Mark Steyn Wins Round One

From this source:

The Canadian Human Rights Commission has dismissed a Muslim group's complaint against Maclean's magazine.
--------
The Canadian Islamic Congress had argued the magazine published an article in October 2006 that would likely expose Muslims to hatred and contempt.

The article, entitled "The Future Belongs to Islam," by Mark Steyn claimed that Muslims are on the verge of dominating Europe and the West because of a demographic shift.

The article claims that their greater numbers will eventually allow Muslims to dominate Western countries. The article goes so far as to quote a European imam who allegedly said Muslims are reproducing like "mosquitoes."...

Read the rest.

Excerpt from the Maclean's article which led to the proceedings -- "The Future Belongs to Islam," published on October 20, 2006, and from Steyn's book America Alone:

Sept. 11, 2001, was not "the day everything changed," but the day that revealed how much had already changed. On Sept. 10, how many journalists had the Council of American-Islamic Relations or the Canadian Islamic Congress or the Muslim Council of Britain in their Rolodexes? If you'd said that whether something does or does not cause offence to Muslims would be the early 21st century's principal political dynamic in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, most folks would have thought you were crazy. Yet on that Tuesday morning the top of the iceberg bobbed up and toppled the Twin Towers.

This is about the seven-eighths below the surface -- the larger forces at play in the developed world that have left Europe too enfeebled to resist its remorseless transformation into Eurabia and that call into question the future of much of the rest of the world. The key factors are: demographic decline; the unsustainability of the social democratic state; and civilizational exhaustion.

Let's start with demography, because everything does....

Read the rest.

As Anonymous stated about Mark Steyn's victory, at a thread at Infidel Bloggers Alliance: "GREAT NEWS for Freedom of Speech for Infidels!!!"

Turn the page ....

Incompetency And Negligence

How do people like those mentioned in this article get jobs and, more to the point, keep those jobs? Read the following jaw-dropping article from the Washington Post (all emphases mine):

11-Year-Old Is Left Unattended on School Bus

By Sopan Joshi
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 27, 2008; B03

An 11-year-old boy stayed unattended on a bus operated by D.C. public schools for about two hours Wednesday [June 25] after the driver and an attendant, who delivered other children to school, failed to notice him.

The boy, who apparently had fallen asleep, woke up in a bus parking lot on New York Avenue NE. He opened the bus door and was then driven to his school, the High Road School on Kansas Avenue NE, by another school bus driver.

Apparently, neither the first driver nor the attendant realized that he boy had not disembarked at the school, nor did they check the bus before parking it. The bus transported only four children, including the boy.

The driver apologized to the boy's mother.

David Gilmore, the school district's transportation administrator, said "appropriate disciplinary action" has been taken.

The boy's mother, Evelyn Sykes, was at the school for a meeting with teachers when her son was driven there a few minutes after 11 a.m. As she was driving the child home, Sykes said she heard him say he never wanted to go to school again because he was scared. She took him to Children's National Medical Center, where a physician told her that the child had a panic attack.

Gilmore said all drivers and attendants are required to walk to the back of the bus to check for children who have fallen asleep. "The driver and the attendant didn't do their walk in this instance," he said.

Three-fourths of the school bus fleet, he said, are newer models in which the driver has to walk to the back to press a button before leaving the vehicle.

"Unfortunately, this was one of the older buses," he said.

Gilmore said that the bus checked into the parking lot at 9 a.m. and that the boy was seen by staff at 10:40 a.m. He had been picked up about 8 a.m.

"He was sitting on the third seat. How could they miss him?" Sykes asked.

She registered a complaint with officers in the 5th Police District.

Could the bus driver and the attendant not count to four? Could they not notice a student on the third seat, an obvious position in the vehicle? After all, it's not as if the bus were transporting a large number of students hard to keep track of.

The article's information about newer buses equipped with a button to push to make sure that the driver checks the vehicle from front to back came as a surprise to me. I'm sure that my bus drivers didn't have any such button when I went to school. Ah, the wonders of today's technology, which makes sure that workers do their jobs!

The District of Columbia not only has problems with the dedication and competency of bus drivers working for the school system. Specifically, a few weeks back, a Metrorail train ran off the tracks. Nothing so unusual about that type of mishap, of course; derailments, serious and not so serious, occur with some frequency. Nevertheless, the rest of the story about that particular derailment is a bit unusual. The train operator managed to travel some 2700 feet without realizing that the train was off the tracks! Had it not been for a supervisor who happened to be riding the train that day, who knows how far the train operator could have gone in an unintentional quest of blazing a new trail?

Perhaps our society today is moving closer to the surreality of Idiocracy than we care to think about. In my view, instances of incompetency and negligence abound in the Twenty-first Century. I won't even get started on discussing politicians' contribution to foolishness.

Turn the page ....

Happy Anniversary, Warren & Wife!

June 29th

Happy anniversary to my favorite couple.
What a blessing it is to know you two and to count you as dear, dear friends!

May your special day be filled with blessings!

Turn the page ....

