Who Knows What Evil Lurks Behind The Mosque!

Middle East expert and former Air Force special agent Dave Gaubatz insists not only is the mosque a threat to national security, it represents a pattern that has prompted him to launch a massive project to systematically classify every known mosque in the U.S

Are Americans safe from U.S. mosques?

Middle East experts measure threat level of Shariah law

By Art Moore
© 2008 WorldNetDaily

When the five Muslims convicted this month of plotting to kill U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were charged, the New Jersey mosque where four of the men worshipped reacted to negative publicity by holding an "emergency town hall meeting" to calm neighbors and persuade Americans that Islam poses no threat.

But having investigated the Islamic Center of South Jersey one year ago, Middle East expert and former Air Force special agent Dave Gaubatz insists not only is the mosque a threat to national security, it represents a pattern that has prompted him to launch a massive project to systematically classify every known mosque in the U.S.

Mapping Shariah in America: Knowing the Enemy seeks by the end of next year to document in a rigorous, scientific fashion the controversial premise that the more a mosque or community of Muslims adheres to Shariah, or Islamic law, the greater its threat to U.S. national security.

"That's exactly, that's what the data are showing," Gaubatz told WND, who has charted about 100 of the estimated 2,300 mosques his team has identified across the country. "The more adherent you are to Shariah, the more likely you are going to find the material to back that up at the mosque."

No one else is doing this work in the United States – not the FBI, not the police, not the Department of Homeland Security. You can support the work of the Mapping Sharia Project here.

For the observant Muslim, Islamic law is an all-encompassing system that dictates every aspect of life, from food and clothing to the duty to participate in making the religion dominant over the entire world.

At the Islamic Center of South Jersey in Palmyra, where three of the Muslims in the Fort Dix case regularly worshipped and a fourth prayed a few times, Gaubatz found a strict, Shariah-adherent leadership that eagerly distributed jihadist materials supportive of seminal Shariah proponents such as Sayid Abul Maududi, the founder of the radical Pakistani party Jamaat-e-Islami, and Syed Qutb, whose ideas shaped al-Qaida

"What is being overlooked in the Fort Dix case is where the suspects worshipped," he said. "Were they Shariah adherent? Who is the imam, what materials were at the mosque? They came up with the idea to attack Fort Dix for some reason. How and why?"

Using a sophisticated matrix developed by Gaubatz and his colleagues, including a former jihadist, the Jersey mosque was ranked an 8, with 10 being the greatest threat and 1 the lowest.
In the study, Gaubatz and his team – which includes people of different faiths and nationalities, including Muslims – employ 62 different factors to assess a mosque's compliance to Shariah.

"We don't rely on talking to anyone about anything, because if we did, you're going to get some people giving you half-answers and some not answering at all," he said.

The focus is on the observed facts, he said, such as how many of the women wear a hijab, how many wear Western-style clothing and the type of threads in an imam's garment.

The team recognizes the distinctions between the Shiite branch of Islam and the four primary schools of thought within the Sunni branch. But Gaubatz says those factors are not scored in the study. The premise is that all streams and sects of Islam recognize a form of Shariah. His primary concern, for the purpose of assessing the threat to the U.S., is the mosque's degree of adherence.

Of interest to most Americans, of course, is the threat of violent jihad. But Gaubatz notes there are two other forms of jihad at work in the U.S. to advance Islam, the pen and the tongue.

"We focus too much on why we haven't had an attack since 2001 in the United States, because the pen and the tongue right now are winning here," Gaubatz said. "Why would you go for number three, the physical jihad, if you're already achieving goals one and two?

Strict adherence

The significance of the Mapping Shariah project is underscored in the conflicting message to the public by a trustee at the Islamic Center of South Jersey, Ismail Badat, who insisted Muslims in the U.S. promote only peace.

Badat said the purpose of the emergency town hall meeting in the wake of the Fort Dix charges in May 2007 was "to clarify for our American friends and neighbors the fundamental beliefs, teachings and practices of Islam, and to make it clear that Muslims here, who are also Americans, do not in any way sanction the forms of violent and offensive behavior which have recently attained prominence in the media."

But Gaubatz found evidence to the contrary not only at the New Jersey mosque but at mosques related to other high-profile cases.

He personally conducted the mapping of the mosque tied to the Muslim who went on a shooting rampage at Salt Lake City's Trolley Square mall last year, and he found it ranked high on his scale.

In Blacksburg, Va., Gaubatz met the imam who was asked to pray at the nationally televised service for slain students at Virginia Tech last year and discovered he leads a Shariah-compliant mosque that backs the genocidal Islamist regime in Sudan.

The imam clearly did not like Virginia Tech, Gaubatz said, and handed him material by Maududi and the Saudi regime, which spends billions of dollars spreading the strict Wahhibist interpretation of Islam around the world.

"He said, if I want to be pure Muslim, and a true Muslim, study these. Look at these," Gaubatz said.

Gaubatz and his team gave its highest rating, a 10, to the Brooklyn mosque of Imam Siraj Wahhaj.

Wahhaj, a former board member of the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, "is in my opinion the most dangerous person in the U.S. in regards to our national security," Gaubatz said.

He has documented Wahhaj declaring in a lecture, "Muslims in America are the most strategically placed Muslims in the world. The U.S. government can't bomb them."

Gaubatz said his week-long assessment of Wahhaj's mosque also uncovered violent material calling for the death of law enforcement officers and instructing Muslims who commit a crime how to go underground.

Wahhaj also has called for recruiting gang members to help carry out jihad.

"Give them Islam, then send them back to the streets with UZIs," the imam said, according to Gaubatz.

Gaubatz contends many Islamic groups and organizations take on a legal and peaceful veneer in English-speaking settings but often preach quietly in Arabic, Farsi and Urdu "a very violent and anti-American jihad."

Virtually all Islamic leaders in the U.S. have been particularly careful since the 9/11 attacks about what they say publicly, Gaubatz said. But many Shariah-compliant mosques and schools distribute materials supporting or calling for violent jihad. In a widely distributed DVD, for example, an Islamic scholar in the U.S., Ahmad Sakr, declares in a pre-2001 sermon, "Do not follow the laws of the U.S. Constitution, do not follow the congressmen and other U.S. leaders, they will all go to hell, follow Shariah law."

Gaubatz pointed out Wahhaj sells old, pre-2001 lectures.

"He says nothing off-line in any of his lectures now," said Gaubatz. "But he says if you want to understand pure Islam, to do the right thing, this is what you do, you take from this one (lecture) and this one and this one – and they are all prior to 2001."

Gaubatz has spent a considerable amount of his time investigating CAIR, which has enjoyed access to the White House, the State Department, Homeland Security and other branches of government despite evidence of its ties to Hamas and other radical groups.

Gaubatz noted CAIR has a campaign to put Shariah-promoting materials into American libraries.

"I've gone to several hundred public libraries and this material is in there," he said. "People don't realize what it is until you start looking at the author, and it came from Saudi Arabia, sent to CAIR. And CAIR is putting it into our public libraries."

As WND reported, Gaubatz publicly served CAIR leaders in November with legal notice of a lawsuit on behalf of Muslims who claim the group victimized them in a fraud scheme involving a lawyer who is unqualified to practice.

Gaubatz, a U.S. State Department-trained Arabic linguist and counter-terrorism specialist, has more than two decades of experience in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq. He was deployed to Nasiriyah, Iraq, in 2003, where he collected intelligence on weapons of mass destruction and espionage.

The mapping project's administrator and legal adviser, David Yerushalmi, is an expert on Islamic law and its intersection with Islamic terrorism and national security. He also serves as general counsel and policy adviser to the Center for Security Policy, the Washington, D.C.-based think tank headed by Frank Gaffney, a former Reagan-administration official.

