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Elizabeth
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Jimmy Carter and Fukushima
Apr 2nd 2011, by K.N.C. | TOKYO

THREE weeks after Japan's earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima nuclear power plant, spewing radiation as far as Iceland, clean-up crews have been working around the clock to bring the reactor under control and contain the leakage. Their life is a nightmare. "Crying is useless," wrote one worker in an e-mail to a colleague. "If we are in hell, all we can do is crawl up to heaven."

Workers who were already facing deadly radiation exposure were forced to sleep on a floor with barely enough to eat and drink, until the Japanese media exposed their terrible conditions. Some workers were sent into the toxic plant without basic protective gear like rubber boots, and needed to be hospitalised. On April 1st the government revealed that the plant's operator, TEPCO, had not even provided dosimeters—small, inexpensive badges that record radiation exposure—to all workers.

The fear and danger is beyond comprehension for most people, and in particular the political leaders who must order men in to danger. But interestingly, it is not unfamiliar to former American president Jimmy Carter. Nearly half a century ago, as a young naval officer, he led a 23-man team to dismantle a reactor that, like Fukushima, had partially melted down.

The reactor in Chalk River, Canada, about 180 kilometres (110 miles) from Ottawa, was used to enrich plutonium for America's atomic bombs. On December 12th 1952 it exploded, flooding the reactor building’s basement with millions of litres of radioactive water. Lieutenant Carter, a nuclear specialist on the Seawolf submarine programme, and his men were among the few people with the security clearance to enter a reactor. From Schenectady, New York, they rode the train up and got straight to work.

"The radiation intensity meant that each person could spend only about ninety seconds at the hot core location," wrote Mr Carter in "Why Not the Best?", an autobiography published in 1975 when he was campaigning for the presidency.

The team built an exact replica of the reactor on a nearby tennis court, and had cameras monitor the actual damage in the reactor's core. "When it was our time to work, a team of three of us practised several times on the mock-up, to be sure we had the correct tools and knew exactly how to use them. Finally, outfitted with white protective clothes, we descended into the reactor and worked frantically for our allotted time," he wrote. "Each time our men managed to remove a bolt or fitting from the core, the equivalent piece was removed on the mock-up."

"For several months afterwards, we saved our feces and urine to have them monitored for radioactivity. We had absorbed a year's maximum allowance of radiation in one minute and twenty-nine seconds. There were no apparent after-effects from this exposure—just a lot of doubtful jokes among ourselves about death versus sterility," Mr Carter wrote.

The men at Fukushima face similar risks. Some 21 workers have been exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation, the maximum permissible during an emergency, according to Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA). As a result, NISA raised the limit to 250 millisieverts for plant workers. At 500 millisieverts the exposure begins to have detectable effects on health.

In 2008, when Mr Carter was 83, he was asked if he had been scared. The former president grew quiet and, speaking very deliberately, replied: "We were fairly well instructed then on what nuclear power was, but for about six months after that I had radioactivity in my urine. They let us get probably a thousand times more radiation than they would now. It was in the early stages and they didn’t know." The account, from Arthur Milnes, a journalist and historian at Queen's University in Canada, appears in a book published last month, "Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter: A Canadian Tribute" (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2011). "I learned the dangers," said Mr Carter.

People close to Mr Carter credit his Chalk River experience for his decision not to develop a neutron bomb and to restrict plutonium enrichment to prevent nuclear proliferation. And it is considered one of the principal reasons he took quick, precautionary actions during the Three Mile Island reactor crisis, which occurred two years into his presidency. As for the Chalk River disaster itself, some of today's reactorsafety features came out of the incident, such as a system for independent, fast shutdowns that is separate from the regular reactor controls.

Fukushima had this feature. But the system failed due to poor planning. Back-up generators were placed on the plant's ocean-facing side and at basement level. The tsunami's waters flooded everything, and disabled the back-up power for cooling the reactor.

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KABUL (Reuters) - An angry mob that killed seven foreign UN staff in north Afghanistan ripped out the door of a bunker where several had taken shelter, and slit the throat of one man who survived a bullet, the top UN envoy in the country said on Saturday.

Staffan de Mistura promised that the United Nations would stay in Afghanistan after the vicious assault, the deadliest it has faced in Afghanistan, but would have to reconsider security, particularly guarantees from Afghan forces.

He also warned that the Afghan government need to do more to prevent attacks like this if it wanted to keep the support of the international community as other nations face war and headline-grabbing unrest and absorb money and energy.

"We are not leaving," de Mistura told a small group of journalists in the Afghan capital, after flying back from Mazar-i-Sharif where he handled the aftermath of the attack.

Afghan police were the first line of protection on Friday when a crowd of up to 3,000 demonstrators enraged by the burning of a Koran by a militant fundamentalist Christian in the United States overran the compound, killing seven staff.

De Mistura said the violence, in a normally peaceful city, had caught ill-prepared Afghan police by surprise, and the gurkhas who are the next layer of security for the United Nations could not open fire because they are forbidden to shoot into crowds that contain civilians.

"Its clear if the Afghan police had a cordon of separation between the demonstration and the building, the building would not have been attacked," he said.

"The reality is that our gurkhas are never going to shoot at civilians, so the demonstration became an entry point, making it gradually impossible for our own gurkhas, our own security to intervene."

De Mistura said a small group of insurgents -- many from outside normally peaceful Mazar-i-Sharif city -- infiltrated a peaceful protest and turned it violent.

They were probably responsible for killing three civilian staff and four Ghurkhas, although a larger group had broken into the compound and hunted them down, he said.

All the Afghan national staff survived the attack, by blending into the crowd, and they heard unusual accents.

"We had our Afghan colleagues also, who all survived, they were not touched and they are able to detect a difference between the person of the street, of their own corner, of Mazar-i-Sharif, and a person who comes from outside."

"Those who were caught alive and arrested were actually indicating that kind of origin...I heard (they came from) five different locations, including Kapisa and Kandahar," he added.

Over 20 people have been detained over the violence.

STORMING THE BUNKER
The office was relatively empty because only a small group had gone into work on Friday, the Afghan weekend.

The four who were in the compound fled into the bunker when they heard the walls had been breached, but it had been built to withstand shrapnel from a bomb blast, not a sustained assault.

"The bunker is made for sustaining attacks by bombs, suicide bombers, not by a crowd of people with hammers or whatever they could find, so they were able to enter the door," de Mistura said.

