What Was It?

From Space Weather

MAGNIFICENT ERUPTION: Breaking the quiet in spectacular fashion, a magnetic filament erupted from the sun's northern hemisphere at approximately 2145 UT on Sept. 29th. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast: 

Another movie from the Solar Dynamics Observatory zooms in to show the filament ripping through the sun's atmosphere and leaving behind a "canyon of fire." The glowing "canyon" traces the channel where magnetic forces held the filament aloft before the explosion.

This event also hurled a magnificent CME into space: movie (Credit: SOHO). The magnetized cloud, which left the sun traveling approximately 900 km/s (2 million mph), was not aimed toward Earth. Nevertheless, our planet's magnetosphere might receive a glancing blow on Oct. 2-3. Polar geomagnetic storms and auroras are possible when the CME arrives.

COMET ISON APPROACHES MARS: In two months, Comet ISON will make a spectacular flyby of the sun. First, though, it has to fly by Mars. The sungrazing comet is approaching the Red Planet for a 0.07 AU close encounter on October 1st. Mars satellites and rovers will have a close-up view. A video from NASA details the encounter.

Amateur astronomers on Earth can watch, too. Using a remotely controlled 14-inch telescope in New Mexico, Rolando Ligustri photographed ISON approaching Mars on September 28th:

At closest approach on October 1st, Mars and Comet ISON will be approximately 2o apart. While Mars is visible to the unaided eye (it shines almost as brightly as a first-magnitude star), ISON is definitely not. The comet is still far from the sun and, as it crosses the orbit of Mars, it has not yet warmed enough to reach naked-eye visibility. Reports of the comet's brightness vary from 12th to 14th magnitude, which means a mid-sized backyard telescope is required to see it.

Mars and ISON rise together in the eastern sky a couple of hours before the sun. Amateur astronomers, if you have a GOTO telescope, enter these coordinates. Visually, Mars will be easy to find on the mornings of closest approach, not only because the planet is relatively bright, but also because the crescent Moon will be passing right by it.

OHIO FIREBALL: On Sept. 27th, a meteor exploded in the skies above the US Midwest. Witnesses report shadows cast upon the ground, unusual sounds, and a swirling contrail marking the aftermath of the blast. "It was the most brilliant fireball that I have ever seen!" reports Angela McClain, who sends this picture from Faith Ranch in Jewett, Ohio:

"The entire landscape lit up," she continues. "I spun around and there it was, a huge, bright green light, streaking across the sky. Even when it was gone, there was still a bright line in the sky about 20 seconds later. We were all stunned."

A NASA all-sky camera in Hiram, Ohio, also recorded the fireball: movie.

"This was a very bright event," says Bill Cooke of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. "Flares saturated our meteor cameras, and made determination of the end point (the terminus of the fireball's flight through the atmosphere) virtually impossible. Judging from the brightness, we are dealing with a meter class object."

Data from multiple cameras shows that the meteoroid hit Earth's atmosphere traveling 51 km/s (114,000 mph) and passed almost directly over Columbus, Ohio. Cooke has prepared a preliminary map of the ground track. According to the American Meteor Society, the fireball was visible from at least 14 US states.

KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES!!!!!

Bill Warner Breaks Down the Nairobi Mall Massacre

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Bill Warner is one of the country's foremost experts on political Islam. In this posting from An Inquiry Into Islam, he explains the difference between non-Muslim and kafir and why the killers in Nairobi singled out the non-Muslims for massacre.

http://www.inquiryintoislam.com/2013/09/separating-kafirs-from-muslims.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ANon-racistUnbigotedInquiryIntoIslam+%28An+Inquiry+Into+Islam%29

Warner raises a great point; take a look at the Koran sometime, and see just how much of the text is devoted to the kafir, unbeliever, infidel, or whatever they call it.

Christianity Becoming Extict In Its Birthplace.

Hat Tip to Creeping Sharia

MIDDLE EAST historian Tom Holland told a briefing in London last night that the world is watching the effective extinction of Christianity from its birthplace.In an apocalyptic appraisal of the worsening political situation in the region, a panel of experts provided a mass of evidence and statistics for the end of the region’s nation states under the onslaught of militant Islam.‘In terms of the sheer scale of the hatreds and sectarian rivalries, we are witnessing something on the scale of horror of the European Thirty Years War,’ said Holland.‘It is the climax of a process grinding its way through the twentieth century – the effective extinction of Christianity from its birthplace.’The event titled ‘Reporting the Middle East: Why the truth is getting lost’ at the National Liberal Club in Whitehall, sought answers to the ‘anaemic’ coverage of attacks on Egypt’s Christians on 14 August.
Pre-planned destruction of scores of ancient churches, monasteries, schools, orphanages and businesses had gone unreported for days across the West, Nina Shea, Director of the Hudson Institute Religious Freedom Centre in Washington said.

After the Islamists swept multiple elections during the first revolution in 2011, US newspapers asking how it would change Egypt suggested merely that women would be prohibited from wearing skimpy clothes, and Sharm el-Sheikh would close as a tourist destination.

This was ‘utterly trivial’ she said.  Persecution of Copts, who dated their church to Gospel writer St Mark in Alexandria, was at its worst since the fourteenth century, with ‘horrific levels of violence’.
‘It has been the worst persecution in 700 years against the oldest, largest remaining Christian minority in the Middle East.’

The media had failed to ask the most basic questions, she said.  ‘Why were the Copts singled out, what was the significance and purpose of the attacks?’

A fourth-century church dedicated to St Mary – whom Muslims were supposed to revere – and that was a UNESCO World Heritage site, had been destroyed and designated as a Muslim prayer space.
It was 200 years older than the Bamyan Statues in Afghanistan, yet the mainstream media had ignored its demise.

Yet there was enough evidence to show that the violence was part of a plan to ‘drive out the Copts, to terrorize them into leaving’, she added.

Lapido Chief Executive Dr Jenny Taylor who organized the event which was co-hosted with foreign policy think tank Henry Jackson Society, said the media’s job was impeded by ‘secular blinders’.
They tended to report the Middle East’s religions as a ‘variant of a Westminster debate’ with ‘left-wing underdogs versus right-wing overdogs and the Christians getting lumped in with the overdogs if they get mentioned at all.’

Holland said Egypt was not a developing nation, which needed help to emerge as a Western democracy but had been the world’s first state, with a civilization on a level with China and Iran.  In Roman times, it had been the world’s bread basket.

Now it was the single largest importer of wheat anywhere on the planet.

In answer to a question from the floor he agreed there had been what felt like ‘silence’ from Western churches, governments and indeed Western Muslims after the attacks, which belied Islamist propaganda that the West colluded with Christians.

Shea also spoke about Syria.

Christians in Syria were now ‘caught in the middle’, she said.  There was a shadow war against them by rebels, with jihadis and al-Qaeda factions deliberately attacking Christians.

‘When they conquer a town they set up sharia courts and mini sharia states.  The Christians are fleeing.  Given the choice to be killed or to leave, they leave.  If they stay, the jizya tax is imposed, and then raised.  If they cannot pay they are killed.’

