“If it’d said ‘Allah Akbar’, the council wouldn’t have dared to try and remove it,” says Marianne Bons, a member of the Dutch Reformed Protestant Church. She’s talking about a farm roof on which ‘Jesus saves’ is painted in enormous letters. The council says the text has to go. The farm’s owner, evangelical Christian Joop van Ooijen, is refusing to obey. The affair has united Christians of all persuasions behind the message.

“You’re allowed to believe in anything in this country, as long as it’s nothing to do with Christians or the Church,” says Ms Bos, describing the prevailing Dutch attitude to religion.

Mr Van Ooijen has held out for two years, refusing to remove the message from his roof. Giessenlanden local council is fining him 500 euros a week, but he refuses to pay. He has been fighting the council decision for two years and says he’s willing to go to the European Court if necessary.

Mr Van Ooijen and Ms Bons both live in Alblasserwaard, an area near Rotterdam, in the heart of the Dutch bible belt. The position adopted by Giessenlanden Council has met with disbelief in this predominantly Christian region.

The council argues that it’s pollution of the landscape. Giessenlanden Councillor Berend Buddingh explains that white letters on a red roof is too big a colour contrast. Mr Van Ooijen counters that it is “too big a contrast with the councillor’s own beliefs”.

The farmer is receiving support from all over the Netherlands, from secular as well as religious people and from ordinary Christians, not just members of his evangelical church. And from less strict members of his own church, such as the Bons family. “He’s literally shouting it from the rooftops,” says the father of the family, Menno Bons, admiringly. – Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Graphic: The Dutch bible belt

Denver (AP) – A chaplain killed in Afghanistan this week was the first Army clergyman killed in action since the Vietnam War, the military said Thursday.

Capt. Dale Goetz of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., was among five soldiers killed by an improvised bomb on Monday.

Before Goetz, the last Army chaplain to die in action was Phillip Nichols, who was killed by a concealed enemy explosive in Vietnam in October of 1970, said Chaplain Carleton Birch, a spokesman for the Army chief of chaplains.

The Air Force said none of its chaplains were killed later than 1970. A spokesman for the Navy Chaplain Corps, which also provides clergy to the Marines, didn’t immediately return a phone call.

Goetz, 43, listed his hometown as White, S.D. He once served there as pastor of First Baptist Church, the Argus-Leader in Sioux Falls, S.D., reported. Goetz, his wife and their three sons recently joined High Country Baptist Church in Colorado Springs, where Fort Carson is located, the newspaper reported.

A church spokeswoman referred questions to the Army on Thursday, and Army officials declined to comment, citing the family’s wishes.

Officials said Goetz had hitched a ride on a resupply convoy when he was killed.

Birch said chaplains are considered noncombatants and don’t carry weapons, but they are accompanied by a chaplain’s assistant, a soldier who is armed.

A chaplain’s assistant, Staff Sgt. Christopher Stout of Worthville, Ky., was killed in Afghanistan in July, Birch said.

Chaplains don’t go on combat patrols but do go onto battlefields to conduct services and counsel soldiers, Birch said.

“Many of those places where they travel are very dangerous,” he said.

Army chaplains go through their own training, which includes combat survival skills, Birch said. They don’t go through the same training that enlisted personnel or officers do.

Birch said commanders in Afghanistan would decide whether chaplains’ procedures will be reviewed or revised after Goetz’s death.

“Traveling in a war zone is very risky business …. Chaplains will continue to go where soldiers are on the battlefield to minister to their soldiers,” Birch said.

“It was my father’s film. So, it was in his basement until he passed away,” says retired Army Colonel Bill Kosco. Kosco’s father is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. When retired Captain George Kosco died in 1985 he left behind mementos from his time as a meteorologist and navigator in the Navy. “This is an album my father put together, files and photographs he obtained on board the USS Missouri.” – Breitbart

Posted on September 1st, 2010 by J. B. Landry

I don’t consider myself a right-wing blogger, tea partier, neo-conservative, federalist or a birther. I’m just a married man with a .5 kid (my wife is 8 months pregnant). I stay “in the know: because of my job and many folks often call me for advice on election day. They know that I don’t look at the party and will always breakdown candidates’ pros and cons with reason. I’ve never been a big Bill of Rights guy, although I’ve been trying to plow through a very thick biography piece on John Adams for the last year.

But this past weekend, as my wife and I strolled through a brand new public school in Baton Rouge on our way to vote, I was presented with a sign— not from God, but a sign from a teacher. A sign that I needed to take a closer look at my rights as a U.S. citizen.

The sign wasn’t all that noticeable. It blended well between inspirational posters and proudly displayed class projects. I imagine it was a simple assignment for Mrs. Menon’s students at ‘The Dufrocq School.’ Perhaps it was even an impromptu project to keep them busy on a rainy afternoon? It was entitled “We Treasure Our Rights.” I thought to myself what a great way to ‘teach’ our children the rights of our country. The rights our forefathers drafted and debated over for years. The rights my grandfather died for in Italy during WWII. The rights we believe in— the fundamental rights of life, liberty and the purist of happiness, which give us all the opportunity to be the best we can be in this great county.

But sadly I was disturbed by the rights that were listed on this flimsy poster board. Especially the one that topped the list – ‘I treasure the right to Health Care.’

