A Blog Smith is analogous to Hephaestus (as a blacksmith) in that they create from writing by "forging" the basic materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: ideas, IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Waleed Basyouni is the vice president of the AlMaghrib (ahl-MAHG'-rihb) Institute. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO'-mahr fah-ROOK' ahb-DOOL'-moo-TAH'-lahb) registered online in April 2008, then attended a two-week program hosted by the institute in Houston in August 2008.
He says school records show Abdulmutallab identified himself as a 21-year-old Nigerian student at University College London and the London School of Economics who was studying mechanical engineering and business finance.
The Islamic academy in Houston features an instructor Suhaib Webb, an Oklahoma born person who converted to Islam, and studied at the Egyptian Al-Azhar University praised by Obama in his Cairo speech as a paragon of Islamic thinking. Webb is close with Siraj Wahhaj, the unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 Al-Qaeda World Trade Center bombing, and has given Wahaj a testimonial for fundraising purposes.
Obama on 22 December during his visit to the Boys and Girls Club in Washington, D.C., during which he had a free exchange (non-teleprompter) discussion with the children about Christmas. All seemed to be going fine until Obama read "The Polar Express" and led a discussion on what the kids wanted from Santa, when a few children brought up the real reason for the season.
Here's the actual transcript (with a bit of commentary):
President: I think one thing that's important to remember is that, even though there's a lot of fun at Christmas, you know, you got – especially when it's snowy like this, so it's pretty outside, you got the Christmas tree, you got the Christmas cookies, you've got presents. You know, I think that the most important thing is just to remember why we celebrate Christmas.
Child: I know!
President: Do you know?
Child: The birth of baby Jesus.
President: The birth of baby Jesus, and what he symbolizes for people all around the world is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect. And so I just hope that spirit of giving that's so important at Christmas, I hope all of you guys remember that as well. ...
President: You know, it's not just about getting gifts but it's also doing something for other people. So being nice to your mom and dad and grandma and aunties and showing respect to people – that's really important, too. That's part of the Christmas spirit, don't you think? Do you agree with me?
Children: Yes.
President: You do? (Then another child raises his hand, so the president leans over and asks him) Do you have an interesting observation?
Child: I know why we give gifts to other people.
President: Why is that?
Child: Because the three wise men gave gifts to Baby Jesus.
President: That's exactly right. But the three wise men – the reason (A sign falls off a wall. Is it a sign from God? What timing!) – uh-oh, I thought that was the cookies going down. We couldn't have that. You know, the three wise men, if you think about it, here are these guys, they have all this money, they've got all this wealth and power, and yet they took a long trip to a manger just to see a little baby. And it just shows you that just because you're powerful or you're wealthy, that's not what's important. What's important is what's – the kind of spirit you have.
(Matthew 2:11: "And they bowed down and worshiped him" as the Savior of the world.)
So I hope everybody has a spirit of kindness and thoughtfulness, and everybody is really thinking about how can they do for other people – treating them well, because that's really the spirit of Christmas. Does everybody agree with that?
Children: Yes!
President: I agree with that. Well, you guys all seem like really sharp, sharp young people. And I'm very proud of you. And let me just ask you one last question. Is everybody here working pretty hard in school?
Children: Yes!
President: OK, because the thing that I want everybody to remember, the most important message I can leave is, is that you guys have so much potential – one of you could end up being president some day. But it's only going to happen if you stay focused and you work hard in school. And you guys – there's nothing wrong with having fun and fooling around and playing sports and listening to rap music and all that stuff. But I want you guys to read and hit the books and do your math, because that's really what's going to determine how you do in the future. Alright? That's the most important thing you can do.
(The most important message is personal potential. And the "most important thing" children can do for their future is read and do math.)
President John Adams put it well when he said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
As Benjamin Rush, also a signer of the Declaration of Independence, explained, "Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind."
To the founders, religion was an essential buttress of free government. That is why Patrick Henry wrote, "The greatest pillars of all government and of social life: I mean virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone, that renders us invincible."
Charles Carroll of Carollton, a Catholic who signed the Declaration of Independence on behalf of Maryland, wrote, "Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion whose morality is so sublime and pure … are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."