When the attackers broke through the head of the mission, a Russian who spoke fluent Dari, stepped forward to try and draw attention to himself. He hoped three others cowering in darkness would not be noticed, but they were dragged out and killed.

"He tried to draw their attention on him, he hoped they would think there was no one else left," de Mistura said, adding that the mob went in with lamps and searched them out.

"One of my three colleagues was shot by a handgun and was wounded, and one of the infiltrators used a knife to kill him, but did not behead him," de Mistura said, responding to Afghan police reports that two staff members had been beheaded.

The Russian survived by claiming to be a Muslim.

The United Nations will review all its security procedures but also expects a stronger commitment from the Afghan government he said, warning that protecting foreigners working in the country was vital to guaranteeing international support.

"Afghanistan is not any more the center of the world, there is Tunisia, there is Libya, there is Egypt, there are other places which require and will require the attention of the international community, and taxpayers' money and of everyone else, energy," de Mistura said.

"So that means a further expectation of the Afghan side that there is a need of a special effort," he said, adding that corruption needed to be addressed alongside security.

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RIKUZENTAKATA, Japan — Two missing Fukushima nuclear plant workers were found dead on Sunday as more highly radioactive water spilled into the sea and authorities struggled to seal the leak.

Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which owns the plant, as saying the workers had been found. No other information of the discovery was given. The workers had been missing since a hydrogen explosion at the plant.

Also, the National Police Agency said that 12,009 people were officially reported dead and 15,472 missing in the aftermath of the magnitude-9.0 earthquake, which spawned a devastating tsunami on March 11.

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March 28, 2011
Arriving as Pregnant Tourists, Leaving With American Babies
By JENNIFER MEDINA
SAN GABRIEL, Calif. — The building inspectors and police officers walked into the small row of connected town houses here knowing something was amiss. Neighbors had complained about noise and a lot of pregnant women coming and going. And when they went into a kitchen they saw a row of clear bassinets holding several infants, with a woman acting as a nurse hovering over them.

For months, officials say, the house was home to “maternity tourists,” in this case, women from China who had paid tens of thousands of dollars to deliver their babies in the United States, making the infants automatic American citizens. Officials shut down the home, sending the 10 mothers who had been living there with their babies to nearby motels.

“These were not women living in squalor — it was a well taken care of place and clean, but there were a lot of women and babies,” said Clayton Anderson, a city inspector who shut down the house on March 9. “I have never seen anything like this before. We really couldn’t determine the exact number of people living there.”

For the last year, the debate over birthright citizenship has raged across the country, with some political leaders calling for an end to the 14th Amendment, which gives automatic citizenship to any baby born in the United States. Much of the debate has focused on immigrants entering illegally from poor countries in Latin America. But in this case the women were not only relatively wealthy, but also here legally on tourist visas. Most of them, officials say, have already returned to China with their American babies.

Immigration experts say it is impossible to know precisely how widespread “maternity tourism” is. Businesses in China, Mexico and South Korea advertise packages that arrange for doctors, insurance and postpartum care. And the Marmara, a Turkish-owned hotel on the Upper East Side in New York City, has advertised monthlong “baby stays” that come with a stroller.

For the most part, though, the practice has involved individuals. The discovery of the large-scale facility here in the San Gabriel foothills raises questions about whether it was a rare phenomenon or an indication that maternity tourism is entering a new, more institutionalized phase with more hospital-like facilities operating quietly around the country.

The San Gabriel town houses are nestled in a small street lined with modest houses, small apartment buildings and palm trees. A construction crew was at work late last week, closing up walls that had been knocked down between units, in violation of the housing code.

Signs of a makeshift maternity house were evident everywhere. In one kitchen, stacks of pictures showing a mother holding her days-old baby sat next to several cans of formula. In another, boxes of prenatal vitamins were tucked into rice cookers. Several bedroom doors had numbers on them. Some rooms were rather luxurious — B9, for instance, had a large walk-in closet, a whirlpool and a small personal refrigerator.

The Center for Health Care Statistics estimates that there were 7,462 births to foreign residents in the United States in 2008, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That is a small fraction of the roughly 4.3 million total births that year.

Immigration experts say they can only guess why well-to-do Chinese women are so eager to get United States passports for their babies, but they suspect it is largely as a kind of insurance policy should they need to move. The children, once they turn 21, would also be able to petition the United States government to grant their parents permanent residence status.

Angela Maria Kelley, the vice president for immigration policy and advocacy at the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning research group, said the existence of businesses helping foreign women give birth in the United States had only just begun to enter the public consciousness.

“If this is something that was really widespread and happening all over, you would have expected it to really have revealed itself,” Ms. Kelley said. “I think it deserves a lot more study and a lot more attention. But to say that you want to change the Constitution because of this feels like killing a fly with an Uzi.”

The State Department, which grants tourist visas, is not permitted to deny visa applications simply because a woman is pregnant.

“These people aren’t doing anything in violation of our laws,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tougher immigration controls. “But if anything, it is worse than illegal immigrants delivering a baby here. Those kids are socialized as Americans. This phenomenon of coming to the U.S. and then leaving with people who have unlimited access to come back is just ridiculous.”

San Gabriel, about 20 miles east of Los Angeles, has grown rapidly in recent years and is now a hub of businesses catering to Asian immigrants — tea shops fill the strip malls and for-sale signs in Chinese and Vietnamese are planted in front of several homes.

Mr. Anderson said a kind of “semitransient” community had a strong presence in this suburb. It is not uncommon for a single residence to be home to as many as 40 people. But as in other cities, the boarders are usually men, often working to send money to their families back home.

City officials asked basic questions to the women they found in the maternity house: how did they get here and who paid for them to come? The answers: on a tourist visa, and our family paid. The house’s owner, Dwight Chang, was fined $800 for code violations. Mr. Chang did not return several phone calls, and one worker at the building said he was traveling and not available.

“We didn’t do an extensive interview of the women; that wasn’t their job nor should it be,” said Jennifer Davis, the director of community development for the city. The city did alert public health officials, she said, who found nothing wrong with the babies.

Ms. Davis said city officials had also alerted the immigration authorities. Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the agency had investigated a similar situation in another Southern California city last year, but it yielded no evidence of any federal violations. She declined to say whether federal officials were investigating the San Gabriel operation, citing agency policy.

Yolanda Alvarez, who walks her dog past the town houses twice each day, said neighbors had complained among themselves for nearly a year, noticing “many, many young women” going in and out of the house.

