All Sides Now?

clipped from hotair.com The operation received public support from Sunni lawmakers who earlier pulled out of Maliki’s government. Their departure set off alarms in Washington, where American lawmakers openly criticized Maliki for allowing his government to become too sectarian. The Accordance Front has now broadly hinted that it may rejoin the government now that Maliki has finally “adopted a correct approach to the militia problem.” Far from fracturing the polity of Iraq, Maliki’s efforts against the militias has built confidence that his government wants to move away from sectarianism. The Kurds and Sunnis see encouraging signs in Maliki’s operations, as do Maliki’s other Shi’ite allies. In fact, national reconciliation will not be possible until the Baghdad government takes action against the militias and enforces central control over Iraqi security — which requires Maliki to do what he’s doing right now in Basra.

37 Update: She Owns Hers

clipped from hotair.com The historic contest between a woman and an African-American for the presidential nomination is now all about white men. Not that the white male voters asked for this. They’ve been uncommitted, supporting Hillary in one contest and Barack in the next. But all that hemming and hawing has turned them into the deciding factor in the big upcoming primary in Pennsylvania. … The candidates’ desperation to make contact is showing. Barack Obama goes bowling in Altoona — with disastrous consequences. Hillary Clinton attempts to compare herself to Rocky Balboa, prompting many people to note that Rocky lost to a black guy. Obama, rather cruelly, points out that Rocky is a fictional character. Clinton, in turn, reveals that she owns her own bowling ball. It’s got to be irking women and blacks. This was supposed to be all about us! But in modern politics, the people who choose up sides are doomed to be taken for granted while the whole world goes running after the folks on the fence.

Sharia: Fair And Balanced

clipped from www.frontpagemag.com In Sharia, Muslims and non-Muslims are not equal. This inequality extends even to the treatment of Muslim women. Muslim women are not treated as equal to Muslim men in the tenets of Sharia. Here is a glaring example: According to Saudi law (strictly based on Islamic Sharia) the life of a Muslim male is much higher than a non-Muslim man, and the life of female Muslim is much lower than that of Muslim man. For instance: WALL STREET JOURNAL: - The Wall Street Journal, April 9, 2002). In Saudi Arabia, the concept of blood money as per Islamic Shariat (If a person has been killed or caused to die by another, the latter has to pay blood money or compensation), as follows: 100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man 50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman 50,000 riyals if a Christian man 25,000 riyals if a Christian woman 6,666 riyals if a Hindu man 3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman That is, a Muslim man's life is worth 33 times that of a Hindu woman

Kasserine Pass?

clipped from instapundit.com Basra may well turn out to be Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Kasserine Pass. That notorious battle, which took place in Tunisia in late February 1943, marked the first large-scale encounter between untested American troops and the battle-hardened Germans. The Americans, to put it mildly, did not do well. But they quickly fired incompetent commanders, adjusted in tactics, and never lost another major battle. In Basra the nascent Iraqi Army—also riddled with incompetence and self-doubt—actually came out looking better against Iraq's well-established militias than the American Army had 65 years earlier against the entrenched Nazis, says retired Army Gen. Barry McCaffrey. "At Kasserine we got our asses kicked. These people didn't," McCaffrey says. Despite a spate of early grim assessments of Basra in the U.S. media, U.S. military observers on the ground in Iraq are more sanguine, says McCaffrey, who has long been a critic of the war.

I'm From Chicago ... And I'm Here To Clean You Up ... Umm, Out

clipped from article.nationalreview.com Since Obama wasn’t involved in the serious wrongdoings for which Rezko is on trial, his name will continue to play only a minimal role in the proceedings. But he might suffer collateral damage if the trial continues to expose the grimy underpinnings of the corrupt political structure from which he came. Obama has spoken often about the need to clean up Washington. But he hails from one of the country’s dirtiest governments, where at times he either endorsed for high office or did business with some of its dirtiest players. To the extent that this trial reminds people of that fact, every news story it generates will be bad news for Obama.

