"Quot capita, tot sententiae"
Wishing all my friends and readers a joyous and blessed holiday season. May you find peace this Christmas.
I'll be back online when my modem and notebook are up and running! Till then, my warmest regards for you and yours.
posted by atheling2 at 1:47 PM
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ARGH! My modem died so all I have is dial up right now. Waiting for a new modem, so I won't be online as much.
posted by atheling2 at 10:53 AM
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Recently I signed up for AdSense by Google, and this is the response I received:
Thank you for your interest in Google AdSense. Unfortunately, after
reviewing your application, we're unable to accept you into Google
AdSense at this time.
We did not approve your application for the reasons listed below.
Issues:
- Sensitive content
---------------------
Further detail:
Sensitive content: Google believes strongly in freedom of expression
and offers broad access to content across the web. At the same time, we
reserve the right to exercise discretion when reviewing sites for
AdSense. We've found that your website contains content that we don't
allow at this time. AdSense policy doesn't currently accept sites that
advocate against any individual, group, or organization. Please review
our policies (https://www.google.com/adsense/policies?hl=en_US) for a
complete list of site content not allowed on web pages.
posted by atheling2 at 10:23 AM
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Right now, at Jihad Watch, the annual elections for Dhimmi of the Year, Dhimmi Internationale of the Year, American Anti-Dhimmi and Anti-Dhimmi Internationale are open.
posted by atheling2 at 12:01 PM
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posted by atheling2 at 9:49 PM
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There are many facets to Islamic hypocrisy, and some bloggers have already pointed out some:
“Don't you want to recognize that it is God's plan that Islam is progressing all around you because you need to be discipline and punished for the crimes that you have been committing to the humanity for long enough time and now is the time for God to take care of you by the hands of the true believers representative of human dignity and justice, the Muslims?”by well wisher. He continues:
“Remember, besides your evil acts of imperialism and Zionism, you also represent homosexualism, fornication, and adultery. Don't you remember that in your society over 60% of the children are born out of wedlock? What about alcoholism and racism? Don't you remember what had you done to the black slaves and native Indians in this land? You better fear God and fix your faith and character. Otherwise you are doomed.”
posted by atheling2 at 10:49 AM
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President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who flaunts his ideological fervour, has been accused of undermining Iran's Islamic revolution after television footage appeared to show him watching a female song and dance show.GASP! Could it be possible that the Muslims in Iran have a… HYPOCRITE in their midst??? Mahmoud, you naughty boy! And you think President George Bush is corrupt! And now you are caught watching women dancing without the seven veils!
The famously austere Mr. Ahmadinejad has been criticised by his own allies after attending the lavish opening ceremony of the Asian games in Qatar, a sporting competition involving 13,000 athletes from 39 countries. The ceremony featured Indian and Egyptian dancers and female vocalists. Many were not wearing veils.
Religious fundamentalists, usually Mr. Ahmadinejad's keenest supporters, are asking why he attended a ceremony that violated his own government's strict interpretation of Shia Islam.
posted by atheling2 at 3:55 PM
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We don't think anyone can dispute the fact that the forces of Islamofascism have embarked upon a World War of global conquest that may last for decades if not longer. Since Islamofascist terrorists have no boundaries, this war will be even tougher to fight than our battle was against the Soviet empire. Already, the Islamofascists have a beachhead in Western Europe. According to demographic experts, Europe will become Islamic in a generation - and it's not the moderates who hold sway in the Islamic communities in Europe. If these numbers are translated to political power - which undoubtedly will be the case - it will have dire consequences. Eventually, radical Islamic political blocs will take power in many European nations such as Belgium, Holland, France, and Britain.
The Washington Times reports (11/21/06) that Russia is well on its way to becoming an Islamic country. Within eight years (by 2015) over half the soldiers in the Russian Army will be Moslem. By 2020, over 20% of Russia's entire population will be Moslem.What happens when Moslems in political power have access to the nuclear arsenals of Russia, France, and Britain? Couple this with the increased presence of Islam in Africa and Latin America, and there is a distinct possibility that America, within a generation of two, will be alone in the world. We would be encircled by enemies dedicated to our destruction. No doubt by then, there will be thousands of Jihadists within the US prepared to carry out terrorist acts on command from international Islamic powers. We cannot allow this to happen without a fight. Western Civilization is worth fighting for. We cannot allow our grandchildren to live in Islamofascist tyranny. But we don't seem to be prepared for this war. Unlike the movement created during the Cold War, there doesn't seem to be much of an infrastructure to combat Islamofascism. If we truly care about our children and grandchildren, then we must create an infrastructure modeled after the Anti-Communist Movement. Here's a few areas off the top of our heads that an Anti-Islamofascism Movement could be addressing:
Investigate radical mosques. 80% of mosques in America are Saudi-funded and promote a form of Radical Islam known as Wahhabism. There aren't any groups that monitor them or call for congressional or IRS investigations of their activities. Yet we know from literature picked up by those who have signed up for classes at these mosques that many promote jihad against the West. If a Christian church did that, they would lose their tax-exempt status within a week.
