LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 23/2010

Bible Of the Day
Luke 10/38-42: " It happened as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 10:39 She had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 10:40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.” 10:41 Jesus answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 10:42 but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

John 1:12
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Today's Inspiring Thought: Child of God
When you accepted Jesus Christ by believing in him and receiving him as Lord and Savior, you became a child of God. You are no longer a stranger or an orphan, but rather, you have all of the rights and privileges of a son or daughter of God. It's mind boggling to consider, isn't it? The Creator—God—is your Father. He loves and cares for you because you are his very own. You are his child. You can even call him Abba, "Daddy," God. ) Can we fully comprehend what it means to be children of God? Probably not. But it's wonderful to consider. (About.com)

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Secret US-Russian sanctions vs Bushehr deal tied Israel's hands DEBKAfile/August 22/10
Top Muslims Condemn Ground Zero Mosque as a 'Zionist Conspiracy'/By: Raymond Ibrahim/August 22/10
Canada Welcomes U.S. Proposal to Restart Middle East Peace Talks/August 22/10
Erection of a Muslim Mosque at Ground Zero is an Insult to All Americans/By Jerry McConnell/August 22/10
Report of Investigation Park 51/By Doug Hagmann/August 22/10
Obama Akbar/By Daniel Greenfield/August 22/10
No Peace for Israel/By Alan Caruba/August 22/10
Barack Obama: Christian In Name Only (CINO)?/By John Lillpop/August 22/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 22/10
Iran unveils long-range drone to counter aggressors/Reuters
Israli Defense minister Barak names Galant as next chief of staff/Ynetnews
Israli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Achieving peace possible but difficult/Ynetnews
Israli Defense minister: Barak seeks foreign help in stopping flotilla/Ynetnews
Asarta Expects Security Council to Renew UNIFIL's Term Another Year/Naharnet
Sfeir Stresses Role of Security Forces as They are Citizens' Constant Means for Communication/Naharnet
American Official: Evidence Implicating Hizbullah in Hariri Assassination May Emerge within Days/Naharnet
Geagea Wonders Where Trap Lies in his Plan: It's a Temporary Defense Strategy that Keeps Resistance's Privacy/Naharnet
Najjar: I Will Say What I Know and What I have to Say Regarding False Witnesses File/Naharnet
Sayegh: LAF responsible for protecting Lebanon/Now Lebanon
Hizbullah's Documents May Delay Announcement of Indictment in Hariri Assassination/Naharnet
Berri to Launch Initiative Soon to Bridge Gap between Political Powers, Nasrallah to Hold Speech Tuesday/Naharnet
Mouawad: Equation of Constitution, State, People Protects Lebanon and Any Other Will Lead to Strife/Naharnet
Saqr: Israel has a Plan in Store for Lebanon through Creating Major Internal Strife/Naharnet
Hariri: South is 1st Defense Line of National Sovereignty against Israel/Naharnet
Fneish Denies Hizbullah Called for Toppling the Tribunal/Naharnet
LF Urges Government to Find Alternative Housing to Palestinians Living in Homes Owned by Lebanese/Naharnet
Miqdad: Hizbullah Knows Hariri's Killers, Won't Remain Silent to Any Accusation/Naharnet
Ammar Urges State of Emergency to Solve Power Crisis/Naharnet
Suleiman Stresses Calm Dialogue to Consolidate Stability/Naharnet
Protests against Power Cuts Continue, Bassil: We Will Work against Some Politicians' Message/Naharnet
Mariam Seeks Alternate Ports to Reach Gaza and Israel Mobilizes to Stop it/Naharnet
Mouawad: Equation of Constitution, State, People Protects Lebanon and Any Other Will Lead to Strife/Naharnet

Iran unveils long-range drone to counter "aggressors
By Robin Pomeroy
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran unveiled a prototype long-range unmanned bomber on Sunday, the latest in a stream of announcements of new Iranian-made military hardware as tension mounts over its nuclear programme. On a stage in front of military officials, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pulled a sheet away from the aircraft, called the Karrar, which Iran says is its first long-range drone. With the United States and Israel saying they do not rule out a military strike to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb, the Islamic Republic has showed off new mini-submarines, a surface-to-surface missile and announced plans to launch high altitude satellites over the next three years.
The presentation of the drone came a day after Iranian and Russian technicians began fuelling Iran's first nuclear power station, something Israel called "totally unacceptable."
In a speech at the unveiling ceremony, Ahmadinejad said Iran should seek the ability to make pre-emptive strikes against a perceived threat, although he said it would never strike first.
"If there is an ignorant person or an egoist or a tyrant who just wanted to make an aggression then our Defense Ministry should reach a point where it could cut off the hand of the aggressor before it decided to make an aggression," he said. "We should reach a point when Iran would serve as a Defense umbrella for all freedom loving nations in the face of world aggressors. We don't want to attack anywhere, Iran will never decide to attack anywhere, but our revolution cannot sit idle in the face of tyranny, we can't remain indifferent."
The exact capabilities of the new drone were not disclosed. Iran, which says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, has warned that any strike against its nuclear sites would be countered by measures not restricted to the Middle East region. Ahmadinejad said on Saturday an attack on Iran would be "suicidal." Iran has said it is prepared to return to talks with major world powers but the exact nature of such negotiations has yet to be defined. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week Iran would not talk to the United States unless sanctions and military threats were lifted.

Israli Defense minister Barak names Galant as next chief of staff
Defense minister decides not to wait until end of investigation into 'Galant document,' informs cabinet he has chosen Southern Command chief as next chief of staff. Ministers to approve appointment next week. PM Netanyahu says decision wise'
Roni Sofer Published: 08.22.10, 11:18 / Israel News
Defense Minister Ehud Barak informed the cabinet meeting on Sunday that he had chosen Southern Command Chief Yoav Galant to serve as the next chief of staff. Barak will bring the decision for authorization in the cabinet after he consults with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In doing so, Barak did not wait until the end of the police investigation into the forgery of the "Galant document." "Because of the current state of affairs, the appointment must be made quickly in order to reinstate stability within the IDF," said Barak. Minister Moshe Ya'alon asked Barak what the rush is, but the other ministers with a rich military past, namely Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and Minister, Yossi Peled, expressed their support for the decision.
Prime Minister Netanyahu praised the decision during the cabinet meeting. "This is the wise move because uncertainty exacts a high price. The situation created necessitates a speedy decision that can move forward the next round of appointments in the IDF. This is a good move that will bring back stability to the military's echelons," he said.
A statement issued by Barak's office stated, "The minister completed in recent days a round of talks with the five candidates for chief of staff, including Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Benny Gantz, Central Command Chief Maj. Gen. Avi Mizrahi, Northern Command Chief Gadi Eizenkot, and the military attaché in Washington Gadi Shamni. The minister expressed his esteem for each one of the candidates as asked them to remain in the IDF and continue contributing to it. He added that the decision between candidates was not easy because each of them is worthy."
Barak described Galant as "a vetern officer with diverse and rich operational experience, proven leadership qualities, and the capability to lead the IDF through the challenges facing it and the State of Israel." Barak called up President Shimon Peres to notify him of the decision. Peres' office responded, "This is the most fitting appointment."
Minister Ya'alon asserted that the damage caused by such an appointment outweighs its benefits.
Ya'alon, a former chief of staff himself, suggested that the decision not be brought for the cabinet's authorization next week because he believes it was made to hastily as not all the facts have come to light in the Galant document affair, especially regarding the role of various high-ranking generals, including Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi.
It is believed that Ashkenazi did all in his power to hold up the appointment process. Despite this, he wished Galant success in his new role. However, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said Ashkenazi promised Galant "all help and support in the important role he is taking on in another few months."
Galant document mystery still brewing
The Galant document, made public by Channel 2 news some two weeks ago, suggested Galant will best achieve his goal of becoming the next IDF chief of staff, by "presenting a negative image" of rival, Major-General Benny Gantz and current IDF Chief of Staff Ashkenazi.
The scandal has placed the entire military brass under scrutiny, including Ashkenazi himself and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. Nevertheless, the police announced Thursday that both, as well as several other high-ranking military officials, were cleared. While the police have concluded the brunt of the investigation, the question still remains who authored the document and the role of current Chief of Staff Ashkenazi. Ashkenazi apparently was in possession of the document for many weeks and did nothing with it, except notify Gantz and Eizenkot of its content.
*Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report

