THE CHURCHS’ SOFT-CORE PAGANISM
By Lee Duigon:
A colleague of mine who is involved in missionary work says there’s a new fashion in the mission field. Missionaries now are telling potential converts that they can become Christians and still live entirely within the bounds of their culture. It’s a good deal: they get personal salvation, but they don’t have to change their way of life. Missionaries in Muslim countries have found it’s much safer to be a Christian if everybody thinks you’re still a Muslim. In some of those places, it’s a capital offense to convert to Christianity.
So today’s missionaries seek to create an “insider movement”—that is, the new Christians remain “inside” their native culture, whatever it may be. If it were only a matter of personal safety, who would blame them?
But Christ commands us to teach His doctrine and make disciples everywhere (Matthew 28:19-20), to be salt and light to the pagan culture all around us (Matthew 5:13-14)—indeed, to change that culture into a Christian culture by being the one lump of yeast that leavens the whole loaf (Matthew 13:33). Instead, the missionaries teach the new Christians that they can just keep on keeping on: all they have to do is pop into church now and then to get a dose of Christianity.
They get saved. But the culture that’s around them doesn’t.
That’s what the new missionaries learn in seminary.
In other words, the missionaries are handing out the same kind of shy, pietistic, selfish, feeble, limp-wristed, slack-jawed “Christianity” as is being dispensed by all too many of our churches here at home.
[...]
Billionaire George Soros Trying To Stack the Courts, Critics Say
Billionaire George Soros Trying To Stack the Courts, Critics Say
Acquitted of Political Incorrectitudes
David Warren:
Free speech has a long history in the Netherlands, and thus defenders from some unlikely sources. In court, Wilders had many supporters who by no means like him. And even the prosecutors were extremely cautious in representing the charges. In the end, even they recommended acquittal. The issue came down not to any prospective jail time, but to whether the court should impose a symbolic fine of one euro. In the end, it did not.
The court accepted arguments that go a little beyond what I have read in mass-media coverage. It is generally reported that the court made a distinction between attacking Islamic doctrines, which is fair play, and attacking Muslims as members of an “ethnic group,” which is not. This it did, but it was only the preamble.
The decision went further in holding that if proactive public policies such as “multiculturalism” and open immigration are to be freely discussed, opponents must be allowed to discuss them freely. Advocates of such policies have no right to decide which part of their opponents’ arguments are “out of bounds.” And Wilders was neither inventing facts gratuitously, nor encouraging violence. Indeed, his allegation against Islam was that it advocates violence as a means to advancing its own interests; and that this in itself must be resisted by those opposed to violence as a political tactic.
[...]
There Are No Socialists
by Victor Davis Hanson:
Are There Really Socialists?
Two unconnected developments were announced this past week. President Obama is releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, despite the absence of a global embargo or horrific natural disaster — and despite a litany of assertions from 2008 that drilling and increased supply might only have a marginal effect on prices.
Like the sudden Afghan withdrawal announcement, the tapping is largely explained by political worries about reelection, as in increasing oil supplies to lower gas prices by election time — and thus avoiding campaign ads equating Obama’s opposition to drilling with high prices at the 2012 pump.
In a second piece of news, the Europeans seem to be winning far more plane orders than Boeing. One wonders whether that fact is remotely connected with airlines’ collective worries about obtaining orders on time and as specified — as in uncertainty whether Obama’s NLRB ruling that attempted to shut down a nearly $1 billion new aircraft line in South Carolina translates into something like “who knows what those Americans are doing next?”
All this raises some questions. The strangest things about the global statist crack-up are socialists’ unhappiness with their socialist utopia, and their subsequent efforts to avoid the consequences of the very redistributive state that they themselves once so gladly crafted.
[...]
Medieval murder in modern times: Woman faces death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for crime she ‘committed as a child’
DAILY MAIL [UK]:
A young maid is facing death by beheading in Saudi Arabia for a crime she claims she did not commit.
Rizana Nafeek, who alleges she was a teenager at the time of the incident, was arrested in May 2005 on charges of murdering a four-month-old baby who was in her care.
