The Scriptorium

Reports coming from government investigations into the war in Iraq continue to say Saddam had no WMD. However, people on the ground and those with access to top secret intelligence continue to paint a different picture. When the commander of the invasion into Iraq says there were convoys of people and equipment being moved into Syria right before the war, I start to wonder where the cover up is coming from and why such a transfer would be covered up.

Satellite photos of these trucks traveling from Iraq to Syria have been released to the public, yet the government maintains there is no evidence of WMD traveling into Syria.

One scenario could be that admitting the WMD went to Syria before the war would force the administration to take action against Syria, or be labeled hypocrites. Our troops are busy in Afghanistan and Iraq, and if it became evident that the WMD was now in Syria, it may become necessary to open up another front in the war on terror before we finish the job in Iraq.

I’m not saying this is the likely scenario, but one has to wonder why statements like these from Tommy Franks are ignored by the administration and those responsible for investigating intelligence prior to the war.

Retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who commanded the successful U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, said Thursday that he saw persuasive evidence that Saddam Hussein had transferred his weapons of mass destruction to Syria.

“We saw all kinds of suspicious activity which, all of us could have speculated, meant for certain that weapons were being moved into Syria,” the top military man told WWRL Radio’s Steve Malzberg and Karen Hunter.

Gen. Franks added that while he “never saw anything that was absolutely convincing, the possibility remains” that Saddam’s WMDs were removed.

Franks was responding to claims by his second in command, retired Gen. Michael DeLong, who told Malzberg last year:

“Two days before the war, on March 17 [2003], we saw through multiple intelligence channels – both human intelligence and technical intelligence – large caravans of people and things, including some of the top 55 [most wanted] Iraqis, going to Syria.”

Asked about repeated claims by Democrats that President Bush “lied” about Iraq’s WMD’s, Franks told Malzberg:

“There was no one misleading anybody, except that Saddam Hussein took credit with his Arab brothers for having weapons of mass destruction.”

The ex-CENTCOM commander was referring to his own conversations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan’s King Abdullah, each of whom told him that Saddam had apprised them of his WMD capacity and was crazy enough to use it.

News Max

This is truly sickening and horrifying. When a woman’s abortion failed and the baby was born alive, the murderers who ran the abortion clinic abandoned her and let her watch her child die. I feel sorry for this woman, but she was willing to murder her baby when she didn’t think she’d have to watch it. Perhaps she got what she deserved. She’s now filed a complaint against the baby killing factory with the help of a conservative legal group.

Against Florida state law there was no doctor on the premises when the woman’s baby was born, and the assistant murderers who were running the clinic obviously felt it was better for the baby to die a slow painful death. What kind of evil must possess a person to make them want babies to die even after they’ve been born? It’s a sick world we live in.

A conservative legal group has filed two complaints against a Florida abortion clinic claiming the clinic refused to help a mother whose baby was born alive.

The mother, Angele, had gone to the EPOC clinic in Orlando, Fla., to get an abortion. After the first day of the procedure, she was required to return to the clinic the following day for an induced abortion. When her baby was born alive, the woman screamed for help, but the clinic workers refused to help her, according to the Liberty Counsel.

Angele was forced to watch her son Rowan die, and during the incident, no doctors were present at the abortion clinic, the legal group said.

“We are hopeful that these complaints will lead to immediate change in the form of discipline against the doctors and revocation of the abortion license for the clinic. But we are also hopeful that these complaints will serve as the catalyst for long-term change,” said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Liberty Counsel.

The complaint names Dr. Harry Perper, who performed the procedure the first day but was not on hand the second day, as well as Dr. James Pendergraft, who owns and supervises the clinic.

The complaint also details several violations of Florida laws: the complete absence of a doctor during an abortion procedure, causing a death certificate to improperly state that the baby was still-born, and a complete lack of post-operative care.

After the procedure, Angele was rushed out the door with no follow-up care, and she did not receive a rhogam shot, which was medically necessary for her given her blood type, the legal group said.

“Abortion clinics are the least regulated medical facilities in the state of Florida. That needs to change. It is a travesty that tattoo parlors are more heavily regulated than abortion clinics,” said Staver. . . . . . . . .

CNS News Article

The battle over the disengagement plan in Israel is heating up. Many Israelis, especially the settlers being asked to give up their homes, are willing to stand up and fight against their government and what they see as another step toward their country’s destruction by the Arabs who hate them. This is a very interesting read. Be sure to read the whole thing.

Thousands of Israelis, taking advantage of a warm, holiday week, flocked to the West Bank settlement of Homesh on Thursday, one day after an even larger gathering in the Gaza Strip’s Gush Katif settlement bloc.

The YESHA settlers’ council organized the gatherings to protest Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan. Under the plan, the government will remove some 9,500 Israelis from all 21 Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and four in the northern West Bank, starting this summer.

The plan has sparked emotional debate in Israel, with some citizens expressing shock that their own government would remove them from land that the Bible describes as their “eternal inheritance.”

Sharon says he’s ordered the evacuation for security reasons, and polls indicate his disengagement plan has majority support – although not in the affected settlements.

“We will be here forever!” proclaimed a banner stretched across the stage at the Homesh rally, held on a plateau on the edge of the hilltop community.

Knesset member Arye Eldad told the crowd that if striking workers can close down the country, so can the disengagement protestors. (Israel’s Histadrut labor union, is famous for closing ports, utility services, post offices, banks, schools and municipalities in various labor disputes.)

On Wednesday, at the Gush Katif rally, Eldad angered many of his fellow politicians by calling for a campaign of nonviolent civil disobedience against Sharon’s disengagement plan.

Settler leaders are hoping that tens of thousands of Israelis will move into the settlements as the disengagement date approaches. The see strength in numbers: the more people who come to the settlements, the harder it will be to evacuate them.

At least 15,000 people visited Homesh on Thursday. Many of them said they also visited Hebron on Tuesday (Hebron is not part of the disengagement plan but it is a West Bank hotspot) and the Gush Katif settlements in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday. . . . . . .

Continue Reading

President Bush addressed the nation today on the Social Security crisis. Most of his speech was the same pitch we’ve heard repeated since the election, except for a new twist targeted at the whiny Democrats. The quickest way to get a liberal to at least fake cooperation on legislation is to add a few socialist policies to the proposal. Bush is obviously hoping that including the redistribution of wealth in the plan will bring liberals to the table. It goes something like this – the evil rich people will pay very high S.S. taxes, but they’ll get very little back when they retire, while lower income people will get far more than they put into the system. When did taking money from some Americans to give it to other Americans (socialism) become a Republican idea?

For the last week or more the news has been describing the President’s Social Security tour around the country as a complete failure. I disagree. The Democrats have been saying for months that Social Security is not an emergency and need not be dealt with right now. In other words, why deal with something now when it can be dealt with when there is a liberal in power? However, new polls show that 74% of Americans now believe Social Security IS an emergency, and must be dealt with now. I’d say Bush got his message across.

Bush also has the support of 53% of Americans on private accounts. The MSM claims this is a huge failure and disappointment for the President. After weeks of liberal advertisements trying to scare old people and convince the American public that private accounts will lead to disaster, I was surprised the number was that high. Just once I’d like to see the media report that only 47% of Americans DON’T want private accounts.

Of course, Bush needs to do better if he wants to silence the loud mouthed, tinfoil hat liberals. Dems continue to use scare tactics and claim that putting money into the stock market would lead to millions of Americans losing their retirement. If I were Bush, I’d respond with a scare tactic of my own that has historical evidence to back it up. While the Democrats are asking Americans if they really want to trust Wallstreet with their money, Bush should be asking people if they really want to trust Congress with their money. We’ve been sending our money to the government for decades and look where it’s gotten us. They spent our money and left the program nearly bankrupt. Is it really wise to keep sending money to irresponsible politicians who have demonstrated over and over that they’ll spend every last dime they can get their hands on? I’ll take private savings accounts (especially since Bush is proposing treasury bonds as an option) any day over sending my money to Washington.

Capping the end of a 60-day nationwide tour to promote changes to the Social Security system, President Bush on Thursday night repeated many of the proposals he made on the road, emphasizing both personal investment accounts and gauging benefits to personal income.

In a prime-time address to the nation, Bush also chastised anyone in Congress who would try to cast the Social Security debate in a political light.

“I am willing to listen to any good idea from either party,” Bush said, adding that if Congress can set aside politics then “Republicans and Democrats will be able to stand together and take credit for doing what is right for our children and grandchildren.”

Bush said that a hole in the safety net has been created “because Congresses have made promises they cannot keep for younger generations.”

He pledged that all Americans born before 1950 will receive full benefits. He also proposed that benefits for low-income workers will rise more quickly than for people who are better off. Third, he said he wants to give young workers the option of investing their Social Security taxes into personal accounts.