Israli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Achieving peace possible but difficult
Netanyahu addresses launching of direct talks between Israel, Palestinian in Washington next week. 'I know there is a lot of doubt after 17 years, since the start of the Oslo process. We need a real partner to reach out from the Palestinian side,' he says at start of cabinet meeting
Roni Sofer Published: 08.22.10, 10:55 / Israel News
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday addressed the launching of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians in Washington next week, for the first time since the American announcement on the matter. "To all the skeptics I say that achieving peace is possible, but difficult," the prime minister said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "I welcome the invitation issued by the United States to launch direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians without preconditions
Netanyahu added," I have been calling for such talks since the government's establishment, a year and a half ago. I know there is a lot of doubt after 17 years, since the start of the Oslo process, and I can understand why it exists. We wish to calm the skeptics down, but in order to do so we need a real partner to reach out from the Palestinian side."
The prime minister went on to say that in order for the talks to bear fruit, concessions will be required on a variety of issues. "Negotiations will require both sides to take moves. If there is such a partner, we could reach peace which will be based on three main levels: The first, real security arrangements in the State of Israel; the second, recognizing Israel as the Jewish people's state, including the right of return issue and the solution for the Palestinian refugees, which will be found in the future Palestinian state; and the third level, the establishment of the Palestinian state requires that it be demilitarized and end the conflict, so that it does not continue in any other way." Netanyahu concluded by saying that "an agreement means ending the conflict. If these three layers exist, peace can be achieved."
Construction freeze to continue?
Vice Premier Silvan Shalom (Likud) said that Netanyahu had stated before that the resumption of the talks would not lead to the continuation of the settlement construction freeze beyond the set date. "The prime minister responded to my question, during a Likud ministers' discussion before the cabinet meeting, that as far as he is concerned there is no change in the government decision on ending the building freeze in Judea and Samaria on September 26." As for the nature of tha talks, Shalom added that "the United States is the main player in the international Quartet and is committed to the statements of this forum. The test will be on September 26, and then we'll be able to know if their declaration on the settlement freeze is what counts." Even before the discussion, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz (Likud) expressed his pessimism as to the future of the talks. "I'll say it ironically, I am very, very unoptimistic," he said. Steinitz's associates explained that his feelings stemmed from recent statements made by Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who threatened to halt the talks if the settlement freeze won’t be extended. Minister Avishay Braverman (Labor) said that "the worst thing would be false talks. If the prime minister is guided by a policy of 'it will be all right,' he shouldn't go to the US in the first place." Fellow Labor minister, Isaac Herzog, said that "this is a very significant development. This is an opportunity for the parties' leaders to face each other and look each other in the eye in order to decide whether they plan to strike a goal for peace." Minister Daniel Hershkowitz (Habayit Hayehudi) stated that "continuing the (settlement construction freeze) is not on the agenda. The Palestinians proved in the past that when we reach out for peace, they rudely reject our gesture, so it's hard to be optimistic." Minister Uzi Landau (Yisrael Beitenu) expressed his hope that "the negotiations will eventually lead to significant agreements, although it's still unclear what understandings the talks are based on. I only know the basic guidelines of the government and that the freeze ends on September 26, but the other side must also change its stand."

Secret US-Russian sanctions vs Bushehr deal tied Israel's hands
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis /August 21, 2010,
Only photo allowed of Bushehr start-upThe Obama administration and Netanyahu government greeted the start-up of Iran's first nuclear reactor at Bushehr with extraordinary meekness, given the grim military and strategic hazards it represents for the region and Israel in particular. Yet nary a squeak of protest came from Washington or Jerusalem when Russian technicians began loading 162 rods of 82 tons of fuel into Iran's nuclear reactor - a process that will take two weeks - Saturday, Aug. 21 - notwithstanding US-led sanctions, Israel's military preparations and international diplomatic posturing.
The State Department said Saturday after the event that Iran's Bushehr nuclear plant has "no proliferation threat" - a statement that was completely beside the point. debkafile reveals that both the Kremlin and the State Department have joined in concealing the secret deal whereby Russia votes for UN Security Council sanctions against Iran in return for US silent acquiescent to Moscow's activation of the Bushehr reactor.
The price the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government paid was prohibitive: Vladimir Putin was allowed to jump the Iranian nuclear drive miles forward toward a capacity for producing weapons-grade plutonium. (Moscow claims the rods will be returned, but Iran's capacity for deception and concealment in the entire last decide s well documented.)
Both Obama and Netanyahu had been beguiled into trusting that President Dmitry Medvedev's tougher line on Iran would prevail in the Kremlin. But Medvedev was nowhere to be seen last Monday, Aug. 15 when Putin took the risk of ceremonially assigned Sergei Kirienko, head of Rosatom, with shipping fuel to Bushehr within a week and getting the reactor on stream, after years of delays.
The Russian leader got away with showing the Muslim world the worth of Moscow's backing - upstaging the side show put on in Washington the day before when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the onset of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on Sept. 2 - a process which the greenest of Middle East pundits appreciates as having nowhere to go.
The Netanyahu government was supposed to have all its worries swept away by the US assurance that the Iran threat is not imminent but eleven months away, as the New York Times reported Friday, Aug. 20. The next day the London Telegraph mocked this assertion by explaining that US officials were really saying that "the process of converting nuclear material into a weapon that worked would take at least 12 months" - a prospect hardly likely to ease Israel's concerns.
Omitting any comment on the Bushehr reactor, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated that Israel's security would be paramount in a deal with the Palestinians. He issued a list of stipulations, such as the demilitarization of territory handed to the Palestinians - only side arms for police; Israel would retain control of the Jordan Rift Valley bordering the Kingdom of Jordan and the mountain ridges forming the spine of the West Bank, they key to defending Jerusalem and Israel's coastal plain.
Many will recall the prime minister's solemn reiterations that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose an existential threat to Israel and noticed how fast they have faded.
His "security pledges" regarding a future Palestinian state on the West Bank should therefore be taken with a hefty grain of salt. Indeed, according to debkafile's Washington sources, the prime minister may already be listening to a US proposal to assign the policing of the Jordan Valley and West Bank mountain peaks to NATO troops, most of them American.

Canada Welcomes U.S. Proposal to Restart Middle East Peace Talks/Naharnet
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2010/265.aspx
(No. 265 - August 21, 2010 - 1:30 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement on U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s offer to host peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority:
“We welcome Secretary of State Clinton’s invitation to Israel and the Palestinian Authority to resume direct negotiations in Washington, D.C., on September 2. Canada commends the continued efforts of Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the United States and the Quartet, as well as regional partners, to create the conditions needed for the resumption of peace talks.
“We recognize that this development demonstrates a positive step toward peace, despite the challenges that exist. We strongly encourage them to take advantage of this important opportunity.
“As always, Canada stands ready to assist in any way.”

