Hillary re: Israel's Security Barrier

With the announcements of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Tom Tancredo, Sam Brownback, and Bill Richardson as entrants in the race for President, I remembered a time when Hillary was very pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel. That was a long time ago. I decided to check her out on the Security Barrier, and was pleasantly surprised at what I found.

On Hillary's website she has posted a document dated April 1, 2004 urging the (worse than useless) United Nations to change its stance on Israel's Security Fence.

Senators Urge United Nations to Reconsider Stance on Israel's Security Fence

Washington, DC - In a letter, today, sent to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton (NY), Orrin Hatch (UT), Charles Schumer (NY) and Gordon Smith (OR) joined with 75 other Senate Colleagues urging the General Assembly to reject the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decision to consider the legality of Israel's security fence. The conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians cannot be resolved in the ICJ, but rather must be resolved between the parties.

"Israel's fence is a legitimate response to an onslaught of terrorist attacks against Israelis. The decision to build the security fence has been thrust upon Israel by the Palestinian refusal to crack down on terror. The future of the fence should not be a legal matter, and has no place in the International Court of Justice." Senator Clinton said.

"Every nation in the world has a right to defend itself, a right well established under international law," said Senator Hatch. "We're asking Secretary General Annan to recognize that Israel has this fundamental right, and to reject the politicization of Israel's temporary security fence by placing this issue before the ICJ. It would seem to me that, if the U.N. wants to be seen as supportive of the war on terrorism, the Secretary General will heed our concerns."

"The drive to get the international court to rule on the fence is politics pure and simple. Enemies of Israel want to embarrass her at whatever cost, even if it means destroying the legitimacy of the ICJ in the process. And that is exactly what will happen here if the court intervenes and exposes itself as an instrument of the anti-Israel movement. By building the fence, Israel is taking responsible measures to defend itself again Palestinian terrorism, end of story," Senator Schumer added.

Senator Smith said, "Israel's fence is a response to years of unrelenting terrorist attacks that have claimed over 900 lives. Israel enjoys the right to protect its citizens just as other nations of the world, and the security fence plays a part in this defensive effort."

In the letter, the Senator's stress that, "Israel has no less of a right to defend its citizens than other nations of the world, and the security fence is a major part of this defense effort, particularly since the Palestinian Authority refuses to take any action against terrorism. Israel has reiterated the security needs for this fence, has declared that is not to be seen as permanent, and continues to aspire to political settlement with a Palestinian Authority that can credibly deliver on its commitments to security. The GA's request for an ICJ advisory opinion is a blatant attempt to manipulate the United Nations system for clearly political purposes."

The full text of the letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan is as follows:

Go read their letter to the anti-Semite Kofi Annan. I am, as I said, pleasantly surprised.

Mexico Tries to Help?

Perhaps senior members of the Mexican government are getting a little sensitive about the reputation their country has for corruption, hypocrisy, and plain disregard for law and all civilizational norms. Even better, maybe they have come to the realization that we have such a poor opinion of them and a strong desire to seal our southern border. So they have, this once, decided to help.

Mexico Sends 4 Kingpins to Face Trial in the U.S.

Officials at the Drug Enforcement Agency privately voiced frustration with the Fox administration for not extraditing the drug kingpins to the United States, where they would be unable to run their networks from prison. A similar tactic proved effective in Colombia, Panama and other countries where drugs are produced and shipped.

Mr. Calderón and his attorney general, Eduardo Medina Mora, did not immediately say why they had switched course. The attorney general's office put out a statement saying simply that the people extradited had run out of appeals against extradition and that Mexico wanted them to face trial in the United States before the time limit ran out on the charges there.

But all are serving sentences or facing trials in Mexico. In the past, the Mexican authorities have said those were barriers to extradition.

Now these monsters are being brought to the U.S. to face real punishment for their crimes, something not possible in Mexico.

The Latest on SSGN

USS Ohio (SSGN 726) with Two Dry Deck Shelters Installed

OK, so it is a bit old, dated Nov. 15^th, but interesting none the less.

SSGN - A Transformational Force for the U.S. Navy

The newer material is simply added to an older article, but it gives an idea of where we are now with the SSGN program. There is a paragraph of news from the future at the bottom of the piece.

I have said it before and am happy to say it again. With the SSGN conversion you, the taxpayer, are getting tremendous bang for your buck and a truly beautiful weapons system.

One thing that you do not read much of in the press about SSGN is this;

Even beyond its baseline mission capabilities, SSGN offers significant opportunities to develop and test new weapon delivery systems, sensors, and operational concepts that could further transform naval warfare. Two examples already envisioned are encapsulated launch of a variety of tactical munitions and deployment of large unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs) and off-board sensors. Encapsulated launch will send weapons to the surface for dry-launching, using a standardized buoyant capsule and a common interface for loading and communications. This modular approach to payloads will even allow use of "off-the-shelf" weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles, and decoys in support of joint forces. And, by developing large UUVs that make full use of the seven-foot tubes, they can surpass the range, endurance, and payload of small surveillance platforms and take on new missions - even offensive ones.

This has to do with SACS and was tested during Silent Hammer (an exercise that I was privileged to be a part of).

A Godspeed Wish Seconded

JamesoftheNorthwest at Paradosis is a spy, and he has a couple of nice pictures.

USS John Stennis gets underway in Bremerton on 1/16/07. Photo courtesy of Eye on the Fleet

The Pope and Islam

Every now and then Jamie Glazov at FrontPage magazine.com gathers together people of differing opinions for symposia on various subjects. A recent one is Symposium: The Pope and Islam.

This is a good and interesting read. Thomas Haidon is a Muslim who is forthright about the problems surrounding the practice of his faith. Bat Ye'or is excellent. Sadly, the sole Christian, Serge Trifkovic is marginalized. At the end he give a "no holds barred" explanation of why the God of Orthodox (and orthodox) Christians and the God (Allah) of Islam are NOT the same God, and he is exactly correct.

Trifkovic: Oh, dear: we seem to have strayed not only from the topic but also from common courtesy. So be it, let's get on with it and start with the most important point of all: do we all "believe in the same God"?

Of course we do not.

The formal argument first. It is clear and fairly simple. The Christian God of the Creed is trinitarian: the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen; the Son, our Lord and Savior, eternally begotten of the Father; and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life. This is the orthodox faith, "which except a man shall have believed faithfully and firmly he cannot be in a state of salvation." The doctrine of the Deity of Christ is essential. Unless the Son is truly God and "one with the Father," Christians would be idolaters. If He were but a prophet, Christians would be foolishly entrusting themselves to a created creature in the vain hope of salvation.

Islam, on the other hand, violently and explicitly rejects and condemns the Christian doctrine of God (Kuran 4:171), the Trinity (5:37), and the deity of Christ (5:72, 5:17), and Allah unambiguously condemns Christians as disbelievers worthy of destruction (9:29-30). Muhammad's insistence that there is a heavenly proto-Scripture and that previous "books" are merely distorted and tainted copies sent to previous nations or communities means that these scriptures are the "barbarous Kuran" as opposed to the true, Arabic one. (Let's leave aside for a minute the puzzling question of how any degree of "distortion" of the Kuran could produce either an Old or a New Testament.) The Muslim Tradition also regards the non-canonical Gospel of Barnabas, and not the New Testament, as the one that Jesus taught. To cut the long story short, orthodox Islam teaches that it alone worships one true God that Judaism and Christianity tell lies about - lies for which Christians and Jews will be punished in hell.

"One God" cannot be trinitarian and infinitely transcendent. Christians and Muslims cannot be both right. Their convergent paths do not lead to the same hilltop.

