No not that VP (Slow Joe), this VP:
Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the West, including the United States, for eschewing Christian values and opting instead for a "path to degradation."
In his State of the Nation speech last month, Putin asserted that, "Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values... Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan." And I remember when Ronald Reagan called them a Godless evil empire. Bizarro-world, here we come Vlad is as willing to use the Church as Stalin ever was...
#1
March 8, 1983, Ronald Reagan said this about Russia to an audience of evangelicals:
Yes, let us pray for the salvation of all of those who live in that totalitarian darkness--pray they will discover the joy of knowing God. But until they do, let us be aware that while they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth, they are the focus of evil in the modern world.
A bit frightening that this "they preach the supremacy of the state, declare its omnipotence over individual man, and predict its eventual domination of all peoples on the Earth" sounds like like Obama, Soros and a lot of those people in DC. Time for a revolution if things don't change.
America has not turned away from Christian values; Obama, the CPUSA and the Soviet Socialist Republic of America has turned away from Christian values.
Al
Posted by: No Longer Frozen Al ||
01/31/2014 11:24 Comments ||
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#9
Vlad is as willing to use the Church as Stalin ever was...
When I first saw the headline I thought maybe Joe Biden was having a twinge of Catholic conscience for all those aborted babies. Well, Russians abort a lot of their babies too, probably a lot more than Americans. But one thing Putin recognizes is that Russia's population is shrinking and if the trend continues the Eurasian territory that is controlled by Russians is likely to shrink as well. It's also pretty easy to guess who will fill the vacuum and they won't be friendly and they won't be Christians either. So if Putin uses the church to promote family values and make more Russian babies then more power to him. We'll never see Obama doing that. I think it's pretty scary when I like the Russian president better than the guy in the White House.
Today, many nations are revising their moral values and ethical norms, eroding ethnic traditions and differences between peoples and cultures. Society is now required not only to recognise everyones right to the freedom of consciousness, political views and privacy, but also to accept without question the equality of good and evil, strange as it seems, concepts that are opposite in meaning. This destruction of traditional values from above not only leads to negative consequences for society, but is also essentially anti-democratic, since it is carried out on the basis of abstract, speculative ideas, contrary to the will of the majority, which does not accept the changes occurring or the proposed revision of values. We know that there are more and more people in the world who support our position on defending traditional values that have made up the spiritual and moral foundation of civilisation in every nation for thousands of years: the values of traditional families, real human life, including religious life, not just material existence but also spirituality, the values of humanism and global diversity.
I get a bit dizzy when I consider the source of this statement.
Many Euro-Atlantic countries have moved away from their roots, including Christian values... Policies are being pursued that place on the same level a multi-child family and a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan.
-- I was not able to find this statement in the English language translation of Putin's 13 Dec 2013 presidential speech. Nearly all web hits for "a same-sex partnership, a faith in God and a belief in Satan" are found in cites quoting Breitbart. I doubt Putin actually said this.
We can see how many of the Euro-Atlantic countries are actually rejecting their roots, including the Christian values that constitute the basis of Western civilisation. They are denying moral principles and all traditional identities: national, cultural, religious and even sexual. They are implementing policies that equate large families with same-sex partnerships, belief in God with the belief in Satan.
I expected more accuracy than this from Breitbart.
The Saudi monarchy is fighting for survival, against Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood organized on the model of 20th-century totalitarian parties, and against Iran. Iran is fighting for survival; after its fertility rate fell from 7 children per female in 1979 to just 1.7 today, todays youth bulge will turn into an unsupportable elderly dependent ratio. Egypt is fighting to pay the grocers bill every day. It is not within Americas or anyones power to reverse this decline. Putin understands this and exploits their struggle for survival... we watch helplessly as Russia pursues [policies] in its own interest... Putin has more brains and insight than anyone in the American foreign policy establishment, and he is winning by laps rather than lengths... a bit of reflection on why Russia runs circles around us might also be in order.
