Islam at College

I took this straight from the American Congress for Truth. I didn't write it. But you should read it...

 

Is college using a double standard on 'entanglement' with religion?

By Katherine Kersten

Cultural clashes involving Islam have recently made headlines in Minnesota. At the airport, some Muslim taxi drivers refuse to transport passengers carrying alcohol; at Target stores, some Muslim cashiers won't scan pork products. Now there's a new point of friction: Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

Its officials say the college, a public institution, has a strict policy of not promoting religion or favoring one religion over another. "The Constitution prevents us from doing this in any form," says Dianna Cusick, director of legal affairs.

But that seems to depend on your religion.

Where Christianity is concerned, the college goes to great lengths to avoid any hint of what the courts call "entanglement" or support of the church. Yet the college is planning to install facilities for Muslims to use in preparing for daily prayers, an apparent first at a public institution in Minnesota.

Separation of church and state is clearest at the college during the Christmas season. A memo from Cusick and President Phil Davis, dated Nov. 28, 2006, exhorted supervisors to banish any public display of holiday cheer: "As we head into the holiday season ... "all public offices and areas should refrain from displays that may represent to our students, employees or the public that the college is promoting any particular religion." Departments considering sending out holiday cards, the memo added, should avoid cards "that appear to promote any particular religious holiday."

Last year, college authorities caught one rule-breaker red-handed. A coffee cart that sells drinks and snacks played holiday music "tied to Christmas," and "complaints and concerns" were raised, according to a faculty e-mail. College authorities quickly quashed the practice.

They appear to take a very different attitude toward Islam. Welcome and accommodation are the order of the day for the college's more than 500 Muslim students. The college has worked with local Muslim leaders to ensure that these students' prayer needs and concerns are adequately addressed, Davis told me.

Muslim prayer is an increasingly controversial issue. Many Muslim students use restroom sinks to wash their feet before prayer. Other students have complained, and one Muslim student fell and injured herself while lifting her foot out of a sink.

Some local Muslim leaders have advised the college staff that washing is not a required practice for students under the circumstances, according to Davis. Nevertheless, he says, he wants to facilitate it for interested students. "It's like when someone comes to your home, you want to be hospitable," Davis told me. "We have new members in our community coming here; we want to be hospitable."

So the college is making plans to use taxpayer funds to install facilities for ritual foot-washing. Staff members are researching options, and a school official will visit a community college in Illinois to view such facilities while attending a conference nearby. College facilities staff members are expected to present a proposal this spring.

In Davis' view, the foot-washing plan does not constitute promotion or support of religion. "The foot-washing facilities are not about religion, they are about customer service and public safety," he says. He sees no significant difference between using public funds to construct prayer-related facilities for Muslim students and the cafeteria's provision of a fish option for Christian students during Lent.

College officials claim that the restrictions on Christmas displays apply to employees who are state agents, and so are subject to more restrictions, while students are free to express their religious beliefs.

But where the Muslim prayer facilities are concerned, college authorities themselves are consulting with religious leaders, researching other schools, and using taxpayer money to make improvements to facilitate one group's prayer.

Issues surrounding the intersection of church and state and religious accommodation are complex. But the college's treatment of Christianity and Islam seems to reflect a double standard.

It's hard to imagine the college researching and paying for special modifications to the college to facilitate Christian rituals. And the "safety" justification? Imagine if a particularly strict group of Christian students found it necessary to sometimes baptize others in the restroom sinks. Would the school build them a baptism basin because a student hit his head on a sink?

WMD's in Iraq

Cyanide Salt Block Found in Iraq

Tuesday, February 03, 2004

WASHINGTON A 7-pound block of cyanide salt (search) was discovered by U.S.
troops in Baghdad at the end of January, officials confirmed to Fox News.

The potentially lethal compound was located in what was believed to be the
safe house of Abu Musab Zarqawi (search), a poisons specialist described by
some U.S. intelligence officials as having been a key link between deposed
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the Al Qaeda (search) terror network.

Cyanides salts are extremely toxic. According to the U.S. Department of
Energy's Ames Laboratory, exposure to even a small amount through contact or
inhalation can cause immediate death.

Zarqawi, believed to have been operating in Iraq before March's invasion,
was still being sought by coalition forces. It was not clear if anyone had
been apprehended in connection with last month's find.

Early last year, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (search) detailed
Zarqawi's significance in an appearance before the U.N. Security Council.

"Iraq today harbors a deadly terrorist network headed by Abu Musab Zarqawi,
an associate and collaborator of Usama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda
lieutenants," Powell said.

Zarqawi was described as a poisons expert with strong ties to the former
Iraqi regime and the terrorist groups Al Qaeda and Ansar al-Islam. A
Palestinian born in Jordan who fought in Afghanistan more than a decade ago,
Zarqawi returned to Afghanistan in 2000 to oversee terrorist training camps,
Powell told the Security Council.

"One of his specialties at the camp was poisons," Powell said. "When our
coalition ousted the Taliban, the Zarqawi network helped establish another
poison and explosives training center."

Zarqawi is believed to have begun establishing terror cells in and around
Baghdad prior to the start of the war last March, and is thought by U.S.
officials to still be in the country.

U.S. officials, who said they were getting new intelligence in the hunt for
Zarqawi, also believe he had been attempting to produce large quantities of
the toxin ricin in northern Iraq. www.foxnews.com

Positive test for terror toxins in Iraq

MSNBC.com finds signs of ricin, botulinum at Islamic militants' camp
Tests like those used by U.N. weapons inspectors gave positive results for
the toxins ricin and botulinum in a training camp linked to al-Qaida.

EXCLUSIVE
By Preston Mendenhall
MSNBC

SARGAT, Iraq, April 4 MSNBC.com tests reveal evidence of the deadly toxins
ricin and botulinum at a laboratory in a remote mountain region of northern
Iraq allegedly used as a terrorist training camp by Islamic militants with
ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency
is conducting its own tests at the same area, but has not yet released the
results, according to officials in northern Iraq.

MSNBC.COM'S TESTS were conducted over a two-day period at Sargat, an alleged
terrorist training camp a mile from the Iraq-Iran border. The camp, set back
in an isolated valley and surrounded by snowcapped peaks, was home to the
radical Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, which counts among its some
700 followers scores of al-Qaida fighters.
In a Feb. 5 speech to the U.N. Security Council, U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell showed a satellite photo of the Sargat camp and described Ansar
al-Islam as "teaching its operatives how to produce ricin and other
poisons." U.S. officials have repeated the allegations in recent weeks.
In an operation timed to coincide with the war on Iraq, U.S. special
operations forces have targeted Ansar al-Islam's militants in northern Iraq.
Hundreds of Islamists, including al-Qaida fighters who took refuge in
northern Iraq after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, have been
killed.
Although U.S. officials for months have leveled charges that the Ansar
al-Islam and al-Qaida militants were producing poisons in northern Iraq, it
wasn't until this week that specialist American teams were able to gain
access to the Sargat camp to test for traces of biological and chemical
weapons.
Experts believe the Islamic group was producing the substances in the camp
as both toxins can be created from everyday products and simple procedures.

TERRORISTS TEMPTED BY TOXINS
MSNBC.com's samples of ricin and botulinum, two deadly biological agents,
were taken from the soles of a boot and a shoe recovered from the Sargat
camp. The facility has been flattened by several Tomahawk cruise missiles,
fired as part of the U.S. campaign against Ansar al-Islam.

The thick rubber boot twice tested positive for ricin, a toxin derived from
castor beans. Ingesting a pinch of ricin, which causes shock and respiratory
failure, can kill a human being within 72 hours. There is no cure.
A black running shoe, shredded by the U.S. bombing, tested positive for
botulinum. U.S. officials say terrorists have a particular interest in
botulinum and ricin toxins, which may be delivered through release in food
and water.
Botulism, the illness resulting from botulinum ingestion, is a
muscle-paralyzing disease that can cause a person to stop breathing and die,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, law enforcement officials have seen an increase in
attempts to produce deadly toxins like ricin and botulinum.
In Britain, anti-terrorism authorities in January charged four men with
producing deadly agents after they found traces of ricin in a north London
apartment. More than a dozen arrests have been made in the investigation.

