COMMENT: Not that I accept the 'global warming' argument, but this should throw its supporters into a tizzy.  See second article in this email.

1.  Study: Ethanol May Add to Global Warming
2.  Biofuelds and Food Prices
3.  Transformational Education and the Global Warming Fantasy

Study: Ethanol May Add to Global Warming

By H. JOSEF HEBERT – 12 hours ago
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gG6RDP96uZ_A1auof7LysRqbgDxAD8ULPD0G0

WASHINGTON (AP) — The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes, researchers concluded Thursday. The study challenges the rush to biofuels as a response to global warming.

The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn — and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass — become a prized commodity.

"Using good cropland to expand biofuels will probably exacerbate global warming," concludes the study published in Science magazine.

The researchers said that farmers under economic pressure to produce biofuels will increasingly "plow up more forest or grasslands," releasing much of the carbon formerly stored in plants and soils through decomposition or fires. Globally, more grasslands and forests will be converted to growing the crops to replace the loss of grains when U.S. farmers convert land to biofuels, the study said.

The Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers, called the researchers' view of land-use changes "simplistic" and said the study "fails to put the issue in context."

"Assigning the blame for rainforest deforestation and grassland conversion to agriculture solely on the renewable fuels industry ignores key factors that play a greater role," said Bob Dinneen, the association's president.

There has been a rush to developing biofuels, especially ethanol from corn and cellulosic feedstock such as switchgrass and wood chips, as a substitute for gasoline. President Bush signed energy legislation in December that mandates a six-fold increase in ethanol use as a fuel to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, calling the requirement key to weaning the nation from imported oil.

The new "green" fuel, whether made from corn or other feedstocks, has been widely promoted — both in Congress and by the White House — as a key to combating global warming. Burning it produces less carbon dioxide, the leading greenhouse gas, than the fossil fuels it will replace.

During the recent congressional debate over energy legislation, lawmakers frequently cited estimates that corn-based ethanol produces 20 percent less greenhouse gases in production, transportation and use than gasoline, and that cellulosic ethanol has an even greater benefit of 70 percent less emissions.

The study released Thursday by researchers affiliated with Princeton University and a number of other institutions maintains that these analyses "were one-sided" and counted the carbon benefits of using land for biofuels but not the carbon costs of diverting land from its existing uses.

"The other studies missed a key factor that everyone agrees should have been included, the land use changes that actually are going to increase greenhouse gas emissions," said Tim Searchinger, a research scholar at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and lead author of the study.

The study said that after taking into account expected worldwide land-use changes, corn-based ethanol, instead of reducing greenhouse gases by 20 percent, will increases it by 93 percent compared to using gasoline over a 30-year period. Biofuels from switchgrass, if they replace croplands and other carbon-absorbing lands, would result in 50 percent more greenhouse gas emissions, the researchers concluded.

Not all ethanol would be affected by the land-use changes, the study said.

"We should be focusing on our use of biofuels from waste products" such as garbage, which would not result in changes in agricultural land use, Searchinger said in an interview. "And you have to be careful how much you require. Use the right biofuels, but don't require too much too fast. Right now we're making almost exclusively the wrong biofuels."

The study included co-authors affiliated with Iowa State University, the Woods Hole Research Center and the Agricultural Conservation Economics. It was supported in part indirectly by a grants from NASA's Terrestrial Ecology Program, and by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Searchinger, in addition to his affiliation with Princeton, is a fellow at the Washington-based German Marshall Fund of the United States.

The study prompted a letter Thursday to President Bush and Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress from nearly a dozen scientists who urged them to pursue a policy "that ensures biofuels are not produced on productive forests, grassland or cropland."

"Some opportunities remain to produce environmentally beneficial biofuels" while "unsound biofuel policies could sacrifice tens of hundreds of million of acres" of grasslands and forests while increasing global warming, said the scientists, including four members of the National Academy of Sciences.
 

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You will want to listen to this piece. 

Biofuelds and Food Prices

Listen Now [4 min 33 sec] add to playlist

Weekend Edition Saturday, November 17, 2007 · Scott Simon speaks with ecologist David Tilman about how much biofuels benefit the environment, and whether growing crops for biofuel manufacturing could drive up food prices

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16389598

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COMMENT:  At a Conference I attended in St. Louis the end of January the author (Christopher C. Horner) of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming" spoke. In addition, Phyllis has interviewed him on her radio program as well as had him speak at our Eagle Collegians annual conference. I highly recommend this book especially those who still have children at home and want to counter the near hysteria about 'global warming'.  It is available at a discount at Amazon.com.
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"Issues and Action in Education"

Transformational Education and the Global Warming Fantasy

by Allen Quist

An e-letter produced by EdWatch, a nonprofit organization.

In early 2007 the government of the United Kingdom sent copies of Al Gore's global warming DVD, An Inconvenient Truth, to all secondary schools in England, Wales and Scotland. This action was part of a nationwide "Sustainable Schools Year of Action" which had been launched in 2006.

Showing the Gore DVD in UK public schools was challenged in the courts, however, on the basis that the schools are legally forbidden to promote partisan political views and that UK schools are required, when dealing with political issues, to provide a balanced presentation of opposing views.

Presiding court judge, Michael Burton, ruled that the Gore film contains numerous errors made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration." As a consequence, said Judge Burton, the film could be shown only on the condition that it be accompanied by guidance notes to balance Gore's "one-sided" views in order to point out that the film's "apocalyptic vision" was not an impartial analysis of climate change.

At the same time, however, Gore's movie of "alarmism and exaggerations" has been shown, and continues to be shown, in countless American schools-shown to children at all grade levels not just high school-and shown without any warning labels whatsoever.

In this way our school children are being subjected to a massive propaganda campaign of the global warming fanatics. Such programs are not intended to educate our children but rather to indoctrinate them with the attitudes, values and beliefs of the leftists.

To continue reading go to

http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/ed-watch/1-14-warming-fantasy.htm

Was this an honor killing?

Motive of girls' killer matters more than you may think

Rowan Williams says Sharia law unavoidable

By Katie Franklin and agencies
 

The adoption of some aspects of Islamic Sharia law in Britain "seems unavoidable", the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.

Dr Rowan Williams said other religions enjoyed tolerance of their own laws, and called for "constructive accommodation" with Muslim practice in areas such as marital disputes.

 

But he stressed that it could never be allowed to take precedence over an individual's rights as a citizen.

