The Scriptorium

The Methodists are among a few other mainline churches who’ve chosen to disregard several parts of the Bible and view homosexuality as an acceptable alternative lifestyle instead of the sin that the Bible says it is. I believe part of the problem begins with where they look for answers in solving doctrinal issues in the church. Rather than turning to the Word of God, they turn to the “Methodist Book of Discipline” and to the church’s “High Court” – a man made set of rules, enforced by an institution created by sinful men.

Rev. Edward Johnson of the South Hill Methodist Church was fired recently for going outside these man made rules and following the Bible instead. He denied membership in the church to a man who openly practiced unrepentant homosexuality, just as I’m sure he would do if someone were openly engaged in an adulterous relationship, or any other form of sexual immorality.

You can tell a lot about the current state of the Methodist Church from these quotes by a church leader involved in disciplining the pastor.

“I was trying to show him the church was open to receiving [the member],” Layman said. “He, in turn, relied on his interpretation of the scriptures.”

“Our Social Creed says that we as a church would not ordain homosexuals, but they have the right to be received in membership,” Layman said. “The church supports homosexuals as part of the congregation and as persons of definite worth.

This Methodist minister was removed from his position as pastor because he interpreted the Scriptures rather than following a “social creed”.

It’s perhaps not as shocking as it once would have been, but still disturbing that the leader of a major denomination would put the authority of a social creed above Scripture. Methodist leaders would do well to read I Corinthians, paying special attention to the following verses, and then compare what they’ve read to their “social creed”.

I Corinthians 6:9-10 “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 5:1-5
Expel the Immoral Brother
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”

Condoning homosexuality may make a church seem more politically correct and tolerant, but it won’t lead people out of sin so that their spirit might be saved on the day of the Lord.

The protesters who nearly made it through security forces to join their comrades in Gaza last week have learned from their mistakes. A Yesha leader involved in planning last week’s march admitted they shouldn’t have left from only one location allowing the IDF and police to concentrate their forces in one area. Tuesday’s marches will leave from Sderot and the southern towns of Ofakim and Netivot in an effort to spread the security forces thin.

Unfortunately for the protesters, the IDF and Israeli police have also learned from their mistakes. Realizing the opposition numbers are even larger than they’d anticipated, they plan to take “undemocratic measures” to stop protesters from reaching their destination in Gaza.

“Police are going to block buses from leaving Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, the West Bank. They are going to set up mass roadblocks throughout the country. They will do everything in their power, even if it includes questionable practices, to stop this march from happening,” said the source.

“One police chief suggested forces on the streets in the West Bank and Jerusalem should tell protesters they were given the authority to halt buses even if they don’t have the authority,” the source said.

The government has already received some criticism for their handling of last week’s protests, but a lack of media coverage and the silence of human rights organizations have made it easy for Sharon to ignore any criticism and move toward implementing even more totalitarian practices during the next march.

Former Tourism Minister Benny Elon told WND, “I saw with my eyes last week how police took licenses from drivers, and illegally took out people from buses. Israel is not a real democracy. Only in a tyranny can this be allowed and go unquestioned. We heard nothing from the leftist media. Nothing from leftist human rights groups.”

The opposition groups have their sights set high, and hope not only to stop the evacuation plan, but to topple the Sharon government. News from the Palestinian territories and from Israel points to an escalation in violence that even the leftist media might not be able to ignore.

“If large numbers reach Gaza and we get inside, the evacuation will not be able to happen, Sharon’s government will fall, and Israel is going to have new elections.”

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WND

Hamas and Islamic Jihad’s announced yesterday that they will join in a celebration with the PA to make sure the world knows terrorism has been successful in driving Israel off their land. A rise in this kind of rhetoric from Hamas, along with an increase in attacks on Gaza, has led Sharon to threaten force as a means of preventing attacks during next months eviction of Jewish settlers from their homes.

The Palestinian security forces continue to complain that they don’t have the weapons and ammunition to prevent terrorist attacks and thwart Hamas’ campaign against Gaza. As I wrote yesterday, they should have a stockpile of M-16′s that were recently given to them by Israel. Those weapons, however, are now missing and, most likely, in the hands of Hamas terrorists. The PA is asking for another hand out of weapons and ammunition, supposedly for the purposes of reigning in militants. If Sharon is foolish enough to accommodate them, the P.A. will indeed reign in Hamas and Islamic Jihad, just long enough to hand out the new weaponry and send them back to the front lines.

Sharon has announced that, without a change in the security problem along the southern Gaza border and an end to rocket attacks on settlers, he will be forced to occupy those areas by force prior to the disengagement. The better answer would be to refuse the hand over of Jewish land while under fire, but Sharon shows no signs of changing his mind, even as Hamas reminds him daily that they see the pullout as a huge victory for the “resistance”. Should Sharon resort to force in order to protect civilians, soldiers, and Israeli police during the pullout, the world will almost certainly ignore the ongoing terrorist attacks of the past several weeks and blame Israel for an escalation in violence. This move by Sharon would also qualify as the “Israeli aggressions” Hamas has warned would give them just cause to break the cease fire agreement – as if that hadn’t already happened.

Israel will launch a massive ground operation if Palestinian militants fire on Israeli soldiers and settlers during next month’s Gaza pullout, the deputy defense minister said Sunday.

In such a scenario, the evacuation of settlers would be halted for 10-14 days while Israeli forces occupy Palestinian towns near the Jewish settlements, Zeev Boim said.

Israel is set to evacuate all 21 Gaza Strip settlements and four more in the West Bank in mid-August. The pullout is set to last four weeks.

Boim told Israel Radio the ground operation would be massive, on the scale of the Defensive Shield offensive of 2002, in which Israel reoccupied West Bank towns after a series of suicide bombings.

Israeli leaders have warned repeatedly in recent days that the military would respond harshly to Palestinian fire during the withdrawal. However, Boim’s comments marked the first time the scope of a military offensive was outlined.

If the militants attack, “we would stop the withdrawal, we would deliver a harsh strike, a large-scale operation,” Boim told the radio.

Such an operation would be “about the size of Defensive Shield, meaning about 10 days to two weeks of a heavy strike against terror, to uproot it,” Boim said. . . .

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Assosiated Propaganda

I’ve heard more than one Conservative lately say they would feel much better about the Roberts nomination to the SCOTUS, if the Democrats opposed him more. Well, perhaps this will comfort them. There is a reason the Democrats have tried to portray Roberts involvement in the Federalist Society as something negative and scary. We’re all supposed to react with suspicion and fear when they talk of the Federalist Society, as if it were comparable to the Communist party or the KKK. The truth is, they’re horrified that he was in the society, but we conservatives should all be comforted.

The Federalist society supports a return to a federalist government where states have more rights, and a strict, unchanging interpretation of the constitution guides how the Judiciary rules in all matters. I can see how this would terrify many Liberals, but the group is hardly some secretive, evil group plotting the overthrow of the free world. They simply recognize what most conservatives do – the legislature is the only branch our constitution gives the authority to make law. The judiciary then bases their decisions on those laws as they are written, not how they WISH they were written.

Since Liberals have sought to compensate for their minority status by pushing their agenda through a judicial system that legislates from the bench, it’s not surprising that they’ve demonized Roberts for his connection to this group. Naturally, the media has also done its part to foster suspicion and fear of Roberts past dealings with the society.

If any of you need further proof that Roberts is far from acceptable to the Democrats, keep your eye on the growing movement to bring Roberts faith into the debate. Several Senators are having a hard time keeping a lid on the bigotry and hatred they have for Christians. Kennedy argued in 1967 that the Senate should refrain from questioning nominees about personal beliefs and ideology during confirmation hearings. But, that was then and this is now. Opinions change when the God factor is in the picture. Far left Democrats don’t see any place for Christians in government and often express the opinion that it shouldn’t be allowed, especially in choosing judicial appointments. They claim a Christian can’t rule on court cases without their faith affecting their decisions. I would say, neither can an atheist, a Wiccan, a Muslim, or an Agnostic. Somehow they don’t see this as bigotry and hypocrisy though.

Picking Roberts faith as the target for their wrath would be a mistake in my opinion. The more they attack people simply because of their faith, especially since it’s always the same religion in their sights, the more obvious their bigotry becomes. Even the most uninformed voters will notice. It won’t be just the evangelicals joining the “values voters” next time. People of many faiths and different levels of religiosity abhor bigotry, intolerance, and persecution of entire groups of people simply because of their beliefs. Democrats should also remember that a large percentage of this country call themselves Christian. They might not appreciate being told that they’re unfit to hold any office or position of responsibility in our government.

After President Bush tapped John G. Roberts Jr. for the Supreme Court, the nominee was widely reported to be a member of the Federalist Society — an assertion that White House officials vigorously disputed.

When it was later disclosed that Roberts was once listed as serving on the steering committee of the group’s Washington chapter, Bush aides continued to insist that Roberts has no recollection of ever being a full-fledged member of the conservative legal group.

The eagerness of the White House to distance Roberts from the Federalist Society baffled many conservatives. They believe the reaction fed a false perception that membership in the organization — an important pillar of the conservative legal movement — was something nefarious that would damage Roberts’s chances of confirmation.

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Washington Post

Here are two very good articles that explain why we cannot depend on moderate Islam in the war on terrorism. (Hat tip: Steve and LGF)

Muslim ‘Moderates’ And Terrorism

The Spectator also gives a good introduction to the long history of terrorism and brutality in Islam, and explains why Islamic scholars have thus far viewed the violent teachings of war, hate, and murder in Mohammed’s later writings as valid for today over the more peaceful teachings of his earliest writings in Mecca.

It is probably true that in every faith ordinary people will pick the parts they like best and practise those, while the scholars will work out an official version. In Islam the scholars had a particularly challenging task, given the mass of contradictory texts within the Koran. To meet this challenge they developed the rule of abrogation, which states that wherever contradictions are found, the later-dated text abrogates the earlier one. To elucidate further the original intention of Mohammed, they referred to traditions (hadith) recording what he himself had said and done. Sadly for the rest of the world, both these methods led Islam away from peace and towards war. For the peaceable verses of the Koran are almost all earlier, dating from Mohammed’s time in Mecca, while those which advocate war and violence are almost all later, dating from after his flight to Medina. Though jihad has a variety of meanings, including a spiritual struggle against sin, Mohammed’s own example shows clearly that he frequently interpreted jihad as literal warfare and himself ordered massacre, assassination and torture. From these sources the Islamic scholars developed a detailed theology dividing the world into two parts, Dar al-Harb and Dar al-Islam, with Muslims required to change Dar al-Harb into Dar al-Islam either through warfare or da’wa (mission).

