What’s WALNUT?

A little known fact is that China has an organization that has operated for 63 years funded by the communist Chinese government called WALNUT (acronym has no English translation) that works to address issues of discrimination, affordable housing, a quality education, or better public services.

The only thing that sets the Chinese group apart from our American ACORN is that the Chinese community organization, WALNUT actually seeks to keep the oppressed, oppressed the poor, poor and the stupid, stupid.

Oh… Maybe they’re not so different after all.

My bad.

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For more Buffoonery, visit Democrat=Socialist (DEqualsS.com)

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The Reconstruction of American Journalism

I just read through the document, The Reconstruction of American Journalism by Leonard Downie, Jr. and Michael Schudson. I found it a bit disturbing.

The article discusses the current transition of traditional media in light of the Internet, and the future funding of traditional media.

“As this report will explain, credible independent news reporting cannot flourish without news organizations of various kinds, including the print and digital reporting operations of surviving newspapers. But it is unlikely that any but the smallest of these news organizations can be supported primarily by existing online revenue. That is why we will be exploring a variety and mixture of ways to support news reporting, which must include nonmarket sources like philanthropy and government.” (emphasis mine)

The authors recommend creating government-sponsored news organizations (tax exempt and government funded – in part or in full) as the solution to this problem.

In addition, they want universities to train students in “enterprise and accountability journalism, which by definition bring new information to light, can grow into society-changing work not that dissimilar to academic research that makes original contributions to knowledge in history and the social sciences.” (emphasis mine)

My question is: if government funds the news media, who is going to watch the government? Will we be able to criticize the government if they control the media? Isn’t this a problem in China?

Also, is it the role of news reporting to “change” society? What happened to news reporters simply reporting the news? Using the media to “change” society sounds like propaganda to me. Do we really want government-sponsored, propaganda-based news?

You may (or may not) agree with the current government or like some of the current media offerings, but what will happen when we get a new batch of politicians? How will these people restrict free speech in the process of “supporting” news reporting and “providing” independent reporting. How will this or a new administration want to “change” society using the media or restricting the use of media? You can’t just look at one administration. These rules will evolve as the government evolves, either for good or for bad.

I, for one, am tired of our government bailing out failed and/or outdated companies using taxpayer money. We didn’t bail out the manual typewriter manufacturers or the stagecoach manufacturers. I’m sure jobs were lost, but progress created new jobs in the same or in new industries. If the traditional media dies, a new media industry will take its place. New jobs will be created and media will still be independent of government. Then let’s spend our government money on reeducating those who lost jobs so they can compete in the new industries.

If we keep bailing out automobile manufacturers, banks, and newspapers with government funding, we may keep the same jobs, but will it be worth it? What will we lose in the process?

Update: Snooper has commentary

Originally posted on EmptyNestMom Goes to College

Major property rights victory in TX Defeat of I-35 Trans Texas Corridor

It’s a great day for the little guys who put their heads together and created a legal strategy that blocked a major transportation corridor project in Texas that was supported by both Governor Rick Perry and former President George W. Bush. For months (or possibly years) the federal government denied existence of a plan to build a massive NAFTA superhighway project from Mexico to Canada that included The I-35 Trans Texas Corridor. The plan would have included the “condemnation of 146 acres per mile to build the highway.”

Last Oct I met with the local activists fighting this quarter mile wide freeway when Attending an Americans for Prosperity’s “Defending the American Dream” Summit in Washington. As our state did not offer a property rights topic I attended the state of Wisconsin’s break out session where I learned of the Stewards of the Range activity and met Fred Kelly Grant, their President, who is one of the leaders. Their combined groups found a loophole in Chapter 391 of Texas local government code that enabled the “grass roots” opposition to eventually block the state of Texas Master Plan. You can read that Orange Juice post dated Oct 13, 2008.

For those not familiar with the corridor “containers coming from China to a Chinese port in Mexico will be loaded onto sealed Mexican trucks that will be driven north and pass scanners in the “Smart Port” terminal in Kansas on their way to Canada.”

This I-35 corridor was to be the first link in this massive interstate system.

The Oct 7th-8th Press Announcement reads in part: “In a press conference in Austin, Texas, Amadeo Saenz, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT), announced on behalf of Texas Governor Rick Perry, that the Trans-Texas Corridor, I-35 segment is dead. TXDOT will be recommending the “No Build” option to the Federal Highway Administration.”