“I know some Americans have reservations about investing in the stock market, so I propose that one investment option consist entirely of treasury bonds, which are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government,” he said. . . . . .

Fox News

The more I see things like this, the more I wonder if Mexico will one day end up being our “palestinians”. There are more than a few large groups in Mexico who believe the southern United States should be a part of Mexico.

The parts of Israel that are disputed were won by Israel in a DEFENSIVE war, yet the Arabs claim it should be returned to them. Will we one day find ourselves in the same position with Mexico claiming the land won in the Mexican war should be returned to Mexico? Something tells me we wouldn’t respond to such demands the way we expect Israel to.

New billboards advertising a Spanish-language newscast on KRCA-TV Channel 62 were intended as an attention-grabber for its core audience, but instead have struck a nerve with activists seeking to curb illegal immigration.

The billboards show two cable newscasters sitting in front of the downtown skyline, with “Los Angeles, CA” printed above. The “CA” is crossed out, and “Mexico” is stamped alongside in bright red letters. Underneath are the Spanish words, “Tu ciudad. Tu equipo.” — Your city. Your team.

“This is almost a poster-board for illegal immigration,” said Peter Amundson, a volunteer with the California Republican Assembly. “This is America. We’re a land of immigrants — legal immigrants. This is not Mexico. This is the United States.”

Amundson, who first saw one of the billboards last week near Irwindale, said that crossing out California and replacing it with Mexico was “a slap in the face to Californians and a pretty blatant one.” . . . . .

LA Times

Air America’s ratings have been abysmal despite the millions of dollars thrown at the new liberal talk radio station, so they’re trying a new tactic. If you can’t get ratings from the somewhat sane segment of the population, cater to the tinfoil hat loons who regularly threaten the President with death on Democratic Underground and liberal blogs.

If you read any of the liberal blogs on the net (I don’t recommend this if you don’t have a strong stomach) it’s not uncommon to see the moonbats clambering for war against the “fascist Bush regime”. Democrats have suddenly given up their anti-gun stance and are promoting arming themselves for an imagined, imminent civil war with “fundies” (Christians) fighting against “progressives”.

Air America’s latest stunt is a crime in this country, even if they claim it was done jokingly. Whoever was responsible for threatening the President’s life on national radio needs to be prosecuted and locked up. If we don’t send a message to the growing number of rabid, jihadist liberals, one of them is bound to follow through on their threats. One look around Democratic Underground provides ample proof that many of them are just deranged enough to do it.

Federal officials are reviewing a skit broadcast on the liberal Air America network that featured an apparent gunshot warning to President Bush.

The audio production came during the opening minutes of “The Randi Rhodes Show” Monday night, according to the Drudge Report.

The announcer said: “A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn’t safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here’s your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of four gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little bastard. [audio of gun being cocked].”

“Let’s not do that while I’m here in Florida,” Rhodes, who broadcasts from West Palm Beach, Fla., said laughingly following the item. “Let’s not arm the old people until I leave. What is with all the killing?”

But a government source told Drudge, “Even joking about shooting the president is a crime, let alone doing it on national radio … we are taking this very seriously.” . . . .

WND Article

Who needs enemies when you’ve got “friends” like this. These are the people we’re asking to help bring down gas prices in the U.S. If our Republican majority doesn’t figure out how to act like a majority and get an energy bill passed that allows drilling for oil on our own soil, we’re in for a long hurt in this country. Hey, but at least the Caribou in Alaska don’t have to walk around an oil well on their way to the hundreds of miles of barren tundra available to them.

Is Saudi Arabia an ally or enemy of the United States in the war on terror?

The question is raised with the disclosure of secretly recorded comments from the kingdom’s chief justice encouraging young Saudis to travel to Iraq to wage war against Americans.

“If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so,” says Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan in Arabic on the October audiotape from a government mosque, obtained by NBC News.

While Luhaidan warns Iraq is risky because “evil satellites and drone aircraft” watch the borders, he stresses making the trip to fight Americans is religiously permissible. . . . .

WND Article

Revelation 11:1-3 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

A battle of diplomacy over the city of Jerusalem is coming (of course not with out the typical terrorist attacks and exploding Palestinians) and it will be interesting to see what kind of deal is made and by whom.

Hamas warned yesterday against any American attempt to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying such a move, currently being debated by the U.S. Congress, would spark immediate violence throughout the Middle East.

Any U.S. resolution recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel will explode the region into violence and end the current “calm” in the Palestinian territories, said Hamas spokesman Mushir Al-Masri.

Al-Masri was responded to a congressional discussion last week regarding a draft resolution requesting the U.S. administration recognize Jerusalem as the “united and eternal capital” of Israel before officially recognizing any future Palestinian state.

The Hamas spokesman demanding Jerusalem be reserved for the capital of what it called its future state.

“We will not accept less than this at any time,” Al-Masri warned.

WorldNetDaily broke the story last month that the United States has quietly approved a plan to relocate its consulate from the eastern section of Jerusalem to a western Jerusalem neighborhood, with construction of the new facility already beginning, and some in Israel worried the move may be related to the Jewish state withdrawing from eastern Jerusalem and giving the area to the Palestinians for a future state. . . . . .

WND Article

Another typical Al Reuters article. Get out your tinfoil hats, we’re losing the war on terror. The number of terrorist attacks rose in 2004. Shocking!! I can’t believe that after Al Qaeda basically declared war on us with the 911 attacks, they are actually fighting back. We’re fighting a war against terrorists in Iraq. Of course there is a rise in terrorist attacks. Do liberals really expect the jihadists to sit by and watch us fight this war? Before Democrats jump on the “Bush lied” bandwagon, they should ask themselves how many terrorist attacks we’ve had in the U.S. since 911. With a war being fought on several fronts and Al Qaeda eager to blow up anything American, it says something that we haven’t been hit. President Bush has every right to claim success in the war on terror. Democrats are just mad that they can’t pretend we’re not at war, and they can’t win elections as long as we are.

The U.S. count of major world terrorist attacks more than tripled in 2004, a rise that may revive debate on whether the Bush administration is winning the war on terrorism, congressional aides said on Tuesday.

The number of “significant” international terrorist attacks rose to about 650 last year from about 175 in 2003, according to congressional aides briefed on the numbers by State Department and intelligence officials on Monday.

The aides were told the surge partly reflected an increased tally of violence in Kashmir, which is claimed by India and Pakistan, and the devotion of more manpower to U.S. monitoring efforts, which resulted in more attacks being counted overall.

The State Department last year initially released erroneous figures that understated the attacks, fatalities and casualties in 2003 and used the figures to claim the Bush administration was prevailing in the war on terrorism.

It later said the number killed and injured in 2003 was more than double its original count and said “significant” terrorist attacks — those that kill or seriously injure someone, cause more than $10,000 in damage or attempt to do either of those things — rose to a 20-year high of 175. . . . . . .

Al Reuters Article

I’m glad to see at least one of the Jihadist leaders in the U.S. is being convicted. Now maybe they can convict some of the liberal professors at our universities for the same offense – encouraging students to join the Jihad against America.

An Islamic scholar who prosecutors said enjoyed “rock star” status among a group of young Muslim men in Virginia was convicted Tuesday of exhorting his followers in the days after Sept. 11 to join the Taliban and fight U.S. troops.

The convictions against Ali al-Timimi, 41, carry a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison without parole. But the judge left open the possibility that she will toss out some of the counts.

The jury reached its verdict after seven days of deliberations and convicted al-Timimi of all 10 counts.

Prosecutors said the defendant – a native U.S. citizen who has an international following in some Muslim circles – wielded enormous influence among a group of young Muslim men in northern Virginia who played paintball games in 2000 and 2001 as a means of training for holy war around the globe.

Five days after Sept. 11, al-Timimi addressed a small group of his followers in a secret meeting and warned that the attacks were a harbinger of a final apocalyptic battle between Muslims and non-believers. He said they were required as Muslims to defend the Taliban from a looming U.S. invasion, according to the government. . . . . . . .

Associated Press

This kind of story is always sad and disturbing to me. On one side you have a person who voiced his opinions on the Muslim’s “prophet” Mohamed. On the other side you have a Muslim threatening to murder someone in cold blood over words and a difference of opinion on religion. I find it most disturbing that so many people will demonize the person exercising their right to free speech and treat the murderer as if he’s justified in threatening to slaughter someone. Does it make any sense that certain speech is considered hateful and criminal, but threatening murder is not? The trend toward this line of thinking in the media and elsewhere is an ominous sign that we’re reaching a time when people will easily justify and tolerate the prophetic killing of the saints during the end times.

We have occasionally received threats from Muslims at Contender Ministries, but for the most part Muslims are some of the nicest most respectful people we correspond with. The way things are going in this world though, it may not be long before Christians who follow the great commission and contend for their faith in Christ (Jude 1:3,4) become targets for assassination. If fatwas’ against Christians aren’t strongly condemned in our culture, it only makes sense that their use in justifying murder will increase.

