RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/22/hillary-clintons-legacy/

This week, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will be making her swan song appearance on Capitol Hill, providing at last to Senate and House panels her testimony about the Benghazigate scandal. Under the circumstances, legislators may feel pressured to be deferential and to keep their questions more limited in scope and superficial rather than probing. For the good of the country, it is imperative that they resist going soft.

After all, the hearings Wednesday before the two chambers’ committees responsible for foreign policy oversight afford the final opportunity to examine with the sitting secretary of state her legacy with regard not only to the fiasco that left four Americans dead in Benghazi last Sept. 11, but with the policies that led up to that event — policies that are roiling the region today and that will afflict us for many years to come.

In other words, the object of the exercise must be to understand how we got to the point in Libya where Shariah-adherent jihadists felt able to attack American facilities and diplomatic personnel murderously and with impunity. Consequently, Mrs. Clinton’s interlocutors need to go beyond exploring the record of repeated rejections of requests from Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and others to enhance security at the “mission” in Benghazi and the lack of U.S. response once the attack was launched.

Legislators must ensure that the following issues, for example, are also addressed:

Who was responsible for devising and executing the policy of engaging, legitimating, empowering, funding and arming Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood? It appears to date back to at least March 2009, when the United States first co-sponsored a Shariah-driven United Nations Human Rights Council resolution criticizing expressions that offend Islam. What role did Mrs. Clinton play in that initiative and in the broader policy of which it was a leading indicator?

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/ny-times-environmental-desk-goes-the-way-of-global-warming?f=puball “What’s in worse shape,” asked the Heartland Institute’s Director of Communications, Jim Lakely, in a January 11th blog post. “The state of the Earth’s climate? Or the state of the New York Times? Global temperatures are not rising all that quickly, so the Earth is doing fine. Meanwhile, the Old Gray Lady is shutting […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/my-life-in-words Contributing Editor Edward Cline was interviewed by Family Security Matters about his life, writing career, and goals. He is first and foremost a novelist, but over the years has written hundreds of book and movie reviews, political and cultural columns, and papers for a variety of print and weblog publications. Born in Pittsburgh in […]

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/breaking-muhammad-is-just-likegeorge-washington?f=puball

Achieving the seemingly impossible, “interfaith activist” and Trinity College (Dublin) Ph.D. candidate Craig Considine has reached new heights in modern Islamophile naïveté. Considine has stiff competition in this regard, given Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s February 10, 2011 assessment of the Muslim Brotherhood as “largely secular” and as a movement that “has eschewed violence and has decried Al Qaeda as a perversion of Islam” and has “pursued social ends, a betterment of the political order in Egypt.” Yet those who thought that uncritical glorification of the Religion of Peace could not get any worse should consider Considine’s latest Huffington Post (HP) article, “An Unlikely Connection Between the Prophet Muhammad and George Washington.”

Considine begins his analysis discussing a “Prophet Muhammad” in seventh-century Arabia who “had a vision to create a new religious and social order.” Citing various verses from the Quran and hadith, Considine seeks to show that Muhammad “told his band of followers to behave wisely and civilly.” Considine in turn sees “Muhammad’s wisdom … echoed again” in the behavioral rules encompassed in Rules of Civility, a book first written by the United States’ Founding Father George Washington as a 13-year-old boy. According to Considine, both the “Holy Quran, the Islamic Scripture which documents God’s revelations to Muhammad,” and Rules of Civility “offer guidance toward achieving a more peaceful and noble life.”

Although Considine finds an “unlikely connection” between Muhammad and Washington, he determines that:

… in fact they share strikingly similar biographies. Muhammad and Washington were students of history, restorers of justice and fierce warriors who led their respective nations through successful revolutions. Both men united a large swath of political territory and served as the founding father for two unprecedented social movements-Islam and the United States of America-whose universal ideals would both spread throughout the world respectively.

Considine cites the famous eulogy of Washington’s fellow Founding Father, Richard Henry Lee, who called Washington “first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Considine also notes that even Britain’s King George III attributed to his colonial rebel the “greatest character of the age.” Considine, meanwhile, notes without any further analysis that “Muslims worldwide see Muhammad as the perfect human being,” an Islamic doctrine stipulated in verse 33:21 of the Quran (consistently called “Holy” by Considine). Considine furthermore cites Mahatma Gandhi calling Muhammad “a treasure of wisdom not only for Muslims but for all mankind.”

