Sunday, July 31, 2005

SCOTUS

Rather than take up too much room on Michael's blog, here is my post answering jim about reality vs NY Times.

http://www.jenner.com/news/news_item.asp?id=12520724
U.S. Supreme Court Guantanamo Bay Cases: Brief Resource Center

6/28/2004
In November 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two appeals filed on behalf of some of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba who are being held as part of the United States’ war on terrorism. Below are links to many of the documents currently before the Court in this case, including amicus briefs.

Rather than posting just a link to the SCOTUS decision, here are a few of the main points.
The petitioners contend that they were being illegally held at Guantanamo Bay.

From page 19 of the SCOTUS decision:
“In the end, the answer to the question presented is clear. Petitioner contend that they are being held
in federal custody in violation of the laws of the United States. No party questions the District Court’s
jurisdiction over petitioners custodians. Cf Braden, 410 U.S. ., at 495. Section 2241, by it’s terms, requires nothing more. We therefore hold that 2241 confers on the District Court jurisdiction to hear petitioners’ habeas corpus challenges to the legality of their detention at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base.”

Come up for air for a minute. Without getting too technical, a lower court, the Court of Appeals, had ruled against the Bush Administration, proclaiming that the detainees were being held illegally, and ordered a stop and desist order for the military tribunals-I’m not a lawyer, but I believe they are referring to the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. People tossing around habeas corpus should know what it means.
“habeas corpus
Lat. "you have the body" Prisoners often seek release by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. A writ of habeas corpus is a judicial mandate to a prison official ordering that an inmate be brought to the court so it can be determined whether or not that person is imprisoned lawfully and whether or not he should be released from custody. A habeas corpus petition is a petition filed with a court by a person who objects to his own or another's detention or imprisonment. The petition must show that the court ordering the detention or imprisonment made a legal or factual error. Habeas corpus petitions are usually filed by persons serving prison sentences.” Definition from LectLaw.com

The petitioners were of the opinion that the CSR Tribunals were illegal, as they, the petitioners were not under the jurisdiction of U. S. Law.
The Supreme Court affirmed here that they were, as their custodians-the U.S. Military, were under the jurisdiction is U.S. Law, and could be served-that is, called into account.


Back to the summary, page 20
“What is presently at stake is only whether the federal courts have jurisdiction to determine the legality of the executives potentially indefinite detention of individuals who claim to be wholly innocent of wrongdoing.
Answering that question in the affirmative, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand for the District Court to consider in the first instance the merits of petitioners claims. It is so ordered.”

This was a great win for the Bush administration, but you wouldn’t know it from reading the New York Times. Neil A. Lewis, the journalist who wrote the article jim pointed me to, had written about the SCOTUS decision on July 17th. So... what was in the article that jim was pointing to as proof, what was the basis of his beliefs? He seemed to think that just now the Bush Administration was being forced to begin tribunals-so obviously jim didn’t know that there had been CSR Tribunals ongoing at Guantanamo Bay, until the Court of Appeals stopped them. Why didn’t he know that? We’ll have to ask him. But it could be because he gets his information the NY Times and main stream media which are extremely partisan against the Conservative Right, and especially President George Bush.
The article jim pointed me to: A number of dissenting opinions from some of the highest level military lawyers. They were compelling arguments, and would have been news,if they weren't 2.5 to 3.5 years old.
Granted that those were the sincere and serious thoughts of those top lawyers in 2002-2003; it would have been ethically and journalistically honest of Neil A. Lewis, if he were going to use their quotes, to follow up in the same article and ask those same lawyers of their opinion now in light of the SCOTUS decision. Without the followup, the quotes serve only as fuel for the ill-informed's unreasonable bias against the Administration of George Bush, and the military's mission in Guantanamo Bay.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Roberts Confirmation Hearing

http://wuzzadem.typepad.com/wuz/2005/07/thank_you_for_y.html

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Christian Flag over America?

Some wonder if Christians want America to become a theocracy -and I’m so glad that the question is asked!
Revelation 19:11-16
11And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

Psalm 2:1-6
Why are the nations in an uproar
And the peoples devising a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth take their stand
And the rulers take counsel together
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us tear their fetters apart
And cast away their cords from us!”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs,
The Lord scoffs at them.
5 Then He will speak to them in His anger
And terrify them in His fury, saying,
6 “But as for Me, I have installed My King
Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”


Zechariah 14:9-11, 16-17
9And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one.10All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. 11People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.16Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them.

Micah 4:1-4
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3 And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
And never again will they train for war.

I’ve said it before, but here it is again:
The only Theocracy a Christian will support is the
one mentioned above, with our Lord Jesus Himself
ruling the nations. Note the, “any who are left of all the nations”
in Zechariah 14:16. There won’t be many.

