The Division Of The USA & Judge Alito

In an unseemly rush to judgment and attack there are those who have already begun to claim that Judge Samuel Alito, if confirmed as a Justice of our Supreme Court, would “divide the nation”. The USA is already divided beyond the ability of any one person to increase or further define that division.

It is divided between those people who believe that: There is a difference between good and evil and those who think such divisions are outdated and, perhaps, the product of unreasonable religious beliefs; There are just wars and those who have forgotten about Nazi death camps, the “rape of Nanking” and the forced use of women and girls in Japanese military brothels and assert that all wars are unjust; That the “free exercise of religion” and free speech guaranteed by our Constitution allows citizens, as both individuals and groups, to publicly proclaim their Faith in public places (By word or symbols) VS. those who argue that there should be NO public proclamation of religion in any place or at any time; That homosexual acts are physically-and-morally unhealthy for both the individual and the community against those who, for whatever reason, are “pushing the homosexual agenda and life-style”; That the USA has a natural right to choose who comes into this nation VS. those persons who would fully open our borders to any disease bearing, drug smuggling or other person wishing to begin life here as a criminal; That the media should truthfully report the news without bias against those who see nothing wrong in reporting lies as news with such bias as they can, for themselves only, justify for what they, alone, see as the common good; The 1500-year history of rape, genocide, retail murder and other crimes-against-humanity which is typical of Muslims' actions against others, to this very day, justifies the condemnation of their ideology against those who maintain that Islam is “only just another religion”; It is the cultural and moral tradition of the Jews and Christians which has lifted up Western Civilization in opposition to those who hold that such is not true and that the Judeo-Christian heritage has no place in the “modern” world; That the Courts have no right to establish new “rights” under and protected by our Constitution as that is reserved to the People by the constitutional process of amending that sacred document, a view opposed by those who use and mis-use “tame judges” to preempt the authority of the People and their elected representatives and allow or encourage them to “make laws”---Even if such actions are in violation of constitutions and the constitutional laws of our States and of the USA; AND, too many other and like differences to list here.

My real question is, “Which side are you on?”!

Shortness & Mixed Feelings

I have very mixed feelings about the following item as I have taken too much gaff as to being the "mighty mean midget"; But, I am opposed to all "special protections" under the Law.

Another Evil Ism: Heightism

This is not a joke or parody site. They are serious.

If you are tired of being called “Shorty” or “Pee-Wee,” you might want to go to their “get active” page and become politically involved. If your nickname is “Shrimp,” you definitely do!

Indeed, in some jurisdictions you can sue if you think you have been discriminated against. The site informs its readers that:

The State of Michigan and Cities of San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California have laws in place prohibiting height discrimination. The District of Columbia prohibits appearance-based discrimination.

We wonder whether the law in DC protects ugly people who want to be news anchors.

New Qualifications For Judges

If you have not yet guessed, I am a conservative in many ways. Here is my menu for selecting justices or the US Supreme Court and other federal judicial positions as of28 October 2005----Not in order of priority; But, on a “as many qualifications as possible” basis.

1. Such persons must be firmly dedicated to the proposition that any new “rights”
   (eg “Privacy”) added to those protected by our Constitution must be put into
   place by the People (Through the members of the Congress and the Legislatures
   of the Several States) in accordance with the constitutional provisions for
   amending that document---And NOT by judicial fiat.

2. There should or must be an influx of such justices and judges from outside the
   Federal Court and bureaucracy to prevent the “intellectual incest” of those classes
   of persons. [I have recommended, to President George W. Bush Michigan State
   Supreme Court Justice Stephan Markman and Professor William Bradford (Whose
   anti-Ward Churchill stance endears him to me as a very NOT “politically correct”
   person—Who happens to be a Native American)--As long as they are firmly in
   favor of the provisions of item #1 above.]

3. Such nominees should have a very good understanding of the arguments in favor
   of the proposition that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to the People at
   large and NOT to only those serving in a militia---As declared and carefully
   laid out by the office of the US Attorney General.

