Daniel Greenfield

National Survival for America and Israel in the Age of Bureaucracy and Terror

(The following is based on a talk and Q&A session that I gave this week in Encino, California at the home of Tammy. Thanks to her and to all the guests who helped make this a great event.) Today we live in the age of terror. And we're reminded of that every time we turn on the news or go through the airport, as I did on the way here. And for millions of Jews and Non-Jews around the world, Israel has come to be seen as the canary in the coal mine, whose status testifies to our status, and whose health testifies to our own.

When Jewish Windows Break

Several years ago a small group of notable British Jews, such as Anglican Atheist comedian Stephen Fry, Quaker writer Stevie Krayer and Claire Rayner, who once visited Israel and said she didn't like it because the people were rude to her which probably justified all those suicide bombings, put out a statement announcing that they were refusing to celebrate Israel's Independence Day. Rather they said, "We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East."

The Left’s War on the Economy

Obama may be losing the War on Terror, but his War on the Economy is headed full speed ahead. The joblessness, the unemployment rolls and an economic in which the only people still making money are in the government, in public sector unions or on Wall Street is no accident. It was the intended result all along. What Obama and the Democrats miscalculated is the mobilization of populist opposition and the speed with which the public turned to the Republicans for solutions, instead of treating Obama as the Great Savior for extending their unemployment benefits.

The Offense Test

The Offense Test is very simple. If another driver on the highway flashes me the middle finger, it is generally accepted that he is a jackass. If I try to kill him in response, it is generally accepted that I am unfit for civil society and should be locked up.

What Makes Johnny Dhimmi Run Away?

We talk a lot about Dhimmis and Dhimmification but aside from the generic yielding to Islam, what exactly does a Dhimmi look like?

The Five Stages of Liberal Grief for Obama

There are five stages in the grieving process from Denial to Acceptance. American liberals are now moving through their own five stages of dealing with the decline and fall of the myth of Obama. The last time they had invested this much in a politician was the Kennedy Administration, yet there is no assassin's bullet to explain the fall of Camelot for them here. Instead they have to come to terms with the reality of Obama's failure.

The Obama Administration’s Palestinian Civil War

There is no debate within the Obama Administration on whether to support Israel or not, mainly because there is no one within there who supports Israel. The only debate is which Anti-Israel terrorist group to support, Fatah or Hamas. That is because the civil war between Palestinian Arab terrorist groups, Fatah and Hamas, isn't just taking place in Gaza and the West Bank, but also within the foreign policy establishment. Unlike the actual civil war, no one is being thrown off buildings or shot in the head, rather there are position papers and fierce behind the scenes debates. The split falls roughly between along ideological lines between the Clinton Administration veterans and some of Obama's new radicals. Between liberals and the hard left.

The Liberal Lynch Mob Comes for the Jews Again

The ADL just honored Rupert Murdoch who delivered a speech mentioning Jabotinsky. At the Huffington Post, David A Love demands to know "Why would a prominent civil rights organization -- one which is supposedly dedicated to fighting bigotry and discrimination -- present an award to a man whose cable network profits from race-baiting and hatred?"

A Worse Life is Waiting for You

Prince Charles recently visited a Mumbai shantytown and praised its "sustainability" in which residents recycle their waste and build their own homes out of whatever materials come to hand. There is of course a word for this form of "sustainability", it's called grinding poverty. Charles is of course not the first rich European to romanticize poverty as some sort of higher spiritual principle. But it's easier to apply that brand of orientalism to India, to assume that people with brown skin who live in terrible poverty are more spiritual, rather than poor. Had Prince Charles gone back in time, he could have seen that same form of "sustainability" in London. But people do not recycle their wastes and use found objects as building materials because they are environmentalists, but because they have no choice. When posturing hipsters in the United States dig through trash cans for food, they're Freegans. But when people who have to dig through garbage cans for food do it, we call them impoverished.

