The Founding Fathers or the Founding Liberals

Brother Apollo has created another design. This week our newest design consists of what is arguably the five most important American Founding Fathers: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and James Madison.

Woodcuts portraits of the Founding Fathers were cleaned up before being used in the design. Previously digitized signatures are placed underneath each portrait to identify the Founding Father. The design is black on white but is available on colored t shirts.

So buy our America’s Founding Fathers design to express your political support for our democratic country — the good old USA!

A Truthmonk design.

The Monastery's Store design team has implemented the designs on t-shirts (kids, men, women, and even dogs), teddy bears, cups, buttons, magnets, stickers, mouse pads, posters, and other items. See the design on its display aisle Founding Fathers.

NEW DELHI, October 13 (Compass Direct News) – The Christian community of Chhattisgarh state is rattled after a gruesome mob attack and torture in Surguja district.

At midnight on Oct. 3 in Dumarbhavna village, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Premnagar, three jeeps full of Hindu nationalists broke open the door of a house where a three-day prayer meeting was taking place and attacked participants as they slept – ultimately forcing two Christians to beat one of their own prayer partners unconscious under threat of death.

The mob from the Hindu extremist Dharma Sena (Religious Army) beat the participants in the prayer meeting, including women, and dragged three of them from the house of Parmeshwar Beik, dumping them into the jeeps.

“We thought that they were taken to the police station, but instead they were taken to a secluded place where they were beaten all night,” Yahoshu Kujur, pastor of Blessing Church of God, told Compass.

Muneshwar Ekka and Beik were beaten first, and then the Hindu nationalists ordered them to beat the third captured Christian, Ravi Devangan.

“They threatened to kill us if we did not beat Ravi,” Beik told Pastor Kujur. “We were so scared and left with no option, so we beat Ravi until he dropped unconscious.”

After failing to find the three Christians at the local police station the next morning, the pastor found them at the Srinagar Government Hospital, where Devangan was admitted with internal injuries and injuries to his chest, legs and other parts of the body.

“Ravi, who is a driver by profession, was just visiting Parmeshwar from Mehagai village,” Pastor Kujur said. “He was the worst hit, at home and outside during the attack.”

He added that Devangan’s wife witnessed the attack on the house.

Police Inaction

Pastor Kujur told Compass that police admitted all three kidnapped Christians to the Srinagar Government Hospital with Devangan in serious condition and the other two in shock.

Beik’s wife also sustained internal injuries during the attack, Pastor Kujur said.

“Mr. Ashok Sahu and four other local Christian leaders went on the morning of Oct. 4 and reported the matter at the police station, but so far no action has been taken,” the pastor said.

Police reportedly deceived local Christians into believing that no complaint would be filed against the prayer team members for “forced conversion” if they would agree not to file any complaints against the Hindu nationalists.

“They told us that they would set the three free if we did that,” Pastor Kujur told Compass.

Instead police registered a case of “forced conversion” against the three Christians under sections 3 and 4 of the Chhattisgarh Dharma Swantantraya Adhiniyam (Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Bill).

If convicted, the Christians could be sentenced up to a year in prison and/or pay a fine of up to 5,000 rupees (US$100). They appeared in Surajpur local court on Oct. 6. A fourth Christian, Fakir Chand Toppo, was also falsely implicated, Pastor Kujur said.

At press time all four Christians were in Surajpur jail, though attempts to secure bail for them continued.

Political Influence

Pastor Kujur said police officers who are friends of his informed him that police were forced to prosecute the Christians on “orders from above.”

Internal police sources told him, he added, that police in the state were working against Christians under Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pressure that has the support of the Chief Minister Raman Singh.

Christians from Surajpur have received news from sources who wish to remain anonymous that, emboldened by the BJP government that rules the state, Hindu nationalists have announced a cash award of 100,000 rupees (US$2,092) to anyone who murders a Christian preacher.

In Premnagar, also in Surguja district, Hindu extremist mobs have mounted similar attacks, Pastor Kujur said. He told Compass that in 2004 a Christian convention was attacked during which a mob surrounded the venue and shouted anti-Christian slogans. Police intervention averted casualties.

