Never forget

Never forget the day, the lives, the mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, and the children. Never forget the images. Never forget the shock. Never forget the heroes.

Never forget the murderers.

WTC Jumpers

DC's Music Festival ... A Special Song this Weekend

This weekend, we slow it down and pause to reflect.

This weekend's song is about, well, this weekend. As I think about 9/11, I am reminded of how the horror of the day ultimately revealed and reminded us of the greatness of America. Do you remember the heroic firefighters, the passengers on United 93, the bullhorn, the national sense of pride and genuine community, and the Congress of these United States singing God Bless America, for crying out loud?

America, I love her so, and those of you here and abroad who stand with our nation, you inspire me and hearten me on dark days, such as 9/11/01 was.

When evil calls itself a martyr ... when all your hopes come crashing down ... some one will pull her from the rubble ...

There she stands.

Always remember.

God bless you all.

Suddenly I feel safer...

Janet Napolitano vows to keep up fight

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano will mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11 with a speech Friday in New York vowing to keep up the fight against terrorists and to “to enlist the nation in its own collective security.”

"We can’t guarantee there won’t be another successful terrorist attack", Napolitano will tell first responders and emergency workers.

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So How Then Should We Treat Them?

In a recent post, gentle reader timj sorta-semi-pseudo takes GNN to task for not respecting the Muslim faith. I beg to differ and regard this opportunity as a teachable moment.

Most of us are fully aware of the major foibles of Islam; if you can't accept it for the absence of original sin, its salvation based on works and concomitant hierarchy of obligations, then embrace it for its hatred of women, nonbelievers and just about everyone and everything that does not agree with their faith or is merely perceived as not respecting their faith. There's so very much to work with here.

What we need is perspective on how worshippers of Jehovah treated other religions, even an ancient perspective because God never changes. Let us therefore take a brief detour into the worship of Baal.

Baal was an ancient agricultural/fertility god whose worship was prevalent throughout the land of Canaan during the invasion of the Hebrew tribes, AKA Israel, circa 1450 BC. A representative idol is on the left. Baal was believed responsible for rain, incredibly important in an agrarian society.

Worship of Baal involved sex acts (female prostitutes who collected fees for the temple) as well as human sacrifice. Killing young children to placate Baal was commonplace, especially when building a house or other structure. You killed one of your children and placed him in the foundation ala Jimmy Hoffa. In I Kings 16:34 we read about this:

"In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn..."

This is again referenced in Joshua 6:26. There have been various forms of Baal worship (Baalim), usually tied in with Ashtoreth, but the variety I am interested in was the form practiced by King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, a cult of the Syrian god Melqart. As the Hebrews mingled their worship of Jehovah with that of Baal, including the sacrifice of their children, Elijah was called upon to demonstrate the superiority of Jehovah.

The showdown between Elijah and Baal is captured in I Kings, chapter18; briefly, Elijah built a huge sacrificial fire pit and had 450 priests of Baal invoke their god to start the wood on fire.
While the priests holler and scream and slash themselves to get Baal to start the fire (Note - where have we seen that before, eh?), Elijah is constantly embarrassing and humiliating them for a good part of the day.

In verse 27 Elijah harasses the priests; their god is asleep, he is busy with other things ... one of the things he yells at them is that Baal maybe "travelling" - the actual Hebrew language means "covering his feet" which is a reference to the fact that men squatted over a hole with their robes on to relieve themselves, thus their robes covered their sandals. Elijah was inferring that Baal may have been been bothered by hemorrhoids or the runs and was unable to start the sacrificial fire. The Baal priests went literally insane trying to get their god to strike the fire while Elijah mocked them. Exhausted, the priests gave up and Elijah called down fire from Heaven, instantly burning the wood, the sacrificial oxen and the priests.
In like fashion Christ went after the money changers and the Pharisees/Sadducee's with a vengeance. To everyone else he was kind, loving and forgiving ... why? Christ went after the people who should have known better, he went after those in authority who lied to their charges and enriched themselves at their expense. To everyone else, he was their Savior.

So, what do we do with imams who declare bloody fatwa? Who demand war if a mere paperback is destroyed?

Who lop off heads and hands and break limbs to satisfy their bloodthirsty god and his pedophile prophet?

Who play "Rub The Magic Falafel" with nine year old boys?

Are these men not just as bad as the priests of Baal?

To those Muslims who desire truth, we should present what we know and live by it else we are hypocrites and our religion is hollow. But to those who proclaim Allah is great and demand that all must render submission to Islam (after all, that's what Islam means) then I say start that fire yourselves and go bugger off while you scream and shout to a false god who has hemorrhoids.

