Designed to inform, to encourage, to entertain and to stimulate your imaginations. Enjoy!
What's "Evangelical Ecology" Anyway?
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
"If being conservative (an Envirocon) means being proud to be an American, wanting less government and sticking up for the rights of the unborn and the dying, taking God's word at face value including all of His social arrangements like marriage and parenting, and standing for truth and righteousness, then I'm a conservative.
If being a progressive (an Ecoprog) means getting off my duff and trying to make a difference in the world, lending a hand to the downtrodden, raising a ruckus while I'm worshiping and serving my Lord, and standing for grace and mercy, then I guess I'm a liberal. Jesus was full of both grace and truth, mercy and righteousness. If we're like Jesus, we should be full of both too."
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Who cares about Nick and Jessica?
Monday, February 27, 2006
The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary, Sunday, 12/18/05.
Herewith at this happy time of year, a few confessions from my beating heart:
I have no freaking clue who Nick and Jessica are. I see them on the cover of People and Us constantly when I am buying my dog biscuits and kitty litter. I often ask the checkers at the grocery stores. They never know who Nick and Jessica are either. Who are they? Will it change my life if I know who they are and why they have broken up? Why are they so important?
I don't know who Lindsay Lohan is either, and I do not care at all about Tom Cruise's wife.
Am I going to be called before a Senate committee and asked if I am a subversive? Maybe, but I just have no clue who Nick and Jessica are. If this is what it means to be no longer young. It's not so bad.
Next confession:
I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are: Christmas trees.
It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, "Merry Christmas" to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu. If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.
I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in! God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution, and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica and we aren't allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too.
But there are a lot of us who are wondering where Nick and Jessica came from and where the America we knew went to.
Internet Predators (Gnewbie Gnook)
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Internet Predators (Gnewbie Gnook):
From the article..."The single biggest mistake made by parents is placing an Internet connected computer in a child's room (especially under the age of 16) where they can lock the door and wonder off into any part of the Internet without any limits or supervision.
A common mistake that many kids make (especially younger ones) is that they post too much personally identifiable information on their online profiles or worse, post alluring pictures of themselves, which also attracts the predators. Predators any information they can to manipulate children into thinking that they can be trusted."
There's more...
Keep your children safe online, and teach them safe internet practices...
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Table manners for the world adventurer... Here's a free one: In Taiwan, never jam your chopsticks upright into the rice in your bowl. They resemble insense (joss) sticks stuck in the sand of an altar, and that is very "unlucky". (I found out the hard way!)
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Time Zones and Faith - Daily Devotional
Friday, February 24, 2006
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by John Fischer
Our thought for today comes from a woman who has had more difficulties to deal with than a lot of us put together. That is why she has a right to say what she says, and why we should take notice when she says it. “I know discouragement comes easy, but I also know things happen when God is ready for them to happen and not a second sooner. God knows why he wants things to happen in the order they have to. We just need to be ready when they come.” This is a woman in a complex situation seeking to hold onto a childlike faith while displaying an adult-like wisdom. What she's saying is that she has recognized there are two different time zones going on when it comes to correlating God's will and our experience. One I'll call My Desperate Time (MDT) and the other, God's Own Time (GOT). Most of us run on MDT. MDT defines our reality. It's what we see and feel always. We are conscious of it the minute we rise up in the morning until we put our weary heads on the pillow at night. We measure pleasure and pain by it; we judge our overall state-of-being by it. God, on the other hand, exists in another time zone entirely. In GOT, His will is always done, and nothing is ever late. GOT also takes into account the MDT of everyone, which can often get tangled up. You see there are as many MDT zones as there are people, and that means they can often be in conflict. But with God there is never any conflict. There is only one GOT and as far as He is concerned, everything is right on schedule. This is why it is utterly silly to wonder if God has heard our prayers based on whether or not He has acted in MDT. God always hears our prayers -- He has most likely already answered them -- he just answered them in GOT. Most of our issues with God are all about time zones. Think about the hapless Bible character, Job. Job was smack in the middle of MDT all the while he was suffering, and his best friends were trying to figure out why God wasn't doing anything in MDT. Well, we know now that God rarely does; He is always in GOT and we can see that now, in Job's case, because his life ultimately caught up with GOT. Eventually, all MDT will be GOT. In fact, that will be what heaven is all about. We will all be kicking back in God's Own Time. So faith is mostly all about time zones. When you pray, know that you were heard, and move ahead, believing in GOT and just maybe, MDT won't be so desperate.
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John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker.
| | | Click HERE for a free subscription to The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional, your daily inspiration via email. Click HERE for a free subscription to The Better Life, your spiritual growth e-newsletter with articles by Rick Warren and others. To see a sample click HERE. Click HERE for information on Mobile Devotionals sent to your cell phone
($3.99 a month).
