1) Searching in Vain for the Obama Magic
Never before has a speech by President Barack Obama felt as false as his Tuesday address announcing America's new strategy for Afghanistan. It seemed like a campaign speech combined with Bush rhetoric -- and left both dreamers and realists feeling distraught.
One can hardly blame the West Point leadership. The academy commanders did their best to ensure that Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama's speech would be well-received.
Just minutes before the president took the stage inside Eisenhower Hall, the gathered cadets were asked to respond "enthusiastically" to the speech. But it didn't help: The soldiers' reception was cool.
One didn't have to be a cadet on Tuesday to feel a bit of nausea upon hearing Obama's speech. It was the least truthful address that he has ever held. He spoke of responsibility, but almost every sentence smelled of party tactics. He demanded sacrifice, but he was unable to say what it was for exactly.
An additional 30,000 US soldiers are to march into Afghanistan -- and then they will march right back out again. America is going to war -- and from there it will continue ahead to peace. It was the speech of a Nobel War Prize laureate.
…The speech continued in that vein. It was as though Obama had taken one of his old campaign speeches and merged it with a text from the library of ex-President George W. Bush. Extremists kill in the name of Islam, he said, before adding that it is one of the "world's great religions." He promised that responsibility for the country's security would soon be transferred to the government of President Hamid Karzai -- a government which he said was "corrupt." The Taliban is dangerous and growing stronger. But "America will have to show our strength in the way that we end wars," he added.
It was a dizzying combination of surge and withdrawal, of marching to and fro. The fast pace was reminiscent of plays about the French revolution: Troops enter from the right to loud cannon fire and then they exit to the left. And at the end, the dead are left on stage.
See: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,664753,00.html
1a) Rumsfeld Cries Foul on Obama Claim Troop Requests for Afghanistan Were Denied
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday lashed out at President Obama for claiming the Bush administration rebuffed commanders' repeated requests for more troops in Afghanistan.
In a rare break in his public silence since leaving the Pentagon, Rumsfeld rejected the claim as a "bald misstatement" and "disservice" that cannot go unanswered.
"Such a bald misstatement, at least as it pertains to the period I served as secretary of defense, deserves a response," Rumsfeld said in a written statement. "I am not aware of a single request of that nature between 2001 and 2006."
..Rumsfeld said in his statement the White House should make public any such requests if they exist to back up the allegation.
"The president's assertion does a disservice to the truth and, in particular, to the thousands of men and women in uniform who have fought, served and sacrificed in Afghanistan," Rumsfeld said.
He urged Congress to review the claim in the upcoming debate to "determine exactly what requests were made, who made them, and where and why in the chain of command they were denied."
See: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/02/rumsfeld-rejects-obama-claim-troop-requests-denied-afghanistan/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528FOXNews.com+-+Politics%2529
2) Iranian lawmaker: Iran could leave nuclear treaty
TEHRAN, Iran – A conservative Iranian legislator warned Saturday that his country may pull out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty after a U.N. resolution censuring Tehran — a move that could seriously undermine world attempts to prevent Iran from developing atomic weapons.
Iran's official news agency quoted a hardline political analyst who made the same point, another indication the idea could be gaining steam.
If Iran withdraws from the treaty, its nuclear program would no longer be subject to oversight by the U.N. nuclear agency. That in turn would be a significant blow to efforts to ensure that no enriched uranium is diverted from use as fuel to warhead development.
See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091129/ap_on_re_us/iran_nuclear
2a) Defiant Iran vows to enrich uranium even more
VIENNA – In a defiant speech, Iran's president declared Wednesday that his country will enrich uranium to a much higher level — a fresh rejection of an international plan to curb Tehran's nuclear program.
Experts said that could put Tehran on the road to making the material needed to arm a warhead within months.
See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_nuclear
3) Why You Should Be Hot and Bothered About 'Climate-gate'
Probably old news, but just in case you haven’t heard…
Science depends on good quality of data. It also relies on replication and sharing data. But the last couple of days have uncovered some shocking revelations. Computer hackers have obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England. These e-mails, which have now been confirmed as real, involved many researchers across the globe with ideologically similar advocates around the world. They were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global warming claims. The academics here also worked closely with the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
See: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2009/11/24/john-lott-climate-change-emails-copenhagen/
4) No further! Christians draw battle line in culture war
Declaration warns of civil disobedience over life, marriage, religious liberty
Over 150 Orthodox, Catholic and evangelical Christian leaders have signed the Manhattan Declaration, a pledge in defense of life, religious liberty and traditional marriage, a line in the sand of the culture war warning that Christians will resort to civil disobedience if necessary rather than retreat from these three moral principles.