Celebrity Pentecostal preacher Runar Søgaard is under protection by Swedish police after receiving death threats. A high-profile sermon where Sögaard called the prophet Mohammed “a confused pedophile” has triggered fears of religious war.

Søgaard, 37, enjoys celebrity status in Sweden after his marriage to recording star and Eurovision song contest winner Carola, even though they are now divorced.

“Even if I see Runar while he has major police protection I will shoot him to death,” a radical Islamist told Swedish newspaper Expressen.

Persons connected to the Kurdish group Ansar al-Islam claim to have received a fatwa, a decree from a Muslim religious leader, to kill Søgaard.

Muslim organizations have called Søgaard’s sermon, which is on sale on CD at the Stockholm Karisma Center’s web site, a hateful attack on Islam and fear the type of violent conflict that scarred the Netherlands after filmmaker Theo van Gogh was killed by an Islamic extremist for a controversial film.

Islam expert Jan Hjärpe at the University of Lund told Expressen that such an assassination is a real risk, and he wondered if conflict was the motive for the sermon. . . . . .

Notice how they focus on the motive for the sermon, not the motive for murdering someone over a disagreement on religion.

Aftenposten, Norway

We should all make a habit of remembering in prayer our brothers and sisters in Christ who live under persecution in Muslim countries. It’s sad that more isn’t done about the human rights violations against Christians in Muslim lands. Unfortunately, hatred of Christians is the one form of hate civilized nations, the United Nations, and governments are eager to ignore.

Saudi Arabia has detained 40 Pakistani Christians for holding prayers at a house in the Muslim kingdom, where practicising any religion other than Islam is illegal, newspapers said on Saturday.

A group of men, women and children were attending the service in the capital Riyadh when police raided the house, Al Jazirah newspaper said.

It said authorities also found Christian tapes and books.

Another Saudi daily, Al Yaum, said the raid took place on Friday while a Pakistani preacher was delivering a sermon. It was not clear what measures might be taken against the group.

Saudi authorities were not immediately available to comment.

There are around six million foreigners in the conservative kingdom, which has a population of 23 million, including many Christians from Europe, North America, Asia and other Arab states.

In a rare official rebuke of a close ally last year, Washington accused Saudi Arabia of severe violations of religious freedom.

“Freedom of religion is not recognized or protected under the country’s laws and basic religious freedoms are denied to all but those who adhere to the state-sanctioned version of Sunni Islam,” the State Department said in an annual report.

Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, which were carried out by mainly Saudis, the Gulf Arab state’s religious establishment came under sharp criticism by the West for fostering militancy and intolerance of other religions.

Al Reuters

The ACLU, in yet another blatant display of hypocrisy, wants to reverse a law they once used to support homosexual groups, because the law is now benefiting a Christian group. A proposed Christian group in Kent, Washington excludes homosexuals from joining (as if they would want to join a group that believes homosexuality is a sin) and the ACLU, who fought for the rights of homosexuals to have an exclusive club, is suddenly switching sides. Homosexuals can have a group that excludes heterosexuals, but homosexuals can’t be excluded.

But, excluding homosexuals isn’t the only problem according to the ACLU. The whole idea of a Christian group is “offensive” say ACLU lawyers. Why is it that the ACLU would consider criticizing Islam worthy of a law suit, yet they have no problem with calling an entire religion offensive in and of itself?

I’m so tired of the constant barrage of attacks on Christianity from a tax funded hate group. Their sole purpose on this planet seems to be tearing down America, and silencing, censoring, and banning Christianity. They’ve succeeded in changing our culture, our schools, and our laws with the help of an out of control judiciary. I would say we should all write our Senators, but the Republicans can’t seem to figure out how to be a majority yet. They’re like the nice kid in school who constantly gets beat up by the bully even though the bully is half his size.

The ACLU’s support of a legal precedent used to gain recognition of a student homosexual group has reversed now that the ruling is being used to back the rights of a Christian club on campus, claims a public-interest law firm.

The Associated Student Body at Kentridge High School in Kent, Wash., has rejected the Truth Bible Club because it required all members to adhere to a code of Christian conduct and voting members to sign a statement of faith. Also, the name of the club was deemed “offensive” and “proselytizes.”

The case is governed by the Equal Access Act, a federal statute that requires schools to treat student clubs equally, notes the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, which is defending the Truth Bible Club.

In Prince v. Jacoby, ADF argues, the Ninth Circuit held that denying official sponsorship of a club violates the Equal Access Act.

ADF points out that in 2003, shortly after Prince v. Jacoby was decided, the ACLU sent an information letter to school officials in Washington state explaining the case “makes it clear that student clubs promoting tolerance for gay students are entitled to the same resources as other clubs.”

But now, the ACLU has filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Truth case that takes the opposite position.

The ACLU now wants to strike down the Prince case if it will be used to allow a Bible club on campus, the ADF’s Tim Chandler told WorldNetDaily.

“This goes to show how far the ACLU will manipulate the legal system to further their radical agenda,” said Chandler, a litigation specialist who is working on the case. . . . . . . . .

WND Article

Children in Minnesota are wearing shirts and buttons to school that say “I love my vagina” and “I support your vagina”, and the ACLU is defending their right to do so. School policy prohibits such attire, and in past cases that’s been enough for the ACLU to file lawsuits AGAINST the free speech of students.

If students were wearing shirts that read “I love Jesus”, the ACLU would be the first to file suit and deem the student’s speech offensive and a violation of the separation of Christianity and state. The ACLU will support anything as long as it’s sufficiently immoral, furthers the cause of destroying our education system, and especially if it is offensive to Christians. And they’ll do it using tax payer dollars. Get your children out of public schools before they’re turned into crude, God hating, anti-American, sex obsessed morons.

High school students here are being admonished for wearing buttons inspired by the sometimes raunchy off-Broadway hit “The Vagina Monologues” and have been threatened with expulsion if they wear risque T-shirts inspired by the show.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota is offering to help students fight any consequences in what’s become a battle between free speech and school conduct policies.

The trouble started last month when student Carrie Rethlefsen saw Eve Ensler’s play about female sexuality and sexual violence against women, which led the teen and fellow student Emily Nixon, 17, to start wearing “I (heart) My Vagina” buttons.

Despite the threats of serious punishment, Rethlefsen has continued to wear her button to raise awareness about women’s issues. As a show of support, more than 100 students have ordered T-shirts bearing “I (heart) My Vagina” for girls and “I Support Your Vagina” for boys.

“We can’t really find out what is inappropriate about it,” Rethlefsen, 18, told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. “I don’t think banning things like that is appropriate.”

Principal Nancy Wondrasch said some in school find the buttons offensive.

“We support free speech,” she said. “But when it does infringe on other people’s rights and our school policies, then we need to take a look at that.”. . . . . . .

St. Cloud Times Article

I was perusing the website of our local paper this evening, and saw a photo that just didn’t set right. The photograph featured a cute 10-year-old girl dressed like singer Elton John (his typical 70′s attire). According to the caption, she was doing an impression of him for a “Rainbow Idol” sketch as part of her school’s “Gay Pride and Family Diversity Assembly”. This assembly is part of Gay Pride/Respect Promotion Month in the San Francisco Unified School District. I was disturbed, not by the flashback of Elton John in his “Crocodile Rock” era ensemble (although that was disconcerting), but by the fact that elementary school students are being taught “gay pride.” I did a search for the news article that would no doubt speak of the controversy surrounding this event, but found none. I really did try to find one. Seriously! Unable to find one, I went to the website of the SFUSD. It took me quite a while, but I finally found mention of Gay Pride/Respect Promotion Month on their printable school calendar. It states:

Gay Pride/Respect Promotion Month. This month’s School Health Program campaign celebrates the contribution of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning (GLBTQ) community. District approved bulletin board materials and curriculum that recognize the civil rights movement and historical achievements of the GLBTQ community are made available to all schools. April also includes the National Day of Silence, which is an additional activity to create a safe school by raising awareness of the discrimination GLBTQ people face and how they are often silenced due to the fear of discrimination. Schools should promote the District’s Anti-Slur and Anti-Discrimination policies.

I was struck by how the group of initials representing “sexual identity” has grown in such a short period of time. They went from “gay and lesbian” which didn’t warrant an acronym, to GLB (gay, lesbian, bisexual), to GLBT (adding “transgender” to the mix), and now find we’ve added a ‘Q’ for “questioning.” Questioning?! I’m questioning a lot of things. For instance, why are schools teaching gay pride to fifth graders who should be focusing on reading, writing, arithmetic, and some relevant history? Why is it so hard to allow student-led prayers at school sporting events (without school sanction), yet so easy to indoctrinate young children into believing that the alphabet soup of perverse “gender identities” deserves dignity and approval? And just how long will the acronym of perversion get in the next five years? Boy, I sure wish-…. My faux pas… “Boy” is too exclusive. BGTUQLOBPOC*, I sure wish I knew.

