Posted February 22, 2012 by LifeSite News

The Massachusetts judge who ordered a mentally ill woman to undergo a forced abortion and sterilization is defending her actions, after she says public backlash cost her a job at Boston University.

“I believed then, as I do now, that she would elect to abort the pregnancy to protect her own well-being,’’ former Norfolk Probate Judge Christina Harms told the Boston Globe. “She would want to be healthy.”

Harms ruled on January 6 that a 32-year-old woman, who is described only by the pseudonym “Mary Moe, could be “coaxed, bribed, or even enticed…by ruse” until she was sedated for an abortion, which Moe’s parents sought against her will.

The woman, who told the court she was “very Catholic,” suffers from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.  According to court documents, Moe had a psychotic breakdown after a previous abortion and “believed people were staring at her and stating that she killed her baby.”

A court-appointed specialist testified Moe would not choose an abortion if she were well. Citing no evidence, Judge Harms disagreed.

The Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) initially doubled-down on its request for the abortion on behalf of her parents. They subsequently dropped their petition. Judge Judge Gregory V. Roach has sealed the court record.

Harms also ordered Moe sterilized, although no one had requested the procedure. “Certainly, the easy road for me as the trial judge would have been to avoid this topic and I did find this the most difficult part of an unrelentingly difficult decision,’’ Harms wrote. But she said the decision flowed from her “substituted judgment” in favor of the abortion.

Massachusetts Appeals Court Associate Justice Andrew Grainger threw out her sterilization order and remanded the decision over the forced abortion to another court.

Harms has asked to meet with the court’s chief justice, Philip Rapozo, about the decision’s “insulting tone.”

She said after the decision became public, Boston University refused to hire her for a job it was on the verge of formally offering.

“It was the reaction to the decision that gave us pause,’’ admitted BU spokesman, Stephen Burgay. “The more we learned about Judge Harms, the clearer it became that it was the wrong job fit.”

Harms said the university’s action “strikes at the heart of what judicial independence is about.”

Harms was appointed to the bench in 1989 by then-Governor Michael Dukakis. She retired from the bench last month.  (read more)

Posted February 23, 2012 by LifeSite News

Under Alberta’s new Education Act, homeschoolers and faith-based schools will not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part of their academic program, says the spokesperson for Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk.

“Whatever the nature of schooling – homeschool, private school, Catholic school – we do not tolerate disrespect for differences,” Donna McColl, Lukaszuk’s assistant director of communications, told LifeSiteNews on Wednesday evening.

“You can affirm the family’s ideology in your family life, you just can’t do it as part of your educational study and instruction,” she added.

Reacting to the remarks, Paul Faris of the Home School Legal Defence Association said the Ministry of Education is “clearly signaling that they are in fact planning to violate the private conversations families have in their own homes.”

“A government that seeks that sort of control over our personal lives should be feared and opposed,” he added.

The HSLDA and other homeschooling groups warned this week that the new Alberta Education Act, which was re-tabled by Alison Redford’s Progressive Conservative government on Feb. 14th to replace the existing School Act, threatens to mandate “diversity” education in all schools, including home schools.

Section 16 of the new legislation restates the current School Act’s requirement that schools “reflect the diverse nature” of Alberta in their curriculum, but it adds that they must also “honour and respect” the controversial Alberta Human Rights Act that has been used to target Christians with traditional beliefs on homosexuality. ‘School’ is defined to include homeschoolers and private schools in addition to publicly funded school boards.

McColl emphasized that homeschoolers were already included in the current definition of ‘school’ in the School Act, going back to 1988 or longer. And Section 16, she said, “is specifically with regards to programs, courses, and instructional materials.”

According to McColl, Christian homeschooling families can continue to impart Biblical teachings on homosexuality in their homes, “as long as it’s not part of their academic program of studies and instructional materials.”

“What they want to do about their ideology elsewhere, that’s their family business. But a fundamental nature of our society is to respect diversity,” she added.

Pressed about what the precise distinction is between homeschoolers’ instruction and their family life, McColl said the question involved “real nuances” and she would have to get back with specifics.

