The Democrat party bragged about having a "green" convention, but they put 12,000 American flags in garbage! They didn't recycle them they put the flags in the TRASH. Some alert Colorado veterans saved them and brought them to today's McCain Victory rally in Colorado Springs. The veterans then handed them out to an eager crowd. The flags were waving and the songs of patriotism were playing load and clear!

Now the Democrat party claims that the flags were STOLEN! According to Fox News, Damon Jones, spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee, released a statement saying McCain should applaud the fact that thousands of American flags were “proudly waved” at their convention.

“But instead his supporters wrongfully took leftover bundles of our flags from the stadium to play out a cheap political stunt calling into question our patriotism,” he said.

Of course the great Obama would never do any thing to disgrace the American Flag. The problem with this lie is that some of the falgs could not be used because they were found soiled from the GARBAGE by American Veterans. The Boy scouts had to go through the bags of American flags separating them from the garbage. This kind of disrespect for our COUNTRY shows that the Obama campaign is an angry hate America and apologize to the world agenda that will cost him the election. Yes, I question Obama's patriotism and the Democrat party's agenda to destroy our freedom.

The Democrats will not stand for us, they already advocated retreat and defeat in Iraq. They said 'THE WAR IS LOST!" They to this day cannot say that the surge is a SUCCESS and VICTORY is at hand. They were wrong on Iraq and they are wrong about our country being, according to Michelle Obama, "A down right mean place."

These images of today's victory rally in Colorado Springs show that this country still cares about our flag and all that it stands for!

Seara de cosmar la Cluj!

Nationala Romaniei a suferit in aceasta seara cea mai usturatoare si umilitoare infrangere din ultimii ani in fata Lituaniei.

Echipa Romaniei fara Mutu, Chivu, Rat, sau Nicolita n-a fost in stare sa se ridice la nivelul unei echipe nationale si sa faca fata cu brio unei echipe care a venit la Cluj cu sansa a doua.
Porniti ca si clar favoriti, tricolorii au reusit sa se evidentieze doar prin mediocritate, lipsa de viziune si tactica.
Suntem obisnuiti ca in marea majoritate a meciurilor echipa nationala sa nu fie in stare sa lege niste faze si sa joace dand impresia ca ei chiar stiu ce fac, iar aceasta seara n-a fost nicio exceptie.

0-3 scor de neprezentare ... si pe buna dreptate, echipa lui Piti n-a fost prezenta pe teren.

Min 30' : Primul gol a venit cu un sut formidabil de la 25 de metri  plasat fix in vinclul portii. 0-1 gol Stankevicius.
Min 45' : Dică trimite mingea in bara dintr-o lovitura libera obţinută de Rădoi.
Min 70' : Mikoliunas prinde un sut exceptional din marginea careului si Lobont este invins din nou
Min 86' : Kalonas se distreaza cu apararea noastra si inscrie pentru un neverosimil 3-0

Romania:
1. Lobont, 22. St. Radu, 15. Goian, 4. Tamas, 13. Sapunaru, 20. Dica, 6. Radoi, 11. Cocis, 2. Contra, 21. D. Niculae, 9. Marica
Rezerve: 23. Stancioiu, 17. Moti, 24. Nesu, 26. Lazar, 8. Codrea, 25. Bratu, 18. M. Niculae

The Republican National Convention recently ended last thursday in Saint Paul, Minnesota, finishing off grandly with a powerful declaration of "Country First" and a clarion call for change. Wait... wasn't that Barack Obama's signature line?

Yes, surprisingly enough, change was one of the main topics during the recent RNC. There, to deafening applause, the Republican Party promised to 'clean up Washington' and 'drain that swamp' in order to achieve 'change, the goal we share'. And while the event sounded like just another political convention, this time the party in question was actually promising change from itself. Personally, I don't know whether to be intrigued or confused: If the party in power seeks change.. why isn't it doing so right now?

Jon Stewarts perhaps put it best when he put forth this question to Republican Mike Huckabee: "I've been hearing so much about change [from the republicans]... do they realize who've been in charge for the most part over the last eight years?". (Watch the video here).

Are the Republicans attempting to use confusion in their favor, or do they simply sincerely believe that they are the best candidates to get the United States out of the same mess that they brought it into? It's hard to say.

Peter Baker from The New York Times also wrote an interesting article about the event two days back. Check it out.

Some excerpts:

PETER BAKER: Party in Power, Running as if it Weren't.

The nominee's friend described him as a "restless reformer who will clean up Washington." His defeated rival described him going to the capital to "drain that swamp." His running mate described their mission as "change, the goal we share." And that was at the incumbent party's convention.