4. If possible, such persons should have honorably served in the Armed Forces or in
   the Coast Guard or as a fire fighter or as an on-the-streets police officer as it is
   far better to have our officials those who were willing to put their lives on the
   line to protect us than fill up our offices with those who have avoided such duty.

5. If possible, there should be a considerable portion of judges who have a sound
   education in engineering or the “hard sciences” (Physics, Math, Chemistry, Biology)
   as they would be very useful in educating fellow justices, attorneys and the general
   public as to law cases, involving science and technology, which are becoming
   more-and-more common.

"Saudi Dollars and Jihad"

Saudi Dollars and Jihad
By Rachel Ehrenfeld
FrontPageMagazine.com | October 24, 2005

Earlier this month, President George W. Bush finally declared that our war is with Radical Islam. He said: “In pursuit of their goals, Islamic Radicals are empowered by helpers and enablers…They are strengthened by front operations – such as corrupted charities – and those who aggressively fund the spread of Radical, intolerant versions of Islam.” Defeating “the murderous ideology of the Islamic Radicals,” he stated, is the “great challenge of our century.” This plague cannot be eliminated by appeasement, dialogue, or negotiated solutions.

The religious and philosophical justifications for promoting Jihad – which means holy war – around the world, is found in the Quran, says Dr. Hussein Shehata, a leading Islamic scholar at al-Azhar University in Cairo. According to Dr. Shehata, the following terms in the Quran seek to justify the spreading of Jihad: in Arabic, Al-Jihad bil-Lisan, which means Jihad of the Tongue, and al-Jihad bil-Qalam, Jihad of the Pen, both combine to promote Jihad.

These commands are complemented by Al-Jihad bil-Mal – the Financial Jihad – which is raising and contributing money to support the Jihad warriors – known as the Mujahideen. The Islamists of al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hizballah – from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Spain, England, Africa, Asia, South America, the Caribbean, the U.S. and Canada – vow to convert the world to Islam. As documented by Jonathan Dahoah Halevi, Director of Orient Research Group in Toronto, “if a country does not allow the propagation of Islam to its inhabitants, then the Muslim[s] ... would be justified in waging Jihad against that country.”

President Bush declared repeatedly that, “money is the lifeblood of terrorist operations.” Stopping the flow of money to the terrorists would stop the Financial Jihad which feeds the efforts to revive the Islamic Caliphate. It would also stop the financing of terror attacks, hate propaganda and education, and their undermining of democracy. In Israel, Financial Jihad has funded more than 26,000 terror attacks in the last five years, including 144 suicide attacks. This comes to at least 14 attacks a day in a country the size of Vancouver Island.

While acknowledging the dangers of Radical Islam, and the support its propagators receive from “authoritarian regimes ­– allies of convenience like Syria and Iran,” the President neglected to mention Saudi Arabia, and the illegal drug trade that provides major financial resources for Islamist and other terrorist organizations worldwide.

Despite the oil crisis, we can no longer pretend that the Saudis are our allies in the war against Radical Islam. Continuing to do so only sets us up for failure.

Former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director James Woolsey testified before the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Government Reform in April this year that “Some $85-90 billion has been spent from sources in Saudi Arabia in the last 30 years, spreading Wahhabi beliefs throughout the world.” The U.S. National Intelligence Reform Act of December 2004 requires development of a Presidential strategy to confront Islamic extremism, in collaboration with Saudi Arabia. So far, says a September Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, U.S. agencies have been unable to determine the extent of Saudi Arabia’s domestic and international cooperation.

Indeed, the Saudis continue to fund terror: in August, Y'akub Abu Assab, a senior Hamas operative, was captured after he opened the Judea regional Hamas Communication Center in East Jerusalem. Assab transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars, as well as operational instructions from Hamas headquarters in Saudi Arabia to Hamas operatives in the West Bank and Gaza for terror attacks in Israel, as well as funds for the families of suicide bombers.

