Chicago bans the Nativity Story from Christmas

CHICAGO -- City officials sent a message to a movie studio that hoped to help sponsor a Christmas festival with advertising for its film about the night Mary and Joseph couldn't find a room at the inn: There's no room for you.

Worried that ads for "The Nativity Story" would offend non-Christians browsing in the traditional German Christkindlmarket in the heart of downtown, the city asked the German American Chamber of Commerce to reconsider New Line Cinema, which made the film, as a sponsor. The group then told the studio it would not be part of the bazaar that began Thursday.

City officials say advertising plans, including a loop of the new film that was to be played on televisions at the festival, might offend non-Christians.

New Line Cinemaís Christina Kounelias said she finds it hard to believe that non-Christians who attended something called Christkindlmarket would be surprised or offended by the presence of posters, brochures and other advertisements of the movie.

"One would assume that if (people) were to go to Christkindlmarket, they'd know it is about Christmas," she said.

Golly Gee. Assume a Christ Mass might refer to Jesus Christ.

And would you ban an ad for movie about a shopping center from being advertised in shopping malls?

In Case #3-06-0924, Doe v. Wilson County School System, the ACLU has sued the Wilson County School District, Lakeview Elementary School, the school principal, and two teachers for what they have deemed ''illegal acts.'' The ACLU claims that the plaintiffs ''have been harmed ... injured ... and suffered irreparable damage'' through the ''Christmas program with Christian themes and songs.'' The ACLU is asking that those actions be declared ''unconstitutional and illegal.'' The ACLU alleges that several KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS role-played a nativity scene of the birth of Jesus - AND HAD THE AUDACITY TO SING ''AWAY IN THE MANGER'' AND ''JOY TO THE WORLD.''

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Sectarian War or Islamic War?

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Sunni Muslim insurgents blew up five car bombs and fired mortars into Baghdad's largest Shiite district Thursday, killing at least 161 people and wounding 257 in a dramatic attack that sent the U.S. ambassador racing to meet with Iraqi leaders in an effort to contain the growing sectarian war.

Shiite mortar teams quickly retaliated, firing 10 shells at Sunni Islam's most important shrine in Baghdad, badly damaging the Abu Hanifa mosque and killing one person. Eight more rounds slammed down near the offices of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the top Sunni Muslim organization in Iraq, setting nearby houses on fire.

Why doesn’t the partisan press want to call it an Islamic War or violence?
Some people hear secular (non-religious) when they hear sectarian.

Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam. They are referred to as Ahl ul-Sunna ("people of the tradition"). The word Sunni comes from the word sunna , which means the tradition of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad. Sunnis are also referred to as Ahl ul-Sunna wa-l-Jama'ah (people of tradition and congregation) which implies that the Sunnis are united. They represent the branch of Islam that came through the caliphate, which started with Abu Bakr. Sunni means follower of the sunna of the Prophet, with some details.

source

Shi'a Islam, also Shi'ite Islam, or Shi'ism is a denomination of the Islamic faith. Even though it is the second largest denomination of Islam, among the approximately 1.5 billion Muslims, Shi'a muslims are considered to be a minority in number. Shi'a Muslims adhere to what they consider to be the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad and the religious guidance of his family whom they refer to as the Ahlul Bayt. Thus, Shi'as consider the first three ruling caliphs of Islam a historic occurrence and not something attached to faith. A follower of the Household of Muhammad and of Ali ibn Abi Talib (Imam Ali) in particular.

source



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Happy “green” Thanksgiving!

I got the following email:

In the hubbub of planning and preparing a Thanksgiving feast for friends and family, it can be easy to forget the environmental impact of our food choices. Growing, harvesting, and transporting the ingredients for a typical Thanksgiving meal consumes a significant amount of water and energy and contributes to air and water pollution, habitat degradation, and global warming.

