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.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Don't be deceived New York Times and CNN miss critical analysis of overhyped Muslim counter-radicalization video
is misleading to say the least. There is no discussion of the ends of the Islamic state, jihad, sharia, and within the ummah the video will have no impact on the war of ideas within the House of Islam. Moderate and secular Muslims receive no recognition in this latest salvo in the war of ideas.
Islamism is not simply a problem of "violence"; rather, there is a deeper ideological discontinuity between political Islam and classical liberalism. For the ideological war to be successful we would need to see someone of the intellect and stature, within the Islamic community, of a Voltaire or a Diderot, an equivalent reformer or movement akin to the Reformation or the Enlightenment.
As Zuhdi Jasser notes:
The entire cause of political Islam will ultimately need to be intellectually defeated. Political Islam is a theocratic system of shariah law that is anathema to Western secular liberal democracies and an impediment to the genuine practice of a spiritual Islam. The Muslim consciousness needs a separation of mosque and state, which these Islamist imams will deeply fight.
Felons by the thousands among infiltrating hordes
Documentary also uncovers alarming link between illegal aliens and Islamists.
"There is a belief by law enforcement and former border law enforcement that there's a nexus of some kind between Palestinians and what's happening on the border with the drugs and the illegals," said Misner. "Law enforcement has been studying the situation for a long time and this brutality is not endemic to Mexican criminals."
Monday, August 30, 2010
The Hatch Act forbids federal employees from participating in political campaigns
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Arizona Defends American Sovereignty Against U.S. State Department
The Constitution is still the law of the land; Brewer is correct to oppose the State Department.
Obama Perturbed by America
Obama dismissed a recent poll showing that a third of Americans do not believe that he is a Christian--and of course he blamed an online campaign of misinformation by his conservative enemies for perpetuating the myth that he’s a Muslim.
Obama, speaking with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams on Sunday afternoon, was equally dismissive of conservative talk show host Glenn Beck. He must have been glued to reports and he is concerned that Beck is mobilizing a religious and non–political audience against his regime.
Williams, sitting under a tent in a rain-soaked New Orleans, where the First Family commemorated the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, asked Obama why so many people were uncertain about something so fundamental as his faith.
“I can’t spend all of my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead,” quipped Obama, who took a deep breath to gather his thoughts when asked if the poll reflected his inability to communicate with voters.
“The facts are the facts. We went through some of this during the campaign — there is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly,” said a visibly annoyed Obama, referring to “birthers,” who have waged a guerrilla campaign questioning either the existence or the validity of his Hawaiian birth certificate. He is being coy here; the issue is not his birthplace but the fact that he is not a natural born citizen and thus not eligible to hold the office.
A stunning 18 percent of Americans identify Obama as Muslim, according to a Pew poll released earlier this month. Only a third identified Obama as a Christian. The issue is that Americans can not recognize the brand of Christianity that Obama espouses. His spiritual mentor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, does not reflect the religion of a majority of Americans. It is an alien creed.
His odd mixture of support and throwing others under the bus were clear with his comments on the Victory mosque on sacred ground in New York.
Obama doubled down on his support for a mosque planned and he denied reports that he tried to back away from backing the controversial project.
“I didn’t walk it back it all,” he said. “I was very specific with my team… The core value and principle that every American is treated the same doesn’t change… At [a White House Ramadan celebration], I had Muslim Americans who had been in uniform fighting in Iraq… How can you say to them that their religious faith is less worthy of respect?... That’s something that I feel very strongly about.”
The president, a harsh critic of the Bush administration’s sluggish response to Katrina, bristled when asked if the BP Gulf oil spill was his administration’s Katrina – because of a failure to act quickly enough.
Obama has a huge credibility gap.
Communist Flag Flies Near White House
A screen shot on Chinese television of the White House as viewed from the Ellipse and the raising of the Chinese flag in Washington, D.C.
The flag of the communist Chinese regime has been raised over festivities near the White House honoring the nation's 60th anniversary, according to reports from the Chinese Central television network's English-language report. It was the first time the Chinese national flag was raised in a public place in Washington. Reservations include those who referred to Chosin. This was a Korean War conflict in which 60,000 troops from China crossed into North Korea to attack American troops at the reservoir. More than 4,000 Americans died.
Ian Hunter Produced Sam The Band - Dangerous Eyes
The independently released 45, "Dangerous Eyes" by Sam The Band, written by Jack Lesley and Ernie White, produced by Ian Hunter from 1980.