Friday, July 22, 2005

Sholom Aleichem

“The World is a terrible place, and if you ask about my good nature, my humor, that is the reason. To spite Them, you won’t see me cry. To spite Them, there is going to be laughter.” Sholom Aleichem

The problem with opening a post with a quote from Sholom Aleichem is that any words that I use seem pale and weak after bringing his to mind. I have loved his writing for many years, and his insight into the sometimes ridiculous but always marvelous human condition is a treasure needed to be shared in these days.
You read his stories, and you know and come to love his people, even if you, like me, are only adopted into a Jewish family. (Jesus is a Jew, and I am Blessed to be in His family.)
Sholom Aleichem’s book, “Some Laughter, Some Tears” is next to me right now; the book I wish I still had was his wonderful “Old Country Tales” which, foolishly, I lent to a girl from Romania, who quickly disappeared. I’m going to order it again, probably from ABEbooks (plug).
I do not doubt that a little of his magic is lost in the translations to English, but rather than bemoan my lack, I appreciate what I have. And I encourage you to seek out and enjoy the works of Sholom Aleichem; you will be better for having read them.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

Demetrius and the Liberals

Demetrius and the Liberals
Here is a fable to tickle your ears. Once upon a time there was a Liberal named Demetrius. He had written a book and launched a website declaring that the honorable President George W. Bush should be impeached, or at the very least hit in the face with a baseball bat until either the face or the bat gave way. This was on the honorable President George W. Bush’s second day in office. Demetrius was not successful with impeachment or the baseball bat, but he discovered that he had a goldmine on his hands with the book and website. Liberals flocked to the website and bought the book, Liberals bought the book and flocked to the website, and Demetrius couldn’t have been happier, if he weren’t so busy being miserable under the rule of the honorable President George W. Bush. Other Liberals also began websites and wrote books, but, rather than diminishing Demetrius’s business, the Liberals were pointing customers to Demetrius and each other, as critical mass for criticizing
the honorable President George W. Bush had not yet been reached.
But then something terrible happened for Demetrius-the honorable President George W. Bush
was beginning to be accepted by the Country, and fewer Liberals would click through to his site, and book sales began to plummet. Demetrius had counted on the hate of the Liberals to pay for his retirement in Ephesus, and now it looked like he would have to settle for Hoboken.
Demetrius knew that he had to act, so he called a meeting of the other book and site Liberals
and told them, “Brothers and sisters, we need to do something. We can’t all go back to running ‘warez’ sites - the Russian competition was killing us. We have a good product now, but we‘re failing in the marketplace as the honorable President George W. Bush, we must admit, isn’t too bad of a President.”
After the furor and epithets quieted down, Demetrius continued:
“There! That is exactly what I’m talking about! If we’re going to make it work, we need that fire to remain lit in the belly's of book buying Liberals everywhere! You know that our prosperity depends on this business.” “But how?” came a voice from the back of the room. Liberals turned and looked at the speaker, Michael Moore.
“If he is doing a good job, wouldn’t it be better for the country to get behind him and help move America forward?”
Demetrius motioned to Barbara Streisand, standing next to Moore, and she gave him (in the words of Hank Jr) ‘an attitude adjustment on the top of his head’. Moore’s eyes glazed over again.
“No matter how good he is doing,” Demetrius said, “The Gore machine would have done better, and we’d be on easy street right now, filling our Jacuzzis with subsidies and grants.
If we can convince the public that the honorable President George W. Bush is doing a terrible job, and that he should be hated, no matter why, we will continue our winning ways. All in favor?” In the Liberal tradition, they all assented by shouting “NAY” and a plan was formed.
Soon a news report couldn’t be seen without the word’s “Failed, evil, untrustworthy” being assigned to the honorable President George W. Bush. Newspapers touted his every imaginary fault as gospel truth. His appointments were demonized, his policies criticized, his critics hypnotized by their own words. Demetrius once again saw Ephesus looming in his future, as hating the honorable President George W. Bush was once more a land office business.
When America was attacked, the Liberals, out of respect for the nation and the honorable President George W. Bush held off on their hate policy for the minimum number of days, and then, because the honorable President George W. Bush had to act, they had even more ammunition of hate to fire at him, and the books and websites moved on from being goldmines to platinum.
No one was more pleased that the honorable President George W. Bush won re-election than Demetrius and his legion of Liberal thinkers. Every great story needs a great villain. Every movement needs a focus. Every Hate needs an object.
Then, as is wont to do, the tide turned, and once more the Country seemed to be heading towards accepting the honorable President George W. Bush.
Seeing that they needed to gin up the hate once again, Demetrius and his fellow travelers along the Liberal parade routes decided to demons-trait at a rally held in honor of the honorable President George W. Bush. They pushed their way to the front of the assembly, where all of the news outlets had focused their cameras.
“Bush Lied! Kids Died!”
“Don’t you dare say I’m not Patriotic!”
“We are the True Patriots! Death to Bush Now!”
Scott McClellan was sent out to quiet down the demonstrators.
“Please, Quiet, Please! No one has accused anyone of not being Patriotic.”
And the Liberal crowd shouted all the more, “We ARE the Patriots! Not You!”
“Long Live America! We ARE Patriots, no matter what Bush says!”
“But,” Said McClellan, “the honorable President George W. Bush has never accused Anyone of not being patriotic.”
“How dare you come out here with those lies! We Are the true Patriots! Bush Lied! Kids Died! Don’t you accuse us of not being Patriots!” And so it went for two hours, in front of the cameras of all the main stream media. McClellan was pulled back to safety before he could be torn apart by the crowd. The honorable President George W. Bush wanted to go out and meet with and try to reason with the Liberal furormakers, but it was decided that their seeing him might make things worse. So Condi Rice volunteered to go out and face the crowd. At the sight of her, the Liberals quieted, wanting to hear her say something they could shout down. She stood there, silent, until all eyes were focused on her, and then she said,
“Love. Love your country, love your fellow man, love yourselves. Be done with hate, don’t let it destroy you and soil your spirit. Just Love.” And with that, in the silence, she went back inside, and Demetrius went back to his ‘warez’.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Awaiting dropped shoes

