Google Suppressing Truth Be Known

For the past couple of months, Google has been suppressing my website TruthBeKnown.com so that it doesn't come up in the search engine results. The reasons for this suppression are unclear. (Google is never clear about such things.)

In order to remedy this situation, I have completely gutted and redone my site, and have been patiently waiting for my site to be reinstated, to no avail. As it stands, no one can even find my site by doing a search on my name! The same thing occurs with numerous search terms that I continue to rank well with on Yahoo and MSN, whose policies appear to be more reasonable at this point and whose search results in this case are obviously much better at this time.

Since my site is certainly not in violation of Google's "Terms of Service," I have to wonder what this penalty is really about at this point. My website is an "old, trusted authority site" online for almost a decade, with thousands of inbound links, many of which are also from trusted authority sites, such as .edu. Is there some type of bias going on, or will Google finally stop suppressing my site so that their search engine results are more appropriate?

Whenever someone does a search on Google, there is a link at the bottom in a blue box that says "Dissatisfied? Help us improve." If one clicks on that link, a box will come up regarding the relevant search term, asking for a reason "why you were dissatisfied with the search results." There is also a space for a URL/link that one would expect to see when one searches for that term, such as http://www.truthbeknown.com

If one tries to do a search for "Acharya S" or "Truth Be Known," my site should come up at the top - which it used to before it was being suppressed. It may be that Google responds to these "dissatisfaction" comments, if one is inclined to make them. Perhaps the more (polite) comments Google receives, the more attention it pays to problems.

Every day this situation goes on is another day that people can't find my site or any of its many original articles.

As another example, my site used to rank no. 1 for "origins of christianity," which would get a person to http://www.truthbeknown.com/origins.htm It still ranks right up there on Yahoo, but in Google it's nowhere to be found.

Ditto with "quotes from the koran," which used to bring up http://www.truthbeknown.com/islamquotes.htm

There are many more examples like these. Again, obviously, my site is being deliberately suppressed by Google.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue. Hopefully this situation with Google can e resolved soon.

(FYI, last year Google suddenly de-indexed the entire TalkOrigins website because of a hacker issue. Fortunately, after much rabble-rousing Google reinstated the site.)

ZEITGEIST - New Ebook!

I am delighted to announce that I have recently completed a new ebook called The Companion Guide to ZEITGEIST, Part 1.

If you liked the hit viral movie ZEITGEIST, you'll love this ebook.

The Companion Guide to ZEITGEIST backs up a number of the most important claims in Part 1 of the movie - claims that have caused a great deal of debate in forums all over the net!

If you want to know the truth behind some of those claims, you need this companion guide.

Instantly downloadable and printable - get your copy today!

The Companion Guide is endorsed by Peter J., the creator of ZEITGEIST.

Acharya S on Black Op Radio - ZEITGEIST!

Tomorrow night, Thursday, December 6th, beginning around 9:45 PM EST/6:45 PST, I will be appearing on Black Op Radio with Len Osanic.

Go here to listen:

Black Op Radio
www.blackopradio.com

This show will be LIVE, but it will also be archived in case you miss it.

We will be discussing the hit movie ZEITGEIST, Part 1. I am currently working on The Companion Guide to ZEITGEIST, Part 1.

Be sure to listen in!

Acharya S
Author, The Christ Conspiracy: The Greatest Story Ever Sold
Suns of God: Krishna, Buddha and Christ Unveiled
Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ

"Who Was Jesus?" Controversial Book!

Just in time for Christmas is the release of my new paperback Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ, published through my company Stellar House Publishing.

In this highly controversial book I demonstrate that the gospel accounts cannot be taken as "reliable history." Instead they constitute propaganda created by the priesthoods of the time for a variety of purposes, including usurping the other gods of the Roman Empire. In this CSI-style investigation, it becomes clear that there simply is no credible and scientifically valid evidence that Jesus Christ even existed, much less did or said the things in the New Testament, which aren't always very "godly" or moral.

Check it out!

Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of The Christ

The Islamization of Europe

This video is a speech by British politician Nick Griffin at Clemson University on October 24, 2007. Mr. Griffin is well educated about Islam and what is happening in Europe as I write. The figures he gives are alarming, to say the least.

"In France...70% of all prisoners in French prisons are Muslims."

"In Muslim areas of London, white boys are relentlessly beaten night after night after night, just for being white and walking down the street. And white girls and Sikh girls and Hindu girls and black girls are relentlessly hit upon, quite often literally dragged, and gang-raped."

"...the rural areas of Norway now are literally filling up with middle-class liberals fleeing from Holland, where their ideology has helped to create in Holland a multicultural society which is set to be taken over by Islam, so now, the ones with the money are running away from it."

"The Parliamentary Commission in Holland last year concluded that by 2017 at the very latest all of Holland's cities would be majority Muslim."

"More than half of all school-aged children in France in 10 or 12 years will be Muslim."

"In Denmark, Muslims at present officially make up 5% of the population, but they take up 40% of all the money spent on welfare benefits."

And so on. Everyone needs to watch this video. This phenomenon does not end with the Atlantic Ocean but is finding its way, slower but as surely, across the Pond into Canada and the U.S. Australia and New Zealand are also being challenged in this regard. So far, South America remains relatively untouched, but there are growing settlements there - at this point largely terrorist operations - poised to assault the United States as well.

Sam Harris on Islam

The following is a partial transcript of a speech given in 2007 by philosopher Sam Harris regarding the mainstream muzzling of those who speak out about the very serious threat of Islam. We are extremely fortunate to have someone as eloquent, measured and persistent as Sam Harris to talk sense to the world at large during this very dangerous crossroads of human civilization. Harris could not be more correct in his assessments. We ignore his words at our own peril.

"Consider how we as atheists are constrained to talk about Islam. And Christians often complain that atheists balance - and the secular media, generally - balance every discussion of Islam with a discussion of extremist Christianity. The usual mode is to say, 'Well, they have their jihadists, but we have people who kill abortion doctors.' I think our Christian neighbors, even the craziest of them, are right to be outraged by this pretense of evenhandedness. The truth is that Islam is quite a bit scarier and more culpable for needless human misery at this moment than Christianity has been for a very, very long time. And we have to point this out.

"You might remember that Thomas Friedman recently wrote an op-ed from Iraq noticing that some Sunni militias were fighting alongside American troops against al-Qaeda, and he asked a Sunni militant why he was doing this. And the militant said that he had recently seen an al-Qaeda member decapitate an eight-year-old girl, and this convinced him that the American crusader forces were the lesser of two evils. Okay, great, so even Muslims, even Sunni militants, can discern the line between ordinary crazy Islam and the utterly crazy, once it is drawn in the spilled blood of little girls. This is a basis for hope of sorts.

"We have to be clear, unremittingly clear, about what is on the other side of that line. This is what we and the rest of the civilized world, and the semi-civilized world, are facing: Utter religious lunacy and barbarism in the name of Islam, with, I'm unhappy to say, some mainstream theology to back it up.

"To be evenhanded, as we are constrained to be as atheists, when discussing the problem of Islam, is to misconstrue the problem. The refrain that all religions have their extremists is bullshit - all religions don't have these extremists. Some religions have never had these extremists.

"A recent poll in the UK showed that a third of young British Muslims say they want to live under sharia law and think that anyone who wants to leave the faith should be put to death for apostasy. This is a third of British Muslims. 68% of British Muslims think that their neighbors who insult Islam should be arrested and prosecuted. 78% think that the Danish cartoonists should be brought to justice. These people do not have a clue about what constitutes a civil society.