George Washington put it best in his Farewell Address: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deserts the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
As Founding Father Elias Boudinot once said: "If the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow."
On the other hand, after his first year, Reagan had words about Jesus in his Christmas address to America:
Lawyer and politician Percy Sutton died at 89, and the major media are omitting mention of one of his most notable acts. The former Borough President of Manhattan, Sutton had a long and distinguished career as a lawyer (he was Malcolm X's attorney) and media mogul, who purchased radio stations in New York and other cities, making them into high rated black-oriented outlets. He also purchased and renovated (thereby saving from the wrecking ball) New York's legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem.
However, one of Sutton's most notable moments is absent from the media hagiographies I have seen: he stated on television that he knew that an Islamic supremacist, Dr. Khalid al-Mansour, and advisor to a wealthy Saudi, had paid for Barack Obama's education at Harvard Law School.
Kirk Lippold, retired Commander of the USS Cole and David Katz CEO of Global Security Group were interviewed on the Glenn Beck Show on Fox, December 30, 2009. Kirk Lippold has been warning about closing Gitmo and threats from Yemen all year.
Some of the issues Commander Lippold addressed directly and succinctly:
* Keep Guantanamo open.
* Military commissions process works.
* Not criminal actions. Terrorists are enemy combatants.
* This is a war on terror.
* Quit making the CIA the whipping boy of this administration.
People all over the world celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25th. But why is the Nativity marked by gift giving, and was He really born on that day? And just where did the Christmas tree come from? Take an enchanting tour through the history of this beloved holiday and trace the origins of its enduring traditions. Journey back to the earliest celebrations when the infant religion embraced pagan solstice festivals like the Roman Saturnalia and turned them into a commemoration of Jesus' birth. Learn how Prince Albert introduced the Christmas tree to the English-speaking world in 1841, and discover how British settlers in the New World transformed the patron saint of children into jolly old St. Nick.
This documentary explores the origin of Christmas and how it came to be the way we know it today. The documentary also incites the thought as to how Christmas is on one hand a result of social, cultural, and political influences (hence somewhat obscuring the apparent purpose of the festival: Christ's Mass), and on the other hand a influence over people's lives (particularly consumerism).
Part 1
Christmas unWrapped- The History of Christmas [2/5]
Christmas unWrapped- The History of Christmas [3/5]
Christmas unWrapped- The History of Christmas [4/5]
Christmas unWrapped- The History of Christmas [5/5]
NEW YORK - A new report has found that nearly a third of the world's countries have stiff restrictions on religious practice, either because of government policies and laws or hostile acts by individuals or groups.
That impedes the religious practices of 70 percent of the people on Earth, since some of the most restrictive countries are very populous.
The study by the Pew Research Center found that of the world's 25 most populous countries, citizens in Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and India live with the most religious restrictions.
The United States, Britain, Brazil, Japan, Italy and South Africa have the most religious liberty and the least government infringement and religion-based violence or harassment, according to the study.
That’s why we thank the president for giving President Morales and me a chance to speak.
It would have been regrettable if they had attempted to veto us in this meeting. I don’t even want to think about it, no, nor suspect it.
As Lula already said, the Kyoto Protocol can not be declared dead or extinguished, which is what the US pretends to do.
Which is why Evo tells a great truth: If Obama, Nobel War Prize, said here, by the way, it smells of sulfur here.
It smells of sulfur. It keeps smelling of sulfur in this world.
The Nobel War Prize has just said here that he came to act. Well, then show it, sir, don’t leave by the back door, eh?
Do everything you need to do for the US to adhere to the Kyoto Protocol, and let’s respect Kyoto, and empower Kyoto, and respond to the world in a transparent fashion.
Hugo changed his mind from the last time he spoke at the UN about Obama, when he was saying “It doesn’t smell of sulfur here. It smells of hope.”
Readers are advised that when Chavez made this comment about Bush in 2006, the media were all over it.
A Google search of “Chavez,” “Bush,” and “Devil” yielded over 40,000 results. There’s even a Wikipedia page about it.
