Thanks to all our readers who responded so generously with donations for the Baron’s trip to the Facing Jihad Summit!People from the tip of South America all the up way to Scandinavia, with stops in Oz, England and points in between have sent funds toward the trip. And, of course, my beloved donor from Ireland (you know who you are, dear sir). Not to mention our American stalwarts. Y’all know who you are…
So far we have raised about $1,600.00. Some people are telling us this isn’t enough to provide any cushion for Murphy (you have made the acquaintance of Mr. Murphy, haven’t you? He’s the guy who shows up with the bill and the total is about twenty-five per cent higher than was the original estimate. Anyone with a car or house to repair knows old man Murphy all too well).
Actually, the cautious ones are correct. That amount is cutting it close. But we are so near to what we envisioned that I think it is safe to go with what we have.
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Oh - and before you think I’m being virtuous about this, I have to admit my ace in the hole: yesterday, an anonymous benefactor generously offered to make up any deficit from this point forward. Thus, Mr. X has allowed us to let go of any further concern regarding the financial aspects of the trip.
To everyone who sent a donation: our deep gratitude. To anyone who sent a donation and has not gotten a thank you note, please let me know. I keep careful lists, but someone could have been skipped in the process, or the email I used may not have gone through. Nothing has bounced, however. I repeat: let me know.
Writing those thank you notes is fun - as I’m sure our donors from last year can tell you. I actually like writing to readers who have taken the time to give of themselves to keep Gates of Vienna going.
So: the plane tickets are ordered and the hotel room has been reserved.
The Baron won’t be lugging my laptop with him (it’s heavy) but he has been warned to give us daily updates and local color, so I will be posting those. And he’ll bring home lots of pictures, but they won’t be ready till he dumps them on to his computer and fixes them up before posting.
If there are any particular people you want photos of, please let him know. I’ll type up the list and leave it in one of his shoes so he can’t miss it. It’s not a tourist trip so there will be little of that, but I do hope he can go to the Wailing Wall for me and leave a petition. Hah! Make that a whole laundry list!
Does anyone know how far it is from the Knesset to the Wailing Wall? I think I’ll order him his very own yarmulke to take with him on this adventure. Or should he wait and buy one there? I know they have those disposable thingies, but I want the real deal this time.
Oh, do wish him well, gentle readers. For those whose hearts incline to prayer, keep him in your petitions until he arrives home again. For those who are not so inclined, please keep his safety in your thoughts.
Not that I’m worried or anything. I mean, people live and work in Israel by the millions. What could possibly happen?
24 comments:
Perhaps there should be a GoV yarmulke added to the Cafe Press inventory.
So now the wait is on, for the departure date. Hope the Baron can sleep the night, until then.
What I'd really love to see is confirmation one way or the other about VB's involvement. LGF earlier today claimed that they'd been disinvited. I hope Charles Johnson is merely mistaken, as I should hate to see one of Europe few decent political parties excluded from an event such as this.
Allah is Great and Murphy is his prophet... If that were the slogan, I'd even consider joining the Oomah-Goomah. But the enemy is Mohammad and the culture of death and his western enablers which at this point includes Mr. Charles Johnson.
Civilization First
I am so happy to hear that the Baron is going. Your readers did not disappoint! That is also very good.
My contribution was small but, my reward will be great!
Lots of pictures Baron, if you please.
caleb posner--
Charles Johnson says more than his prayers.
Thus, I wouldn't take his word on anything. Worrying about what he says or thinks is like fretting about the weather.
He has about as much influence re the Facing Jihad Conference in Israel as do any of the leftist thugs in Brussels that feed him his disinformation.
Well, I think that, spiritually and culturally, we, the Europeans (and any other people of European descent), are the offspring of two parents: Athens and Jerusalem.
Going to Jerusalem is like visiting your father. An amazing spiritual pilgrimage into our past and origins.
So, good luck with that, Baron, I am glad for you.
Going to Jerusalem is like visiting your father.
Sorry for nit-picking, but wouldn't 'mother' be more precise?
Then leave the paternal honour to Athens.
I dunno... for christians it seems appropriate. If you consider Israel as the father of the faith, and Greece as the mother you can start to see an Oedipal explanation for christianity's unfortunate aggression toward the jews.
test
There is a website dediciated to this conference and a press release announcing:
http://facingjihad.com/in-the-media/press-release/
The release says 30 European politicians will attend. I am very curious as to whom the "Club of 30" shall include and what the litmus test for an admission ticket will be.
I hope the hosts issue invitations based on individual merit, or contribution to the anti-jihad cause, rather than stressing party affiliation.
This is wonderful news,,,prayers do get answered! Although not a tourist trip, hopefully the Baron will have enough free time to place your petition(s) in the Wall and perhaps get to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial or see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden of Gethsemane or Hezekiah’s Tunnels. Going to Jerusalem is on my must do list.
Good luck Baron, looking forward to the daily postings Dymphna will provide from your updates and you will be kept in prayer.
WRpeach
Sorry for nit-picking, but wouldn't 'mother' be more precise?
Then leave the paternal honour to Athens.
Whatever... "Greece" sounds more feminine than Israel, which is warrior-like. Makes me think of Aphrodite. Besides I remember somebody who said that "Athens is beautiful, Jerusalem is sublime".
Athens not warrior-like? You sure you attended history..?