I’m glad this sign came into my life because it made me dig a little deeper into my rights. All of these years I’ve had a general idea of my rights. I’ve heard debates over what is a ‘right’ and what is a ‘privilege.’ Amazingly, when I went to the current “trusted” source for information, Google, and typed in “rights,” I got 1.6 billion results in .26 seconds. Unfortunately on the top of this list was “Ask a Lawyer – 19 lawyers are online! Ask a question. Get an answer ASAP.” In fact, the top six results are all related to my rights if I’m arrested. I’ve put that in “My Favorites” folder (you never know).

Of course, the ultimate source for our information about our rights is the United States Constitution. It is often assumed the Bill of Rights is the document under which we live our daily lives, but in 1791 the Bill of Rights only served as an outline for the first ten amendments to the Constitution. As hard as I tried, I could not find where Health Care was listed in either the Constitution or the Bill of Rights. I did see the right to keep and bear arms, right to a trial by jury, right to not house soldiers without an owner’s consent, right to not incriminate myself, right to protection from unreasonable searches and the right to freedom of speech. But nothing about Health Care.

Last year my wife visited Durfocq Elementary to help with a reading program

for the students. She was amazed at the design of the school ($20 million renovation) and how well behaved all of the students were in the school. So what are Dufrocq teachers teaching in school? Was this an assignment for educational purposes or indoctrination purposes?

I guess brand new schools do not invoke brand new thought processes.

According the Dufrocq’s website, Mrs. Menon is a certified elementary teacher with a master’s degree. I would expect a teacher with a master’s degree would know the difference between a “right” and a “privilege.”

I’m sure when folks invoke the first amendment and ask Mrs. Menon why she’s indoctrinating our kids, she’ll quickly exercise her Fifth Amendment right!

The Hayride.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MHpvTj86f0

Larry Sabato @ Center For Politics:

[...]

2010 was always going to be a Republican year, in the midterm tradition. It has simply been a question of degree. Several scenarios were possible, depending in large measure on whether, or how quickly, the deeply troubled American economy recovered from the Great Recession. Had Democratic hopes on economic revitalization materialized, it is easy to see how the party could have used its superior financial resources, combined with the tendency of Republicans in some districts and states to nominate ideological fringe candidates, to keep losses to the low 30s in the House and a handful in the Senate.

But conditions have deteriorated badly for Democrats over the summer. The economy appears rotten, with little chance of a substantial comeback by November 2nd. Unemployment is very high, income growth sluggish, and public confidence quite low. The Democrats’ self-proclaimed “Recovery Summer” has become a term of derision, and to most voters—fair or not—it seems that President Obama has over-promised and under-delivered.

Obama’s job approval ratings have drifted down well below 50% in most surveys. The generic ballot that asks likely voters whether they will cast ballots for Democrats or Republicans this year has moved increasingly in the GOP direction. While far less important, other controversies such as the mosque debate and immigration policy have made the climate worse for Democrats. Republican voters are raring to vote, their energy fueled by anti-Obama passion and concern over debt, spending, taxes, health care, and the size of government. Democrats are much less enthusiastic by almost every measure, and the Democratic base’s turnout will lag. Plus, Democrats have won over 50 House seats in 2006 and 2008, many of them in Republican territory, so their exposure to any sort of GOP wave is high.

Given what we can see at this moment, Republicans have a good chance to win the House by picking up as many as 47 seats, net. This is a “net” number since the GOP will probably lose several of its own congressional districts in Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana. This estimate, which may be raised or lowered by Election Day, is based on a careful district-by-district analysis, plus electoral modeling based on trends in President Obama’s Gallup job approval rating and the Democratic-versus-Republican congressional generic ballot (discussed later in this essay). If anything, we have been conservative in estimating the probable GOP House gains, if the election were being held today.

In the Senate, we now believe the GOP will do a bit better than our long-time prediction of +7 seats. Republicans have an outside shot at winning full control (+10), but are more likely to end up with +8 (or maybe +9, at which point it will be interesting to see how senators such as Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and others react). GOP leaders themselves did not believe such a result was truly possible just a few months ago. If the Republican wave on November 2 is as large as some polls are suggesting it may be, then the surprise on election night could be a full GOP takeover. Since World War II, the House of Representatives has flipped parties on six occasions (1946, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1994, and 2006). Every time, the Senate flipped too, even when it had not been predicted to do so. These few examples do not create an iron law of politics, but they do suggest an electoral tendency.

The seat switches are probably coming in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware (but only if the eventual GOP nominee is Rep. Mike Castle), Indiana, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. We expect Republicans to pick off at least a couple of these states: California, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, and Wisconsin. While it is possible that Republicans will lose one or two of their own open seats, the only 50-50 chance of that right now is in Florida—and it might not happen even there. There can also be unanticipated shockers if a GOP wave develops. While we rate Gov. Joe Manchin (D) the early favorite to fill the late Sen. Robert Byrd’s seat, his Republican opponent, John Raese, is a self-funder in a strongly anti-Obama state.

The inescapable conclusion is that the Senate is on the bubble, with only a slight lean at Labor Day toward Democratic retention.

[...]

But it goes beyond the federal level to state and local elections … Read the whole thing here.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said requests by Arizona law enforcement personnel and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) for 3,000 National Guard troops along the state’s border with Mexico have been answered so far with 1 percent of that number deployed there this week.

“We have a whopping 30 [National Guard troops] this week that are showing up,” Babeu told CNSNews.com. “It’s less than a half-hearted measure designed to fail.”

But the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has placed 15 signs along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 that links San Diego with Phoenix and Tucson warning travelers of drug cartels and human trafficking operations.

