featured article:

Bentley takes Officepage 8

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By the time this article is published on our website, the page on the calendar will have turned with the month of February underway. The month of Valentine’s Day, Black History month, and President’s Day, has another special significance this year. Along with all America, Republicans commemorate what would have been the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan. Universally acknowledged as the central figure to modern conservatism and the Republican Party, events and acknowledgements from around the land celebrate this great man, his principled leadership, and his incessant optimism. The man who was the very scourge of the political left, as well as to the “mainstream” media when he was president, Reagan now has become tolerable to those same liberals. To twist a phrase, I guess “time wounds all heals”.

On a related subject, even the most liberal president of all time, Barack Obama, has invoked the name of Ronald Reagan, and the ever-fawning media has graded his recent State of the Union message as “Reagan-esque”. The ultimate “offense’ to conservatives, the cover of the February issue of Time magazine bears a PhotoShopped image of the two “old pals”, The Gipper, with his arm perched buddy-like on the shoulder of President Obama. The cover story title is an equally disgusting “Why Obama ♥ Reagan”. This can only be explained by an information infrastructure so desperate to shore up the object of their affection, they will even resort to attaching him to President Reagan in order to somehow salvage Obama’s shot at a second term.

Since our last issue, a legacy of Reagan has become a reality in Alabama. The Republican majority in both houses of our state legislature has been sworn in, and actually conducted a special session centered on ethics reform in government.

The inauguration of Governor Robert Bentley was accompanied by the swearing-in of Republicans in every constitutional office in the state for the first time since Reconstruction. Only a single statewide office, the place of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is held by a Democrat. Truly, it’s a great time to be a Republican.

The great successes of our party did not come overnight. Although Ronald Reagan is given much credit for the legacy, indeed the foundation was laid before his time, and culminated in the GOP dominance long afterward. Not to make this a history lesson – and I won’t – it is important to emphasize the historic importance of those who have labored for many years, some at a time when their efforts seemed fruitless, as well as those whose foresight, expectations, and preparation enabled the Republican Party to seize the opportunity of the 2010 election. Likewise, there are some who are relatively new to the political scened whose contribution is not merely worthy of mention, but indeed, integral to the successes of 2010. Those for whom politics, elections, and issues were heretofore matters of little interest or concern were energized, impassioned, and engaged in numbers of both great significance and effectiveness. Together, the efforts of veteran activists, seasoned operatives, party regulars, and fervent novices accomplished the resounding election of Republicans in districts all over the state, as well as a clean sweep of every constitutional and statewide elected office for the first time ever.

An equally significant goal lies ahead – governing with the principles and ideals that we all so passionately hold dear. While, as a party, our objective continues to be the election of Republicans, we must recognize that our posture as a political party has changed. Preserving, maintaining, and defending this domain of

Chairman’s CornerBy Freddy Ard

Editor-in-Chief Executive Editor Freddy Ard Alan Reyes-Guerra

Creative Editor Calendar Editor Laura Joseph Gene Weingarten

Managing Editors Jeff Vreeland, Andrew Plaster

Photographers Tom Fridy

Contributing Editors Freddy Ard, Phillip Bryan, Ann Coulter,

Matt Fridy, Frank Gaffney, Mike Hubbard, Gene Koprowski, Randy Mazer,

Rabbi Areych Spero

Paid for by the Shelby County Republican Party

1920 Valleydale Road, Suite 154 Birmingham, AL 35244

205-994-6497 • www.shelbycountygop.org

TABLE OF CONTENTS2 Chairman’s Corner

3 meeting notiCe and guest speaker

4 proposed By-law Change

6 Creating a user- Friendly state house

7 post-eleCtion growth

8 Bentley takes oFFiCe

10 house, senate leaders

11 al gore explains “snowmageddon”

12 Comments on the state oF the union

13 hope, Change, invest

14 muslim Brotherhood

15 liBerals seek to Ban metaphors

16 shariah & Jewish religious Courts

18 our national motto

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QUARTERLY EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING

FEBRUARY 8, 2011 • 7:00 P.M.

County Services Building 1125 County Services Drive, Pelham

* Open to the public

meeting notiCe &guest speaker Beth Chapman

leadership and service, not power, becomes a critical element. Perhaps our party, to some extent, should now reorient at least some of our efforts and focus to provide something of a safeguard for those GOP elected officials now given the charge of governing by those principles. Certainly, accountability should be inherent, but not such that each perceived misstep, mistake, or misunderstood action engenders the proverbial circular firing squad. Wisdom, experience, familiarity, cooperation, and enduring relationships are the critical elements of such accountability, rather than short-lived frustration and over-reaction.

Nevertheless, central to our efforts here in the Shelby County Republican Party is to continue to ensure the election of Republicans to every office on our ballot, maintain and reinforce out party’s position of dominance, and persist in advancing our county’s relevance and significance to the statewide vote.

Moving forward into the 2010-2014 term of our county executive committee that took office last November, we have a team of officers with whom, as your chairman, I am excited and look forward to the opportunity to serve. Along with Marcel Munoz as newly-elected Vice-Chairman, veteran officers Andrew Plaster (Secretary) and Susan Todt (Treasurer) were re-elected to the offices they served so effectively in the previous term. The remainder of the steering committee serving the 2010-2012 term includes: Charles Knight, Finance Director; Jeff Vreeland, Publicity Director; Tim Wolfe, Political Director; Laura Joseph, Research Director, Zone Directors are: Paul Bridger, Gregory Burns, Earl Cunningham, Cindy Dickson, Luke Marshall, Dawn Ray, Judge Dan Reeves, Alan Reyes-Guerra, and Cindy Weems.

On Tuesday, February 8, at 7pm, the Executive Committee of the Shelby County GOP will hold its’ quarterly meeting at the Shelby County Services building in Pelham. Please make every effort to attend as we will be voting on two proposed By-Laws revisions at this meeting. Our guest speaker will be Secretary of State Beth Chapman.

Beth Chapman was elected Alabama’s 51st Secretary of State in November of 2006 after being elected and serving four years as State Auditor.

Secretary Chapman received her B.S. Degree from the University of Montevallo, and her Master’s Degree, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She also completed post-graduate work with a perfect 4.0.

Secretary Chapman was the first woman in Alabama’s history to serve as a Cabinet Member in the capacity of Appointments Secretary for a Governor and later as Press Secretary for a Lt. Governor. In addition, she and her family have owned a successful business for more than a decade.

First elected as State Auditor in 2002, Chapman was responsible for $1.6 billion in property assets. Under her leadership, the State Auditor’s Office produced a record-breaking 96% perfect audit rate among state agencies, holding them to the highest level of accountability.

As Secretary of State, Chapman has streamlined the Business Division of her office and brought them into the 21st Century with electronic online business filings. Chapman created Alabama’s first Voter Fraud Task Force, an investigative branch of her office. She has championed the fight against voter fraud which was highlighted nationally on Fox News. She is also known as a national leader in the

valiant effort to develop military internet voting to better serve members of our military who serve abroad.