So the mantra ‘Islam is peace’ is almost 1,400 years out of date. It was only for about 13 years that Islam was peace and nothing but peace. From 622 onwards it became increasingly aggressive, albeit with periods of peaceful co-existence, particularly in the colonial period, when the theology of war was not dominant. For today’s radical Muslims — just as for the mediaeval jurists who developed classical Islam — it would be truer to say ‘Islam is war’. One of the most radical Islamic groups in Britain, al-Ghurabaa, stated in the wake of the two London bombings, ‘Any Muslim that denies that terror is a part of Islam is kafir.’ A kafir is an unbeliever (i.e., a non-Muslim), a term of gross insult.

Muslims must stop this self-deception. They must with honesty recognise the violence that has existed in their history in the same way that Christians have had to do, for Christianity has a very dark past. Some Muslims have, with great courage, begun to do this.

Secondly, they must look at the reinterpretation of their texts, the Koran, hadith and Sharia, and the reformation of their faith. Mundir Badr Haloum has described this as ‘exorcising’ the terrorism from Islam. Mahmud Muhammad Taha argued for a distinction to be drawn between the Meccan and the Medinan sections of the Koran. He advocated a return to peaceable Meccan Islam, which he argued is applicable to today, whereas the bellicose Medinan teachings should be consigned to history. For taking this position he was tried for apostasy, found guilty and executed by the Sudanese government in 1985. Another modernist reformer was the Pakistani Fazlur Rahman, who advocated the ‘double movement’; i.e., understanding Koranic verses in their context, their ratio legis, and then using the philosophy of the Koran to interpret that in a modern, social and moral sense. Nasr Hamid Abu-Zayd, an Egyptian professor who argued similarly that the Koran and hadith should be interpreted according to the context in which they originated, was charged with apostasy, found guilty in June 1995 and ordered to separate from his wife. . . . . .

Are we one step closer to the mark of the Beast? (Hat tip: Houston Sweidman)

The FDA has now approved the Verichip, a small chip that, when placed under the skin, allows you to be identified by a 16-digit number picked up by a scanner. That number can then unlock a plethora of information about you.

Apply this to Bible prophecy for a second. Under the Antichrist’s rule, all people will be required to take the “mark of the Beast” in order to buy and sell. Not that long ago, this kind of tracking and identification system would have seemed impossible. Not so today with our advanced technology and the invention of technologies like the chip. In fact, it’s already been suggested that these chips could be used as a debit card, allowing you to make purchases by simply having the seller scan your chip and debit your account. This could easily be used on a global scale just as credit cards are used around the world. In our end-times scenario, a single purchase would identify you as the enemy.

If you’ve ever thought it seems unlikely that very many people would allow their privacy to be invaded to this extent, consider that a whopping 80% of people polled said they would be willing to have the chip implanted for certain purposes. Keep in mind that this will happen after the rapture, when the majority of the population will probably know little about Bible prophecy, or will have already rejected the Bible as false. As an added incentive, the punishment for not taking the mark will be death. Under these circumstances, it’s easy to imagine 100% support from all but the tribulation saints.

I’m not predicting that the Verichip will be the mark of the Beast. We can’t know for certain when or how that prophecy will be fulfilled. What I am saying is that such a system of government control is more possible and believable now than it ever has been in history.

They’re here. They have FDA approval. But are Americans ready to get chipped?

Getting chipped means having a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip implanted in your body. The chip — about the size of a large grain of rice — lies dormant until a special scanner is passed within six inches of the implant. Then it emits a radio signal that beams a 16-digit number to the scanner.

For security uses, that 16-digit number acts like an electronic key. For medical uses, the number is linked to medical records. Doctors to whom you’ve granted access — emergency room doctors, for example — can use the key to quickly get hold of your medical records.

Who would want such a thing? That depends on how you ask, says Scott Silverman, CEO of Applied Digital, which makes the FDA-approved RFID called VeriChip.

“When we first announced VeriChip, a network poll asked people if they would put one in their bodies,” Silverman tells WebMD. “Only 9 percent said yes. After FDA approval, 19 percent said yes. When former HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson joined our board, the rate went up to 33 percent. But our own study shows that if you ask people whether they would have a VeriChip implant to identify their medical records in case of an emergency, the positive response goes to 80 percent.”

The chip got FDA approval in October 2004. Since then, Silverman says, some 2,000 people worldwide are using them for medical or security purposes. But soon he expects that millions of people will get VeriChip implants every year.

Fox News

Here we go again. Another pseudo-Christian denomination voting to condemn Israel for protecting itself from terrorism. When was the last time you heard of a vote to condemn suicide bombings that target Israeli civilians? Or, a condemnation of the Palestinians who launch rockets at Jewish settlements? Unfortunately, you’ll probably never hear it.

I believe there is a great deal of support for Israel among Christian denominations. I know these liberal, anti-Semitic churches are the minority, even though several are mainstream denominations. But, once again, the majority is a silent one. Ben and I have come across people quite often who, upon learning that we’re Christian, automatically assume we’re anti-Semitic and pro-Palestinian. It saddens us that, when Jewish friends go to our website, they’re always surprised to find out we’re pro-Israel Zionists. I hope more Christians will speak up for the majority so we don’t continue to be lumped in with anti-Semitic, Biblically ignorant groups like this.

The general assembly of the Disciples of Christ has adopted a resolution calling for Israel to dismantle its West Bank security barrier, passing the measure by a clear majority on Wednesday in a vote that was postponed by a day.

Although amended slightly before the vote, the resolution was nearly identical to the one adopted earlier this month by the closely related United Church of Christ. As in that case, the Simon Wiesenthal Center was among the most vocal of Jewish and Christian groups calling for the church to dismiss the resolution. On Wednesday, it expressed its extreme dissatisfaction at the vote’s outcome.

“The resolution is an abomination,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal Center. “It is shocking and depressing that a vanguard of social activism like the Disciples of Christ would be so blind and deaf to Jewish suffering,” he told The Jerusalem Post.

After speaking with many of the delegates to the general assembly in Portland, he added, “I believe that this does not represent the grassroots members” of the Disciples of Christ church. And we in the Jewish community need to see that it does not become representative of them.”

The center had arranged for Tzippi Cohen, a survivor of the Cafe Hillel bombing in Jerusalem in 2003, to address the assembly before the vote, but the Disciples of Christ denied her that privilege in a late schedule change.

“I have no doubt that had theses delegates seen the human face of the victims of Palestinian terrorism, the outcome could have been much different,” Cooper said. . . . . . . . .

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Jerusalem Post

As the Gaza withdrawal nears, Rabbis, students, families, and angry Israeli’s are still infiltrating Gaza to stand in solidarity with their brethren, who face yet another raising of their homes and deportation. Many protesters are staying with families, some are staying in bomb shelters (the safest place when in Gaza), and others are staying in old buidlings or wherever there is room. They’ve come to support those who are hurting, and pray for God’s protection. As one Rabbi explained, they aren’t there to commit violence, but to stand with their fellow Jews.

“The newspapers make it seem like all these crazy protesters came here to live and start trouble,” he said. “Really, people in this community came peacefully to study Torah and show solidarity. We don’t have a violent thing about us.”

Violence, however, is not far off. Hamas is still firing an average of 3 mortars and rockets a day. At least five rockets and eight mortars were shot at Katif this week, two in Nezer Hazani.

The religious Jews staying in Gaza, when asked what they will do when told to leave, don’t believe the evacuation will happen. Judging by history they may be right. God has been watching over the Holy Lands.

Lutz [a Rabbi staying in Gaza] explained, “Everyone in power who tried to give up the land of Israel failed and was forced from the government. In 1979, with the Sinai it was different because that was not part of Israel.

“But [Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin failed with Oslo. [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu [who negotiated the Wye River Accords to give contiguous territory to the Palestinians] lost his government. Barak failed completely [after offering the Palestinians Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the eastern section of Jerusalem at Camp David.]

“So too, this plan will not go through. No one, not even Sharon, can take the land of Israel from the people of Israel.”

While Jews are planning their stand against the IDF, Hamas is using it’s official radio station in Gaza to broadcast instructions to terrorists in the field, and direct the firing of mortars and rockets at Gaza’s Jewish communities. I’m sure you haven’t seen mention in the MSM of the 120 rockets launched at Gaza settlements just in the past week. That’s because it’s only terrorism when an American or European is injured or killed.

With Hamas broadcasting their targets and ordering rocket and mortar attacks on 106.7 FM, complete with military instructions, you would think it would be quite easy for the Palestinian Authority to track down these terrorists and put a stop to their daily attacks. But, why should they? As the AP consistently reports, Israel has already broken the cease fire agreement and left it in tatters by killing a few terrorists in retaliation. Thus, the media has declared the cease fire dead and freed up Hamas to continue attacks with wild abandon.

Hamas’ broadcast schedule also included a sermon encouraging solidarity with the Jihadists in Iraq and praised the attacks on Americans and the British. Now, THAT should count as terrorism. After all, it’s American’s not Jews. Threats against America or Europe are worthy of investigation, right? *crickets chirping*

WWII death camp uniforms for pullout

Some residents of the northern Gaza settlement of Elei Sinai said Thursday they planned to wear Nazi concentration camp prisoner uniforms when security forces evacuate them from their homes during the disengagement. The striped uniforms, which were to include yellow Stars of David with the word “Jude” sewn on to the lapels, have already arrived. Those who plan to wear the uniforms are angered that Sharon has done little to provide a life for them after the evacuation.

But protest organizers are hoping to see many settlers join them, Itzik Gabai, one of those spearheading the protest, told Army Radio.

“I can’t find any difference between what is happening to us now and what happened then [during the Holocaust],” said Gabai.

He said the government has not offered any housing solutions for the settlers, except temporary campsites.

“The Sela [Disengagement Administration] directors have come out with different announcements that there is a solution for every settler,” said Gabai. “I don’t see any solution – they haven’t provided any solution.”

Israel Plans High-Tech Barrier Around Gaza

If the Jews in Gaza are successfully thrown out of their homes, Sharon has already drawn up plans for protecting Israel from the very terrorists he’s rewarding with land and a more strategic position from which to launch rockets.

Israel is increasing security at its border with the Gaza Strip in anticipation of next month’s withdrawal, the army said Thursday, disclosing details of a high-tech complex to ring the coastal strip with what it hopes will be the world’s most impenetrable barrier.