Big bucks were behind this massive freeway including the Spanish firm Cintra-Zachary a “75% Spanish owned corporation that was to collect tolls, lease income and fees generated for 50 years.” The press release reveals that “$6.1 million was spent by TTC Contractors for paid lobbyist(s) to get the project through.”

A sweet property rights victory for sure!

The full Press Announcement can be read at Stewards.us (.pdf download).

Also posted on Orange Juice

 

Obama Admin Allows Communist Flag Raising Over Washington, DC for first time ever!

The Obama administration made history on Sunday September 20, 2009 by allowing the communist government of China to raise their national flag to celebrate the 60 year anniversary of the birth of the communist regime.

 

A UN State of Mind – Where Tyrants Are Literally Never Stopped

We live at a moment in history when tyrants hold forth with none to stop them. Ahmadinejad-the-Monster held forth in all his western-suited glory at the UN and so did the terrorist, Gaddafi. No one at the UN stopped the Libyan madman from speaking well beyond his allotted 15 minutes. If the UN can’t even do this, can you imagine them actually stopping a genocide or a terrorist plot in process?

If they can’t or won’t, why are we funding them? Why do they exist?

The American President has decided to “engage” with the UN and with the world of tyrants. Perhaps he can, perhaps he thinks like them. Me—I have an increasingly hard time dealing with their righteous arrogance and post-colonial resentments, not to mention their demonization of Israel. For example, let me share two recent conversations with you.

In retrospect, both conversations were a little like talking to Red Guard Maoist youth leaders in 1949 in China…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

I Do Solemnly Swear … To Lie

 

“I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

This is the oath a President takes on Inauguration Day. This is the oath of office that Barack Obama took.

I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

This is the oath that every military member takes.

Do you notice the difference?

Let’s look at a few facts.

China just announced that on October 1^st in its National Day Parade it will unveil several new short, medium and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Russian Air Force contracts $190 million to buy new missiles.

Russia is developing new missiles to counter the US’ defensive missile umbrella developed and promised to Allies.

Iran has made and is making or altering pre-existing missiles that can now reach Israel and Southern Europe. In addition Iran is testing missiles in such a manner it is likely that they will be used to create an electrical magnetic pulse instead of a ground explosion and have purchased submarines as a delivery system.

North Korea has been testing in violation of UN agreements, short, medium and long range missiles. They are also suspected of selling missile guidance system information to Iran, Pakistan, and Burma.

Obama has cut the 2010 budget for missile purchase and research by 1.2 billion dollars. He has also reneged on the NATO missile shield program and discontinued all funding. Poland and the Czech Republic are left defenseless in the path of overt Russian aggression. Georgia has already been invaded and our allies now are just waiting for the attack that is to come. Obama has already suggested the reduction of our munitions and missiles. He is reducing the size of the military while trying to increase his own personal National Security Force. In a Bill (HR 645) already introduced he desires large interment camps to be established for “national emergencies”.

Obama believes the Constitution that he swore to upholds is flawed.

If Obama had taken the second oath, the oath of enlistment, he would already be on trial for failing that oath. As for his violating the inauguration oath, well he doesn’t believe in Our Constitution any way.

This is a man whose past is hidden and murky. His allegiances unknown. This man would not even be allowed to join our Armed Forces with what we know and what we still don’t know.

Now tell me again why there is no move to impeach this man?

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Ghost Ranger, Tex’s first novel, is now available on Lulu and Amazon.

 

 

 

 

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Justice in Florida for Rifqa Bary

Breaking News!

The Case Remains in Orlando

Judge Daniel Dawson has just decided that Rifqa Bary’s fate will be decided in his court in Florida. You may read about it here and here. This means that Judge Dawson will hear the case on September 3rd.

It also means that the incredibly brave 17-year-old will remain safe in Florida state custody until that hearing.

I have been doing media interviews all afternoon, from as far away as China. However, this case has not as yet been covered by CNN. As one of my readers has pointed out, Fox has led the national media in their coverage of the case. (Kudos to journalist Joshua Rhett Miller who is always there when it matters)…Continue reading on Chesler Chronicles >>

 

Lao Soldiers Decapitate Two-Month-Old Girl Ahead of Senator Webb’s Visit

Infant used as target practice during military attacks that leave 26 civilians dead

A human rights organization has just learned that Lao soldiers captured, mutilated and decapitated a two-month-old girl during recent military attacks against Hmong and Laotian civilians. Survivors of the attack said the infant was used for target practice.

Laos is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People’s Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west.