This was such a popular media incident that when Chavez told the U.N. the sulfur smell was gone in September 2009 — a reference to Bush being out of the White House and Obama being in — the press had another field day with the story.
With that in mind, it should be fascinating to see how the Obama-loving media report this now that the tables have been turned on the object of their affection.
A Christian minister who has been arrested twice previously in Oslo for talking about Jesus in public now has been chased from the city center by police officers with the threat of yet another arrest if he returns, according to a lawyer who is working on his case.
Larry Keffer, who works through the Biblical Research Center in Tampa, Fla., was among a team of Christians trying to proclaim the message of Christ during the recent visit to the city by Obama.
Keffer, whose previous arrests came while he was working with Norwegian evangelist Petar Keseljevic and whose cases still are being challenged, was working with other American evangelists, including Ruben Israel, this week in Oslo.
Almost immediately, police agents told the evangelists to remove their banners and their signs, then move across the street, even though the nation's laws formally recognize freedom of speech.
Then, as the evangelists prepared to leave, they were told they were banned from the center of Oslo for 24 hours and would be arrested if they returned under any circumstances.
It seems that Oslo is not interested in permitting Christian speech in public areas during any outdoor event.
The previous encounter with police by Keffer and Petar Keseljevic took place last year. The two were sharing their faith calmly and quietly during the Norwegian Independence Day Celebration when officers made them leave the area of the Royal Palace.
Officers soon chased them down at a new location and arrested them.
They were convicted in Norway, but an appeal was filed with the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France.
What is an Economic Stimulus payment?
A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.
Q. Where will the government get this money?
A. From taxpayers.
Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?
A. Only a smidgen.
Q. What is the purpose of this payment?
A. The plan is for you to use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.
Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of Asia?
A. Shut up or you don't get your check.
Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:
If you spend the stimulus money at Wal-Mart, your money will go to China.
If you spend it on gasoline, your money will go to Saudi Arabia.
If you purchase a computer, it will go to India.
If you purchase fruit and vegetables, it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala.
If you buy a car, it will go to Japan or Korea.
If you purchase useless plastic stuff, it will go to Taiwan.
If you pay off your credit cards, or buy stock, it will go to pay management bonuses and be hidden in offshore accounts
Instead, you can keep the money in America by:
Spending it at yard sales or flea markets, or
going to baseball or football games, or
hiring prostitutes, or
buying cheap beer or
getting tattoos.
These are the only wholly-American-owned businesses still operating in the US.
Conclusion:
The best way to stimulate the economy is to go to a ball game with a prostitute that you met at a yard sale and drink beer all day until you're drunk enough to go get tattooed.
Graphic Notes: "Downfall of Mother Bank," depicting President Andrew Jackson holding up an "Order of the Removal of the Public Money" during the fight over the Bank of the United States, 1833. E.W. Clay lithograph.
Citation: American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury St, Worcester, MA 01609-1634 and the Library of Congress.
Chaos reigns at Detroit aid event
Thousands stand in line for help paying bills
BY TAMMY STABLES BATTAGLIA
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Thousands of people swarmed Cobo Hall in chaos this morning trying to get applications for housing and utility payment assistance from the city of Detroit.
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People fainted, others fought as the Detroit Police Gang Unit tried to keep people in line --- some since last night --- and in check.
Its a disaster here, former assistant Detroit Police chief and city council candidate Gary Brown said, handing out water. This is dangerous. Very unorganized, very dangerous.
The City of Detroit Planning & Development Department was to pass out 5,000 applications to those standing in line. But a line of people snaking back and forth inside Cobo, down Washington Boulevard and around the corner to the circular parking deck far outnumbered the applications available.
The program is part of the city's Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. By 11:30 a.m., the Detroit mayors office was asking people not to head to Cobo.
The assistance is paid from the city on the applicants behalf directly to agencies like the Coalition on Temporary Shelter, an agency that pays for transitional housing for the homeless.
Robyn Smith, community relations director for COTS, said the tremendous crush of people didnt sadden her.
Im happy because theres something available, she said as she collected filled-out applications from a doorway guarded by a Detroit Police officer to keep people from slipping in.
