Friday, December 31, 2010

Second Cloward-Piven Strategy Suggested by Leftists

The Second Time is Farce: Frances Fox Piven Calls for a new Cloward-Piven Strategy for Today
By Ron Radosh
PajamasMedia.com
December 30, 2010

Writing in The Nation magazine on May 2, 1966, sociologists Richard Cloward and his wife Frances Fox Piven published what was to become in later years one of the most famous and influential of leftist articles. Titled “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty,” the two socialist intellectuals developed a new so-called “crisis strategy” — that of trying to use the existing welfare system to create chaos that would weaken the corporate capitalist state and eventually foment revolution. “Discover the Networks” has a good summary of their thesis.

The two became the ideologists of a group formed to implement their strategy, called “The National Welfare Rights Organization,” or NWRO. As Stanley Kurtz explains in Radical-in-Chief: “the idea was to flood state and local welfare systems with more applicants than they could possibly afford to carry. Cloward and Piven believed that this ‘break the bank’ strategy would force President [Lyndon B.] Johnson and a liberal Democratic Congress to bail out overburdened state welfare systems with a federally guaranteed annual income.” This experience of activism by the poor would create a new anti-capitalist sentiment, and would stoke the poors’ “sense of entitlement and rage.” Later, the group’s mission would be carried on by ACORN, whose leaders endorsed and built upon Cloward and Piven’s strategy.
Read more . . .

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Governor Perry to EPA: Don't Mess With Texas!

EPA, Texas go to war over carbon-emission rules
By Ed Morrissey
HotAir.com
December 27, 2010

And so it begins, and on the most fertile red-state territory in the nation.  Texas, which got four more seats in the House through the 2010 Census reapportionment, has had its air-quality rules superceded by the EPA as part of its aggressive new action on carbon emissions.  Governor Rick Perry promises a fight:
Read more . . .

Muslim Pogrom Against Christians Underway

"Islam is not a religion; it is foreign law" whose adherents will stop at nothing to impose it upon the West.

By Eileen F. Toplansky
AmericanThinker.com
December 29, 2010

Only a few days remain until 2011, and still there is no end to Islamic hatred in the world.
  • Christmas was celebrated in an unusual way in Indonesia this year.  Since sharia forbids the construction of any new churches, hundreds of members of Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in Parung, West Java, Indonesia decided to celebrate Mass "in a tent set up in the parking lot of the Marsudirini Elementary School."  Although on paper, Indonesia's constitution states that "no one has the right to prohibit any religious community from practicing its faith" the rising influence of Islamic radicals is obliterating all this.
  • In Pakistan in July of 2010, "a dozen masked men shot five Christians to death as they came out of their church."  In May, "church leaders had received a threatening letter from the Islamic extremist group Sip-e-Sahaba warning the Christians to leave the area as 'they [were] polluting [the] land.'"
  • In the Washington Times, Jeffrey Kuhner writes about ongoing anti-Christian pogroms in the Middle East.  A word usually ascribed to the mass destruction of Jews, it is now being applied here, as "Christians have endured bombings, murders, assassinations, torture, imprisonment and expulsions. These anti-Christian pogroms culminated recently with the brutal attack on Our Lady of Salvation, an Assyrian Catholic church in Baghdad. Al Qaeda gunmen stormed the church during Mass, slaughtering 51 worshippers and two priests. Father Wassim Sabih begged the jihadists to spare the lives of his parishioners. They executed him and then launched their campaign of mass murder."

Editorial note:  As I searched the internet for an image to add to this article, I was sickened.  If readers really want to know what it's like to be a minority Christian in areas of the world largely run by Islamo-fascists, then do a Google image search.  Simple keywords like "muslim kill christian" will reveal such horrific pictures that it's barely possible to look at them without vomiting, so viewer beware.

Newspaper in Copenhagen Barely Averts A Mumbai-Style Attack

So, this begs the question, will this near-tragedy force journalists around the world and especially in the US to give up their politically correct views about Islam, or will they just shut up and take cover?

Copenhagen Terrorist Attack Stopped:  5 Arrested in Copenhagen Terror Plot
ThirdAge News Staff
December 29, 2010

Copenhagen police and Denmark's intelligence service on Wednesday arrested four people suspected of planning an "imminent" terror attack against a newspaper that printed the controversial Prophet Muhammad cartoons.

Swedish police said they arrested a fifth suspect.

The Danish Security and Intelligence Service, known as PET, said three of the four men were residents of Sweden and had entered the country during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. The fifth suspect was a 37-year-old Swedish citizen of Tunisian origin living in Stockholm.

Jakob Scharf, the head of PET, said the arrests in Denmark were made after close cooperation with Swedish police.

