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Monday, February 28, 2011

Leftists and Unionists Must Step into Reality

Govt Union Workers

John R. Houk
© February 28, 2011

When the various Tea Party organizations rallied Americans to show grassroots support for less government and less taxes during the 2010 election cycle, the rallies were peaceful even in the midst of the Leftist Democratic Party and the NAACP trying to propagandize Americans that these rallies were congregations of Right Wing racists. If there was any violence in these rallies it was usually at the behest of Leftist sympathizes attempting to disrupt with a bit of disruptive violence.

One example was an African-American Congressman who walked through a crowd of Tea Partiers who were vocally denouncing the Dem Party agenda of which that Congressman was a part of. In a position never to waste a good opportunity that Congressman responded vocally by claiming he was the recipient of racial slurs thus proving the racist nature of Tea Partiers. The problem for Congressman John Lewis is that he was either lying or was so intimidated by the truth of the protest that his imagination ran amok. Subsequent examination of video that showed more than the discomfort of Rep. Lewis demonstrates not one word could be heard saying “nigger” or “faggot” as the Leftist MSM tried to portray as occurring.

Another example of Leftist propaganda occurred at a Rand Paul campaign rally in which many in the crowd were Tea Partiers. The incident involved Lauren Valle of Moveon.org aggressively penetrating guards and stuck a sign inside the window of a car that then candidate Paul had just entered. Now do you think guards and supporters are going to react to a person aggressively shoving something into a car inhabited by a candidate that was supposed to have security protection? The obvious perception would be to neutralize the person forcefully in case there was an assassination attempt, right? Well that is exactly what happened. Valle was tackled to the ground in no uncertain terms. An overzealous Paul supporter went on overkill and stomped on Valle’s head. Everything that happened in this incident was due to the aggressive nature of Lauren Valle. The guy that put the boot to her head was a volunteer supporter whose first reaction was to neutralize a possible attacker. It is a good idea to neutralize first and ask questions later when the threat could have easily have been an assassination attempt as much as it could have been a Left loon confrontation by a woman in disguise. The head stomping would have been the act of a hero if Valle was an assassin. Valle was a Leftist loon and so Profitt’s choice of neutralization was wrong, but tossing a possible threat to the ground was not wrong.

The point of these two examples is that there is a vast difference in the behavior of Leftist protests and Tea Party protests. The Left incites violence and the Tea Party incites change. That change was realized at the 2010 polls in which a bunch of Left Wing Dems lost their jobs. The Dems lost their jobs not via a violent overthrow. Those Dems lost their jobs by voters giving the boot to those taking America in the wrong direction.

Not long ago Democrat Michael Capuano uttered this stunning phrase in a pro-Union speech:

Every once in a while you have to get out in the streets and get a little bloody when necessary.”

Apparently such a green light to pro-union protesters was taken to heart. Union protesters have been violently threatening and accosting detractors and journalists that might not agree with the union protest against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attempt to rein in the State budget.

he proposed a budget-repair bill that would break the grip of labor interests in a capital that has long been dominated by them. Facing a $3.6 billion budget shortfall over the next two years, he argues that public workers should contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries toward their pensions and pay 12.6 percent of their health-care premiums. Most controversial is his plan to eliminate collective bargaining for nearly all state employees.” (Gov. Scott Walker: No Stranger to Budget Battles; Robert Costa; National Review;


The budget repair bill will balance the budget and lay the foundation for a long-term sustainable budget through several measures without raising taxes, raiding segregated funds, or using accounting gimmicks.

First, it will require state employees to pay about 5.8% toward their pension (about the private sector national average) and about 12% of their healthcare benefits (about half the private sector national average).  These changes will help the state save $30 million in the last three months of the current fiscal year.

“It’s fair to ask public employees to make a pension payment of just over 5%, which is about the national average, and a premium payment of 12%, which is about half of the national average,” said Governor Walker.

The budget repair will also restructure the state debt, lowering the state’s interest rate, saving the state $165 million.

These changes will help the state fulfill its Medicaid spending on needy families of about $170 million; funding that the previous administration did not have in its budget.  It will also allow the state to spend an additional $21 million in the Department of Corrections.

Additionally, the budget repair bill gives state and local governments the tools to manage spending reductions through changing some provisions of the state’s collective bargaining laws.

The state’s civil service system, among the strongest in the country, would remain in place.  State and local employees could continue to bargain for base pay, they would not be able to bargain over other compensation measures.  Local police, fire and state patrol would be exempted from the changes.  Other reforms will include state and local governments not collecting union dues, annual certification will be required in a secret ballot, and any employee can opt out of paying union dues. (Emphasis is mine)
 
Check out the part I emphasized. There is no termination of collective bargaining for wages. Governor Walker wants to end collective bargaining on non-wage benefits. Also the idea of an annual union certification will hold some accountability of union bosses to union members. If union members are dissatisfied with the service of their union mandated annual certification is leverage for union members to have their desires better represented by union bosses. Friends this is balance. Frankly it is unfortunate the mandated union reform is not also extended into private industry. Governor’s plan only affects State employees.

And yet, union bosses have mobilized members and the typical propaganda scum of the MSM to convince pro-union people they are receiving a raw deal rather than a fair deal. Many of these union protestors are becoming violent. The idea of peaceful protest is eschewed. Frankly I sense a successful budget repair by the Governor could result in the numbskull action of union bosses promoting rioting. Of course rioting will lead to violence and violence leads to physical harm as well as property damage.

Get a clue Leftists and Unionists!