On Iqra TV, on August 29, 2005, Saudi Arabia's secretary-general of the official Muslim World League Koran Memorization Commission, Sheikh Abdallah Basfar, urged Muslims everywhere to fund terrorism. He said: "The Prophet said: 'He who equips a fighter -- it is as if he himself fought.' You lie in your bed, safe in your own home, and donate money and Allah credits you with the rewards of a fighter. What is this? A privilege.”

Under U.S. pressure, Saudi Arabia declared repeatedly that it would close some charities identified as spreading Wahhabism and funding terrorism. However, the GAO report notes that “in May 2005, ...it was unclear whether the government of Saudi Arabia had implemented its plans.” Despite Saudi promises to establish a new National Commission for Relief and Charity Work Abroad, the GAO said:” “as of July 2005, this commission was not yet fully operational.”

At least two members of the Saudi government, Riyadh Governor Prince Salman and Minister of Defense Prince Sultan, are sponsors of the Saudi High Commission, which evidence in the 9/11 victims lawsuits shows “has long acted as a fully integrated component of al-Qaeda’s logistical and financial support infrastructure.” Moreover, the lawsuits detail that “the Sept. 11 attacks were a direct, intended and foreseeable product of [the High Commission’s] participation in al-Qaeda’s jihadist campaign.”

Princes Salman and Sultan are also affiliated with the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), which “had been involved in terror plans and plots and had purposely directed its activities against the United States.” The Princes have also been affiliated with the Saudi Charity al- Haramain, whose U.S. branches were shut down.

The most important finding by the GAO, however, was buried in a footnote. It says: “the distinction between the [Saudi] government’s support and funding, versus that provided by entities and individuals, especially in the case of Saudi charities’ alleged activities, is not always clear.”

While the U.S. Treasury Department is obligated to monitor funders of terrorism, the GAO reports that Treasury is not fulfilling its duty, in that Treasury “does not identify, monitor, or counter the support and funding or the global propagation of Islamic extremism as it relates to an ideology.” This ideology, according to the GAO, “denies the legitimacy of non-believers and practitioners of other forms of Islam, and that explicitly promotes hatred, intolerance, and violence…”

Meanwhile, legal systems in the West are doing their best: the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in California decided on October 20th that the U.S. can designate foreign organizations as terrorist groups and bar Americans from financially backing them—in a case involving money raised for the Iranian terrorist group, Mujahedin-e Khalq.

Similarly, The European Court of Justice ruled on September 22, 2005 that the EU has the right to freeze assets belonging to suspected terrorists on a United Nations list. The case was brought by the Saudi based Al Barakaat International Foundation and two individuals, Ahmed Ali Yusuf, a U.K. citizen of Pakistani origins, and Yassin Abdullah Kadi, the Saudi who headed the Muwafaq foundation. Both organizations and individuals were identified as funding al-Qaeda.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting, which was held in Paris earlier this month, and the many other conferences devoted to terrorism financing, have issued self-congratulatory statements and plans for further meetings. But as important as the statements, new laws and banning of terrorist organizations are, they are useless as long as the financing of Radical Islam is allowed to flourish. Indeed, without the political will to stop the direct and indirect financing of terrorism, no law or convention will stop it.

Until we face up to sources of terrorist money being provided or condoned in various ways by our putative allies, we will continue to issue more lame statements condemning future attacks without implementing real measures that can protect our country. We have the ability to end the plague of terrorism if we only target the funding that makes it possible. We owe it to future generations to do so.

Not All Police Are "Good Guys"

As much as I admire most police officers and other law enforcement agents (And, their departments/agencies) there is a too-large minority of both individuals and organizations in that “work” who do NOT meet with my approbation as they grow and have grown too powerful, too far beyond the control of the People, too forgetful of the fact that the “common people” also have rights, powers (eg In most of the USA, the ability to buy and keep-at-hand modern weapons) and a strong desire to NOT be abused.

