US Egyptians Rally Against Muslim Brotherhood

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/08/22/egyptians-rally-outside-white-house-to-protest-muslim-brotherhood-obama/

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/79715/Egypt/Politics-/Egyptians-rally-at-White-House-denouncing-Brotherh.aspx

While our media is busy portraying the Muslim Brotherhood and it supporters as victims of oppression and unchecked violence at the hands of the military, US Egyptians rallied in Washington DC against the MB and in support of the army.

-From Ahram:

"About 500 Egyptian protesters protested outside the White House in Washington DC on Thursday against the Muslim Brotherhood and in support of the Egyptian army.

Protesters denounced the Brotherhood as terrorists and insisted that the ouster of Islamist leader Mohamed Morsi was not a coup.

Protesters chanted "down with the Brotherhood" and demanded Obama not interfere with the military's crackdown.

Vivian Michael, 24, said that Egyptian-American groups and Coptic Christian churches organised the protests. She said that if Obama can't support Egypt's transition, he at least should not condemn it.

According to a statement released by the protest's planners on Wednesday, the demonstration aims to "expose Muslim Brotherhood terrorism and its collaborators around the world.”

The statement added that the protests will also "expose the clear bias of the Obama administration and the American media in support of the Muslim Brotherhood and its terrorist ideology."......"

I don't like when the military seizes control of any nation. I strongly prefer that the military steers clear  of any role in governing a nation. In a nation such as Egypt, however, I will make an exception.

When Mubarak was on his way out, I noted to friends that the Muslims Brotherhood would have great success in the first election. Politics abhors a vacuum, and the MB was far and away the most effective and well-organized political body in Egypt. They had been around for a long time and were not going to be beaten by any start-up group that tried to hammer together a platform and a base of support.

As I expected, Morsi quickly sacked a few senior military leaders. According to Copts, he did nothing in response to their pleas for help but smile and give bland assurances that he would put a stop to the anti-Christian violence, which of course never happened.

General Abdel el-Sisi, although due to his position as a military leader is not what one would cite as a first choice, has nevertheless demonstrated that he will not allow Egypt's Christians to be treated as a conquered people. He appears to be what many of us fear to be a rarity among Muslims - a moderate who is not afraid to use his authority to challenge radical Islam. Egyptians Muslims who want no part of a Sharia state also have much to be thankful for.

Mom Gets Hate Message About Autistic Son

Two quick briefs-

Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Oprah all decried the racist intentions behind the murder of Australian Chris Lane. OK Actually they did nothing of the sort. Jesse Jackson did a brief tweet in which he noted that such an act should be "frowned upon". You know, kind of like wearing shorts at church.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/21/rush-limbaugh-eviscerates-media-thrill-kill-of-white-athlete-is-trayvon-martin-in-reverse-but-worse/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/08/21/jesse-jackson-tweets-that-killing-of-chris-lane-frowned-upon/
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Citing differences with Obama and /or his policies, the three retired players from the famous and  undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins opted out of an invitation to the White House. I am awaiting the result of the collective decision of the media.Will they attack en masse from all angles but with with agreed-upon talking points or will they ignore a notable example of the polarization that Obama is forcing on the nation?

"We've got some real moral compass issues in Washington," [Jim] Langer said. "I don't want to be in a room with those people and pretend I'm having a good time. I can't do that. If that [angers] people, so be it."

[Manny] Fernandez, for his part, told the paper that his views are "dramatically opposed to the President's."

"Enough said. Let's leave it at that. I hope everyone enjoys the trip who goes."

[Bob] Kuechenberg said it would be hypocritical for him to be there, the paper reported.

"I don't want to do that. I just don't believe in this administration at all. So I don't belong. Anyone on the left or the right has to respect one man's opinion," he said."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/08/21/3-members-172-dolphins-decline-invite-to-white-house-over-political-differences/

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Main post-

Although I must note that the letter mentioned in the article could possibly be a fake, I am leaning towards to the belief that it is the real thing.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/08/20/woman-receives-hate-filled-letter-asking-her-to-move-or-euthanize-autistic-son/

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/19/read-the-unbelievably-hateful-letter-sent-to-family-with-autistic-child-do-the-right-thing-and-move-or-euthanize-him/

A Mom in Canada received an anonymous letter that - aside from consisting of extraordinarily base and cruel language, is fraught with projections of the writer's own selfishness, utterly devoid of empathy, contains references to Leftist-mannered concepts of control and society-determined standards of who should remain alive, and assumptions that disabled people should be kept out of sight. It also has implications that people have some sort of right to have the advantages of living in a neighborhood with none of the annoying stuff such as the occasional barking dog, a backyard party, or a loud kid.

From The Blaze-

“You selfishly [Projection - It is the writer who is being selfish]  put your kid outside everyday and let him be nothing but a nuisance and a problem to everyone else with that noise polluting whaling he constantly makes!!!” the hostile letter reads. “That noise he makes when he is outside is DREADFUL!!!!!!!!!! It scares the hell out of my normal children!!!!!!!” [Note that the writer has clearly made no effort to teach her own kids to have empathy for others or to appreciate the fact that they are fortunate to be healthy]

“One pissed off mother” then goes on to advise Begley to take her son to the park “when you feel your idiot kid needs fresh air.”

Sadly, the malicious letter goes on:

He is a hindrance to everyone and will always be that way!!!!! Who the hell is going to care for him?????? No employer will hire him, no normal girl is going to marry/love him and you are not going to live forever!! Personally, they should take whatever non retarded body parts he possesses and donate it to science. What the hell else good is he to anyone!!! [Here we see the assumption that one must be able to demonstrate that he is of some use to society  in order to have the privilege of living]  You had a retarded kid, deal with it…properly!!!!! What right do you have to do this to hard working people!!!!!!!! I HATE people like you who believe, just because you have a special needs kid, you are entitled to special treatment!!! GOD!!!!!! 

[Interesting that she mention God here. Concerning the man born blind: John Chapter 9 Verse 3 -Jesus answered....., but that the works of God might be made manifest in him.]
Still, it gets worse. The anonymous sender then begs the woman to take her son and move out of the neighborhood: “VAMOSE!!! SCRAM!!!!…Go live in a trailer in the woods or something with your wild animal kid!!!”

[Here we again see a reversal of the way the world works. If someone wants to live with no disturbances or annoying sounds, then it is the obligation that that individual to move to a secluded area - one without music, loud kids, motorcycles with loud mufflers, or kids that make more noise than one will accept.]

New Jersey Bans Therapy for Homosexual Inclinations of Youths

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/nj-governor-sign-ban-gay-conversion-therapy-19997560

I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I can state with confidence that if New Jersey goes one way the correct answer is to go in the opposite direction.