The mapping project is sponsored by a group formally established by Yerushalmi in January 2006, the Society of Americans for National Existence, or SANE.

Robert J. Loewenberg, the project's senior police director, is the founder and president of the Institute for Advanced Strategic & Political Studies, a Washington, D.C., and Jerusalem-based think tank specializing in geo-strategic, security and political analysis on Western relations with the Middle and Near East, and the former Soviet Union.

Minimizing the threat

Gaubatz points out federal authorities have attempted to track financial transactions between U.S. Muslims and foreign terrorist entities, but he says there is no evidence that a systematic study like Mapping Shariah has been carried out.

His website explains: "If we do not know the organizational structures of these organizations and who provides the religious and political instruction, we will never have a satisfactory picture of the threat from jihad."

Already, according to Gaubatz, his team has received positive feedback from local law enforcement authorities. The ultimate aim, he said, is to "assist law enforcement in focusing their manpower and resources to the areas with the highest ratings."

FBI agents on the ground have been positive, he said, but once the information "gets up the chain, then it just disappears."

"There's no action taken. It becomes political," Gaubatz said.

Gaubatz said his group has been told by many sympathetic Muslims that to minimize the threat of another attack, authorities should ask foreigners seeking entry into the U.S. if they agree with Shariah.

"If they agree, according to the Muslims who have told us this, then they should probably not even be given entry here," he said.

"It's so easy. You can't agree with Shariah law and say that you are peaceful," Gaubatz continued. "You can't do it. Now there are Muslims in the United States who do. They say, we don't agree with Shariah law, we don't want Shariah law. But then, to the pure Muslim, they are not Muslim."

Some Muslims want to reform Islam, he said, and retain only peaceful elements.
"That's fine, but then you are not pure Muslim," Gaubatz said.

Similar to Christianity or Judaism, he argued, you can decide to adhere to some of the Ten Commandments and reject others, and form a religion based on that belief, but it's not Christianity or Judaism.

"What we are looking at is pure Islam," he said. "That's where you have strict adherence to all factors of Shariah."

The plan

Gaubatz and his team have completed the first two phases of the project: to identify all of the known mosques, Islamic day schools, political organizations and social clubs in the U.S., and to conduct a pilot to test field protocols, methodology and assumptions.

Phase Three is to identify the strain of Shariah taught or preached at each locale and the adherence to Shariah by the leadership and the members. Phase Four will incorporate the data into a central data base and apply link and data analysis technology, which permits a thorough analysis of interrelationships. Phase Five is an annual data update and re-analysis.

Gaubatz said nobody really knows exactly where all the mosques are, because some move from month to month, and the majority are in residential areas, in homes. The contact number often is the cellphone of the person who happens to be leading at the time.

No one else is doing this work in the United States – not the FBI, not the police, not the Department of Homeland Security. You can support the work of the Mapping Sharia Project here.

The Observer

The Call to Dunkirk - Leave Public Education Now!

... article below ...

Abandon Public Education In America Now!

The 3 Largest Drags On the U.S. - Economy and Otherwise, Have Always Been; Union Labor, American Companies Using "H.R." to manage themselves, and the Public Education System. The Republicans used to have the removal of the Fed. Dept. of Education as one of their platform planks. We know where the Repugs went - HARD LEFT!

Now, It's Time For Us to Act!

Christians called to abandon public education

Children's worldview determined by 14,000 hours in classrooms

You've heard all about the disputes: "Silent Night" banned at the "holiday" program, artistic references to the Bible censored and faith-inclusive children's programs facing discrimination.

Now some people are fed up with public school treatment of Christianity and have launched a campaign calling for a rescue of kids from government education programs – a "Call to Dunkirk."
The name Dunkirk is famous for the hundreds of thousands of World War II allies saved in May 1940 when a flotilla of pleasure boats, fishing craft and others rescued the soldiers from the beaches near Dunkirk, France, where they were trapped by an advancing German army.

Author David J. Knowles, who wrote a book on the rescue that British Prime Minister Winston Churchill called a miracle, said volunteers including boat owners, fishermen – ordinary people instead of trained soldiers and sailors – crossed the English Channel to effect the rescue of about 340,000 people.

Now, officials with Exodus Mandate have launched their "Call to Dunkirk" to advocate a departure from public schools.

Organization chief E. Ray Moore, a retired military commander, said at Dunkirk, "total disaster (was) averted by bold leadership and ordinary citizens answering the call." But he said in America, three-quarters or more of the Christian children, "are trapped in the state-run public schools."

Bruce Shortt, the author of "The Harsh Truth about Public Schools," said, "culture is shaped by how we're educated."

"Why should we surprised we're losing culturally and politically when we continue to offer up our children as living sacrifices to the Molech of government schools?" he said.

Get the book that exposes "The Harsh Truth About Public Schools" direct from WND's online store!

Voddie Baucham, Jr., author of "Family Driven Faith," noted children spend about 14,000 hours in public schools.

"Whoever controls those 14,000 hours controls our children's worldview," he said, citing Charles Francis Potter, a signer of the Humanist Manifesto. He wrote, "What can theistic Sunday school meeting for an hour once a week do to stem the tide of a five day program of humanist teaching?"

"The left knows that whoever controls the children owns the future. That's why so many 60s radicals like Bill Ayers went into education. Now they effectively control the government school system and its curriculum. But worse, we give them our children," Shortt said. (the Republicans have always been too stupid to realize this - Tiger)

Moore said his plan is simple:

"That all families, churches, pastors, major Christian ministries and organizations, concentrate for one year on extracting Christian children from the pagan, godless public schools."

"State-run public schools have become destructive to our children's Christian faith. They no longer educate but rather indoctrinate. Not only morally corrupt, public schools are unsafe because of the violence and crime that occurs in them on a regular basis," the campaign says.

WND previously reported Moore's estimate based on statistics that 70 to 80 percent of Christian children "will abandon the church and their faith in a public school career."

... Just so ya know - my children attended private schools until the eight grade. The Tigress and I worked very hard to do this as long as possible. I've advocated the destruction and rebuilding of public schools for many years now. How did I know they were so bad? - The Tigress has been a public teacher for over 30 years now and is still going strong. BTW, she is hated by her fellow teachers (Union members) but loved by the parents who appreciate her disciplined approach. God Bless her, she's one of the good ones! - Tiger

The Observer

Hang'em High - Theatrical Trailer

Eastwood Goes After Congress!

In a recent Rasmussen Survey:

- Only 14 percent of Democratic voters rate the performance of the Congress led by their own party as good or excellent, compared to 5 percent of Republicans and 6 percent of unaffiliated voters. Thirty-five percent of Democrats say the legislators are doing a poor job, and 69 percent of Republicans and 63 percent of independents agree.

- Sixty-six percent of men give Congress poor ratings, only 43 percent of women do the same. Eight percent of men give Congress positive ratings, along with 10 percent of women.

- Thirty-four percent surveyed believes most members of Congress are corrupt, while 39 percent disagree. In last month's survey, 36 percent saw most members as corrupt.

- Forty percent of Republicans view most Congress members as corrupt, along with 36 percent of unaffiliated voters and 28 percent of Democrats. Forty-four percent of Democrats do not see most members that way, and 38 percent of Republicans and 34 percent of unaffiliated voters agree.

- Just 14 percent of voters believe members of Congress are more interested in helping people than their own careers, down from 23 percent in November. Seventy-one percent say the opposite.

- Eighty-four percent of Republicans, 54 percent of Democrats and 79 percent of unaffiliated voters say most members of Congress are more interested in helping their own political careers.

- Six percent of GOP voters and 9 percent of independents think members of Congress are most interested in helping people, compared to 24 percent of Democrats.

- Thirteen percent of voters say Congress has passed legislation to significantly improve life in America, but 60 percent say the opposite. Moreover, 57 percent say it is at least somewhat likely that Congress will address serious issues facing our nation in the near future — although 39 percent say it is unlikely.