After watching two political conclaves the last two weeks, it would be easy to be confused about which was really the gathering of the opposition. As Senator John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he and his supporters sounded the call of insurgents seeking to topple the establishment, even though their party heads the establishment.

...

The effort to position Mr. McCain and the Republicans as the trueagentsof change benefited this week from his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate. Known for taking on her own state party over corruption and wasteful spending, Ms. Palin projects the image of the ultimate Washington outsider, literally from more than 2,800 miles outside the Capital Beltway. And she would be the first woman to serve as vice president.

But as a matter of history, it is easier to run as the opposition party if you actually are the opposition party.

"When the president of the United States is from your own party, to present yourself as a change agent is not the easiest thing to pull off," said Joe Trippi, a Democratic strategist. Referring to Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, Mr. Trippi added, "All Obama has to do is say, ‘Bush-McCain, Bush-McCain.' "

...

For "every candidate, regardless of whether they're an incumbent or a challenger," said Sara Taylor, a former White House political director under Mr. Bush, "one of the fundamental missions is how to set themselves up as the change agent, and John McCain is well equipped based on a long record as a maverick to do that."

By the time the convention here was about to get under way, Mr. McCain almost sounded like a speaker at an Obama rally. "I promise you, if you're sick and tired of the way Washington operates, you only need to be patient for a couple of more months," he told supporters in O'Fallon, Mo., on Sunday. "Change is coming! Change is coming! Change is coming!"

He continued the mantra Thursday. "Let me just offer an advance warning to the old big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second crowd," Mr. McCain said. "Change is coming."

Mr Hans is neither a US citizen, nor is he living there. He is, however, baffled by some of the ridiculous things US politicians try to do and even more intrigued that they usually work.

Just remember that Mccain has voted with Bush 95% of the time in 2007 and 100% of the time in 2008. Change won't come until you vote for it.

Natonal Geographic'in müthiş fotoğrafçıları tarafından çekilen harika resimler:

TERJEMAHAN (liar) atas Konstitusi (Undang Undang Dasar) yang Amandeer (Baca, Majelis Permusyawaratan Rakyat Republik Indonesia)

1. Beda antara RAKYAT dengan KEKUASAAN

2. NEGARA (Wilayah wilayah, Batas - Daerah) = Pemerintahan - Kenegaraan

3. Legisltaif = Parlemen (Wakil)

Setelah Kekuasaan lepas, dicopot dari KEDAULATAN di Negara. UUD RI Pasal 2 ayat 1. Majelis pun tuinduk, karena DIATUR UNDANG UNDANG (= Hukum kah ?)

Apakah karena memang berdasarkan Pasal 4 ayat 1 ?

Seletika Demokratisasi  Politik negara (Isme, Penganutan). Dalam PERBUATAN - HUKUM. Kewenangan kewenangan Negara atas Kekuasaan

1. Pasal 6 A ayat 1

2. Pasal 7 (Amandemen)

3. Pasal 7 A

4. Pasal 7 C

5. Pasal 8 C

Maka, Klausula (= Politisasi) Hukum dari MUKADIMAHUUD berlaku. Alinea ke 4 (empat). "... membentuk suatu Pemerintahan Negara ...". Dilaksanakan melalui "... Negara RI ... yang berkedaulatan RAKYAT ..."

Pemerintahan (= Keperesidenan) bukan lah menjadi KELEMBAGAAN FIGUSRALISM (PENGUASAAN)

<Titik

Bagaimanakah dengan KEKUASAAN (= Negara ?), PEMERINTAHAN - MILITER ....... ? Bergantung KEHENDAK TERLAKSANAKAN = PENYELENGGARAAN

1. Bentuk suatu "Negara"

   a. Militer

   b. Pemerintahan Demokrasi

      - Uni

      - Federalism

      - Sosial

   c. Ekonomi

2. 'Nation' - Kebangsaan (Proses)

3. Politik (= Sistim) Negara

   a. Kedaulatan di Negara (Politik)

   b. Absolut

      - Sosialism Negara (Parlementer kah ?)

      - Monarkhi

      - Negara = "PARTAI" (Tunggal)

   c. Kekuasaan (Junta) Militer

Nyaris ..... Historikal Materialism dianggap = Militer (Sang Jenderal) di Indonesia. Tidak lah demikian, tetapi Nasionalism - Pemerintahan (Baca, Kenegaraan). Yakni, Negera yang didirikan Konstitusional (Hukum) ---> Pemerintahan

<Jeda

Falsafati Sosial (Politik Kerakyatan) atas Hubungan Kekuasaan (Negara, Politis) dengan Pemerintahan - Militer/ Ketentaraan

Berdasarkan

Pembukaan UUD Negara

"... pergerakan kemerdekaan Indonesia ... mengantarkan RAKYAT ke negara ... yang berdaulat, adil dan makmur".