Despite the romantic picture presented to us about Revolutionary War patriots abounding in the Garden State, the reality is that New Jersey was heavily Loyalist.

New Jersey lagged way behind other states that had abolished slavery prior to the Civil War. In fact, when slavery was finally ended there, the law included  provisions to benefit the landed gentry of the southern part of the state. Those born into slavery, for example, had to remain on the property in a sort of indentured servitude well into adulthood. I believe they were bound to work for free for the owner until age 25.

Lincoln also has trouble in New Jersey in both of his two elections. In 1860 he barely won a split vote, and in 1864 he lost it to McClellan.

Now, New Jersey follows the lead of California - enough said.

Only in our current era can a man refer to a legitimate form of therapy as "an insidious form of child abuse." and not be run out of town on a rail.

"Gov. Chris Christie [AKA "Governor Fats"] signed a bill Monday barring licensed therapists from trying to turn gay teenagers straight, making New Jersey the second state to ban so-called conversion therapy, along with California.

The bill passed both houses of the New Jersey Legislature with bipartisan support in June. Assemblyman Tim Eustace, who sponsored the bill and is openly gay, described the therapy as "an insidious form of child abuse."

In a note accompanying the bill, Christie said he believes people are born gay and that homosexuality is not a sin. That view is inconsistent with his Catholic faith, which teaches that homosexual acts are sins....."

For the record, the Catholic Church does not hold the inclination to engage in homosexual activity to be a sin. It teaches that the acts themselves or the purposeful dwelling on such thought for the purposes of lustful pleasure are sinful, Christie, who makes a big deal that he paid $38,000 each year for his son's tuition in a Catholic preparatory high school, may possibly have asserted that the acts not not sins either, but that cannot be determined from the article.

Again for the record, some therapists may not treat their clients well or with any degree of empathy. These may spend countless billable hours fleecing parents and making a young person miserable. The way that such wrongful behavior should be addressed would be to create reasonable guidelines to which therapists must adhere. This would include a requirement that therapists make an effort to determine whether or not the youth's inclinations would have arisen despite any environmental factors. In other words, a therapist should ensure that the youth was not "born that way" before he attempted to redirect him.

This prohibition is ugly from several angles. The fascist-mannered gay radicals have again succeeded in codifying the fallacy that all homosexual/lesbian activity is normal and that any attempt to asses the origin of such activity is inherently wrong. With licensed therapists forbidden from this sort of counseling, parents may have no option other than to seek help from a clergyman, who may well not be fully qualified to counsel anyone for psychological issues. Young people also may feel more comfortable being seen by a therapist than a church official whom the child may know personally.  Fettered from any decision-making authority by the Law, parents may also seek help in other states that have not (yet) brought the full controlling weight of the Law down on therapists and Moms and Dads. That's what the kid really  needs; being driven out-of-state on the weekend or his family moving outright to another state.

The most cruel and truly insidious (Note how the lefto-fascists "project" their wrongs onto others) aspect of this law is that it's supporters know fully well that many young people begin to feel inclinations towards homosexual or lesbian activity (as well as other self-destructive sexual practices) as a consequence of prior sexual abuse. The Left and their radical gay allies so detest this sad reality that will railroad legislative action through lawmaking bodies in order to bury forever any chance of ever having to admit that therapists are finding that a significant amount of their clients* can trace their same-sex inclinations back to a period of sexual abuse. 

[*Parents of a son who has acted like a girl since he was a toddler are highly unlikely to waste their time trying to redirect him to start being attracted to girls]

To the Left and their allies, we can never speak of such things since we are all required to hold that all such inclinations are always healthy. We certainly must be prevented from ever speaking of such a link.

Here is where the insidious nature of this law is fully exposed; not only will young people be prevented from realizing that their inclinations are a result of having been victimized, they will now - thanks to "Governor Fats" be denied an opportunity to actually tell a therapist that a crime or period of crimes have occurred.  Victims often go months without telling a therapist about past sexual abuse. Now, without having seen a therapist at all (because everything is OK), the probability that the victim will say anything at all is quite remote.Note that being able to address sexual abuse as early as possible is the best means to help a young person and that this opportunity has been dealt a major blow.

Victims of sexual abuse often do not inform anyone about the crimes that have been committed against them until they are much older -sometimes long after they themselves have their own children. By that time, the victims will have suffered needless additional years of guilt, shame and loneliness and more needless years of engaging in sexual inclinations that may easily have been addressed when they were young. Other potential (past, present, and future) victims of the same abuser will not have been rescued or prevented from falling into his hideous grasp and,

get ready for the blaster - 

-the criminal may have died in the meantime; leaving the victim with no chance for justice, a healthy and dignified confrontation with the abuser, and the monster having successfully avoided criminal prosecution.

Great job, Fats - you are an awesome Governor and a great leader.

We are two different countries, and we need to act on that reality.

Sex Abuse Victim's Family Endures Horrific Treatment By Teachers and Others

The lack of empathy about which you will read here is mind-boggling.

This tragic and gut-wrenching story has been around for some time, but I only became aware of it today.

In Rose, Michigan, a young boy had been terribly abused sexually for years by a middle school teacher. The video of the interview of the boy's father by Glenn beck was so difficult to follow that I almost clicked off of the page. The man was barely able to stop himself from breaking down and sobbing as he recounted the drastic change in his son's behavior during the period of abuse and the fact that his son had lost so many years of his childhood. Text of the interview is below the embedded video.

The monster must have been the one who uploaded photos of the boy to a porn site as the police only learned of the crimes after someone provided an anonymous tip about the photos.

http://www.glennbeck.com/2013/08/19/teachers-in-mi-stand-behind-a-colleague-convicted-of-rape-glenn-speaks-to-the-victim%E2%80%99s-father/

If you went straight to the linked page, you caught the fact that the story gets worse; the monster was actually the beneficiary of support from several of his colleagues. Six teachers and one board member, apparently having abandoned their conscience and any sense of shame long ago, wrote letters to the judge requesting that the creep be granted a more lenient sentence. They also attended the sentencing in a show of support:

"....Erickson was convicted of statutory rape after a picture surfaced of the boy in a compromising position with the teacher. On July 10, 2013, the judge sentenced Erickson to 15-30 years in prison, but six educators and one school board member came out in support of the teacher and asked for leniency. According to The Detriot News:

Before the sentencing, six teachers and two retired ones wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency.

None of the teachers condoned what Erickson did. Instead, their letters focused on his 17 years of teaching, describing his popularity with students and teachers, how hard he worked and how often he volunteered for school functions."

In response to these shameless acts that start with the clearly false assumption that having been a pretty nice guy on the surface should be a mitigating factor for criminal sentencing when the crime is one of violence - one that involves a child no less, calls have been made to have these enablers fired from their positions:


"Parents in the town have since called for the firing of the teachers and board member who have defended. The town has balked at the requests claiming the firings would result in expensive litigation that would drive the city into bankruptcy. Tonight at the Ogemaw Heights High School auditorium at 7pm, there will be a meeting to decide the fate of the administrators....."


