The Islamic Saudi Academy — In The News Again

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

Photo Credit: the Washington Post
Not a flattering recent development, to say the least.

From this article at The Investigative Project:

A Saudi Arabian man living in Tampa is being held without bond after being arrested June 4 for attempting to board a US Airways flight carrying a concealed weapon. Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif was trying to fly to Phoenix.

According to a criminal complaint by Gregory J. Mertiz, Special Agent with the Transportation Security Administration in Tampa, Alsaif submitted three bags for screening to TSA officers. A Transportation Security Officer saw a large butcher knife inside one of the bags. The knife was "artfully concealed between the outside fabric and the expandable pull handles of the bag," the complaint said, and the weapon was stored in a way that would have been "accessible to him [Alsaif] in flight."

[...]

Raed Alsaif is a 2003 graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Alexandria, Virginia, the same high school that was the subject of a report in June 2008 by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which alleged that ISA was using radical Saudi textbooks. According to the report, passages in the textbooks used at ISA justify violent actions and intolerance to the reader including killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, apostates (converts from Islam) and adulterers. School officials say they have deleted the offending passages.

In 2003, the same year that Alsaif graduated from ISA, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen and ISA graduate and valedictorian was arrested in Medina, Saudi Arabia on terrorism related charges. In 2005, Ali was convicted on nine counts including providing material resources to Al-Qaeda and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Alsaif has been previously arrested on drug charges and driving without a license in Hillsborough County.

In addition to his current concealed weapon charges, authorities found that Alsaif has been living in the country illegally....

Go HERE to read the entire article, which has embedded links.

Meanwhile, on July 13 at 6:00 PM, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a hearing to consider allowing expansion of the Popes Head Road location of the Islamic Saudi Academy, owned by the Roayl Embassy of Saudi Arabia.

When Fairfax Christian School held that same property, the Christian school was never allowed to expand nor even to rebuild one of the structures which burned to the ground in the early 1980's. Much of Popes Head Road remains a country lane, the reason given for previously denying expansion to Fairfax Christian School. Apparently, different rules now apply, never mind that the safety issues remain the same.

In fact, when the issue of the expansion of the Islamic Saudi Academy came before the Zoning Board this spring, the board unanimously approved the expansion over the objections of the neighborhood. The Zoning Board wasn't the least interested in the Wahhabist ideology being espoused at the Islamic Saudi Academy, and the board so stated.

Will the Board of Supervisors even care at the upcoming hearing that yet another graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy has shown himself to be something less that the supposedly wonderful students which the school graduates?

Furthermore, why is Fairfax County rolling over for a group whose 12th grade textbooks teach that it’s fine and dandy to kill homosexuals, adulterers, or anyone who leaves Islam?

Meanwhile, the Wahhabist school operates with impunity, just a few miles from our nation's capital.

As my best friend in Texas is wont to say about the Islamic Saudi Academy, "For all we know, Bin Laden is hiding in there in a burqa!"

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Farrah Fawcett (1947 - 2009): Rest In Peace

Private services today at 4:00 PM, Pacific Daylight Time, at the Cathedral at Our Lady of the Angels.

Her long-time lover Ryan O'Neal made the arrangements. Her son Redmond will be released from prison and will attend, in handcuffs.

According to Find A Grave, her mother Pauline and her sister Diane preceded her in death. Diane also died of cancer.

Find A Grave has an excellent biographical sketch of Farrah Fawcett's life and accomplishments. Not mentioned is Ms. Fawcett's final work of film, Farrah's Story:

Most of all, it takes inner strength to fight cancer, which “Farrah’s Story” emphasizes. At the end of the movie, Fawcett aims a camera at the audience. “How are you? What are you fighting for?” she asks.

Without speaking the words, the suggestion seems to be that all anyone can ask is to fight as hard as she has.

Read the entire article and watch some excerpts from Farrah's Story HERE.

Part One of the documentary can be viewed HERE.

Ms. Fawcett thought of Farrah's Story as her mission and her message. Watch and listen to the above portion of her final work of film as a tribute to her. She deserves that ten minutes of your time as a final tribute to her.

I also recommend watching the full version of Farrah's Story, which has been recently re-run on NBC-TV and MSNBC. In fact, I wasn't going to post about the passing of Farrah Fawcett until I watched the film:



Note to viewers: The film itself tends to run more smoothly than the commercials.

In case the above embed doesn't work, HERE is the Hulu the Hulu link for the full-length version of the film.

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We're Stuck With Snollygosters For Leaders

image credit

Above is pictured a snollygoster. According to Blasting Caps and Dynamite, a wonderful new blog which I highly recommend that you check out, a snollygoster is defined as follows:

"One, especially a politician, who is guided by personal advantage rather than by consistent, respectable principles."

Because I love word study, I went looking for some more information about snollygosters and found this at The Word Detective:

"Snollygoster" is an American invention, first appearing in print, according to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), in the mid-19th century.

The most likely origin of "snollygoster" is another, very similar, word -- "snallygaster." From the German "schnelle (quick)" plus "geister (spirits)," a "snallygaster" was a mythical monster (a giant reptilian bird, according to one source) said, among residents of Maryland, to attack and eat livestock as well as the occasional child....There is a slight dating problem with this theory, in that "snallygaster" has (according to the OED) first been found in print in 1940 (versus 1846 for its presumptive descendant "snollygoster"), but it's entirely plausible that the "snallygaster" had been used to cow disobedient children for at least 100 years before the word made it into print.

If I weren't graphically challenged, I'd put the faces of certain politicians as the face of the image at the top of this post. I'd create several different snollygosters. We have a plethora of them!

Today's snollygosters on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and throughout this government bureaucracy are eating more than the occasional child. In various ways (Care to name some in the comments section?), this government, filled with snollygasters, is robbing our children of their heritage of freedom and their right to property.

Generational Theft is what this present administration is all about.

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A Victory For Freedom Of Speech!

