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John Kerry's Iraq Speech at New York University (Monday September 20, 2004)
Something after the wreckage of the fraudulent Dan Rather memos and the lame Democratic Fortunate Son campaign (the target is Bush by the way, not candidate Kerry).
So it's six days after Kerry delivered his plan for Iraq.
Do you recall any of it? Does the candidate?
It's no wonder that after this speech he began to lose support from voters who were for the war and voters who were against the war.
The current theory is that his new team, Team Clinton with Joe Lockhart and James Carville is trying to make Kerry's crater as deep as possible.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:27 PM Permalink
New York Post: Positive Cat Scan
September 23, 2004 -- Pop star-turned-Islamic activist Cat Stevens flew back to London yesterday after being refused entry into the United States for activities "potentially linked to terrorism," Homeland Security officials said.The alarm-raising activity that landed British-born Stevens on the U.S. government's "no fly" terrorist watch list was not disclosed, but a Homeland Security official said it involved financial support given to a terrorist organization since his last visit in May.
"It's stuff that he recently did," the official said, noting that Stevens — who adopted the Muslim name Yusuf Islam in 1977 — would have been on the "no fly" list and barred from entering the U.S. in May if the activity had taken place earlier.
"We've had our eye on him, and have known about him," the official said, referring to past charges — denied by Islam — that he had donated money to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.
"But recently the intelligence community came into possession of additional information that heightened our security concerns towards Yusuf," he said.
He noted that the immigration charge cited in denying Stevens entry into the U.S. "would typically be used for providing financial support to terrorist organizations."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw questioned Islam's deportation at a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell at the United Nations yesterday, according to a British Foreign Office spokeswoman. Straw "expressed concern that this action should not have been taken," she said.
U.S. officials are now trying to find out how Islam was allowed to leave London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday on Washington, D.C.-bound United Flight 919.
Once the flight was airborne, its passenger list was transmitted to the Advance Passenger Information System, which found Islam's name on "numerous" terrorist watch lists, officials said.
The flight was diverted to Bangor, Maine, where Islam was questioned and taken into custody for deportation to Britain. One of his five children, a 21-year-old daughter, had accompanied him on the flight and was allowed into the U.S., but opted to remain with her father.
The two were escorted by Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents from Bangor to Boston's Logan Airport, where they took a United flight to Washington, D.C., and caught a connecting flight to London.
Islam, who was named Steve Georgiou when he was born to a Greek father and Swedish mother in 1947, took the stage name Cat Stevens when he began singing professionally. After making it big with hits that included "Peace Train" and "Morning Has Broken," he converted to Islam and renounced his musical career.
If I recall correctly at the time Islam denied that Hamas was a terrorist organization not that he financially supported them.
One thing that's clearly on the record is that he supported the fatwa against Salman Rushdie.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:02 PM Permalink
The Spanish voted in Socialists because of the successful Madrid bombing, as a bonus they get accelerated Islamization. UK Telegraph
The Spanish government sparked a furious row yesterday after it emerged that it had drawn up a timetable to halve state funding of the Roman Catholic Church and to ban crucifixes from public buildings.
Blogger Credit: Catholic World News, Fr. Wilson
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:49 PM Permalink
Negotiations
To find a shooting war that did not involve Islamic militancy or some aspect of a civil war in our recent past I found one:
The Falklands War.
A lot of things went right in the conduct of that war:
- combantants wore uniforms
- attempts were made to limit civilian casualties
- the "Red Cross" was respected and not used to transport weapons
- negotiations started immediately
- POW's were not maltreated and returned at the end of the war.
The war ended in a total defeat of Argentina. The military junta was overthrown a few months after the end of the war.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:02 PM Permalink
Middle East Media Research Institute: Latest News
Breaking the silence, a Muslim professor lays responsibility for terrorism on Muslims.
