ConservativeChristianRepublican-Report - 20100308

Motivational-Inspirational-Historical-Educational-Political-Enjoyable

Promoting "God's Holy Values and American Freedoms"!



"Daily Motivations"

"You become a champion by fighting one more round. When things are tough, you fight one more round." -- James Corbett

"A single day is enough to make us a little larger." -- Paul Klee

"Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us." -- Orison Swett Marden



"Daily Devotions" (KJV and/or NLT)

He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

How could Paul and Silas sing praises to God in the depths of a stinking, cold Roman prison? Their backs were raw because they had been beaten with whips and rods.

Their feet were in stocks and the jailer had threatened to execute them if they tried to escape. Paul and Silas could sing because God was with them in the inner dungeon while they were hurting.

The psalmist writes, "The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; He rescues those who are crushed in spirit." (Psalm 34:18) Whether we experience physical, emotional, or mental pain, the Holy Spirit will comfort us and give us strength and courage to triumph over our hurts.

Several Campus Crusade for Christ staff members have lost small children to accidental death or disease. They tell me that it is one of the most agonizing crises that a person can ever go through. Tears flow for months; muscles are sore from sobbing. Many unbelieving couples break up afterwards due to guilt and blame. But many followers of Christ testify, "That was the most difficult thing I have ever experienced, but I have to tell you that God was so very near to me that I felt His presence like I have never felt Him before."

Although Scripture is clear that God is present everywhere at once, parents who have lost children give evidence that God manifests His presence in special ways at particular times of need. In 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Paul assures us, "[God] is the source of every mercy and the God who comforts us. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others."

Your View of God Really Matters …

Are you hurting? Remember the presence of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, and receive His peace. He is with you. Acknowledge His presence. Call on Him in the midst of your pain. Do you know someone who is hurting? Go comfort them by helping provide for their needs today.



"The Patriot Post"

"Man, once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind." --Thomas Jefferson



Political Futures

"How could such smart people do so many stupid things? That question, or variations on it, is being asked in Washington and around the country about the Obama administration. The same people who directed the campaign that defeated Hillary Clinton and routed John McCain, a campaign that raised far more money and attracted far more volunteers than any before it, have within a year come up with a legislative program that is crashing in ruins and that, to judge from recent polls, has left the Democratic Party weaker than I have seen it in almost 50 years of closely following politics. ... Team Obama failed to realize they were no longer running in Chicago or in the Democratic primaries or facing an electorate fed up with Republicans. And, more important, they failed to realize that vastly expanding government goes deeply against the American grain -- and against the basic appeal of their successful campaign." --political analyst Michael Barone



The Gipper

"There are those, of course, who claim we must give up freedom in exchange for economic progress. Well, pardon me, but anyone trying to sell you that line is no better than a three-card-trick man. One thing becoming more clear every day is that freedom and progress go hand in hand. Throughout the developing world, people are rejecting socialism because they see that it doesn't empower people, it impoverishes them." --Ronald Reagan



Liberty

"Most of us want to be fair, in the sense of treating everyone equally. We want laws to be applied the same to everyone. We want educational, economic or other criteria for rewards to be the same as well. But this concept of fairness is not only different from prevailing ideas of fairness among many of the intelligentsia, it contradicts their idea of fairness. .... This more hands-on concept of fairness gives third parties a much bigger role to play. But whether any human being has ever had the omniscience to determine and undo the many differences among people born into different families and cultures -- with different priorities, attitudes and behavior -- is a very big question. And to concentrate the vast amount of power needed to carry out that sweeping agenda is a dangerous gamble, whose actual consequences have too often been written on the pages of history in blood." --economist Thomas Sowell