“DANGER – PUBLIC WARNING, TRAVEL NOT RECOMMENDED,” read the signs placed along Interstate 8. “Visitors May Encounter Armed Criminals and Smuggling Vehicles Traveling at High Rates of Speed. Stay Away From Trash, Clothing, Backpacks, and Abandoned Vehicles.”

“BLM Encourages Visitors To Use Public Land North of Interstate 8,” the signs say.

“I think the American people are outraged that we can fight wars half-way around the world, send our nation’s treasury and our most precious resources – our American heroes that serve in the military — and yet here in our own country somehow they believe it’s okay for us not to have a secure border,” Said Sheriff Babeu.

“And that it’s okay to put up signs in my county and parts of America to surrender parts of our country to foreign born criminals,” Babeu added, “warning our own American citizens to stay out.”

Pinal County (Ariz.) Sheriff Paul Babeu
In May, President Barack Obama said he would deploy 1,200 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to help quell the violence there, which is less than half of the 3,000 troops requested by Babeu, Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever, Sen. McCain and Sen. Kyl for Arizona’s border during a press conference on Capitol Hill in April.

The Obama administration has said it will deploy National Guard troops to the southern border incrementally to eventually have 1,500 troops in place. In addition, $600 million in “emergency border protection funding” was approved in legislation the president signed into law in August.

Babeu said the warning signs are 70 to 80 miles from the border and just 30 miles from Phoenix, the fifth largest city in the United States.

A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out “racism” and “extremism” among Tea Partiers.

Teapartytracker.org will feature tweets, interviews with people at rallies, blog entries and a picture of a t-shirt they say someone spotted at a rally that reads “Blacks own slaves in Mauitania, Sudan, Niger & Haiti.”

The site, sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America, will monitor “racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among their ranks and join in civil dialogue with all Americans.”

The NAACP and other groups have accused the Tea Party of several instances of racism, including spitting on a black congressman, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., on Capitol Hill as he went to vote for the health care bill.

Whether the spitting incident, which was caught on tape, was intentional remains subject to debate. Nonetheless, the narrative has remained a continuing theme of Tea Party critics.

The site’s logo is also an old aphorism, apparently meant to suggest that monitoring the Tea Party will prevent the group from becoming more effective. “A watched teapot never boils,” it reads.

The site’s success will likely be measured in the “gotcha” moments it can accumulate that aim to embarrass or undermine the Tea Party movement. The submissions will most often come from citizen journalists, who have grown in form and fashion since Sen. George Allen of Virginia was ousted from his Senate seat in 1996 after his “macaca” moment.

At that time, a videographer sent by his opponent’s campaign caught Allen using what critics later explained was an obscure racial slur. Allen’s campaign sank afterward, and his Democratic opponent, Jim Webb, won the seat.

The fear of gotcha moments most recently forced Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., to try to close a Tea Party meeting to media in order to allow people to speak freely. But Tea Partiers who attended the 90-minute event Wednesday in North Charleston City Hall told the Charleston Press and Courier that they were fine with media coverage.

“This stuff does happen, and it’s stupid,” Kelly McBride, a senior faculty member with the Poynter Institute in Florida, reportedly said. “Who isn’t a reporter these days?” – FOX News

Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio said Thursday the Justice Department “sandbagged” him with the lawsuit it filed earlier in the day against him.

The Justice Department claims in its suit that the controversial Arizona lawman refused for more than a year to turn over records in an investigation into allegations his department discriminates against Hispanics.

“It surprises me because our lawyers have been meeting with the Justice Department officials the last week and we were cooperating,” Arpaio told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto. “Now all at once, I’m being sandbagged and they’re suing me.”

The lawsuit calls Arpaio and his office’s defiance “unprecedented,” and said the federal government has been trying since March 2009 to get officials to comply with its probe of alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in his jails that discriminate against people with limited English skills.

Arpaio had been given until Aug. 17 to hand over documents it first asked for 15 months ago.

Arpaio’s office had said it has fully cooperated in the jail inquiry but won’t hand over additional documents into the examination of the alleged unconstitutional searches because federal authorities haven’t said exactly what they were investigating.

Arpaio questioned why the lawsuit was being filed now.

“It’s been a year and half they’ve been investigating me and my office for alleged racial profiling. Nothing has happened. But why now?” he told Fox News. “They sued the state two months ago. They just filed another suit against some county schools. And now here I’m being sued.”

“So I think there’s a move afoot to go after Arizona because they don’t like us enforcing illegal immigration laws,” he added. “So they’re really going after the people of Arizona. The people of Arizona want something done and now they’re zeroing in with these lawsuits.”

It’s the latest action against Arizona by the federal government, which earlier sued the state to stop its strict new immigration law that requires police officers to question people about their immigration status.

“The actions of the sheriff’s office are unprecedented,” said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department’s civil rights division. “It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities.”

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix and names Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and the county.

Arizona’s new law — most of which a federal judge has put on hold — mirrors many of the policies Arpaio has put into place in the greater Phoenix area, where he set up a hot line for the public to report immigration violations, conducts crime and immigration sweeps in heavily Latino neighborhoods and frequently raids workplaces for people in the U.S. illegally.

Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city — in some cases heavily Latino areas — to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders.

Critics say his deputies pull people over for minor traffic infractions because of the color of their skin so they can ask them for their proof of citizenship.

Arpaio denies allegations of racial profiling, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they’ve committed crimes and that it’s only afterward that deputies find many of them are illegal immigrants.

The sheriff’s office has said half of the 1,032 people arrested in the sweeps have been illegal immigrants.

Last year, the federal government stripped Arpaio of his special power to enforce federal immigration law. The sheriff continued his sweeps through the enforcement of state immigration laws.

