Day in and day out, my wife prayed for my health and for my continued presence on this earth. Her brother Joe and his wife Martha, who attended a Catholic church, St. John’s of Vianney, had organized thirty Hispanic men, women and children, including my nieces, to pray for me too. There were others. Every morning these relatives and strangers whispered my name in their intimate conversations with God, and implored him to spare me. I was touched and strengthened by their love and by their answered prayers. I was saved – at least for the moment– and was grateful for that. I would be able to share life with April again, to be with my children and grandchildren, to rise in the morning and greet the sea.

Was God really behind this good fortune? Had he intervened to rescue an agnostic soul as a reward to the believers? Thankful as I was for their concern, I didn’t like to think so. For if He had saved me to answer their prayers then I would also have to hold Him responsible for the others, whose prayers went unheard.

One of the patients who came regularly at my appointed time was a young woman who seemed to be in her twenties. She did not come in from the parking lot where her husband might be waiting for her as my wife did for me. She came in a wheelchair accompanied by a sad woman who appeared to be her mother and who had wheeled her to the radiation clinic from one of the recesses of the vast hospital complex we were in. She had barely begun life, but her eyes had already traveled to a distant space, displaying a vacancy that could have been equally the result of medications or resignation. For her this life had become a waiting room from which there was no exit. I could not help thinking, each time I saw her, of the many lives I had been privileged to live in my span, and those she would not.

I was acutely conscious of the inhabitants of the cancer ward whose prospects were worse than mine. Along with those who loved them they had endured multiple operations, multiple setbacks, years of a crippled existence, and a fate on hold. “Life is a hospital,” the poet Eliot wrote. I could appreciate the metaphorical truth in the image, but it still felt like a violence to the reality that confronted me. Not all life’s hospitals were equal and not all God’s children were saved.

– The End of Time

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Bulandshahr (Uttar Pradesh), June 01:In an alleged attempted "honour killing", a man poured acid on his daughter and threw her into a canal for planning to marry a man from another religion Tuesday, police said. The girl is in critical condition in hospital.

Gulistan, 18, daughter of Asghar Ali of Charaura village in Bulandshahr district, 350 km from Lucknow, fell in love with Ravinder, 20, who ran a medical store in the village and often came to their house to deliver medicines.

The couple eloped 10 days back but were traced to Delhi and Gulistan was taken back to the village. Her parents then pretended that they had agreed to let her marry Ravinder and asked her to come with them to Delhi to buy clothes for the marriage.

War Is Deceit, after all. And make no mistake: as far as this family is concerned, this is war.

The girl left with her father and brother. When they reached near the upper Ganges canal on Grand Trunk Road, they stopped and dragged her out. First they poured acid on her face, strangulated her and then threw her in the canal. Assuming that she had died, they left the place.

However, Gulistan revived in the water and shouted for help. Some local boys of nearby villages, playing there, rescued her and informed police, who admitted her to hospital.

Asghar has been arrested and a search is on for his son, Superintendent of Police (City) J.K. Sahi said.

"On the spot from where the girl was rescued, she said her father was annoyed over her love affair with the local Hindu boy but when her statement was recorded before the magistrate in the hospital, she shifted from her original statement made before the police and said after getting angry at her father's objection, she poured the acid on herself," Sahi said.

It seemed she was trying to mislead police with her declaration, he added....

No kidding, really? And why might she be interested in doing that?

Of course, no Islamic law sanctions the disfiguring of those who besmirch the family honor. But with honor killing broadly tolerated -- its perpetrators given light sentences at best in countries such as Jordan and Syria -- this kind of thing is going to happen.

"Charities fear rise in acid attacks avenging slights on family honour," by Jerome Taylor for The Independent, May 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

When Awais Akram answered his mobile to Sadia Khatoon, a 24-year-old married woman whom he had met on Facebook and had recently started a physical, but not sexual, relationship with, he had little idea of the fate that was about to befall him.

Mrs Khatoon insisted they meet outside his flat in Leytonstone, east London, but as Mr Akram stepped out into the summer sunshine his lover was nowhere to be seen. Instead he was confronted by three masked men wearing gloves, one of whom was carrying a bottle of "Give It One Shot" drain cleaner.

The men, who included Mrs Khatoon's brother Mohammed Vakas, had come to wipe off what they believed was a stain on their family's "izzat" (honour). Beating and stabbing Mr Akram was not enough. As he lay bleeding on the floor, Vakas stepped over his victim and poured the entire bottle of drain cleaner over Mr Akram's face and body.