The barrier system will surround Gaza with fences, electronic sensors, watchtowers mounted with remote-control machine guns, and hundreds of video and night vision cameras, the military said.

In the West Bank on Thursday, Israeli forces killed an Islamic Jihad activist in an arrest raid, the military said. Soldiers surrounded a house in the village of Shufa and ordered everyone out. The activist’s father emerged and said no one else was inside, but a dog sent in by soldiers found the suspect, and soldiers killed him.

Army Radio reported he was involved in the July 12 suicide bombing in the nearby city of Netanya that killed five Israelis.

These are the new residents of Gaza, and this is what’s required to live next to them. I’ll never understand why the Israeli government continues to negotiate with murderers.

After reading the extreme security measures that will be required to protect Israel from Gaza terrorists, consider Vice Premier Shimon Peres’ recommendation.

Visiting Gaza on Thursday, Vice Premier Shimon Peres called for massive international aid to upgrade the crossings for the good of the Palestinian economy.

“We don’t want to leave Gaza and keep Gaza closed. We want to facilitate movement of people and movement of goods,” Peres said during a tour of two of the crossings.

WHAT?!! You need security barriers, fences, watchtowers, sensors, and machine guns to protect yourselves from the animals you invited to live next door, and you want to make the movement of people and goods easier and more convenient for these new neighbors? Is there any doubt who those border crossers will be and what kind of goods they’ll be moving?

And finally, speaking of machine guns, where are all the PA M-16s? That’s the headline of a Jerusalem Post article today.

U.S. Gen. Wm. Ward said he cannot account for thousands of M-16 assault rifles, which Israel gave to the PA. Another official offered no clear way to stop Hamas from getting American aid money.

Israel’s counter-terrorism policy: When hit with a wave of terrorist attacks, rockets, mortars, and suicide bombers, the first step should be to give your enemy your land, your people’s homes and businesses, and easy access across your borders. For good measure, give them your M-16 rifles as well. And don’t forget the humanitarian aid money for Hamas.

Canada is far ahead of the U.S. in the area of religious persecution and an erosion of religious rights. However, we seem to be following in their footsteps, albeit a few steps behind. I’ve been told by Christians in Canada that Christians there are fewer than here, but they have the same problem we do. They never speak up. When the courts introduced Shariah law into the legal system, you didn’t here a word (over a whisper) from the Christian Right in Canada. Certain parts of the Bible have been forbidden in public and on the airwaves for years in Canada, and Christians there accept it. Christians in Canada can go to jail for reading from Romans and preaching against homosexuality, and they accept it. I have a feeling Canadian Christians will regret their silence sooner rather than later. Many I’ve talked to even consider leaving as a very real option.

Christians in the U.S. should take a lesson from what’s happened in Canada. Remaining silent on values issues and religious freedom leads to the loss of freedom seen in Canada and an acceleration in the governments moves to eradicate it.

Just as Senate approaches the final vote on the gay ‘marriage’ bill, C-38, Canada’s national public radio CBC Radio has aired a commentary by a retired professor from the Royal Military College calling for state control over religion, specifically Catholicism. While parliamentarians dismissed warnings by numerous religious leaders and experts that such laws would lead to religious persecution, former professor Bob Ferguson has called for “legislation to regulate the practice of religion.”

“Given the inertia of the Catholic Church, perhaps we could encourage reform by changing the environment in which all religions operate,” Ferguson began his commentary in measured tones yesterday. “Couldn’t we insist that human rights, employment and consumer legislation apply to them as it does other organizations? Then it would be illegal to require a particular marital status as a condition of employment or to exclude women from the priesthood. ”

Ferguson continued, “Of course the Vatican wouldn’t like the changes, but they would come to accept them in time as a fact of life in Canada. Indeed I suspect many clergy would welcome the external pressure.”

Therein lies the problem. Christians in Canada don’t like the religious laws their government continues to pass, but they always “come to accept them as a fact of life in Canada”. We’re guilty of the same thing in many cases.

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LifeSite

It’s about time Hollywood was sent some kind of message. Of course, they won’t get it. Liberals never do. They’ll avoid the obvious and make up some other reason for their falling numbers. I just hope people keep sending the message.

The standard entertainment industry reaction to Hollywood’s box office slump reveals the same shallow, materialistic mindset that helped create the problem in the first place. The left-leaning thinking that dominates the movie business follows a common liberal instinct to deny the spiritual dimension to every problem, thereby profoundly compounding the difficulties.

Tinseltown’s recent setbacks suggest a crisis of major proportions, with a May USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll showing 48% of adults going to movies less often than in 2000. For 19 consecutive weeks, motion picture releases earned less (despite higher ticket prices) than the year before. Projected ticket sales for all of 2005 indicate a disastrous drop of at least 8% — at a time of population growth and a generally robust economy.

*snip*

Revealingly, none of the studio honchos talked about reconnecting with the public by adjusting the values conveyed by feature films, and replacing the industry’s shrill liberal posturing with a more balanced ideological perspective.

Something clearly changed between 2004 and 2005 to cause an abrupt drop-off at the box office, and the most obvious alteration involved Hollywood’s role in the bitterly fought presidential election. The entertainment establishment embraced John Kerry with near unanimity — and bashed George W. Bush with unprecedented ferocity. . . . .

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Jewish World View

Well, here’s a switch. Usually, the ACLU makes the news for filing a “separation of church and state” lawsuit against Christians. I wouldn’t be surprised to read a news story on the ACLU’s new court action against using the Bible to swear witnesses in before they take the stand. For this battle, however, they’ve changed tactics and are instead suing to allow that the Koran be used in court proceedings. It’s as if they’re eager to prove they have no problem with religion in government, as long as it’s not the Christian religion.

Their attempt to ban Christianity from the public square was not forgotten, however. The lawsuit stipulates that, if the law is not interpreted to include the use of the Koran, the Bible should then be banned from use as well. Funny how that whole “separation of church and state” thing only applies when it’s directed solely at the Bible or Christianity. Islam or any other religion is okay.

In an effort to end the Bible’s monopoly on the swearing-in procedure in the courtroom, the American Civil Liberties Union is now suing the state of North Carolina.

A lawsuit has been filed in Superior Court in Wake County, N.C., on behalf of the organization’s statewide membership of approximately 8,000 individuals of many different faiths, including Islam and Judaism.

“The government cannot favor one set of religious values over another and must allow all individuals of faith to be sworn in on the holy text that is in accordance with their faith,” said Jennifer Rudinger, Executive Director of the ACLU-NC. “By allowing only the Christian Bible to be used in the administration of religious oaths in the courtroom, the state is discriminating against people of non-Christian faiths.”

Current law mentions laying one’s hand on the “Holy Scriptures,” which officials heretofore have interpreted as meaning the Bible.

The ACLU seeks a court order clarifying that the existing rule is broad enough to allow the use of multiple religious texts.

“In the alternative, if the Court does not agree that the phrase ‘Holy Scriptures’ in North Carolina state statute must be read to permit texts such as the Quran, the Old Testament and the Bhagavad-Gita in addition to the Christian Bible, then the ACLU-NC asks the Court to strike down the practice of allowing the use of any religious texts in the administration of religious oaths,” said a written statement from the civil-liberties group. . . . .

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WND

This kind of persecution of Christians has been on the rise over the past few months as China tries to reign in “illegal cults”. During that period of time the United Nations has met several times, drafted resolutions, and started several awareness campaigns to draw attention to a rise in “Islamophopia”, which in reality means a fear of Islamist terrorists who are committing mass murder around the world in the name of Allah.

After every terrorist attack, we can count on the U.N. to gather the debate club and agonize over the terrible backlash against the “religion of pieces”, but you will never hear a word about the true persecution happening daily against Christians in China. The arrest of children simply because they are Christian, the murder and torture of Christian ministers, and crackdowns on churches who meet in secret have never been the topic of a U.N. conference, a U.N. “working group”, or even a worthless U.N. resolution. It makes Bible prophecy seem not only possible in our time, but likely. It’s not hard to imagine the world standing idly by as Christians are put to death for their devotion to the God of Christianity. Remember to pray for our brothers and sisters in China.

Chinese authorities arrested 100 Christian young people as part of the government’s continuing crackdown on churches outside state control.

The Christians had been meeting for a Bible study in Langfang City, Hebei province, when police abruptly arrived and arrested everyone present, according to the U.S.-based monitor Voice of the Martyrs, or VOM.

The young people, in the sixth through twelfth grade, were taken into custody, interrogated and released.

The students were told to stop meeting together with other Christians and not attend unregistered religious activities, VOM said.

All Protestant and Catholic churches in China are required to be under control of the government, and groups that do not register – the vast majority – are included in the list of “illegal cults.”

In a separate incident, 10 pastors were arrested during a baptism service in Sui County, Hunan province, on July 1, according to VOM.

The Christians had gathered to baptize 60 new believers in a service led by Pastor Wan Bao De.

Ten church leaders were arrested at the scene and given 15 days of “administrative detention.”

The pastors were released July 15 and forced to pay a fine of 200 to 300 Yuan, about $25 to $36. But police officers refused to provide a receipt for the money.

“If you are unhappy (about not getting a receipt),” police said, “you can take us to court.”

Wan Bao De was first arrested April 25, 1999. He was beaten severely by Public Security Bureau officers at the time of that arrest, and was fined 2000 Yuan, about $250, before eventually being released.

VOM says the arrests are part of widespread persecution across China, which seems to have intensified in recent months.

WND

After 15 years of adverse court rulings, the citizens of San Diego voted to save the city’s historic Mt. Soledad cross.

The conflict arises from an ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 29-foot concrete structure, which has been the center of a war memorial on city land since 1954.

This is how democracy is supposed to work. The people vote, their will is carried out, and a war memorial is saved from destruction by judicial terrorism and ACLU lawyers. Sadly, this victory for freedom of speech and religion won’t end the matter. The ACLU will continue its court battle against the constitutionality of the ballot measure and the 105,000 signatures that were gathered in 23 days. Of those signatures, 75% voted in favor of keeping the cross standing.

As it stands, the cross and the land that surrounds it will be handed over to the Federal Government as a war memorial, where crosses have always been allowed. The people voted, the majority decided, and the problem should be solved. The ACLU, however, sees it differently.

