Cyber Bullies Beware - The Law Is Coming After You

Invisible, cowardly, puerile individuals hide behind the anonymity of the Internet. With their vulgar and wretched meanness emboldened by the mask of AOL chatrooms, MySpace, and My Facebook, the cyber bullies mistakenly fear no one. That's all changing for the better. Cyber bullies ARE responsible for their own behavior.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt signed a bill Monday outlawing cyberbullying, just miles from where a 13-year-old girl committed suicide nearly two years ago after being harassed on the Internet.

The bill updates state laws against harassment by removing the requirement that the communication be written or over the telephone. Supporters say the bill now covers harassment from computers, text messages and other electronic devices.

"Social networking sites and technology have opened a new door for criminals and bullies to prey on their victims, especially children," Blunt said. "This new law will ensure that we have the protections and penalties needed to safeguard Missourians from Internet harassment."

Megan Meier killed herself in October 2006, shortly after receiving mean-spirited messages over the Internet. Her suicide prompted the bill.

The teenager's mother, wearing a picture of her daughter in a pin on her dress, stood over the governor's shoulder as he signed the bill at a St. Charles County library.

Meier said she was grateful, but said much more needs to be done to make sure children are kept safe.

"This is certainly not the end," she said. "Bullying and cyberbullying is something that takes place every day. This is not just one case with Megan."

The news of the circumstances surrounding the teen's death surfaced after a local newspaper ran an article last fall. Since then, several Missouri towns have adopted new ordinances aimed at stopping cyberharassment. U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., has introduced a bill that would impose federal penalties for cyberbullying.

The Missouri measure also requires school officials to tell police about harassment and stalking on school grounds and expands state laws against stalking to cover "credible threats" not only against the victim, but also family and household members and animals. It also creates stronger penalties for stalking.

Megan had long suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder. In 2006, she began corresponding with "Josh" through MySpace pages. At first, the messages were positive.

But after several weeks, they turned mean. One told Megan "Josh" no longer wanted to be friends.

Shortly thereafter, Megan hanged herself in her bedroom. She died the next day.

There was no boy named Josh. Authorities said a neighbor, Lori Drew, her teenage daughter and an 18-year-old employee of Drew created a fake profile of an attractive teenage boy to see what Megan was saying about the daughter online.

Drew, 49, has pleaded not guilty in California, where MySpace is headquartered, to conspiracy and accessing computers without authorization.

This new law could make it potentially easier to sue Internet companies with chatrooms and public websites who don't take action to stop this criminal activity. I've seen and TOS'd behaviour which includes cloning, gay and sexual harrassment, verbal and vulgar assault, and character assassination. But AOL allows it to continue without enforcing their own Terms of Service conditions, giving a gentle swat on the keyboard to the harrassers to stop.

Let's see AOL is located in what state?

AOL
770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-652-6400

Adult CyberBullying In AOL Chatrooms

How to Prevent CyberBullying

Man Sues For Libel Over Facebook

Tips for dealing with cyber bullying :
Because cyber bullying can range from rude comments to lies, impersonations, and threats, your responses may depend on the nature and severity of the cyber bullying. Here are some actions that you may want to take after-the-fact.

• Strongly encourage the person not to respond to the cyber bullying.
• Do not erase the messages or pictures. Save these as evidence.
• Try to identify the individual doing the cyber bullying. Even if the cyberbully is anonymous (e.g., is using a fake name or someone else’s identity) there may be a way to track them through your Internet Service Provider. If the cyber bullying is criminal (or if you suspect that it may be), contact the police and ask them to do the tracking.
• Sending inappropriate language may violate the “Terms and Conditions” of e-mail services, Internet Service Providers, web sites, and cell phone companies. Consider contacting these providers and filing a complaint. (AOL, you're on notice to stop the harrassment in your chatrooms. Take complaints seriously! )
• If the cyber bullying is coming through e-mail or a cell phone, it may be possible to block future contact from the cyberbully. Of course, the cyberbully may assume a different identity and continue the bullying.
• Consider contacting an attorney in cases of serious cyber bullying. In some circumstances, civil law permits victims to sue a bully in order to recover damages.
• Contact the police if cyber bullying involves acts such as:
• Threats of violence
• Extortion
• Obscene or harassing phone calls or text messages
• Harassment, stalking, or hate crimes
• Child pornography

If you are uncertain if cyber bullying violates your jurisdiction’s criminal laws, contact your local police, who will advise you.

Naive Teens Don't Realize Consequences Of Actions

These idealistic "Hussein-ing For Obama" kids are nothing new using Irish artist, Jim Fitzpatrick's iconic 1968 stylized "Che Guevara" look to promote Barack Hussein Obama. They don't even realize that Guevara was a Stalinist or the horrors of Stalin killing an estimated 40 million victims. They don't know that Stalin squashed free speech or individuality.







When I was a young teen, I thought it was hip to be against the Vietnam war, just because all of the more vocal, older high school students politicizing with their new-found oats. These anti-establishment rebellious teens were enthusiastic about voicing their anti-war sentiments and railing against our military soldiers. Bumper stickers and tee shirts touting peace signs and love, "Stop the War in Vietnam and Start One in China," "Stop The Draft," "Flowers Not Weapons," and "Make Love, Not War." University students staging love-ins, sit-ins, all in the name of rebelling against the government. I remember the spitting on and assault on our soldiers coming home, even if they weren't in Vietnam. They were hated. The US was hated around the world.

I didn't understand the consequences of my actions. I didn't understand what I was saying or asking for. I wanted to be cool and hip. After leaving school, getting married, the first election, I voted liberally. I voted for Jimmy Carter. He was from the South, he was a Christian, and he was so nice. He smiled alot and made you feel good. I didn't understand the consequences of those actions. It was a mistake that I quickly regretted when buying our first home and running my own business. The changes that Carter brought and his solutions were devastating to our economy and to our integrity around the world. The very next election, I voted for Reagan and was relieved at how President Reagan changed the course of our country and for the better. I became convinced at the differences of values, integrity, and fiscal responsibility of conservatism and the consequences of my votes and support.

These teens adding Hussein to their names want to be hip and cool. They don't understand economics or government. They think they do, they think they have the solutions, they think they should be allowed to freely express themselves. But, they live with their parents, they've never run a business, and they've never had to pay a capital gains tax. They aren't responsible for themselves, or for other people's lives and welfare. They don't understand the consequences of their actions.

It's easy to change your middle name to Hussein on Facebook. It's not as easy to recover from national liberal economic disastrous solutions. They won't be able to understand the consequences of what liberals are imposing, till they start to pay taxes, buy homes, buy property, start their own businesses. The very middle class lifestyle that supports these young adults is the very one that Obama wants to change. These kids aren't old enough to have experience or savvy enough to investigate what kind of person is running for election, to discern the candidate's background, to look at their friends and business associates.

I hope these teens stay in touch. Let's see how many of them consider themselves liberals when they have families of their own, businesses to run, and worry about the security of their country.

How many hippies eventually cut their hair, went to work, became "the Man" and realized how naive they were as young adults? I know I grew up and realized for myself how foolish I had been as a teenager.

The oft misquoted phrases below show insight into the wisdom of maturity, and life experience.

"Not to be a republican at twenty is proof of want of heart; to be one at thirty is proof of want of head." ~ Francois Guizot (1787 - 1874)

"The man who is not a socialist at twenty has no heart, but if he is still a socialist at forty he has no head." ~ French Prime Minister Aristide Briand, (1862 - 1932)

"To hold the same views at forty as we held at twenty is to have been stupefied for a score of years, and take rank, not as a prophet, but as an unteachable brat, well birched and none the wiser." ~ Robert Louis Stephenson, (1850 - 1894)

Released Guantanamo Prisoner Behind Bombing Strike

Sure, let's be compassionate and release all the prisoners in Camp Gitmo. They're no threat. A 2006 post from Joshua Pundit talks about the horrible treatment forced on the Islamic combatants. Meanwhile, should the US succumb to pressure to close Guantanamo and bring Al-Qaida and Islamo-fascists to stateside prisons? McCain says yes. The answer should be hell NO!

A former Kuwaiti Guantanamo Bay detainee conducts a suicide attack in Mosul

Two Kuwaiti al Qaeda operatives who conducted suicide attacks were featured at the end of the video. Abu Omar al Kuwaiti, also known as Badr Mishel Gama’an al Harbi, and Abu Juheiman al Kuwaiti, also known as Abdullah Salih al Ajmi, are both shown on the video, along with their attacks in Mosul, said Kazimi.

Harbi, who claimed to be a "veteran of the jihad in Afghanistan," conducted a suicide car bomb attack on a police station in Mosul on April 26, 2008.

