POTUS Doesn't Relate Well to Easter

As part of his Moslem "taghiyah" (lies), Obama attended a Baptist Church founded by slaves as an orchestrated show of "honoring" Easter, yet, though he has proclaimed major days of other religions such as Islamic Ramadan, he "forgot to do an Easter proclamation thus by comparison insulting ALL Christians.

Obama made a video message to the people of Iran for the Persian (Zoroastrian) holiday of Nowruz but didn’t make a video for Easter.

President Obama delivered official messages for Passover, Ramadan and Diwali. But for Easter? Not so much.

The White House came under fire this week for neglecting to issue official statements for either Easter or Good Friday, though Mr. Obama did take time Friday to address Earth Day, a celebration observed by tens of thousands of pagan worshippers of the earth goddess Gaia.



Obama has had a difficult official relationship with Easter.

Muslims Plant Big Bomb Near Church for Easter

You will see this horror dismissed with a wave of the hand as "extremists," but regular Atlas readers know that this is part of the ongoing jihad against non-Muslims. Christians are being slaughtered in Indonesia and churches burned on an ongoing basis, and the media and political elites yawn. Their thinking is what? Muslims are savages so we expect this relentless slaughter and persecution across the world? That is the message, because this would never be tolerated from any other people.

Big bomb found near Indonesia church; 19 arrested AP hat tip Tycho

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Terror suspects arrested Thursday led police to a 150-kilogram (330-pound) bomb buried beneath a gas pipeline near a church just outside Indonesia's capital, officials said.

Senior security minister Djoko Suyanto said he believed Islamic militants had been plotting an attack ahead of Easter celebrations, and the U.S. embassy urged Americans to be vigilant.

"The army and police are under high alert," he told reporters, adding that troops would be deployed at churches and other strategic locations. "We want to guarantee safety."

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been battling extremists since 2002 when al-Qaida-linked militants attacked two nightclubs on Bali island, killing 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.

There have been several attacks since then targeting glitzy hotels, restaurants and an embassy, killing another 60. Hundreds of suspects have been arrested, convicted and thrown in jail.

In recent months, small bands of militants hoping to turn the secular nation of 237 million into an Islamic state have shifted their focus to local "enemies."

They've gone after police, members of a minority Islamic sect deemed "deviant," Christians and moderate Muslim leaders.

More deception. It's authentic, not deviant. Read the quran, read Islamic history.

National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said the 19 suspects were arrested Thursday, including six accused in a series of mail bombs sent last month to liberal Muslim activists and a former anti-terror chief.

Four people were wounded in the parcel bombings, none seriously.

The arrested men eventually led police to the gas pipeline 100 meters (yards) from a Catholic church large enough to hold 3,000 people in Serpong, where they found the massive, high explosive bomb.

Suyanto said he believed the [Muslim] militants had been planning to disrupt Good Friday celebrations.

The U.S. embassy in Jakarta issued a statement urging Americans to be especially cautious over the weekend and to stay clear of demonstrations.

"Even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence," it said.

Ninety percent of Indonesians are Muslim, though most practice a moderate form of the faith and abhor violence. A small, extremist fringe has become more vocal, and violent, in recent years.

More garbage of this sort -- "small, extremist fringe," all quoting quran, all devout.

Kazakhstan Welcome Celebrating Nauryz

by Adil Nurmakov



Nauryz, a Central Asian non-religious celebration of the spring equinox, symbolizes a renewal of the nature. Originating from ancient Mesopotamia, the holiday’s name derives from the Persian, where - just like in Tajik language - Novruz is translated as a “new day”. In Soviet times Nauryz was declared ideologically inconsistent and was curtailed. It came back only with the republic’s independence. For nearly a decade it has been hardly understandable for the people – economic crisis and lack of tradition of the holiday’s celebration made all festivities come down to public open-air fete with shashlyks [kebabs] and yurts [felt tents]. Actually, all other “new holidays” – Independence, Republic and Constitution days – were celebrated in pretty much the same way. But as the wealth of the nation began to swell up after the oil prices went up in early 2000s, the celebrations’ scale and creativity grew prominently. Obvoiously, you think more of the way to salu
te the holiday when you have money to make a decent festivity.



Last week I asked the bloggers to speak out their thoughts about and attitude towards Nauryz, being both a traditional and an instilled-by-the-state new holiday. ehot opines that Nauryz is historically much more substantial and sensible holiday than New Year, because it has material substrate, which is equinox, while New Year is rooted in administrative system of the Roman empire. bireherz objects: “Nauryz is not accepted; a pagan holiday, just a day-off for me” [ru].



pacifisttt is also skeptical: “I never celebrated it and I don’t put in much sense in it. When I was in school, faculty forced us to do something for Nauryz. Obligations were no fun at all”. whitewomen does not apprehend the holiday either, although she admits that all other holidays don’t provoke too much of her excitement too. “I know that Nauryz marks out beginning of real spring, and I always wait for these days. Not for the holiday, but for the warm weather” [ru].



