Islam's Rise In America

With a hat-tip to Sounder, who left this link to "The Rise of Islam in America" in a comment at Foehammer's Anvil:



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Excerpt from the text at the above link (emphases mine):

There are between 6 and 7 million Muslims in America today. In other words, Muslims outnumber some Christian denominations and are equal to the number of Jews. Research done in the year 2000 by prominent American universities and Islamic foundations show that the number of Muslims is increasing rapidly and that Islam is growing stronger day by day.

The above graphic representation shows the rising numbers of mosques in America.
The main theme of this research, known as the Mosque Study Project, is the establishment of mosques in America. The reason for this is that mosques occupy a very special place in any statistical compilations done with regard to the American Muslim community. Mosques in America are both houses of worship and gathering places for talking with one another and launching cultural activities to make Islam more widely known. Every mosque establishes a relationship with the press to introduce Islam to a wider audience, speaks with local politicians, visits schools and churches, engages in interfaith dialogue and carries on other such activities. Thus, research done on these mosques is one of the most useful tools for gathering accurate and enlightening information on this community's state.

According to this research, America now has about 1,209 mosques, most of which were constructed very recently. Thirty percent of these mosques were built in the 1990s, and 32% were built in the 1980s. Other statistics show that in 1994, the total number of mosques in America was 962; in 2000, there was a 25% increase in this number.

These data show a natural parallel with the growing number of Muslims. For example, according to determinations made in 1994, the number of Muslims attending mosque services was 500,000; in 2000, this figure had increased to 2 million-an approximately 300% increase. A significant part of this number is composed of people who converted to Islam. The same research shows that about 30% of those worshippers are converts. According to these data, about 20,000 Americans accept Islam every year....

Much more at this link, including access to additional pages.




Also see my recent posting "Not A Surprise To Those Of Us Who Watch."






(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

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Not A Surprise To Those Of Us Who Watch

According to this article in World Net Daily:

Study: 3 in 4 U.S. mosques
preach anti-West extremism
Secret survey exposes widespread radicalism

An undercover survey of more than 100 mosques and Islamic schools in America has exposed widespread radicalism, including the alarming finding that 3 in 4 Islamic centers are hotbeds of anti-Western extremism, WND has learned.

The Mapping Sharia in America Project, sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, has trained former counterintelligence and counterterrorism agents from the FBI, CIA and U.S. military, who are skilled in Arabic and Urdu, to conduct undercover reconnaissance at some 2,300 mosques and Islamic centers and schools across the country.
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"So far of 100 mapped, 75 should be on a watchlist," an official familiar with the project said.

Many of the Islamic centers are operating under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian government and U.S. front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt.

Frank Gaffney, a former Pentagon official who runs the Center for Security Policy, says the results of the survey have not yet been published. But he confirmed that "the vast majority" are inciting insurrection and jihad through sermons by Saudi-trained imams and anti-Western literature, videos and textbooks.

The project, headed by David Yerushalmi*, a lawyer and expert on sharia law, has finished collecting data from the first cohort of 102 mosques and schools. Preliminary findings indicate that almost 80 percent of the group exhibit a high level of sharia-compliance and jihadi threat, including:

Ultra-orthodox worship in which women are separated from men in the prayer hall and must enter the mosque from a separate, usually back, entrance; and are required to wear hijabs.

Sermons that preach women are inferior to men and can be beaten for disobedience; that non-Muslims, particularly Jews, are infidels and inferior to Muslims; that jihad or support of jihad is not only a Muslim's duty but the noblest way, and suicide bombers and other so-called "martyrs" are worthy of the highest praise; and that an Islamic caliphate should one day encompass the U.S.

Solicitation of financial support for jihad.

Bookstores that sell books, CDs and DVDs promoting jihad and glorifying martyrdom.

Though not all mosques in America are radicalized, many have tended to serve as safe havens and meeting points for Islamic terrorist groups. Experts say there are at least 40 episodes of extremists and terrorists being connected to mosques in the past decade alone.

Some of the 9/11 hijackers, in fact, received aid and counsel from one of the largest mosques in the Washington, D.C., area. Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center is one of the mosques indentified by undercover investigators as a hive of terrorist activity and other extremism.

It was founded and is currently run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Imams there preach what is called "jihad qital," which means physical jihad, and incite violence and hatred against the U.S.

Dar al-Hijrah's ultimate goal, investigators say, is to turn the U.S. into an Islamic state governed by sharia law.

Another D.C.-area mosque, the ADAMS Center, was founded and financed by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, and has been one of the top distributors of Wahhabist anti-Semitic and anti-Christian dogma.

Even with such radical mosques operating in its backyard, the U.S. government has not undertaken its own systematic investigation of U.S. mosques.

In contrast, European Union security officials are analyzing member-state mosques, examining the training and funding sources of imams, in a large-scale project.

Some U.S. lawmakers want the U.S. to conduct its own investigation.

"We have too many mosques in this country," said Rep. Pete King, R-N.Y. "There are too many people who are sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully."

Year ago, Paul Sperry sounded the alarm about the Islamist infiltration of the D.C. Metro area. HERE is the section on the Wahhabi Corridor, just one example from Sperry's materials of several years ago.

(Some of the above material crossposted at Northern Virginiastan)

Are mosques merely centers of worship? Not exactly, to this posting by Common Sense Against Islam at Infidel Blogger's Alliance and citing this source's article about Islamic architecture:

. . . in short and as a matter of fact, the mosque has always been a fulcrum of conquest, as the mosque serves the role of military and political conquest, religious indoctrination and education, and political and religious administration of conquered areas and populations.

It has done so by the artifice of an advanced outpost of trade and economic relations if you must deal in current parlance; it has done so by the direct adjunct of military conquest; and it does so now as the adjunct and fulcrum of demographic conquest in western europe, and as the operational base for worldwide terror and the jihad wherever the mosque is found.

No distinction can be drawn between Islam, muslims, mosques, madrasa’s and any of the arms and accoutrements of Islam conquest in the 1400 years of Islam, and any distinction that would view the presence of a mosque in an american neighborhood as an innocent event is drawn by apologists, deceivers, or the very seriously delusional.

. . . Islam has been spread by the point of the sword, e.g., by conquest from the time of the beginning of the religion, nor for the fact that it is being spread by conquest now. why should there be? it is now as it was then, and that is the simple truth of the matter

. . . I am going to wrap this post up, as it is getting late and the post is far too long. this will be the last installment or post relative to the notion that mosques are forts. if you are not convinced at this point, nothing additional will convince you on this point.