There is much more, read it all. There is excellent material here, and it is good to finally see that at least one practicing Muslim is aware of our problems with his faith.

I'm Back

I have been unable to post for a time, and for that I apologize. In the meanwhile, I have found a few interesting things to share with you.

New posts soon.

10 Things You Need to Know about Islam

Emir Caner, who is now dean of The College at Southwestern in Fort Worth, Texas, is also a former Muslim who converted to Christianity.

Quiz question - What is the penalty in Islam for being a Muslim who converts to Christianity? (Hint: It involves not breathing any more.)

Christian Convert: 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Islam

The former Muslim, who was disowned by his father when he converted, pointed out that Islam is the most work-based religion in the world. He explains that even if a Muslim worked hard to do good deeds, he can only "hope" that Allah will like him and allow him to go to paradise when he dies - but there are no guarantees.

"If you are good enough and Allah wants you then you go to paradise," said Caner. "Here is the question - what about all the bad things that happened in your life? You see the Muslims believe that you and I have cheap faith, that somehow we just say 'Jesus is savior' and we go about it in our lives like nothing happened."

"[However], it is only Christianity that understands that every sin must be atoned for...either by the person himself or by Jesus Christ on the cross."

The last point Caner made was many Muslims are coming to Christ and the number one reason why is because of eternal security. He explained that in Islam, even though a person strives to do good and please Allah, there is no guarantee. Also Muslims are attracted by the unconditional love and intimacy with God offered in Christianity.

"Hear me very carefully - the more you have to work for your salvation, the more hopeless you are," said the former Muslim.

Summary of the "10 Things Everyone Needs to Know about Islam":

1. Allah and Jehovah are NOT the same God
2. Jihad, or holy war, is prescribed in the Koran and Hadith
3. There are specific protocols in Islam (e.g. women are not to go to Jihad)
4. Islam does not believe in religious freedom
5. Islam has a lower view of woman than Christianity
6. Islam has a low view of Jesus
7. Islam has a low view of the Bible
8. Islam is the most work-based religion in the world
9. Islam is divided among denominations
10. Many Muslims are coming to faith in Christ

Evil Americans and Abu Ghraib

"Tortured screams ring out...". Yes they do, and the prisoner want what?!?!?!

Our own American press, the party that will control the Congress, and Liberals™ everywhere will have you believe that American soldiers are irredeemable evil.

So, explain this (a story posted on Nov. 9th that I missed 'til now), Tortured screams ring out as Iraqis take over Abu Ghraib;

The notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad is at the centre of fresh abuse allegations just a week after it was handed over to Iraqi authorities, with claims that inmates are being tortured by their new captors.

Staff at the jail say the Iraqi authorities have moved dozens of terrorist suspects into Abu Ghraib from the controversial Interior Ministry detention centre in Jadriyah, where United States troops last year discovered 169 prisoners who had been tortured and starved.

An independent witness who went into Abu Ghraib this week told The Sunday Telegraph that screams were coming from the cell blocks housing the terrorist suspects. Prisoners released from the jail this week spoke of routine torture of terrorism suspects and on Wednesday, 27 prisoners were hanged in the first mass execution since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's regime.

Conditions in the rest of the jail were grim, with an overwhelming stench of excrement, prisoners crammed into cells for all but 20 minutes a day, food rations cut to just rice and water and no air conditioning.

Some of the small number of prisoners who remained in the jail after the Americans left said they had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards.

...

Access to the part of the prison containing terrorism suspects was denied, but from that block came the sound of screaming. The screaming continued for a long time.

"I am sure someone was being beaten, they were screaming like they were being hit," the witness reported. "I felt scared, I was asking what was happening in the terrorist section.

"I heard shouting, like someone had a hot iron on their body, screams. The officer said they were just screaming by themselves. I was hearing the screams throughout the visit."

The witness said that even in the thieves' section prisoners were being treated badly. "Someone was shouting 'Please help us, we want the human rights officers, we want the Americans to come back'," he said.

It sure is a good thing that those evil Americans are not running the place anymore.

In Memoriam - Cocoa Burkland

A year ago, on December 9th, I lost my beautiful little girl. I know that she is in Heaven waiting for my wife and me.

A Man and His Dog

I Hate to be Blunt, but

as an Orthodox Christian I have to say that there are certain things that we believe - things for which there is no compromise.

²⁶ "So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. ²⁷ What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. ²⁸ And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹ Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. ³⁰ But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹ Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. ³² So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven; ³³ but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.
³⁴ "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; ³⁶ and a man's foes will be those of his own household. ³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸ and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it.
⁴⁰ "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. ⁴¹ He who receives a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. ⁴² And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward."

God will forgive and save those whom He will, we cannot know who that is, but clearly the way to Heaven and an eternal life with God is not by denying His Son.

North Korea to Win War - Part 2

Last May I wrote that the Bush administration was entertaining ideas of signing a peace treaty with North Korea, ending the state of war that has existed since 1950, and handing victory to the "DPRK". There are many, including myself that think this would be a huge mistake, not least because it will reinforce a murderous tyrant in the correctness of his acts.

Mr. Bush is now discussing this with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Bush May Offer North Korea's Kim an Official End to Korean War

U.S. stresses carrots, not sticks, for North Korea

"If they make the strategic choice to take the ... necessary steps to join the international community, it will open a new path of peace and (opportunity)," she added.

White House spokesman Tony Snow provided the most detailed list of what the United States might do, saying it included "a declaration of the end of the Korean War and moving forward on economic cooperation, cultural, educational and other ties."

The 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, rather than a formal peace treaty.

A senior State Department official said he was not aware of any concerted effort to accentuate the benefits for North Korea and said the idea of both sides getting something out of a deal was part of the "underlying logic" of the six-party talks.

U.S. officials have said they wanted North Korea to come to the next round of six-party talks ready to take concrete steps to show its commitment to denuclearisation.

U.S. Signals New Incentives for North Korea

But for all the talk of regional economic cooperation and trade expansion that peppered the official agenda, the focal point of the behind-the-scenes huddles here was the package the United States was trying to put together to make sure that coming six-nation talks aimed at reining in North Korea's nuclear ambitions would not fail.

Wary that the off-again-on-again talks risk irrelevancy - they began in 2003 and have yet to produce anything - American officials said they did not want to sit down for another round until they had prepared a successful outcome. A senior Bush administration official said the United States was close to agreement with Russia, China, South Korea and Japan on what steps to ask North Korea to take.

Part of the debate has centered on what the five countries, but especially the United States, would give North Korea in return. In the past, American officials have talked about signing a peace treaty that would officially end the Korean War. Now they are hinting at the prospect of a ceremony to commemorate the event, hoping to capitalize on the desire of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, for American recognition.

But few diplomats say the promise of a peace ceremony one day and eventual membership to a trade organization will be enough to get Mr. Kim to start dismantling the nuclear program that his country has spent the last 50 years building. A senior Bush administration official said the five countries were also working on "more immediate elements" of an incentives package.

One big thing that North Korea has signaled it wants is for the United States to lift the financial restrictions it placed on a Macao bank, Banco Delta Asia, last year, that was a main hub of the North's international financial transactions. Last year, the Bush administration accused Banco Delta Asia of helping North Korea to launder money from drug smuggling and other illicit activities and to pass counterfeit $100 bills manufactured by the North's government.

This is just naive. A freak like Kim Jong-Il is not going to give up his development of nuclear weapons, establish a republican or democratic form of government, stop murdering his population, or stop threatening South Korea and the United States (and Japan) because we give him what he has always wanted.

When you give someone what they want, that person sees the success of his actions and will continue acting the same way.