The applicants needed to be homeless or at risk of homelessness, and the assistance is temporary. The applications are due today, handed in at Cobo by 2 p.m. or mailed with an Oct. 7 postmark. The city was directing people with additional questions to call 313-224-0316, but no one was answering before calls to that number were automatically disconnected just before noon today.
Racquel Sawyers, 35, a laid-off engineer who worked for both GM and Chrysler, turned around and went home after seeing the crowd at Cobo. She had left another application distribution site on Detroits northwest side on Tuesday after seeing the line which turned out to be much smaller than the one at Cobo.
Who would have known yesterday would be better? Sawyers said. Currently on unemployment and looking for help with housing costs, she said shell stay in Detroit until shes able to land a job probably outside Michigan. Im just trying to do what I can right now.
Inside Cobo, lines led up to the Riverview Ballroom, where Detroit Planning & Development employees were to hand out applications.
But hundreds of people were packed outside the ballroom. At about 10:30, a fight broke out, and many of the people bolted away, scared in the crush of people.
Its bad. Its bad. It really is, said Kelli Phillips, 42, of Detroit, handing her application in among the crowd. All you have to do is look around and see it. Thats why a lot of people are moving. I love my city. I dont want to move. But I dont know. There's got to be something better.
Check out these three queries:
* “Do You Generally Favor [The Senate Health Care Bill] Or Generally Oppose It? … As you may know, the U.S. Senate is considering a bill that would make major changes in the country's health care system. Based on what you have read or heard about that bill, do you generally favor it or generally oppose it?"Favor 36% Oppose 61%.”
* “Do You Think The Federal Budget Deficit Would Or Would Not Increase? … If a bill similar to the one that the Senate is considering becomes law, do you think the federal budget deficit would or would not increase?"Would Increase 79% Would not Increase 19% No opinion 2%”
* “Do You Think Your Taxes Would Or Would Not Increase? … If a bill similar to the one that the Senate is considering becomes law, do you think your taxes would or would not increase?" Would Increase 85% Would not Increase 14% No opinion 1%”
This music video was created for an Economics Final at Frontier High School in Bakersfield by four classmates. It was written on Thursday, Song recorded on Friday, Shot in 5 hours on Saturday, Edited on Monday - with a couple of pick-up shots. Final editing and mastering on Tuesday and turned in on Wednesday morning.
Brian Jones, a New York teacher and actor, is a board member of VOICES and has also played the lead in Zinn’s play Marx in SoHo. Jones extols the benefits of this one man play as a tool to introduce people to Marx’s ideas.
Jones is also a regular contributor to Socialist Worker, International Socialist Review, and speaks regularly on the beneficial principles of Marxism, including this year at the 2009 Socialism Conference. He recently gave a speech on the failure of capitalism, proclaiming that “Marx is back.”
Sarah Knopp, a Los Angeles high school teacher, is also on Zinn’s Teacher Advisory Board. Like Jones, Knopp is also a regular contributor to International Socialist Review, Socialist Worker, is an active member in The International Socialist Organization, and was also a speaker at the 2009 Socialist Conference. Here is Knopp speaking about the benefits of socialism, how capitalism destroys lives, and how she advocates workers taking over their factories.
The promotional video for the series can be viewed as well.
Howard Zinn is on record blaming America For 9/11; he was interviewed on Iranian TV.
In a massive security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) inadvertently posted online its airport screening procedures manual, including some of the most closely guarded secrets regarding special rules for diplomats and CIA and law enforcement officers. The most sensitive parts of the 93-page Standard Operating Procedures manual were apparently redacted in a way that computer savvy individuals easily overcame.
The document shows sample CIA, Congressional and law enforcement credentials which experts say would make it easy for terrorists to duplicate.
The improperly redacted areas indicate that only 20 percent of checked bags are to be hand searched for explosives and reveal in detail the limitations of x-ray screening machines.
The Gap had originally ran an ad that did not mention Christmas. As a result, some felt they should boycott Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic stores (all are part of the same corporation). Then, the Gap responded with a commercial that takes a cavalier approach towards Christmas.
