I'm ranting today and this has been a long time coming.

I got another one of those newsmax emails.  You know the ones that you get, like every 5 minutes, if you subscribe.  This time the first headline was about Dr. James Dobson declaring that Fred Thompson is not a Christian.  I have a lot of respect for Dr. Dobson, who later clarified his statement by saying that the term Christian should be understood to only apply to evangelicals.  But enough is enough.  When are evangelicals going to stop thinking they are the gatekeepers to Christendom.  I know some of you are going to call me a hypocrite because I am quick to dole out judgement on certain lifestyles but make no mistake - even I know that condemnation of behaviors and acts cannot translate to an ability to read the thoughts and intents of the soul.  Some behaviors are unchristlike.  Some behaviors damage the fabric of society and undermine the growth and maturation of the individual.  Some behaviors violate the commandments as uttered from Sinai and Galilee.  However, if you believe in the grace of God, through the atonement of his only begotten, then you have to accept the fact that Christians come in all shapes and sizes and aren't necessarily recognizable at a distance depending on how long they've been traveling the road of discipleship and how well they understand the roadmap.

Christianity is an exclusionary religion.  Either you believe Christ is the Messiah or you don't.  There's no gray.  But the mark of a Christian is not like a smudged fingerprint on one's forehead, no matter what Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (authors of the Left Behind series) imagine.  The mark of discipleship is branded where only God can see.  On the human heart.  And when evangelicals start denying fellowship to others because of a perceived failure to meet some minimum standard, they place themselves in league with another proud and regimented denomination - the pharisees.

Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

Luke 18:10-14

As a legislative saga unfolds in South Carolina,  it is becoming increasingly apparent which political party wants people armed with factual information and which wants an easily manipulated constituency ruled by emotion rather than data.

South Carolina is on the verge of becoming the only state to require that women seeking an abortion (with exemptions for victims of rape and incest) first see ultrasounds of their babies.  The proposed law has wide support in the house, will likely pass the state senate and has the full support of Republican governor, Mark Sanford.

Opponents of informing and educating women have the following to say:

An opponent, Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a Democrat, said there was no need to change the law, because women already have access to ultrasound images if they want them.

“It suggests that women don’t know what they’re doing, that they’ve arrived at this decision quite lightly, and nothing could be further from the truth,” Cobb-Hunter told WIS.

So using the logic of Rep. Cobb-Hunter, we don't need warning labels from the surgeon general on cigarette packages because the images of cancer ridden lungs are readily available on the internet.  And yet, which party is pushing the ban on smoking practically everywhere?  So the socialist, I mean, Democrat party wants us to trust them on smoking and global warming and abortion... no need to fact check or come face to face with hard data.  The Republicans in S.C. are saying women should make an informed decision - not just about aborting a baby - but about aborting their own baby - the very real, very much alive biological side effect of intercourse. 

It's even more interesting that Cobb-Hunter wants to make this sound like an insult to women.  She's rallying the pink clad college co-eds with the inflammatory idea "Hey girls!  they think we're stupid!"  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Women are smart.  Smart enough to make a good choice when well armed with accurate information instead of deceptive drivel from agenda driven activists.  In fact, Cobb-Hunter and her partisan cohorts are the ones who want stupid women - they want women to buy the Planned Parenthood talking points hook, line, and sinker.  They want women who prefer to live in denial.

So go ahead and abort that baby.  But don't light up or drive an SUV.  And don't worry about asking why... just trust us on this...

If the truth is always revolutionary then child abuse and infanticide as the markings of the jihadists attempting to revolutionize the world for Allah, must be the wave of the future.

Over the weekend, Iraqi insurgents made their way through a check point using the camoflauge of youthful innocence.  With two small children strapped into the back seat of their vehicle the insurgents were able to convince guards that they were benign.  Once through the check point, the adults ran from the explosives-rigged car and it detonated obliterating the tiny occupants of the rear seat.

Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back," Barbero said.

Dr. Julio Pino, you must be very proud.

