OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

The Israel Project reports
Several hundred Palestinian youths threw rocks at Jews praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City on Friday (March 5), prompting Israeli police to evacuate Jewish worshippers and enter the nearby Temple Mount compound to stop the violence. Israeli police used tear gas and stun grenades to subdue the stone-throwers. The confrontation injured about 18 Israeli police and 13 Palestinians.

Israeli Minister of Public Security Yitzhak Aharonovitch blamed Iran-backed Hamas for instigating the clashes. “I accuse the Palestinians, including Hamas operatives, of inciting the situation,” he said. Witnesses said Palestinian worshippers were waving Hamas flags at the scene. In recent years Hamas has funded projects on the Temple Mount to increase its influence there, according to Israeli security services.
 
One Jerusalem reports
As recently as 2005, when the respected Gallup organization asked Americans if their sympathies lied with Israel or the Palestinians, 52% said Israel while 30% preferred the Palestinians. In February 2010, in answer to the same question: 63% chose Israel while only 15% said the Palestinians. Gallup concluded that Israel’s support is “the highest level in nearly 20 years.”

IT’S NEWS TO ME

One Jerusalem reports
For those of us who prayed that Obama’s Muslim outreach would be limited to his Turkey and Egypt speeches in which he praised Muslims and gave them credit for contributions to American culture that are non-existent, I am sorry to report that the President’s words are only one part of his courtship of problematic Muslims.

In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has dropped all legal attempts to deny a visa to one Tariq Ramadan. Mr. Ramadan is a slick defender of his grandfather, the founder of the radical Muslim Brotherhood, and is a European intellectual rock star who has been banned from European countries and universities because of his radical views. A few years ago, in a debate with Nicholas Sarkozy he called for a “moratorium” not a ban on the stoning of women in Muslim countries. He also wrote an article condemning Jewish intellectuals. These actions and some links with terrorists and the financing of terrorism caused the Bush Administration to refuse to allow him into the country.
 
There are news reports that Jordan’s King told the Palestinian Authority’s Abbas that Israel is threatening the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and that some unspecified action should be taken to protect Muslim sites in East Jerusalem. With these statements, the King earned himself the Chutzpah Man of the Year Award. You see, Jordan is the country that expelled (and killed) Jews who had resided in the Old City’s Jewish Quarter. And from 1948 until Israel freed the Old City and unified it, Jews (and most Christians) were not allowed access to the Old City. Moreover, since 1967, under the governance of the State of Israel, Muslims have been given control over all their holy sites. Their control is so great that they have used it to destroy tons of antiquities from the days of Solomon’s Temple and they control who can visit the Holy Temple Mount.

OneNewsNow reports
President Barack Obama has named White House lawyer Rashad Hussain as his special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents 57 Muslim countries. The president claims Hussain is a “hafiz of the Qur’an” — one who has memorized Islam’s holy book.   
 
He also contends that Hussain will continue working to repair U.S.-Islamic relations and develop the types of partnerships Obama called for last year in his address to the Muslim world in Cairo.
 
“It takes two to repair relations, and he’s not going to be able to do it on his own,” comments Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch. “He’s reaching out and reaching out and reaching out, and all he is doing is giving them the impression that we’re weak, and that’s really the way in which the Islamic Jihad groups operate. They understand weakness and strength. They don’t understand conciliation; they see it as weakness.” Spencer recalls that Hussain has spoken out against the “profiling” of Islamic terror suspects and once defended publicly Sami Al-Arian, who was a professor at the University of South Florida, who is now in prison for his role as a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.”

WRITING TIPS

Punctuation with “Therefore” 

The word therefore is not necessarily a signal for punctuation.
Commas necessary:
     An easy answer would be, therefore, to say…
     They will understand, therefore, why…
Commas unnecessary:
     It is not so noticeable and therefore not so objectionable.
     It is the logical method and it therefore appeals to the rational person.

A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but a foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.” ~ Ecclesiastes 10:2

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

David Zauber reports
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of the top Hamas leader in the West Bank who made waves in 2008 by revealing he is a convert to the Christian faith, is about to publish a startling new book recounting how he also served for 10 years as a top agent of Israeli intelligence. Yousef fled the West Bank in 2007 and emerged a year later as a young Christian and novice surfer in California, far away from his father Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of the Islamist terror militia. Ha’aretz reported on Wednesday that he will also reveal in a book due out next week the invaluable assistance he provided for the Shin Bet security agency by exposing terrorist cells and helping to thwart dozens of suicide bombings as well as assassination attempts on Israeli leaders.
 
