Deadbeat Deity

After receiving $5 million in incentives from the South Carolina state government, "Inspiration Network" has failed to deliver on it's promises.

Condos. Shops. Outdoor concerts. Internships to prepare students for careers in broadcasting. All were to be part of the Inspiration Networks' 93-acre City of Light.

More than five years after unveiling its plans, however, Inspiration has delivered on few of its development promises, leaving Lancaster officials disappointed as they try to revive a county with 19 percent unemployment.

Today, the City of Light campus is home to two buildings _ both nonprofit projects that don't pay county property taxes.

So, has Inspiration fallen on hard times? After expenses Inspiration's net profit was between $4.2 million and $11.9 million from 2002-2006. Compensation for officers and directors grew from $1.5 million to $5.9 million over the same period of time. Check the numbers here. Yet, with all that money they still felt the need to take $5 million in incentives from taxpayers.

Inspiration Network's mission statement reads: "Our mission is to impact the destiny of people and nations for Christ through media." Thus, implicating Christ himself in their greed scheme.

- - -
On a similar note:

”Foreclosures Don’t Spare House of God" and ”In Hard Times, Houses of God Turn to Chapter 11 in Book of Bankruptcy.” The headlines make God sound like a deadbeat debtor, the kind of deity who buys an expensive house and quickly falls behind on payments.

It's beginning to look more and more like we are a Christian Nation after all.

Moral Authority "Laughable"

Three American journalists have recently been imprisoned in Iran and North Korea.

Roxana Saberi, a 31-year-old dual American-Iranian citizen, was arrested and sentenced in a closed court to 8 years in prison for spying in Iran.

North Korea said this week that it would put the two American journalists (Laura Ling and Euna Lee) on trial, and suggested that they could face years in a prison camp.

Our government and human rights groups are working hard for their release and concerned for their treatment.

The response has been humbling:

North Koreans scoffed at any suggestion that the Americans were receiving harsh treatment.
"They laughed. 'We are not Guantanamo.'

Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi told reporters, "That a [U.S.] government expresses an opinion without seeing the indictment is laughable."

How can they find our concerns so "laughable"? Maybe because of the case of Sami al-Haj.

Pakistani forces apparently seized al-Haj at the behest of the U.S. authorities who suspected he had interviewed Osama bin Laden.

But that "supposed intelligence" turned out to be false.

"This is wonderful news, and long overdue," said Clive Stafford Smith who has represented al-Haj since 2005.

Al-Haj was never prosecuted at Guantanamo so the U.S did not make public its full allegations against him.

Al-Haj was the only journalist from a major international news organization held at Guantanamo and many of his supporters saw his detention as punishment for a network whose broadcasts angered U.S. officials.

For six years, an innocent man was imprisoned with no charges, no trial, constantly shifting allegations, brutal treatment, no visits with family and not even a phone call home... by the U.S. government.

Sami al-Haj's response to his imprisonment is worth thinking about:

”My last message to the US administration is that torture will not stop terrorism — torture is terrorism.”

But even more important considering the fate of three of our own journalists are the words from The Committee to Protect Journalists:

"His detention for six years, without the most basic due process, is a grave injustice and represents a threat to all journalists working in conflict areas."

- - - -
UPDATE:
Roxana Saberi was set free after an appeals court reduced her punishment to a two-year suspended sentence. So, Iran allows actual trials and appeals to their enemy combatants... And they're the "evil" ones?

When Is Torture Bad?

While it's now accepted by many of our elected representatives in the United States that torture is good, there are apparently some who still believe acting like barbarians is a bad thing:

The son of ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor was sentenced to 97 years in prison on Friday in a landmark torture case that grew out of a U.S. investigation into arms trafficking in Liberia.

But according to a respected news poodle:

Bill O'Reilly: "In a perfect world, a noble nation like the USA would not need to submerge killers in water. But thousands of dead Americans have changed the rules. To allow captured killers wearing civilian clothing and fighting for no nation the privilege of name, rank, and serial number status is not only stupid, it could be lethal."