Mundir Badr Haloum, a lecturer at a Syrian University, wrote a column in the Lebanese daily Al-Safir stating that Muslims today are responsible for terrorism around the globe, and calling for Islamic religious reform in order to bring Muslims back onto the stage of history not through suicide attacks, but rather by other means. The following are excerpts from the column:'Ignominious Terrorism Exists, and One Cannot but Acknowledge its Being Islamic'
"Twelve Nepalese citizens are slaughtered – Islam. A metro station is bombed – Islam. Civilian aircraft crash – Islam. A school is taken and the souls of 50 children [are lost] for the soul of [each] terrorist – Islam. A bus is bombed here, a railway train there, and before that there were hospitals and theaters, etc … all of them Islamic acts. [Behind] the color green are exposed rivers red with blood, flowing in the streets and public squares. And Muslims everywhere.
"Islam is in the names of all of the organizations that decapitate using knives, all the while saying the Fatiha [the first chapter of the Koran, said as a prayer] before the slaughter. The victims are butchered in the Islamic way … Christians, Buddhists, and Jews… After all, they are only infidels, fuel for the blaze, enemies, or potential enemies, or the friends of enemies, or their neighbors, and so on. The soul has no value and the body parts are laid out and displayed on the tables of Islam … Islam … Islam. The Islamic press searches for something that will absolve 'Islam' of the crimes of the Shahada [martyrdom]… It is Islam that adorns television screens with body parts… Islam – whether those who praise its mercies like it or not – is the foul odor of the putrefaction of Islamic history and its stench, as well as [being] other things that are honorable, which some people like and others do not…
"Ignominious terrorism exists, and one cannot but acknowledge its being Islamic. Anyone who is unable to bear its ignominy and wishes to absolve himself of the ugly mark of terror which is stamped in our soul … must scrutinize the recesses of his mind and search out there the terror that conceals itself behind pretty and misleading names…"
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:57 PM Permalink
Buried in the comment boxes on Mark Shea's blog
is my question. The Pope regrets the war in Iraq. President Bush regrets it as well. However, where is there a statement from the Pope which condemns the United States for conducting an unjust war, or a statement even discussing the doctrine's application to the war?
I'll stipulate that many Cardinals have condemned the United States.
It's a difficult situation for a just war blogger because of the anti-war groupthink among Catholic bloggers that have concluded that because other anti-war Catholic bloggers discuss the war as if everyone knew the war was declared unjust.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:11 AM Permalink
Recommended Reading Department
Art Green has started Conservative Eyes. It's a news-filter/news-spotlight blog with Art's comments. Try it out.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:05 AM Permalink
Dick Morris has a challenge for Michael Moore
Morris has produced a DVD which exposes the lies of Fahrenheit 9/11. Fahrenhype 9/11
What he has to say on radio today was interesting. Kerry did have a number of supporters who were pro-war but with Kerry on social issues.
Now those supporters who believe that in this war, victory is the only option, they have only one candidate for victory, President Bush. Morris estimated this number as one-third of the Kerry supporters, I think that's a bit on the high side.
It's frightening to me and to Dick Morris that Kerry is showing contempt to the existing allies and to the provisional prime minister of Iraq. Get a clue, John Kerry, it's an American cause and not a Bush cause.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:13 PM Permalink
1010WINS: Catholic Priest Fights Resignation Call
A Westchester County priest has refused to resign from his parish church, saying he had not been given enough chance to defend his ministry and was willing to take his case to the Vatican.This is the first I've heard of this. Normally, pastoral assignments are like balls and strikes in baseball. You don't argue with the umpire about them.Rev. Anthony Giuliano, pastor of Holy Rosary Church in Hawthorne, was asked by Cardinal Edward Egan to resign in March and again in August following complaints by some parishioners that he was an ineffective and at times dishonest leader.
The suprise to me is that Egan "asked" in March and it didn't happen.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:58 PM Permalink
1010 WINS: Long Island Man Dies In Narrow Shaft
A water company worker who apparently dropped his wallet down a narrow shaft, died while trying to reach it. Suffolk County Police say the body of 60-year-old Bruce Martin was found yesterday wedged head-first in the shaft.Martin owned the Ocean Bay Park Water Company on Fire Island. His body was found by his employees yesterday, 24 hours after he went to check a water meter at 48 Traffic Avenue in Ocean Bay Park. Just his legs were sticking out of the shaft.
