Reports: Meriam Ibrahim To Be Freed

Several British news outlets are reporting that Meriam Ibrahim, who has been sentenced to death under Sudanese law for "apostasy" against Islam and 100 lashes for "adultery", will be set free within a few days.  Ms. Ibrahim is married to an American citizen and recently gave birth to their second child while in prison.  Although raised as an Orthodox Christian by her mother, she was ruled by a Sudanese court to be a Muslim because her father was Muslim, and was thus considered an apostate from Islam because she has practiced Christianity.  Her marriage was considered invalid under Islamic law, which generally forbids Muslim women from marrying non-Muslim men.  Islamic scripture recounts a command by Mohammed, in the Hadith entitled Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 52, No. 260 to kill anyone (understood as applying to Muslims) who discards his religion, thus showing the roots of the death penalty for apostasy.

Read the story at The Guardian, BBC News and Metro News.

UPDATE:  via Breitbart's The Conversation and from CNN, don't hold your breath.

Friday Links

A few stories in the news:

From NBC News, Jay Carney steps down from his position as White House Press Secretary.  Does he have something new in mind, or did he get tired of shoveling his boss's solid male bovine waste?

From Gateway Pundit, Carney blows a farewell kiss to the media.

From Fox News, David Attias, who was ruled not guilty for reason of insanity after plowing his car into group of young adults, killing four of them, back in 2001, has been released.  This attack occurred in Isla Vista, California, the same community as the stabbing and shooting rampage by Elliot Rodger.

From the New York Post, a survivor of Rodger's rampage tells her story.

From Breitbart's Big Government, illegal aliens under 18 have been estimated to cost American taxpayers 2 billion dollars next year.

From LifeNews, the practices of Texas abortionist Douglas Karpen have been described as similar to those of Kermit Gosnell.

From Reuters, the city of Los Angeles sues JP Morgan for discriminatory lending.

From The Right Scoop, a pastor in Northern Ireland is under investigation for a hate crime for what he said about Islam.

From Thomas More Society, a trespassing charge against a pro-lifer in Iowa has been dismissed.  (via Lisa Graas)

From CNET, NASA's IRIS satellite has spotted a solar flare seven times the size of the earth.

From Yahoo News, an American narco-corridos singer has been fatally shot.

From Newsbusters, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell calls the VA scandal "far more serious" than other Obama-era "so-called scandals".

From Canada Free Press, the myth of the "97%" climate change consensus.

And from Polar Bear Science, the Polar Bear Specialist Group admits that its reported polar bear numbers is a "qualified guess".  (via The Daily Caller News Foundation)

Movin Pictures From OAS

These are not moving (with a "g") pictures, but pictures from Movin, as in Movin Forward, one of my fellow listeners on BlogTalkRadio and fellow participants in Operation American Spring.  In this first photo, with the Capitol building in the background, a group of OAS patriots gets ready to march.

Movin himself crouches down in front of one of our signs.  As I explained in an earlier post, we later changed "democrats" to "rats".

These people showed their support for both the United States and Israel.

Colonel Harry Riley poses after riding with Rolling Thunder.

Here are Movin and Col. Riley, at the Washington Monument after praying.

Chaplain Wiley Drake, on the right, speaks into his iPhone.

For whatever reason, this man, who is a Vietnam veteran, found himself dealing with a Park Police officer.

Notice the man at the left pointing his iPhone (and presumably its camera) in their general direction.

Some Commendable Legislation

In the last few days, two notably blue parts of the United States have done some things that will earn kudos even from a red American like myself.

The first comes via The Daily Caller, who say that "hell freezes over", because the D.C. council has passed tax reform that would affect lower and middle income residents, as well as businesses.  It would involve the biggest tax cut in D.C. for 15 years.  Read the full story in The Washington Post.

Meanwhile, in a story coming via Hot Air and from America's northern plains, the state legislature of Minnesota, in what what Governor Mark Dayton (DFL) called his "unsession", got rid of "1,175 obsolete, unnecessary and incomprehensible laws" and "made taxes simpler, cut bureaucratic red tape, speeded up business permits and required state agencies to communicate in plain language."  Read the full story at TwinCities(dot)com.

