August book review

I've just finished reading 2 books, and I would be negligent if I didn't pass along my reviews. If you have read either of these books I welcome your comments as well.

The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright

This was a great book that details the origin and originator, Sayyid Qutb, of the muslim brotherhood, who came to live in America in the 1940's right through to the merger of OBL's al qaeda with Al-Zawahiri's muslim brotherhood. Wright takes the reader from Qutb's letters home describing the vulgar American society to the death of John O'Neill on 9/11 and everything in between. Looking back on the events leading up to 9/11 it's easy to point fingers and place blame. I came away learning two things, this muslim hatred has existed a long time and bin Laden was broke. The union came about not out of goal sharing but necessity. OBL had the holy warriors and al Zawahiri had the money to finance terrorist operations. Simply put, we must listen to what our enemies are saying and take them at their word. Those that mean to destroy us have been broadcasting their goals for years, it's time we start listening.

Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America by Brigitte Gabriel

This Lebanese Christian tells of growing up during the civil war and recounts the horror of muslim terrorism. Gabriel explains how she found out the truth about Israel, experiencing first hand the goodwill, longing for peace and compassion for their fellow man. As her mother was being treated at an Israeli hospital, the lies about the Jews became apparent. Even Christians were taught to "hate" the Jews. Her work as a journalist in Israel, also eye opening, showed her the worldwide bias against a nation struggling to defend her people. After burring her parents in a Christian cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, Brigitte Gabriel brings her message to her adopted home, America, in hopes we won't suffer the same fate as Lebanon.

I give these both a two thumbs up. The reader understand the hate that will destroy western civilization. Both, a must read.

"Thank You" notes from hamas!

On Monday federal prosecutors presented into evidence a hamas "thank you" letter sent to HLF. The letter is just one of many documents and financial statements seized from the Holy Land office, as well as from unindicted co-conspirators and from the offices of InfoCom.

FBI Special Agent Lara Burns testified about a letter found at the Virginia home of Ismail Elbarrasse, an unindicted co-conspirator. This former assistant to HAMAS leader Musa Abu Marzook, also had a phonebook seized and entered as evidence. In it was listed the names and numbers of the "muslim brotherhood" leadership in the United States. On the first page of the phonebook under the title “Members of the Board of Directors” were fifteen names. Among those names are Ahmad Elkadi, Jamal Badawi, and Omar Soubani, the founding "fathers" of the Muslim American Society (MAS).

With all the graphs, charts and documents presented during this trial, I hope none of the jurist suffer from ADD.

I must thank my new Texas operative, OCD-LM, for the trial update link.

Silent whine-o-grams, could CAIR finally be exposed?

The daily whine-o-grams have been silent in their HLF trial coverage. Putting a positive spin on the terror funding defendants is becoming an elusive task even for the masters of double-speak. Trial updates for "The Holy Land Foundation Trial: The Family's Perspective" website is straining as the bleak outlook becomes more apparent and the anti-Israel rhetoric is kicked up a notch.

Steven Emerson and the team at CounterTerrorism Blog continue to execute the "dot connecting" in this complicated case. In a "Supplement to Mainstream Reporting" Emerson uncovers the spider web uniting CAIR, hamas and the Holy Land Foundation.

Government prosecutors said they will call their last witness Monday and rest their case. The defense will use semantics to separate the organizations from individuals. Claiming if other people and groups were hamas entities, they would be listed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s list of Specially Designated Terrorists (SDT) as well. But none of the individuals included in HLF’s speaker’s list, the zakat committees and their board members are separately designated on the SDT list. Using this tactic or loophole as a defense has worked in the Sami al Arian and Fawaz Damra case, who are tangled in this web as well.

Next week is going to be a PR nightmare as defense attorneys try and spin their clients to freedom.