Ajmi was released from Guantanamo Bay and was searching for "a way to reconnect with the jihad." He claimed he was tortured while at Guantanamo Bay.

Ajmi "is seemingly responsible for an earlier truck bombing at the Iraqi Army HQ in the Harmat neighborhood of Mosul on March 23, 2008," said Kazimi. The attack occurred at Combat Outpost Inman, an Iraqi Army base that served as the headquarters for the 1st Battalion, 3rd Brigade of the 2nd Iraqi Army Division.

Thirteen Iraqi soldiers were killed and 42 were wounded after Ajmi drove an armored truck packed an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 pounds of explosives through the gate of the outpost and detonated in a spot between the three main buildings of the compound. The blast destroyed the facades of the three buildings, including the building housing the battalion headquarters.

Biblical Writings Poisoned Monks

Copying the Bible down word for word was a dangerous and deadly mission.

Medieval bones from six different Danish cemeteries reveal that monks who wrote Biblical texts and other religious materials may have been exposed to toxic mercury, which was used to formulate just one of their ink colors: red.

The study, which will be published in the August issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, also describes a previously undocumented disease, called FOS, which was like leprosy and caused skull lesions. Additionally, the researchers found that mercury-containing medicine had been administered to 79 percent of the interred individuals with leprosy and 35 percent with syphilis.

Since the monks, who were buried in the cloister walk of the Cistercian Abbey at Øm, did not have these diseases but contained mercury in their bones, scientists believe the monks were either contaminated while preparing and administering medicines, or while writing the artistic letters of incunabula, or pre-1500 A.D. books.

Kaare Lund Rasmussen, a University of Southern Denmark scientist at the Institute of Physics and Chemistry, suspects that ink used in the abbey's scriptorium was the culprit.

He told Discovery News "it is very human to lick the brush, if one wants to make a fine line."

Even today "one should really not touch, or much less rub, the parchment pages of an incunabulum," Lund Rasmussen said, adding that mercury "was used in the first place because cinnabar (a type of mercury) has this bright red, beautiful color."

It is also known that metallic liquid mercury was given in vapor form to diseased patients. So if the monks "were just a little careless, they would be exposed this way, however, they might also be exposed during the preparation of the medicine."

For the study, Lund Rasmussen and his team drilled bone samples from the buried individuals, some of which were also friars buried in the cloister walk of the Franciscan Friary in Svendborg. Unlike the Øm monks, the friars showed no signs of mercury poisoning.

Priest Commits Suicide After Sex Inquiry

Maine Roman Catholic priest was accused of sexual battery on a young girl 30 years ago.

Police confirmed the Rev. James P. Robichaud, 56, an Augusta native, committed suicide.

Robichaud most recently served at St. Agnes Parish of Pittsfield and Our Lady of the Snows Parish of Dexter, Dover-Foxcroft and Milo.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland had temporarily suspended Robichaud on Thursday pending an investigation into an allegation he sexually abused a girl 29 years ago, in 1979.

Robichaud, who was born and raised in Augusta, became an ordained priest in April 1979 and the same year was assigned to St. Jean-Baptiste Parish in Lowell, Mass. He served at that parish until 1983.

Where Is The Outrage Over Pakistani Beheadings?

Pakistani gang militia members behead a young boy and man accused of spying for the US. No trial, no imprisonment, no ACLU, no defense lawyers, no justice.

Masked militants pulled the two blindfolded Afghans from a car and forced them to kneel on the ground.

Waliur Rehman, a local Taliban commander, told the crowd that the two men confessed to aiding in a suspected U.S. missile strike on a house in the border town of Damadola that killed 14 people last month. The men disclosed the names of others involved, and they would be killed as well, he said.

"Whoever, for the sake of money, for the sake of America, harms the interest of the Islamic world will meet the same fate," he said.

Gunmen with daggers then pounced on one of the men — identified as Jan Wali, 36 — decapitated him and waved his bloody head to the cheering crowd.

The militants then argued over how to kill the other man because he may have been a teenager, before one lost patience and shot him with an assault rifle.

The crowd erupted in cheers of "God is great!" and gunmen fired in the air in jubilation. The celebratory gunfire killed two bystanders and wounded six, local official Fazal Rabbi said.

Where is the United Nations? Where are the Democrats? Where is the ACLU? Where is CAIR? Where is PETA? Is the United States the only country where treating war combatants humanely is considered an inhumane travesty of justice?

Child Brides In Islam Guarantee Of Good Marriages

Paedophilia is alive and well in Islam. This is from UNICEF's Photo of the Year December 2007. He is 40 years old and she is 11 years old.

The average age of marriage in Yemen’s rural areas is 12 to 13, a recent study by Sana University researchers found. The country, at the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world.

“This is the first shout,” said Shada Nasser, a human rights lawyer who met Nujood, the 10-year-old, after she arrived at the courthouse to demand a divorce. Ms. Nasser decided instantly to take her case. “All other early marriage cases have been dealt with by tribal sheiks, and the girl never had any choice.”

But despite a rising tide of outrage, the fight against the practice is not easy. Hard-line Islamic conservatives, whose influence has grown enormously in the past two decades, defend it, pointing to the Prophet Muhammad’s marriage to a 9-year-old. Child marriage is deeply rooted in local custom here, and even enshrined in an old tribal expression: “Give me a girl of 8, and I can give you a guarantee” for a good marriage.

Michelle Malkin has more regarding marriages between 40 year old Afghani perverts and 11 year old children.

Does Islam allow child marriages. Yes.

What Would Mohammed Do?

First Baby To Be Born Breast Cancer Free

Because of hereditary breast cancer on both sides of the parents, a British couple produced 11 embryos from which two were selected for artificial implantation. The mother is now 14 weeks pregnant, reassured that her children will not develop breast cancer in adulthood. If the couple had decided to have children normally, any daughters born would have had a 50% to 80% chance of developing breast cancer.

By screening out embryos carrying the gene, called BRCA-1, the couple, from London, will eliminate the hereditary disease from their lineage.

About 5% of the 44,000 cases of breast cancer diagnosed in Britain each year are estimated to be caused by the BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genes, both of which can be detected in embryos.

Doctors say thousands of cases of breast cancer could be avoided by screening embryyos using the technique called preimplantation diagnosis (PGD).

Second Amendment Is Upheld

Another blow to liberal agendas everywhere. The Supreme Court has upheld the Second Amendment to bear arms and own handguns.

For the first time in U.S. history, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that individual Americans have the right to own guns for personal use, and struck down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the country's high court has addressed whether the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects an individual right to keep and bear arms, rather than a right tied to service in a state militia.

In the majority opinion, Justice Antonin Scalia said the Second Amendment protected an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.

Read the SCOTUS decision here.

Don't think that an Obama-socialist government won't take your guns away - they did during Hurricane Katrina. Obama's Chicago banned guns.

Democrat leaders against SCOTUS decision to allow legal homeowners to own guns.

Largest Shipment of Care Packages To Soldiers

Move America Forward is conducting a live, online telethon tomorrow (Thurdsay, June 26th) from 4pm – midnight Eastern in an effort to raise funds for the largest shipment of care packages to US troops in history. The show will be hosted by Melanie Morgan and Michelle Malkin, and feature all-star guests including Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, and many more.

Please be a part of this worthy cause and help our soldiers know that we care.

Click here to donate.

Think Oil Is Used Only For Gas?

If we do not start drilling for more oil off our coasts and in ANWR, and only go to alternative energy sources like the Democrats want us to do, will that solve the United States energy crisis?
No!

We need oil for more than just gasoline. Check these products that are made with petroleum.

Just try to imagine all the years it's going to take to replace all of the thousands of products that are made with oil with alternative sources? Think of all the jobs that will be eradicated because of these drastic alternative changes that aren't necessary.

What's Right With America

With so many liberals, Democrats, and socialists, determined to see that America is destroyed, because there is so much wrong with it. Well, this country is the best on this Earth and there is so much right with it. This is a must read, and if you have access to audio on your computer - a must hear.

What's wrong with the Democrats? While the country is struggling with a future of $5 to $10 a gallon gas - The Democrat National Convention is concerned with biodegradable balloons, fanny packs that are organic, union-made in this country, and dietary needs of their convention goers. That's their priorities right now, and that's what they are spending millions of contribution and government funded dollars on.

Meanwhile back in Congress, Democrats whining and want to go home for a much needed break from their primary campaign, filibustering bills, and the stressful (Bush win) voting to provide funding for our military without finding all the solutions to having more oil.

