Gen. David Petraeus said a church's Quran-burning "is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses."

Several weeks ago we put up a thread about a minister in Florida who planned to burn copies of the Quran on 9/11. To date, there seems to be mo change in his misguided plans.

CNN reports:

CNN) — The U.S. commander in Afghanistan on Monday criticized a Florida church’s plan to burn copies of the Quran on September 11, warning the demonstration “could cause significant problems” for American troops overseas.

“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan,” Gen. David Petraeus said in a statement issued Monday.

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, plans to mark the anniversary of al Qaeda’s September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington by burning copies of the Muslim holy book. The church insists the event is “neither an act of love nor of hate,” but a warning against what it calls the threats posed by Islam.

Good for General Petraeus. Its time someone called out this arrogant man. Who better than the commander of all US troops in Afghanistan.

More from CNN:

With about 120,000 U.S. and NATO-led troops still battling al Qaeda and its allies in the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban movement, Petraeus warned that burning Qurans “is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems — not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”

And one of his deputies, Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, told CNN’s “The Situation Room” that event “has already stirred up a lot of discussion and concern” among Afghans.

“We very much feel that this can jeopardize the safety of our men and women that are serving over here in the country,” said Caldwell, the head of NATO efforts to train Afghan security forces.

Caldwell said American troops “are over here to defend the rights of American citizens, and we’re not debating the First Amendment rights that people have.” But he added, “What I will tell you is that their very actions will in fact jeopardize the safety of the young men and women who are serving in uniform over here and also undermine the very mission that we’re trying to accomplish.”

“I would hope they would understand that there are second- and third-order effects that will occur that will affect that young man and woman who’s out there on point for America, serving their nation today, because of their actions back in the United States,” he said

The stupidity and arrogance of this minister is almost unspeakable. When the U.S. Commander tells you that you are endangering the troops, you should listen. If even one of our men or women is killed because of this ignoramous, his entire ministry should be held responsible. How sad that Americans would involve themselves with book burning. Sounds Third Reich to me. I would have no problem with the press being ordered to stay away and the minister barred from his bonfire on 9/11, as a matter of national security. The first amendment is not without some limitations.

Meanwhile, we can only hope that our troops will be safe.

Democracy, the old-fashioned way

The Torches and Pitchforks gathering at Manassas City Chambers scheduled for tomorrow night @ 7 pm just might have to take to the parking lot.  The Manassas City Council will be holding a special meeting at 6:30 in the chambers.  It will be difficult for 2 meetings to be held at the same place at the same time.  Citizens time will be held and the same standards as any other Council meeting will be adhered to. 

This meeting will follow a closed session with attorneys scheduled for 5:30 p.m. 

Since this topic  cropped up last week, I have read and heard the word ‘Christian’ thrown around quite a bit.  That’s getting a little old.  Plenty of good Christian people, as well as people of other faiths, will be in attendance at the City Council meeting supporting an upscale adult boutique.  Some of the politicians who want to trumpet their religion to their base should be just as worried about dissing those folks who don’t consider themselves part of  the Conservative Christian movement. 

Hopefully there will be no witch hunts Tuesday night, even in the parking lot.  Area residents need to examine what really constitutes pornography.  Some folks need to rephrase how they say things.  Personal sexual tools/toys/implements or whatever a person choses to call them are just that–PERSONAL.  We don’t want government in every aspect of our lives.  We don’t want to have to go to dark alleys to buy personal products.  We don’t want to have to ask the pharmacists for condoms like used to happen in the old days and we don’t want to have to go across state lines to have access to birth control like my mother had to do in the 60’s when she lived in New Jersey.

Those who want to see something dirty will probably be very disappointed in KK Temptations.  It isn’t going to be a porno shop–you know, one of those places men in trench coats are seen going into.  If that’s what you think is coming to town, think again. 

Its fine to be uptight and repressive about sexual matters if that is what your religion tells you do to.  Its even ok to skip the Song of Solomon when reading the bible, if that’s what your minister, priest or rabbi wants.  However, understand that some very good and decent people out there don’t necessarily agree with you.

From Netsafe Kids:

WHAT IS PORNOGRAPHY?

“I shall not today attempt further to define [obscenity]; and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it….”

