Good News for Anglicans–and All of Us!
Good News for Anglicans–and All of Us!
Rowan Williams is the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the symbolic leader of the 77 million members of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Protestant Episcopal Church of the U.S.A. is a member of this worldwide body. Archbishop Williams yesterday sent a six-page letter to 37 of his brother archbishops throughout the world. Titled “The Challenge and Hope of Being an Anglican Today,” the Archbishop’s letter proposes a new structure for the church. It may be necessary, the Archbishop writes, to introduce a covenant relationship in which the more orthodox Anglican churches–and their not so orthodox adherents in America and Canada–stand together. Many critical details remain to be worked out, and the Archbishop of Canterbury has no power to impose his view, but this is an important step in the right direction. If this proposal becomes policy, it may be possible for orthodox Anglican dioceses and parishes here and in Canada to avoid having to break away and risk losing church property, pensions, health plans, etc. This is clearly a rebuke to the leaders of the U.S. Episcopal Church who made no significant effort last week in their annual convention to repair the damage their consecration of V. Gene Robinson as a bishop had caused. Robinson is living with his male lover in New Hampshire. Archbishop Williams is clearly responding to the cries for justice he has heard from Asian and African bishops. They have cried out: “Don’t you believe the Bible you gave us?” It seems their cry is being heard. Thank God.
Chemical Weapons Found in Iraq
from the June 27, 2006 eNews issue
The current administration has received a great deal of criticism for its inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Pre-war intelligence has been called into question and mainstream news media reports state that no weapons have been found. However a recently declassified Defense Department report indicates that the United States has uncovered more than 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003. The report indicates that not only have weapons been discovered in Iraq, but that more weapons exist. It also stated that some weapons could have been sold on the black market. Furthermore, the possibility that these weapons could be used outside of Iraq could not be ruled out.
The Defense Department report is not the first proof of Saddam’s illicit weapons program. Unfortunately, such evidence has been overlooked, minimized, and even buried by the news media.
The Iraq Survey Group (ISG) has found “hundreds of cases of activities that were prohibited” under UN Security Council resolutions. The ISG reported to Congress that the evidence they had found on the ground in Iraq showed Saddam’s regime was in “material violation” of UN Security Council Resolution 1441, which promised “serious consequences” if Iraq did not make a complete disclosure of its weapons programs and dismantle them in a verifiable manner. According to the ISG, Iraq had “a clandestine network of laboratories and safe houses with equipment that was suitable to continuing its prohibited chemical- and biological-weapons programs.” As well as prohibited, long-range, ballistic, and scud missile programs, and even equipment for uranium-equipment centrifuges.
Stockpiles of pesticides and chemical agents that can be used to produce chemical weapons have been found, but critics argue those chemicals could be used for commercial and agricultural purposes, however that does not explain why the chemicals were found camouflaged in military bunkers six feet under the ground. The 4th Infantry Division found 55-gallon drums containing a substance identified through mass spectrometry analysis as cyclosarin – a nerve agent. Other tests identified the chemicals as pesticides, but nearby were surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles, gas masks and a mobile laboratory that could have been used to mix chemicals at the site. There is no doubt that Saddam had a weapons of mass destruction program, much of which was paid for with profits from oil smuggling and deals made through the UN oil-for-food program.
Prior to the war Iraq openly admitted it had produced at least 3.9 tons of VX poison gas, the deadliest nerve agent ever created, but never disclosed its location. According to government officials the VX gas could be stored in a facility the size of a garage, and when hidden in an area the size of the state of California, it is no wonder it has yet to be found. It is also important to remember, that when dealing with chemical weapons, a small amount of toxin can cause tremendous damage. For example, VX is a clear, colorless liquid the consistency of motor oil. A fraction of a drop of VX, absorbed through the skin, can kill by severely disrupting the nervous system. Although a cocktail of drugs can serve as an antidote, VX acts so quickly that victims would have to be injected with the antidote almost immediately to have a chance at survival. Similarly, one hundred milligrams of the nerve agent sarin – about one drop – can kill the average person in a few minutes if he or she’s not given an antidote. Experts say sarin is more than 500 times as toxic as cyanide.
