Christians, a Subversive Threat

North Korea, The Worst Violator Of Religious Rights In The World

This speaks for itself, requiring no further comment from me.

A call to prayer for North Korea

'Subversive, threat to the position of the Great Leader' - these words do not refer to dangerous villains, but to Christians in North Korea who are not considered as normal people.

"In North Korea, Christians are regarded as political criminals and in the prison camps, they are treated as political prisoners," according to the refugee Soon Ok Lee and author of the book Eyes of the Tailless Animals.

Kang Chol Hwan, a North Korean defector, was imprisoned in North Korea at the age of 10 because his grandfather was branded a political dissident, Often the North Korean government will try to purge three generations of a religious or political dissident's family. He describes the conditions he experienced:

"At the camp I witnessed public executions, forced labour and other inhumane atrocities. New prisoners in the North Korean political prison camps are taught not to consider themselves as human beings. The prisoners cannot complain of beatings or even murders.

"Even the children are subject to forced labour, and about a third of them die of malnutrition and from heavy labour. I also suffered from malnutrition three months after being imprisoned, lacking even the strength to walk.

"Because we were not given any source of protein, we would catch and eat snakes, frogs or even worms in order to survive. At first, I did not want to taste these things. One day my friends caught some rats while working in the fields and roasted them on an open fire.

"That was the first time I tasted rat meat, and that one piece of rat meat sustained me. From then on I ate anything to survive: rats, frogs, snakes and worms. Prisoners who do not do this could die in less than a year. People like me who are able to eat anything can survive longer."

It is estimated that 200,000 are suffering in North Korean prison camps where they face cruel abuses. According to a contact, Brother Peter*, an estimated 50,000-70,000 are Christians. Some think the hermit regime has detained more political and religious prisoners than any other country in the world.

For the fourth year in a row, Open Doors' World Watch List ranked North Korea as the worst violator of religious rights in the world. Christianity is treated as one of the greatest threats to the regime's power.

Go read the whole thing.

Mexico Moves to the U.S.

The migration from Mexico to the United States is now constitutes the largest diaspora in the history of humankind. The numbers are staggering, and Mexico needs it. A nearly failed country, mired in corruption and political incompetence, Mexico's economy is now based on the few dollar each of her citizens sends from the United States. This is one reason why the Mexican government has such open contempt for our border.

Give and take across the border - 1 in 7 Mexican workers migrates

Washington -- The current migration of Mexicans and Central Americans to the United States is one of the largest diasporas in modern history, experts say.

Roughly 10 percent of Mexico's population of about 107 million is now living in the United States, estimates show. About 15 percent of Mexico's labor force is working in the United States. One in every 7 Mexican workers migrates to the United States.

This, and Mexico looks as if it may become unstable.

What happens in Mexico, by turn, has a big effect on immigration flows to the United States. Those events include a hotly contested election six weeks away that pits a leftist populist against a market-oriented heir to President Vicente Fox.

"We want Mexico to look like Canada," said Stephen Haber, director of Stanford University's Social Science History Institute and a Latin America specialist at the Hoover Institution. "That's the optimal for the United States. We never talk about instability in Canada. We're never concerned about a Canadian security problem. Because Canada is wealthy and stable. It's so wealthy and stable we barely know it's there most of the time. That's the optimal for Mexico: a wealthy and stable country."

What isn't wanted, Haber said, "is an unstable country on your border, especially an unstable country that hates you."

Imagine Hugo Chavez on our southern border.

This migration is so large that areas of Mexico are being depopulated. Mexico's most important economic activity is the illegal migration of people that have no future in Mexico. This is a country that is so corrupt and managed with such complete incompetence that virtually the entire population of working people wants to leave, indeed must leave. What kind of country is this?

Migration is profoundly altering Mexico and Central America. Entire rural communities are nearly bereft of working-age men. The town of Tendeparacua, in the Mexican state of Michoacan, had 6,000 residents in 1985, and now has 600, according to news reports. In five Mexican states, the money migrants send home exceeds locally generated income, one study found.

Read the entire article, it is a real eye-opener.

UPDATE:
It would be nice if our own government would get serious about this for a change;

Lawmakers call for border 'tipping' inquiry

North Korea to Win War

The Taepo-dong 2-s Missile

As both of my faithful readers know, the Korean War has not yet ended. Hostilities came to an end in 1953 with the signing of an armistice between the United States (who sign on behalf of the now worse than worthless United Nations), North Korea, and China. The state of war between the United Nations (fought for them by the United States) and South Korea, and North Korea still exists.

It seems like someone the the US government thinks that it is a good idea to just go ahead and hand the victory to the DPRK.

U.S. Said to Weigh a New Approach on North Korea

WASHINGTON, May 17 - President Bush's top advisers have recommended a broad new approach to dealing with North Korea that would include beginning negotiations on a peace treaty, even while efforts to dismantle the country's nuclear program are still under way, senior administration officials and Asian diplomats say.

Aides say Mr. Bush is very likely to approve the new approach, which has been hotly debated among different factions within the administration. But he will not do so unless North Korea returns to multinational negotiations over its nuclear program. The talks have been stalled since September.

North Koreans have long demanded a peace treaty, which would replace the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War.

It is tempting to try anything that will end the current deadlock with North Korea and there is a recognition that dealing with them is too dangerous and difficult.

Now, said one official who has participated in the recent internal debate, "I think it is fair to say that many in the administration have come to the conclusion that dealing head-on with the nuclear problem is simply too difficult."

The official added, "So the question is whether it would help to try to end the perpetual state of war" that has existed, at least on paper, for 53 years. "It may be another way to get there."

We have already seen in negotiations with other tyrannies (Iran or the Palestinian Authority for instance) that giving them what they want only validates their tactics. A peace treaty with North Korea will give them something that they dearly want, and that can only reinforce them in their behavior. They act the way that they do because it gets them what they want.

Still,

As described by administration officials, none of whom would speak on the record about deliberations inside the White House, Mr. Bush's aides envision starting negotiations over a formal peace treaty that would include the original signatories of the armistice - China, North Korea and the United States, which signed on behalf of the United Nations. They would also add South Korea, now the world's 11th-largest economy, which declined to sign the original armistice.

Japan, Korea's colonial ruler in the first half of the 20th century, would be excluded, as would Russia.

And this at a time when North Korea may well be preparing to test a long range missle capable of striking all of the US.

North Korea missile site under observation

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Activity detected this month at a North Korean missile site was being closely watched yesterday, but officials in northeast Asia expressed doubts that a test launch was imminent.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the North has transported a missile to the facility, without specifying what kind.

Media in Japan reported it was a ballistic type that some analysts believe could reach the United States.

"In fact, we understand that it (the missile) has been brought to the site," Aso said in Parliament. "But we are not sure about any subsequent moves."

While North Korea's intentions remained unclear, any test-firing would escalate tension in the region and could deal a blow to international efforts to get the communist state to disarm, analysts said [which is no doubt what they want. - ed.].

As to the missile in question,

NHK said if the missile is an advanced version of the Taepodong 2, it would have a firing range of 15,000 kilometres (9,300 miles) that could reach as far as the US mainland, [in fact it would cover all of the US. - ed.] citing unidentified US government officials. Japan's Kyodo News agency had a similar report.

An official at South Korea's Foreign Ministry said on condition of anonymity, citing ministry policy, that the government was "closely monitoring and making many-sided efforts to confirm, but (such signs) haven't reached a credible level."

I think that giving North Korea what they want, a peace treaty, is a huge mistake.

New Orthodox Christian Links

I received a very nice email from JamesoftheNorthwest. He is publishing an excellent blog, PARADOSIS, and an excellent web site, Paradosis. These are now listed in my sidebar.

See also the Chronicles of Mary by Dawn.

Go, read, and learn.

Politically Correct Textbooks Hurt US

It is about time that the MSM has noticed this. A textbook case of failure, Politically driven adoption system yields shallow, misleading materials.

