Thoughts on Wiki Leaks

Here are several random thoughts about the Wiki Leaks debacle:

This was evolving months ago, yet our administration has done nothing to stop it.  See Palin comments here.

All involved in making these documents public should be aggressively prosecuted for treason or aiding and abetting treason by others.  Rep. Peter King, Krauthammer, and John Bolton agree. 

Whoever in our government leaked that information is guilty of treason, and I think anything less than execution is too kind a penalty.

MIKE HUCKABEE, former Arkansas governor, referring to the person responsible for leaking hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks

Apparently Senator Lieberman doesn’t believe Wiki Leaks, the organization, rises to the level of “terrorist organization” as King does, despite it’s leader’s seditious methods and his attraction of leftists who would love to bring their country down a peg or five.

Appropriate agencies need to investigate the military’s malfeasance in protecting secret documents, new safeguards put into place and individuals associated with the security lapse demoted, fired, or prosecuted. 

I wondered why our nation over the past decade or so has been so passive in keeping national secrets.  It seemed every other week the New York Times or Washington Post exposed classified information from an undisclosed source.  What gave with that?  I wondered what the consequences of this indifference might be.  Now we know.  This Wiki event is just the natural evolution of that long-standing passive disregard for the importance of national secrets and national security.

Some believe this release of such massive amounts of US secrets could not be pulled off by just by an Army private and a hacker by themselves.  They believe that enabling, if not orchestrating this sabotage goes all the way up to the White House.  Motive?  To give us a “teachable moment” to demonstrate why the internet should be controlled by the government.  This is worth reading. 

Julian Assange and confused, troubled and likely-to-spend-a-long-time-in-prison-if-not-shot Bradley Manning, remind me of the traitorous whistle-blowing by Christopher H. Pyle in the late ‘60’s during the Vietnam War.  Unhappy about the military’s essential involvement in defending dozens of cities and college campuses from rioting leftists and disgruntled blacks, he, too, was proud of revealing military secrets, believing he was the be all and end all of human civility and righteousness.  Such people suffer from a god complex and a bizarre need for self-worth however they earn it.  It matters not to them if national security is compromised, international relations damaged, allies are humiliated, or people are killed as a result.

Some, both on the left and right, are happy with the Wiki Leak’s outings.  It is in vogue and satisfying to see our nation embarrassed; our opinions or gut feelings affirmed by the revelatory leaks.  But on the whole, our nation’s vulnerabilities and secrets were and continue to be exposed to the detriment of all US citizens – except those who thrive on sadistic rubbernecking and destructive behavior.

And finally, don’t take as gospel all the message in the leaks.  Case in point: One news story reports that the leaks reveal that “China knows less about NKorea than thought.”  That assumes that the story line told by China concerning North Korea as revealed in the leaks is true.   Come on now, China has supported, aided, and defended North Korea every step of the way.  That “revelation” is too contrary to the facts to be true.

Violent extremists come from WHERE ???

Saying “violent extremists come from all religions” is like saying aids comes from all people when we know aids is non-existent in 99.9% of the world’s population.  There is a clearly identifiable minority of the world’s population that is the source of aids.  There is also a clearly identifiable minority of the world’s population that is the source of “violent extremism.”

Painting all religions with the same broad brush of harboring violent extremists is blatant bigotry against religions.  That is exactly what U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton practiced when he stated “The fact is that violent extremists come from all religions and no religion at all.  For one person to blame a group, if that’s what happened here, is uniquely anti-American and will be pursued with the full force of the Justice Department.”

It is unfortunate that U.S. Attorney Dwight Holton is so irresponsibly ignorant of world religions and the behavior of people who practice them.  This is a classic case of the distorted use of moral equivalency.

Let me ask you, Attorney Dwight Holton, who exactly are the violent extremists in the name of Lutheranism, Presbyterianism, Buddhism, Catholicism, Judaism, Baptists, Mormonism, and Jehovah’s Witnesses?  Attorney Dwight Holton, have you considered the number of violent acts of terror committed by violent extremists in the name of Islam every day? 

Attorney Dwight Holton, have you any understanding of the violent, supremacist orthodox teachings of Islam as understood and promoted by the great majority of Islamic leaders in the world today?   Are you suggesting, Attorney Dwight Holton, that other world religions teach or practice anything that comes close to the teaching and practice within Islam?  How dare you, Attorney Dwight Holton, equate the behavior of those in any other religion with the behavior of those who practice their violence-prone Islamic ideology.

We can all agree that whoever torched the mosque in Oregon (which Attorney Dwight Holton acknowledged is not known) committed a crime that should be punished.  But to suggest that we are all prone to violent extremism when there is only one clearly identifiable group among the world’s population that earned its infamy for their violent extremism is unhelpful and ignorant. 

EMP attacks: What America must do now

The Heritage Foundation released a new “backgrounder” titled “EMP attacks – what America must do now.”