"An imminent terror attack has been foiled," Scharf said, describing some the suspects as "militant Islamists." He said that more arrests could not be ruled out.

Scharf said they considered the attack had been thwarted and that "there was no need to raise the terror threat alert level" in Denmark.

PET said the group had been planning to enter the building where the Jyllands-Posten daily has its Copenhagen newsdesk and had wanted "to kill as many of the people present as possible."
Read more . . .

The Bizarre "Birther" Intellectual Dance

William Jacobson is a law professor at Cornell Law School.

The Bizarre "Birther" Intellectual Dance
By William A. Jacobson
LegalInsurrection.blogspot.com
December 27, 2010

The world has been artificially divided into "Birthers" and "anti-Birthers" when in fact I suspect a large percentage or even majority of the population is neither and simply wants all the evidence released so that we can move beyond the issue.  For most people, who have had to show their own birth certificates at various points in their lives, the notion that a presidential candidate should release his or her birth certificate to prove qualification for office reflects neither pro- nor anti-Obama sentiment, but a "what's the big deal?" attitude.

It also seems that the supposed intellectual poles have been reversed.

People who supposedly are irrational and driven by hatred demand to see the evidence.  People who supposedly are rational and driven by dispassionate intellect demand that the evidence not be seen.

Isn't this the exact opposite of what should take place?  Or have the labels been misapplied?
Read more . . .

China Will Cut Rare Earths Export Quotas

Rare earths are used in a great number of technological applications from batteries, to electronics, to national defense.  Sadly, America's rare earth mines went dormant many years ago as we became more dependent on Chinese exports.  Now China's exports to us are going to be cut back.  Crunch time for America begins!

Similar news was posted here last August.  As a result, it occurred to me that now would be the ideal time to support an American company as it sought funds through an initial offering to reopen it's mining facility.  Thus, I invested in Molycorp, Inc. (MCP) stock.  At that time the shares cost me $18 each.  Four months later MCP  shares are selling at $46.18.  While it's great to make a profit on an investment, I feel good helping an American company reopen its doors so that one day we won't be so dependent on China.

With this latest news item about China cutting exports to the US, MCP shares will probably continue to climb.  As I understand it, Molycorp is in the process of upgrading old machinery and hasn't yet begun operations.

Today we're threatened by China restricting rare earths.  How long before we're truly threatened by third-world dictatorships restricting oil exports, especially since Obama wants to protect punish America and save the polar bears (who are NOT endangered)? Stupid and dangerous, in my view.

China will cut rare earths export quotas
BBC News Business
December 29, 2010

China has said it will cut exports of rare earth minerals by 10% in 2011.

World manufacturers are heavily reliant on China for these minerals, which are essential for making many electronic goods, such as TVs and PC monitors.

China has 97% of the world's known supply of the goods. The US mined none last year.
Read more . . .

Germans Considering Screening For Bad Terrorists Rather Than Bad Objects

German Call For Airport Profiling
BBC News Europe
December 29, 2010

The incoming head of Germany's airport industry association has called for Israeli-style passenger profiling to be introduced.

Christoph Blume said that grouping passengers into different categories of risk could put an end to the ever-growing number of security checks.

Detection equipment would, he argued, "at some point... reach its technological and operating limits".
Read more . . .

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Islamists Are The New Colonialists

Russia's "Islam Problem"
By Ned May
BigPeace.com
December 27, 2010

When discussing the Islamization of the West, France is usually cited as being the worst-off of the Western democracies. It has an estimated Muslim population of 10%, perhaps as high as 15%, and the demographics of the situation — a very low birthrate among the native French, and a baby boom among the Muslim immigrants — do not bode well for the future of France.

If we expand the definition of “the West” a bit, it becomes necessary to add India and Russia to the list of Most Islamized Western Nations. India has the largest, oldest, and most intractable “Islam problem” of any Western democracy. The Muslim minority in India is over 150 million (13+% of the population) and is growing relative to the Hindu population. India lives under the constant threat of terror attack. Its citizens experience deadly bombings and other forms of violent jihad with mind-numbing regularity.
Read more . . .

Video: Shariah and The Threat To America

Frank Gaffney discusses Feisel Abdul Rauf and the Ground Zero Mosque in the context of Shariah: the threat America, which he describes as a stealthy, or civilization jihad -- more political than religious.

Paris Lost? Who wins? 7th Century Shariah or 21st Century Western Civilization?

Obama: Convert To Islam Or Else

Associated Press
December 27, 2010

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A leader of Somalia's Islamist insurgency threatened to attack America during a speech broadcast Monday.