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Battle over Blackberry: Is the U.S. Patent System Out of Whack? - Knowledge@Wharton
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/1400.cfm: "On Friday, February 24, the long-running patent dispute between Research In Motion (RIM), which makes the popular BlackBerry wireless email and communications device, and NTP, a holding company, will finally have its day in court. That's when a federal judge in the Eastern District Court of Virginia will consider a possible injunction that could shut down BlackBerry service in the U.S. But more importantly, the ruling could shine light on a flawed patent system.
While there are many moving parts in this five-year patent battle, the basic conflict is over NTP's contention that RIM's use of a wireless messaging network to deliver email infringes on patents that NTP owns. But the dispute raises other, more far-reaching questions, such as: Should Research In Motion have to pay a percentage of its sales to NTP, which may not have commercialized its patent anyway? Why has the battle gone on this long? Could RIM be shut down over a patent dispute even while the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is re-evaluating several of the disputed patents? (Indeed, according to several news reports, the USPTO has already indicated that it eventually intends to reject all of NTP's claims.) And finally, can the U.S. patent system, which in 1977 permitted a patent for a 'comb over' -- technically a 'method of styling hair to cover partial baldness using only the hair on a person's head' -- keep up with technological innovation and a flood of patent requests? Does the patent system itself need a do-over?"
Understanding Tax Refunds
People in the $25 seats will get back $25, because that's only fair.
People in the $50 seats will get back $1, because they already make a lot of money and don't need a refund After all, If they can afford a $50 ticket, then they must not be paying enough taxes.
People in the $75 luxury seats will have to pay another $50, because they have way too much to spend.
The people driving (or walking) by the stadium who couldn't afford to watch the game will get $10 each, even though they didn't pay anything in, because they need the most help (sometimes known as Affirmative Action!).
Now do you understand?
If not, contact Representative Nancy Pelosi, Senator Ted Kennedy or Senator Hillary Clinton for assistance.
Bloglines - Microsoft: Upgraded Motherboard = New Windows License
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ChuckzBlog (chuckzmail@johnstonz.net) has sent this item to you.
Lockergnome's Windows Fanatics
Freeware, useful Web sites, original PC tips & tricks, critical updates, jargon definitions, and general help for consumers. Tech support with a personal touch! | | |
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"Explore the world of ideas behind Ansel Adams's photography through archival footage of the artist at work, audio commentaries by art historians, and words from Adams himself. This interactive multimedia feature was developed in conjunction with the exhibition, on view at SFMOMA from August 4, 2001, through January 13, 2002."
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"How Products Are Made explains and details the manufacturing process of a wide variety of products, from daily household items to complicated electronic equipment and heavy machinery. The site provides step by step descriptions of the assembly and the manufacturing process (complemented with illustrations and diagrams) Each product also has related information such as the background, how the item works, who invented the product, raw materials that were used, product applications, by-products that are generated, possible future developments, quality control procedures, etc."
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Bloglines - Pandora - Find Music You'll Love
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Lockergnome's Windows Fanatics
Freeware, useful Web sites, original PC tips & tricks, critical updates, jargon definitions, and general help for consumers. Tech support with a personal touch! | | |
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SojoNet: Faith, Politics, and Culture
Thursday, February 23, 2006
SojoNet: Faith, Politics, and Culture: "Yahoo! in China: The year of the rat
by James Ferguson
SojoMail 2-22-2006
"Li Zhi, a 35-year-old civil servant, and Shi Tao, a reporter, will spend much of the next decade in Chinese jails because of pro-democracy e-mails they wrote, and a U.S.-based Internet company allegedly helped put them behind bars.""
Read on at
http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=news.display_article&mode=C&NewsID=5253
Apple Mac OS X Safari Command Execution Vulnerability - US-CERT Cyber Security Alert SA06-053A
National Cyber Alert System
Cyber Security Alert SA06-053A
Apple Mac OS X Safari Command Execution Vulnerability
Original release date: February 22, 2006
Last revised: --
Source: US-CERT
Systems Affected
* Apple Safari running on Mac OS X
Overview
A vulnerability in the Apple Safari web browser could allow an
attacker to place and run malicious code on your computer.
Solution
Turn off "Open safe files after downloading" feature
To turn off "Open safe files after downloading" feature in Safari,
first choose "Preferences" from the Safari menu. Next, uncheck the
option "Open 'safe' files after downloading."
More information about this solution is available in the document
"Securing Your Web Browser."
Description
Apple Safari is a web browser that comes with Apple Mac OS X.
Safari contains a vulnerability that could allow an attacker to run
malicious programs on your computer.
For more technical information, see US-CERT Technical Alert
TA06-053A.
References
* US-CERT Vulnerability Note VU#999708 -
<http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/999708>
* Securing Your Web Browser -
<http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/securing_browser/#sgeneral>
* US-CERT Technical Cyber Security Alert TA06-053A -
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techalerts/TA06-053A.html>
____________________________________________________________________
The most recent version of this document can be found at:
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/alerts/SA06-053A.html>
____________________________________________________________________
Feedback can be directed to US-CERT. Please send email to
<cert@cert.org> with "SA06-053A Feedback VU#999708" in the subject.
