04/10/15
Daily Archives: April 10, 2015
04/10/15
04/10/15
Madame President
From Chris Muir at Day by Day Cartoon
04/10/15
Lawmaker asks ‘ What would Jesus do ? ’ turns his back on Wiccan priestess prayer at Iowa House [Video]
‘Blessed Be, Aho, and Amen,’ Wiccan Priestess Delivers Prayer for Iowa House
Some Christian lawmakers on Thursday silently protested the first Wiccan prayer in the Iowa state House Chambers by turning their backs or refusing to attend. Priestess Deborah Maynard of the People’s Church Unitarian Universalist Church told KCRG that offering the first-ever Wiccan prayer in the Iowa legislature was both scary and exhilarating. But she said that the most difficult part was limiting the prayer to one minute or less.
“We call this morning to God, Goddess, Universe, that which is greater than ourselves to be with us here today,” she prayed. “By the Earth that is in our bones and centers us, may all here remember our roots and those we are here to represent.”
“By the fire that gives us light and passion, may all here remain passionate about the work that must be done for the people of Iowa,” the priestess continued. “By the air that gives us breath and logic, may all here find thoughtful solutions to the problems that are presented. By the water that flows through our blood and stirs our emotions, may all here draw on that emotional intelligence, which helps us to see the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”
Maynard concluded by calling on the “ever-present” spirit to “help us respect the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part. Be with us and this legislative body and guide them to seek justice, equity and compassion in the work that is before them today.”
But Republican state Rep. Rob Taylor and some of his colleagues found Maynard’s presence so offensive that they launched a silent protest.
Taylor explained to KCRG that he prayed and asked, “What would Jesus do?” In the end, he decided to “be in the presence of a prayer, but peacefully protest” by turning his back. Other lawmakers refused to attend Thursday’s opening ceremonies.
“Jesus would be in the chamber, from my perspective, he would passively protest. Then he would seek that individual out and have peaceful conversation about why his way was the best way,” the lawmaker said. “Everyone has the right to come into our chamber — it is the people’s chamber — and pray and she did and this was the way for me to peacefully protest.”
Taylor admitted to KCRG that he had not turned his back during Islamic and Jewish prayers.
Other Christian Iowans attended the prayer because they thought it would counteract demonic spirits.
“I was praying for her salvation,” Pastor Michael Demastus, who was in the balcony, recalled. “I was praying that she would come to know the one true God… “I believe that the occult is dark. I do believe that’s not the place to see guidance from, so I was not praying against her. I was praying against what she was doing.”
Michelle Gute said that she came to stop demons from influencing the lawmakers.
“I don’t want any demonic influences on the people who are making decisions on our behalf,” she insisted. “I was not praying with her.”
“I was praying the opposite. Our country was founded on godly principles, not goddesses and whoever she was praying to,” Gute added.
04/10/15
First Amendment Rights at Stake in Gay Marriage Case
By: Cliff Kincaid
Accuracy in Media
With media coverage slanted in favor of gay marriage by a five-to-one ratio, it’s unlikely that the legal documents being filed before the Supreme Court in favor of a traditional one man and one woman marriage will ever be covered in an objective fashion.
Yet, some of the legal briefs carry ominous warnings about what could happen to the American system of democratic self-government and its Christian heritage if the Supreme Court unilaterally decides to impose same-sex marriage on the states. They also warn about freedom of the press and religion being threatened by a powerful pro-homosexual movement that requires obedience to its desires and demands.
The court will hear arguments on April 28 and rule in June.
A powerful brief filed by the firm of William J. Olson, P.C., Attorneys at Law, and the U.S. Justice Foundation cites the late conservative journalist M. Stanton Evans in his book The Theme of Freedom as saying that homosexuality constitutes “a reversion to pagan ways of thinking,” and that putting the United States on the road to paganism could lead to a government “with totalitarian powers.”
Examining the nature of the homosexual movement and where it is driving the nation, the legal brief notes that sexual categories once limited to heterosexual and homosexual have now been expanded to include more than 50 gender options, as defined by Facebook, and that “some consider pedophilia to be a legitimate sexual orientation, returning us to the pagan pederasty of ancient Greece.”
With the court affirming same-sex marriage as a constitutional right, the lawyers see the culture sliding further into debauchery. “Television no doubt will become even more pro-homosexual,” the attorneys argue, “making it more difficult for persons adhering to traditional values to live their lives and raise their children in an increasingly debased culture.”
