Miss Kelly

Sickened Over Ft. Hood Shootings

I'm still sickened on many levels over the massacre at Ft. Hood post in Texas on November 5, 2009.  Where to start?

• Backstabber - Baldilocks uses the term "backstabber" for Nidal Malik Hasan,and writes: "...this incident takes us back to when another Muslim called Hasan turned on his fellow soldiers.  Recalling that, I began to wonder how often U.S. military have turned their weapons on those who trusted them most."


• Negligence
- I'm dumbfounded by the incredible negligence of the U.S. Army that kept and promoted Major Nidal Malik Hasan, given the many warning signs over years.  Read this NPR transcript, which discusses Hasan's statements at a Grand Rounds at Walter Reed hospital: "Hasan apparently gave a long lecture on the Koran and talked about how if you don't believe, you are condemned to hell. Your head is cut off. You're set on fire. Burning oil is burned down your throat." The staff was very concerned, another Muslim doctor objected to what Hasan said, and nobody does anything?  Hasan is later promoted to Major?  

• Treason - Jerry Pournells gets it exactly correct: it doesn't matter if Hasan was "a crazy guy who happens to be Muslim."  What matters is that political correctness in the military allowed this horrible massacre to happen.  Pournelle: "I will argue that political correctness led to the madness of having someone who does not believe in the legitimacy of the war in Iraq practice psychiatry by counseling some of the most severely traumatized in the Iraqi war: that the instant he began to show doubts about the legitimacy of the War and an unwillingness to be deployed to participate in it, he ought at the very least to have been stripped of his commission and suffer whatever other consequences of failing to fulfill his part of the contract under which the United States paid for both his undergraduate and his medical education in return for his service as a medical officer....the idea of Political Correctness has consequences we can't afford. Corruption of the Legions is one danger the Republic cannot endure....Why was his failure of loyalty to the armed forces not detected earlier? But of course he was a Muslim, and it would not be politically correct to wash someone out of an armed forces medical school for lack of loyalty to the armed forces of these United States." 
  
• "Devout" Muslims in the Military - It's past time to ask the hard questions about whether "devout" Muslims can serve in the U.S. military.  The record of treasonous "devout" Muslims in the military is growing: US Army Sargeant Hasan Karim Akbar murdered two officers and twelve soldiers at Camp Pennsylvania, Kuwait in March 2003: "Akbar threw hand grenades into a tent during early morning when the majority of troops were sleeping. He then fired his rifle into the ensuing chaos."  We had Muslim convert Hassan Abu-Jihad who provided classified information about his battleship's location and vunerability to Al-Quaeda financiers in London in 2000 and 2001. The Wall Street journal wote about this matter yesterday:

  "The push to boost Muslim representation has proven to be a double-edged sword for the military, which desperately needs the Muslim soldiers for their language skills and cultural knowledge, but also worries that a small percentage of those soldiers might harbor extremist ideologies or choose to turn their guns on their fellow soldiers."  Might harbor!?  Is it time to start profiling and questioning Muslims in the military?  I'm sure there are a few pointed questions one could ask about loyalty to one's country versus loyalty to other Muslims, opposition to fighting Muslims or fighting in Muslim countries.  People who subscribe to an Islamist ideology get booted out. Yes, the liars would get past you, but someone like Nidal Malik Hasan - who openly voiced his beliefs - would not. Muslims who are loyal soldiers (the majority) ought to be able to recognize the problem here and be willing to be questioned.  We face a unique problem here, in our military and in our society.  There simply is no other religious group who present this problem.  Enough senseless deaths already. If someone has a better idea, I'm all ears.

• "Tough Cookie" Herione - On the plus side,the hero from last Thursday is Kim Munley, the 120 pound 5'2" civilian police officer who shot and subdued Hasan, taking three gunshots herself in both legs and her wrist. Wow, what a wonderful, brave person. She saved many lives.

• Donations - You can find organizations who are supporting the victims and their families on the Ft. Hood webpage.   One group is the Chaplain's Fund Office, Bldg 44, 761st Tank Battalion Ave.
  Fort Hood, TX 76544-5000.  The American Red Cross, Fisher House and USO are also taking donations for the families.