"It seems to me that reports like this coming out of Muslim communities living in the West should concern us before anything else about religion concerns us."

Ayaan Hirsi Ali Saves Civilization

In her autobiography Infidel, the brilliant and beautiful freethinker Ayaan Hirsi Ali cuts through the irrational rationalization of the world's most brutal and oppressive ideology: Not "radical Islam," but ISLAM, period. And Hirsi Ali should know, because, as she explains in her book, she was for many years a very devout Muslim. As an outward expression of her ardent devotion to Islam and its god Allah - even before it became more "fashionable" where she lived in Africa - Hirsi Ali covered herself from head to toe in a baggy cloak so that her femaleness would not be revealed and endanger her to the ubiquitous perils for women in her culture. As we should already recognize from seeing the abuse with our own eyes, the fervent claim that Islam does not oppress women - frequently quite violently - represents one of the biggest deceits in the world today, and those who constantly put forth this palpably false assertion dismissing gender-apartheid within Islam should be loudly denounced. But the highly important work of Hirsi Ali goes much farther than simply denouncing the incredibly hideous treatment of women within Islam, as Ayaan undoubtedly represents one of the greatest voices of reason of all time in a battle for the very existence of human civilization.

Horribly mutilated at the age of five at the harsh hands of her stern grandmother and a local barber with a pair of scissors who cut off her genitals like a slab of meat, Ayaan Hirsi Ali speaks out loudly and clearly that such atrocities in her native Somalia are done not only to virtually every female of a certain age, but also IN THE NAME OF ISLAM. In fact, it was surprising for her to discover that there are claims - many quite frantic and unconvincing - that Islam does not call for female genital mutilation or "circumcision," as this despicable "cultural tradition" is euphemistically and flaccidly termed. Of course, not only Muslims practice this heinous savagery, but the majority of women and girls with disfigured genitals - an estimated 140 MILLION worldwide at the time of this writing - ARE Muslims, and such oppressive barbarism goes hand in hand with an ideology that without a doubt considers women as second-class subhumans designed mostly for sexual release, baby making and household slavery.

Needless to say, someone with such intelligence and wisdom as Ayaan Hirsi Ali was not content to spend her precious life merely as a piece of meat and slave. Hirsi Ali escaped this oppressive and dreadful future - and found a liberating and exquisite non-Muslim world that she could barely have imagined, based on the virulent infidel-hating dogma she had been taught since childhood. Although she does not opine that the non-Muslim world is perfect by any means, Hirsi Ali's vivid and disturbing descriptions of the contrast between what she left behind and what she discovered must give serious pause to the myriad and often trivial complaints against Western civilization. As she has said in interviews, you may spit upon the freedoms you were born with, but she cannot be so unappreciative and disrespectful, because she has literally experienced and witnessed real hell on Earth, and she is extremely grateful to have gotten out. By contrast, Western values at this current time seem like paradise - this notion is precisely what Hirsi Ali has attempted to impart over and over again in her writings and interviews. In other words, we've got it not just good but great. And this greatness is well worth fighting for - nay, it is essential we fight for it.

Despite the denials and justifications by those who cannot or will not face the horrible truth, the threat against the very survival of Western civilization is real, large and growing. If we do not wake up to this threat quickly, we will very likely find ourselves living in a world of submission and enslavement that we cannot even conceive. Hirsi Ali knows these facts to be true, as she has already lived through such a nightmare - and SHE DOES NOT WANT TO GO BACK. We who are enlightened cannot blame her at all, as we absolutely do not wish such a future for our own children - a perfectly dreadful thought straight out of our worst fears.

Do yourself and the world a favor - buy this book, read it, digest it, pass it along and support the efforts of the handful of individuals such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali in saving human civilization.

The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam

It is an utter disgrace that more people the world over - including and especially human rights and women's organizations - are not speaking out loudly against the hideous, violent treatment of women within Islam. This abuse has been going on for centuries, and little has changed over the past decades since the non-Muslim world began to take notice of Islam. In fact, Muslim apologists - including non-Muslim defenders - are very vocal in DENYING that women are abused and oppressed within Islam, an assertion that is patently false and mendacious. All of the apologies and apologetics in the world will not make these facts of violence against women go away, and day in and day out women and girls are treated abysmally in the Muslim world, simply because of their female gender - and because the wanton abuse of women is endorsed by the Islamic holy book, the Quran/Koran, as well as various commentaries thereon, such as the Hadiths, to the evident exultation of misogynists worldwide.

The silence of the non-Muslim world in not criticizing Islam and its proponents especially in regard to the vicious, widespread and ongoing oppression and abuse of women and girls is deafening - and shameful.

Please read the booklet linked hereto by Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler, and pass it along to all those who love life and justice. We need many more voices like these hard-working individuals who are risking their necks to expose the harsh realities behind Islam.

The bottom line is that MILLIONS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS ARE SUFFERING EVERY DAY WITHIN ISLAM, and not doing anything about constitutes a tacit endorsement of such suffering.

The Violent Oppression of Women

By Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, October 05, 2007

The booklet that you are about to read details some of the principal ways in which women suffer in the Islamic world - often with religious and cultural sanction. Many of these crimes against women, such as wife-beating, are ordained by the Qur'an itself; others, such as female genital mutilation and honor killing, are praised by Islamic clerics and hallowed by Islamic culture. That feminists in the West remain silent about this deeply ingrained and institutionalized mistreatment of women, and even ally with groups that have devoted themselves to the spread of Islamic law that justifies this mistreatment, is one of the unconscionable scandals of our time.

This article is a segment of a series being run as part of our nation-wide campus effort, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, which will be held on 200 university and college campuses on October 22-26. Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is a national effort to focus on all the victims of Islamo-Fascist Jihad -- as well as to counter the lies of the academic Left, which seeks to deny the evil, and even the very existence, of our enemy in this terror war. In this way, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week hopes to educate American students and to enable them to rally to defend their country.

In terms of the booklet of our subject today, its cover is a still photograph that epitomizes Islamic oppression of women, and it has come to also epitomize the Western feminist non-response to it. The picture comes from a Dutch film called De Steen (The Stone), directed by Mahnaz Tamizi, and features the actress Smadar Monsinos. The Stone dramatizes the barbaric treatment of women in Islamic countries. It accurately depicts the reality of Islamic Sharia law regarding adultery: when a couple is caught in adultery, the man is jailed while the woman is stoned to death.

It is a telling indication of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Left that it has fastened upon our use of this picture to try to discredit Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, since the photo does not depict an actual event - as if women weren't being stoned to death under Sharia law in Iran and some other Muslim countries today. In reality, eight women are currently in prison in Iran awaiting death by stoning for the crime of adultery. A mother was sentenced to be stoned to death in Iran for adultery just last week. It is typical of the Left to try to cast opprobrium not upon those responsible for these harsh realities, but upon us who are trying to draw attention to them in the name of human rights.

It may have seemed inconceivable that feminists and their allies would defend those who bury women in the earth and kill them by throwing large stones at them, but that is the ultimate thrust of the Left's outcry against our use of this picture and against Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week in general. Such are the ironies of our troubled age.

In this booklet are realities that should be of paramount concern not just for feminists in the West and their allies on the Left, but of all those who are concerned with the universality of human rights and the dignity of every human being.