Aid to North Korea is diverted to the armed forces, and the people continue to starve. But because we cannot stand the sight of millions of starving people, we have continued to send aid and have forgotten the fact that the bulk of North Korea's population never sees it.

As a result of flooding that wiped out much of North Korea's crops (and many homes and roads) this last July, and sanctions resulting from their detonation of an atomic bomb, millions will starve to death this winter, and that is perfectly OK with Kim. We can send them a million tons of food and it will go only to the Army. The rest of the people will still starve. The international community is beginning to see this and is cutting off aid.

If Mr. Bush's proposals go into effect and there is a peace treaty with North Korea we will have lost much and gotten nowhere.

For details about the Great Famine of the 1990s read this Special Report from the United States Institute of Peace (a summary is here).

Kim Jong-Il is convinced of his coming success, and if we make this historic mistake he may be right. Read this amazing article, We Have Strong Nuclear Power, the World is Trembling.

Happy Thanksgiving

It has been a long time since my last post. I have regained my health. Since then I have been extremely busy, but the load on my time has eased, so now I can write again.

I want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Everyone (yes, really everyone) should stop and reflect, even in difficult times, and see what is good and thank God for it. One of those things is the God given-gift of living in a free Republic such as we have here in the United States. There are many who do not think this way, and that is too bad. As my grandparents emigrated from Greece and Norway, and as my wife emigrated from Japan, these people should find a place where they can be happy and emigrate. I don't write this in a mean-spirited way. Emigration is normal, people have been doing it for thousands of years just as my family has done. People who live in and hate the United States should find a place where they can be happy and prosperous and go prosper.

The great Michelle Malkin points out that American journalists should be thankful for a few things (although I'm sure that they are not).

So make the decision. Be happy and thankful for all that you have.

A Message from Iraq

I apologize for not posting much lately but I'm recovering from an illness. I did see this on The Drudge Report and on Little Green Footballs.



Charles has a large version here.

UPDATE: You may find these links interesting;

Lott: I'm not stepping down

Bush calls Lott comments 'offensive'

Be sure to read what John Kerry had to say in this case.

Islamic Tolerance - Egypt

Just in case you thought that Egypt was in some way a civilized country, you need to read this; EGYPT: CHRISTIAN CONVERT FROM ISLAM JAILED

October 18 (Compass Direct News) - A Muslim sheikh jailed in Egypt for 18 months has declared from his prison cell that he is under arrest for "insulting Islam" by becoming a Christian.

Egypt's secret police transferred Bahaa el-Din Ahmed Hussein el-Akkad, 57, to the Wadi el-Natroun Prison last month. He was told he would remain there indefinitely unless he agreed to work as a government informer against other converts to Christianity.

According to the prisoner's Cairo attorney, Athanasius William, his client remains incarcerated in this desert prison "only because he has chosen a different belief, to be a Christian."

El-Akkad was imprisoned without charges for more than a year after officials of the State Security Investigation (SSI) arrested him in Cairo on April 6, 2005.

He was a sheikh who took the opportunity to educate himself in Islam, really studying it. And what happened?

For more than 20 years, the former sheikh was a member of the fundamentalist Islamic group Tabligh and Da'wa, which actively proselytized non-Muslims but strictly opposed violence. He also led a mosque community in Al-Haram, in the Giza area adjacent to Cairo. In 1994 he had published, Islam: the Religion, a 500-page book reviewing the traditional beliefs of the Islamic faith.

But he became disillusioned, and five years ago the sheikh said he began to pray that he could somehow know God personally. It was not until January 2005 that he talked for the first time with someone who explained the tenets of the Christian faith to him. He began intensive study of Christian Scripture, and within weeks he became a follower of Jesus.

"This is a proof to all Muslims," El-Akkad wrote, "that the person who studies the two religions from an objective and serious perspective will choose the Christian approach."

But within two months, word of El-Akkad's conversion to Christianity had reached the SSI, and secret police picked him up without warning from his private trade office.

That is not all.

El-Akkad was accused of "insulting a heavenly religion," a misdemeanor under Article 98-F of the Egyptian penal code. So a Cairo court ordered him released on July 30.

After learning of the court-ordered release, El-Akkad's wife and three children waited in vain for him to return home. Ten days later, William finally confirmed that although the convert had been released from prison, he remained in SSI custody in Giza.

Islamic countries are countries without law, only the dictat of a tyrant or an Islamic power.

Islam is the antithesis of all that is civilized, and is in fact a civilizational cancer, destroying any culture that it infects.

Oh, and we in the United States send Egypt $2 billion every year.

To this day, after having been ordered released, El-Akkad remains imprisoned. Pray for him.

The Orwell Medal Goes To...

Dr. Strangelove of North Korea!!!

Arnaud de Borchgrave has some enlightening commentary on the Dear Monster.

Korea's Dr. Strangelove;

Neither Stalin nor Mao Tse-tung nor Adolf Hitler came close to George Orwell's blueprint for a hierarchical world tyranny. The gold medalist in Orwell's "1984" Hades-on-Earth sweepstakes, beyond Stalin's wildest excesses, is diminutive Kim Jong-il whose Mao suits, elevator shoes and Elvis-style bouffant hair only enhance his wicked gnome-like figure.

Judging by the crates of French cognac and Scotch whisky shipped in via Japan, and Mercedes sedans with smoked windows, a handful of high-ranking Kim rogues live high on a starving hog. They had no compunction letting 2 million of their people starve to death in the 1990s.

Back in 1983, Kim Il-sung, picked personally by Stalin after World War II to rule the new Soviet puppet state, the Democratic Popular Republic of Korea, assigned his son Kim Jong-il to organize the liquidation of the South Korean government. The plot fell a little short of the objective. The terrorist bomb he organized to explode at Rangoon's Martyr's Mausoleum murdered only five South Korean ministers on a state visit to Burma and 15 of a lesser rank. President Chun survived.

In August 1976, North Korean soldiers, armed with pipes and axes, bludgeoned and hacked to death two American officers supervising the pruning of a 100-foot poplar tree in the Joint Security Area along the Demilitarized Zone. The "Ax Murder Incident" triggered ...

Go read it all.

BTW: Those 2 - 3 million people that died of starvation in the 1990s were approximately 10% of the population.

More Islamic Tolerance from Indonesia

Posted by Darth Vag in the comments section at The Jawa Report article arguing for a boycott of Indonesia.

Theresia Morangke, a 15 year old Christian school girl, beheaded by a Muslim in Sulawesi on October 29^th of last year.

And, in addition to boycotting Indonesia, we should also boycott Malaysia where the government sides with the Muslim persecutors and arrests the people who have been, or are being, persecuted.

These governments are actively supporting the persecution of Christians. We should not be doing business with them. They have reputations for being "moderate Muslims, but they are not

Boycott Indonesia

Dr. Rusty Shackleford has this idea at The Jawa Report.



Read the comment section of Dr. Shackleford's post. Darth Vag provides a seemingly endless series of links. I will repost them here as I have time.

Here are a few;

Christian Schoolgirl Beheaded (Warning - extremely graphic picture. Do not open this if you have a weak stomach.)

Noviana Malewa

Machete attack survivor working on rehab
Christian high school girl was only victim left alive in ambush by Muslims

Go to the comments at The Jawa Report and read the other links.

The Indonesian government tolerates this. The muslim murderers are never arrested, but Christians defendng themselves are.

RoPMA

Put Blame Where it Belongs

While Democrats and other liberals™ and leftists™ loudly blame George Bush for the failed nuclear weapons test in North Korea (which laughably calls itself the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the DPRK), the editors of the JoongAng Daily have figured out who is really to blame.

Liberals - stand by to hear the shocking news. It's ... [drum roll] ... Kim Jong-Il!!!

