With have previously discussed calls for Islamic extremists to destroy or cover up the Pyramids as an offense to Allah. Now, islamic leader Murgan Salem al-Gohary has called for the destruction of the iconic structures as well as the Sphinx — citing the Taliban as a model for such destruction when they destroyed the famous giant Buddhas of Bamiyan to the disgust and anger of the world community. Murgan Salem al-Gohary is clearly an extremist and not someone that most Egyptians or Muslims would follow. However a far more worrisome development is the huge demonstration in Egypt a few days ago calling for the country to impose Sharia law on its citizens.
Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, is back in the news. Jeffress once made headlines in denouncing Mormonism as a cult — he supported Rick Perry. Now, the magachurch pastor has warned his flock that the election of Barack Obama will lead to the rise of the Antichrist. He was careful however not to be too extreme. He noted that he did not believe Obama was the antiChrist because “the Antichrist is going to have much higher poll numbers when he comes.”
Continue reading “Texas Pastor Warns Obama Election Has Opened Path For The Rise Of The AntiChrist”
Word on “the street” is not good for Kevin Clash, the voice of Elmo. Clash was arrested is facing charges for allegedly having a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy. Clash insists that the accused, now 23, was 18 when they started having an intimate relationship. Truth be known, I always thought it would be tightly wound Bert who ended up in the slammer. Notably, it was the Show that appears to have reported Clash.[UPDATE: The accuser, who remains nameless, has recanted his allegations].
Below is my column today in USA Today on some of the state referendum votes last week. While the presidential election was understandably the focus of media commentary, state referendum votes held some surprises. At a time when a majority of citizens view our political system as dysfunctional and unresponsive, these referendums show that citizens can still take direct action in seeking change. Here is the column:
Continue reading “Will We Tolerate Democracy?”
We have another outrage involving cultural and religious prejudices against rape victims. In Indonesia, a 14-year-old girl was expelled as “tarnished” after she was raped.
Continue reading “Rape Victim in Indonesia Expelled For “Tarnishing” School Image”
We often discuss the work of Jeremy Bentham in torts as one of the leading figures in the utilitarian movement — the scholar who coined the phrase “the greatest good for the greatest number.” Many students, however, remember him primarily for his preservation in a wooden cabinet called his auto-icon from which he would be removed annually to preside over meetings of his society of friends and even given a glass of sherry. The University College of London removed Jeremy last week to give him, or at least his auto-icon, an extreme makeover. The good guy looked pretty good for a 160 year old mummy.
Brooklyn Assistant District Attorney Michael Jaccarino, 30, was arrested this weekend after he allegedly attacked a female EMT worker who was responding to a call of an intoxicated man on the Brooklyn Bridge around 1 a.m. He’s charged with assault, criminal obstruction of breathing, menacing and harassment
Continue reading “Brooklyn Prosecutor Charged With Attacking and Choking EMT Worker In Drunken Rage”
Last week, New Jersey charged eight businesses with gouging customers with exorbitant prices after Hurricane Sandy — seven gas stations and a hotel. What struck me as curious was the relatively low increases that were the basis for the change, including an eleven percent increase.
Continue reading “New Jersey Charges Seven Gas Stations and a Hotel With Gouging”
A Denver family has a notable complaint about their mail service. The Porch family alleges that a carrier delivered mail to their house and walked by the body of Dale Porch, 46, who collapsed on his porch after working “the graveyard shift” at his job. The carrier reportedly said and did nothing.
Continue reading “Postal Worker Accused Of Stepping Around Dying Man In Denver In Delivering Mail”
There is a bizarre case out of China were a man, Jian Feng, was awarded $120,000 (£75,000) in a court settlement after alleging that his wife did not reveal that she had had cosmetic surgery — a fact that he said he discovered when she had an ‘incredibly ugly’ child.
By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Still reeling from the unprecedented hits of last week’s national election, Tea Partiers have become particularly irrational. In Lebanon Ohio, local tea party officials called for a “counter-revolution” even as they mourned the death of America. Texas Republican official, Peter Morrison, has publicly asked for an “amicable divorce” of godfearin’ GOP’ers from the “maggots” (his words) who voted for Obama. Morrison, who also has a job screening textbooks for the great state of Texas, is particularly incensed at Asian-Americans and Hispanics who voted for Obama, accusing them of voting on an “ethnic basis.” Perhaps the greatest case of kettle blacking in recent memory.
by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
“If any man is able to convince me and show me that I do not think or act right, I will gladly change; for I seek the truth by which no man was ever injured. But he is injured who abides in his error and ignorance.” – Marcus Aurelius, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, VI, 21.
