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Sky-High Expectations
After the euphoria that greeted America's presidential election, I was a bit taken aback to discern a tremor of concern rippling through a group of religious leaders from every corner of the world gathered in Cyprus this week. Their worry: expectations are so high that Barack Obama simply cannot meet them. As I pushed back against that assumption, I could see that our historic election has raised not just expectations for what the United States will do, but what people hope and expect from their own governments.
The group in question is the extraordinary annual gathering to foster peace in the world organized by a Catholic lay group, the Community of Sant'Egidio. This year it is in Cyprus, an island that reeks of history and also of religious conflict. But more on that in a later piece. First I want to examine the current of unease that I sensed almost from touching down at the airport.
The excitement about America's new direction is certainly still there. Especially among younger people, there is a sense that dreams are now possible. The symbol of the black American president-elect is powerful for people of all races and religions. The image of the United States as an insensitive bully is receding. But it goes far beyond that. Once again, American ideals mean something.
The doubts I heard from my colleagues are tied to the extraordinary hopes that the election unleashed - hopes that real "change" can come not just to the United States but also to the world. A new social justice. A new democracy. A new voice for the voiceless. A new hope for jobs. A new hope to travel. A new hope for respect for cultures. A new hope for caring for others and a release from suffering. Africans in particular feel a special promise, but it goes far beyond Africa to Asia, and even Europe, where people are pausing to ask what indeed might happen if...
And what if the hopes are so high that they cannot be fulfilled, especially during this time of economic upheaval? That's what's worrying these religious leaders. The hopes have by now spread to all political leaders and systems. So what happens when reality returns, and tomorrow we all face the the same problems we had before?
Stay tuned.
By Katherine Marshall |
November 19, 2008; 1:49 PM ET
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Posted by: Arminius | November 24, 2008 4:09 PM
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Hmmm, apparently it is again time to offer all Muslims the opportunity to free themselves from centuries of breeding and brainwashing in Islam.
The Five Steps to be Free At Last:
Using "The 77 Branches of Islamic "faith" a collection compiled by Imam Bayhaqi as a starting point. In it, he explains the essential virtues that reflect true "faith" (iman) through related Qur’anic verses and Prophetic sayings." i.e. a nice summary of the Koran and Islamic beliefs.
"1. Belief in Allah"
"aka as God, Yahweh, Zeus, Jehovah, Mother Nature, etc." should be added to your cleansing neurons.
"2. To believe that everything other than Allah was non-existent. Thereafter, Allah Most High created these things and subsequently they came into existence."
Evolution and the Big Bang or the "Gib Gnab" (when the universe starts to recycle) are more plausible and the "akas" for Allah should be included if you continue to be a "creationist".
"3. To believe in the existence of angels."
A major item for neuron cleansing. Angels/devils are the mythical creations of ancient civilizations, e.g. Hittites, to explain/define natural events, contacts with their gods, big birds, sudden winds, protectors during the dark nights, etc. No "pretty/ugly wingy thingies" ever visited or talked to Mohammed, Jesus, Mary or Joseph or Joe Smith. Today we would classify angels as fairies and "tinker bells". Modern devils are classified as the demons of the demented.
"4. To believe that all the heavenly books that were sent to the different prophets are true. However, apart from the Quran, all other books are not valid anymore."
Another major item to delete. There are no books written in the spirit state of Heaven (if there is one) just as there are no angels/"pwtfft"s to write/publish/distribute them. The Koran, OT, NT etc. are simply books written by humans for humans.
Prophets were invented by ancient scribes typically to keep the uneducated masses in line. Today we call them fortune tellers.
Prophecies are also invalidated by the natural/God/Allah gifts of Free Will and Future.
"5. To believe that all the prophets are true. However, we are commanded to follow the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) alone."
Mohammed spent thirty days fasting in a hot cave before his first contact with Allah aka God etc. via a "pretty wingy thingy". Common sense demands a neuron deletion of #5. #5 is also the major source of Islamic violence i.e. turning Mohammed's "fast, hunger-driven" hallucinations into horrible reality for unbelievers.
Accept these five "cleansers" and we guarantee a complete recovery from your Islamic ways!!!!
Please print out these Five Steps and give copies to your imams/clerics, relatives and friends. Posting to the doors and bulletin boards of all mosques is also highly recommended.
Let the Convergence begin!!!!
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 24, 2008 3:34 PM
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Concerned The Christian Now Liberated,
Yo! Concy Pussycat!
Still trying to rationalise why you have to be bigoted against the whole of Islam and every Muslim, eh? And still calling and regarding all Muslims as potential terrorists, eh?
Whatever. But you do have a serious and incurable angst on abortion, on gays and their "yucky" sex, on "unctrollable sex" in the USA, on Clinton, on Obama, on Mormons, on your fellow Christians who are not Crossanized, on Obama to be barred from going to pray at the Washington Cathedral if he chose to because of his abortion stance.
Unfortunately, you can't "control" and stop those by all by yourself.
It has been fun for me "talking" with a theologically progressive Crossanized Christian who is a very Conservative culture war warrior on social issues and values, and a bigoted and blinkered religious war warrior on Islam and Muslims, who would not "repent" (as he demanded of Obama on his abortion stance) for calling me a terrorist.
So, now I know who CCNL is and what s/he stood for, and what are are his/her values and ethics.
Cheers and ciao.
Posted by: Jihadist | November 24, 2008 11:14 AM
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Abraham: "My children never learned to play well together. What have I wrought?"
Oh ye Great Grand Uncle and Prophet Abraham/Ibrahim,
Peace Be Upon You.
