From Our Mail: School Choice Comes to Indiana

In South Carolina approximately half of all students who enter high school, graduate. Let us hope that Indiana's example, and that of other states, might eventually persuade South Carolina legislators to free students held hostage to schools that do not work and will not change.

From: Andrew Campanella, The Alliance for School Choice

Re: School Choice Breakthrough in Indiana

I am happy to report some great news tonight. As of this evening, Indiana has passed a private school choice program.

This evening, the Indiana General Assembly passed a corporate and individual scholarship tax credit program, providing hope and opportunity to thousands of Hoosier state children. Governor Mitch Daniels signed the program into law just after 8 p.m. tonight.

The $2.5 million corporate and individual scholarship tax credit program was included in the state’s budget. This new program rewards generous companies and individuals who donate money to nonprofit organizations that help low-income children attend private schools. In return for their donations, the individuals and/or corporations receive a 50 percent tax credit.

My coworker, Lori Drummer—who is our director of state projects—had this to say:

"In an incredibly challenging year for school choice, the passage of this program provides clear and convincing evidence that the people of Indiana want and need school choice now more than ever,” she said. “We congratulate School Choice Indiana and a host of other state and national allies who were instrumental in this victory.”

Indiana is now the 11th state to offer private school choice program. There are 18 programs available, currently serving 171,000 children.

In other important news today, Rhode Island Governor Don Carcieri signed the Ocean State’s budget—effectively protecting the state’s $1 million corporate scholarship tax credit program. This program had come under heavy fire this year, but thanks to the hard work of the folks at Rhode Island Scholarship Advocates and other local groups—educational opportunities for hundreds of children were saved.

School choice is on the march, Daniel! Despite one of the most difficult climates for school choice we've faced in years, local allies this year may very well have protected every single student scholarship in existence right now, and even created more.

Thank you for everything you do to support educational freedom!

Interview: Mike Huckabee at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation

Mike Huckabee visited the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation yesterday and was interviewed on the Reagan presidency and its legacy.

Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex

" ... we have to eliminate discrimination against LGBT families ... [and] we have to extend equal treatment in our family and adoption laws."

Barack Hussein Obama

From LifeSiteNews
By Kathleen Gilbert

An openly homosexual Duke University official has been charged with delivering up his 5-year-old adopted African American son to sexual predators online.

Frank Lombard, the 42-year-old associate director of the Center for Health Policy and a licensed clinical social worker, was arrested Wednesday after he invited an undercover police officer to take advantage of one of his two sons, whom he had adopted with his male partner.

The Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI conducted the sting operation.

Investigators were tipped off to Lombard's criminal activity by an informant who said he had seen Lombard molest an African-American child four times over an Internet video chat service called ICUii. The informant said Lombardi described himself on his profile as "perv dad for fun."

According to the arrest warrant filed by D.C. Metropolitan Det. Timothy Palchak, Lombard told the undercover detective that he had raped his son on several occasions since infancy, and that "the abuse of the child was easier when the child was too young to talk or know what was happening, but that he had drugged the child with Benadryl during the molestation."

The FBI stated that two children have been taken from Lombard's home and put into protective custody by the North Carolina Department of Social Services.

Lombard will be transferred to Washington, D.C. this week to face federal charges, and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Duke University spokesman Michael Schoenfeld told ABC News that Lombard, a Duke employee since 1999, has been placed on unpaid leave.

Family Research Institute Chairman Dr. Paul Cameron has said that the case appears to coincide with a pattern of abuse established in a recent review of the literature describing the impact of homosexual fathers on their children. The review by Dr. Cameron, published in the peer-reviewed Psychological Reports, noted that such children were more frequently exposed to parental molestation.

"While every gay parent does not molest his child, the scientific literature records a much higher incidence of molestation by gay parents or foster parents," said Cameron. Cameron, an expert in homosexual foster parenting and adoption, also said it is likely the child victim "developed interest in gay sex through these activities."

Cameron cited a 1978 Kinsey Institute study that found 23% of surveyed homosexual men admitting to having had sex with boys.

"The cant that 'gay parents are no more likely to molest' is not based on evidence but liberal ideology," said Cameron.

"By endorsing gay adoption, President Obama, the state of North Carolina, and Duke University share blame for this tragedy. These policy makers let dogma blind them to evidence that has been in the literature for years."

Obama Hopes to Persuade All Americans to Accept Sodomy

From OneNewsNow

President Barack Obama says that while he's dedicated to expanding homosexual rights, many Americans still cling to what he calls "worn arguments and old attitudes."

At a White House celebration of Gay Pride Month, Obama said he hopes to persuade all Americans to accept homosexuality. ""There are good and decent people in this country who don't yet fully embrace their gay brothers and sisters -- not yet," said the president. "That's why I've spoken about these issues -- not just in front of you -- but in front of unlikely audiences, in front of African-American church members."

Obama acknowledged that many Americans still disapprove of homosexuality. "There are still fellow citizens, perhaps neighbors or even family members and loved ones, who still hold fast to worn arguments and old attitudes," he stated.

He added that Congress should repeal what Obama referred to as "the so-called Defense of Marriage Act" -- and that his administration is working to pass a hate crimes bill and to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy on homosexuals in the military.

The audience at the White House ceremony included Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson and other homosexual clergy. Obama introduced Robinson as a "special friend."

Russia, Poland and U.S. Strategy

In the latest installment of the STRATFOR Insights video series, CEO George Friedman analyzes the upcoming summit July 6-8 between Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Barack Obama from a geopolitical perspective. Likely topics on the agenda include Iran, Afghanistan, U.S. ballistic missile defense installations in Poland and Russia's sphere of influence.

United Church of Christ Urges LGBT Indoctrination in Public Elementary Schools; Confessing Movement Protests

From Christian Newswire
By David Runnion Bareford

A Resolution of the General Synod of the United Church of Christ concluding today in Grand Rapids, Michigan, calls for "diversity/multi-cultural education" in public elementary schools that includes, "the experience of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, bi-sexual, transgender), individuals and families." The resolution also calls for aggressive opposition to efforts by parents whose moral convictions are violated by such teaching to protect their children from LGBT indoctrination. The resolution mixes the LGBT agenda with a call for public school diversity teaching on racism and the acceptance of immigrant minorities.

