The Thistle in the Kilt of Celtic Music. . .

Wolfstone

Erin

ACLU sues USA over Drone use? WTF?

Well, everyone EVERYWHERE has the rights of US citizens, and the protection of the American Constitution, right?

The American Civil Liberties Union sued the federal government Tuesday to learn the use of unmanned drones for targeted killings by the military and CIA.

"In particular, the lawsuit asks for information on when, where and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, the number and rate of civilian casualties and other basic information essential for assessing the wisdom and legality of using armed drones to conduct targeted killings," the ACLU said in a statement, announcing its action.

The nonprofit civil liberties group filed initial Freedom of Information Act requests with the Defense, Justice and State departments and with the Central Intelligence Agency on Jan. 13. Only the CIA responded, and the ACLU is pursuing that request with an appeal to the agency.

The military and intelligence communities have increasingly relied on Predator and Reaper unmanned drones to capture video imagery and launch deadly missile strikes, particularly lately in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. The Pentagon, especially, continues to purchase more and more drones each year.

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Continue reading ACLU sues USA over Drone use? WTF?.

Muslim Turkey Promises Another Armenian Genocide if you Speak of the First Armenian Genocide: Prime Minister Threatens Mass "Deportations"

The truth about Islamic jihad

The Prime Minister of Turkey is promising mass deportations of Armenian Christians. Isn't that how the last Armenian genocide began?

Click on the title to get the whole story at Atlas Shrugs.

Khamenei Torched at Fire Festival… Iranian Protesters Cry Out For Obama

UPDATE: From Planet Iran– People are chanting a new message to Obama saying: “Hossein, Hossein, stop trying to talk to our murderers!”

---

After Ayatollah Khamenei urged Iranians to shun the “Un-Islamic” Night of Fire Festivities… They torched him.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday urged Iranians to shun the Persian fire festival as an un-Islamic event which causes “a lot of harm.”

But instead, close to 1,000 Iranians torched his image in Azadi Square.

Planet Iran reported that several protests broke out across Iran. Security guards were overpowered on Geesha Bridge in Tehran. Young Iranians at Vali Asr area of Tehran threw firecrackers at security guards. Several more protests were reported.

(ISNA)

(ISNA)

New Poll Finds Americans Really, Really Don’t Like Obamacare …Update: 46% of Doctors Consider Quitting

From Gateway:

It’s beyond sleazy.
A new poll shows that Obamacare is very unpopular with the majority of Americans.
Pajamas Media reported:

Today, the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest Advance (CMPI-A), in partnership with Pajamas Media, is releasing national survey data on Americans’ views of the proposed health care reform legislation before Congress…

The CMPI-A/PJM poll demonstrates an extremely high level of concern with the current bill:

· Six in ten Americans (60%) agree that a current Democrat proposal to send the Senate health care bill to the president without voting up or down on it is “unfair.”

· Most Americans oppose (81%) health care reforms that would increase insurance premiums for healthy people to offset premiums of people who wait until they are diagnosed with an illness to purchase insurance.

· Eight Americans in ten (81%) oppose allowing the government to decide what kind of health care coverage Americans are able to purchase.

· Most Americans (87%) oppose having a government panel recommend or decide what medical procedures or medical advances your doctor or health plan can or cannot use.

· More than eight Americans in ten (84%) support reforms that would allow people to buy health insurance where it is the least expensive, such as across state lines.

· Three in four Americans (76%) oppose health care reforms that would raise taxes and cut Medicare benefits to pay for health care subsidies for expanded coverage for those currently insured.

UPDATE: Another poll finds nearly half the nation’s physicians would consider quitting if the bill becomes law. The New England Journal of Medicine survey indicates 46 percent of doctors would consider leaving their practice.

Netanyahu's Brother-in-Law: "The Truth is Obama's an Anti-Semite, We're Dealing With a President Who Was Educated by Anti-Semitic Preacher Jeremiah Wright"

Tough to argue with that statement...

Click on the title to read the story.

A Detention Bill You Ought to Read More Carefully

For anyone who took my advice (why in the world would you?) and kept a wary eye on stories about the military having the authority to round up civilians but not to get overly worried about it -- yet --

it's ok. Start worrying.

from The Atlantic h/t Michael Travis

A Detention Bill You Ought to Read More Carefully
By Marc Ambinder

Why is the national security community treating the "Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010," introduced by Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman on Thursday as a standard proposal, as a simple response to the administration's choices in the aftermath of the Christmas Day bombing attempt? A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity. Read the bill here, and then read the summarized points after the jump.

According to the summary, the bill sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be held in military custody, interrogated for their intelligence value and not provided with a Miranda warning.

(There is no distinction between U.S. persons--visa holders or citizens--and non-U.S. persons.)

It would require these "belligerents" to be coded as "high-value detainee[s]" to be held in military custody and interrogated for their intelligence value by a High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team established by the president. (The H.I.G., of course, was established to bring a sophisticated interrogation capacity to the federal justice system.)

Any suspected unprivileged enemy belligerents considered a "high-value detainee" shall not be provided with a Miranda warning.

The bill asks the President to determine criteria for designating an individual as a "high-value detainee" if he/she: (1) poses a threat of an attack on civilians or civilian facilities within the U.S. or U.S. facilities abroad; (2) poses a threat to U.S. military personnel or U.S. military facilities; (3) potential intelligence value; (4) is a member of al Qaeda or a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda or (5) such other matters as the President considers appropriate. The President must submit the regulations and guidance to the
appropriate committees of Congress no later than 60 days after enactment.

To the extent possible, the High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team must make a preliminary determination whether the detainee is an unprivileged enemy belligerent within 48 hours of taking detainee into custody.

The High-Value Detainee Interrogation Team must submit its determination to the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General after consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General make a final determination and report the determination to the President and the appropriate committees of Congress. In the case of any disagreement between the Secretary of Defense and the Attorney General, the President will make the determination.

Note that the president himself doesn't get to make the call.

Alert forces aircraft to return

An aircraft bound for Luton Airport was forced to return to Romania 15 minutes into the flight after a security alert.