Pasal 30 ayat 1 "... warga negara ... dalam Pertahanan dan Keamanan Negara"

ayat 2 "... melalui Pertahanan dan Keamanan RAKYAT Semesta ..."

ayat 3 "... syarat syarat ... usaha Pertahanan dan Keamanan ..."

Dalam pelaksanaan yang dijiwai Kemerdekaan = PEMBEBASAN RAKYAT

Pasal 28 j "... KEBEBASANNYA ... menjamin ... HAK DAN KEBEBASAN orang lain, ... yang adil sesiai dengan pertimbangan ... keamanan dan ketertiban umum dalam suatu masyarakat demokratis"

Namun, penting untuk membahas apakah kewenangan kewenangan Presiden = KEKUASAAN (Kepala Negara. Lihat Penjelasan Resmi), yang termaksud Pasal 11 ayat 2 dan ayat 1 "... membuat ..."

Mungkinkah Kekuasaan Presiden atas Ekonomi - Keuangan (Transaktif) Negara, yang DIPIMPIM dalam Keadaan Perang ???

Karena Presiden mampu BERKEKUASAAN MILITER dalam Peperangan (Pasal 10)

Matarantai "Politik dan Pertahanan" dengan Pasal 11 ayat 1 "... Perdamaian dan Perjanjian ...". Akan tampakmaknawi dari Aturan aturan Kemasyarakatan dalam "... akibat ... mendasar bagi kehidupan RAKYAT, YANG TERKAIT DENGAN BEBAN KEUANGAN NEGARA"

<Tutup

SELESAI

From Answers.com

1. A native or inhabitant of the Philippines.
2. The Austronesian language that is based on Tagalog, draws its lexicon from other Philippine languages, and is the official language of the Philippines.

From Wiktionary.org

1. From Spanish Filipinas; from Spanish Felipe, attributed to the King of Spain.
2. One of two national languages of the Philippines, the other being English. Filipino is based on Tagalog.
3. Nationality Of residents or citizens of the Philippines.
4. Ethnicity Of people identified with the Philippines and its culture and heritage.
5. A native or inhabitant of the Philippines.

From Thinkexist.com

1. (n.) A native of the Philippine Islands, specif. one of Spanish descent or of mixed blood.

From Knowledgerush.com

1. A citizen of the Philippines
2. An adjective meaning of the Philippines or relating to the Philippines
3. The national Filipino language.

This is some of the many meanings of the word "Filipino" available on the web. For me, "Filipino" simply means strong and brave, freedom-lover type of human. How about you?any meaning of word "Filipino"?

Keputusan tersebut diumumkan oleh Timbalan Pengerusi Badan Perhubungan Umno negeri, Datuk Rashid Abdullah dalam satu sidang akhbar petang ini.

Ahmad telah mencetuskan kemarahan masyarakat Cina apabila menyatakan bahawa orang Cina adalah pendatang dan tidak layak mendapat hak sama seperti Melayu.

Ketua Umno Bukit Bendera itu didakwa membuat kenyataan itu ketika berceramah di Kampung Belah Dua pada 23 Ogos lalu sewaktu pilihanraya kecil Permatang Pauh.

Sehubungan itu, Gerakan, MCA dan DAP telah mendesak Ahmad supaya menarik balik kenyataannya dan memohon maaf.  Pemuda DAP (Dapsy) juga membuat laporan polis terhadap Ahmad.

Ahmad telah mengadakan pertemuan dengan kesemua 13 ketua bahagian Umno di Pulau Pinang malam tadi untuk memberi penjelasan isu tersebut.

Menurut Rashid, mereka yang hadir berpuashati dengan penjelasan Ahmad.

Mereka juga, tambahnya, turut menyokong pendirian Ahmad yang tidak mahu memohon maaf berhubung kenyataannya itu.

Sidang akhbar tersebut dihadiri oleh kesemua 13 ketua Umno bahagian dan kepimpinan Pemuda dan Wanita negeri serta anggota badan perhubungan Umno negeri, kecuali Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah yang juga pengerusi badan perhubungan Umno Pulau Pinang dijadual mengadakan mesyuarat dengan ketua-ketua bahagian esok.

Jelas istilah 'menumpang'

Sementara itu, Ahmad memberitahu sidang akhbar yang sama bahawa beliau menghormati Abdullah dan Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak yang mahu beliau memohon maaf.

Bagaimanapun, katanya, beliau memahami bahawa Abdullah dan Najib adalah pemimpin nasional yang perlu menjaga kepentingan nasional.

Sebaliknya, kata Ahmad, beliau hanya seorang pemimpin bahagian dan tetap berpegang pada prinsipnya.

