Raymond Ibrahim "...As for her personal situation, approximately two weeks ago, state security arrested and took Nagla to a government building in Cairo. There, a top official twisted the crucifix she was wearing, tightening the chain around her neck, while saying "the cross will be the death of you." The official then proceeded to beat her — giving her a black eye, a bruised body, and broken teeth. Before releasing her, he said, "Stay in your house, till you are carried out to your grave," adding that, if she does not return to Islam, "people" will be dispatched to "take care of her."....
"Postscript: Last we heard, Nagla and her children have completely disappeared, bringing back the government official's threat to mind — that "people" could be sent to "take care of her." "
Raymond Ibrahim is the associate director of the Middle East Forum, the author of The Al Qaeda Reader, and a guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
D’Souza to Obama with Malice
Forbes "Ultimately, D’Souza’s rumination reveals less about how Obama thinks and more about how D’Souza thinks. It shows not that Obama is motivated by malice toward America, but D’Souza is motivated by malice toward Obama. How pathetic." Shikha Dalmia is a senior analyst at Reason Foundation and a Forbes columnist.
This is a counterpoint to an article posted here on Sept 9th.
This is a counterpoint to an article posted here on Sept 9th.
The Myth of Conservative Vulnerability
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann "This week's primary victories of Christine O'Donnell in Delaware and Joe DioGuardi in New York illustrate how the tea party is cleansing the Republican Party and installing true believers over professional politicians. It is a healthy trend that will continue to recreate the Party of Reagan.
"But the conventional media, instead of hailing this trend, warns that conservatives cannot be elected ..."
"But the conventional media, instead of hailing this trend, warns that conservatives cannot be elected ..."
California Schools: Monuments to Mediocrity
Meredith Turney "It’s common for teachers unions to throw around huge dollars in political campaigns just to safeguard their interests. But ridding the state constitution of the added taxpayer protections in a two-thirds budget vote would clear the way for unions to get whatever they want—including the kind of wasteful spending found in LAUSD. Keep in mind LAUSD is currently grappling with deficit of $640 million. The $578 million school could have covered almost the entire deficit. Although bond measures financed the school’s construction, such wasteful spending is not uncommon throughout the school system." Meanwhile, most dedicated teachers spend their own money for many classroom items and visual aids .
Friday, September 17, 2010
An artist protests Obama’s abuse of the Constitution.
National Review "A man, crestfallen, is sitting on a bench in front of the White House, contemplating his country’s future. At his feet lie the causes of his distress: tattered dollars, representing a weak currency, and scraps of paper, symbolizing an abused Constitution. Behind and around him stand the 43 presidents of the United States, most of whom are outraged. One of them, James Madison, reaches pitifully for the ground, trying to collect the shards of American greatness. Unfortunately, he can’t retrieve our founding document from the dust, for it’s beneath the foot of Barack Obama."
The story of this painting here.
The story of this painting here.
Marriage: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty
Insider Online "Child poverty is an ongoing national concern, but few are aware that its principal cause is the absence of married fathers in the home. Marriage remains America’s strongest anti-poverty weapon, yet it continues to decline. As husbands disappear from the home, poverty and welfare dependence will increase, and children and parents will suffer as a result."
Married Fathers: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty "Historically, the Left has been indifferent or hostile to marriage. For decades, feminists actually taught that marriage harmed women psychologically and economically. While few would accept those ideas literally anymore, an instinctive hostility to marriage remains imprinted on the synapses of most liberal academics. In most faculty lounges, enthusiasm for marriage would be quite gauche.
"For most on the Left, marriage is, at best, an antiquated institution, a red-state superstition. From this viewpoint, the real task is to expand government subsidies as a post-marriage society is built.
H/T to Point of View , Probe Ministries.
Robert Rector is Senior Research Fellow in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation.
Married Fathers: America’s Greatest Weapon Against Child Poverty "Historically, the Left has been indifferent or hostile to marriage. For decades, feminists actually taught that marriage harmed women psychologically and economically. While few would accept those ideas literally anymore, an instinctive hostility to marriage remains imprinted on the synapses of most liberal academics. In most faculty lounges, enthusiasm for marriage would be quite gauche.
"For most on the Left, marriage is, at best, an antiquated institution, a red-state superstition. From this viewpoint, the real task is to expand government subsidies as a post-marriage society is built.
H/T to Point of View , Probe Ministries.
Robert Rector is Senior Research Fellow in the Domestic Policy Studies Department at The Heritage Foundation.
Legalizing Marijuana: Why Citizens Should Just Say No
Heritage "The scientific literature is clear that marijuana is addictive and that its use significantly impairs bodily and mental functions. Marijuana use is associated with memory loss, cancer, immune system deficiencies, heart disease, and birth defects, among other conditions. Even where decriminalized, marijuana trafficking remains a source of violence, crime, and social disintegration."
Religion of Peace Alert: FBI Advises ‘Draw Muhammad’ Cartoonist to Disappear
Andy McCarthy "Fox News reports that, at the urging of the FBI, Molly Norris, the “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” cartoonist from Seattle, has gone into hiding and changed her name after being threatened with death for insulting Islam. Maybe he can hide at Justice Breyer’s house.
