A Muslim Kid with a Clock

Alice C. Linsley

The 14-year old Muslim boy who brought a homemade clock to school was arrested on suspicion of bringing a bomb. The boy was handcuffed and questioned by five police officers at MacArthur high school in Irvine, Texas. Was this over-reaction or proper security?

Ahmed Mohamed

This wasn't a school project. Ahmed said that he wanted to impress his teachers. One teacher said he shouldn't show it to the other teachers. It beeped in 6th period class and he showed it to that teacher. She said it looked like a bomb and reported it. Ahmed said, "From my perspective it didn't look like a bomb."

Here is the statement from one of the White House staff, DJ Patil, on Ahmed Mohamed: 

"Yesterday, a 14-year-old student named Ahmed Mohamed was arrested for bringing his engineering project (an electronic clock) to his high school. Officials mistook it for a bomb.

When I was growing up, my friends and I were fortunate to know how to use soldiering irons, circuit boards, and even a bit of duct tape when nothing else worked. We played, experimented, and learned through trial and error.

The best part? When I brought my work in, my teachers loved it. And that fed my desire to embrace science, engineering, and technology. That learning to play with technology -- that curiosity -- has helped me on every step of my journey so far.

That's why I’m so proud to see people across the country standing up for the innovation and intellectual curiosity that Ahmed has shown.

That includes the President."

President Obama Tweeted:

"Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great."

The President and his wife are known to encourage young people in the sciences. But is this really about education? Would this even have made national news if the boy had been a Christian? The President's praise is for a Muslim boy who the President thinks has been treated unfairly. Would the President have noticed a Christian boy arrested under the same circumstances?

Personally, I think that was a nice gesture on the part of the President. It may soften the boy's trauma at being handcuffed and questioned, assuming Ahmed was traumatized. He strikes me as a young man who enjoys the attention. That is what he wanted when he brought his clock in a briefcase to school.

Richard Dawkins tweeted similar suspicions. Dawkins said: “If this is true, what was his motive? Whether or not he wanted the police to arrest him, they shouldn’t have done so.” In a subsequent tweet, Dawkins said: “Assembling clock from bought components is fine. Taking clock out of its case to make it look as if he built it is not fine. Which is true?

“Yes, there are other reasons why a boy might take a clock out of its casing and pretend he’d made it. Trying to impress teachers, for instance."

Dawkins doubts the boy designed the clock. Yet this young man won a robotics contest in junior high. His family is of Sudanese heritage and his older sister was suspended for reportedly threatening to blow up the school. You would think that Ahmed would recognize that the need for better judgement, but in general teens notoriously are lacking in good judgement.

Ahmed's arrest triggered allegations of racism and Islamophobia from the Left and caution from the Right. Kevin Jackson discussed the Muslim with the clock, insisting that this is a set up; a crying wolf so that next time a Muslim kid brings an electronic device to school in a briefcase people will not react so quickly.

There has since been an outpouring of support for the young man in a NASA T-shirt and handcuffs. Ahmed has received a gift of a Surface Pro 3, a Microsoft Band, a 3D printer, an Office 365 subscription, and much more. These were delivered to him by a Muslim woman Alia Salem who Tweeted: "Enjoyed delivering box of tech goodies gifted by @microsoft to Ahmed! Mashallah!"

Ahmed will continue to receive attention from this incident and much sympathy. Sympathies will swing to Muslims as a whole. Rights groups will jump on this, and the police of this Texas town will likely face litigation for doing their job. Lots of trouble will come out of Ahmed's attention-getting behavior.

Related reading: Why a ninth-grader's arrest struck a cord across America; Ahmed's sister was suspended for threatening to blow up the school; Students say Ahmed's clock looks like a bomb; Facing the Facts About Islamic Extremism

RT Media versus US "Lame-stream Media"

"RT Media tells more truth about America than CNN, FOX, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, and all the newspapers combined. That in itselt makes RT a saint compared to the trash fed to Americans and the rest of the world. That’s why the attack dogs are out in force to try and discredit RT. I am very pleased with the truth RT uncovers, or at least, asks the questions no one else is asking in the media.” YouTube comment

Another Media Fact-Checking Failure

Fathers Rights Group protested Enda's house, not pro-lifers; major media fail

17 June 2013


Pro-life groups have criticised the Irish media for their failure to carry out basic fact-checking in their rush to demonise pro-life activists.

Niamh Uí Bhriain of the Life Institute said that media reports that pro-life activists had carried out a protest at Enda Kenny's home were "entirely incorrect and had no basis in fact", and that the Irish media had engaged in "sloppy and unprofessional journalism".

In fact, the Fathers' rights group who carried out the protest had posted it on the internet for any journalist who wanted to check the facts.

Ms Ui Bhriain said that reporters had got the facts inexcusably wrong.