Saddam Hussein not only possessed weapons of mass destruction, he employed them on more than one occasion. For example, Saddam used chemical weapons on the Kurds in northern Iraq during a 1987-88 confrontation known as the Anfal campaign. The worst attack occurred in March 1988 in the Kurdish village of Halabja. A combination of chemical agents including mustard gas, sarin, and possibly VX killed 5,000 people and left 65,000 others facing severe skin and respiratory diseases, abnormal rates of cancer and birth defects, and a devastated environment. Experts say Saddam also launched about 280 smaller-scale chemical attacks against the Kurds. During that same time period Iraqi soldiers rounded up more than 100,000 Kurds, mostly men and boys, and executed them.
The acquisition of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons by both terrorists and rogue nations is perhaps one of the greatest threats to our national security. Some may argue that our invasion of Iraq was not justified because pre-war intelligence was flawed. However the evidence clearly shows that such a conclusion is an over-simplified distortion of the truth.
Related Links:
• Hundreds of WMDs Found in Iraq – FOX News
• Report of the Special Advisor to the DCI on Iraq’s WMD – CIA
• Declassified NGIC Report – US House Intelligence Committee
• Strategic Trends: Weapons Proliferation – Koinonia House
Hundreds of WMDs discovered in Iraq
Bombshell report notes 500 chemical weapons including sarin, mustard gas, more to be found
Posted: June 21, 2006
10:39 p.m. Eastern
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
 Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. |
The U.S. has located some 500 chemical weapons in Iraq since 2003 with more likely to be found, according to two Republican members of Congress trumpeting a newly declassified portion of a government report.
“We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons,” Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., said at an afternoon news conference.
Santorum read from a declassified portion of a report by the National Ground Intelligence Center, a Defense Department intelligence unit, which noted: “Since 2003, coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent. Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.”
The Pennsylvania senator, who appeared with Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, outlined six key points contained in the unclassified overview:
(Click to read the declassified portion of the NGIC report in PDF format)
- Since 2003 Coalition forces have recovered approximately 500 weapons munitions which contain degraded mustard or sarin nerve agent.
- Despite many efforts to locate and destroy Iraq’s pre-Gulf War chemical munitions, filled and unfilled pre-Gulf War chemical munitions are assessed to still exist.
- Pre-Gulf War Iraqi chemical weapons could be sold on the black market. Use of these weapons by terrorists or insurgent groups would have implications for Coalition forces in Iraq. The possibility of use outside Iraq cannot be ruled out.
- The most likely munitions remaining are sarin and mustard-filled projectiles.
- The purity of the agent inside the munitions depends on many factors, including the manufacturing process, potential additives, and environmental storage conditions. While agents degrade over time, chemical warfare agents remain hazardous and potentially lethal.
- It has been reported in open press that insurgents and Iraqi groups desire to acquire and use chemical weapons.
“I never doubted for a second that this day would come because we knew [Saddam Hussein] had them,” said host Sean Hannity on “Hannity & Colmes.” “It’s funny to watch liberals [who complain], ‘Bush lied! He hyped! He misled!’ … How about liberals now apologize to the country?”
“These are not the weapons that we went to war over,” Democrat strategist Laura Schwartz responded. “It does not tell us that Saddam Husssein had an ongoing, active weapons program.”
One senior Defense Department official told Fox News the chemical weapons were not in useable conditions.
“This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991,” the official said, adding the munitions “are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war.”
Also appearing on Fox News was former U.N. weapons inspector Tim Trevan, who said some of the weapons could still have posed a danger, even in a deteriorated state.
“Sarin could be a danger,” he said. “The mustard, the problem is when it sits in the munition for a very long time in these high temperatures, it polymerizes. It goes from a liquid to a gooey mass.”
“Probably more important is why has the administration not made this public beforehand,” retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerny said of the report. “I think the fact is that the Russians moved large stocks [of WMDs] out in the fall of 2002. … They went into three locations into Syria, in one location in the Bekaa Valley. If you get in there and if you found those weapons and found the precursors, the fingerprints would go back to Russia, China and France. Now those are the three countries that had the most conventional weapons sales to Saddam Hussein. … I believe they were complicit. So I don’t think the administration wants to trash three of the five members of the [U.N.] Security Council.”
In Defense of the Constitution
In Defense of the Constitution
News & Analysis
025/06 June 25, 2006
CAIR: Deciding Who is a Muslim?