"We tell the American President Barack Obama to embrace Islam before we come to his country," said Fuad Mohamed "Shongole" Qalaf.
Read more . . .

Obama Finds Religion in Hawaii

Window dressing.  Just another way to start the campaign for 2012, in my view.

Barack Obama lets his faith show
By Carol E. Lee
Politico
December 28, 2010

HONOLULU — President Obama’s trip to church Sunday followed a steady rebirth over the past three months in public expressions of his Christianity.

Obama has publicly mentioned his “Christian faith” more times in the past three months than he has over the past year. He has more frequently cited passages of the Bible, including repeated references to the spirit of Genesis 4:9 — “I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper” — which was a mainstay of Obama’s 2010 campaign stump speech. And he’s taken his family to church twice, a shift for a president who has preferred to worship privately since the end of the 2008 campaign.
Read more . . .

"Natural Born Citizen" Brouhaha: It's Not The Question. It's The Fact It Was Asked

The image below was found at The Captain's Quarters website.

By Teri O'Brien
Illinois Review
December 27, 2010

Granted, the 12/19/10 edition of the Teri O’Brien Show was unusual. We had not one, but two, special guests, and we usually have none. Still, I was unprepared for the firestorm precipitated by the routine posting I hoped would entice listeners to check out the show, a firestorm that shows no end of dying down. It all started with the mention of the phrase “natural born citizen” and whether it can be accurately applied to Barack Obama.

I invited Floyd Brown, President of the Western Journalism Center, on the show to address the question “Why didn’t Justices Kagan and Sotomayor recuse themselves from the recent decision to deny certiorari in the case Kerchner v. Obama (the natural born citizen case)?” After all, one of the named parties appointed them, which appears to me to be an obvious conflict of interest. In my opinion, their failure to sit out on this one is the most unreported significant story of 2010. A question for two of the passionate participants in the debate here on IR: Ohioborn1, Bob Ross--would you like to take a crack at answering that one? Bueller? Bueller?

The nearly immediate posting of an affirmative response to the question I mentioned in the post about the 12/19/10 show, “Just exactly what is a “natural born citizen” under our Constitution, and does Obama qualify?” got me thinking. I know why many Obama opponents are passionate about this issue, but why would the other side be so quick to reply? Let me submit that as interesting as the extremely verbose debate here has become, it’s somewhat collateral to the actual issue.The actual issue, at least for Obama’s permanent campaign, is make sure the question is never asked.

Big Ben Bomb Plot Halted in London

Gee whiz.  What "religion" do you think these terrorists subscribe to?  Maybe they are right-wing Christians, or perhaps Buddhists, or even possibly Scientologists?  Wait a minute.  I think there's a pattern to this madness.  Here's the answer:

Christmas bomb plot: nine men remanded over plan to 'blow up Big Ben and Westminster Abbey'
By Caroline Gammell
The Telegraph
December 27, 2010

They are alleged to have carried out reconnaissance missions before deciding on their possible targets.

People were said to have found at least six sites, including the full postal address of the Stock Exchange, Boris Johnson's London mayoral office and the US embassy.

Defendants were seen studying the tower of Big Ben, before inspecting Westminister Abbey, the London Eye and the Church of Scientology.

Al-Qaeda inspired books and leafelets, including instructions on making a pipe bomb, were also uncovered during the counter-terrorism operation.
Read more . . .

When Did Obama Have His Life-Changing Epiphany?

By Selwyn Duke
AmericanThinker.com
December 28, 2010

One of the problems with the idea of "American exceptionalism" is that it exacerbates a kind of complacency common to man.  This is the phenomenon whereby people often view themselves as exceptions -- saying, after some tragedy, for instance, something such as "I never thought it could happen to me."

On a national level -- and this especially plagues great nations -- this manifests itself in the notion that "it" could never happen here.  Oh, the "it" could be descent into tyranny, domination by a foreign power, or dissolution.  Or maybe it could be the election of a leader who is a Manchurian candidate, a traitor within, someone bent on destroying the nation that gave him everything.  That..."it"...couldn't happen here.  In fact, the idea is so preposterous to many Americans that if such a threat loomed, they would never see it coming.  And they would call a person who warned of it a nut.

"Dupes: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century"

Dr. Paul Kengor Explains His New Book "Dupes: How America's Adversaries Have Manipulated Progressives for a Century"

Dr. Kengor of Grove City College (PA) reveals documented proof obtained from Commiturn archives in the Library of Congress that the Communist Party USA, which opened it's doors in Chicago, was indeed networking with the Soviets.  Furthermore, Kengor discovered from declassified FBI records that Obama's family friend and mentor, Frank Marshall Davis, was a card-carrying communist.  He even cites Davis' membership card number.  Progressives will be pleased to note that Kengor has some good words to say about Woodrow Wilson's battle against communists (even though Wilson was a racist.)
Video embedded here.   Hat tip again to CK.