Although the author, Alex Johnson, disingenuously suggests that the forces politicizing school textbooks are as much the fault of the Right as the Left, he still points up a very serious problem and even offers a solution.

At its core, the economic surge in India and China comes down to brains. The industries driving the region's challenge to American leadership - communications, information technology, biotech and the like - can't thrive without a steady supply of highly educated, intellectually flexible workers.

This is where the United States is falling behind. "“Most U.S. high school students don't take advanced science; they opt out, with only one-quarter enrolling in physics, one-half in chemistry,"” the National Science Foundation found. The National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century concluded that U.S. students were "devastatingly far"” from leading the world in science and math.

...

If America'’s textbooks were systematically graded, Wang and other scholars say, they would fail abysmally.

American textbooks are both grotesquely bloated (so much so that some state legislatures are considering mandating lighter books to save students from back injuries) and light as a feather intellectually, flitting briefly over too many topics without examining any of them in detail. Worse, too many of them are pedagogically dishonest, so thoroughly massaged to mollify competing political and identity-group interests as to paint a startlingly misleading picture of America and its history.

Textbooks have become so bland and watered-down that they are "“a scandal and an outrage," the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a nonprofit education think tank in Washington, charged in a scathing report issued a year and a half ago.

Read it all. This is very important.

USS Hawaii to be Christened

From Electric Boat Public Affairs:

The third ship of the Virginia class, Hawaii (SSN-776), will be christened at Electric Boat’s Groton shipyard Saturday, June 17, at 11 AM.

The ship sponsor is the Hon. Linda Lingle, governor of Hawaii.

Roe v Wade - The Legalization as Liberation Lie

It cannot be said more clearly that this:

Roots of the 'Roe Effect'
Commentary: Beauty and Controversy

SOMERVILLE, May 8 (UPI) -— During my junior year of college, a friend invited me over to her apartment to meet her visiting family. For reasons I never understood, she mentioned in casual conversation that I ran the university's pro-life group. A history of abortion existed in her family. She told me so, many times. I knew her stepmother aborted her sibling at her father's insistence. When my friend mentioned my pro-life views, her father reacted fiercely.

"A woman should have an abortion if she gets pregnant when she's not supposed to," he said. I sat dumbstruck.

"A woman should get an abortion if she gets pregnant when she shouldn't," he repeated. His wife silently slipped into the bathroom.

"I think abortion hurts women," I replied and awkwardly changed the topic. My friend's stepmother wiped away her tears before she returned, but the moisture and redness around her eyes were still visible.

...

What Fran Dahl and so many other baby boomers fail to grasp is that post-Roe children are far more aware of the realities of abortion, legal or otherwise, than the generations before us. Recall the '70s episode of the television sitcom "Maude," in which the main character chooses an abortion. Her daughter actually compares the procedure to "going to the dentist." Nobody in their right mind would write such dialogue today. After 30 years of Roe, the legalization as liberation lie is lost in the image of women crying in the bathroom.

Read the whole thing and have compassion for the women who have been the victims of this insanity.

Murderer Kim Jong-Il Feels Pressure

There are ongoing protests outside the London embassy in an effort to stop this;
North Korea Christian Faces Imminent Execution

PYONGYANG/SEOUL (BosNewsLife) -- Family members and human rights activists urged the international community Saturday, April 22, to pressure North Korea not to execute a Christian man who has been accused of "betrayal" and "espionage" by the Communist government.

Advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), which has closely monitored the case, told BosNewsLife that the public execution of Son Jong Nam, 48, was imminent unless the world intervenes.

In a statement CSW and other activists said Son has been imprisoned in the basement of the National Security Agency in the North Korean capital Pyongyang and is "practically dead from horrible torture."

There is so much more. North Korean evil goes on and on;

Korean Reds Targeting Christians

WASHINGTON - A woman in her 20s executed by a firing squad after being caught with a Bible. Five Christian church leaders punished by being run over by a steamroller before a crowd of spectators who "cried, screamed out, or fainted when the skulls made a popping sound as they were crushed."

These and other "horrifying" violations of human rights and religious freedom in North Korea are reported in a new study by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, titled "'Thank You, Father Kim Il Sung': Eyewitness Accounts of Severe Violations of Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion in North Korea."

Yet, the American Left™ continues to support this evil regime.

Hey Kim! People Are Starting to Notice

N. Korea Freedom Day Rally Features Persecuted Church

WASHINGTON -– As one of the most anticipated events planned for North Korea Freedom Week, the rally on Friday not only echoed the calls of abductees, defectors, human rights advocates, and congressmen to achieve human rights for North Koreans and return abductees, but it also spotlighted the issue of the persecuted church.

How bad is it?

"It is believed that thousands of Christians are currently suffering in North Korean prison camps," said Moeller in the article On North Korea, a Country Spotlighted During the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, handed out during the rally. "The country is suspected of detaining more political and religious prisoners than any other country in the world."

"The government will arrest not only the suspected dissident but also three generations of his or her family to root out the bad influence. Kim Jong Il is the 'Dear Leader' and has been exalted and revered as a god to be followed with unquestioned obedience."

Reports have indicated that Koreans and tourists are expected to bow to the portraits and statues of Kim Il Sung. Moreover, the Communist government has created its own "trinity" - Kim Il Sung (the father), Kim Jong Il (the son) and the Juche ideology, according to Open Doors USA.

In the 2006 Open Doors World Watch List, North Korea was ranked the country with the world'’s worst persecution of Christians for the fourth straight year.

Kim Jong-Il has long said that there is no persecution in North Korea, that they have no political prisoners, and that there are no executions. He is losing his ability to maintain these fictions. Knowing this, the murderous freaks who run the DPRK continue to hold themselves up as the paragon of human rights.

Pascha Polyglotta

It is a tradition in the Orthodox Church that, beginning during the Resurrection Liturgy through Pentecost, we greet someone with the words, "Christ is Risen". When greeted in this way, we respond,"Truely He is Risen".

We do this in as many languages as possible.
Christos Anesti! Alithos Anesti!
Christos Voskrese! Voistinou Voskrese!
Al'Masiah qam! haqqan qam!

Here is a site where you, my beloved readers, can find the greeting in 250 languages.

Pascha polyglotta - Paschal Greetings in 250 Languages.

Having this blog, a web site, formerly having two Orthodox Groups, and having been in many other places on the internet, I have friends everywhere, including some in difficult circumstances. For those and everyone, have courage, hope, and faith.

Issah Ghi-yam kard! dar vagheh ou barkhasteh ast!

The Easter Sermon of St. John Chrysostom

If any be pious and a lover of God, let him rejoice in this fair and radiant festival.
If any be a faithful servant let him enter into the joy of his Lord.
If any be weary with fasting, let him now enjoy his payment.

If anyone has labored from the first hour, let him receive today his just reward.
If anyone has come after the third hour, let him now be thankful that the feast is at hand,
If anyone has waited until after the sixth hour, let him not be anxious, no loss shall be his own.
If anyone has tarried until the ninth hour, let him draw near also, shedding all his doubts.
If anyone has come only at the eleventh hour, let him not be fearful because of his delay.

For the Master is bountiful and receives the last even as the first.
He gives repose to him who came at the eleventh hour just as to one who labored from the first.
The tardy are shown mercy and the timely are made whole.
To the one he gives, on the other he bestows.
He honors the deed and praises the intention.

Let all therefore enter into the joy of our Lord, (let both the first and those who came later receive their wages)
Let rich and poor dance with one another. You sober and you heedless celebrate the day.
You who have fasted and you who have not rejoice in this occasion.

The table is full-laden let all enjoy the feast.
The calf is fatted, let no one go forth hungry.
Let all partake of the banquet of faith, let all partake of the riches of goodness.

Let none mourn his poverty, for the kingdom stands before us.
Let none lament his failings, forgiveness has risen from the tomb.
Let none fear death, for the death of the Savior has set us free.

