Friday, October 30, 2009

Double Jeopardy in the New Hate Crimes Legislation?

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

A few days ago, Hans Bader writing for Stop the ACLU reported on the hate crimes legislation Bill. This article is intended to be a further discussion of what is behind the language in the Bill. The question is, is double jeopardy a factor in this new legislative language?





Dual Sovereignty


The answer is kinda-sorta. It's really more about The Dual Sovereignty Doctrine negating the double jeopardy clause in the 5th Amendment.

The government now does have the right to try hate crime suspects after they have been tried by the state, and even if already tried and found guilty by the state. This position is confirmed by a letter from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights to members of the U.S. Senate. Read it at NationaReviewOnLine. So how does it happen a person can be tried twice for the same crime?

Here is a portion that I believe gives the DOJ the opportunity to retry a hate crime: (The text of the Bill is here).

(b) (1) IN GENERAL - No prosecution of any offense described in the subsection may be undertaken by the United States, except under the certification in writing of the Attorney General, or his designee, that- (C) the verdict or sentence obtained pursuant to State charges left demonstratively unvindicated the Federal interest in eradicating bias-motivated violence; or (D) a prosecution by the United States is in the public interest and necessary to secure substantial justice.

(b) (2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION- Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to limit the authority of Federal officers, or a Federal grand jury, to investigate possible violations of this section.

This gives the DOJ the right to try any case on behalf of a victim they feel has not received justice, while also eliminating "the badges...and relics of slavery and involuntary servitude."

 A quick reading of the Bill might lead you to think it will simply "support" state's with money, but it goes much deeper than the $5 million to be given to states in each of the years 2010 and 2011. If a state can "certify" the need for government assistance to "investigate or prosecute the hate crime," then that state will get that assistance. But read about the"sham and cover" exception a few paragraphs below. We have to ask why this administration believes this legislation is necessary.

The Dual Sovereignty Doctrine expects those administering under the Doctrine to "limit" their actions. This from TheFreeLibrary:
The court did not, however, fully eliminate the double jeopardy prohibition from this context. The dual sovereignty doctrine continues to be limited by what is referred to as the "sham" exception, which was described by the Bartkus Court.

The sham exception provides that a prosecution by one sovereign cannot be used as a "sham and a cover" for another sovereign's re-prosecution of the same defendant.

This doctrine would operate to prevent, on double jeopardy grounds, a prosecution brought by one sovereign with the encouragement and support of another sovereign that has already failed in its attempt to prosecute the same defendant.

The doctrine is founded on the rationale that the two sovereigns are acting as one. Unfortunately, this exception has been construed so narrowly as to make it difficult to be utilized successfully.
Apparently, this DOJ and Barack Obama believe that justice is not done often enough, and courts do not punish, often enough, those who commit hate crimes? So the question remains: is it possible for any violent crime to be classified as a “hate crime” when it is perpetrated against a Jewish or a white person?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Shape Of Things To Come?

I shouldn't be surprised or even outraged when I hear a report like this one:
Los Angeles police say two Jewish men in their 30s were shot in the legs as they were about to enter a synagogue in the North Hollywood section of Los Angeles Thursday morning. A man described as an African-American with a handgun entered the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue at about 6:20 a.m. Thursday and opened fire. The victims were taken to a hospital in stable condition.

Police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime. The Los Angeles Times says police arrested a man near the synagogue, but the sources say they don't believe he was the gunman.

The newspaper adds that police officials have alerted other synagogues around Los Angeles about the shooting, and police have stepped up patrols at Jewish religious institutions. Detectives are trying to determine if the gunman acted alone or as part of a larger group.

According to the Associated Press, the wounded people had just pulled into the synagogue parking structure for morning services. Investigators said no words were exchanged between the shooter and his victims.

Minister of Information and Diaspora Yuli Edelstein called the event “grave and shocking.”

The attack “reminds us that anti-Semitism is alive and kicking and has no hesitation in terrorizing the Jewish people's holy of holies. We and the nations of the world must continue to fight anti-Semitism as it has already been proven that what starts with the Jews ends with other nations as well.”
Why would anyone assume that the attacker is anti-Semitic? Could it be that the attack happened at a Synagogue? Or that the attacker was black. Only the Israeli press mentioned that fact, the US media is too scared that if they accuse a black man Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson and Al "Kill All The Jews" Sharpton would descend upon them screaming: RACIST!!!

When the shooter is discovered you can be sure that both Jackson and Sharpton will be there to scream that the shooter is being discriminated against. Maxine Waters will hold Congressional hearings. And the shooter's lawyer will claim the reason for the shooting is Gaza, Goldstone, Jerusalem or all of those reasons. And like Seattle, this shooter will be found Not Guilty.

After all, it is acceptable now to kill the Jews.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

CAIR Congressional Intern Bounced off Capitol Hill

By Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

First I was astounded that anyone can buy interns on Capitol Hill. The fact that I was astounded is astounding. Of course, I know that anyone can buy anything in Washington, D.C. First, we learned that a CAIR memorandum says it spent $50,000 to place two "fellows" in Congress in 2007, and now we learn that Iyad Awadallah, a CAIR intern on Capitol Hill was forced to leave the US Capitol Visitors Center Congressional Auditorium "after behaving in a threatening manner..."

According to this hot post at The Jawa Report, Awadallah appeared at a conference on "Freedom of Speech and Religion" today and began to videotape the speakers. He was told the conference registration did not allow taping of any kind, or the taking of photographs. That didn't stop him.  He was removed from the building by Capitol Hill police just before Senator Jim DeMint was to speak.

According to The Jawa Report, the scheduled speakers have "been the subject of death threats by Muslims."

CAIR attacks:


The [CAIR] press release claimed that Awadallah was told by one conference participant that “we want to cut their [Muslims’] necks off.” However, Awadallah entered the auditorium during one of the sessions and never had the opportunity to speak with any of the conference attendees.
There is no information in this report about where the intern, Iyad Awadallah of Boca Raton, FL has worked or is working on Capitol Hill.  Read about the $50,000 spent to plant a Muslim intern in Congress: CAIR Buys Interns - Liberals Object.

Wednesday's Hero: Spc. Justin Slagle

Spc. Justin Slagle
Spc. Justin Slagle

U.S. Army

Spc. Justin Slagle returns to Forward Operating Base Lane in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter after an air assault mission in the Zabul province of Afghanistan, Oct. 15, 2009. Even as leaders in Washington struggle with the next steps in Afghanistan, troops there are moving to better protect the Afghan people by separating them from Taliban influence and intimidation.


Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Wednesday Hero Logo

Monday, October 26, 2009

Pookie, White Fang, and Pies

There was once a children's show that aired during lunch, it had no script, just a series of skits, crazy characters, and lots of pies. It was a children's show that never talked down to the children. An we loved it!