Video - Chris Matthews: Why Doesn't Obama Just Release The Birth Certificate?

RealClearPolitics - Video - Chris Matthews: Why Doesn't Obama Just Release The Birth Certificate?
Video is not embedded here.  Click link to view.

Prompted by the recent "birther" activities of Neil Abercrombie, Hawaii's new governor, Chris Matthews and his guests yuck it up over Americans' who question Obama's birth status, but for the first time he actually shows the MSNBC audience that a long-form birth certificate is different and more informative than a Certification of Live Birth.  Then, Matthews also asks why this document hasn't been released.

Hat tip to CK.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Update: Obot SMRSTRAUSS' Links Are Being Scrubbed From Google Prior To Presidential Campaign

Obot SMRSTRAUSS' Links Are Being Scrubbed From Google
By EricaThunderpaws

Recently I visited the website of attorney Mario Apuzzo, legal council for Charles Kerchner, and noticed that SMRSTRAUSS had posted a comment to an article.  Apparently, this Obot couldn't resist plying his trade once again, but Apuzzo's readers are at least aware of who he is and resoundingly rejected his remarks.

During the presidential election, and for a very long time afterwards, SMRSTRAUSS did a lot of damage on behalf of Obama.  He, his wife, and probably a host of others using the same name, infiltrated every site that discussed Obama's eligibility issue.  This crew left a trail of disinformation everywhere they posted.  Their mission:  to ridicule all who doubted Obama's eligibility to serve as president, and to confuse the public by misstating the facts.  

If you missed the exploits of SMRSTRAUSS, read my exposĂ© published in March 2010 for the full story, backed up with hard evidence.  On the date that article was published, a search on Google for this Obot's name registered nearly 20,000 hits, which was very impressive activity by a "single" individual!

One would assume that over time the trajectory of hits for SMRSTRAUSS would climb if he/they continued to post comments, or perhaps level off if they stopped, but exactly the opposite has happened!  The trajectory of Google hits for this name has dropped dramatically downward.  Information doesn't just disappear from the internet unless someone physically removes the links.  SMRSTRAUSS must have friends in high places!  But of course, that is the argument I made in the article. 

Evidence for the change in Google hits is displayed below.  Prior to publishing my exposĂ© on SMRSTRAUSS' activity, I made screen captures of the Google results page on a couple of occasions.  On January 29, 2010, Google returned 17,500 links.  A short time later on February 8, 2010, Google had increased the returns to 18,900 links.  Today, there are only 4,640 links!

Perhaps SMRSTRAUSS and friends are trying to clean up the Internet before the 2012 presidential election cycle begins, because the link between SMRSTRAUSS and Obama's disinformation campaign might prove useful to Obama's opponents if their dirty tricks are exposed.

Click the images to enlarge them.

January 29, 2010


















February 8, 2010





















December 26, 2010

George Soros Funding 'Slander Shops' To Attack Conservative Media

'Citizen Soros' now targeting messenger
Report documents move by 'radical philanthropist' to control message
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
December 25, 2010

For someone who once described himself as "some kind of god" and said that makes him feel comfortable, the scrutiny of a new report that looks into his increasing influence over the messengers in today's world probably won't have a personal impact.

But whether it affects him or not, octogenarian billionaire George Soros' funding of a media "monitor" that routinely attacks traditional and conservative media is becoming a focal point.
View pdf report and read more . . . 

Anchorage Muslims Seeking Funding For Alaska's First Mosque

Mosque milestone for Alaska Muslims
Aljazeera
December 25, 2010

Obama's Eligibility Issue Will Never Die Until He Answers The Questions

Obama could make this issue go away in a nanosecond if he wanted to.  One has to ask, why does he allow the wounds of trust to fester?