In another incident in 2005, Hindu extremists incited villagers of Premnagar to attack local Christians, reportedly wounding many.

The Dharma Sena was relatively unknown until nearly three years ago, emerging suddenly in the central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Attacking Christians throughout the two states, the Hindus extremist group is reportedly backed heavily by the BJP, with BJP leaders pressuring police officials not to register any First Information Reports against it.

It is widely believed that the Dharma Sena is nothing more than the Hindu extremist youth group Bajrang Dal in another form.

Report from Compass Direct News

By: J. D. Longstreet

Yep!  By all accounts that is exactly what happened. It happened on Friday of last week at a town hall style gathering when McCain tried to calm a man concerned about raising his child with Obama as President.  McCain is reported to have said that Barack Obama “…  is a "decent person and a person that you do not have to be scared of as president of the United States."  It was at about this point in the McCain Campaign when the McCain train went completely off the rails it was only partially on up to that point. 

I have been monitoring the blogoshere since that happened and I must tell you, if you don’t already know, those remarks, in support of Mr. Obama, began a firestorm of dissent against Mr. McCain among his own reluctant supporters. 

Conservatives who had made their minds up to hold their noses and vote for McCain, go home and take a shower, are now re-evaluating that decision and many are walking away from McCain… in droves. It is not what one could describe as a trickle… it is more like a dam burst. To say there has been a backlash against McCain would be the understatement of the year.

For conservatives, making the decision to go against their conscious and support McCain was a heart-rending exercise.  Some of us have simply refused to do it from the very beginning, myself included.  I would not even entertain the notion of supporting McCain.  But for a few weeks it appeared that most republican conservatives had decided to do just that in order to keep a man, they honestly believe is a socialist, out of the White House.

Appointments to the US Supreme Court are extremely high on the list of concerns for conservatives and that was one of the arguments employed to persuade conservatives to support McCain.  But now, conservatives are asking themselves, what guarantees do they have that McCain WOULD appoint conservative nominees to fill the coming vacancies n the SCOTUS?  The honest answer is NONE!  What about moderate nominees?  The answer is the same.  Remember, A President McCain would likely have a democrat controlled Senate for at least two years.

McCain is a lot of things… but he is not conservative.  So, pleased do not insult conservatives by referring to him as such.

Mr. McCain’s show of support for Obama last week was the last straw for many conservative voters.  In fact conservative hardliners consider it “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.  Already upset at being pressured, by fellow republicans, regaling them with: “a refusal to vote for McCain is a vote for Obama”, many rightwing conservatives have simply left the field. They can no longer be counted as probable voters for McCain. They’re going to “stay home.”

This conservative will be voting on Election Day.  I won’t be voting for McCain, however.  I will write in the name of a conservative I believe the leading lights in the GOP rejected in their ill-advised attempt to redefine conservatism and, in so doing, change the face of the Republican Party.  Oh, in the end, they will have accomplished something. Unfortunately, for the country, they will have ushered in European style socialism and become accomplices in the death of representative democracy and capitalism in America.

J. D. Longstreet

Picture & Story By Amyn A. Ghulamali

Monday, 13 October 2008.

WWW.AHMEDQURAISHI.COM

RAWALPINDI, Pakistan—We were invited to the Army House on Saturday to have a one-on-one discussion with the Ex-President Pervez Musharraf.  What was a half hour discussion between the students of LUMS Lahore and the students of NCA (Rawalpindi Campus) was one of the most fantastic experiences that I have had.

Caption 1: Ex President with students of LUMS and NCA on 11-10-08, Army House.

As we drove into the Army House there was immense security all around I thought we would just have a quick formal meeting and then told time was up and then leave. The officials showed us to the Ex President’s residential part of the Army House. We were seated in his sunroom and I noticed that it was very simple and there were no trophies (like pictures of his achievements or meetings with famous people or memorabilia from his army days). It was an elegantly decorated simple room. I had a special feeling, sensing that this could be one of the places where, for eight years, most of the key decisions regarding Pakistan were made.