An EMP or electromagnetic pulse attack, is one of the most likely types of attacks expected from terrorists within the next few years.  Islamic cells have access to the technology to deliver and detonate the nuclear explosive to carry out such attack.  They have the motive – they have an expressed desire to destroy the “big Satan”, the United States.  And millions of jihadi Muslims are working diligently to create the opportunity.  Means, motive, and opportunity are falling into place.

While our nation hopes to prevent an EMP attack, the US is also preparing to withstand the consequences of such attack.  That’s what the Heritage Foundation report is all about.  Families can also prepare.  Take a look at checklists HERE and HERE.

For a realistic fictional account of what life in the US would be like after an EMP attack, read the book One Second After.  That book is a kick in the pants to prepare.

The ultimate anticipation…

Remember the feeling of anticipating your last day of school in June? Each year, when summer approached, your thoughts raced toward the end of the final week - the anticipation of summer vacation. You couldn’t wait! And during each of those summers you experienced the joys of the freedom to do the things you really wanted to do.

Years later you embarked on your career. And, then too, you had your vacations. But as you progressed though your career, the anticipation of your one or two week vacations became a bit less exciting each year. The anticipation became routine, until vacations turned into tedious ritual. You knew you had to go back to work.

But now you approach your 60’s, and experience a new form of anticipation - The ULTIMATE Anticipation. Instead of growing stale, like it did through your career, this anticipation now grows stronger, the way you anticipated summer vacation when you were in school. This new, revived anticipation is for your retirement – the ultimate summer vacation!

You may have some vague musings of what you would like to do with your ultimate anticipation. Or you may have definite plans. Some people want isolation, solitude. They may head out to the mountains or rural area in the west. But most of us want to continue our social interaction, stay active, stay engaged with life, and do things we’ve wanted to do but never made time or had the opportunity to do.

Is there an “ideal” place to bring fulfillment to your anticipation? Is this place in your existing town? In a different town? In one of hundreds of retirement communities? Which one? And why? What should you look for?

I began my search several years ago while in my mid-50’s. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I’ve had my share of financial setbacks so I knew I wouldn’t be retiring in one of the many places advertised in “Where To Retire” magazine that require a “million-dollar-plus” nest egg. Maybe a mobile home somewhere in central Florida where my dad and my wife’s dad were quite content. But wait, I really loved the North Carolina mountains. Maybe a small cottage on the edge of a mountain town. Or maybe one of the “Sun Cities” sprinkled around the country. Time passed. The casual reading, the mailings, and the occasional visits to potential retirement places increased. But none of these options were very exciting. What was missing?

Only recently did my past catch up with me: My career as a City Planner. What types of communities did I like best during my 35 years as a planner? Would those qualities energize me today? I worked in Boca Raton, North Lauderdale, and Destin, Florida, as well as St. Louis and several communities in Northern Virginia. Among all these work experiences, my favorite, the one that energized me most, was Coral Springs, near Fort Lauderdale.

Why Coral Springs? What was different? What was so compelling about that place? Back in the early 1970’s it was brand new – rising out of swamp land, literally. But it generated excitement and enthusiasm. Visitors, prospects, residents, builders, entrepreneurs were filled with anticipation. It was a planned “new town.” Its’ roads, water, sewer and drainage systems, its commercial areas and residential subdivisions, its’ parks and school sites were all planned in advance. It had comprehensive and effectively enforced deed restrictions. They preserved the aesthetics of residential and commercial areas. The community had a strict, equitably implemented sign code. It promoted exemplary landscaping and street tree planting programs as next to godliness.

But most important is why this happened. Corals Springs began as a 25 square mile area on the fringes of Broward County, Florida, - owned, planned and developed by a single private company. Few of its successes were possible with fractured land holdings in a typical city with its contentious political processes and competing interests. The most successful City-building is a long-term affair, extending decades. The vision and unity of purpose must be constant, something only a singular controlling entity can sustain.

And guess what kind of people this community attracted. Those who don’t care about the quality of their community? Litterbugs? Street gangs? The something-for-nothing crowd – those who complain about taxes but demand more government services? Hardly! The planned quality of Coral Springs attracted residents and businesses that were head-over-heels about their community. Guess what the highest values of the City government became over the decades? It mirrored its residents and business leaders. The City of Coral Springs became the first state or local government in the nation to receive the coveted Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, a Presidential honor that recognizes U.S. companies for organizational performance excellence. And Coral Springs is indeed a beautiful City.

The funny thing is I could never afford to live there. Not during any one of my 11-years as the City’s Director of Planning in the 70’s and 80’s. But the fond memories remained and resurfaced in a “grand ahaa!” moment - my forth visit to The Villages, Florida in late 2007. The qualities of Coral Springs jumped out at me in The Villages. The planning of the infrastructure, the squeaky clean appearance, the immaculate and vibrant town centers, the abundant recreation facilities – and most of all the pride of its 70,000 residents attracted to those qualities and excitedly brag about the uniqueness of their new home town. My wife and I decided “this is the place”¹.