A Catalog of Evidence - Concerned Americans Have Good Reason to Doubt that Putative President Obama Was Born in Hawaii
By Mario Apuzzo

The New York Times on April 21, 2010, did a story entitled, Obama and the ‘Birthers’ in the Latest Poll, by Dalia Sussman and Marina Stefan. The article reported that "[i]n a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, 58 percent said Mr. Obama was born in the United States. That leaves a significant minority who said they thought he was born in another country (20 percent) or said they did not know (23 percent)." Question No. 50 in the poll was: "According to the Constitution, American Presidents must be 'natural born citizens.' Some people say Barack Obama was NOT born in the United States, but was born in another country. Do YOU think Barack Obama was born in the United States, or was he born in another country?" The result was: Born in US 58%, Another country 20%, Don't Know 23%. Hence, these numbers show that 43 percent do not believe that Obama was born in the United States. What a serious national security situation we are living in when the de facto President and Commander of our vast military power has not convincingly proven with certainty to almost half the people of this nation that he was truly born in the United States. The New York Times article, as usual from this pro-Obama paper, is written in such a way as to give the reader the impression that Obama has convincingly proven that he was born in Hawaii and that those who do not believe that Obama was born there are misinformed and poorly educated. What the authors of the article fail to realize or refuse to report is that concerned Americans have very good reasons to doubt that Obama was born in Hawaii.
Read more . . .

Related articles:
Obama's paltry paper trail raises serious questions
Obama tries to wipe slate clean for 2012 run

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Commerce and Energy Needs Be Damned! Interior Department Circumventing Congress to Control Wildnerness Areas

Wilderness rules to be restored for public lands
By Kristen Wyatt
Anchorage Daily News
December 23, 2010

DENVER -- The Obama administration plans to reverse a Bush-era policy and make millions of undeveloped acres, including some in Alaska, again eligible for federal wilderness protection, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Thursday.

The agency will replace the 2003 policy adopted under then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton. That policy — derided by some as the “No More Wilderness” policy — stated that new areas could not be recommended for wilderness protection by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, and it opened millions of acres to potential commercial development.

That policy “frankly never should have happened and was wrong in the first place,” Salazar said Thursday.

Environmental activists have been pushing for the Obama administration to restore protections for potential wilderness areas.
Read more. . .

Hawaii Governor, Neil Abercrombie, Must Be a 'Birther'

So The Anti-Birther Hawaii Governor Is Actually A Birther
By William A. Jacobson
LegalInsurrection.blogspot.com
December 25, 2010

If you demand to see Obama's actual birth certificate, you will be called a "Birther." 

It doesn't matter if your position is that anyone ascending to a constitutional office should provide the best evidence of constitutional qualification, you're a Birther.  It doesn't matter that you think all candidates should comply, you're a Birther.  It doesn't matter it you think Obama was born in Hawaii, but should put the issue to rest by releasing the records, you're a Birther.

The new Governor of Hawaii is getting accolades because he finally is going to shut up all the Birthers.

How is he going to do that?

By seeking to have, er, Obama's birth certificate and other original birth records released:
Read more . . .

"Our planet is not in peril"

By Our Foreign Staff
The Telegraph
November 9, 2007

The founder of the The Weather Channel in the US has described the concept of global warming as 'the greatest scam in history' and accused global media of colluding with 'environmental extremists' to alarm the public.
"It is the greatest scam in history. I am amazed, appalled and highly offended by it. Global Warming; It is a SCAM," John Coleman wrote in an article published on ICECAP, the International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project, which is known for challenging widely published theories on global warming.
Read more . . .

EPA Issuing Heavy-Handed Environmental Regulations

EPA Moves to Unilaterally Impose Carbon Caps
By Publius
BigGovernment.com
December 24, 2010

Stymied in Congress, the Obama administration is moving unilaterally to clamp down on power plant and oil refinery greenhouse emissions, announcing plans for developing new standards over the next year.

In a statement posted on the agency's website late Thursday, Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lisa Jackson said the aim was to better cope with pollution contributing to climbate change.
Read more . . .

'We the people' Will Address The House on Jan. 6th

'We the people' to open next Congress
By Stephen Dinan
The Washington Times
December 23, 2010

The Constitution frequently gets lip service in Congress, but House Republicans next year will make sure it gets a lot more than that - the new rules the incoming majority party proposed this week call for a full reading of the country's founding document on the floor of the House on Jan. 6.

The goal, backers said, is to underscore the limited-government rules the Founders imposed on Congress - and to try to bring some of those principles back into everyday legislating.
Read more . . .

What Do You Want For Christmas?



"Christmas is a day of meaning and traditions, a special day spent in the warm circle of family and friends."

-Margaret Thatcher

Merry Christmas Everyone from Martha, Thomas and the whole gang at Palin Promotions!

Merry Christmas To All!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Issaa Targeting GAO For Hit Job On For-Profit Education

By Capitol Confidential
BigGovernment.com
December 23, 2010

A bipartisan group of six Congressional lawmakers asked Wednesday the Government Accountability Office to reexamine its report on the for-profit education industry. The agency sent undercover applicants to some of these schools. The undercover investigators claim to have been misled on costs, job placement and future earnings.