In parts of the developing world - particularly south-east Asia, the south Asian subcontinent and east Africa - acid attacks are common. The Taliban and fellow extremists have frequently resorted to throwing acid in women's faces for even small transgressions, such as daring to go out unveiled. But there are concerns that such attacks may also be on the increase in the UK.

Hospital admission figures for the past three years show a steady rise in the number of people being treated for acid attacks. According to the NHS information centre, 44 people were admitted to hospital in 2006-07 after they were "assaulted with a corrosive substance". The following year the figure jumped to 67 and last year there were 69 admissions.

The figures only include hospital admissions where a patient had to spend one night or more in hospital and there is no ethnic breakdown. But charity workers fear there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest acid attacks are becoming more common....

Read it all.

Kunduz, 11 May (AKI) - At least 30 schoolgirls were poisoned on Tuesday in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, the third such attack on a girls' school in the city in less than a month, officials said. It is unclear who was behind the attacks.

"A masked man, dressed in black, came into the classroom and threw a small box at us. When we saw the box, we tried to run away, but I passed out. When I regained consciousness, I was in hospital," said 13-year-old Nafeesa, quoted by Pajhwork Afghan News.

The girls who fell ill on Tuesday were taken to a local hospital. Some of them were unconscious and in a critical condition, head of the city hospital, Homayoon Khamosh, told Pajhwok.

He said the cause of their sickness was a poisonous gas, similar to the one that had been used at Khodeja-ul-Kubra and Fatima-tu-Zahara girls' schools in Kunduz last month.

Pajhwok quoted provincial police chief, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Razaq Yaqubi blaming the attacks on reactionaries who opposed education for girls...

MOSCOW, May 1 (Xinhua) -- The bomb attack at a horse race in Russia's North Caucasus region claimed its first victim Saturday when one of those injured died in hospital, while the official injured toll rose to 29, news agencies said.

The attack took place at a hippodrome in the city of Nalchik, capital of Russia's North Caucasus region of Kabardino-Balkaria.

Saidli Shibzukhov, a war veteran born in 1906, died during surgery in hospital, an emergency ministry spokesman said....

A law enforcement source told the RIA Novosti news agency the explosive was a time bomb, equivalent to about 5 kg of TNT.

The ministry officials said the attack was aimed at civilians and was designed to hit as many people as possible.

From Lori Ziganto’s latest article at RedState

I read this article in The Telegraph the other day about a 22 week old fetus, an unborn baby, who survived an abortion attempt and lived for two days; unattended to, abandoned and left to die. Alone.

After I stopped weeping and saying a prayer for that innocent life lost, a couple of other things struck me in the article.

A spokesman for the ProLife Alliance said: “There cannot be anybody in the world who is not horrified by a story like this nor anybody in the UK who would not support a massive reduction in the upper limit for abortion.”

Wrong. It happens here, too. And Pro-abortionists, including President Obama, aren’t horrified. In fact, they, and he, support late term abortion, as well as letting babies who have survived abortion attempts be left to die.

However, the infant survived the procedure, carried out on Saturday in the Rossano Calabro hospital, and was left by doctors to die. He was discovered alive the following day – some 20 hours after the operation – by Father Antonio Martello, the hospital chaplain, who had gone to pray beside his body.

He found that the baby, wrapped in a sheet with his umbilical cord still attached, was moving and breathing.

Pro-abortion advocates disingenuously argue about viability. Firstly, alleged viability occurs earlier and earlier with advancements in medicine. Secondly, what about life itself? This baby was Life. With a heart and a soul, that included the spirit and the will to live, so strong even at the hands of those who tried to purposefully snuff that life out.

Read the rest of the article here

Kabul, 21 April (AKI) - At least 12 female students were hospitalised in Afghanistan on Wednesday after inhaling a poisonous substance sprayed at a school in northern Afghanistan.

The 12 students of the Fatima Zahra Girl School, and a teacher and an assistant were mysteriously poisoned, Hamayon Khamush, director of the hospital in Kunduz city, was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

The Taliban's strict form of fundamentalist Islam prohibits girls from attending school.

To defend their ideology, Taliban militants have attacked girl students with gas and acid.

In May last year 90 girls were hospitalised in Kapisa province, north-east of the capital, after someone sprayed toxic chemicals in the classroom.

A similar gas attack reportedly took place on Tuesday in Shina, a suburb of Kabul, where over a dozen girl students had to be sent to hospital after exhibiting symptoms of poisoning.

Visit Pajamas.