Please do not blame yourself on what you have wrought, for neither CCNL nor I are not directly descended from you.
As you well know oh Great Grand Uncle and Great Prophet, your son, Ishmael/Ismail is the ancestor of the Arabs. And your other son, Issac/Ishak, is the ancestor of the Hebrews.
As you know, oh Great Grand Uncle and Great Prophet, CCNL and myself are descendants of neither Ishmael/Ismail nor of Issac/Ishak.
CCNL being descended from some unspecified Caucasian ancestor/stock, and myself of half Caucasian and Mongoloid/Asian/Indonesian/Malay ancestor/stock.
Obviously, oh Great Grand Uncle and Great Prophet Abraham/Ibrahim, both CCNL and myself are descendants of one of the descendants of Adam/Adam and Eve/Hawa who is not Abraham/Ibrahim or his sons Ishmael/Ismail and Issac/Ishak.
Unfortunately, the Holy Books do not record on the deeds of our respective ancestors descended from Adam/Adam and Eve/Hawa, only of Abraham/Ibrahim and his sons, Ishmael/Ismail and Isaac/Ishak. Obviously, our ancestors are more peaceable and have no crisis of sacrifices, murders and deaths.
But, Oh Great Grand Uncle Abraham/Ibrahim a billion times removed, you advise "play well" together as descendants and very extended family of our Great Patriarch Adam/Adam and Great Matriarch Eve/Hawa, is well taken by me. As for CCNL, well......
Al Fatihah. Amin.
J - Your Great Grand Niece a million times descended
Posted by: Jihadist | November 24, 2008 10:51 AM
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My children never learned to play well together.
What have I wrought?
Posted by: Abraham | November 24, 2008 7:29 AM
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Hmmm, and the USA's War on Terror and Aggression has been waged recently against whom???
An update (or how we are spending or how we have spent the USA taxpayers’ money to eliminate global terror and aggression)
The terror and aggression via a Partial and Recent Body Count
1) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops (3,388 combat 805 non-combat) and 88,851 – 96,976
Iraqi civilians killed, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
Other recent elements of our War on Terror:
1. Saddam, his sons and major henchmen have been deleted. Saddam's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes.
2. Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
3. Libya has become almost civil. Recently Libya agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the victims of their terrorist activities Apparently this new reality from an Islamic country has upset OBL and his “crazies” as they have threatened Libya. OBL sure is a disgrace to the world especially the Moslem world!!! Or is he???
4. Islamic Sudan, Darfur and Somalia are still terror hot spots.
5. The terror and torture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Radovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war -- charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 24, 2008 4:02 AM
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Oh, talking about "ramblings" Concy Pussycat, as for your own version of Obamania -
CCNL : "BO rode to Blood-Red House on the backs of 35+million aborted womb-babies!!!"
- A bit colourful and excitable, and the imagery quite overstated.
CCNL : "(The fastest growing USA voting bloc: The 70 million "mothers and fathers of aborted children" whose ranks grow by two million per year.)
- Nice stats of Pro-Choicers, whereever they are from. Is this a reminder to Pro-Lifers on where they are at in numbers with regard to the "War Against Obama is War against Abortions"?
CCNL : "...i.e. the Immoral Majority with BO as their leader now rules the land and will do so in the foreseeable future. How very sad and disturbing!!!"
- Ah, being judgemental and divisive of your fellow coutrymen who are Pro-Choicers, in calling them the "Immoral Majority" as opposed to you and the Pro-Lifers as the Moral Ones.
CCNL : "BO as a member of the National Cathedral would simply add more bloody stains to an already stained nation."
- Well, on this, with all the "collateral damage" from wars undertaken overseas, perhaps all Presidents who go to the National Cathedral for prayers should pray for forgiveness from God for what they are about to do, and have done. And to the families of soldiers and victims of "collateral damage" too.
Oh, why not. Go for Palin as President in 2012.
Cheers and ciao
Posted by: Jihadist | November 23, 2008 11:30 PM
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Hmmm, one does wonder about the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist!!!
She is a Muslim. She follows the literal koran, the Worst Book Ever Written. The koran/Gabriel requires death to all infidels and Islamic domination of the world by any means including terrorist activities. Therefore the Struggling Jihadist by association is a possible terrorist as we have noted many times. Exercise caution when riding any transportation vehicles when she is nearby or on board.
And btw, we have offered said Jihadist and all other Muslims a free and easy Five Step Program to escape the seventh century con-game ramblings of Mahound and his scribes who convinced many an Arab that Gabriel was a talking, flying reality. This con is still a major tenet of Islam.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 23, 2008 11:24 PM
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Concerned The Christian Now Liberated,
Ah, is that the best you can come up with in response?
Still can't bring your goodself to have the courage, the guts, the honesty, the nerve to admit that you did call me a terrorist and to posit all Muslims as potential terrorists, eh?
It would seem that there is no "admit the truth" ethics of what one did in Crosssanized Christianity. It would also seem that bravery and honesty runs only so deep and selectively in spite of all the bluster on the "Three B Syndrome" and "The Gabe Syndrome". The world is full of gutless, unethical, moralising, judgemental wonders, eh?
Oh, come now, admit it. There are unrepentent unethical, illogical, irrational bigots even if wrapped in Crossan's and other Jesus Seminarians' quotes.
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 23, 2008 11:05 PM
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And still the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist cannot bring herself to rid her neutrons of the Three B Syndrome and a new one we have recently recognized in her rants, The Gabe Syndrome which continues to stoke the myths of her brainwashed mind.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 23, 2008 9:24 PM
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....and oh, Concy Pussycat,
Don't forget to round up all the Islamaphpobes, including former Muslims, to come here and give their best assertions on the evil of Islam and Muslims too. I get a kick reading them posts from atheists, non-Muslim believers, and former Muslims who thinks and really believe without Islam or religion, the world is wiill be a Utopia of peace, love, understanding, mutual respect, logic and reason. And no discrimination of any kind too, due to gender, race, class and politics.
