On the December 2 broadcast of The War Room with Quinn & Rose, co-host Jim Quinn addressed a Media Matters for America item documenting his suggestion during the previous day's broadcast that "we" should respond to the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, with military action even if "a lot of peaceful Muslims" are harmed or killed, as well as his corresponding remark that "there was a lot of Germans that weren't Nazis either, but we still bombed Dresden." Quinn said of his December 1 comments: "Now, of course, again we come back to, 'Yes, but there's a lot of peaceful Muslims on the planet Earth.' Well, that's true. But if I'm in a room with a thousand people, and 999 of them love me, but one has a gun and wants to kill me, how relevant are the 999? They have no relevance whatever. I'm sorry, but peaceful Muslims will only be relevant insofar as they rise up against those who are not peaceful, because this is a pox on their house, and they need to cure it themselves."

Later in the December 2 broadcast, Quinn specifically addressed his prior reference to the bombing of Dresden during World War II:

I mean, look at World War II, when I talked about the bombing of Dresden. One of the ways that wars are fought -- and nobody wants to talk about it, but it's the truth -- is you cause so much death and destruction to the civilian population of that nation that eventually the population of the nation loses its zest for the war, and the political support of those waging that war collapses. That's how you win wars. Ugly, isn't it? Sorry. What do you think Hiroshima was about? Hmm? The bottom line is reality does not always afford you a truth to your liking, Media Matters.

Quinn further discussed his October 29 assertion -- also documented by Media Matters -- that "[t]here's only one way to settle the Palestine -- the Palestine issue," and that "is to level it and then salt the earth so that nothing grows for a thousand years, because that's how the Muslims would have treated each other, and did.' " Quinn said of that comment, "Sorry, that's the truth. That is the historical truth, and -- and that's exactly what they would do to us if the technology shoe was on the other foot." Quinn went on to assert, "[T]here have been few religions in the world as deadly to man as that of Mohammad."

Talkers Magazine lists Quinn & Rose among its "Heavy Hundred," which it describes as the "100 most important radio talk show hosts in America." According to the show's website, it airs on 18 radio stations and XM Satellite Radio.

From the December 2 broadcast of Clear Channel's The War Room with Quinn & Rose:

QUINN: But the reason why Media Matters matters is -- is because they're different from the other blogs. Media Matters for America has a conflict of interest, and the conflict of interest is who funds them, and who runs them. Media Matters -- well, here, I'll give you an example. Now, this is the latest one, Media Matters for America:

On December 1 broadcast of The War Room with Quinn & Rose, while reading from a blog post by London Spectator columnist Melanie Phillips that discussed the recent terror attacks in Mumbai, India, co-host Jim Quinn said, quote: "We either wipe this scourge from the face of the Earth -- 'Well, you can't say that, because there's a lot of peaceful Muslims out there.' Well, there was a lot of peaceful Germans that weren't Nazis either, but we bombed Dresden. We either wipe this scourge from the face of the Earth, or we will be doomed to live under it." Quinn continued, saying, "We have the technology. Do we have the spine? Don't answer that if you have trouble sleeping, OK?"

Well, what's interesting to me, of course, is that none of you guys on the left get upset when Muslims say the exact same thing about their desire for Western civilization. I mean, go through the -- go through the Holy Land Foundation trial, and take a look at some of the transcripts from that, and what their intentions are. Their intentions are to do it both peacefully and militarily, and if they can't get it done peacefully, then militarily, but whatever it takes, a global Islamic caliphate is on the way.

Now, of course, again we come back to, "Yes, but there's a lot of peaceful Muslims on the planet Earth." Well, that's true. But if I'm in a room with a thousand people, and 999 of them love me, but one has a gun and wants to kill me, how relevant are the 999? They have no relevance whatever. I'm sorry, but peaceful Muslims will only be relevant insofar as they rise up against those who are not peaceful, because this is a pox on their house, and they need to cure it themselves. Because certainly there's -- there's no Islamic supremacist -- which is my word for "Islamic terrorist" -- there's no Islamic supremacist that's gonna be convinced by my -- by any of my arguments.

But it's interesting here just to watch Media Matters and how they -- you know, it's -- and they go on to say, "As Media Matters for America documented." Woo, they documented. You know, all you guys have to do is buy a subscription to our webpage for $39.95 a month -- I'm sure that George Soros can spring for that -- and you could just -- you could just download -- download the podcast for Heaven's sakes. It's like they've got a spy on the ground some place.

"As Media Matters for America documented, Quinn said on October 29, 'There's only one way to settle the Palestine -- the Palestine issue,' and that is to quote, 'level it and then salt the earth so that nothing grows for a thousand years, because that's how the Muslims would have treated each other, and did.' " Unquote. Sorry, that's the truth. That is the historical truth, and -- and that's exactly what they would do to us if the technology shoe was on the other foot. You don't think for a minute that Muslim supremacists with a nuclear weapon wouldn't use it? I mean, are you that foolish?