• Finally, my religion requires that I pray for Nidal Malik Hasan. That's going to be a tough one, but  Christians are called to pray for our enemies. From First Things:

  "We should pray for the dead, pray for the wounded, pray for the victim’s families . . . and pray for Nidal Malik Hasan."

  "Although he swore an oath to protect his homeland against all enemies—foreign and domestic—Hasan became a traitor to his country and a murderous enemy to his fellow soldiers. His actions make him an enemy of the state and an enemy of his fellow citizens. He is our enemy now. As such the duty of those who call ourselves Christian is crystal clear: We must love and pray for Hasan."

You Never Know When Someone May Have a Complete Change of Heart

One of my mother's sayings is that you never know when someone may have a change of heart, so you never give up on a person.  You never know when God's grace may hit you and change your life.  

"The director of the Texas Planned Parenthood abortion mill where the 40 Days for Life campaign began has resigned, saying she experienced a conversion after watching an ultrasound video of a child being killed by abortion."

" 'I just thought I can't do this anymore, and it was just like a flash that hit me and I thought that's it,' said Abby Johnson in an interview with local news network KBTX 3."

"Johnson had been affiliated with Bryan's Planned Parenthood facility for eight years, and worked as its director for two. She said she began to feel uncomfortable with Planned Parenthood's business philosophy after the organization, suffering from the economic downturn, told her to try to bring more abortions in the door. 'The money wasn't in family planning, the money wasn't in prevention, the money was in abortion and so I had a problem with that,' said Johnson."

"But the turning point for Johnson was reportedly when she witnessed an actual ultrasound image of an abortion being performed on an unborn child."

Full story with Youtube video here.  As noted at Jonathan Turley's legal blog:

"Abortion opponents have often litigated and legislated to try to force prospective mothers to watch ultrasound images before having an abortion. This case is likely to reinforce such efforts."

Planned Parenthood responded by filing a restraining order to prevent Abby Johnson from disclosing information about their activities. 

 

 

Why Does an Atheist Need a Chaplain??

Only at Harvard!  The Boston Globe has an article about a new ad campaign on the T:

"A group called the Boston Area Coalition of Reason has spent $11,000 to buy ads on more than 200 subway cars on the Red Line and Green Line to raise awareness about people who believe that God is a myth."

"...It plans ads for another 10 cities, which will coincide with the publication of a book titled “Good Without God,’’ by Greg Epstein, a member of the coalition’s board who is the humanist chaplain at Harvard.

What's amusing to me is how religious these athesists and "humanists" can be!  Harvard has a chaplain for their humanists.  Why do you need a chaplain, exactly, if you're rejecting religion?  They seem to be awfully bent on spreading their non-belief, these atheists and humanists.  Downright evangelical, I'd say! 

I'm sorry, it seems silly to me.  As G.K. Chesteron said: "If there were no God, there would be no atheists."

 

Mehanna Hearing Postponed Til 11-12-09

A court hearing for Tarek Mehanna scheduled for today at the Moakley Federal Courthouse, 1 Courthouse Way, Boston, MA has been postponed, at the request of his defense attorney.  The hearing has been postponed until November 12.

The "Free Tarek" movement is well underway, including a Free Tarek website and Facebook page.  Victim of injustice, witch hunt against a Muslim, he was a pillar of the community, "tomorrow it may well be you, your family or a close one", blah blah blah.

The local Muslim American Society has been rather quiet on this case, compared to their exuberant support for earlier cases such as the Muhammed Masood, with rallies at Government Center and fund raisers.  The support is much more low-key for Mehanna, they issued a press release and sent out an e-mail alert about the hearing.  Could it be that there will be a good many MAS links as this case unfolds?

Great Music Coming Up! Stabat Mater Dolorosa / Concert for St. Nicolas

Two xcellent musical performance coming up:

The St. Maragret's Adult Choir presents a free concert at St. Margaret's Church, 374 Stevens Street, Lowell, MA, on Sunday, Nov.1 at 3:30 PM.  The work will be the Stabat Mater Dolorosa, a sacred cantata for orchestra, chorus and soloists by Antonin Dvorak.  A voluntary goodwill donation will be accepted.  St. Margaret's choir is really outstanding, this should be wonderful! 