She said Christians dared not go to refugee camps run by rebels as they would be recruited to fight.
The so-called Damascus Plan drafted by the Free Syrian Army for after the war ends, included retribution killings against any who did not oppose Assad.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I feel sorry for the Churches of the Middle East.  In every Muslim nation  they are being destroyed.  In Bethlehem, under the Palestinian Authority, Christians have gone from a majority population of 85% to a minority population of 10%.  Pretty soon the only Christians in the city will be the priests, nuns, and tourists.  Already the Palestinian Authority has decided to turn the Church of the Nativity into a mosque.  The Church of the Nativity is one of the holiest sites in the Christian world.  Yet there will be no protests when this happens.

The only place in the Middle East where there is total and free religious liberty is Israel.  Yet the Christian Churches will not praise Israel for this, but condemns the Jewish State instead.

Between 1949 and 1955 every Arab nation forcibly removed most of the Jews from their nations.  They laughed doing so, saying:

First the Saturday people.
Then the Sunday people.

In most of the Arab world there are not enough Jews to satisfy their blood lust.  For instance there are only 9 Jews in Egypt.  (All elderly women.)  So now it is the turn of the Sunday people to leave.  And like with the Jews, the world is remaining silent.

Until Christian and World leaders cry out and demand a stop to the persecution, the murders, the rapes, the torture of their fellow Christians, the Muslims will keep doing what they want and laughing while we just sit back and do nothing.

Remembering the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo

40 years ago Israel fought Egypt and Syria in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.  Israel was on the ropes and needed a resupply from the United States.  Nixon hesitantly agreed to resupply Israel.  This infuriated the Arab World that they instituted a boycott of the West.  In other words, they stopped shipping oil from their hellholes to Western nations.  A move that can happen again.

This fall marks the fortieth anniversary of the Arab oil embargo, a painful episode in American history that had a profound effect on both the economy and psyche of the United States. It began in mid-October 1973, following the US decision to resupply Israel with weaponry after Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.

In response to President Nixon’s decision, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, the Arab members of OPEC, declared an embargo and cut off oil supplies to the United States and its allies.

In the three months after the embargo was announced, oil prices quadrupled from $3 to $12 per barrel. Yes, twelve bucks would be a monumental bargain in these days of $100-a-barrel crude, but back then it sent shock waves through developed country economies.

Meanwhile, the supply disruptions forced motorists to wait for hours in long lines to get gasoline. The US government response was largely limited to attempts to reduce consumption, by lowering the national speed limit to 55 mph and asking people to refrain from decorating with holiday lights, to reduce the use of oil that then powered many generating plants.

During the 1970s, Washington also launched efforts that still continue today. Those efforts would purportedly increase the nation’s energy independence by promoting conservation and energy-efficient appliances, nuclear power, and “alternative” energy development via tax breaks, mandates and subsidies for ethanol, wind and solar energy. Our three branches of state and federal government did very little to expand leasing and drilling, onshore or offshore, in the Lower 48 States or in Alaska; much to block such development; and little to encourage these activities.

In August 1973, just before the embargo, even enacting a law to end incessant lawsuits over the Trans-Alaska Pipeline passed Congress by a single vote (by Vice President Spiro Agnew, following a 49-49 Senate vote). After the embargo hit, Congress finally authorized building the pipeline.

Of course, policies aimed at addressing the nation’s long-term energy needs did nothing to alleviate the crisis of late 1973. The United States and most of the developed world desperately needed liquid fuels – to power cars, trucks and tractors, generate power, produce electricity, and safeguard jobs and living standards. Nuclear power could do nothing to feed their transportation network, and wind and solar installations provided barely measurable amounts of electricity. Lack of preparation hurt us badly.

Environmentalist opposition to all things nuclear and hydrocarbon continues. So does their refusal to acknowledge the land, raw material and wildlife impacts of wind and solar power, or even require an honest accounting of how many birds and bats wind turbines slaughter each year. Even as (or because) fracking proves the United States still has vast untapped riches of oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids, they do all they can to delay, block or ban this safe, proven technology.
Now, four decades later, America is still vulnerable to a major and prolonged oil supply disruption. While the Strategic Petroleum Reserve stands ready to cushion an oil shock, it contains barely enough oil to replace imported crude for 93 days. Furthermore, since oil prices are determined globally and affected by political instability, the US economy could still suffer severe repercussions from an oil price spike.

Why does the threat of oil disruptions still plague us? Because of political bickering, regulatory overkill, anti-hydrocarbon ideologies, courts putting almost any ecological argument (no matter how minor or far-fetched) above our need for hydrocarbons – and our government’s systemic inability to focus on the most important issues facing our nation: economic growth, job creation and preservation, and protecting people’s overall health and welfare. Even though petroleum still supplies 63% of the energy that powers our economy, our politicians and policy makers remember the embargo, but ignore its lessons.

Despite the fact that the United States owns some of the world’s largest collective oil resources, about 51% of our oil still comes from other countries. Canada is our largest supplier, but Persian Gulf oil still accounts for almost one-third of total imports. The risk of supply disruptions remains very real.

However, that is just a small part of the problem. Over fourteen million working age Americans are still unemployed, are involuntarily working part-time below their potential and preference, for less pay than with their old jobs – or have simply given up looking for a job. Washington is spending some $3.6 trillion a year, while bringing in a meager $2.6 trillion in annual revenues.

The USA could be producing much more of its own oil and natural gas – creating millions of jobs and generating hundreds of billions of dollars in royalty and tax revenues. But it has lacked the political will to open the vast majority of the Outer Continental Shelf. Even the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and the entire East and West Coasts are off limits to leasing and drilling.

The vast majority of US onshore lands owned or controlled by the federal government are likewise off limits, including ANWR and even the Alaskan National Petroleum Reserve. The Obama administration has even increased the regulatory burdens and delays on the few areas it has technically left open, onshore and offshore – while expediting permits and waiving endangered species laws for wind and solar projects. Oil and gas projects have been delayed or scrapped, and virtually all have seen their costs skyrocket.

As a result, our economy has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs and hundreds of billions in salaries. The US Treasury has lost hundreds of billions in bonus, royalty and tax payments. Meanwhile, we continue to subsidize “green” energy, amass debt, and convert millions of jobs from full-time to part-time or no-time. The adverse impacts on people’s lives, livelihoods, living standards and life spans continue to increase.

Were it not for drilling and fracking on state and private lands – in spite of the federal government and constant environmentalist attacks – US oil and gas production would have continued the decline that began in 1970. Instead, due to advanced drilling and production technologies, dedicated entrepreneurs have safely extracted billions of dollars worth of oil and natural gas from shale formations, created 1.7 million jobs, ramped petroleum production back up, and sent almost $100 billion to state treasuries.

Rather than meet our country’s needs for oil and gas, President Obama’s Interior and Energy Departments, EPA and other agencies have strangled our economy in red tape and poured billions of taxpayer dollars down the toilet of ill-conceived, crony-corporatist wind, solar, battery, “green” car and “renewable” fuel projects. Many went belly-up without ever producing any jobs, products or revenues. Worse, the “green” jobs (ie, subsidized by greenbacks) kill 2-4 jobs for every “renewable” job created.

But they ensure that millions of tax dollars return to “green” politicians via campaign contributions, to keep the schemes alive. Tens of millions more are funneled annually through government agencies to eco-activists who work full time to promote renewable energy, oil depletion and climate change myths.