But in a second interview Wednesday evening, McColl said the government “won’t speculate” about particular examples, and explained that she had not yet gotten a “straight answer” on what exactly constitutes “disrespect.” She did say that families “can’t be hatemongering, if you will.”

In the first interview, she justified the government’s position by pointing to Friday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the Quebec government’s refusal to exempt families from its controversial ethics and religious culture program. That program, which aims to present the spectrum of world religions and lifestyle choices from a “neutral” stance, is required of all students, including homeschoolers.

“Just last Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada released a unanimous decision on – now it’s S.L. v. the Commission scolare des Chênes 2012 – and that’s the same, section 16 has to apply to everyone, including home education families,” she said.

Pro-family observers warned that the ruling risked emboldening other provincial governments in their effort to impose “diversity” programs. The last two years have seen major battles in Quebec, Ontario, British Columbia, and now Alberta over the increasing normalization of homosexuality in the schools.

The Supreme Court’s narrow ruling did not specifically address homeschooling, however, and left the door open to further court challenges. The court argued that the Quebec family seeking the exemption had simply failed to meet the burden of proof necessary to show that their children’s participation in the course would impede the parents’ ability to raise the children in their Catholic faith.

Patty Marler, government liaison for the Alberta Home Education Association, said she was surprised at the Ministry’s straightforwardness, and questioned how they are going to be able to draw the line between school time and family time.

“We educate our children all the time, and that’s just the way we live. It’s a lifestyle,” she said. “Making that distinction between the times when we’re homeschooling and when we’re just living is really hard to do.”

“Throw in the fact that I do use the Bible as part of my curriculum and now I’m very blatantly going to be teaching stuff that will be against [the human rights act],” she said.

Marler pointed out that the issue has direct implications on how families teach their children about marriage because the Alberta Human Rights Act was amended in 2009 to define marriage as between two “persons” instead of a man and a woman. “When I read Genesis and it talks about marriage being one man in union with one woman, I am very, very clearly opposing the human rights act that says it’s one person marrying another person,” she said.

According to Faris, the issue with McColl’s statements “isn’t about sexuality or anything else on the gay issue, it’s about the government trying to control how we teach our own children in our own homes.”

He said her comments are “particularly interesting in light of the – at the very least – misleading information that a lot of homeschoolers have been getting when they’re calling the Minister’s office, saying ‘Look, there’s no changes here. We’re not going to do anything differently’, and other things like that.”

“The long arm of the government wants to reach into family’s homes and control what they teach to their own children in their own homes about religion, sexuality, and morality,” he said. “These are not the words of a government that is friendly to homeschooling or to parental freedom.”

The Progressive Conservative government has 67 of the 83 seats in the province’s legislature, so the bill’s passage is essentially assured. But an election is imminent and the new right-wing Wildrose Alliance Party is expected to have a strong showing. A Forum Research poll last week showed the upstart party polling at 30% behind the government’s 37%.

The Home School Legal Defence Association is calling on Alberta citizens to contact the Education Minister and their elected representatives.  (read more)

Posted February 23, 2012 by CBN News

The White House has joined the chorus of apologies over what’s said to be an accidental desecration of Korans at a United States military base in Afghanistan.

Soldiers at Bagram Air Base believed Taliban prisoners were using the Korans to communicate with each other, possibly with extremist messages. As a result, the soldiers confiscated several of the Islamic holy books and destroyed them.

But burning or mistreating the Koran is considered a desecration to Muslims.

“This was a deeply unfortunate incident that does not reflect the great respect our military has for the religious practices of the Afghan people,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday.

Carney called the Koran burnings “unintentional actions.” The Pentagon and State Department also apologized for the event.

Officials say there have been some 2,000 demonstrators around Bagram Air Base since the incident.

An investigation is underway into whether NATO officials exercised “misjudgment” or knowingly gave the order to destroy Korans.  (read more)

Posted February 23, 2012 by CBN News

Maryland could soon follow the state of Washington to become the eighth state to legalize same-sex marriage. But supporters of traditional marriage are fighting back — and not just in Maryland.