[DAWN] UNEXPECTEDLY, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... went to parliament yesterday and spoke from the floor of the National Assembly about his government's plans to combat terrorism and militancy. Then, in line with much of the hype and speculation of recent days, he proceeded to deliver a speech that appeared to be heading towards the only logical conclusion: the dialogue option was being discarded in favour of the use of force against the TTP. But, befitting a prime minister who is giving new meaning to the terms secretiveness and holding one's cards close to one's chest, Mr Sharif sprang a surprise that virtually no one saw coming. The government is appointing a four-member committee to give the dialogue option one more chance, the prime minister announced.
If the decision itself was a complete surprise, less surprising were the details: there were none. No deadlines, no red lines, no clarity about who will be reached out to, no specifics about the mandate of the four-member committee -- virtually nothing other than the old platitudes about sincere efforts and genuine intentions on the part of the government. Mr Sharif did say that it was unacceptable for the TTP to continue its campaign of violence if the dialogue option is to remain on the table, but, given the litany of attacks since September that the prime minister himself recounted, why is the TTP now supposed to take the prime minister seriously on this count? If all the TTP violence since the dialogue option was endorsed by the APC last September has not taken talks off the table as yet, why would the government wrap up its brand new initiative were a few -- even many -- more attacks to occur in the days ahead?
Not only does the latest reworking of the government's anti-militancy strategy look even less like a strategy than the dithering of the past few months, it raises some fundamental questions about the PML-N's approach to politics and policymaking. Of the four members tasked with helping the government achieve what is by the government's own admission its principal policy concern, not a single one is a politician. That is a quite remarkable, if implicit, indictment of the PML-N leadership's trust and faith in the overall political class. And what of the PML-N parliamentarians themselves, who were summoned to a special parliamentary party meeting at the start of the week and whose opinion was sought on what the government needs to do now to address the terror threat? Not only was the general thrust of the PML-N parliamentarians' advice ignored, they were clearly not even informed of their own leadership's plans to try and reinvigorate the dialogue option. That hardly bodes well for the transparency Mr Sharif promised in the dialogue process with the TTP.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] THE emergency measures taken after the nationwide protest at the latest round of killing of pilgrims in Mastung district offer little assurance that a way to end the ordeal of the Hazara community has been found.
While no breakthrough in efforts to nab the culprits has been reported public attention has been focused on the air-lifting of hundreds of pilgrims from Dalbandin to Quetta. Welcome though this operation has been it has also thrown up a few disquieting issues.
First, the volume of the annual pilgrim traffic to and from Iran has proved to be quite large, and the need to manage it has obviously been ignored year after year. Secondly, the administration has conceded its inability to guarantee security of road travel. And, thirdly, there is a danger that a large piece of territory may pass into the hands of hard boyz determined to harass the governments of Pakistain and Iran both. Neither air flights nor a ferry service along the Makran coast will alter the situation.
This means that the anti-Hazara militias will have greater freedom and capacity to continue their murderous attacks on the beleaguered community. What does this portend for the Hazaras (the Shia majority among them, as the small number of Sunni Hazaras are not targeted) and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... ?
Since no firm attempt has been made to subdue them, the gangs engaged in massacring the Hazaras consider themselves free to persist in their criminal acts and the threat to the Hazaras remains unabated. The seriousness of this threat can be gauged only if one takes stock of Hazara losses since 2003, when their mass killing began. Forty-seven people were killed in July 2003 in an attack on an imambargah; 36 perished in March 2004 when the Ashura procession was attacked; 63 were killed when a jacket wallahwent kaboom! in a Youm-e-Quds procession in 2010; 26 pilgrims were killed in Mastung in September 2011 and more than 100 were killed in the Alamdar Road massacre last year.
In addition many prominent Hazara professionals and community leaders have fallen victim to assassination over the past 15 years. It is necessary to realise that this huge loss of life has been caused not only to the Hazara community but to the whole of Balochistan and Pakistain.
Further, the entire community has been condemned to live all the time in fear of liquidation. They have lost the right to earn their livelihood in peace and thir freedom of movement has been severely curtailed. A large umber of the Hazara have chosen to seek security of life in foreign lands, and many have perished at sea in their attempts to reach Australia in unsafe vessels.
