GINA COBB

One Year Ago Today on GINA COBB: AP Finally Notices George W. Bush's Amazing Grace That Was There All Along

Originally published on November 11, 2008:  AP Finally Notices George W. Bush's Amazing Grace That Was There All Along

"Fort Hood: Let's Drop the Political Correctness"

David Warren, RealClearPolitics:  Fort Hood: Let's Drop the Political Correctness

This deadly enemy of the West -- the Islamist ideology which holds all Jews, Christians, other non-Muslims, and a considerable number of Muslims, too, to be human filth in need of extermination -- is well infiltrated. Events like that at Fort Hood prove this, and from what I can see, the problem can only grow with the passage of time.

Getting at Islamist cells, to say nothing of lone, self-appointed jihadis within our society, means getting over the false sentimentality that turns a terrorist incident into an "incomprehensible tragedy" when it is not incomprehensible, and not a theatrical event.

It also means ripping through the politically-correct drivel that is put in the way of investigators.

More here.

Another Must Read: 'They Kill Us and We're the Ones to Blame'

Daniel Greenfield, They Kill Us and We're the Ones to Blame

Hardly had the final shots been fired at Fort Hood and hospitals were filling up with the wounded that the media rushed to assign blame for the massacre, not of course to Nidal Malik Hassan, who had opened fire aiming to kill as many soldiers as possible, but on the US Army and on his fellow soldiers.

Completely ignoring his Islamic ideology and Palestinian Arab background, the media speculated that he might have been suffering from Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, even though he had never served in a combat zone, that he was angry over being deployed to Iraq, even though he had a history of pro-terrorist postings predating that, and finally that he had been bullied by other soldiers for being a Muslim, a claim that has since emerged as completely baseless. All of these however were ways of shifting the blame from Nidal Hassan and his Islamist ideology, and onto his victims, the men and women he had tried to kill, and the United States Army itself. Once again the media apparatchiks had decided that blame for a Muslim killing spree rested not with the perpetrator, but with his targets.

If Muslims follow a predictable pattern in their homicidal attacks, their Western Dhimmi apologists follow an equally predictable pattern, always willing to shift the blame onto anything and anyone, but the killers themselves and their hatefilled ideology. It’s never Islam. Never the Koran. Instead it’s always the general unfairness of our foreign policy, our flagwaving and our obstinate refusal to let Muslims have whatever part of the world they have their sights on today.

Once again, they kill us and yet somehow we’re the ones to blame. Because we didn’t love and nurture poor Nidal Malik Hassan enough. We didn’t install enough foot baths, respect his religion hard enough and worst of all we presumed to make war on his brothers who had murdered thousands of us on September 11. That of course is our original sin, fighting back.

I've been reading that Nidal Hassan's car was keyed at his apartment complex by someone who took exception to Hassan's Muslim faith.  Of course it was wrong.  The wrongdoer was not only reported to the police but evicted from the apartment complex.

But imagine that the same thing had happened to a Christian.  Can you even imagine a true Christian shooting and killing numerous fellow soldiers because of one act of religious persecution by an unrelated individual?

At risk of overgeneralizing, what the Muslim faith apparently lacks today is forgiveness.  From unwillingness to forgive comes a multitude of evils -- including murder itself.  And hence we have this horrible statistic:

NOW Obama Tells Us He's Got Muslim Roots and "Experienced Islam on Three Continents"

Told ya so.  A White House aide has announced that Obama has Muslim roots and "experienced Muslim on three continents."

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: The other day we heard a comment from a White House aide that never would have been uttered during the primaries or general election campaign.

During a conference call in preparation for President Obama's trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a Muslim father -- obviously Muslim Americans (are) a key part of Illinois and Chicago."

Update 1:  It gets worse.  Obama has now announced that the U.S. could be viewed as one of the largest Muslim countries in the world:

As President Obama prepared to leave Washington to fly to the Middle East, he conducted several television and radio interviews at the White House to frame the goals for a five-day trip, including the highly-anticipated speech Thursday at Cairo University in Egypt.