Jack Lesley - keyboards/lead vocal, Ernie White - guitar, Bernie Dippolito - percussion, Marty Paglione - drums, George Evers - bass.
This used to get a lot of airplay on WDHA FM where listeners voted them "Best Original Band in New Jersey" in 1980.
They were also voted "Best original Band in New Jersey" in the Aquarian Weekly Readers Poll for 1980.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Reagan Address to Junior High Students, 14 November 1988
President Reagan marked the beginning of American Education Week and spoke to school students in the East Room of the White House. He talked about the foundations of American government, the values of democracy, and the regard for the United States held by other countries. He also answered questions from the students. The event was telecast in several classrooms throughout the country.
The interesting aspect of the broadcast is that the kids are articulate and ask questions about the deficit, Reagan asks them what they are proudest about America, and he appears genuinely interested in their future. He thought we had morning in America.
How Long Do We Have?
About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:
'A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.'
'A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.'
'From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.'
'The average age of the world's greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years'
'During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage'
Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota points out some interesting facts concerning the 2008 Presidential election:
Number of States won by:
Democrats: 19
Republicans: 29
Square miles of land won by:
Democrats: 580,000
Republicans: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by:
Democrats: 127 million
Republicans: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Democrats: 13.2
Republicans: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: 'In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat
territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare....' Olson believes the
United States is somewhere between the 'complacency and apathy' phase of Professor Tyler's definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation's
population already having reached the 'governmental dependency' phase.
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal's and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.
If you are in favor of this, then by all means, delete this message. If you are not, then pass this along to help everyone realize just how much is at stake,
knowing that apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom.
WE LIVE IN THE LAND OF THE FREE, ONLY BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE
Death of Public Free Speech in America: Impeach Obama Not Allowed
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. -- First Amendment
The most basic component of freedom of expression is the right of freedom of speech. The right to freedom of speech allows individuals to express themselves without interference or constraint by the government. The Supreme Court has also recognized that the government may prohibit some speech that may cause a breach of the peace or cause violence. Words which would likely make the person whom they are addressed commit an act of violence which obviously does not apply in this instance. Fighting words are a category of speech that is unprotected by the First Amendment: Cf. Chaplinsky v New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942). In this instance, people are so festive at this Alaskan State Fair that people are having their picture taken with the individual. The only coercion is first by the security guards and then the police. The speaker did nothing wrong by expressing his opinion.
Cf. Free Speech Movement: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Speech_Movement
New Reports Warn of Chinese Naval Buildup
The WSJ headline went to the heart of the matter. Since May, there have been a series of competing naval maneuvers near the Korean peninsula and in the South China Sea which have highlighted the growing confrontation between Beijing’s ambitions and the security interests of the United States and other nations along the Pacific Rim. Capturing Taiwan would help China penetrate the “first island chain” that runs from Japan through Taiwan to the Philippines and then to Indonesia. Beijing thinks of the waters between the mainland and the island nations to the east as being Chinese territorial seas. The Pentagon report notes that the PRC is developing its own legal doctrine which is “inconsistent with international law” in regard to control of the trade routes and seabed resources of the region.
Another useful document which has not gotten the same attention as the publicly released Pentagon report is the study “China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities—Background and Issues for Congress” by Ronald O’Rourke of the Congressional Research Service. Though written for use on Capitol Hill, the study has become available on the internet. The CRS report notes Chinese objectives beyond an “anti-access” strategy meant to isolate Taiwan from outside help in a war to conquer the island. “Some observers believe that China’s military modernization effort, including its naval modernization effort, is increasingly oriented toward pursuing additional goals, such as asserting or defending China’s claims in maritime territorial disputes, protecting China’s sea lines of communications, displacing U.S. influence in the Pacific, and asserting China’s status as a major world power.”
The Military is Stepping Up the the Plate
Following McChrystal, we have now had the Marine Corps Commandant speaking out and now Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The American military is stepping up to the plate and warning Americans. It is the citizen's duty now to respond by voting in larger numbers in November and to get ready for 2012.
Fed Flummoxed by Stagnation
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
U.S. Taxpayers Fund Islamic Landmarks Worldwide
Since 2001 the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, also funds projects to restore Christian and Buddhist sites as well as museums, forts and palaces. This seems like a good program to end; the American taxpayer should not be funding any religious sites.
Student-Centered Learning: Target or Locus for Universities?
How the Federal Reserve Created the US Recession
04:40 - 1 year ago
Learn how the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States that is responsible for regulating the supply of money in the US economy, has created the recession the US economy is currently facing.