Support Anti-Islamofascist freedom fighters. There are resistance and dissident groups within Iran and other radical Islamic countries who are willing to organize against their regimes if they had some outside assistance. Yet there are no groups set up to promote their cause or to lobby Congress to get them covert assistance.
Thwart attempts to impose Sharia Law. The ultimate goal of Islamofascists is to impose Islamic "Sharia" religious law upon us all. Groups could monitor and block every Fabian effort (imposing Sharia in small bites) like demands for prayer rooms and allowing headscarves in schools.
A Rapid Response media team to stand up to Islamic bullying. The US Airways story removing Moslem imams from a flight resulted in a barrage of denunciations from Moslem advocacy groups like CAIR with no one to give a "fair and balanced" rebuttal. What is needed is an "Anti-CAIR" media team that can praise the justifiable concern of airline passengers for their safety and demand that Moslems understand that concern. There must be no tolerance for Islamic bullying.
Form an Anti-Islamofascist publishing network. There is a great need for more publications and newsletters that focus on the Islamofascist threat both here and abroad. Remember the "Pink Sheet of the Left"? It launched an explosion of Anti-Communist publications.
Create an Anti-Islamofascist portal on the Internet. There's a need for a website "portal" coordinating efforts to monitors all the radical Muslim foundations, leaders, organizations, mosques, etc. now operating in the US who have already been tied to terrorists or are espousing radical viewpoints. Such a website would also allow private citizens to contribute intelligence to it. For example, Joe Sixpack reports picking up a flyer promoting jihad from a neighboring mosque. This intelligence would be checked for accuracy and if accurate, added to the entry on the website under the name of that mosque.
Establish an Anti-Islamofascist Speakers Bureau. There are many experts in addition to the small number now known to the media such as Frank Gaffney and Robert Spencer, who can talk about the world-wide Islamofascist threat. But most media people don't know who they are or where to find them. There's a need for a speaker's bureau marketing Anti-Islamofascist experts in a systematic fashion to all the major media outlets.
Monitor the billions now being spent on Homeland Security. There are already reports of large-scale waste and fraud occurring, which, of course, takes funds away from counter-terror efforts. There currently aren't any groups that monitor the effectiveness of various Homeland Security tactics or lobby to institute new tactics and strategies that may be more effective.
Wage an ideological assault on Islamofascism. Radical Islam is a totalitarian doctrine with numerous parallels to Marxism, yet intellectually crude and medievally primitive. A scholarly assault through think-tanks, seminars, and conferences can be conducted, targeting the multitude of weaknesses and vulnerabilities of Islamofascism.
Support the Chinese Christian. China is on its way to becoming a majority Christian nation within 20 years, with over 100 million Christians right now. Not only can they serve as a major bulwark against the spread of Islam in Asia, but many are determined to reverse that spread throughout the world. Teams of Chinese missionaries are already preaching the Gospel in many countries abroad, with tens of thousands to follow. Their efforts could be greatly assisted by the large network of Christian philanthropists who fund mission work.
Create a Global Anti-Islamofascist Coalition. We need to identify and work with other organizations in Europe and elsewhere who are working against the Islamofascist threat. They exist, but few know anything about them. The Anti-Islamofascist movement needs to become a world wide coalition.
Reframe the illegal immigration issue as one of national security. This is already being done by Congressman (and 2008 presidential candidate) Duncan Hunter. There is evidence that Moslem Terrorists may have crossed our porous borders and if it hasn't happened already, it certainly will. We also know that they have exploited other immigration issues such as the student VISA program so favored by the 9/11 terrorists. And yet, there is little evidence that much has changed in this regard. We still allow people in from terrorist-harboring countries with little checking, and the Democrats are determined to block the construction of a security fence on our southern border.