What Is And What Is Not Law?

Michael Anthony Peroutka, writing in Political Outcast, gives his view on this matter.

Last year, the legislature in my state of Maryland, enacted something called Senate Bill 281.  This "enactment" (notice, please, that I am not calling it a "law") blatantly violates the God-given right for Marylanders to keep and bear arms for their individual and common defense, and its purpose and intent run contrary to the clear language of the Second Amendment.

Read the full story at the link above.  I would point out that the Maryland Constitution includes a Declaration of Rights, which in Article 28 thereof mentions a "well regulated Militia", but which does not mention any right to bear arms.

A Few Random Musings

This post is what you might call a sincere attempt at flattery.  Every once in a while, the conservative writer Thomas Sowell posts a column entitled Random Thoughts, the most recent being today's, in which he briefly discusses a bunch of different topics.  This is the same type of post, except that I will call it Musings, to be consistent with this blog's subtitle.  Since this is my first post of this type, some of the following items are things that I've been thinking about for a while.  In any event, with apologies to Dr. Sowell, but with no further ado:
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According to an old saying, there are three types of people who spend other people's money - children, politicians and thieves.  One thing I have realized is that these three groups are not mutually exclusive.

According to another old saying, fascism will come to the United States under the guise of national security.  I would add that if this ever happens, whoever brings fascism to America will accuse (or his supporters will accuse) those who oppose him of being fascist.  I also realize that there are some out there who believe fascism is already here, but whether that's true is a topic for another day.

The recent revelation that the Obama administration "accidentally" revealed the name of the CIA chief in Afghanistan has caused some people to recall the Valerie Plame affair.  One thing I remember is that the left was hopping mad about the leaking of Plame's name, but directed just about none of their anger at the actual leaker, Richard Armitage.

Civil War Veterans Returned To Gettysburg

This is another video Tweeted to my attention by Sue from NM.

In 1913, the surviving veterans of the Battle of Gettysburg returned for the 50th anniversary of the battle.  In 1938, the few veterans who were still alive returned to Gettysburg for the 75th anniversary.  These are some of the people we honor on Memorial Day.

OAS, Memorials & Rolling Thunder

Today I went back down to Operation American Spring in our nation's capitol, which had a light Sunday agenda.  As there had been a week earlier, there was again a prayer meeting, this one at the D.C. War Memorial, which honors District residents who died in the First World War.  Here some of the OAS participants gathered for prayer, on one side of the Memorial.

Here's another shot of the Memorial, from a slightly different angle.

I took a quick walk across the street to see the memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This is the "mountain of despair", which serves as one entrance to the King Memorial.

I walked eastward to the World War II Memorial, stopping at this section.  One uncle of mine fought in World War II as a tailgunner on a Flying Fortress.  Like my older relatives in general, he hailed from Pennsylvania.

Near the Pennsylvania pylon is this plaque with a statement by President Harry Truman.  The Lincoln Memorial is in the background.

Rolling Thunder came in on their motorcycles.  It took several hours for all of them to drive their designated route through Washington, D.C.  Colonel Harry Riley, the main organizer of Operation American Spring, rode with Rolling Thunder.  A group of riders moves south on 4th Street.

Here are some more from Rolling Thunder.

The British Heritage Of America's Founding

(H/T Sue from NM, whom I follow on Twitter)

This is the most recent video from KrisAnne Hall, who recounts various British documents whose concepts later found their way into America's founding documents.  The story Ms. Hall presents starts even before William the Conqueror (whose homeland I recently visited) became king of England.  Among the topics presented, besides the specific documents, are an accident in which an arrow shot by someone in a hunting party led by William's son Prince Henry somehow found its way into the body of his older brother King William II (and we Yanks thought Dick Cheney was bad), the taxation policies of King John, the real reason behind Robin Hood's legendary thievery, the excessive spending and dissolution of Parliament by King Charles I, and the decree of religious liberty by James II, with its catch, an accompanying ban on criticizing the king.