Last year, the nearly $113 million that the county received from the federal government accounted for about 5 percent of the county’s $2 billion budget. Arpaio’s office said it receives $3 million to $4 million each year in federal funds.

In a separate investigation, a federal grand jury in Phoenix is examining allegations that Arpaio has abused his powers with actions such as intimidating county workers by showing up at their homes at nights and on weekends. – FOX News

Remember, Mayor Bloomberg (and others) do not think or believe an investigation into who is funding the GZ mosque is needed or ‘appropriate’ …

NY Post – New York – The leader of the Ground Zero mosque got hugely valuable tax-exempt status for a Muslim organization he founded after claiming as many as 500 of its members prayed daily in a small, one-bedroom Upper West Side apartment also listed as his wife’s residence, The Post has learned.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf sought “church status” — an official IRS term for a house of worship of any religion — for the American Sufi Muslim Association, or ASMA, in 1998. The feds granted the request.

“Church status” is more than just an exemption — it means never having to pay taxes, file returns or reveal the sources of a congregation’s money or how it’s spent, according to the Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism, which discovered the group’s startling claims on the IRS form it filed seeking the special status.

On that form, the organization said it held services at 201 W. 85th St.

That’s a 17-story apartment building with no public space big enough to accommodate the 450 to 500 worshippers the group claimed regularly showed up five times a day to pray.

There’s no indication ASMA or any of its officers rented space in the building other than the apartment, which the Investigative Project says is only 800 square feet.

A year earlier, the imam’s wife, Daisy Kahn, had been named as an ASMA director in incorporation papers.

In those papers, she stated the 10th-floor apartment was her legal residence.

ASMA is still in existence — with the same tax exemption and the same initials, but a brand new name, the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

Since February 2008, it has given its address on federal forms as 475 Riverside Drive.

That’s an interfaith center which is home to many religious groups.

When ASMA was formed in 1997, its address was on 78th Street in North Bergen, NJ.

That was also Rauf’s official residence.

Forms show the organization switching its address several times among the Upper West Side and New Jersey buildings.

On its Web site, ASMA states that it has given money to the Cordoba Initiative, founded by Rauf, which supports the mosque near Ground Zero.

Kahn did not return telephone calls or e-mails seeking comment.

(CNSNews.com) – Christians in Pakistan’s flood-hit regions are doubly affected by the disaster as a result of anti-Christian discrimination by government relief workers and Muslim aid agencies, according to representatives of the embattled minority.

They are urging Christians to send assistance to organizations that will either help stricken Christians specifically, or at least ensure that Christians are not sidelined in the aid distribution.

As flood waters begin to recede, thousands of Christians are among millions of Pakistanis left homeless. Aid agencies are delivering food, clothing, building supplies and hygiene kits in a bid to prevent outbreaks of water-borne diseases.

Many have lost not only their homes but also their source of livelihood as their crops and subsistence fields have been washed away along with seed for next season’s planting.

According to the Pakistan Christian Congress (PCC), Muslim relief organizations and government agencies have been denying assistance to Christians affected by the flooding in Punjab province.

The PCC organ Pakistan Christian Post described the southern Punjab was a “hotbed” of extremist organizations which view Christians as “infidels.” It said local officials in fear of the radical elements were barring Christians from tent camps for flood victims.

PCC president Nazir Bhatti appealed to donor governments and organizations to earmark some of their aid for Christians, and distribute it through organizations such as the Catholic aid agency Caritas or the Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

Western Christian organizations working in Pakistan also are calling for help for Christian flood victims specifically, concerned that they will otherwise lose out, or face intolerable pressures.

“The only place with aid for many is their local mosque, which places Christians in an extremely vulnerable situation,” Open Doors USA president Carl Moeller says in a video appeal.

“Some are flatly denied assistance while others are told to vacate the region or convert to Islam. Imagine, giving up your faith in order to feed your starving children – what a horrible choice. The church in Pakistan needs another way to take care of their families. They’re looking to you and to me.”

Barnabas Fund, an international charity focusing on Christian minorities in the Islamic world, is another conduit for assistance for Christian individuals and families affected by the flood.

“Christians, who are marginalized and discriminated against in Pakistan, are likely to be neglected by the government and mainstream aid agencies, so desperately need the help of fellow believers around the world,” it said Wednesday.

“Barnabas Fund channels money exclusively from Christians through Christians to Christians who desperately need our help,” the organization’s international director, Patrick Sookhdeo, said in an earlier statement.

“They urgently need our assistance now and, looking to the future, will require long-term help to rebuild their homes and shattered lives.”

Last month Anglican Bishop Humphrey Peters of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly the North-West Frontier Province), told Barnabas Fund that as the crisis moves from the emergency phase to longer term rehabilitation. “we are sure that some countries will come forward with aid packages, but hardly anything will reach the minority Christians.”

Peters’ Peshawar diocese is carrying out relief operations in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where some 100,000 Christians live among more than 17 million Muslims.

The diocese says on its Web site that it has set up four relief camps where hundreds of flood-affected Christians, as well as members of the Hindu minority, are being sheltered.

Even before the latest disaster, it says “most Christians of the province remain unskilled, poorly educated, low social status, economically poorest of the poor and living in slum areas.”

Complaints about discrimination against non-Muslim Pakistanis are not just coming from minority sources.

“Reports about systematic discrimination in aid distribution are utterly disgraceful, the Lahore-based Daily Times newspaper said in an editorial at the weekend.