Wow!

At Watching America I found this outrageous headline, Don't Blame the Americans The original is here;

Former President Kim Dae-jung and the ruling party blame the United States for the North's nuclear test. This is not true, in short, and this irresponsible argument does not help resolve the current security crisis. Over the past decade, it was North Korea who broke the consensus regarding the North's nuclear development program. In 1991, North Korea adopted a joint statement on nonproliferation with South Korea while developing nuclear arms behind the scenes. North Korea admitted in 2002 that it had been developing nuclear devices even since 1994, when the United States and North Korea agreed in Geneva on freezing the North's nuclear program. Building a light-water reactor was delayed because North Korean submarines infiltrated South Korea. But those who blame Washington for the North's nuclear test are ignoring these facts.

They bring out several important points. Read it all.

Send Li'l Kim to Hollywood!

Rachel Marsden has an insight, Give Lil' Kim a Hollywood screen test;

Reportedly, Lil' Kim's latest tantrum stems in part from the fact that George Bush can't be bothered to schedule bonding chitchats with a murderous, dictatorial, communist lunatic.

So, since the Dear Freak-boy Murderer is frustrated in this, perhaps it is because he missed his true calling;

A career in Hollywood is his true calling. Politically, he'd fit right in.

Maybe we can get him on an island-based, Survivor-style reality show with fellow comrades Sean Penn, Barbra Streisand, Michael Moore and the Dixie Chicks? He can even bring his nukes and put them to good use for once, if he gets the urge. Frankly, who wouldn't?

Or how about a Big Brother show with fellow megalomaniacal nutbars,...[Go read the whole thing. - ed.]

North Korea Tries Something New

In the face of another famine this winter, and with corruption in the armed forces and the secret police, the Dear Monster has decided to establish a new and more credible threat to his neighbors. It was beginning to look like they would no longer have to take seriously North Korea's extortion attempts.

The North Replaces Its Army With Something New

October 4, 2006: North Korea is facing a real disaster, and it has nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Famine is back, with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of famine deaths over the Winter. North Korea has put more restrictions on the monitoring of foreign food aid, which has resulted in less food coming in. North Korea says it doesn't care, but for millions of North Koreans on short rations, this is a matter of life and death. It's also a matter of stability. Over a decade of famine and economic upheaval, has shaken the effectiveness of the North Korean police state. Corruption grows year by year, while readiness and discipline in the armed forces declines. The secret police are also on the take, which accounts for the growing number of North Koreans getting out of the country. The corruption has gotten so bad that those who have gotten out, and made some money, can now bribe officials back in North Korea, and get their families out. It appears that everything is for sale in North Korea, although there is less and less to buy.

Conducting a nuclear weapons test will not mean that North Korea has useable nuclear weapons, but does mean that the government means to replace its increasingly unreliable army, with a few nuclear weapons. This is needed to provide a credible threat to South Korea. You cannot run an extortion racket unless you can make a credible threat.

If reports are true, they may have that threat now with indications that North Korea has conducted its first nuclear weapons test.

Purely Beautiful

I have, for some time, been considering buying another 'cello. Not that there is anything at all wrong with the 'cello that I have now, it is a very fine instrument and I am very happy with it. Still, in addition to being the tools that a musician uses to create his art, they are themselves works of art. Few things are as beautiful as a well made violin or 'cello.

I have been surfing the websites of American luthiers. Some of these are great masters. The United States now has the very finest violin and bow makers in the world. One of these is Andrew Carruthers (and no, this is not an ad - he knows nothing of me). To see some very beautiful work, visit his web site, Andrew Carruthers, Violin Maker.

Photographs of his instruments are here.

And, check out how he does some repairs in his workshop.

Click around. There is much more.

UPDATE: David T. Van Zandt has a list of makers with web sites. Many hours of pleasant surfing there.

Taep'o dong-2 Judged a Failure

It would not surprise me to learn that a number of North Korean engineers' lives have been ruined or ended over this.

N. Korean long-range missile test ruled a failure

LONDON — North Korea's test launch of its Taepodong-2 intermediate-range ballistic missile has been ruled a failure. Initial speculation included the possibility North Korea had deliberately terminated its flight.

The South Korean military said Pyongyang's Taepodong-2 test on July 5, in a launch attended by Iran, was due to "technical failure." The military said the Taepodong, supplied to Iran, broke up in mid-flight.

"The long-range Taepodong-2 crashed into a beach on the east coast about two kilometers from the launching site after traveling normally for 40 seconds," a spokesman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

The South Korean assessment was one of several conducted over the last few weeks. At first, the United States also announced that the Taepodong-2 failed in its first flight, Middle East Newsline reported. Later, U.S. officials said the intelligence community assessed that the launch was meant to test Pyongyang's command and control system.

But the South Korean military, which studied the launch for two months, said Taepodong-2 contained serious technical flaws. Officials said the missile broke up during flight because of a "serious technical disorder."

The nuclear weapons programs of both North Korea and Iran depend on the success of this, or a follow-on missile system. We in the U.S. had many missile test failures before we got on track with a successful program.

This is not a long term setback for the North Koreans.

Soros Says "I Quit Politics"

I really hope that he sticks to this.

ANTI-W. $OROS: I QUIT POLITICS

September 29, 2006 -- Billionaire liberal financier George Soros, who spent millions of his fortune trying to oust President Bush in 2004, yesterday said he hopes to stay out of politics from now on.

"In the future, I'd very much like to get disengaged from politics," Soros said at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting on the Upper East Side. "I'm interested in policy and not in politics."

Leaving South Korea

I have long maintained that if the South Korean people hate us we should leave them to their fate.

It seems that politics is preventing the construction of a new bombing range (off the coast) that has long been promised and is required by our treaty with South Korea. If it is not started within 30 days, the US Air Force is outta there.

Yankee Threatens to Go Home

September 24, 2006: In another example of growing hostility of South Koreans to the presence of American troops in the country, the U.S. Air Force has threatened to move its fighter aircraft out of South Korea if the South Koreans do not, as they agreed to, start construction on a new bombing range (off the coast) within 30 days. The government agreed to this last year, but construction has been delayed by politicians opposed to the deal. As a result, American pilots must leave the country for training. The treaty covering U.S. forces in South Korea, obliges South Korea to provide these training areas. The old one was closed on the condition that a new one would be built. If the Americans go through with their threat, airpower available to defend South Korea will be cut by about twenty percent. In the event of a North Korean attack, the U.S. fighters could return within a week or so.

The South Koreans need to start thinking about what is really important. Stupid anti-American politics or being overrun by the North Koreans.

Democrats and Election Reform

Democrats make a lot of noise about how Republicans stole the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections. In 2000 it was the fiasco in Florida with the U.S. Supreme Court having to rule that the Florida election results were valid and that the recounts must stop. This, of course, got Mrs. Clinton to declare that President Bush was selected, not elected.

In 2004 it was the fact of long lines at certain precincts in Columbus, Cincinnati, and Cleveland. The late delivery of electronic voting machines was apparently for the purpose of disenfranchising voters. How this was is a bit foggy.

Democrats also allege that the electronic voting machine, by Diebold, were fixed by that company to deliver votes for Mr. Bush.

You would think that they would get behind a bill to ensure clean elections. You would be wrong.

Federal Election Integrity Act of 2006

Vote fraud invariably benefits Democrats. Illegal aliens voting, felons, dead people (in Chicago we used to call this "the Riverside vote"), individuals voting several times. Ask anyone from the State of Washington. These are the votes that put Her Majesty into the Governor's Office.