However, the survey revealed that vast majority of bloggers like Nauryz. razglaz says it brings him joy, because “it is associated with the rebirth and renewal”, and considers that it closely relates to physiology – a hormones’ spring festival. ia_robot likes the idea of the holiday and also refers to its wonderful season: “holidays can’t be joyless – organism wakes up…” slavoyara from Pavlodar, traditionally a “less Kazakh” region on the border with Russia, adores Nauryz also: “I literally feel that it’s a frontier; after Nauryz spring rushes in” [ru].



dolphin_kz and pulemetchizza believe it is the first spring holiday, omitting March 8th, International Women’s Day which is widely celebrated in CIS states by the Soviet tradition. “This a really spring holiday, positively different from March 8 – you don’t have to make presents to women or whoever else – just gladly congratulate anybody and everybody with Nauryz. Nice!”, writes pulemetchizza [ru].



Many people use this holiday to make the first outing to the countryside or to the mountains for a picnic. cray_t3d wonders how this holiday can be of no joy: “Spring mood, turning point from winter to the warm season, hot pilaff in the cauldron, trout in the river or delicious grill in the mountains – what can be better than that after dull winter!?” katena7 and lulu_razzi also celebrate the holiday with the families by going out of town and stipulate – the holiday is settled down in the society already [ru].



lamanzh adds: “I love this holiday, even though it was introduced officially. It has become our family holiday – and since our family is multi-ethnic, we equally celebrate both Nauryz and Easter!” altynai_star has warm recollections about the holiday, as she belongs to the generation who had Nauryz since childhood: “Everything was coming back to life, and festivities with horses, yurts, delicatessen etc. Now I wait it to meet my whole huge family… Interesting – Nauryz is a holiday that came back”, she concludes [ru].



zhuldyz from Aktobe, Western Kazakhstan, doubts that Nauryz has really settled down in Kazakhstan – perhaps, people have just got used to it, she supposes. whlevart is even more downcast because of the mania for showcasing that local authorities seem to have: “I think the mess gets worse – they even installed fur tree for Nauryz! In previous years, it was possible to enter any yurt on the main square and try delicacies and stuff. This year’s celebration was a complete tinsel show” [ru].



Perhaps, the main reason why multi-ethnic population of Kazakhstan tends to be more positive about Nauryz is the spring season indeed, but also a fact that the holiday is fully non-political. Neither of other new holidays can boast such love of the people so far.





You may view the latest post at

http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/04/03/kazakhstan-celebrating-nauryz/

The Still of Morning

The Still of Morning

Posted by adiamondinsunlight on March 23, 2008

The weather has been beautiful this week - a perfect welcome to Beirut for my parents. Yesterday H took us on an afternoon driving tour of his area, which is filled with big houses, old houses, and beautiful mountain views. We saw lush valleys that I never knew existed here - an utterly different world from my urban existence here in Beirut.

The tour culminated in a delightful Lebanese barbeque at H’s parents’ house. My parents reduced the Abu H’s dogs to jelly (I doubt that either pooch has enjoyed such an orgy of fur rubbing in its life - my parents are serious dog people) as the chicken grilled and various salads appeared at the table almost by magic.

And now it is early morning - a beautiful Easter day. The birds began singing around 5, and I lay in bed drowsily listening to them until the promise of sunshine got me up at 5:30. Today we are Easter’ing with two of my very dearest friends - a very joyous way to celebrate what Arab Christians call “al-eid al-kabir”, the big holiday.

I took this photograph from just outside Beirut last weekend, at 6:15 am, when the morning light was just beginning to warm the city. One of the old appellations for Beirut was “Bride of the Sea” - and she certainly is a beautiful bride.

Dick Cheney, Chocolate Bunnies and Sex Scandals

With all due respect to all of you with your Easter bonnets and chocolate bunnies, I think Dick Cheney is in Fat City. So? In the Congress who dares to oppose him on the surge. Thanks to our fine domestic spying service, he has the goods on every bed wetter, cross dresser and pervert on Capitol Hill. Who's left to mention the failure of the administration war policies?
Among the public, who cares? The war families are one percent of the population. Where was the mass media coverage for Winter Soldier? With 81% of our citizens tired of being in Iraq, one might expect a bigger audience for the event.
Eliot Spitzer got all the publicity. Cleverly, he played the sex scandal card establishing him as the man [cad] to beat in 2012 first in name recognition.
We don't care for a holier-than-thou pacifist. We want an in-yer-face varmint who shouts. "So?".