Thaddeus McCotter, (R-Mi) explains what Democrats really are saying:




“PROGRESSIVE” = “REGRESSIVE”
“Democrats are progressive.”
Translation: “Democrats are regressive.”
“CHANGE” = “THE 1970s”
“Democrats will bring you change.”
Translation: “Democrats will bring you the 1970s.”
“GOVERNMENT” = “SOCIALISM”
“Democrats support proactive government.”
Translation: “Democrats support proactive socialism.”
“ENHANCE REVENUES” = “RAISE TAXES”
“Democrats will enhance revenues.”
Translation: “Democrats will raise taxes.”
“THE RICH” = “YOU”
“Democrats will only tax the rich.”
Translation: “Democrats will only tax you.”
“INVEST” = “WASTE”
“Democrats will invest your money.”
Translation: “Democrats will waste your money.”
“ENERGY” = “LETHARGY”
“Democrats have an energy policy.”
Translation: “Democrats have a lethargy policy.”
“GREEN COLLAR JOBS” = “UNEMPLOYMENT”
“Democrats will replace your blue collar jobs with green collar jobs.”
Translation: “Democrats will replace your blue collar jobs with unemployment.”
“Speaking “Global Democrat”
“DIPLOMACY” = “MAGIC”
“Democrats will protect America from Iranian nukes through tough, principled diplomacy.”
Translation: “Democrats will protect America from Iranian nukes through tough, principled magic.”
“ENGAGE” = “APPEASE”
“Democrats will engage America’ enemies.”
Translation: “Democrats will appease America’s enemies.”
“END” = “LOSE”
“Democrats will end the Iraq War.”
Translation: “Democrats will lose the Iraq War.”

Swindler Uses Catholic Church To Scam Millions of Dollars

In a case of greed on all parties, Rafael Follieri, ex boyfriend of Hollywood's" Princess Diaries" Anne Hathaway, has been arrested, jailed with a bail of $21 million dollars. The crime? Defalcating Ron Burkle, Bill Clinton, and other major global investors, by underwriting US Catholic Bishop events, and conning gullible "dollar signs in their eyes" Vatican officials.

According to the FBI, Follieri claimed the Vatican had formally appointed him to manage its financial affairs and that he had met with the pope in person in Rome.

He is accused of keeping various ceremonial robes, including the robes of senior clergymen, in his Manhattan office, and of hiring two monsignors to accompany him during his business dealings.

Once, according to the complaint, he even asked a monsignor to change out of his robes and put on the robe of a more senior clergyman to create the false impression that Follieri had close ties to the Vatican.

The monsignors are not accused of any crimes.

Prosecutors allege that Follieri's scheme unraveled when the principal investor sought an audit of the partnership and demanded an explanation for expenditures unrelated to administrative overhead or business expenses.

Earlier this month, the New York attorney general's office said it was investigating a foundation operated by Follieri that vaccinates children in Third World countries.
The Follieri Foundation has not filed U.S. tax disclosure forms required from charities, according to a review of records by the AP.

Joe Feuerherd of the National Catholic Reporter wrote about Follieri's deals with the Catholic Church in 2006. To some Catholic officials, it smelled even then.

In an e-mail response to an NCR inquiry Andrea Sodano said: "I have worked with the Follieri family for the past fifteen years as an engineering consultant. My involvement long predates The Follieri Group's interest in the States. The Follieri Group's long and successful track record in real estate speaks for itself."

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Follieri Group was one of two "benefactors" of the event, the highest level of giving noted in the event's program. Seated at Pasquale Follieri's table were Jean-Pierre Mazery, Grand Chancellor of the Knights of Malta, who accepted the award for Bertie; Archbishops Celestino Migliore, the Vatican's permanent observer at the UN, and Gabriel Montalvo, then the Vatican's ambassador to the United States; and Cardinal Renato Martino, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

The following week, Raffaello Follieri and Andrea Sodano visited the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington, site of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops annual meeting. An escalator ride up from the general assembly meeting room, the Follieri Group maintained a hospitality suite for bishops. At that meeting, by a vote of 222-2, the bishops agreed to seek Vatican approval for an amendment to church policy that would allow large dioceses (those with more than 500,000 Catholics) to sell or mortgage properties for up to $10.3 million without Rome's prior consent. The previous $5.1 million limit, said those supporting the change, was increasingly cumbersome in the go-go real estate market affecting U.S. dioceses nationwide.

Meanwhile, the Follieri Group is among the groups that sponsor the annual conference for Catholic facility managers. The company hosts exhibits at events that attract church real estate professionals, including meetings of the National Association of Treasurers of Religious Institutions and the Conference of Major Superiors of Men.

Where is the oversight? Who is looking out for the Church's financial pursestrings?

The Six Degrees of The Clintons?

And you know when there's scandal with wealthy people involved, the Clintons have to be involved in some way.

For the past six years, the road to Bill Clinton has often run through Douglas Band, a 34-year-old former White House intern who has helped manage Mr. Clinton's time, accompanied him around the world and even fielded some of his calls.

Two years ago, Mr. Band befriended a handsome and charming Italian businessman named Raffaello Follieri. The young Italian, now 29 years old, had moved to New York in 2003 to launch a business buying and redeveloping Roman Catholic Church properties. He claimed close ties with Vatican officials that would smooth the way for deals, according to business associates and material issued by his company, Follieri Group LLC. He also said he could help Mr. Clinton's wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, with Catholic voters during her presidential campaign, people in the Clinton camp recall.

As a gatekeeper to the former president's web of business and charitable enterprises, Mr. Band helped Mr. Follieri get into business with Mr. Clinton, according to people involved with the three men. In 2005, Yucaipa Cos., a Los Angeles investment firm where Mr. Clinton has been a partner and a senior adviser, agreed to invest up to $100 million in Mr. Follieri's church-property venture.

Later, Mr. Band helped Mr. Follieri secure several million dollars more from Michael Cooper, a Toronto real-estate executive and supporter of Mr. Clinton's humanitarian initiatives. Mr. Band received $400,000 from Mr. Follieri for arranging that deal. Mr. Band's connection to Mr. Follieri was reported in Il Sole/24 Ore, an Italian newspaper.

Top Ten Things Overheard on Hillary Clinton's First Day Back at Work

1o. "Nice of you to show up."

9. "Did you win?"

8. "We chipped in for a welcome back pantsuit."

7. "Should I take the Madame President nameplate off your door?"

6. "Hillary's choking another superdelegate!"

5. "On the bright side, you can once again partake in endless debates about agricultural subsidies."

4. "Senator Clinton, please stop throwing wads of paper at Senator Obama's head."

3. "I can't believe your shrill message of fear didn't resonate."

2. "Please stop taunting her, Senator Kerry."

And the number one comment overheard on Hillary Clinton's first day back to work?

1. "We'll begin as soon as Senator Craig returns from the restroom."

Britain Wants Bayeux Tapestry Back

On the 14th of October in 1066, the Battle of Hastings was fought between King Harold II of Britain and Duke William of Normandy. A depiction of the battle of the future British Empire was memorialized forever in the Bayeux Tapestry. Not actually a tapestry but an embroidery measuring 230 inches long and 20 inches wide, its' historically accurate scenes include an appearance of Halley's Comet and William the Conqueror's coronation.

One of France's national treasures, the return of the famous stitchery to England is now being demanded back by British historians, citing that the Bayeux Tapestry should be brought back to its rightful country of origin, England, not France.

... Yesterday the editor of BBC History Magazine said that the tapestry should be allowed to be displayed in England. Dave Musgrove said most experts were now agreed it was created on this side of the Channel. He said: "There is a pretty good academic consensus that it could well have been made in Canterbury. The Latin script that accompanies the pictorial images shows signs of being written by someone who came from an Anglo-Saxon background. Secondly the imagery in the tapestry is very similar to imagery that we know was in illuminated manuscripts that we know were in Canterbury's library at the time." It is an iconic document of English history and wouldn't it be amazing to have it shown in England where there is a very good chance it was made, and wouldn't that inspire people to get involved in medieval history? The crowds would come flocking."

Read the French legend of how the Bayeux Tapestry was created.

Of course, the French response is "Non!"

View an animated version of the Bayeux Tapestry and William the Conqueror's victory.

UPDATE: Obama CHANGES Seal

UPDATE: Obama's Seal of Arrogance Disappears Another Obama Bad Decision? Inexperience reigns supreme in the Obama camp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How seriously does Obama take the respect of the Presidential office? In a blasphemic display of arrogance, Barack Hussein Obama reconfigures the Presidential seal into a political platform button promoting himself. Who is he allowing to make these kinds of disrespectful decisions?

