SelwynDuke.com

Jihad and America: The Land that Cried Sheep

By Selwyn Duke

People were shocked when Major Nidal Malik Hasan brutally targeted fellow servicemen at Texas’ Fort Hood with pistol fire, murdering 12 and wounding 31.  Yet, there is an aspect of this story that is far more shocking — or, at least, one that would be considered so in a sane society.

We now know that Major Hasan did not hide his true loyalties, often expressing pro-Islamist sentiments.  For example, the Telegraph quotes former Hasan colleague Col. Terry Lee as saying, “[Hasan] was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans,” that Hasan admitted to being “happy” upon learning of the Muslim who killed a soldier at an Arkansas military recruitment center and that he once said “maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square.”  Chron.com reports that Hasan had created “Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats” and that “One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.”

Read the rest here.

The Fort Hood Massacre: Is it Really True that All Mainstream Religions are Peaceful?

An apparent Muslim jihadist strikes again — this time at Texas’ Fort Hood.

By Selwyn Duke

We’ve all heard about yesterday’s tragedy at Fort Hood military base in Texas. At 1:30 p.m., army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan went on a rampage, targeting fellow soldiers and others for destruction at the base’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center and the adjacent Howze Theater. Using two semi-automatic handguns, Hasan claimed 12 lives and wounded 31 people before being shot multiple times by local police (it appears the other soldiers weren’t armed). The gunman was then taken into custody and brought to a local hospital. It’s said his life is not in danger. 

While there’s no “official” word on Hasan’s motives, it’s not hard to connect the dots. A man of Jordanian descent and a pious Muslim, the major’s loyalties didn’t seem to lie with the nation he’d sworn to protect. Instead, he had often expressed support for Islamic jihadists, once saying that Muslims needed to “rise up” against the aggressors (presumably the U.S. and the West in general). Expanding on this, Philip Sherwell at the Telegraph reports on the testimonials of retired officer and former colleague of Hasan’s Col. Terry Lee, writing:

Read the rest here.

Catholic Bishops: The Faithful Should Not Support Current Healthcare Reform Bills

By Selwyn Duke

Upset about the inclusion of abortion funding and mandates in the healthcare reform bills currently before Congress, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is blanketing 19,000 parishes across the nation with a bulletin insert instructing the faithful to oppose the bills in their present form.

The USCCB relates the substance of the insert in a news release, writing:

"Health care reform should be about saving lives, not destroying them," the insert states. It urges readers to contact Senate leaders so they support efforts to "incorporate longstanding policies against abortion funding and in favor of conscience rights" in health reform legislation.

 "If these serious concerns are not addressed, the final bill should be opposed," it adds.

Read the rest here.

Guest Commentary: The Importance of Values and Principles

               Hope comes from the Great State of Tennessee

By Marilyn Barnewall                                        

A copy of Susan Lynn’s email came last Thursday. She is a member of the Tennessee General Assembly and serves on the Commerce Committee. She is Chairman of the Government Operations Committee and also chairs the American Legislative Exchange Council’s Commerce Task Force.

Obama Pushing Secular UN Anti-Free Speech Resolution

By Selwyn Duke

Those who would accuse Barack Obama of pandering to — if not sympathy for — Islamists have been handed some powerful new ammunition. In a disturbing move, the Obama administration is joining Muslim nations in supporting a UN resolution restricting criticism of religion, a measure reflective of those nations’ blasphemy laws.

Treating the matter in USA Today, Professor Jonathan Turley writes:

While attracting surprisingly little attention, the Obama administration supported the effort of largely Muslim nations in the U.N. Human Rights Council to recognize exceptions to free speech for any "negative racial and religious stereotyping." The exception was made as part of a resolution supporting free speech that passed this month, but it is the exception, not the rule that worries civil libertarians.... It is viewed as a transparent bid to appeal to the "Muslim street" and our Arab allies, with the administration seeking greater coexistence through the curtailment of objectionable speech. Though it has no direct enforcement (and is weaker than earlier versions), it is still viewed as a victory for those who sought to juxtapose and balance the rights of speech and religion.

