Former CBS News president Richard Salant (1961 - 64 and 1966 - 79) explained the major media's role: "Our job is to give people not what they want, but what we decide they ought to have." ...and to this very day most Americans haven't noticed they're being brained washed! ~ N. Hooben
Saturday, August 30, 2008
What About Our Rights
Updated February 2010...see update post below.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq has signed its first major oil deal with a foreign company since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, a spokesman for the Iraqi Oil Ministry said Saturday.
Iraq's oil fields currently produce around 2.5 million barrels a day.
It was the first time in more than 35 years that Iraq has allowed foreign oil companies to do business inside its borders.
The contract with the China National Petroleum Corporation could be worth up to $3 billion. It would allow the CNPC to develop an oil field in southern Iraq's Wasit province for about 20 years, said Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad.
Iraq's Cabinet must still approve the contract, but Jihad said that would happen soon, and work could start within a few months.
The Chinese company will provide technical advisers, oil workers and equipment to develop the al-Ahdab oil field, providing fuel for the al-Zubaidiya power plant in Wasit, southeast of Baghdad, bordering Iran, Jihad said.
Once development begins, the field is expected to start producing a preliminary amount of 25,000 barrels of oil a day and an estimated constant daily amount of 125,000 barrels after three years, he said.
Iraq currently produces about 2.5 million barrels a day, 2 million of which are exported daily, Jihad said. That is close to its status before the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam in 2003, but below its levels prior to the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
Iraqi Oil Minister Hussein Shahrastani told CNN in July that he is confident Iraq will be able to double its production in the next five years.
As it did with other international companies, the Saddam regime had a partnership contract with CNPC signed at the end of the 1990s that entitled the company to share profits. The current contract, however, will only be a "service contract" under which CNPC is simply paid for its services, Jihad said.
He said Iraq has provided "security guarantees" for CNPC, as it would for any other foreign company that will work in Iraq's oil fields.
Jihad called it a major and significant move for Iraq.
Iraq sparked a scramble for lucrative oil contracts in June, when Shahrastani opened bidding to 35 international companies for long-term contracts to redevelop six oil fields.
The Oil Ministry continues to negotiate short-term, no-bid contracts with several U.S. and European oil companies, including Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA, Chevron Corp., and BP.
Iraq has among the largest oil reserves in the world with an estimated 115 billion barrels -- tying Iran for the No. 2 status behind Saudi Arabia's 264 billion barrels, according to estimates from the Energy Information Administration.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh contributed to this report.
Update Post Feb 26, 2010 from Planck's Constant
By Bernie on 24 Feb 2010
Can you imagine anyone during WWII carrying signs asking why we are attacking Germany, a country that never attacked us directly? How about signs with "No Blood for Beer" as if America could not buy or produce any beer on its own, but had to get it from Germany or else?
Most uninformed individuals think that we went to Iraq for oil. Indeed, a common refrain found on blogs is "The war [in Iraq] and the occupation are all about the neocons desire to control Middle East oil."
As I wrote:
Update Post Feb 26, 2010 from Planck's Constant
Why are We in Iraq and Afghanistan
By Bernie on 24 Feb 2010
First of all, this question would not have been posed half a century ago. Back then, we had fewer Liberals and Muslims in America, that is to say, fewer idiots, and so fewer silly questions.
Can you imagine anyone during WWII carrying signs asking why we are attacking Germany, a country that never attacked us directly? How about signs with "No Blood for Beer" as if America could not buy or produce any beer on its own, but had to get it from Germany or else?
Most uninformed individuals think that we went to Iraq for oil. Indeed, a common refrain found on blogs is "The war [in Iraq] and the occupation are all about the neocons desire to control Middle East oil."
As I wrote:
As for neocons desire to control middle east oil, isn't it cheaper just to buy it? Gold is more precious than oil, yet we didn't invade South Africa (which controls most of the world's gold supply) to CONTROL GOLD. When we need it - we buy it.
Starting a war to control oil only drives the price higher. You are rather naive. If the US wanted to control Arab oil, it would have invaded Israel and set up a Palestinian state. With no tensions in the middle east, oil would have dropped to $12 a barrel, about 4 bucks more than the cost of producing it.
That's how you control oil.