Asarta Expects Security Council to Renew UNIFIL's Term Another Year
Naharnet/United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Commander General Alberto Asarta expected the U.N. Security Council to extend the international force's term in Lebanon another year.The Security Council is expected to address this issue at the end of the month. Asarta added: "There are no obstacles preventing it from renewing UNIFIL's term." He told al-Mustaqbal newspaper Sunday: "The renewal will respect U.N. resolution 1701 and there are no plans to change the troops' rules of engagement Beirut, 22 Aug 10, 08:44

American Official: Evidence Implicating Hizbullah in Hariri Assassination May Emerge within Days
Naharnet/Highly sensitive articles on the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri are expected to be published in American newspapers within the next few days, said a media sources to the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper. It also added that only three individuals in the U.S. administration are following up on the issue of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and matters related to it. It reported one of the officials as saying: "Damning evidence that demonstrates Hizbullah's involvement in the assassination may appear in the upcoming days." Furthermore, he considered Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest press conference, during which he said that Israel may be behind the crime, "as an attempt to mislead the investigation and buy some time." Beirut, 21 Aug 10, 10:49

Mouawad: Equation of Constitution, State, People Protects Lebanon and Any Other Will Lead to Strife
Naharnet/Independence Movement leader Michel Mouawad stressed Sunday that the equation of the constitution, state, and people will protect Lebanon and its democratic system and ensure its unity and stability. He added that any other equation "will only lead to strife, the elimination of the state, and Lebanon's destruction." The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is the only guarantee for justice, freedom, and real stability in Lebanon, Mouawad said. Beirut, 22 Aug 10, 10:43

Berri to Launch Initiative Soon to Bridge Gap between Political Powers, Nasrallah to Hold Speech Tuesday
Naharnet/House Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to launch an initiative on August 31 aimed at bridging the gap between political powers in Lebanon. He is scheduled to announce it during a ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of the disappearance of Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr. Meanwhile, Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is scheduled to make a televised speech during an iftar Tuesday in order to tackle latest developments. Beirut, 22 Aug 10, 10:27

Fneish Denies Hizbullah Called for Toppling the Tribunal
Naharnet/Minister of State for Administrative Reform Mohammed Fneish denied that Hizbullah has called for toppling the international tribunal and reiterated demands to punish false witnesses in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination case. "Had Hizbullah taken such a decision, it would have issued an official statement," Fneish said in an interview to be published Sunday by the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper. "Since the international tribunal is saying that it was not within its authorities to punish false witnesses, any other authority should punish tem," Fneish said. When asked why Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah now chose to present evidence about Israel's alleged involvement in Hariri's murder, the minister said: "We are keen on dealing with this big case with calm … We are keen on implementing justice." Fneish also unveiled that Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman told MP Walid Jumblat two months ago about the indictment that will be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. "Let no one tell me that Lebanese officials are not aware of the indictment and that Israelis haven't talked about it … Let us not play with people's minds," he told the daily. Beirut, 21 Aug 10, 21:18

Sayegh: LAF responsible for protecting Lebanon
August 22, 2010
Social Affairs Minister Selim Sayegh told LBCI television on Sunday that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and security forces are responsible for protecting Lebanon, including the South. The national dialogue committee met earlier in the week to discuss Lebanon’s defense strategy, with Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea proposing to place the Resistance under the command of the LAF. Syria has some political influence in Lebanon, he also said, adding that Damascus should deal with Lebanon through official channels, such as the Syrian Embassy in Beirut. “The Kataeb Party will face any doubts related to Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s (STL) indictment through the cabinet and judicial institutions,” he said, adding that only the Lebanese government should face any domestic security problems. The minister also voiced his displeasure that the draft 2010 state budget is still under discussion, after the cabinet approved the draft and referred it to the parliament in July. -NOW Lebanon

Jumblatt honors judicial police chief at retirement ceremony
August 21, 2010
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt thanked Judicial Police chief General Anwar Yahya for his years of service at a celebration of the latter’s retirement at Mukhtara palace on Saturday, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. “Today the state loses an essential element,” Jumblatt said.-NOW Lebanon

Mariam Seeks Alternate Ports to Reach Gaza and Israel Mobilizes to Stop it
Naharnet/No new developments have emerged in the case of the Mariam aid ship aiming to travel to the Gaza Strip as it was scheduled to depart from the Tripoli port Sunday to the Palestinian territory but Cyprus' refusal to harbor it has thwarted its mission. The trip's organizing committee has contacted Greece and Turkey in order to find an alternate port.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak urged on Saturday U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to prevent the vessel from sailing from Lebanon. "The flotilla's attempt to reach Gaza is a needless provocation," Israeli media quoted Barak as telling the western officials in telephone conversations. On Friday, Barak said the vessel intends to aid terror groups. "The flotilla planning to set sail from Lebanon has nothing to do with humanitarian goals, it is a hostile irritation," he said. Israel's Ambassador to the U.N. Gabriela Shalev also sent letters to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council saying Israel reserves the right under international law "to use all necessary means" to prevent the ship from violating the naval blockade. Lebanon's Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi Aridi said Saturday that he will immediately grant the Mariam the license to sail once the organizers find a port willing to harbor it. The trip's coordinator, Samar al-Hajj, told the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper that she was surprised with Cyprus' position on the matter, wondering: "Why didn't the Lebanese authorities follow Cyprus' example and prevent Cypriot ships from heading to Lebanon?"
She revealed that talks with countries to provide alternate ports have so far not yielded any results, voicing a fear that the matter may take "some time." Beirut, 22 Aug 10, 09:06

Miqdad: Hizbullah Knows Hariri's Killers, Won't Remain Silent to Any Accusation
Naharnet/MP Ali Miqdad said Hizbullah knows the identity of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's killers and won't wait for another five years to unveil the truth behind the assassination.
Hizbullah "won't remain silent from now on to any accusation or distortion of the resistance image," Miqdad told an Iftar banquet. Turning to the party's foes, the lawmaker said that those who want to defend Lebanon should become part of the resistance-army-people triangle rather than create slogans. On the electricity crisis, Miqdad called for immediate solutions to face the unprecedented heat wave hitting Lebanon. Beirut, 21 Aug 10, 16:37

Protests against Power Cuts Continue, Bassil: We Will Work against Some Politicians' Message
Naharnet/Protests against the frequent power cuts continued over the weekend as residents in al-Nabatieh al-Fawqa blocked the road that links their town to the city of Nabatieh with burning tires. The protests continued in other regions as citizens burned tires Saturday at the Masnaa road at Chtaura and the old airport road, but security forces soon intervened and reopened the roads. Energy Minister Jebran Bassil meanwhile told the daily An Nahar Sunday: "We received the people's message a long time ago and we are working tirelessly at the ministry to resolve the crisis." "We also received some politicians' messages and we will work against them," he added. The minister is expected to inspect the Shabrouh dam at Kesrouan where he is scheduled to discuss water issues in Lebanon "because the water problem is much greater than the electricity one," he said. Many officials believe that the energy crisis is expected to continue until the ministry begins implementing the maintenance plan in the electricity sector, reported the daily Al-Hayat Sunday. The plan was approved by Cabinet in June, but it can only be implemented once the state budget is approved in parliament. A billion dollars have been dedicated to the electricity field in the budget and they will be paid at three installments, the first of which during a plan to provide the country with 600 megawatts.Prime Minister Saad Hariri meanwhile stated at an iftar Friday: "Some individuals have spoken of constructing gas power plants in the North and South. Former Prime Minster Rafik Hariri had proposed this plan before Cabinet in 1996 and had it been implemented back then we would have avoided the problem we are suffering from today." Beirut, 22 Aug 10, 08:33