The law suit against Joe Kaufman has been dismissed!

Such wonderful news as we approach this coming weekend's celebration of Independence Day!

The last paragraph of the press release:

From the start of the case, Kaufman has called the lawsuit “entirely frivolous” and stated that it was only brought to harm Kaufman financially and to stop him from writing about the terrorism ties of the plaintiffs’ friends. In the end, the case was an important victory for Freedom of Speech.

Read the details about the case HERE.

Just last Friday, June 26, WC and I interviewed Joe on The Gathering Storm Radio Show and discussed the case. You can listen to the interview HERE, during the last half hour of the show.

Addendum, June 29: Joe's interview today about the case - in Front Page Magazine.

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Musical Interlude: Kenny Rogers

The most popular YouTube rendition of "Coward of the County":



If you want a political-social commentary to go along with the above video, please read "A Culture of Helpless Idiots" over at Karen's blog.

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Rick Warren To Partner With ISNA?

I'll admit something up front: I've never much cared for Rick Warren. I can't explain why I had that reaction to him from start.

A lot of Christians hold him in high esteem and love his preaching and his writing. I can't say the same from my own perspective. Instead, I find his message hollow and filled with the social gospel.

Now comes this:
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Rick Warren, author of the best-selling book The Purpose-Driven Life and one with some weight among Christians, appears to be promoting Christo-Islam, i.e., syncretism, another manifestation of delusional and self-delusional kumbaya.

From this source:

The Indiana-based Islamic Society of North America will be holding its annual convention -- the largest yearly gathering of Muslims on the continent -- in Washington, D.C. over the Fourth of July weekend.

And while convention leaders are holding out hope that President Barack Obama might make the convention his latest stop in his outreach to the Muslim world, the convention has landed another pretty big fish as a featured speaker.

Purpose-Driven pastor Rick Warren has agreed to appear at the convention and be part of its main session discussing the convention's theme -- "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Joining Warren for the session is ISNA President Ingrid Mattson and noted Muslim scholar Hamza Yusuf.

Warren's scheduled visit to the convention follows ISNA leader Sayyid Syeed's appearance last December at Warren's Saddleback Civil Forum on Public Health. Warren was unavailable this week to comment about the appearance.

His involvement with ISNA follows the Muslim organization's attempt to build partnerships with people of other faiths, including the Union of Reform Judaism and the American Baptist Churches....

Please see Front Page Magazine's index of articles about the ISNA. What a web of Islamist connections!

Excerpt from this FPM article by Joe Kaufman:

Both the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) present themselves as mainstream Muslim organizations, yet in reality they are part of a radical Muslim movement which exists for the purpose of doing harm to America and Western interests abroad.

[...]

ISNA, said to be the largest Muslim organization in North America, has its roots in the extremist Muslim Brotherhood overseas, the same group responsible for the formation of Hamas and most other international terror entities.

[...]

Besides its connection to Hamas, ISNA is involved in the propagation of hate materials. ISNA and its sister organization, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), run an Islamic Book Service for the United States and Canada. The service consists of texts written by leaders of the Brotherhood and a version of the Quran, The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an, which has been banned by the Los Angeles school system for having numerous anti-Semitic commentaries....

What purpose is driving Rick Warren to partner with a group with terrorist ties? Is he ignorant of those ties? Is he planning to preach the Gospel to ISNA? Not likely.

Rick Warren has previously been criticized for buddying up with Islamists before. From this source, back in 2006:

In his Tuesday, November 28th column, the sixth in a blistering barrage, critical of Warren, Joe Farah had some less than cordial things to say about the Saddleback padre's Purpose Driven powwow with the leader of a terrorist nation:

"Let's be clear about what Rick Warren did and why he is being criticized.

It's not because he met with Syrian President Bashar Assad. In fact, I would encourage any Christian leader who can get in Assad's face to do so. He needs to be called to account for keeping Christians in Syria in a state of "dhimmi" status. He needs to be called to account for murdering Christian political leaders like Pierre Gemayel. He needs to be called to account for his continued repression of his own people as well as those of Lebanon. He needs to be called to account for his support for the terrorist organization Hezbollah. He needs to be called to account for allowing his country to play host to more terrorist organizations than any other country in the world.

So, I did not criticize him for meeting with Assad. I criticized him for playing footsie with the dictator, for giving him cover to continue his atrocities against believers and non-believers alike, for lying to the world about the state of the church in Syria and for not even mentioning Assad's bellicose threats to the very existence of the state of Israel."

But you see, what Warren was doing in Syria is what he's been doing all along here in America and around the world with the dialectic church - withholding inconvenient truths about sin and the call to repentance for the sake of Results and Relationships. Going soft on sinners is his specialty! That's how you "build bridges," exponentially grow churches and dialectically achieve "unity in diversity" - by putting absolutes aside and dialoguing differences away until everyone's conscience is seared and conviction vanishes in the ambiguity of religious relativism.

Somebody, tell Rick Warren, "When you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas."

As I was doing research for this posting, I stumbled across this interview of Rick Warren in the Atlantic. The title of the interview is "The Rick Warren Interview: No Compromise With Evil." In my view, Rick Warren isn't living up to the second part of that title with his upcoming speaking engagement at ISNA's upcoming convention.

Additional reading: "Jumping Jihad!" by Dr. Paul L. Williams. I'm linking to that essay via Infidel Bloggers Alliance because Dr. Williams's web site periodically goes down. Final paragraph of the essay:

At President Barack Obama’s Inauguration, Rev. Warren offered an Invocation in which he quoted the Koran and spoke of Jesus as “Isa,” the Muslim’s name for the founder of Christianity.

Is Rick Warren ashamed of the very Name of Jesus, Whom he has professed as Lord and Savior? Or does he believe that all faiths lead to the one true God? Warren seems to be coming dangerously close to that kind of apostasy. And how many Christians will follow Rick Warren's lead?