. . . we need to start gathering intelligence on american mosques, to gain some appreciation of just how they have sought to establish these links, and with whom. and, we need to understand just how seemingly unrelated activities and organizations are linked up, and how centralized their planning is, and just how well they have their agenda’s mapped out.

. . . the examples of long range planning by the Muslim Brotherhood, their goals and agendas, and how they have implemented the same via a worldwide terrorist network, coordinated with a demographic attack on Europe, does not suggest that Islamic and arab interests in this country have been satisfied to sit around and do nothing.

. . . and it is, plain and simple, wrapped up in the communications network of the mosque. It has always been so, and there is absolutely no reason to believe that it should be otherwise in this country. the mosques are up and running and we know their agenda, because it has been the agenda of all mosques ever built: it is to expand islam.

*Note: On Friday, February 29, 2008, on The Gathering Storm Radio Show, WC and I are scheduled to interview David Yerulshalmi at the top of the second hour. Dave Gaubatz, who does field work for the Mapping Shari'a in America Project, plans to join us for the discussion.

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Weekly Radio Show: February 29

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live for at least one hour every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, February 29: Our guest at the bottome of the first half hour of the show is John Bootie. John Bootie is a candidate for President of the United States. You can read brief synopses of his positions on various issues HERE.

At the top of the second hour, Dave Gaubatz and David Yerulshalmi of Mapping Shari'a In America will discuss their stunning investigative findings, recently published in World Net Daily.
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If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
March 7: Janet Levy and GM Roper
March 14: Walid Shoebat and Mark Alexander
March 21: Elisabeth of Austria
March 28: Robert Spencer

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Kosovo's Implications For Southern California?

I found the following excerpt from this February 19, 2008 article in the Brussels Journal (a source which I rarely, if ever, cite) at Eleanor Duckwall's Spotlight:

...The Kosovo Albanians claimed Kosovo for two reasons: (a) because long, very long ago, before the province was Serbian, it used to be theirs and (b) because today they have become a majority in the province. America granted them their wish and forced Serbia out.

What if tomorrow Hispanics in California (or Texas) push for the independence of Southern California (or Southern Texas), arguing (a) that a long time ago, before these provinces became Anglo-American, they were Mexican and (b) that Hispanics have now become a majority there?
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Applying the Kosovo logic of Bill Clinton and George Bush, Washington should then be forced out of Southern California by an international army of European, Russian and Chinese troops who would establish an independent “nation” there. All this would be done in violation of the international rule that international borders can only be changed with the agreement of all parties. This is how Washington is treating Serbia today....

The caption is "The 'nation' of Aztlan - America's Kosovo":

So, readers, what do you think of the above excerpt? As ever, your opinions are welcome.

Note: I posted the above yesterday to Infidel Bloggers Alliance, where the above information has received several comments worth reading and considering.

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Audio: Michelle Obama's Vision of America

HERE, at Townhall.com on the February 15, 2008 edition of The Hugh Hewitt Show.

In one of her stump speeches, Michelle Obama says the following:

"We have lost the understanding that...we have a mutual obligation to one another....We have...to fix our souls?"

As Mr. Hewitt points out, Michelle Obama is talking about the government's fixing our souls. Huh?

Michelle Obama further asserts that her husband is the only person who can "fix" America.

There is much more to the above excerpts from some of Michelle Obama's stump speeches. Listen to the whole thing (about 10 minutes).

(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS on February 22, 2008)

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The Three Laws of Islam

Google image of the Koran and the Hadith


According to this posting at Sultan Knish, via the blog site The Gathering Storm, we are already living as dhimmis (emphases mine):

Polls show that 40 percent of British Muslims want Sharia, Islamic Law implemented in the UK and the government has moved to accommodate them. Tony Blair's government passed a law that would essentially criminalize blaspheming Islam. The law was weakened in the House of Lords but it will return again stronger than ever especially as the electoral and terror power of Muslims grow along with the desire of Western governments to appease them.

Norway and Sweden have already begun the process of implementing similar laws. In parts of Australia criticizing Islam can get you jail time. In Israel a woman was sentenced to prison for drawing and distributing a cartoon of Mohamed as a pig. In Russia and Belarus newspaper editors have faced jail time for reprinting the Danish cartoons.

If you believe that this can't happen in America, you are very wrong. The legal framework for it is already in place. Hate Crime laws allow for actions that are not in and of themselves criminal to be treated as criminal actions. Increasingly such laws also define a hate crime not based on the motive or action of the accused perpetrator but on the perception of the presumed victim. Beyond the legal statues, perceived intolerance is penalized in numerous ways economically and socially.

Despite the fact that Americans have stronger freedom of speech protection than Europeans, fewer American than European newspapers printed the Mohamed cartoons. A handful by comparison. Europe's newspapers still need laws to be censored, our newspapers gladly censor themselves without even facing any real threat of violence as Europeans do. Even before the mobs have come, the press has voluntarily obeyed them.

For all intents and purposes, from our government to our media to our public entertainment and educational system; the first law of Islam has been implemented.

The First Law of Islam: Thou Shalt Not Criticize Islam.

The laws beyond that will follow. Since this special status of Islam leaves all other religions unprotected, Islam already has a superior status to other religions while other religions have an inferior status to Islam. With the first law in place, WE ARE ALL ALREADY DHIMMIS.

The Second Law of Islam: Islam is Superior to All Other Beliefs

Islam may be propagandized in schools while Judaism or Christianity may not. Muslims may pray in schools, members of other religions may not. Muslim holy books are treated as holy, while the holy books of other religions are treated as myth. The violence of other religions is condemned, while the violence of Islam is covered up. This leads us to Islam's second law, Islam Is Superior To All Other Beliefs. By giving exclusive status to Islam, we have already implemented this as well.

The Third Law of Islam: You Will Obey Us

By giving in to Islamic rage, we have already set the pattern of functioning as Dhimmis, of responding to Muslim tantrums with appeasement. The pattern continues from there with Muslims in public life enforcing their religious laws on everyone else. Muslim taxi drivers are already doing this by refusing to carry passengers who carry alcohol, seeing eye dogs for the blind and Muslim cashiers are refusing to handle pork.

There are Islamic laws that place restrictions on women. These won't require government authority to legislate. Muslims simply implement them by making clear what happens to women who don't. In parts of the world that has meant throwing acid into the faces of schoolgirls who don't wear the Hijab as in Indonesia, preventing women from entering public areas if they are not dressed 'modestly' as is widespread in African countries where Islam is on the rise, treating any woman not dressed in the Islamic manner as a legitimate rape target as in Europe.