“In this brave, new, homosexual-friendly world,” they go on, “every licensed professional would be required to embrace the new orthodoxy, to bow down to the idol of ‘non-discrimination,’ or be cast out of his profession. People who first claimed only to want tolerance of their behavior will allow no toleration for other views.”
The Olson brief says a Court decision in violation of America’s founding principles could directly affect the free press rights of those offering information about withdrawing from homosexual behavior. Websites offering such counseling could be outlawed as “hate speech,” the legal document says.
“In California,” the document notes, “it is already a crime” to counsel minors that homosexuals can change their sexual orientation. It says New Jersey passed a similar statute, which was recently upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. This statute was signed into law by New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie.
“Newspapers likely will be forced to publish homosexual wedding announcements, in violation of their existing editorial control over what they publish,” the attorneys assert.
A decision in favor of same-sex marriage could also result in Christians being “driven from public office” for objecting to participation in gay marriage ceremonies, the brief says.
The Olson firm and the U.S. Justice Foundation filed the brief on behalf of Public Advocate of the U.S., Joyce Meyer Ministries, U.S. Justice Foundation, The Lincoln Institute, Abraham Lincoln Foundation, Institute on the Constitution, Conservative Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Pastor Chuck Baldwin.
The brief says that a constitutional right to homosexual marriage could supersede the religious freedom of churches, ministries, Christian schools and colleges, and that these entities “would be placed in jeopardy of losing their federal tax-exempt status.” The loss of federal income tax-exempt status “could lead to loss of contribution income, and forfeiting of church properties to pro-homosexual charities,” the brief says. In addition, it goes on, “criminal penalties might be imposed on church leaders. In Idaho, two pastors recently were threatened with fines and jail time unless they performed homosexual marriages at their wedding chapel.”
In addition to the threat posed to the First Amendment rights of a free press and religious expression, the conservative public interest law firm Judicial Watch has filed a brief noting that the will of the American people through the voting process has already been subverted by liberal judges.
The group points out that “most of the States where the traditional definition of marriage has been changed has been done through judicial actions and not the will of the people. And in fact, several States including California and Virginia where the voters clearly desired to maintain the traditional definition of marriage, state administrators and federal courts denied their collective voices.”
“The right to vote is clearly defined in the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution,” Judicial Watch points out. Yet, courts have declared through “judicial fiat” that “the millions of voters who democratically adopted the marriage amendments were wrong,” thereby abridging “the right to vote of each and every one of those citizens.”
The brief goes on to say that “The message sent to these citizens is that, despite engaging in the democratic process and debate regarding issues predominately within the state sphere and casting their constitutionally protected votes, when a federal court decides it knows better, their votes will mean nothing. The inevitable consequence of this type of federal interference will be voter disenfranchisement. How can we beat the patriotic drum of voter involvement when the ultimate end can be erased by a few federal judges?”
The Olson brief also takes up the theme of the American people being denied their say in these matters, noting cases of judges who “have treated challenges to traditional marriage as an opportunity to exercise raw political power…”
Inevitably, the lawyers warn, the nation could witness the legalization of multiple-partner and incestuous marriages.
04/10/15
Sharpton Calls for “National Policing”
By: Roger Aronoff
Accuracy in Media
Al Sharpton, President Obama’s “go-to man on race” as described by Politico last year, is at it again. After riling up the nation over false narratives about Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, Sharpton has found a case he can get behind where there appears to be little doubt this time that a white policeman, Michael Slager, brutally and unnecessarily shot to death an unarmed black man in South Carolina.
But in our justice system, even that cop deserves his day in court. After all, we were reminded of that right when on Wednesday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty on 30 counts for his role in the Islamic terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon that resulted in four deaths.
Within hours of the release of the cell phone video of Walter Scott being shot dead in North Charleston, South Carolina, Sharpton announced that “It’s time for this country to have national policing,” adding “We can’t go from state to state, we’ve got to have national law to protect people against these continued questions.” Never mind that the cop in question was quickly charged with murder, fired from his job, and is being held in jail without bail. Once again, it appears that Sharpton draws the wrong lessons from such tragedies. No peace, no justice? Or is this what justice should look like? Sharpton announced yesterday that his organization, National Action Network, would stand with Scott’s family.
Jack Cashill, an outstanding journalist, recalls in his latest article just how those false narratives, including the deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, take hold. Cashill cites the case of Rolling Stone’s false, and now retracted, story of a gang-rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house. He makes the point that “all right thinking people were of one mind…on the shooting deaths of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, a collective misreporting far more consequential than that of the Rolling Stone rape story.”