Several pictures of a nurse posing with new mothers were scattered on the counters Friday. A framed tile was collecting dust amid the construction. “Home,” it said, “is where your story begins.”

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Warning for Veterans

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WARNING TO VETERANS

Forwarded by Kevin Secor, VSO Liaison, Office of the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

An organization called Veterans Affairs Services (VAS) is providing benefit and general information on the VA and gathering personal information on veterans.

This organization is not affiliated with the VA in any way.

NOTE: The VA does not search for veterans by e-mail or phone. This group cannot provide any services through the VA. Veterans and families please remember that there are bad guys out there. If someone calls from VAS simply hang up the Phone.

Spread the word.

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March 8, 2011
Alert For All Veterans

VA CENTRAL 0FFICE
Office of Security and Law Enforcement
POLICE
Situational Awareness

“Veterans Affairs Services” Group

The following is an advisory sent out by the National Guard Bureau (NGB) in reference to a group called “Veterans Affairs Services”

An organization called Veterans Affairs Services (VAS) is providing benefit and general information on VA and gathering personal information on veterans. This organization is not affiliated with VA in any way. Websites with the name "VA services" immediately after the "www" ARE NOT part of the Department of Veterans Affairs; the real VA website ends in.gov. If approached or called, do not offer them any information concerning yourself or data on other veterans.

The Department of Veterans Affairs does not randomly call veterans, nor does it ask veterans for information which it does not already have. If you have not dealt with the VA previously and in person, then you receive a call from someone saying they are with the VA or something similar sounding, hang up the phone. Do not respond to emails which suggest that they are from the VA. The VA never conducts official business nor asks for personal information by email.

VAS may be gaining access to military personnel through their close resemblance to the VA name and seal. NGB Legal Counsel has requested that the NGB Provost Marshal Office coordinate with DoD to inform military installations, particularly mobilization sites, of this group and their lack of affiliation or endorsement by VA to provide any services.

Source: NGB Weekly Threat Update/Force Protection Advisory
VA Police Services are urged to disseminate this information to in case of inquiries from veterans and to prevent their unwittingly release of Personally Identifiable Information (PII).

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As more and more Americans face mortgage foreclosure, banks' crucial ownership documents for the properties are often unclear and are sometimes even bogus, a condition that's causing lawsuits and hampering an already weak housing market.
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Biden Calls Dibs On Qaddafi's Clothes

WASHINGTON—Interrupting a meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden called dibs on the clothes of Muammar Qaddafi, saying he wanted first pick of the Libyan dictator's wardrobe as soon as he was deposed. "I've had my eye on those threads for years," said Biden, promising the assembled military officers they could have Qaddafi's print shirts or any assorted hats and sunglasses that Biden didn't want. "I need a couple of his traditional nomad outfits for this sheikh-themed party I'm throwing. And those uniforms with all the medals are pretty sweet." According to sources, Biden was unable to lay claim to Qaddafi's Bedouin tents because Energy Secretary Steven Chu had called them minutes earlier.

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'Apartheid Wall' at Arizona State University - Student Group Pushing BDS
by Josh Sayles, Staff Writer | JewishAZ.com |

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a pro-Palestinian student group at Arizona State University, exhibited an anti-Israel "apartheid wall" on campus for the third consecutive year, on March 28 and 29.

The wall, meant to symbolize the wall dividing Israel and the West Bank, displays anti-Israel sentiments. It has sections comparing the Israeli government to South African apartheid and Nazi Germany, and contains the message "Zionism Judaism," with drops of blood-red paint on the word "Zionism."

The structure is actually two wooden walls, each about 13 feet high by 30 feet long, painted front and back with pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli propaganda. The previous two years, SJP borrowed its wall from University of California, Irvine; this year the ASU chapter created its own.

Oday Shahin, head of public relations for SJP, insisted that the group is not anti-Judaism, only anti-Zionism and pro-Palestinian.

"Our goal is to educate people, not to give them conclusions but to tell them facts," he said. "I dare anyone to question any fact on this wall. ... Give me a source that is credible (and contradicts the wall), and we will change it. Nobody has ever taken that challenge."

Hayley Magerman, president of Sun Devils for Israel (SDI), a pro-Israel student group, spent much of her free time on campus while the wall was up working with other members of SDI to counter SJP's message and promote Israel in a positive light.

"(SJP) is twisting the truth," she said. "I have friends from South Africa ... and it's insulting to them for Israel to be called (an apartheid state). There are terms such as 'the Holocaust' and 'apartheid' that are very personal to people and it's disrespectful to use (them) so lightly.

"They use the word 'apartheid' because it's kind of an unfamiliar word to Americans. ... We just know (apartheid) is bad, but we don't know what it is."

Also for the third year in a row, SJP had "mock Israel Defense Force soldiers" standing in front of the wall and offering their interpretations of how the IDF behaves at Palestinian checkpoints. Last year, the mock soldiers were dressed in camouflage green and had Stars of David taped to their T-shirts; they faced accusations of anti-Semitism because some passers-by felt the stars were intended to represent Judaism.

Shahin said the stars were intended only to represent the Israeli flag.

But this year, in an effort to clarify, although SJP again placed the stars on the back of the soldiers' shirts, they added "Israeli army" on the front.

"If anyone has a problem with that, they should contact Israel and tell them, 'You guys shouldn't put the Star of David on our flag,' " Shahin said.

In addition to the "apartheid wall," SJP announced on March 30 that it was launching a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) campaign to pressure the ASU community to boycott and divest from Israel.

Shahin said that his organization isn't calling for the boycott of all Israeli goods, just "anything related to Israeli occupation and military occupation." He said SJP has a list of 13 companies "that we want to blacklist," including Caterpillar, Boeing and Motorola.

SJP is also coordinating with other student groups to pressure the ASU community to boycott and divest from other areas of the world, such as Darfur, according to Shahin.

"BDS is important because it's how outsiders can help," he said. "Even if you're (thousands of miles) away, you can pressure your leaders to boycott Israeli occupation. ... Money speaks. (The BDS) model we're copying from a South African model. South African apartheid ended when the international community boycotted and stopped trade with (South Africa)."

"Palestinians are definitely living in a second-class environment," said Magerman of SDI. "I think that's terrible and I don't think it should be the case, but it's up to Palestinian leadership to change that, not the Israeli government. ... If (the Palestinians) and their government and their leadership denounce terrorism and spend their funds and their resources properly, then they will have a thriving economy and they will be welcome to integrate and work in Israel.