Created by Soupy Sales, it wasn't just a children's show.
Sales was known for his long-running children's show "Lunch With Soupy Sales," which started in 1953 and began his trademark slapstick pie-throwing antics. The comedy show featured skits that culminated in Sales getting walloped with pies in the face. What are your memories of Sales?

"Soupy was the last of the great TV comics when you talk about Ernie Kovacs, Red Skelton, right down to Howdy Doody," Dver said. "But it was bigger than that, because he used a children's format aimed at the kids and then he would forget he was doing a kids' show and do a wild, unrehearsed, wacky improv for a half-hour every day for 15 years."

He could also inflame the authorities. One New Year's Day, upset at being asked to work, he asked his youthful audience to send him those "green pieces of paper" from their parents' wallets. Though he didn't receive much -- he told The New York Times he received only a few dollars -- he was suspended for a week for the prank.

Read the full story here.
I loved that show!!!!! It was better than anything else on the TV at the time, even Saturday Morning Cartoons!

Enjoy this clip from Soupy's show. It is ok to get up and dance to it. Laughter is permitted.

Soupy Sales - "The Mouse"



View at YouTube

Could you imagine the out roar that would happen today if Soupy's show was on the air now? What a kinder, gentler, time that was.


Soupy Sales 1926-2009
Thanks for the laughs!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

First Amendment



Wake up, America



View at YouTube

I find myself amazed at the poor quality of education that $41,500 a year buys at Harvard Law School. You would think that for that amount of money they would at least teach the US Constitution. But it seems not to be the case, especially with one of their most famous graduates, Barack Hussein Obama, our current President.

I wonder what part of the First Amendment they did teach him or was he absent that day? For no person who has been taught the US Constitution would ever forget the words of the First Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Yet President Obama has chosen to ignore this and is pushing for full restrictions on our right to Free Speech:
The U.N. Human Rights Council approved a U.S.-backed resolution Friday deploring attacks on religions while insisting that freedom of expression remains a basic right.

The inaugural resolution sponsored by the U.S. since it joined the council in June broke a long-running deadlock between Western and Islamic countries in the wake of the publication of cartoons depicting the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

American diplomats say the measure — co-sponsored by Egypt — is part of the Obama administration's effort to reach out to Muslim countries.

"The exercise of the right to freedom of opinion and expression is one of the essential foundations of a democratic society," the resolution states, urging countries to protect free speech by lifting legal restrictions, ensuring the safety of journalists, promoting literacy and preventing media concentration.
Not the sort of "outreach" the majority of Americans want. We like our Freedoms very much. Free speech is a protected right here in the US. Our own Supreme Court has affirmed the concept that "Even the most hateful and harmful speech is protected speech." (NATIONAL SOCIALIST PARTY v. SKOKIE, 432 U.S. 43 [1977])

Oh yes, we can say what we want about a religion without the fear of blasphemy laws. Oh happy day!

Mr. Condell need not worry about the United States losing our Freedoms soon. Not as long as Article VI of the Constitution is the law:
"This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."
Or in layman speak:
"This Constitution will be the hightest law in the land. No law or treaty can be written or ratified that would violate this Constitution."
This whole idea of forcing Islamic blasphemy laws came about because of the riots over the Danish Muhammad Cartoons, it is only fitting that this post on Free Speech end with these cartoons.

To Muslims around the world:
Feel free to riot. For that shows to us the true face and spirit of Islam. A backward cult suitable only for children and those with the intelligence of an imbecile.
The rest of us will just laugh at your ignorance and keep on speaking our mind!

Funny You Don't Look Jewish

They don't look Jewish, but their pedigree is. Yesterday 7 young men landed in Israel to begin a new life.
Ben-Gurion Airport was the setting for an unusual scene late Tuesday night, as seven young Chinese men wearing kippot arrived via Uzbekistan to make aliya.

The newcomers, who were brought here by the Shavei Israel organization, are all descendants of the Jewish community of Kaifeng, China, which flourished on the southern banks of the Yellow River for more than 1,000 years.

It marked the first time that an organized group has moved here from Kaifeng.

"I am very excited to be here in the Holy Land," said Yaakov Wang, one of the new immigrants. "This is something that my ancestors dreamed about for generations, and now, thank God, I have finally made it."

Wang said he eventually hoped to become a rabbi, so that one day he could help other Kaifeng Jewish descendants to learn more about their heritage.

Wang and the other young men will spend their first few months in the country learning Hebrew at an ulpan on a religious kibbutz in the North, after which they will prepare to undergo conversion.

From the airport, the group went straight to the Western Wall, where they recited the "Shehehiyanu" blessing with great emotion, and then burst into a chorus of traditional Hebrew songs.

Finish reading here.
There are 1,000 descendants of the Kaifeng Jewry and about 1/2 of the commnity would make Aliya if they had the chance.

Welcome Brothers. May this adventure bring you success in life.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Flight 93 Blogburst: Construction drawings released: Flight 93 crescent now points less than 3° from Mecca

Blogburst logo, petition

From Error Theory:

The original Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 faced less than 2° from Mecca. That made it a mihrab, the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. (Some mihrabs are pointed-arch shaped, but the classic mihrab is crescent shaped.)

The Park Service dismissed concern about the Mecca-oriented crescent on grounds that the construction drawings had not yet been finalized. “Those trees could move fifty feet, or three hundred feet,” said Project Manager Jeff Reinbold in the Spring of 2006, as if this kind of "tweaking" would make any difference (Crescent of Betrayal Ch.8 p.145-6).

The construction drawings have now been released, and yes, they moved the lower tip of the half-mile wide crescent about 300 feet, enough to change the orientation of the crescent by about 4.5°. Instead of pointing less than 2° north of Mecca, the giant Islamic-shaped crescent now points less than 3° south of Mecca.

Here is the original Crescent of Embrace:


"Qibla" is the direction to Mecca, which you can verify using any online Mecca-direction calculator (just type in Somerset PA). A person standing between the tips of the giant crescent and facing into the center of the crescent (red arrow) would be facing 1.8° north of Mecca, ± 0.1°.

Here is one of the new construction drawings:



Instead of facing a titch north of Mecca, the giant crescent now faces a titch south of Mecca (2.7° south ± 0.1°).

As with the original Crescent design, the upper crescent tip is the end of the 50’ tall Entry Portal Wall and the lower crescent tip is the last of the 50’ tall Maple trees on the bottom. The landscape overlays make the details hard to see in the thumbnail image above, but at full resolution they are fully legible. (Copy of source PDF, without the superimposed orientations lines here. Large file warning. Graphic is on p. 30 of 233.)


The Park Service was SUPPOSED to remove the Islamic symbol shapes

When architect Paul Murdoch’s winning Crescent of Embrace design was announced in September 2005, it appeared to show a bare naked Islamic crescent and star-flag planted atop the crash site:



Burned by the resulting firestorm of protest, the Park Service to agreed to get rid of the Islamic symbol shapes, but they never did. They added an extra arc of trees, and they call it a broken circle now, but the unbroken part of the circle, what symbolically remains standing in the wake of 9/11, is still a giant Islamic shaped crescent.