The mainstream media often treat MSNBC’s Sharpton like royalty, promoting his left-wing agendas while carefully avoiding mention of his conflicts of interest and continuing corruption. The Washington Post recently published a piece that serves as an ideal example of such biased coverage.
The piece, “Sharpton to lead advocacy campaign in advance of 2016 election,” written by Wesley Lowery, acts as a press release for Sharpton’s National Action Network’s radical civil rights agenda. Lowery described this agenda as promoting Loretta Lynch’s nomination to replace Eric Holder as attorney general, and “opposing state-level religious objections bills, seen as discriminatory against gays and lesbians, and pressing Congress to advance reforms of the criminal justice system.”
Accuracy in Media has extensively outlined how the mainstream media have worked first to stoke racial tension in places like Ferguson, Missouri and then called for criminal justice reform throughout the country, with Sharpton as one of the more vocal media mouthpieces.
“Although he is a lightning rod despised by many police groups, especially the New York Police Department, Sharpton is vowing to take a more considerate line,” reported Lowery.
“We demonstrate that we are serious when we say, ‘Let’s take the name-calling down,’ and when we’re willing to hear from everybody as long as they are serious in substance,” said Sharpton, according to Lowery. “We don’t need a season more of screaming. We need some real policy.”
Sharpton has a show, “PoliticsNation,” on MSNBC on weeknights. According to accusations in a $20 billion racial discrimination lawsuit, and public comments by Byron Allen, a black TV executive, Sharpton has his show on MSNBC “Because he endorsed Comcast’s acquisition of NBCUniversal.” Could that have been a factor in NBC getting the first interview with the gentleman who took the video of the shooting in North Charleston?
Sharpton’s MSNBC show wasn’t even mentioned by Lowery. Neither was his failure to pay back taxes, nor allegations of pay for play, nor that Sharpton was found liable for defamation in the Tawana Brawley case. And with Sharpton’s latest call for “national policing,” once again, Sharpton isn’t getting the media scrutiny he deserves.
04/10/15
Democrat Thought Police Confirm: Using ‘LGBTQ+’ for Totalitarian Revolution
By: Arlen Williams
Gulag Bound
Question 1: What is the most egregious policy proposed by the Obama regime and their fellow Democrats?
Question 2: What is the worst of their many apparent scandals?
Answer to both: This, in my humble opinion:
Obama: Ban Parents from Having Children Counseled Not to be ‘LGBTQ+’
This is what totalitarian revolution looks like. The sexual revolution and specifically the militant homosexual political movement are long known tools of revolution by the Marxian method. Along with other malevolent stratagems of collectivists, whether communist, fascist, “progressive,” or under some other name, it is intended for breaking down Western Civilization while building the structural Marxism, all for “the fundamental transformation” to be done.
As Norman Dodd related decades ago, egalitarianism is just a deceitful ideological devise, albeit a massive one. The true goal is the evil of universal enslavement. The times change, but the motivations for the Tower of Babel and the serpent in the Garden of Eden stay the same. This grand, global opera must not be thought of as merely the power plays of men.
James Simpson, Cliff Kincaid, and Jerry Kenney discussed Marxian globalists’ use of sympathies for homosexuals last evening on Roku.tv. Their enlightening and succinct conversation should be available here this Saturday.
Meanwhile, back at the Gulag, Mr. Kincaid recently addressed the Homosexual device in his “The Real Power of the One Percent.”
The use of evil by principalities, powers, and even human beings reaches where it will, including The Vatican, as we see also addressed by Kincaid in “Catholic Church Captured by ‘Progressive Forces.’“
Whaddyaknow, does that not dovetail with this?
04/10/15
The Council Has Spoken!! This Weeks’ Watcher’s Council Results – 04/10/15
Happy 10th Birthday to our Comrades at The People’s Cube!!!
The Council has spoken, the votes have been cast and the results are in for this week’s Watcher’s Council match-up.
Yes, death to the Great Satan! – Ayatollah Khomeini leading crowds in anti-American chants just over a week ago.
Peace is purchased from strength. It’s not purchased from weakness or unilateral retreats. – Benyamin Netanyahu
If he being Young And Unskillful seeks to gamble for silver and gold, Take his money my son praising Allah! The fool was made to be sold! -Renowned Persian poet Hafiz, 14th century CE
I believe Herr Hitler is a man whose word can be relied on. – Neville Chamberlain, 1938
This week’s winning essay by a nose was Joshuapundit’s, Munich II, which examines President Obama’s so-called ‘framework’ of his nuclear agreement with Iran. As we now know, our president was not exactly being honest with the American people in that speech in the Rose Garden! So what’s the actual motivation behind his apparent desperation to achieve some kind of deal… something the Iranians are happily taking advantage of. Here’s a slice:
President Barack Hussein Obama announced yesterday that a deal – ooops, a ‘framework for a deal’ had been achieved with Iran on its illegal nuclear program.