More thoughts on this report:  It became clear to me as I was running tonight that this mentality of sacrificing children in the name of God is uncomfortably familiar.  My mind wandered from these poor children abandoned by heartless insurgents to await their painful end to the Andrea Yates case.  Yates was the mother of 5 or 6 children who brutally murdered them all while suffering the delusion that she was saving them from the devil or some such nonsense.  It is revealing that in our culture, we recognize this as mental illness.  Where are the Muslims worldwide decrying the insanity of using small children as unknowing operatives?  And how can anyone aware of acts like the one committed this weekend deny that the goal of bringing the middle east from medieval despotism to a more enlightened age is a noble and just one?

 Thanks to Rachel, we have great pics of the antiwar march in Portland.  Notice the simpletons are speaking on behalf of great leaders from bygone eras.  Shots like these must really annoy the revisionist revolutionaries masquerading as historians these days.  Most of those liberal psuedo-intellectuals consider Abe a war-monger and imperialist.  I guess that info didn't trickle down to the protesting masses.

You remember Abe, the one who went to war to maintain a unified nation, violating states' rights and expanding the executive office well beyond its constitutional limits.  That Abe?  The Abe who went to war to keep people from seeking freedom as independent states?  The same Abe who said he would have done anything to save the union including allowing the perpetuation of slavery.  The very Abe who went to war for an almost undefinable cause that was unsupported by half his constituents.  Ironic isn't it?  In 1860, these chalk laden morons would've been shouting "No blood for cotton". But apparently, now Abe speaks peace against the "imperialistic expansion of Bushco" and believes there is no cause in which war is justified. 

Who knew death could have such an effect on your political views?

This just couldn't wait.  Some anti-war protesters burned, not only the flag, but a US soldier in effigy during their march on Satuday.  So much for those "Support the Troops" bumper stickers.  Ah well, we never really believed 'em anyhow.

Welcome to Portland, Oregon... leftist haven... F.U.B.A.R.

Well, I just read Amanda Garrett's article about Dr. Pino and his relationship to the Global War blog.  You can read the article at cleveland.com  It is clear that the info we sent to Amanda has been sanitized and smacks of lawyerese.  Amanda emailed each of us fearing that the paper would be sued for libel and asked if we would be willing to testify about what we knew.  Without hesitation I offered an affirmative response.  However, the flash to bang time between her email requesting that we all verify willingness to testify and close of business Friday, when she handed her article over the paper, was so short that I do not know if she got replies from each of us in time.  Either way, this goes to another issue about the litigious nature of our society when papers refuse to print the truth for fear of being sued.  Since I already posted what I thought should happen to Lover of Angels, I won't go into that again, but suffice it to say that this is not a personal vendetta of any sort.  The fact is that the best weapon we have in any war is information.  Wolves in sheep's clothing are more of a problem than AK-47s.  Only when we see our enemy clearly can we successfully engage.

I titled this post "Why electronic jihad will succeed" because as you will see below, the evidence is clear that Dr. Pino is the author of the Global War blog.  His writing is clearly incindiary and violent and calls on others to join jihad against America.  Not against Bush and the military.  Against America.  This is not a partisan issue.  And yet, apologists crawl out of the woodwork to support Pino's academic freedom and his free speech.  MIke Adams made an excellent point with his latest satire by showing that while we won't tolerate hate speech against African Americans, some will defend Pino's right to dance in the streets of our own country every time a soldier dies or to demand the overthrow of America and support the institution of sharia law.  To those apologists, I say, enjoy your freedoms while you have them, because fascism doesn't play favorites.  And if you refuse to stand up against speech like this, the day will come when you can no longer stand at all.

Okay - back on topic...

Some things need to be clarified:

None of the group who spoke to her fears Dr. Pino.  His committment to his cause can be measured in the nanoseconds it took for him to deny affiliation with his own words at Global War.  He's not going to blow himself up.

What we do fear are the simple minded idiot choir boys who may follow Pino's preaching.  The loose cannons whose numbers all over the world indicate with frequency that they believe beheading is an appropriate response to, oh I don't know, anything.

Further, Amanda's article has a sympathetic feel towards Pino, something we expected from the Plain-Dealer. In all of her biographical descriptions of Pino walking along Brazilian beaches and even her references to his violence supporting poetry, she never actually cites any of the outrageous quotes we provided her.  She cherry picked two quotes from emails - one sympathetic and one ominous but not even remotely close to the disgusting calls for American deaths that were available to her.  That she included the most outrageous of Mike Adams' quotes as a representative of Pino's opponents shows incredible bias. 

