I know I may get a lot of flack for this, but I am going to let all my friends, Online and Offline, Liberal and Conservative, know about this article in the Accuracy In Media website...
You can read the article, and see and hear the interview for yourself here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk:80/2/hi/uk_news/7232661.stm
A former Muslim terrorist who became a Christian says he won't be intimidated by a Muslim advocacy group that is up in arms over a recent appearance he and several colleagues made at the U.S. Air Force Academy. Walid Shoebat, Kamal Saleem, and Zachariah Anani were invited to speak at the Colorado Springs school on the topic of dismantling terrorism. Their appearance was part of a weeklong conference on terrorism that was organized by Academy cadets under the auspices of the political science department. ******************************************************** Comment from Reformed Faith: Well, DUH. Of course they're going to try and use our own legal system against us! They want us to be silent so they can permeate our culture so much that our American culture and our Christian spiritual heritage will be drowned under the muck of their oppression.
But even before Wednesday's appearance, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) demanded that the school include faithful Muslims to balance the presentation -- claiming the three speakers use hateful rhetoric against Islam. "Their entire world view is based on the idea that Islam is evil," Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR spokesman, told the New York Times. "We want to provide a balancing perspective to their hate speech."
But Walid Shoebat says it was an Islamic student sent by CAIR who displayed hate. "One of our colleagues, Kamal Saleem, after finishing speaking was approached by Omar Khalifa, a Palestinian student, [who] gave him a death threat," says Shoebat. "And there was a report, of course, and investigation over this whole issue."
Shoebat says this is not the Middle East. "We don't deserve to get death threats from Muslims who are coming here as students and who are immigrating to this country to try to run this country the way they want back in the Middle East," he argues. "This is the United States of America, and we are entitled to free speech."
According to Shoebat, authorities are looking into the situation, but he does not know what action might be taken.
The New York Times also reports that a group known as Members of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation was critical of the three former Muslims speaking on campus, saying it was "typical" of the Academy to invite "born-again Christians to address cadets on terrorism rather than experts who could teach students about the Middle East." The group is suing the federal government to combat what it considers creeping evangelism in the armed forces.
Reportedly, Mr. Anani did tell students during his talk that converting from Islam to Christianity saved his life.
Okay - this protest happened in my hometown... apparently some helicopter pilots that had been from Corpus Christi Naval Base had died in Iraq and the infamous anti-military cult that calls itself a church from Jonesboro, Kansas had planned to protest against the pilots. (Story here: http://Caller.com/news/2008/feb/03/troop-support/ )
I want to urge EVERYONE to vote in the primary (even those who don't vote the way I'd like you to... LOL!)
Huckabee is recognized as a national leader, having been honored by several renowned publications and organizations for his numerous accomplishments. Governing Magazine named him as one of its ‘Public Officials of the Year’ for 2005, Time Magazine honored him as one of the five best governors in America, and later in the same year, Huckabee received the American Association of Retired Person’s Impact Award. In 2007, he was presented with the Music for Life Award by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) for his commitment to music education.
Huckabee is past chairman of the National Governors’ Association (NGA) and chairman of the Education Commission of the States. During his tenure as governor, he served in other leadership positions including president of the Council of State Governments, state co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, and chairman of the Southern Governors Association, the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Technology Council, the Southern International Trade Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission.
As former chairman of the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission, Huckabee worked with the 37-state coalition to develop energy policy and lobby Congress on energy matters, such as the regulation of oil and gas production. He also is known nationally for his focus on technology in state government. He created an automobile license renewal system that’s become a model for states across the country. Huckabee directed the creation of other advancements that have made Arkansas a technology leader among the states.
Huckabee became governor in July 1996 when his predecessor resigned. He was one of the youngest governors in the country at the time. Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term as governor in 1998, attracting the largest percentage of the vote ever received by a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arkansas, and was re-elected to another four-year term in November 2002.
Huckabee first was elected lieutenant governor in a 1993 special election and was elected to a full four-year term in 1994. He was only the fourth Republican to be elected to statewide office since Reconstruction.
Under Huckabee’s direction, Arkansas has been recognized as having created one of the nation’s best school accountability programs. Huckabee pushed through reforms in Arkansas that have significantly increased the number of charter schools and established new approaches to workforce education.
One of his proudest achievements as governor was signing legislation creating ARKids First. The program provides health insurance coverage for more than 70,000 Arkansas children who otherwise might have gone without. Before leaving office, Huckabee supported the ARHealthNet program which gives small business owners and their employees better access to health care coverage.
Huckabee, a fiscal conservative, pushed through the Arkansas Legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history — a $90 million tax relief package for Arkansas families. He led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers' Bill of Rights and created a welfare reform program that reduced the welfare rolls in the state by almost 50 percent. He also doubled the standard deduction to $2,000 for single taxpayers and $4,000 for those who are married. He proposed The Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights which established a uniform notice and due process procedure to guarantee that all Arkansans will be treated fairly in property tax assessment.
In total, Huckabee cut taxes and fees over 90 times during his ten and a half years as governor, saving the people of Arkansas almost $380 million. When he left office, Arkansas had over $800 million in state surplus, which he believes should go back to the people in the form of either a tax rebate or tax cut.