Under Chapman’s leadership the number of Alabama voter’s increased by approximately 200,000 and she and her staff successfully conducted the largest Presidential Election in Alabama’s history.

Secretary Chapman was elected to serve on the Executive Board for the Standards Board of the United States Elections Assistance Commission. She is a member of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) and serves as a co-chair of their International Relations Committee.

Secretary Chapman has served as a member of the Governor’s Committee on Accountability and was elected unanimously as a member of Alabama’s Electoral College in 2004 after being elected statewide as a delegate to the 2000 and 2004 National Republican Conventions. Secretary Chapman is the author of three books. One, The Power of Patriotism, received a national award, the distinguished George Washington Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge. She has also written two patriotic speeches, which have been entered into the Congressional Record by Senator Jeff Sessions and Congressman Jo Bonner respectively.

Secretary Chapman has been married to her husband James for twenty one years. They have two sons. The Chapman Family is involved in numerous community and church activities.

Please join us in welcoming Secretary of State Beth Chapman as our special guest on February 8. The Shelby County Services building is located at 1123 County Services Drive in Pelham, right off I-65. Entrance is located in the back of the building.

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proposed Bylaws Change

SECTION

MODIFY

ARTICLE 3, SECTION 8

NEW

ARTICLE 5, SECTION 3

FROM (CURRENT BY LAWS)

A newly elected or appointed member of the Executive committee is a member in good standing. To remain a member of the Executive Committee, a member must be a resident of Shelby County and otherwise fulfill all the requirements of this article. Absence from three consecutive quarterly Executive Committee meetings shall result in the automatic loss of membership on the Committee.The chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer shall review the record of attendance prior to each quarterly meeting of the Executive Committee and shall identify those members who are in good standing. To be eligible for election or appointment to the Committee, a person must be a duly qualified elector of the County. Failure to maintain such eligibility requirements shall, if not corrected with thirty (30) days after notice thereof to such person from the Chairman, result in automatic loss of membership on the Committee. The foregoing provisions relating to attendance do not apply to members of the committee who are on active military duty, and as a result, are unable to attend committee meetings.

TO (PROPOSED CHANGE)

Upon payment of dues, a newly elected or appointed member of the Executive Committee shall be considered in good standing and shall be eligible to participate in all activities of the unit, and shall receive a copy of the current unit By-Laws and Membership Roster.

To remain a member of the Executive Committee, a member must be a resident of Shelby County, whose current dues are paid, and otherwise fulfill all the requirements of this article. Absence from three consecutive quarterly Executive Committee meetings or non-payment of dues shall result in the automatic loss of membership on the Committee.

The chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer shall review the record of attendance prior to each quarterly meeting of the Executive Committee and shall identify those members who are in good standing. To be eligible for election or appointment to the Committee, a person must be a duly qualified elector of the County. Failure to maintain such eligibility requirements shall, if not corrected with thirty (30) days after notice thereof to such person from the Chairman, result in automatic loss of membership on the Committee. The foregoing provisions relating to attendance do not apply to members of the committee who are on active military duty, and as a result, are unable to attend committee meetings.

Individual removed from the active membership list for non-payment of dues may be reinstated upon payment in full of dues.

h. send notices to the members for the January meeting to the effect that dues are payable at the first meeting in January.

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SECTION

MODIFY

ARTICLE 5, SECTION 4

NEW

ARTICLE 13

FROM (CURRENT BY LAWS)

4. The Treasurer shall:a. Maintain all committee funds in areputable financial institution in an account underthe name of The Shelby County RepublicanExecutive Committee;b. Maintain financial records and makefinancial reports;c. Pay all bills upon the written authorizationof the Chairman;d. Make all deposits within two (2) workingdays of receipt and acknowledge as appropriate;e. Serve as member and Treasurer of the

Steering Committee and ex-officio member of the Finance Committee;f. Deliver to the succeeding Treasurer within fifteen (15) days after expiration of term of office, all books, records, and papers, upon receipt of transfer

N/A

TO (PROPOSED CHANGE)

4. The Treasurer shall: a. Maintain all committee funds in a reputable financial institution in an account under the name of The Shelby County Republican Executive Committee;

b. Maintain financial records and make financial reports;

c. Pay all bills upon the written authorization of the Chairman;

d. Make all deposits within two (2) working days of receipt and acknowledge as appropriate;

e. Serve as member and Treasurer of the Steering Committee and ex-officio member of the Finance Committee;

f. Deliver to the succeeding Treasurer within fifteen (15) days after expiration of term of office, all books, records, and papers, upon receipt of transfer

g. Be responsible for the collection of dues from members of the executive committee.

ARTICLE X111 - DUES

Section 1. Dues for membership shall be determined by the members.

Section 2. Dues shall be payable by January 1 of each year. Any member whose dues are not paid 60 days after the due date shall be dropped from active membership. The fiscal year shall commence on the 1st day of January and shall end on the 31st day of December. Notices shall be sent out to the members by the Secretary with the notice for the January meeting to the effect that dues are payable at the first meeting in January.

Section 3. Should a member resign or be removed from membership, dues shall be forfeited. New members joining during October, November and December shall have their dues applied to the following year.

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Unbridled free reign for lobbyists in the hallways and offices of the State House will be a thing of the past thanks to a new effort by House Speaker Mike Hubbard to make the aging building more user-friendly for constituents, lawmakers and staff.

Speaker Hubbard today announced that his office, in conjunction with the office of Senate President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, is conducting a review of current State House protocols and exploring ways to make the State House a more professional working environment for legislators and staff. That will include ending the zoo-like atmosphere created by lobbyists having carte blanch access to hallways and lawmakers offices during session.

“We promised to change the culture of this town, and that includes changing the culture inside this building,” Speaker Hubbard said. “Lobbyists and the special interests they represent have literally run this building for decades. During session, it gets to the point that lobbyists will occupy the offices of lawmakers and staff. This disorganized, zoo-like atmosphere inhibits the ability of real constituents to share their concerns with their elected representatives. That needs to change.”

Rumors and speculation that the legislative leadership intends to cut off public access to lawmakers are misinformed, Speaker Hubbard said.

“No one is going to cut off public access to the State House,” he said. “To the contrary. We are developing a situation that will make constituents feel more at home when they visit the Legislature. Right now, this building is a very intimidating environment for citizens, especially first-time visitors. We want to change that. One opportunity we’re considering is building a system that provides for documented, orderly constituent contact, while also helping lawmakers be more responsive.

speaker huBBard takes steps to Create a “user-friendly” state house

“It’s about customer service,” Speaker Hubbard said. “We want to improve the visitor experience in the People’s House.”

The Speaker’s Office has received positive feedback from House Members about the effort to finally bring order to the chaotic State House environment.