Judge Orders John Conyers' Name To Appear On Ballot

Representative John Conyers (D-Mich), who failed to qualify for his party's upcoming primary ballot, and lost a subsequent appeal, will be on the ballot anyway, thanks to a federal judge in Detroit.  The ruling was based on an earlier ruling that struck down a law in Ohio, which was similar to Michigan's law about nominating petition circulators.

Read the story at Fox News.

Back To Operation American Spring

After several days away, I went back to our nation's capitol to rejoin American Operation Spring.  Despite an early thunderstorm, the day turned out to be beautiful.  Here are the Washington Monument and the National Archives, with a crane between them.  A new museum is under construction near the west end of the DC Mall.

Trees became convenient spots to leave backpacks and flags.

One tree was also convenient for holding up one of our signs.  If you look closely to the left of the upper left corner of the sign, you'll see two Park Police officers mounted on horseback.

We saluted one congressman with whose actions we agree.

Some of our signs were mounted in frames made of PVC pipe.

These four signs were in a single frame.  We later covered the "democ" in "democrats", because we realized that rats may be found in both major parties.

This one was mounted onto a single stick.

Eventually we took the signs out of the PVC frames and took them on a march.  The man with the original version of the American flag decided that he couldn't carry both the flag and the sign, so I replaced him carrying the "Impeach the corrupt" sign.

Here we are approaching the Capitol.  We did not go up the long staircase, but stood on the steps to the right, in front of the fountain.  I'd say we got close enough for Senator Reid (D-NV) smell us.  I hope he got a good dose of odeur du Grand Pied.

After we marched back to our base camp near the Air and Space Museum, I set off for Union Station and a train ride back to Maryland.  On the way, I walked into the Japanese American Memorial, which remembers the Japanese Americans interned during World War II, and took this shot.

Tuesday Links

Here are a few things going on out there:

From Vatican News, the Canadian Ambassador for Religious Freedom visits the Vatican.

From Live Action News, pro-choice conundrums such as "battery on an unborn child".  (Does anyone remember that Scott Petersen was charged with TWO counts of murder, because his wife Laci was pregnant?)

From The Washington Free Beacon, the employees of one Obamacare contractor were paid to do nothing.

From Human Events, the full scale of the Obamacare launch disaster.

From the Washington Examiner, can you believe that 70% of these people don't trust the government?

From BBC News, the CIA no longer uses vaccines in its spying programs.  (via Breitbart's Big Peace)

From McClatchyDC, pot growers will not be allowed to use federally-controlled water for their crop.

From The Daily Caller, the Indian government promises enough solar generated electricity for one light bulb in every home.

From Want China Times, Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jimping of China meet in Shanghai to sign a gas deal, among other deals.

From Fox News, an opinion on the UN climate change report.

From Reuters, the flight attendants working for Virgin American are seeking a unionization vote.

From the New York Post, trained dogs can recognize the smell of chemicals specific to prostate cancer in urine samples, thus once again showing how they are man's best friend.

From the New York Daily News, conservative author Dinesh D'Souza pleads guilty to making illegal campaign donations, thus avoiding a trial that would have begun today.

And from StixBlog, all Godzillas are beautiful.

Music Break

It's about time for a music break, because I didn't even get to make one last month.  Let's start off with some hard rock with an odd instrument.  On It's A Long Way To The Top by AC/DC, lead singer Ronald Belford "Bon" Scott lives up to his last name by playing the bagpipes.  The rest of the band back then (1975 or so) consisted of Angus Young (lead guitar), Malcolm Young (rhythm guitar & backing vocals), Mark Evans (bass) and Phil Rudd (drums).

Operation American Spring, Day 3

Today's events consisted mainly of a prayer service in front of the Lincoln Memorial, which is a pretty good walk from even the closest Metro station.  I was again able to find my friend (and fellow Maryland resident) Movin Forward, who wore his Sunday best.  As I approached the Memorial, I took this picture of it.

The OAS participants had gathered before the start of the service.

According to Movin, who had met them on Saturday, the two young black men with the large flag came in from Maryland.