"There was no masked pro-life protest at Mr Kenny's home," she said. "This is a false claim, entirely manufactured by the media. If there was a protest because of some other issue, the media need to investigate and establish the facts rather than jumping to conclusions. "

"It is inexcusable that the media are printing misinformation of this sort, and it smacks of a rush to try to demonise pro-life activists," she said.

"The media need to get their act together and politicians need to discuss the reality of this cruel and unacceptable abortion legislation and stop trying to deflect from the issue with unsubstantiated claims and false allegations," added the Life Institute spokeswoman.

"Last week we saw that Fine Gael TDs were upset when attempts were made at the top level of the party to carry out a 'political hanging' of the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. Now we are seeing similar dirty tricks where baseless allegations and false stories are being circulated in order to try to silence genuine pro-life people who are fully entitled to make their voices heard against abortion," she said.

"The notion of former Worker's Party members, who now run Labour, complaining about imagined intimidation was deeply, deeply ironic," she said, adding that it was no surprise that such people supported the taking of innocent unborn life.

END

When Journalists Fail to be Credible

Mark Judge

There are few sights in modern life more ridiculous and sickening than watching a journalist try and explain why people hate him and his profession. When asked why this is so, the journalist will breathe in deeply, adjust his mien to express both noble victimhood and self-righteousness, and explain that he is disliked because he tells the truth. Sometimes people don’t like to hear the truth.

This, of course, is a lie. Most journalists are not interested in the truth, and most people know this. What is remarkable is how so many journalists think they can get away with obscuring or eliminating facts that they don’t like. After cable, after Fox News, after Bernie Goldberg, the media still thinks its problem is that people can’t stomach fearless truth-telling.

What I find interesting is that things in the fourth estate weren’t always this way. In my desk I have a copy of a column written by Meg Greenfield, the late and celebrated editorial page editor of the Washington Post. It is dated October 3, 1979. It is called “The Power of the Pope,” and was written when John Paul II was visiting America for the first time. From time to time, when I feel sickened by the stupidity and arrogance of modern journalism, I reread these two paragraphs:

My favorite story about [John Paul II] is that he caused great consternation by insisting, against scandalized advice, that he wanted a papal swimming pool built at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo. You got the idea that the pope 1) refused to view swimming as an act that could affect, let alone destroy, his dignity, 2) at the same time did not view it as some kind of humanizing or popularizing hey-look-the-pope-is-swimming gambit, but 3) wanted a swimming pool for the simple, direct and authentic reason that he likes to swim.

This evident self-possession looks to be the style of a man who is comfortable with his choices and the values they dictate. I know I am leaving out a religious dimension here that is unfamiliar to me, and also that some of those choices have worldwide political and social implications that many people, myself included, think are truly harmful. But I think there is a wholly admirable and tragically rare aspect to this man: he exudes the authority of personal strength, belief and commitment in a way that practically no other leader does. And this authority, clearly, does not depend on the orthodoxy and church law he is seeking to maintain. Rather, it comes from within the man, is in that place between insecurity and dumb arrogance where genuine leadership reposes.

Meg Greenfield was a liberal. Her claim that the authority of the pope has nothing to do with the law and orthodoxy of the Catholic Church is bunk.

But this passage is also filled with the kind of questing intelligence that modern journalism no longer allows for. Greenfield opened her eyes up to the pope in his entirety; she allowed herself to be surprised, to learn, to come to conclusions that would even challenge her worldview. And then she honestly wrote about it. She also displayed an attractive humility at not being an authority on Catholicism.

Read it all here.

Media Bias Against Christians... Again!

Several days ago in an act of public provocation a member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset), Michael Ben Ari, denounced the Christian scriptures, tore up a copy of the New Testament and threw it in the garbage. Since then he has been denounced by several leading Jewish groups in the USA including the influential Anti-Defamation League. The American Jewish Committee issued a statement saying that Ben Ari’s actions were “unacceptable” while the only Christian member of the Knesset, Hanna Sweid, described it as an act of “hooliganism.”

What, though, was the response of Christian leaders in the West? Nothing. Not a peep. Not only did Ben Ari’s actions not rate a mention in the Western media, but Christian leaders in the West remained silent. An extensive search across the internet did not reveal a single word of outrage or condemnation from Christian leaders including nothing from the usually vocal and quick-to-offend Religious Right in the USA. This is in contrast to Muslim responses to wanton attacks upon the Koran. When Christians burn or deface the Koran Muslims worldwide riot. In contrast, when the Christian scriptures are attacked, nothing.

Read it all here.

Related reading:  Member of Israeli Parliament Destroys Bible

Romney Denies Prejudice Against Palestinians

Mitt Romney told Fox News that he was not criticizing Palestinian culture when he suggested that Israel’s economic success was due to its "culture" at a fundraiser in Israel on Monday.