Politicians and those who elect them should be specially aware of the following statement (Adapted from Jack Vance's The Demon Princes:

“As soon as the police slip out from under the firm thumb of a suspicious and careful legislative body, they become arbitrary, merciless, a law unto themselves. They think no more of justice, but only of establishing themselves as a privileged and envied elite. They mistake the attitude of natural caution and uncertainty of the civilian population as admiration and respect, and presently they go about their land with superior fire-power and a megalomaniac tendency to use such. Citizens become, therefore, not masters but servants or slaves. Such a police force becomes merely an aggregate of sanctioned criminals, the more baleful as their power and actions are sanctioned by the Law. For this sub-class of police operatives and their like agencies, humans are not understood in terms other than objects to be dealt with at the convenience of these overly powerful persons.

Citizens' desires or dignity mean nothing to them.

If such a police officer kills a civilian, it is a “regrettable circumstance”. HOWEVER, if a citizen kills a police officer, all hell breaks loose and all other police business comes to an effective stop until “someone” is arrested (Or, killed by the police) for that offense. All too often the rights (eg To no searches of private homes without judicially approved warrants) of all the People are ignored. All too often, any captured suspect is subjected to physical abuse (To the level of torture) or “killed while attempting to escape”. Such police consider any attack OR even lesser opposition to their desires and intolerable presumption!

Better a hundred unchecked criminals that the operations of such a police force!”

Examples of this type of “police work” include the FBI at “Ruby Ridge” (Where an unarmed woman, holding her infant, was murdered by an FBI sniper) and all of the Federal authorities at the “Branch Davidian” compound near Waco, Texas (Where Janet Reno, the USA's, Democrat Party, Attorney General ordered an assault resulting in the deaths of many children and non-combatant women when the ongoing siege would have resulted, in time, to the surrender of the people there to face the probably unfounded criminal charges which might have been brought against them.) Too many local police department (eg Milwaukee) have too many examples (eg The beating of Mr. Frank Jude, Jr.) of such abuses.

Therefore, keep a doubtful and analytic mind open as to any requests for the increase of police power in this land!

Theft = Murder

Property represents the time someone expends in creating it. The crops of the farmer come only with the farmer's great efforts; The iron smelted, cast, forged and formed all are from the worker; The composition of music or artistic-design or engineering or scientific concept all represent effort----And, all of these represent some part of the workers' life!

THEREFORE, the theft of such property is the taking of some part of another person's life which can not be replaced and is a “small murder”.

It does not matter if the stealing is done with a gun or a legislative act or by plagiarism or industrial espionage or by a "welfare cheat" or the papers of an attorney enforced by a court---They are all stealing and the taking of a part of a human life! Even insurance coverage or presumed, but corrupted, consent-of-the-citizen to legislative acts only spread the theft and loss of life-time over many individuals.

When the acts of any such thief (Common robber or plagiarist or lawyer or legislator) add up to one human life, that person should be punished as a murderer.

(nb The above is adapted from a quote in Jack Vance's The Anome.)

Cube & Cathedral: A Book Review

Weigel, George
The Cube and the Cathedral
Basic Books (Perseus Books Group)
New York; 2005
ISBN 0-465-09266-7

This is most certainly not an easy book to read in spite of its shortness and shortness of each chapter. In many ways it reminds of Eric Hoffer's The True Believer—Some Notes On Mass Movements as to the compactness, logic and challenge of its thoughts AND my need to re-read much of it as a first reading of and reflection upon their contents was not enough for me to really grasp the essential meaning of the authors.. This is very interesting because the two authors are worlds apart in basic assumptions about the reality of the the true nature of humans. However, both authors had (Mr. Hoffer is dead) or have commanding personal (On TV) presences and spoke/speak with a passion not understood from their written words.

Mr. Weigel lays out the current and probable future of what was a European Civilization with special references to: The French; The EU's purposeful and even hateful rejection of Europe's Christian roots and foundation in its proposed constitution and even the current administration of its affairs; The contrasting Slavic view of human and humanity, as well as the very modern (Perhaps, too modern for the EU's bureaucrats who are “stuck in the 1960s”); The pathological and self-destructive (Even suicidal) loss of population; And, many other and very interesting facets of European dynamics.

This book is worth your time and reflection---And, will make demands on both.