The Wizz Air plane, with about 165 passengers on board, touched down safely back at Timisiora in Romania.

It is thought Timisoara airport received an anonymous call shortly after the plane took off early in the morning.

A Luton Airport spokeswoman said: "The plane had to go back to Timisoara. It's understood it was a hoax call."

She said that the aircraft should have landed at Luton at 0720 GMT and was now expected in the early afternoon.

==============================================

Midnight Rider butting in here since Pasto got to posting this before me. . .

Does every bomb threat need to be checked out? Absolutely, without equivocation.

But I wonder whether every hoax should be reported by the media. Al Qaida and their ilk are not known for giving warning before killing and everytime a hoax is reported by the media it only encourages more hoaxes which may divert our attention from a real threat elsewhere (and that may be their intention in some cases).

A stopped attack -- the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, the blond bimbos, even the Ford Hood shooter -- should be reported, to bring attention to the threat in our midst, as a reminder poeple need to continue to be vigilant and give them a clue as to what they should be watching for.

A hoax merely distracts and stresses a population already suffering from threat fatigue.

Just my 2 cents. . .

Krauthammer and Kristol don't need no steenking FoxNews so what gives on Wilders?

Image via Wikipedia

Last week while paying half attention to Brett Baier's show on Fox I heard the 'crew' mention Geert Wilders and I thought, 'well, finally' and then I heard Krauthammer condemn Wilder's for calling to ban the Quran (actually what he said was if you are going to ban hate speech, then we ought to be examining the Quran for just that), and then Bill Kristol called Wilders a demagogue ...well arguable, but harsh. My reaction was just short of outright total shock.

Since neither of these men need to be on Fox considering their other accomplishments I have a hard time going along with some other authors who see the evil editorial conspiracies of Prince Talal who has a spermatic business exchange of moneys with Murdoch over newservices investments going both ways.

I believe them to be terribly in error (as apparently do Dutch voters).

I have personally said that if a mosque here in the USA actively teaches those parts of the Quran and Hadith which incite to violence, and violence results, the board of director of such a mosque should be held to account criminally, and civilly. When some mosques are buried under fantastically large lawsuits, the teaching WILL STOP. Legally. And as a direct cause of those laws which also destroyed Aryan Nation.

I don't see much difference between the process used by the SPLC, and given the murder of Theo Van Gogh and the Cartoon Jihad, ETC, and what Geert Wilders is calling for in stating that if hate speech is going to be banned, and freedom of speech proscribed by limited religious offense, then blind application should be the result.

Nor, Mr. Kristol, do I find the heart of that request ANY kind of demagoguery.

King James Bible, Torah, Quran, whatever ..FINE BY ME. Either that, or allow freedom of speech, AND ENFORCE IT against those who would use intimidation to limit it.

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President Obama’s advisors choose Jerusalem as ground for their big fight

From Ynet:

A “Sister Souljah moment” in American politics occurs when a politician chooses to loudly rebuke a traditional ally to show they’re not beholden.

The Biden dust-up is such a moment.

Israelis are right to be insulted by the unequal and coerced treatment they have received at the hands of the Obama Administration. President Obama’s intentions are public and on the record. His Administration’s hostility toward the Jewish State is embedded in their agenda.

No amount of hand wringing will change the facts. No amount of “Hasbara” will deflect their enmity. No amount of “explaining” will alter the Administration’s animosity or change their intentions.

Imposing a two-state solution is at the heart of the Administration’s foreign policy. They are mesmerized by the idea of a two-state solution.

Create a Palestinian state and in one stroke America will defang Islamic terrorism and achieve political detoxification of the Middle East. Acting as midwife to a Palestine state, America's image in the Muslim world will be remade. Transformed in an instant.

In response to last week’s Biden dust-up, President Obama has employed a time tested political tactic for turning a negative into a positive. Shine a media spotlight on it. They’ve turned the Biden dust-up into really big news. On purpose.

From the Obama Administration’s perspective, their “let me remind you who is boss” Chicago style bluster and fury aimed at Prime Minister Netanyahu this past week is a winner.

Now they have a political excuse to “hammer the Jews” and show the world how tough minded they can be. The American president sent a message. He intends to apply unrelenting pressure on Israel. Cheering from the sidelines a spellbound Europe chants, "And about time."

The political truth is that the Obama Administration will get away with their “hammer the Jews” strategy unless there is a political price to pay in the 2010 American elections.

Which brings us to an interesting juncture. A crossroads has been reached. Will the two-state train continue to roar down the track or can it be derailed?

To fully comprehend the circumstance we must take into account an important development. Right now the Obama Administration is in a politically weakened condition.

Ball in our court

Let me repeat that. The Obama administration is plagued with serious political problems. Obama’s poll numbers seven months out from the 2010 mid-term elections are dismal. According to the daily track from Scott Rasmussen 42% strongly disapprove of the way Obama is performing as president while 27% strongly approve. Overall, 53% somewhat disapprove and 46% somewhat approve. (Sunday, March 14, 2010)

Health Care, his signature domestic legislation, has the Administration tied in knots with no options but bad ones. His foreign policy is perceived a dismal failure. He is particularly vulnerable on charges of being soft on terrorism.

At the moment the American political dynamic is propelled by discontent. Anger over a broken economy. Unemployment. Debt and spending. Cronyism. Scandal.

The president’s party has suffered major election defeats in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. Each one seen as a rebuff to his policies. He’s lost independent voters. Moderate Democratic Party office holders are scurrying away.

For President Obama the 2010 midterm election is a looming disaster.

There is organized, determined opposition to the president and his policies. His opposition is almost universally supportive of Israel. His antipathy toward the Jewish state is not shared. “Hammer the Jews” is not a consensus policy in America. A two-state solution is not a foregone conclusion.

Many who oppose the Administration see an opportunity to make their own point about a myopic Obama foreign policy that coddles terrorists at home, bows to the Saudi king abroad, offers public apologies to Islam, and twists the arm of its allies.

The president is vulnerable. The opposition intends to cause damage. Real damage. Political damage. The kind they pay attention to.