It’s an uphill battle for supporters of traditional marriage in the Old Line State. Maryland lawmakers approved a measure legalizing gay marriage last week by a 72-67 House vote.

The state Senate cleared the bill last year and is also poised to pass the final legislation this week.

If the measure is passed by Maryland’s legislature, opponents say they’ll hold a referendum drive.

Brian Brown, president of the National Organization for Marriage, told CBN News he’s confident voters would overturn the bill, especially given support from African Americans who make up a large percentage of Maryland voters.

“We know that the African-American community has 70 percent opposition to same-sex marriage. It means that, although Maryland is a very Democratic state, that voters in Maryland don’t support same-sex marriage,” Brown explained.

Meanwhile, Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire signed same-sex marriage legislation last week, and attempts to stop the bill at the ballot box are already underway.

But there’s concern that voters may be confused by two similar options on the ballot.

Referendum 74 would repeal the gay marriage law and Initiative 94 goes a little farther, defining marriage as between one man and one woman. What remains unclear is what would happen if voters approve the initiative, but not the referendum.

In New Jersey, state lawmakers celebrated after passage of same-sex marriage bills in both chambers.

Gov. Chris Christie, however, was swift to veto the measure and note that an override appeared unlikely.

“They’re nowhere near the votes needed to override in either chamber, so hopefully we can move on from this issue,” the governor said.

Voters in North Carolina and Minnesota will decide on gay marriage later this year. North Carolina has a May 8 referendum vote on a marriage amendment. In Minnesota, the issue will appear on the ballot in November.

Currently, seven states plus Washington, D.C., have legalized same-sex marriage. Maryland could soon be added to the roster and Washington state will likely face a repeal.

Thirty other states already have constitutional amendments that ban gay marriage and 10 states have statutes that ban the unions.

A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court could change everything. Many believe the battle surrounding California’s Proposition 8, which ended gay marriage in that state, will eventually end up at the high court.  (read more)

Posted February 22, 2012 by Daily Mail

Computer hackers could have the ability to take down the entire U.S. electrical grid within the next two years, the head of the National Security Agency has warned.

General Keith Alexander expects the ‘hacktivist’ group Anonymous to be able to bring about a limited national power outage through a cyber attack.

He has relayed his concerns over the growing threat during a White House meeting last week, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Although he has made no public statement regarding Anonymous in particular, cyber attacks represent an increasing security risk for the U.S. government.

General Alexander has previously warned of the ongoing determination of hacker groups to expose institutional corruption, and now believes Anonymous is moving in a more disruptive direction.

James Lewis, a cyber security specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who is currently researching the group, told the Journal: ‘It’s a real threat. You want to occupy Wall Street? How about turn Wall Street off? Even for a day.’

Anonymous has never indicated a widespread power outage as a goal, and a post on a blog linked to the organisation claims the U.S. government is trying to discredit them.

It reads: ‘Anonymous attracted the attention of the National Security Agency.

‘In private meetings at the White House, NSA director General Keith Alexander warned that in a year or two the group could attack the energy grid and shut off power for millions.

‘Ridiculous! Why should Anonymous shut off power grid? Makes no sense! They just want to make you feel afraid.’

But last week Anonymous announced Operation Global Blackout, a plan to shut down the Internet on March 31.

Security experts, however, rate the group’s chances of taking the web offline as minimal.

Anonymous’ ability to take down the power grid is also thought to be slim.

Grid officials say they regularly face cyber attacks on their systems, and invest a lot of time making sure they are as secure as possible.

White House spokesman Caitlin Hayden said the government ‘has made cybersecurity a top priority, and we are working tirelessly to protect ourselves from the threats we face, whether they come from other nations, cyber criminals, or from stateless activist hacker groups’.

Earlier this month, Anonymous claimed responsibility for an attack on the CIA’s website that disabled it for nine hours.

