The Wall Street Journal Shills For Turkey – Yet Again

The lede in this Wall Street Journal editorial about Turkey's tumultuous elections – and the threat of yet another military coup (1960, 1971, 1980, 1997) – absurdly describes the EU-wanna be this way: "The Muslim world's liveliest democracy has long been a work in progress, but the stakes just got a lot higher … Turkey's future as a pluralistic, free society is on the line."

Since Turkey is as democratic, pluralistic and free as any Muslim country can ever be (which is to say, not very) let's deconstruct this nonsense:

† Democracy: Democracies do not have to worry about military coups. 'Nuff said.

† Pluralistic: Turkey is 99.8 percent Muslim; Turks who convert to Christianity are routinely prosecuted and jailed for "insulting Islam" (Turks are apparently so insecure they get insulted at the drop of a fez). ... Three Christian employees of a bible publishing company (two of them converts from Islam) were savagely murdered by a group of Islamist students in April (according to one as yet uncorroborated report The Stiletto has seen, they were disemboweled, castrated and beheaded). ... Since January, three Catholic priests have been murdered.

† Free society: The Turkish parliament is moving to block Web sites that insult Kemal Ataturk (for instance, by suggesting he is homosexual). ... More than 60 fiction and nonfiction writers have been prosecuted for "insulting Turkishness" (typically by acknowledging the Armenian Genocide as settled history) under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. ... Just as in any totalitarian regime, all Turkish schoolchildren – including those of Armenian descent whose ancestors were murdered by Ottoman Turks – are required to recite " The Turkish Oath" in school swearing allegiance to the cult of Ataturk, and proclaiming their happiness at being Turks. ... Nationalists have infiltrated all levels of government – the police , the judiciary, municipal governments – and enabled the high-profile assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink (second item, The Daily Blade, February 5, 2007). ... Turkish operatives have carried out an international campaign of intimidation and harassment against a Turkish historian who has written several books about the Armenian Genocide (third item, The Daily Blade , March 7, 2007).

Turkey's tiny Christian population is not living in a democratic, pluralistic and free society. These Turkish citizens are living in fear of their lives. But don't expect to read about any of this in The Wall Street Journal, which must use Armenian Genocide denial as a litmus test when hiring editorial and opinion writers (third item, The Daily Blade, March 2, 2007).

From T&T

Hello Mike:

Here is a larger list.

In HIM

T&T

Adopt a Platoon
www.adoptaplatoon.org
Adopt a Platoon has several ongoing projects to ensure that no soldier overseas walks away from mail call empty-handed.

AnySoldier
www.anysoldier.com
Any Soldier is a non-profit organization that helps people send care packages to members of the armed services in Iraq.

Appreciate Our Troops
www.appreciateourtroops.org
Purchase a Support Our Troops mug and a free personalized mug will be given to a current or former service member.

Blue Star Mothers
www.bluestarmothers.org
The Blue Star Mothers was founded by service members' moms during World War II. Any mother with a son or daughter in the military can join.

Books For Soldiers
www.booksforsoldiers.com/
Help the troops escape boredom by donating some books. You can also donate DVDs and CDs requested by soldiers.

Camp Doha
www.campdoha.org/
Camp Doha provides valuable information for those about to deploy, their friends and families and anyone who wants to support the troops.

Cell Phones for Soldiers
www.cellphonesforsoldiers.com/pages/1/index.htm
Donated cell phones are recycled and turned into cash. The cash is used to purchase calling cards for soldiers in Iraq.

Defend America
www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html
Thank any service member stationed throughout the U.S. and the world with an e-mail.

Fisher House
www.fisherhouse.org
The Fisher House Foundation donates comfort homes, built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one during hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury.

Freedom Calls
www.freedomcalls.org
The Freedom Calls Foundation is helping families videoconference with their loved ones in Iraq. You can donate money to help keep this project going.

Groceries for Families
www.commissaries.com/certificheck
The men and women who lay down their lives for us are terribly underpaid. Help a family by purchasing gift certificates to the commissary.

Homes for Our Troops
www.homesforourtroops.org
Homes for Our Troops assists injured veterans and their immediate families by building new or adapting existing homes with handicapped accessibility.

Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund
www.intrepidmuseum.org/pages/intrepidfoundation
The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund provides grants to the families of servicemen and women who died in Iraq. You can donate online, through mail or by calling a toll-free number.

Military Moms
www.militarymoms.net
This site provides support to all of the moms out there who has a son or daughter in the military.

