Have Faith in the Power of Freedom

Transcript: Giuliani's Speech -- FOXNews.com - You Decide 2004 - :

"Have faith in the power of freedom.

People who live in freedom always prevail over people who live in oppression. That's the story of the Old Testament. That's the story of World War II and the Cold War.

That's the story of the firefighters and police officers and rescue workers who courageously saved thousands of lives on September 11, 2001."

You Must Convert to Islam

There are those who claim that 9/11 was our fault. That it was our policies which made us get attacked. That because we had troops stationed in Saudia Arabia, or because we broadcast movies and T.V., we were to blame.

Yet, as the recent kidnapping of French journalists reveals, it doesn't take the presence of troops, or even Hollywood, for these fanatics to resort to terror. Currently, radicals are threatening to cut off the heads of two men if France doesn't repeal their school dresscode which prohibits the wearing of scarves by young women, as well as prohibiting skullcaps for Jews and crosses or other religious jewelry by anyone.

Perhaps its going too far to say that the only thing that will satisfy these extreme Islamists is for you and I and your mother, father, sons and daughters to convert to Islam. Then again, that is exactly what Osama bin Laden said on one of the tapes he sent across: that we could avoid further terrorists acts if everyone in America converted.

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The following is from Osama bin Laden, Letter to the American People.
Q2) As for the second question that we want to answer: What are we calling you to, and what do we want from you?
(1) The first thing that we are calling you to is Islam.
(a) The religion of the Unification of God; of freedom from associating partners with Him, and rejection of this; of complete love of Him, the Exalted; of complete submission to His Laws; and of the discarding of all the opinions, orders, theories and religions which contradict with the religion He sent down to His Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Islam is the religion of all the prophets, and makes no distinction between them - peace be upon them all.
It is to this religion that we call you; the seal of all the previous religions. It is the religion of Unification of God, sincerity, the best of manners, righteousness, mercy, honour, purity, and piety. It is the religion of showing kindness to others, establishing justice between them, granting them their rights, and defending the oppressed and the persecuted. It is the religion of enjoining the good and forbidding the evil with the hand, tongue and heart. It is the religion of Jihad in the way of Allah so that Allah's Word and religion reign Supreme. And it is the religion of unity and agreement on the obedience to Allah, and total equality between all people, without regarding their colour, sex, or language.
If you fail to respond to all these conditions, then prepare for fight with the Islamic Nation."

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Note that since this first came out I've come to understand a few things much better. For instance, where he states, "freedom from associating partners with him," what he means is that you must not believe in the Trinity. That must be rejected. You see, in his mind, that means that God is not one. So you must be "free" to stop believing that.

Oh, by the way, the laws of Sharia must also replace our constitution and laws. This, I guess, is where these other kind, just, merciful, good and righteous fanatics get off kidnapping and possibly decapitating the French journalists for the glory of, and in the name of, Allah.

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And this is from The International Herald Tribune of August 31, 2004:

"Indeed, in an audiotape broadcast by a Dubai-based television channel in February, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Qaeda terrorist network, condemned France for defending the freedom of nudity and depravity and fighting chastity and decency with the headscarf ban, adding that such anti-Muslim acts by the West should be dealt with by tank shells and aircraft missiles."

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There are those who claim that because of the war in Iraq we will have 'stirred up the hornet's nest and will cause them to hate us more. That may be true with some people who would not have before. There are many, many people in Iraq and eslwhere in the ME who are not the radicals described above. But through the tribulations, deaths, and war they may be driven to the same degree of anger. However, for the fanatics, the hatred already existed, and the war really makes little difference in that respect.

Update: 8/31/04 2:30 pm PST
Ali, over at Iraq the Model has an interesting viewpoint on this:

"why are they (the kidnapers) doing that and what will they gain by releasing them? Well, remember what Saddam did just before desert storm when he kept foreign hostages inside his palaces and wouldn’t release them until the USA would promise not to attack him? He made an exception with the Russian workers in Iraq. First he used to visit these families and show gentleness when talking to them and broadcasting it on TV and finally he released them after many demands and visits from famous characters and ex-diplomats from all over the world. This is just the same which is very stupid and sick but still it’s his and his followers’ reality.

These kidnapers don’t care about Hijab and they appreciate the french role and reporters role in general in Iraq, but they believe that such operation and after releasing the hostages would give a message to the west that, “we are peaceful people and we listen to demands made peacefully and to demonstrations even when we don’t agree with you”

I find his theory interesting; perhaps even correct. That they've kidnapped these people and threatened to kill them, yet all the while they had no intention of killing them and are just waiting to show that countries which negotiate with terrorists are good, and will be listened to.

Moments after 9/11

To those who think women and minorities are not represented in this administration, how do you account for the fact that during the 9/11 crisis, Cheney was in his 'bunker' consulting with 3 women and 2 black-Americans (the two men in standing in the background are security)?

And when you think about it, Condi as National Security Advisor, holds a position which makes her the third most powerful person in America; perhaps the third most powerful person in the entire world.

Photo from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50745-2004Jun17.html

Did You Ever Feel Like You Were Cheated?

Yes, CB.

I feel like I've been cheated out of a friend, even though we never met, and you probably have no idea who I am.

I feel like I've been cheated out of the chance to say goodbye to that friend, because you saw fit to turn off comments. Even though you were probably right to do so.

What an experience. What an event.

Goodbye.

French Celebrate Liberation through Anti-Semitism

From The Guardian

'...three days after arsonists set fire to a Jewish community centre in central Paris and scrawled anti-semitic graffiti on walls and furniture..., visiting... Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, said it "cannot be" that 60 years after Paris was liberated, "Jews will live under threat here".