"As I mentioned in Tuesday’s column, the Obama administration last year co-sponsored a UN resolution to encourage countries to enact laws that would make it illegal to criticize Islam. The president was on the “Repeal the First Amendment” bandwagon before the justice hopped aboard. But if top levels of government are going to signal that Islam should get special immunity, and states like New Jersey are going to follow suit by firing people from state jobs for criticizing Islam, the FBI better be prepared to reassign a few thousand agents to the new “We Can’t Protect You” division."
Cry Islamophobia! "Should all Muslims be held responsible for what these individuals have said and done? Of course not. But it has not gone unnoticed that there have been no mass demonstrations in the capitals of what we now routinely call “the Muslim world” to protest jihadism — no crowds shouting: “Not in my name! Not in the name of my religion!” What we’ve seen instead: Protesters carrying signs saying, “Behead those who insult Islam!”
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism and Islamism
"As I mentioned in Tuesday’s column, the Obama administration last year co-sponsored a UN resolution to encourage countries to enact laws that would make it illegal to criticize Islam. The president was on the “Repeal the First Amendment” bandwagon before the justice hopped aboard. But if top levels of government are going to signal that Islam should get special immunity, and states like New Jersey are going to follow suit by firing people from state jobs for criticizing Islam, the FBI better be prepared to reassign a few thousand agents to the new “We Can’t Protect You” division."
Cry Islamophobia! "Should all Muslims be held responsible for what these individuals have said and done? Of course not. But it has not gone unnoticed that there have been no mass demonstrations in the capitals of what we now routinely call “the Muslim world” to protest jihadism — no crowds shouting: “Not in my name! Not in the name of my religion!” What we’ve seen instead: Protesters carrying signs saying, “Behead those who insult Islam!”
Clifford D. May is president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a policy institute focusing on terrorism and Islamism
Trifle with the government? Just ask Jacob Maged
George F. Will "With his responsibilities as a father of four, Maged should have shunned a life of crime. Instead, he advertised his criminal activity with a placard in his shop window, promising to press men's suits for 35 cents. This he did, even though President Franklin Roosevelt's New Dealers, who knew an amazing number of things -- his economic aides were not called a "Brains Trust" for nothing -- knew that the proper price for pressing a man's suit was 40 cents."
"Obama Middle Class Tax Cuts" ? Wait, what? (Updated)
Neal Boortz "Then we have the "Obama Middle Class Tax Cuts" thing. That's the new language right out of ObamaLand. Pelosi is following her instructions well. If the Bush tax cuts are extended the last thing The Community Organizer wants is for the "Bush" name to remain attached to them. Hence the "Obama Middle Class Tax Cuts" thing. Of course this means that if the Bush tax cuts aren't extended for the evil rich that will have to be called the "Obama Tax Increase."" The press will go along with this and people will buy into it.
BUT PRINCESS PELOSI ISN'T THROUGH! "Nancy Pelosi seems to assume that federal government is entitled to that money, and if it doesn't have that money, rather than decreasing spending, it will be forced to borrow it from foreign countries. What Nancy seems to forget is that it is not her money. That money does not belong to our imperial federal government, that money was earned by evil rich people. All the "justification" that Nancy needs is to realize that these rich people do not owe her or the government anything." Neal Boortz.
BUT PRINCESS PELOSI ISN'T THROUGH! "Nancy Pelosi seems to assume that federal government is entitled to that money, and if it doesn't have that money, rather than decreasing spending, it will be forced to borrow it from foreign countries. What Nancy seems to forget is that it is not her money. That money does not belong to our imperial federal government, that money was earned by evil rich people. All the "justification" that Nancy needs is to realize that these rich people do not owe her or the government anything." Neal Boortz.
A series by Thomas Sowell: The Money of Fools
Dr Sowell discusses the use in our public discourse of these and other catchphrases: "social justice", "health care", "liberal", "conservative" and "disarmament".
The Money of Fools Part 1 "Warm, fuzzy words and phrases have an enormous advantage in politics. None has had such a long run of political success as "social justice." The idea cannot be refuted because it has no specific meaning."The Money of Fools: Part II "When you are satisfied to accept words, without thinking beyond those words to the things-- the tangible realities of the world-- you are confirming what philosopher Thomas Hobbes said in the 17th century, that words are wise men's counters but they are the money of fools."
The Money of Fools: Part III "Liberals are usually willing to let people violate the traditional standards of the larger society but crack down on those who dare to violate liberals' own notions and fetishes."
The Money of Fools: Part IV "But the only country we can disarm is our own. The only countries we might be able to persuade to disarm are countries that intend no harm in the first place. Those countries that do intend to harm others— and we know all too well that they exist— would be delighted to have all their victims disarmed."
The Money of Fools: Part III "Liberals are usually willing to let people violate the traditional standards of the larger society but crack down on those who dare to violate liberals' own notions and fetishes."
White House: Global Warming Out, 'Global Climate Disruption' In
"The White House wants the public to start using the term "global climate disruption" in place of "global warming" -- fearing the latter term oversimplifies the problem and makes it sound less dangerous than it really is."
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