There are dozens of planned retirement communities across the nation. There should be a book written that explores and contrasts the one community that is unique among retirement places: The Villages, Florida. It is unique on many levels: The location, the vision, the planning, the scale, the level of maintenance of facilities, landscaping, and infrastructure, the form of government and professional management. And, most of all the mind-boggling array of opportunities that exist to fulfill the “ultimate anticipation” of retirement dreams brought to life.

1 An early marketing motto of Coral Springs, Florida, by Coral Ridge Properties, the developer of that “new town.”

Only the cattle are poked and prodded…

The “special ones” get a pass. 

Whew! The TSA is refining its security procedures.  Oh wait.  Instead of targeting the only group known to commit aircraft terror, Muslims between the age of 16 and 50, it continues to target the entire US population, with a few new exceptions.  This “refinement” is giving a pass to:

• Members of Congress
• Airline staff
• And possibly:  Exemptions for Muslims in Burkas

Has such Burka exemption been approved?  The “Freeman” website claims it has not.  We shall see.

But this IS true:  “Cabinet secretaries, top congressional leaders and an exclusive group of senior U.S. officials are exempt from toughened new airport screening procedures when they fly commercially with government-approved federal security details” according to the Associated Press on November 23.

The Heritage Foundation has it right:  “The best security is intelligence and law enforcement that finds and stops the bad people before they get near the plane. Pretending that everyone is a risk, as the TSA does now, is a weak substitute for intelligence. Most of this physical screening going on now has no place in primary inspection lines. There should be some common-sense screening at the airport, but let’s stop pretending that that is the best line of defense. The TSA must back off forcing all travelers to go through body scanners.”

The solution:  Admit the source of the terror threat and focus invasive security measures on those individuals.  Don’t turn the rest of us into cattle.

A moral pronouncement requiring explanation…

The Pope made the news today with his pronouncement that it is ok for male prostitutes to use a condom.  And news outlets are jumping all over his statement as a crack in the Catholic prohibition of condom use – perhaps the beginning of universal acceptance, they hope.  Well glory be, break out the 12-pack.

The first thing that comes to mind is – you gotta be kidding.  Why would he say such a dumb sounding thing?  That’s like giving assassins the green light to use silencers on their Lugers so they don’t damage the hearing of their victim.

Oh, this is the first step toward a moral prostitute, he says.  Huh?  Well, I guess ya gotta start somewhere.   Couldn’t the same be said about rapists and adulterers?  I can hear it now:  Condoms are the first step of rapists and adulterers toward morality.  Go for it!

More reaction to the Pope’s statement here. 

Apparently  the last thing the Pope wants to do is upset the AIDS activists!

I have to add this to my long list of indicators of the decline of Christianity.  Or maybe I just misunderstood the story.

Are Christians serious?

Christians, especially evangelical Christians, are often portrayed as boorish hucksters in the view of the liberal media. Books like “Losing Our Religion” and others chronicle the low esteem and mocking suffered by Christians and Christianity at the hands of secularists and progressives.

Do Christian authors and media evangelists do some things to help earn their reputation? Sometimes. One thing they do is juxtapose their smiling, carefree face with their message of coming poverty, destruction, and mayhem. There is a disconnect between their serious and dire message, and their personna as represented in their photos promoted by their publicists.

Here are several examples:

Chuck Bates: Chuck and his dad, Larry, wrote a book titled “A Nation in Crisis: the Meltdown of Money, Government, and Religion – How to prepare for the coming collapse
David Jeremiah’s most recent book is “The Coming Economic Armageddon - what Bible prophecy warns about the new global economy”
Tim Lahaye authored an extensive array of books revolving around end times upheaval. One compilation is called “World’s End – the brink of Armageddon.”
John Hagee has written many end times books, one of the more recent titled “Jerusalem Countdown – a prelude to war”

Their messages do not warrant a smile.

Each of these men represent the most visible aspects of evangelical Christianity. Look at the titles of each of their recent books and the major themes of their messages. They are all writing on subjects that are supposed to be serious, life threatening, or life changing events - cataclysmic events where thousands if not millions of people are starved, destitute, or killed. Yet on each of their publications resides a smiling face. The above photos are replicas of what appears on their books.

Now I know their message is ultimately about the salvation of the Christian and their arrival at their ultimate destination through all the trauma and drama. They will claim they have reason to smile.

But getting there is going to be hell for a lot of people. Wouldn’t we take their message more seriously if their photos looked serious? It isn’t rational to smile when writing about economic Armageddon, the world’s end, a coming war, or economic collapse. It appears these men don’t really believe what their books claim – their smiles betray their message. There is a definite disconnect between their message and the mug shots.

But what about Glenn Beck’s books? He portrays himself as a clown on the cover of many of his books. Most covers, Broke, and An Inconvenient Book, for example, show him doing silly things to emphasize the topic of the book. But at least he appears engaged in the topic amidst his silliness. The other writers discussed above don’t pretend humor, yet are smiling as if their message is irrelevant.