"I’m not speaking about, did not speak about, the Palestinian culture," Romney told Fox’s Carl Cameron.

Romney came under fire from Palestinian leaders when he compared the GDP per capita in Israel to that in areas controlled by the Palestinian Authority, saying at one point, "Culture makes all the difference." Although he never specifically implicated Palestinian culture, he seemed to imply judgment, CBS News notes.

In a statement to the Associated Press on Monday, the Palestinian labor minister responded, "The statement reflects a clear racist spirit."

Romney's praise of Israeli culture backfired when he tried to contrast the standard of livings of Israelis and Palestinians living in areas controlled by the PA. CNN reports that Romney attempted to blame the liberal media for twisting his words, saying, "They’ll instead try and find anything else to divert from the fact that these last four years have been tough years for our country."

The truth is that Palestinians in Gaza suffer from both Israeli and Palestinian restrictions, but Romney wasn't likely to say this at a fundraiser in Jerusalem.


A hornet's nest

An organization called Jewish Voice for Peace has condemned Romney and is asking people to sign an open  letter requesting that he apologize to the Palestinian people.

Here is the letter:

To Governor Mitt Romney,

Your statements in Jerusalem regarding the growth of the Palestinian and Israeli economies were inaccurate and misleading. Israel's Occupation of Palestinian land makes it impossible for the Palestinian economy to succeed, not "cultural differences." Your comments were not a reflection of the values Jews, Americans, and our allies hold dear. We call on you to apologize to the Palestinian people for your willful lack of understanding of the facts on the ground and the racist assumptions behind them.

The organization admits that the Israeli GDP is ten times that of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. See their website here.

Related reading:  Liberal Jews Support Obama

Olympic Games, Media Hype and Government Ineptitude

By Lawsmith

The London 2012 Olympic Games have been a triumph of wastefulness, nannying government, corporatism, deceit and incompetence. Our writer Lawsmith asks, how could our political class have gotten it so wrong?

The first and only time I've met Boris Johnson was when we were on our bicycles at the traffic light at the bottom of King William Street in the City. I stammered: "Uh, good morning, Mr. Mayor." Play it cool. After a brief (and awkward) exchange, he pushed off, away from my sight and into eternity.

Months later, as the tangible effects of the Olympic Movement's month-long occupation of central London started to make themselves felt, my thoughts once again turned to my cycling buddy. After reminding yourself for a moment that Boris once gave some constructive criticism to the city of Portsmouth by saying it was "too full of drugs, obesity, underachievement and Labour MPs," and that barely two months ago he referred to the BBC – which, like that brainchild of the Blairite Labour Party, the 2012 Olympics, is state-run – as “corporatist, defeatist, anti-business, Europhile and… overwhelmingly biased to the Left”, I take the view that BoJo -- currently the Games' biggest cheerleader -- would be doing one thing, and one thing only if he were in opposition (if he were so inclined).

He would tear the government, the media, and anyone even remotely associated with bringing the Olympics here to shreds.

In his absence, others have tried. Most have failed to make a dent. Dominic Lawson, writing for the Independent, fired the opening salvo of reason against Olympics fever last month — writing a fairly broad-brush piece which covered most of the general criticisms of this circus (cost, inconvenience, armed police), he scored his best points at the ‘leftist’ BBC's expense: "[news coverage of the Games] really does make one feel as if this is North Korea,” he wrote, “rather than a country supposedly characterised by individualism and nonconformity."

Read it all here.


Related reading:  Olympic Disaster (Want to know why Her Majestic Queen Elizabeth II was not smiling?)

Another Example of Media Bias Against Christians

The head of the BBC, Mark Thompson, has admitted that the broadcaster would never mock Mohammed like it mocks Jesus.

He justified the astonishing admission of religious bias by suggesting that mocking Mohammed might have the “emotional force” of “grotesque child pornography”.

But Jesus is fair game because, he said, Christianity has broad shoulders and fewer ties to ethnicity.

Bias

Mr Thompson says the BBC would never have broadcast Jerry Springer The Opera – a controversial musical that mocked Jesus – if its target had been Mohammed.

He made the remarks in an interview for a research project at the University of Oxford.

Mr Thompson said: “The point is that for a Muslim, a depiction, particularly a comic or demeaning depiction, of the Prophet Mohammed might have the emotional force of a piece of grotesque child pornography.”

Insults

A BBC spokesman was unavailable for comment.

Last year former BBC news anchor Peter Sissons said Christians are “fair game” for insults at the corporation, whilst Muslims must not be offended.

Mr Sissons, whose memoirs were serialised in the Daily Mail, said: “Islam must not be offended at any price, although Christians are fair game because they do nothing about it if they are offended.”

