Monday, November 19, 2012

Christian Slaves of the Moslems

 

Though the teachings of the Prophet forbade the true believer to hold in slavery any member of the faith, extensive Moslem conquests brought vast numbers of non-believers under their control. If those captured did not accept the new faith, they were put to death or into chains and harems.   

--Bernhard Thuersam

Christian Slaves of the Moslems:

“The rapid extension of Mohammedan conquest brought under Moslem control many thousands of unbelievers. Of these many at once accepted the new faith, many fled, and many were put to death; but many more were reduced to slavery.  War was no doubt the chief source of supply for the slave market. It was provided that one in five of the captives should go to the government while the soldiers divided among themselves the remainder. 

Later the Caliphs of Egypt and the Sultans of the Turks, finding their thrones in a precarious position, resorted to the use of splendidly trained bands of slaves, bought by traders or acquired by brigands, to maintain their position. This was the origin of an annual tribute of children [as slaves]. 

Still another source of the slave supply was a result of the misery of the time in which the people were living.  Parents sold children, especially girls, to save themselves from starvation. Christians and heathen at war, and heathen at war with heathen, sold their captives into slavery among the Moslems.  With the growth in the demand for slaves, avaricious Christian and Jewish merchants also helped to supply the Moslem slave markets. 

The slave policy of the Mohammedans is well illustrated in the conquest of North Africa. This began in 647 and was virtually accomplished in 673.  Ackbar was the leader of the Moslems. He is said to have taken eighty thousand captives in this invasion, and as the poverty of the country made possible no tribute in gold or silver, “the richest spoil came from the booty of female captives,” some of whom were afterwards sold for a thousand pieces of gold.  Captives continued to be collected before and after much persecution and proselytizing, in 743, Abd-el-Rahman reported to the Caliph, that he could send no more Christian slaves because all Africa had become Mohammedan. 

The conquerors of the North extended Islam into the interior of Africa. The converted tribes, inspired by the new faith and under tutelage of the Arabs, made war on the heathen African, and the captives of these incessant tribal wars became a most important supply of the northern markets.  Jenne on the Niger was a large market. Timbuktu, the capital of Songhay Kano, and Kasena, were other points at which   Negro captives were collected to fill the Arab caravans on the march to the north, where they were sold and distributed throughout Moslem territory and into Europe.

Another source of Egyptian slave supply was the country north and south of the Black Sea.  The region of the Circassus became a favorite source of supply for the harem and from the far north Slavs and other people of present-day Russia and people living east and south of the Baltic Sea and those living in the valley of rivers flowing into the North Sea, were brought down to the Volga River, and collected on the Black Sea.  Still other slaves were obtained by Moslem brigands coming from Spain. In the Ninth Century the Saracens were quick to take advantage of the helpless condition of Italy. At this time Pope John the VII wrote to Charles the Bald, “If all the trees of the forests became tongues, they could not describe the ravages of the impious pagans; the devoted people of God are destroyed by continuous slaughter: he who escapes the sword is taken into slavery. Cities, castles, and villages are wasted and without a single soul….” 

(The Mohammedan Slave Trade, J.H. Johnston, The Journal of Negro History, Cater G. Woodson, editor, Vol. XIII, No. 4, October, 1928, pp. 479-482)   

War profiteers

Via Ryan


"....... a treasonous bunch of bas**rds are running this Republic"



 The two ex-SEALS saved the lives of 30 people that night by disobeying orders and holding off a superior force for as long as they could. Then, when it was someone else's turn to come to their aid, they found out just what a treasonous bunch of bas**rds are running this Republic.
--Johnpaulkuchtajr, comment at theblaze.com 

=======================

art-link-symbol-small-rev01.jpg The Texas Travel Freedom Act would make it a criminal act to intentionally touch "the anus, breast, buttocks, or sexual organ of the other person, including touching through clothing," without probable cause in the process of determining whether to grant someone access to a public venue or means of public transportation, says this article at The Tenth Amendment Center

New Hampshire's model jury instruction 3.17 lays out the power of jury nullification. In its model instructions to jurors, it reads, "Even if you find that the State has proven each and every element of the offense charged beyond a reasonable doubt, you may still find the defendant not guilty if you have a conscientious feeling that a not guilty verdict would be a fair result in this case." [re: OJ]
Ryan Conley at seolawfirm.com art-link-symbol-tiny-grey-arrow-only-rev01.gif Hat tip: urbansurvival.com  