"SJP is not looking at (the situation) properly. If they really were pro-Palestinian, ... they would see that what should be done is not (to denounce) Israel, but (to work) to help the Palestinians and work to educate Palestinian children and denounce terrorism."

The office of ASU President Michael Crow did not return requests for comment.
Source: http://www.jewishaz.com/issues/story.mv?110408+wall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Religious freedom experts gathered together on the campus of Brigham Young University for the 22nd annual conference of the LDS International Society. The theme was “The Erosion of Religious Liberties: Impact on the International Church.” As a matter of basic human dignity and social good, these experts defended religious freedom against gradually encroaching erosions.

Michael K. Young, president of the University of Utah and former chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, concentrated his remarks on the state of religious freedom in the United States, calling it a “bellwether” for the rest of the world. The extent of religious freedom erosion in the United States, he argued, significantly impacts the development of this issue in other countries. He warned about the subtle deterioration of religion’s once foundational place in society. An accumulation of “adverse” court decisions along with worsening social attitudes toward religion have produced gradual erosions that are “more worrying” than obvious, abrupt changes.

Among the issues at play here are conscientious objection in the workplace, freedom of religious organizations to hire according to religious standards, freedom of association among campus clubs, and rigid licensing and accrediting requirements that dismiss individual conscience. He emphasized that these incremental changes are not generally brought about by people with harmful intentions. Nevertheless, the old consensus that religion serves as a salutary institution in society is beginning to erode in fundamental ways. He described the progression of this erosion by using three different arguments of critics: (1) religion is not special, but just one of a number of good organizations; (2) while a good thing, religion is entirely a private affair; and (3) religion has a negative impact on society. Religion went from being advantaged by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to being viewed as an institution that should be disadvantaged, even viewed with suspicion.

What can religious freedom advocates do to help remedy this situation? Young recommends the following: (1) Be attentive to the gradual erosion. (2) Develop allies among organizations and individuals who support civil rights generally. Credibility and trust come from supporting the rights of everyone, not just your own. (3) Do it for the right reason, not just to protect Mormon missionary work. He added: “We have a profound moral obligation to protect religious freedom, not only on our behalf, but on behalf of so many others around the world.” (4) Don’t be defensive about it. (5) Warmly engage and welcome the reasonable criticism of our critics. (6) Work at the local level. (7) Trust in the Lord.

John Graz, secretary general of the International Religious Liberty Association, passionately asserted that religious freedom is a basic human right, not merely something that must grovel before governments and the law for approval. It is already established in international law. Advocates of religious freedom should never reach the point where religious freedom is viewed as a luxury, he emphasized. It must always be defended as a firmly established principle. Each year his organization produces the Religious Freedom World Report. Among its latest findings are (1) religious freedom is still protected in a majority of countries; (2) religious freedom is more frequently challenged, however; and (3) religious intolerance does not spare any group. He noted that the world has changed in the past 20 years. Trends for the 21st century include (1) governments wanting to control religion; (2) the formation of new alliances between church and state; (3) proselytism being viewed as a factor of destabilization; and (4) religions feeling attacked. He encouraged religious freedom advocates to: (1) Be responsible in our writing and speaking. “We have to be wise” in expressing ourselves, “even though we have rights.” (2) Favor interreligious dialogues. (3) Be positively active in the community. (4) Promote and protect religious freedom for all.

In a panel on the topic of promoting corporate social responsibility among the business community, Mormon scholars put forward religious freedom as a positive social good. Gregory G. Clark, attorney at Kirton & McConkie, emphasized that a growing consciousness to include religious freedom in the array of other rights already promoted and protected by corporate social responsibility is slowly taking hold in the business community. W. Cole Durham, director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU, spoke of religious freedom as “the grandparent of other rights.” He focused on the influence of what he called “soft law,” in comparison to national laws, in shaping the legal and social norms of our world. The standards and practices of corporate social responsibility reside in this sphere of influence. He argued that the commercial sector often carries greater weight than the human rights sector in shaping intergovernmental relations. Robert T. Smith, managing director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU, provided a history of corporate social responsibility. He described the process of how corporations insert social goods into the fiber of their business and the challenge of including religious freedom in the equation of corporate interests. Paul C. Godfrey, professor at BYU’s Marriott School of Management, suggested that “thorough-going, greedy capitalists” should support the notion of religious freedom because it promotes all sorts of social goods that create an environment conducive to business.

In the final panel, Hannah Clayson Smith, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, presented a list of domestic trends that have been unfolding in the past decade and reviewed the relevant court cases involved. John M. Smith, counsel at Raytheon Company, spoke about the interplay between religious freedom and national security. Drawing from his personal experience and study, he then elaborated on the state of religious freedom in Ukraine and its recent history.

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Wednesday, April 06, 2011

BECK BOLTS FOX

Was it "I stand with Israel?" Was it his expose on the Muslim Brotherhood? Or does Glenn Beck want to be Roger Ailes? The media is saying that Beck's ratings have tanked or advertisers have bolted, but this is not so. Beck's numbers are strong, very strong. He holds at two million easy, beating Shlep, Brett, and at times, Hannity.
There is more at work here.
The statement below was briefly posted on The Blaze, (which is owned by Glenn Beck) but was subsequently taken down for unknown reasons. Here’s the original release:

NEW YORK— FOX News and Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s production company, are proud to announce that they will work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the FOX News Channel (FNC) as well as content for other platforms including FOX News’ digital properties. Glenn intends to transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.
Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of FOX News said, “Glenn Beck is a powerfulcommunicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody’s standards. I look forward to continuing to work with him.”

Glenn Beck said, “I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and FOX News. I cannot repay Roger for the lessons I’ve learned and will continue to learn from him and I look forward to starting this new phase of our partnership.”

Joel Cheatwood, SVP/Development at FOX News, will be joining Mercury Radio Arts effective April 24, 2011. Part of his role as EVP will be to manage the partnership and serve as a liaison with FOX News.

Ailes said, “Joel is a good friend and one of the most talented and creative executives in the business. Over the past four years I have consistently valued his input and advice and that will not stop as we work with him in his new role.”

“Glenn Beck” is consistently the third highest rated program on cable news. For the 27 months that “Glenn Beck” has aired on FOX News, the program has averaged more than 2.2 million total viewers and 563,000 viewers 25-54 years old, numbers normally associated with shows airing in primetime, not at 5pm. “Glenn Beck” has dominated all of its cable news competitors since launch.