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Iranian Version of "Beat It!"

(Note: two posts today)

Hat tip to Gateway Pundit, a montage of Iran's protest photos:



[END OF THIS POSTING]

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Some Perspective On Michael Jackson

(See yesterday's political post below this one)

For decades, I liked and continue to like much of Michael Jackson's music. In fact, I wore out two cassette tapes of Thriller and finally got the CD, to which I still listen from time to time.

Michael Jackson was indeed a great musical artist and an amazing dancer (although Sammy Davis, Jr., could dance just as well and so proved in a live concert I attended). Certainly Michael Jackson enjoyed a lot more than fifteen minutes of fame. He was indeed a talented performer.

And, yes, it is a shame that Michael Jackson has died at such a young age. Of course, once the autopsy is completed, we may learn something scandalous as to his cause of death, and his image may be tarnished yet again. Furthermore, if one is honest, one has to admit that he was downright weird: dangling a baby from a window, uttering that "share your bed" line in a nationally televised interview some years ago, and undergoing plastic surgeries until his face no longer resembled himself but rather a decomposing cadaver.

Hat tip to Bloviating Zeppelin for the following video:



Read Bloviating Zeppelin's post HERE.

And let's face it. As Mustang points out in "Commensurate Honorarium," Michael Jackson was not a hero in the same category as Major Ed Freeman or Major Bruce Crandall, both of which are names which few Americans recognize.

Michael Jackson may deserve the title "The King of Pop." But unlike "The King," Elvis Presley, I don't recall this latest fallen superstar's singing one single patriotic song. Correct me if I'm wrong about Michael Jackson's lack of patriotism. (continued below)
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I will enjoy listening to and watching the tributes to Michael Jackson over the next several days. I'll probably even put Thriller on the stereo for another listen, sing along, and dance around the room. I may even get the film Thriller from NetFlix — after a long wait, of course.

It is also interesting to note that, once news of Michael Jackson's death became public, Twitter's ratings of most-frequent Tweets changed: information about what's been happening in Iran, the world's only Islamic theocracy being challenged, dropped way down on the list of "Trending Topics."

In my view, however, Michael Jackson was no American hero. Also in my view, the way America today chooses heroes speaks to the superficiality of our nation and of our culture.

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A Call To Serve

Even though I have little hope of having "The One" heed my voice, I do write to the White House. Indeed, we as responsible citizens should communicate with all our elected representatives, if for no other reason than to show them that they don't live in a ivory tower.

Writing to the White House apparently puts one on a mailing list.

On June 22, I got the video below embedded in an electronic missive from the White House. Swallow your gorge, and force yourself to watch:



Text of the electronic missive from the White House below the fold:

Dear Friend,

Last week, I announced United We Serve – a nationwide call to service challenging you and all Americans to volunteer this summer and be part of building a new foundation for America.

And when I say “all,” I mean everyone – young and old, from every background, all across the country. We need individuals, community organizations, corporations, foundations, and our government to be part of this effort.

Today, for the official kick off of United We Serve, members of my administration have fanned out across America to participate in service events and encourage all Americans to join them.

The First Lady is rolling up her sleeves and getting to work too. But before she headed out today, she asked me to share this message with you.

Our nation faces some of the greatest challenges it has in generations and we know it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get us back on track.

While Michelle and I are calling on every American to participate in United We Serve, the call to service doesn’t end this fall. We need to stay involved in our towns and communities for a long time to come. After all, America’s new foundation will be built one neighborhood at a time – and that starts with you.

Thank you,
President Barack Obama

Why am I reminded of "To Serve Man," one of the classic episodes from The Twilight Zone?



By the way, the previous electronic missive I received was a link to BHO's Cairo Speech.

You know how that one made my heart leap for joy. [sarcasm]

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Observation From A BHO Supporter

Today in the Washington Post, the day after BHO issued his most-strongly worded statement about the recent protests in Iran, Richard Cohen's column, "President Cool Plays It Right," has many words of praise for BHO's restraint with regard to those protests. Mr. Cohen, as usual, cites history as proof that BHO's restraint in his statements about the Iranian protests was the correct path for a President of the United States to take. In my view, many of the points in the article are well taken and deserve consideration.

Nonetheless, the next-to-last paragraph of the essay brings up an interesting point about BHO:

[I]f McCain, Graham and others have a valid complaint, it is not with Obama's words but with his music. The President of Cool seems emotionally disconnected from events in Tehran -- not unconcerned but not particularly upset, either. This is a quality that will cost Obama plenty in coming years. He can acknowledge your pain, but he cannot feel it.

I typed in "lack of empathy" for a Google search, and up came an article about Narcissistic Personality Disorder from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, 1994, commonly referred to as DSM-IV, of the American Psychiatric Association. The article makes the following nine points about NPD:

1. An exaggerated sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
2. Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

3. Believes he is "special" and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

4. Requires excessive admiration

5. Has a sense of entitlement

6. Selfishly takes advantage of others to achieve his own ends

7. Lacks empathy

8. Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him

9. Shows arrogant, haughty, patronizing, or contemptuous behaviors or attitudes

Each of those points has a "translation." Read the entire article HERE. For your convenience, the following is the translation for Point 7, "Lacks Empathy":

They are unwilling to recognize or sympathize with other people's feelings and needs. They "tune out" when other people want to talk about their own problems.

In clinical terms, empathy is the ability to recognize and interpret other people's emotions. Lack of empathy may take two different directions: (a) accurate interpretation of others' emotions with no concern for others' distress, which is characteristic of psychopaths; and (b) the inability to recognize and accurately interpret other people's emotions, which is the NPD style. This second form of defective empathy may (rarely) go so far as alexithymia, or no words for emotions, and is found with psychosomatic illnesses, i.e., medical conditions in which emotion is experienced somatically rather than psychically. People with personality disorders don't have the normal body-ego identification and regard their bodies only instrumentally, i.e., as tools to use to get what they want, or, in bad states, as torture chambers that inflict on them meaningless suffering. Self-described narcissists who've written to me say that they are aware that their feelings are different from other people's, mostly that they feel less, both in strength and variety (and which the narcissists interpret as evidence of their own superiority); some narcissists report "numbness" and the inability to perceive meaning in other people's emotions.