Final note from Acharya: I don't usually engage in the politics of "right v. left," but I have to say that, in the case of Islam, the lefty liberals have driven me and many others straight into the Neocon camp. For those who are bothered by the "staged stoning" of the pic above, please see this disturbing video of a real stoning - albeit of MEN, who likewise suffer horribly under the sadistic fascism called Islam.

The rest of the images here are unfortunately quite real, including the blood pool from a victim of female genital mutilation, the hanging of an Iranian woman from a crane, and the Iranian victim of a severe beating because she was not properly covered up (reproduced here with permission from Dr. Homa Darabi). I hesitate to post here some of the worst images, including that of the genital area of a victim of female genital mutilation.

Muslim Brotherhood Plot to Take Over America

The following important article was published on September 9, 2007 in the Dallas Morning News.

The facts behind this case constitute crucial information that every person needs to know. Over the past few decades, the many billions of petrodollars flooding Arabian interests have allowed for the powerful Muslim Brotherhood to fund thousands of fundamentalist mosques, schools and terrorist-training camps throughout the world, including inside the United States.

In her extraordinary autobiography Infidel - which I highly recommend - former fundamentalist Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali vividly depicts the intrusion into her homeland of Somalia by the Saudi-backed fundamentalist Islamic sect of Wahhabism since the 1980s. This spread of so-called radical Islam is not limited to Africa, however, but can be found in Europe, Canada, Australia and, again, America.

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

Rod Dreher: What the Muslim Brotherhood means for the U.S.

Memo lays bare group's plans to destroy U.S. from within

11:17 AM CDT on Sunday, September 9, 2007

"Our strategy is this," President Bush said last month. "We will fight them over there so we do not have to face them in the United States of America."

He was talking about jihadists, of course. And Mr. Bush is behind the curve. The president apparently missed the smoking-gun 1991 document his own Justice Department introduced into evidence at the Holy Land Foundation trial in Dallas. The FBI captured it in a raid on a Muslim suspect's home in Virginia.

This "explanatory memorandum," as it's titled, outlines the "strategic goal" for the North American operation of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan). Here's the key paragraph:

The process of settlement [of Islam in the United States] is a "Civilization-Jihadist" process with all the word means. The Ikhwan must understand that all their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and "sabotaging" their miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's religion is made victorious over all religions. Without this level of understanding, we are not up to this challenge and have not prepared ourselves for Jihad yet. It is a Muslim's destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until the final hour comes, and there is no escape from that destiny except for those who choose to slack.

The entire 18-page platform outlines a plan for the long haul. It prescribes the Muslim Brotherhood's comprehensive plan to set down roots in civil society. It begins by both founding and taking control of American Muslim organizations, for the sake of unifying and educating the U.S. Muslim community – this to prepare it for the establishment of a global Islamic state governed by sharia....

Rod Dreher: What the Muslim Brotherhood means for the U.S.

"Who Was Jesus?" Expanded Version!

At last, I have completed the expanded, hard-copy edition of my book Who Was Jesus?, now subtitled Fingerprints of The Christ.

The expanded version is no longer available as an ebook. Look for the hard-copy edition soon! In the meantime, you can still get the shorter ebook version here:

Who Was Jesus?

The target audience of WWJ is Christian, but anyone with an interest in the origins of Christianity and the quest for the historical Jesus Christ will find it to be fascinating research and reasoning - WWJ is for anyone with Christian relatives as well!

In this scientific analysis of Christianity and the life of Christ, I include comments by various Christian authorities, apologists and evangelicals, as well as New Testament scholars, such as the following:

• John Ankerberg
• Craig L. Blomberg
• F.F. Bruce
• William Lane Craig
• John Dominic Crossan
• Bart Ehrman**
• Norman Geisler
• Gary Habermas
• Josh McDowell
• John P. Meier
• Bruce M. Metzger
• J.P. Moreland
• Ronald H. Nash
• Lee Strobel
• Merrill C. Tenney
• Ben Witherington
• Edwin Yamauchi
• And more!
  

Using the Bible itself, as well as the research of these individuals and others, I demonstrate that what you see is not what you get when it comes to Christ and Christianity.

The hard copy will contain a foreword by Dr. Robert Price.

I have also added some information on my TBK Nation forums - and I will be continuing to add excerpts and info there.

** Dr. Bart Ehrman used to be a sincere and devoted born-again, fundamentalist and evangelical Christian until he started studying the Bible in earnest. See the relevant post at TBK Nation.

Rense, Zeitgeist Nod to Acharya S

Just thought I'd steer your attention to the nod I recently received on the Jeff Rense radio show by both Rense and Peter J., who created the movie Zeitgeist.

Zeitgeist features my work significantly at several points and in the overall thesis of the first part regarding the astrotheological origins of religion. Peter J. has read both my books The Christ Conspiracy and Suns of God - readers of my work will recognize the parts in the Zeitgeist movie that reflect the thesis I have expounded upon in those tomes and elsewhere. In fact, I consulted with Peter J. shortly before the final cut was released. It should be noted that I was involved in only Part 1 and take no responsibility for any of the rest of the material in the movie; nor do I necessarily concur with any or all of it - but that is the subject for another blog.

Interested parties may wish to hear the following radio clip from the Rense show of August 8, 2007, during which Rense comments that credit should be given where due for this thesis, which he heard about from me over a decade ago. In fact, after having been online for a couple of years, starting in 1995, I appeared on the Jeff Rense show - my first radio program - in 1997. I felt it was a great success, and would have enjoyed repeat shows.

Zeitgeist on Jeff Rense

In the meantime, I continue to work on the hard-copy edition of my book Who Was Jesus? This book is over 300 pages long now - more than I had anticipated. I also have a new subtitle that some may find intriguing, but I think I'll hold that as a surprise. When this edition of WWJ is done, I will be offering it for a limited time as an ebook, only until the hard-copy is actually out...

Now, if you feel so inclined, I'm sure that Jeff Rense would not mind hearing from you about how you'd like to have ME on his show! Going straight to the horse's mouth, so to speak, although I'd like not to be compared with a horse...

jr@rense.com

"Thank you for helping to save my life"

I recently got the most wonderful and heartening message regarding the impact my work has had on at least one person's life. Over the years, I have received many thoughtful and encouraging missives, from individuals of all walks of life, both genders, and all ages, races and religions. These friendly messages are always welcome, as it is the nature of my work to reside in the realm of the contentious, and I have endured not a few unpleasant assaults over the past 12 years I've been online.

Hence, whenever I receive such heartfelt missives as below I am thrilled and delighted to have been a part of bettering life on Earth. Lovely messages such as this one have profoundly moved me and kept me on track all this time.

I am sharing this particular message in hopes that it may be helpful to others as well. While it is not my interest to make "atheists" out of everyone, as I do not append either that or the "theist" moniker to myself, I am extremely happy and gratified that concepts found within my work have helped others free their minds and souls from the self-hating bonds abundant within fervent religiosity.

After all is said and done, this spiritual liberation and love for life constitute why we do what we do.

(The following missive, received at MySpace, is reproduced with permission from the author.)

From: Jack
Date: Jul 8, 2007
Subject: Thank you for helping to save my life

Dear Acharya:

I am asking to be your friend and thanking you for being one of the people who truly have helped save my life.

I was in extreme Baptist fundamentalism and in the "ex-gay" movement for 12 very long and painful years.

I almost killed myself.