Tatamount To War

Like birds who perch on telephones lines and crap all over your newly washed car, the adherents of Islam constantly leave droppings on our body politic reminding us that wherever they are, Ishmael and his mother Hagar are laughing their asses off. One such son of Ishmael residing within our shores has made it clear the reasons why. He has literally declared war on anyone who dares burn a copy of the Koran or Quran as it may be.

For those who may be ecumenically-minded, Islam does not and cannot play nice with other religions.

Negotiations between a local Muslim cleric and the leader of a tiny Florida church who had threatened to publicly burn copies of Islam's holy text left the heated debate in a state of confusion with the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks a day away.

The Rev. Terry Jones said Thursday he would call off the planned burning of Qurans based on a deal negotiated with the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida that the location of a mosque planned near ground zero in New York would be changed.

[...] For U.S. political leaders and Muslims around the world who have been outraged by Jones' antics, the on-again, off-again threat bred even more angst and frustration.

Cleric Rusli Hasbi told 1,000 worshippers attending Friday morning prayers in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, that whether or not he burns the Quran, Jones had already "hurt the heart of the Muslim world."

"If he'd gone through with it, it would have been tantamount to war," the cleric said in the coastal town of Lhokseumawe. "A war that would have rallied Muslims all over the world."

Ordinarily this would not have been worth a printed sentence in the Lake Kissimmee Morning Bugle, but it is fairly representative of the reactions of millions of twitchy, impoverished people throughout the Muslim nations.

Muslims consider the book the sacred word of God and insist it be treated with the utmost respect.

In Afghanistan, where tens of thousands of U.S. troops are in harm's way, President Hamid Karzai said he heard Jones had perhaps abandoned his Quran-burning plan.

"The holy book is implanted in the hearts and minds of all the Muslims," Karzai said. "Humiliation of the holy book represents the humiliation of our people. I hope that this decision will be stopped and should never have been considered."

To be clear, it matters not a whit to me how many Korans are burned; the US Army burned many bibles in Afghanistan and no one cared.

The unsolicited Bibles sent by a church in the United States were confiscated about a year ago at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan because military rules forbid troops of any religion from proselytizing while deployed there, Lt. Col. Mark Wright said.

Such religious outreach can endanger American troops and civilians in the devoutly Muslim nation, Wright said.

"The decision was made that it was a 'force protection' measure to throw them away, because, if they did get out, it could be perceived by Afghans that the U.S. government or the U.S. military was trying to convert Muslims," Wright told CNN on Tuesday.

But I think that the current public burning of the Koran is a bad idea fostered by a pastor who should know better. The solution to Islam is to present a clear and accurate representation of the Gospel of Christ. And then to live it. Muslims are not fools, like everyone else they can discern whether or not you truly believe in something.

I have a friend, our former pastor, who now heads an international missionary program throughout Africa. You must be very careful, but believe it or not there is a thriving Christian missionary outreach to Muslims within their own countries. Burning the Koran hardens the attitude of many Muslims and threatens such outreach efforts.

We are indeed involved in a war on terror, but it is also a war of ideologies. For victory, we must defeat their ideology as well as their warriors.

To defeat their warriors, you must provide our warriors with superior weapons and tactics.

To defeat their ideology, you must provide their warriors with a superior faith.

"Drastic Times Require What? ... That's Right!!"

Actually, saw this on Ace first.

We usually don't use this space to promote family or personal agendas, but I thought Rhod's little brother Phil deserves it and he has our unwavering support (even though he amazingly lost the nomination). Phil is a little more centrist and soft-spoken than Rhod:

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

.

OCTOBER SURPRISES

By Victor Davis Hanson

The Democrats will probably suffer historic losses in both the House and Senate in less than 60 days. The 11th-hour campaigning of the now-unpopular Barack Obama on behalf of endangered congressional candidates will not change much. In fact, most embattled Democratic candidates don't want the president to even set foot in their districts.

The public knows that the stimulus packages are played out. Unemployment rose, not fell as promised. All that is left are the higher taxes next year required to pay for the borrowed money that was squandered.

Those in Congress who went along with the Obama borrowing agenda now find themselves on the wrong side of the American people on almost every issue -- from federalized health care, higher taxes and bailouts to proposed cap-and-trade and amnesty.

Could things still turn around before November?

The Democrats' best hope is a major crisis overseas that would rally the American public around their commander in chief. Usually, cynical journalists dub an unexpected autumn bombing run, missile launch, or presidential announcement of a cease-fire or needed escalation an "October surprise."