As for idiots of the Muslim kind, a commenter to my article Islam is the Fastest Growing Religion - Not gives us his twisted view of why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan: "you want what muslims have... and are murdering for it!"
First of all, Muslims have nothing that we can't buy elsewhere. As for oil, the majority of it is bought from non-Muslim countries: Canada, Colombia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, and many other countries. "The diversity of the US oil supply makes it difficult to cut off the country's supply of oil altogether." [Link]
At present, we produce 40% of all the oil we need. We don't need to spend billions on a war to control oil, because if we want, we can exploit the oil we already have here in the states 1.
So unless Iraq is the only country left with oil, why waste one bullet on a Muslim to get his oil? Isn't it cheaper to simply buy it?
As for being in Afghanistan, certainly the country has no valuable assets other than donkey dung and opium. No person in his right mind would invade Afghanistan for its 'riches.'
Caption (ISAF Photo at top - by U.S. Air Force TSgt Laura K. Smith):
[Click on image(s) for larger view]
For more of my articles like this see Blood for Oil
First of all, Muslims have nothing that we can't buy elsewhere. As for oil, the majority of it is bought from non-Muslim countries: Canada, Colombia, Norway, the United Kingdom, Venezuela, Equatorial Guinea, and many other countries. "The diversity of the US oil supply makes it difficult to cut off the country's supply of oil altogether." [Link]
At present, we produce 40% of all the oil we need. We don't need to spend billions on a war to control oil, because if we want, we can exploit the oil we already have here in the states 1.
So unless Iraq is the only country left with oil, why waste one bullet on a Muslim to get his oil? Isn't it cheaper to simply buy it?
As for being in Afghanistan, certainly the country has no valuable assets other than donkey dung and opium. No person in his right mind would invade Afghanistan for its 'riches.'
Caption (ISAF Photo at top - by U.S. Air Force TSgt Laura K. Smith):
HERAT, Afghanistan--Afghan Border Police (ABP) members provide security during the processing of illegal narcotics which were seized during an ambush on 14 Dec 2008. This was the largest seizure to date by the 4th Brigade of the ABP.
Notes
(1):
NEW TOWN, N.D. (AP) — An oil boom on American Indian land has brought jobs, millions of dollars and hope to long-impoverished tribal members who have struggled for more than a century on the million-acre Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.
In little more than a year, oil companies have put dozens of money-producing rigs on remote rolling prairie and sprawling badlands that are home to small cattle ranches and scattered settlements of modular housing. Although other tribes around the nation have oil interests, industry officials said none has likely experienced a recent windfall of this scale.
...
The reservation was the last area to be targeted by companies in the state's oil patch because of onerous federal requirements. But a 2008 tax agreement standardized the rules for oil drilling.
[Click on image(s) for larger view]
For more of my articles like this see Blood for Oil
Obama Is A Muslim...There is no substantial proof that he is not!
Update 2011: See video here and here (Its been established that Obama is a Sunni Muslim.)
Update 2009: click here Obama Admits He Is A Muslim (So it stands to rule that he lied while campaigning for the presidency...but I knew that! Why didn't you? Was it because all the racists were voting for change...change in color that is!)
In his quest for the presidency of the United States, Barrack Husein Obama will deny his Muslim identity for no other reason than to obtain votes from an ever increasing number of ignorant Americans. He has consistently worded his speeches to belittle Christianity as can be seen here and here. Whereas he claims to be a Christian ( Black Liberation Theology ) he has ridiculed the greatest story written in the Bible, The Sermon On The Mount. It's from the Sermon On The Mount where true Christians obtain many of their basic tenets including The Lord's Prayer and to include warnings of false prophets, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." For those of you who do not believe Obama is ravenous I would like to say, "Blessed are the ignorant." but rather Obama's mentor and pastor of twenty years has already damned you by the power of his god...not my God. --- Norman E. Hooben
A few related stories follow: (You should also review this A Muslim By Any Other Name Is Still A Muslim )
ELECTION 2008
Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama
Will candidate follow other Dems who gave back jihad-tied funds?
Posted: August 29, 2008
1:00 am Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily
Islamic leaders tied by federal investigators to the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America – including one under active investigation for alleged terror-financing – have recently donated to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for president, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by WND.