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a meeting of Democratic Governors at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago Friday, June 20, 2008. A new seal debuted on Obama's podium Friday, sporting iconography used in the U.S. presidential seal, the blue background, the eagle clutching arrows on left and olive branch on right, but with symbolic differences. Instead of the Latin 'E pluribus unum' (Out of many, one), Obama's says 'Vero possumus', rough Latin for 'Yes, we can.' Instead of 'Seal of the President of the United States', Obama's Web site address is listed. And instead of a shield, Obama's eagle wears his 'O' campaign logo with a rising sun representing hope ahead. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

But liberals and Democrats are upset about the Obama and White House political button and not upset about the Spike Lee comment on how this country will finally become the chocolate city when Obama becomes President.

Lee said that like Katrina in 2005, the levee breaches now flooding the Upper Midwest were a sign of misplaced priorities by the national government. "That's going to change, though," he said. "We need a real Chocolate City," an apparent reference to the prospect of the United States under Obama, who would be the first U.S. black president if elected in November.

The term "Chocolate City" has been used affectionately by African-Americans to refer to Washington and other predominantly black cities, and was the title of a 1975 album by the funk band Parliament. Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was criticized for racial divisiveness after Katrina for urging residents to rebuild a "chocolate New Orleans."

Lee later explicitly endorsed Obama, as someone who would set the right course. "It's not an if ... he changes the world. He changes how the world looks at the United States," Lee said.

It would be good for artists, too, who he said reflect the atmosphere around them. "It's going to be a new day. Not just a new day, a better day."

Why aren't Spike Lee's comments racist and Obama's changes disrespectful to our country? Change? This country will change dramatically for the worse if Obama gets in.

Sunday Afternoon Fingerpainting

What beautiful masterpieces artwork wrought by hands on fingers. Would this be what's called digital artwork? Click on each picture to enlarge.

"Throughout history a small number of artists have rejected both palette knives and brushes. A few used their fingers to spread the paint. Artists turned to such primal means for various reasons, including display of skill, experimental playfulness, or nose-thumbing at convention-- Seeing Through Paintings by Andrea Kirsch and Rustin S Levenson, p133/4

Thanks Art for sending - you brightened my day!

"Great Deal Of Misinformation On The Internet"

Scotland is blaming failing school test scores on misleading information, Internet plagiarism, and Wikipedia.

Eleanor Coner, the SPTC's information officer, said: "Children are very IT-savvy, but they are rubbish at researching. The sad fact is most children these days use libraries for computers, not the books. We accept that as a sign of the times, but schools must teach pupils not to believe everything they read.

"It's dangerous when the internet is littered with opinion and inaccurate information which could be taken as fact.

"Internet plagiarism is a problem. Pupils think 'I'll nick that and nobody will notice', but the Scottish Qualifications Authority has robust ways of checking for plagiarism and parents are worried their children will fail their exams."

Ronnie Smith, the general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, said there was a higher risk of inaccurate information on the internet than in books. He added: "We need to make sure youngsters don't take what they read online as fact."

Several further education institutions have already banned students from using the interactive encyclopaedia. At one college in Vermont in the US, a history professor found several students repeated the same error in exam papers. On discovering the information came from Wikipedia, the college outlawed its future use.

The future of liberals is ensured by lack of education and ignorance. No wonder Al Gore is their patron saint.

How Does Your Garden Get You To Grow?

Readers Digest is one of my favorite magazines to read a lot of information from a multiple of different resources and ideologies. You can read articles on every subject imaginable with a focus on current issues and events around the world as well as word puzzles (my ultimate favorite fun) and humor. My wonderful in-laws have bought us a subscription since I've known them and I'm passing along the tradition to my children. The July issue of Readers Digest has a wonderful article along with great photographs of the many ways you can look at a garden. The first photograph made me drool with envy but also inspired me as it's honest caption: Living Art.

It grows straight up a wall, without soil, on a frame of metal and felt. French-born artistbotanist Patrick Blanc created a crude version of a vertical garden at age 12. Since then, his hydroponic plant walls have been found on museums, hotels, and office buildings around the world. Why do his botanical artworks have such pull with renowned architects? Blanc, 55, says that plant walls in an urban environment are even more energizing than those in a garden. Here, one of his best-known installations, an outside wall of Paris’s Quai Branly Museum consisting of some 15,000 plants of 150 species from Central Europe, China, Japan, and the United States.

Marketing Yourself Creatively

How do you let someone know what you do for business? These 42 unique business cards get more than a second look when you hand them out. What does your business card say about you?

42 MORE Business Cards To Inspire You

Seven Wonders Of The Underground World

Seven great places around the world to tour if you're feeling a little under the weather.

1 + 1 = 2 Especially If You're The Universe

What is the universe made of? How does everything happen? Numbers. Mathematics is at the basis of the everything, including the universe, according to physicist and cosmologist Max Tegmark. Fascinating article even if mathematics isn't your strong point, Max will sum it up for you.

How Much Do You Know About The Summer Solstice?

The summer solstice this year was on June 20th, not today. How so? Well, Dean Christopher writing for Discover's Environmental Science page has 20 facts about the summer solstice that you may not know.

1. Summertime, and the tiltin’ is easy. Summers are hot not because Earth is closer to the sun, but because the tilt of the Earth’s axis lets rays of sunlight hit one hemisphere more directly.
2. During the Northern Hemisphere’s summer, we’re actually farthest from the sun, receiving 7 percent less sunlight than the Southern Hemisphere does during its summer.
3. The summer solstice—June 20 this year—is the Northern Hemisphere’s longest day, with 24 hours of unbroken sunlight north of the Arctic Circle.
4. Modern-day druids, taking a more traditional approach, gather at England’s Stonehenge to mark the summer solstice. Many still don Celtic attire, even though a civilization known as the Beaker People finished Stonehenge a millennium before the Celts turned up.
5. So maybe the ancient Greeks had the right idea, pulling out all the stops for the winter solstice instead. On the festival of Lenaea, according to legend, a band of women would seize a man representing Dionysus (the god of wine-fueled revelry), rip him to shreds, and eat him.

Read all of Christopher's 20 fun solstice factoids on this the longest day of the year. Wait, that was yesterday. A day late, a few seconds short.

House Democrats Want To Nationalize Oil Refineries

Leading House Democrats, including want to take capitalism out of the United States economy and replace it with Hugo Chavez's leftist Communist playbook "You Too Can Nationalize The Wealthy."

In response to President Bush and Republicans high gasoline prices of more off-shore drilling and more oil refineries, Maurice Hinchey, Congressman, (D) is calling for the government to nationalize the oil refineries.

"So if there's any seriousness about what some of our Republican colleagues are saying here in the House and elsewhere about improving the number of refineries, then maybe they would be willing to have these refineries owned publically, owned by the people of the United States. So that the people can determine how much of a product is refined and put out in the market. To me, that sounds like a very good idea."

So government does a better job of economical decisions that the private sector?

McCain Calls For 45 More Nuclear Reactors

More power to him! No pun intended!

Want to know more about nuclear reactors and their history? Check out Lou Guzzo of Wacky Nation - he has some great insights.

Uninformed Public Disregards Economic Reality

The liberals, Democrats, and Obamic advocating MSM's want people to believe the economy in such a bad state, it makes the Great Depression look like a $30 overdraft notice in your mailbox.

Consumer confidence is at its lowest level in almost 30 years. Only 12 percent of Americans think the economy is in good shape. On the Internet, comparisons to the Great Depression are widespread.

But the reality is different. According to most broad measures of how the economy is doing, it's not all that grim.

Soft? You betcha. In recession? Quite possibly. And a crisis in the financial markets has rattled nerves for months now. But so far, the economy is holding up better than it did during the last two recessions in 1990 and 2001. Employers haven't shed as many jobs, the unemployment rate is still relatively low, and gross domestic product has kept rising. Things are nowhere near as bad as they were in the Great Depression, or even during the severe recession of 1982-83. The last time consumers were this miserable, in May 1980, the jobless rate was 7.5 percent and inflation was 14.4 percent. Now those numbers are 5.5 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.

This paradox has created a unique challenge for those guiding the economy, who worry that Americans' pessimistic views will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Two-thirds of the economy is consumer spending. So if people's negative outlook leads them to cut their spending, a steeper downturn could happen.

This has left economists trying to figure out why Americans' perceptions are so much more negative than the data analysts use to measure how things are going.

"We're saying that we feel a lot worse than we did at the depths of the last recession, when we had had 2 or 3 million job losses, that we feel worse than we did after

9/11," said William Cheney, chief economist of John Hancock Financial Services. "At some level, that just doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

Hearing the chatter of well-off individuals who coincidentally vote Democrat tickets, why does the public feel this way? They are uninformed, they don't look at the facts, and they take away personal responsibility for one's own finances from the individual.

The biggest reason for people's gloom might be because of what they're used to. In the 1980s and '90s, memories of the double-digit unemployment and double-digit inflation from the 1970s were still fresh.