Speaking in a news release from human rights organization International Christian Concern (ICC), Vaughn Vang, the Director of the Lao Hmong Human Rights Council, said, “We are told, by some of the Lao Hmong survivors of the recent military attacks in Laos, that the LPDR (Lao Peoples Democratic Republic) soldiers of the LPA (Lao Peoples Army) used the . Lao Hmong girl, while she was still alive, for target practice . once she was captured and tied up; they mutilated her little body and continued to fire their weapons, over and over . until her head just eventually came off after so many bullets severed her head.”

ICC said the Center for Public Policy Analysis (CPPA) reported the incidents, claiming that eight children were captured and 26 Hmong and Laotian civilians were murdered during a series of four major attacks over the past month. They were apparently designed to stifle “religious and political dissidents” ahead of a visit by U.S. Senator Jim Webb. Christian Hmong were mostly certainly among those attacked as they are often targeted specifically by the regime.

With ages ranging from two months to eight years old, ICC reported that the captured children remain a concern to Vang, who said that their whereabouts were unknown and that they would likely be tortured and killed by the soldiers. The decapitated child’s body was found next to her mother, who had also been tortured and killed by Lao soldiers. A number of the female victims were raped and tortured before they were killed. The most recent attack occurred on Aug. 13.

Unfortunately, this level of brutality against women and children is not uncommon for Lao soldiers, ICC reported. It is standard procedure for soldiers to surround and isolate pockets of Hmong people and starve them out to be killed when they venture out to forage.

Philip Smith, the Executive Director of CPPA, told ICC of video footage smuggled out of Laos in 2004 that documents the aftermath of the killing and brutalization of five Hmong children, four of them girls, on May 19 2004.

That footage was used in the graphic documentary, “Hunted Like Animals,” by Rebecca Sommer. Clips can be viewed at rebeccasommer.org, but they contain highly graphic content.

Natalia Rain, ICC’s Regional Manager for East Asia, said in the news release, “Rights groups have rightly called the acts the Lao military commits against children and civilians war crimes. Let the international community not be guilty of the same by its silence in the face of a regime who has already been allowed so much room that it has reached the heights of sadism in the torture and decapitation of a two-month-old little girl.”

ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. For additional information contact www.persecution.org

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Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and CEO of Joy Junction, New Mexico’s largest emergency homeless shelter. He has a master’s degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is “The Face of Homelessness.” Reynalds’ latest book is “We All Need a Little Help.” It was released on October 3 2008. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Muslim Teen Who Converted to Christianity Says Family Threatened to Kill Her

An Ohio teenager who says she ran away from home because her family threatened to kill her for converting from Islam to Christianity, is now in the custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families (DFC), local and national media have been reporting.

The teenager testified Monday at a custody hearing in Orlando that she’d recently changed religions and is worried her relatives will do something drastic, according to WFTV in Orlando and Central Florida News 13.

“They have to kill me because I’m a Christian. It’s an honor (issue),” the girl told WFTV.

Such threats are common, even in the United States, her attorney, Rosa Gonzalez, told News 13.

“She says her life is in danger and she could be killed in an honor killing,” Gonzalez said after the hearing — which was held because the teenager’s parents are trying to regain custody of her.

FOX News reports that the teen, a non-citizen whose parents are from Sri Lanka, has for several weeks been staying with an Orlando couple who are pastors of a new Christian church there. She met them on a Facebook prayer group.

Her father denied his daughter’s allegations to NBC 4 in Orlando, saying he never threatened to kill his daughter because she rejected Islam. He was in Florida for a court hearing, but was reportedly traveling back to Ohio Tuesday.

While for the time being, The Florida Department of Children and Families currently has custody of her, ultimately, Ohio authorities will decide where the teen should live, FOX News stated.

ABC News’ Sarah Netter reports that although the father insists he is not a menace to his daughter, a Florida court has placed the 17-year-old girl in foster care until her claims can be investigated.

According to ABC News, the teen left home in New Albany, Ohio, last month and hopped on a bus to Orlando to meet with husband and wife pastors Blake and Beverly Lorenz, who she met through a Facebook prayer group for the couple’s non-denominational Global Revolution Church.

“When she came to our house, she told us her parents would not report her missing,” Blake Lorenz told ABCNews.com.

Apparently they did immediately report their daughter missing but the disappearance reached local news stations and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

Pastor Lorenz said the teen, a native of Sri Lanka, had secretly converted from Islam to Christianity four years ago, but her religion was only discovered recently. She had snuck out to an area church where, according to Lorenz, she had an “incredible encounter with Jesus.”

