Tuesday, February 04, 2003

[Colin Glassey] The Two Faces of Islam This is a wonderful book review of the new book titled The Two Faces of Islam. The book goes into the history of Wahhabism, a cultic travesty of Islam. Frankly, I didn't know just how bad the Wahhabis were. They (and the Al Saud family) rose to power in the late 1700s, murdering and stealing from all the Moslems around them. The Wahhabis argued that since they didn't follow the Wahhabi teachings, their fellow Arabians weren't real Moslems and so any ill treatment was perfectly justified. This first surge by the Wahhabis was stopped by the famous Egyptian military leader Muhammad Ali, who was authorized by the Ottoman empire to go to Arabia and crush the Wahhabis. Ali did this, but (saddly) failed to wipe out the Wahhabis or the Saud family. And so, 70 years later, in 1880, the Sauds returned to Ryad and Ibn Saud then conquered Saudi Arabia, bringing with him the hateful Wahhabi clerics. There is more, and in leads directly to 9/11/2001. Bottom line: Bin Laden is a Wahhabi fanatic, the Saudis have supported Wahhabi clerics for 225 years, he is their man. Period. 12:33:57 PM     [Colin Glassey] A Strong Arguement for Going into Space Here is an essay by James Pinkerton about the need to go into space. He puts it strongly: For Freedom and Survival. I agree with him. The Earth is fragile. Human civilization is destroyable. Human freedom can and likely will be eroded over time by laws and regulations. For now the Oceans are free, but given time, even they will fall under regulations and laws (in fact I think the sooner the better as far as fish populations are concerned). We need to start on building colonies outside the Earth. Mars is the easiest and most obvious place to go. Then Europa (perhaps). We need to do it and we might as well get started sooner rather than later. I also agree with this essay by Charles Krauthammer, which he calls Its Time to Dream Higher. Here is the best quote: The risk of catastrophe for a commercial jet is 1 in 2 million. For a fighter jet, it is 1 in 20,000. NASA's best estimate for the shuttle was 1 in 240. Our experience now tells us that it is about 1 in 50. That is a fantastic risk. It can be justified -- but only for fantastic journeys. The ultimate problem with the shuttle is not O-rings or loose tiles but a mission that makes no sense. The launches are magnificent and inspiring. But the mission is to endlessly traverse the most dangerous part of space -- the thin envelope of the atmosphere -- to get in and out of orbit without going anywhere beyond. Yet it is that very beyond -- the moon, the asteroids, Mars -- that is the whole point of leaving Earth in the first place. As usual, thanks to InstaPundit for the links. 12:04:42 PM

© Copyright 2003 cglassey. Last update: 3/7/2003; 11:53:26 AM. This theme is based on the SoundWaves (blue) Manila theme.