DLST

DLST

This coming Sunday at 2 AM we will fall back for daylight saving time. All, except for the more sensible folks in Arizona, who will continue on the normal time. According to Wikipedia; DST has been tried in various forms for some time, but was installed in US in 1942 during the war years to save energy. It is questionable if it accomplishes that. The farmers always operated on sun time. We will adapt!

The trees are definitely changing color and before long will be losing their leaves. This year we will not have to be concerned about raking the leaves, or I might add, shoveling snow a little later. This is another advantage of living in Drury Place apartment.

I have been putting together a collection of games to put on the community machines. I have put together everything from jacks to chess. I hope that games will be a good way to get the residents introduced to the computer and also they are good for hand-eye coordination, entertainment and mental stimulation. We will see what happens. Next month I will be putting on some demonstrations and instruction.

I enrolled in 3 courses thru Virtual University. www.vu.org You can enroll in 4 classes for the 20 dollar fee. But I can not keep up with one let alone 4. But, one does get some good information and can either print it out or copy to a disk. I enrolled in 35 days to better writing

The truth about Islam

Liberate your inbox with

Thunderbird

I think that I am a “drop out”. I have not done any of the homework for the writing class and I have not been able to get Thunderbird installed on my computer. The Islam class will be interesting. It is put out by 2 practicing Muslims. I had put together information, and led a class on Islam, about 3 years ago. I am curious what this class will bring out about their beliefs.

Robert Spencer who maintains “Jihad watch” on the internet, recently authored the book “The Truth about Mohammad”. This is his blog

My Invitation From al-Qaeda

By Robert Spencer

FrontPageMagazine.com | September 6, 2006

In American al-Qaeda operative Adam Gadahn’s convert-to-Islam-or-die message to America released last Saturday, he extends a special invitation to the President, as well as to Daniel Pipes, Michael Scheuer, Steve Emerson – and me:

If the Zionist crusader missionaries of hate and counter-Islam consultants like Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, Michael Scheuer, Steven Emerson, and yes, even the crusader-in-chief George W. Bush were to abandon their unbelief and repent and enter into the light of Islam and turn their swords against the enemies of God, it would be accepted of them and they would be our brothers in Islam. And we send a special invitation to all of you fighting Bush’s crusader pipe dream in Afghanistan, Iraq, and wherever else W. has sent you to die.

Gadahn also praises Western leftist sycophants and apologists for the global jihad, and invites them to become Muslims as well:

Why not surrender to the truth? Escape from the unbelieving army and join the winning side. As for those who have expressed their respect and admiration for Islam, and acknowledged that it is the truth and

It is important to note that Gadahn’s “invitation” to Islam is coupled with a threat of violence: “To Americans and the rest of Christendom we say, either repent (your) misguided ways and enter into the light of truth or keep your poison to yourself and suffer the consequences in this world and the next….” In this, Gadahn is following the example of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, who told his followers:

“When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action…Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them…If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya [the tax on non-Muslims specified in Qur’an 9:29]. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah’s help and fight them” (Sahih Muslim 4294).

Muhammad’s directions here to extend an invitation to Islam and follow it with a threat were also followed recently by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. For his part, Gadahn calls the Islamic prophet Muhammad “the chief and master of Adam’s children, and the embodiment of high morals and good character.”

The thuggishness of Gadahn and the supremacist creed for which he has become a salesman was evident in other parts of his message. “Islam,” he explained, “is the only religion acceptable to God and came with the revealed book, the Koran, which abrogates all previous revelations, like the Torah and Evangel [Gospel]... God recognizes no separation between religion and state.” In this he makes an expression of the Islamic supremacism that delegitimizes the religious traditions of Jews and Christians. In line with the Qur’an (3:67), Gadahn says, “Abraham was neither a Jew or a Christian, but was a Muslim hanif.” (A “hanif” is a pre-Islamic monotheist.) In other words, Judaism and Christianity as practiced today have no legitimacy, but are merely renegade corruptions of the true religion, Islam.

Maybe Adam Gadahn is angry with me for describing him a couple of years ago as he appears in an old photo: as a “pudgy, long-haired American kid who appears to be locked in a desperate, losing struggle to grow a beard.” Adam, I see from more recent photos that you have won that struggle, for which I congratulate you. In your larger struggles, however, you will not prevail. Thank you for your invitation to me to become a Muslim and wield my sword against the enemies of Allah. But I’m afraid I must decline. While I appreciate the fact that becoming your “brother in Islam” might afford me a measure of personal security that I do not enjoy today, some things are more important than that. I cannot and will not give in to violent intimidation, come what may, and I do not want to live in a society that bows to such intimidation.