Top Muslims Condemn Ground Zero Mosque as a 'Zionist Conspiracy'
by Raymond Ibrahim
Pajamas Media
August 19, 2010
http://www.meforum.org/2724/ground-zero-mosque-zionist-conspiracy
In a recent article, I argued that the Ground Zero mosque is counterproductive to Islam. The following day, on August 5, the Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm reported that none other than Al Azhar — one of Sunni Islam's most authoritative institutions — agrees. My translation of the relevant excerpt follows:
A number of Al Azhar ulema expressed their opposition to building a mosque near [where] the events of September 11 [occurred], convinced that it is "a conspiracy to confirm a clear connection between the strikes of September [11] and Islam." Dr. 'Abd al-Mu'ti Bayumi, a member of the Islamic Research Academy [of Al Azhar] told Al Masry Al Youm that he rejects the building of any mosque in this area [Ground Zero], because the "devious mentality" desires to connect these events [of 9/11] with Islam, though he maintains that Islam is innocent of this accusation. Instead, it is a "Zionist conspiracy," which many are making use of to harm the religion. Likewise, Dr. Amna Nazir, professor of doctrine and philosophy at Al Azhar, expressed her rejection that a mosque be built near the World Trade Center, saying: "Building a mosque on this rubble indicates bad intention — even if we wished to shut our eyes, close our minds, and insist on good will. I hope it is a sincere step, and not a new conspiracy against Islam and Muslims."
Aside from the hackneyed "Zionist conspiracy" charge, Al Azhar has it right: from negative media attention to subliminal associations with the 9/11 strikes, the "9/11 mosque" has great potential to backfire on Islam. Many other Muslims agree. That Al Azhar has labeled it a "Zionist conspiracy"— an appellation usually reserved for especially heinous charges attributed to fellow Muslims, such as the strikes of 9/11 — is indicative of how absurd the mosque project must appear to them.
Lest Al Azhar be accused of feigning disapproval, bear in mind that its reaction is not a product of sensitivity to, or the desire to peacefully coexist with, the United States (which would be suspect). Indeed, Dr. Bayumi is an open advocate of suicidal jihad: "I say in all honesty that we recruit the people of Islam, and instill in them the spirit of the true Jihad, which is death for the sake of Allah, for the sake of our faith, and of the Al-Aqsa Mosque."
Now, here's the question: if Al Azhar scholars are fully aware of how detrimental the erection of a 9/11 mosque can be, why are American Muslims (such as of the Cordoba Initiative) still relentlessly pursuing it?
Much of this, I believe, has to do with the differing mentalities of Western, as opposed to Middle Eastern, or "indigenous," Muslims. The latter, who have had little experience of the West, simply cannot believe that Muslims would be so foolhardy as to pursue such an obvious affront to their host nation; put differently, they cannot believe a non-Muslim nation would tolerate such effrontery. Used to seeing, and treating, "infidels" as second-class citizens, it is only natural that the indigenous Muslim mentality expects reciprocity when on infidel soil.
Westernized Muslims, on the other hand, have learned that they can get away with almost anything — so long as they slap the words "tolerance," "pluralism," "dialogue," or "bridge-building" to their endeavors, as the 9/11 mosque supporters do regularly. In short, a correlation exists between how well or how little a Muslim knows the West, and how aggressive or passive their Islamism becomes.
Moreover, religious buildings are seen as symbols of supremacy by many Muslims; hence the reason mosques are ubiquitous to the Muslim world whereas churches are all but — and in some Muslim nations totally — banned. It is precisely because of this ingrained view regarding the significance of religious buildings that Al Azhar is convinced that no sane Muslim would adamantly pursue the construction of a 9/11 mosque, which must instead be "a new conspiracy against Islam and Muslims."
Incidentally, how does one interpret President Barrack Hussein Obama's recent support for the 9/11 mosque? He certainly spent enough time growing up in the Muslim world to have a better understanding of the Muslim mindset — including its take on religious buildings as symbols of supremacy — than the average American. Far from approving it, then, he of all presidents should appreciate the triumphalist overtones a mega-mosque so near to Ground Zero conveys to Islamists.
Either way, especially now that Obama has gotten himself into the mix — even if he did try to backpedal — the potential for the 9/11 mosque project to backfire on Islam continues to grow. At a time when nearly 70 percent of Americans already oppose the mosque plan, continued media attention and 9/11 rallies may well help realize Al Azhar's worst fears: that the 9/11 mosque will serve as a permanent reminder of "a clear connection between the strikes of September [11] and Islam." (That Muslims will be seen celebrating this coming September 11 as part of Eid al-Fatr probably won't help either.)
In closing, should the mosque be built, it will be an Islamist triumph. However, at the rate things are going — this issue is set to be a hot topic for upcoming elections — time may well reveal that the victory of erecting a mega-mosque near Ground Zero was as much symbolic as it was pyrrhic, not just for Islamists, but their political supporters as well.
**Raymond Ibrahim is associate director of the Middle East Forum, author of The Al Qaeda Reader, and guest lecturer at the National Defense Intelligence College.

Barack Obama: Christian In Name Only (CINO)?
By John Lillpop
Friday, August 20, 2010
Barack Obama’s naive statements on the Ground Zero mosque have brought new energy to the debate over his religious affiliations.
Yahoonews.com reports, in part, that nearly one in five Americans believe that Obama is Muslim: Ref 1“Nearly one in five Americans incorrectly believe President Obama is Muslim, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. That total, 18 percent, is up from 11 percent in Pew’s March 2009 survey.
“While the view that Obama is Muslim is more widespread among those who identify as Obama’s ideological opponents, the survey found that a growing number of independents also believe the myth, up 8 percent from 2009.”
Note that the word “incorrectly” as used in the Yahoo.news story is not necessarily true.
Consider Obama’s actions since 1/20/09:
•Immediately called for shut down of GITMO
•Called for terrorists to be tried by civilian juries, rather than military, including Miranda rights and other rights conferred on citizens.
•Once in office, rushed off to a Muslim nation to deliver a speech in which he declared that America is “not” a Christian nation.
•Changed policy toward Israel such that that nation is treated like a gang of terrorists.
•Supports, or at least does not oppose, the mosque at Ground Zero.
In defending the president, White House spokesman Bill Burton made the following comments aboard Air Force One:
“The president is obviously - he’s Christian. He prays every day…” But, Burton added, the president’s top priority is not “making sure Americans know what a devout Christian he is.”
Excuse me? Prayer does not make one a Christian.
For instance Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surely prays many times a day. As did Mohamed Atta and the other 18 devils who brought the Twin Towers down.
The issue is to whom does he pray and does he believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the resurrection?
Or is Barack Obama a Christian In Name Only?

