1RedThread

I've Moved

2009-02-13T22:46:00.000-05:00

Please visit me at my new site:

http://1redthread.wordpress.com/

Building a Religion

2008-06-13T22:12:00.001-04:00

thanks Honorary Yooper!

9/11 Troofer Petition Read in House of Commons

2008-06-13T22:00:00.003-04:00

New Democratic Party Deputy House Leader Libby Davies delivers a Parliamentary Petition signed by over 500 Canadians demanding a new 9/11 investigation, in Canada's House of Commons during Routine Proceedings at 1:10 pm on June 10, 2008

We, the undersigned citizens of Canada draw the attention of the House to the following:

THAT, scientific and eyewitness evidence shows that the 9/11 Commission Report is a fraudulent document and that those behind the report are consciously or unconsciously guilty of covering up what happened on 9/11/2001. This evidence overwhelmingly supports the conclusion that World Trade Center Towers 1, 2 and 7 were brought down by demolition explosives and that the official theory of the towers collapsing from the airplanes and the ensuing fires is irrefutably false.

We further believe that elements within the US government were complicit in the murder of thousands of people on 9/11/2001. This event brought Canada into the so-called "War on Terror," it changed our domestic and foreign policies for the worse, and it will continue to have negative consequences for us all if we refuse to look at the facts.

THEREFORE, your petitioners call upon Parliament to:

(1) Immediately launch its own investigation into the events of 9/11/2001 on behalf of the 24 Canadian citizens murdered in New York City.

(2) Act lawfully on the findings of its own investigation by helping to pursue the guilty parties in the international courts.

If you feel inclined call or write to Libby Davis and tell her what you think about this inane drivel and waste of taxpayer money. Please be nice.

Obviously, she hasn't thought through the logic.

Tel: 613-992-6030
daviel@parl.gc.ca

Commit a "hate crime"!

2008-06-13T21:23:00.003-04:00

Rev. Stephen Boissoin has been found guilty of a hate crime. The government is forcing him to denounce his religious beliefs and apologize for them.

Along with Ezra Levant and Kathy at Five Feet of Fury, and I hope many more, I am publishing his "hate speech".

Support free speech in Canada. It's not just an American concept! If you blog, post this!

Homosexual Agenda Wicked

The following is not intended for those who are suffering from an unwanted sexual identity crisis. For you, I have understanding, care, compassion and tolerance. I sympathize with you and offer you my love and fellowship. I prayerfully beseech you to seek help, and I assure you that your present enslavement to homosexuality can be remedied. Many outspoken, former homosexuals are free today.

Instead, this is aimed precisely at every individual that in any way supports the homosexual machine that has been mercilessly gaining ground in our society since the 1960s. I cannot pity you any longer and remain inactive. You have caused far too much damage.

My banner has now been raised and war has been declared so as to defend the precious sanctity of our innocent children and youth, that you so eagerly toil, day and night, to consume. With me stand the greatest weapons that you have encountered to date - God and the "Moral Majority." Know this, we will defeat you, then heal the damage that you have caused. Modern society has become dispassionate to the cause of righteousness. Many people are so apathetic and desensitized today that they cannot even accurately define the term "morality."

The masses have dug in and continue to excuse their failure to stand against horrendous atrocities such as the aggressive propagation of homo- and bisexuality. Inexcusable justifications such as, "I'm just not sure where the truth lies," or "If they don't affect me then I don't care what they do," abound from the lips of the quantifiable majority.

Face the facts, it is affecting you. Like it or not, every professing heterosexual is have their future aggressively chopped at the roots.

Edmund Burke's observation that, "All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing," has been confirmed time and time again. From kindergarten class on, our children, your grandchildren are being strategically targeted, psychologically abused and brainwashed by homosexual and pro-homosexual educators.

Our children are being victimized by repugnant and premeditated strategies, aimed at desensitizing and eventually recruiting our young into their camps. Think about it, children as young as five and six years of age are being subjected to psychologically and physiologically damaging pro-homosexual literature and guidance in the public school system; all under the fraudulent guise of equal rights.

Your children are being warped into believing that same-sex families are acceptable; that men kissing men is appropriate.

Your teenagers are being instructed on how to perform so-called safe same gender oral and anal sex and at the same time being told that it is normal, natural and even productive. Will your child be the next victim that tests homosexuality positive?

Come on people, wake up! It's time to stand together and take whatever steps are necessary to reverse the wickedness that our lethargy has authorized to spawn. Where homosexuality flourishes, all manner of wickedness abounds.

Regardless of what you hear, the militant homosexual agenda isn't rooted in protecting homosexuals from "gay bashing." The agenda is clearly about homosexual activists that include, teachers, politicians, lawyers, Supreme Court judges, and God forbid, even so-called ministers, who are all determined to gain complete equality in our nation and even worse, our world.

Don't allow yourself to be deceived any longer. These activists are not morally upright citizens, concerned about the best interests of our society. They are perverse, self-centered and morally deprived individuals who are spreading their psychological disease into every area of our lives. Homosexual rights activists and those that defend them, are just as immoral as the pedophiles, drug dealers and pimps that plague our communities.

The homosexual agenda is not gaining ground because it is morally backed. It is gaining ground simply because you, Mr. and Mrs. Heterosexual, do nothing to stop it. It is only a matter of time before some of these morally bankrupt individuals such as those involved with NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Lovers Association, will achieve their goal to have sexual relations with children and assert that it is a matter of free choice and claim that we are intolerant bigots not to accept it.

If you are reading this and think that this is alarmist, then I simply ask you this: how bad do things have to become before you will get involved? It's time to start taking back what the enemy has taken from you. The safety and future of our children is at stake.

Rev. Stephen Boissoin

Hope! Change!

2008-06-13T14:17:00.003-04:00

A judge in Ohio says the state's method of putting prisoners to death is unconstitutional because two of three drugs used in the lethal injection process can cause pain.

Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said Tuesday the state's lethal injection procedure doesn't provide the quick and painless death required by Ohio law.

Take a look at Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge and the posters in his office:

I can’t believe someone can fool himself so far as to tout the murderer Che as an icon and yet argue against lethal injection. Che was much, much, more barbaric.

A Cuban prosecutor of the time who quickly defected in horror and disgust named Jose Vilasuso estimates that Che signed 400 death warrants the first few months of his command in La Cabana. A Basque priest named Iaki de Aspiazu, who was often on hand to perform confessions and last rites, says Che personally ordered 700 executions by firing squad during the period. Cuban journalist Luis Ortega, who knew Che as early as 1954, writes in his book Yo Soy El Che! that Guevara sent 1,897 men to the firing squad.
***
Equally important, the massacres cowed and terrorized. Most of them came after public trials. And the executions, right down to the final shattering of the skull with the coup de grace from a massive .45 slug fired at five paces, were public too. Guevara made it a policy for his men to parade the families and friends of the executed before the blood, bone and brain spattered firing squad.
***
"Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood.
With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join
the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!"
Che Guevara wrote these lines while in his early twenties, before he had gotten his hands on any such enemy.
***
Two weeks after Che entered Havana and took his post at La Cabana fortress, Castro saw his instincts as a personnel manager fully vindicated. The "acrid odor of gunpowder and blood" never reached Guevara's nostrils from actual combat. It always came from the close range murder of bound, gagged and blindfolded men. "We must create the pedagogy of the paredon (firing squad.)" Che instructed his Revolutionary Tribunals: "We don't need proof to execute a man. We only need proof that it's necessary to execute him. A revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."

As for the messiah's poster, right next to Che's, all I have to say is HOPE! CHANGE!

via Rachel Lukas

Support Freedom of Speech

2008-06-12T22:33:00.005-04:00

"Freedom of speech is an American concept, so I don't give it any value." - Dean Stacey, in response to the question "What value do you give freedom of speech when you investigate?"

***

2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;; (b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;; (c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and; (d) freedom of association.
- Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

***

Last week, a Human Rights Tribunal in British Columbia considered a complaint brought against journalist Mark Steyn for a piece in the Canadian newsweekly Maclean's. The excerpt from Steyn's best-selling book "America Alone" argued that high Muslim birthrates mean Europeans will feel pressure to reach "an accommodation with their radicalized Islamic compatriots."
...
The new rallying cry is, "If I hate what you say, I'll accuse you of hate." The Canadian Islamic Council got the Human Rights Tribunal in British Columbia and the national Canadian Human Rights Commission (where proceedings are still pending) to agree to hear its complaint. It had to like its odds.
The national commission has never found anyone innocent in 31 years. It is set up for classic Alice-in-Wonderland "verdict first, trial later" justice. Canada's Human Rights Act defines hate speech as speech "likely to expose a person or persons to hatred or contempt." The language is so capacious and vague that to be accused is tantamount to being found guilty.
- Rich Lowry, "Mark Steyn: Enemy of the State?

***

Please support Canadian Freedom Five:

Connie and Mark at Free Dominion

Kathy at Five Feet of Fury

Ezra Levant

Kate at Small Dead Animals

God Bless Them

2008-06-12T21:50:00.003-04:00

Four Boy Scouts died when the tornado tore through the camp. They were identified as, clockwise from top left, Aaron Eilerts, 14, from Eagle Grove, Iowa; and Josh Fennen, 13; Ben Petrzilka, 13; and Sam Thomsen, 13, all of Omaha.

Please pray for the families of these four boys, and don't forget about the 48 injured, some critically.

A Call For Help

2008-06-12T19:18:00.002-04:00

A fellow blogger needs some help. I know we all get into these situations, so if you're inclined, please help.

By the end of 2007, I had changed my location, my marital status (yes, there are things I don’t blog about), I began to change my body, and so I wanted to change my career, too. Make a fresh start. Unfortunately, I am now without means. Totally flat broke. A little advertising here on GOTR, and some temp work, but it’s not paying the bills. Any bills. And the rent is well past due.

My Girls

2008-06-11T23:04:00.002-04:00

Goggie Pics!

Oh, and one kitteh, too.

Choosing to be Stupid

2008-06-11T23:02:00.004-04:00

During the writing of it, I realized that simple living can be crystallized, distilled, condensed and reduced down to three words. Three profound, easy-to-remember words. Got a pen and paper? OK, here they are:

Make good choices.

That's pretty much it, everyone. Do you want a good, relatively happy life? Make good choices.

A Reading from the Obama Scriptures

2008-06-11T23:00:00.000-04:00

A reading from the Obama Scriptures

From the Book of St. Marx

Chapter 6
Verse 66

In the beginning there was video tape.
and the Tape captured the Word.
and the Word was HATE.
and the Word sprung from the mouth of a Man.
and the Man was Wright.

And try as they might to keep
the Tape from the people
they could not.
After the lands of many caucuses had voted
the Tape was seen.

And the Lord Obama appeared distraught
because the people cried out Why Lord?
Why did you keep this man of hate in your midst?

And the Lord appeared to them and spoke:
This man is not a man of hate.
You do not understand what goes on in his pulpit.
Hate is Love
Mocking is Forgivenes
Insults are Ecstasy
Everything you believe about reality is wrong.
I am the Light and the Way.

Afterward the Olbermann tribe was first to sing out:
YES! YES LORD!
Lies are truth!
Hate is Love!
Division is Unity!

Soon the CNN Tribe, and the Huffington Tribe sang out
in praise of the Lord.

And those who knew
in their American guts
something was still wrong
tried to speak
but they were called racists
and scoundrels
and lepers.

And so the Arugulas worshipped their Lord in the public square
and worshiped St. Marx in secret.

And it came to pass that the Word of Hate was made normal.
And the march of the Lord went on as before.
The people pulled the wool back over their eyes.
And all was well.

And the Lord took a break to sneak a smoketh.
-unknown

News of the Day (Week, Month, Year, whatever.....)

2008-05-11T20:54:00.006-04:00

Arguing with your professor is "subversive", and could cause her "intellectual distress". Poor, poor Professor.

--

Surprisingly, British people have a hard time "footing the bill to save the planet".

More than seven in 10 voters insist that they would not be willing to pay higher taxes in order to fund projects to combat climate change, according to a new poll.

The survey also reveals that most Britons believe "green" taxes on 4x4s, plastic bags and other consumer goods have been imposed to raise cash rather than change our behaviour, while two-thirds of Britons think the entire green agenda has been hijacked as a ploy to increase taxes.

This animal beat his 17 year old virgin daughter to death for dishonoring him - she had a crush on a British soldier, presumably a Christian. He's still a free man.

She died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian. Though her horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand's two brothers, Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as he choked her with his foot on her throat, they joined in. Her shrouded corpse was then tossed into a makeshift grave without ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.

--

Rand's mother, 41, remains in hiding after divorcing her husband in the immediate aftermath of the killing, living in fear of retribution from his family. She also still bears the scars of the severe beating he inflicted on her, breaking her arm in the process, when she told him she was going. 'They cannot accept me leaving him. When I first left I went to a cousin's home, but every day they were delivering notes to my door saying I was a prostitute and deserved the same death as Rand,' she said.
'She was killed by animals. Every night when go to bed I remember the face of Rand calling for help while her father and brothers ended her life,' she said, tears streaming down her face.

--

Fairness, Idealism, and Other Atrocities - the best commencement address ever!

1. Go out and make a bunch of money!

2. Don't be an idealist!
Who does more for the redwoods and society anyway -- the guy chained to a tree or the guy who founds the "Green Travel Redwood Tree-Hug Tour Company" and makes a million by turning redwoods into a tourist destination, a valuable resource that people will pay just to go look at?
3. Get politically uninvolved!

4. Forget about fairness!

"Honey, you're cute. That's not fair. Your family is pretty well off. That's not fair. You were born in America. That's not fair. Darling, you had better pray to God that things don't start getting fair for you."
5. Be a religious extremist!

The Bible is very clear about one thing: Using politics to create fairness is a sin. Observe the Tenth Commandment. The first nine commandments concern theological principles and social law: Thou shalt not make graven images, steal, kill, et cetera. Fair enough. But then there's the tenth: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's."

--

Here is a completely un - PC article that actually made it on a Canadian MSM site.

Statistics Canada reported that in British Columbia this median wage-earner's income fell 11.3 per cent over that quarter-century. Has StatsCanada ever lied to us before?
Yet there is no mystery; clues are thick on the ground. But Top People, and the media who serve them and know how far to go too far, as the Frenchman said, are reluctant to chase them -- because some are decidedly politically incorrect. Let me count the ways.
Immigrants. StatsCanada also reported that since 1980 immigrants have sharply lower incomes than those before 1980. But Proper Canadians (whose field marks include moral superiority to the Americans and faith in collective action and expanding government) shrink from joining the dots.
--

And then -- women. Ah, women. Constant Reader knows my heretical view that feminism played right into the male hands of corporate capitalism. ...
The phoniest of all perennial stories in the media is that -- shame, shame -- women as a group still haven't closed the wage gap with men.
And, unless at gunpoint, they never will. They will take days, months, years off paid work to bear and raise children. Which will hold back their attainment of credentials, work experience, seniority. Which lowers their life earnings -- and Joe and Jane Median's income.
Anyone not blinded by ideology should be hit right between the eyes by this simple observation.

Chapters

2008-05-01T22:14:00.004-04:00

The reason why I'm posting late tonight is that hubby and I went out for drinks with the people from his work. Instead of driving two cars out there, we arranged to meet at a Chapter's. While I was waiting for him, I browsed. What a windfall for me, because I had no idea what I was going to talk about tonight.

I went up to the table marked "current events and bright ideas", or some such. It was loaded with nothing that I was interested in. Steyn's "America Alone", just released in paperback, wasn't there (later I found it on the bottom shelf in the politics section, they have at least 25 copies, but none were on any tables). Instead, I find Jimmah's books (there were a lot of them around), another about how much better the world would be if women ran the world, and Huffington's new book that I never heard of before about how horrible the Right is and how much better we'd be if the Left took over. Fine, as usual I'll have to search for intelligent books at Chapters.

I mosey on down to the sale sections at the very front of the store, you know the ones where they put the newest books and the ones they're trying to push? I wish I'd gotten a photo of this, it would be lots of fun, but there was "The Communist Manifesto" on the top shelf with a large-ish tab reading "The Best Books Ever Written" directly under it. Funniest thing I've seen today. I really should go take a picture, you'll probably get a kick out of it.

Anyway, I picked up Bernard Goldberg's "Crazies to the Left of me, Wimps to the Right" (not on a table, either, second shelf from the bottom), and on my way out, I caught a glimpse of the new Maclean's Magazine. I don't know what to make of this mag, I mostly dislike it, but they do have Steyn as a columnist.

Here's the front cover:
Lovely.

On the way out, the cashier noted that my Chapter's card was expired and offered me a new one for $25/year. I nicely declined. Note to self: buy books online.

Thursday's bites

2008-05-01T21:45:00.002-04:00

Next decade could be cooler, with a "lower temperature increase than we would expect".

--

Michelle Obama's patented subject changer: "You know, this conversation doesn't help my kids." Yeah, your kids were sooooo helped by sitting in a racist church listening to a racist pastor all those years. How about you answer the question, Michelle?

--

Is America in economic decline? "Maybe right now the dollar is at a low level and portions of the American economy could be better, but the overall economy is solid and the dollar weakness is temporary."

--

New Steyn column! - Chirpiness that'll be the death of us If you no longer know what you stand for, how can you know what you stand against?

Wednesday Reads

2008-04-30T22:07:00.003-04:00

Dennis Prager has a new column: Wright Speaks for the Left

--

FrontPageMag.com has a great article about the the Left, global warming activists, and their usual targets: large families and "patriarchal" religion.

--

"Dear Barry" - relationship advice from an Illinois senator.... on Iowahawk. This had me laughing so hard my dog Morgan had to leave the room.

--

Here's an update on the war against free speech in Canada. Five Feet of Fury

--

The sky is falling! Probably. Well, we don't know, actually.

"The economy is weak but not collapsing," said Lynn Reaser, chief economist at Bank of America's Investment Strategies Group. "A recession can't be ruled out, although the stars are not lined up at this point to definitively say one way or the other."

--

The most chilling sentence in this short article (7 sentences) about bottle bombs packed with hooks and shrapnel in them being found in a junior high school is this:

Barrow says homemade devices are showing up more frequently on house porches and mailboxes in the Chico area. This was the first time the bottles have contained dangerous shrapnel.

More frequently? This is common?

I'm Back

2008-04-30T21:38:00.003-04:00

As some have noticed, I stopped blogging a while back. Sorry, life got in the way. I've missed it though, so here I am, I'm back!

One of the things that I wanted to do was make 1RedThread more personal, so if you stick around, you'll see more information on my family, my dogs, and me than before. I'll also be posting interesting news articles, too, I can't help but post them, just like I can't help reading interesting things out loud to my husband when I'm surfing the internet or reading the paper.

The most interesting thing that happened today was an offhand comment one of my coworkers felt free to email to some people after being forwarded an email (not by me) about the soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. You know the ones, they say "I'm not breaking this one, sorry, make sure you forward it" with pictures of soldiers and stories about the good things that are happening over there. It's not like you read those kinds of things in the news.

Anyway, this person felt free to reply back to myself and a few other people that before we forward it, we may want to be sure to add that the US went to Iraq and killed 600,000 civilians for oil. The comment was so full if ignorance, it annoyed me so much. Honestly, I could probably shred his comment in a million little pieces, but why bother? Its not like the truth really gets in the way of these people.

We're also starting a garden for the first time this year. The rising cost of everything is really hitting us. So, I started bush beans, a couple types of tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, and snow peas. Wish us luck, I'll keep you all posted!

Kenyan kin keep Obama faith

2008-01-10T06:47:00.001-05:00

News | Africa - Reuters.com

U.S. Senator Barack Obama's Kenyan grandmother said her grandson is "full of surprises" and will come back from defeat in New Hampshire's primary to become the first black U.S. president.

In Obama's ancestral village of Kogelo in western Kenya, 85-year-old Sara Hussein on Wednesday expressed the general feeling among locals intently focused on the U.S. presidential race amid the violent election turmoil in their own country.

Obama's Kenyan family hail from the Luo tribe of opposition leader Raila Odinga, who accuses Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki of stealing re-election in a poll that has triggered ethnic bloodshed, especially between the Luo and Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe.

Yet support for Obama, whose first name means "blessed" in east Africa's Swahili language, runs across Kenya's tribes.

"I hope to see Obama as the first black president of America," Dan Chemotei, from the picturesque Rift Valley province, which has seen some of the worst violence, told Reuters in central Nairobi where he works as a guard.

"If we get one of our own to lead the world's most powerful nation then we will get a lot of foreign aid and attention. Obama will definitely address the current political crisis in Kenya because he is ours," he said.

Charles Odhiambo, who drives a bicycle taxi in Kogelo, said a President Obama would bring tarmac, water and hospitals to Kenya.

"If he becomes president we will get all that. He will buy me a new motorbike to replace my old bicycle," the 30-year-old father of three said with a smile.

Voters' definition of 'change'

2008-01-10T06:46:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Voters' definition of 'change'

"Change." Voters say they want it. All the candidates seem willing to provide it. Even the "experienced" candidates who won the New Hampshire primary, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, have embraced it. It has become the mantra for this election.

On Saturday, in the Democrat debate sponsored by ABC News and Facebook, the word was used more than 70 times. It was used more sparingly in the Republican debate, a scant 26 times. However, on Sunday, the Republicans made up the difference in a forum on the Fox New Channel. The word came up another 54 times.

"Change" is a word that obviously means different things to different people. Therefore, what the voters really want is not that easily defined. "Change" can be a verb, but it is also a noun. The voters are articulating the verb, and the candidates are in hot pursuit. However, I believe that it is the noun we truly desire, and the candidates are off on the proverbial wild goose chase.

What really motivates us to go to the polls is the "change" we believe a candidate is likely to leave in our pockets at the end of his or her term.

"Enough" can be defined as a little more than you have. Bill Clinton understood this all too well. "It's the economy, stupid" was a sign that was prominently displayed in his campaign headquarters. The 2008 candidates – be they Democrats or Republicans would be wise to heed this lesson.

Another change they desire is socialized medicine. Call it what you will. They want the president to be doctor-in-chief. They want a health care chicken in every pot – one that is fat, tasty and virtually free. They haven't stopped to consider that Medicare, the government program that provides health care for the nation's senior citizens, is going broke. If it isn't reformed, taxes will have to be raised drastically. They wrongly believe that if health care becomes a government benefit, there will be more change in their pockets.

