Siraj Wahhaj at UCF

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

Knight News.com has a report on last night's appearance by Siraj Wahhaj at the University of Central Florida.


http://knightnews.com/2011/02/ucf-assigns-police-to-protect-imam-regulate-media-protesters/

It appears that Wahhaj had on his moderate face last night since he knew he was speaking to a mixed audience. During the Q and A, he stated that in a non-Islamic country, Shariah law would not be applicable. (Of course, the first step would be to change a non-Islamic country into an Islamic country.) Apparently, Wahhaj left his more radical comments to other events when he doesn't have to worry about non-Muslims being present. In more unguarded moments, he has been known to loudly tell his audiences not to take non-Muslims for friends. He has also been quoted as telling his followers to go into the prisons and convert African-Americans to Islam so they can come back to the inner cities and carry out jihad with Uzis. And of course, there is that little matter back in 1993 when he was mentioned as an unindicted possible co-conspirator in the World Trade Center bombing by US Attorney Mary Jo White. There is also that little relationship he had with Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (The infamous Blind Shiekh), for who he testified as a character witness.


"In time, democracy will crumble, and there will be nothing, and the only thing that will remain will be Islam." -Wahhaj (The Rant)


"A little over a year later, addressing an audience of New Jersey Muslims, the same Wahaj articulated a rather different vision from his mild and moderate invocation in the House. If only Muslims were more clever politically, he told his New Jersey listeners, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional government with a caliphate. "If we were united and strong, we'd elect our own emir [leader] and give allegiance to him. . . . [T]ake my word, if 6-8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us." In 1995, Wahaj served as a character witness for Omar Abdel Rahman in the trial that found that blind sheikh guilty of conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States. More alarming still, the U.S. attorney for New York listed Wahaj as one of the "unindicted persons who may be alleged as co-conspirators" in the sheikh's case."
-Daniel Pipes

In addition, Creeping Sharia has an audio of a Wahhaj speech:


http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2011/01/15/ground-zero-mosque-imam-replaced-by-radical-linked-imam/


I guess Wahhaj didn't say any of those things last night to his college audience.


It also appeared that the campus police were enforcing who could record the event as described in the linked article. In spite of that, a wonderful time was had by all as the gullible UCF students learned what a moderate and kindly old grandfather Wahhaj is. And why not? They paid for it out of their school fees.

The Most Shelled City In The World

A couple of articles from The Most Shelled City In The World.

1 million Israelis are asking: "Who's next?"

Last night, Wednesday the 23rd of March, was the first time since Operation Cast Lead that an Iranian Grad missile exploded in Be'er Sheba, 40km from Gaza.

Arriving at the scene of the rocket strike Thursday morning, in the Northern neighborhoods of Be'er Sheba, brought me back to the terror scenes in Sderot of the past few years. For several years, rocket attacks were part of my daily routine living and working at the Sderot Media Center. When the Tzeva Adom (Code Red) sounded, I would go to the neighborhoods where the rocket exploded and film the scene. The next day, I would return, documenting the 'the day after, listening to the stories of residents on what occurred to them the day before.



In Be'er Sheba, I saw the same scenes I'd witnessed in Sderot: shattered car windshields; the shrapnel holes making "windows" on the homes; the radius of damage from where the missile exploded; the 'cover up' of the missile hole; like nothing happened and expecting the people to go back to normal; the holes in the iron doors; the Shabbat candles standing among shattered glasses; pictures of Rabbis hanging untouched on what remained of the walls; frightened and excited residents of the damaged or destroyed homes who just want to share their personal experience with the world; hearing story, counting the amount of times I heard the words; Luck, coincidence, and miracles.

Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center

Be'er Sheba resident Chen Saban, a Sapir College student in her early twenties whose house was hit, described how she and her family were lucky enough to reach the secured room on time, saying she never expected her home to be hit. She said it was ironic because she goes to Sapir College, which is only a few km away from Gaza. Chen, who is supposed to get married in the next 3 weeks, is no longer certain about her future in Be'er Sheba and how she ill be able to plan her life living there.

Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center

It was amazing to hear all this because it took me 45 minutes to drive from Sderot to Be'er Sheba, which is 40km from Gaza, with residents having 60 seconds to run for the shelter once the siren goes off. And still the same reaction and comments of the frightened and traumatized people.