Jamal M. Barzinji earlier this year gave Obama $1,000, a gift that records show has not been returned. Other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Jim Moran, have refunded donations from Barzinji since federal agents raided his Virginia home and offices in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Obama's top Muslim adviser resigned earlier this month over controversy surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Barzinji, who heads a network of Islamic charities and businesses.
Barzinji remains at the center of an active federal investigation into terrorist financing that involves recently convicted terrorist supporter Sami al-Arian. A grand jury is still hearing the widening case in Northern Virginia.
A federal court affidavit alleges "Barzinji is not only closely associated with PIJ (as evidenced by ties to al-Arian, including documents seized in Tampa), but also with Hamas." The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, and Hamas are two known terrorist groups outlawed by the U.S.
Barzinji in November 2000 was arrested and charged with domestic abuse and resisting arrest, according to Fairfax County Police Department criminal records.
Nancy Luque, a Washington-based lawyer for Barzinji, says her client does not support terrorism and that the government is conducting a witch hunt. Barzinji has not been charged with a crime in the years-long probe.
According to recently declassified FBI documents posted by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Barzinji and another board member of an Islamist think tank in Herndon, Va., were listed among "members and leaders of the IKHWAN."
The Ikhwan is an Arabic reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which follows the credo: "The Quran is our constitution, the prophet is our guide; Death for the glory of Allah is our greatest ambition."
Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and "blind sheik" Omar Abdel-Rahman all belong to the Muslim Brotherhood.
U.S. prosecutors recently declassified an internal Ikhwan document outlining a long-term plan to infiltrate U.S. institutions and Islamize America.
Barzinji has met in the U.S. with key leaders of the Egyptian-based Brotherhood, but he told the Washington Post in 2004 that he and his colleagues abandoned links to them years ago. He said he helped persuade the Brothers to participate in elections as an alternative to armed struggle.
Barzinji noted, "It was one of our main contributions to the Ikhwan movement worldwide."
Democratic Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia was forced to return $3,750 in donations from Barzinji in 2002 after the donations were revealed in the press.
Barzinji donated $1,000 to Obama on Feb. 6 of this year – one day after his colleague Omer Totonji also donated $1,000 to his campaign. Totonji's father, Ahmad Totonji, also is a subject of the federal investigation. His Herndon, Va., home and offices were raided by agents after 9/11.
That same month, Omar Barzinji of Sterling, Va., contributed $500 to Obama's campaign. He works for Islamist publisher Amana Limited, whose offices also were searched after 9/11.
The Obama campaign, which did not return calls, was rocked earlier this month when its top Muslim adviser, Mazen Asbahi, had to step down over a firestorm surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Jamal Barzinji.
Asbahi, a Chicago lawyer, served on the board of an Illinois-based subsidiary to the North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT, recently named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major Hamas terror-financing case.
Barzinji was the former secretary of Saudi-funded NAIT, which controls hundreds of radical mosques in the U.S., including the Washington-area mosque connected to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers.
In fact, Barzinji's signature appears on the property deed to that mosque, the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, according to Paul Sperry, author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington." Dar al-Hijrah is run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Barzinji is listed in FEC records as a "board member" of the Islamic Society of North America, a sister organization to NAIT and also an unindicted terror co-conspirator.
Esam Omeish
Also, Dar al-Hijrah trustee Esam Omeish gave $250 to Obama the same month as Barzinji.
Omeish was forced to resign his government-appointed position to the Virginia Commssion of Immigration after a video surfaced showing him advocating violent jihad. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat on Obama's short list for running mate, had named Omeish to the panel.
Omeish is president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Muslim American Society, which was founded by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood and is the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., according to recent testimony and evidence provided by FBI agent Lara Burns in the terror trial of the Holy Land Foundation.
According to Sperry in the book "Infiltration," Omeish in 2004 used his home to bond out a terrorist suspect jailed for allegedly casing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
And from The Corner we have this:
Update 2009: click here Obama Admits He Is A Muslim (So it stands to rule that he lied while campaigning for the presidency...but I knew that! Why didn't you? Was it because all the racists were voting for change...change in color that is!)