The Sri-Lankan born maid denies murder and claims she desperately tried to save the child, who choked while she was looking after it.
The news comes just days after Indonesia announced it would ban women from travelling to the kingdom for domestic work after another maid was beheaded there.
[...]
Spending Insanely While the Economy Collapses
Alan Caruba:
America is a sovereign nation, a constitutional Republic that will celebrate the 235th anniversary of its declaration of independence in 1776 and the 223rd anniversary of its Constitution which became effective when the State of New Hampshire became the ninth State to ratify it in 1788.
By most indications it is a nation in its death throes. Its original values and virtues are being jettisoned and that is always a sign of internal rot. The passage of a law legalizing gay, same-sex marriage in New York State is just one example. It becomes the sixth State to do so.
[...]
Obama trips promote profits for his donors, not jobs for Americans
Ed Lasky:
Between golf outings (13 weekends in a row), musical soirees in the East Room, fantasy basketball pickup games, and trips to fundraisers for high rollers, Obama has made numerous trips to promote so-called clean-tech energy ventures. He has touted these companies as the wave of the future and as the hope for job growth in America. However, as is true of most actions Barack Obama takes there is an ulterior motive — and it all has to do with himself.
The Washington Post reports that the focus of these clean-energy trips have been to ventures backed by huge donors to Barack Obama:
[...]
Another Anti-Semitic/Radical Left Group Rears Its Ugly Head
By Harold Witkov:
Intactivist men and women are part of the far-left movement and are a threat to the American system designed by our founding fathers. Their mission is a big brother government that removes individual choice and imposes the will of their self-anointed elitism. Leftists, in most cases, love government-imposed regulations, are anti-Israel, are pro-abortion, and pine for the day the United Nations can regulate every human activity on the planet. Leftists believe in uniformity. They have no room for the individual, for non-Jewish parents who want circumcision for their sons, or for Jewish religious exemptions. Intactivistits are far leftists who embrace uniformity to such an extreme they want to regulate penises!
[...]
Caliphate Conference Tour Comes to the Netherlands Too
WALID SHOEBAT:
On July 3 in Amsterdam “The First National Khilafah of the Netherlands” will take place. This Neo-Ottoman Revolutionary Organization strives to promote the tsunami of uprisings in Muslim countries around the world. Through widespread propaganda, extremist Islamic organizations subtly call for the destruction of democracy, nationalism and capitalism in the free West. In prelude to the demonstration in Amsterdam at October 30, 2010 the media predicted a clash between Ajax hooligans and EDL (European Defense League) members who would visit Amsterdam from England. The concern for a clash reached the point to which the mayor decided to move the demonstration to another location, a decision the DDL (Dutch Defense League) wanted to fight in court but later reconsidered and refrained from doing so.
The solution of Islam – Khilafah
The similarites with the Third Reich are great. The initiatives that are promoted by these extremists are reminiscent of Adolf Hitler who aimed to unite all Germans into one political entity. Adolf Hitler aspired to annex several Slavic regions in an attempt to create a “German Super-State.”
Supporters of the “Khilafah” call to unite the entire Muslim population into one Islamic State under Shariah (strict Islamic law). This message is spread via mass distribution of images through the internet (www.expliciet.nl) and videos through YouTube; they all portray the fall of the Ottoman Empire (Muslim Empire) in 1924 being replaced by oppressive dictators (Western Rule) for a period of 87 years.
Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan dreams of a restored Ottoman Empire. Turkish Chief Justice Emina (ULKER) Tarhan has recently resigned her position in opposition against the current government in Ankara. She is very concerned because over the course Turkey has taken under Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has taken. The Turkish government behaves like a gang, said Tarhan, who argues that Erdogan government aspires to place absolute power in a new “Sultan of the Middle East” – in short, he wants Turkey to head the cecond Ottoman Empire.
Gutless Canadian Political Class
When Canada entered into the FTA with the U.S., the Council of Canadians, prominent among whom is Maude Barlow, lobbied hard against the deal, implying that such a treaty would, among other things, diminish Canada’s sovereignty. They were right, and our sovereignty has been diminished in relation to the U.S.