JRH 2/28/11

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Yusuf Qaradawi's U.S. minions

Yusuf Qaradawi - Fight Them

Yusuf Qaradawi would qualify for a candidate to be the anti-Christ. The man is the consummate evil representative of all that is wrong in Islam. Qaradawi is not officially a member of the Muslim Brotherhood but he is definitely the premier ideologue and propagandist to the Jew-hating, American-hating, Jihad promoting and Caliphate Islamic Supremacist and global conquest intending Muslim Brotherhood.

With courtesy from ACT for America an email expose by Alyssa Lappen that America has a good reason to be concerned with Qaradawi. He is not simply an Islamic rabble rouser in the Middle East. Qaradawi’s tentacles reach to the North American Continent which means he has influence among Muslims in America. Here is the SlantRight 2.0 version of that email.

JRH 2/27/11
*****************************
Yusuf Qaradawi's U.S. minions

The real aim of the Fiqh Council of North America

By Alyssa A. Lappen
Sent: 2-25-11 11:05 AM
 
ACT! for America special report

Those who believe Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yusuf Qaradawi doesn't threaten Egypt --- or the U.S. --- should reconsider. The U.S. banned Qaradawi as a terror-sympathizer in late 1999, 1 yet his MB emissaries continue working to implement his brand of sharia in North America.
 
Since its 1963 inception within the Muslim Students of America religious committee 2 the Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA), it has been key to MB plans for the U.S. Indeed, the MB so designated FCNA (by an earlier moniker) in an internal 1991 strategic memo.3 FCNA focuses on implementing sharia: individually and collectively, FCNA advises and educates “members and officials on matters related to the application of sharia,” here.
4
 
For at least a decade, FCNA has also espoused an unique version of classical Islamic law.5 Drawn largely from Qaradawi's frequently odious rulings, this temporary “fiqh al aqalliyyat6 covers Muslim minorities in the West, according to sharia finance adviser and FCNA secretary Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, 7 a Dow Jones Islamic Indexes adviser to date.
8
 
Like classic sharia, fiqh al aqalliyyat is highly illiberal. Unlike classic law, it is only interim: It encourages Muslims to temporarily accept non-Muslim rule but heavily populate the West.9 The thesis posits that Dar al-Islam exists wherever Muslims live. It prefers to call the Muslim world “dar-al ijaba,” land of response, and non-Muslim nations, “dar ad-dawah,” i.e., where Islam “has to be spread.” Traditional fatwas banning citizenship in the West block Muslims from fulfilling dawa requirements and calling non-Muslims “kufir” doesn't persuade converts. Whether by conversion or war, the MB goal remains conquest of the West.
10
 
Sharia criminal law, for example, demands and routinely applies capital punishment for apostates from Islam,11 directly contradicting U.S. constitutional rights to freedom of faith. In late Sept. 2009, Former Muslims United sent polite, respectful requests to several dozen U.S. Muslim leaders, that they sign its Freedom Pledge to protect lives, property and rights to freedom of faith for all former Muslims. Pledge recipients included FCNA chairman Muzammil Siddiqi,12 vice chair Muhammad Nur Abdullah, executive director Zulfiqar Ali Shah, executive council members Mohamad A. El Sheikh, FCNA executive trustee Jamal Badawi, Abdur Rahman Khan and Zainab Alwani and member Ishan Bagby.13 All falsely attest to moderation. None replied. None signed.
 
Apart from unindicted terror-financing co-conspirator Badawi, a onetime trustee of the U.S. arm of the global Muslim Brotherhood itself --- and a decades-long trustee on ISNA's 18-member board14 --- the FCNA executives and members include many figures whose troubling associations, rulings and deeds are equally difficult to digest:

·       Since his circa 1976 arrival in the U.S. to head religious affairs at the United Nations office of the terror-linked Muslim World League (MWL),15 Siddiqi has maintained close ties to Islamic radicals both in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Siddiqi thus serves both the Supreme Islamic Council of Egypt and Mecca's Supreme Council of Mosques,16 plus the fatwa board at Islam Online, a website of Qatar-based MB spiritual mouthpiece Yusuf Qaradawi --- who returned to Egypt on Feb. 17, 2011 after a 30-year exile to pray for Jerusalem's conquest.17 (Siddiqi's class was first to graduate from the MB's 1961-founded Islamic University of Medina, after King Saud bin Abdel Aziz welcomed a second wave of Egyptian exiles and funded their spread of orthodox Islam and jihad doctrine, particularly to foreign students.)18

·       FCNA co-founder, former chairman and president Taha Jabir Alalwani --- an unindicted co-conspirator in the case of admitted terror-financier Sami al-Arian 19 --- on Oct. 13, 2007 signed “A Common Word,” a declaration of commonality purporting to tie Christians and Muslims more closely. Nevertheless, he supports Islamic law --- including the death penalty for apostates. Very few website visitors pierce the facade 20 or recognize the MB goal --- buying time to complete their North American conquest. That's all it is.

·       In April 2006, Abdullah and Badawi co-authored a fatwa encouraging Muslim proselytizing to Christians and Jews, but finding gross sin in Muslim conversions outside Islam.21 When scholars distinguish apostasy “not punishable by death,” from “apostasy... accompanied by ... high treason,” Badawi wrote, the death penalty is still administered --- for high treason. The distinction would not comfort the murder victims, in either sort of fiqh ruling.