* Boy, Girl, Transgender, Unknown, Questioning, Little Of Both, Perversion Of Choice

Kofi Annan may have jumped the gun when he said he’d been exonerated by Volker’s report on the Oil for Food scandal. Mr. Annan isn’t out of the woods yet. If there is any justice in this world, he’ll be held accountable for presiding over one of the biggest scandals in history.

The Bush administration said on Thursday U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had been too hasty to claim he had been exonerated in the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal and would not rule out he might eventually resign.

“That report did not exonerate him,” said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mark Lagon, referring to the findings of an inquiry into the U.N. oil-for-food program led by Paul Volcker, the former U.S. Federal Reserve chairman.

On the possibility Annan might one day resign, Lagon said, “His future is not certain.”

But he added: “It’s his decision. He’ll be deciding. We’re not calling for his resignation.”

The Bush administration has been careful not to call for the resignation of Annan since the oil-for-food probe began last year.

The U.S. official, the deputy head of the State Department office for international organizations, which includes the United Nations, made the remarks in an interview with Reuters and in a briefing with a small group of reporters during a visit to U.N. headquarters.

The Volcker panel’s latest report, issued on March 29, concluded that Annan did not influence the award of a U.N. contract to a firm that employed his son but it faulted him for conducting a superficial probe of the controversy. . . . . . . .

Conintue Reading

Remember a while back when a journalist witnessed one of our Marines shooting an unarmed Iraqi because he thought the wounded terrorist was about to blow himself up. Of course, the Marine was protecting his fellow marines and had good reason to believe the man was rigged with a bomb. That’s become a common terrorist tactic in Iraq. But, the media demonized that Marine and demanded that he be punished for violating the Geneva Conventions.

Now we have a case of terrorists shooting down a helicopter full of civilians and then shooting the unarmed, wounded pilot in cold blood while shouting “Carry out Alah’s verdict!”.

You will hear no cry of outrage from the left. The media will not demand that justice be served or speak out against the inhumane, barbaric actions of the “insurgents” in Iraq. In fact, at Democratic Underground, the DUmmies actually celebrated the deaths of these innocent contractors. To a DUmmie, anyone working in Iraq, especially if they are making any money, is automatically evil and deserves to be gunned down. They have no conscience, no morals, and lack the intelligence to be ashamed of their depravity.

A video clip posted on the Internet shows that a crew member on the helicopter that was shot down north of Baghdad Thursday apparently survived — only to be shot to death by insurgents.

The clip, apparently shot and put online by the Islamic Army in Iraq, tracks the helicopter as it turns into a fireball and careens toward the ground. Gunmen are seen running toward the crash site.

The group claimed responsibility for shooting down the Russian-built Mi-8 transport helicopter, on which all 11 men on board — six American and two Fijian passengers, and three Bulgarian crew members — were killed.

The man shown being shot to death in the video was the Bulgarian pilot, the company that owned the helicopter said Friday. The slain pilot was identified as Lyubomir Kostov, said Mihail Mihailov, manager of the Heli Air company.

“The man shot on the video is definitely Lyubomir Kostov, the pilot of the chopper,” Mihailov told The Associated Press in Sofia, Bulgaria, after seeing the video on the Internet.

Kostov was the company’s main pilot, Mihailov said.

Fox News

While some of the more loony liberals are accusing America of great atrocities in Iraq, it’s the Muslim terrorists who are blowing up their mosques and killing innocent Iraqis. I occasionally cruise a few of the liberal blogs just to see what kind of tinfoil hattery they’re ranting about now. A common rant is that the Iraqis want the horrible Americans “out of THEIR country”. Why? So terrorists can blow them to kingdom come and install a new Saddam Hussein? And don’t think these terrorists would suddenly stop spontaneously combusting if we abandoned the Iraqis. They live to explode and they’ll be here next if we don’t deal with them now.

A car bomb exploded during Friday prayers at a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing eight people and wounding 20, police said. A militant group claimed responsibility for shooting down a Russian-made helicopter carrying 11 civilians, including six Americans, and released a video purportedly showing insurgents shooting the crash’s lone survivor.

The blast happened during midday prayers at Al-Subeih mosque, in the capital’s eastern New Baghdad neighborhood, said police Col. Ahmed Aboud. Witnesses said a car parked outside the building since the morning exploded.

One section of the mosque collapsed, and frantic worshippers in blood-spattered clothes searched through the rubble for loved ones, as wailing women beat their chest in grief. Body parts littered the ground. One man clutched a child’s foot, shaking and weeping.

“I was inside the mosque when the explosion happened, and I saw many dead and injured,” said another worshipper, grocery store owner Abdelallah Faraj. “This is a cowardly and savage act that aims to create conflict among Iraqis.” . . . .

Where are all the compassionate liberals who love to screech and wail when they feel the Geneva Convention and International law have been violated?

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When you negotiate and make concessions to terrorists, this is what you get. You get a new “third intifada” and a 300% increase in terrorist attacks. Notice how the media ignores this rise in terrorism against Israel in order to maintain the warped view that Israel is to blame and the poor Palestinians just need more land. Sharon is a fool if he thinks bringing the border/front line closer to the heart of Israel is a smart move. Muslim terrorists only sign treaties and make peace agreements if they think it will eventually give them the advantage. Sharon is playing right into their hands.

An internal Israeli defense report obtained by Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin shows Palestinian violence and terrorist attacks up 300 percent in the last 10 days.

The report is a concentrated collection of intelligence submitted by the Israeli Defense Forces, the Internal Security Service, Shabak and Israel’s national police. It highlights the disturbing increase in the number of terrorist incidents and – even more alarming – information on Palestinian plans to resume open hostilities in what would be the “third intifada,” or major uprising.

Parts of the report, obtained by the premium, online intelligence newsletter published by WND’s founder, show major developments in the West Bank where Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, is trying half-heartedly to impose law and order. Those responsible for the report pointed to the fact certain areas handed over to the Palestinians since the beginning of the cease-fire two months ago are now hubs of criminal and terrorist activity, including weapons’ smuggling and distribution.

The main location for such activity is the city of Jericho near the Dead Sea, west of the Jordan River, some 30 kilometers east of Jerusalem and 20 kilometers from the Palestinian headquarters in Ramallah. . . . . . . . . .

WND Article

The Dems must be disappointed. Abu Graib was a case of a few bad soldiers making the entire army look bad. However, I doubt this will stop Liberals from blaming Bush for the abuse at Abu Graib. Facts don’t mean that much to a Democrat.

The Army has cleared four top officers — including the three-star general who commanded all U.S. forces in Iraq — of all allegations of wrongdoing in connection with prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and will not be punished, officials said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who became the senior commander in Iraq in June 2003, two months after the fall of Baghdad, had been faulted in earlier investigations for leadership lapses that may have contributed to prisoner abuse. He is the highest ranking officer to face official allegations of leadership failures in Iraq, but he has not been accused of criminal violations.

After assessing the allegations against Sanchez and taking sworn statements from 37 people involved in Iraq, the Army’s inspector general, Lt. Gen. Stanley E. Green, concluded that the allegations were unsubstantiated, said the officials who were familiar with the details of Green’s probe. . . . . .

Fox News

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin announced that France supports a law allowing China to attack Taiwan. I guess the French ARE pro-war (when they know their side can win and they won’t be expected to fight or spend money). Right now the Taiwanese government is rejoicing. The only benefit to French support is their expertise on how to surrender. Can we stop pretending France is an ally now?

During a state visit to China, French Premier Raffarin threw support behind a law allowing China to attack Taiwan and continued to push for a lift of the EU arms embargo.

At the outset of a three-day visit to China, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said he supported Beijing’s “anti-secession” law on Taiwan, and vowed to keep pushing for an end to an EU arms embargo that could open the door for Paris to sell weapons to the Asian giant.

Raffarin also signed or finalized major business deals with Beijing valued at around $3.2 billion (2.4 billion euros).

Appearing to put his government at odds with the European Union, Raffarin said at the outset of the three day visit that Paris had no objections to the anti-secession law. . . . .

Continue Reading. . .

This is why we need someone like Bolton at the U.N. If the liberals really want to save their beloved United Nations, they might want to consider confirming someone who can actually recognize the corruption and problems that continue to plague that worthless world body. The problems at the U.N. are beyond the point of ignoring them and covering them up. I’m all for letting the U.N. follow the League of Nations down the path to irrelevancy and extinction, but the Democrat’s thinking on this issue is so typically illogical.

Notice in this AP article that, between pointing out corruption, criminal activity, and sexual harassment, they use words like “highly respected” and “high marks” to describe the division in question and the criminals being investigated.

