Monday, April 21, 2008

Whose values should we live by?




In the mid 90s, when the United Nations unveiled its now infamous Draft Platform for Action, a series of UN recommendations aimed at accelerating implementation of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, the UN simultaneously initiated an international dialogue on values. The Draft Platform for Action was then considered a radically feminist document which aimed to create a global socio-economic order, wherein the people of the new global village, as it was often called, would find little government, or societal resistance to what were termed alternative lifestyles, redefined family structures, and an entirely new globalized system of laws, based upon new values. The Platform also recommended government control of the lives of women and children in the developing world who had been selected by the elite globalists who were running the UN, to serve the industrialization of the underdeveloped world, pretty much in the same way Western women and children had been exploited and enslaved to serve as the cheap labor that fueled the industrialization of the West.

The entire UN women’s empowerment project, was a bold attempt at re-creating the world according to the vision of feminists like Bella Abzug, a former New York politician turned global corporatist and radical feminist ideologue, and those like her, including the newly conservative Hillary Clinton.

In response, traditionally conservative women, and women of faith, supported by Churches and Mosques, and their affiliate organizations, along with the pro-life movement, mounted an international resistance that sought to oppose the Draft Platform for Action, charging that it threatened national sovereignty, national borders, religious and cultural traditions, religious and political freedoms, and most importantly, family values. The elite corporatists who we now blame for outsourcing US jobs, the mortgage crisis, the healthcare crisis, and the transformation of the US from a beacon of freedom to a warmongering Gestapo state, had already written their blueprint for world dominance, and was shopping it through the UN as the Draft Platform. They were already trolling the planet looking for cheap labor, open markets, and wars. It’s important to note here that these same people are also radical and racists’ population controllers, and Eugenicists who recommended government control of family sizes, and also euthanasia of the elderly, disabled and poor. That should invoke memories of Terry Schiavo and Katrina.

Today, as we look at all of the problems plaguing our world, problems that the conservative and religious coalitions had fought so valiantly to prevent, it seems that we lost the battle. What happened instead of a redirection of UN energies, and moderation of its more radically liberal and feminist tendencies, the UN simply learned a new mainstream language, and created a powerful coalition of its own. Along with feminists, ultra left liberals, elite corporatists, and Wall Street, it seems that along the way to the 21st century, they picked up Judeo/Christian Zionists, and also the Executive branch of the US government, our US Congress, and judiciary. As we patted ourselves on our backs for a job that appeared well done, we have reached 2008 only to realize that what few gains we made in the discussion of values and rights, have been lost. As we returned to our families and jobs, and relaxed our opposition, the world began to change in ways that we can hardly explain except to say, for the worse. It seems now that almost everything we had warned against in the mid 90s has come true, including a renewed attack on families, family values, and religious and political freedoms.

The situation now unfolding in Austin Texas is an example of what we warned against. It seems that we have a government in Texas that believes that it can simply take custody of people’s children because it disagrees with what a family believes and its values. The government seems to believe that if they don’t like you for any reason, or what you believe in, or what religion you practice and the tenets of your faith, they can take your children, even if they have to lie to create a probable cause to come onto your private property to take your kids. They also seem to believe that by taking temporary custody of people’s children, that they can subject your children to all types of medical examinations without your permission, or presence. They also seemingly believe that they can violate a family’s right to privacy by taking cells from the children’s mouths for tests, to determine for a public record, who their natural parents are.

Interestingly, one of the major aspects of the Draft Platform was the role that the media would play in facilitating the implementation of its recommendations. Conferences, meetings and workshops have been held all over the world aimed at getting the media involved, and to teach it how to serve the global transformation that has landed us where we are as a country today. Could the new global order be the parent of entertainment news, and celebrity fixation?

Isn’t it ironic that the same types of lying plot that got us into Iraq got the Texas police into the homes of the FLD Mormons in Texas? The federal government had its Curveball, who lied under torture and said Iraq had a nuclear weapons program that was an imminent threat to the US. The Austin government, by comparison, has a misguided African American woman who allegedly called the Austin police claiming that she was a member of the sect who was being abused. In both cases the motivation of the liars seems to be hatred and revenge against their victims, which made them easily exploited by their handlers, and very convincing to us.