·       Alwalani also serves SAFA Group and its suspected terror-aiding and funding network. In 2003, the U.S. Customs and Treasury departments raided FCNA's Virginia offices within their Operation Greenquest dragnet for terrorist ties and financing.22 Homeland security's senior special Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent David Kane, in Oct. 2003 reported strong evidence of al-Arian's conspiracy with SAFA Group executives to fund and support HAMAS and PIJ. In a late 1988 (or so) fatwa also discovered, Alwalani invoked jihad, invested by Allah's power in Muslims, as “the only way to liberate Palestine,” where “no person or authority” could give Jews any rights at all, much less let Jews settle or live.23

·       On Mar. 24, 2003 at Islam Online, Abdullah, Badawi and Siddiqi condoned “Seeking Martyrdom by Attacking US Military Bases in the Gulf,” a ruling of anonymous “muftis” mandating maiming and murder of U.S. troops in the Middle East. “[A]ttacking American soldiers who came to launch war against Muslims is an obligation and Jihad, as they are true invaders,” the fatwa commands. Such obligatory jihad, moreover, would deliver “the highest degree of martyrdom” to Muslims “killed” so doing:24 Eternity with 72 virgins.

In 2008, a federal jury unanimously convicted five Holy Land Foundation officers of 108 counts of funding Hamas, money laundering and tax fraud. 25 Prosecutors also pronounced FCNA executive trustee Jamal Badawi and FCNA member, trustee and former Islamic Association of Palestine (IOP) director Muhammad al-Hanooti 26 unindicted co-conspirators (with many MB organizations). A circa 1978 immigrant 27 --- and unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center attack --- Hanooti remains in Washington D.C. 28 A preponderance of publicly accessible evidence prompted the New Orleans 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Oct. 2010 to leave all HLF unindicted co-conspirator designations unsealed and intact. 29 Badawi, Hanooti et all remain highly suspect.
________________________________
Foot Notes

1        Steven Salinsky, “Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradawi and Qatar's Education City – Hosting American University Students from Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown, Northwestern, Texas A&M, Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell & Others,” Middle East Media Research Institute, Feb. 19, 2010, http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/3984.htm and http://www.memri.org/image/IA_Qaradawi.pdf (viewed 2/5/2011).

2          “History of the Fiqh Council,” FCNA, 11/22/2010, http://www.fiqhcouncil.org/node/6 (viewed 2/5/2011).

3          Mohamed Akram, “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,

4          “Fiqh Council of North America responds to the question: What is the Islamic opinion on the terrorist attacks on the U.S. in September 2001,” reprinted at Islamopedia, undated, http://www.islamopediaonline.org/fatwa/fiqh-council-
north-america-responds-question-what-islamic-opinion-terrorist-attacks-united-sta (viewed 2/3/2011).

5          Taha Jabir Alwalani, “Towards a Fiqh for minorities: some basic reflections,” occasional paper #10, (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2003), pp. 44; Abu Amal Hadhrami, “Muslim Americans need own outlook,” Islamic Horizons, Jan./Feb. 2000, pp. 48-53.

6          Ralph Ghadban, “Tariq Ramadan's Islamism: a lecturer of unfree thinking,” Frankfurter Allgemeine, Sept. 9, 2009, http://www.faz.net/s/RubC3FFBF288EDC421F93E22EFA74003C4D/Doc~E8D907A2243D44E1BB6F26A34B25FD7
9E~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html (viewed 2/3/2011); Alwalani, “Prolegominato (sic, intended “prolegomenon”) the Fiqh of the minorities: Some basic reflections,” undated, Islam Online, http://web.archive.org/web/20071212175822/www.fiqhcouncil.org/Default.aspx?tabid=60 (viewed 2/5/2011); Alwalani, “Towards a Fiqh for minorities: some basic reflections,” occasional paper #10, (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2003), pp. 44; Hadhrami, “Muslim Americans need own outlook,” Islamic Horizons, Jan./Feb. 2000, pp. 48-53.

7          Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, “Fiqh and the Fiqh Council of North America,” Islamicity, undated, http://www.islamicity.com/politics/shariah.htm (viewed 2/5/2011).

8          Jeffrey Imm, “Dow Jones, Wall Street Journal and Islamist Financing,” Counterterrorismblog.org, Nov. 14, 2007, http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/11/wsj_and_islamist_financing.php (last viewed 2/21/2011); see also Dow Jones Islamic Market Indexes rulebook, Dec. 2009, http://www.djindexes.com/mdsidx/downloads/rulebooks/Dow_Jones_Islamic_Market_Indexes_Rulebook.pdf (viewed 2/21/2011); http://www.djindexes.com/islamicmarket/?go=supervisory-board (viewed 2/21/2011); “Yusuf Talal DeLorenzo, Chief Shariah Officer and Board Member,” Managing Team / Shariah Supervisory Board, Sharia Capital, undated, http://www.shariahcap.com/about-mt-delorenzo.php (viewed 2/21/2011).

9          Ralph Ghadban, “Tariq Ramadan's Islamism: a lecturer of unfree thinking,” Frankfurter Allgemeine, Sept. 9, 2009, http://www.faz.net/s/RubC3FFBF288EDC421F93E22EFA74003C4D/Doc~E8D907A2243D44E1BB6F26A34B25FD79E~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html (viewed 2/3/2011); Taha Alwalani, “Prolegominato (sic, intended “prolegomenon”) the Fiqh of the minorities: Some basic reflections,” undated, Islam Online, http://web.archive.org/web/20071212175822/www.fiqhcouncil.org/Default.aspx?tabid=60 (viewed 2/5/2011), a preface; and Alwalani, “Towards a Fiqh for minorities: some basic reflections,” occasional paper #10, (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 2003), pp. 44; Abu Amal Hadhrami, “Muslim Americans need own outlook,” Islamic Horizons, Jan./Feb. 2000, pp. 48-53.

10  Hadhrami, “Muslim Americans need own outlook,” Islamic Horizons, Jan./Feb. 2000, pp. 48-53; see also abridged article, available at http://members.fortunecity.co.uk/waseem/fatwa.htm (last viewed 2/20/2011).

