Obama’s priorities
Obama skips statement on Easter; has commemorated all Muslim holidays…
- The president is, of course, hosting the Easter Egg Roll at the White House today. But Easter isn’t really about rolling eggs on a manicured lawn, now is it?
The march of ‘aggressive secularism’: Scotland’s top Roman Catholic priest attacks the marginalisation of Christians
By Kate Loveys:
‘Aggressive secularism’ is destroying Britain’s Christian heritage and culture, a leader of the Catholic Church has warned.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, has urged members of the faith to unite against an assault on their values.
In a vehement attack on secularism during his Easter sermon he said Christians are being ‘marginalised’ in society and banned from acting on their beliefs.
[...]
The Winds of the Apocalypse
Timothy Birdnow:
There is talk of an ultimatum being issued by Shiite Iran to the House of Saud, demanding they stop assisting the Bahrainian royals in their efforts to suppress a Shia revolution.
What does this mean?
Generally speaking, an ultimatum means war, at least in situations involving medieval states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. If Iran issues such an ultimatum the Saudis would be bound to ignore it because should they obey they would be opening the door to revolution inside the Arabia itself. It must be understood that the Saudis have but a tenuous hold on power in Arabia, and their intervention in Bahrain – a puny kingdom on the coast of Arabia – was absolutely necessary to avoid revolution across the peninsula.
[...]
Thomas Friedman, Anti-Semitism and Louis Farrakhan
Moshe Phillips:
For decades New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman has indoctrinated his readers in his personal idea of what are moral and just policies towards the Middle East and Israel. But Friedman’s morality should be in question: he is accepting an honor from a college that just provided hater Louis Farrakhan a large forum to engage in vicious anti-Semitism.
In March notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan addressed an audience of 1,500 at Howard University. Howard is one of the most prominent schools among the 47 Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the U.S. The speech was overflowing with vicious invective against Jews and the Zionist movement.
Let’s be clear here, Friedman has skin in the game, on April 11 Howard announced that he’ll receive an honorary doctorate from Howard at their commencement on May 14.
While a student at Brandeis University Friedman was a member the Steering Committee of the Mideast Peace Group and he signed an open letter entitled “Another Bad Omen,” published in The Brandeis Justice on November 12, 1974. The letter attacked anti-Arafat protest plans and endorsed a statement from Breira, a forerunner of J Street. (See the January 1990 letters to the editor in Commentary for more on Friedman’s time at Brandeis and my article on Breira and J Street.)
Friedman has not chastised Howard for providing Farrakhan a forum. As always, Friedman saves his criticism for Israel.
Farrakhan’s speech was that offensive. And so was Howard’s portrayal of the event.
[...]
Jesus vs Che Guevara: A man who laid down his life for us … or a murderous ‘rock-star’ rebel?
PETER-HITCHENS:
We now have to be pleased that a man has not been sacked from his job for putting a small cross on the dashboard of his company van.
Please forgive me if my joy is muted this Eastertide. The real meaning of the Wakefield Palm Cross Affair is not specially happy.
Colin Atkinson would have been fired if it hadn’t been for the might of the Mail on Sunday – and the dogged courage of a union official, Terry Cunliffe
Colin Atkinson would have been fired if it hadn’t been for the might of the Mail on Sunday – and the dogged courage of a union official, Terry Cunliffe
And as it’s Easter, I’d like to focus on the fact that the manager involved, Denis Doody, had a picture (perhaps I should say ‘icon’) of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara on his office wall.
Interesting.
Why? Well, what we recall at Easter is the show trial and judicial murder of Jesus of Nazareth. A mob is manipulated into calling for his death. The judge, who knows he is innocent, feebly gives in. Such things are common in the real world, to this day.
The resurrection, which some of us still celebrate today, symbolises the ultimate defeat of cruel and cynical human power by a far greater force. Among other things, Easter enshrines the idea that what we do here matters somewhere else, that there is an absolute standard by which our actions are judged.
Down 20 centuries, this idea has restrained the powerful. They do not like it. Never have. Never will.