Representative Barry Mask of Wetumpka, who chairs the Legislative Building Authority, said he was encouraged to know his constituents would find it easier to visit him at the State House.

“Reviewing these protocols and making the appropriate changes is the right thing to do,” Representative Mask said. “Visitors from my district should never feel intimidated by the lobbyist-dominated culture that has existed up until now.” One lawmaker, Representative Jim McClendon of Springville, said he once opened his own office door to find the room full of lobbyists and cigarette smoke billowing out.

“My office smelled like an ashtray,” Representative McClendon said. “That just speaks to the attitude of ownership some lobbyists have held around here. I’ve had constituents try to visit me at the State House and wind up getting lost in the gaggle of lobbyists that will occupy the hallways and offices. There is a more professional, orderly way to do things and I’m looking forward to seeing those changes made. ”

Still another lawmaker, Representative Kurt Wallace of Maplesville, said he was surprised at how much leeway was given to lobbyists when he first came to the State House for the Special Session last December.

“My first day in the Legislature, I had lobbyists literally walk right into my office, take their coats off, sit down and make themselves at home without saying a word,” Representative Wallace said. “I could hardly believe my eyes. They acted like it was their office. I’ve spent a lot of years in business and I have never had a salesman barge into my office and just make himself at home like that. It just isn’t professional. That just speaks to the culture that has permeated this place for so long, and I’m glad we’re changing it.”

Representative Richard Laird of Roanoke said he has missed votes due to his inability to navigate hallways clogged with lobbyists.

“It’s like running a gauntlet when a vote is called,” Representative Laird said. “The Speaker is right on target on his efforts to change the culture around here. It’s a new day at the State House.”

Though no specific changes have been put into place, the Speaker’s Office is continuing to review current procedures and will propose policy changes soon.

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Continuing a trend that will soon make Alabama among the most Republican states in the nation, ten more elected officials spread across two counties on Monday announced their decisions to leave the Democrat Party and join the Alabama Republican Party.

Each of the following elected officials notified Alabama Republican Party officials of their intent to switch parties:

alaBama repuBliCan party Continues post-eleCtion growth

By JOHN rOSS

Tuscaloosa County Sherriff Ted Sexton;

Covington County District Judge Trippy McGuire;

Covington County Circuit Judge Lex Short;

Covington County Sherriff Dennis Meeks;

Covington County Commissioner Bragg Carter;

Covington County School Board Chairman John Clark;

Covington County School Board Member Jeff Bailey;

Covington County School Board Member Jimmy Rodgers;

Covington County School Board Member Linda Powell;

Covington County Coroner Norman Hobson.

With only a few weeks remaining in his term as Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard (R-Auburn) continues to

make every effort to further build on the tremendous success the Party enjoyed in November under his leadership and welcomed the elected officials into the fold.

“We are excited to welcome these individuals to the Alabama Republican Party. Each are highly respected in their counties and we are honored they have chosen to join us,” Hubbard said. “2010 was an historic election cycle for Alabama Republicans and I’m proud to see our success spilling over into 2011. The future of our Party has never been brighter.

“I am grateful to the local Republican elected officials and party leaders in Covington and Tuscaloosa Counties,” he continued. “They were instrumental in continuing our Republican momentum by encouraging these changes and we deeply appreciate the time and effort they have put into growing our Party for so many years.”

steering CommitteeFreddy Ard Chairman

Marcelo Munoz Vice Chairman

Andrew Plaster Secretary

Susan Todt Treasurer

Charles Knight Finance Director

Jeff Vreeland Publicity Director

Tim Wolfe Training Director

Laura Joseph Research Director

Dan Reeves Zone Director 1

Earl Cunningham Zone Director 2

Paul Bridger Zone Director 3

Gregory Burns Zone Director 4

Cynthia Dickson Zone Director 5

Cindy Weems Zone Director 6

Dawn Ray Zone Director 7

Alan Reyes-Guerra Zone Director 8

Luke Marshall Zone Director 9

Lindsey Allison Legal/Parliamentarian

2011 meeting sChedulueTuesday, January 18, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, February 08, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, February 08, 2011 Executive Committee 7:00PM COMMUNITY

Tuesday, March 08, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, May 10, 2011 Executive Committee 7:00PM COMMUNITY

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, July 12, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, August 09, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, August 09, 2011 Executive Committee 7:00PM COMMUNITY

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, October 11, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, November 08, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

Tuesday, November 08, 2011 Executive Committee 7:00PM COMMUNITY

Tuesday, December 13, 2011 Steering Committee 6:00PM CONFERENCE

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Bentley takes Office

By seBastian kitcHen for tHe MOntgOMery adVertiser

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Retired Tuscaloosa dermatologist Robert Bentley took the oath of office to become Alabama’s 53rd governor Monday, noting that the state has significant challenges, vowing to create jobs, and taking aim at the federal government.

Bentley taking the oath of office to become governor was the highlight of a day full of events that included a parade, a family friendly event at Riverwalk Stadium, the swearing in of other state officeholders, a variety of receptions and parties, and the inaugural ball.

The Bentley inauguration was intentionally a more low-key affair than some previous events, which his staff said was due to the economic climate.

While he admitted the state and its people are struggling financially, Bentley struck an optimistic tone during his speech at the Capitol following his swearing in.

“Working together, we’re going to get through these tough times,” he said. “We’re going to put Alabama back to work. And I truly believe Alabama’s best days are ahead.”

Bentley, who was also a two-term Republican state legislator, said he has always been an optimist -- maybe from his time as a doctor. Doctors, he said, cannot cure every disease.

“Working together, you can come up with solutions,” Bentley said.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, a Democrat, swore in Bentley. Following his swearing in at the Capitol and before he delivered his address, the 117th Field Artillery Unit of the Alabama National Guard fired off a booming 19-gun salute. The 19 shots are commensurate with the rank of governor.

Bentley succeeds popular two-term Republican Gov. Bob Riley, a former congressman and businessman from Clay County.

Bentley thanked Riley and his wife, Patsy, who did not attend the inauguration. Bentley said that Riley and his staff made for a seamless transition of power between the two administrations.

After Monday’s celebration, Bentley begins his first full day of work today. His schedule includes him swearing in his staff.

Bentley won the four-year term in office in November at the top of a ticket that Republicans dominated. All of those statewide officers sworn in with him Monday were Republicans and, for the first time in more than 130 years, the Legislature is controlled by Republicans.

Bentley said the new Legislature already passed ethics reform, allowing lawmakers to focus on helping people “instead of arguing about getting our own house in order.”

He said people are tired of business as usual, tired of partisan politics and most of them are tired of the federal government.

“We will work with the federal government when we can, but they will not dictate our every move,” Bentley said with most of the state’s congressional delegation in attendance.

Bentley told state employees he now expects them to find ways to help the state create jobs, saying they needed to do whatever could be done to help businesses. He said he would order state agencies to make job creation a priority.

“I want you to know I will work every day to create jobs in the private sector,” Bentley said.