Sharia Law doesn't need to function officially as long as Muslims have the leverage to implement it by force on an individual level. Through sensitivity training and religious protection laws, Muslims are forcing schools to allow Hijabs and Sex Separation as their requirements for women and through violence and harassment will force women to follow those requirements. At Nigerian protests a female Muslim reporter was stoned for not wearing the Hijab head covering, a head covering that was itself developed during the Lebanese conflict and modeled on the wimples of Catholic nuns to enable Arab Muslim fighters to distinguish between Christian and Shiite women as legitimate targets for assault. Harrassment by Muslims of Jewish students is already prevalent on campuses while the administration looks the other way. The same feminists who hold Take Back The Night Rallies along with solidarity rallies for Palestine will discover themselves the targets soon enough, as women increasingly face harassment from Muslim bosses, clients and customers for not complying while the various offices of civil and human rights naturally look the other way.

The only major step Muslims have yet to achieve is to force disputes between Muslims and Non-Muslims to be mediated in Muslim courts. This will begin as part of workplace sensitivity regulations for Muslims requiring disputes with the company to be arbitrated in a Muslim forum and some disputes between civil authorities and Muslim workers as well. The media and government broadcasting and rebroadcasting with the propaganda that Islam is a Religion of Peace will have nothing but praise for them. CAIR and similar groups will run puff pieces on how these arbitration mechanisms function much more peacefully than civil courts and save everyone money.

Then there will be Muslim unions that will strike not over job issues but over political ones. Support for Israel or sanctions against Iran or any opposition to a Muslim demand by a city will mean striking transit workers, taxi strikes and work stoppages that will derail local, state and national economies. It will be cheaper and simpler for most to simply give in. If this is hard to believe, consider that American labor is increasingly immigrant based and unions are trying to compensate for their loss of influence by aggressively recruiting immigrants. It won't be long before those same immigrants are running the unions. The New York transit strike was orchestrated by a man who could barely speak English. Today he's Haitian, tomorrow he's just as likely to be Pakistani or Yemeni.

The hour is much later than we think.

If Europe is putting up something of a fight, it is we who are giving in without a fight. For all the patriotic rhetoric of the Bush Administration, we may be fighting a particular group of Islamic terrorists but we are surrendering to most of the others and the terror has only begun.

The West is going voluntarily into dhimmitude by catering to small but vocal groups of Muslims. Right now, that voluntary dhimmitude is reversible. But does the West believe enough in its own freedoms and heritage to make such a stand?

The record of history indicates that, with the exception of Spain and centuries-long battles of La Reconquista, once Islam has gained a strong enough foothold in any nation, that nation slides down the slope into Islamic oppression and full dhimmitude. Recovery from such a political and social system is well nigh impossible.

Note: Be sure to read WC's post on "The Three Laws of Islam." He has additional information.

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CAIR Loses Status?

According to this February 18, 2008 update from the United American Committee, CAIR, whose shady connections have been well exposed by Andrew Whitehead of the web site Anti-CAIR (among others), CAIR may have come down a peg or two (emphases mine):

A major victory in the fight against Jihad has apparently occurred. Somewhere in the dead of night, without any known announcement from the organization, the highly controversial Washington DC based group CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations has apparently lost the tax status which enabled it to conduct lobbying activities. The organization was registered for many years under the IRS tax code 501c(4) which allowed the organization to conduct lobbying activities, campaign funding, legislation and candidate backing, and many other government and litigation related activities. A 501c(4) tax status is very difficult to maintain, requiring quarterly public filings, and is very regulated under strict lobbying laws, yet is the most powerful tax status for organizations wishing to influence government. CAIR, who was under this status, had numerous members of their leadership indicted on terrorism related charges in the past, and had received large amounts of funding from questionable foreign sources. Many critics of the group often wondered how CAIR was able to hold on to such a highly critiqued tax status such as 501c(4). In contrast there is another tax status which is much weaker, and one that is very easy for most anyone to receive, and that status is 501c(3), a status which U.S. tax laws prohibit such organizations from engaging in large amounts of lobbying and government influence activities, it is a status for educational groups and churches, which is greatly restricted in the ability to influence any kind of legislation. CAIR has recently downgraded the description of their organization on their website to 501c(3). While calls to their office could not confirm the reasons, it appears that CAIR may have lost the status as of the first of this year.

Note, the current organization description on CAIR's website reads:
"CAIR is a not-for-profit organization recognized as tax-exempt under U.S. Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3)."

While internet archives of the site as of June 2007 read as follows:
"The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(4), grassroots civil rights and advocacy group."

Chalk one up for the good guys.

Could there be a connection with CAIR's recent tussle with Michael Savage?

Or is CAIR backing off because the organization dare not open financial records to the light of day as was the case in CAIR's law suit against Andrew Whitehead of Anti-CAIR?

Audio, about ten minutes in length and worth your time:




Read more details about CAIR's unsuccessful law suit against Anti-CAIR, a site which contains the same information it has always provided.

Let's see if CAIR publishes any kind of response to the above update from the United American Committee. Of course, CAIR may do what the organization does best — stonewall or spin the story.

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ALERT! BLOGGER TO BE ARRESTED! (Amended & Updated)

The terrible news about the upcoming arrest of Lionheart UK reached my inbox in the wee hours of Friday, January 4, 2008:

Hi AOW

I just wanted to let you know that I am being arrested by the British police because of my blog.

As Pamela stated in her post on the topic at Atlas Shrugs,

[Lionheart] has been a warrior on the war on the jihad in the UK and exposed the drug running that funded Islamic jihad in Britain and posted on the tsunami of sharia enveloping his beloved country. The Brits have submitted to Islam and they mean to shut down anyone who speaks for freedom, justice and liberty. Silencing the daring truth tellers...."Hate speech" legislation is the club the political elites will wield to club us into submission.

From Lionheart's first post on the charges against him:

I am currently out of the Country and on my return home to England I am going to be arrested by British detectives on suspicion of Stirring up Racial Hatred by displaying written material" contrary to sections 18(1) and 27(3) of the Public Order Act 1986.

This charge if found guilty carries a lengthy prison sentence, more than what most paedophiles and rapists receive, and all for writing words of truth about the barbarity that is living in the midst of our children, which threatens the very future of our Country.

What has become of my homeland, the land my forefathers fought and died for on the battlefields of the world when one of their children is forced into the position of facing years in prison for standing up for what is right and just within British society.