As NGA chairman, Huckabee promoted his Healthy America Initiative, based on his successful Healthy Arkansas model. In 2004, Huckabee created the Healthy Arkansas initiative, an effort to encourage Arkansans to stop smoking, exercise more and eat healthier. As a direct result of his efforts, for the first time, Arkansas state employees are taking health risk assessments, are receiving individualized health information and are receiving discounts on health insurance premiums in exchange for healthy behavior. He encouraged private sector businesses by providing them with tool kits to create workplace wellness programs. The Arkansas Healthy Restaurant program was designed to encourage healthy eating options outside the home. Huckabee supported and signed into law the Clean Indoor Air Act of 2006, which prohibits smoking in most Arkansas workplaces.
Huckabee’s efforts to improve his own health have received national attention. Diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2003, he lost 110 pounds. Barely two years later, he has completed four marathons: The 2005 and 2006 Little Rock Marathons, the Marine Corps Marathon and the ING New York City Marathon. As a result of his accomplishments, The Road Runners Club of America named him its ‘Southern Region Runner of the Year’ and USA Track & Field has named him their ‘Athlete of the Week’ for the country.
Spartanburg Herald-Journal The city of Berkeley, Calif., has decided it doesn't want to participate in the defense of the nation, so the federal government should feel no obligation to contribute to the prosperity of that city. That's the theory behind Sen. Jim DeMint's plan to withdraw all earmarks for the city.The Berkeley City Council voted last week to tell a Marine Corps recruiting station that it "is not welcome in the city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders." That's a truly bizarre position to take toward the men and women who have dedicated their lives to preserving your freedom, but Berkeley went even further. The council's action went beyond insulting the Marines to sponsoring harassment of them. The group Code Pink has been protesting the recruiting station. The council voted to give that group a parking space in front of the recruiting station once a week for six months and to give the group a free permit for protesting once a week. This is despite the fact that business owners in the area are sick of these disruptive protests. It is one thing for the city to condemn current foreign policy. That's within the free speech rights of any group. It's quite another to try to kick a military recruiting station out of the city and set up the constant protests against this station. Berkeley's action was against the Marine Corps as an institution, not against the current war. And its action wasn't merely speech. It wants the recruiting station moved from the city.The City Council acted against the military, not any policy. In doing so, it voted not to support our national defense. Other cities have adopted loony measures to oppose the war. The town of Brattleboro, Vt., is considering issuing city criminal charges against President Bush. But those acts are mere statements against a politician's actions, not an official act to kick the military out of the city. Since Berkeley doesn't want to contribute to national defense, why should the federal government subsidize Berkeley's success? DeMint, R-S.C., identified $2.1 million in earmarks in recently passed legislation allocated to that city. He says he will introduce legislation to rescind them and dedicate the money to the Marines instead.The rest of the Senate should back him. Congress had to take federal funds away from universities that wouldn't allow recruiters on campus. It should extend that policy to municipalities. www.jimdemint.com
Editorials
February 3, 2008
For the next 10 months, presidential candidates will be telling us how they plan to make the world a safer place for Americans. Now, that’s good, of course, but there are other people whose safety American Christians ought to be concerned about: that is, Christians suffering for their faith around the world. Sadly, as you know, there are many examples of this suffering. A recent story inAl Jazeera’s English-language service described how Islamic radicals are “testing” Indonesia’s reputation for “for tolerance and moderation.” Moderation? I wonder what the Christians of East Timor, an estimated 200,000 of whom died during Indonesia’s 25-year occupation, would say about that reputation. Needless to say, this example of Indonesian “moderation” goes unmentioned in the Al Jazeera article. Instead, we are told about a Muslim group called the “Anti-Apostasy Alliance.” This group targets churches and Christians throughout the island of Java, Indonesia’s most-populous island. As its name suggests, the greatest object of the Alliance’s ire are converts to Christianity. A spokesman told Al Jazeera that “Conversions to Christianity in Indonesia . . . have become increasingly serious.” He then added that “in my judgment I think it is a bigger evil than terrorism.” Given the well-documented willingness of Islamic radicals to use violence to further their ends, calling anything a “bigger evil than terrorism” is no idle threat. It is the verbal equivalent of painting a “bull’s-eye” on the back of every Javanese Christian. While Islam is the religion typically associated with the persecution of Christians, it does not have a monopoly on the practice. In the week following Christmas, Hindu extremists burned 14 churches and killed one Christian in the Indian state of Orissa. The attacks are part of a larger campaign of violence prompted by Hindu fears over—that’s right—people converting to Christianity. As I have told you all before, many of the converts come from India’s lowest castes, particularly the Dalits. Rather than allowing these poorest of the poor the consolation that Christianity offers, Hindu nationalists attack them, their churches, and target their clergy. Worst of all, they often do so with the complicity of government officials: Orissa is governed by an ally of the Hindu nationalist BJP party. An archbishop told local television that the “government has allowed [the attackers] to continue.” You probably will not hear this issue brought up at a presidential debate. That is why American Christians have to make the mistreatment of their brethren an issue in this year’s elections. This is especially true given our privileged position: We are citizens of the most powerful nation on earth, a nation for whom freedom of religion is, arguably, the first freedom. We also have experience at bringing the suffering of people in faraway places to the attention of our fellow Americans, whether it has been the plight of North Koreans, the Sudanese, or the global AIDS crisis. God has put us in this privileged position so that we will speak out for those around the world who are being persecuted. So, pressure the candidates whom you encounter. They want to know what you think? Tell them.
My husband recorded this in our living room last year and I just wanted to share it and wish all of you a very blessed and happy Christmas and a New Year overflowing with grace and peace. Blessings, The Reformed Faith Weblog
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Reformed Faith said:
If I were in a position to do so, I would seriously consider deporting someone who makes a death threat... read more
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I have listened to these men talk several times. The reason CAIR was wanting to give their counter to theirs... read more
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