The former presenter also said that staff damage their careers if they don’t follow the BBC’s mindset.


From here.

NYT 'Who-Cares-What-the-People-Believe' Abortion Bias

An February 21 article in the New York Times on the current push to see abortion legalised in Ireland has reported that "anti-abortion groups are confident that their views are still held by a majority in Ireland."

The report by Carol Ryan, quotes the Life Institute's Niamh Uí Bhriain as saying that "There is deep-seated opposition to abortion in Ireland". Referring to the push to have abortion introduced by legislation rather than putting the matter to the people, Ms Uí Bhriain said: "If pro-abortion campaigners believe that Irish people are behind a move to legalize abortion, bring on the referendum."

The Life Institute spokeswoman said that the Irish people were especially opposed to having outside parties deciding our abortion laws.

"At this time, when the E.U. and I.M.F. are actually running our country and we have lost every bit of sovereignty, the last thing people want is an outside agency making an intrusive judgement," said Ms. Bhriain. "What we are seeing here is abortion campaigners using external courts in a bid to have abortion imposed on Irish people. If our laws make us different from everyone else in the European Union, I am glad of that difference."

Source: Youth Defence

Komen Foundation

Austin Ruse


Planned Parenthood has unleashed the hounds of hell on the Komen Foundation and its Chairman and Founder Nancy Brinker. It is an assault, with the aggressive complicity of the media. Nancy Brinker is being crucified for her conscience-driven decision.

It appears that the Susan G. Komen Foundation has reversed the decision on funding of Planned Parenthood. While I do not believe they have reversed themselves, it may turn out to be the case. We do not know.

What happened this week was nothing short of a Mafia shakedown campaign by Planned Parenthood against the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Planned Parenthood told the Komen Foundation 'either give us money or we will destroy you.' They were aided and abetted in this hostage taking by the mainstream media.

At this point, pro-lifers should cease their support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. We should wait and see what happens. We know there are five more Komen grants to Planned Parenthood in the pipeline. If any more come up, we will know we have lost and Planned Parenthood has won.

I do not regret the work I did over the past days on this issue, neither should any pro-lifer. I only regret we could not have done more to make Komen strong and able to fight off the thuggish abortion giant, Planned Parenthood.

What the week has shown is that Planned Parenthood, an organization that is under criminal investigation all over this country, will stop at nothing to maintain their stranglehold on organizations like the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

We should continue to pray for Nancy Brinker and all of her colleagues at the Susan G. Komen Foundation.


Austin Ruse is president of C-FAM, a New York and Washington DC-based research institute working exclusively on International social policy.

Press Association Protests Boycott by Bloomberg Electoral Debate

(IAPA/IFEX) - Miami, October 7, 2011 - The Inter American Press Association (IAPA) today criticized the decision by five Republican presidential candidates to boycott an electoral debate organized by Univisión, calling it "a thoughtless action that jeopardizes the public's right to be duly informed."

IAPA President Gonzalo Marroquín stated in a letter sent today to the candidates that "we are concerned at the damage that this attitude causes in the democratic process that fundamentally requires a full range of measures and information." Over and above the diverse opinions among representatives of the Republican Party and the editorial position adopted by Univisión, Marroquín added that "what deeply concerns us is not only the decision to boycott a news media outlet, which in itself goes against principles of the public's right to information and freedom of the press, but that the decision has been made by people who in the future could assume the same attitude from a seat in the White House."

This week Republican candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain joined the boycott of the leading US Spanish-language TV network that was organized by Florida party lawmakers in a show of solidarity with federal Senator Marco Rubio, a Cuban-American.

The controversy arose after Rubio's office accused Univisión of pressuring him to agree to take part in a program to discuss the issue of migration to the United States in exchange for softening a journalistic investigation concerning his brother-in-law, Orlando Cicilia, convicted in 1987 on a charge of drug trafficking when the senator was 16 years old. Univisión, whose headquarters are in Miami, Florida, has denied the accusation. Amid the controversy it was not immediately clear why the politicians brought up the matter at this time when the investigation had aired on July 11.

"I believe," Marroquín, president of the Guatemala City, Guatemala, newspaper Siglo 21, declared, "that the presidential candidates have acted in self-interest in defense of one of their colleagues in the midst of electoral activities, without considering their responsibility regarding respect for freedom of the press."

In addition to describing the boycott as "thoughtless" Marroquín said asking Univision to fire news editor Isaac Lee as responsible for the matter is out of proportion. "This is an indirect and 'elegant' way of silencing a media outlet, but silencing it in the end."

The boycott was urged in a letter sent to the Republican National Committee by Florida Congressmen David Rivera and Carlos López-Cantera and by the chairman of the Republican Party in Miami-Dade County, Erik Fresen. The politicians also called for a public apology by the network and the dismissal of its news editor.