11  Yusuf Qaradawi,  European Council for Fatwa and Research, “Fatwa on apostasy: apostasy major and minor,” 2006, http://www.islamonline.net/English/contemporary/2006/04/article01c.shtml and “The Lawful and prohibited in Islam, 1960, reprinted 2006, http://www.amazon.com/Prohibited-translators-ElHelbawy-Moinuddin-al-%20Qardawi/dp/8171513735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253238796&sr=8-1; Abul ala Mawdudi, “Punishment of the apostate according to Islamic law,” 1963, translated from Urdu 1994, http://answering- islam.org/Hahn/Mawdudi/#whya; Badawi, “Apostasy from Islam: any change in the contemporary context?” Islam Online, 2006, http://www.islamonline.net/livedialogue/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=Gz9HCK; Sano Koutoub Moustapha, “Lina Joy's case and religious freedom,” International Islamic University, Malaysia, undated, http://www.islamonline.net/livedialogue/english/Browse.asp?hGuestID=yuha10 (link dead on 2/15/2011); Ahmad Shafaat, “Punishment of Apostasy in Islam, parts I and II,” Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, 2006 and 2007, http://www.islamicperspectives.com/Apostasy1.htm and http://islamicperspectives.com/PunishmentOfApostasy_Part2.html; “A Shiite opinion on apostasy, Kayhan International, March 1986, http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/apostasy-from-islam/a-shiite- opinion-on-apostasy/; “A Sunni Muslim pronouncement on apostasy from Lebanon,” http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/apostasy-from-islam/pledge-fatwa-mufti-of-lebanon/; al- Azhr, the Egyptian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, “Fatwa on apostasy,” originally from German Wikipedia, as cited at http://www.atlasshrugs.com/, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rechtsgutachten_betr_Apostasie_im_Islam.jpg as cited at http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/apostasy-from-islam/al-azhar-fatwa/ (all fatwas first viewed 9/24/2009) as cited by and with thanks to Nonie Darwish, co-founder, Former Muslims United, http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/.

12  “Muzammil Siddiqi, past president,” ISNA, http://www.isna.net/ISNAHQ/pages/Muzammil-Siddiqi.aspx; “About us,” NAIT, http://www.nait.net/NAIT_about_ us.htm (all viewed 5/25/2010).

13  Former Muslims United cover letter and Freedom Pledge, Sept. 22, 2009, http://formermuslimsunited.americancommunityexchange.org/the-pledge/cover-letter-pledge/ (first viewed 9/22/2009).

14   “Dr. Jamal Badawi,” Fiqh Council of North America, undated, http://fiqhcouncil.org/AboutUs/tabid/175/ctl/Detail/mid/601/xmid/38/xmfid/4/Default.aspx (viewed 6/2/2010); “ISNA board of directors, http://www.isna.net/ISNAHQ/pages/Board-of-Directors.aspx (viewed 6/10/2010);

15   “Muzammil H. Siddiqi,” Islam Online, undated http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1119503614805&pagename=IslamOnline-English- Ask_Scholar%2FFatwaCounselorE%2FFatwaCounselorE; Muslim World League, Saudi Arabia Market Information Resource, http://www.saudinf.com/main/k312.htm (viewed 5/20/2010); Lappen, “A secular market nightmare,” ibid.; “Muslim World League,” History Commons, http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=muslim_world_league (viewed 5/2/2010).  Siddiqi remained U.S. MWL director until at least 2005. The FBI and Homeland Security raided MWL's offices for possible terrorist ties in 2002 and again in July 2005, according to the investigative Pipeline News service. “Terror friendly organizations issue fatuous fatwa against terror,” Pipeline News, Jul. 28, 2005, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:L_0IwlWft2wJ:www.pipelinenews.org/2007/Terror-Friendly- Organizations-Issue-Fatuous-Fatwa-Against.html (viewed 6/1/2010). Siddiqi simultaneously headed the Muslim Student Association religious affairs department, and one recent report suggests that he may still. “Muzammil Siddiqi,” ProCon.org, http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/view.source.php?sourceID=004996 (viewed 6/1/2010).


17  “Yusuf al-Qaradawi in Friday sermon at Cairo's Tahrir Square: pray for conquest of al-Aqsa,” Feb. 18, 2011, http://www.memritv.org/report/en/5020.htm, as cited, Bostom, “For the De-Nile-ists—Qaradawi-Khomeini in Cairo,” Feb. 18, 2011, http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2011/02/18/for-the-de-nile-ists%E2%80%94qaradawi-khomeini-in-cairo/ (both viewed 2/18/2011).

18   Alyssa A. Lappen, “A secular market nightmare,” Front Page Magazine, May 9, 2008, http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=C64342C1-C28F-4BED-8658-B69E78684D38 (viewed 4/12/2010)/

19  “Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA),” Investigative Project, undated, http://www.investigativeproject.org/FCNA-CAIR.html (viewed 2/5/2011). Al-Arian funded Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a designated foreign terrorist organization. To avoid a new trial after a jury deadlocked on 9 of his 17 terror- funding charges in Dec. 2005, al-Arian accepted a 57-month prison sentence, to be followed by immediate subsequent deportation. However, in Oct. 2006, al-Arian defied a subpoena to testify before a U.S. grand jury. He served an added year for contempt and was released on bail, and under house arrest, in Apr. 2008. Meanwhile in Jan. 2008, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Apr. 2006 plea agreement contents did “not establish that the plea agreement immunized al-Arian from future grand jury subpoenas.” Despite that ruling, endless further court wrangling ensued over the terms of al-Arian's Apr. 2006 plea deal. To date, al-Arian apparently remains under house arrest. “U.S. to deport Palestinian it failed to convict,” New York Times, Apr. 15, 2006, http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE5D9163FF936A25757C0A9609C8B63 (first viewed 4/15/2006); “Judge cancels al-Arian hearing again,” IPT News, Oct. 29, 2010, http://www.investigativeproject.org/2286/hearing-may-determine-fate-of-al-arian-contempt (viewed 2/9/2011).

