We'll never claim to be fair and
balanced, just honest and trustworthy
November 16, 2007
Saudi gang-rape victim is jailed,
appeals conviction, now sentenced to 200 lashes
From Fran for Nailing
Jello to the Wall
While
the Bush Administration media machine attempts to convince the
American people that things are going great in Iraq and democracy is
spreadin' round the world, Saudi Arabia — you know, home of the real
9/11 terrorists — continues
in its archaic and inhumane treatment of women:
An appeal court in Saudi Arabia has doubled the number of lashes and
added a jail sentence as punishment for a woman who was gang-raped.
According to the Arab News newspaper, the 19-year-old woman, who is
from Saudi Arabia's Shia minority, was gang-raped 14 times in an
attack in the eastern province a year-and-a-half ago.
But the victim was also punished for violating Saudi Arabia's laws
on segregation that forbid unrelated men and women from associating
with each other. She was initially sentenced to 90 lashes for being
in the car of a strange man.
On appeal, the Arab News reported that the punishment was not
reduced but increased to 200 lashes and a six-month prison sentence.
The Bush Administration has long been willing to overlook
transgressions by the Saudis. After all, there is a long
and well-documented history between the Bush family and the Saudi
royal family. So despite the fact that most of the 9/11 hijackers
were from Saudi Arabia, despite the fact that six years later the Saudis
continue to funnel millions to al Qaeda, despite the fact that
Saudi Arabia is repeatedly cited for human rights violations such as
the woman mentioned above, the Bushes do HEART them some Saudi Arabia.
After all, blood is thicker than water, but oil is the thickest of
them all ....
“As always, I rely on the jury
system."-- O.J. Simpson #
^^
"The man was mistakenly treated
as a potential security threat [and
Tasered] when he was, in fact, in a
[diabetic coma].” -- Statement by
the UK’s Independent Police
Complaints Commission about an
“incident” on a West Yorkshire
bus. #
^^
“It's spooky how much Bush
resembles Ted Bundy…. They could
be twins."-- Lesley #
“Lesley, I've often observed that
to my partner, who invariably
responds that Bush may be as
'charming' as Bundy, but probably
not as smart."--D.
Sidhe#
Judge for yourselves…
Where's That
'Liberal Media Bias'?
From Polishifter for Pissed
on Politics
The talking point today being pushed by the media is Secretary of
Defense Robert Gate’s claim that he will have to cut jobs at the
Pentagon if he and Bush don’t get their precious war funding.
The media is running with this statement without question throwing in
their own editorials questioning if ‘Democrats support the troops or
not’ if they aren’t willing to fund them.
No one is asking Gates why they have to cut Pentagon jobs first. Why
can’t they cut out some of the contractors first, specifically those
that have already committed fraud against the U.S. Government? Why not
cut some of the no-bid contracts to Halliburton, Blackwater, and USIS
first?
Why is Gates choosing to punish Pentagon employees and our troops
first rather than cutting funds to the private military industrial
complex?
No one is asking Gates how many Pentagon employees there were before
the invasion of Iraq and how many are there now? In other words, would
cutting jobs at the Pentagon really just be a roll back of the massive
expansion that has occurred at the Pentagon since Bush took office?
If the surge really is working and things in Iraq really are getting
better, why do we need to keep spending so much money on Iraq?
This notion that the Pentagon will go broke if they don’t get even
more money is bunk and the so-called ‘liberal media’ isn’t
challenging Gates on it.
You need more money Gates? Go find the $13 billion Halliburton
‘lost’ in Iraq. You need more money Gates? Stop paying Blackwater
thugs 5 times as much money as you pay Our Soldiers. Clean up a little
waste and find the missing money in the Pentagon and you will be able to
more than cover the $50 billion you are feigning you so
‘desperately’ need.
Some people complain that the White
Album has no theme, no cohesiveness, and that
individual Beatles used the other three as a back-up
band.
I say so what, and the Station Agent feels that the
White Album is their best album. There certainly is
a lot to love there, none of it crashes and burns,
and I don't know how I would have ever gotten
through junior high and high school without it.
The focus must stay on our Veterans:
Knowing the volatile future we face the tremendous troop suicide rate
really concerns me!