“It still doesn’t mean a damn thing,” he [ACLU attorney James McElroy] said, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Voters should have never voted on it. It’s a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

There you have it. According to the ACLU, your vote “doesn’t mean a damn thing”, you shouldn’t even be allowed to vote, and voting is a waste of money. But, paying to fight a long drawn out legal battle against the terrorists at the ACLU isn’t a waste of money? The ACLU wastes our tax dollars on a regular basis! The money spent on legal fees, court costs, ballot initiatives, voting, and campaigning to save the cross would not have been necessary had the anti-Christian, bigoted ACLU not filed suit against the city of San Diego. The arrogance of the ACLU is truly sickening, and it’s a tragedy that they use tax payer money to execute their nationwide campaign against religion and free speech. I’d much rather pay for the right to vote on the decisions made by my local government than for the ACLU to erode our constitution and terrorize schools, businesses, churches, and the American people.

After 15 years of adverse court rulings, the citizens of San Diego voted to save the city’s historic Mt. Soledad cross.

The conflict arises from an ACLU lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 29-foot concrete structure, which has been the center of a war memorial on city land since 1954.

According to an unofficial count, 75 percent of voters decided they want to transfer the city owned site to the federal government where it would be designated as a war memorial.

The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm, provided legal analysis that formed the basis for a federal law that declared the cross and memorial as a National War Memorial and authorized the federal government to receive a donation of the land.

A bill authorizing the federal government to take over the memorial was authored by Republican U.S. congressmen Duncan Hunter and Randy Cunningham. President Bush signed the bill into law in December.

The ballot initiative came about after the city refused to donate the cross and memorial to the federal government. A group called San Diegans for the Mount Soledad National War Memorial took just 23 days to gather 105,000 signatures.

“This is a tremendous victory in an important battle, but the war is not over,” said Richard Thompson, the center’s president and chief counsel. “The other side has not surrendered; court battles over the cross continue.” . . . . .

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WND

It looks like the new Pope isn’t quite the expert at Middle East relations that Pope John Paul II was. I don’t fault him. It’s difficult to score points with the rest of the world by supporting the Palestinian terrorists, and at the same time maintain a dialog with the victims of their terrorism. Perhaps the truth would work better for him next time. If that’s too hard, read the Bible.

Genesis 12:3
“I will bless those who bless you [Israel], and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

This quote in particular is an example of how the Vatican views Islamic terrorism:

Speaking to reporters Monday at his vacation retreat in Les Combes, Italy, Benedict said he did not see an anti-Christian motive in the recent wave of terrorist attacks blamed on Islamic extremists, attributing them instead to “a much more general intention.”

Much like the MSM, the Vatican is eager to defend “The Religion of Peace” because religious terrorism interferes with the Catholic church’s support of the interfaith movement. I have to believe that Benedict KNOWS Islamic terrorism is indeed directed at Jews, Christians, and non-believers, but especially Jews and Christians. You can’t read the Quran without understanding this, and Muslim Imams preach it form their Mosques and Islamic schools. Even the media has had a few reports lately that expose some of the anti-Christian and anti-Semitic teachings of Islam.

Benedict will likely follow his predecessor’s example. John Paul embraced Islam as a great religion and visited many mosques and Muslim leaders throughout his Papacy. Islam’s belief that Jesus was not the Son of God has never been a problem for the Vatican, nor has the Islamic teaching that all infidels (non-believers, Christians and Jews) should be converted to Islam, by the sword if necessary.

Israel Angry at Pope Over Terror Comments
London Guardian

UPDATE
It appears Benedict isn’t QUITE as eager as John Paul was to ignore the terrorism, murder, and barbaric practices that are taught in Islam. While he’s careful not to be specific about these teachings or admit that Islam seeks to destroy Israel, Jews, and Christians, he is willing to admit that Islam is not entirely a religion of peace.

How can we make this happen in the U.S.? Having 2/3rds of the Muslim population leave the country sounds like a good thing to me in light of a recent poll that indicated as many as 100,000 Muslims are eager to participate in terror attacks in Britain.

The Guardian, however, feels differently. Muslims in Britain, from the Guardian’s point of view, are the real victims. It isn’t the people who died in the London bombings we should be concerned about. The real tragedy here is the “anti-Muslim backlash”.

When I read that Muslims are “suffering” under a rise in Islamophobia, I have trouble feeling much sympathy. How many Muslims did you see or hear speaking up after the London attacks. How many came forward to condemn all forms of murder, including Jihad that targets innocent civilians? I didn’t hear any either. If Muslims were speaking out against this plague, and making any attempt to bring a moderate voice to their religion, I’d have more sympathy for their position. The Islamophobia they are “suffering” under (at least they aren’t being blown up), is of their own making because of their silence. Judging by the last poll many of them not only remain silent, they support terrorism in the name of Allah.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have thought about leaving Britain after the London bombings, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll.

The figure illustrates how widespread fears are of an anti-Muslim backlash following the July 7 bombings which were carried out by British born suicide bombers.

The poll also shows that tens of thousands of Muslims have suffered from increased Islamophobia, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks.

Make your loyalties known, clean out your Madrassas and Mosques, and I guarantee people will welcome you to the civilized world with open arms.

Read full article
London Guardian

Additional thought: If only the media had as much sympathy for Jews who are murdered daily in Israel because of their race. Or, perhaps, the Christians in China who are put in prison, tortured, and killed on a regular basis. These are examples of true persecution deserving of media attention. Violence against any race, religion, or people is wrong, but having a phobia of people who are committing murder on a global scale is normal.

The White House intends to deny the Senate Judiciary Committee documents from Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ work in the solicitor general’s office for former President George H.W. Bush 1989-93.

*snip*

Sen.John Kerry, D-Mass., on Friday called for the White House to release all of Roberts’ working papers from his time working for two Republican presidents.

One of the more adamant demands for Robert’s records to be released in full is coming from the same person who, while running for President, refused to sign his form 180 which would have released ALL of his military records. Senator John Kerry obviously believes that running for the highest office in the land doesn’t warrant the release of one’s military records for public scrutiny – records that could have cleared up, one way or another, the accusation that Kerry committed treason by meeting with enemy communist leaders during the Viet Nam war. How is it, then, that he feels justified in demanding records from Roberts related to past work as a lawyer for U.S. Presidents. His hypocrisy aside, he surely understands the necessity of attorney/client privilege.

Democrats on the Judiciary Committee have not revealed which documents they will seek, but they have hinted they may want memos, briefs and other documents to shed more light on Roberts’ stands on such key issues as abortion, the environment and federal jurisdiction because of his brief tenure as a federal judge.

What the Democrats fail to understand is that a justice’s views on the separation of powers and the usurpation of those powers in recent years by activist judges, SHOULD be our primary concern. Actually, it isn’t that they don’t understand that the balance of power is being eroded, it’s that they approve of it and see it as their only hope for ruling over us, even while losing elections. As long as the Justice who bypasses the legislative branch and legislates from the bench is a liberal, ideologically driven judges are fine.

They fear any justice who might attempt to return this country to a constitutional form of government, so when a strict constructionist comes before them for confirmation, they panic. The quandary for them is which would be worse, a judge who, as a strict constructionist, might reverse past decisions that were not in keeping with the constitution and existing laws, or a conservative judge who might ignore the constitution in order to move the country to the right. In other words, do they “Bork” Roberts, or save it for Renquist’s replacement.

For Conservatives, the choice is easy. Our Constitution, as it was intended to be interpreted by its framers, DOES move the country back to the right. A constitutionally run government works in our favor. Not so for the Liberal. Most of their political successes for some time now have come through a dictatorial judicial branch rather than liberal legislation. Since they can’t get elected to a majority, and our country was founded on Judeo-Christian values, they have only the courts as a means for affecting change and moving this country toward secular socialism.

As the temper tantrum on the Senate floor begins, look for much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the fact that Roberts is white, Roberts is not a woman, Roberts wife is anti-abortion (oh the horrors), and Roberts was a member of the Federalist Society (if only he’d been a member of the Communist party, that would have been acceptable).

White House Said to Block Roberts Papers
Associated Press

White House won’t let Democrats look at some of Roberts’ writings
San Francisco Chronicle

Cheney calls for ‘fair up or down vote’ on Roberts
The Patriot News

It will be interesting to see whether this phenomenon grows as the Gaza disengagement draws near, or dissipates as the opposition’s goal seems more futile. I have to believe following orders will be difficult for many soldiers in the IDF, either for religious reasons or ethical reasons. While most of them currently believe following orders is the right choice, or they keep their opinions to themselves for fear of retribution, that may change as they face the realities of what they have to do. Who knows what will happen in the hearts and minds of these soldiers and officers when they begin the actual process of seizing homes and using force against the elderly, holocaust survivors, religious leaders, and families with small children.

Unfortunately, if religious reasons are seen as the primary motivating factor in any large scale refusal to follow orders, it may result in a further separation of church and state, and a loss of religious freedom for military personnel in Israel, much like we have in the United States. Of course, that would be just one small part of the damage to democracy, freedom, and security that the evacuation of Gaza will cause, and perhaps it’s a lesser sacrifice that’s worth making.

As thousands of antidisengagement activists gathered in the town of Netivot, vowing to march to a Gaza Strip settlement bloc in defiance of Israeli authorities, a young corporal waited alone for a bus in the nearby city of Ashkelon.

Fingering an orange ribbon, the symbolic color of the group that opposes the Israeli government’s plan to uproot settlements in the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, Corporal Y. S. — who didn’t want to be identified for fear of disciplinary action — admitted that he’s considering heeding his rabbi’s call to refuse any withdrawal-related orders.

Under the current circumstances, displaying an orange ribbon is itself a punishable offense in the Israeli Defense Forces.

For as long as he could remember, Y. S. always knew that he’d enroll in hesder, a five-year commitment that combines army service with yeshiva study. He was attracted by the program’s reputation for producing elite soldiers steeped in the texts and traditions of the Torah.

“In hesder,” he explained, “you learn to fight, but you also get a deep understanding and feeling for why you wear the uniform.”

However, with his officers and rabbis issuing contradictory orders ahead of the mid-August “disengagement” from Gaza, he’s not sure what duty requires of him.

“I believe in the absolute necessity of a disciplined army,” he said. “On the other hand, discipline in the name of an unjust and dangerous cause — and I believe that this plan is exactly that — undermines the purpose of the army. I don’t want to look back years from now and say that I uprooted Jewish homes in the Land of Israel, that I helped compromise the security of this state, that I was ‘just taking orders.’ ”. . . . . .