In a press release and statements to the IAPA Lee denied that he had offered to downplay the information about the senator's brother-in-law or that Univisión would use that information to put pressure on the senator to appear in a program.

For more information:

Inter American Press Association
"Jules Dubois Building"
1801 SW 3rd Ave.
Miami, FL 33129
USA
Phone: +1 305 634 3465
Fax: +1 305 635 2272
http://www.sipiapa.org/

Breivik a "Darwinian" Terrorist

WASHINGTON – A review of Anders Behring Breivik's 1,500-page manifesto shows the media's quick characterization of the Norwegian terrorist as a "Christian" may be as incorrect as it was to call Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh one.

Breivik was arrested over the weekend, charged with a pair of brutal attacks in and near Oslo, Norway, including a bombing in the capital city that killed 7 and a shooting spree at a youth political retreat on the island of Utoya that killed more than 80 victims.

Piecing together Breivik's various posts on the Internet, many media reports have characterized the terrorist – who says he was upset over the multiculturalist policies stemming from Norway's Labour Party – as a "right-wing, Christian fundamentalist."

Yet, while McVeigh rejected God altogether, Breivik writes in his manifesto that he is not religious, has doubts about God's existence, does not pray, but does assert the primacy of Europe's "Christian culture" as well as his own pagan Nordic culture.

Breivik instead hails Charles Darwin, whose evolutionary theories stand in contrast to the claims of the Bible, and affirms: "As for the Church and science, it is essential that science takes an undisputed precedence over biblical teachings. Europe has always been the cradle of science, and it must always continue to be that way. Regarding my personal relationship with God, I guess I'm not an excessively religious man. I am first and foremost a man of logic. However, I am a supporter of a monocultural Christian Europe."

Read it all here.

Gayness in Your Face

Alice C. Linsley


Enough is enough!

Last night I was watching reruns of old TV comedy shows.  The Golden Girls was about a gay brother and his lover.  I switched to Cheers which was about gay men in the bar.  Then I switched to Home and Garden which was about a gay couple searching for property in LA.

Gender confused people are a very small percentage of the population, contrary to what the Media would have us believe.

Frankly, I'm sick of having gayness thrust in my face.  Homosex isn't funny, folks. And for the record, I'm NOT celebrating Gay Month! 

Muslim Brotherhood Has Not Abandoned Violence

Westerners, Western journalists in particular, and Western liberal journalists to an almost obsessive degree like to think the best of radicals and revolutions in the developing or less privileged world. In some ways it’s kind and almost gentle; in others it’s downright naive and dangerous. If you doubt me, ask Laura Logan how it felt being sexually abused by a mob of Cairo men screaming for change and chanting “Jew, Jew” at the poor woman. She is not, by the way, Jewish.

That, however, was one vile incident, which was transformed into a debate about the safety of women journalists rather than the nature of the Arab mob. How often, for example, are female reporters concerned about how political crowds will treat them in Italy or Germany or New Zealand?

But such a question, runs the argument, implies the making of moral distinctions in cultures and societies and is thus elitist and wrong. More horrible and far less reported was the abduction and murder of Christians during the Egyptian revolution, or the burning of a synagogue in Tunisia.

What we were told repeatedly was that the unrest in the Arab world was spontaneous and secular. Actually much of it had been planned long ago, and a great deal of the support mechanisms for the demonstrations in Egypt in particular came from the Muslim Brotherhood. Who, again according to the media, have abandoned violence and don’t even want to achieve power.

Good Lord, reality cries out to be heard.

The crest of the Brotherhood boasts two crossed swords, and the armed struggle aspect of the jihad is central to their ideology. Both the Egyptian Prime Minister in the 1940s and the Egyptian President in the 1980s were assassinated by Brotherhood agents, and a particularly violent revolt in Syria thirty years ago was the direct result of Muslim Brotherhood provocation. Hamas based its manifesto, aims and methods on the Brotherhood, and the terror-linked Islamic Action Front in Jordan is little more than a Brotherhood agency.

In the last election held in Egypt the party representing the Brotherhood gained 20 percent of the vote, making it the most important opposition group not only in Egypt but perhaps in the entire Arab world. It believes in Sharia law, the implementation of an Islamic state in the Middle East and, eventually, the entire world, the re-conquest of Spain and Portugal and a tax on Jews and Christians fortunate enough to survive in such a place. The entire Jewish population of Egypt was expelled in the 1950s, even though it pre-dated Islam and was loyal and law-abiding.

The Muslim Brotherhood not only applauded this ethnic cleansing monstrosity but helped make it possible. As for Christians, while Brotherhood members have not been directly linked to the numerous terror attacks of the Copts, they have created an anti-Christian atmosphere and backed discriminatory measures.