Fortunately, you can make a holiday meal that is not only delicious but also kinder to the environment and your family’s health. Here’s how:

• Look for food produced in your region. Food travels an average of 1,500 miles or more from the farm to the supermarket, consuming fossil fuels and emitting air pollutants and heat-trapping carbon dioxide. Regionally grown meat and produce not only travel a shorter distance to your table and arrive fresher, but may also come from smaller farms that often follow more environmentally friendly practices.
• Choose organic. Organic standards prohibit the use of synthetic fertilizers, toxic pesticides, and antibiotics (today’s industrialized animal production relies heavily on antibiotics to accelerate growth and prevent diseases that stem from overcrowding). Overuse of these substances generates air and water pollution and makes it more difficult to treat human diseases and ward off agricultural pests. If organic turkey is not available in your supermarket, choose turkey that has been raised without antibiotics. Also look for organic apples, celery, potatoes, and green beans because these holiday favorites are among the fruits and vegetables that typically carry the highest pesticide residues. 
• Support genetic diversity. Today’s large-scale farms focus on only a select few varieties of livestock and crops; for example, of the more than 250 million turkeys sold in the United States each year, 99 percent are the Broad-Breasted White variety. And of the thousands of potato varieties available, a small number now account for the majority of commercial production. As our agriculture system becomes more homogeneous, so does the risk of catastrophic losses if a disease spreads rapidly throughout a plant or animal population upon which our food supply depends. Choosing heirloom (or “heritage”) varieties such as American Bronze turkeys and fingerling potatoes helps support biodiversity and ensures a reliable food supply for future generations. 
• Go meatless. Meat production can deplete environmental resources more than other food production, so consider a meatless main dish.

When saying grace, don’t forget to thank “Mother Earth”

When I wrote the above, I was doing it as a joke. Then 30 minutes later, I got another email:

In the past years, I have gotten together with other vegans, one year up to 95 of us, to celebrate in a compassionate way. We usually light candles and sage and say a prayer thanking and sending blessings to the Earth………………..

Then the elevator at work had a video ad for Tofu Turkey. www.tofurky.com

• I am thankful for my family and friends.


• I am thankful for our troops.


• I am thankful for President Bush.
  May he stand firm in his beliefs the next two years.


• I am thankful for my religious freedom.


• I am thankful for my freedom of speech.


• I am thankful for all my other freedoms.
  May they never be taken away.

People for Ethical Treatment of Plants (PETP) say:

Be a carnivore for Thanksgiving.

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Bait and Switch Dems?

Suckers!!

It looks like the new democrat majority may do the right thing on Iraq and that is driving the lefty groups crazy. What is the difference between Barack Obama"s current plan and President Bush"s plan? And what was Barack Obama"s plan before the election?

"The central message of the 2006 election was so unmistakable that even George Bush couldn't miss it. Get. Out. Of. Iraq." This was how the November 17 US Socialist Worker weekly summed up the results of the November 7 US mid-term congressional elections, in which the Democrats won control of both houses of the US Congress for the first time since 1994.

In its lead article, the November 17 Socialist Worker observed that "For opponents of the US war, this was a breath of fresh air -- and a complete contrast to the climate in mainstream politics since the Bush White House launched the US "war on terror" following the September 11 attacks.

"Bush can no longer get away with claiming that victory is around the corner if the US "stays the course" -- and the Democrats can't get away with avoiding all discussion of the war on the grounds that Republicans can't be challenged on the "war on terror".

"Finally, there are different sides in the mainstream discussion on Iraq, and this will embolden people outside Washington in their questioning of the war.

"But it"s important to remember the limits of the mainstream debate. Republicans and Democrats are now united that a "change of course" is needed in Iraq, but they also agree that this "change" should be restricted to rearranging the occupation of Iraq and intervention in the Middle East -- not ending them."

It has become increasingly clear that the "change of course" promised by Bush does not include a rapid withdrawal of troops favoured not just by most US voters, but also by an overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people.

War secretary Donald Rumsfeld has been forced to hand in his resignation, but his Bush-nominated replacement, former CIA director Robert Gates, is just as committed to "staying the course". In a public lecture given in May last year, Gates said that US troops "need to stay [in Iraq] as long as necessary to get the job done".

Gates has been participating in the Iraq Study Group set up by Congress with Bush"s approval to draw up "options" for a supposed change in Washington"s strategy in Iraq. The November 16 British Guardian reported that the ISG, headed by George Bush senior"s secretary of state James Baker, is actually considering recommending an increase in the number of US troops in Iraq by 20,000, to "stabilising Baghdad first".

This plan is being drawn up despite the fact that, as reported in the June 26 USA Today, only 8% of US voters favour increasing the size of the US occupation force in Iraq.