Here are the names of the supporting creeps:

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2013/08/14/justice-for-the-janczewskis-their-son-repeatedly-raped-for-years-by-middle-school-teacher-neal-erickson-who-was-president-of-the-michigan-teachers-union-and-even-now-supported-by-the-teachers/

"The School Board actually had membership who sat with the admitted rapist during the sentencing hearing. The support for the rapist so egregious even the judge had to admonish them for their audacity and detachment from reality.

Here is a link to some of the letters written in support:

Amy Huber Eagan – Read her letter HERE
mailto:hubera@wbrc.k12.mi.us
Carol Rau, Vocal Music Teacher – Read her letter HERE
mailto:rauc@wbrc.k12.mi.us
Harriet Coe, Retired Teacher – Read her letter HERE
Kathleen Palmer / Kathleen Scheel – Read her letter HERE
mailto:scheelk@wbrc.k12.mi.us
Marilyn S Glover – Read her letter HERE
mailto:gloverm@wbrc.k12.mi.us
Sally Campbell – Read her letter HERE
Sandi Lee – Read her letter HERE
mailto:lees@wbrc.k12.mi.us "

Believe it or not, it still gets worse:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/19/staggering-mich-family-violently-targeted-after-standing-against-teacher-who-molested-their-8th-grade-son/

".....John Janczewski, the father of the victim, spoke on the Glenn Beck radio program Monday about all that has happened to his family since the horrific molestation by now-former Rose City Middle School teacher Neal Erickson came to light. He said he and his wife have been threatened and attacked for speaking out against the teachers.

“At one thirty in the morning on a Saturday, I was awoken to a bomb sound going off,” Janczewski said, choking back emotion. “I went to the window to find my garage was on fire and engulfed in flames, my camper and the side of my house…If I wouldn’t have woken up, we could’ve all died.”

“Whoever’s done this has no remorse,” he told the Ogemaw County Herald earlier. “They have no soul.”

The family also had the letters “YWP” and “ITY” spray painted on the side of their house, which Janczewski thinks mean “you will pay” and “I told you.”

But why on earth would they be attacked for speaking out in defense of their son, Beck asked? He also added to the audience: “Do you want somebody who says 15-30 years for raping a child, an 8th grader, is a little harsh? Do you want them teaching your child?”

Janczewski said they’re being targeted because they want the six teachers and a board member who sat with the pedophile’s family in court fired. Some have also said the issue could bankrupt the county, but Janczewski persisted: “Since when do we put a price on a child? Since when? It is wrong. How many teachers are going to turn a blind eye? These teachers cannot be trusted, they cannot be trusted.”........"

At least the judge had the guts to give the supporting creeps a dose of reality:

"......Circuit Judge Michael Baumgartner said during the sentencing that he was “appalled and ashamed” at the community’s support for Erickson, saying: “What you did was a jab in the eye with a sharp stick to every parent who trusts a teacher.”


Our society is collapsing in to a morass supervised by pseudo-intellectuals, people who have assumed such a sense of hubris that they have no qualms with supporting one who should by all  rights be removed completely from the community - not for 15-30 years, but forever. Forget too much - his sentence was too lenient. 

Pride was the source of the first sin and that same pride has been embraced by those who played the sheep in high school and college. They eagerly swallowed the drivel that Leftist professors and other self-appointed social engineers fed them and enthusiastically employ it to destroy our society; reveling in their efforts and patting themselves on the back for doing so. Aren't we just so open minded compared to those ignorant and uneducated parents?

As for the attacks on the family, nothing more clearly illustrates the consequences of abandoning God and our culture. Empathy for others does not exist in a substantial portion of our population. The feelings and security of the child and the parents mean nothing to the sexual predators and their enablers. The evil has become so routine that not even the bad people can admit that the victims have suffered enough.

As I have previously, we are two utterly different countries; one right and one wrong. The People have some time left - not a lot mind you, but enough to allow some necessary changes to be made that will recognize that fact. I say that we should admit that they have become influential enough to have a part of the former Republic for themselves. Give them and the rest of their prideful lot their fair share of the country and we will take our share. Let them run their half into the ground.

When gangrene sets in, the infected tissue must be removed. 

We can't go on like this, and they will not let up. It's time for a divorce of peoples.

Cop Sues 911 Caller for Failing to Warn of Danger

http://www.keyetv.com/news/features/top-stories/stories/texas-deputy-suing-woman-called-911-11320.shtml

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/17/police-suing-woman-for-allegedly-failing-to-warn-officers-about-dangerous-situation-in-911-call/

Here is another one that can only be described as pathetic-

If a person calls 911 for a matter that is clearly not an emergency, that individual can and often is charged for misusing the system. 911 lines, the Public Safety Operators/Dispatchers, along with the officers that are required (Even if the call is a mistake) to be dispatched to the origin of the calls, need to be available to answer and respond to actual emergencies. Ergo, if an officer is dispatched in response to a 911 call, he needs to understand that not all of the people at the scene are going to be nice to him.

-From the top link:

"A Texas woman who's 911 call led to a police shooting is now facing a lawsuit from one of the responding officers. A deputy injured at the scene says the woman failed to warn police how dangerous the situation was. The call was made in December in Harris County, but Deputy Braden Pullen says when he arrived the suspect was belligerent, high on bath salts ["Bath Salts" is the name for the type of drug now in vogue, not salts for bathing] , and assaulted him. Deputy Pullen is now suing the homeowner who called 911 for alleging that she did not adequately warn others of how dangerous the man was. Pullen's attorney says he suffered injuries because of the homeowner's negligence and failure to inform emergency workers of the man's potential for violence. Officials say this should not stop other people from calling 911 during emergencies. "Every day we have servant leaders who are responding to calls from the community. Continue to call us if you need the help, and we'll be there. And we'll be there to help," says Harris county Sheriff Adrian Garcia. Sheriff Garcia also says deputies are trained to expect dangerous circumstances when they arrive to the scene."

Aside from the obviously embarrassed Sheriff, whose jaw probably hit the floor when he became aware that Deputy Pullen had filed the lawsuit, we have yet another example of an individual who likely should have never been hired in the first place.(and one that has no sense of dignity either) I don't know haw badly he was hurt, nor what words were used by the caller to request a police response, but when a cop goes to a scene, he has to know that someone may act in a violent manner. As we have learned from incidents in which police were ambushed upon arrival or by a spouse who assaults the cop once she sees her abusive husband in handcuffs, hat someone could even be the caller. 

It's not fun, but it is part of the job.