The Society of the Muslim Brothers was founded in 1928 by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna. He was a man deeply shocked by the most innocent of pre-war Western recreations, and believed that the non-Islamic world had nothing to offer Muslim culture and society. He also embraced some of the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories and Jew-hatred of the 1920s and 30s.

Today the organization is certainly more sophisticated and less pointlessly violent than some of the Islamic terror groups that routinely commit acts of grotesque violence, but it is just as committed to Muslim triumphalism and the defeat of the West. In place of the clumsy, though, it has mastered the more subtle. While the Iranians scream for the destruction of Israel, the Brotherhood merely says that peace with Israel will continue if the people of Egypt vote for it -- knowing full well that the vast majority of Egyptians do not want such a treaty.

The current leader of the group was asked if war with the Jewish state was likely. No, he said, as long as Israel stops its persecution of the Palestinians. And what constitutes that persecution? The Israeli state in its 1948 boundaries, he replied; in other words, the most basic existence of the country.

These are word games, but the words lead to wars.

The coverage and perception is all worrying similar to when the Shah of Iran fell from power, with his replacements given almost unquestioning support from Western experts and journalists. Of course they were wrong, and of course they have never said so. It is unclear how Egypt, or for that matter Tunisia, Bahrain, Libya or anywhere else in the Arab world will develop.

What we do know is that the Muslim Brotherhood is not going to suddenly disappear from the scene, and that the Western concept of secular revolt simply does not exist in a world where religion informs every aspect of life, manners, culture and politics.

Nor is that essentially a bad thing. It all depends on the nature of the particular religion, which is again a distinction we are not supposed to make in a post-belief society that cannot possibly understand a people whose aspirations go far beyond the personal and the political. There is no Egypt without Islam and there is no Arab world and Arab revolt without Islam. How we understand the religion, the Muslim Brotherhood, and how honest we are to ourselves and to the people of the Middle East about these issues will make most, perhaps all of the difference in the coming years.


Michael Coren is a broadcaster and writer living in Toronto, Canada. This article is published by Michael Coren, and MercatorNet.com under a Creative Commons licence.

What Americans Can't Talk About These Days

Americans have developed two per sonas -- one public and politically correct, the other private. Mix the two, and big trouble ensues. Some reminders on what to shut up about:

Don't discuss the deficit. Instead, call borrowing "stimulus." Debt can be paid back with more borrowing and someone else's higher taxes. Ignore the lessons of Greece and California. To appear noble, call for more unemployment benefits, free medical care and more entitlements. To sound cruel, talk about borrowing to pay for them.

Keep silent about Social Security and Medicare. If the system is insolvent, it can't be because we're living longer, retiring earlier, often taking out more than we paid into the pot, abusing disability provisions or facing an aging and soon-to-be-shrinking population. Instead, rail at fat cats who need to pay more payroll taxes and at wasteful programs, like defense, that can be cut to ensure more for the elderly and needy.

Most Americans choose to be called "cowards" by Attorney General Eric Holder rather than accept his invitation to talk about race on his terms. The NAACP has accused the Tea Party of racist views. The anger over high taxes, debt and big government warrants more concern among the Beltway's black leadership than exploring the causes of inordinately high incidence of crime, incarceration, one-parent homes and low high-school graduation rates.

Closing the border is taboo. Also the phrase "illegal alien." Speak instead about the need for social justice, not the enforcement of mere laws. Illegal aliens broke no real law when enticed northward by greedy employers. That's why the labor secretary released a video calling for workers to report employer abuses -- whether the workers are "documented or not."

Passing laws to subvert federal immigration laws, such as "sanctuary city" legislation, is commendable. Passing laws to enforce federal immigration statutes earns a lawsuit and condemnation by Mexico's president. Ask Arizona.

Don't get caught up in discussing global warming. If you must go there, employ the term "climate change" so that anything from a tornado to a blizzard can be blamed on man-caused carbon emissions.

Don't associate global terrorism with Islam. If Muslims must be mentioned, it should only be in the context that a tiny number, without support and often due to past oppression, commit such terrorism -- earning the furor of the Muslim community at large.

Don't end up like Juan Williams of NPR, who was fired for his candid remarks. For insurance, talk ad nauseam about Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing as proof that white-male Christians blow things up just as frequently.

Don't weigh in on gay marriage. Millions of Neanderthals voted to oppose it; a few sophisticated judges ruled to overturn bans on it. To talk positively about traditional marriage and the special historical relationship between a man and a woman is code for homophobia.

Lay off the university. It hikes tuition higher than the rate of inflation. It exploits part-time teachers while clinging to archaic notions like tenure. It can't guarantee that its graduates are competent in either basic reading or math -- or that they'll find a job. It shuns true diversity of thought. Yet question its budgets, hiring practices, political tolerance or affirmative action, and one is dubbed anti-intellectual, racist and cold-heartedly against letting someone be all that he can be.