On Thursday, the FBI issued a warning to Americans that deadly agents like
ricin and botulinum could be used to contaminate the nation's water or food
supply.
And in France, police are on alert after recently finding traces of ricin in
flasks in a train station locker in Paris.
The territory of northern Iraq where the traces of ricin were detected is
not under the control of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Baghdad admitted to U.N. weapons inspectors in the 1990s that it had
successfully weaponized ricin, botulinum and anthrax. There is no immediate
evidence that suggests Saddam's regime provided the easily produced toxins
to Ansar al-Islam or al-Qaida.
A test for anthrax at the Sargat camp gave a negative result.

Random Rants

One of the things I like about NOT writing for the Dannevirke News is that I
don't have to try to explain to Kiwi's why they should care about what's
happening, say, anywhere else in the world. You know, I catch a fair amount
of flak from people from other countries about what they call "Planet
America". While I admit that many Americans don't know much about the rest
of the world, that does not justify someone coming here from another country
and being rude. Last time I heard, it wasn't nice to go in someone's house
and be rude. But it seems that if you're an American, you can do no right,
and if you're from anywhere else, you can do no wrong. Sorry, international
folks, but I've met enough of you coming here on a vacation to form an
opinion. Most are great, just basic folks, but others are unforgivably rude.
Even while overseas I was sometimes treated horribly. By supposedly
enlightened, supposedly open-minded island folks.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi really pulled a Jane Fonda going to Syria last
week. What she did was directly contradict the official stand of the US
government. The idea, I think, is to try to make the Executive Branch
irrelevant, and to garner votes for next time. What she did was legitimize a
murderous regime... even as political prisoners were being tortured. Did she
address that? No. Even Amnesty International condemns the Syrian regime. But
Pelosi doesn't have a problem with it. Liberals are so bent on revenge for
losing power for so long that the only thing they care about getting that
power back, They can't form a coherent strategy for the war in Iraq. They
continue to insist that Iraq is in chaos and just getting worse (ignoring
the improvements happening every day), and yet, think that the smartest
thing we can do is pull out. Set a timeline. A date to tell the enemy when
they can take over. Some qualify it by saying we'll just 'redeploy'. Pull
back, and come back in just if we have to. Tell me, which is smarter?
Staying around to put out a fire, or pulling out and waiting for it to
overwhelm the country before we come back in. They like to compare Iraq to
Vietnam, assuming that the American public is stupid and short-sighted
enough to just think that means a quagmire that we can't win. But the fact
is that we were winning in Vietnam until the liberal press joined the chorus
of pot-smoking hippies and California lefties to condemn the war, and spread
propoganda that said we were losing, that we couldn't win, and that our
troops over there were nothing but baby killers. The liberals took over the
war, and subverted the will of the country to fight. We pulled out, allowing
a murderous regime to take over. So yes, in that sense, Iraq is, so far, a
great deal like Vietnam. And they'd like it to be more. Now, I'd like to
think that they honestly believe the manure they're shovelling. Because then
they don't stand a chance of getting elected, and at least we don't have the
antichrist number 3 in line for the White House. Better to have an idiot
than the antichrist. But only just.

Hey, all you people out there, I'd like to know what you think about illegal
immigration. Because I just saw something on the news that blew my mind. The
IRS knows that it deals with illegals. What does it say? It says it is not
its job to identify or deal with illegals. All they do is collect money. I
think the idiot they spoke to (and let me just apologize quickly to all the
normal hard working idiots out there. Don't be offended because I grouped
you in with an IRS scuzz) said something about there being no bleeding over
of information between the IRS and Homeland Security. Let me just repeat
this, in case all the IRS agents didn't get it. HOMELAND SECURITY. We are
failing to connect the dots. CONNECT THE DOTS. Sound familiar?? How stupid
and short sighted can a government employee be? That's a great question.
This idiot (again, apologies to all of you hard working honest idiots out
there) doesn't care that he could be dealing with Osama Bin Laden. He just
wants his cut. So the thought here is that greed... the almighty dollar is
still more important than anything else. Even HOMELAND SECURITY. And just in
case you think we don't have to worry about people taking advantage of the
open borders we have to north and south, think on this. Hitler tried to get
Mexico to help him invade the US. And Google "Jafar the Pilot". I'm not a
racist. Hell no. I know that we've let the problem go on for so long that
we're stuck with an estimated twelve million illegals. But can we not at
least use just a pinch of common sense here? Maybe compare notes? I don't
care where an illegal comes from. I don't want them here. I don't want them
to get amnesty. I don't even want their tax money. I want them out! But
since they've hijacked our economy, we have to at least keep track of them.
Know who they are, and keep an eye on their border crossings. Don't like it,
illegal? Get out. Want to stay? Follow the rules.

More next time.

Democrats Demand Inquiry Into How They're Doing So Far

Democrats Demand Inquiry Into How They're Doing So Far

Iraq, Afghanistan, Mister X, Michael Moore, President Nut Job and the Mahdi

I've been out for a while... massive computer problems.

Cheers

________________________________________________________

This is for Mister X, as well as anyone interested in uncensored opinions.
Disclaimer first. Some of this comes from various sources on the internet.
Saving you all the trouble of clicking on links. And I got the idea of
calling President Ahmadinejad President Tom from CNN's Glenn Beck. Seemed
like a good idea.

You know, the internet is nothing but a global bucket that people dump their
info into. I just put up a spam blocker on it to stop the spam bots from
putting links to porno/spyware/viruses in the comments. And I didn't know it
restricts your comment to 300 words. I wouldn't say so much that it
restricts freedom of speech... just encourages brevity. You can say more.
Just break it up in blocks of 300 words. And if you want to have a bit of
fun, throw in the word 'bomb' every once in a while. Wake up the internet
spies.

As for Iran, the fact is, if it didn't have oil, nobody would care about it.
They are killers and thugs fighting and killing and terrorizing because they
can't sell their program honestly. Think the US government is working to
ensure a constant flow of oil from the gulf? You bet. Like it or not, (and I
personally hate it), our economy and our security is dependent on oil, and
it's my government's job to see that we get it. And no, we aren't looking
for an excuse to go to war with Iran. At least not until we're finished with
Iraq. :) Just kidding. The idea, as far as I know, was to install
democracies on either side of Iran, and to let them know that bad behavior
will result in punishment. Also, Iraq did, during the first Gulf War,
demonstrate that it had a chemical weapons program. Refrigerators labeled
"Anthrax" pretty much proved that. And the long line of trucks that ran like
hell from Iraq to Syria in the hours leading up to the invasion makes me
think that there may still have been some. Weapons of mass destructions
don't have to be nukes. And even if Saddam didn't have any WMD, doesn't mean
he wasn't working on them. He was. Everyone knows that. He'd already used
them on the Kurds... his own people. So he was a murderous thug who used
WMD. Better off dead. And now there's chaos over there. Sure. But the man
who really knows what's happening over there says that A) there are also
signs of progress over there... two elections and a constitution aren't bad,
considering there were decades of tyranny under Saddam Hussein, and B), what
they are trying to do over there is comparable to trying to fix an airplane
while it's in the air. And the leftist media here takes joy in reporting
everything that goes wrong. What is essentially an attempt to rewrite a
region (a good idea or not, justified or not) is not something that is going
to happen in a few years. People today don't understand that real change can
take decades. They want instant results and instant gratification. And if
the hard work that they all needed to get done takes longer than a few
weeks, suddenly people don't support it. Losers. And as for Afghanistan,
tell me this. If the government of, Singapore had openly supported a
terrorist group that flew a jetliner packed with people and jet fuel into
Parliament, would New Zealand be justified in invading Singapore? Of course.
Just because a country has a pipeline going through it doesn't mean we
aren't justified in whacking it if it sponsors terrorists who attack our
country. And despite all of the two-bit conspiracy theorists on the
internet, what everyone saw happen really is what happened. The people
responsible for it admitted to it. The government didn't know about it in
advance. That's just nuts. There are as many conspiracy theories out there
as there are IP addys. Show me one piece of hard solid evidence that will
stand up in court. You've quoted some interesting websites, featuring people
who don't, to my mind, have any credibility. It's easy to muckrake and throw
bombs (hello internet spies!)... when you don't allow your accusees (is that
a word?) to answer you. No, my worthy Mister X. I didn't see any effort in
any of those sites to allow anyone to defend themselves. If I'm wrong,
that's okay. Show me, and I'll retract. In the case of the Taliban and Al
Qaeda, they admitted it. They bragged about it. If you are saying that we
went to Afghanistan because of oil and not because of 9/11, it really makes
me think that you will think the worst of US motivation, no matter what
happens. I appreciate your opinions, as well as your communication. Keep it
up. The Dannevirke News may not want to print things that don't fit into the
politically correct goose-stepping Neo-fascism that is today's liberalism,
or that maybe encourage people in a small corner of the world to pull their
collective heads out of the sand (did you think I was going to say something
else? :)..), or maybe they're happy to ban talk that sheds light on one
intolerant, murderous religion while ridiculing and stifling the words of
another (Mister David W can back me up on that) peaceful religion. I don't
know. Small towns can be strange places, and to be blunt, there is that 'big
fish in a small pond' syndrome that can affect people in a bad way. I'm not
saying bigger is better. Just talking about small minds. They are bad. But
Mister X, you have actually taken the time and effort to engage me in
conversation. I respect that, and appreciate it.