The United Nations is investigating allegations that officials in the highly respected U.N. electoral division spent electoral money on inappropriate travel and a university degree for one staffer, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.

The claims originally surfaced in a U.N.-commissioned management review that was leaked in March. That review also revealed staff allegations of sexual and professional harassment in the office, which helps organize elections around the world.

Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast ordered a preliminary investigation April 6 into alleged misuse of electoral money and referred the other allegations to the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the U.N. watchdog, according to Stephane Dujarric, a U.N. spokesman.

He also asked the chief of the office, Carina Perelli, to “undertake specific actions” to address the allegations.

The management report did not single out Perelli, a Uruguayan whose work in helping organize elections in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian territories has received high marks both inside and outside the U.N. . . . . .

AP Article

The energy bill passed the House and will now move to the Senate, where there will be much wailing and gnashing of teeth. At issue is drilling for oil in ANWR, a barren expanse of tundra and home to Alaskan wildlife. The environmentalists whine about caribou, bears, and other wildlife being affected by pipes and oil platforms. However, their tinfoil hat routine is not supported by the evidence. In other areas where extensive drilling has been done, the surrounding wildlife has flourished and, in fact, increased in numbers. Believe it or not, animals are smart enough to walk AROUND an oil platform. They do not repeatedly bash their heads into it, stop eating in protest, or have a mental breakdown as liberals do when they lose an election.

But, this isn’t the Dem’s only argument. You see, it will take ten years for the oil wells to begin producing. The Dems answer? Do nothing, continue whining about the energy problem, and in ten years we’ll still be dependent on foreign oil. I’m wondering why they don’t have the same problem with alternative energy sources. It will be at the very least a decade before any alternative energy source could be developed into a workable and feasible alternative. You don’t just convert the entire country to a new energy source overnight. Continuing down that road without results for ten years doesn’t seem to bother them though, even though there is no guarantee we’ll ever see our energy problems solved that way. We’re using oil now, and will be long after Alaska would begin producing. Wouldn’t it be the smart choice to drill for the oil we know we will need for decades WHILE we explore alternate energy sources? It would also be better for America, hence the Democrat’s objection to it.

The Democrat’s plan on so many things is to do NOTHING. Well, I shouldn’t say nothing. They do plan to FILIBUSTER. They’re very good at that. Filibuster away fools. When gas is 3.00 a gallon, as some predict, we’ll remember your filibustering and repay you at the polls.

The House voted late Wednesday to allow oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge as part of a broad energy bill that Democrats said would funnel billions of dollars to highly profitable energy companies while doing little to promote conservation or ease gasoline prices.

The bill’s sponsors said oil from Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as much as a million barrels a day, will be needed to help curtail the country’s growing dependence on oil imports. Opponents argued the oil wouldn’t be available for a decade and even then at levels that would not significantly affect oil prices or imports.

The bill calls for $8.1 billion in tax breaks over 10 years, most of it going to promote coal, nuclear, oil and natural gas energy industries.

Development of the Alaska refuge has been a contentious issue for nearly a decade. Environmentalists fear a spider web of drilling platforms and pipelines would harm the area’s polar bears, caribou, migrating birds and other wildlife.

Senate Democrats have pledged to filibuster any energy bill that would open the refuge to oil companies. An amendment to strip the Alaska refuge provision from the energy bill failed Wednesday night.

MSNBC

Don’t you love it when anti-Christian Liberals claim to know what a true Christian is? I’m noticing a trend among these self proclaimed experts on Christianity. They’re starting to use the same language to describe Christians that they use to describe terrorist Islamists. I’m sure you’ve heard many in Washington and the MSM accuse Jihadists of “hijacking a great religion”. However, the Jihadists are not alone in their hostile takeover of a religion. Apparently Conservative Christians have “hijacked” Christianity. Obviously putting the “separation of church and sate” idea aside for a minute, Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar is dispensing judgment as to which speech and which opinions are truly Christian. As I’m sure you guessed, anyone who disagrees with him is decidedly unchristian, unprincipled, and offensive. He probably would have accused Jesus of the same thing. Can you imagine the liberal response to Jesus saying “I am the way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father but by me”?

Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar lashed out at Focus on the Family Thursday, saying the group is using “un-Christian” political tactics in the fight over White House judicial appointments.

Salazar defended Democrats’ right to filibuster objectionable nominees and blasted the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based evangelical Christian group for recent ads urging him to “STOP the nonsense.”

“I do think that what has happened here is there has been a hijacking of the U.S. Senate by what I call the religious right wing of the country,” Salazar told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference Wednesday.

He singled out Focus on the Family by name, objecting to full-page newspaper ads the ministry’s political arm recently placed, targeting 20 senators in 15 states.

“I think what has happened is Focus on the Family has been hijacking Christianity and become an appendage of the Republican Party,” Salazar said in an interview. “I think it’s using Christianity and religion in a very unprincipled way.”

A spokesman for Focus on the Family fired back, saying Salazar was siding with liberal Democrats who have questioned some judicial nominees about their strong religious views and stalled their nominations.

“I’m flabbergasted the senator would call our Christianity into question,” said Tom Minnery, vice president of public policy for Focus.

“Some of the nominees will be filibustered by the Democrats because of their religious views. As a Catholic, I would think the senator would be especially alarmed about the anti-Catholicism of some of his colleagues.”. . . . . .

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This completely contradicts the story the MSM has been trying to sell us. The brass in D.C. don’t like the border problems being exposed for the mess that they are because it makes them look bad. But, the border patrol agents who actually do the work (without adequate funding and resources) appreciate what the minutemen in Arizona are doing.

After listening to Hannity interview some of the minutemen, I’m impressed with their professionalism, intelligence, and sense of patriotism. They’re exactly the spokesmen we need right now, and the Democrats, Republicans, and MSM who’ve tried to label them vigilantes and paint them as gun toting, hick, outlaws will end up looking like fools.

Through the years politicians, lawyers and advocacy groups have overseen the implementation of policies that grant illegal aliens more rights to sneak into the country than rights given to Border Patrol agents charged with keeping them out. Needless to say, that has led to a level of frustration, anger and resentment within BP ranks that is virtually unparalleled in terms of federal service.

This month, however, a fortunate few of them have been given a temporary reprieve, and receiving much-needed assistance to do the jobs they were trained and hired to do. Agents posted along a portion of the Arizona-Mexico border near Naco have witnessed the deployment of dozens of civilian volunteers, whose April 1-30 mission is to help staunch the flow of illegal aliens from south of the border.

The volunteers are quick to note they’re not there because the Border Patrol can’t do it’s job. They know, for example, that there isn’t anyone – except maybe the Coast Guard and the Marine Corps – who can do as much with so few and so little.

No, the volunteers came because they know how serious the illegal immigration problem has become. And they know the Border Patrol can use the help.

In case you haven’t heard, this little operation is called the “Minuteman Project” and its organizers – James Gilchrist and Chris Simcox – say the Arizona effort is just the beginning. They want to expand their horizons to include protests, rallies and more border deployments, all in an effort to assist the Border Patrol and bring attention to the problem of porous borders – which is unacceptable in a time of terrorism. . . . .

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I’m starting to think Newt Gingrich has plans to run for President in ’08. He’s doing speaking tours in New Hampshire and Ohio, and he’s actively speaking out on many of the issues important to Republicans in a way I think most of us wish our elected officials would. More than just criticizing the lack of action on our border and immigration problems, he has specific plans to fix them – something few in Washington have even been willing to talk about. In my opinion, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad time for him to run. By the time the election comes around, I think many Republicans will be longing for the “Contract with America” days when things actually got done in Washington.

Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House who led the Republican revolution of the last decade, is blasting the the lack of control at America’s borders as “absurd.”

“I don’t think we’re stepping up to the plate on a whole series of big challenges, and [the border] is one of them,” Gingrich said yesterday on Sean Hannity’s national radio show. “You can’t have the director of central intelligence, Porter Goss, testify publicly to the Congress that he’s genuinely afraid that a weapon of mass destruction, a nuclear weapon, is going to come across the border, and then do nothing about it. I think it’s absurd.”

Gingrich is urging people to contact federal lawmakers and urge them to take the matter seriously.

“It’s not a Republican issue or Democrat issue,” Gingrich said. “Everybody said after 9-11, ‘Oh my gosh, why didn’t they warn us?’ Now you’ve had the director of central intelligence say as plainly and as clearly as anyone could say that a weapon could come across either the Canadian or Mexican border in a truck or a car, [which] could take out a good part of a city. I think we should be reacting to that. I think we should be making a national security investment in gaining control of our border.”