France's interior ministry said 160 attacks against Jews or Jewish property had been recorded in the first six months of 2004, compared with 75 in the same period last year. "Surely if the lessons of the past are being celebrated so vigorously, it is in an effort to contain the further spread of contemporary woes," the left-leaning Liberation said in an editorial. '

Answering Islam Interview

I heard Dennis Prager interview Walid Shoebat today on the radio. Walid is a former PLO member, an avowed terrorist who set off a bomb and beat a Jew with a baseball bat -- before becoming a Christian. Walid is one of the authors of Answering Islam.

He talks of how when he was young and growing up among the Palestinians that their father frequently had as a guest one of the major clerics who was also a Nazi, or who helped the Nazi's, send nearly all of the Jews in Bosnia to their deaths.

He talks of many things, but I found it interesting that he mentions that Muslims believe that "the Jews have taken the Bible out of context," and that they believe it is corrupted. Yet he states that this is not written anywhere in the Koran.

He also talks of the hatred of most of the Islamic world, giving as an example the songs of death and desire to grow up to be suicide bombers presented on children's shows on Arabic T.V, and the songs of death and war in popular Arabic culture (Dennis pointed out that the number one song in Egypt last year was "I hate Israel") and contrasts that with the fact that after he left the area he studied Jewish songs and was not able to find any with the word death or war in them.

He says that the schools and Mosques are filled with Nazi like hatred. And the same in the newsprint, the T.V., the textbooks, novels, etc. It is a culture which glorifies death, (he quotes something like, "we will knock on heaven's door with Jewish skulls," and states that Muslims believe that the end times will not begin until all the Jews are killed) while Christianity glorifies life.

He states that the true "occupation" is the occupation of the young children's minds by this brainwashing. The occupation of these children by Arafat, who calls on Palestinians to 'give me your children,' to die as suicide bombers.

And he said that, like the Islamic cleric who helped the Nazi's and who used to come to his house when he was a small boy, Walid is now trying to do what he did - speak out to newspapers and radio shows - but he is speaking out "to my people to tell them that enough is enough!"

Its well worth listening to, and is available for purchase on Prager's website (I never understood why he charges for archived programs. Its only $12, but with as much passion as he has to 'bring clarity' to the world, one would think he would offer them at cost + shipping and handling).

Update:
I found this in Osama bin Laden, Letter to the American People , which goes to my point that radical Islamism is a culture that is death oriented as opposed to Christianity which is life oriented. Quote from that letter: "The [Islamic] Nation of Martyrdom; the Nation that desires death more than you desire life"

Chechen groups and al-Qaeda links?

With the news of two airliners going down in Russia just hitting the news wires, one must be reminded of the decade old confict between the Russian military and the country of Chechen, the October 2002 seizure in Moscow of a theatre by terrorists, in which about 120 people were killed (most from the gas used by the Russian military), several other homicide bombings through the years by the rebels, thousands of kidnappings, that rebels have attacked the Chechen capital Grozny in the last week, and that there is an election coming in just a few days, on Sunday, in Chechen.

Its also worth reviewing some timelines:

1944 - Stalin deports nearly all of the people from Chechen to Asia, where many die.

1991 U.S.S.R collapses, but tries to keep Chechen.

1994 Yeltsin invades Chechen with the Russian Military. Many human rights attrocities claimed to be commited by Russian troops, and financial support comes from Islamic sources around the world.

1996 Agreement between Chechen and Russia reached which gives semi-independence

1998 Jihad declared against Russia, with the hope that Chechen will become an Islamic republic

1999 Russia again uses its military to invade, and it is thought that 1/2 to 1/3 of the population flees as refugees.

Are there links between Chechen groups and al-Qaeda? (from http://cfrterrorism.org/groups/chechens.html)

Yes. Experts say there are reportedly several ties, including those between
The late Chechen warlord Khattab, a Jordanian-born fighter who was killed in Chechnya in April 2002, and Osama bin Laden. Khattab apparently first met bin Laden while both men were fighting the 1979-89 Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The U.S. ambassador to Russia, Alexander Vershbow, said shortly after September 11, “We have long recognized that Osama bin Laden and other international networks have been fueling the flames in Chechnya, including the involvement of foreign commanders like Khattab.”

Individuals connected to the September 11 attacks and Chechnya. A Moroccan man charged with abetting the hijackers told a German court in October 2002 that the plot’s ringleader, Muhammad Atta, initially planned to join the fight in Chechnya.

Zacarias Moussaoui, whom U.S. authorities have charged with being the “20th hijacker” in the September 11 attacks, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be formerly “a recruiter for al-Qaeda-backed rebels in Chechnya.”

Chechen militants reportedly fought alongside al-Qaeda and Taliban forces against the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was one of the only governments to recognize Chechen independence.

A Good Day

My son and daughter several years ago with some tuna we caught on a different trip than that described below. Note for Najma -- my daughter's hair is just pulled back into a tight pony tail because of all of the fish scales from fishing. :)

Insignificant Acts in Time

Its dark.

An unseen wave crashes into the boat and the three of us involuntarily cry out, grasping for the wet railing to keep from being tossed overboard. Junior laughs. All of us re-grip our fishing poles. We're the only fishermen on the deck, as everyone else is sleeping in the bunks below.
I check the condition of my stomach. Having already been sea-sick once, I'm fairly well assured that I'll make the day without further incident, yet since the captain has cut the engines and we're now bobbing in random directions rather than in a steady forward roll, the queasiness in my head and stomach has returned. Scotty looks ill.