Chicago Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. - A Rolex watch is also part of the case against the congressman. Our sources say that the federal agents want to know where Jackson got $42,000 to pay for the watch he purchased for the woman he was having an affair with.
Darlene Hill at myfoxchicago.com 

Democratic Party - a coalition with essentially nothing in common but the fact that they all want something from someone else.
Ebben Raves at americanthinker.com

 This is the chief of our spookworks and he can't manage to figure out how to send a secure email message to his mistress! Oh. My. Ghod. THIS is the state of so-called "cyber-security" at the highest levels of our supposedly-secure "government"?
Karl Denninger at market-ticker.org

Joke - After the fall of the Soviet Union and the introduction of genuine electoral politics to Russia, the city of Moscow, in order to save money, purchased used voting machines from the city of Chicago. When they held their first election for Mayor, Richard J. Daley won by a landslide.
Email from DS, long time reader and friend of Woodpile Report

 A public health proposal suggests that tobacco smokers should be required to apply and pay for a "smoker's license" in order to continue buying cigarettes. ... the smartcard would allow the government to limit how many cigarettes a smoker could buy. [Next: sugar, salt, ammo &c.]
washington.cbslocal.com 

 I had recourse to the dictionary and found that socialism is "an economic system in which the means of production and distribution belong to the government." Thus America cannot be socialist, since the means of production belong to the Chinese.
Fred Reed at fredoneverything.net

The most asinine thing Glenn Beck has ever said

 There are some people who actually stand up for what they believe in, unlike you.


Now how do you think that's going to work out? I mean, how dumb do you have to be?  Really?  You're putting your name on a list that goes directly to the White House, and you're putting your name on a list and saying, 'yeah I think we should secede, I think there should be a Civil War.'
--Glenn Beck at theblaze.com

Dumbing Down for Dollars: A Tale of Two Floridas

 

Florida students in government-run schools are being challenged to improve their math and reading performance significantly over the next six years. But some students are being held to higher standards than others depending on their race.

The State Board of Education recently voted that by 2018, 74 percent of black students, 81 percent of Hispanic students, 88 percent of white students, and 90 percent of Asian students need to be reading at grade level.

Those new standards are in response to the U.S Department of Education’s requirement that the percentage of student sub-groups that are not proficient in reading and math be halved.
“As a matter of philosophy … I think we should have the same goal for all categories of our citizenry,” said board member John Padget. “Are we happy with the signal that this sends?” Board member Roberto Martinez added, “Should an Asian child and an Hispanic child be held to the same standard down the road? The answer is, yes”

This is the preferred vision of politicians and bureaucrats, and not just ones in Florida—equal opportunity and expectations for some but not others. But another vision of equal educational opportunity for all exists in Florida now—not some point down an undefined road.

The Pilgrims’ Real Thanksgiving Lesson



Feast and football. That’s what many of us think about at Thanksgiving. Most people identify the origin of the holiday with the Pilgrims’ first bountiful harvest. But few understand how the Pilgrims actually solved their chronic food shortages.

Many people believe that after suffering through a severe winter, the Pilgrims’ food shortages were resolved the following spring when the Native Americans taught them to plant corn and a Thanksgiving celebration resulted. In fact, the pilgrims continued to face chronic food shortages for three years until the harvest of 1623. Bad weather or lack of farming knowledge did not cause the pilgrims’ shortages. Bad economic incentives did.

In 1620 Plymouth Plantation was founded with a system of communal property rights. Food and supplies were held in common and then distributed based on “equality” and “need” as determined by Plantation officials. People received the same rations whether or not they contributed to producing the food, and residents were forbidden from producing their own food. Governor William Bradford, in his 1647 history, Of Plymouth Plantation, wrote that this system “was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.” The problem was that “young men, that were most able and fit for labour, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense.” Because of the poor incentives, little food was produced.

Faced with potential starvation in the spring of 1623, the colony decided to implement a new economic system. Every family was assigned a private parcel of land. They could then keep all they grew for themselves, but now they alone were responsible for feeding themselves. While not a complete private property system, the move away from communal ownership had dramatic results.
This change, Bradford wrote, “had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.” Giving people economic incentives changed their behavior. Once the new system of property rights was in place, “the women now went willingly into the field, and took their little ones with them to set corn; which before would allege weakness and inability.”

The Debt Death Spiral: U.S. City Edition

What Happens When Cities Go Bankrupt?