An ancient massive wall and other stone fortifications recently uncovered on the edge of Jerusalem’s Old City date back 3,000 years to the First Temple period, around the time of King Solomon, archeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar said at the site on Monday. One section of the city’s outer wall revealed in her recent digs measured 70 meters long and 6 meters high. “This is the first time a structure has been found that could conform to descriptions of King Solomon’s construction in Jerusalem,” Mazar says. The excavations were conducted in the Ophel area between the City of David and the southern retaining wall of the Temple Mount, and further confirm the biblical accounts of Israel’s early kings building their capital in Jerusalem. Archeologists, students and volunteers found remnants of a city attesting to complex engineering with an inner gatehouse for access into a royal quarter, with a royal structure adjoining the gatehouse and a corner tower overlooking the Kidron Valley.

A Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations Exec issued a statement on February 23, urging the Presbyterian Church (USA) not to take a strong anti-Israel position as its General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) convenes in Louisville, KY, Feb. 23-25. The position is being promoted by the denomination’s Israel-Palestine Mission Network (IPMN), whose blog, according to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, “has hosted anti-Semitic videos and material from Muslim terrorist groups.”

IT’S NEWS TO ME

David Zauber reports
Former Palestinian intelligence official Fahmi Shabaneh, who recently went into hiding after he exposed serious instances of theft and corruption in the Palestinian Authority, told The Jerusalem Post this week that the PA has done nothing yet to stop the graft and donor nations have also failed to react. “Don’t the Americans, Europeans and Arabs care about their money that is being stolen?” asked an exasperated Shabaneh. “If they continue to turn a blind eye to the corruption of the Palestinian Authority, Hamas will eventually take over the West Bank the same way they took the Gaza Strip.” Shebaneh’s revelation that the chief-of-staff to PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas had solicited sex from a Christian Arab woman in exchange for a government job has been an embarrassing scandal for the PA, but the financial fraud has been largely ignored.
 
Seemingly not content with its already extensive anti-Israel activism, the Swiss-based World Council of Churches, comprised of over 300 denominations, is highlighting a new anti-Israel initiative. The WCC’s blandly but revealingly named “Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum” (PIEF) has just unveiled its own website and newsletter, presumably in a new wave of protest against “The Occupation.”
 
The Israel Project reports
Palestinian leaders reacted this week with promises of violence to the Israeli cabinet’s decision to include two holy sites in the West Bank as part of a comprehensive plan to preserve Israel’s national heritage and religious sites. Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza, urged Palestinians to unleash a new intifada (uprising) in response to the decision. “Jerusalem is ours, the land is ours, and God is with us,” Haniyeh said. “We will not accept these decisions and they will have no ramifications.”
 
WRITING TIPS

Restrictive Appositives  
This is used to distinguish its principal from other persons or things of the same name, group, or class. These could not be omitted without robbing the sentence of meaning and, thus, should not be set off with commas.

the poet Longfellow
his brother Will
my friend Pat

“We have too many high sounding words, and too few actions
that correspond with them.” ~ Abigail Adams

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

Joel Rosenberg reports
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu arrived in Moscow for two days of meetings with senior Russian leaders at the Kremlin. His goal: to persuade President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin to support “crippling economic sanctions” against Iran at the U.N., and to promise not to deliver and install the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system that Russia agreed several years ago to sell to Iran. Please pray for Netanyahu and his team.

Jerusalem Prayer Team reports
I believe that if the world does not act by April 1st, the point of no return will have been reached and Israel will be forced to attack Iran to prevent it from completing its nuclear weapons program and unleashing unspeakable horror on the world. And sadly it has become very clear that the world does not intend to take any serious action against Iran.

I’ve been asked repeatedly what will happen if Israel does attack. Here is a brief look: There are approximately eleven hundred hard targets in Iran that must be taken out as a first priority. These are the anti-aircraft sites defending Iran’s nuclear sites and military bases and the missile launchers from which Iran could strike back at Israel. After these are taken care of, strikes will be launched against the reactors and uranium enrichment sites.

This operation will require seven to ten days of military action. It is most likely to take place in late May or in June. Iran has no serious air force. It can’t prevent Israel’s attack-it will use its terrorist proxies, Hezbollah and Hamas, to strike back. These strikes will include suicide attacks against Israel, America and Jewish populations around the world.