Today, the more than 1 million Israelis who live in the range of 40km from Gaza are not feeling as secure as they did yesterday, asking themselves "who is next?"

Yitchak Akli a resident of the Be'er Sheba neighborhood said: "We should learn from

Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center

the experience of 'cast lead'' that this would happen, they have (missiles) and hiding them, to launch and fire them at the right time, on any target in Be'er Sheba. It's a matter of time. They've learned our capabilities and they've learned us".


Since the last "cease fire" 530 rockets and missiles have been fired towards the South Western, past of Israel.

The Iranian Grad missile exploding in Bair-Sheba is a reminder how that a few months ago the Shin-Bet reported that there's a stack of over 5,000 Iranian missiles in Gaza, all of them having a range of 40 KM.

This is especially troubling because, in November 2009, Hamas test-fired a missile test towards the Mediterranean, reaching 60 KM, which is the distance from Northern Gaza to Tel-Aviv.

In November 2010, the ITIC reported that Hamas has missiles with an 80km range.

Almost everyone in the Western Negev knows not it's not "if'" but "when"' the next missile escalation starts, leading to the next Gaza war.

After living in Sderot for the past 5 years, watching the construction of 5,000 new bomb shelters, you don’t have to be a prophet to understand that the highest authorities in Israel know there has not been a permanent end to the rocket fire. Being realistic, Israel has to be prepared for many more years of conflict on the Gaza border.

Photo: Noam Bedein, Sderot Media Center

While Iran is certainly a threat for Israel, the biggest delegitimization threat for Israel, is with no doubt Gaza. Add to this the uprisings in Egypt and North Africa, bringing to power groups that have already declared they will end the "peace treaty" with Israel.

The harsh response that Israel received from the world media and many governments during and after Cast Lead, after the Flotilla incident, and right up to today is actually a modern-day version of a very old demonization of Jews and Israel. A tremendous effort is being made to delegitimize Israel, with the goal of eliminating the Jewish state. How Israel will deal with this threat?

How should Israel deal with this threat?  Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amatzia Chen believes that the current  policy has failed.

"In all of the previous wars, starting from the 1956 Suez Operation, through the Six Day War and in the Yom Kippur War as well, the IDF took the fight into enemy territory," Chen recalled. "The security concept was that of fighting the war we choose, and seizing the initiative. But since 1982, after that rally in Rabin Square, Rabin and Peres decided, for political reasons, that the strategy needs to be changed and that we should only go to war when there is no choice - i.e., when the sword is on our neck."

Chen said that since that decision was made, Israel has lost its deterrent capability. "Our enemies understood the dramatic change in Israel's security concept as a position of weakness. In any case, they had ceased threatening us with regular armies and turned instead to the weapon of terror. They murdered hundreds of Jews inside Israel, but controlled the bloodletting so as to enable Israel's leaders to maintain the concept that one does not go to war as long as there is a choice."

"Every Israeli citizen knows that the Israel of today is not the Israel of pre-1982."

Chen said that artillery fire on Gaza is not a proper response to the missile attack on Be'er Sheva. "We are a nation that wants to live, and there is no point in fair play when it comes to terrorists. That is not how terror is defeated. The State of Israel is a sovereign state that needs to formulate a proper strategy. Unfortunately, the strategy today is that if you are fired upon you fire back. We are, in effect, signaling to the enemies that they can continue using the same method in the future, too."

There is great anger in Sderot, a city with more bomb shelters than playgrounds.

Speaking from the city of bomb shelters

By Dave Balson

Like everyone else on the planet, I have heard about the "complicated" situation in the Middle East my whole life: promises to fix it, hopeful negotiations that crumble behind closed doors, rockets, wars, treaties, stalemates, etc. Round and round it goes until, exasperated, I figure both sides are unwilling to reach the type of tough-but-straightforward agreements that brought peace to Ireland and South Africa, and I give up. "It's complicated" is a Facebook status, not a diplomatic agreement.

I spent the last two weeks in Israel. The trip was free, as it is to any Jew, through a program called "Taglit Birthright." To any students who come from a Jewish background, I suggest checking it out. It is a free trip to Israel, if nothing else.

Last Wednesday I visited Sderot, a town of about 20,000 people in the western Negev desert, less than a mile away from the Gaza strip.