These flip photos may be one small reason why secularists can’t take them seriously – they don’t appear to take themselves seriously.

Air travel insecurity: The root of the problem

Note to the Obama Administration:  Quit insulting and demeaning American travelers with your assumption that we are the terrorists.  Stop your inane and invasive “broad brush” security screening techniques against children, the elderly, and infirm.    Use common sense.  Recognize the source of our security threat – Muslims - the only source of aircraft terror in the United States.  Your FBI and CIA already have lists of who they are, both domestic and foreign.  Focus the invasive demeaning searches on the ones who earned them.

As we urge those whose mind is wandering away from an urgent matter:  Focus.  Focus!!  Focus on those who are the source of the problem – not on those who are not. 

It is quite audacious that Muslims are refusing to submit to these enhanced screening techniques when they are the only group of people who have caused us to require such scrutiny.

Ann Coulter has more on this here.

How about simply acknowledging two critically important but ignored realities:

1. The only people in US history who attempt to destroy  planes1 have been Muslims doing so in the name of Islam: When you hear Allahu Akbar shouted while on a plane, or smoke coming from someone’s shoes or crotch, you can be pretty sure Islam is involved.
2. Islam is not a religion of peace. More accurately, consider Islam the subversive political organization that it is and prohibit Muslim travel into this country, or at the very least focus the hyper-searches on them and not on the 99.9% of the rest of us.

A few websites have popped up in opposition to these new “enhanced” security practices. Yet they ignorantly persist that this overbearing practice has NOTHING to do with RELIGION. True! Nothing to do with religion, but EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ISLAM.

What is it about the mindset of our nation’s leaders that would demean all citizens when we well know where our focus should be?  Are they fearful of provoking Muslims?  Are they complicit in Islamic efforts to demoralize this nation?  We have to wonder.

It is so much better to curtail the erroneously perceived “rights” of a small group of subversives to preserve the legitimate rights and dignity of the 99% of the rest of us than to put us all under subjugation to humiliating procedures to protect a few subversives.  If Muslims aren’t prohibited outright from flying in and out of the US, at the VERY LEAST, they ought to be subject to an exhaustive grilling by highly trained counter-terror interrogators in the mode of security measures used by Israel’s El Al airline.

Most Muslims are “moderate”, you say? Then why do most “moderates” turn out to be Hamas or Jihad-promoting radicals when the truth becomes known? Islam is not a religion hijacked by a few radicals. Islam is a radical religion trying to be hijacked by a few moderates. Islam, in the historical, orthodox form as practiced by Muhammad and the great majority of Islamic leaders today, is, at its core, a radical, anti-western, fascist ideology. Moderation in Islam is a perversion by the less devout.

There are a handful of Muslims who claim to be both “moderate” and “devout.” Such combination is an oxymoron. One such Muslim is M. Zuhdi Jasser, M.D.,a well know “moderate among moderates.” He is self-proclaimed as “devout” while exhibiting signs of being a “true” moderate. Now that is truly mind-boggling. I’ve asked him what parts of the Qur’an, Hadith and Sura he has dismissed as un-Islamic. He did not reply to my email although his web site condemns the many radical and violent sections of Islamic scripture (as of this month). Unfortunately, the Qur’an itself prohibits Qur’anic deconstruction. I do know that I would not be telling the truth if I claimed I was a “devout Christian” while at the same time I argued for dismissal of a third of the Holy Bible and Christian tradition. I would rightly be called an apostate.

And what about “freedom of religion?” Islam uses religion as a proxy to achieve political ends. The “prayers” five times a day are equivalent to war chants before battle, a form of mental self-flagellation to hypnotically imbue hatred of the infidel into the Muslim psyche. Islam is a fascist ideology in a religious cloak.

Those who wish to continue to be associated with an ideology controlled by radical fascists who promote violence, terror, and subversion have a right to so associate.  But such association infers that they agree with the ideology and practices of the leaders of their ideology.  And the crop of Islamic leaders today are no friend of the United States.

I’m glad to see I’m not alone on this. Here is an example of another who has the only effective solution.

It is good to see that we Americans are finally getting a spine regarding the onerously broad brush our government is painting us with. Enough is enough. Maybe this “last straw” will motivate us to finally get to the root of this problem: Islam and those who practice it.

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1  A series of hijackings in the 60’s and 70’s associated with the Cuban revolution were carried out by people interested in illegally traveling from point A to point B, not for purposes of suicide terror attacks.

Keep Obama Home

Yikes!  I just read that Obama is preparing for another outing - to Europe this time – likely set to embarrass us yet again and offend more of our allies.

Note the nations that Obama has spent the most time with and the nations he either ignores or thwarts.  Then take a look at the voting record of nations in the UN.  What percent of the time do various nations vote with the US at the UN?

The nation that Obama has thwarted the most votes most often with the US:  Israel – 56% of the time, the highest among all UN members.