President Obama’s political advisors have embraced this “Sister Souljah moment.” They have chosen Jerusalem as the ground for their big fight.

The ball is now in our court.

We should take up the challenge.

I guess my only question about this article is, if there is not a "two-state solution", then what solution will there be.

Certainly, a two-state solution would be preferable to a one-state solution, which would lead, inevitably to the demographic destruction of the Jewish homeland.

So, if Israel does not work toward a two-state solution, I can see only two other options;

1) stasis - we keep doing the same thing for the rest of eternity ...

2) population transfer

The first is stupid. The second would only push the problem a bit further away.

Actually none of the solutions will end the problem, but at least a two-state solution would force the Palestinians to actually take responsibility for themselves.

(Oh, and by the way, the "two-state solution" I am thinking of does not include a contiguous state for the Palestinians. The United States of America is not a contiguous state. Alaska and Hawaii are separated from the rest of our homeland. If we can do it, then so can the Palestinians.)

In my opinion, Israel ought never give another inch of land to the Palestinians. And, any two-state solution decision ought to be made unilaterally by Israel. They ought not consult with anyone else on the parameters of their decision, because they have no reasonable "partner for peace."

Here's the question to address; is Gaza really more dangerous to Israel than the West Bank? I don't think so. What do you think? And, if so, what does it really matter?

As it is, the Palestinians have their state without any of the responsibilities. It seems to me, that is an untenable situation for Israel.

Why is the Obama admin making the current row with Israel into Mt McKinley?

Image via Wikipedia

Atlantic Mag:

What Obama is Actually Trying to Do in Israel

Mar 16 2010, 11:07 AM ET

There is much speculation that this kerfluffle over 1,600 theoretical apartments on the wrong side of the green line in Jerusalem will lead to a rupture in American-Israeli relations, but analysts who suggest this are missing the point of President Obama's maneuverings. I've been on the phone with many of the usual suspects (White House and otherwise), and I think it's fair to say that Obama is not trying to destroy America's relations with Israel; he's trying to organize Tzipi Livni's campaign for prime minister, or at least for her inclusion in a broad-based centrist government. I'm not actually suggesting that the White House is directly meddling in internal Israeli politics, but it's clear to everyone -- at the White House, at the State Department, at Goldblog -- that no progress will be made on any front if Avigdor Lieberman's far-right party, Yisrael Beiteinu, and Eli Yishai's fundamentalist Shas Party, remain in Netanyahu's surpassingly fragile coalition.

So what is the goal? The goal is force a rupture in the governing coalition that will make it necessary for Netanyahu to take into his government Livni's centrist Kadima Party (he has already tried to do this, but too much on his terms) and form a broad, 68-seat majority in Knesset that does not have to rely on gangsters, messianists and medievalists for votes. It's up to Livni, of course, to recognize that it is in Israel's best interests to join a government with Netanyahu and Barak, and I, for one, hope she puts the interests of Israel ahead of her own ambitions.

Obama knows that this sort of stable, centrist coalition is the key to success. He would rather, I understand, not have to deal with Netanyahu at all -- people near the President say that, for one thing, Obama doesn't think that Netanyahu is very bright, and there is no chemistry at all between the two men -- but he'd rather have a Netanyahu who is being pressured from his left than a Netanyahu who is being pressured from the right.

Isn't that special? Try to imagine what would be going on here (properly) if Netanyahu was controlling a public crypto campaign to force out Obama, or compel him to turn to Bart Stupak for a veto on all decision before they could be implemented.

This explanation comes closest to a rational explanation for some of the behaviors we have seen. But it doesn't take into account the cynically recognizable situation afterward in which the only difference between THAT kind of USA and Russia or China is that WE VOTE (when Pelosi is not talking about DEEMING TO HAVE PASSED) and they don't but to the Israelis, it's scant difference. And, of course, if that is the case, maybe they can swap some Arrow software for those SU-35's and a few Kilo's. eh?

Think the Roosians care about an apartment building being a quarter of a mile this way or that?

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Mass Dem Treasurer Has a Warning For America: We Have Universal Health Care in Mass, If Obama Enacts it on a National Level it Will "Wipe Out the US Economy in Four Years"

Click on the title to read the whole thing.

OBAMA CONDEMN'S ISRAEL FOR BUILDING APARTMENTS IN JEWISH PARTS OF JERUSALEM, BUT NOT AHMADINEJAD FOR BUILDING NUKES

From Astute Bloggers:

ITEM #1:

• LAST SUMMER, OBAMA DITHERED AS IRANIANS TOOK TO THE STREETS TO PROTEST THE TYRANNY THEY LIVE UNDER - A TYRANNY WHICH THREATENS THE ENTIRE FREE WORLD.

• OBAMA "APPARENTLY" WANTED TO CALM THINGS DOWN. ESSENTIALLY, THAT HELPED AHMADINEJAD AND KHAMEINI.

ITEM #2:

• THIS PAST WEEK, OBAMA - AND BIDEN AND HILLARY - ACTUALLY HELPED HAMAS INCITE RIOTS AGAINST OUR ALLY ISRAEL.

PALIN SEES IT:

Sarah Palin scolded the radical Obama Administration today for embracing the dangerous anti-American regimes while attacking another great American ally, Israel.

From her Facebook Page:

The Obama Administration reaches out to some of the world’s worst regimes in the name of their engagement policy. America and our allies watch as sanctions are eased on Cuba.

Letters are written to Iran’s mullahs only to see that regime start killing protestors in the streets of Tehran.

Envoys are sent to North Korea as they continue to defy the world’s demand to give up their nuclear weapons.

The Burmese military junta’s representative is allowed to travel to our nation’s capital.

The President’s envoy for Sudan talks about giving that genocidal regime “gold stars,” while the President shakes hands with Venezuela’s tyrannical leader.

In the midst of all this embracing of enemies, where does the Obama Administration choose to escalate a minor incident into a major diplomatic confrontation? With Iran, Cuba, Sudan, North Korea or Burma? No. With our treasured ally, Israel.