_____________________________
In his quest for the presidency of the United States, Barrack Husein Obama will deny his Muslim identity for no other reason than to obtain votes from an ever increasing number of ignorant Americans. He has consistently worded his speeches to belittle Christianity as can be seen here and here. Whereas he claims to be a Christian ( Black Liberation Theology ) he has ridiculed the greatest story written in the Bible, The Sermon On The Mount. It's from the Sermon On The Mount where true Christians obtain many of their basic tenets including The Lord's Prayer and to include warnings of false prophets, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." For those of you who do not believe Obama is ravenous I would like to say, "Blessed are the ignorant." but rather Obama's mentor and pastor of twenty years has already damned you by the power of his god...not my God. --- Norman E. Hooben
A few related stories follow: (You should also review this A Muslim By Any Other Name Is Still A Muslim )
ELECTION 2008
Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama
Will candidate follow other Dems who gave back jihad-tied funds?
Posted: August 29, 2008
1:00 am Eastern © 2008 WorldNetDaily
 Jamal M. Barzinji |
Jamal M. Barzinji earlier this year gave Obama $1,000, a gift that records show has not been returned. Other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Jim Moran, have refunded donations from Barzinji since federal agents raided his Virginia home and offices in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Obama's top Muslim adviser resigned earlier this month over controversy surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Barzinji, who heads a network of Islamic charities and businesses.
Barzinji remains at the center of an active federal investigation into terrorist financing that involves recently convicted terrorist supporter Sami al-Arian. A grand jury is still hearing the widening case in Northern Virginia.
A federal court affidavit alleges "Barzinji is not only closely associated with PIJ (as evidenced by ties to al-Arian, including documents seized in Tampa), but also with Hamas." The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, and Hamas are two known terrorist groups outlawed by the U.S.
Barzinji in November 2000 was arrested and charged with domestic abuse and resisting arrest, according to Fairfax County Police Department criminal records.
Nancy Luque, a Washington-based lawyer for Barzinji, says her client does not support terrorism and that the government is conducting a witch hunt. Barzinji has not been charged with a crime in the years-long probe.
According to recently declassified FBI documents posted by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Barzinji and another board member of an Islamist think tank in Herndon, Va., were listed among "members and leaders of the IKHWAN."
The Ikhwan is an Arabic reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which follows the credo: "The Quran is our constitution, the prophet is our guide; Death for the glory of Allah is our greatest ambition."
Osama bin Laden, his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and "blind sheik" Omar Abdel-Rahman all belong to the Muslim Brotherhood.
U.S. prosecutors recently declassified an internal Ikhwan document outlining a long-term plan to infiltrate U.S. institutions and Islamize America.
Barzinji has met in the U.S. with key leaders of the Egyptian-based Brotherhood, but he told the Washington Post in 2004 that he and his colleagues abandoned links to them years ago. He said he helped persuade the Brothers to participate in elections as an alternative to armed struggle.
Barzinji noted, "It was one of our main contributions to the Ikhwan movement worldwide."
Democratic Rep. Jim Moran of Virginia was forced to return $3,750 in donations from Barzinji in 2002 after the donations were revealed in the press.
Barzinji donated $1,000 to Obama on Feb. 6 of this year – one day after his colleague Omer Totonji also donated $1,000 to his campaign. Totonji's father, Ahmad Totonji, also is a subject of the federal investigation. His Herndon, Va., home and offices were raided by agents after 9/11.
That same month, Omar Barzinji of Sterling, Va., contributed $500 to Obama's campaign. He works for Islamist publisher Amana Limited, whose offices also were searched after 9/11.
The Obama campaign, which did not return calls, was rocked earlier this month when its top Muslim adviser, Mazen Asbahi, had to step down over a firestorm surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Jamal Barzinji.
Asbahi, a Chicago lawyer, served on the board of an Illinois-based subsidiary to the North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT, recently named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major Hamas terror-financing case.
Barzinji was the former secretary of Saudi-funded NAIT, which controls hundreds of radical mosques in the U.S., including the Washington-area mosque connected to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers.
In fact, Barzinji's signature appears on the property deed to that mosque, the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, according to Paul Sperry, author of "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives Have Penetrated Washington." Dar al-Hijrah is run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Barzinji is listed in FEC records as a "board member" of the Islamic Society of North America, a sister organization to NAIT and also an unindicted terror co-conspirator.