Last week, in Quetta, Pakistan, a homicide bomber attacked a prominent Shiite bank manager—and when his friends and relatives followed him to the hospital emergency room, another bomber attacked them, killing eight. The police assume that this was a “sectarian” (Muslim Sunni vs Muslim Shia) attack. This is nothing new; this is the template, the pattern. For example, also in 2009, in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, a Shiite Muslim leader was shot down; the next day, at his funeral, a homicide bomber killed himself and 28 mourners. Again, the police described this as “sectarian” violence. In 2008, in the same town, after the shooting death of a Shiite Muslim cleric, both the hospital and the funeral were subsequently attacked either by a homicide bomber or by a “planted” device. These Muslims take no prisoners. Yesterday, the deputy mayor of Kandahar, in Afghanistan (123 miles away from Quetta), was shot to death while he was praying in a mosque.

What mercy might such people show to infidels, women, or children, including their own?

None. None at all. Westerners are so confused about this—not only because they are brainwashed and do not want to be called “racists,” but also because these people tend to have such charming and “sincere” faces.

Last night, I watched the saddest little movie, a brave Frontline documentary about the “Bacha Bazi,” the underage “dancing boys” of Afghanistan. These children are sex slaves to older, powerful Afghan men–in this instance, former Northern Alliance warlords, who have purchased them from their impoverished families or, as orphans, simply taken them off the street. When they try to escape, they are found and punished—or they are murdered.

“Dagastir,” a former Northern Alliance warlord, who today has hundreds of police officers at his disposal, has an impassive, even a kind face. He does not look or sound ashamed or guilty about what he does. Yes, of course, he is married and has two young sons.

Human Rights Watch, cited by Amnesty International, first broke this story in 1997. They cited it as a Taliban-abuse. I write about this in my book The Death of Feminism. Now UNICEF says that this practice “has to be eradicated.” The documentary narrative admits that, although such sex slavery is illegal, the police will not make arrests, and that the rare jail sentence is quickly commuted. The police themselves often comprise the all-male audiences who enjoy the dancing boy performances.

To continue reading this article, click here.

Muslim doctors and nurses are to be allowed for religious reasons to opt out of strict NHS dress codes introduced to prevent the spread of deadly hospital superbugs.

The Department of Health has announced that female Muslim staff will be permitted to cover their arms on hospital wards to preserve their modesty.

This is despite earlier guidance that all staff should be 'bare below the elbow' after long sleeves were blamed for spreading bacteria, leading to superbug deaths.

The Department has also relaxed its 'no jewellery' rule by making it clear that Sikhs can wear bangles, as long as they can be pushed up the arm during direct patient care.

The move contrasts with the case of nurse Shirley Chaplin, who last week lost her discrimination battle against Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital Trust, which said the cross she has worn since she was 16 was a 'hazard' because it could scratch patients.

Mrs Chaplin, 55, had worn the silver cross on a necklace since her confirmation. But the employment tribunal told her that wearing a cross was not a 'mandatory requirement' of her faith, even though Muslim doctors are allowed to wear hijabs or headscarves.

Last night she said of the sleeve concession to Muslims: 'I don't believe my cross is a danger so this is double standards. What can you say? It seems that life is stacked up against Christians these days.'

Indeed, it will be interesting to watch NHS officials try to explain this double standard away.

Politicians and Christian leaders, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey, added that it showed the Government was prepared to accommodate minority faiths while Christianity was marginalised.

Lord Carey said of grandmother Mrs Chaplin: 'The Muslim voice is very strong, so politicians and others are scared of it. We can only deduce that the hostility aimed at her is because she is a Christian.'

The revised rules, which health officials insist will not compromise hospital hygiene, were drawn up after female Muslim staff objected to exposing their arms in public.

Since the original guidance was announced by the then Health Secretary Alan Johnson in 2007, many hospitals have insisted that staff involved in patient care wear short sleeves at all times.

Mr Johnson's initiative came amid growing concerns about the number of patients catching superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile. Hundreds of people have died....

It’s every parent’s worst spring break nightmare come true: Fun in the sun somehow turned into a south-of-the-border bloodbath for 21-year-old Zeke Rucker. The vacationing Rutgers University graduate was discovered alone outside his resort hotel in the wee hours of the morning of March 16, bleeding and unconscious by a swimming pool. His heartbroken and horrified family has questions. American and Mexican officials don’t have any answers — or any immediate interest in finding out what happened to Zeke.