____________________________________________________________________
Mailing list information:
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/>
____________________________________________________________________
Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization.
Terms of use:
<http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html>
____________________________________________________________________
Revision History
February 22, 2006: Initial release
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.12/266 - Release Date: 2/21/2006
Debunking Some Common Security Myths
Cyber Security Tip ST06-002
Debunking Some Common Myths
There are some common myths that may influence your online security
practices. Knowing the truth will allow you to make better decisions
about how to protect yourself.
How are these myths established?
There is no one cause for these myths. They may have been formed
because of a lack of information, an assumption, knowledge of a
specific case that was then generalized, or some other source. As with
any myth, they are passed from one individual to another, usually
because they seem legitimate enough to be true.
Why is it important to know the truth?
While believing these myths may not present a direct threat, they may
cause you to be more lax about your security habits. If you are not
diligent about protecting yourself, you may be more likely to become a
victim of an attack.
What are some common myths, and what is the truth behind them?
* Myth: Anti-virus software and firewalls are 100% effective.
Truth: Anti-virus software and firewalls are important elements to
protecting your information (see Understanding Anti-Virus Software
and Understanding Firewalls for more information). However,
neither of these elements are guaranteed to protect you from an
attack. Combining these technologies with good security habits is
the best way to reduce your risk.
* Myth: Once software is installed on your computer, you do not have
to worry about it anymore.
Truth: Vendors may release patches or updated versions of software
to address problems or fix vulnerabilities (see Understanding
Patches for more information). You should install the patches as
soon as possible; some software even offers the option to obtain
updates automatically. Making sure that you have the latest virus
definitions for your anti-virus software is especially important.
* Myth: There is nothing important on your machine, so you do not
need to protect it.
Truth: Your opinion about what is important may differ from an
attacker's opinion. If you have personal or financial data on your
computer, attackers may be able to collect it and use it for their
own financial gain. Even if you do not store that kind of
information on your computer, an attacker who can gain control of
your computer may be able to use it in attacks against other
people (see Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks and
Understanding Hidden Threats: Rootkits and Botnets for more
information).
* Myth: Attackers only target people with money.
Truth: Anyone can become a victim of identity theft. Attackers
look for the biggest reward for the least amount of effort, so
they typically target databases that store information about many
people. If your information happens to be in the database, it
could be collected and used for malicious purposes. It is
important to pay attention to your credit information so that you
can minimize any potential damage (see Preventing and Responding
to Identity Theft for more information).
* Myth: When computers slow down, it means that they are old and
should be replaced.
Truth: It is possible that running newer or larger software
programs on an older computer could lead to slow performance, but
you may just need to replace or upgrade a particular component
(memory, operating system, cd or dvd drive, etc.). Another
possibility is that there are other processes or programs running
in the background. If your computer has suddenly become slower,
you may be experiencing a denial-of-service attack or have spyware
on your machine (see Understanding Denial-of-Service Attacks and
Recognizing and Avoiding Spyware for more information).
_________________________________________________________________
Author: Mindi McDowell
_________________________________________________________________
Produced 2006 by US-CERT, a government organization.
Terms of use
<http://www.us-cert.gov/legal.html>
This document can also be found at
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST06-002.html>
--
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.12/266 - Release Date: 2/21/2006
BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too: Christian businesses make copyright claims without legal merit...
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too: Christian businesses make copyright claims without legal merit...: "February 20, 2006
Christian businesses make copyright claims without legal merit...
Readers may think this is too boring to read, but if you have any interest in the matter of copyright, particularly as it pertains to works in the public domain, this letter is essential reading. (Yes, I know that's self-serving but I do want you to read this so we can get the message out.)
Some weeks ago, I sent this letter off to the good folks of the Encyclopedia Puritannica Project. I had written them earlier to protest the threat they displayed prominently on their legal page to sue anyone who shared the Puritan works in the public domain they had digitized—changed from paper to digital copies. Specifically, this claim from their legal page is without legal basis:
The republication of EPP digital texts for commercial or non-commercial purposes is not allowed without permission. These texts are copyrighted and the EPP reserves the right to employ stealthy, text-tracing in order to detect and legally prosecute the theft of its work.
In my letter to EPP, I pointed out that their work digitizing the Puritans did not authorize them to make a profit off works that were in the public domain, and therefore owned by no one.
They responded defending their actions by saying they'd spent a lot of money on digitizing the Puritan works, and that the copyright they claimed was ironclad based upon that money and the work it represented changing mediums from analog (paper) to digital (electronic).
I spent about three weeks researching the matter, with much help from several attorney-friends as well as another attorney who specializes in intellectual property law. The letter below is the fruit of that work."
[click to continue...l
February 20, 2006 - God's Economy - Daily Devotional
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
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by John Fischer
Today's devotional mistakenly was linked with Friday's text. Here is the proper text for today. We apologize for the inconvenience.