Sderot has been the target of more than 10,000 rockets fired from Gaza since 2000. Gaza is controlled by the militant Islamic group Hamas. Sderot is the only town in the 21st Century where rockets are being continually fired at a civilian population.

To deal with the rocket attacks, the town has a siren that gives residents a 15-second warning to get into a bomb shelter.

Stop for a moment and consider how far you could get in 15 seconds. Could you get to the nearest bathroom? The nearest car? The nearest stairway?

Sderot is the bomb shelter capitol of the world. Every house has a bomb shelter. Apartment buildings have bomb shelters crawling up their sides. Every bus stop is a bomb shelter and others are spaced in between; there is a bomb shelter about 15 seconds away from most places.

If you are a child in Sderot, you should hope you are in school when the rockets come. Older schools have been retrofitted with huge steel shields on their outer walls and roofs. Newer schools are literally giant bomb shelters, their paltry playgrounds nothing but dust and three safe cubes awaiting the siren's call.

Other parts of town have the type of playgrounds we grew up on: ladder up, slide down, monkey bars and the wall with a clear bubble that never made sense. They have painted a castle a nice shade of purple, and made two long concrete snakes look so vibrant and fun, you could almost forget they, too, are bomb shelters. Between 70 to 95 percent of children in Sderot have Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.

So why are people still living in this god-forsaken place? There are a few reasons. For one, housing is much cheaper there (feel free to guess why). For another, Sderot has one of the most lively and productive music scenes in the Eastern Hemisphere. The town is home to more chart-topping bands than any other in Israel and rivals any in Europe.

But the real reason people stay is because they feel they must. Sderot is internationally recognized as part of Israel. If they leave, if they give up, what happens to the next town? And the next? Rockets from Gaza can hit Israel's economic and cultural centers - Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, respectively.

I saw all this from Israel's side of the border, so I cannot speak with objective moral authority on who is right or wrong, victim or oppressor. I know everyone I talked to in Israel wants peace more than anything, and would give up land if they thought it would achieve it. I also know that people suffer in Gaza and struggle for a homeland in the West Bank.

As a commentator, I am supposed to speak in shoulds and should nots.

No one should have to live like the people of Sderot. That's all I've got.

It's complicated.

Dave Balson is a senior journalism major. He can be reached at 581-7942 or DENopinions@gmail.com

I always allow the people of Sderot to speak for themselves.  This is their story, their struggle, their battle. What is happening in Sderot, Beer-Sheva, Ashkelon, the Negev, is the price for living in Israel.  For Sderot's residents it is the price of living on the frontier.  If they surrender their city, it will only encourage Hamas to conquer the next city, then the one after it.  Until they have conquered the whole nation.

You are not on the frontier, the front line in this battle, but you can help. The small donation that you give to the Sderot Media Center goes to help the people, especially the children of Sderot. Just a bit of your spare change will help.  To donate click here.

Children of Sderot Just Want A Little Peace

I'm Taking The Ball And Going Home!

By Findalis

Today the Palestine Authority under the leadership of Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen is having a Temper Tantrum over last Friday's veto by the United States.  It seems that Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen believes he is the leader of a superpower instead of a want-a-be nation dependent on foreign aid from the United States and the European Union.

Organizations associated with the Palestinian Authority in east Jerusalem announced on Wednesday that they are boycotting the local U.S. consulate.

The reason for the boycott is to protest last Friday’s U.S. veto at the United Nations Security Council meeting that torpedoed an anti-Israeli resolution.

PA and Arab leaders had submitted a request to the Security Council to vote to condemn Israel for allowing Jews to build homes within Jewish cities in Judea and Samaria. President Barack Obama had attempted to prevent the PA from submitting the resolution to the Security Council in a phone call to PA head Mahmoud Abbas in which he reportedly offered a benefits package, but all the suggestions for a compromise were rejected. This lead to the U.S. placing a veto on the resolution, which would have otherwise passed as all the other 14 members voted in favor of it.

The resolution condemns construction for Judea and Samaria Jews as “illegal” and “a major obstacle to peace.” In addition, it would state that the UN is prepared to send envoys to the region “to examine the realities on the ground.”

Senior Fatah official Hatem Abdel Kader, who holds the Jerusalem portfolio for the PA, told AFP on Wednesday that the newly announced boycott against the U.S. would see the 28 Arab local councils in Jerusalem cutting ties with the consulate.