Asked if the adoption of Sharia law was necessary for community cohesion, Dr Williams told the BBC: "It seems unavoidable and, as a matter of fact, certain conditions of Sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law, so it is not as if we are bringing in an alien and rival system.

"We already have in this country a number of situations in which the internal law of religious communities is recognised by the law of the land as justifying conscientious objections in certain circumstances."

He added: "There is a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law as we already do with aspects of other kinds of religious law.

"It would be quite wrong to say that we could ever license a system of law for some community which gave people no right of appeal, no way of exercising the rights that are guaranteed to them as citizens in general.

"But there are ways of looking at marital disputes, for example, which provide an alternative to the divorce courts as we understand them.
 

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/07/nwilliams107.xml

09:35 AM CST on Sunday, January 13, 2008

Were Amina and Sarah Said, the Lewisville Muslim teenagers found shot to death in their father's taxi, victims of an honor killing? And would it really matter if they were?

It would, and you'd think a lot more people in the media would be exploring that question, particularly because their slayings have so much in common with the honor killing pattern we see in Muslim communities in the West and the Middle East.

True, the only person who can definitively answer the question, Yaser Abdel Said, is on the lam, pursued by police as a suspect in his daughters' deaths. And Mr. Said's teenage son, Islam, while apparently conceding that his father killed his sisters, denies that religion had anything to do with it.

But several of the girls' friends told reporters that Mr. Said was furious at his daughters for having boyfriends and had threatened to kill them. The girls' great-aunt, Gail Gartrell – to whose house Patricia Said fled with her daughters out of fear of her husband – used the words "honor killing" to describe the murders.

"She ran with them," Ms. Gartrell told The Dallas Morning News, "because she knew he would carry out the threat."

If Mr. Said killed his children, is his motive significant? After all, domestic violence is found across religious, social and economic lines. Some would say that to speculate on whether Mr. Said's background – Egyptian immigrant and Muslim – played a key role in his daughters' slayings is merely to search for another reason to bash Muslims. One suspects that has a lot to do with the by-now routine media incuriosity when it comes to news stories that might reflect poorly on Islamic culture.

Yet news outlets are wrong to play down or ignore the honor killing angle, and here's why:

"Honor killing" is the term used to describe a practice in which one or more males kills a female relative who has, in their view, dishonored the family – usually by breaking a strict taboo governing sexual behavior or gender roles. To be sure, it is not a practice historically limited to Islamic societies, nor is there clear sanction for it in the Quran.

However, its Islamic proponents do cite this Quranic verse (4:34) in their defense:

Men are the maintainers of women because Allah has made some of them to excel others and because they spend out of their property; the good women are therefore obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded; and [as to] those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and beat them; then if they obey you, do not seek a way against them; surely Allah is High, Great.

Honor killing enjoys significant support in some Muslim societies – and among some immigrant communities in the West. Last week, Jordanian authorities charged a man there with gunning down his unmarried 30-year-old daughter. He suspected her of dating and reportedly confessed to police that his homicidal act had "cleansed" his family's honor.

Several years ago, the Jordanian parliament voted down attempts by Jordanian women and human rights activists to end honor killing, which takes the lives of 20 to 30 Jordanian women each year. Parliament upheld lenient sentences for men guilty of honor killing as necessary to protect traditional Islamic social mores against Westernization. Human rights activists there complain that there is little political will to fight honor killings because the barbaric practice is so culturally entrenched.

The legitimacy of male violence against rebellious women is by no means an extreme view among Arab Muslims. A columnist in the Yemen Times last week argued that violence against women is sometimes necessary to "preserve the morals and principles with which Islam has honored us." In Arab culture, where honor is prized and female sexual purity exalted, a family can be cast out if a female member brings shame upon it. Traditionally, the only way to restore peace is through violence.
 

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Tainted Drugs Tied to Maker of Abortion Pill

BEIJING — A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs.

Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two officials, including the head of the plant, had been detained.

The drug maker, Shanghai Hualian, is the sole supplier to the United States of the abortion pill, mifepristone, known as RU-486. It is made at a factory different from the one that produced the tainted cancer drugs, about an hour’s drive away.

The United States Food and Drug Administration declined to answer questions about Shanghai Hualian, because of security concerns stemming from the sometimes violent opposition to abortion. But in a statement, the agency said the RU-486 plant had passed an F.D.A. inspection in May. “F.D.A. is not aware of any evidence to suggest the issue that occurred at the leukemia drug facility is linked in any way with the facility that manufactures the mifepristone,” the statement said.

When told of Shanghai Hualian’s troubles, Dr. Sidney M. Wolfe, a leading consumer advocate and frequent F.D.A. critic, said American regulators ought to be concerned because of accusations that serious health risks had been covered up there. “Every one of these plants should be immediately inspected,” he said.

The director of the Chinese F.D.A.’s drug safety control unit in Shanghai, Zhou Qun, said her agency had inspected the factory that produced mifepristone three times in recent months and found it in compliance. “It is natural to worry,” Ms. Zhou said, “but these two plants are in two different places and have different quality-assurance people.”

The investigation of the contaminated cancer drugs comes as China is trying to restore confidence in its tattered regulatory system. In the last two years, scores of people around the world have died after ingesting contaminated drugs and drug ingredients produced in China. Last year, China executed its top drug safety official for accepting bribes to approve drugs.

Shanghai Hualian is a division of one of China’s largest pharmaceutical companies, the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group, which owns dozens of factories. Neither Shanghai Hualian nor its parent company would comment on the tainted medicine.

Last week, The New York Times asked the F.D.A. whether the Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group exported to the United States any drugs or pharmaceutical ingredients other than the abortion pill. But after repeated requests, the agency declined to provide that information; it did not cite a reason.

On at least two occasions in 2002, Shanghai Hualian had shipments of drugs stopped at the United States border, F.D.A. records show. One shipment was an unapproved antibiotic and the other a diuretic that had “false or misleading labeling.” Records also show that another unit of Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group has filed papers declaring its intention to sell at least five active pharmaceutical ingredients to manufacturers for sale in the United States.

One major pharmaceutical company, Pfizer, declined to buy drug ingredients from Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group because of quality-related issues, said Christopher Loder, a Pfizer spokesman. In 2006, Pfizer agreed to evaluate Shanghai Pharmaceutical Group’s “capabilities” as an ingredient supplier, but so far the company “has not met the standards required by Pfizer,” Mr. Loder said in a statement.