The story was so watered down and filled with "they saids" and "it appears" that it read like it was prepared for a middle school textbook so in an effort to clear up the misconceptions, I'm offering an intel dump:

In this post by an 18 year old student named Raisa,  Lover of Angels, the author of Global War, signs his name: Assad.  Since Assad asks about Raisa'a family we can assume they know each other outside of the virtual world.

Raisa, Raisa! Kafka e' o genio que fala as almas perdidas. Luta sem fim! Essa e minha vida agora.
Espero que o livro (qual romance ou conto voce esta lendo?)lhe estimula a' acao absurda. E' a logica que nos destroi.
Voce segue estudando? Como vai sua familia? Eu tenho um mes mais de ensinar, e planes de viajar a' Turquia em Agosto. O Brasil tem que esperar.
Mando abracos e encorojamento
Assad

Comment by Lover of Angels— 2006/04/05 @ 06:34 PM — (Reply)

But that's hardly proof.  There've got to be a lot of guys named Assad who speak Portuguese and Spanish and who planned to visit Turkey and perhaps Brazil last summer.  Lots of them probably idolize terrorists.  How many of them do you think are blogging from Kent State?

From : blogHi! - free blog hosting

URL : http://elmersbro.bloghi.com/2005/12/14/another-salvo-this-one-in-the-land-of-oz.html#comment-13688

Author : Lover of Angels (jpino@kent.edu) Author URL : http://global-war.bloghi.com/ Sent to : elmersbrother@yahoo.com

--------------------

Comment:

Memo to Oz: (expletive deleted), suck Howard's tiny (expletive deleted), and while your at it, stick your own up yer mother's (expletive deleted).

That's Ohio tax dollars at work, folks.  And speaking of his job, let's see what Global War has to say about the American education system.

The Link

Kuffur Kraziness: Schools Designed to Turn out Dumb Robots

@ 09:59 AM (7 days, 6 hours, 34 minutes ago)

Even if they were cleared up, schools would still suck. Why? Because they were designed to.
It's no secret that the US educational system doesn't do a very good job. Like clockwork, studies show that America's schoolkids lag behind their peers in pretty much every industrialized nation. We hear shocking statistics about the percentage of high-school seniors who can't find the US on an unmarked map of the world or who don't know who Abraham Lincoln was.
Fingers are pointed at various aspects of the schooling system—overcrowded classrooms, lack of funding, teachers who can't pass competency exams in their fields, etc. But these are just secondary problems.

Read the rest of this entry ... (912 words left)

Given the support Pino has gotten from the administration at Kent State, I'd say this post was uncomfortably accurate. 

Lest Dr. Jameson and others at Kent State be confused and think this is merely leftist rhetoric, Dr. Pino explains, quoting the Koran, why good Muslims cannot be friends with non-believers.

The link.

Why not Take the Kaafir as Friends? 19 Reasons

@ 10:21 AM (15 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes ago)

  1.Accepting their kufr (disbelief) and doubting that it is kufr at all, or refraining from labelling them as kaafirs, or praising their religion. Allaah says about the kufr of the one who accepts them (interpretation of the meaning): “… but such as open their breasts to disbelief…” [al-Nahl 16:106]. Allaah says, making it obligatory to label the kaafirs as such (interpretation of the meaning): “… Whoever disbelieves in Taaghoot [false deities] and believes in Allaah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break…” [al-Baqarah 2:256]. Allaah says about the munaafiqoon (hypocrites) who prefer the kuffaar to the Muslims (interpretation of the meaning) “… [they] say to the disbelievers that they are better guided as regards the way than the believers (Muslims).” [al-Nisa’ 4:51].

Read the rest of this entry ... (1939 words left)

A few months ago, I wrote that I was walking away from the blogs.  In large measure that has been true.  Gone are the days of 10 posts within 24 hours.  You'll remember that I reserved the right to return and post once in a while.  So have I done.