Others include:

United Kingdom	40%
France	36%
Australia	33%

The nations that Obama has most catered to vote least often with the US at the UN.  These include:

Saudi Arabia	7%
United Arab Emirates	8%
Pakistan	9%
Jordon	9%
Qatar	9%
India	14%

These voting records are based on 2007 data, pre-Obama, but are still likely to be valid.

Free trade + high costs of production = disaster

Obama, much like a chicken missing its head, is strutting around Asia and now at the G20 conference trying to convince other countries to send jobs to America or to convince China to boost the value of its currency to its detriment.

How effective has that been?  Not at all.  Why not?  Because most world leaders are not as gullible and as ignorant about world economics as Obama and his staff of socialists appear to be.

Here is the situation:

The US (including government and corporate leaders) for years has been promoting “free trade”, believing that the US is invincibly productive and we will “kick butt” in the world’s marketplace as we import cheaper products from other countries for our consumers.  Sounds great; a double win, right?

Over the same period, we have acquired a Ruth's Christ Steak House taste for environmentalism and union labor perks when we can only afford McDonald’s to remain competitive with world markets.  Our environmentalism, with really questionable and unsubstantiated cost/benefits, has cost our industries billions to implement and comply.  And Congress keeps spitting out the regulations, prompted by eco-terrorists, oblivious to their negative consequences.  Expensive perks built into labor union contracts and government insistence on motivation-wrecking minimum wages and unemployment compensation in most of our work places have been unsustainable.

These two factors, our out of control and unsustainable environmentalism, and our out of control and unsustainable union perks have increased the cost of production and the price of our products to the point where we are not competitive in world markets.

Is there any wonder why our manufacturing base has plummeted, why so many of our former jobs are now overseas, and why our unemployment rate is so high?  We have gotten excessively clean, pampered, and greedy.  Take a look at this video of a new Ford plant in Brazil, and note the last 15 seconds worth of comment, “…if only the UAW would allow it…”

Several European countries are a few years ahead of us in demonstrating their excesses.  Greece and Ireland are notable examples.  Greece had to impose drastic cutbacks government employee compensation triggering riots by angry workers. The European Union bailed them out.  Ireland is near insolvency and will soon be looking to the EU for a bailout.  Great Britain found it necessary to drastically increase college tuitions that used to be free a few years ago.  The result was destructive student riots.

The US has no one to bail us out.  But unless we stop our foolishly excessive environmentalism and reverse our uncompetitive worker expectations and demands, we will be on the losing end of the free trade stick.

How do we expect to compete in world markets when other nations produce things we used to make for half the price due to lower labor costs and non-existent environmental costs?   We can’t and we aren’t.

Perhaps we need to cut back on our free trade binge until we can get our costs of production somewhere close to competitive with world markets.  Bring jobs back home.  Trade war?  We’re in one now.  Is a monetary war any better?  Are the results much different?  Sure, if we brings jobs back here, some consumer items will be more expensive for awhile – our costs of production are high.  But the consequences of this will be more apparent motivating companies and our policy makes to reduce excessive costs and regulations.  At least more people would have jobs to pay for them.  When anyone proposes a plan to cut government costs and balance the federal budget, most Americans sound like a bunch of squealing pigs at supper time.  The squeals in response to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform report is a perfect example.

The benefits of bringing jobs back to America will likely be more long lasting and beneficial than printing a trillion dollars of valueless money (quantitative easing – sounds relaxing, doesn’t it?).  The more accurate title is “devaluing the dollar.”  This will cost each of us 20% more dollars, on average, to buy anything.  It’s another way of increasing the price of everything while we STILL lose jobs to overseas.  Or, more likely, while we collapse our entire economy because we insist on ignoring the reality of the root causes of our failures, with the dollar losing credibility around the globe.  Worse, the credibility of this country is falling even faster than the dollar.

“Genuine moderate” Muslims the key to reform?

Islamic experts Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum, and Dr. Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-born American psychiatrist held a debate on the topic:

Can there be a truly moderate Islam compatible with liberal-democratic notions of human rights and democracy? Is "radical Islam" a modern phenomenon or is Islam itself inherently radical?

Mr. Pipes and Ms. Sultan agreed on some specifics, for instance, that Western governments must not welcome non-violent Islamism and should monitor the hate being taught in Muslim schools in the West. Overall, however, Mr. Pipes, while not denying what Islam has been or is, insists that Islam, like other religions, can and will change.  Ms. Sultan was significantly more pessimistic and declared that historic, orthodox Islam, as practiced and taught by Muhammad and as practiced today by those we call “radical” is an inherently radical religion and cannot be reformed short of deleting significant portions of the Qur’an and other sacred Islamic scripture which, incidentally, is forbidden by the Qur’an itself.

Mr. Pipes primary concern with Ms. Sultan’s position appeared to be that if Islam itself is the problem, that leaves the West with no solutions.  That seems to be a case of whistling in the dark – denial of reality.  He add that, to truly reform Islam, Western governments must begin to empower genuine moderates.  However, most “genuine moderates”, after periods of exposure to the light, appear to be in bed with the radicals.   Mr. Pipes needs to do a much better job of defining and vetting “genuine moderates.”