Culture

"Seventeen years ago, General Colin Powell, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, helped formulate the policy that has come to be known as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' It allows gay men and lesbians to serve in the armed forces, provided that they keep their sexual orientation to themselves. Today, Powell is in favor of repealing the policy he crafted and advocated. Well, he was right then, but wrong now. According to Powell, 'attitudes and circumstances have changed' since 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' was adopted. Sure, attitudes toward homosexuality have changed in the culture at large. But what hasn't changed is the need for 'order and discipline in the ranks,' to use Powell's own phrase, and the possible impact of allowing openly gay people to serve in the armed forces. ... The bond between men in a sound military unit is more like agape -- the love that moves men to sacrifice their lives for their buddies. ... Allowing openly gay men threatens this cohesion by raising the possibility of a different kind of love -- eros -- which is 'individual and exclusive.' 'All for one and one for all' could give way to 'sexual competition, protectiveness and favoritism,' with disastrous military consequences. Nothing has happened in the last 17 years that makes this less possible or the possible consequences less dire. All that has changed is that many Americans now see everything through the prism of 'rights.' For them, sexual rights and personal autonomy trump everything else. Thus, any opposition to changing military policy must be the result of 'bigotry' or 'homophobia.' I suspect I'm not alone when I say a military unit which openly celebrates the gay lifestyle in the trenches is not a military unit I want to serve in." --commentator and author Chuck Colson



The Last Word

"In lecturing us about blowing our money, The Great Ozbama displays breathtaking gall. Given that he is blowing trillions of our money, not his, and burying us in debt as no president in history, silence on the subject would seem more reasonable. To be nit-picky about it, since he is in citing trips to Vegas as particularly objectionable, I hold in my casino chip-calloused fingers a list procured from CanadaFreePress.com of Mrs. Obama's staff and their salaries. She reportedly has a staff of 22 assistants. Yes, I said twenty-two. (Previous First Ladies' dedicated staffs were in the single digits). Michelle's little army includes a Chief of Staff costing $172,000 a year; a Deputy Chief of Staff at $90,000; a Director of Policy and Projects at $140,000; a Director of Communications at $102,000; a Deputy Director of Scheduling at $62,000; two Social Secretaries -- mysteriously, one at $65,000, one at $64,000; an Associate Director of Correspondence at $45,000, an Assistant to the Social Secretary at $36,000, and more, in total consuming $6.3-million annually thus $25-million during her 4-year term. Not to mention a make-up artist and hair stylist. I have one assistant. Answer my own correspondence. Keep my own calendar. ... Mr. President, sir, if you are going to lecture me about blowing my money in Vegas or turning down my thermostat or inflating my tires, do you think you could reign in your wife's blowing of my money just a teeny bit?" --columnist Dan Kennedy



"The Web"

Is the Chilean Earthquake a Sign of the End?

by Gary DeMar, Mar 01, 2010

http://www.americanvision.org/article/is-the-chilean-earthquake-a-sign-of-the-end/

For decades now, modern-day prophecy writers have been claiming that the increase and severity of earthquakes are sure indicators that the rapture is near. Carl G. Johnson wrote in 1972 that “the greatest earthquakes that have ever shaken this world have all come since the close of World War I. Several of them shook the whole earth.”[1] How does he know this since the development of modern-day earthquake measuring equipment didn’t get their start until 1880? The Richter Magnitude Scale wasn’t developed until 1935. Were there more severe earthquakes before 1880? The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 is estimated to have been 9.0 on the Richter scale. John Wesley (1703–1791) mentions a great earthquake that hit Sicily in 1692, describing it as

one of the most dreadful earthquakes in all history. It shook the whole island and not only that, but Naples and Malta shared in the shock. It was impossible for anyone to keep on their legs on the dancing earth: Nay, those who lay on the ground were tossed from side to side, as on a rolling billow. High walls leaped from their foundations several paces. The mischief it did is amazing: Fifty-four cities and towns, besides an incredible number of villages, were almost entirely destroyed. .. . .

Also in 1692 an earthquake hit Jamaica. Wesley described it in similar terms.

It threw down most of the houses, churches, sugar-works, mills, and bridges throughout the island; tore the rocks and mountains, reducing some of them to plains; destroyed whole plantations, and threw them into the sea; and, in two minutes time, shook down and destroyed nine-tenths of the town of Port Royal; the houses sunk outright thirty or forty fathom deep! The earth, opening, swallowed up people; and they rose in other streets; some in the midst of the harbour, (being driven up again by the sea which rose in those breaches) and so wonderfully escaped.”[2]

Notice that these two earthquakes hit in the same year and did monumental damage far beyond their epicenters. The one that hit Chile is the fifth most powerful to hit the region in the last 110 years. Chile had a 9.5 earthquake in 1960.[3] This means that there were greater earthquakes.