Ahmad juga menjelaskan bahawa beliau menggunakan istilah 'menumpang' dalam kontak kedudukan kaum Cina dan India sebelum merdeka.

Ahmad sebaliknya menuduh akhbar harian Sin Chiew Daily dan wartawannya yang mencetuskan kontroversi tersebut dengan melaporkan ucapannya di luar kontak.

Pemimpin-pemimpin yang lain seperti setiausaha Umno negeri, Datuk Azhar Ibrahim; ketua Umno bahagian Bukit Mertajam, Datuk Musa Sheikh Fadzir dan ketua bahagian Bayan Baru, Datuk Mohd Zain Omar turut membidas mereka yang membantah ucapan Ahmad itu.

Azhar mengecam wartawan Sin Chiew Daily dan menegaskan bahawa akhbar tersebut mesti dipertanggungjawabkan kerana mencetuskan kebencian dan konflik perkauman.

Ahmad juga menggelar pemangku Presiden Gerakan, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon sebagai seorang 'oportunis dan pembohong besar' dan berkata Gerakan boleh 'keluar dari Barisan Nasional'.

Malah, katanya, BN tewas di Pulau Pinang dalam pilihanraya umum kerana ketidakcekapan bekas ketua menteri itu dan Gerakan.

MCA, tambahnya, boleh menang lebih banyak kerusi jika tidak kerana Gerakan.

Ahmad menuduh Gerakan mengambil kesempatan ke atas dirinya untuk memulihkan kredibiliti, kedudukan dan kerelevanan parti itu di kalangan masyarakat Cina.

Musa pula membidas pucuk pimpinan Umno kerana memohon maaf bagi pihak parti itu tanpa mendapatkan penjelasan Ahmad terlebih dahulu.

Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak telah memohon maaf kepada masyarakat Cina bagi pihak Umno.

Menurut Musa, pucuk pimpinan parti di peringkat nasional boleh mempunyai pendiriannya sendiri, tetapi para pemimpin Ummno bahagian mempunyai pendirian mereka sendiri.

"Kita menyokong penuh Ahmad dalam isu ini," kata Musa pemberita, sambil menolak tindakan Najib itu.

Mohd Zain yang juga bekas wakil rakyat Bayan Lepas, memberi amaran kepada bukan Melayu supaya lebih berhati-hati dengan tindakan dan perkataan mereka.

Katanya, jangan mengganggu dan menekan orang Melayu secara keterlaluan.

Mohd Zain mengecam orang Cina dan Hindu kerana "memperbesar-besarkan isu memeluk Islam, tetapi pada masa yang sama, berdiam diri dalam isu memeluk Kristian".

Ahmad (foto) pula menegaskan bahawa beliau bukan seorang yang bersikap perkauman atau anti-Cina.

Sebaliknya, Ahmad yang sedang disiasat polis mengikut Akta Hasutan 1948 berkata, beliau mempunyai ramai rakan-rakan dari kaum Cina selama ini.

Sidang akhbar itu berakhir dengan laungan 'Hidup Melayu' sebagai tanda perpaduan pemimpin Umno tempatan.

Kenyataan penuh Ahmad

I watched her speech on youtube last night, it was perfect, as in she hit
all the 'right' notes for the base. Her fresh, glamorous (in a midwest /
rural west kind of way) MILF-y appearance, her ordinary, all-American
background, her status as the ultimate Washington outsider (geographically,
politically, culturally,) and the fact that she's a woman will draw a lot of
votes from soft Republican centrists, of which there are many, maybe enough
to win.

Put yourself in the shoes of the average suburban Republican. No idealogue,
he or she increasingly faces assaults on every tenet of civilization they
hold dear, marriage, family, business, the country itself, economics, and so
on.

They see inflation, terrorism, terrible wars, and societal decline, and seek
explanations that comport with their backgrounds, upbringings, and
prejudices, just as Democrats do (though they seem to do slightly less
research and reading beyond the popular press on the matter.)

When a politician comes along and purports to explain it all to them, in a
manner consistent with their beliefs, they will vote for them, never mind
that their beliefs are factually challenged, their upbringings are
blinkered, their prejudices wrong, and their politicians pandering and
dishonest climbers.

They reject out of hand the solutions being sold by the other party,
because, well, it's the other party, the ones who caused all this stuff in
the first place, right?.

And they recoil in horror from people with different, but empirical
observations that challenge, rather than pander to their beliefs, that
wacky, crazy, sound-money, non-interventionist Ron Paul, to name one.