AND LET'S NOT FORGET HOW HE TRIED TO PROP UP ZELAYA!

AND IS WILLING TO SIGN A TREATY WITH THE TALIBAN!

THERE'S NO DENYING IT:

OBAMA IS THE WORST POTUS EVER: EVIL, TREACHEROUS, TRAITOROUS.

YES: TRAITOROUS: HE GIVES AID AND SUCCOR TO OUR ENEMIES AND HINDERS OUR ALLIES.

ENOUGH! OBAMA MUST GO!

UPDATE: COMMENTARY:

Mitt Romney’s spokesman e-mails me:

“Governor Romney believes that President Obama spends way too much time placating our enemies while undermining our friends. Israel is one of our greatest allies, and has made many concessions for peace over the years, yet the Obama administration exerts pressure on Israel to stop its settlements while putting almost no pressure on the Palestinians.”

It is, as the two Republicans point out, all of a piece. The Obami have, as Palin puts it, reached out “to some of the world’s worst regimes in the name of their engagement policy,” and averted their eyes to violations of UN agreements and to gross human-rights abuses.

It took days for Obama to speak out in the wake of the June 12 Iranian election, and even then only in tepid terms.

Yet, with the announcement of a housing complex in Jerusalem, all guns are blazing from the West Wing.

We can expect to hear more from those Republicans eyeing 2012 on this subject.

It is frankly both good policy and good politics to take on the Obama foreign-policy trainwreck.

A TITANIC TRAINWRECK - IF I MAY MIX METAPHORS!

Eric Holder: Osama Bin Laden Deserves the Same Rights as Charles Manson

From Weasel Zippers:

Yes, he really said that today. Both Manson and Bin Laden are despicable murderers but there's one huge difference, one is an American and the other is a Saudi hiding in a cave somewhere in Pakistan who would be snatched off the battlefield as an enemy combatant. For some reason the Obama administration can't wrap their tiny little brains around that fact....

Usama bin Laden will never be captured alive, Attorney General Eric Holder told lawmakers on Tuesday.

"The possibility of capturing him alive is infinitesimal," Holder said. "He will be killed by us, or he will be killed by his own people so that he is not captured by us. We know that. ... The possibility simply does not exist."

That assessment, which Holder said was based on "all the intelligence I have had to review," came during an often-heated hearing of a House Appropriations subcommittee.

Republicans pressed Holder over recent decisions to prosecute terrorism suspects in civilian courts, and they suggested he intends to treat terrorism suspects as "common criminals."

Holder said such suggestions tend to "get my blood boiling," calling them "anything but the truth."

He said the "apt" comparison is to mass murderers like Charles Manson, who is currently serving a life sentence for orchestrating a killing spree in the 1960s.

Trying to explain the analogy, Holder said mass murderers like Manson still reserve the right to go before a jury and have the charges against them proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Holder was asked whether that means Usama bin Laden, if captured, would be tried in a civilian court and afforded the same rights as Charles Manson.

"In some ways I think they're comparable people, in some ways," Holder said.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Tex., called that response "incredible."

Critical defense program breaks thru RESTRCTURING line ..vote on health care reform controlled by same people looms

Image via Wikipedia

WIRED:

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing today on the future of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, and things are not looking pretty for the next-generation stealth aircraft. It's likely the Air Force will have to declare the program has soared past a key cost-containment barrier, in addition to being more than two years behind schedule.

The Air Force will have to declare a Nunn-McCurdy breach, which could force a serious restructuring of the program, according to a Reuters story quoting Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter.

A new Government Accountability Office report, issued today, puts it in simple numbers. "Total estimated acquisition costs have increased $46 billion (.pdf) and development extended 2 ½ years, compared to the program baseline approved in 2007," the report states.

The cost per plane has risen dramatically as well: The unit cost has ballooned to $112 million per aircraft. When the "system development" phase began in October 2001, the cost was reckoned at $69 million per plane.

Aerospace journalist Bill Sweetman, who was live-blogging the hearing at Ares, notes that the average procurement cost has spiked 18 percent, just within the past three years. Poking fun at some old talking points from manufacturer Lockheed Martin, he writes: "Maybe Lockheed Martin will stop using silly numbers in public now."

But hey, no big deal this is only the most critical program we have going.
Air superiority.
Going on 3 years late.
WAY over budget.

Never mind Israel, maybe WE should consider the SU-35, and Pak-FA. Our auto makers can't make a profit (save Ford). Our banks risk money so wildly while handing out instant bonuses the govt takes THEIR risk. We produce less and less, with such a decreasing fervor that critical metals for strategic purposes are refined in China EVEN IF MINED HERE. And our representative democracy now considers passing critical bills by declaring them passed as a matter of procedural cuteness because voters putting pressure on their own representatives makes it hard for govt to do what they insist is best, against the mid term will of an enraged public ..rather than execute the constitution, AND VOTE.

Is it any wonder only 1 of 5 people here have enough faith in govt to say it has their consent to govern.

The United States is one tiny movement away from the USSR's tipping point joke...'they pretend to pay us and we pretend to work'.

And those in power reject the idea that THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF THIS, instead blaming others like 8 year old children.

And tell us to have faith in them on our health.

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Loreena McKennitt

The Highwayman

Coming To "Give You Your Rights"

The Age of Faith

From the Belmont Club:

Philip Jenkins, a professor of history and religious studies at Pennsylvania State University says the remarkable thing about the recent clashes between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria is that they are not remarkable. In a process largely unnoticed in the West, billions of people in Asia and Africa have swapped out their indigenous faiths for either Christianity or Islam. And to an even greater astonishment of Western intellectuals most have chosen Christianity. Now the equalization of numbers has caused a fault line to appear through the Third World at about the tenth degree of latitude where the two aggregations face each other “at daggers drawn”.