“If we want to progress as a nation, we need to close the doors on our prejudices. For far too long we have let religious bigots call the shots; now is the time to stand up to them and say no to religious exclusivism.”

Security fears

Christians comprise an estimated 1.7-2.5 percent of Pakistan’s 175 million people, and members of the small community have periodically come under attack from Islamic extremists, stirred up over allegations of blasphemy or associating local Christians with unpopular Western policies relating to the Islamic world.

The State Department reported last week that militants in Pakistan had threatened to target foreign aid workers as well as government ministries involved in the relief effort.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which earlier urged the government to reject U.S. aid, called the presence of foreign aid workers in the country “unacceptable.”

Barnabas Fund said the security threats against foreigners were a matter of grave concern, but that it was channeling its support through Pakistani churches and Christian organizations, “which should not be blocked or targeted by the militants’ disruptive agenda.”

There have been no confirmed reports of attacks on foreign aid workers, although rumors have circulated about the killing by the TTP of three Western Christian relief workers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In a teleconference briefing last week, U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Michael Nagata, who is attached to the U.S. Embassy’s Office of the Defense Representative, said for the second time in a fortnight that U.S. forces carrying out relief missions had seen no evidence of a security threat.

He praised the Pakistani army for what he called a “highly effective job in providing our force protection and security.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiOj1mPUDk4

Pfc. Naser Abdo, 20, filed for conscientious objector status in June, claiming his faith and the military simply don’t mix. The Texas native says he’s endured harassment and discrimination due to his religious beliefs since joining the military last year.

A Muslim soldier from Texas who joined the U.S. Army last year now wants to leave the military, claiming he is a conscientious objector whose devotion to Islam has suffered since he took an oath to defend the United States against all enemies.

Pfc. Naser Abdo, a 20-year-old infantryman assigned to the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., filed for conscientious objector status in June because his faith and the military simply don’t mix, he told FoxNews.com. The Army has deferred his scheduled deployment to Afghanistan.

“Islam is a peaceful religion, it’s not a religion of warfare,” Abdo said. “And it’s not a religion of terror. As a Muslim, we stand against injustice, we stand against discrimination, and I feel it’s my duty as an individual to do this.”

Abdo, the Texas-born son of a Muslim father and a Christian mother, said his relatives and wife stand by his decision and that he will likely refuse to deploy if his application for CO status is denied.

“I was more faithful to God before I joined the military and that’s what kind of stirred me,” he said. Military duties have really consumed every part of my day and did not allow me time to involve myself with the Islamic community to maintain what duties I felt that I owed God. This is really what made me come to the conclusion that I’m not ready to die….

Mariner Energy, Inc.

The Coast Guard is responding to a report of a rig on fire “and people in the water” in the Gulf of Mexico south of Vermillion Bay, authorities said.

Petty Officer Casey Ranel told nola.com the rig is around 80 miles south of Vermillion Bay and that a helicopter earlier today reported that it was in fire “and that there was smoke and there were people in the water.”

The Coast Guard told CNN 12 people went overboard with one missing. Rescue attempts are underway. Reports indicate the rig wasn’t producing at the time of the accident.

Five helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route from Coast Guard stations in New Orleans and Houston, Ranel said.

She said the rig, Vermillion Oil Rig 380, is owned by Mariner Energy.

Vermillion Oil Rig 360 is a gas and oil rig in 450 feet of water in South Timbalier Block 316, according to company records. – Press Register

***UPDATE – Kermit:

Hi all,
Both the USCG and the Press already has their reporting all screwed up.

Here is where the explosion occurred….

Mariner Energy, Structure A, Vermillion Block 380 (south of around New Iberia, LA)
A PRODUCTION PLATFORM not a Drilling Rig. 340 Feet of water, installed January 1980
The platform processes both natural gas and oil coming from wells nearby. It contains heater treating, and pressure vessels for separating that which is coming from the wells (oil, natural gas & water). It has pumps, and compressors to “export” the oil & gas to the pipelines going to shore.

ONE of the trapped Chilean miners is dreading his rescue – his wife has discovered his secret mistress.
Yonni Barrios’ wife Marta Salinas and lover Susana Valenzuela were both holding vigils for him.

Marta was stunned when she heard Susana shouting his name amid a crowd of miners’ loved ones.

Marta, 56, is said to be “horrified” – but is determined not to give up her man to her love rival.

She told friends: “Barrios is my husband. He loves me and I am his devoted wife. This woman has no legitimacy.” But Susana said the 50-year-old miner, who she met on a training course five years ago, has been planning to leave his wife for her.

She said: “We are in love. I’ll wait for him.”

Barrios has been one of the heroes of the landslide drama – using his first-aid training to treat sick colleagues.

He has also vaccinated all 33 men, including himself, against flu and pneumonia. Meanwhile, the captives have been hit with a booze and tobacco ban by Nasa experts helping the rescue.

The space agency’s doc James Michael Duncan said: “We need to get their nutrition up before we consider drinking.” Two of the smokers have been dropped nicotine patches and gum to deal with their cravings.

But the miners – who may not be drilled out until Christmas – have started eating proper meals of 2,000 calories a day.

Their rations include yoghurt and cereal for breakfast, chicken sandwiches for lunch and jam sarnies for dinner. They each have tea and five litres of water daily.

And yesterday the stranded men had their first hot meal in a month, shredded beef and rice. But they were denied the traditional side dish of beans – to stop them getting wind.

A MINER who lost a foot in the same mine in July slammed the firm for ignoring the danger signs.