Lastly, those on the left believe that "I am poor (fill in your own definition of poverty) because you are rich." To the left, the economy is a zero sum game. Therefore, they want to see more taxes on the rich because they believe that will mean still more change in their pockets

Conservatives from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan understood that "A rising tide lifts all boats." Conservatives want to keep taxes low for everyone. They have no desire to punish the rich because they understand that when the rich are allowed to keep more of their money, they put it back into the economy, which creates jobs. Also, most conservatives believe it is within their power to attain wealth if the government will just get out of the way.

Conservatives also understand that our health care system may not be perfect, but it is the best in the world. What is needed to bring down costs is more competition, not less.

Yes, the word "change" was used more than 140 times in the debates last weekend, and it was always the verb, never the noun.

At the end of the day, the change we believe will be left in our pockets is the only change that really matters. Voters are reluctant to admit it. It sounds too self-serving, but that is the change we really care about.

Columnist argues 'global warming has stopped'

2008-01-10T06:44:00.001-05:00

Columnist argues 'global warming has stopped' (OneNewsNow.com)

An accumulation of nearly 45 inches of snow in New Hampshire last month has Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby asking, "Where did global warming go?"

Jacoby contends the "hysteria and alarm" that is expressed by many people who write and comment about global warming is misplaced. Lost amid all that "hysteria," he says, was the fact that record low temperatures were set all over the world in 2007, noting the start of winter last year in South America was one of the coldest ever observed.

"The hook of it for me was going through my files and realizing that at the beginning of 2007, there were predictions that it was going to turn out to be the warmest year ever recorded," he comments. "And in fact what happened in 2007 was that global average temperature was essentially the same it had been in 2006; which was essentially the same as it had been in 2005; and so on going back to 2001. Whether this is a permanent thing or something temporary, it seems that global warming has stopped."

Jacoby says for the past seven or eight years, there has been no real change in the temperature of the planet -- either up or down. "When you combine that with the hysteria about how the world could be roasting if we don't radically revise and drastically change and restrict the way we live and the consumption of energy and all the rest of it, it just seems to me that it's a point that needs to be made over and over again," he shares. "This thing gets treated like a religion when that isn't the way science is supposed to work."

A Dialogue in Bad Faith

2008-01-10T06:42:00.001-05:00

FrontPage Magazine

Controversy continues to swirl around the predominantly Religious Left and Evangelical Left response to "A Common Word Between Us and You," the statement by 138 Islamic authorities in October.

The Muslim declaration was relatively moderate and invited dialogue with Christians. Mostly left-leaning religious studies faculty from the Ivy League organized "Loving God and Neighbor Together" as a "Christian Response." It offered regrets for the Crusades and the War on Terror, while eagerly accepting the invite to dialogue with Islam. The Muslim statement, of course, offered no apologies for Islamist conquests or terror.

But the predominantly Religious Left organizers of "Loving God and Neighbor" do not represent the only salvation from "ignorance" or "isolation." As head of a group professing to represent over 20 million evangelicals, surely Anderson could have organized his own Christian response that did not rely on left-leaning Ivy League faculty or Jim Wallis's Sojourners. Anderson expressed fear that Christians in Muslim lands might suffer if he declined to sign. Endorsing Christian apologies to Islam in order to protect Christians from being persecuted or killed by Islamic authorities or mobs hardly bodes well for constructive Christian-Islamic dialogue.

Religious liberty scholar Paul Marshall has written: "The [extreme Islamist] people engaged in persecution are neither stupid nor uneducated.... We will not understand persecution if we think it is a mere misunderstanding to be resolved through more education and chatty conferences" (Their Blood Cries Out, p. 220). But many on the Religious and Evangelical Left fervently believe in "education and chatty conferences," equating the West's struggles with radical Islam to a family squabble needing a geopolitical therapy session. The Muslim scholars and clerics who organized "A Common Word Between Us and You" merited a better response than what Brian McLaren et al. have offered.

Brace For Recession In 2008, Wall Street's Biggest Investment Bank Predicts

2008-01-10T06:39:00.001-05:00

Goldman Sachs: Brace For Recession In 2008, Wall Street's Biggest Investment Bank Predicts Housing, Credit Turmoil Will Shrink Economy - CBS News

The biggest investment bank on Wall Street has a grim prediction about 2008: a recession is definitely on the way.

Goldman Sachs on Wednesday said it believes the housing slump and recent credit market turmoil will spill over into the broader economy this year. And, by the time it's all over, economists believe the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates to 2.50 percent from its current 4.25 percent.

There is a silver lining to the dire prediction, however, since Goldman projects the economy will recover as soon as 2009, making this downturn somewhat "recession-light."

"The recession is likely to last two to three quarters and should be relatively mild by historical standards, with a cumulative decline in real GDP of only about a half percent," Goldman economists' Jan Hatzius and Ed McKelvey said in a research note.

'Meanest Mom on Planet' Sells Teen Son's Car After Finding Booze Under Seat

2008-01-10T06:37:00.001-05:00

FOXNews.com - 'Meanest Mom on Planet' Sells Teen Son's Car After Finding Booze Under Seat

After finding alcohol in her son's car, she decided to sell the car and share her 19-year-old's misdeed with everyone — by placing an ad in the local newspaper.

The ad reads: "OLDS 1999 Intrigue. Totally uncool parents who obviously don't love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for three weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet."

Hambleton has heard from people besides interested buyers since recently placing the ad in The Des Moines Register.

The 48-year-old from Fort Dodge says she has fielded more than 70 telephone calls from emergency room technicians, nurses, school counselors and even a Georgia man who wanted to congratulate her.

Portrait of the Artist as a Dhimmified Man

2008-01-10T06:36:00.001-05:00

Pajamas Media: Portrait of the Artist as a Dhimmified Man

“Art is not what you see,” noted Edgar Degas, “but what you make others see.” Ninety years after his death, a new maxim applies to Europe: The art that you do not see reflects what everyone already sees. And what we see is the preemptive surrender of public freedoms in the name of appeasing the continent’s restive Muslim underclass.

Grayson Perry serves as the ideal poster boy — or perhaps poster girl — for this discomfiting trend. A Turner Prize recipient and England’s most famous cross-dressing potter, Perry has been heralded for his controversial explorations of religious imagery, which include a vase entitled “Transvestite Brides of Christ” and a portrayal of the Virgin Mary that is best left to the imagination. Yet apparently there are some boundaries that even groundbreaking artists dare not cross.

“I’ve censored myself,” Perry told the Times, admitting that he treads lightly around radical Islam. “With other targets you’ve got a better idea of who they are but Islamism is very amorphous. You don’t know what the threshold is. Even what seems an innocuous image might trigger off a really violent reaction so I just play safe all the time.” Self-censorship thus boils down to self-preservation. “The reason I haven’t gone all out attacking Islamism in my art is because I feel real fear that someone will slit my throat.”

Particularly “not good” is the preemptive nature of these capitulations. “At this point, it seems, terrorists don’t even need to issue a specific threat in order to intimidate us,” observed Der Spiegel. Indeed, many of the above productions or exhibits faced no threats at all. Some Muslims are even helping to expose the hypersensitivity for what it is. Regarding the Pigs fiasco, the Daily Mail reported that “Islamic leaders condemned the politically correct move as misguided and said decisions like this were turning Muslims into ‘misfits’ in society.”

There can be no true freedom in a climate of fear. Given the history of Islamist violence directed at European artists, a significant portion of that fear is justified. However, the continent’s groveling cultural elites have needlessly exacerbated this atmosphere. Their inability or unwillingness to distinguish between Islam and Islamism magnifies the perceived strength of the radicals, while their eagerness to assume the role of dhimmis — subjugated infidels living under Islamic rule — can only demoralize the population and embolden the extremists.

Will Europe ultimately choose to preserve the foundational values of classical liberalism forged during its Renaissance and Enlightenment? Or will it suffer a long, slow decline into the dark ages of dhimmitude? For now, only one conclusion appears certain: somewhere in a Dutch prison cell, Mohammed Bouyeri is smiling.

44 percent find marriage 'unnecessary'

2008-01-10T06:33:00.001-05:00

44 percent find marriage 'unnecessary' (OneNewsNow.com)

Half of Americans 20 to 69 years of age believe marriage is not necessary -- according to a new study.

Zogby International and AOL surveyed more than 7,000 Americans in that age bracket and found 44 percent who said marriage is not necessary in order to have a committed, fulfilling, life-long relationship. Mike McManus, president of Marriage Savers -- a group that works to help churches reduce divorce rates, finds that number shocking.

"People who are married live longer, they're healthier, they're happier; they're wealthier," he points out. "A man who's single, for whatever reason, will live ten years less than a married man; a woman, about four years less."

Most of the survey respondents also said that they would prefer living together before getting married. "Unfortunately, the marriage message just doesn't seem to be getting out to the public," continues McManus. "And what we have is a reflection of Hollywood morals ... in the culture."

Fear may be the motivating factor in this study, says McManus. "Since 1970 there's been one divorce for every two marriages, every year. And that means there's a whole generation of young adults whose parents divorced and who are, therefore, fearful of marriage commitments," he maintains. "And they're fearful that if they marry they'll end up being divorced -- and their antidote is to cohabit."

But research by Rutgers University's National Marriage Project indicates that couples who live together before marriage are 46 percent more likely to divorce and significantly more likely to experience domestic violence within their relationships.

McManus believes the church shares some of the blame for this trend. "Churches really aren't very 'marriage-minded' -- they're 'wedding-minded.' They are equipped to be able to help couples have weddings, but they really don't know how to build marriages," he argues. "The problem is the pastors are picking safe subjects, and they're avoiding the subjects that could help us learn how to build relationships that can go the distance."

Beheading in the Name of Islam Online

2008-01-09T06:33:00.001-05:00

FrontPage Magazine

Of all the crimes committed by extremist Muslims, the one that is arguably the most horrifying is the act of beheading. This month, Islam Online (IOL), a website that has mass popularity throughout the Muslim world, published a gruesome poem detailing how to behead a human being. By doing this, the site has not only shined a light on its true nature, but it has, as well, called into question the motives of all groups that link to it and portray Islam Online as anything but what it truly is: a source of violent hatred.

As well, today, within Islam Online’s fatwa or religious ruling section, one will find various statements advocating, and at times even mandating, the most hideous of violent acts.

About suicide bombings, Islam Online states: “Martyr operations are not suicide and should not be deemed as unjustifiable means of endangering one’s life... [I]n martyr operations, the Muslim sacrifices his own life for the sake of performing a religious duty, which is jihad against the enemy... [T]he Palestinians resort to martyr operations, in which the martyr blows himself/herself up, sacrificing his life for the sake of his country... I believe that those missions are a sacred duty carried out in form of self-defense... So whoever is killed in such missions is a martyr, may Allah bless him with high esteem.

About killing homosexuals, the site states: “Some scholars hold the opinion that the homosexual should be thrown from a high building as a punishment for his crime, but other scholars maintain that he should be imprisoned until death. Based on the above fact, we can conclude that, the judge is invested with full discretion as to whether this man is to be thrown from a high place or not, as a punishment for his crime. However, if the man survives death fall, the judge has the right to sentence him to death.”

t published a poem – and advertised it on all of its web pages, including its homepage – detailing the steps that one goes about to behead human beings.

Here is exactly what the group posted, which is still up on its own page within Islam Online’s ‘Arts & Culture’ section:

How to Behead

Hold him
Tie the arms behind his back
And bandage his legs together
Just by the ankles
Blindfold the punk
So that he won't hesitate as much
For on seeing the sharp pointy knife
He'll begin to shake
And continuously scream like an eedyat
And jiggle like a jelly
Trust me–this will sure get you angry
It’s better to have at least two or three brothers by your side
Who can hold the fool
Because as soon as the warm sharp knife
Touches his naked flesh
He'll come to know what'll happen
It's not as messy or as hard as some may think,
It's all about the flow of the wrist.
No doubt that the punk will twitch and scream
But ignore the donkey's ass
And continue to slice back and forth
You'll feel the knife hit the wind and food pipe
But don't stop
Continue with all your might.
About now you should feel the knife vibrate,
You can feel the warm heat being given off,
But this is due to the friction being caused.

The piece was written by Samina Malik, a 23-year-old female resident of the United Kingdom, who, this past November, was convicted of possessing documents likely to be used for terrorism under UK’s Terrorism Act 2000. Documents found on her computer included: The Mujaheddin Poisoner’s Handbook, Encyclopaedia Jihad, How To Win In Hand To Hand Combat, How To Make Bombs and Sniper Manual.

In advertising the poem to its viewers, Islam Online posted a graphic image on all of its web pages. It depicted the words “How to Behead!” on it, with letters that were done in a macabre font. In the background one can see what looks like the head of a knife along with the splattering of blood. The graphic lasted on the site, including on the homepage, for four full days. This was eerily similar to when the website posted a graphic with the words “A Hanukkah of Darkness?,” advertising an article written by Hamas (Islamic Association for Palestine) operative, Khalid Amayreh.

Texas schools' moment of silence upheld after Carrollton couple's challenge

2008-01-09T06:28:00.001-05:00

Texas schools' moment of silence upheld after Carrollton couple's challenge | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Religion | The Dallas Morning News

A Carrollton couple's court challenge to Texas' requirement that schoolchildren observe a minute of silence has failed.

David and Shannon Croft had sued Gov. Rick Perry and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, alleging that the law was unconstitutional and amounted to required prayer.

But U.S. District Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn in Dallas upheld the statute this week.

She said the law – amended in 2003 to add the word "pray" to "reflect" and "meditate" as options for students' use of the minute – does not promote an "excessive entanglement between government and religion."

"The Legislature amended the statute to provide a period of time for the full panoply of thoughtful contemplation," Judge Lynn said. "The primary effect of the amendment is not to advance or inhibit religion."

Temple Mount Closed to Rabbis

2008-01-09T06:27:00.001-05:00

Temple Mount Closed to Rabbis - Politics & Government - Israel News - Arutz Sheva

A delegation from the Judea and Samaria (Yesha) Rabbinic Council was blocked from ascending the Temple Mount on Tuesday morning.

Jerusalem police closed the Temple Mount to Jews, telling those who arrived that an ancient Muslim holiday was discovered to be taking place, thereby precluding entrance by Jews. They could not name the holiday when asked, however.

Girl found dead in river 'had feared a forced marriage'

2008-01-09T06:26:00.003-05:00

Girl found dead in river 'had feared a forced marriage' | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

The parents of a 17-year-old girl whose badly decomposed body was found in a river may have been trying to force her into marriage against her will, an inquest heard yesterday.

Shafilea Ahmed disappeared from her home in Warrington, Cheshire, four months after a family trip to Pakistan, on which she was introduced to a potential suitor. During the holiday she drank bleach and self-harmed in an apparent cry for help. The inquest was also told of reports that she had been subjected to domestic abuse at home. Police launched a murder inquiry after her body was found concealed in undergrowth in February 2004, after the river Kent in Sedgwick, Cumbria, was swollen by floods.

Article continues
Shafilea's father, Iftikhar Ahmed, 48, and his wife Farzana, 45, vehemently deny any involvement in their daughter's disappearance or death and claim they were victims of racial stereotyping. Detective Superintendent Geraint Jones, who led the murder inquiry, told the inquest in Kendal that her parents had been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping in December 2003, but were released without charge. Suspicions had been aroused by statements from people who knew Shafilea claiming that she was "subject to domestic abuse and potential for forced marriage". He said there was reason to "suspect her family of involvement in her disappearance".

Canada goosed

2008-01-09T06:26:00.001-05:00

Canada goosed - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

An attempt to have a Canadian panel stifle Mark Steyn poses a threat to American freedom of speech, the conservative columnist says.

The Canadian author told The Washington Times in a telephone interview that the Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) agreeing to investigate a Muslim complaint against him opens a new front on threats to Canadians' press and religious freedom: speech that originates in the United States.

"There are attempts to circumscribe the First Amendment, and certain groups have become very adept at using legal and quasi-legal methods to restrict discussion and what's discussed," said Mr. Steyn, who spends half the year living in New Hampshire and writes for several U.S.-based publications.

Under Canadian law, the CHRC investigates purported incidents of hate speech and discrimination and refers some to the quasi-judicial Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which can impose fines or issue restraint orders.

Mr. Steyn became subject to a CHRC investigation last month when the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC) complained about an excerpt Mr. Steyn had reprinted from "America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It," Mr. Steyn's best-seller published by U.S.-based Regnery Publishing.

Mr. Steyn told The Times that the complaint endangers freedom of the press on both sides of the border, and that both he and Maclean's are prepared to fight this case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada if necessary.

"Basically, everything is fair game if it was to become accepted that the commission has the right to weight the merits of individual articles and the media," Mr. Steyn said. "The [Canadian and provincial] commissions are a threat to free speech, which is why people on various parts of the spectrum have identified them as the easiest way to shut down an opponent's speech that one does not like."

Left unchecked, Mr. Steyn said the CHRC could bring about a relationship between the state and the press similar to that of the former Soviet Union, in which "basically the state regulates the bounds of public expression."

Citing previous cases, Mr. Steyn noted both that no accused has ever won a case once the CHRC referred it to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and that truth is not a defense when dealing with the commission or the tribunal.

Whereas facts, quotes and statistics may be accurately cited by the author, what the commissions bases its judgment upon is whether the person reading it is offended.

"Offense is in the eye of the beholder," Mr. Steyn said. "A fact can be accurate, but offensive to some people. The commissions aren't weighing facts but hurt feelings."

Another danger raised by Mr. Steyn is that a First Amendment defense does not apply in Canada, despite the article's being an excerpt from a larger work originally published in the U.S. The Times is among numerous U.S. papers that run Mr. Steyn's syndicated column.

"The one case I know where a Christian responded by filing a complaint against an individual who had defamed him, the CHRC refused to hear the complaint," he said.

The selectivity of the cases referred to the human rights tribunal by the CHRC is also disconcerting to Paul Tuns, editor of the Interim, Canada's largest pro-life monthly newspaper with a circulation of approximately 34,000.

"There seems to be a trend where Christians and conservatives are always on the losing side," he said.

Like Mr. Steyn, Mr. Tuns is concerned that a state apparatus is giving its stamp of approval to certain views over those it deems politically incorrect.

Kathy Shaidle, a Canadian blogger popular with U.S. audiences, called the CHRC case against Mr. Steyn an extension of the case involving Scott Brockie, the Christian owner of a small printer who was fined thousands of dollars after declining for religious reasons to print a leaflet promoting homosexuality.

"Canada's human rights commissions have been used to silence, censor and bankrupt conservative Christians for years now, and the Canadian establishment has shrugged, because they don't care for conservative Christians either," Miss Shaidle said. "Now that members of said establishments are the ones being hauled into the star chamber, the mainstream media is finally speaking out."

Iran warned of "consequences" of any new naval crisis

2008-01-09T06:21:00.001-05:00

Iran warned of "consequences" of any new naval crisis - Yahoo! News

Iran must "bear the consequences" if there is any new confrontation between U.S. and Iranian vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.
"This was a very provocative act by the Iranians and could have and came very close to resulting in an altercation between our forces and their forces," Stephen Hadley, President George W. Bush's national security adviser, said en route to Israel with the U.S. leader.

"They've got to be very careful about this because if it happens again they are going to bear the consequences of that incident," he said.

Hadley was referring to an incident last weekend in which Iranian speedboats approached and threatened three U.S. Navy ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rockets Hit Israel Before Bush Arrival

2008-01-09T06:20:00.001-05:00

Rockets Hit Israel Before Bush Arrival

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip bombarded southern Israel with rocket and mortar fire on Wednesday, striking a house in the border town of Sderot shortly before President Bush arrived on a visit aimed partly at building momentum for stalled Mideast peace talks.

Bush landed in Tel Aviv around midday. His schedule for his eight-day tour of the region does not include a visit to Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Israeli police said 12 projectiles were fired Wednesday, including seven that landed inside Israel.

One rocket hit the home of Sderot resident Danny Dahan. Speaking from the hospital, he told Army Radio that his home has nearly been hit several times. In the latest attack, the rocket came through the ceiling and landed on his son's bed, he told the radio.

"Rockets have been raining on this town for years and no one is doing anything," a crying Dahan told the radio. Dahan did not suffer any serious injuries.

Dennis Prager - Obama's 'unity' is not what it seems

2008-01-08T06:43:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Obama's 'unity' is not what it seems

We are repeatedly told by the news media that there is a deep, almost palpable, yearning among Americans for unity. And Sen. Barack Obama's repeated and eloquent claims to being able to unite Americans are a major reason for his present, and very possibly eventual, success in his quest for his party's nomination for president of the United States.

I do not doubt Mr. Obama's sincerity. The wish that all people be united is an elemental human desire. But there are two major problems with it. First, it is not truly honest. Second, it is childish.

First is its dishonesty. Virtually all calls for unity – whether national, international or religious (as in calls for Christian unity) – do not tell the whole truth.

If those who call for unity told the whole truth, this is what they would say: "I want everyone to unite – behind my values. I want everyone who disagrees with me to change the way they think so we can all be united. I myself have no plans to change my positions on any important issues to achieve this unity. So to achieve it, I assume that all of you who differ with me will change your views and values and embrace mine."

Take any important issue that divides Americans and explain exactly how unity can be achieved without one of the two sides giving up its values and embracing the other side's values.

It is fascinating how little introspection Sen. Obama's "unity" supporters engage in – they are usually the very people who most forcefully advocate multiculturalism, who scoff at the idea of an American melting pot and who oppose something as basic to American unity as declaring English the country's national language.

Their advocacy of multiculturalism and opposition to declaring English the national language are proof that the calls of the left-wing supporters of Barack Obama for American unity are one or more of three things: 1) A call for all Americans to agree with them and become fellow leftists. 2) A nice-sounding cover for their left-wing policies. 3) A way to further their demonizing of the Bush administration as "divisive."

Given what Sen. Obama's calls for unity really mean – let's all go left – it is no wonder he and his calls for unity are enthusiastically embraced by the liberal media.

For nearly eight years the media and Democrats have labeled President Bush's policies "divisive" simply because they don't agree with them. They are not one whit more divisive than Sen. Obama's positions. A question for Democrats, the media and other Obama supporters: How exactly are Mr. Obama's left-wing political positions any less "divisive" than President Bush's right-wing positions?

Second, the craving for unity is frequently childish. As we mature we understand that decent people will differ politically and theologically. The mature yearn for unity only on a handful of fundamental values, such as: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Beyond such basics, we yearn for civil discourse and tolerance, not unity.