So how about the poppy fields in Afghanistan? Resurgent Taliban are counting
on those same poppy fields to fund their spring offensive. I'd say their
convictions have taken a turn. It just gets harder and harder to support
them. And I don't know if Condi has an oil tanker named for her. I don't
obsess over oil, and I don't assume that anyone connected with it is evil.
Hey, you know, one the liberal movement's biggest champs, Michael Moore,
lied about owning Haliburton stock. Yeah. Sorry to break that to you. And
Mister X, if you don't know about M. Moore, you should get to know him. He
hates Bush, big oil (except for himself), and conservatives.

Do you really want to know what Iran has to gain from starting WW3? Nothing.
But Iran the country and the people aren't the ones trying to start it.
President Ahmadenijad... I'll just call him President Tom, to save time,
doesn't care about his country, or its people, or its culture. You have to
understand that his aims are not political. They're religious. He wants to
bring about a certain kind of apocalypse. One of the responsibilities of a
nuclear power is to play, well, responsibly. How can you do that? First,
appreciate the fact that nukes are horrible things that can wipe out entire
cultures. That may seem hypocritical, but in fact it isn't. We didn't drop
atomic bombs on Japan because we were renegade cowboys looking to create a
new world order by wiping out a nation - we dropped them because we wanted
to END the war; we dropped them because studies showed that fewer Americans
and Japanese would be killed if we did.

President Tom believe that killing hundreds of millions of people will help
create the chaos he needs to bring back the Mahdi - or his version of the
Messiah, and the fact that he's also starting a nuclear program is NOT a
coincidence.

Princeton's Bernard Lewis (the Cleveland E. Dodge professor emeritus of Near
Eastern Studies at Princeton University, specializes in Muslim history and
interaction between Muslims and the West) has written an opinion piece in
the Wall Street Journal advising that the rest of the world would be wise to
bear in mind that for those who believe the end of the world is imminent and
good, there is no deterrent even to nuclear warfare.

As WorldNetDaily has reported, Iranian President Tom has urged his people to
prepare for the coming of an Islamic "messiah," raising concerns a
nuclear-armed Islamic Republic could trigger the kind of global
conflagration he envisions will set the stage for the end of the world.

He's also said, in a WND report, that Islam and its followers must prepare
to rule the world, because it is a "universal ideology that leads the world
to justice."

"In this context, mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so
well during the Cold War, would have no meaning," Lewis wrote. "At the end
of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be
the final destination of the dead - hell for the infidels, and heaven for
the believers.

"For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint, it is an
inducement," he said.

His apocalypse just might coincide with an Islamic tradition when many
Muslims commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged
horse Buraq, first to 'the farthest mosque,' usually identified with
Jerusalem, and then to heaven and back.

In Islam, as in other religious, certain beliefs describe the "cosmic
struggle" at the end of time. For Shiite Muslims, Lewis wrote, this will be
"the long awaited return of the Hidden Imam, ending in the final victory of
the forces of good over evil."

The significance, he said, is that there's a "radical" difference between
Iran and other governments with nuclear weapons.

"This difference is expressed in what can only be described as the
apocalyptic worldview of Iran's present rulers," he wrote. Iran's leaders
now "clearly believe that this time is now, and that the terminal struggle
has already begun and is indeed well advanced."

As for intent, a passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an
11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, reveals priorities: "I am decisively
announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers (i.e., the infidel
powers) wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their
whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we
all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom."

Lewis wrote, "This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the
apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary the world."

History has proven that truly evil people all have one thing in common -
they don't hide their intentions; they don't try to be coy about their
plans. Hitler wasn't, and neither is President Tom; we just have to take
them at the word.

Also, "Atomic Iran" author Jerome Corsi notes (referring to the
Israel/Lebanon war) that it's less significant whether Hezbollah survives,
"but it's really the first chapter in the play for Iran and the Shiite Islam
nation to come to ascendancy in the Muslim world."

First is the battle against Israel and the United States, he said, then
against Sunni Islam. Where that group is more dominant, he said, is in Saudi
Arabia and Egypt, where group members are "not unhappy to see Iran
contained."

In the updated edition of "Atomic Iran: How the Terrorist Regime Bought the
Bomb and American Politicians," now available in paperback from WND Books,
Corsi discusses many of the disturbing developments related to Iran.

Meanwhile, Tanzanian customs officials have uncovered an Iranian smuggling
operation transporting large quantities of bomb-making uranium from the same
mines in the Congo that provided the nuclear material for the atomic bomb
dropped on Hiroshima 61 years ago, according to a recent report in the
London Sunday Times.

A United Nations report, outlining the interception last October, said there
is "no doubt" the smuggled uranium-238 came from mines in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo's mineral-rich Katanga province.

The smuggled uranium discovered by Tanzanian customs agents was hidden in
shipment of coltan, a rare mineral used to make chips in mobile telephones.
According to the manifest, the coltan was to be smelted in the former Soviet
republic of Kazakhstan after being shipped to Bandar Abbas, Iran's largest
port.

Uranium-238, when used in a nuclear reactor, can be used to create plutonium
for nuclear weapons.

And Like a Good Neighbor...

This may come as a surprise to you, but I've been thinking lately that what the world truly needs is for its leaders, meaning the leaders of our countries (for the most part) is to move out of armed camps and actually be prepared to sit down and talk to each other. With the exception of some radical states that worry me greatly, most countries want the same. Peace and prosperity. Some countries may go about that in different ways, and a fault of the democratic system is that sometimes less-than-qualified, or less-than-honest people find their way into power. But democracies tend to have cheques and balances built in, guaranteeing that no lone person can do irrepairable damage. So again, we are all basically the same, and yet, we tend not to be identified by our similarities, but rather by our differences. Is it because the healthy idea of competition has made the world stage a horse race, where we feel compelled to come out on top regardless of the effect on the world wide culture? Or is it because we fail to realize that just as we are economically and ecologically interdependent, we are also culturally interdependent? Can we truly say that our neighbors behavior does not affect us, or vice-versa? I think we all recognize that cultural, behavioral interdependence. Otherwise New Zealand wouldn't care much what America does, and nobody would care that what was the KGB would seem to be back in control of Russia, and Smiert Spionem (death to spies) is back in fashion over there. No, we do care. We have to care. Because, (and I'm adapting the old saying for the sake of political correctness and gender neutrality), we all are our neighbor's keeper. And yet, if our neighbor says or does something we find disagreeable, do we ring them up and sort it out over tea and scones? No. Suddenly we're an armed camp, and we shout our neighbor down until they give up or we've satisfied our righteous indignation, and we can just quietly grumble about 'what they're doing over there, and someday, I'll...'. Folks, if you really care, don't shout in protest. people generally cover their ears to get away from the noise. Talk. Discuss. Be a good neighbor.

Censorship!

I was having what I considered to be an abstract discussion of censorship
and infringement of freedom of speech rights with a rather liberal sparring
partner I'll call Mister X when I was suddenly slapped in the face by
censorship myself. The Dannevirke News, a small supplement to the Hawkes Bay
Today, has decided that I need to stop talking about the war. I need to
concentrate on local things. Well, is a street in Palmerston North local
enough? Because radical and threatening Islam is there. Do we need a suicide
bomber to tear apart a few shops on High Street before this becomes local?
And what war exactly was I talking about? I didn't mention Iraq. Not
recently anyway. And while I know that New Zealand media (which answers to
their government) has no love of America, and has predictably marched in
lockstep with the United Nations for years (mostly under the gone,
unlamented criminal Kofi Annan), this issue of censorship isn't about the
war in Iraq. It's about the liberal PC threat that I mentioned in my last
rant. You don't want to hear the word Nazi?? It's all well and good to bury
your head in the sand. You can pretend that bad things don't exist. You can
forget that sixty years ago you were on the verge of becoming a small part
of the Japanese Empire, (who would have been eventually conquered by the
Nazis anyway). You can even forget that terrorists are killing people in the
south pacific and that Ahmadenijad has promised to KILL YOU. But remember
this. When you ignore evil, it comes back. When you turn your back on evil,
it tends to bite you in the ass. Now... censor that.