TYPICAL DAY RATING: MARCH 31

Net 5PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC GLENN BECK 2,216 556 1,050
CNN SITUATION ROOM 730 249 363
MSNBC HARDBALL WITH C. MATTHEWS 576 122 217
CNBC FAST MONEY 249 66 122
HLN SHOWBIZ TONIGHT 194 83 122


Net 6PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC SPECIAL RPT W/BRET BAIER 2,095 460 923
CNN SITUATION ROOM 550 201 270
MSNBC MSNBC LIVE 501 130 221
CNBC MAD MONEY 169 64 113
HLN PRIME NEWS 166 60 117


Net 7PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC THE FOX REPORT W/S.SMITH 1,750 382 897
CNN JOHN KING USA 607 233 353
MSNBC HARDBALL WITH C. MATTHEWS 548 161 268
CNBC KUDLOW REPORT 141 44 73
HLN ISSUES 328 140 236


Net 8PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC THE OREILLY FACTOR 3,360 838 1,631
CNN IN THE ARENA 617 252 334
MSNBC LAST WORD W/ L. ODONNELL 885 239 424
CNBC AMERICAN GREED 136 40 95
HLN NANCY GRACE 495 125 242


Net 9PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC HANNITY 2,057 507 947
CNN Piers Morgan Tonight 608 245 335
MSNBC RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 880 258 422
CNBC AMERICAN GREED 188 58 88
HLN NANCY GRACE-MISSING 251 89 118



Net 10PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC ON THE RECORD W/GRETA 1,427 321 684
CNN ANDERSON COOPER 360 827 329 450
MSNBC ED SHOW 789 247 387
CNBC AMERICAN GREED 343 161 188
HLN JOY BEHAR 295 140 150


Net 11PM P2+ (000s) 25-54 (000s) 35-64 (000s)
FNC THE OREILLY FACTOR 1,366 443 815
CNN ANDERSON COOPER 360 597 216 319
MSNBC MSNBC SPECIAL PROGRAMMING 528 187 270
CNBC MAD MONEY 102 45 65
HLN SHOWBIZ TONIGHT 238 108 146

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Elizabeth
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Re: THAT's LIFE...

Post by Elizabeth »

After a great deal of speculation about Glenn Beck’s future on television, here is the freshly-inked news release. There will be a couple of key headlines out of this…yes, there is a new agreement with Fox News but this is the first confirmation that Beck will “transition off of his daily TV program” later this year.

The program has obviously been a great success for Beck and for Fox News, and the relationship between the organizations seems as strong as ever. This news release does leave some key questions unanswered for now, primarily, does Glenn have plans for a daily TV or video program down the road?

FOX NEWS AND MERCURY RADIO ARTS ANNOUNCE NEW AGREEMENT
(New York, NY) Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts, Glenn Beck’s production company, are proud to announce that they will work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties. Glenn intends to transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year.
Roger Ailes, Chairman and CEO of Fox News said, “Glenn Beck is a powerful communicator, a creative entrepreneur and a true success by anybody’s standards. I look forward to continuing to work with him.”

Glenn Beck said: “I truly believe that America owes a lot to Roger Ailes and Fox News. I cannot repay Roger for the lessons I’ve learned and will continue to learn from him and I look forward to starting this new phase of our partnership.”

Joel Cheatwood, SVP/Development at Fox News, will be joining Mercury Radio Arts effective April 24, 2011. Part of his role as EVP will be to manage the partnership and serve as a liaison with the Fox News Channel.

Roger Ailes said: “Joel is a good friend and one of the most talented and creative executives in the business. Over the past four years I have consistently valued his input and advice and that will not stop as we work with him in his new role.”

“Glenn Beck” is consistently the third highest rated program on cable news. For the 27 months that “Glenn Beck” has aired on Fox News, the program has averaged more than 2.2 million total viewers and 563,000 viewers 25-54 years old, numbers normally associated with shows airing in primetime, not at 5pm. “Glenn Beck” has dominated all of its cable news competitors since launch.
About Fox News
FOX News Channel (FNC) is a 24-hour general news service covering breaking news as well as political, business and entertainment news. For more than 100 consecutive months, FNC has been the most-watched cable news channel in the country. Owned by News Corp., FNC is available in more than 90 million homes. http://www.theblaze.com/stories/fox-new ... v-program/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Elizabeth
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THAT's LIFE...

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http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Glenn_Beck" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Beck sees himself as creating “the fusion of entertainment and enlightenment.”
Drawn to the radio from an early age, Beck overcame alcoholism and navigated a career that took him from being a relatively obscure DJ who played Top 40 hits with a dose of zany antics, to a media star and national political force.

After decades of bouncing around the country, Beck vaulted to superstardom during the Obama administration, with fierce criticisms of the president earning Beck legions of fans and detractors.

Between his nationally-syndicated radio show, cable-television show on Fox News, magazine, web site, and his best-selling books, Beck claims to reach 30 million people. But in April 2011, Fox and Beck's Mercury Radio Arts announced they would part ways sometime in 2011 after a rocky spate in which Beck became increasingly critical ofPresident Obama and Democratic donors like George Soros, who he linked to Nazi atrocities in World War II Hungary, sparking criticism from Jewish groups and driving away corporate sponsors.

Beck continues to have the ability to drive the national conversation, however, as evidenced by his reports that led to the eventual resignation of White House “green jobs” adviser Van Jones in September 2009.

In August 2010, Beck drew tens of thousands of people (5) – he claims hundreds of thousands – to the Lincoln Memorial for a rally that featured himself and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Even without a daily TV show, Beck’s ability to command the attention of millions of loyal fans on the right while being a popular target for those on the left, is sure to keep him relevant.

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Elizabeth
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THAT's LIFE...

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-g ... 44374.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This week, two different religions were mocked and disrespected in the United States and the followers' reactions couldn't have been more different. While a lone preacher in Florida burned a copy of the Koran, a Broadway show opened in New York making fun of the Mormon faith with irreverent humor and sacrilegious musical numbers. Some Muslim followers in Afghanistan reacted to the burning by storming the UN compound and killing innocent international public servants. The Mormon Church reacted to the musical by pointing the public to the superficial nature of it and the supernatural power of their faith.