The Republican from Georgia, who developed the Contract With America plan, said laws should be changed to deport people who are in the U.S. illegally within 72 hours. He also suggested a green card program for honest workers, involving some sort of biometric identifier such as an iris scan, and he expressed support for the Minuteman Project. . . . . . . .

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Well Hallelujah! Schools are finally standing up to the ACLU and exercising their constitutional rights. The ACLU has spent massive amounts of money and invested much of their time trying to censor Christianity. They’ve been largely successful in convincing schools that they can’t even teach American history if the rich history of Christianity and its influence on our founding fathers is mentioned. For the most part, school officials have cowered and given in to the religion police without much of a fight. It’s refreshing to see the censorship and dumbing down of students coming to an end in at least some schools.

Although the ACLU has declared the practice unconstitutional, the Bible is being used as a textbook in classes taught in 300 school districts nationwide, according to a curriculum provider.

About 1,000 high schools in 35 states are using material produced by the North Carolina-based National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools in classes during regular school hours.

The organization says that while the ACLU is “up in arms” about it, there have been no complaints from administrators, teachers, students or parents.

NCBCPS says 93 percent of all the school boards it has approached to implement the curriculum have accepted it.

“This paradigm shift is not only taking place in the Bible Belt but in school districts in Alaska, California, across the board to Pennsylvania and down to Florida,” the organization says.

Elizabeth Ridenour, the NCBCPS’s president, explained to WND that people have been duped into believing that when the Bible was “removed” from public schools in 1963, that meant it couldn’t be used in any form.

But the U.S. Supreme Court consistently has upheld the teaching of the Bible as literature, as long as it is not employed for devotional purposes or indoctrination.

Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund told WND that, nevertheless, the ACLU is trying to intervene when any district considers the curriculum.

“They routinely will send a letter to the board and try to imply that what [the schools] are considering is unconstitutional,” Johnson said. “Of course, they know that is untrue.” . . . . . . .

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I think even stains would fall under the second commandment.

A steady stream of the faithful and the curious, many carrying flowers and candles, have flocked to an expressway underpass for a view of a yellow and white stain on a concrete wall that some believe is an image of the Virgin Mary.

Police have patrolled the emergency turnoff area under the Kennedy Expressway since Monday as hundreds of people have walked down to see the image and the growing memorial of flowers and candles that surround it.

Beside the image is an artist’s rendering of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II in a pose some see echoed in the stain.

“We believe it’s a miracle,” said Elbia Tello, 42. “We have faith, and we can see her face.”

Tuesday morning, women knelt with rosary beads behind a police barricade while men in work shirts stood solemnly before the image, praying. A police officer kept the crowd of about three dozen from getting too close to the traffic but didn’t stop them gathering around the stain.

The stain is likely the result of salt run-off, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The agency does not plan to scrub it off the wall. . . . . . .

CBS News

I’m glad to see Delay is not letting the Democrat attack machine silence him. Typical of the Dems, when they have no ideas, and their party is going nowhere, they pick a target and try to force him/her to resign, apologize, and grovel at their feet. If that target is a particularly affective politician, the mud slinging is even more vicious. So far it’s not working quite as they’d hoped on Delay.

Delay is right to be outraged that our Supreme Court is using international law in their decisions. The court’s constitutional duty is to interpret the constitution, not create new law based on international laws. I’m just hoping our Republican majority has the guts to wade through the liberal propaganda, slander, personal attacks, and made up scandals to get to a solution before it’s too late.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay intensified his criticism of the federal courts on Tuesday, singling out Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s work from the bench as “incredibly outrageous” because he has relied on international law and done research on the Internet.

DeLay also said he thought there were a “lot of Republican-appointed judges that are judicial activists.”

The No. 2 Republican in the House has openly criticized the federal courts since they refused to order the reinsertion of
Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube. And he pointed to Kennedy as an example of Republican members of the Supreme Court who were activist and isolated.

“Absolutely. We’ve got Justice Kennedy writing decisions based upon international law, not the Constitution of the United States? That’s just outrageous,” DeLay told Fox News Radio. “And not only that, but he said in session that he does his own research on the Internet? That is just incredibly outrageous.”. . . . . .

Associate Press Article

The grandma in GA who was nearly starved to death by her granddaughter and a pro-death judge is now recovering and doing well. A judicial murder of an innocent woman has been avoided.

Ora Mae Magouirk, the 81-year-old Georgia widow at the center of an intense family dispute over her medical treatment and right to live, is growing stronger every day, despite having been denied food and water for nearly two weeks before being airlifted to the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center in Birmingham for treatment of an aortic dissection.

Her nephew, Ken Mullinax, 45, of Birmingham, told WorldNetDaily that Magouirk is listed in stable condition, her vital signs are “very good,” her blood pressure is normal, and the aortic dissection, the reason for her hospitalization in the first place, is contained.

He said she smiles and laughs but speaks in whispers because of the nasal feeding tube. The feeding tube saved her life, but Mullinax figures his aunt is anxious to dispose of it in favor of more substantial nourishment.

He said he asked her, “What is the first real food you’d like, Aunt Mae?”

“And she whispered, ‘I want a really good chicken sandwich with lots of mayonnaise.’”

And not just any kind of chicken sandwich, Mullinax explained. “It’s got to be a fried chicken filet.”

“That was on Sunday,” he noted. “On Monday, she asked for ice cream.” . . . . . .

WND Article

Laura Mansfield did a little surveillance work at a mosque in a small town in Texas. In her article she recounts an Arabic meeting at the mosque vs. an English “information session”. The propaganda routine is working well here in the U.S., and Jihad is being taught in secret right here at home.

It happened again this week. I came out of the office to find a flyer under my windshield wipers inviting me to a special informational presentation on God and family values, and how to bring them back to the forefront in America.

I’m a parent so the flyer caught my interest. But as an analyst for the Northeast Intelligence Network, my eyes were riveted to the address on the flyer: The session was being held at a nearby mosque.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I decided it would be a good time for some onsite investigations of the mosque. In order to not attract undue attention, I dressed conservatively, wearing a navy jumper with a long sleeve white blouse, and low heels. I debated whether or not to put on a hijab (head scarf) then decided not to – after all, I was going to “learn,” not to pretend I was a Muslim.

I checked the mosque schedule on the Web, and discovered there was going to be an Arabic language session an hour before. So I showed up an hour early. The imam met me at the door, and told me that the presentation didn’t start for an hour, and suggested I come back in an hour. Fortunately, I had anticipated this. I explained that since I had quite a bit of reading to do for a class I was taking. “Can I just sit here and read?”

He hesitated a moment, then agreed. I sat in the back of the room, with my book open, and made a mental note to remember to turn the pages every so often, as I listened to the speakers in Arabic.

The first speaker was the head of the Muslim Students’ Association at the nearby university. Although I missed the beginning of the discussion, I caught up quickly. He was talking about the problems he had encountered on a recent trip, when TSA flagged him for extra screening. He joked about the fact that they had stopped him for extensive screening. He had anticipated that he would be screened and he had filled his carryon luggage with printouts of the Quran from the Internet, and had 15 or 16 CDs labeled in Arabic, and he had a notebook computer with him.

As he expected, he was delayed – he thought it was very amusing that while several TSA personnel were scrutinizing his personal belongings that his classmate from Jordan was able to walk through security, along with his American girlfriend, without any problems whatsoever.

One of the men said, in Arabic: “Blonde Americans are good for something!” Another man advised him to be cautious, since there was an American woman in the room. The imam spoke up and told everyone I didn’t speak Arabic. . . . . . .

Be sure to read the rest

David Limbaugh has posted an excellent article on the left’s favorite new tactic. Whenever a conservative, and especially a Christian, criticizes a public official or our government the liberals accuse them of inciting violence. It’s the new fad to silence opposing views by connecting Conservative views to criminal acts and “hate crimes” where there is absolutely no connection. It’s the “you’re intolerant and offensive!” tactic on steroids. Be on guard for this tactic, and don’t let them make you cower in silence.

It’s a pretty sad day in America when one cannot criticize the judiciary and even individual judges without being accused of advocating violence against judges. This strained connection is but another example of liberals trying to chill conservative speech.

As if all the charges against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay were not enough, the Left has also implied that DeLay was inciting violence against judges by a remark he made during the Terri Schiavo turmoil.

DeLay said, in reference to judges who ruled in the Schiavo case, “The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior.”

I’m sorry DeLay apologized for the “inartfulness” of the statement (though he did not apologize for its substance). Personally, I don’t think he should have apologized at all, because nothing in it in could be construed as advocating violence against judges.

Delay had every right to speculate that the public would eventually hold judges accountable for exceeding the bounds of their constitutional authority, regardless of whether you agree with him that judges acted imperially in the Schiavo case.

It’s regrettable that some have hinted at a nexus between recent episodes of courthouse violence — the murder of a state judge in Atlanta and the massacre of a federal judge’s immediate family in Chicago — and the public’s angst against unaccountable judges. Both crimes were committed by people with case-specific motives.