Did he fall? Was he beaten? Did hotel staff witness anything? A resort security guard found Rucker at around 4 a.m. near some lounge chairs with his head “bashed in.” According to family members, the hotel has interior surveillance video showing Rucker “staggering” from his room. But there is no exterior video to shed light on what happened once he exited the hotel or when and how exactly he sustained his grave head injuries. His wallet and ID were left intact inside his hotel room.

Zucker’s New Jersey-based parents strongly suspect foul play and random violence. But the American consulate told the family there will be no investigation, and Zeke’s parents say the Mexican police didn’t even bother to meet with them.

Mexican consulates on American soil are famous for vigorously intervening on behalf of their illegal alien citizens — lobbying to get them driver’s licenses, bank accounts and health care, for example, and rushing to defend illegal alien border-crossers arrested in reckless- and drunk-driving cases.

Where are our U.S. lawmakers to put pressure on our U.S. State Department to get to the bottom of the Ruckers’ Cancun horror?

For now, the family is focused on nursing Zeke back to health. He remains in a coma under heavy sedation after undergoing emergency surgery in Mexico to remove a hematoma in his brain. During that surgery, he suffered an infection that has left him with a raging fever and complications. Zeke was flown to Miami’s Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital for top-notch care.

But not without difficulty.

Zeke’s aunt, Jodi, related the Ruckers’ hellish experience transporting her nephew out of the violence-wracked country: “The air ambulance team is made up of ex-military men who have done evacuations out of many countries. They say that Cancun is one of the most difficult places to get out of. The air ambulance team when landed in Mexico was surrounded by military with guns drawn that then searched the plane.”

The Ruckers hired a “handler,” who “basically gives the Mexicans American cash for their plane to land and take off safely. It’s called ‘greasing the monkey.’ (Zeke’s father) was getting anxious because of the amount of guns and men surrounding the plane, and the pilot told him not to worry because ‘they greased this monkey (plane) good.’ They were allowed to take off about an hour later. Corruption is abundant there.”

Adding to the emotional strain and bureaucratic headaches: The Mexican hospital that treated Zeke demanded upfront payment for all of the costs related to his care, surgery and stay before allowing him to leave. Can you imagine the international uproar if a U.S. hospital demanded the same of Mexican citizens in their care? The Ruckers’ insurer here in the States was able to change the terminology of Zeke’s airlift from “transport” to “evacuation” in order to cover those costs.

Thanks to the kindness of strangers and help from Jackson Memorial Hospital, the Ruckers have received assistance for their hotel lodging while Zeke gets treatment. Their friends and neighbors are holding a benefit fundraiser on April 14 at Randazzo Pizza in Sewell, N.J., to assist with costs. And well-wishers can leave comments and tributes on their CaringBridge page here: www.caringbridge.org/visit/zekerucker.

Amid myriad unsolved border violence cases over the past month — the cold-blooded murder of Arizona rancher Robert Krentz, the assassination of an American consulate worker and her federal security officer husband in Juarez, and on and on — the case of Zeke Rucker has a special, chilling resonance with every parent of a teen or 20-something. This could have been your child. What would you do if no one would answer your questions? Apathy is not an option.

Islamabad (AsiaNews) - Arshed Masih died last night in hospital from the serious injuries - burns covering 80% of his body - which the 38 year old Pakistani Christian suffered when he was set on fire because he refused to convert to Islam. The funeral of man, who died after three days of agony, should take place in the late afternoon, but the family has asked that "before an autopsy is performed." The Christian community of Pakistan condemns "with firmness" the latest episode of violence and denounces the "slowness" of the federal and provincial government to punish those responsible.

On March 19 a group of Islamic extremists burned alive Arshed Masih, a driver employed by a wealthy Muslim businessman in Rawalpindi. His wife worked as a maid in the same estate, situated in front of a police station. Recently disagreements had arisen between the employer, Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, and the couple because of their Christian faith. The couple had suffered threats and intimidation to force them to convert to Islam.

Arshed Masih died last night at 7.45 local time after three days of agony and suffering at the Holy Family Hospital in Rawalpindi, Punjab province. His wife Martha Arshed was raped by police en she sought to denounce the violence inflicted on her husband. The couple's three children - ages 7 to 12 years - were forced "to witness the torture inflicted on their parents.

Since 2005 Arshed Masih and his wife had worked and lived on the estate of the late Sheikh Mohammad Sultan. The pressure on them to renounce Christianity had lately become incessant. The owner had come so far as to threaten "dire consequences", to persuade them to embrace Islam. The couple were also accused of a recent theft by the owner who has promised to drop the complaint for their conversion.