While burning the Koran is religiously intolerant and insensitive to our Muslim brothers and sisters, to suggest that it endangers American lives in and of itself is ridiculous. What endangers Americans' lives is the overreaction to the burning by extremists, not the act of free speech. The assumption that people will kill because of the burning of a book and therefore the book shouldn't be burned justifies the overreaction and makes it a rational answer. There should be a universal condemnation to the killings because it isn't rational or acceptable. Radical followers of Islam killed innocent people in reaction to a radical follower of Christianity's lighting a book on fire. I would characterize both radicals as not truly following the God they claim to be following. Islam and Christianity teach peace and acceptance not provocation and death.

To assume that people are going to be killed if a Koran is burned is a dangerous supposition. The patronizing reaction by many liberals and politicians to condemn the burning of the Koran on the same level as the UN killings -- and many times in the same sentence -- left an assumption that the reaction was a natural outcome of the action. President Barack Obama's statement on the UN murders also wasn't helpful in teaching religious tolerance. Obama elevated the Koran burning to an extreme offense and therefore gave comfort to an extreme reaction. "The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry," said Obama. The White House's use of the word extreme was inappropriate for this situation.

Compare American liberals' reaction to the Koran burning with their gleeful embrace of Trey Parker's and Matt Stone's Broadway musical about the Mormon faith. A musical with a song called: "@#$%! you, God" and described by the authors as an "atheist love letter to religion". New York Magazine said, "What's so uniquely winning about The Book of Mormon is its scruffy humanism, its eagerness to redeem its characters -- even its smaller ones." And Jon Stewart was left speechless after he said "it was so good, I almost don't know what to say." The reviews for the musical have been the best any modern Broadway show has ever seen. And very few liberals have condemned the defilement of the Mormon Church's holy text as Obama has for the Koran. If we believe that desecrating a religion's holy text endangers lives then so does the accolades and support for The Book of Mormon on Broadway. I, for one, don't accept this premise.

For American Mormons, the Broadway show and its embrace by the mainstream and liberal media has been embarrassing and humiliating. But the even tempered official Mormon Church reaction should make everyone take a second look at the religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a statement saying, "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ." The actions of some Afghan Muslims who killed UN officials as a reaction to the burning of a Koran in Florida cannot be justified or even confused to be a rational response.

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Re: THAT's LIFE...

Post by ChemtrailWatcher »

Janadele wrote:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/richard-g ... 44374.html

This week, two different religions were mocked and disrespected in the United States and the followers' reactions couldn't have been more different. While a lone preacher in Florida burned a copy of the Koran, a Broadway show opened in New York making fun of the Mormon faith with irreverent humor and sacrilegious musical numbers. Some Muslim followers in Afghanistan reacted to the burning by storming the UN compound and killing innocent international public servants. The Mormon Church reacted to the musical by pointing the public to the superficial nature of it and the supernatural power of their faith.

While burning the Koran is religiously intolerant and insensitive to our Muslim brothers and sisters, to suggest that it endangers American lives in and of itself is ridiculous. What endangers Americans' lives is the overreaction to the burning by extremists, not the act of free speech. The assumption that people will kill because of the burning of a book and therefore the book shouldn't be burned justifies the overreaction and makes it a rational answer. There should be a universal condemnation to the killings because it isn't rational or acceptable. Radical followers of Islam killed innocent people in reaction to a radical follower of Christianity's lighting a book on fire. I would characterize both radicals as not truly following the God they claim to be following. Islam and Christianity teach peace and acceptance not provocation and death.

To assume that people are going to be killed if a Koran is burned is a dangerous supposition. The patronizing reaction by many liberals and politicians to condemn the burning of the Koran on the same level as the UN killings -- and many times in the same sentence -- left an assumption that the reaction was a natural outcome of the action. President Barack Obama's statement on the UN murders also wasn't helpful in teaching religious tolerance. Obama elevated the Koran burning to an extreme offense and therefore gave comfort to an extreme reaction. "The desecration of any holy text, including the Koran, is an act of extreme intolerance and bigotry," said Obama. The White House's use of the word extreme was inappropriate for this situation.

Compare American liberals' reaction to the Koran burning with their gleeful embrace of Trey Parker's and Matt Stone's Broadway musical about the Mormon faith. A musical with a song called: "f--- you, God" and described by the authors as an "atheist love letter to religion". New York Magazine said, "What's so uniquely winning about The Book of Mormon is its scruffy humanism, its eagerness to redeem its characters -- even its smaller ones." And Jon Stewart was left speechless after he said "it was so good, I almost don't know what to say." The reviews for the musical have been the best any modern Broadway show has ever seen. And very few liberals have condemned the defilement of the Mormon Church's holy text as Obama has for the Koran. If we believe that desecrating a religion's holy text endangers lives then so does the accolades and support for The Book of Mormon on Broadway. I, for one, don't accept this premise.

For American Mormons, the Broadway show and its embrace by the mainstream and liberal media has been embarrassing and humiliating. But the even tempered official Mormon Church reaction should make everyone take a second look at the religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints issued a statement saying, "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ." The actions of some Afghan Muslims who killed UN officials as a reaction to the burning of a Koran in Florida cannot be justified or even confused to be a rational response.

What a great thing to say about our faith! Thanks for sharing! Even as members of the Church, we can learn from the example of the Brethren in how they have handled the situation.

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Elizabeth
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Re: THAT's LIFE...

Post by Elizabeth »

True ChemtrailWatcher :) :)

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Re: THAT's LIFE...

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In the November issue of General Conference, Thomas S. Monson quoted Horace Mann in his talk on "Charity Never Faileth." I kept thinking why would the prophet of God quote such a man? Horace Mann spoke ill of mothers, he called the followers of "Joe Smith" insane. I decided that I needed to look at the quote more carefully. I went back and read the original quote in context from Mann's lectures on education. The book made me just sick. In context, Mann was stating his disdain for novel writers and those whom read their works. Isn't Prez Monson an avid reader? Read it in context- http://www.archive.org/stream/lectureso ... 2/mode/2up" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Pres Monson's talk was on Charity- "charity that manifests itself when we are tolerant of others and lenient toward their actions, the kind of charity that forgives, the kind of charity that is patient." "...in times of weakness or error on the part ...of others." "Charity is having patience with someone who has let us down. It is resisting the impulse to become offended easily. It is accepting weaknesses and shortcomings." I think Horace Mann was chosen as an example of someone not to be held in high esteem from being quoted, but President Monson looking for something good from Mann was showing charity-his pure love of Christ. -that's my take on it, anyway. The statement made by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in response to the musical follows this same example.