Esam Omeish
Also, Dar al-Hijrah trustee Esam Omeish gave $250 to Obama the same month as Barzinji.
Omeish was forced to resign his government-appointed position to the Virginia Commssion of Immigration after a video surfaced showing him advocating violent jihad. Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat on Obama's short list for running mate, had named Omeish to the panel.
Omeish is president of the Alexandria, Va.-based Muslim American Society, which was founded by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood and is the representative of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., according to recent testimony and evidence provided by FBI agent Lara Burns in the terror trial of the Holy Land Foundation.
According to Sperry in the book "Infiltration," Omeish in 2004 used his home to bond out a terrorist suspect jailed for allegedly casing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
And from The Corner we have this:
No Obama News? What about the Fairness Doctrine? [Andy McCarthy]
It is outrageous that McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for Veep has overwhelmed Obama campaign news after that historic, moving celebration of change and hope last night. I, for one, will not stand for it. Here then, in the interest of fairness, is some Obama campaign news, from World Net Daily (italics mine):
Muslims in fed terror probe making donations to Obama
Will candidate follow other Dems who gave back jihad-tied funds?
Islamic leaders tied by federal investigators to the radical Muslim Brotherhood in America – including one under active investigation for alleged terror-financing – have recently donated to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign for president, according to Federal Election Commission records reviewed by WND.
Jamal M. Barzinji earlier this year gave Obama $1,000, a gift that records show has not been returned. Other Democratic candidates, including Rep. Jim Moran, have refunded donations from Barzinji since federal agents raided his Virginia home and offices in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Obama's top Muslim adviser resigned earlier this month over controversy surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Barzinji, who heads a network of Islamic charities and businesses.
Barzinji remains at the center of an active federal investigation into terrorist financing that involves recently convicted terrorist supporter Sami al-Arian. A grand jury is still hearing the widening case in Northern Virginia.
A federal court affidavit alleges "Barzinji is not only closely associated with PIJ (as evidenced by ties to al-Arian, including documents seized in Tampa), but also with Hamas." The Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or PIJ, and Hamas are two known terrorist groups outlawed by the U.S.
Barzinji in November 2000 was arrested and charged with domestic abuse and resisting arrest, according to Fairfax County Police Department criminal records....
According to recently declassified FBI documents posted by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Barzinji and another board member of an Islamist think tank in Herndon, Va., were listed among "members and leaders of the IKHWAN." The Ikhwan is an Arabic reference to the Muslim Brotherhood, which follows the credo: "The Quran is our constitution, the prophet is our guide; Death for the glory of Allah is our greatest ambition."...
U.S. prosecutors recently declassified an internal Ikhwan document outlining a long-term plan to infiltrate U.S. institutions and Islamize America.
Barzinji has met in the U.S. with key leaders of the Egyptian-based Brotherhood, but he told the Washington Post in 2004 that he and his colleagues abandoned links to them years ago. He said he helped persuade the Brothers to participate in elections as an alternative to armed struggle. Barzinji noted, "It was one of our main contributions to the Ikhwan movement worldwide."...
Barzinji donated $1,000 to Obama on Feb. 6 of this year – one day after his colleague Omer Totonji also donated $1,000 to his campaign. Totonji's father, Ahmad Totonji, also is a subject of the federal investigation. His Herndon, Va., home and offices were raided by agents after 9/11.
That same month, Omar Barzinji of Sterling, Va., contributed $500 to Obama's campaign. He works for Islamist publisher Amana Limited, whose offices also were searched after 9/11.
The Obama campaign, which did not return calls, was rocked earlier this month when its top Muslim adviser, Mazen Asbahi, had to step down over a firestorm surrounding his ties to an alleged Muslim Brotherhood front connected to Jamal Barzinji.
Asbahi, a Chicago lawyer, served on the board of an Illinois-based subsidiary to the North American Islamic Trust, or NAIT, recently named by federal prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in a major Hamas terror-financing case.