In protest, the confessing movement within the United Church of Christ known as Biblical Witness Fellowship has issued a statement of protest. "Teaching that behavior and relationships which are morally wrong to most Christian families, as well as families of the Islamic, Hindu and other religious traditions is normative, makes the public school an unsafe environment for our children. Mixing such a message with the legitimate concerns of racism and the acceptance of immigrating families and children is offensive, intellectually dishonest, and inappropriate. Diversity demands that public education respect the morality of all and protects the innocence of children."

We Need Governor Sanford to Finish His Term

We strongly concur with Governor Sanford's decision to remain in office and finish out his term. As much as we regret what has transpired in recent weeks, it would only compound the evil were our political process distorted by the Governor's resignation.

South Carolinians deserve the opportunity to get to know all the candidates vying to succeed Governor Sanford. The Governor's mistakes should not provide one of those candidates with an enormous leg up in free publicity and fund raising, particularly when that candidate and his supporters represent the very big government, big spending, catering to special interests that Governor Sanford was elected to oppose.

The Governor has not been as successful as we would like in defeating the over-fed agents of pork and special interest in the State House, but his resignation would hand them an enormous, undeserved victory.

There are plenty of pots calling the kettle black right now. The best thing that Governor Sanford can do for our state is to continue standing up for the taxpayers, and educating the electorate on the need for constitutional reform. By defying those who would like to see him gone, he blocks the way for those eager to move South Carolina in the wrong direction.

A message
from Mark

	Dear Friends, I write to apologize and ask for your forgiveness. Well beyond the personal consequences within my own family, I know that at so many different levels my actions have upset, offended and disappointed friends and supporters and for this I am most sorry. As I mentioned in last week's press conference, I've always believed God's laws were there to protect us from ourselves, and what has transpired over this last week vividly illustrates the damage that comes personally, and to those you love and respect, in doing otherwise. So in the aftermath of this failure I want to not only apologize, but to commit to growing personally and spiritually. Immediately after all this unfolded last week I had thought I would resign - as I believe in the military model of leadership and when trust of any form is broken one lays down the sword. A long list of close friends have suggested otherwise - that for God to really work in my life I shouldn't be getting off so lightly. While it would be personally easier to exit stage left, their point has been that my larger sin was the sin of pride. They contended that in many instances I may well have held the right position on limited government, spending or taxes - but that if my spirit wasn't right in the presentation of those ideas to people in the General Assembly, or elsewhere, I could elicit the response that I had at many times indeed gotten from other state leaders. Their belief was that if I walked in with a real spirit of humility then this last legislative term could well be our most productive one - and that outside this term, I would ultimately be a better person and of more service in whatever doors God opened next in life if I stuck around to learn lessons rather than running and hiding down at the farm. They have also made the point that a good part of life is about scripts - that the idea of redemption isn't something that Marshall, Landon, Bolton and Blake should just read about, it's something they should see. Accordingly, they suggested that there was a very different life script that would be lived and learned by our boys, and thousands like them, if this story simply ended with scandal and then the end of office - versus a fall from grace and then renewal and rebuilding and growth in its aftermath. I won't belabor all these points, but I did want to write as expressed earlier to say that I'm sorry and that more than anything I personally ask for your prayers for me, Jenny, the boys and so many others who have been impacted by what I have done. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Take care. Mark Mark

High Court Overrules Sotomayor Decision Against White Firefighters

Today's decision affirming that yes, racism directed at white people is in fact racism, and is wrong in a society that is supposed to be colorblind, is even more reason to delay hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.

From OneNewsNow
By Mark Sherman

The Supreme Court has ruled that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge.

New Haven was wrong to scrap a promotion exam because no African-Americans and only two Hispanic firefighters were likely to be made lieutenants or captains based on the results, the court said Monday in a 5-4 decision. The city said that it had acted to avoid a lawsuit from minorities.

The ruling could alter employment practices nationwide, potentially limiting the circumstances in which employers can be held liable for decisions when there is no evidence of intentional discrimination against minorities.

"Fear of litigation alone cannot justify an employer's reliance on race to the detriment of individuals who passed the examinations and qualified for promotions," Justice Anthony Kennedy said in his opinion for the court. He was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

In dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the white firefighters "understandably attract this court's sympathy. But they had no vested right to promotion. Nor have other persons received promotions in preference to them."

Justices Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens signed onto Ginsburg's dissent, which she read aloud in court Monday.

Kennedy's opinion made only passing reference to the work of Sotomayor and the other two judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals who upheld a lower court ruling in favor of New Haven.

But the appellate judges have been criticized for producing a cursory opinion that failed to deal with "indisputably complex and far from well-settled" questions, in the words of another appeals court judge, Sotomayor mentor Jose Cabranes.

"This perfunctory disposition rests uneasily with the weighty issues presented by this appeal," Cabranes said, in a dissent from the full 2nd Circuit's decision not to hear the case.

Monday's decision has its origins in New Haven's need to fill vacancies for lieutenants and captains in its fire department. It hired an outside firm to design a test, which was given to 77 candidates for lieutenant and 41 candidates for captain.

Fifty six firefighters passed the exams, including 41 whites, 22 blacks and 18 Hispanics. But of those, only 17 whites and two Hispanics could expect promotion.

The city eventually decided not to use the exam to determine promotions. It said it acted because it might have been vulnerable to claims that the exam had a "disparate impact" on minorities in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The white firefighters said the decision violated the same law's prohibition on intentional discrimination.

Kennedy said an employer needs a "strong basis in evidence" to believe it will be held liable in a disparate impact lawsuit. New Haven had no such evidence, he said.

The city declined to validate the test after it was given, a step that could have identified flaws or determined that there were no serious problems with it. In addition, city officials could not say what was wrong with the test, other than the racially skewed results.

Lombard Demonstrates Why Gays Should Not be Allowed to Adopt

From Christian Newswire

The on-line rape of his 5-year-old adopted son by Duke University's openly-gay, Frank Lombard, is no anomaly. Instead, Lombard's molestation fits the pattern that emerged in the latest review of the scientific literature about gay fathers.