That famous statement, uttered by the late Justice Potter Stewart in 1973 when faced with a case involving obscenity, illustrates the difficulty of trying to determine what constitutes obscene or pornographic content. The term “pornography” has no well-defined meaning, certainly no legal definition. And if a Supreme Court justice had trouble defining the nature of sexually explicit material, how easy is it for the rest of us—each of whom looks at the world in a different way? Lack of consensus is one reason the subject of pornography is such a contentious legal issue.

Pornography is a word thrown about all too easily.  We call lots of things ‘porn’ or pornography when we really don’t mean it.  We joke a lot about porn.  Obviously the XXX girlie shows are porn, aren’t they?  Anything that says XXX has to be porn and it has been my experience, if it has even one X, it is. 

I realized last week that people have very different ideas about what constitutes pornography.  A new adult boutique will be opening in the City of Manassas in the near future  and the townspeople are beside themselves.  I am asking what’s the big deal?  Another such shop exists on route 28 that has been in business for at least 20 years.  People don’t like the location of the new kid on the block, it seems.  Not in the City of Manassas!  So do we want to take what we perceive as porn and brush it under the rug?  Do we want it far away so we can sneak into the store and buy something we wouldn’t want our mothers to know about and not be seen by our friends and neighbors? 

Is Old Town Manassas the crown jewel where there are no secrets?  Young people (under 40) seem to have a lot easier time simply discussing things like sex toys and real fancy erotic underwear much easier than those of us who are post 40.  Yet, some of the people hollering the loudest are not in the post 40 demographic. 

The best example I can come up with when someone asks what is porn would be the John Bobbitt flick he made after he was sliced and diced.  Someone got Mr. Howler an advanced copy and he was all proud of himself for getting the coveted video.  I lasted maybe all of 30 seconds before I left the room.  Mr. Howler, tough guy that he is, was even grossed out and he didn’t last more than 5 minutes.  So is porn stuff that grosses us out?  Is it always sexual?  How do we decide what ‘community standards’ are?  Is the issue of porn on a collision course with 1st amendment rights?

Before we can decide what kind of shops we want to condone or condemn , it seems sensible to clarify what we really consider pornographic, obscene or indecent.  In doing so, we have to realize that our neighbors probably won’t come up with the same set of attributes. 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What would be so difficult for Brewer to just say she misspoke? There have been no beheadings in Arizona. There are problems right across the border that are serious and should not be taken lightly. Why doesn’t Brewer deal with the truth? The truth is very real and very scary. But..it doesn’t get votes. Brewer wants very much to be reelected.

It seems strange that someone who makes up things for political gain could continue to get the numbers she is getting. What are the people of Arizona thinking? I would like to see a break down of some of the various polls by towns/cities. I think it would be very telling.

Brewer meanwhile counts on poking a stick in the eye of the federal government to keep her in the governor’s mansion. It might work for her this time. The question then becomes, can she and others sustain?

Censored

One of the world’s biggest providers of Internet classified advertising abruptly shut down the “adult services” section of its U.S. Web sites this weekend, apparently in response to criticism from prosecutors that it had become a tool for prostitution.

But it was unclear whether Craigslist – an icon of the new media transformation of American society – had closed the site to placate those critics, or to hit back at them, casting itself as the victim of censorship. On its famously bare-bones Web sites, the blue-lettered link for adult services was gone. It had been replaced with a black box, containing one word: “censored.”

Craigslist’s usually outspoken leaders gave no explanation for their move and no signal as to whether it would be permanent. Last year, the site increased the screening of these ads after authorities in New England said a man had killed one woman and attacked two others he’d contacted through Craigslist.

On Craigslist sites in other nations, the “erotic” sections remained open.

The site’s critics greeted the change with praise and wariness.

Craigslist has been a connection for prostitution, murder, human trafficking and child pornography.  The links to adult services in other countries still remains.  Unfortunately, people tend to worry more about what they can see  rather than on what they cannot see. 

While some area residents and politicians worry about an unscale adult boutique coming to Old Town Manassas, many people continue to drop their children off at the mall and allow kids and teens on the internet without supervision where any number of perverts await young, unsuspecting kids.