“The Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem have decided to boycott the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem in protest against the U.S. veto,” Kader told AFP. “We will cut our relationship with all American institutions, including with USAID and we will not take any help or money from them.”

According to AFP, approximately 28 local councils have agreed to join in the boycott, which would include political meetings and contact with U.S. officials.

Kader said that “The boycott will continue until the U.S. administration changes its stance on the Palestinian issue, especially towards the settlements [the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria – ed.].”

Kader added that the PA also expects an apology by the Obama administration for using the veto.

Full Story

“We will cut our relationship with all American institutions, including with USAID and we will not take any help or money from them.”

Is this a promise?  Will they return the $1.2 BILLION that has already been sent?  Will they stop our arming their Police Force?  What do you think they would say or do if the US were to cut them off completely?

President Obama is many things but in the game of politics he is no fool. There are only 2.5 million Muslims in the US and 6 million Jews with large voting populations in key Electoral College states of New York, Florida, and California.  Not to mention the millions of Christians who are deep supporters of Israel.  Yes the veto in the Security Council last Friday had more to do with November 6th, 2012 than with any resolution of the problem with the Palestinians.  In fact it had a lot to do with trying to convince Jews to support him in his re-election bid than any thing else.

Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen really doesn't have anything to worry about.  Give Barack Hussein Obama a few weeks and will bow down before him the way he has done before:

Next to be done to Mahmoud Abbas Abu Mazen!

Let Your Prayers Ring Out!

By Findalis

For the People of Christchurch, New Zealand. As of writing this at least 65 people are dead, hundreds maybe thousands wounded.  Destruction on a massive scale.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – A powerful earthquake slammed New Zealand's already-bruised city of Christchurch on Tuesday, killing at least 65 people, and sending rescuers scrambling to help people trapped under collapsed buildings.

The 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit the country's second-largest city around lunchtime, collapsing buildings and sending bricks and other heavy debris toppling into busy city streets. It was the second major quake to strike Christchurch in the past five months.

Prime Minister John Key told reporters that the death toll was at least 65, and was expected to rise further.

Video footage showed some multi-storey buildings collapsed in on themselves, and others with walls that had collapsed into the streets, strewn with bricks and shattered concrete. Sidewalks and roads were cracked and split, and thousands of dazed, screaming and crying residents wandered through the streets as sirens blared. Groups of people helped victims clutching bleedings wounds, and others were carried to private vehicles in makeshift stretchers fashioned from rugs or bits of debris.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city center. Troops were deployed to help people get out and to throw up a security cordon around the stricken area, Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said.

Full story

 

The first quake of 6.3 hit 6 hours ago, followed by 5.6 20 minutes later, a 5.5 aftershock hit 4 hours later.

Major Earthquake has hit Christchurch, New Zealand



The damage is massive, as is the loss of life.  But unlike Haiti, the people of New Zealand are luckier. New Zealand is a rich nation, with good hospitals and a support service ranked at one of the best in the world. To be injured or homeless there is less of a hardship than those in Haiti went through and still have to endure.

Remember to say a prayer or two for these people.  And hope that the death count stays low.

Cutting Off Their Noses To Spite Their Faces!

By Findalis

That is what the unions in Wisconsin are doing. Instead of paying into their pension plans and having a co-pay for their Cadillac Healthcare Plans, they insist on forcing requiring the taxpayers of Wisconsin to foot the bill.

The trouble is that Wisconsin is broke. There is no money in the till for these luxuries. Something is going to have to be cut.  If not the luxuries, then it must be workers.  12,000 of them in fact.

If changes aren't made to the benefit contributions paid by Wisconsin's nearly 300,000 public sector employees, about 10,000-12,000 workers will lose their jobs, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker warned Sunday.

The Republican governor has been targeted by protesters for nearly a week for negotiating a bill now in the state Senate that would require workers to increase their contributions to pensions and health care coverage, would limit collective bargaining rules and tie raises to inflation.

But Walker said while the state enjoys a lower-than-average unemployment rate -- about 7.5 percent compared to 9 percent nationally -- about 5,000-6,000 state workers and 5,000-6,000 local government workers could lose their jobs if they don't accept changes to their benefits plan.

"I don't want a single person laid off in the public nor in the private sector and that's why this is a much better alternative than losing jobs," Walker told "Fox News Sunday."