Though Iran is an oil producing state, it does not have enough capacity to meet internal needs. It actually has to import refined gasoline and other petroleum products. But these simple steps have not been taken. The Chinese and especially the Russians have rejected any serious sanctions. They are keeping Iran’s economy afloat and helping its nuclear program because they see dollar signs.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

David Zauber reports
A 16-year-old Turkish girl was buried alive by relatives as a punishment for talking to boys, the Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday. Turkish police discovered the body of the girl in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-meter-deep hole dug under a chicken pen outside her house in Kahta in the southeastern province of Adiyaman, the Turkish daily reported on its website. The body was found in December, around 40 days after she went missing. Police have arrested and charged the girl’s father and grandfather over the murder. The father reportedly said in his testimony that the family was unhappy his daughter had male friends. A postmortem examination indicated that she was alive and conscious when buried underground.

One Jerusalem reports
When the Iranian Islamic Revolution succeeded in deposing the Shah and declared an aggressive campaign to spread its ideology in the Arab world and beyond, the rulers of Saudi Arabia responded to the challenge by dedicating billions of dollars to spread their poisonous Wahhabi ideology around the world. This campaign has taken many forms. For instance, the Saudis have been building mosques and cultural institutions wherever Muslims reside and have installed their radical imams to perpetuate the most radical form of Islam.
 
In the United States, the Saudis have spread their propaganda in several ways. They have employed many retired American foreign service and military officials and they have “endowed” university Middle Eastern Studies programs at many of our institutions of higher learning. When they finance educational institutions they recruit “scholars” who are anti-Israel and apologists for Saudi Arabia.
 
Georgetown University has been the recipient of barrels of Saudi “petrol dollars” and has dutifully served as a home to programs that serve their Wahhabi patrons. One of their more far reaching initiatives is targeted to filling the minds of American children and college students.

Retraction
Last week’s article about the atheist holiday turned out to be a hoax. I am disappointed that it wasn’t true and sorry that one of my sources turned out to be not as reliable as I thought. My apologies. 

WRITING TIPS

Family Appellations
Father, Mother, Uncle, etc., when used as names should be capitalized; otherwise they are lowercase.
I received a letter from Mother.
I received a letter from my mother.

Why do we put suits in a garment bag and garments in a suit case?

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

Did you know?
Per capita, Israel has more museums, patents, and new books than any other country. Israel also has the largest concentration of high tech industry in relation to its population.
 
Joel Rosenberg reports
This is not the first time in history when the Jewish people have been threatened with annihilation from Persian/Iranian leaders who hated them without cause. The Book of Esther tells the story of how two heroic believers — Mordechai and Esther — prayed and fasted and encouraged others to do the same.

In response to those faithful prayers, the Lord intervened in a dramatic and powerful way. The evil Prime Minister of Iran (Haman) was removed from power and hanged. The heart of the Supreme Leader of Iran (King Ahausuerus) was miraculously changed. The Jews did have to fight. But they were saved from destruction and scores of Iranians converted and became true followers of the God of Israel.

Jerusalem Prayer Team reports
In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki stepped up the verbal attacks the Iranian government has been launching against Israel, saying “Israel is a mad state led by mad people.” He said that Iran did not take seriously talk of a military threat to its nuclear program and stated, “the Zionist regime is at its weakest point.”

His remarks follow news this week that Iran has begun enriching uranium to 20%. This step is a slap in the face to the negotiation process and another clear indication of Iran’s military aims for its nuclear program. Uranium designed for use in civilian power production is typically enriched to 3-5%.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

Telling blow?
In remarks delivered to Iran’s air force, Supreme Religious Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran declared that: “The Iranian nation, with its unity and God’s grace, will punch the arrogance (Western powers) on the 22nd of Bahman (February 11) in a way that will leave them stunned.” Khamenei also serves as Iran’s commander-in-chief as well as head religious figure.

This statement followed President Ahmadinejad’s declaration that Iran would strike a “telling blow” on the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution. I must have slept through it. Would someone please tell me what I missed.
 
The truth about Islam
In the Muslim faith a Muslim man can marry a child as young as one year old and have sexual intimacy with this child, consummating the marriage by nine. The dowry is given to the family in exchange for the woman (who becomes his slave) and for the purchase of the private parts of the woman, to use her as a toy. Even though a woman is abused, she cannot obtain a divorce. To prove rape, the woman must have four male witnesses. Often after a woman has been raped, she is returned to her family and the family must return the dowry. The family has the right to execute her (an honor killing) to restore the honor of the family. Husbands can beat their wives ‘at will’ with no explanation for their actions.