I think the Huffingtons and Sullivans of the world are dead, dead wrong
when they assert that this was a mistake for McCain. Indeed, if you think
about it, it was the best possible pick for the warmongering cadaver. Having
on his ticket a 44-year old working suburban wife and mother with a son
going to Iraq is going to blunt a lot of criticism. It will completely
neuter any possible substantive advantage Obama has or had on the war issue
among the soft Republican center.

I think picking her is a slam dunk right in Obama's face, strategy-wise.

None of the above should be construed as an endorsement of McCain - Palin,
quite to the contrary.

(photo scarfed from US magazine)

Sambil menegaskan Gerakan bukan parti "pak turut" dalam BN, Koh bagaimanapun  berkata, parti itu tidak akan tergesa-gesa dalam tindakannya dan akan memberi "tempoh munasabah" sebelum mengambil sebarang tindakan.

Gerakan akan terus mendesak agar dilakukan perubahan dan pembaharuan dalam BN tetapi sekiranya usaha itu tidak berhasil, parti itu akan mengkaji semula kedudukannya dalam BN, katanya kepada pemberita selepas merasmikan Persidangan Perwakilan Parti Gerakan Kelantan di sini hari ini.

Koh berkata apa yang dituntut oleh Gerakan antaranya ialah perubahan sikap dan pendekatan serta mewujudkan semula semangat bermusyawarah yang lebih adil dan saksama antara parti-parti komponen supaya suara semua parti dapat didengar, diambil kira dan dimasukkan dalam agenda BN.

"Simbol BN ialah dacing, ia menunjukkan satu konsep adil dan saksama, ia hendaklah diamalkan dalam semua bidang. Ia semangat asal  BN dari dulu, tapi mungkin lama-kelamaan, kita semakin sibuk, semakin mementingkan diri sehingga kita terlupa," katanya.

Bagaimanapun, Koh mengakui perubahan telah mula berlaku dalam BN namun parti itu menganggap ia belum mencukupi.

"Kita sudah bermesyuarat lebih kerap dalam lima bulan yang lepas ini di peringkat Dewan Tertinggi BN dan Jawatankuasa Pengurusan BN berbandiing lima tahun dahulu.

"Ia satu permulaan yang baik. Kami bincang banyak isu tapi masih perlu buat perubahan. Tapi nak buat perubahan, bukanlah dalam masa sebulan dua," katanya.

Koh berkata pepimpin BN juga perlu mendengar luahan hati rakyat dan suara tidak puas hati termasuk yang mula kedengaran dari dalam BN sendiri.

"Bukan senang untuk saya menangani perasaan ini. Suara-suara ini mesti diambil kira," katanya. BERNAMA

Dalam ulasan artikel bertajuk `I Promise to be a good, non-hypocritical Muslim' (A), Raja Petra menggunakan ayat-ayat yang menghina orang Islam selain membenarkan komentar yang menghina Islam dan Nabi Muhamamd untuk artikel `Not all Arabs are descendants of the Prophet' (B) disiarkan dalam laman web berkenaan. (Artikel (A). RPK started with Anwar statement. Then he eleborates some in detail about Muslim, which I think is TRUE and there's no doubt about it. Not to forget he did mentioned the good and the bad Muslim. Unless you really a bad Muslim, then no Muslim should be offended by RPK statement. Artikel (B) I can't find any words insulting Islam here. RPK just telling what Syed Rahman AlHabshi is telling him about Altantuya case details only. Perhaps some VIP names that he mentioned doesn't like them to be linked with the case I guess. Subjudice he3x)
        
"Tindakan yang dibuat oleh agensi agama itu adalah sejajar dengan undang-undang kerana tindakan dia (Raja Petra) mengeluarkan kata-kata lucah, buruk terhadap Nabi Muhammad adalah bertentangan dengan undang-undang.

"Siasatan dan tindakan yang cepat perlu dibuat supaya dapat menyedarkan dia (Raja Petra) dengan segera dan dia perlu belajar menghormati agama Islam...kerana tidak ada sebarang lesen percuma dalam kebebasan untuk melakukan apa-apa sahaja," katanya.

Syed Hamid berkata orang bukan Islam pun tidak akan menulis seburuk apa yang Raja Petra tulis.  
     
Walaupun Raja Petra menafikan beliau bukan pemilik laman web itu, Syed Hamid berkata siapa pemiliknya tidak penting tetapi memandangkan Raja Petra sering menjadikan dirinya wakil kepada laman web berkenaan, jadi beliau perlu bertangunggjawab untuk apa jua kandungan yang disiarkan.
    
Syed Hamid juga berkata penubuhan Majlis Media perlu dikaji semula memandangkan tindakan laman web kebelakangan ini seolah-olah meletakkan undang-undang di tangan mereka sendiri.
    
Cadangan penubuhan Majlis Media pernah dikemukakan sebelum ini tetapi dikatakan menerima bantahan daripada para pengamal media.
    