COTD: Why The Brits Are Done

clipped from www.blackfive.net The minigun really goes to town from 1:44 to 2:04 on the tape, in the middle of that horrendous fusillade. You can hear about four 1-second bursts. Sergeant Creel said that the Madhis were on the rooftops firing small arms and RPGs, so the miniguns were used to sweep them off. The marines used at least one M113 APC in the Battle of Fallujah that had been fitted with a 20mm Vulcan cannon on the roof. It was originally intended to be an antiaircraft weapon, but they used it to "suppress" snipers (i.e. "chop them into hamburger"). Most of the body of the vehicle was filled with ammunition. A BBC reporter at the scene reacted with indignation and revulsion at the "excessiveness" of using a Vulcan to take out one sniper. This is why the Brits are pretty much done as a nation. Too bad. I like Britain.

And the video's worth a look too...

DWP!

clipped from corner.nationalreview.com DWP   [Mark Steyn] - as in Driving While Polygamous. He's over the limit for speed but not for spouses: When it comes to avoiding a ban for speeding, the courts hear every excuse in the book. But yesterday one motorist offered what must be a unique reason why he should keep his licence. Mohammed Anwar said a ban would make it difficult to commute between his two wives and fulfil his matrimonial duties. His lawyer told a Scottish court the Muslim restaurant owner has one wife in Motherwell and another in Glasgow - he is allowed up to four under his religion - and sleeps with them on alternate nights... Anwar admitted the offence, but Sheriff John C. Morris accepted his plea not to be banned and allowed him to keep his licence... Lorna Jackson, from the road safety charity Brake, called the decision "astonishing". She said: "Regardless of the number of wives or businesses this man drives to, he broke a law which is there to protect everyone."

And al-Lenin Can't Talk About It Any More!

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com A final observation on Zawahiri's online chat: as quoted above, he was asked about Sayf al-‘Adl (also rendered as Saif al-Adel). Sayf was said at one time to be the third highest-ranking member of al Qaeda; since 2003, has has been reported to be in Iran, possibly under some kind of house arrest, or perhaps, as al-Arabiyyah has reported, actively conducting operations from inside Iran. If Zawahiri knows the truth, he isn't saying: As for his question about the location of Sayf al-‘Adl, it is something I am unable to tell him. UPDATE: By the way, if you've ever spent much time hanging out with Communists, Zawahiri's writings and speeches have a familiar tone and bespeak a familiar mentality. He could be the reincarnation of Lenin.

Withdraw From Iraq To Fight Al-Qaeda? And Iran Has Never Helped AQ And They Promise Not To Do It Again?

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com On Iran, Zawahiri is curiously reticent. He repeatedly tells questioners to "refer to my conversation with as-Sahab entitled 'A Review of Events.'" So I went looking for a translation of that interview; Ms. Mansfield was kind enough to send me one. "A Review of Events" is interesting on a number of fronts. Zawahiri talks extensively about events in Iraq; a sampling: As-Sahab: And what is the most important field in which this Mujahid vanguard is wrestling with the enemies of Islam? Zawahiri: Iraq is the most important of these fields. But what about Iran? Zawahiri tells an interesting story. He implies that before September 11, 2001, his organization did cooperate with, or at least have a cordial relationship with, Iran: Zawahiri: My comment on that is that we used to - even before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq- concentrate on confronting the American-led Zionist Crusader alliance in its contemporary Crusade against the Muslim Ummah.

After Iraq

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Al Qaeda's number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, recently conducted an online question and answer session on an Islamic web site. You can read Part One of the transcript here, courtesy of Laura Mansfield. One questioner took al Qaeda to task for not doing more on behalf of the Palestinians, which led Zawahiri to defend the organization's record as a murderer of Jews: As for the statement of the questioner, “I challenge you and your organization to do that in Tel Aviv,” I don’t know – hasn’t the questioner heard that Qaida al-Jihad struck the Jews in Jerba, Tunisia, and struck the Israeli tourists in Mombasa, Kenya, in their hotel, then fired two missiles at the El-Al airliner carrying a number of them? Hasn’t the questioner heard what Shaykh Usama bin Ladin (may Allah protect him) mentioned in his latest speech, that the battalions of the Mujahideen, after expelling the occupier from Iraq, shall make their way towards Jerusalem?