A huge rock fell on Gino Cortes, who said: “There were cracks in the rock. We told our bosses, but they did nothing. All they were worried about was their profits, not safety.” – The Sun UK

North Carolina’s governor is warning residents to take Hurricane Earl “very seriously” as the powerful Category 4 hurricane barrels toward the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday, packing winds of 145 mph.

Forecasters were trying to pinpoint exactly how close the strongest winds and heaviest surge would get to North Carolina’s fragile chain of barrier islands, some of which were evacuated on Wednesday.

“Right now it’s still predicted to brush the coast at the Outer Banks, but nobody knows,” North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said during a press conference. “People should take this very seriously.”

Tourists were largely gone from North Carolina’s Outer Banks, but those resolute residents who stayed behind said they were prepared to face down the powerful hurricane.

“The one thing about North Carolina is that we can’t require adults to do what we tell them to do,” said Perdue, who spoke one day after President Obama declared an emergency in the state and ordered federal agencies to assist in any emergency.

Officials in North Carolina expanded mandatory evacuation orders early Thursday to include tourists in Dare County. About 49 counties in the state are currently under hurricane warnings or watches, and residents were advised to evacuate parts of the state’s Outer Banks on Wednesday.

National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said Thursday that there is still concern that the “core of the storm” could shift farther west and have a “very significant impact on the immediate coastline.” Earl is now 340 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and moving north-northwest at 18 mph.

Forecasters also were trying to figure out whether the storm would stay off the Northeast coast or bring hurricane-force winds to Long Island, the Boston metropolitan area and Cape Cod.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a tropical storm warning early Thursday for the coast of Long Island in New York and a hurricane watch was issued for areas of Massachusetts. A hurricane warning was already in effect for the coast of North Carolina.

“I would not downplay the potential threat to New England,” Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center, told Fox News.

Earl’s first encounter with the U.S. mainland should come around midnight Thursday, as the storm is forecast to pass just off Cape Hatteras, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph and several feet of storm surge both from the Atlantic and the sounds to the west of the islands.

Evacuations continued early Thursday on the North Carolina coast, with residents and visitors leaving a barrier island in Carteret County. Emergency Services Director Jo Ann Smith said she wasn’t sure how many people were affected by the order to leave the Bogue Banks areas. Unlike some of the barrier islands on the Outer Banks who had to take a ferry, Smith said people could simply leave in their cars.

The Outer Banks had only light winds and high clouds early Thursday as the eye of Earl was hundreds of miles south of Cape Hatteras. Those conditions were expected to deteriorate throughout the day, said National Hurricane Center forecaster Todd Kimberline.

While thousands of tourists heeded calls to evacuate Hatteras Island, locals familiar with hurricanes vowed to ride out Earl, preparing to spend days stranded from the mainland. Dare County officials said those who do not leave should be ready to fend for themselves for up to three days.

Residents like Nancy Scarborough, who manages the Hatteras Cabanas, said Outer Banks residents have a tight-knit community that takes care of its own.

“I worry about not being able to get back here,” she said. “I’d rather be stuck on this side than that side.”

Along with the 30,000 residents and visitors asked to leave Hatteras Island, 5,000 more tourists were ordered to leave Ocracoke Island, which is only accessible by ferry and airplane.

Many people — boaters, beachgoers and residents alike — were adopting a wait-and-see approach, making simple preparations like stocking up on food or attaching hurricane shutters to their houses. But with the likelihood that the storm’s ultimate path will become clear on Thursday, officials expect planning to shift into high gear.

“Post-Katrina, people are really sensitive to storm preparedness,” said Atlantic Beach, N.C., Mayor Trace Cooper. “I don’t think we’re going to see too many people sticking around and saying they’re going to have hurricane parties. You see enough pictures of people waiting on their roofs to be rescued and you decide to take precautions.”

The North Carolina National Guard is deploying 80 troops to help the state. Obama’s declaration of emergency in the state authorizes the Department of Homeland Security and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to coordinate all disaster relief efforts.

As Earl whirled into a powerful Category 4 storm, the governors of North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland declared states of emergency, the USS Cole hustled to return to its port in Virginia and volunteers carried sea turtle nests to safety. The highest storm, Category 5, has winds of 155 mph and higher.

Farther up the East Coast, emergency officials urged people to have disaster plans and supplies ready and weighed whether to order evacuations as they watched the latest maps from the hurricane center — namely, the “cone of uncertainty” showing the broad path the storm could take.

If Earl moves farther east, Friday might just be modestly wet and blustery for millions in the Northeast. If the storm runs along the western edge of the forecast, dangerous storm surge, heavy rain and hurricane-force winds could slam the populous region.

In Massachusetts, some boaters had already pulled their crafts from the water in anticipation of rough seas, said Harwich Assistant Harbor Master Heinz Proft. The Labor Day weekend is about the time of year when people start pulling their boats anyway, so some are just accelerating the process.

“It’s been a small percentage so far, but we are encouraging people to be proactive,” he said.

In Virginia, Gov. Bob McDonnell activated the National Guard and sent 200 troops to the Hampton Roads area on Chesapeake Bay. The area was not expected to get the brunt of Earl, but many remember the surprise fury of Isabel, which killed 33 people and caused $1.6 billion in damage in September 2003.

Red Cross officials in New York prepared to open as many as 50 shelters on Long Island that could house up to 60,000 people in an emergency.

