Conservative Happy Hour with Bill Whittle

Okay, I'm heading out to the Bill Whittle event, in Newport Beach.



I'm sure he'll have a bang up presentation, given all that's been in the news just this last week. And for questions and answers, I'll be interested to see if he has an emendation to his optimistic take on American exceptionalism, seen here, in part, at his outstanding video presentation: "Bill Whittle's Firewall: 'What We Believe, Part 7: American Exceptionalism."

And tune back in here later tonight for a report and more regular blogging!

Reactions to Fjordman's Coming Out

Peder Jensen, a.k.a., Fjordman, is covered at New York Times, "Blogger Cited by Norway Killer Comes Forward to Denounce Him."

Folks might want to read Gates of Vienna, "The Forced Resignation of Fjordman."

Also, Andrew Bostom, at Big Peace, "Fjordman, Fairness, And The Brevik Mass Murderer."

Added: At Blazing Cat Fur, "Breaking! Fjordman A Jew...or at least part Jew... or he looks kinda Jew..."

Digby's Hullabaloo, Progressive Libel Blogger, Attacks Pamela Geller as Anders Breivik's Muse

That's Big Mama Digby (Heather Parton) at the picture. She's one sick bitch.

Here's the post: "The Murderer's Muse." Digby feigned a retraction by writing:

I was wrong to compare Geller to Tim McVeigh and I apologize for doing it. She has personally committed no violence and can't stand next to him for sheer evil. I do think the genocidal rants on her blog are worthy of condemnation and since she wrote them and featured those of others, she does bear responsibility for them.

Nope. Sorry. That's not gonna cut it. Should've just deleted the post and moved on. The progressives are obviously too stupid to actually read what Pamela wrote. See, "SUMMER CAMP? ANTISEMITIC INDOCTRINATION TRAINING CENTER." Following the links takes us to The Anti-Mullah, "ANOTHER LOOK AT THE NORWAY LABOR PARTY PALESTINIAN AFFILIATION."

I saw photos of the Labor Youth camp's "Boikott Israel" banners within hours of the shooting. Norway's Labor Party is a classic new-left Israel-bashing organization. See, "Norwegian campsite Utoya was socialist and anti-Israel." I personally ignored this angle because the killings went beyond normal political differences, and I thought it better to simply highlight what I could about the psychology of Anders Breivik. It bears repeating that Breivik is a deranged criminal acting outside the normal bounds of reason. No movement or ideology can possibly be blamed for the actions of this sick loser. He's insane. But progressives continue to exploit the dead for their cheap attacks on conservatives and counter-jihad. Folks should see over at Pamaela's now. She's documented the campaign of death against her, including an endless stream of vicious email invective that might as well been sent by the Antichrist himself. See, "EVIL UNLEASHED":

"We are witnesssing the complete breakdown of rational society."

Melanie Phillips has made the same point repeatedly, calling the attacks on her as the latest in the left's totalitarian inquisition:

They [progressives] are in the same mould as the religious and political totalitarian tyrannies of the past; they make in this respect common cause with the Islamists whose agenda poses a mortal threat to their own lives and liberties and most cherished beliefs; and they share the characteristic of a closed thought system which is totally impervious to reason and destroys all who challenge it with the monsters of history and Anders Behring Breivik.

That is surely why the left seized upon the Norway atrocity with demented joy and detonated a terrifying eruption of distortion and demonisation, irrationality, hatred and sheer blood-lust as it saw in the ravings of Anders Behring Breivik the mother and father of all smears which it could use to crush those who refuse to surrender to cultural totalitarianism. So those of us who fight for life, liberty and western civilisation against their enemies found ourselves – and by implication, the many millions who share these mainstream views – grotesquely damned as accessories to mass murder by those who actually cheer on religious fascists and genocidal madmen and who are set upon silencing all who resist.

The appalling actions of a Norwegian psychopath tell us next to nothing about our society. But the reaction to that atrocity tells us a great deal more.