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Post by ChemtrailWatcher »

Who would have thought that such a mean-spirited thing against the Church could be used as a missionary opportunity? It amazes me how the Lord is able to fulfill His purposes despite the evil designs of men.

That article really made my day! :)

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Elizabeth
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THAT's LIFE...

Post by Elizabeth »

Sunday, April 3, 2011
2010 Flashback: US Apologizes for Criticizing Gaddafi after he called for Jihad
http://punditpress.blogspot.com/2011/04 ... s-for.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sometimes in hindsight, one can say that they were wrong, that they didn't see the fault of their ways until it was too late. Sometimes, however, you are wrong from the start.

In 2010, Libyan Dictator Maummar Gaddafi stated that Switzerland "deserved to be attacked through jihad." In response to this outrageous comment, former State Department Spokesman PJ Crowley slammed Gaddafi and dismissed his statement.

Soon enough, however, Crowley did an about-face. Apparently after being asked to rescind his comments, Crowley stated:
"I regret that my comments have become an obstacle to further progress in our bilateral relationship... I should have focused solely on our concern about the term jihad, which has since been clarified by the Libyan government. I understand my personal comments were perceived as a personal attack on the president. These comments do not reflect US policy and were not intended to offend. I apologize if they were taken that way."
This absolutely ridiculous. Even in 2010 his was absolutely ridiculous.

Gaddafi
When a leader of a country calls for an "attack through jihad," how do you not see it as an "attack?" Even worse, why would this Administration allow and/or force Crowley to apologize? When a crazed dictator says something like that,he should be the one clarifying or apologizing. If the United States didn't have the guts to call out Gaddafi back then, their bumbling now should come as no surprise.

Big shock: the US apologized for doing the right thing.
Last edited by Elizabeth on April 7th, 2011, 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by Elizabeth »

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2011/04/what- ... tages.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Some commentators on the Qur'an burning have said that Pastor Terry Jones was somehow unpatriotic, because his action endangered American soldiers in the field in Muslim countries. This is toxic nonsense. For one thing, the only person who endangered those troops was the man who sent them to hopeless missions in unfixable (i.e. Muslim) countries: The president and commander-in-chief.

Furthermore, these are not unarmed women and children, whose flights were somehow misdirected from Kalamazoo to Kabul. They are soldiers—and every one of them is a volunteer. They signed up to fight for our country, and pudgy, gunless civilians shouldn't insult their service by offering to “protect” these well-armed and courageous troops by quashing our freedoms at home. I'm sorry that American servicemen and women are in harm's way in Muslim countries, and I would like to see every single one of them brought home tomorrow. One criterion I will use in choosing a presidential candidate will be his willingness to bring home our troops, so they can stop getting blown up and shot at in defense of sharia.

Another argument out there asserts that the actions of Pastor Jones—and by definition, of all Islamo-realists—provoke Islamic violence against real innocent civilians, including unarmed men, women and children: namely, the millions of non-Muslims who live as hostages inside Islamic countries. The numbers of these people are shrinking, to be sure, as resurgent Islamic governments from Kosovo to Iraq find ways to ethnically cleanse their territories, repeating against the Christians the purges Arab states conducted of Jews in 1948. Tragic and criminal as that mass-expulsion was, it did have one advantage: there aren't millions of Jews living at the mercy of Muslim mobs, whom hostile governments can use as pawns or hold for ransom. Likewise, the flight of ancient Christian communities from Muslim-occupied countries is a painful assault on heritage and history. But in the long run it may save their lives, and give the rest of us more freedom of action in confronting global Islam while we still can.

This fact was pointed up for me by the comments of Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, Pakistan—the head of the Pakistani conference of Catholic bishops. Now before I quote what Abp. Saldanha had to say about the present controversy, I want to point out that this man is no snivelling dhimmi (unlike certain Eastern rite clerics I could think of). Abp. Saldanha does not cover up the crimes of his country's Islamic government, or blame them on America or Israel. Indeed, in the recent report on the persecution of Christians around the world, Saldanha's voice was one of the loudest and most forthright. As we have reported before, Saldanha echoed the call of Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien that the British government withhold foreign aid from countries—such as Pakistan—that flout minority rights. The bishops conference Saldanha leads on March 26 asked the Vatican to consider declaring Shahbaz Bhatti a martyr. Besides the regular arrest and persecution of Christians under Pakistan's ludicrous “blasphemy” laws, Saldanha is threatened by less organized forces of repression. As Fides Newsreports:

the Catholic church of St Thomas, in the town of Wah Canntt, about 50 km from Rawalpindi, was attacked by a groups armed men last night, Monday 28 March, which resulted in damages. According to the account sent to Fides by the local parish priest, Fr Yusaf Amanat, about 6.30 pm a group of six armed men broke in to the Church's courtyard, throwing rocks at the lamps and windows, trying to force open the church door.

An attendant, alarmed by the noise, warned the parish priest and the police. The attackers, who were not able to force the door, instead, tried to set him on fire, then fled.

The priest told Fides about his concern about these acts of intimidation, which are perhaps related to the recent episode of the burning of the Koran by Pastor Terry Jones in the U.S.
So all this is background for understanding the following news story:

LAHORE, Pakistan, APRIL 5, 2011 (Zenit.org).- The archbishop of Lahore is calling for the arrest of two U.S. pastors whose Qur'an burning ceremony sparked violent attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, resulting in multiple deaths. ...Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore condemned the desecration of the Qur'an, and told Aid to the Church in Need: "The U.S. government should detain the pastor for some time."
He added, "In view of the effects his actions have had all over the world, he should be controlled and understand the harm that has been done."

The prelate noted that "the U.S. government talks about religious freedom, but we call upon the U.S. government to prevent such actions by extremists and other fundamentalist Christians."
He acknowledged that the situation "could become ugly" due to growing anger over the desecration.
The aid agency reported that Pakistani churches are implementing extra security measures including armed guards, cameras and concrete blocks.
...
On Friday, Jones released a statement in response to the attacks, asserting that "Muslim dominated countries can no longer be allowed to spread their hate against Christians and minorities."
He added, "They must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech, and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed."