God's economy is all about turning our hardship into help for someone else. There is a purpose in pain. It's never pleasant at the time, but it bears fruit for others. The process is quite simple really. I go through something that necessitates my receiving resources from God to get through it. And while God is strengthening me, the strength that He gives me is something I can share with someone else, especially someone going through a similar difficulty. Paul puts it this way in 2 Corinthians 1:3-5… Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the Lord of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. There you have it. Overflowing comfort. When we're going through a hard time, God gives us more than enough to cope, so we'll have something leftover to share with someone else, thus giving us a purpose even in our hardship. This is so important because one of the tendencies when things go bad is to think that our life is suddenly pointless and wasted. We find it hard to wrestle anything good out of the bad things that happen to us. But the good is always there, and if we can't see it, it's because we aren't tuned into God's economy. We are just looking at the situation from one point of view, and it happens to be the most depressing one. Did you notice, also, that our sufferings and comfort both come from the same source? We share in the sufferings of Christ so that we can share in the comfort that comes from Christ as well. That's God's economy. So are you going through it right now? Are you asking God, "Why?" and not getting any answers? Well, at its most basic level, the unique set of circumstances that set you up for this are such that they will qualify you to help someone else in a similar situation. So if that someone should say to you, "You can't possibly know what I'm going through," you will be able to say, "Oh yeah? Let me tell you my story and show you how God met me." It keeps circling around like that. That's part of God's economy.
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John Fischer is the Senior Writer for Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotionals. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Marti and son, Chandler. They also have two adult children, Christopher and Anne. John is a published author and popular speaker.
| | | Click HERE for a free subscription to The Purpose Driven Life Daily Devotional, your daily inspiration via email. Click HERE for a free subscription to The Better Life, your spiritual growth e-newsletter with articles by Rick Warren and others. To see a sample click HERE. Click HERE for information on Mobile Devotionals sent to your cell phone
($3.99 a month).
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Out of Respect for Islam, CNN to Halt Coverage of Islamic Countries, Events
Monday, February 20, 2006
Yeah...it's satire...isn't
it? -- ChuckOut of Respect for Islam, CNN to Halt Coverage of Islamic Countries, Events
ATLANTA -- Out of Respect for the religion of Islam, CNN President Jonathan N. Klein announced today that the network will no longer air content that is offensive to the religion's followers, including any other material that distorts the image of the "religion of peace."
"Two weeks ago, we made the maverick decision not to air the Mohammed cartoons -- not because all of us in Atlanta are afraid of being turned into human shish kabobs-- but because we don't want to offend the followers of this great world religion," said Klein. "The fact that we're still alive-- er, I mean--that we've gotten positive feedback from the world, shows we made the right decision." [There's more...click on the image below...]
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Bloglines - A Dangerous Precedent
Bloglines user
ChuckzBlog (chuckzmail@johnstonz.net) has sent this item to you, with the following personal message:
Fleming Rose quote from following article...
"I am offended by things in the paper every day: transcripts of speeches by Osama bin Laden, photos from Abu Ghraib, people insisting that Israel should be erased from the face of the Earth, people saying the Holocaust never happened. But that does not mean that I would refrain from printing them as long as they fell within the limits of the law and of the newspaper's ethical code. That other editors would make different choices is the essence of pluralism.
As a former correspondent in the Soviet Union, I am sensitive about calls for censorship on the grounds of insult. This is a popular trick of totalitarian movements: Label any critique or call for debate as an insult and punish the offenders. That is what happened to human rights activists and writers such as Andrei Sakharov, Vladimir Bukovsky, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natan Sharansky, Boris Pasternak. The regime accused them of anti-Soviet propaganda, just as some Muslims are labeling 12 cartoons in a Danish newspaper anti-Islamic.
The lesson from the Cold War is: If you give in to totalitarian impulses once, new demands follow. The West prevailed in the Cold War because we stood by our fundamental values and did not appease totalitarian tyrants."
All Things Beautiful
a blog in motion a still point in a turning world a moment for yourself engagement enrichment fulfillment. |
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By Alexandra von Maltzan on Current Affairs 
Shari'a Or Else Read the insightful article written by Fleming Rose, the editor of the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten: I am offended by things in the paper every day: transcripts of speeches by Osama bin Laden, photos from Abu Ghraib, people insisting that Israel should be erased from the face of the Earth, people saying the Holocaust never happened. But that does not mean that I would refrain from printing them as long as they fell within the limits of the law and of the newspaper's ethical code. That other editors would make different choices is the essence of pluralism. As a former correspondent in the Soviet Union, I am sensitive about calls for censorship on the grounds of insult. This is a popular trick of totalitarian movements: Label any critique or call for debate as an insult and punish the offenders. That is what happened to human rights activists and writers such as Andrei Sakharov, Vladimir Bukovsky, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Natan Sharansky, Boris Pasternak. The regime accused them of anti-Soviet propaganda, just as some Muslims are labeling 12 cartoons in a Danish newspaper anti-Islamic. The lesson from the Cold War is: If you give in to totalitarian impulses once, new demands follow. The West prevailed in the Cold War because we stood by our fundamental values and did not appease totalitarian tyrants.