Iran Declares War

The following come from AP wire reports, available on the internet to anyone who cares to look:

 

8:44 p.m. PT Oct 20, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday threatened any country that supports Israel, and said the United States and its allies had "imposed a group of terrorists" on the region with their support of Israel.

 

The Iranian leader also called the U.N. Security Council "illegitimate," ahead of the planned circulation of a draft resolution on Iran next week.

 

Diplomats have said they would seek limited sanctions on Tehran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment  a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material for a warhead.

 

Ahmadinejad's comments came a day after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's strongest words to date about Iranian threats. Olmert warned that Iran would have "a price to pay" if it does not back down from its nuclear ambitions  hinting broadly that Israel might be forced to take action.

 

'This is an ultimatum'

Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters at a pro-Palestinian rally in the capital, Tehran, the Iranian leader addressed Israel's allies: "It is in your own interest to distance yourself from these criminals... This is an ultimatum. Don't complain tomorrow."

 

Dozens of rallies were held across Iran for "Al-Quds Day," the Arabic name for Jerusalem. Many became anti-American protests as well, criticizing U.S. support for Israel.

 

"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt," he said.

 

In 1981, the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared the last Friday of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan as "Al-Quds Day," a day of protest to show the importance of Jerusalem to Muslims. Jerusalem is the third holiest site in Islam after the Saudi Arabian cities of Mecca and Medina.

 

A banner in Tehran carried a quote from the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini: "Quds is part of Islam's body."

 

Protests also were planned in Egypt and Lebanon.

 

Ahmadinejad, who has a history of similarly fiery rhetoric, said Israel no longer had any reason to exist and would soon disappear.

 

"This regime, thanks to God, has lost the reason for its existence," he said.

 

"Efforts to stabilize this fake (Israeli) regime, by the grace of God, have completely failed... You should believe that this regime is disappearing," he said.

 

Since Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005, he has caused outrage in the West with his provocative statements about Israel. Here is a sampling of his more memorable words.

 

Oct. 2006

"The Zionist regime is counterfeit and illegitimate and cannot survive."

 

May 2006

Israel is "a regime based on evil that cannot continue and one day will vanish."

 

April 2006

"The Zionist regime is an injustice and by its very nature a permanent threat. Whether you like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation. The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."

 

April 2006

"We say that this fake regime (Israel) cannot not logically continue to live. Open the doors (of Europe) and let the Jews go back to their own countries."

 

Dec. 2005

"They have invented a myth that Jews were massacred... If you have burned the Jews, why don't you give a piece of Europe, the United States, Canada or Alaska to Israel... Why should the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime?"

 

Oct. 2005

"Israel must be wiped off the map... The establishment of a Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the Islamic world."

 

Anyone who insists that the Iranian regime is not a declared threat to the rest of the world is living in a cave, or has their head very firmly buried in the sand. Or do they simply believe that Iran has spent more than thirty years pursuing nuclear technology, including weaponry, but won't use it on neighbor that it has vowed to destroy? They used chemical weapons on Iraq during the Iran/Iraq war, and they'll stop at nothing in the war they've declared on Israel and the west. And if you don't they've declared war on the west, I'll repeat this quote:

 

"We have advised the Europeans that the Americans are far away, but you are the neighbors of the nations in this region. We inform you that the nations are like an ocean that is welling up, and if a storm begins, the dimensions will not stay limited to Palestine, and you may get hurt,"

 

One note to Bob, "Mister X". I've read through your links in great detail, and while I admire the effort you've expended in researching your subject, I think that the very fact you found this information demonstrates that the lack of freedom of speech that you attribute to the current Bush administration is either non existent or ineffective. Hitler was much better at it. The best comparison that the western world has to Nazi-type suppression of free speech is the liberal PC crowd that tells us not only what we can or can't say, but what we can or can't think.

 

 

World War Three

 

When citizens from around the world were deliberately targeted and murdered by al-Qaeda on September 11th 2001, war was declared. It was declared not only on the United States, but on every other free country in the world. Including New Zealand. It wasn't the first time civilians have been targeted by al-Qaeda, nor was it the last. It was the most daring and blatant attack. It was not in response to wrongs commited against innocents. It had nothing to do with Israel or the Palestinians (who came from Jordan, by the way). It was a direct reprisal for Saudi Arabia hosting the US military during the first Gulf War. And now Iran lends material support to al-Qaeda. The same Iran that has publicly pledged to destroy America and Israel, and to establish a world-wide Islamic state. The same Iran that is actively seeking a nuclear weapons program. The same Iran that is sending its own elite special forces 'Quds' force into Iraq along with sophisticated arms and munitions, as well as training for the al-Qaeda forces in Iraq. The Quds force works directly for clerics at the highest levels of the Iranian government. Quds force operatives are responsible for murdering Iraqis and Americans who are operating under the authority of the lawfully elected government. That is a declaration of war. Not just on Iraq or America, but on every country with an interest in a stable middle east and a wish to be free. And they are allies and supporters of al-Qaeda. The following (from wikipedia) is a list of reasons the world is at war with al-Qaeda.

1993 (Feb.): Bombing of World Trade Center (WTC); 6 killed.
1993 (Oct.): Killing of U.S. soldiers in Somalia.
1996 (June): Truck bombing at Khobar Towers barracks in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killed 19 Americans.
1998 (Aug.): Bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; 224 killed, including 12 Americans.
1999 (Dec.): Plot to bomb millennium celebrations in Seattle foiled when customs agents arrest an Algerian smuggling explosives into the U.S.
2000 (Oct.): Bombing of the USS Cole in port in Yemen; 17 U.S. sailors killed.
2001 (Sept.): Destruction of WTC; attack on Pentagon. Total dead 2,992.
2001 (Dec.): Man tried to denote shoe bomb on flight from Paris to Miami.
2002 (April): Explosion at historic synagogue in Tunisia left 21 dead, including 11 German tourists.
2002 (May): Car exploded outside hotel in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 14, including 11 French citizens.
2002 (June): Bomb exploded outside American consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 12.
2002 (Oct.): Boat crashed into oil tanker off Yemen coast, killing 1.
2002 (Oct.): Nightclub bombings in Bali, Indonesia, killed 202, mostly Australian citizens.
2002 (Nov.): Suicide attack on a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, killed 16.
2003 (May): Suicide bombers killed 34, including 8 Americans, at housing compounds for Westerners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2003 (May): 4 bombs killed 33 people targeting Jewish, Spanish, and Belgian sites in Casablanca, Morocco.
2003 (Aug.): Suicide car-bomb killed 12, injured 150 at Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.
2003 (Nov.): Explosions rocked a Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, housing compound, killing 17.
2003 (Nov.): Suicide car-bombers simultaneously attacked 2 synagogues in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 25 and injuring hundreds.
2003 (Nov.): Truck bombs detonated at London bank and British consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, killing 26.
2004 (March): 10 bombs on 4 trains exploded almost simultaneously during the morning rush hour in Madrid, Spain, killing 191 and injuring more than 1,500.
2004 (May): Terrorists attacked Saudi oil company offices in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, killing 22.
2004 (June): Terrorists kidnapped and executed American Paul Johnson, Jr., in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
2004 (Sept.): Car bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, killed 9.
2004 (Dec.): Terrorists entered the U.S. Consulate in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, killing 9 (including 4 attackers).
2005 (July): Bombs exploded on 3 trains and a bus in London, England, killing 52.
2005 (Oct.): 22 killed by 3 suicide bombs in Bali, Indonesia.
2005 (Nov.): 57 killed at 3 American hotels in Amman, Jordan.
2006 (Aug.): More than 25 arrested in plot to blow up jetliners between London and U.S.

How long will the list of casualties need to be before the world realizes its at war?

Fundamentalist Islam and Nazism

In the 1930's, the Nazis perfected the art of infiltrating nations they planned to conquer by spreading lies, confusion, and political unrest, and it worked perfectly as one European country after another. confused and distracted by these "Fifth Column" elements, fell easily into Nazi hands.