Nothing illustrates this more than the case of Conrad Black, against whom the most serious charge was obstruction of justice. This alleged crime, the removal of file boxes from his Toronto office, took place in Canada, supposedly an independent nation. How can an alleged crime that took place in Canada become the subject of American Extra-Territorial prosecution? The prohibition on removing those boxes was issued by the Ontario Superior Court, and subsequently, restrictions on removing those boxes were lifted by the same court. So what gives here?
Where were the protests of the likes of the Council of Canadians, of Maude Barlow, at the imposition of American law in our country? I never heard anything-the silence was deafening.
The Americans have become increasingly imperial in their attempts to impose their laws in other countries, for actions not even a crime in the country where they took place.
The case of Marc Emory springs to mind. Our justice system refused to prosecute Emory for posting pot seed to the U.S. but was happy to send him off to the U.S. for incarceration.
The even more outrageous case of Britain’s Natwest Six is another example of the bullying attitude of the U.S. towards countries with a more humane, and dare I say it, just system of law.
Canada Day is six days away. Remember the words of our national anthem,
“the true north strong and free.” Bah!
Not for our cowardly political class. And to hell with U.S. paranoia.
David B.
NGO Urges UN Chief to Retract Blessing for Cynical Iranian Conference on Terrorism
UN Watch:
A watchdog organization is calling on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to retract his apparent endorsement of an Iranian government conference on terrorism that seeks to deny Iranian complicity, while instead blaming the US, Britain and Israel. See below the letter sent today to the UN chief by Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch. The non-governmental organization also called on US Ambassador Susan Rice to ensure that the UN refrains from endorsing such conferences in the future.
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon
The Secretary-General
The United Nations
New York, NY 1001725 June 2011
Your Excellency,
Earlier this week, UN Watch warmly welcomed your deserved reelection as UN Secretary-General and applauded your principled leadership. It is in that spirit that we call upon you to distance yourself and the United Nations from a cynical conference now underway in Iran which claims to have your blessing and that of the United Nations.
[...]
Liberal Super PAC Emerging as Key Tool for Soros and Other Liberal Billionaires
by Christopher Santarelli:
After being trounced in 2010, Democrats, special interest groups, and liberal billionaires have begun assembling assets to rebound in 2012. The “House Majority PAC”, a Democrat Super PAC, reported this week to have raised $800,000 in the two months from its inception to June 13, including the time leading up to May’s NY-26 special election where Democrat Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Jane Corwin. House Majority PAC attack ads in the final weeks prior to the election have been speculated to have had a key role in Hochul’s victory. Politico has reported that $325,000 of the $800,000 amassed by the House Majority PAC since April came from three wealthy liberals.
“In addition to Soros’s $75,000 contribution, hedge fund billionaire Donald Sussman – a major donor who this month married Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) – gave $150,000 and Chicago media magnate Fred Eychaner, a major donor to President Barack Obama, gave $100,000.”
Aside from Soros and friends, the growing Super PAC received hefty donations from several labor unions such as the Service Employees International Union and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees who gave a combined $300,000.
[...]
The Reincarceration of Conrad Black
By Mark Steyn:
I am overseas at the moment and have just caught up on the coverage of Judge Amy St Eve’s decision yesterday to send my old boss (and now NRO colleague) Conrad Black back to jail. Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of the “honest services” basis of his conviction, Conrad was released from prison in Florida, after serving two years, to await re-sentencing. Given that he was, in effect, improperly convicted on the majority of charges, a civilized and humane justice system would have concluded that it was both absurd and vindictive to return him to his cell for the one shred of the United States Government’s case that has not been tossed out along the way in Conrad’s seven year battle.
But the Department of Justice is not civilized and humane. As I wrote here:
[...]
The Democrat Party’s Socialist Plan
Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh:
The Democrats enlisted the help of nefarious organizations such as SEIU, ACORN, community agitators, and other street organizers to picket the homes of bankers to force them to lend money to non-credit worthy customers under the false charge of racism. Once the loans were approved, with very little checking of documentation, the bankers had no choice but to package bad mortgage loans with good ones and resell them to others in order to minimize loss. Bankers are in business to make money for their stockholders, not redistribute wealth among citizens.