20   “A common word,” Oct. 13, 2007, http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=signatories; see also comments at http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en&page=comments (both viewed 6/2/2010).

21   Abdullah, Jamal Badawi, “Freedom of Belief & Minority Rights in Muslim Countries,” Islam Online fatwa bank, Apr. 18, 2008, http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaEAskTheScholar&cid=1119503547720 (viewed 6/10/2010).

22     “Terror friendly organizations issue fatuous fatwa against terror,” Pipeline News. Jul. 28, 2005, ibid./2010

23  “Redacted affidavit in support of application, in the matter of searches involving 555 Grove Street, Herndon, Va., and related locations, (E.D. Va 02-114-MG.), as cited in “Backgrounder on the Fiqh Council of North America and the Council of American-Islamic Relations,” Investigative Project, undated, http://www.investigativeproject.org/FCNA-CAIR.html (viewed 4/20/2010). (Now at http://web.archive.org/web/20050830160244/http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae/ArchivePress/OctoberPDFArchive/03/safaaffid102003.pdf (p. 36, now unsealed, viewed 2/16/2011).

24   A group of muftis, “Seeking Martyrdom by Attacking US Military Bases in the Gulf,” Islam Online fatwa bank, Mar. 24, 2003, http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546700 (viewed 6/13/2010).

25  Gretel Kovach, “Five convicted in terrorism financing trial,” New York Times, Nov. 25, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/25/us/25charity.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print (viewed 5/10/2010); Paul J. Weber, Los Angeles Times, Nov. 25, 2008, http://articles.latimes.com/2008/nov/25/nation/na-muslim-charity25 (viewed 5/20/2010); Convicted HLF officers included former HLF chairman Ghassan Elashi, former chief executive Shukri Abu Baker, Mufid Abdulqater, Abdulraham Odeh and Mohammed El-Mezain. Two more former HLF officers, Haitham Maghawri and Akram Mishal (cousin to Hamas chief Khaled Mishael) had fled and were not tried.

26   Attachment A, in the U.S. District Court for the northern district of Texas, Dallas Division, U.S. v. Holy Land Foundation, http://www.pipelinenews.org/images/2007-05-29-US%20v%20HLF-ListCoConspirators.pdf (first viewed 6/1/2007); “History of the Fiqh Council,” FCNA, 11/22/2010, http://www.fiqhcouncil.org/node/6 (viewed 2/5/2011); Steven  Emerson, “The American Islamic leaders' fatwa is bogus,” Counterterrorism Blog, Jul. 28, 2005, ibid.


28  Paul Sperry, “The great al-Qaeda patriot,” Front Page Magazine, Apr. 9, 2007, http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=26058 (viewed 5/2/2007).

29  U.S. Plaintiff-Appellee v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, et al, Defendants North American Islamic Trust, Movant-Appellant, No. 09-10875, Before Garza and Benavides, Circuit Judges, and Crone, District Judge,” 5th  Circuit Court of Appeals, Oct. 20, 2010, http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-5th-circuit/1541806.html (viewed 11/25/2010).
___________________________
Alyssa A. Lappen, an ACT for America contributing editor and investigative journalist, is a former senior fellow at American Center for Democracy (2005-2008); former senior editor of Institutional Investor (1993-1999), Working Woman (1991-1993) and Corporate Finance (1991), and writes for many print and internet publications. ACT for America commissioned this work.

ACT for America is an issues advocacy organization dedicated to effectively organizing and mobilizing the most powerful grassroots citizen action network in America, a grassroots network committed to informed and coordinated civic action that will lead to public policies that promote America’s national security and the defense of American democratic values against the assault of radical Islam. We are only as strong as our supporters, and your volunteer and financial support is essential to our success. Thank you for helping us make America safer and more secure.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Beware of Leadership Promoting Immorality

Angel-destroying-Assyrians

John R. Houk
© February 26, 2011

Attention Social Conservatives that stand for Biblical and Family values! The Obama Administration WILL NOT enforce the Defense of Marriage Act. This means that President Barack Hussein Obama has instructed Attorney General Eric Holder to look the other way as homosexual reprobates impose their immorality on America furthering another ungodly indictment against the American government.

Something to think about my fellow Americans: When the ancient Northern Kingdom of Israel and later the Kingdom of Judah in the South began imposing immorality on Israelis at the behest of their kings (i.e. the ruling authorities), God sent heathens (Assyria and Babylon respectively) to remove their place in the Promised Land. Leftists and Secular Humanists are infecting the American government with policies that have made homosexuality and similar ungodly perversions legal with the imprint of normalcy. That is an evil place to be.

Below is an email from Chuck Colson that is addressed to signers of the Manhattan Project which is about the immorality of BHO. Below the email is an alert posted at The Chuck Colson Center by Alan Sears who is the President of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF).

JRH 2/26/11
***************************
Pres. Obama will not defend long-standing marriage law

By Chuck Colson
Sent: February 25, 2011 3:08:47 PM

To all Manhattan Declaration signers:

The decision by Attorney General Holder not to defend the Defense of Marriage Act raises very grave questions.
 
Justifying his position, he says that in the congressional debate there were "numerous expressions reflecting moral disapproval of gays and lesbians and their intimate family relationships."  He went on to describe this as "animus" (defined by Webster as vehement enmity, hatred, ill will)-violating the Equal Protection Clause.