To top it off, five years after the first permit application was submitted, Mr. Obama still refuses to make a decision on the Keystone XL Pipeline. That one project would create tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and transport over 800,000 barrels of US and Canadian crude to Texas refineries, which are currently paying $100 for every barrel they refine into gasoline and myriad other products.

In 1973, America learned a shocking truth. Our nation was not prepared to control its own energy, economic, employment, trade and revenue destiny. In 2013, even amid deepening crises in the Middle East, Africa and other regions, we could be poised to repeat mistakes and painful lessons of the past.

Our energy and economic problems continue today, but not because America lacks the resources. They continue because our “leaders” have put their anti-hydrocarbon attitudes and political alliances ahead of the best interests of the American nation and people.

SOURCE

The truth be told is that Nixon wasn't going to resupply Israel and told then Prime Minister Golda Meir so.  Golda told Nixon in that case she would authorize the Samson Option and hung up on him.  Literally 2 minutes later Nixon called back saying the supplies will be delivered immoderately.  The Arab world was lucky then.  They were nearly destroyed by Israel.

Today we are more dependent on oil from the Arab world.  We need not be.  We could be self-sufficient in our energy needs if we had leaders with the balls to drill.  Fracking is safe!  It is the eco-nazis who keep this nation dependent on Arab oil in the name of "Mother Earth"!

Are Europeans Disappointed With Obama?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com

Obama- the Savior- a German spoof on a term once applied to Hitler


It may be purely anecdotal, but if my conversations with friends the past 10 days in Erlangen, Germany are any example, yes, they are.

The last 10 days of my trip to Germany were spent in Erlangen, a university city near Nuremberg where I spent my army time in the 1960s.  I also wrote a book on the city's history and as a result have met many of the city's leaders, historians and historiographers. A little more background is in order. As a seat of Siemens and the university of Erlangen, the city is regarded as arguably having the highest per capita educational level in the country-at least as far as a survey indicated a few years ago.

So in my conversations with my German friends, it was interesting that several of them expressed disappointment with President Obama in so far as what they had expected of him in terms of bridging divides and improving foreign relations. (According to one friend, Obama still enjoys high popularity among German youth.)

In short, when asked if I was similarly disappointed, my answer was, "No- I didn't expect anything in the first place."

How can I be disappointed?

"What? Me disappointed?"

Has Iran Gone Nuclear Already?

Although the report comes originally from Maariv, an Israeli paper notorious for being far left and their reports have been far from the truth, I submit this to you, my truth seeker, so you can make an honest assessment.

Some Israeli government analysts believe Iran already has at least one nuclear bomb, an Israeli journalist wrote in an article published Friday.

Shalom Yerushalmi, writing in the national daily Maariv, said that “government security sources up to date on development in Iran,” told him recently that Tehran has crossed all points of no return and already has its first nuclear weapon, and maybe more.

The report marks the first time a government official has been quoted saying Iran already has a nuclear weapon. No sources in the piece were named.

The information, if true, would mark a major shift in international relations and would be a game changer in terms of a regional power balance.

“It’s too late for Israel [to prevent an Iranian bomb]. Iran has crossed all the borders and all the constraints, and it has a first nuclear bomb in its possession, and maybe more than that,” Yerushalmi writes, basing himself on what he says is the assessment he heard this week from state security sources. ”We are facing a historic change in the strategic balance of forces in the region.”

He then quotes a source who he says is deeply familiar with what he calls the relentless war against the Iranians. “This is no longer about how to prevent a bomb,” the source is quoted saying, “but about how to prevent its being launched, and what to do if and when.”

Yerushalmi, still basing himself on the anonymous security sources’ assessment, goes on to compare the current behavior of Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei, and new President Hasan Rouhani, in their interactions with the West, to a soccer coach at the end of a hard-fought match which he knows he has now won. The Iranian leadership is behaving with the air of “those who have achieved their target, and therefore can today afford to be more generous and to offer new (self-serving) messages.” The Iranian leadership can afford to be friendlier, he writes, “because victory has been secured.”

Maariv led its Friday paper with a photograph of a smiling Rouhani, alongside the headline, “What’s hiding behind the smile,” and a sub-headline quoting the security sources saying Iran now has “at least one bomb.” It then adds that most in the security establishment, however, still believe that this “nightmare scenario has not yet been realized.”

While most Western countries believe Iran’s nuclear program is intended for military purposes, officials in Israel, the US and elsewhere say Tehran has yet to “break out” toward a bomb, a process that could take over a year.

Iran, which on Thursday agreed to renewed talks with world powers on curbing its nuclear program, says its program is for peaceful purposes.

On Friday, Iranian and UN officials met to discuss whether to resume inspections meant to determine whether Tehran worked on atomic arms, in a test of pledges by Iran’s new president to reduce nuclear tensions.

Iranian envoy Reza Najafi said in Vienna that it would be unrealistic to expect that “in just one day of meeting we can solve our problems.”

Herman Nackaerts of the International Atomic Energy Agency said only that he hoped the meeting could “intensify the dialogue.”

The UN agency wants access to a site it suspects was used to test conventional explosive triggers meant to set off a nuclear blast.

A report released last month by the IAEA said that while Iran was testing new centrifuges, which could help it eventually create a nuclear weapon, its uranium stockpile was still below the amount needed for a bomb.

“It is unlikely, at this point, that Iran could dash toward further enrichment to weapons-grade without the IAEA detecting Tehran’s activities,” Reuters quoted the Arms Control Association, a Washington-based advocacy and research group.

Israel sees an Iranian nuclear weapon as an existential threat, and Jerusalem has campaigned vigorously around the world for heavy sanctions to be placed on Iran, with a threat of military action should those fail to stop the nuclear program.

Next week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to deliver a speech at the United Nations during which he is expected to press for maintaining pressure on Iran despite a recent easing of tensions between Tehran and the West. In comments Tuesday, Netanyahu urged the world not to be “fooled” by Iran’s newly moderate rhetoric, which he said was a “smokescreen” to obscure its continued drive toward nuclear weapons.

“Israel would welcome a genuine diplomatic solution that truly dismantles Iran’s capacity to develop nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said. “But we will not be fooled by half-measures that merely provide a smokescreen for Iran’s continual pursuit of nuclear weapons. And the world should not be fooled either.”

SOURCE

If true this would explain why Iranian President Hasan Rouhani is talking about the UN stopping the sanctions.  After all they have already gotten nuclear weapons and sanctions did not stop them.  But President Barack Hussein Obama's appeasement not only is helping Iran, he is pleased with the progress they achieved.  Along with forcing Israel into the Auschwitz Borders, Obama is well underway to appease his Muslim masters and destroy the West in the process.  For after all  Obama has been in communications with Iran, capitulating to their demands, and accepting the fact that Iran not only has a nuclear weapon, but will attack Israel with the weapon while the world stands by as they finish the job Hitler started.

The Persecution of Christians

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk
http://garyfouse.blogspot.com


Hat tip Investigative Project on Terrorism and Philly.com


Steve Emerson's Investigative project on Terrorism has cross-posted an article by Stu Bykofsky, a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News, which I think is important enough to also cross-post here. It concerns the world's inaction to the on-going persecution of Christians in Muslim lands.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130927_Turn_the_other_cheek_.html#8g4cFetkPbLq17uI.99

And why the Christians? Well, the Jews were basically driven out of Muslim countries in the late 1940s when Israel was created. To kill the Jews, they will have to conquer Israel. The Christian minority, however, is there for the killing.