More Problems For The Islamic Saudi Academy

Previous Always On Watch postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE and HERE.

The problems with the school just keep adding up!

Photo Credit: the Washington Post
From this June 27, 2008 article by Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media (via Jihad Watch):

The controversial school funded by the Saudi Embassy had its corporate charter revoked in 2004 and has never filed required tax forms with the IRS.
------
...[A] review of the corporate records on file with the Virginia State Corporation Commission finds that the Islamic Saudi Academy’s corporate charter was terminated by the state on December 27, 2004. There is no indication from state records that the incorporation has been revived or renewed, and the last corporate report the school has filed with the state of Virginia that we could find was 2004 — the same year its corporate charter was terminated. A check of corporations in neighboring District of Columbia and Maryland found nothing for the academy.

[...]

...As the academy has forfeited its Virginia incorporation and is now operating as a d/b/a of the embassy, and considering that the school is funded by the embassy, operates on property owned and leased by the embassy, the embassy speaks publicly on its behalf, and it uses Saudi government curriculum, it seems impossible to conclude anything but that it is solely an entity of the Saudi government controlled entirely by the Saudi Embassy in Washington DC — a position directly in opposition to the present claims of the State Department.

Our investigation also found that at no time has the Islamic Saudi Academy ever filed an IRS Form 990, which is required of every tax exempt organization, including private schools. And according to IRS Publication 78, at no time has the school ever requested or received a tax exemption letter from the IRS. Nor, apparently, has it ever filed corporate taxes with the US government as would be required if it were an entity independent from the Saudi embassy, as it has no recognized tax exemption.

If the school was a separate corporation as State Department officials have repeatedly claimed, it would have to have an active corporate charter (which it doesn’t appear to have since December 2004), and it would either have to file IRS Form 990s if it were operating as a tax exempt organization, or file tax returns if it were operating for-profit. That has not happened in either case according to our investigation. Rather, all evidence indicates that the Saudi Embassy is in full corporate control of the school, and it is operating entirely under its agency, which makes the school subject to the Foreign Missions Act and under the authority of the State Department. If it isn’t part of the Saudi Embassy, it seems that the academy is operating illegally.

This new evidence doesn’t give much leeway to the State Department to shirk the matter.

Read the entire article.

Apparently, in addition to the school's other problems, the school's charter was revoked and some required IRS filings were not done. Surprise, surprise! NOT!

Meanwhile, go HERE to see the MEMRI clip of Al-Jazeera's report on the Islamic Saudi Academy. At marker 2:28 on the clip, you will hear the word "madrassah," defined as follows by the American Heritage Dictionary:

A building or group of buildings used for teaching Islamic theology and religious law, typically including a mosque.

Those who have read this web page by Daniel Pipes, also know about other connotations for the word "madrassah."

The Islamic Saudi Academy (a madrassah) is coming under long-needed scrutiny. At this point, a Google search of the school yields over 9000 hits, and the number of hits increases every day.

Predictably, Moslems are complaining about the scrutiny of the school, never mind ISA's broken promises about revising the offending textbooks as well as various other problems at the school. From the MEMRI transcript for the above-linked video:

[T]his is a nightmare for the families of the students enrolled in the academy. This pressure is exerted by several Congressmen, known for their great hostility towards Arabs and Muslims.

[...]

What should be said about a commission that some say is unconstitutional and contradicts the very meaning of its name? This commission [which recently issured the report on the textbooks] calls upon all countries of the world to respect freedom of religion there, while the commission itself violates this freedom on its own land.

Um, ISA supporters, remove the beam from your own eye before trying to remove the speck from another's eye.

Turn the page ....

Cheap Gasoline?

Did I get your attention with the title of this posting? I'm guessing that I have. After all, for months now, the cost of gasoline has been all the chatter, as well as the lead story on many news programs and in all sorts of publications.

In any case, please read the following 1999 article, which the Washington Post reposted at the recent request of the author of a letter to the editor of the newspaper:

Where Cheap Gas Takes Us: The Threat Abroad in That Bargain Fill Up
By Teresa Wyszomierski

Mar. 7, 1999

With gasoline prices at less than a dollar a gallon--an all-time low--it's getting easy for Americans to fill up their gas-guzzling Pathfinders or Tahoes without a twinge of worry. But the same low fuel prices have also set two trends in motion overseas that could prove disastrous for the economy of the Middle East, the fortunes of Western oil companies and, ultimately, the pocketbooks of those same American consumers.

First, profit-hungry U.S. energy companies, which aggressively pursued alternative sources of oil after the 1973 Arab oil embargo, are now beginning to seek out cheap investment opportunities in the Persian Gulf. If the trend continues, America could once again become overly dependent on oil from the Middle East. Second, the region's growing economic instability, prompted by the low fuel prices, is fomenting scattered social and political unrest. This could leave Americans more vulnerable to disruptions in supply, such as physical attacks on pipelines and other oil installations.