The Sheriff is understandably concerned that a consequence of this suit will be that people will, fearful of being accused of withholding information, either now tie up a dispatcher while he goes into a long explanation of all details of which he is aware or just decide to refrain from using 911 altogether. 

In most states, cops have Oleoresin Capsaicin (Pepper) spray and Tasers (electrical charge) tools for incapacitating a suspect that is not posing an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm to the cop. The cop needs to aware of his surroundings, keep his guard up, and basically act like a cop. If you get hurt, you remind yourself that, like a roofer who may fall off of a roof or a butcher who may get cut, certain less-than-pleasant things come with  the job.

I wonder what kind of reputation this officer now has (if it even was OK until this point) among his fellow officers. When I was in that line of work (prior to my retirement), we had words for officers who wanted the badge, gun, and the image of being a cop but thought that they were too good to get hurt. This was particularly true in K9 units. Some cops wanted the truck and the dog, but did all that they could to avoid ever having to the the guy who wears the bite sleeve or bite suit because they didn't want their skin to get any annoying holes from dogs that needed to learn how to bite - and hard. Others would join the SWAT team, but didn't want to slog through marshes in an attempt to locate a suspect.

Before the Left had their successes in telling men that they don't have to act like men, cops would be more afraid of being perceived as cowards or worse by their peers than they would of being injured. 

People are often reluctant to tell  authorities that a friend or family member has engaged in illegal activity. They may want the individual to be removed from the house, but also hope that he is not charged criminally. A responding officer knows that  the scene to which he has been dispatched may well have a lot of surprises for him. If he believes that the threat is sufficient to call for a backup, then he calls for assistance via his radio and and waits for help. If a threat develops quickly and without warning, then he must take appropriate action.

If the caller is deemed to have used an emergency system such as 911 for something that is not an emergency, then he must be charged for misuse of the system. If a cop is responding to any call, especially one received on a 911 line, then he knows that things could turn ugly. 

From the way it appears now, this suit should be dismissed.

Media Bewails Egypt Deaths, Ignores Attacks on Christians and Their Churches

The media would have us believe that the Egyptian army is going about randomly choosing which Muslim Brotherhood supporters will live and which ones will die. The violent acts that precipitate these actual use of violence by Egyptian soldiers is not largely, but almost completely, ignored. So enamored in the Western Leftist media with Islam (a pan-national religion that calls for the subjugation of Christians are two good reasons for them) that they are trying their darnedest to portray the army as a bunch of murderous thugs out to destroy a moderate political party.

The truth of course is that many of the Muslim Brotherhood supporters are extraordinarily violent and that they know that forcing the soldiers to use violence is a great way to get press coverage from a dhimmified Western media; something that will in turn have a good chance of getting the EU and the US to drop any support for the provisional* government and hopefully start sending weapons to the MB - just as we have done in Syria.

[*Note that the first post had 'improvisational", which was a spell check error and certainly not a clever pun]

The Defense Minister has taken the bold step of promising to rebuild Christian Churches that have been ruined by MB supporters. This is a noble but risky move. The MB blames the Christians for the ouster of Morsi in the first place and  repairing the churches will just reinforce this assumption and possibly result in other Muslims joining in with the MB. The promise is also a tall order as the amount of Churches that have suffered damage is sickeningly long; another fact that the Western media ignores.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/16/egyptian-military-chief-vows-to-rebuild-coptic-churches/

The following is is list of the Churches that have been attacked in the last three days. May God put a stop to this:

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-list-of-Christian-churches,-schools,-institutions,-shops-torched-by-the-Muslim-Brotherhood-in-the-last-three-days-28764.html

http://gatesofvienna.net/2013/08/the-roster-of-christian-persecution-in-egypt/

"Catholic churches and convents
1. Franciscan church and school (road 23) - burned (Suez)
2. Monastery of the Holy Shepherd and hospital - burned (Suez)
3. Church of the Good Shepherd, Monastery of the Good Shepherd - burned in molotov attack (Asuit)
4. Coptic Catholic Church of St. George - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
5. Church of the Jesuits - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
6. Fatima Basilica - attacked - Heliopolis
7. Coptic Catholic Church of St. Mark - burned (Minya - Upper Egypt)
8. Franciscan convent (Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) - burned (Beni Suef, Upper Egypt)
9. Church of St. Teresa - burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
10. Franciscan Church and School - burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
11. Convent of St Joseph and school - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
12. Coptic Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart - torched (Minya, Upper Egypt)
13 Convent of the Sisters of Saint Mary - attacked (Cairo)
14. School of the Holy Shepherd - attacked (Minya, Upper Egypt)

Orthodox and Evangelical Churches
1. Anglican Church of St. Saviour - burned (Suez)
2. Evangelical Church of St Michael - surrounded and sacked (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
3. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George - Burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
4. Church of Al-Esla - burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
5. Adventist Church - burned, the pastor and his wife abducted (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
6. Church of the Apostles - burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
7. Church of the Holy renewal - burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
8. Diocesan Centre Coptic Orthodox Qusiya - burned (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
9. Church of St. George - burned (Arish, North Egypt)
10. Church of St. George in al-Wasta - burned (Beni Suef, Upper Egypt)
11. Church of the Virgin Mary - attacked (Maadi, Cairo)
12. Church of the Virgin Mary - attacked (Mostorod, Cairo)
13. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George - attacked (Helwan, Cairo)
14. Church of ​​St. Mary of El Naziah - burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
15. Church of Santa Damiana - sacked and burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
16. Church of St. Theodore - burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
17. Evangelical Church of al-Zorby - Sacked and destroyed (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
18. Church of St. Joseph - burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
19. Franciscan School - burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
20. Coptic Orthodox Diocesan Center of St. Paul - burned (Gharbiya, Delta)
21. Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Anthony - burned (Giza)
22. Coptic Church of St. George - burned (Atfeeh, Giza)
23. Church of the Virgin Mary and father Abraham - burned (Delga, Deir Mawas, Minya, Upper Egypt)
24. Church of St. Mina Abu Hilal Kebly - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
25. Baptist Church in Beni Mazar - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
26. Church of Amir Tawadros - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
27. Evangelical Church - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
28. Church of Anba Moussa al-Aswad- burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
29. Church of the Apostles - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
30. Church of St Mary - arson attempt (Qena, Upper Egypt)
31. Coptic Church of St. George - burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
32. Church of Santa Damiana - Attacked and burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
33. Church of the Virgin Mary - burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
34. Church of St. Mark and community center - burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)
35. Church of Anba Abram - destroyed and burned (Sohag, Upper Egypt)

Christian institutions
1. House of Fr. Angelos (pastor of the church of the Virgin Mary and Father Abraham) - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
2. Properties and shops of Christians - Burnt (Arish, North Egypt)
3. 17 Christian homes attacked and looted (Minya, Upper Egypt)
4. Christian homes - Attach (Asuit, Upper Egypt)
5. Offices of the Evangelical Foundation - burned (Minya, Upper Egypt)
6. Stores, pharmacies, hotels owned by Christians - attacked and looted (Luxor, Upper Egypt)
7. Library of the Bible Society - burned (Cairo)
8. Bible Society - burned (Fayoum, Upper Egypt)
9. Bible Society- burned (Asuit, North Egypt)."