The council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has appointed itself an additional mission; deciding who may call themselves a “Muslim”. Various law enforcement agencies recently rounded up a group of seven Miami, Florida men on terrorism charges:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/22/miami.raids/
Shortly after the arrests, CAIR spokesperson Ahmed Bedier had this to say:
“Given that the reported beliefs of this bizarre group have nothing to do with Islam, we ask members of the media to refrain from calling them ‘Muslims”
http://www.cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2196&theType=NR
The truth, an alien institution not quite fully understood or welcome at CAIR, may be an entirely different matter.
From CNN news:
“Narseal Batiste, considered the recruiter of the group, according to the document, tried to reach out to al Qaeda by contacting someone who was an FBI operative posing as a member of the terrorist network.”
“Batiste allegedly told the informant that he was organizing an Islamic army to wage a jihad in the United States.”
From the indictment:
“The conspirators pledged an oath to al Qaeda and supported a purported mission of al Qaeda to destroy FBI buildings within the United States.”
“…document said that Batiste wanted to “attend al Qaeda training, along with five of his soldiers, during the second week of April and further detailed his mission to wage a ‘full ground war’ against the United States in order to ‘kill all the devils we can’ … beginning with the destruction of the Sears Tower.”
“…accuses the seven men of swearing an oath of loyalty to al Qaeda.”
Now that Bedier has demonstrated his new-found ability to determine just who is, and who is not, a Muslim, maybe he can help point out Muslim terrorists?
Mr. Bedier? North America is waiting…
Andrew Whitehead
Director
Anti-CAIR (ACAIR)
ajwhitehead@anti-cair-net.org
www.anti-cair-net.org
ADVISORY:
Subscribers are warned that the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) may contact your employer if CAIR believes you are using a work address to receive any material that CAIR believes may be offensive. CAIR has been known to shame employers into firing employees CAIR finds disagreeable. For that reason, we strongly suggest that corporate e-mail users NOT use a corporate e-mail account/address when communicating with ACAIR or CAIR. We make every reasonable effort to protect our mailing list, but we cannot guarantee confidentiality. ACAIR does not share, loan, sell, rent or otherwise publicize our mailing list. We respect your privacy!
TIPS:
All persons are invited to submit tips and leads. ACAIR will acknowledge receipt of all tips/leads, but we will NOT acknowledge the source of ANY tip or lead in our Press Releases or on our web site. Exceptions are made for leading media personalities at the discretion of ACAIR and only on request of the person(s) submitting the tip or lead.
Major Media Outlets, Including New York Times, Lose the American Perspective
by BCN Founder, Publisher, Steve Shultz : Jun 25, 2006 : Breaking Christian News
“I wonder when it will occur to them that mainstream America is still Patriotic, still wants to be protected, still wants their women and children to be protected, and yes, they still believe that ‘loose lips sink ships.’”
As a student in the late 60’s and early 70’s public High School, once or twice I was asked to play “taps” at a military funeral. It was sobering to say the least.
Vietnam, I’m pretty sure, was where [the soldiers were] killed but they never told me, and I was too shy to ask. I remember well the black arm bands the students wore in those days, as they walked out of class one day to protest the war.
I guess I never “got” it. Weren’t our brave soldiers trying to stop the Godless Communism attempting to take over the world? To this day, I’m sure they were. To this day my heart goes out to Vietnam Vets.
By only a few months, I missed the possibility of being drafted and sent to Vietnam. I would have gladly served my country, though, to be honest, I was relieved when the war ended so I didn’t have to go. At that time, my “conscientious objector” status meant to me I would willingly go, but I would seek to be a military medic-to save lives on the Battle Field.
Now 9/11 has happened. Less died at Pearl Harbor than in the Twin Towers. Yet we’ve lost just over 2000 men and women American soldiers fighting as a result. 400,000 men and women American soldiers, and nurses died because of the Pearl Harbor attack. Overall, as many as 50 MILLION died in World War II.
I just got back from Washington, DC yesterday, with my wife and daughter. Two days ago we visited “The Tomb of the Unknown soldier” at Arlington National Cemetery. To my surprise (though I’ve been there 5-6 times since I was a teenager), this one visit to the tomb left me weeping during the ceremonies of the changing of the guard. Frankly I “lost it” in tears, and used everything in my power to just weep silently. I just wept and trembled, as I kneeled during the ceremonies.
From there, we went directly to the new World War II Memorial on the National Mall. It’s beautiful, yet highly sobering.
While at the WWII memorial, I read, engraved in granite – as if in yesterday’s newspaper – these words: ” . . . the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked.” It sounded like I was reading about September 11, 2001, but no, it was about December 7, 1941.