What happens when public employee unions begin calling too many of the shots in government?
Reuters reports on the backstory of the city of San Bernandino, California’s bankruptcy, which features a lot of politicians blaming everyone else for their dilemma:
Yet on close examination, the city’s decades-long journey from prosperous, middle-class community to bankrupt, crime-ridden, foreclosure-blighted basket case is straightforward — and alarmingly similar to the path traveled by many municipalities around America’s largest state. San Bernardino succumbed to a vicious circle of self-interests among city workers, local politicians and state pension overseers.
Little by little, over many years, the salaries and retirement benefits of San Bernardino’s city workers — and especially its police and firemen — grew richer and richer, even as the city lost its major employers and gradually got poorer and poorer.
Unions poured money into city council elections, and the city council poured money into union pay and pensions. The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers), which manages pension plans for San Bernardino and many other cities, encouraged ever-sweeter benefits. Investment bankers sold clever bond deals to pay for them.
Meanwhile, state law made it impossible to raise local property taxes and difficult to boost any other kind.
No single deal or decision involving benefits and wages over the years killed the city. But cumulatively, they built a pension-fueled financial time-bomb that finally exploded.
How out of whack did things become? Reuters describes how the city’s retired public employees became members of the Top 3.6% of individual income earners in the U.S. (and Top 12.9% of American households):

More @ My Gov Cost

The greatest mass hanging in America's history

Via Calvin Johnson

 



The Bible & War

 


On 19 November 1863 Genocide Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, wherein he did not apologize for all those whom his policies had killed, and stole the last line of his speech from 14th century church Reformer John Wycliffe's 1384 Prologue to his English Bible translation: "this Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People." Fascinating that Lincoln replaces the Bible with War to govern the people.

Treasury Secretary Geithner: ‘Eliminate The Debt Ceiling’

Tim Geithner 
DOOFUS

VERBATIM

In one of the most asinine comments to comes from Washington, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday that Congress should “just eliminate the debt ceiling” and stop placing legal limits on the amount of money the federal government can borrow.

Geithner appeared on Bloomberg TV and host Al Hunt asked him if he believed that “we ought to just eliminate the debt ceiling.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Geithner said.

“You do? Will you propose that?” Hunt asked.

“Well, this is something only Congress can solve,” Geithner said. “Congress put it on itself. We’ve had 100 years of experience with it, and I think only once–last summer–did people decide to use it to threaten default on the American credit for the first time in history as a tool for political advantage.

And that’s not a tenable strategy.”

Hunt then asked: “Is now the time to eliminate it?”

“It would have been time a long time ago to eliminate it,” Geithner said. “The sooner the better.”
This is like someone turning to their spouse and saying “Honey, we should just forget the limits of our credit and our household income and just go borrow and spend like we have billions, even though we only bring home $75,000 a year.”

How in the world someone like Tim Geithner made it to the position he is in is beyond me, except for the fact that he knows Barack Obama. I don’t see anyone else agreeing with him….yet.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has already stated that he is ready to increase the debt ceiling by over $2 trillion.

According to reports Geithner is looking for the exit door anyway, so he won’t have to respond to any of this when it all comes crashing down around our ear.

We had better listen to Texas Congressman Ron Paul who says that we should operate as though we are already over the “fiscal cliff,” because the reality is, we are.

Christian Convert from Islam Beheaded in Somalia

ht_convert_beheading_081203_main

Morning Star News

Islamic extremists accuse young man of being spy, embracing ‘foreign religion.’

 

NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – Islamic extremists from Somalia’s rebel Al-Shabaab militants on Friday (Nov. 16) killed a Christian in Somalia’s coastal city of Barawa, accusing him of being a spy and leaving Islam, Christian and Muslim witnesses said.
The extremists beheaded 25-year-old Farhan Haji Mose after monitoring his movements for six months, Christian sources said. Mose drew suspicion when he returned to Barawa, in Somalia’s Lower Shebelle Region, in December 2011 after spending time in Kenya, underground Christians in Somalia told Morning Star News.

Kenya’s population is nearly 83 percent Christian, according to Operation World, while Somalia’s is close to 100 percent Muslim.

A crowd assembled in the coastal city on Friday morning to watch the slaughter of Mose, the sources said.

“His body was split into two, then carried away, only to be dumped near the beach of Barawa city,” a Christian source who witnessed the murder told Morning Star News.

Other witnesses, Muslims, independently described the same scene. They and the Christian witness told Morning Star News that the Islamic extremists accused Mose of being a spy for foreigners and of embracing the “foreign religion of Christianity.”