This is explained on the Park Service's own website. The extra arc of trees is explicitly described as a broken off part of the circle:
In summary, the memorial is shaped in a circular fashion, and the circle is symbolically "broken" or missing trees in two places, depicting the flight path of the plane, and the crash site.
Those two breaks are the two ends of the extra arc of trees:


The extra arc of trees extends from blue circle to blue circle, marking the two “breaks” in the circle referred to in the Park Service’s official explanation of the broken-circle design. One is where the flight path breaks the circle (left), the other is near the crash site (center).

What is symbolically left standing (the unbroken part of the circle) is just this:



Remove the symbolically broken off parts, and you get the original Crescent of Embrace design.

The only change is that the crescent has now been rotated clockwise a few degrees. In the construction plans it faces slightly south of Mecca instead of slightly north of Mecca. For a parallel, imagine airline security discovering a terror bomber, then playing with the fit his suicide vest before escorting him to his plane.

They said they were going to remove the giant crescent. They claim they HAVE removed it, but they haven't. Symbolically, the design remains completely unchanged. The terrorists are still depicted as smashing our peaceful circle and turning it into a giant Islamic-shaped crescent, still pointing to Mecca.


The giant crescent is actually a mihrab

Here is the mihrab at the Great Mosque in Cordoba Spain. Face into the crescent to face Mecca, just like the crescent memorial to Flight 93:



Confronted with evidence that the Crescent of Embrace is actually designed to be the world's largest mosque, the Park Service sought advice from a pair of Muslim scholars. Both acknowledged the almost exact Mecca-orientation of the giant crescent and both offered overtly dishonest excuses for it. One said not to worry about the likeness to an Islamic mihrab because no one has ever seen a mihrab this BIG before:
...most mihrabs are small, rarely larger than the figure of a man, although some of the more ornamental ones can be larger, but nothing as large at the crescent found in the site design. It is unlikely that most Muslims would walk into the area of the circle/crescent and see a mihrab because it is well beyond their limit of experience.
Right. That's why everybody scratches their head at Mt. Rushmore. No one has ever seen Abraham Lincoln so BIG before. They just can't figure it out.

To be fooled by this excuse, you have to really really want to be fooled. The other Muslim scholar said not to worry, the crescent cannot be seen as mihrab unless it points exactly at the Kaaba:
Mihrab orientation is either correct or not. It cannot be off by some degrees.
In fact, a mihrab does NOT have to point exactly at Mecca, for the simple reason that, throughout most of Islamic history, Muslims in far-flung parts of the world had no accurate way to determine the direction to Mecca. As a result, it was established as a matter of religious principle that what matters is intent to face Mecca. This was recently affirmed by Saudi religious authorities, after Meccans realized that even most of their local mosques do not face directly towards the Kaaba. “It does not affect the prayers” assured the Islamic Affairs Ministry.

Faced with evidence of an Islamic plot, why would the Park Service send this evidence exclusively to Muslims for appraisal? Have they forgotten who attacked us on 9/11?

The Service has long since been apprised of the patent dishonesties retailed by its two Muslim advisors but they don't care. They wanted to be lied to, they knew where to go to be lied to, and they got what they wanted.


Michelle Malkin and Ed Morrissey

So where are the patriotic stalwarts like Michelle Malkin whose objections were instrumental in getting the Park Service to agree to remove the Islamic symbol shapes in the first place? If they knew in 2005 that the symbolic outcome of 9/11 should not be a giant Islamic shaped crescent why are they silent about this exact same symbolism today, after THEY were promised that this perversion would be removed?

Ed Morrissey urged his readers "to tell the National Parks Service and the Secretary of the Interior to rethink their plans," promising for his own part that "as long as that crescent remains in the design, I’m not donating a red cent to the memorial." Well Ed, the crescent does remain in the design, so please rejoin the fight.

The desertion of Malkin et. al. makes a difficult gap to fill, but we had better fill it, or the Flight 93 crash-site will soon be home to the world’s largest mosque.

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Lionheart: English Defence League Protest October 31, 2009

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

Take your pick of spellings: Anjem Choudry, Anjem Choudary, Anjem Choudhury or Ajum Choudhary. He is the scourge of freedom loving peoples in Britain. He is a British citizen and a jihadist working openly on the streets of London - trying to bring Islam to the West in a very final way. The members of the English Defence League (EDL) are protesting Choudry's influence in their beloved and non-Muslim country. See an English Defence League video about the protest below.





Anjem Choudary - Anjem Choudry

A protest demonstration against Choudry, extremist Islam and the country's Islam-appeasing, over-taxing authorities, is scheduled in Leeds on October 31st, 2009 at the Leeds City Square, 13.00 to 15.00 hours. The name of the protest is "Judgement Day."

The next thing you need to know is that a "fanatical group, Islam4UK, is also assembling on October 31st to push sharia law on the people of Britain:

10-19-09 Daily Express
A RADICAL Muslim group sparked outrage last night as it launched a massive campaign to impose sharia law on Britain.
The fanatical group Islam4UK has ­announced plans to hold a potentially ­incendiary rally in London later this month.

And it is calling for a complete upheaval of the British legal system, its officials and ­legislation.
 So the English Defence League will also be there. Their website says they stand for:
(1) free speech, (2) democracy, (3) equality in law, and (4) cultural tolerance.
Choudry and Islam want no part of these principles. From EDL:
We also protest against individual Islamic fanatics like Anjem Choudary who has stated:

“Not being a Muslim is a crime against god”
“If you are a non-Muslim you are guilty”
“I must have hatred for everything which is non-Islam”

Source: BBC World.

Anjem Choudary has also stated that it is his aim to fly an Islamic flag over 10 Downing Street and to enforce Sharia law over our country. His hatred for freedom, democracy and our culture is clear to see.

Unfortunately others share Anjem Choudary’s view. Extremists like him, use their influence in the Islamic community to spread the seed of hatred among disillusioned Muslim youth.

For years we have looked to the government to resolve the direct and indirect causes of Islamic extremism in our country. They have failed us. And they have failed our troops who fight for our freedom from terrorism and tyranny.

Whilst British troops have been fighting and dying, your Members of Parliament have submitting inappropriate expense claims for duck islands, porn films and luxurious second homes. Their obscene behaviour had to be leaked to the press before some of them reluctantly repaid the money taken from tax-payers.

They have also bailed-out the fat-cats, the privileged few, in the City with hundreds of billions of pounds of tax-payers money whilst leaving 2.47 million British people to rot unemployed, or on unliveable wages.

In the absence of effective Government the English Defence League has been forced to rise up.