Lorenz said the teen was so moved she posted about it on her Facebook page, writings that would later be seen by her friends from her family’s mosque and reported to her father, ABC News said.

“That’s when he threatened to kill her for the first time,” Lorenz said, adding that he didn’t know on how many other occasions that threat had been made.

ABC News said the battle finally came to a head about a month ago, he said, when her mother found a Christian book in the house while the father was out of town. The girl’s mother, he said, threatened to tell her father.

“She did say she was dead to her” if she didn’t renounce her Christian faith, Lorenz said.

The teen confirmed to ABC’s Orlando affiliate WFTV that she believed her father would kill her.

“They have to kill me because I’m a Christian. It’s an honor [killing]. If they love me more than God, then they have to kill me,” she explained.

ABC News said that terrified and fearing she would be the victim of an honor killing, the teen got on a bus and borrowed a cell phone to contact Beverly Lorenz who she had been communicating with after finding the Lorenzes’ church on Facebook.

The pastors’ first move was to call an attorney, several of them, actually, ABC News said.

“No one really knew what to do,” Lorenz said, pointing out that she was not only a minor, but that she had crossed state lines and she wasn’t even a U.S. citizen.

ABC News reports that Blake Lorenz said the girl arrived late at night after a two-day trip. The next morning, the couple called police for advice, but did not tell them her name. They did report her presence two weeks later, he said, when the couple realized the teen’s parents had reported her missing.

Lorenz said he fears the teen is “definitely not safe.” He pointed to other suspected honor killings in Muslim families, including two Texas sisters who were murdered by their Muslim father Jan. 1, 2008, in what some believed to be religion-fueled rage over the girls’ Western ways.

The teen’s father has been in Florida trying to bring his daughter home. A woman who answered the phone at the girl’s home in Ohio said she was a relative, but declined to answer any questions.

The father told WFTV that there was no truth to his daughter’s claims.

Pastor Lorenz said he called the abuse hotline Friday. Elizabeth Arenas, a public information officer for the Florida Department of Children and Families, said the girl is now in foster care, she said, while Florida officials work with Ohio child services to investigate the teen’s claims.

“We just want to be sure she’s going to be safe,” Arenas said.

ABC News reported that the teen, her father, Lorenz and Florida DCF officials appeared in court Monday where a judge ordered her to remain in state custody for now. The teen is being represented by a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal group that takes on conservative Christian causes.

“When she saw her dad yesterday, she was scared to death,” Blake Lorenz said. “She literally believes she’s going to be killed.”

As for the father, he said, “I don’t want to make him out to be a monster, because I’m sure he’s not.”

ABC News reported that Arenas, who said the father has been cooperative with Florida DCF officials, said the state had recommended the teen be placed in Ohio state custody. But a judge Monday granted emergency jurisdiction to the Florida DCF, meaning the girl will remain in the state’s care at least until the next hearing, scheduled for Aug. 21.

Her parents were also given supervised visitation rights, but only at the discretion of their daughter. Arenas said she was unsure if the teen had met with her parents since the hearing.

“I don’t want to see my father,” the teen told WFTV.

Amy L. Edwards and Rene Stutzman, Staff Writers for the Orlando Sentinel newspaper (www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-ohio-teen-convert-custody-dispute-081009,0,4993216.story ) in a report to which Walter Pacheco contributed, said the girl, who turned 17 on Monday, is at the center of a custody dispute in Orlando, where she sought help from a family she barely knew — a pastor and his wife willing to take in a teen who feared her own family’s retribution because she converted to Christianity.

The Orlando Sentinel did not identify the teen because of her age.

The two reporters said she looked more like a timid child clinging to her protector than an Ohio teen runaway brazen enough to flee her Muslim family out of fear for her life.

The girl appeared before a crowded courtroom full of lawyers and spectators on Monday when an Orange Circuit Court Judge ordered her into Department of Children and Families emergency custody.

The newspaper said it was another in a series of legal decisions in a complicated case: Beyond the girl’s religious preferences, the court must solve jurisdictional issues related to child services and courts.

In addition, the teen, a native of Sri Lanka, is not a U.S. citizen, the newspaper stated.

The newspaper reported that her dispute with her family became news several weeks ago when the girl ran away from her home in Columbus, Ohio. She hitch-hiked to a Greyhound station and boarded a bus to Orlando.