Despite some attempts to diversify, most Middle Eastern countries have remained "petrodollar" economies, deriving most of their foreign exchange earnings from oil exports. The United Arab Emirates, for example, derives 60 percent of its income from oil sales. In both Yemen and Iran, oil accounts for more than 80 percent of total exports. In Saudi Arabia, oil income has risen steadily since 1993 as a percentage of government revenue, and oil sales now account for 35 to 40 percent of its GDP.

The drop in crude oil prices, due in part to falling demand from the battered economies of Asia and in part to an excessive buildup of oil production, has already had an impact on both Middle Eastern economies and Western oil company profits. Throughout the Persian Gulf, budget deficits have widened dramatically, necessitating both tax increases and significant cuts in government spending.

Iranian ministries have received less than half of their proposed budgets this year. The Yemeni government, which lost half its income, has cut 55 percent from its budget since 1998 and raised taxes significantly despite fierce opposition in parliament. The Saudi government, which lost one-third of its revenues last year and is now $13 billion in the red, has adopted an austerity budget for 1999 that includes cutting state spending by almost 16 percent.

In the West, oil company revenues have also been eroded by a season of economic crises in Asia and several mild winters in North America, creating lower demand for heating oil and gasoline, and thus making it impossible to charge consumers higher retail prices. Chevron's and Texaco's reported incomes declined by between 40 and 50 percent in 1998. Corporate balance sheets have been damaged as well, with petroleum inventories being adjusted to reflect lower and lower market values. And because oil prices are not expected to recover soon, near-term profitability and long-term survival are assured only to those producers that can lower their production costs.

As these financial problems continue, Middle Eastern crude will soon become the preferred choice of multinational oil companies, because the Arab world controls about two-thirds of all known oil reserves and has the lowest extraction costs. This would reverse the trend of the 1980s and early 1990s, when U.S. oil companies shifted away from the Gulf region and focused their investments on high-tech production techniques for existing wells, as well as on developing hot spots for exploration such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in Central Asia.

Moreover, cash-strapped Gulf countries have, of necessity, become more receptive to foreign investment. Only 20 years ago, U.S. oil companies were expelled from Saudi fields in a wave of nationalization and resentment against U.S. support for Israel. Five months ago, in contrast, Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abdulaziz and his oil minister traveled to Virginia to meet with U.S. oil executives and discuss the possibility of their investing in exploration and crude oil production.

In turn, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson visited Saudi Arabia last month, the first such trip by an American official since 1990. And although the Saudi oil minister ruled out foreign ownership in lucrative ventures such as oil exploration at this time, he expressed an interest in obtaining foreign investment for less profitable areas, such as refining and petrochemical production. U.S. oil firms, in response, have rushed to submit proposals to develop all areas of Saudi Arabia's energy industry.

Yet these seemingly attractive investment prospects could ultimately backfire if social unrest continues to grow in the Middle East. Indeed, physical disruption of oil production and delivery could spread if oil prices remain low and the region's royal governments do nothing to address several potentially explosive sources of popular discontent.

For the royal families and surrounding elites who control oil ownership in the Gulf states, life continues as usual. Arab sheiks still indulge in conspicuous consumption, driving luxury cars and building palatial homes. Moreover, in countries such as Saudi Arabia, these elites also benefit from a variety of state perquisites, including free electrical power, mail service and domestic air travel.

The poor, on the other hand, have been hit hard. Throughout the Middle East, there have always been sharp disparities between urban wealth and rural poverty, with both incomes and infrastructure lagging far behind in rural areas. But over the past two years, those differences have become far more pronounced. In Saudi Arabia, many people cannot afford basic foodstuffs, and even the urban middle class complains that its standard of living is deteriorating as authorities raise the price of services that thousands of royal family members enjoy at no cost.

The Saudi government's recent move to generate revenue by allowing foreign participation in certain oil activities is a step in the right direction, but it may be too little to mitigate the sting of cutbacks in public services and subsidies. To placate a dissatisfied populace, officials may need to relinquish at least some control over domestic oil production to foreign companies. But Saudi royal families, who benefit from about $2 billion in annual stipends from oil revenues, share the reluctance of many Gulf rulers to give up control of such vital national assets.

Falling oil revenues have also led to rising unemployment, a problem exacerbated by rapid growth in the region's labor force. Today, joblessness in the region ranges from 15 to 40 percent. Most inhabitants of the Gulf states are under age 25; in Saudi Arabia, a startling 75 percent of the population is under 30. And because urban and middle-class inhabitants have come to expect an easy life subsidized by oil revenues, few have developed the skills to replace the foreign workers these desert kingdoms can no longer afford. Labor opportunities are already limited in the stagnant oil sector, and the petrodollar economies have failed to develop much of a non-oil private sector.

The explosive social effect of lost oil revenue became vividly clear last June, when riots erupted in several cities in Yemen after the government discontinued subsidies on bread and fuel. Economic desperation has also led native tribesmen to dramatically step up their long-simmering terrorist campaign against foreign oil companies, hoping to secure a larger proportion of dwindling national oil revenues. In 1998 alone, there were 18 attacks by Yemeni tribesmen against the pipeline that carries nearly half of Yemen's oil output and is operated by the U.S.-based Hunt Oil Co. Repairing damaged equipment has cost the company an average of $120,000 after each attack.