The budget vote was supposed to take place last week, but was delayed when state Senate Democrats fled to Illinois to avoid having to vote on the plan, which would cost public sector employees about $300 million over two years, or less than 10 percent of the deficit total.

President Obama, whose group Organizing for America, has bused in some of the nearly 70,000 protesters outside the state capitol on Saturday, last week called the bill "an assault on unions."

Walker said the president should stay focused on fixing the federal budget, which is $1.5 trillion in deficit this year. The president's plan, rolled out last week, proposes $1.65 trillion in deficits next year.

While union workers say they've been blindsided by the governor's plan, which he campaigned on through the midterm election, they also say Walker has unfairly targeted public employees while giving tax breaks to businesses worth about $117 million.

"We expected concessions, but we just didn't think there was a mandate for this. We didn't see him getting rid of collective bargaining," said Gary Steffen, president of the Wisconsin Science Professionals, the union that represents state scientists, including crime lab analysts, biologists, chemists and foresters.

Under the governor's proposal, unions still could represent workers, but they could not force employees to pay dues and would have to hold annual votes to stay organized. Only wages below the Consumer Price Index would be subject to collective bargaining, anything higher would have to be approved by referendum.

Walker said he hoped "cooler minds will prevail" and lawmakers will come back to vote.

"Democracy's not about showing up in another state," he said.

Full story

The state could choose the 12,000 to be fired from the assembled idiots at the capital.   Heck, Governor Walker should pull a Reagan maneuver on the union and give them 24 hours to get back to work or they get fired.  It worked against the Air Traffic Controllers, and will work here.

Another Battle Over Sharia-In South Dakota

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

South Dakota State Senator Dan Lederman is introducing legislation in that state to insure that no foreign or shariah-type law can infiltrate the state law. Jerry Gordon of the New English Review (The Iconoclast) has the story. And guess who is also mentioned in the article; our good friends in the Islamic Circle of North America, who held a dinner Sunday in Yorba Linda, California.

http://www.newenglishreview.org/blog_display.cfm/blog_id/32673#CurDomainURL%23/blog.cfm

Kudos to the Jewish & Christian Coalition of the Midwest. Kudos to Dan Lederman.

Yorba Linda Protest

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk

(Weasel Zipper)

Can you spot yours truly? (No jokes, please).

On Sunday, February 13, an estimated 1,000-1,500 people showed up at the Yorba Linda Community Center to protest an event hosted by the Islamic Circle of North America, in which the speakers were two known radical imams, Siraj Wahhaj of Brooklyn and Amir Abdel Malik Ali of Oakland. The protest cranked up a few hours before the ICNA dinner began and featured plenty of American flags, some Israeli flags, and several speakers (including yours truly). The event was also covered by the OC Register, KABC News of Los Angeles, and the LA Jewish Journal. Below are some of the reports.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/orange_county&id=7957092

http://www.landofgraciousliving.com/protesters-out-in-force-against-muslim-speakers/

http://www.nocconservatives.org/?p=1331

Many of the attendees were affiliated with ACT for America (Riverside and Orange County chapters). Featured speakers included the mayor of Yorba Linda, three city councilpersons, US Congressman Ed Royce, two rabbis, a young woman from Egypt who had left Islam, one of my activist pals and yours truly. This event was intended to be a protest against radicalism and hate, and in that spirit, none of the speakers said anything objectionable. The ABC news crew began filming the speakers, but switched to another site when the dinner attendees began arriving. The reason is that about 100 protesters had taken up a position near the parking lot (which was barricaded by local police). They began chanting patriotic slogans like, "USA, USA, USA" and "No sharia". There were also some chants of "Go back home", (which I did not care for). I Personally stayed away from that part of the site. Yet, the protest remained peaceful (if noisy), and the police did a good job. Several hours before the event, I spoke with a couple of residents of Yorba Linda who were setting up some posters on the outside sidewalk which I felt were over the top. I asked them to reconsider the posters, but was getting nowhere until a young local pastor prevailed upon them to remove the signs.

ABC News was allowed into the event itself for only a few minutes to get a couple of sound bites of the speakers and an ICNA official speaking like true moderates. The speakers, Siraj Wahhaj and Amir Abdel Malik Ali, are anything but moderates. (I think Ali would actually be offended if you called him a moderate.) If you see the news videos, all you will see is the hundred or so protesters who were chanting at the attendees.