Just like then, people believed that these earthquakes were sure signs of the end. Sure enough, prophecy writers are once again claiming that the earthquakes that hit Haiti (January 12, 2010), Japan (February 27), and Chile are signs that the rapture must be near.

Like clockwork, when news reports started coming in about the deep-sea earthquake that created a massive tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in 2004, I “predicted” that prophecy writers would connect this tragic event to an end-of-the-world scenario. Hal Lindsey was one of the first to make the inevitable connection.[4] Lindsey concentrated on Luke’s account of Jesus’ prophecy in the Olivet Discourse: “And there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven” (Luke 21:11). He claims that Jesus is referring to what will take place at a distant time, in a period just before the “rapture” and the great tribulation.

Lindsey has pulled the earthquake card before. He started in 1970 with the publication of The Late Great Planet Earth.[5] In 1997, he wrote, “Earthquakes continue to increase in frequency and intensity, just as the Bible predicts for the last days before the return of Christ.”[6] In 1994, he published similar statistics in the first edition of Planet Earth 2000 A.D. The source for Lindsey’s statistics is the authoritative United States Geological Survey in Boulder, Colorado. “But he does not give details of the report (report name, author, date, location, etc.).”[7] Those who consider earthquakes to be a sign of our end and the nearness of the rapture are missing some crucial biblical and historical data. First, the end of the age was a first-century event (1 Cor. 10:11; Heb. 1:1–2; 9:26; 10:24–25). Second, the sign of earthquakes only has meaning within the time context of the generation to whom Jesus was addressing (see my books Is Jesus Coming Soon? and Last Days Madness). Third, the statistics used by Lindsey and others cannot be substantiated by a study of the data.

A majority of prophecy writers begin with Jesus’ longest prophetic statement most often referred to as the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). In fact, Jesus is describing what took place before that first-century generation passes away: “Even so you, too, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near” (Luke 21:31). Notice the audience reference: “Even so you . . . when you see these things happening” (cf. Matt. 24:33). Jesus was informing His present audience what they would see and experience. If Jesus had a future generation in view, He would have said, “When they see these things happening.”

In addition, notice how Jesus says, “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Luke 21:32). Each and every time “this generation” is used in the gospels, it refers to the generation to whom Jesus is speaking (Matt. 11:16; 12:41–42; 23:36; Mark 8:12; Luke 7:31; 11:30–32, 50–51; 17:25; cf. Gen. 7:1; Ps. 12:7; Heb. 3:10). “This generation” is never used as a reference to a future generation. Again, if Jesus had a future generation in mind, He would have said, “that generation will not pass away.”

A great deal of attention had been focused on the number of hurricanes that struck the United States in 2005. Many believe that these were signs of the end based on Luke’s account of the Olivet Discourse where he writes about the “perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves” (Luke 21:25). The Mediterranean Sea floor is littered with ships that broke apart and sank because of storms. We read of one such incident in Acts 27. The storm is described as a “Euraquilo,” that is, “a northeaster” (27:14). Luke writes that they did not see the sun or stars “for many days” (27:20). The ship finally ran aground where it was “broken up by the force of the waves” (27:41). The Roman historian Tacitus describes a series of similar events in A.D. 65:

The gods also marked by storms and diseases a year made shameful by so many crimes. Campania was devastated by a hurricane. . . the fury of which extended to the vicinity of the City, in which a violent pestilence was carrying away every class of human beings . . . houses were filled with dead bodies, the streets with funerals.[8]

The natural disasters described by Matthew, Mark, and Luke, common to every age, pointed specifically to the coming of Jesus in judgment upon Jerusalem before that first-century generation passed away.