This is an argument that lands very close to home for me, and I know only too well what capitulation of those basic human rights principles can mean in a world where giving in once, is followed by further demands. This is why we have a 'no negotiation with terrorists' policy, and fear of reprocusions can be a final death sentence: Last September, a Danish children's writer had trouble finding an illustrator for a book about the life of Muhammad. Three people turned down the job for fear of consequences. The person who finally accepted insisted on anonymity, which in my book is a form of self-censorship. European translators of a critical book about Islam also did not want their names to appear on the book cover beside the name of the author, a Somalia-born Dutch politician who has herself been in hiding. Around the same time, the Tate gallery in London withdrew an installation by the avant-garde artist John Latham depicting the Koran, Bible and Talmud torn to pieces. The museum explained that it did not want to stir things up after the London bombings. (A few months earlier, to avoid offending Muslims, a museum in Goteborg, Sweden, had removed a painting with a sexual motif and a quotation from the Koran.) Finally, at the end of September, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with a group of imams, one of whom called on the prime minister to interfere with the press in order to get more positive coverage of Islam. So, over two weeks we witnessed a half-dozen cases of self-censorship, pitting freedom of speech against the fear of confronting issues about Islam. This was a legitimate news story to cover, and Jyllands-Posten decided to do it by adopting the well-known journalistic principle: Show, don't tell. I wrote to members of the association of Danish cartoonists asking them "to draw Muhammad as you see him." We certainly did not ask them to make fun of the prophet. Twelve out of 25 active members responded. We have a tradition of satire when dealing with the royal family and other public figures, and that was reflected in the cartoons. The cartoonists treated Islam the same way they treat Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions. And by treating Muslims in Denmark as equals they made a point: We are integrating you into the Danish tradition of satire because you are part of our society, not strangers. The cartoons are including, rather than excluding, Muslims.
[...]
One cartoon -- depicting the prophet with a bomb in his turban -- has drawn the harshest criticism. Angry voices claim the cartoon is saying that the prophet is a terrorist or that every Muslim is a terrorist. I read it differently: Some individuals have taken the religion of Islam hostage by committing terrorist acts in the name of the prophet. They are the ones who have given the religion a bad name. The cartoon also plays into the fairy tale about Aladdin and the orange that fell into his turban and made his fortune. This suggests that the bomb comes from the outside world and is not an inherent characteristic of the prophet.
One should never be tolerant with the intolerant. Nowhere do so many religions coexist peacefully as in a democracy where freedom of expression is a fundamental right. You take that right away and you are setting a dangerous precedent. We have shown that we are afraid of consequences, and therefore are willing to sacrifice our own fundamental beliefs. And the Muslim attitude is: " Free speech is good so long as it tolerates our right, as an identity group, to dictate which free speech is authentic and allowable. Otherwise, y’know, we get to torch". Dymphna: "This exporting of Muslim violence wouldn’t be so noticeable if the Europeans weren’t so flaccid and neutered. It’s much easier to explode in the middle of a city which gave up its manhood years ago." Tiger Hawk: "Resurgent Islam is changing this dynamic. The cartoon intifada has taught us that Muslims all over the world believe that they have the religious obligation to reach in to Western countries and nullify our most cherished rights. Not only does the "Muslim street" think this, but we have endured the absurd spectacle of Arab kings lecturing the Danes and other Europeans about respect."
But this lack of balance between the freedoms—rather than being exploited by the West to make its case for free speech and its necessity as the guiding principle of liberalism—is instead being exploited by neophyte identity politicians in the Muslim world, who have learned to play the victim card so quickly that our own State Department has bought into their affected outrage at victimization and religious “intolerance." Understanding Islam and its doctrine of global conquest as God's primary command, i.e. Jihad, turns all of these fine, academically sound considerations on its head. The restrictions we put on free speech arise out of practical concerns, one of which should not be the threat of intentional violence by those who disagree with the substance of a critique that is not meant as an act of instigatory violence. Re: the necessity of provocation, see Christopher Hitchens. Consider the fact that any citizen, even leaders in these societies, who says anything that Muslims don't like, is marked for death. In the Netherlands, Members of parliament who have been marked for death for their speeches, fearing for their lives and the lives of members of their families, in light of the murder of Theo Van Gogh and terrorist attacks, are now practically living under house arrest and in exile in their own country for fear of their guests. What an irony, an irony that is eerily reminiscent of the Trojan Horse. The apparent inability of the West to understand the motivation of Islamic extremism and terrorism, the lack of will, and the absence of any coherent and effective idea for dealing with the intrinsic problem of the diametrical nature of Islam to the Western ideals, is baffling. What is even more troubling is the doctrine of appeasement (excuses on behalf of Islam by western leaders) that is emerging in response to Islamic terrorist attacks, threats, and apparent intimidation of the West, whereby European leaders have elected to appease Muslims rather than engage them in honest and constructive dialog to transform the fundamental ideology that breeds hatred and inspires unspeakable acts of cruelty. I cannot help but think that this response is eerily reminiscent of the tepid response to the rise of Nazism, not too long ago. Contrary to the expectations of the West, surveys continue to show that many Western educated Muslims and Muslims dwelling in Western societies, including naturalized citizens and their descendants, are very resentful of the West. Their diatribes and incendiary comments are clear signs of danger that have gone unheeded. In the name of Islam, many of them have indeed taken up arms against their adopted Western countries and actively seek their destruction. As they have shown, there is no question that Islam does not allow ijtihad (free play of the intellect - independent or innovative thinking) and qiyyas (analogical reasoning). After all, what is the need for those, if the only thing that matters is taqlid (imitation) of an act that took place in A.D 622 and A.D. 630. In Islam, the fundamental duty of each member is to submit to Allah and whatever Allah demands of him or her. Frequently, the "demands" that Allah makes of Muslims seem to be the unquestioned demands that Islamic clerics have presented, by way of fatwas (or holy edicts), which they issue to Muslims. Many of these fatwas are essentially calls to one "religious war" (jihad) or another, such as has been with Israel, and now is in Europe and America. Dr. Sanity: "Notice that the cartoon riots are escalating even as the West bends over backwards to appease and mollify these sociopathic bullies of Islam? I'm sorry to tell you that the increasingly violent Islamic response to appeasement, solicitation, and understanding has always been completely predictable from a psychological perspective. Bullies will always push the envelope of bad behavior when they think they can get away with it."