Realtors received their cut of the bad mortgage deals. They helped people they knew could not afford such lavish and expensive homes on their incomes. Paperwork was misfiled, salaries stretched, proof of income and bad credit scores overlooked.
Banks sold and resold bad mortgages so quickly and so many times that current owners had no idea which bank held their mortgage contracts. Trying to purchase such a home was impossible, nobody knew who owned it.
Some citizens took advantage of the housing boom by flipping homes quickly in order to make huge profits. They are guilty parties to the housing disaster. Financially irresponsible people who bought homes on interest-only schemes knew they were taking a huge risk.
Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton pushed the Community Reinvestment Act. Spreading the wealth seemed like a great socialist idea – take from producers and give to people who made no effort to better themselves, study and work , happy to take from the government, having no idea or caring who was actually paying for their welfare.
Feelings of pride for a job well done and putting in a good day’s work were lost during forty years of welfare and entitlements designed to create perennial Democrat voters enslaved to the federal government. Cradle to grave entitlements mentality created people who lost their purpose, pride, and responsibility to themselves and their families. There was no surprise when welfare dependent people waited on local and federal governments to save them from the on-coming hurricane Katrina.
[...]
What the Murder of Iraqi Jews in 1941 Tells us About the Middle East Today
by Alex Joffe:
Seventy years ago during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, June 1st and 2nd, 1941, Iraqis rampaged through the Jewish sections of Baghdad, killing between 100 and 600 individuals, injuring countless more, and looting whatever they could. This was the turning point in the history of Iraqi Jews, who had resided in Mesopotamia for over 2,500 years. In the decade that followed, the community was systematically disenfranchised, robbed, and largely expelled. What lessons does this hold for understanding the Middle East of today?
The pogrom known as the Farhud (“violent dispossession”) was conducted by Iraqis. On the first day the perpetrators were soldiers, policemen, and Baghdadis, and on the second, Bedouin from outside the city eager to claim their toll of Jews and share of loot. But the Farhud also came at the point at which the Nazi-inspired and supported coup against the pro-British Iraqi monarchy was destroyed. Like the Holocaust, it is an opportunity to examine the nature of hatred in past and present.
The question of the Nazi relationship with the Muslim and Arab worlds is far from new. Indeed, even before World War II, British and Zionist officials took note of the relationship between the “grand mufti of Jerusalem,” Haj Amin al-Husseini, and the Nazis. Long a thorn in the side of both, the mufti had been foolishly appointed by the British as the chief Muslim religious official in Jerusalem. In return, he schemed against them, the Jews, and Arab rivals from Palestine to Iraq, fomenting hatred and terrorism.
[...]
‘Spiritual treason’ seen as ‘something hostile to Jesus Christ himself’
By Michael Carl:
Dozens of Christian churches, from Park Hill Congregational in Denver to Hillview United Methodist in Boise, Idaho, and First United Lutheran in San Francisco to St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church in Honolulu, are planning to send “a message both here at home and to the Arab and Muslim world about our respect for Islam” with a time to read the Quran during worship this Sunday.
It’s not just wrong, but dangerous, according to Christian trends analysts.
The aim of the program, which is promoted by social activists behind the Faith Shared website, is to counter the message from Islamic activists who say opposition to their religion is the product of what they call a cottage industry of hate.
So the Interfaith Alliance and Human Rights First is calling on Christian clergy to read portions of the Quran during their services Sunday.
[...]
Why Palin Can Win
By Robert Eugene Simmons Jr.:
One of the most talked about subjects in politics is whether or not Sarah Palin will run for the presidency. It’s frankly anyone’s guess which direction she will go with her decision and when she will make the decision. However, if Palin doesn’t run it will be a disaster for the Republican Party and quite possibly the country.