We don't quite know how Americans will vote next week, in part because citizens fear to talk openly about their concerns and instead employ group-speak. In the privacy of the voting booth, they may prove angrier than we think.

But why not, when they know that candor and honesty can earn a presidential lecture, a job firing or a lawsuit?

Have a comment on this PostOpinion column? Send it in to LETTERS@NYPOST.COM!

______________________________________

Editor:  We talk about all theses things at Ethics Forum!



Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/what_not_to_talk_about_in_america_IX7Tm2wdYwYaOxaEaoz4lN#ixzz13gBlsnpz

NPR and Liberal Bias in the Media

And its a picture of entrenched ‘liberalism’ and intolerance. Reaction has been swift to their firing of Juan Williams, and there will be more consequences.

We have to brace ourselves when these kinds of stories break, especially out of nowhere. They’re followed by an onslaught. This one brings to light some very important aspects of modern major media and academia and the ‘intelligensia’. They aren’t all that enlightened, they’re very insular, and rather radically inclined, at all costs. Most of all, National Public Radio has revealed how out of touch they are with the nation.

Some prominent Muslims expressed concern Thursday that his firing would widen a gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims in the United States.

“The greater American public remains unsure about Islam and very often hostile about Islam,” said Akbar Ahmed, chair of Islamic Studies at American University…

He’s the same one who prompted this blurb on NRO’s media blog.

Now this is interesting, Power Line blog on political expert Michael Barone:

“Reading between the lines of Juan’s statement and those of NPR officials, it’s apparent that NPR was moved to fire Juan because he irritates so many people in its audience. An interesting contrast: many NPR listeners apparently could not stomach that Williams also appeared on Fox News. But it doesn’t seem that any perceptible number of Fox News viewers had any complaints that Williams also worked for NPR. The Fox audience seems to be more tolerant of diversity than the NPR audience.”

To which Power Line’s John Hinderaker follows up…

That is very true. Conservatives don’t try to silence their opponents, they just want to argue with them so that good public policy can emerge from the debate. Liberals–not every single one, but an alarming percentage–are infected by a totalitarian impulse to silence all who don’t toe their line.

Seeing Juan Williams’ reaction to this sudden and stunning event has been a sound teaching moment.

From here.

Media Misses the Point on Stem Cell Therapy

Dr. Peter Saunders advises Brits not to bother to read the BBC on stem cell therapy.  Here's what he has to say:

Reading the reports about the new embryonic stem cell trial for spinal cord injury that have been all over the BBC and the British papers today I am struggling to know what all the fuss is about and why in fact it is even news at all.

I’ve come to the conclusion that it is causing such excitement for five main reasons:

1.Our media are obsessed with any story involving embryonic stem cells despite the fact that these entities have not yet provided any treatments for any human disease after more than ten years of hype (By contrast adult and umbilical stem cells have already provided treatments for over 80 diseases – see my Triple Helix review)

2.Because there is ethical controversy in their use (as harvesting them involves the destruction of human embryos) it provides an opportunity for the media to revive the myth that religious zealots are trying to hold back scientific advance and stop millions of people being cured from terrible diseases.

3.The science correspondents writing for our national newspapers seem not to read medical journals any more but simply regurgitate press releases produced by commercial companies (like Geron) who wish to promote their products and improve their public image.

4.Geron have lots of money (they have already spent $170m developing this ‘treatment’) and a very good PR machine.

5.British scientists are worried about research funding in the current economic climate and so are trying to attract public and media attention in the hope of attracting grants so they are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of gullible politicians and members of the public with exaggerated claims.

If you go to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) website which logs current clinical trials you will find there are 3,124 listings of trials involving adult stem cells and 141 involving umbilical stem cells. These therapies are increasingly well established and pose no ethical problems (and so are of little interest to the British media).

By contrast today’s story is of the first clinical trial involving embryonic stem cells after over a decade of breath-holding.

There are no results yet and no scientific papers yet published in any peer-reviewed journals.

Read it all here.

Rick Sanchez Speaks About CNN

Here's what Sanchez said about his experiences with prejudice at CNN:

"It's not just the right that does this. 'Cause I've known a lot of elite, Northeast establishment liberals that may not use this as a business model, but deep down, when they look at a guy like me, they look at a ... they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second tier and not the top tier ... White folks usually don't see it, but we do, those of us who are minorities ... Here, I'll give you my example, it's this, 'You know what, I don't want you anchoring anymore. I really don't see you as an anchor, I see you more as a reporter. I see you more as a Jon Quinones.' You know, the guy on ABC. That's what he told me, he told me he saw me as Jon Quinones. Now, did he not realize that he was telling me, 'when I see you I think of Hispanic reporters?' 'Cause in his mind, I can't be an anchor, an anchor's what you give the high profile white guys."