MarineParents
www.marineparents.com
MarineParents is a place for parents of Marines to meet up. You'll find advice, support and information.

Operation: A Bit of Home
www.operationabitofhome.com
Operation: A Bit of Home supports over 150 different soldiers per day by providing necessary and hard-to-get toiletries.

Operation Air Conditioner
www.operationac.com
Operation Air Conditioner provides not only air conditioners but space heaters (the desert is cold in the winter) for soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Operation Dear Abby
anyservicemember.navy.mil
The U.S. Navy and Dear Abby have teamed up. Their site allows you to send e-mail messages of support to service members.

Operation Give
www.operationgive.org
Operation Give provides toys, clothing and school supplies primarily to the children of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Operation Gratitude
www.opgratitude.com
Operation Gratitude provides a way for you to show your respect and appreciation for the troops. It sends care packages and letters to troops stationed overseas.

Operation Hero Miles
www.heromiles.org
You can donate your unused frequent flier miles to help soldiers travel on emergency leave. They are also used to help families fly to hospitalized soldiers.

Operation Interdependence
www.oidelivers.org
Operation Interdependence supplies care packages to deployed soldiers. You can help out by providing goods, coordinating efforts or donating funds.

Operation Iraqi Children
www.operationiraqichildren.org
Many soldiers are rebuilding schools in Iraq and scrounging around for school supplies. Help by donating a school supplies kit.

Operation Uplink
www.operationuplink.org
Donate money to Operation Uplink. The money is used to purchase phone cards so servicemen and women can call home.

Packages From Home
www.packagesfromhome.org
Packages From Home sends personal care and comfort items to U.S. troops deployed overseas. Find out how to donate time, money or items to this non-profit organization.

Soldiers' Angels
www.soldiersangels.org/heroes/index.php
Become some soldier's angel by adopting a service member.

Treats for Troops
www.treatsfortroops.com
Treats for Troops helps get you provide packages to your loved ones overseas. If you don't know anyone, the Foster-A-Soldier Program matches you with a registered soldier by branch of service, home state, gender, or birthday - or you can choose to sponsor a group of soldiers.

US Central Command
www.centcom.mil
Find out what the Coalition is doing. U.S. Central Command features up-to-date information on Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

USO Cares
www.usocares.org
You can sponsor care packages provided by the USO with a $25 donation.

Voice from Home
voicesfromhome.org/home.html
Voices From Home allows military members and their families and friends to send and receive immediate voice e-mail messages in remote locations around the world.

Obama and the sit-down with the dictators (toon)

Obama and the sit-down with the dictators (toon)

In Case You Missed It: Governor Romney Believes It Is "Time To Shore Up Ethics"

In Iowa, Governor Romney Proposes New Law To Strengthen Ethics In Washington:

Governor Romney Proposes New Ethics Law That Would Strip Those Who Violate The Public Trust Of Their Government Pensions. "Saying it's time to clean up the ethics in Washington, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney today said he is proposing to strip pension benefits of any elected official or federal government employee who is convicted of a felony for violating the public trust." (Rod Boshart, "Romney: Time To Shore Up Ethics," Cedar Rapids Gazette, 8/2/07) 

- Governor Mitt Romney: "There are a lot of things about Washington that give me real pause. One, by the way, is just watching the scandalous behavior that has been alleged on both sides of the aisle, but frankly I'm particularly disappointed in our own. ... [W]e'll see how many are accurate, but I think we're going to have to find a way to demand a higher standard. There is no excuse for unethical conduct on the part of people who go to Washington to serve this country. One thing I'd like to add, if I'm lucky enough to be President, I will fight for a provision, for a law, which says that if you're convicted of a crime as a government employee or an appointee – you're convicted of a crime that involves violation of the public trust, you've done some kind of abuse of your position – that you get stripped of your pension. A lot of people go [to Washington] for pensions. We're going to take away their pensions if they violate our trust." (Governor Mitt Romney, Remarks At An Ask Mitt Anything, Urbandale, IA, 8/2/07) 

- To view Governor Romney's full remarks, please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5atXttLzW0 

Background:

Under Massachusetts Law, Any State Employee Convicted Of A "Criminal Offense Involving Violation Of The Laws Applicable To His Office Or Position" Is Not Entitled To Receive A Retirement Pension. "Forfeiture of pension upon misconduct. – In no event shall any member after final conviction of a criminal offense involving violation of the laws applicable to his office or position, be entitled to receive a retirement allowance under the provisions of section one to twenty-eight, inclusive, nor shall any beneficiary be entitled to receive any benefits under such provisions on account of such member." (The General Laws Of Massachusetts, Part I, Title IV, Chapter 32: Section 15, www.mass.gov, Accessed 8/2/07)