Police don't know how long Martin might have been stuck in the hole, or what the exact cause of death was.
A tragic accident. I use stories like this to tell my kids at home and my kids in class to always be ready for their meeting before the throne of Jesus.
There's a pattern of accidents like this - people don't appreciate the risks to their own life. The last one that comes to mind is when a woman jumped down on the subway tracks to retrieve a dropped cell phone.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:48 PM Permalink
Britney Wearing a Rosary
I've been looking for this photo online that I can photoshop and show you the rosary around her neck.
I guess I'll have to scan the copy from the paper at home.
This isn't unusual, by the way. Sometimes the New York Post acquires only the print rights and not the online rights for a photo.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:10 PM Permalink
News.com.au: Pope on pogo stick ruled offensive
A CARTOON featuring Pope John Paul II on a pogo stick has been scrapped following a wave of protests from the Roman Catholic Church.Popetown, featuring the voices of comedienne Ruby Wax as the pontiff and model Jerry Hall as a fame-hungry nun, was commissioned for the British digital TV channel BBC3.
The animation featured corrupt cardinals and an infantile pope who bounced around the Vatican on a pogo stick.
But BBC chiefs said in a statement that it was too offensive to broadcast.
"After a lot of consideration and consultation, balancing the creative risk with the potential offence to some parts of the audience, we have decided not to transmit the program," said BBC3 Controller Stuart Murphy.
"Despite all the creative energy that has gone into this project and the best efforts of everyone involved, the comic impact of the delivered series does not outweigh the potential offence it will cause," he added.
"There is a fine judgment line in comedy between the scurrilously funny and the offensive."
More than 6000 Roman Catholics had signed a petition demanding Popetown be scrapped, after excerpts of the planned show appeared on the Internet.
The Right Reverend Crispian Hollis, bishop of Portsmouth, who led protests against the show, welcomed the decision.
"It was obviously going to be a controversial program which would have caused offence, not least among the Catholic community who hold the person of the Holy Father in the highest regard and affection," he said.
"Any attempt to belittle or diminish his status as the leader of the Catholic Church is totally unacceptable, and not only to Catholics."
The Associated Press is also credited with this story
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:09 PM Permalink
AP: Florida court voids 'Terri's Law'
Dealing a defeat to Gov. Jeb Bush, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a law that was rushed through the Legislature last fall to keep a severely brain-damaged woman hooked to a feeding tube.So the AP considers this a purely political and legal question.The seven-member court unanimously said that Bush and lawmakers improperly tried to circumvent the court system in the case of Terri Schiavo, who has been at the center of a long and bitter right-to-die dispute that pits her husband against his in-laws.
To me it's a moral question. It looks unlikely that Terri will prevail at either the rehearing before the Florida Supreme Court -- or granted cert before the Supreme Court.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:28 PM Permalink
Another positive milestone in the Global War on Terror ocurred today.
The arrival of Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and the anticipation of free elections in Iraq is the trigger for Mark Shea to open up a debate that I thought was settled by the events of the Spring of 2003.
Catholic Answers has some background on the Just War Doctrine.
My opinion is that the Global War on Terror: in Afghanistan and Iraq is a just war. The United States is under attack by a cooperative network terrorist and terrorist-sponsoring states.
To take a step back, I believe that the use of atomic weapons in Japan to hasten the end of World War II was just and that the use of incideniary bombs against population centers like Dresden was unjust in that it lacked a military purpose.
Mark's position on the justice of the War is Iraq is clear. He believe the war not to conform to this doctrine. He's linked to this anti-war article Juan Cole: America were Iraq, What would it be Like
My own views from 2003 are in The Lepanto Group
If we didn't return the terrorism with military force, we'd find ourselves with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and people like him in New York City.