From James Joiner for An
Average American Patriot
Having
just passed another Veterans day where we focus on a
tribute to our veterans, their suffering, sacrifices,
and needs, a program I saw last night reminded me that
we must focus on this every day and not just once a
year. I frequently focus on our veterans housing and
medical needs. Despite what we are told,, the treatment
of our veterans is wholly inadequate. Bush continues to
say how much he cares about our soldiers past and
present while continuously disregarding their needs and
care as he plays his politics at their and our expense.
Much attention is focused on the inadequate attention
given to active military and to those injured in combat
and the attention they receive once they return state
side. I myself use the VA care system and see the
inadequacy of that system as well as the great need they
fill and the large amount of soldiers that have PTSD
(post traumatic stress disorder)
.
We know that one out of four homeless are veterans so we
focus on that. We know that PTSD in Vets returning from
Iraq and Afghanistan is at 28% and focus on that. There
are more veterans losing limbs than ever before in
history and deservedly much attention is focused on them
though we constantly hear how inadequate the system is.
Anyway I want to focus on something I never hear
mentioned and that is the frightening rate of military
suicides during or after military service in Iraq or
Afghanistan. There are no records kept and I understood
the thought process to be that if records are not kept
then it never happened!
There were calls in the Senate yesterday for the
Department of Veterans Affairs to take immediate action
to deal with the hidden epidemic of suicides among
veterans. That's after our CBS News investigation
revealed that, in 2005 alone, 120 of those who have
served in the military took their own lives every week -
more than double the suicide rate for those who haven't
served. That’s 6,256 veteran suicides in one year in
45 states - a rate twice that of other Americans. Now
the question is whether the VA is willing or able to
deal with it, CBS News chief investigative correspondent
Armen Keteyian reports.
The failure of the VA to track the alarming number of
suicides nationwide among those who have served in the
military appears to be part of a broader pattern - and a
bigger problem. Veterans' rights advocate Paul Sullivan
was a data analyst for the VA from 2000 to 2006. "I
don't think they want to know. We call it the
"don't look, don't find" policy," he
said. "The VA doesn't collect data, then they don't
have to do anything about it."
The mental health numbers the VA does report reveal an
agency under siege: 100,000 vets now seeking help for
mental health issues. That’s 52,000 for post-traumatic
stress disorder alone. And now, in addition to these
reports criticizing the VA’s treatment and spending
practices come two more blows: of nearly 90,000 Army
vets who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, a study
released yesterday found 28.3 percent experienced mental
health problems, while the report - due out tomorrow -
says while veterans are 11 percent of the general
population, they now make up an estimated 25 percent of
the homeless. military
suicide epidemic
This is another crisis and needs immediate attention. We
have failed these soldiers in many respects including
here. There has never been a Nationwide study and the
following is the result of a 5 month CBS news
investigation.
Veterans aged 20-24, who are those most likely to have
served during the War on Terror, are killing themselves
when they return home at rates estimated to be between
2.5 and almost four times higher than non-vets in the
same age group. (The suicide rate for non-veterans is
8.3 per 100,000 while the rate for veterans was found to
be between 22.9 and 31.9 per 100,000.).
Overall, those who have served in the military were more
than twice as likely to take their own life in 2005,
than Americans who never served. (Veterans committed
suicide at the rate of between 18.7 to 20.8 per 100,000
compared to other Americans, who did so at the rate of
8.9 per 100,000.) . “Those numbers clearly show an
epidemic of mental health problems,” says veterans
rights advocate Paul Sullivan.
“Nobody wants to tally it [veteran suicide numbers] up
in the form of a government total,” says Mike Bowman,
whose 23-year-old son, Tim, an Army reservist, shot
himself on Thanksgiving Day, 2005. Why does he think
that is? “Because they don’t want the true numbers
of casualties to really be known,” he said.
The CBS News Investigative Unit, led by producer Pia
Malbran, contacted all 50 states for their suicide data,
based on death records, for vets and non-vets dating
back to 1995. “If these numbers don’t wake up this
country nothing will,” Murray said. “And I would say
to all Americans that we each have a responsibility to
the men and women who serve us aren’t lost when they
come home.” Keteyian also spoke with Paul Rieckhoff,
former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan
Veterans for America. He rightly said “Not everyone
comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is
nobody comes home unchanged.” More
on the veteran suicide epidemic
This really surprised me and we must address this issue.