To continue reading go to http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/world/asia/31pharma.html?ex=1202446800&en=07579df3a2ec0f7c&ei=5070&emc=eta1

Scientists believe they have made a potential breakthrough in the treatment of serious disease by creating a human embryo with three separate parents.

The Newcastle University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy.

The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests.

It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children.

*********for remainder, go to**********
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7227861.stm

The Newcastle University team believe the technique could help to eradicate a whole class of hereditary diseases, including some forms of epilepsy.

The embryos have been created using DNA from a man and two women in lab tests.

It could ensure women with genetic defects do not pass the diseases on to their children.

*********for remainder, go to**********
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7227861.stm

 

The Outrageous WTO

by Phyllis Schlafly, January 9, 2008

WTO now stands for World Trade Outrage rather than its original name, World Trade Organization. The WTO just ruled that the Caribbean nation of Antigua and Barbuda can freely violate American copyrights and trademarks in order to punish the United States for our laws prohibiting internet gambling.

Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act in 2006 after finding that "internet gambling is a growing cause of debt collection problems for insured depository institutions and the consumer credit industry." The social and financial costs of gambling would be greatly increased if we permit internet gambling.

The WTO ordered this punishment because it says U.S. laws interfere with free trade in "recreational services." The foreign tribunal ranks free trade as more important than the intellectual property rights Americans have enjoyed since our Constitution was written.

The WTO's 88-page decision issued in December contained the panel's remarkable admission that "we feel we are on shaky grounds." But that didn't stop the Geneva tribunal from issuing its ruling anyway.

We have every right as a nation to protect our people against the corruption and loss of wealth that result from gambling on the internet. It is shocking for an unelected foreign tribunal to tell our 435-member House of Representatives, our 100-member Senate, and the President of the United States that they lack the power to protect our people.

Even American supremacist judges would not have the nerve to authorize stealing copyrights and trademarks as a remedy for one side in an unrelated dispute. But the WTO granted what has been called a "piracy permit" that allows a small Caribbean nation to "pirate," or steal, U.S. property rights.

The response in Washington was to announce an attempt to revise the conditions under which we joined the WTO in 1994. That's a non-starter because these changes in the WTO treaty would require the approval of all 151 members, most of whom don't like the U.S. anyway.

The WTO has ruled against the United States in 40 out of 47 major cases, and against us in 30 out of 33 trade remedies cases. After the WTO ruled that the U.S. cannot divert tariff revenue to U.S. companies that are injured by foreign subsidies to their competitors, Vice President Dick Cheney provided the tie-breaking vote in the Senate on December 21, 2005 to kowtow to the WTO.

For many years, opponents of the WTO have predicted that this foreign bureaucracy would massively interfere with our sovereignty. This new ruling is crazy, unjust and impertinent, but without a lot of public protest, it looks unlikely that our "free trade" President or Congress will do anything to protect us from the WTO.

How is a foreign tribunal in Geneva able to put the United States in such a box? It's because the internationalist free-trade lobby cooked up a sleazy deal to force the WTO on us back in 1994 during the week after Thanksgiving when Americans were preoccupied with Christmas shopping and festivities.

The deal to lock us into WTO consisted of three parts. First, the 14-page WTO agreement was surreptitiously added, without debate or publicity, to the 22,000-page revision of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) implementing legislation, and was voted on under "fast track" rules which allowed no amendments or changes, severely limited debate, and forbade any filibuster.

Second, the Treaty Clause in the U.S. Constitution for ratification of treaties was ignored, and WTO was declared passed by Congress as a non-treaty. Third, the GATT/WTO agreement was passed in the December lame-duck session with the votes of dozens of Congressmen who were looking for lucrative jobs representing foreign interests because they had already been defeated in the Republican landslide of November 1994.

The WTO is not "free trade" at all, but is a supra-national body in Geneva that sets, manages and enforces WTO-made rules to govern global trade. The WTO includes a one-country-one-vote legislature of 151 nations (we have the same one vote as Cuba), an unelected multinational bureaucracy, and a Dispute Settlement Board which deliberates and votes in secret and whose decisions cannot be appealed or vetoed.

WTO is a direct attack on our sovereignty because it claims it can force us to change our laws to comply with WTO rulings. Article XVI, paragraph 4, states: "Each Member shall ensure the conformity of its laws, regulations, and administrative procedures with its obligations." The WTO has the final say about whether U.S. laws meet WTO requirements.

In this presidential season, the WTO should make easy target practice for any candidate to speak up and defend our sovereignty against the globalists who, under the mantra of "free trade," willingly allow the WTO to tell us what laws we may or may not adopt.
http://eagleforum.org/column/2008/jan08/08-01-09.html

COMMENT:  You will want to read every word of each article.  This is just one more way we are losing this nation.

BETTER REFERENCES:

The Great Divide: The Failure of Islam and the Triumph of the West
By Alvin J. Schmidt and Marvin Olasky
Article Here


Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs
Ergun and Emir Canor

Article Here

**These men are both former Muslims, raised in a Muslim home prior to becoming Christians and have been guest speakers at my church.


1.  Salute the Danish Flag
2.  Caughlin sacked
3.  Global Banks Adopting Islam
4.  Quantico mosque leader promoted

In Denmark, once-liberal immigration policies have forced huge governmental change and zero tolerance for Muslim immigrants intent on turning Denmark into an Islamic welfare haven.  FSM Contributing Editor Susan MacAllen reveals a shocking reaction there and lessons America must learn.

Salute the Danish Flag! - It’s a Symbol of Western Freedom

By Susan MacAllen

In 1978-9 I was living and studying in Denmark. An elderly woman to whom I was close said something to me one day that puzzled me for many years after. I forget what the context of our conversation was, but she commented that I - as a young American in Denmark - should not let any Dane scold me about the way America had treated its black population, because the Danes in her view treated their immigrants at least as badly. I wasn’t sure which immigrants she meant, so I asked her.  She answered that she meant those from the Middle East.

But in 1978 - even in Copenhagen, one didn’t see these Muslim immigrants. The Danish population embraced visitors, celebrated the exotic, went out of its way to protect each of its citizens. It was proud of its new brand of socialist liberalism - one in development since the conservatives had lost power in 1929 - a system where no worker had to struggle to survive, where one ultimately could count upon the state as in, perhaps, no other western nation at the time. The rest of Europe saw the Scandinavians as free-thinking, progressive and infinitely generous in their welfare policies. Denmark boasted low crime rates, devotion to the environment, a superior educational system and a history of humanitarianism.