I’ve recently watched news anchors or guests ask on the major media channels, “Would you send your own son to die in Iraq?” And I’ve thought to myself, “Don’t they know it’s an all-volunteer military and there is no draft? And don’t they know no father or mother has the right to “send” any child? You have to be an adult to sign up, you have to sign on the dotted line, and take an oath to serve, and to protect America, not based on your opinions, but rather based on what the Commander-in-Chief asks of you.
Later, I surprised my wife on the flight back home by saying to her, “You should be glad I’m 50 years old and would not be accepted as an enlistee in the military. While I have no hatred in my heart, I would nevertheless feel like carrying a weapon to protect and serve my country, my family, and I would want to honor the sitting Commander-in-Chief, regardless of their political affiliation. I would do it to further the cause of freedom.
But that’s just me.
I’ve heard lately from some famous people that “patriotism” isn’t “in” right now. I beg to differ. That’s not what the women we call “Rosie-the-Riveters” of the WWII era felt. And I don’t believe most feel this way today. Patriotism IS still “in.” The “Rosies” of WWII wanted to build ships to protect and serve their country.
There was a saying back then. “Loose lips sink ships.” Very few people and certainly not the national media – during the days of Hitler – would’ve willingly given aid and comfort to the enemy, either in writing or on television, by telling Hitler what our exact war and intelligence strategies were.
During WWII, American Patriots, citizens, and soldiers would not have even considered giving away to the enemy – through public dispersal – the secret codes, or intelligence strategies the U.S. government was using, as to how we were obtaining information about our enemies’ plans.
I don’t believe they would have said to themselves, “We’ll just tell the American people because after all, Hitler probably already knows our secrets anyway.” Yet you hear that in some media circles today.
Saddam Hussein, prior to our part in his “regime change, promised $25,000 to every family who sent homicide bombers to kill innocent women and children who were Jewish.
It’s now being reported that indeed we have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Some, but not all of them were secreted away before our armies got to Iraq. Saddam didn’t want to be caught red-handed. But they are, and they were there . . . WMD.
Hitler wanted to kill anyone that was not of true German descent – the “Arian Race” he called them. Others want to kill anyone who is American, or who is Jewish, or who loves the Jewish people, or anyone who doesn’t hold their exact ideology. What a shame that we should defend those people. Against evil we fight – and that continues to be fighting evil for our own freedom.
If this war isn’t WWIII, it’ll do until WWIII comes along, I’d say.
So to my shock, today we have the NY Times, LA Times, and even the Wall Street Journal trumpeting the concept that privacy issues are even more important than protecting our own Women and Children. After all, the inference is, that our enemies already know our strategies of war and of tracking them, so why not tell the American people. Even David of the Old Testament would not hear of such a concept.
And now,the NY Times is planning to report on Sunday that “Saddam Hussein believes the Americans may reinstall him as president of Iraq.”
I believe there comes a time when media outlets simply go too far, and they hurt themselves by “shooting themselves in the foot.” That time is now.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think they’ve already begun doing just that. Perhaps someone will tell them to wake up, and just stop it.
Many of these major publications are losing subscribers as we speak. I wonder when it will occur to them that mainstream America is still Patriotic, still wants to be protected, still wants their women and children to be protected, and yes, they still believe that “loose lips sink ships.”
Back in WWII, if you told the wrong person the right secret, many would die. To those in the major media who would do this, I would ask you the same question; “Would you send your son or daughter to die in battle? If not, then why print our military strategies so that the enemy can use them against us? Your loose lips may end up causing the death of many. May it NOT be so.”
Bush seals the deal: ‘In God We Trust’ is official state motto
Article published Jun 23, 2006
Bush seals the deal: ‘In God We Trust’ is official state motto
By Paul Flemming
CAPITOL BUREAU
You just thought “In God We Trust” was Florida’s state motto.
After all, isn’t it there on the state seal? Been there since Reconstruction days?
It’s there, all right, but a search of state statutes would come up empty.
Until Thursday.
Gov. Jeb Bush signed into law a bill that makes “In God We Trust” the state’s motto not just by custom since 1868, but officially.
“It wasn’t until Andrew Killinger and Samual Ard, two industrious fourth-graders at Maclay School here in Tallahassee, couldn’t find the motto in our laws and started the process of getting it adopted,” Bush said. “Thanks to their efforts . . . we will sign this bill into law.”