The next time Sen. Obama speaks with his usual passion and eloquence about his desire to unite Americans, someone must ask him two questions: Why are your left-wing positions any less divisive than President Bush's right-wing positions? And if you are so committed to uniting Americans, why did you vote against declaring English our national, i.e., our unifying, language? Without compelling answers, Sen. Obama's calls for American unity are no more than calls to unite around his politics and him.

2 Ala. Men Arrested in Church Arsons

2008-01-08T06:40:00.001-05:00

The Associated Press: 2 Ala. Men Arrested in Church Arsons

Two men who authorities said dabbled in satanism have been arrested in connection with a recent rash of arson and vandalism at rural churches.

Satanic graffiti was scrawled at or near some of the east Alabama churches, including "Teach children to worship Satan!!", which was painted on a Sunday school classroom wall.

Geoffrey Parquette and James Clark were arrested Sunday and pleaded not guilty Monday. The 21-year-old suspects "called themselves professed spiritual satanists," Russell County Sheriff Tommy Boswell said Monday.

Fires were set at three churches over four days beginning Jan. 1, destroying one of the buildings, and a task force of federal, state and local authorities was formed last week to investigate. Satanic graffiti was found in or near two of the churches and a fourth that was not burned.

Authorities told church members that Parquette's grandmother, whom he lives with, helped them solve the case, said Derrick Millirons, a member of Woodland Baptist Church. The classroom graffiti were left in that church, which suffered heavy damage to its sanctuary in a fire Friday.

A brass cross taken from a church was found at the grandmother's home by the housekeeper, Millirons said. He said that Parquette told his grandmother that Clark gave it to him, but that she called authorities when he left and she found other items taken from churches.

Parquette is charged with second-degree arson, third-degree burglary and criminal mischief in Russell and Lee counties. Clark is charged with second-degree arson and burglary in Lee County.

Neither had an attorney Monday, and both remained in custody. Bond was set at $200,000 for Parquette. No bond was immediately set for Clark.

The arrests came two years after another string of deliberately set fires at rural Alabama churches led to a major federal-state investigation. Three Birmingham college students were arrested, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison.

Segregation: Muslim style

2008-01-08T06:39:00.001-05:00

Cal Thomas

Northern Ireland —Where there are large concentrations of Muslims in England, "no-go" zones are being established and, according to the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church of England's Bishop of Rochester, non-Muslims who "trespass" in such neighborhoods risk attack.

Nazir-Ali, a native of Pakistan and convert to Christianity, writes in The Sunday Telegraph that a spiritual vacuum in Britain, along with its indifference to the rise of Islamic extremism and a growing "multi-faith" society, is robbing the nation of its Christian identity and putting its future in jeopardy. He is not alone. A poll of the General Synod — the Church's parliament — shows that its senior leaders also believe that Britain is being damaged by uncontrolled immigration.

Bishop Nazir-Ali warns of attempts to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of Sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran. He is critical of the government's response to immigration and the influx of "people of other faiths to these shores," blaming the government's "novel philosophy of multiculturalism" for allowing society to become deeply divided and accusing ministers of lacking a "moral and spiritual vision." He says that multiculturalism has led to deep divisions in British society.

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, believes the country is "sleepwalking into segregation." David Davis, the shadow home secretary, goes further, accusing Muslims of promoting "voluntary apartheid" by shutting themselves off from surrounding culture and demanding immunity from criticism.

Anyone who has studied Islamic societies (as Bishop Nazir-Ali has, having been part of one) knows segregation and subjugation of non-Muslims is the norm, not the behavior of an "extremist fringe." Former Muslims and others have issued dire warnings about the intentions of these immigrant invaders and their objectives to subordinate Western countries to their view of G-d's will. Segregation and intolerance are the first fruits of what they intend to impose on everyone. Political leadership in Britain and increasingly in the United States turns a blind eye to such things because they are prospecting for votes, including from those who would end democracy.

No wonder Britons are growing increasingly uneasy, even despondent, about life in their country. A poll conducted by the respected YouGov organization and published in the Dec. 30 London Times found that more than half of all men and four in 10 women said they would rather live abroad if given the choice. The main reasons are antisocial behavior among a growing underclass and immigration. The "state of the nation" poll of more than 1,500 people found that concerns about immigration topped the list of issues of six out of 10 of those questioned. Among self-identified Conservative voters, three-quarters consider immigration among their top concerns.

Three British cities already have high Muslim populations, thanks to immigration, high birth rates and conversions (but don't try converting any of them to another faith, which is one reason they are creating "no-go" zones). Seventeen percent of London's population is Muslim (1.3 million out of 7.5 million). In Luton, it's 14.6 percent. Birmingham has 14.3 percent. Other European cities have a higher percentage of Muslims.

Multiculturalism, globalism, and an emphasis on "inter-faith" (which is really inter-faithless because in this view Truth does not exist) are contributing to the decline of the West just as paganism, hedonism and greed undermined past empires. Rather than learn from their mistakes, the West thinks it can engage in such practices without consequence.

Officers Raid Home, Take 11-Year-Old To Hospital For Minor Injury

2008-01-08T06:37:00.001-05:00

cbs4denver.com - Officers Raid Home, Take 11-Year-Old To Hospital For Minor Injury

A tactical law enforcement team broke into Tom Shiflett's home and took his 11-year-old son to hospital for court-ordered medical treatment for a minor head injury.

Garfield County's All Hazards Response Team raided the home Friday night, a day after Jon Shiflett fell after grabbing the handle of a moving car. The child was returned to the family at about 2:30 a.m. Saturday, hours after the raid.

"Inappropriate is not nearly strong enough a word. It was gross irresponsibility and stupidity," said Ross Talbott, owner of the Apple Tree Mobile Home Park south of New Castle who rents to the Shifletts and who witnessed the raid. "Is this Russia? I don't know what we're coming to when they think your kid needs medical help and they send a SWAT team."

In the end, the injury wasn't as severe as caseworkers from the Garfield County Department of Social Services thought when they went before a judge seeking a search warrant and order for medical treatment.

The doctor recommended fluids, Tylenol and ice to treat the bruises, according to a copy of Jon's patient aftercare instructions.

Tom Shiflett, 62, who said he served as a medic in Vietnam, had told authorities that he had the skill to treat his son.

"In all there was not one shred of evidence found that we had done anything wrong or that Jon had not been properly cared for at home," Tina Shiflett said.

Rivals turn up heat on Obama as N.H. nears

2008-01-08T06:36:00.001-05:00

Rivals turn up heat on Obama as N.H. nears - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Look out, Sen. Barack Obama — here comes the heat.

Mr. Obama, a first-term senator largely untested by mudslinging, will face intense scrutiny from his rivals, whom he handily defeated in the Iowa presidential caucuses Thursday.

Hillary Rodham Clinton took some jabs at the Illinois Democrat on the trail yesterday and distributed a mailer questioning Mr. Obama's record on abortion rights.

The mailer says that seven times when he served in the Illinois state Senate, Mr. Obama declined to take a position on abortion bills, while Mrs. Clinton has been a defender of abortion rights.

During his eight years in the legislature, Mr. Obama cast a number of votes on abortion and received a 100 percent rating from the Illinois Planned Parenthood Council for his support of abortion rights, family-planning services and health insurance coverage for female contraceptives. He voted against requiring medical care for aborted fetuses who survive, a vote that especially riled abortion opponents.

Without using Mr. Obama's name on the stump, Mrs. Clinton said he has made "a really big mistake" by not covering all Americans with his health care plan, ceding to Republicans that the Democrats can't defend this proposal and that the party's nominee "is going to be thrown right into that blaze, the inferno known as the general election."

US credit cards

2008-01-08T06:33:00.001-05:00

FT.com / Lex / Financial services & property - US credit cards

It may seem extraordinary, but in 2008 a US consumer overwhelmed by a crushing mortgage and falling property prices may prefer to walk away from their house – literally hand in the keys – rather than default on credit card debt.

Changes in legislation a couple of years ago made it tougher for consumers to declare bankruptcy. Mortgage debt falls under different rules. But legal arguments aside, credit cards have become a way of funding one-off items and, increasingly, day-to-day expenses. Consumers will go an awfully long way before they give up their plastic.

Federal Reserve data suggests that mortgage equity withdrawals jumped from roughly 3 per cent of disposable income in 2000 to just over 7 per cent in 2006. Roughly a quarter of that was spent on repayment of non-mortgage debts, which would presumably include a fair bit of credit card debt.

Now that cushion is no longer there, will more credit card debt go bad? Not necessarily. Then, consumers were often making rational calculations about using cheap mortgage debt, rather than staving off default. So far, what seems to be happening is that consumers are continuing to use their cards while not paying down the balances as quickly as they used to. Banks may welcome the growth in receivables for now.

But they may be storing up future trouble. Given how widely cards have been marketed, and how indebted consumers already are – with household financial obligations at nearly 20 per cent of disposable income – this could come home to roost in 2008.

Muslim anger at bishop's "ghetto" attack

2008-01-07T06:35:00.001-05:00

Muslim anger at bishop's "ghetto" attack - Independent Online Edition > This Britain

Muslim leaders reacted angrily yesterday to a claim by the Bishop of Rochester that Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas in many cities and a plea for mosques to desist from using amplifiers to broadcast calls to prayer.

The Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church of England's only Asian-born bishop, sparked anger after writing in an article that in many predominantly Muslims areas of Britain's cities people of a different faith face "hostility" from the Muslim community who create "no-go" areas. Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, accused Dr Nazir-Ali of scaremongering.

Dr Nazir-Ali said attempts had been made to "impose an "Islamic" character on certain areas" in cities and was particularly critical of mosques which have sought permission from local authorities to broadcast the daily call to prayer over a loudspeaker.

Lionheart

The following are comments from Lionheart, a writer at another blog. - 1rt

Moslem groups have now demanded the resignation of the Bishop of Rochester Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali because of his comments yesterday.

Who do these people within the Islamic Kingdom of Great Britain think they are demanding for a Christian Bishops resignation for speaking the truth about what certain parts of our country are like because of the new Islamic Kingdom we now have living there - He told the truth and now they want the government to act and remove him!!

A little like me dont you think - We will not buckle and we will not bow to these demands from our Islamic enemy as it seeks to silence the truth from being told about its inherent warmongering murderous hatred towards us.

They want a fight with the British people then it is about time they had their wish - Stand your ground Bishop and do not apologise like the Pope, Almighty God says 'do not fear'.

The time of silence and opression because of this hiddeous minority group in our midst is over, how dare they shout down the truth and call for our Loony Liberal Left Wing Labour Leaders to excersie their authority on their behalf - The cultural Sword in the hand of the Jihad

Did you hear any voices calling for the resignation of the Imams caught on video inciting hatred, murder, treason, paedophilia and Holy War in the Under Cover Mosque expose by Dispatches on Channel 4?

No, the Islamic Kingdom and their servant within West Midlands police turned the tables on the documentary makers and tried prosecuting them for breaching 'community cohesion', thankfully the media watchdog looked into it and called West Midlands police's accusations perverse - We want the one in charge of that investigation sacked because he is unfit for his duties!!!

Look at what we are having to put up with in today's Britain, we are now second class citizens in our own land surrounded by Loony Labours protected species, the block vote that secures them power, the Islamic Kingdom and its Moslem inhabitants.

Great Britain is the biggest threat now to America because we have upwards of 40,000 (with that number growing) British born Pakistani Moslems travelling back to their ancestral home every year, many from amongst them end up in Al Qaeda training camps and extremist Madrases, they then come back to Britain ready for Jihad, these same Islamic terrorists carry British passports so can jump straight into America pretty much unchecked - The Islamic enemy in your midst, courtesy of Labour's Great Britain

SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint

2008-01-07T06:30:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: SWAT officers invade home, take 11-year-old at gunpoint

Nearly a dozen members of a police SWAT team in western Colorado punched a hole in the front door and invaded a family's home with guns drawn, demanding that an 11-year-old boy who had had an accidental fall accompany them to the hospital, on the order of Garfield County Magistrate Lain Leoniak.

The boy's parents and siblings were thrown to the floor at gunpoint and the parents were handcuffed in the weekend assault, and the boy's father told WND it was all because a paramedic was upset the family preferred to care for their son themselves.

Someone, apparently the unidentified paramedic, called police, the sheriff's office and social services, eventually providing Leoniak with a report that generated the magistrate's court order to the sheriff's office for the SWAT team assault on the family's home in a mobile home development outside of Glenwood Springs, the father, Tom Shiflett, told WND.

The accident happened during horseplay, Tom Shiflett told WND. John was grabbing the door handle of a car as his sister was starting to drive away slowly. He slipped, fell to the ground and hit his head, Shiflett said.

He immediately carried his son into their home several doors away, and John was able to recite Bible verses and correctly spell words as his father and mother, Tina, requested. There were no broken bones, no dilated eyes, or any other noticeable problems.

The family, whose members live by faith and homeschool, decided not to call an ambulance. But a neighbor did call Westcare Ambulance, and paramedics responded to the home, asking to see and evaluate the boy.

The paramedics were allowed to see the boy, and found no significant impairment, but wanted to take him to the hospital for an evaluation anyway. Fearing the hospital's bills, the family refused to allow that.

"This apparently did not go over well with one of the paramedics and they started getting aggravated at Tom for not letting them have their way," a family acquaintance told WND.

"The paramedics were not at all respectful of Tom's decision, nor did they act in a manner we would expect from professional paramedics," the acquaintance said.

So the ambulance crew, who also could not be reached by WND, called police, only to be told the decision was up to the Shiflett familiy.

The paramedics then called the sheriff's office, and officers responded to the home, and were told everyone was being cared for.

Then the next day, Friday, social services workers appeared at the door and demanded to talk with John "in private."

They were so persistent Tom ended up having to get John out of the bathtub he was just soaking in, to bring him to the front porch where the social workers could see him, the family reported.

Then, following an afternoon shopping trip to town, the family settled in for the evening, only to be shocked with the SWAT team attack.

The sheriff said the decision to use SWAT team force was justified because the father was a "self-proclaimed constitutionalist" and had made threats and "comments" over the years.

However, the sheriff declined to provide a single instance of the father's illegal behavior. "I can't tell you specifically," he said.

"He was refusing to provide medical care," the sheriff said.

The sheriff also admitted that the injury to the child had been at least 24 hours earlier, because the fall apparently happened Thursday afternoon, and the SWAT attack happened late Friday evening.

Tm Shiflett said when John was evaluated by the physician, "they didn't find anything wrong with him."

Canadian judge to rule on Jew facing euthanasia

2008-01-07T06:27:00.001-05:00

Canadian judge to rule on Jew facing euthanasia | Jerusalem Post

A Canadian judge is due to decide this week whether to renew a temporary injunction against Winnipeg's Grace General Hospital, whose doctors want to detach an 84-year-old Orthodox Jew from a respirator and hasten his death, against his family's wishes.

However, it was learned Sunday that the patient, Samuel Golubchuk, regained consciousness several days ago and appears to be improving.

Although a hospital doctor treating Golubchuk wrote "Awoke" on his chart, the hospital did not disclose this to the court. The family said the hospital had been trying to make the patient appear to be dying and with minimal brain function. Grace General Hospital has received the backing of the Canadian Medical Association in its efforts to bring about active euthanasia.

According to the chart, which the judge was apparently not shown, the supposedly "imminently dying" Golubchuk is not only awake but has interacted with people and made purposeful movements.

The case has aroused anger and anxiety within the North American Jewish community that it will set a precedent for doctors to have exclusive power over life and death decisions. Rabbinical and community leaders worry that budget-conscious hospital systems may decide to shorten patients' lives to save money or to free up beds.

Prof. Shimon Glick, a leading Israeli medical ethics expert and former dean of Ben-Gurion University's Health Sciences Faculty, said: "From a halachic point of view, removing a feeding tube from a patient who has any brain function is active euthanasia, equivalent to murder... But here, in addition, unless the patient has specifically indicated by advance directive that such is his desire, one has a violation of the patient's autonomy, as well."

A Grace General Hospital lawyer told the court that doctors "have the sole right to make decisions about treatment - even if it goes against a patient's religious beliefs."

The Kenyan jihad

2008-01-07T06:26:00.001-05:00

The Spectator

While I was away, reading about the appalling atrocities in Kenya in which churches were torched and dozens of Christians burned to death, I wondered whether any mainstream media would get the point. They didn’t. As far as I could see, the violence was universally ascribed to ‘tribal conflict’. But this isn’t the first time churches in Kenya have been torched.....

For years, Kenya has been subjected to creeping Islamisation and jihadi violence by elements within the country’s ten per cent Muslims against the Christian majority. Yet unaccountably there was no mention of this key fact in the media coverage of the post-election violence. Well, fancy!

In the Christian Post, this article, (which was picked up by Stephen Pollard) written before the disputed election which led to the violence, put events in a rather more accurate context. Raila Odinga, it said, who was then the current presidential frontrunner, had promised to implement strict Islamic Sharia law if he received the Muslim vote and was elected president. Odinga had signed a secret memorandum of understanding with Sheikh Abdullahi Abdi, chairman of the National Leaders Forum, in which Odinga had allegedly stated his intention, if elected, to

‘within six months, rewrite the Constitution of Kenya to recognize Sharia as the only true law sanctioned by the Holy Quran for Muslim declared regions’.

The Evangelical Alliance of Kenya released a statement in which church leaders said Odinga

‘comes across as a presumptive Muslim president bent on forcing Islamic law, religion and culture down the throats of the Kenyan people in total disregard of the Constitutionally guaranteed rights of freedom of worship and equal protection of the law for all Kenyans.’

The Africa regional manager for International Christian Concern, Darara Gubo, said the agreement

‘undermines the secular nature of Kenya and opens a Pandora’s box of chaos and conflict similar to what happened in Nigeria and Sudan. This is not a stand-alone incident; rather, it is part of strategy to Islamize Eastern Africa and the Horn of Africa, through the introduction of Sharia law’.

Subsequently Joshua Hammer wrote a piece in the New York Times which, without going so far as to join up all the dots (please, this is the NYT!), nevertheless provided a hint of the same, ahem, context. Writing about sitting Kenyan MP Joseph Lekuton, he described his challenger, Godana Harugura, as

… a convert to fundamentalist Islam

who had reportedly raised money from Muslims along Kenya’s volatile border with Somalia by promising to

‘reclaim’ the region for Islam

Apart from that, I have found plenty of worthy hand-wringing in the mainstream media about tribal violence between equally bloodthirsty Kenyan sectarian groups, but diddly squat about the Kenyan jihad and the remorseless creation of Africastan.

Br-r-r! Where did global warming go?

2008-01-07T06:23:00.001-05:00

Br-r-r! Where did global warming go? - The Boston Globe

THE STARK headline appeared just over a year ago. "2007 to be 'warmest on record,' " BBC News reported on Jan. 4, 2007. Citing experts in the British government's Meteorological Office, the story announced that "the world is likely to experience the warmest year on record in 2007," surpassing the all-time high reached in 1998.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the planetary hot flash: Much of the planet grew bitterly cold.

In South America, for example, the start of winter last year was one of the coldest ever observed. According to Eugenio Hackbart, chief meteorologist of the MetSul Weather Center in Brazil, "a brutal cold wave brought record low temperatures, widespread frost, snow, and major energy disruption." In Buenos Aires, it snowed for the first time in 89 years, while in Peru the cold was so intense that hundreds of people died and the government declared a state of emergency in 14 of the country's 24 provinces. In August, Chile's agriculture minister lamented "the toughest winter we have seen in the past 50 years," which caused losses of at least $200 million in destroyed crops and livestock.

"Stock up on fur coats and felt boots!" advises Oleg Sorokhtin, a fellow of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and senior scientist at Moscow's Shirshov Institute of Oceanography. "The latest data . . . say that earth has passed the peak of its warmer period, and a fairly cold spell will set in quite soon, by 2012."

Sorokhtin dismisses the conventional global warming theory that greenhouse gases, especially human-emitted carbon dioxide, is causing the earth to grow hotter. Like a number of other scientists, he points to solar activity - sunspots and solar flares, which wax and wane over time - as having the greatest effect on climate.

"Carbon dioxide is not to blame for global climate change," Sorokhtin writes in an essay for Novosti. "Solar activity is many times more powerful than the energy produced by the whole of humankind." In a recent paper for the Danish National Space Center, physicists Henrik Svensmark and Eigil Friis-Christensen concur: "The sun . . . appears to be the main forcing agent in global climate change," they write.

For nearly a decade now, there has been no global warming. Even though atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to accumulate - it's up about 4 percent since 1998 - the global mean temperature has remained flat. That raises some obvious questions about the theory that CO2 is the cause of climate change.

Yet so relentlessly has the alarmist scenario been hyped, and so disdainfully have dissenting views been dismissed, that millions of people assume Gore must be right when he insists: "The debate in the scientific community is over."

But it isn't. Just last month, more than 100 scientists signed a strongly worded open letter pointing out that climate change is a well-known natural phenomenon, and that adapting to it is far more sensible than attempting to prevent it. Because slashing carbon dioxide emissions means retarding economic development, they warned, "the current UN approach of CO2 reduction is likely to increase human suffering from future climate change rather than to decrease it."

Climate science isn't a religion, and those who dispute its leading theory are not heretics. Much remains to be learned about how and why climate changes, and there is neither virtue nor wisdom in an emotional rush to counter global warming - especially if what's coming is a global Big Chill.

al-Qaida Uses Women As Suicide Attackers

2008-01-04T18:39:00.001-05:00

al-Qaida Uses Women As Suicide Attackers

Three female suicide bombers blew themselves up within a few weeks late last year in Iraq, killing or wounding dozens—a tactic that goes against religious taboos on involving women in fighting and could indicate insurgents are growing increasingly desperate.

The bombings come as U.S.-led coalition forces are increasingly catching militants suspected of training women to become human bombs or finding evidence of efforts by al-Qaida in Iraq to recruit women, according to military records.

Female suicide bombers are a small part of the insurgents' battle to force U.S. troops from Iraq and rattle Shiites from newly acquired power. Women have been responsible for 14 of 667 suicide attacks since May 2005, or 2 percent. They have caused at least 107 deaths, or 5 percent of the 2,065 people killed during this time period, according to Associated Press statistics.

But those attacks appear to be increasing.