"Penubuhan majlis itu bukan untuk menguasai media tetapi bagaimana untuk mengurus media sekiranya mereka melanggar kebebasan yang diberikan dan saya akan cuba berbincang semula dengan pengamal media bagi mendapatkan maklum balas mengenai perkara itu," katanya.

ISTANBUL, September 4 (Compass Direct News) – Four Pakistani Muslims killed an elderly woman with an axe over a dispute with her husband, who has been unable to prosecute them due to his low social status as a Christian.

Case workers said the alleged culprits targeted the couple for theft and later murder because they believed Pakistan’s legal system would not prosecute them for murdering Christians. The suspects’ connections to mafia and national politicians further emboldened them, they said.

“The Muslims assume the Christians are sheep and don’t have any weight,” said Sohail Johnson, case worker and chief coordinator of Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP), a Non-Governmental Organization that supports Christian prisoners throughout the Punjab province. “The culprits thought, ‘[The Christians] have no voice. Nothing will happen if we do something,’” he said.

Noban Bibi, 65, was killed on July 2 in Pakistan’s eastern Kasur province in the village of Khraper.

The dispute that led to her murder started in January, when two men stole money and gold items from the couple.

According to a First Instance Report, Yaqoob Shareef and Hadayat Ali broke into the house of Dara Masih, 85, while his wife was away in Lahore. They stole gold ornaments and 15,000 Pakistan rupees (US$200).

Masih demanded they return the stolen goods or he would prosecute them. The alleged culprits then began threatening to kill him.

On July 2 at 2:30 a.m. Shareef, Ali, and two unknown persons entered their house and killed Bibi with a pickaxe.

An autopsy obtained by Compass said Bibi had multiple lacerations on her head, some nearly four inches long.

Johnson of SLMP said the alleged culprits believed they wouldn’t be prosecuted due to their connections to politicians and mafia.

Shareef, 36, and Ali, in his late 20s, are members of a criminal organization and have connections with local and national politicians that they are using to leverage the criminal justice system, said Shazhad Kamran, an SLMP case worker.

“In Pakistan, politicians always need criminals to assert their power in an area,” Kamran said. “They always depend on criminals, and criminals depend on politicians to save them.”

Bribery and ‘Dissimulation’

Masih nevertheless registered the murder with the local police. He could not convince local police officer Muhammad Akram to arrest Shareef and Ali, according to an SLMP report, because Akram received a bribe requiring him to threaten Masih to drop charges against them.

Masih then took the case to a district police officer in Kasur, who arrested Ali and Sharif. The two suspects, however, have not been formally prosecuted.

When the SLMP’s Johnson and Kamran approached Sub-Inspector Aslam Pistooly and Investigation Officer Malik Mansab Ali on Aug. 2, Pistooly claimed the two suspects were not guilty. To prove this, he said the accused would swear an oath of innocence in front of prominent Muslims at a mosque, the report said.

Johnson and Kamran refused the offer for the suspects to do so, stating that swearing an oath at a mosque is not a part of Pakistani criminal investigation proceedings.

Pistooly then became angry and told Johnson and Kamran, “If you are not satisfied that Muslims will go into the mosque and swear they are innocent, then if you can go into the church, put your hand on the Bible, and swear they are guilty, then I will make legal action against him,” according to Johnson.

Speaking by telephone from Kasum, Investigation Officer Ali, who was at the Aug. 2 meeting, said swearing an oath in a mosque as proof of innocence is illegal under Pakistani criminal law. Asked if Pistooly had asked the culprits to testify in a mosque, he told Compass he could not confirm it.

“I have not compelled any person to swear an oath in a mosque, and Pakistani law does not permit it,” he said through a translator.

The SLMP case workers said the Muslim suspects wanted to swear an oath at the mosque to take advantage of an Islamic tradition that allows accused men to give false testimony when under threat.

Known as Al Taqiyya (dissimulation), this concept allows Muslims to conceal the truth at a time of danger to save themselves from physical or mental injury. In some traditions, Al Taqiyya can only be used when one is wrongfully accused.

On Aug. 4 Punjab Minister for Human Rights and Minority Affairs Kamran Michael transferred the case from the district police office to the Karsur superintendent of police.

The SLMP case workers met with Kasur Superintendent of Police Rana Shahid Ahmed on Aug. 18. In their first meeting he was uncooperative and pressured Masih to drop all charges against the two suspects, the report said.

Johnson said he believes justice will not come easily for Masih because the case has become an issue of pride for local Muslims. Members of Parliament are supporting the alleged criminals and putting pressure on police to find them innocent, he said, “just to save the skin of Muslims.”

