An eloquent response from the Iraqi ambassador to the United States.
He condemned the actions of the shoe-throwing reporter as reprehensible and an insult to Iraqis.
“It diminished us as a nation. We are better than that.”
hat tip to Gateway Pundit.
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In May of 1972, members of the German resistance group, the Red Army Faction (RAF) bombed the US Army Officers Club in Heidelberg, West Germany killing three and wounding five.
In January of 1977, an RAF commando group attacked the US Army base in Giessen in an attempt to capture nuclear weapons.
In June, 1979, the RAF attempted to assassinate the Commander of NATO, US General Alexander Haig.
In August of 1981, a carbomb exploded at the US Air Force base in Rammstein, Germany
In September of 1981, RAF commandos fired a rocket propelled grenade attack against the car carrying the US Army’s West German Commander Frederick J. Kroesen. He narrowly escaped.
In August 1985, a car bomb exploded in the parking lot across from the base commander’s building at Rhein-Main Air Force Base killing an American soldier and an American civilian and wounded 20.
Clearly, our attempts to pacify and continue to occupy Germany have failed. All US troops should be withdrawn immediately (re-deployed elsewhere?) and the West Germans should be left to work out whatever arrangements they can with the East Germans and the Russians.
Right?
So if someone throws a shoe at Obama during a press conference, will the mainstream media pundits immediately declare him a “failed president?”
And will it be conclusive proof that the American people have rejected him as president?
Just asking. . .
Kay Brooks has turned over the rock that is the Nashville Peace & Justice Center and found all sorts of interesting things.
One of the member organizations that caught my eye was “The Emma Center” which describes itself as ”dedicated to the memory of Emma Goldman, 20th century feminist.”
Let us not mince words. Emma Goldman was not just a feminist, she was an anarchist. And she was not just a feminist-anarchist, she was a terrorist.
Yes, she was the founder of Mother Earth magazine but her life was not dedicated to the search for a better recipe for granola.
In 1892, she and her lover, Alexander Berkman, plotted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, whose company at one point controlled 80% of the coal mines in Pennsylvania. Berkman attacked Frick in his office and but for poor marksmanship, would have murdered him. He wound up sentenced to 22 years for attempted murder. She was not charged, only because they had been careful to leave no evidence linking her to the crime and Berkman was the only one who could have testified to her involvement. But her complicity is undisputed.
In 1901, when President McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist, authorities quickly discovered that the assasin had ties to Emma Goldman. He had approached her for advice and books. She was arrested, but later released. She then publicly defended McKinley assasin (Czolgosz) in a published article in which she compared Czolgosz to Marcus Junius Brutus, the killer of Julius Caesar, and called McKinley the “president of the money kings and trust magnates.
Charming lady.
A young Justice Department employee, 24-year-old J. Edgar Hoover wrote in 1919 that “Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman are, beyond doubt, two of the most dangerous anarchists in this country and [a] return to the community will result in undue harm.” The government then invoked the 1918 Anarchist Exclusion Act and deported both Goldman and Berkman to Russia, along with over two hundred others.
Nashville Center for Peace and Justice indeed!
By tieing themselves to Emma Goldman, they are throwing in their lot with the founders of political terrorism and assasination.
- Rob Shearer
The Bible (and thus, Christianity) has a great deal to say about wealth and posessions.
We need to remind ourselves of these things as the US and World economy shudder under repeated shocks and blows. Many are tempted th blame the greed of the rich for the economic crisis. Others point at class structure and inequality. Still others, peeking out from under their tinfoil caps, blame the international bankers, the Bilderburgers, the tri-lateral commission, the neo-cons, and even the venerable elders of Zion!
The Bible, it has often been noted, does not condemn wealth or money. Money is NOT the root of all evil. The “love of money” is the root of all evil.
Wealth is a pitfall. It is the great co-dependant facilitator. Wealth helps to mask loneliness, unhappiness, and even guilt. If you dull your senses often enough, and long enough then the conscience can be reduced to a minor, mostly manageable annoyance.
It is quite easy to mis-use wealth – as a it is any of God’s gifts. The greed and corruption of the wealthy are fearlessly condemned by the prophets God sent to Israel and Judah. Read Amos. Read Hosea.
But make no mistake, no amount of greed, corruption, indifference, or self-indulgence on the part of the wealthy EVER justifies theft.