"People expected very little out of the economy," said Richard Curtin, who has administered the University of Michigan's survey of consumer sentiment for 35 years. "Compared to what their frame of reference was, the performance of the economy was absolutely tremendous."

But now, coming off two decades of prosperity and low inflation, Americans have come to treat low unemployment and inflation as givens. We have gotten so used to things being good, in other words, that even when conditions become somewhat bad, it feels terrible.

Spoiled and lazy Americans. That's what the Democrat-majority Nanny Government wants to turn the United States into: a socialist country where the government takes from the evil wealthy middle class and hands it to illegal immigrants and the liberal-loving impoverished. Democrats are fact-impoverished and solutionless to the major issues. The supposedly new changes that Obama brings didn't work for FDR, didn't work for Johnson, and abyssmally made Carter's presidency a failure. We don't need that kind of change.

Electricity Consumption Goes Up In Gore Household

After touting a global-warming, polar bear killing, energy crisis, Al Gore was shown to be hypocritical in his own lifestyle with a home in Tennessee that was using 20 times more energy than the average home in the United States. Well, after being exposed as an opportunistic greenwashing charlatan, Al Gore made extensive changes to his home. How many polar bears has he saved from extinction? How much energy has he saved the world?

Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

This Nobel Piece Prize winning hypocrite is just like the rest of the environmental Chicken Littles: It's all about "How do I cash in on global warming scam?"

The Butler Did It!

I was hoping that long suffering, albeit of her own destiny-making decisions, Princess Diana could rest in peace. Just when it seems that Princess Diana's butler, Paul Burrell could not get more disgusting, more lurid details leak out. Seems that despite pledging his life to protecting her, Burell has revealed the most sordid, exploitive details of their relationship.

Paul Burrell intimate secrets of their sexual relationship was disclosed by his brother-in-law Ron Cosgrove, who told the UK News of the World that the bragging and slimy anecdotes of Diana and the Royal Family including seeing the Queen naked was too much for the former disgraced employee to contain himself.

Ron said: "That man has shamed us and made a fool out of my sister Maria. The final straw came when he was caught on video admitting how he lied to Diana's inquest. I hope I never see him again."

For 25 years furniture dealer Ron, 61, has had a ringside seat at Burrell's extraordinary rise from humble palace footman to millionaire celebrity.

The whole article is very uncomfortable and disturbing to read. Why can't people keep their intimate secrets to themselves?

More posts:

• 4.7 Earthquake Hits England
• Diana's Butler: "I was very naughty."
• Diana Knew Husband Was Trying To Kill Her
• Diana's Last Words
• Last Photograph Of Diana Alive
• French Dossier Of Princess Diana's Death Disappears
• 10th Anniversary Of The Queen of Hearts Death

Rumors Of Bush Catholic Conversion

RORATE CÆLI is posting the Italian weekly newspaper, Panorama murmurings in the loggias of President George Bush's converting to Catholicism. More here from the Catholic News Agency.

A friend of President Bush, Fr. George William Rutler, who converted to Catholicism in 1979, stated that Bush respects how Catholicism was founded by Christ who appointed Peter as the first Pope. "I think what fascinates him about Catholicism is its historical plausibility," said the priest. "He does appreciate the systematic theology of the church, its intellectual cogency and stability." Fr. Rutler also mentioned that the president "is not unaware of how evangelicalism -- by comparison with Catholicism -- may seem more limited both theologically and historically."

Although my major doubt with this story is that Mrs. Bush is a Methodist and does not show any signs of converting. In Tony Blair and Jeb Bush's case, their wives were Catholic which as generally taken for granted, wives can be the reason for husband's conversions. My Quaker Dad converted for my Catholic Mom.

Past Sma' Talk Wi' T posts:

Pope To Host Bush In Medieval Tower. - A Pope's first meeting outside the Vatican in an intimate venue with a world leader.

George Bush A Closet Catholic.
Tony Blair's Confirmation Of Becoming A Catholic.

More around the world:

Methodist Bush Converting To Catholicism?

George Bush Meets Pope Amid Claims He May Convert To Catholicism.

The two men have grown increasingly close in the past two years, and Mr Bush was overheard whispering: "What an honour, what an honour, what an honour!" as he ascended the steps to the tower.

After a stroll through the Vatican gardens, the men listened to a recital by the choir of the Sistine Chapel. However, Mr Bush did not, as expected, kneel in prayer before the Grotto of the Madonna of Lourdes. It was thought that he may have prayed with the pope in private. Mr Bush prayed with Benedict in the Oval Office during the Papal visit to the US in April.

Several Italian newspapers cited Vatican sources suggesting that Mr Bush may be prepared to convert. One source told Il Foglio, an authoritative newspaper, that "Anything is possible, especially for a born-again Christian such as Bush."

He added that while the Holy See deplored the war in Iraq, "on ethical matters he has always had a line that is practically identical to that of the Vatican." Mr Bush has spoken out against gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research. He proposed amending the US constitution to "fully protect marriage" as the "union of man and woman as husband and wife".

He has repeatedly made clear his admiration for Benedict and has even claimed to have read some of the pope's theological books.

A source close to the Vatican said that Mr Bush was the most "Catholic-minded" president since John F Kennedy, who famously played down his Catholicism. Mr Bush belongs to a Methodist church in Texas and prays at an Episcopal church in Washington.

Mr Bush has filled the White House with Catholic speech-writers and consultants and is also thought to have asked a Catholic priest to bless the West Wing.

Before he became president, Karl Rove, his former political adviser, invited Catholic intellectuals to Texas to lecture the candidate on the church's teachings. Mr Bush appointed the Catholic judges Samuel Alito and John Roberts to the Supreme Court.
However, it is thought unlikely that Mr Bush would convert until after he has left office. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, has already converted to Catholicism.

Catholics have noted that during the contested election in 2000, Jeb Bush travelled to Mexico and prayed to the icon of Our Lady of Guadelupe. His victory was announced by the Supreme Court on December 12, the feast day of the Lady of Guadelupe.

Will Meet The Press Be The Same?

The panelists on "Remembering Tim Russert" on this Sunday morning's edition of NBC's Meet The Press were somber. Tough but always fair, professional, and a better guy than most was how Tim was remembered. Biopics of Meet The Press episodes showcased Russert's life through his interviews.

My favorite interview segments were Tim Russert interviewing Hillary Clinton and her usual blank smile and emphatic answer that she would not run for President. The other was Tim Russert asking Bill Clinton to assure the Democrats if there were any skeletons in his closet that would make headlines if he was to become President. Lying through his teeth, Clinton said "I can assure you that there is nothing in my background which is inconsistant with what I have told you already." Amazing.

Born in 1950, Tim Russert, the author, television host, journalist, and network executive, died on Friday, June 13, 2008 at the age of 58. He had just spent his vacation in Italy celebrating his son's graduation from law school. It's bittersweet that we are remembering the man who enjoyed life so much and was so proud of his family on Father's Day.

Even as a conservative, I and millions of other conservatives, felt safe watching him unlike the rest of the liberal NBC shows which I can't stomach. Tim Russert was a part of my Sunday mornings. His gregarious and contagious smile always made his drilling interviews seem less of an attack as a sincere drive to know the answers. Will Meet the Press ever reach as many conservatives again in the future? Politics aside, I will miss him.

Tim Russert Dead at 58

Tim Russert, NBC host of Meet The Press, has died of a heart attack at the age of 58.

Russert, who rose from the inside world of politics where he was former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's press secretary and one-time chief of staff to the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, was able to successfully cross over to political journalism and rise to become one of its leading lights.

In his role as host of the seminal Sunday morning political program "Meet the Press" - which he took over in 1991 - he became renowned for his hard-nosed interviews where he frequently cornered some of Washington's cagiest political figures with tough questions.

Russert joined NBC News in 1984. In April 1985, he supervised the live broadcasts of the Today program from Rome, negotiating and arranging an appearance by Pope John Paul II - a first for American television. In 1986 and 1987 Russert led NBC News weeklong broadcasts from South America, Australia and China.
In 2008, Time Magazine named him one of the world's 100 most influential people.

What a nice man he seemed to be, and that's exactly how he's being remembered by his colleagues and peers.

Virginia High School Still Teaching Muslim Incidinary Beliefs

Fox News reporting that a Saudi-funded Fairfax County, Virginia, Islamic school has been found with 17 textbooks for its' 1000 student population, that promote violence and the killing of infidels and Jews. This same school's valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali , in 2005 was convicted of plotting to kill President Bush.

An Arab to English translation found recently in one of the text books:

"Allah has forbidden killing souls except if someone enters [the Islamic faith then exits it and becomes an infidel. Also if you commit adultery or if you kill a believer [Muslim] intentionally." Talsir, Arabic/Sharia,128

More translations from 2006 (that were asked to be removed) Were they? :

FIRST GRADE

" Every religion other than Islam is false."

"Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words (Islam, hellfire): Every religion other than ______________ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____________."

FOURTH GRADE

"True belief means . . . that you hate the polytheists and infidels but do not treat them unjustly."

FIFTH GRADE

"Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives."

"It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and His Prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam."

"A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion."

SIXTH GRADE

"Just as Muslims were successful in the past when they came together in a sincere endeavor to evict the Christian crusaders from Palestine, so will the Arabs and Muslims emerge victorious, God willing, against the Jews and their allies if they stand together and fight a true jihad for God, for this is within God's power."

EIGHTH GRADE

"As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus."

"God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol-worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil. They prefer the people of falsehood to the people of the truth out of envy and hostility. This earns them condemnation and is a warning to us not to do as they did."

"They are the Jews, whom God has cursed and with whom He is so angry that He will never again be satisfied [with them]."

"Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship the devil, and not God."

"Activity: The student writes a composition on the danger of imitating the infidels."

NINTH GRADE

"The clash between this [Muslim] community (umma) and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills."

"It is part of God's wisdom that the struggle between the Muslim and the Jews should continue until the hour [of judgment]."

"Muslims will triumph because they are right. He who is right is always victorious, even if most people are against him."

TENTH GRADE

The 10th-grade text on jurisprudence teaches that life for non-Muslims (as well as women, and, by implication, slaves) is worth a fraction of that of a "free Muslim male." Blood money is retribution paid to the victim or the victim's heirs for murder or injury:

"Blood money for a free infidel. [Its quantity] is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, whether or not he is 'of the book' or not 'of the book' (such as a pagan, Zoroastrian, etc.).

"Blood money for a woman: Half of the blood money for a man, in accordance with his religion. The blood money for a Muslim woman is half of the blood money for a male Muslim, and the blood money for an infidel woman is half of the blood money for a male infidel."

ELEVENTH GRADE

"The greeting 'Peace be upon you' is specifically for believers. It cannot be said to others."

"If one comes to a place where there is a mixture of Muslims and infidels, one should offer a greeting intended for the Muslims."

"Do not yield to them [Christians and Jews] on a narrow road out of honor and respect."

TWELFTH GRADE

"Jihad in the path of God -- which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it -- is the summit of Islam. This religion arose through jihad and through jihad was its banner raised high. It is one of the noblest acts, which brings one closer to God, and one of the most magnificent acts of obedience to God."

The Islamic Study Academy's Mission:

Mission Statement

The mission of the Islamic Saudi Academy is to enable our students to excel academically while maintaining the values of Islam and proficiency with the Arabic language. The Academy endeavors to provide a caring, challenging and supportive learning environment where students can achieve their highest potential while exhibiting civic responsibility and multicultural appreciation.

Our Vision

ISA will be the premier educational institution for the Saudi and Muslim community for grades PreK-12 in the United States.

Our Beliefs

• Create opportunities for our students to embrace, internalize, and practice the moral values established in the Holy Qur’an and the exemplary life of our Prophet Muhammad (S.A.S.)
• Provide a safe and stimulating learning environment that promotes an atmosphere of cooperation, trust, and dignity.
• Encourage students to serve others both within our school and in the larger community.
• Teach and promote respect and appreciation for cultural differences and the natural rights of mankind.
• Nurture and inspire creativity, self-direction, self-discipline, and self-esteem.Instill a thirst for knowledge.
• Develop critical thinking and practical application skills needed for life-long learning.
• Promote physical and mental fitness through athletic participation while emphasizing sportsmanship and teamwork.

This school leases the school from Fairfax County School Board for $2 million dollars a year. This school needs to be shut down immediately and all Saudi administrators expelled.

Contact information for the members of the Fairfax County School Board here . Let them know that this was a bad decision on their part.

Fairfax County School Board8115 Gatehouse Rd., Suite 5400 Falls Church, VA 22042

Pam Goddard is the Clerk of the Board. She can be reached at 571-423-1075 or emailed at Pam.Goddard@fcps.edu .

Mad About Madrassas

They Like US! They Like US!

Pew Global Attitudes Project is reporting that the favorable views of the United States globally is rising.

...Positive views of the United States have risen sharply in Tanzania (by 19 points) and South Korea (12 points), and by smaller but significant margins in Indonesia, China, India and Poland. Overall, opinions of the United States are most positive in South Korea, Poland, India and in the three African countries surveyed this year - Tanzania, Nigeria and South Africa.

However, positive opinions of the United States have declined by 11 points in Japan - a traditional U.S. ally - and in neighboring Mexico (by nine points). The image of the United States also remains overwhelmingly negative in most of the predominantly Muslim countries surveyed, though no more so than in recent years.
Fewer than a quarter of respondents express positive opinions of the United States in Egypt (22%), Jordan (19%), Pakistan (19%) and Turkey (12%). Large majorities in Turkey and Pakistan say they think of the United States as "more of an enemy" rather than as "more of a friend" (70% in Turkey; 60% in Pakistan). In Lebanon, 80% of Shia Muslims consider the United States to be more of an enemy.

Good! Overall, right where we should be! Remember, doing the right things doesn't always make you friends. Those polled who have negative reactions to the United States usually are propped up by anti-American sentiments propagandized by the left-wing media, including global news reporting agencies AP, Reuters.

Father Jonathan Morris: Don't Tell Me How To Vote

Catholic expert and Fox spokesperson, Father Jonathan Morris's column on the real criteria voters should evaluate when selecting a political candidate. Maybe Secularists, left and right wing seeking to silence the Moral Majority and devout Catholics, should realize that "What Would Jesus Do" is not necessarily the only question Christians should ask themselves.

Deciding how Obama and John McCain would react on every issue that comes before them is crucial to the fate of the United States.

Obama's Book Listed Under "God"

The Left Wing lunatic fringe's Messiah, Barack Hussein Obama's (and liberals said they wouldn't vote for Huckabee because of his name) book, "The Audacity Of Hope" is categorized with books on God in Barnes & Nobles search engine. Coincidence? I think not.



Who says liberals aren't devout?

Read all of Newsbusters' Mark Finkelstein's post showcasing other book store's search engines not bringing up the same results.

Women For Fair Politics Voting For McCain

Democrat women voters refuse to vote for Obama.

UN And Pope Bless Brutal Dictator As Five Million Starve

While the United Nations welcomed Robert Mugabe, Zimbawean dictator, and as Pope Benedict XVI blessed him, five million of his own people in Zimbawe were starving to death. Commentary by George Pascoe-Watson of the British newspaper, The Sun provides the savage details:

He has crippled the country’s economy and shunned food aid from the rest of the world.

Jobless and hopeless, his people are just waiting to die. In Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, the death rate outstrips the birth rate by 4,000 a week.

Inflation is beyond anything previously imaginable.

Zimbabwe has printed a new $1billion bank note as inflation hits 1.7million per cent. A loaf of bread costs Z$200million (70 cents, a small fortune in the impoverished country), just one banana is Z$100million (30 cents) and a 13-amp plug is Z$1.3billion ($3.50)

Yet disgraceful UN chiefs waived international rules and allowed him to strut on to the world stage. Some UN worthies even applauded after his disgusting charade of a speech yesterday, on world poverty.

Mugabe is allowed to flout an EU travel ban because he is on UN business.

This makes a mockery of international efforts to make him a pariah. And it sadly weakens the United Nations.

Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague said last night: “It is an appalling irony that the man who has starved Zimbabwe has been welcomed to Rome for a global food summit, despite the fact he is subject to a European travel ban and is in the process of blatantly rigging Zimbabwe’s elections.”

Mugabe even received the blessing of Pope Benedict XVI, who welcomed the delegates to the summit. The world watched in horror as Mugabe included himself among “global leaders”.

He peddled myth after myth as he claimed Britain had cut off food supplies to his country and wrecked its economy.

Yet he has shunned global food aid, insisting his people would “choke” if any more was delivered.

Yesterday he boasted food supply was his government’s top aim. Not once did he acknowledge that FIVE MILLION of his people are facing famine.

Mugabe has spent the past five years destroying his country’s farms. He kicked 90 per cent of the farmers off their own land because they were white – and handed their fields to loyal supporters who knew nothing about agriculture.

It is no wonder that more than one in three Zimbabweans are reliant on the few food handouts allowed in from abroad. The country needs 1.8million tons of maize a year to feed its people and livestock – but independent agencies estimate a shortfall of 900,000 tons.

Mugabe’s destruction of his country is sick as it was once known as the “bread basket of Africa”. It was so bountiful it used to export more food than it imported. Yet during this year’s election farce, he pledged no one would starve.