Arshed Masih's funeral should be held in the late afternoon, although tension remains high in the area. Local witnesses tell AsiaNews that "the whole family is in shock and I s demanding an autopsy is carried out before burial." Several Christian associations and human rights activists - including Life for All, Christian Progressive Movement, Pakistan Christian Congress and Protect Foundation Pakistan - "protests are being stepped up outside the hospital."

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church of Pakistan (NCJP), expresses to AsiaNews his "strongest condemnation" for the crime against the man and the rape of women perpetrated by police who should protect law and order . The Catholic organization has been active to ensure protection to the woman and children, of whom there are no immediate reports.

The Catholic activist notes with regret the silence of the Federal Minister for Minorities, the Catholic Shahbaz Bhatti, and denounces "the slow pace and the inaction of the federal and provincial government. "The executive - said Peter Jacob - has not yet taken concrete steps to prevent violence and abuse on minorities and punish the guilty."

The site BosNewsLife.com adds that yesterday the provincial government of Punjab blocked a protest march of Christians, under the pretext of "terrorist threat". The local community wanted to demonstrate against the "refusal" of the police to arrest the perpetrators of the crime.

"News Alert: Pakistan Christian "Burned", Wife "Raped", For Refusing Islam," from BosNewsLife, March 20 (thanks to DJM):

RAWALPINDI, PAKISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- A Christian man was fighting for his life in Pakistan's Punjab province Saturday, March 20, after Muslim leaders backed by police burned him alive for refusing to convert to Islam, while his wife was raped by police officers, Christian and hospital sources familiar with the case told BosNewsLife.

Arshed Masih was burned Friday, March 19, in front of a police station in the city of Rawalpindi near Pakistan's capital Islamabad, following apparent death threats from his Muslim employer Sheikh Mohammad Sultan, an influential businessman, and religious leaders, said the Rawalpindi Holy Family Hospital.

His wife, Martha Arshed, was allegedly raped by police officers. Their three children -- ranging in age from 7 to 12-- were reportedly forced to witness the attacks against their parents.

"Both [Masih] and wife were rushed to the Holy Family Hospital and are under treatment," the hospital said.

He was listed in serious condition with about 80 percent of his body burned.

Local police officials said they were "aware" of the attacks carried out by Muslim leaders and apparently at least some officers and added that an investigation was underway. No arrests were reported yet late Saturday, March 19.

Sheikh Mohammad Sultan could not immediately be reached for comment and it was not clear whether he had been in contact with police Saturday, March 20.

Before tensions emerged about their Christian faith, Masih worked as a driver and his wife as a maid for the Muslim businessman since 2005, Christians said.

The couple apparently lived with their children in the servant quarters of Sultan's estate in Rawalpindi, a key trade and tourist destination. In January, religious leaders and Sultan allegedly asked Arshed to convert to Islam with his whole family. After he refused, the group reportedly threatened him with "dire consequences"

Arshed offered to quit his job, but the businessman allegedly said he would "kill" him if he were to leave.

He apparently also told Christian mediators that he would never allow the Christian family to live somewhere else.

This week tensions raised after Sultan reported a theft of 500,000 Pakistani Rupees (5,952$), according to a document seen by BosNewsLife.

The Christian family members were not named as suspects in the so-called 'First Information Report' from police.

Sources familiar with the situation, who asked not to be identified for security reasons, told BosNewsLife that the businessman had offered the couple to drop the case if they convert to Islam or "else that both would not see their children again."

However, "Arshed refused to convert and stood firm in his faith. Arshed`s wife was raped by the police and he was burned alive," Friday, March 19, local Christians said, speaking on condition of anonimity.

The case comes at a time when church groups have complained about growing attacks against minority Christians by Muslim militants, often with the alleged support by local law enforcement officials and other authorities.

SAN'A, Yemen -- The U.S. al-Qaida suspect detained in Yemen had persuaded his guard to unshackle him so the two could pray together and then snatched his unattended gun and killed him during the suspect's failed escape attempt, senior security officials said Saturday.

Sharif Mobley, a 26-year-old American of Somali descent, had traveled to Yemen two years ago, ostensibly to study Arabic, and was recently arrested there in a sweep against al-Qaida.

Mobley made his bold escape attempt March 7 after being transferred from prison to a hospital in the capital, San'a, for medical treatment. He tried to shoot his way out of the hospital, killing one guard and seriously injuring another before being recaptured.