Denmark was also most generous in its immigration policies - it offered the best welcome in Europe to the new immigrant: generous welfare payments from first arrival plus additional perks in transportation, housing and education. It was determined to set a world example for inclusiveness and multiculturalism. How could it have predicted that one day in 2005 a series of political cartoons in a newspaper would spark violence that would leave dozens dead in the streets - all because its commitment to multiculturalism would come back to bite?

By the 1990's the growing urban Muslim population was obvious - and its unwillingness to integrate into Danish society was obvious. Years of immigrants had settled into Muslim-exclusive enclaves. As the Muslim leadership became more vocal about what they considered the decadence of Denmark’s liberal way of life, the Danes - once so welcoming - began to feel slighted. Many Danes had begun to see Islam as incompatible with their long-standing values: belief in personal liberty and free speech, in equality for women, in tolerance for other ethnic groups, and a deep pride in Danish heritage and history.

The New York Post in 2002 ran an article by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, in which they forecasted accurately that the growing immigrant problem in Denmark would explode. In the article they reported:

·         "Muslim immigrants…constitute 5 percent of the population but consume upwards of 40 percent of the welfare spending."

·         "Muslims are only 4 percent of Denmark's 5.4 million people but make up a majority of the country's convicted rapists, an especially combustible issue given that practically all the female victims are non-Muslim. Similar, if lesser, disproportions are found in other crimes."

·         "Over time, as Muslim immigrants increase in numbers, they wish less to mix with the indigenous population. A recent survey finds that only 5 percent of young Muslim immigrants would readily marry a Dane."

·         "Forced marriages - promising a newborn daughter in Denmark to a male cousin in the home country, then compelling her to marry him, sometimes on pain of death - are one problem..."

·         "Muslim leaders openly declare their goal of introducing Islamic law once Denmark's Muslim population grows large enough - a not-that-remote prospect. If present trends persist, one sociologist estimates, every third inhabitant of Denmark in 40 years will be Muslim."

It is easy to understand why a growing number of Danes would feel that Muslim immigrants show little respect for Danish values and laws. An example is the phenomenon common to other European countries and the U.S.: some Muslims in Denmark who opted to leave the Muslim faith have been murdered in the name of Islam, while others hide in fear for their lives. Jews are also threatened and harassed openly by Muslim leaders in Denmark, a country where once Christian citizens worked to smuggle out nearly all of their 7,000 Jews by night to Sweden - before the Nazis could invade. I think of my Danish friend Elsa - who as a teenager had dreaded crossing the street to the bakery every morning under the eyes of occupying Nazi soldiers - and I wonder what she would say today.

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Inside the Ring

By Bill Gertz
January 4, 2008

2.  Coughlin sacked

Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.

Mr. Coughlin was notified this week that his contract with the Joint Staff will end in March, effectively halting the career of one of the U.S. government's most important figures in analyzing the nature of extremism and ultimately preparing to wage ideological war against it.

He had run afoul of a key aide to Mr. England, Hasham Islam, who confronted Mr. Coughlin during a meeting several weeks ago when Mr. Islam sought to have Mr. Coughlin soften his views on Islamist extremism.

Mr. Coughlin was accused directly by Mr. Islam of being a Christian zealot or extremist "with a pen," according to defense officials. Mr. Coughlin appears to have become one of the first casualties in the war of ideas with Islamism.

The officials said Mr. Coughlin was let go because he had become "too hot" or controversial within the Pentagon.

Misguided Pentagon officials, including Mr. Islam and Mr. England, have initiated an aggressive "outreach" program to U.S. Muslim groups that critics say is lending credibility to what has been identified as a budding support network for Islamist extremists, including front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood.

Mr. Coughlin wrote a memorandum several months ago based on documents made public in a federal trial in Dallas that revealed a covert plan by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Egyptian-origin Islamist extremist group, to subvert the United States using front groups. Members of one of the identified front groups, the Islamic Society of North America, has been hosted by Mr. England at the Pentagon.

After word of the confrontation between Mr. Coughlin and Mr. Islam was made public, support for Mr. Coughlin skyrocketed among those in and out of government who feared the worst, namely that pro-Muslim officials in the Pentagon were after Mr. Coughlin's scalp, and that his departure would be a major setback for the Pentagon's struggling efforts to develop a war of ideas against extremism. Blogs lit up with hundreds of postings, some suggesting that Mr. England's office is "penetrated" by the enemy in the war on terrorism.

Kevin Wensing, a spokesman for Mr. England, said "no one in the deputy's office had any input into this decision" by the Joint Staff to end Mr. Coughlin's contract. A Joint Staff spokesman had no immediate comment.
 

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• The December, 2007 “teddy bear” case in Sudan, where a British teacher was sentenced to 40 lashes and a year in jail for allowing her students to name their teddy bear “Mohammad.” Islamic mobs demonstrated in the streets and called for her execution.
• The November, 2007 case where a 19 year old gang-rape victim in Saudi Arabia received a sentence of 200 lashes for riding in the car with her rapists.
• In 2006, a 34 year-old mother was forcibly raped and ultimately tried and convicted of adultery, and was ordered to be stoned to death.

“This is a testimony to our status as an international financial centre of repute. Morgan Stanley is a highly reputed organisation and to have them here at the DIFC is a vindication of our strategy to create a world-class financial hub for the region. The opportunity available within the region, along with the state-of-the-art infrastructure and the international regulatory framework of the DIFC, provides the ideal platform for institutions such as Morgan Stanley to grow their business." [Emphasis added]

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4.  Quantico mosque leader promoted
Pentagon honors Wahhabi-trained Muslim chaplain

Posted: December 14, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

England also earlier this year personally dedicated a new Islamic center at Marine headquarters in Quantico, Va., on the advice of Saifulislam, a Bangladesh immigrant who became a U.S. citizen in 1995.

The Muslim chaplain, who is stationed at Quantico, recited verses from the Quran in Arabic and English at the summer dedication ceremony, which included representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, several leaders of which have been convicted on terrorism-related charges

Saifulislam, which is Arabic for "Sword of Islam," received his religious training at a radical Islamic school raided by federal agents after 9/11. The Graduate School of Islamic and Social Sciences, based in Leesburg, Va., is run by Taha Jaber Al-Alwani, an unindicted co-conspirator in the Sami al-Arian terror case. A federal affidavit used to obtain a warrant to search the school alleges Al-Alwani gave at least $50,000 in jihad money "to support suicide bombings."