More here.

Mystery contrail off California coast; govt. clueless

Update 1:  36 hours after the sighting, the US govt. officially concluded that the vapor trail was caused by an aircraft – although there was no evidence provided that any aircraft were in the area at the time.

Update 2:  (November 21) World Net Daily’s take on the contrail – watch the video:

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An unusual vapor trail, the sort that many associated with the launch of a rocket or missile,  was observed 35 miles off of LA in the Pacific.  The problem is, no one claimed any knowledge of a rocket being fired anywhere near this location.  It’s reported here and here.  The direction it was headed was not certain; some reported it heading west, some south.

A retired military officer provided off-handed and implausible speculation that the missile was a “show of force” by the US.  How likely is it that an unannounced and denied missile firing was a publicity stunt by our military?  The man was grasping.

Another officer noted that the official military word was they don’t know what it was but there is “no threat to the homeland.”  Hey, that sounds familiar.  If they don’t know what it was, how can they claim there is no threat?  That’s like what they say right after a terrorist attack:  “We don’t know why they did it but it wasn’t a terror attack.”  No threat to the homeland indeed.  Ahh, it was an isolated incident.

Other plausible explanations are that it was a rocket fired from a Chinese sub to subtly intimidate.  Another explanation is an attempt, or a test from an undisclosed source for an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on the US.  Look up “One Second After” on Amazon and EMP attack here and here. 

In fact, a near-coast missile firing is the the most likely method for launching a nuclear device 50 to 100 miles high over the US and detonating it resulting in the destruction of most electronic components over a radius of a several hundred miles.  The consequence is the crippling of water and sewer systems, banking systems, communications systems (TV, radio, computers, internet), commerce, most forms of transportation, and the electric power grid for weeks if not months.  This is not science fiction but one of the most likely forms of attack feared by national security experts.

There are some unofficial suggestions that it was simply a contrail from an airliner at 30,000 feet.  That is plausible.  But two days after the event, no one, civilians or military, has confirmed that there was a jet in that approximate location at the time this video was shot.  Why not?  It seems easy enough to confirm if there was.

If the contrail is simply from an airplane, why has no one in our military establishment who are well-versed in such phenomenon come out and made such reassuring statement – now three days after the event?  So, in either case, this is an odd event and worthy of further inquiry.

Is a “good Muslim” a bad Muslim?

What is a good Christian?  The answer is quite different from the answer to “what is a good Muslim.”  As it turns out, a “good” Muslim is a “bad” Muslim.  What does that mean?  It means that a Muslim who is “good” from the Judeo-Christian, or even from the historic western civilizational-moral perspective is a bad Muslim, a Muslim who isn’t doing what Muslims are supposed to do, based on the teachings of their Qur’an, Sura, and Hadith.  A good Muslim needs to do what Muhammad did, act the same, think the same.  And some of those things are downright immoral, cruel, deceitful, and uncivilized –from the western perspective.

Below is a video debate (almost two hours long) between two experts on this topic.  Robert Spencer, and one of his college professors, Peter Kreeft, discuss the question Is a Good Muslim a Bad Muslim.  It is very informative and worth the time – highly recommended.

As an aside, Kreeft is a professor in Thomas More College, a Catholic institution.  During the debate the question of whether Jews/Christians/Muslims worship the same god came up (see 49:16-25 on the video).  Like bobble-heads, everyone at the debate nodded in the affirmative, even Spencer, surprisingly.  He might have had something else to say about the ignorant assumption, but he didn’t say it.  Incidentally, even President Bush believes this, and, less surprisingly, Barack Obama.

In fact, Kreeft referenced Section 841 of the Catholic Catechism:

The Church’s relationship with the Muslims.  “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.”

That statement flies in the face of everything Muslims and Christians profess.  There are so many differences between the God Christians profess and the god Muslims profess that the above statement is entirely blasphemous from the Christian perspective, as well as from the Muslim.  That is a statement that is spoken out of ignorance at best, and out of a sense of a deceitful and vile ecumenical spirit at worst.  The attributes of the Judeo-Christian God and the Muslim Allah are as different as day and night – a partial explanation of why Islam teaches what it does.  Much has been written about the very significant differences between God and Allah.  Here is one source among many describing these gross differences.

Statements of Obama and the Face of Islam

While in India this past week, President Obama asserted that “Islam embodied a religion of peace, fairness and tolerance” and “that the religion was being distorted by a few extremists.”

He went on to explain “The phrase jihad has a lot of meaning within Islam and is subject to a lot of different interpretations, but I will say that first Islam is one of the world's great religions. More than a billion people practice Islam and an overwhelming majority view their obligations to a religion that reaffirms peace, fairness, tolerance. I think all of us recognize that this great religion in the hands of a few extremists has been distorted by violence.”