[...]

This arrest and potential imprisonment is what now awaits me at the start of 2008, and this is what now awaits every other blogger in Great Britain who writes the truth about the modern war that is now unfolding against us, our children and the British homeland by the State (Labour government) sanctioned and protected enemy that is living in our midst - The Islamic Kingdom.

Go read it all. And, for as long as Lionheart can continue to post, read the subsequent posts as well by visiting new posts at the top of his home page.

COPY THIS POST AND/OR LINK BACK TO IT. SEND OUT EMAILS TO YOUR FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTENANCES. GET THE WORD OUT AS TO WHAT'S HAPPENING TO LION HEART UK!

Additional information: The Gathering Storm Radio Show's interview with Lion Heart UK (first half hour). We plan another interview with Lion Heart on January 18, 2008.* Listen to the voice which is about to be silenced!

*Note the change in date.

UPDATES:
1. WC and I will have guests discussing Lionheart's situation on our radio show of January 11. Our show begins at noon, Pacific Standard Time. The call-in number is 646-915-9870.

2. Lionheart will be on the radio show Political Vindication at 6:00 PM, Pacific Standard Time on Thursday, January 17. The call-in number is 646-652-4598.

3. And don't forget that WC and yours truly will be interviewing Lionheart on The Gathering Storm Radio Show on Friday, January 18; the show begins at noon Pacific Standard Time. The call-in number is 646-915-9870.

4. February 1, 2008 video interviews of Lionheart. In the first video (YouTube link HERE), he offers a way to confirm his story.

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Weekly Radio Show: February 22

(This posting stuck near the top for several days. Please scroll down)

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live for at least one hour every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

SPECIAL SHOW! PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES SLAPDOWN!

Friday, February 22: For one hour, Mustang, Allan Goldstein, and Saleem Siddiqui will discuss their views as to who will make the best President to conduct the war on terror and to deal with the threat of Islamism.
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Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show this week, and find out which candidate(s) our slapdown participants think will make the best President.

You don't want to miss this show, which will discuss the upcoming, critical change of leadership in the United States when voters go to the polls on November 4, 2008!

Note: If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
February 29: Jason Bootie
March 7: Janet Levy and GM Roper
March 14: Walid Shoebat and Mark Alexander
March 21: Elisabeth of Austria
March 28: Robert Spencer

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Prince Bandar & The Banks

According to this posting by Director Blue, citing the Washington Post at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS on January 27, 2008,

Bill Clinton approached Prince Bandar in 1991 for $20 million to launch a Middle East studies program at the University of Arkansas and that Prince Bandar announced that the request was approved shortly before Bill Clinton won the presidential election...

On February 10, 2008, the Washington Post reported the following about Prince Bandar, former ambassador from Saudi:

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the former Saudi ambassador to the United States from removing real estate sales proceeds from the United States, pending resolution of a class-action lawsuit.

The suit was filed last September by a tiny Michigan city's retirement system. It accuses current and former directors of BAE Systems, a giant British defense company, of breaching their fiduciary duties in connection with $2 billion or more in alleged illegal bribes paid to Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

Bandar also is named a defendant in the suit, along with the former Riggs Bank of Washington and its successor, PNC Financial Group.

[...]

Without ruling on the merits of the case, U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer said in a temporary restraining order, signed Tuesday [February 12], that the suit by the City of Harper Woods Employees' Retirement System raises serious questions of law that warrant a temporary order keeping Bandar from taking the proceeds of real estate sales out of U.S.-based accounts.

[...]

The retirement system suit maintains that Bandar used funds illicitly obtained from BAE Systems to acquire U.S. real estate, including a Colorado ranch and mansion once placed on the market at $135 million and the former William Randolph Hearst mansion in California, offered for sale last summer at $165 million....

According to the article, the accounts in question were audited annually by the Saudi Arabian Ministry--for whatever those audits are worth with regard to integrity.

The article goes on to provide this unrelated information:

In London, lawmakers disclosed last month that Britain's head of overseas intelligence had warned that Saudi Arabia probably would stop sharing vital information on terrorism if prosecutors pursued an investigation into alleged corruption involving the kingdom.

MI6, Britain's overseas intelligence service, believed Saudi Arabia would probably end information-sharing with Britain if investigators continued the inquiry, former attorney general Peter Goldsmith told the committee. MI6 raised objections to the prosecution before Britain's Serious Fraud Office decided to end the case, he said.

After the inquiry was dropped, Saudi Arabia signed a $8.7 billion agreement with Britain to buy 72 Eurofighter Typhoon jets from BAE.

I'll give the Saudis credit for one thing: they know how to work quid pro quo. The West apparently does not.

Reminder: Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs knew all about quid pro quo, too. He worked it to his megalomaniacal, serial-killing advantage.

(Crossposted at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

Additional information on Prince Bandar, from Mark Alexander's web site:

THE GUARDIAN: Saudi Arabia's rulers threatened to make it easier for terrorists to attack London unless corruption investigations into their arms deals were halted, according to court documents revealed yesterday.

Previously secret files describe how investigators were told they faced "another 7/7" and the loss of "British lives on British streets" if they pressed on with their inquiries and the Saudis carried out their threat to cut off intelligence.

Prince Bandar, the head of the Saudi national security council, and son of the crown prince, was alleged in court to be the man behind the threats to hold back information about suicide bombers and terrorists. He faces accusations that he himself took more than £1bn in secret payments from the arms company BAE....

But keep telling yourself, as our leaders do, "Saudi is our ally. Saudi is our ally." Yeah, right.

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What Does The Muslim Brotherhood Support?

For one thing, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood seems to favor female genital mutilation:

The Religious Affairs Committee at the People's Assembly has discussed questions tabled by MB [Muslim Brotherhood] deputies al-Sayyid Askar and Ali Laban on the action taken by the Awqaf Ministry of printing and distributing booklets on the female circumcision. The two deputies made strong accusations to the Awqaf Ministry of squandering public funds by printing and distributing thousands of copies of a booklet that has already been printed twice under the provocative title of "female circumcision is not part of the Islamic rites."

The two deputies have also accused the Awqaf Ministry of violation of the constitution and law. MB Deputy Askar said that this title was in conflict with the consensus of the fiqh experts [Islamic jurisprudents] that female circumcision was one of Islam's rites.

[...]

Another member of the MB Parliamentary bloc Mahir Aql has warned against the danger of this campaign [against female genital mutilation] which seeks to undermine the Islamic Shari'ah....

Who gets the blame?