He quenched death when it had tasted his flesh.
He despoiled Hades when he descended thereto
Foreseeing this, Isaiah cried:
'Hell was embittered when it met you face to face.'

It was embittered for it was made void,
It was embittered for it was mocked,
It was embittered for it was slain,
It was embittered for it was despoiled.
It was embittered for it was led off in chains.

It received a body and encountered God,
It received earth and came face to face with heaven.
It received what it saw and fell where it could not see.

Death where is thy sting,
Hades where is thy victory?

Christ is risen and you are cast down,
Christ is risen and the demons are fallen,
Christ is risen and the angels rejoice,
Christ is risen and life is made free.
Christ is risen and there is none dead in the tomb.

For Christ is risen from the dead as the first fruits of those that fell asleep.

To him be glory and power forever and ever, Amen.


Translated by Frank Dobbs

God bless all of you, my dear readers.

Daily History Lesson

I received this in my email;

Humans existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunter/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer & would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in winter.

The 2 most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into 2 distinct subgroups: Liberals and Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early human ancestors were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as "the Conservative movement."

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement. Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. The rest became known as 'girliemen.'

Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy and group hugs and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.

Another interesting revolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't "fair" to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big-game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, corporate executives, Marines, athletes and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to "govern" the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America. They crept in after the Wild West was tame and created a business of trying to get MORE for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history:
It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to respond to the above before simply laughing and forwarding it. A Conservative will be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately.

Despicable Lies for Peace

Cindy Sheehan, the hate-America-first "Peace Mom" uses her own heroic son's death to tell despicable lies.
Charles has the story over at Little Green Footballs.

The Lies of a Peace Mom

Read it. He does it much better that I can, and this is stunning.

Religion of Peace and Forgiveness

Islamists Post Hit List of 'Apostates';

An Egyptian group calling itself the "al-Jama’ah Consultative Council" has sent an e-mail hit list to people deemed 'apostates' yesterday. The group warned that those people on the list who had left the faith would have three days (as of yesterday) to repent or they would be killed. The group also warned that the wives and children of the Muslim apostates were being followed & would be killed.

Under Islamic Law, the maximum penalty for apostasy is death.

The list includes prominent Muslims living in the West who have spoken out against violent Islamic extremism and intolerance, some still living in Muslim countries, as well as Coptic Christians who have advocated equal treatment in Egypt.

I have a friend in Egypt, a Coptic Christian, who may be on that list.

Hillary Two Ways

Hillary goes conservative on immigration

In an interview last month on Fox News, Mrs. Clinton said she does not "think that we have protected our borders or our ports or provided our first responders with the resources they need, so we can do more and we can do better."

In an interview on WABC radio, she said: "I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants."

Her view is much softer now. From her own Senate web page, IMMIGRATION

This administration has failed to provide the resources to protect our borders, or a better system to keep track of entrants to this country. I welcome the addition of more border security, particularly on the Northern Border, with passage of the Intelligence Reform bill in December of 2004 – but it should not have taken more than 3 years after 9/11 to make this needed change, and there is still much more that must be done to keep America safe, including stronger inspection of cargo on ships and airplanes. Moreover, just two months after signing the Intelligence Reform bill with great fanfare, President Bush refused to provide the necessary funding in his Fiscal Year 2006 proposed budget sufficient to hire all of the border patrol agents that had been authorized. Fortunately, during the Senate’s debate on the budget in March of 2005, we passed an amendment to provide increased funding for border patrol agents. I hope the Republican leadership will support the maintenance of this funding, to provide the resources necessary to properly protect our borders.

So, how about the Southern Border, Hillary?

There Really IS a Problem with Global Warming

There IS a problem with global warming... it stopped in 1998

For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem. In truth, however, the biggest part of the problem is neither environmental nor scientific, but a self-created political fiasco. Consider the simple fact, drawn from the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero).

Yes, you did read that right. And also, yes, this eight-year period of temperature stasis did coincide with society's continued power station and SUV-inspired pumping of yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

In response to these facts, a global warming devotee will chuckle and say "how silly to judge climate change over such a short period". Yet in the next breath, the same person will assure you that the 28-year-long period of warming which occurred between 1970 and 1998 constitutes a dangerous (and man-made) warming. Tosh. Our devotee will also pass by the curious additional facts that a period of similar warming occurred between 1918 and 1940, well prior to the greatest phase of world industrialisation, and that cooling occurred between 1940 and 1965, at precisely the time that human emissions were increasing at their greatest rate.

This is controversial because what should be science is actually politics.

Since the early 1990s, the columns of many leading newspapers and magazines, worldwide, have carried an increasing stream of alarmist letters and articles on hypothetical, human-caused climate change. Each such alarmist article is larded with words such as "if", "might", "could", "probably", "perhaps", "expected", "projected" or "modelled" - and many involve such deep dreaming, or ignorance of scientific facts and principles, that they are akin to nonsense.

The problem here is not that of climate change per se, but rather that of the sophisticated scientific brainwashing that has been inflicted on the public, bureaucrats and politicians alike. Governments generally choose not to receive policy advice on climate from independent scientists. Rather, they seek guidance from their own self-interested science bureaucracies and senior advisers, or from the IPCC itself. No matter how accurate it may be, cautious and politically non-correct science advice is not welcomed in Westminster [or in Washington D.C. - ed.], and nor is it widely reported.

This is an excellent piece by Bob Carter, who provides good support for his thesis. Go and read the whole thing.

Dry Dock 2 is Empty

Looking out of the window by my desk on Pier 4 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard I saw a barge slip by with a cylindrical canister on in. This canister was 32 feet in diameter and just slightly longer than that.

Dry Dock 2 is flooded and otherwise empty.

Its previous occupant exists now only in the memory of her heroic crew.

Illegals to Get In-State Tuition

In another fit of liberal™ idiocy and America-hatred the liberal™ members of Congress have decided that, if you are in the United States illegally, then you should be able to get in-state tuition at every public college and university in the country. Of course, U.S. citizens can't do that.

Immigration bill proposes in-state tuition for illegals

"This means that while American citizens from Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusetts have to pay out-of-state tuition rates if they send their kids to the University of Virginia or the University of Alabama, people who have illegally immigrated into the country do not," Mr. Sessions said. "How much sense does that make, to have people here illegally and they have more benefits than those who are here legally?"

Despite the National Leadership's effort to jam this down the national throat, the people do not like it.

But voters, even in liberal states such as Massachusetts, overwhelmingly oppose providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens. Earlier this year, the Massachusetts legislature was poised to approve such a measure. But after a statewide groundswell of opposition from both Democrats and Republicans, the state House voted it down by a 96-57 vote.

The bill in the Senate, Mr. Session said, also would make illegals eligible for financial aid.

The financial-aid provision has been removed.

It's a good thing that this bill is failing. Bad legislation is worse than no legislation at all.

The EU is Shocked, Shocked

EU hears the plight of North Korea's refugees

BRUSSELS -- The European Parliament held its first public hearing on the North Korean human rights issue in Brussels, Belgium on March 23. About 100 participants including European Parliament members, NGO representatives and journalists attended the hearing. Three defectors from North Korea also attended, and their stark testimonies shocked the participants.

Istvan Szent-Ivany, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament who presided over the hearing, emphasized that "human rights are universal rights," and passionately requested North Korea to respect these rights.

Murderous tyrannical regimes have always responded well to begging, and that is good because that is all that the UN, the EU and other liberal western European organizations do.

In an even more amazing development, the EU members seems puzzled at liberal self destructive self loathing.

Meanwhile, some 100 South Korean civil activists and students held demonstrations and rallies in Brussels fiercely criticizing the hearing for "assisting the United States in using the human rights issue as mean to gain hegemony."

Some puzzled members of the European Parliament who attended the hearing asked, "Why do South Koreans oppose the hearing, rather than criticizing North Koreans for committing human rights violations?" Professor Yoo Sae Hee, who attended the hearing as a South Korean representative said, "I feel ashamed as a South Korean. Those who are demonstrating against the hearing are not representatives of South Korea."