"The Manhattan Declaration is a wake-up call – a call to conscience – for the church," writes Chuck Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries and co-author of the declaration. "It is also crystal-clear message to civil authorities that we will not, under any circumstances, stand idly by as our religious freedom comes under assault."
According to ManhattanDeclaration.org, over 47,000 others in the last few days have added their signatures to the list of 152 Christian leaders who have committed to the pledge.
…"We are Christians who have joined together across historic lines of ecclesial differences to affirm our right – and, more importantly, to embrace our obligation – to speak and act in defense of these truths," the declaration states. "We pledge to each other, and to our fellow believers, that no power on earth, be it cultural or political, will intimidate us into silence or acquiescence."
…Specifically, the text of the Manhattan Declaration declares:
We will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia or any other antilife act
Nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriage or the equivalent
[Nor] refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.
See: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=116974
And, John MacArthur, of “Grace to You”, the same pastor who claimed:
“People have mistakenly linked democracy and political freedom to Christianity. That’s why many contemporary evangelicals believe the American Revolution was completely justified, both politically and scripturally. They follow the arguments of the Declaration of Independence, which declares that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are Divinely endowed rights. . . . But such a position is contrary to the clear teachings and commands of Romans 13:1-7. So the United States was actually born out of a violation of New Testament principles, and any blessings God has bestowed on America have come in spite of that disobedience by the Founding Fathers.”
REFUSES TO SIGN IT!
And I guess he hasn’t read the rest of the Bible, particularly The Old Testament stories about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendego, Abraham, David, the Israelites, Samson, or The New Testament book of Acts!
WE NEED TO BE DISCUSSING THIS IN CHURCH, PASTORS!
Or, as www.wallbuilders.com says it:
“Those in the Founding Era understood that the general institution of government was unequivocally ordained by God and was not to be overthrown, but that did not mean that God approved every specific government; God had ordained government in lieu of anarchy – He opposed anarchy, rebellion, lawlessness, and wickedness and wanted civil government in society. Therefore, a crucial determination in the colonists’ Biblical exegesis was whether opposition to authority was simply to resist the general institution of government (an institution ordained by God Himself), or whether it was instead to resist tyrannical leaders who had themselves rebelled against God. (The Scriptural model for this position was repeatedly validated when God Himself raised up leaders such as Gideon, Ehud, Jepthah, Samson, and Deborah to throw off tyrannical governments – leaders subsequently praised in Hebrews 11:32 for those acts of faith.) That the Founders held the view that the institution of government is not to be opposed by that tyranny is, is a position clearly evident in their writings.”
See: http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=24548
And: http://www.shepherdsfellowship.org/pulpit/Posts.aspx?ID=4444
5) Police: Ky. census worker staged death as homicide
FRANKFORT, Ky. – On the surface it all seemed like a gruesome hate crime in a rural part of Kentucky with a history of disdain for the government: a census worker found bound with duct tape and hanging from a tree, the word "fed" scrawled across his chest.
…That speculation was doused Tuesday when authorities said that Sparkman killed himself but staged his death to make it look like a homicide. The conclusion that Sparkman died by his own hands, and not by those of anti-government zealots, was seen by Clay County community activist Doug Abner as a vindication for the area.
"That's a horrible thing that's happened to that fellow," Abner, senior pastor at the nondenominational Community Church in Manchester, said in a phone interview. "But like most Clay countians, I feel like we get a bad rap. It's just a stereotypical thing."
..On Tuesday, authorities for the first time released key details such as Sparkman's wrists being bound so loosely that he could have done the taping himself. Kentucky State Police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said an analysis found that the "fed" on his chest was written "from the bottom up."
He was touching the ground almost to his knees, and to survive "all Mr. Sparkman had to do at any time was stand up," she said.
…"Our investigation, based on evidence and witness testimony, has concluded that Mr. Sparkman died during an intentional, self-inflicted act that was staged to appear as a homicide," Rudzinski said.
..State Sen. Robert Stivers of Manchester also expressed sympathy for Sparkman's family but charged the media with rushing to "sensationalize" before all the facts were known.
"They have painted us with a brush that should have never been used," he said.
See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091125/ap_on_re_us/us_census_worker_hanged
6) Festival of mass animal sacrifice begins in Nepal (Idolatry alive and well!)
BARIYAPUR, Nepal – The ceremony began with prayers in a temple by tens of thousands of Hindus before dawn Tuesday. Then it shifted to a nearby corral, where in the cold morning mist, scores of butchers wielding curved swords began slaughtering buffalo calves by hacking off their heads.
Over two days, 200,000 buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons will be killed as part of a blood-soaked festival held every five years to honor Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.
See: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_re_as/as_nepal_animal_sacrifice
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