Here’s what the president said the components of this unwritten, unsigned framework were.
First of all, he claimed that the reactor at Iran’s heavy water facility at Arak will be dismantled so the Iranians cannot produce plutonium, a second route to nuclear weapons.He also claimed that nuclear material from Arak would be shipped out of Iran, that Iran would not build a new heavy water reactor and that Iran will not reprocess fuel from its existing reactors ever.
Second, he claimed that the Iranians agreed that its centrifuges would be reduced by two thirds, and that Iran will not enrich uranium with its advanced centrifuges for at least the next 10 years. He also said that Iran would no longer enrich uranium at its top secret military facility at Fordow. and that there would be severe limits on Iran’s stockpiling of the materials needed to build a nuclear weapon.
He said there would be limits on Iran’s nuclear program, research and development for a decade and that Iran would never be allowed to build a nuclear weapon.
He also claimed that current sanctions would be gradually phased out in accordance with Iranian compliance, that Iran would face intense inspections and scrutiny, and that if if was found cheating, the UN would slap massive sanctions back on Iran.
There’s not a single statement in the above four paragraphs that’s true, and that comes from no less than Iran’s own Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who supposedly agreed to all this in the last minute negotiations at Lausanne:
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused the Obama administration of misleading the American people and Congress in a fact sheet it released following the culmination of negotiations with the Islamic Republic.
Zarif bragged in an earlier press conference with reporters that the United States had tentatively agreed to let it continue the enrichment of uranium, the key component in a nuclear bomb, as well as key nuclear research.
Zarif additionally said Iran would have all nuclear-related sanctions lifted once a final deal is signed and that the country would not be forced to shut down any of its currently operating nuclear installations. […]
Zarif, echoing previous comments, said the United States has promised an immediate termination of sanctions.
“Iran/5+1 Statement: ‘US will cease the application of ALL nuclear-related secondary economic and financial sanctions.’ Is this gradual?” he wrote on Twitter.
He then suggested a correction: “Iran/P5+1 Statement: ‘The EU will TERMINATE the implementation of ALL nuclear-related economic and financial sanctions’. How about this?”
On Thursday evening, Zarif told reporters the latest agreement allows Iran to keep operating its nuclear program.
“None of those measures” that will move to scale back Iran’s program “include closing any of our facilities,” Zarif said. “We will continue enriching; we will continue research and development.”
“Our heavy water reactor will be modernized and we will continue the Fordow facility,” Zarif said. “We will have centrifuges installed in Fordow, but not enriching.”The move to allow Iran to keep centrifuges at Fordow, a controversial onetime military site, has elicited concern that Tehran could ramp up its nuclear work with ease.
The scrutiny and inspections, of course, can be relied on to tell us everything we need to know about Iran’s nuclear program, right? Because the Iranians would never try to hide that sort of thing from us, and can be relied on not to cheat
As for the president’s threat of renewed sanctions, just like his promises on ObamaCare he is knowingly lying to the American people. It took two years to put together the sanctions regimen in the UN. Now that Obama has essentially dismantled it, it isn’t going to happen again, certainly not in time to be of any use. Russia will see to that.
And here perhaps is the most chilling statement Zarif made:
Zarif also revealed that Iran will be allowed to sell “enriched uranium” in the international market place and will be “hopefully making some money” from it.
Can you imagine whom a regime that is the major supporter of Islamist terrorism like Iran is likely to sell nuclear materials and know how to? Iran itself obtained quite a bit from Pakistan’s notorious AQ Khan when he was running what amounted to a cash and carry supermarket for this sort of merchandise. What Iran is obviously planning will make what Khan did look minor.
President Obama claims that this ‘framework’ agreement is a good deal. In reality, all it does is give Iran another three which gives Iran another three months to work on its nuclear weapons technology in exchange for…absolutely nothing specific. Instead of leading to reduced nuclear proliferation, it will increase it, since countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia are under no illusions as to what this means.
This goes beyond mere appeasement. President Obama and John Kerry are enabling a nuclear armed Iran.
All other things aside, this president and his team are allowing a murderous regime that has sworn to destroy Israel on numerous occasions the tools to attempt a second Holocaust. And there’s no question in my mind that this is deliberate.