For additional reading, please see this essay (9/22/08), "Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer," by Ali Sina.

In my view, most political leaders are narcissists to some degree. That said, BHO seems to be more self-centered than most. Furthermore, I did note something disconcerting in yesterday's scripted press conference; please read Dana Milbank's "Stay Tuned for more of The Obama Show" — an article worthy of a separate post: BHO came most alive when (1) talking about his personal battle with quitting smoking and (2) when perceiving disagreement with his statements. Otherwise, his delivery and responses were flat and indeed evidenced a lack of empathy even as his words "appalled," "outraged," and "condemn" were strong.

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Weekly Blog Talk Radio: June 26 — Joe Kaufman

(This post is a weekly promo. Please scroll down for other posts)

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!

Our guest today at the bottom of the hour is Joe Kaufman, Chairman of Americans Against Hate, the founder of CAIR Watch, and an investigative journalist for FrontPage Magazine. Read more about Joe and his work HERE.

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Listen to the June 26, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
July 3: Patriots' Show with Beak, Colonel Gordon Cucullo, and Midnight Rider
July 10: IQ al Rassooli and The Merry Widow
July 17: Yid With Lid
July 24: Robert Spencer
July 31: IQ al Rassooli and Pamela Geller

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Virginia Man Has Meltdown Over Verizon's Service

I've had my own woes with Verizon's service. See HERE and HERE from last year when, twice within a month, Verizon delayed in accomplishing repairs to my phone line.

I was understandably fed up with Verizon and having a mini-meltdown from the frustration of being cut off from the outside world and sitting here in my house day after day as I waited for the Verizon repairman to come. Finally, one the second of the two cutoffs from service within a month's time, Mr. AOW spliced the line and dared Verizon to complain. Verizon didn't complain. After all, hell hath no fury like a blogger disconnected from the worldwide web, and the Verizon technician noticed that fact, likely because of the expression of rage on my face and in my voice.

Last week, an elderly man in Vienna, Virginia had a negative experience with Verizon, and the story made all the local news stations as well as coverage in the newspapers here in the D.C. area. He won't be having any more such negative experiences:

A 79-year-old Vienna man who was fed up with his Verizon service died after trying to stop a technician's van from pulling out of his driveway.

The man, identified by neighbors as William Cornelius, fell after grabbing the steering wheel of the van late Wednesday afternoon and died hours later at a hospital, police said.

[...]

Cornelius was upset and followed the technician to his van. Cornelius "continued to express his dissatisfaction and tried to block the technician's van from leaving his driveway," said Vienna police spokesman Bill Murray.

The technician got inside his van. Cornelius moved out of the way, and the technician began to drive away, according to police.

That was when Cornelius "reached in through the van window and grabbed the steering wheel," Murray said. Cornelius fell to the ground. He was taken to a hospital, where he died.

[...]

"I bet this Verizon situation is the straw that broke the camel's back," [a neighbor] said....

Read the entire article HERE.

Mr. Cornelius clearly acted foolishly, and other factors contributed to his actions, including the death of his wife and struggling with his disabled daughter's care. But I have to say that I completely understand his frustration. Verizon has the habit of telling customers that the repairman will come on a certain date. Many times, the repairman doesn't show, comes some ten days after the customer's request for service, and sometimes doesn't even accomplish the repair. In my own case, one repairman did reconnect the telephone line but disconnected my DSL line! I had to wait several more days to get Internet service restored.

Most of us realize that the days of good customer service ended quite a long time ago. That realization, however, doesn't always prevent or ameliorate one's frustration. Feel free to vent your frustrations about today's customer service in the comments section.

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Obama Is Failing This Test (Bumped)

Failing today's test, on June 20, 2009, exactly six months to the day of his Inauguration.
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All day long, in between necessary household tasks, I've been watching CNN, checking Twitter updates, reading Infidel Bloggers Alliance.

And what is BHO saying? Is he standing up for the ideals of freedom?

No.

I think that BHO said something about not wanting innocent people hurt and wanting the protests to be peaceful.

BHO's words about "innocent" and "peace" sound like something out of the mouth of Al Qaeda or some other fundamentalist Moslem.

Meanwhile, CNN keeps referring to "Obama's tightrope." It looks to me that the real tightrope for survival is going on inside Iran.

BHO's supporters, including Colin Powell, are approving of BHO's tactics right now.

Even Henry Kissinger says that BHO is handling this situation correctly.

I don't agree.

For God's sake. Look at what's coming out of Iran today!



Neda, the young woman in the video:



More information about the protests in Iran HERE. Please look and read. Also see THIS, an Iranian medical student's blog.

BHO doesn't want to meddle in Iran's internal affairs. Mark Alexander has pointed out in an essay today that BHO hasn't been hesitant about meddling with regard to a lot of other matters. Take a look at Mark's essay - worth your time, and comments are open.

I don't see how anyone watching what's coming out of Iran today can remain silent and act as if this uprising in Iran doesn't matter.

Tonight in Washington, D.C., BHO and family are out and about right now getting ice cream:



Not a care in the world, even as, in BHO's own words, "the world is watching"?

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Father's Day

Check out Jungle Mom's post: an excellent compilation of quotations.

[END OF THIS POSTING]

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Is Health Care Reform Part Of Reparations For Slavery And Discrimination?

From NewsBusters: Health care reform is part of reparations for slavery and racial discrimination.

Here's the video:



The apology that Clyburn references was supposed to be only an apology - specifically without reparations. Obviously, Clyburn sees matters differently.