Lombard lives with his gay partner, another Duke University employee. The Arrest Warrant documents that Lombard sodomized one of his two adopted African-American sons and made the boy give him oral sex on-line. He offered other gays the same opportunity. Although the boy was drugged, "it is likely he developed interest in gay sex through these activities," said Dr. Paul Cameron, an expert in gay fostering/gay adoption and author of the latest review.

Published in the peer-reviewed Psychological Reports, the review(1) noted that gays' children were more frequently exposed to parental molestation and more apt to adopt homosexual interests and activities. "The Lombard case fits the pattern," said Dr. Cameron. "While every gay parent does not molest his child, the scientific literature records a much higher incidence of molestation by gay parents or foster parents."

Dr. Cameron, Chairman of the Family Research Institute, a Colorado Springs think-tank, noted that the review documented that gays' children were also:

1) more apt to report sexual confusion;

2) more apt to be socially disturbed;

3) more apt to abuse substances;

4) less apt to get married;

5) more apt to have difficulty in attachment and loving relationships; and

6) more apt to have emotional difficulties.

"The cant that 'gay parents are no more likely to molest' is not based on evidence but liberal ideology," said Cameron. "By endorsing gay adoption, President Obama, the state of North Carolina, and Duke University share blame for this tragedy. These policy makers let dogma blind them to evidence that has been in the literature for years. Why would anyone who cared about children endorse adoption by members of a group which had 23% of its members admit to sex with boys(2) or had 19% say they felt 'positive' about sex with them?(3)"

1. Cameron P. Gay Fathers' Effects On Children: A Review Psychological Reports, 2009:104;649-639

2. Bell AP, Weinberg MS Homosexualities: a study of diversity among men and women. NY: Simon & Schuster, 1978.

3. Jay K & Young A. The Gay report. NY: Summit, 1979.

The Release of Demographic Winter Part II -- 'The Demographic Bomb'

A sequel to the 2008 documentary "Demographic Winter: the decline of the human family" has been released by SRB Documentaries.

The first segment of this chilling film predicted the financial crisis of 2008 to within 12 months.

Barry McLerren, producer of both films, states that "'Demographic Winter" shows what happens when countries comprising 80% of the world's economy have plummeting numbers of workers, consumers and innovators -- leading to falling consumer spending, and too few workers to support the elderly.

The film's trailer follows:

Remains of Saint Paul Confirmed

Bones dated to first century

From The Washington Times
By Nicole Winfield, Associated Press

The first-ever scientific tests on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul "seem to conclude" that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

Archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul's Outside the Walls in Rome, which for about 2,000 years has been believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul.

The pope said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Same-Sex 'Marriage' Loses Support Among Americans

A recent poll indicates that Americans are not as supportive of homosexual "marriage" as they once were.

From OneNewsNow
By Charlie Butts

A CBS-New York Times survey shows that support for redefining marriage to include same-gender couples has declined. Jenny Tyree of Focus on the Family Action tells OneNewsNow that, according to The New York Times, the figure dropped slightly -- but she believes nine percentage points is more than slightly.

"I think that this really digs into what Americans really feel about marriage -- that they like that [marriage is] defined between a man and a woman," she contends. "And also it's a bit of a backlash against the five states whose legislative bodies have redefined marriage very recently within the last several months."

Part of the drop may also relate to the continuing battle to defeat California's Proposition 8, she says, in which voters defined marriage as between a man and a woman.

"I think Americans really saw the intolerance that occurred after the Proposition 8 vote back in November," she recalls. "They saw that many who want to redefine marriage were not happy with really what the people decide, and what the people decided in California was to continue to define marriage the way it has been defined."

After the election, several lawsuits were filed to try to overturn the voters' decision. Another federal lawsuit challenging it was filed just last week. Tyree believes the poll also sends a strong message to the White House, which has stated as a goal to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Chicago Elementary School to March in Gay Pride Parade

It must warm the heart of every perverted Chicago Obamunist to know that young children will be walking among this.

From the Illinois Family Institute
By Laurie Higgins

I am so angry I could scream -- but instead I'll write.

Nettelhorst Elementary School, a public school located in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago, has the dubious honor of being the first Chicago public school to march in Chicago's "gay pride" parade on Sunday.

According to an article in the Windy City Times, and not surprisingly, "Brad Rossi, a gay parent of a first-grade girl, and Marcia Festen, a lesbian parent of two daughters, one of whom is in kindergarten, were both crucial in bringing the idea to the school. The two worked together in the 1980s, and Rossi says that the idea came from California."

I have asked before and I will ask again, how depraved does the behavior have to become to which our public schools expose children and how young do the children have to be before conservatives and faith communities rise up in righteous indignation?

According to the Chicago Tribune, "The black metal fence in front of Nettelhorst Elementary School is obscured by thousands of strips of dyed fabric-yellows giving way to greens, then blues, purples and reds-each one tied on by the small hands of a student." How special.

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Troops Arrest Honduran President

Sometimes there are aspects to the third-world for which one yearns. And this president was actually born in his country.

From the BBC

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has been arrested by troops ahead of a controversial constitutional referendum.

Mr Zelaya's secretary said that the president had been taken to an airbase outside the capital, Tegucigalpa.

The move comes days after the president sacked the armed forces chief, who had refused to back the referendum plan.

Read the rest of this entry >>

Obama's Deadly Hand Revealed

From the Jewish Chronicle
By Melanie Phillips

Among American Jews, a degree of ‘buyers’ remorse’ has been detected recently.

Almost 80 per cent of American Jews voted for Barack Obama as President. Those of us who warned that this man would endanger Israel were scorned.

How could that possibly be, said the secular, liberal American Jews. He’s a Democrat, he’s black and he’s pro-abortion. With this triple-lock of unassailable virtue, how can he be bad for Israel? Now some of them are getting an awful feeling that they may have made the biggest misjudgment of their lives.

As the world watched events unfold in Iran, Obama’s double standard over Israel was illuminated in flashing neon lights. How come he’s saying it is wrong for him to tell the Iranians what to do, people asked themselves, when he is dictating to Israel its policy on settlements?

Why was he so concerned not to antagonise the Iranian regime? Was it because he hopes to reach a Grand Bargain which would allow Iran to develop nuclear capability, provided it promises him ever so nicely it would never turn this into weapons — in exchange for which, Israel would be offered up on a plate?

For the past six months, while Obama has been holding out the hand of friendship to Iran, he has been showing Israel a mailed fist.