Comment on Student Assignment: Terror Attack
Yes, it is far better to uphold a government perspective and downplay any threats, then governments can rescue unthinking people with their solutions. I wonder if terrorists are training the equivalent age--16--for missions. Maybe the terrorists do not have their heads in the sand.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Victory Mosque Imam Promotes "Eradication" of Jewish State
Speaking at a recorded Australian lecture series in July 2005, Rauf outlined his views on Israel:
“The differences, perhaps, may lie on whether the solution lies in the two-state solution or in a one-state solution. I believe that you had someone here recently who spoke about having a one land and two people’s solution to Israel.
“And I personally – my own personal analysis tells me that a one-state solution is a more coherent one than a two-state solution. So if we address the underlying issue, if we figure out a way to create condominiums, to condominiamise Israel and Palestine so you have two peoples co-existing on one state, then we have a different paradigm which will allow us to move forward.”
Such a “one state” solution has been called for in the past by Palestinian and Arab leaders, while Israeli officials warned it would bring about the country’s destruction.
Guess Who Wrote Obama's Cairo Apology Speech? TheVictory Mosque Imam
Rauf states:
“This is an example of the impact of our work in a positive way to be used by the President.”
"The blue print," Rauf elaborated, included everything from U.S. policy to Jewish and Christian relations with Muslims.
In the recording dated February 5th, 2010 Rauf boasted that:
“We have to look at it [as] how to engineer solutions. At the Cordova Initiative we think of ourselves as an engineering shop. Yes. We have an analytical approach. Our work has been that. IN THE BOOK CHAPTER 6, I WROTE ABOUT THIS BLUE PRINT as to WHAT HAS TO BE DONE BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT, what has to be done by the Jewish community, what has to be done by the Christian community, what has to be done by the Muslim community, what has to be done by educators, what has to be done by the media. For example, IN MY BOOK IN THE ARABIC VERSION page 293, what did I write? WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO DO. IF YOU EXAMINE THIS CHAPTER YOU WILL FIND THAT THE OBAMA SPEECH IN CAIRO WAS ALL TAKEN FROM THIS SECTION [Section 6]. When you do a job that is very complicated. You ask yourself, what have you accomplished. All these problems can be solved but requires the will to solve it. It requires political will, resources and the right focus. The signs of how to go to the moon was known 200 years ago, but the political will and financial will for it happened during 1960-1961. When John Kennedy said that we will send an American to the moon before the end of the 60’s, he established the financial resources and the political will.”
The story was even collaborated in a written article in an interview with Hani Al-Waziri of Egypt. The clue was revealed while Rauf was answering a question regarding President Barack Obama’s speech in which Rauf replied:
“The speech was wonderful and wise in his choice of words, the Prime Minister of Malaysia after the speech disclosed to me that it is now easy for any president of a Muslim country to establish good relations with America, and I AM NOT GOING TO HIDE FROM YOU THAT ONE OF THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN WRITING THE SPEECH, TRANSFERRED ENTIRE PARTS OF MY BOOK ‘A NEW VISION FOR MUSLIMS AND THE WEST’, which he referred to U.S. interests being compatible with top interests of the Muslim world”.
Rauf did not disclose the name of this speechwriter that included Rauf’s work in president Obama’s historic address to the Muslim world. It is crucial to note that the Arabic version of Feisal Abdul Rauf’s book was published in Malaysia titled “A CALL TO PRAYER, FROM THE WORLD TRADE CENTER RUBBLE: ISLAMIC DAWA (SUMMONS TO ISLAM) IN THE HEART OF AMERICA POST-9/11."
The interview with Hani Alwaziri dated February 7th, 2010 intended to discuss Rauf’s plans for what he terms “American Style Islam” and the Cordova Initiative goals for the U.S. Rauf later stated that his goal was “To establish an American style Islam in the United States” in which he explains his aspiration of spreading Islam in America by using flexibility and molding Islam to become palatable to the American culture while preserving the integrity of Islamic ideology:
“If we look how Islam was spread from Hijaz (Arabia) to Morocco then Turkey, we note that Islam was shaped by the culture and society, hence showing a Muslim version of the architecture and culture and the arts, but with preservation of the framework of belief and worship. We need to provide a GLOBAL ISLAM in accordance with the nature of each society.”
Rauf boasted about his towering structure by Ground Zero as:
“an icon that will make Muslims proud, not only locally but globally.”
