No baby yet. She seems to be very comfortable in TMBWitW’s tummy, and there she sits. The occasional contraction is felt, but nothing earth-shattering yet.

This means that you do, in fact, have time to get in the pool.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and get in on the Baby Pool!

Besides the sound of a lead balloon, it seems it is also the sound of the reception my last post got.

Could you all do me a favor, and leave a comment about it? Give me some constructive feedback, so I can either polish that type of entry or abandon it.

In the meantime, I’m going to spend a lot of time on BlogMad, surfing up some hits so I can increase the number of entries in the Baby Pool.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and get in on the Baby Pool!

You remember the bug TMBWitW had on Sunday? I got it on Monday, it laid me out for quite a while.

Mulligan has joined the baby pool, so the competition is getting tighter!

I meant to blog on this next item on Monday at the latest, but the bug kept me down, then on Tuesday I was playing catch-up for all the things I didn’t get accomplished on Monday, so here we are, stealing a few seconds before I head off for work: (note – it’s now after work on Thursday, and time keeps on slippin’…)

In Sunday’s Arizona Republic, there was an article on the op-ed pages. Not just any article, but something I have been waiting on for a while now.

M. Zuhdi Jasser is, according to the bio at the end of the special piece, a Phoenix physician and chairman of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. Dr. Jasser wrote:

“The first thing one must understand about the whole hullabaloo with the Muslim imams taken off a Phoenix-bound plane in Minneapolis is that it most definitely was not about the right to prayer or freedom of worship.
“And much as the imams and their handlers may try, it is certainly not about victimization.”

The Republic’s on-line site (www.arizonarepublic.com) does not archive non-staff articles, so please bear with me. Feel free to search on his name at the site under archives; he comes up quite often.

Dr. Jasser is a rare person in this day and age – a Muslim who is actually, on an on-going basis, calling for the moderates to step up and denounce the extremists. He has called for and organized peaceful gatherings of Muslims (as opposed to muslims, no uppercase) in order to put forth an acceptable face on the religion that is being hijacked by radicals. His cry is the same as many of ours: “Why aren’t the moderates doing anything?” He is, in fact, also doing something, and for that I give him credit. Now, if there were only more who thought like him. I am afraid, however, that if the radical muslims continue in their quest to remove the US and Israel form the face of the earth, the moderates of the faith will also be removed.

Dr. Jasser continues, further in:

“The preponderance of evidence points to some troubling coincidences during flight preparation, regardless of where we stand on this issue. The distribution of their seats, while in fact random, raised concern. Changing seats after boarding, rather than before, raised concern. Conversations in Arabic afte boarding raised concern. Seatbelt extenders raised concern. However, no passenger refused to board afte seeing and hearing the imams pray aloud at the gate. Taken individually, each of the reported actions could be something any of us would do. However, in totality, although unfortunate in retrospect, it remains hard to fault a cautous crew who must act with little information to ensure a safe flight.
“But let us look at the response of the imams since the incident.
“They rushed toward the media never looking back. They have taken their story of victimization to every soft media they could find.they then stoked the same tired Muslim flames of victimization through their own political pulpits in mosques around the Valley.”

If you recall, and Dr. Jasser goes on to say, that CAIR had jumped on the vicitim bandwagon even before the imams had made it back to Phoenix the next day; it is my opinion that CAIR (are you lurking again, CAIR? Are you reading these words? Then leave a comment, you chickens. Call me a liar.) wanted to run the victim flag as far up the highest flagpole they could in the hopes that someone would hear their cries and start falling all over themselves apologizing.

I ain’t gonna apologize. I applaud the crew for their actions. I berate the imams for their insensitive approach and swiss-cheese explanations (It was the required prayer time? For what, three of the six of you? Are you going to report the other three so they can be reprimanded? Didn’t think so.); and I also give a big F- to the liberal media outlets that made a big to-do over the issue before they had the full story.

Dr. Jasser:

“Though this was not about prayer, let us look at the prayer itself: certainly a central part of our faith both alone and in congregation. The Quran teaches Muslims that God did not amke our faith to be too difficult. Thus, during travel, many of us pray alone in silence when we cannot find a private place or where public display is not appropriate.
“Prayer is an intimate thing, five times a day for Muslims. It is a personal conversation with God and not about showing others how devout we are.”

There were members of a local mosque gathered at Sky Harbor (it just so happened they gathered in front of the building with “US Airways” on it, positioned so the cameras could get the whole thing on film – kinda like a certain crying she-hag) in order to publicly pray, in “protest” of the treatment of the imams (microphones were provided so everyone could hear how righteous they were). They, most likely, did not understand that the imams weren’t removed for praying, but for the actions which mirrored terrorist tactics. And, I beleive, they missed the part in muslim training school where prayer was a “personal converation with God and not about showing others how devout” they are.

If any group of people acted like the imams did after boarding the plane, I would hope and pray that they were removed, no matter what religion they were.