Neither have the Democrats, with their new control of Congress, given much hope that the views of the majority of US voters will be heeded. Instead, Democrat leaders have emphasised they will work towards "bipartisanship" with the Republicans, including over the war in Iraq.

At a joint press conference on November 12, the Democrat"s 2000 vice-presidential candidate, Senator Joe Lieberman, now an "independent", joined Republican Senator John McCain in calling for an extra 50,000 US troops to be deployed to Iraq. There are currently around 150,000 US troops there.

Associated Press reported on November 14 that Democrat Representative Ike Skelton, in line to become the next chairperson of the House armed services committee, now only proposes withdrawing one US combat brigade for every puppet Iraqi army combat brigade considered "fully capable" -- a position no different to that publicly argued by Bush.

The post-election pro-war shift by the House Democrats was graphically signalled on November 16 when they voted in war-hawk Steny Hoyer to be their caucus leader, rather than John Murtha.

The national anti-war coalition United for Peace and Justice has called for a national convergence on Washington for January 27 under the slogan " Tell the new Congress: Act now to bring the troops home!" In a November 13 statement, UFPJ pointed out that, "On election day people took individual action by voting. (Or did republicans not vote because the President and Congress were not conservative enough?) On January 27 we will take collective action, as we march in Washington, DC, to make sure Congress understands the urgency of this moment".

Source: Green Left

What other bait and switch does the new majority have in store for us? I predict a lot will be more left than the voters were told but some will be more to the right. This is obvious to some.
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UK Gun Control Failures: week of November 6-11, 2006

While England has some of the strictest national gun control laws, here is this week's list of UK violence that the laws didn't stop:

A man who told police he "felt good" after hurting his 10-month-old niece, murdered her while he was baby-sitting. Trevor Stoker, 38, killed Mollie Louise Norman when he covered her with a pillow and punched her repeatedly before hitting her head against a bed.

The bodies of two young children, their mother and their grandmother were discovered yesterday morning at a £350,000 semi-detached house in an affluent suburb of Newcastle upon Tyne. All four had been killed in a knife attack. Each was in a separate room.

A burglar was arrested after asking a policeman to help him to carry stolen goods over a fence. Bryan O’Gorman, 28, of Wandsworth, southwest London, unwittingly approached the off-duty PC after taking goods from a house.

ARMED robbers stole tens of thousands of pounds in cash in a rush-hour hold-up at a service station yesterday. Two masked men brandished what appeared to be a semi-automatic handgun at a pair of Group 4 security guards at Bowhouse Services, near Falkirk.

A MAN has been arrested following a fatal stabbing outside a pub in Kilburn, north-west London. One man died and another suffered stab wounds during the attack outside the Red Lion pub on Kilburn High Road on Saturday night.

WAR VETERANS have reacted with disgust after seven Poppy Appeal boxes stuffed with cash were snatched by thieves. Five were stolen from shop counters and two were even taken from inside a town centre church in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire.

A 27-year-old man has been raped after a night out with friends at Manchester's gay village. The attacker got into a car with the man, locked him in and threatened him with a knife before raping him.

A Sikh teenager was recuperating today after being set upon by a racist gang who pinned him down and cut off his hair in an Edinburgh park. The 15-year-old was attacked by four youths in Pilrig Park yesterday evening in what police have described as a unprovoked and sustained assault. He was initially subjected to racist verbal abuse from the gang, police said, before being knocked to the ground. When the teenager's headwear came off, the gang cut his hair - an act considered highly offensive to the Sikh community.

THE Scottish Executive's crackdown on knife crime could lead to a rise in the use of guns, a government adviser has warned.  Justice department officials have been told of a possible influx of illegal firearms into the country a result of the high-profile campaign to get knives off the streets.  Ministers have introduced a series of measures to make it harder for criminals to carry knives, including a licensing scheme for the sale of non-domestic knives and tougher sentences for people caught carrying bladed weapons.

Police are searching for a teenager who stabbed a 79-year-old woman in the doorway of her Tyneside home. The youth, believed to be aged about 15, knocked on the door at Anfield Court in Kenton, Newcastle, and asked to use the toilet. When challenged by the female occupant he stabbed her in the throat and ran off. She suffered a serious injury and is currently being treated in hospital.