Saifulislam insists he is moderate and condemns "terrorism," but critics say his Wahhabi background and associations should give the Pentagon pause.

"The Pentagon is giving him a permanent, taxpayer-supported platform from which to convert grunts to Islam," said terror expert Paul Sperry, a Hoover Institution media fellow and author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."

"With the Quantico mosque, the Pentagon is facilitating the study of the holy text the enemy uses, heretically or not, as their manual of warfare."

Saifulislam's promotion along with the dedication of his new Quantico mosque – the first of its kind in the 230-year history of the Corps – comes on the heels of a Muslim spy scandal at Gitmo involving another Muslim chaplain.

Army Capt. James "Yousef" Yee, who ministered to al-Qaida detainees, was charged with mishandling classified information. Yee, a convert to Islam, quit the Army and the charges were dropped. But two of his Muslim military friends at Gitmo were convicted of espionage-related crimes.

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COMMENT:  Little human embryos being created and then destroyed for research.  This man created his own clones and then destroyed them.  Where in the world are we going???

Mature Human Embryos Created From Adult Skin Cells

 

Other critics noted that scientists in Japan and Wisconsin recently discovered a way to "reprogram" stem cells directly from skin cells, without having to make embryos as a middle step.
 

"In light of the recent cell reprogramming developments, cloning-based stem cell research is less justified than ever," said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society in Oakland, Calif.

Wood and others countered that, for now, those approaches require the use of gene-altered viruses, which can trigger tumor growth.

"It's hard to believe the FDA would approve the use of those cells," Wood said.

Criticism also arose on Capitol Hill, where enthusiasm has grown for the newer stem cell methods that do not involve embryos.

"Human cloning is now less about the science and more about the novelty, which makes it all the more nefarious," said Rep. Dave Weldon (R-Fla.), who has sought to ban all kinds of human cloning.
 

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Immigration and Christian duty

WHY CONSERVATIVES ARE LOSING

COMMENT:  Following the thought provoking article by Cliff Kincaid is a brief article about an absurd claim from the Huckabee camp. 

1.  Why Conservatives are Losing
2.  Huck Camp : Blame Fred

Why Conservatives Are Losing

AIM Column  |  By Cliff Kincaid  |  January 11, 2008
 

You know the political world is in turmoil when the best conservative journalist on the scene, Robert Novak, blows two big predictions in a row. Novak said Mitt Romney would win the Iowa Caucuses (Romney lost by nine points to Mike Huckabee) and that Barack Obama would beat Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire in a "blow-out" (Hillary won by a couple points). All of this goes to show that both political parties are going through a revolution of "change" that the columnists and talking heads do not yet grasp.  

From my vantage point, however, it looks like both major political parties are moving to the left.  

Human Events, the national conservative weekly that used to be a favorite of Ronald Reagan, is trying to be a factor. It followed Fred Thompson's strong performance in Thursday night's South Carolina debate by endorsing the former Tennessee senator. Thompson had attacked Huckabee during the debate as too liberal. But Huckabee got more self-described "conservative" votes than any other Republican candidate in Iowa.   

Is the Human Events endorsement too little too late for Thompson? Romney's endorsement by National Review (and his money) didn't help him win either Iowa or New Hampshire. As we contended in a recent column, it looks like the conservative media are losing their influence. 

In fact, as demonstrated by the rise of Huckabee and especially John McCain in the Republican race, conservatives in and out of the media are looking rather desperate. About a year ago, the conservative group Citizens United released a report, "He's No Ronald Reagan: Why Conservatives Should Not Vote for John McCain." But McCain got the votes of 30 percent of self-described conservatives in New Hampshire.  

My column about Rush Limbaugh losing influence, by virtue of the fact that Huckabee overcame Limbaugh's strident attacks and won Iowa anyway, generated some interesting comments. Here's one from an engineer in Cincinnati that drew my serious attention and I think has a lot of wisdom in it: 

"I think that rather than draw the conclusion that Rush Limbaugh is losing his influence you have to question the current state of conservative politics in America. The ideas of conservatives are rarely promoted by anyone running or holding office. I heard a speech of Fred Thompson this week and he was speaking like a conservative but these speeches are few and far between these days. We lost out big when George Bush announced he was a compassionate conservative and then started writing bills with Ted Kennedy. There is not greater evidence than the spending spree him and the Republican Congress had for this first six years of this century. 

"The ideas of small government, low taxes, low regulation, and minimal intrusion in the daily lives of people are losing ground. The people in Iowa are not rejecting Rush Limbaugh because he dares to suggest that Mike Huckabee is not Ronald Reagan. They are rejecting the concepts of Ronald Reagan himself.

"We have diluted the Republican concepts of being conservative with each election. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani. These are your electable Republicans these days. And when we settle for them we commit ourselves to a worse one with the next election.

"I contend that Mr. Reagan himself would have a tough time getting elected these days. Likewise, John F. Kennedy would have the same problem in the Democrat party. He actually summed up the conservative central theme when he said 'And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.' A guy talking like that is not going to pass the muster in the face of government giveaway, buy the votes Democrats, these days. 

"Conservatism cannot win without people understanding the concept. And the word is not getting out there. If it weren't for the Internet this fight would already be lost.
 

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HUCK CAMP: BLAME FRED
 

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- It’s clear who Huckabee camp is blaming for its squeaker of a loss in South Carolina: Fred Thompson.

After Huckabee’s gracious concession speech -- in which he had nothing but kind words for John McCain who he said showed great “civility” -- former SC Gov. David Beasley, a Huckabee surrogate, railed against Thompson.

“Fred hurt us in South Carolina,” Beasley began. “He had one goal and one goal only -- to distort Mike Huckabee’s record so John McCain could pull it out. No ifs, ands or buts about it….

“Thompson came here and just went to the areas where he could gut Huckabee. I have no doubt in my mind, it was Washington politics at its worst.

“One thing about Fred; I love Fred, but Fred’s not stupid….I don’t think he had any intention in South Carolina but to hurt Mike Huckabee…. Had Fred Thompson not been in the race, this would have been an overwhelming, dynamic victory for Mike Huckabee.”
 

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Former Republican Congressman Mark Deli Siljander Indicted For Terrorism
 

WASHINGTON — Former Republican congressman and delegate to the United Nations Mark Deli Siljander was indicted Wednesday as a member of a terrorist fundraising ring. The ring is alleged to have sent more than $130,000 to al-Qaida and Taliban supporter Culbudden Hekmaytar. A terrorist who has threatened both U.S. and international troops in Afghanistan.