Junior voices my thought, "the sun's about to come up."

There's a slight tug on the end of my pole. I realize that the eight inch sardine I'm using for bait is probably swimming rapidly, being chased, perhaps? The pole is pulled strongly downward -- I let out a whoop! Set the hook with a hard upward yank. Rewarded with a corresponding pull from the other end. Pole bent nearly in two. The reel whines, as line strips out into the gray, choppy water. I hold on, unable to do more. Faintly, I hear other activity: running feet, other reels zinging, shouts of "HOOK UP!"

Surrounded by fishermen now, I pump the rod. Hand and forearm muscles complain. Lines become tangled. Often my reel spins uselessly, no line gained, then the line actually pulls out away from the boat. No thought of sea-sickness. I see the fish! A large tuna. But, my reel sings again and its gone, deep into the water, pulling me along with it up the rail toward the bow of the boat. I pass Scotty, in his own fight. We shout, "Hey!" Gunna lose this one, I think. I fight. I real. I lose line. I pull. I reel more. There's the tuna again. A deck hand appears next to me. He gaffs the yellowfin tuna and pulls it into the boat.

I blow out my breath. Have I been holding it for twenty minutes?

Scotty's there, his fish flopping next to mine on the slick deck. Dark blood. White deck. We high five, our hands slapping strong and loud in the early sunlight. Laughter. Smiles. Salt water spraying our faces. I feel the rocking of the boat again.

"It doesn't get any better than this!"

"Come on, lets get some more bait in the water."

************************************************************************

The grill hisses loudly as each hamburger patty is put on. The kids laugh and play in the back yard, by the pool. I see Michele and Claudette through the window, talking in the kitchen. Scotty puts the last of the hamburgers onto the barbecue and closes the lid.

"That was great. Are you ready to go out again next weekend?"

***********************************************************************

I put the car into gear. Heading to work. I think about what Pastor has told us, that every moment of our lives is significant. That even the most innocuous act is important. Could it be, then, that praise and glory for God may inhere even in such a simple thing as a fishing trip? If so, how best to bring that out? Scratching my beard, I drive out onto the highway.

**********************************************************************

"Okay, guys," the captain says over the loudspeaker, "pull in your lines. Lets see if we can't find another school of tuna for you."

The engines rumble to life. The boat begins to move. My line is pulled back sharply into the white wake, and I reel in rapidly to keep from tangling with others who are doing the same.

Stowing my pole, I meet with Junior and Scotty near the back rail.

"That was great!" Junior says, providing the words which Scotty would echo at our barbecue the next day. "I thought my pole was going to break, the way it was bent. I couldn't even reel it in, my reel just kept spinning, and no line was coming in!"

Junior has lost his fish. Like Scotty, its his first time deep sea fishing, and he gave just a little too much slack on the downward stroke, which allowed the tuna to either spit out the hook, or cut the line with its sharp teeth. He's still excited. There's a lot more fishing to be done today, and he will end up with his share before its over.

Junior and I originally planned this trip, and it wasn't until the last minute that we decided to call and invite Scott to come with us. I didn't know Scott well at the time, only having seen him in a few church functions and services. But he and his wife volunteered their house for our wedding reception, so I'd been trying to think of a way to show my gratitude. This fishing trip seemed a good way to do it, and Junior agreed, so I called Scotty and invited him. And while the ninety dollars I paid for his ticket isn't even close to repaying for the wedding reception, its a start. Still, although my main motivation was gratitude, you don't ask anyone to go on this kind of a trip if they don't seem like a good guy; you just spend too much time on the drive there and back, and on the boat itself, to be with someone you might not get along with.

The loudspeaker comes back to life, "there's a patch of floating kelp just ahead, guys. Lets check it out. I'll be putting it off to the left, port side. Lets hope there's fish there that want to bite."

We flash smiles, throw out a 'thumbs up,' and race to grab our poles.

**********************************************************************

Being careful not to close the sliding glass door on the paw of one of Scott and Claudette's puppy's I walk into the house.

"Scott was having a bad week," I overhear Claudette telling Michele. "He was complaining that since we moved out here there's no one for him to do things with. That's why when he told me that you called and asked him to go fishing I said, 'GO, YES! Stay as long as you want.' It was perfect! What a good way for the week to end.

************************************************************************

At least a dozen shapes flash through the water below me. One zags toward my bait, and I'm in the thick of it again. A ten minute fight.

Another bait, and seconds later the pole is nearly yanked from my hand. Another long fight.

Grabbing another sardine, I see one of the deck hands heaving to pull a twenty pound tuna over the rail for Junior.

"COLOR!" Comes a shout from the stern (someone is about to land a fish, and needs a gaff). The deck hand charges that direction.

"Stupid skippies, where's the yellowfin?" the captain grumbles as he passes me fighting my third fish of this school. I land another skipjack tuna.

Too many skipjacks on the surface, I place a weight ahead of the next sardine and watch it swim away from the boat as it sinks deep into the water. The sun is well up in the sky now. My line stretches taught. My pole dips fiercely. My reel spins wildly. Another twenty pound Yellowfin!

************************************************************************

The kids finished with their hamburgers, we sit at the dining room table, and Scott places a plate full of perfectly barbecued yellowfin in the center. Claudette puts down a bowl of string beans; Michele has brought potatoes. I feel awkward just sitting here, but don't know how to help.

"We have enough fish to last us for weeks," Claudette laughs happily.

