Paul Long's Ramblings

Haven't been keeping up with my blogging - not even posting links, so here's a quick update. Excuse / reason? The same lah! Busy. And also since returning back from my work holiday in Malaysia in September, I have had a lot of catching up to do and also found it hard to get back into the rhythm ...And as the weather warms up here in NZ, church gets busier too :-) So for those following my Pastor's notes, posted up a couple of months worth (backdated). To read go to  http://pastorpaulkcc.blogspot.co.nz/  (all dated 30 October) Quick highlights: Excited and thankful to God that Andrew has his internship job all lined up for November to January. Wonderful testimony that one ... We saved up enough to get a pergola to cover our small back deck. Now we can cook outside too when it rains. Cost us over $5,500. Building cost is expensive here in NZ so glad a friend gave me a decent price for the job. Been working on my vegetables and plants. Laziness and distraction mean...

Another excellent piece by Tawfik Hamid The Psychology of Appeasement Why Radical Muslims Feel Free to Target the United States but Not France By Tawfik Hamid www.tawfikhamid.com The difference between Muslims' reaction to the French cartoons  that insulted the prophet Mohamed and their reaction to the  Mohamed  film that was produced in the United States is striking. On the one hand, Muslim mobs viciously  attacked US embassies, replaced the US flag with the Al-Queda flag, and killed many innocent people-including US ambassador Chris Stevens and other US diplomats. On the other hand, however, they did not dare react with the same violence against France, despite the very insulting nature of the French cartoons. The factors that underpin this odd disparity in Muslim reaction must be analyzed. The French response to radical Islam since September 11, 2001 can explain to a great extent this paradox. It seems that the French have understood the mindset...