The worship of Christ, victim of a lynch mob and a crooked judge, is dangerously radical. What about the cult of Comrade Guevara, embraced by Mr Doody?
[...]
The road to Emmaus
Ian Hunter:
Easter Week is the most holy week of the Christian calendar. The traditional exposition of the passion of Christ has two foci: one, on the hill called Golgotha where Jesus was crucified under a hand-lettered sign whose superscription (“This is the king of the Jews”) was intended by Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor who wrote it, to be ironic; second, on the tomb discovered empty by the disciples on Easter morning, the stone rolled away, the inhabitant gone, the empty tomb a symbol of Christ’s victory over death and the climax of God’s redemptive drama.
But I like to think that the biblical penchant for threes (think of the Trinity, the three Magi, etc) is also in the Easter narrative if you look closely. In Luke’s Gospel, we find the third focus of Easter, and an unlikely one it is: a parched and dusty stretch of road running from the city of Jerusalem to the insignificant village of Emmaus.
[...]
Beijing Police Detain Members of Illegal Church as They Gather for Easter
Red China is an evil communist monstrosity that is doomed to be judged by God.
There Was No Goldstone Investigation
By Avi Bell:
It’s too early to tell how Richard Goldstone’s decision to reverse the key claim of the controversial 2009 Goldstone Report on the 2009 Gaza War will play out. But so far, observers have missed a vital point. Goldstone’s reversal and subsequent comments demonstrate there was no real Goldstone investigation.
[...]
Canada’s kangaroo courts strike a rocky mountain low
By Ezra Levant:
Last Wednesday, in the People’s Republic of British Columbia, a comedian named Guy Earle was convicted of telling unfunny jokes at a comedy club four years ago. He was fined $15,000 and the club itself was fined another $7,500.
[...]
Is this equality? As a lawyer, I never thought I’d have to defend Christians in a Christian nation
Is this equality? As a lawyer, I never thought I’d have to defend Christians in a Christian nation
Palestinian Authority Police Kill Israeli near Joseph’s Tomb
Palestinian Authority Police Kill Israeli near Joseph’s Tomb
Lobbyists who cleared ‘Climategate’ academics funded by taxpayers and the BBC
By Jason Lewis:
The little-known not-for-profit company works behind the scenes at international conferences to further its aims.
One of its key supporters headed the official investigation into the so-called “Climategate emails”, producing a report which cleared experts of deliberately attempting to skew scientific results to confirm that global warming was a real threat.
Another scientific expert linked to the group came forward to praise a second independent investigation into the Climategate affair which also exonerated researchers.
Set up with the backing of Tony Blair, then the Prime Minister, and run by a group of British MPs and peers the organisation, Globe International, started life as an All Party Group based in the House of Commons.
It is now run as an international climate change lobbying group flying its supporters and experts club class to international summits to push its agenda. Last year, it said, it spent around £500,000 flying its supporters to these meetings.
[...]
My Journey to Conservatism
By Carmen Guillermo:
I would like to share with you my enlightenment, which started off with this simple e-mail:
[...]
The Tea Party: How Extreme Can You Get?
by John:
We are living in a bizarre moment in history. Our establishment–the press, the academy, all unions, most politicians, many in business who have skin in the Ponzi game–assure us that borrowing trillions of dollars to finance wasteful spending, while sticking our children with the tab plus interest, is perfectly sensible. On the other hand, believing that we should live within our means is? Crazy!
Michael Ramirez lends historical context to the debate; click to enlarge:
[...]
HT LINDA
George Soros Moves to Institute a New Global Currency
by Arlen Williams:
The INET Bretton Woods summit, summoned by George Soros and those who alternatively hide behind, or gather around him, has now happened.
But before trying to analyze whatever we may discover of what occurred there, it is critical to discern how it fits an overall picture. For context, one must also see what the IMF and World Bank “communitarian” elitists are up to.
[...]