The SLMP is now trying to move the investigation to the Criminal Investigation Agency. It will first file a complaint in a lower criminal court against the alleged culprits and police for not registering the case.

Kasur is an agricultural city located in the Punjab province with a long Islamic history. The area contains radical conservative Muslim elements, such as members of Jamaat-Ud-Dawa, a Pakistani charity that the U.S. State Department designated a terrorist organization in 2006.

In recent years Christians in Kasur have faced charges of blasphemy against Islam, torture and forced conversion.

In July 2007 Catholic prisoner Dil Awaiz was tortured, barred from teaching Bible classes to fellow Christian prisoners and placed in solitary confinement. He was released in April this year.

Human Rights and Minority Affairs Minister Michael spoke to Christians in Kanganpur, 50 kilometers (31 miles) southeast of Kasur, on Friday (Aug. 29). He said the government was taking every step to protect minority rights, according to the Associated Press of Pakistan.  

Report from Compass Direct News

Sources: Forbes, Elizabeth Eaves (09/04/2008)

The list of offences against people and democracy and media in St. Paul during the week of the Republican National Convention is staggering.  These have been reported extensively by independent and grass-roots media, but here is a brief and hopefully representative sampling:

Amy Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers were arrested for covering the protests on Monday, September 1st.  The two producers were bloodied by police, and are now facing felony charges.  On Thursday, Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Democracy Now! was arrested a second time, along with Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films.

The rented home of five youths, who were hosting 23 of their friends, was raided by some 25 police in riot gear, who refused all requests to show a warrant until after the people had been made to lie face-down for 45 minutes.  Computers and other personal items were seized, and intimidating statements about “the Executioner” and “the Terminator” were made by police.

An estimated 800 people were arrested as of Thursday.  The police used tear gas, nightsticks, flash grenades, and other weapons against protesters.  Video footage is widely available on the internet.

But the big story this week has not been the repressive and brutal antics of police against dissidents and journalists in St. Paul.  No, rather it has been the ascent of Sarah Palin from relative isolation and obscurity in Alaska to her position as the Vice Presidential nominee of Senator John McCain.

A Personal Digression Necessary to the Development of This Essay

It’s been an odd week for me.  I work quietly, a bookseller bookworm on the fringes of a university town.  I like quiet, I like nature, and I like freedom.  Because of the first two things I like, I did not consider traveling to St. Paul to protest.  But reading the reports coming in through the internet, my electronic window to a speeded-up, unnatural, and sometimes overwhelming world, I’ve at times wished I was there—you know, because of my fondness for that third thing I listed: freedom.

The candidates and delegates at the Republican National Convention do not stand for freedom.  The police being willfully employed to threaten, intimidate, harass, beat, and arrest people who are not walking the Republican Party line in St. Paul are not the defenders of freedom.  To call them freedom’s executioners would be melodramatic, but perhaps more appropriate. 

Fear and the Need for Order

At the heart, if we may call it that, of the official gathering of candidates, delegates, party affiliates, and law enforcement in St. Paul is a severe illness, a bad malady that has been festering not so much in the individuals themselves, but in the spirit of a people separated from nature, from community, a people so frightened of the Other—even within their own country and even within the security and riches of their party’s convention!—that they take the kind of draconian measures we have seen this week in order to prevent any disruption of the play they are enacting, any obstacles set in front of the lumbering political machine that they are trying to commandeer and salvage.

One wonders what these people have to be so afraid of.  The obvious and official answer, as we all know, because it has been used to bludgeon our senses and sense of identity endlessly over the past seven years, is terrorism.  And indeed domestic terrorism in the fabricated threat that has been produced as the official reason for the squelching of people’s freedom—freedom to move, to be, to speak, to dissent—over the past week at the RNC in St. Paul.

The terrorism charges stem from police infiltration of the Republican National Convention Welcoming Committee.  Using the infiltrators as informants, police created a pretext of a suspicion of domestic terrorism, and also the charge “conspiracy to riot”, to raid homes, places of assembly, as well as to justify the very aggressive street actions of riot squads armed with submachine guns, tasers, and chemical weapons.  It should be noted that information provided by informants should be considered highly suspect, given the precedent of COINTELPRO and other covert actions where infiltrating agents have been known to actively promote violent ideas for action--or as the quote form wikipedia has it, "increase factionalism, cause disruption and win defections"--which are then used in charges against individuals involved with the organization.  For this reason, information about how the Welcoming Committee planned to kidnap delegates, or use Molotov cocktails, caltrops, bricks, etcetera, as reported to the public by the Pioneer Press, should be critically assessed and not taken for fact or at face value.

