What’s interesting in the news today?
I must confess, I had a busy day yesterday, so I’m a little behind. So I’ll give you folks a few, and then you can post whatever you like.
First up, I have to agree with what Zip says, “this isn’t going to end well.” From WeaselZippers
“President Barack Obama has authorized sending weapons to Syrian rebels for the first time, U.S. officials said Thursday, after the White House disclosed that the United States has conclusive evidence President Bashar Assad’s government used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him.
Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” triggering greater American intervention in the two-year crisis.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the strongest proponents of U.S. military action in Syria, said he was told Thursday that Obama had decided to “provide arms to the rebels,” a decision confirmed by three U.S. officials. The officials cautioned that no decisions had been made on the specific type of weaponry or when it would reach the Syrian rebels, who are under increasing assault from Assad’s forces.”
Meanwhile in Syria…… From TheWashingtonPost
“When a 14-year-old boy from the Syrian city of Aleppo named Mohammad Qatta was asked to bring one of his customers some coffee, he reportedly refused, saying, “Even if [Prophet] Mohammed comes back to life, I won’t.”
According to a story reported by two grassroots Syrian opposition groups, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Aleppo Media Center, Qatta’s words got him killed. A group of Islamist rebels, driving by in a black car, reportedly heard the exchange. They stopped the car, grabbed the boy and took him away.
Qatta, in refusing to serve a customer coffee – it’s not clear why – had used a phrase that the Islamist rebels took as an insult toward the Prophet Mohammed, the most important figure in Islam. That offhand comment, made by a boy, was apparently enough for these rebels to warrant a grisly execution and public warning.”
And these are also the rebels we’re arming. From USAToday
“A Syrian rebel group’s pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda’s replacement for Osama bin Laden suggests that the terrorist group’s influence is not waning and that it may take a greater role in the Western-backed fight to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad.
The pledge of allegiance by Syrian Jabhat al Nusra Front chief Abou Mohamad al-Joulani to al-Qaeda leader Sheik Ayman al-Zawahri was coupled with an announcement by the al-Qaeda affiliate in Iraq, the Islamic State of Iraq, that it would work with al Nusra as well.
Lebanese Sheik Omar Bakri, a Salafist who says states must be governed by Muslim religious law, says al-Qaeda has assisted al Nusra for some time.”
We’re arming our enemies.
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And as Rand Paul points out, we’re already funding a war against Christianity. Arming Syrian rebels ensures that will continue. From TheWashingtonPost
“Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) on Thursday continued his outreach to Christian conservatives, telling a gathering of them that the United States is effectively funding wars on Christianity by sending money to nations like Egypt and Syria.
“It’s clear that American taxpayer dollars are being used in a war against Christianity,” Paul said at a luncheon hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition to kick off the three-day Faith and Freedom Conference.
Paul said the U.S. war in Iraq led Christians to flee a secular country that had otherwise been “a relatively safe place for Christians,” and that Christians are now being hunted in nearby nations.”
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This woman just makes me sick to my stomach. From TheWeeklyStandard
“At a Thursday press conference, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi condemned a bill that would prohibit abortions during the final four months of pregnancy with an exception for when the life and physical health of the mother is at risk.
Asked what the moral difference is between what Dr. Kermit Gosnell did to babies born alive and aborting those same infants moments before birth, Pelosi refused to answer.
“As a practicing and respectful Catholic, this is sacred ground to me when we talk about this,” Pelosi said. “I don’t think it should have anything to do with politics.”
Pelosi falsely claimed the bill that passed out of committee on Wednesday would ban all abortions, when in fact it’s simply a prohibition on abortion during the final four months of pregnancy (with an exception for when the life and physical health of the mother is at risk), the point at which science indicates babies can feel pain and some babies can survive long-term if born.
She’s factually challenged on all things abortion because she believes the abortion mill’s rhetoric. She parrots their lies, ignores and denies the truth, and her church’s teachings. That’s the price you pay for willingly making a deal with the devil to get his blood money. And she’s all too happy to oblige.
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Wandering Views 
A few days ago I said the US government was too incompetent to be feared. Obama’s new support for the Syrian rebels puts by thesis to the test. While the Russians are arming Assad, I expect the US to require the rebels to undergo lengthy “tolerance” training before they can receive weapons.
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The problem started when Obama drew a line. We have nothing to choose between in this fight. If we give them weapons, they will be used against us someday.
We need to stay out of this.
Completely.
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I agree, Chas. However, we must trust in our government’s incompetence. While our people are training the rebels not to be homophobic, Assad will likely defeat them. Hopefully, he will capture these weapons to keep them out of the hands of Al Qaeda.
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Here is an ancient quote from an ancient philosopher. I see this as so appropriate for our nation at this time and place:
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and he carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears not traitor, he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.” – Cicero, 42 B.C.
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DrivesGuy: That’s a good quote that I think is appropriate going back a few Republican administrations (as well as the current D one, obviously), although a lot of R *fools* (if we’re being charitable) have done damage that’s hard to survive. In any case, when I’ve tried to make the argument that there have been very few R candidates worth supporting–and that abstaining is the better option–the notion articulated by Cicero there is part of what I’ve had in mind.
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Does anyone else wonder whether this administration (particularly President Obama) is acting as a front for the Muslim Brotherhood? What group did Obama help put in power in Egypt? The Muslim Brotherhood. How about in Tunisia? The same. Libya? Ditto. Who did they bring to the White House? You guessed it. Who do you think will eventually be on top in Syria? It’s awful hard to believe that the Muslim Brotherhood is “largely secular and moderate” – they, along with their off-shoot, Al Qaeda, are our clear enemies, yet Obama actually supports and promotes them at EVERY turn.