No one seriously believes the murders were motivated by indiscriminate anger against the judiciary or judicial activism. It’s laughable to think the killers were crusaders on a mission to restore the constitutional separation of powers. . . . . . .

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No wonder San Francisco has so many homeless people. Why get jobs, work hard, and take care of yourselves when there are so many perks and incentives for not working? How many jobs could this 11 million dollar day spa have provided for these homeless people? How many people could have been given a fresh start that didn’t leave them beholden to the government (see Habitat for Humanity for an example of this). People who don’t depend on the government for their livelihoods can’t be controlled though, can they. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s also a “clean needle” exchange provided as well. Of course having any faith based groups in there helping them get back on their own two feet and off drugs and alcohol would be right out. A secular humanist, homeless person is always better than a drug free, happy Christian with a new start.

The modernist concrete-and-steel structure rises in the shadow of gleaming downtown skyscrapers, looking like a new museum or corporate headquarters. Yet its identity is given away by where it stands: in the heart of a 55-square block area of aging single-room-occupancy hotels, where homeless men, women, and children crouch in cardboard boxes, push shopping carts, or lean in doorways.

Opening Monday and trumpeted proudly by city officials is the Midnight Mission – and one of the nation’s plushest homeless shelters. The $17 million state-of-the-art facility boasts a full-sized gymnasium, library, playroom, hair salon, education center, and professional kitchen. The shelter is the city’s latest effort to address one of its most visible and resistant social problems: the more than 6,000 people who live on the streets.

But the fanfare surrounding the new mission also raises questions increasingly being faced by cities coast to coast. At the same time that some homeless advocates embrace such new facilities as the best way to attract homeless people into counseling and job-placement programs, others openly ask whether the money could have been better spent in finding more permanent solutions.

“Since the late 1980s, America has built a mammoth infrastructure of shelters and the number of homeless has gone up, not down. It’s a bit of the if-you-build-it-they-will-come phenomenon at work,” says Nan Roman, president of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. As Ms. Roman and other national officials see it, the lack of affordable housing is what needs to be addressed.

“That same $17 million could have gone a long way toward creating homes and jobs,” says Bob Erlenbusch, vice president of the board for the National Coalition for the Homeless. “Affordable housing is what these people need, not a way to institutionalize their temporary status.”. . . . . .

CSM Article

The Liberals are upset because Republicans are pointing out the FACT that Democrats appose any person of the Christian faith on the bench. My comments are in red throughout this article detailing the liberal temper tantrum.

Sen. Bill Frist’s participation in a “Justice Sunday” telecast has offended and/or alarmed a number of Democrats and liberal interest groups.

How dare a U.S. Senator participate in a Christian event. Liberals aren’t against Christians, they just don’t like anyone in the Congress representing their views. Only non-Christians should have representation.

Critics particularly object to the notion that Democrats, by opposing ten of President Bush’s conservative judicial nominees, are conducting an assault on “people of faith.”

On April 24, the Family Research Council hosting a live “simulcast” to churches across the country, hoping to engage conservative “values voters” in the effort to rein in “out-of-control” courts.

Frist and a number of conservative religious leaders will address court decisions that have “not only changed our nation’s course, but even led to the taking of human lives,” the FRC said in a press release announcing the event

Democrats and liberal interest groups are outraged by the “shameless manipulation of religion for political gain,” as one critic called it.

You mean like the “shameless use” of race, homosexuality, and relativism on the left?

We hold many religious views, and Christianity is the only one that must be silent! By not agreeing with the other religions and following your religion, you are demonizing us!! If you agree with the Christian right, you must be demonized. ??????

“The telecast’s stated purpose is to persuade millions of Christians that opponents of the Republican judicial strategy are against them and against their faith.”

Veazey said Democrats, by filibustering ten of Bush’s judicial nominees, are defending the established rights and freedoms important to all Americans, and he lists those established rights as civil rights, reproductive rights, workers’ and environment protections, and the right to practice one’s religion without government interference.

They’re just defending the right of people to practice their religion as long as said religion is not Christian. If the people practicing their religion are Christian, the government is then free to interfere and filibuster, filibuster, filibuster.

“In charging the Democrats with persecution of Christians, the Republicans risk fomenting religious and ethnic hatred such as this nation has never seen,” Veazey said.

Representing Christians or allowing them to exercise their right to free speech at a Sunday conference will surely lead to hatred, war, and great horrors. The sky is falling! We already have religious hatred like has never been seen in America before. It’s coming from the left and directed at Christians

He called for a “compromise in the battle over the courts,” but Democrats have expressed no intention of compromising on the ten nominees they continue to block from an up-or-down vote by the full Senate.

“Senator Frist can take the first step by rejecting the shameless manipulation of religion for political gain and bowing out of ‘Justice Sunday,’” Veazey said.

Senator Frist can take the first step, by agreeing with us, electing the judges we like, and distancing himself from the eeeeeviiiiil Christians.

Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said Sen. Frist’s should “forcefully disassociate” himself from the claim that the campaign against Bush’s judicial nominees is an assault on people of faith.

Wait a minute. Didn’t the media just rake Delay over the coals for saying “judges should be held accountable for their actions”. Didn’t the Dems and the MSM just accuse Delay of advocating violence? This Rabbi is calling for force!! Where’s the media? **crickets chirping**

He called the April 24 telecast “disingenuous, dangerous and demagogic.”

“Senator Frist must not give legitimacy to those who claim they hold a monopoly on faith. They do not,” Saperstein said.

There you have it. Anyone who believes in absolute Truth or the Bible’s teaching that Jesus is the only way to salvation must not be given any legitimacy. Those people are dangerous and will start a Jihad like you’ve never seen. They can’t be allowed any voice in the government and must be silenced. But the Dems aren’t against Christians or anything. Naahhhhh

He said conservatives have been “unable to ram through the most extreme of the President’s nominees, and now they are spinning new claims out of thin air.”

Ah, the liberals favorite phrase. Judges with Christian beliefs are EXTREMIST.

Saperstein also criticized President Bush’s silence on claims that Democrats are engaged in a “filibuster against faith.”

The Anti-Defamation League accused Frist of “playing the religious card.”

Politicians cry foul

Senate Democrats, appearing on various weekend talk shows, also urged Frist to reconsider his participation in the Justice Sunday event.

The nerve of Frist to speak to the extremist, demonizing Christians. But, they don’t really have anything against Christians or Christian judges. It’s not a war on faith, silly….it’s just a war on Christians

Frist is planning to videotape a speech that will be part of the live broadcast. His message will be “fair treatment” of President Bush’s nominees, Frist’s spokesman was quoted as saying.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” called the event “deeply un-American,” and he objected to the notion that the filibuster of judicial nominees is “people of faith versus the Democrats.”

A gathering of Christians to discuss politics and exercise their rights to free speech is un-American??? Ah, but the filibuster IS constitutional. Where was that in the constitution again?

Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) said Democrats are blocking nominees with “radical” views. “It has nothing to do with the Bible,” he told Fox News Sunday.

Another favorite. We’re radicals! Radical, extremist, demonizing, Christians who believe the Bible is absolute truth must be banned from government and made illegitimate. But it has nothing to do with the Bible and they like Christians. Got it.

CNS News Article

The fraudulent, and unbiblical office of the Papacy has been filled with the election of Joseph Ratzinger, a German who served as a Nazi in Germany, and is known for speaking out against Protestants. His Nazi past has been excused away, but becoming a Nazi to spare your own life seems less than honorable to me. Here’s how The Australian reported on his Nazi past:

Unknown to many members of the church, however, Ratzinger’s past includes brief membership of the Hitler Youth movement and wartime service with a German army anti-aircraft unit.

There is no suggestion that he was involved in any atrocities, but his service may be contrasted by opponents with the attitude of John Paul II, who took part in anti-Nazi theatre performances in his native Poland and in 1986 became the first pope to visit Rome’s synagogue.

“John Paul was hugely appreciated for what he did for, and with, the Jewish people,” said Lord Janner, head of Britain’s Holocaust Education Trust, before attending ceremonies yesterday to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

“If they were to appoint someone who was on the other side in the war, he would start at a disadvantage, although it wouldn’t mean in the long run he wouldn’t be equally understanding of the concerns of the Jewish world.”

The son of a rural Bavarian police officer, Ratzinger was six when Hitler came to power in 1933. His father, also called Joseph, was an anti-Nazi whose attempts to rein in the activities of Hitler’s Brown Shirts forced the family to move home several times.

In 1937 Ratzinger’s father retired and the family moved to Traunstein, a staunchly Catholic town in Bavaria. Ratzinger joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941. He soon won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one,” said John Allen, his biographer.

Two years later Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slave labour from the Dachau concentration camp. Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot – adding that his gun was not even loaded – because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps. He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp.