Read the whole thing. There is some interesting political interplay described there. Sadly, the upshot of the whole thing is that, although shocked, the EU wants more conferences, discussion, etc.

In Memoriam - USS Thresher (SSN 593)

Today is the 43rd anniversary of the loss of the USS Thresher (SSN 593).

The men lost aboard USS Thresher.

Officers
Harvey, John W.     LCDR, Commanding Officer
Garner, Pat M.     LCDR, Executive Officer
Di Nola, Michael J.     Lieutenant Commander
Lyman, John S., Jr.     Lieutenant Commander
Collier, Merrill F.     Lieutenant
Smarz, John, Jr.     Lieutenant
Babcock, Ronald C.     Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Grafton, John G.     Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Henry, James. J., Jr.     Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Parsons, Guy C., Jr.     Lieutenant (Junior Grade)
Wiley, John J.     Lieutenant (Junior Grade)

Enlisted Crew
Arenault, Tilmon J.     ENCA (SS)
Bain, Ronald E.     EN2 (SS)
Bell, John E.     MM1
Bobbitt, Edgar S.     EM2 (SS)
Boster, Gerald C.     EM3 (SS)
Bracey, George     SD3 (SS)
Brann, Richard P.     EN2 (SS)
Carkoski, Richard J.     EN2 (SS)
Cayey, Steven G.     TM2 (SS)
Christiansen, Edward     SN (SS)
Claussen, Larry W.     EM2 (SS)
Clements, Thomas E.     ETR3 (SS)
Cummings, Francis M.     SOS2 (SS)
Carmody, Patrick W.     SK2
Dabruzzi, Samuel J.     ETN2 (SS)
Davison, Clyde E., III     ETR3
Day, Donald C.     EN3 (SS)
Denny, Roy O., Jr.     EM1 (SS)
DiBella, Peter J.     SN
Dundas, Don R.     ENT2 (SS)
Dyer, Troy E.     ET1 (SS)
Forni, Ellwod H.     SOCA (SS)
Foti, Raymond P.     ET1 (SS)
Freeman, Larry W.     FTM2 (SS)
Fusco, Gregory J.     EM2 (SS)
Gallant, Andrew J., Jr.     HMC (SS)
Garcia, Napoleon T.     SD1 (SS)
Garner, John E.     YNSN (SS)
Gaynor, Robert W.     EN2 (SS)
Gosnell, Robert H.     SA (SS)
Graham, William E.     SOC (SS)
Gunter, Aaron J.     QM1 (SS)
Hall, Richard C.     ETR2 (SS)
Hayes, Norman T.     EM1
Heiser, Laird, G.     MM1
Helsius, Marvin T.     MM2
Hewitt, Leonard H.     EMCA (SS)
Hoague, Joseph H.     TM2 (SS)
Hodge, James P.     EM2
Hudson, John F.     EN2 (SS)
Inglis, John F.     FN
Johnson, Brewner G.     FTG1 (SS)
Johnson, Edward A.     ENCA (SS)
Johnson, Richard L.     RMSA
Johnson, Robert E.     TMC (SS)
Johnson, Thomas B.     ET1 (SS)
Jones, Richard W.     EM2 (SS)
Kaluza, Edmund J., Jr.     SOS2 (SS)
Kantz, Thomas C.     ETR2 (SS)
Kearney, Robert D.     MM3
Keiler, Ronald D.     IC2 (SS)
Kiesecker, George J.     MM2 (SS)
Klier, Billy M.     EN1 (SS)
Kroner, George R.     CS3
Lanouette, Norman G.     QM1 (SS)
Lavoie, Wayne W.     YN1 (SS)
Mabry, Templeman N., Jr.     EN2 (SS)
Mann, Richard H., Jr.     IC2 (SS)
Marullo, Julius F., Jr.     QM1 (SS)
McClelland, Douglas R.     EM2 (SS)
McCord, Donald J.     MM1 (SS)
McDonough, Karl P.     TM3 (SS)
Middleton, Sidney L.     MM1 (SS)
Muise, Ronald A.     CS2
Musselwhite, James A.     ETN2 (SS)
Nault, Donald E.     CS1 (SS)
Noonis, Walter J.     RMC (SS)
Norris, John D.     ET1 (SS)
Oetting, Chesley C.     EM2
Pennington, Roscoe C.     EMCA (SS)
Peters, James G.     EMCS
Phillippi, James F.     SOS2 (SS)
Philput, Dan A.     EN2 (SS)
Podwell, Richard     MM2
Regan, John S.     MM1 (SS)
Ritchie, James P.     RM2
Robison, Pervis, Jr.     SN
Rountree, Glenn A.     QM2 (SS)
Rushetski, Anthony A.     ETN2
Schiewe, James M.     EM1 (SS)
Shafer, Benjamin N.     EMCM (SS)
Shafer, John D.     EMCS (SS)
Shimko, Joseph T.     MM1
Shotwell, Burnett, M.     ETRSN
Sinnett, Alan D.     FTG2 (SS)
Smith, William H., Jr.     BT12
Solomon, Ronald H.     EM1
Steinel, Robert E.     SO1 (SS)
Snider, James L.     MM1
Van Pelt, Rodger E.     IC1 (SS)
Wasel, David A.     RMSN
Walski, Joseph A.     RM1 (SS)
Wiggins, Charles L.     FTG1
Wise, Donald E.     MMCA (SS)
Wolf, Ronald E.     QMSN (SS)
Zweifel, Jay H.     EM2

Naval Observers
Krag, Robert L.     Lieutenant Commander Staff, Deputy Commander, Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet
Allen, Phillip H.     Lieutenant Commander Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Billings, John H.     Lieutenant Commander Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Biederman, Robert D.     Lieutenant Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Civilian Technicians
Abrams, Fred P.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Beal, Daniel W., Jr.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Charron, Robert E.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Critchley, Kenneth J.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Currier, Paul C.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Des Jardins, Richard R.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Dineen, George J.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Fisher, Richard R.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Guerette, Paul A.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Moreau, Henry C.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Palmer, Franklin J.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Prescott, Robert D.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Whitten Laurence E.     Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Corcoran, Kenneth R.     Sperry Corporation
Keuster, Donald W.     Sperry Corporation
Stademuller, Donald T.     Sperry Corporation
Jaquay, Maurice F.     Raytheon Corporation

May they all be resting in the presence of God.

And, pray for all for those who go to sea in ships. God bless them all.

When Naked, Safety First!

The Deadly Funnel Web Spider

Ok, I appreciate getting naked as well as the next guy, but one thing NOT to do is mess around with gasoline and matches at the same time. Actually, one should not do this when clothed, either

Nudist's spider-killing stunt backfires

A naked man suffered burns to one-fifth of his body when he tried to set fire to a spider at a nudist resort in the NSW southern highlands.

The 56-year-old Sydney man tried to kill what he thought was a funnel web spider by pouring petrol down the spider's burrow and igniting it with a match, the NRMA CareFlight service said.

But the fuel exploded and the man was left with burns to 18 per cent of his body, on the upper leg and buttocks.

The man was taken by helicopter to a hospital in Sidney. He will be ok.

But, to add insult to injury,

Resort guests told emergency crews it was probably a harmless trapdoor spider and not a deadly funnel web, CareFlight said.

The man's lack of clothing probably contributed to the extent of his burns, the rescue chopper service said.

Gee, do ya think?

Trap Door Spider

Charles from the Planetoid Aidemydni

As both of my beloved readers know, I am a big fan of Charles Johnson, author of Little Green Footballs (LGF). You can probably tell by my badge.

Since he is an influence on me, in fact the influence that got me started in blogging, I thought it only proper to let you know a little more about him.

Two old posts from LGF that identify Charles.

"Charles" and The Truth about LFG. This is one of his funniest threads.