No atheist holiday
In Florida, an atheist brought a discrimination case against Christians and Jews and their observance of Easter and Passover. His attorney argued that it was unfair that atheists had no such recognized days. After listening to the passionate presentation by the lawyer, the judge banged his gavel declaring, “Case dismissed!” The lawyer immediately stood objecting to the ruling saying, “Your honor, How can you possibly dismiss this case?  The Christians have Christmas, Easter and others. The Jews have Passover, Yom Kippur and Hanukkah, yet my client and all other atheists have no such holidays…”
    
The judge leaned forward in his chair saying, “But you do. Your client, counsel, is woefully ignorant.” The lawyer said, “Your Honor, we are unaware of any special observance or holiday for atheists.” The judge said, “The calendar says April 1st is April Fools Day. Psalm 14:1 states, ‘The fool says in his heart, there is no God.’  Thus, it is the opinion of this court, that, if your client says there is no God, then he is a fool. Therefore, April 1st is his day. Court is adjourned.”

WRITING TIPS

Appositives
Set off words in apposition by commas.
 
Kid leather, the skin of young goats or sheep, is one of the finest of leathers.

Why is abbreviated such a long word?

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION
One Jerusalem reports
For the last month or two, there appears to be another concerted campaign to challenge Israel’s sovereignty over Jerusalem and to establish Palestinian rights in the holy city. In December the European Union proclaimed that Jerusalem should be the capital of a Palestinian State.

Last month the Palestinian Authority officially hosted Norway’s Foreign Minister in Jerusalem. Make no mistake the choice of Jerusalem was deliberate. It is part of the process of using the city as the capital of the Palestinians. This meeting took place soon after the Quartet declared their support for opening Palestinian institutions in Jerusalem.
 
Pilar Rahola is a Spanish politician, journalist,activist, and member of the far left. Her articles are published in Spain and throughout some of the most important newspapers in Latin America. In her own words:
 
I am not Jewish. Ideologically I am left and by profession a journalist. Why am I not as anti Israeli as my colleagues? Because as a non-Jew I have the historical responsibility to fight against Jewish hatred and currently against the hatred for their historic homeland, Israel. To fight against anti-Semitism is not the duty of the Jews, it is the duty of the non-Jews.
As a journalist it is my duty to search for the truth beyond prejudice, lies and manipulations. The truth about Israel is not told. As a person from the left who loves progress, I am obligated to defend liberty, culture, civic education for children, coexistence and the laws that the Tablets of the Covenant made into universal principles-principles that Islamic fundamentalism systematically destroys.
 
That is to say that as a non-Jew, journalist and left thinker, I have a triple moral duty with Israel, because if Israel is destroyed, liberty, modernity and culture will be destroyed too.The struggle of Israel, even if the world doesn’t want to accept it, is the struggle of the world.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

Jerusalem Prayer Team reports
The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has threatened to strike a “telling blow” against “global arrogance” on February 11. That date will mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Shah and installed the radical mullahs in Tehran. Defense analysts tell me this threat almost certainly revolves around Iran’s nuclear program.

On Wednesday Iran announced a successful test of the new Kavoshgar 3 rocket in defiance of global concerns with her nuclear weapons program. The rocket is capable of placing a satellite in orbit-or carrying a weapons payload. President Ahmadinejad said the results were “a miracle” and credited the nation’s Islamic faith for the test’s success. The announcement is seen as another attempt to distract attention from growing unrest and resentment of the government in Tehran.

David Greenfield Reports
Keith Ellison, widely hailed as America’s first Muslim congressman, could more accurately be described as CAIR and Hamas’ man in Congress. Congressman Ellison has been a regular presence at CAIR fundraisers and at pro-Hamas rallies in the United States. As a former member of Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, Ellison has enough anti-semitic and Islamist credentials to satisfy anyone, and had expressed openly anti-semitic beliefs in the past.

Since Ellison got his start with CAIR , his attempt to provide support for Hamas is completely unsurprising. Both Hamas and CAIR are projects of the Muslim Brotherhood, which also helped birth Al Queda. Organizations like CAIR do the same work in America that Hamas does in Israel. The difference is that CAIR does its work on a political level, while Hamas functions on both a political and a military level. Like CAIR, Ellison is careful to cloak his pro-Hamas agenda, which he does by mentioning that all violence is wrong and that Israelis probably shouldn’t be shelled- but the thrust of his agenda is to force Israel to open its border with Hamas.

GrassTopsUSA reports
Agents for Britain’s MI5 intelligence service have discovered that Muslim doctors trained at some of Britain’s leading teaching hospitals have returned to their own countries to fit surgical implants filled with explosives, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.

Women suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida are known to have had the explosives inserted in their breasts under techniques similar to breast enhancing surgery. The lethal explosives - usually PETN (pentaerythritol Tetrabitrate) - are inserted during the operation inside the plastic shapes. The breast is then sewn up.  
 
WRITING TIPS

Introductory words
Use a comma after words like yes, no, or well, introducing a sentence.
 
Yes, I’ll go.
 Well, I may.
 Still, the flag is waving.