The group targeted the personal details of more than 46,000 people in attacks on government websites including cia.gov.

Anonymous hackers also intercepted a highly-sensitive telephone conversation between Scotland Yard officers and the FBI and posted it online.

As well as targeting the CIA, the hackers broke into several Alabama law-enforcement websites, stealing criminal records, addresses and social security numbers to raise awareness of ‘racist legislation’ affecting illegal immigrants.

The group warned it would destroy the data, saying: ‘Because of the possible cost of lives and money to regular citizens, we are deleting this data and are seeking to make it known you not only have shown zero regard for immigrants, but for the very citizens that live in the great state of Alabama.’

Hackers claiming to be affiliated with Anonymous have launched a spate of attacks on law enforcement websites in recent weeks, hitting such cities as Salt Lake City, Boston, Syracuse, N.Y. and Greece.

The collective of activists, pranksters and hackers have also targeted financial institutions such as Visa and MasterCard, as well as the Church of Scientology.  (read more)

Posted February 23, 2012 by Daily Mail

Undaunted by ridicule from the leader of his own party, an Indiana lawmaker is standing by his allegations that the Girl Scouts is a radical organization that promotes abortions and homosexuality.

The Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood have dismissed state representative Bob Morris’ comments as absurd, as did Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma.

But Mr Morris, a Republican, told The Associated Press his critics need to do more research into the 100-year-old scouting organization.

‘My family and I took a view and we’re sticking by it,’ Mr Morris said Tuesday.

In keeping with their decision, his daughters were joining an alternative group for young girls run by conservative Christians.

‘My girls are no longer Girl Scouts. They’re now going to join American Heritage Girls.’

Mr Morris’ comments were the butt of jokes inside the Indianapolis chamber on Tuesday, with Mr Bosma spending much of the day handing out the trademark Thin Mint cookies that Girl Scouts sell to fundraise.

He joked that Morris’ comments led him to buy hundreds of cases of the famous cookies.

‘I purchased 278 cases of Girl Scout cookies in the last four hours,’ said a clearly sarcastic Mr Bosma.

He even closed Tuesday’s session by asking the former Girl Scouts in the chamber to stand up, and the vast majority of the female representatives did so.

Mr Morris’ comments about the Girl Scouts came in a letter he sent to House Republicans on Saturday that said he had conducted some research on the Internet and discovered that the scouts are a ‘tactical arm’ of Planned Parenthood.

The Girl Scouts flatly denied Mr Morris’ accusations, and Planned Parenthood of Indiana issued a separate statement calling Mr Morris’ charges ‘woefully inaccurate.’

‘On the national level, inflammatory and generally inaccurate claims about a partnership between the Girl Scouts and Planned Parenthood have been promoted primarily by anti-choice lawmakers seeking to place pressure on organizations to disassociate or distance themselves from Planned Parenthood,’ said Betty Cockrum, the chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Indiana.

Mr Morris wrote in his letter to lawmakers that Christian conservatives who share his concerns have pulled their children out of Girl Scouts.

He also pointed to a Colorado Girl Scout troop’s acceptance of a transgender child last month as another reason to leave the group.  (read more)

Posted February 23, 2012 by Daily Mail

A Christian pastor who converted from Islam is to be put to death for leaving Islam following the ruling of an Iranian court, it was reported today.

Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, was arrested more than two years ago on charges of apostasy, and has now been sentenced to death by an Iranian court for refusing to renounce his Christianity, according to the pastor’s legal team.

The father-of-two had defied a request by the Gilan provincial court, in Rasht, Iran, to repent, and now faces death by hanging.

Mr Nadarkhani may be executed at any time without warning, as death sentences in Iran can be carried out immediately or dragged out for years.

If the execution goes ahead he would be the first Christian to be officially executed in Iran for religious reasons in 20 years.

The married father-of-two was detained in his home city of Rasht in October 2009, while attempting to register his church.

Supporters of the pastor say he was arrested after questioning the Muslim monopoly on the religious instruction of children in Iran.