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/17/gunmen-indiscriminately-massacre-christians-in-syrian-village-women-children-among-dead/

In Syria, more of the same:

"DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Gunmen shot dead 11 people, mostly Christians, in central Syria on Saturday, state media and activists said. A witness described what appeared to be a sectarian attack indiscriminately targeting members of the minority.

A resident in the area told The Associated Press that the gunmen randomly opened fire on a street as Christians were celebrating a feast day. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

The state-run SANA news agency described the attack as a “massacre” and said that women and children were among the dead......"

Sex Offender Back at Her Underage Victim

Previous posts-

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2013/05/lesbians-incapable-of-statutory-rape.html

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2013/05/fla-lesbian-sex-offender-case-facts.html
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In a case that exemplified the communal rage and hatred that will be leveled at anyone who dares questions the fence of perfection and protection that has been set up around virtually any gay or lesbian despite his or her actions, the sanctified offender has reportedly engaged in all roosts of contact with her victim. If that wasn't enough, the mother of the offender, who had previously waged a PSYOPS campaign that fed the public lies about the ages of both the offender and victim, also appears to have committed an act of intimidating a witness:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/16/keep-the-fk-quiet-former-high-school-cheerleader-allegedly-violated-bond-had-sex-with-underage-lesbian-girlfriend-two-weeks-ago/

"Kaitlyn Hunt, the 19-year-old former cheerleader who was given a new plea deal [and a really sweet deal at that] in the dramatic case surrounding her sexual encounters with a 14-year-old girl, has defied court orders to stay away from the minor, according to an explosive court document.

According to the document, filed by prosecutors Aug. 15:
Hunt, of Sebastian, Fla., placed an iPod in her former girlfriend’s locker at school in March. Over the next several months, Hunt contacted the minor “almost daily” and more than 20,000 text messages between the two have surfaced.
“I’m out of jail on bond,” Hunt texted in May to the underage girl, who has remained unnamed. “I’ll sit in jail until trial starts.” [If it is reported that she is having contact with her victim] Then Hunt warns her: “Keep the f**k quiet.”

Another warning from Hunt later in May: “No matter what, if they find out we talked I’m going to jail until trial starts.”
And this one four days later from Hunt: “If my mom finds we’re talking I’m blaming it on you.”

The state has more than 25 lewd photos of Hunt that she sent to her lover’s iPod, some that show her fully nude and engaging in “sex acts,” as well as videos—one of which depicts Hunt “masturbating…while moaning.”

Hunt arranged meetings with the underage girl in which Hunt picked her up and drove her to a remote location where they engaged in “intimate physical contact,” and these meetings took place as recently as two weeks ago.

After Hunt discovered her lover had told her parents about their continued relationship., Hunt texted the girl: “F**k you..you’re stupid. You want me to go in jail…You’re such a messed up person…you snitched on me. God only knows what you’ll do when pressed in court. Bye.”

In June Hunt texted the girl: “So you aren’t going to lie for me..”

Hunt’s mother, Kelley Hunt Smith, tried to help her daughter cover her tracks by texting the underage girl herself: “Delete EVERYTHING…PLEASE delete everything and make sure NO ONE finds out you’ve spoken to Kate at all.”

“It is apparent that the conduct of both the defendant and Kelley Hunt Smith is severely threatening the integrity of the judicial process,” the document concludes, urging the court to enforce its bond order on Hunt, which means she may be headed to jail.

The Florida state attorney’s office had offered Hunt a deal that would save her from a possible 15-year prison sentence if she’s convicted of sex with a minor during her coming trial this fall. Rather than being placed behind bars, the deal states that Hunt would get three years probation and an 11 p.m. curfew. [Well, that deal looks to be down the toilet]

Note that the above deal was offered after the first one below, which was also quite lenient considering the circumstances. An 18 -year old man would have been hammered and sent to prison, but a woman with pretty eyes with a supporting campaign of  pro-gay thuggery caused the prosecutors to back off.

In exchange for agreeing to these demands, among others, all charges would be wiped from Hunt’s record following the completion of the three-year period. She would also not be given a felony conviction, nor would she be forced to register as a sex offender. Previously, Hunt was given a deal that included two years of house arrest; this has been dropped from the new option prosecutors are giving her........."

One thing that is conspicuously absent are the claims of Ms. Hunt's parents that her daughter has psychological issues and needs help rather than imprisonment. I would not accept that such issues signify that she should not be prosecuted or found guilty, but at least one could comprehend that the parents would be trying to help their daughter obtain a lesser sentence along with mandatory counseling. 

In our current society, however, this is a no-go. If Ms. Hunt or her parents had sought this option, the full weight of the gay/lesbian/transgender army would have come down in condemnation of all of them, and all support for Ms. Hunt would have vanished in the blink of an eye. Taking a position that her crime was anything other than normal would result in an anathema being placed on their heads for daring to stray from the chalk line that insists that everything she did must be treated as perfectly fine.

From previous posts on this case:

"An 18 year-old high school student has a sexual relationship with a student that had not reached the minimum age of consent (For sex with an adult) in Florida. When the parents of the victim find out, they sought to have charges filed against the older student, who was arrested and is in the process of dealing with the charges in the courts.

While our kids are being told to go crazy with sexual relationships and forget about any consequences, this type of event is occurring more often, but the law is in place for a reason. 14 year-olds are in no way ready for sex, especially with one that is legally an adult.

You have to read the article to really get this. All of the it's not (Usually - his) fault excuses are there.

-It was consensual.

-The younger student (Read Victim) looked much older.

-The older student was a model student and athlete had so much of her life ahead of her and it's all being ruined.

The one twist to the usual litany of excuses is that the only reason that this is being done is because the sexual relationship was of the same-sex type.

My son is a high school junior. Although I would have done so if I felt it was needed, I never told him verbatim that he could not date girls much younger than he. Possibly from hearing me speak about such things in general  or maybe just due to having common sense and empathy for younger and more impressionable people, he just figured it out on his own.

Apparently no such act of upbringing or plain thinking was a part of Ms. Hunt's home life or mindset.