The media for its part, rather than seeking the truth so that it could report honestly and fairly, began a propaganda campaign against the aggrieved families, and their religious sect that puts Hitler’s propagandist to shame. On one late night news entertainment program, the news featured an interview with a man who had written a book condemning the leader of the FLD Mormon sect, calling him Hitler, and a white nationalist, and racist. Neither the journalist, or the author took the time to explain to us what being like Hitler, and white nationalism has to do with parental rights.

Just like there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, if the truth is ever told, we are likely to find out that there was no abuse of those Mormon children in Texas. Just like the quagmire in which we find ourselves in Iraq, the government and judiciary in Austin seems to have created a legal and political quagmire for itself as well. What about those 410 children who are suffering a terrible form of trauma and psychological abuse at the hands of the state? The response from the country so far is muted. Perhaps the country is in shock as we watch the unbelievable unfold before our very eyes, again, or maybe an opposing view just can’t get heard. Time to wake up everybody. The future we all feared is here, and so is the Draft Platform for Action.

This is not an endorsement of Mormonism or Warren Jeffs or polygamy. It is an endorsement of parental rights, family rights, extended family rights, religious and political rights and freedom, and privacy and property rights. It is also a condemnation of what is happening to 410 innocent Mormon children in Austin Texas.

Whose values should we live by?



In the mid 90s, when the United Nations unveiled its now infamous Draft Platform for Action, a series of UN recommendations aimed at accelerating implementation of the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, the UN simultaneously initiated an international dialogue on values. The Draft Platform for Action was then considered a radically feminist document which aimed to create a global socio-economic order, wherein the people of the new global village, as it was often called, would find little government, or societal resistance to what were termed alternative lifestyles, redefined family structures, and an entirely new globalized system of laws, based upon new values. The Platform also recommended government control of the lives of women and children in the developing world who had been selected by the elite globalists who were running the UN, to serve the industrialization of the underdeveloped world, pretty much in the same way Western women and children had been exploited and enslaved to serve as the cheap labor that fueled the industrialization of the West.

The entire UN women’s empowerment project, was a bold attempt at re-creating the world according to the vision of feminists like Bella Abzug, a former New York politician turned global corporatist and radical feminist ideologue, and those like her, including the newly conservative Hillary Clinton.

In response, traditionally conservative women, and women of faith, supported by Churches and Mosques, and their affiliate organizations, along with the pro-life movement, mounted an international resistance that sought to oppose the Draft Platform for Action, charging that it threatened national sovereignty, national borders, religious and cultural traditions, religious and political freedoms, and most importantly, family values. The elite corporatists who we now blame for outsourcing US jobs, the mortgage crisis, the healthcare crisis, and the transformation of the US from a beacon of freedom to a warmongering Gestapo state, had already written their blueprint for world dominance, and was shopping it through the UN as the Draft Platform. They were already trolling the planet looking for cheap labor, open markets, and wars. It’s important to note here that these same people are also radical and racists’ population controllers, and Eugenicists who recommended government control of family sizes, and also euthanasia of the elderly, disabled and poor. That should invoke memories of Terry Schiavo and Katrina.

Today, as we look at all of the problems plaguing our world, problems that the conservative and religious coalitions had fought so valiantly to prevent, it seems that we lost the battle. What happened instead of a redirection of UN energies, and moderation of its more radically liberal and feminist tendencies, the UN simply learned a new mainstream language, and created a powerful coalition of its own. Along with feminists, ultra left liberals, elite corporatists, and Wall Street, it seems that along the way to the 21st century, they picked up Judeo/Christian Zionists, and also the Executive branch of the US government, our US Congress, and judiciary. As we patted ourselves on our backs for a job that appeared well done, we have reached 2008 only to realize that what few gains we made in the discussion of values and rights, have been lost. As we returned to our families and jobs, and relaxed our opposition, the world began to change in ways that we can hardly explain except to say, for the worse. It seems now that almost everything we had warned against in the mid 90s has come true, including a renewed attack on families, family values, and religious and political freedoms.