The New Evangelism: Michael Dowd’s Evolutionary Christianity
Gailon Totheroh:
Who is Michael Dowd? He calls himself an evangelist. Not surprisingly, he can be found in churches preaching. But Dowd’s gospel is not one where sin is rebellion against God, but rejection of Darwin.
Likewise, salvation doesn’t come from Jesus on a Roman crucifix, but merely embracing the emergent Universe. Thus, we should Thank God for Evolution, the title of his 2008 magnus opus. Subtitled “The Marriage of Science and Religion,” the popular book-endorsed by no less than six Nobel Laureates-unfolds a central theme that standard Darwinism is scientifically accurate and religiously inspiring.
With faith-evolution controversies running unabated, Dowd’s Darwin-for-all-occasions may seem a hard sell. Yet Dowd’s effusive friendliness and seeming openness are swaying many his direction. His sales technique even wins over atheists and Christian evangelicals.
[...]
Koran-burning transit worker re-hired, receiving monetary damages
Thomas Lifson:
Derek Fenton, the New Jersey Transit worker who was fired after he burned a Koran, has been ordered re-hired, paid back wages, with a $25,000 solatium payment from the public agency. Larry McShane of the New York Daily News reports:
[...]
‘Responsibility to Protect?’ I call bull on that
Rick Moran:
President Assad’s troops in Syria are literally gunning down hundreds of protestors in the streets – as bad behavior as we saw with Gaddafi. And yet, the R2P advocates appear to have lost their voice – a collective case of laryngitis.
BBC:
At least 72 protesters have been killed by security forces in Syria, rights groups say – the highest reported death toll in five weeks of unrest there.
Demonstrators were shot, witnesses say, as thousands rallied across the country, a day after a decades-long state of emergency was lifted.
Many deaths reportedly occurred in a village near Deraa in the south, and in a suburb of the capital, Damascus.
US President Barack Obama called for a halt to the “outrageous” violence.
“This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,” the president said in a statement.
You tell ‘em, Barry! Give ‘em another “strongly worded statement.” That ought to stop the madman from massacring his own people.
[...]
The Disappearing Dollar
Mark Steyn:
Congressman Paul Ryan, one of the least insane men in Washington, has a ten-year plan.
President Obama, one of the most insane spenders in Washington, has a twelve-year plan.
After hearing the president’s plan, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. sovereign-debt outlook to “negative.” Ah, the fine art of understatement. In 1940, after the fall of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk, presumably they downgraded Britain’s outlook to “spot of bother.”
At the world’s first “Presidential Facebook town hall meeting” on Wednesday, even Obama had a hard time taking his “plan” seriously. Sometimes he referred to it as a twelve-year plan, sometimes ten years, sometimes saving four trillion, sometimes saving two trillion. So will the Obama plan save four trillion over twelve years or two trillion over ten?
[...]
The Nature of Arab Unrest
by Victor Davis Hanson:
[...]
An outsider might look at the last four months in the region and reach some reductionist conclusions. Americans treat dictatorships with more deference than they do existing democracies. It is wiser for a dictatorship to be anti-American than pro-American. Survival is likelier to be assured by launching brutal, deadly crackdowns, banning the media, and ignoring global opinion than by trying to prevent mass casualties, allowing international television into the country, or accommodating US concerns. The effort to acquire nuclear weapons wins exemption, as in Iran, while the surrender of such programs invites intervention, as in Libya. Oil trumps most considerations, accounting for the European attacks on Libya once the rebels seemed assured of ousting Qaddafi, the American lack of interest in pushing popular protests in the Gulf, and the American braggadocio in ordering the oil-poor dictators of Egypt and Tunisia to step down. The possibility of using American force will be predicated on international authorization, and the actuality of it will be not be decisive.
Jeb Bush on Caldwell, part 1 : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery
Jeb Bush on Caldwell, part 1 : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery.
Jeb Bush on Caldwell, part 2 : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery
Jeb Bush on Caldwell, part 2 : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery.
West: We need strong women to raise American men!
by The Right Scoop:
As a blogger I must say that one thing I love about West is that he doesn’t recycle speeches over and over. He’s always a source of fresh content.
