Death Wishes

I saw two headlines and thought of my post title.

Israel to attack Iran unless enrichment stops

“If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective,” Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.

“Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable,” said the former army chief who has also been defense minister.

It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert’s government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should U.N. Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end.

Iran has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects, which it says are for peaceful electricity generation rather than bomb-building. The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel — believed to have the Middle East’s only atomic arsenal — and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iran.

Mofaz also said in the interview that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, “would disappear before Israel does.”

Somebody needs to teach that Mofaz fellow to be direct and unvarnished in his approach. 😉

For instance, he could just up and say, “Ole Mahmoud’s got a death wish.”

Disclaimer: I’m not making light of a volatile situation.

Accused 9-11 mastermind welcomes death penalty

The accused al Qaeda mastermind of the September 11 attacks stood in a U.S. military court on Thursday, sang a chant of praise to Allah and said he would welcome the death penalty.

“This is what I wish, to be martyred,” Pakistani captive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the highest-ranking al Qaeda operative in U.S. custody, told the Guantanamo war crimes court.

He and four accused co-conspirators appeared in court at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba for the first time on charges that could result in their execution.

As the judge questioned him about whether he was satisfied with the U.S. military lawyer appointed to defend him, Mohammed stood and began to sing in Arabic, cheerfully pausing to translate his own words into English.

“My shield is Allah most high,” he said, adding that his religion forbade him from accepting a lawyer from the United States and that he wanted to act as his own attorney.

He criticized the United States for fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, waging what he called “a crusader war,” and enacting “evil laws” including those authorizing same-sex marriages.

Is that truly his wish?

(When I read comments like that in such a context, I wonder how the individual making them ended up being taken alive.)

Then I focused on a third headline…and wondered if it might fit here as well.

Obama meets Clinton in private

Likely U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama met privately with former rival Hillary Clinton on Thursday as the party sought to unite for the general election campaign after a long nomination battle.

Many folks seem to think putting Hillary on the ticket would constitute a death wish on Barack’s part. Some think so in a political sense; others, in a literal sense. 😯

But never mind Obama and Clinton. Guys, if you choose the wrong gal, you could be entertaining a death wish. I say that because I remember A Tragic Lament I read in Proverbs 5 this morning.

Secretly

Well, maybe not anymore. 😀

Study secretly tracks cell phone users outside US

Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home.

The first-of-its-kind study by Northeastern University raises privacy and ethical questions for its monitoring methods, which would be illegal in the United States.

It also yielded somewhat surprising results that reveal how little people move around in their daily lives. Nearly three-quarters of those studied mainly stayed within a 20-mile-wide circle for half a year.

The scientists would not disclose where the study was done, only describing the location as an industrialized nation.

Researchers used cell phone towers to track individuals’ locations whenever they made or received phone calls and text messages over six months.

If there’s no big uproar from the masses, will “they” do this more and more to us?

Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under US control

A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the US presidential election in November.

[…]

Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.

I can hardly imagine that plan surviving.

Bilderbergers set to meet in D.C.

The annual secretive gathering of representatives from West European and North American countries, known as the Bilderberg Group, is scheduled to begin [today] in the Washington, D.C., area.

[…]

The Bilderberg Group is an elite invitation-only conference of influential members of the business, media and political communities. Past attendees have included Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

[…]

While the group claims its purpose is to facilitate discussion among Western powers, many see the group as a means toward globalization.

The highly secretive conference is off limits to press, but past reports from sources that have managed to penetrate the high-security venues have stated the meetings emphasize a globalist agenda and dismiss national sovereignty as regressive.

Will the Trilateralists and the Illuminati and the Jesuits and the Rothschilds be there as well? Hey, just asking!

And, in closing, this:

A leading anti-aviation activist has secretly flown to New York to hold meetings with American airport protesters – and see the sights.

Credits for the Emperor

Pull up a chair. Get comfortable. Listen carefully. Think thoughtfully.

I have a little story to tell you, a little tale to spin, a little lesson to convey.

Once upon a time there was an emperor who loved being emperor. And who loved having The Latest Thing. But he also struggled with guilt over being the emperor and over having the latest thing.

But he certainly didn’t feel so guilty as to give up his emperorship and all his stuff.

No, not that guilty.

Then along came two people with a grand solution to his dilema, at least as it concerned his clothing.

“Sir, in a kingdom not your own, many people have no clothes and little wealth. They would like to sell you some of the points they have earned for not having clothes. When you buy some of their points, you are putting on clothes (very important clothes, at that, and the latest trendy styles, too).

“When people ask why you are running around without any clothes on, just tell them you most certainly are not. Tell them you have purchased Clothing Credits. Tell them you have become Clothing Neutral. You can even tell them you have purchased Conscience Credits.

“(Tell them whatever you want. Just give us the money.)”

So that’s what he did.

And he ran around stark naked, pretending he was fully clothed.

He felt good.