A drawing of "Charles" - The Terrible Secret of LFG

NOTE: I am, in fact, a member of the lizardoid army.
(Pssst, Charles, where's my check?)

Stupid Criminal Discovers Sumo

Crime weighs heavy;

What’s the worst that could happen if you’ve been caught stealing? That your crime weighs heavy on your conscience, and leaves you wrestling with your morals?

Or this: Your crime weighs heavy on your middle-aged body, and leaves you wrestling with Sumos?

HUNGH? Strange but true – it’s exactly what happened to Konoshin Kawabata in Osaka, Japan.

He stumbled upon a perfect opportunity to burglarize a building on the Shounji temple premises. A door was unlocked, the lights were off, and it was the wee hours of the morning. The Japanese man, who’s pushing 50, must’ve thought: lucky.

Damn, did he think too soon. As he started rummaging for loot, he felt himself being “caught by a massive man” whom he could not make out in the dark.

The lights were then turned on, showing Kawabata what the hell sort of mondo bizaaro was really going on. A freakin’ Sumo wrestler had tackled him – bear-hugged, in the wrestler’s own words – whilst over a dozen other Sumo wrestlers had him surrounded.

Dewanosato (real name: Hideyuki Kawahara) was the Sumo wrestler who pinned down the burglar. Don’t deadpan now: this dude just happens to stand 5′10” (180 cm) and weigh 289 lbs (131 kg).

Since the Japanese cannot legally keep a gun in the house, perhaps they should keep a Sumo wrestler. Perhaps an "Adopt a Sumo" program.

More Torture at Guantanamo Bay

The anti-American, openly Leftist™ paper, The Guardian, has the story. A big thank you to Charles for this.

Cuba? It was great, say boys freed from US prison camp

Asadullah strives to make his point, switching to English lest there be any mistaking him. "I am lucky I went there, and now I miss it. Cuba was great," said the 14-year-old, knotting his brow in the effort to make sure he is understood.

Not that Asadullah saw much of the Caribbean island. During his 14-month stay, he went to the beach only a couple of times - a shame, as he loved to snorkel. And though he learned a few words of Spanish, Asadullah had zero contact with the locals.

He spent a typical day watching movies, going to class and playing football. He was fascinated to learn about the solar system, and now enjoys reciting the names of the planets, starting with Earth. Less diverting were the twice-monthly interrogations about his knowledge of al-Qaida and the Taliban. But, as Asadullah's answer was always the same - "I don't know anything about these people" - these sessions were merely a bore: an inevitably tedious consequence, Asadullah suggests with a shrug, of being held captive in Guantanamo Bay.

On January 29, Asadullah and two other juvenile prisoners were returned home to Afghanistan. The three boys are not sure of their ages. But, according to the estimate of the Red Cross, Asadullah is the youngest, aged 12 at the time of his arrest. The second youngest, Naqibullah, was arrested with him, aged perhaps 13, while the third boy, Mohammed Ismail, was a child at the time of his separate arrest, but probably isn't now.

Tracked down to his remote village in south-eastern Afghanistan, Naqibullah has memories of Guantanamo that are almost identical to Asadullah's. Prison life was good, he said shyly, nervous to be receiving a foreigner to his family's mud-fortress home.

The food in the camp was delicious, the teaching was excellent, and his warders were kind. "Americans are good people, they were always friendly, I don't have anything against them," he said. "If my father didn't need me, I would want to live in America."

Asadullah is even more sure of this. "Americans are great people, better than anyone else," he said, when found at his elder brother's tiny fruit and nut shop in a muddy backstreet of Kabul. "Americans are polite and friendly when you speak to them. They are not rude like Afghans. If I could be anywhere, I would be in America. I would like to be a doctor, an engineer, or an American soldier."

...

Naqibullah, Asadullah and Mohammed Ismail were moved into one large room, which was never locked. They were taught Pashto (their own language), English, Arabic, maths, science, art and, for two months, Islam. "The American soldiers ate pork but they said we must never do that because we were Muslim," said Naqibullah. "They were very strict about Islam."

To bad that the Americans were strict about Islam, but these are now probably the best educated people in their local area.

Sadly for the Left™, now there are at least three children in the world who have been un-taught how to hate Americans.

So ... What Are You Choosing?

All of those of you who are "pro-choice" and believe that a fetus is just a clump of cells need to read this. From the very liberal BBC, Premature babies 'feel true pain'

Experts have never been sure how a premature baby responds to pain, the Journal of Neuroscience reported.

But a team from University College London found that they do feel pain after analysing brain scans taken when blood samples were being drawn.

They hope the findings will lead to more formal plans for managing pain in premature babies.

Lead researcher Professor Maria Fitzgerald said: "We have shown for the first time that the information about pain reaches the brain in premature babies.

"Beforehand, although we could assume it, we did not know for sure that these babies could feel pain.

"These babies' brains are so immature that it was difficult to genuinely know that the pain was going to their brain."

Previous research had shown that premature babies are capable of displaying behavioural, physiological and metabolic signs of pain and distress.

This makes clear exactly what abortion is.

Basic Instinct #2 does Poorly, Bush Blamed

And no, that is not a pun.

Erotic thrillers lose steam at box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The last time "Basic Instinct" man-eater Catherine Tramell prowled the big screen, the studio erotic thriller was hitting box office heights. The first "Instinct" took the top spot when it debuted in 1992, with an opening weekend of $15.1 million, the equivalent of $20.45 million in today's dollars.

By comparison, "Basic Instinct 2" limped into 10th place upon its arrival this weekend, grossing just $3.2 million.

And why would that be?

Paul Verhoeven, director of the first "Basic Instinct" (which scored $353 million worldwide) as well as the widely ridiculed "Showgirls" (now regarded as something of a camp classic), attributes the genre's demise to the current American political climate.

"Anything that is erotic has been banned in the United States," said the Dutch native. "Look at the people at the top (of the government). We are living under a government that is constantly hammering out Christian values. And Christianity and sex have never been good friends."

Scribe Nicholas Meyer, who was an uncredited writer on 1987's seminal sex-fueled cautionary tale "Fatal Attraction," agrees, noting that the genre's downfall coincides with the ascent of the conservative political movement.

"We're in a big puritanical mode," he said. "Now, it's like the McCarthy era, except it's not 'Are you a communist?' but 'Have you ever put sex in a movie?'"

I'm sure that you all remember the recent Congressional hearings where large numbers of movie producers and directors were angrily asked "Have you ever put sex in a movie?", threatened with imprisonment in Branson, Missouri. [Note to liberals, this didn't really happen. - ed.]

Even rich liberals like these assume an entitlement for themselves. They believe that they are entitled to business success, and if they don't get it, it is the fault of the government (read GWB).

From Mere Comments, Erotic Thrillers Unexciting

What are these guys smoking? Who is chasing them? Christians--no, those nasty Puritans are back--are banning sex in the movies? Gads, sex not only in the movies, it's on prime-time television and cable, the internet--you don't have to go to the movies to see erotic thrills.

Has it every occurred to them that lust, after multiple viewings, isn't all that interesting? Maybe "pure" eroticism is just one-dimensional and boring? I mean, how much can you say about it? And is the following comment unintentionally admitting this?

Mark Damon, once dubbed the king of eroticism for producing such steamy classics as 1986's "9 1/2 Weeks" and 1990's "Wild Orchid," said he stopped producing sex-steeped dramas because "I didn't find any scripts that were worth producing. The genre had exhausted itself."

There is nothing there, it is just the same thing over and over again.

The problem that Paul Verhoeven and Nicholas Meyer have is that they are Leftists™ who cannot image that market forces have any effect on attendance. Sort of like not seeing an elephant in the living room.

Gun Control

I am an expert in this weapon and have the medal for it - the M1911A .45 Caliber Pistol

Liberals have made a big issue of restricting private gun ownership. The idea runs like this; if law abiding citizens had no guns, then the gun carrying criminals will not harm us, resulting in fewer violent crimes.