There was no pomp and ceremony. And after three minutes he simply walked out wearing a trouser and a casual shirt and walked into the breezy, well lit room. He seemed well and in the highest of spirits, casually joking with all the students.

I was amazed to find out that even though he was asked various questions about his government he never put the blame on any one or try to have any political motives.  He came across as a very down to earth man who had a pragmatic sense of reality as to what governance was.

The fantastic thing was that the ex-President knew so much about world affairs from an unbiased point of view and was not at all opinionated about many key issues that were brought about by the students of LUMS and NCA.

He did not have an agenda or political motive he was there as a friend and a mentor as someone who had seen life in the hot seat for the past few years and now wanted just to be a normal human being.  His simplicity really impressed me and most of all his honesty.

I cannot go into detail but I can say one thing: I have had the honor of meeting many important people in my life when they were in power and even when the chips were down but none of them left a mark on me as this simple God fearing patriotic Pakistani.

The half hour meeting was extended to a lot longer as one could see the twinkle in his eye as he was really enjoying meeting with the young minds of tomorrow.  He did make a comment to the fact that we are the youth of today and the government of tomorrow and we should all take ownership of our country in the true sense. I'm sure to each one present it meant something different.

I went to see an Ex-President who was depicted in many forms by our media. I left happy that he was at peace with himself and was a unique superb human being just like so many citizens that we have out there.

Attached please find a picture outside the sun room at the ARMY HOUSE Dated Saturday 11 October 2008 at around 1400 hours.

Obama-ACORN Lies Debunked
Get the Facts Now. Barack Obama
Never Organized with ACORN.
Obama.FightTheSmears.com

Here's what they say:

• Fact: Barack was never an ACORN community organizer.
• Fact: ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee.
• Fact: ACORN was not part of Project Vote, the successful voter registration drive Barack ran in 1992.

Obviously, this contradicts a lot that's been written in the conservative blogosphere. Who's right? Well, "fact" one depends on your definition of "ACORN community organizer" so that's hard to dispute. Regarding the other two, ABC News's Jake Tapper has the story. After an earlier version was shown to be untrue, "fact" two was carefully phrased to be literally, but very narrowly, truthful:

As reports pile up of voter registration fraud connected to ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now, a group that advocates for low-income voters – the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has sought to downplay his past ties with the group.

But in their efforts to do, Obama campaign officials found themselves forced last week to correct an erroneous assertion made on the campaign’s “Fight the Smears” webpage that “Barack was never an ACORN trainer and never worked for ACORN in any other capacity.”

That wasn’t true.

In fact, ACORN spokesman Lewis Goldberg told the New York Times that Obama conducted two unpaid leadership training sessions for ACORN’s Chicago affiliate in the late 1990s.

The “Fight the Smears” website now asserts, "Fact: ACORN never hired Obama as a trainer, organizer, or any type of employee.”

Key word: hired.

Goldberg told the Times that Obama’s work for ACORN was unpaid.

So Obama did work for ACORN, but he worked for free. That hardly refutes the "smear" allegation that Obama has ties to ACORN. Tapper goes on to explain that "fact" three isn't true either.

Moreover, it is undisputed that Obama and ACORN have close ties today. In this election cycle, the Obama campaign paid ACORN over $800,000 for its efforts on behalf of the campaign.

"Saarraaahhh... Saarraaahhh!!...."

..smiling she waited til the chant died down. Then she spoke. (Why is this always a mistake?)

She then gave her canned "protester" reply.

"I would hope at least that those protesters have the courage and the honor of thanking our veterans for giving them the right to protest!".

At that point, Todd Palin leaned into her, (and into her mic) and stated something audible but unintelligible, for which she replied quickly and dismissing of him,

"Ok, I'm doing that".

My question is, "Doing what?" She had no clue that those were her own supporters cheering for her. Should we worry that she won't know friend from foe once in the White House.

Uh. Yeah. This woman scares the hell out of me.