Existing businesses, he said, should receive the same tax breaks and tax incentives as new industry the state is trying to recruit.

And Bentley repeated his popular campaign promise not to take a paycheck as governor until Alabama reaches full employment, which he has said is 5.2 percent unemployment.

House Speaker Mike Hubbard, R- Auburn, agreed with Bentley that they need to pull together to create jobs. He said they are looking at incentives such as tax credits and tax cuts that could help small businesses create jobs.

House Majority Leader Micky Hammon, R-Decatur, said he appreciated the tone of Bentley’s speech, with him asking public officials to serve the people and to work together to solve problems rather than worry about the next election.

“I hope he keeps that tone for the next four years,” Hammon said.

Hammon, an outspoken proponent of immigration reform, said he liked Bentley’s stand against intrusion from Washington, which he said is overstepping its bounds.

He also agreed with Bentley’s plea for public officials to be honest, ethical and to work for the people.

Hubbard believes it will help Bentley that he served two terms in the Alabama House of Representatives. He said Bentley knows how the system works.

Hubbard, a strong Riley supporter, appreciated that Bentley was very gracious toward the outgoing governor in his speech.

Bentley, a candidate many political observers counted out of the governor’s race from the beginning, finished a tight but surprising second place in the Republican primary, forcing a runoff with former two-year college Chancellor Bradley Byrne.

Since squeezing into the second slot in the primary, Bentley was the frontrunner. He easily won the runoff and easily defeated agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks in the general election.

Bentley said during his speech that Alabama was a great state, allowing him as a man of humble beginnings to grow up and become its leader.

Bentley said he felt like he had been on a job interview for the past 18 months, a time in which he spent much of his own money and dipped into his savings and retirement to stay on the campaign trail.

“I now work for you, the citizens of Alabama,” he said.

Bentley, even though he ran as a conservative Republican, also vowed to be the “governor of all Alabama.”

Bentley admitted he was taking office at a difficult time.

“I know these are challenging times for many of our citizens,” he said. “I’ve looked into the eyes of those who’ve lost jobs and can’t feed their families.”

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Legislators in organizational session on Tuesday re-elected Republican Rep. Mike Hubbard of Auburn as House speaker and Republican Sen. Del Marsh of Anniston as Senate president pro tem.

They had been elected to those positions by their respective members during the December special session, but their selections were required again during the organizational session held at the beginning of each four-year legislative term.

Hubbard and Marsh were the only nominees. Rep. Victor Gaston, R-Mobile, was elected speaker pro tem.

Hubbard, 48, is in his fourth term.

“Since you gave me the honor of being speaker, I promise I will be fair and I will meet with everyone and will be above board,” Hubbard said. “My office will always be open.”

Marsh, 54, is in his third term. Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills, is the Senate Majority Leader.

“The rules will be fair to the body and will allow everyone to represent their districts,” Marsh said.

Senate committee assignments made for the session that begins March 1 and for the next four years reveal the tangible benefit of Republicans gaining control of both the House and Senate for the first time in 136 years.

All Senate committees are chaired by Republicans and have Republican majorities.

The powerful, agenda-setting Senate Rules Committee will be chaired by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. Vice chairman will be Sen. Jimmy Holley, R-Elba. The committee has four Democrats.

The Senate Finance and Taxation Education Committee will be chaired by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose. Vice chairman is Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville. The 12-member committee includes four Democrats.

huBBard, marsh again eleCted as leaders of house, senate

By DAnA BeyeRLe for THe TimeS monTgomeRy BuReAu

The 12-member Finance and Taxation General Fund Committee is chaired by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur. Four Democrats were assigned to the committee including Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, the former General Fund committee chairman.

Freshman Sen. Phil Williams, R-Rainbow City, was assigned to the committee. He said he asked to be on the committee because he’s interested in new ways to budget.

“It’s going to be a tough year,” Williams said. “We need to look at (Rep. Greg) Canfield’s rolling budget reserve idea. I believe in budgeting where we’ve been rather than where we are going.”

Canfield’s proposal is to average out past years’ growth in budgets and use the average to plan future budgeting.

Williams also was chosen to chair the Senate Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability Committee.

Snow and ice in north Alabama prevented some legislators from the session.

“I had to use my son’s 10-year-old four-wheel drive truck to get down here,” Bedford said. He said he had 12 inches of snow Sunday and Monday in his yard.

The organizational session will reconvene today and then will adjourn until Jan. 18, the day after Gov.-elect Robert Bentley and other statewide elected officials take office.

Here are other Senate committees, their chairpersons and local members:

Confirmations: Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Mountain Brook, chairman.

Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability: Williams, chairman; Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville.

Judiciary: Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, chairman; Williams.

Governmental Affairs: Sen. Jimmy Holley, chairman; Bedford, vice chairman.

Education: Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Pike Road, chairman.

Constitution, Campaign Finance, Ethics and Elections: Sen. Bryan Taylor, R-Prattville, chairman; Williams, vice chairman; Sen. Shad McGill, R-Woodville.

Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry: Sen. Tom Whatley, R-Auburn, chairman; McGill, Scofield.

Banking and Insurance: Sen. Slade Blackwell, R-Birmingham, chairman; Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, vice chairman;

Small Business: Sen. Shad McGill, R-Woodville, chairman; Williams.

Job Creation and Economic Development: Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, chairman; Sen. Slade Blackwell, vice chairman; Scofield, Williams;

Commerce, Transportation and Utilities: Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, chairman; McGill, Scofield.

Health: Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, chairman.

Energy and Natural Resources: Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, co-chairs;

Tourism and Marketing: Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Guntersville, chairman.

Business and Labor: Sen. Rusty Glover, R-Semmes, chairman; McGill, Scofield.

Children, Youth Affairs and Human Resources: Sen. Paul Bussman, R-Cullman, chairman;

Veterans and Military Affairs: Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison; Williams.

Local Legislation No. 1: Sen. Gerald Dial, R-Lineville, chairman; Williams.

LL2: Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, chairman;

LL3: Brooks, chairman.

LL4: Sanford, chairman; McGill, Scofield.

11

If the planet is warming, why is a third of America locked in a deep

freeze, with record-low temperatures as far south as the Mexican border, where the thermometer in Ciudad Juarez plummeted Wednesday night to a bone-chilling 9-below zero?

Self-proclaimed planetary climate czar Al Gore thinks he has answer.

“As it turns out, the scientific community has been addressing this particular question for some time now, and they say increased heavy snowfalls are completely consistent with what they have been predicting as a consequence of man-made global warming,” Gore write in a blog post. The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president was responding to a question posed by Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, who wondered on air why global warming was such an urgent science policy priority when the New York City area had become a “tundra” this winter.

Gore also indicated that he believes a rise in global temperatures is creating “all sorts of havoc,” from hotter dry spells to colder winters and ever more violent storms. This is even endangering certain species of animals and leading to forest fires and floods.