Critics have said the execution could be seen as a form of defiance at
Western sanctions against Iran in the row over its nuclear agenda.

Jordan Sekulow, executive director of The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), told Fox News: ‘This is defiance. They want to say they will carry out what they say they will do.

‘The world needs to stand up and say that a man cannot be put to death because of his faith.

‘This one case is not just about one execution. We have been able to expose the system instead of just letting one man disappear, like so many other Christians have in the past.’

Church officials say there may be as many as 100,000 devoted Christians in the country and that Iran’s leadership is concerned about the spread of Christianity.

Nadarkhani was initially charged with protesting, but charges against him were later changed to ‘apostasy’ – or abandoning Islam – and ‘evangelising Muslims’, which both carry the death sentence.

He was later tried and found guilty of apostasy in September 2010, and sentenced to death.

In June this year the Supreme Court of Iran upheld the death sentence but asked the lower court in Rasht, which issued the initial sentence, to re-examine whether or not he had been a practising Muslim adult prior to converting to Christianity.

Nadarkhani told the court during his first hearing on Sunday that he had no intention of returning to Islam.

He said: ‘Repent means to return. What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?’

However, the court said that because Nadarkhani has Islamic ancestry, he therefore must ‘recant his faith in Jesus Christ’.

When the court ordered him to ‘return to the religion of your ancestors – Islam’, Nadarkhani replied: ‘I cannot.’

Jason DeMars, of advocacy group Present Truth Ministries, said: ‘This law dictates what should be done with apostates, depending on what type of apostasy has been committed.’

Mr DeMar added that section 6.225 of Iran’s controversial legislation says that if a person’s parents were Muslims at the time they were trying to conceive a child, and that converts to another religion and renounces Islam, he or she would be a national apostate.

He said: ‘The death sentence is the penalty for national apostate, but after the verdict is pronounced, he or she will be commanded to repent of what he or she has done

‘If he refuses to repent, he will be killed.’

The written verdict of the Supreme Court’s decision also included a provision for annulment of the death sentence if Mr Nadarkhani recanted his faith.

Although the court found that Mr Nadarkhani was not a practising Muslim adult, the court said he remained guilty of apostasy because he had Muslim ancestry.

Mr Nadarkhani’s lawyer, Mohammed Ali Dadkhah, told the court that the repeated demand for his client to recant his Christian faith violated Iranian law and its constitution.

The last Iranian Christian convert from Islam executed by the Iranian government was Assemblies of God Pastor Hossein Soodmand in 1990.

However, several other Christians, including at least six Protestant pastors, are reported to have been assassinated in Iran by unknown killers in recent years.  (read more)

Posted February 23, 2012 by Daily Mail

Being physically suppressed by airplane passengers after he had been shouting ‘Allah is great’ was a fitting end to a very bad week for one unruly Saudi teen.

The plane incident came just two days after Yazeed Mohammed Abunayyan, 19, was arrested after causing a ‘Grand Theft Auto’-style police chase, during which he rammed two squad cars and tried to run down a pedestrian — all while grinning wildly.

He was out on $65,000 bail when he boarded the plane in Portland, Oregon on Tuesday, but that didn’t stop him from getting into even more trouble.

Abunayyan started screaming when a flight attendant asked him to turn off his electronic cigarette and began causing a ruckus on the Continental Airlines flight bound for Houston, Texas.

Passengers say he started screaming, punching at the woman and singing or muttering about dead Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

‘He was screaming: “Allah is great, Allah is great”. It kind of worries you when that happens,’ passenger Nancy Haywood told CBS affiliate KHOU.

Passengers said the man was unruly from the beginning of the journey after he was not given a seat next to his friend on Flight 1113.

After the plane took off the man lit up – but when he refused to turn off his device, passengers jumped up to help the flight attendant.

‘Every guy that was in my area was ready to go,’ passenger Mark Foster told KHOU. ‘It was not even a thought. You can tell buckles were off.’

The passengers held Abunayyan down while the attendant grabbed plastic handcuffs and ankle-cuffs to keep him subdued until the plane landed.