If you share the EDL’s values please attend the peaceful demonstration at Leeds City Square at 1pm on Saturday 31st October 2009.
 Choudry is a follower of Omar Bakri Mohammed who founded al-Muhajiroun, which Choudry now leads. Mohammed also founded Hizb ut-Tahrir. Hizb ut-Tahrir has already made inroads into the U.S. under the guise of "moderation." President Obama's head of Muslim Affairs, Dalia Mogahed, was interviewed on a British television show, Muslimah Dilemma on the Islam Channel on October 4th. Ms. Mogahed told the host of the show that she finds from her surveys that "the majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with shari'ah compliance." Only a small majority of women, said our President's advisor, associate Sharia law with oppression of woman.

Hizb ut-Tahrir attempted to hold a "Caliphate Planning Conference" at an Islamic school in Bridgeview, Ilinois, but the event was canceled after publicity, at least in the school; instead the group moved to the Hilton Oak Lawn in Oak Lawn, Illinois. The goal of Hizb ut-Tahrir:
In its self-description, Hizb-ut-Tahrir declares: "Its work is not educational, as it is not a school, nor is its work concerned with giving sermons and preaching. Rather its work is political, in which the thoughts and laws of Islam are presented in order to act upon them and to carry them so as to establish them in life's affairs and in the State."
According to Heritage Foundation researcher Ariel Cohen:
Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a "totalitarian organization, akin to a disciplined Marxist-Leninist party, in which internal dissent is neither encouraged nor tolerated." Candidates for membership undergo two years of indoctrination, becoming full members only after they "mel[t] with the Party."  Members belong to compartmentalized cells and know the identities of only the others in that cell. "When a critical mass of cells is achieved," writes Cohen, "according to its doctrine, Hizb may move to take over a country in preparation for the establishment of the Caliphate." Hizb-ut-Tahrir reportedly has cells in 40 or more nations.
We are following in the footsteps of Britain and we must wake up! Here's another lesson:

This from the TimesOnline 9-14-08:
ISLAMIC law has been officially adopted in Britain, with sharia courts given powers to rule on Muslim civil cases.

The government has quietly sanctioned the powers for sharia judges to rule on cases ranging from divorce and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.


Rulings issued by a network of five sharia courts are enforceable with the full power of the judicial system, through the county courts or High Court.

Previously, the rulings of sharia courts in Britain could not be enforced, and depended on voluntary compliance among Muslims.

It has now emerged that sharia courts with these powers have been set up in London, Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester with the network’s headquarters in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Two more courts are being planned for Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The mistakes the Brits have made by allowing Islam to encroach on huge chunks of normal English life is astonishing. Perhaps the worst is allowing Muslim MEN further control over a British Muslim citizen, who may not want a Shari'ah court looking over them. What happens to a Muslim couple who are British citizens, attending a mosque but wanting to follow Western laws because they are lawfully living in the West?

More tidbits about Choudry:

From Discover the Networks:
October 2000, Choudary co-signed and issued a “Warning to All Jews…in the UK” that “if you support Israel financially, verbally or physically you will become part of the [Middle East] conflict.” Choudary, in other words, explicitly warned Jews in democratic Great Britain, the mother of parliaments, that if they opened their mouths in support of Israel, they risked being attacked in England by Islamist terrorists.
9/10/08:
Speaking at a meeting in London, Anjem Choudary, right-hand man of exiled preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed [his deported mentor], said: "It may be by pure conversion that Britain will become an Islamic state. We may never need to conquer it from the outside."
So how would this happen? Choudry tells us and notice his plan for the "flag of Sharia."
Mr Choudary then referred to Bakri’s notorious aim of flying the ‘flag of Sharia’ over Downing Street, claiming that this would happen by 2020 as 500 people a day were converting to Islam and laughing that Muslim families in places like Whitechapel and Bethnal Green in east London were having ‘10 or 12 children each’.
Read about the EDL below the video.



 
English Defence League Protest October 31, 2009 (video)


Just a note about the English Defence League: My friend Lionheart (Paul Ray) is a member of EDL. There are some who refer to the EDL as "far right," which I think is a good thing in these dire times. No marshmallow can stand before a hot fire. Nevertheless, if you see "far right" as skinheads, then EDL is not "far right." As I have watched Lionheart for a couple of years now, I see no violence. I see and hear the urging for peaceful and meaningful protests, which have sometimes not been allowed, although Muslim groups HAVE been allowed to protest returning troops from Iraq in a most despicable manner, as well as the British people and their values, in general.



Lionheart - Paul Ray


I pray for England. There are some very harsh times ahead for them if their leaders don't do something. Next stop: the U.S.

Are Evangelical Churches Drifting Left?

by Barbara Sowell

Did you wake up one Sunday morning and finally realize that you could no longer support or attend a church that has gradually embraced an anti-American – anti-Capitalistic gospel in the name of Christ? Did it suddenly dawn upon you that the ever-present term “social justice” is merely a code word for a Marxist view of redistributive justice wrapped in a thinly disguised Christian veneer? Have you visited church after church after church only to discover that something decidedly unchristian has crept into the gospel teachings replacing, by redefinition, all that has been sacred to Christianity for centuries?

We live in the Age of Heresy and what we have to fear is not the old cults that Christians have traditionally warned against for years. What we have to fear today is the steady drift to the political left that has distorted our many venerable institutions and well-known Christian denominations.

Today 100,000 local congregations and 45 million Christians are supporting leftist goals yet most of the members are still blissfully unaware. For a quick overview of this un-Christian indoctrination, please read: United Nations Entrenched Within Most Christian Denominations

The following information is from the leftist progressive blog called Queering the Church which is proudly proclaiming the Evangelical Christian churches “leftwards drift.”

Martha Cook of the Centre for American Progress reports that “Evangelicals Step Up For Marriage Equality”

Brent Childers used to call himself a “Jesse Helms Republican” who justified his homophobic beliefs through biblical interpretation. But last weekend, as he marched in the Equality March in Washington, D.C., he stood alongside his lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender friends in support of their full human rights. . . .

From The Rise of the Religious Left”

As Austen Ivereigh points out, Moore’s anti-capitalist preaching is quite in keeping with Catholic traditions of social activism. What’s less known is that evangelical Christian churches – the supposed mainstay of rightwing politics in the US – are showing a leftwards drift.”

“Nearly every major social justice battle fought in the US has been supported, if not driven, by religious groups – which in statistical terms overwhelmingly means Christians. It’s widely known that the historically black church has been a key player in promoting justice for African Americans – from the abolition of slavery to the civil rights movements – as well as championing initiatives that support marginalised communities, both black and white. Beneath the more notorious rhetoric of Obama’s former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who at one point looked likely to irreparably fracture Obama’s presidential bid, we can find him preaching the acceptance of homosexuality and the importance of works as well as faith. Wright’s work at Trinity United Church of Christ, the church Obama was a member of for over 20 years, involves programmes for HIV/Aids sufferers, drug rehabilitation, and housing support for Chicago’s impoverished South Side communities.” . . .