The August 27th, 1883 eruption of Krakatoa resulted in the deaths of 40,000 people, almost all of whom died from 100-foot tsunamis generated by the shock waves. Through eyewitness accounts, we learned that the explosion was heard thousands of miles away, and the eruption’s shock wave traveled around the world. The effects of the disaster were far-reaching and long-lasting:

Beyond the purely physical horrors of an event that has only very recently been properly understood, the eruption changed the world in more ways than could possibly be imagined. Dust swirled round the planet for years, causing temperatures to plummet and sunsets to turn vivid with lurid and unsettling displays of light. The effects of the immense waves were felt as far away as France. Barometers in Bogotá and Washington, D.C., went haywire. Bodies were washed up in Zanzibar. The sound of the island's destruction was heard in Australia and India and on islands thousands of miles away. Most significant of all—in view of today’s new political climate—the eruption helped to trigger in Java a wave of murderous anti-Western militancy among fundamentalist Muslims: one of the first outbreaks of Islamic-inspired killings anywhere (see here).

If, as Lindsey himself states, the December 26, 2004 “catastrophic tsunami was caused by the fourth most powerful undersea earthquake on record,” then there were three that were more powerful that we know about and many more that we don’t know about. It seems that there are more earthquakes today because of several factors:

A partial explanation may lie in the fact that in the last twenty years, we have definitely had an increase in the number of earthquakes we have been able to locate each year. This is because of the tremendous increase in the number of seismograph stations in the world and the many improvements in global communications. In 1931, there were about 350 stations operating in the world; today, there are more that 4,000 stations and the data now comes in rapidly from these stations by telex, computer and satellite. This increase in the number of stations and the more timely receipt of data has allowed us and other seismological centers to locate many small earthquakes which were undetected in earlier years, and we are able to locate earthquakes more rapidly. The NEIC now locates about 12,000 to 14,000 earthquakes each year or approximately 35 per day. Also, because of the improvements in communications and the increased interest in natural disasters, the public now learns about more earthquakes. According to long-term records (since about 1900), we expect about 18 major earthquakes (7.0–7.9) and one great earthquake (8.0 or above) in any given year (see here).

As history attests, devastating earthquakes are not new.

Lindsey continues: “Jesus indicates that all the natural disasters will begin to increase in frequency and intensity in concert with each other shortly before His return. And it is as these ‘birth pains’ begin to take place that believers in Jesus are to know that their deliverance is near.” There is no mention of an increase in the frequency or intensity of earthquakes in what Jesus says, only that they will occur “in various places” before “this generation,” that is, the generation of Jesus’ day, passed away.

The biblical record shows that earthquakes occurred before Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70. Two earthquakes are mentioned in Matthew: When Jesus was crucified (27:54) and when the angel came down to roll the stone away from the tomb where Jesus was buried (28:2). This second earthquake is said to have been "severe." Luke records in Acts that “a great earthquake” that shook “the foundations of the prison house” (Acts 16:26). “And as to earthquakes, many are mentioned by writers during a period just previous to 70 A.D. There were earthquakes in Crete, Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, Colosse, Campania, Rome, and Judea. It is interesting to note that the city of Pompeii was much damaged by an earthquake occurring on February 5, 63 A.D.”[9] Henry Alford compiled the following list:

The principal earthquakes occurring between this prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem [in A.D. 70] were, (1) a great earthquake in Crete, A.D. 46 or 47; (2) one at Rome on the day when Nero assumed the manly toga, A.D. 51; (3) one at Apamaea in Phrygia, mentioned by Tacitus, A.D. 53; (4) one tat Laodicea in Phrygia, A.D. 60; (5) one in Campania. Seneca, in the year, A.D. 58, writes:—“How often have cities of Asia and Achaea fallen with one fatal shock! How many cities have been swallowed up in Syria, how many in Macedonia! How often has Cyprus been wasted by this calamity! How often has Paphos become a ruin! News has often been brought us of the demolition of whole cities at once.”[10]

Notice the tight geographical area of these earthquakes within a period of just 12 years. Their severity and frequency have not been eclipsed in modern times.

Flavius Josephus, an eyewitness to the events surrounding Jerusalem’s destruction, describes an earthquake in Judea of such magnitude “that the constitution of the universe was confounded for the destruction of men.”[11] Of course, he was speaking metaphorically, because of the devastation brought to the holy city and sanctuary that were the identity of the Jewish people. Josephus goes on to write that the Judean earthquake was “no common” calamity, indicating that God Himself had brought it about for a special purpose. One commentator writes: “Perhaps no period in the world’s history has ever been so marked by these convulsions as that which intervenes between the Crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem.”[12] Since the generation between A.D. 30 and 70 is past, there is no reason to attach prophetic significance to earthquakes in our day as a fulfillment of Matthew 24:7. They are not signs of the imminency of Jesus’ return in our generation, but they were a prelude to the coming of Jesus in judgment upon Jerusalem in the generation of the apostles.