Now let me see, this is a:
Rant of, on a scale of 1 - 10, is 0.5
Vent of, on a scale of 1 - 10, is 1.5
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 23, 2008 2:05 PM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
What is taking you so long to come out with a same old, same old posts re-posted as response?
Meanwhile, I saw this gem of a rant/vent that Ann Coulter would be proud of:
CCNL : "President-elect Obama rode to the Blood-Red House on the backs of 35+million aborted womb-babies!!!"
I take that is a prime example of Crossanist
humanist-logical-rational reaction, no?
Bottom line: Rigid fundamentalist, inerrantist, extremist Crossanists are as autocratic and dictatorial as rigid, fundamentalist, inerrantist, extremist Muslim ulema (and clergy of other faiths) in insisting on what one must think and do. And when one dissented, they both resort to vilifications.
Second bottom line: Crossanists who asserted a higher moral and ethical ground must act it.
Now, excuse me while I practice my yoga.
Cheers and cio pussycat.
J the Unrepentent and UnCrossanized Muslim
(Live with it, pussycat, but you may pop a vein or two)
Posted by: Jihadist | November 23, 2008 1:54 PM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
Ah, so you do admit to the idiocy of the KKK, and the Evangelicals and Rapture, IRA et all
So, go hang the warped docs for attempting to blow up airports and people.
Come now, come now, come now....have the nerve, the guts, the courage to even admit that you did call me a terrorist several times before in other On Faith treads.
So, I don't deserve an apology by your rationale
as you think and believe all Muslims don't deserve any apology for any baseless allegations against them because they are Muslims, no?
So, it is all right to vilify Muslims and kill us all then?
Ah, Crossanists the rational and logical humanists, no?
Bottom line:
Crossanism does not purge racism and religious bigotry. Or from making ridiculous statements and assertions.
And it takes a whole lot of "we" to come with all that is posted under the CCNL moniker? Surely that whole lot of "we" can do better, yes?
Shame on the CCNL collective "we".
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 23, 2008 12:25 PM
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And again and again the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist tries to distract us with the idiocy of the KKK et al.
So once again we point out:
How sad to have someone's life revolve around mythical "pretty/ugly, wingie, talking thingies!!!
And since Muslims follow the dictates of the Worst Book Ever Written, i.e. the koran, which demands Islamic world domination by any means to include terrorist activities, one must conclude for one's own safety that all Muslims are potential terrorists including "The Struggling Jihadist" e.g. the seven Muslim doctors who tried to blow up two airports in England a few years ago.
No one apologizes for noting the errors and flaws of koranic-driven Islam for it is visual 24/7.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 23, 2008 11:40 AM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
Ohhhh....still can't admit to calling me a terrorist several times before in other On Faith threads in going to the warped docs to deflect and distract from your baseless and unwarranted accusations of moi?
Ummmm.....and to rationalise and justify why you can't bring yourself to apologise for calling moi a terrorist by showing that all those docs are terrorists, therefore I must be one. Very thought out Crossanist logical deduction and rational conclusion, eh?
Now, now, now. Why waste time fantasising and speculating that I am a terrorist? Go get Osama and other terrorists, dead or alive. I don't care if your burn him at the stakes, hang and quartered him, and throw him to the dogs.
So now we know the mindset of the "War on Terror" advocates and implementers, and thus, have a glimpse on why they failed.
Firstly, it should be "War agaist Terrorists".
Secondly, it is the carpet bombing of every Muslims as imagined potential terrorists, rather than smart targetting of real terrorists.
Thirdly, it is going after all of the Muslims instead of some of the Muslims who are warped terrorists.
If you insist it to be a "War on Terror", by all means, fight your own terror of all Muslims.
Shame on you. Even illiterate Muslims don't deduce all Christians are terrorists or potential terrorists or warped going by the injunctions of the Bible, be it in the form of Manifest Destiny, or the IRA or the KKK, or the Evangelicals and their Rapture/End of Time/Armageddon scenarios.
Cheers.
Posted by: Jihadist | November 23, 2008 11:26 AM
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SICK PEOPLE USING FILTHY LANGUAGE SPOILED THE QUALITY OF DISCUSSION ON THIS FORUM.
EITHER THEY ARE PAID WORKERS OR FREE.....?
Posted by: Anonymous | November 23, 2008 3:08 AM
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Ahh, there she is again the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist. Here we reduced the contemporary religions in words she could comprehend but she still cannot grasp the failed foundations of all religions to include Islam. How sad to have someone's life revolve around mythical "pretty/ugly, wingie, talking thingies!!!
And since Muslims follow the dictates of the Worst Book Ever Written, i.e. the koran, which demands Islamic world domination by any means to include terrorist activities, one must conclude for one's own safety that all Muslims are potential terrorists e.g. the seven Muslim doctors who tried to blow up two airports in England a few years ago.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 23, 2008 1:12 AM
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Jihadist,
All hail, my glass is raised to you. Your replies to Bun-Bun (aka Concy Pussycat) had me choking with laughter. The line about founding the Caliphate in Wasilla had me gasping for breath.
Posted by: Arminius | November 22, 2008 8:44 PM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
1. "There was no Abraham i.e. the foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no bases."
- It did not start with Adam? There is no Eve? It did not start with The Singularity?