For a thorough assessment of Wright’s church, Black Liberation Theology, and what the Catholic Pope also has to say about the dangers of Black Liberation Theology, please read Obama’s Marxist Liberation Theology Church.

From David Horowitz Newsreal on “queer theory:”

. . .For these new radical theorists, the enemy is no longer a ruling class, a hegemonic race or even a dominant gender. Instead it is the sexual order of nature itself. Oppression lies in the very idea of the “normal,” the order that divides humanity into two sexes. Instead of a classless society as the redemptive future, queer theorists envisage a gender free world.

A specter is haunting America’s universities, the last refuge of the political left. It is the specter of “queer theory,” the latest of the radical identity politics that have replaced class struggle and the classic proletariat in the schema of Marxist revolution. . .

Here are some links to other bits of news concerning Christianity this week:

A Reason for the Left to Hate MLK offers an excerpt from the writings of Martin Luther King Jr. as to why he rejected Marxism.

Praise God – Washington Times Covers the story of the Iranian Christian Girls (Maryam Rostampour, 27, and Marzieh Amirizadeh Esmaeilabad, 30) Jailed for Converting to Christianity

Members of Iran’s tiny and much-persecuted Christian minority, they were arrested March 5 for “acting against state security” and “taking part in illegal gatherings” and left to rot in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Their families have tried to bail them out, to no avail. . . .

PETITION FOR THE RELEASE OF MARYAM RUSTAMPOOR & MARZIEH AMIRIZADEH
FROM IRANIAN PRISON

The following from beliefnet’s Crunch Con

Politically correct white flight

Aaron M. Renn at the indispensable New Geography site has a fascinating analysis of a curious aspect shared by progressive urban havens like Austin, Portland and suchlike: they have relatively few black people in them. Excerpt:

This raises troubling questions about these cities. Why is it that progressivism in smaller metros is so often associated with low numbers of African Americans? Can you have a progressive city properly so-called with only a disproportionate handful of African Americans in it? In addition, why has no one called these cities on it? . .

Obama ‘Loathes’ and is ‘Disgusted’ by Israel

JERUSALEM – U.S. officials in recent days expressed to the Palestinian Authority that President Obama’s administration is “disgusted” with Israel, a top aide to PA President Mahmoud Abbas told WND in an interview. . . .

Organizing for America — a political action group for President Barack Obama — recently carried an entry on its website from ultra-left-wing professor Richard Falk, who said “Comparing the present-day Israel with Nazi Germany, one discovers that the majority of the Israeli policies are exact copies of the Nazi policies.”

Wednesday's Hero: Sailors & Marines Playing Volleyball



Sailors & Marines Playing Volleyball With Local School Children

U.S. Navy

Sailors and Marines assigned to the amphibious dock landing ship USS Tortuga (LSD 46) play volleyball with students from Sangley Point National High School during a lunch break at a community service project. Tortuga, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Harpers Ferry (LSD 49) and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31st MEU) are participating in Amphibious Landing Exercise (PHIBLEX) 2009. PHIBLEX is designed to improve interoperability, increase readiness and develop professional relationships between the U.S. military and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.


Photo Courtesy Navy.mil Taken By Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Geronimo Aquino

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

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Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Ex-Washington Post Executive Editor wants philanthropic funds to preserve journalism

by Maggie at Maggie's Notebook

The headline caught my eye. Journalism does indeed need preserving, but my ideas about how to do so were not even close to those laid out in the report.

I am thinking that journalism needs more of a scrubbing - a good clean-up, more about getting to journalist ethics. A report, co-authored by a former executive editor for the Washington Post, doesn't go there.

Len Downie, in a report commissioned by the Columbia University Journalist School, wants "nonprofits" (philanthropists) to step in and help financially, as well as lobby for government tax codes granting nonprofit status - and how about that suggested fee for telecom and internet users?

What about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, getting children who need medical assistance to the right hospital, donating to DARE and diabetes, the Ronald McDonald House, AIDs, various adult cancers and heart associations and our local church and missions? Where do these elitists get the brass to ask nonprofits to syphon-off monies given by the "givers" in America?

Did I mention there is a tax in this plan? The report is asking "philanthropic organizations to support local reporting." That's where the tax comes in - or fees - to be gathered in some fashion from telecom or internet providers."

I might not object if a clear definition of "journalism," and adherence to that definition, must be met to get the nonprofit status. Of course, it all depends on the definition of the trade - like defining what "is is."

Next will be White House ordered legislation assuring that FOX News is excluded from "nonprofit status."

I cannot credit this report by linking to it, because the "original source" says I cannot (but never mind, they want me to donate to keep their less-than-honest endeavors alive) but go to Breitbart.com type in some keywords and you'll find it.

"The Most Moral Army In The World!"

Is the assessment given to the IDF by Colonel Richard Kemp (Great Britain) to the UN Human Rights Council 12th Special Session, 16 October 2009 Debate on Goldstone Report.

The Goldstone report (you can read this work of fiction here) is based on lies, innuendos, and hearsay. There is no factual data in this work of fiction (the conclusion was made way before the members of the committee were picked) and it is considered the honest truth by the Obama Administration trying to appease their Muslim masters. It is the only way Obama and his Muslim cohorts can "legally" destroy Israel (since the Muslims are too incompetent to do it with an army).

The world will not listen to reason and the truth. The world has already decided on the verdict (with the great appeaser Barack Hussein Obama leading the way to the slaughter [His his idol Hitler would have been so proud of him!]).

I ask you, truthseeker, to listen to the words of this British hero, and judge for yourself.

Col. Richard Kemp on the U.N. Goldstone Report



View at YouTube

Text of the speech


Thank you, Mr. President.

I am the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. I served with NATO and the United Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia; and participated in the Gulf War. I spent considerable time in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee.

Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population.

Hamas, like Hizballah, are expert at driving the media agenda. Both will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.

The IDF faces a challenge that we British do not have to face to the same extent. It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong, that they are abusing human rights.

The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy's hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.

Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes.

More than anything, the civilian casualties were a consequence of Hamas’ way of fighting. Hamas deliberately tried to sacrifice their own civilians.

Mr. President, Israel had no choice apart from defending its people, to stop Hamas from attacking them with rockets.

And I say this again: the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.

Thank you, Mr. President.




Col. Richard Kemp, CBE, served in the British Army from 1977 - 2006. He was Commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, an infantry battalion Commanding Officer, worked for the Joint Intelligence Committee and COBR and completed 14 operational tours of duty around the globe.

Richard Kemp was appointed Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), Military Division, in recognition of his intelligence work in Northern Ireland in 1992–1993 and was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery as a commander in the United Nations Protection Force in Bosnia in 1994. He was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE), Military Division, in the New Year Honours 2006 for his service in relation to the London bomb attacks in 2005, and for his work for the British and US governments in Iraq the same year.