Loved ones of the deceased did not risk immediately recovering the body, fearing that the militants would consider them guilty by association and kill them as well. A source said a Muslim fisherman who came upon Mose’s body this morning (Nov. 17) lamented, “What a brutal murder – why did the Al Shabaab kill this man? Did he deserve such a brutal death because he associated with the Christian people in Kenya?”

Mose, who had studied in Kenya, had a small cosmetics shop in in Barawa and had traveled to Kenya on business last year. He converted to Christianity in 2010 while in Kenya, sources said.

“I am saddened by the death of my friend Mose,” said an underground Christian who had encouraged Mose in his faith after the young man had returned from Kenya.

A leader of the underground church in Somalia also confirmed the murder.

Barawa, also called Brava, has come under control of the Al Shabaab rebels fighting the government. With a population of 545,000, the city is an international port in the Lower Shebelle Region, 113 miles (181 kilometers) southwest of the capital city of Mogadishu.

Al Shabaab rebels have killed dozens of Christian converts from Islam since embarking on a campaign to rid Somalia of Christianity. The insurgents, variously estimated at 3,000 to 7,000, seek to impose a stricter version of sharia (Islamic law) on Somalia.

The transitional government in Mogadishu proclaims itself moderate, but it too has embraced a version of sharia that mandates the death penalty for those who leave Islam.

Designated a terrorist organization by several Western governments, Al Shabaab was one of several splinter groups that arose after Ethiopian forces toppled the Islamic Courts Union from power in Somalia in 2006.

###

© 2012 Morning Star News. Articles may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News.  

Twitter suspends American Orthodox Jew for tweeting anti-Obama cartoon about Israel

https://p.twimg.com/A7rdBLaCMAAds_a.jpg

VERBATIM

Without warning, Twitter suspended a series of three accounts owned by an Orthodox Jew from New York City Wednesday and Thursday, after one of them tweeted a cartoon depicting the Obama administration stabbing Israel in the back. The social media company refused to tell The Daily Caller if the cartoon was the reason it shut the accounts down.

Twitter also wouldn’t say why it hasn’t taken similar action against the terror group Hamas and its supporters for tweeting “Death to the Jews” and other threats of violence.

The suspended accounts, named @RealGazaPeace, @RealGazaPeace1 and @GazaRealStory, were all operated by 25-year-old Benjamin Reisman. “Social media sites have an awesome responsibility to keep to our right of free speech,” he told TheDC via email Friday.

SECESSION PETITIONS & BLACK FLAG OPS


 

The Secession Petitions have gotten FAR MORE ATTENTION than most thought would happen. This represents a HUGE SUCCESS for an action that was not a legal based suit in the Supreme Court, the World Court on in State courts, and all it cost was the use of our Internet service and a little time for us. All that needed to happen was for a new pathway to be used to "capture the public's imagination." 

Now that we have their attention, and we clearly do, we need to maintain focus and direct their attention in educational and new ways to think about and approach secession, separation and independence that we have not used in the past. Maintaining Confederate cemeteries and memorials, and the wonderful historical displays by our Battle Reenactments, Living History programs and First Person Presenters, usually at OUR OWN EXPENSE, have been important and now take on a new level of  importance for the future, but that work cannot accomplish what new needs to be done to regain our independence and civil sovereignty though they do take on more importance in this process. There is not JUST ONE THING for us to do or file with the courts that will achieve our goals. There are many.

I heard someone say, "Ah, President Obama is not going to set you free. (Ironic language isn't it?)" For now it does not matter if he NEVER mentions the petitions. Things are changing and it is not the change he campaigned, advertized and planned for.

Far more people in all regions of the USA and Europe are taking the possibility of States separation from the Leviathan we call the USA far more seriously. Federal workers have received a notice that they should be storing up food and whatever else they need like medicines , etc. for the possibility of Civil War or Revolution.

This "WARNING!!!" did not come from American Dissidents, the Separatists or the League of the South Secessionists about those who are now talking Revolution and Civil War, BUT it is the U.S. President Obama. This is very important and very serious and could be a precursor for False Flag Operations to discredit the opposition to continued union with the Federal Government of the USA. We must should not ignore this Official Alert our family members received who work for the Federal Government, and we must be prepared with reactions that could expose the fraud of a Blag Flag Operations QUICKLY since the exercise of the Special Presidential Powers has already been used radically more often than they had been under all other USA Presidents, while our elected "representatives" who represent no one but the fascists, sit dutifully mute and fain ignorance or anger while the memories of freedom and liberty draw their last breath.