In a letter to GAO comptroller Gene Dodaro, California Rep. Darrell Issa lectured the congressional watchdog on its charge to provide objective, factual and nonideological reports. In this instance, the incoming chairman of the House oversight committee said, “GAO has not met its own high standards.”

After releasing in August a sensational report on the alleged abuses within the career college community, GAO acknowledged earlier this month it had heavily revised portions of its findings, changing wrongfully attributed comments and lessening its charges of deception.

Issa wants to know if the GAO has investigated the failings in its initial report and if its office of general counsel had concluded the revised report accurately reflects the analysis contained therein.

Blame Game: More Lies From The White House About Columbia Trade Agreement

Tea and Baloney 
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily
December 23, 2010

Trade: As the economy sputters, the White House has come up with a doozy of an excuse for its failure to put the U.S.-Colombia free-trade pact to a vote in Congress: The Tea Party won't let them. This is getting ridiculous.

The economy, the peril south of our border and our valuable alliance with Colombia all point to real urgency for Congress to pass the U.S.-Colombia free-trade agreement, which would create jobs and add billions each year to our GDP.

Protectionist Democrats have held it up for years, falsely claiming that Colombia's human rights record merited its rejection.

Now that a trade-friendly GOP Congress is coming in, the White House is shifting blame to the Tea Party.
Read more . . .

Defund the FCC, Now!

Kill off the FCC
Editorial
Investor's Business Daily
December 23, 2010

Regulatory State:  Two days after the FCC voted to take over the Internet, it stands in the way of an agreement between private companies.  This is an agency that should be targeted for elimination.  On Tuesday, the Federal Communications Commission approved net neutrality, a regulatory framework that has been sold as a means of keeping the Web fair and open.  In truth, the rules give government the authority to tell internet service providers how to organize the traffic that flows over their infrastructure.

That's enough meddling in private affairs for one week for any federal agency.  But the FCC wasn't finished.
Read more . . .

Video: Children Sing Christmas Canon With The Trans-Siberian Orchestra

A lovely orchestral production to enjoy on Christmas eve.  This beautiful video cannot be embedded here, so to view click here.

Video: Synchronized Light & Music Christmas Display

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

1 in 3 British Muslim Students Back Killing for Islam

The latest WikiLeaks revelation:  1 in 3 British Muslim students back killing for Islam and 40% want Sharia law
By Daily Mail Reporter
MailOnline.co.uk
December 22, 2010

•  Reaching out to UK Muslim community was 'top priority' for U.S.

Around a third of young British Muslims favour killing in the name of Islam, according to a survey revealed by the  WikiLeaks' publication of U.S. diplomatic cables.
A survey of 600 Muslim students at 30 universities throughout Britain found that 32 per cent of Muslim respondents believed killing in the name of religion is justified.
A U.S. diplomatic cable from January 2009 quoted a poll by the Centre for Social Cohesion as saying 54 per cent wanted a Muslim party to represent their world view in Parliament and 40 per cent want Muslims in the UK to be under Sharia law.
Read more . . .

EPA to Hold Energy Producers Hostage With Regulations

By Ed Morrissey
HotAir.com
December 22, 2010

After initially appearing to retreat in the face of the midterm onslaught, Barack Obama and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson have decided to pursue an end-run strategy to impose regulation on energy producers regarding greenhouse-gas emissions. The move sets up a confrontation between the White House and Congress, which has already signaled a willingness to play hardball with Obama on regulatory innovation:

Objective Islam, Subjective Islam

Objective Islam, Subjective Islam
By Bill Warner
AmericanThinker.com
December 22, 2010

You can sort the written and spoken words about Islam into two categories -- negative and apologist. Closer observation shows that the negative camp and the apologist camp use different logic, as well as come to different conclusions.

An easy way to see this is to go to a reporting source on the web such as a newspaper that has an article about Islam. Read the comments. The negative comments tend to be more based on ideas taken from the Islamic source material from the Koran and Mohammed. Or they quote a jihadi, a poll or a historical fact.

The apologist comments tend to quote a Muslim friend or establishment expert and attack those who criticize Islam. Critics are called bigots, neo-Nazis, Islamophobes or some other cruel name. In essence, having negative comments or judgments about Islam is labeled as evil. The term hate speech is even bantered about. The critic of Islam is a filed sinner who is shamed and morally condemned. It is all very personal and very much about feelings.
Read more . . .

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Video: Darius Rucker Sings "It's A Candy Cane Christmas"

Great melodius voice!

Video: Brad Paisley Sings "What Child Is This?"