[S]uspect foreign bodies, some of which are Christian evangelical while the others were Jewish, were behind the financing of the campaign against female circumcision

and

[T]he government seeks from this [anti-FGM] campaign to uproot Islam in order to please the West and to appease the suspect Zionist-US organizations.

So, opposing the mutilation of girls and women is a conspiracy against Islam? Infidels and modern Muslims cannot agree that such a practice is barbarism?

Note: Today's edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show will include a discussion of FGM with our guest Cassandra. Maybe Cassandra, WC, and I will be considered fatwah-worthy?

[Hat-tip to Pastorius, who notified me of this posting at Isaac Schrodinger]

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Sheesh!

I'm off from work today because of an ice storm and am waiting around for the power to go off.

Meanwhile, all day long on cable news, all I see is wall-to-wall coverage of...
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...the illegal use of steroids in baseball.

I hear accusations about "lying under oath before Congress."

If every liar on Capitol Hill had to leave, how many of our elected representatives would be left?

That is all.

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Election Dynamics

(All emphases by Always On Watch)

In the February 18, 2008 edition of U.S. News & World Report, Editor-in-Chief Mortimer B. Zuckerman offers a commentary on the leading candidates of the moment. In his essay, written before yesterday's Potomac primaries, Mr. Zuckerman makes the case for the necessity of having a greater number of super delegates because they have more knowledge of two particular issues: the economy, the threat of Islamic terrorism. In Mr. Zuckerman's opinion, superdelegates chosen from the ranks of governors and members of Congress would be better suited to select candidates not as flawed as the ones we have right now (emphases mine):

America faces a leadership crisis. In a poll by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, no fewer than 79 percent of respondents think that this vacuum means that, unless we get better leaders, we are in danger of declining as a nation. Even more—88 percent—think the media are part of the problem, focusing on little gotcha stories and not enough on either character and values or substantive policies. In truth, we require a combination of vision and executive competence of the highest level. We don't want any more Katrinas, falling bridges, airport chaos, and governmental paralysis. We do want an equitable healthcare system, sensible funding of entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid) that consume more than 40 percent of the federal budget today and 70 percent by 2030—an intolerable burden to pass on to our children. This is why the country wants change and a clean break with the past.

Also included in Mr. Zuckerman's essay is the following assessment of the leading candidates:

Senator Clinton's slogan is "Ready from Day One." She capitalizes on her deep understanding of how the White House and Congress operate, her mastery of the issues, and her familiarity with the bureaucratic byways that can bog down the best of intentions. She focuses on programs to assist middle- and working-class families but has yet to develop the voice or themes to match the lofty rhetoric of Obama.

Obama, whose slogan is "Change We Can Believe In," downplays concrete programs, thus circumscribing his appeal to middle-class and blue-collar workers. He relies on a generational shift to make his youth and inexperience a plus instead of a minus. The Internet generation has the confidence it can run the world better than my generation. Inspired by Obama's lofty reformist rhetoric, his supporters are comfortable with his assurances he can work in a bipartisan way and restore the effectiveness of and faith in our government. Pressed to be specific, he says he will turn to the American people for answers. Perhaps he thinks that drawing attention to his extremely liberal voting record is not a winning proposition in the general election.

Mr. Zuckerman goes on to defend John McCain as the best Republican candidate and states as follows:

McCain is the front-runner. His resurgence reflects the success of the surge in Iraq. He understood from the beginning that the small-force strategy was wrong. He called for more boots on the ground. His unequivocal—and lonely—support for the surge turned a political negative into a plus. He is entitled to argue that his experience makes him ready to lead as commander in chief from Day 1. He is certainly clear-sighted about the threat from Islamic fundamentalism and how to fight it.

The conservative base may remain wary of McCain, but right now he is the only Republican capable of attracting bipartisan and independent support in the general election. As a champion of immigration reform, he is the only one who can battle for the Hispanic vote, which was the key to Bush's re-election. McCain is the most electable Republican.

Yesterday, Obama swept the Potomac Primaries by a large margin — never mind the disturbing information about the man, including but not limited to information at the web site Muslims for Obama, which states the following:

ISSUES & SOLUTIONS

QUESTION: What are issues and recommendations for solutions that are unique to Muslim Americans?

1. A Law against harrassment of a Muslim women wearing Hijab at the Airport, DMV and other public arenas.

2. Institute a Law to allow Muslim Employees to take a hours off from work for Friday Jummah Prayer.

3. Make the 2 Eid's, recognized National Holidays on Calendars with days off from work.

4. Optional Halal meals in federal buildiings, public schools and colleges.

5. Provide prayer areas suitable for Salah and Jummah, in public and private facilities. (i.e. Malls, Airports, Universities and government buildings.)

6. Organize a Muslim American group to assist in recommendations for US foreign policy affecting majority Muslim countries.

Barack Hussein Obama is the populist candidate of many more than his Muslim supporters, as voters in the various primaries cast their ballots with their hearts and not their heads. Please see this excellent article, "When It's Head versus Heart, the Heart Wins." Also see this posting over at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS about Obama's fascist appeal.

In sum, Obama is the feel-good candidate. The last such candidate whom I recall was Jimmy Carter, and we all know how that Presidential term turned out.

According to all the news reports I hear this morning and in contraction to the predictions of just a few months ago, Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign is in trouble. One talking head this morning even mentioned that she might not win Texas on March 4. Previous to this morning, that possibility had barely been mentioned because Hillary Clinton typically receives support from the Latino voters aligned the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party, on the other hand, seems more divided than usual, with some supporting McCain out of conviction, others out of expediency and the desperate desire not to see a Democrat in the White House. Apparently, many Republicans cast their votes of protest against McCain yesterday in the Potomac Primary, with Mike Huckabee receiving the lion's share of those we're-not-happy-with-McCain voters.

The American nomination and election process being what it is, anything can happen between now and November. Shocking revelations, such as occurred with the swiftboating of John Kerry, could well affect the final vote of citizens. The final debates between the final nominees are months away. When all is said and done, Super Tuesday, for all its importance, might not have meant as much as many thought it would. For now, however, the tide is with Barack Hussein Obama, especially if American voters want change they may ultimately live to regret.

Disclaimer: This posting is not an endorsement of Obama.