The result of caving in to the demands the Islamists have been making, using the Muhammad cartoons to incite rage and riots across the world, is this and this. And trust me, this is just the beginning. A terrorist always returns once his demands have been met once. As I said, we are setting a dangerous precedent. More @ Power Line, The Brussels Journal, Atlas Shrugs, Dr. Sanity, USS Neverdock, The Real Ugly American, Why Are We Back In Iraq?, Outside The Beltway, Blinq, Say Anything, Centerfield, Secular Blasphemy, Sisu, Riehl World View, A Blog For All, The Sundries Shack, Hyscience, Townhall Blogs, The Corner on National, USS Neverdock (2), Mudville Gazette UPDATE: The BBC will now institutionalize the use of the phrase "pbuh" (peace be upon him) throughout the Islam section, when referring to the Prophet Muhammad. Yeah right. (ht Gates of Vienna comments section). Related on ATB:
'Islamberg' In New York
Islam's Heart On St.Valentine's Day
The Metastasizing Shari'a
A Perilous Premise
Religious Dogma Has No Place In A Secular Society
"The Nation of Islam Will Sit At The Throne Of The World..."
Is There Any Difference Between Exquisitely Refined Multicultural Sensitivity And Shari'a
Is Western Liberalism Modifying It's Core Beliefs
The Cartoon War
Take A Walk On The Wild Side
The Effect Of Our Holy Trinity Of Multiculturalism, Moral Equivalence And Relativism On The War Of Destiny
The Unexploded Bomb Of Global Politics
The Jihad Apocalypse 'A Muslim Obligation'
The Clash of Civilizations
'The Enemy Within'
Secular Democracy Held To Ransom | |
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Bloglines - CHENEY DERANGEMENT SYNDROME
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"Colorful" doesn't capture it, somehow. -- Chuck
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| By malkin Insane. Unhinged. Scott Johnson: "Deranged sophomoric hysteria." I'll let Alan Simpson, interviewed on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace, have the last words: SIMPSON...Dick Cheney has become the hate symbol from the beginning. He was the hate symbol when he was with Halliburton. He was the hate symbol when he came in and the votes with South Africa and this and that. And then he was the hate symbol of hiding an energy conference. He was the hate symbol of terrorists, hate symbol of torture. Let me tell you, those who don't like him have put a big red tail on his bum, and cloven hooves, and horns on his head. And let me tell you, if anybody thinks -- if this had happened to anybody else in America, it would have been like a sparrow belch in a typhoon. WALLACE: Could you be a little more colorful, Senator? SIMPSON: Well, I don't think I could, because it really is absurd. It's absolutely absurd. I go around the country. I travel all the time. And the American people are just shaking their heads and saying it's a hunting accident, a tragic hunting accident -- a victim, a guy who's hurt, and a guy who's hurt because he shot, who's pained, who's anguished. What's new, for God's sakes? ...WALLACE: So summing up here, Senator -- and we love your tour of this whole event -- what does the last week tell us or should it tell us about Washington, about the politicians, about the press corps? SIMPSON: Well, it tells you what -- you should listen to Lindsey Graham and Evan Bayh and know that, really, there is cooperation, but what it really tells you, what are we going to expect of the national press corps, and especially the Washington press corps, when something really happens. How are we to trust, after a whole week of absolute dribble, and babble, and people, you know, interviewing themselves -- well, what do you think about Dick, oh, you know -- and Jay Leno and Letterman -- I asked them how would you feel if this happened to you. Let me tell you, the American people are really waiting with sense of glee when something really, really happens in America, and I suppose they'll just have a catatonic stroke and pitch forward on their faces. WALLACE: So I take it, Senator, do you really miss this place? SIMPSON: No, I do. I loved it. I did. I loved it. And I loved it because it was fun. And I have a lot of pals on both sides of the aisle. I worked with President Clinton. I enjoyed him. President Bush, President Carter -- good people doing good things. But let me tell you, you'll never find it if you just follow the Washington media. You'll never know the good. All you get is controversy, crap and confusion. *** Okay, one more: Bonkers. | |
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Survival Guide for Monday - 2/20/08 - Weakness (1)
| CCF Survival Guide | | Monday 2/20/06 Weakness (1) |
"MY POWER SHOWS UP BEST IN WEAK PEOPLE." 2 CORINTHIANS 12:9