These are the "wag the dog" moments that might turn angry Americans' thoughts elsewhere. And they have a checkered history that began long before critics alleged that in August 1998, before midterm elections, Bill Clinton ordered bombing missions in Afghanistan and the Sudan to distract public attention from his embarrassing dalliance with Monica Lewinsky in the Oval Office. He looked decisive and presidential; his Republican opponents looked nitpicking and petty.

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Obama in Punt Formation ahead of Elections ... IT'S A FAKE!! Dude is calling for tax cuts!!!!!!!

Shoulda had Michelle run that one for him ... conservatives all over that field ... dangerous out there these days.

The Russian NBA Season Begins

Spasiba Comrade Point Guard!

Somewhere in the Economic World, the Sun is Shining: Germany

It seems the Germans got the bright idea to see if history would indeed repeat itself if they restrained government spending. Well, the rest is becoming history: Read the excellent piece in the WSJ here.

So, the Germans have moved contra the conventional wisdom and are getting -- growth and prosperity, as they did in the 1950s.

While the left's ideas work in the laboratories of university classrooms and MSM newsrooms, in the real world, the law of supply and demand and human nature remain unrepealed.

Indeed, once upon a time, an American president also reminded us that the size of government could be reduced, taxes could be cut, and we could be prosperous, free, and proud again.

Democrat Leaders gather to celebrate their CRUISE TO VICTORY 2010

SHIP OF FOOLS

Exclusive Goomba News Network video footage.

Gotta Know When to Holder And When To Folder

This morning as I walked out the door of my fashionable, up-scale English Tudor home, I nearly tripped over a large parcel wrapped in damp newspaper left ominously in the middle of my Mediterranean flagstone walkway. Examining the parcel, I noticed that it smelled of Hai Karate and cheap Lambrusco. Inside the package were several used ticket stubs to "Man of La Mancha," a heavily stained white wedding dress and a half-eaten cannoli. Glancing quickly around I spied a shiny black 1961 Rambler American parked down the street; it was deliberately blocking the handicapped access ramp cut into the granite corner curbing.

"Goomba!" I cried aloud.

And once again I find myself drawn back into the mystery and intrigue that is the Goomba News Network. True to form, later that afternoon I received, via courier, a blank envelope containing a single piece of paper with the name, Eric Holder, scrawled upon it in Rhod's handwriting.

I can take a hint.

ICE agency report puts serious dent in Eric Holder’s DOJ case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio

On Thursday Eric Holder and the Department of Justice filed suit against Arizona’s Maricopa County Sheriff’s office run by the outspoken and flamboyant Joe Arpaio who’s made it a personal crusade to uphold U.S. immigrations laws when the feds won’t.

Maybe Sheriff Joe and a hundred or so of his deputies should illegally enter the Justice Department; you know, just doing the jobs that the feds don't want to do.

Back in March of 2009 the DOJ informed sheriff Arpaio that a probe was underway to investigate what the DOJ claimed were “alleged patterns or practices of discriminatory police practices and unconstitutional searches and seizures.” This is where things get sticky for Eric Holder and the Obama Administration.

Six months prior to this investigation the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) had already conducted its own investigation of sheriff Arpaio’s office and not only gave it a clean bill of health, they actually gave a raving review. The report said things like “The OI and DRO supervisors consider the conduct and performance of the MCSO … officers to be professional and meeting the requirement of the MOA.” And that they considered the working relationship between the feds and the sheriff’s office to be “excellent” and that cases brought by the sheriff’s office to be “high quality.”

So Holder decides to launch a full-blown federal investigation of a local agency that months before endured and passed an exhaustive investigation by another federal agency regarding the same kind of allegations. This action comes almost on the heels of another Holder faux paswhere he blatantly declines to prosecute a slam dunk case of voter intimidation perpetrated by the Black Panthers. Prosecutorial discretion does not begin to cover this incredibly poor exercise of judgement.

To make matters worse, or better depending on your POV, Sheriff Joe had his lawyers file a FOIL request which uncovered an email:

[...] that was sent just after the Justice Department investigation was announced, from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency employee to John P. Torres who was at the time the acting assistant secretary of ICE. The email said: “Did you see this?” attaching a news report on the investigation. “Yes,” Torres responded a few minutes later. “Interesting politics at play.”

Mr. Torres was very charitable. Of all the language that comes to mind that could have described Mr. Holder's actions, "interesting" was not the first word I would have used. I was thinking more along the lines of "criminal," or "official misconduct," or "Leavenworth."

I love Sheriff Joe's tailor.

Budget cuts in rural California lead to strange vigilante behavior.

What does a small town in California do when cuts in law enforcement result in drunken violent barnyard clashes?