"Animus" to defend a moral position based on 2,000 years of classical and Christian teaching rooted in reason and scripture?

Holder has embraced the position of Federal Judge Vaughn Walker in California that opposing so-called gay marriage can be "harmful to gays and lesbians."  But this is like claiming that opposition to polygamy is harmful to polygamists or that laws defining marriage as the union of two people harm those who prefer to live in what are called sexual "triads" or "quadrads."  Our historic marriage laws harm nobody--they serve husbands, wives, children, and the common good of society.
 
If the expression of our deepest convictions is treated as animus, our religious liberty is in peril.  We cannot fail to speak the truth even if it is labeled hate speech.
 
This is exactly why we wrote the Manhattan Declaration, pledging that we would under no circumstances render to Caesar what belongs to God.
 
Though the circumstances are not comparable, the issue is the same one Dietrich Bonhoeffer faced.  Bonhoeffer's example is well known.  But another compelling illustration is Martin Niemoller.  Timothy George has given a brilliant, brief meditation on Niemoller, who had the courage to defy Hitler to his face.  We strongly urge that you view this by
CLICKING HERE or the video box below.  It is an extremely powerful story--and sad to say, increasingly timely.
 
The ACLU has already hailed Holder's decision as "the tipping point in the gay rights movement."   Sadly, that may well be the case unless we speak out loudly and quickly.
 
Please forward this email to your friends asking them to sign the Manhattan Declaration.  It's never been more important that we take a strong and united stand.

Chuck Colson, The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview
Dr. Robert George, Princeton University




 
The Manhattan Declaration is a non-partisan statement of conscience in defense of human life, traditional marriage and religious freedom. Visit us at ManhattanDeclaration.org
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It's Time To Fight - Alliance Defense Fund speaks out on USDOJ refusal to protect law.

By Alan Sears, President ADF
February 24, 2011 5:43 PM

Alliance Defense Fund Update on federal DOMA Litigation

It’s time to fight…

We wanted to update you on the litigation involving the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA – which essentially is the law that defines marriage to include one man and one woman for federal government purposes, and allows each state to define marriage without imposing any re-definition on another), and especially the impact of Eric Holder’s unprecedented announcement yesterday that the Department of Justice will no longer defend the law (and in fact actively oppose it).

As you know, the Attorney General’s announcement only confirms what has been a reality since the Administration began “defending” DOMA in the seven jurisdictions in which it is currently being challenged. It’s no exaggeration to say that the President’s team has been throwing the cases. The Administration has expressly waived advancing winning legal arguments and intentionally failed to cite binding legal precedent in each case. In fact, the Administration has “expressly disavowed” the winning legal arguments that the Bush Administration had made in previous cases. In short, it is clear that the President and his lawyers have been actively sabotaging DOMA in court.

That is why we have put so many resources into DOMA’s defense. There are two cases in California, two cases in Massachusetts, and cases in Oklahoma, Connecticut, and New York. The cases from Massachusetts are currently at the First Circuit Court of Appeals. ADF and its allies filed amicus briefs in those cases, which resulted in 15 briefs being filed in the case that covered every single legal argument that the United States Department of Justice had abandoned. The Alliance Defense Fund filed a brief on behalf of Representative Lamar Smith, who is the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, presenting the court with the winning arguments that have been recognized by every other case upholding the definition of marriage. We also represent the state defendant in the Oklahoma case to defend both Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment defining marriage and DOMA. The other DOMA cases are in their beginning stages where we are preparing the same defense of DOMA that we mounted in the First Circuit Court of Appeals.

We are also advising members of Congress on their right to intervene in light of Department of Justice’s complete abdication of its duty to defend the law enacted overwhelmingly by both Houses of Congress. The good news is that the Attorney General’s announcement paves the way for the House of Representatives intervention so that the federal law can be vigorously defended by an official party. We are encouraging Congress to step forward to fill the void left by the Administration and we are offering to help any way we can.

It’s an outrage that the President and his Attorney General would not only fail to defend the law, but actively side with those who seek to redefine marriage and label the majority of Americans as the equivalent of bigots motivated by “animus” for believing marriage is the union of one man and one woman. (After all, not only have 30 state marriage amendments been passed by usually overwhelming margins across the country, DOMA was passed in the House of Representatives by a bi-partisan vote of 342-67, and in the Senate 85-14 and signed into law by then President Bill Clinton). But this Administration has made no secret about what it thinks when religious liberty collides with those who seek to redefine marriage. As the President’s pick as head of the EEOC said, “…we should similarly not tolerate private beliefs about sexual orientation and gender identity that adversely affect LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender] people,” “it’s a zero-sum game.”

The Alliance Defense Fund Marriage Team has kept the threat to marriage and religious freedom at the forefront of our minds as we have been working around the clock to litigate these cases. We ask for much prayer, for Congress to act, and the Courts to follow the law and Constitution. It is time to fight…

Thank you VERY much. John 15:5

Yours for religious freedom in America, with sincere appreciation and best regards,

Alan E. Sears
President, CEO and General Counsel
ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND
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Beware of Leadership Promoting Immorality
John R. Houk
© February 26, 2011
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About Manhattan Project
About The Chuck Colson Center

Production, Unions, National Debt and the American Transformation

Mob-Union

John R. Houk
© February 2011

Industrialization in America was good for America. When factories needed workers it attracted farmers, rural citizens and immigrants to urban areas to meet the need for production.

The problem with industrialization was that ownership and management were looking for the best way to optimize profits. As good as industrialization was for America’s free market economy it left a lot of room to ignore the needs and safety of employees. Increasingly employees of factories became known as laborers and workers. In the quest for optimized profits the workers were exploited to the full extent a human could experience working for pittance often in an unsafe working environment. Indeed a substantial amount of workers in factories were children working the same long hours as adults which was essentially from sunrise to sunset often with a seven day work week.