UPDATE: From hamptonroads.com:

The online classified advertising site Craigslist has been asked by a group of state attorneys general, including Virginia’s Ken Cuccinelli, to remove its adult services listings category, which they say features ads for prostitution and “trafficking children.”

A bipartisan assembly of prosecutors from 17 states this week sent a letter to Craigslist officials calling for “immediate action to end the misery for the women and children who may be exploited and victimized by these ads.”

According to Cuccinelli, the recent letter follows a 2008 agreement between state prosecutors and Craigslist owners who pledged to step up monitoring for illegal activity and to coordinate with local law enforcement.

Since then, Cuccinelli contends, there hasn’t been much evidence to suggest that the number of “illegal advertisements on the Web site” has been reduced.

“The Adult Services section of Craigslist.com has become a forum for inviting illegal – and potentially very dangerous – activity throughout Virginia,” Cuccinelli said in a statement about the joint letter. “Given the frequency that law enforcement finds these ads on the site, it seems clear that whatever monitoring Craigslist may be doing of posts is not sufficient.”

We are suppose to get nice weather   for the weekend.  Won’t that be nice!  Elena and her family are camping out–campfire and all. 

Does anyone have special plans for the  long weekend?

The Screening of 9500 Liberty will have a full “cast” to debate the impact of the events in the movie and probably, the broader questions of immigration enforcement and immigration reform.

Honestly, I never would have thought that Corey would have the chutzpah to be in a real debate with knowledgeable people, not only on immigration, but what happened, specifically, in Prince William County. Hats off to Corey for having the courage to do so. I wonder what he will do when faced with facts counter to what he has been spewing. I think just a couple of my favorite inaccuracies have been “Arizona has implemented exactly what we did in PWC” and “crime increased with the immigration influx and decreased after the resolution”.

Boy, I wish I could be on that panel. I wonder if we will finally hear his explanation for the old ” over my dead body will I repeal probable cause” and, well, we all know what happened. Probable cause was repealed AND Corey is certainly still up to his horse and pony tricks!

My hope is that people will no longer extrapolate what they WISH the facts said, but instead work within the the context of truth.  No one is denying that there are problems associated with illegal immigration, but we can’t fix them if our foundation for finding solutions are based on propoganda  and inaccuracies.

It seems that Dan Coats is quite the hypocrite on a few things. He needs to be careful who his friends are. He released an attack ad stating that Ellsworth voted to close Gitmo and bring prisoners to the United States. Ellsworth denies the charge.

Here’s Colonel Moe Davis:

Coates has been out of office since 1999. According to the South Bend Tribune:

SOUTH BEND — Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Brad Ellsworth is fighting back against a campaign advertisement his Republican opponent, Dan Coats, released last week.

Ellsworth held news conferences in Indianapolis, Crown Point and South Bend on Thursday to counter Coats’ ad, which says Ellsworth voted to close the federal detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and transfer suspected terrorists to prisons in the United States.

“The claim in the ad is blatantly false. I never voted to close Gitmo,” the Evansville congressman said in an interview at the St. Joseph County Democratic Party Headquarters. “I said I will look at the plan when it comes in and make a determination then if that’s something I think makes Americans secure.”

Coats’ campaign stands by the content of its ad, which cites two votes Ellsworth cast against Republican amendments that would have barred the use of federal funds for closing Guantanamo and transferring detainees to the U.S. for trial. Ellsworth said Congress already has the power to approve or deny federal funding if the president presents a plan for transferring detainees to U.S. soil.

Ellsworth added members of both parties are “pretty notorious” for using such procedural votes to create campaign fodder.

“Those are very common Washington, D.C., tactics — what we refer to as ‘gotcha votes’ for things just like this, where you can refer to them and infer something happened that didn’t,” he said.

Nice job, Colonel Davis, nice job!  Moe was the chief prosecutor at Gitmo from 2005-2007.  He can call it as he sees it because unlike Dan Coats, he was there and on the right side–fighting terrorism.  He knows first hand what Coats did and did not do.

Coats’ attack ad is linked above the video. (and the link has been fixed)

Anything to get re-elected

Many years ago, in Prince William County, there was a gang on either the BOCS or the appointed school board who were not-so-affectionately named the 4 horsemen. They were seen as enemies of the school system. It seems that the 4 horsemen have been reincarnated, after several decades, on our board of supervisors. I am trying to remember . Why they were named that?   Was it a nice way of speaking of the educational Apocalypse on the horizon or was it short for horse body parts? Perhaps those  readers  who have been around PWC for a while will remember.