Progressives Hell-Bent on Bullying Millions Into Silence

From Melanie Phillips, at London's Daily Mail, "Hatred, smears and the liberals hell-bent on bullying millions of us into silence":

The baleful effects of the recent attacks in Norway, where Anders Breivik bombed Oslo’s government district and then gunned down teenagers at a Labour party camp, murdering at least 77 people, have not been limited to that horrific carnage.

For the atrocity has produced a reaction among people on the political Left in Britain, Europe and the U.S. that is in itself shocking and terrifying.

Former Norwegian prime minister and current chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize committee Thorbjorn Jagland has said that, in response to the violent attacks, David Cameron and other European leaders should use a more ‘cautious’ approach when talking about multiculturalism.

Cameron has said multiculturalism (the doctrine that gives the values of minorities equal status to those of the majority) has failed, and has also talked about ‘Islamist extremism’ as a cause of terrorism.

Jagland, however, said leaders would be ‘playing with fire’ if they continued to use rhetoric that could be exploited by extremists such as Breivik.

This is because Breivik’s so-called manifesto shows that he is violently against mass immigration, multiculturalism and Islamisation — and that he wants the forced repatriation of Muslims from Europe and the murder of all who have promoted multiculturalism.

But to connect such abhorrent ravings with Cameron’s comments is simply grotesque.
First and foremost, this is treating Breivik as if his words deserve to be taken seriously and at face value.

As of now, however, we don’t know whether Breivik is psychotic, a psychopath or under the influence of all the drugs he claims to have taken.

We also don’t know what part, if any, his political views actually played in this atrocity.

After all, since his target was his country’s Labour party one might just as well surmise that he was motivated by hatred of his father, who was a Labour party supporter and who was divorced from Breivik’s mother when the killer was a baby.

In any event, someone who travels to a teenagers’ summer camp and invites them all to gather round so that he can kill them all cannot be considered rational.

Yet the former Norwegian premier is treating Breivik as if he is a political terrorist whose words have the authority of a sane and coherent creed.

Still more at the link.

The Norway Attacks at 'The Big Picture'

An amazing photo-essay, at Boston Globe's, "The Big Picture."

Also, at New York Times, "Norway Displays Unity at Attack Victim’s Funeral."

Michael Coren Interviews Robert Spencer

Via Blazing Cat Fur:

Wall Street Journal Weekend Interview: Theodore Dalrymple, 'Unraveling the Mystery of Murderous Minds'

From Brian Carney's interview:

Some have sought to link Breivik's violence to his political thinking. The New York Times ran a story Monday about Breivik's fondness for certain American anti-Islamist blogs. And a parade of politicians on the European right have felt compelled to step forward and condemn Breivik's killing spree—as if afraid that silence might somehow imply sympathy. Dr. Dalrymple himself, he says, is quoted indirectly "several times" in Breivik's manifesto, "and that," he says, "is slightly anxiety-provoking." In the first place, it's never pleasant to find yourself in the company, however unwillingly or unwittingly, of a man like Breivik.

He has another worry, "that what he's done will be taken as a reason to close down all kinds of debate," or to delegitimize the views of anyone who, as Dr. Dalrymple puts it, "question[s] anything that the current prime minister of Norway says or believes."

Pat Condell: 'Violence Is Not the Answer'

Via Blazing Cat Fur, "Pat Condell on Anders Behring Breivik."

Tea Party Terrorists?

The partisan rhetoric is already over the top, but slamming conservative Republicans as "terrorists" is beyond the pale. William Yeomans, at Politico, is not cool: "The tea party's terrorist tactics" (via Memeorandum).

It has become commonplace to call the tea party faction in the House “hostage takers.” But they have now become full-blown terrorists.

They have joined the villains of American history who have been sufficiently craven to inflict massive harm on innocent victims to achieve their political goals. A strong America has always stood firm in the face of terrorism. That tradition is in jeopardy, as Congress and President Barack careen toward an uncertain outcome in the tea party- manufactured debt crisis.

