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Red Badge of Shame
The American Spectator ^ | 5/24/2006 | Jay D. Homnick

Posted on 05/23/2006 11:16:18 PM PDT by neverdem

As a little boy, six or seven, I had an illustrated book of jokes, where all the punchlines had been dramatized by a cartoonist. There is one image that I have never forgotten. A boy is standing, leaning casually against a tall building, looking like a little wastrel up to no good. A respectable looking man passes and says, "Hey, kid, what are you doing here?" The snotty answer: "Holding up this wall." When the man tells him to scat, he shrugs and obliges. Sure enough, the house comes tumbling down around his feet.

This scene is replayed many times in life. People drop some small activity that they thought was peripheral to their life and suddenly their whole world unravels. Some small rule is dropped in a school and it changes the entire atmosphere of the place. A society abandons a seemingly minor element in its culture and unwittingly attenuates its essential character.

And then there's the good side of the coin. Forces of great malevolence and danger are sometimes brought down by something relatively neutral. The classic American example was the undoing of major gangsters, masters of murder and mayhem, by convicting them of tax evasion. In like fashion, I would venture to assert that the weird and wicked Mr. Ahmadinejad will be brought down before very long, and not because of the great dangers that he truly poses.

His regime signed its death warrant this week. Not by developing nuclear weapons, which is a real fear. Nor by dispatching Hezbollah terrorists to badger the civilized world, also a legitimate threat. But by passing a breathtakingly imbecilic law to require Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians in Iran to wear colored badges on their clothing. Once the law is signed and enforced, Iran will cross over into a zone...

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Germany; Government; Israel; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iran

1 posted on 05/23/2006 11:16:18 PM PDT by neverdem
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To: neverdem
It is interesting that the international community seems to feel that killing an innocent civilian who is Jewish because he/she is Jewish is somehow okay, but making them label themselves as Jewish is going too far.
2 posted on 05/24/2006 1:07:35 AM PDT by Schnucki
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To: neverdem

https://registration.ft.com/registration/barrier?referer=http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.uruknet.info/%3Fp%3Dm23425%26l%3Di%26size%3D1%26hd%3D0&location=http%3A//news.ft.com/cms/s/d8858a08-e8f4-11da-b110-0000779e2340.html


3 posted on 05/24/2006 1:09:58 AM PDT by Schweinhund
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To: Schnucki

I suppose that's because 'the international community' behind its facade (whatever the facade of this ominous community may be) really hates the jews and thus expresses though its various organs (that represent the 'international community') that killing jews is ok!?


4 posted on 05/24/2006 1:15:02 AM PDT by Schweinhund
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To: neverdem

So does anyone know if the labeling law report is true or not?

I've heard claims both ways but not much else...


5 posted on 05/24/2006 1:42:12 AM PDT by DB (©)
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To: neverdem

It will be interesting to see if the Iranians "back down" on the religious insignia. If they do, it will indicate that they would drop their nuclear program, if "the world" (you know, the folks who hate the US so much) united in opposition to it. If, on the other hand, the Iranians remain "hard line" about this, it indicates that Khameini and Ahmadinejad are truly determined to hang on to their nuclear ambitions come what may. Personally, I think this story is just another way to let Israel know that there will be reprisals against the Jewish population of Iran if the Israelis attack the Iranian nuke sites (like the story about Iran's Jewish "Suicide bombers").


6 posted on 05/24/2006 1:07:04 PM PDT by pawdoggie
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