End our dependence on foreign oil that's funding the Islamofascists. Despite protests to the contrary, we know that Saudi money is being funneled to radical madressas and foundations that are the training grounds for Radical Islam. We also know that Hugo Chavez in Venezuela is using his oil billions to fund anti-American groups. It is time that we pushed our political leaders to get out of the way and allow America to become energy independent. We need to stop subsidizing our own enemies.
posted by atheling2 at 10:03 PM
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It is the peculiar genius of Byzantine history that its glory reached its apogee in the era known to the West as the Dark Ages. It has no great literary heritage – a half-millenium of Muslim domination ensured the annihilation from memory of its major works beyond the Alexiad of Anna Comnena, the anonymous epic of Digenes Akritis, and various religious texts. The latter survived because the Church survived, even as the Empire did not. Chief among them are the great liturgies, and chief among the great liturgies is the Liturgy of St John Chrysostom. It is the queen of liturgies: a Greek epic of its own, also of the Western Dark Ages, emphatic and deliberate in its insistent worship of Christ. The liturgy has a heavenly glory in its song and prayer. It also has a mundane length to it. Properly done, it lasts hours. Yesterday, it lasted five hours, from 8am to 1pm. It’s a feat of endurance for the best Christian – particularly as the great majority of it has one standing. I am not among the best Christians. But yesterday, I did it. Yesterday, I was in the Church of St George at the compound of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the Fener district of Istanbul. Across from me sat the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, holder of the last office of the Eastern Empire, and spiritual leader of the Orthodox Christians of the world. Mere feet away, within arm’s reach, sat Pope Benedict XVI.
The Patriarchal compound is a small place, kept deliberately so by the Turkish authorities who object to the claim of an ecumenical title by the Patriarch. No matter that the Patriarchate in Constantinople has been the Ecumenical Patriarchate since nearly eight hundred years before the Turkish seizure of this city, and no matter that even the Ottoman Sultans acknowledged this fact: the modern Turkish state believes the Patriarch to be merely the religious leader of the Orthodox Christians of Turkey – reduced from a thriving community of millions to a mere two thousand in Istanbul proper in the 20th century – and nothing more. So vehemently do they deny any greater role for the successor to St Andrew, that in this very week, they sent police personnel to tear down English-language banners with the phrase “Archon Pilgrimage to the Ecumenical Patriarchate” on it. The Archons are properly the Order of St Andrew, and they are a collection of lay worthies of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. They also had passes allowing them entry into the Patriarchate for this Liturgy with the Pope, and to the previous night’s Doxology; but because it too mentioned an “Ecumenical Patriarchate,” they were made to put them away before the Turkish police would allow them entry into the Patriarchal compound. They complied – what else could they do? – and in a nice irony, were issued badges by the Turks which read, “Istanbul Rum Patrikhanesi.” The Patriachate of the Romans of Istanbul. Even now, five hundred fifty-three years after the conquest, Turkish idiom acknowledges what the Great Church and its people once were.
The Church of St George, sole church in the Patriarchal compound, acknowledges it as well. Embedded in its walls, and strewn about its tiny grounds, are fragments from the hundreds of churches of old Constantinople that were demolished in the centuries of Muslim rule. Here there is a frieze of Christ. Here there is an Apostle. Here there is a slab of marble in which a scarred IC XC is inscribed. And here there is an imperial double-headed eagle, symbol of the Eastern Imperium. It is a bit of symbology that has been inherited by several nations of the old Byzantine commonwealth, among them Russia and, improbably, Albania. The Patriarchal compound is strewn with them, giving truth to the phrase Istanbul Rum Patrikhanesi. For a moment, one may lose oneself in the fantasy that it is all still real, and all still alive – but then you look up, and see the mosque that the Turks have built athwart the compound on the overlooking hillside. The minarets peer down in the very courtyard of St George’s itself, and the message is clear: five times a day, every day of every year, the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Christians of the world must hear the muzzein at close quarters. The temporal victors are deeply unsure, even now, of their victory.On this day, the minaret and all the surrounding rooftops are occupied by Turkish soldiers. They look down upon us in the courtyard and glare. There is security and insecurity in their presence: they will assuredly protect us from any Islamist who would seek to wreak mayhem – though none, not even unfriendly crowds, are in evidence – and they are assuredly not our friends. The Patriarch himself, Bartholomew I, once served in the Turkish Army, in keeping with the Turkish state’s stricture that the occupant of that office must hold Turkish citizenship. I looked up at the soldiery, and reflected on the pity of this state, which he served, that is now bent upon squeezing his ancient office out of existence.
Inside the chapel all is gilt and gold, a nineteenth-century version of Orthodox splendor, and it is possible to forget the scene outdoors. The place is suffused with holy relics: among them, the remains of Ss John Chrysostom, whose liturgy we celebrate, and Gregory the Theologian – both recently returned by the Vatican. Across the chapel, a supposed piece of the True Cross, and the purported pillar upon which Christ was scourged. There are sarcophagi in which various saints rest, and niches in which holy icons are venerated. It is a wonderland for the faithful. But not only the faithful are there: there is also the media of the world, armed with telephoto lenses and cameras, and looking shabby in the way that media typically do. It does not occur to them to dress appropriately – one may wish, after all, to look presentable before the putative Vicar of Christ on Earth – but then, it wouldn’t. They crowd onto platforms along the periphery of the chapel, and wait. Patriarch Bartholomew I arrives, decked in brilliant finery and surrounded by black-clad deacons and Metropolitans. Pope Benedict XVI arrives, dressed in thick red robes, and accompanied by bright red-and-purple Cardinals. The Liturgy, which has already been underway for an hour, assumes a new pitch. The lights brighten. The gold upon the icons flare. We pray. We worship for another four hours, with varying levels of comprehension of the thousand-year-old Greek of the Liturgy.