The moron prog think tank response to this is that the Iranians are rational actors whom would never do this, because of the risk of retaliation by Israel. Let’s see what the founder of the regime, the Ayatollah Khomeini had to say about that:
“We do not worship Iran, we worship Allah. For patriotism is another name for paganism. I say let this land [Iran] burn. I say let this land go up in smoke, provided Islam emerges triumphant in the rest of the world.”
The Iranians have continued to promise to destroy Israel since 1978 when Khomeini took over. That goal has never changed.
Neither has their goal of destroying America.
Much more at the link.
In our non-Council category, we had a tie between Mark Steyn with Let Them Bake Cake submitted by The Noisy Room and Matt Continetti/Free Beacon with Benghazi, Bergdahl, and the Bomb submitted by The Watcher.
I loved both, but Steyn gets the nod this week.
Here are this week’s full results. Only Ask Marion and The Independent Sentinel were unable to vote this week, but were not subject to the 2/3 vote penalty for not voting:
Council Winners:
- *First place with 3 votes! – Joshuapundit – Munich II
- Second place with 2 1/3 votes – Bookworm Room – We’ve raised the “sheeple generation,” because today’s kids wouldn’t dream of questioning authority
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Razor – Iran Nuke Talks 2015
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – The Right Planet – The Clenched Fist—Revisiting Golitsyn’s Predictions
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Don Surber – What they are not saying about Angie’s List boycotting Indiana
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes – The Noisy Room – Russia – Heating Up The Cold War On The Road To World War III
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes – Nice Deb – Video: Obama Slams “Less than Loving” Christians As Christian Genocide Continues Throughout the World
- Fourth place *t* with 2/3 votes – VA Right! – VA-12 Senate Race: The ‘Stolle Follies’
- Fifth place with 1/3 vote – The Independent Sentinel – Terrorist Advocate, NYC Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito Moves Ahead With Illegal Immigration
Non-Council Winners:
- *First place with 2 1/3 votes! – Mark Steyn – Let Them Bake Cake submitted by The Noisy Room
- Second place with 1 2/3 votes – Matt Continetti/Free Beacon – Benghazi, Bergdahl, and the Bomb submitted by The Watcher
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Sultan Knish – The culture War We’re In submitted by The Independent Sentinel
- Third place *t* with 1 1/3 votes – Victor Davis Hanson – The Drought: California Apocalypto submitted by The Watcher
- Fourth place with 1 vote – Elliott Abrams – ‘Messing’ with Israel submitted by Joshuapundit
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Real Clear Defense – How Iran Would Go to War against America submitted by GrEaT sAtAn”S gIrLfRiEnD
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Jay Caruso/Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion – 5 Ways Rand Paul Will Shake Up the GOP Primary submitted by Don Surber
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Naomi Schaefer/New York Post – Facts matter: Left sticks to ‘narratives,’ evidence be damned submitted by Bookworm Room
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Daniel Pipes – Decoding The Obama Doctrine submitted by Nice Deb
- Fifth place *t* with 2/3 vote – Adam Silverman/Sic Semper Tyrannis – A Few Additional Thoughts on the Saudi/Gulf Cooperation Council Intervention in Yemen submitted by The Glittering Eye
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Politically Short – America’s 5th Column submitted by The Right Planet
- Sixth place *t* with 1/3 vote – Patterico’s Pontifications – Yes, Sally Kohn, Laws Are Coercive submitted by Rhymes with Right
See you next week!
Make sure to tune in every Monday for the Watcher’s Forum and every Tuesday morning, when we reveal the week’s nominees for Weasel of the Week!
And remember, every Wednesday, the Council has its weekly contest with the members nominating two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council. The votes are cast by the Council and the results are posted on Friday morning.
It’s a weekly magazine of some of the best stuff written in the blogosphere and you won’t want to miss it… or any of the other fantabulous Watcher’s Council content.
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04/10/15
Father Gabriel Naddaf’s Background & Vision (EN)
From: Father Gabriel Naddaf
Christian Empowerment Council
In light of Passover, the feast of freedom, Father Gabriel Naddaf shares his vision and ongoing efforts as the head of the CEC to integrate Israeli Christians within the Israeli society;
From his childhood in Nazareth, through the decision to have a career as a religious figure thus understanding the roots of Christianity as a branch of the Jewish faith; His advocacy for Christians in the Middle East, the State of Israel and denying the theory of ‘Israel the Apartheid State’ as ignorant and false.
We welcome you to view and share these messages by one of the leading figures in today’s Zionism.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk_aquSjBXk&feature=youtu.be
04/10/15
In Memoriam
Available at Amazon.com 