HLF defendant loses it during trial

The wheels are starting to come off and these "charitable" men are showing their true nature. Ghassan Elashi lashed out at the judge as he and the jury were exiting the courtroom for mid-morning break. "This is an extension of the Zionist occupation. We can’t win the case with this judge because he is a bigot" A frustrated Elashi, as you can see from his statement, blames the Jews. After the break, Judge A. Joe Fish was not so forgiving telling the defendant "We can’t have outbursts like that. I’m warning you that a further outburst wont be tolerated. If another outburst occurs, you will waive your right to be present in the courtroom"

Ghassan has much to worry about as the Chairman of the Holy Land Foundation. Before the group’s closure he was charged with selling computers and computer parts to Libya and Syria, both designated state sponsors of terrorism in 2002. The Ghassan brothers were sentanced to 80 to 84 months by a federal court and their company, Infocom, was shut down.

Of the 4 witnesses the most damning may have been Steve McGonigle, a reporter that covered the HLF for the Dallas Morning News since 1996. In 1999 McGonigle made a surprise visit to the HLF offices in Gaza. In a taped phone conversation between office manager Mohammad Muharram, HLF employee Haitham Maghawri and defendant Abu-Baker. Part of one conversation went like this; The office manager in Gaza just informed me that Steve McGonigle will be interviewing our clients. Do you want to cancel the meeting?, Maghawri asked in Arabic. Abu-Baker replied, No. But make sure he doesn’t interview the family of a martyr or a prisoner. Maghawri then said, Yeah, because if half a percent of an interview did not impress him, then McGonigle will focus on that half a percent. Abu-Baker said, This journalist is a Zionist. He’s not a friend. He’s in cooperation with the Jewish lobby in the U.S. For the last few years, he’s been trying to connect the HLF with terrorism. If he messes up this interview, that is what we’ll need to finally sue the Dallas Morning News.

During cross-examination we learned the paper was sued and HLF later dropped the suit after the feds shut down the charity.

Yes, I think it can only get better.

HLF trial, CAIR & Steven Emerson

Three names missing from the headline news. Contributors over at Steven Emerson's Counterterrorism Blog are all over the Holy Land Foundation trial taking place in Texas, where CAIR is one of many un-indicted co-conspirators. Being named un-indicted co-conspirators means the prosecution can use out-of-court statements made by the co-conspirators. Normally, out-of-court statements are considered hearsay. But under the federal rules of evidence, a statement is not hearsay if it is made "by a co-conspirator of a party during the course and in furtherance of the conspiracy.


Needless to say, the muslim civil rights organization is not happy about how the trial is proceeding. Despite the daily whine-o-grams crying foul and an entire website devoted to covering the case from "The Family's Perspective", the evidence against HLF appears solid.

CAIR filed an Amicus Curiae brief (friend of the court) with the U.S. District Court claiming their good name and reputation are bring smeared. The un-indicted co-conspirator label and "extreme rhetoric" from anti-terror weblogs (like Counterterrorism Blog & LGF) seem to be hurting business because the greater muslim community in America refuses to support CAIR. If CAIR succeeds and is removed from the list, the repercussions are 2 fold. First, the governemnt would be forced to throw out substantial evidence presented under the hearsay exclusion. Second, it would complicate future prosecutions – throwing into question a basic tool in the prosecutor’s arsenal.

This case will show the overlapping membership between the muslim brotherhood, hamas and the HLF charity, who's defendants are former CAIR founders and board members. At the center of this spider web is the IAP, CAIRs parent organization. If allowed to go forward in using the hearsay evidence, a conviction is in the bag. It may also lead to CAIRs demise.

God or allah, What's in a name?

If a retiring catholic bishop in the Netherlands has his way the name "God" would be replaced with allah. Bishop Martinus “Tiny” Muskens told Dutch TV that God dosen't care what we call Him, "Allah is a very beautiful word for God. Shouldn't we all say that from now on we will name God Allah? ... What does God care what we call him? It is our problem,"

CAIRs Ibrahim Hooper came out in agreement with the bishop. Telling FoxNews.com, "It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God, I don't think the name is as important as the belief in God and following God's moral principles. I think that's true for all faiths."

First of all, I don't believe Jews and Christians worship the same God that muslims worship. Secondly, if it's not that important to Mr. Hooper, why doesn't CAIR initiate a campaign to replace allah with the Word, (of) God?

I think that's a great idea!

Gaza Strip, the new vacation destination!

It's an American tradition when summer rolls around, those precious 2 weeks a year spent away from the office.