Why do we press harder on the buttons of a remote control when we know the batteries are dead?

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

David Zauber reports
Haiti, believe it or not, was one of the few nations that voted for the recognition of Israel in 1948 in the U.N. Israel was quick to respond.
 
For once, the main topic of discussion in Israel has no connection to war, politics or even the Middle East. From huge newspaper headlines to private conversations in small towns, Israelis can’t get enough information about the tragedy crushing Haiti.
 
Israelis seem determined to do all they can to help the inhabitants of a frail nation thousands of miles away, people with no connection to Israel other than the fact that they both have a history of suffering. Watching the Israeli response — one of the fastest, most effective of any country on Earth — it is striking to see the enormous gap between the grotesque image of Israel woven by its enemies and the reality of the country’s character.

The Jerusalem Prayer Team reports
The IDF search and rescue teams sent to Haiti have done an incredible job. They have rescued a number of people, including pulling a student from a collapsed school after six days. Even more amazingly, on Tuesday, a full week after the earthquake, they were able to find another survivor.

Because of the number of terrorist attacks Israel has suffered, their search and rescue teams are well trained and very experienced-regarded by many as the best in the world. Though the rescue part of the operation has now ended, the Israeli doctors and support staff continue treating hundreds of survivors in need of medical care.
 
In an article in the Los Angeles Times entitled “Sending Soldiers of Peace to Haiti,” the reporter notes the rapid response by Israeli emergency workers, who quickly set up the most advanced field hospital operating in the disaster zone. It is equipped with the only reliable Internet and communications systems available in the area hit by the powerful quake, and is even drawing frustrated journalists to set up base there. The doctors’ main problem is fatigue; they’re working around the clock the report noted.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

Isaias Catorce reports
Pastor David Dasig accidentally hit a tricycle in Maasim, Sarangani [Philippines] on his way to his meeting in Kiamba on January 11. Two kids died on the spot and the mother of the kids died in the hospital. The father of the kids is the highest-ranking Commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the area. Brought to the hospital were one teenager with broken hipbone and the driver with bruises.
 
Pastor David miraculously escaped the tragedy and was brought by a concerned citizen to the police station. The head of his car was totally damaged. Two hours after the accident, Muslims surrounded the police station demanding for the head of Pastor David.  The Mayor of the town intervened and the Chief of Police to prevent the bloody encounter. Muslims posed a threat to kill all the Dasig family if negotiations would fail. Leaders of the C&MA [Christian & Missionary Alliance] made negotiations and a total of about half a million pesos or $ 12,000.00 was paid for the blood money, hospital, burial, and repair of a sidecar. Churches contributed through special offerings and individual Christians donated so to meet the whole amount.

Economic Warning
Arthur Laffer, creator of the Laffer Curve that showed how low tax rates boost economic growth, is warning anyone who will listen that the economy is headed for a train wreck in 2011 that will make the current recession look tame by comparison. The famed economist, whose supply-side, tax-cutting policies enacted by President Reagan in 1981 put the economy on a record-breaking, 25-year economic trajectory of growth and prosperity, is telling Americans not to be lulled by sporadic signs of growth this year, because the economy is headed for a sharper decline next year when tax rates are expected to jump sharply, sending the economy into a new tailspin.  

WRITING TIPS

Meaning Determines Form
Some compound words change form when the meaning changes.
 
He had firsthand information.
He got the information at first hand.
 
He ran onto the field.
He went on to better things.
 
Stay for a while.
Stay awhile.

If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

David Zauber reports
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed on Friday to “change the face of the region” in the event of renewed conflict with Israel. The Hezbollah leader said Lebanon was “faced with the [Israeli] threats that you hear today… I promise you that if another war breaks out with the Zionists… we will defeat the enemy, achieve a great victory and change the face of the region.” The Hezbollah leader was addressing an international “resistance” gathering in Beirut featuring delegations from several Arab and other countries. Nasrallah said the future of the region was “strength, dignity, and freedom,” while slamming “Israel, occupation, hegemony and arrogance.” He added that “Israel is in real trouble,” and claimed that the IDF had been defeated by a “handful of resistance fighters and jihadists.”
 
The distinct Jewish character of the Prophet Ezekiel’s tomb located in Al-Kifl, a small town south of Baghdad, is being completely erased by Iraq’s Antiquities and Heritage Authority. As part of “renovations” being made due to the site’s poor conditions, they are removing the Hebrew inscriptions and ornaments from the tomb. Prof. Shmuel Moreh of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem confirmed the report through a colleague who visited and saw “the grave [was] covered by plaster and that a mosque is planned to be built on top of the tomb” that Jews, Christians and Muslims have visited without contention for centuries.