Obama Akbar
By Daniel Greenfield
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The media is all worked up over a poll that shows the majority of Americans don’t think Obama is a Christians and nearly a 1/4 of Americans think that Obama is a Muslim. Naturally the “mainstream” conservative blogs are embarrassed by these results. Politico is calling it a new Birtherism. Left unasked is the question of why people might think that.
There’s Obama own statements on the topic in which he emphasized his family connections to Islam. This is what he said in Turkey;
Many other Americans have Muslims in their family, or have lived in a Muslim-majority country – I know, because I am one of them.
This is what he said later in Cairo;
“Part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk.”
This time Obama included the mention that he is a Christian, but his emphasis was still on Islam.
There was Obama saying in an interview that he had a basically Muslim childhood…
“I was a little Jakarta street kid,” he said in a wide-ranging interview in his office. He once got in trouble for making faces during Koran study classes in his elementary school, but a president is less likely to stereotype Muslims as fanatics—and more likely to be aware of their nationalism—if he once studied the Koran with them.
Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”
There Obama was also documented as attending a mosque and his religion was listed as Islam.
In short, Obama’s family on his father’s side is Muslim. He grew up with a Muslim stepfather in a Muslim country. Then he went to Trinity Church and found a mentor there in the form of Jeremiah Wright. Wright was a former Black Muslim, his sermons still sound more Muslim than Christian, with their rantings about America, and obvious bigotry. Obama’s church was Muslim influenced, which may have attracted him to it and to Wright.
Take all this together, and it’s not too surprising why some people would have the perception that Obama is Muslim, in part or in whole.
The media would like to pretend that this is a smear and bigoted. Some of the “mainstream” conservative blogs would like to pretend it’s stupid and contemptible. But Obama himself created the problem, by being vague and misleading. When speaking to Americans, he emphasized his Christianity. When speaking to Muslims, he emphasized Islam. Both sets of audiences could be forgiven for thinking that Obama was feeding them an identity that they would find more compatible.
Obama tried to use his Muslim background to bolster his foreign policy credibility to the likes of Kristoff. But as it turned out, he’s actually quite bad at the foreign policy thing, and his invocation of a Muslim background only came back to bite him in the #####. When the man himself variously emphasized and deemphasized his Muslim ties when politically convenient, it’s not surprising that he has spawned some confusion in that regard.
Then there’s Obama’s own middle name, Hussein, which generally references Hussein Ibn Ali, Mohammed’s grandson and a revered figure within Islam. Obama was given that name supposedly in honor of his own Muslim grandfather.
With all this litany of available material, it’s not too surprising that many people think that Obama might be a Muslim. Or aren’t sure what he is.
Let’s take a look at John Kerry for a moment. Kerry did have a Jewish grandfather, but few people thought that Kerry himself was Jewish. On the other hand quite a number of people thought that Barry Goldwater was Jewish. Both Kerry and Goldwater had Jews in their paternal line, neither were Jewish themselves. Goldwater however had a vaguely Jewish sounding last name, Kerry doesn’t.
However if Kerry’s middle name was Shlomo, and he spent a whole lot of time discussing a childhood in Israel and his affinity for Judaism—people would hardly be blamed for thinking that he might be Jewish. That isn’t bigotry, it’s reality.
By labeling the perception that Obama is a Muslim, a “smear”, the media is implicitly suggesting that to be thought a Muslim is a bad thing. Yet isn’t that exactly the kind of bigotry, the press takes great care to condemn?
If Obama being a Muslim is as value neutral as him liking Chinese food, then why get all hysterical over the perception? A perception that Obama himself has fed by repeatedly mentioning his ties to Islam. When some thought that Goldwater was Jewish, the media did not launch into a crazed frenzy of accusations about bigotry. Goldwater himself simply stated that he was not Jewish. His campaign did not label such claims, a smear. Nor did Goldwater feel the need to assure everyone that he prays in a church every day.
What Obama is experiencing is more akin to what George Allen experienced, (that was a case where the media overtly used a Jewish background as a smear against a Republican), and Obama’s situation, like Allen’s, is of his own making. Obama, like Allen, hides his background. Unlike Allen, Obama also displays it selectively when it’s convenient. That leads to a schizophrenic approach that leaves people confused.
For example, the media insists that using Obama’s middle name is an act of bigotry. Obama doesn’t use it himself and dropped it. Yet when Obama gives a speech in a Muslim country, he uses Hussein. This sends a completely schizophrenic message, that his middle name is a bad thing in America, but a good one in the Muslim world.
It’s no wonder that this kind of thing causes people to wonder just who and what Obama really is. Because if Obama himself seems a tad ambiguous on the subject, what conclusions can the public be expected to draw?
Finally as to the question of is Obama a Muslim? In Muslim eyes he might well be, since he recited the Shahada and still remembers it by heart. That declaration is what it takes to become a Muslim. Under Muslim rule, Jews were convicted of heresy and executed, on the mere accusation by a Muslim that they had recited it.
Here for example is the case of a Jewish girl from 1853
c. 1853: E.L. MITFORD from “Appeal in Behalf of the Jewish Nation”
“I will narrate a case which took place at Tangier, and with which I was, therefore, well acquainted. The individual sufferer was an interesting Jewess, of respectable family, residing at Tangier; and much is it to be regretted that our Consul-General had not influence—or, if he did possess any, that he did not exert it—to avert the horrid catastrophe.
This young creature was summoned before the Cadi, by two Moors, who deposed to her having pronounced their confession of faith. This, however, she utterly denied, but in vain; and the Cadi had no alternative, even had he possessed the inclination, but to decree her conformity to Islamism, on pain of death. I was never able to obtain correct information as to whether the witnesses were actuated by sinister motives, or whether the poor girl really did repeat the fatal words in jest. There is, doubtless, much friendly intercourse between the Jews and the better-disposed Moors, in which gossip and jesting are sometimes carried beyond the verge of safety…
The Jews came forward with offers of immense sums of money to save her, but her fate was irrevocably decided, and the only mercy the baffled tyrant could afford his young and innocent victim, was to allow of her being decapitated, instead of being burnt alive. I had an account of the closing scene from an eyewitness, who was one of the guards at the execution—and although, as a body, there is nowhere a more dissolute set of irregular soldiery than the Morocco Moors, yet he confessed to me that many of his vice-hardened companions could not restrain their tears, and that he himself could not look with dry eyes on a sight of such cold-blooded atrocity.
This beautiful young creature was led out to where a pile ready for firing had been raised for her last couch, her long, dark hair flowing disheveled over her shoulders, she looked around in vain for a heart and hand that could succor, though so many eyes pitied her; for the last time she was offered—with the executioner and the pyre in all their terror before her—her life, on condition of being false to her G-d; she only asked for a few minutes for prayer, after which her throat was cut by the executioner, according the barbarous custom of the country, and her body consumed on the fire.”
The mere supposed utterance of those words that Obama describes as the most beautiful sound on earth, was enough to doom her to a horrible death. Under Islamic law. (This while in the United States, freedom of conscience had long ago been enshrined into law.)
So from a Muslim perspective, Obama is either a Muslim or a heretic. And heresy carries a high price.
But what does Obama himself think? I doubt very much that Obama has a hidden prayer rug he takes out several times a day. I don’t think that Obama is either Muslim or Christian in the religious sense.
However culturally, Obama is more Muslim than he is Christian. Because religion is also culture. And growing up in a religion, shapes you culturally, not just spiritually. Had Obama grown up a Catholic or a Buddhist, he would undeniably see the world somewhat differently than he does today. I doubt that Obama himself would deny that. Indeed Obama has repeatedly boasted about his cultural exposure. But cultural exposure works both ways.
You do not just look out at a culture, you are also shaped by it. As Obama has been. So while Obama is not a Muslim, he has been influenced culturally by the Muslim world. That is what he tried to bill as an asset. And it is part of why his statements to Americans feel off, and why some Americans question where his allegiance lies. The media can choose to call this bigotry, but had the President of the United States during WW2, been raised in Germany, Japan or Russia—similar questions would have been asked. And such questions are not unreasonable in a time of war.
Obama’s doubletalk and the media’s paranoid reaction of shrieking that everyone is a bigot has done the rest, feeding the perception that there is a cover-up. And that can be laid at the door of Obama and his own media backers.
The media meanwhile is sticking to its narrative on the Ground Zero Mosque. AP has issued a political style guide to insure a properly politically correct description of the mosque. Frank Gaffney at BigPeace fact checks them.
Interestingly, among those who formerly used the now-proscribed descriptor “Ground Zero mosque” is none other than Feisal Abdul Rauf, its imam and chief promoter. He called it that even though the proposed venue has always been two blocks away from the World Trade Center site.
Perhaps Rauf used this moniker because his planned location for the mosque was part of the real estate attacked and damaged on 9/11 – the home of the Burlington Coat Factory until it was struck by a landing gear from a plane that struck one of the Twin Towers. Perhaps he used that term to brand his “Cordoba House” because body parts from the victims of those attacks have been found all over Lower Manhattan, including the old Burlington factory area, making it part of the hallowed ground.
Or perhaps, Imam Rauf called his project the Ground Zero mosque because he wanted to associate his 15-story, $100 million complex as closely as possible to the location where nearly 3,000 Americans and other innocent people – precisely because they were murdered there by people who wanted, as he does, to “bring shariah to America.”
The last explanation would certainly conform to the triumphalist past practice of adherents to shariah, the barbaric, totalitarian political program that masquerades as a religion. Indeed, there is a tradition of constructing mosques at the site of previous Islamic conquests for example in Jerusalem, Istanbul and Cordoba, Spain. (See http://www.NoMosqueAtGroundZero.com). Yes, it was for Cordoba – where a Catholic church was converted into the world’s third largest mosque by the Moorish conquerors of Spain – that Rauf wanted initially to name his Ground Zero mosque.
And while the media tries to practice its “art of silencing”, construction workers are saying they will refuse to work on this project.
A growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero.
“It’s a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,” said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.
“I wouldn’t work there, especially after I found out about what the imam said about U.S. policy being responsible for 9/11,” Kaiser said.
The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet. One construction worker created the “Hard Hat Pledge” on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays on Park Place.
“Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,” said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn. “People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there.”
“Hopefully, this will be a tool to get them to move it,” he said. “I got a problem with this ostentatious building looming over Ground Zero.”
But I’m sure the AP executives over in midtown Manhattan have a much better grasp of the mosque’s location than the construction workers who are right on the spot.
Meanwhile the overall media narrative is that everyone who thinks the mosque is in poor taste is a crazed bigot. Of course neither the media, nor Keith “First they came for the Communists” Olbermann have anything to say about genuine horrors and atrocities like this.
On July 22, a group of madrassa (Islamic school) students gang-raped a 12-year-old Christian girl in Gujar Khan, Rawalpindi district. A teacher who reportedly witnessed the rape stated:
“Three or four Christian girls were washing dishes near a pond…. These guys ran towards them, and the girls started running. One of them fell on the ground, and these madrassa students got hold of her and took her in the fields. I tried to stop them, but they were 15-16 in number.”
But no instead we have the media getting outraged because people are offended by a mosque near the place where Muslims murdered 3000 people in the name of Islam. Or a Disney employee who wants to wear a Hijab. Or a pig’s head left outside of a mosque. The Telegraph actually calls this incident “a serious racist attack”.
Personally I don’t consider an act in which no one was injured and which there wasn’t even any property damage to be a serious attack. On the other hand murders, rapes and synagogue burnings seem like actual “serious racist attacks”.
Meanwhile Rauf himself has been tied to what even a dishonest press should admit is “extremism”
Now Feisal Abdul Rauf seeks to follow in his father’s footsteps with the Park 51 project—the so-called Ground Zero mosque—and appears to be following the course set by his father,
The younger Rauf has said he plans to get the $100 million he needs from Islamic nations.
The elder Rauf, who taught in Cairo and Kuwaiti universities before migrating to New York City in 1965, wasn’t satisfied with converted storefronts and assembly halls that Muslims had been using.
With $1.3 million in Kuwaiti, Saudi and Libyan cash, he purchased apartment buildings on the corner of Third Avenue and East 96th Street.
For the next 20 years, the elder Rauf, who died in 2004 at age 87, compiled building permits from the city, reached out to public officials—and, finding local donations anemic, he toured the Islamic world to secure funding.
Ultimately, money poured in from individuals and governments in 46 nations.
The project, however, was still beset by controversy. Governments of the various donor countries vied for influence, and architect Aly Dadras was fired, allegedly because he hired a Jewish-owned firm as a technical consultant, according to news reports.
In October 2001, the mosque’s imam, Sheik Muhammad Gemeaha, blamed the 9/11 attacks on Jews. He then immediately resigned and returned to his native Egypt.
The next month, his replacement, Imam Omar Saleem Abu-Namous, said he needed proof that Islamic extremists were behind the attack.
Sounds familiar doesn’t it. A real estate buying spree in Manhattan funded by terrorist supporting regimes leads to a hatefilled mosque. Like father, like son.
And Jack Kemp reminds us how tolerant some of the signage on Manhattan mosques can get
Anyone really want this near Ground Zero?
But speaking of Islamist takeovers of other people’s holy sites by attempting to build mosques on them, both of Israel’s Chief Rabbis have issued a call to rebuild Joseph’s Tomb, which was taken over by Muslims.
In the early days of the al-Aqsa Intifada, on the morning of October 7, 2000, Israel withdrew the small contingent of IDF border policemen who had been guarding the site of the Tomb of the Patriarch Joseph and its Yeshiva. The holy site was located in Shechem in Samaria, the town the Arabs call “Nablus”. Over the preceding days, the Tomb had been attacked with gunfire, stones, and firebombs. The IDF defenders in the compound withstood the attacks and stopped several attempts by armed Palestinians to break in. An IDF border policemen was wounded, and the heavy rioting prevented his evacuation for treatment in time to save his life.
In order to prevent further loss of life and to lower tensions in the area, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak authorized the temporary evacuation of the site, based on the agreement of the Palestinian Authority (PA) to safeguard the location, in accordance with their obligations under the Oslo Accords to protect holy sites, Jewish and Christian, and ensure access by all. The PA also pledged to prevent any vandalism and to return the Tomb to its original state after the violence settled down.
The PA pledge was brazenly violated about two hours after the Israeli evacuation, when a Palestinian Arab mob entered the Tomb compound and began to systematically destroy everything in sight, including all remnants of the Yeshiva. The furniture and books that were left behind were burned by the mob. The Palestinian police stood by, failing to prevent any of these violent activities, despite their commitment to guard the Tomb. Within hours, Joseph’s Tomb was reduced to a smoldering heap of rubble. Within two days, as an Associated Press dispatch reported, “the dome of the tomb was painted green and bulldozers were seen clearing the surrounding area,” as the Palestinian Arabs sought to transform the biblical Joseph’s resting place into a Moslem holy site.
Israel’s withdrawal from the site was later understood as a grave strategic error. It marked the first time that the IDF had withdrawn under fire, surrendering territory to Palestinian Arab violence. Coming barely a week after the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, the retreat from Joseph’s Tomb sent a dangerous signal to Yasser Arafat, confirming that violence would force Israel to capitulate.
And now….
Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger issued a joint call Thursday to rebuild Joseph’s Tomb (Kever Yosef) in Samaria. The tomb, which contains the remains of the Biblical Joseph, has been seriously damaged by Palestinian Authority vandals.
Except the agreement requires PA consent and so the site remains held hostage. Naturally the media will not be reporting on this.
In other good news, Putin will be sending 50 armored vehicles to the PA. Because just giving Iran nukes isn’t enough…
Sheik Yermani at Winds of Jihad notes that the 100 million dollar cost of the mosque could sure pay for a lot of flood relief in Pakistan. But of course as usual it’s the gullible infidels who will pick up the tab, for a country where 59 percent of the population thinks we’re the enemy, while they finance mosques near Ground Zero.
A recent July poll conducted by the Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Project showed that 17 percent of Pakistanis held a favorable opinion of the United States, with 59 percent actually describing the United States as an “enemy.”