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Vertual Jerusalem

I don’t think most of us can fully appreciate what Jewish settlers in Gaza are going through right now, and will go through in August. As I read this article I try to put myself in their shoes and I can’t imagine how terrifying it would be to have my own government evicting me from my home, putting my belongings in containers that will only be accessible at certain times, and leaving the rest of my belongings behind to be taken over by the terrorists who have been trying to kill me. One man, upon hearing that the IDF would put furniture in the containers but would leave behind pictures on the walls and other “unnecessary items”, remarked that the pictures of his dead sons could be left to the terrorists who had killed him.

Some of the Jews being evacuated are going through this for the third time. First evicted from their homes by Nazis, and then communists, these elderly survivors of concentration camps have no fight left for Sharon. They will be among those shuffled off to apartments, hotels, and other accommodations that have been made for them. Some have taken money as compensation, even though they know it won’t be enough and will be quickly eaten up by moving expenses. I can’t imagine starting over at that age, after that kind of life. To have it happen again in their own country must be heartbreaking, to say the least.

An outstanding issue in the ever-so-complicated disengagement/expulsion issue is what to do with the residents’ property. The army’s threats represent psychological pressure against the residents.

“Whatever we can fit into two large containers, we will take,” an army commander said this week, “and the rest we will simply leave behind.” The speaker was Brig.-Gen. Guy Tzur, IDF Commander of the Southern Command Task Force, meeting with the people of Netzer Hazani in Gush Katif.

“Whoever stays after the date set by the government, August 15, will have some of their property packed by the army – and the rest of it will remain,” the officer said. “After the residents are taken out, whatever is on the floor [such as chairs, tables and the like - ed.] we will take, and whatever is not, such as pictures on the wall and air conditioners, we will leave behind.”

Benny Yefet, whose son Itamar was murdered by Palestinian terrorists in Gush Katif almost five years ago, called out, “Sure, it would truly be a good idea to leave behind the picture of my son for his murderers who will receive my house.”

Another woman called out, “Who’s talking about air conditioners? We’re talking about something very different – we’re talking about the values that you taught our sons in the army officers’ courses, about the Land of Israel and the People of Israel.”

The residents wanted to talk about the violence that occurs nightly at the hands of the police and soldiers at the Kisufim Crossing. “Every night there is some kind of clash at Kisufim,” Anita Tucker of Netzer Hazani told Arutz-7 today. “We showed Gen. Tzur pictures of one of our boys who had his hands self-tied with an orange ribbon, and a policeman choking him – you can see the boy’s tongue out of his mouth, grimacing in pain. One of the residents said to Gen. Tzur, ‘If I would have seen that happening to my son, I would have shot the policeman – and you would have as well.’ We told him other stories, and the officers who were with him appeared a bit shocked. Gen. Tzur said he would look into it, etc.”. . . . .

Read it all
Arutz Sheva

Investigators in Britain were actually surprised to learn that there really is no difference between the Islamic terrorists in Israel and the terrorists who’ve launched attacks on London, the United States, Spain, Iraq, and the list goes on. It’s disturbing to me that the people who are fighting the war on terror on our behalf have been so ideologically blinded, that they can’t comprehend a flag burning, Jew hating, Palestinian would launch an attack on the West with the same animalistic hatred they display regularly in Israel.

Israel has been dealing with what we call “the new threat” for decades. The only difference between their terrorists and ours is the label they’re given and how they’re depicted in the media. In the past we’ve ignored the suicide bombers, qassam rockets, exploding discos, and burning Pizzarias in Israel. It was easier to ignore terrorism when the Palestinian terrorists were portrayed as the victims who only killed because of poverty and Israel’s unwillingness to die fast enough. Even now they aren’t considered a part of the terrorist problem and aren’t targeted in the war to eradicate terrorism. Nowhere else in the world are terrorist cells being given their own state from which to plan and organize attacks.

I don’t expect that the revelation that one of the London bombers learned his trade from the Palestinians and planned terrorist attacks in Israel will change this hypocritical view of Israel’s situation. This kind of thinking is so ingrained in our national and global view of the world, it would take far greater devastation to wake most people up to the realities of the terrorist network that runs through Islam.

How many times have you heard President Bush, Tony Blaire, and other world leaders triumphantly boast of their efforts around the world to break down terrorist strongholds, cut off their financing, and bring individual terrorists and terrorist cells to justice? Of those speeches, and there have been many, how many addressed terrorist cells, suicide bombers, and state sponsored terrorist groups in Palestine? Oh sure, they’ll mention Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Fatah, but always outside of a discussion of the war on terror. The two are always kept separate. It’s as if a murderer only becomes a terrorist when they stop killing Jews and turn their sites on us.

Until we realize the Islamists terrorizing Israel and the terrorists launching attacks on the west are one in the same, we can never truly defeat that enemy. They will always have a base from which to launch attacks. In fact they will soon have their own state.

One of the London suicide bombers in the attack on 7 July had links to a British man who planned a suicide attack on Tel Aviv two years ago, raising fears that the network of Islamist hardliners is wider than first thought.

The Independent on Sunday has learnt that Mohammed Sidique Khan, 30, who carried out the Edgware Road bombing, was friendly with Omar Sharif, one of two Britons who plotted a joint suicide attack in Israel in April 2003.

The disclosure comes as police continued their investigation yesterday into possible links between the four suicide bomb attacks on 7 July and the devices used in the botched attacks last Thursday. One theory is that the explosives used last week were either part of the same batch as those used on 7 July or made to the same formula – using commonly available chemicals to create the home-made explosive acetone peroxide. . . . . .

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London Independent

This poll done by YouGov for the Daily Telegraph in London should be horrifying to every British citizen and their immigration-happy government. While the article makes a point of stressing that a majority of Muslims in Britain feel the attacks of 7/7 should be condemned, the number of terrorist supporters living in their midst is a wakeup call to even the most liberal self-haters in the country. This is not to say those on the left will now change their politics and support the war on terror. These kind of facts are easily forgotten by those whose feel-good ideology is based on an escape from reality and the dillusion that they are enlightened and superior to the rest of us.

Deciding that something as despicable as the deadly bombings in London was immoral and wrong shouldn’t require much thought. My initial reaction was one of revulsion and anger. Only a population plagued with immoral criminals and terrorists would see strong division among respondents to a poll asking this question.

The divisions within the Muslim community go deep. Muslims are divided over the morality of the London bombings, over the extent of their loyalty to this country and over how Muslims should respond to recent events.

A shocking 24% of British Muslims (or perhaps not so shocking) have sympathy for the bombers who carried out the attacks in London, and a whopping 54% can understand why they did it. Think about that. When you watched the Twin Towers come down, did you, even for a second, feel sympathy for the murderers who killed thousands of our friends and neighbors? The respondents to this poll have had time to think about their reactions, and ponder the consequences and the effect it had on the people around them, yet they sympathize with the terrorists rather than the victims.

Even scarier, 6% of Muslims in Britain not only sympathize with the murderers, but would actively support them and participate in their acts of murder. That means there are approximately 100,000 citizens living, working, and procreating in Britain who would have no problem murdering and terrorizing their neighbors. Someone needs to alert these British terrorist supporters that Islam is the “religion of peace”. They must have missed the memo.

I suspect we would find similar numbers here in the U.S. (if it weren’t considered intolerant, racial profiling, and extremist to even ask the questions) and those numbers will only grow if our immigration and border policies don’t change.

London Telegraph Article

The United States has long forced Israel to face their terrorist neighbors with one hand tied behind Her back. U.S. Administrations on the Right and Left have pressured them to make concessions and exercise great restraint in the face of bombings and death, while demanding nothing in return. As many probably suspected, the disengagement plan is another example of that form of blackmail and strong arm tactics.

The plan was never to demand an end to terrorism in exchange for Jewish land. It was to appease the rest of the world, pretend some progress was being made, and then abandon Israel to fight off the terrorists until the next deal is made.

Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon, in an interview with a U.S. Jewish magazine, dispelled any notion the current forced removal of Jews from Gaza is part of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority tied to ending terrorism, saying the pullout is solely a U.S.-Israeli policy matter.

Already we’re hearing complaints from the P.A. that Gaza isn’t enough.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is currently in the Mideast, meeting with all parties in advance of the pullout. Palestinians are criticizing the U.S. for not exerting further pressure on Israel to keep the new Gaza border open to facilitate access between the seaside territory and the West Bank.

What the Palestinians mean here is that Israel isn’t providing easy access for Palestinians to live off the Israeli economy and benefit from their democracy, and they aren’t providing a convenient route for suicide bombers to enter Israel and kill Jews. It’s not enough to hand over homes, land, and businesses to terrorists, Israel must also surrender its security and the lives of its citizens.

Withholding U.S. aid was suggested by Diana Buttu, a legal adviser and spokeswoman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

“[Rice] has incredible power and the incredible ability to change Israeli policies,” she told Associated Press. “That leverage, that ability to influence, is not being exerted in its full force. We’re hoping to see more.”

Unfortunately, we probably will see more. When Hamas, along with its rockets, homicide bombers, and blood thirsty Imams move into Gaza to establish their new terrorist base, the U.S. will dangle money in front of Israel (this is never done to the PA which receives billions in aid from the US), and join the Anti-Semitic Europeans in bashing the only Democracy in the Middle East (not to mention our only true Ally in the region). Then politicians and diplomats will stand on their soap box and force Israel to do what we would never do – retreat and negotiate treaties that will never be honored.

WND

Picture Synagogues and Jewish religious schools being demolished, Jews being taken from their homes, forced to leave by soldiers and police officers, and once thriving Jewish businesses being evacuated to be taken over by a foreign government. It sounds like something you might have read in a history textbook covering the Nazi invasion of Poland, or the raising of the Ghettos in Nazi Germany doesn’t it?

Sadly, this vision will become a reality in 2005, and it won’t be carried out by Nazis, but by Jews. In August, Sharon’s government will engage in a form of ethnic cleansing preparing the way for Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and a terrorist supporting government to take over Jewish land…….again. As resisting Jews are dragged from their homes by their own people, we’ll likely hear reports of Qassam rockets raining down on the evacuating Israeli civilians, and homicide bombers will exchange death for a chance at Paradise in record numbers. These bombs and rockets will be launched by Palestinian terrorists for the purposes of creating an illusion. The illusion they hope to give the world will be one of Jews running from their Arab tormentors as Islamic terrorism triumphantly gains ground in its quest to push Israel into the sea. For those who doubt any attacks will be launched on evacuating settlers, Hamas has openly admitted and announced to the media their intentions.