Through much luck (which is ALL I believe in now) I met my friend August Berkshire, with Minnesota Atheists, who helped lead me to questioning "krishtianity itself"... I embarked on a huge, huge journey, finally discovering both of your books as well as the DVD Suns of God/Christ Con which I am sharing with the entire city of "Saint" Cloud, MN where I live.

You, Robert Price and Ken Humphreys are among the people who have literally saved my life. I finally made the journey and studied anthropology/ paleoanthropology, evolution and DNA genetic code and bought the book "Born Gay" by Dr Quazi Rahmann.

With atheism, EVERYTHING IN LIFE makes total sense now.

Acharya, I was fortunate enough to meet Dr. Price when he spoke at an event we had right here in very "Catholic" Saint Cloud, MN .

I hope some day I am fortunate enough to meet you.

I studied voice, Opera and drama in NYC at the Eastman School of Music and The American Musical and Dramatic Academy. In the ex-gay movement, my voice was stilled.

Thanks to your work, my life has meaning and purpose once again.

I am now trying to resume a career which was very much "interrupted".

...You truly are a most beautiful gift to the world.

Never let those who hate you stop you in your most important work... remember my friend, you are saving lives and humanity.

Much love and hugs,
Jack Richter

Muslim Misogyny Strikes Again

The apparent targets of last week's attempted bombing allegedly by Muslim fanatics were the patrons of a "ladies night" at the London club outside of which the bombs were found.

The statements made by Christopher Hitchens regarding the targeted victims in the thwarted bomb attacks underscore the grotesqueness of the vicious attitude towards women - and life in general - promulgated by so-called radical Islam. That women are considered subhuman within Islam could not be more readily exemplified than by the hateful attitude that female British citizens are "slags" and "sluts" about whom nobody would be concerned.

Without a doubt, Islam is oppressive of women, as well as men and children. No amount of sophistry or mendacity asserting the opposite will serve to convince otherwise anyone who has given any serious thought to these important issues.

A nightclub full of uncovered women drinking alcohol is about as antipathetic to this mentality as one can get, and this violent attack is how it's going to go with this psychopathology that thinks it has the right to rule the world. Unless fiercely resisted and contained, this dementia will terrorize the rest of humanity into capitulating to its enslaving will. It has no intelligent argument to be made, just barbaric, animalistic and sadistic violence and aggression. If this derangement possessed significant weapons, the world would be dead already, as it succumbed to the cult of death.

We must take a stand now, as Muslim authorities in the UK and elsewhere are doing this time around - finally! Of course, we hope they are sincere, and that the words will sink in with the younger generation, if this world is to survive.

We will not be covered up and chased out of life, cowering in the corners surrounded by darkness and threats of harm. The world's dividing lines are clearly now those who love life and those who hate it - and we simply cannot allow those who hate life to win.

The London car-bomb plot was designed to kill women.
by Christopher Hitchens

...Only at the tail end of the coverage was it admitted that a car bomb might have been parked outside a club in Piccadilly because it was "ladies night" and that this explosion might have been designed to lure people into to the street, the better to be burned and shredded by the succeeding explosion from the second car-borne cargo of gasoline and nails. Since we have known since 2004 that a near-identical attack on a club called the Ministry of Sound was proposed in just these terms, on the grounds that dead "slags" or "sluts" would be regretted by nobody, a certain amount of trouble might have been saved by assuming the obvious. The murderers did not just want body parts in general but female body parts in particular.

I suppose that some people might want to shy away from this conclusion for whatever reason, but they cannot have been among the viewers of British Channel 4's recent Undercover Mosque, or among those who watched Sunday's report from Christiane Amanpour on CNN's Special Investigations Unit. On these shows, the British Muslim fanatics came right out with their program. Straight into the camera, leading figures like Anjem Choudary spoke of their love for Osama Bin Laden and their explicit rejection of any definition of Islam as a religion of peace. On tape or in person, mullahs in prominent British mosques called for the killing of Indians and Jews.

Liberal reluctance to confront this sheer horror is the result, I think, of a deep reticence about some furtive concept of "race." It is subconsciously assumed that a critique of political Islam is an attack on people with brown skins. One notes in passing that any such concession implicitly denies or negates Islam's claim to be a universal religion. Indeed, some of its own exponents certainly do speak as if they think of it as a tribal property. And, at any rate, in practice, so it is. The fascistic subculture that has taken root in Britain and that lives by violence and hatred is composed of two main elements. One is a refugee phenomenon, made up of shady exiles from the Middle East and Asia who are exploiting London's traditional hospitality, and one is the projection of an immigrant group that has its origins in a particularly backward and reactionary part of Pakistan.

To the shame-faced white-liberal refusal to confront these facts, one might counterpose a few observations. The first is that we were warned for years of the danger, by Britons also of Asian descent such as Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, and Salman Rushdie. They knew what the village mullahs looked like and sounded like, and they said as much....

Egypt Bans ALL Female Genital Mutilation

Hooray! There is sanity in this world after all. As an empathetic human being and a female, I am overjoyed at this civilized move, which strengthens the ban against female genital mutilation (FGM) implemented by Egypt in 1997. Let the rest of the world follow suit - there is hope!!

If you ever wonder why we activists stick out our necks and run the risk of being hammered, keep this victory in mind. Like so many others, I've been speaking out against this nightmare for many years, almost as long as I've been online, starting in 1995! I've been beaten on mercilessly for even daring to bring up such subjects - hysterical cries of "bigot" and "phobe" of assorted stripes have been tossed my way. I have maintained my strength by considering, in this case, the poor girls and women who have been hideously tortured and sometimes killed in this vile manner, in the name of "tradition" and/or "religion." Upwards of 100 million females still alive at this writing suffer from this wretched abuse, among many other types of brutality, worldwide.

Finally, a break from the violence and savagery committed endlessly against living, breathing and feeling beings.

Now, can the human species stop hacking at boys' genitals as well?!

Egypt outlaws all female circumcision: "CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt on Thursday finally banned all female circumcision, the widely-practised removal of the clitoris which just days ago cost the life of a 12-year-old girl.

Officially the practice, which affects both Muslim and Christian women in Egypt and goes back to the time of the pharoahs, was banned in 1997 but doctors were allowed to operate 'in exceptional cases'.

On Thursday, Health Minister Hatem al-Gabali decided to ban every doctor and member of the medical profession, in public or private establishments, from carrying out a clitoridectomy, a ministry press official told AFP.

Any circumcision 'will be viewed as a violation of the law and all contraventions will be punished,' said the official, adding that it was a 'permanent ban'.

A survey in 2000 said the practice was carried out on 97 percent of the country's women.

In the latest fatality, 12-year-old Bedur Ahmed Shaker was taken by her mother to a private clinic in Minya, a town on the Nile south of Cairo, for the operation. She died before she could be transferred to hospital.

Her mother accused the woman doctor of negligence, charging that her daughter's death was linked to the anaesthetic and not the removal of the clitoris, for which she had paid 50 pounds (nearly nine dollars). Police have arrested both women."

Islam in the UK - Coming Soon to the U.S.?

A new government report in Great Britain has all but handed the keys to the (united?) kingdom to the Islamic brotherhood. Prediction: Islam will become dominant in Britain faster than the majority realize. Prediction: Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand will follow, so long as the brotherhood's coffers are being filled by massive amounts of oil money, etc.