As the Leaves Turn, So Do the Democrats

After the euphoria died down, the oceans sank and the confetti was gathered up, we're back to Democratic incumbents in conservative states running away from any association with liberalism, toting their rifles, putting holes in cap and trade, and mocking Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco hippies. The magic is gone, and the Obama Umbrella is full of holes. Turning Obama into the messiah was supposed to provide unlimited cover for the left's agenda. But the charisma has faded, and as the leaves turn, so do the Democrats.

The Vanishing Christians of the Middle East

The Synod of Bishops for the Middle East is meant to address the decline of Christians in the Muslim world. The reason for the decline is obvious. It is the willingness to discuss that reason which is at issue.

The Democratic Party Goes Grayson

The backlash over Congressman Alan Grayson's "Taliban Dan" ad should have warned the Democratic party that they were now sailing in dangerous waters. But instead of heeding the warning, Obama instead chose to go with bizarre accusations that the Chamber of Commerce was using foreign aid money to help Republicans.

Goodbye Columbus, Goodbye America

Columbus Day, once considered a major event, has been undergoing a decline in recent years. Columbus Day parades have met with protests and some have been de-emphasized or outright eliminated. In Denver, the Columbus Day Parade was met by protesters holding signs, such as, "Kick cracker bums off Indian land". John Hickenlooper, the Democratic candidate for Governor in Colorado, helped fund violent anti-Columbus Day protests, which featured multiple arrests. In Santa Barbara, a rally will featured a hanged Columbus effigy.

It’s About the Jihad, Stupid

So at long last the case of the Times Square Bomber is over and we heard it straight from the camel's mouth, that Faisal Shahzad wasn't upset over his mortgage or angry over Obamacare-- he was what he had always been, a Muslim terrorist trying to kill infidels in the name of Islam.

It All Comes Down to How Liberal You Are

The common wisdom is that Rich Sanchez was fired because he made anti-semitic remarks. That's an understandable assumption, but it's also untrue. Sanchez was fired because he attacked a celebrity who is more liberal and more popular than him. That he did it with racial overtones made it easy for CNN to pull the plug on him. But his real crime was that he had become an embarrassment, from a liberal perspective, and that's the only perspective in the media that counts.

The B.O. Obama Takes on Water

The rats are hopping off the decks of the B.H. Obama or being shoved off to lighten the ship's load. Purges like this usually happen before or after a second term, not before a midterm election.

Repent for Your Environmental Sins!

All societies and ideologies need a purpose, a comprehensive metaphor that explains the role of man in the universe. For the left, the calls for social justice have to be attached to a larger understanding of who we are and why we are here for them to have a mission that is about more than just band aids and sociological surveys. Social justice provides a social argument, and for those on the left who still believe in a creator deity, even a theological justification. But as the left largely trends secular, it needs a secular theology that lays out its mission. Environmentalism provides that theology.

Why Europe Still Doesn’t Get Islam

Like an old car starting up on a cold winter's day, European governments have been slowly waking up to the realization that all those jolly Islamic people might be a problem after all. Unfortunately they don't understand the dimensions of the problem. To them the riots, the bombings and the murders are only part of a culture clash, with challenges no different than any other minority group. That is why they prefer to focus on schools and burqas, while ignoring the violence.

Muslim Prayer Rugs and Jewish Orphans

On a late summer evening, Omar Rivera stumbled over to a local mosque, clutching a beer bottle in his hand and looking for a place to answer nature's call. He chose the Al-Imam Mosque and proceeded to urinate around its exterior, where there were apparently some Muslim prayer rugs lying around. Omar had committed what was a fairly commonplace act of vandalism in the city, public urination. When suddenly he became the poster child for the rise of a "New Islamophobia".

The Naked and Apathetic Vote

Obama and his media poodles have announced that a new crisis is upon us. Voter apathy. Naturally the apathy is only a crisis because it affects Democratic voters. If voter apathy threatened to keep Republican or Independent voters home, the media would suddenly be running stories about how voting is overrated. But since voter apathy might actually cost the home team, it's the enemy.