"Saarraaahhh... Saarraaahhh!!...."

..smiling she waited til the chant died down.  Then she spoke.  (Why is this always a mistake?)

She then gave her canned "protester" reply.

"I would hope at least that those protesters  have the courage and the honor of thanking our veterans for giving them the right to protest!".

At that point, Todd Palin leaned into her, (and into her mic) and stated something audible but unintelligible, for which she replied quickly and dismissing of him,

"Ok, I'm doing that".

My question is, "Doing what?"  She had no clue that those were her own supporters cheering for her.  Should we worry that she won't know friend from foe once in the White House.

Uh. Yeah.  This woman scares the hell out of me.

Today, Ong already reported to police and asked them to catch out the blackmailer.
Didn't you feel something strange?
Why the anti-corruption never investigate on their BN parliamentarian,
instead, will try to catch the one who expose and reveal all these corruption case?

If we look back to some older news,
we can found that this case is actually just follow the "procedure" of Polis Diraja Malaysia.

Raja Petra, the one who give proof that Najib, the Deputy Prime Minister,
is involved in Mongolian Corpse Destroy case,
have been detain for slandering.

Bala, the one that give proof that Najib have sex with the Mongolian,
have been kidnapped by some black clothed men.

Anwar Ibrahim, leader of opposition in parliament,
as well as creator of Keadilan,
have been retain for Sodomy Case without single proof,
after giving proof of corruption case of some Police.

Tan, a news reporter of Sin Chew Daily,
once retain under ISA for reported news about Ismail,
that said that Chinese is "tumpang di Malaysia".

Raja Petra, again retain under ISA,
for expose more truth about corruption especially case of Mongolian Corpse.

After looking for so many case,
do you still believe them?
Even Zaid of Barisan already quit his job,
are you still have hope to Barisan National?

Quit dreaming now!

When confronted with their fraud, ACORN's lawyer says it's partly the government's fault:

BONUS: In their five-and-a-half minute story, CNN didn't manage to mention whether ACORN has any ideological or party preferences. I don't want to bash them too much -- after all, they did run the story -- but come on. Not only does this organization work to advance the Democratic party, it is actually paid by the Obama campaign.

(Via Instapundit.)

Vote for Obama

McCain lacks the character and temperament to be president. And Palin is simply a disgrace.

...

It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.

I'm thinking that the neo-con movement is dead.

If you're not from the States and don't know what the electoral college is or why we do it this way, check out this site (or the Wikipedia page is pretty good too). Essentially, instead of a direct popular vote, each state has a number of electors equal to the number of Senators and Representatives in Congress. The larger the state's population, the more Representatives it has, and the more electoral votes it has. For example, California, New York, Texas, and Florida have between 27 and 55 whereas Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota have only three. I don't really want to get into a debate of whether this is good or bad ... at least not right now ... certainly for the election in three weeks, this is the system.

There are a total of 538 total electoral votes, a candidate needs 270 to win the election.

There are several pollster sites out there that update the national map based on daily polling*. Some go into excruciating detail about their methodology. This post is really about defending or criticizing specific pollsters or whether or not this is valid ... blah blah blah ... this is mainly just for fun.

So, today is October 13th, 2008 - the election is three weeks from today.

Here's the map from Pollster.com.

In this version, the deep red are strong McCain, pink are weak McCain, deep blue stong Obama, and light blue weak Obama. The yellow states are considered by this pollster to be a "tossup" at this point (sometimes called a "swing state"). If you go to their site you can hover over each state and get the internal numbers just for that state. The total number of electoral votes for each candidate come from adding the strong and weak states. In this case, Obama has already surpassed 270 by a long shot. But remember, this isn't necessarily a prediction of November 4th, but a prediction if the election were held today based on polling numbers. If you check these day to day, they can change ... although they tend to become more solidified as the election draws near. As an aside, it's quite astonishing that North Dakota, Indiana, West Virginia, and Missouri are "tossup" states on this map!

-

The next map is from RealClearPolitics.com.