Last week he flew to the Far East for tests for prostate cancer, having ruined his country’s health service.

The thought of him now swanning around a £750-a-night Rome hotel as his people die will sicken us all.

More proof of Mugabe's heinous crimes: Robert Mugabe's Militia Burn Opponent's Wife Alive - after cutting off her hands and feet.

The men who pulled up in three white pickup trucks were looking for Patson Chipiro, head of the Zimbabwean opposition party in Mhondoro district. His wife, Dadirai, told them he was in Harare but would be back later in the day, and the men departed.

An hour later they were back. They grabbed Mrs Chipiro and chopped off one of her hands and both her feet. Then they threw her into her hut, locked the door and threw a petrol bomb through the window.

The killing last Friday – one of the most grotesque atrocities committed by Robert Mugabe’s regime since independence in 1980 – was carried out on a wave of worsening brutality before the run-off presidential elections in just over two weeks. It echoed the activities of Foday Sankoh, the rebel leader in the Sierra Leone civil war that ended in 2002, whose trade-mark was to chop off hands and feet.

Mrs Chipiro, 45, a former pre-school teacher, was the second wife of a junior official of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) burnt alive last Friday by Zanu (PF) militiamen. Pamela Pasvani, the 21-year-old pregnant wife of a local councillor in Harare, did not suffer mutilation but died later of her burns; his six-year-old son perished in the flames.

And President Bush is the Liberal Left-wing's Murderer of Thousands?

Hamas Blast Kills 7 Of Their Own

Maybe God is on Israel's side. Hamas commander's house exploded from weaponry stored killing 7 and wounding 40 more, including an infant.

Hamas investigation is likely to conclude that explosion was accidental and self-inflicted. Sad price to pay for amassing weapons of mass destruction.

"We're In A Tornado..."

Amazing footage and sounds as you're right there with this camera crew in the car as they drive through a 100-mph tornado blasting full force directly over their vehicle. These storm-chasing death-wish professionals, Kenny Allen and Kory Hartman of Severe Studios, need to thank God that they survived with no injuries

WWMD? A Reader Asks...

A reader asks: What Would Mohammed Do? If he saw this website, he says Mohammed would disapprove.

Well, not if the women were between the ages of 6 and 12 years old. Mohammed approved of paedophilia.

But Mohammed would have to put to death the members of International Muslim Matrimonials if they were male and wanted to find another male or a female looking for a female.

If the Muslim religion thinks homosexuality is sinful and worthy of the death penalty, why do they have that option in their membership options?

Gay and Lesbian Arabs

Foreclosure Scandal-wide Obama Advisor Resigns

Another great example of Obama's bad decision making and skeletons waiting in his closet for the Democrats, hereby known as THE party of corruption.

Jim Johnson, the senior member of Barack Obama's voluntary campaign advisory committee has resigned in anticipation of the questions of his personal finances.

The typical quiet MSM's are not mentioning that Johnson, a Democratic powerhouse, is behind an investigation of Fannie Mae and Countrywide housing crisis that is creating the mortgage scandal.

Again, another tainted friendship in the Obama camp.

More Obama posts:

Welcome Back Carter!

Voting For Obama And Friends - Think Again!

Obama's Anti-Semitic Blog Disappears

Pfleger's Political Phlippancy Philtered

Not Because He Wanted To

Will Obama-Loving Media Report Another Obama Mistake?

Meet The Press Tries To Salvage Obama's Campaign

Obama Caught In A Not So Serious/Grave Fence Straddling

Obama Admits Muslims Like His Middle Name

Obama's Anti-Semitic Blog Disappears

How much power do you have to have to get Google (documented liberal mouthpiece) to eliminate all traces of your anti-Semitic propaganda? Click on the graphic to enlarge.

Little Green Footballs, a conservative blog, has all the dirty details.

After it was exposed, the Obama campaign has now pulled down that shockingly antisemitic blog post that was on their site for more than two months.

And guess what? They’re also now blocking Google’s cache from saving their pages. And they’ve also removed their pages from the Internet Archive and the Coral archives.

They’re running scared, and they’re trying to make sure that when they throw a post down the memory hole, it stays there.

But they still have an awful lot of cleaning up to do.

Doug Ross had it first.

Obama chooses as advisors, anti-Semitic ministers, financial corruption, radical anti-American terrorists and Democrats want him to be the President of the United States? This is going to be change that America can use? Corruption and lack of good judgment? Anyone voting for Barack Obama is politically naive and economically ignorant. It will be the worst presidency in the US history.

What Recession?

Last year, the United States Department of Commerce's Bureau of Economic Analysis reports show that disposable income has gone UP!

Disposable income is defined as: the after tax income, calculated quarterly, that consumers have available for spending or saving. Economists view changes in disposable income as an important indicator of the present and future health of the economy - the amount of personal income an individual has after taxes and government fees, which can be spent on necessities, or non-essentials, or be saved.

Personal income increased $20.1 billion, or 0.2 percent, and disposable personal income (DPI)increased $23.4 billion, or 0.2 percent, in April, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $21.4 billion, or 0.2 percent. In March, personal income increased $44.7 billion, or 0.4 percent, DPI increased $35.4 billion, or 0.3 percent, and PCE increased $41.7 billion, or 0.4 percent, based on revised estimates.

You won't hear Obama's campaign announcements reporting this HUGE news!

There Can Only Be One...

Another Highlander movie? Be still my heart! I don't mind one more sci-fi fantasy movie as long as the star is Adrian Paul, the second Highlander, Duncan McLeod , and the star of the BBC's television series. The only weekly television series I know that made it through the television censors with the braw, tall, dark-haired heart-throb having full body orgasms every week. I mean, quickenings.

It is the film that defined Scotland's international image as a race of kilted warriors. It spawned four sequels, three TV series, a Japanese animated version, comics, books and toys, and it brought tourists to the Highlands in their thousands.

But in the 22 years since the original Highlander came out, the movie tourists have dried up and the last sequel was shot on the cheap in Lithuania and went straight to video.

Now the original film is to be remade, featuring a £25m budget, stars of the calibre of Ewan McGregor and James McAvoy, Scottish locations and a screenplay from the writers of current superhero hit Iron Man.

The hope is that the new version will reinvent and reinvigorate the franchise, just as Casino Royale did for James Bond.

For me there will be only One: Adrian Paul. (Before he cut his hair) Sadly, I doubt he will get the role. Thank goodness, I have my own Norman adopted-Highlander to relish. And the weekly quickenings? Well, that goes without saying.

While I was surfing, I wandered into this site. Yes, I have a dark side so while this is the past - there's nice pics here: Wraiythe's Closet of Men. Warning - extremely beautiful Goth vampire artwork, if there is such a creature, but erotic and bloody.

Pope To Host Bush In Catholic Medieval Tower

In a move reminiscent of former Prime Minister Tony Blair's pre-conversion visit to Rome, President Bush will be visiting the Pope on his final tour of Europe.

Pope Benedict XVI will repay the hospitality and his warm welcome to the United States by meeting President Bush in a medieval tower restored by the late Pope John XXIII.

The pope usually receives heads of state in his private study in the Apostolic Palace, overlooking St Peter's Square.

But Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said the change was to repay Bush for "the cordiality of the meeting at the White House" when the pope visited the United States in April.

St. John's Tower is a round structure on a hilltop inside the Vatican gardens that is sometimes used as a residence for important guests.

After their private talks, Bush and the pope will stroll in the gardens to see a statue of the Madonna.

Virtual Globetrotting Over The Vatican.

How I would love to visit and meander through the Vatican Gardens.

George Bush A Closet Catholic?

Blair To Convert To Catholicism Upon Leaving Office

Blair Confirmation On Becoming Catholic

Blair To Become A Catholic Deacon?

Pfleger's Political Pflippancy Pfiltered

Father Pflegler wasn't suspended nor was he castigated publically, and he will return to his pastoral duties at St. Sabina's on June 16th. Hardly enough time to reflect or regret his actions. He martyred himself for Obama's presidency.

The left-wing Chicago-Sun Times is blatantly misleading in its headlines though when it states that Rev. Pfleger gets to return with no restrictions. There is a MAJOR restriction. He can't talk politics! What do they think the Roman Catholic Cardinal George meant when he stated: "No more politics."

Lymore said parish leaders were told by Cardinal George that Pfleger will continue as pastor of the church he has led for 30 years with "no restrictions" -- other than not being able to mention publicly the names of presidential candidates or campaign for them. On hearing this, several parishioners called out "That's all right."

Asked if it was fair that Pfleger was restricted from talking about the candidates, longtime parishioner Michelle Wong Scott said, "a lot of times, when you're a member, you have to follow your leadership and do what your leaders tell you to do."