Barzinji was the former secretary of Saudi-funded NAIT, which controls hundreds of radical mosques in the U.S., including the Washington-area mosque connected to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers.... Barzinji is listed in FEC records as a "board member" of the Islamic Society of North America, a sister organization to NAIT and also an unindicted terror co-conspirator
The Jihad Candidate By Rich Carroll
Conspiracy theories make for interesting novels when the storyline is not so absurd that it can grasp our attention. 'The Manchurian Candidate' and 'Seven Days in May' are examples of plausible chains of events that captures the reader's imagination at best-seller level. 'What if' has always been the solid grist of fiction.
Now visualize the television photos of two jet airliners smashing into the Twin Towers in lower Manhattan and remind yourself this act of Muslim terror was planned for eight years.
How long did it take Islam and their oil money to find a candidate for President of the United States? As long as it took them to place a Senator in Illinois and Minnesota? The same amount of time to create a large Muslim enclave in Detroit? The time it took them to build over 2,000 mosques in America? The same amount of time required to place radical Wahabbist clerics in our military and prisons as chaplains?
Find a candidate who can get away with lying about their father being a 'freedom fighter' when he was actually part of the most corrupt and violent government in Kenya's history. Find a candidate with close ties to The Nation of Islam and the violent Muslim overthrow in Africa, a candidate who is educated among white infidel Americans but hides his bitterness and anger behind a superficial smile. Find a candidate who changes his American name of Barry to the Muslim name of Barrack Hussein Obama, and dares anyone to question his true ties under the banner of 'racism'. Nurture this candidate in an atmosphere of anti-white American teaching and surround him with Islamic teachers. Provide him with a bitter, racist, anti-white, anti-American wife, and supply him with Muslim middle east connections and Islamic monies. Allow him to be clever enough to get away with his anti-white rhetoric and proclaim he will give $834 billion taxpayer dollars to the Muslim controlled United Nations for use in Africa.
Install your candidate in an atmosphere of deception because questioning him on any issue involving Africa or Islam would be seen as 'bigoted racism'; two words too powerful to allow the citizenry to be informed of facts. Allow your candidate to employ several black racist Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan followers as members of his Illinois Senatorial and campaign staffs.
Where is the bloodhound American 'free press' who doggedly overturned every stone in the Watergate case? Where are our nation's reporters that have placed every Republican Presidential candidate under the microscope of detailed scrutiny; the same press who ran other candidates off with persistent detective and research work? Why haven't 'newsmen' pursued the 65 blatant lies told by this candidate during the Presidential primaries? Where are the stories about this candidate's cousin and the Muslim butchery in Africa? Since when did our national press corps become weak, timid, and silent? Why haven't they regaled us with the long list of socialists and communists who have surrounded this 'out of nowhere' candidate or that his church reprinted the Hamas Manifesto in their bulletin, and that his 'close pastor friend and mentor' met with Middle East terrorist Moammar Gaddafi, (Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)? Why isn't the American press telling us this candidate is supported by every Muslim organization in the world?
The most blatant fact is that this candidate has ZERO interest in traditional American values and has the most liberal voting record in US Senate history. Why has the American main stream media clammed-up on any negative reporting on Barack Obama? Why will they print Hillary Rodham Clinton's name but never write (Hussein) his middle name? Is it not his name? Why, suddenly, is ANY information about this candidate not coming from main stream media, but from the blogosphere by citizens seeking facts and the truth? Why isn't our media connecting the dots with Islam? Why do they focus on the negatives about American soldiers, while Islam slaughters non Muslims daily in 44 countries around the globe? Why does our media refer to Darfur as 'ethnic cleansing' instead of what it really is; Muslims killing non Muslims! There is enough strange, anti- American activity surrounding Barak Obama to peek the curiosity of any reporter. WHERE IS OUR INVESTIGATIVE MEDIA? Answer? The media are fellow travelers with this crypto Muslim liar.
A formal plan for targeting America was devised three years after the Iranian revolution in 1982. The plan was summarized in a 1991 memorandum by Mohamed Akram, an operative of the global Muslim Brotherhood. 'The process of settlement' of Muslims in America, Akram explained, 'is a civilization jihad process.' This means that members of the Brotherhood must understand that their work in 'America is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all other religions.'