"I'm giving a lot of it away," Scotty says, "there's too much just for us."

"Be sure to give some to Irv, since he lent us the fishing poles.""

The fish looks and tastes excellent.

************************************************************************

Tired, worn out from a full day of sun and from the exertion of fighting fish and the rocking of the boat, I sit on the life raft container on the ship's top deck looking down at junior and Scotty standing shoulder to shoulder at the aft rail. They're among a group of fishermen, all seasoned sailors now, swaying easily with the motion of the boat. While I can't hear their voices above the engines, its obvious from their hand gestures and expressions that they're talking and laughing just as easily.

One of the deck hands is with them, holding a simple scale with a hook on each end. Scotty's fish is already hanging from the hook on the deck hand's left, and there's a line of fishermen bringing their largest fish to compare against it. At stake is the 'jackpot:' a prize of $100.00 for the largest fish. Scotty has already beat three or four others, and I'm happy for him, but I know some mighty big fish were caught today, and chances are that a first time deep sea fisherman will not beat out the practiced pro's I've seen on board. Yet one by one these fishermen walk away with their fish, while Scott's yellowfin remains on the scale. It seems at last that Scotty has won; I see big smiles on his and Junior's faces, and feel a smile cracking the sunburn on my own cheeks. But a great big, barrel-chested fisherman, who has waited for the last, brings forward another yellowfin, which seems longer, if not as wide as Scotty's. Junior and Scott look at each other, their smiles slightly fading. Scott nods his head at this new competitor, and he nods back. All smiles now gone. The deck hand hooks the fish and raises the scale.

The newcomer's fish is heavier.

************************************************************************

"We're going to say grace," Claudett informs Scotty.

"Okay, that's fine." Shrugging. Eyebrows raised inquisitively, as if to say, 'do I really look that starved?'

I chuckle to myself, thinking how much like home this sounds to me, and miss the beginning of the blessing. Focusing my attention, I hear Claudette saying, "Thank you for bringing our men home safe. and thank you for providing this meal. We've had so many bills hit this month that we frankly didn't know how we could afford to go grocery shopping..."

*************************************************************************

I groan with disappointment.

But then, the scale tips the other way.

Now it reads that Scotty's fish is heavier for just a moment, then again sways back to the competitor's fish. It continues to oscillate back and forth, first showing one fish the winner, then the other. I look to the deck hand; its clear it will be his call. He holds them for a moment more, judging their weight against the swaying of the unsteady boat. He puts down the scale, unhooks the newcomer's fish, and slides it across the deck to him. Standing back up, with Scotty's fish still there on the left hook of the scale, I hear his shout above the engines, "Next!"

No one else comes forward.

Junior slaps Scott on the back, and I see, rather than hear, them say in unison, "All right." They look up at me. I'm cheering, and holding both arms high in the sky with joy. The deck hand gives Scotty the jackpot money in a paper envelope stained with fish scales and smudged with blood.

************************************************************************

"Yes," I say to myself. Farmers in pick ups and campers in R.V's pass me, and must be wondering what I'm doing sitting on the hood of my car writing in this notebook.


Where, except in the present, can the eternal be met?
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)

Back Cabin Deck View

My brother-in-law examines the structure prior to the point that we made an offer on the place. This is the cabin, which is separate from the main house.

Blog Definitions

Check out Israellycool for some hilarious "Blog-related concepts." Such as:

"Blog Performance Anxiety -
What a blogger experiences when the loading time of their blog is slow. Often occurs when the blogger uses copious amounts of third-party script on their page,the blog's server is slow, or the blogger belongs to the Gravett Empire . Blog performance anxiety is particularly acute when the blogger gets linked by an established blogger, but realizes that most visitors are not patient enough to wait for the page to load."

Also find definitions for Premature Blogulation, Blog Puberty, Blog Nemesis, and Blog Standoff

All the Bad News Fit to Print

Tired of seeing good reports on the reconstruction of schools, hospitals, water reclamation and electrical facilities in Iraq? Visit AlterNet where their motto is should be "If there's bad news about Bush or Iraq we'll find it -- if not, we'll make it up."

Example, their most recent story they found at the "Environment News Service" complains that new cars are available in Iraq now, instead of the pre-1990 vehicles which were all that were available before. And the angle they use to whine about this? Some free-lance taxi drivers can't afford the new cars, and folks are more likely to catch a ride in the newer ones. This is an 'economic catastrophe,' according to the article, which goes on to suggest that the government buy new cars for those who don't have one.

Man, those Americans are rotten bastards! Imagine them opening trade so that new cars can come in and create such a catastrophe! I suggest that instead of buying new cars for those that don't have them, we confiscate those new ones. That'll serve 'em right; and besides, where do they get off having so much money when others don't?

A journey into the epicenter of the Sadr standoff

Check out reporter Scott Baldauf's report as he journeys into the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf to rescue two other reporters who were inside but couldn't leave because of the fighting occuring outside.

Here's a taste of what you'll read there: "The streets were vacant, the buildings and shops pocked full of shell holes. The streets were covered with shattered glass and fragments of heavy machine gun and mortar rounds. Five of us, packed into the car, said silent prayers."

Finally Home

It finally feels like we're home in our new house. And the reason? My wife made it so.

Sure, all the boxes and furniture and refridgerators (4 of them! can you believe it?) were moved in. But home it wasn't.

Today, she arranged the furniture, placed the throw rugs, posed the house plants, and voila! The atmosphere is so changed, and these walls now take on our own character. I'm amazed at what my wife provides for our home, and for our children; things that I simply can not do as a man. Its just not in my nature. Its not just the furniture, its her sensitivity, her attention to detail, her ability to be with our little one in all of his moods, and so much more. I say again, I am amazed!