The 10-year-olds were nonchalant about their success Thursday. The final act started with a class assignment to write about the state motto. That hit a snag when they discovered that an official one didn’t exist.
“We thought we’d get a bad grade,” Andrew said.
“I didn’t really believe it,” Samual said.
But their lobbyist parents suggested doing something about it. They approached Rep. Greg Evers, a Baker Republican, who sponsored the bill.
Bush signed the law at a public ceremony during this year’s Boys State, a leadership convention of teen boys sponsored by the American Legion.
Evers said it’s a testament to citizen involvement.
“This is a statement that will ring throughout the state,” Evers said. “Government is of the people and by the people. Sometimes we as elected officials forget that. This takes it back to the grass roots.”
Lori Killinger, Andrew’s mother, said it didn’t hurt to have appealing boys carrying the bill through committee hearings.
“It was a state motto that could have brought out people who opposed it,” she said. “I was very mindful of that.”
A House staff analysis raised the issue of constitutionality, but concluded that federal courts have said mentioning God is OK.
“It is quite obvious that . . . ‘In God We Trust’ has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion. Its use is of patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise,” ruled the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Arizona, Ohio and South Dakota also have state mottoes that mention God.
The bill sailed through, passing both House and Senate unanimously.
“I knew it was a real success story when people wanted to get on the bill,” with amendments, Lori Killinger said.
District pulls plug on speech
Foothill valedictorian criticizes decision to censor her proclamation of faith
By ANTONIO PLANAS
REVIEW-JOURNAL
 Foothill High School Valedictorian Brittany McComb is pictured at her Henderson home on Friday. McComb’s speech at the high school’s graduation ceremony on Thursday was cut short because officials said its religious references crossed over into proselytizing. Photo by K.M. Cannon. |
She knew her speech as valedictorian of Foothill High School would be cut short, but Brittany McComb was determined to tell her fellow graduates what was on her mind and in her heart.
But before she could get to the word in her speech that meant the most to her — Christ — her microphone went dead.
The decision to cut short McComb’s commencement speech Thursday at The Orleans drew jeers from the nearly 400 graduates and their families that went on for several minutes.
However, Clark County School District officials and an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union said Friday that cutting McComb’s mic was the right call. Graduation ceremonies are school-sponsored events, a stance supported by federal court rulings, and as such may include religious references but not proselytizing, they said.
They said McComb’s speech amounted to proselytizing and that her commentary could have been perceived as school-sponsored.
Before she delivered her commencement speech, McComb met with Foothill administrators, who edited her remarks. It’s standard district practice to have graduation speeches vetted before they are read publicly.
School officials removed from McComb’s speech some biblical references and the only reference to Christ.
But even though administrators warned McComb that her speech would get cut short if she deviated from the language approved by the school, she said it all boiled down to her fundamental right to free speech.
That’s why, for what she said was the first time in her life, the valedictorian who graduated with a 4.7 GPA rebelled against authority.
“I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech,” McComb said. “God’s the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior.”
In the 750-word unedited version of McComb’s speech, she made two references to the lord, nine mentions of God and one mention of Christ.
In the version approved by school officials, six of those words were omitted along with two biblical references. Also deleted from her speech was a reference to God’s love being so great that he gave his only son to suffer an excruciated death in order to cover everyone’s shortcomings and forge a path to heaven.
Allen Lichtenstein, general counsel for the ACLU of Nevada, had read the unedited version of McComb’s speech and said district officials did the right thing by cutting McComb’s speech short because her commentary promoted religion.
“There should be no controversy here,” Lichtenstein said. “It’s important for people to understand that a student was given a school-sponsored forum by a school and therefore, in essence, it was a school-sponsored speech.”
Lichtenstein said that position was supported by two decisions by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in 2000 and 2003.
Both cases involved graduation ceremonies and religious speeches given by commencement speakers. In the 2003 case, Lichtenstein said, the plaintiff even petitioned the Supreme Court to have the decision reversed, but the request was denied.
In 2003, the Clark County School Board amended district regulations on religious free speech, prohibiting district officials from organizing a prayer at graduation or selecting speakers for such events in a manner that favors religious speech or a prayer.
The remainder of the amendment allows for religious expression during school ceremonies.