In an interview with Laura Haim on Canal Plus, a French television station, Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as “one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”

Talk about distortion!  America is still 75% to 80% Christian, according to pollsters.  Muslims represent less than 1% of the population.  For comparison purposes, 11% of Americans still think Elvis could be alive (according to a 2002 poll taken 25 years after Elvis died).  So I guess by Obama's definition, America is still one of the largest Elvis-afterlife-believing nations in the world. 

Update 2:  From Michael Goldfarb: 

 Eight million Muslims seems to be at the high end of estimates of America's Muslim community. That number barely puts the United States in the top 40. There are more Muslims in tiny Jordan than there are in the United States, and twice as many in Syria.

Obama is undertaking a very significant reorientation of American foreign policy, and one hopes that he isn't doing so on the very mistaken belief that the United States is one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. Actually, if you look at the number of Jewish Americans, we'd be the largest Jewish country in the world after Israel. And America is the largest Christian country in the world. This context might be useful to the president as he tries to help the Muslim world better understand the United States.

As I wrote last September when the mainstream media were dismissing out of hand the possibility that Obama is Muslim, When Obama Refers to 'My Muslim Faith,' Slip or Not, It's Fair to Ask Questions.  My lengthy post from September 8, 2008 is suddenly very relevant again.  For those interested, it is reprinted in full below.

As a Christian, yes, it bothers me that we've elected a president whose professed Christian faith often seems tenuous.  Of course I believe that America's blessings flow partly from its religious faith in a forgiving, loving God.  In this 9/11 world, I also have some qualms about the wisdom of putting a man with Muslim roots in the highest office in the land.  If Obama otherwise came across as a patriotic, America-loving, tough-on-defense president, this might be less of a concern.  But as he is, taking all of his weakness in matters of national security into account, Obama is a worrisome president.

Will Obama's newly-rediscovered Muslim roots help him with Muslims in the Middle East?  No, because (a) Obama officially renounced Islam to join Rev. Wright's anti-American Chicago church, and hence is an "apostate" worthy of death, as far as most Islamists are concerned and (b) Islamists who are committing murder and mayhem around the world in the name of Allah simply cannot let go of their real and imagined grievances.  If they did, they would have to stop killing people, and where's the fun in that?

To illustrate the point, al Qaeda's number two leader Ayman al-Zawahri is already scoffing at Obama's goodwill overtures:

In an audio message posted on a radical Islamist website, al-Zawahri said:

"His bloody messages were received and are still being received by Muslims, and they will not be concealed by public relations campaigns or by farcical visits or elegant words..."

"...[Obama is] that criminal who came seeking, with deception, to obtain what he failed to achieve in the field after the mujahideen ruined the project of the crusader America in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Somalia..."

"...The White House said that Obama will send a message from Egypt to the Islamic world, but they forgot that his messages have already been received by the Islamic world when he visited the Wailing Wall, put on his head the Jew's cap and prayed their prayers, though he claims to be Christian."

The good news is that according to the AP piece citing the AQ quotes above, "some analysts believe [this] indicates the terrorist organization is worried [President Obama] will be effective in improving the U.S. image in the Muslim world." While I think it would be a very good thing if some of the edge was taken of off the attitude of many Muslims toward the U.S., I just can't quite imagine al-Zawahri and his colleagues staying up late at night in caves or huts in the FATA region of Pakistan clutching their worry beads.

Easter Blessings

I hope you're having a happy and peaceful Easter weekend.

One of my favorite Easter hymns is "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," which I especially enjoy  for the amazing, drawn out "Alleluia" at the end of each line.

Here it is, as sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir -- still one of the best choirs around:

And here's an updated arrangement (it starts off slow and picks up the tempo):

Happy Easter, everyone!

Has Islam Really "Changed the Shape of America"?

Why yes, it has.

Obama says that Islam has "changed the shape of America."  We couldn't agree more.

Photos and caption from TheReligionofPeace.com, via JihadWatch

President Obama said in an April 6th speech to the Turkish Parliament that "the Islamic faith . . . has done so much over the centuries to shape the world — including in my own country." 

Obama also says America is "no longer a Christian nation," which is an odd statement for a man who professes to be Christian. 

America has always honored religious freedom, but about 75% of Americans are Christians, and only about 1% are Jewish.  Less than 1% are Muslim.