In contrast, my home office is not much more than a bachelor's pad, with half-empty boxes of not-quite-needed-yet stuff, with computer cables, dirty socks, and empty snack food wrappers strewn about. Its functional, but thats about the best that can be said so far. Note that this is NOT the way I normally keep my office, but this is how its been during this move to a new house.

Time... Time... Why have you skipped out on our appointments?

E(liminated)Mail

It appears that I'm not receiving all of my email. So if you've sent something and I haven't replied (I try to at least reply with a thank you to acknowledge receipt) then you can pretty well guess that I haven't received anything.

This Just In !

Bush has just recalled that he flew an intercept mission with the Texas Air National Guard to repel Soviet bombers based in Cuba, and states that the event was seared in his memory, seared, because it taught him the necessity of standing up against evil governments such as the one we face today.

NOT.

(Thanks to Hugh Hewitt and Tom Lileks for pointing out how riduculous such a claim would be, and yet what a pass Kerry has had for claiming (and now finally recanting the claim) that he entered Cambodia on Christmas Eve 1968 -- a claim which he used to further his political career, and on which he says he has based his votes in congress for 30 years.

The Bible and the Koran

Some discussion on Najma's blog, A Star from Mosul, (a wonderful site, which you should visit) lead me to do some research on exactly how Muslims view the Bible -- both the Old and New Testaments. Is the Bible a book from God, in their view? Can it be referred to? Can it be read by a Muslim?

The following is some of the research I did quickly. And I do mean quickly, as I did this mostly during breaks at work. But I think its at least a start. Note that I made a serious attempt to view sites which were clearly Islamic, and tried to look for impartial sites, and along the way found some that were clearly anti-Islamic. ( I've identified each reference with their biases, so that there are no hidden surprises, and so that you can judge for yourself knowing who did the writing, and if or what their agenda may be.) In other words, I've tried to take material that may not be objective, and use it objectively. Let me give you a sampling:

Muslims believe in the books of the previous prophets including [the Old Testament, which includes] the "Torah" which was sent to Moses, the "Zaboor" (Psalms) which were given to David, [and the New Testament] "Injeel" (Gospel) which was given to Jesus, and the Qur'an which was given to Muhammad. However, Muslims are told that the previous scriptures were tampered with by mankind and the Bible should only be accepted in as far as it is confirmed by the Qur'an. It is to be treated with respect, however any statements which clearly oppose those of the Qur'an are to be rejected as the work of mankind.

The above is from Islam 101, and it should be noted that it is a Muslim site which attempts to argue that the New Testament is less than valid.

Confirmation (sort of) from another Islamic site, IslamicAwakening.com. Note: a little translation is required here, such that:

• "Eesaa ibn Maryam" = Jesus son of Mary;
• "Tauraah" = Torah;
• "Moosa" = Moses;
• "Zaboor" = Psalms;
• "Daawood" = David.

We know that in the second soorah, al-Baqarah, Allah subhaanahu wa ta`aalaa summarizes the characteristics of those people who will benefit from the Qur'aan. Allah subhaanahu wa ta`aalaa says:

"Alif Laam Meem. Dhaalikal Kitaabu laa rayba feehi hudal-lil muttaqeen." [2:1-2] "This is a book, there is no doubt regarding it, it is a guidance for those people who have taqwaa, those people who fear Allah."

Then Allah describes them and among His descriptions that He mentions about them is that they believe what is revealed to them and what was revealed before them. So they believe in the revelation which came to the Prophet Muhammad sallAllahu `alaihi wa sallam as they believe in the revelation which came before Prophet Muhammad sallAllahu `alaihi wa sallam, being the revelation given to the Prophets, like the Gospel to `Eesaa ibn Maryam, like the Tauraah to the Prophet Moosa `alaihis salaam, like the Zaboor or the Psalms which was given to Daawood `alaihis salaam. And likewise we find in the final verses of soorat al-Baqarah also a description of the matters of belief, where Allah subhaanahu wa ta`aalaa says that the believers and the Messenger, all of them believe in Allah and His Angels and His Scriputres and His Messengers; they make no distinction between them [see 2:285]. Meaning that they do not believe in some of them and disbelieve in others, like the Jews.

Then the following is from a Christian site, which attempts to argue that the Koran is less than valid, at IslamReview.com

The Quran assures more than once, that the Holy Bible (Old Testament and New Testament) was descended by God Himself: "And He sent down the law (of Moses), and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind" [Al Omran 3/3-4]. It describes the Bible also as , i.e. the message, in its statement: "Before thee, also, the messengers we sent were but men, to whom we granted inspiration: if ye realize this not, ask of those who possess the message " [Al Anbeyaa 21/7], and "This is the message of those with me, and message of those before me" [Al Anbeyaa 21/24]. The Quran also admits that God preserves the Bible because it is descended by Him, i.e. His : "We have sent down the message and we will assuredly guard it" [Al Hajar 15/9].

Perhaps an unbiased view can be found at "WordIQ.com" (and the identical text can also be found at WikiPedia.org) which is sort of an encyclopedia, and appears to be impartial and objective (I say "appears" because I've just begun my research in this area, and in my ignorance I could be reading subtle biases without knowing it. I do notice that they continually refer to the area as "Palestine" even during times when I know it was referred to as Judea, or Israel, or "Syria Palestina" by the Romans, who changed its name in the second century from "Syria Judea." I'm no expert on the exact names used on the exact dates, but in order to avoid confusion, I've changed the text somewhat, adding an ellipsis. Read into that what you will. I've included links to the actual pages I used in each case, so you can go there yourself.