Again, here are Clyburn's words:

Well, I think that Congressman Cohen's resolution that was unanimously passed by the House offered an apology, but it went into talking about how we ought to go about rectifying some of the current effects of that past discrimination. And that's what we're doing today as we roll out this working draft of our health care bill.

What I would do is exactly what we're attempting to do with this legislation, energy legislation, health legislation. I would look at ways that we can programatically and with new policy, address these inequities and make concerted efforts to do things that would make up for them and eliminate the disparities. That's what I would do. We're talking about addressing inequities, disparities that exist in the health care in our communities. That's the kind of thing that we ought to be doing.

Is Clyburn playing up victimology? Or does he know something about the proposed legislation that the rest of us don't?

(crossposted to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS)

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Video: Jon Voight

By now, I expect that most readers here have already seen the video below. But in case you haven't, you can watch it now or perhaps re-watch it:



Jon Voight certainly has come a long way since his earliest Hollywood days as the star of Midnight Cowboy, which won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Now rated R, Midnight Cowboy is the only X-rated film ever to win an Oscar Award. The film is now included in the Library of Congress's National Film Registry.

Music for the film was composed by Ferrante and Teicher. Below is an interesting rendition of the film's main theme:

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Two Good Questions To Ask (Bumped)

(This post has been bumped because today is the funeral for the guard killed, and the media keep trumpeting about Von Brunn's political views)

The next time somebody tries to smear conservatism by citing James Von Brunn's attack on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, below is a strategy to use in the discussion: (from this essay by Andrew Breitbart):

[1] "Why was it outrageous 'guilt by association' to connect Barack Obama to a domestic terrorist like Bill Ayers and an anti-Semite like [the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.], but it's perfectly mainstream to associate all conservatives with this nut job?" asked Jonah Goldberg, best-selling author of "Liberal Fascism" and a nationally syndicated columnist.

[2] Or what about the countless terrorist attacks by unaffiliated Muslim groups or individual jihadists that the media explains away as isolated incidents? Somehow the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its media defenders win the day with their collective cry: "Don't rush to judgment!"

Mr. Breitbart concludes his essay with the following paragraph:

Right now, the Democratic-Media Complex is using the single act of a lone lunatic far removed from the political mainstream to split this country on racial grounds in the pursuit of its own political advantage. With the listless Republican Party lacking in any vocal leadership, it will probably succeed.

Don't let the tactics of leftist hypocrisy succeed! Answer back!

Please take time to read Andrew Breitbart's entire essay HERE.

(Hat tip to LA Sunsett for alerting me to the above essay)

Crossposted earlier this week to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and Infidel Bloggers Alliance

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More On BHO's Firing Of Inspector General Walpin

(With a hat tip to Infidel Bloggers Alliance)

My earlier post on this topic is HERE.

BHO broke his own law, a law he sponsored, when he fired Inspector Walpin.

Video below the fold:



Excerpt from the text at YouTube:

Obama fires Gerald Walpin for "no" reason. He was just doing his job investigating AmeriCorps money that went to a community group called St. HOPE Academy, which was founded by Kevin Johnson, former point guard of the Phoenix Suns, who was elected Mayor of Sacramento last November, and who just happens to be a buddy of Obama's. Does it not seem strange that Obama would fire someone who was investigating a friend of his?

Anyone who paid attention to the election last year knows what is happening; it's called Chicago politics at its finest. And it seems that Obama is a pro at it. Does Obama think that he can get away with something like this? The answer is yes. The fact of the matter is that any President can get away with anything up to and including murder, if the news media does not cover it, or they bury it in the back pages....

Has BHO committed an impeachable offense by firing Inspector General Gerald Walpin? If so, will this Congress care?

It is worth noting that GWB's firing of several U.S. attorneys did elict much media outrage. Where is that media outrage over BHO's recent actions along similar lines?

Additional reading: "Treasury Department Challenges Independence of TARP Inspector General." Excerpt:

The Obama administration’s disputes with government watchdogs do not end with fired Inspector General Gerald Walpin. Behind the scenes, the Treasury Department is embroiled in a disagreement with Neil Barofsky, the watchdog for the $700 billion government bailout Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

[...]

As part of his duties performing audits and keeping tracking TARP dollars, Barofsky asked the Treasury Department for some documents about a financial institution receiving tens of billions in taxpayer bailout dollars. The Treasury Department refused to hand them over...

More than one scandal brewing for the BHO administration?

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AOW...

...may be out of the loop for a while.
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Several transformers in her area experienced catastrophic failures, at the same time. She will not be able to test her modem until she gets a new power strip...hopefully the power strip took the hit and the modem is fine.

She was without power for 5 hours, it has come back on, but now they have no water...

If it isn't one thing, it's 20 others!

UPDATE!
The reason AOW has no water, is because there is a break in the waterline, near her meter...if it is on the house side, we may need to take up a fund to help pay for the repair...if it is street side, pray that the water company has to foot the bill...looks like the water will be turned off on her street(oh, joy) and the street may have to be dug up!

UPDATE FROM AOW:
Finally! I'm back, as of 4:20 PM, Eastern Daylight Time. More in the comments section later.

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Weekly Blog Talk Radio: June 19 — I.Q. Al Rassooli

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!

Our guest today for the full hour is I.Q. Al Rassooli.

You don't want to miss this show!
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I.Q. Al Rassoli is the author of Lifting the Veil: The True Faces of Muhammad and Islam. He also has two web sites: In The Name Of Allah and the YouTube site Idiot's Guide To Islam. Sample from the latter:



Listen to the June 19, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

View more of these videos HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
June 26: Joe Kaufman
July 3: Patriots' Show with Beak, Colonel Gordon Cucullo, and Midnight Rider
July 10: The Merry Widow
July 17: Yid With Lid
July 24: Robert Spencer

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Note To Readers

I finally joined Twitter as Always_On_Watch. Toward the top of the right sidebar, you can see a limited number of my Twitter updates, which I change fairly frequently. You can click on posted links to read those stories without joining Twitter itself.
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Actually, I've a Twitter account for some time. I didn't activate it, however, until this past weekend — just in time for all the Tweets about what's going on inside Iran right now.