Results of the vote for the Federal Election Integrity Act;
Republican: Yea - 224; Nay - 3; Present - 0; Not Voting - 3
Democrats: Yea - 4; Nay - 192; Present - 0; Not Voting - 5
Independent: Yea - 0; Nay - 1; Present - 0; Not Voting - 0

Guns Cause Crime?

Liberals will tell you that guns cause crime, and that if we took guns away from people, crime would go done. We evil republican conservatives believe that law abiding citizens would give up their guns if the law required it. We also believe that if someone is inclined to commit crime, they would also be inclined to illegally keep their guns. This is an idea that causes severe mental distress to Liberals™.

Also, we believe that if criminals thought that there was a good chance that their victim may be armed, they would be less inclined to commit crimes against such people.

The good folks of Greenleaf Idaho agree.

Proposed Ordinance asks Each Household to Have a Firearm

Greenleaf, Idaho -- All Americans have the right to bear arms. Some towns have even gone as far as to require each household to have a gun. Now a small Idaho town is contemplating a similar idea-- it's called the Civil Emergencies Ordinance. And although gun ownership is just one piece of this ordinance, it's the part that's getting the most attention.

"We've blessed to be a fairly rural area of the state, so we don't have a lot of crime and I think we'd like to keep it that way," said Lee Belt, Greenleaf city clerk.

Drive about 10 minutes west of Caldwell and you'll run into Greenleaf, Idaho, population 860. If city council member Steve Jett has his way, each head of household that can legally own a gun, will. Along with that they're encouraged to have ammunition and appropriate training.

"I think the city council is hoping it will happen and that it will be a deterrent to crime as the city and region increases in population," said Belt.

The proposed ordinance is modeled after a similar plan that went into place in 1982 in Kennesaw, Ga. In that instance there was a dramatic decrease in criminal activity. Although crime isn't a huge problem for residents of Greenleaf, the growth in neighboring counties leads them to believe they too are in for some changes.

There is a study to back this up that Liberals™ do not like because it goes against the leftist faith; Liberal Academics Continue Assault on Pro-Gun Research

A study by economist and University of Chicago professor John Lott and co-researcher David Mustard in 1997 examined crime data from all 3,054 counties in the U.S. for the period between 1977 and 1992 and compared those data to the enactment of concealed carry laws. Based on that research, the pair concluded that "allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons deters violent crimes, without increasing accidental deaths."

Anti-gun researchers challenge pro-gun findings

But anti-gun researcher John Donohue of the Stanford University Law School has challenged the findings of Lott and Mustard in a chapter of the new book Evaluating Gun Policy published by the Brookings Institution.

"There seems to be almost no benefit from concealed handguns," Donohue told CNSNews.com Monday - but he immediately retracted the claim.

"Actually, I can't say that. There may be some benefit, and there may be some costs, and they may offset each other," he said. "But the last argument I would give any credibility to is the idea that you would save lives by passing a law allowing people to carry concealed handguns. It just won't happen."

But Lott and Mustard concluded that, if states without concealed carry laws had adopted them in 1992, "approximately 1,500 murders would have been avoided yearly." They also predicted that 4,000 rapes, 11,000 robberies and 60,000 aggravated assaults would have been thwarted by armed civilians or criminals' fear of encountering armed civilians.

Their work evolved into Lott's book More Guns, Less Crime, which is frequently cited by supporters of concealed carry laws, along with studies by Florida State University criminologist Gary Kleck showing that guns are used to stop criminal assaults up to 2.5 million times a year.

So, good for the citizens of Greenleaf Idaho.

Osama Taking a Dirt Nap?

We can hope. I saw this at Little Green Footballs.

From al-Reuters, whose editors are no doubt saddened at the news, France to probe bin Laden death report leak

PARIS (Reuters) - France's Defense Ministry said on Saturday a secret service report saying al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died could not be confirmed but said it would launch an inquiry into the leak of secret documents.

The Defense Ministry issued the statement after a French regional newspaper, L'Est Republicain, published a report quoting a French secret service report as saying Saudi Arabia is convinced al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.

"The information published this morning in the L'Est Republicain newspaper relating to the supposed death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," the Defense Ministry said.

"The Defense Minister (Michele Alliot-Marie) has asked that an inquiry be carried out to determine the origin of the leak that can be punished by criminal charges."

Certainly the French do not want this news to get out.

"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," the document said.

"The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs."

I hope that this is not another false report. If it is true, it sounds like he really suffered a great deal at the end (no doubt sadening MSM editors and publishers worldwide).

But, it gets even better. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report has even bigger news. The leader of Ansar al Sunnah, Muntasir al-Jibouri, has been captured.

Big News: bin Laden dead; Bigger News: Ansar al Sunnah Head Captured!

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta today! First, bin Laden is reportedly dead. Or dying. Or whatever. In any event, I don't believe it. But it's the kind of rumor I dig. Thanks to everyone that e-mailed it to me. The way I read the report, though, was not that bin Laden is dead, but that he is very sick. (knock on wood either way)

But a much bigger story is that the leader of Ansar al Sunnah, Muntasir al-Jibouri, has been captured! This is big news. And unlike the bin Laden 'news', this one seems likely to be true.

We should be shouting for joy that the leader of Ansar al Sunnah has been captured. This should just as big as when we got Zarqawi. It is that important.

Ansar al Sunnah's organizational structure is not as well know as al Qaeda's. It appears, though, that al-Jibouri's voice can be heard on at least two hostage murder videos-and probably many many more (thanks to Mike for the reminder). Like Zarqawi, al Jibouri is said to have personally murdered many of Ansar al Sunna's victims.

For awhile, Abu Musab al Zarqawi and the terrorist bastards at Ansar al Sunna appeared to be in a pissing match over who could behead the most civilians. Just this month the group posted a gruesome video of the beheading of 3 Iraqis.

Who are Ansar al Sunna, you say? I don't blame you for not knowing, I blame the ignorant press. And the Democrats. The press because they speak of insurgents in Iraq, and not terrorists. And the Democrats because they speak as if any one who is not formally within al Qaeda is not a terrorist. Eg., Saddam did not support terrorists because there was no link to al Qaeda. Idiots.

Read all of Rusty's report, it is excellent.

It is a good day for jihadi killin'. Especially on the first day of Ramadan, an Islamic holiday which is celebrated in the Muslim world with an increase in terrorism. It is nice to turn the table just this once.

9mm Ale

Read these results;
2006 North American Beer Awards Medal Winners. Note the results in the Specialty/Experimental category:

Bronze;
1) Boston Beer Co.-- Samuel Adams Utopias MMIII
2) Siletz Brewing—Siletz Chocolate Porter

Silver; Boston Beer Co.-- Samuel Adams Utopias MMV

Gold; Heads Up Brewing—9mm Ale

Today, on eBay, one bottle (22oz. with box) of Samual Adams Utopias MMIII has a bid of $349.00. Utopias MMV is not available. We at Head's Up paid $180 for a bottle of the MMV, but I am sure that a bottle would fetch very much more now.

You can go to Head's Up Brewing in Silverdale, Washington and make a 15 gallon batch of 9mm Ale for yourself.

I just finished bottling six cases of it.

Yum.

Islamic Tolerance - Somalia

The Religion of Peace, Tolerance, and Moon God worship once again gives us an idea of its true love of other people.

Convert from Islam to Christianity killed
Refused to join crowd chanting verses from Quran during lunar eclipse

Somali Christian sources report Ali Mustaf Maka'il, a 22-year-old college student and cloth merchant who converted from Islam to Christianity 11 months ago, was shot and killed in the Manabolyo quarter of Mogadishu.

According to a report from the Barnabas Fund, quoting a Christian source inside Somalia, the gunman was loyal to the Union of Islamic Courts, the Islamist organization that took power in Mogadishu in early June and now controls much of southern Somalia.