The wealthy should be more charitable. It does not follow that the rest of us may steal their wealth. And if it is a great moral evil for an individual to steal (a sin against the eighth commandment, to be precise), then it is no more justified for the government to steal in our name or on our behalf.
I am increasingly troubled that the political discourse on economic issues is turning to the expedient of taxing the rich and giving money to the poor.
The rich should give generously to the poor. But neither the poor nor the government are justified in stealing from the rich.
- Rob Shearer
Ben Cunningham’s blog (TaxingTennessee) excerpted and linked to an interesting item this morning on Pajama’s Media titled, “There’s no such thing as government money.” One sentence jumped out it me. It neatly summarized the tendency of government employees to spend every penny appropriated and always seek increased budgets. In particular government employees and agencies tend to go on a spending spree during the last month of the fiscal year to insure that every dollar was spent. This is a deeply entrenched habit of government fiscal behavior – but it can be broken.
In my six years as City Manager in Mt. Juliet, I was most proud that my team of department heads managed to turn unspent money back in to the city’s general fund every year for six straight years. The amount averaged about 6%. We were able to do this because of a conscious decision on the part of the senior staff that this was the right thing to do, and my pledge to them that they would not be penalized when the next year’s budget was being formulated. To back that up, we froze purchase orders about 5 days into the last month of the fiscal year. The finance department had orders NOT to issue ANY purchase orders. Emergencies and exceptions had to be negotiated with the City Manager. It worked. We saved the City about $2.5 million over six years.
There is another innovative practice I have heard about, but never got a chance to implement. In Oregon, City Manager Scott Lazenby has led his city in adopting a two-year budget. Department heads are ecouraged to economize wherever possible. Any operating funds NOT spent during the first fiscal year are kept in the department budget and can be used for capital projects (subject to approval by the City Manager and City Council). It appears to work well.
My $.02 is that if leaders (both elected and appointed) pay attention, lay out the ground rules clearly, and lead by example that the budget excesses can be avoided.
- Rob Shearer
There’s an excellent article by William Tighe of Touchstone Magazine that answers that question. The answer is “no,” by the way.
Turns out the pagan “festival of the Sun” proclaimed by the Emperor Aurelian in 286 AD wasn’t appropriated by Christians. In the fact, the reverse is more likely to be true. It is likely Aurelian was trying to promote an obscure religious cult (his family had connections to the cult of the sun-god) by approriating a day already in use by the Christian community who were already quite numerous in Rome.
- Rob Shearer
1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,
2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy, Chapter 2:1-4
Spirit of the Living God
by Daniel Iverson
Spirit of the living God
Fall afresh on me
Spirit of the living God
Fall afresh on me
Break me, melt me, mould me, fill me
Spirit of the living God
Fall afresh on me
God certainly works in mysterious ways. I was notified over the weekend that someone had left a comment on RedHatRob on the “about” page.
The author was one Bill Iverson, who is a graduate of Davidson College, class of 1947 – about 30 years before my time. He had been a professor at King College in the late 1960s and took his students to Covenant College in 1971 to hear an unusual Christian apologist with an international ministry based in Switzerland – Francis Schaeffer of L’Abri.
But the story gets richer. Bill Iverson is also a retired Presbyterian minister who asked me a number of questions about the Schaeffer Study Center and prayed with me over the phone (which was a great encouragement). His father was Dan Iverson, a Presbyterian evangelist who was active in Florida in the 1920s, 1930s, & 1940s. In 1926, he wrote the hymn, Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me.
When that song was first sung at an evangelistic event in 1926, it became the focus of an entire evangelistic meeting.
Here is Bill Iverson’s description:
My father’s famous chorus was written in the First Presbyterian Church, Orlando in 1926, located next to a 4000 capacity temporary tabernacle. He presented the hymn before preaching and never got to the sermon. The congregation sung the chorus for forty-five minutes. Helen Leonard, wife of Col. (Chaplain) Bill Leonard was ten years old at that time. She told my mother about how her father, Presbyterian evangelist George Stephens, gave an invitation after the one hymn worship service with four hundred persons responding. The atmosphere was electric and this one time in her life she knew what the Presence is.
I’ve added to the site a letter Bill composed to his dad a few months ago, on his Dad’s 118th birthday. Bill sent me a copy in an email earlier today.
Take a minute and read it: Bill Iverson – Tribute to my Father.
It will refresh, inspire and encourage you…
- Rob