In November and December, women carried out three suicide bombings in Diyala province, one of Iraq's most violent areas, where al-Qaida in Iraq has a stronghold. The last female suicide bombing had been in July.

On Nov. 4, a woman detonated an explosives vest next to a U.S. patrol in Diyala's regional capital, Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, wounding seven U.S. troops and five Iraqis. On Dec. 7, a woman attacked the offices of a Diyala-based Sunni group fighting al-Qaida in Iraq, killing 15 people and wounding 35. Then, on Dec. 31, a bomber in Baqouba detonated her suicide vest close to a police patrol, wounding five policemen and four civilians.

Women have acted as suicide bombers for other causes. The first known female suicide bomber was Sana Mheidali, a Lebanese who killed two Israeli soldiers in 1985. Female Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have carried out at least 60 suicide bombings in 24 years. Palestinian Muslim militants send out women suicide bombers, as does the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a guerrilla war since 1984 for autonomy in Turkey's southeast.

Because of Muslim cultural sensitivities, women can be excellent candidates for suicide attacks when there are no female security guards. Most Iraqis are conservative Muslims who believe physical contact is forbidden between women and men not related by blood or marriage. As a result, women are often allowed to pass through male- guarded checkpoints without being searched. In October, the U.S. Army trained 20 women to work as security guards in a Baghdad suburb after a female suicide bomber entered a nearby building without being searched.

Some female bombers appear to be motivated by revenge, like the woman who killed 15 people in Diyala province on Dec. 7. She was a former member of Saddam Hussein's Baath party whose two sons joined al-Qaida in Iraq and were killed by Iraqi security forces.

But other women may be ideologues, just like their male counterparts, said Mohammad Hafiz, a University of Missouri professor who focuses on Muslim extremism.

Still others are influenced by relatives and spouses, "especially those dependent on them emotionally or materially," Hafiz said.

One of them, Sajida al-Rishawi, was married to a suicide bomber. The Iraqi woman tried unsuccessfully to detonate her explosives belt in an Amman, Jordan hotel on Nov. 9. 2005. Her husband and their other accomplices succeeded in blowing themselves up, however. Three hotels were bombed, and 60 people were killed.

Although use of women can be a sign of desperation, female suicide bombers also help extremist groups attract male recruits. Militants exploit the image of desperate women fighting because there aren't enough brave men, taunting would-be male suicide bombers into action, Hafiz said.

"Women," Hafiz said, "make great propaganda."

Enough Of The Myth Of Racist America

2008-01-04T18:36:00.001-05:00

Enough Of The Myth Of Racist America - Say Anything

I think it’s time, in light of all the recent events that have clearly spotlighted the American public’s attitude toward race, for the liberal left to put down their “America is a racist country” signs and move on.

All around the country we see black mayors, police chiefs and other community leaders. Our military has many black officers, right up to General rank. A black astronaut going up in the space shuttle is old news. Nobody even mentions it anymore.

I know that this will come as a disappointment to the left but, really, nobody cares what color you are anymore. It’s your conduct that matters. I don’t know a single person in my life who cares if a black family moves in next door to them. What they care about is if that family keeps up their house, mows their yard, controls their kids, and are generally good neighbors.

This whole “America is racist” thing is a myth that is perpetuated by the left and by the race pimps who profit by keeping the pot stirred, and by the socialist/welfare/nanny staters who think that the government should provide cradle to grave care.

So, for all you people out there who are convinced that racism is an absolute plague in America I have a brief message: Come out of your little bubble and take a good look around. It’s really not what you think it is.

Just ask Barak Hussein Obama and Piyush “Bobby” Jindal.

10 Things a Political Junkie Hates About Politics

2008-01-04T18:35:00.001-05:00

Townhall.com::10 Things a Political Junkie Hates About Politics::By John Hawkins

* Fear Of Offending Anyone: Because politicians are always thinking about the next election instead of actually serving the people who put them into office, they're terrified of actually doing anything that might offend someone.

* Politics Not Stopping At The Water's Edge: There's nothing wrong with disagreeing with your political opponent's foreign policy, but there is a problem when you put your petty political concerns ahead of the good of the country.

* The Lying And Inauthenticity: Campaigns in the United States have become exercises in trying to be "everything to everybody."

* Crazed Hyperbole: On the Left, comparisons of Bush to Hitler and wild claims that the United States is a fascist dictatorship have become so commonplace as to be blasé.

* Fake Objectivity From The Media: If Townhall claimed it was a neutral outlet despite having all rightward leaning pundits and having a staff that's almost wholly conservative, would anyone believe them? Of course not. But, mainstream media outlets -- where Democrats outnumber Republicans 10 to 1, liberals dominate the Op-ED pages, and the news is heavily slanted against conservatives -- regularly claim to be unbiased.

* Mainstreaming Conspiracy Theories: Off-the-wall crazy has become just another form of political expression.

* The Perpetual Campaign: We've gotten to the point that actual governance is being treated as markedly less important than campaigning.

* Short-Term Thinking: Social Security is going to go into the red within a decade, Medicare costs are unsustainable, we're running a massive debt every year, and no matter how often the America people demand it, very little is being done to secure our borders or put an end to illegal immigration.

Where's the long term thinking? Where are the people working to build a country that will be better for our children than it is for us? Where is the concern for the long-term health of the country?

* Lack Of Bipartisanship: I'm all for two-fisted partisanship and trying to beat the other side's brains out in the political arena, but things have gotten a little too far out of hand when we've got people cheering the deaths of their political opponents, comparing them to Hitler, falsely claiming that almost every election is rigged, and trying to prevent opposing views from being heard at all on college campuses.

* The Primary System Is Broken: We now have gotten into a position where we have politicians campaigning for the presidency for a full year -- after which, we have all the primary states jammed together so closely that the race will probably be over in less than a month.

Controversial statue of Jesus with an erection offends gallery visitors

2008-01-04T18:29:00.001-05:00

Controversial statue of Jesus with an erection offends gallery visitors | the Daily Mail

A gallery has offended the church by exhibiting a statue of Jesus with an erection.

The graphic figure is on display at Gateshead's Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art.

The exhibit is a traditional form of Jesus which has been doctored by controversial Chinese artist Terence Koh.

Gone, Yet Still, features 74 plaster models ranging from Mickey Mouse to ET, with the 1ft high depiction of Christ with an erection a central figure in the artwork.

Outraged visitors and church leaders have criticised the artist and Baltic bosses for disrespecting the Christian faith.

This is not the first time the Baltic has hit trouble over an exhibit.

In September, police seized the image of a child due to be displayed in the gallery over fears it was pornographic.

Officers were called by the centre's bosses after they expressed concerns over exhibiting the work of art that belonged to pop star Sir Elton John, who later pulled the display.

Top Islamic Council Declares Victims of Rape Must Abort Child

2008-01-04T18:28:00.001-05:00

Top Islamic Council Declares Victims of Rape Must Abort Child

The Islamic Research Council of Al-Azhar, considered by many to be the highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning in the world, has issued an edict declaring that women who become pregnant because of a rape must abort their child.

"A raped woman must terminate the pregnancy immediately upon learning of the pregnancy if a trusted doctor gives her clearance for the abortion," the Council said, according to AFP news. The Council continued, saying that this would promote "social stability."

Egypt's top imam, Mohammad Sayed Tatwani, who is also the Grand Shaikh of Al-Azhar, recast the Council's statement in terms of abortion "rights," according to gulfnews.com, saying "Any girl or woman, who is subjected to rape, has the right in Islam to have abortion at anytime, and she would not commit a sin for doing this."

The Council's edict allegedly comes in response to the increasing number of rapes taking place in Egypt. According to a frequently cited statistic, some 20,000 cases of rape occur annually in Egypt.

Pizza driver that shot alleged robber flouted rules

2008-01-04T18:26:00.001-05:00

STLtoday - News - St. Louis City / County

The pizza delivery driver who fatally shot a robber last week could have faced discipline over the incident had he not resigned, a Domino's spokesman said Wednesday.

Although the driver was being praised by bloggers with comments such as "Score one for the good guys," many corporations, like Domino's, prohibit armed employees.

Employees sign an agreement in which they agree not to carry a weapon, Domino's corporate spokesman Tim McIntyre said, a policy designed to protect both the public and employees.

The driver shot Brian Smith, 19, of the 600 block of Ferguson Avenue in Ferguson, on Dec. 27. His alleged accomplice, Rodney Reese, 18, fled with the pizzas, soda and the driver's wallet, police said, and was later charged with first-degree robbery, two counts of armed criminal action and second-degree murder because he was allegedly involved in a fatal crime.

Father May Have Killed Daughters For 'Honor'

2008-01-03T06:21:00.001-05:00

KTRE-TV - Lufkin/Nacogdoches, TX - Lewisville cabbie accused of killing two teen daughters

Irving police have issued a capital murder warrant for a cab driver accused of fatally shooting his two teenage daughters.

The bodies were found in his taxi.

Fifty-year-old Yaser Abdel Said of Lewisville is accused of shooting 17-year-old Sarah Yaser Said and 18-year-old Amina Yaser Said on Tuesday night.

Police say a domestic issue may have led to the shooting deaths. Further details weren't released.

MyFox Dallas | Father May Have Killed Daughters For 'Honor'

A Dallas-area father may have shot his two teenage daughters to death because their Westernized clothes and behavior brought him shame, family members say.

Police are still looking for 50-year-old Yaser Said of Lewisville. Tuesday night they found his abandonded taxicab parked near an Irving hotel with his two daughters murdered in the back seat.

Investigators say either Sarah Yaser Said, 17, or Amina Yaser Said, 18, called 911 around 7:30 p.m., saying she had been shot, but could not identify her location. Police were able to trace the call to a general location, but found nothing.

An hour later, someone reported a suspicious vehicle near the Omni Mandalay hotel in Las Colinas, which turned out to be the taxi.

FOX 4 spoke with two of Said's family members who want to remain anonymous. They say Sarah and Amina dressed in Western clothes and listened to pop music. They described Said as angry with his daughters for not acting like proper Muslim girls.

Though police have not named the motive, in some Muslim countries fathers kill their children if they feel their honor has been ruined.

Yaser Abdel Said is 6' 2", about 180 pounds, wearing a black turtleneck, brown coat and tan pants. Police say he's armed with a handgun and should be considered extremely dangerous.

The mother and brother of the two girls were apparently not involved, and were uninjured, police say.

Al Gore a prophet; global warming a religion

2008-01-03T06:19:00.001-05:00

Al Gore a prophet; global warming a religion -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

You don't have to be religious to qualify as a fundamentalist. You can be Al Gore, the messiah figure for the global warming cult, whose followers truly believe their gospel of imminent extermination in a Noah-like flood, if we don't immediately change our carbon polluting ways.

One of the traits of a cult is its refusal to consider any evidence that might disprove the faith. And so it is doubtful the global warming cultists will be moved by 400 scientists, many of whom, according to the WashingtonTimes, "are current or former members of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shares the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Mr. Gore for publicizing a climate crisis." In a report by Republican staff of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, these scientists cast doubt on a "scientific consensus" that global warming caused by humans endangers the planet.

Like most cultists, the true believers struck back, not by debating science, but by charging that a small number of the scientists mentioned in the report have taken money from the petroleum industry. A spokeswoman for Al Gore said 25 or 30 of the scientists may have received funding from Exxon Mobile Corp. Exxon Mobile spokesman Gantt H. Walton dismissed the accusation, saying, "the company is concerned about climate-change issues and does not pay scientists to bash global-warming theories."

Gore and his disciples will still be living in their big houses, driving gas-guzzling cars and flying in private jets that leave carbon footprints as large as Bigfoot's, while most of us will be forced to drive tiny automobiles and live in huts resembling the Third World. But hypocrisy is just one of many traits displayed by secular fundamentalists like Gore.

Before adopting any faith, the agendas of the people attempting to impose it, along with the beliefs held by them and their disciples, should be considered. Gore and company are big government liberals who think government is the answer to all of our problems, including problems they create. In fact, as Ronald Reagan often said, in too many cases, government is the problem.

Shopper pulls gun, stops robbery cold

2008-01-03T06:17:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Shopper pulls gun, stops robbery cold

A grocery store customer in Indianapolis is being credited with halting an armed robbery by pulling his own weapon and pointing it at the assailant until police arrived.

According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, Charlie Merrell, 51, was in a checkout line at a grocery store called Bucks IGA on the city's south side when a "masked man jumped a nearby counter and held a gun on a store employee."

The police report cited by the newspaper said the incident happened at 5:17 in the afternoon Monday as Merrell was doing some year-end shopping.

"While the suspect was demanding cash from the workers," according to the police report, "Merrell pulled his own handgun, pointed it at the robber and ordered him to put down his weapon."

The newspaper noted that Officer Jason Bockting, in his documentation of the incident, said when the suspect seemed to hesitate, "Merrell racked the slide on his gun to load a round in the chamber."

At that point, the report said, "the suspect placed his gun and a bag of cash on the counter, dropping some of the money … the suspect removed his mask and lay on the floor."

Merrill, meanwhile, held the suspect at gunpoint until officers arrived and took him away in handcuffs.

Police reported Merrell had a valid permit to carry the handgun, and they recovered an unloaded .380-caliber handgun and $779 cash from the suspect.

Kenya Topples Into Post-Election Chaos

2008-01-03T06:16:00.001-05:00

Kenya Topples Into Post-Election Chaos - New York Times

Daniel Kibigo said he was there, hiding in the burned cornfields nearby, as the mob gleefully stuffed mattresses in front of the church’s doors and set them on fire.

He watched women try to claw their way out of the church windows as if they were drowning as the building burned all the way down, with up to 50 people inside.

“We couldn’t do anything; there were too many,” he said of the crowd that descended on the church in the paroxysm of ethnic violence that has gripped Kenya since its deeply flawed elections last week.

Within the span of a week, one of the most developed, promising countries in Africa has turned into a starter kit for disaster. Tribal militias are roaming the countryside with rusty machetes, neighborhoods are pulling apart, and Kenya’s economy, one of the biggest on the continent, is unraveling — with fuel shortages rippling across East Africa because the roads in Kenya, a regional hub, are too dangerous to use. Roadblocks set up by armed men, something synonymous with anarchic Somalia, have cropped up across the country, in towns on the savannah and in the cramped slums.

It was Kikuyus who were burned to death on Tuesday in the Kenya Assemblies of God church. The church was simple, made of mud and sticks, and about the size of a tennis court.

Over the weekend, several hundred Kikuyus sought refuge here. The election was on Thursday, and serious trouble started on Saturday, when the first signs of ballot rigging emerged. Members of the Luo and other tribes across Kenya, who had been encouraged by many pre-election polls to believe that Mr. Odinga would win the presidency, began to riot and lash out at Kikuyus as the news spread that Kikuyu government officials had turned in dubious election results.

In Nairobi, the slums exploded, with crowds hurling rocks at police officers and burning down Kikuyu businesses. In the Rift Valley, where the tawny veldt meets lush green farms, and mountains loom on both sides, Kalenjins and Luos began hunting down the outnumbered Kikuyus.

“As soon as we heard about the Kalenjins coming, we brought our people to the church,” said John Njorge, a Kikuyu. “A church is supposed to be safe.”

Most of those who packed inside were women and children. Because it was so crowded, they left their belongings outside. On Wednesday, the mattresses, belts, shoes, pots and pans were still there, strewn in the grass. Their owners were nowhere to be found.

East Congo violence fuels rape spree

2008-01-03T06:13:00.001-05:00

East Congo violence fuels rape spree | International | Reuters

Intense fighting between government and militia forces in eastern Congo has led to a surge in rape by fighters from all sides, women and doctors say.

Renewed hostilities between the army and troops loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda have stoked a volatile crucible of violence in Congo's North Kivu province, where traditional Mai Mai fighters and Rwandan Hutu militia also roam.

"I was leaving the market and I ran into FDLR on the road. They robbed me of everything and then four men raped me," Francoise Mwamasirika, a 45-year-old mother said of Rwandan Hutu rebels who include leaders of Rwanda's 1994 genocide against Tutsis.

Sexual violence has escalated as hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee the safety of their homes -- around 400,000 people since August, when Nkunda quit a peace deal, bringing North Kivu's displaced population to 800,000.

Congo's government has called a peace summit for Sunday, but there is little optimism the chronic fighting will end soon.

Christophe Kimona, a surgeon at Goma's Heal Africa hospital, repairs the torn and damaged genitals of rape victims. Many can no longer control urination without surgery.

"The number of women we are seeing who have been raped is going up. We see an average of three or four rapes each day," Kimona said. "Those are just the ones who arrive at the hospital, we don't know how many are too ashamed to come."

Most rape victims say their attackers were armed groups of rebels or government soldiers.

But Kimona said as rape becomes so common with the conflict, more civilians are committing rapes too, and the victims are often children.

Faura Ngabu Noela holds her 11-month-old daughter Chaunce close on her lap.

Villagers found Chaunce covered in grass, dirt and blood after she was raped by a 22-year-old man in her village, Noela said.

"I took her to the local hospital for surgery to repair her torn vagina, but it became infected and I had to bring her to Goma to have another operation and to heal that infection."

New Orlean's murder rate remains among nation's highest

2008-01-03T06:11:00.001-05:00

Murder rate remains among nation's highest- NOLA.com

As of New Year's Eve, the city's murder total sat at 209, making it again a top contender for the country's highest per-capita murder rate, a dubious title New Orleans held in 2006. A definitive per-capita rate for murders and all crimes remains elusive, because of varying estimates of the post-flood city's still-changing population. But even by the most generous estimate, preferred by the New Orleans Police Department, the city's murder rate is 67 murders per 100,000 people. Using another, lower population estimate cited by the city, the rate would be 71.

Compared with the nine other cities with the highest per-capita murder rates last year, New Orleans remains at or near the highest rate in 2007. For instance, Detroit and Baltimore are estimated to have about 47 and 45 murders, respectively, for every 100,000 people. Only Gary, Ind., a small city with a population of less than 100,000, might end up with a higher per-capita murder rate than New Orleans. Gary, according to murder statistics provided by its police department late last week, expects a murder rate of about 68 murders per 100,000 people, a figure in the middle of the range of estimates for the New Orleans rate.

In Atlanta, which had far fewer homicides than New Orleans -- 126 homicides as of Dec. 26 -- officials nonetheless blamed the increase in killings there, in part, on a New Orleans-based gang that moved into town after Hurricane Katrina. Members of the "International Robbing Crew" are accused of killing at least seven people in Atlanta.

Complete fourth-quarter crime statistics won't be made available for another month, but if trends from the first three quarters hold steady, then violent crime has increased, drastically in some categories. Indeed, the rate of reported assaults -- a category that includes all nonfatal shootings -- in the first three quarters of the year was on pace to equal or surpass the number of assaults in each of the two years before Hurricane Katrina, when the city's population was far larger.

If assaults continue at the same rate, they will total about 2,045 this year. That compares with 2,033 reported assaults in 2003, and 2,178 in 2004.

The same trend applies to burglary. If trends hold steady, roughly 5,090 burglaries will be reported this year. That's approaching the 5,238 burglaries in 2004 and significantly higher than the 4,864 reported in 2003.

As for national trends, many cities across the country experienced upticks in violent crime and homicides in 2005 and 2006, but several major cities managed to beat back those trends this year with successful policing strategies, said Caterina Gouvis Roman with the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.

Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and New York City are among the cities expecting overall decreases in murder compared with last year, she said.

Indeed, as of the end of last week, both New York and Chicago expected to end the year with the lowest murder rates in decades.

Iran hangs 13 on single day

2008-01-02T19:22:00.001-05:00

Iran hangs 13 on single day: reports - Yahoo! Canada News

Iran hanged 13 convicted criminals on Wednesday, including the mother of two young children who had been found guilty of murdering her husband after discovering he was having an affair, reports said.
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Raheleh Zamani, who reportedly chopped her husband's body into pieces, was hanged alongside seven men convicted of murder, in a mass execution at Tehran's Evin prison, the Iranian Student Correspondents' Association (ISCA) reported.

Three drug traffickers were also hanged on Wednesday in public in a square in the central city of Qom and another two in the eastern city of Zahedan, state media reported.

Pictures from Qom showed the three blindfolded men, their bodies hanging limply from nooses attached to cranes as dusk fell, the winter snow falling heavily.

The hangings, the first reported in 2008, were the latest in a growing number of executions in the Islamic republic as the authorities impose a drive they say is aimed at improving security in society.

Last year, Iran carried out at least 297 executions, according to an AFP count compiled from press reports.

The total was a sharp increase on 2006, when 177 executions were carried out, according to Amnesty International.

Iran currently makes more use of the death penalty than any other country apart from China. Capital offences in Iran include murder, rape, armed robbery, serious drug trafficking and adultery.

Human rights groups have accused Iran of excessive resort to the death penalty, but the authorities say capital punishment is an effective deterrent that is only used after an exhaustive judicial process.

NHS patients told to treat themselves

2008-01-02T06:32:00.001-05:00

NHS patients told to treat themselves - Telegraph

Millions of people with arthritis, asthma and even heart failure will be urged to treat themselves as part of a Government plan to save billions of pounds from the NHS budget.

Instead of going to hospital or consulting a doctor, patients will be encouraged to carry out "self care" as the Department of Health (DoH) tries to meet Treasury targets to curb spending.

NHS patients told to treat themselves
NHS patients could be expected to administer their own medication

The guidelines could mean people with chronic conditions:

• Monitoring their own heart activity, blood pressure and lung capacity using equipment installed in the home

• Reporting medical information to doctors remotely by telephone or computer

• Administering their own drugs and other treatment to "manage pain" and assessing the significance of changes in their condition

• Using relaxation techniques to relieve stress and avoid "panic" visits to emergency wards.

Gordon Brown hinted at the new policy in a message to NHS staff yesterday, promising a service that "gives all of those with long-term or chronic conditions the choice of greater support, information and advice, allowing them to play a far more active role in managing their own condition".

But an internal Government document seen by The Daily Telegraph makes clear that the policy is a money-saving measure, a key plank of DoH plans to cut costs.

Critics claimed the plan would provide doctors with an excuse for ignoring the elderly or those with debilitating, but not life-threatening long-term conditions, and would not work without significant investment in community health services.

Saudis arrest popular blogger for violating the kingdom's laws

2008-01-02T06:27:00.001-05:00

CANOE -- CNEWS - Media News: Saudis arrest popular blogger for violating the kingdom's laws

Saudi authorities have detained a popular blogger for violating the kingdom's laws, a senior Interior Ministry official said Tuesday. It was the first known arrest of a Saudi online critic.