This is a RTWT. More clips to follow in case you don't get it yet

Blink, blink, blink. You Know, The One In Afghanistan. Blink, blink, blink...

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Ayman al-Zawahiri, from his online chat a few days ago (scroll down for post): As-Sahab: And what is the most important field in which this Mujahid vanguard is wrestling with the enemies of Islam? Zawahiri: Iraq is the most important of these fields. Nancy Pelosi, from her press conference yesterday: As we've said before and I'll end by saying: How is this war in Iraq helping us fight the war on terrorism, the real war on terrorism, Afghanistan?

Did I forget to mention that the latest analysis of captured Iraqi documents show that Saddam was helping fund Egyptian Islamic Jihad? You know, the one headed by ... now who is that again?...

He Could Explain It

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com Nancy Pelosi is one of a number of Democratic politicians who married rich men, thereby freeing themselves to meddle in your life and mine. Today, in her press conference on Iraq, she sympathized with the common man who has to worry about the cost of groceries: More troubling economic news arrives nearly every day, consumer prices for staples, such as milk, bread and eggs, rose by the largest amount in 17 years. That's true. But, while rising grocery prices are caused largely by government policies, they have nothing to do with the war in Iraq. Food prices are increasing mostly because of the massive subsidies that support the ethanol industry. All across the Midwest, ethanol plants have sprung up, each one consuming huge quantities of corn. Iowa is now, I believe, a net importer of corn. It's called the law of supply and demand. Pelosi should ask her husband about it. I'm sure he could explain it to her.

Neither

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com I’ve been quite critical of the Washington Post’s coverage of the fighting in Basra and related skirmishing. As is often the case, though, the Post’s editorial page succeeds where its news pages fail. In fact, this editorial about Basra is not only unobjectionable, it actually assists me in trying to evaluate what the fighting meant and where things stand now that it has subsided. The editors begin by rejecting the ultra-negative view propagated in much of the MSM, including the Post itself: Those who portray every development in Iraq as negative described the fighting as proof of worsening sectarianism or as a negation of the improved security achieved in the past six months. In fact, it was neither. In short, the results were mixed. But “the fact that an Iraqi government commonly described as impotent and inert now is willing and able to fight Shiite militias is a step in the right direction."

Both Sides Now

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Feeling the heat of the recent offensive against his forces around Iraq, Muqtada Al Sadr, who has long been suspected of receiving support from the Iranian government, decided to publicly condemn the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. His verbal attack was an unprecedented turn of events for the young Shiite, who for the last year has been traveling to Iran on several occasions to complete his theological studies in order to become an Ayatollah himself. Western security sources have long suspected that these trips have also been used in order to receive financial assistance from Iran, and to coordinate the Mahdi army’s military and political strategy with the leadership in Tehran. There are important reasons behind his offensive against Khameini. Primarily, Al Sadr is furious at the fact that members of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), have joined the Iraqi army’s offensive against his forces in important areas such as Baghdad and Basra.

ELCA: What Kassams?

clipped from www.jpost.com "This marks the first time a mainline American Protestant church has moved toward a possible boycott of Israel," said the center's Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper. "While we note that the ELCA delegates have now joined the Presbyterian Church (USA) in explicitly rejecting divesting from companies doing business with Israel, they have decided to embrace one of the anti-Israel tactics adopted by United Kingdom trade unions and others in Europe. ELCA delegates would have made a stronger contribution to the quest for peace and justice in the Holy Land had they also raised the ransacking of Christian places of worship and [the] recent forced conversion of a Christian professor in Gaza, as well as the unrelenting targeting of Israeli civilian communities by Palestinian Kassam rockets."

Non-Responsive

clipped from corner.nationalreview.com Ramesh - Great stuff. One point re: point #1. I agree that the important part of the Wright spectacle was anti-Americanism, not race. But it needs to be said: Obama and the press made it about race, not the Right.  Obama supporters insisted on forgiving Wright's profound anti-Americanism — perceived or real (I vote real) — because Wright is an allegedly authentic voice of black anger or some such. There's no way these people would have forgiven anything like Wright's diatribes from a white preacher.  Liberal pundits made the Wright scandal racial far more than conservatives did and once they did, conservatives had to respond to the racial argument, particularly after Obama's speech. Indeed, the fact that his advisors think the issue with Wright was anti-Americanism and not race, demonstrates how non-responsive and at times dishonest Obama's speech was.