But not surprisingly, some climate-change skeptics are a bit hot under the collar over Gore’s “scientific” explanation.

“Gore’s statement actually indicates a deeper problem -- lack of precise predictions,” said Dr. William M. Briggs, a statistician and climate scientist. His research shows that there are no increased weather problems because of global warming, Briggs told FoxNews.com.

“He’s saying that anything bad that happens must be because global warming caused it. Activists like Gore are great at identifying events after the fact as being caused by global warming, but terrible at predicting them beforehand,” Briggs said.

al gore explains ‘snowmageddon’By Gene J. KoprowsKi for FOXNeWS.COM

Meteorologist Art Horn agreed, noting the extensive history of devastating weather over the millennia -- none of which he connects with global warming.

“If one actually studies the history of weather over the last 2,000 years, you see massive storms, amazing heat, brutal cold waves, devastating droughts, terrible floods and disastrous hurricanes -- none caused by global warming,” he told FoxNews.com.

“Gore has no appreciation for large natural variability in weather,” Horn said.

Other scientists were quick to leap to Gore’s support, arguing that the extreme cold weather is a logical, expected outcome for our warming planet.

“It’s not hard at all to get temperatures cold enough for snow in a world experiencing global warming,” meteorologist Jeffrey Masters told FoxNews.com. “There will still be colder than average winters in a world that is experiencing warming with plenty of opportunities for snow.”

The contretemps over global warming and winter weather -- and the bickering among scientists about man’s effect on the climate -- has had a profound impact on public opinion around the globe.

A January poll by Rasmussen Reports indicates that Americans are still more inclined to believe global warming is primarily caused by long-term planetary trends, although the gap narrowed a bit this month. But Americans don’t blame global warming for this winter’s weather.

Skepticism is very clearly increasing overseas; a poll released this week by the Office for National Statistics in the U.K. indicated that the number of climate skeptics there had nearly doubled during the last four years. The proportion of people who said they were “not very concerned” about global warming now numbers more than one in five, the U.K. government said.

But many still argue that global warming is real, and the ultimate cause of the wretched weather. One environmental consultant

pointed FoxNews.com to an article that detailed a polar bear’s nine-day swim to find an ice raft for refuge -- due to global warming’s impact on the environment of Alaska.

Others take a less anecdotal approach, and say that pure science supports Gore’s global-warming argument.

“It’s basic atmospheric physics,” said Meg Wilcox, a spokeswoman for Ceres, a national network of investors and environmental organizations. “Warmer air holds more moisture. This fact is apparent when you see water vapor hanging in the air after turning off a hot shower. When warm air holding moisture meets cooler air, the moisture condenses into tiny droplets that will fall as precipitation, rain or snow, depending upon atmospheric conditions.”

Warm air meets cold air seems simple enough. So why can’t scientists agree?

If it all seems confusing and contradictory, other experts say, the real blame lies not with the climate, or with science, or even scientists or former politicians, but with the incompetent media for failing to provide critical context for readers.

“The last 2,000 years is full of incredible weather events that dwarf what we see today,” said Horn. “Nature isn’t cooperating with the global warming camp and theory.”

He points to a New York Times story from the 1970s, which said the planet was getting so cold that humanity was in danger of starving to death. The article argued that the world’s weather would soon be so frigid that it could no longer permit the cultivation of crops for food. The Times’ headline on August 8, 1974, was simple enough: “Climate changes Endanger World’s Food Output.”

“First we were told the world was cooling. Then it was getting hotter,” Dan Gainor, a spokesman for the Media Research Center, tells FoxNews.com. “Then cooling again. Then hotter. Now it’s just climate change -- so they can’t be wrong no matter what change occurs.”

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Here are responses from members of Alabama’s congressional delegation to tonight’s State of the Union address:

“I heard very little about real deficit reduction, a major concern on the minds of the American people. His plan to freeze spending for five years falls short of what is needed

to seriously begin the process of reversing our government debt which threatens our nation’s future.” Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile

“The American people know that the debt is a huge roadblock to economic recovery. Spending cuts must come first and they must be significant. ‘Targeted

investment’ is a glorified phrase for more spending. Although the nation’s infrastructure is important, dressing up government spending as an ‘investment’ does not change the bottom line. Spending requires revenues, and revenues require taxation or borrowing.” Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills.

alaBama Congressional delegation responds to president oBama’s state of the union address

By mARy oRnDoRff for The BirminGham news

“After the American people spoke out overwhelmingly in November, it is no secret they want our country to make a 180 degree turn to focus on jobs and job

creation. The out of control spending spree President Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress went on over the last two years has not helped our tough economic climate improve. It is my hope the new Republican House will work to help make that economic U-turn by cutting spending, repealing Obamacare, and working to enact economic policies that help create jobs.” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks.

“The best investment that we can make for our nation, right now, is fiscal discipline, so that future generations aren’t harmed by our enormous debt. We should go beyond a

budget freeze at the bloated 2010 spending levels, and we should cut non-security spending at 2008 levels, which is before the failed stimulus package and bailouts.” Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville

“Not many state of the union speeches get implemented into legislation. This is probably no exception. I’ll give the president the benefit of the doubt, but we’ll examine

every proposal he made tonight and see what we can do.” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.

“The president did not lead. He had no goal that I could see that was significant with regard to spending and deficits. The unsustainable spending, the unsustainable surging

deficits cannot continue.” Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

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I missed the middle section of Obama’s State of the Union address when I

took a break to read “War and Peace,” but I gather he never got around to what I was hoping he’d say, which is: “What was I thinking?”

The national debt is $14 trillion, the Democrats won’t stop spending, and President Nero gave us a long gaseous speech about his Stradivarius.

I feel so Southern whenever I watch a Democrat give a State of the Union address -- and not just because it makes me want to secede. Consternating the rest of the family, my Kentucky mother always talked back to the TV. I do it only when a Democrat is giving a speech.

And if liberals didn’t like Samuel Alito mouthing the words “not true,” they should be really happy I wasn’t in the House chamber Tuesday night.

All I kept hearing was, “Ann pays more.” That’s all I ever I hear when Democrats start in with all that “investing.”

Apparently the government will be “investing” in education, “investing” in technology, “investing” in roads and “investing” in lots and lots of government workers. Ann pays more, Ann pays more, Ann pays more.

Obama compared “investing” in education to our sending a man to the moon after the Russians launched Sputnik. Say, who was the president who recently gutted spending on NASA? Oh yes, that was Obama.

So he reminded us of the glory days of the space program, but now he’s taking that money and funneling it to public school teachers. As the Democrats say: “If we can put a man on the moon, why can’t we hire another 10,000 public school teachers?”

Also, solar panels. Obama said the government was already “investing” in solar panels! That’s a total relief. This must be how the president who brought us

hope, Change, and ‘invest

By Ann CouLTeR

“Recovery Summer” is going to dig us out of the second Great Depression.