The blogger, Fouad al-Farhan, was being questioned by security authorities, Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Monsour al-Turki said. He added the blogger "might be released" Wednesday but did not elaborate.

The Saudi English daily, Arab News, said al-Farhan had "violated non-security regulations." The paper said the 32-year-old Jeddah resident was arrested at his office Dec. 10 and taken to his home where police conducted a search. There were no other details on the arrest.

Meanwhile, his family has contacted the Human Rights Commission, asking for help in the case, the paper said.

Al-Farhan's blog headline reads: "Searching for freedom, dignity, justice, equality, shoura and all the rest of lost Islamic values." Shoura means public consultation, in Arabic.

Following the arrest, al-Farhan's friends who are now running his website, posted a letter allegedly from the blogger claiming he was told by an official there was an Interior Ministry order "to investigate me and they will pick me up anytime in the next two weeks."

In it, he also said he believed Saudi authorities were after him because he "wrote about political prisoners in Saudi Arabia."

"They think I am leading a campaign promoting their case, reforms and change, but all I did was write some articles and columns, and I asked other bloggers to do the same," the letter said.

Al-Farhan added in his purported letter that officials asked him to sign an apology but that he wasn't ready to do that. "An apology for what? Apologizing because I said the government is liar when it accused those people of supporting terrorism," he said.

Dennis Prager: The truth about Will Smith's Hitler remark

2008-01-02T06:22:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: The truth about Will Smith's Hitler remark

On Dec. 22, the Scottish newspaper the Daily Record published an article summarizing an interview its reporter Siobhan Synnot had with the superstar actor Will Smith. Near the end of the highly laudatory piece, the reporter wrote: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good" and immediately cited the actor saying: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'Let me do the most evil thing I can do today,'" said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and, using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.'"

What Will Smith said is probably true. Most of history's great evils were committed by people who somehow convinced themselves that the evil they did was really good. This is hardly a new problem. As the Prophet Hosea said 2,700 years ago, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness" (Hosea 4:6).

Some years ago, I made a video on goodness ("For Goodness Sake") with the director David Zucker in which I said almost the same thing word for word, that few people who do evil wake up in the morning saying, "Ah, another day to do evil."

Yet, Will Smith, making the same point, was quoted around the world as saying that he thinks that Hitler was a good person.

Every Hollywood and celebrities Internet site I checked – about 30 – headlined that "Will Smith thinks Hitler was a 'good' person" (note that 'good' was put in quotation marks as if the headline was accurately quoting Smith).

And most then opened their phony report with this: "U.S. actor Will Smith has stunned fans by reportedly declaring that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler was essentially a 'good' person."

A complete fabrication.

Smith reacted to what he correctly called "an awful and disgusting lie" and denounced Hitler as "a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet." At that point, Abe Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, announced, "We welcome and accept Will Smith's statement that Hitler was a 'vicious killer' and that he did not mean for his remarks about the Nazi leader to be mistaken as praise." That was good and necessary. But, like the irresponsible blogs, the ADL leader characterized Smith's original statement this way: "Unfortunately, in citing Hitler in what appears to be a positive context, Smith stirred up a hornet's nest on the Internet, where hate groups and anti-Semites latched on to the remark and praised it."

What is to be learned? The lessons are simple:

1. Don't trust a website that doesn't cite a reputable source for a news item (opinions columns have different standards).

2. Then, check that source.

3. Don't trust headlines in newspapers – read the entire column.

4. When a person is quoted, read his original statement in context.

In the meantime, however, millions of people around the world will continue to believe the lie that Will Smith said that Hitler was a good man.

And the media will, apparently, pay no price.

In 2008, a 100 Percent Chance of Alarm

2008-01-02T06:19:00.001-05:00

Predictions for 2008 - Climate Change - Global Warming - John Tierney - New York Times

I’d like to wish you a happy New Year, but I’m afraid I have a different sort of prediction.

You’re in for very bad weather. In 2008, your television will bring you image after frightening image of natural havoc linked to global warming. You will be told that such bizarre weather must be a sign of dangerous climate change — and that these images are a mere preview of what’s in store unless we act quickly to cool the planet.

Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific. I don’t know if disaster will come by flood or drought, hurricane or blizzard, fire or ice. Nor do I have any idea how much the planet will warm this year or what that means for your local forecast. Long-term climate models cannot explain short-term weather.

But there’s bound to be some weird weather somewhere, and we will react like the sailors in the Book of Jonah. When a storm hit their ship, they didn’t ascribe it to a seasonal weather pattern. They quickly identified the cause (Jonah’s sinfulness) and agreed to an appropriate policy response (throw Jonah overboard).

Slow warming doesn’t make for memorable images on television or in people’s minds, so activists, journalists and scientists have looked to hurricanes, wild fires and starving polar bears instead. They have used these images to start an “availability cascade,” a term coined by Timur Kuran, a professor of economics and law at the University of Southern California, and Cass R. Sunstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago.

The availability cascade is a self-perpetuating process: the more attention a danger gets, the more worried people become, leading to more news coverage and more fear. Once the images of Sept. 11 made terrorism seem a major threat, the press and the police lavished attention on potential new attacks and supposed plots. After Three Mile Island and “The China Syndrome,” minor malfunctions at nuclear power plants suddenly became newsworthy.

Once a cascade is under way, it becomes tough to sort out risks because experts become reluctant to dispute the popular wisdom, and are ignored if they do. Now that the melting Arctic has become the symbol of global warming, there’s not much interest in hearing other explanations of why the ice is melting — or why the globe’s other pole isn’t melting, too.

Kenya Church Torched, 50 Reported Killed

2008-01-02T06:13:00.001-05:00

Kenya Church Torched, 50 Reported Killed

A mob torched a church where hundreds had sought refuge Tuesday, and witnesses said dozens of people—including children—were burned alive or hacked to death with machetes in ethnic violence that followed Kenya's disputed election.

The killing of up to 50 ethnic Kikuyus in the Rift Valley city of Eldoret brought the death toll from four days of rioting to more than 275, raising fears of further unrest in what has been one of Africa's most stable democracies.

They had fled to the Assemblies of God Church on Monday night, seeking refuge after mobs torched homes. Video from a helicopter chartered by the Red Cross showed many homes in flames and the horizon obscured by smoke. Groups of people were seen seeking sanctuary at schools and the airport, while others moved into the forest.

On Tuesday morning, a mob of about 2,000 arrived at the church, said George Karanja, whose family had sought refuge there.

"They started burning the church," Karanja said, his voice catching with emotion as he described the scene. "The mattresses that people were sleeping on caught fire. There was a stampede, and people fell on one another."

Karanja, 37, helped pull out at least 10 people, but added, "I could not manage to pull out my sister's son. He was screaming 'Uncle, uncle!' ... He died." The boy was 11.

Up to 50 people were killed in the attack, said a Red Cross official who spoke on condition of anonymity because her name would identify her tribe, and she feared reprisal. Even first aid workers were stopped by vigilantes who demanded their identity.

Karanja said his two children raised their hands as they left the church and they were beaten with a cane, but not killed. His 90-year- old father was attacked with a machete, but survived, he said.

"The worst part is that they were hacking people and then setting them on fire," he added.

The attackers saw Karanja saving people and began stoning him, he said. Karanja said he ran and hid—submerging himself in a pit latrine outside the church property. He stayed there about 30 minutes until he heard people speaking Kikuyu, he added.

The Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic group, are accused of turning their dominance of politics and business to the detriment of others. Odinga is from the Luo tribe, a smaller but still major tribe that says it has been marginalized.

Olmert hints Jerusalem division is inevitable

2008-01-02T06:11:00.001-05:00

Olmert hints Jerusalem division is inevitable - Yahoo! News

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert signaled on Tuesday Israel might have no choice but to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians in a peace deal, citing international pressure for compromise over the holy city.
"The world that is friendly to Israel ... that really supports Israel, when it speaks of the future, it speaks of Israel in terms of the '67 borders. It speaks of the division of Jerusalem," Olmert said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in a move that failed to win international recognition. It regards all of Jerusalem as its "eternal and indivisible" capital.

Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the state they aspire to establish in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip.

The future of Jerusalem is one of the core issues Israel and the Palestinians agreed to tackle in peace talks they renewed after a U.S.-hosted summit in Annapolis, Maryland in November.

Olmert's comments appeared to be another move by the prime minister to prepare Israeli public opinion for the possibility of a deal that would loosen Israel's control of all of Jerusalem.

His deputy and close confidant, Haim Ramon, has said Israel should in future negotiate creation of a "special regime" that would govern some of the sacred sites in Jerusalem's walled Old City.

Obnoxious Quotes Of 2007

2008-01-02T06:10:00.001-05:00

The 40 Most Obnoxious Quotes Of 2007 - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)

"Aww don’t feel noways tired. I’ve come too faarrr from where I started frum. . . . Aww could have listened all day luung." - Hillary Clinton engages in patronizing hickspeak in Selma, Alabama.

"You could argue that even the world's worst fascist dictators at least meant well. They honestly thought [they] were doing good things for their countries by suppressing blacks/eliminating Jews/eradicating free enterprise/repressing individual thought/killing off rivals/invading neighbors, etc. ... Bush set a new precedent. He came into office with the attitude of 'I'm so tired of the public good. What about my good? What about my rich friends' good?'" -- Peter Mehlman at The Huffington Post

"Let's just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future." -- Columnist Ellen Goodman

"When I see a stroller now, I see it as someone who evicted a person with AIDS, right or wrong." -- Brian Basinger, president of the Harvey Milk Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transsexual Democratic Club on the horror of having to live near heterosexual families in San Francisco.

"In Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country." -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University

"A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus. Suck it, Jesus, this award is my god now!" -- Kathy Griffin

"I propose a limitation be put on how many sqares [sic] of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don't want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where 2 to 3 could be required." -- Sheryl Crow at the Huffington Post

"Al Qaeda really hurt us, but not as much as Rupert Murdoch has hurt us, particularly in the case of Fox News. Fox News is worse than Al Qaeda — worse for our society. It’s as dangerous as the Ku Klux Klan ever was." -- MSNBC's Keith Olbermann

"America needs to follow the policies it has introduced in Germany. We have to go through a certain de-Nazification process." -- George Soros

"Now the people in the Administration of George Bush better remember their Miranda rights, because when I'm elected President I'm going to see that they are arrested. I'm not kidding here!" -- Democratic Congressman Dennis Kucinich

"I have zero doubt that if Dick Cheney was not in power, people wouldn’t be dying needlessly tomorrow....I’m just saying if he did die, other people, more people would live. That’s a fact." -- Bill Maher

"I hear about Tony Snow and say to myself, well, stand up every day, lie to the American people at the behest of your dictator-esque boss and well, how could a cancer NOT grow in you. Work for Fox News, spinning the truth in to a billion knots and how can your gut not rot? I know, it’s terrible. I admit it. I don’t wish anyone harm, even Tony Snow. And I do hope he recovers or at least does what he feels is best and surrounds himself with friends and family for his journey. But in the back of my head there’s Justin Timberlake’s "What goes around, goes around, comes around, comes all the way back around, ya." -- Charles Karel Bouley at The Huffington Post

"When doctors pronounced the Rev. Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr. dead at 12:40 p.m. EST Tuesday....my first thoughts were not of what to say or write. In fact, my very first thought upon hearing of the Rev. Falwell’s passing was: Good. And I didn’t mean 'good' in a oh-good-he’s-gone-home-to-be-with-the-Lord kind of way. I meant 'good" as in "Ding-dong, the witch is dead.'" -- Cathleen Falsani

"Through every Abu aib and Haditha, through every rape and murder, the American public has indulged those in uniform....We pay the soldiers a decent wage, take care of their families, provide them with housing and medical care and vast social support systems and ship obscene amenities into the war zone for them, we support them in every possible way, and their attitude is that we should in addition roll over and play dead, defer to the military and the generals and let them fight their war, and give up our rights and responsibilities to speak up because they are above society?...[T]he recent NBC report is just an ugly reminder of the price we pay for a mercenary — oops sorry, volunteer — force that thinks it is doing the dirty work." -- The Washington Post's William Arkin

"You don't have money to fund the war or children, but you're going to spend it to blow up innocent people if we could get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the president's amusement." -- Democratic Congressman Pete Stark

A friend of ours said if the same laws were applied to U.S. Presidents as were applied to the Nazis after WWII, that every single one of them, every last rich white one of them, from Truman on would be hung to death and shot. And this current administration is no exception. They should be hung and tried and shot as war criminals." -- Zack de la Rocha, Rage Against The Machine

"Over time, however, the endless war in Iraq began to play a role in natural selection. Only idiots signed up; only idiots died. Back home, the average I.Q. soared." -- Ted Rall

Sudan Police Probe US Diplomat's Death

2008-01-02T05:59:00.001-05:00

Sudan Police Probe US Diplomat's Death

Sudanese authorities on Wednesday questioned witnesses in the slaying of an American diplomat who was shot by gunmen in a drive-by attack in the capital.

Sudanese officials insisted the shooting was not a terrorist attack but the U.S. Embassy said it was too soon to determine the motive.

John Granville, 33, an official for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was being driven home at about 4 a.m. Tuesday when another vehicle cut off his car and opened fire before fleeing the scene, the Sudanese Interior Ministry said.

The diplomat's driver, Abdel-Rahman Abbas, was killed. Granville initially survived the attack with five gunshot wounds to the hand, shoulder and stomach. He died after surgery, said Walter Braunohler, the public affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum.

Sudanese police said they have questioned a number of witnesses from the scene of the attack "and investigations are continuing based on their statements," the state news agency SUNA reported Wednesday.

Granville was working to implement a 2005 peace agreement between Sudan's north and south that ended more than two decades of civil war, USAID said.

USAID Administrator Henrietta H. Fore said the two men killed "were serving the common interests of the U.S. and the Sudan in bringing peace and stability to a country that has long been wracked by violence and conflict."

Granville's family in Buffalo, N.Y. said he was committed to his work in Africa.

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about:

2007-12-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

18This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. 19Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

20But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."

24When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. 25But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

1After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

3When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:
6" 'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'"

7Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

9After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

13When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." 14So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

16When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
18"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."

19After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

21So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene." - Matthew 1:18-24, Matthew 2:1-23

Christmas Scripture

2007-12-21T20:33:00.000-05:00

1In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2(This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3And everyone went to his own town to register.

4So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. 9An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. 12This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

13Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

14"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

15When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. Luke 2:1-20

Christmas Views 12/16/07

2007-12-16T12:52:00.001-05:00

Some Christians won’t be celebrating Christmas - DailyLocal.com

As Christmas draws near, the Rev. John Foster of Charleston, W.Va., won’t be decorating a tree, shopping for last-minute gifts or working on a holiday sermon for his flock. After all, it’s been 50 years since Christmas was anything more than a day of the week to him.

He’s one of very few American Christians who follow what used to be the norm in many Protestant denominations — rejecting the celebration of Christmas on religious grounds.

“People don’t think of it this way, but it’s really a secular holiday,” said Foster, a Princeton-based pastor in the United Church of God. He last celebrated Christmas when he was 8.

“In America, the saying is that the minister follows the people, the people don’t follow the minister,” Restad said. “This was more of a sociological change than a religious one. The home and the marketplace had more sway than the church.”

That’s partly why Christians like the United Church of God reject the holiday: They say divine instruction, rather than culture and society, should determine whether the holiday is appropriate.

There is still lingering unease with the holiday in denominations that once rejected it. This can be glimpsed in worries about commercialization and in individual Christians like Phillip Ross.

Ross is an elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Vienna, near Parkersburg. Well-versed in the history of Christianity, Christmas and Presbyterianism, Ross knows his church historically objected to Christmas.

On the other hand, Ross is also a father of two, and while he made up his mind to reject Christmas as a teenager, his children’s early years included gifts, decorations and a tree.

“I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas,” he said. “It seems obvious to me that there’s nothing scriptural about it, but that’s a hard sell with children.”

WorldNetDaily: Merry C----tmas!

As our nation continues to drift into a state of secular monotony that guarantees that nobody is offended (unless you are a Christian), we are again witnessing many retailers deciding to abolish "Christmas" in favor of the "holiday season."

Because Jesus Christ – the Son of God who came to earth to save us – does not meet contemporary criteria for "diversity" and "multiculturalism," the day that bears His name is becoming increasingly unacceptable. And yet these retailers that want to take advantage of the Christmas tradition of gift-giving have become painstakingly opposed to the mere mention of "Christmas."

I certainly understand that Christmas has become largely plagued by consumerism in our modern culture. Nevertheless, I find it troubling that secularist engineers are recklessly encouraging American companies to sweep the term under the rug because it might be offensive to a few people.

WorldNetDaily: Wrapping up a meaningful Christmas

What will Christmas mean to you this year? In an age of militant secularism and consumerism, nauseating self-involvement, greed and sloth, will believers be able to "keep Christ in Christmas?" Will they even be able to keep "Christmas in Christmas" as the name and ideals of Jesus Christ are sanitized from our society by groups like the ACLU? By this, I speak of the recent edict in Colorado forbidding the trafficking of red and green lights.

We all have free will, and thus we can choose to lay down our idols anytime we find enough strength to commit to that ideal. Of course "leaving the world behind," the flesh and the pride of life is a very difficult and perhaps even a life-long process. How we handle Christmas is always a good barometer.

The revolting consumerism had long before washed away the original message. This was a decision we all arrived at together. It wasn't really a conscious thing. It was no big deal. We didn't feel "better" than anyone else. We had all just simultaneously moved on to another level.

Christmas of course means many different things to many different people. We know and accept that Christmas was originally a pagan holiday built around the worship of the sun god in Rome. Long before that, the Egyptians had their own winter solstice cult. Yet Christmas doesn't have to be a pagan holiday for us. We don't worship the sun or the tree. Notions that we do can sometimes be hysterical and counterproductive, if not meaningless. This isn't a case of Halloween vs. All Souls Day. Yes we're "in the world," but we don't have to be "of the world."

WorldNetDaily: The Democrats' Jesus smack down

Well there are now at least nine members of Congress whose denials ring hollow because this time they actually voted against Christ.

The House of Representatives passed H.R. 847 which simply recognized the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith to America and the world Dec. 11, 2007. So what's the problem?

The resolution passed on a vote of 372-9, with 10 voting "present" and 40 abstentions. That means nine congressional representatives flat-out refused to acknowledge the importance Christianity has played in shaping this nation. All nine votes against the resolution were cast by staunch anti-war Democrats or members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

So what I would like to know is why these nine members of Congress acknowledged the importance of every conceivable cultural celebration in America from sports to Ramadan to country music, but couldn't show the same amount of respect for Jesus Christ. If you read the resolutions for Christmas, Ramadan and Diwali, they are essentially worded the same. So, once again, what's the problem? Hatred of Jesus Christ and everything Christian, that's what.

This was a direct slap in the face of Christians in America and around the world. It's time we stop turning the other cheek and demand answers from those who show disdain for our culture and religious beliefs.

News That's Fit To Post 12/16/07

2007-12-16T12:41:00.001-05:00

Harris homeowner kills burglary suspect | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

A southwest Harris County homeowner shot and killed a man he discovered climbing into a window of his house at about 2:15 a.m. today, investigators said.

The 33-year-old homeowner, Damon Barone, was asleep in the house with his wife, a son, 6, and an infant daughter when he heard a loud noise, Nelson said.

"He's got a pretty extensive criminal record of felonies over the last 13 years," Nelson said of Dunbar, 44. "He has at least 12 arrests for felonies and a half-dozen convictions. We don't know if he was intent on some other crime or if it was a burglary for something he could turn into money."

Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

I have been waiting for this to happen. For years we have witnessed the carnage when innocents were mowed down at schools, colleges, shopping malls and post offices. The unarmed (disarmed?) were easy targets for crazed gunmen armed with grievances, weapons and ammunition. Now someone has shot back, probably saving many lives. All of the gun-control laws that have been passed and are still being contemplated could not have had the affect of one armed, trained and law-abiding citizen on the scene like 42-year-old Jeanne Assam, a volunteer security guard at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.

WorldNetDaily: Teacher rants against South, church, Rush Limbaugh

The classroom rantings of a teacher in a California school district who targeted the South, church, Republicans, Christians, conservatives and Rush Limbaugh have triggered a First Amendment lawsuit, according to Advocates for Faith and Freedom, an advocacy law firm. The teacher, James Corbett of the Capistrano Unified School District, "spends an extended period of time at the beginning of each class discussing topics that are not only irrelevant to history but also inflammatory and often altogether inappropriate for high school students," the firm's announcement said. "Corbett causes students who hold religious beliefs to feel like second-class citizens because of their protected religious expression, beliefs and conduct. "He has gone as far as stating, 'When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can't see the truth,'" the law firm said.

Among the statements made by the teacher: What part of the country has the highest murder rate? The South. What part of the country has the highest rape rate? The South. What part of the country has the highest … church attendance? The South. Oh, wait a minute. You mean there is not a correlation between these things … You know, you go down to Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, all these states that are as red as they could possibly be, as right-wing Republican as you could possibly be. When you first present these people with the economic policies of the Democratic party, they are all Democrats. Virtually all the social programs, they like. They lead the Democratic party on social issues. That's it. Social issues, can you imagine what they're saying on Rush Limbaugh now? About, 'Middle school people in New England giving people birth control pills. My God. What next?' I love Rush Limbaugh. A fat, pain in the a—liar. And, boy, is he a liar. Unbelievable."

Among other statements by the teacher cited by the lawsuit: The Boy Scouts can't have it both ways. If they want to be an exclusive, Christian organization or an exclusive, God-fearing organization, then they can't receive any more support from the state, and shouldn't." In the industrialized world the people least likely to go to church are the Swedes. The people in the industrialized world most likely to go to church are the Americans. America has the highest crime rate of all industrialized nations, and Sweden has the lowest. The next time somebody tells you religion is connected with morality, you might want to ask them about that. Well, we know abstinence doesn't work. And we know one other thing, and that is, once people become sexually active, they often don't stop for, like, 40 or 50 years. I mean, generally, when you start you don't, like, have a conversion and try to become re-virginized, you know. It's not going to happen.