Later on, Movin and I walked back to the DC Mall, where these men gladly posed for a picture.  The man on the left, as indicated by his sweatshirt, appears to be an alumnus of the University of Maryland.

Operation American Spring, Day 2

Today, I went back down to Washington, D.C., to again participate in Operation American Spring.  I arrived pretty late, but to my pleasant surprise, as I left the Metro station, the participants were marching toward me.  I briefly conferred with one of the security people out front, who told me it was a silence march to remember the victims of Benghazi.  I then took this first picture of the front of the march.

The marchers continue on their way, with a steady beat provided by a drummer.

I let most of the marchers pass and fell in towards the rear.  We moved westward within the DC Mall, and eventually passed these people.  They did not march with us, but definitely appeared to be on our side.

We left the mall, with DC Police blocking intersections to aid our movement.  We marched up 15th Street and entered the pedestrian street north of the White House.

After we arrived, we turned our backs to the president and stood there for at least 15 minutes.  Those of us who carried American flags turned them upside-down, as in the universal distress signal.

We then faced left, made a U-turn and continued back to the Mall.  A group of "Anonymous" people, some with their Guy Fawkes masks, stood in a line while most of us resumed our march.

We retraced, except for some detours to the facilities, our route back to the Mall.  Here are some of us back on the Mall.  I think the domed building in the background is the National Archives.

After we arrived at what appears to be the OAS "base camp" just off the Mall, Colonel Riley and several others gave some brief speeches and announcements concerning tomorrow's event, a religious service in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  After that, it was "stand down" for the day.

Operation American Spring, Day 1, Part 2

Every picture I posted in Part 1, other than of the view to the west, was of participants at the base of the Washington Monument.  In this post, we are joined by other participants, and move away from the Monument.  At around 11 a.m., we were joined by a group of people who marched from the vicinity of Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River.

Here are some more of the marchers from Arlington.

Eventually, the whole group would march away from the Monument.  Here are some of us, getting ready to head out.  As you can see from the shadows, the day had gotten sunny.

We eventually put some distance between us and the Washington Monument, which in this shot is well in the background.  Closer, but still behind us, is the "castle" structure of the Smithsonian Institution.

We eventually arrived at an area on the south side of the D.C. Mall, in front of the National Air and Space Museum.  Here are some participants at what could be called the "base camp".

Here's a wider shot of our crowd, again with the Monument in the background.

To finish, here's one last shot of OAS participants.

Operation American Spring, Day 1, Part 1

Yesterday was the start of Operation American Spring, a protest against the policies and actions of President Obama, House Speaker Boehner, Senator Reid, and other people in high places.  Due to my proximity to Washington, D.C., deciding to participate was essentially a no-brainer.  I arrived at around 8:00 a.m., at a location east of the Washington Monument, previously agreed on with a fellow BlogTalkRadio user known as Movin Forward.  After meeting up, we proceeded up to the Monument, which had previously been indicated by the OAS organization to be a starting point.  A small number of participants had gathered near the base of the Monument.  While enduring some rather intense rain, we exchanged pleasantries with some people, but also took some time to kneel down in prayer.  During the morning the rain gradually subsided and stopped, making life easier for us protesters.

Here are a few wet participants, in front of a few of the flags that surround the Washington Monument.

Toward the right, in this view facing the base of the Monument, the man in green, wearing glasses and a baseball cap, talking to a man in a light blue shirt, is Colonel Harry Riley, the principal organizer of the event.

These men present their grievances.

Here are their opinions of the president and his signature piece of legislation.

Looking to the west, a view of the Lincoln Memorial, its reflecting pool, and part of the World War II memorial.

Steve Elliott of A 'Cross America Ministries brought his cross.  Somehow, I don't think that anyone crucified by the Romans had the luxury of a wheel at the bottom end.

A few protesters had their signs.

Another group brought theirs.

From the location of the photo immediately above, several people gave some short speeches, including Pastor Wiley Drake, the official OAS chaplain, wearing the suit and tie.  Colonel Riley, in green, stands next to him.  By this time, the weather had greatly improved.

Here's another shot with Pastor Drake.

Pictures from the event will continue in the next post.