[...]

And as far as my feelings about supremacist Islam -- hey, guys, I said it before, and I'll say it again: I studied the Quran a great deal, mainly because of our position vis-à-vis the Muslim populations throughout the Middle East. And I must tell you that I came away from the study with the conviction that, by and large, there have been few religions in the world as deadly to man as that of Mohammad.

[...]

Now, we've got all these smart bombs, OK. We've got these special -- we've got -- what -- we've got that thing now -- what is it -- what is it target -- I forget exactly what it is -- technology. You can slip something that's smaller than a dime into some terrorist's robe somewhere, and -- and the rocket will hit him right in the middle of a crowd. You know, I mean, it'll take him right out. And, you know, look, we can park a smart bomb in somebody's window, and that's good when you're dealing with something like terrorism, which is an organization rather than a nation-state. It's also good, I mean -- if you're going up against a nation-state, it's only good if you park one in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's bathroom while he's sitting in there taking a dump, but other than that, folks, the way --you have to understand, the ways that wars are fought.

I mean, look at World War II, when I talked about the bombing of Dresden. One of the ways that wars are fought -- and nobody wants to talk about it, but it's the truth -- is you cause so much death and destruction to the civilian population of that nation that eventually the population of the nation loses its zest for the war, and the political support of those waging that war collapses. That's how you win wars. Ugly, isn't it? Sorry. What do you think Hiroshima was about? Hmm? The bottom line is reality does not always afford you a truth to your liking, Media Matters. Reality does not always afford you a truth to your liking. Accept reality or perish.