Not sure if he's talking about the thousands of dead Americans from 9/11 or from Iraq - or maybe he still thinks they are the same. But I guess, that means O'Reilly and others of the same opinion would support Charles Taylor, and his "Demon Forces" as they called themselves, in their battle against terrorism:

Taylor Jr. was tapped by his father to command an anti-terrorist unit.

Following in the footsteps of Charles Taylor. That's something to be proud of.

UPDATE:

"This is not the America I know," President George W. Bush said after the first, horrifying pictures of U.S. troops torturing prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq surfaced in April 2004. The President was not telling the truth. "This" was the America he had authorized on Feb. 7, 2002, when he signed a memorandum stating that the Third Geneva Convention — the one regarding the treatment of enemy prisoners taken in wartime — did not apply to members of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. That signature led directly to the abuses at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. It was his single most callous and despicable act. It stands at the heart of the national embarrassment that was his presidency.

Is God a Pussy?

Apparently the creator of all has a fragile ego and his followers are out to protect their delicate deity:

"Saudi King Abdullah is quietly enlisting the [UN] leaders' support for a global law to punish blasphemy - a campaign championed by the 56-member Organization of Islamic Conference that puts the rights of religions ahead of individual liberties. If the campaign succeeds, states that presume to speak in the name of religion will be able to crush religious freedom not only in their own country, but abroad."

Discussions touched upon a number of hot issues including ... Prophet Muhammad lampooning cartoons ...

The simple fact that the UN is even considering such a proposal with the slightest bit of sincerity is horrific. A free world demands free speech. If we don't follow your god/prophet/spirit guide/magic 8-ball than we should not be bound by it's rules. The rule of law is the only rule governments should rule by. Let your Almighty cast it's judgement upon us. Until then, we have spent thousands of years fighting for the freedom to speak, think and live under our own diverse beliefs. If you want to be free to practice your beliefs you should allow us the same dignity.

Lest we blame this all on the barbarian mindset of Theocratic Islam, we in the "enlightened" West should look in the mirror. A few highlights:

• Offensive Jesus remark cut from Emmy show
• Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons
• Everyone's favorite - the supposed War on Christmas! To that I say, "Merry Horusmas!"

“What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist” - Salman Rushdie

Blackwater: "Compliance Challenges?"

(click to enlarge)

Blackwater CEO Erik Prince said: "our company has experienced remarkable growth in the last few years, this growth, our work for the U.S. Government around the world, and the nature of the services we offer have created compliance challenges."

By this he means:

Blackwater shipped 900 weapons to Iraq without the paperwork required by arms export control regulations, one department official said. Some of the weapons are believed to have ended up on the country's black market.

That's one hell of a "compliance challenge" Mr. Prince.

Blackwater employees are also the subjects of a Justice Department probe into the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad's Nisoor Square on Sept. 16, 2007.

Winning the hearts and minds one bullet at a time.

On a related note, there's been some outrage from the right-wing lately about a comment President-elect Obama made,

"We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded."

The response has been interesting:

"A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship. We can't be lulled into complacency," Broun said. "You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I'm not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I'm saying is there is the potential of going down that road."

Where have these people been while a massive private military force has been taking over the role policing abroad and at home? Their outrage at a vague proposal by Obama sounds a little hollow after the past six years of silence over the emergence of a massive army for hire.

Security for profit means insecurity becomes needed for increased profit.

Where is the right's outrage when it is needed?

Unthinkable Consequences

PBS's "Wide Angle" did a report about the Iraqi refugee crisis and I found the report truly eye-opening and incredibly important. The point I found most chilling beyond the moral element that these 2 million refugees have nowhere to go, no way to earn a living and are growing increasingly desperate for help despite all the UN has done, is that filling the void are organizations like the Mahdi Army. The same Mahdi Army responsible for the majority of insurgent attacks and sectarian destabilization in Iraq, and they are using the desperation and alienation to recruit more insurgents.

Jordan's Queen Noor says in the report: "Unthinkable consequences await a world that does nothing to solve this refugee crisis." in regard to the 2 million refugees in Syria and Jordan. The obvious consequence is further destabilization of a region already on edge.