In Bahrain, economic stagnation has reinvigorated popular resentment against the ruling emir, who dissolved the parliament in 1975 and has been governing by decree ever since. Arson attacks on fuel tanks, foreign-owned stores and the police have become more frequent, and a growing political opposition movement is openly criticizing the country's repressive legal system. The conflicts can only increase if unemployment, already at about 15 percent, further cuts into the country's large service and banking sectors.

In 1973, when the Arab oil embargo crippled the U.S. economy, the United States was importing 36 percent of its oil. Today, it imports 56 percent. Unless Western oil companies and their customers exercise more vigilance, they could be in for another expensive lesson. Consumers need to stop topping off their gargantuan gas tanks as if there were no tomorrow. Oil company shareholders should question their firms' new push into Gulf investments, and company officials should continue to develop alternative energy sources and technologies. Otherwise, if they become blinded by the lure of cheap Middle Eastern oil, average Americans may find themselves footing the bill for the imprudent investments of Big Oil.

Of course, the cost of oil involves more than expenditure at the pump. Truckers have to pay higher prices for diesel fuel, and that higher price is reflected in a rise in shipping price for everything from food to the computer you're using right now. And lest gloating set in because you heat your home with electric power instead of oil, see this June 25, 2008 Washington Post article about the rise in the rates for electricity for residents of Virginia. Excerpt:

RICHMOND, June 24 -- State regulators indicated Tuesday that they would approve the biggest one-time jump in Dominion Virginia Power electricity rates in three decades, saying they have no choice but to allow what they acknowledged would be a hardship on many low-income residents.

[...]

According to Dominion, coal costs have risen by 95 percent in the past year, and oil and natural gas have also become more expensive. Prices have risen so sharply that the commission's analysts have warned that the increase requested by Dominion might in fact be too conservative....

Mark Twain famously said, "Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." As the pain at the pump and at every cash register continues, that little adage could be reworded: "Everybody complains about the cost of oil, but nobody does anything about it."


At what point will our leaders be willing to do something about the cost of oil and its ripple effects on our economy, even to our standard of living? Or should our leaders be waiting for a market correction? As ever, your comments are welcome.

Turn the page ....

Is Obama A Natural-Born U.S. Citizen?

Quickie link to check out over at Israeli Insider.

(Hat-tip to The Merry Widow, who emailed me the link)
-------
Maybe Hillary has an August surprise?

Turn the page ....

Weekly Radio Show: June 27 — Authors Bosch Fawstin And Steven Bradley

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, June 27 (60 minutes): Our guests today will be two authors — Bosch Fawstin and Steven Bradley.

-------

1. Bosch Fawstin's web site is HERE, where he states the following about his work: I'm a cartoonist who's currently working on my second graphic novel, THE INFIDEL, about twin brothers whose Muslim background comes to the forefront of their lives on 9/11. One responds by creating a counter-jihad superhero comic book called PIGMAN, as the other surrenders to Islam and becomes a Born Again Muslim, following the faith to wherever it leads him. Mr. Fawstin is also a contributor to Infidel Bloggers Alliance, where he uses the following avatar:



2. Steven R. Bradley is the author of novel Nimrod Rising. According to Amazon, Have you ever felt that the world was guided in ways that are beyond man’s control? The constant changes in the world since the time of Nimrod 4000 years ago until today and all the events that have shaken the world have been to bring the universe back into the hands of the Prince of Darkness, Lucia, a world that he had ruled with his Watchers before it was all ripped from his grasp when man was created. Nimrod Rising paints a diabolical picture of how the Prince of Darkness executes his evil plot to take the world back by force and destroy civilization in the process. From the Great Builder Nimrod in 4000 BC to today, 666 generations later, you can ride the storm of Nimrod Rising and experience the death of a world and the birth pangs of another. You will swear it is really upon us! Mr. Bradley's Amazon blog is HERE. One trailer for the novel Nimrod Rising:



YouTube Link

You can listen to the June 27 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show live or later by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS
July 4: Warren, Beakerkin, and possibly Mr. Beamish for a special Independence Day show.
July 11: Jungle Mom
July 18: Cassandra USA
July 25: Chaim
August 1: Gordon Cucullu
August 8: Glen Jenvey

Turn the page ....

The Islamic Saudi Academy: Fairfax County Backpedals On The Lease (Updated June 25)

Photo Credit: the Washington Post


Background: Previous Always On Watch postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE and HERE.

From this article in the June 24, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

Fairfax County leaders asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday to determine whether the county should continue leasing property to the Islamic Saudi Academy following controversy surrounding the school's teachings.

With unanimous support from the county's Board of Supervisors, Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) sent a letter to Rice "formally requesting" that the State Department provide direction regarding the county's one-year lease renewal, approved last month, with the Saudi Arabian government for operation of the academy.