Where students or other private graduation speakers are selected on the basis of genuinely neutral, evenhanded criteria and retain primary control over the content of their expression, however, that expression is not attributable to the school and, therefore, may not be restricted because of its religious (or anti-religious) content,” it states.
“To avoid any mistaken perception that a school endorses student or other private speech that is not in fact attributable to the school, school officials may make appropriate neutral disclaimers to clarify that such speech is not school sponsored.”
District legal counsel Bill Hoffman said the regulation allows students to talk about religion, but speeches can’t cross into the realm of preaching.
“We review the speeches and tell them they may not proselytize,” Hoffman said. “We encourage people to talk about religion and the impact on their lives. But when that discussion crosses over to become proselytizing, then we to tell students they can’t do that.”
McComb, who will study journalism at Biola University, a private Christian school in La Mirada, Calif., doesn’t believe she was preaching. She said although some people might not like the message of her speech, it was just that, her speech.
“People aren’t stupid and they know we have freedom of speech and the district wasn’t advocating my ideas,” McComb said. “Those are my opinions.
“It’s what I believe.”
Christian FamilyNet Casts In With Sirius, Catching Broader Radio Audience
By Allie Martin
June 23, 2006
(AgapePress) – A secular satellite radio network, well known for its association with notorious “shock jock” Howard Stern, is now attracting a large audience because of its addition of a Christian channel.
It was several years ago that Sirius Satellite Radio was launched nationwide in the United States; however, it was last year that the company sent out a listener survey, asking customers what other types of formats they would like made available. That survey revealed to company officials that many of their listeners wanted a Christian format offered on satellite radio.
With that end Sirius officials contacted FamilyNet, the broadcast ministry of the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Scott Miller, program director for FamilyNet Radio, says the Christian channel, which features a variety of Christian talk, news, preaching, and children’s programs, has already made a big impact with Sirius customers.
“It goes back to what scripture says: what the enemy intended for evil, God has used for good,” Miller observes. “Sirius Satellite has been advertised as the Howard Stern radio network, and there have been people who have been buying Sirius Satellite radios to get Howard Stern that have stumbled across Channel 159 and have accepted Christ.”
The FamilyNet spokesman says satellite radio provides an expansive platform for Christian ministry, even though some have questioned its use by evangelical broadcasters. “It is a growing medium,” he says. “It’s another option.”
And, while some people have questioned why the Christian radio channel is on the same network as Howard Stern, Miller compares that to asking why have FamilyNet Television on cable where HBO’s offered. “You’ve got to have the gospel presented,” he insists, “and it’s just been a tremendous outreach for us.”
There are more than four million subscribers to Sirius Satellite Radio. That number is expected to reach six million by the end of 2006.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
Times Cripples Another Terrorist Surveillance Program
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Posted by: Clay Waters
6/23/2006 11:10:04 AM
The Times’ notorious tag team of intelligence reporters, Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, again reveal details of a terrorist surveillance program while ignoring the concerns and personal pleas from the White House. The same team that handled the NSA “domestic spying” scoop has Friday’s lead story on another classified surveillance program, this one involving international bank transfers (“Bank Data Sifted In Secret By U.S. To Block Terror”), which may well sabotage the usefulness of the program.
“Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.
“The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas and into and out of the United States. Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database.
Viewed by the Bush administration as a vital tool, the program has played a hidden role in domestic and foreign terrorism investigations since 2001 and helped in the capture of the most wanted Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia, the officials said.”
If there’s anything illegal about the program, the Times gives no indication of it, but simply tries to raise doubts, speaking of concerns about “gray areas” and “appropriateness” and noting darkly: “The program, however, is a significant departure from typical practice in how the government acquires Americans’ financial records. Treasury officials did not seek individual court-approved warrants or subpoenas to examine specific transactions, instead relying on broad administrative subpoenas for millions of records from the cooperative, known as Swift. That access to large amounts of confidential data was highly unusual, several officials said, and stirred concerns inside the administration about legal and privacy issues.”
The Times itself reports that with Friday’s big story, it has once again snubbed a Bush administration request not to publish an article on a terror-surveillance program: “The Bush administration has made no secret of its campaign to disrupt terrorist financing, and President Bush, Treasury officials and others have spoken publicly about those efforts. Administration officials, however, asked The New York Times not to publish this article, saying that disclosure of the Swift program could jeopardize its effectiveness. They also enlisted several current and former officials, both Democrat and Republican, to vouch for its value.