The word “Christian”, associated in the 19th and 20th centuries with the missionary enterprises of Europe, has now come to mean something different in political terms. Today Christianity is a religion of the Third World. Europeans have largely converted to some soft and watered-down variation of the West’s only indigenous creed, Marxism, as represented by John Lennon’s “Imagine” song. Christianity can no longer be associated largely with the West. Ex oriente lux a phrase which once described the belief that all great world religions rose in the East is now truer than ever. With Marxism shrinking to the margins of the Guardian, the monotheisms have reclaimed the field at least in raw numbers.

TE Lawrence in the Seven Pillars of Wisdom, described the peculiar relationship of the monotheisms to the Middle East, populated by “the least morbid of peoples, they had accepted the gift of Me unquestioningly, as axiomatic. To them it was a thing inevitable, entailed on man, a usufruct, beyond control. Suicide was a thing impossible, and death no grief.”

They were a people of spasms, of upheavals, of ideas, the race of the individual genius. Their movements were the more shocking by contrast with the quietude of every day, their great men greater by contrast with the humanity of their mob. Their convictions were by instinct, their activities intuitional. Their largest manufacture was of creeds: almost they were monopolists of revealed religions. Three of these efforts had endured among them: two of the three had also borne export (in modified forms) to non-Semitic peoples. Christianity, translated into the diverse spirits of Greek and Latin and Teutonic tongues, had conquered Europe and America. Islam in various transformations was subjecting Africa and parts of Asia. These were Semitic successes. Their failures they kept to themselves. The fringes of their deserts were strewn with broken faiths.

What might have surprised Lawrence, apart from the phenomenon that Islam in its doubt, was turning to suicide, was that by the early 21st century Christianity would have moved on from Europe and America to compete head to head with Islam in “Africa and parts of Asia”. Globally, as Jenkins sees it, the existential threat to Islam comes not from the declining number of Europeans indoctrinated in the quasi-Marxist “Imagine” creed, but from the burgeoning millions of the Third World. Whether Muslims are impressed by the secular belief system captured so succinctly in John Lennon’s song is open to debate. But the attractions of Christianity to the populations of the Third World apparently is not. Whatever the appeal of Islam in London might be, it is less so in Africa. “One factor driving Islamic militancy in many nations is the sense that Christianity is growing. Outside of the West, evangelism and conversion are two of the most sensitive issues in the modern world.”

Christianity, which a century ago was overwhelmingly the religion of Europe and the Americas, has undertaken a historic advance into Africa and Asia. In 1900, Africa had just 10 million Christians, representing around 10 percent of the continental population. By 2000, that figure had swollen to over 360 million, or 46 percent of the population. Over the course of the 20th century, millions of Africans transferred their allegiance from traditional primal faiths to one of the two great world religions, Christianity or Islam—but they demonstrated an overwhelming preference for the former. Around 40 percent of Africa’s population became Christian, compared to just 10 percent who chose Islam.

With the numbers between Christians and Muslims equalizing in the region of the 10th degree of latitude, many places formerly dominated by Islam are now doubtful ground. It’s upsetting the equilibrium. Jenkins thinks the Third World populations can work out a modus vivendi, “if only Washington and Riyadh can refrain from pouring fuel on the hostilities”. And probably they can, but the professor may be mistaken in believing Washington is pouring fuel on anything. There is no Western Christian equivalent of Saudi-sponsored “anti-Christian propaganda across the Global South”. Consequently the Christian response to Islam will increasingly be independent of the West because the West has dealt itself out of the game.

If the Western intelligensia takes any side in this fight it is likely to be Islam’s.

But in all probability the sophisticates will continue to think that all religions save “Imagine” are equally worthless superstitions and remain aloof; disdainful of taking the religious issues seriously.

The Independent, for example, falls back on explaining away the clashes on the grounds of primitivism combined with a competition for resources. And though doubtless it is true in some cases, outlets like the Independent would prefer that the aggressors, as always, be the Christians. It explains things in the following way not because it makes any sense, but because it provides them with mental comfort:

In Jos, population growth and economic decline has increased competition for land and other resources, heightening tension between communities.

Politics here have been poisoned by the distinction between the longer-standing Christians, or “indigenes”, and Muslim “settlers”. The former are favoured in land rights, the latter denied the opportunity to stand in elections. This has caused resentment, which has erupted in 2001, 2004 and 2008, leaving thousands dead, many more displaced and the city polarised. The truth depends on where you are in Jos. …

Christians and Muslims used to live peacefully in the central Plateau state. But Muslims who have lived there for decades are still classed as settlers, and in the last decade there have been regular bouts of sectarian killing. The underlying reasons are economic – with competition for resources – and political – with a struggle for domination.

As a general assignment of guilt or innocence, the Independent’s narrative is a fairy-tale. Al-Qaeda may eventually exploit this systemic blindness because the West is far less likely to react to massacres against Christians in the Global South than it is to react to airplanes flown into buildings in Manhattan. But Professor Jenkins raises a number of interesting issues two of which deserve some thought. If Islam imposes a greater handicap on Third World societies than Christianity then will we not over time find that Christian indigenes prosper at a faster rate the Muslims? If so there will be a widening gulf between the power of both which will spur a greater desperation within Islam.

The other is the implied question on the fate of Judaisim. What happens to the Jews in a world where hundreds of millions of people are either becoming Christians or Muslims? Perhaps it is all as well that the Jews are guaranteed existence by Yahweh himself. They will need His interest and His concern as none will be forthcoming from the bastions of Western thought. Neither of these issues are fit subjects for a respectable foreign policy journal article, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be dealing the consequences of these non-existent trends in a few decades.

The Slaughter Solution Will Probably Pass Constitutional Muster

Drew at Ace of Spades bears bad tidings:

Gabe laid out the procedures involved in the Slaughter Solution and former Judge Michael McConnell's argument for it's unconstitutionality. While I, and I think most sane people, agree with McConnell, sanity is a relative term when it comes to the law.

Shannen Coffin makes the case for why it's going to be very hard, if not impossible, to get a court to overturn the bill based on a challenge to the Slaughter Solution.

The short version is, courts don't do legislative sausage making. If the Speaker of the House, the President Pro-tempore of the Senate and the President say it was passed and signed properly, the courts generally take their word for it.