Thousands have watched his testimony. Now is the time to turn his words into action. Write to your Congressman, to your Senator, remind them that lies do not make a truth no matter how many times you tell them. Remind them that you vote, that you support Israel, and will not vote for them if they do not do all that they can to get the President to use our veto in the Security Council when this pack of lies comes up for a vote.

There is truth and there are lies. Goldstone is a lie.

Rally For The Cure...


...But Only If You Are Not Jewish

Should be the new motto for the Susan G. Komen For The Cure.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and all over the world women are working for early detection and cures. So when a regional conference in the Middle East was planned it was automatically assumed that Israeli scientists and researchers would be included. They were originally. But then it was remembered that Israelis are Jews, and they were asked not to attend.
A United States-based organization's conference on breast cancer awareness, to be hosted in Egypt, has been touted by international news networks as an example of “unprecedented cooperation” in the region. However, according to Channel 2 news, the celebration of unity may be premature, as Israeli doctors were told at the last minute that their invitations to participate had been rescinded.

The conference will be held in Alexandria, Egypt this week, under the auspices of the American group Susan G. Komen for the Cure – the world's largest breast cancer advocacy organization. It is to include meetings between leading researchers from the U.S. and several Mideast countries.

Israeli doctors were invited to the event as well, and several had planned to attend. However, on Sunday night, the doctors received brief notices telling them that they were no longer invited to the conference, by order of Egyptian Health Minister Hatem el-Gabali.

The notices did not include an explanation of Gabali's decision.

Despite the cancellation of the Israeli presence at the event, Egyptian officials continued to praise the event as an example of regional cooperation. “The week's events are a demonstration of the cooperation between countries, governments, civil society, advocates, survivors, and the global community as a whole,” Dr. Mohammed Shaalan of Egypt's Breast Cancer Foundation told Reuters on Monday. “It shows that breast cancer has no boundaries and reveals the beauty of the world's unity in its fight against breast cancer.”
For the record the number of treatments or cures for Breast cancer that has been discovered in the Muslim world is 0. I will not include the bogus claim by Faten Abdel-Rahman Khorshid that camel urine is the cure for everything.

Yet the tiny nation of Israel, with limited funding, but immence talent is on the forefront of Cancer research.

Instead of standing up and doing the right thing by walking out, the Susan G. Komen group did nothing, said nothing, and allowed anti-Semitism to flourish just a little bit.

I know what I will do. I will never donate my money to this group of racists. I will find groups that will not sit idly by and allow their name to be used in such a fashion. And I will speak out and call this behavior by its true name: Anti-Semitism!

I feel after this behavior on their part they should change their logo from a pink ribbon to a pink swastika. It best describes their true feelings.

The Orionids Are Coming!


The Orionids generally begin on October 15 and continue until October 29.

Earth is entering a stream of dusty debris from Halley's Comet, and this is causing the annual Orionid meteor shower. If forecasters are correct, the shower will peak on Wednesday morning, Oct. 21st, with dozens of meteors per hour. The best time to look is during the dark hours before local dawn.

For the past three years, Orionid rates have been unusually high, with reports of 60 or more meteors per hour. Researchers believe this is a result of some very old and rich debris from Comet Halley drifting across Earth's orbit. Computer models of the debris suggest that it is still in the neighborhood, so the trend of "good Orionids" could continue in 2009. Visit Spaceweather for photos and updates.

Enjoy the night sky, its wonderful to watch on a cool autumn night.

Day 30!!!!!!!!!


It has been exactly 30 days since I've had a cigarette or any form of Nicotine. 30 hard days of Temptation and Trial! I almost went back to smoking on Days 26, 27 and 28, but my stubborn streak won't let me.

Contrary to what my oldest thinks, I did something that President Obama has yet to do. Quit Smoking. Mr. President there is no such as 99% quit. Either you have quit or you are still smoking. Which one is it? Aren't Shasa and Malia worth you being around to see them married off? It is a fact that African-American Men have a greater risk for heart attack and stroke. So if you wish to make your enemies happy, keep smoking. You're well on your way to that fatal heart attack!

But I feel like celebrating today!

Celebration



View at YouTube


Yahoo!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Chickens Coming Home To Roost!

For many years members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard have taught, planned and executed suicide attacks against the "enemies of Iran". These enemies included Jews, Kurds, and US Troops in Iraq.

Now it seems that they have become the target of suicide bombers:
At least 20 people, including five senior commanders of the elite Revolutionary Guard, have been killed in a suicide bombing in southeastern Iran, the country's official news agency reported Sunday.

The IRNA news agency said the dead included Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, the deputy commander of the Guard's ground force, and Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh, the Guard's chief provincial commander. IRNA reports that dozens of others were wounded.

Sunday's news report said the commanders were inside a car on their way to a meeting when an attacker with explosives blew himself up.

The attack took place in the Pishin region near Iran's border with Pakistan.
What goes around comes around, and these idiots have been trying to be the baddest kids on the block. Through the Revolutionary Guard, Hamas not only gets supplies but training (it is just a shame that the crack unit the Revolutionary Guard trained for Hamas lasted only 1 1/2 hours in a firefight with the IDF), and it has been no secret that Iran is actively training and supplying the Iraqi insurgency for years. But who want to remember that or the US losses while our President Appeaser in Chief is trying to clean the pipes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Monkeyman and the Mullahs.

I wonder who did this act and how Monkeyman will try to pin this on the US, Israel or both.

But today, Iran is feeling the pain and frustration of being the target of a suicide bomber. And I'm not crying too hard over it.


Piece of candy anyone?

Guns Ablazing!

USS Iowa (BB-61) aka "The Big Stick", was the lead ship of her class of battleship and the fourth in the United States Navy to be named in honor of the 29th state. Owing to the cancellation of the Montana-class battleships, Iowa is the last lead ship of any class of United States battleships, and was the only ship of her class to have served in the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.

During World War II, Iowa served as a presidential shuttle in the Atlantic Fleet, moving President Roosevelt to and from the Tehran conference. When transferred to the Pacific Fleet in 1944, Iowa shelled beachheads at Kwajalein and Eniwetok in advance of Allied amphibious landings and screened aircraft carriers operating in the Marshall Islands. During the Korean War, Iowa was involved in raids on the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet". She was reactivated in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan, and operated in both the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets to counter the recently expanded Soviet Navy.In April 1989, an explosion of undetermined origin wrecked her #2 gun turret, killing 47 sailors. Iowa was decommissioned for the last time in 1990, and was initially struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1995. She was reinstated from 1999 to 2006 to comply with federal laws that required retention and maintenance of two Iowa-class battleships.

Iowa is currently berthed with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Suisun Bay, near San Francisco, California, and is awaiting donation to a not-for-profit entity for use as a museum ship. At present, Iowa is the only member of her class not open to the public.


When I saw the picture below I was amazed by the power this ship controlled. I do believe you will be too.

