March 12, 2006

This has John Kerry written all over it...
Flip-Flop Waffles (real from Kelloggs)
http://www.kelloggs.com/brand/eggo/flipflop/index.shtml

Woman fined for farding while driving
see article at:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=379284&in_page_id=1770&ico=Homepage&icl=TabModule&icc=News&ct=5

fard
Main Entry: fard
Pronunciation: 'färd
Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French farder, of Germanic origin;
1 : to paint (the face) with cosmetics
2 archaic : to gloss over
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/fard

New Guide Offered to Help Churches Stay Politically Involved, Law-Abiding
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/82006b.asp

'Mom,' 'dad' to be axed from school textbooks?
Gender-neutralizing bill could also jeopardize prom kings, queens
March 9, 2006- A traditional-values organization in California is warning the state's residents that a bill pending in the Legislature, if approved, could remove all references to gender in public schools – threatening even references to "mom" or "dad" in textbooks.

If the bill, SB 1437, were to become law, warns the Capitol Resource Institute, "it could potentially require gender-neutral bathrooms in our schools and all references to 'husband' and 'wife' or 'mom and dad' removed from school textbooks as the norm."

Sponsored by Democratic Sen. Sheila Kuehl – a lesbian actress best known for playing Zelda in "The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis" in the '60s – the legislation would add "gender" (actual or perceived) and "sexual orientation" to the law that prohibits California public schools from having textbooks, teaching materials, instruction or "school-sponsored activities" that reflect adversely upon people based on characteristics like race, creed and handicap.

… SB 1437 seeks to eliminate all 'stereotypes' of the traditional family so that young children are brainwashed into believing that families with moms and dads are irrelevant. …the bill also applies to school activities, which include cheerleadering, sports and events like the prom.

…Campaign for Children and Families is urging Californians to urge Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto the bill should it reach his desk. http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49171

Normally it is the protestors who have to pay for additional police
Pastor Forced to Foot Bill for 'Police Protection' During Pro-Family Rally
Pro-Homosexual Demonstrators Joined by Mayor, Other City Leaders
March 7, 2006- (AgapePress) - A pro-family activist says it's outrageous that a pastor was charged thousands of dollars for a police detail to protect those attending a Christian event from homosexual activists who were demonstrating outside.

Last month Tom Crouse, a pastor in Worcester, Massachusetts, held a pro-family, Christian event that focused on God's design of heterosexuality...various homosexual groups attempted to force the event to be cancelled. When those efforts failed, about 100 pro-homosexual activists congregated in the streets outside the facility where the event was held.

But prior to allowing the Christian rally to take place local law enforcement authorities demanded that Crouse pay $6,200 up front to cover the costs for a police detail, equipment that would be used to search the attendees, and training for staff to operate the equipment. In contrast, according to a Massachusetts-based pro-family group, on the evening of the rally, police permitted the pro-homosexual demonstrators -- who had announced their intentions days beforehand -- to protest without a permit, blocked traffic to allow the demonstration, and did not charge the demonstrators any money for a police detail…
http://headlines.agapepress.org/archive/3/72006f.asp

City to seize church by eminent domain
Using Supreme Court ruling to remove Baptist congregation
March 11, 2006- The city of Long Beach, Calif., is using the power of eminent domain bolstered by last summer's U.S. Supreme Court ruling to condemn a Baptist congregation's church building to make way for condominiums…

…The Long Beach church's pastor, Roem Agustine, said in a segment on Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes" March 3 none of the alternative sites proposed by the city are acceptable… "Either they are small in area or they are in the redevelopment area of the city, and we don't want to move to a place where later on we'll be told to move out again," the pastor said.

Attorney John Eastman, who is defending the church, told Fox News the area is not blighted.

We're not talking about a rundown slum that's boarded up with bars on the windows," said Eastman, director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence. "The church is a vibrant church. So we'll challenge whether they're allowed to take it at all."

…Baptist Press noted there are eight other active cases of eminent domain abuse against churches across the country, according to the Institute for Justice, a civil liberties law firm in Arlington, Va.
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=49215

Battle of the Bests: Oscars Versus Box Office
March 06, 2006- The top-grossing film of 2005 made more money in ticket sales than all five of the year's Best Picture nominees combined, according to data provided by Box Office Mojo.