Ratzinger has since said that although he was opposed to the Nazi regime, any open resistance would have been futile – comments echoed this weekend by his elder brother Georg, a retired priest ordained along with the cardinal in 1951.

“Resistance was truly impossible,” Georg Ratzinger said. “Before we were conscripted, one of our teachers said we should fight and become heroic Nazis and another told us not to worry, as only one soldier in a thousand was killed. But neither of us ever used a rifle against the enemy.”

Some locals in Traunstein, such as Elizabeth Lohner, 84, whose brother-in-law was sent to Dachau as a conscientious objector, dismiss such suggestions. “It was possible to resist, and those people set an example for others,” she said. “The Ratzingers were young and they had made a different choice.”

In 1937 another family, a few hundred metres away in Traunstein, hid Hans Braxenthaler, a resistance fighter. SS troops repeatedly searched homes in the area looking for him and his fellow conspirators. “When he was betrayed and the Nazis came for him, Braxenthaler shot himself because he knew he couldn’t escape,” said Frieda Meyer, 82, Ratzinger’s neighbour and childhood friend. “Even though they had tortured him in Dachau concentration camp he refused to give up his resistance efforts.”

We often receive e-mails from liberal Catholics who argue that the Catholic church doesn’t teach that salvation comes only through the Catholic church. They will have to argue with their Pope now. In Ratzinger’s words (or Benedict the XVI as he will now be called):

“only in the Catholic Church is there eternal salvation”.

Ratzinger was appointed to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith by Pope John Paul II. In case you’re not familiar with the CDF, they used to be called the Holy Office of the Inquisition (or, Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition), until their name was changed to something more friendly in 1908 by Pope Pius X.

This rather severe role has landed Ratzinger the nickname “The Enforcer.”

What turns my stomach the most about the coverage of the new Pope is how the office is described. One reporter on Fox News (All pope all the time) said, “the Pope holds the place of Jesus Christ on Earth”. To that I would say, Jesus Christ lives and is at the right hand of God. He needs no one to hold his place.

Matthew 23:8-12, “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

Mark 10:42-44 Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all.”

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” – Ephesians 2:19-20

Read more from the news here, here, and here.

So much for the media’s attempts to portray the minutemen in Arizona as vigilantes. The liberal media, including Fox News and some of the supposedly balanced news sources, have been critical of the citizen soldiers in Arizona from the beginning. They don’t like to see American’s thinking for themselves, and it’s a blow to their egos when people don’t take their marching orders from the MSM (Bill O’Reilly’s arrogance comes to mind). Once again they look like liars and fools. Their response, as usual, will be to stop covering this story. You won’t see any MSM sources reporting that the border patrol is supportive of the point the minutemen are trying to make, as well as the job they’ve been doing to help secure our borders.

The largest local union of Border Patrol agents in the country has declared its support for the Minuteman Project in Arizona, while at the same time slamming both the American Civil Liberties Union and President Bush.

According to its website, the U.S. Border Patrol Local 2544, which covers the Tucson sector of the agency, the volunteers involved in the border-monitoring Minuteman Project have been nothing but supportive.

“We want to make it clear – because we’ve had a lot of questions about this – we have not had one single complaint from a rank-and-file agent in this sector about the Minutemen,” says a statement on the site. “Every report we’ve received indicates these people are very supportive of the rank-and-file agents; they’re courteous. Many of them are retired firefighters, cops, and other professionals, and they’re not causing us any problems whatsoever.”

The group blames the ACLU for setting off ground sensors in the area of the Minutemen activities:

“Reports of [Minutemen] causing ‘ground sensors’ to go off are exaggerated because most of those are being set off by the ACLU sneaking around trying to find the Minutemen doing something wrong.” . . . . .

WND Article

The truth about how serious our immigration problems are is coming out, and Conservatives must wake up to how their party feels about it. Illegal immigration is becoming a serious hardship for many cities across the country. Local politicians are starting to get the picture, but it remains to be seen whether our government in Washington will recognize the dangers and a shift in public opinion in time to avoid a hit at the polls. Bush certainly won’t change his mind, but Congress must, or we’ll once again be holding hearings in Congress to determine how we missed the terrorist threat that led to another 911. Only this time it won’t be flight schools. It will be terrorists who were never stopped at the borders and had plenty of time to plan while they lived among us.

Recent headlines:

80 illegals found at California home

Connecticut mayor fed up with illegals

GOP sharply split over immigration

The Israeli army is practicing for the time when they will run their own people out of their homes and give away their land. One of the scenarios they are preparing for is attacks by Palestinian terrorists during the evacuation. If they have to plan for these attacks, why are they giving their land to them?!! I can’t imagine how these settlers must feel. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute and imagine our military and police coming into your town and using force to remove you from your homes so they can be handed over to the terrorists who’ve been trying to kill you for years. All their doing is bringing the terrorists that much closer to their major cities, and rewarding terrorism. No other country would be forced to bring the battle lines closer and make concessions when faced with attacks from their enemies.

Israeli Defense Forces this morning carried out their first large-scale practice run to prepare for their role in evacuating Jewish communities from Gaza and parts of the West Bank this summer.

Today’s exercise, which was code named “Mind Game” and took place at a base in southern Israel, was commanded by IDF chief of staff Lt.-General Moshe Ya’alon, who has previously voiced his opposition to the Gaza withdrawal plan.

Participants told WorldNetDaily soldiers enacted various scenarios they may confront during the implementation of the withdrawal, including settler violence, attacks by Palestinian terror groups or Hezbollah, and the response to other soldiers who refuse to carry out orders.

The IDF is slated to play a support role in the Gaza evacuation, mostly dealing with Palestinian violence and security of communities and surrounding roads. The Israeli police have been tapped to enforce the actual removal of Jews from Gaza, and will handle any Jews who refuse to leave their homes.

“Basically, we were repeatedly told that soldiers are there to reinforce police units. We’re going to be dealing with the outer issues, like Palestinian attacks. The police are handling the actual process of getting out the Jews,” said a soldier.

The Israeli police will carry out their first large scale practice on Wednesday. Police units will hold trial runs that will reportedly include scenarios dealing with Jewish residents locking themselves in homes, children hiding, medical emergencies, and settler violence. . . . . . . . .

WND Article

It seems the number of Jews supporting Israel’s claim to the Temple Mount is on the rise. Bush and Sharon have made statements recently that seem to indicate Jerusalem and the Temple Mount will soon become a part of negotiations in the Middle East. Perhaps this is lighting a fire on the religious Jews in Israel. Whatever the cause, prophecy indicates Jewish claims to Jerusalem will be a part of the peace agreement negotiated by the Antichrist.

A group that led a Jewish protest at the Temple Mount last weekend in hopes of reclaiming the site from its Islamic custodians told WorldNetDaily this morning it will hold monthly protests ”until Jewish sovereignty is restored,” while more than 100,000 Indonesian Muslims rallied yesterday for continued Islamic dominance over the Mount.

”The police blocked most of the people we tried to bring to the Temple Mount last week, so we will continue every month until Jews have a right to pray again at our holiest site,” said David Ha’ivri, director of Revava, a group with the stated mission of ”restoring self-esteem to the state of Israel by restoring national pride and values.”

Revava had announced plans to bring 10,000 Jews to the Mount April 10, prompting Palestinian groups, including Hamas and the Islamic Movement, to threaten violence if a large group of Jews ascended the holy site.

Only about Jewish 200 protesters were allowed past intense security, which included over 3,500 Israeli police stationed at checkpoints and entrances throughout the Old City, the walled section of Jerusalem that houses the Temple Mount.

Demonstrators sang songs and danced, and chanted slogans about reclaiming the Mount for Jewish worship. Several Israeli Knesset members delivered speeches about the importance of the Temple Mount to Jewish tradition. . . . .. .

WND Article

Most Christian radio stations aren’t owned and operated by Christians, so I guess this really shouldn’t surprise us. But, it’s sad when a Christian can lose their job for questioning Catholicism. I can’t help but think we’re in that time the Bible calls “the apostasy”. Many churches, denominations, and Christian groups that were once Bible based are turning to the wide road of ecumenism and a watered down, perverted gospel that leaves no room for questioning heresy.

An evangelical Christian talk show host who questioned the beliefs of the Catholic church and entertained a caller’s question about whether the late Pope John Paul II would go to heaven has been fired.

Marty Minto, 39, a senior pastor at a New Castle church, was fired Friday after three years as a host on WORD-FM in Pittsburgh. He said he was told that he was alienating listeners.

“As far as I’m concerned, I was doing what I’ve always done on the radio — look at events around the world from a biblical perspective. I’ve always been willing to talk about controversial subjects,” said Minto, who has had shows in Albany, N.Y., Denver and Phoenix.. . . . . ..

Fox News