This guy is talking about the GOP's elected representatives in Congress, and this is after Anders Behring Breivik, a real terrorist, killed dozens in Norway. And this is also while Army Private Nasser Jason Abdo, and antiwar leftist, is being arraigned in Texas and could face federal terrorism charges. But Yoemans isn't the only one. Idiot Washington Monthly columnist Steve Benen is slamming GOP members as "the suicide squad", and Little Boy Ezra at Washington Post is bemoaning the GOP's aversion to compromise, saying this reflects badly on John Boehner.

It's to be expected, I guess. So, let's hear it from the other side, from Byron York, "In debt fight, Dems reject Republican compromise":

House Speaker John Boehner has introduced two bills that would raise the nation's debt ceiling and end the current default crisis. The first, known as "Cut, Cap and Balance," was tabled by Senate Democrats without an up-or-down vote. The second, Boehner's plan to cut more than $900 billion in federal spending and raise the debt ceiling by a slightly smaller amount, could face a similar fate if it first passes the House ...

While Obama preaches the virtues of compromise, his Democratic allies and surrogates are bashing Republicans for rejecting what the White House characterizes as earnest, good-faith efforts to find common ground. "I hope that Speaker Boehner and [Minority] Leader McConnell will reconsider their intransigence," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said a few days ago. "Their unwillingness to compromise is pushing us to the brink of a default." (At the same time, Reid has been issuing absolute, inflexible statements like, "I will not support any short-term agreement.")

But the fact is, the Republicans who admitted defeat on "Cut, Cap and Balance" showed a unmistakable willingness to compromise. "The president has asked us to compromise," House Minority Leader Eric Cantor said Thursday afternoon. "We have compromised."

RELATED: At New York Times, "House Passes Boehner’s New Debt Plan."

New York Times Reader Kills Dozens in Norway

A classic piece from Ann Coulter, at FrontPage Magazine.

And speaking of New York Times, see Timothy Egan's desperation, "A Madman and His Manifesto."

RELATED: Anders Breivik is explained — indeed, he's all boxed up and ready to go — at Los Angeles Times, "Norway attacks: The Breivik-McVeigh connection," by Andrew Gumbel.

Anderson Cooper's CNN Hit Piece Smears Geller/Spencer Counter Jihad

I've written about this at length, so folks know where I stand. And it's obviously not in my power to shift media opinion, or in the power of a handful of fighters for truth. Folks have to keep on plugging away and making a difference where they can. As always, I know inside that good prevails over evil, but it can take time. Pamela reports on this Anderson Cooper segment that's just utterly pathetic. She urges readers to contact CNN, and I might add, if they're going after Pamela and Robert Spencer, why is Charles Johnson getting a pass? Scroll forward to about 3:30 minutes:

And at Pamela's, "MEDIA FREAKSHOW: CNN SMEARS, DEFAMES HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS, CHRISTIANS AND PATRIOTS FOR NORWAY SHOOTING."

Norway Killings Shift Immigrant Debate in Europe

At New York Times, "Shift in Europe Seen in Debate on Immigrants":

BERLIN — Less than a week after the mass killings in Norway, evidence of a shift in the debate over Islam and the radical right in Europe already appeared to be taking hold on a traumatized Continent.

As the police in Norway and abroad continued to search for potential accomplices, expressions of outrage over the deaths crossed the political spectrum. Members of far-right parties in Sweden and Italy were condemned from within their own ranks for blaming multiculturalism for the attack. A member of France’s far-right National Front was suspended for praising the attacker.

Lurking in the background is the calculation on all sides that such tragedies can drive shifts in public opinion. Nonviolent political parties can hardly be blamed for the violent actions of a terrorist or a homicidal person. But politicians have begun to question inflammatory speech in the debate over immigrants, which has helped fuel the rise of right-leaning politicians across Europe in recent years.

More at the link above.

I'm kinda shocked to see right parties endorsing the killings, or at least defending Breivik. What he did is indefensible. More at the Right Perspective, "European Far Right Cautiously Stands With Brievik."

And at Telegraph UK, "National Front member suspended for defending Anders Behring Breivik."