Governor Romney Took No Salary As Governor Of Massachusetts And Donated His Salary To Charity As President Of The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. "In a symbolic move in the midst of a state budget crisis, Gov.-elect Mitt Romney and Lt. Gov.-elect Kerry Healey will not collect a salary when they take office. ... This is the second consecutive job in which Romney has declined a salary. As president of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Romney donated to charity his $275,000 annual salary for three years, totaling $825,000." (Jennifer Feen, "Citing Crisis, Romney, Healey Forfeit Salaries," Lowell Sun, 1/2/03)

Michelle Malkin on the "mockery of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith"

Author Archive Send to a Friend Print Version

August 1, 2007 12:00 AM

Silently Martyred
Missionary blood spills, the world yawns.

By Michelle Malkin

The blood of innocent Christian missionaries spills on Afghan sands. The world watches and yawns. The United Nations offers nothing more than a formal expression of "concern." Where is the global uproar over the human-rights abuses unfolding before our eyes?

For two weeks, a group of South Korean Christians has been held hostage by Taliban thugs in Afghanistan. This is the largest group of foreign hostages taken in Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. What was their offense? Were they smuggling arms into the country? No. Inciting violence? No. They were peaceful believers in Christ on short-term medical and humanitarian missions. Seventeen of the 23 hostages are females. Most of them are nurses who provide social services and relief.

Over the past few days, the bloodthirsty jihadists have demanded that South Korea immediately withdraw troops from the Middle East, pay ransom and trade the civilian missionaries for imprisoned Taliban fighters. The Taliban leaders have made good on threats to kill the kidnapped Christians while Afghan officials plead fecklessly that their monstrous behavior is "un-Islamic."

Two men, 29-year-old Shim Sung-min and 42-year-old Pastor Bae Hyeong-gyu, have already been shot to death and dumped in the name of Allah. Bae was a married father with a nine-year-old daughter. According to Korean media, he was from a devout Christian family from the island province of Jeju. He helped found the Saemmul Church south of Seoul, which sent the volunteers to Afghanistan.

Across Asia, media coverage is 24/7. Strangers have held nightly prayer vigils. But the human-rights crowd in America has been largely AWOL. And so has most of our mainstream media. Among some of the secular elite, no doubt, is a blame-the-victim apathy: The missionaries deserved what they got. What were they thinking bringing their message of faith to a war zone? Didn't they know they were sitting ducks for Muslim head-choppers whose idea of evangelism is "convert or die"?

I noted the media shoulder-shrugging about jihadist targeting of Christian missionaries five years ago during the kidnapping and murder of American Christian missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham in the Philippines. The silence is rooted in viewing committed Christians as alien others. At best, there is a collective callousness. At worst, there is outright contempt — from Ted Turner's reference to Catholics as "Jesus freaks" to CBS producer Roxanne Russell's casual insult of former GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer as "the little nut from the Christian group" to the mockery of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.

Curiously, those who argue that we need to "understand" Islamic terrorists demonstrate little effort to "understand" the Christian evangelical missionaries who risk their lives to spread the gospel — not by sword, but through acts of compassion, healing and education. An estimated 16,000 Korean mission workers risk their lives across the globe — from Africa to the Middle East, China, and North Korea.

These are true practitioners of a religion of peace, not the hate-mongers with bombs and AK-47s strapped to their chests who slay instead of pray their way to martyrdom.

© 2007 CREATORS SYNDICATE, INC.

from: mdroney

I like Mitt Romney more and more each time I hear him speak. Here's an example:

Today, Mitt put forth a great idea. To summarize, he feels it's time for America to put forth a "Surge of Support" to match the troop surge. Great Idea. Here's how you can help: click here.

In addition to the support organizations Romney has posted on his web site, I'd add 2 more that my wife and I have made contributions to:

Wounded Warrior Project

and

Soldier's Angels

These are great ways to make your own surge of support. Every little bit helps.

If I might be so bold as to suggest it, let's all make an effort over the next month to do something individually to create an "Abolition Of Man" Support Surge. We can write and read about this stuff day in and day out. But when we make a contribution to support the hard work our men and women are doing in faraway lands, we can truly make a difference.

Post comments if you have other worthy "Support Surge" causes or if you want to tell the audience how you made your own surge of support. Keep the ideas flowing. I think Mitt is onto something, here.