The video entitled Ready for Holiday Cheerfeatures a group of people dancing and chanting:
Two, Four, Six, Eight, now's the time to liberate
Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, Go Kwanza, Go Solstice.
Go classic tree, go plastic tree, go plant a tree, go add a tree,
You 86 the rules, you do what feels just right.
Happy do whatever you wanukkah, and to all a cheery night.
Go Christmas, Go Hanukkah, go whatever holiday you wanukkah.
The Gap compares Christmas to the pagan holiday called "Solstice." Solstice is celebrated by Wiccans who practice witchcraft.
The Gap also encourages you to "86" or "dismiss" traditions and "do what feels just right."
Barack, "The Defender of the Faith," Obama, lovingly described Turkey's lackluster efforts against Iran as friendly. After visiting Turkey Obama has still not gotten any more effort from Turkey in the war in Afghanistan. Turkey's token 1,750 force does not see any combat action. Prime Minister Erdogan’s government last week did not support an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) resolution censuring Iran for its uranium enrichment activities and referring the matter to the U.N. Security Council. In fact, Erdogan took issue with Obama stating: “We have specifically stated that the [Iran nuclear] question can be resolved through diplomacy and diplomacy only.”
The Nabucco project, a major new gas pipeline connecting the Caspian region, Middle East and Egypt, via Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, with Austria and further on with the Central and Western European gas markets is tied to Iran. Turkey is betting that the West will cave for more petroleum and not stand on a defense against Iran. The project opens a conduit from Iran to Europe.
Though trial dates have been set for mid-January, defense attorneys for three Navy SEALs charged with offenses arising from the alleged punching a terror suspect in the mid-section said that the government still had not provided any evidence in the case.
The Goodguide has cautioned consumers about the ubiqutous Christmas sensation, the Zhu Zhu Pets, furry robotic hamsters, which are the hottest Christmas craze of 2009-–with millions being flown into the U.S. from China. While Zhu Zhu pets have not faced a Consumer Product Safety Commission recall, a report from GoodGuide.com says they contain antimony, a toxic metal known as a carcinogen. The federal limt for antimony in products is 60 parts per million, while the Zhu Zhu has 93 parts per million in the fur and 103 in the nose. "If ingested in high enough levels, antimony can lead to cancer, reproductive health and other human health hazards," said Dara O'Rourke, an associate professor of environmental science at U.C.-Berkeley and co-founder of GoodGuide.com. "If these toys aren't even meeting the legal standards in the U.S., then I would say that it isn't worth the risk for me to bring it into my household."
Sources in Washington say a recall of the toys is unlikely because of the sheer volume already sold – millions throughout the U.S.
But that's not the case with dozens of other products imported from China just in time for Christmas. Of the 28 products recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission so far in November and December, 16 were manufactured in China.
But it's not just children's toys from China that are getting recalled and posing safety hazards. Kids' clothing has also been a target of the CPSC this holiday season. Various kinds of hooded sweatshirts have been targeted as strangulation hazards because of unsafe drawstrings. Some of these items are sold in upper-end department stores like Macy's and Dillards – not just Walmart.
Only one major recall this season was highly publicized. That was Maclaren USA's voluntary action to pull from stores baby strollers that resulted in at least 12 finger amputations. About 1 million of them were in circulation – manufactured, of course, in China. They sold for between $100 and $350.
Thinking about giving someone a kitchen appliance this year? Be warned.
Haier America Trading of New York, N.Y., voluntarily recalled nearly 54,000 blenders made in China when it was learned the blade assemblies came apart or broke, posing laceration risks.
Or maybe you were thinking about getting Dad a gas grill. About 663,000 Perfect Flame grills made in China and sold in Lowe's were voluntarily recalled because they posed burn hazards to users. They caused at least 40 fires resulting in burns to hands, arms and faces and at least one eye injury requiring surgery.
Power adapters used with IBM back-up disk hard drives, also made in China, were recalled when it was found they were failing and exposing live electrical contacts that posed shock hazards to consumers.
Maybe you thought a travel mug made in China was a safe gift. Think again. About 15,000 had to be recalled by the "Life Is Good" company when it was found they posed burn hazards.
And before you get that new baby a pacifier for the stocking this