There is some sound reasoning for you.

The people do not agree.

Everyone not previously convicted of a serious crime should be permitted to carry a sidearm. Criminals are less likely to attack someone if that someone might shoot back.

See also;

Gun control doesn't reduce crime, violence, say studies

WASHINGTON – While it is an article of faith among gun-control proponents that government restrictions on firearms reduces violence and crime, two new U.S. studies could find no evidence to support such a conclusion.

The National Academy of Sciences issued a 328-page report based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, a survey of 80 different gun-control laws and some of its own independent study. In short, the panel could find no link between restrictions on gun ownership and lower rates of crime, firearms violence or even accidents with guns.

The panel was established during the Clinton administration and all but one of its members were known to favor gun control.

Bush Was Right

Yeah, baby!

Rock and Roll!

I agree with the review at Wizbang. A protest song for the Right.

Drunk Blogging

Ok, I admit that I have been drinking for the past few...well, it doesn't matter. I just finished bottling some wine that I made (from a kit).

I was going to post my outrage over a human rights issue that I have just run across, but I'll do that later.

I am now watching Carousel on DVD. This is excellent music in the best American tradition. If you haven't seen it, get it and watch. It is exceptional. American musical theater is a uniquely American art form of great value, and this is one of the best examples of it.

I'll do the serious stuff later. Now is the time to enjoy something splendid.

Sharon Stone Tells Children - Give Oral Sex

And you think that I am making this up.

From Mere Comments, Teenage Girls, Oral Sex, and the New Feminism

Stone talks about watching a mother and daughter trying on clothing in a department store. The mother was concerned about the daughter showing her stomach in the outfit she wanted to buy. When the mother walked away, Stone approached the teenager and gave her some tips on sex and avoiding diseases such as AIDS. Her advice to teenagers is simple:

Young people talk to me about what to do if they're being pressed for sex? I tell them (what I believe): oral sex is a hundred times safer than vaginal or anal sex. If you're in a situation where you cannot get out of sex, offer [oral sex]. I'm not embarrassed to tell them.

This advice is astounding. Not because a Hollywood actress opposes Christian understandings of sexual morality. That is nothing new. What's astounding is how resigned this feminist activist actress is to a patriarchy of the most predatory kind.

There are two things that I find astounding here;
1. That Sharon Stone would simply walk up to another woman's child and say this.

2. That she thinks that she is virtuous for doing so is not surprising, being the arrogant elitist liberal that she is, but that exactly no one in the press thinks this is noteworthy. See the original news article.

Speech Freedom Protected?

Proposed FEC Rules Would Exempt Most Political Activity on Internet

I'm not ready to remove my Gadsden Flag yet.

Iran Figures It Out

This is a "must read" for anyone who desires international stability.

'The Last Helicopter'

Hassan Abbasi has a dream--a helicopter doing an arabesque in cloudy skies to avoid being shot at from the ground. On board are the last of the "fleeing Americans," forced out of the Dar al-Islam (The Abode of Islam) by "the Army of Muhammad." Presented by his friends as "The Dr. Kissinger of Islam," Mr. Abbasi is "professor of strategy" at the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guard Corps University and, according to Tehran sources, the principal foreign policy voice in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's new radical administration.

And here is what he has to say;

To hear Mr. Abbasi tell it the entire recent history of the U.S. could be narrated with the help of the image of "the last helicopter." It was that image in Saigon that concluded the Vietnam War under Gerald Ford. Jimmy Carter had five helicopters fleeing from the Iranian desert, leaving behind the charred corpses of eight American soldiers. Under Ronald Reagan the helicopters carried the corpses of 241 Marines murdered in their sleep in a Hezbollah suicide attack. Under the first President Bush, the helicopter flew from Safwan, in southern Iraq, with Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf aboard, leaving behind Saddam Hussein's generals, who could not believe why they had been allowed live to fight their domestic foes, and America, another day. Bill Clinton's helicopter was a Black Hawk, downed in Mogadishu and delivering 16 American soldiers into the hands of a murderous crowd.

According to this theory, President George W. Bush is an "aberration," a leader out of sync with his nation's character and no more than a brief nightmare for those who oppose the creation of an "American Middle East." Messrs. Abbasi and Ahmadinejad have concluded that there will be no helicopter as long as George W. Bush is in the White House. But they believe that whoever succeeds him, Democrat or Republican, will revive the helicopter image to extricate the U.S. from a complex situation that few Americans appear to understand.

Mr. Ahmadinejad's defiant rhetoric is based on a strategy known in Middle Eastern capitals as "waiting Bush out." "We are sure the U.S. will return to saner policies," says Manuchehr Motakki, Iran's new Foreign Minister.

Mr. Ahmadinejad believes that the world is heading for a clash of civilizations with the Middle East as the main battlefield. In that clash Iran will lead the Muslim world against the "Crusader-Zionist camp" led by America. Mr. Bush might have led the U.S. into "a brief moment of triumph." But the U.S. is a "sunset" (ofuli) power while Iran is a sunrise (tolu'ee) one and, once Mr. Bush is gone, a future president would admit defeat and order a retreat as all of Mr. Bush's predecessors have done since Jimmy Carter.

Mr. Ahmadinejad also notes that Iran has just "reached the Mediterranean" thanks to its strong presence in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. He used that message to convince Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to adopt a defiant position vis-à-vis the U.N. investigation of the murder of Rafiq Hariri, a former prime minister of Lebanon. His argument was that once Mr. Bush is gone, the U.N., too, will revert to its traditional lethargy. "They can pass resolutions until they are blue in the face," Mr. Ahmadinejad told a gathering of Hezbollah, Hamas and other radical Arab leaders in Tehran last month.

Read the whole thing. There is a lot more here, like this;

It is not only in Tehran and Damascus that the game of "waiting Bush out" is played with determination. In recent visits to several regional capitals, this writer was struck by the popularity of this new game from Islamabad to Rabat. The general assumption is that Mr. Bush's plan to help democratize the heartland of Islam is fading under an avalanche of partisan attacks inside the U.S. The effect of this assumption can be witnessed everywhere.

We can kid ourselves all day long and Liberals can tell all of the lies that they wish about how they are really patriotic and how they are not harming our national security, that will not help. The Democrats want a strategic redeployment, and the enemy knows exactly what that is. We kid ourselves, but they understand.

The enemy sees our weakness and is ready to act.

You Just Can't Make This Up

The primitives of Islam are having trouble with a "problem" that we would not think twice about.

Uttering 'talaq' in sleep lands couple in soup

Siliguri: A Muslim couple in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal have been ordered by local religious leaders to separate as the husband allegedly uttered 'talaq' three times in his sleep.

While the couple, who have three children, refused to obey the order as there was no discord between them, the community leaders are adamant that they must separate or face a "social boycott."

Aftab Ansari and Sohela have been married for the past 11 years.

However, on the night of December 20 last, Aftab allegedly uttered 'talaq' three times in his sleep after a tiff with his wife.

The matter came to light when Sohela discussed it with her close friends and soon it reached the ears of the Muslim leaders.

A quote of a Press Trust of India article by the same name (I cannot find a link) in its entirety;

A Muslim couple in Jalpaiguri district have been ordered by local
religious leaders to separate as the husband allegedly uttered talaq
three times in his sleep.

While the couple, who have three children, refused to obey the order
since there was no discord between them, the community leaders are
adamant that they must separate or face a "social boycott".

Aftab Ansari and Sohela have been married for the past 11 years.
However, on the night of December 20 last year, Aftab allegedly uttered
talaq three times in his sleep after a tiff with his wife.

The matter came to light when Sohela discussed it with her close
friends and soon it reached the ears of the Muslim leaders.

The leaders, quoting the Shariyat, ruled that the talaq has to be
implemented and if it is not acceptable, the only alternative was
temporary separation for 100 days during which the wife will live at
her father's house and spend a night with another man. [Now there are some family values for you. Does she then get to be stoned for adultery? - ed.]

