Thursday, October 28, 2004

A bold prediction: When Arafat goes, it will be chaos

Haaretz newspaper of Israel looks to the future

Look for Hamas to make a play for government. Arafat has held iron control for a long time and there are many factions which will all want a piece of the pie. This can't be a huge surprise ( have you seen a picture of Arafat recently? He looks mostly dead already!)
and there has been a lot of maneuvering in the past two or three years. Still, if he dies tomorrow there probably won't be enough time to rally around a successor. Expect it to be messy- even messier than usual.

I expect there to be at least one major bombing in the next few days as Hamas makes a play for influence.

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Quick update

Quick update on the last post. Sami Al-Arian is awaiting trial; he has not been convicted. His trial date is set for Jan. 20th.

I would like to add that the Duke Administration, quoted in a recent article denied that PSM activists had ever chanted "Kill the Jews." At least to their knowledge, if they closed their eyes and never looked. Since I was chased by several hundred PSM activists screaming just that, please forgive me for my skepticism.

Palestine Solidarity Movement Conference

To the editor:
Duke University president Brodhead has made a bad decision in allowing the "Palestine Solidarity Movement" to hold a convention on campus. Some have defended this organization, which has strong ties to Islamic Jihad, in the name of free speech.

The article titled “Jewish group plans conference protests” by Michael Petrocelli on October 11 notes “Some PSM critics have charged that those earlier events were hotbeds of anti-Semitism, with some attendees shouting, "Kill the Jews," but Duke administrators say they found no evidence of anything like that.” I can supply the evidence. I was there.
On May 7, 2002, I was among two dozen people who were physically assaulted at a pro-Israel rally at San Francisco State University by a group of several hundred PSM activists screaming "Kill the Jews!" Is this the free speech the Duke community supports?

One speaker at the 2002 conference was Sami Al-Arian, a terrorist convicted of funding suicide bombers responsible for the death of over one hundred civilians. His Feb. 19th, 2003 indictment stated he was responsible for fifty counts of "conspiracy within the United States to kill and maim persons abroad.”

In a 1988 speech, Al-Arian talked of a Koranic "curse" against "those who are the sons of Israel through David and Jesus, the Son of Mary... The Koran is our constitution. Jihad is our path...We assemble today to pay respects to the march of the martyrs and to the river of blood that gushes forth and does not extinguish, from butchery to butchery, and from martyrdom to martyrdom, from Jihad to Jihad." Subsequent to this speech, Mr. Al-Arian was invited to be keynote speaker at a Duke sponsored conference. Several Chronicle columns in 2002 and 2003 lauded him as a symbol of academic freedom.

Personally, I feel it is questionable whether inciting the murder of Jews and Christians in a holy war qualifies as the sort of free speech the university should support. Duke would never allow the Klu Klux Klan to hold a national convention on campus. The University should not allow PSM, an equally reprehensible hate group, on campus.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Gallup internals show MSM misunderanalyzed Bush

Kerry Wins Debate

The internals of the poll:

2004 Sep 30
(sorted by advantage for Kerry)

Kerry

Bush

Advantage

%
%
pct. pts.

Expressed himself more clearly
60
32
+28

Had a good understanding of the issues
41
41
0

Agreed with you more on the issues you care about
46
49
-3

Was more believable
45
50
-5

Was more likable
41
48
-7

Demonstrated he is tough enough for the job
37
54
-17


Kerry failed to demonstrate that he is tough enough for the job, and was less believable and likable than the president. I think the polls may not show the Pro-Kery bump some are looking for. He didn't give Bush voters a reason to switch. I don't think there are many undecided voters left and Kerry may have come across as too suave for the red states.