“Bill Keller, the newspaper’s executive editor, said: ‘We have listened closely to the administration’s arguments for withholding this information, and given them the most serious and respectful consideration. We remain convinced that the administration’s extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest.’”
The Times itself quotes Dana Perino, White House deputy press secretary: “The president is concerned that once again The New York Times has chosen to expose a classified program that is working to protect our citizens.”
That apparently doesn’t bother the paper very much.
In the 37th paragraph, Lichtblau and Risen finally get into the program’s successes, which might be curtailed because of the report from the Times: “The Swift data has provided clues to money trails and ties between possible terrorists and groups financing them, the officials said. In some instances, they said, the program has pointed them to new suspects, while in others it has buttressed cases already under investigation.
Among the successes was the capture of a Qaeda operative, Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, believed to be the mastermind of the 2002 bombing of a Bali resort, several officials said. The Swift data identified a previously unknown figure in Southeast Asia who had financial dealings with a person suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda; that link helped locate Hambali in Thailand in 2003, they said.
In the United States, the program has provided financial data in investigations into possible domestic terrorist cells as well as inquiries of Islamic charities with suspected of having links to extremists, the officials said.”
The Times soon returns to relaying fuzzy concerns about the propriety, if not the legality, of the surveillance of international wire transactions.
Stephen Spruiell hits hard at the Times’ irresponsible Pulitzer-sniffing:
“According to the NYT’s own reporting, the program is legal. The program is helping us catch terrorists. The administration has briefed the appropriate members of Congress. The program has built-in safeguards to prevent abuse. And yet, with nothing more than a vague appeal to the ‘public interest’ (which apparently is not outweighed in this case by the public’s interest in apprehending terrorists), the NYT disregards all that and publishes intimate, classified details about the program. Keller and his team really do believe they are above the law. When it comes to national security, it isn’t the government that should decide when secrecy is essential to a program’s effectiveness. It is the New York Times. National security be damned. There are Pulitzers to be won.”
And Bryan at Hot Air says: “Call me crazy, but since the program is legal and since the administration argues it has helped stop terror attacks, isn’t the weight of the public’s interest in this story on the side of keeping the program under wraps so that it can continue to stop terrorists?”
Michelle Malkin is collecting outraged letters to the editor the Times won’t find fit to print.
Why did Jesus teach in parables?
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We want you to be encouraged!
We wanted you to be encouraged today.
This is a letter we just received from a 15 year old listener.
Your support makes this and many other stories possible.
Thank you for partnering with us to bring the amazing Good News through Way of the Master Radio.
Kirk, Ray, Todd and Everyone at Way of the Master Radio.
Dear Todd,
I am sitting here with butterflies in my stomach, I have so much I would like to thank you for but I do not know where to start. I LOVE your show. When I was a little kid about 7 years old and I was taught that if I love Jesus, and “ask him in my heart” I would be saved. I believed that, I really did, so i asked him in my heart EVERY NIGHT. Most nights I would stay up crying because I just felt like it was not enough. The only message I would hear was “Invite him into your heart.”
Then I heard your show one day, my first time and you had on a show about not asking Jesus into your heart, I literally froze. I first started to think, “What? Is he not a Christian?!?!” Then I decided to stop doing what I was doing and listen. You talked about repenting, and trusting in God and it all sunk in. I am so greatful I heard your show when I did, I honestly now realize what I fool I was. I have started to witness and reading the bible every morning before school, and at night with my family.
I just want to thank you again. I am only 15, and go to school. But I just listen on line while doing homework or in my free time.
-Nicole
LivingWaters.com
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Bellflower, CA 90706
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The Way of the Master
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877-496-8688
Evangelistic Radio Show Finds Eager Ears Among Saved, Unsaved Audiences
By Allie Martin
June 20, 2006
(AgapePress) – A ministry that teaches Christians the art of biblical evangelism through a television show and a website is now finding an even larger audience through its latest extension — a radio program launched earlier this year.
Each week “The Way of the Master” television program, a 30-minute show hosted by evangelist Ray Comfort and actor-evangelist Kirk Cameron, airs in more than 100 nations. The show’s aim is to teach Christians to share their faith using scripture to help lost people recognize their sinfulness and their need for a Savior.
In January, “The Way of the Master” began airing on radio. Joel Anderson, producer of the radio program, says the audio incarnation of this Christian witnessing how-to program has already touched many lives.