She can remarry her husband only after the man has given her talaq.

As the couple was unwilling to accept the verdict, the matter went to
the family counselling centre at Falakata police station in Jalpaiguri
district.

The counselling centre, attended by judges of the Alipurduar
sub-divisional court, discussed the problem in detail on Saturday, but
failed to find a solution.

The additional district session judge (second track), Muhammad Abdul
Jalil, has directed the general secretary of the Anjuman Committee,
Muhammad Abul, to settle the issue, sources in the counselling centre
said.

I wonder if they will be able to sort out this very difficult problem

Liberal Judenhass Watch - Jimmy Carter

JOSHUAPUNDIT fisks the recent pronouncement of Jimmy Carter in support of HAMAS, the group that still wants to kill every Jew in the Middle East.

In Jimmy Carter soils himself in print Freedom Fighter finds both the lies...

"With Israel's approval, the Carter Center has monitored all three Palestinian elections. They have all been honest and peaceful, with the results accepted by winners and losers."

Which elections are you talking about. Mr. Carter? The Stalin-like one where Arafat ran unopposed except for an 80 year old woman who told everybody to vote for Arafat? Or the most recent one that featured gun battles between Hamas and Fatah supporters, and had the Palestinian 'security' forces voting in their barracks under the eyes of their officers?

and the stupidities;

"The pre-eminent obstacle to peace is Israel's colonisation of Palestine."

No, Mr. Carter. The pre-eminent obstacle to peace, as you put it, is the Arab refusal to live next to Jews in peace and equality.That's the central issue, and if it weren't, where the borders were wouldn't be important.

There are almost a million Arabs who live in Israel as citizens, with the right to vote and the full protection of law. Care to show me a similar community of Jews with those rights in the Arab world?

Freedom Fighter nails it, go read the whole thing.

Sodom Officially Condemns Christians

The City of San Francisco, always willing to tolerate speech with which it agrees, has issued an official condemnation of a rally of peaceful, evangelical Christians.

Evangelical teens rally in S.F.;

More than 25,000 evangelical Christian youth landed Friday in San Francisco for a two-day rally at AT&T Park against "the virtue terrorism" of popular culture, and they were greeted by an official city condemnation and a clutch of protesters who said their event amounted to a "fascist mega-pep rally."

This is not their first rally. They made stops in Detroit and Philadelphia.

Luce said it was the first time one of his events has been officially condemned.

A Battle Cry invitation to teenagers made plain the symbolism of gathering in San Francisco for a pre-event rally at "the very City Hall steps where several months ago, gay marriages were celebrated for all the world to see."

The idea of normal, healthy families leading normal healthy lives is too much for the people of Sodom.

On one side of the barricade was girl carrying a sign that said, "Instead of porn, show us Godly relationships." On the other, a woman held one that said, "I moved here to get away from people like you."

South Koreans Warm to U.S.

Poll: S. Koreans warming to U.S., see China as longterm threat;

Some 38 percent of South Koreans think China could emerge as their country'’s biggest security threat in a decade, according to a recent poll by the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a state-run think tank.

The March 19 survey indicated that South Koreans are increasingly concerned about China's rapidly growing influence while Seoul's anti-U.S. sentiment appears to be slowly easing.

Also, 81.7 percent of respondents described the United States as the most helpful to South Korea, followed by distant runners-up China with 6.1 percent and Japan 4.5 percent. 5.4 percent cited North Korea as the most helpful country to South Korea.

Perhaps, but for the reasons that I stated here, I still think that we should remove our armed forces and use them elsewhere.

Write Your Congressman

Congress Must Block White House From Cutting Military Health Care

But this year, the Bush administration decided it was time to make major cuts in the TRICARE retiree program to help pay for the war in Iraq. The administration has proposed a defense budget which would triple the annual TRICARE Prime enrollment fee for retired officers under 65, double the annual enrollment fee for senior enlisted retirees under 65 and increase the annual enrollment fee by 41 percent for enlisted retirees E-6 and below under the age of 65.

Anyone who opts for TRICARE Standard would have to pay an annual enrollment fee for the first time, though it would not be as high as the TRICARE Prime enrollment fee. At the same time, the administration also proposed raising deductibles for everyone covered under TRICARE Standard.

Let’s be very specific. Retired officers under TRICARE Prime will see their annual enrollment fee for an individual go up from the current level of $230 to $700 in two years. Family enrollment fees for retired officers will go up from the current level of $460 to $1,400 in two years.

For senior enlisted retirees under TRICARE Prime the annual fee would increase from the current individual level of $230 to $475 in two years and the family enrollment fee would go up from $460 to $950 in two years.

Those military retiree families who elect TRICARE Standard could expect new enrollment fees ranging from $280 to $560 plus higher deductibles.

In a move that can only be described as cynical, the Bush administration is trying to create savings by raising fees, deductibles and co-pays to such a level that many retirees will abandon TRICARE in favor of health insurance provided by their post-military employers (for those who have second career jobs). The assumption is that employed retirees currently sign up for TRICARE rather than health insurance through their new employer because TRICARE is so much cheaper and since many employers require the employee to pay a hefty portion of their health insurance premiums.

One of the reasons we stick-out 20 of active duty service with lousy pay is because the lack of pay is made up for with other benefits, medical care after retirement being the most important. When I joined the Navy, the promise was of free medical for life. Then under the Clintons we got TRICARE and the fees mentioned in the article linked above. OK, I have no problem with that.

This goes too far.

Physical Defects in North Korea

No one in North Korea has a physical defect. How can that be? Simple. If a child is born with a physical defect he is immediately killed.

N.Korean defector says disabled newborns are killed

"There are no people with physical defects in North Korea," Ri told members of the New Right Union, which groups local activists and North Korean refugees.

He said babies born with physical disabilities were killed in infancy in hospitals or in homes and were quickly buried.

The practice is encouraged by the state, Ri said, as a way of purifying the masses and eliminating people who might be considered "different."

The group urged the South Korean government to change course away from "silent diplomacy" and immediately begin taking action to pressure the North to improve its human rights record.

The South Korean government has refused to join international condemnation of human rights abuses in the North out of concern that such a move could rattle ties with Pyongyang, which considers any criticism of its human rights as deeply offensive.

"The government should stop trying to avoid upsetting Kim Jong-il," said another defector, Kim Young-sun, 67, referring to the North Korean leader. "It should try to upset Kim Jong-il," she said, adding it would be the best way to change the North.

Kim Young-sun is a survivor of the North's Yodok prison camp, [more on North Korea's Gulag here, - ed.] notorious for its forced labor and life-sentences for people charged with conspiring against the Kim Jong-il leadership.

Mun Hyon-ok said women from her hometown in the northern region of North Korea bordering China were taken by a ring of human traffickers and probably ended up in China.

"And there are women who are selling themselves for a handful of rice," she told the forum.

North Korea has called itself a people's paradise and said criticism of its human rights was motivated by a goal of toppling the leadership of Kim Jong-il.

North Korea still calls itself a worker's and a people's paradise. Kim Jong-Il would like to give this gift of "paradise" to South Korea as well.

Liberal Judenhass Watch - Dershowitz Answers Harvard

I posted a piece about the excreble "study" by anti-semites at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. That post included a link to the paper. That document has now been altered to remove the logos of the J.F.K. School and Harvard University. Also, a disclaimer has been added that wasn't there before. I have not done a paragraph by paragraph comparison, but the disclaimer on the original document says that it has been "reworked". Here is the disclaimer;

The two authors of this Working Paper are solely responsible for the views expressed in it. As academic institutions, Harvard University and the University of Chicago do not take positions on the scholarship of individual faculty, and this article should not be interpreted or portrayed as reflecting the official position of either institution.