Lately, however, with all of the uproar about bloghi's most infamous author, I've been sucked back onto the vortex of the virtual world and my recovery from internet addiction  ;-) has been stunted. With respect to the Kent State situation,  I posted a comment on townhall that needs some follow-up. A reporter has been asking questions of those of us who decried the Global War blog last year.  Her name is Amanda Garrett and she intends to publish an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer this Sunday about Dr. Pino and Academic Freedom. 

When that article is published, I will post a link to it here.  I have expressed concerns about media bias and competence to Ms. Garrett based on the fact that the Plain Dealer hurried to print Dr. Pino's denial of involvement with Global War without investigation.  A decision that, frankly, should have embarrassed some at the paper since within 24 hours, Dr. Pino admitted that he had published on the blog.  In my opinion, the paper characterized Dr. Pino as a victim by merely regurgitating the Kent State talking points ("KSU spokesman Ron Kirksey said the extremist Web site has no connection to Pino"... " Pino and the university have received hate mail and threats, Kirksey said") rather than taking 15 minutes to research the possibility that he might actually be Lover of Angels.  But so goes the rush to sell papers. 

Either way, Ms. Garrett did not write that article and she deserves the benefit of the doubt. 

Should further clarity be required after the publication of the article or if, for any reason, I feel that essential information was not included in the report,  I will post the emails I sent to Amanda and redacted (to preserve the identities of the parties involved) versions of the hard evidence that links Dr. Pino to Global War.

This deserves the full body shudder.  And they called it a profession of their love.

When will the sickness end?

In response to the failure of advocacy groups and activist legislators to legalize gay marriage, one Mass. minister announced Sunday a boycott of all wedding services.  Episcopal Rev. Robert Hirschfield asked his congregation to participate in boycotting wedding services as a symbol of solidarity with the homosexual community.

So my guess is that as a symbol of solidarity with pro-choice feminists, all parents will be asked to literally sacrifice their children on the alter of the church.  Perhaps, congregants will be invited to jump the border into Mexico in an effort to empathize with the growing illegal immigrant population.  Sounds reasonable, right.  How about we all use the restrooms assigned to the opposite gender so that we can walk a mile in the shoes of our transgendered friends.

Or maybe, just maybe we can stop tiptoeing around the fact that some conditions, lifestyle choices, illegal acts can be understood without compromising our own beliefs or rewriting eternal laws.  Perhaps we can admit that compassion and respect for someone who chooses an alternative or illicit lifestyle does not extend to embracing and normalizing their choices only showing them the reasonable respect afforded all God's children merely by their divine ancestry.  How about that?

It's increasingly tough to single out the biggest idiot(s) in the news.  After all, there are just so many to choose from.  You've got Rosie O'Donnell announcing she's depressed and that she no longer gets "clips" from American Idol (YAWN) and the ACLU suing for better accomodations for incarcerated illegals (because, of course, we should be giving them incentives to break the law).  You've got Mayan priests who're planning to purify the site of Pres. Bush's visit next week to remove bad spirits and a jury that convicts Scooter Libby then demands that the President pardon him.  If that were all, it's be a good week.  But between Fadhel al-Maliki setting LAX on its ear because he stuck wire filament and a magnet in his rectum before going through the metal detectors and Lauren Berrios climing to be fired (in liberal New York) for being a witch and then finding employment in the Bible Belt, there is no shortage of nominees for this week's honor. 

An honorable mention has to go to John Edwards who can apparently channel Jesus Christ and assures us that Americans are selfish - never mind that he owns a 28,000 square foot home in a state where you can't throw a rock without hitting a trailer park.  And of course, a shout out to all the spineless conservatives who are running from Ann Coulter with their tails between their legs because she referenced the Isaiah Washington incident in a joke about political correctness interfering with her ability to publicly discuss candidates she dislikes.  Huge faux pas there, Ann, assuming your listeners actually read the papers.

While we're talking politics, we must mention Hillary's sudden discovery of her black roots - no, not the ones in her hair - the ones she found in Selma.  And we can't leave out the fact that the big Global Warming conference was heralded with snow for a second time this week.