I believe that societies that respect the equality of rights before the law of all people, including women and religious minorities, as well as the freedom of conscience, are superior to those that do not. I hope that such societies will be able to summon the will to resist you and your “invitation” in all its implications before it is too late.

Meanwhile, Adam, I have an invitation of my own for you: I invite you to accept the Bill of Rights, and enter into the brotherhood of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. My invitation does not focus on my religion, although I invite you to that also, but rather on a framework within which people of differing faiths can live in peace, harmony, and mutual respect – provided that none of the groups involved cherishes supremacist ambitions to subjugate the others.

I hope you will consider my invitation carefully.

A recent time magazine article “The disappeared”, relates the experience of an Iraqi who was kidnapped and held hostage for 5 weeks. The family finally had to pay 40000 dollars to get his release. The kidnapping is big business.

And this from Australia.

Imam justifies rape of unveiled women

Australian cleric compares victims to 'uncovered meat' that attracts cats

Posted: October 26, 2006

1:40 p.m. Eastern

© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

Australia's top Muslim cleric rationalized a series of gang rapes by Arab men, blaming women who "sway suggestively," wear make-up and don't cover themselves in the tradition of Islam.

Sheik Taj el-Dene Elhilaly's comments in a Ramadan sermon in a Sydney mosque have stirred a furor in the country with even Prime Minister John Howard weighing in with condemnation.

The cleric also said the judge in the case, who sentenced the rapists, had "no mercy."

"But the problem, but the problem all began with who?" he said, referring to the women victims – whom he said were "weapons used by Satan."

One bit of good news, in a way, the young lady in Baghdad who has been able to be our eyes of life there, has made a posting to her blog-BAGHDAD BURNING-, so she is still alive though very discouraged, which was the reason she had not posted since Aug.

We will very soon have an election—what will the future bring? Be sure to vote, it is a privilege!

Always, HAF AKA HAPPY DOC

BOOO

October 2, 2006
Autumn is here and the trees are beginning to change color. The goblins are trying their wings in readiness for Halloween. We see geese flying south and when Bill and Peggy were here they went to the waterfowl refuge near Great Bend and got pictures of the Canadian geese and also the white pelicans. Also, we note fewer birds at our feeders.
September was my natal month and October is our anniversary month (63 Years). I should probably change the personal information on my blog. September slipped by without a posting. We are very happy to have had a visit from each of the clans this summer and we were able to move along some of the extra stuff, with instructions to not bring it back!
We are starting back on our vitaband exercise class this week. The instructor is back after being out of commission for most of the summer due to a motorcycle accident.
We are really into the political drumbeat season. It is important to be able to express a choice and this off-year election is more importent than some. Not only for this election but it is laying the ground work for the coming general election in 2 years.
I wonder if the Middle East will ever be able to develop a ballet rather than bullet governance. I just finished the book “Future Jihad” by Walid Phares. It is a good book and explains the nature of the concept of Jihad. The last paragraph of the book:
“In trying to warn, understand, and propose the best possible policies to avoid the rise of future jihads, I seek to contribute to an effort of reasoning so that the future Earth will be more peaceful than ever. It is going to take the hard work of many courageous people to ensure a happy ending to this millennial quest for conflict. Many visionary people in the West and many more brave people in the Muslim world will contribute. This will decide if future jihads end up with mushroom clouds around the world, or if peace, democracy and freedom mushroom worldwide.”

I am concerned about the author of the BAGHDAD BURNING blog. Her last posting was Aug 5 and she doesn’t go 2 months without posting, even when there is little electricity etc. She is very discouraged as she wrote in her last post “Is it time to wash our hands of the country and try to find a stable life somewhere else?”
Over the years she has been able to give insight into the life and living conditions which is not available through the main-stream media. You can access her blog using the hyperlink in the side bar of my blog.
The theatre and the symphony seasons are starting and we will enjoy those. We continue to enjoy the library. Mary is more independent with her new walker. I purchased a new Sony micro stereo outfit with CD and cassette drives. We enjoy the music on it and also I can send music and podcasts to it from my laptop computer. So we are all set to enjoy the winter. I am still trying to stimulate interest in computing here at Drury place.
Trust that this finds everything well with you and yours----until the next time, HAF AKA HAPPY DOC