But I do wonder why no private lender considered solar panels a wise investment, forcing solar panel manufacturers to turn to the government for loans, followed by endless tax credits just to break even.

I guess people who work for the government are just smarter. We’re so lucky to have them “investing” our money for us! Boy, egg must be on Warren Buffett’s face!

Remember how massive government “investments” gave rise to the telephone, the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane, the personal computer ... OK, none of those.

But massive government expenditures did give us Amtrak and the TSA!

The only thing Obama vowed to cut were “earmarks.” Yippee! The guy with the ears is against earmarks. Yes, the same president who quadrupled our deficit by giving money away to his UAW pals, Wall Street cronies and government workers is now lecturing us about earmarks. This is a bit like being scolded by Charlie Sheen for ordering a second wine cooler.

You knew it was bad when John McCain leapt up and enthusiastically applauded. The last time I saw McCain applaud Obama like that was when he debated him.

Obama said, “We are the nation that put cars in driveways and computers in offices; the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers; of Google and Facebook.”

And then the government outlawed Edison’s great invention, made the Wright brothers’ air travel insufferable, filed anti-trust charges against Microsoft and made cars too expensive to drive by prohibiting oil exploration, and right now -- at this very minute -- is desperately trying to regulate the Internet.

On the bright side, President Al Gore would have actually outlawed the cars in those driveways.

I especially enjoyed his pitch for high-speed trains where you “don’t have to receive pat-downs.” At least until one of those Muslims who is “part of our American family” blows one up -- at which point they’ll be staffed with armies of genital-fondling, unionized TSA agents on the public dime.

Still, I can’t wait for Obama’s America. An America where I can use lightning-fast, high-speed Internet to file electronically for my unemployment benefits. Or better yet, I can ditch my old “oil-powered” car and take a “sunlight and water”-powered high-speed train to the unemployment office for a change.

And I hear CalTech is working on biofuels to power “Recovery Summer 2011.”

The big laugh line was when Nero said mockingly, “I heard rumors that a few of you still have concerns about the health care law.” That’s called “60 percent of the American public.” It’s not a joke, and it’s not funny.

Here’s one: Hey, Obama! Guy walks into a bar in the Gaza Strip. The bartender says, “What’ll you have?” But the guy is killed instantly when an Iranian-made CT-28 missile strikes the bar, also killing a woman and small child next door. Get it, Obama? HA HA!

Synthesizing Karl Marx and Ronald Reagan, Obama said the government will soon be taking over every aspect of our lives, and Republicans can’t stop him -- but gosh, isn’t America a great country! Teachers are great, we need to innovate, children are our future, we need paved roads, kids should do their homework, Labrador puppies are cute, I like apple pie, I (heart) Justin Bieber, and how about them Yankees! Now, here’s your 2011 tax bill -- how would you like to pay for that?

Actually, I was glad to hear him say that “there isn’t a person here” -- which presumably included Democrats -- who would live anyplace else.

Then why are they always trying to turn us into Western Europe?

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Suddenly, Washington is consumed with a question too long ignored: Can we safely do business with the Muslim Brotherhood?

The reason this question has taken on such urgency is, of course, because the Muslim Brotherhood (or MB, also known by its Arabic name, the Ikhwan) is poised to emerge as the big winner from the chaos now sweeping North Africa and increasingly likely to bring down the government of the aging Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak.

In the wake of growing turmoil in Egypt, a retinue of pundits, professors and former government officials has publicly insisted that we have nothing to fear from the Ikhwan since it has eschewed violence and embraced democracy.

For example, Bruce Reidel, a controversial former CIA analyst and advisor to President Obama, posted an article entitled “Don’t Fear Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood” at the Daily Beast. In it, he declared: “The Egyptian Brotherhood renounced violence years ago, but its relative moderation has made it the target of extreme vilification by more radical Islamists. Al Qaeda’s leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri, started their political lives affiliated with the Brotherhood but both have denounced it for decades as too soft and a cat’s paw of Mubarak and America.”

Then, there was President George W. Bush’s former press spokeswoman, Dana Perino, who went so far on January 28th as to tell Fox News “…And don’t be afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. This has nothing to do with religion.”

One reason we might be misperceiving the MB as no threat is because a prime source of information about such matters is the Muslim Brotherhood itself. As the

the muslim Brotherhood is the enemy

By FranK GaFFneY for Big PeACe

Center for Security Policy’s new, best-selling Team B II report entitled, Shariah: The Threat to America found: “It is now public knowledge that nearly every major Muslim organization in the United States is actually controlled by the MB or a derivative organization. Consequently, most of the Muslim-American groups of any prominence in America are now known to be, as a matter of fact, hostile to the United States and its Constitution.”

In fact, for much of the past two decades, a number of these groups and their backers (including, notably, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal) have cultivated extensive ties with U.S. government officials and agencies under successive administrations of both parties, academic centers, financial institutions, religious communities, partisan organizations and the media. As a result, such American entities have been subjected to intense, disciplined and sustained influence operations for decades.

Unfortunately, the relationships thus developed and the misperceptions thus fostered are today bearing poisonous fruit with respect to shaping U.S. policy towards the unfolding Egyptian drama.

A notable example is the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). A federal judge in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial – which successfully prosecuted the nation’s largest terrorism financing conspiracy – found that CAIR was indeed a front for the Ikhwan’s Palestinian affiliate, Hamas. Nonetheless, Fox News earlier today interviewed the Executive Director of CAIR’s Chicago office, Ahmed Rehab, whom it characterized as a “Democracy Activist.”

True to form, Rehab called for the removal of Mubarak’s regime and the institution of democratic elections in

Egypt. This is hardly surprising since, under present circumstances, such balloting would likely have the same result it did in Gaza a few years back: the triumph of the Muslim Brotherhood and the institution of brutally repressive theocratic rule, in accordance with the totalitarian Islamic politico-military-legal program known as shariah.

An important antidote to the seductive notions being advanced with respect to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt – and, for that matter, in Western nations like ours – by the Ikhwan’s own operatives, their useful idiots and apologists is the Team B II report. It should be considered required reading by anyone who hopes to understand, let alone to comment usefully upon, the MB’s real character and agenda.

For example, Shariah: The Threat to America provides several key insights that must be borne in mind in the current circumstances especially:

“The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. Its express purpose was two-fold: (1) to implement shariah worldwide, and (2) to re-establish the global Islamic State (caliphate).

“Therefore, Al Qaeda and the MB have the same objectives. They differ only in the timing and tactics involved in realizing them.

“The Brotherhood’s creed is: ‘God is our objective; the Koran is our law; the Prophet is our leader; jihad is our way; and death for the sake of Allah is the highest of our aspirations.’”

It is evident from the Creed, and from the Brotherhood’s history (and current activities)…that violence is an inherent part of the MB’s tactics. The MB is the root of the majority of Islamic terrorist groups in the world today.