You might recall from earlier postings about the Islamic Saudi Academy that previously the County supervisors voted unanimously to renew the school's lease and called citizens who voiced concerns about the school "bigots engaged in slander." You can watch the May 19 pro forma hearing at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors HERE; select "Public Hearings" from the May 19 links.
---------
Continuing now with the above-cited Washington Post article:

At issue are recent reviews of teaching materials concluding that some textbooks used by the Islamic school in Fairfax contain language intolerant of Jews and other groups as well as passages that could be construed as advocating violence.

Read the entire report from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom HERE. The report is damning!

Please watch this NBC 4 video of June 23, 2008. The video is approximately three minutes in length.

(Crossposted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance and Northern Virginiastan and THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

UPDATE FROM THIS ARTICLE IN THE JUNE 25, 2008 EDITION OF THE WASHINGTON TIMES:

Federal officials unable to act
State cites lack of authority

The State Department has no authority to close a Saudi-supported school criticized for violent teachings, a spokesman said Tuesday, despite an official request for guidance from the Northern Virginia county that leases space for the school's main campus....

[...]

"My understanding at this point is that this doesn't come under State Department jurisdiction," Mr. McInturff said. "It would have to be credentialed by the State Department as an embassy or as a consulate. That to my knowledge has not happened to this school."

However, the commission contends the act could give the secretary of state authority to take action to close the school. The act defines a foreign mission in part as "any mission to or agency or entity in the United States which is ... substantially owned or effectively controlled by a foreign government."

Read the entire article at the link for this update.

Turn the page ....

Obama's Courting Of Christians

Recently, a fundraiser for Obama's courting of Christians was held in the Washington, D.C., area. Some forty people paid $1000 each to learn about the Matthew 25 Project, a sort of Obama outreach to moderate evangelicals, Catholics, and Hispanics. Information about that project appears in this article in the June 21, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

With the Democratic presidential nomination in his grasp, Sen. Barack Obama is making a full-throttle push for centrist evangelicals and Catholics.

It's a move that's caught some conservative evangelicals off guard. They say they are surprised and dismayed to see a liberal-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has done little to court their affections.

"I've never seen anything quite like it before," said evangelical author Stephen Mansfield, who wrote "The Faith of George W. Bush"...

[...]

This month, the Illinois senator held a closed-door meeting in Chicago with almost 40 Christian leaders, including evangelical heavyweights such as the Rev. Franklin Graham, publishing magnate Steve Strang and megachurch pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes.

Obama's campaign is also launching a grass-roots effort, tentatively called Joshua Generation, with plans to hold concerts and house meetings targeted at young evangelicals and Catholics.

A political action committee set to launch this month, the Matthew 25 Network, plans to direct radio advertising and mailers to Christian communities while talking up Obama in the media. The group is not officially tied to the Obama campaign.

Obama's emphasis on faith outreach plays to his strengths, campaign observers say. The senator is at ease speaking about religion and preaches a message of forging common ground with disparate communities.

Next in the article comes the following paragraph:

Still, some religious leaders wonder whether Obama's Christian-focused outreach might alienate Jewish and Muslim voters, for example, not to mention the Democratic Party's large secular wing.

Read the entire article HERE.

The following is Matthew 25 (KJV):

1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.

10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.

11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.

16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.

17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money.

19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.

20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.

23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.

26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.

29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Apparently, the Matthew 25 Project focuses on verses Matthew 25: 42-46. According to the above-cited Washington Post article:

The Matthew 25 Project, named after the biblical passage in which Jesus promises eternal life for those who care for the least and the lost, will be led by Mara Vanderslice, a young evangelical who briefly led faith outreach for the 2004 campaign of Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and later founded a respected political consulting firm.

But there are many other verses in the chapter, including verses about foolish virgins and being prepared for the Second Coming. Is the Matthew 25 Project trying to communicate, subtly or otherwise, the Second-Coming message too?

(Crossposted to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

Turn the page ....

Our Offensive Pledge Of Allegiance

(With a hat-tip to Brooke of PaleoCon Command Center)

Back when I was in school and, later, when I taught in the traditional classroom, the day began with our Pledge of Allegiance. Those few students who were not American citizens often recited the Pledge, although a few of them merely stood, thereby showing respect for our flag and our nation. A few students even omitted saying "under God," but not many. Never did I hear anyone bring up that students should not participate in the Pledge of Allegiance.
------------
But according to this source, the principal of a school in Portland, Oregon, took it upon himself to prevent students from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance:

Pledge of Allegiance

Posted: 8:36 AM Jun 11, 2008
Last Updated: 8:36 AM Jun 11, 2008

(CBS) Most children growing up in the US memorize the Pledge of Allegiance. But, in one Oregon elementary school, the kids won't be allowed to recite it at an end of the year assembly.

The principal banned it that day so as not to offend Muslims.

One resident of Portland, Oregon was a little surprised when she received an e-mail from her stepson's school principal.

The e-mail said that the children would not be reciting the pledge because of its reference to God.