Joseph Morrison Skelly's Great Christmas Gift

Be Not Afraid

Christian Resistance and the Meaning of Christmas

O that tellest good tidings to Zion, lift up they voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid. Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.— Isaiah, 40:9, 60:1

An angel of the Lord stood over the shepherds and the glory of the Lord shone round them. The angel said, “Do not be afraid. I bring you news of great joy. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born; he is Christ the Lord.”— Luke, 2:9-11

Freedom comes only through deeds, not through thoughts taking wing. Faint not, nor fear, but go out to the storm and the action. . . . Freedom, exultant, will welcome your spirit with joy.— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “Stations on the Road to Freedom”

When the prophecy foretold by Isaiah came to pass in Bethlehem, a light illuminated the world. Some men, however, preferred the darkness — including Herod, the Roman-backed King of Judea. Sensing a potential threat, he ordered the Massacre of the Innocents, the execution of all infant boys aged two and younger. Alerted by an angel during his sleep, Joseph led the Holy Family to safety in Egypt.

Thus the first part of a pattern was established. For two millennia, tyrants have suppressed word of the birth of Christ or religious commemorations of it. Herod feared for his throne. In the modern era, dictators have realized that the potential for human freedom inherent in this divine event threatens to undermine their authoritarian rule. Liberty, not servitude, is the logical outcome of a process whereby men and women channel their allegiance not simply to a secular leader but ultimately to a heavenly being, and, at the same time, governments accept the principle that temporal power must take account of a higher moral law. In the recent past, and today, despots in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, Nazi Germany, China, Cuba, North Korea, and elsewhere have sought to suppress man’s relationship with God. (And now, America - Tiger)

Their attacks on Christ and news of his birth have formed part of a broader onslaught against religious freedom, which is an integral component of human freedom. As such, their actions are assaults on liberty itself.

But the light will not be extinguished. Christians in unfree lands — including places where religious extremists restrict their rights, such as Saudi Arabia — have enacted the second part of this historical pattern: they have resisted oppression by celebrating Christmas, often in secret, sometimes in open defiance, frequently without fear. This year will be no different, as they commemorate Christ’s birth and so defend religious freedom, not only for their coreligionists, but for men and women of all faiths, for Jews, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists alike.

CHRISTIAN RESISTANCE IN GERMANY
Throughout the 20th century, which unleashed a furious ideological campaign against organized religion by both communism and Nazism, Christians frequently marked the passing of the Christmas season as political prisoners. Alexandr Solzhenitsyn writes about Baptists in the Soviet Union who received 25-year sentences in the gulag but would not forsake their faith. In Nazi Germany some Christians stood up to evil and thus ended up in concentration camps. One man who understood the true nature of Adolf Hitler from the beginning was Dietrich Bonhoeffer — and so he resisted.

A gifted writer, Lutheran minister, and one of the most significant theologians of the 20th century, Bonhoeffer joined with Martin Niemöller and Karl Barth to establish the Confessing Church, which broke away from the official German Evangelical Church after it sided with the Nazi Party in 1933. He emerged as a leading figure in the nascent German resistance that coalesced in the 1930s, writing a series of books and essays that were critical of Nazi policies. His most famous volume from this period is The Cost of Discipleship. He met often with fellow Christians throughout Europe and North America to inform them of the dangers that Hitler posed. In the summer of 1939, he traveled to the United States on a lecture tour and could have remained there as war clouds gathered on the horizon, but returned home to continue his work with the Confessing Church. In 1940, he was banned from speaking in public; in 1941, he was forbidden to publish his works.

His activities were not without controversy, however. He went to Sweden during the war to discuss a draft peace treaty that included a request for the Allies to drop their demand for unconditional surrender. While fervently opposed to Hitler’s anti-Semitic policies, and known to have financed the escape of Jewish families to Switzerland — all at the risk of his own life — some theologians question whether he ever abandoned the doctrine that salvation for non-Christians, including Jews, depended upon conversion. Still, he was an implacable foe of the Nazis. Refusing to moderate his stance, he was arrested by the Gestapo in April 1943 and incarcerated in the Tegel military prison in Berlin, where he managed to maintain his secret contacts with the resistance.

ADVENT AND RETRIBUTION
Bonhoeffer also continued his voluminous writings while in jail. Much of it is reprinted in the collection, Letters and Papers from Prison. In late 1943 he reflected on the pending arrival of Christmas in several missives to his friends and family. His note on November 21 to a close colleague in the Confessing Chuch, Eberhard Bethge, expressed a glimmer of optimism leavened by a dose of reality. Next week “comes Advent, with all of its happy memories,” he remarked. “Life in a prison cell may well be compared to Advent; one waits, hopes, and does this, that, or the other — things that are really of no consequence — the door is shut, and can be opened only from the outside. . . . ” He developed some coping mechanisms, but promised, with a touch of humor, not to take them too seriously. “I have found that following Luther’s instruction to ‘make the sign of the cross’ at our morning and evening prayers is in itself helpful. There is something objective about it and that is what is particularly badly needed here. Don’t be alarmed; I shall not come out of here a homo religiosus! On the contrary, my fear and distrust of ‘religiosity’ have become greater than ever here. The fact that the Israelites never uttered the name of God always makes me think, and I can understand it better as I go on.”

A few of Bonhoeffer’s epistles to Bethge depart from the topic of Christmas to recount Allied air raids on Berlin and even the prison compound itself, which was a military target. On November 23, he wrote that the previous night’s attack “was not exactly pleasant. . . . At such times prison life is no joke.” The next day he was somber: “[a]fter yesterday’s raid I think it only right that I should tell you briefly what arrangements I have made in case of my death.” Three days later he properly saw in the Allied bombings a measure of divine retribution for Germany’s transgressions and drew appropriate lessons for his countrymen to be applied once the conflict ended. The “fact that the horrors of war are now coming home to us with such force will no doubt, if we survive, provide us with the necessary basis for making it possible to reconstruct the life of the nation, both spiritually and materially, on Christian principles. So we must try to keep these experiences in our minds, use them in our work, make them bear fruit, and not just shake them off. Never have we been so conscious of the wrath of God, and that is a sign of his grace. . . . The tasks that confront us are immense, but we must prepare ourselves for them now and be ready when they come.”

On November 28, Bonhoeffer returned to the theme of Christmas, discussing some of the rituals he had been able to observe behind bars. “The first Sunday in Advent — it began with a peaceful night. Early this morning I held my Sunday service, hung up the Advent wreath on a nail, and fastened [Filippo] Lippi’s picture of the Nativity in the middle of it.” He recalled the hymns sung at the Confessing Church’s clandestine seminaries in Pomerania.

On December 18, he shifted his tone slightly, suggesting that a measure of simplicity was in order. “At midday on Christmas Eve a dear old man is coming here on his own suggestion to play some Christmas carols on a cornet . . . [in the circumstances, a] sentimental reminder of Christmas is out of place. A good, personal message, a sermon, would be better.”

“CHRISTMAS IN A PRISON CELL”
Bonhoeffer’s communications to his parents, Karla and Paula, are especially poignant. His first reference to the holidays was on November 28. “Although I don’t know how letters are getting through at present, I want to write to you on the afternoon of the first Sunday in Advent. [Albrecht] Altdorfer’s painting, ‘Nativity,’ is very topical this year, showing the Holy Family and the crib among the ruins of a tumbledown house. How ever did he come to paint like that, against all tradition, four hundred years ago? Perhaps he meant that Christmas could and should be kept even in such conditions; in any case, that is his message for us.”

On December 17, he sent another letter that has since become well known. He opened on a positive, almost defiant, note. “Above all, you must not think that I am going to let myself be depressed by this lonely Christmas; it will always take its own special place among the other unusual Christmases that I have kept in Spain, America, and England, and I want in later years to think back on the time here, not with shame, but with a certain pride. That is the only thing that no one can take from me.”