Over four hours of liturgical worship. I once went to a Tridentine Mass, which was over two hours and I was exhilarated, though I recall others complaining that it was "too long." I don't know if I would have the stamina for almost five straight hours of worship, mainly standing. But I would have loved to have been there.
Now, we file forward, toward the Ecumenical Patriarch His All-Holiness Bartholomew I, holder of the last office of the Eastern Empire, who gives us the Body of Christ. Mere feet away, Benedict XVI sits on the Papal throne, looking down upon us supplicants. I am overcome and cannot glance toward him. Behind me, others have more courage: they break from the line, rush forward, and kiss Benedict’s hand. He is calm and gentle. He smiles and clasps their hands, saying a few words in German and English, before urging them to go receive the Eucharist. It is profoundly moving too see these devout Orthodox who have come to pay homage to the bishop of the New Roman, and who are so overwhelmed with the presence and love of the bishop of the Rome that they must give him the same. The small space encompasses a universe, and we are at its center. Bartholomew ascends to the iconostasis and welcomes Benedict in Greek. Benedict, aware of the cameras surrounding him, replies in English. We must, he says, recall Europe to its Christian heritage before it is too late – and we must do it together. Then they emerge into the cold sunlight of a cold day. They ascend to a balcony overlooking the courtyard where we gather in expectation. They speak briefly. And then, they clasp hands, Pope and Patriarch, smile and raise their arms together. Tears come to my eyes, and I am shocked to see several media personnel crying openly. For an instant, the Church is one. For a shadow of a second, the dreams of Christendom are again real.
It brought tears to my eyes to read this and to comprehend the possibilities of a re-united Church. It's been no great secret why Joseph Ratzinger chose the name "Benedict" when he ascended to the Papacy. The first Benedict (of Nursia) established monastic orders in the early sixth century which preserved Christianity and the treasures of western civilization during the fall of Rome. Those monks kept and copied many of the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans, the Church Fathers, as well as Holy Scripture, to be passed on to future generations during the Dark Ages.
Many Church watchers and Vatican insiders have speculated that Pope Benedict XVI perceives a new "Dark Ages" entering Europe. Western Civilization is on the brink of extinction, particularly within the place of its origin. Europe, with its atheistic, secularized society, no longer reproduces itself, and will be overrun by Islamism if no return is made to its once great culture. Benedict XVI has not given up on Europe. He calls for a rejection of nihilistic relativism, a "dictatorship" he sees as the most dangerous of all tyrannies. He calls Europe to a "metanoia", a change of heart, and to return to the faith and reason which are the major contributors to Europe's great past.
If Europe rejects his call and should die, like his early predecessor, Benedict also makes preparations for the diminishment of the Church in Europe. His recent appointments in the Curia point to the East, replacing many in offices in the Vatican with more "pastoral" type appointees, rather than political or diplomatic ones. He works to reunite a centuries old divided Church, preserving its purity of doctrine and all of the great works its followers achieved in its two thousand year existence, waiting faithfully once again for a rebirth, moved by the Hand of God.
posted by atheling2 at 9:54 AM
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"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant.
The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth."
-Omar Ahmad (Founder of Council of American-Islamic Relations, CAIR)
“If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without bloodshed,
if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly,
you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival.
There may even be a worse case.
You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.”
-Sir Winston Churchill
"Can anybody guess how many cemeteries of Allied soldiers there are in Italy?
More than sixty. And the largest, the most crowded, are the American ones.
At Nettuno, 10,950 graves. At Falciani, near Florence, 5,811.
Each time I pass in front of it and see that lake of crosses, I shiver with grief and gratitude."
-Oriana Fallaci
"Whatever disunites man from God disunites man from man."
-Sir Edmund Burke
"Let all the babies be born. Then let us drown the ones we do not like."
-GK Chesterton
"When great causes are on the move in the world we learn we are spirits,
not animals, and that something is going on in space and time, and beyond
space and time, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."
-Winston Churchill
"The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction,
is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
-Thomas Jefferson
Graphics courtesy of Ash Wednesday
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Orthodox Roman Catholic, and patriotic American. Despiser of political correctness.
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