And so long as there are vast numbers of "dhimwits" to aid and abet, like so many Rahabs opening the gates of Jericho, we of the freethinking world are doomed. (Rahab, by the way, was a Canaanite prostitute who became a great hero to Joshua's Israelites by allowing them to invade the walled Canaanite city of Jericho and slaughter every man, woman and child they could find.)

"dhim·wit (dmwt) -- A non-Muslim member of a free society that abets the stated cause of Islamic domination with remarkable gullibility or guile. A dhimwit is always quick to extend sympathy to the very enemy that would take away his or her own freedom (or life) if given the opportunity."

Lest you think we are exaggerating, please be sure to read the following article:

Islam and the Blair legacy in the UK

A recent government report on how Islam is taught in British universities signals another step towards the Islamisation of Britain and its education system. It was launched by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at the opening of the “Islam and Muslims in the World Today” conference sponsored by Cambridge University on 4 June 2007. Should this report be implemented, education will be handed over more and more to Muslims who will train and shape the next generation. This means a further move towards the establishment of Islam in the UK as a religion of state....

Some of the report’s recommendations:

1. Universities should employ Muslim scholars to teach Islamic theology: “Students should be given the opportunity to learn from competent traditionally trained Islamic scholars in at least those parts of the syllabus that directly inform everyday practice of Islam”.

2. All universities must employ Muslim chaplains or advisers to deal with the growing number of Muslim students on campus. More prayer rooms for Muslims should be provided.

3. Islamic Student Societies should be better recognised and encouraged.

4. Universities should cooperate with Islamic schools and colleges (dar al-ulum) to break down the divisions between British society and the Muslim community. Universities should help madrassas and dar al-ulum because they play a key role in Muslim communities and in the training of future community leaders. They need a formal link to higher education qualifications.

5. Islamic studies should be linked to job opportunities such as teaching, chaplaincy and Islamic banking.

6. Universities should provide add-on modules in Islamic studies for all students.

7. Guidance should be given to all universities on Friday prayers, Ramadan and halal food. All university staff should receive awareness training on Muslims and Islam.

An analysis of these recommendations reveals that the report is in fact asking for a privileged position for Islam in the universities. It would seem to aim at transforming Islamic studies in Britain into a Muslim monopoly, a Muslim enclave in which the vast majority of staff and students are Muslim.

Ron Paul and the Reason Why

I have liked congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul for a number of years now. On several salient issues, I concur with his intelligent and thoughtful insights. After hearing about the recent brouhaha regarding him, I was at first puzzled by Paul's remarks concerning 9/11, until I took his advice and spent some time "listening" to Osama Bin Laden by reading the latter's purported 9/11 "confession."

First of all, let's review Ron Paul's comments at the second Republican presidential debate. When asked about about whether or not the terrorist attacks on the U.S. had "altered his view" of the aggressive American foreign policy, Paul responded:

"Have you ever read the reasons they attacked us? They attacked us because we've been over there. We've been bombing Iraq for 10 years. We've been in the Middle East -- I think Reagan was right. We don't understand the irrationality of Middle Eastern politics. Right now, we're building an embassy in Iraq that is bigger than the Vatican. We're building 14 permanent bases. What would we say here if China was doing this in our country or in the Gulf of Mexico? We would be objecting. We need to look at what we do from the perspective of what would happen if somebody else did it to us."

Paul was then quizzed by Fox News's Wendell Goler, who asked, "Are you suggesting we invited the 9/11 attack, sir?"

Paul answered:

"I'm suggesting that we listen to the people who attacked us and the reason they did it. And they are delighted that we're over there because Osama bin Laden has said, 'I am glad you're over on our sand because we can target you so much easier.' They have already now, since that time, killed 3,400 of our men, and I don't think it was necessary."

Without getting into the various 9/11 conspiracy theories, some of which are meant to absolve foreign involvement and blame the "American government," let us look at the purported speech of Bin Laden's that was released on October 29, 2004, in which he clearly accepts responsibility for 9/11 - and states that the attacks will continue, essentially because the "enemy" has not learned his lesson.

Since I am very concerned about continued attacks on American soil as well as the aftermath of such decimation - to wit, America being "bled" into bankruptcy and subsequently overtaken - I do believe we need to heed Ron Paul's advice and pay close attention to what Bin Laden is saying, if there's any chance that by doing so we can avoid such attacks. In other words, we ignore Bin Laden's words at our own peril, as he is clearly spelling out his intentions.

If this 2004 speech is authentic and is accurately translated, it is evident that Bin Laden is not an uneducated hick but, rather, an intelligent person who is very much aware of numerous aspects of politics. His observations regarding the Bush dynasty seem to be uncannily accurate - few people outside of the extreme Right would not recognize the self-interests of the Washingtonian powermongers in the policy towards Iraq. Bin Laden is probably correct in surmising that Bush is after complete control of Iraqi oil - after all, Bush is an oil man.

From the perspective of a savvy person in Iraq, it would certainly seem that the aggression against that nation had much to do with financial gain, rather than the outward humanitarian appearance of being concerned for the Iraqi people - or the fallacious excuse of looking for "weapons of mass destruction." Knowing this fact, one could easily make the case that the American government, et al., had absolutely no altruistic reasons for making a move on Iraq - and this fact could understandably cause some people to become upset if not irate. Factor in other policies around the world, and we can understand precisely what Ron Paul is saying.

I do not believe Ron Paul is at all claiming that "we invited the attack." First of all, who's "we?" It's too bad Paul used that language in describing U.S. foreign policy, because "we" certainly didn't have anything to do with it. The U.S. government did, but I for one did not vote for those characters, and I do not include myself in the "we" bit of their policies. In any event, Paul is not saying "we invited it." He's saying, as far as I can tell, "If you want to know why these people did what they did, take a close look at what they're saying is the reason they did what they did."

In other words, they're saying "we invited it." There's a subtle but important difference. If one reads the speech by Osama Bin Laden - again, assuming it's authentic and accurately translated - he clearly spells out the reasons why the Twin Towers were attacked: Because of previous aggressions in predominantly Arab and/or Muslim countries that have killed thousands of men, women and especially children. That's what Bin Laden said was the motive for the attacks, not "because they hate our freedoms." Here are some pertinent excerpts from the Bin Laden speech of 2004:

I say to you, Allah knows that it had never occurred to us to strike the towers. But after it became unbearable and we witnessed the oppression and tyranny of the American/Israeli coalition against our people in Palestine and Lebanon, it came to my mind.

The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them in that. This bombardment began and many were killed and injured and others were terrorised and displaced.

I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy.

The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams. Does the crocodile understand a conversation that doesn't include a weapon? And the whole world saw and heard but it didn't respond.

In those difficult moments many hard-to-describe ideas bubbled in my soul, but in the end they produced an intense feeling of rejection of tyranny, and gave birth to a strong resolve to punish the oppressors.

And as I looked at those demolished towers in Lebanon, it entered my mind that we should punish the oppressor in kind and that we should destroy towers in America in order that they taste some of what we tasted and so that they be deterred from killing our women and children.

And that day, it was confirmed to me that oppression and the intentional killing of innocent women and children is a deliberate American policy. Destruction is freedom and democracy, while resistance is terrorism and intolerance.

This means the oppressing and embargoing to death of millions as Bush Sr did in Iraq in the greatest mass slaughter of children mankind has ever known, and it means the throwing of millions of pounds of bombs and explosives at millions of children—also in Iraq—as Bush Jr did, in order to remove an old agent and replace him with a new puppet to assist in the pilfering of Iraq's oil and other outrages.