He then recalled family memories, while linking them to the wellsprings of Christian tradition. “I need not tell you how I long to be released and to see you all again. But for years you have given us such perfectly beautiful Christmases that our grateful recollection of them is strong enough to put a darker one into the background. It is not until such times as these that we realize what it means to possess a past and spiritual inheritance independent of changes of time and circumstance. The consciousness of being borne up by a spiritual tradition that goes back for centuries gives one a feeling of confidence and security in the face of all passing pains and stresses.”

Bonhoeffer’s next passage encapsulates for him the true meaning of the holiday; in it he eschews all hints of self-pity. “From the Christian point of view there is no special problem about Christmas in a prison cell. For many people in this building it will probably be a more sincere and genuine occasion than in places where nothing but the name is kept. That misery, suffering, poverty, loneliness, helplessness, and guilt mean something quite different in the eyes of God from what they mean in the judgment of man, that God will approach where men will turn away, that Christ was born in a stable because there was no room for him in the inn — these are things that a prisoner can understand better than other people; for him they really are glad tidings, and that faith gives him a part in the communion of saints, a Christian fellowship breaking the bounds of time and space and reducing the months of confinement here to insignificance.”

“I AM IN GOD’S HANDS”
In several of his dispatches, Bonhoeffer discussed the possibility that he might be released before Christmas. On December 22, he reported to Bethge that this would not be the case, but he remained unbowed. “They seem to have made up their minds that I am not to be with you for Christmas, though no one ventures to tell me so. I wonder why; do they think I am so easily upset?” No, was his answer. “I am not so much concerned about the rather artless question whether I shall be home for Christmas or not.” He even reassured his friend that all would be well should the situation deteriorate. “Don’t worry about me if something worse happens. Others of the brethren have already been through that [i.e., sent to concentration camps]. But faithless vacillation, endless deliberation without action, refusal to take any risks — that is a real danger. I must be able to know for certain that I am in God’s hands, not in men’s. Then everything becomes easy, even the severest deprivation.”

Bonhoeffer then addressed his decision to return to Germany on the eve of the war, which the two had discussed previously, exhibiting no remorse whatsoever. “Now I want to assure you that I have not for a moment regretted coming back in 1939 — nor any of the consequences, either. I knew quite well what I was doing and I acted with a clear conscience. I have no wish to cross out of my life anything that has happened since, either to me personally or as regards events in general. And I regard my being kept here (do you remember what I prophesied to you last March about what the year would bring?) as being involved in the part that I had resolved to play in Germany’s fate.”

Finally, on the night of December 25 he sent a brief note to his parents, ending his seasonal correspondence with references to kith and kin. “Christmas is over. It brought me a few quiet, peaceful hours, and revived a good many past memories. . . . I lit the candles that you and Maria [his fiancée] sent me, read the Christmas story and a few carols that I hummed to myself, and in doing so I thought of you all.”

“WHO STANDS FIRM?”
Bonhoeffer was incarcerated at Tegel well into 1944. Alas, following the failure of the plot to assassinate Hitler in July 1944, the Gestapo zeroed in on the suspected conspirators and their network of sympathizers, including Bonhoeffer. At the end of the year he was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp, and, later, to Flossenburg, where the S.S. executed him and other members of the resistance on April 9, 1945, a month before the end of the war. He was a martyr for his faith. Before he died he passed along a message to his British friend, Bishop George Bell of Chichester: “This is the end, but for me the beginning of life.”

At Christmas time in 1942 Bonhoeffer had circulated a long letter to his closest colleagues assessing a decade of resistance, later reprinted as the essay “After Ten Years.” In it he asks the question, “Who stands firm?” Today, there are Christians who quietly stand up to tyranny. On the morning of December 25, they will acknowledge the day’s significance. In Beijing, a husband will wish his wife “Merry Christmas.” In Havana, a family will exchange gifts. A minister in Riyadh will read the Gospel. A priest in Pyongyang will silently say Mass. These men and women, like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, resist without fear. They grasp a fundamental fact about the intersection of freedom and faith, as true for Christians as it is for men and women of all religions. They understand that to be human is to know God; to be human and free is to know God fully.

The Observer

Children Starved To Coerce Mom To Renounce Christ

"The life of a Christian in Egypt is now worth zero. Every Muslim now knows killing a Christian is not prosecuted"

HT: Tigress

Authorities in Egypt are starving two children, ages 2 and 4, to force their mother to abandon Christianity and return to Islam, according to reports from several ministry organizations.

The Egypt for Christ Ministry is reporting the woman, who converted to Christianity about five years ago and was arrested as she tried to leave her home country just days ago, also has been sexually assaulted by police officers.

The woman, identified by the ministry as Martha Samuel, also has been beaten and tortured in effort to force her to return to Islam, with police promises for her release if she accepts, according to the reports.

The Assyrian International News Agency said Samuel was arrested last week as she, her husband and two sons were trying to leave Cairo for Russia after her name was placed on a list of people barred from leaving Egypt.

Then reports came today of the assaults. AINA said she was subjected to attacks by Egyptian police at El-Nozha police station as well as at the National Security office in Heliopolis.

"The children are not being provided with food deliberately to pressure their mother to return to Islam," AINA reported.

Her husband, Fadl Thabet, also was in custody.

The report said Samuel formerly was known as Zainab Said Abdel-Aziz, and her family was fleeing continuous persecution by her own family and Egyptian police officers.
She faces charges of forging official documents and changing her details after converting from Islam to Christianity and changing her name, officials said.

AINA reported Naguib Gibraeel, chief of the Egyptian Union Human Rights Organization, said he was lodging a complaint over the allegations of abuse at the hands of police.

At Jihad Watch, Robert Spence noted he's been criticized for "not acknowledging Egypt as a 'moderate Muslim country.'"

On his forum, a contributor wrote, "The whole country of Egypt must be misunderstanders of Islam! Don't they know that there is no compulsion of religion?"

Egypt is one of the nations where Islamic Shariah law is formally recognized as the source of justice, and Christians have faced persecution there for generations.

The American Center for Law and Justice has participated in a fight to keep one man who fled Egypt from being deported. A recent decision from the 3rd U.S. District Court of Appeals gave Sameh Khouzam the right to challenge Egypt's "diplomatic assurances" that he would not be tortured on his return to the Middle East nation.

Egypt has been demanding his extradition in a homicide case he alleges is trumped-up. The case has been highlighted by spokesman Sam Grace of Coptic News. He praised U.S. District Judge Thomas Vanaskie's earlier ruling that Khouzam "most assuredly has a right not to be tortured."
Grace earlier told WND Christians in Egypt are hostages.

"We live in a time that is really as bad if not worse than the time of the martyrs," he said as the case progressed. Multitudes of Christians have been attacked, and many killed, yet not one Muslim ever has been convicted in the attacks, he said.

"The why is very simple, because Shariah law says the blood of the Muslim should not be shed for the blood of an unbeliever," he said.

Grace said since Egypt's constitution concludes laws derive from the Quran, persecution of Christians is not only allowed but endorsed by the government.

"In the last 10 years, more than 5,000 Christians have been massacred in Egypt," he told WND. "Hundreds of businesses and homes first have been looted, then burned and destroyed. Churches have been burned and destroyed."

Grace told WND that attacks, lootings and burnings are common in Egypt on Fridays, after the local imam preaches violence against Christians at his mosque.

"The life of a Christian in Egypt is now worth zero. Every Muslim now knows killing a Christian [is not prosecuted]," he said.

A report from the Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights concluded Coptic Christians in Egypt have been harassed, tortured and killed by Muslims for 1,400 years.