Christian News Link Depot 12/16/07

2007-12-16T12:37:00.001-05:00

CFP: Mike, we are a pluralistic Judeo-Christian nation

Baptists, like Jews, Catholics, Mormons, Quakers and other branches of the Judeo-Christian tradition, have held different views of theology. But there was always a common thread in Judeo-Christian morality and traditions and in recorded in Holy Scripture. As a result, Christian America has long been the most sympathetic nation on Earth to Jews, especially in politics. Jews were elected to public office in colonial America and this continued throughout the 19th Century when Jews in the antebellum South held positions in the United States Senate, state supreme courts and governorships. Today Jews are represented in the Senate far out of proportion to their percentage of the population, yet no one is troubled by this. We may well be troubled by the Leftism of Barbara Boxer, but not by her Jewishness. In fact, we may well wish that Barbara Boxer thought and spoke more like a devout Jew and less like a Leftist nut.

Once, half of the states of the Union had established state churches – a particular version of Christianity was the “official version.” It was not the Supreme Court or the Bill of Rights that changed this. It was the people of these states themselves who insisted that we have a broadly based Judeo-Christian political foundation, but not a particular version of that tradition. Mike, that is the way America should be: Judeo-Christian, but tolerant.

WorldNetDaily: Church shootings on rise in U.S.

Church shootings, in the headlines because of the attacks by Matthew Murray, 24, of Englewood, Colo., on two Christian groups last weekend, are on the rise across the United States, even though they're not yet at epidemic proportions.

A tabulation of church shootings, or those closely related to a church setting, was done by Gary Cass, chairman of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, and include 10 such attacks over the last four years, including Murray's two attacks.

He said a brief search found the following shootings, before last weekend's attacks: * August 12, 2007: A lone gunman, Eiken Elam Saimon, opened fire in a Missouri Micronesian church, killing a pastor and two other churchgoers. * May 20, 2007: A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Moscow, Idaho, Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer. * Although not at a church building, the Oct. 2, 2006, attack in Lancaster County, Pa., by a gunman who killed five girls and then himself at an Amish school targeted a religious site. * May 21, 2006: Louisiana. Four were killed by a man at Jesus Christ Church. * Feb. 26, 2006: Michigan. Two people were killed at Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church by a man who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend. He later killed himself. * April 9, 2005: A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church in College Park, Ga., where he had once worked as a security guard. * March 12, 2005: A man walked into the services of the Living Church of God in Milwaukee and open fired immediately, killing seven people. * Oct. 5, 2003: A woman opened fire in Turner Monumental AME church in Kirkwood, east of Atlanta, killing the pastor and two others. * Sept. 16, 1999: Seven young people were killed when a man opened fire during a prayer service for teen-agers at the Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas.

A Blog For All: Colorado Heroes

One
was an unarmed Vietnam veteran who exposed himself to fire from the
Colorado shooter, while the other was an armed volunteer security guard
who risked her own life to confront the violent shooter, who had
already killed four other people in two separate incidents.
Together, they saved hundreds of people at the New Life Church.

A
report indicates that the shooter died of a self inflicted gunshot
wound after being hit four times by Assam. This doesn't diminish the
heroism of Bourbannais or Assam because without their confrontation
with Murray, he would have continued his shooting rampage until he was
either cornered and killed or he ran out of bullets.

Anti Jihad Link Depot 12/16/17

2007-12-16T12:27:00.001-05:00

Compass Direct News

Ten persons have been killed and three churches set on fire after Muslim high school students in this northern Nigerian city began a rampage on Tuesday (December 11) that spilled into the city. Today tensions were still high in the area.

An eyewitness at the high school said the Muslim students attacked their Christian peers after unidentified people pulled out two foundation blocks of a high school mosque under construction.

Area Muslims joined the attacking students, resulting in the deaths and damages in the city, including the burning of dozens of homes belonging to Christians.

Palestinian Rocket Wounds 2-Year-Old

A rocket fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza wounded a 2-year-old boy in a community on the Gaza-Israel border, Israeli police and rescue services said Sunday.

The toddler was hit by shrapnel and taken to hospital, and his mother was being treated for shock, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

AP Television News footage showed the boy and his mother leaving the hospital after treatment.

The rocket scored a direct hit on a house in Kibbutz Zikim, an Israeli communal farm less than a mile from Gaza, Rosenfeld said.

Priest Attacked, Hurt in Turkey

A Catholic priest was hospitalized Sunday after being stabbed, the Italian Embassy in Turkey said. Police said they detained the suspected attacker.

The assault was the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in Turkey and was likely to add to concerns about whether the predominantly Muslim country—which is bidding for European Union membership—can protect its Christian community.

American Thinker: Islam: Not Just Another Religion

This campaign season, presidential candidates seem intent on battling each other with a war of words over universal healthcare, tax reform, immigration, the war in Iraq, the economy and Biblical literalism. Yet, they have spent few words on and have literally ignored the greatest threat to America and Western civilization since the Cold War: the global jihad.

More discussion has been devoted to the U.S. treatment of enemy combatants and the prison at Guantanamo Bay than the jihadist threat itself.

Yet, viewing Islamic fundamentalism as just another faith is to play into the hands of those who would destroy us.

Tossed from a car and shot in cold blood - Times Online

“Someone inside threw a woman onto the street,” he said. “She was lying on the road but she was still alive. A man lent out and shot a machine-gun into her body.”

As the van raced away, the shopkeeper ran over to her. She was aged 25 to 30 with long dark hair and was lying face up. “There was so much blood,” he said. “The police just took a photograph and put her in the back of a van.”

There have been 48 women killed in six months for “un-Islamic behaviour”. The murders in the teeming southern port of Basra have highlighted the weakness of the security forces and the strength of Islamic militias as Britain prepares to hand over control to Iraqi officials today.

In another case, two teenagers saw a woman beaten to death by five or six men from the Mahdi Army, Basra’s most powerful militia. One picked up a rock and crushed her skull. The teenagers were told that their home and family would be destroyed if they betrayed the killers.

Family Security Matters

Try to remember the last time you heard an ingenuous, learned, intelligent discussion about the root causes of Islamist terrorism on a news program or a news issues television show. Most likely it was directly after 9/11. The overwhelming majority of inspection done on the issue today centers on the treatment – or perceived mistreatment – of radical Islamofascists caught on the field of battle or those who were apprehended for being implicated in plots to slaughter innocents both here in the United States and abroad. Then, of course, we have the pseudo-intellectual network talking heads and anti-war zealots who insist that it is the radical Islamist, caught with AK-47 in hand, who is the victim of the oppression that America has to offer. It couldn’t possibly that the person pulling the trigger or detonating the suicide vest is to blame. America’s foreign policy “made them do it.”

12/11/07 RedThread Link Depot

2007-12-11T19:31:00.001-05:00

Anger as Dutch couple give up Korean girl, 7, they adopted as baby over 'failure to fit in' | the Daily Mail

A Dutch couple has sparked outrage by giving up a seven-year-old South Korean girl they adopted as a baby – after claiming she didn't "fit in" with their life-style.

WorldNetDaily: What we can't say about black-on-white crime

..... Despite this, we still labor under the illusion that white skin equates to a white sheet, and hate crime laws have become get-whitey laws. And the powers-that-be will continue to exercise double standards until they acknowledge the deep seeds of hatred sown by demagogues in black America.

WorldNetDaily: Hero guard: 'It was me, the gunman, and God'

The female security guard who shot and stopped a gunman at a Colorado Springs church yesterday is crediting God for helping her to resolve the threat by killing the assailant.

Jeanne Assam was hailed by Pastor Brady Boyd with saving many lives in her quick response to gunshots fired at the New Life Church.

Police: Victim Shoots, Kills Home Invader - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando

A man in Orange County grabbed a shotgun and shot and killed one of three home invaders inside his apartment late Sunday, according to police.

Baby tax needed to save planet, claims expert | NEWS.com.au

A WEST Australian medical expert wants families to pay a $5000-plus "baby levy" at birth and an annual carbon tax of up to $800 a child.

Writing in today's Medical Journal of Australia, Associate Professor Barry Walters said every couple with more than two children should be taxed to pay for enough trees to offset the carbon emissions generated over each child's lifetime.

Father killed daughter for not wearing hijab, her friends say

Friends and classmates of a 16-year-old girl who police say was murdered by her devout Muslim father in a Toronto suburb told local media Tuesday she was killed for not wearing a hijab.

Her father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, was arrested at the scene and will be formally charged with murder when he appears in court Wednesday, said police.

The victim's 26 year-old brother was also charged with obstructing police in the investigation.

newsobserver.com | Baker added to Duke lacrosse suit

The lawyers representing the three exonerated lacrosse players amended the civil suit in federal court today to include City Manager Patrick Baker as one of the officials they are suing.

The new complaint portrays Baker as a city official who was very involved with decisions to push ahead with the Duke lacrosse case despite evidence to the contrary.

The suit charges that the defendants maliciously conspired to charge the players with rape even though they knew that the allegations were "a total fabrication by a mentally troubled, drug-prone exotic dancer whose claims, time and again, were contradicted by physical evidence, documentary evidence, other witnesses, and even the accuser herself."

One in five babies born to foreign mother in UK - Telegraph

One in five babies born in Britain last year was born to a woman from overseas, according to the first official analysis of the impact of migration on fertility.

The highest birth rates were among Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi-born mothers, who gave birth to five per cent of all UK babies last year.

CFP: New Peer-Reviewed Study Finds ‘Warming is naturally caused and shows no human influence’

Climate scientists at the University of Rochester, the University of Alabama, and the University of Virginia report that observed patterns of temperature changes (‘fingerprints’) over the last thirty years are not in accord with what greenhouse models predict and can better be explained by natural factors, such as solar variability. Therefore, climate change is ‘unstoppable’ and cannot be affected or modified by controlling the emission of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, as is proposed in current legislation.

Shuster Imagines Evangelicals Going to Gitmo To 'Torture People Just for Fun' | NewsBusters.org

"We'll go to a revival and then go to Guantanamo Bay and torture some people just for fun." -- David Shuster on evangelicals, 12-7-07

Investor's Business Daily -- Five Reasons To Doubt The Claim Iran Has Shuttered Nuke Program

1. The NIE's authors draw a false distinction between Iran's civilian and military nuclear efforts.

2. Based on its lackluster track record, there is no reason to think the IC has good intelligence on Iran's covert activities.

3. The new NIE is an astonishing departure from the IC's previous assessments.

4. While it is not at all clear what new intelligence was used to justify the IC's flip-flop, the details given in press accounts raise a host of troubling questions.

5. Finally, we cannot discount the possibility of politicization.

VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: What a return on our 'investment'!

..... why shouldn't there be a wide-ranging public debate about any doctrines concerning marriage, reproduction and family size, taught surreptitiously to our young by government agents, that have the same long-term effect?

The purpose of such surreptitious indoctrination of the young is to foreclose debate on these issues, with anyone who raises such questions being jeered as a racist, homophobe, child-hater or promoter of mass illiteracy before he or she can finish a sentence.

Six Wounded, Two Dead, in Separate Colorado Shootings

2007-12-09T18:44:00.001-05:00

FOXNews.com - Six Wounded, Two Dead, in Separate Colorado Shootings

A gunman killed two staff members at a missionary training center early Sunday after being told he couldn't spend the night, and about 12 hours later four people were shot at a busy megachurch in Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs police Lt. Fletcher Howard said a suspect had been detained in the shootings at the New Life Church, but a source who was locked down at the church Sunday afternoon said a security guard had shot and killed the gunman. Authorities in Arvada, a Denver suburb about 65 miles north, said no one had been captured in the shootings there.

It was not immediately known whether the shootings were related, but Arvada authorities said they were sharing information with Colorado Springs investigators.

Ehud Goldwasser's mother attacks state on lack of effort to free her son

2007-12-09T18:17:00.001-05:00

Ehud Goldwasser's mother attacks state on lack of effort to free her son | Jerusalem Post

Miki Goldwasser, mother of Israeli soldier Ehud (Udi) Goldwasser, whose abduction by Hizbullah along with Eldad Regev sparked the Second Lebanon War, sent a scathing letter Sunday to the state's president, prime minister, defense minister and Knesset chair. In it, she attacked what she perceived as a lack of government effort to bring about the release of her son.

Goldwasser asserted that leaders had "hurt the heart of the nation" and had "broken our uncompromising belief in the state's commitment to the citizens who serve it."

The abduction "is not only the problem of the families. It is a national problem and our politicians must understand that," she said.

Gunman kills 2 in missionary center

2007-12-09T18:15:00.001-05:00

Gunman kills 2 in missionary center - Yahoo! News

A gunman walked into a training center dormitory for young Christian missionaries early Sunday and opened fire, killing two of the center's staff members and wounding two others.

No arrests had been made by late morning.

The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center, police spokeswoman Susan Medina said. About 45 people were evacuated from the dormitory in this Denver suburb and moved to an undisclosed location.

A man and a woman in their mid-20s died, and two men ages 22 and 23 were wounded, Medina said. One of the injured men was in critical condition, said Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With a Mission.

Witnesses told police that the gunman was a 20-year-old white male, wearing a dark jacket and skull cap. He may have glasses or a beard.

Darv Smith, director of a Youth With a Mission center in Boulder, said people ranging from their late teens to their 70s undergo a 12-week discipleship course that prepares them to be missionaries.

He said the center trains about 300 people a year.

Filidis said staffers are usually former missionaries themselves and that the "mercy ministries" performed by trainees include orphanage work. He said he didn't know where the group being trained in Arvada was going to be sent.

Deny Killers Their 15 Minutes Of 'Fame'

2007-12-09T17:53:00.001-05:00

IBDeditorials.com: Deny Killers Their 15 Minutes Of 'Fame'

I still remember where I was when I heard that the student who committed the Virginia Tech massacre had released a press packet including a video, a manifesto and photos of himself holding various weapons.

I was just leaving a TV studio (having spoken about something else). Bursting with anger, I asked one of the producers if I could use his computer and posted on the web an urgent plea to NBC News (the organization that had first received the packet): "Don't publish it!"

They did, of course. And so did every other news outlet. The killer's picture, his disordered thoughts and his resentments were aired for days and weeks.

Still, there does seem to be one factor at work in most of the cases that make headlines. From the Columbine killers to the Virginia Tech slayer, from the Finnish murderer to Delaware State, the destroyers seem to have one thing in common: All seek fame.

They may know they are going to die. They may plan to kill themselves at the end of a murderous spree or hope to be gunned down by police. But they also know their names, their faces and in some cases (like the Unabomber and the Virginia Tech killer) their causes will become world famous.

Americans worship fame as some ancient cultures once worshipped idols. People will do and say nearly anything to get on television. Whole genres of TV programming — the misnamed "reality TV" shows — are based on this lust for fame among otherwise sane Americans.

And the distinction between fame and infamy becomes more eroded with each passing day. For disturbed and mentally unstable people, fame must seem to be success. They cannot achieve anything else, but they can be famous.

What can be done? This is not a job for the state. This is a matter for the press. What is desperately needed is just a modicum of public spiritedness by television, radio and print journalists. In Washington, D.C., radio talk show host Chris Core has publicly pleaded with broadcasters to simply refrain from using the names or faces of killers. He is so right.

Would it be that difficult? There is no law currently forbidding newspapers and TV stations from publishing the identities of alleged rape victims. This is a journalistic convention, nothing more. (It might be a good idea to withhold the identities of accused rapists as well until after a verdict of guilty.)

If there is a shooting at a school or whatever, by all means report it. Simply omit the name of the alleged killer, omit the interviews with his neighbors ("he seemed quiet, kept to himself"), and by all means leave his philosophy, religious ideas, Goth clothing style and all other personal details on the cutting-room floor.

Perhaps then we will deny oxygen to this terrible fire.

Jihadism, Liberalism and Perversion

2007-12-09T17:46:00.001-05:00

American Thinker: Jihadism, Liberalism and Perversion

It is the intense pleasure derived from religiously sanctioned murderous lust that makes the jihadis so dangerous. The degree of narcissism matters little; these are not people who can be 'treated' by shoring up their narcissism, and bolstering their self esteem. It is our very civilized, therapeutic culture that makes us flinch from taking the necessary measures needed to deal with such foes. In truth, it may be our own narcissism -- the need to reassure ourselves of our superior civilized nature -- that causes us to obsess about whether necessary measures for waging war, like water boarding, and Guantanamo constitute 'torture'.

In our politically correct age, the word ‘perversion' has been banished from the circles of multicultural academia, literary and journalistic usage. It is, we are instructed, ‘judgmental', tends to unfairly ‘normalize' heterosexuality and is, like the ‘N-word', insulting. It creates hierarchical differences and that is illiberal.

Nevertheless, despite the efforts to remove it from the language and/or because of that effort, it still carries an emotional charge. In a time when gleeful murderous terrorists blow themselves up daily, it behooves us to face the reality that militant Islamic jihadism is a perversion and its practitioners derive a gratification that is more than simply defensive against feeling of inadequacy. It is the pleasurable charge that comes from throwing off all inhibitions on the discharge of murderous rage.

What she found was that perversions are an essential way in which the human mind and psyche rebel against and seek to evade reality. That reality is rooted in biology: the male-female difference. The intolerance and fear of such differences can result in the practices of Wahabbi Islam, wherein women are so feared that they must be hidden and brutalized like beasts of the field. Muslim men's terror of women is undoubtedly accompanied by a high incidence of hidden (not so hidden when they travel to the Riviera) perverse sexuality.

Chasseguet-Smirgel's insight revealed that, besides perverse behavior there are perverse modes of thinking, with the same aim of erasing distinctions and eliminating systematic thought itself. Thus, for example, Post-Modernism represents perverse thinking in its denial of the difference between truth and falsehood, good and evil, superior and inferior cultures. When it argues that ‘male' and ‘female' are ‘constructed' identities, it argues against the immutable differences imposed by biological reality.

Socialism is similarly perverse in its radical egalitarianism, denying differences of talent, intelligence, motivation, skill. Liberalism's affirmative action is perverse in its effort to impose an egalitarianism that is unattainable. It seeks to correct the "socially constructed" discriminatory differences. (Under its strictures shouldn't there be affirmative action for white basketball players?) This is perverse thinking. Modern politically correct liberalism is shot through with perversion. Renouncing her early socialist utopianism, Chasseguet-Smirgel became a conservative.

Ideas are perverse when they seek to undermine distinctions that are necessary for thought itself to exist. When such distinctions are eliminated, anything goes. When liberalism asserts that al Qaeda and America are equal threats to the world, it is being perverse. In fact, when liberals argue that modern Christianity and Islam are both ‘religions of peace' they are being perverse.

When language is debased by perverse thinking war becomes peace and all distinctions are rendered meaningless. Socialism embraces perverse thinking when it argues for a utopian egalitarianism that constitutes an assault on human differences, the differences that exist -- of talent, motivation, achievement, skill, and worth. It is perverse in ultimately reducing the vitality of difference in favor of deadening sameness.

Ideas do have consequences.

Some remain puzzled by the alliance between modern day left-liberalism and jihadism. Perversion explains the puzzle.

To the perverse jihadis who constitute large numbers of Muslims, the existence of the female sex is threatening, hence women are treated as little more than cattle, with fewer rights than some lower animals. Why do Western feminists keep their mouths shut? Because many are themselves leftist utopian perverts, who also cannot tolerate the existence of two sexes and secretly long to submit to the appealing sadism of the jihadis.

Civilization has been built painstakingly on difference: male and female, yes and no, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. There are rules, laws, customs, hard-won scientific knowledge. Civilization is a fragile guardian of reality, which must be defended from the onslaught of barbarians wishing to abolish rules and differences.

In each of our psyches the perverse temptation must be fought, if civilization is to survive. The more advanced the civilization, the more intense the appeal to throw off constraints. Often individual rebels are rewarded with the title of ‘artist', but Sade was an artist whose ideas were realized in Nazism.

When the discharge of polymorphous perversion is united with murderous aggression we get Jihadism. Such perverse ideologies could be more easily fought if not for the politically correct liberal urge to submit to them in their crudest totalitarian form.

Epistle to the Muslims

2007-12-09T17:38:00.001-05:00

Epistle to the Muslims by Bruce S. Thornton

On November 18, the New York Times ran a full-page ad entitled “A Christian Response to A Common Word Between Us and You.” A Common Word is an October letter from 138 Muslim scholars and clerics “to leaders of Christian churches, everywhere.” It reads like an invitation to ecumenical tolerance and “peace and understanding” based on “the very foundational principles of both faiths”: “The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity.” Over 300 Christian theologians and church leaders signed the “Christian Response,” including the heads of some of the nation’s most prestigious seminaries and theological schools. But if it accurately represents the thinking of mainstream Christian leadership, then Christianity in America is in deep trouble.

The response opens on a familiar self-loathing note, in the therapeutic style that has convinced jihadists that Christianity in the West is an empty shell, a mere lifestyle choice. Noting that Muslim and Christian “relations have sometimes been tense, even characterized by outright hostility,” the letter professes “that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in excesses of the ‘war on terror’) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors,” and so “we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world.”

The groveling self-abasement of this language, particularly its begging forgiveness of Allah, is matched only by its remarkable historical ignorance. “Outright hostility” has indeed existed between Muslims and Christians, for the simple reason that for 13 centuries Islam grew and spread by war, plunder, rapine, and enslavement throughout the Christian Middle East. Allah’s armies destroyed regions that were culturally Christian for centuries, variously slaughtering, enslaving, and converting their inhabitants, or allowing them to live as oppressed dhimmi, their lives and property dependent on a temporary “truce” that Muslim overlords could abrogate at any time.

For its part, A Common Word makes no apologies for the violence that Islam has perpetrated against Christian people up to the present day. And the “Christian Response” repeats the “common ground” mantra, along with the usual calls to “interfaith dialogue,” and makes flattering references to the Muslim clerics’ “deep insight and courage” and their “generous letter.” This appeasing tone of the traditional dhimmi—an unreciprocated solicitude typical of the inferior when dealing with his superior––suggests once again that the West is spiritually dead, its Christian faith in the hands of those who will not defend it, even in print.

Advent: of what?

2007-12-07T19:03:00.001-05:00

davidwarrenonline.com - ESSAYS ON OUR TIMES

According to American media reports (and what could be more reliable?) the hottest gift items for pre-school children in this year's Christmas buying season are: cellphones, laptops, digital cameras, and MP3 players. A New York Times item directs us to the “hottest toys list” at Amazon.com, and such products as the Easy Link Internet Launch Pad from Fisher-Price; and an exercise bike for toddlers, connected to a video game. The theme of, “get the kid staring at a screen,” runs right through the chart, and since the screens are interactive, let me take this opportunity to warn medical professionals to prepare for a pandemic of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome among early adolescents in another ten years.