These Fifth Columnists even reached the United States. The most visible was the German-American Bund. After Hitler's rise to power in 1933, some German-Americans formed groups who attempted to influence American politics. They wore uniforms and swastikas and pledged themselves to the Fuhrer, promoting hatred fot Jews and working to bring Nazism to the United States. They even stormed the German language New Yorker Staats-Zeitung with the demand that Nazi-sympathetic articles be published. They also created recreational camps such as Camp Siegfried in New York, Camp Nordland in New Jersey, and Camp Hindenburg in Wisconsin. They met frequently in Milwaukee and Chicago beer halls. They created an American version of the Hitler Youth that educated children in the German language and history, and Nazi philosophy. They even handed Aryan pamphlets outside of Jewish owned businesses and spawned several incidents of violence against Jewish-Americans and Jewish-owned businesses.



The Corvinius Library of Hungarian History writes that resistance to the Nazis infiltration tactics was weak through free Europe's disunity and perplexed by the appeasement of Western diplomacy. In addition, the free nation's social ills and national strife were skillfully exploited by Nazi diplomacy and propaganda.



The Hungarian Library article states that the spearheads of Nazi infiltration were the many large German minorities in those countries who readily embraced the ideas of national-socialism. In fact, Hitler's program appealed to many malcontents, irrespective of nationality, who were dissatisfied with the existing social or political order. The revisionist governments, of course, agreed with Hitler's loudly proclaimed aim of undoing "the injustices of the peace treaties." But the defenders of the status quo, too, in their confused and disorganized state, more and more deemed it opportune to curry the favor of the new and powerful German Reich. First, their inner weaknesses undermined their individual power of resistance. Second, their strife with each other destroyed whatever abilities they had to join together.



Today, militant Islam has been very successful at the same thing. To a large extent, Muslims who immigrate to non-Muslim countries make no effort to assimilate, and in fact are encouraged in this by liberal and PC forces waving the banner of cultural diversity. They even separate themselves in enclaves where local police are afraid to venture.



What about attempts to influence mainstream media as the Bund did with the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung? The Mohammed cartoon controversy is a good example of Islam doing the same. Free speech runs counter to Islamic beliefs.



And what about the Nazi 'recreational camps'? Around the free world, there have been madrasses & mosques set up that preach the violent teaching of Militant Islam to Muslim students. And just as the Bund created an American version of the Hitler Youth, the madrasses and mosques in the free world are doing the same to their children, teaching not Western values but those of radical Islam and the promotion of anti-Semitism. Even prisons have become fertile grounds for recruiting the troops of jihad.



Home grown Jihadists work as Fifth Columnists using Europe's growing population of alienated Muslim and youth as an important reservoir of potential recruits while appeasing apologists for the Islamist agenda, like Hitler, cite the "injustices" that have been committed on the Muslim population of the world by the free democracies.



The fundamentalist face of Islam today represents... indeed loudly and proudly proclaims a grave threat to tolerant, appeasing Western culture.



Next: World War Three!

Iran Part Two

Last week, French President Jacques Chirac announced that even if Iran had a
few nuclear devices (for self-defence, according to Eric Margolis of the
Toronto Sun... there's a concept. The self defence nuke. Kind of like the
self defence apocalypse), "it is not very dangerous". I wonder if Margolis
would feel the same if the United States had vowed to wipe Toronto off the
map, and then went shopping for a nuke, simply for self-defence. Margolis
goes on to say that as he did in the lead up to the Iraq war, Chirac "spoke
with logic and good sense". For decades, liberals have denounced the concept
of Mutually Assured Destruction as, aptly, mad. Even as it proved to be the
concept in logic that saved the world from nuclear devastation ever since
the atomic bombings that ended World War Two in the pacific, liberals
insisted that evil conservatives who maintained the nuclear balance were
going to get us all killed. Now that that very balance helped to bring down
the Soviet Empire, the same liberals are clinging to the same philosophy to
defend the right of an evil theocracy to gain such weapons. Chirac says (and
Margolis agrees) that if Iran nuked Israel, they would be destroyed, and
certainly they wouldn't commit national suicide. So first off, France is
granting Iran the right to destroy Israel, so long as it's willing to face
the consequences, and secondly, Mutually Assured Destruction is only MAD
when a conservative talks about it. That would seem to be the message. Maybe
Mr Margolis would feel differently if the Twin Towers had been in Toronto.

Let me repeat from last week. Ahmadinejad doesn't care if Iran is destroyed.
He wants to destroy America and Israel, and he is taking steps to do just
that. It has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with perverted
religion and most likely a chemical imbalance in his brain. And if you think
that it has nothing to do with New Zealand, you're mistaken. Just like the
Japanese reached Australia following the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War
Two, and in fact had flown over and planned an attack on New Zealand, the
attack in New York killed New Zealanders, a nuclear strike on Israel (and
the war that will follow) will reach the South Pacific.

I have here two excerpts from a fascinating letter by David W. of
Dannevirke. The first shows just how close to home radical Islam is.

Last Friday afternoon I drove down Cook St in Palmerston North and passed
the Islamic Centre at the time when an event there had finished. Stopped
by traffic I was interested to note the large number of young men (50 to 60)
milling about on the footpath. I also noted that three children were forced
to cross the road to pass this mob as they were apparently denied passage by
the crowd. That scene made me feel distinctly uncomfortable.

This excerpt quotes statements made by Dr. Tawfik Hamid, who is forced to
live in secret for fear of his life.

Dr. Hamid, medical doctor, author and activist was once a member of Egypt's
Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Arabic for "the Islamic Group"), a banned terrorist
organization. He was trained under Ayman al-Zawaheri, a lieutenant of Bin
Laden, who tells the world that Islamic violence will stop only when the
whole world becomes Muslim. Dr Tawfik Hamid speaks of the deliberate and
determined expansion of militant Islam and its intention to triumph not only
in the Islamic world but in Europe and North America. "Muslim terrorists
kill and slaughter not because of what they experience but because of what
they believe." Dr. Hamid is now 45 years old, and has had many years to
reflect on why he was willing to die and kill for his religion. "The first
thing you have to understand is that it has nothing, absolutely nothing, to
do with poverty or lack of education," he says. "I was from a middle-class
family and my parents were not religious. Hardly anyone in the movement at
university came from a background that was different from mine. I've heard
this poverty nonsense time and time again from Western apologists for Islam,
most of them not Muslim by the way. Most of those who do the killing are
wealthy, privileged, educated and free. If it were about poverty, ask
yourself why it is middle-class Muslims and never poor Christians who become
suicide bombers in Palestine." Dr Hamid states that the expansion of violent
and aggressive Islam began in the late 1970's and can be traced to the
growing financial clout of Saudi Arabia. "We're not talking about a fringe
cult here. Salafist [fundamentalist] Islam is the dominant version of the
religion and is taught in almost every Islamic university in the world. It
is puritanical, extreme and does, yes, mean that women can be beaten,
apostates killed and Jews called pigs and monkeys." The violence is not
about Israel, not about Iraq, not about Afghanistan. They are mere excuses.
Algerian Muslim fundamentalists murdered 150,000 other Algerian Muslims,
sometimes slitting the throats of children in front of their parents. This
had nothing to do with Israel's treatment of the Palestinians or about
American foreign policy." Dr. Hamid says, "Stop asking what you have done
wrong. Muslims are slaughtering Westerners like sheep and you still look
within. You criticize your history, your institutions, your churches. Why
can't you realize that it has nothing to do with what you have done but with
what they want." Quotes from Michael Coren, National Post, Canada. And what
they want is total dominion. Islam is never satisfied to be one religion
among many. It has to be supreme; the one and only. "...the (only)
religion (acceptable) before God is Islam." Surah 3:19. Within Islam,
freedom of religion is never an option. Allah says, "If anyone desires a
religion other than Islam, never will it be accepted of him." Surah 3:85.

Finally, David adds this:

Hence we have in Palmerston North the Muslim member of Parliament agitating
to have the cross removed from the war memorial tower in the Palmerston
North Civic Square. that is just for starters.

David is very sensible, and I'm really happy to have his input and feedback.
Radical Islam is and has been working hard in New Zealand, and ignoring and
appeasing it won't make it go away. Keep at it, David. People need to hear
this, and while I'm glad for the education, I'm also happy to spread the
word. Readers, I want to hear from you about this... even if you disagree.