Jews have lived and worshipped peacefully in America throughout its history.  Many Muslims have lived and worshipped peacefully in America too, but on a dark day in 2001, Islam did indeed change the shape of America.

Dalai Lama Persona Non Grata in California

When even the Dalai Lama is not leftist enough for California Democrats, you know they've gone off the deep end.

California Democrats hesitate to honor Dalai Lama

Assembly members balk at a resolution to celebrate Tibetans' leader and mark their revolt against China. Republicans accuse them of caving to pressure from the Chinese consulate.

  The Dalai Lama said life for Tibetans under Chinese rule has
been “hell on earth,” in a speech to mark 50 years since the
failed uprising that forced him into exile.

Of course, just two months ago the Dalai Lama noted that "it is difficult to deal with terrorism through non-violence" and announced "I love George Bush."  That was probably the kiss of death right there as far as California Democrats were concerned.

At least he's still popular with Hollywood.

Damn You to Hell

No, not you. 

Bless you.

But consider this:

Daniel Pipes:

A reliable source informs me – and this is breaking news – that the police found Muzzammil repeatedly told his wife that she had no right, under Islamic law, to divorce him. They also quote him stating that Aasiya, because beheaded, cannot reach paradise

If this account is true, when Muzzammil Hassan beheaded his wife, he intended to bring her not only directly to hell on earth, but also to eternal hell.  And he thinks he has achieved just that.

All because she wanted a divorce.

In Christianity, and in most civilized societies, we know that every soul is precious.  Far from attempting to condemn anyone to hell on earth or eternal hell, Christians hope for the salvation of every human soul.   A Christian will not force Christianity on anyone, but would love to "save one more for Jesus."

In Judaism, too, each life is viewed as precious.

Is Islam just a competing religion?  Are Christianity and Islam like Coke and Pepsi?

Not as Islam is practiced in most of the world today.  Not as Christianity is practiced in most of the world today.

As I have written in reference to Palestinians using children as "human shields":

"We love death as much as you love life" is an ancient Islamic boast.

And a deeply evil one.

It makes you wonder how exactly Islamists distinguish themselves in their own minds from followers of the devil himself.

If someone deliberately set out to fill the world with the purest evil he could find, wouldn't the effort prominently feature minions who take delight in bringing about the deaths of innocent men, women and children -- including their own?  Wouldn't some of the proudest moments of these soldiers of hell include incidents like "Beslan" and "9/11" and "Mumbai" and "Nicholas Berg" and "heads found in fruit boxes all over Baghdad" and "suicide bomb detonated in pizza parlor" and "Lockerbie," just to name a few of the many? . . . .    

What Islamists need, of course, is to find redemption. They need a religion of love, not hate. They need a religion of joy and true peace. They literally have no idea of what they are missing.

But where do you even begin, with a culture that firmly believes that a day spent slaughtering innocents is a good day's work?

You don't have to be a believer to know that our deeds, good and bad, echo for eternity.

We may find forgiveness, but our deeds forever will have been. 

Only God is big enough to atone.

Too many Westerners live their lives as if they were writing in pencil, with a big fat eraser close at hand.  They live with all the seriousness of a dragonfly flitting to and fro across the surface of a pond.  They make permanent, irreversible mistakes with the casual abandon of someone who believes that bad choices can always be hidden, excused, justified, erased, trivialized, ignored, or glorified.

Radical Islamists know, as Christians do, that we are all writing in permanent ink, all the time.  

But look at what Islamofascists choose to write in permanent ink!  These are just some of their offerings in my lifetime:

Beheadings.  Death to innocent civilians.  Death to children.  Amputations.  Whippings.  Tyranny.  Acid attacks.  Throwing handcuffed men off buildings.  Breaking their knees.  Crucifying them. Feeding them to lions.  Gassing them.  Poisoning them.  Bombing cars, trains, and planes carrying innocent people.  Kidnapping.  Torture.  Hangings.  Child slavery.  "Honor" killling.  Child martyrdom.  Bombing a funeral procession.  Hiding suicide bombers in ambulances.  Soaking nail bombs in rat poison to maximize bleeding and death.