In this case he’s speaking at a Women Impacting Nation meeting, encouraging women to stand strong because they are essential to having a country of strong American men. He starts by using the example of the Spartans, the most feared army in ancient times:
[...]
Red Cross: There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza
JPOST:
The Gaza Strip is not suffering from a humanitarian crisis, the deputy head of the Red Cross in Gaza said this week.
Mathilde Redmatn, who had been assigned to Congo and Colombia in the past, said that the “fabric of life” in the region was problematic.
“There are two peoples, one living under closure and one living under daily rocket fire, which violates international law,” she said. Her comments were made available on Thursday by the IDF Spokesman’s Office.
“There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. If you go to the supermarket, there are products. There are restaurants and a nice beach. The problem is mainly in maintenance of infrastructure and in access to goods, concrete for example,” Redmatn said.
“Israel has the legitimate right to protect the civilian population; this right should be balanced with the rights of 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip,” she said.
Redmatn condemned Gazan rocket attacks on southern Israel, while also calling on the government to allow more materials to enter the Strip.
[...]
Bet they reassign her fast. We can’t have a fair and balanced assessment which makes the Israelis look like victims and the arabs look like aggressors, can we?
Ezra celebrates Earth Day in his own way : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery
Ezra celebrates Earth Day in his own way : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery.
Ezra celebrates Earth Day in his own way : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery
Ezra celebrates Earth Day in his own way : Prime time : SunNews Video Gallery.
Glenn Beck Continues His Unwavering Support for Israel with Passover Seder
by Sammy Levine:
For the last few weeks I have been writing about Glenn Beck’s unwavering support of Israel, and his impressive knowledge and insight about the Jewish State’s dynamic history. Well, I’m glad to report that earlier this week Beck continued his staunch support of Israel, and also spoke about the lessons and values of Judaism. That’s right. Tuesday night, Glenn Beck played the part of a Rabbi giving a sermon or a Hebrew school teacher giving a lesson, as he spoke beautifully about the Passover Seder in detail. In fact, he sat down at his own authentic Seder, complete with Matzah, gefilta fish, maror, Karpas and more.
He then explained why supporting Israel is a moral imperative:
“The world wonders why it is that most Americans sympathize with the Israelis in their continual battle with the Palestinians and the Arab world. I don’t think it’s that hard to understand. Israel is a democracy. It’s the closest thing to what we understand as freedom in the entire Middle East. We relate to that. But maybe more importantly we share common values.”
[...]
The ‘1967 border’ — the lie that won’t die
Leo Rennert:
Both the New York Times and the Washington Post, in their April 22 editions, report that a group of prominent Israeli leftist intellectuals demonstrated in Tel Aviv in support of a Palestinian state based on the “1967 borders.”
Except that there was no “border” on Israel’s eastern flank from 1948 until 1967 — only a 1949 armistice line that marked the farthest westward military penetration by Jordan during Israel’s War of Independence when half a dozen Arab armies unsuccessfully tried to exterminate the nascent Jewish state.
The 1949 armistice line was never recognized internationally as a “border.” Neither of course were Jordan’s aggression and illegal occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem since they occurred in flagrant violation of the 1947 UN partition plan to divide British Mandate Palestine between a Jewish state and an Arab state.
[...]
The “Merchants of Peace” Racket
by Khaled Abu Toameh:
A “peace activist” based in Jerusalem this week sent out the following email to friends: “For my birthday on May 2, I’m asking my friends and family for a special gift: help me raise $5,000… It’s a great cause that advances peace –two states for two peoples – Israel and Palestine. Please consider giving to my Birthday Wish, and together we can help to make peace.”
The Palestinians call such people who go out asking for money in the name of coexistence and a two-state solution “Merchants of Peace.” And there is no shortage of such “peace activists” in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
There are, in fact, dozens of non-governmental organizations that raise millions of dollars every year under the pretext that they want to help the cause of peace in the Middle East.
Most of the money goes to paying high salaries to the directors and employees of these organizations.
[...]
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