So with these images and their like as their background, the events of September 11th came as a reply to those great wrongs, should a man be blamed for defending his sanctuary?

Accordingly, in his mind Bin Laden's continuous aggressions against Western agencies over the past several years have been in retaliation for the destruction of Arab and/or Muslim peoples and interests by the selfsame Western agencies. The reason for the 9/11 attacks given by Bin Laden is that the assaults which left so many people dead were "unbearable oppressions." When he describes the situation in this manner, with graphic images of the mass killing of children, we can understand the impetus for the assault on American interests. While I do not know the facts he bases his allegations on concerning "Bush Sr." being responsible for "millions" of deaths or the "greatest mass slaughter of children mankind has ever known" - by not only warfare but also starvation, perhaps? - if such allegations are true, the angry reaction would be understandable. Certainly, the previous aggressions in Iraq left some pretty hideous developments, including the results of depleted uranium that almost no one is discussing.

Now, back to Ron Paul and his advice: Point well taken, Congressman Paul, and once again you've proved yourself a highly intelligent man entirely worthy of consideration to lead the American nation. In listening to what the "enemy" is saying about his reasons for aggression, we can learn how to avoid further attacks and to prevent his stated intention from becoming reality. What is this stated intention? To quote Bin Laden:

"So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah."

Perhaps we can prevent this frightening decimation not by kowtowing or capitulating to counter-aggressions but by applying a more sane and less destructive policy towards other nations. Regardless of whether or not the move into Iraq can be ethically supported, the fact is that it has been handled very badly all around. If the American nation is so sophisticated, surely there is a better and more intelligent way to conduct itself than pounding the crap out of poor people half way around the world.

Maybe Ron Paul has the answer to this sad quandary - at this juncture in history, with such an atrocious mess on our hands, I for one am more than willing to listen to his seemingly sane voice of reason. And to gladly vote for Paul if we are lucky enough to have him make it that far.

Confessions of an Empath

It's time for me to come clean about why I do what I do. You see, I'm an agent. Yep, that's right - I am an agent for change.

Seriously, I do what I am doing because I cannot stand the notion of suffering - anywhere in the cosmos, much less here at home on good ol' planet Earth. My motives practically since birth have been the same: I am sickened by violence, injustice and man's inhumanity to man and other creatures.

A little known fact about me is that I spent the first decade of my life becoming physically ill at the mere thought of violence. My family shielded me from violence, but still it managed to creep into my innocent psyche through images in the media, in movies, TV, books and magazines. I recall one Life magazine photo of a bloated corpse being pulled from an African river - a more grotesque sight my child eyes had never seen before.

I didn't vomit at that image, but I did puke all over the upstairs hallway after my older sibling explained to me what a "leper" was, as I was watching the movie "Ben Hur." As it was described to me, leprosy was "where your fingers and other body parts turn black and fall off." Not exactly a clinical definition, but it sufficed to have me running for the bathroom. I didn't make it.

Nor did I make it to the barf bag my family had brought especially for me to the drive-in movie theater, where we watched the scene of a man being hung in front of a jeering mob during the era of the American Wild West. Nope, that time the candy took the hit, as I grabbed the wrong paper sack. Needless to say, my siblings weren't thrilled at losing the candy.

Prior to the Ben Hur incident was a nightmare at grade school - fourth grade, when I was 9 years old. The kids in my class were surrounding one pupil, looking at a photo sent by his penpal and going, "Ooohhhh, grossss!" The children were also laughing, so I peeked over the boy's shoulder to see what they were looking at.

To my horror and shock, the photo was a picture of an American GI holding the severed heads of two Vietnamese soldiers - and smiling. I immediately backed up from this diabolical image, turned around and walked away, choking back tears and vomit. I was incompassionately pursued by the other children, who ridiculed me for not being a "good American," because these slaughtered human beings were "the enemy." Horrified, I looked to the teacher for relief, but she seemed to be joining in the finger wagging!

A Decisive Moment

That moment in my life was decisive. I knew then that I was very different from most people. I had seen an image of two human beings viciously murdered, while the others had seen "the enemy." I've never tortured or killed anyone, and I cannot even stand the sight of such atrocities; yet, I feel sometimes as if I'm all alone on this planet.

At some point during my first decade on this planet, it was suggested to me that, in order to survive in the world, I would need to become "inured" to its horrors. If by "survival" is meant that I couldn't go on barfing, I agree. And for many years I managed to push hideous atrocities out of my mind. A couple of decades later, I finally woke up, once and for all. I will never become inured to the horrors of this world. I am simply too emphathetic not to feel the evil that men do. Indeed, my empathy was the mechanism by which I would become sickened and vomit as a child. I would actually feel the terror, pain and suffering of individuals as they were tortured and killed. I am still feeling the suffering of my brothers and sisters globally, and I am compelled to expose this suffering and help it to heal.

Unfortunately, there are some very evil characters on this planet, and their sickness is infectious enough to have spread far and wide to what amounts to millions of people. These loathsome characters have created their clones and drones, desensitizing them to a mind-numbing level of violence against other living and breathing human beings. The crimes of these evil creatures are beyond comprehension, including but not limited to:

• torture of all manner
• floggings, lashings and beatings
  
• beheadings
  
• slitting throats
  
• stonings
• hangings from cranes and other devices
  
• hacking off hands and feet
• rape - gang and individual of both genders
  
• child abuse, including rape and sodomy
• animal abuse
• "honor killings"
  
• female and male genital mutilation
  
• depriving women of air and sunlight, and subjecting them to sweltering heat beneath black or other dark-colored clothing
• acid attacks on women's faces and other body parts
  
• slavery
• genocide

Most sickening, these atrocities and crimes against humanity are being committed by entire groups of people in the name of God! In other words, these horrors are unleashed as a major part of "religion." Is it any wonder there are "angry atheists" speaking out against the very notion of an all-powerful, good and merciful God in charge of everything? If the scenario just listed is "godly," what the hell is satanic?!

Every day, day in and day out, these vile thugs are grabbing people - including children of both genders - against their will and doing heinous and evil things to them. In all too many places, these montrous tyrants get away with this despicable behavior all the time, because they are allowed and commanded to do so by the governing authorities, both political and religious. Psychotically, these sadists believe themselves correct and righteous in seizing other living, breathing beings against their will and beating, torturing and murdering them. These savages have such power that large groups of people are under their dominion - and they are not content to stop there.

Who is stopping these constant abuses against innocent human beings? Who can these voiceless victims turn to for respite and salvation? As a person of empathy, I am feeling their pain and suffering - and I am outraged by their persecutors' audacity and megalomania. This unmitigated hubris of vilely destroying God's creatures is absolutely ungodly.

And it must be stopped, because it's making not only me but all of us sick. If there has ever been any creator, it seems "he" has long abandoned his flawed creation to its own devices, much to the dismay of all rational and compassionate human beings. That is to say, all true human beings. I can only fervently hope that there are enough of us true human beings to stand up to these sadistic bullies wherever they may be found.

Muslim Takeover of Europe and America?

The following video records a Muslim leader - Libya's Qaddafi/Gaddafi - discussing the 100 million Muslims now or soon to be in the European Union, and how Europe will be an Islamic state within "a few decades."