(Excerpt posted at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

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Weekly Radio Show: February 15

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday beginning at noon, Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

Friday, February 15 (90-minute show): This week's guest for the entire show will be Cassandra, author of the book Escape! From an Arab Marriage: Horror Stories of Women Who Fled from Abusive Muslim Husbands and of the blog site No Slaves of Allah in America. We'll be discussing with Cassandra America Truth Forum's recent symposium (video here) and the genital mutilation of children (shocking, realistic graphics and photos here — RATED "R"!).
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Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show this week, and learn the truth about the genital mutilation of children!

Note: If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
February 22: Mustang, Allan Goldstein, and Saleem Siddiqui
February 29: Jason Bootie
March 7: Janet Levy and GM Roper
March 14: Walid Shoebat
March 21: Elisabeth of Austria
March 28: Robert Spencer

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FEATURED QUESTION: JOURNALISM

(Each "Featured Question," an idea which I gleaned from A Republic If You Can Keep It, will remain toward the top of the blog until the next question appears. The previous QUESTIONS are HERE. Please scroll down for recent postings)

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), founded in 1909, has some 300 chapters with 10,000 members across the United States. The group brings and affects local educational programming to certain areas of our country, and also has contact with the professional media. SPJ is a member of the Council of National Journalism, an extensive list HERE, with emphasis on journalists-in-training and young professional journalists.
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SPJ's intitiatives include a legal defense fund in support of the First Amendment and Project Sunshine, both of which promote public and journalistic access to government records.

The group's mission statment begins as follows:

The Society of Professional Journalists is dedicated to the perpetuation of a free press as the cornerstone of our nation and our liberty....

Read SPJ's entire mission statement HERE.

In October 2007, at the group's national convention in Seattle, the Society of Professional Journalists passed a resolution entitled "Guidelines for Countering Racial, Ethnic, and Religious Profiling.," particularly related to the 9/11 attacks and to subsequent reporting on related events. These guidelines contain specific information as to how to report on stories involving Islam, including not using the terms "Islamic terrorism" and "Muslim extremist," as well as urging the use of preferred transliterations of certain Arabic-derived words; perhaps as expected, the definition of "jihad" does not include "holy war."

The web page is copyrighted; therefore, you'll need to CLICK HERE to read the list of guidelines.


FEATURED QUESTION: Are SPJ'S diversity guidelines of the Society for Professional Journalism conducive to accurate reporting and to keeping the citizenry well informed? Explain your answer if you so desire. You may want to consider this article in the UK's Daily Mail in your response.

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Approving Honor Killings & Undermining Hygiene?

The UK doesn't officially approve honor killings. Not yet.

Nevertheless, the silence and the omission to act is coming from the tyranny of political correctness — an idiotic idea carried to unimaginable extremes and, according to this article at the Daily Mail, threatening even the proper enforcement of the law, thereby endangering the lives of women and young girls:

Police and authorities 'afraid to act against honour crimes in case they are called racist', claims report

Honour killing victim: Surjit Kaur Athwal disappeared on a trip to India in 1998
Teachers, police and councils are afraid to take action against so-called honour crimes for fear of being accused of racism, it is claimed.

Women are also being betrayed by community figures who believe those who break traditional taboos deserve to be punished, the report found.

Researchers say taxi drivers, police and government workers of Asian origin are returning women to the domestic abuse they want to escape...

Read the rest of the article at the Daily Mail.

Have the police in the UK become so politically correct, so afraid of criticism, that they are reticent to prevent murder?

Moral relativism and political correctness are eating away at the very fabric of Western society in the UK, as reflected in two other recent stories: the recognition of Muslim polygamy and the Archbishop of Canterbury's declaration about the inevitability of some aspects of shari'a law being implemented in the UK so as to prevent further fragmentation of British society.

Right now, the outcry of outrage over the archbishop's remarks has British citizens all fired up. One can only hope that they hold onto that anger. Maybe then the politicians will understand that the people, including many Muslim immigrants, want British law in the UK — not shari'a law.

Another lesser known story is one which threatens the health of the everyday person in the UK. Article from this source on February 3, 2008 (Hat-tip to WC of The Gathering Storm):

Muslim women working at U.K. medical facilities are increasingly refusing to comply with the basic hygiene standard of rolling up their sleeves when their washing hands, it was reported.

According to the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph, female workers are ignoring Britain's Department of Health rules requiring medics to be "bare below the elbow" because they consider showing any skin — outside the hands and face — immodest.

The guidelines were put into place to stave off the spread of infectious killer bugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have been implicated in the deaths of hundreds of hospital patients, according to the paper.

Hygiene experts said the standard should hold for all workers— even if it goes against their religion.

"I don't think it would be right to make an exemption for people on any grounds. The policy of bare below the elbows has to be applied universally," Dr. Mark Enright, professor of microbiology at Imperial College London told the Telegraph.

Some fear the enforcing the rules will open the door to lawsuits charging discrimination against female Muslims working within the medical professions.

The Islamic Medical Association, for one, has issued a statement that "no practicing Muslim woman — doctor, medical student, nurse or patient — should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow," according to paper.

Western countries are going to have to make some unnegotiable decisions and stick to them if all of us are not to be endangered even further. Otherwise, we are headed for a New Dark Age, just as Mark Alexander has been warning.

[Hat-tip to World Divided for the first link in this posting]

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FEATURED QUESTION: Healthcare

(Each "Featured Question," an idea which I gleaned from A Republic If You Can Keep It, will remain toward the top of the blog until the next question appears. The previous QUESTIONS are HERE. Please scroll down for recent postings)

Recently, when Mr. AOW lost his job of some twelve years due to company lay-offs and, along with that job, our health insurance coverage at an empl0yer-subsidized rate, this family of two people have had a rude awakening about the cost of healthcare. You can see a rate quote for a private plan with CareFirst HERE and not reveal much personal information. Quotes from other providers are also available at various web sites.
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The online quote, however, isn't a firm one; even if the provider agrees to insure us and in spite of the Portability Act and never having been uncovered by Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), we will be rated 25%-50% higher, based on our medical histories. Furthermore, the quote does not reflect the out-of-pocket amount for the medications we require every day. Because we dare not let our healthcare coverage lapse, for the next fourteen months Mr. AOW and I will be paying the COBRA coverage, the monthly premium for which is nearly $1200 (a $250 increase as of March 1). And, of course, Mr. AOW is seeking employment with healthcare coverage — at the age of fifty-eight.