What is Really Happening in the Hearts of People and On the Streets

The RNC Welcoming Committee describes itself on its website as an anarchist/anti-authoritarian organizing body.  Unfortunately, for many people the label “anarchist” immediately brings to mind violence: homemade bombs, property destruction, people wearing black kerchiefs to conceal their faces, showing nothing but their anti-social, shifty eyes, and the like.  And certainly it cannot be denied that anarchists have a history in America that includes violence.  Two things should be noted, however.

First, anarchism is a broad, general term that can be used to describe any number of idiosyncratic ideologies.  As a general term, anarchy can be understood to mean, “absence of government,” and recognized as coming from the Greek anarchos, which is defined as “having no ruler.”  Simply put, the broadest generalization that can be made about anarchists is that they believe that a society can function without government.  Some anarchists may subscribe to violent tactics and want to overthrow existing power structures, or more likely wish to engage in physical destruction of those power structures or their symbols; many others may be dedicated pacifists.

The second point to make in terms of the perception of anarchists as violent is that anarchists by no means have a monopoly on violence.  Indeed, the entire American culture is violent: one simply needs to look at the current wars being fought by the American government, or look even at the excessive police action in St. Paul.  For those inclined to look deeper, a strong argument can be made for the roots of aggressive violence in this country stretching far back in time, back to English witch-hunts, Spanish conquistadors, to Puritans and frontier cowboys fighting Indians, and—why not?—to the Revolutionary War.  If anarchists are violent, they are pathetically so, often like an angry child lashing out at a parent: a bomb here, some property damage there, all embedded quite snugly in the greater imperial and yes, racist violence of the Euro-American legacy.

Sherri Honkala, a speaker at the Poor People’s March for Our Lives, which is an entirely different movement than the RNC Welcoming Committee, responded to criticisms and fears that were expressed to her that the “anarchists” would cause trouble for her movement:

“It wasn’t the anarchists four years ago or eight years ago,” she said, using a megaphone to address a large crowd, a crowd which was hemmed in by police in riot gear and with submachine guns and other instruments of violence.  “It was the police department.”  She continued, “I don’t give a damn if you’re an anarchist, democrat, or republican, or whatever your political ideas are.  All I know is that I’m going to march today with people who have a similar vision of a different kind of world for us to live in.”

Also standing and marching with the Poor People’s March was a prominent member of the Mississippi Band of the Anishinabe Nation, Nee-Gon-Nway-Wee-Dung (Thunder Before the Storm, also known as Clyde Bellecourt), who founded the American Indian Movement in 1968.  He spoke the following to the camera crews of Big Noise Films: “I’m here to stand up to this George Armstrong Custer Bush frontier mentality and John Wayne, John Wayne McCain frontier mentality that exists in America today.”

While indy journalists were filming from inside the protests—some of them being arrested for doing so—Fox News was embedded with the Minneapolis Police.

One protestor marched along in the crowd, shooing the police away with his hands and the following words: “Take your guns and go home!  Bye!  Take your armor and go home!  Bye!  Bye!”  The protesters, chanting “Peaceful protest!  Peaceful protest!” pushed the line of police back with only the movement of so many bodies.

The march ended with Sherri Honkala speaking through a megaphone and through a chain-link fence, through lines of police, delivering the following speech to the walls of the Xcel Center, where the RNC was assembled:

“People are dying here in Minnesota and across the country.  They don’t have access to health care.  They join wars.  They go overseas and poor people kill other poor people just so they can have a job!  I just want to practice my first amendment rights to speak out and I can’t do that behind a cage!  I’m not going to hurt anybody, I just want to talk to somebody.  I’m just going to deliver the citizen’s arrest through the fence.  Please don’t kill me for that!  It’s a piece of paper and an American flag.  The whole world is watching.”

After her speech, she shoved an American flag and a citizen’s arrest for the people inside the Xcel Center, a piece of paper charging them with crimes against humanity, under the fence.  The police then ordered the assembly to disperse.  After the order, they opened fire with tear gas and flash grenades.  They infiltrated the now chaotic crowd of protestors with tasers and shields and batons, and made arrests.

Inside the Xcel center, the convention went on.

Here are the final speech numbers.

McCain: 38.9 Million

Obama: 38.4 Million

Palin: 37.4 Million

Biden: 24 Million

McCain/Palin 2-Day Total: 76.3

Obama/Biden 2-Day Total: 62.4

-X-

We want to make it known that we do not personally know LaDeana Michelle. All we know is that we love her voice! We are now new fans and we love her Keep your Faith song she did for Barack Obama! Here it is from YouTube:

Now, for the reason we posted this.....

Here is LaDeana Michelle singing the Star Spangled Banner! This is a download link to the song:

LaDeana Michelle Singing The Star Spangled Banner

Thanks for listening!

Vicki, Camie and Traci