The situation now unfolding in Austin Texas is an example of what we warned against. It seems that we have a government in Texas that believes that it can simply take custody of people’s children because it disagrees with what a family believes and its values. The government seems to believe that if they don’t like you for any reason, or what you believe in, or what religion you practice and the tenets of your faith, they can take your children, even if they have to lie to create a probable cause to come onto your private property to take your kids. They also seem to believe that by taking temporary custody of people’s children, that they can subject your children to all types of medical examinations without your permission, or presence. They also seemingly believe that they can violate a family’s right to privacy by taking cells from the children’s mouths for tests, to determine for a public record, who their natural parents are.

Interestingly, one of the major aspects of the Draft Platform was the role that the media would play in facilitating the implementation of its recommendations. Conferences, meetings and workshops have been held all over the world aimed at getting the media involved, and to teach it how to serve the global transformation that has landed us where we are as a country today. Could the new global order be the parent of entertainment news, and celebrity fixation?

Isn’t it ironic that the same types of lying plot that got us into Iraq got the Texas police into the homes of the FLD Mormons in Texas? The federal government had its Curveball, who lied under torture and said Iraq had a nuclear weapons program that was an imminent threat to the US. The Austin government, by comparison, has a misguided African American woman who allegedly called the Austin police claiming that she was a member of the sect who was being abused. In both cases the motivation of the liars seems to be hatred and revenge against their victims, which made them easily exploited by their handlers, and very convincing to us.

The media for its part, rather than seeking the truth so that it could report honestly and fairly, began a propaganda campaign against the aggrieved families, and their religious sect that puts Hitler’s propagandist to shame. On one late night news entertainment program, the news featured an interview with a man who had written a book condemning the leader of the FLD Mormon sect, calling him Hitler, and a white nationalist, and racist. Neither the journalist, or the author took the time to explain to us what being like Hitler, and white nationalism has to do with parental rights.

Just like there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, if the truth is ever told, we are likely to find out that there was no abuse of those Mormon children in Texas. Just like the quagmire in which we find ourselves in Iraq, the government and judiciary in Austin seems to have created a legal and political quagmire for itself as well. What about those 410 children who are suffering a terrible form of trauma and psychological abuse at the hands of the state? The response from the country so far is muted. Perhaps the country is in shock as we watch the unbelievable unfold before our very eyes, again, or maybe an opposing view just can’t get heard. Time to wake up everybody. The future we all feared is here, and so is the Draft Platform for Action.

This is not an endorsement of Mormonism or polygamy. It is an endorsement of parental rights, the rights of families and extended families, religious and political rights, and a condemnation of what is happening to 410 innocent children in Austin Texas.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Understanding Qur'an is key to understanding Geert Wilder's Movie

Accusations against Islam as a violent and extreme religion and the misuse of verses of Qur’an to substantiate such allegations are less believable than before. Not because it’s no longer shocking to hear these extreme, emotion charged views, but because such views don’t stand to reason when we consider that Muslims are presently the victims and not the perpetrators of the illegal occupations, torture, murder of civilians, wars and fascism that is so prevalent.

When Steven Emerson, father of the 20th and 21st century’s most extreme and effective Islam bashing, aired his first shockumentary claiming that Muslims were being guided by the Qur’an to take over the world, it might have sounded plausible to non-Muslims, since the world knew very little about Islam, except that it is the world’s fastest growing religion. Even of those who may have believed that Islam was presenting a real challenge to the other major world religions, few perhaps imagined that a take over could mean anything more than being out numbered by converts. It was not until the Oklahoma City bombing, a bombing that was not carried out by Muslims, and Emerson’s biased reporting on that incident, that the public was asked to seriously consider the possibility that Muslims were up to something far more sinister and frightening than mere proselytizing. Whereas the public was slow to accept the idea that Muslims and Islam as a religion might present a threat to US security, our political leadership bought into Emerson’s story hook, line and sinker. Together with many of the leaders of the US religious community, they formed what can only be called a conspiracy to marginalize Islam, and to chill the Constitutional rights of Muslims.