My first reaction to reading this news story was probably yours as well: Immediate indignation that some foreigner is trying to get my government to suspend our Constitution, and subject Americans to cringing, fawning “respect” for Muslim sensibilities. I respect Islam exactly as I do Scientology, Christian Identity, and the theory that alien lizard men have controlled human history since the caves were painted at Lascaux. My hackles went up, and it took them a while to go back down. Certainly, we must reject such calls by clerics of any stripe to restrict our freedom of expression—which would only ever protect Islam, and amount to imposing a sharia blasphemy law, not just on Pakistan but across the planet. As someone who is clearly devoted to Shahbaz Bhatti and his cause, Abp. Saldanha should realize the implications of his statement.

But second thoughts are also important. Abp. Saldanha isn't only responsible for himself, but for millions of innocent unarmed Christians—who are already being persecuted by the Islamic government that is propped up by U.S. and Western foreign aid. The Muslim gun is at their heads, and we paid for the bullets. Now, as Saldanha must see it, the same country that shovels money into the hands of his evil government is tolerating provocations by its citizens that put more Pakistani Christians at risk. So I understand his frustration, and it is much more in sorrow than anger that I must tell Abp. Saldanha, respectfully, to leave our Constitution alone. His efforts would be much better spent impressing on U.S. congressmen the need for imposing religious toleration conditions on U.S. aid to any and every Muslim country, telling the world the stories of Pakistan's Christian martyrs, and preparing his threatened flock to cling to their faith all along the Way of the Cross that they are treading. I regret if the occasional American zealot inadvertently makes their walk a little harder—but Abp. Saldanha should not blame Barabbas for the crime of Pontius Pilate.
Last edited by Elizabeth on April 7th, 2011, 3:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Postal Service Celebrates Another Awesome Day Of Delivering Mail

WASHINGTON—Emphatic cheers of "We did it again!" and "USPS is the best!" rang out from the nation's post offices Tuesday as the United States Postal Service celebrated yet another amazing day of successfully delivering the country's mail.

At 5:01 p.m., Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe popped a champagne cork as confetti and balloons fell from the ceiling of USPS's Washington headquarters and joyous employees cartwheeled in unison through the hallways, sources reported. Amidst the revelry, postal workers congratulated and hugged one another for once again delivering all 584 million pieces of the day's mail to their proper destinations.

"You can put another great day of delivering mail in the books, fellas!" said the jubilant postmaster general, who was greeted with thunderous applause and random cheers of "No mail is junk mail!" by his employees. "We sorted, we accumulated, we delivered. And you know what? We did it together. I love you guys!"

"Everyone in America got their magazines!" added Donahoe, who was then hoisted onto the shoulders of several D.C. postmen and carried into the courtyard where a 20-piece orchestra was playing "Signed, Sealed, Delivered."

As the festivities continued on the East Coast with delivery trucks honking their horns and the entire USPS airplane fleet tipping their wings mid-flight, Donahoe called up the Big Board—a giant television screen with a live feed to every post office in America—to see how the celebrations were progressing across the country.

"Let's check in on Broomfield!" Donahoe shouted as the screen cut to a small post office in Colorado, whose champagne-drenched mailmen were once again unfurling their giant "You Asked, We Delivered!" banner. "You're the best, Broomfield. And now let's kick it to Omaha! Nice! Good stuff from the Cornhusker State. And now Kansas City! And Dallas! And Salt Lake City! Ladies and gentlemen, the mail carriers of Cincinnati, Ohio!"

"Looking good, Cincinnati," Donahoe added. "Love the choreography!"

Other highlights from the revelry included a quarter-mile-long postal worker conga line in New Jersey, mailmen in Tampa, FL tossing their coworkers into the air with a giant blanket, and federal workers from the five post offices in Santa Fe, NM gathering in Fort Marcy Park for a fireworks display, carnival games, and performances of numerous mail-related songs and skits.

Similar nationwide celebrations reportedly occurred the previous night, last Saturday, Friday, and every day that mail has been delivered since Benjamin Franklin established the government agency in 1775.

"Twenty million letters, 8 million birthday cards, 100 million Capital One Bank credit card offers, and 5 million different types of forms were delivered from one side of the country to the other, a majority of them for just 44 cents," former Utah Jazz power forward and basketball legend Karl Malone said in a message to the nation's mailmen taped earlier in the day. "It's a modern miracle, and you're responsible for it. So raise a glass and take a drink, because you deserve it."

Nobody was injured during any of the nationwide festivities—many of which devolved into late-night dance parties—and all postal workers interviewed said they had the time of their lives.

"We rocked it today, guys!" Harrisburg, PA mailman Tom Burnsworth said. "And we're gonna rock it again tomorrow, and the next day, and the next day, and the day after that, and then on Sunday we're not gonna do it. But on Monday we're gonna do it again!"

"Who are we?" Burnsworth shouted at his colleagues, who immediately responded, "Mailmen!" "What do we do? Deliver mail! When are weather conditions too inclement? Never! USPS, USPS, USPS!"

As Burnsworth received a roaring ovation from his coworkers, Pennsylvania resident Debbie Lustick, 42, told reporters that she had yet to receive a package she has been expecting since last Thursday.

ChemtrailWatcher
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Re: THAT's LIFE...

Post by ChemtrailWatcher »

Mazal, what's the date for your article? April 1? Keep 'em coming! :))

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U.S. To Just Hand Terry Jones Over To Fundamentalist Muslims

'Have At Him,' Officials Say

GAINESVILLE, FL—In response to the uproar surrounding Terry Jones, the Florida pastor whose Koran-burning last month sparked riots in Afghanistan that have so far claimed at least 24 lives, the State Department announced today its plan to "just pack [Jones] up and ship him over there" so that fundamentalist Muslims can take out their anger on him directly. "We just want to let followers of Islam across the globe know that, hey, we're totally with you on this one, so do your worst," said U.S. deputy secretary of state Thomas Nides, who spoke to reporters this morning shortly after CIA agents secured Jones with duct tape and tossed him face-first into the cargo bay of a DC-9 aircraft. "You want to shove a Bible in his mouth and kick it through the back of his head? Fine with us. Want to behead him on the Internet? Send us the URL—we'd love to have a look." Officials also noted that if the world's radical Islamists are still angry after dealing with Jones, the U.S. has "dozens more just like him, so say the word."

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Post by ChemtrailWatcher »

OK, Mazal, have you been frequenting the Onion? Hmmm....?

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Post by Like »

ChemtrailWatcher wrote:OK, Mazal, have you been frequenting the Onion? Hmmm....?
Sometimes I need a double dose of crazy to get through the day!

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