Sunday, August 12, 2012

Marked for Death by Geert Wilder- Islam's War against the West and me

This is the true life story of a courageous crusader who has deliberately placed his life in danger in the hope of alerting elected officials of Western nations, including the United States, of the danger of the spread of Islam throughout the free world. It is mind boggling how they collectively, it appears, have turned a blind eye to the threat. The facts are plain to see. The Islamists have stated many times their goal of converting all nations to Islam with all the horrors that would entail. The interesting thing is that, particularly in Europe, the ordinary citizens get it but the leaders don’t. Much of the book was a rehash of the creation of Islam by Mohammad over 1,300 years ago. For me, after reading so many books on the subject, this part was redundant. Others reading this book perhaps would grasp the significance of how it all came to be. The author proposes a suggested reason why the West has been so open to immigration from Islamic countries and why they have bent over backwards to prevent criticism of Islam. In 1973 when OPEC was formed the Western world was thrown into turmoil. That was in the middle of my working years with Firestone, so my memory is quite clear on the havoc wrought by that decision. He quotes Bat Ye’or the author of “Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis”. He states that European Union leaders began building an alliance with the Islamic world to ensure oil supply. As part of this arrangement, Bat Ye’or contends, European leaders agreed not to hinder the spread of Islam in Europe, not to pressure Islamic immigrants to assimilate, and to ensure that European schools and media outlets would portray Islam positively. In order to accomplish this, the EU seized power over national governments. Wilders believes it is deeper than this. He contends that Cultural relativism is more to blame than oil. By this he means that immigrants need not assimilate, since that would imply the superiority of European culture over the immigrant’s native cultures. Again, as I stated previously the ordinary citizens resent losing their national heritage and being forced to adopt Arab culture. The stranglehold the EU has over nations is the reason I am personally opposed to International Treaties such as the proposed Law of the Sea Treaty being debated right now in the United Nations. Wilder’s trouble with Islam dates to 2007 when he decided to produce a 15 minute documentary film about the Islamic threat. The title is Fitna.The theme was to use pages from the Koran which contain verses calling for violence, particularly against non-Muslims, with footage of terrorist attacks and other violent deeds these verses have inspired along with clips of Islamic leaders inciting violence for the sake of Allah. He states that Islam made the film, all he did was put it together. This is when death threats were made and for the past 5 years he has been living under protection by the Dutch government, sometimes being housed in prisons as the safest place to be. He was sued and for two years was under trial for being offensive to Muslims. In June 2011 he was finally acquitted because he had criticized Islam not Muslims and because he was an elected official participating in a public debate, they deemed he was entitled to greater freedom of speech than everyday citizens, that last part alone causes me problems; the thought that a politician has more rights than individuals. He ends the book on a positive note by noting the beginnings of legislation in European countries to curb the abuses. He refuses to accept that the Islamization of the free world is inevitable. This is a valuable resource for anyone who is concerned about the spread of Islam. My copy is available to be loaned. Jack B. Walters August 12, 2012

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Freedom's Forge by Arthur Herman

How American Business Produced Victory in World War II This book reveals the previously untold story on how America was able to rapidly produce the materials needed for our Armed Forces to prevail over the AXIS nations. There have been countless books written about the war itself, but little about how we could not have prevailed if our industries with their skill at mass production had not done their job with such overwhelming success. Americans still remembering the First World War were united in resisting fighting another war in Europe. As a result America was totally unprepared to engage the enemy until war material could be produced. In 1939 our military was ranked eighteen in the world just ahead of Holland. As the NAZI juggernaut swept thru Europe and Russia in 1939 and 40 the attitude gradually changed. Should England succumb America would have been cut off from the whole of that continent with the prospect of being attacked at a later time without Allies to fight with us. The book recognizes the primary industrial leaders called forth by FDR to spur the creation of weapons. William Knudson, Henry Kaiser, Andrew Jackson Higgins and others. Much of the book traces their lives from humble beginnings to the giants of industry that they became. I found this very engaging. I am always searching for biographies of how great leaders come to be. My general assessment is that the greatest of these are people dedicated to improving themselves through hard work and study. William Knudson was called to the Oval Office by FDR on May30, 1940 to head up a new agency to prepare for war. He signed on for zero pay for the duration. He told his daughter “This country has been good to me, and I want to pay it back”. Under his leadership he gathered together industry leaders of small and large companies and received commitments to produce what was required. Of interest to me was that the military was so unprepared they didn’t even know what they wanted. Industry took the lead and did provide. The following are comments Knudsen made during these times. “No one can do what we can do if we all get together,” he liked to boast. American’s love of freedom, of individuality, of doing things differently from the other guy—these were the sources of strength, he believed, not weakness. He believed in the power of the average American worker—“Progress in the world is accomplished by average people,” he would tell audiences—and the power of American business. “American ingenuity has never failed to cope with every specific problem before it, he told a national radio audience,” and if we have your support and confidence, we will surely succeed.” It turns out that it was he who coined the phrase “Arsenal of Democracy”. From 1940 until war end, the United States produced 141 Aircraft Carriers, eight battleships, 807 cruisers, destroyers and destroyer escorts, 203 submarines, and, thanks to Henry Kaiser and his colleagues, almost 52 million tons of merchant shipping. Also produced were 88,410 tanks, and self-propelled guns, 257,000 artillery pieces, 2.4 million trucks, 2.6 million machine guns and 41 billion rounds of ammunition. Total aircraft from 1942 to war’s end was 324,750. This was an unbelievable achievement all through the genius of American industrialists and American workers. Chapter 16 and 17 describe the creation and production of the B-29. Of interest to me was that the concept was visualized in June 1939 by Charles Lindbergh. Testing began in1942 and serious production in 1943. I believe I learned something from reading this book which could be the answer to our declining industrial base. The key ingredient to the rapid change over was stimulus from the government. Industry on their own didn’t have the reserves needed to build huge factories in open fields where nothing had been before and fill them with equipment necessary to produce the product designated. Contracts were awarded with a cost plus eight incentive. What if today our leaders would stoke the engine of manufacturing in a similar manner? We are all aware of how China builds factories, provides cheap energy and transportation to encourage our manufacturers to relocate there. It seems to me they have read this book. Too bad our leaders haven’t. Instead of throwing billions to save the huge mega banks take those funds and restart production here in America. Well paid American workers would be paying taxes and start pulling us out of debt. This is a must read book for those who care. I give it my highest recommendation. My book is available. Jack B. Walters August 8, 2012