From: http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Abrahamic_religion
Islam considers that the Jewish God is the same as Allah, and Jesus as a divinely inspired prophet, but not a divinity. Thus both the theology of the Jewish Bible and the teachings of Jesus are accepted as valid in principle, although not in detail.

Since Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, claims descent from the monotheist tradition of the biblical patriarch Abraham, it sees itself as an Abrahamic religion. Muslims hold that it is essentially the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to mankind, with the Qur'ān (the one definitive text of the Muslim faith) codifying the final revelation of God. [ http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Islam ]

An Abrahamic religion (also referred to as desert monotheism) is a religion derived from the ancient Semitic tradition of Abraham, a great patriarch depicted in the Bible. This group of largely monotheistic religions, which includes Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, comprises the majority of the world's religious adherents. Muslims refer to adherents of most Abrahamic religions as People of the Book, “the Book” being the Old Testament, which the Muslims reject as corrupt but revere as having had divine origins.[ http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Abrahamic_religion ]

All the Abrahamic religions are derived to some extent from Judaism as practiced in ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah prior to the Babylonian Exile, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. Judaism...was renovated and reformed to some extent in the 6th century BC by Ezra and other priests returning... from the exile..

Christianism originated... at the end of the 1st century BC, as a radically reformed sect of Judaism; it spread to ancient Greece and Rome, and from there to most of Europe, Asia, the Americas, and many other parts of the world....

Islam has only one sacred book, the Quran, comprising 114 Chapters (surat). According to the Quran itself, these were revealed by Archangel Gabriel to prophet Muhammad in separate occasions, and preserved as such by his disciples, until they were compiled into a single book (not in chronological order) several decades after his death.

The Quran includes several stories from the Jewish Bible (chiefly in Sura 17, The Children of Israel), and mentions Jesus many times as a divinely inspired prophet. However the detailed precepts of the Tanakh and of the New Testament are not adopted outright; they are replaced by the new commandments given directly by Allah to Muhammad and codified in the Quran. [ http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Abrahamic_religion ]

{Let me interject a note here before continuing from the same source: Also, Muslims believe that Jesus was not crucified, and did not die, but that God only worked it out to appear that way. If I understand it correctly (and tell me if I'm wrong) they believe that instead God brought Jesus to Him, alive, and that he still lives today. They also believe that he will return, but will die at some point after that}

Traditional Muslim theology believed in an eternal, uncreated Qur'an. In this it was influenced by Greek philosophy, especially Plato's theories that all ultimate realities and truths had to be eternal and unchanging. Given that Muslim believe that Biblical figures such as Moses and Jesus all preached Islam, this implies that any difference between the Qur'an and the Bible as it now exists must be the result of human corruption of the earlier divine revelations.

However, the doctrine of the uncreatedness of the Qur'an has been disputed by some, including the Mu'tazili and Ismaili sects; and also implicitly or explicitly by various liberal movements within Islam, which believe that different revelations are created by God to meet the needs and circumstances of their communities. This argument is mainly used by liberals opposed to various aspects of traditional Islamic law. However, it would also account for differences between the Bible and Qur'an without resorting to accusations of human corruption of divine texts. [ http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Quran ]

Finally, from other - admittedly brief - research into other sites and forums, it appears that many Muslims only pretend to respect the Bible. Instead, many say that the Bible is not the Bible, but is a "corrupted" version. It is, as stated above, rejected. These will say that if you can find the original Bible, it will agree exactly with the Quran. (Don't bother giving them evidence and facts showing that it is original nearly word for word; facts mean nothing as far as they are concerned.) Until that time, they state, 'this' version is due no respect. Oh -- it should go without saying that when I say "many" I realize that that does not mean "all."
As an example, a more moderate view, yet one which is clearly pro-Islam, and to which I'll give the respect of having the final word on this subject, is found at the website "Islam Answers Back," which succinctly states its agenda on its opening page as, "Everyone wants a fair share of attacking Islam. But who is there to answer for Islam? The fact is that Islam needs no defence. Islam continues to spread in the face of mighty opposition."

Can Muslims Use the Bible in Dawah?
The hadith of Umar is often given as a reason against the use of the Bible in Dawah. However, this use of Umar’s hadith is based on a failure to distinguish between using the Bible for guidance and using the Bible for Dawah. Umar’s hadith teaches that we cannot use the Bible for guidance. That hadith does not prevent us from using the Bible for Dawah.

In brief, the hadith says that Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, came to the prophet, sallallahu alayhi was sallam, with a copy of the Torah saying here is a copy of the book that was revealed to the prophet Moses, peace be upon him. As he began to read it the prophet’s face showed displeasure until Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, alerted Umar to notice this. Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, then promptly closed the scroll and reaffirmed his satisfaction with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi was sallam, as prophet and messenger. The prophet then remarked that if the prophet Musa were alive today he would have to follow the prophet Muhammad, sallalalhu alayhi was sallam.

That in a nutshell is the gist of the hadith. Obviously, the hadith deals with the question of where to find guidance today. The Bible therefore cannot be used for our guidance. The hadith does not prevent us from making reference to the Bible in the limited manner which I will now describe.

The easiest way to prove a point to a person who believes in the Bible is to make reference to the Bible. This does not mean you believe in the Bible or consider it true in even that portion. It makes no difference whether or not you the caller to Islam believes in the Bible passage you are citing. It is important to believe what you preach, but remember that you are not preaching the Bible. You are simply reminding Christians and Jews that if they had read their Bibles carefully they would have to accept Islam.