Meanwhile, trends indicate that healthcare coverage offered by employers show signs of reduced funding, in one way or another. For example, some employers are reducing the percentage amount of the portion they pay. Other employers are now denying coverage to spouses of employees if those spouses have available to them any plan for health-insurance coverage, whether the plan is a good one or not. Rumor has it that, due to the necessity of cutting budgets, local governments, which typically offer plans cost-effective plans as far as the employees' portions are concerned, may be considering dropping employees' spouses from those plans — thus reducing the dollar amounts the local governments pay into the health-insurance plans. In any case, options for "shopping" for more affordable plans is becoming more difficult and more costly. Therefore, according to the research I've recently done, some who have excellent healthcare insurance today at an affordable price may not have that same coverage and the same price tomorrow.

According to this article in the February 28, 2008 edition of the Washington Post, our Congress in partnership with the White House is working on providing funds to alleviate the spread of particular diseases in Africa. Excerpt:

House leaders from both parties and the White House yesterday reached agreement on a bill that would more than triple funding for the Bush administration's global AIDS program, already the largest foreign aid initiative aimed at fighting a single disease in U.S. history.

[...]

The bill authorizes $50 billion over five years to prevent infection, treat people already ill from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and care for children orphaned by the epidemic. The program, known as the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), provided $15 billion over its first five years.

[...]

About $9 billion would go to fight tuberculosis and malaria, which often simultaneously infect AIDS patients in Africa. That sum would underwrite purchase of food supplements for AIDS patients, an underappreciated component of medical treatment of the disease. It would finance "microcredit" loans to women widowed by the disease or ostracized because of their infection.

[...]

The legislation's goals include, by 2013, preventing 12 million new infections; providing antiretroviral treatment for 3 million people (including 450,000 children); medical and nonmedical care for 12 million (including 5 million orphans); and training at least 140,000 new health-care workers.

Numerous Republicans spoke in support of the bill, although a few said they did not have enough time to review the amended version, which was delivered to the committee room warm off the photocopying machine. About a half-dozen said "no" in the voice vote, which passed.

"I have been here 20 years, and this is the most insane thing I have ever witnessed," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said. He added that "we have people at home who need to be taken care of," citing veterans and families that cannot afford health insurance....

Read the entire article HERE.


FEATURED QUESTION, in three parts: (1) Is health insurance industry in need of reform? (2) Do programs such as that delineated in the above article in the Washington Post negatively impact our healthcare costs here in the United States? (3) Do any of the leading candidates for the White House have a workable plan to reduce the cost of healthcare insurance in the United States? Hillary Clinton's statement is HERE, John McCain's HERE, and Barack Obama's HERE.

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Muslim Polygamy

Just how far is the UK willing to go in appeasing Muslims? According to this article in the Telegraph, Muslim polygamy will be recognized, with all "wives" getting full benefit:

Husbands with multiple wives have been given the go-ahead to claim extra welfare benefits following a year-long Government review...

Even though bigamy is a crime in Britain, the decision by ministers means that polygamous marriages can now be recognised formally by the state, so long as the weddings took place in countries where the arrangement is legal.

[...]

New guidelines on income support from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) state: "Where there is a valid polygamous marriage the claimant and one spouse will be paid the couple rate ... The amount payable for each additional spouse is presently £33.65."

Income support for all of the wives may be paid directly into the husband's bank account, if the family so choose. Under the deal agreed by ministers, a husband with multiple wives may also be eligible for additional housing benefit and council tax benefit to reflect the larger property needed for his family.

The ruling could cost taxpayers millions of pounds....

Shari'a law allows for Muslim men to have a harem of up to four.

So, the UK is going to allow for and fund its own Islmamification by demographics? Not to mention that bigamy has been against UK and Western law for centuries!

As noted by Punditarian here at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS on Sunday, February 3, in "Britain Capitulates to Polygamists":

[T]he British will surrender the sovereignty of British law within the borders of Britain, and grant cultural extra-territoriality to Muslims. With Muslim areas no-go for infidels, including the police, and the Labour government falling over itself to allow Muslims to govern their lives according to shariah, Britain is rapidly becoming a colonia of the Ummah. How long will it be until British law no longer even holds for infidels?

For well over two years, I have been attempting to catalogue, at least in part, the Islamification of the West. But never in my wildest imagination approaching paranoia did I ever dream that the UK, a country firmly rooted in Judeo-Christianity for the past several centuries, would recognize Muslim polygamy and fund it as well.

Some days, I dread turning on my computer!



(Posted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS on February 6, 2008)

ADDENDUM: Read the post on the same topic at Sons of Apes and Pigs. Excerpt:

The drama unfolding in Britain - a drama that contains elements that might have been borrowed from the theater of the absurd, making it uncertain whether we are dealing with a surreal farce or an all too real tragedy....

Read it all.

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Hillary's Past

As we enter the final swing of the primaries and as Hillary stacks up the count of delegates, the following details about Hillary Clinton should be kept in mind (Hat-tip to the individual who sent me the link via email):

Hillary Hopes You've Forgotten - Have You?
From Diane Rigali
2-6-8

Hillary Clinton has been telling America that she is the most qualified candidate for president based on her "record," which she says includes her eight years in the White House as First Lady - or "co-president" - and her seven years in the Senate. Here is a reminder of what that record includes:

HILLARY, As First Lady, assumed authority over Health Care Reform, a process that cost the taxpayers over $13 million. She told both Bill Bradley and Pat Moynahan, key votes were needed to pass her legislation, that she would "demonize "anyone who opposed it. But it was opposed; she couldn't even get it to a vote in a Congress controlled by her own party. (And in the next election, her party lost control of both the House and Senate.)

HILLARY assumed authority over selecting a female Attorney General. Her first two recommendations (Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood) were forced to withdraw their names from consideration, and then she chose Janet Reno. Janet Reno has since been described by Bill himself as "my worst mistake."

HILLARY recommended Lani Guanier for head of the Civil Rights Commission. When Guanier's radical views became known, her name had to be withdrawn.

HILLARY recommended her former law partners, Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy for positions in the Justice Department, White House staff, and the Treasury, respectively. Hubbell was later imprisoned, Foster committed suicide, and Kennedy was forced to resign.

HILLARY also recommended a close friend of the Clintons, Craig Livingstone, for the position of director of White House security. When Livingstone was investigated for the improper access of up to 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies (Filegate) and the widespread use of drugs by White House staff, both Hillary and her husband denied knowing him. (FBI agent Dennis Sculimbrene confirmed in a Senate Judiciary Committee in 1996 both the drug use and Hillary's involvement in hiring Livingstone. After that, the FBI closed its White House Liaison Office, after serving seven presidents for over thirty years.)