Once there, she borrowed a cell phone to call Beverly Lorenz, who with husband Blake Lorenz is a pastor of Global Revolution Church in Orlando. The Lorenzes met the girl through a prayer group on Facebook.

The newspaper said that although the girl was a stranger, Beverly Lorenz told her they would house her. The teen told the Lorenzes she feared her family would hurt her, kill her or send her back to Sri Lanka, Beverly Lorenz said.

“We are doing everything we can to protect her,” said Blake Lorenz, who said he has been told his life may be in jeopardy.

Meanwhile, the girl’s parents reported to Ohio law enforcement authorities that their daughter was missing. They put together a flier, with her picture on it, asking for tips to her whereabouts, the newspaper said.

Beverly Lorenz said they called an abuse hotline, prompting a visit on Friday from the Orlando police. Officers picked up the girl to be placed in state custody.

The newspaper said the Lorenzes appeared in court with the teen Monday, as did her father from Ohio.

According to the newspaper report, when the petite girl walked into court, she immediately bolted for Beverly Lorenz, who held her. The teen then joined Blake Lorenz at a table with lawyers. He comforted her throughout the entire hearing with his arm around her shoulder.

Rosa Gonzalez, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, told Orange Circuit Judge Gail A. Adams the teen is in fear for her life. The sight of her father makes the teen “frantic and hysterical,” Gonzalez said.

The newspaper said the teen’s father said little during the hearing.

Reached by an Orlando Sentinel reporter by phone, the girl’s mother said little. “Yes, of course” her daughter would be safe should a judge eventually order her back there, she said.

The woman also said the girl’s father would not harm his daughter if she wanted to be a Christian. She referred other questions to her husband. He did not answer his cell phone after the hearing.

Gonzalez said her organization, which sends pro bono lawyers to work on cases involving Christian issues, is concerned the teen could be returned to her parents, the newspaper reported.

“We don’t take those threats lightly,” she said.

Imam Hatim Hamidullah, with the Islamic Society of Central Florida, said the Muslim faith does not call for a father to hurt his child, should she convert to another religion.

“It is not Islam for the father to bring harm upon his blood daughter or any other human being because of anger,” he said. “Our position is to exhaust all measures that would bring peace and harmony back to the family,” Hamidullah said. “Being angry and threatening the life of someone is not one of those methods.”

A DCF spokeswoman said the agency is working with Ohio officials to ensure the teen’s “safety and well being.”

The newspaper said that attempts to talk to the teen after the hearing were unsuccessful — her legal guardians ushered her out of the building without letting her speak to a reporter.

On a babysitter Website, the girl described herself this way: “One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is cheerleading for my high school and of course tumbling as well. I have a little brother who is about to turn 5 years old. With this, I have had a lot of experience with toddlers and many years of sitting for him.”

Blake Lorenz, who retired after serving as pastor at Pine Castle United Methodist Church for several years, said the teen believes her dad will kill her.

“We are doing everything we can to protect her,” he said.

After Monday’s hearing, Blake Lorenz said he was relieved the teen is not returning back to her family in Ohio immediately, but he’s still cautious. He’s “very concerned that the system will let her down.”

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Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel, and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael’s volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department — Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) — of A.C.T. International of P.O.Box 1649, Brentwood, TN 37024-1649,at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of ‘Truth Through Christian Journalism.’

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Also see: Honor Killing Averted: Muslim Convert to Christianity Flees For Her Life, by Phyllis Chesler

Lies of AE911Truth Exposed 1

It is time to bring the lies of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 “Truth” (AE911Truth) to light.

First, as we see, here, AE911Truth claims that over 24,000 Architects and engineers came face to face with the truth.  However, as this site points out, if you go to AE911Truth’s own site, you’ll see they only added 50 new petitioners, and if you watch the videos from AE911Truth’s own Web site, you’ll see that only 4 of those 50 were architects or engineers.

As we see here, that means the actual percentage of Architects and Engineers that are members of AE911Truth is a whopping 0.000166%.

In addition, if you go a little further down the Web site here, you will see even more evidence of Ae911Truth’s deception.  The owner of this Web site (who I might add is, as we see here, by his OWN ADMISSION, a LIBERAL who, again, by his OWN ADMISSION, is more than willing to believe the worst of the Bush Administration.  However, unlike AE911Truth, the “Scholars” for 9/11 “Truth,” etc, he is, at least, an honest researcher) points out that a little further research shows that there’s a problem with the Architects and Engineers for 911Truth’s claim to have 640 architects and engineers asking for a new investigation.  In point of fact, that total of 640 includes architect and engineering students, as well as other people who work  in those offices ( Hint: People who work in those offices aren’t necessarily architects or engineers- they could be secretaries). In point of fact, when everyone except those with licenses and degrees is excluded, there are only 284 names, and that’s with a broad definition of engineer- there are landscape and electrical engineers on that list (source). Scroll further down this site, and you will see that AE911Truth is again using the Beijing skyscraper fire just last February to “prove” their point.        