According to this from Breitbart:

Twitter streams break Iran news dam

Protestors in Iran on Monday used Twitter for battle cries and to spread word about clashes with police and "hard line supporters" of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Twitter messages, some with links to pictures, streamed from Iran despite reported efforts by authorities there to block news of protests over Ahmadinejad's claim of having been fairly re-elected.

Pictures of wounded or dead people that senders claim were Iranian protestors ricocheted about Twitter and wound up posted at online photo-sharing websites such as Flickr...

Twitter may well turn out to be more than just a tool for social networking.

Membership in Twitter is free.

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Student's Work: Type Sketch

The type sketch below, this year's writing assignment for a satire, was written by ninth-grade, homeschooled student S.R. According to our composition textbook, "A type sketch is the opposite of a character sketch. Instead of describing a specific individual, the type sketch paints a word picture of a general type of person. Usually the best way to bring the type sketch to life is to use humor, satire, or gentle sarcasm...Usually the title of the type sketch will reveal the opinion of the author..."


The Environmentalist
At six o’clock in the morning, a red Smart Car pulls into a driveway. Its rear bumper, plastered with Obama stickers, also displays a plethora of other environmentally friendly bumper stickers: "No Tree Left Behind," "Stop Whaling," and "Hummers are Tangible Evidence of Evil." The engine stops, the door opens, and out steps the Environmentalist.

Having just returned from hanging a Greenpeace banner from a giant construction crane with some of his colleagues, the Environmentalist stands in his gravel driveway, letting the light drizzle of early morning rain fall upon his head. He wears a pair of earth-brown Birkenstocks, baggy cargo pants with pockets unbuttoned and bulging with Clif bars, and a wrinkled plaid shirt that he bought for $1.25 at his neighbor’s yard sale. A Camelback hangs from his shoulder, nearly depleted of its water supply. On his head he wears a tan hiking hat with a side-pocket for his pet gecko and an Obama button on the front.

He appears pleased as he watches the rain descend upon his vegetable garden. Three years ago he replaced his front lawn with a sustainable vegetable garden to conserve water while producing organic vegetables. Suddenly, his joyful face turns to horror as he observes his neighbor’s automatic sprinkler system emit a spray of water despite the rain. The Environmentalist storms into his house, angry over his neighbor’s wastefulness.

Once inside the kitchen, the Environmentalist says to himself, “I guess it’s left over tofu salad for breakfast, since the solar-operated stove won’t function with the cloudy weather.” Then, after having eaten breakfast, he walks downstairs to the laundry room, unloads the washer, and patiently hangs his freshly washed clothes over the door tops and shower rods throughout the house. The Environmentalist finally hops back in his Smart Car and drives off to an alternative fuels rally where he hopes to learn how to make biodiesel fuel from used vegetable oil. As he gets out of his car at the rally, he thinks to himself, “Being green may consume all my time, but, if together we can save the earth, it sure is worth it.”

— Contributed by S.R.

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Iran: Clashes Within (With Addendum)

Excerpts from today's Washington Post story are below the fold:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared a "new beginning" for Iran late Saturday after he was declared victor in the presidential election, but as he spoke on national television violent demonstrations rolled through several areas of Tehran. Supporters of defeated candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi burned dumpsters, threw stones and clashed with police in the worst rioting in Tehran in many years.

What new beginning is Ahmadinejad talking about? The same mullah-controlled thug will be at the helm of Iran. Supposedly, he had a landslide victory:

The Interior Ministry, controlled by Ahmadinejad, announced that he had been elected in the first round with 62.6 percent of the vote, compared with less than 34 percent for Mousavi, who was the leading challenger. Turnout was a record 86 percent of the 46.2 million eligible voters.

Oh, really? Check out this information about the 2005 election, which brought Ahmadinejad to power. Should we believe that this 2009 election was run with more integrity?

According to today's Washington Post:

Announcement of the results triggered protests throughout the day. Families lined the streets in the middle-class neighborhood of Saadat Abad, cheering on the demonstration and shouting, "Death to the dictator!"

[...]

Talks between Iran and the United States are still a possibility with Ahmadinejad at the helm. On several occasions, he has said he wants such talks. His oft-repeated verbal attacks on Israel are not expected to change.

So, no fresh start, really.

Meanwhile,

The White House released a two-sentence statement...

In Tehran, Mousavi's whereabouts were unknown. Reporters on their way to a news conference by the former candidate were stopped by security personnel, who said the meeting had been canceled. Several journalists were beaten.

[...]

"We are hopeful," Ahmadinejad said during his speech. "Now it's time to move on and continue to build our great Iran."

In essence, Ahmadinejad is speaking of change and hope. No wonder BHO cuts him so much slack.

With all this unrest over the election in Iran going on right now, BHO's weekly address was about healthcare reform, also the topic on the lead page of the White House web site. Not a word of support for the oppressed people of Iran. Does that community not matter to him?



ADDENDUM: More from Gateway Pundit.

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Why Did BHO Fire Inspector General Gerald Walpin?

From this posting at Maggie's Notebook:

The Inspector General investigating AmeriCorps and other national service programs has been fired, and may have been fired for revealing misdeeds involving thousands of taxpayer dollars by an Obama supporter. There's more: the way in which Obama handled the firing may have flown in the face of current law....

Read the rest HERE.

And So I Go: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow has more:

What did the Inspector General do to get canned by the President? Well for one thing he is investigating ACORN....

The Inspector General’s Office is part of the Department of Commerce and one of the Inspector Generals Office’s most important jobs is to monitor the Census that is taken every 10 years....

Read it all HERE.

You decide: Is BHO trying to cover up something?