And the following Sunday, November 8, at Sanders Theatre from 3-5 PM:

You'd better watch out: A concert for St. Nicholas is coming to town:
JOHN TAVENER
Apolytikion for Saint Nicholas (1987)
IVAN MOODY
Hymn to Saint Nicholas (2009) - North American premiere
BRITTEN
Saint Nicolas, Op. 42


Britten’s dramatic cantata from 1948 is full of wonder. It even directly involves the participation of the audience! As Nicholas is considered the patron saint of children, this performance is made more meaningful when the talented young singers from the Treble Chorus of New England join the Chorale on stage.

Can't Watch This Video Enough

Everything about this video is utterly charming and sweet and funny: the babies who laugh and suck their thumbs at the same time, the way all the babies are piled all around Mom, how beautiful and happy the mother is, that she discretely reaches over to cover her bra (modesty!), the way the parents obviously enjoy their babies so much.....

"Masood Played a Key Role in Shaping Abou Samra's turn..."

From the Patriot Ledger, where reporter Lane Lambert digs into the background of co-conspirator Ahmed Abousamra (in the Tarek Mehanna case) and his association with former Sharon imam Muhammed Masood:

"SHARON — Back around 1995, before the FBI says his interests turned to terrorist training, 14-year-old Ahmad Abou Samra cut a fairly conventional adolescent figure around the Islamic Center of New England’s Sharon mosque."

"An honor student at Xaverian Brothers, a Catholic high school in Westwood, and the son of a leading Islamic Center board member, 'he seemed like a regular kid,' a longtime mosque member recalled.' "

"That seems to have changed by the time he graduated in 1999 from Stoughton High, where he switched for his senior year."

"Within a year, according to government documents, he was talking about jihad. Not long after, he allegedly praised those behind the Sept. 11 attacks."

"Today, Abou Samra is a wanted man. While he has yet to be charged, federal authorities this week named him a co-conspirator with Tarek Mehanna, the Sudbury man accused of plotting to attack shopping malls and target U.S. politicians, and charged with conspiring to provide support for terrorists."

And from whence, pray tell, did the jihadist adulation apparently come from?

"Ahmad Abou Samra and Mehanna were either in middle school or high school when they met at the Sharon mosque, which opened in 1993, when Abou Samra was 13 and Mehanna was 12. They had no connections when the Islamic Center’s mosque was in Quincy. Abou Samra grew up in Stoughton, where he was an honor roll student, as he was in high school. He was later a dean’s list student at Northeastern University."

"Longtime mosque members – who didn’t want to be identified – aren’t sure how well Abou Samra and Mehanna knew each other back then. One said former Sharon Imam Muhammad Masood played a key role in shaping Abou Samra’s turn to conservative Muslim practices."

Read the whole thing, there are more details on Abousamra's father, Dr. Abdul Abousamra, formerly a big kahuna with the Boston Muslim American Society and several other Islamic schools and organizations.

"Dr. Abou Samra was a member of the Islamic Center board of directors when Imam Masood was hired. (He left Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as his home south of Boston, in early 2007.)" (Ed note: he's relocated to Dearborn MI. More on Dr. Abousamra here.).

"By the time his son graduated from Stoughton High, the Syrian native was the board’s president and 'the linchpin of everything' that happened at the mosque, one member said – from the creation of an Islamic school to supervision of Imam Masood’s visa application as a religious worker."

"Imam Masood was picked up on immigration violations in November 2006. In January 2007 an attorney for the Islamic Center board confirmed that some former board members had been called to testify before a grand jury in connection with the imam’s violations."

"Criminal charges were filed against Imam Masood in August 2007, but he was never accused of having extremist ties. The Pakistan native pleaded guilty to visa fraud in October 2008 and returned to his home country, where he now lives."

There's a powerful ideology at work here, and until we call it out, we can't counteract and fight it.

I'm still waiting to hear how the MAS is going to root radicals and radical teachings from their midst.  Are they going to dissolve the organization?  

What Made Bilal Kaleem Change His Mind?

Here's what Bilal Kaleem, Executive Director of the Boston branch of the Muslim American Society (MAS) had to say about the Tarek Mehanna case on Friday, October 23, as reported in the MetroWest Daily News:

"Bilal Kaleem considers the terrorism-related charges facing Tarek Mehanna and is troubled for many reasons. Muslims are already feeling a backlash from the Sudbury man's arrest, says Kaleem, executive director of the Muslim American Society of Boston."

