Clipmarks | merrie's Comments

Oregon Principal Bans Pledge of Allegiance to Avoid Offending Muslims...

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:16:55 GMT

clipped by: Smoke TNT

CBS) Most children growing up in the US memorize the Pledge of Allegiance. But, in one Oregon elementary school, the kids won't be allowed to recite it at an end of the year assembly.

The principal banned it that day so as not to offend Muslims.

One resident of Portland, Oregon was a little surprised when she received an e-mail from her stepson's school principal.

The e-mail said that the children would not be reciting the pledge because of its reference to God.

Instead, the students would memorize and sing the Preamble to the United States Constitution.

But it's not just non-Muslims who were offended.

At least one Muslim community leader says he feels the same way. Muhammad Najieb says that 'God'
is central to the Muslim faith, and there are several references to him in
every prayer.

Portland school officials say the principal was trying to be sensitive, but some Muslims say the ban caused hurt feelings, and may foster bitterness and division within the community.

Tags: islam, schools, muslims, dhimmitude

Optimism Grows in Iraq as Daily Life Improves

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:01:06 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: German media - Spiegel online

Clip Source: www.spiegel.de

There is an unexpected air of normalcy prevailing in Baghdad these days, with consumption flourishing and confidence in the government growing. The progress is astonishing, but can it last?

Is the situation truly improving in Iraq? Is it possible to rely on these changes in everyday life or are they merely an illusion? According to the quarterly report that the Pentagon issued in mid-June, the number of armed incidents has declined by 70 percent since last summer

King Abdullah II of Jordan, who was opposed to the US invasion and then voiced his fears of a "Shiite Crescent" developing in Iraq, recently said something astonishing in an interview with the US magazine Newsweek: "I am actually optimistic for the first time on Iraq. It's the first time that I have felt that Iraqis have, as much as they can, bound themselves together into a unity."

It is a deep irony that moderate Sunnis now refer to Maliki, a Shiite, as "batal" -- "a hero."

Tags: war, iraq, politics

Islam's Biggest Enemy Is The Muslims Themselves

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 06:52:06 GMT

clipped by: merrie
clipper's remarks: U.N. Human Rights Council, the Saudi Shura Council raised objections, since reviling other religions is one of Islam's central precepts.

"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who believe that woman is lewd, and that she detracts from the purity of prayer just like a dog or a donkey...and those who believe that a woman lacks intelligence.

"The ones who harm the Prophet are the rulers of Arab states who have made their countries the last bastions of tyranny and dictatorship in the world, and who demand submission to religious texts to justify their crimes.

"The ones who harm the Prophet do not live in the West - they are among us, the Muslims. It is the Muslims who have fashioned an Islamic model that is inherently terrorist, hypocritical, life-negating, and sustained by the murder of others in the name of jihad and by attacks on freedom of opinion under the pretext of defending Islamic national principles. This is what we - and no one else - have produced."

Clip Source: www.memri.org

In an article on the liberal website Aafaq.org, Egyptian writer Ahmad Al-Aswani set out the crimes committed by the Muslim world that he believed have harmed the Prophet Muhammad and discredited the spirit of Islam: "I do not think that cartoons, books, or films can harm a religion or affect the faith of those who adhere to it out of conviction.

"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who butcher and bomb innocents all over the world, from New York to Madrid, London, Bali, Riyadh and Cairo, Kabul and Baghdad - while invoking Allah and the Prophet under the banner of Islamic jihad...

"The ones who harm the Prophet are those who call on the world to pass a resolution against disparaging religion, while they themselves denigrate other religions in each prayer in the mosques, as well as in their schools and on their satellite channels - and especially [the religion] of Christians and Jews, whom they curse in every prayer. When Muslim countries submitted a draft of this resolution to the

Tags: islam, aafaq.org, muslim, muhammad, islamic jihad,

White Noise Generator Online

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 13:17:56 GMT

clipped by: Sheroug

Clip Source: simplynoise.com

Instructions:

Slide the orb
Find comfort zone
Enjoy auditory zen

Uses of White Noise:

Aid Sleep
Enhance Privacy
Block Distractions
Mask Tinnitus
Configure Audio Equipment
Soothe Migraines
and more...

For more information about White Noise, visit Wikipedia

Leave Feedback:

Vermont disgrace

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 20:58:06 GMT

clipped by: sillysam
clipper's remarks: The legislators in Vermont have this girl's blood on their hands. PLain and simple

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Uncle Could Face Death on Kidnapping Charges in Case of Dead Vermont Girl

The uncle of a young Vermont girl found dead could face the death penalty on federal kidnapping charges connected with the case, prosecutors said Thursday.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Anderson said Michael Jacques will be charged with kidnapping in connection with the death of his niece, 12-year-old Brooke Bennett.