AE911Truth states’ that the Beijing skyscraper was comparable in size to WTC 7, which is technically true, but this site points out some details that AE911Truth leaves out: 1) The skyscraper in question was REINFORCED CONCRETE and steel, much like the new WTC 7 will be- and concrete is far more resistant to fire than steel.  This site also makes an aside that the “truthers” who support a controlled demolition of the WTC use the Madrid Windsor fire and make a big deal out of the fact that it didn’t collapse, while ignoring the fact that the steel in the Madrid Windsor fire DID melt, and it’s the reinforced concrete that survived, 2) The Beijing skyscraper was built  by Arup AFTER conducting an EXTENSIVE study of the WTC collapses, and 3) The Beijing skyscraper was built to withstand major earthquakes.  If it’s built to withstand the huge earthquakes that often occur China ( and the Pacific Rim ( aka, the “Ring of Fire”) in general, how is fire going to bother it?

Oh, and one other detail: As I pointed out in a previous article, there are two other differences as well: 1) The Beijing fire was fought, and 2) Unlike WTC 1,2, and &, the Beijing skyscraper did NOT suffer SEVERE structural damage before catching fires.

When it comes to honesty, AE911Truth makes Bill Clinton look like a Boy Scout.

UN Treaty Jeopardizes Homeschool Freedom in Britain

British homeschoolers may no longer be able to teach independently.

The Children’s Secretary of Britain last week accepted a report in full that could change the face of homeschooling in Britain indefinitely.

In the report, the author, Graham Badman, Chair of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA), argues for an end to homeschool freedom.

“While it’s disgraceful that the British government would even entertain this report it’s particularly troubling for American parents because the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was used as the justification for this action,” said Michael Farris, Chairman of HSLDA and President of www.ParentalRights.org, in a media release.

According to the news release, the Badman report uses Articles 12 and 29 of the UNCRC to justify registering the estimated 80,000 homeschooling families in Britain, forcing them to provide annual reports regarding their homeschool, granting government officials the right to enter the home and interview the children alone as well as reserving the choice of curriculum to the state.

The news release says that HSLDA has been warning that the UNCRC could bring an end to homeschool freedom in the U.S., if the treaty was ever ratified by the U.S. Senate because Article VI of the U.S. Constitution says that treaties become the supreme law of the land.

The news release explains that for the UNCRC to be ratified it must gain a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate.

The news release states that if this happens then the UNCRC will automatically supersede all state laws and U.S. judges will be obligated to follow the provisions of the treaty.

Currently, family and education laws are state-based; however, ratification of the UNCRC would transfer the jurisdiction for making family and education law to the U.S. Congress. Congress would, in turn, be obligated to follow the UN mandates contained in the CRC. The only answer at this point would be to add a Parental Rights Amendment (PRA) to the Constitution.

“The Badman report is a stark reminder of how government officials in an English-speaking democracy have interpreted the UNCRC. It’s clear that the right to homeschool in America will be negatively impacted if the U.S. Senate ever ratifies the UNCRC,” the release says.

To read the full United Kingdom report, click here: http://tinyurl.com/mxcdul .

To find out more about the Parental Rights Amendment, click here: http://tinyurl.com/dxxsvq .

For further information, Contact: Rebekah Pizana, www.ParentalRights.org , 540-751-1200; http://parentalrights.org/

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Michael Ireland, Chief Correspondent of ANS, is an international British freelance journalist who was formerly a reporter with a London (United Kingdom) newspaper and has been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. Michael has traveled to Albania and the former Yugoslavia, Holland, Germany and the former Czechoslovakia, Israel,and Canada. He has reported for ANS from Jordan, China, Russia, Jamaica, Mexico, and Nicaragua. Michael’s volunteer involvement with ASSIST News Service is a sponsored ministry department — Michael Ireland Media Missionary (MIMM) — of A.C.T. International at: Artists in Christian Testimony (A.C.T.) International where you can donate online to support his stated mission of ‘Truth Through Christian Journalism.’