Let's see how long Pfleger can keep his mouth shut and theatrics off of the campaign. I doubt he can contain himself very long. He'll be in the news again.

There's more for Obama to worry about now: Obama's next political scandal is on the horizon. Every corner, it becomes more and more evident that Obama's judgement is torpedoed by his opportunistic desires.

Pflegler Steps Down But Not Because He Wanted To.

First Woman Saint Of India

Pope Benedict XVI is expected to canonize Blessed Alphonsa on October 12, 2008.



Blessed Alphonsa website.

Tip of the halo to Marie, thanks!

UPDATE: Finally! Cardinal George Phases Pfleger Out! Phew!

UPDATE: Cardinal George Removes PFlegler.

Cardinal George is temporarily removing Father Michael Pfleger from his position as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the move comes after several days of deliberation and consultation by the Cardinal, who first learned about Pfleger's racially charged comments about Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity Unity Church of Christ last Thursday night.

The Cardinal immediately contacted Pfleger who agreed not to refer to the presidential candidates by name, but as CBS 2 reported at the time, there remained the possibility of some further disciplinary action against Pfleger.

The Cardinal reportedly spoke to Pfleger again this morning. A spokesman for the archdiocese would neither confirm nor deny action had been taken to remove Pfleger. Another spokesman said she expected to have some announcement later today. Indications are that another Chicago priest would take over at St. Sabina, while plans for the permanent reassignment of Father Pfleger, who's been there far longer than is customary in the archdiocese, would be accelerated.

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Not Because He Wants To

Obama has resigned from his church after the second scandal erupting from racist ministers, Jeremiah Wright and Michael Pfleger. Forced to denounce both of his decades long-time friends and spiritual advisors shows Barack Obama's weakness and lack of good judgement. Obama didn't quit his church because he thought the church wrongly preached vitriolic anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, he left because he couldn't handle the public outrage at the church's outspoken hate.

Hardly one to criticize George Bush's presidential actions, more scandal will follow Obama as one by one, longtime friends and supporters such as Rezko will headline news in the future weeks.

He's not ready to be president. Obama is an opportunist farmer whose chickens have come home to roost.

Who knows? Maybe with Obama's talent for raising money... the Catholics for Obama will ask him to convert. Then their funding will really matter in what they care about the most: keeping abortion legal.

Part I and II - Thinking Of Voting For Obama's Friends? Think Again.

Farrakhan's Saviour: Barack Obama

Obama's State Funds Fattened St. Sabina's Coffers

"Oh, you mean the hateful Republican evangelical community... "

Welcome Back, Carter

America Will Pay For Raping Blacks.

UPDATE: Autism Mitigates Mass Attendance Responsibility

Common sense and logic, I've heard often does not go hand and hand with faith. One of the reasons I appreciate certain priests coming into casual chat is that I get to continually learn and understand the Church's reasoning. If more Catholic dialogue, open explanation and discussion were available to the average Catholic, combined with an open mind of the listener, there could be more respect from Catholics towards appreciation of the wisdom of our Catholic leaders.

As always Roman Catholic canon lawyer Edward N. Peters blog, "In The Light of the Law" puts current Catholic issues into perspective with papal reason. The recent situation of a family dealing with the emotional and physically exerting responsibility of autism is sad. Now dealt another blow by being served with a restraining order by their parish, the family may be making this too complicated and acerbated by their own Catholic guilt following their own religious misperceptions.

1. Mother rejected an offer to let her son watch a video feed in the church basement, saying that watching televised Mass "does not have the same status as attending Mass." She's right. Watching Mass on TV is fine, but it is a purely devotional exercise which does not qualify as liturgically "assisting" at Mass; thus, watching TV does not satisfy the Sunday and holy day obligation set out in 1983 CIC 1247-1248.

2. Mother continued: "Otherwise we could all just sit home and watch it on TV and not bother to come in." Well, okay, if the premise were true, the conclusion would be true, too. But the premise here is admittedly false, so the conclusion is obviously false as well. Mother can't show, however, the parish stance to be wrong by showing that a mis-application of the rules would also be wrong.

3. Mother concluded: "It's considered a sin in the Catholic church not to attend Mass on Sundays and every holy day of obligation." Not quite.

Click on the post's title to read Peters' response on how misperceptions and lack of common sense which God gives us is not being used in this situation.

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In a case of "He Says, She Says" the Catholic parish Church of St. Joseph in the Diocese of St. Cloud, MN has issued a restraining order against the family of Carol and John Race. The order stops the family from coming to mass with their 13 year old severely autistic son, Adam.

A statement released by the Diocese of St. Cloud said the church filed the petition "as a last resort out of a growing concern for the safety of parishioners and other community members due to disruptive and violent behavior on the part of that child."

Walz, the church's pastor for three years, said in an affidavit that as Adam has grown, the situation has worsened, and the boy has been "extremely disruptive and dangerous" since last summer.

Walz alleges that Adam struck a child during mass and has nearly knocked elderly people over when he abruptly bolts from church. He also spits and sometimes urinates in church and fights efforts to restrain him, Walz wrote.

The pastor wrote that Adam's parents often sit on him during mass to restrain him, and sometimes bind his hands and feet, pulling a rope under the pew so his father can control the line from behind.

Walz wrote that Adam once pulled an adolescent girl -- an exchange student staying with the family -- on top of him, grabbing her thighs and buttocks. And, at Easter, Walz alleged, Adam ran from the church, got into the family van and started it, then got into someone else's car, started it and revved up the engine.

"There were people directly in front of the car who could have been injured or killed if he had put the car in gear" Walz wrote.

Carol offered a different perspective. She said her son once brushed against a parishioner who almost lost balance. Adam makes spitting faces but doesn't actually spit, she said, and he has an occasional incontinence problem.

She and John sometimes sit on him because their weight is calming to him, she said. He pulled the exchange student onto his lap for that reason, she said, and wasn't grabbing at her.

They also use soft fleece strips to sometimes bind Adam's hands and occasionally his feet because it calms him, she said.

The Easter incident occurred when Adam got into the driver's seat of a car that had already been started and revved the engine because he's drawn to engines, she said.
The family's request for certain accommodations -- such as clearing aisles when the family leaves church -- have gone unfulfilled, she said.

Tim Kasemodel of Wayzata, who met the Race family through joint autism advocacy efforts, went with his wife and their autistic son to join the Races at church on Mother's Day.

"What are we supposed to do, literally lock our kids away so no one has to see this for the rest of their lives?" Kasemodel said. "Adam's a big boy and he is intimidating because they don't understand him. Adam makes sounds like any kid, but there were babies making a heck of a lot more ruckus than Adam was."

Brad Trahan, founder of the RT Autism Awareness Foundation in Rochester, has asked the bishop in St. Cloud to rescind the restraining order and the citation "because it isn't going to resolve the situation.''

"It's unfathomable and concerns me that we've taken a situation with special needs and we're making it into the criminal matter," Trahan said. Carol, meanwhile, said she hopes the controversy doesn't reflect badly on her church.

"The church isn't bad. But it's what some individuals do within the church," she said.

In 2005, the St. Cloud diocese gave her an award for her efforts to encourage families with disabled children to attend mass, she said. The award cited her "untiring efforts ... to educate and advocate for others who have children with disruptive disabilities such as autism and seek to participate as a total family at Sunday mass."

Another case of political correctness forcing the majority to bow to the minority and you're a horrible person if you don't agree with the minority.

Paraphrasing Christ's words "Let the children come unto me" may be appropriate for children but this is not the situation. This perennial child has the weight and strength of a grown adult.

Growing up in a large family with six children under the age of nine, I understand that children especially wee ones can be disruptive in mass. And even though churches have had crying rooms in them for 40 years and parents should use them, I understand the occasional hyperactivity and crying in having to be quiet and sit still for an hour.

Autism is a tragic situation, one that I've been involved with but to be unconcerned about the safety of others or disrespecting others by ignoring the fact that your child is causing a disruption is selfish. The parents believe that their son not going to mass is a sin.

Having to physically sit on a grown nearly adult child to make them behave is the real tragic situation. How uncomfortable would the normal parishoner be in mass knowing that one or two adults were sitting on top of a person who has their hands bound tightly so that it would calm them? Sometimes parents have to stay home with a child and/or use the crying rooms for those who can't or don't have the ability to behave.

The other factor is a parishoner getting hurt in this day and age of lawsuits leaving the Church of St. Joseph's liable for mass attendees. There were a number of complaints to the parish by the parishoners in the last eleven months. The Race family would not try to compromise in any way. That's selfishness.

This is a reasonable instance of taking advantage of the home visitations for communion and the appropriately used crying rooms, not forcing the parish into a corner of restraint legalities because of inner ulterior motives and inner desires and denials that their son will one day behave.