Proof Turkish Government is in Holocaust Denial

France has passed a bill that would make it a crime to deny that Ottoman Turks committed mass genocide against Christian Armenians during WWI. This was a holocaust, just as what happened in Germany in WWII a holocaust. Germany has reconciled and has passed a similar bill. Conversely, the Islamist government that currently rules Turkey isn't so willing to admit its past sins.

Via Daily Mail:

Turkey has reacted with fury after French MPs passed a bill that would make it a crime in France to deny that mass killing of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks was genocide.

The Turkish ambassador in Paris, Tahsin Burcuoglu, has been recalled in protest after the bill sailed through the National Assembly with a large majority this afternoon.

Ankara had also promised 'grave consequences' in terms of political, economic and military assistance between the two countries if the legislation went ahead.

Why would Turkey care about French law? There is no way Turkey would react this way unless it disagrees with the reality of its past. That should be cause for great concern.

In fact, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan referred to the bill as 'racist.' I guess that means that holocaust denial should be considered 'tolerance.'

That is certainly a new low for the race card being played.

h/t Free Republic

2008: Ron Paul Endorsed Cynthia McKinney

Those who charge that Ron Paul is anti-Semitic get another boost with this one. I don't remember this but in 2008, after John McCain won the nomination, Ron Paul endorsed four candidates. None of them was McCain but one of them was virulent anti-Semite, Rep. Cynthia McKinney.

From CNN via Red State:

Paul, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination, will tell supporters he is not endorsing GOP nominee John McCain or Democratic nominee Barack Obama, and will instead give his seal of approval to four candidates: Green Party nominee Cynthia McKinney, Libertarian Party nominee Bob Barr, independent candidate Ralph Nader, and Constitution Party candidate Chuck Baldwin, according to a senior Paul aide.

Yes, you read that right. He also endorsed Ralph Nader, who is to the left of Barack Obama.

McKinney is known for her vehement support for the Palestinian cause and participated in a few flotillas intended to block the Israeli blockade of Gaza.



h/t Weasel Zippers

2005 Video: Newt wanted Puerto Rico to be a State

Look, I understand the thinking of conservatives who are willing to overlook Newt's past in hopes that he will manifest into some Churchillian figure because of shared personality traits but how much of his past should we be expected to ignore?

Here's another in a LONG LINE of examples in which he takes liberal postions.

In 2005, Newt called for giving Democrats more votes granting Puerto Rico statehood:



h/t Breitbart

1995 Video: Ron Paul's Newsletter Problem

There is nothing quite like the accountability of YouTube. Ron Paul has been disavowing himself from these newsletters that bore his name by saying he didn't write them or read them. Now, thanks to a 1995 video, it appears he knew full well what was in those newsletters. If he didn't, then he was lying in this video. If he did, he's lying today.

Here he is, Mr. Consistency Ron Paul in 1995, referencing the newsletter he is apparently oblivious of today. Note what he says at around the 2:00 mark:



Here is Ron Paul with CNN just yesterday, cutting his interview short because of questions about the news letter.

h/t Weasel Zippers

US State Department Praises North Korea's Kim Jong-Il

When diplomacy devolves to the point of praising one of the world's most brutal dictators, it fails to remain diplomacy. It's either acquiescence to evil or acceptance of it. The US State Department appears to be taking the path of least resistance - otherwise known as the road to hell - when it comes to the death of Kim Jong-Il.

Enter the number 3 official at the US State Department, via Weekly Standard:

Wendy Sherman, undersecretary of state for political affairs at the State Department, had some rather nice things to say about the reclusive Kim Jong Il, the dictatorial leader of North Korea who died a few days ago. She had met the rogue dictator, Josh Rogin reports, when Sherman "served as State Department counselor and North Korea policy coordinator under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, [and had] traveled to Pyongyang with Albright in 2000."

The Standard quoted from both an NPR obituary that quotes Sherman as well as a New York Times article in which she heaped praise on the dictator:

Wendy Sherman, now the No. 3 official in the State Department, who served as counselor to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and accompanied her to North Korea, said in 2008: "He was smart, engaged, knowledgeable, self-confident, sort of the master-director of all he surveyed."

If the leaders at the top of our government are more comfortable praising one of the world's most brutal dictators instead of highlighting his atrocities, that should cause great concern among US citizens when it comes to how much our leaders care about their own people.

Ah, but the elitists at State are so much more intelligent and we citizens simply don't understand diplomacy, right? Diplomacy does NOT include praising evil dictators.

