Well, last time I checked, John Stewart and Stephen Colbert both do nightly news shows”
Well, last time I checked, these 2 guys called themselves “comedians” & you certainly sound serious when you say they both do “nightly news shows.” Tell me, do you spend a lot of time at Area 51 or are you more into validating the authenticity of crop circles?
LOL, Truth time, that was satire, right? Please say you were joking?
That fraud, John Stewart, has NEVER connected with black people, and he is too conceited, too cutesy and too out of touch to understand why. Keep that in mind when it turns out that, for mysterious reasons which the MSM is too clueless to comprehend, Stewart inadvertently suppressed the black vote in this midterm election. (BTW, Now you know why black people didn’t turn out to attend that senseless rally.)
What has happened to ALF?(Alien Life Force)At least he Was Funny,Liked being An american,And Wasn’t so Alien to Reality.Plus he would have Devoured That Islamofacist Traitor Cat.”Cat Stephens”That is;Jimmy Joe,”The Liarfryer”
They are just stupid.
Everyone Remember to Remind your liberal friends to vote,Next sunday.Right After the Grateful Dead,MichaelJackson,Janis Joplin,And Jimi Hendrix,Reunion Tour Concert.OK;
JIMMY JOE YOUR FUNNY AS HECK PAL… I saw ron white de other night he was saying the same darn thing them libs love drugs … ANIT THEY BE CARIN BUT THE ISSUES… like sarah palin holding 2 guns at the same time killing black people ?
I doubt that Stewart and Colbert understand Taqiyya and Kithman. Their association with Yusuf Islam is based on not knowing the reality of islam.
What fools ! Don’t these idiots realize that if the Islamists get total control of the US they will be the first to be ‘taken care’ of ? Most of the their friends in Hollywood would be looking for ‘tea party’ types to protect them. I guess they think everything will be rosy if you are a woman or a Jew. It never fails to amaze me how stupid people can be with their political correctness. Remember, one of the reasons the radical muslims hate us is because of the trash that Hollywood and people like Colbert and Stewart have exposed their children to.
Vitriol will get you nowhere. You can’t say “United We Stand” and spout this hatred. The only thing I learned here from reading your comments.
1) You have bitterness, but no ideas.
2) You just seem to like to have an enemy.
3) You seem to think that this intolerant behavior is somehow going to help our country. Works well in Africa, huh?
4) Maybe mama didn’t hug you enough.
5) If you can’t intelligently debate without demonizing your opponent, then it is clear you are covering up for your ignorance of the issues.
So long, haters. Live and let live.
I see a lot of vitriol, bitterness, intolerance, and demonization (“You have bitterness,” “like to have an enemy,” “Works well in Africa,” “mama didn’t hug you enough,” “ignorance of the issues,” “haters”) in your remarks.
Maybe you should work on removing the plank in your own eye before you complain about the mote in mine.
With all due respect, you omitted Jon Stewart’s most glaring act of attempted subversion and diversion. He introduced Yusuf Islam as “Joseph, or Yusuf”. He actually invoked the historical Biblical name of Joseph to introduce this guy to play an old Cat Stevens song. This was a complete act of intentional deceit.
I think its funny that people can be all up in arms about Salman’s fatwa now. The archbishop of Canterbury, the pope, and Jimmy Carter all said the problem was blasphemy when the book was published. If only people would not show up en “mass” to support those public figures.
I don’t recall seeing the Pope saying that about Rushdie’s book.
Please provide a reputable link.
Either way they aren’t Americans.
It’s an article of faith with the hipster douchebag squad that their attitude of snark and faux-ironic anomie stems from a superior intellect and an unjaundiced view of the world. In reality it’s sophomoric and largely buttressed by a desire for self-validation – not a million miles away from the teenager who locks herself in her bedroom, paints her fingernails black, and tells her parents that she hates them. And you know who is the biggest current beneficiary of the meme that to be a progressive is to be smart? The man whose failed policies are going to earn him and his party a drubbing on Nov. 2nd 2010: Barack H. Obama. Of course it is common knowledge* that G. W. Bush was a vapid simpleton with nary an original thought in his head and B. H. Obama has a mind of icy genius and profound discernment. This is despite the fact that those who actually knew Bush during his Presidency remarked on the breadth and depth of his reading, especially in history. Contrariwise, can anyone actually picture Obama picking up, say, a volume of military history merely to be better educated by its contents? I don’t think his narcissism lends itself well to being instructed by others. Never mind these midterms: I’d like to read the transcripts of his midterms when he was at university. Less than stellar, would be my best guess.