A simple game with C# and Expression Blend2 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/74407?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Cluster+bomb+treaty%3A+Signing+begins+to+bring+ban+on+productionch=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CDefence+policy%2CPolitics%2CWorld+newsc5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Norton-Taylor%2CPeter+Walkerc7=2008_12_03c8=1128081c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territoriesc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories" width="1" height="1" //divpGovernments from around the world today began signing an international convention banning the production of cluster bombs – unexploded canisters that have killed and maimed thousands of civilians and remain scattered dozen of countries./ppAt the Oslo signing ceremony, Norway, which has led the efforts to ban cluster munitions, was the first country to sign. It was followed by Laos – where cluster bombs dropped by US planes more than 30 years ago a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/03/laos-cluster-bombs-uxo-deaths"are still killing civilians/a, and Lebanon, another country affected by the weapons./ppBy the end of tomorrow, around 100 of the United Nations' 192 members will have signed up. Once 30 countries have ratified the convention, it will become part of international humanitarian law./ppThere will, however, be a number of notable absentees, including the US, China, Russia, India and Pakistan as well as Israel, which fired many cluster bombs during the 2006 Lebanon war. /ppCampaigners hope the treaty might help change global attitudes towards the munitions, as a 1997 treaty did on land mines, prompting some nations to sign up later./ppIntended primarily as anti-personnel weapons, cluster bombs open up in mid air to release dozens of individual devices, known as bomblets, which scatter across a wide area./ppWhile the bomblets are intended to explode when they hit the ground, many do not and can lie dormant for years. Victims often include farmers tilling land and children, attracted by the bomblets' bright colouring./ppThe US and other nations insist cluster bombs have a legitimate military use. One group that deals with the issue, Handicap International, says 98% of cluster-bomb victims are civilians and 27% are children./ppThe convention has been enthusiastically welcomed by the Red Cross, and a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/02/weaponstechnology-armstrade"on the guardian.co.uk/a by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, his German counterpart./ppThe weapons had "rendered huge tracts of land unusable, cutting farmers off from their crops and visiting further suffering on families forced to risk their lives simply to pursue their livelihoods", said Matthias Schmale, international director of the British Red Cross./ppMiliband and Steinmeier said their goal was a "truly global treaty on cluster munitions", while noting that "many of the major users, producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions" had not yet agreed to sign it./ppDuring the 34-day Lebanon war in 2006, up to a million devices failed to explode and this summer more than 40.6m square metres were identified as still being contaminated, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross. More than 200 civilians died in the year after the Lebanon ceasefire. Cluster bombs also caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system./ppAt least 75 countries currently stockpile cluster munitions. More than 30 have produced the weapons. Unexploded cluster bombs have also killed civilians in Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Chechnya, Sierra Leone and Vietnam./ppDespite initial misgivings within the military, Britain, which fired Israeli-made cluster bombs in its attack on Basra in 2003 and had been the third biggest user of cluster bombs after the US and Israel, has agreed to get rid of its stockpiles of land-fired and air-launched cluster weapons. British diplomats are trying to persuade the US to get rid of stockpiles at its bases in the UK, officials said yesterday./ppToday's convention excludes weapons that fire fewer than 10 explosive submunitions designed to locate a "single target"./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian territories/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast"Middle East/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/defence"Defence policy/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Pv0_3CgGT7A_RxYi5FNqpi1sfdY/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/Pv0_3CgGT7A_RxYi5FNqpi1sfdY/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Whether your fantasy hotel is a Star Wars-style cave dwelling or a Hobbit hole in New Zealand, specialty accommodations around the world will fulfill your nerdy needs. nbsp; nbsp; Other hotels geek out with crazy gear, from Apple- and Microsoft-themed suites to virtual golf courses. And while WiFi has become a common hotel offering, a high-tech hotel in the Middle East extends internet access all the way to its private beach. nbsp; nbsp; These and other specialty accommodations make Wired.com's list of top geek hotels.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/11618?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+100+countries+join+clamour+for+global+ban+on+cluster+bombsch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=World+news%2CIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CDefence+policy%2CUK+news%2CPoliticsc5=Policy+Society%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Richard+Norton-Taylorc7=2008_12_03c8=1127765c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Israel+and+the+Palestinian+territoriesc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories" width="1" height="1" //divpMore than 100 governments, with some notable exceptions, will sign an international convention today banning the production of cluster bombs whose unexploded canisters have killed and maimed thousands of innocent civilians and are dangerously scattered over more than 20 countries./ppThe convention is enthusiastically welcomed today by the Red Cross, and on the Guardian's website by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, his German counterpart. The weapons had "rendered huge tracts of land unusable, cutting farmers off from their crops and visiting further suffering on families forced to risk their lives simply to pursue their livelihoods", said Matthias Schmale, international director of the British Red Cross./ppMiliband and Steinmeier said their goal was a "truly global treaty on cluster munitions". They noted that "many of the major users, producers and stockpilers of cluster munitions" had not yet agreed to sign it. These countries include the US, China, Russia, India and Pakistan as well as Israel, which fired many cluster bombs during the 2006 Lebanon war. /ppUp to 1m devices failed to explode during the 34-day conflict and this summer more than 40.6m square metres were identified as still being contaminated, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). More than 200 civilians died in the year after the Lebanon ceasefire. Cluster bombs also caused more civilian casualties in Iraq in 2003 and Kosovo in 1999 than any other weapon system./ppAt least 75 countries currently stockpile cluster munitions. More than 30 have produced the weapons. Unexploded cluster bombs have also killed civilians in Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Chechnya, Sierra Leone and Vietnam./ppDespite initial misgivings within the military, Britain, which fired Israeli-made cluster bombs in its attack on Basra in 2003 and had been the third biggest user of cluster bombs after the US and Israel, has agreed to get rid of its stockpiles of land-fired and air-launched cluster weapons. British diplomats are trying to persuade the US to get rid of stockpiles at its bases in the UK, officials said yesterday./ppToday's convention excludes weapons which fire fewer than 10 explosive submunitions designed to locate a "single target". /ppOne of the most difficult issues during the negotiations in Dublin this summer leading to the convention was whether troops from countries who signed up to it would be criminally liable if engaged in joint operations with countries which had not signed such as the US for example . The text does not prohibit such "military cooperation". But British forces, like those from any other country which had signed the convention, would be required to discourage the US from using the weapons, and not stockpile them./ppThe convention will become part of international humanitarian law once 30 countries have ratified it./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian territories/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast"Middle East/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/defence"Defence policy/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/a pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/R3nv3_x62cIa5bTp6V3FS6YzOu4/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/R3nv3_x62cIa5bTp6V3FS6YzOu4/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Amid the sadness and shock at the Mumbai attacks, bloggers across the Arab world are posing many questions.

Bahraini Hasan Hujairi is very saddened by the news. He writes:

I’ve been very saddened by the news of the recent terrorist attacks in the city of Mumbai. I cannot imagine any reason that would justify carrying out such a terrible and mindless act.
My heart goes out to those affected both directly and indirectly by this tragedy.

From Dubai, UAE, Seabee poses a lot of questions and here are some of them:

I simply don't understand anything to do with the obscene killings in Mumbai.

I don't understand the mentality of people who randomly take innocent lives. The vast majority of the dead and injured are Indians, hotel workers, train travellers, people simply going about their daily business.

We're told that Americans and British tourists were specifically singled out in some instances. Yet many of them may well have opposed their governments' policies, so what does the simple fact of citizenship have to do with anything?

I don't understand how a country which has had so many terrorist attacks over recent years can have been so unprepared.