The repercussions from rewarding decades of terrorism and murder will be Sharon’s legacy. The blood of innocent Jews will be on his hands when the inevitable terrorist attacks resume, this time, from a new front closer to the heart of Israel.

All of this will happen UNLESS the growing Israeli opposition can stop it, or the Palestinian terrorists escalate terrorist attacks to a level that makes the evacuation impossible. In my opinion a combination of both is quite possible.

The planned date for the withdrawal from all 21 Gaza settlements and four in the West Bank was postponed from July 20, ostensibly out of consideration for the religious Jews observing a three-week mourning period, beginning on Sunday, for the destruction of the biblical Jewish temples.

A decision to demolish the synagogues and religious schools in the evacuated settlements is bound to antagonise further the 9,000 settlers who are due to leave Gaza, especially since Mr Sharon had originally ordered that the buildings be dismantled and brought to Israel.

Brigadier-General Uzi Moscovich, head of a division assigned to the Gaza pullout, said that it would be impractical as the larger religious structures would take up to five days to demolish with bulldozers, disrupting the pullout timetable.

Army rabbis have not objected to the use of explosives. “We will bring the . . . explosives and blow them up,” General Moscovich said during a briefing. “This is for practical and symbolic reasons.”

Symbolic reasons indeed. Jewish history is repleat with that kind of symbolism.

Times Online

For more on the disastrous affects this plan will likely have, see here.

Somewhere in the Constitution there must be a qualifier that says the First Amendment applies only to secularists, and anyone who dares speak of God or Christianity is immediately exempted from its protections.

From a Washington Times Article today:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist introduced legislation this month stipulating that no federal law, directive, rule, instruction or order should limit any federal agency from providing support to the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts, including meetings held on federal property.

This happens far too often. Republicans caved in to the ACLU and denied the Boy Scouts their constitutional right to sponsorship on military bases, and now they’re backtracking and trying to do damage control. We shouldn’t have to pass new legislation to restore the rights our constitution already affords us.

The mid-November action was in response to an ongoing ACLU lawsuit that challenges a range of federal government support to the Boy Scouts, because the group administers a religious oath.

Our courts also administer a religious oath when people are sworn in to testify. Obviously, a reference to God in a government building by a government funded institution is not unconstitutional. Either that, or our founding Fathers and every judge for the last two centuries were sleeping when that oath was administered. Maybe no one noticed that prayers to God in the name of Jesus Christ have been given on the Senate floor for the last two centuries as well. How is it that a ban on religious speech in government buildings and at government funded gatherings is only now being found in our constitution?

If the ACLU wants to ban little boys from holding Boy Scout meetings on military bases because they profess a belief in God, they must also have a problem with Chaplains in the military. Chaplains perform baptisms, preach sermons on the God of the Bible and, even more extreme, they PRAY in government buildings while receiving a government salary. Really, the ACLU has hit on a goldmine by directing its terrorism toward the military. Men and women who put their lives on the line every day tend to do a lot of praying, and everything they do is funded by the government.

“To this legislator, the ACLU’s continued attacks on the Boy Scouts is starting to become its own form of persecution,” said the Tennessee Republican, a former Scout, in a floor speech Nov. 20.
He tried to get the measure through the Senate by unanimous consent in the waning days of the congressional session, but Senate Democrats rebuffed him.
“There’s no question” that Mr. Frist will bring the measure back next year, said his spokesman, Bob Stevenson.
Action may be brewing on the House side of Capitol Hill also.
“I think it is absolutely ridiculous about how some people are trying to stamp out any reference to God when the government is connected to it,” said Rep. Joel Hefley, Colorado Republican and another former Scout. “Here’s a character-building group that has done so much good. … We need more character-building organizations for young people, rather than discouraging it.” . . . . .

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Washington Times

The Palestinians are eating their own now, and the media is only too happy to clamp down on coverage of this “bad news”. If, however, it were Iraqis collapsing into a civil war, there would be 24 hour coverage of the growing “quagmire” and “complete failure” in Iraq.

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday instructed local reporters and photographers to refrain from covering the clashes between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority security forces.

In a statement, the syndicate, which is controlled by members of the ruling Fatah party said that “pictures that some journalists are conveying to the international and local public opinion don’t benefit the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation and independence.”

It warned the journalists against continuing to cover the “unfortunate clashes for fear that that they would add fuel to the fire.”

The syndicate warned that anyone who violates its instructions would have to bear the personal and legal consequences of his or her deeds. . . .

Jerusalem Post

New attacks in London today mimic the explosions that killed 54 people last week. Fortunately, Al Qaeda’s bomb maker was having a bad day and his bombs turned out to be duds (maybe he’s related to Richard Reid the failed shoe-bomber).

There were no casualties in todays attacks, and four unexploded devices remain. If successfully recovered by police, they could provide a wealth of information about the plots and the terrorists behind them. Investigators say testing reveals todays bombs are made of the same materials used in the attacks two weeks ago.

Two weeks to the day when terrorist attacks in London killed a total of 56 people, explosions struck three Underground stations and a bus Thursday afternoon.

The London police commissioner confirmed that four explosions occurred in the subway and on a bus in the Hackney neighborhood of East London. None of the explosions appear to have detonated properly. Officials are hoping that the left-over explosives will provide a wealth of forensic evidence to help investigators hunt down the bombers. – Fox News

The details of todays bombings from the BBC (also see a complete timeline here):

*Shepherd’s Bush: Reports of small explosion. Eyewitnesses reportedly see man run from scene. Large area cordoned off.

*Oval: Man runs off train after a small bang as train reaches station, eyewitnesses reportedly say. Large area cordoned off.

*Warren Street: Witnesses report hearing bang at front of train, passengers running to back of train and evacuating at station. Large area cordoned off.

*Hackney Road: Explosion on the top deck of number 26 bus traveling from Waterloo to Hackney. Large area cordoned off.

*University College Hospital: Armed police officers deployed for “incident”, thought to be search for suspect. Large area cordoned off. Incident later “stood down”.

*Injuries: One.

*Arrests: Police sources tell BBC two people detained, both in Whitehall area, officers looking for unknown number of fugitives.
Chemical and other agents: None found after initial checks at all three Tube stations and on bus.

*Tube closures: Hammersmith & City, Victoria and Northern lines suspended. Trains also not running on Piccadilly, Bakerloo and Circle lines. Police advise London workers to stagger their journeys home.

Evacuations in South London

Statement by London Police

Eyewitness accounts of bus bomb. Initial reports were that the bomb on the top level of a double-decker bus was a nail bomb much like those used by suicide bombers on Israeli buses.**

Police officers are searching London hospitals for singed, frustrated terrorists.

**Notice the difference in media coverage between terrorist attacks in Israel and similar attacks in London. If the same attacks, driven by the same ideology and using the same bombs, had taken place in Israel, it wouldn’t be reported as a terrorist attack that must be dealt with swiftly and forcefully.

The Liberal media may actually have to start calling Al Qaeda and Friends by the proper title now. When an Islamist kills a Christian, Jew, or an American soldier they are referred to by the media as a bomber, insurgent, or some such title intended to avoid stereotyping or offending murderers who murder in the name of religion. But, murdering people who receive special rights and protections because of their sexual choices should certainly rise to the level of terrorism, right?

Anti-war, anti-American Democrats must be feeling very conflicted by this news. Perhaps they’ll begin to realize Jihadists aren’t just the enemies of Christians, Jews, and Conservatives. Their lust for blood and destruction is directed at anyone unwilling to submit to Islam, even their de facto supporters in the U.S. and Europe.

A British LGBT civil rights group says its leaders have received death threats from Muslim fundamentalists and warns that gay clubs could be targets for terrorist bombers.

“Gay venues could be bombed by Islamic terrorists,” OutRage said Monday. “All gay bars and clubs should introduce bag and body searches. Muslim fundamentalists have a violent hatred of lesbians and gay men. They believe we should be killed. Our community could be their next target. This is no time for complacency.” . . . . . .

Suddenly, the time for complacency and appeasement is over. Heh.

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Gay News at 365gay.com

It’s absurd that these complaints were made, but it’s somewhat encouraging to people of faith in this country that the IRS and FEC ignored them. It’s maddening that secularists feel the First Amendment applies only to them. If they can smear elephant dung on the Virgin Marry and call it freedom of speech, we should be able to talk about the political future of this country wherever and whenever we want. The intended purpose of Jefferson’s letter containing the idea of a “separation of church and state” was to assure the Danbury Baptists that the government would stay the heck out of our churches. We don’t need the government telling us what we’re allowed to say in our sermons and church gatherings anymore than environmentalists, Wiccans, pagans, or atheists need their speech regulated. It seems to me a pretty simple thing to grasp if you live in a free country.

Two federal agencies have dismissed separate complaints related to messages by Rev. Jerry Falwell that were regarded by some as illegal political endorsements.

The Internal Revenue Service closed its books on a complaint about a seminary chapel speech in which Falwell personally endorsed President Bush’s re-election.

Separately, the Federal Election Commission dismissed a complaint related to statements Falwell, a WND columnist, made in a “Falwell Confidential” e-mail sent during the 2004 presidential election season.

Falwell’s chapel-service message was about spiritual maturity, and he emphasized any views expressed were his own. But a complaint was filed against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, based on an account in the Fort Worth Star Telegram of the Aug. 24, 2004, meeting.

Falwell and the seminary are represented by Liberty Counsel President and General Counsel Mathew D. Staver.

Staver pointed out the seminary’s chapel, scheduled three days a week, is a religious meeting in which outside speakers regularly are invited to address the students and faculty. . . . .

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WND

Opinions are coming from both directions as the media begins analyzing Bush’s nomination for the Supreme Court. Oddly enough, the Washington Post takes a somewhat supportive position. It must have pained them.

IN NOMINATING Judge John G. Roberts Jr. to the Supreme Court, President Bush picked a man of substance and seriousness. Judge Roberts has served only briefly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, but he was previously among the country’s best-regarded appellate lawyers, both in private practice and as deputy solicitor general during the administration of George H.W. Bush. Judge Roberts is a conservative, but he has never been an ideological crusader; he has admirers among liberals. If confirmed as the successor to Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, it is likely that he will shift the Supreme Court toward the right. But his nomination is not a provocation to Democrats — as some other possible nominees would have been. Mr. Bush deserves credit for selecting someone with the potential to attract broad support.

Of course, the Democrats are not without hope for at least a small scene, complete with Kennedy-esk (I reject all french spellings) ranting and spewing of much bile on the Senate floor and before the cameras.