We owe it to our misused and abused veterans. please
tell me what you think!
Know a blog that
deserves to be featured on the Blog World Report? Contact Robert.
Go
USA!! There's just no way to describe that feeling of
pride swelling in your chest; that overpowering urge to
strut around and shout from the rooftops “We’re Number
Fifteen! Yeahhh!!!”
Take it easy now, we’re still Number One when it comes to
manufacturing weapons, occupying other countries and
guzzling the world’s resources. But for wimpy things like
the average working wage, fourteen countries rank higher
than us.
This statistic comes from the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development. It’s a group of thirty of the
world’s richest countries. Their data is based on the after-tax
income of the “average worker.” This includes
everything from manufacturing, mining and construction to
the service industry to financial services and real estate.
Britain has the world’s wealthiest middle class. Only one
country in this group — Hungary — has a wider gap than
the U.S. between the richest and poorest.
Before this group started using the after-tax income of the
average worker, they were calculating this statistic by
including everybody — billionaires, the homeless, you name
it. And this is how the Bush Administration tries to show
how well everyone is doing. When billionaires get richer,
the overall statistics look better.
The stupidity of this “logic” was pointed out by Molly
Ivins a few years ago: If Bill Gates walks into a soup
kitchen where forty homeless people are waiting in line, the
“average” person in that soup kitchen is worth one
billion dollars.
But hey, number fifteen isn't so bad. Let’s look at our infant
mortality rate: We’re number Thirty-Seven. Thirty-six
countries — including Cuba, Macau and the Isle of Man —
have a higher infant survival rate than we do.
How about literacy?
Twenty countries — including Uzbekistan, Ukraine, Georgia
and Cuba (again??? Damn You Fidel Castro!) — have a higher
literacy rate than the United States.
It’s that time of year again when war is
waged against all the major holidays. Here’s a
quick recap about who is at war over each
holiday.
Bill O’Reilly has revived his rants over
the War on Christmas as reported by Think
Progress:
On his Fox News show last night, Bill
O’Reilly kicked off his annual conniption
fit over a perceived “War
on Christmas.” O’Reilly’s target
last night was a decision by the Fort Collins,
Colorado City Council to celebrate the holiday
season with “an educational museum display,
plain wreaths and garlands on city property,
and trees
with white lights” rather than
traditional Christmas decorations such as
trees with “colored lights.”
The War on Christmas wasn’t always over
trivial matters such as the color of lights. It
also wasn’t always part of the “secular
progressive agenda.” Talk
to Action takes a look at the history of the
War on Christmas. It turns out that “Puritans
actually invented the War on Christmas by
instituting a ban on the holiday during their
short tenure in power in England.”
If Puritans and secular progressives have
allegedly waged a war on Christmas, there are
many forces on the right who have been waging a War
on Halloween both on religious and economic
grounds.
This time of year the most bitter “wars”
might be on the college football fields and in
the arguments of fans over who deserves to fight
for the national championship. The two teams
which play for the championship are determined
by the polls and computer rankings as opposed to
a play off on the field, leaving room for
controversy most years. If there are no further
upsets (which might be unlikely considering the
number of upsets so far this season) at least
three teams will have a strong claim to play in
the BCS Championship game. LSU and Oregon, now
ranked number one and two, both have strong
cases. The Big Twelve Champion will probably be
Kansas, now undefeated and ranked number three,
Oklahoma (currently #4) or Missouri (currently
#5). Kansas still plays Missouri and will meet
Oklahoma if neither loses before the Big Twelve
Championship game. I bet that Kansas will move
into the top two if they remain undefeated,
creating quite a question as to whether LSU or
Oregon, both with a single loss, is more
deserving of playing against them. Fans of some
other one-loss teams might also argue that their
team deserves consideration. At present I’m
most impressed with Oregon and it would be a
shame if they wind up number three without a
shot at the national championship.