For different reasons, Democrats like John Kerry, and anti-war Catholics like Mark Shea hate the good news that comes from Iraq. The images served up by CBS News and al Jazeera and the images they want to see. The voice of "Mookie" al Sadr and not the voice Ayad Allawi is the voice they want to hear. This is because we are a democracy facing an election in which people are speaking out for the candidates they want.
Kerry has finally settled on his position: he is opposed to war and wants to withdraw from Iraq. In the chaos that is certain to follow, he will blame Bush and the Republicans. He's running against "Team America" just like he did in 1972. There's no museum in America that showcases the military achievements of John Kerry's four months in Vietnam -- no that museum is in Hanoi. Perhaps 40 years from now in the Islamic Museum that will occupy the former Vatican Museum, there will be a suitable memorial to President Kerry who lost the Global War on Terror.
The situation on the ground in Iraq is that there is no longer mass movements of armed militia as there were only months ago. People are settling down and getting on with their lives. al Sadr's surrender in Najaf was the last gasp of that movement. There is progress.
There's a small number of people who are well-funded and equipped by Syria, Iran, and perhaps the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia and they are capable of blowing up cars in front of police stations until they can be killed or captured. Do these killers really have the support of the people in the street?
Now is the time for solidarity with the people of Iraq to eliminate terrorism in their country.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:27 PM Permalink
Retuers: Pope condemns Israel fence (from November 2003)
"The construction of a wall between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people is seen by many as a new obstacle on the road to peaceful cohabitation," the pope said in his first comment on the controversial Israeli fence."In fact, the Holy Land does not need walls but bridges," he said, reading from a window overlooking the square.
UK Guardian: Two Israelis die tackling bomber
Two Israeli policemen died preventing a female suicide bomber from entering a packed Jerusalem bus shelter yesterday, probably saving many other lives.The 19 year-old Palestinian woman detonated the bomb when the policeman demanded to search a bag the authorities say contained about 5kg of explosive.
"She threw her head back and then there was an explosion," a witness, Debbie Segal, told Army radio. "A few seconds later, her body burst into flames."
Another witness, Binyamin Miller, said: "I thought there must be many people dead because the explosion seemed so loud and then the screaming started. A lot of people were very, very lucky today."
About 20 people were wounded, including a nine year-old boy.
The Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades named the bomber as Zainab Abu Salem from a Nablus refugee camp.
Jerusalem's police chief, Ilan Franco, said that the policemen had prevented many more deaths inside the bus shelter, where more than 20 people were waiting, or would have occurred had she boarded a rush-hour bus.
"The operation of border police officers today in Jerusalem ... prevented a very big attack," he said...
Jerusalem's mayor, Uri Lupolianski, led calls for the speeding up of the construction of the Israel's barrier through the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"This tragic attack should remind us that the government needs to hurry up and finish construction of the security fence", Mr Lupolianski asserted.
How many more people have to die without the fence and how many more lives need to be saved by the fence?
Several (according to some accounts all) of the female homicide/suicide bombers were for family honor. The women concerned were given the choice of being murdered by a member of their own family or dying with glory killing Israelis.
The time for the fence to come done is when 10 or 20 years have passed without death or injury at the hands of terrorists.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:48 PM Permalink
CBC News: Military won't drop charges against Matchee
A judge has ruled that there is enough evidence for Clayton Matchee to face a court martial in the torture and murder of Somali teenager Shidane Arone in 1992.But, the judge has once again ruled that Matchee is unfit to stand trial.
Before Matchee could be tried, he tried to kill himself. He failed and damaged his brain. He knew right from wrong before the suicide attempt, but now, apparently not.
I found it a fascinating story.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:55 PM Permalink
More on the Al Smith Dinner
When considering inviting 2 people to dinner there are 4 choices: invite both, neither, A but not B, B but not not A.