Rantings of an Arab Chick too is annoyed and writes:

It goes without saying that my heart goes out to the victims of the terror attacks in Mumbai, those who made it and those who didn't. I don't believe that justice is always meted out and that punishment always falls upon those who deserve it, but I can sure as hell wish for it.

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia wonders:

In any hostage situation there should be hostages , kidnappers, negotiators and demands where as in the latest Mumbai terrible terrorist acts there were hostages,Kidnappers and forces but no negotiators or demands !!??

What were the kidnappers demands ?? They did not take that big number of hostages for nothing !!?? The demands will indicate the identity of the kidnappers so why the Indian government does not announce these demands now !!??

There is something I don’t understand and Please Pardon my question but how on earth 10 people only cause all that destruction in Mumbai in one day or rather three days or even how 10 people can control a hotel in the size of Tag Mahal for three days !!?? This is what the authorities in India said !!??

An Egyptian [Ar] is appalled with the lack of interest among bloggers from Egypt and the rest of the Arab world. He notes:

انا بتابع اكتر من 100 بلوج مصري و عربي طبعا 99% منهم بتوع مسلمين
ماشÙتش ولا واحد كتب عن هجمات مومباى ياترى عاملين ودن من طين Ùˆ أخرى من عجين ليه؟
بس بصراحة سمعة المسلمين بقت وحشة اوى بعد الموضوع ده I have been following more than 100 Egyptian and Arab blogs, and of course 99 per cent of them, belong to Muslims. I haven't seen a single one of them writing about the Mumbai attacks. I wonder why they are totally ignoring it?
The truth is that the reputation of Muslims has become very bad after this attack.

Still in Egypt, ~W~, who writes at I Wanna Hold Your Hand, posts a discussion she had with her neighbour on the attacks. Here's the beginning of the discussion:

Me (pointing to the newspaper on her coffee table): Terrible events. I am so upset. I do not know what these terrorists are thinking when they kill innocent people in the name of Islam.
AS : They think they are fighting in the name of God, and they may have a point.

Follow the link above to read the rest of it.

At the online forum, Omania2.net one reader writes:

كم هو مخجل ألا يدين الأÙراد والمجتمع والمؤسسات وعلماء الدين الأعمال الإرهابية التي يرتكبها بعض الوحوش بإسم الإسلام …. هناك بعض الدول أدانت التÙجيرات مثل قطر والإمارات وباكستان ولكن على الصعيد الشعبي لم نرى شيئا …. بينما الواجب أن يستهجن المجتمع المدني ÙÙŠ الدول الإسلامية هذه الأعمال وأن يتبرأ المسلمون من مثل هذه الأعمال التي تلصق على الإسلام والإسلام براء منها …. It is a shame that individuals, society, organisations and clergymen have not condemned the acts of terrorism committed by beasts in the name of Islam. There are some countries like Qatar, the UAE and Pakistan, which have condemned the attacks, but on a public level, we didn't see anything. It is our duty as Muslim communities to condemn these actions and Muslims should renounce these actions as they have nothing to do with Muslims and Islam.

Another commentator, Ibn Al Rahbi, said he sent cables and letters of condolences to all his Indian friends and acquaintances.

Writing on American-Palestinian Kabobfest, Will, links to the following Al Jazeera report, and says:

<object width=”425″ height=”344″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/I_suxZSOzo4&hl=en&fs=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/I_suxZSOzo4&hl=en&fs=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”425″ height=”344″></embed></object>

The violent ideology behind such senseless attacks belies the emptiness of the group's claims to be defending Muslims. While they are correct that western media and publics are generally blind to and complicit in Muslim suffering, such tactics are unjustifiable in religious, moral and political terms.

And in Kuwait, which had eight women taken as hostages at the Oberoi, bloggers breathe a sigh of relief when their hostages returned home safe.

DiLLi O MiLLi posts a newspaper clipping showing the women being recieved by officials and family at the Kuwait airport. Q8ia Mamloo7a too shares the news on her blog saying:

الحمد والشكر لله سبحانه
قرت عينكم يا أهل الكويت بسلامة المحتجزين
تم الاÙراج عن جميع المحتجزين الكويتيين
والامير يأمر بإعادتهم بطائره خاصه Thanks to Allah Almighty, Kuwait rejoices at the safety of its hostages, who have been released, and the Amir (Ruler) ordered that they be returned [to Kuwait] on his private jet.

h4Global sluggishness/h4 pa target="new" href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/12/idc_it_spending_2009/"Only a few weeks ago/a, we told you how the analysts at IDC had trimmed their forecasts for global IT spending. Well, now IDC is providing a little more detail about the IT spending situation across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, and the news is not exactly good..../ppa href="http://whitepapers.theregister.co.uk/paper/view/609/?td=btmtl"Free Download - The emReg/em Guide to Storage and Storage Platforms/a/p