Basra Impromptu

clipped from www.nytimes.com BAGHDAD — Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker first learned of the Iraqi plan on Friday, March 21: Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki would be heading to Basra with Iraqi troops to bring order to the city. But the Iraqi operation was not what the United States expected. Instead of methodically building up their combat power and gradually stepping up operations against renegade militias, Mr. Maliki’s forces lunged into the city, attacking before all of the Iraqi reinforcements had even arrived. By the following Tuesday, a major fight was on. “The sense we had was that this would be a long-term effort: increased pressure gradually squeezing the Special Groups,” Mr. Crocker said in an interview, using the American term for Iranian-backed militias. “That is not what kind of emerged.” “Nothing was in place from our side,” he added. “It all had to be put together.”

True To Form

clipped from www.powerlineblog.com “Grenade!” Monsoor shouted. But the two snipers and another SEAL on the roof had no time to escape, as Monsoor was closest to the only exit. Monsoor dropped onto the grenade, smothering it with his body. It detonated, and Monsoor died about 30 minutes later from his wounds. Monsoor joins Army Sergeant First Class Paul Ray Smith and Marine Corporal Jason Dunham in receiving the Medal of Honor posthumously for their service in Iraq, as well as Navy SEAL Michael P. Murphy who received the Medal of Honor posthumously for his service in Afghanistan. May their sacrifices be redeemed. Via Noah Pollak, who notes that, "[t]rue to form, the New York Times could not be bothered today to mention the awarding of our nation’s highest honor."

Barack Daley Obama

clipped from article.nationalreview.com Levine’s testimony in the Rezko trial puts Davis in the middle of an attempted quid pro quo, making him yet another associate Obama might be pressured to disown. And the trial could stretch well into May, at which point a Rezko conviction could lead to even more headaches for the candidate. If Rezko is looking at a long prison sentence and decides to start talking, who knows what he might say? But America will have a harder time swallowing excuses for corruption as being a run-of-the-mill aspect of the Illinois political experience — particularly not from a candidate that has promised a new kind of politics. To succeed, Obama would have to denounce the behavior of some of his closest allies and demonstrate a candor about his own experience in state government that’s been missing from his campaign thus far. In the Rezko trial, Obama might have finally encountered a problem that a speech alone won’t solve.

All Propaganda

clipped from www.democracy-project.com Facetiously, what if the world-leading Hadassah hospital opened a facility in Sderot, just to care for desperately ill Gazans? Would Hamas stop its terror rockets against Sderot? What do you think? The World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative for Gaza and the West Bank issued a report criticizing Israeli security for slowing the access of Gazans to Israeli hospitals, saying – as the Associated Press reports -- “The U.N. agency listed 32 cases since October in which Gaza residents, ranging from a 1-year-old child to a 77-year-old man, died because they could not obtain urgent medical treatment.” However, deep in the AP article we find: In 2006, Israel admitted 4,932 patients from Gaza. In 2007, that number jumped to 7,176, with more than half of the patients, or 4,084, being admitted between July 1 and Dec. 31, after the Hamas takeover.

A Different Kind Of Blah-Blah-Blah-Blah

clipped from men.style.com And I got to know [Obama] because we have a mutual friend, Ken Mehlman, who was his law-school classmate at Harvard. And so as a result, whenever in the last three years he's been around at the White House, I've gotten to see him, and we sort of would hang around and chitchat about things. I'm actually in his book. He wrote that "people like Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, Ralph Reed, and Karl Rove say we are a Christian nation." And I did not say that. I confronted him about it. At the White House. And what did he say? Well, first he denied that I was in the book! And then he denied that it said that I said that it was a Christian nation. And then when I pulled out the thing [he had a copy of the offensive page with him] and showed it to him, he sort of blah-blah-blah-blah-blah- blah-blah. And I thought, That's who he is. I mean, look, he may claim that he's for a different kind of politics, But it was like, you know, Let's just strap it in there and see if it goes someplace.