2. "There was no Moses i.e the pillars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no strength of purpose." - There was a Moses, but he now is spokesman for the NRA.
3. "There was no Gabriel i.e. Islam fails as a religion. Christianity partially fails." - Yes there is a Gabriel. Gabriel Byrne played Satan in that California governor's movie, "End of Days".
4. "There was no Easter i.e. Christianity completes fails as a religion." - Yes there is Easter. And there is the Easter Bunny too.
5. "There was no Moroni i.e. Mormonism is nothing more than a business cult." - And a very successful one too. I'll check into hotels owned by Marriott next time to give my support for their business.
6. "There are no sacred cows, castes or reincarnations i.e. Hinduism fails as a religion." - Yes there are "sacred cows" as figures of speech. Yes, there were reincarnations of movie stars as presidents and governors.
7. "Buddhas here, Buddhas there, Buddhas everwhere makes for a no on Buddhism." - Uderneath a completely covered stupa on Borobodur, there is a statue of Buddha. One cannot see it, one cannot touch it, but one knows that it is there. So, exactly, that makes for "a no on Buddhism". Quite deep.
Cheers and ciao
Posted by: Jihadist | November 22, 2008 8:24 PM
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Ooops! Did not finished my sentence.
But then, Crossanists are above and beyond belief.
Take it whatever way, in any which way you can, Pussycat.
Got that plumb turkey yet? Or pardoning one this year all by yourself to save one turkey's life?
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 22, 2008 7:59 PM
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CCNL : "Apparently JJ can count words. Other than that he continues to be very rude!!"
Not as rude as you calling me a terrorist several times before and never apologising.
11th Commandment : "Thou shalt not judge"
But then, Crossanists are above and beyond..no?
Cheers pussycat
Posted by: Jihadist | November 22, 2008 7:50 PM
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Concerned The Christian Now Liberated,
Yo! Concy Pussycat!
On your list of "Our War on Terror and Aggression", what about the figures on "collateral damage" in reaction?
How about a list of, "Our War on Abortion" with 35+ million "murdered" or "killed" or "terminated" since 1973 (your given figures) and still counting?
Longest incivil and uncivil culture war ever in the New World?
Posted by: Jihadist | November 22, 2008 7:45 PM
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Our War on Terror and Aggression:
An update (or how we are spending or how we have spent the USA taxpayers’ money to eliminate global terror and aggression)
The terror and aggression via a Partial and Recent Body Count
1) Assassination of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh
2) 9/11, 3000 mostly US citizens, 1000’s injured
3) The 24/7 Sunni-Shiite centuries-old blood feud currently being carried out in Iraq, US Troops (3,388 combat 805 non-combat) and 88,851 – 96,976
Iraqi civilians killed, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ and
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/casualty.pdf
4) Kenya- In Nairobi, about 212 people were killed and an estimated 4000 injured; in Dar es Salaam, the attack killed at least 11 and wounded 85.[2]
5) Bali-in 2002-killing 202 people, 164 of whom were foreign nationals, and 38 Indonesian citizens. A further 209 people were injured.
6) Bali in 2005- Twenty people were killed, and 129 people were injured by three bombers who killed themselves in the attacks.
7) Spain in 2004- killing 191 people and wounding 2,050.
8) UK in 2005- The bombings killed 52 commuters and the four radical Islamic suicide bombers, injured 700.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 22, 2008 12:38 PM
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Other elements of our War on Terror:
1. Saddam, his sons and major henchmen have been deleted. Saddam's bravado about WMD was one of his major mistakes.
2. Iran is being been contained. (beside containing the Sunni-Shiite civil war in Baghdad, that is the main reason we are in Iraq. And yes, essential oil continues to flow from the region.)
3. Libya has become almost civil. Recently Libya agreed to pay $1.5 billion to the victims of their terrorist activities Apparently this new reality from an Islamic country has upset OBL and his “crazies” as they have threatened Libya. OBL sure is a disgrace to the world especially the Moslem world!!! Or is he???
4. North Korea is still uncivil but is contained. With the opening up of rail traffic between North and South Korea after 50 years and with the assistance of the US Navy in retrieving NK ships and personnel hopefully a fresh sense of civility is afoot.
5. North Korea was taken off the terrorist country list recently.
6. Northern Ireland is finally at peace.
7. The Jews and Palestinians are being separated by walls. Hopefully the walls will follow the 1948 UN accords and the Annapolis Peace Conference is at least somewhat successful.
8. Bin Laden has been cornered under a rock in Western Pakistan since 9/11.
9. Fanatical Islam has basically been contained to the Middle East but a wall between India and Pakistan would be a plus for world peace. Ditto for a wall between Afghahistan and Pakistan.
10. Timothy McVeigh was executed. Terry Nichols will follow soon.
11. Eric Rudolph is spending three life terms in prison with no parole.
12. Jim Jones, David Koresh, Kaczynski, the "nuns" from Rwanda, and the KKK were all dealt with and either eliminated themselves or are being punished.
13. Islamic Sudan, Darfur and Somalia are still terror hot spots.
14. The terror and torture of Muslims in Bosnia, Kosovo and Kuwait were ended by the proper application of the military forces of the USA and her freedom-loving friends. Radovan Karadzic was finally captured on 7/23/08 and is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the law of war -- charges related to the 1992-1995 civil war that followed Bosnia-Herzegovina's secession from Yugoslavia.
15. And of course the bloody terror brought about the Japanese, Nazis and Communists was with great difficulty eliminated by the good guys.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 22, 2008 12:37 PM
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As for the actual topic, *yes,* expectations are very high, and certain types will certainly call *anything* a failure compared to their notion of how inflated those expectations may be.