The former Michigan congressman, Stands accused of money laundering, conspiracy and obstructing justice for lying to senators about an Islamic charity that authorities claim was in fact secretly funding terrorists.

The entire 42-count indictment, was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., And accuses the Islamic American Relief Agency of paying Siljander $50,000 for his lobbying efforts. Money that it turns out, was stolen from the Agency for International Development.

Siljander served two terms in the House and was later appointed by then President Reagan to serve as a delegate to the United Nations in 1987. Mr. Siljander could not reached for comment and his attorney in Kansas City, JR Hobbs, had no immediate comment for the media.

The charges reflect a long-running investigation into the charity’s activities, originally based in Columbia, Mo., It was designated by the Treasury Department as a fundraising shill for terrorists in 2004. The government claims I.A.R.A employed a man who served as a fundraising aide to no less then Osama bin Laden.

The formal charges allege the I.A.R.A sent approximately $130,000 to Gulbuddin Hekmaytar, a man designated as a global terrorist. Records show cash was deposited to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan between 2003 and 2004, and listed as funds for an orphanage located in buildings that turned out to be owned by Hekmaytar.
 

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Islamic Charity Charged with Terrorist Financing; Former U.S. Congressman Indicted for Money Laundering

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2008/January/08_nsd_029.html
 

Questions Republican Candidates Should Answer

by Phyllis Schlafly, December 19, 2007

Why are questions about Communist China asked only in the Democratic presidential debates? We want to know what the Republican candidates plan to do about China sending us poisoned foods and toys.

All presidential candidates should be asked what they plan to do about the fact that free trade with China means acquiescing in gross discrimination against U.S. products and jobs. The Chinese avoid a level trading field by artificially undervaluing their currency up to 40 percent, subsidizing their products, and imposing import duties against U.S. products that are ten times higher than tariffs on their products in U.S. stores.

Our free-trade negotiators routinely accept trade agreements that give other countries the right to charge higher tariffs than we charge for similar products. For example, the Chinese Chery car will face a 2.5 percent tariff when sold in the U.S., but U.S. autos entering China will be taxed at 25 percent.

Foreign countries get by with this discrimination by calling it a Value Added Tax (VAT) instead of a tariff, but it amounts to just as high a barrier against free trade. The result is that millions of American jobs have moved overseas.

All presidential candidates ought to be asked what they plan to do about China's organized theft of our intellectual property and counterfeiting of our products. Communist China is the world's top producer of illegal copies of music, movies, software, designer clothes, and medicines.

All candidates should be asked what they plan to do about China putting its billion dollars of profits from U.S. trade into military weaponry to threaten, not only Taiwan, but the United States, especially our communication satellites.

The toy advertised by Wal-Mart as the top toy of the season had to be recalled after it was discovered that children in Texas, Delaware, New Hampshire, Illinois and Utah fell sick and were hospitalized because of swallowing the toy's bead-like parts. After 4.2 million were recalled, China finally admitted that the beads in this toy, called Aqua Dots, contained a substance that can turn into the "date-rape" drug after children swallow them.

That drug, gamma-hydroxy butyrate, causes breathing problems, loss of consciousness, seizures, drowsiness, coma, and death. Aqua Dots were supposed to have been coated with a nontoxic chemical, but that chemical costs three or four times the price of the poisonous compound, so the Chinese manufacturer couldn't resist using the cheaper product.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission's website, 26 million toys and other products made in China have been recalled by U.S. companies since August. Even the Boy Scouts of America had to recall a million Chinese-made plastic badges that contained unsafe amounts of lead.

Chinese products for children found to contain unacceptable levels of lead include vinyl baby bibs, Thomas the Tank Engine sets, Baby Einstein Discover & Play Color Blocks, Pirates of the Caribbean medallion squeeze lights, Totally Me! Funky Room Decor Sets, Hannah Montana handbags, and Barbie doll accessories.

Australia recalled hundreds of blankets imported from China in October because they contained formaldehyde up to ten times the level permissible under international standards. The World Heath Organization has classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen.

Seafood from China is a potentially more dangerous import. About 80 percent of seafood consumed by Americans is imported, and the Food and Drug Administration inspects and tests only one percent.

Lab tests show that China uses antibiotics to treat fish raised in filthy waters where bacteria, viruses and parasites breed. Lab testers say that when seafood is rejected for an illegal chemical, the Chinese simply switch to another harmful chemical.

Often found in imported fish is a fungicide called malachite green, which is illegal to use in food in the U.S. because studies show it can cause cancer and birth defects.

Alabama has its own tests and rejects 50 to 60 percent of all fish imports. Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture Ron Sparks personally visited Asia to witness seafood farmed in sewage.

Chinese products are so cheap because the workers in Guangdong, where most of the Chinese toys are made, are primarily females age 17 to 25 who work an average of 16 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, for about $50 per month. They live in unhealthy, overcrowded dormitories, where a bed is all they have of their own.

With the 2008 Olympic games coming soon, Communist China is stepping up its censorship under the official slogan "constructing a harmonious society." Visitors who click on China's largest Internet site, called Sina.com, are greeted by two cute cartoon police figures, one male and one female, who pop up on their screens every 30 minutes.

These images link to the Communist internet police in order to report any information the government might deem illegal. It's important for Americans to realize that China is still a very Communist and anti-American country.

Thanks to Family Research Council for providing this most encouraging, informative and timely report:

Adult Stem Cell Success Stories-2007 Update

by  David Prentice, William L. Saunders, and Michael Fragoso

To continue reading go to http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=IS07L01

Bredesen Bunker goes forward

The meeting room was packed well before the eleven o'clock starting time.  The entire Capitol Hill Press Corp was in attendance as well as representatives for each of the television networks. By the time the State Planning Commission members arrived people were standing around the wall and gathered around the TV monitor in the hall.

Budget outlook bleak

"While last year the state was flush with cash, having a surplus of over a billion dollars, the early estimates for next year’s budget situation appear to be significantly lower. With a slowing economy and other factors such as the subprime mortgage crisis, the state is estimating a current revenue shortfall of almost $150 million.

In a presentation to the House Finance, Ways and Means Committee, Commissioner of Finance Dave Goetz made clear that in addition to the legislature reining in spending, departmental cuts to the tune of $40 million may need to be made as well."