This week’s traditional rivalry game
between Michigan and Ohio State lost some of its
luster after both lost last week, but still the
game will determine the Big Ten Championship and
who goes to the Rose Bowl. Whether Michigan
stands a chance depends upon whether Henne
and Hart (their starting quarterback and
tailback) are healthy. After being devastated by
injuries this season, along with other setbacks,
it is amazing that Michigan remains in a
position where they are still playing for the
conference championship and the Rose Bowl. Going
into the final game of the season there has not
been a single game in which Chad Henne and Mike
Hart have played a full game together. HBO
is airing a special on the history of the
Michigan vs. Ohio State rivalry this week.
I missed getting a new Blog World Report out yesterday, because I was
working on a project. Well, that project is now complete. The holiday
season is once again upon us. Just think - Thanksgiving is less than a
week away. So, I decided to come up with a not so new tune with some brand
new lyrics. Back in 1944, Mel Tormé and Bob Wells wrote one of the
greatest Christmas songs of all time, "The Christmas Song" -
some of you might only know it as that "chestnuts roasting on an open
fire song." I have taken the great melody of that song and written
new lyrics for today's generation.
The New Christmas Song
George
Bush leaving in 2009
The whole world cheering as he goes
The US bleeding and Iraq is afire
And the whole world is seeing us as foes
Everybody
knows that Jerk and Shooter don't play fair
I hope the next group sets us right
Tiny tots with no medical care
Or a place to sleep tonight
We know
that Dubya wants to stay
He's loaded courts with neoconvicts on his way
And every little Plame that used to spy
Has been outed by that nasty Cheney guy
And so
I'm begging on a bended knee
Let's vote just like in Ninety-Two
Impeachment's off the table says that bitch Pelosi
She's just telling us "Screw You!"
We hope
that help is on the way
But Bush might bomb Iran on any day
And every mother's child who's keeping score
Should hit the streets and tell the country no more war
And so
I'll return to that simple phrase
In spite of all we've suffered through
Although we've been screwed many times, many ways
Merry Christmas to you
Q2N: IAEA Report On Iran
From RickB for Ten
Percent
Thanks to commenter
Hass I was pointed to the blog of independent Iranian
analyst/writer/journalist Cyrus Safdari who does a fine analysis of
the IAEA report and what it really means as opposed to how it is
being spun by certain war positive hypocrites. Let Cyrus guide the
way, a brief summary-
The
report generally says that Iran is cooperating with the IAEA
as requested, and that the information Iran has provided is
consistent with the IAEA’s findings. It is pretty much a
positive report, which says that some issues are left to be
resolved later in accordance with the agreed-upon timetable, but
there’s no mention of any nuclear weapons programs or anything
like that.
1- IRAN IS IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE NPT: The IAEA again
states that there’s no evidence of any diversion of nuclear
material for non-peaceful uses…
2- “UNDECLARED ACTITIVIES” AND THE ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL:
The IAEA report states that though it has found no evidence of a
nuclear weapons program, the IAEA cannot say that Iran’s nuclear
activites are exclusively peaceful since the IAEA cannot verify
the absence of undeclared nuclear acvitities in Iran…First
point, that the IAEA does not verify the absence of undeclared
nuclear activities for any country unless they have signed and
ratified the Additional Protocol…
Second point: you should know that Iran did in fact
voluntarily implement the Additional Protocol by allowing the more
stringent inspections for the course of 2 years during the course
of the Paris Agreement negotiations with the EU3 - even though it
was not legally obligated to do so - and still no evidence of
nuclear weapons was found in Iran (in fact the IAEA complained
publicly that the evidence that the US had given them of
“secret” Iranian nuclear facilities had been bogus.) Iran
stopped providing that additional level of cooperation and stopped
voluntarily implementing the Additional Protocol when the EU tried
to cheat Iran in the course of the Paris Agreement negotiations…
3- ISSUES RESOLVED: According to this report, several
issues seem to have been resolved.
4- OUSTANDING ISSUES: THE “LAPTOP OF DEATH” There’s
some outstanding concern about the traces of highly-enriched
uranium which were found in Iran, but to date Iran’s statements
about those traces have been verified by the IAEA to be
accurate…The only major oustanding issue is the reported
“Green Salt Project” and other nonesense about a secret
Iranian nuclear project. And the only evidence of that comes from
a highly questionable laptop computer that supposedly was smuggled
out of Iran. You can read more about this “Laptop of Death” at
the Next
Hurrah.