Read the rest here.

Boy Set on Fire in Brutal Revenge Attack

By Selwyn Duke

In one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, a 15-year-old Florida boy was set ablaze by five other teens in a revenge attack stemming from a dispute over a video game.

The victim, Michael Brewer of Deerfield Beach, suffered mainly second-degree burns on 65 percent of his body and is currently hospitalized at Jackson Memorial Hospital’s burn center in critical condition.

The youths charged in the attack are Jesus Mendez, 15; Steven Shelton, who will be 16 on Thursday; Matthew Bent, 15; and two brothers, Denver and Jeremy Jarvis, 15 and 13 respectively. The boys are accused of dousing Brewer with rubbing alcohol and then igniting it with a lighter. All five are charged with aggravated assault, and Mendez, who is said to have set the victim ablaze, is also charged with attempted second-degree murder. Writing about the events leading up to the vicious act, CBSNews.com tells us:

Read the rest here.

Friday's Savage Nation Appearance: Liberal Intolerance — Michael Savage's Cambridge Appearance Cancelled

Liberal Intolerance: Michael Savage's Cambridge Appearance Cancelled — 10/09/09

Obamas' Self-Centeredness on Display

By Selwyn Duke

It's a humbling realization, but anybody aspiring to grow in wisdom must understand that he is but one of six and a half billion people on this blue orb, no more important than anybody else.  Yet this is something that eludes many in a modern culture of self-esteem exercises, wherein children are sometimes raised as if the world revolves around them.  And watching Michelle Obama's speech while lobbying the International Olympics Committee (IOC) on Chicago's behalf made it plain that she was -- and perhaps still is -- one of those children.

I'm not the first to note how thoroughly solipsistic the First Lady's speech was (Joe Gimenez did a very good job here).  This is because it was so painfully obvious.  She wasn't singing the praises of the Windy City; it was Windy Michelle talking about what may be her favorite topic: herself.  Confusing advocacy with autobiography, it was I, I, I; her father this and her father that; how well she learned to throw and punch; how she played games as a girl; what she learned through sport; how she is a mother and a daughter (which we sort of discerned); ad infinitum.  I half expected her at any moment to break into the chant, "Mm, mm, mm, Michelle LaVaughn Obama!

Read the rest here.

TNA Cover Story — Obama: Beyond the Idea of an Icon

By Selwyn Duke

There has long been a certain objection to the divine command that we should worship God. It is simply: Why does God need you to worship Him? It is, really, an eminently fair question, and it has an eminently logical answer: God doesn’t need you to worship Him. You need to worship Him. Worshipping God has, among other things, the very great by-product of reminding us who God is and, by extension, who He is not: us.

This may seem obvious, but history has shown that this simple fact more often than not eludes man. For instance, Egyptian pharaohs were considered very important gods in their culture; in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar erected a statue of himself with the inscription, “The unvanquished god”; and in the mid 2200s B.C., King Narim-Sin of the Akkadian Empire was known as “the god of Agade.”

Read the rest here.

United Nations Plan: Teach Masturbation to 5-Year-Olds

By Selwyn Duke

A while back we heard about the United Nations pact that would prohibit parents from choosing their children's religion. Now the UN is issuing another dystopian proposal, a sex-education curriculum that would teach children as young as five about masturbation and "gender roles, stereotypes and gender-based violence." And those are just two elements in a 98-page report issued by the UN's Economic, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and which includes curricula for children between the ages of 5 and 18. Joseph Abrams at FoxNews reports, writing:

Under the U.N.'s voluntary sex-ed regime, kids just 5-8 years old will be told that "touching and rubbing one's genitals is called masturbation" and that private parts "can feel pleasurable when touched by oneself."

. . . By the time they're 9 years old, they'll learn about "positive and negative effects of 'aphrodisiacs," and wrestle with the ideas of "homophobia, transphobia [prejudice against transsexuals] and abuse of power."

At 12, they'll learn the "reasons for" abortions — but they'll already have known about their safety for three years. When they're 15, they'll be exposed to direct "advocacy to promote the right to and access to safe abortion."

Read the rest here.