Hell on earth, and with a goal of inflicting eternal hell on anyone who gets in their way.

Peace-loving Muslims should of course be allowed to worship in peace.  Islamofascists who bomb, behead, and commit mayhem in the name of Allah need to be fought with every fiber of our being. 

This is your wake-up call.

Iran and North Korea are close to having working nukes, long-range missiles and satellites that can reach every part of the world.  Who knows what other plots they are devising? 

Based on the history of the past 30 years alone, Islamofascists should be shunned by every decent nation on earth.  Instead, journalists around the world cover for them, relentlessly slanting stories their favor to the point of calling Osama bin Laden a "dissident" and calling terrorists "militants" even when it is defenseless schoolchildren they are slaughtering.  Meanwhile, the U.N. shills for Islamofascist nations and Obama is handing almost a billion dollars to Palestinians (since they've used all the other millions and billions so well).

Money will not buy peace.  And mercy will not stay the hand of Islamofascists. 

Their goals are clear.  They want to damn you to hell.

Will you willingly take the trip, or turn and fight?

I will fight as long as freedom still flickers.  I'll bet you will too.

The Moral Difference Between Israelis and Palestinians

While Palestinians deliberately target and kill Israeli men, women and children, the Israelis not only go out of their way to avoid injury to civilians in wartime with leaflets and phone calls warning civilians to get out of the way before air strikes, but are now also organizing relief efforts to send baby food, milk and blankets to Palestinians.

But it's all a cycle of violence for which both sides are responsible, you say?  Then where are the Palestinian relief drives for Israelis?  Where are the efforts to avoid injuries to civilians?  Where are the Palestinian acts of kindness toward their enemies?  Where?

Democrats are "The Party of Death"

By DemocracyRules

Full interview here with the head of the Vatican Supreme Court.  His "Party of Death" statement is not a misquote or just a flip comment.  He means it.

Archbishop Burke:

"At this point, the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitively into a "party of death" due to its choices on bioethical issues, as Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in his book "The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life."

And I say this with a heavy heart, because we all know that the Democrats were the party that helped our Catholic immigrant parents and grandparents to better integrate into and prosper in American society. But it's not the same anymore."

Is a Godly Woman a Thing to be Feared?

Apparently so, for some. 

Ralph Peters writes on the left's fear of Sarah Palin's faith:

Certainly, much of the left-wing fury over Palin stems from the Democratic Party's assumption that it "owned" the exclusive right to nominate women to the executive branch (despite the crushing of Hillary Clinton's candidacy). How dare the Republicans advance a woman? How dare they change this year's election script?

But the root of the left's dread of this happily married mother of five seems to be that she actually believes in God: How could anyone be that stupid?

Such a woman wouldn't fit in Washington (nor would a man of equal faith). In the DC area (where I live), plenty of government-affiliated men and women regularly attend a church or synagogue. But their appearances are perfunctory and well-mannered. Passionate faith is regarded as an embarrassment.

Washington fears faith - even nominal believers inside the Beltway have been shaped by secular educations and secular caste values.

Humans fear what they can't understand, and our comfortable ruling class just can't comprehend the power and the glory, the beauty and the ecstasy, the awe and commitment experienced by those who believe in a divine power. To paraphrase the late Leona Helmsley, "Faith is for the little people."

Believers are mocked (if not too publicly at election time). Sen. Barack Obama's behind-closed-doors remark in San Francisco to the effect that worried blue-collar chumps cling to God and guns perfectly captured the left's worldview, equating faith and firearms as equal menaces to an enlightened society.

Then along came Palin to appall the establishment - a moose-hunting Christian with a working-class husband, the precise stereotype Obama had mocked. The media's attacks on her since her nomination have been the most unfair I've ever seen.

Let me be clear: I disagree with Palin on a number of issues. But I believe in fairness. And I believe in freedom of religion for all who do not attempt to force their faith on others. One of the many glories of our country is that men and women are free to find their individual paths to God - or to disbelieve, should they so choose.