Why, people asked themselves, was he singling out Iran’s putative victim for the heavy treatment while soft-soaping Tehran? Why had he torn up the Road Map which requires the Palestinians to dismantle their infrastructure of terror before anything else can happen, telling Israel instead that its stubbornness over the settlements was the main impediment to a Palestinian state?

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The Lutheran Youth Choir of North America - "Hope for Resolution"

The Lutheran Youth Choir of North America, a new Christian music ministry for high school youth, sings the goodness of God through the finest sacred choral music for audiences around the world; here LYCNA performs "Hope for Resolution," a composition by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory which incorporates the chant "Of the Father's Love Begotten" with a South African freedom song.

The Climate Change Climate Change

The number of skeptics is swelling everywhere.

From The Wall Street Journal
By Kimberley A. Strassel

Steve Fielding recently asked the Obama administration to reassure him on the science of man-made global warming. When the administration proved unhelpful, Mr. Fielding decided to vote against climate-change legislation.

If you haven't heard of this politician, it's because he's a member of the Australian Senate. As the U.S. House of Representatives prepares to pass a climate-change bill, the Australian Parliament is preparing to kill its own country's carbon-emissions scheme. Why? A growing number of Australian politicians, scientists and citizens once again doubt the science of human-caused global warming.

Among the many reasons President Barack Obama and the Democratic majority are so intent on quickly jamming a cap-and-trade system through Congress is because the global warming tide is again shifting. It turns out Al Gore and the United Nations (with an assist from the media), did a little too vociferous a job smearing anyone who disagreed with them as "deniers." The backlash has brought the scientific debate roaring back to life in Australia, Europe, Japan and even, if less reported, the U.S.

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Dr. Randy Pausch and "The Last Lecture"

Recent celebrity deaths are occasion for some to reflect on how, for better or for worse, their lives influenced the world. Here is a lesser known celebrity who became famous for the way he left this life. Dr. Randy Pausch is remembered for a lecture he gave at Carnegie Mellon University, which has become known as "The Last Lecture."

Dr. Pausch died a year ago, but his passing and his great, final lecture are reminders to us that one's soul is the only thing one possesses, and its condition is the only thing that really matters.

The following is a shortened version of Dr. Pausch's lecture. The full lecture delivered at Carnegie Mellon University is here.

Obama, the African Colonial

From American Thinker
By L. E. Ikenga

Had Americans been able to stop obsessing over the color of Barack Obama's skin and instead paid more attention to his cultural identity, maybe he would not be in the White House today. The key to understanding him lies with his identification with his father, and his adoption of a cultural and political mindset rooted in postcolonial Africa.

Like many educated intellectuals in postcolonial Africa, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was enraged at the transformation of his native land by its colonial conqueror. But instead of embracing the traditional values of his own tribal cultural past, he embraced an imported Western ideology, Marxism. I call such frustrated and angry modern Africans who embrace various foreign "isms", instead of looking homeward for repair of societies that are broken, African Colonials. They are Africans who serve foreign ideas.

The tropes of America's racial history as a way of understanding all things black are useless in understanding the man who got his dreams from his father, a Kenyan exemplar of the African Colonial.

Before I continue, I need to say this: I am a first generation born West African-American woman whose parents emigrated to the U.S. in the 1970's from the country now called Nigeria. I travel to Nigeria frequently. I see myself as both a proud American and as a proud Igbo (the tribe that we come from -- also sometimes spelled Ibo). Politically, I have always been conservative (though it took this past election for me to commit to this once and for all!); my conservative values come from my Igbo heritage and my place of birth. Of course, none of this qualifies me to say what I am about to -- but at the same time it does.

My friends, despite what CNN and the rest are telling you, Barack Obama is nothing more than an old school African Colonial who is on his way to turning this country into one of the developing nations that you learn about on the National Geographic Channel. Many conservative (East, West, South, North) African-Americans like myself -- those of us who know our history -- have seen this movie before. Here are two main reasons why many Americans allowed Obama to slip through the cracks despite all of his glaring inconsistencies:

First, Obama has been living on American soil for most of his adult life. Therefore, he has been able to masquerade as one who understands and believes in American democratic ideals. But he does not. Barack Obama is intrinsically undemocratic and as his presidency plays out, this will become more obvious. Second, and most importantly, too many Americans know very little about Africa. The one-size-fits-all understanding that many Americans (both black and white) continue to have of Africa might end up bringing dire consequences for this country.

Contrary to the way it continues to be portrayed in mainstream Western culture, Africa is not a continent that can be solely defined by AIDS, ethnic rivalries, poverty and safaris. Africa, like any other continent, has an immense history defined by much diversity and complexity. Africa's long-standing relationship with Europe speaks especially to some of these complexities -- particularly the relationship that has existed between the two continents over the past two centuries. Europe's complete colonization of Africa during the nineteenth century, also known as the Scramble for Africa, produced many unfortunate consequences, the African colonial being one of them.

The African colonial (AC) is a person who by means of their birth or lineage has a direct connection with Africa. However, unlike Africans like me, their worldviews have been largely shaped not by the indigenous beliefs of a specific African tribe but by the ideals of the European imperialism that overwhelmed and dominated Africa during the colonial period. AC's have no real regard for their specific African traditions or histories. AC's use aspects of their African culture as one would use pieces of costume jewelry: things of little or no value that can be thoughtlessly discarded when they become a negative distraction, or used on a whim to decorate oneself in order to seem exotic. (Hint: Obama's Muslim heritage).

On the other hand, AC's strive to be the best at the culture that they inherited from Europe. Throughout the West, they are tops in their professions as lawyers, doctors, engineers, Ivy League professors and business moguls; this is all well and good. It's when they decide to engage us as politicians that things become messy and convoluted.

The African colonial politician (ACP) feigns repulsion towards the hegemonic paradigms of Western civilization. But at the same time, he is completely enamored of the trappings of its aristocracy or elite culture. The ACP blames and caricatures whitey to no end for all that has gone wrong in the world. He convinces the masses that various forms of African socialism are the best way for redressing the problems that European colonialism motivated in Africa. However, as opposed to really being a hard-core African Leftist who actually believes in something, the ACP uses socialist themes as a way to disguise his true ambitions: a complete power grab whereby the "will of the people" becomes completely irrelevant.