These workers were essentially regarded as a means to an end for Industrialists with the employees not well regarded. Hence when novel political ideas advanced by Fabianism and Marxism (Detail: Marxism Unmasked, Von Mises) began to be shared with uneducated workers a substantial amount of people began to fall for the utopianism in which working conditions would not be oppressive. Fabianists were socialists that believed in a peaceful evolution away from Free Market Capitalism. Marxists were socialists that believed change would only happen by an armed revolution of the worker-laborer class to end personal ownership and eventually a stateless society of mutual cooperation.

Undoubtedly the Fabian/Marxist utopian dream caught on with the horrible working conditions of the relatively low wages for long hours experienced by employees. It seems to me that Unions began to gain strength after the infusion of socialistic ideas began to disseminate from Marxist activists toward the unlearned labor force. The promise of a long range utopia seemed very attractive to short term memory.

Of course the reality of history has shown the Marxist path as interpreted by Trotsky, Lenin, Stalin and Mao was a path to oppression and probably the most unpublicized genocide in world history. There was no path from violent revolution to change society into the collective means of ownership and production that would benefit the whole. Rather after the Marxist revolutions the Marxist-Communist leaders embarked on a plan to eradicate all thought of attachment to ownership, traditional family values and religion. In the view of these revolutionary Marxists the only way to change the future was to eliminate an attachment to the past. Below is a paragraph representing the genocide of people that lost their lives in the name of social transformation from the two largest Marxist/Communist nations of the 20th century:

Between 1917 and 1987, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and their successors murdered, or were otherwise responsible for the deaths of, 62 million of their own people. Between 1949 and 1987, Mao Tse-tung and his successors were responsible for the deaths of 76 million Chinese. The most authoritative tally of history’s most murderous regimes is in a book by University of Hawaii’s Professor Rudolph J. Rummel, “Death by Government.” A wealth of information is provided at his website. (Leftists, Progressives and Socialists; October 21, 2010)  

Did you do the math? The sum of genocidal deaths was 138 MILLION people. My friends this is the failure of Socialism/Marxism.

Unsuspecting exploited American workers had no idea the long term promise of a collective Socialist or Marxist utopia would lead to oppression that made profit margin Capitalists look like a picnic.

In one sense the rise of powerful Unions was part of ending the mistreatment of workers via government regulation that benefitted better work hours, better wages, better safety, better health benefits and the elimination of child labor in industry. Unions brought parity between the employed and their owner/managers. Indeed, it was discovered that better conditions actually improved the means of production which increased profits which increased wages and benefits.

I will not go into the bitter bloodiness that occurred between owner/manager and Unions. There were atrocities of violence on both sides until a symbiotic relationship proved beneficial.

I will go into how Unions began to be both a detriment to their Collective members and the means of production as it affected the American economy. Just as Industrialists became greedy Capitalists in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution so also Union leadership became greedy for more benefits, more wages and more power which meant more money in the coffers of the Unions. The big Unions began to be haunted by corruption. The Socialist utopianism espoused by early Union leaders turned powerful fiefdoms in which thuggery was used to keep members in line or to brutalize those who did not want to join the Unions. The combination of Union high demands and Union corruption led to a point in which owners found it cheaper to move the means of production to nations where the wage demand was a fraction of the American Union demands. Eventually America moved from a producer nation to a consumer nation.

Just as Capitalists needed government regulation, it is time for government regulation to enable Right to Work laws that give workers a better opportunity to land a job eschewing a Union. It is time to regulate the power of Unions. That symbiotic balance between owner/manager and Unions must be found again or America’s lack of production combined with America’s increasing National Debt will explode to America’s detriment.

As much as I am concerned about Marxist principle and Islamic theo-politics robbing America of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness; it could all become irrelevant as National chaos turns America into something that will discharge the U.S. Constitution and lead to another form of government that will lead to the decline of the Pax Americana. The historical lesson is the Roman Republic devolving into a populist cult leadership that led to civil wars which led to a Roman Empire that was lucky enough to have a capable first emperor in Augustus. After Augustus the Roman infrastructure slowly deteriorated until it was divided into two spheres of influence. The Western Latin sphere degenerated into the last powerless emperor that lost his Imperial throne in 476 because the only area of rule was the area of Italian Rome itself (The capital city actually being Ravenna). The Eastern part of the Roman Empire eventually became a Greek speaking empire that acquired the appellation of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine East became weaker and weaker due to wars with Persians which exhausted its Empire. The Byzantine/Persian wars actually left both empires depleted and were eventually overrun by conquering Muslims. In the case of the last vestige of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine capital of Constantinople was overrun on May 29, 1453 ending the Byzantine Empire.

I suspect a similar slow demise will begin if lack of production and an unsustainable National Debt collapses the greatest political experiment the world has ever seen.

I became lost in these thoughts because I was the recipient of a mass email by Senator Rand Paul (R-KY). The purpose of the email was to raise support for the National Right to Work Act. The Act would enable the potential for businesses to be created in which production is made in America rather than American debt owner Communist China. Check out the Senator Paul rally for the petition and I encourage you to sign it.

JRH 2/26/11
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Sign the petition Obama fears

From Senator Rand Paul
Sent: 2/24/2011 10:36 AM

Dear Concerned American,

I didn’t come to Washington, D.C. to buddy up to Big Labor and continue decades upon decades of “politics as usual.”

I came to turn this place around.

And if there’s one thing I learned during the historic 2010 elections, it’s that good folks like you and me can make a real difference.