The once-quiet hamlet of Calvert Corners has been living in terror as warrens of rabbit gangs have taken to binge-drinking cheap hooch and turning the small downtown area into a war zone. Local police have been unsuccessful in curbing the boisterous bunny bouts. The Goomba News Network is now able to offer video of a frustrated population of Conservative poultry acting vigilante-style to end the barnyard insanity.

How do you say "Progressive Insurance Male" in Russian?

Arf

"They talk about me like a dog". This guy is such a sissy.

Christmas is right around the corner. What will deposed Democrats be finding in their stockings? DHIMMI HATS!!

Buy yourself a hat, Barney,

and buy another for a sullen white friend.

This listing is for one custom made hand crocheted beanie with a beard and mustache. I have several examples pictured here. Please see my sold listings for other possible colorcombinations. For the hats I have most basic colors on hand, so if you don't see the color you want, I very likely have it on hand. For the beards, I have black, gray, brown, chocolate brown and tan. Feel free to send me a message with any questions you may have.

This is sized to fit most adult heads and is one piece designed to fit like a ski mask. This listing is for one made with soft 100% acrylic yarn for easy care. If you would like cotton or another fiber, please feel free to send me a message and we can work out whatever you like.

Please specify in the notes to seller the color combination you prefer and if there is a special size needed.

Custom orders will be shipped within 5 business days.

Thanks so much for looking!

Have a great day!

With the Heat of a Thousand Suns ...

My anger burns for this "Flo" character and her Progressive commercials ... so much so, that my children flee the room when they are on.

Why, you ask? Well, she is unattractive (I think she knows this, surely she does absent some vision problem) and unfunny (this seems yet to be realized). Plus, the entire ad campaign by "Progressive" Insurance is, indeed, progressive ... boyfriends buying insurance together, metrosexuals quaking in Flo's presence, one doughboy confiding that his mommy doesn't let him drive ... incompetent males (are there any other kind?) all the way around ... don't you love the little twerp who is rebuked by Flo for getting too excited/agreeing with her?

This is the way Progressive Insurance sees the world. The company is run by leftists. For kicks, google up "Peter Lewis," the chairman of Progressive. Nice fella, and a big fan of the ACLU and hard-left politics.

Intelligence-insulting ... unfunny ... unattractive ... that's Progressive, alright.

Russia is covering-up the assassination of the Polish Government. Obama remains silent. UN remains silent. MSM remains silent.

Looks Like the Fix Is In:

Russia's Polish Crash Investigation
From the desk of Diana West - The Brussels Journal

It's never been clear what really happened on that foggy morning of April 10 when a Polish airplane crashed on a Russian runway, killing all 96 people aboard including Polish President Lech Kaczynski, cabinet ministers, military service chiefs, intelligence officials, the central bank president, parliamentarians, historians, decapitating the conservative government and gutting the country's elite.

Given the occasion -- the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's long-denied massacre of

22,000 Poles at Katyn Forest -- and given many of the crash victims' dedication to exposing Soviet-era treachery and opposing Putin-era Russian expansionism, was the cras

h, as reported, an epically tragic accident? Even as the Russians immediately cited "pilot error" (they did wait, as former CIA officer Eugene Poteat has noted, until after the plane had gone down), they also pledged to Poland a joint, transparent investigation. But four months later, Russian obfuscation casts doubt on both notions: pilot error and Russian cooperation. Little wonder that Polish parliamentarian Antoni Marcierewicz, a member of the late president's conservative Law and Justice Party, has recently announced a parliamentary probe into the crash, which he calls a "crime."

What sort of crime? I caught up with the story's latest twists at BigPeace.com (where I am a contributor) in a post called "Polish Airplane Crash Cover-Up?" After seeking attribution for the post's more sensational clues from a Polish journalist, I believe that "cover-up" might turn out to be the least of the problem.

Point one. Russia hasn't turned over the plane's black boxes to Polish investigators. This may well follow an odd, post-crash agreement between the two countries, whereby Russia provides Poland with recordings of the black boxes and Poland controls the recordings' release (typical Russian-Polish agreement). But it also hoists a red flag over the entire investigative process. After all, "who" might have done "what" to a black box in a Russian recording studio?

Meanwhile, writing in the Polish newspaper Nasz Dziennik, some Polish pilots have challenged the authenticity of the recordings. Among other aeronautical reasons, they cited the length of the transcript, which appears to exceed the 30-minute capacity of a black box tape. The pilots also noted the transcript is missing the signature of the sole Polish expert involved. Further, Polish Radio RMF has reported that one of the Russian-made black-box recordings contains a 16-second gap.

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