"Today is a tragic day for Vermont," Anderson said. "Our thoughts and our prayers are with the Bennett family and the people of Randolph, Vt."

An amazing rescue

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:01:00 GMT

clipped by: sillysam
clipper's remarks: The Che Guevara shirts were a nice touch.

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Old-fashioned fake-out results in freedom for hostages

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Government agents posing as rebels tricked a gang of armed desperados into handing over 15 hostages during a rendezvous deep in Colombia's unforgiving jungle.

Agents spent months worming their way into the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, an insurgent force that has waged war on the Colombian state for 40 years, Gen. Freddy Padilla de Leon told CNN.

"We convinced the FARC that they were talking to those of their own," said Gen. Mario Montoya of the Colombian army. "It was all human intelligence."

Once the hostages -- including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three American contractors -- were gathered, the agents ordered a 90-mile march through the steamy jungle, Montoya said.

Colombian security forces posing as FARC rebels jumped out, some wearing shirts emblazoned with the likeness of revolutionary icon Che Guevara

The more, the better, says Fox News host Chris Wallace

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 21:45:04 GMT

clipped by: jatfla
clipper's remarks: I like what he is saying. It's true.

Clip Source: www.mvtimes.com

The more, the better, says Fox News host Chris Wallace

Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, a television public affairs program based in Washington, D.C., thinks the proliferation of news sources across the electronic spectrum is a good thing. The consumer, faced with more choices, must simply be more discerning.

"And whether you like Fox News or don't like it, it seems to me that it is a healthy development if only because it creates another view point and some competition for the mainstream media and another place where people can get information, and by comparison check out whether they are getting the full story."

since coming to Fox four and a half years ago, I have come to see things a little differently. And I, in fact, do believe there is a bias in the mainstream media and that is something I was only able to understand when I was outside of it."

"You just have to be a good consumer and figure out who seems to know what they are talking about and who doesn't,"

30 Most Incredible Abstract Satellite Images of Earth

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:03:45 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

By Tom Davie and Chris Ingham Brooke

400,000 images taken by the Landsat 7 satellite

A handful of the best were painstakingly chosen and then displayed at the Library of Congress in 2000.

Guinea-Bissau

Garden City, Kansas, USA

Akpatok Island, Canada

Aleutian Clouds, North America

Mayn River, Siberia, Russia

Bolivian Deforestation

Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco

Ocean Sands, Bahamas

Lake Carnegie, Australia

Chilean Volcanoes

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

Coahuila, Mexico

The Everglades, Florida, USA

Ganges River Delta, (Bangladesh & India)

Ghadamis River, Libya

Baffin Bay, Greenland

Konari, Iran

Iraqi Military emplacement

Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Dasht-e Kavir, Iran

Lena River, Russia

Clip Source: www.environmentalgraffiti.com

MacDonnell Mountains, Australia

Malaspina Glacier, Alaska, USA

The Optimist, Kalahari Desert, Namibia

Parana River, Brazil

Richat Structure, Mauritiana

The Great Sandy Desert, Australia

The Great Sandy Scars, Australia

Terkezi Oasis, Chad

Volga Delta, Russia

Karman Vortices

Edmund Burke on Barack and change

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:23:57 GMT

clipped by: sillysam

Clip Source: townhall.com

There has been a lot of talk about the need for change in this country. That is Senator Obama’s mantra, of course. And all of the commentators say, “It is a change election.” Well, I can understand why the call for change is so powerful considering the pitiful condition that our country is in.

We simply have the most prosperous, freest and strongest country in the history of the world. So we can understand why liberal politicians and their supporters see the need for great change.

On a more serious note, we have long recognized the role change plays in lives. Edmund Burke wrote extensively about it in the 18^th century. He said that change was inevitable and when properly guided, change was a process of renewal. But it was his opinion that the man who loves change is disqualified from being a reformer because of his lust … to be the agent of change.

Remind you of anybody you know?

I told you it was coming

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:57:48 GMT

clipped by: sillysam
clipper's remarks: Yes, by all means use sharia law when settling family disputes. Honor killings are all the rage.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Sharia law SHOULD be used in Britain, says UK's top judge

The most senior judge in England tonight gave his blessing to the use of sharia law to resolve disputes among Muslims.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips said that Islamic legal principles could be employed to deal with family and marital arguments and to regulate finance.

He declared: 'It is possible in this country for those who are entering into a contractual agreement to agree that the agreement shall be governed by a law other than English law.'

The Illustrated Results of Obama's "Community Organizing"

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 23:14:11 GMT

clipped by: missjackson
clipper's remarks: "Obama's Katrina," explaining that if Obama is running on his record as a community activist and advocate, it's a pretty big deal a housing project he had his hand in is an almost-unlivable slum... Perhaps Obama had good intentions here. Trouble is, he has a decidedly thin resume, and one of the biggest bullet points on it reads Miserable Failure.

The poor people living here have gotten the shaft from Obama and his developer buddies. And the mainstream media couldn't care less.

Clip Source: directorblue.blogspot.com

If I didn't know better, I'd think this was Beirut in the nineteen seventies. But, in reality, it's the current state of the housing for which Barack Obama claims responsibility as a "community organizer."

I say "once", because the Boston Globe ("Grim Proving Ground for Obama's Housing Policy") calls many of the units "uninhabitable".

thousands of apartments across Chicago that had been built with local, state, and federal subsidies - including several hundred in Obama's former district - deteriorated so completely that they were no longer habitable

Grove Parc and several other prominent failures were developed and managed by Obama’s close friends and political supporters. Those people profited from the subsidies even as many of Obama’s constituents suffered. Tenants lost their homes; surrounding neighborhoods were blighted

“hundreds of other organizers” were not able to transform the South Side neighborhoods

Look at this beautiful playground

it's not safe to live here

Ten Reasons that Thinking Americans Love Their Country

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:07:28 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: img110.imageshack.us

Despite the intellectual pretensions of those who practice it, anti-Americanism is reflexive and mindless. Patriotism, despite its bad reputation amongst the intelligentsia, is a rational sentiment for an American to hold.

No one is obligated to love their country. Yet Americans do-overwhelmingly. Why are Americans, despite the national self-hatred expressed by so many elites, still patriotic? Because America is a force for good in the world as no country has ever been.

Here are ten good reasons why thinking Americans should love their country:

World's Most Patriotic Countries

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:35:39 GMT

clipped by: missjackson

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 10: Israel

Parliamentary Democracy

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 9: The Philippines

Republic

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 8: New Zealand

Parliamentary Democracy

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 7: Chile

Republic

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 6: Canada

Constitutional Monarchy, Parliamentary Democracy, Federation

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 5: Austria

Federal Republic

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 4: South Africa

Republic

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 3: Australia

Federal Parliamentary Democracy

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 1 (Tie): United States

Constitution-Based Federal Republic

Clip Source: www.forbes.com

No. 1 (Tie): Venezuela

Chance discovery sheds light on S.I.D.S.

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:19:26 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Cot death, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome has been a mystery, and a number of causes have studied. It has also been suggested that there may be more than one cause. While the study was on mice, they hope it will lead to more clues in the search for causes in humans, and help identify babies at risk

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

An imbalance of a key brain chemical could be the cause of cot death, after a chance discovery by researchers in Italy.

The team, based at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, found that an out of balance self-regulating system controlling the nerve-signalling chemical serotonin in the brainstem, caused sudden death in mice.

Writing in the journal Science, they hope their experiment will help doctors pinpoint human babies at high risk of cot death, also known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

While the researchers say it is unlikely the molecular mechanism is the same in humans, they believe their findings may one day help identify babies at greatest risk.

"Ultimately, we hope it will give new ideas to doctors about how to diagnose babies at risk for SIDS," says Dr Enrica Audero

Genetically engineered mice whose self-regulating serotonin system was turned off did not die, showing it was worse to have a malfunctioning system than no system at all, the study says.

What to Celebrate on Independence Day?

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 04:34:47 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks: Duh.

Clip Source: capmag.com

"Independence Day" is a critically important title. It signifies the fundamental meaning of this nation, not just of the holiday. The American Revolution remains unique in human history: a revolution--and a nation--founded on a moral principle, the principle of individual rights.

The Declaration of Independence was a declaration against servitude, not just servitude to the Crown but servitude to anyone.

What we hear from politicians, intellectuals, and the media is that independence is passé, that we've reached a new age of "interdependence."

We hear demands from trust-busters that successful companies be punished for being "greedy" and not serving society. But this is not the message of America.

To the Founding Fathers, there was no authority higher than the individual mind, not King George, not God, not society.

Independence is what should be celebrated on Independence Day.

It is a legacy we should keep, not because it is a legacy, but because it is right and just.

Tags: history, government