Obama Spending Plan Underestimates Deficits, Budget Office Says

By Brian Faler

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVDEHvI9WH_Q

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s budget proposal would create bigger deficits than advertised every year of the next decade, with the shortfalls totaling $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The nonpartisan agency said yesterday the deficit will remain above 4 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product for the foreseeable future while the publicly held debt will zoom to $20.3 trillion, amounting to 90 percent of GDP by 2020. By then, interest payments on the debt will have quadrupled to more than $900 billion annually, the report said.

Deficits between 2011 and 2020 would total $9.76 trillion, the CBO said.

Economists generally consider deficits topping 3 percent of GDP to be unsustainable because that means government debt is growing faster than the ability to pay back the money.

“The news today from CBO is clear: The president’s budget will continue to lead our nation into a fiscal catastrophe -- an ever worse one than the president’s own numbers suggest,” Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the House Budget Committee, said yesterday.

White House Office of Management and Budget spokesman Kenneth Baer said the report “highlights how sensitive and uncertain budget projections are.”

Baer also said, “What is certain is that the irresponsibility of the past put the country on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory.”

Independent View

The CBO report is designed to give Congress an independent assessment of the administration’s budget request. The difference between the two outlooks is largely attributable to varying economic assumptions that affect projections of how quickly tax revenues will pour into the Treasury.

Revenues will be about $2 trillion less than the administration projects, while spending will be lower by about $600 billion, according to the CBO report.

The administration projected last month the deficit would shrink to as low as 3.6 percent of GDP, with the 10-year shortfall totaling $8.5 trillion. It foresees the debt growing to 77 percent of GDP in 2020.

The deficit for the 2010 fiscal year has been projected to be $1.6 trillion, a record. Obama last month established an 18- member bipartisan panel to suggest to Congress steps that would reduce the shortfalls.



Bailing out British Booze: Charlie Rangel, Max Baucus, and Diageo

by Soren Dayton

http://biggovernment.com/sdayton/2010/03/05/bailing-out-british-booze-charlie-rangel-max-baucus-and-diageo/

The recent ruling of the House Ethics committee against Charlie Rangel has attracted a tremendous amount of attention and has put substantial pressure on House Democrats, especially Nancy Pelosi. The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder even reported one Democratic strategist claiming that it “loses us the House.” The basics of the story are that Rangel and his staff failed to disclose a series of facts about corporate sponsored trips about Caribbean policy.

However, there’s another Caribbean scandal that could burn Democrats. In February, Pro Publica’s Marcus Stern reported that Congress and the Virgin Islands will give British alcohol conglomerate Diageo a $3b subsidy if they shift production from Puerto Rico to the US Virgin Islands. Previously, I had written about this issue, including Rangel’s threats against the Puerto Rican health system.

But now an ad, pictured here, is running in Montana asking Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus why he is putting up with this. That’s turning up the heat a little.

Another rum producer told the Billings Gazette that the subsidy “is so large it’s twice the cost of production.” That is, if Diageo spends $100 making rum in the Virgin Islands, they get $200 from the federal government. Then Diageo gets to sell the rum too! Diageo’s 2008 operating profit was £2.2 billion and 2009 sales were $20 billion.

Now, I understand — disagree but understand — US taxpayers giving struggling American farmers a subsidy to make ethanol. (rum is also ethanol) I don’t understand why US taxpayers are giving billions to an already highly profitable, publicly traded British booze company.

You would think at a time with record deficits, historic unemployment, etc. Congress could find better things to do with $3b than boost profits of a foreign company. Or they could even end the excise tax on rum that funds this boondoggle. But I guess not. As the ad says, the Congressional Democrat are letting the “pirate lobbyists” win.



About that high speed rail system, Mr. President...

Rick Moran

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/about_that_high_speed_rail_sys.html

"What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st Century, a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility. A system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity. A system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs."