Aside from the fact thata there isn’t another libertarian-conservative in the race, at least not another one who isn’t an international isolationist, if Palin doesn’t run, it will represent an enormous victory for the Republican beltway establishment and the big players in the left-wing-dominated media. Furthermore, the leftist media will learn a fool-proof means to destroy any political opponent in a manner that will likely result in another four years of Obama.
[...]
-LINK FIXED-
[thanks, Bruce]
Synagogue’s neighbours have murky motives
Calgary Herald:
We can’t imagine what the residents of a Montreal neighbourhood were thinking when they insisted on holding a referendum on -and voting no to -an area synagogue’s plans to expand its premises by 10 feet at the rear of its property to include a cloakroom and bathroom.
[...]
Given that some local residents have taken it upon themselves to keep track of the doings of their Hasidic neighbours … one has to wonder if anti-Semitic sentiment is behind all the fuss.
[...]
It’s Israel, stupid
M. Phillips:
Yup, Michele Bachmann gets it — and how. Bachmann is a Christian. Christianity owes its existence to Judaism. An unbreakable thread links Judaism, Christianity and America. Israel embodies American and western values. Abandon Israel and you abandon America and destroy the west. That is what Obama is doing. That is what Bachmann – a candidate for the US presidency — has said in this video. She got to the heart of it — why the west is going down, why Israel is the key issue of our time, why the drum now being beaten by Obama and the western left against Israel is the very same drum that is being beaten against America and the west itself.
[...]
Politico Reporter Vogel Worked For Soros-Funded Group
By Jeffrey Lord:
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. But of course.
You knew there had to be more.
Can you say “George Soros”????
The Media Research Center’s Dan Gainor, the MRC VP for Business and Culture, points out an interesting fact about Politico’s Ken Vogel.
[...]
Understanding Supply Side Economics
By Henry Oliner:
It has been derided as voodoo economics by George H.W. Bush and contemptuously as ‘trickle down’ economics by opponents from the left and some from the right. When Ronald Reagan embraced supply side economics many Republicans and Democrats were skeptical. When unemployment shot up to 11 percent and interest rates spiked to 20%, Reagan’s own party and even members of his cabinet were questioning the wisdom of cutting taxes at the high end of the rates.
High unemployment, painful as it was, helped bring inflation under control. Interest rates and unemployment fell.
Supply side economics has retained a bitter opposition. Economics is often not intuitive: at first glance the proposition seems illogical, but after further consideration and analysis it proves to make good sense. Unfortunately few issues get beyond first glances before minds are ossified, and fail to understand the principle.
[...]
Operation Fast and Furious — How the Obama Administration Conned the Washington Post
by Hans A. von Spakovsky:
Thanks to Operation Fast and Furious, the incompetence and ineptitude that has infected the Holder Justice Department is becoming more obvious all the time. For department prosecutors (and senior ATF personnel) to approve the sale of firearms to Mexican drug cartels through straw buyers was a deadly misstep.
It led directly to the tragic death of Border Agent Brian Terry. Mexican officials estimate that “150 of their people have been shot by Fast and Furious guns,” Fox News reports. The obdurate refusal of Justice to provide the names of the senior Justice leadership who approved this operation at the recent House hearing held by Rep. Darrel Issa shows the willingness of Justice to cover up its mistakes and defy congressional oversight. As Issa accurately said, this growing scandal “was so felony stupid that it got people killed.”
But Operation Fast and Furious also shows how willing this administration is to deliberately mislead the press and how easily the Washington Post was conned by the administration in a story it published last year.
[...]
RELATED:
‘Gunrunner’ Whistleblower Vince Cefalu Speaks (PJM Exclusive)
Rob Ford’s sin against the catechism of gender correctness
Barbara Kay:
The knives that are out for Mr. Ford have nothing to do with this particular decision, though. The exaltation of homosexuality is second only to the reverence paid to unfettered abortion as a litmus test for political correctness amongst our cognitive and cultural elites. Rob Ford’s sin is that he does not believe in mixing politics with sexuality pride. Rob Ford is not a homophobe, but nor on the other hand does he think it is any particular honour to be homosexual. Many Canadians not schooled in the catechism of gender correctness agree with him.