"They have been subjected to all kinds of hate crimes including, the abduction of young Coptic girls, the killing of Coptic women and children and the destruction of their places of worship," the report concluded.

The Observer

Liberalism is Simply Baal Worship

By Matt Barber
© 2008

"Ritualistic Baal worship, in sum, looked a little like this: Adults would gather around the altar of Baal (An AntiChrist figure). Infants would then be burned alive as a sacrificial offering to the deity (Today called Planned Parenthood). Amid horrific screams and the stench of charred human flesh, congregants – men and women alike – would engage in bisexual orgies (Today called The Sexual Revolution). The ritual of convenience was intended to produce economic prosperity by prompting Baal to bring rain for the fertility of "mother earth." (Today called Environmentalism)"

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV)

Modern-day liberals – or "progressives" as they more discreetly prefer – labor under an awkward misconception; namely, that there is anything remotely "progressive" about the fundamental canons of their blind, secular-humanist faith. In fact, today's liberalism is largely a sanitized retread of an antiquated mythology – one that significantly predates the only truly progressive movement: biblical Christianity.

While visiting the Rivermont Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Va., a few weeks back, I heard a troubling, albeit thought-provoking, sermon. Pastor John Mabray addressed the ancient Canaanite practice of Baal worship and, though he didn't reveal it by name, connected the dots to its present-day progeny: liberalism. Baal, the half-bull, half-man god of fertility, was the focal point of pagan idolatry in Semitic Israel until God revealed His monotheistic nature to Judaism's forebears.

In his sermon, Pastor Mabray illustrated that, although they've now assumed a more contemporary flair, the fundamentals of Baal worship remain alive and well today. The principal pillars of Baalism were child sacrifice, sexual immorality (both heterosexual and homosexual) and pantheism (reverence of creation over the Creator).

Ritualistic Baal worship, in sum, looked a little like this: Adults would gather around the altar of Baal. Infants would then be burned alive as a sacrificial offering to the deity. Amid horrific screams and the stench of charred human flesh, congregants – men and women alike – would engage in bisexual orgies. The ritual of convenience was intended to produce economic prosperity by prompting Baal to bring rain for the fertility of "mother earth."

The natural consequences of such behavior – pregnancy and childbirth – and the associated financial burdens of "unplanned parenthood" were easily offset. One could either choose to engage in homosexual conduct or – with child sacrifice available on demand – could simply take part in another fertility ceremony to "terminate" the unwanted child.

Modern liberalism deviates little from its ancient predecessor. While its macabre rituals have been sanitized with flowery and euphemistic terms of art, its core tenets and practices remain eerily similar. The worship of "fertility" has been replaced with worship of "reproductive freedom" or "choice." Child sacrifice via burnt offering has been updated, ever so slightly, to become child sacrifice by way of abortion. The ritualistic promotion, practice and celebration of both heterosexual and homosexual immorality and promiscuity have been carefully whitewashed – yet wholeheartedly embraced – by the cults of radical feminism, militant "gay rights" and "comprehensive sex education." And, the pantheistic worship of "mother earth" has been substituted – in name only – for radical environmentalism.

But it's not just self-styled "progressives" or secular humanists who have adopted the fundamental pillars of Baalism. In these postmodern times, we've also been graced, regrettably, by the advent of counter-biblical "emergent Christianity" or "quasi-Christianity," as I prefer to call it.

This is merely liberalism all dolled up and gratuitously stamped "Christian." It's a way for left-wing ideologues to have their "religion" cake and eat it too. Under the guise of "social justice," its adherents often support – or at least rationalize – the same pro-homosexual, pro-abortion and radical environmental policies pushed by the modern-day Baal worshiper.

Though the "Christian left" represent what is arguably a negligible minority within larger Christianity, the liberal media have, nonetheless, embraced their cause and seized upon their popularity among elites as evidence that the so-called "Christian right" (read: biblical Christianity) is losing influence – that Christianity is, somehow, "catching up with the times."

Because emergent Christianity fails the authenticity test whenever subjected to even the most perfunctory biblical scrutiny, I suspect it will eventually go – for the most part – the way of the pet rock or the Macarena. But this does not absolve leaders within the evangelical community from a duty to call leaders of this counter-biblical revolution on their heresy. It's not a matter of right versus left; it's a matter of right versus wrong – of biblical versus non-biblical.

Nonetheless, the aforementioned pillars of postmodern Baalism – abortion, sexual relativism and radical environmentalism – will almost certainly make rapid headway over the next four to eight years, with or without help from the Christian left. The gods of liberalism have a new high priest in Barack Obama, and enjoy many devout followers in the Democratic-controlled Congress, liberal media and halls of academia.

Both Obama's social agenda and that of the 111th Congress are rife with unfettered pro-abortion, freedom-chilling, pro-homosexual and power-grabbing environmentalist objectives. The same kind of "hope, action and change," I suppose, that was swallowed up by the Baalist Canaanites of old.

So, today's liberalism is really just a very old book with a shiny new cover. A philosophy rooted in ancient pagan traditions, of which there is naught to be proud.

There's "nothing new under the sun," indeed.

The Observer

The Next Bailout Just Might Be the Abortion Industry!

Will Barack Obama provide the abortion industry with a bailout of its own, costing taxpayers billions of dollars?

The Obama-Biden Transition Project posted a plan on its website called "Advancing Reproductive Rights and Health in a New Administration." It is signed by a coalition of 66 groups including Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Organization for Women and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The outline lists proposed steps for Obama's first 100 days in office including the following:

-Increase funding for Title X (which funds Planned Parenthood) to $700 million from the current $300 million

-Expand coverage of taxpayer-funded abortions under Medicaid

-Promote sex education in schools and communities at cost of $50 million

-Provide birth control at colleges

-Expand taxpayer-funded abortions to federal employees, military facilities, the Peace Corps and federal prisoners

-Increase funding for Title V Maternal and Child Health services to $850 million from $666 million

-Provide international abortion providers with $1 billion

-Increase funding for the CDC's school HIV and STD prevention programs from $40.2 million to $66.6 million

-Increase funding for substance abuse and mental health services programs for pregnant women and mothers from $12 million to $70 million

-De-fund abstinence only programs

-Re-examine Bush administration policies that block or limit women's access to emergency contraception

-Pass the Freedom of Choice Act

-Select judicial nominees who "demonstrate a commitment to justice civil rights, equal rights, individual liberties, and the fundamental constitutional right to privacy, including the right to have an abortion."

Obama's transition office is also trying to find ways to undo Bush administration policies dealing with abortion.

President Bush issued a regulation today allowing health care workers to refuse to provide abortions if doing so conflicts with their personal, moral or religious beliefs – but the Obama transition team is already seeking a way to repeal the measure.

The rule is scheduled to take effect just three days before Inauguration Day, Jan 20.

Bush's regulation permits federal health officials to deny funding to any state or local government, hospital, clinic, health plan or doctor's office that fires, disciplines or penalizes employees who deny procedures that conflict with their "right of conscience." The Department of Health and Human services estimates the rules will affect more than 584,000 facilities.

"Doctors and other health care providers should not be forced to choose between good professional standing and violating their conscience," Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt told the Washington Post.

Assistant Secretary of Health Joxel Garcia said, "Many health care providers routinely face pressure to change their medical practice – often in direct opposition to their personal convictions. During my practice as an OB-GYN, I witnessed this first-hand. Health care providers shouldn't have to check their consciences at the hospital door."

Sens. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., introduced legislation last month to repeal the rule, and 28 senators, 110 House members and a 12 state attorneys general have criticized Bush's regulation.