Were the parents of the victim (Consensual or not, she is a victim) maybe 20% more upset that the relationship was of the lesbian type than if the perpetrator had been a male? OK, fine, but laws are on the books in cases like these to prevent older people (No matter what gender) from taking advantage of younger people, so the parents of the victim have every right to fight to ensure that these charges don't get dropped or watered down to the point of being worthless. They do not need to make arguments is defense of their feelings or outrage. Criminal laws - so far, do not have same-sex exceptions.

I won't even dwell on the fact that a 14 year-old, besides being inherently unready for sex, is often confused about sexuality and should be free from being courted for Homosexual/Lesbian acts, particularly when the other person is an adult.

Liberals no doubt are championing MS. Hint's cause as what they ultimately want is for all restrictions, laws, and concepts of right and wrong abolished.

I will bet my bottom dollar that NAMBLA is watching this case with baited breath."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Added 5/25/13 to the 2/24/13 post-
It hit me this morning - with they way the Left has it set up now, you are allowed no legal recourse if your kid is victimized by a Gay or Lesbian individual. If an 18 year-old boy had done this sick thing, no one would care, but since we have a non-heterosexual involved, this can be used as a tool to wreck society. The authorities and the anguish-wracked parents have to be subjected to constant attacks that will dissuade others from doing the right thing.

That is how the Left uses their invention of Political Correctness to silence any opposition to their agenda or any effort to serve Justice.

The victim's parents are clearly not only greatly concerned for what happened to their daughter, but they also - and inexplicably so, gave the offender a chance to back off their kid (After another parent had done the same) instead of going to the cops in the first place:.........

The most telling part of this story, and one that says the most about the current state of our society,  is the ease which the Ms. Hunt and her parents had in assembling such a horde of solicited and unsolicited support for the offender. A simple case of an adult taking advantage of a child over a year shy of the age of consent has turned into a Cause celebre. Supporters have decided to raise the flag of Gay/Lesbian rights to advocate ignoring the law and to accuse the victim's parents of homophobia. "Stop the Hate, Free Kate" T-shirts have become a uniform of some of the forces that are tearing the fabric of the nation apart.

The offender's mother has been displayed tremendous energy and willingness to employ vitriol - letting no opportunity to slander the victim's parents pass. She also seems to believe herself to be a mind reader:

"[The offender's mother] Smith described the younger girl’s family as “bigoted, religious[zealots]” who believe that being gay is a sin. They seemingly blame Hunt for their daughter’s sexuality and are taking legal action to punish her as a result, she charges.Smith also characterized the family as being out to destroy her daughter’s life."

In addition to promised attacks on the Attorney General/Prosecutor's Office. they have also vowed to attack the school administration that initially (Again inexplicably) was inclined to ignore the crime; not because they failed to do their job in the first place, but because they eventually did move the offender out of the school. "

Revised -Retired Marine Colonel on Militarization of Our Police

A retired Marine Colonel may have provided the People with a true wake-up call when he clearly and boldly explained to town council the dangers of the militarization and continued issuing of heavy equipment to civilian police agencies. Links to the article and the video of his statements, which were met with wild applause, are at bottom. Obama may well be getting his long-desired Civilian National Security Force "that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.” as our military.  As my comments below illustrate, such a force is far more dangerous to the People than our military.
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Added 8/16/13:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/15/is-everybody-blind-city-council-meeting-erupts-in-applause-after-ex-marine-issues-dire-warning-about-u-s-building-a-domestic-army/
Finally, some text to quote the Colonel. I can't type what I hear on audio or video:

"..............And second thing was… I was a Ministry of Defense Coordinator. Where job was to man, train and equip the Iraqi Army…and I can tell you right now…Somebody had the idea to get rid of the Iraqi Army…When we rebuilt it, we did everything we could to make it as strong as possible. And I’ll tell you right now, Homeland Security would kick their butts in a week.

What’s happening here is we’re building a domestic military because it’s unlawful and unconstitutional to use American troops on American soil. So what we’re doing is building a military.

My best friend, who is a SWAT officer in Nashua (NH), came to Iraq with me to train the Iraqi police, sent me a picture of him in the media, on the streets of Watertown, MASS, wearing the exact same combat gear we had in Iraq, only was a different color.

The way we do things in the military is called “task organization.” You take a command and then you attach units to it in order to accomplish the mission. What’s happening is, Homeland Security is pre-staging gear, equipment. What they’re trying to do is use standardized vehicles, standardized equipment.

I saw a picture in the Boston Globe during the Boston Marathon bombing, where there was a State police officer…actually there were two officers, they both had identical helmets, flak jackets, weapons, everything I wore in Iraq, only it was all blue. The officer on one side had a big patch that said Massachusetts State Police…the other officer next to him…his patch said Boston Police.

What we’re doing here, and let’s not kid about it, we’re building a domestic army and we’re shrinking the military because the government is afraid of it’s own citizens.........

So I don’t know where we’re gonna use this many vehicles and this many troops. Concord is just one little cog in the wheel. We’re building an army over here and I can’t believe people aren’t seeing it.

Is everybody blind? (crowd erupts in applause – “thank you” is heard from someone close to the camera)."
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The militarization of police, at all levels of government, in the United States is certainly an issue of great concern. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 effectively prohibited US military personnel from being employed to enforce criminal/civil law within the nation. Federal troops can be deployed in situations in which a state of emergency has been  declared, such as with the Los Angeles riots of 1992, but these are to be used in a support status and coordinated with civil authorities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act

Law enforcement personnel, including those under the supervision pf the Department of Homeland Security (a body seemingly growing in scope and authority by the day), are in contrast specifically charged with the task of enforcing the Law. Historically, these agencies were not well-equipped to handle situations such as barricaded suspects. Enter the SWAT team; the officers units had training and equipment that would enable them to do what the officer on standard patrol duty could not.

After being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and being hired by a local law enforcement agency, I served on my agency's SWAT team from the early to late 90's. During that period, I noted that our equipment, training, and structure was becoming quite militarized. We also began to acquire equipment and training from the Federal government. A change in mindset accompanied this development. Officers who had never served in the military started to labor under the impression that their level of training not only approached* (Which was not even close) but surpassed that of actual military personnel. One in particular had big plans - he had designs to make his unit "....better than the SEALS". That claim left me utterly speechless. I mean, he just had no clue whatsoever.

The response to the Columbine slaughter exemplified both the drawbacks of overt militarization of our cops and the fact that cops simply do not think like soldiers do. Waiting for backup and the arrival of sufficient numbers if SWAT personnel to conduct a textbook SWAT  operation, the responding patrol and later SWAT officers waited - for a very long time, while students were being killed and. Once enough arrived to do things "by the book", they crept through the school ever-so-slowly while severely injured students went without medical attention. To them, every nook and cranny needed to be cleared before the unit moved to the next room or hallway.

Militarily personnel are trained with a Mission First -Troops Second mentality, cops are not. An infantry unit, if given the order, will attempt to accomplish the mission with the troops and and equipment available at the time. They will move through hostile forces if need be. Police dogma does not even come close to this.