Some who have visited here who have gotten to know me a bit through my posts on Michael's Christian Conservative blog, http://christianconservative.blogspot.com may have been waiting for the real Doug to show up here, the argumentative, hardline Christian sarcastic yahoo who is so vociferous on Michael's site. I can be all of those things when debating someone, arguing against somone else's ideas that I find faulty. But if not antagonized, if instead of arguing I can simply state my thoughts, this blog here shows more of how I identify myself. I am only a child of God, and if I am not busy refuting anti-Christian thinking, I love to worship my God, read His Word, and share it with others.
Jesus Himself was caring and loving to those seeking Him, but could be downright harsh with those opposing His ministry and life. The God who Loves is also the God who Judges, and though I am very happy to leave the judging to God, I am also very happy to be of service, countering those who are mistaken, refuting those who are tossing up all sorts of reasons why God cannot be,
and standing by His Spirit in spiritual warfare. It almost seems strange to see the term spiritual warfare in print, as Satan would love to have knowledge of it it's existence forgotten-but there is a war going on, and we who are His children are called into service.
God Bless you for stopping by.

Monday, July 18, 2005

We've Forgotten More

How is it that people consider themselves smart? I do myself-I think I am intelligent. But what is it that makes us think we are smart? Knowing things? Acting with wisdom?
We've forgotten more wisdom, and replaced it with facts, figures, extraneous bibbits of knowledge which, when we put them together coherently makes us feel 'smart'.
You just did it yourself. Bibbits is a word I just made up, and, seeing how I used it in the sentence confirmed that, although you had never heard of it, you understand what it means. Just an example of assumed knowledge. Knowledge is only ever half as important as Wisdom, and Wisdom, in my opinion, has been left behind by many in favor of knowing more things.
I've been reading through the books of Proverbs and Psalms, Ecclesiastes lately, and I believe that the Wisdom found in those books will improve the thinking and lives of anyone who studies them. More knowledge will be a side-effect, serendipitous treasure, but Wisdom is the prize we should seek, and it can be found in those books.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

Coffee Enhanced Reality


My life has a coffee cup nearby. I know that some decry it as bad for me, but coffee tastes so good,
and I hope to continue to live the caffienated lifestyle until God brings me Home. Hopefully there will be coffee there, too.
As I am testing the tools on this blog, I've decided to post a picture to see how it looks.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace"

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Trust ye in the Lord forever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."
Isaiah 26:3-4

Perfect peace is greatly to be treasured in this day and age. And there is only one source for it: Our Father in Heaven, the Lord Jehovah. Many have peace of their own making, but do not have the perfect peace from God. The word stayed in the verse above could also be fixed, as in my mind is fixed on thee, because I trust in thee. The foundation of my faith and thoughts is our God in Heaven. He is not just MY God, as if He has boundaries and doesn't exist where no Christians are found. He is THE God of all His Creation, and is worthy to be Praised. I will be Praising God often on these pages, and I will also be expressing my opinions on many subjects. If anyone wishes to post, I ask that you will please not use profanity here.
Welcome to all (or any) who stop by here. May God Bless you as you go.

Glory to God, His favor to me

Here I am, blogging like I live, a simple Christian waiting for Eternity with God showing me how to live for Him, and do His Will in a world that mostly refuses to believe He exists. Welcome to any and all who pass by here on your way to wherever you're going.