The pilots turned the plane back to Portland 20 minutes after it had taken off at 12:17pm and it landed again at 1:17pm, reported KHOU.

Abunayyan and his friend were arrested and taken off the plane by police at Portland airport before it took off again at 2:05pm.

The Transportation Security Administration said it was not a security issue. An FBI spokesman said the man will face charges.

Electronic cigarettes, which contain a lithium battery that heats up liquid nicotine inside to create a harmless vapour, do not burn tobacco.

However, Continental Airlines policy states it does not allow ‘the use of electronic (or) simulated smoking materials’ on flights, reported The Oregonian.

Before the fracas aboard the plane, Abunayyan, a Saudi Arabian national, was visiting family members five hours from Portland in Ashland, Oregon.

On Sunday night, he allegedly led officers on a bizarre, 20-minute low speed police chase that was like something out of a violent video game, one witness said.

‘It was like “Grand Theft Auto,’ Adrian Olesnyckyj told the Ashland Daily Tidings.

‘Initially, I thought it was someone who skidded out because it was raining.

But when the driver skidded three times: ‘… that’s when I knew something was up, so I called the cops.’

During the chase, which never exceeded 40 miles per hour, Abunayyan slammed into one place car in a parking lot and then tried to run down a pedestrian.

He then hit another squad car twice, before running his car into an embankment, according to police.

Abunayyan’s dome light was on during the chase and officers reported that they could see him grinning as he eluded them.

He was booked on charges of driving under the influence of intoxicants, reckless driving, eluding police, two charges of first-degree criminal mischief, three charges of hit and run, six charges of reckless endangerment, and two charges of assault on an officer.  (read more)

The fanfare is over. Benjamin Netanyahu has left the building. He has returned to Israel and he and the Israelis realize that they are on their own. The President of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama, has identified himself as the most anti-Israel President in history. But he does not speak for all of the American people and he does not speak for all of Congress. There may be only a few issues in Washington that have bi-partisan support, but one of those issues is that both the Right and the Left in Congress – with a few exceptions – remain an ally of God’s covenant land. Many of them are trying to hold back the water from the hole in the dam that would make the Islamic empire the chosen people.

My only surprise concerning the Netanyahu-Obama events was the people’s surprise! That is, that the American people reacted with seeming shock at the events that transpired from May 19-23. It was a slam dunk that this would happen! One can start with Obama’s book The Audacity of Hope. In it he states, “When the ill winds blow, I will always stand with the Muslims.” And wasn’t it just a few short months ago that Obama ditched Netanyahu and company at the White House for dinner with his family. It was that meeting where Bibi Netanyahu was lectured and left stunned and bewildered – and then he actually came back for more!

Ken Blackwell of the Family Research Council looks back to November 2010 when Obama went to Indonesia specifically to harass Israel. Blackwell states, “In going to Jakarta, Indonesia, Obama literally went to the ends of the earth to give voice to his displeasure (over Israel). He emphasized his opposition to the policies of the elected government of Israel. He used his Jakarta platform to complain about Israel building apartments for her growing population. Where? In Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. To make matters even worse, Jakarta is a city no Israeli is allowed to enter! The symbolism of saying what he said in the country and city where he said it is simply atrocious.”

All of the turmoil of the last two weeks comes at the time when Israel is about to celebrate the 44th anniversary of her recapture of Jerusalem. This took place June 7, 1967. Understand that Jerusalem is the heart of the issue. Let me give you the key to unraveling the end-time code God has given us. Remember three things: Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, in that order. And Jesus returns to rule and reign out of Jerusalem – not New York, or Cairo, or London. On June 7, 1967, Israeli soldiers defied all odds as they were outnumbered, yet they recaptured both the old city of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount. Moshe Dayan made a serious mistake by giving back the Temple Mount to the Islamic world as their golden-domed mosque sits on top of that sacred place. The Muslim world didn’t love him one iota for his gesture of good will. They just sat down and planned the next war!