Is it not time for Christians and Jews to stand together? And don't forget the Buddhists, Baha'i  and Hindus. It is disgraceful that the world community, as represented by the UN and major powers like the US, will not raise their voices against what is happening to Christians in Muslim lands. We are so concerned with giving refuge to Islamic refugees (real and imagined-like the Brothers Tsarnaev) that we forget about who the real refugees are these days.

I am not calling for the US to send in the Marines. What I do expect, however, is that President Obama, Secretary Kerry, and our UN ambassador Samantha Power raise their voices publicly. This they have not done. I expect the US to make it clear to the countries involved that continued aid will depend on how they treat their religious minorities. I would also expect the US (and other Western countries) to open its arms to Christian and other religious minority refugees. We could also restrict immigration from Islamic countries until this persecution ( not to mention terrorism)  stops. (Save your cards and letters. This is not the first time I have said this.)

Instead, we get silence from our leaders all over the West. Will we stand by and allow another Holocaust to occur at the hands of a latter-day Nazi force? I say again; save your cards and letters. What is being done across the Islamic world to its religious minorities is pure Nazism.

Where's Ivan? ~~ By J. D. Longstreet

Hat Tip to Faultline USA

Is This America?

I watched with anger and dismay as the parent tried his best to put a question to a school board of some kind in a public meeting. He vehemently protested to the other parents in the room -- "You are sitting here like cattle.” Then he said, “Is this America?” as he was roughly escorted from the room. Read More

Many decades ago there was a joke circulated the world over that, I think, shows this incident in the light it deserves. I will relate that story as best I remember it for you now:

There was a gathering in Red Square in Moscow. Nikita Khrushchev, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was addressing the gathered crowd. He was regaling them in glowing terms about the success of socialism/communism in the USSR when he decided to emphasize the current prosperity of the soviet people. He shouted proudly: "Everyone in Russia has washing machine! If you don't have washing machine ... raise your hand."

Way back in the crowd a hand shot up. Khrushchev saw it and asked: "What's your name?" "Ivan," the man answered. Khrushchev asked: "What's your problem?" Ivan answered, "I don't have a washing machine." Khrushchev replied with "... not to worry, problem WILL be fixed."

The very next week another gathering of the faithful was held in Red Square and Khrushchev was again singing the praises of socialism/communism. Again, he noted proudly how everyone in Russia had a washing machine. A hand shot up way back in the crowd. Khrushchev, somewhat irritated, asked what was his question, whereupon the man asked: "Where's Ivan?"

That story popped into my mind as I watched the Maryland parent being denied his constitutional rights -- right there in public for everyone to see and hear.

THAT, gentle reader, is the "New Normal" in America. The abused citizen's question haunted me all night that evening and still stalks my every waking moment. "Is this America?" he asked in desperate frustration as he was involuntarily "escorted" toward the door of the meeting room.

I submit to you that those words should be the battle cry of the new freedom movement in America. "Is THIS America?" Most assuredly it is NOT America. I don't know what our beloved country has become, but it is not the America our Founders and fore bearers handed off to us.

That father, concerned for his child's education, issued the admonition "You're sitting here like cattle" to the other parents sitting quietly allowing the violation of his, heck -- THEIR, constitutional rights to go unchallenged -- right in front of them.

It hasn't been that long ago in America when a brawl would have ensured. Red-blooded Americans would not have allowed that man to be treated as if he were a citizen in a communist totalitarian country, a banana republic, or some third world socialist dung heap ruled over by a narcissistic tin pot dictator.

But that was THEN -- you know, back when America truly WAS the land of the free and the home of the brave. Today America is neither.

The fearless American government is assaulting America's freedom and liberty in ways that the old leaders of the USSR, of Communist China, and, yes, even the old Third Reich of Adolf Hitler did not have the temerity to try on their own citizens and slaves.

Uncle Sam has gone from "uncle" to "big brother." America is now a "police state." No. We are not BECOMING a police state. We ARE a police state.

The US Constitution is nothing more than a ceremonial artifact locked away in a display case. It is ignored. The Bill of Rights has been so eroded that many of them no longer have any power, at all!

The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave ... don't make me laugh! (or cry, actually.)

"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." George Washington, the very first President of the United States (under the constitution) said that, and that was at the very beginning of our existence as a country. But like so much else about the "whys" and "wherefores" of the founding of this nation, it, too, has been either forgotten or -- even worse -- forsaken.

As of the day of this writing over 2/3rds of the country believes the US is on the wrong course. A Bloomberg National Poll reports that "Americans also are pessimistic about the course of the country, with 68 percent saying it’s headed in the wrong direction, the most in two years, according to the poll of 1,000 adults conducted Sept. 20-23." SOURCE

So. What are we going to do about it?

Unfortunately, I can't say that we are going to gather ourselves, clean the house in Washington, and set this country back on course. Because, you see, I am convinced we are too deeply divided now to ever be whole again.

Maybe it is time to consider this: When something is so broken it cannot be repaired, often one is compelled to discard it and replace it with a new one. If America has not yet reached that point, then she is certainly approaching it at a furious pace. Where is Ivan, indeed? When one reflects that Ivan can disappear in America these days, just as he could in the old USSR, the story becomes far less funnier.

Many decades ago Elmer Davis, former CBS journalist, reminded us: “This will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.”

The fact that America is no longer free indicates our parallel lack of bravery, as well.

Time To Sequester Air Force One

Hat tip to Roger Garrett

Air Force One costs taxpayers $179,750 per hour. It's time to sequester President Obama's use of Air Force One and limit it to official business rather than vacations and sight seeing tours.



Click here if video fails to load.

Wednesday's Hero

This Post Was Suggested By Michael



Comdr. Howard W. Gilmore
40 years old from Selma, Alabama
September 29, 1902 - February 7, 1943



For distinguished gallantry and valor above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Growler during her Fourth War Patrol in the Southwest Pacific from 10 January to 7 February 1943. Boldly striking at the enemy in spite of continuous hostile air and antisubmarine patrols, Comdr. Gilmore sank one Japanese freighter and damaged another by torpedo fire, successfully evading severe depth charges following each attack. In the darkness of night on 7 February, an enemy gunboat closed range and prepared to ram the Growler. Comdr. Gilmore daringly maneuvered to avoid the crash and rammed the attacker instead, ripping into her port side at 11 knots and bursting wide her plates. In the terrific fire of the sinking gunboat's heavy machine guns, Comdr. Gilmore calmly gave the order to clear the bridge, and refusing safety for himself, remained on deck while his men preceded him below. Struck down by the fusillade of bullets and having done his utmost against the enemy, in his final living moments, Comdr. Gilmore gave his last order to the officer of the deck, "Take her down." The Growler dived; seriously damaged but under control, she was brought safely to port by her well-trained crew inspired by the courageous fighting spirit of their dead captain.

You can read more about Comdr. Gilmore here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives just so others may get to enjoy freedom. For that I am proud to call them Hero.

Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look.

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.