| Christian Campus Fellowship 1080 S. Milledge Ave. Athens, GA 30605 is a non-profit Campus Ministry at The University of Georgia Gifts to CCF are tax deductible as IRS 501c3 charitable gifts. www.ugaccf.com Unsubscribe by emailing LISTSERV@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU and typing as the only line in the body of the email SIGNOFF CCF and sending it. Subscribe by going to www.hudsonresources.info and clicking on "Survival Guides". Fill out the subscription form and click "submit". To receive a text-only version of the Survival Guide email thudson5@charter.net and request to be added to the text only listserv. | | Good news: God loves to use weak people! If He used only perfect ones, nothing would ever get done. Your greatest weakness can actually become your greatest weapon, if you allow it to drive you closer to the Lord. Pride prevents the power of God from overcoming our weakness! It is pride that makes us deny our weakness, defend it, excuse it or resent it. Jesus' first beatitude reads: "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule" (Matthew 5:3 TM).
I am not suggesting that we are to accept our character weaknesses and excuse our behavior by saying, "That is just the way I am." No, character weaknesses need to be worked on until they are overcome through God's power.
Paul spoke of a different kind of weakness, "a thorn" (2 Corinthians 12:7). A "thorne" can be physical, such as a chronic illness or disability. It can be emotional, such as a painful memory or hereditary disposition. It can be intellectual. A "thorn" is a weakness that we perceive to limit us. When you consider your limitations, your "thorns", you may be tempted to conclude, "God could never use me." But you could not be more wrong! God is never limited by our limitations; in fact, He enjoys putting His great power into ordinary containers. Paul writes, "We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us" (2 Corinthians 4:7 CEV). Like common pottery, fragile, flawed and easily broken, God will use us if we will only allow Him to work through us.
(c)2006 Timothy L. Hudson, UGA Christian Campus Fellowship |
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| Christian Campus Fellowship - 1080 S. Milledge Ave., Athens, GA, 30605, United States |
Bloglines - Hear, hear, Doc!
Sunday, February 19, 2006
Bloglines user
ChuckzBlog (chuckzmail@johnstonz.net) has sent this item to you.
The Anchoress
Religion. Politics. Punditry. Baseball. You know, all the important stuff. | | |
| By TheAnchoress on Uncategorized I like this column by Dr. Thomas Sowell today: The media love to wrap themselves in the mantle of “the public’s right to know” but there is no such dedication to that right when it goes against the journalists’ own prejudices. The public’s right to know what a “partial birth abortion” is has been consistently disregarded for years by whole networks, even when they have given wide coverage to abortion controversies. Whatever your position on abortions, you need to know what you are talking about but the media recognize no such “right to know.” If you knew, you might not agree with them. The same journalists who used phony documents to attack President Bush’s military service recognize no “right to know” why Senator John Kerry’s honorable discharge is dated long after his service was over and during the Carter administration, when less than honorable discharges were allowed to be upgraded to honorable. The “public’s right to know” apparently extends only to such things as will not cause the public to reach conclusions different from those of the liberal media. Sing it, doc, sing it! I apologize for the light blogging. Spent a goodish amount of time with the hematologist yesterday and then had this need to sleep a lot. | | | | |
Bloglines - CARTOON JIHAD IN NEW YORK
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ChuckzBlog (chuckzmail@johnstonz.net) has sent this item to you, with the following personal message:
"Why can't we all just be FRIENDS?" Riiiiight! When will will "the West" wake up to the fact that radial Islam doens't want to coexist with ANYONE! Every compromise is a victory for them.
-- Chuck
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| By malkin Thankfully, nothing burned down at a Muslim demonstration outside the Danish embassy in New York attended by 1,000 angry protesters today. But the signs were still rather unsettling:
 
Hat tip: Shawn Wasson
And if someone who knows Arabic can send along a translation of this sign, please do:
Thanks to all the readers who sent variations of this translation: "Do Not Insult Our Honorable Prophet." Or else what? In Libya: 9 dead. 