"The ability of patients to access health care services, including abortion and reproductive health services, is long-established and is not changed in this rule," it states. "Instead, this rule implements federal laws protecting health care workers and institutions from being compelled to participate in, or from being discriminated against for refusal to participate in, health services or research activities that may violate their consciences … "

In his first days in office, Obama is also expected to issue an executive order lifting Bush's limits on embryonic stem cell research funding. Abortion proponents anticipate Obama will block the "global gag rule" that bans foreign countries from promoting abortion and abortion services if they accept U.S. aid.

Furthermore, Obama has indicated that he will sign the Freedom of Choice Act, or FOCA, codifying Roe v Wade into federal law, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said Obama will face some challenges when he takes office.

"We have a lot of work to do to fix the damage the Bush administration has done," she said.

... remember the photo of the baby (fetus) grasping the Surgeon's hand as he operated? Here's the entire story. - Tiger

The Observer

Wimpy Once Again Stomps On His Own Party's Grave

... While Others Try To Bring Her Back To Life!

In letters sent from both House and Senate Republicans, President Bush has been warned not to give funds that Congress expressly appropriated for "financial institutions" to Detroit automakers.

The House letter also suggested such a move by Bush may be illegal and unconstitutional, noting that only Congress has the right to appropriate taxpayer funds.

(... well! Wimpy ignores the law anyway ... - Tiger)

Last week, Democrats suffered a major rebuke after their proposed bailout bill failed in the Senate. Senate Democrats could not muster enough voters to overcome a Republican filibuster of the bill.

Facing growing opposition from conservatives, President Bush may be backing away from a quick auto-industry bailout.

(... notice the juxtaposition of "conservatives and President Bush" ... - Tiger)

“I think you all led yourselves to believe that [the bailout] would be almost immediately,” White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told the White House press corps Tuesday. “We did not signal that it would be almost immediate.”

Bush faces a growing phalanx of conservative foes who staunchly oppose any use of federal bailout funds to help car manufacturers unless the United Auto Workers (UAW) union offers more concessions.

White House officials insist they remain committed to rescuing carmakers and are merely gathering more financial information to precisely gauge how much money the auto executives actually need.

On Monday, Bush received a letter signed by 26 House Republicans opposing the use of funds from the $700 Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to bailout the “Big Three” automakers. The TARP legislation, the representatives said, specified that the money was for “financial institutions.”

[To view the complete letter sent to the president by 26 members of the House of Representatives - Go Here Now]

The conservative congressmen opposing the presidential bailout are led by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Rep. Thomas Price, R-Texas. Other signatories include GOP representatives Tom Feeney of Florida, Lamar Smith of Texas, and John Shadegg of Arizona.

American taxpayers, the congressmen insisted, “cannot afford to save every company facing financial peril.” Their letter urges Bush “not expand the use of TARP money to bailout American auto manufacturers” for the sake of “the long-term stability of our nation and our automotive manufacturers.”

The White House received more non-greeting card mail on Tuesday – this time a letter from seven Republican senators also urging President Bush not to use TARP funds to rescue carmakers.

Those GOP senators -- Jim DeMint of South Carolina, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, John Ensign of Nevada, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, John Cornyn of Texas , Michael Enzi of Wyoming, and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia -- noted that Congress rejected the bailout after “the United Auto Workers (UAW) union refused to agree to changes necessary to help the Big Three automakers become competitive.”

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., tried to broker a last-minute agreement, but the deal fell through after the UAW balked at lowering compensation to levels “at parity” with the pay of autoworkers employed by Japanese companies in the United States.
Without such an agreement, the senators wrote, “we do not believe any amount of money will succeed in saving these companies.”

When it became clear the $14 billion auto bailout bill had little chance of being passed in the Senate last week, President-elect Barack Obama urged President Bush to intervene.

“My hope is that the administration and the Congress will still find a way to give the industry the temporary assistance it needs, while demanding the long-term restructuring that is absolutely required,” Obama said.

The Bush administration promised it would act to halt a “precipitous collapse” of the U.S. auto industry.

TARP is thought to be the only source of funds sufficient to keep auto makers afloat, but authorities have already burned through most of the first $350 billion that can be spent without further authorization.

CBS News has reported that only about $15 billion remains unspent from the first $350 billion -- just enough to keep the Big 3 on the road to economic recovery without having to file for bankruptcy protection in coming weeks. Dipping into the second $350 will require further action by Congress.

There is no word yet on when the review of automakers’ financial needs by the Bush administration will be completed.

The Observer

Another Good Guy - And Justice!

The 1981 murder of 'America's Most Wanted' anchor John Walsh's son, Adam, is finally solved -- with now-deceased Ottis Toole named the suspect.

Read it here. Enough said.

One Very Good Guy - Gary Sinise

Andrew Breitbart

Monday, December 15, 2008

Since war became a geographically distant but very real way of life after Sept. 11, 2001, no Hollywood star has stepped up to support active duty U.S. military personnel and wounded veterans like Gary Sinise. There is no close second. And quietly, as is in his nature, he is becoming something akin to this generation´s Bob Hope.

One step in conferring this worthy title on the award-winning actor, director and producer occurred last week when President Bush bestowed on him the Presidential Citizens Medal, the second highest civilian honor awarded to citizens for exemplary deeds performed in service of the nation. Previous recipients include Henry "Hank" Aaron, Muhammad Ali, Colin L. Powell and Bob Dole.

While the White House ceremony flew under the radar of most of the media, most notably the entertainment press, word has trickled out to many of his countless admirers in and out of the military. And on the occasion of him receiving the award, they want America to take in their words of praise for, as Sharon Tyk in the USO of Illinois put it, this "gallant American patriot."

Michael Yon, a Special Forces vet and the pre-eminent war journalist of our time, communicated his admiration in a dispatch from Bahrain: "Gary is a true friend of the American soldier. He does not hesitate to travel into war zones to express his admiration and personal support for those who defend us. He visits wounded soldiers, some of whom I personally know. All love him.

"Soldiers from privates to generals admire Gary for his dedication to a cause greater than any of us. Gary's dedication went much further. He personally supported sending millions of dollars worth of school and clothing supplies to Iraqi children. I saw this effort with my own eyes. Gary Sinise is a Great American."

... the rest of the story ...

The Observer

Goodbye America!

Given Enough "State" Votes, A Convention To Re-Write The Constitution Can Occur

Did You Know We're Only Two States Away?

Obama's and the Democrat's Timing Could Not Have Been Better!

A public policy organization has issued an urgent alert stating affirmative votes are needed from only two more states before a Constitutional Convention could be assembled in which "today's corrupt politicians and judges" could formally change the U.S. Constitution's "'problematic' provisions to reflect the philosophical and social mores of our contemporary society."

"Don't for one second doubt that delegates to a Con Con wouldn't revise the First Amendment into a government-controlled privilege, replace the 2nd Amendment with a 'collective' right to self-defense, and abolish the 4th, 5th, and 10th Amendments, and the rest of the Bill of Rights," said the warning from the American Policy Institute.

"Additions could include the non-existent separation of church and state, the 'right' to abortion and euthanasia, and much, much more," the group said.

The warning comes at a time when Barack Obama, who is to be voted the next president by the Electoral College Monday, has expressed his belief the U.S. Constitution needs to be interpreted through the lens of current events.

Tom DeWeese, who runs the center and its education and grassroots work, told WND the possibilities stunned him when he discovered lawmakers in Ohio are considering a call for a Constitutional Convention. He explained that 32 other states already have taken that vote, and only one more would be needed to require Congress to name convention delegates who then would have more power than Congress itself.

"The U.S. Constitution places no restriction on the purposes for which the states can call for a convention," the alert said. "If Ohio votes to call a Con Con, for whatever purpose, the United States will be only one state away from total destruction. And it's a safe bet that those who hate this nation, and all She stands for, are waiting to pounce upon this opportunity to re-write our Constitution."

DeWeese told WND that a handful of quickly responding citizens appeared at the Ohio Legislature yesterday for the meeting at which the convention resolution was supposed to be handled.