There's an excellent reason for Cardinal Egan not to invite Kerry: as a Cardinal, i.e. informally known as a Prince of the Church, he would be obligated to address Kerry as a Catholic for his contempt of unborn life. I think there would be a consensus that to not confront Kerry would be seen as a cowardice in a way that the other post-Roe Cardinals (Cooke and O'Connor) were not seen as cowards for cordial and even close relationships with pro-abortion Catholic politicians. Other Catholic politicians claimed with some justifaction that they hands were tied by the Supreme Court -- while they were not lifting a pinkie to promote the pro-life political cause, they were not seeking to extend it or champion abortion rights as Kerry has.
Kerry was not going to be invited. There might be a time to "love your enemy" but this is not the time. I pray for a conversion of heart in John Kerry.
Invite President Bush (George W., i.e. 43)?
Mark Shea argues that this invite would be seen as endoresement. And Catholic bishops shouldn't be in the business of giving endorsements.
So what? This is the teaching moment and it's passed through the Cardinal's fingers.
I take some small consolation in the fact that Bush has a excellent lead even though he is still well out of range for getting New York's electoral votes.
Or pehaps, the Cardinal's endorsement would not animate Catholics but only animate thge anti-Catholics.
Some bloggers believe that it is a mere invitation and not an honor. This is incorrect. It is a great honor.
Regarding former governor Hugh Carey, who despite serving two full terms from 1975 to 1982, he failed to make a mark in the history of New York state. From the time abortion entered the political landscape he was for it -- vetoing a parental consent law and reporting requrements. New York had a strange political landscape in the 1960's with there being a very liberal Republican governor aligned with liberal Democrats and conservatives struggling without a party.
Hugh Carey was personally admonished by Cardinal Cooke over his abortion advocacy and his invalid marriage to a divorced woman. Many years after he left politics, he regretted his actions while in politics. Now he's back like the prodigal son.
Is there's a principle involved in these invitations? How good does A have to be and how evil does B have to be before one is comfortable (to use another Cardinal's word) in inviting A and not inviting B?
Or does good and evil have nothing to do with it?
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 9:28 PM Permalink
Sorry for the late notice
The Song of Bernadette on Turner Classsic Movies at 8.00 PM Eastern
Can you read that line with you left eye? No. Can you read that line with your right eye? No. But doctor, I never learned to read.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:47 PM Permalink
Diocese of Tucson files for bankruptcy
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson filed for bankruptcy Monday, becoming the second U.S. diocese to seek court protection because of the cost of clerical sex abuse cases.Tucson Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas told parishioners in a letter that filing the voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization offered “the best opportunity for healing and for the just and fair compensation of those who suffered sexual abuse by workers for the church in our diocese.”
It remains to be seen how privacy claims to financial records will shield them from the court-apppointed trustees.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 11:26 PM Permalink
Living in the Real World...
If you don't see the difference between outlawing 399 out of 400 abortions and outlawing 0 out of 400 abortions, then I regret that I have nothing further to contribute. If you do see a difference between 0 and 399, then there's more about this in my blog.
If we can have 5 or 10 years where abortions are truly limited to cases of rape and incest, then perhaps we can go on to restricting all abortion with whoever we elect in 2012 or 2020.
And since Bush has agreed to run on the Republican party platform with its acknowledgement of the right to life, he remains in principle fully pro-life.
For all you anti-Bush-but-pro-life people out there, who is your candidate? How many states is he or she on the ballot?
The Republican Party is the pro-life Party. (and there's work ahead to keep it so.)
The Catholic Church is the pro-life religion.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 10:36 PM Permalink
Reminder: September 19 is
Talk Like a Pirate Day
argh...
|
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 7:13 PM Permalink
Recovering Hope in Beslan
The girl whose cross was shown in a photograph which was blogged in many place including here is alive and doing well but remains at great risk of future complications related to her wounds.
Blogger Credit: Mark Shea and Precinct 333
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 6:52 PM Permalink
Cardinal Egan's Choice
(as I blogged earlier, H.E. Edward Cardinal Egan has decided not to invite Senator Kerry and President Bush to the Al Smith Dinner)
What's so wrong with giving an appearance of a political endorsement, or plainly giving a political endorsement -- without using charitable contributions to do so? He's still an American citizen last time I checked.