I hope the above isn't too disjointed, and gives you some at least a beginning of insight into how a person of Islam might view the Bible. If you have further links or comments, let me know.

CB Carries On!

Whew! After a day of no posts following his note that his BC summoneed him and said that he knew about his blog, and that all posts would have to be reviewed by his Sgt prior to submission, CB IS BACK!

Visit MY WAR - Fear and Loathing in Iraqfor the very best in military blogging.

This New Medium: "The Blogoshpere"

What an impact this new medium is beginning to have! From the Chicago Sun Times article entitled Truth bound to come out on Kerry's military duty, author John O'sullivan says in regard to John Kerry's "searing, searing" - but apparently false - memory of being in Cambodia on Christmas Eve, 1968:

Even if the major media decided to bury this story, they would probably not succeed -- and they know as much. The "blogosphere" -- that voluntary society of unpaid free-lance journalists -- is following the story avidly, correcting errors, producing original documents, sifting through different accounts. Some bloggers are for Kerry, some against, but all are together advancing the story by winnowing truth from falsehood. Unless the bloggers conclusively acquit Kerry before the story migrates outwards, the mainstream media will eventually be forced to devote serious resources to it.

Hey - I thought it was just "Blogsphere." Am I wrong?

The Best of the Military Blogs in Iraq, to Continue?

CB has been discovered by his commanding officers. This guy, writing "My War - Fear and Loathing in Iraq" is by far the most riviting blogger about the action occurring on the ground that exists. Check out his site at http://cbftw.blogspot.com/ and add your prayers that he will be allowed to continue, and will still want to continue. He does a great service to our Country not only as an Infantryman, but also in that he fills the void the media has left us with in regards to stories of the good we're doing in Iraq; stories of courage, valour, heroism, and sacrifice. He's giving a face to the Army, a person one can relate to.

Creek View at the Campsite

The campsite is so small you can really only get one group there at a time. Its really only known to locals, since it has no name, and you have to travel 2 miles down a dirt road to get there.

Robbery update

Just a quick note on what my family calls "the robbery" of the solar yard light from our driveway (though I view less it dramatically, since I sort of figured they might not last long there when I put them up).

Apparently there were a few Sheriff's vehicles on our dirt road, and may have arrested some of the skin heads. I doubt that it had anything to do with our yard lights, or that we'll ever see them again.

Also one of our new neighbors drove up on horseback to give us a list of phone numbers to vets and what have you - very nice - and stated that there have been problems with the campsite by the creek down past our place. She said she always keeps an eye on it and if anyone is there more than three days she calls the Forest Rangers because there's a 14 day stay limit on the place, which begins only at the point the Rangers are aware they're there. She says it helps to keep homeless people from staying there permanently.

I didn't speak to her. My Mother did, and says, "she's a Berkley person, if you know what I mean? She used to teach at Berkley." I thought this was pretty funny coming from my Mom. (Oh, and yes, Mom is one of the 7 family members who all bought into and now live on this 18 acres).

Mystic Chords (2)

Ah, I've finally found some background on Teresa Heinz-Kerry's curious "mystic chords" phrase in her speech at the DNC. And, I must give her some credit -though I don't believe we're divided into "two Americas" no matter how hard the Democrats continue to try to make us that way, and especially not as divided as we were just prior to the Civil War - for pulling this out and using it.

This is from The Heritage Foundation, under the category of American Founding and History, in an article by Wilfred M. McClay entitled "The Mystic Chords of Memory: Reclaiming American History." The following is only a portion of the whole article:

[In] Lincoln's first inaugural speech [he uses the phrase] "The Mystic Chords of Memory." To understand what sort of appeal Lincoln was making with these words, we need to recall the setting in which the address was given in March of 1861. In the wake of Lincoln's election to the presidency in 1860 without the support of a single Southern state, seven states from the Deep South had already left the Union, and the crucial border states were on the verge of doing so as well. The Union that Lincoln so greatly cherished seemed to be dissolving before his eyes. With this inaugural speech, Lincoln began his attempt to counter this disintegration. He made it clear that, so far as he was concerned, the union of states under the Constitution could not be broken, for it was meant to be a perpetual union, rather than being revocable at the whim of a single state or combination of states. The speech takes a variety of turns, offering legal, political, moral, and prudential reasons for its case. Its tone is by turns both conciliatory and stern. But with its final clinching paragraph -- added (it is said) at the suggestion of William Henry Seward -- the speech soars to immortal heights:

I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

It is a rich, complex, intricately balanced sentence, built around a delicate musical image. The "chords of memory" will eventually be "touched" by our better angels -- one can almost envision them plucking the strings of a harp -- and once those memories have been made vibrant, they will elicit other sympathetic vibrations, the intervals and overtones that energize and "swell the chorus of the Union." These are "mystic" chords, which means that they must come from a divine, mysterious source; and these mystic chords somehow have the power to link "every battlefield and patriot grave" to "every living heart and hearthstone" in the land. When they are sounded, the mystic chords have the power to connect past and present, inner and outer, private and public, household and polity, locality and nationality in a single harmonious whole. During times of confusion and crisis, such as the nation was then facing, it could find composure and direction in recalling the Spirit of '76 and the Founders' heroic sacrifices. Citizens will draw strength and comfort from associating their love of the nation with the same warm devotion that attaches them to their own hearths.