What I'm thinking of is that the Jewish communities, as far as I know, is held together more by the women than by the men.
Also, it was Jews who gave birth to Jesus :)
Athens not warrior-like? You sure you attended history..?
Athens had a history of wars too, but we associate the city mainly with art and philosophy. Sparta was the bellicose city.
Time to celebrate!
20 million views and counting
USOrThem,
I am very curious as to whom the "Club of 30" shall include and what the litmus test for an admission ticket will be.
My conclusion is that Vlaams Belang will attend.
The first "litmus test" is that only politicians who do not consider an anti-Jihad conference being "evil fascism" will attend. That excludes most of them. Furthermore, the attendees will have to be pro-Israel. And among those who remain Eldad/Wilders will surely pick those who appears least "racist".
In the press release it says that the conference "will play host to some 30 European parliamentarians from Belgium, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K."
Knowing the countries we can already pretty well conclude which the parties will be. And in Belgium there is only Vlaams Belang fulfilling the obvious criteria. Because it wouldn't be Jean-Marie Dedecker would it? The "right-wing" populist who just called Obama the "Black Lancelot" who will defeat "Cowboy Capitalism"? (Amusingly enough he also celled Obamna a "Black Don Quixote"). No, impossible. Not Wilders and Eldad.
From Denmark any party from the government's parliamentary base fulfill the criteria I listed (but DPP is most logical). Same in Italy. There might be more than one party represented from both these countries. From the UK, it will be the UKIP. BNP will not bee seen as qualifying as pro-Israel and is probably seen as too "racist". From Sweden it will be SD, I'm sure Ted Ekeroth will be there. From Holland Wilders' party and from Switerland there is only SVP, isn't there?
I think this is pretty easy to conclude. The only question mark really is how many parties that will be represented from Italy and Denmark. Hopefully all of them.
CS,
Your analysis is exactly the type we should hope is avoided by whoever is extending invitations.
If the litmus test relates to party affiliation the pool of invitees would be substantially limited. Does every VB, BNP or UKIP member hold identical views? Of course not.
Denying participation because of party affiliation is the kind of guilt by association vetting that most of us have learned to detest.
Will attendees come as representatives of their party or of their country? Is the Baron attending as representative the Republican party in the US just because he votes Republican? Of course not.
And now I have read LGF. And according to LGF VB was invited, but then disinvited. Which shows my analysis was correct... but too late.
USOrTHem, I do not understand you objection to what I said. And when I say don't understand that's literally. I have no idea of what you are saying.
My first criterion goes beyond any opinion, your or mine. They to invite someone who do not want to come, and see if they will come. That's why I put the scare quotes around "litmus test" since it's obviously not a litmus test. Not by the host at least, but by the potential invitee. A sensible host of course will not waste his energy sending invitations to people who will refuse to come, based on the idea that the host is an "evil fascist" etc.
The second criterion is of the same kind, but not as strict. We would expect that anti-Israel people would want to go to Israel. And surely it's not in the interest of Eldad etc. to invite such people.
So I have not listed the criteria or litmus test for inviting people to this conference but the ontological laws behind any invitation strategy such a host will have to obey.
USOrThem,
Listen OK. The "Club of 30" refers to politicians, OK? So the context of my comment was confined to these politicians. This delimitation was brought up by you. Why should I mention non-politicans within a context delimted to politicians? Your comment is just plain weird.
And it's within this delimitation we find the issue of VB, which most of us find interesting.
"Try to invite someone who do not want to come, and see if they will come."
and
"We would expect that anti-Israel people would not want to go to Israel.
it's supposed to say above.
Well so far there's a single, unsourced message saying that they're disinvited but nothing else. There doesn't seem to be much information on who's actually been invited, beyond those who've been mentioned and those who've chosen to mention their invitation.
And I notice LGF is engaging in another round of 10 minute hate again. I should take my own advice and stop reading.
It seems the rumor about VB being disinvited was false. At least that's what Pamela Geller suggests on her blog.
He lied or his "reliable sources" mocked at him and he took the bait.
CS,
Unclear perhaps, but no less weird than this: " My conclusion is that Vlaams Belang will attend."
Can you please describe this Vlaams Belang fellow in a little more detail?
USorThem,
It can be concluded that someone from VB will attend (unless they were later disinvited of course). It cannot however be concluded from the information given who that would be. So why do you suggest that I should mention specific persons? Just to satisfy your anti-party dogmatism? Do you want me to lie to make you happy? It's is not possible to make conclusions about specific people.
Your objection to this correct and correctly formulated conclusion is just plain weird. I have never before met anyone with such an allergy towards even the mentioning of political parties, that it makes you jump to the conclusion that anyone even mentioning parties is therefore advocating exclusion based on party affiliation. But that's all in your imagination.
If anyone from a Social Democratic or liberal party were interested in attending, that would be great and welcomed by all of us, and I'm sure by the organizers of this conference. The problem is that there are no such people. The correlation between daring to join an anti-mass-immigration party and wanting to join a conference like this is effectively complete.
I will no let you have the last word, and as many times as you want. Because I have now already wasted to much time, first on trying to figure what you were at all saying (not easy since it was so detached from any reality based discussion here, combined with how you read in your imagined "issue" into anything others say even though it's not there), and then on explaining that I never said something you seem to be convinced I said, but never said, but which you have decided to continue to imagine no matter what.
Futile...
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