Libyans protesting the Prophet Muhammad cartoons set fire to the Italian consulate in Benghazi today and clashed with police in turmoil that left at least nine people dead, an Italian diplomat said. Libyan state television showed a part of the consulate building on fire, and firefighters trying to extinguish it and showed ambulances taking casualties away, Italian consular official Antonio Simoes-Concalves said nine protesters had been killed and several more wounded as armed police clashed with a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators. Libyan officials said there were 11 dead or wounded. Security officials said the demonstrators hurled stones and bottles at the consulate, entered the grounds and set fire to the building and a consular car. Simoes-Goncalves told The Associated Press in Rome that the Libyan police were not able to control the crowd, even though they were firing bullets and tear gas. No Italians inside the compound were injured, the Italian Foreign Ministry said. Italy's ambassador to Libya in Tripoli met late today with the Libyan interior minister "who expressed the condemnation of his government for the acts of violence occurring in Benghazi," the Italian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. | | | | |
Bloglines - CARTOON JIHAD IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
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ChuckzBlog (chuckzmail@johnstonz.net) has sent this item to you, with the following personal message:
This foul rhetoric on the part of the Black Panthers is the sort of thing that is done and said in the name of "reverence" for Islam's founder. Incredible!
-- Chuck
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| By malkin I'm headed down to Washington, D.C., this afternoon to cover the New Black Panther Party's protest at the Danish embassy:
Speakers Include: Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, Imam Akbar Bilal, Imam Abdul Alim Musa, Imam Mohammed Asi, Hodari Abdul Ali, and other community and Muslim leaders who will speak in solidarity with the worldwide Muslim Ummah (Community) that is fighting against the intentional debased attack by the Danish and western peoples against Islam. The participants recognize this as an escalation in the American-European War against Islam and the Muslims. Sponsored by a coalition of Muslim groups and the New Black Panther Party. I'll report back later. Here's some background on the scheduled speakers, who make clear that the Danish cartoons are just a convenient pretext for their hate-filled agenda: Malik Zulu Shabazz. In his own words, according to the ADL... At a press conference in Morristown, New Jersey (July 3, 2003): "If 3,000 people perished in the World Trade Center attacks and the Jewish population is 10 percent, you show me records of 300 Jewish people dying in the World Trade Center…We’re daring anyone to dispute its truth. They got their people out." During a protest in front of the B’nai B’rith building in Washington, D.C. (April 20, 2002), Shabazz led chants of: "death to Israel," "the white man is the devil," and "Jihad." Shabazz also said, "Kill every goddamn Zionist in Israel! Goddamn little babies, goddamn old ladies! Blow up Zionist supermarkets!" At the National Press Club in Washington, DC (October 31, 2001): Zionism is racism, Zionism is terrorism, Zionism is colonialism, Zionism is Imperialism, and support for Zionism is the root of why so many were killed on September 11. We have to make it plain that Zionists control America, lock stock and barrel, the European Jews have America under control, lock, stock, and barrel, the media, foreign policy. Imam Abdul Alim Musa and Imam Mohammed Asi. Via FrontPageMagazine... Imam Musa has a long track record of making anti-American, anti-Semitic statements, and Bazian is not shy to call for the death of Jews. Bazian stated the following in May 1999: "And the aya (passage) actually talks about the Jews entering the Masjid again and so they’d be entering again and then they’ll be defeated, in the Hadith, the Day of Judgment will never happen until you fight the Jews. They are on the West side of the river, which is the Jordan River, and you ‘re on the East side until the trees and the stones will say, Oh Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him! And that’s in the Hadith about this, this is a future battle before the Day of Judgment." At the January 21, 2001 event titled "Shaping Our Perspective: Our Role in a Changing World," sponsored by MSA UCLA, Imam Musa stated: "If you were to say that the Soviet Union was wiped off the face of the earth . . . people would have thought you were crazy, right? The people of Afghanistan didn’t have the intellect or historical knowledge to know that they wasn’t supposed to wipe out the Soviet Union, is that right? . . . We saw the fall of one so-called superpower, Old Sam is next." On April 13-15, 2001 UCLA hosted the 3rd annual MSA West Conference. Among the confirmed speakers were Imam Musa and Imam Muhammad al-'Asi from Washington D.C. Imam Al-Asi, a radical anti-Semitic Shiite cleric who supports the Iranian regime and the militant Islamic movement in genera[1][4], regularly vocalizes anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli sentiment. On February 21, 2001 Muslim students at the University of California at Irvine invited Al-Asi to speak. The statement below encapsulates the virulently anti-Semitic nature of his speech: "You have the Jews who are blind and deaf and dumb, who cannot see the same forms of racism, or discrimination, of oppression that is institutionalized and implemented by one of their own; and that is the Israeli, Zionist government in Tel Aviv… Discrimination, if it is against a gentile, is not objectionable; but anything that happens against a Jew becomes a Holocaust…Where is the courageous Jew who can come out and say Israel is as fascist as the most fascist of Europe? Israel is a racist as Apartheid could ever be." "…In the meantime, the Zionist-Israeli lobby, referred to by the Jews themselves as the Jewish lobby in this country, is taking the United States government and the United States people to the abyss. We have a psychosis in the Jewish community that is unable to co- | | |