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The Muslim Brotherhood is the ‘vanguard’ or tip-of-the-spear of the current Islamic Movement in the world. While there are other transnational organizations that share the MB’s goals (if not its tactics) – including al Qaeda, which was born out of the Brotherhood – the Ikhwan is by far the strongest and most organized. The Muslim Brotherhood is now active in over 80 countries around the world.

Of particular concern must be the purpose of the Brotherhood in the United States and other nations of the Free World:

“…The Ikhwan’s mission in the West is sedition in the furtherance of shariah’s supremacist agenda, not peaceful assimilation and co-existence with non-Muslim populations.”

“The Ikhwan believes that its purposes in the West are, for the moment, better advanced by the use of non-violent, stealthy techniques. In that connection, the Muslim Brotherhood seeks to establish relations with, influence and, wherever possible, penetrate: government circles in executive and legislative branches at the federal, state and local levels; the law enforcement community; intelligence agencies; the military; penal institutions; the media; think tanks and policy groups; academic institutions; non-Muslim religious communities; and other elites.

“The Brothers engage in all of these activities and more for one reason: to subvert the targeted communities in furtherance of the MB’s primary objective – the triumph of shariah.”

In short, the Muslim Brotherhood – whether it is operating in Egypt, elsewhere in the world or here – is our enemy. Vital U.S. interests will be at risk if it succeeds in supplanting the present regime in Cairo, taking control in the process not only of the Arab world’s most populous nation but its vast, American-supplied arsenal. It is no less reckless to allow the Brotherhood’s operatives to enjoy continued access to and influence over our perceptions of their true purposes, and the policies adopted pursuant thereto.

After the monstrous shooting in Arizona last week, surely we can all agree that we’ve got to pass Obama’s agenda immediately and stop using metaphors.

At least I think that’s what the mainstream media are trying to tell me.

Liberals instantly leapt on the sickening massacre at a Tucson political event over the weekend to accuse tea partiers, Sarah Palin and all conservatives who talk out loud of being complicit in murder by inspiring the shooter, Jared Loughner.

Of course, to make their case, they first must demonstrate:

(a) Right-wingers have called for violence against anyone, especially conservative, pro-Second Amendment Democratic congresswomen;

(b) Loughner was listening to them; and

(c) Loughner was influenced by them.

They’ve proved none of this. In fact, it’s nearly the opposite.

Needless to say, no conservative has called for violence against anyone. Nor has any conservative engaged in any “rhetoric” that was likely to lead to violence. Every putative example of “violent rhetoric” these squeamish liberals produce keeps being matched by an identical example from the Democrats.

Sarah Palin, for example, had a chart of congressional districts being targeted by Republicans. So did the Democratic Leadership Committee. Indeed, Democratic consultant Bob Beckel went on Fox News and said he invented the bull’s-eye maps.

Similarly, every time liberals produce an example of military lingo from a Republican -- “we’re going to target this district” -- Republicans produce five more from the Democrats.

President “whose asses to kick” Obama predicted “hand-to-hand combat” with his political opponents and has made such

liBeral seek Ban on metaphors in wake of arizona shooting

By Ann CouLTeR

remarks as “if they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun” -- making Obama the first American president to advocate gun fights since Andrew Jackson.

These are figures of speech known as “metaphors.” (Do liberals know where we got the word “campaign”?)

It’s not that both sides did something wrong; neither side did anything wrong. The drama queens need to settle down.

The winner of the most cretinous statement of 2011 -- and the list is now closed, so please hold your submissions -- is MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, who on Monday night recalled Palin’s statement, “We’re not retreating, we’re reloading,” and said, I quote, “THAT’S not a metaphor.”

Really, Chris? If that’s not a metaphor, who did she shoot?

By blaming a mass killing on figures of speech, liberals sound as crazy as Loughner with his complaints about people’s grammar. Maybe in lieu of dropping all metaphors, liberals should demand we ban metonyms so that tragedies like this will never happen again.

As for Loughner being influenced by tea partiers, Fox News and talk radio -- oops, another dead-end. According to all available evidence, Loughner is a liberal.

Every friend of Loughner who has characterized his politics has described him as liberal. Not one called him a conservative.

One friend says Loughner never listened to talk radio or watched the TV news. Throw in “never read books” and you have the dictionary definition of a liberal. Being completely uninformed is precisely how most liberals stay liberal.

… continued, page 20

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Many stealth jihadists pushing to have Shariah law instead of American civil law govern American Islamic communities are making the preposterous claim that Shariah Courts are similar to Jewish religious courts that observant Jews often use to adjudicate intra-community disputes. This is entirely inaccurate given that Shariah has as its goal the replacement of American law with Shariah, whereas Beit Din, Jewish religious court, limits its purview and has no intent or desire to flout American law.

Over 1800 years ago, the Talmudic Rabbi Samuel set the tone of how Jews were to interact with the laws of Babylonia, which had become the primary residence of the Jewish People after its exile from Israel. His statement and decision has guided the Jewish community throughout their dwellings in new lands: “The law of the land is the law.”

nO cOMparisOn: sHariaH and JewisH religiOus cOurts

By RABBi ARYEh SPERO for THE AMERIDCAN THINKER

Rabbi Samuel understood, as did all subsequent rabbinic figures, that dwelling in a land and being a good citizen meant living by its laws and standards. Naturally, many aspects of Jewish religious life differed from that of the host culture, such as the requirement to eat kosher food, observe the Sabbath and abstain from bread on Passover, and Rabbi Samuel would have been the first to reject any attempt by the State to prohibit our core religious observances. In the spirit of Render unto Caesar that which is his and unto God that which is His, Rabbi Samuel demarcated between religious law and civil law. His intellectual honesty lay in not allowing the subterfuge of categorizing civil law as “religious” law, which would have effectively nullified the whole concept of “The law of the land is the law”.

Rabbi Samuel certainly wished to preserve Jewish culture and ethnicity. Nonetheless,

the Head of Babylon’s Jewish community imbibed a deep respect and loyalty to his new country and would not allow zealots and separatists to lurch into a mode of cultural supremacy by erecting autonomous communities within the nation, which is accomplished when the purview of religious law is inflated to include that which is essentially civil and criminal law, something to be decided by the general public.

Eight hundred years later, as the center of Jewish life shifted westward to Europe, Rabbi Gershom of Germany expanded on the theme of “The Law of the land is the law.” He declared that because something is permitted in religious law does not mean a Jew should exercise that religious right if it is contrary to a fundamental standard and custom of the country where he now resides. So that even though the ancient Bible did not limit a man to one wife,

17

henceforth Jewish men living in Europe could not marry as was done in biblical days, since European/Christian mores had rejected the simultaneous taking of multiple wives. Though polygamy was already centuries earlier culturally taboo among western Jews, Rabbi Gershom took the opportunity to prohibit it officially and legally to underscore the point that no particular ethnic community stands above and beyond deep-rooted national moral and ethical mores and standards.