The government has never assessed the economic cost to the country caused by the loss of skilled human resources, the closure of Hazara-owned mines and other enterprises, the stoppage of remittances the expatriate Hazaras' used to send from the Gulf states and other foreign countries, and the decline in the Hazaras' share in services. No society can afford the loss of human resources at this scale, and certainly not Balochistan.
The Hazaras have also contributed a great deal to Balochistan's social development. As they are not a land-owning community they have had no part in sustaining the tribal-feudal tradition. They have distinguished themselves in services and in the field of education. They have established schools and colleges where the young ones of all communities are accommodated.
Their boys and girls are still keen to go to the universities and institutions of higher learning but transporters have been frightened into declining to serve them. Their women are far more liberated than others and have acted as agents of female emancipation.
The Balochistan government, and to a greater extent the federal authorities, have a duty not only to protect Hazara Shias and guarantee them their rights and freedoms, but also to revive their hope of a decent future as full citizens of Pakistain. Their feelings of helplessness and hopelessness stem not only from the state's failure to protect their lives and property, they emanate from their belief that the state agencies protect their tormentors.
The case of Usman Saifullah Kurd and Shafiq Rahman destroyed the Hazaras' faith not only in the administration's competence but also in its sincerity in offering them a fair deal. The two prominent members of a banned outfit were tried in 2007 for attacks on Shias and found guilty. Both confessed to their crimes and bragged about killing more Shias. Kurd was awarded the death sentence and Shafiq life imprisonment. The way they beat feet from a high security prison in January 2008 still rankles in each Hazara heart. The community is convinced that the convicts were enabled to escape by the authorities themselves.
Even otherwise, the Hazaras question the failure of the all-powerful Frontier Crops to go for the trigger-happy members of the Punjab-based militia that enjoys the freedom of not only Mastung and Khuzdar but also of Quetta. They make no attempt to conceal themselves or hide their weapons in the street or the mosque. They have already destroyed Balochistan's reputation as a peaceful multicultural society.
There is every reason to apprehend that the Hazaras will not be the only victims of their violence. The governments of Pakistain, Punjab and Balochistan must together realise the consequences of tolerating the anti-Hazara forces. Hitherto the world has tended to treat the Hazara killings as manifestations of sectarian intolerance. If the killings are not ended the verdict against Pakistain could be much harsher.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[DAWN] WHETHER mild tinkering or radical overhaul, whenever the country's anti-terrorism legislative framework has been reworked the results have tilted in a particular direction: towards draconian, security-state practices and away from a fundamental rights-based approach.
Historically, the reasons for that tilt have been relatively straightforward: civilian politicians have quickly and wholly deferred to the army's demands and opinions on the security front. But history appears to be repeating itself with the PML-N government's decision to promulgate the controversial Protection of Pakistain (Amendment) Ordinance, 2014.
"I thought we were not a police state anymore, that we are a welfare state," said Munir Malik, attorney general of Pakistain until his resignation earlier this month. "The fundamental problem is we are unable to go on, to get away from the past," Malik added.
The PPO amendment has been widely criticised in legal circles for being shoddily drafted and incompatible with constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights. Even senior government officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, make little attempt to defend it -- and readily explain its true purpose.
"The original PPO, in October, that was very much something that the prime minister himself had also wanted. This one (the latest ordinance) came from the brass because of institutions -- the (Supreme) Court's direction that the missing persons issue be addressed through legislation," a senior government official said.
In truth, there are few true advocates of a rights-based approach in any corner of the state apparatus when it comes to dealing with the terrorism threat. Most echo the approach of Akram Sheikh, the go-to lawyer of the PML-N leadership, who told Dawn: "I am a proponent of fundamental rights, even the fundamental rights of a terrorist.
"But I also believe a balance has to be struck between protection of fundamental rights and dealing with the terrorist threat. Both are of vital importance to the state."
Still, it is question of degree -- and the civilian leadership tends to be more aware of the need to uphold constitutional safeguards and protect fundamental rights.