Why Has Mahmoud Abbas Given The Nod To Lone Wolf Palestinian Terror?

In July 2013, after a 3 year hiatus, Israel and the Palestinian Authority restarted "peace" talks.  And just like the last time, it is now stalled and going no where.  So what does Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen do?  He gives the nod to the killing of Israelis.  Soldiers and civilians.

From Debka

No word of condemnation has come from any Palestinian leader for the murders of two Israeli soldiers two days apart by West Bank Palestinians: Saturday, Sept. 21, Sgt. Tomer Hazan, 20, from Bat Yam, was found murdered in a water hole near the West Bank town of Qalqilya. Sunday, another 20-year old, 1st Sgt. Gal Koby from Tirat Hacarmel, was killed by a single Palestinian sniper’s bullet while on guard at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron.

The silence from Ramallah is well-orchestrated, a signal that Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority, is in favor of picking off Israeli soldiers every few days, so as to boost his hand in the US-sponsored negotiations with Israel.

Those talks have not advanced an inch, since the parties remain entrenched in their widely separate positions.

Three months into the talks initiated by US Secretary of State John Kerry, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni and Yitzhak Molcho for Israel and the Palestinian Saeb Erekat have not even agreed on an agenda.

On Sept. 8, Livni proposed a working agenda of 17 items. The Palestinians countered with an agenda of six items, all them relating to the most contentious “core issues” of the dispute.

Livni’s list was dictated to her by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. She does not see eye to eye with the prime minister on Palestinian policy or negotiating tactics, but is bound to follow his guidelines or quit.

After presenting their conflicting agendas, the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators fell to an argument about priorities – security first, said the Israelis; borders, said the Palestinians.

The Israeli side explained that agreement on credible security arrangements would determine the location of borders; whereas the Palestinians insisted on reversing the order. They cited Secretary Kerry as having promised them explicitly that the pre-1967 boundaries would be adopted as the borders of the future Palestinian state.

Kerry has avoided putting any US position paper on the table in the absence of an American participant in the talks. This absence was the result of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s objections to former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk’s presence in the role of special US envoy. He maintained that the negotiations should be conducted directly and bilaterally between Israel and the Palestinians without US intervention.

Netanyahu in any case never got on with Indyk during his years as ambassador a decade ago.

The row over the rival lists erupted shortly after the prime minister told Livni and Molcho to put on the table what he called “Israel’s last offer” which was to withdraw from 60 percent of the West Bank in favor of a Palestinian state.

This plan would have saved him having to evacuate a single Jewish settler from Judea and Samaria. No one outside Netanyahu’s inner circle expected anything less than a brusque Palestinian refusal to even discuss the offer. His action was widely seen as an inexplicable blunder.

Since it became clear that the negotiations with Israel were going nowhere, tensions have been rising in the Palestinian arena. Until now, Kerry has been able to keep a heavy iron lid on tensions – mainly by forbidding both parties to utter a word on the state of the talks, on pain of US reprisals.

This hush enabled the US Secretary to maintain the appearance of progress in the Middle East talks, and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to look after their own political affairs.

Netanyahu, by maneuvers for avoiding the surrender of a single settlement, has preserved his government coalition intact. Abbas, acting through his henchmen, has let Palestinian terrorists partially off the leash - although for the time being only for attacking Israeli soldiers.

Like Arafat before him, Abbas does not issue written guidelines. He has used winks and nods from the right quarters to generate a permissive climate for terrorist action. Provided they limit their targets to uniformed Israelis, it is given to understand that they will not be bothered by Palestinian security and intelligence agencies.

Those agencies certainly know the identity of the Palestinian sniper who shot dead the Israel soldier in Hebron Sunday. If ordered by the Palestinian leader, they could quickly lay hands on him and pass him on to the Israeli authorities. The Palestinian Authority’s failure to do so has forced a crack in Kerry’s lid on the bubbling Palestinian stew. It remains to be seen whether or not Abbas continues to let the deadly attacks on Israeli soldiers continue, or even expand them. If he does, Netanyahu will have to turn away from domestic politics and give serious attention to countering the resurgence of Palestinian terror.

I doubt that these "talks" will go any where or come to any agreement.  The Fakistinians don't want an agreement, they want everything.  I am ashamed that Netanyahu hasn't stopped the talks with all the leaks from the Fakistinians, with the US already setting the borders of Israel and cutting Jerusalem in half.

 Each step in this process has been for the benefit of the Fakistinians and the Israelis are just getting shafted.  It is time Israel stop releasing murderers to get a bunch of welfare queens to the table.  They don't want to talk, let them rot.

It is time that Israel leave these "talks" and let Barack Hussein Obama and the Fakistinians have a temper tantrum before another IDF soldier is murdered.

Can We Convince Congress It Will Be a Good Thing for Them to Step-Up and Fix the Absurdity of "Workplace Violence?"

I don't know about you, but I was in no mood to hear that Nidal Hasan gave his almost $300,000 of taxpayer paid salary to undisclosed "charities" (secret from you and me).  After forcing taxpayers to fund aborting babies and denying parental rights in abortion and birth control decisions for their child, we can't sink any lower. We are on our bellies.

Fort Hood

I saw a headline recently: Congress Mulling Fort Hood Heroes Act. What the heck is there to 'mull?' To mull is to  "brood over, chaw, consider, contemplate, delay, deliberate, examine," etc." There's need for consideration, deliberation?

 Legislation in the mulling pot:

 Senate bill S.1500, Honoring the Fort Hood Heroes Act sponsored by Senator John Cornyn, sponsored by four Senators: Susan Collins (R-Maine), Ted Cruz (R-TX), Jerry Moran (R-KS) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH). And I thank them. Where is everyone else? The bill was introduced on September 12th, 2013 and referred to the Senate Committee on Armed Forces. Not a single Democrat and not a single co-sponsor from my home state of Oklahoma. 

 There are two bills in the House. I've read the summaries. So long as they change the classification of Hasan's charges and conviction to Terrorism or whatever gives the dead and the survivors the deserved benefits of dying and defending themselves against a Muslim jihadist, I'm happy.

 1) Rep. Tom Rooney introduced H.R. 3049, Justice for Fort Hood and Little Rock Heroes Act on August 2, 2013. On the same date the bill was referred to the House Committee on Armed Services. There are 5 cosponsors: Representatives John R. Carter (R-TX-31st), Tim Griffin (R-AR-2nd), Michael McCaul (R-TX-10th), Frank Wolf (R-VA-10th). Not a single Democrat and not a single co-sponsor of my home state of Oklahoma. 

 2) Rep. John R. Carter (R-TX-31) introduced H.R. 705, Fort Hood Victims and Families Benefits Protection Act on February 14, 2013. The bill was referred to the House SubCommittee on Military Personnel on march 6, 2013 - close to 6-1/2 months ago. There are 19 co-sponsors: Representatives Michael Burgess (R-TX-26th), Steve Chabot (R-OH-1st), Ron DeSantis (R-FL-17th), Louie Gohmert (R-TX-29th), Tim Griffin (R-AR-2nd), Sam Johnson (R-TX-3rd), Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ-2nd), Kenny Marchant (R-TX-24th), Michael McCaul (R-TX-10th), Tim Murphy (R-PA-18th), Steven Pearce (R-NM-2nd), Phil Roe (R-TN-1st), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-2nd), Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA-3rd), Roger Williams (R-TX-25th) Frank Wolf (R-VA-10th). Not a single Democrat and not a single co-sponsor from my home state of Oklahoma.