If you have the time to watch the report it is full of emotional and eye-opening interviews, offers some uplifting elements and some real problems this crisis poses. It is also a superb example of what quality journalism can be.

Refugee International has information on ways to help. Whether it is a letter to congress, petitions to sign or donations to aid organizations. There is also a lot of information about the crisis on this website if you don't have time to watch the PBS report.

Even with all the issues affecting us like the economy, the elections and the environment I personally feel this is an incredibly important issue. Morally we as Americans have a stake in these peoples lives, and rationally we can't let 2 million people, (500,00 children) become alienated, let moderate countries to become unstable and let radical organizations grow from our lack of attention.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I hope the issue will attract the attention it merits and we can all help remedy this crisis.

Also, if any of you know of other resources to help please let me know. Thanks.

UPDATE: Here's another great resource: Iraq Action Days

Not My Prophet!

Freedom of religion is not a one-way street. Instead of simply letting their gods condemn people like me to hell they've forced us all to live a hell of their own creation.

Yet again, followers of Islam have brought terror to the heathen literary world because of a book of fiction. Here are the words of some defenders of this atrocious act of violence:

"Is Muhammad YOUR PROPHET. Only muslims have the right to say anything about him."

"I mean its really pathetic bcoz you have no interest in your own religion therfore are jealous of the fact that muslims have a strong belief."

"Islam is yet again painted in bad light as a result of direct provocation."

Muhammed is not my prophet, so I can or cannot say whatever I want about him. I am definitely not jealous of the horribly primitive laws by which Islam or any other major religion places upon it's followers. And, no one provoked these reactions. No one is forced to read this book. Heck, the book hasn't even been published yet. Is the religion of Islam so fragile that the simple existence of differing ideas fatally threaten it's foundation?

Before anyone of Christian belief starts tossing rocks they may want to remember that with the exception of violent reactions, they too are affiliated with a religion that bans, boycotts and cries about free speech. Here's some recent examples that are pretty absurd: Harry Potter and The Da Vinci Code. And let's not forget Sarah Palin injecting religious beliefs into her policy by trying to ban books.

I've heard some on the liberal side mention banning Right-Wing authors who promote violence and hatred and to them I offer the same advice: If you don't want to hear it, don't read it. That is also your freedom.

Salman Rushdie said it best in his book, "The Satanic Verses":

"To name the unnamable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world and stop it from going to sleep. And if rivers of blood flow from the cuts his verses inflict, then they will nourish him. He is the satirist."

May we all stay awake and may the satirist continue to point at frauds. And if rivers of blood do continue to flow, may the satirist grow even stronger.

Questions For A Christian Nation

Growing up in a secular country I am finding the growing desire to turn the United States into a "Christian Nation" mystifying and troubling. I have many questions for those who pose this idea such as:

What is your final solution to this Christian Nation you want?

What would you propose my Jewish, Buddhist, Atheist and Agnostic friends do? Should we all pretend to accept Jesus to avoid offending your beliefs? Wouldn't such placating be even more offensive in it's insincerity as well as call into question the strength of you own beliefs if they are so fragile as to be threatened by other ideas?

Would you take the extreme measure of isolating all non-Christians to reservations as was done the the "heathen" natives of our land where we would be free to exercise our own beliefs free from persecution, but without the infrastructure, liberties and opportunities of this nation?

Diving into greater detail, would we banish all gift shops from the temples of God as Jesus had done? Would we turn the other cheek from foreign attacks by offering forgiveness, or would we commit the sin of imposing judgement ourselves?

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Do Jesus' words mean nothing to those who profess to follow him? What passage in the Bible justifies their quest for political powers to have rule over the world? Maybe this one:

The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
A tempting offer for the Christian Nationalists I guess.

- - -

On a related note:
"Imbued with the desire to secure for the German people the great religious, moral, and cultural values rooted in the two Christian Confessions, we have abolished the political organizations but strengthened the religious institutions.”
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech at Reichstag, Berlin, January 30, 1934.

and

"We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations:
we have stamped it out."
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech in Berlin on 24 Oct. 1933