USS Iowa, A Grand Dame of the US Navy!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Penguins



From Wikipedia:
Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are a group of aquatic, flightless birds living almost exclusively in the southern hemisphere, especially in Antarctica. Highly adapted for life in the water, penguins have countershaded dark and white plumage, and their wings have become flippers. Most penguins feed on krill, fish, squid, and other forms of sealife caught while swimming underwater. They spend about half of their life on land and half in the oceans.

Although all penguin species are native to the southern hemisphere, they are not found only in cold climates, such as Antarctica. In fact, only a few species of penguin live so far south. Several species are found in the temperate zone, and one species, the Galápagos Penguin, lives near the equator.

The largest living species is the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri): adults average about 1.1 m (3 ft 7 in) tall and weigh 35 kg (75 lb) or more. The smallest penguin species is the Little Blue Penguin (also known as the Fairy Penguin), which stands around 40 cm tall (16 in) and weighs 1 kg (2.2 lb). Among extant penguins, larger penguins inhabit colder regions, while smaller penguins are generally found in temperate or even tropical climates (see also Bergmann's Rule). Some prehistoric species attained enormous sizes, becoming as tall or as heavy as an adult human (see below for more). These were not restricted to Antarctic regions; on the contrary, subantarctic regions harboured high diversity, and at least one giant penguin occurred in a region not quite 2,000 km south of the equator 35 mya, in a climate decidedly warmer than today.
The penguin might not be the flightless, aquatic bird that we tend to believe and accept. Film taken by Terry Jones for the BBC shows a different story.

Penguins - BBC



View at YouTube.

Not so flightless it seems.

Friday, October 16, 2009

HOAX!!!!!!!!!!

Not Global Warming, Cap and Trade, or Obamacare. No this hoax was played out on National Television live for 3 hours. It was perpetrated by Richard and Mayumi Heene. In this hoax the Heenes claimed that their 6 year old son Falcon climbed into their homemade weather balloon and was lifted off in it.
After scouring northern Colorado by foot and air, frantically chasing a Mylar balloon for miles and repeatedly interviewing his big brother, authorities ended the search for 6-year-old Falcon Heene where it began -- at his house.

He was in a box. In the attic. The whole time.

Richard Heene is a meteorologist and former television weatherman who has submitted to CNN iReports accounts of his sons helping him chase Hurricane Gustav, among other contributions.

"I played with my toys and took a nap," Falcon told a group of reporters outside his home Thursday afternoon.

"He says he was hiding in the attic," said Falcon's father, meteorologist Richard Heene, clutching his son. "He says it's because I yelled at him."

"I'm sorry I yelled at him," added Heene, tearfully hugging the boy.

In a later interview with CNN's "Larry King Live," Falcon said he heard his parents call for him from the garage.

When asked by his father on-air why he didn't respond, the boy replied, "You guys said we did this for the show."

When the father was pressed by Wolf Blitzer, who was filling in for King, to explain what his son meant, he became uncomfortable, finally saying he was "appalled" by the questions, and then adding that Falcon was likely referring to all the media coverage.

The story took a turn when ABC said that Falcon's parents, science enthusiasts Richard and Mayumi Heene, were featured on the 100th episode of ABC's prime-time program "Wife Swap" in March 2009.

According to the network's Web site, the Heene family "devote(s) their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."

Read the full story here.
Of course both CNN and the Heenes are denying that this was a planned publicity stunt in an attempt to secure a Television show for the family (America's Stupidest Nerds is a great title don't you think?). Or how much money, time and resources by law enforcement was spent on this stunt (money the Heenes should be compelled to repay to the counties involved).

"Balloon Boy" Falcon Henne Admits: "We Did This For The Show"



View at YouTube here.


What angers me is that both the parents and the children have no shame for what they have done. They feel entitled to all the publicity, the TV Show they want, the free money, etc... But where is the moral code that should be instilled into a child? Where is the sense of obligation to speak the truth?

These "parents" are part of the "I'm entitled generation". Raised by parents and an educational system that stresses self-esteem over morality, indoctrination over knowledge, self over community.

And this is the results. Egotistical, Mendicants who believe that the world owes them and teaches this to their offspring.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Wednesday's Hero: Cpl. Benjamin S. Kopp

This Week's Post Was Suggested By Beth

Cpl. Benjamin S. Kopp

Cpl. Benjamin S. Kopp
21 years old from Rosemont, Minnesota
3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
July 18, 2009

U.S. Army

Ben Kopp has been a fighter since the day he was born. When he was born his mother was given morphine to stop her labor so the doctors could deliver her via a cesarean section. But it caused his heart rate to slow and when he was born he wasn't breathing. But he recovered to the amazement of everyone. "Ben has always been up for a challenge," said his mother, Jill Stephenson. "He came into the world a fighter."

On July 10, 2009, Cpl. Benjamin Kopp was wounded in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. He was hit in the knee that hit his popliteal artery and the loss of blood caused him to go into cardiac arrest on the operating table at a battalion surgical center. As a result of his injuries, Cpl. Kopp developed swelling in his brain was put into an induced coma to try and save his life. But he died on July 18.

But his service didn't end with his passing. Upon his death, by his own desire, his organs were donated to people in need saving their lives.

"Please continue to say prayers for all of the men and women who so proudly serve our country," Stephenson wrote online. "Ben had a deep love of country and has just left a legacy of heroism for all of us to cherish. Be as proud of him as I was as his mother."

You can read much more about Cpl. Benjamin S. Kopp here.


These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
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Obama's Strategic Plan For Israel

Any other questions?

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

On Religion



Roger W. Gardner

My Personal Beliefs

I believe in a Higher Power whom, for lack of a better name, I call God. My belief in God is both intuitive and pragmatic. Intuitive in the sense of its feeling right and proper, like a beautiful equation, while the alternative option seems to me awkward and incomplete.

I believe in a God engaged in human affairs. I do not believe God helps me find a parking space. However, I believe that the only convincing explanation for certain epiphanies in my life have come from this higher source.

My belief in God is also pragmatic; I believe in the logic of a Prime Mover, and in the efficacy of prayer. I believe that prayer -- that is, the act of praying itself, humbling oneself before a superior power and asking for help, is beneficial both intellectually and spiritually. It is a sharing of the burden of mortality, and offers us a vestige of hope.

The Historiocity of Jesus Christ

I believe that Jesus of Nazereth, called the Christ, existed. I believe this fact has been adequately confirmed by historical triangulation from the writings of Josephus, Tacitus and Dio Cassius -- special weight being given to Tacitus' offhand references, given their derisive and demeaning tone.

I believe in the essential factual elements of the Gospel of the New Testament, from the approximate date (though off by 4 to 6 years) of Christ's birth, through his last 2 or 3 years, up to and including his crucification.

I do not believe in the Immaculate Conception, the miracle of the loaves, walking on water, etc, or, most importantly, in the Ressurection; all of which I consider to be later constructs in an elaborate process of deification.