Cardinal Egan has asked for the bowl of water and washed his hands in front of us.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 5:36 PM Permalink
Washington Times: Democrats accused of ripping Bush signs
A West Virginia man said yesterday that Democrats stole his family's Bush-Cheney campaign signs at an event featuring Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards.Discussed in Domenico Bettinelli's blog. bettnet.com where blogger meep commented on the Internet buzz that it was a staged event (another of Phil Parlock's sons being the union thug)-- her link is to Captain's Quarters a pro-Bush blog, although Captain Ed thinks Phil Parlock is just out for publicity and not simply a Bush supporter based on Parlock's history of appearing at the opposition's rallies."They just pounced on us," said Phil Parlock, who took his 11-year-old son, Alex, and 3-year-old daughter, Sophia, to the Democratic rally at Tri-State Airport in Huntington, W.Va.
Sophia became briefly famous yesterday when an Associated Press photo showing her in tears after Democrats tore her sign to pieces was posted on Matt Drudge's Web site, www.drudgereport.com.
I did a little digging and found the first accusation of this being staged here:
William Rivers Pitt makes a wild unsubstaniated accussation:
Take a long look at the young man in the gray shirt, and then take another look at the alleged union guy who tore up the sign. Am I the only one who sees a striking resemblance?Pitt doesn't mention if he found anyone else who agrees with him.
Dom wrote
Where did I say that the assault is justified? It’s illegal to mug people, but I still have to be prudent and now walk through dimly lit alleys at night. This guy was not prudent, taking his little girl someplace where he knew from experience they would be assaulted. The people who attacked them are still jerks, but this guy wasn’t too bright either.I agreee with Dom. As a parent to bring a child to a Kerry rally holding a Bush sign is imprudent—placing the child in a situation where a danger to her is forseeable and avoidable.
It's a sad comment on the United States that one has to anticipate violence at a pro-Kerry (he's the peace candidate) rally.
I would more strongly denounce a thug at a pro-Bush rally.
It was wrong to tear up the sign. The crimes are assault and theft. The correct action as a private event is to ask the person to leave and if they refuse it becomes a trespass. This had recently taken place as a Laura Bush event where a woman who was screaming at the First Lady was remove. For a public event, you’d have to leave the sign carrier (or screamer) alone.
It was very wrong to make an accusation in a blog — the MSM grabbed at to make points: Parlock used yet another son as a agent provacteur—and then to make the point that bloggers make wild charges that the MSM pick up.
Michelle Malkin has the story: “That’s ridiculous. This is a small town,” Parlock told me from his home in Huntington, W. Virginia. “Everyone would recognize him.”
In an interview with Glen Beck, Phil Parlock said he had no reason to expect that there would be violence. He doesn't sound phony in the interivew.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 4:08 PM Permalink
Clarification and Apology
I don't endorse all the stories I quote or link to here.
In fact, many of them are blasphemous and anti-Catholic. My intention is, as one of the few Catholic bloggers in the belly of the media beast working on 52nd St & Fifth Avenue, is to share with the Catholic readers some examples of the contempt that popular culture has with Christianity, or attempts to coopt the symbols of our faith. Today it is a model walking down the runway with a rosary, tomorrow it might be a chalice.
I hope that I can stimulate a conversation somewhere along the lines of "Did you know that Rick James in an interview promised that in the future he would do God's will, but for the time being he was going to do whatever he wanted to?" or "Did you see in New York, they had a bathing suit model try to grab attention by having her hold a rosary in her hands?"
There are many positive expressions of the Catholic faith such as all the pro-life activity going on during the Republican National Convention in New York City and I blog that as well.
I urge people defend the Catholic faith in word and action. Call talk radio. Write letters to the editor of a newspaper. Write a blog of your faith journey.
I start with a short prayer and then enter this into News Google: Catholic, and I hope I'm finding something that will enlighten me and then readers here.
posted by Patrick Sweeney at 1:32 PM Permalink