His suggestion to Muslims on how to deal with western Christians and Jews was:
“deal with them as one courts a pretty girl he wants to date; stop thinking like a typical Muslim. Then you can engage.”
He also discussed how he courted Bloomberg and the Jewish Community boards that “we have inroads with the Jewish Community Center”. It is interesting that Rauf stated in Arabic to Hadielislam, another prominent Muslim think tank that:
“people need to use peaceful means to advise the governors and government institutions…we also suggest to the governors and political institutions to CONSULT [MUSLIM] RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND [MUSLIM] PERSONALITIES IN THE FIELD SO AS TO ASSURE THEIR DECISION MAKING TO REFLECT THE SPIRIT OF SHARIAH.”
In previous reports researched by the Walid Shoebat Foundation, it was revealed that Imam Rauf has made statements in the Arabic language - while appearing on Arabic media outlets - that completely contradict his moderate tone when speaking English, exposing him as a direct supporter of terrorism, both financially and verbally.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Victory Mosque Imam: America as Sharia Compliant
The Imam states that the American Constitution and sharia law are basically the same. We could really use a constitutional trained attorney to explain the difference to him so that he understands how they differ.
Obama as post-president in a post-American world
Sunday, August 22, 2010
What did Jefferson learn about the Koran?
The Battle of Derne
What did Jefferson learn from his study of the Koran? As early as 1786, Jefferson, who was serving as the ambassador to France, and John Adams, the Ambassador to Britain, met in London with Ambassador Abdrahaman, the Dey of Tripoli’s ambassador to Britain, in an attempt to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress’ vote of funding. Peace would come at a price. If America wanted “temporary peace,” a one-year guarantee, it would cost $66,000 plus a 10% commission. “Everlasting peace” was a bargain at $160,000 plus the obligatory commission. This only applied to Tripoli. Other Muslim nations would also have to be paid. The amount came to $1.3 million. But there was no assurance that the treaties would be honored. In vain Jefferson and Adams tried to argue that America was not at war with Tripoli. In what way had the U.S provoked the Muslims, they asked? Ambassador Abdrahaman went on to explain “the finer points of Islamic jihad” to the Koranically challenged Jefferson and Adams. In a letter to John Jay, Jefferson wrote the following:
The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.[7]
Abdrahaman was paraphrasing the Koran’s “rules of engagement” found in the 47 Surah: “Whenever you encounter the ones who disbelieve [during wartime], seize them by their necks until once you have subdued them, then tie them up as prisoners, either in order to release them later on, or also to ask for ransom, until war lays down her burdens.” Unless a nation submitted to an Islamic nation, whether it was the aggressor or not, that nation was by definition at war with Islam. Jihad means “to submit.” A non-aggressing nation is still at war with Islam as long as it hasn’t embraced Islam. Islam’s goal is to conquer the world, either by the submission of one’s will or by Allah’s sword.[8]
When President Jefferson refused to increase the tribute demanded by the Islamists, Tripoli declared war on the United States. A United States navy squadron, under Commander Edward Preble, blockaded Tripoli from 1803 to 1805. After rebel soldiers from Tripoli, led by United States Marines, captured the city of Derna, the Pasha of Tripoli signed a treaty promising to exact no more tribute.
President Obama is not the first person who has tried to whitewash Islam’s history with America. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Muslim, took his constitutional oath on Jefferson’s copy of the Koran. How ironic given Jefferson’s disdain for Islam’s principles. There’s a reason the “Marines’ Hymn” begins with these words:
From the Halls of Montezuma,
to the shores of Tripoli.
The line “To the shores of Tripoli” refers to the First Barbary War, specifically the Battle of Derne in 1805. Jefferson, embroiled in a war with Islamic terrorists in his day, commented, “Too long, for the honor of nations, have those Barbarians been suffered [permitted] to trample on the sacred faith of treaties, on the rights and laws of human nature!”[9] Little has changed since Jefferson’s day. The Muslims of the Ground Zero Mosque will say one thing and mean another.
Endnotes:
7. Quoted in Joseph Wheelan, Jefferson’s War: America’s First War on Terror, 1801–1805 (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003), 40–41. [↩]
8. Robert Spencer, The Truth about Muhammad: Founder of the World’s Most Intolerant Religion (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2006) and Robert Spencer, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (Washington, D.C.: Regnery, 2005). [↩]
9. Thomas Jefferson, congratulatory letter to Lt. Andrew Sterett (1760–1807). Quoted in Joseph Wheelan, Jefferson’s War: America’s First War on Terror, 1801–1805 (New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003), 102. [↩]