 The whole herd should have shown up by now in both Chambers, pen in hand - Democrat or Republican, it doesn't make any difference. This is not political. We're told the Department of Defense and the Secretary of the Army decided the murders were "workplace violence." They are un-elected bureaucrats. We need to fix it and fix it soon.

 Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is the chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Find all members here.

 Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA-25th) is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. Find all members here.

 Rep. Joe Wilson is the Chairman of the SubCommittee on Military Personnel. Find all members here.

 I hope you will call, email and tweet these Committees and encourage them to please move the legislation along. Do the same with your Congressperson and Senators. Please let the sponsors and co-sponsors know they have your full support.

 I encourage Republicans in both Chambers to stand up and loudly shame Democrats for not co-sponsoring, for stalling, for whatever they may be doing to slow the process. If any relative of any member of the House or Senate was wounded or killed by Nidal Hasan, we wouldn't need a "Heroes Act."

Had the charge been appropriate originally, the wounded would be receiving the medical care and job assistance needed and the families of the dead would have deserved medals in their hands along with the casket flag.

The only issue I can find is that the dead and wounded were killed and wounded on U.S. soil, and so maybe...maybe it's not really terrorism. That's like saying your mutt hound-dog is really a pure bred. One look and no one believes it.

 Besides giving these families some much needed relief, if you really want to honor them, let the entire Congress sign on as co-sponsors and move these bills quickly to the floor. You don't need much of a vote when everyone is co-sponsoring. Read the details of what Nidal Hasan did with your money here.

by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Posting Will Be Light.

My keyboard and mouse are on their last legs, so blogging will be light.  Will try to post as I can.

Israelis Move To Shelters As Iranian Attack Nears.

Hat Tip to Israel Matzav

Israelis built makeshift shelters on balconies across the country in preparation for Iranian nuclear attack. Experts said the “God Pods” would provide little protection

I do hope that this is satire, but knowing the Muslim mind....

(Jerusalem, September 19) As if sensing an imminent Iranian missile attack, Israelis moved en masse into makeshift shelters on Wednesday night, prompting diplomats and international news organizations to predict that a strike against Tehran’s fast-developing nuclear industry was imminent.

There was no official announcement, but millions of Israeli citizens made the move on Wednesday, perhaps as the result of a coded message issued by the government and unintelligible to foreigners.

Foreign media have predicted an imminent Israeli attack on Iran at least 26 times in the past five years. They live in hope.

The shelters, visible at homes across Israel, seemed to provide scant protection. Most were hurriedly constructed from wooden boards and roofed with tree branches. Some were lavishly decorated inside, while others remained bare.

The bizarre architecture seems to be based not on modern defense technology but on traditional religious plans for protective booths dating back to the early rabbis.

The shelters were soon dubbed “God Pods” by foreign media analysts.

Israelis were also laying in stocks of citrus fruit, palm branches and other natural vegetation that are believed to have medicinal properties in the event of an attack.

But experts said the God Pods would be “useless” against most modern weapons, even if fired by Iranians.

From September 18 to 25 Jews around the world celebrate the holiday of Sukkot.  During this holiday Jews eat inside "booths" made from PVC pipe, cloth, boards and a roof made of palm fronds.

 

Not a very sturdy shelter but a great God box for He resides in every one of them.

4 Years!

Yes you can!  You can quit smoking.  I know I did.  I had smoked for 30 years and then 4 years ago I put down the cigarettes.  It was hard to do, but I did it.  And you can do it too.  You can defeat the NicoDemon!  Just ask for help.  From your family, your friends, your doctor, and QuitNet.net.  The men and women there are just like you.  Either trying to quit or like me, former smokers.  Give it a try, your lungs will love you for it!

Bodies Not Cold Yet -- Left Cries: "Take Their Guns!" ~ By J. D. Longstreet

Hat Tip to Faultline USA

"One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offense to keep arms." -- Constitutional scholar and Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story, 1840

Will it never end, indeed(?! ) ... I mean, the Left's relentless drive to violate the constitutional rights of the American citizen.

The bodies from the shooting at the Washington Navy Yard were not even cold yet, the smoke had not entirely cleared the air, and there was Senator Diane Feinstein, a "progressive" (21st century code-word for Marxist) from California, railing amid the metaphorical flow of verbal crocodile tears: "When is enough, enough?"

Oh woe, Oh woe, Senator. When, indeed, is enough, enough? Believe me when I proclaim to you, and your cohorts on the left, we have HAD far MORE than enough of your assault on our constitutional rights.

On the other hand, it is close enough to the 2014 elections that it might serve a good purpose for you democrats to begin beating the drum AGAIN for gun control.

Americans have had a belly-full of "you people" and we are currently on the cusp of driving you from power in Washington. That little added "umph" of attempted gun control could do the trick for us and give us a real chance to fumigate the halls of Congress of the stench of Marxism without you leftists in it continually creating a veritable fog of noxious communist propaganda.

So, go ahead, Senator. Give us more political ammo to use against you, and I assure you, madam, WE SHALL!

Why, oh why, after learning that the people committing these awful gun crimes are mentally ill, does the government insist on blaming perfectly sane law-abiding citizens for the erratic behavior of the mentally ill?

You want to stop the gun massacres? Get the mentally ill off the streets and into secure hospitals where they can be treated -- and the public can be safe from them. It is that simple.

BUT --- The gun control advocates won't even discuss this simple solution. Very much like "profiling," somehow, the left sees treating the mentally ill as a violation of THEIR constitutional rights. How convoluted is that?

They're throwing around that phrase "common sense" again. Have you noticed? Common sense gun control, restrictions/regulations, etc.

Look, anytime the left tosses around the words "common sense" Americans had better grab their guns and trot quickly to the barricades.

Common sense? Come on, folks! At the same time that thirteen bleeding dead bodies are lying on the ground beneath a blue haze of gun smoke, our fearless(?)/feckless President goes on national TV to ... make another political speech ... a POLITICAL SPEECH, while Americans lay dead and wounded just a mile and a half from the room in which he was speaking! THAT'S common sense???

That's callousness.

That's not caring.

That's hard-hearted -- not to mention that it is politically DUMB!

"In the wake of the shooting at the Navy Yard, Obama spokesman Jay Carney said the president is implementing executive actions and reiterated his commitment to strengthening gun laws, including expanding background checks to sales online and at gun shows."

“The president supports, as do an overwhelming majority of Americans, common-sense measures to reduce gun violence,” Carney said. SOURCE

Two things I'd like you to notice from Mr. Carney's words above: "Overwhelming Majority of Americans" and "Common-sense measures." Now. Ask yourself ... where is that overwhelming majority of Americans Carney speaks of -- and -- by whose definition are the intended gun control "measures" "common-sense?"

Think about this for a moment: The Ship Yard Shooting took place in a city with arguably the strictest gun control laws of any city in the United States. The Ship Yard, itself, is another gun free zone within that city. And yet, 13 people lie shot to death. Remember, the shooting did not stop until GOOD MEN WITH GUNS STOPPED IT!