New details about the episode obtained by The Associated Press indicate Mobley had a level of training and cunning characteristic of the al-Qaida terror network....

Mobley grew up in Buena, New Jersey. His parents said he is not a terrorist, though a former friend said Mobley was becoming increasingly radical in his Muslim beliefs before he moved to Yemen. His mother last spoke to him in January.

Lahore (AsiaNews) - A Christian girl was raped and burnt alive by the son of a Muslim master, for whom she worked as a maid. The girl died in hospital yesterday after two days of agony, for the burns on 80% of her body. The incident occurred in a small town in Punjab and has similar details to the sad story of Shazia Bashir, the 12 year old Christian raped and murdered by a powerful lawyer in Lahore, a crime still for which he is still unpunished.

Kiran George worked for a Muslim family in Sheikhupura, a Punjab town. The girl died yesterday at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore, where she was hospitalized on 9 March in critical condition. To unleash the murderous madness of the son of the employer the threat of a complaint of sexual assault.

Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan (NCJP), told AsiaNews that "the house of a Christian family was set on fire" as revenge because "a young man is accused of killing a Muslim." The Catholic activist explains that the suspect, Yasir Abid, is "subject to pre-trial detention. The victim is the son of a Muslim landowner in the village of Kirtu Pandora, in the Narang Mandi".

Mohammad Raza Ahmda raped the Christian girl who, at first, confided only with her friends for fear of losing her jobs. Her family's conditions of extreme poverty had led the young girl to remain silent. When Kiran George threatened her tormentor of telling her story to the police, the young man blocked her escape and closing the door, he poured gasoline all over her with the help of his sister, setting her on fire.

The Muslim master, instead of bringing the girl to the hospital, called her parents telling them that her clothes caught fire while cleaning the kitchen. Kiran George was subjected to two days of slow agony, however, before dying, she told the whole story to the police who opened an investigation file on the young man.

Also in Punjab a crowd of Muslims robbed and burned the house of a Christian family. The assault happened on 10 March in Narang Mandi, a town in the district of Sheikhupura. The extremist's anger was triggered by the alleged involvement of a Christian in the killing of the son of a local landowner. The mob also burnt some copies of the Bible.

Christian families denounced the "deliberate burning" of some copies of the Bible kept inside the home. Police started to investigate and evaluate whether to open a file of investigation for the crime of blasphemy. In this case, says Peter Jacob, the judiciary "will not act under section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, which provides for punishment up to life imprisonment for those who desecrate the Koran, but does not provide for the holy books of other religions".

"We are against the blasphemy laws - concludes activist NCJP - and this applies regardless of the sacred text or who is guilty of the crime." However, he hopes for "thorough investigations" and the punishment of those who "burned the house of the Christian family."

A suspected Al Qaeda militant who was known as a "sweetheart" by classmates at his New Jersey high school is being investigated by the FBI after his arrest in the Middle East for allegedly trying to shoot his way out of a hospital in Yemen.

Federal sources confirmed that 26-year-old Sharif Mobley, of Buena, N.J., is in custody after a shooting rampage in a Yemeni hospital that killed one guard and injured another.

FBI spokesman Rich Wolf in Baltimore said the agency is looking into the case. Mobley was reportedly being held prisoner in the hospital and was caught after a chase following the shooting....

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney left a Washington hospital on Wednesday following a heart attack he suffered earlier in the week.

Spokesman Peter Long said Cheney was discharged from George Washington University Hospital and feeling good. “He will resume his normal schedule shortly,” Long said of Cheney, who has remained an active player in Republican politics.

The 69-year-old Cheney was hospitalized Monday after experiencing chest pains.

Read the rest at the Washington Times

On Wednesday, January 6, 2010, following the Coptic Christmas Eve celebrations in the Southern Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi, masked gunmen opened fire on the exiting worshipers, killing seven Copts and injuring scores of others.  The gunmen, most likely a radical jihadist offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood intended to assassinate the Coptic Bishop Kirollos. Attacks in Egypt on the Christian-Coptic minority by incited Muslim mobs have become a frequent occurrence in recent years.

An unnamed eye witness to the shootings told the Coptic News Bulletin at the Nag Hammadi hospital that the situation was critical for the injured because of shortages of blood for transfusions. He quipped that, “The Muslims promised us a wonderful Christmas, and I think the message has now been received…”

Bishop Kirollos accused the security services of negligence in dealing with the events which led to the massacre and added: “Not one single security man intervened to prevent casualties.” He criticized the absence of adequate State Security forces guarding the church, which is customary during such events and especially in light of the unrest which took place in the area in November 2009.