So stuff those up your war mongering pipe and smoke them! Across
the mainstream this report is mediated as sort of complying all the
way to- it proves they have eighty million nukes all ready to launch
at your baby’s face! What does give me pause is the way the US has
reacted-
“Partial
credit doesn’t cut it,” said State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack when asked about a U.N. nuclear watchdog agency
report on Iran’s nuclear program. The White House and its
ambassador at the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said the
United States would continue to work with its allies for a new
round of U.N. sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to give up
uranium enrichment.
“Unfortunately this report makes clear that Iran seems
uninterested in working with the rest of the world and the current
Iranian government continues to push the country deeper into
isolation,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. “We
believe that Iran should be fully cooperating and not stringing
along the IAEA during this process.”
This is wilful reinterpretation of the report and it screams,
screams to me that they are now intent on attacking, official lies,
lazy complicit media, bombs away. It will take time but they are
doing the same thing they did before, lying about what their target
is doing, ignoring the international agencies, using the UN to
implement increasingly malicious sanctions and inspection regimes.
Eventually the pressure (and cross border raids, the crowded straits
of Hormuz, fake intel etc) will create an incident or Iran will
simply no longer wish or be able to submit to the onerous demands of
the aggressors. Remember Iran offered
complete talks in 2003, the US rejected them. I would be
interested to see a poll of how many Americans, in fact Europeans,
know that, single figures would be my bet.
The picture painted by the media is of a a country sneakily
working to make nuclear weapons and we just might have to do the
‘right thing’ and stop them before they ‘wipe
Israel off the map‘. A powerful and entirely false self
serving narrative that also denies Iran’s sovereign rights and
assumes the Empires moral superiority to act as it pleases. It’s
just five years later and the letter Q changed to N, the underlying
imperial control and resource acquisition strategies are identical.
Fuck if this century hasn’t started badly and you know what? It
wasn’t 911 that screwed the pooch it was Florida 2000 & the
supreme court coup. The empire’s first dictator and if you think
things aren’t so bad, just remind me what isn’t depraved about
debating if waterboarding is torture while in denial of killing a
million people for their oil? Go on, I could do with a laugh.
Iran has installed 3,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium -
enough to begin industrial-scale production of nuclear fuel and
build a warhead within a year, the UN's nuclear watchdog reported
last night.
The report by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), will intensify US and
European pressure for tighter sanctions and increase speculation
of a potential military conflict.
The installation of 3,000 fully-functioning centrifuges at Iran's
enrichment plant at Natanz is a "red line" drawn by the
US across which Washington had said it would not let Iran pass.
When spinning at full speed they are capable of producing
sufficient weapons-grade uranium (enriched to over 90% purity) for
a nuclear weapon within a year.
The IAEA says the uranium being produced is only fuel grade
(enriched to 4%) but the confirmation that Iran has reached the
3,000 centrifuge benchmark brings closer a moment of truth for the
Bush administration, when it will have to choose between taking
military action or abandoning its red line, and accepting Iran's
technical mastery of uranium enrichment.
US generals are reported to have warned the White House that
military action would trigger a devastating Iranian backlash in
the Middle East and beyond.
Russian officials yesterday called for patience, insisting Iran
could still clinch a deal with the international community in the
next few weeks. They pointed to other parts of the IAEA report
showing Tehran had been cooperating with the agency's inspectors
on other nuclear issues.
"We are most concerned to prevent Iran being cornered so that
they walk out of the Non Proliferation Treaty, and break relations
with the IAEA," one Russian source said. He said Chinese
officials were stepping up diplomatic pressure on Iran, with
Moscow, to avert a collision.
"They are on high alert that something has to be done
quickly," the source said.
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also seized on
positive parts of the IAEA report, noting increased Iranian
cooperation with inspectors, as vindication for Tehran. He said:
"The world will see that the Iranian nation has been right
and the resistance of our nation has been correct."
Last night, a Foreign Office spokesman said: "If Iran wants
to restore trust in its programme it must come clean on all
outstanding issues without delay."