Theirs is essentially the same as Pollster.com's - the only differences that they give North Dakota to McCain and give Virginia to Obama.

-

Finally, is a map is from a site called Electoral-Vote.com.

This screenshot was taken on the same day as the other sites above (Oct. 13th, 2008). This site is a bit less hesitant about calling a state. They only show one state (Missouri) as exactly tied and attribute all the other electoral votes to a candidate even if it's close. As a result, they have Obama and McCain with 346 and 181 electoral votes, respectively. There are some differences between theirs and the above maps in the swing states. Again, please visit these sites for all the details about their methodology.

One of the cool features of electoral-vote.com is that they have a button to see "this day in 2004" so you can see what the race looked like on the same day for that election. Below is the electoral map for the 2004 election (Bush vs. Kerry) for October 13th based on polling data.

Although they didn't exactly predict the actual outcome (Bush ended up with 286) the point here is that it was a very close race with three weeks to go. I remember following it and the numbers bounced around a bit but it was always pretty close. If you go back up to the electoral-vote.com map for 2008, note the line on the bottom that says "Dem pickups (vs 2004)" - there are nine states there that Obama is currently polling better than McCain that Bush won four years ago.

Another cool thing about electoral-vote.com is that they have a cartogram option such that the states are sized proportional to their electoral votes (population).

Kinda puts things in perspective.

-

On many of these sites you can play around with the map and make your own. So here it is -- this is my prediction!

Although Obama is polling extraordinarily well for a Democrat in states like North Carolina, West Virginia, Missouri, Nevada, Indiana, and North Dakota I think those will stay red. I'm even going to give Florida to McCain ... Florida is fickle ... difficult to predict. But I will go ahead and turn Virginia blue. Ohio is very close right now, but I think it'll also go Obama.

I could be wrong, but this is what I'm gonna go with (barring some super-duper October surprise that fundamentally changes the race). Also, this prediction assumes no voting "irregularities".

If anyone else wants to make a prediction, link to it in the comments ... could be fun.

-

* The major news networks have electoral maps on their websites but none of them show Obama with more than 270 electoral votes even though polling shows otherwise. This is most likely due to the fact that they want it to be close, they want a horse race ... what else would they talk about? If it weren't a "dead heat" all the time, then you wouldn't tune in to their idiotic commentary 24/7. If Obama's lead opens up even more, watch the major networks drive the narrative that it is "very close".

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The list of dignitaries attending the conference included former UN chief Kofi Annan, former Irish President, Mary Robinson, former Prime Ministers of Italy and France, Romano Podi and Lionel Jospin, former Portuguese President, Jorge Sampaio, Sri lankan ex-President, Sadeq al-Mahdi and former UNESCO Director Fredico Mayor.

This is all seen as a vote of implied support for Khatami and a hope for a new wave of dialog with Iran. Such an influx of foreign dignitaries will attract attention for Khatami and in a country whose people, if not its government, crave international dialog will not be unnoticed there. It is a glimmer of hope for the future of Western relations with Iran.
http://mydailyclarity.com/2008/10/a-hope-for-diplomacy-in-iran/

     “Barack Obama may intend to meet with Iran without preconditions (yes, he did say it, no matter how often he tries to deny it now), but Iran isn’t granting Obama the same courtesy: Iran’s Vice President Sets Two Preconditions for Talks with US.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8707210851

     They’re very simple conditions, really. Just remove all US forces from the Middle East, and abandon Israel to the wolves.

     ‘TEHRAN (FNA)- Vice President for Media Affairs Mehdi Kalhor said on Saturday that Iran has set two preconditions for holding talks with the United States of America.
     In an exclusive interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency, he said as long as U.S. forces have not left the Middle East region and continues its support for the Zionist regime, talks between Iran and U.S. is off the agenda.
     It is the Americans who are in dire need of reestablishing ties with Iran, he underlined.
     Iran is not obliged to reestablish ties with the U.S., he said.
     “If they take our advice, grounds for such talks would be well prepared,” he said.’”