For Stewart and Colbert (and anyone else who wishes to know the truth about the nuclear attacks on Japan), I highly recommend the following:
Downfall, by Richard B. Frank, Penguin 1999 ISBN 0141001461
The Making of the Atomic Bomb, Richard Rhodes,, Simon & Schuster 1986 ISBN 0684813785
Nemesis, Max Hastings, Harper Press/Vintage Books 2007/2009 ISBN 9780307275363
Wonder if Obama’s read any of these? The Rhodes book in particular is a tour-de-force, one of the finest military histories I have ever read, and it stands alone as a magnificent survey document of the birth of nuclear science in its own right – as such, I would suggest it makes excellent reading for a first-year undergraduate in physics. None of them makes pleasant reading, for what was visited on the Japanese was horrific beyond normal experience, but to have some grasp of the context in which the atomic bombings happened is essential to understand the world in which we live.
* translation: something everyone knows that just ain’t true
Nicely done.
I’d like to read the transcripts of his midterms when he was at university.
The Barack Obama Presidential Library will be an icon of post-modernist architecture.
That means it will be the emptiest building on earth.
One day the facts: the transcripts, exams, financial aid forms, travel documents, applications, security clearance review, job evaluations etc., will see the light of day.
Adina: What a perfect comment!! You hit the “proverbial nail on its head.”
Well, I hope you don’t mind a liberal mental midget, morally bankrupt and with an IQ only half that of your typical conservative, intruding on these fair and balanced observations regarding Jon Stewart and Yusuf Islam. I did read a book once, a long time ago… Just wanted to add my little post from Ed Driscoll’s “Riding the Peace Train” article as another view of Cat Stevens to suggest how the pigeon-holing that’s been done on him here may not be the complete story. If he HAS become an incarnation of Satan as all here seem to assume, it’s maybe only of passing interest to note that he was not always that way. I also want to mention that while I am very intimidated by the scholarly intellect on display here, please excuse my impertinence when I say that it seems to me that all these smarts could be wielded in a lot more positive way. Mr. Simon’s tirade seems more guided by hate bereft of any objectivity than informed by honest observation of reality or recognition of the intricate complexities of human beings. Stewart and Colbert are pretty smart guys, I think that’s clear. Maybe not the Bobby Fisher kind of mind that Mr. Simon possesses but to us thick skulled dullards they seem to make some apt observations and say some pretty funny stuff. Anyway, this is a recollection from a ways back….
“Back in the later part of 1979, I was chatting with a roadie who had just gotten off the road with Cat Stevens, who at the time was probably the biggest act in the world. This was the era of the megalomaniacal rock stars, drug-soaked and trashers of hotel rooms. The roadie was kind of your stereotypical hard-drinkin’, cigarette smokin’, girl chasin’ wild man. I was interested to see what that experience was like, working for this musician who was just HUGE. After I asked him, the roadie, normally pretty animated got serious and quiet. He said that he didn’t know how Cat Stevens was going to stay in business ’cause he kept giving his money away. Incredulous, I thought “This guy is making zillions of dollars, are you pulling my leg?” He said ‘yeah Cat gives all the money he makes away and he treats everybody really, really well. He’s extremely nice to everyone on the tour. He’s just a great guy. I don’t see how he’s going to stay in business.’ That certainly was not the behavior expected of a mega rock star. Prima donna ego maniac was expected. The pressures of a world tour are certainly not conducive to philanthropic largesse and loving kindness. From that I guess I had a small inkling at the time that he was not destined to stay in the big time music business. I’d like to know more about these statements of Yusuf Islam and the context before passing judgment.” Ok, back to my special ed class. And, by the way, there’s a lot more of us dummies than you smart people….
Turns out Roger was too forgiving of Stewart and guess wrong, from today’s Standpoint
Rushdie on Jon StewartIn my previous post about Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam I quoted Salman Rushdie’s surprise that Jon Stewart had given a starring role at his “Rally for Sanity” to a crooner who had previously opined that Rushdie deserved to die for deciding of his own free will to abandon Islam and criticise its texts.
Salman has messaged me again and says,
I spoke to Jon Stewart about Yusuf Islam’s appearance. He said he was sorry it upset me, but really, it was plain that he was fine with it. Depressing.
The answer to Roger Simon’s question is YES; Stewart and Colbert are pro-Islamofascist AND stupid. If Yusuf Islam wants to kill Salmon Rushdie and admires the Ayatollah Khomeini what do you think his attitude towards Jews is? So John Stewart, nee Leibowitz, is not only looking indulgently on Islamofascism he’s too dumb to figure out that this guy supports a second Final Solution. Its as bad as Michael Jackson leading the ‘We Are The World’ chorus to support a regime that was starving and dropping poison gas on black people in Africa. Liberals are worse than stupid, they are deluded.
I vote for just stupid. To embrace socialism, you have to be stupid.
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Oh the joys of French bureaucracy. I am in the same boat although I think I will be employing my husband on the SMIC and for the minimum amount of hours per week just so that we will have some benefits later on if it all goes belly up. Which is what his last company did all his employees got fantastically well looked after and he, who had provided employment for 5 people for 12 years, got zilch.