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Tychicus, When you are dealing with government actions and the two explanations are malice and stupidity, never underestimate stupidity.
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Tychicus,
You forgot one. Who has personal and family ties to the Brotherhood? Hillary Clinton’s top adviser Uma Abedin, Anthony Weiner’s wife. She’s also worked for 2 Brotherhood front groups prior to her job at State.
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/08/16/so-hillary-clinton-adviser-huma-abedin-was-on-the-board-of-a-muslim-brotherhood-front/
“According to Walid Shoebat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton adviser and former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner wife, Huma Abedin, was an executive board member of the Muslim Students Association circa 1996-97.
In addition to Huma Abedin returning to the United States circa 1996 and landing a job with both Hillary Clinton and the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs (IMMA), she also joined the Muslim Students Association (MSA) Executive Board at George Washington University.
The following screen shot is courtesy of Wayback Machine and shows that in 1997, Huma Abedin served on the MSA Executive Board as the Head of Social Committee.
The Muslim Students Association is a bona fide Muslim Brotherhood front group. Patrick Poole wrote a report on the MSA here at the Tatler in February 2011, in which he detailed connections between the MSA, the Muslim Brotherhood, and international Islamist terrorism.”
I’ve posted numerous stuff here about this administration and the undue influence Muslim’s hold in it. CAIR as well.
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Here’s a good read on Uma. She has many questionable associations. And she’s not the only tied to this admin that does either.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2556
“•Daughter of Saleha Mahmood Abedin, a pro-Sharia sociologist with ties to numerous Islamist organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood
•Longtime assistant to Hillary Clinton
•Wife of former congressman Anthony Weiner
•Longtime former employee of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs, which shares the Muslim Brotherhood’s goal of establishing Islamic supremacy and Sharia Law worldwide “
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Wasn’t around here much the past couple days, so I’m a little late on this. But this quote has a different perspective from what I’ve read from some other Christians, including on here. Thoughts?
http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2013/06/interesting-southern-baptist-convention-resolutions.html?utm_source=ctdirect-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=9474712&utm_content=183876819&utm_campaign=2013
“The Houston Chronicle reports that only one person, Charlie Dale, vocalized his opposition to the resolution, noting that ‘Scouts already oppose all sexual activity of boys. He also argued that any child who says he is gay has been exposed to something he should not have been and needs to be brought into the fold for counseling, not cast out.’
” ‘I don’t think we’d kick such a boy out of our Sunday schools,’ Dale said, according to the Chronicle. ‘I don’t think we should hold the Boy Scouts to a standard we would not put on our churches. Such a boy needs our love. Let’s show them what real Biblical manhood is about and love them.’ …
“Last week, A.J. Smith, head of the Association of Baptists for Scouting, encouraged churches not to disaffiliate from BSA. According to Smith, doing so would “‘deprive Baptist churches of ministry opportunities,’ Associated Baptist Press reported.”
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Karen O, I believe the thinking of the SBC is as follows: The local church controls the Sunday School. It takes place on Sunday in the church, not at night in the woods. There is always a danger with churches affiliating with non-church organizations. Now that the BSA is wide open to homosexual youth, there is a tremendous chance that boys of all ages are going to be molested during Boy Scout functions by homosexual youth. The SBC does not want to be connected in any way with that type of activity.
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Another chemical plant, this time in Louisiana, explodes killing one and injuring many more. The West, Texas explosion killed 15. When a bombing kills 5, the army is sent in to chase the perpetrators. Meanwhile, chemical plants explode in and business as usual continues. Its cheaper to prevent these deaths than bringing in the army … simply hire more OHSA inspectors.
Sometimes I wonder if rich white people letting chemical plants explode due to negligence is somehow okay in comparison to foreigners setting of an explosion. For me they are both criminal acts which should be prosecuted equally.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/06/14/2157181/louisiana-chemical-plant-osha/
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ricky — you make gay youth sound like predators out to ….. any male they find. Think rationally, if a church young people’s group went camping would you assume that the majority of heterosexual boys were ready to molest the girls in the group? Most boys, gay or straight, are capable of restraint.
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HRW, Churches don’t take a mixed group of kids camping. At church camps the boys and girls spend the nights in separate buildings. The reason is that we don’t want heterosexual molestation anymore than we want homosexual molestation.
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It is not a question of whether the majority of homosexual or heterosexual boys are ready to molest other youth. Churches have a duty to make sure that no youth are molested at church related activities. There are going to be some age and size differences, so the kids can’t always defend themselves. Proper adult supervision is critical. Good senior high youth leadership is important. However, a camp-out in the woods with a homosexual kid is as dumb and risky as a mixed-gender camp-out.
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Obama once more violates the Constitution by sending Military personnel into harms way without a declaration of war from Congress:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article3791863.ece
I refer again to Cicero’s definition of a traitor.
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ricky … church groups do camp in mixed groups with segregated tents/buildings of course but when councilors fall asleep….. I have taken public school kids camping and would spent the first night staying up to three in morning making sure the girls didn’t sneak over to the boys cabins, but by the second night we kept them so busy they were exhausted and fell asleep right away. I imagine boy scout leaders do the same thing so again much ado about nothing.
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HRW, So you understand the problem. Do you think the BSA is going to put the homosexuals in segregated tents/buildings?
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