SWAT teams do not have the same level of training as do military personnel, but they think that they are actually more highly trained, and that its frightening.

Also frightening is the fact that, as the Colonel noted, police agencies are not only acquiring armored vehicles and other types of equipment that one would expect to see at a military base, it is also standardized, often down to the same exact model. With the streamlining of Emergency Incident Response procedures and Mutual Aid agreements, it is guaranteed that officers can be detached and and reassigned to units comprised of officers from other agencies quite seamlessly. In a scenario in which the People are being targeted for standing  up for their rights, officers would not even have the advantage of working with officers with whom they are familiar, something which often provides a natural "braking mechanism" when given orders that are problematic. Old friends have ways of letting their partners know that they see something wrong without saying a word - a good start if officers need to decide on their own to "stand down".

When equipment is issued or subsidized at state or national level, local agencies are obligated by contract to dispatch that equipment, along with trained officers, to large-scale events. These are referred to as "Task Forces". Several  cops from your town or county could be away for days or weeks at a time. Following September 11th, officers from across the nation were assigned to and received training for a rapid reaction force, the name of which escapes me at the moment, for deployment to emergencies anywhere in the state or nation. Jurisdictional authority would be provided simply for "swearing in" the responding offers to give them powers of arrest in that state. They were used in events such as Katrina, but an "emergency" is subject to interpretation, and your officers could well be two or more thousand miles away dealing with a body of Americans who are standing up for their rights.

The Colonel was correct in noting that the Federal Government is effectively creating an army that is not restricted by the Posse Comitatus Act, which brings me to the most frightening part:

In order for military units to go into action, be it to destroy an opposing force, suppress a movement of the People, or prevent a necessary movement of the People from being suppressed, a tremendous amount of steps need to be followed. Orders must be given to all combat and support units. This includes issuing of operation orders, weapons, transportation, equipment, fuel and other necessities. A military unit, even if its command staff and troops know that something is dreadfully wrong and that action must be taken, is almost powerless to act if an order has not been sent via the chain of command. Virtually an entire battalion of staff officers has to be of the same mind in order for such an act to have a chance of happening. A smaller unit attempting such a move will see its officers relieved of command and detained and the troops confined to barracks - prohibited of course from any contact outside of the base or post.

In a similar scenario involving the dispatch of police forces, it is far easier. Police agencies have their equipment on hand, and their operational procedures are much more conducive to an immediate deployment at the word of a Chief or other superior officer. Federal and State agencies are massive in size and have sufficient assets to operate for weeks. The mind-boggling amount of ammunition that has been purchased and stored across the nation by the Department of Homeland Security allows for an almost unlimited supply. Add the call for to-be-attached officers from local agencies with their issued equipment, and the new army, which takes its orders from Civil authorities, is a tool that can be wielded in an unchecked  manner against the People. When the cops are told that the targets are in violation of the Law, their minds are geared towards making arrests. They also have not been educated to appreciate their mission to protect the People, Constitution, and the nation as have military personnel. I was in both worlds, and I can assure you that the mindset is as different as can be.


Please watch the video

http://www.businessinsider.com/marine-colonel-domestic-army-2013-8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y4zsgymRxE#at=170







*Some cops who have never been in the military though, tend to heap much importance on their work tasks and thus equate their work more or less with that of infantry soldiers (This is particularly true with SWAT personnel). They move and communicate tactically, shoot military-type weapons, stay in better physical condition, etc. The similarities stop at that point. From there the infantryman picks up a long, extremely physically demanding grind of heavy and extended work that taxes every guy until he needs to call upon himself to continue, even if it is to avoid being ostracized by his peers for failing to keep up.

Teachers Group Redefines Literacy - Again

Being a compulsive reader, I feel as if I have been hit squarely in the gut whenever I encounter another young person, including 20-somethings, who can barely read. As an individual who has a deep appreciation for understanding the origins/foundations of one's culture or civilization, I grieve at the thought of multiple generations of Americans who will find  it too hard a task even to learn about events and individuals who were crucial to the development of Western Culture. These are no longer taught in our schools, and the consequence of enforced illiteracy is that it is too difficult a task for many to attempt to learn on their own.

My first post on this immensely important subject treated the crime of the wholesale abandonment of the use of our alphabet to teach children to read. Word Recognition, Whole-Word, Dolch System - all of these are euphemisms for creating functional illiterates:

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2012/01/common-probably-all-too-common-theme-of.html

My second post consisted of comments, along with excerpts from an outstanding source, on the Leftist-inspired origins of the Whole Word system. Those who introduced this system made it painfully clear that being able to read was overrated, and I am not kidding:

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2012/05/follow-up-on-enforced-illiteracy-in.html

The third concerned the lowering of acceptable literacy rates for black students in Florida schools. This one was the most sickening of the first three:

http://thehotgates480bc.blogspot.com/2012/10/left-assigns-lower-education-goals-for.html

This post treats an essay in The American Thinker from the same source that I quoted in the second. Bruce Deitrick Price runs a website http://improve-education.org/index.html that is dedicated to detailing the failures of our current educational models, exposing the advocates of the dysfunctional programs, and providing tools to overcome the restrictions imposed on our children by our educational system.

In this essay, Mr. Deitrick Price outlines one of the most recent moves by a teacher's group that purposely cheapens to very term "literacy". In the statements quoted below, literacy is said to mean almost anything. We are also assured that, due to the advances in digital technology, not only do young people already have sufficient knowledge that dwarfs that of their teachers, it is also of greater importance to ensure that they are more capable of readings tidbits dished out to them by their handlers on electronic media than to be able to research on their own:

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/what_is_literacy_in_the_21st_century.html

Bolding and bracketed statements are mine.

"The National Council of Teachers of English recently announced: "Literacy has always been a collection of cultural and communicative practices shared among members of particular groups. [Isn't that just a precious claim] As society and technology change, so does literacy." [Catch that. literacy "changes"]

These people give good sophistry. Presto, literacy can now be defined any way they want. When these Teachers of English get through, it's a safe bet they won't spend as much time teaching English.

The NCTE states: "[S]uccessful participants in this 21st century global society must: develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology; build intentional cross-cultural connections and relationships with others so to pose [sic] and solve problems collaboratively and strengthen independent thought; design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes; manage, analyze, and synthesize multiple streams of simultaneous information; create, critique, analyze, and evaluate multimedia texts; attend to the ethical responsibilities required by these complex environments."

A bunch of school teachers presented the NCTE's thinking in a video titled "What Does It Mean to be Literate in the 21st Century?" They concluded: "[N]ew media in a technological world is shaping the lives of youth and that as a result, redefining the literacy skills that will be necessary for youth to be able to function successfully in the world they are growing up in. [Teachers dangling prepositions]  The latter implies, by necessity, that the how, what and why of teaching literacy must also change."