According to the translation, which I have not verified, Gaddafi says, "There are signs that Allah will grant Islam victory in Europe..." This takeover will not be "forceful," it is claimed. Rather, it is implied and understood, the main mechanism will be by outpopulating the Europeans and, obviously, subjugating them.

Gaddafi also relates the plot to overtake America as well, saying:

"Europe is in a predicament, and so is America. They should agree to become Islamic in the course of time or else declare war on the Muslims."

In other words, if you don't voluntarily convert to Islam, you'd better be prepared to fight physically for your life: "Convert or die."

This speech was given before thousands of men in Timbuktu. This situation is not an isolated incident of "a few extremist Muslims." They have the numbers and the money as to be alarming - and they should be taken quite seriously. At this writing, an estimated one-fourth or more of the world's population is Muslim - the fastest-growing segment by far.

Presuming this translation is accurate, and factoring in many other signs - including the attempted and successful implementation of sharia law in a number of European countries and in Canada - it seems evident that if the world doesn't wake up, Gaddafi will prove to be correct in his predictions and actions to compel Europe and America to become Muslim.

Adulterer Gingrich Destined for Hell

In yet another display of unmitigated arrogance, while giving the commencement speech at recently deceased fundmentalist minister Jerry Falwell's Liberty University, American politico Newt Gingrich called for an attack on "radical secularism." Gingrich's hypocritical "holier-than-thou" stance is particularly amusing in light of the fact that he is a twice-divorced, known adulterer.

In his pretentions of being a moral cop, possible presidential candidate Gingrich peppered his speech with quotes from the Bible, presumably leaving out the following scriptures:

... take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the LORD the God of Israel, and covering one's garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless. (Mal 2:15)

And Pharisees came up to [Jesus] and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery." (Mat 19:3-9)

According to the New Testament, Jesus was squarely against divorce, as well as remarriage, calling the latter "adultery." Since Gingrich is by biblical default and admission an adulterer, let us look at biblical scriptures concerning adultery and adulterers:

You shall not commit adultery. (Exd 20:14)

If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. (Lev 20:10)

Neither shall you commit adultery. (Deu 5:18)

He who commits adultery has no sense; he who does it destroys himself. (Pro 6:32 )

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.... It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' But I say to you that every one who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Mat 5:27-32)

And Jesus said, "You shall not kill, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness..." (Mat 19:18)

While Jesus upholds the proscription against adultery found in the 10 Commandments, the gospels do not record Christ as assigning the death penalty as a punishment for adultery, as does the Old Testament. In fact, Jesus is depicted as stopping the stoning of a woman on the charge of adultery, uttering the famous words, "Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her." (Jn 8:17)

So egregious is the sin of adultery, however, that St. Paul lumps adulterers in with "the immoral...idolaters... sexual perverts... thieves... the greedy... drunkards... revilers [and] robbers." According to the New Testament, none of these individuals "will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor 6:10)

Thus, it would seem Newt Gingrich is destined for Hell!

In his Liberty-University speech, Gingrich also remarked:

"A growing culture of radical secularism declares that the nation cannot profess the truths on which it was founded... We are told that our public schools can no longer invoke the creator, nor proclaim the natural law nor profess the God-given quality of human rights.

"In hostility to American history, the radical secularists insist that religious belief is inherently divisive and that public debate can only proceed on secular terms....

"Too often, the courts have been biased against religious believers. This anti-religious bias must end..."

In reality, not only is religion divisive, but the a priori assumption by religionists that God exists, as depicted in the Bible and other "holy texts," is utterly dishonest and is at the root of many of the world's problems. The honest debate should be not whether or not "God" is to be allowed in public schools but whether or not the anthropomorphic god as portrayed in the Bible even exists.

The fact is that the majority of individuals in the United States consider themselves to be religious, including judges and legislators, and there have been no professed atheists on the Supreme Court since its inception. Fortunately for Newt Gingrich, however, the courts have been biased against fervent believers in the Old Testament punishment for adultery, i.e., stoning. Gingrich had better hope for his own sake, therefore, that the wall of separation between church and state remains high and unbreachable.

"Suicide Killers" - Islam is "Beautiful?"

On last night's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart hosted a French filmmaker named Pierre Rehov, whose recent creation "Suicide Killers" presents the views of would-be Muslim "bombers for God." Rehov stated that the suicide killers talked to his team because they believe that the French are "100% on their side." The absolute pathology of the individuals involved in this documentary is sickening, reflecting a psychotic indoctrination that can only be termed child abuse.

Although from his website Mr. Rehov is clearly appalled by this pathological attitude and behavior, he unfortunately repeated the disturbing and perilous platitude that it's not Islam but extremists who are the problem. Granted, extremists are a problem, but "innocent" Islam is not. Rehov went so far as to say that "Islam is a beautiful religion." In consideration of its history and all that we know about Islam, including widespread violence, torture and murder wherever it is found, we would really like to know exactly what is "beautiful" about Islam?

• Is the suppression and oppression - the torture - of women "beautiful?"

Here's the Koranic origin of that abysmal mentality:

"Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient." (Q 4:34)

The Prophet Mohammed is quoted as saying:

"I was standing at the edge of the fire (hell) and the majority of the people going in were women."

This gruesome image shows an Iranian woman beaten for not covering her hair properly - but one example of sharia or Islamic law. (Reproduced with permission from the Dr. Homa Darabi Foundation.)

The vicious attitude towards and vile treatment of women within Islam is spreading throughout the world:

"From 1998 until 2002, Muslim male gangs taunted Australian girls, particularly in Sydney. The females were labeled 'sluts' and 'Aussie pigs,' therefore, they were bait for rape.

"In Australia's New South Wales Supreme Court in December 2005, a visiting Pakistani rapist testified that his victims had no right to say no, because they were not wearing a headscarf...

"As more and more Muslims move into Western nations, this gang rape will increase because it is part of the Muslim male killing cult, otherwise known as their 'religion.'"

There simply is no excuse for this evil mentality and behavior, but there will be many who deny that it exists, adding insult to the severe injuries - including hideous rape and murder - suffered by its victims.

• Is the constant call for the deaths of infidels something "beautiful?"

The Koran/Quran itself contains repeated statements to torment and kill unbelievers:

"This Book is not to be doubted.... As for the unbelievers, it is the same whether or not you forewarn them; they will not have faith. God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears; their sight is dimmed and grievous punishment awaits them." (Q 2:2-6)

"God's curse be upon the infidels! Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls. To deny God's own revelation, grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom He chooses from among His servants! They have incurred God's most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers." (Q 2:92-6)

"... Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage." (Q 2:190-3)

"When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them." (Q 9:5)

"Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate." (Q 9:73)

These are direct quotes from the Koran, translated but not "interpreted." No interpretation is necessary, as the meaning is clear.

• Is the repression of sex to the point of driving young men to want to kill themselves and others somehow "beautiful?"

Again, this repression is sanctioned by the Koran, which promises a garden of sexual delights to those who martyr themselves in the name of Islam.

"The righteous shall return to a blessed retreat: the gardens of Eden, whose gates shall open wide to receive them. Reclining there with bashful virgins for companions, they will call for abundant fruit and drink." (Q 38:51-2)

"On that day [the unbelievers] shall be sternly thrown into the fire of Hell... But in fair gardens the righteous shall dwell in bliss, rejoicing in what their Lord will give them. Their Lord will shield them from the scourge of Hell. He will say: Eat and drink to your hearts content. This is the reward of your labours.