Bishop Kirollos had recently received a death threat for criticizing the Egyptian authorities and speaking out in defense of the Christian victims of the November 2009 attack, in the areas of Farshout, Abu Shusha, Aerky, and Alshokeify, all part of the Nag Hammadi parish.

In a letter sent to Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak by Dr. Monir Dawoud, President of the American Coptic Association he wrote:

“The failure to protect the lives and properties of the Christians, to implement Presidential decrees and to uphold the law not only defeats the leadership’s efforts to improve the human rights situation of the Copts, but also embarrasses Egypt in a time when more States than ever are making leaps forward towards protecting human rights. As the tide of democratization ushers in our region, Egypt is called upon – through your Excellency – to take all necessary practical measures: constitutional, legal, political and social to respect the rights of all its citizens.”

The letter to President Mubarak enumerated all the recent attacks on Copts:

“We are writing to you to express our deep concern over the latest attacks on Coptic churches in Sinnouris of Fayoum preceded by that of Shebin El-Kom, Menoufia where the churches had been set on fire leading to complete destruction. This has been going on for a very long time and the security forces and government have been closing their eyes. To mention some of these attacks we may go back to a few of them. The attacks on the defenseless Christian citizens in the churches of Alexandria, on April 14, 2006, resulted in the death of one man and later another, besides seriously injuring several dozens of the worshippers inside their churches.

Dr. Dawoud added:

“These attacks were preceded by other attacks couple of months ago at the same city.  These followed attacks on the Christians of Al-Udeisat village in Luxor, which took place on January 18, 2006.  The attacks left behind two dead, scores injured, many lives shattered and properties destroyed. To anybody’s astonishment, the violence – according to Egyptian press – was instigated by some members of the National Democratic Party, local government and security officials.”

While hosing Mubarak in the White House last August, President Obama described the Egyptian president as a “force of stability,” deliberately ignoring an abysmal human rights record and turning a blind eye to the persecution of the Christians in Egypt. And while the Obama administration has given the Egyptian regime unqualified support, the Egyptian government has practiced a two-faced policy towards the U.S.

To assuage the growing influence and power of Islamists in Egypt, and to counter the political ambitions of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Mubarak regime has implemented a more Islamic educational system, and the “Vatican of Sunni-Islam”- Al Azhar Islamic University in Cairo has been allowed to become even more radical in its rulings.

The Egyptian government including its Foreign Minister Aboul Gheit incited anti-western (Christian) demonstrations in the Muslim world when he circulated a report on the Danish cartoons labeling them as anti-Islamic. This same government outwardly condemned the Hezbollah in the 2006 Israeli-Lebanese War while portraying the group as a heroic band who defeated Israel.  Mubarak also called for an unconditional cease-fire in direct opposition to the U.S. policy.

The Mubarak regime has encouraged the violent campaign against Coptic Christians as a diversion from its oppressive domestic policies, which have stifled democratic opposition groups, human rights and religious freedom.  By maintaining the status-quo with Egypt, the Obama administration is endorsing the continued suppression and discrimination policies against the Copts.

Coptic-Christians are denied social, economic, and educational opportunities.  Although Copts comprise over 10% of the Egyptian population, Christians are under-represented in government positions, are discriminated against in courts, and denied due process as well as basic civil rights.

The Obama administration has given Mubarak a free pass.  Egypt’s aid package of $2.2 Billion in U.S. taxpayers’ money is secure, all in the name of preventing Egypt from becoming another radical Muslim state.  But, Mubarak’s police state and lack of accessibility to power by legitimate means, makes the future of the regime uncertain.  To appease the Islamists who threaten his regime, Mubarak has made the Coptic-Christians the scapegoat for the frustrations of the Muslim masses.

The attacks against Copts and Christian churches as demonstrated by the Christmas Eve attack in Nag Hammadi must not be allowed to continue.  American must use its aid dollars as leverage in applying pressure on the Mubarak regime so that Copts gain equality and protection under the law.

The man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing is living with his family in a luxury villa in Libya six months after he was released from jail on compassionate grounds because he had less than three months to live.

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer, no longer receives hospital treatment after ending the course of chemotherapy that he had been given after returning to his homeland last August.

Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be "difficult" for the families of the 270 victims of the attack....

No kidding, really?

Professor Karol Sikora, the London-based doctor who examined Megrahi and predicted he would be dead by last October, admitted this weekend that the fact the bomber is still alive might be “difficult” for the families of the 270 victims of the attack.