There is terrorism we can see, smell and fear, but there is a new kind of terror invading The United States in the form of Sharia law and finance. Condoning it is civilization suicide. Middle East Muslims are coming to America in record numbers and building hate infidel mosques, buying our corporations, suing us for our traditions, but they and the whole subject of Islam is white noise leaving uninformed Americans about who and what is really peaceful. Where is our investigative press? Any criticism of Islam or their intentions, even though Islamic leaders state their intentions daily around the globe, brings-forth a volley of 'racist' from the liberal crowd. Lies and deception behind a master plan - the ingredients for 'The Manchurian Candidate' or the placement of an anti-American President in our nation's White House? Is it mere coincidence that an anti-capitalist run for President at the same time Islamic sharia finance and law is trying to make advancing strides into the United States? Is it mere coincidence this same Muslim candidate wants to dis-arm our nuclear capability at a time when terrorist Muslim nations are expanding their nuclear weapons capability? Is it mere coincidence this candidate wants to reduce our military at a time of global jihad from Muslim nations?
Change for America? What change?To become another Islamic country?
This Could Present A Problem For Israel
Cross-posted from the Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/29/AR2008082903594_3.html?wpisrc=newsletter
In Israel, A Clash Over Who Is a Jew
Ultra-Orthodox Contest Conversions
In Israel, A Clash Over Who Is a Jew
Ultra-Orthodox Contest Conversions
By Griff Witte
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 30, 2008; A01
ASHDOD, Israel -- Yael converted to Judaism in 1992, and for the next 15 years she lived in Israel, celebrating the major holidays and teaching her children about the Jewish faith.
But when she and her husband sought a divorce last year, she said, the ultra-Orthodox rabbis in charge of the process had some questions. Among them: Did Yael observe the Sabbath? Did she obey the prohibition on sex during and after menstruation?
Dissatisfied with the answers, the rabbis nullified her conversion. Yael did not need a divorce, they ruled, because she had never been married. She had never been married because she had never been Jewish. And because she had never been Jewish, her children were not, either.
"I was in shock. I couldn't believe it," said Yael, 43, who would allow only her Hebrew name to be published out of privacy concerns. Blond, blue-eyed and athletic-looking, Yael is baffled by the ordeal. "My kids grew up Jewish," she said. "They don't know anything else."
Yael's personal trauma has become a cause for Israeli soul-searching over what it means to be Jewish, a term that carries both religious and ethnic dimensions. The case has set off a roiling debate between those who see themselves as saving Judaism and those whose first priority is to safeguard the Jewish state.
On one side are ultra-Orthodox leaders who are using their long-standing dominance of Israel's rabbinical court system -- which has authority over marriages, divorces and conversions -- to tighten restrictions governing who can become Jewish. They see themselves as defending the religious purity of a people who, according to their interpretation of Jewish law, need to live apart from other groups.
Those on the other side are much more concerned with demographics: They believe that at a time when the number of Arabs living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is poised to surpass the number of Jews, Israel needs all the converts it can get. This group includes secular Jews, but it is led by the religious Zionists, who form the core of the settlement movement in the occupied territories and who feel it is their duty to populate the biblical land of Israel.
The stakes have escalated since Yael's conversion was tossed out: When she appealed to the High Rabbinical Court of Israel, it not only upheld the original decision but also threw into doubt the legality of thousands of other conversions.
"There is a cultural war going on between various segments of Jewish society," said Benjamin Ish-Shalom, chairman of the Joint Institute for Jewish Studies. A trim man with a philosophical bearing who relishes any discussion of Judaism, he helps administer a government-funded education program for Israelis who need help getting through the rigorous process of conversion.
Over the past two decades, Israel has admitted hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, over the objections of ultra-Orthodox leaders who spoke out against allowing non-Jews to enter the country. Many of the immigrants lacked the paperwork to prove their Jewish ancestry. Others had fathers or grandparents who were Jewish, but did not qualify as Jewish themselves because Judaism is passed down through mothers. Until now, ultra-Orthodox leaders have not acted as forcefully to invalidate immigrant conversions.
To Ish-Shalom, facilitating conversion has been good for the converts, good for Judaism and good for the state. "Israel needs people. It needs loyal people," he said.
At the moment, there is rough parity between the Palestinian and Jewish populations in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, according to Eliyahu Ben-Moshe, a demographer and former deputy director of Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. Because of a high Arab birth rate, Ben-Moshe said, they are expected to establish a clear majority in the coming decades -- a terrifying prospect for Israeli policymakers as the well of diaspora Jews who are willing to immigrate to Israel dries up.