The tsunami of calls for "common sense gun control measures" began, predictably, as if already planned and ready for dissemination. If one did not know better, one would think gun control advocates had really prepared, in advance, this hyper reaction to the shooting at the Ship Yard.

It is all Bovine Scatology carefully designed to make the weak-minded amongst us feel good about giving up their God-given rights to the government.

It is typical of the political left to play upon the emotions of the electorate. Their entire platform depends upon manipulating the emotions of the people. That's why, when the left is in power in America, the country is maintained on the very edge of one crisis, or another, every single day. That continued assault on the human psyche weakens the ability to focus and think logically. And, as we should all know by now, LOGICAL thinking will destroy the left's politics every time.

NOW you understand why America lurches from one near disaster to another during periods in which the Democratic Party is in control, marginally, or otherwise. If those crises do not create themselves, well, the left is not above assisting in the creation of such situations. A sort of "tail wagging the dog" kind of thing, don't you know.

Don B. Kates, writing on statistical patterns in gun crime said this: "...Virtually never are murderers the ordinary, law-abiding people against whom gun bans are aimed. Almost without exception, murderers are extreme aberrants with lifelong histories of crime, substance abuse, psychopathology, mental retardation and/or irrational violence against those around them, as well as other hazardous behavior, e.g., automobile and gun accidents."

So, for gun owners, it is back to the barricades once more. It appears we are doomed to fighting the same battle over and over again. We have no choice, for the moment we let down our guard, we will no longer be citizens. We will be unarmed subjects.

Muslim Persecution of Christians: July, 2013

 

Attacks on Christians Escalate in Egypt, Nigeria

"Teachers who teach western education? We will kill them! We will kill them in front of their students, and tell the students to henceforth study the Quran." — Abubakar Shekau, leader of Boko Haram, which has slaughtered Christian teachers and students, but has not been designated a terrorist group.

On July 4^th, the day after the Egyptian military liberated its nation from Muslim Brotherhood rule, Christian Copts were immediately scapegoated and targeted. All Islamist leaders—from Brotherhood supreme leader Muhammad Badi, to Egyptian-born al-Qaeda leader Ayman Zawahiri, to top Sunni cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi—made a point to single out Egypt's Copts as especially instrumental in the ousting of former Islamist president Morsi, a claim that ushered in a month of slaughter against the nation's Christian minority.

Among other events in July, unprecedented numbers of Christian churches were attacked, plundered, desecrated, and torched. According to one Egyptian human rights lawyer, "82 churches, many of which were from the 5th century, were attacked by pro-Morsi supporters in just two days." Al-Qaeda's flag was raised above some churches; anti-Christian graffiti littered the sides of other churches and Coptic homes. Due to extreme anti-Christian sentiment, many churches ceased holding worship services until recently. Dozens of Coptic homes and businesses were also attacked, looted and torched.

In the Sinai, a young Coptic priest was shot dead in front of his church, while the body of Magdy Lam'i Habib, a Copt, was found beheaded and mutilated. Four other Christians were slaughtered by Muslims in the province of Luxor. Entire towns and villages have been emptied of Copts, including the eviction of more than 100 Christian families from El Arish in the terror-infested Sinai.
Coptic Pope Tawadros II left the papal residence at St. Mark Cathedral —which had been savagely attacked when Morsi was still president— for a time due to death threats, and temporarily discontinued holding services.

The rest of July's roundup of Muslim persecution of Christians around the world includes, (but is not limited to,) the following accounts, listed by theme and country in alphabetical order, and not according to severity:

Attacks on Christian Worship: Churches and Monasteries

Guinea: During a mob-led frenzy, Christians and their churches were savagely attacked in the Muslim-majority nation; some 95 Christians were slain and 130 wounded. In Nzérékoré, five churches, as well as the homes of pastors, were attacked by Muslim mobs. One priest recounted the violence: "The two Catholic and Protestant churches have all been ransacked and burned… Almost all the houses and shops belonging to Christians or people affiliated with Christians, have not escaped the fury of the attackers." Similarly, the Catholic area, including the quarters of the nuns, was looted before being torched. In Moribadou, the violence lasted three days and saw at least 10 churches destroyed.

Indonesia: According to the Annual Report published by IndonesianChristian.org, a Protestant organization monitoring the nation's Christian community, the pressures against Christian communities in Aceh "have become intolerable. Within a year, with non-existent legal pretexts, 17 house churches have been closed: these also include Catholic chapels. The Islamization of the province continues, just as promised by the governor Abdullah." The forced closure of places of worship and threats against Protestant congregations, says the text, "increase unabated… The behavior of local authorities is a potential threat to the tolerant atmosphere we see deteriorating over time." Behind this upsurge is the current governor of Aceh, Zaini Abdullah, who earlier spent years in exile in Sweden for his separatist activities. During his election campaign, the Islamic politician frequently said that "he would not hesitate to apply the Koranic laws in the province." Months after his victory, those words have become reality.

Nigeria: Members or supporters of the Islamist organization Boko Haram set off four bombs planted near three Protestant churches in Kano city, killing at least 45 people. Local Christians were meeting for Bible study at Christ Salvation Pentecostal Church when one explosion hit, and 39 bodies were recovered in the area; another bomb went off as Christians were meeting at St. Stephen's Anglican Church; and an explosion apparently targeting Peniel Baptist Church failed to affect the building.

Palestinian Authority Territories: Nuns of the Greek-Orthodox monastery in Bethany sent a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urging him and other PA leaders to respond to the escalation of attacks on the Christian house, including theft and looting of the monastery property, broken glass and the throwing of stones. "Someone wants to send us away," wrote Sister Ibraxia to Abbas, "but we will not flee." Added to complications, and as increasingly happens to other monasteries, such as a 5^th century monastery in Turkey, a Muslim family has, according to local sources, "arbitrarily" claimed the monastery's land.

Attacks on Christian Freedom: Apostasy, Blasphemy, Proselytizing

Pakistan: Asia Bibi, a Christian mother on death row since June 2009 for allegedly blaspheming Islam's prophet Muhammad, may have to wait another two years before the appeal against her blasphemy conviction is heard. In November 2010, she was sentenced to death.The chairman of the Human Liberation Commission in Pakistan has been lobbying the country's chief justice for Asia's appeal to be heard as soon as possible but has received no response. Also, a Christian couple was arrested for allegedly sending blasphemous text messages to a Muslim cleric in Gojra, where a week earlier a young Christian man was sentenced to life in prison on the same charge. Shafqat Masih, 43, and his wife Shagufta, 40, who have four children between the ages of 5 and 11, were taken into custody on a complaint by Muslim cleric Rana Muhammad Ejaz, who alleged that he had received blasphemous text messages from Masih. Gojra City police registered the case under Section 295-C of Pakistan's widely condemned "blasphemy laws" against defaming Islam's prophet, Muhammad. Conviction is punishable by death or life in prison (in Pakistan, actually 25 years).

Iran: Mostafa Bordbar, a Muslim convert to Christianity who, along with several other Christians, was arrested in December 2012 while celebrating Christmas, was tried in Tehran's Revolutionary Court. He is one of several Christian prisoners currently being held for their faith in ward 350 of Evin prison. According to Mohabat News, the court registered the charges against him as "illegal gathering and participating in a house church." If found guilty, he can be sentenced to anywhere from two to ten years in prison. In 2007, he was arrested for converting to Christianity and participating in a house church. His interrogator at the time charged him with "apostasy," a charge still on his record.