Anyone who has read my work here or known me for any length of time has heard me use this quote before. It is more than just a pithy quote from one of the great Stoic minds of antiquity, it is a summation of one of my personal ethics. Earlier this week, Professor Turley posted an item about former President Bill Clinton entitled “Clinton: We Don’t Need A President Who Will Not Tell You The Truth“. The gist of the article was that a President who lied under oath as Clinton did most certainly didn’t need to be critical of other politicians lying as it was simple hypocrisy even if the point former President Clinton made was valid. This brings us to a prime and necessary component of the propaganda scenario, the liar. Lying is a commonality in our species. Everyone lies about something some time. “No, that dress doesn’t make you look fat, honey.” “I was ambushed by baboons on the way to work this morning.” “I can’t go out tonight because I have to stay home and wax my dog.” Or the classic . . .
These are not the lies that are of primary importance in propaganda. White lies, while not necessarily ethically the best thing in the world, are a social lubricant that helps keep society cohesive. If everyone told the truth about everything all the time, the homicide and suicide rates would probably sky-rocket. We are going to focus on the truly bad actors. The liars in propaganda who are looking to get you to do something they want that is usually not in your best interests and/or harmful to others. Since many dangerous liars are sociopaths or psychopaths, the question becomes how do you spot a liar, a sociopath or a psychopath? First we start with how to spot a generic liar before considering how to spot socio- and psychopaths at a later date.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger
I was struck by a news story earlier this week, not only because of its importance, but because of how little air time it received in the mass media. Earlier this week, the victims of the 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona had a chance to speak to the man responsible for those hideous acts. One statement was especially powerful and it was from the husband of Gabby Giffords, now a former Congresswoman from Arizona. I apologize for the length of the following quotations, but I think it is important to read most of what Gabby’s husband said to Mr. Jared Loughner, who perpetrated the crime. Continue reading “Guns and the Collateral Damage That They Do”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
Normally, when I work on a guest blog it takes me some hours of research and writing since I type slowly and try to be as accurate as I can be. This one will be a little different because it is written mainly to refer you to the transcript and/or podcast of a fantastic interview with the investigative journalists Donald L.Bartlett and James B. Steele. The interview was conducted by Rob Kall, whose OpEdNews website http://www.opednews.com/ is one that I look to for interesting insight into the political issues of the day. The interview deals with these authors’s current book which is called: The Betrayal of the American Dream”.
Rob Kall’s interview with the author’s is lengthy and so rather than my usual effort to provide a synopsis and relevant quotes of a position that I endorse, I’m going to give you a hint of what this interview contains and the provide you the links so that you can make your decision on the author’s thesis and hopefully be informed on some very important issues for all of us. Readers here know I supported President Obama for re-election, but have been critical of many of his policies. This interview and the book that it is about, demonstrate that the forces at play in the rapid decline of the American Middle Class seem beyond the power of our government to control, simply because they are backed by an elite that not only finances election campaigns, but that has also dominated the discussion with so much false propaganda, that today’s politicians who were born later than 1960 are not even familiar with the reality of how much our economic landscape has changed. Because of this unfamiliarity many don’t even have the conceptualization that things used to be different and why they’ve changed so drastically. In that sense this is less about conspiracy and more about the effect poor education, corporate media and propaganda can accomplish. When I say that the problem is beyond government’s power to fix, it is with the caveat that if the issues presented here were first understood, then maybe we could combat them. In some sense we are all blind men, hypothesizing the nature of an elephant by touching different parts. This interview and the book it is about can miraculously cure the blindness and start the discussion on how we can deal with this 3,000 pound elephant in the room we call America.
I will mention two, among many, of the major factors in the decline of the American Middle Class laid out by the authors. The first is that until the 1970’s our Income Tax was really graduated to the point that government had ample revenue to do its job. The second is that one of the major revenue sources for the Federal Government was tariffs. It was the dismantling of the graduated Income Tax and the proliferation of trade agreements reducing tariffs (and tariff revenue) that have been major pieces in the shipping of jobs overseas, increasing our national debt and destroying what was the greatest industrial economy in the World. For me, a child born to politically aware parents, before the end of World War II, I’ve lived through this history and watched in dismay as these changes took effect. Most Americans though, except for those most prescient, have no idea of what was done, simply because these changes took effect before they were born, or in their early youth. This election past and the polling of attitudes that went with it, show that the majority of Americans perceive that they are being cheated, but often their perception of how, has been skewed by the disinformation that is rampant to the extent that they blame it on the wrong source. If you read either the transcript of this article: “The Selling Out of the Middle Class is No Accident” at this link: http://www.opednews.com/articles/1/The-Selling-Out-of-the-Mid-by-Rob-Kall-121017-79.html or listen to the interview at this podcast: http://www.opednews.com/Podcast/Applying-Investigative-Jou-by-Rob-Kall-120915-680.html
I deeply believe that it will be time well spent.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
If Indianapolis Colts interim head coach Bruce Arians has his way only “high quality” people will be part of the Colts’ organization. What determines a “high quality” person in Arians’ mind? A person who “cares about faith, family and football.” No atheists are welcome.
Arians’ blatant bigotry against the 15% of Americans who reject faith may pay big dividends on the football field. The correlation between great performance on the field and belief in God is evidenced with Tim Tebow. When Tebow wins, millions of believers attribute the win to Tebow’s faith and their belief in God is reinforced.