To be sure, the ICNA and their cohorts will label this as some sort of racist event. It was not. Hopefully, this may represent a turning point where the American people state unequivocally that we will not surrender our rights.

I am hoping to add a few more photos and a video of my speech

The Islamic Circle of North America in Yorba Linda-Why These Two Speakers?

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk


Tomorrow, the Islamic Circle of North America is sponsoring a charity dinner in Yorba Linda, California (Orange County), in which the two featured speakers are imam Siraj Wahhaj of New York and iman Amir Abdel Malik Ali of Oakland. Both of these gentlemen are anything but moderate voices. Here is what Discover the Networks has to say about them.

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=716


http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2102


I have never attended a Wahhaj speaking event, but I have attended several of Ali's speeches over the years at UC-Irvine. I always make it a point to challenge him in the Q&A's and on two occasions, debated several points with him after his speeches when there was no time for Q&A. While Wahhaj seems to try and portray himself as a moderate in spite of all his documented utterances, Ali makes no such effort. During his last appearance at UC-Irvine in May 2010, he told a questioner that he was a supporter of Hamas, Hizbollah and Islamic Jihad. He also stated that he supported Jihad on campus "as long as it was speaking truth to power." Moments later, he told the Jews in the audience, "You Jews, Y'all the new Nazis." I was there and heard it all.

I have also heard him refer to "Zionist Jews" in Obama's entourage ("David Axelrod, Zionist Jew", "Rahm Israel Emanuel" and Rupert Murdoch-"Straight up Zionist Jew". In addition, I have heard him state that "suicide bombers in Israel are not terrorists, they are heroes and martyrs."

Now comes this so-called mainstream, moderate organization with their charity dinner in Yorba Linda featuring these two speakers. How in the world can this bunch ever again claim to be a moderate organization?

Perhaps, Discover the Networks has known it all along.

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6380

I guess I've answered my own question.

NASA To Honor Dead Egyptian Bimbo, Not Once Did NASA Honor One 9/11 Victim!

By Findalis

What is with this government?  Every day there is another slur on American Culture, American Values. This time the agency is NASA.  Instead of naming a new rocket after an American Hero or a victim of the 9/11 attacks, they have decided to name the rocket after an Egyptian Whore Bimbo Woman killed in the riots.

The United States space agency NASA has okayed the naming of one of its spaceships after a young Egyptian woman killed in late January during an anti-goverment protest, according to Egyptian daily Al-Masry-al-Youm.

The paper quoted Essam Mohamed Haji, a young researcher at NASA as saying on Thursday he had received approval to put the young woman Sally Zahran's name on a spaceship heading for Mars.

Zahran, a 23 English graduated and translator died after she was beaten about the head on 28 January with a truncheons during clashes with security forces in in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag. Anti-government protesters claim her killers were thugs in the pay of police.

“This is the least we could provide to Egyptian youth and revolutionaries. This step represents transferring the dreams of Egyptian youth from a small stretch of earth to the enormous expanse of space,” said Haji was cited as telling Al-Masri Al-Youm by phone from California.

Egypt on Thursday entered it 17th day of unrest, with many thousands of people taking to the streets in the capital, Cairo and filling its central Tahrir Square.

Doctors, bus drivers, lawyers and textile workers were on strike in Cairo on Thursday, with trade unions reporting walkouts and protests across the country.

The protesters have vowed to keep up their revolt against authoritarian president Hosni Mubarak, who they want to leave office immediately.

Around 300 people have been killed in clashes with security forces and over 1,400 have been injured since the unrest began on 25 January against Mubarak, who took power in 1981 and whom they blame for widespread poverty, corruption and police brutality.

Mubarak, a staunch ally of the west, has said he will not run for another presidential term in elections due in September, but the anti-government protesters want more rapid political and economic change.

He has come under increasing pressure from the US to speed the transition to democracy. CIA director Leon Panetta, in testimony before an intelligence committee of the US legislature on Thursday said there was "a strong likelihood that Mubarak will step down this evening."

State television interrupted all programming to present a message from the high council of the Egyptian armed forces that promised to to take "necessary measures to protect the nation," the military also said it would "support the legitimate demands of the people" and remain in "continuous session".

How nice.  We are learning to be Dhimmis very fast.  Next it will be like Great Britain with Halal only meats sold in stores, blasphemy laws stifling free speech against Islam, then forced conversions.