And the people in his kingdom, wanting to keep their heads though he had lost his, admired his sensitivity. And his conscientiousness. And his Cutting Edge-iness. And his social consciousness. And his leadership. And his Never Mind Old-Time Common Sense.

Until a child innocently ruined it all: “Daddy, why does the emperor not have any clothes on? And why is he so proud of it? And why doesn’t anybody tell him?”

Disclaimer: I didn’t spend much time with the story concept nor with the writing thereof. Furthermore, if you think I was writing about carbon credits and being carbon neutral, I decline responsibility for the events in your head.

I Agree

The Price of Oil Is Too High

Meanwhile, the world’s leading producers say oil is too expensive and they plan to increase supplies.

A source at Opec said its 13 members were uncomfortable with the current price of crude, which last week hit a record $135 a barrel.

Based on present supply and demand, he said it should be fetching $60-$70 a barrel.

May they feel less “uncomfortable” soon! 😉

A Working Toilet Is a Top Priority

“Clearly, having a working toilet is a priority for us, so some of these things that we didn’t need for the next six months or so could wait,” said payload manager Scott Higginbotham.

You really do have to prioritize. Oh, and the shuttle commander for this mission had to weigh in on the subject with an interesting play on words:

“As soon as we get a couple more spare parts that I’m sure some of you guys have heard about … we’re going to be all ready to go.”

Was that pun intentional? 😯

Sincere Whistleblowers Don’t Wait

“Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner?”

Yeah, Scott. You tell ’em all! 🙄

Don’t Count on the Powers That Be

The powers that be, they’ve determined, will be largely powerless to stop what is to come.

If it is to come, of course it can’t be stopped. And from the same story, this jewel:

Women will always be having babies, she notes . . . .

If she’s wrong, the powers that be will be powerless. Which means they will no longer be the powers that be. In which case, women do indeed rule the planet.

Adrift Down the Tubes

Three news items for you to chew on.

Most Americans Say Divorce is Morally Acceptable

A record 70 percent of Americans believe divorce is morally acceptable, according to Gallup’s 2008 Values and Beliefs survey. That’s an 11-point increase from seven years ago.

[…]

Of the poll’s 16 ethical issues rated for moral acceptability, divorce topped the list, followed by gambling, embryonic stem-cell research, homosexuality and abortion. Extramarital affairs — often a cause of divorce — are at the bottom of the list, with just 7 percent of Americans finding them morally acceptable.

By what moral law and standard do my fellow Americans make this judgment? (At 70%, that includes a lot of real — as well as nominal — Christians. Wow!)

And why does that moral law and standard make extramarital affairs so unacceptable?

OK, here’s the second story:

Boston Doctor Offers Sex Change Treatment to Kids

Dr. Norman Spack, a pediatric specialist at the hospital, has launched a clinic for transgendered kids — boys who feel like girls, girls who want to be boys — and he’s opening his doors to patients as young as 7.

So Doc Spack is catching lots of flak. I wonder if it’s coming from any in the 70% mentioned above. And why.

Now from the Mail Online (UK), the third story:

Fathers aren’t needed say MPs: Commons decides IVF babies can do without a male role model

Fathers were last night effectively declared an irrelevance in modern Britain.

The requirement for fertility doctors to consider a child’s need for a male role model before giving women IVF treatment was scrapped by MPs.

In a free vote, they swept away the rule despite impassioned pleas that the Government plan would “drive another nail into the coffin of the traditional family”.

Labour rebels said it would send entirely the wrong signal to society as Britain faces a crisis in responsible parenting. The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, had warned it would remove the father from the heart of the family.

Representing the USA

Interesting news story, for what it says about running scared:

U.S. soldier riddles Koran with bullets in Iraq

An American soldier has been disciplined and ordered from Iraq, the U.S. military said on Sunday, for using a copy of the Koran for target practice at a shooting range near Baghdad.

[…]

CNN said when Major-General Jeffery Hammond, the commander of U.S. troops in Baghdad, and other officers arrived to deliver the apology to local leaders in Radwaniya they were met by hundreds of protesting Sunni Arab tribesmen.

“I am a man of honor, I am a man of character. You have my word this will never happen again,” Hammond told the crowd.

“In the most humble manner, I look into your eyes today and I say, please forgive me and my soldiers,” CNN reported on its website.

It said Colonel Ted Martin, a brigade commander, held up a new copy of the Koran which he kissed and touched to his forehead as he handed it to the tribal elders.

“I hope that you’ll accept this humble gift,” Martin said.

And for what it says about representing one’s country.

Which of the above three men accurately represented the United States?

(Oh, Mr. Hammond — Do you realize your statement above could seem to suggest that you authorized the incident for which you are issuing a No-Repeat guarantee?)

But far more importantly to me, am I an accurate representation of the Kingdom of Heaven?

When I as a Christian take the name of Christ, am I portraying an accurate representation of my King?

I think this story is tragic for what it says about the US…and for the ill it portends for this country.

But I think that’s far less tragic than Mark Roth (and you?) being a poor representative of and ambassador for Jesus Christ.

Private
Above all, love God!