But I digress….

Wednesday night, after an hour and a half discussion, the school board voted to bring back the issue of stimulus funding at an undetermined date.  At the special BOCS meeting  Tuesday, August 24,  School Board Chairman Milt Johns asked the 5 BOCS members present to please not make a permanent decision until all facts were in and the school board could make a presentation.  His request was not honored and a resolution was passed to postpone discussion of stimulus funds until next year.  At the school board meeting on September 1, Johns had the following reaction:

“It was almost irrational for them to pass a resolution before they’ve been briefed,” said Johns, who called the action “rash.”

According to the News and Messenger, regarding the September 1 school board meeting:

The decision to postpone action regarding the federal Education Jobs Funds was largely due to what the board considered insufficient data on both the funding formula and amount of money the county would receive from the state of Virginia.

Some board members also expressed hesitation to take action in light of the recent Board of County Supervisors’ resolution to not address stimulus money until the fiscal 2012 budget process. During a special meeting last week, supervisors [BOCS] criticized the perceived lack of communication from the schools regarding their decision to prepare for the hiring of 180 new teachers this year with potential stimulus money.

Even some board members stated their dissatisfaction with Superintendent Steven L. Walts’ decision to publicize the intent to hire new teachers before a formal presentation was made. Walts reacted to the board members’ comments by saying, “We did what we thought was appropriate in order to begin to get ready in the event these funds become available and both boards choose to utilize them.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, several board members said they would like to be able to use part of the funds — which could be as much as $15 million — in this fiscal year. That could potentially allow the schools to hire a small portion of the 180 teachers initially considered by Walts.

The earliest new teachers could get into the classrooms would be November 1. The Education stimulus funds can be used this year or by September of next year. Supposedly, there is a good chance the funds will be sustained. The state is in the process of applying for those funds.

Chairman Milt Johns expressed his dissatisfaction that his request to postpone decision- making until facts were in was ignored by the Board of Supervisors:

While the school board was unanimous in its decision to re-visit the issue, several members publicly expressed dissatisfaction with the supervisors’ resolution. During the special meeting in August, school board chairman-at-large Milton C. Johns asked the supervisors not to make a decision until a representative from the schools could give them a presentation.

On Wednesday, he re-iterated that stance. [quote above]

Mr. Johns was right. The BOCS did act irrationally. Why make decisions when you don’t have all the facts?

That seems to be a real bad habit of this board recently, starting with the screw job they gave Eric Finley and his asphalt plant (after encouraging the gentleman) and a week later encouraging youngsters to join the political process in hopes of acquiring some little league football fields.  The real object was to push through a huge development called Avendale, which will be in the Rural Crescent.   Decisions made by the BOCS seem to be getting more and more capricious and inconsistent.   This indicated election time is upon us.

Thank goodness the school board is now an independent body and they can act responsibly regarding education without worrying about the supervisor who appointed them. They are trying to do the right thing by finding  out as much as possible about grant money that could offset our educational costs as taxpayers and relieve some of the horrible classroom overcrowding our kids will face this year.

The 4 Horsemen who quickly voted to end all discussion until next year did act irresponsibly and irrationally.  They must want to be  able to tell their constituents that they voted against spending. It seemed to be  all a political gesture. No other reason.

Finding out facts, even if you have to postpone decision-making is never a bad thing. Hopefully the parents will take one look at class size this year and kick the 4 horsemen squarely in the part just behind the rider.

K K Temptations, an adult boutique, will be opening next month in Old Town Manassas.

Perhaps the first thing people need to do is clarify in their own minds what really constitues ‘porn.’ I have a sneaking suspicious we wouldn’t all agree, especially if some people thought others were watching.

I am curious if a boutique that featured magic, the occult, and earth centered religions would be greeted the same way? Would the Old Guard try to run it off also? 13 Magickal Moons is in historic Occoquan and has been for many years.

I am continually amazed at people who want free enterprize and less government until it is something a little off the beaten, non-vanilla path. Then there is great howling for the government to fix things. I guess that is better than burning people at the stake, however.