Coming Soon to You: The State PC Church

Cross-posted from Faultline USA

by Bill Muehlenberg at Culture Watch

I have written extensively as of late about how religious freedom in the West is slowly but surely coming under attack. State-sponsored anti-Christian bigotry is on the increase throughout the Western world. Various forces have been warring against the free expression of faith. These include radical minority groups, secularist groups, the forces of political correctness, and meddling governments.

The reasons provided to justify this crackdown on religious freedom and expression often sound good: the need to prevent discrimination, vilification and the like. But the effect of various equal opportunity laws and religious vilification bills is to effectively silence the church.

And it is a lot sneakier way of doing things. If the state announced that all churches would be closed and all Bibles confiscated, there would be – hopefully – a huge public outcry. But these indirect and sneaky methods are really achieving the same thing. Religious freedom is being taken away, and soon the only churches will be those which have the government tick of approval.

This incremental, piece-by-piece approach seems to be working quite well. Most religious folk have no idea that the public expression of their faith is slowly being strangled. They do not seem to know or perhaps care that each day the state is intruding more and more in religious affairs.

The coming state-approved PC church is not just the stuff of conspiracy theorists. This site has documented numerous cases of this very thing. We are well on the way to the sort of brave new world scenarios often depicted in works of fiction and film.

Indeed, it reminds me of a 2002 film I saw recently, Equilibrium. In a futuristic police state, people are banned from all things which might trigger emotional responses: books, music, art. They are even forced to take drugs which suppress emotions. This is done for a very good-sounding reason; to maintain peace and stamp out war.

But of course the price for such coerced peace is too high – the loss of freedoms, and the deadening of humanity. So a group of rebels arise to fight the system. The film is well worth renting and watching.

It seems we may not be so far off today in the West. We live in an age in which the state knows that bread and circuses will do the trick. Keep the masses fed, and keep them entertained and amused. As long as that is done, most people won’t mind the steady erosion of other freedoms and the very things which make us human.

Thus even those who should know better – biblical Christians – are sleeping through this slow and steady rise of state-approved religion. Fortunately I am not alone in these concerns. Chuck Colson in the US is also greatly concerned about these trends. His most recent article also warns about the suppression of religious freedom.

He begins with these words: “In China, Christians have a choice: Join a government-approved church – which is constantly monitored by the authorities – or join an underground church. Thank heavens things like that don’t happen in the West, you may be thinking. Think again. In Britain, the government has begun sticking its nose in church business, telling churches what to do.

“According to the Daily Telegraph, starting next year, the British government is going to begin forcing churches and other religious institutions to hire open, practicing homosexuals. It will happen under the provisions of the so-called Equity Bill, which forbids discrimination against homosexuals or transsexuals. The law would ‘cover almost all church employees,’ according to Deputy Equities Minster Maria Eagle. ‘The circumstances in which religious institutions can practice anything less than full equality are few and far between,’ Eagle said. Church groups, she said, ‘cannot claim that everything they run is outside the scope of anti-discrimination law’.”

I have written up this case as well: http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2009/05/21/is-this-the-end-of-christianity-in-england/

But Colson reminds us just where all this is heading: “What’s next – regulating the content of sermons? I’m not kidding. According to Eagle, ‘Members of faith groups have a role in making the argument in their own communities for greater’ acceptance of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people. Maybe it would simplify things if the government simply wrote the sermons for the pastors.”

He continues, “The Equity Law could lead to some interesting situations. What happens if a church, under pressure, hires a gay youth minister—and orders him to teach kids about the sinfulness of homosexual behavior? And I can only imagine the reaction of a British mosque when the religion police orders it to hire a lesbian secretary.”

What we have here is a case of governments “beginning to run the churches. And if they succeed, it will be the end of religious freedom in Britain. Legislation like the Equity Law should concern Americans. So-called ‘social reforms’ that begin in Europe soon wash up on our own shores. And then, what will happen to the Church? Will we put our congregations under the authority of Caesar? Or will we resist and, if need be, abandon our elegant buildings and, like our faithful brethren in China, form underground churches?”

Colson concludes, “The Bible teaches that the followers of Christ will be tested. We ought to be in prayer for the church in Great Britain, asking God to guide it as the government bears down. Second, we ought to be preparing for similar laws here. Many churches are already under great pressure by homosexual activists to violate their own teachings under the guise of ‘fairness’ – a much abused word. This, by the way, is not a hysterical rant. The threat is very real. Third, we ought to remind our neighbors that the First Amendment was written not just to protect the government from churches, but more so to protect churches from the government.”