Emergency officials on Cape Cod braced for their first major storm since Hurricane Bob brought winds of up to 100 mph to coastal New England in August 1991. – FOX News

Ancient figurines are on display during the announcement of the discovery of a 3,000-year-old Iron Age temple in Jordan. The sanctuary discovered at Khirbat ‘Ataroz southwest of the capital Amman, shows the advanced worship practices in Jordan’s ancient Moabite kingdom.

AMMAN, Jordan – Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed a 3,000-year-old Iron Age temple with a trove of figurines of ancient deities and circular clay vessels used for religious rituals, officials said Wednesday.

The head of the Jordanian Antiquities Department, Ziad al-Saad, said the sanctuary dates to the eighth century B.C. and was discovered at Khirbat ‘Ataroz near the town of Mabada, some 20 miles (32 kilometers) southwest of the capital Amman.

He said the complex boasts a main room that measures 388 square feet (36 square meters), as well as two antechambers and an open courtyard.

The sanctuary and its artifacts — hewn from limestone and basalt or molded from clay and bronze — show the complex religious rituals of Jordan’s ancient biblical Moabite kingdom, according to al-Saad.

“Today we have the material evidence, the archaeological proof of the level of advancement of technology and civilization at that period of time,” he said.

3,000-year-old artifacts, the world’s oldest disposable knife, a really, really old bakery, a Mayan tomb and more. The latest discoveries from the ancient world.

The Moabites, whose kingdom ran along present-day Jordan’s mountainous eastern shore of the Dead Sea, were closely related to the Israelites, although the two were in frequent conflict. The Babylonians eventually conquered the Moabites in 582 B.C.

Archaeologists also unearthed some 300 pots, figurines of deities and sacred vessels used for worship at the site. Al-Saad said it was rare to discover so many Iron Age items in one place.

Excavations began in Khirbat ‘Ataroz in 2000 in cooperation with the California-based La Sierra University, but the majority of the items were only discovered in the past few months.

Among the items on display Wednesday, there was a four-legged animal god Hadad, as well as delicate circular clay vessels used in holy rites. Al-Saad said the objects indicate the Moabites worshipped many deities and had a highly organized ritual use of temples.

The items will be scientifically analyzed and conserved before going on display in Jordan’s archaeological museum.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Two Yemeni men arrested on arrival from the United States on suspicion they may have been conducting a dry run for an airline terror attack were released without charge Wednesday after investigations turned up no evidence to link them to a terror plot, Dutch prosecutors said.

The national prosecutor’s office said in a statement on its website that because of the lack of evidence “there is no reason to hold the men any longer.”

Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al-Soofi and Hezam al-Murisi were arrested by airport police Monday in Amsterdam on a United Airlines flight from Chicago following a request from U.S. law enforcement officials.

The whereabouts of the two men following their release was not immediately known. Their lawyers could not immediately be reached for comment.

Prosecutors said an initial test by U.S. authorities on an item of luggage belonging to one of the men “showed the possible presence of a trace of explosives.” However “more accurate” later tests did not reveal any signs of explosive material, the they said.

“Investigations in the U.S. and the Netherlands have shown that there is no longer any indication of any possible involvement of the men in any crime,” the prosecution statement said.

The arrests came just days before the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. U.S. officials have also been concerned about Americans traveling to Yemen to join Al Qaeda.

Al-Soofi’s Dutch lawyer Wouter Hendrickx told The Associated Press before news of the release broke that al-Soofi insists he is innocent.

“He says ‘I have no connections to terrorist activities whatsoever,”‘ Hendrickx said.

Hendrickx said al-Soofi was on his way to Yemen to visit his family when he was detained.

In a statement, the Yemeni Embassy said some media coverage of the arrests highlighted “an unfortunate, yet ongoing misunderstanding of Yemen and its citizens.”

“It is important to emphasize that Yemen is a victim of terrorism as well, with Al Qaeda operatives having killed over fifty Yemenis in the past three months,” spokesman Mohammed Albasha said.

Al-Soofi and al-Murisi missed flights to Washington Dulles International Airport from Chicago, and United Airlines then booked them on the same flight to Amsterdam, a U.S. government official said. The men were sitting near each other on the flight, but not together.

Al-Soofi also raised suspicions in the United States on Sunday because he was carrying $7,000 in cash. An inspection of his checked luggage uncovered a cell phone taped to a small bottle, multiple cell phones and watches taped together, and a knife and box cutter, according to a U.S. official who had been briefed on the investigation.

None of the checked items violated U.S. security rules, so authorities allowed al-Soofi to fly. But his bags later were transferred to another flight and were not on the flight to Amsterdam, Dutch prosecutors said.

Al-Soofi and al-Murisi changed their travel plans at the last minute and took a direct flight to Amsterdam, raising suspicion among U.S. officials.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department confirmed that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies found no links to terrorism, but said “we will continue to pursue any and all leads in this matter.”

“This incident illustrates how airport security protocols, law enforcement cooperation, and prompt international information sharing allows us to respond quickly to potential threats,” it said in a statement.

Hat Trick NRA!

Yesterday, Tuesday, August 31, lawmakers in the Golden State heard loud and clear the voices of pro-gun advocates when they defeated three dangerous pieces of anti-gun legislation.

Assembly Bill 1810 would have established a registration system, similar to the one currently in place for handguns, for all newly-acquired long guns. Under AB1810, the make, model and serial number of the firearm as well as the identifying information of the purchaser would have been recorded and kept on file by the California Attorney General’s office.

If AB1810 were enacted, violent criminals would have continued doing what they do now – obtain firearms through illegal means. This bill would not have decreased crime but would have rather had disastrous effects on the already financially unstable Golden State. AB1810 would have imposed additional burdens on California’s taxpayers to maintain the registration system as well as on the state’s licensed firearms dealers, small businesses who already deal with extensive business requirements.