I also applaud Dr. Jasser for continuing his call with the view that religion and politics don’t mix – and I will certainly stand by that. While devout people can be excellent leaders, they lose their effectiveness when they turn their positions into bully pulpits, no matter what religion or politic you look at.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and get in on the Baby Pool!

I know, I should have had this up yesterday. We’re kind of time-distracted around here, what with the new girl on the way and all…

Go here.

Order a shirt (or two, or five) and Wear Red on Fridays – Support Your Troops!

(I’m particulary fond of “Lightning Sharp”, the polo with the embroidered wording…):

I had my first close this week, I am very excited about that. I should have more in the next few days, God willing.

Christian Bloggers has invited me to join them – check them out and see if I’m listed yet.

We had a little bit of a yard sale today – I unloaded the compressor that kept blowing start capacitors for cheap, so I don’t have to haul it to the dump or try to salvage parts…

The baby pool isn’t growing, and the day is getting closer. Yes, I am focusing on that, because if I don’t I won’t be able to focus on anything.

I better get off this now – TMBWitW has gotten up from her nap and is now making busy sounds in another room. That’s usually my cue to go help or do something constructive besides typing on the computer…

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and get in on the Baby Pool!

Please note: The capitalization of “islam” and “koran” and “muslim” are done by the original author, Mr. Dennis Prager. He apparently feels there is some respect due to a group that would love to see us all burined in a mass grave. I do not feel that respect for this group; I do not capitalize those or other words related to the “religion of peace.”

America, Not Keith Ellison, decides what book a congressman takes his oath on
By Dennis Prager – Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim elected to the United States Congress, has announced that he will not take his oath of office on the Bible, but on the bible of Islam, the Koran.

He should not be allowed to do so — not because of any American hostility to the Koran, but because the act undermines American civilization.

First, it is an act of hubris that perfectly exemplifies multiculturalist activism — my culture trumps America’s culture. What Ellison and his Muslim and leftist supporters are saying is that it is of no consequence what America holds as its holiest book; all that matters is what any individual holds to be his holiest book.

Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison’s favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath.

Devotees of multiculturalism and political correctness who do not see how damaging to the fabric of American civilization it is to allow Ellison to choose his own book need only imagine a racist elected to Congress. Would they allow him to choose Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” the Nazis’ bible, for his oath? And if not, why not? On what grounds will those defending Ellison’s right to choose his favorite book deny that same right to a racist who is elected to public office?

Of course, Ellison’s defenders argue that Ellison is merely being honest; since he believes in the Koran and not in the Bible, he should be allowed, even encouraged, to put his hand on the book he believes in. But for all of American history, Jews elected to public office have taken their oath on the Bible, even though they do not believe in the New Testament, and the many secular elected officials have not believed in the Old Testament either. Yet those secular officials did not demand to take their oaths of office on, say, the collected works of Voltaire or on a volume of New York Times editorials, writings far more significant to some liberal members of Congress than the Bible. Nor has one Mormon official demanded to put his hand on the Book of Mormon. And it is hard to imagine a scientologist being allowed to take his oath of office on a copy of “Dianetics” by L. Ron Hubbard.

So why are we allowing Keith Ellison to do what no other member of Congress has ever done — choose his own most revered book for his oath?

The answer is obvious — Ellison is a Muslim. And whoever decides these matters, not to mention virtually every editorial page in America, is not going to offend a Muslim. In fact, many of these people argue it will be a good thing because Muslims around the world will see what an open society America is and how much Americans honor Muslims and the Koran.

This argument appeals to all those who believe that one of the greatest goals of America is to be loved by the world, and especially by Muslims because then fewer Muslims will hate us (and therefore fewer will bomb us).

But these naive people do not appreciate that America will not change the attitude of a single American-hating Muslim by allowing Ellison to substitute the Koran for the Bible. In fact, the opposite is more likely: Ellison’s doing so will embolden Islamic extremists and make new ones, as Islamists, rightly or wrongly, see the first sign of the realization of their greatest goal — the Islamicization of America.

When all elected officials take their oaths of office with their hands on the very same book, they all affirm that some unifying value system underlies American civilization. If Keith Ellison is allowed to change that, he will be doing more damage to the unity of America and to the value system that has formed this country than the terrorists of 9-11. It is hard to believe that this is the legacy most Muslim Americans want to bequeath to America. But if it is, it is not only Europe that is in trouble. (End Commentary)

Cary speaking: I’ll take it a step further – Ellison is not representing the American people. He is representing the muslim people and dhimmis that elected him. As such, he is not acting as an american, he is acting as a muslim, and by all indications he will continue to act like a muslim, putting his “religion of peace” before the best interests of this country.

Mr. Ellison, if you are a citizen of this country, you swore to uphold it’s constitution. During your swearing-in ceremony, you will vow to defend this country. How can you do that if your first though is how to advance the koran and it’s dictates of sharia?

Just wondering.

Thank you for stopping by, God bless you all, Wear Red on Fridays, and get in on the Baby Pool!