VIDEO: Utøya Shooting Norway

Saber Point has a report: "Norwegian News Videos Show Scenes of Massacre." It's chilling:

One of the videos shows Breivik walking among the dead at the edge of the island. Click on the white-on-red arrow at the top of the bottom half of the screen, showing the island. The video is very short.

And this is from Live Leak. Oh dear God:

Ezra Levant Discusses Massacre in Norway

Via Blazing Cat Fur, who has lots more video at the link:

And from the comments at Small Dead Animals (via Celestial Junk):

From today's Toronto Red Star editorial:

"The best catharsis Norway can have is to expose a mass murderer for what he is, to publicly refute his twisted ideology and to bring him to justice. The light and air of a public courtroom are the best disinfectants. This case matters to other European countries as well. Rightwing nationalism is a growing scourge that can inspire a lunatic fringe. "

Can you imagine them writing the following?

"The best catharsis America can have is to expose mass murderer Nidal Hasan for what he is, to publicly refute his twisted ideology and to bring him to justice. The light and air of a public courtroom are the best disinfectants. This case matters to European countries as well. Islam is a growing scourge that can inspire a lunatic fringe."

Nope. Me neither.

Der Spiegel: An Atmosphere of Suspicion in Europe

See, "European Right Under Pressure in Wake of Attacks":

Europe's right-wing populists are not used to being on the defensive. But the perpetrator of last Friday's horrific attacks in Norway was steeped in their anti-immigration, Muslim-skeptical ideology. They now find themselves in an uncomfortable position.

It was a somber gathering on the street out in front of the Norwegian Embassy in Berlin on Monday. Several people filed by throughout the morning to lay flowers in front of the embassy gates and Social Democrat leader Sigmar Gabriel also came to show his respect and sympathy in the wake of the Friday attacks which killed 76 people in Oslo and on the island of Utøya.

Just over a dozen of those standing in front of the embassy were holding signs: "The Capital of Fear? Not with Us!" they read, beneath the image of an ominous-looking figure wearing a black balaclava. The group belonged to the small right-wing populist group Pro-Deutschland. "Solidarity with Oslo!" the group chanted.

"When something so terrible happens in Europe, we felt that we needed to express our sympathy," Manfred Rouhs, the small party's lead candidate in upcoming Berlin city-state elections, told SPIEGEL ONLINE on Tuesday. "We also saw it as an opportunity to clearly distance ourselves from the terrible deed."

That, it would seem, has been tops on the priority list for right-wing populist groups around Europe so far this week. Muslim-skeptic, anti-immigration populist groups across Europe have rushed to condemn the attacks perpetrated by Anders Behring Breivik and to portray him as a disturbed loner. The English Defense League, for example, referred to him as a "murderous creature," the Freedom Party of Austria called it a "psychopathic crime."

RTWT.

Debunking 6 Myths About Anders Breivik

At great essay from Daniel Greenfield.

Anders Behring Breivik's Contacts with English Defence League

I've been dealing with this all day, so I'm not going to worry too much if any blogging friends get ruffled here. This is about information dissemination in pursuit of greater knowledge. See previously: "Anders Behring Breivik Closely Linked to English Defence League, Telegraph Reports." It turns out that EDL's getting lots of attention. See Telegraph UK, "Norway killer Anders Behring Breivik emailed 'manifesto' to 250 British contacts."

Anders Behring Breivik emailed his 1,500-page “manifesto” to 250 British contacts less than 90 minutes before he detonated a bomb in Oslo.

Scotland Yard’s domestic extremism unit, which is investigating Breivik’s British links, has been sent a list of UK-based email addresses among 1,003 recipients of the document.

Breivik joined online conversations with members of the Right-wing English Defence League, telling them to “keep up the good work” in the months before he killed 76 people in Norway’s worst terrorist outrage.

He was told he would be welcome at EDL demonstrations, and wrote about visiting Bradford and London. He is also reported to have attended an EDL rally in Newcastle.