Read the whole thing.

The final day of CPAC 2010 (Saturday 2-20) did not disappoint.  An array of conservative heavy-hitters, panel discussions and film offerings kept things interesting and conference attendees engaged.  The exchange of ideas and the inherently intellectual exercise that is conservatism was fully in evidence.

Things got off to a rousing start with a short but passionate speech by Andrew Breitbart, best-known for his websites BigHollywood.com, BigGovernment.com and most recently Bigjournalism.com. Breitbart’s message was simple and direct: The so-called “mainstream media” can no longer distort and suppress the truth with impunity.  There is now a rapidly expanding new media extant which is not afraid to tell the truth and to expose the lies of the Left.  This is all-out war – and we are coming after you when you tell lies to the American people and attempt to destroy honorable individuals who dare to expose the non-politically-correct truth.  Be scared ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC.  Be afraid New York Times.  You no longer control the narrative and we WILL hit back and hit back hard when you engage in personal destruction and obfuscation.

Next I attended a screening of one of Citizens United’s newest films: Atomic Jihad: Ahmadinejad’s Coming War for Islamic Revival.  About 90 minutes in length, this documentary provides important insights into why Iran’s Islamist regime is pursuing nuclear weapons technology, and how the Obama administration’s policies are enabling it.  The film includes a detailed overview of Islam’s history from 622 to the present, including its many territorial conquests and setbacks.  It explores why Muslims consider Israel to be an intolerable blight upon Arab territory which must be destroyed.  As with all of Citizens United’s productions I have seen, Atomic Jihad is very well-produced and conveys vital information in a compelling and accessible manner.  You can read more about Citizens United and all their films here.

At noon, Ann Coulter packed the house and delivered a speech consisting primarily of one-liners, followed by a short Q&A session.  Some of her best lines:

“Well, what a difference a year makes!  This time last year according to the media the Republicans were finished, dead, moribund – it was the beginning of the Democrats’ thousand-year Reich….The fact that a Republican is now in former Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat must have him rolling in his grave – probably spilling his drink.”

“I might be in favor of national healthcare if it would require all Democrats to get their heads examined.”

“(Safe Schools Czar Kevin Jennings) has even written the introduction to a book titled Queering Elementary Education…and yes, as some of you may have guessed, it’s a pop-up book.”

“Bill Clinton was recently rushed to the hospital with chest pains.When the doctors asked what his symptoms were,  he said he felt like 2 interns were sitting on his chest.  He’s fine now, he just had to have a stent surgically inserted into his boxers once they got the interns out. While he was in the hospital he had some minor surgery, while he was there he had Sidney Blumenthal’s lips surgically removed from his buttocks.”

“CNN called the opponents of big government tea-baggers, which is the gayest term I’ve ever heard on CNN other than Anderson Cooper.”

“Ironically since Obama was elected, for the first time in my life, I’m sometimes not proud of my country!”

“You’ve been a great crowd, especially since you’re all paid shills for the insurance companies.  Anyway, thanks for being here, Keith Olbermann is a girl, God Bless America, and remember – Keith Olbermann is a girl.”

Later in the afternoon I attended a panel discusion: Saving Freedom from Enemies of Sovereignty.  It featured Michael Farris of Patrick Henry College, Wendy Wright from Concerned Women for America, Steven Groves of The Heritage Foundation, Jeff Gaynor from Americans for Soevreignty, and Frank Gaffney, Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy.  The discussion focused on the ways in which the Left uses United Nations committees and resolutions to devise trans-nationalist laws which violate the traditional concept of national sovereignty.  All the panelists were articulate and offered unique perspectives on this issue.

The final highlight of the day was of course Glenn Beck’s closing speech.  In an address lasting about an hour, Beck captivated the packed hall with his trademark mixture of humor, history lesson and passionate articulation of conservative principles.  He referred to progressivism as a disease existing in both parties.  He called it a cancer in the system which must be removed.

Beck reminded the audience that he has been predicting the coming of an economic holocaust for about 4 years now.  He believes that the worst is still ahead for us, but also that we will triumph over the coming adversity.  He also spoke of his personal struggle with alcoholism and the lessons it taught him – lessons, he said – that are similar to the ones America must re-learn.  Finally, in an emotional and passionate appeal to first principles and doing the difficult but honorable things necessary to restore American greatness, Beck invoked Ronald Reagan’s “Morning in America” theme, ending with tears in his eyes.  The speech was a fitting conclusion to this three-day celebration of America’s founding principles.  You can view it in its entirety here.