Instead, the students would memorize and sing the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

But it's not just non-Muslims who were offended.

At least one Muslim community leader says he feels the same way. Muhammad Najieb says that 'God' is central to the Muslim faith, and there are several references to him in every prayer.

Portland school officials say the principal was trying to be sensitive, but some Muslims say the ban caused hurt feelings, and may foster bitterness and division within the community.

Therewith, I offer these two videos recently posted at The Amboy Times as reminders to the principal in Portland, Oregon:





Be sure to watch all the way to the end of the second video!

I wonder what John Wayne and Red Skelton would have to say about the state of America today, were they still with us. Whatever their comments, they'd be elegant and to the point — and expressive of their contempt for individuals such as that principal in Portland, Oregon.

(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

Turn the page ....

Obama: In His Own Words

Via Reliapundit at THE ASUTE BLOGGERS. The video is about 30 seconds in length:



YouTube Link

Note the appopriate background music. It's the "Lachrymosa" from Mozart's Requiem Mass.

Turn the page ....

Thirty-Six Years

As of 3:15 P.M. today, Mr. AOW and I have been married for thirty-six years.
----------
Have there been bumps in the road? Yes, because sharing living space and finances with another living creature often results in disagreements, including some vociferous arguments causing neighbors to look over our way. And health problems and aging do change us to a certain extent.

But none of the bumps in the road which Mr. AOW and I share have been as serious as the troubles other couples have faced.

Luck has nothing to do with the success of our relationship. Rather, choosing a mate with character has been the key for us.

Turn the page ....

Director Of The Islamic Saudi Academy Arrested (Stuck Toward The Top)

Pastorius here. I'm a friend of AOW's. She asked me to post this story for her, as weather has left her, once again, without power.

From Always on Watch:

The Islamic Saudi Academy is a school in Northern Virginia and is operated by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

From this source (hat-tip to Radio Free Dar al Harb):

Islamic Saudi Academy Director Arrested for Obstruction of Justice
June 16, 2008
Fairfax, VA

On June 9th, Fairfax County Police arrested the Director General of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), Mr. Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, on the charges of Obstruction of Justice without Force (VA Code 18.2-460). Charged and released on the same day, Mr. Al-Shabnan is out on his own recognizance as he awaits his first hearing at Fairfax County General District Court on August 1, 2008, at 9:30 a.m.
------
Mr. Al-Shaban’s arrest stems from an investigation into the ISA’s alleged failure to comply with State requirements for reporting child abuse. According to authorities, instead of reporting the child abuse, Mr. Al-Shabnan deleted the report, contacted the student’s parents, and recommended psychological counseling for the young victim. Mr. Al-Shaban’s June 9 arrest comes after a May 23rd police search of the ISA where they gathered evidence that has contributed to the charges against Mr. Al-Shabnan.

Years of Controversy Continue

The ISA has been at the center of controversy for many years. A 2007 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report promoted members of Congress to call for the closure of the school. The 2007 USCIRF report prompted a coalition of concerned grassroots organizations to request the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to delay the renewal of the ISA lease until a Federal investigation into the ISA was completed. During the hearing, County Supervisors dismissed concerns as slanderous, bigoted, and unfounded. During the course of the hearing, Fairfax County Chairman, and Democratic Candidate for the 11th Congressional District, apologized to Mr. Al-Shabnan for what he deemed slanderous accusations that impugned the integrity of the Islamic Saudi Academy.

Since that May 19 hearing, the Mr. Al-Shabnan has been arrested and the USCIRF has confirmed ISA textbooks justify murder as an Islamic right.

Only Supervisor Gross has responded to the issue, and she continues her support for the ISA, and its textbooks that contain passages filled with hate and incitement to violence. Chairman Connolly has yet to retract his apology to the ISA and Mr. Al-Shabnan. Supervisor Hyland has not yet commented on whether the texts cited in the USCIRF report are the similar to those he identified as “texts of concern” during his independent and undocumented investigation of the ISA.

These hateful passages remain despite a 2006 US State Department request for the ISA to remove all insensitive and offensive content from textbooks. The ISA’s non-compliance with the 2006 US State Department request has not been accounted for and raises concerns about what the ISA, as an extension of the Saudi government, considers offensive, and the level of accountability they have to their local hosts and Federal government.

Since the US Treasury Department still considers Saudi Arabia as one of the leading financiers of terrorism, and USCIRF reports identify Saudi Arabia’s education as filled with incitements to murder as a religious freedom, the US State Department has not commented as to whether they will extend this policy and allow Iran and North Korea to open official schools in the US as well.

The ISA’s has run afoul of Virginia law before in hiring a bus driver, Abdelrazeg Abdalla, who had a suspend license, seven traffic violations, a misdemeanor for kidnapping his wife and child at knife point, and a six month detainment by Homeland Security. Nevertheless, the ISA hired Mr. Abdalla as a bus driver. Mr. Abdalla, operating a faulty ISA, bus was responsible for a 2005 multi-car accident.