This is not to say that Judge Roberts’ nomination will proceed without controversy. At least one of his opinions since joining the D.C. Circuit raises a concern about his views of the balance of power between the federal government and the states. In that case, Judge Roberts intimated that he might take a very narrow view of the power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce — the constitutional foundation of much of modern federal law. Judge Roberts poetically questioned whether “the taking of a hapless toad that, for reasons of its own, lives its entire life in California constitutes regulating ‘Commerce . . . among the several States.’ ” Senators will need to explore whether he envisions a dramatic revision of federal power.

While, they’ll likely confirm Roberts, they’ll be able to get in a pretty good Roe V. Wade rant as well.

Abortion rights advocates have objected to his having argued, as a lawyer for the government in a case about federal funding for family planning, “that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and should be overruled.” Judge Roberts has never said whether that brief reflected his own opinion. But the question has already come up anew — as have more general concerns that he is just too conservative.

Don’t look for the Dems to remember the last backroom confirmation deal where they agreed that ideology should not disqualify a person from the bench.

Some Conservative groups worry that Roberts may have a “Souter problem” due to his carefully worded decisions and ability to keep his personal beliefs for the most part unknown. I’m of the opinion that it won’t matter a decade from now anyway. History shows that Conservative judges appointed to the SCOTUS never remain conservative. Something about the power of the court, or perhaps the company they keep, inevitably moves their opinions and ideology to the Left. We can always hope that won’t be the case with Roberts. Either way, we have at least eliminated the swing vote for now, and moved the Court to the right.

Read People for the American Way’s scathing analysis of Roberts background here. Fortunately, even the Old Media seems to disagree with their conclusions.

If you’re feeling brave and haven’t just eaten lunch, read Ted Kennedy’s outburst here.

Naturally, the most critical (outside of the insanity Kennedy always puts out there) comes from the New York Times piece on Roberts. Captain’s Quarters points out that there are striking similarities between the NYT piece and Kennedy’s ravings.

Also, here’s the ACLJ’s take on the nomination (the ACLJ is a Christian/Conservative response to the ACLU)

I’ve known Judge Roberts for 17 years and litigated with him at the Supreme Court of the United States.

There can be no question that Judge Roberts is exceptionally well qualified to serve as the next Supreme Court Justice. He has served with distinction on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and has a keen understanding of the Constitution.

In my dealings with Judge Roberts over the years, I have found him to be a lawyer’s lawyer, exhibiting uncommon insight and judgment. A man of character, Judge Roberts understands the Constitution and has a record of applying the law — not legislating from the bench.

But his nomination has invoked strong opposition from groups like People For the American Way, Planned Parenthood, and others – because they know that the next Supreme Court Justice will play a pivotal role in major decisions regarding religious freedom … abortion … pornography … and more.

And they know that John G. Roberts, Jr. will impartially pursue justice and uphold the Constitution and the rule of law in all matters.

The Leftwing Loons in the blogosphere are on a rant about the Bush smirk today. If you watched Bush’s nomination speech last night, you probably noticed it. I did, and wondered how long it would take for the media or the Daily Kos to get their undies in a twist over it.

There was a very good reason for that smirk. I would have done more than smirk.

Judge Robert’s son decides to do a little dancing during his Dad’s big moment.

The government warned doctors Tuesday to be on the lookout for rare but deadly infections in women using the abortion pill RU-486 (search), citing two more deaths after its use.

At least five U.S. women have died after taking the pill since it began selling in 2000, although the Food and Drug Administration (search) stressed that it could not prove the drug was to blame.

But the four deaths caused by bloodstream infections, or sepsis (search), all occurred in women who didn’t follow FDA-approved instructions for a pill-triggered abortion, said agency drug chief Dr. Steven Galson.

Now if our government would only acknowledge the risks women face when having an abortion. There are more risks than many minor procedures that actually require parental consent before they’re done on a minor. How screwed up is that?

Approximately 10% of women undergoing elective abortion will suffer immediate complications, of which approximately one-fifth (2%) are considered life threatening. The nine most common major complications which can occur at the time of an abortion are: infection, excessive bleeding, embolism, ripping or perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury, and endotoxic shock. The most common “minor” complications include: infection, bleeding, fever, second degree burns, chronic abdominal pain, vomiting, gastrointestinal disturbances, and Rh sensitization. (Link)

Fox News Article

The rumors are flying as to who Bush will announce tonight for his Supreme Court nomination. Receiving the most attention is Judge Edith Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. Clement isn’t the strong conservative most of us would hope for and seems to be seen by most on the right as a risk due to the lack of a paper trail indicating her judicial philosophy. However, the Bush administration may be counting on her unanimous confirmation in 2001 to squelch any filibuster by the Democrats. If Clement is the SCOTUS pick to replace O’Connor, Bush may be saving the big battle for Renquist’s replacement. Or, as Conservatives have come to expect from their leaders, he could be cowering before the Liberal attack machine, repeating exactly what gave us the Supreme Court we have today.

The president is set to announce his Supreme Court nominee tonight at 9 p.m. ET, according to spokesman Scott McClellan.

The name of the nominee remained unknown. While many Republican strategists are anticipating that his choice will be Judge Edith Clement of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, other observers were cautious about speculating.

Washington Post

For more info on other rumored choices and Clements background see here:

Captain’s Quarters

Michelle Malkin

Supreme Court Nomination Blog

I wouldn’t want to be in the IDF right now. The Israeli military and the Sharon government were just given a preview of what they’ll be facing when they move to evict Jews in Gaza from their homes.

In previous days the Israeli government, the IDF, and the Israeli police have expressed concern that protesters numbering in the 100′s of thousands would likely overpower the disengagement forces. That’s exactly what happened. In what is being billed the “greatest protest in Israeli history,” tens of thousands tonight made it to an overnight rest stop on their way to Gaza after breaching a barrier of thousands of security forces and running across thorny fields. A human chain of 10,000 soldiers were overrun by protesters starting what will be a three day walk to Gaza. Recognizing they were outnumbered, some soldiers dispersed to join the protesters and others were left on the roadside and later bussed out of the area.

More than 20,000 soldiers and troops now are deployed along the route. Police commanders warned the marchers would be stopped, but Yesha leader Bentzi Lieberman told WND, “The march may have been declared illegal, but it will take place. We will get into Gush Katif.”

If protesters breach the first two checkpoints, which have several hundred police officers deployed, they will be met at the third checkpoint – about two city blocks from the rally site – by a force of 12,000 officers fortified with heavy military vehicles and hundreds of horses.

Leaders said the march would be peaceful. But earlier in the day, the Yesha Council warned the blocking of the protest could send events “spiraling out of control.”

When this uprising reaches Gaza, they may very well face terrorist rocket attacks and suicide bombers. I’m sure they know that and are prepared to give their lives to support their fellow Jews and oppose a government bent on rewarding terrorism. They show no signs of backing down, and the Sharon government has demonstrated an inability to stop them.

Summing up the evening’s events, Yesha leader Bentzi Lieberman, who was with the crowd, told WND, “What the world is witnessing is history in the making. The people of Israel are speaking. And we are saying ‘no’ to the immoral [disengagement.] We will soon say ‘no’ in Gaza, where we will arrive, determined as ever.”

Israel defeated the Arab countries who attacked her in the 67 war against all odds. I won’t be surprised if 100,000 civilians stop the IDF and stop the handover of more Israeli land. If they’re unsuccessful, the Palestinians will surely do the job for them by increasing the number of terrorist attacks as we get closer to the date of evacuation and disengagement. I’ve never understood their logic in doing that. It’s a good thing to not understand the minds of obsessed mass murderers.

Israeli multitudes breach police lines

100,000 Israelis march to Gaza

UPDATE:
Sharon is creating his own spin in the media, downplaying the size of the protest, and claiming his police force will have no problem stopping a mere 40 to 50,000 protesters. They don’t mention that his police force had to wait until the protesters had bedded down for the night to “fence them in”.

I think they’re a little more concerned than they let on.

Israel’s police early Tuesday were placed on a rare “state of emergency alert,” their highest alert status.

Public Security Minister Gideon Ezra said Tuesday that “The issue that most concerns us, is that we see to it that no one will reach Gush Katif. That is the goal.”

Police have mobilizes all of their forces, with officers returning from leaves and working longer shifts, to cover duties nationwide as more than 10,000 police and troops seek to prevent demonstrators from breaking through roadblocks.

And that part about 100,000 protesters plowing through a human chain of 10,000 soldiers? That was just “police officials allowing the planned three-day demonstration to continue much as originally planned”.

The government, fearing that the marchers would realize their goal of reaching Gush Katif and thus obstructing the planned disengagement, last week declared the Strip off-limits to non-resident Israelis. Police further ruled the protest illegal, although police officials have allowed the planned three-day demonstration to continue much as originally planned.

Late on Monday, police officials, apparently reversing an earlier decision, allowed tens of thousands of anti-pullout demonstrators to sleep at the Israeli village of Kfar Maimon hours after protesters began their Gush Katif solidarity march from Netivot.

Several links at Drudge don’t bode well for Europe. It turns out Socialist, anti-Semitic, corrupt governments aren’t all powerful and supreme after all. God always gets the last word – especially when it comes to cursing Israel.

Drought tightens its deadly grip in Europe

France faces drought, locusts

Million at risk in Italy heatwave

Power Blackouts Hit Rome; Cause Unknown

Watch for reports of the elderly perishing in France as their children leave them home to face the heatwave while they leave for month-long vacations. Secularists really are more compassionate. NOT!

Things are heating up as Israel approaches the Gaza evacuation deadline. Sharon is likely having a few sleepless nights by now, and many IDF troops are doing some soul searching. Soon each IDF soldier and every Israeli police officer will have to decide whether they’re going to follow orders and do to their fellow Jews what Hitler did in the ghettos of Nazi Germany. Some have already made their decision.

As many (on the Right) predicted, thousands of protesters are coming together against their own government and Sharon’s pro-terrorist, forced evacuation plan. This growing opposition is having an affect. Arutz Sheva reports that “the IDF fears a collapse of defenses against massive opposition to the expulsion.” Unfortunately, this means IDF soldiers will replace police as the enforcers of the evacuation from Gaza. Blood will be shed, Jews will murder Jews, and the Israeli Left won’t shed a tear. They reserve that kind of sympathy for Palestinian terrorists and Jew hating, Islamofascists.