It certainly appears that the “left” supports “secular humanism” which, in turn, is really atheism flying under a false-flag as would a pirate ship. This “European disease” is endemic, if not epidemic, in those counties of the USA in which Mr. Kerry received a majority of votes in the November, 2004 election and was well represented by him and by the current Chairman of the Democratic National Committee.

One of the goals of that movement is to remove religion from the public's hearing and view in all public places (Such as schools and court houses) and to make it a non-factor in the political, social and intellectual life of the United States of America. Such atheists, posing as “secular humanists” have had a great measure of success, in large part, through the rulings of law-making (NOT law interpreting) judicial tyrants.

In Europe this disease is no less epidemic than the Black Plague was and the “action” is from EU and national (Especially in France) bureaucrats who fear or despise Christianity and, in fact, Christ. The extent to which this loathing of Christianity, its thoughts and its followers can be clearly seen in the case of Rocco Buttiglione as described in Mr. George Weigel's most excellent book The Cube and the Cathedral (Basic Books; NY; 2005), TO WIT:

“Judging from the Buttiglione case which roiled European political and journalistic circles
in late 2004, it seems that orthodox Christians are also to be excluded from the new
Europe's public space, or at least, its public offices.

Rocco Buttiglione, a distinguished Italian philosopher and Minister for European Affairs
in the Italian government was chosen by the incoming President of the European Commis-
sion , Portugal's Jose Manuel Durao Parroso, to be commissioner of justice on the new
Commission. Professor Buttiglione was then subjected to a particularly nasty
inquisition by the justice commission of the European Parliament. His convictions about
the morality of homosexual acts and the nature of marriage were deemed by Euro-
-Parliamentarians to disqualify him from holding high office on the European
Commission---despite Buttiglione's clear distinction, in his testimony, between what
he, a committed and intellectually sophisticated Catholic, regards as immoral behavior andwhat the law regards as criminal behavior, and despite his sworn commitment, substan-
tiated by a lifetime of work, to uphold and defend the legitimate civil right of all. This
did not satisfy many members of the European parliament, who evidently agreed with one
of their members in his claim that Buttiglione's moral convictions---not any actions he had
undertaken, and would likely undertake, but his convictions---were in direct contradiction
of European law.”

If you think this is only a “European thing”, then you should reflect on the atheistic attacks made by “secular humanists” on potential or real nominees for Federal judgeships, on President George W. Bush and on a certain Georgia judge who insisted that the public display, in a Court House, of the Ten Commandments was a matter of “the free exercise of religion” and an expression of “free speech” as allegedly guaranteed by the United States Constitution.

In every way possible we must maintain the right to have religion firmly in the public's view and hearing and, as exercises of Constitutional Rights, in public places!

What part of "NO!" do you fail to understand?

“What part of the word “NO” do you fail to understand?” was (Perhaps, is) a question many parents put to disobedient children and many rational people put to those who seem to be disconnected from the realities of limits on their behaviors as if they, also, were spoiled brats.

Today, in this time but in every place, the real adults of the world must say “NO!!!” to both those who would convert or subjugate all to the death cult of Islam (Which would destroy our civilization) and the equally dangerous death cult of “militant secular humanism” (Which would kill the true human spirit and, thereby, also destroy civilization).

The nature and dangers of Islam are well documented over its last 1500-years and in such places as <www.crusaderknightstwoswords.blogspot.com” and in the books and articles noted or reviewed at that site (Especially “The True Face Of Islam”; Contained in its May, 2005 archives). The nature and dangers of secular humanism (Especially as to the European variety of that disease) is well laid out in Mr. George Weigel's The Cube and the Cathedral (Basic Books; New York; 2005) as well as in some places in my blog.

Therefore, we must use the strongest way of saying “NO!!!” to both of those dangers in our frequent written and spoken words to officials, ministers-of-religion, journalists, teachers and anyone else in positions of power or influence---As well as at the ballot box, with our check books and spending patterns and other like means. If those methods do not stop the noted and evil ideologies, then we may have to resort to “other means”.