So said Barack Obama when talking up the railroad money in his stim bill. Aside from the counterintuitive notion that a 19th century invention can solve our transportation woes in the 21st century, one might legitimately ask that if Amtrak can't make it, why should we believe that any other passenger rail line can stay in the black?

The short answer; we shouldn't believe anything anyone ever says about passenger rail systems. And according to this piece by David Freddoso in the Washington Examiner , that goes double for the "high speed rail" system planned between LA and San Francisco:

The estimated cost the high-speed rail system has suddenly risen by 25 percent, to almost $43 billion. (It will likely rise again.)

Because of higher costs, the projected price for a one-way train ticket has suddenly doubled, from $55 to $105. (This, too, will rise again.)

Given that round-trip airfare from LA to SF is only $120 on Travelocity, it is no surprise that the Rail Authority also had to scale back its ridership expectations by nearly one-third, to 40 million annual passengers by 2030. Even this number is insanely, ridiculously high.

Never mind Berkeley Engineering professor Mark Hansen's estimate that only 8 million road and plane trips were taken between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2007. California's entire population, today at 37 million, will be only 46.4 million in 2030, according to U.S. Census projections.

Just one more fun fact: Today, the Rail Authority is holding its monthly meeting, which will include discussion of hiring a new executive director. His or her salary will range between $250,000 and $375,000 per year. Now, don't mock -- the high salary reflects the fact that it's hard to find and retain competent liars.

Early last month, Obama committed the federal taxpayer to this ill-fated project. He promised to throw $2.25 billion of his promised rail stimulus money at this terrible plan.

Every once and a while politicians and lobbyists for the rail, steel, and diesel industries come together and try to push the pie in the sky idea of "high speed rail" on a population that vastly prefers flying or driving to taking the train. And every once and a while, we fall for it because the idea of a real fast train that gets people quickly to their destination while avoiding the nightmare that plane travel has become is almost irresistible.

In the end, we realize our mistake and these projects usually die in the planning stages. But don't put anything past this administration. The "jobs" at stake are not "green jobs" but good old fashioned, 19th century union jobs. When it comes to unions, we've learned to expect just about anything from these guys.



Memo to Saudis: Please stop terror

But request over Pakistani activities ignores Wahhabi work

FROM JOSEPH FARAH'S G2 BULLETIN

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Editor's Note: The following report is excerpted from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin, the premium online newsletter published by the founder of WND. Subscriptions are $99 a year or, for monthly trials, just $9.95 per month for credit card users, and provide instant access for the complete reports.

Manmohan Singh

India has made a quiet appeal to Saudi Arabian leaders for help in getting Pakistan to halt its sponsorship of anti-Indian terrorism – attacks originating from Pakistani territory, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

In a meeting last week, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the appeal to the Saudis, whose limits on terrorism sponsorship appear to restrict only activities inside the Saudi kingdom.

"Like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia has been following a dual policy on terrorism," said B. Raman, a senior analyst with the South Asia Analysis Group. While the Saudis have taken "ruthless action" against al-Qaida elements within Saudi Arabia, Raman said, "it has avoided taking action against Wahhabi organizations which have been supporting terrorism in other countries."

(According to defense experts, many of the charity organizations in India, Bangladesh and the United States that fund terrorist organizations are of Saudi origin.

But to date, the Saudis have paid only lip service to complaints of such sponsorship and requests to halt funding of Sunni Wahhabi groups.

Wahhabi Islam, which originated in Saudi Arabia, is the primary religious movement behind extremist Islam, including al-Qaida and the Sunni Taliban in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Raman confirmed, "There has been a long history of links between jihadi terrorist elements in India and Saudi Arabia."



"The e-mail Bag"

Olympic committee takes back American skier Lindsey Vonn's gold medal

Russ Vaughn

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/03/olympic_committee_takes_back_a.html

Olympic committee takes back American skier Lindsey Vonn's gold medal

"The International Olympic Committee announced Monday that it has taken back the gold medal previously awarded to American skier Lindsey Vonn and given it to U.S. President Barack Obama."

"Olympic officials said Obama deserved the medal more than Vonn because no one has ever gone downhill faster than he has."