Meanwhile, BHO is on his never-ending "campaign trail" — this time, promoting healthcare reform. Let's hope (cough) that he's more successful with that endeavor than he has been with various bailouts.

Additional reading: Michelle Malkin's Obama’s Americorps scandal — and the First Lady’s meddling. Excerpt:

President Obama is hoping you won’t notice his abrupt change of inspectors general over at Americorps, the government-run, taxpayer-subsidized “community service” boondoggle (which Republicans helped expand as part of the $6 billion GIVE/SERVE Act in March despite its wasteful track record. Thanks, Republicans).

With intervention from Michelle Obama, the Americorps inspector general was given the boot and replaced — for doing his job too well, it seems, and uncovering squandering of funds by favored contributors, educational institutions, and left-wing groups....

Read the rest HERE.

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Red Cross Insults Islam

Via this posting at Infidel Bloggers Alliance:

Calls for Red Cross symbol to be axed over links to the Crusades

A Labour minister has sparked controversy by claiming that an alternative symbol is needed for the Red Cross because of the logo's supposed links to the Crusades.

Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant said that the historic emblem risked undermining the work of the humanitarian organisation.

His intervention came as MPs debated the adoption of the 'red crystal' - a diamond-shaped badge - to avoid the religious connotations of the cross and crescent symbols currently used by the international body.

The article in Mail Online continues:

The founding Conference of the Red Cross Movement in 1863 adopted a red cross on a white background – the reverse of the Swiss flag – as the emblem of the voluntary medical personnel who assisted the wounded on the battlefield.

It was never intended to have any religious meaning and is thought to have been intended as a tribute to traditionally neutral Switzerland, which hosted the conference.

However, the symbol unintentionally raised suggestions that it was somehow linked to the Hospitallers, a military order which took part in the Crusades, the centuries long series of military campaigns waged by Christians from Europe.

Subsequently, a red crescent emblem was adopted in tandem.

Mr Bryant told the Commons: 'The reference to the Crusades is... not lost to some people which, of course, anybody involved in the Red Cross would wholly deprecate.

'The truth of the matter is that it has been difficult in some places for us to ensure that these connotations of a religious war or a religious crusade don't undermine the work that the Red Cross or Red Crescent is able to do.'

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement hope that the neutrality of the red crystal will help improve protection for casualties, military medical services and humanitarian workers....

Read the entire article HERE.

Political correctness gone mad.

The Red Cross may be replaced by the crystal. Will the same standard apply to replacing the Red Crescent. We note that the Red Crescent has already replaced the Red Cross in Islamic nations.

Is the West so very afraid of offending Moslems? This is a no-end game! Take a look at The List of Things That Offend Muslims. What's next to be added to that list?

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Murder At The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The museum is closed today and the flags flying at half mast.

Coincidence or not, yesterday's shooting, which ended in the death of museum guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, occurred on the anniversary date of the end of the Six Day War (1967).
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One thread at Stormfront refers to the murderer, James Von Brunn, as a "white racialist treasure." The thread was posted in 2004. I won't link to it.

Yesterday's Examiner published the following article a few hours after the shooting and contains some interesting information that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere:

Holocaust Museum shooter von Brunn a 9/11 'truther' who hated 'neo-cons', Bush, McCain

The man accused of opening fire at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC on June 10, James W. von Brunn, left a trail of unhinged writings around the internet.

The anti-semitism of von Brunn is the first thing one notices when visiting these bizarre websites. However, like those of most "white supremacists", many of von Brunn's political views track "Left" rather than "Right." Clearly, a re-evaluation of these obsolete definitions is long overdue.

For example, he unleashed his hatred of both Presidents Bush and other "neo-conservatives" in online essays. As even some "progressives" such as the influential Adbusters magazine publicly admit, "neoconservative" is often used as a derogatory code word for "Jews". As well, even a cursory glance at "white supremacist" writings reveals a hatred of, say, big corporations that is virtually indistinguishable from that of anti-globalization activists.

James von Brunn's advocacy of 9/11 conspiracy theories also gives him an additional commonality with individuals on the far-left.

None of this will surprise readers of Jonah Goldberg's bestseller Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Change, which clearly demonstrates that "fascism" of the kind advocated by the British National Party (BNP) and the likes of James W. von Brunn is just as likely to reflect "leftwing" views as "rightwing" ones.

In fact, anti-semitism is something the New Left and the "Far Right" have had in common since the 1980s, which is why so many former leftists like David Horowitz defected from one side to the other during the Reagan era and beyond. It also helps explain the otherwise baffling alliance between the Left and radical Islam.

That this shooting occurred shortly after President Obama's former mentor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, blamed "the Jews" for his lack of access to his former parishioner is a troubling confluence of events as well.

Anecdotal reports on the local D.C. news are saying that Von Brunn was "weird" and volatile. According to the Washington Post:

James W. von Brunn was growing despondent.

John de Nugent, an acquaintance who describes himself as a white separatist, noticed the change when they last spoke two weeks ago.

"He said his Social Security had been cut and that he was barely making it," de Nugent said. "He felt it was the direct result of someone in Washington looking at his Web site."

In one of his e-mail blasts expressing his white supremacist views, the man police sources say shot and killed a security guard yesterday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum told readers that they shouldn't expect to hear from him again. Von Brunn was shot and critically wounded by museum guards.

He was about to give away his computer, his primary connection to the fringe world of radical racists. He was living hand to mouth.

The e-mails were getting violent in tone: "It's time to kill all the Jews."

Von Brunn, who lives in Annapolis, was known for decades to fellow white supremacists who read his elaborate conspiracy theories on his Web site and met him through a network of radical racist groups. He was smart enough to join Mensa, but even admirers considered him a loner, a hothead and a man consumed with hatred.

[...]

Von Brunn's neighbors said yesterday that they invited him to their home for a drink recently. Apropos of nothing, they said, he raised his belief that the Holocaust did not occur.

[...]