Remember that in the heart and the hand of EVERY socialist Democrat planner is a communist revolutionary who shoots real bullets, and American Marxist revolutionaries are no different. Third world politics are not just knocking on the doors of the U.S. Congress. Third world revolutionaries ARE IN THE SEATS AND HALLS OF CONGRESS and freely walking the halls of the U.S. White House. This is not hysteria. We cannot afford to ignore the history of socialist and communist revolutionaries. The prolific amount of voter fraud is a Marxist tactic and must not be ignored, and it needs to be understood for what it is, a Communist Revolutionary Tactic. A country boy friend of mine said "And pissing and moaning ain't gonna fix this." He is right. "Whining" is not going to fix anything.

Everywhere I go the tone of conversation about separation from the USA has vastly changed to favorable views over what it was a year ago. The only negative I am hearing is from Southerners who say that "It can't happen. Don't you remember what happened 150 years ago?" That is enough for even me to say to Southerners what northerners have said to Southerners for over 150 years,  "Get over it. That was 150 years ago."

There are other free avenues that we can also use to create a readiness for separation while we raise the funds for establishing a judicial, business and social route to independence. American "Separatist" and American "Dissidents" are no longer afraid to speak louder than a whisper and to speak out often, but there just may be a price to pay. Independence costs. It does not just drop in your lap. Dr. Michael Hill, Dr. Clyde N. Wilson, Dr. Donald Livingston and a host of others in the League of the South have made great personal sacrifices in this direction and have been working faithfully in this direction for years. Attend the League of the South meetings and make meaningful donations to support this important effort.

It sickens me when I hear folks whine about paying dues in some Southern organization promoting independence while they assert separatist and secessionist views. The League of the South needed and needs a business office with a full-time paid staff in every State NOW. Pseudo patriots chant "Freedom is not free" as they honor those in the USA military who invade and occupy foreign nations in the behalf of bankers and American business and industrialists. How about lets pay-up the anti and support secessionist activities and bring freedom and independence home to our own States!!! OTHERWISE, we will be either "DEAD" or "RED (meaning Communist)" as my generation used to say. We are a deep pink already . . .

Yes, Constitutional Conservatives Need to Change Into War Paint.

Via Don


It has been steadily dawning on me this past weekend just how severe is the state of our disunion. Much of it precipitated by the battles of the valiant Allen West in his District 18 race in Florida. Western Journalism's account of the day's activities yesterday is mind blowing.  It is a microcosm of what we are facing as constitutional conservatives in this country and the forces that arrayed against us.   (Be sure to skip to the “How bad is it?” section below if you want to cut to the chase.

In Allen West, you have a true conservative who not only is knowledgeable and articulate on the issues, but who takes away the standard excuses many on "our side" have as to why we don't win. You wanted Rubio for VP (despite the fact he is constitutionally ineligible)? Allen is bad ass, dark skinned brother who grew up deep in the south where (supposedly) racism is on a daily rampage. He doesn't have the lack the articulate "coolness" or maturity decried as missing from Angle and O'Donnell. And, he even voted for the budget ceiling debacle and NDAA proving he isn't a "purist" to the Libertarian-hating elements of the Elephant party.

The Grand Old Plantation

So surely this rising star would be embraced as a Reagan figure by the establishment and TEA forces alike, right?  Yeah - JUST like Reagan, the GOP Establishment tried to undercut and weaken him at ever juncture. In fact the Rubio/Jeb Bush GOP influences in Florida redistricted him in such a way that he would have to battle severely just to stay in office. So much for that "Republicans were the original party of the black man" crap we tried to delude ourselves with. Yes, I'm saying it. The Republican Establishment INTENTIONALLY tried to subvert Allen West because of his race. And his conservatism.  He is a danger to them because he is principled.  And black.  And they know he has the ear of the TEA party.  It took them 10 years to put the Reagan renegades back on the party plantation.  Just look how they treated Gingrich who actually INCREASED the Republican and conservative identity from the Gipper’s and sabotaged a coup_d'état so that they could start enslaving our children to ever increasing debt again. 