The comment is often made, by people of my own religious and political outlook, that you cannot write satire any more, for the world of our contemporaries is self-satirizing on an heroic scale. I have myself made passing references, over the years, to what I call the “mall culture”: the vision of frenetic consumerism one encounters, even while trying to avoid it.

Which is not to say that the person determined to find a church will not find one today: they are still there, embedded in the gums of our older neighbourhoods, like an old man's remaining teeth, many of them not yet turned into discount furniture outlets. They have made their own accommodations with the cold world. Parishioners now drive in from across town; almost every church I know has a parking problem. Few have the luxury of walking to church any more: in their Sunday finest.

I think much of the power that animates the post-modern environmental movement is dangerously spilt religion. We look at our world, and can see that it is ugly. Some see that it does little beyond burning fuel. But grant at least the happy fact, that we have never before in history had so much food with which to gorge ourselves, or better access to “leisure activities” (see Christmas toy list, above).

Yet out of our prosperity snakes a kind of nihilism. Out of the negation of the old Christian Canada, comes the desire to negate this negation -- to create some fanatic environmentalist regime that will stop the consumerism, and leave us with nothing at all.

What is the alternative? What shall we gather through this Advent season, to present to our children on Christmas Day? I think Christ is the only answer.

Online avengers perpetuate the problem

2007-12-07T19:01:00.001-05:00

www.kansascity.com | 12/06/2007 | Online avengers perpetuate the problem

An army of Internet avengers has set out to destroy Lori Drew and her family.

With ruthless efficiency, they have learned the identity of the suburban St. Louis woman whose cyberspace meddling appears to have played a role in the suicide of a 13-year-old neighbor girl.

They have published her address, phone numbers and photos, and harangued the clients of her advertising business.

The Drew family has fled its home. Their teenage daughter is living apart from her parents, for her safety. The advertising business is closed.

And still the online avengers forge on, seeking the whereabouts of Lori and Curt Drew and vowing them no peace, ever.

The irony is rich. Lori Drew’s use of the Internet to meddle in the life of another person has earned her worldwide scorn. And now a legion of strangers, under the guise of justice, is stooping to her level.

“They’ll basically end up doing the same thing to that family and their daughter that they did to Megan,” Lt. Craig McGuire of the St. Charles County Sheriff’s Department told the Riverfront Times, a weekly newspaper in St. Louis.

One can conclude from the information available that Drew, who is 48, is immature, the worst kind of helicopter parent and cowardly. Instead of owning up to the MySpace stunt, she let Megan’s parents learn about it from others.

I personally have no wish to ever meet the woman.

But who are these people who have made it their business to destroy her? They are a jury with laptops, their verdict rendered without insight into the dynamics of two families or the state of mind of a fragile 13-year-old girl or even a complete explanation of what actually occurred.

Accomplished in the art of cyberspace nastiness, they direct their fury at a family whose own foray down that road had tragic, but unintended, consequences.

The cyber jury has decided Drew caused Megan’s death, as surely as if she had fired a gun at the child. Any professional will say that’s not the case.

“One incident never causes a suicide,” said Marilyn Metzl, a Kansas City psychologist. “It’s always a series of events.”

Metzl, who works with children, adolescents and adults, sees the wreckage of cyber obsession all the time. She’s counseled teenagers who have flunked out of school because their parallel lives on the Internet have left them no time for the business of actual living. She’s seen marriages ruined by phantom cyber lovers.

“The World Wide Web is incredible, but it’s also dangerous,” Metzl said. “When you’re dealing with a fantasy life, it can be wonderful or hideous.”

Surely one of the best things parents can do to guard their children from Internet hazards is to show them, by example, how to live a life that doesn’t require tapping on a keyboard.

Be a tutor, help at a food pantry, visit an elderly neighbor. Engage in real relationships with real people. You’ll strike more of a blow for justice and leave the world a better place than all the avengers of cyberspace.

What the CAIR bear teaches about Islam

2007-12-07T18:42:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: What the CAIR bear teaches about Islam

All are scandalized that in a country dominated by Shariah law, an "infidel" would be targeted for trivia. Or, rather, for nothing at all. The indignation with which the incident has been greeted in the West is more telling than the event itself. It speaks to a hopeless, congenital stupidity about Islam.

We know what to expect from Islam's advocates. Whenever a Muslim woman's genitals are infibulated, when she is flogged for having been raped, killed for "honor," or betrothed at age 9, Islam's aficionados invariably claim these barbarisms are a manifestation of cultural peculiarities, or of the imposter, inauthentic Islam. The teddy-bear incident will be similarly rationalized.

Ms. Gibbons' innocence about Islam reminds me of another group of half-witted women, this time American, who dominated the news some years back. Guided by hormones – and the liberal tenet according to which all people are fundamentally the same – the ladies married Saudi Arabian lads. These women were convinced they could transform their Wahhabi paramours into sensitive Westerners, who share the housework and carry the newborn in a papoose.

Having entered such ill-fated relationships willingly, and had children with their Wahhabi men, the women were now ready for the next stage in the "adventure": They followed their spouses to Saudi Arabia. What fun! There, much to their surprise, their mates turned them into inmates. The women and their daughters were now rightless prisoners. How's that for an "unforeseen" development?!

Before relocating to Saudi Arabia, you'd have thought the ladies would've taken a trip first to their local library. Had they done their homework, they'd have discovered that Saudi Arabia is a medieval theocracy, where uttering a loud Hail Mary can get you into trouble with the religious police, the Mutawaa'in.

In one incident, the Saudi Mutawaa'in caused the death by fire of a number of schoolgirls. The devout deputies refused to let the girls escape because their heads were immodestly uncovered, the fire having incinerated their headgear. Suffice it to say, you'd have to be retarded – and certainly negligent – to voluntarily raise daughters in Saudi Arabia.

When reality dawned, the American women who wed Wahhabis turned to President Bush to rectify their marital mistakes and rescue the children they'd imperiled.

Ms. Gibbons is lucky; she escaped with her life. She now continues her mea culpa – bowing and scraping to the religion of peace's raging religionists. The adventure may be over, but the learning has yet to begin.

Breaking rules necessary to get ahead, teens say

2007-12-07T18:41:00.001-05:00

Breaking rules necessary to get ahead, teens say -- OrlandoSentinel.com

Forget about hard work. Many of today's teenagers believe they have to lie and cheat to succeed, according to a new ethics survey.

In today's world, you have to break some rules if you want to stay ahead, according to nearly 40 percent of teenagers who took the 2007 online survey for Junior Achievement and Deloitte & Touche USA LLP, an accounting firm. That means plagiarizing and cheating to make good grades, lying when necessary and stealing when you're short on cash, the teens said.

"It suggests an attitude of ethical relativism and rationalization of whatever actions serve one's immediate needs and purposes," David Miller, a business ethics professor and executive director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, said in a statement. "This way of thinking will inevitably lead to unethical if not illegal actions that will damage individual lives and ruin corporate reputations."

The majority of the 725 teens who were polled -- 71 percent -- said they're ethically ready for work. But asked to compare their ethics with those of today's professional adults, teens ranked their peer group poorly.

The survey results could be the result of living in the 21st century, Bell said, where illegal downloading doesn't seem as sinful as shoplifting. The study found that the teens polled in September didn't acknowledge that unethical behavior applies to all areas of life, including online, officials said.

More than half the teens polled said it's not fair for someone to get hired or fired based on what's posted on MySpace or elsewhere on the Internet.

Teens also didn't concede the similarities between stealing online and stealing from a store, according to the survey. Almost half of them -- 47 percent -- said it's OK to download music without paying for it, but only 5 percent said it's OK to shoplift.

"A lot of young people don't have a lot of life experience, and they feel like they can do things with impunity," Bell said. "They seem to feel like they can behave one way in their online life than the matrices of the real world."

This is the fifth annual survey that the groups have done to measure teen ethics. The 2007 national survey had a sampling error of 4 percentage points.

Sometimes, the teens said, there are good reasons for doing bad things. Of the teens who supported violence against another person, 77 percent said it's justified when it's a matter of self-defense.

Twenty-four percent of teens said it's OK to cheat on tests, especially if a personal desire to succeed is the goal. Fifteen percent said plagiarism was acceptable, with nearly half of those teens justifying it when there's not enough time to complete an assignment.

Bell wondered whether the responses reflect a shift in attitudes toward achieving success.

"We live in such an age of instant gratification," Bell said, "that we're not willing to put in the time and effort of hard work."

Group Says NBC Refuses to Air Ads Thanking Troops Over Holidays

2007-12-07T18:38:00.001-05:00

FOXNews.com - Group Says NBC Refuses to Air Ads Thanking Troops Over Holidays

NBC has nixed holiday advertisements meant to thank troops for serving overseas in opposition to the inclusion of a non-profit's Web address.

The ads, paid for by the non-profit Freedom's Watch, are a simple thank you, the group says, with people shown paying gratitude to members of the military and the final frame showing the group's Web address, www.freedomswatch.org.

NBC is refusing to air the ads as long as the address is included, according to an e-mail exchange between NBC and the group, which Freedom's Watch provided to FOX News.

"Per my previous email, the www.freedomswatch.org website will have to be redacted from the commercials for approval. This comes from Alan Wurtzel and Rick Cotton," according to one of the notes.

Wurtzel is president of research at NBC. Rick Cotton is general counsel for NBC Universal.

FOXNews.com - Group Says NBC Refuses to Air Ads Thanking Troops Over Holidays - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum

Speaking with FOX on Friday, Wurtzel said NBC has no problem with the content of the ad, specificallythe well-wishes to troops.

However, he said, the link to the website violates their policy on controversial issue advertising because it encourages political action and other activities. He said the policy is applied consistently across the board and this group was not targeted in any way.

FOXNews.com - Group Says NBC Refuses to Air Ads Thanking Troops Over Holidays - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum

Freedom's Watch President and CEO Bradley Blakeman told FOX on Friday that this is not the first time NBC has turned down his group's ads and believes it has a specific objection to his group's support for the War on Terror.

"NBC asked us to re-vamp our Web site. They wanted to censor us, and we said, 'No we're not going to be censored,'" Blakeman said, noting that the organization's Web site points to more than 20 other non-profit Web sites where readers can thank and support troops.

NBC also objected to using images including military uniforms and vehicles and asked for proof of government approval for the group's use of the images in its ads.

Freedom's Watch says it has never been questioned on that before and paid for the rights to use the images from an independent licensing company.

House vote on illegal images sweeps in Wi-Fi, Web sites

2007-12-06T18:59:00.001-05:00

House vote on illegal images sweeps in Wi-Fi, Web sites | The Iconoclast - politics, law, and technology - CNET News.com

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved a bill saying that anyone offering an open Wi-Fi connection to the public must report illegal images including "obscene" cartoons and drawings--or face fines of up to $300,000.

That broad definition would cover individuals, coffee shops, libraries, hotels, and even some government agencies that provide Wi-Fi. It also sweeps in social-networking sites, domain name registrars, Internet service providers, and e-mail service providers such as Hotmail and Gmail, and it may require that the complete contents of the user's account be retained for subsequent police inspection.

Before the House vote, which was a lopsided 409 to 2, Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas) held a press conference on Capitol Hill with John Walsh, the host of America's Most Wanted and Ernie Allen, head of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Allen said the legislation--called the Securing Adolescents From Exploitation-Online Act, or SAFE Act--will "ensure better reporting, investigation, and prosecution of those who use the Internet to distribute images of illegal child pornography."

The SAFE Act represents the latest in Congress' efforts--some of which have raised free speech and privacy concerns--to crack down on sex offenders and Internet predators. One bill introduced a year ago was even broader and would have forced Web sites and blogs to report illegal images. Another would require sex offenders to supply e-mail addresses and instant messaging user names.

Wednesday's vote caught Internet companies by surprise: the Democratic leadership rushed the SAFE Act to the floor under a procedure that's supposed to be reserved for noncontroversial legislation. It was introduced October 10, but has never received even one hearing or committee vote. In addition, the legislation approved this week has changed substantially since the earlier version and was not available for public review.

This is what the SAFE Act requires: Anyone providing an "electronic communication service" or "remote computing service" to the public who learns about the transmission or storage of information about certain illegal activities or an illegal image must (a) register their name, mailing address, phone number, and fax number with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's "CyberTipline" and (b) "make a report" to the CyberTipline that (c) must include any information about the person or Internet address behind the suspect activity and (d) the illegal images themselves. (By the way, "electronic communications service" and "remote computing service" providers already have some reporting requirements under existing law too.)

The definition of which images qualify as illegal is expansive. It includes obvious child pornography, meaning photographs and videos of children being molested. But it also includes photographs of fully clothed minors in overly "lascivious" poses, and certain obscene visual depictions including a "drawing, cartoon, sculpture, or painting." (Yes, that covers the subset of anime called hentai).

There are two more points worth noting. First, the vote on the SAFE Act seems unusually rushed. It's not entirely clear that the House Democratic leadership really meant this legislation to slap new restrictions on hundreds of thousands of Americans and small businesses who offer public wireless connections. But they'll nevertheless have to abide by the new rules if senators go along with this idea (and it's been a popular one in the Senate).

The second point is that Internet providers already are required by another federal law to report child pornography sightings to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which is in turn charged with forwarding that report to the appropriate police agency. So there's hardly an emergency, which makes the Democrats' rush for a vote more inexplicable than usual.

They don’t know they’re riding a tiger that in the end will devour them, too.

2007-12-06T18:51:00.001-05:00

The Corner on National Review Online

One of the critical differences between America and the rest of the west is that America has a First Amendment and the rest don't. And a lot of them are far too comfortable with the notion that in free societies it is right and proper for the state to regulate speech.

Up north, the Canadian Islamic Congress announced the other day that at least two of Canada’s “Human Rights Commissions” – one federal, one provincial – had agreed to hear their complaints that their “human rights” had been breached by this “flagrantly Islamophobic” excerpt from my book, as published in the country’s bestselling news magazine, Maclean’s. Several readers and various Canadian media outlets have enquired what my defense to the charges is. Here’s my answer:

I can defend myself if I have to. But I shouldn’t have to.

If the Canadian Islamic Congress wants to disagree with my book, fine. Join the club. But, if they want to criminalize it, nuts. That way lies madness. America Alone was a bestseller in Canada, made all the literary Top Ten hit parades, Number One at Amazon Canada, Number One on The National Post’s national bestseller list, Number One on various local sales charts from statist Quebec to cowboy Alberta, etc. I find it difficult to imagine that a Canadian “human rights” tribunal would rule that all those Canadians who bought the book were wrong and that it is beyond the bounds of acceptable (and legal) discourse in Canada.

As I say, I find it difficult to imagine. But not impossible. These "human rights" censors started with small fry - obscure websites, "homophobes" who made the mistake of writing letters to local newspapers or quoting the more robust chunks of Leviticus - and, because they got away with it, it now seems entirely reasonable for a Canadian pseudo-court to sit in judgment on the content of a mainstream magazine and put a big old "libel chill" over critical areas of public debate. The "progressive" left has grown accustomed to the regulation of speech, thinking it just a useful way of sticking it to Christian fundamentalists, right-wing columnists, and other despised groups. They don’t know they’re riding a tiger that in the end will devour them, too.

12 eye-opening books for Christmas

2007-12-06T18:47:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: 12 eye-opening books for Christmas

Happily, this past year has witnessed an unprecedented explosion of eye-opening books on a wide array of truly consequential topics.

To read these books is to rethink just about everything the media have told us and historians have very nearly sold us. Let them be your 12 drummers drumming this Christmas.

"Blacklisted by History." In this masterful instant classic, M. Stanton Evans sets out to tell the "Untold Story of Joe McCarthy" and does so definitively.

"My Grandfather's Son." If Clarence Thomas had done no more than tell of his coming of age under the firm hand of his extraordinary grandfather the book would be worth the price of admission.

"Sacred Causes." Secular British historian Michael Burleigh does for Pope Pius XII what Evans does for Joe McCarthy. He unravels one of history's greatest libels and traces it to its very red roots.

"The Forgotten Man." Of course, the New Deal was a botch. Eight years after FDR launched it, the unemployment rate was still in excess of 10 percent. ABETTO indeed! Amity Shlaes brings the obvious to light in this highly engaging, eye-popping book.

"Shadow Warriors." Ken Timmerman tells another "Untold Story," and that is of the relentless sabotage of the Bush administration by its myriad enemies in the CIA and State Department and their friends in the media, particularly the New York Times and the Washington Post.

"Sabotage," by Rowan Scarborough, sheds additional light on "America's Enemies Within the CIA" and is absolutely worth the read.

"Target." In this scary and straightforward account, Kathleen Willey reminds us how only the willful blindness of the media has kept Hillary's career alive.

"Until Proven Innocent." Although Stuart Taylor is associated with the liberal Brookings Institute, you would never guess it in reading his and KC Johnson's unsparing deconstruction of the Duke lacrosse case.

"Unholy Terror." The Democratic anti-intervention crowd has purged its memory banks of the Clinton era Balkan misadventures, the most dishonestly reported military affair since the Spanish Civil War.

"Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years." No bigger fraud has been perpetrated on the American people in my lifetime than global warming, and no more dangerous a one.

"What's So Great About Christianity." Dinesh D'Souza slices and dices his way through the anti-religion, anti-Christian media clutter and reminds so many of us why we adhere to what is easily the world's most successful tradition. Buy this book for all the Christian students in your life – and quiz them on it.

"Lone Survivor." During World War II, every school kid in America would have known the story of Marcus Luttrell and his Navy Seal comrades in Afghanistan. Today, the media conspire to keep stories of such extraordinary valor and patriotism out of the news and out of the theaters.

Can diversity destroy us?

2007-12-06T18:22:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Can diversity destroy us?

On the Great Seal of the United States, first suggested by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, there was to be emblazoned a new motto: "E Pluribus Unum" – "Out of many, one."

Yet it has lately become fashionable to say that America is great not because she is united, but because she is diverse. It is because America is a multicultural, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual nation that she is a great nation. A corollary is that the more diverse America becomes, the better and greater she becomes.

And so our rulers, marinated in the myths that we "are a nation of immigrants" and "our diversity is our strength," continue to embrace mass immigration – the more the better. But are the myths true?

By 1960, we were almost 90 percent European and more than 90 percent Christian – of one nationality, American, one language, English, and one culture.

That America is gone forever.

Last week, we learned that in the last seven years 10.3 million people, almost all from the Third World, entered the United States, more than half illegally. The nation that was one-tenth minority in 1960 is now one-third minority. European-Americans will soon be a minority in the nation, as they are today in California, Texas and most large American cities.

And when that day comes, what then will unite us as a people?

Certainly not religious faith, for the last 40 years have seen a large influx of Muslims, the rise of a rabid secularism and the break-up of Christian churches – the Episcopalians most recently – over issues of morality

And certainly not culture, as we are in a cultural war over history, heroes and holidays.

And how can we say diversity is a strength, when the most diverse nations of Europe, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, shattered into 22 nations as soon as they became free, and Slovaks and Czechs divorced? Ethnic and linguistic diversity is now pulling Belgium apart, as they tore Cyprus in two.

Since World War II, diversity – racial, religious, ethnic, cultural – has pulled Malaysia, the Indian subcontinent, Pakistan, Indonesia and Ethiopia apart, and is today pulling Iraq, Turkey and Lebanon apart. How, when tribalism is everywhere ascendant, is diversity a strength?

Our racial diversity has ever been the most divisive issue in America – and remains so, as we see daily from Jena, the Imus affair and the Duke rape case.

The Melting Pot – language, law, culture – worked to make us one nation and one people. But that Melting Pot, cracked and broken, is rejected by multiculturalists as an instrument of cultural genocide, crafted by white Europeans to annihilate native cultures.

This generation is witnessing the Deconstruction of America. Out of one, many.

Victim In "Jena Six" Beating Files Suit

2007-12-05T19:57:00.001-05:00

Victim In "Jena Six" Beating Files Suit, Lawsuit In Racially Charged Beating Case Alleges School Did Not Adequately Supervise Students - CBS News

The family of Justin Barker, the victim in the "Jena Six" racial beating case in Louisiana, has filed a civil lawsuit against the local school board, the parents of the six young men accused of beating him and the adult members among the six.

David and Kelli Barker and their son allege that seven Jena High School students attacked Justin on Dec. 4, 2006, as he walked out of the school's gym.

The suit names the attackers as Mychal Bell, Jesse Beard, Theo Shaw, Bryant Purvis, Carwin Jones and Robert Bailey Jr., as well as a seventh student who has not been officially named by law enforcement as a part of the attack.

The lawsuit alleges that school employees were not adequately supervising students or maintaining discipline.

Pro-life: What does it really mean?

2007-12-05T19:55:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Pro-life: What does it really mean?

Today, there seems to be a lot of debate about what it means when someone says they are pro-life. This is especially true for politicians. For clarity's sake, let's define the term. The pro-life position is that a new human life is created at the moment of fertilization and is, thus, entitled to the same legal protections as any other human being.

Then there is the person who says that they are personally opposed to abortion and would never participate in one, but pro-choice when it comes to legality. As amazing as it may seem, I have actually heard pro-lifers describe people who say this as pro-life.

In reality, this is the most insidious and despicable of all positions on abortion. After all, there is no reason to oppose abortion other than the belief that it takes the life of a living human being. So what the "personally opposed" crowd is saying is: "I agree that abortion is the intentional killing of a baby, but if other people want to do it I support their legal right to do so and it's not my place to interfere." That is not a pro-life position. It's like someone in 1860 saying, "I am personally opposed to slavery and I would never own one, but if someone else wants to own a few that's their business."

Another stance often mischaracterized as pro-life is the "pro-life with exceptions" position. You'll hear people say things like, "I am pro-life, but I think there should be an exception when the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest," or "I am pro-life, but abortion should be legal when the baby is handicapped."

It is a complete abandonment of the pro-life principle to say it should be permissible to kill selected categories of children. When someone says they are pro-life but that abortion should be allowed in some circumstances, the question is whether they would support killing a 5-year-old in those same circumstances. If not, then it is clear that they don't see born and unborn children as morally equal. In other words, they do not subscribe to the most fundamental tenet of the pro-life position.

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that no person shall be deprived of his or her life without due process of law. Even Harry Blackmun, the Supreme Court justice who wrote Roe vs. Wade, said that if the personhood of the unborn were ever established, the right to abortion evaporated.