Barack Obama is all of the above. The only difference is that he is here playing (colonial) African politics as usual.

In his 1995 memoir, Dreams From My Father -- an eloquent piece of political propaganda -- Obama styles himself as a misunderstood intellectual who is deeply affected by the sufferings of black people, especially in America and Africa. In the book, Obama clearly sees himself as an African, not as a black American. And to prove this, he goes on a quest to understand his Kenyan roots. He is extremely thoughtful of his deceased father's legacy; this provides the main clue for understanding Barack Obama.

Barack Obama Sr. was an African colonial to the core; in his case, the apple did not fall far from the tree. All of the telltale signs of Obama's African colonialist attitudes are on full display in the book -- from his feigned antipathy towards Europeans to his view of African tribal associations as distracting elements that get in the way of "progress". (On p. 308 of Dreams From My Father, Obama says that African tribes should be viewed as an "ancient loyalties".)

Like imperialists of Old World Europe, the ACP sees their constituents not as free thinking individuals who best know how to go about achieving and creating their own means for success. Instead, the ACP sees his constituents as a flock of ignorant sheep that need to be led -- oftentimes to their own slaughter.

Like the European imperialist who spawned him, the ACP is a destroyer of all forms of democracy.

Here are a few examples of what the British did in order to create (in 1914) what is now called Nigeria and what Obama is doing to you:

1. Convince the people that "clinging" to any aspect of their cultural (tribal) identity or history is bad and regresses the process of "unity". British Imperialists deeply feared people who were loyal to anything other than the state. "Tribalism" made the imperialists have to work harder to get people to just fall in line. Imperialists pitted tribes against each other in order to create chaos that they then blamed on ethnic rivalry. Today many "educated" Nigerians, having believed that their traditions were irrelevant, remain completely ignorant of their ancestry and the history of their own tribes.
2. Confiscate the wealth and resources of the area that you govern by any means necessary in order to redistribute wealth. The British used this tactic to present themselves as empathetic and benevolent leaders who wanted everyone to have a "fair shake". Imperialists are not interested in equality for all. They are interested in controlling all.
3. Convince the masses that your upper-crust university education naturally puts you on an intellectual plane from which to understand everything even when you understand nothing. Imperialists were able to convince the people that their elite university educations allowed them to understand what Africa needed. Many of today's Nigerians-having followed that lead-hold all sorts of degrees and certificates-but what good are they if you can't find a job?
4. Lie to the people and tell them that progress is being made even though things are clearly becoming worse. One thing that the British forgot to mention to their Nigerian constituents was that one day, the resources that were being used to engineer "progress" (which the British had confiscated from the Africans to begin with!) would eventually run out. After WWII, Western Europe could no longer afford to hold on to their African colonies. So all of the counterfeit countries that the Europeans created were then left high-and-dry to fend for themselves. This was the main reason behind the African independence movements of the1950 and 60's. What will a post-Obama America look like?
5. Use every available media outlet to perpetuate the belief that you and your followers are the enlightened ones-and that those who refuse to support you are just barbaric, uncivilized, ignorant curmudgeons. This speaks for itself.
   

America, don't be fooled. The Igbos were once made up of a confederacy of clans that ascribed to various forms of democratic government. They took their eyes off the ball and before they knew it, the British were upon them. Also, understand this: the African colonial who is given too much political power can only become one thing: a despot.

L.E. Ikenga can be reached at leikenga@gmail.com.

African Hospitals Funded by U.S. PEPFAR Program Accused of Forcibly Sterilizing HIV-Positive Women

From LifeSiteNews
By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman

African AIDS patients say they are being forcibly sterilized in hospitals funded by the United States' international AIDS program PEPFAR, LifeSiteNews has learned.

Dozens of women in Namibia claim that personnel in the PEPFAR-funded public hospital system used various methods to force or coerce them into receiving tubal ligations because of their HIV-positive status. Women's activists in the country believe the total number of victims is far greater.

Amon Mgazateme, an attorney representing several of the women, told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that all of the victims who have approached him are HIV positive, and believe that they were sterilized because of it. All were sterilized in the government's public health system.

Out of the 20 women who have approached him so far, "we have so far been able to have concrete evidence ... for about 15 women," Mgazateme told LSN in a telephone interview. "We are beginning to institute legal action against the government for about 6 cases only, so far."

In some cases, the women say they were tricked into signing papers authorizing the procedure at delicate moments during their treatment. In others, they were told that they would not receive medical care if they did not agree to be sterilized.

Namibia's Ministry of Health receives tens of millions of dollars a year from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), according to a U.S. government source.

In 2007, the last year for which data is available, PEPFAR gave over $16.6 million to the Namibian agency, which oversees the nation's public hospital system and implements PEPFAR-funded AIDS programs within the hospitals.

LSN has also learned that a group of U.S. House and Senate committee staff visited Namibia as late as 2008 to discuss the PEPFAR-funded AIDS program at Katatura State Hospital, one of the institutions accused of carrying out the sterilizations.

PEPFAR was also a sponsor of a global meeting on AIDS in the Namibian capital of Windhoek, from June 11 to 14 of this year, hosted by the Namibian government, which also included UN organizations such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and others.

However, PEPFAR media spokeswoman Jennifer Peterson told LSN she was not aware of the allegations, and could not make an official comment about them, referring this news agency to the PEPFAR representative in the U.S. Embassy in Namibia. As of press time LSN has not been able to reach him for comment.

The accusations of forced sterilizations were first brought to light by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), a human rights group for AIDS patients active in Namibia.

The ICW says that it suspects the cases it has detected are "the tip of the iceberg." Out of 230 HIV-positive women they interviewed for a recent study on the issue, 40 said they had been sterilized by force or coercion in public hospitals in Namibia, or about 17 percent.

"They were in pain, they were told to sign, they didn't know what it was," Jennifer Gatsi-Mallet, an ICW official, told Britain's Guardian newspaper. "They thought that it was part of their HIV treatment. None of them knew what sterilization was, including those from urban areas, because it was never explained to them."

Hilma Nendongo, a victim who spoke to Britain's Globe and Mail newspaper about her experience, said she was devastated by the news that she would no longer be able to have children.