Jane Fonda's New Regret: 'Sitting On That Gun in North Vietnam'

Via Don
“Jane Fonda can kiss my ass. I wouldn’t walk across the street to watch her slit her wrist.”
          --Jim Webb 

Amen and
========================================



VERBATIM

Having reached her mid-seventies, Oscar-winner Jane Fonda is now in that phase of her career where she's celebrated with all kinds of "achievement awards." Last night at the L.A. Press Club gala honoring her, Fonda's revealed that her biggest regret in life is no longer not "f***ing" mass-murderer Che Guevera, but that moment that defined her even more than her film career: when she was photographed sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun meant to shoot down American pilots during the Vietnam War.

    In a short speech, Fonda called out her friends in the audience -- Daniels, Sam Waterston, Melanie Griffith and Lily Tomlin -- and said, "I can't tell you how moved I am for this award."

    Then, in a "lightning round" Q&A with NBC 4 anchor Robert Kovacik, Fonda touched on a variety of topics: …

    -- On her greatest regret in life: "Sitting on that gun in North Vietnam. I'll go to my grave with that one."

Well, give the actress credit. This is a step up from what we learned in Patricia Bosworth's Biography, "Jane Fonda," where the star reportedly said: "My biggest regret is I never got to f*** Che Guevara."

Personally, I don't think Fonda regrets sitting on that anti-aircraft gun.  I think she regrets being caught sitting on that anti-aircraft gun. Nothing in Fonda's statements or subsequent actions has ever shown me that she understands just how evil that act was.

And why she hasn't been tried and deported for treason is beyond me.

Islamic Extremists May Issue Fatwa on Pakistani Schoolgirl Malala

 Loving Islam at work


Islamic hardliners are threatening to issue a “fatwa’’ on the brave 15-year-old schoolgirl who was cold-bloodedly shot by the Pakistani Taliban last month for tirelessly campaigning for better educational opportunities for girls.

Malala Yousafzai remains under heavy police guard at a Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birminham, England, where she is recovering from a gunshot to the head. She was airlifted there after the assault in her hometown of Mingora, Pakistan.

Doctors are optimistic Malala will make a full recovery and eventually be released after several more months rehabilitation and counseling. But the fatwa decree — which can include the threat of death — could make it difficult for her to move about freely.

Anjem Choudary — a London resident and founder of al-Muhajiroun, an Islamist group banned by the British government for alleged ties to terrorism — told the Daily Telegraph the fatwa will be issued at a conference in Islamabad later this month.

During the meeting, members of the notorious Red Mosque are expected to denounce Malala as an apostate and accuse her of turning her back on Islam, Choudary told the newspaper.


More @ Newsmax

Soaring Toward Totalitarianism

by Mike Adams who came up with the marvelous two cent check plan in 2008.:)  He's a professor at UNCW and kept his political views to himself until he received tenure.  Since then, he's driving them crazy as they can't get rid of him.:)


 Mike Adams
================================ 

VERBATIM

(Some time in the not-too-distant future at a public university near you).

Good morning, everyone. My name is Dean Crawler and I would like to welcome everyone to new staff training here in the Dean of Student's Office at the University of Neo-Communism in Wonderland, or UNCW. I wish to welcome all returning Deans, Associate Deans, Assistant Deans, and Adjunct Deans as well. They say it takes a village to raise a child. One could say that it takes a fiefdom to raise a generation. Of course, we prefer to avoid references to Western civilization here at UNCW. We are soaring to greatness. And that means leaving past traditions behind. Even an Adjunct Dean of Diversity knows that. No offense or disrespect intended.

Our training today will focus on four new programs that will help us gain control over student dissidents in an effort to assure the smooth operation of the university. Diversity and tolerance are very complex concepts. And sometimes rigid conformity is needed to ensure their full realization. I would appreciate it if everyone would give her, his, its, or undecided's full attention while I explain these new programs:

1. No administrator left behind. We have decided to add a few new positions to help with our ever increasing workload. We will add a new Dean of Noise Complaints this semester. As you know, students often have parties off campus that result in noise complaints. We have partnered with local police to set up a system whereby all noise complaints received by police are channeled into the university administrative structure. When police answer a noise complaint off campus, we soon find out. Then we will call the student into the Dean's Office and interrogate him, her, it, or undecided concerning the alleged violation. Each violation will be recorded by the Dean's Office and will be placed in the student's permanent record. If the student complains loudly in response to interrogation, the Dean of Noise Complaints will then file a separate noise complaint with the UNCW police. This will result in the student being brought back in for further interrogation by the Dean of Noise Complaints.