Using the name Andrew Berwick, Breivik emailed out his manifesto, and a link to a YouTube video showing him holding a gun, at 2.09pm on Friday, one hour and 17 minutes before his bomb detonated in Oslo. He addressed each recipient as a “Western European patriot” and wrote: “It is a gift to you … I ask that you distribute this book to everyone you know.”

Continue reading.

Also at The Daily Mirror, "Anders Breivik told English Defence League members to 'keep up the good work'."

And at London's Daily Mail, "Police probe claim Norwegian gunman marched with English Defence League." And The Independent, "Endorsement by mass murderer exposes EDL to fresh scrutiny":

Detectives are probing Breivik's boasts that he met "tens of EDL members and leaders" in the decade leading up to Friday's massacre. He claimed in his 1,500-page "manifesto", posted online, to have visited Britain twice since 2002 to attend EDL rallies and had more than 600 EDL supporters as Facebook friends.

Police in Britain and Norway are also investigating his claims to have met a group of ultra-nationalists in London nine years ago at which they vowed to resist the spread of Muslim influence across Europe.

Scotland Yard is understood to be probing whether he met former members of the Neo-Nazi groups Combat 18 and Column 88 – both now considered defunct – at that time.

However, security sources believe that Breivik is most likely to have been a lone wolf similar to David Copeland, the London "nailbomber" who killed three people in 1999, and suspect that his assertion to have been part of a far-Right uprising is fantasy.

But the resultant publicity has left the EDL – which is known to be infiltrated by Special Branch and the security services – in an unprecendented media spotlight. With its links to football hooliganism, it had been previously most associated with street protests sometimes degenerating into violence.

Founded in 2009 by Stephen Lennon, who was this week convicted of leading a group of Luton Town supporters in a massive street brawl, the EDL repeatedly stresses it is only concerned with fighting "militant Islam".

Its leading figures, none of whom have experience in mainstream politics, operate as a loose network.

On Monday, Mr Lennon made a rare foray before the television cameras to ridicule suggestions of links with Breivik, suggesting the EDL is changing its strategy in dealing with the media.

A tetchy encounter with Jeremy Paxman on BBC2's Newsnight left him forecasting that similar attacks could take place in the UK if the right of peaceful protest was taken away: "You need to listen because, God forbid, this ever happens on British soil... it's the time coming... you're probably five or 10 years away."

That's the interview at top. The Independent probably gives as good a summary as we'll get, although I'd like to see proof of the emails allegedly sent by Breivik.

RELATED: It's a far left-wing website, but they've got screencaps. See: "English Defence League in denial. In more ways than one."

Anders Behring Breivik Closely Linked to English Defence League, Telegraph Reports

Well, Telegraph UK is reporting Breivik's ties to EDL. Given Gates of Vienna's aggressive defense of English Defence League, and of course the massive citiations to Fjordman, etc., at the Breivik manifesto, it'd be interesting to see GOV's response.

Not to put too much emphasis on this (since I consider Breivik a lone actor and crazed criminal sociopath), it's nevertheless interesting --- amid all the blame shifting to Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer --- that Atlas Shrugs and SIOA explicitly distanced themselves from EDL last month. See Pamela's report, "EDL SHAKE-UP." Pamela indicated that while she once supported EDL, the group had become infiltrated with crackpots and racists, and that she could no longer support the group if it continued its path to extremism. Her comments stirred up a hornet's nest of resentment at Gates of Vienna, and Pamela updated at Atlas Shrugs, "LORD OF THE FLIES: MACHIAVELLI COMES TO THE BLOGOSPHERE," and "THE EVIL THAT MEN DO."

Again, the point here is more to how Gates of Vienna would like to respond to news from Telegraph UK. Comments remain closed at the blog, which is exactly opposite to how Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have responded to allegations. Moreover, others are pointing out Pamela's rejection of EDL as well. See The Right Perspective, "Pam Geller Shrugged Off EDL Before Attack."