This conspiracy took shape as a media campaign that was followed up by some of our country’s most aggressive and creative prosecutions and law enforcement activity since the days of J. Edgar Hoover and his war against anti-Vietnam war activists, and Black Nationalists. Never in our country’s history has such an assault against a religion, its adherents and the tenets of a faith been carried out so openly and unapologetically. The attacks on 9/11 seemed to confirm every negative and untrue thing that Emerson had said about Islam and Muslims, and even worse, the attacks became justification for the fears that led to the Oklahoma City media backlash, and also for a newly mounted and even more aggressive media campaign fueled by even greater anger, fear, hatred and suspicion following 9/11.

Emerson’s attacks on Muslims and Islam are relevant to the Gert Wilder phenomenon only because Wilder has picked up in Europe where Emerson left off in the US. If history is a teacher, its lesson in respect to people like Emerson and Wilder is that they are supported by cadres of extremists who can and will say and do anything to demonize, vilify and eliminate Islam and Muslims, including perhaps false flag operations. Whereas Muslims and Islam are the obvious targets of these men, their real objectives might be much more troubling. In the US we have seen that Emerson’s initial rhetoric was like prophecy. Prior to Oklahoma City he had` called for allowing secret evidence into US courts, he had also called for warrant less and roving wiretaps. On more than one occasion, Emerson and other Israeli pro-Likud party activists had suggested that the US Constitution made the US vulnerable to terrorism, and hindered the so-called war on terrorism. On more than one occasion they had also suggested that the US should join Israel in what was already being touted in Israel, as a war on terrorism between the Palestinians and the Israelis. As it turns out, much of the more aggressive legal and law enforcement persecution of Muslims both before, and after 9/11, was carried out against Palestinian and pro-Palestinian activists residing in the US, who were vocal in their opposition to the illegal occupation of Palestine.

In hind sight it is clear that Islam and Muslims were only two of three, and possibly four targets of Emerson and his partisans. Along with aiming to eliminate Islam and Muslims, they also seemingly had planned to trash the US Constitution, and to bring the entire US citizenry under their influence through intimidation, and deprivation of rights. This is perhaps where any similarity between Emerson’s and Gert’s campaigns end.

What is unique about Wilmert’s shockumentary is that he aims exclusively at Islam as a religion, while suggesting that all Muslims are strictly obedient to every teaching within the Qur’an. This not only conveys a childish overly simplistic view of religion and the amount of influence that religion has on the average person, it also infers that Wilmert does not know very much, nor does he understand anything about the Qur’an. All of this might also imply that Wilmert is sincere in his fear of Islam and Muslims, and that this fear is the result of his misunderstanding the Qur’an and the meaning of the verses he finds so frightening. Unlike Emerson, who seldom if ever sought to refer to any religious text to substantiate his false claims, Wilmert relies exclusively on the Qur’an and his misunderstandings to justify his fears, and also his hysterical warning. This makes it pretty easy to see that whereas the vilification of Islam and Muslims was merely a means to an end that had more to do with power and politics for Emerson, Wilmert’s target, on the other hand is Islam. His attacks are motivated by his fears, and to him, they are quite real, and based upon what he believes he has discovered within the Qur’an.

Understanding the Qur’an


The Qur’an is a miracle, and that is not an overstatement. It has various levels of meaning that range from the most literal, to the most esoteric. Either figuratively, or literally it provides guidance, sometimes only in principle, on any issue one can imagine. It speaks to each reader individually, and speaks to the world collectively, and it spoke to the prophet Muhammad (sa) intimately. The Qur’an is a conversation between God and the prophet Muhammad to be shared by the prophet, with the world. Its verses not only have meaning, they also have purpose.