Good Luck With That

clipped from www.africasia.com Pulitzer-prize winning New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak was one of two foreign reporters arrested in Zimbabwe, where he was covering the elections, the newspaper said Thursday. "We do not know where he is being held, or what, if any, charges have been made against him," the paper's executive editor, Bill Keller, said in a statement. "We are making every effort to ascertain his status, to assure that he is safe and being well treated, and to secure his prompt release."

The New Zimbabwe ... Same As The Old Zimbabwe

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Well, it looked promising there for a day or two, but reality (like most African leaders, Mugabe thinks he’s President For Life) is setting in. He has no intention of leaving power. Last news I say online said that the hotel with most foreign correspondents had been surrounded by “security forces.” Here’s an update from Ground Zero, as usual anonymous for obvious reasons: Last night, optimism boiled over, at least for a moment. When my friend D walked into a home where a group of us had gathered to say farewell to an 84-year-old woman about to decamp to South Africa, he high-fived everyone in the room. ³The New Zimbabwe!² he proclaimed, unable to stop smiling. Shortly thereafter, police raided the campaign headquarters of the MDC, the leading opposition party, at the fanciest hotel in Harare. Simultaneously, security forces stormed into a hotel filled with foreign journalists, whose presence here violates the law because they are operating without licenses, and took several of them away

No Return Trips

clipped from littlegreenfootballs.com The jury heard that the gang planned to smuggle components of the homemade bombs on to the flights as “innocuous hand luggage”. The court heard the bombers intended to use hydrogen peroxide and mix it with a product called Tang, used in soft drinks, to turn it into an explosive. They intended to carry it on board disguised as 500ml bottles of Oasis or Lucozade by using food dye to recreate the drinks’ distinctive colour. The detonator would have been disguised as AA 1.5 batteries. The contents of the batteries would have been removed and an electric element such as a lightbulb or wiring would have been inserted. A disposable camera would have provided a power source. “These items would have the capability of being detonated with devastating consequences,” said Mr Wright. But he said the gang only examined details of outward-bound flights — they were not interested in return trips.

No End In Sight

clipped from volokh.com Specter to Shutdown Senate Over Judges: Today's WSJ editorial page reports that Senator Arlen Specter is sufficiently upset with the slow pace of judicial confirmations that he plans to shut down the Senate if Democrats do not schedule more confirmation votes on President Bush's appellate nominees. A look at the numbers explains why the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee is spitting mad. In the last two years of Bill Clinton's Administration, when Mr. Specter was in the chairman's seat, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed 15 appellate court nominees. Now, more than halfway through Mr. Bush's final two years, Chairman Patrick Leahy isn't returning the Constitutional courtesy. The Democratic Senate has confirmed a mere six nominees with no plans in sight to move the remaining 11 forward. This is further evidence of the downward spiral of politicization of the judicial confirmation process -- and there is no end in sight.

Scientology Be Good? ... Or Just Islam?

clipped from volokh.com So prohibiting dissemination of ideas based upon religious superiority "is compatible with the freedom of opinion and expression"; I suppose that would include claims that Islam, Christianity, or whatever else is the one true religion that is correct while others are false. And states are supposed to "prohibit the dissemination ... of ... xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that constitute incitement to racial and religious ... hostility"; I suppose that would include, for instance, condemnation of Scientology as fraud, or of Catholicism as oppressive, or for that matter of all religion as folly. And here I thought that freedom of thought, conscience and religion included the freedom to think and comment about all ideologies, including religious ones.

What Do You Mean, Superpower?

clipped from jamesfallows.theatlantic.com I think if more Americans came to China right now and saw how hard so many of its people are struggling just to survive, they too might ask: What are we thinking, in considering China an overall threat? Yes, its factories are formidable, and its weight in the world is huge. But this is still a big, poor, developing nation trying to solve the emergency of the moment. Susan Shirk, of the University of California at San Diego, recently published a very insightful book that calls China a “fragile superpower.” “When I discuss it in America,” she told me, “people always ask, ‘What do you mean, fragile?’” When she discusses it here in China, “they always ask, ‘What do you mean, superpower?’”