"In the wake of Mehanna's arrest, members of various congregations find themselves surrounded by media and placed under pressure and scrutiny, he says..... ' The media has to take on a harder task,'he said. 'We have to analyze it in more subtle and mature ways.' "

"He suggested the media should delve into whether Mehanna's case was another instance of a disaffected kid from the suburbs."

Pretty outrageous, Mr. Kaleem.  Most alienated suburban kids don't travel to Yemen looking to join terrorist training camps, no matter how much angst they're feeling.   What a nonsensical and frankly mendacious reaction to the Mehanna case.   We're not talking about Catcher in the Rye here, Bilal. 

But what a difference a day makes, twenty four little hours.  Yesterday, Kaleem was singing a different tune, per this Boston Herald article:

"Bay State Muslims should help 'root out' any radicals in their midst, a Massachusetts Islamic leader urged yesterday.

“ 'We call on Muslim leaders and organizations to root out any radical teachings they may find in Muslim communities,' said M. Bilal Kaleem, executive director of the Massachusetts Chapter Muslim American Society."

That's rich coming from MAS!  I don't share the enthusiasm of some of the commenters, who are pleased that a Muslim leader is finally calling for routing out radicalism in their midst.  It's about ten years too late. And it's no doubt a response to negative reaction to his "disaffected suburban youth" comment.  MAS is trying to cover their ass.  They're the very organization that controls the mosques and schools where Islamic fundamentalism is taught.  They're the very organization that brought people like Salah Soltan, Mahdi Bray and Siraj Wahaj to Boston.  MAS is going to rout out radicalism?? This I gotta see!

" 'If anybody senses imminent danger, they should alert the proper authorities,”'said Kaleem, when asked if Muslims should call the cops on hate groups."

This from the MAS which routinely advises Muslims not to talk to the FBI or police, but to call a lawyer first.   I eagerly await the next announcement from MAS about how they'll identify and rout out "radical teachings."  

P.S. Check out Rusty Shackleford's article at Pajames Media, Boston Terror Suspect: Just Another 'Typical American Kid' with Terror Aspirations.  It's an interesting look at the apparently comparmentalized life that Tarek Mehanna was living.  His friends express shock at his arrest, describing  Tarek as shy, polite and helpful.  But Rusty was well acquainted with the online Tarek, aka Abu Sayaba. Excerpts:

"But in Mehanna’s case there were warning signs. If his friends’ shock is real, then Tarek Mehanna was living a compartmentalized and double life. For the Tarek Mehanna I knew online was not the 'moderate' that his apologists portray him as. He was a fanatical Islamist, devoted to the same ideas as al-Qaeda. He spent countless hours translating Arabic texts into English in order to inspire others to become violent jihadists."

"Mehanna went by the handle 'Abu Sayaba' online.  In addition to frequently commenting at radical forums and online discussion groups, 'Abu Sayaba' also ran his own blog.  His Iskandari blog posted translations of Arabic texts. Typical of the writings he posted were calls for the establishment of an Islamic state and Islamic law. He also encouraged violent jihad as a means of attaining these two goals."

"Tarek Mehanna may seem to have been an unlikely terrorist candidate to some, but given his online support for violent jihad revealed through his 'Abu Sayaba”'persona, should it really come as a surprise that he would aspire to become a violent jihadist himself?"

"....The signs of terrorism are there, but you will not necessarily find them by searching for outwardly antisocial behavior. The common denominator to most would-be terrorists is a devotion to the jihad ideology. And ideologies are hard to detect."

Americans for Peace and Tolerance Fact Sheet on Abousamra

Americans for Peace and Tolerance, a Boston-based interfaith group, has pulled together a fact sheet on Dr. Abdul Abousamra, the father of a co-conspirator Ahmed Abousamra named in the Tarek Mehanna complaint.  Here's the fact sheet reprinted in full:

Man accused in Boston terror plot is son of former Muslim American Society leader

Father moves out of town weeks after son questioned by the FBI

Media reports on the Boston terror arrest have named three individuals as conspirators in the plot to machine gun people in shopping malls and kill American officials.Two, Daniel Maldonado and Tareq Mehanna, are in custody. The third, however, Ahmad Abousamra, escaped to Syria after being questioned by the FBI in 2006.