The report states the gunman shot Ali in the back Sept. 7 after he refused to join a crowd chanting Quran verses in honor of the lunar eclipse. Solar and lunar eclipses are significant in Islam and are accompanied by special congregational prayers. The Union of Islamic Courts confiscated Ali's body for 24 hours before delivering it to the grieving family, the report said.

The Barnabas Fund comments: "It seems that under the new Islamist rulers, who include hard-line jihadi elements, the tragic history of persecution and martyrdom for Somalia's tiny Christian community is set to continue and most likely to worsen."

The group reports that in July there were unconfirmed reports three Christians had been shot and killed by Islamists as they returned home from a prayer meeting.

In October 2005, an evangelist and house church leader, Osman Sheik Ahmed, was shot dead by Islamist radicals, Barnabas said. Also, children of Christian Somali refugees in Kenya have been kidnapped by Muslim relatives and taken to Islamic institutions in Somalia for 'rehabilitation.'"

The Barnabas Fund pointed out the leader of the Union of Islamic Courts, Hassan Dahir Aweys, promised to implement Sharia, or Islamic law, in all areas he controls.

According to Sharia, the group explained, apostates - those who leave Islam for another religion – must be killed. Union of Islamic Court leaders even have threatened to kill as apostates Muslims who are lax in their prayers, claiming this is commanded by Sharia. Several Muslims have been flogged publicly for drug-related offences since the union took control.

Islam is a fiction created by Mohammed to exercise political control over his tribe, and to establish a military structure for conquest. There is no Abrahamic tradition there. They are Moon God worshipers. I have no problem with that, but it is a fiction to try to connect Islamic beliefs with any form of Judaism or Christianity.

And, there is no tradition of forgiveness or tolerance in that faith. Only hatred and murder.

A Great One is Gone

Oriana Fallaci, 1929 - 2006

And this, IN MEMORIAM: ORIANA FALLACI

Rage & Pride, in a translation by Letizia Grasso, is added to the sidebar.

May she rest in a well deserved peace.

The Happy Prince

Oscar Wilde is a writer that I have neglected in my various studies. My beloved wife pointed me to a very beautiful short story, The Happy Prince.

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt.

He was very much admired indeed. "He is as beautiful as a weathercock," remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; "only not quite so useful," he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not.

Whatever Mr. Wilde was during his too brief life, he was a Christian, and on his deathbed converted to the Roman Catholic Church repentant of his sins.

This is about Christian love, and our own reactions to it should be guided by Christian forgiveness and love.

If you haven't read it yet, read it.

RoP Denies Being Evil

Muslims Preaching "Peace"

More

Muslims all over the world are upset that a 14^th Century Byzantine Emperor, Manuel II Paleologus, said that converting people to Islam by the sword is evil. Representatives of the RoP and Muslims the world over are objecting to this, insisting that they are peaceful and telling us that if we do not believe that they are peaceful they will kill us.

An interesting position to take. I suppose that if I were to point out a tiny little problem of logic in their viewpoint they would wish to be "peaceful" with me too.

When was the last time that, having heard a prominent Muslim criticize Christianity, Christians attacked Mosques and threatened murder? That's right, never.

Pope's speech at University of Regensburg (full text)

Muslim leaders demand apology for Pope's 'medieval' remarks

Pope statement not enough: Muslim Brotherhood

The First Casualty of the Pope's Islam Speech

You have to love it when atheists, Muslims, or other non-Christian people tell Christians what a good Christian believes; Islamic world rails against 'Unchristian' Pope

5 churches attacked in Palestinian areas following Pope's comments on Islam

Somali cleric calls for pope's death

Gunmen shoot elderly nun dead

Details of the incident were sketchy and there was no immediate indication of a possible motive for the attack but it came amid fury among Somalia's powerful Islamist movement over comments made by Pope Benedict XVI deemed insulting to Islam.

On Friday, a prominent hardline Mogadishu cleric called for Muslims to "hunt down" and kill the pontiff for his remarks.

"Whoever offends our Prophet Mohammed should be killed on the spot by the nearest Muslim," Sheikh Abubukar Hassan Malin told worshippers at a mosque in southern Mogadishu.

The despicable New York Times tries to explain why all of this is ok; The Pope's Words

Charles has some pictures; Peaceful Religion Watch

UPDATE: Manuel II Paleologus knew what he was talking about. His capitol city, Constantinople, was besieged by Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I.

Hearing of his father's death in February 1391, Manuel II Palaiologos fled the Ottoman court and secured the capital against any potential claim by his nephew John VII. Although relations with John VII improved, the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I besieged Constantinople from 1394 to 1402. After some five years of siege, Manuel II entrusted the city to his nephew and embarked on a long trip to western courts (including those of the Kingdom of England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Aragon) to seek assistance against the Ottoman Empire.

The ACLU Loses One

Judge Rules against ACLU in Georgia Prayer Case

ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) - Cobb County commissioners won't have to exclude Jesus Christ from the prayers at their meetings under a new federal court ruling.

U.S. District Judge Richard Story ruled Friday that clergy who pray at the meetings could "identify the deity to whom they direct their prayer." But he also took issue with the way commissioners choose the clergy who appear at the meetings because it was clear that "certain faith were categorically excluded from the list."

The case was filed in August 2005 by the Georgia Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of seven people who felt the references to Jesus were an unconstitutional government endorsement of Christianity.

Is it possible that judges are just now starting to see through the Left™'s scam? Or, did we just get lucky and get a judge who does not agree that he is part of an oligarchy?

We shall see.

Please Lie Down and Die

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch found this at the Daily Mail, British Muslim leader: don't resist terrorism, or you'll get 2 million more terrorists and notes, "Anti-terror efforts breed terrorists, says Bari. In other words, please lie down and die."

The Daily Mail link is;
Threat of up to two million Muslim terrorists, warns community leader

Britain will face have to deal with up to two million Islamic terrorists unless there is an end to 'demonising' of Muslims, the leader of the most influential Muslim organisation has said.

Treating all Muslims as if they were terrorists will encourage large numbers to become terrorists, Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari said.

The warning from the chief of the Muslim Council of Britain - the grouping that Tony Blair's Government has considered the leading voice for Muslims - came amid rising tensions over the increasingly suspicious attitude to Muslims in the rest of society.

Dr Bari declared: "Some police officers and sections of the media are demonising Muslims, treating them as if they are all terrorists, and that encourages other people to do the same.

"If that demonisation continues, then Britain will have to deal with two million Muslim terrorists, 700,000 of them in London. "If you attack a whole community, it becomes despondent and aggressive," he added.

The message from Dr Bari appeared to be aimed at muting criticism from police officers and broadcasters and newspapers who have questioned widely-held Muslim attitudes and at police officers who have called for greater surveillance of Muslims.

Their protestations make them appear ridiculous.

His view appears in particular to mock Scotland Yard Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick, who declared after the 7 July bombings last year that "Islamic and terrorist are two words that do not go together".

Yes, they do.

Islamic Tolerance - Eritrea

ERITREA: RELIGIOUS PRISONER COUNT TOPS 1,900

September 8 (Compass Direct News) – Newly compiled statistics smuggled out of Eritrea indicate that at least 1,918 Eritrean citizens are imprisoned and being subjected to torture and forced labor because of their religious beliefs.

According to a detailed list obtained by Compass last month, 95 percent of these known religious prisoners of conscience are Christians.

A total of 35 pastors, priests and church elders are confirmed under arrest in Asmara’s Wongel Mermera investigation center. An additional 1,758 Christians of both evangelical Protestant and Orthodox confessions are jailed in 14 other cities and towns.