However, despite heavy censorship which most assuredy took place in the 4th and 5th centuries, I believe that in general the extant records of Jesus' teachings and sayings are essentially accurate, and certainly worthy of the founding of a great religion. It is in this sense that I consider myself to be a Christian.

There were, it must be remembered, many purported Messiahs during this period of Judaic history. This Jewish longing for a strong Messiah Warrior King (such as King David) came as a natural response to their having been conquered and subjugated, in turn, by the Babylonians, the Persians, the Egyptians, and now the Romans. In this respect, Jesus the Nazarene proved to be a disappointment to many Jews -- in particular to Judas Iscariot. Rather than being given a Messiah Warrior King, who would lead them to victory in battle against their hated Roman foe, they were presented with a man of tolerance and peace. A gentle man, who believed himself to be the Son of God -- not the jealous, vengeful God of the Old Testament, but a kind and loving God.

Five centuries after Jesus' death the Arab world would get their own Messiah Warrior King, and we are still dealing with the unhappy consequences of that fateful event.

Unlike the fire and brimstone prophets of the Old Testament, Jesus only sparingly deals with sin, never the dark concept of Original Sin; but rather he openly embraces the prostitute, the Roman Centurian, even the onerous tax-collector.

I believe that Jesus, called the Christ, believed himself to be the Son of God, and that those surrounding him believed the same. I believe the actual degree of Christ's divinity is unknowable, whereas his effect on mankind is vast and quantifiable.

If faith is belief without proof, then my faith in the historiosity of the New Testament is qualified. The character of Jesus is, to me, the most intriguing and mysterious in history. His life and his teachings have forever changed the course of the Western World.

Although Jesus most assuredly represented an existential threat to the conservative Jewish religious establishment of Jerusalem, most particularly the Elders of the Sanhedrin, it appears the Romans had the final say in his execution for sedition. It was therefore a civil/political decision, well within the bounds of Roman jurisdiction, and thus, despite centuries of traditional anti-semitic rantings, does not constitute a "Blood Libel" on the Jews.

The Importance of Saint Paul

Although obviously centered on the figure of Jesus Christ, in fact it seems that the entire foundation of the Universal Catholic Church rests squarely on the solid shoulders of the inimitable Saul of Tarsus (Saint Paul). Indeed, it can be said with some degree of certainty that without the efforts of Saint Paul, Christianity would most likely have eventually dwindled away, becoming just another strange Middle Eastern cult. Regardless of the significant contributions of Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine, et al, it was Saint Paul who was primarily responsible for the birth of the Christian Church, An indefatiguigable proselytizer and a profoundly original theologian -- he was not, however, above bending the rules (e.g. that all Christians must be converted Jews), if this would bring in new Christians from the vast untapped resources of the gentile Graeco-Roman world. It was the formidable brain of Paul that first formulated the whole concept of Redemption -- that Christ had died on the cross not as a common criminal, but in order to redeem our sins, thus turning his inglorious end by crucifiction into a divine act of monumental martyrdom. The importance of Saint Paul to the course of Western/Christian history cannot be overstated. It was Saint Paul who organized the foundations of the Universal Church, created its dogma and its heirachy. By the time of Paul's death, in 64 AD, the nascent Catholic Church was already becoming a viable, well-structured corporation, subject to the personal and political aspirtions of it leaders.

The Jewish Christians

Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, the so-called "original Jewish-Christians", under the leadership of Jesus' brother, James the Just, continued on in stubborn isolation for a few decades before disappearing from the pages of history.

It is worth noting that these newly converted Christians sought to get along with the Roman authorities, and were eager to distance themselves from their troublesome Jewish cousins. As Christianity grew, this split between the Jewish-Christians, the gentile Christians, and the Jews became ever wider. This in part expains why the writers of the Gospels were reluctant to put the blame for Jesus' execution on the Romans, placing it intead on the Jews.

East vs. West

One of the most pivotal events in Western history must surely have been the now rather obscure Iconoclastic Controversy of the mid-8th century. For it was over this theological rift that the the Eastern [Orthodox] Church, centered in Constantinople began its inevitable split from the Western Catholic Church, centered on the Pope in Rome. The major bone of contention was over the interpretation of the use of "graven images", that is whether or not realistic portraiture depicting indentifiable characters -- most especially, God, Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary -- constituted a heresy. Constantinople declared all such artwork to be heretical and banned its production, and the later Islamic World followed suit. On the other hand, the Church of Rome decided the contrary position, not only accepting naturalistic art as being non-heretical, but warmly embracing it, eventually becoming its primary benefactor.

The Middle Eastern and the Graeco-Roman Western world had gone their separate ways. In the West the arts and sciences flourished, and the spirit of discovery -- when not threatening the foundation of the church itself -- was nurtured and encouraged. Thus the successful growth of an open, liberal, progressive culture denoted the character of the West, while the Middle Eastern, later Islamic world, would focus their arts, however beautiful, exclusively on rigid, formulaic, mostly geometric motifs. Restricted by religious law, discovery and innovation were discouraged, in favor of strict adherence to tradition. While the West prospered and grew, albeit somewhat sporadically, the Middle East tended to stagnate and fall behind. As the West moved on, continually expanding its intellectual and artistic frontiers, culminating in the glories of the Rennaisance and, later, in the Age of Enlightenment, the Arab/Islamic world languished, virtually unchanged from the 7th century. No Rennaisance. No Reformation. No Age of Enlightenment -- the closest thing to a Reformation in Islam being, arguably, the 18th century Wahabbi Movement, which only succeeded in turning in on itself, further alienating Islam from the constantly evolving West, where innovation was not only encouraged, but generously rewarded.

Church and State

Perhaps the next most determinate events in Western Christian History were the beginnings in the 11h century of the ongoing battles between church and state, between the Pope in Rome and various emperors and kings. Although the results of these contests were never entirely conclusive, the end product would be a stalemate, and a tentative agreement on their separate spheres of authority, spiritual and temporal. This imperfect balance between church and state has generally served Western Civilization quite well.

However, problems develop when a religion, such as Islam, is overtly and aggressively politically motivated, but protected from objective scrutiny by its religious shield. Thus Islam can spread its evil tentacles into our Western society, its sanctity assured by our own Constitution. Unless and until we find a way around this self-imposed barrier and begin treating Islamism as just one more "ism", such as Communism of Fascism, we will continue losing ground in this veritable Clash of Civilizations.

Afterword

In contrast to the militant hubris of the confirmed atheist, or the condescending self-righteous fervor of the born-again-Christian, I humbly accept the fact that many of my carefully considered conclusions, put forth in this small essay, could be completely mistaken. However, they represent an honest expression of my thoughts at this time.

Finally, I beleive that faith in a kind and loving God is a gift. The degree to which one accepts the literal narrative of the New Testament, whether one embraces minimalism or maximalism, is of course a matter of personal choice.