[...]
Caliphate Conference is Coming Up Soon!
WALID SHOEBAT:
Here is a promo video on a terrorist Caliphate conference to be held in UK on July 9th 2011. It is openly advertised on the internet to promote the Islamic terrorist agenda. For the dummies on the left says that there is no threat this conference should be another wake up call.
For those that do not know what The Caliphate here is the Britannica definition:
Caliphate, the political-religious state comprising the Muslim community and the lands and peoples under its dominion in the centuries following the death (ad 632) of the Prophet Mu?ammad. Ruled by a caliph (Arabic khalifah, “successor”), who held temporal and sometimes a degree of spiritual authority, the empire of the Caliphate grew rapidly through conquest during its first two centuries to include most of Southwest Asia, North Africa, and Spain. Dynastic struggles later brought about the Caliphate’s decline, and it ceased to exist with the Mongol destruction of Baghdad in 1258.
Egypt: Christian Girls Kidnapped and ‘Sold’
by Raymond Ibrahim:
Two teenage Coptic girls, cousins, were recently kidnapped and then “sold” in Minya, Egypt—the same region where a Coptic church was recently attacked and desecrated. I tried to find this story in English-language media and, as expected, found nothing, except for one report in Al-Masry Al-Youm titled “Clashes between police and Coptic protesters in Minya”—as if that’s the important story (as usual, the media prefers headlines portraying harried Christian minorities as equally culpable as their Muslim persecutors, thereby justifying use of the preferred phrase, “sectarian strife“).
At the end of the Al-Masry Al-Youm report, we get a trailing sentence alluding to “claims” that two Christian girls “were abducted by Muslims and forced to convert to Islam” as the reason why Copts were demonstrating and clashing with the police in the first place.
[...]
Islamic Group CAIR Loses Tax Status, Yet Still Asks for Tax-Deductible Gifts
by Billy Hallowell:
The controversial Council for Islamic-American Relations (CAIR) has officially lost its tax-exempt status. Earlier this month, the organization appeared on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) list of over 275,000 non-profit organizations that were purged for not filing necessary paperwork. The Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) has more regarding why these non-profits, including CAIR, were removed:
The groups failed to file required annual reports, known as form 990s, detailing their revenues and expenses, for three consecutive years. CAIR had been a non-profit on its own, but in 2007, the IRS approved a separate tax-exempt CAIR Foundation. The foundation never filed any subsequent reports. Both the foundation and CAIR national are on the purge list.
The IRS believes that most of the groups listed are no longer operational, but for those who clearly still plan to function (CAIR being one of them), a re-application process has been implemented.
Despite no longer being a tax-exempt organization (at least for the time being), CAIR is still touting donations to the organization as “tax-deductible.” Below, see a screenshot taken of the group’s web site earlier today:
[...]
TBK
In the past month my readership has dropped off from about 300 unique views a day to about 100. It is not worth my considerable time and effort to keep up this site with those numbers. I will decide at the end of the month whether to carry on or not.
tim
Section 527 works to seat liberals as election overseers
By Chuck Neubauer, The Washington Times:
A small tax-exempt political group with ties to wealthy liberals like billionaire financier George Soros has quietly helped elect 11 reform-minded progressive Democrats as secretaries of state to oversee the election process in battleground states and keep Republican “political operatives from deciding who can vote and how those votes are counted.”
Known as the Secretary of State Project (SOSP), the organization was formed by liberal activists in 2006 to put Democrats in charge of state election offices, where key decisions often are made in close races on which ballots are counted and which are not.
[...]
As always the GOP is caught unawares and impotent. Sad.
Hillary to congressional Libya critics: Whose side are you on?
by Allahpundit:
[...]
With every day of stalemate that passes between a tinpot desert dictator and a U.S./UK/France coalition, NATO’s global credibility as a viable military alliance shrinks — which, as Jonah Goldberg notes, ironically makes victory increasingly important. That’s why Hillary’s demagoging this. Somehow, they’ve bungled their way into making an otherwise unimportant mission a very big deal.
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