Erection of a Muslim Mosque at Ground Zero is an Insult to All Americans
By Jerry McConnell
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Since the very first mention of the erection of a Muslim Mosque almost on top of the ground desecrated by Muslims in an attack to destroy Amerrica’s financial capabilities by fire-bombing the World Trade Center’s two skyscraper buildings, Obama and his favorite people on earth, the Muslims, have been lying about their plans for the new edifice.
These people have gotten accustomed to good, honest and hard-working Americans bending over backwards to accommodate their repulsive and insanely demanding dictates on how WE should behave toward THEM in OUR country.
Since Barack Hussein Obama usurped our presidency by failing to provide LEGITIMATE proof of his “natural born residency” the Islamic faith followers have considered America to be THEIR country. Obama has practically said so in many instances, particularly in speeches given in foreign countries alluding to “America being a Muslim country and not Christian.”
I don’t know about you, but I have had it up to here with this sort of balderdash and outright lies coming from the man who is pretending to be our leader. He is not a leader; he is a follower; a follower of a foreign religious faith that has as its primary goal the total destruction of the United States of America.
Barack Hussein Obama is the biggest enemy we have in this country. And he is slowly and deceitfully building an army of Muslim followers who will one day swoop down on us and try to physically destroy us and what we have held dear for over 234 years.
The sad part of this whole scenario is the fact that millions, yes I said millions, of deluded American citizens think that Obama is actually good for this country. He still polls about FORTY percent of our people as believing he is doing a good job as president. Where are their brains? These gullible fools will be rudely awakened one day to the truth; but it will be too late at that point to save them and us.
One Internet site, “ExposeObama.com” published by Floyd Brown constantly provides information about the failings and frailties of this man who poses as our leader. Brown provides facts to back his claims of Obama’s anti-American actions along with his love of the Muslim faith. He has irrefutable proof of Obama canceling an American tradition called ‘National Day of Prayer’ where the President takes the lead in gathering the citizens nationwide to pray for our country in whatever faith one happens to be.
At the same time of this cancellation, Obama graciously hosted a dinner in OUR Christian White House for the Muslim religious occasion of Ramadan. And, as Floyd Brown reports, “with cameras rolling, (he) gave his enthusiastic support to the construction of a Ground Zero Victory Mosque: He didn’t simply endorse it. he went out of his way to endorse it.”
Brown further explained that Obama used the 1st Amendment to the Constitution to cover himself by saying that “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone. else including the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”
Brown also insists that Obama’s use of the 1st Amendment was a cover to let the rest of the world and our enemies that he supports the Mosque, but the American people would be too stupid to realize what he was doing by wrapping his endorsement in the 1st Amendment.
But as Obama has done time and time again, over and over, he has, as Brown would say, “grossly underestimated the intelligence of the American people.”
Brown was right, from what I have observed only the Obama suck-ups and alibiers have bought into his story on acceptance of the Mosque. The well informed public can see that Obama is favoring his Muslim friends and co-believers over the grief-stricken survivors of the men and women who were killed by Muslims on September 22, 2001.
In his article, Brown quotes Bobby Eberle of ‘GOPUSA’ saying, “It’s almost as if he goes out of his way to put America last. ... he is too spineless to admit to the American people that, yes, he supports the construction of a Muslim mosque in the shadow of the location where nearly 3,000 innocent Americans died at the hands of Islamic terrorists.”
Millions of Americans have spoken out against the placement of this building that will be a permanent thumbing of the nose to the survivors of the victims of this Muslim atrocity and almost as if it were a gigantic placement at Ground Zero that loudly proclaims a victory over the infidel Christians of America on that spot.
Only fools can see it any other way.