According to reports compiled by Compass, 163 of these Christian prisoners have been put under arrest since the beginning of 2006. As many as a fourth of all those jailed are believed to have been incarcerated for two years or more.

Additionally, 69 Muslims are being held in Wongel Mermera for opposing the government-appointed mufti. They include Taha Mohammed Noor, a founding member of the Eritrean Liberation Front in 1961 and a member of the Islamic Awqaf (religious foundation).

Arrested in Asmara on November 25, 2005, Noor reportedly has refused under torture to accept government interference with the religious affairs of Eritrean Muslims, who constitute half of the population.

And in accordance with Islamic law, none of those who have been arrested and are being held in jail have received a trial or any kind of hearing. Some of these people have been held for over four years without a trial.

None of those imprisoned for their religious beliefs in the government crackdown begun more than four years ago have been brought before a court of law to be charged or tried.

According to the latest breakdown, 475 Christians are jailed at Wi’a, 250 at Sawa (including 50 students arrested from Mai Nefhee Academy last May), 192 at Dongoloi Ai Ai, 130 at Mai-Serwa, 78 at Adi-Abyto, 55 in Sembel Prison, 155 in various Asmara police stations, 37 in the Keren police station, 22 in the Mendefera police station, 115 at Assab, 97 at Gelalo, 21 in the Dekemhare police station, 56 in the Adi-Kualaa police station, and 75 in the Massawa police station.

During August still another 29 Protestant Christians were arrested in the cities of Asmara, Keren and Massawa, according to the London-based Release Eritrea organization.

Ten evangelicals attending a home prayer meeting in Asmara’s Edaga Arbi district were arrested on August 17, Release Eritrea reported on August 25. In similar raids in the cities of Keren and Massawa earlier in the month, Eritrean police jailed another 15 and 4 people, respectively.

The only known releases in recent weeks occurred in Wi’a, where a reported handful among the hundreds of Christian soldiers in a military jail were set free after signing statements to recant their evangelical beliefs.

Ahhh, the peace, tolerance, and wisdom of Islam.

Read the whole thing to see what else they are doing.

Hindu Tolerance - India Pt. 2

We have been watchng Islam, but Hinduism is no less evil, just less active now. Watch as more and more of these storie come out.

Still, they are not engaged in the large-scale kind of violent terrorism that is a part of Islam. There are very few groups that do not persecute Christians.

India Hindu Militants Attack Church In Tense State

NEW DELHI, INDIA (BosNewsLife) -- Tensions remained high Wednesday, September 6, in an area of India's Jammu and Kashmir state after dozens of Hindu militants stormed a church and attacked Christians, including women and children, as they were attending a Sunday worship service, local Christians said.

The All India Christian Council (AICC), an influential advocacy group, said the militants also attacked seven Christians who are facing charges that include "forcible conversions."

They were earlier identified as the church's Pastors P.R. Anthony and Reji K. Sunny as well as Bible students Umesh Kumar, Tarsan Chand, Samuel Masih, Kamal Jeet and Baldev Raj, who are due to appear in court on September 16. Charges include forcible conversion of a youth belonging to the Sikh religion.

BAJRANG DAL

"Sushil Sooden, a leader of [the Hindu militant group] Bajrang Dal, brought along 40 Hindu activists" to beat up the Christians, Sunday morning, September 3 in church in the Shivagiri area of the state's Kathua district. Bajran Dal is following the ideology of Hindutva, or «Hinduness", a word used to describe movements advocating Hindu nationalism

"Children, women and their husbands numbering 20 were [also] brutally attacked during the prayer meeting. The incident took place in full daylight as well as in the presence of local media," said the group, which represents this and other churches across India.

Pastor Anthony was reportedly pulled out and beaten and nearly killed by several militants, Christians said.

Click on the picture for a preview of a future post about an attack on a Roman Catholic bishop..

What Modern President am I Most Like?

I just took one of those web quizzes. Here is the result;

You Are Most Like George W. Bush

So what if you're not exactly popular? You still rule the free world. And while you may be quite conservative now, you knew how to party back in the day!

What Modern US President Are You Most Like?

Actually, I am a little surprised, but thank God it didn't say that I am most like President Carter or Clinton. I was hoping for President Reagan.

The last sentence is exactly true.

Kiev Schools to Teach Christianity

It is good to see that there is at least one Christian country that is willing to teach its Christian culture to its children. With every other country in the world giving up their moral senses and/or bowing to Islam, it is important to transmit our own culture to our children, and Kiev is going to do it.

Of course there are critics.

Kiev Schools Look to Reinforce Ukraine's Christian Heritage

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Some public schools in the Ukrainian capital will begin teaching Christian ethics this year in an experimental program aimed at reinforcing the country's thousand-year Christian heritage, Kiev city officials said Thursday.

The course, titled "Christian Ethics in Ukrainian Culture: The Path of Good," raised concern among Kiev's minority Jewish population, and among state education officials, who called its introduction premature.

The class for 6-year-olds will be launched in 100 of Kiev's 527 schools, reaching about 6,000 pupils. Any parent can choose to have a child opt out of the lessons. Next year, city officials aim to have the lessons reach all of the capital's 21,100 first-grade students.

Ukraine, which is predominantly Orthodox Christian, has flirted before with the idea of introducing a religion-based ethics class, but earlier plans ran into opposition from the country's Jews and Muslims. This latest project also sparked some concerns, but the Kiev city administration - headed by a mayor who once sent a Bible to every Ukrainian lawmaker - has vowed to go ahead. "There is a path of good and a path of evil, and wherever God acts, the devil also appears," Deputy Mayor Vitaliy Zhuravsky said. "Whoever opposes introducing Christian ethics - for me, that's devilry."

I agree.

They are not forcing anyone to become Christian, they are teaching ethics. And remember, their Constitution is not the same as ours. They can, and should, do this. I wish we could.

Kim Jong-Il Assists U.S. - Japan Military Realignment

Yep, you read the headline correctly. The Dear Murderer Freak-boy's erratic, insane, belligerent, murderous national and foreign policies have cleared away the Liberal™ and Leftist™ political debris in Japan such that major changes in the U.S. - Japan military relationship can occur.

Further, the clearing away of that political debris will also enable the modification or rewriting of the Japanese Constitution in such a way as to permit the creation of a real, offensive-capable military in Japan. This would have been unthinkable a mere ten years ago.

These stories together say a lot.

From the Taipei Times, Kim Jong-il helps accelerate US, Japanese plan to realign forces

The Dear Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, has inadvertently added urgency to US plans to realign its military forces in Japan and to the Japanese intent to make their forces more relevant, as the US and Japan seek to increase their capabilities by cooperating more closely.

In the weeks following the North Korean launch of seven missiles into the sea between Korea and Japan on July 4, Lieutenant General Bruce Wright, the US Air Force officer who commands US forces in Japan, said there had been "a monumental change" in Japanese attitudes toward transitions already underway.

Japanese officers, queried separately, agreed.

Before, negotiations had been moving along but had run into obstacles due largely to political pressures within Japan. Opposition focused on local issues such as noise from aircraft, crowding as residential areas grew up around once-remote US bases and cultural misunderstandings between Japanese and Americans in Japan.

Those issues have not been entirely swept away but, as a staff officer at a US air base west of Tokyo said, "Japan is on the cusp of major changes in security policy."

The Japanese, for instance, have asked the US to accelerate delivery of Patriot anti-missile batteries to Japan.

...

The weight of Japan's small but modern armed force is gradually being shifted from Hokkaido, the northern island, where its Northern Army's mission was to repel a possible Russian invasion. Today, Japan sees a near-term threat from North Korea and a slowly developing threat from China. Kyushu is closer to North Korea and China than Hokkaido.