• According to the complaint, it was Abousamra who introduced Maldonado and Mehanna to each other during an afternoon of watching “jihad videos” in which Islamic terrorists killed and mutilated American soldiers.

• Abousamra seems to be the most extremist of the three, as well as the one most educated in radical Islamist ideology. According to the criminal complaint:

“Abousamra expressed his belief that suicide bombings were permissible. … Abousamra found justification for his position in the religious writings of Muslim extremists.  Abousamra justified attacks on civilians, such as the September 11, 2001 attacks. Abousamra stated that civilians were not innocent because they paid taxes to support the government and because they were Kufar (non-believers). … Abousamra always justified their extremist views by citing Islamic teachings.”

Mehanna Timeline / Boston Globe Notices Abousamra

Two things:

1) The Christian Science Monitor has a good timeline on the Tarek Mehanna case. It's a bit difficult to follow that in the DOJ complaint and FBI affidavit, as they go switch back and forth in time. 

2) The Boston Globe has an interesting article today about Tarek's friend Ahmed Abousamra: "Details Emerge on Plot Suspects."  So Tarek and Ahmed met at the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon, where Dr. Abousamra was president and/or on the Board of Directors for several years.  Where Muhammed Masood (brother of Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed of Pakistan) was imam, until Masood was "voluntarily" deported in October 2008 for lying to federal agents and visa violations.  It's a small world, a mighty small world. 

The Globe article overlooks the other associations that Dr. Abousamra had locally, including as director with the Muslim American Society, although that's no longer on the MAS website.  Dr. Abousamra was on the Board of Trustees of Al Noor Academy, an Islamic School in Mansfield, MA, with other MAS directors (ISB's Basyouny Nehela, ICNE's Ghazwan Ghazi).  He's also on the School Board of the Islamic Academy of New England (located on ICNE property) in Sharon MA.  A busy man!  You've got to hand it to those guys, they've planned their work, and they're working their plan.

Reading Between the Lines - FBI Affadavit on Tarek Mehenna

Local media coverage of Tarek Mehanna, the Sudbury, MA "wannabe" terrorist,was extensive yesterday, covered on radio, TV and news websites, but it was rather limited in scope.  The media stories focused on how shocked, shocked people were that an educated, affluent young Muslim was accused of planning to commit terrorist activities.  And especially Tarek Mehanna, that gentle soul, his neighors and classmates couldn't believe that he wanted to wage jihad and kill kufirs (non-believers).  The other angle frequently reported was that Tarek was an incompetent wannabe terrorist: he couldn't get his hands on good weapons,  he was turned away by terrorist groups, he was a "tinhorn terrorist."  The unspoken conclusion for many folks was that Mehanna probably never would have committed such a terrorist act.  People wouldn't be so smug though, if Tarek and co-conspirator Ahmed Abousamra had pulled off a Mumbai-type attack.  From the DOJ press release:

"Acting U.S. Attorney Michael K. Loucks and Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI - Boston Field Division, announced today that Tarek Mehanna, 27, of 6 Fairhaven Circle, Sudbury, Mass., was charged in a complaint with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists."

".... It is alleged that, among other things, that would prepare them for armed jihad against U.S. interests, including U.S.Mehanna and two of his associates traveled to the Middle East in February 2004, seeking military-type training at a terrorist training camp that would prepare them for armed jihad against U.S. interests, including U.S. and and allied forces in Iraq. The complaint also alleges that one of Mehanna's coconspirators made two similar trips to Pakistan in 2002."

"According to the complaint affidavit, Mehanna and the coconspirators had multiple conversations about obtaining automatic weapons and randomly shooting people in a shopping mall, and that the conversations went so far as to discuss the logistics of a mall attack, including coordination, weapons needed and the possibility of attacking emergency responders."

There is much more that the media could be looking at in this case.  I'll start with reviewing FBI Special Agent Heidi L. Williams affadavit, and pulling out the elements that caught my eye:

• There's more info on this case than what the DOJ and FBI have revealed so far. The affidavit states that "it does not, however, include all the information known to me with respect to this investigation, but only that information which is necessary to establish the requisite probable cause." We'll have to wait for a trial to get more of the scoop.