Gordon Brown has called for increased pressure on Tehran,
including an international ban on investment in the Iranian oil
and gas industry. But UK officials are nervous about pressure from
the US vice president Dick Cheney and other hawks for military
action against Iran before a new administration takes office in
January 2009. They emphasise that Iranian scientists could be
months if not years away from getting the 3,000 centrifuges to
function properly, at top speed, for a sustained period, and
insist there is no imminent pressure for military intervention.
However, they also point out that Israel's red lines for military
action are unclear.
Against the fraught backdrop, a meeting of senior officials from
the UN security council's five permanent members and Germany to
decide on sanctions, planned for Monday, was put off after the
Chinese delegation said it could not attend.
The critical meeting has been pushed back to later this month,
giving time for the six-nation group's negotiator, Javier Solana,
the EU foreign policy chief, to hold last-ditch talks with Iranian
officials.
The ElBaradei report gave a mixed account of Iran's cooperation
with inspectors looking into Tehran's nuclear activity in the two
decades before it declared its enrichment programme. "Iran
has provided sufficient access to individuals and has responded in
a timely manner to questions," it said, but added that
"cooperation has been reactive rather than proactive".
David Albright, a former UN inspector and now an independent
nuclear expert in Washington, said ElBaradei appeared to be trying
to put "a happy face" on a worsening situation.
"The main issue is that Iran now has 3,000 centrifuges,"
he said. "The report doesn't even judge the quality of the
information being offered, but it's clear it is giving minimal
answers."
The same thing was said about Saddam, and look where that got us!!
It's only a matter of time before the bombs start dropping in Iran.
To all the WAR LOVERS out there who are so gung-ho to bomb Iran, I
suggest that each and every last one of you volunteers your own ass
for duty. I'm not dying for these war criminals in this
administration, and I'm certainly not dying so King George can
fulfill his quest to rule the world!!
Here We Go Again. The So-Called,
"War on Christmas"
From James for Genius
of Insanity
Even
though Colorado is
becoming more liberal and
is becoming very purple
and quite independent (a
third Democrat, a third
Republican and a third
Independent), the area of
the state that I live in
is quite Red/Republican. I
live near the college town
of Fort Collins which has
traditionally been more
open-minded and left
leaning. Now it is very
left leaning and it
usually swings the county
that I live in to the
Democrats.
I don't live more then 20
minutes from Fort Collins
but my city couldn't be
further from the politics
of Fort Collins. We are a
retirement community who
seem to all be curmudgeon
right wingers. We have a
forum in the local paper
for people to call into
and sound off on current
events, gripes and
suggestions. Usually the
extent of these peoples'
"problems" and
stress amounts to
complaining about people
who don't keep their lawn
green enough. However,
this time of year they
ramp up their war machine
to fight for their time
honored tradition of
discriminating against
anyone who isn't
Christian.
So here's the deal. The
city of Fort Collins has
decided to have a holiday
celebration instead of one
centered only upon the
Christian holiday of
Christmas. They have
decided to put up a tree
and decorate it but leave
the angel off the top of
the tree and because of
that decision you'd think
the city was admitting to
literally crucifying
Christians. Everyone in
our city is up in arms
that the secularists are
destroying Christmas and
some have even declared
their efforts to be
inclusive is threatening
our sovereignty as a
country!!! (Huh?). The guy
who claimed that also
implied that since he was
a veteran then he can
demand whatever he wants
and that his opinion is
more important to that of
others. He asks what the
secular progressives have
ever done for this
country. Yeah, because
there couldn't have
possibly been any
secularists and/or
Atheists in the military.
And so those of us who
haven't been in war don't
have the same rights as
those who have?? I see. As
many of you know there is
no rationalizing with
these people. I've tried
many, many times.
I've tried to explain to
them what it is like being
a minority and the feeling
of constantly having your
beliefs, rights and view
trampled upon. I tell
them, "How would you
feel if you lived in a
predominately Muslim
country that didn't
celebrate Christmas and
instead put up Islamic
symbols during Islamic
holidays on government
property. And wouldn't
that make you feel
discriminated against and
hurt?" Usually the
response I get is
something like this,
"Well I don't live in
that kind of theoretical
country, I live in America
and goddamn proud of it!!
And if you don't like that
America is Christian then
maybe you should
leave." Well, after
many abrasions to my head
from slamming it into the
nearest wall after such
statements I've ceased
asking the question to
them altogether.