An edited and reworked version of this paper was published in the London Review of Books Vol. 28, No. 6 (March 23, 2006), and is available online at www.lrb.co.uk

Here is the link to the "reworked" version; The Israel Lobby, by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt. At first glance it seems that the only changes involve the removal of footnoting. All of the other vile lies are still there. This is the most filthy judenhass.

One would expect that Dr. Alan Dershowitz, having been criticized as an "apologist" for Israel in this piece, would have something to say. He does.

'AIPAC study is ignorant propaganda'

Dershowitz slammed the authors - Stephan Walt, from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago - and challenged them to a public debate at the Kennedy School.

"You have to counter this article", Dershowitz told The Jerusalem Post, "These are two serious scholars and you need to expose what they have done as ignorant propaganda".

Dershowitz, who is now working on a paper which will refute the claims in the Walt-Mearsheimer article, argues that there is no original material in it and that "the challenge is to find a single idea in the piece that does not already appear in hate websites. There is no scholarship here what so ever".

Another famous person has a somewht different opinion of the "study";

The paper won praise from David Duke, a white supremacist and former Klan leader. Duke told the New York Sun he was surprised "how excellent" the paper is and said that it "validates every major point" he has made during the past years.

CAMERA has something to say about it as well, Study Decrying “Israel Lobby” Marred by Numerous Errors. This is a first-rate fisking and deserves its own post (which, when I have the time, it will get). Don't wait, read it now.

CAMERA has also preserved the original front page with the original logos. See it here, Harvard Backs Away from "Israel Lobby" Professors; Removes Logo from Controversial Paper

Islam - "Religion of Tolerance"

This speaks for itself.

From Mere Comments at Touchstone Magazine, Tolerance Muslim Style

Read the comments.

North Korea Threatens Strike

The maniacs who rule the inmates of the DPRK now say that they have the right to launch a pre-emptive strike againt South Korea.

North Korea Threatens Pre-emptive Attack

Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - North Korea official national media says the communist state has the right to launch a pre-emptive attack against U.S.-backed South Korean forces because the two Koreas are technically still at war.

While that may sound reasonable on its face, it is not. They signed this;

THE ARMISTICE AGREEMENT

Read it. They do NOT have a right to a pre-emptive strike.

Liberal Judenhass Watch - Support for Israel

My friend evariste over at Discarded Lies has a post on a lie that liberals just will not discard. This is the lie that the United States should end support for Israel because it is not in our best interest to give them support and that Israel is no better than her neighbors.

1. Liberals say that our support for Israel is the reason that we are a prime target for terrorists, and the reason why so much of the world hates us (another lie - why does everybody want to come here?). If we did not support Israel, we would be safe from global terrorism. These are the same people who used to say, "If there were no Jews, there would be no problem." Of course Muslims never attack other Muslims; and France, who has a huge Muslim population and is no fan of Israel, never has a terrorism problem.

2. Liberals love to say that Israel is no better than here neighbors. That this is a lie is obvious to anyone who can read. Please name the last Jewish suicide bomber who blew up a bus in Amman.

Study: AIPAC works against US interests

Have I set up a straw man? Read the "study".

Right at the start we see the evil Jewish Cabal controlling and subverting the Government.

Instead, the overall thrust of U.S. policy in the region is due almost entirely to U.S. domestic politics, and especially to the activities of the “Israel Lobby.” Other special interest groups have managed to skew U.S. foreign policy in directions they favored, but no lobby has managed to divert U.S. foreign policy as far from what the American national interest would otherwise suggest, while simultaneously convincing Americans that U.S. and Israeli interests are essentially identical.

The writers are unwilling to call terrorists what they are and need quotes to use the word at all,

To begin with, "terrorism" is a tactic employed by a wide array of political groups; it is not a single unified adversary. The terrorist organizations that threaten Israel (e.g., Hamas or Hezbollah) do not threaten the United States, except when it intervenes against them (as in Lebanon in 1982). Moreover, Palestinian terrorism is not random violence directed against Israel or "the West"; it is largely a response to Israel’s prolonged campaign to colonize the West Bank and Gaza Strip. [Israel has three times offered to give the West Bank and Gaza back to the local Arabs, and has now left the Gaza Strip completely. Hardly colonization. - ed.]

And where do they get an idea like this?

Neither America nor Israel could be blackmailed by a nuclear‐armed rogue, because the blackmailer could not carry out the threat without receiving overwhelming retaliation. The danger of a "nuclear handoff" to terrorists is equally remote, because a rogue state could not be sure the transfer would be undetected or that it would not be blamed and punished afterwards.

What do they think a "rogue state" is?

As for Israeli moral superiority,

The final moral argument portrays Israel as a country that has sought peace at every turn and showed great restraint even when provoked. The Arabs, by contrast, are said to have acted with great wickedness. This narrative-which is endlessly repeated by Israeli leaders and American apologists such as Alan Dershowitz-is yet another myth. In terms of actual behavior, Israel’s conduct is not morally distinguishable from the actions of its opponents.

So, what was it that Yitzhak Rabin tried to accomplish in Oslo, and how did that end? Of course the Harvard "intellectuals" do not what to answer that question.

They even want you to believe that the Israelis target peace activists and that Rachel Corrie was killed intentionally - more lies.

Israeli forces have also killed several foreign peace activists, including a 23 year‐old American woman crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in March 2003.

Read the entire filthy thing. Read about the Jews who control the American Government. Read about how the Jews control the American press. It is the same old anti-semitic evil, only this time it comes from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Read the footnotes. The sources include Ha'aretz, B'Tselem, our old friend Noam Chomsky (who lies every time he opens his mouth) and other far Left™ writers and activists. They did everything but quote The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The Chinese and the Panama Canal

The Culebra Cut with the Pedro Miguel and Miraflores Locks in the background

I often hear my military friends talk about how the Chinese own the Panama Canal. I have tried to tell them that this is not possible, but they always argue vehemently that they know it is so.

I have been through the Panama Canal 4 times and, for the last trip, I was the guy who coordinated with our Naval organizations (SUBPAC, SUBLANT, and others) for the arrangements with the Panama Canal Authority (ACP). I also developed the training materials used to train on navigation, ship handling, and line handling issues for the crew. Some of these materials are still being used in the Navy by other ships a year and a half later.

I know what I'm talkin' about. BTW: that picture of me in my profile was taken in the Culebra (Gaillard) Cut during that last transit.

The rumor of Chinese ownership has spread far and wide, and ended up in a NewsMax.com story quoting HRH Hillary saying, "There are those who say we can't [prevent foreign governments from operating U.S. ports] because look what happened in the last 20 years ... You know, we have the Chinese running the Panama Canal. We have other government-controlled entities controlling our ports." The question of port operations at the two ports at either end of the Canal being run by Hutchison Whampoa has ballooned into ownership of the Canal by "the Chinese". This rumor then develops into the Canal being run by the Chinese government. Hutchison Whampoa is a company based in Hong Kong and is a private firm.


That NewsMax.com story has angered the ACP, and they replied.

Panama Canal: Hillary Clinton Wrong on Chinese Control

I hope that clears it up.

I had some cool pictures and a map to post, but Blogger isn't letting me upload any images today. It has been funky for the last week or so.

UPDATE:
Finally got Blogger to upload my images.

Interview with Feminist Biblical Scholar

Read the comments as well as this post from the excellent Touchstone Magazine:

Interview with a Feminist Biblical Scholar

Phyllis Trible does not even acknowledge that a belief in a triune God, or of Jesus the Christ as Messiah and Son of God - fully God and fully Man, or of the Divine inspiration of the Holy scriptures (note; Shakespeare work, although very good, was not Divinely inspired) is necessary for Christians. She does not even go so far as to say that one need believe that anything written in the Holy Gospels even occurred, or that Holy Scripture is anything but just another book.

Saint Zosimus with Saint Mary of Egypt at the Jordan River

What Christians believe.

UPDATE:
Just in case it is not already obvious, liberal "Christianity" eventually gets to this;
Canaanite Lutheranism.

This is stunning.