Citing respective passages of the Quran and Rules of Civility, Considine draws several parallels between Muhammad and Washington. He concludes, for example, that both men opposed “foul language” and “taught their peers to improve relations with others by using kindness and positive words.” This would “avoid misunderstandings and create a more harmonious society.”

http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/detail/new-campaign-against-rep-bachmann-for-anti-brotherhood-stance People for the American Way (PFAW) has launched a new campaign against Representative Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who, after her recent re-election to Congress, has been re-appointed to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). A PFAW-sponsored petition with 178,000 signatures is to be presented to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Monday 21 […]

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column.php?n=2434 “Kilpatrick concludes that the crisis of Christian faith is the problem and its strengthening is the solution. Christians have a duty to speak out against wife-beatings, forced marriages, genital mutilation, and honor killings. But should Christians avoid offending Muslims? Kilpatrick explains, “Christianity itself is inherently a criticism of Islam’s claim to have the final […]

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
2013.01.21 (Salmiyeh, Syria) – Shahid suicide car bombers destroy thirty lives in a commercial district.
2013.01.21 (Kabul, Afghanistan) – At least three innocents are killed during a Fedayeen suicide assault on a traffic police headquarters.
2013.01.19 (Tigantourine, Algeria) – Twenty three hostages are killed by their Islamic captors during a rescue attempt. Twenty-five more are found summarily executed
2013.01.19 (Kano, Nigeria) – At least five people are killed in an attempted Boko Haram assassination of a popular emir.
2013.01.18 (Sur Kas, Pakistan) – Laskhar-e-Islam mortar a family home, killing the mother and father and severely injuring their girl.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/01/21/Report-Marine-General-Forced-Out-Of-CENTCOM-For-Questioning-Obama-s-Advisers
Reports indicate that Marine General James Mattis is being forced out of CENTCOM for questioning certain aspects of the Obama administration’s Middle East policy.

In particular, it appears his questions surrounding the U.S. response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions drew the ire of civilian military and security advisers.

These civilians were apparently upset by the way Mattis pushed them to “consider second and third-order consequences of military action against Iran.” Nor did they appreciate the way he pushed them to think long term and consider what the U.S. will do if Iran develops non-nuclear weapons that can be used to keep U.S. ships out of the Persian Gulf.

Mattis also expressed concern over the consequences of certain aspects of the U.S. approach to Afghanistan and Pakistan. It seems this line of reasoning didn’t sit well with National Security Adviser Tom Donilon.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/indonesia/9817227/British-grandmother-Lindsay-Sandiford-sentenced-to-death-for-drug-trafficking.html

Linsday Sandiford, a 56-year-old British grandmother, has been sentenced to death by firing squad in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

Sandiford, from Redcar in Teesside, has insisted she was set up and was forced by a gang to smuggle drugs to Bali to protect her children.

However, a court in Bali found she was at the centre of an alleged drug ring involving three other Britons and did not appear to have shown remorse.

On hearing the sentence, Sandiford wept and declined to comment as she was led back to prison, covering her face with a scarf. Her lawyer said it was likely an appeal would be launched against the sentence.

“We object to the sentence. We never expected that our client would get the death penalty,” said counsel Esra Karokaro. “We will discuss it first with her, most likely we will appeal.”

Prisoners sentenced to death in Indonesia are executed by a 10 man firing squad.
Though the sentence can be overturned on appeal, prisoners will often spend years waiting for their fate to be decided. A report by Australia’s Lowy Institute last year said five foreign nationals have been executed in Indonesia since 1998, all for drug crimes.

She was arrested last May upon arrival from Bangkok at Bali’s Denpasar airport after customs officials carried out a routine check and found 10.6lb of cocaine worth $2.5 million in the lining of her suitcase.

Her alleged accomplice, Julian Ponder, allegedly received cocaine from her after she agreed to cooperate with police.

http://frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/colin-powell-isnt-embarrassing-the-republican-party-hes-embarrassing-himself/print/ “Sorry man, it’s not happening.” There was a time when Colin Powell could have had the Republican presidential nomination for the asking. He might not have been able to beat Clinton in ’96, but he would have had a decent shot at it. That makes watching Colin Powell playing up to Obama in the […]