A MASKED gunman threatened a terrified shopkeeper with a pistol today during a botched robbery at an Edinburgh newsagent. Mohammad Aslam described how the black-clad suspect entered his store on Glasgow Road, Corstorphine, at 7.15am and pulled out the handgun. He pointed the weapon at Mr Aslam and demanded cash, but the robber was distracted when a customer arrived at the store.

A GANG who brutally murdered a frail widow went on to rampage a family home and hold a child at knife point, detectives believe. Kam Fum Chung, 65, was beaten to death by a gang of up to three men at her home in Hillingdon, west London.

Four people were taken to hospital with minor injuries after a shotgun was fired through the glass door of a pub. The shooting happened on Thursday evening at the Beeley Wood pub on Middlewood Road in Sheffield.

THE parents of a bullied schoolgirl were murdered in an arson attack on their home after a playground row developed into a campaign of harassment, a court was told yesterday. Maureen Cochrane, 45, and her husband, Alex, 54, died when their home in Manchester was engulfed in flames. Their daughter Lucy, 16, who has learning difficulties, was dangerously ill after being rescued by firemen

FOOTIE-mad parents have named 36 boys and girls ARSENAL as a craze for wacky names sweeps Britain.

ROBBERS went to say prayers at a mosque two hours before embarking on an armed raid that led to the fatal shooting of PC Sharon Beshenivsky, a court was told yesterday. Two members of the alleged murder gang went to a mosque in Leeds for Friday prayers but returned early to their safe house because they had missed the start of the service.

A 16-year-old boy has been excluded from school after he brought a hand grenade into class. The pupil sparked the bomb scare when he fetched the First World War grenade to show other students as part of a history lesson. Teachers at Crompton House School in Oldham, Greater Manchester, were unaware the weapon was inactive and called in police and military bomb disposal experts.

Two balaclava-clad robbers forced a female security guard to the floor and threatened her with a handgun before taking cash from her Securicor van. The armed robbery happened outside NatWest Bank in Oxted, Surrey, on Friday, just before midday.

A man with a history of violence has been handed an indeterminate prison sentence after stabbing his estranged wife and leaving her for dead in Feltham. Mohammed Hassan Aziz admitted trying to kill Shafiqa Aziz in a frenzied attack at a bus stop in Sparrow Farm Drive on November 23, 2005 when his trial at the Old Bailey started two months ago. The 51-year-old, armed with a knife, had waited for Mrs Aziz and when she got off the bus near her home he ran up to her, pinned her to the ground and stabbed her 10 times before making off in his car.

Source: London Times and the Scotsman and BBC News and Local London crime news

I am NOT advocating returning handguns to the british citizens but if the reason for gun control laws is to reduce violence and crime, the laws don’t work. How about treating the problems and not the symptom (guns)?



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Post-birth abortion is alive and well in Scotland

The devaluation of life continues

PREMATURE babies born at or before 22 weeks should not be routinely resuscitated or given intensive care, according to a report on sick and disabled newborns.

The controversial report from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCB), an independent body which debates ethical questions raised by medical advances, sets out guidelines on medical care for premature babies.

Although medical advances can sustain the lives of very premature babies, many do not live very long, or have a high rate of disability. The problem is compounded by the fact that it is not always apparent to doctors which babies will survive.

WHEN Pamela Tosh gave birth to her baby at 25 weeks, doctors told her there might be problems ahead. Eva spent four months in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary after her birth in March 2005, weighing just 1lb 6oz.

But now, at 20 months, she appears to be doing well with no serious health problems. Ms Tosh recalls: "The consultant told us that they were looking after the baby and that she was doing fine, but that we had to be prepared for all sorts of things. This might be cerebral palsy, blindness, deafness and learning difficulties. They wanted to be positive, but they had to tell us about what could happen."

She has concerns about the Nuffield recommendations. She said some women may not be certain of their due date and may be further on than they have been told.

Source: The Scotsman

In a related story, a preborn child (embryo) does not have the same constitutional (UK) rights as a post-birth child.




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ALZHEIMERS' EYE TEST

Test your eyes
  Count every " F" in the following text:

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...

HOW MANY ?
...................... 3?  

WRONG, THERE ARE 6 -- no joke.
READ IT AGAIN !