Report of Investigation Park 51
By Doug Hagmann Saturday, August 21, 2010
What do “global warming,” “global governance” and “sustainable development” have to do with the proposed “Ground Zero mosque?” One would think absolutely nothing; however investigation into the money, organizations and people behind the project has uncovered some revealing and disturbing connections. An extensive analysis of these findings provides the missing insight into the larger agenda, motives and modus operandi associated with what is now known as the Park51project. It also reveals the reasons behind the persistence of the insipid and insulting project and why it remains viable in the face of such visceral opposition.
Those who oppose the construction of an Islamic center in close proximity to Ground Zero are legitimately upset by the hubris of Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf and his associates, and his lack of class and sensitivity exhibited by their insistence to continue forward despite the plaintive objections of those most affected and victimized by the terrorist attacks. Some in opposition appear perplexed that the individuals behind the project have not relented or even acquiesced to open dialogue about moving the Islamic center due to the volatility created by the project. To date, overtures made by the governor of New York as well as members of the clergy have been quietly rebuffed by the people behind the project. If building bridges and fostering goodwill is, in fact, their objective, it is reasonable to question their reluctance and outright refusal to mitigate any ill will by reconsidering the location of the Islamic center. For the purpose of a comprehensive investigation, it is not only reasonable, it is imperative.
Opposition to the Islamic center to date has been limited to information that is known or has been most easily uncovered about Imam Abdul-Rauf and the Cordoba Initiative. That Abdul-Rauf has suggested that the 9/11 attacks were a result of American foreign policy and his refusal to characterize Hamas as a terrorist organization should themselves be sufficient reasons to cause any person of reasonable sensibilities to oppose the construction, especially at this location. Yet, those behind the project, as well as those in support of the project do not appear to be adversely affected and remain undeterred. Once again, it is an investigative imperative to determine why.
Despite such obviously controversial positions, Abdul-Rauf presses forward with the approval of political leaders from Barack Hussein Obama to Michael Bloomberg. Together with many in the corporate media, project supporters deflect from the core issue into a specious constitutional argument relating to freedom of religion, despite the fact that no one is preventing Islam from being practiced in the United States. The issues are even further diluted and deflected by those who insist that the project is neither a mosque nor will it be located at Ground Zero. While both assertions might be considered technically accurate in the eyes of Western thought and culture, they are nothing more than frivolous defenses at best and intellectual deception at worst.
Changing of the name from the Cordoba House to Park 51
Those who espouse such defenses either fail to understand or deliberately refuse to address the iconic Islamic symbolism behind the “9/11 Victory Mosque.” That the planned venture is technically outside of the footprint of the former World Trade Center complex is offered as a legitimate defense, which might hold true if one is to be so myopic as to disregard the Muslim world view. Perhaps that is the reason for the project makeover that began with the changing of the name from the Cordoba House to Park 51. It is not a likely coincidence that once the symbolic nature of Cordoba became more widely known, those behind the project opted to promote a more secular version of the initiative, while concurrently expunging certain elements relating to Islamic Shariah law from their web site.
Despite the plentiful amount of information developed by independent researchers, bloggers, and commentators that has been published about the questionable associations of project front man ABDUL-RAUF over the last few weeks, he continues to travel to the Middle East as an emissary of America at the behest of the Obama/Clinton State Department. Ostensibly, his purpose is to “discuss Muslim life in America and religious tolerance” with Islamic leaders in Muslim countries. Despite his questionable associations, the U.S. State Department is steadfast in their support of his goodwill tour.
U.S. State Department invoking an unprecedented shroud of secrecy
Not only is the U.S. State Department unwavering in their support in spite of such controversy, they are invoking an unprecedented shroud of secrecy over the trip. When questioned about the content and message of Abdul-Rauf’s goodwill tour, U.S. State Department Spokesman Phillip Crowley curiously cited a 62 year-old law, erroneously claiming that the law shields Rauf’s message from the American public – at least by way of government web sites - as cited in this article published Tuesday by the editor of Family Security Matters.
It is clearly evident that there is something very disturbing taking place behind the scenes that is permitting this “duck or bleed” approach being employed by politicians and lawmakers. It is only when we investigate deeper into the people and groups behind this assault on American sensibilities and “follow the money” do we find the nefarious nexus of “Cap and Trade globalists,” Progressives” and Islamic leaders who are pushing for a “one world” religion.
The latter group, including foreign entities and governments, is working to replace our Judeo-Christian heritage with Islam as the dominant religion of America and Shariah in place of the U.S. Constitution. It is being conducted under the pretext of interfaith dialogue and unity, an objective for which Feisal ABDUL RAUF and his closest associates have been groomed.
ABDUL RAUF and his associates are working to install Shariah in the U.S.
While ABDUL RAUF and his associates are working to install Shariah in the U.S., the former group is engaged in the systematic effort to destroy the current religious and moral structures as a means to facilitate their objectives of control and domination. The Progressives and globalists are exploiting this transformation for their own agenda, which is the implementation of global governance. That is exactly what can be found when the layers of deception and distraction are carefully and methodically pulled back and the prospective money sources are identified.
Consider the following diagram that outlines the money behind the New York City Islamic center, and use the hyperlinks to secure detailed information about each individual or organization:

No Peace for Israel
By Alan Caruba
Saturday, August 21, 2010
The Iranians and the Syrians are on heightened military alert as the Russians fuel the Iranian nuclear reactor at Brushehr today and everyone has an opinion about when and who will attack it. If the world wanted to stop the plant from functioning, it could and would have done so long ago.
The military alert is understandable. Israel destroyed an Iraqi reactor that Saddam Hussein was building and a clandestine one being built by Syria.
As anyone who has a World Almanac with its map of the world from the United Kingdom to a tip of Australia can determine, it is a very long way from tiny Israel to Iran. Distance increases the risk along with what is surely a ring of missile defense around the reactor.
While the Israelis have conducted some exercises to demonstrate their bombers could make the trip, they have been rather quiet about the Iranian reactor. A very real part of that involves Hezbollah in Lebanon which is armed to the teeth and Hamas in the Gaza strip, both of which are Iranian proxies in any conflict.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the occasion on Friday to announce that the Israelis and the Palestinian Authority (PA) had agreed to once again sit down and discuss peace. This is kabuki theatre, a charade, a farce. It’s the old land-for-peace swap that has not resulted in a day of peace for Israel since it was founded in 1948.
Mamoud Abbas, the head of the PA, was the right-hand man to Yassir Arafat, famed Nobel Peace Prize winner (thus rendering that award one of the great farces on the international scene) and he has no more power than that which the Israelis grant him. As for the rest of the Arab community, the Palestinians have been completely abandoned.
Writing in The New York Times on August 2, Efraim Karsh cited a recent Al Arabiya television network survey that demonstrated that Arabs have no interest in the fate of the so-called Palestinians. It is a fact of history that there never was a Palestine beyond the name the Romans applied to Israel in order to make people forget its existence.
History also shows that Israel’s neighbors have attacked it since its founding and Arabs repeatedly attacked its Jewish population in the decades preceding it. The notion that Abbas can negotiate anything that would last longer than a day or so is idiotic. The Israelis know this and I suspect so have U.S. administrations since the days of Jimmy Carter.
In Tehran, the hated leaders of the regime have put their Revolutionary Guards “in full readiness to encounter firmly with the stupidity of the U.S. and Zionist regime.” As for Abbas, DEBKAfile, an Israeli news agency is reporting that “sources close to the Palestinian Authority quoted him saying that direct talks with Israel were not in the offing because ‘a big military surprise awaits the Middle East.’”
The surprise will come when Israel decides to act and not a minute before. I seriously doubt it will be today, tomorrow, or any time the Iranian ayatollahs expect it. When it comes, if it comes, the Saudis will have opened their air space to facilitate it. With the exception of Syria and now Turkey, few in the Middle East have any love for the Iranian regime.
The same can be said for the regard in which the United States is held. The U.S. has been militarily active in the Middle East since the days of Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary pirates, but more recently since 9/11. It has 50,000 combat (training?) troops in Iraq and comparable troop strength in Afghanistan.
The U.S. also has a Commander-in-Chief who has never served in the military, is getting advice from a National Security moron who thinks “jihad” means something other than war, has been openly mocked and insulted by the Iranian leadership, and has demonstrated a hostility to Israel the likes of which has not been seen before and since its founding.
There will be no peace between the PA and Israel. Both sides know it. The so-called Palestinians have not only refused peace, but have conducted Intifadas, terrorist campaigns, against Israel. The one in 2000 killed a thousand Israelis.
Nobody really wants a war in the Middle East except the Iranian ayatollahs and, in the fulltime of time, unless they are overthrown, it will come, but just not now.
© Alan Caruba, 2010

Question: "What does it mean that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)?"
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Answer: Psalm 139:14 declares, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” The context of this verse is the incredible nature of our physical bodies. The human body is the most complex and unique organism in the world, and that complexity and uniqueness speaks volumes about the mind of its Creator. Every aspect of the body, down to the tiniest microscopic cell, reveals that it is fearfully and wonderfully made.
Engineers understand how to design strong yet light beams by putting the strong material toward the outside edges of a cross-section and filling the inside with lighter, weaker material. This is done because the greatest amounts of stress occur on the surfaces of a structure when handling common bending or stresses. A cross section of a human bone reveals that the strong material is on the outside and the inside is used as a factory for blood cells of various kinds. When you examine a sophisticated camera with its ability to let in more or less light as needed and its ability to focus automatically over a vast range of field, you find repeated imitations of the operation of the human eye. And yet, having two eyeballs, we also have depth perception which gives us the ability to judge how far away an object is.
The human brain is also an amazing organ, fearfully and wonderfully made. It has the ability to learn, reason, and control so many automatic functions of the body such as heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing, and to maintain balance to walk, run, stand, and sit, all while concentrating on something else. Computers can outdo the human brain in raw calculating power but are primitive when it comes to performing most reasoning tasks. The brain also has an amazing ability to adapt. In an experiment, when people put on glasses that made the world seem upside down, their brains quickly reinterpreted the information they were being given to perceive the world as “right-side-up.” When others were blindfolded for long periods of time, the “vision center” of the brain soon began to be used for other functions. When people move to a house near a railroad, soon the sound of the trains is filtered out by their brains, and they lose conscious thought of the noise.
When it comes to miniaturization, the human body is also a marvel fearfully and wonderfully made. For instance, information needed for the replication of an entire human body, with every detail covered, is stored in the double-helix DNA strand found in the nucleus of each of the billions of cells in the human body. And the system of information and control represented by our nervous system is amazingly compact in comparison to man’s clumsy inventions of wires and optical cables. Each cell, once called a “simple” cell, is a tiny factory not yet fully understood by man. As microscopes become more and more powerful, the incredible vistas of the human cell begin to come into focus.
Consider the single fertilized cell of a newly conceived human life. From that one cell within the womb develop all the different kinds of tissues, organs, and systems, all working together at just the right time in an amazingly coordinated process. An example is the hole in the septum between the two ventricles in the heart of the newborn infant. This hole closes up at exactly the right time during the birth process to allow for the oxygenation of the blood from the lungs, which does not occur while the baby is in the womb and is receiving oxygen through the umbilical cord.
Further, the body’s immune system is able to fight off so many enemies and restore itself from the smallest repair (even repairing bad portions of DNA) to the largest (mending bones and recovering from major accidents). Yes, there are diseases that will eventually overcome the body as we age, but we have no idea how many times through a lifetime that our immune systems have saved us from certain death.
The functions of the human body are also incredible. The ability to handle large, heavy objects and to also carefully manipulate a delicate object without breaking it is also amazing. We can shoot a bow with the arrow repeatedly hitting a distant target, peck away quickly at a computer keyboard without thinking about the keys, crawl, walk, run, twirl around, climb, swim, do somersaults and flips, and perform “simple” tasks such as unscrewing a light bulb, brushing our teeth, and lacing up our shoes—again without thinking. Indeed, these are “simple” things, but man has yet to design and program a robot that is able to perform such a vast range of tasks and motions.
The function of the digestive tract and the related organs, the longevity of the heart, the formation and function of nerves and of blood vessels, the cleansing of the blood through the kidneys, the complexity of the inner and middle ear, the sense of taste and smell, and so many other things we barely understand—each one is a marvel and beyond man’s ability to duplicate. Truly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. How grateful we are to know the Creator—through His Son, Jesus Christ—and to marvel not only at His knowledge but also at His love (Psalm 139:17-24).
Recommended Resource: Fearfully & Wonderfully Made by Paul Brand and Philip Yancey