Wednesday, September 27, 2006
I'm Just A Bill
Monday, September 25, 2006
World Affairs or Celebrity Photos? You Make The Call
Sunday, September 24, 2006
The Young and the Reformed
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Think You're Safe?
So, you think this is just something for the suits in Washington to worry about? Think again. A Canadian citizen (with dual citizenship in Syria) was detained by the Canadian police and handed over to the CIA while he was traveling in La Guardia airport. He was accused of being a member of al Qaeda and taken to Syria to be tortured. Turns out, this gentleman has been cleared of any wrongdoing.
So often the argument is made that terrorists are the only ones who will be caught up in rough-handling of prisoners and torture, so innocent people needn't worry. In fact, as the above case illustrates, that is not the case. Americans ought to support the resistance to the Administration's efforts to redefine Common Article 3 to suit our needs during this war. Indeed it is important for the President to protect Americans, and I don't think he means anything evil by his efforts. But we as Americans must recognize that we could be detained by another country when we are traveling and not have our rights because that particular country is following the lead of the United States government in redefining Common Article 3. We must protect America, but not lose our moral high ground and our rights in the process.
Monday, September 18, 2006
Irony of Ironies
Salaam alaykum,
I am a Christian and I have a deep love for Muslims. However, I cannot help but be dismayed when I consider the reactions made in regards to the Pope's comments of last week and the lack of condemnation in the Muslim community. I am not a universalist, I believe that Christianity is the true religion. While I believe in spreading the Gospel to all, I don't believe in conversion by the sword. Violence, according to the God I serve is wrong. If fellow Christians act out in violence against someone or some group I condemn that. My question is, why has CAIR and other Muslim organizations and imams not condemned the widespread violence that has erupted across the Muslim world? The claim that just a handful of Muslims are
reacting this way is entirely false, I believe. After all, this is not the first time this violence has erupted from those who dare to go against Islam (the Miss World controversy in 2002 and Danish cartoons to name a few from recent memory). While so many try to say Islam is a religion of peace, it's adherents and it's holy book say something completely different (like Surah 9). I do not hate Muslims, in fact I will continue to pray for Muslims. On the other hand, the reactions by thousands, if not millions of Muslims to these comments seems to indicate a deep hatred toward Christians and only proves the point that Islam is not a religion of peace. I call
upon CAIR to speak out against these scary, extreme reactions by many in the
Islamic community.
Thank you for your time,
Teresa has a much more logical and pithy entry on this whole escapade, check it out.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Will On The Mark
Monday, September 11, 2006
Great Speech
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Meanwhile...
Yagoub Mustafa, 45, could not easily mimic the "whoop whoop whoop, boom! boom!
boom!" of two helicopter gunships that fired rockets into the huts in his Darfur village. He tried to make the noises, but they were not loud enough, or terrifying enough.But the horror he experienced that July afternoon, while he crouched low under a tree with his sobbing sons, daughters and nephews pressed against him, was more easily expressed: Mustafa thought they all were going to die, he said. And as he offered soothing words to the children, he begged for rescue in a silent prayer. Please God help us. We need your mercy.
Three years into a war in the Darfur region of western Sudan, thousands of villagers have been victimized by government troops and proxy militiamen who killed, raped and looted. Now the government is intensifying an air war featuring Soviet-era Antonov planes jury-rigged into bombers and Mi-24 helicopter gunships turned against mud-and-thatch huts. New waves of shellshocked villagers have left their homes and trekked for days to bulging relief camps.
Here's hoping the awareness of the plight in Darfur continues and does not fizzle out.