Additionally, the ISA winner of the superlative Most Likely to Be a Martyr, and 1999 class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, has been convicted on charges of terrorism and attempting to assassinate President Bush.

As a result for the a May 19 hearing, the ISA’s lease of Fairfax County property continues as the Board of Supervisors unanimously supports the ISA as a model school beyond reproach.

A video of the complete May 19 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Hearing on the Islamic Saudi Academy can be found at: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cable/channel16/vod.htm

Select “Public Hearings” from the May 19 links.

Of Note:

42:58 Fairfax County Chairman Connolly charges of slander remarks

49:35 Supervisor Gross: Latin can be violent and Parochial Schools contain material as equally offensive as the ISAs.

1:02 Supervisor Hyland begins testimony about why and how they’re is no documentation on his investigation.

Previous Always On Watch postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE and HERE.

The June 13 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, the first half hour of which was devoted to discussion of the Islamic Saudi Academy is HERE.

Previous Northern Virginiastan postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy are HERE.

Previous IBA postings on the Islamic Saudi Academy.

UPDATE FROM PASTORIUS: Previous reports seemed to indicate the Director of ISA was being questioned about covering up a Child Molestation report. In this most recent story, it is called "Child Abuse."

Which do you think is correct?

Turn the page ....

Update On The Islamic Saudi Academy (Stuck NearThe Top) Addendum on June 16

Note: The following posting absolutely requires interested readers to check out the links!

Background information HERE and HERE at two previous postings here at Always On Watch.

The Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia and a school for grades Kindergarten through Grade 12 here in Northern Virginia, got quite a mention in the Associated Press today. Excerpt:

McLEAN, Va. (AP) — Textbooks at a private Islamic school in northern Virginia teach students that it is permissible for Muslims to kill adulterers and converts from Islam, according to a federal investigation released Wednesday.

Other passages in the school's textbooks state that "the Jews conspired against Islam and its people" and that Muslims are permitted to take the lives and property of those deemed "polytheists."

The passages were found in selected textbooks used during the 2007-08 school year by the Islamic Saudi Academy, which teaches 900 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax and receives much of its funding from the Saudi government....

Read the entire article.

Also see the following information:

One

Two

Three

Four

Number Four, by my compadre Pastorius over at Infidel Bloggers Alliance, is a must-read! A thing of beauty, I tell ya.

UPDATE: Article by Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media

Turn the page ....

How Not To Support Our Military

Excerpt from this June 13, 2008 article at Tampa Bay Online (Hat-tip to Kender, who emailed me the link):

ST. PETERSBURG - Michael Agosta joined the Army on May 30 and was immediately ordered to ship out for basic training in 19 days.

So he gave his apartment complex copies of his orders and notice that he was terminating his rental agreement.

Only the complex, Camden Lakes at 11150 Fourth St. N., won't let him out of his lease...

Agosta said he even had his Army recruiter, Staff Sgt. Sherwin Richardson, intercede on his behalf, but to no avail.
--------
"They were coming off to me like I was a six-month resident who was just giving them fake orders just to get out of my lease, which was not the case," Agosta said. "I've been there for four years and eight months."

[...]

He acknowledged he gave the complex only 17 days' notice when state law allows military members to break their leases if they provide 30 days' notice and documentation.

He enlisted on a Friday and gave notice to the property manager the following Monday. Now visiting with family in South Florida, he is to report for 19 weeks and three days of basic combat training at Fort Jackson, S.C., on Tuesday.

He was unemployed when he decided to join the Army. He said his father told him he should apply for food stamps. He refused.

"I figured I might as well do something to benefit my country, rather than take from people who need it more than I do," he said.

Agosta said he doesn't know what financial penalties he faces for breaking his lease, which runs to April 20, 2009. He said he was threatened with having the delinquency appear on his credit report, which could affect his security clearance....

Read the entire article.

Back in the Dinosaur Age, when Mr. AOW was called up for reserve duty, he received reimbursement from the landlord for the weeks away from the apartment, which was, of course, not rented out in his absence. Mr. AOW didn't even have to ask for the reimbursement! Instead, the landlord felt duty-bound to support our military.

Times sure have changed.

HERE is the website of the company that owns the apartment complex mentioned in this posting. The phone number is 727-577-7557.

(Crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

Turn the page ....

Oil Resources In The United States

The following image is courtesy of Mike's America:



Click directly on the above image to enlarge it. Keep the image in your mind's eye the next time you fill up at a gas station.
----------
So, why aren't our leaders hopping to it and freeing us from the shackles of OPEC?

Turn the page ....

Thank You!

TO THE MERRY WIDOW



Ever since the tree fell on my house, TMW has taken time to listen to my screams of agony emanating from my cell phone, to post updates here at Always On Watch, and to check my email accounts.
---------
Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Turn the page ....

Public Servants

As previously noted here, a tree fell on my house, taking down my phone line and Internet connection and doing substantial damage to the roof on my home. The falling timber could have been prevented – if my local government had responded in a timely manner.