“I
just wanted to show that
there are people with some
common sense in our
community, and that we do
celebrate our
heritage(GOI:
You mean your
heritage Sheriff),”
Alderden
said Wednesday, an hour
after sending out an
e-mail newsletter that
lambasts the ACLU and
political liberals for
trying to secularize
holiday displays.
“While
the secular progressives
have tried to take Christ
out of Christmas, (GOI:
I don't want to take
Christ out of Christmas, I
want to take Christ out of
my government!! Two very
different things but I
guess asking these wackos
to understand nuance is
too much)
supported and bolstered by
the ACLU, which
is waging its own Jihad
against Christianity,
(GOI:
So now we secularists are
now being compared to
radical Islamic
Jihadists?)” Alderden
wrote in his Bulls-eye
newsletter, “the
majority of Americans
living in Larimer County
and Fort Collins recognize
and value our Christian
heritage.”
(GOI:
I guess it would be
asking too much to value
the other heritages that
have developed around here
for decades such as the
the Japanese Buddhist
community who's ancestors
came here at the turn of
the last century to work
the fields around here and
build the railroad. The
Sheriff says that he'd be
willing to include a
Jewish Menorah but I doubt
he'd allow Pagans to
display their Winter
Solstice symbols and
Buddha statues for Bodhi
Day which merely
celebrates the impact that
the Buddha had upon
philosophy and the world
in general. Imagine though
if you will what would
happen if I came forward
to say that I want to
include a Buddha statue in
the mix. There would
probably be riots
including images of me
being beaten with a flood
of crosses or maybe more
apropos, stoned.See this is
the problem. When you
start allowing religion
into the public arena then
you have to include
symbols of allll beliefs
that have holidays around
this time of year, which
means a crowded government
building lawn. Just like
prayer in school, which
religious traditions
prayer do we use and if
it's Christian then which
Christian prayer? Would
the Evangelicals be o.k.
with a Mormon or Catholic
prayer?
What he (the
sheriff) is doing could be
illegal and so who is
going to arrest the
Sheriff? I use to think
these people were clueless
but now I know better,
they know exactly
what they are doing.
That
concept, the separation of
church and state, is
fairly new, Alderden wrote
in his newsletter. It was
created by the U.S.
Supreme Court and wasn’t
the intention of those who
crafted the Constitution,
he wrote(GOI:
I see. Despite a large
group of them being Deists
which is not Christian,
AND despite American being
founded upon the idea of
religious freedom because
of leaving a country that
forced one religion down
everyones'
throats!!!!!!!!).
“Why
in America, a country
founded on Judaic
Christian values, would we
exclude symbols of faith
from the public square?”
Alderden wrote. “Why not
display a Nativity
scene?”
GOI:
I thought that I would
include some of the
comments from people
regarding this issue that
have been printed in the
local paper over the last
few days:
"Good
for the Sheriff, who is
going to take a stand with
his Christmas trees on the
spineless leaders in Fort
Collins who want to
diminish Christmas
(GOI:No,
that's not what most of us
secularists want. We want
to rid the government and
public square with it. No
one is saying that you
can't put up a living
nativity scene on your
front yard if you want.
You can even have an actor
playing Jesus stand up on
your roof 24 hours a day
and wave at the passing
cars if you want. Just
keep your fucking religion
out of the government!!!).
Fort
Collins is being taken
over by the politically
correct crowd of leaders
who embrace the ACLU (GOI:
The horror!! An
organization standing up
for equal rights of all
citizens!!!).
Bravo.
Thanks Sheriff Alderden
for standing up for what
90 percent or more of us
feel about religion and
Christmas. The remaining
10% of you who are
non-believers, you have a
very small minority, but
free to retain your
feelings. Let the rest of
us have what we've always
had, freedom for our
beliefs in God and
Christmas. (GOI:Oh,
so I see. YOU have the
right to freedom of
religion but not the rest
of us. Thank-you for so
graciously allowing me to
have different feelings
as long as they don't
upset you).
While
the Bush Administration media machine attempts to convince the
American people that things are going great in Iraq and democracy is
spreadin' round the world, Saudi Arabia — you know, home of the real
9/11 terrorists — continues
in its archaic and inhumane treatment of women:
