Category Archives: politics

Christianity, church, commentary, History, Islam, Judaism, Middle East, politics, Religion

World Jews outraged by Christian murders, our own government isn’t

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This is the crime against humanity of our time. It is the religious equivalent of ethnic cleansing. It is deliberate, it is brutal, and it is systematic. And I, as a Jew, want to say that I stand solidly with Christians throughout the world in protest against this crime. And I am appalled that the world is silent.

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (2013 Erasmus Lecture)

. . . the Jews seem to be the ones most outraged by it. . . . It’s shades of the past that a world that is indifferent to such brutal actions becomes indifferent to anybody’s suffering.

The White House—the whole Western community—ought to be taking action, as we would against any country that engages in this kind of action. Look, overall the West is muted in their response to the killings of Christians by the thousands, from Indonesia to Nigeria to Tehran to Damascus. Where is the outcry? Christians and Copts [are being killed] in Egypt, other countries—and hardly any response to it. . . .  Where are the [United Nations] Security Council resolutions? Why aren’t the condemnations coming from them?

Malcolm Hoenlein, head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations

The above quotes are from the First Things article, “Jews and the Persecution of Christians” by Tom Wilson; the Hoenlein quotes were taken by Wilson from an interview of Hoenlein in The Time of Israel.

. . . the Middle East [was] once home to countless thriving Jewish communities, only for them to have been decimated in the mid-twentieth century. With the rise of hardline Islam and growing turmoil in many of these countries, Christians risk sharing a similar fate. . . .  A century ago, Christians constituted 20 percent of the population of the Middle East; today, that number stands at just 4 percent.

Jews care.  A lot of Jews get it.  What is with us?  Why does our own country, and the West, not care?  The western media is biased in its reporting when Christians are killed in countries like Sudan.  They seem to be ashamed that Christians even exist and that violent-minded Muslims are justified in doing evil.  But where is the Christian response, the Christian outrage?  If it doesn’t exist, then it can be surmised that Christians don’t really exist.  At least, our own government’s weak response against the atrocities can certainly be viewed as nothing but hot air.  But why should our government do anything about it or care, when we people of faith don’t even seem to??

Churches are our gathering places.  Why aren’t churches organizing anything to raise awareness about what is going on in the world?  If they don’t know . . . what excuse can be given?  Maybe some pastors are writing newspaper editorials and encouraging action by their flock–I don’t know.  Feel free to let me know of examples of such action in the comments below, or provide links there to Christians groups and organizations that are trying to do something about this (I don’t mean groups that report on it only).  Thanks.

Christianity, Islam, Persecution, politics, Religion

Jihadists Kill at Least 68 Non-Muslims at Mall in Kenya

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This isn’t a perfect article on the attack that happened yesterday, but it’s still very good.  The latest reports indicate that at least 100 more have been injured.

Attack on Nairobi Mall Shows Al-Shabaab’s Ominous Reach

Here is the start of the article, and more, but please click the link to read the rest.  This might be an eye-opener for many.

In a horrific mid-day attack on Saturday, September 21, 2013 in downtown Nairobi, Kenya, jihadist assailants invaded an upscale shopping mall, slaughtering and injuring dozens of terrified shoppers with grenades and automatic weapons.

As of early Sunday morning, even as the stand-off between the attackers and Kenyan security forces continued inside the mall, the death count stood at 59, a number sure to rise in coming hours.

According to reports, at least an additional 150 have been injured. People fleeing from the modern Westgate mall reported that the attackers had singled out non-Muslims to kill after telling Muslims to get out. . . .

Local mosques in U.S. areas with a heavy Somali immigrant population, such as Minnesota, play leading roles in recruiting young men, often born and raised in the U.S., to sign up for jihad in Somalia. . . .

[One of these is ] Al-Hammami, a 28-year-old from Alabama . . . The son of a Christian mother and a Syrian-born Muslim father, al-Hammami likely was recruited to jihad at the University of South Alabama, where he was president of the Muslim Student Association (MSA), the original and still one of the largest Muslim Brotherhood front groups in the U.S.

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Christian, Christianity, commentary, Islam, Persecution, politics

Scandinavian Rape, Scandinavian Blinders

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“Statistics now suggest that 1 out of every 4 Swedish women will be raped.”

Business, Christianity, commentary, News, politics

Unemployment rate is not 7.5%. Tired of the news feeding you misleading information? (II)

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The unemployment rate is about double that figure, with various experts providing a range between 13% and 16%.  Read on.

The report below is based on the ADP reports for job growth, or not . . .  Make sure to see the red and green graphic down the page a bit, “ADP Employment Change” (the recent change is negative).  While there is job growth in areas, look at the bottom of the info-graphic at the bottom of the article.  The average number of jobs in April was less than the previous five months.  Good jobs in manufacturing went DOWN, not up.

LINK:  ADP Private Jobs Plunge, Miss; Fall For Fifth Month In A Row

And get this:

LINK:  Dark side to jobs report: Big drop in hours worked; Commentary: Shorter work week equivalent to 500,000 jobs lost

Are you tired yet of the media providing a false and rosy picture of employment in this country?  What reason do they have to do so?  How can providing only part of the employment/unemployment picture help anyone – the government policy makers, business people, the unemployed?  While the author the article in the above link cautions that the data is only for one month and may not represent a long-term trend (still, that’s an awful lot of “jobs lost” not being reported), coupled with the ADP information in the first link, it isn’t encouraging.  It also confirms what so many employees are saying – they are given too few hours to work.

The video and transcript linked below gives actual, real-world evidence of the ridiculous time older people are having getting jobs (how they’re spending all their retirement, living off of aid, being forced into signing unlawful lay-off agreements, etc.).  Many were laid-off when the depression started.  I’m tired at this point of business people blaming others out there for out-sourcing jobs and therefore making it not competitive to pay Americans decent wages, or even hiring Americans at all, and things of this nature.  It’s business people that did all this – out-sourcing, laying off older workers because they have a higher pay rate and may cost more in health care, etc.  Not all business people have done these things, but it doesn’t matter much after our country and so many of its people are run into the ground.

Ethical business people should know about the applicable laws and regulations more than the average person, so they would be the best advocates for changes in the laws, tax structures, etc.  Many business people used to realize that employing people full-time and with decent pay made the whole community, and country, better.  Now it seems like only few do.  It’s like money is all that matters and that somehow they can take it to the grave with them – the future for everyone else is of no consequence.

As stated in the interview, the unemployment rate is closer to 16%.  This corresponds to Keith Hall’s testimony to the (US) Joint Economic Committee:  “Their data shows that American households now have an unprecedented dependence on these government programs. A remarkable 17.2% of total household income now comes from government social benefits, and such spending tracks pretty closely to the jobless rate (the share of the working age population without employment) . . .”

LINK:  Brutal Job Search Reality for Older Americans Out of Work for Six Months or More

For continually updated information on lay-offs and business closings, and links to pertinent articles (including where and how to get jobs), see DailyJobCuts.com.

Christianity, Iran, Islam, Middle East, politics

Brutality and Cruelty by Iranian Government, an Example

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Iran sentences American pastor Saeed Abedini t...

The headline below doesn’t do justice to what its article conveys.  Abedini and his wife are from Iran, but are now American citizens.  Below the link are excerpts from the article – click the link to read the entire article.

Link:  Iran moves American Christian into solitary confinement over prayer protest

Saeed Abedini, the 32-year-old Christian and American citizen who is serving an eight-year prison term in Iran, was put in solitary confinement following a “peaceful, silent protest” in an outside courtyard at Iran’s notoriously brutal Evin prison, according to family members. Conditions at the prison prompted Abedini and other prisoners to sign a petition decrying the lack of medical care and the threats and harsh treatment facing family members who come to visit.

[Abedini] was arrested in 2005, but released after pledging never to evangelize in Iran again.  When he left his wife and two kids in Idaho last summer to return to Iran to help build a state-run, secular orphanage, Iranian police pulled him off a bus and imprisoned him.

The latest developments underscore the brutality of Iran’s continued violation of human rights – imprisoning, torturing and refusing medical care for Pastor Saeed merely because of his faith. This treatment not only violates international law, but is abhorrent . . .

See also Iranian American Pastor Unlawfully Imprisoned in Iran

 To learn more about Iran and to advocate for Abedini, see US State Department, Iran page (includes contact information).
Christianity, History, Islam, Middle East, politics, Religion

The Anti-Semitic, Anti-Israel Nation of Sweden

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I didn’t know Sweden had gotten so anti-Semitic.  Did you?  Isn’t this an example of hypocrisy to support violence against people, against a minority in your country, even?  I don’t keep up with European affairs too much, so I was very shocked and very sickened after reading the article linked below.  It’s so astonishingly tiring, too, to think violence perpetrated against Israel is Israel’s fault.

There is a lot of false “history” out there regarding the formation of Israel and the tensions and wars that followed (I guess even the educated in Sweden don’t want to know, but would rather spread hate).  Israel was not perfect – nobody is or was – but the Palestinians (and the Arab immigrant fighters brought in at that time) are not at all innocent.  Why do you think Israel received the land for their state after WWII, but then the Palestinians did not (nor have they ever since)?  Please read some real history if you don’t know and you think it’s all Israel’s fault (see the second link)!

LINK:  “Sweden. Violence dominates and a Jew today feels like a Jew in Berlin in the ’20s”

For a detailed history of Israel and Palestine, and all that has transpired in that region until the present day, go to this page to start, and then read on (links continue the narrative and provide other side links for more specifics):

LINK:  “Israel and Palestine: A Brief History – Part I” [it is not brief, it’s just not in book form . . .]

You will read that Israel had accepted the UN lines of partitions for their respective countries, even though it wasn’t great for Israel.  And then the Arab League declared war on Israel.  And, the Arabs were stabbing each other in the back over these lands (read the bottom of the “Partition” section).  Regarding the 1948 war:

The conflict created about as many Jewish refugees from Arab countries [as there were Arabs from Israel], many of whom were stripped of their property, rights and nationality, but Israel has not pursued claims on behalf of these refugees . . .

So who has moved on, left the past and revenge behind, and simply tried to make a good living?  Israel.  Israel defends itself, as anyone one would; it doesn’t terrorize and go out and kill innocents in buses, at restaurants, etc.  The hate toward them is mind-bogglingly unfounded.

Christianity, commentary, Islam, politics, Religion

Who are terrorists? Hint: Not American “conservatives”

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Great article, and one that shouldn’t have to be written and published.  But get this:

CNN and MSNBC immediately speculated about “right-wing nutcases” and tea partyers. As of 2013, the number of terrorist attacks involving members of the tea party is precisely zero. The last major terrorist attack that had even the slightest link to anything on the political right was Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 1995. Described as a devout Christian and Republican, he was neither.

Many people in the media or who have voices that the media likes to chime, are those who promote lies and hypocrisy against those they simply disagree with.  When you’re young, well, at least when I was young, I assumed people told the truth and did things that were in the best interest of others and the community.  People that weren’t criminals just didn’t do the things that are basically a common part of our media and leadership today.   In any case, the article that is linked below is great, and apparently a good portion of our population needs to read it, stop ignoring reality, and stop pointing fingers and spreading hate against regular people (who are often more informed than they are).

Link:  Boston Marathon terrorism: The toxic brew of Islam and politics

A murderous, cancerous ideology known as radical Islam has metastasized globally. It needs to be stopped, and admitting the problem exists is the first step to recovery for deniaholics.

Business, commentary, politics

Fiscal Crisis, Fiscal Responsibility, and Fair Taxes

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Link:  If Companies are People . . .

Op-ed in the New York Times by James Livingston, Rutgers professor. 

HERE’S an idea: why not tax corporations as if they were natural persons, in accordance with their newly discovered rights of free speech? That move would solve any impending fiscal crisis. . . .

In 2010 G.E. employed more than 130,000 people in the United States, and earned $14.2 billion, $5.1 billion of which was generated in the United States. And yet its American tax bill for that year, according to a report by The New York Times, was zero. . . .

So, by slashing corporate income taxes and forcing a new reliance on payroll taxes to finance government spending, we have redistributed income to the already wealthy and powerful. Our tax system has actually fostered inequality.  The fiscal problem we face is not, then, a lack of revenue sources. . . .

All the good things that were supposed to happen by cutting corporate profits have not materialized, and

corporate profits soar and full-time job creation languishes. American corporations are now sitting on $4.75 trillion in cash, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

In view of these facts, there’s no downside to replacing payroll taxes with increased taxes on corporate profits, wherever they’re made or held. By doing so, we make the tax code more progressive, and mobilize capital that is otherwise inert. In other words, we can lay solid foundations for economic growth simply by going back to the tax principles we used to have. What could be more conservative than that?

Not to mention that large corporations more and more employ people part-time only, basically, and those people qualify for food stamps and other programs.  These corporations pay fewer taxes and we pay more, and we pay for all their employees to simply live.  Besides simply being inhuman, this corporate philosophy is anti-community and anti-economic growth.  Poor people can’t buy luxury goods or save money for investment in stocks, bonds, etc.

Christianity, politics

“Health-care price gouging is a scandal . . . “

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Link:  Health-care price gouging is a scandal, but there are solutions

This article was an eye-opener.  I mean, I KNOW there are big big problems with the health care system, but from what I know (or what I thought I knew) of non-profit organizations, it had no idea it was possible for non-profit hospitals and agencies to do what they’re doing.  How is this happening?  We need to ask our government this, which regulates non-profits.  I started to look into this issue today after my boss told me that health insurance is going up 30% AGAIN, for individuals.  People, can we please do something for our brothers and sisters in this country?  Many people that are homeless ended up that way over health costs!!  Anyway, these are excerpts from the article.  Go to the link to read the whole thing, and the author provides a name and place to get more detailed and highly informed information.  Thanks.

I once tried getting an answer from officials at Bayfront Medical Center about why they billed a breast biopsy at more than $12,000, not including fees charged by the radiologist and lab. All I got were vague answers, and no one would break down the cost.

In nonprofit hospitals, where top executives often are paid lavish compensation of $1 million or more, Brill [from Time magazine] documents how patients are gouged, charged hundreds of dollars for services that Medicare would have reimbursed at little more than $20. In one typical case, a dose of life-saving cancer medicine, already expensive at $4,000, was marked up by the hospital to $13,700 — with no explanation given. . . .  We overspend on health care by $750 billion a year, Brill asserts, more than the gross domestic product of Saudi Arabia.

. . . transparency in medical billing is an essential consumer-protection reform. And . . . we need to put limits on pharmaceutical pricing to bring down U.S. drug charges in line with other developed countries. That reform alone would save Medicare $25 billion a year.

The uninsured, who are powerless to negotiate a better deal, can pay tenfold for the exact same services.

For even-better ideas, read Princeton economics professor Uwe Reinhardt’s posts at the NYTimes.com blog Economix. An expert in the funding of health-care systems . . .

The author of the piece, Robyn Blumner, believes that a single-payer system would be best, as does my CPA boss.  I agree.  We are still being killed softly by insurance company policies, even if they are keeping prices from hospitals down.  What underwriter should deserve health insurance themselves when they deny a dying (or simply overweight!!) person any?  This more than amazes me.  This is inhuman.  But from what people have been taught in schools, there’s nothing special to being human – it’s survival of the fittest (and somehow all other countries and humans are better than Americans . . . ).  People are losing their critical thinking skills, their compassion, and the appreciation and desire for beauty.  God help us!

*      *      *

America, the home of the free . . . to screw and be screwed.

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Christianity, commentary, Entertainment, politics, Religion

Madonna, Don’t Bully the Boy Scouts

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I’m very tired of people in the media, or anyone else for that matter, telling people that they can’t have a private organization based on certain beliefs.  As Madonna did recently.  Madonna dresses as Boy Scout, rips organization’s gay ban  The Boy Scouts is a private organization – let them be.  If ANYONE else wants to start a new organization similar to the Boy Scouts but with different values – guess what, they can!  This is nothing more than trying to take control of a large, influential, and traditional organization.  It’s appalling. Our country is a free one.  That organization can have it’s own values, based on the Bible, and anyone else is free to start their own organization based on secularism or humanism or whatever.  It’s amazing they don’t see their own hypocrisy.

Is Madonna for worker’s rights?  Hey Madonna, why don’t you join underpaid and underworked Walmart workers?  What’s on YOUR mind?  Only the rich would be concerned so much about sex, when so many people can’t even make enough money to pay rent or buy food . . . so many cannot afford to have families.  But the rich can, like Madonnna, and then go around trying to control others’ convictions about what God says.   People, we need to loudly defend our freedoms in these kinds of matters here or we will go the way of European countries, where in places it is against the law to publicly convey the word of God or homeschool your children.