To give of one’s self: to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived…this is to have succeeded.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Holy war is in response to Swiss ban on minarets - and the arrest of Gaddafi’s son for assault
Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi has called for the Muslim world to rise up and wage jihad against Switzerland in the latest escalation of a two-year-old row between the countries.
Colonel Gaddafi told a televised rally to mark the birthday of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad: "Let us wage jihad against Switzerland, Zionism and foreign aggression. Any Muslim in any part of the world who works with Switzerland is an apostate, is against Muhammad, God and the Koran."
The holy war, Gaddafi said, was in response to a Swiss referendum in November 2009 that banned the construction of minarets on mosques.
Gaddafi instructed his fellow Muslims to "go to all airports in the Islamic world and prevent any Swiss plane landing, to all harbours and prevent any Swiss ships docking". The people of Switzerland, a landlocked country which has been at peace for 200 years, surely had no inkling that things would get this bad when, in 2008, their police arrested Gaddafi's son Hannibal at a hotel in Geneva for allegedly assaulting his servants.
Although the charges were later dropped, Gaddafi hit back at Switzerland by cutting off oil supplies, withdrawing billions of dollars from Swiss banks and refusing visas to Swiss citizens. Two Swiss businessmen were also arrested, one of whom is still in a Libyan jail.
The row went Europe-wide when Switzerland submitted a list of top Libyans, including Gaddafi, it said should be banned from the Schengen area, the zone free of border controls which includes all EU countries except Britain and Ireland.
In retaliation, Libya banned visas to all citizens of Schengen countries. It is debatable how serious Gaddafi's call to arms will be taken in the rest of the Muslim world. Given that the majority of countries in the Arab world are dictatorships – and Switzerland is a popular repository for the ill-gotten gains of such regimes – his fellow leaders may object to the insinuation they are "apostates".
His suggestion that Switzerland is in league with Zionism is also ironic. Israeli-Swiss relations are currently at a low ebb following the Alpine country's denunciation in November 2008 of Israel's bulldozing of Palestinian homes, which it called "violations of international humanitarian law" – concerns it repeated six months later.
Dan rented from us for the past five years. In that time he became much more of a friend than a renter. We shared a lot of conversation about a lot of things and shared several meals. Dan had several health issues but his positive outlook and general good nature made you look over his health problems. And so it was a shock when I got the call that Dan was found dead sitting in his car in the driveway. His heart apparently quit working. God rest you Dan. We will miss your smiling face.
All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”……John Donne
Networks like ABC have hyperventilated about the "outrage" of "endangering" soldiers with rifle sights with "secret Bible codes" on them. [0] They worried about Christian proselytizing on the campus of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Will these TV reporters notice as the Air Force responds to the liberal-media complaints by opening an outdoor chapel space for Wiccans and Druids [1]?
If Christians in the military were emblematic of George W. Bush, would the media suggest that this great Pagan Opening is symbolic of the Obama era?
From an offical Academy press release:
The Air Force Academy chapel will add a worship area for followers of Earth-centered religions during a dedication ceremony, which is tentatively scheduled to be held at the circle March 10....
Tech. Sgt. Brandon Longcrier, NCO in charge of the Academy's Astronautics laboratories, worked with the chapel to create the official worship area for both cadets and other servicemembers in the Colorado Springs area who practice Earth-centered spirituality...
The presence of diverse worship areas reflects a sea change from five years ago, when reports surfaced alleging religious intolerance at the Academy. Sergeant Longcrier became Pagan shortly after arriving at the Academy in 2006 and said he believes the climate has improved dramatically.
"When I first arrived here, Earth-centered cadets didn't have anywhere to call home," he said. "Now, they meet every Monday night, they get to go on retreats, and they have a stone circle. ... We have representation on the Cadet Interfaith Council, and I even meet with the Chaplains at Peterson Air Force Base once a year to discuss religious climate."
Earth-centered spirituality includes traditions such as Wicca, Druidism and several other religious paths that, while relatively new, trace their roots to pre-Christian Europe, Sergeant Longcrier said. Gerald Gardner founded the first Wiccan tradition in England in 1952, with neo-Druidism following in the early 1960s.
Some Earth-centered traditions involve the worship of gods and goddesses, whereas others may involve only one deity or none at all. Reincarnation is a popular concept, as is rebirth and celebrating the cycle of the seasons. .... By Tim Graham Created 01/31/2010 - 23:07