2. Two strikes and you're out. All infractions will require recidivism before students can be expelled from UNCW. However, our previous policy of allowing three strikes has been modified. Now, only two strikes will be needed for expulsion. For example, an off campus noise complaint resulting in interrogation to which a student noisily complains will be sufficient for expulsion. Students will forfeit all tuition and fees paid for the duration of the semester, regardless of whether expulsion occurs before or after the official drop date for regular courses.

3. The Universal Administrative Trial Program. To date, we have employed a two-tier system for dealing with student non-conformity issues. Criminal hearings have been used as a means of dealing with criminal conduct. Administrative hearings have been used for dealing with non-criminal violations. In the latter type of hearing, students have been stripped of all needlessly cumbersome due process rights. In our collective view, the system has proved to be unworkable. Therefore, we have decided that all hearings will be classified as administrative in nature. All rights will be suspended except for cases involving sexual assault and sexual harassment. In such cases, students bringing charges will be granted a right to counsel and a right to full appellate review. Student plaintiffs will be able to appeal adverse rulings. The accused will receive no corresponding benefit. All attempts on behalf of the accused to either a) retain counsel or b) appeal an adverse ruling will be subject to the noise complaint policy. The Dean of Noise Complaints will preside over all such hearings.

4. Our New Government Respect Compact. Our Student Respect Compact was originally designed to preserve the rights of students to work in an environment free from the following: incivility, discomfort, disrespect, unwarranted intellectual challenge, and unwanted solicitation of ideas and opinions.
The policy has been modified to include the protection of administrators from all of the same invasions. For example, student complaints concerning "administrative waste" and control over "private" or "non-academic matters" are often distressing to the administration. The complaints are rarely solicited and often result in administrative discomfort. We now consider them to be uniformly disrespectful and uncivil. Any conflict between Our New Government Respect Compact and state "whistleblower" laws or the "constitution" will be resolved in the favor of Our New Government Respect Compact. Any resistance will be referred to the Dean of Noise Complaints and subject to the aforementioned policies.

The Obama administration has done a lot to move us forward. The Obama Department of Education told us that we must reduce the burden of proof in sexual assault cases to a mere preponderance of evidence. They told us we would receive no federal funds if we did not conform. We based all of our other sexual assault and sexual harassment policies on the model in place at Stanford University. We call them our Cardinal rules of sexual conformity. That great institution believes that the new Obama policies were a mere starting point - a minimum list of expectations. We agree with that philosophy.

When it comes to implementing policies that ensure administrative victory over student dissidents, we want to do more than just the minimum required by Washington. We want to stay one step ahead of the federal authorities. Not everything we do may be "constitutional" as they say. But our constitution is a living, breathing document. We are confident that the federal judiciary will share and affirm our grander vision by the time any disagreements reach that level. You all are a part of that grand vision. For those of you who are new, I welcome you into our community. For those returning, I welcome you back. And I welcome you all to move with us. Forward.

In closing, I would remind you that extremism in the defense of conformity is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of civility is no virtue.

Botched Paramilitary Police Raids

Via Don

An Epidemic of "Isolated Incidents"

 

"If a widespread pattern of [knock-and-announce] violations were shown . . . there would be reason for grave concern." 
 —Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Hudson v. Michigan, June 15, 2006.

An interactive map of botched SWAT and paramilitary police raids, released in conjunction with the Cato policy paper "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids," by Radley Balko.

What does this map mean?

How to use this map

More @ CATO

Chart of the Week: Cut Spending to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff

 


The Heritage Foundation has updated its Saving the American Dream plan as the nation moves inexorably towards the fiscal cliff set to hit at the beginning of 2013.
From Amy Payne’s Morning Bell:
To meet this challenge, Heritage Foundation experts updated our Saving the American Dream plan to address the fiscal cliff and then rein in spending. Our plan features a sweeping pro-growth tax reform plan to grow the economy and generate more revenues and a broad restructuring of entitlement programs to provide real economic security to seniors while making the programs affordable.
The plan balances the federal budget within 10 years—without raising taxes—and stabilizes and then reduces the debt. The Heritage plan focuses government assistance to those who truly need it, with a guarantee that no American would have to live in poverty. It would also begin to reduce government back to its constitutionally authorized powers and make defense funding a core priority.
 More @ Heritage

White House Changed CIA Talking Points

 

Senior Republican members of Congress confirmed Sunday that the Obama administration changed CIA guidance to senior officials that had identified the Sept. 11 attack in Benghazi as an al Qaeda attack.