The Baggage

clipped from liberalfascism.nationalreview.com Whenever I hear the criticism as offered above I often want to ask: “Okay, if you agree with me that Progressivism, Wilsonian war socialism, and New Deal corporatism were all to one extent or another fascistic, when do you think liberalism went about the hard work of shedding itself of this baggage?” Because when I look around, I see a lot of liberals lionizing the New Deal and celebrating their own profound indebtedness to the very same progressives you admit were disturbingly fascistic.

Rezko Trial: Of "New Days" And "Change"

clipped from corner.nationalreview.com Blagojevich was supposed to represent a new day in Springfield, and therein lies a lesson for those Americans enamored of Barack Obama and his message of change. Illinois voters have some recent experience electing a young, ambitious, hard-charging Democrat who promised them a break from the past. Last November, over half of them said they would vote to recall him. Sure enough, today's Chicago Tribune carries an editorial calling on the state legislature to pass a recall provision: Blagojevich's reign follows the certifiably corrupt term of George Ryan. Whenever such failed leaders don't have the personal dignity to stop pocketing a paycheck from citizens, those citizens shouldn't have to wait for the next election to declare, "You are serving your interests, not ours. You are dismissed." Blagojevich has earned that distinction.

No, That Is Not A Misprint

clipped from article.nationalreview.com As Barack Obama found out last week, when you run for president you can’t even get away with being a lousy giver to charity. After Mr. and Mrs. Obama released their tax returns, the press quickly noticed that, between 2000 and 2004, they gave less than one percent of their income to charity, far lower than the national average. The Obamas got rich in 2005. Their income increased sevenfold from 2004 to 2005, mostly because of Mr. Obama’s book royalties, and stayed very high in 2006 for the same reason. In 2006, another wealthy political couple with significant book royalties was Mr. and Mrs. Cheney, who had a combined income of $8.8 million, largely due to Mrs. Cheney’s books and the couple’s investment income. Just how much did the Cheneys give to charity from their bonanza? A measly 78 percent of their income, or $6.9 million. (No, that is not a misprint.) This last fact does not generally square with the well-cultivated liberal trope of the blackhearted Cheneys.

Update: We Didn't Do Anything And We Promise To Stop

clipped from www.telegraph.co.uk Israel has admitted for the first time that an air strike in Syria last year was aimed at a nuclear facility built with assistance from North Korea. The Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun cited sources at the Japanese foreign ministry for its report of a meeting between Ehud Olmert, the prime minister of Israel, and Yasuo Fukuda, his Japanese opposite number. Mr Olmert is reported to have admitted that Israel carried out the bombing last September and that the target was a nuclear-related facility built using technical assistance from Pyongyang.

Declined

clipped from pajamasmedia.com Let’s take another step backward. At the outset of the war, Khamenei and his ilk fully expected to gain the support of most Iraqi Shi’ites, and to create little regional islamic republics, starting in Basra. They spent an enormous amount of money, buying local properties, opening stores and offices (I heard of one with a sign on the door: “Iranian Military Intelligence”), bribing local officials and businessmen. Today, on the most reliable accounts, most Iraqi Shi’ites (and Sunnis, for that matter) despise the Iranian regime, blame it for most of the violence, and are fighting Iranians and their proxies throughout the land. When Ahmadi-Nezhad came to Baghdad, the country’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Sistani, declined to meet him, even as thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in the streets against Iran. Sistani could probably have shut down the demonstrations…

Dictatorship Of Relativism Update

clipped from article.nationalreview.com Nor would a pope who thought in Eurocrat terms about world politics have appointed as his “foreign minister” Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, a man who combines extensive experience of Islamist aggression (he was formerly papal nuncio in Khartoum) with a fondness for the United States and a clear-eyed view of the weaknesses and corruptions of the present U.N. (where he served for three years). Furthermore, Benedict XVI and Archbishop Mamberti are both fully aware that the “dictatorship of relativism” of which then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger warned just prior to his election as pope is not only being imposed across Europe by radically secularist governments like the Zapatero regime in Spain; it is also being imposed by the E.U. bureaucracy, the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European human rights courts.