Sanchez also said:
"Yeah, very powerless people. [laughs] He's such a minority. I mean, you know, please. What are you kidding? I'm telling you that everybody who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart. And to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority?"
 
Read more here.
 
Rick Sanchez's perception of media control and bias is justified.  I've encountered the same as a Gentile woman working in Biblical Anthropology trying to get my 33+ years of research published by Jewish-controlled magazines.

Daisy Khan Means Flower Power

The name Khan is related to the African words Kain and Kandace and means ruler.  A ruler is either someone who inherits a position or one who takes the lead.  Daisy Khan fits the latter, but the mainstream media has ignored her work, though she is close to the center of the NYC Islamic Center debate.

Here's what Betsy Taylor has to say:

At the center of the media firestorm is an interesting woman, Daisy Khan, co-visionary of the proposed center. But, her vision and life work have been nearly invisible in recent media accounts. She has been categorized almost exclusively as “the Imam's wife” and quoted because he's out of the country. But, if one pushes aside the media's smothering memes, one can easily find out more about Daisy Khan beyond her role as wife. Why has the mainstream media ignored so much about her life and achievements? It turns out she's an interesting American woman struggling to build new institutions for women to reclaim voice and power.

Daisy Khan's work is important – for America, for Islam, for Muslim women and for the women's movement within the US and internationally. In an interfaith conversation at the Garrison Institute in 2009, Khan described her path to activism – especially to improve the condition of Muslim women. Khan said, “So, in 2006, I left my regular cushy job and dedicated myself to really looking at our community and seeing what needs to be done.” She convened a gathering of almost 200 Muslim women from 27 countries, out of which emerged the Women's Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE)– an organization which describes itself as a “grassroots social justice movement led by Muslim women” with the mission to build “a cohesive, global movement of Muslim women that will reclaim women’s rights in Islam, enabling them to make dignified choices and fully participate in creating just and flourishing societies”. In four years WISE has tackled an impressive range of issues affecting Muslim women internationally – including domestic and sexual violence, education, women's rights in marriage / divorce / inheritance. Their current focus is a campaign against extremist violence in Islam. In a striking innovation they are developing the first ever training program for women to become a Muslim jurist (or mufiyyah) – qualified to interpret Muslim law and pronounce decisions (or fatwas). This program values modern scholarship (e.g., modern human rights law, theories of globalization), ecumenical exchange with Jewish / Christian and other traditions (it is hosted at the protestant Union Theological Seminary), and, is deeply rooted in the long and diverse traditions of Islamic scholarship and spirituality. As Daisy Khan said, “If you look at the landscape of the Muslim world there are more than 500 million Muslim women around the world and there was not a single institution that spoke for us. So, if we are not at the table, who is going to speak for us?”

Read it all here.

Robert Spitzer: Evidence for God

SEATTLE — Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer wants to challenge the minds of college students who “are being bombarded with specious arguments that attempt to dissuade them from belief in God.”

But he is not limiting this outreach to students. The whole culture, he believes, has been inundated by misinformation. With recent discoveries providing “implications of transcendence in astrophysics, philosophy of mathematics and metaphysics,” Father Spitzer hopes to intrigue the minds of those who have been so disillusioned.

“No other decade in history has revealed more or better evidence for God,” he says.

Father Spitzer, who retired in 2009 as president of Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., has taught philosophy and metaphysics for 28 years. He founded the Magis Center for Faith and Reason in Irvine, Calif., and just published New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy.

The book is a response, in part, to the appearance of several new books in the popular press “championing agnosticism or atheism,” he says, which are adding to that confusion.

New Proofs presents “a brief synopsis of the considerable evidence for theism, provided by physics and philosophy during the last few decades, [creating for] readers … the strongest, rational foundation for faith that has come to light in human history,” he says.

The Magis Center is also producing a documentary God and Modern Physics. The film will interview prominent astrophysicists who “will reveal their research pointing to a beginning of the universe and supernatural design of its cosmological constants,” according to a recent Magis publication. The Magis Center also will offer Web-accessible videos, a high-school curriculum on the subject and Web-based college courses.

At a July 12 Seattle presentation, hosted by the Discovery Institute, Father Spitzer emphasized that his talk was specifically about “what contemporary astrophysics and cosmology is saying about God, creation and the superintelligence of God.” The book is not limited to that, though.

“What can science do, and what can it not do?” Father Spitzer asked. “Science is not like metaphysics. It is not like philosophy. It does not approach things deductively, but rather inductively from empirical facts.”

Read it all here.
 
Father Spitzer is right.  Evidence of God as revealed in the beginning to the ancient Afro-Asiatics (whose record we have in Genesis) is turning up in every discipline where serious inquiry is being made.