The Jerusalem Prayer Team reports
Israel has stepped into the gap with IDF medical teams. On their first day in Haiti (even though it was the Sabbath Day) they rescued eight students from a flattened university in Port-au-Prince. The full field hospital is now up and running, staffed with more than 40 Israeli doctors. They can treat as many as 500 people each day. One highlight of the first week was the birth of a baby boy at the Israeli field hospital. His grateful mother said she would name the child Israel in honor and appreciation of the generous Jewish people who came to her aid.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

GrassTopsUSA reports
As Americans keep a wary eye on Muslim radicals in Yemen, little attention is being given to a far more dangerous enemy right in our own backyard. Under the banner of ‘anti-war’ activism, the radical group Code Pink is running banner advertisements on the English language version of the official Web site of a terrorist sympathizing group, the Muslim Brotherhood, one of which invites the Muslim Brotherhood to “join us in cleansing our country.” The ad is entitled ‘Arrest The War Criminals.’ Only problem is, Code Pink believes the war criminals are none other than George W. Bush and Co. And they’re actively recruiting radical Muslim terrorists to help them in their cause.
 
WorldNetDaiy reports
Responding to a federal subpoena served by the FBI, lawyers for a former Air Force special agent who conducted a private undercover probe of the Council on American-Islamic Relations have turned over thousands of pages of internal documents that allegedly confirm the D.C.-based Muslim group’s role as a front for terrorist groups that seek Islam’s domination over the U.S.

As WND reported, FBI agents entered the capital law offices of Cozen O’Connor in the nation’s capital Nov. 24 with a warrant to obtain 12,000 pages of documents gathered by P. David Gaubatz and his son Chris in a daring six-month undercover penetration of CAIR.   
 
Islamic Setback
The Texas Supreme Court dealt another blow to Islamic organizations which use lawsuits as a form of “legal jihad” to silence public discussion of Islamic terrorist threats.  On Friday, January 15, 2010, the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for review of a Second District Court of Appeals opinion which dismissed the defamation lawsuit brought by seven Dallas-area Islamic organizations against Internet journalist Joe Kaufman.
 
Iran Blames U.S. and Israel 
The funeral on Thursday of an Iranian nuclear scientist assassinated this week under mysterious circumstances was used by government supporters to angrily blame Israel and America for his death, while opposition protesters also showed up to continue their campaign against the clerical regime in Tehran. Dr. Masoud Ali Mohammadi was a leading figure in Iran’s scientific establishment and a supporter of opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, leading to wild speculation about who was behind his death. Iranian government sources are blaming the killing on Israel and the CIA, but many in Iran believe that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had him killed to eliminate one of their opponents and then try to divert attention from anger at their own actions by blaming it on outsiders.

WRITING TIPS

Points of Ellipsis
Three dots (points of ellipsis) indicate an omission, a lapse of time, or a long pause. When used at the end of a sentence, add a fourth dot for the period, unless the thought is meant to be incomplete (use three dots). 
 
“All persons born in the United States…are citizens of the United States.”
“I didn’t know you cared….” (complete thought)
“I didn’t know you cared…”  (thought trails off)

Why do we sing “Take me out to the ball game” when we are already there? and why are they called “stands” when they are made for sitting?

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

One Jerusalem reports
During Israel’s defensive action against Hamas in Gaza, Israel provided documentary evidence that Hamas deliberately used civilian and United Nations buildings as safe havens and military outposts from which they launched attacks. Therefore Israel rightfully ended up launching actions against Hamas fighters who took cover in these facilities. Israel went through extensive efforts to warn civilians that action would be taken in their areas. But now, in a development that boggles the imagination, Israel reportedly  has agreed to pay the United Nations $10 million for damage to their property. By this action Israel is inadvertently portraying itself as being guilty and paying a fine for their misdeeds. The United Nations is taken off the hook for allowing their facilities to be used by Hamas. (In the Lebanon War, you might remember, the United Nations actively assisted Hezbollah.)

The Israel Project reports
Top Israeli officials voiced strong objections Monday (Jan. 11) to a Turkish TV program depicting Israelis kidnapping and hiding Turkish babies and attacking old men, as well as a scene showing the assassination of the Israeli ambassador. The reaction came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu put a focus on the Palestinian culture of hate.

In the wake of the catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, Israeli and Jewish humanitarian aid groups are providing critical relief for that nation. Meanwhile, four Israelis in Haiti are reported missing. Relief delegations from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Home Front Command, IDF Medical Corps and the Israeli Foreign Ministry have left for the ravaged island nation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directed officials from the Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry, and Public Security Ministry to quickly formulate actions plans to assist Haiti. (When was the last time you heard of a Muslim nation taking such action?