The five nominees - "Brokeback Mountain," "Capote," "Crash," "Munich" and "Good Night, and Good Luck" -- grossed a combined total of $236 million in 2005. "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" grossed $380.5 million alone.

...The five nominated movies averaged $26.3 million in profits after figuring in the average $20.9 million spent on production.

The five top-grossing films of 2005 - "Star Wars;" "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire;" "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe;" "War of the Worlds" and "King Kong" -- grossed $1.41 billion combined. On average, those films cost $156.4 million to produce and netted $125.4 million in profit.

Leslie Unger, a spokesperson for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, declined to comment on the box office differences. "What we do and how our awards are determined has absolutely nothing to do with how a film does in terms of box office."
(so the people who pay admissions to movies don't know a good thing when they see it I suppose, we need the academy to tell us what is great.)http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200603\CUL20060306b.html

The Oscar people are not the only ones becoming more irrelevant everyday, the mainstream media is just as useless except for indoctrination...
Media ignores homegrown Islamic terror trial
Mar 7, 2006- Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal prosecutors opened their case recently in the terrorism trial of a young American who studied under two Taliban-tied imams in California and whose grandfather was Pakistan’s minister of religion in the 1980’s.

The trial of Hamid Hayat, 23, is not taking place in the dark of night nor in a military tribunal from which the media is barred. It is in an open California courtroom, the very kind that has been overrun for trials of the likes of Scott Peterson and O.J. Simpson. Yet in the month of February, the New York Times had exactly one story on the alleged terror cell in Lodi, California. The Washington Post had none. And on the cable news channels, the trial has received scant attention....
http://townhall.com/opinion/columns/joelmowbray/2006/03/07/188849.html

methinks this goes a little further than basic reproduction and the birds and the bees…
Explicit sex ed courses prompt complaints
March 10, 2006- PORTLAND, Ore. - Two incidents at Oregon high schools have many parents wondering who is responsible for overseeing the content discussed by both instructors and students in sexual education classes.

The first incident took place at Lebanon High School after a guest speaker informing students on the dangers of AIDS used pamphlets that many parents found inappropriate for their freshman and sophomore-aged children.

The pamphlets advised students that many things were safer than having sexual intercourse, including dry humping, sharing sexual fantasies, looking at porn with another person, experimenting with sex toys and sleeping naked together.

Another pamphlet showed a stick-figure type drawing of a person with intimate 'pleasure zones' highlighted.

One parent who saw the pamphlets after his child brought them home said the content of the material left him speechless.

…the explicit materials also recommended swapping underwear, lap dances and watching movies topless, among other activities.

…The outcry prompted an emergency meeting with Lebanon High School officials, who issued a statement saying they were not aware of the explicit nature of the materials being given to students by the guest speaker. (the question then is: why didn’t they?)

…One student who received the pamphlets says other students found the material humorous, but added the speaker also volunteered to be a 'sex therapist' for any students needing counseling.

She also said the speaker, who has not been identified, had a naturalistic model of female genitalia in a box, and asked the class to choose a color, either red or blue.

When someone chose the color blue, the speaker produced a blue sex toy in the shape of a male genitalia.

…Another incident that took place in a Reynolds High School sexual education class has parents complaining to school officials.

In that incident, students claim a speaker from the Multnomah County Health Department's STARS program asked young teen students to separate into groups based on whether they enjoyed giving or receiving oral sex.

According to the Multnomah County Health Department, the STARS program is designed to help students postpone sexual activity.

The oral sex question was posed to the students in a group setting. Some of the students were girls as young as 14 years old….
http://www.katu.com/stories/84002.html

'Job Is Getting Done' in Iraq, Despite US Press, Veterans Say
March 10, 2006- A group of veterans from Operation Iraqi Freedom said Thursday that U.S.-led coalition forces are getting the job done when it comes to defeating insurgents and helping Iraq establish a democratic government -- despite the U.S. news media's negative portrayal of the conflict.

"I am not here to debate the choices that were made, only to tell you that today, the job is getting done" in Iraq, Marine Corporal Richard Gibson said during a news conference hosted by the conservative group America's Majority at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.