111th Congress Is The Worst Congress Ever

By Frank Donatelli
The Washington Times
December 20, 2010

What comes to mind when you think of "the worst"? President James Buchanan. The 1962 Mets. Vanilla Ice. Now add to that list the 111th Congress, which is finally slated to wrap up business this week. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi just didn't want to give up that gavel. This may have been the worst Congress since Lyndon Johnson's landslide ushered in the Congress that gave us the Great Society and the Vietnam War. Memo to voters: Democratic landslides are usually followed by disastrous results.

The 111th Congress got off to a fast start. Barely two weeks into the Obama era, it enacted an $800 billion stimulus bill, the largest in American history. Why take any time to study the contents when you know exactly what to do? The problem was that most of the money went to states to preserve the jobs of government workers. Some stimulus. The president said it would keep unemployment at 8 percent. It is now near 10 percent.

20th Amendment Has Failed to End The Lame Duck Congress

20th Amendment Tried To do Away With Lame Ducks
NPR Morning Edition
December 21, 2010

Defeated and retiring lawmakers appear to be earning their paychecks, and then some in the final sessions of the lame-duck  Congress. They're hammering out major last-minute bills on tax cuts, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy and other key issues. But law professor John Copeland Nagle of the University of Notre Dame tells Linda Wertheimer that's not how the Constitution's framers wanted it to be.
Read more . . .

WikiLeaks: American and British Troops Repulsed By Afghan Sex Practices With Boys

Afghan sex practices concern U.S., British forces
By Sara Carter
National Security Correspondent
The Washington Examiner
December 20, 2010
"One of the country's favorite sayings is 'women are for children, boys are for pleasure," the report noted.

A document released by WikiLeaks described efforts by high-ranking Afghan officials to quash reports of police officers and other Afghans arrested for "purchasing a service from a child."

The leaked diplomatic cable quoted former Minister of the Interior Hanif Atmar's concern that publicity about the arrests, which involved the hiring of "dancing boys," would "endanger lives."

The author of the diplomatic cable fretted that the case would be "blown out of proportion, an outcome that would not be good for either the U.S. or Afghanistan."

The vast gulf between U.S. and Afghan attitudes about homosexuality and pedophilia has generated concern among U.S. advisers in Afghanistan since the American presence there began to expand.
Read more . . .

Also see:
AnnaMaria Cardinalli's report:  Pashtun Sexuality
Video:  Bacha Bazi (dancing boys)
Sexual Depravity Breeds Savage Jihadists

House Republicans Establish New Rule Requiring A Constitutional Statement to Accompany All Bills

Republicans Start Teaching Members How to Obey the Constitution
By David Weigel
Slate.com
December 20, 2010

Earlier today, some Hill staffers attended the first of four staggered meetings on how to write a new clause into legislation that explains why, exactly, the legislation is constitutional.  This was a big Tea Party demand that Republicans ran on, and they're not welching.

Here's the memo that announced the meetings.  I've redacted one part that tells staff the exact time and place of the meetings.
Read more . . .

Bill Whittle's Christmas Message: A Nation of Desire

Video:  The meaning of Christmas in American history
By Ed Morrissey
HotAir.com
December 21, 2010

Bill Whittle returns for a final firewall episode, this time on the meaning of Christmas in American history -- or really, the meaning and resonance of Christianity.  Bill quotes John Adams and Thomas Jefferson on the requirement for a free people to be of high moral character, something they considered implicit in the Americans who fought for the freedom of self-governance.  That didn't require a theocratic institution for government, but instead a government that interfered little with their choices and room for the natural character of people to assert itself.  They did not view American s as children who could not be trusted with choice, but adults who by and large would act on their inherent, God-gifted goodness for prosperity and liberty:
Read more (and to view the video) . . .

Thought Police Arrest Preacher For Teaching Biblical Views On Homosexual Behavior

Cop arrests peacher for saying homosexuality a sin
By Bob Unruh
WorldNetDaily
December 20, 2010

Telling a street preacher that it is against the law to affirm the Bible's teaching on homosexuality is costing a team of British police officers some $11,000 -- plus legal fees.

That was the resolution announced by The Christian Institute in a case that it fought on behalf of a street preacher, Dale Mcalpine, who was arrested and detained for nearly eight hours on the basis of the officers' decision that the Bible's teachings violated the law.

Mike Judge, spokesman for the institute, which fights on behalf of Christian and human rights in the United Kingdom, said perhaps the officers should remember the situation developed in Cumbria, not North Korea.
Read more . . .