Contrast this philosophy with that of shariah compliance where, for example, in certain European countries Islamic clerics are asking that the State welfare system subsidize the multiple wives of a Pakistani-born Muslim, or that of New Jersey where a lower court judge agreed not to hold a man liable for raping his wife, “reasoning” that his culture permits a man to force himself on his wife even though she vehemently protests her subjugation. Or the case of an 18 year old Columbus, Ohio girl whose wish to convert to Christianity is causing a risk to her life from her parents who claim that shariah does not allow her to become Christian. Jewish law intrinsically deplores what shariah here espouses, and no Beit Din would kow-tow to such rejection of civilized American societal norms.

The three cases mentioned above, some even criminal, stand foursquare against our American principle that women and children are not simply a man’s property. This isn’t simply a legalism but fundamental to our identity and to who we are as a people and nation. Having two sets of laws, one of which extends to Muslims the right to do that which is forbidden to all other Americans is a breach of the bedrock principle of Due Process, wherein our laws are applied equally to all, be it our rights or our prohibitions. Should we suddenly make one group of citizens more privileged than all others? That is not American, nor western. Equality under the law must transcend fashionable and often silly notions of multi-culturalism. Too much multi-culturalism leads to no culture at all, a society denuded of standards.

It has always been understood here that no one can claim a religious exception to civil and criminal rules that govern all. Religious freedom does not mean freedom from living by the civilized laws that

constitute us as a people. That is exactly what Rabbi Samuel had in mind 1800 years ago when warning against those who would abrogate their fealty to civil and criminal law by claiming a special dispensation under religious law.

There are two areas where from time-to-time a Jew invites a Beit Din into his life. One is marriage and divorce. But here the Beit Din does not supersede routine civil law, rather it embellishes these events with certain required rituals, none of which offend deep-rooted social morality nor contradict existing civil law. After the divorced couple arranges their divorce settlement -- finances, child custody questions etc. -- the Beit Din’s scribe quilts on parchment a divorce document according to an ancient Hebrew text. Marriage is similarly preceded by written documents and blessings. These additions do not abrogate any civil laws, rather fall under the rubric of rituals that adorn and enrich each particular group within humanity.

The second is the arbitration process where two Jewish litigants decide to forgo the expenses of lawyers and protracted civil court proceedings and opt to have the Beit Din arbitrate and decide their business or monetary conflict. Courts are often pleased by this choice since it relieves them of yet another case on their heavy dockets. But even here, the Beit Din cannot pull out of left field some wild form of insular reasoning whose logic could not stand up in secular court. Nor would it ever arbitrate on criminal matters.

And herein lays an essential difference between those advocating shariah for Islamic communities as opposed to Beit Din in highly observant Jewish communities. Whereas, a Jew finds himself at a Beit Din once or twice in life, and for many never at all, shariah will dominate the individual within the community. He will live under shariah. Shariah is comprehensive, and coercive. It is the ultimate balkanization, wherein a mini nation lives within a broader nation. It is a seceding from the Union - yet with all the privileges of being in that union.

For stealth jihadists, shariah is the most effective way to Islamize a country. Through its imposition, it telegraphs that a nation has no unique and binding set of laws, mores and standards. That’s why

radical multiculturalists love it. It helps brings down America. Islamic shariah has a completely different aspiration than Jewish law. Jewish law has no world-wide ambitions. We don’t even seek converts. There’s one Jewish state, and a small one at that. Islam’s stated goal is to have the world live under shariah. It yearns for a world-wide caliphate, bringing all under Islam, individuals and nations.

Shariah announces that Islam is above and beyond the law. It is above country. Once allowed and implemented in Islamic neighborhoods, it reaches beyond and extends to ever growing areas where its adherents migrate, so that neighborhoods once under American law now must forfeit their American way of life if they wish to do business or be shielded from harassment.

Shariah does not believe in Live and let Live, which has been the sweet anthem that has guided America. It demands changes in our schools, work places, swimming pools, and every facet of public and commercial life. In England , for example, whole school districts now forbid pork in school cafeterias where Christian children still constitute the majority, and some districts won’t even teach the Holocaust because it “offends” anti-Semitic Muslims. Liberals call this sensitivity and accommodation. But it is capitulation; capitulation by emasculated multi-culturalists who feel that the only way to validate our western culture is by forfeiting it and submitting to those who wish to destroy it.

Any ideology whose demands and stranglehold on civic and public life are so extensive and unyielding is theocratic in nature and thus incompatible with and dangerous to western life.

At one time, North Africa was not Islamic. Neither was Turkey, southern Asia, Indonesia, Central Africa, Persia, nor most of Iraq and Lebanon; nor were vast lands west, east and north of India. Nor were the Balkans. They are now mostly Islamic. Some fell to the sword of Islam. Others decided to be “nice guys” and allow shariah law in their countries for those few who demanded it. Now, tens of millions of them and their children must live under shariah law. Their heritage is gone

[Reprinted from The American Thinker, December 2010]

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According to voluminous Twitter postings on Saturday by one of Loughner’s friends since high school, Caitie Parker, he was “left wing,” “a political radical” “quite liberal” and “a pot head.”

If any public figure influenced this guy, my money’s on Bill Maher.

But liberals have been so determined to exploit this tragedy to geld conservatives, they have told calculated lies about Loughner’s politics.

In the most bald-faced lie I have ever read in The New York Times -- which is saying something -- that paper implied Loughner is a pro-life zealot. This is the precise opposite of the truth.

Only because numerous other news outlets, including ABC News and The Associated Press, reported the exact same shocking incident in much greater detail -- and with direct quotes -- do we know that the Times’ rendition was complete bunk.

ABC News reported: “One Pima Community College student, who had a poetry class with Loughner later in his college career, said he would often act ‘wildly inappropriate.’

“’One day (Loughner) started making comments about terrorism and laughing about killing the baby,’ classmate Don Coorough told ABC News, referring to a discussion about abortions. ‘The rest of us were looking at him in shock ... I thought this young man was troubled.’

“Another classmate, Lydian Ali, recalled the incident as well.

“’A girl had written a poem about an abortion. It was very emotional and she was teary eyed and he said something about strapping a bomb to the fetus and making a baby bomber,’ Ali said.”

Here’s the Times’ version: “After another student read a poem about getting an abortion, Mr. Loughner compared the young woman to a ‘terrorist for killing the baby.’”

So that’s how the Times transformed Loughner from a sicko laughing about a dead fetus to a deadly earnest pro-life fanatic. (Never believe a news story written by Eric Lipton, Charlie Savage or Scott Shane of The New York Times -- or for simplicity, anything in the Times.)

I wouldn’t have mentioned Loughner’s far-left world view immediately after a tragedy like this, but now that liberals have opened the door by blaming Loughner’s politics, they better brace themselves.

And when I say “brace themselves,” I don’t mean they need to actually strap themselves into a brace. That’s a metaphor, Chris.