Gibson based his optimistic assessment of the situation in Iraq on several factors, including the strength of coalition forces. "The old Iraqi army was no match for what we, the Marines, had to offer and neither is the insurgency," he said.

However, "we were not there as conquerors but as liberators," Gibson stated. "That was our mission."

Gibson also pointed to what he called two "tipping points" in the ongoing conflict that took place during 2005. "These junctures are decisive indicators of coalition victories over the insurgency," he said. "Most Iraqis understand them, but most Americans do not."

The first "tipping point" occurred last March, when the number of Iraqi security forces on the ground surpassed those of coalition troops, he said. Then on Dec. 15, Iraqis elected their first national four-year legislature with a turnout that was impressive even in the central and western areas of the country, where rebels are the strongest.

"This obviously strengthened the government, but more subtly, it splintered the insurgency," Gibson asserted, noting that the two primary insurgent groups - leftovers from the Baathist Party of former dictator Saddam Hussein and members of the terrorist al Qaeda network -- have different political goals.

"The Baathist diehards simply want power. They hope to wait the coalition out; then re-assert their traditional dominance over the Shi'a and the Kurds," he said. "But al Qaeda in Iraq wants an Islamic theocracy.

"As long as the coalition remained the primary target, the Baathists and al Qaeda could operate together, but that has changed with the growth in the numbers and confidence of Iraqi security forces," Gibson added. "The insurgents are no longer dealing with an occupation army but with the forces of an elected government -- and these forces are extremely popular."

Gibson found another sign of progress in Iraq in an unlikely place: the daily death toll in that nation.

Human rights organizations that have counted civilian deaths in Iraq since January 2003 estimate that between 25 and 28 people are killed each day, he said. While that total may sound horrific to Americans, it is a huge improvement over the 70 to 125 deaths that took place daily when Saddam Hussein ruled the country.

"A lousy day under the coalition yields a body count far under the Baathists," Gibson stated. "In Baghdad today, terrorists may kill you with an ill-timed IED (Improvised Explosive Device), but the Baathist secret police no longer comes to your door, takes your relatives, puts them in a cell, tortures them, kills them and then bills you for the bullets."

Also, American casualties are declining as U.S. troops are withdrawn and Iraqis step up to defend their country, Gibson said. "According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. military deaths declined from 714 in 2004 to 673 in 2005. The number of U.S. wounded declined from 7,990 to 5,639. That's a 27 percent decrease in U.S. casualties over a one-year period.

"And this year, U.S. casualties are running 62 percent lower than 2005," he added.

Richard Nadler, president of America's Majority and host of Thursday's news conference, agreed with Gibson's analysis of the Iraq war.

"In both tactical and strategic terms, coalition troops and Iraqi patriots are winning the war," Nadler said. "A terror-sponsoring, totalitarian apparatus state is being replaced, piece by piece, by the elements of civil society -- free speech, free association, democratic elections and a market economy.

"And if the press will not report it, then the men who accomplished it will," he added.

The news media's depiction of events in Iraq was the focus of another speaker at the event -- J. D. Johannes. The Marine sergeant noted that the history of wars is usually told by the victors, but the story of Iraq "is being written by the losers."

Johannes, who has served as both a soldier and a reporter in Iraq, said that the terrorists' main battlefield is America and to win here, they need help from an unusual ally: the U.S. news media.

One method insurgents use to manipulate reporters is to intimidate them into staying in their hotels, he said. Unwilling to risk venturing out into combat, the journalists are forced to rely on local "stringers," who often pass along hearsay or propaganda instead of confirmed facts.

Johannes cited the example of a minor battle that lasted only 30 minutes but was reported as a major conflict that caused high coalition casualties. The general who was involved in the fighting later said that he and his forces had been victorious on the ground, but the terrorists "had won it on CNN."

Nadler said that such instances of lazy or inaccurate reporting are what led his organization to initiate its "War on Words Project" to help veterans get out the message about "the war they, along with Iraqi patriots, were clearly winning," even though it is regularly portrayed by the news media "as a quagmire or another Vietnam."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200603\POL20060310b.html

David Bennett <><
http://www.freewill-predestination.com/
http://www.knology.net/~lonesomedove