Well in the face of declining revenue and the admission by the First Lady that the escalating cost of the renovation project had surprised even her, yesterday the State Planning Commission voted 5-1 to approve the underground Conservation Hall, better known as 'the bunker'.  In Governor Bredesen's absence, House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh chaired the meeting where the lone 'no' vote was cast by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey.  You can thank him at
615.741.4524 or Email: lt.gov.ron.ramsey@legislature.state.tn.us

The State Architect, Mike Fitz, made a presentation (not using a mike which made hearing him very difficult), then commission members made statements and asked questions.  Lt. Gov. Ramsey asked some pertinent questions and expressed his concerns about the funding for the project, the moving of the private funds, the potential for increased costs, etc.  Fitz and the other members of the Commission endeavored to explain away the concerns expressed by the public and raised by the Oak Hill Planning Commission who unanimously opposed the project.

See articles for more details.

Following the articles is contact information for the commission.

1.  Mansion's banquet hall will go forward
2.  Bredesen Criticizes  Speaker for Mansion Vote

Friday, 01/11/08

1.  Mansion's banquet hall will go forward

Critics seek new ways to halt project

By BONNA JOHNSON
Staff Writer

Opponents to an underground expansion at the Executive Mansion said they are not giving up the fight, even though a vote by a key state commission on Thursday rejected their objections.

Blasting could start later this month on the subterranean banquet hall that has become the center of a controversy over its necessity and the growing costs at the Executive Mansion, which was recently renovated.
 

The city manager of Oak Hill and members of a grassroots group called Tennesseans for Accountability in Government, who have dubbed the facility "Bredesen's Bunker," said they will regroup.

"We are not surprised," said Bill Kraus, city manager of Oak Hill, after the State Building Commission rebuffed the Oak Hill Planning Commission's opposition to the project.

"We will now determine what the next step may be," Kraus said. "At this point, we're not prepared to say."

Legislation or a lawsuit to halt the project has been contemplated by some.

Kraus and representatives of the grass-roots group pinned some hope on the state Fiscal Review Committee, a panel of House and Senate members, which will take up the project's budget on Monday.

But state Finance Commissioner Dave Goetz, a voting member of the State Building Commission, said the Fiscal Review Committee has no authority to overturn Thursday's action.

Architects 'ecstatic'

"We are ecstatic," said Barry Yoakum, an architect with Archimania, the Memphis firm that designed the innovative skylit underground banquet facility called Conservation Hall.

"This will be one of the greenest buildings in the country and will use less energy because it is not above ground," Yoakum said.

The restoration and preservation of the Executive Mansion, a three-story, 16-room home on Curtiswood Lane, has been led by first lady Andrea Conte, who had lead paint stripped away, hazardous electrical wiring replaced and a new roof put on.

Because Gov. Phil Bredesen, a Democrat, and Conte have continued to live in their own Forest Hills home, a window was open for a major renovation and construction project.

Hall would hold 499

Once completed, Conservation Hall will have a maximum capacity of 499 people, state architect Mike Fitts said.

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2. Bredesen Criticizes Speaker For Mansion Vote

Bredesens Say Addition Needed To Better Entertain

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Gov. Phil Bredesen criticized Republican Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey on Thursday for being the lone holdout in the Tennessee Building Commission's vote to clear the way for construction of an underground hall at the governor's mansion. The hall is part of a $19 million project to renovate the mansion that has drawn objections from neighbors. Of that amount, about $13 million has been provided by the state. About $9 million has been raised from private donations, but only $6.4 million has been allocated. "I was disappointed at Sen. Ramsey's remarks at the meeting today," Bredesen said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I thought they were unnecessary and inaccurate, and I think very partisan." "I thought he was more of a standup guy than that," Bredesen said.


Bredesen, a Democrat, attributed what he called partisan attacks on the project to the political climate of an election year. "In a presidential year, everyone's radar and attention to more classical political differences gets up there," he said. When contacted on his cell phone about Bredesen's comments, Ramsey said, "I'm sorry he feels it's political. I'm just trying to be fiscally responsible. During the commission meeting, Ramsey had said his intentions were not political, but rather an attempt to make sure any additional money needed for the project comes from more donations and not state funds. "I believe everybody agrees that the residency needs to be remodeled," said Ramsey, the only Republican on the six-member commission. "But I was led to believe in the very beginning that all the money going to renovate or remodel the residence was coming from private funds. But as we've gone along, the private money seems to be less and less." State architect Mike Fitts assured Ramsey and the other commission members that no additional state dollars should be needed. "I feel extremely confident that we are within the funds we have been allocated," Fitts said. The governor and first lady Andrea Conte have said the hall is needed so the mansion will have sufficient space for meetings and entertainment. Without the underground space, the governor would have to continue to entertain in temporary tents on the property, which don't protect well against noise or weather, state officials said.
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http://www.wsmv.com/news/15022460/detail.html

 

Governor Phil Bredesen, Chairman
First Floor, State Capitol,
Nashville, TN 37243
615.741.2001
Email: phil.bredesen@state.tn.us

Speaker Jimmy Naifeh, Vice Chairman
House of Representatives
Suite 19, Legislative Plaza
Nashville, TN 37243
615.741.3937
Email: speaker.jimmy.naifeh@legislature.state.tn.us
 

John G. Morgan
Comptroller of the Treasury
First Floor, State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243
615.741.2501
Email: john.morgan@state.tn.us

Dale Sims
State Treasurer
First Floor, State Capitol,
Nashville, TN 37243
615.741.2956
Email: dale.sims@state.tn.us

Riley Darnell
Secretary of State
First Floor, State Capitol
Nashville, TN 37243
615.741.2819
Email: riley.darnell@state.tn.us

Dave Goetz, Commissioner
Dept. of Finance & Administration
First Floor, State Capitol,
Nashville, TN 37243
615.741.2401
Email: dave.goetz@state.tn.us

Infused LGBTQ curriculum

COMMENT: This is not happening only in California.  What are your children and grandchildren being taught here in Tennessee?


Stripped bare: 'Gay' school plot unveiled
'Infuse LGBTQ curriculum into history, social science, and literature classes'

Posted: December 11, 2007
9:05 p.m. Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

Pledge Common Cause with Islam

COMMENT: Those coming illegally across our southern borders are not the only threat this nation is facing.  We had better take the time educate ourselves and understand other things that can have a long-term effect on our country.  Let me recommend What Every American Needs to Know About the Qur'an, by William Federer [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0977808556]
To be forewarned is to be forearmed.