Here is a strange idea for NASA.  How about these men and women to name the rocket for:

Apollo 1

Crew of Apollo 1

Virgil "Gus" Ivan Grissom, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Edward Higgins White, II, Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

Roger Bruce Chaffee, Lieutenant Commander, USN

Space Shuttle Challenger

Crew of Challenger

(front row) Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair; 

(back row) Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik.

Space Shuttle Columbia

Crew of the Columbia

If NASA wants to honor a foreign hero they could honor Ilan Ramon (Israel) who died on the Columbia.

Or NASA could honor the 2,998 victims of 9/11.  They could put all the names in a box and pull out one.

Some of the victims of 9/11

If you find this appalling what NASA is doing you can contact them here.

If they will not listen to the AMERICAN TAXPAYER, you should contact your Congressional Representative or Senator.

NASA is funded only by the American Taxpayer.  It should be the American Taxpayer who has the final say on the naming of our spacecrafts.

Is King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Dead?

By Findalis

Hat tip Gates of Vienna

With Egypt in turmoil, it would a good idea in order to vacillate a smooth transition of power to hold back a announcement of King Abdullah's death.  In fact, only one news agency is reporting this.

Saudi Arabia's 86-year-old King Abdullah was discharged from a New York City hospital in good health after going through two back operations in December 2010. The king delegated the management of the affairs of the world’s largest oil supplier to his half-brother, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, during his absence.

King Abdullah talked with Obama about the situation in Egypt over the phone yesterday. Obama and the King got into a heated debate about their opinions of what Hosni Mubarak should do. After the phone call sources stated that King Abdullah was furious and then suffered a sudden heart attack.

Doctors ran to his resuce but were unable to save him. He was pronounced dead, but his death was not reported due to the sensative conditions that exist in the region. The Saudi Arabian government will reject this claim; but the ball is in their court to prove that he is alive.

The official Saudi release is quite different:

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah is in "excellent" health and anxious to return home from convalescing in Morocco following surgery, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Thursday.

"He's in excellent health, he's undergoing therapy," the prince said in Morocco.

"The doctors are suggesting a certain amount of therapy and he's doing twice as much as they tell him. ...he is his usual self, assured of what he can do and ready and looking forward to going back to work and going back home."

Earlier the Saudi embassy in Morocco, where King Abdullah arrived on January 22 after surgery in the United States, strongly denied rumours that the octogenarian monarch had died.

"I can assure that the health of King Abdullah is excellent and gives no cause for any concern," a senior embassy official told AFP.

The website www.islamtimes.org said the king had died of a heart attack the previous day after a heated telephone debate with US President Barack Obama on the situation in Egypt.

The Times of London reported on Thursday that in a "testy, personal" telephone call with Obama on January 29, the king had threatened to bankroll the Egyptian regime if the United States withdrew its aid.

He also warned Washington not to humiliate veteran Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, saying he should be allowed to stay on to oversee the transition, the Times added, citing a senior source in Riyadh confirmed by two other sources.

King Abdullah had flown to New York on November 22 and was operated on two days later for a debilitating herniated disc complicated by a haematoma that put pressure on his spine.

That surgery was declared a success, as was a second operation to repair several vertebrae.

The monarch's advanced age combined with his back hernia raised concerns about the future of Saudi Arabia, which has been ruled by the Al-Saud family since 1932.

The crown prince, Abdullah's half-brother Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz who has been defence minister since 1962, is 83 and has been slowed by what is believed to be cancer.

Little seen for the past two years, Sultan flew home from Morocco on November 21 to assume control of the royal government in Abdullah's absence.

Prince Nayef, 77, is the king's half-brother and is third in line to the Saudi throne. He was appointed second deputy prime minister in March 2009.

Morocco is a favourite holiday destination for Saudi royals who own private palaces here.

So is he alive or is he dead?  Are the Saudis hiding the truth in order to secure power and prevent the riots that effected Lebanon, Tunisia, and Egypt.  Or is this a false rumor?  If he is dead will President Obama bow down to the successor?  Probably.