Frankly, I feel better with Obama being there to try and do a lot with not very much than I did with Bush taking trillions and trillions of dollars of our national wealth and spending it to do the *wrong* things.
Let's not count ourselves out just cause once again the conservatives have left us in a big hole.
Posted by: Paganplace | November 22, 2008 10:16 AM
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Err, you can hardly use the way religious conservatives screwed up just about everything in the country and the world they touched, just as 'liberal secularists' have been warning all along, ...as some king of 'evidence' secular liberalism failed.
Quite the opposite, actually.
Posted by: Paganplace | November 22, 2008 10:10 AM
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what america can sell to the world?
right now america need to import more than export,
1-juchristianity failed world wide.(oh specialy in the heart of jesus land)
2-liberalism failed world wide.
3-secularism failed world wide.
4-the western money system failed world wide.
5-right now america is soliciting money from the arabs and asians for the crisis that americans hands and ideology commited.
6-america still the bigst exporter of weapons of mass destruction across the globe.
the list is too huge.
real change start at the heart of the people not the color of their *ace* where america still way backward .
new concept and new ideology need to be imported.
Posted by: exporter | November 22, 2008 4:26 AM
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This is what happens when expectations are sky-high: hypocrisy and attempting to justify expectations by keeping up appearances, rather than essence.
And it looks like it has already begun:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/us/politics/13apply.html?_r=4&nl=pol&emc=pola1&oref=slogin
Whoever came up with that, it seems, doesn't realize, that in trying to avoid potential 'embarrassment' to the president, he ensured that his staff will be more preoccupied with (their own) appearances from the onset, rather than the bigger picture.
In fact, when people put up an invented face, as it happens so often in politics with or without questionnaires, events conspire towards those same people losing face.
It would be good for the author of the questionnaire to ponder this archetype:
"Bully (Coward)
The archetype of the Bully manifests the core truth that the spirit is always stronger than the body. Symbolically, our physical bodies can "bully" our spirits with any number of reasons why we should back down from our challenges, which appear to overwhelm us by their size and shape. Your relationship to this archetype should be evaluated within a framework far more expansive than evaluating whether you "bully" people. Consider whether on your life path you confront one experience and relationship after another that appears to have more power than you and ultimately leads you to ask, "Will I stand up to this challenge?" People are often called to take on bullies for the sake of others, as David did Goliath, and this is another criterion of your connection to this archetype.
Conventional wisdom holds that underneath a bully is a coward trying to keep others from discovering his true identity. Symbolically, the Coward within must stand up to being bullied by his own inner fears, which is the path to empowerment through these two archetypes.
Films: Matt Dillon in My Bodyguard; Jack Palance in Shane; Mel Gibson in Braveheart; James Cagney in The Fighting 69th; Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz.; Jack Nicholson in As Good as It Gets.
Fiction: The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Vincent Benet.
Fairy Tales: Jack and the Beanstalk; Jack the Giant Killer"
Posted by: cacxo | November 22, 2008 2:56 AM
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Reiteration is important to education.
1. There was no Abraham i.e. the foundations of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no bases.
2. There was no Moses i.e the pillars of Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no strength of purpose.
3. There was no Gabriel i.e. Islam fails as a religion. Christianity partially fails.
4. There was no Easter i.e. Christianity completes fails as a religion.
5. There was no Moroni i.e. Mormonism is nothing more than a business cult.
6. There are no sacred cows, castes or reincarnations i.e. Hinduism fails as a religion.
7. Buddhas here, Buddhas there, Buddhas everwhere makes for a no on Buddhism.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 22, 2008 12:03 AM
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By the way, Concy Pussycat,
Religious car licence plates seems like a good idea. I'm thinking, "Islam is Perfect", "Islam is the Way", etc. That should get American Christians into it to call for a ban of all religious toned car licence plates.
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 7:53 PM
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Concy Pussycat!
I am now networking with like-minded Islamic world dominationists to set up a global Islamic caliphate starting with Wassila, Alaska, as the western base for the Project for the New Islamic Century.
A "Crossanized" Islamic Association For Battered Sunni and Shiite Women"? Has Ayaan Hirsi Ali agreed to be President of this association? I am sure all Muslim women will come to her. But, you can always try, again and again, to hoist Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie on Muslim populations as "reformers".
Sooooo....what's your address so I can send my hardcover copies of "Infidel" and "The Satanic Verses"? If not given, perhaps, I'll send them to the poor women of Afghanistan who don't have enough firewood this winter to keep their homes warm. In this way, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie are helping the poor Muslim women, no?
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 7:45 PM
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Hmmm, there she is again, ranting that no one can criticize her "wholely" Islam even though it demands conquering the world by any means to include the genocide of infidels and the continued subjugation of all women.
And all of this because of one pretty, wingie, talking thingie made mythical appearances to one hallucinating, warmongering, womanizing, long dead Arab in some hot and sultry cave so many dark centuries ago. How can anyone buy into this mumbo jumbo other than being Bred, Born and Brainwashed into it??
Well we have tried our "Crossanized" best even giving the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist our Free Five Point Program to escape her Three B syndrome. We can only hope someday she sees the light before Ajib divorces her and her shame begins.
Hmmm, maybe she could form the "Crossanized" Islamic Association For Battered Sunni and Shiite Women"? Hirsi Ali, we are sure, will assist her.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 21, 2008 6:44 PM
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....and oops. I almost forgot. I'll check when I actually gave my written consent for my husband to take another three wives. When I find it, I will divorce him and marry you- even if you are a woman. Gay marraiges is still recognised in California, no? We won't have to fight over technological conveniences, but to share them, yes?