1.  Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam
2.  Epistle to the Muslims
3.  Islam vs. Free Speech
4. Segregation Muslim Style

1. Evangelical Leaders Pledge Common Cause with Islam

They apologize for the 'sins of Christians,' leave the deity of Christ open for discussion.

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Bruce S. Thornton
2.  Epistle to the Muslims
Christian leaders abase themselves before Islam.
27 November 2007

On November 18, the New York Times ran a full-page ad entitled “A Christian Response to A Common Word Between Us and You.” A Common Word is an October letter from 138 Muslim scholars and clerics “to leaders of Christian churches, everywhere.” It reads like an invitation to ecumenical tolerance and “peace and understanding” based on “the very foundational principles of both faiths”: “The Unity of God, the necessity of love for Him, and the necessity of love of the neighbour is thus the common ground between Islam and Christianity.” Over 300 Christian theologians and church leaders signed the “Christian Response,” including the heads of some of the nation’s most prestigious seminaries and theological schools. But if it accurately represents the thinking of mainstream Christian leadership, then Christianity in America is in deep trouble.

The response opens on a familiar self-loathing note, in the therapeutic style that has convinced jihadists that Christianity in the West is an empty shell, a mere lifestyle choice. Noting that Muslim and Christian “relations have sometimes been tense, even characterized by outright hostility,” the letter professes “that in the past (e.g. in the Crusades) and in the present (e.g. in excesses of the ‘war on terror’) many Christians have been guilty of sinning against our Muslim neighbors,” and so “we ask forgiveness of the All-Merciful One and of the Muslim community around the world.”

The groveling self-abasement of this language, particularly its begging forgiveness of Allah, is matched only by its remarkable historical ignorance. “Outright hostility” has indeed existed between Muslims and Christians, for the simple reason that for 13 centuries Islam grew and spread by war, plunder, rapine, and enslavement throughout the Christian Middle East. Allah’s armies destroyed regions that were culturally Christian for centuries, variously slaughtering, enslaving, and converting their inhabitants, or allowing them to live as oppressed dhimmi, their lives and property dependent on a temporary “truce” that Muslim overlords could abrogate at any time.

And let’s not forget the seven-century-long Islamic occupation of Spain, the centuries of raids into southern Italy and southern France, the near-sack of Rome in 846, the occupation of Sicily and Greece, the four-century-long occupation of the Balkans, the destruction of Constantinople, the two sieges of Vienna, the kidnapping of Christian youths to serve as janissaries from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries, the continual raiding of the northern Mediterranean littoral for slaves from 1500 to 1800, and the current jihadist terrorist attacks against the West.
 

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Under assault by Muslims and multiculturalists, free speech and freedom of the press are dead in Britain. The same sorts of people who killed them in Britain are killing them in Canada.  They and their allies are using the British and Canadian courts and tribunals to bury our First Amendment rights in America.

Muslims -- individually and in pressure groups -- are using British libel laws and Canadian “human rights” laws to limit what is said about Islam, terrorists and the people in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere who are funding groups such as al-Queda. The cases of Rachel Ehrenfeld and Mark Steyn prove the point.
 

Dr. Ehrenfeld is a scholar and author of the book, “Funding Evil: How Terrorism is Financed, and How to Stop it.”  In that book, Khalid Salim bin Mahfouz -- a Saudi who is former head of the Saudi National Commercial Bank -- and some of his family are described as having funded terrorism directly and indirectly. 

Ehrenfeld is American, her book was written and published in America and she has no business or other ties to Britain.  Under American law, the Brit courts would have no jurisdiction over her.  But about two-dozen copies of her book were sold there through the internet.  Bin Mahfouz sued her for libel in the Brit courts where the burden of proof is the opposite of what it is in US courts: the author has to prove that what is written is true, rather than the supposedly defamed person proving it is false.
 

Think about that for a moment.  Under the US Constitution political writing -- free speech -- is almost unlimited. To gain a libel judgment a politician -- or someone suspected of terrorist ties -- would have to prove that the story or book was false. If that person were a public figure such as Mahfouz, in order to get a libel judgment he’d not only have to prove that what was written was false, he’d also have to prove it was published maliciously. 

Those American laws and standards of proof protect political speech.  The First Amendment is intended to protect political speech that people find objectionable.  In the landmark 1969 case of Brandenburg v. Ohio, the Supreme Court overturned an Ohio statute which would have outlawed hate speech by the Ku Klux Klan. That’s why Mahfouz sued in Britain, not here. 

Ehrenfeld refused to fight the case, saying the Brit courts have no jurisdiction over her.  Mahfouz got a default judgment against her for ?10,000 (for himself, and in equal amounts for his sons). The judgment also requires that there be no further “defamatory” statements published in England and Wales. 

In a letter published in the Spectator on November 21, bin Mahfouz’s lawyers gloated over their victory against Ehrenfeld: “Rather than check her facts, defend her statements in open court, or acknowledge her mistakes, Ehrenfeld hides behind a claim to free speech. Thank goodness, the legal lights remain on in Britain to expose such harmful journalism.” 

“Harmful journalism” is what tyrants and despots call free speech, especially political speech that condemns their affronts to freedom.  The “legal lights” Mahfouz’s lawyers see is the bonfire they made of the Magna Carta. Thanks to Mahfouz and his ilk, the light of free speech is extinguished in Britain.  Consider the fate of the book, “Alms for Jihad.”

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COMMENT:  As the legislative session begins and we face the desperate need for citizen involvement there as well as in our local communities, let this article be a challenge to each of us to be FAITHFUL.

I Don't Feel 'Called,' Either
by Sonja Dalton

Christian leaders remind us often to love our neighbors, teaching kindness and compassion. But Biblical “agape” love is far more — it is a willful decision to seek God’s best for the other person. It is sacrificial love, grounded in justice as well as mercy, a love that cannot rejoice at wrongdoing (I Corinthians 13:6) — a tough, heart-broken love willing to deliver an unrepentant brother to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, but his conscience might be provoked to sorrow and his spirit saved.

Jesus commanded to love not only our neighbor, but to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you...” (Matthew 5:44). Is it possible to hate evil, yet simultaneously love evil men? Yes, because the hatred to which Christians are called is not a destructive, vicious, violent emotion, but rather it is a spiritual aversion to wickedness, a righteous indignation. We are to arm ourselves and fight secular humanism and abortion mills and homosexual activism — not with guns or pipe bombs, but with the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and with prayer. “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ...” (II Corinthians 10:3-5).

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