These teachers, not too literate themselves, expect that the "static, print-centric notion of literacy" will be discarded.

So here's the unfolding plan. Concoct dozens of phrases containing the word literacy. Insist that kids must have them all: computer literacy, digital literacy, information literacy, social literacy, visual literacy, critical literacy, financial literacy, entertainment literacy, health literacy, etc.

My favorite bit in this video is when a teacher says: "There is no way teachers know a fraction of what the kids know. Most of the kids in the higher grades know way more than we do." This is capitulation. Teachers (now called facilitators) aren't expected to teach, so they don't have to know a lot. All the things the kids know by using iPhones and iPads will define a literate person. Students walk into school almost a finished product.
Skill with computers is a wonderful thing. But does it follow that traditional skills become trivial?.........

Keep in mind that the stats on literacy have been declining for 80 years. Way before anyone heard of computers, public schools routinely neglected the basic skills. Clearly, progressive educators never considered literacy a top priority. Now, they have a new excuse for giving it even less attention. Instead of emergency action on the reading front, which we desperately need, the people in charge of teaching English are saying no, don't bother with that old-fashioned stuff..........."

My computer is terribly slow tonight, so I will be brief.

GPS systems are great. In the wilderness they can pinpoint your location and that of your destinations, provide you with a direction and length of travel, and and often have many other neat tricks such as beacons that can be used when injured. What they cannot do, though is be a substitute for knowing how to use a compass and a map, including all the field-expedient methods for determining direction and distance. Batteries die, satellites systems go on the fritz, excessive cloud cover or heavy tree canopies block signals, and broken GPS units will leave one lost beyond measure if the basics have not been learned. If a hiker cannot break out a full-sized map and be able to understand the meanings of the colors, elevation lines, or azimuth adjustments, let alone find what one sees in the actual terrain on the map itself, then he is not a hiker at all and has no business going it alone in the woods. 

If a student cannot read as well as his grandfather, then he was not taught how to read. He will not be able to make his way in the world without an excessive reliance on electronic gadgets (as great as they are if used properly) and other people.

Syrian Church Destroyed, Looted

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2013/08/syrian-jihadists-destroy-orthodox-church.html

http://www.aina.org/news/2013089111228.htm

-Compliments of US tax dollars.

(AINA) -- The Antiochian Orthodox church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus was a landmark of al-Thawrah (also known as al-Tabqah). It was an impressive, modern structure with a large yard, surrounded by a high wall and well-situated on a main street near the corniche -- a well landscaped area hugging the southern bank of Lake Assad which was popular with locals going on an evening stroll. Its elegant dome, surmounted by a cross, could be seen from all parts of the Third Quarter (also known as Hayy al-Ishtirakiyah), where it was located........

On February 11, rebel fighters from the Islamist Jihadist "al-Nusra Front" -- designated by the USA, UN, Australia and UK as a terrorist organisation -- took control of the city and its strategic hydroelectric dam, the largest of its kind in the country. They also seized control of the three quarters that housed dam workers and in which, of course, stood the Orthodox Church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus, and in which most of the Christians were settled.

Christian eyewitnesses who fled al-Thawrah, now displaced in other parts of Syria, as well as in Lebanon and Turkey, tell of religious discrimination by the rebels, as well as forced confiscation of Christian possessions and properties, with many items being sold on the black market in order to purchase weapons and ammunition. Even the churches weren't spared.

"The 'Free Syrian Army' demolished the [Sts. Sergius and Bacchus] church," lamented one refugee, "They tore up the sanctuary curtains, Bibles and other holy books, and broke all the crosses, chairs and icons of Jesus and the saints. They stole electrical appliances like fans, chandeliers and lights. They took whatever was in the church, and sold it all. There is nothing there now....................

"Even though I have left," recounted another Assyrian refugee, "the terrorists still call and text me from there, on my cell phone, to bother me. They recently called and told me: 'If you attempt to return to al-Tabqah we will cut off your head and display it on the mosque so that all the Muslims there can see it and be proud of it.' They say other things too, but what they say is so disturbing, that I keep my phone switched off unless I really need to use it."

Whilst it may be easy to switch off a cell phone, and ignore such threats, it is not so easy to shake off the trauma of dispossession and loss. After spending up to 45 years in a town which became their home, many of these refugees managed to escape with nothing but the clothes on their backs. "We have lost everything," said the head of an Assyrian household displaced from al-Thawrah, "There is nothing for us over there now, nothing to return to. We just need help to get out of here and settle in a country that's safe."

As the report notes, the al-Nusra Front is on the bad guy list and by extension not to be provided military aid or money, but there is no doubt that at least some of what the US does send to approved rebel groups finds its way to the Islamists. 

Syria was once a place in which Christians had some degree of protection, just as they did in Iraq and Egypt before the ''...no longer a Christian country" US decided that it would be better to unseat the autocrats and allow groups with agenda steeped in Islamic thought to make their way into the vacuum. G.W. Bush put the train in motion and Obama, as soon as the opportunity arose, hit full throttle and never looked back.

We are repeatedly told that the US is making every effort to ensure that military aid is only sent to approved groups, but these groups are viewed by the Islamists as government defectors and thus not to be trusted, hypocrites and not true Muslims, and weak enough to target for seizures of weapons:

http://reason.com/blog/2013/06/19/islamic-militants-are-sidelining-moderat

"As the Syrian civil war got under way, a former electrician who calls himself Sheikh Omar built up a brigade of rebel fighters. In two years of struggle against President Bashar al-Assad, they came to number 2,000 men, he said, here in the northern city of Aleppo. Then, virtually overnight, they collapsed.

Omar's group, Ghurabaa al-Sham, wasn't defeated by the government. It was dismantled by a rival band of revolutionaries - hardline Islamists.

The Islamists moved against them at the beginning of May. After three days of sporadic clashes Omar's more moderate fighters, accused by the Islamists of looting, caved in and dispersed, according to local residents. Omar said the end came swiftly.

The Islamists confiscated the brigade's weapons, ammunition and cars, Omar said. "They considered this war loot. Maybe they think we are competitors," he said. "We have no idea about their goals. What we have built in two years disappeared in a single day."

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/13/world/iraqi-al-qaida-group-widens-influence-in-syria/#.Ugrk0dKTjSg

"Civilian activists, rival rebel commanders and Westerners, including more than a dozen journalists and relief workers, have been assassinated or abducted in recent months in areas where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has a presence."

Syrians who had set up headquarters outside of their nation to organize the resistance have also been treated like garbage by the Islamists upon their return.

If Assad cannot keep the Syrian Army in one piece, Syria will collapse into a Sharia state.