  Really, go Back and Try to find the 6 F's before read the 1st comment.

Wonder how many F’s Speaker Pelosi sees?. .. . .

The election's effect on the War on Terrorism

On the day the liberals gained control of the Senate in addition to the US House, our office building had it's first bomb threat. Way to go liberals in protecting us from terrorists.

Someone called a bomb threat into the national headquarters of one of the building's tenants. They evacuated all of their facilities including our building in Chicago.

What is not funny is that our building had no procedures for handling a bomb threat. No announcement. No alarms. Just word of mouth to leave the building since the threatened tenant left the building and didn't tell anybody else.

Our eleven story building is clad in metal and glass. Everybody sat or stood ten feet away from the building. People were strolling in and out of the building. The "all clear" was also by word of mouth.

Apparently, the police only checked the floors of the threatened tenant. The bomber wouldn't plant a bomb on one of the other seven floors or in a vehicle next to the building.

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The race for 2008 starts today.

America has forgotten the lessons of
9-11!!

I am disappointed in the election results but a Speaker Pelosi will give me plenty to blog about for the next two years.

Depending on the Republican presidential candidate, it will insure the republicans retain control of the White House.

 

To the Iraqi people: I’m sorry

I am sorry most americans elected “cut and run” liberals to control the US House and maybe the Senate.

I am sorry most americans belived the lopsided negative-only stories on Iraq presented by our partisan press.

Keep fighting for your country’s democracy.

Keep fighting to become the beacon of hope of freedom for the middle east and the other oppressed areas of the world.

Good Luck.

God Bless America!
May God give Speaker Pelosi wisdom and common sense!

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The Cut and Run Referendums

I just found out that Cook County Illinois has a Cut and Run Referendum on the ballot. Will you be voting on a Cut and Run Referendum?

"Shall the United States Government immediately begin an orderly and rapid withdrawal of all its military personnel from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves?"

Support our troops and defeat any Cut and Run Referendums! Do you want those that paid the ultimate sacrifice to done so in vain?

Cook County also has a minimum wage referendum.

"Shall Illinois enact legislation in 2007 to increase the minimum wage for Illinois workers from $6.50 an hour to $7.50 an hour?"

And Cook County has an anti-2nd Amendment referendum.

"For the health and safety of children and the entire community, shall the State of Illinois enact a comprehensive ban on the manufacture, sale, delivery and possession of military-style assault weapons and .50 caliber rifles?"

Conservatives: Do your patriotic and civic duty and vote tomorrow!!

A "protest vote" is a vote for liberals. The control of Congress depends on your vote. To win the war on terrorism, you MUST vote for the candidate that will help conservatives retain control of Congress.

************** update **************

Cut and Run Referendum: Even in the conservative section of Cook County, 84.4% of the voters said "Let's cut and run."

Minimum Wage Referendum: Even in the conservative section of Cook County, 80.2% of the voters said "Let's redistribute the wealth."

Anti-2nd Amendment Referendum: Hitler took away the guns from the law-abiding citizens. Even in the conservative section of Cook County, 65.7% of the voters said "Take the guns from the law-abiding citizens."

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How will Saddam’s verdict effect the election?

Baghdad: Ousted former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain says he is ready to die "with honour and with no fear", his lawyers said after he was sentenced to death by hanging on Sunday.

Saddam’s lawyers said they talked with him for more than three hours on Saturday, adding he was in high spirits as he chatted about escalating US military losses and the rising insurgency.

"I will die with honour and with no fear, with pride for my country and my Arab nation, but the US occupiers will leave in humiliation and defeat,"” they quoted the former president as saying.

“They will see rivers of blood for years to come. It will dwarf Vietnam.”
If the liberals gain the US House and/or Senate, they will cause us to "Cut and Run". We will wimp out like we did under Clinton.

Saddam has said he wants to face a military firing squad, not the hangman.

Some liberal are saying we “timed” the verdict to help with the mid-term elections. Will it? Would any backlash violence (if any) help the republicans?

Conservatives: Do your patriotic and civic duty and vote in the November election!!

A "protest vote" is a vote for liberals. The control of Congress depends on your vote. To win the war on terrorism, you MUST vote for the candidate that will help conservatives retain control of Congress.

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