Don’t ever get stressed about Israel’s survival. Be justifiably concerned about America’s. God will always watch over His covenant land and people. “He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps” (Psalm 121:4). One hundred million Arabs have tried to annihilate her since 1948, and they have consistently struck out. But every American who is concerned about the security of the United States should be livid and should tremble for our nation. The U.S. President just abandoned his responsibility to defend America and its interests with his objective of coddling America’s worst enemies. In fact, this President is favoring the enemies of God because you are an enemy of God if you want to side with those committed to annihilating Israel.

One of the strongest delusions today is that if there were just a two-state solution between Israel and “Palestine,” there would then be world peace.

Caroline Glick of The Jerusalem Post says, “Conceptually and substantively, Obama has abandoned the U.S. alliance with Israel.” She boldly and appropriately clarifies that Obama has abandoned America more than Israel. She gets it.

But this scenario is not all dark! Now that the most powerful man in the world has turned on the Jewish state and on God, perhaps that beleaguered nation will begin to turn her eyes to the One who formed a covenant with her millennia ago. We know that in a future war known as the Gog-Magog invasion in Ezekiel 38-39, Israel will be forced to reach out to God for help. The passage indicates that there will be no earthly ally to help her. Zechariah 12 indicates she will be friendless as well. Right now Canada’s Stephen Harper remains a friend, but few other prominent leaders will do that.

In the meantime, another “peace” flotilla to Gaza is on its way in June; the threat of a unilaterally created Palestinian state is set for September; a now wide-open border from Egypt into Gaza is operating; and al-Qaeda leadership is applauding the Arab Spring. They are assisting with the installation of radical Islam into the governments of many nations that are toppling their leaders. Another major Middle East war is being coordinated as I write these words.

The stage is set. America has played a key but a bitter role. The world is headed in a frightful direction. The President of the United States is steering a sinking ship. Obama’s actions against Israel reflect both ignorance and arrogance. Such perilous times only remind us that the King of kings’ return is imminent. If you look up and not around, you will maintain a level of peace.

www.olivetreeviews.org

Posted on February 21, 2012 by rushlimbaugh.com

RUSH: I mentioned earlier in the program that Santorum, people have dug deep and they found a speech that he gave back in 2008 in Ave Maria, Florida, at Ave Maria University. Drudge has this plastered up. The Democrats have found it. It’s all over the place. Think Progress and whatever leftist think tanks have dug this up, and it’s part of the predictable attempt to impugn Santorum as an absolute religious nut and wacko. But he did say these things and he’ll to have an answer for these things when queried. Let’s play these sound bites. We have three of them. This is where Santorum has said that Satan as set his sights on America. Again, this is at Ave Maria University, August of 2008, in Ave Maria, Florida.

SANTORUM: The Father of Lies has his sights on what you would think the Father of Lies, Satan, would have his sights on: a good, decent, powerful, influential country — the United States of America. If you were Satan, who would you attack in this day and age? There is no one else to go after other than the United States, and that’s been the case for now almost 200 years, once America’s preeminence was sown by our great Founding Fathers.

RUSH: Okay, so he said it. Can we take you back to the United Nations? What was it, 2000… I don’t know, three or four or five or six. Hugo Chavez shows up, he speaks either the afternoon Bush spoke earlier or the next day, but he gets to the microphone at the United Nations and the General Assembly and starts sniffing around. (Sniffing) He says, “I can still smell the sulfur. The Devil was here,” and he had accused Bush of being the Devil. And the assembled monsters that look like they’re out of Star Wars bar scene that made up the UN General Assembly all started laughing. So we’re back to the double standard. Hugo Chavez can show up and call George W. Bush Satan. “Hey, hey! You know what, that’s right! That’s great. Let’s laugh about it. Let’s applaud it.” Santorum gives a speech in Ave Maria, Florida, back in 2008. “Oh, my God, we’re dealing with a nutcase! Oh, wow, what a fanatic weirdo. What are we gonna get next, an exorcism?” So the double standard does exist. Here’s more from the same speech from Santorum.  (read more)