Look at what the Constitution actually says about the passage of bills

Every bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate, shall, before it become a law, be presented to the President of the United States;

Article I, Section 7 goes on about vetoes and overrides but that's the heart of the matter. Notice it doesn't say what 'passed' means. We all assume it means a vote where the majority of members vote yes but that's not actually stated. What it takes to pass a bill is left up the rules of each house and courts aren't likely to get involved in that.

There are a lot of things we take for granted, as being understood and inviolable rules but the reality is democracy requires a respect for institutions, customs and shared understandings. There's no force of nature that ensures democratic norms are followed. The checks and balances of our system help but ultimately it comes down to the willingness of individuals to be bound by them. Get enough people in power agreeing to push past those boundaries and bad things can happen.

I predict, however, that if the House chooses to use the "Slaughter solution", the American people will revolt.

The resultant massacre will look even worse than the electoral massacre which awaits the Democrats who are already on board to vote for Obamacare.

The American people are in no mood to take any shit from anyone.

Brides As Slaves In The UK

Defamation case over Prophet Mohammed cartoons ‘to be held’ in Britain

From the Vlad Tepes Blog:

A Saudi Arabian lawyer has threatened to use British courts to overturn a Danish free speech ruling by bringing a defamation case over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that depicted Islam’s founder as a terrorist.

Faisal Yamani, a Jeddah based lawyer, is planning to take a case to London’s libel courts on behalf of over 90,000 descendants of Muhammad who have claimed that the drawings have defamed them and the Islamic faith.

Cartoon caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were published in Danish newspapers in 2006 triggering violent protests across the Muslim world and riots which claimed the lives of over 50 people.

According to Danish press reports, the case can be heard in the Britain because the images, including a caricature of Muhammad with a bomb shaped turban, have been freely accessible via the internet.

Danish politicians and publishers are furious that European Union rules reward “libel tourism” by enforcing British defamation rulings across Europe.

Ebbe Dal, managing director of Danske Dagblades Forening, the Danish national newspaper association, is concerned that Britain’s tough libel laws could be used to restrict free speech in liberal countries such as Denmark.

“The Danish courts have decided that the case is not actionable and that we are allowed to print the drawings in Danish newspapers and websites,” he said.

“It would be very odd if a civilised country like Britain could go against that. If this succeeded we would have to pay a lot of money to Saudi Arabians misusing the British courts to make it difficult for freedom of speech.”

Mr Yamani demanded last year that 11 Danish newspapers remove all cartoon images of Muhammad from their websites and issue front page apologies along with promises that the images would never be printed again. Read More »

Bring it on.

As Newton's Third Law of Motion says: "Every action has a reaction equal in magnitude and opposite in direction."

This is true in the world of ideas as well.

Add to this the fact that ideas which are right actually work, meaning they create cohesion. Whereas wrong ideas do not work, meaning they create chaos and, thus, are ultimately doomed to failure.

For this reason, I am a optimist. We will win in our war against Islamofascism and it's Western sister, Dhimmi Fascism.

Every time they push us, our ideas will push back, and those ideas which work will win.

So, the harder they push, the quicker we win.

Obama Administration Specifically Recruited Homosexual Activist to Be 'Safe Schools Czar' With Full Knowledge of His Past

From Weasel Zippers:

(CNSNews.com) – Kevin Jennings, the long-time homosexual activist who is now the Obama administration’s safe schools czar, never sought public office. Rather, he said, the Obama administration recruited him.

Jennings became a lightning rod of controversy last year because he was the co-founder and president for a decade of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), which promoted homosexual clubs in high schools.

Moreover, Jennings has been scrutinized for how he handled a 1988 incident by advising a 15-year-old to use a condom in a sexual affair with an older adult man, rather than reporting the possible case of statutory rape to authorities.

Though both matters were well-documented, it was the Obama administration that reached out to him to fill the office of assistant deputy education secretary for the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. “President Obama got elected and they were looking for someone to run the safe schools program, and since I worked to make schools safe, they asked me if I would take the job,” Jennings said in a speech last week at the National Press Club.

J. S. Bach

Mass in B minor

Agnus Dei

Dan Rather: Iran Has Some Sort Of Uranium Op Going On In Venezuela...Daily Flight Between Iran And Venezuela

From Weasel Zippers:

Mitchell trip to Israel cancelled ...GOOD

Image via Wikipedia

Politico:

Middle East envoy George Mitchell's planned trip to Israel Tuesday to try to salvage proximity talks is on hold until Israel agrees to conditions the U.S. made last week, as the crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations appeared to deepen.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the demands in a 45 minute call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday.

.....

When Clinton "outlined what she thought appropriate actions would be to the prime minister, she asked for a response by the Israeli Government," Crowley continued. "We wait for that response."

Mitchell could travel to Israel later on Tuesday or may cancel his trip and just go straight with Clinton on Thursday to Moscow for a meeting of the Middle East Quartet, comprised of the U.S., Russia, the United Nations and European Union.

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Continue reading Mitchell trip to Israel cancelled ...GOOD.

In case you wondered who they were:The SEIU is threatening to back primary challengers to Democratic congressmen who oppose ObamaCare

Image via Wikipedia

WSJ:

By JOHN FUND

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is famous for muscling her members in the last hours before a vote. She may pull that trick off again with health care, but the unusual nature of the bill presents new obstacles for the Pelosi method.

Normally, a House speaker can smooth over the concerns of balky members by promising to fix areas of concern in the conference committee that reconciles the House and Senate versions of a bill. But Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to skip a conference committee on health care, so the House must pass the Senate bill -- unpopular with many members -- with no changes at all. House members will just have to trust the Senate's good faith in using the awkward "budget reconciliation" process later to change the now-law of the land to the House's liking. "It's a real concern with some members that the Senate won't follow through," Rep. Eliot Engel, a New York Democrat, told me.

With fewer carrots, the Speaker and her allies are brandishing more sticks to corral the necessary votes. MoveOn.org has been raising money to finance liberal challengers to vulnerable House Democrats who vote against the bill. Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan, leader of pro-life House Democrats who oppose the Senate's abortion funding language, tells Robert Costa of National Review that he has even been threatened with ethics complaints.