Sudan: Apparently responding to the vitality of the Christian church, Ammar Saleh, the head of the Islamic Centre for Preaching and Comparative Studies, chastised the government for not taking decisive action against Christians operating "boldly," thereby leading to the apostasy of many Muslim converts to Christianity. According to the International Christian Concern (ICC), Saleh "argued that anyone who believes there's growth in Sudan's Islamic faithful is 'living on Mars,' drawing attention to increasing proselytizing and an exodus of Muslims to Christianity… He also stated that the government's efforts to curb the rise of Christianity were timid compared to efforts of missionaries to lead people to Christ." Meanwhile, according to the ICC, "Churches are being forced to close down, foreign workers are being kicked out of the country and Christians are constantly pressurized by the government and society in all kinds of ways, so much so that the recent increase in Christian persecution in Sudan moved the country from being ranked 16^th on the 2012 Open Doors World watch List to 12^th in 2013."

Dhimmitude: A Climate of Hate and Contempt

Iraq: Kidnapped on May 27, the body of Salem Dawood Coca, a Christian, was found inside the truck he was driving when he was abducted. According to the Assyrian International News Agency [AINA], "The truck was booby trapped with explosives, and it is believed that he was forced to carry out a suicide bombing, but refused to do so. The kidnappers had contacted Mr. Coca's family but had not demanded a ransom and described him as a 'Christian infidel.'" Mr. Coca leaves behind a wife and several children.

Kurdistan: A Muslim ambulance driver refused to transport the deceased body of a Christian woman from the hospital to the church; in traditional Muslim theology, being near the deceased body of an infidel is dangerous, as the torture reserved for them could spread. As Asia News puts it, "The body of the Assyrian woman, who died last Sunday at Zarkari hospital in Erbil, had to be brought to the town of Ankawa, but the Muslim ambulance driver refused to drive to the church because it is 'haram' [forbidden)] in Islam."

Nigeria: Increasing numbers of Christian girls in Muslim-majority areas, where the Islamist group Boko Haram holds sway, are being abducted, kept in the homes of Muslim leaders and forced to renounce their faith. According to Professor Daniel Babayi, secretary of the Northern Christian Association of Nigeria, the issue is getting severely worse: "Christian girls below the age of 18 are forcefully abducted and made to denounce their faith… They have been kept in the houses of emirs or imams. When we report to the police, they tell you there is nothing they can do. The police have become very helpless. In some instances, they are part of the conspiracy." Last year, Boko Haram had declared that it would begin doing precisely this—kidnap Christian women—as a way "to strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam."

Pakistan: Farhad Masih, a 16-year-old Christian boy, was arrested and beaten on the accusation that he was involved with a Muslim girl, a relationship forbidden in Islam. A Muslim mob also tried to burn and loot his family's house. Local Muslim leaders have made several despotic stipulations, including that the boy must either convert to Islam or die. The same type of hostility occurred earlier in April 2013, when three Christian youth were arrested, tortured, and killed by Pakistani police for allegedly having "love affairs" with Muslim girls.

Syria: According to AINA, the "Assyrian village of Tel Hormizd was attacked on Saturday, July 27 at about midnight. Fifty Arab Muslims on motorcycles entered the village and began a shooting rampage. According to residents, the Muslims fired indiscriminately, wounding two Assyrians, one of whom is still in hospital." Also, al-Qaeda linked rebel fighters abducted Fr. Paolo Dall'Oglio, a prominent Italian Jesuit priest—who ironically had reportedly championed the uprising against Bashar al-Assad—most likely for ransom or beheading.

Nigerian Slaughter

In July, several atrocities were committed during the jihad [war in the cause of Islam] on Nigeria's Christians, including:

·At least 28 were killed in a series of explosions throughout a Christian neighborhood in the Muslim-majority northern city of Kano. The attacks happened in the evening while people were out "to enjoy the area's nightlife." The same neighborhood had been targeted in the past by Boko Haram, which is responsible for killing more than 2,000 people. Although several nations have designated the group a terrorist organization, the current U.S. government refuses to do so, even as several American policymakers push for the designation.

At least 30 Christian men, women and children were slain in three villages in the southern Plateau state on June 27 by Islamic extremists suspected to be from outside of Nigeria; they raided the villages and massacred all in sight. Initially a Muslim spokesman for the military's Special Task Force said the Christian residents of Magama, Bolgong and Karkashi were attacked by Muslim Fulani herdsmen "in apparent retaliation for cattle theft." Later, however, the military said that many of the culprits were not even Nigerian. "The number of Christians killed may be as high as 70, as corpses of Christians killed while fleeing these attacked villages still litter the bushes," said a witness. "The Muslim attackers chased their Christian victims on motorcycles and were killing them as they tried to escape. So many dead bodies have been recovered from the bush, and we believe that more may still be found…. So far, we have recorded over 100 houses that have been burnt down by the rampaging Muslim Fulani attackers in these villages."

According to Christian Today, Boko Haram "has repeatedly attacked Christian communities and churches, most recently killing 40 at a boarding school in Yobe state on 6 July. A dormitory was set aflame while the children were sleeping; those trying to escape were gunned down. A month earlier, 16 other students were shot dead in attacks on a secondary school in Yobe and another school in Borno. True to its name, "Boko Haram," or "Western Education is a Sin," the group has recently asserted, "Teachers who teach western education? We will kill them! We will kill them in front of their students, and tell the students to henceforth study the Quran."

Islamic gunmen, as has become increasingly common, raided the Christian village of Dinu, in the southern Plateau state, before church services on an early Sunday morning, and slaughtered six Christians. A month earlier, Muslim Fulani herdsmen had shot another Christian to death in a nearby village and destroyed the churches of four villages.

About this Series

Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching pandemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

1. To document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
2. To show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia.

Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws that criminalize and punish with death those who "offend" Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (financial tribute expected from non-Muslims); overall expectations for Christians to behave like dhimmis, or second-class, "tolerated" citizens; and simple violence and murder. Sometimes it is a combination.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the West, to India in the East, and throughout the West wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Boobies Rising, Expanding In California!

Boobies are all over the state of California now.  Normally located in the Salton Sea (In the far South Eastern corner of California.), Boobies can be found everywhere in the state and for the first time in Arizona.

High-diving seabirds known as blue-footed boobies have suddenly expanded their range in California.

The birds are normally rarely found north of the Salton Sea in the far southeastern corner of the state, but in recent weeks have been found across Southern California and as far north as Marin County in the San Francisco Bay area.

Kimball Garrett of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County tells the Los Angeles Times that the birds are suddenly "all over the place."

The species is large, bluish-gray, with a long, serrated beak, short legs and bright blue webbed feet.

Last month, the Arizona Daily Star reported a blue-footed booby appeared at Patagonia Lake State Park, the first documented sighting of the species in southeast Arizona.

SOURCE

What did you expect? Women's bosoms?  Here at Monkey in the Middle?  Well maybe.  I know you are disappointed.  So how about this picture to satisfy your desires?

Not one, but a whole bevy of beauties!