Monday, December 20, 2010

Breitbart.tv » Al Sharpton Helping FCC Plan ‘Decency Standards’ Show Trials Targeting Rush Limbaugh

Breitbart.tv » Al Sharpton Helping FCC Plan ‘Decency Standards’ Show Trials Targeting Rush Limbaugh

"If you die without accepting Islam, you will go to hell forever"

By Olga Gumanova
Pravda.ru
December 20, 2010

German Islamists predicted hellish torment for the German Chancellor if she does not accept Islam. Is Angela Merkel threatened only by Muslim hell or is she a candidate to hell from a Christian perspective as well? And what is hell? Hieromonk Nikanor (Lepeshev), a teacher of the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary, talked about it with Pravda.ru.

If you die without accepting Islam, you will go to hell forever and will be there to suffer torments worse than you can imagine, says a video message of a radical Muslim association, The Invitation to Paradise to Angela Merkel and the heads of security agencies in Germany, quoted by Blagovest-info with a reference to Spiegel magazine.

The members of the Islamist group believe that Islam is not just the only way to ensure that the soul gets a prosperous fate after death, but the only proper form of government. Employees of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (the German intelligence services engaged in surveillance of extremist groups in Germany) consider that the leader of The Invitation to Paradise Pierre Vogel promotes the idea of jihad through his radical sermons. German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere does not rule out that in the future the activities of the association The Invitation to Paradise may be outlawed.

Harry Potter Actress: An Honor Killing Waiting In The Wings?

This young lady will probably become yet another victim of 'honor killings'.  It is relevant that Americans understand the medieval customs inherent in Sharia law because honor killings are already occurring in the States.  This barbaric practice must be vehemently condemned, and the women protected at all cost.

Harry Potter star 'beaten after meeting non-Muslim man'
By Nigel Bunyan
The Telegraph
December 20, 2010

A young Muslim actress who appeared in the Harry Potter films was beaten by her brother and told by her father that he would kill her after she began a relationship with a Hindu man, a court heard yesterday.

Afshan Azad, 22, who played Padma Patil, a classmate of the boy wizard, was called a "slag" and a "prostitute" in a violent confrontation at her family home which left her so scared she fled through a window, Manchester Crown Court heard.

She later told police that her father wanted to "force her" into an arranged marriage.

Abul Azad, 53, and his son Ashraf, 28, were charged with making threats to kill following the incident in Longsight, Manchester, on May 21.  Both were cleared of the charge yesterday after a judge heard that Miss Azad had refused to give evidence despite "expensive and time-consuming" attempts to encourage her to attend court.  After going to police, she "made it plain" that she did not want any action taken against her family, saying that the arrest of her father or brother would put her in "genuine danger", the court heard.
Read more . . .

Increasing Number of Muslim Students Enrolling at Catholic Colleges

Enrollment of Muslim students is growing at Catholic colleges in U.S.
By William Wan
Washington Post
December 20, 2010

On a quick break between classes last week, Reef Al-Shabnan slipped into an empty room at Catholic University to start her daily prayers to Allah.

In one corner was a life-size painting of Jesus carrying the cross.  In another, the portrait of a late priest and theologian looked on.  And high above the room hung a small wooden crucifix.

This was not, Shabnan acknowledge, the ideal space for a Muslim to pray in.  After her more than two years on campus, though, it has become routine and sacred in its own way.  You can find Allah anywhere, the 19-year-old from Saudi Arabia said, even at the flagship university of the U.S. Catholic world.

In the past few years, enrollment of Muslim students such as Shabnan has spiked at Catholic campuses across the country.
Read more . . .

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Diana West: 'This week's guilty verdict settles nothing'

Army surgeon's challenge to Obama remains despite guilty plea
By Diana West
WashingtonExaminer.com
December 18, 2010
Here's the rub, as I understand it: The military justice system isn't empowered to consider whether a president, duly elected, certified and inaugurated, is anything other than what the civilian leadership says he is.
What this means is that Lakin's beau geste may originate within the military order but it falls into the category of civil disobedience, breaking the law to uphold higher principle.
It is a higher principle no one else is upholding. Indeed, Lakin's disobedience highlights the existence of a vacuum of "true faith and allegiance" in the land -- a gross abdication of civilian responsibility to ensure the lawful transfer of presidential powers took place long before Lakin received orders to return to Afghanistan.
Indeed, through peaceful disobedience, Lakin has directed our attention to the moral corruption of our most trusted public servants who, rather than expose themselves to political inconvenience, permitted the secrecy of President Obama to fester in the first place.
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin didn't rush onto a battleground this week; he walked into a military courtroom. He didn't fire a weapon; he pleaded guilty to disobeying orders related to deployment, and not guilty to the more serious charge of "missing movement." But Lakin put his life, in the sense of his distinguished 17-year career as an Army surgeon, his income, his pension, and his personal freedom, on the line because of his sworn duty to the U.S. Constitution.
Read more . . .