Go Benedict!

It's an interesting world where a Lutheran like me is cheering on the Pope...

"We're not leftists. We're much more radical than that."

clipped from www.frontpagemagazine.com Schirch’s assumption that global strife and terrorism are the inevitable consequence of American greed and profiteering is a favorite theme for the secular and Religious Left, neither of which accepts traditional Christian understandings of human sinfulness.  Instead, the secular and Religious Left believe people to be innately good but corrupted or provoked to wrath by unjust “systems” that are predictably identified with capitalism, patriarchy, Western Civilization, and especially the United States.   That the American economy is itself the economic engine that helps to uplift tens of millions around the world out of chronic poverty is a point that always escapes them.   That terrorism is primarily a product of often irrational human hatred and base resentment is a possibility that the Religious Left would prefer not to consider.   Combating hatred in human hearts requires spiritual warfare by churches and often material warfare by civil states.

The Time Bomb

clipped from www.americanthinker.com If you've ever wondered why black people in America have had such a hard time rising in society, even after slavery ended in 1865, even after the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, even after affirmative action tilted the playing field in their favor, the answer has to be found in the doctrines that have been preached to blacks by their most powerful leaders. If Black Liberation Theology is to be believed, blacks can never make it on their own. They have to rely on a separatist, rage-filled ideology, supported whole-heartedly by white Leftist churches. What the Church of the Left have done to poor blacks is just like that. Instead of supporting messages of hope and strength, they celebrated the rage demagogues who keep people in thrall. "Black Liberation" is an enslavement of the mind. For the Democrats, who have knowingly supported this corruption of the poor for decades, the churches of Left have set a time bomb. Next month we'll see if it explodes.

And Nothing Will Be The Same

clipped from www.atimes.com As Magdi Allam enjoins his new Church: For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. What the outcome will be of the evangelization of Muslims lies beyond all speculation: that is a matter of every soul's relationship to God. But the global agenda has changed, not through the machinations of statesmen or the word-mincing of public intellectuals, but through the soul of a single man. Benedict's Regensburg challenge to Islam now demarcates the encounter between the West and the Muslim world, and nothing will be the same.

Pray for it...

Is it Real Or Is It A Hoax?

clipped from www.greencarcongress.com During its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders, ZENN Motor Company Inc. (ZMC) said that it is targeting the launch of the cityZENN EV, powered by EEStor, for the fall of 2009. The cityZENN is planned to be a fully certified, highway capable vehicle with a top speed of 125 kph (80 mph) and a range or 400 kilometers (250 miles). The cityZENN is supposed to be rechargeable in less than 5 minutes. EEStor is the developer of what it says is a new high-power-density ceramic ultracapacitor (the Energy Storage Unit—EESU). The EEStor ESU is projected to offer up to 10x the energy density (volumetric and gravimetric) of lead-acid batteries at the same cost. In addition, the ESU is projected to store up to 1.5 to 2.5 times the energy of Li-Ion batteries at 12 to 25% of the cost. (Earlier post.) EEStor has publicly committed to commercialization in 2008 and their first production line will be used to supply ZENN Motor Company. —Ian Clifford, Chief Executive Officer

Lockheed seems interested so there's at least some chance that EEstor isn't a hoax. If it's real, it's a game changer.

On Accepting Blessings

clipped from hotair.com Update (Ed): I have to add something to this thread. My son & daughter-in-law had our granddaughter, the Little Admiral, when they were 18 years old. None of us ever saw her as a “punishment”, not from God or hormones or the universe in general. While we would obviously have preferred that Mom and Dad had a little more preparation for life, we never thought of the new addition as anything other than a blessing. How so? We saw our son blossom almost overnight into manhood. He threw himself into his new family. Our daughter-in-law spent most of the pregnancy on an IV, and he learned to install and maintain it for her. In May, the Little Admiral turns 6, and my son and DIL will both graduate from college. She’ll be a teacher, while he wants to pursue post-graduate work in math and physics. It’s amazing to see what people can do when they accept blessings in their lives rather than treat new life as a “punishment”.