Evil in Iran

I was going to talk about moral cowardice on an individual basis, and the effect it is having on the current generation of children, but I'd rather include and comment on a letter from David W.:

Hi.
Very interesting to read your article and see that you have aquired a copy of "Because They Hate." I suspect that the message is falling on deaf ears due to PC. Two other books that you might find interesting - "Londinistan" by Melanie Phillips, Encounter Books, NY, ISBN I-59403-144-4. "While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within" by Bruce Bawer, Doubleday, ISBN 13: 978-0-385-51472-9.
"Inside Al Qaeda, Global Network of Terror" by Rohan Gunaratna, Scribe Publications, Melbourne, makes it very clear that Jemaah Islamiyah has infiltrated our region and terror cells are well entrenched in New Zealand.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers
David W.

David makes a fantastic point here. The PC crowd that was once just an annoyance has become one of the most dangerous weaknesses in our society. We worry so much about not offending people that we ignore some groups who want nothing more than to destroy us. It all sounds melodramatic, but in fact its true. The regime in Iran is bent on unleashing nuclear weapons on the region, and specifically on Israel. Think I'm exaggerating? Ahmadinejad has said openly on his own country's airwaves that he intends to destroy... not defeat, not invade, but to annihilate the United States and then Israel. Think he can't do it? He's doing everything he can to build a nuclear bomb. And with Saudi Arabia lowering the price of oil (and Iran's principal source of revenue, by the way), he is in negotiations with Russia to buy a bomb. To put all this down as paranoia is the worst kind of head-in-the-sand attitude. The world saw it before, in the 1930's as Hitler began to swallow up bits of Europe. How long will the world wait before it confronts the evil in Iran? How long do we appease someone who has said he wants to destroy us?

And just in case you think this is only a problem for countries closely allied to the United States (I know of what I speak. A Dannevirke resident responded to the London subway bombings by saying that anyone close to the United States should expect to get bombed), well, look closer to home. Ayman Al Zawahiri has been to New Zealand twice, and Al Qaeda members learned to fly at Palmerston North. New Zealand may have once been quiet and secluded and off the radar screen, so to speak, but not anymore. Once the bigger targets have been taken out, the smaller ones will fall quickly.

I had a quick look into "While Europe Slept", and here is what I found. Bruce Bawer, who previously addressed American fundamentalism in "Stealing Jesus", and gay rights in "A Place At the Table" now turns to European liberalism. After moving to Europe in 1998 and settling in a mostly Muslim neighborhood, he discovered a society that offered "millions in aid, but not a penny in salary". Europe, which has suffered more than most from the lessons of the past, seems to have forgotten them more quickly than most. I'm looking forward to reading the book in more detail.

Thanks again, David, for writing. I've signed on with www.americancongressfortruth.com, and I advise anyone interested in some unfiltered truth to do the same. I intend to continue this dialogue as the media talking heads and the PC crowd and politico's continue their policy of ignore and appease. And quite frankly, I challenge any reader to provide a legitimate counterpoint. Send it to me at abukoff@gmail.com, and I'll include it in the next rant.

Headlines From the Edge

"Man Sues Self... Loses!"

John Oreck of Mobile, Alabama announced through his attorney Jackie Chiles that he had sued himself for an undisclosed transgression and lost. "My client made a foolish decision in attempting to _____within the Mobile city limits with a _____ , especially with full knowledge of the effect it would have on his _____ . With intent and malice aforethought, as well as before thought, he willfully _____ his _____ , and further incriminated himself by _____ after the fact. A lawsuit was the only way for him to regain his _____ , and this shocking defeat at the hands of _____ is nothing but a speed bump on the way to eventual vindication and _____."


"New Year Arrives, Nothing Happens!"

2007 finally arrived amid countless dramatic predictions, but all of them were eclipsed by the shocking news that with the exception of a ball dropping in New York's Times Square, fireworks going off in thousands of places around the globe, as well as billions of calendars being changed, absolutely nothing happened. The planets failed to collide, the antichrist missed his appointment, and every computer malfunction that ocurred did so with a perfectly reasonable explanation.


"Democrats Take Control, Fix World!"

A mere hour after Democrats took control of both Houses of the United States legislature, every problem facing the world was solved. In the first half hour, the global temperature lowered by five degrees, refreezing the polar ice-caps. Osama Bin Laden apologized for everything he's done (through his attorney Jackie Chiles), denounced violence, and voluntarily entered a rehab clinic. In the next half hour, they ended the war in Iraq and achieved a lasting Middle East Peace. After fixing every other problem, they relinquished power without accepting any pay.

Extremists

I'd like to touch on a subject that just won't go away, and in fact is spreading. Even downunder. Religious extremists. Primarily those who are so hateful and intolerant that they consider it their duty to kill anyone who doesn't believe what they do. Yes, Muslim extremists. Not your average peace-loving Muslim who really has had a tough time since September 11th 2001. I know what it is like to be judged because of what someone else has done, when they happen to be from the same country as you, so I think I can identify with these folks. We all know that the aforementioned extremists went on a binge of burning and blowing up because of criticism levelled at their prophet. I won't repeat it. I'd say to these people, don't try to say that you have any moral high ground. If people accuse you of being violent, to react violently just makes their case. And how dare you warn the world that further accusations of violent tendencies will result in further violence. I mean, do you have any common sense? Or is it just that you don't care about any people on the planet but yourself? It is hard to feel any sympathy for a group of people who kill and burn every time someone criticizes them. People who have escaped from these extremists. Don’t believe me? Read “Because They Hate” by Brigitte Gabriel (ISBN-13: 9780312358372) . Here is an excerpt from a speech she made at the Intelligence Summit in Washington DC, Saturday February 18, 2006

I was ten years old when my home exploded around me, burying me under the rubble and leaving me to drink my blood to survive, as the perpetrators shouted “Allah Akbar!” My only crime was that I was a Christian living in a Christian town. At 10 years old, I learned the meaning of the word "infidel."

I had a crash course in survival. Not in the Girl Scouts, but in a bomb shelter where I lived for seven years in pitch darkness, freezing cold, drinking stale water and eating grass to live. At the age of 13 I dressed in my burial clothes going to bed at night, waiting to be slaughtered. By the age of 20, I had buried most of my friends--killed by Muslims. We were not Americans living in New York, or Britons in London. We were Arab Christians living in Lebanon.

Headlines From the Edge

The following headlines are not true. They are intended as parody only.


"Kleptomaniac Steals House!"

Jamie Presley of Auslaught, Kentucky thought everything was okay having her friend Ally Sango overnight. She'd locked up the fine silver and hidden the family jewels in a wall safe, because Ally is a kleptomaniac, a person who feels an irresistable compulsion to steal. You guessed it. Jamie woke up underneath the big tree in the front yard to discover that the whole house had been taken... from the foundation to the attic. "She warned me," a distraught Jamie said. "She said she might have a problem. I just didn't think she was this serious." Family and insurers have promised to provide more lodgings as soon as possible, so Jamie can host her friend Fiona... who happens to be a pyromaniac.


"New Time Person of The Year!"

Responding to criticism of their choice as ‘everyone’ as their person of the year, Time Magazine has stated that in fact, since it could also be proven scientifically that nobody changed the world noticably for good or evil, nobody in fact deserved the award. Says Jon Schmidt, who leads the choice committee, “If everyone is person of the year, that means by definition that no one person made an outstanding contribution. Therefore, nobody is person of the year, and nobody will get all they recognition they so richly deserve.”


"Real Submarine Sandwich!"

The US Navy has introduced a remarkable new submarine that promises to revolutionize the so-called silent service. The new micro submarine (that is available in sizes ranging from six inches to a foot-long) will feed its crew as they patrol, but will also distract any enemy ships that come into contact with it. While engineers are struggling with the problem of bread softening, they say that they are confident that the minor distraction of bread breaking off and floating away as they speed up will not detract from the overall mission of good food for hard-working sailors.

Headlines From the Edge

"I Was The Model For The Great Face Of Mars!"

Ninety-seven year old Sam Terwilliger of Austin, Texas claims that he was the model for the famous great face of Mars, and insists that attempts by NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to convince the public that the face is a myth is proof of their colution with a Martian government. He is seeking US$7 million in compensation, citing loss of future royalties from space tourists.


"Two Chia Pets Marry!"

Mary Francis Dean of San Luis Obispo, California has owned the same two Chia Pets for ten years, and since they have, in her words, reached 'maturity', they needed to make a commitment. So she contacted ordained minister Billy Bob Wilder of the Church of the Sacred Bleeding Heart located in Los Angeles, and he flew in to wed the happy couple in a quiet ceremony in Mary's beach side home. Mary says that the two plant 'pets'; a man with long hair, and a sheep have grown up together, and have always been the best of friends. But since ten years in Chia Pet years is almost twenty human years, they either needed to 'get hitched or go their separate ways'.