For Lincoln, though, the battlefields and patriot graves deserved our reverence not simply for sentimental reasons, or out of reverence for our ancestors' great sacrifices, but because of the cause for which they sacrificed. It would not have been enough had they merely died for the 19th-century equivalent of baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. They died, as Lincoln expressed it in the Gettysburg Address, in order that government of the people, by the people, and for the people "shall not perish from the earth." They died, he asserted, to sustain the possibility of a nation "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."

The mystic chords of memory, then, also draw us back to first principles and to an understanding of America as a nation self-consciously founded, at a distinct moment in time, with particular ends in view. From this perspective, the United States is a nation with a uniquely creedal sense of national identity -- a nation, as Chesterton put it, with the soul of a church. In this view, one becomes an American less by descent than by consent.

Thus, Lincoln's oratory offered two different effects of invoking the mystic chords of memory -- first, as reminders of an inherited way of life and, second, as reminders of a set of universal propositions. This duality is at the heart of a longstanding debate about the nature of American institutions, and indeed it now presents itself at the heart of contemporary debates about multiculturalism, immigration, and national identity. Is America a transnational nation, founded upon certain abstract and universalistic principles which it both exemplifies and promotes? Or is it a civilization built upon a series of specifically Western European, and largely British, historical accretions with language, laws, customs, conventions, institutions, and belief systems arising organically out of those particular legacies? Such questions are exceedingly difficult to answer with finality, and the balance between them may remain contested for as long as the United States stays in business as a country. It is hard to imagine either one of the perspectives they represent ever being excluded from our sense of national identity.

Bye, Bye, Bunny Goodbye

After conferring with my more sensitive half, we decided that we should wait for three year old Joey to wake up before burying the rabbit.

Joey was pretty nonchalant at first, but I think it hit him several hours later. Especially when the feed store was closed so that we couldn't get a replacement. He began quietly crying in his car seat, and told us he wished his rabbit wasn't dead.

We buried him in the only place that has soft enough earth at our new place yet, which will probably become the spot for a built in pool some years from now but...

Joey pet the rabbit a few times before we placed him in a protective wrapping and carried him to the front of the house. During our procession, our friend Libby went through the 'he's in heaven' speech. Joey continued to cry softly until I kneeled and placed the body in the hole, when full tears began to flow. Still on my knees, we asked if he wanted to say a prayer (not so much for the rabbit, who has no soul, but for our sadness). He asked me to at first, which I did, asking Jesus to bring us peace, and to pet the rabbit too! When I finished, Joey surprised me by sitting on my kneeling legs to begin his own prayer. He prayed, "Jesus take care of my rabbit, and Dad help me." I was touched and surprised that he'd know to refer to God in such an intimate way, until he repeated, "Dad, HELP me!" Realizing that he wanted help completing his prayer, we finished together, with him repeating my words, and each closing with "Amen."

Joey handled things a little better for a while, but it was obviously working in his subconscious. For, later that evening as the two of us did construction work (translate this as: played together in the sand down by the garage) he asked me, "do you miss my rabbit?" I told him yes. "Are you sad?" Yes, its very sad, isn't it? "Yeah," he replied, "it makes me sad." I know I'm repeating myself, but he really just needed to hear it just this way several times. In fact, when several mountain ranges had been created in the sand, he asked, "do you know where my rabbit is?" And again, we talked of heaven. He opined that he'd rather have his rabbit here than there. After several sand-eons, during which time the mountains erupted and became volcanic craters, he started over again with, "do you miss my rabbit?"

I'm so glad I found out how to blog, because I know the bittersweet details of this would escape from my memory soon otherwise. So, while it may be boring for you, it is very important to me. I only wish that I'd had this ability when my other two kids were growing up.

My brother and brother in law walking down our 'driveway.' The right lane heads to the garage, the left to the road.

The New Place

We moved into the new place in the mountains near Yosemite. We’re enjoying walking down our ¼ mile dirt ‘driveway’ in the early evening to watch for the deer returning from the creek. Though we’re a little concerned, because the mother of one young fawn is missing. There’s been some ‘skin-heads’ on the road nearby, traveling into the US Forest lands next to us. We’ve heard shooting, and one of the solar yard lights we put at the end of our driveway was stolen. We went down to the campground they’d been staying at, but its vacant now. Perhaps they climbed back under the rocks they came from.

Our Shepard, “BJ” has really enjoyed the change. And I enjoy her much more. Whereas before she basically just stayed in our back yard at the old house (when she wasn’t escaping and running throughout the desert), now she comes with me on frequent daily walks. For the most part she’s remained only on the roads, but finally this morning when I went to feed and water the horses she ventured into the forest, chasing after some critter or another.

Our three-year old son has also enjoyed it. Racing along the road on his little bike between the house and to the garage 100 yards or so away, or down to the horses; playing in the dirt – his favorite pastime; or running in the huge (1,200 sq ft) main room of the big house.

Yet this morning I’ve discovered some bad news, which I’m trying to decide how to handle when he wakes up. His rabbit died during the night. My wife’ll also be quite hurt. Just last night she was holding him, like a baby, and came in happily to show us all how “relaxed” he was in that position. Now I know why.

I’m considering burying him before either wakes up. But perhaps my wife would like to say good-bye, and perhaps its time my son learned more of the reality of death. The poor luck we’ve had with gold fish don’t really compare to the rabbit, who we’ve not only had a long time, but which is much more cuddly, and somehow more ‘real.’ However, our two cats are getting along in years, and it may be time to start preparing him. I just haven’t decided yet. Guess I’ll have a cup of coffee and a cigarette and think on it a bit.