The ultra-Orthodox, Ish-Shalom argues, are damaging that effort by requiring converts to heed strict standards. Ultra-Orthodox leaders don't disagree. They believe that God originally expelled the Jews from the land of Israel because of their lack of religious devotion and that the secular nature of the modern Israeli nation is unacceptable. As a result, many are anti-Zionist.
"There's something more important than the state of Israel and Zionism," said Moshe Gafni, a member of Israel's parliament who represents the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.
Wearing the customary ultra-Orthodox uniform of black pants and white shirt, Gafni speaks forcefully and with deep conviction: "Unlike Christians, we Jews are not missionaries. If someone really wants to join the Jewish people, we're going to make it difficult for them."
Gafni's view is rooted in his interpretation of Jewish law. To him, there are two kinds of Jews: those who were born of Jewish mothers into the faith, and those who can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are willing to abide by Jewish law and accept the hundreds of mitzvoth, or commandments, that govern an observant Jew's daily life.
To admit others, he said, would be to destroy the integrity of a community that, according to God's will, needs to stay distinct.
While the ultra-Orthodox are only about 11 percent of Israel's Jewish population -- approximately the same share as the religious Zionists -- they have wielded increasing power in recent years as high birth rates swell their numbers. Ben-Moshe said he expects them to double their share of the Jewish population within the next 20 years.
Israel's notoriously unstable political system, too, has helped raise their influence: Mainstream Israeli politicians usually need ultra-Orthodox parties in their governments to build a majority coalition.
Over time, the ultra-Orthodox have grown bolder in challenging the Israeli government's efforts to convert non-Jewish immigrants.
Unwittingly, Yael became a part of that campaign when her husband filed for divorce.
A Protestant by birth who grew up in Denmark, she moved to Israel in 1988 to be with her Jewish boyfriend. Because there is no civil marriage in Israel, she needed to convert to marry him here. The process took a year of intense study of Jewish prayers, holidays and traditions.
"Ordinary Israelis don't know half of what I learned," she said while sitting at her kitchen table in this city by the Mediterranean. Like most ordinary Israeli Jews, her level of observance was not up to the standards of the ultra-Orthodox.
Still, she had no idea that her conversion could be nullified -- especially 15 years after the fact. In their 51-page decision, the rabbis in Ashdod who heard the divorce petition wrote that "most of the converts lie to the rabbis when they promise to keep the mitzvoth after the conversion. . . . How can one bury one's head in the sand and continue letting into the vineyard of the Jewish people these total non-Jews?"
Yoseph Sheinin, chief rabbi of Ashdod, did not take part in the ruling, but he praised it as a means of correcting the government's mistakes. "The idea of Zionism was to bring Jews here. The moment they brought Gentiles here, they bankrupted the movement," he said.
When Yael appealed to the High Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, she was again subjected to tough questioning -- most of it focused on prohibitions relating to sex. "It was all about our private life -- our very private life," she said. "It was simply terrible."
In a lengthy ruling, the Jerusalem judges attacked Rabbi Chaim Drukman, a religious Zionist who oversaw Yael's conversion along with thousands of others as part of an aggressive government effort to increase the Jewish population of Israel. Every one of those conversions, the court ruled, should be called into question.
Drukman said the decision strikes at the heart of the Zionist project. "We feel a responsibility for the people of Israel," he said, his bookshelves lined with copies of the Talmud. "They don't. They only care about their small circle."
Indeed, the backlash against the ruling has prompted proposals for alternative courts that would take a more lenient view of Jewish law, or the institution of civil marriage.
Susan Weiss, a lawyer whose Center for Women's Justice is handling Yael's appeal to Israel's Supreme Court, said she is hoping that the case helps to "change the system from its roots."
Until then, however, the government and the rabbinical courts continue to work at cross-purposes -- with the government spending millions of shekels annually to bring people into the fold of Judaism, and the courts trying to keep them out.
Former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, a major advocate for easing the conversion process, used to "pound on the table and say, 'If I had to convert, I would not pass,' " said Avigdor Leviatan, head of Israel's conversion office. "The problem lies with the rabbinical courts. There the system collapses."
Special correspondent Samuel Sockol contributed to this report.
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