“The intelligence community had it right, and they had it right early,” said chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Rep. Mike Rogers (R., Mich.).

The CIA “talking points” on Benghazi initially identified the attackers as al Qaeda or al Qaeda-linked terrorists but senior administration officials removed the reference, Rogers said on NBC’s Meet the Press.
Meanwhile, White House deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president on Saturday that the White House made only minor changes in the first comments by a White House official on the Benghazi security scandal.

“We were provided with points by the intelligence community that represented their assessment,” Rhodes said on Air Force One en route to Asia. “The only edit made by the White House was the factual edit about how to refer to the facility.”

Rhodes insisted that the word “consulate” was changed to “diplomatic facility” to reflect the fact that the compound was not involved in traditional consular activities.

“Other than that, we were guided by the points that were provided by the intelligence community,” he said. “So I can’t speak to any other edits that may have been made.”

Rogers said the talking points were reviewed by a “deputies committee” of senior officials that is “populated by appointees from the administration. That’s where the narrative changed.”

Ranchers, farmers brace for 'death tax' impact

 

Rancher Kevin Kester works dawn to dusk, drives a 12-year-old pick-up truck and earns less than a typical bureaucrat in Washington D.C., yet the federal government considers him rich enough to pay the estate tax -- also known as the "death tax."

And with that tax set to soar at the beginning of 2013 without some kind of intervention from Congress, farmers and ranchers like Kester are waiting anxiously.

"There is no way financially my kids can pay what the IRS is going to demand from them nine months after death and keep this ranch intact for their generation and future generations," said Kester, of the Bear Valley Ranch in Central California.

Two decades ago, Kester paid the IRS $2 million when he inherited a 22,000-acre cattle ranch from his grandfather. Come January, the tax burden on his children will be more than $13 million.

For supporters of a high estate tax, which is imposed on somebody's estate after death, Kester is the kind of person they rarely mention. He doesn't own a mansion. He's not the CEO of a multi-national. But because of his line of work, he owns a lot of property that would be subject to a lot of tax.

"Our number one goal is to repeal the estate tax, to get rid of it, not have it for every generation, when I die and my kids die and so on," he told Fox News. "For everyone to have to re-purchase the ranch or farm over and over for each generation, that's inherently unjust. So what we're doing is asking our politicians to understand that and repeal the estate tax."

More @ Fox

Retiring Ron Paul to make his case for liberty on college campuses next year



Retiring Rep. Ron Paul plans to deliver speeches on college campuses next year and beyond, continuing his message of liberty and reducing the size of the federal government.

In an interview with The Hill, the Texas Republican clearly indicated that he isn’t ready for the rocking chair.

The 77-year-old physician-politician said, “I'm excited about spending more time on college campuses, not less. College campuses will still be on my agenda. That's where the action is."

He added, “The young people don't like the debt they are inheriting, the violation of their civil liberties. They don't like the war and it's a fertile field. The people up here sort of ignore them."

During the 2012 GOP presidential primary campaign, Paul said that he visited at least 36 college campuses. He was surprised that the best turnout occurred at the historically liberal bastion, U.C. Berkeley, where 8,500 students attended his event.

“The same week I went to Texas A&M, which is conservative, I got like 4000 [students]. They thought that was good, but we went out to Berkeley and they said that [crowd] wouldn't have happened in the 60's,” Paul said with a chuckle.

More @ Newsmax

Lindsey Graham: White House Neglected Ambassador's Security, Manipulated Facts of Death

Manipulated Lied

 

Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on Sunday accused the White House of purposefully manipulating the “political narrative” of the terrorist attack in Benghazi to make President Obama look good two months before the election.

Graham, appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” said U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, the official who first addressed the issue publicly, had no business speaking about it but was chosen because Rice was “politically compliant.”

“Why would you choose someone who had nothing to do with Benghazi to tell us about Benghazi?” he asked. “That’s kind of odd. She was the most politically compliant person they could find. I don’t know what she knew, but I know that the story she told was misleading.”

Graham said he believes the administration would — and did — mislead Americans on the issue of national security “to prevent him [Obama] from looking bad.”

“I think it’s very odd that the storyline they chose omitted al-Qaida, which would help the president enormously, and I don’t buy it,” he said. “And I don’t but the intel community did a great job. I like [House Intelligence Committee Chairman] Mike Rogers and [California Sen.] Dianne Feinstein, but to say the intelligence community did a good job — what about the months before this attack?”

More @ Newsmax