A Japanese officer in the Western Army said: "We are the ones out front now."

And from the Manichi Daily News, Nationalist Abe rides wave of popularity as front-runner to lead Japanese government

Abe is far and away the top candidate to take over on Sept. 20 as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a position that guarantees his election by the LDP-controlled parliament to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. He is slated to formally declare his candidacy Friday.

His handling of the North Korean kidnapping issue illustrates the traits he will likely bring to the job: a hard-line against North Korea, a defiant and muscular nationalism, and a keen ability to please the crowd.

...

Abe is unlikely to initiate any breaks in policy with Koizumi. Analysts expect continued market reform and ever-tighter diplomatic and military cooperation with top ally the United States. The security treaty with the U.S. was signed when his grandfather was prime minister.

Recently Abe has floated ideas for creating Japanese versions of the U.S. National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency.

In a book, "Toward a Beautiful Country," and in speeches he's given lately, Abe has signaled what is likely to be a centerpiece of his initial year in office: revision of Japan's U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution, which bars the military from overseas military action.

"It's been 61 years since the end of World War II and we need to start working toward creating a Japan that's suitable for the 21st century," he said during an August speech.

Lastly, from the International Herald Tribune, Report: Japan will treat North Korea nuclear test as national emergency

TOKYO Japan will declare a national emergency if North Korea conducts a nuclear test, a response usually reserved for major earthquakes and other national calamities, a news report said Saturday.

Watch as Japan decides to build a real armed force with offensive capabilities.

It is about time.

Video - Children of North Korea

Orphan children with no money must pull individual grains of rice out of the mud right in front of stalls selling food.

Liberals and the Left™ make a lot of noise about how socialist and communist countries feed their poor. This video makes it very clear that this is just a lie.

From Discovery/Times,
North Korea - Children of the Secret State

Watch how a country descends into cannibalism.

Watch how valuable farmland in a starving country is plowed under and planted with opium.

Watch how food aid, the most per capita of any country on earth, is diverted from those who need it.

Watch how aid agencies are forbidden to feed starving children standing right in front of them so that the food aid can be given to the Army.

Watch witnesses, including former guards, describe the grossest treatment and murder of people imprisoned for exactly nothing.

Watch how the world's most monstrous government starves its children.

The end of Kim Jong-Il and his monstrous cronies cannot come to soon.

Watch the whole thing, it is only 45 minutes long and it is heartbreaking.

A big "thank you" to Andrew, who linked this video in a comment on the Who is Ahn Chol? post.

Islamic Tolerance - Malaysia

I have written about the large number of converts to Christianity from Islamic slavery in Malaysia.

Lina Joy converted to Christianity 16 years ago. Now the Shari'a courts in Malaysia want to put her and her attorneys to death.

Malaysian Convert Receives Death Threats, Goes into Hiding

DUBLIN, August 25 (Compass Direct News) -- Lina Joy, a Malaysian convert to Christianity, has gone into hiding after extremists issued death threats against her and the lawyers supporting her cause.

Escalating furor over the latest stage in Joy's lengthy struggle to change her religious status has led Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to order a halt to all public debate on the issue. Despite converting to Christianity 16 years ago, in 1990, Joy is still legally identified as a Muslim.

Joy, previously known as Azlina binti Jailani, requested a name change from the National Registration Department (NRD) in 1997. The NRD granted the name change in October 1999 but retained the Muslim status on her new identity card.

Malaysian law requires all Muslims to be declared as such on their identity cards; the religion of non-Muslims, however, is not specified.

When challenged, the NRD said it could not change Joy's religious status without a declaration from the Islamic law (sharia) court that she had become an "apostate."

Conversion out of Islam ("apostasy") is either forbidden or regarded as a criminal offense under most state Islamic laws. In Malaysia, "apostates" may be fined, detained and imprisoned.

For this reason, many Christian converts in Malaysia choose to remain secret converts.

Malaysia has a secular contitution, but the heavy hand of Islamic totalitarianism will change that.

Secular Constitution

The case is widely regarded as a watershed for religious freedom in Malaysia. If the court orders the NRD to drop the word "Islam" from Joy's identity card, the move would affirm the supremacy of the secular constitution.

Orthodox Muslims favor a status quo decision, however, affirming the supremacy of Islam.

"If they rule against Lina Joy, the whole question of religious liberty - the freedom of conscience, choice, expression and thought of an individual - will be greatly affected," the Rev. Wong Kim Kong, secretary general of the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia, told reporters.

While some Muslim groups support more freedom for would-be converts, other groups are highly resistant. One group of Malaysian lawyers met on July 13 to establish a new association, Lawyers in Defense of Islam, to fight any loss of jurisdiction for the sharia court.

The Defenders of Islam (Front Pembela Islam, or FPI) is also planning a nationwide campaign to counter the use of civil courts as a "way out of Islam," according to Asia News.

Fearing civil unrest, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on July 25 ordered all public debate on religious issues - including forums organized by the 13-member Article 11 coalition - to cease immediately.

On Monday (August 21), the prime minister also recommended that four states that have not yet adopted laws to prevent the spread of other faiths among Muslims should draft them as soon as possible, the Bernama news agency reported. Those states are the Federal Territories, Penang, Sabah and Sarawak.

Read the whole thing to learn how someone must ask permission of an Islamic Shari'a court to convert away from Islam, and then face death for doing so.

It is hard to imagine a more corrupt country than an Islamic country like Malaysia.

It is hard to imagine a more evil and murderous ideology than Islam. Yet, people still willingly risk death to convert to Christianity.

North Korean Military Crumbling

Surprisingly enough, that is the view of Mr. Donald Rumsfeld (a guy who knows a bit about this). While the DPRK has been building up her missile forces, she has allowed her regular military forces to go without training. As any American military person can tell you, training is key to success (see also Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War - I am reading this now).

ABC News has it. Rumsfeld: S. Korea Need Not Fear North

FORT GREELY, Alaska Aug 28, 2006 (AP) - In unusually blunt terms, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said decades-old U.S. ally South Korea need not fear communist North Korea as an immediate military threat.

At a news conference at this missile defense base south of Fairbanks, Rumsfeld said Sunday that North Korea is a serious threat to spread ballistic missiles and other dangerous technologies around the world. But he made plain that he sees the North's conventional military strength eroding as its economy crumbles.

"I don't see them, frankly, as an immediate military threat to South Korea," he said.

The reason why;

"I think the real threat that North Korea poses in the immediate future is more one of proliferation than a danger to South Korea," he said, adding that the North Koreans for years have sold ballistic missile technologies to Iran and unspecified other countries "mostly terrorist countries."

To illustrate his point about North Korea's waning conventional military strength, Rumsfeld said its air force pilots fly fewer than 50 training hours a year because of a lack of resources. That compares with more than 200 training hours in the air each year by U.S. military pilots.

"That makes a difference," he said, "if you're flying less than 50 compared to a couple of hundred or 300. And that's undoubtedly true of other aspects of their military. So I don't see them, frankly, as an immediate military threat to South Korea. I think South Korea has an awful lot of capability, and it's increasing."

Rumsfeld added that North Korea no longer has a "major power sponsor" like it did during the Korean War, in which hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops came to the North's aid after American troops overtook Seoul, the South Korean capital, and reached the Yalu River on China's border in October 1950.

I would not discount the danger that North Korea poses to us. They are a supplier of missiles to terrorists. Should they develop the ability to produce nuclear weapons n a regular schedule (as I am sure that they will), then there can be little doubt that they would supply those to terrorists as well. The Dear Murderer-Freak Kim Jong-Il will do anything for money.

He is a whore.