But I can't accept the snotty condescension of those who assume that faith is for dopes. I come from a world where belief is powerful - small-town, hardscrabble America. I have relatives whose faith is embedded in exuberant communal worship and public celebrations of redemption and joy. Washington, the professorate and the media not only don't understand such believers, they despise them.

Earlier this week, I watched, sickened, as CNN did its best to excite fear of Palin's religious beliefs. She grew up in a Pentecostal congregation - whose members, a smug reporter told us, often talk in tongues. Though the report noted that there's no "proof" that Palin herself had done so, the implication was that Sarah Barracuda must be a nut job.

Then CNN told us about an Alaskan pastor's remark that his state might become a refuge in the "end times." The implication was that Palin must share that belief, too.

The coverage just piled on, unjust, unfair and un-American. The unspoken bottom line was that active religious faith disqualifies a candidate.

Well, for all the joyous noise at those Alaskan churches, I'll bet my life that none of the pastors who preached to Palin over the years ever shouted "God damn America!" or blamed the United States for the world's ills, or accused our government of creating AIDS to kill black Americans.

None of the bigoted, hate-filled rants of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright have been replayed to counterbalance the mockery heaped upon Palin's religious background. Of course, Wright's anti-American tirades fit the worldview of the Dems' left-wing base - so Obama got a pass when he claimed that, over 20 years, he never heard any hate speech in Wright's church.

Besides, Dems believe that blacks are supposed to jump around and shout in church - but whites who do that are wackos. (No stereotypes there, folks!)

I don't see extremism in Palin's faith. I see the love of God that prevails beyond the Beltway. The media's bigotry toward her tells us far more about the political biases and snobbery of journalists than it does about Sen. John McCain's running mate.

The women (and men) of faith whom I know are -- almost without exception -- kind, caring, accomplished, decent people.  Look all across America and around the world, and you'll see men and women of faith doing generous service to others, both paid and unpaid.  They are in soup kitchens.  They are reading to the blind.  They are donating volunteer hours to schools, clubs, hospitals, and associations.  They are raising funds for charity.  They are sending care packages to the troops.  They are planting flowers.  They are saving lives.  They are coaching.  They are going to offices and doing their best every day.  They are feeding and changing babies at 2 a.m., and again at 3 a.m.  They are running non profits.  They are remembering your birthday. 

They are in every nook and cranny, and if you're a leftist down on your luck in any way, it will probably be a man or women of faith who is there to change your tire or wipe your fevered brow, with a kind word and a smile. 

So why does the left fear Christianity, given all the good that Christians do every day across America and around the world?  Does it all come down to a fear that Christianity condemns forms of sexual license and disrespect for human life that (history has taught) usually result in misery and pain, such as adultery and abortion?  That seems to be at least 90% of the subtext to the fear of religion.  What a preposterous reason to fear and loathe all of Christendom!

How soon the left forgets that most of the men and women it has elected to high office in America's history are, or were, men and women of faith.  Most American presidents have been men of faith.  Mr. Rogers, a leader in gentle, decent children's television, was a man of faith.  Should he also be despised?  In fact, the vast majority of Americans -- over 80% -- are men and women of faith -- and almost all of those are Christians (with Jews totaling about 1% and Muslims another 1%)  Should we despise ourselves?

If I was told that any one of the Christian women I know personally had been elevated to the Vice Presidency, I would sleep well tonight.  In fact, I'd be eager to see the good that they very likely would do while in office.  Being a Christian (or an adherent of other religions) is no guarantee of decency, kindness, or common sense.  But Christian faith doesn't hurt, and it usually helps. 

Attacking Sarah Palin for her religious faith is just another example of the way the left both reveals and harms itself.  It's as if the left has broken off a big, lightning-bolt-sized chunk of glass to hurl at Palin, and hasn't even realized yet that its own hands are bleeding. 

Here's an idea for the left.  Show some of that tolerance you claim to stand for.  Demonstrate common decency and respect toward people of faith, at least as long as they worship in peace and don't come after you with a machete (as Islamists actually do in some parts of the world).  Tolerate faith.  Better yet, embrace faith, or as much of it as you can.  The world will be a better place, and you'll probably feel better too.

Thought for the New Day

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 

(Psalm 139:7-10)

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Photo: Romeo Koitmäe