• The affidavit supports the criminal complaint against Tarek Mehanna with conspiring with AHMED ABOUSAMRA ("ABOUSAMRA") and others to provide material support to terrorists. There's lots of background on Mehanna. I've not heard or read one single news story that tells us who Ahmed Abousamra is, not a one. Ahmed skipped the country in December 2006 after he was interviewed by the FBI, reportedly fleeing to Syria. Ahmed is the eldest son of Dr. Abdul Abousamra, an endocrinologist who was a Big Kahuna in the local Muslim community, now unfortunately so dominated by the Muslim American Society (MAS)/Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Abousamra was the president of the Islamic Academy of New England and he hired Muhammed Masood at the IANE school (more on Masood here! ). The good doctor was also a MAS director , a "Free Imam" offerred to local Boston colleges, and on the Board of Directors of the Islamic Center of New England (ICNE) in Sharon, MA. We will come back to Abousamra in another blogpost, but isn't it worth looking at the background of the co-conspirator as well as Mehanna's background? Isn't it remarkable that the son of one of the leading Muslim "leaders" has been throroughly radicalized, and the father didn't notice? Like I said, more to come on Abousamra. The Dr. recently moved to Dearborn, MI, I'm told.

Feds Arrest Tarek Mehanna of Sudbury

I haven't got much time right now to discuss this development, but wanted folks to know about this:

"A 27-year-old Sudbury man allegedly plotted to launch terrorist attacks on shopping malls in which he and his fellow conspirators would mow down civilians with automatic weapons, federal authorities said today as they announced his arrest."

"Desiring to take 'some kind of action in furtherance of jihad,' Tarek Mehanna and his co-conspirators allegedly had multiple conversations about obtaining weapons and randomly shooting people in malls, including discussions of the logistics of the mall attacks, assaulting from different entrances, and attacking emergency responders, acting US Attorney Michael Loucks said this morning."

Gives you something to think about next time you're browsing the shops at the mall.  Pay attention to your surroundings!  The story in the Boston Globe is here,  the search warrant filed by FBI Special Agent Heidi L. Williams is here, and the DOJ press release is here. 

Mehanna was arrested in November 2008 and indicted in January 2009 for making false statements to federal agents about the whereabouts of Daniel Maldonado, a former Methuen MA resident and Muslim convert who was suspected of training at al Al Quaeda terrorist camp.  

Do read the arrest warrant, all 61 pages.  Lots of interesting details.  More on this case later. And more on Ahmad Abousamra, Tarek's co-consprirator.

Fax the Senators Today: KILL THE BILL

Quick and easy way to fax the 31 senators who could vote one way or the other on the Senate health care bill. The group Citizens in Action makes it really easy, just follow these steps:

1.  Go to  http://ciafax.ning.com/

2.  A fax has already been prepared although you can elect to write your own.

3.   Fill out all of the information under Step 1.

4.   Select the Responsible Healthcare Fax.

5.   After you send the fax, locate the DONATE button in the lower left hand quadrant of the page.  Please either pay with PayPal or send a check to the address listed.

Here's what I wrote:

September 11th - Make Your Own Moment of Silence

Definitely not as much attention being paid to September 11th in 2009 as in years past. Even in my workplace, this is the first year there is no short memorial service is being held.  So let's hold our own memorial services where ever we are, and pray silently for the 3,000 lives lost, their devastated families, the hundreds of dead firefighters and policemen who rushed into burning skyscrapers and sacrificed their lives to save others, and the tens of thousands of men and women in uniform who are fighting to keep us safe today.   A media compilation of that horrible day (hat tip to the Vicious Babushka):

I'd also say a prayer of thanks to President Bush, who prevented another attack on our country during his time in office.   (Unlike Spain, Indonesia, England, Pakistan, to name just a few places that have suffered terrorist bombings in the intervening years).  I'd also pray for President Obama that he do what it takes to match Bush's success in preventing a terrorist attack on our soil.

Finally, a prayer for the parents, family and friends of Chris Michael Kirby. His smiles, laughter and jokes are surely greatly missed by them. I first found about about Chris in 2006 when I participated in the 911 Remember project.   Chris, nicknamed Happy, would have been 29 this year.  The death of someone so young (only 21 when he was killed) goes against nature.  The pain of a young person's death doesn't seem to lessen much with time, if anything the loss seems even greater as time passes.  Resquiat en pace, Chris.