The senior government official who admitted the recent PPO was dictated by the army, said, "We will revisit this. There will be safeguards and review boards and the like. There will need to be sunset clauses," a reference to time limits on legislation.
As for the army, a lawyer who has advised its leadership on legal matters claimed there is a nascent realisation within the army leadership that the old way of doing business may have to change.
"Before it used to be, 'We need this, now make it happen.' Now they ask what the legal position is first and what can be done," the lawyer said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
"It's particularly true when it comes to the international climate and it began after 2008. The Mumbai attacks made them realise how much legal trouble they could be exposed to."
Domestically too the twin Protection of Pakistain Ordinances are seen by some legal analysts as an improvement over past practice.
"Previously they (the army) was operating completely outside the law on the missing persons issue," said Salman Akram Raja, a Supreme Court lawyer. "Now, by using terms like enemy alien and specifying that Article 10 will be applicable to enemy combatants, they are using the language of the constitution."
But Raja and other legal analysts suggest that even if the legal challenges to the second PPO are fended off, the legislation is more legal kabuki than a meaningful attempt to resolve the missing-persons issue.
Said one prominent constitutional expert who spoke on the condition of anonymity: "The retrospective effect of the PPO is the most problematic area. But even with that in place, the army has been denying before the courts they have the missing persons in their custody, so how will they be able to admit they have them now?"
Meanwhile, ...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues... a familiar problem continues to plague the efforts to revamp the country's anti-terror legal framework: ad hoc-ism.
Saba Imtiaz, a journalist and author who tracks anti-terror legislation from a human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. perspective, said, "You can see it right there in the language of laws like the PPO how they (the legal drafters) are responding to immediate events instead of thinking how this ought to work over a number of years."
Imtiaz added: "So tourists get killed in Chilas, and then targeting tourists becomes punishable. Polio or aid workers are targeted, then targeting them becomes an offence. It's like they are responding to the news instead of thinking of frameworks and long-term effects."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/31/2014 00:00 ||
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[The Blaze] Excerpt: J.R. Fleming, a member of Chicagos Anti-Eviction Campaign, said Obamas speech was the same ol, same ol. He summed up the address as a bunch of talk and rhetoric to give favor to a dying economy in America. How many times did you vote for him J.R.? Rhetorical question, sorry.
And the reason why our economy is dying is the presidents approach is always to place blame, he added. Its not the 1 percent problem, its not the 99 percent problem, its an American problem. And the problem is patronage, nepotism and cronyism. Couldn't agree more J.R. You're 100 percent right.
Joe Watkins, the founder of V.O.T.E. (Voices of the Ex-Offender), said Obama has been more hurtful to the black race than he has been helpful. He claimed some people will accept his failures due to symbolic reasons relating to the color of his skin. But those of us at the bottom of the ladder dont accept that, he added. And as a resident of Chicago, you expected something else ?
#2
To you OldSpook, the blinders have been the Millenials and fellow travelers fashion accessory for seven years and will continue for some time to come...This article is an abberation in MSM, will likely be recanted as soon as the "fire fighters" from the WH find J.R. He won't be a Fleming for long, likely Flaming; a flaming has been in Chicago politics.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
01/31/2014 1:22 Comments ||
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#3
There will always be a few who refuse to get with the program.
#6
How will raising the minimum wage going to help people who dont have any jobs right now? he asked.
Give that man a cigar!
Posted by: Bobby ||
01/31/2014 8:11 Comments ||
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#7
Joe Watkins, the founder of V.O.T.E. (Voices of the Ex-Offender), said Obama has been "more hurtful to the black race than he has been helpful." He claimed some people will accept his failures due to "symbolic" reasons relating to the color of his skin. "But those of us at the bottom of the ladder don't accept that," he added.
Yet 95% of the Community will keep voting for him. If it's not because he's delivered jobs and hope, then why? Another round of chants of Trayvon, Trayvon, will ease those pains. Maybe a pep talk from the oppressed millionaire Oprah will help?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Sorry, I cannot tell the difference. 
Nawaz Sharif
There will always be a few who refuse to get with the program. 