The Jerusalem Prayer Team reports
In a broadcast interview last week, US Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell threatened to end Unites States financial support for Israel unless Israel violates God’s Word and hands over more land to the radical Islamic terrorists who are committed to Israel’s complete destruction. Israel has suffered greatly during the worldwide economic collapse, and a serious financial threat like this right now is a very real danger to the nation.The Israeli government vowed not to give in to this pressure. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said that Israel could survive without the help. But there is no doubt that a US reduction in financial aid would wreak havoc on Israel’s already devastated economy.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

GrassTopsUSA reports
Two civil lawsuits filed by Muslims alleging criminal fraud were served today against the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a self-described Muslim civil-rights group that has been named an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator by the Justice Department. The cases filed in federal court in the nation’s capital assert the D.C.-based CAIR was aware that its “resident attorney” and “manager for civil rights” at its now-defunct Maryland-Virginia chapter, Morris Days, was not an attorney and failed to provide legal services for Muslims who came to CAIR for help. 
 
China is considering setting up military bases and possibly deploying forces in the Middle East over the next decade as a means of protecting its access to strategic materials, especially oil, and sizeable investments in various Arab countries, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin. Middle East expert Patrick Seale said the Chinese influence in the Middle East is rising and its trade with Arab countries, which totaled $132 billion in 2008, will increase.

WorldNetDaiy reports
 Long a reliably patriotic media source in the war on terror, Fox News may now be among news outlets who have fallen under the spell of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ propaganda machine. “We own the media,” CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper privately brags, according to a source currently working inside the aggressive Islamist lobby group. Fox News host Bill O’Reilly last week invited the TV-savvy Hooper on his show to debate passenger profiling, the second guest appearance by the CAIR spokesman in a month. At the end of the segment, O’Reilly thanked Hooper and called him a “stand-up guy,” sending shockwaves through the conservative blogosphere. CAIR is no ordinary guest. The government has blacklisted it as an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator, and the group remains under criminal suspicion by the FBI, which has cut off outreach ties to it.
 
WRITING TIP
Ending words with “ful” or “full”
 Distinguish phrases like car full of people and carful of people.
 
Wrong: The car full of people stood up. [This plainly says that the car stood   up.]
Right: The carful of people stood up.

Life is not holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well.–Danish Proverb

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION
In the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorists who seek to destroy Israel have typically launched attacks during efforts for peace and a two-state solution. The new flurry of peace efforts began on Dec. 29, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to discuss how to resume negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
 
Joel Rosenberg reports
Tehran plans a major military exercise: drill to boost Iran’s ‘defensive capabilities.’  It coincides with the deadline Iran has set for the West on its nuclear offer. Israel, in turn, will disperse gas masks as she simulates a biological warfare attack.
 
David Zauber reports
Israeli officials have expressed concern over the scope and content of several major arms deals which the Pentagon has recently signed with several Arab states allied with Washington. Among the recipients of the advanced arms are Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The shipments are to include anti-ship and antitank missiles as well as so-called smart and bunker-busting bombs. In December, the Pentagon notified Congress of several arms deals it wanted to carry out and certified that none of the deals would “alter the military balance in the region.” But Israel’s defense establishment is wary of the deals, even though the Obama administration is arguing that the armaments will boost the deterrence capabilities of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in relation to Iran.

IT’S NEWS TO ME

GrassTopsUSA reports
North Korea, which reportedly has used believers as guinea pigs to test chemical and biological weapons, is the world’s worst persecutor of Christians, while Iran, which may be using Christians as scapegoats for internal opposition to its president, is No. 2 on the Open Doors 2010 World Watch List. Iran is among eight nations in the top 10 of the group’s ranking of the 50 worst persecutors of Christians in which Shariah, the Islamic religious law, is dominant. A total of 35 nations on the list are under some form of Shariah.  
 
 Documents produced by the Department of Homeland Security indicate that in fiscal 2010 the department is planning to catch only 26 percent of travelers committing major criminal violations while seeking to enter the United States through international airports. As of one month ago, less than one percent of the people the U.S. government has designated as “known or suspected terrorists” had been put on the “No Fly” list that the Department of Homeland Security uses to screen air travelers, according to data provided to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Dec. 9 by Timothy J. Healy, director of the Justice Department’s Terrorist Screening Center.