"It's Not a Trojan Horse.....It's Right There!" ObamaCare

Never heard of Yale University professor Jacob Hacker before, but he's apparently the master mind behind Obamacare. I saw this at National Review Online.

Ruh roh!! Is this the sort of thing that should be reported to the Drop-a-Dime White House??

"There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care.  These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation.  Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov."

Unbelievable!  It's been pointed out here and here that this seems to be an illegal activity on the part of the White House.  It's kind of nice to have such a clear enemy here. 

Meanwhile, here's just a few tidbits in the 1,000 plus page bill that should make you nervous:

• Page 22: Mandates audits of  all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care  will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what  treatments and benefits
you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no  appeals process)

Get Ready to Lobby Your Senators Against Carbon Tax Bill

Sadly, the House narrowly passed the carbon tax/cap-and-trade bill today, 219-212.  Jill at Business of Life has a good wrap-up of the issues around the Economic Suicide Act here.  And The Club for Growth has a great list here, Fifteen Reasons to Oppose the Climate Bill. 

Honestly, Obama and Congress seem intent on further wrecking the economy, don't they?  Please burn the phone lines to your senators.  Write, e-mail, call. 

NECN Coverage of Roxbury Mosque Ceremony

Pretty decent coverage of the continuing controversy of the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) Roxbury mosque on NECN this evening (sorry, you have to sit through the ad....). 

The ISB (actually the Muslim American Society of Boston) held their opening ceremony today, and there was a well-mannered group of protestors across the street bearing signs that read "Prayer Yes! Extremism No!"  Sweet!  It's not the mosque anyone is against, it's the leadership with its demonstrated ties to radicalism.  The building is handsome, I'm sure local Muslims are thrilled to have this center.  But all the controversy about the leadership of the ISB/MAS that has plagued this project from the beginning is still with us. 

Let's not forget who we're dealing with here. To refresh your memory on the legal jihad waged by the ISB, please read The Silencing by Solomonia.  To refresh your memory on the improper (if not illegal, given the conflict of interest issue) real estate transaction between the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) and the ISB, please read Menino's Mosque by David Bernstein of the Boston Phoenix. 

Press Conference Thursday - Extremist Leadership at Roxbury Mosque

UPDATE:  You can see a video of the press conferencehere.

This sounds extremely interesting.....I hope our local media and politicians pay attention to who's in charge at the Islamic Society of Boston.  This deserves attention, scrutiny and action from our leaders. From Americans for Peace and Tolerance:

WHAT: Press Conference to Caution about Extremist Leadership of the Boston Islamic Center.

WHEN: Thursday, June 25^th, 10:30 AM

WHERE: Sheraton Crowne Plaza Hotel, Newton, 320 Washington Street, Newton MA 02158

One Reason Why Distributing Condoms in Africa Won't Reduce AIDS

Because in ZImbabwe (and other African countries, no doubt), many men believe that having sex with a virgin can cure AIDS. 

"Like many young girls in Zimbabwe, Hope was the victim of a widely held belief that if a man with HIV or AIDS rapes a virgin he will be cured of his disease. This so-called virgin myth, perpetuated by Zimbabwe's traditional healers, has led to the rape of hundreds of girls, according to UNICEF. Some of those victims are too young to walk, much less protect themselves."

Condoms really won't help here, will they? 

Betty Mokani, who was raped as a 14-year old by her uncle, started an organization called Girl Child Network Worldwide, to provide a haven for the tens of thousands of girls who are abused in this way.  

 

I Spy with My Little Eye - Masood in Saudi Arabia

According to a reader, Muhammed Masosod, former imam of the Islamic Center of New England in Sharon, has been trying to find work in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia.  Masood is reportedly in KSA right now with his brother Hafiz Hamid, the former imam at the Islamic Center of Greater Worcester.  Masood was reportedly in Malaysia for the past two months seeking a job there so he can for bring his family there, but had no luck in finding a job.  The family is still in Sharon, and my reader writes that the family wants to leave the U.S. but they dont want to settle in Pakistan.  That's understandable. 

Life was good in Sharon and Worcester for Hafiz Saeed's brothers, but things are tough now.

Will try to find out when the Masood family deportation hearings continue.