Things in Australia fare no better. We are well down this path of state-approved PC churches. And if this does come to full fruition, in many ways we will only have ourselves to blame. There have been plenty of warnings about all this. The question is, do we take our faith seriously enough to stand up and do something about this. Or will we simply sheeplike take our emotion-blocking drugs as in Equilibrium, and in docile fashion accept what the government tells us to do.

The choice is really up to us.

http://www.breakpoint.org/listingarticle.asp?ID=11915

Links to Learn about the New Iranian Revolution…Online

As we all know by now, there is a dispute over who won the most recent presidential election in Iran, and this dispute has turned into the “last straw,” for many of the people who are fed up with the oppressive Islamic regime that has been in Iran for the last thirty years. As commonly happens in oppressive governments, Iran shut down the free media, and also the peoples’ access to social networking sites like Facebook and FriendFeed (very popular in that region), but they underestimated Twitter.

So, the Iranian protesters, along with help from Twitter and the rest of the world), have been able to continue to get the news out about what is happening inside Tehran, Shiraz, and other cities where students and other protesters are rising up within the country of Iran.

Following are some links to learn about how this incredible online revolution (the first of its kind) is happening. Feel free to add your own in the comments, and we’ll add them to the post as time allows:

• Mr. Arasmus: How to Turn Your Avatar Green To Show Solidarity with People of Iran (and learn the rules and etiquette for keeping the Iranian bloggers safe)
• Iran, Twitter, and Freedom
• Twitter Search Feed (#IranElection)
• Twazzup: Iran
• SC Magazine: Iran election protesters use Twitter to recruit hackers
• Twitter Links Iran Protesters to Outside World
• Anderson Cooper: State Department to Twitter: Keep Iranian tweets coming
• Mashable: We’ve Got Tools to Undo Censorship in Iran and China. Let’s Use Them
• TechCrunch: Twitter Reschedules Maintenance To Allow Iranian Protests To Continue
• TechDirt: Twitter, Data Center Delay Upgrades Rather Than Cut Off Iranian Communications

 

Charleston Tea Party

My wife and I just got home from the Charleston Tea Party and what a Tea Party it was!  Our CONSERVATIVE governor, Mark Sanford was there and spoke for about six minutes.  I don’t have an official count but I estimate we had a couple thousand people gathered at the Customs House at Market and East Bay and it was awesome.

I took a lot of photos, particularly of signs and I tried to show some idea of the size of the crowd.  That turned out to be difficult because I was never able to get into an elevated position.  Hopefully you’ll get some idea from the various views.

All in all it was an inspiring event and I was impressed at how well behaved the crowd was.  Mary Katherine Hamm sent a tweet while we were there saying “I was ready to report craziness if I saw it.  There was NONE.  Not one rude sticker or t-shirt or errant word.”  That’s exactly what I observed in Charleston.  There was a strong spirit of patriotism, of love for this country and fear that we are on the road to losing it all.

There were a lot of speakers, mostly local people that most of the crowd didn’t know.  They were speaking because they care about this country.  Most all were inspiring.  We heard from a trucker, a builder, a 17 year old student and many more, all there with a common purpose, to let our elected officials know we are very unhappy with the direction this country is going.

It will be interesting to see if the liberals continue to try to marginalize what took place today.  I’ve heard numerous pundits on the left saying this all amounts to nothing but from what I can determine, perhaps more than a million people went to Tea Parties today.  As much as the left would like to portray otherwise, they are hard pressed to mount anything like this.

Of note was the number of FairTax supporters at the Tea Party.  My wife and I had on our FairTax shirts and hats and we were in good company.  The FairTax presence was large enough to merit a mention from the organizers at the Tea Party.

Much as I liked all the speeches, I particularly enjoyed Governor Sanford’s remarks.  They say that brevity is the soul of wit and Sanford captured that today.  He spoke for just over six minutes and he was, as usual, inspiring to all who hold to conservative principles.  His video is below.

I’ll place more photos below the video but mark this.  This movement is not a flash in the pan as some would have you believe.  This is a real grass roots movement and it is here to stay.  Congress had better be listening because we are certainly paying attention to what they’re doing and their careers could be in serious jeopardy if they don’t change their ways.

(Note: The video is shaky because it was shot with a still camera using 12x zoom.  It’s pretty difficult to avoid some shake without a tripod.  Also, sound quality isn’t great because I wa a long way from the speakers.  Still, you can hear what the governor had to say.)

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