So won’t you please agree to sign the petition I link to in a moment urging your Congressman and Senators to cosponsor the National Right to Work Act to finally END Big Labor’s stranglehold on our government and our fragile economy?

The truth is, there may be nothing President Obama and his union boss pals fear more than a public roll-call vote on this bill.

You see, right now, more than 11 million American workers are forced to pay union dues just to keep their jobs.

That’s just plain wrong.

But every bit as bad is the toll forced unionism is taking on our economy.

Just in the past few years, UAW union bosses armed with forced-dues privileges nearly drove the Big Three automakers to insolvency -- until they were bailed out by American taxpayers.

Of course, the thousands of small businesses who were forced to shut their doors due to Big Labor militancy weren’t so lucky.

In the government sector, out-of-control union bosses’ outrageous demands, cushy pensions and bloated benefit packages all helped push California and dozens of other cities and states to the brink of bankruptcy.

And more stories like these are sure to come.

So, especially during these tough economic times, why has forced unionism been allowed to continue?

Well, thanks to their forced-dues privileges, the Big Labor bosses rake in eight BILLION dollars every year in forced union dues.

Every election year the union bosses spend one BILLION of that to elect and reelect their own handpicked politicians like Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barack Obama.

Then, once elected, these tax-and-spend politicians fight for even MORE union-label power grabs like:

*** The “Card Check” Bill to strip workers of their right to a secret ballot election and FORCE millions more American workers under union boss control;

*** The Police and Firefighter Forced Unionization Bill which is designed to force EVERY first responder in the country under union boss control -- and is just the first step toward turning all state and local government workers nationwide over to Big Labor;

*** New, TRILLION-dollar “stimulus packages” and social welfare boondoggles like ObamaCare all laden with Big Labor goodies -- sending our already soaring deficit through the roof and increasing pressure for economy-crushing tax hikes;

*** Taxpayer bailouts for everything from failed unionized companies to Big Labor’s own mismanaged “Cadillac” union pension funds.

I hope you agree something’s got to change.

The good news is, passage of a National Right to Work act would end the forced-dues mandates in federal law and finally put an end to this vicious cycle.

You see, just getting a public, roll-call vote in both houses of Congress would be a huge victory.

Nearly 80% of the American people are opposed to forced union dues.

So if the union bosses’ pals in the U.S. House and Senate want to vote against our National Right to Work Act, they can be my guest.

They’ll pay the political price at the ballot box when faced with reelection -- and 2012 could be an even worse year for forced unionism and the union bosses than 2010!

Just imagine the price the union bosses’ allies will pay once the American people come face-to-face with the fact that:

*** Millions of workers are forced to surrender part of every paycheck to Big Labor just to keep their jobs.
 
This cash funds aggressive “organizing” drives, a limousine lifestyle for union bigwigs, and bankrolls radical, tax-and-spend politicians like Barack Obama;

*** Big Labor’s power is poison to hundreds of thousands of small businesses.

Union-label politicians and Obama-stacked bureaucracies are strangling small businesses with confiscatory taxes, destructive laws and straitjacket regulations;

*** Union thugs terrorize workers and communities with violent strikes where they get away with beatings, arson -- even murder.

But this fight won’t be easy.

The union bosses are going to do everything they can to try and suffocate the National Right to Work Bill quietly behind the scenes without even a public vote.

That’s why I’ve agreed to help the National Right to Work Committee mobilize Americans from all over the country to force Congress to vote publicly on the National Right to Work Act.

They’ve been leading the fight to end forced unionism in America for more than 50 years.
 
The Committee has drafted a petition to your Congressman and Senators that
I hope you’ll agree to sign IMMEDIATELY by clicking here.

This petition is a vital part of the Committee's plan to turn up the heat on Congress and force a vote on a National Right to Work law.

Using their sophisticated direct mail, email and phone mobilization programs, they’ll make sure Big Labor’s allies in Congress know they won’t get away with sweeping the forced-unionism issue under the rug.

In fact, over the next few months, their goal is to contact up to fourteen million Americans!

And in the days before the vote, the Committee will prepare hard-hitting newspaper, radio and TV ads to make sure my colleagues understand the political price they’ll pay should they choose to betray the nearly 80% of their constituents who oppose forced unionism.

But such a massive program isn’t cheap -- and none of it can happen without the support of good folks like you.

So, in addition to your signed petition, I hope you’ll agree to a generous contribution to the National Right to Work Committee.

Some folks have given as much as $2,500 or $1,000.

That’s a lot, I know. Only a few folks can make that kind of contribution.

All I ask is that you please contribute as much as you can.

Perhaps you can give $500 or $250. Or perhaps $100, $50 or $35.

Friend, folks like you and me who truly believe in freedom must make sure that victories at the ballot box aren’t wasted.

Instead we should capitalize on them -- and one of the best ways to do that is to force a vote on the National Right to Work Act.


And after signing your petition, will you agree to a generous contribution of $500, $250, $100, $50 or $35 to the National Right to Work Committee today?

I’m counting on your support.

Sincerely,
The Hon. Rand Paul
U.S. Senator (R-KY)

P.S. There may be nothing President Obama and his Big Labor allies fear more than a public roll-call vote on the National Right to Work Act to END forced union dues nationwide.

With nearly 80% of the American people opposed to forced unionism, should Big Labor’s allies choose to vote AGAINST this bill, they’ll go down in flames at the ballot box.

So please sign the petition to your Congressman and Senators urging them to cosponsor the National Right to Work Act -- and make your most generous contribution of $500, $250, $100, $50 or $35 to the National Right to Work Committee TODAY!
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Production, Unions, National Debt and the American Transformation
John R. Houk
© February 25, 2011
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Sign the petition Obama fears