Likewise, the Service Employees International Union, which stands to gain many unionized members if health care passes, has also been active. New York Democrat Mike McMahon was visited by a top SEIU official and told that he won't get union funding if he votes "no." Indeed, union representatives hinted they might look for a primary challenger or third-party candidate to run in his Staten Island district.

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Continue reading In case you wondered who they were:The SEIU is threatening to back primary challengers to Democratic congressmen who oppose ObamaCare.

We the MOB

There's to be a huge Tea Party "Surge" in D.C. (District of Criminals) today, a last pushback on Obamacare.

Newsmax:

Tea Party Prepares Anti-Obama 'Surge' in D.C.
Monday, 15 Mar 2010 07:45 PM
By: David A. Patten

Like two heavyweight fighters slugging it out in a battle royal, President Obama and tea party activists will square off once again Tuesday, as grassroots activists host a "We the People Surge" in the nation's capital in protest of the massive planned overhaul of U.S. healthcare.

Some tea party leaders expect 10,000 to 15,000 protesters. Others believe the crowd will be even larger.

The rally comes at a critical time. The debate over healthcare reform has become the focus of national attention, with Democratic leaders proclaiming again and again that they're closing in on the votes they need to cram the legislation through Congress without subjecting it to a Republican filibuster in the Senate. They would do so via the controversial parliamentary maneuver known as reconciliation.

Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., tells Newsmax that despite the administration's statements to the contrary, healthcare reform is far from a done deal.

Editor's Note: See the exclusive Newsmax video interview ith Rep. Jack Kingston here

"I think we can still stop it, but there are all kinds of backroom deals going on, lots of arm-twisting," he told Newsmax in an exclusive interview.
Editor’s Note: See the Newsmax exclusive video interview with Rep. Jack Kingston here.

The legislation's unpopularity with voters appears to be growing, according to recent polls. A Rasmussen Reports poll released Monday indicates that 53 percent of voters oppose the Democratic plan, compared to 43 who think it's a good idea.

One of the major obstacles still standing in the president's way: The same relentless tea-party activists who knocked President Obama's legislative agenda off course last summer during the disputatious town hall meetings.

Planning for the tea party "surge" began a week ago, when various tea party organizations blasted their e-mail lists with news of a "code red rally" to be held in Washington D.C.

Speakers at the event are expected to include Rep. Mike Pence, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Rep. Joe Wilson, and Tim Phillips of Americans for Prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity is also calling for a "Honk Against the Healthcare Takeover Rally." Its leaders are encouraging voters to drive to their local congressional offices on noon Tuesday, and honk their automobile horns to express their opposition to the president's proposals.

In Washington, the crowd Tuesday will also hear from one of the original tea-party organizers, Amy Kremer. She serves as grassroots coordinator for the Tea Party Express and is co-founder of the American Grassroots Coalition.

"President Obama thought the grassroots had become complacent," Kremer told Newsmax in an exclusive interview. "We're absolutely not complacent. We're turning up the heat and we think it's important that we continue this pressure for as long as we need to. Whether it be another week, another two weeks, a month – however long it takes, we're not going to back down from this."

Kremer says anyone counting out the grassroots' ability to prevail is making a major error.

"The tea party is the reason that this healthcare legislation has not already been passed," she says. "We're the reason it's been held off this long. It's a victory for the people and the tea party movement, because they wanted to have this legislation passed last June. And it's because of the pressure from us -- the rallies, the townhalls, the letters, the calls, the faxes -- they have not been able to do this."

Tuesday's rally will begin at 10 a.m. at Taft Park just north of the U.S. Capitol. But the tea party activists aren't assuming their voices will carry all the way to Capitol Hill. So they tell Newsmax they'll be flooding congressional offices in large numbers, in an effort to make themselves heard.

"We're going to be literally putting people in to the halls of Congress," Everett Wilkinson, a leadership-council member of the Tea Party Patriots and the head of South Florida Tea Party Patriots, tells Newsmax. "As soon as they get off the buses, they're going to be pushed into the congressional buildings.

"And we hope to just keep filling the buildings up with people, so that the congressmen have to see people there, the staff will see people there. I liken it to the idea that it's easier for a robber to steal stuff when people are away.
It's very tough for a robber to steal things when people are at home," he says.

One activist making the long trip to Washington to attend the We The People Surge is Jason Hoyt, co-host of the Tea Party Patriots Live radio program produced in Florida.

"I just don't want to wake up the day after the vote wishing I had done more," Hoyt tells Newsmax. "That's why I'm going."

Hoyt concedes that so far politicians in Washington don't seem to be listening to the will of the voters. But he believes that could still change.

"The more people know about it, the more they hear about the shenanigans, the negotiations, the back room deals, the more people are going to be upset about it, and hopefully engage their representatives and call them," he says.

Hoyt's optimism that there's still time to block ObamaCare appeared justified Monday afternoon, when Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-N.C., announced he would vote against the legislation because it is "too expensive" and "tries to do too much too soon." McIntyre had previously voted against the legislation, but the White House had hoped to flip his vote.
Just last week, President Obama delayed a planned trip to Asia so that he could be on hand to continue to influence the debate and twist the arms needed to gain a few more votes in the House of Representatives.

"My advice to the president would be go on the trip," Wilkinson said, "because I don't think you're going to get your bill passed anyway."

Hoyt said his fellow tea party activists are already recruiting political candidates committed to reversing the 2,000-page plus legislation. "We say if 'You're not outraged, you're not paying attention.' I want to see which candidates out there are upset about what's going on, and then I want to know what are they willing to do about it?" he said.

================================================

In advance of it, Pelosi's Assistant's Office sent out a How to Be Nice To Teabaggers memo. No Kidding. I think she's more worried about the tar than the feathers. Cleaning that off your boobs is quite painful. The feathers she'll just use for a new boa. . .