A good weekend to you.
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 5:52 PM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
Uhhh! Still pushing those books by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie, eh? I’ve got lots of copies of those given by this and that person in the “west” for free to “educate” me on Islam and Muslims, on the trials and tribulations of Islam and Muslims, on the origins of Islam and Muslims, on the need for reformation of Islam and Muslims and all that. And there are books by Irshad Manji and Bernard Lewis and Daniel Pipes et al given too . Want me to send them over to you? Or to continue to use them as coasters for my iced tea?
In the marketplace of ideas, Crossasnization is limited to Jesus Seminarians? In the battles for the soul of Islam, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie don’t stand a spitting chance. For moi - Viva Zainah Anwar! Viva Farish Noor!
And, did not Bernard Lewis or Robert Spencer, or both, predicted the end of the world in 2004 in 2004 itself? And there is now this Obama is the AntiChrist thing going on too. And there is this southern state’s legislature wanting Christian car number plates too...
Looks like the Crossanization of believers by Crossanists in the US has much to work to do. But, all the same, don’t forget to take time out to get a plumb turkey for Thanksgiving.
And, better for you to read “Global Trends 2025 Report : A Transformed World” by the NIC just out. Makes for some entertaining prophesising and speculations too, as you are into predicting trends in the future from the exact demise of religions to the rate of abortions in 2012, 2020 or whatever, yes?
Cheers pussycat
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 5:44 PM
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There she is again as the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist (third wife Ajib) still does not addressing the underlying problem with Islam, i.e. the Worst Book Ever Written, the koran, the SOP followed by all Muslims of all skin color and eye slant.
And she can only surmise what Hirsi Ali says in her books since she cannot read said books for fear of the Islamic "truth/goon" squads. What a "religion"!!!
Sir Salman Rushdie in his book, Satanic Verses (another book the Jihadist dare not read), summarizes the Muslim situation quite well:
p. 376, paperback issue -:
"The faithful lived by lawlessness, but in those years Mahound - or should one say the Archangel Gibreel? - should one say Al-Lah? - became obsessed by law.
Amid the palm-trees of the oasis Gibreel appeared to the Prophet and found himself spouting rules, rules, rules, until the faithful could scarcely bear the prospect of any more revelation, Salman said, rules about every damn thing, if a man farts let him turn his face to the wind, a rule
about which hand to use for the purpose of cleaning one's behind.
It was as if no aspect of human existence was to be left unregulated, free. The revelation - the recitation- told the faithful how much to eat, how deeply they should sleep, and which sexual
positions had received divine sanction, so that they leamed that sodomy and the missionary position were approved of by the archangel, whereas the forbidden postures included all those in which the female was on top.
Gibreel further listed the permitted and forbidden subjects of conversation, and earmarked the parts of the body which could not be scratched no matter how unbearably they might itch. He vetoed the consumption of prawns, those bizarre other-worldly creatures which no member of the faithful had ever seen, and required animals to be killed slowly, by bleeding, so that by experiencing their deaths to the full they
might arrive at an understanding of the meaning of their lives, for it is only at the moment of death that living creatures understand
that life has been real, and not a sort of dream.
And Gibreel the archangel specified the manner in which a man should be buried, and how his property should be divided, so that Salman the Persian got to wondering what manner of God this was that soundedso much like a businessman.
This was when he had the idea that
destroyed his faith, because he recalled that of course Mahound himself had been a businessman, and a damned successful one at that, a person to whom organization and rules came naturally, so
how excessively convenient it was that he should have come up with such a very businesslike archangel, who handed down the management decisions of this highly corporate, if noncorporeal, God."
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 21, 2008 4:25 PM
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…..and Concy Pussycat,
Obviously too, I have a different "narrative" based on personal experiences, on where I live, on what I eat, on what I drink, on what I read, on what I see, on what I hear.Same for Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie, but they tend to lapse into either lofty ideas and ideals or outright generalisations when people are niched and particularised on values and belief, on culture and tradition, on norms and mores. Makes them good copy for the press and recipients for peace prizes, freedom prizes and all that, but are they are ultimately lost in the sea of human self-identification and self-assertion of who he is,what he wants, what he needs, and competing voices for their attention in the marketplace of ideas.
Not Crossanization, not Ayaan Hirsi Ali, not Salman Rushdie, not the Pope, not Barack Obama as President of the US can purge the world from racism, sexism and intolerance of anyone different from us, nor want to be like us, or to be one of us.
Bottom line:
East is east, west is west, north is north, south is south, and they do and will meet to merge or diverge messily from the beginning of human history to the end of human history. No one person can clean up our global mess. We only can do our bit to clean our own houses ourselves before starting to tell others to clean their houses and how to clean it. But, of course, the other fellow's house always looks messier.
Cheers pussycat
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 1:43 PM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
Crossanization can eliminate racism and religious bigotry? And the secular voting bloc in Israel is added proof? Come now. Being secularists does not mean one is free from racism or religious bigotry. One has to ask the Hasidim Israelis and the non-Ashkenazi Israelis on that. I am not persuaded that having no faith, or "revising" holy texts for neo-beliefs will eliminate racism and other forms of discrimination, including gender and religious bigotry.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography? She the one who stated, "Islam must be crushed"? It is, no doubt, a brilliant tactical move on how to alienate the very people she allegedly wants to protect and defend of their rights- Muslim women. And Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Crossanized Catholic/Christians has never been to China, South Korea and Japan? Some call beige to brown skins Southeast Asians, "Black Asians". The precentage of women to men there in professional, managerial and political positions are less than even in Indonesia, Malaysia, and even Iran by UN stats.