"It's because you are poor and you cannot demand your rights. You can't question a doctor. The doctor knows you can't report him -- he is protected by the government," she said. "My doctor did it to me because I was HIV positive and he thought I shouldn't have more children."

The women say the sterilizations were performed in three public hospitals overseen by the Ministry of Health: Katatura State Hospital, Central State Hospital, and Oshakati State Hospital, ICW reports.

"The reality of HIV-positive women's experiences in the health sector is drastically different from the standards that the Namibian government articulates in the National HIV/AIDS policy," the group states in its study on the abuses.

"Cases of forced sterilization have demonstrated that the Namibian government has failed to realize these rights or create an environment in which such rights could be realized," the organization writes, adding that its report "demonstrates that the government of Namibia is complicit in the unethical practice of sterilizing positive women."

Obama to Celebrate "Birthday" of Homosexual Movement - Stonewall Riots

From LifeSiteNews
By Kathleen Gilbert

The White House has confirmed that President Obama has invited leaders of the homosexual lobby to the East Room of the White House on Monday to celebrate the “birthday” of the homosexualist movement. Obama is expected to make an appearance at the event.

The goodwill gesture, which the White House has not publicized, follows growing dissatisfaction from the homosexual lobby towards Obama's handling of various issues.

Activists have decried Obama's failure to aggressively attack the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and the military’s "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy banning open homosexuals, both of which Obama promised to overturn.

Following reports that several homosexualist leaders had received invitations, the White House confirmed the event celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

The riots of June 1969 at Stonewall Inn in New York City, where a group of homosexuals fought back against a police crackdown of a homosexual bar, is considered by many to be the formal beginning of the homosexualist movement.

“Next Monday’s event is a chance for the White House to recognize the accomplishments of LGBT Americans," White House spokesman Shin Inouye said. "This event was long planned as a way to applaud these individuals during Pride month.”

Obama had also issued a proclamation on June 1 declaring June "LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) Pride Month."

“Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before," read the proclamation.

“The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done.

"Tim Goeglein, Focus on the Family's vice president of external relations, pointed out the irony of Obama celebrating the Stonewall Riots after refusing to participate in the National Day of Prayer.

"It's disappointing that after several years of celebrating the National Day of Prayer in the East Room at the White House, the day unfortunately in this instance does not get equal billing," said Goeglein.

"It's a mistake not to be able to commemorate the National Day of Prayer at the highest possible levels, and we're very hopeful that this will be rectified next year."

Momentum Builds for Pro-Life Prayer-&-Picket of NEA Teacher Union Convention in San Diego & NEA State HQs on July 2

From Christian Newswire

Bob Pawson of Pro-Life Educators And Students (PLEAS), announces, "Our growing team of pro-life coordinators now includes Jeff White from Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, Rev. Patrick Mahoney of Christian Defense Coalition, and Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, for the July 2 prayer-and-picket demonstrations during the NEA teacher union convention at the San Diego Convention Center and NEA-State-Affiliate offices across America.

"These esteemed pro-life leaders are promoting and recruiting for our peaceful, prayerful demonstrations regarding the NEA leadership's pro-abortion track record. They are speaking at the Rally for Life at New Beginnings Church in Norco, CA, this Tuesday evening alongside Rev. Walter B. Hoye II, president of Issues4Life Foundation."

Pro-Life citizens, teachers, parents, and children are urged to picket the National Education Association leadership's pro-abortion policies, actions, and agenda in San Diego between 10:00AM and 2:00PM and NEA-State-Affiliate-HQs in cities across America from 11:00AM through 1:00PM.

"During these final days before July 2nd, pro-life leaders, pastors, groups, and individuals are encouraged to organize demonstrations of a dozen or two picketers at NEA offices in their state's capitals and hometowns. Promote at worship services this Sunday. Gather together your family members and a few pro-life friends and just go to your state's NEA-affiliate offices with pro-life posters. Pray and picket for an hour. Children are especially effective messengers highlighting the hypocrisy of teacher-union leaders supporting abortion," said Pawson.

"The number of locations nationwide is more important than the number of picketers at any location. We don't necessarily need hundreds of picketers at each state's NEA-HQ. A dozen or two would be sufficient -- multiplied by many sites across 50 states. Pro-Lifers far from state capitals can picket their county or town's local NEA-affiliate listed in telephone book white pages."

Survivors founder, Jeff White, said, "It seems bizarre and surreal that teachers, people whose love for children is supposedly second only to that of their parents, would support the mass killing of babies. The Abortion Holocaust has also eliminated multitudes of jobs and careers for teachers and school workers. Why do NEA members tolerate this from their so-called leaders?"

"Apparently this event will be the first highly visible pro-life event since the murder of George Tiller," said Pawson. "Pro-abortion militants and hostile media pundits have exploited the killing of Tiller, by a madman not associated with our movement, to intimidate pro-lifers into silence and surrender. Our peaceful, prayerfully pickets should inspire millions of pro-life Americans to reaffirm that we express our concern, compassion, and desire for true justice through lawful, constitutional means using reason, rational discourse, and our right to assemble in the public square."

Pro-Life Opinion editor, Gingi Edmonds, says, "An overwhelming majority of NEA members, 82%, believe their union leaders should take no official position on abortion. Regardless of their personal political views, NEA members expect the leadership to fight for things like better teacher pay and higher standards in school; not to support pro-abortion candidates and justices who argue for killing the next generation of students."

State and local organizers should e-mail PLEAS detailing locations and leadership contact info. Also, send digital photos or video to PLEAS later that afternoon.

Mary Kuper reports that she and local San Diegan pro-life volunteers "will be located inside the NEA convention, in a booth, helping to educate the delegates on life issues."

An Infinitely Better Plan and Future Available to Governor Sanford

We have nothing to add to the many words of disappointment and regret expressed by so many South Carolinians who have admired the principled service of Governor Mark Sanford. We had high hopes for his future. Much is being heard from partisans who have forgotten the likes of Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Governor Eliot Spitzer. But people of faith are not surprised that good men succumb to their fallen nature. Indeed, those who strive most valiantly to live in accord with God's laws usually face the greatest challenges and temptations from the enemy. But we also believe that God's forgiveness is readily and abundantly available to those who seek it. God's ineffable mercy allows one to climb from the deepest pit to a new life, forgiven, cleansed, and whole.