Assembly Bill 1934 was a blatant attack on the self-defense rights of law-abiding Californians. This legislation sought to outlaw the open carrying of a handgun for self-defense.

AB1934 was a knee-jerk reaction by anti-gun legislators to punish citizens for engaging in the legal act of openly carrying an unloaded handgun. In reality, the open carrying of firearms by law-abiding citizens is forced by California’s unfair concealed carry law, which allows some citizens from some counties to receive a permit to carry, while their neighbors in the next county are denied that basic right for political, not public safety, reasons.

Assembly Bill 2358 was intended to “clean-up” and address problems encountered with the passage of AB962 in 2009. Make no mistake about it; this bill did nothing to improve AB962 for California’s gun owners. In fact, it would have made things far worse. AB2358 was even recently amended to include common rifle ammunition like .223 and 7.62 x 39.

AB2358 would have forced licensed state ammunition retailers to obtain a special local license to operate in municipalities. These retailers would also have been required to notify local law enforcement before conducting business within their jurisdiction.

Moreover, this bill mandated that ammunition retailers submit sales records to local law enforcement agencies and allowed them to maintain those records indefinitely. It did not require the same privacy and destruction requirements mandated for state ammunition vendors.

Passage of AB2358 would have made it difficult for ammunition retailers to sell ammunition at sporting events and gun shows. It would also have left law abiding Californian gun owners vulnerable to identity theft and political persecution by local, anti-gun politicians.

Thank you to all of the NRA members who answered the call to oppose these bills. Without you, success in these battles would not have been possible. While this is certainly a momentous occasion for California’s gun owners, anti-gun forces are sure to continue their offensive against our rights. Please be sure to check your email and www.NRAILA.org for updates on Second Amendment issues in California.

A man known for protesting the Discovery Channel’s environmental programming stormed the network’s Maryland headquarters carrying a handgun on Wednesday, holding three people hostage for hours until he was shot by police and taken into custody, according to authorities.

He entered the building in Silver Spring around 1 p.m. and appeared to have a bomb strapped to his chest, police said. After hours of negotiations, the Montgomery County Police Department announced just before 5 p.m. that they had set off smoke bombs, allowing sharp-shooters to take the gunman down. All hostages escaped safely.

Montgomery County Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said an explosive device may have detonated, and the suspect may have brought other devices into the building.

The suspect was identified by Discovery Communications as James Jay Lee of San Diego, Calif., a man well-known to the building’s employees because of his history of protesting the network. Maryland police, however, have not yet confirmed the suspect’s identity. They also did not confirm whether the suspect was killed in the shooting.

Manger said the gunman had been wearing “what appeared to be metallic canister devices” when he entered the building.

“The man told everyone to just stay still,” Manger said.

A website registered to Lee criticized Discovery and announced plans for the protest in January 2008: “These guys have been very sneaky and deceptive as to their contribution to the planetary problems. Just look at their ‘new’ show about saving the planet, ‘Planet Green,’ to me, it’s just another show about more PRODUCTS to make MONEY, not about actual solutions. We can’t let them get away with doing it anymore.”

Lee is believed to have distributed a manifesto outside the Discovery building several weeks ago that called on the network to “broadcast to the world their commitment to save the planet.”

“All programs on Discovery Health-TLC must stop encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions,” the list of demands read.

“In those programs’ places, programs encouraging human sterilization and infertility must be pushed. All former pro-birth programs must now push in the direction of stopping human birth, not encouraging it.”

Some witnesses reported that the man fired a shot before declaring, “Nobody is going anywhere,” police said.

Employees at the Discovery Channel building were told to take cover in locked offices, according to local press accounts.

A company e-mail sent to employees reportedly said: “Don’t Return to 1DP Until Further Notice…No employee should return to 1DP for any reason.”

Manger said most of the 1,900 people who work in the building were able to get out safely while the hostage standoff was unfolding.

Witnesses from a building across the street told Fox News that authorities rushed four stretchers into the building.

Children at a day care center located inside the Discovery Building were reportedly safely evacuated to a nearby McDonald’s restaurant. Some babies were wheeled out of the building while still in their cribs.

Police sources have reportedly said that Lee previously protested outside the building, where he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct in February 2008, according to court records.

Police reports indicate he paid homeless people to join his protest and carry signs outside the building. He gave one individual $1,000 for what he considered a prize winning essay.

At one point, a crowd of more than 100 people gathered around Lee, who referred to money as “just trash” and began throwing fistfuls of it into the air.

At the trial, Lee reportedly said he began working to save the planet after being laid off from his job in San Diego. He said he was inspired by “Ishmael,” a novel by environmentalist Daniel Quinn and by former Vice President Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Thomas Leonard, Lee’s brother-in-law, told Fox News that Lee became a “darker type of character” after some deaths in the family and said he believed Lee was capable of killing.

Leonard described Lee as “talented but misguided” and said his “spirit took a nose-dive” in recent months.

“He’s been very hurtful to loved ones who have tried to help him over the years,” Leonard said.

Discovery Communications LLC operates cable and satellite networks in the U.S. including The Discovery Channel, TLC and Animal Planet. Discovery shows include “Cash Cab” and “Man vs. Wild,” and TLC airs “American Chopper” and “Kate Plus Eight.”

Animal Planet also airs the controversial series “Whale Wars,” about attempts by environmentalists to disrupt the Japanese whaling industry. – FOX News