Sunni-Shiite conflict in Iraq? We don't have to wonder who went in and "liberated" the Iraqis from their angst against one another intensified by Saddam Hussein's policies. Yet, when Iraq, under Saddam Hussein attacked Iran (with a nod and wink from his former Uncle), Iraqi Shiite Arabs fought alongside the Iraqi Sunni Arabs against the Iranian Shiites.
Bottom line:
Culture, social norms and conditioning matters in any assessments of groups of people. Religion is part of, a component of culture and social norms and group identification. Do Ayaan Hirsi Ali grasp that this the same for Muslims as for the Irish, the Basques, the Kurds, the Azeris, the Tamils in India and Sri Lanka...oh, I'll leave it at that and call it a day on self-identified groups by race, by religion, by politics.
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 1:40 PM
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Hmmm, the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist has no response to being one of the four wives of her husband indicating she is indeed a good Muslim in the male-sharing (and washer/drier) department.
And nothing about the 800 year blood feud between her Sunni cult and the Shiite cult indicating she indeed believes her Sunni cult is superior to the lowly Shiites. The killing and maiming over who is the correct descendent of one hallucinating, illiterate, warmongering and womanizing, long dead Arab is to say the least significantly stupid. The conflict begs of "Crossanization".
And the Jihadist has no response to Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography that exposes the insideous nature of koranic Islam that demands the subjugation of women and death to all infidels.
And now let us look first at what "Crossanization" means so the Jihadist can come to grips with it and why Islam so badly needs it:
"Crossanization" is the review of all the scriptural and non-scriptural and archeological history of the various religions of the world and then it seeks attestion, common sense and stratum proof from these reviews/data that substantiate what is said in the various religious manuals like the bible is indeed true.
Has this process eliminated racism and religious bigotry?? Not yet but with Judaism and Christianity it has gotten a good start as noted by most of the 1.5 million Conservative Jews and their rabbis believing that most if not all the OT is myth (making btw, much of the koran mythical). The secular voting bloc in Israel is added proof.
With respect to Christianity, "Crossanization" can be found for example in Thomas Jefferson's version of the bible and in the historic Jesus exegetes studies and conclusions/books where the NT is basically cleansed of all passages not said or done by the historical Jesus. The female degrading comments in "prude" Paul's (and his pseudos) epistles have been thoroughly analyzed and found to be the worthless rantings of a first century evangelist (and his psuedos) who expected an imminent second coming that never materialized. Ditto for the anti-semitic passages in the gospels and epistles.
The Pope has apologized but unfortunately he has not come to grips with the reality of the simple preacher man. "Pew sitters" have as Sunday Mass attendance continues to drop as does belief in resurrected bodies, the 24/7 bloody body ritual, miracles, atonement theology, papal infallibility and original sin. This has basically led to the realization that the Catholic Church having the only key to heaven is a lot of "hogwash" theology.
Since acceptance of the results of "Crossanized" Catholicism would "pink slip" the pope and the hierarchy, they are not giving up easily. They are however on a slippery slope and their end is approaching as Catholicism goes democratic.
References have been previously given and are available on-demand.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 21, 2008 4:43 AM
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Concy Pussycat!
What? Still nothing on how Crossanization eliminates racism and religious bigotry? Obviously, Crossanism can't and being Crossanized won't do it for one.
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 21, 2008 1:30 AM
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Ahh, it is nice to see the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist sharing the many Western technologies with the other three wives of her Muslim husband. How does that work? And what page of the Worst Book Ever Written gets into sharing washers and driers?? It must be there somewhere.
And may the Jihadist someday have the courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali to say "I have had enough" of being an oppressed second class citizen as dictated in some dark cave by some pretty, wingie thingie to some crazy, illiterate, hallucinating Arab????
And the Jihadist still cannot read Infidel or Sir Salman Rusdie's Satanic Verses without risking her life. Another terror tactic imbedded in the Worst Book Ever Written and enforced by the goon squads of the local imams/clerics!!! What an utterly backward, time-warped religion!!!
And note that Sunni Jihadist never says anything about the Sunni-Shiite civil war that continues to spill blood all over the Muslim world.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 21, 2008 12:08 AM
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Concerned The Christian Now Liberated,
Yo! Concy Pussycat!
What? Nothing about how Crossanization of the Bible eliminated racism and religious bigotry in the US?
Ayaan Hirsi Ali? The "internationally renowned" spokeswoman of no Muslim women organisation? Oh well, unfortunately for her, we got our own Zainah Anwar/Sisters in Islam, the nationally renowned spokeswomen for the rights of Muslim women in Malaysia giving the ulema a run for their interpretations and actions, and driving them up the wall.
As one who practices Islam, I have that
mind-set which makes my transition to modernity a very, very, very painful process as I use cellphones, computers, microwaves, washers, dryers, blenders, rice cookers, cars, planes, trains....Tou can use all those without knowing who in the world is Socrates, Descartes, Voltaire, Sartre. Even Edison, Einstein.....
How terrible that I am not infected with Obamania and Ayaanamania.
Cheers pussycat.