One would think that having a tree lying across one’s roof would make public servants “hop to it” and help the homeowner determine the ownership of the tree, especially since another tree is perched precariously over a 100-square-foot storage shed with carport attached.

Wrong.
-----------
Instead of helping the property owner and taxpayer, a manager at the Office of Land Records declared as follows when the needed information about the ownership of the property was not available on the computers: “This is too time consuming. Hire an attorney, and do a title search.”

As if there is time to wait! At any moment, the tree perched over my shed could bring down the structure. Furthermore, another tree on that same strip of No Man’s Land is being prevented from falling by a chain holding together a split trunk; should the chain not hold, the tree would fall on my neighbor’s house, a historic home.

So far, getting the local government to accept any accountability whatsoever has been an exercise in futility, although I am climbing the ladders of the local governmental bureaucracy in an attempt to prevent more damage to my property. But paying the real-estate tax bill even one day late, and the wrath of the local government will pursue the taxpayer like the Hellhounds.

The terms “criminal negligence” and “reckless endangerment” come to mind when describing the behavior and lack of action on the part of my so-called public servants.

Turn the page ....

Eating Crow? (With Addendum)

(All emphases by Always On Watch)

If the story below turns out to be substantiated, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors might want to reconsider their renewal of the lease to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia for the Islamic Saudi Academy.
------------
Follow-up to this posting about the Islamic Saudi Academy, from NBC4 News in Washington, D.C.:

Islamic School Searched After Abuse Allegations Surface
Authorities Say School's Director Didn't Report Abuse Allegations

POSTED: 3:42 pm EDT June 3, 2008
UPDATED: 6:52 pm EDT June 3, 2008

FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. -- Fairfax County police searched the Islamic Saudi Academy's west campus last month in connection with an investigation into child abuse allegations.

A 5-year old girl told a teacher in mid-May that her father was sexually abusing her, News4's James Adams reported. Two teachers and the principal at the west campus put together a report and forwarded it to the school's director general, Adams said.

According to court documents, the school's director, Adalla Al-Shabnan, did not believe the girl's complaint.

He later told investigators that he recommended psychological counseling for the girl after meeting with her parents.

Authorities said Al-Shabnan never reported the allegations of abuse to a child protective or law enforcement agency.

Virginia law requires abuse allegations to be reported within 72 hours.

Related: Watch The Report

On May 23, detectives searched and seized computers, notes and records from the school's Fairfax campus.

According to court documents, Al-Shabnan directed the original report to be deleted from the school's computers.

Calls to the academy's director were not returned.

Fairfax County police declined to comment on the investigation.

No charges have been filed.

Yet.

Surely, the school's director, Al-Shabnan, is aware of the strict laws about suspected child-abuse cases reported to a school! One has to wonder if perhaps he didn't file a police report because of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors May 19 hearing about renewing the school's lease. Did the girl tell of the abuse before the hearing regarding the Islamic Saudi Academy's lease? If so, this case could get very ugly.

How does the Board of Supervisors feel now about their pro forma hearing?

Officially, the Islamic Saudi Academy's lease renews for another year on June 30.

ADDENDUM: Also see "Saudi Academy Afoul of the Law Again" at Radio Free Dar Al Harb. Excerpt:

lets see what the House of Saud's premier DC Academy is up to:

1. Ignoring laws to report child abuse
2. Employing a kidnapper with a suspended license as a bus driver
3. Injuring people due to faulty equipment
4. Permitting a "Most likely to be a martyr" class superlative
5. Producing a valedictorian convicted of plotting to assassinate the President
6. Using Saudi curriculum that our Federal government and a local Supervisor identify as containing "texts of concern."

Turn the page ....

Dhimmis At The Local Level

In an astounding display of dhimmitude, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors renewed the Saudi Royal Embassy's $2.2 million lease for the Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia.

The 45-minute video of the hearing is available HERE; select "Public Hearings" from the May 19 links. Watch it, but take your blood-pressure medication first. Pay particular attention toward the end, when the Board members put on a display of consummate dhimmitude.
------------
Among the idiotic statements from Board members, who were presented with concerns about the curriculum used at the Islamic Saudi Academy, is the following (paraphrase):

Latin has violence in it too.

Gerry Connolly, the Board Chairman, also stated, in strong terms, that those who voiced concerns about the school were slandering the school, but that such slander came under the right of freedom of speech. His tone was that of scolding those who had taken time from their day to voice their concerns.

Apparently, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors was (1) uncomfortable with the testimony objecting to the lease and (2) conducting a pro forma hearing.

The vote by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to renew the Islamic Saudi Academy's lease for another year was unanimous. Applause followed the Board's decision.

On the May 30, 3008 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, our second guest, John of Radio Free Dar Al Harb, and I discussed the recent hearing held by the Board of Supervisors. As is often the case with Blog Talk Radio, I had some volume issues with my portion of the discussion; nevertheless, listeners can get the gist of what John and I were saying.

Additional reading: A comprehensive posting on the Islamic Saudi Academy is available HERE, at Blue Ridge Forum.

Turn the page ....