"They shall recline on couches ranged in rows. To dark-eyed houris [virgin girls] We shall wed them.... Fruit We shall give them, and such meats as they desire. They will pass from hand to hand a cup inspiring no idle talk, no sinful urge; and there shall wait on them young boys of their own, as fair as virgin pearls." (Q 52:13-24)

"Reclining there upon soft couches, they shall feel neither the scorching heat nor the biting cold. Trees will spread their shade around them, and fruits will hang in clusters over them.

"They shall be served with silver dishes, and beakers as large as goblets; silver goblets which they themselves shall measure: and cups brim-full with ginger-flavoured water from a fount called Salsabil. They shall be attended by boys graced with eternal youth, who to the beholders eyes will seem like sprinkled pearls. When you gave upon that scene, you will behold a kingdom blissful and glorious." (Q 76:9-20)

Note that these last scriptures promise appealing young boys to serve the men who arrive in Paradise.

None of the despicable and inhuman behavior brought out by these scriptures is "extremist" within Islam - it is mainstream. In the future, it would be best to question what exactly is "beautiful" about Islam?

I'm waiting to hear.

(More illustrations of "beautiful Islam." Warning: Extremely gruesome.)

Immigration Reform Protests

On this day of mass immigration-reform protests, the book Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market appears to be singularly significant. In fact, it represents an extremely important aspect of this divisive debate that most people may be unaware of. Hence, we feel that this vital information needs to be widely spread in order for people to make a more informed opinion on this critical controversy.

In Reefer Madness, the best-selling author of Fast Food Nation investigates America's black market and its far-reaching influence on our society through three of its mainstays -- pot, porn and illegal immigrants.

The underground economy is vast; it comprises perhaps 10 percent -- or more -- of America's overall economy, and it's on the rise. Eric Schlosser charts this growth, and finds its roots in the nexus of ingenuity, greed, idealism, and hypocrisy that is American culture. He reveals the fascinating workings of the shadow economy by focusing on marijuana, one of the nation's largest cash crops; pornography, whose greatest beneficiaries include Fortune 100 companies; and illegal migrant workers, whose lot often resembles that of medieval serfs.

All three industries show how the black market has burgeoned over the past three decades, as America's reckless faith in the free market has combined with a deep-seated puritanism to create situations both preposterous and tragic. Schlosser traces compelling parallels between underground and overground: how tycoons and gangsters rise and fall, how new technology shapes a market, how government intervention can reinvigorate black markets as well as mainstream ones, how big business learns -- and profits -- from the underground.

With intrepid reportage, rich history, and incisive argument, Schlosser illuminates the shadow economy and the culture that casts that shadow.

For more information on this highly relevant and germane work, please go to Reefer Madness: Sex, Drugs and Cheap Labor in the American Black Market.

Jesus Tomb - Not!

This post concerns the article on the Discovery Channel website regarding the current "Jesus Tomb" brouhaha. In the final analysis, it's amazing how Discovery, et al., can continue putting out such malarkey over the years without any damage to their credibility.

If you read that article closely, you will see a perfect example of intellectual legerdemain in action. Firstly, they say there's DNA evidence "suggesting" the tombs are those of Jesus, et al. What is this evidence? They took the DNA of the bones and compared it to what? Did they have some DNA evidence that had already been scientifically determined to be that of Jesus? Wow! That IS big news!

From this article, what this so-called evidence appears to be is that the bones in two of the ossuaries - one reading "Jesus" and one "Mary" - are not related. Therefore, goes this incredibly specious argument, they are the bones of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene! The guy who is making all these definitive connections, Jacobovici, was involved in the Jame ossuary hoax - how credible is he? In his declarations, he is already assuming a priori that these tombs are proved to have been those of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Considering that Jacobovici is now trying to prove that the James ossuary came from the same tomb, my suspicion is that all of this sleight-of-hand is an attempt on his part to resurrect his own reputation.

I find it interesting that there is no mention of the work of James Tabor called The Jesus Dynasty, which, not having read, I am assuming is based on the same tomb and which was widely touted on all the talk shows some years ago. Why is he not being mentioned now? Could it be because his work has been discredited since then, and the producers don't want anyone to realize the connection? (This is speculation on my part, obviously, since I haven't followed that debate.)

Furthermore, what about the Jesus tomb found in 1945 in the same Talpiot Quarter of Jerusalem, as I mention in my article on the James ossuary? It had charcoal crosses on it - so why couldn't THAT be the tomb of the "real Jesus of Nazareth?" Perhaps because, as the archaeologists themselves have repeatedly stated about this "new" find (from 1980), there is no real, solid and scientific evidence to that effect? I.e., the archaeologists on neither tomb have made these definitive connections - and that's an important point. Nowhere does Discovery even mention the 1980 tomb's archaeologist Amos Kloner, who pointedly stated, ""It's a beautiful story but without any proof whatsoever."

If the inscriptions are from the Herodian period (1 BC to 1 AD), per Frank Moore Cross, how the heck are they relevant to Jesus and his family? Even if Jesus himself had been born and named by then, did someone predict his marriage to Mary and the name of their son, born decades later, such that these inscriptions were made before either event had occurred, in anticipation that both would be buried there? What nonsense!

As to the conclusion by "Jodi Magness" that the New Testament writings demonstrate Jesus "likely" lived during the 1st century AD/CE - wow! I'd never heard that before. What stellar reportage.

And what is "Matthew" doing in this family tomb? Say, now, that's why the book of Matthew is so "accurate" - because Matthew was in reality one of Jesus's lost siblings! (FYI, that's sarcasm, because the book of Matthew and the other gospels reveal the writers did NOT have familiarity with the topography and geography of Palestine at the time, proving they could not have lived there and been eyewitnesses to the events. For more on the problems with the New Testament, please see my book Who Was Jesus?)

Discovery reports that a scholar has stated that the name "Mary," as in "Mary Magdalene," was probably "Mariamene" or "Mariamne." Well, that's good enough for Discovery, apparently, to conclude that these bones belonged to Mary Magdalene! Never mind that the name "Mary" was common in Jerusalem at the time - and has been found on numerous tombs and ossuaries, including two in this so-called Jesus Tomb itself.

As concerns the silly statistic regarding the names (600 to 1), again, the fact is that the names Jesus, Mary and Joseph were VERY common at that time. The name Mary, in reality, was apparently SO common that there are THREE Marys mentioned in the gospel tale! Indeed, there are few other named females in the gospel tale, such as Anna and Salome, and these are relatively minor characters. Hence, for the major female characters in the gospel drama, we are faced almost exclusively with Marys! What are the odds for that? Could it be that the gospel writers hit upon the names Jesus, Mary and Joseph PRECISELY because they WERE so common? It would be much easier to place them into history because of this commonality - the results of such efforts being that here we are some 2,000 years later squabbling about which "historical" Jesus, Joseph and Mary these characters were!

Based on this sketch at Discovery, what it comes down to here, apparently, is that, because the two sets of bones in the 1980 Talpiot tomb discovery are not related, they are THE Jesus and Mary of New Testament myth. From there, we have the set of bones belonging to a "Judah son of Jesus" that must be those of the son of Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene! (As an aside, would Jesus and Mary - had they actually been married and parented a child together - really name their son after the person [Judas] who betrayed Jesus to the authorities?!)

Discovery Channel is obviously the World Weekly News of television. I'd say the National Enquirer, but that august publication is actually far more accurate in its reportage.