What more evidence do we need that our leaders have been inching closer to insanity for some time?

h/t Verum Serum

Scientists: Shroud of Turin Created with Ultraviolet Light

Well, well, well. Scientists are reportedly coming down on the side of the Shroud of Turin being created by a technology not available at the time of the Shroud's creation.

Via Yahoo News:

The exact origins of the Turin Shroud remain a great mystery, but scientists are now disputing the long-held belief that the religious artifact is a medieval forgery.

Italian researchers at the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development say they believe the image was created by an ultraviolet "flash of light." However, if that theory is true, it remains a mystery as to exactly how that technology could have been implemented at the time of the Shroud's creation. While the technology is readily available in present day, it was far beyond the means of anyone around pre-20th Century.

The Turin Shroud is said to be the burial cloth of Jesus, but has long been believed to be a fake, created during medieval times. It is currently kept in a climate-controlled case in Turin cathedral. Scientists at the Italian agency have reportedly spent years attempting to recreate the Shroud's imagery. 'The results show a short and intense burst of UV directional radiation can colour a linen cloth so as to reproduce many of the peculiar characteristics of the body image on the Shroud of Turin,' the scientists said.

"When one talks about a flash of light being able to color a piece of linen in the same way as the shroud, discussion inevitably touches on things such as miracles," said Professor Paolo Di Lazzaro, who led the study. "But as scientists, we were concerned only with verifiable scientific processes. We hope our results can open up a philosophical and theological debate."

The article closes with the following claim:

Believers in the Shroud say it contains the image of a man with nail wounds to the wrist and feet. Still, skeptics of the Shroud's authenticity are unlikely to be swayed. There has been substantial evidence working against it, including a 1988 radiocarbon test conducted at the University of Oxford, which dated the cloth to a time between 1260 and 1390.

What Mr. Pfeiffer at Yahoo fails to mention is that the Carbon dating performed on the Shroud was from a portion that came from a section that had been replaced after a fire that damaged it at about the time that section was dated back to and not the original cloth.

h/t GWP

1988 Video: Ron Paul on Morton Downey, Jr. Show

Very interesting exchange between a younger Ron Paul, Morton Downey, Jr. and a raucous audience. The subject? Legalizing drugs. If you were a fan of Downey, it's noteworthy that he thought Paul was a nut job. Also taking that view was Lisa Sliwa of the Guardian Angels. Paul gets quite animated here as well.

Downey delivers some priceless lines (no pun intended) too. At one point, Paul adamantly demands for someone to explain why there were no drug laws in the 19th century. Downey, in essence, says for the same reason there weren't seat belt laws.

Right before going into a commercial break, Downey says someone needs to call the cops because there's 200 lbs. of dope on his stage.

Later, the conversation turned toward the Soviet Union. Paul espoused a hands-off policy with them. Three years later, the Soviet Union fell. Proof  positive that Paul's foreign policy views are wrong.



h/t Daily Caller

Video: McCain Rips Biden but has No Room to Talk

For John McCain to rip Joe Biden for saying that the Taliban is 'not our enemy' should be like shooting fish in a barrel. In fact, the story almost wouldn't be worth posting it's such a slam dunk.

Yes, McCain is right but that's not the point. The Republican senator from Arizona should look in the mirror before pointing the finger at Joe Biden. It was less than a year ago that McCain referred to the Libyan rebels as his 'heroes.'

Those 'heroes' are al-Qaeda.

Great message here but wrong messenger.

Via Hapblog

Video: Ron Paul Quite Testy about those Newsletters

Like it or not, this story has a Jeremiah Wright quality to it. A newsletter published under Ron Paul's name in the 1980's is quite anti-semitic. One thing I didn't know is that an article with Paul's name on it allegedly says the Jews were responsible for the first WTC bombing. Paul's argument is that he didn't write them, he didn't read them at the time, and he disavows them now.

It's not just the anti-semitism angle that evokes Jeremiah Wright comparisons. It's Paul's denial that he knew nothing about the content of the newsletters with his name all over them. It's a little like Barack Obama saying he spent 20 years in Wright's church and didn't know what he believed.

Here, Paul abruptly ends his interview with CNN's Gloria Borger after being asked to explain the content of the newsletters.



I find that take interesting in light of Paul's unearthed explanation for why he hasn't come out publicly in support of the belief that the Bush Administration perpetrated the second WTC attacks. The denial Paul gives to CNN is not all that dissimilar from the denials he gives about agreeing with the Truthers, which makes this moment of 'truth' Paul shares with a truther, quite interesting.

Fast forward to the :50 mark:



h/t Hapblog