Posted by: Jihadist | November 20, 2008 7:56 PM
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Again, "Crossanization" of the Bible is in action. It will take a few more years but it is gaining speed as evidenced by the recent Nova documentary, The Bible's Buried Secrets. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bible/program.html
The historical and theological corrections of the Worst Book Ever Written, i.e. the koran, will take significantly longer due to the Muslims fear of their imams/clerics and their "terror goons" who assassinate the likes of Benazir Bhutto and Theo Van Gogh. And may allah bless the courage of Ayaan Hirsi Ali who had the courage to lay open the insidious nature of Islam in her autobiography, Infidel.
excerpts:
"Thus begins the extraordinary story of a woman born into a family of desert nomads, circumcised as a child, educated by radical imams in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, taught to believe that if she uncovered her hair, terrible tragedies would ensue. It's a story that, with a few different twists, really could have led to a wretched life and a lonely death, as her grandmother warned. But instead, Hirsi Ali escaped -- and transformed herself into an internationally renowned spokeswoman for the rights of Muslim women."
ref: Washington Post book review.
p. 47 paperback issue:
"Some of the Saudi women in our neighborhood were regularly beaten by their husbands. You could hear them at night. Their screams resounded across the courtyards. "No! Please! By Allah!"
p.68:
"The Pakistanis were Muslims but they too had castes. The Untouchable girls, both Indian and Pakistani were darker skin. The others would not play with them because they were untouchable. We thought that was funny because of course they were touchable: we touched them see? but also horrifying to think of yourself as untouchable, despicable to the human race."
p.309
"Between October 2004 and May 2005, eleven Muslim girls were killed by their families in just two regions (there are 20 regions in Holland). After that, people stopped telling me I was exaggerating."
p. 347
"The kind on thinking I saw in Saudi Arabia and among the Brotherhood of Kenya and Somalia, is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves the feudal mind-set based on tribal concepts of honor and shame. It rests on self-deception, hyprocricy, and double standards. It relies on the technologial advances of the West while pretending to ignore their origin in Western thinking. This mind-set makes the transition to modernity very painful for all who practice Islam".
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 20, 2008 4:28 PM
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Yo! Concy Pussycat!
How has the Crossanization of the Bible eliminated racism and religious bigotry in the US? Both inquiring and indifferent minds want to know.
Got that turkey for Thanksgiving dinner yet? I mean a real fowl to eat, not a lame duck as guest.
Don't forget to pray to the Singularity for all "personkind" before wolfing down the Thanksgiving feast.
Cheers
Posted by: Jihadist | November 20, 2008 3:42 PM
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What the Reality Challenged and Obfuscating Jihadist fails to recognize is that a rewrite and "Crossanization" of the Worst Book Ever Written, i.e. the koran, would eliminate racism and religious bigotry in Malaysia.
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 20, 2008 12:37 PM
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Hello Ms. Katherine Marshall,
Thanks for your essay.
There is a great interest here on the bid by Obama as US President, what with notions and perceptions of racism against blacks in the US, never mind Malaysians accused one another of racism constantly, and even Parliamentarians hurling insults against one another, such as "racist monkeys" to the dismay of many Malaysians watching the Parliamentary sessions live on TV.
With Obama elected President, perceptions do change on Americans and racism, and there is much discussion on whether it is possible for a non Malay-Muslim can be prime minister of Malaysia, a post always held by a Malay-Muslim (who comprise some 60% of the population) since the country's independence in 1957.
In the end, taking note that the Malaysian education system is multilingual with schools teaching subjects in either mostly Malay, mostly English, mostly Mandarin or mostly Tamil, and that Obama, in spite of being "black" (or more accurately of mixed race), and a Christian (the faith of the majority in the US), a Malaysian Chinese non-Muslim bloggger posited that the acceptable prime minister of Malaysia would have to be an ethnic Chinese adopted by Malay-Muslim parents, went to Malay medium schools, is fluent in Malay, attended a local university for his first degree, and either Oxford or Cambridge for his postgraduate degree/s.
Of course, Malaysians are also relieved that it would be no more Bush. But, at the same time quite aware that Obama is an American President elected by Americans whose primary concerns are the resolution of domestic issues and to conduct international affairs for the interest of Americans and America.
It remains to be seen whether a new dawn will materialise in America and translated to the rest of the world by this American President if he really pursue a just and equitable policy in his handling of global affairs to regain America's "moral stature" with leadership by example and by consultations with other nations for global actions on common concerns, including and especially the current economic situation, conflicts, the environment...
Happy Thanksgiving
J
Posted by: Jihadist | November 20, 2008 11:44 AM
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40 acres and a mule .
i,m an old farmer and let me tell you people,
when the bank is banckrupt your best bet is to bank on and invest in the natural resources that we have ,the land the sea and air and above all mankind or manpower that realy need serious change and serious investment.
there is no political savior ,but there is always acres and mules.
the old american $proverb$ need to be reversed from money talk bs walk ,to bs walk in order for the money to be caught.
gas in the tank better than money in the bank.
Posted by: old money | November 20, 2008 1:35 AM
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And then there is the fact that BO rode to the Blood-Red house on the backs of 35+ million aborted womb babies and their 70+ million living and voting "mothers and fathers"!!!!
Posted by: Concerned The Christian Now Liberated | November 19, 2008 11:57 PM
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"The symbol of the black American president-elect is powerful for people of all races and religions. The image of the United States as an insensitive bully is receding. But it goes far beyond that. Once again, American ideals mean something."
He gets a 100% positive rating from NARAL, is linked to Chicago gangsters, and never showed up for work in the Senate either in Illinois or DC and you guys are dancing in the streets over his color? Wow. How dumb is that.
Posted by: Norma | November 19, 2008 6:44 PM
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Bun-Bun (CCNL)
Take your foul bigotry and stuff it. Any person here with more than a few gray cells connected together is sick of it. Your totally stupid posts are answered by none except in anger to your ignorance and offensive behavior. All you are proving is that you are one of that sad group of people that are so insecure that they need other groups to hate in order to 'justify' their own pathetic existence. You would have made an obedient, non-thinking foot soldier in the Nazi SS.