You start making plans for family vacations. The Carolina coast, Florida, maybe a tour of Washington D.C., amusement parks and camping. All these excursions end up being recounted at the water cooler and in back to school essays.

One Tennessee man is waiting for his wife and 3 children to return from the Gaza Strip. Hossam Bahour is calling on the State Department to extricate his family from the war zone to which his family was vacationing.

And true to form, CAIR was on the scene, trying to get air time, improve their public image and blame Israel championing the cause of what "could be 100 U.S. citizens who are similarly stuck in the Gaza Strip since Hamas wrested control of the area from the rival Fatah movement in June. But Bahour was the first to contact their organization," and "has appealed to the State Department to work for the family's release" according to CAIR's Ibrahim Hooper.

I have to ask you, even if you have family living there, why would you want to visit such a place? The war last summer between Israel and hezbollah forces in Lebanon, where American marines came in and evacuated hundreds of US citizens trapped in the middle of the war zone, should have made one think twice about crossing the border. It's not like they were unaware of the situation, especially if they have family living there. Nightly news reports have been covering the civil strife in the region for months. Fatah and the democratically elected hamas party have been killing each other and civilians for the past 6 months. Yet, these muslim morons continue to travel to their "homeland" and call on America, the very country they're trying to destroy, for deliverance.

I'll stick to my favorite vacation spots right here in the good ol' USA, Cape Hatteras Island and Nevada's "sin city" called Las Vegas. The only time I'll need a marine, or any of our armed services, while on my vacations, is when I stop to shake their hand and thank them for their service to our nation.

That's what I call a vacation!

Here's what a thousand dollars will get you!

Genesis is coming to Columbus' Nationwide Arena in September. In March, Nick and I purchased 2 $400.00 floor seat tickets. With shipping, handling and express delivery the total charge to our American Express card was $922.30.

Now that you've all caught your breath, let me tell you these tickets are not for us. Our son Christopher asked me to purchase a couple of tickets to the Cleveland show on eBay. After I searched the site I realized I could get cheaper tickets (if you can call 400 bucks cheap) for the Columbus show from Ticket Master. The tickets are a birthday gift, Christopher will be 22 on the 14th of September. The show is on the 22nd and we're hoping he'll have time to stop by and see us before or after the show.

We've long since received the tickets and given them to Christopher, so imagine our surprise when we opened the door this morning and noticed a UPS package on the doorstep. Because we used our AMEX card to purchase "gold" level seats, we were entitled to the following gifts;

Here we have the travel bag with shoulder strap.



Here we have the 2 lanyards with the Genesis "Hot Seat" tags.

So there you have it my American Express member benefits, 2 bags, 2 concert ticket lanyards and 2 floor seat tickets. Have you ever spent money frivolously?

Our Turn For Civil Rights!

Andrew Whitehead, proprietor of the "Anti-CAIR" website has a great commentary on the Pace University koran in the toilet case.

You may recall in 2004 Whitehead was sued by CAIR, as they deemed comments and posts on his site defamatory. Whitehead was given "the opportunity to cease and desist the publication of defamatory statements about CAIR on your web site and elsewhere" in a letter from CAIR attorney, Jeremiah A. Denton III.

In an email to subscribers, Whitehead describes his legal dealings with CAIR this way;

"The reason I refused to surrender to CAIR's blatant attempt at intimidation was simple: I believe that all the information we provide on CAIR is the truth, and that the truth must be defended, in order to maintain a free society.

When CAIR sued me, it discovered that bringing a bogus "defamation" case to silence free speech is a double edged sword; just as CAIR could examine and test my material and delve into my works, so I was entitled to do the same to CAIR.

The question, as the discovery process unfolded was: "Who was going to blink first"?

For our legal team the answer was simple: we agreed to answer any/all questions in depth. We had, and have, nothing to hide. Everything Anti-CAIR does is perfectly transparent, we show our sources (where we can), we name names, and we provide links that any reader can follow.

When my legal team, headed by Reed Rubinstein, submitted questions to CAIR, we were rebuffed. CAIR finally realized that going after Anti-CAIR was not only a bad decision, it had the potential to show CAIR for what it is: an Anti-American front group for Hamas that was founded by Islamic terrorists.

CAIR ran from the suit they initiated and the case was settled.