Von Brunn's ex-wife said she divorced him about 30 years ago when she could no longer take his racist beliefs.

"When he talked about [race], he would get verbally abusive because I didn't really want to talk about it," said the 69-year-old woman, who lives in Florida and said she would speak to reporters if they would agree not to name her. "It was always against the Jews and the blacks."

The woman said she had not talked to authorities about the man she was married to for a decade.

"We absolutely detested his beliefs," she said. "I am disheartened the young guard was killed."

She said von Brunn once predicted that he would "go out with his boots on."...

You can read the entire article HERE.

A memorial Facebook site has been set up for Stephen Tyrone Johns, who was cold-bloodedly murdered yesterday at his post in the museum. You can read details about Mr. Johns, "Gentle Giant," HERE. Please pray for his family.

And let us thank God that none of the tourists inside the museum yesterday were hurt. Some 2000, including schoolchildren on field trips, were touring at the time.

Note: The news this morning continues to mention that Von Brunn extensively used the web. Are these reports on the news tacit calls for government control of the web?

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Evan Thomas: "Obama Is...Sort of God"

Surreal!

Opposing BHO's policies must be blasphemy, then. [sarcasm]




Gateway Pundit has more.

The following is the "wonder" that BHO has wrought (Hat tip to THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS):



Please see The Declaration of Independence from the "Sort of God" — quite the catalogue of the BHO administration! I had my name added to the post. You can do the same by stating your request in the comments section.

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Weekly Blog Talk Radio: June 12 — Alec Rawls

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.

Our guest this week is Alec Rawls of Error Theory. We will be discussing the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

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Please join us for the June 12, 2009 edition of The Gathering Storm Radio Show, live or later, by CLICKING HERE.

UPCOMING SHOWS:
June 19: I.Q. Al Rassooli
June 26: Joe Kaufman
July 3: Patriots' Show with Beak, Colonel Gordon Cucullo, and Mustang
July 10: Guest(s) to be announced
July 17: Guest(s) to be announced
July 24: Robert Spencer

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Student's Work: Poetry

The following poem, a tribute and not an assignment, was written by eighth grade, homeschooled student MJD and read expressively by the student at the end-of-the-year program. MJD is describing the two-hour block class British Literature and Expository Writing.



The Longest Two Hours

Awaiting the hour in which we will start,
The sipping of coffee, the sketching of art.
A most nervous chatter we all do resume —
Till the cause of our worry stands up in the room.

She searches her suitcase filled with grammar and papers,
Which we all hope we'll pass on — sooner or later.
We cringe at the squeaks coming from the white board
As the sharpie writes down the words sooooo abhorred.

“Test first today. Hope you studied. “NO NOTES!”
The latter of which was all capitals and quotes.
But the ominous squeaking continued to rant,
Like an eerie, unearthly, and hair-raising chant.

Adjusting her glasses, eyes fixed on the board,
She read it out loud piercing word by piercing word.
“At 11:30, a timed essay. But, before then,
Even though it may kill me, commas. Again!”

From obvious to strenuous the questions did vary,
From King Lear by Shakespeare to Beowulf by Heaney.
But she doesn't stop there, to our humiliation.
Mumbling each grade out, we hold in our frustration.

But the class ends not here. It resumes in an instant!
We study our commas till she thinks we're proficient.
And then comes the break, which even she needed.
But the break was soon over and we were reseated.

The timed essay subject was studied with groaning.
This subject (to some) was simply mystifying.
How could one explain this impossible subject?
But from the large desktop, the orange bell was plangent.

We scribbled our writing till the paper was smoking.
When we thought there was time left, “Five minute warning!”
With a yell of dismay — and a groan — and a sob —
We looked at our papers: a Terrible Job.

The teacher looked round from student to student,
From bright-shining faces, to those of great disappointment.
Standing up and collecting, her faced turned to gray.
Someone hadn't disposed of his gum yet today.

She whirled round quickly, staring at the offender,
With a quiet voice filled with much suppressed anger:
“Next week you'll lose the gum. I will not forget!”
Then a student whispered, “Lunch?” “No, not yet!”

Homework slips were quickly retrieved from her bag.
It felt much lighter once from it they were snagged.
The large homework paper was black with the ink
Of words that described what we must get done this week.

“Now off to lunch with all of you,” she said.
“Fix up your commas. Ow! My poor head!
"Or else I'll might read your timed essay grades aloud!”
Then we scurried to lunch — a stampeding crowd.

As we share lots of laughs over previous classes,
The fond memories build, and we know they will last.
Typing assignments at 1:00 A.M. on the computer,
The teacher who led was a wonderful tutor.

— Contribued by MJD.

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I Post At Other Sites, Too

Today I posted this, graphically enhanced by Reliapundit, about Washington Post's making excuses for traitors at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS.

[END OF THIS POSTING]

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Video Taken June 4: Little Rock, Arkansas (Bumped)

(Hat tip to Creeping Sharia)

The following video was filmed in front of the Army-Navy Recruiting Station, where Pvt. William Long was murdered earlier this week by "the Arkansas jihadist":



Some reading below the fold.

From this source, which may offer periodic updates:

Secure Arkansas organized a rally in rememberance of the first terrorist attack since 9/11. Pvt. William Long was killed and Pvt. Quinton I. Ezeagwula was wounded by Carlos Leon (aka Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad).

Channel 11 was the only TV crew out there with a camera, and the AR Dem Gazette sent a reporter and a photographer. The event had several speakers who did a wonderful job. Video footage of them will be uploaded soon. However, the most shocking part of the event was when a muslim fanatic crashed the event. The fanatic drove by and yelled at us, then parked in the parking lot and stood out with a homemade sign yelling anti-American and later anti-Semetic comments.

Had this been a ceremony for Tiller, this would have been the top story for both local and national media. Since it isn't a top story, it's up to you to send this to as many people as possible....

Contrary to what the muslimatoon say in the video, many of us do indeed know "what is Islam."

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