Anti-Israel bias is on the rise, as well. The Associated Press reported yesterday that Israel “left the truce agreement in tatters” when they killed five Hamas militants in a series of air strikes. Since the latest so-called truce was signed between Israel and the Palestinians, numerous suicide bombers have launched attacks, killing innocent civilians inside Israel. Hamas has repeatedly launched Qassam rockets into Israeli settlements and cities. Yet, the AP wants us to believe that the truce was broken only when Israel dared to retaliate.

In support of Sharon’s plan to reward terrorists with Jewish land, homes, and businesses, the media is also doing its part by referring to the settlers who oppose being thrown out of their homes as “extremists”. This coming from the same media morons that refer to terrorists as freedom fighters, terrorist attacks in Iraq as “the insurgency”, and Islamists as “religious” extremists. Start forced evacuations in Los Angeles, Seattle, New York City, and Hollyweird, and see how fast these same liberals become “extremists” themselves.

More on the Gaza Pullout:

Protests break out at Gaza entrance

Settlers to march on Gaza despite police ban

9 IDF soldiers refuse to block Gaza, two go AWOL in Gush Katif

Rice, Abbas shield Hamas killers

Gaza violence reaches boiling point

UPDATE:

Read this and marvel at the Associated Press’ ignorant claim that Israel is responsible for leaving the Israeli/Palestinian “truce” in tatters.

The U.S. won a victory in the war on terror today, and, oddly enough, it came through our own court system. A federal appeals court finally displayed some common sense in a decision on the status of detainees captured in the war on terror.

As is explained in the panel’s decision, the protections of the Geneva Convention apply only to those captured in a war with another state, not an international terrorist network hiding among the civilian population. The forces fighting in any conflict where the GC can be applied must wear uniforms and clear insignia identifying them as the enemy. This was included in the tenets of the Convention to protect innocent civilians from harm, something the terrorist detainees clearly oppose. The GC also stipulates that both sides of a conflict must adhere to the convention if its protections are to be applied to either side’s captured forces. The Democrats who want the Geneva Conventions applied to Al Qaeda must then believe that the terrorists are abiding by these same rules of war. I don’t remember beheadings, or intentionally targeting innocent civilians for murder being acceptable under the GC.

It seems obvious to most of us that an international terrorist network would not fall under the classification of prisoners of war when captured, but don’t expect the left to understand this obvious concept. The angry tantrums will only get louder, and the Left will ramp up its efforts to gain protections and benefits for extremist murderers that exceed even what our own troops are allowed.

A Guantanamo detainee who once was
Osama bin Laden’s driver can be tried by military tribunal, a federal appeals court ruled Friday, apparently clearing the way for the
Pentagon to resume trials suspended when a lower court ruled the procedures unlawful.

A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni.

More broadly it said that the 1949 Geneva Convention governing prisoners of war does not apply to al-Qaida and its members. That supports a key assertion of the Bush administration, which has faced international criticism for holding hundreds of terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay without full POW protections.

“I think pretty much the entire opinion would be welcomed by the administration. I think there’s nothing in there that is adverse to the administration’s positions,” Carl Tobias, a professor of law at the University of Richmond, said in a telephone interview. “It’s a very pro-administration decision.” . . . . .

Associated Press

Read the Court’s opinion here.

Other Sources: Captain’s Quarters, Michelle Malkin, Powerline

Like me, many conservatives are frustrated with the Bush administrations handling of the border threat and illegal immigration. Recent reports being investigated by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., prove we were right to be concerned, but they also prove it may already be too late to do something about it. According to intelligence reports and information gathered from captured terrorists, sleeper cells have already crossed the border from the south, and they’ve brought with them nuclear weapons paid for by Bin Laden and purchased from former Russian agents and Chechen rebels.

The next terrorist attack on the United States is code named by the terrorists themselves “American Hiroshima”, and their goal is to kill 4 million Americans, 2 million of them children. Read the articles below for an in depth look at what we are now facing. Migrant workers from Mexico will not save our economy when nukes start going off in major cities and population centers. It’s unfortunate that our war time President hasn’t realized this.

Tancredo to request al-Qaida nuke briefing

Russian WMDs hidden in U.S.?

The threat we won’t discuss

An American Hiroshima

Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a staunch critic of the federal government’s lax immigration and border enforcement policies, said yesterday he would request a briefing from the Justice Department on information it has on plans revealed by WND this week for a nuclear attack on the U.S. by al-Qaida terrorists.

Tancredo said he was greatly alarmed by the report and would seek whatever information he could get from the nation’s law enforcement authorities – either in classified or unclassified reports.

Tancredo also plans to meet with the author of a book that provides new evidence al-Qaida has used the insecure Mexican border to bring nuclear devices into the country along with thousands of sleeper agents.

Al-Qaida’s plans, known as “America’s Hiroshima” according to captured terrorists and terrorist documents, calls for the multiple detonation of nuclear weapons, already in the possession of Osama bin Laden’s operatives currently inside the U.S. The agents and arms having been smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border with the help of the MS-13 street gang and other organized crime groups. . . . .

Considering the previous news story, this proposal sounds like the most dangerous thing we could do with our nuclear weapons plants. China has threatened to use nuclear weapons against the United States, and, according to a federal advisory task force, we should provide a tempting target for them?

I can understand the need to protect ourselves from terrorist attacks on our nuclear weapons complex, but we can’t ignore our other enemies and put ourselves in danger to do so. Why not spend the money necessary to secure our nuclear facilities across the country, instead of moving warheads to one location for easy destruction by a non-terrorist, military threat.

The country’s nuclear weapons plants and sensitive material such as plutonium should be consolidated at a single site to increase security and reduce targets for terrorists, a federal advisory task force says.

A report made public Thursday also urged the Energy Department to speed development of sturdier, more reliable nuclear warheads that can be maintained more easily and last longer. Such a program is in the early design stages.

The report by a special task force of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board has yet to be approved by the full board. But it is expected to weigh heavily in the future configuration of the governments nuclear weapons complex, including activities at three weapons design laboratories in New Mexico and California.

While such labs have been modernized, production facilities are “World War II era … lacking in modern-day production technology and striving to optimize performance with antiquated equipment and facilities,” the report said.

It recommended consolidating the most critical parts of the weapons complex, now spread across eight facilities, into a single site with “cutting edge nuclear component production, manufacturing and assembly technologies.” . . . . . .

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Associated Press

Some have shrugged off this threat as “one that has been made before”. But, what makes this threat from China more frightening than any danger we faced in the cold war, is that the threat of mutual destruction works in their favor. A communist country that tortures and murders its own citizens will think nothing of sacrificing millions to protect its communist government.

China has been quietly building up its military, especially over the last few years, and we have to believe their doing so for more than defense purposes. We must make it clear to the Chinese that a nuclear attack from China would not result in isolated nuclear attacks on their cities. The only thing the Chinese government will understand is the threat of total destruction. While we will lose cities, they will cease to exist.

A Chinese military official says Beijing will use nuclear weapons against the U.S. if the Americans attack the Asian nation in a fight over Taiwan.

“If the Americans draw their missiles and position-guided ammunition on to the target zone on China’s territory, I think we will have to respond with nuclear weapons,” Zhu Chenghu, a major general in the People’s Liberation Army, said at an official briefing, according to the Financial Times.

Speaking at a function organized for foreign journalists, the official noted the definition of China’s territory includes warships and aircraft.

“If the Americans are determined to interfere [then] we will be determined to respond,” Zhu said. “We Chinese will prepare ourselves for the destruction of all of the cities east of Xian. Of course, the Americans will have to be prepared that hundreds … of cities will be destroyed by the Chinese.” . . . . .

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WND

Muslims committed mass murder of innocent civilians yet again, and the AP still finds a way to blame Israel. Contrary to the AP’s claims, Israel didn’t have advanced warning of the terrorist attacks on London, but that won’t stop the Old Media from playing the “fraudulent but accurate” card.

Reports that he received prior warning about yesterday’s deadly London terror attacks “have no basis in reality,” former Prime Minister Benjamin Netantyahu told WorldNetDaily this morning.

“Absolutely not. The reports are entirely false,” said Netanyahu, still in London on a trip to address a corporate investment conference yesterday at the Great Eastern hotel near the site of one of the blasts.

Immediately following the attacks, media reports quoted an Associated Press story claiming British intelligence told the Israeli Embassy in London minutes before yesterday’s explosions it had received warnings of possible terror attacks in the city.

The AP wrote it was told by a senior foreign ministry official that just before the blasts, Scotland Yard called the security officer at the Israeli Embassy and said warnings of possible attacks had been received. The embassy then allegedly told Netanyahu to stay in his hotel room and not attend the economic conference. . . . . .

If it makes the terrorists look bad, blame the Jews. If it makes the Jews look bad, run the coverage 24/7 for days and never admit to your lies and fraudulent reporting. If you can see the hypocrisy in this policy, you probably get your news from blogs and alternative news sorces.

If a teenage girl goes to a hospital for practically any non-emergency medical treatment, the hospital must gain the consent of the parents or guardians before providing such service. Yet Planned Parenthood and the ACLU continue to be relentless forces against laws requiring that parents be notified if a teenage girl seeks to have an abortion. Idaho has had more than one such parental consent law struck down as “unconstitutional” by the federal courts, and has recently had another struck down.

The Idaho Legislature passed 405 bills that are expected to go into effect today, but one of those laws may not get on the books after all.

A federal district court has ruled Idaho’s parental consent law is unconstitutional….

State Rep. Bill Sali of Kuna sponsored the bill and maintains parents have a right to know when their daughter gets the procedure. Sali also claims the abortion rate in Idaho decreased during the years the law was in place between 2001 and 2004, when the high court struck it down.

“Abortion was a crime in this country for 200 years, and now it’s protected so much you can’t even let parents have involvement with their children,” Sali said in response to today’s development. “To me that’s a signal. Our courts today, and the way these cases are being reviewed– there’s something broken there.”

This should serve to remind us all of a couple things. First, let us never doubt that the ACLU is up to its neck in this culture of death. They will fight harder for the right of an irresponsible teenager to kill an unborn child than they will for the right of schools to provide sex education that stresses abstinence. Second, as if we needed another reminder, we should never forget that the tyranny of the federal judiciary is alive and well. Thomas Jefferson foresaw this and called it an “oligarchy of despotism.” Indeed, that’s what we have. We need judges that will rightly interpret and apply the constitution instead of judges who devalue human life and deprive citizens of property if it means more tax revenue. Are your senators blocking an up or down vote for such justices? If they are, remember to send them a message the next time THEY campaign for an up or down vote.

KBCI TV Report