Gateway Pundit:

From: Thornell, Doug [mailto:Doug.Thornell@mail.house.gov]
Sent: Monday, March 15, 2010 5:25 PM
To: Thornell, Doug
Subject: Tea Party Etiquette

TO: Freshman and Sophomore House Democrats
FROM: Office of the Assistant to the Speaker
DATE: March 15, 2010
RE: Tea Party Etiquette

As many of you have read, tomorrow, Tuesday, March 16, 2010, tens of thousands of conservative and Tea Party activists will be on the Hill as part of what they are dubbing a “Surge Against Obamacare.” Rick Scott, a multimillionaire investor and former hospital executive, is helping to lead the grassroots effort along with a number of other groups on the right like Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks. While many of you have met with outspoken activists in your districts in the past, we wanted to remind you of some of the best practices to review with your DC staff:

1. Be prepared. Activists are expected to begin arriving around 9am and they have been given instructions to wait in your office until they can have a meeting. Please have an orderly process and enough staff and interns to welcome what could be a very large number of visitors throughout the day:

• Have staff and/or Member time set-aside to visit with attendees in small groups;

• Ask for extra chairs or seating to be brought to your office or the hall in case there are seniors or disabled visitors
that need to be accommodated;

• Consider having some light snacks, H2O, and coffee available;

• Ask visitors to leave all signs and banners outside the office.

2. Prioritize listening to your constituents:

• Have multiple guest books/comment sheets available for all visitors to sign-in and leave comments — we recommend you have one for residents of your district, one for residents of your state (but not your district), and one for out-of-state visitors. Have a Capitol Directory and map available to direct visitors to their Member of Congress and written instructions on how to get over to the Senate side of the Hill.

• There is limited rationale for your Member to meet with out-of-district constituents, especially if you already had other business or meetings previously scheduled with constituents who had planned to visit with you tomorrow on other topics. It is up to individual offices to decide if staff would like to take these meetings.

3. Listen and communicate in small groups:

• As we learned in August, small groups are typically the best venue for exchanges on this complicated topic.

• Many of the conservative activists are not opposing the actual provisions in the bill, but are instead reacting to a caricature of the reform bill presented by right-wing media outlets. In fact, many conservative and GOP ideas and concerns are addressed in the legislation:

ü Reduces the deficit;

ü Cracks down on Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse;

ü Provides historic tax credit for small businesses and individuals to purchase health insurance;

ü Allows consumers to shop for health insurance across state lines via multi-state compacts;

ü Inaugurates medical malpractice reforms, (an area where the GOP failed to take any action when in charge of Congress for 12 years).

• Also, don’t assume common myths about this bill have been debunked. Be prepared to explain that there are no death panels, that Medicare is in fact strengthened, and that reform is not a government take-over, but it is an attempt to crack down on the abusive practices of health insurance companies by providing oversight and increasing competition.

• Finally, work to establish common-ground with visitors by ensuring they are aware and supportive of the important changes that will take place immediately:

ü Offer tax credits to small businesses to purchase coverage;

ü Prohibit pre-existing condition exclusions for children in all new plans;

ü Provide immediate access to insurance for uninsured Americans who are uninsured because of a pre-existing condition through a temporary high-risk pool;

ü Prohibit dropping people from coverage when they get sick in all individual plans;

ü Eliminate lifetime limits and restrictive annual limits on benefits in all plans;

ü Require premium rebates to enrollees from insurers with high administrative expenditures and require public disclosure of the percent of premiums applied to overhead costs;

ü Ensure consumers have access to an effective internal and external appeals process to appeal new insurance plan decisions;

ü Require plans to cover an enrollee’s dependent children until age 26;

ü Require new plans to cover preventive services and immunizations without cost-sharing;

ü Relief on the Donut Hole.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Iran deploying naval assets for a massive strike on Gulf neighbors

Image via Wikipedia

GERTZ:

A report asserted that Iran has been acquiring and deploying a range of missiles and naval platforms to strike at shipping and energy facilities of its Gulf Arab neighbors. The report by the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said Iran wants to intimidate the United States from operating in the Gulf.

"Iran, with military-technical support from China, North Korea, and Russia, seems intent on developing and fielding a range of A2/AD [anti-access, area denial] capabilities, to include ballistic and cruise missiles -- possibly equipped with WMD warheads -- mobile ASCMs [anti-ship cruise missiles] submarines, small high-speed coastal combatants, and advanced anti-ship mines," the report said.

The new Iranian warship Jamaran fires a missile, reported to be a Noor, a long-range anti-ship missile based on the Chinese C-802, in an exercise in the southern waters of Iran, on March 9. AP/IIPA, Ebrahim Norouzi

The report, titled "Why AirSea Battle?", said Iran appeared determined to develop additional capabilities to block U.S. military operations in the Gulf region. The center said Iran could eventually endanger energy production facilities and pipelines of Gulf Cooperation Council states.

Authored by former Pentagon official Andrew Krepinevich, the report said Iran could take advantage of the Gulf, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, which measures 33 nautical miles at its most narrow point. The report said Iran could use its more than 70 bases to attack U.S. and oil ships.

"The IRGC has also built an extensive network of tunnels and underground missile bunkers on these islands, creating what it calls 'static warships,'" the report said. "From this base of operations, Iran hopes to progressively raise the cost to any power -- the United States in particular -- that desires to maintain a military presence in the Persian Gulf."

In 1945, American aircraft carriers attacked the 'static warships' known as Japan with essentially, short range aircraft and great success. I would imagine that if we get into this, these islands will be pulverized by B-1B's launching from KSA, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, and Diego Garcia ad well as naval aircraft, even with Mr. Obama as president. However I am just as sure that IRan believes any provocation IMAGINABLE will also not meet with the use of force.

The report envisioned Iranian mining, cruise missiles, swarming craft and suicide strikes. Eventually, Krepinevich said, Iran could begin to use nuclear weapons.

Iran was said to have an estimated inventory of up to 3,000 mines. IRGC also operates Chinese-origin fast attack craft and hundreds of patrol boats equipped with heavy machine guns and man-portable surface-to-air missiles.

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Continue reading Iran deploying naval assets for a massive strike on Gulf neighbors.