“Every day we get over 100 e-mails from people who are listening, and from two segments,” Anderson notes. One segment is comprised of people who were not saved when they initially tuned in, he says, but who have listened to the show, “they’ve heard the gospel soundly preached and taught, and they got saved.”
The other group, the radio producer adds, is made up of believers who listen to the show. These Christians are convicted and “really convinced that they need to get out there and share their faith,” he says, “and we equip them through the radio show.”
“The Way of the Master” radio show is a live, two-hour broadcast, and Anderson says it is in many ways unique. “If anybody has ever seen the TV series,” he notes, “it’s really taking the TV to a daily radio show, where we get on the streets, share faith with Muslims, college students, your next-door neighbor, even pulling names out of a phone book and witnessing live over the phone.”
The broadcast’s spokesman says “The Way of the Master” radio show is dedicated to “equipping believers to biblically share their faith using … moral law, the Ten Commandments, to work the conscience and to break through that pride that many people exhibit.”
“Way of the Master Radio” is available on land-based stations, satellite radio, and also on podcast. The broadcast has already demonstrated a tremendous impact on saved and unsaved listeners alike, and Anderson believes its outreach will continue to expand as it helps more and more listeners discover how to share in and extend to others the love of Christ.
Allie Martin, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
Lesbian Teens at Higher Risk for Suicide
from staff reports
Correct information about how to deal with same-sex attraction is a key to combating depression. A new study by the McCreary Centre Society reports lesbian teens are almost five times more likely to attempt suicide than are heterosexual girls. The survey revealed that nearly four out of 10 lesbian girls say they have attempted suicide in the last year, compared to 8.2 percent of heterosexual girls. Melissa Fryrear said there’s a reason why the numbers are so high. “Regrettably, they think they have to embrace homosexuality because pro-gay advocates told them that they were born gay,” she said. “And that is absolutely not true.” Fryrear added there are underlying factors in same-sex attraction that may contribute to the depression. “For example, the disproportionate number of women struggling with lesbianism have been sexually abused,” she noted. Randy Thomas, membership director of Exodus International, said sharing the whole truth about the causes of same-sex attraction is crucial. “People who are conflicted about their sexual identity,” he told Family News in Focus, “should be given education on what it means to deal with same-sex attraction.” That’s why Fryrear offers solid information to those she counsels. “Sharing with them accurate information about homosexuality, for example, that it’s not genetic, that it can be overcome, is important,” she said. “Then helping them to resolve the underlying factors of their same-sex attraction.” FOR MORE INFORMATION Warning : This book represents an accurate portrayal of the attitudes, attire and vocabulary of many young people struggling with homosexuality, which some readers may find offensive.
You can overcome same-sex feelings and desires and You Don’t Have to Be Gay leads the way. Birthed out of his own struggles, author Jeff Konrad seeks to educate people on the root causes of homosexuality and offers sound counsel on changing one’s homosexual identity. Based on a series of letters written to a struggling friend, You Don’t Have to Be Gay is both informal and personal.
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Pastor Beaten by Radicals While Police Watch
Pastor Beaten by Radicals While Police WatchBrought to you by The Voice of Martyrs |
Pastor M. Aharon While distributing Christian literature, Pastor M. Aharon, was mercilessly assaulted by a group of militant Hindus. He was assaulted for converting Hindus and Muslims to Christianity. His face was covered with blood from heavy blows to his mouth and nose. He survived the brutal attack at the hands of Hindu radicals in the town of Nizamabad, Andhra Pradesh, located about 300 miles east of Bombay in central India. During this violent incident, a mob of over 100 Hindu radicals cheered and yelled in support of the attack on Pastor Aharon, inciting the rest of the crowd to turn against him. Police stood by as the extensive attack was being carried out, and the constables even prevented the pastor from escaping. Only after Aharon could barely hold himself up did police begin to escort him from the tumultuous scene. They carried out their attack plan as a secret mission to keep other pastors from spreading the gospel in India. Pastor Aharon, who has led 700 Hindus and Muslims to Christ and has established 12 churches in this community, has outraged radical Hindus and Muslims. When a VOM contact asked Pastor Aharon what was going through his mind during the attack, he said, “I remembered Christ and many others persecuted for their faith in the last twenty centuries.” Please take this opportunity to request your free subscription to The Voice of the Martyrs monthly newsletter. You will read some of the most courageous stories and find practical ways you can get involved. |
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