WorldNetDaiy reports
Is the U.S. government still serious about protecting Americans from the extreme violence of Islamofascism - or isn’t it? The Department of Homeland Security, created to defend the nation after the Sept. 11 Islamic terror attacks, has dramatically shifted its focus, advising police nationwide to watch out for “right-wing extremists” - especially returning war veterans - supporting the Second Amendment, opposing abortion and illegal immigration, and promoting U.S. sovereignty and the Constitution.
 
Fairness Doctrine
Our government is pushing for regulations that would require broadcast of local ”public affairs” programs … with a mandate to air a ”diversity” of viewpoints.  Can’t afford to produce such programs?  Don’t want to air opposing viewpoints?  Then you’re OFF THE AIR.
 
WRITING TIPS

 Doubt
 A question mark, usually in parentheses, may be used to express a doubt about what precedes.
 
Edmund Spenser (1552?-1599)
On March 2(?), 1542.

Perseverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of the hard word you already did.–Newt Gingrich

OUR ISRAELI CONNECTION

For the past three decades, Israel’s El Al Airlines has maintained a perfect security record-no hijackings, no bombings-nothing. Passengers need not remove their shoes or their belts and they can bring as much liquid as they want.  Any country with any sense should adopt the successful policy Israel has employed. So what is this policy? Ethnic profiling. 
 
One Jerusalem reports
We have been skeptical and critical of Israel’s stated position of coming to a peace agreement with the Palestinians. Our skepticism begins with the belief that there is no one on the Palestinian side who can reach an agreement and impose it on his people. Abbas speaks only for his isolated inner circle. And Hamas refuses to recognize the State of Israel.
 
Jerry Golden reports
It is amazing to me that there are still those who just can’t put a few simple facts together, such as those in the US who forced Israel to disengage from Gaza thereby rendering nearly 9,000 Jewish families homeless and without a livelihood.  Within days of that evacuation, Katrina destroyed New Orleans also making millions homeless and without a job.
 
Now Obama says that 300,000 Jews must be removed from Judea and Samaria (West Bank). Consequently, there are now millions losing their homes and jobs in the US.  We could, of course, elaborate on all that is going wrong in the US - but I think you would know the details?  Gen 12:3 says, ” And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curse thee, and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”

IT’S NEWS TO ME

President Barack Obama, in his first public comments on the attempted bombing of a U.S. airliner traveling from Amsterdam to Detroit, downplayed the threat and described the suspect as “an isolated extremist,” and his actions as “alleged,” despite all the evidence to the contrary. I guess if the war on terror no longer exists and terrorist attacks are now “man-caused disasters,” political correctness makes every attack an isolated incident. I have yet to hear anyone publicly state the obvious by connecting the word “Muslim” to the attacker.
 
Joel Rosenberg reports
By the grace of God, and the brave action of fast-thinking passengers over the skies of Detroit last week, Americans were spared a massive terrorist attack planned for Christmas Day.

Chilling details are now emerging of a wider plot, with possibly hundreds of suicide bombers coming to the U.S. Yemen’s foreign minister told a British paper, “Of course there are a number of al-Qaeda operatives in Yemen and some of their leaders. We realize this danger. They may actually plan attacks like the one we have just had in Detroit. There may be hundreds of them — 200, 300.”
 
The U.N., Europe and Asia are doing nothing to stop Iran from getting the Bomb. President Obama refuses to recognize that his diplomatic overtures to the Radical regime in Iran are being laughed at in Tehran, while the mullahs race for nuclear weapons continues unabated. The President refuses to fully support the pro-democracy Reformers in the streets of Iran, even though they are willing to die to bring about true, peaceful change in their country.

GrassTopsUSA reports
Israel is not the only country concerned over the rising power of Iran, as the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf continue to acquire massive amounts of military hardware and training. As the US military continues to withdraw from Iraq, the training and arming of that country’s military in order to defend against an Iranian takeover also continues, with almost $13.5 billion worth of tanks, vehicles, aircraft, missiles, naval patrol boats and associated support infrastructure being ordered by the Iraqi Ministry of Defense since July of 2008.  At the same time, large numbers of Iraqi soldiers, police officers, emergency personnel and technicians have been trained at US military bases.
 
Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Defense, which also has large numbers of security personnel training in the US and France, recently placed a $2.9 billion order for 58 M1A1 Abrams tanks and upgrades to its already powerful fleet of 315 M1A1s. Saudi Arabia is currently fighting an anti-insurgency campaign against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in the northern mountains of Yemen while also facing an internal threat from al-Qaida.

WRITING TIPS
Question or Statement?
 What may appear to be a question may really be a statement of fact. It should be ended with a period.
 
“Do you know,” he said, “I am writing a book about Islam.”

TEACHER: Glen, why do you always get so dirty?
GLEN: Well, I’m a lot closer to the ground than you are.