"US Government Announces Plan to Move to China!"

In a stunning announcement, US State Department sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, announced that the White House would reveal plans just before the upcoming congressional elections to move the entire country to China. "In keeping with the intent of Christopher Columbus, who was just looking for trade routes to the Orient, the president will put us where the valiant explorer meant us to be. We're going back to our roots, and the best way is to get back to Chris's route." This is meant to increase Republican's sagging poll numbers.


"Six Year Old Genetic Engineer Creates Own Little Brother!"

Little Danny Unger of Rochester, Indiana has always been a science aficianado, but his parents had no idea what they were getting into when they brought home a "Little Scientist Kit" from the toy store. It seems that Danny has wanted a brother for years, but Mum and Dad weren't providing one. So he started his own project with jar full of goo and a toenail. Six months later, 'Tony' was fully grown and ready for diapers!

Immigration

The immigration problem is not a simple issue. Immigrants built this country, and we'd be stupid to try to keep them out because of where they come from. At the same time, I don't like the idea of granting millions of illegals (and I'm not talking about a race here.... I mean illegals from anywhere) amnesty and citizenship just because they're here. I am a compromise kind of person. I think that these folks contribute immensely to the country, and we need to recognize that, but they have to admit that they broke the law and both sides have to work to a compromise. They need to meet in the middle... sit across a table and talk to each other. There needs to be some kind of documentation for everyone in the country working. For taxes, and benefits and legal representation, so they can't be taken advantage of. I'm not a fan of government, but it does have it's uses, and this is one. The constitution is worthless if you don't have a way of making sure it is followed everywhere, and reaches everyone in the country. Otherwise, undocumented workers are held hostage in a way, because they have no recourse if they're mistreated. So I think they need to put theeir names down somewhere... let them continue working to feed themselves and their families, but require them to start, at the same time, paperwork to at least get work permits. The paperwork needs to be cut so people are willing to finish it... people on the gov't payroll should provide low-cost assistance to get the paperwork done right, and we get all these people on the track to some proper status so they can be protected under the law. But at the same time, we should have a secure border, because not everyone who crosses illegally is innocent. There are criminals and fugitives who cross, and we owe it to the people in the country to know who is coming in. Not as an excuse to stop good people, but as protection. Just like when you lock your doors at night. And I think also that the Mexican government needs to take a hard look at why so many people are leaving a country so rich in oil and agriculture. Why are there so many poor people in so rich a country?

Money money money

Let me say from the start that I believe in capitalism. Not that money is the key to happiness, but competition is, as a rule, a positive thing. It motivates people to work harder, and it fuels the economy. No matter where you are in the free world, a market economy is the best working model. Economics brought down the Soviet Union and is turning Cuba into a backwater. And it's the only reason China is opening up markets to the west. And yet...

Most of the world's problems can be traced to money. Africa is, from an agricultural point of view, one of the richest continents on the planet. They also have heaps and heaps of oil. So why are so many people starving and dying there? It isn't because there's no food. It's because the thugs who run so many African countries are rich and corrupt and can only keep their people under control by starving them. They have food and oil to spare but are not willing to share it. Instead they horde their fortunes. If they didn't control all that, they be on an equal footing. It's all about money.

The Middle East is, without a doubt, one of the most troublesome parts of the world. That is because, religious issues aside, you have essentially a number of competing tribes and kingdoms selling oil to fund ancient hatreds and feuds. Strip away the diplomatic trappings, and that's what you have. I'm not saying anything against Islam. I'm saying that their political systems haven't changed substantially since the crusades. What am I getting at? Just that if the oil they have wasn't so valuable, the western world wouldn't have to worry about them. They could carry on ancient grudges all they want, and the rest of us wouldn't be held hostage to them. I know there are important issues at stake and problems there, and the western world is responsible for some of those problems. I just think we wouldn't be spending half of our pay to fill our gas tanks if it weren't for the effect of money in the region.

Money is even one of the things that fuels terrorism. Terrorists cannot hope to gain power through any honest means. Instead, they build their fortunes through drug running and piracy, and use much of the proceeds to help starving and suffering populations. That in turn gives them a foot in the door to countries looking for anyone to lead them. Anyone who'll feed the people. Hello, Africa. Are you listening?

I'm not saying that money is evil. Only people can be evil. But as long as the world is ruled by money, we're going to suffer because of it.

But how about here at home... in your home? We all shop the specials here and there. Coupons can save you lots of money. But what else could we do? Think about this: one of the most popular things we see for kids is the juice box. You know, the little cardboard or foil/plastic packet filled with sugary 'juice mix' that typically contains no more than five percent juice. Each of these will usually cost at least a dollar or two and contain less than 12 ounces of juice. At the same time, a single packet of kool-aid, costing less than a dollar (30 cents here in expensive Las Vegas) makes two quarts. The juice box is a convenience and a time saver, and with the need for most homes to have two incomes, it's easy to see why we pay a little more to save some time. It's just regrettable that we have to do wasteful things in order to conform to a skewed model of economics. Why do we have it? Because of capitalism? No. Ideally, capitalism should result in lower prices as competition increases. What causes prices to increase while wages fail to keep up? A lack of competition. Prices go up because they can. There's no reason not to, and every excuse to increase the profit margin. And when the government steps in to regulate the market, those companies respond by saving their profits by cutting overhead. Lay-offs and pay cuts protect the profit margin but gut the working class. Capitalism good. Greed bad.

What would you call it?

What would you call an organization that says for the record that it doesn't
care what it has to say, as long as the public comes away believing what
they are supposed to? Call it CNN. CNN says, "The content of the story is
not as important as what the viewer takes away from it." Oh sure, the
government does the same thing, but the press tells you that if you believe
the government, you're stupid, or you're a conservative (and according to
them, the only difference is that stupid means you don't understand them,
and conservative means you're evil). So really, the choice you have if you
don't go along with everything that the liberal elite tells you to believe,
you either need reeducating or you need shutting up. I won't dispute that
far right extremists, be they the christian right, or a home-grown terrorist
like Timothy McVeigh have done their share of evil, and try to silence all
dissent. And it was just plain stupid for the Bush administration (it wasn't
him, by the way. It was one of his idiots) to say that it is unpatriotic to
disagree with them. That was wrong and stupid and it has sure backfired on
them. So you can't say I'm blind to what they're doing. But aside from the
idiots I've mentioned, it is not for the most part the conservatives who
tell you what to think and what to believe and what to hate. (Although some
do). The political philosophy that most often, within its mainstream, tells
you what you can do or not do, or think or not think, or love or hate or
believe or disbelieve or shout down with the most indignant noise is the
liberal. And CNN is a perfect mouthpiece for the liberal machine. They make
no attempt to appear unbiased... otherwise the facts would be more important
than the propoganda value of the story. All you have to remember is who
started it. Ted Turner, who has been a poster boy for the liberals for more
than 25 years, and his ex-wife (how bad must he have been to chase her
off?), who posed on top of a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun. Sure, that
was a long time ago, and sure she went on television decades later and
pretended to apologize, but how many American pilots were killed with that
gun? Her 'apology' wasn't heard by them. You know, the last organization
that acted like this began in post World War One Germany. They were known as
the National Socialist Party. The Nazis.

Disagree? That's okay. Let's talk about it.

A friend....

http://www.xanga.com/hipocrisyender is a friend's blog. Anyone reading this... if there's anyone reading this :) Have a look....

Good News... that the networks don't want you to know about....