Then explain this to me, Mr. Quasi-Muslim:

1. Why is the public face of Islam represented by the likes of Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born radical Yemeni cleric who has called for the killing of Americans in a new video message posted on radical web sites.  There are hundreds like him around the world who are also the public face of Islam.  Where are the “moderates?” 

2. And when we hear from the “moderates”, why is it that upon further observation they turn out to be not so moderate?  Recent cases in point include

• The leader of the Orlando, FL, mosque, Muhammad Musri, who seemed so moderate when he confronted the Gainesville pastor who wanted to burn the Qur’an, turns out to be involved in funding Hamas terrorists.
• The Muslim proponent of the 9-11 Mosque in New York City, Feisal Abdul Rauf, turns out to be a not-so-secret Islamic terrorist enabler.
• Recently promoted “moderate” Muslim Major Nidal Malik Hasan turns out to be a violent jihadist when he murders 13 people at Fort Hood, TX.
• And here is a list of actions of Muslims in the name of Islam around the world.  They must be “moderate” because they are only doing what Islam teaches.

You are a grand deceiver, Mr. President.  You are skilled in Islamic taqiyya and white-washing a vile ideology.  You are right, Mr. Obama, millions of Muslims around the world are kind, gentle people, until they learn and practice their “religion.”

Bush: Is it “Class” or is it “Indifference?”

…or is it politics?

Now that George Bush is making the rounds selling his new book, it’s time to give some attention to his absolute silence about the affairs of state during the past two dismal years experienced by our nation.

Some believe that Bush has shown real “class” because he refrained from criticizing the awful things Obama has done to this nation.  In fact George himself said he has refrained from critically speaking out because “I respect the Presidency” and “being President is a tough enough job.”

But now that he is marketing his new book his “class” expediently morphed into criticism.  Googling “George Bush + Obama” reveals pages of current news stories where George finally feels compelled to be critical of Barack.

Bush Compares Obama To Nazi Appeasers

Bush takes swipes at Obama policies - Washington Times

Bush: Obama Would "Attack Pakistan And Embrace Ahmadinejad"

and many others.

His passivity over the past two years appears to be a Bush trait.  My recollection of his dad’s performance while seeking his second term was “indifference” to the campaign, a “low-key” attitude so low that it appeared he really didn’t care all that much.

That is the same message that George Jr. has portrayed over the past two years – indifference.  Anyone who was really concerned about his nation would speak out.  I respect both Dick Cheney and daughter Liz for speaking out in behalf of their nation and their beliefs about Obama’s destructive reign.  And I doubt that they felt the Office was being disrespected by their voice.  To the contrary, the Office is being disrespected by The One who occupies it. 

George gives me the distinct impression that he just played the game while he was in that office – his silence of the past two years betrays any real concern and demonstrates that he perhaps has no beliefs strong enough to overcome his desire for seclusion – except when it is time to sell his book.

God forbid if conservatives had the spirit of George Bush going into this election -  there would be 40 or 50 more democrats.

Do you believe George and the Republican party choreographed a silent-George during the lead up to the election because he would have been a liability if he perked up and said something?   Perhaps.  But over the past six months many of us would have loved to have George back to counteract the hopie changie thing that wasn’t going so well.  On the other hand, he may not be much different than his cohort, Barack.

He STILL doesn’t get it…

From the “he must be as dense as wet dog doo” department, here is B. Hussein’s reaction to the democrat policy dissing results of Tuesday’s election…

Obama Acknowledges Failures, Says ‘Leadership Isn’t Just Legislation’

November 5, 2010 9:56 AM

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NEW YORK (CBS) — After a suffering a “shellacking” in the midterm elections, President Obama acknowledges what many have seen as his chief weakness – failing to sell the importance of several legislative milestones to the American people.

“I think that’s a fair argument. I think that, over the course of two years we were so busy and so focused on getting a bunch of stuff done that, we stopped paying attention to the fact that leadership isn’t just legislation. That it’s a matter of persuading people. And giving them confidence and bringing them together. And setting a tone,” Mr. Obama told 60 Minutes’ Steve Kroft in an exclusive interview set to air Sunday.

He thinks he didn’t do a good enough selling job.  There is only so much smoke one radical, Muslim sympathizer can blow.  What?  Not enough taqiyya?

No, Mr. President, it really is about your socialist, America-loathing and America-destroying policies.  You communicated just fine.

So what can we expect from this man over the coming months?  I expect he will do everything in his power to further his agenda, his power will further erode, and we will have battle royals in Congress and with the President.  “Will he seek a second term”, “will he be granted a second term”, and “will he survive to the end of THIS term” are questions that will likely be asked.  It will be fascinating to watch. 

The true meaning of “gloat”

View Glenn Beck and his crew’s release of two years of pent up frustration in their reaction to the election results in the video below:

Democrats out to lunch…

How many times have you heard liberals and the democrats slander conservatives over the past few months by saying “they don’t have a plan”, “they haven’t articulated what they want to do”, “they are the party of ‘no’.”

I submit that such is not the case and the democrats merely decided to become deaf.