HILLARY, in order to open "slots" in the White House for her friends the Harry Thomasons (to whom millions of dollars in travel contracts could be awarded), had the entire staff of the White House Travel Office fired. They were reported to the FBI for "gross mismanagement" and their reputations ruined. After a thirty-month investigation, only one, Billy Dale, was charged with a crime - mixing personal money with White House funds when he cashed checks. The jury acquitted him in less than two hours.

HILLARY also assumed the duty of directing the "bimbo eruption squad" and scandal defense:

...She urged her husband not to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit.

...She refused to release the Whitewater documents, which led to the appointment of Ken Starr as Special Prosecutor. After $80 million dollars of taxpayer money was spent, Starr's investigation led to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill lying about and later admitting his affairs.

...Then they had to settle with Paula Jones after all.

...And Bill lost his law license for lying to the grand jury.

...And Bill was impeached by the House.

...And Hillary almost got herself indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice (she avoided it mostly because she repeated, "I do not recall," "I have no recollection," and "I don't know" 56 times under oath).

HILLARY accepted the traditional First Lady's role of decorator of the White House at Christmas, but in a unique Hillary way. In 1994, for example, The First Lady's Tree in the Blue Room (the focal point each year) was Decorated with drug paraphernalia, sex toys, and pornographic ornaments, all personally approved by Hillary as the invited artists' depictions of the theme, "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

HILLARY wrote "It Takes a Village," demonstrating her socialist viewpoint.

HILLARY decided to seek election to the Senate in a state she had never lived in. Her husband pardoned FALN terrorists in order to get Latino support and the New Square Hassidim to get Jewish support. Hillary also had Bill pardon her brother's clients, for a small fee, to get financial support.

HILLARY then left the White House, but later had to return $200,000 in White House furniture, china, and artwork she had stolen.

HILLARY played the "woman card" in the campaign for the Senate, by portraying her opponent (Lazio) as a bully picking on her.

HILLARY'S husband further protected her by asking the National Archives to withhold from the public until 2012 many records of their time in the White House, including much of Hillary's correspondence and her calendars. (There are ongoing lawsuits to force the release of those records.)

HILLARY, as the junior Senator from New York , passed no major legislation. She has deferred to the senior Senator (Schumer) to tend to the needs of New Yorkers, even on the hot issue of medical problems of workers involved in the cleanup of Ground Zero after 9/11.

Quite a resume, isn't it? Sounds more like an organized crime family.

American voters suffer from short memories, or so prove some studies along those lines. Or maybe voters just don't care about Hillary's past. Your call.

(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

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Fight On!

Today marks the second anniversary of GM Roper's lung surgery to remove the cancer. All the follow-up CT and PT scans, GM has remained cancer free and is living proof that cancer can be beaten. Those of us belonging to An Army of Bloggers are posting today about the importance of fighting cancer.

In "The Season for Giving," a post I did in December 2007, I explained why I was donating to The Kayla GBM Foundation, which supports research for glioblastoma multiforme, the deadliest type of brain cancer. I myself have never been diagnosed with cancer. But back in 1996-1997, I did have a cancer scare, when a mammogram showed a suspicious result.

Twice, for a few short days, I thought that my number was up, at the age of forty-four, the same age at which Mr. AOW underwent inner-ear and brain surgery for acoustic neuroma, a benign albeit invasive tumor of the auditory nerve's myelin sheath. The auditory nerve, of course, follows a path into the brain stem and, if not removed, acoustic neuroma compromises the function of the brain stem, eventually leading to death. Acoustic-neuroma surgery is a life-altering event, with permanent side effects, including chronic fatigue, loss of hearing, loss of balance, and short-term memory problems — even when the surgery is successful.

My own cancer scare came when I received a phone call at work. I was summoned to the school office for an emergency call and heard the medical specialist on the other end tell me that I had to go immediately, that very day, to the hospital for an ultrasound of my right breast. When I arrived, the personnel at the breast cancer center already had the operating room reserved for later in the day! Based on what the diagnosticians had seen on my mammogram, they were nearly certain that I had to undergo a radical mastectomy.

As it turned out, the ultrasound indicated that I did not have breast cancer. With apologies, the breast cancer center sent me home. I cannot begin to describe the relief I felt! I was going to live!

But my relief did not last for long.

A few weeks later, I received a call from a surgeon, who insisted that I needed an excision biopsy, for a lump I couldn't yet feel. On January 20, 2007, the very day of the biopsy, I finally was able to feel the lump, which was about pea-sized. Once again, feelings of doom overtook me. I was sure that my number was up!

Of course, I went ahead with the excision biopsy. Then, I had to wait a full week for the results. Negative for cancer! Not even precancerous! But the little lump, detected so very early by mammogram, was of the type which, over time, could have become precancerous and, later, fully cancerous.

That week of waiting for the results of my biopsy was probably the longest of my life. I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't keep my mind on my work. I recalled all the horror stories of cancer surgery and cancer treatment. I imagined those horrors happening to me, in the prime of life.

But would I have fought cancer, had I been so diagnosed. You bet! Life is precious and worth holding on to. And do I still get regular mammograms. Absolutely! Those appointments are ones that I keep, no matter how much I have to alter my schedule.

[CLICK HERE FOR FREE to support free mammograms]

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Weekly Radio Show: February 8 (Special Invitation To Muslims)

(This posting stuck near the top for several days. Please scroll down)

Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday, beginning at noon Pacific Time.

The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.

Callers welcome!

SPECIAL SHOW! We invite Muslims to call in or send us questions via the radio show's chat room and, in so doing, discuss the information presented. The show's air time will be extended to a full two hours, if needed.

Friday, February 8: Our guest will be Ibn Misr of the web site Sons of Apes and Pigs. He invites Muslims to discuss his comments with him on the air. This is an opportunity for Muslims to present their views about Islam. In other words, The Gathering Storm Radio Show is offering Muslims the opportunity to give the show's audience their views about Islam — directly from Muslims!
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According to the information on the site's side bar:

...We will expose Islam from a totally new angle that will be a first for an English audience site and go in depth till we reach the bottom (of Islam). This time it’s not going to be Islam under the veil. We’ll take the veil off to show you not only a topless and bottomless Islam, but we’ll allow you to penetrate it and get the inside out. We will let you see right through Mohamed and Islam’s moral guidelines, which have never before been exposed to a western audience....

You don't want to miss this show!

Note: If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
February 15: Cassandra of No Slaves of Allah in America
February 22: Mustang, Allan Goldstein, and Saleem Siddiqui
February 29: Jason Bootie
March 7: GM Roper
March 14: Walid Shoebat

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