Bush's Cancelled Trip to Switzerland

Gary Fouse
fousesquawk



It is troubling that George W. Bush's travel to Switzerland for a speaking appearance in front of the United Israel Appeal had to be canceled over security concerns. A combination of possible violence by the usual suspects and the ridiculous possibility that someone could actually file a criminal complaint against him in Switzerland made the trip "untenable" (my quotes).


http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/02/05/president-bush-cancels-geneva-visit-amid-security-concerns/?test=latestnews

This, of course, is the tactic of the far left even in Europe. How some of these nations can claim extra-territorial jurisdiction is beyond me. This is the continent that is supposed to be America's ally. Who did the feckless European governments turn to when they wanted to fight Serbia? The US. Did they call for prosecution of Bill Clinton after we bombed Belgrade? Of course not.

George W Bush may be evil in some people's eyes, but he is the one who removed the Taliban from power in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. I'd take that on my resume anyday. He is also the one who led the fight against Al Qaida after 9-11.

You do remember 9-11, don't you?

What exactly is his great sin- Gitmo? Or perhaps that a handful of savages like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were waterboarded and gave up information that saved countless lives?

What exactly has been the Swiss contribution to the War on Terror? About the same as their contribution to the war against Hitler, I'd guess.

What those fools in Europe don't understand is what Bush understood. This is the signature issue of our generation and our children's generation. (That is the War on Terror-not Global Warming). The truth is that with a handful of abuses, such as Abu Ghraib, we have fought that war according to our principles-completely unlike the enemy.

Let me say this here and now; George W. Bush is a decent and honorable man who did all he could to prevent another 9-11. He deserved the full support of the Swiss government in giving that speech in Geneva. The Swiss should have provided whatever security was necessary, let it be known that there would be no fear of some dopey judge issuing an arrest warrant, and anyone who tried to violate Bush's right to speak and the right of his audience to hear him would be punished.

Oh, I forgot; he was supposed to speak in front of a pro-Israel Jewish group, wasn't he?

Silly me.

In Memory Of Honor, Sacrifice, Duty and G-d

Hat Tip to Storm'n Norm'n

Feb. 3rd was “Four Chaplains Day”, but with events happening in Egypt it slipped my mind.  I will rectify that today.  Instead of Saturday Morning Funnies, I bring you this.  It is not funny, but a moving tribute to 4 of the bravest men this nation has ever produced.

Stained glass window
from the Chapel at
Fort Snelling, Minnesota

A convoy of three ships and three escorting Coast Guard cutters passed through "torpedo alley" some 100 miles off the coast of Greenland at about 1 a.m. on February 3, 1943. The submarine U-223 fired three torpedoes, one of which hit the midsection of the Dorchester, a U.S. Army troopship with more than 900 men on board. Ammonia and oil were everywhere in the fast-sinking vessel and upon the freezing sea.

Stained glass window
from the Chapel at West Point

The four Chaplains on board, two Protestant pastors, a Catholic priest and a Jewish rabbi, were among the first on deck, calming the men and handing out life jackets. When they ran out, they took off their own and placed them on waiting soldiers without regard to faith or race. Approximately 18 minutes from the explosion, the ship went down. They were the last to be seen by witnesses; they were standing arm-in-arm on the hull of the ship, each praying in his own way for the care of the men. Almost 700 died, making it the third largest loss at sea of its kind for the United States during World War II. The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa was able to escort the other freighters to Greenland. Meanwhile the cutters Comanche and Escanaba, disobeying orders to continue the seach for the German U-Boat, stopped to rescue 230 men from the frigid waters that night.

Stained glass window from the
Chapel at the Pentagon.

The four Chaplains were Father John Washington (Catholic), Reverend Clark Poling (Dutch Reformed), Rabbi Alexander Goode (Jewish) and Rev. George Fox (Methodist). These four Chaplains were later honored by the Congress and Presidents. They were recognized for their selfless acts of courage, compassion and faith. According to the First Sergeant on the ship, "They were always together, they carried their faith together." They demonstrated throughout the voyage and in their last moments, interfaith compassion in their relationship with the men and with each other. In 1960 Congress created a special Congressional Medal of Valor, never to be repeated again, and gave it to the next of kin of the "Immortal Chaplains."

   The Four Chaplains

As each year passes the only groups that remember their sacrifice are the Veteran's groups such as the VFW and American Legion.  Once their story was told to school children now it is forbidden in many schools to mention their story lest G-d penetrate and pollute the environment.

You can find out more about these heroes at The Immortal Chaplains Foundation.


By Findalis