It would hardly be fair to announce this week's FUBAR award winer without first mentioning the stiffest competition.  First up, anyone and everyone involved in the coverup at Walter Reid.  Ya'll should ba ashamed!  Right on the heels of those schmucks, the Warren Township School officials (Indiana) who refused to comment on the fact that a pair of 6th graders had intercourse DURING CLASS.  If someone held the NEA to the same standard that the courts demanded for the Boston Archdioses, we'd have already bankrupted countless public school systems all over this country.  But, I digress.

This week's award goes to an entire legislative body, not for an act of commission but for an act of omission.  Some Florida lawmakers forgot to close the legal gaps that would have demanded accountability from the three people sharing a trailer with John Evander Couey while he raped and tortured his 9 year old victim Jessica Lunsford.  Even though Couey was found guilty this week, the three co-inhabitants of the single wide mobile home where Jessica spent several agonizing days and nights are walking around scot free.  At least one of the trailer's inhabitants even entered the bedroom where Jessica was kept and we are supposed to believe he had no knowledge of her presence in a space that's probably less than 8x9 feet.  Sound reasonable to you?  Not to me - that ought to be the definition of FUBAR.

*** Side note: my nomination for best article of the weekend is this editorial about the Nevada Democratic Debate sponsored by FNC.***

A high school teenager has become a litigant in one of the most gay court cases ever.  Yup.  I said GAY.  In case, you aren't familiar with it, the phrase "That's so gay." has been commonly used among teenagers for years.  The Wisconsin State Journal translates it as a dismissive "That's so stupid."  Personally, I always used it as "That's so weird"  you know, as in "queer" or not the norm.  But I heard it used both ways when I was a teacher and of course, when I was a student.

So here's Rebbekah getting teased about her Mormon faith by some kids who ask if she has 10 moms.  She responds with "That's so gay."  And now she's being punished for violating the school prohibition on "gay harrassment".  Since no one was punished for anti-mormon speech and Rebekkah's response is commonly used in the teen vernacular with marginal if any ties to actual homosexual slurs,  you've got to wonder how in the world this case wasn't dismissed long before now. 

It's ludicrous that we are monitoring and punishing speech that shows no malicious intent.   The tenuous connection of the word "gay" in the described context to a homosexual slur should be enough for the indoctrination specialists, I mean, public school teachers and administrators to realize that no punishment was warranted and no harm was intended.  But, hey, why let common sense get in the way the thought police?

I've been getting a lot of hits the past few days.  Lots of .gov addresses and plenty from Kent Ohio, as well.

If you are looking for information on Dr. Julio Pino and the contraversy over his relationship to the globalwar blog, the best place to start is with Mike Adams' columns.  Markedmanner is covering the whole thing with updates and I will post any information I come across as I see it unless it is already getting plenty of coverage in other places.

This whole affair is a sad reminder of how delicate the balance is between freedom and responsibility.  As offended as I am with many of the posts on GlobalWar, my three main contentions have always been these:

1- If this does constitute free speech, then it shouldn't be conducted on the tax payers dime. He should be blogging from home on his own PC.

2- Dr. Pino's anti-American views should be well-known enough for students to have an opportunity to make a well informed choice before taking his class.

3- Any speech that has the power to incite violence must be subject to legal review and regulation.  When a person publishes the name and address of an abortionist and some fruitcake commits homicide based on that publication, the author is held to account.  While GlobalWar usually speaks in generalities, his private emails convey a different picture.  On one occasion he claimed to have inside knowledge of "the next attack".  Whether or not that was bravado or an attempt to prey on perceived fears, I am not qualified to judge.  I hope so.  Certainly, these facts illustrate why the blog and it's author merit investigation.  The fact that someone else may act on the writings at GlobalWar are reason enough for the current firestorm of publicity.

What do I hope happens to the author of GlobalWar?  In a word, nothing.  I hope that he is censured by the university for launching his electronic jihad on the people's dime.  I hope the notoriety of his writings makes every student listen with greater skepticism when they sit through his lectures.  I hope it removes the blinders so that people know exactly with whom they are dealing and so that his employers know that oversight is required.  And I hope that so long as words are all he has for weapons, that he continues to teach.  Because then, we'll always know exactly where he is, what he's doing and who he's chatting with on the internet and over the phone.  Sometimes, our prisons are of our own making.