To understand how preposterous this is, imagine that a state legislature passed a law allowing parents of newborn children to take a few days to decide whether they are really prepared to start a family. Under this new statute, if they decided they were not ready for this responsibility, they would be legally allowed to have a physician slit their child's throat.

So the problem is not that women have abortions, but that children die. And that only occurs because our nation took away their right to life. So maybe we need to talk a little less about stopping abortion and a little more about returning legal protection to the unborn. Perhaps then, all these people claiming to be pro-life would know what being pro-life actually means.

DPS was watching burglars shot by Horn

2007-12-05T19:50:00.001-05:00

DPS was watching burglars shot by Horn

Even before their deaths prompted a series of heated debates about the use of deadly force, detectives at the Department of Public Safety had their eye on Diego Ortiz and Miguel Dejesus.

The two were shot and killed by Joe Horn, a Pasadena man who thought they were burglarizing his neighbor’s home last month.

According to a DPS memo obtained by 11 News, the department was investigating the use of Puerto Rican birth certificates by Colombians seeking to obtain Texas driver’s licenses.

Both Ortiz and Dejesus had applied for licenses. Dejesus listed his country of origin as Puerto Rico, but both men were Colombian.
Pasadena resident reportedly shoots suspected thieves

Apparently, the DPS is investigating hundreds of immigrants who may have used illegal papers to get Texas licenses.

But that’s not all.

A much wider probe has been launched into an organized syndicate of Colombians who are engaged in illegal weapons sales and home break-ins – just like the one Ortiz and Dejesus were involved in last month in Pasadena.

That day, Joe Horn and a shotgun stood in the way of the suspected thieves, but in many instances the suspects have gotten away.

The burglars are said to be very effective at what they do, conducting extensive surveillance on their targets before striking. Some of the suspects are extremely violent.

Tancredo to boycott Spanish-language debate

2007-12-05T19:48:00.001-05:00

Tancredo to boycott Spanish-language debate - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

Rep. Tom Tancredo says his fellow Republican presidential candidates are aiding immigrants in breaking the law by taking part in this weekend's Spanish-language debate in Miami.

"What all my colleagues — what the other candidates are doing — it's encouraging violation of the law because it's saying, 'Don't worry about the fact that you have to know English to earn citizenship,' " said Mr. Tancredo, the only Republican to turn down the invitation from Univision for Sunday night's debate and who said the other candidates' participation was worse than pandering.

For the Colorado congressman, it's a matter of principle: He said the other candidates are contributing to the Balkanization of the country by joining the debate, in which the candidates will speak English, but their answers will be translated into Spanish for broadcast on the nation's largest Spanish-language network.

Mr. Tancredo said it was a "no-brainer" to reject Univision's invitation, but his decision has been widely debated on the Internet, and some of his supporters said he is missing a chance to take his message where it needs to be heard.

Mr. Tancredo said he expects his voice is being heard this way. "My not being there is probably the strongest statement I can make on this issue," he said.

He also rejected the criticism that he is refusing to address a particular audience, saying this is purely an issue of language. He was the only Republican candidate to accept an invitation to speak to the annual convention of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People this year.

Asked if he would watch the debate from home, he said that wasn't the plan: "Nah, I don't know Spanish."

Sex offender charged in boy's death

2007-12-05T19:46:00.001-05:00

Sex offender charged in boy's death - Yahoo! News

A convicted sex offender was charged Wednesday with murdering a 4-year-old boy whose body was found in a garbage truck in July.
The boy disappeared from outside his family's apartment near Churchill Downs on June 29. A city trash collector found the body of Cesar "Ivan" Aguilar-Cano in the back of a garbage truck eight days later.

Cecil Eugene New II, 46, who lived across an alley from the boy's family, was arrested Wednesday morning, Louisville police spokesman Phil Russell said.

A grand jury indicted New on charges of murder, kidnapping, tampering with physical evidence and unlawful transaction with a minor.

New has been on the Kentucky Sex Offender Registry since March 2000 after being convicted of sodomy involving 11- and 9-year-old victims. Although he was not charged until Wednesday, his name was heavily publicized locally over the summer after a court clerk accidentally released a search warrant for his apartment.

Italy politician urges Nazi policies for immigrants

2007-12-05T19:45:00.001-05:00

Italy politician urges Nazi policies for immigrants | International | Reuters

A local politician has shocked Italians, and Jews in particular, by proposing that immigrants be treated with the same severity the Nazis used when they occupied the country.

Giorgio Bettio, a city councilor in the northern city of Treviso, said during a council meeting earlier this week: "With immigrants, we should use the same system the SS used, punish 10 of them for every slight against one of our citizens."

His comments revived memories of the 1944 Ardeatine Caves massacre, when Hitler ordered that 10 Italians be executed for each of the 33 German soldiers killed in a partisan attack against occupying forces on a Rome street.

Immigration has been a burning issue in the rich northern Veneto region where Treviso is located. Tensions have flared regularly between residents and immigrants, some of them seeking work in the area's factories and fields.

Bettio told Reuters by telephone that he was "agitated and mad" when he made the remarks because an Asian immigrant had threatened his mother.

"I certainly made a mistake in citing the SS," Bettio said, adding that he believed "the whole thing has been blown out of proportion" by national politicians and the media.

Many Italians, worried by rises in crime rates and unemployment, have called for crackdowns on immigrants.

Anti-foreign sentiment in the Veneto region has spread fast in response to growing immigration, mainly from eastern Europe.

Some 40 towns in the region recently issued "anti-drifter" ordinances to keep out the poor, homeless and unemployed.

Those rules state that foreigners can apply for residency only if they have a regular job, earn an income of at least 5,000 euros a year per family member, live in an "adequate" home and are not deemed to be "socially dangerous".

Last month, the mayor of another small town in the Vento region put up provocative billboards advising fellow citizens to emigrate in protest at what he says is the government's soft policy on immigration.

Judge Denies Access to Gitmo Detainees

2007-12-05T19:36:00.001-05:00

Judge Denies Access to Gitmo Detainees

A military judge denied a request Wednesday by lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee seeking immediate access to the admitted mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and two other imprisoned top terrorism suspects.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, cited "security obstacles" in turning down the attorneys for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a driver for Osama bin Laden.

The defense hoped to have Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other so- called "high value" detainees at Guantanamo testify to show their client was not a hardcore member of al-Qaida and should not be prosecuted under the U.S. military tribunal system, said Charles Swift, one of the lawyers.

Centuries-Old Map Baffles Researchers

2007-12-05T19:35:00.001-05:00

Centuries-Old Map Baffles Researchers

The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.

Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovered the Pacific?

The map was created by the German monk Martin Waldseemuller. Thirteen years after Christopher Columbus first landed in the Western Hemisphere, the Duke of Lorraine brought Waldseemuller and a group of scholars together at a monastery in Saint-Die in France to create a new map of the world.

"The actual shape of South America is correct," said Hebert. "The width of South America at certain key points is correct within 70 miles of accuracy."

Given what Europeans are believed to have known about the world at the time, it should not have been possible for the mapmakers to produce it, he said.

The map gives a reasonably correct depiction of the west coast of South America. But according to history, Vasco Nunez de Balboa did not reach the Pacific by land until 1513, and Ferdinand Magellan did not round the southern tip of the continent until 1520.

"So this is a rather compelling map to say, 'How did they come to that conclusion,"' Hebert said.

The mapmakers say they based it on the 1,300-year-old works of the Egyptian geographer Ptolemy as well as letters Florentine navigator Amerigo Vespucci wrote describing his voyages to the new world. But Hebert said there must have been something more.

"From the writings of Vespucci you couldn't have prepared the map," Hebert said. "There had to be something cartographic with it."

Waldseemuller made it clear he was naming the new land after Vespucci, describing how he came up with the name America based on the navigator's first name.

But he soon had misgivings about what he had done. An atlas Waldseemuller produced six years later shows only part of the east coast of the Americas, and refers to it as Terra Incognita -- unknown land.

"America has gone out of his lexicon," Hebert said. "(No) place in the atlas -- in the text or in the maps -- does the name America appear."

Dennis Prager: A Baby Boomer Apology

2007-12-04T19:46:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: A baby-boomer apology

We live in the age of group apologies. I would like to add one. The baby boomer generation needs to apologize to America, especially its young generation, for many sins. Here is a partial list:

First and perhaps foremost, we apologize for robbing many of you of a childhood.

.....few of us believed that we were threatened with death anywhere near the amount we have scared you about death from secondhand smoke, global warming and heterosexual AIDS, to mention just a few of the exaggerated death scares we have inflicted on you.

Our generation came up with two truly foolish slogans that also ended up robbing you of childhood.

One was "Never trust anyone over 30." Our infantile attitude toward adult authority has inflicted great harm on you.

That in turn deprived you of something as important as love – parental and other adult authority. With little parental authority, you were left with little personal security, few guardrails and a diminished sense of order in life. And we transferred this denial of authority to virtually all authority figures, from teachers to police.

We made you anti-war and almost completely sexualized your lives. We told you that having sex was terrific or at least to be expected, even in early teens, and that your only concerns should be avoiding sexually transmitted diseases and getting pregnant. And if you did get pregnant, we made sure that you could extinguish the life you were carrying as effortlessly and guiltlessly as possible.

We started teaching you about sexuality and homosexuality in early grade school and we taught you how to put condoms on bananas.

We also made you weak. We did everything possible to ensure that you suffered no pain.

Much of this was thanks to the self-esteem-without-having-to-earn-it movement, which in our generation's almost infinite lack of wisdom we inflicted upon you. Sorry for that, too.

We also apologize for coming close to ruining so many of your schools and universities. Despite the unprecedented sums of money we had America spend on education, most of you got an education quite inferior to the one we got at a fraction of the cost. But we thought of our teachers as fools (they were, after all, over 30) who just concentrated on reading, writing and arithmetic (and history, music and art). We were sure we knew better and we therefore concentrated on sexual issues, and teaching you about peace, global warming and the horrors of smoking.

And a real apology to those of you hooked on drugs. While your choice to do drugs is your responsibility, it was our generation that romanticized them and made them cool. "Mind expanding" we called them. But it turns out that they don't expand minds; they destroy them. Sorry.

And, young women, we apologize especially to you. Many of us baby boomers bought into the feminist idea that getting married and making a family with a man were far less fulfilling than career success and that marriage itself is "sexist" and "patriarchal." So, to those of you women who have career success and didn't get married, we sincerely apologize. Turns out that most careers aren't as fulfilling as we promised.

Of course, many of us never bought into these awful ideas that have so hurt you and our country, and some of us have grown up. But many of us still talk, think, dress and curse the same as we did in the '60s and '70s. And we're still fighting what we consider the real Axis of Evil: American racism, sexism and imperialism.

But for those of us who know the damage baby boomers as a whole did to you, a heartfelt apology.

The Big O

2007-12-04T19:39:00.001-05:00

Mark Steyn on National Review Online

The holiday season is here and that means it’s time to engage in the time-honored Christmas tradition of objecting to every time-honored Christmas tradition. Australia is a gazillion time-zones ahead of the United States — it may even be Boxing Day there already — so they got in first this year with a truly fantastic headline: “Santas Warned ‘Ho Ho Ho’ Offensive To Women.”

But the point is the right not to be offended is now the most sacred right in the world. The right to freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of movement, all are as nothing compared to the universal right to freedom from offence. It’s surely only a matter of time before “sensitivity training” is matched by equally rigorous “inoffensiveness training” courses.

In Hanover, New Hampshire, home to Dartmouth College, an atheist and an agnostic known only as “Jan and Pat Doe” (which is which is hard to say) are suing because their three schoolchildren are forced to say the Pledge of Allegiance.

Well, okay, they’re not forced to say it. The Pledge is voluntary. You’re allowed to sit down, or, more discreetly, stand silently, which is what the taciturn Yankee menfolk who think it’s uncool to sing do during the hymns at my local church. But that’s not enough for “the Does”. Because the Pledge mentions God, their children are forced, as it were, not to say it. And, as “Mr and Mrs Doe” put it in their complaint, having to opt out of participation in a voluntary act exposes their children to potential “peer pressure” from the other students.

Let U.S. now cross from the New Hampshire school system to the Sudanese school system. Or as the Associated Press headline put it:

“Thousands In Sudan Call For British Teddy Bear Teacher’s Execution.”

There’s apparently a whole section in the Koran about how if you name cuddly toys after the Prophet you have to be decapitated. Well, actually there isn’t. But why let theological pedantry deprive you of the opportunity to stick it to the infidel? Mrs. Gibbons is regarded as lucky to get 15 days in jail, when the court could have imposed six months and 40 lashes. But even that wouldn’t have been good enough for the mob in Khartoum.

Still, at exactly the time Gillian Gibbons caught the eye of the Sudanese authorities, a 19-year old Saudi woman was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail. Her crime? She’d been abducted and gang-raped by seven men. Originally, she’d been sentenced to 90 lashes, but her lawyer had appealed and so the court increased it to 200 and jail time. Anybody on the streets in Sudan or anywhere else in the Muslim world who wants to protest that?

East is East and West is West and in both we take offense at nothing: Santas saying “Ho ho ho”, teddy bears called Mohammed. And yet the difference is very telling: The now annual Santa suits in the “war on Christmas” and the determination to abolish even such anodyne expressions of faith as the Pledge of Allegiance are assaults on the very possibility of a common culture. By contrast, the teddy bear rubbish is a crude demonstration of cultural muscle intended to cow and intimidate. When East meets West, when offended Muslims find themselves operating in western nations, they discover that both techniques are useful: some march in the streets Khartoum-style calling for the Pope to be beheaded, others use the mechanisms of the west’s litigious, perpetual grievance culture to harass opponents into silence.

But their complaints are frivolous and decadent, and more determined groups are using the patterns they’ve established to shut down debate on things we should be talking about. The ability to give and take offense is what separates free societies from Sudan.

U.N. 'compromise' on Darfur rapes

2007-12-04T19:33:00.001-05:00

U.N. 'compromise' on Darfur rapes - - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

In November, the United States presented a draft resolution to the United Nations General Assembly that would directly punish the growing number of governments and their opponents that use mass rape as a political weapon. The language, reported the New York Times (Nov. 17) would unambiguously condemn "rape used by governments and armed forces to achieve political and military ends."

But, as often happens at the spineless, rampantly disingenuous United Nations, the final resolution — after itself being savaged by many self-protecting revisions — stated that, in general, rape is not acceptable, but stripped out rape as an "instrument to achieve political objectives." There was no mention left of government "soldiers and militia members." Instead, the United Nations weakly says that rape should not be used "in conflict and related situations." Who crippled the original American draft language? Not surprisingly, it was the 43-nation African Group Coalition. South African Ambassador Dumisnai Kumalo said America had created two categories of rape and the African delegates wanted "to balance the text by making certain that there was no politicization of rape." Huh? By leaving out rape sponsored by an individual state and its armed militia, the sovereign criminal nation of Sudan was thereby not embarrassed, let alone the Belgian Congo.

Said a villager in Darfur recently on PBS's "Frontline" ("On Our Watch"): "I was carrying my little baby on my back, and they shot him dead. After the child died, they pulled him away and raped me." I don't think this kept U.N. member Gen. Bashir awake that night.

Resident seeks restraining order against town officials

2007-12-04T19:30:00.001-05:00

Resident seeks restraining order against town officials - EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA

A Pelham woman has asked for a restraining order against the town's code enforcement officer and the planning director.

Paula Jarek of 378 Mammoth Road filed papers Thursday in Nashua Superior Court, saying she needed relief from "overly aggressive practices" which caused hardship for her family.

"I am in fear of my safety and the safety of my family," she wrote, saying Thomas Wakefield, the code enforcement officer, has "abused his authority as a town official to photograph my home and belongings/persons on countless occasions."

She also said that Wakefield is behind a state audit of the family business and an IRS audit, and tried to have her in-laws evicted from the in-law apartment on their property.

Wakefield could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Jarek said the problems with Wakefield started 18 to 19 months ago when he cited her husband for selling cars from the family home. The couple was in violation of the zoning laws because their home is in a residential area, but they cooperated and stopped selling cars, she said. But she said Wakefield has not stopped checking their property and taking photographs.

"I feel I am being stalked," she wrote in the court papers. "I wholeheartedly believe Tom Wakefield has and will continue to intimidate me and harass my family."

Judge: Prosecutors May Have Overreacted in Case Against Border Patrol Agents

2007-12-04T19:28:00.001-05:00

Judge: Prosecutors May Have Overreacted in Case Against Border Patrol Agents

Federal prosecutors may have overreacted in their case against two Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms after jurors convicted them of shooting a fleeing drug suspect and hiding evidence of the incident, an appeals court judge said Monday.

Judge E. Grady Jolly, one of three judges from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, questioned whether the two agents would have been charged if they had reported the shooting.

"For some reason, this one got out of hand, it seems to me," Jolly said of the agents' prosecution.

The agents' wives and several Border Control agents attended Monday's hearing.

"I'm still very guarded about it, because you never know what to expect," Ramos' wife, Monica, said.

Compean's wife, Claudia, said the judges' remarks gave her a "little hope."

"It was very encouraging, considering the luck we've had in the past," she said.

Glorifying a lying, rebellious brat

2007-12-04T19:25:00.001-05:00

WorldNetDaily: Glorifying a lying, rebellious brat

While most commentators are focusing on the atheism and paganism in the book, the movie has been slightly toned down so that the more troubling elements are the person of the heroine herself and some of the movie's themes. Children learn their scripts of behavior from movies and entertainment. The more intelligent the child is the more likely he or she will encode the behavior.

The role model for children in this movie is the heroine, Lyra. Lyra is immediately established as pugnacious, willful, rebellious, lawbreaking and deceitful. A witch tells Lyra that she is the fulfillment of a prophecy about a girl messiah who will overthrow authority, especially the Magisterium, a thinly cloaked reference to the Catholic Church.

Although the heroine and her friends are portrayed as the people the audience supports, a little objective examination of who they are would make any discerning viewer question why they're rooting for them. Lyra is known for her lying so much so that her bear friend calls her "silver tongue." In the story, this is a positive adjective. Even pagan and other non-Christian societies have disliked liars, however, so it's very strange that Lyra, the story's heroine, should be commended in this way. In fact, Lyra's lying is often a useful pragmatic device to solve the story's plot problems.

Mrs. Coulter, who turns out to be Lyra's mother, reaches out to the girl a couple times, including saving her from having her daemon separated from her and killed. In return, Lyra tricks her mother into opening a tin can containing a deadly poisonous mechanical insect. Her mother doesn't die, but Lyra doesn't seem to care and, in fact, wants to get rid of her mother. While Lyra is opposed to all authority, including her mother, she easily befriends strangers and accepts their authority and their directives.

Thus, the more one thinks about the world of "The Golden Compass," the more one realizes how upside down and inside out it is. Do parents really want their children hate them, rebel against them and want to kill them? Mrs. Coulter may be the villain, but all she really tries to do in this movie is to save her daughter's life.

Although the story's character motivations are not well developed, Mrs. Coulter and the rest of the Magisterium contend they are trying to protect the children, establish order and give peace to society. The way they express these statements, however, it becomes clear the audience should not trust them. Though most of the dialogue is too didactic, it never answers these motivations.

The logical consequences of these claims, however, are contradicted by the plot and by reality itself. Most children go through periods of rebelling against their parents. Quite often, they want to choose strangers instead of their parents. The real-world consequences of such rebellion can be devastating.

Beyond that, in the interest of self-satisfaction, it motivates children to seek to be joined with occult, demonic powers and principalities to get their own way. The official website has an area where children can meet their own daemon. It says:

"To discover your very own Daemon, look into your heart, and answer the following 20 questions openly and honestly. Your true character and the form of your Daemon will be revealed."

Our suggestion is avoid "The Golden Compass" if you don't want to turn your children into spoiled brats who want to kill their parents like Lyra.

Firehouse incident with noose was a hoax

2007-12-02T17:54:00.001-05:00

Firehouse incident with noose was a hoax -- baltimoresun.com

A firefighter who reported finding a knotted rope and a threatening note with a drawing of a noose in an East Baltimore station house last month had placed the items there himself, city officials said yesterday.

The man was suspended last week for performance-related issues and will likely face additional punishment, fire officials said. Sterling Clifford, a spokesman for the Police Department and for Mayor Sheila Dixon, said the man admitted to the hoax and will not face criminal charges.

Officials identified the firefighter who they say acknowledged writing the note as Donald Maynard, a firefighter-paramedic apprentice who is black. Maynard could not be reached for comment.

The rope incident sparked outrage two weeks ago and prompted a federal investigation into possible civil rights violations.

On Nov. 21, a handwritten note and a rope were discovered about 1:30 a.m. by two Fire Department employees - one black and one white. It read, "We cant [sic] hang the cheaters but we can hang the failures. NO EMT-I, NO JOB." A small stick figure with a noose and the word "Stop" were drawn below the message.

The note appeared to refer to the cheating investigation and a push by top fire officials to compel emergency medical technicians to become certified as paramedics. Maynard was among those whose jobs were at risk.

In a written statement yesterday, Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. said Maynard had admitted to "conducting a scheme meant to create the perception that members within our department were acting in a discriminatory and unprofessional manner."

"If the department upon investigation found Mr. Maynard's alleged claims to be factual, I would have acted swiftly and severely," said Goodwin, who said last month he would step down at the end of the year. "I will do the same thing regarding Mr. Maynard's unfortunate act of misconduct."

Stephan G. Fugate, head of the city fire officers union, said Dixon's reaction contributed to racial tensions. He said members of the community became hostile toward firefighters after the mayor "came out and, in effect, said racism is running rampant."

Union leaders also criticized the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Vulcan Blazers, a group that represents black firefighters, saying they, too, provoked racial tension by rushing to judgment.

"To put it mildly, this time we're not going to let it go," said Fugate. "The reaction from the NAACP, the mayor and the Vulcan Blazers was sickening, and we're going to demand an apology."

But Marvin L. "Doc" Cheatham, president of the NAACP's Baltimore chapter, said the fact that such an incident could occur shows that pervasive racial problems persist in the department.

"It really saddens us to hear that evidently things have reached a stage that even an African-American does an injustice to himself and his own people as a result of a negative culture in that department," Cheatham said when asked to respond to the unions. (This has got to be the most idiotic quote I've read lately - 1rt)