State officials suddenly decided to delay action, he said, giving those concerned by the possibilities of such a convention a little time to breathe.

According to a Fox News report, Obama has stated repeatedly his desire for empathetic judges who "understand" the plight of minorities.

In a 2007 speech to Planned Parenthood, the nation's largest abortion provider, he said, "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
Obama also committed himself to respecting the Constitution but said the founding document must be interpreted in the context of current affairs and events.

Read how today's America already has rejected the Constitution, and what you can do about it.
Melody Barnes, a senior domestic policy adviser to the Obama campaign, said in the Fox News report, "His view is that our society isn't static and the law isn't static as well. That the Constitution is a living and breathing document and that the law and the justices who interpret it have to understand that."

Obama has criticized Justice Clarence Thomas, regarded as a conservative member of the court, as not a strong jurist or legal thinker. And Obama voted against both Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, two appointees of President Bush who vote with Thomas on many issues.

Further, WND also reported Obama believes the Constitution is flawed, because it fails to address wealth redistribution, and he says the Supreme Court should have intervened years ago to accomplish that.

Obama said in a 2001 radio interview the Constitution is flawed in that it does not mandate or allow for redistribution of wealth.

Obama told Chicago's public station WBEZ-FM that "redistributive change" is needed, pointing to what he regarded as a failure of the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren in its rulings on civil rights issues in the 1960s.

The Warren court, he said, failed to "break free from the essential constraints" in the U.S. Constitution and launch a major redistribution of wealth. But Obama, then an Illinois state lawmaker, said the legislative branch of government, rather than the courts, probably was the ideal avenue for accomplishing that goal.

In the 2001 interview, Obama said:

If you look at the victories and failures of the civil rights movement and its litigation strategy in the court, I think where it succeeded was to invest formal rights in previously dispossessed people, so that now I would have the right to vote. I would now be able to sit at the lunch counter and order and as long as I could pay for it I’d be OK .

But, the Supreme Court never ventured into the issues of redistribution of wealth, and of more basic issues such as political and economic justice in society. To that extent, as radical as I think people try to characterize the Warren Court, it wasn't that radical. It didn't break free from the essential constraints that were placed by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution, at least as it's been interpreted, and the Warren Court interpreted in the same way, that generally the Constitution is a charter of negative liberties. Says what the states can't do to you. Says what the federal government can't do to you, but doesn't say what the federal government or state government must do on your behalf.

And that hasn't shifted and one of the, I think, tragedies of the civil rights movement was because the civil rights movement became so court-focused I think there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalition of powers through which you bring about redistributive change. In some ways we still suffer from that.

DeWeese said the Constitutional Convention effort was begun in the 1980s by those who wanted to rein in government with an amendment requiring a balanced budget for the federal agencies.
"Certainly all loyal Americans want government constrained by a balanced budget," the alert said. "But calling a Con Con risks a revolutionary change in our form of government. The ultimate outcome will likely be a new constitution, one that would possibly eliminate the Article 1 restriction to the coinage of real money or even eliminate gun or property rights."

He noted that when the last Constitutional Convention met in 1787, the original goal was to amend the Articles of Confederation. Instead, delegates simply threw them out and wrote a new Constitution.

"We were blessed in 1787; the Con Con delegates were the leaders of a freedom movement that had just cleansed this land of tyranny," the warning said. "Today's corrupt politicians and judges would like nothing better than the ability to legally ignore the Constitution - to modify its "problematic" provisions to reflect the philosophical and socials mores of our contemporary society."

DeWeese then listed some of the states whose legislatures already have issued a call: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
"You may have heard that some of those 32 states have voted to rescind their calls. This is true," the warning continued. "However, under Article V of the Constitution, Congress must call a Constitutional Convention whenever two-thirds (or 34) of the states apply. The Constitution makes no provision for rescission."

The warning also suggested that the belief that a Constitution Convention could be directed in its purpose is misplaced.

"In truth no restrictive language from any state can legally limit the scope or outcome of a Convention! Once a Convention is called, Congress determines how the delegates to the Convention are chosen. Once chosen, those Convention delegates possess more power than the U.S. Congress itself," the warning said.

"We have not had a Constitutional Convention since 1787. That Convention was called to make small changes in the Articles of Confederation. As a point of fact, several states first passed resolutions requiring their delegates discuss amendments to the Articles ONLY, forbidding even discussion of foundational changes. However, following the delegates' first agreement that their meetings be in secret, their second act was to agree to debate those state restrictions and to declare the Articles of Confederation NULL AND VOID! They also changed the ratification process, reducing the required states' approval from 100 percent to 75 percent. There is no reason to believe a contemporary Con Con wouldn't further 'modify' Article V restrictions to suit its purpose," the center warning said.

The website Principled Policy opined it is true that any new document would have to be submitted to a ratification process.

"However fighting a new Constitution would be a long, hard, ugly and expensive battle which is guaranteed to leave the nation split along ideological lines. It is not difficult to envision civil unrest, riots or even civil war as a result of any re-writing of the current Constitution," the site said.

American Policy cited a statement from former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger that said, "There is no effective way to limit or muzzle the actions of a Constitutional Convention. The convention could make its own rules and set its own agenda."

"This is a horrible time to try such a crazy scheme," the policy center said. "The majority of U.S. voters just elected a dedicated leftist as president. … Our uniquely and purely American concept of individual rights, endowed by our Creator, would be quickly set aside as an anachronistic relic of a bygone era; replaced by new 'collective' rights, awarded and enforced by government for the 'common good.'

"And state No. 34 is likely sitting silently in the wings, ready to act with lightning speed, sealing the fate of our once great nation before we can prevent it," the center said.

A Constitutional Convention would be, DeWeese told WND, "our worst nightmare in an age when you've got people who believe the Constitution is an antiquated document, we need to have everything from controls on guns … all of these U.N. treaties … and controls on how we raise our children."

"When you take the document that is in their way, put it on the table and say how would you like to change it," he said.

American Policy Center suggested several courses of action for people who are concerned, including the suggestion that Ohio lawmakers be contacted.

WND also has reported an associate at a Chicago law firm whose partner served on a finance committee for Obama has advocated simply abandoning the U.S. Constitution's requirement that a president be a "natural-born" citizen.

The paper was written in 2006 by Sarah Herlihy, just two years after Obama had won a landslide election in Illinois to the U.S. Senate. Herlihy is listed as an associate at the Chicago firm of Kirkland & Ellis. A partner in the same firm, Bruce I. Ettelson, cites his membership on the finance committees for both Obama and Sen. Richard Durbin on the corporate website.

The article by Herlihy is available online under law review articles from Kent University.
The issue of Obama's own eligibility is the subject of nearly two dozen court cases in recent weeks, including at least two that have gone to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Herlihy's published paper reveals that the requirement likely was considered in a negative light by organizations linked to Obama in the months before he announced in 2007 his candidacy for the presidency.

"The natural born citizen requirement in Article II of the United States Constitution has been called the 'stupidest provision' in the Constitution, 'undecidedly un-American,' 'blatantly discriminatory,' and the 'Constitution's worst provision,'" Herlihy begins in her introduction to the paper titled, "Amending the Natural Born Citizen Requirement: Globalization as the Impetus and the Obstacle."

The Observer

Garner - Washington Times

The Observer

You Scratch My Back - I'll Kiss Your A**

Why Certain Companies Are Now Getting Bailouts

What were major corporations such as AIG, Ford, Citigroup and Freddie Mac doing in the weeks before they asked Washington for taxpayer-funded financial bailouts?

They were donating millions of dollars to underwrite the Democratic and Republican Party conventions.

According to a new report released today by the Center for Responsive Politics in conjunction with the Campaign Finance Institute, the companies were some of the largest sponsors of the political conventions that resulted in the nomination of Barack Obama and John McCain for president.