Dems and libs have chosen to ignore the clear plea articulated by conservatives throughout this election cycle, as restated by John Boehner, house Republican leader, last night when he said:

With their voices and their votes, the American people are demanding a new way forward in Washington. And I'm here tonight to tell you that our new majority will be prepared to do things differently... to take a new approach that hasn't been tried before in Washington - by either party.

· It starts with cutting spending instead of increasing it.

· Reducing the size of government instead of expanding it.

· Reforming the way Congress works and giving government back to the people.

· And for all those families asking 'where are the jobs?,' it means ending the uncertainty in our economy and helping small businesses get people back to work.

The people's priorities will be our priorities. The people's agenda will be our agenda. This is our Pledge to America ... this is our pledge to you!

The is the conservative agenda.  Seems pretty clear to me.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/02/boehners-election-night-speech#ixzz14EP7wC1x

VOTE !!!!

If facts don’t get you out the door to vote, maybe the lyrics and emotion of Krista’s song “I am America” will do the trick.

As Atlas lamented: Big klutzy government denies votes from our soldiers fighting on our behalf while Obama works to insure that prisoners and illegal aliens vote.

Several difficulties with Mormonism

I enjoy studying religions.  I have been involved in a number over the decades including Catholic, Presbyterian, Jehovah’s Witness, Mormon, and Baptist.  I have explored Lutheranism, Methodism and Independent/non-denominational sects.   Of course, the reason why there are so many thousand denominations is because of differences in Bible interpretation or points of doctrine that are felt to be so critical as to cause schism and formation of new denominations. 

And the reason why various sects earn the title of “cult” is simply because they have strayed away from the main stream definition of orthodoxy which primarily relates to how the Godhead is defined, the role of Jesus in salvation, and whether any alternative or supplemental scripture is assumed sacred, meaning critical to the other major components of the faith.   The obvious non-orthodox religions that have violated orthodox standards are Jehovah’s Witnesses, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its permutations, and Christian Science.   Each fall short of orthodoxy in a number of ways, but are arguably still legitimately “Christian” in many ways.

Having explored and participated in Mormonism for a few years, I have appreciated many of the qualities of that faith system and its adherents.  However, as with any human attempt to understand the things of God, compounded by the fact that I, Human, don’t understand God perfectly, I interpret that that faith system falls short in a number of areas.  The Christian less tolerant than I will find a dozen other horribles of Mormonism.  But the four most important to me, important to the point of provoking my desire to avoid the practice, are these:

God’s role in creation was limited:  My understanding of Mormon teaching of God’s role in creation is that God merely formed pre-existing mass into his creation.  He did not create everything – he did not create the formless matter.  Who did?  Another greater unknown God?  The reality is that God is the sole creator of everything, including the formless matter that he formed into his creation.

Disobedience was required by God to enable human progression:  My understanding of Mormon teaching of the role of Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden is that God required disobedience in order for humans to progress, becoming aware of pain, joy, good and evil.  While the orthodox view also has its problems (it appears that God had to implement his Plan “B”, the sacrifice of His Son, to atone for human failure in the Garden), the Mormon version that requires human disobedience of God’s commands in order to progress, is counterintuitive to the character of God, and seems even worse than "Plan “B”. 

Second class citizenship in heaven for those not “sealed”:  The “sealing” of marriages and other rituals based on certain standards on earth is required to ascend to the highest levels in heaven. While Mormons don’t attach any other criteria except baptism and belief in Jesus Christ to attain heaven, their class system once we get there is very works oriented.  I suppose the Mormon system attempts to provide advance information about the level we achieve in heaven, while the orthodox system leaves such placement entirely up to God.  I would rather be surprised.

Elements of Mormonism akin to elements of Islam:  There are several elements of Mormonism that are eerily similar to Islam.  One big one is the arrival of a new prophet (Joseph Smith/Muhammad) who creates new Scripture (Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants/Qur’an, Sura, Hadith) that reinterprets the Old and New Testaments.  Granted, there are many more dissimilarities than similarities.  But the similarities I mentioned seem enough to create strange bedfellows between the leadership of the LDS church and leadership of American Muslims.  The little bit of research I have done on this indicates that there is about the same degree of misplaced ecumenicalism promoted by Mormons with Muslims as there is promoted by mainline Christian denominations and Muslims.  Part of the reason is that the Mormon perception of Muslim persecution is sensitized by their own 19th century persecutions.  This sympathy blinds them to the fact the Islamic ties are not in their interest due to the historic, orthodox, and often deceptive disdain of Muslims toward Christians and their use of unsuspecting Christians as pawns to further their own supremacist interests.

My criteria in selecting a new church was seeking messages that not only accurately reflected orthodox Scriptural teaching, but just as importantly, applied it not just to personal lives, but to our culture and politics as well.  Part of this application included the comparison and contrast of Christianity with other belief systems such as Islam so that we have a collective understanding of the world around us – making us aware that not all is sweetness and light.  Mainline and Mormon denominations continue to remain oblivious.