The Governor's press conference was a striking contrast to the carefully staged press conferences that have been held by other public officials in similar circumstances. There was no spin, no justification, just a man who stood and bared something rare in public life -- a profound sorrow, regret and humiliation for hurting his family, friends and supporters. Most of all, he seemed profoundly sorrowful for falling short of his own core convictions.

The Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers illustrates that God often permits evil and adversity to enter our lives, that the evil we devise may become the good that God bestows. Were we sinless, we would have no need of a Savior. The future awaiting our good but flawed Governor may not be the future Mark Sanford dreamed of, but it can be infinitely greater if he yields to the plan that God has for his life and that of his family. For that far greater good and future, people of faith will stand by our Governor and pray for him and for his family.

'Ark of the Covenant' About to be Unveiled?

Ethiopian patriarch tells pope he will show artifact to world

From WorldNetDaily

The patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Ethiopia says he will announce to the world Friday the unveiling of the Ark of the Covenant, perhaps the world's most prized archaeological and spiritual artifact, which he says has been hidden away in a church in his country for millennia, according to the Italian news agency Adnkronos.

Abuna Pauolos, in Italy for a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI this week, told the news agency, "Soon the world will be able to admire the Ark of the Covenant described in the Bible as the container of the tablets of the law that God delivered to Moses and the center of searches and studies for centuries."

Read the rest of this entry >>

Obama Advisor Won’t Guarantee Americans Will Keep Their Health Plan

Here's Christina Romer, Obama's Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers, unable to answer a basic question about the Democrat health care plan, and unwilling to state that Americans will be able to continue coverage they currently enjoy, although that had been one of their promises until recently. The concept of choice has very limited application for socialists.

Mike Huckabee: "Proud to Endorse Marco Rubio"

Former Gitmo Detainee Accused of Killing 3 Missionaries

And if Obama has his way, thugs like this will be resettled in your neighborhood.

From OneNewsNow
By Chad Groening

A best-selling author and critic of Islam says he can't understand why U.S. President Barack Obama and the United Nations are not expressing more outrage over the execution-style murder of three Christian missionaries in Yemen, apparently by al Qaeda.

According to a spokesman from the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, nine foreign nationals -- four German adults, three small German children, a British man, and a South Korean woman -- were abducted on June 12 after they ventured outside the city of Saada without their required police escorts.

Days later the bodies of German nurses Rita Stumpp and Anita Gruenwald, and Eom Young-sun of South Korea were found shot execution style in an area known to be a hotbed of Al Qaeda activity. The fate of the remaining six abducted people remains a mystery.

Terrorism experts say the crimes bear the mark of Al Qaeda, and they fear they are the handiwork of the international terror organization's number two man in the Arabian Peninsula -- Said Ali al-Shihri, an Islamic terrorist who once was in American custody but who was released from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Robert Spencer is, director of Jihad Watch, says this illustrates the folly of Obama's plan to close GITMO and release potentially dangerous prisoners.

"Freeing some of them is unconscionable, and essentially criminal. Barack Obama had begun to pursue a course based on the assumption that all the conflicts between the West and Islamic world are all our fault. Well what happened in Yemen indicates that that's a bankrupt and inaccurate point of view," he contends. "The President of the United States and the United Nations, if they were really doing their jobs, would be protesting."

Spencer points out that Christians are not allowed to proselytize in the Muslim world, and he believes that is likely why the three were murdered.

Obama Seeks Politically Correct Science, Sacks Bio-Ethics Panel

From LifeSiteNews
By Peter J. Smith

The White House has dismissed the members of the President’s US Council on Bioethics just a few months before their mandate expires, indicating their services are no longer required by the President and that he is looking for a more “practical” advisory board.

The New York Times reported that Reid Cherlin, a White House press officer, told the paper that President Barack Obama saw them as "a philosophically leaning advisory group" designed by the previous Bush administration, and he wanted to appoint a new bioethics commission which instead "offers practical policy options."

Dr. Alta Charo, an ethicist at the University of Wisconsin, told the Times that a new bioethics commission should form an ethically defensible public policy for the government instead of being what she said “seemed more like a public debating society.”

The presidential council’s mandate was set to expire in September. The group still had one last meeting and some reports to finish, including one on organ markets, before they were abruptly dissolved with one day’s notice.

The move has prompted speculation that the advisory committee’s public dissent from the President’s executive order to fund new lines of embryonic stem-cells and begin cloning human embryos for scientific research may have precipitated their dismissal.

Earlier in March, 10 out of 18 members of the council had issued a public letter to President Obama expressing their dismay, calling the decision to devote taxpayer dollars to such embryo-destroying research “a step backward,” because it did not respect the moral and ethical reservations that still exist among the American public.

Obama’s executive order overturned restrictions put in place by the Bush Administration, and instructed the National Institute of Health to develop new guidelines and put them in place by July 7.

Dr. David Prentice, a Senior Fellow for Life Sciences at the Family Research Council noted in an article on the FRC blog that Obama likely dismissed them before the expiration of their work since, “It would be embarrassing to have another round of criticism from an existing ‘President’s Council.’”

President Bush had created the President's Council on Bioethics in November 2001 as an advisory board on bio-ethical issues after he decided to allow federal funding for human embryonic stem-cell research, but limited the research to 21 stem-cell lines already in existence. That council replaced an earlier advisory bioethics committee to President Clinton, which had expired by then.

"We have to ask why the President has disbanded this effective and well-regarded council,” protested Daniel McConchie, Vice President of Government Affairs for the Americans United for Life (AUL). “Is this a move toward a council that is more of a rubber stamp of his administration's priorities, rather than a group that actively debates current issues with all perspectives having a seat at the table?"

Dr. Peter Lawler, a member of the terminated bio-ethics council, states that President Bush had convened a council not for the sake of giving his policies an imprimatur, but had given them “the additional mandate of public education, of developing a national dialogue on controversial bioethical issues.”

“The truth is that the Kass Council was full of experts who disagreed on what the science says about who we are,” writes Dr. Peter Lawler, a member of the disbanded council, in a reflection written for the Weekly Standard.

Lawler points out that the council’s experts, such as Robert George of Princeton, leading neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga, Francis Fukuyama, all had profoundly differing views on the status of human embryos.