ADDENDUM: I'll have more on this, but to be clear. Counter-jihad bloggers are not responsible for the unfathomable evil of Anders Behring Breivik. Indeed, Jason Papas provides an important analysis indicating that left-wing progressive ideologies of "identity politics" provide a key explanation to the killer's motives. That is:

His [Breivik's] politics is what the left commonly calls “Identity Politics”. It has little grounding in the [classical] liberal thought which is common in the anti-jihadi writers that he cites. They are first and foremost alarmed by the illiberal nature of Islam. Breivik agrees with the problem but has adapted a collectivist solution that is obviously his own. He has stepped off into an imagined war of all against all. He is alone in this war as he deserves to be.

Given that, one might think that Gates of Vienna would emerge from their medieval dungeons and join the debate. We need more discussion on this, and the new information on Breivik and EDL provides a new area of investigation.

Added: Kathy Shaidle sends this along: "Norway: EDL leader Tommy Robinson holds his own against old pansy on BBC TV."

Update 3:30pm PST: Stogie comments: "Norway Shooter and the English Defence League."

And see Exposing the English Defence League, "English Defence League in denial. In more ways than one."

What Is Anders Breivik?

From Bret Stephens, at Wall Street Journal, "The Oslo Terrorist is Neither Christian Nor Conservative."

On Friday morning Breivik wrote that "today you will become immortal." He seems to have meant it literally. Whatever else might be said of that particular longing, it can hardly be called religious (what then would be the point of an afterlife?), or Christian (murdering children en masse is not a tenet of any Christian faith), or conservative (a political tendency that is fundamentally anti-utopian).

What it is is millennarian: the belief that all manner of redemptive possibilities lie on just the other side of a crucible of unspeakable chaos and suffering. At his arrest, Breivik called his acts "atrocious but necessary." Stalin and other Marxists so despised by Breivik might have said the same thing about party purges or the liquidation of the kulaks.

These are the politics that have largely defined our age and which conservatives have, for the most part, been foremost in opposing. To attempt to tar them with Breivik's name is worse than a slur; it's a concession to a killer with pretensions of intellectual sophistication. And it's a misunderstanding of what he was all about.

Norway, Europe and probably the U.S. will now have anxious debates about xenophobia, populism and the rise of neofascism. These are worthy topics, but they are incidental to understanding what happened on Friday. What we witnessed was the irruption of an impulse—more psychological than political—that defines a broader swath of the ideological spectrum than most people would care to acknowledge. As for Breivik, there ought to be no question as to what he is: evil incarnate.

Stephens' essay emphasizes a key point I raised in my analysis of the manifesto: "Breivik hopelessly romanticizes an earlier time that is simply not coming back. He's crazy in that sense." Still, it bears remembering that indeed Breivik's influences were in conservative writings, and that's not to discount his the millenarian infirmities. The answer to Breivik is somewhere between Stephens' analysis and Ross Douthat's, "A Right-Wing Monster." That crazed criminal resides somewhere between millenarianism and the rhetoric of cultural conservatism.

Stoltenberg Faces Norway Grief as Island Killings Turn Paradise Into Hell

At Bloomberg:

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is struggling to steer Norway through its deepest trauma since World War II as the Nordic bastion of equality comes to grips with last week’s mass killings by a right-wing extremist.

Sixty-eight people were gunned down on July 22 at a Labor Party youth camp on the island of Utoeya, northwest of Oslo. Stoltenberg, who leads the Labor Party, said that the “paradise island of my youth” had been “transformed into hell.” The killer, 32-year-old Norwegian national Anders Behring Breivik, confessed to the shooting and a separate bombing that killed eight people. Police today revised down an earlier estimate of 93 casualties.

Norway, the world’s second-richest nation per capita after Luxembourg, is reeling from Europe’s worst attack since the 2004 school massacre in Beslan, Russia, claimed about 350 lives. Home to Europe’s lowest jobless rate and biggest budget surplus, Norway must now come to terms with a threat of violence normally associated with less stable societies, the prime minister said.

More at the link above.

See also The New Jersey Star-Ledger, "07-25-11: Photos of the Day."