In the two years spent fundraising for the conventions, CFI claims the two parties only provided the names "they elected to disclose. The institute announced today that the first official host committee reports have been released, and it now has a complete list of donors.

"The two convention host committees raised $118 million, virtually all of it in private funds: $61 million for the Democratic conclave in Denver and $57 million for the Republican one in Minneapolis-St. Paul," it reveals. "The latter figures are almost four times the separate $16 million each party received from the federal government to support its convention."

Key industry actors in the current financial crisis gave $14 million to conventions, CFI reports. The following are some of its findings:

- Freddie Mac gave $500,000, half to each committee.

- Ford Motor Company donated $200,000 for the conventions, half to each host committee (Also, Kirk Kerkorian, Ford’s largest shareholder with ties to GM and Chrysler, gave $3.5 million).

- General Motors provided 735 new cars to the Democratic and Republican Party convention committees for elected officials' use.

- American International Group, or AIG, gave $1.5 million split evenly between the two committees

- Hedge funds and their managers gave $3.9 million – $2.7 million to Republicans and $1.2 million to Democrats.

- Investment companies including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, UBS and Lehman Brothers, gave $1.5 million.

- Other financial institutions that have received or are eligible for bailouts, such as Citigroup, U.S. Bancorps, Wells Fargo, Cobank and Bank of America, donated $2.9 million – much of it was given to the Republican committee.

- Finance, insurance and real estate companies gave $24.6 million toward the conventions, according to Center for Responsive Politics, or CRP.

"If the executives who have come to Washington, hat in hand, looked familiar to members of Congress, maybe it's because they met over the summer at the conventions," CRP Executive Director Sheila Krumholz said in a statement. "The conventions provided representatives of major corporations and industries with many opportunities to interact with Washington's decision-makers. Those conversations may have paid off just weeks later, when the government started handing out money to those companies and industries that are struggling."

The study also found that the drug industry gave $9.8 million to the parties, Internet companies donated $4.1 million to Republicans and $3.1 million to Democrats, while unions representing government employees contributed all of their $2.7 million to the Democrats' convention in Denver.

Krumholz said, "By taking advantage of the false distinction between a political party and the committee hosting the party's convention, unions were able to support the Democratic Party in a way that hasn't been allowed since the days of soft money, when labor was among the biggest givers."

... So remember, the next time you hear a Pol on the news advocating a bailout, it's not because he cares about the economy, it's because he's an ANTI-AMERICAN PIECE OF DOG CRAP! - Tiger

The Observer

The Weird Days of Christmas

As all of us know, mankind has this tendency to take something pristine, innocent, and wholesome and pervert it into some strange machination of our mind.

Der Spiegel therefore presents; The Weird Days of Christmas. You might find it interesting. Click the pic to view.

The Observer

Garner - Washington Times

Would You Really Want To Buy A Car From These Guys?

The Observer

Islam - Being What It Is ...

Islam Continues It's March To "Glory" And ........... destruction. : (

Let's see, as of today; Islamic Terrorists have carried out at least 1,367 Deadly Terror Attacks since 9-11, according to The Religion of Peace.com .

Now, the kids can have a bad guy to shoot at in their wonderful world of imaginative play! The Osama Bin Lego! Too bad the "Lego" moniker stuck because the real Lego company is not associated with this at all. The add-on pieces (to Lego characters) are made by BrickArms, another toy company.

Meanwhile, in that terrific wonderland of humor, Iran, you can get arrested for your haircut! Talk about about having a bad hair day! As quoted from this article:

"Police in Iran have arrested 49 people this week in a crackdown on 'satanic' Western-style clothes and haircuts.

It is part of a nation-wide campaign to stop the spread of Western cultural influence in the Islamic republic, where strict dress codes are enforced.

'Police confronted rascals and thugs who appeared in public wearing satanic fashions and unsuitable clothing,' said Qaemshahr city police commander Mahmoud Rahmani.

He added that five barber shops were shut and 20 more warned for 'promoting Western hairstyles'."

Oh! And let's not forget about Mumbai, India! All that wonderful carnage in the name of GOD is so spiritually motivating it makes you want to run to a Mosque and convert right away, doesn't it!

And please, let's not become PC and try to ignore the root cause of all this. The Roots of Terrorism IS ISLAM and most especially, the Koran. Let's face it; the inspiration behind their horrendous deeds, including blowing up their own bodies amidst innocent civilians, is the Koran itself. The following is from an article that covers this nicely:

First, from President Bush shortly after 9-11 (illustrating why he got it wrong in this sense).

"The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions among military and civilians; including women and children... I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself...In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom, and may he watch over the United States of America... (AP, Sept. 20, 2001, emphasis added)"

Next, from Ari Fleischer.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer addressed several aspects of the President's war on terrorism at yesterday's press briefing... When Fleischer was asked about concerns that this response could degenerate into a West-versus-Islam battle, he remarked: 'This attack had nothing to do with Islam. This attack was a perversion of Islam.'... (Agape Press, Sept. 18, 2001/Christian World News Report -9/19/01, emphasis added)

While these statements reflect Western ‘politically correct’ opinion, unfortunately, they are not the truth. While countless Muslims are peaceful and oppose terrorism, the ugly reality is that Hezbollah, Hamas, Al Qaeda, Islamic Jihad, and many other terrorist organizations, are not perverting Islam, but are Allah’s truest followers. The inspiration behind their horrendous deeds, including blowing up their own bodies amidst innocent civilians, is the Koran itself. These loyalists within “the Armies of Allah” will stop at nothing until the world becomes Muslim. It’s time the world woke up and realized this.

The following quotes are taken from M. H. Shakir’s translation of the Qur’an (Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc., New York):

-Surah II: 98 – “Allah is the enemy of the unbelievers.”

-Surah II: 191-193 – “Kill them [unbelievers] wherever you find them….Fight with them until there is no persecution, and religion should be only for Allah.”

-Surah II: 216 – “Fighting is enjoined on you, and it is an object of dislike to you; and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know.”

-Surah III: 19 – “Surely the true religion with Allah is Islam…and whoever disbelieves in the communications of Allah then surely Allah is quick in reckoning.”

-Surah IV: 104 – “Be not weak in pursuit of the enemy.”

-Surah V: 51 – “O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whosoever among you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.”

-Surah VIII: 12 – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.”

-Surah VIII: 15-17 – “O you who believe! When you meet those who disbelieve marching for war, turn not your backs to them. Whoever shall turn his back to them on that day – unless he turn aside for the sake of fighting or withdraws to a company – then he, indeed, becomes deserving of Allah’s wrath, and his abode is hell… So you did not slay them, but it was Allah who slew them…that He might confer upon the believers a good gift from Himself; surely Allah is Hearing, Knowing.”

-Surah IX: 29 – “Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth… until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.”

-Surah IX:33 – “[Allah] it is who sent His Apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He might cause it to prevail over all religions, though polytheists may be averse.”

-Surah IX: 73 – “O Prophet! Strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is their destination.”

-Surah IX: 123 – “O you who believe! Fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in your hardness; and know that Allah is with those who guard (against evil).”

There you have it – straight from the Koran. It is this writer’s hope and prayer not only that many Islamic terrorists might be miraculously converted (as was Saul on the road to Damascus – see Acts 9), but that millions of peace-loving Muslims will have their eyes opened, will stop denying the truth, and will finally reject the Koran as a source of evil teachings. These teachings have been inspired, not by the Creator of all life, but by an invisible terrorist whom Jesus Christ identified as “a murderer from the beginning, who abode not in the truth” (John 8:44). Jesus taught love for the entire world, including our enemies (Matthew 5:44). He sacrificed His own life to pay for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3). Salvation comes by faith in Him alone (Acts 4:12). His Book is truth, not the Koran.

The Observer