Not one word that CAIR objected to was changed on the web site. No corrections were issued. No apology was made."

Stanislav Shmulevich stands accused and has been arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment for allegedly placing a koran in a toilet at Pace University. While we can all agree the act was stupid, is it really a crime?

CAIR's civil rights coordinator had this to say; "We commend the NYPD for its appropriate handling of this case...we must all be concerned when any actions cross the line from protected free speech to acts designed to intimidate. Just as there is a difference between someone burning a cross in their own backyard and burning that same cross in the yard of an African-American family, there is a difference between desecrating a religious text in a private setting and doing so in a setting that will create a hostile learning environment."

So, the next time the MSU (muslim student union), on any US campus, burn the American or Israeli flags, we can file a criminal complaint against them and demand they're charged with inciting violence by creating a hostile environment and label it a hate crime.

CAIR should be reminded this is a double edged sword.

CAIR asks Tancredo to retract and apologize for "Bomb Mecca" statement

CAIR issued a late day whine-o-gram calling on Tom Tancredo, Republican presidential candidate, to apologize for comments he made (and has been making since 2005) threatening to "bomb Mecca and Medina". CAIR is a little late in their "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" email.

I remember Tancredo making this remark last year in response to the increasing violence in Iraq. Talk show hosts like Michael Medved, Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager vehemently denounced Tancredo's comment as irresponsible. Only Michael Savage, an extremist, agreed with the remark.

This "press release" by CAIR is political theater. Where were they 2 years ago when Tancredo was screaming about turning Saudi Arabia into a glass parking lot? It's meant to call out other Republican candidates, forcing their hand so to speak, to see how they plan to deal with the arab world.

I for one, think we've been fighting this war with "one arm tied behind our backs", imposing ridiculous rules of engagement on our troops while our air force watches from the ground. As for "holy" sites being off limits, I believe if a mosque is being used as terrorist bunker then yes lets bomb the hell out of it! We're fighting an ideology whose members hide among civilians, fight under different flags united by their warped hatred of the west and, in this country, use our democracy to defeat our democracy. CAIR, the MSA (muslim students association) and MPAC, just to name a few, are doing their part to secure special rights through civil, state and federal litigation, thus undermining our culture and America as we know it today.

The statement Tancredo made 2 years ago, if taken in context, was in response to a nuclear attack (real or threatened) on our homeland. People came out of the woodwork claiming this would lead to fulfilling muslim eschatology.

I prefer to have "Thy Will Be Done" without Tancredo or Ahmadinejad lending a helping hand.

Missionaries to accost worshippers at Seattle mosques

From the title of my post, one would think, muslims were being forced into vans and shuttled off for some deprogramming by over zealous Christians. That title was in CAIRs whine-o-gram and meant to "shock" readers. The real article headline is "Christians to seek converts at mosques' doorsteps" from the Seattle Times. Not only was the headline changed, it was the whine-o-gram's feature news brief. Just another example of misleading enlightenment by CAIR to enrage the ummah into action as the email is actively seeking "victims" of this abuse and provide contact information.

This is not the first time Pastor George Saieg, a Christian who grew up in Sudan and attended muslim schools, and his congregation embarked on spreading the gospel to muslims. Saieg started his "Ministry to muslims" in 2001 focusing on the Arabic Christian Perspective.

I googled this ministry and pastor looking for instances where true harassment occurred. I could not find any. Muslim leaders in the Seattle area claim "They were harassing women for wearing scarves," WOW! Is that all they could come up with? First of all, these islamic "leaders" are playing the race card. They're calling it "harassing" because a man may have tried talking to a muslim woman and the islamic view forbids consorting with men outside your family.

The fear emanating from Washington's islamic community is baseless. The ministry isn't breaking any laws and, in Michigan for example, has spread the "Good News" and led dozens to receive Christ as their Lord and Savior.

I hope this ministry continues to open salvation's door for muslims. Join me in supporting Pastor Saieg and his group, this work must continue. To quote Pastor Joe Fuiten of Cedar Park Assembly of God church in Bothell; "Islam is seriously an issue in the world today. The ultimate answer is conversion, because radical Islam flows from Islam," Amen!