“I want to emphasize that this was a scientific dispute on the moral implications of what the studies show conducted at the highest level,” wrote Lawler. “Socratic dialogue illuminated the disagreement and allowed those involved to remain friends in common pursuit of the truth, but no expert consensus emerged.

“No Council member was ideological in the sense of having anything but the highest respect for and full openness to what we can learn from science. And if expert means being a genuine scientific authority, they were all clearly among our nation's most formidable experts,” he said.

“There's no substitute, in a democracy, for thinking together about who we are before deciding what to do, and it's not ‘anti-science’ to sometimes conclude that science alone doesn't resolve every dilemma we face about human freedom and dignity.”

A view of the reports by the US Bioethics Council and previous commissions can be obtained here

Obama, Iran, and the Rising of the Sun

The Wolf Howling blog provides evidence that blocked signals and a government's refusal to broadcast The One's speeches, do not prevent the masses from hearing the master's voice.

From Wolf Howling

The White House, along with the assistance of the NYT, is now taking credit for the revolt in Iran, tying the motivation of rank and file Iranians to risk life and limb in protest of their government to Obama's Cairo speech occurring two weeks before the election. This becomes truly an act of divine intervention when one realizes that the "speech was not broadcast in Iran, where the goverment jammed signals to block satellite owners from watching." But Obama and his many Obamaphiles in the MSM are not about to let facts get in their way. It is impossible to imagine a more aggrandizing and arrogant spin of fantasy.ngton Post reported today:

. . . Since taking office, Obama has argued that reclaiming America's moral authority by ending torture and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay provides essential diplomatic leverage to influence events in such strategic parts of the world as the Middle East and Central Asia. The speech he delivered to the Islamic world in Cairo eights days before the June 12 Iranian election sought to do that by providing what the president saw as an unvarnished accounting of U.S. policy in Iran, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Yesterday, the NYT attempted to make essentially the same argument. The claims of the White House and their NYT sycophants to the contrary, Obama contributed nothing to the cause of this rebellion. There is not a single fact to suggest that this rebellion in Iran occurred because of an "Obama effect," nor that "the mere election of Barack Obama in the United States had galvanized reformers in Iran to demand change." In his prior acts of outreach to the mad mullahs, Obama only bestowed legitimacy on Iran's theocracy.

The Washington Post reported today:

. . . Since taking office, Obama has argued that reclaiming America's moral authority by ending torture and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay provides essential diplomatic leverage to influence events in such strategic parts of the world as the Middle East and Central Asia. The speech he delivered to the Islamic world in Cairo eights days before the June 12 Iranian election sought to do that by providing what the president saw as an unvarnished accounting of U.S. policy in Iran, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"We're trying to promote a foreign policy that advances our interests, not that makes us feel good about ourselves," said a senior administration official who, like others, declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Obama's approach to Iran, including his assertion that the unrest there represents a debate among Iranians unrelated to the United States, is an acknowledgment that a U.S. president's words have a limited ability to alter foreign events in real time and could do more harm than good. But privately Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters, especially the young ones, who are now posing the most direct challenge to the republic's Islamic authority in its 30-year history.

Yesterday, the NYT attempted to make essentially the same argument. The claims of the White House and their NYT sycophants to the contrary, Obama contributed nothing to the cause of this rebellion. There is not a single fact to suggest that this rebellion in Iran occurred because of an "Obama effect," nor that "the mere election of Barack Obama in the United States had galvanized reformers in Iran to demand change." In his prior acts of outreach to the mad mullahs, Obama only bestowed legitimacy on Iran's theocracy.

The fact that Obama's Cairo speech never made it into Iran kind of puts the kibosh on the White House claims that the speech played a role in motivating the protests. Further, even if Obama's Cairo speech was not jammed throughout Iran, nothing Obama said in Cairo could possibly be construed as giving impetus to Iran's rank and file to risk their very lives for democracy. Indeed, Obama clearly signalled in the speech that he had no intention of continuing to promote democracy in the Middle East. And lest there be any question about that, Obama "zeroed out funding for pro-democracy programs inside Iran from the State Department budget for fiscal 2010."

A viable argument can be made that we are seeing the wages of Bush's decision to invade Iraq. As I wrote last year:

The greatest threat to Iran today comes from a democratic Iraq on its border that honors the traditional Shia practice of quietism - i.e., maintaining a wall between mosque and state. Iran is a deeply troubled country of 60 million people held under the rule of a medieval theocracy by ever greater repression. The theocracy itself is illegitimate when looked at in terms of a millenium of apolitical Shia tradition - a tradition shredded in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini and his velyat-e-faqi, a new philosophy justifying and requiring theocratic rule. And indeed, the most popular religious figure in both Iraq and Iran is now Grand Ayatolah Ali Sistani, an adherent to the quietist school.

And if you want to see how that was having an impact on Iranians, do see this 2007 Boston Globe article, "Shi'ite Cleric Gains Sway Across The Border."

That said, even if Iraq plays some role in Iran's uprising, it is beyond challenge that the major causes of Iran's rebellion have been present for years. Brutal repression, a mysoginist culture that legally treats women as second class citizens, a thoroughly corrupt theocracy, unemployment above 20% and inflation at equal numbers. All of that is multiplied in importance by the fact that a majority of Iranians are under thirty years old and who have little opportunities open to them under Iran's theocracy. Most of these causes were present in Iran a decade ago and gave life to the "Tehran Spring" uprisings. The final straw giving rise to those uprisings was a belief that conservatives were keeping the reformist President Khatami from enacting reforms. In the instant case, what has caused today's revolt is the perception that mid level cleric cum Supreme Guide Khameini committed massive election fraud in order to keep a reformer out of office.

For Obama or his sychophants to claim credit for this uprising leaves one near speechless. It follows the same logic as saying that, because Obama said the sun will rise yesterday, the fact that it rose today is proof that Obama is the cause of it. That this tripe is being peddled by the NYT yesterday and reported without the scorn it deserves from the Washinton Post today - apparently without either even checking to see whether the speech was broadcast in Iran - establishes possibly the high water mark of the MSM's unquestioning love for the One. They are not a questioning press. They are instead unfiltered conduits for raw spin from the White House. To go any further than this in order to show their love for the One requries a hotel room.