When we look at the verses that have frightened and incited Wilmert, it’s easy to understand his fears, and also to dispel them. First it is important to establish the fact that the Qur’an, even though it is relevant throughout time, it has a historical context. In respect to Wilmert’s misunderstanding of the verses, this is only relevant because he has selected verses of the Qur’an that were revealed mostly during times of war. Verse 8:60, which calls upon the prophet Muhammad, who is serving as Commander in Chief of the Muslim armies, to prepare the armies for war, which is perfectly reasonable when understood within this verse’s historic context. The same verse is absolutely terrifying if one believes that every Muslim who picks up the Qur’an and reads this verse is being commanded by God to prepare to go to war against non-Muslims, and to do things that will terrify them, which is obviously what Wilmert believes. It is pure gamesmanship and deceit that has led Wilmert to focus purely on this verse, when the verse that follows it, 8:61, says “but if they (the enemy) incline towards peace, do thou also incline towards peace.” Wilmert’s decision to ignore this verse suggests that he does understand well enough to know that verse 8:61 explains that verse 8:60 is calling the prophet to a defensive military posture, and not an aggressive posture. The same is true for 8:39.

As for the description of hell found in 4:39, there are similar descriptions in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 32: the prophet Moses said, “ For a fire of hell is kindled in my anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains…they will be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction…” Those who study and who understand scriptural literature understand that these stark descriptions serve as deterrents from sin, and also convey the idea that hell will not only destroy the wicked, it will punish them.

Another clue that Wilmert is clueless when it comes to the Qur’an is his use of verse 4:89 to detract from Islam, when in fact 4:89 was revealed to the prophet in respect to fellow Muslim fighters who had betrayed their brethren on the battlefield. By any military standard Muslim and non-Muslim, this act would be punishable by death. Ironically, the verse gave the prophet Muhammad (sa) the option to either sentence them to capital punishment for causing the deaths of other Muslim fighters by their betrayal, or to set them free and disassociate them from the armies, and also the Muslim community. As an example of how important it is to know something about the history of Qur’anic events and verses before drawing any conclusions, those traitors who were the subject of this verse were actually freed and allowed to make restitution, which was to “flee in the way of God” meaning to change their path and direction in life from disobedience to obedience to God and the prophet.

Verse 47:4 is another Qur’anic verse that transmits a command from God to the prophet Muhammad in his role as Commander in Chief of the Muslim armies. The verse doesn’t say anything extraordinary, considering that it is being revealed to a military commander during wartime. In this verse God commands the prophet Muhammad to resist acts of generosity or kindness to the enemy until the war has ended, and to understand that obedience to God in such times, tests the character of a leader, and passing such tests leads to God’s rewards, in this life and the next.

The role of the prophet Muhammad is a role that is unique in respect to the monotheist prophets. The prophet Muhammad served as a spiritual guide and leader, a preacher and teacher, and also as a legislator, judge and military commander. In the Qur’an, God speaks to his prophet and guides and commands him. He explains things to him, and also admonishes him, praises him, and cautions him. In other verses, God tells the prophet what to say to the believers, and also the non-believers, and why.

Wilmert, like many people, even some Muslims, believes that every word spoken in the Qur’an is a command to be carried out by every Muslim, which is not true. This is why it is important for Muslims to understand the hidden danger in handing out the Qur’an like comic books to children. The hadith prohibit this, yet many Muslims do it because they see Evangelicals and others competing for numbers of adherents. God never suggested to Muslims that out strength or piety would result from great numbers. Rather his prophets taught us that our strength and power would come from great faith.

Only those who are knowledgeable about Qur’an should teach Qur’an, and there should never be a Qur’an without a teacher in my view. In this way we prevent misunderstandings that can lead to very serious consequences when people act out of fear, due to their lack of knowledge and understanding. Teachers also help Muslims to understand who we are in the scheme of things, and what commands and guidance relate to us by way of duty and obligation. Just as we` are not all obliged to be teachers of Qur’an and hadith, or tafsir, or fiqh, we are not all called to war, or to command armies. It is also important for non-Muslims to feel welcomed to visit the mosques, and also free to call, and to ask questions, express concerns, etc., and we need Muslims in the mosque who are able to answer questions appropriately and honestly.

I pray that God will guide Gert Wilmert to peace and satisfaction with Islam and his Muslim neighbors, and guide him to use his talents of persuasion to unify people towards good ends like defeating our common enemies such as disease, poverty, oppression, and tyranny and fascism. I pray that God will heal the hearts of Muslims everywhere and give us peace and satisfaction with our faith and with God, so that we might learn to trust God more, and to put our faith in Him always.