U.S. Forces Succeed in E. Africa
Associated Press January 03, 2006DJIBOUTI - al-Qaida is active in Somalia, but U.S. counterterrorism forces are succeeding in keeping its influence from spreading in East Africa - using shovels as their weapons, a commander said Monday.
Maj. Gen. Tim Ghormley, who assumed command of the task force in May, said his troops are focusing on humanitarian projects including drilling wells and refurbishing schools and clinics to improve the lives of residents in the region and keep them away from the terror network.
"We know that al-Qaida al-Itihaad is in Somalia," Ghormley told reporters in an interview at his base in the impoverished nation of Djibouti. "They'd like to export that ... if we weren't there they would be."
While the al-Qaida linked group al-Itihaad was largely destroyed or disbanded by Ethiopian troops fighting inside Somalia by 1997, some of its members have regrouped under new guises and have begun to grow in strength, according to an International Crisis Group report released in July.
Somalia, divided into warring fiefdoms and with no central government, remains fertile ground for terrorists.
The Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa, set up in this former French colony in June 2002, is responsible for fighting terrorism in nine countries around the Horn of Africa: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Somalia in Africa and Yemen on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.
"I believe we're winning," Ghormley said, sitting on a wicker sofa under ceiling fans in a reception hall. "You can't contain them (al-Qaida), but we can take away their recruiting pool and deny them access and that's what we're trying to do."
He singled out a well-drilling project near the eastern Ethiopian hamlet of Gode, which drew the gratitude of the villagers.
But he also acknowledged the threat posed by terrorists taking sanctuary in Somalia and other lawless regions. African governments have historically had a hard time providing security in remote rural areas or patrolling vast borders where nomads frequently cross without detection.
Ghormley spoke after a New Year's pep rally for troops by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace, who is on an eight-nation tour with his wife, Lynne, "American Idol" star Diana DeGarmo and other entertainers.
Pace told the troops their job was important despite the remoteness of the outpost, saying they were the "wave of the future."
The impoverished region, which is home to many Muslims, is a well-established recruiting ground for terrorist groups and U.S. officials describe it as a critical theater in the fight against terrorism.
The region has already suffered four terrorist attacks, all either claimed by - or attributed to - Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network. In August 1998, car bombs destroyed the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania; in October 2000 suicide bombers attacked the USS Cole while it was refueling in Yemen; and in November 2002 attackers tried to shoot down an Israeli airliner minutes before a car bomb destroyed a hotel on Kenya's coast.

Who do you believe?

Terror suspect challenges US president's 'unchecked' power

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Lawyers for an American 'war on terror' detainee said they had petitioned the Supreme Court to examine the US president's powers, citing "the danger of an unchecked Executive Branch".

In a filing on Tuesday, lawyers for terror suspect Jose Padilla cited evasive government moves to avoid a high court examination of his case as reason for requesting a "certiorari" review of a lower court decision challenging the president's wartime powers.
"The government's actions highlight the need for this court to grant certiorari to preserve the vital checks and balances" implicit in the US Constitution, the petition said.
Referring to a series of "strategic maneuvers" to keep Padilla's case from being heard in court, the petition said the government's actions "highlight the danger of an unchecked Executive Branch."

Common sense says that if the terrorist's defender doesn't like it, it's a good thing.

Term limits

Watching CNN and the networks.... I think sometimes that these people get as spoiled by their own power and publicity and press as the politicians they watch so closely. I even heard a CNN newscaster say that the content of a story was not as important as what the viewer takes away from the story. That tells me that they aren't worried as much as about accurately reporting as they are about steering public opinion and making people think what they want them to think. That's the same propoganda that they were 'Shocked! Shocked!' to hear that the administration was doing. What we need is to keep these brainwashing Vampires :) accountable by keeping a close eye on what they say, and by considering putting term limits on them. Ten years.... and get rid of them. Put them on the lecture circuit. Shove them onto the Sunday morning talk shows that are already so full of biased talking heads that they won't be noticed. The whole news industry could well do with some fresh blood.

That annoying verification thing

folks, I notice that regardless of what conservative points of view I put forth, I get no comments. So either nobody is reading, in which case I can say whatever I want, or people aren't commenting. If you aren't commenting because of that annoying verification thing, it is only because the spambots were annoying me. You can argue back all you want.... just do the little verification thing. Okay? :)

But I thought he was a model citizen!!!

January 11, 1999
Page FourB:Baldwin Wanted Hyde Stoned?
Actor Alec Baldwin may have meant it as a humorous skit when he railed about stoning Henry Hyde to death, but even after he apologized and a leading entertainment industry figure condemned him, the mainstream media never highlighted his outburst.
On the December 11 Late Night with Conan O’Brien the NBC host wrapped up his interview with Baldwin by asking about Clinton’s plight. Baldwin replied:
"They voted on one article of impeachment already. And I come back from Africa to stained dresses and cigars and this and impeachment. I am thinking to myself, in other countries they are laughing at us 24 hours a day and I’m thinking to myself, if we were in other countries, we would all right now, all of us together, [starts to shout] all of us together would go down to Washington and we would stone Henry Hyde to death! We would stone him to death! [crowd cheers] Wait! Shut up! Shut up! No shut up! I’m not finished. We would stone Henry Hyde to death and we would go to their homes and we’d kill their wives and their children. We would kill their families. [stands up, yelling] What is happening in this country? What is happening? UGHHH!"
Cutting to the supposed punch line, O’Brien then jumped up and put an air mask over Baldwin’s mouth to calm him down. Now, substitute the name Al Gore or Hillary Clinton for Henry Hyde and the name of a conservative for Baldwin. What would have been the reaction from the major networks?
In this case: nothing, not even after the Washington Post reported that "Baldwin said the exchange was a parody mocking the sanctimony of representatives...and that he was sorry Hyde took it badly. ‘In the current supercharged climate there’s no room for this kind of glibness,’ he said."A December 21 Post item by TV columnist Lisa de Moraes relayed how Jack Valenti, President of the Motion Picture Association of America, wrote Baldwin: "However it was said it’s not something you use as a joke, it’s not something you parody. This is incendiary."
FNC’s Special Report with Brit Hume played a RealPlayer clip of it from the MRC Web page and Rush Limbaugh alerted his listeners. After the December 20 Fox News Sunday showed an excerpt of Baldwin’s outburst, Brit Hume observed: "I think it was not in earnest. On the other hand, I don’t think the thought would have occurred to him to say it on that show if it hadn’t occurred to him otherwise."

True Lies?

Wow. I put in an opinion on Iraq and nobody argues. There must be no one reading. Okay, here's another.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House and a senior Republican lawmaker expressed concern on Thursday about secret military payments to get Iraqi newspapers to print pro-American articles, but the military said it was important to spread the truth while insurgents were "lying to the Iraqi people."
U.S. troops in an "information operations" task force have written articles with positive messages about the U.S. mission in Iraq that have been translated from English into Arabic and planted in Iraqi newspapers in return for money, according to defense officials speaking on condition of anonymity.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, folks, it's called propaganda, and it has existed since war existed. And for the party that actually started us in World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam to suddenly look indignant seems just a bit..... retarded. It's like Claude Rains in "Casablanca" saying "I'm shocked, shocked to find out that gambling is going on here!" just as someone hands him his winnings. You know, don't act like you've never done it.

Oh, and John Warner agreed with you and was just as indignant. Well, you can have him.

In or Out?

Okay folks.... maybe this will wake things up a bit. I've heard some leftist media types comparing Bush to Nixon. I personally think it's rubbish, and I've never heard it explained to my satisfaction. So if anyone is actually reading this, feel free to explain or disprove. And on the Iraq subject, nobody can say that it is going as well as it might. But to those who think the US should pull out immediately (I don't, by the way), what do you see as the future for Iraq? Obviously they can't defend the place by themselves, and it is foolish to think the terrorists (and that is what they are) will simply walk away if the US pulls out. That means that Al Qeada will have another Afganistan, and we'll be paying the bills a few years later. So what is the solution? And really, I don't want flames here. I want opinions. If you think I'm wrong (or right), explain.

Comments from drones

Just so you drones out there that send spam comments know how much your trash is appreciated, I have a gimmick that tells me where you are in the US.



so bugger off :)

While I was away....

I've moved to Indiana.... just in case anyone is still looking at this. Hey, does everyone who might be reading this believe that George Bush hates black people? Listen, if he had declared those areas disaster areas before the storm hit, would it have gone better? Cause, like FEMA would have preprepared, set aside emergency funds, etc....


well guess what. He did. For all the people there. What really went wrong was that the state government did not give the Feds permission to go in in force. See, the Federal government needs permission from the state government before it can go in and do a state's business. It's the law. And the local government, the mayor was not telling anyone what he was doing. No, he was communicating through the media. He didn't tell anyone there was people in the convention center for three days. Did FEMA screw up? Yeah. But they were also made part of the dept of homeland security. That was a recommendation after 9/11. So yeah, a mistake. It'll change. Is the head of FEMA incompetent? Maybe. He'll lose his job anyway. But to say that Bush is a racist (and what was said publicly by others was worse than that.... by some black liberal congressmen, surprise surprise) because black people were there is just BS. It's excuse making. It is saying it wasn't because anyone screwed up... it isn't an act of nature. It's because I'm black and if a Democrat were in office it wouldn't have happened in the first place. Poppycock.