This is Memorial Day, 2007, the last day of a three-day weekend that America sets aside every year to honor its war dead and its war veterans.

We here in America carry this out with speeches and ceremonies and the playing of Taps at our cemeteries. We hold festive entertainments with patriotic music and songs.

This general celebration, which includes a lot of flag waving and displays of Old Glory in front of our homes and along our streets, is the centerpiece and purpose of this three-day weekend.

Beyond that it’s all about fun gatherings of families and friends, eating and drinking and being merry, watching sporting events, traveling or just hanging loose and enjoying the freedom of a holiday.

As a combat veteran of the Vietnam War and as a person who hates needless war, warmongering and phony displays of patriotism, I despise Memorial Day because America does not truly honor her war dead, but dishonors them.

Why Jihad Watch?

Because the West is facing a concerted effort by Islamic jihadists, the motives and goals of whom are largely ignored by the Western media, to destroy the West and bring it forcibly into the Islamic world — and to commit violence to that end even while their overall goal remains out of reach. That effort goes under the general rubric of jihad.

Jihad (in Arabic, “struggle”) is a central duty of every Muslim. Modern Muslim theologians have spoken of many things as jihads: the struggle within the soul, defending the faith from critics, supporting its growth and defense financially, even migrating to non-Muslim lands for the purpose of spreading Islam. But violent jihad is a constant of Islamic history. Many passages of the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad are used by jihad warriors today to justify their actions and gain new recruits. No major Muslim group has ever repudiated the doctrines of armed jihad. The theology of jihad, which denies unbelievers equality of human rights and dignity, is available today for anyone with the will and means to bring it to life.

Jihad Watch is dedicated to bringing public attention to the role that jihad theology and ideology plays in the modern world, and to correcting popular misconceptions about the role of jihad and religion in modern-day conflicts. We hope to alert people of good will to the true nature of the present global conflict.

Military officials have been wrestling for years with how to handle troops who publish blogs. Officers have weighed the need for wartime discretion against the opportunities for the public to personally connect with some of the most effective advocates for the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq — the troops themselves. The secret-keepers have generally won the argument, and the once-permissive atmosphere has slowly grown more tightly regulated. Soldier-bloggers have dropped offline as a result.

The new rules (.pdf) obtained by Wired News require a commander be consulted before every blog update.

Others dared wake the sleeping American Giant of rage and unrelenting jealous defense of its liberty and homeland. Over 200 years ago, King George of England tried to impose stricter regulations on the colonies that could have resulted in cruelty similar to that leveled against Ireland. King George thought it an easy task to force a small tea tax on colonial subjects to let them know he was boss and they had no participation in their governance. King George declared himself the decider. That small indignity sparked a flame that forged the United Stares of America.

By Freddie Mooche

(AXcess News) Washington – Christian leaders have launched a campaign against a hate crimes bill passed by the House of Representatives yesterday, saying it violates 1st Amendment rights if a religious leader or pastor speaks out against homosexuality.

The bill, passed by a 237-180 margin, extends coverage of hate crimes to include anyone victimized because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability. The bill, if approved by the Senate, would tie the hands of church leaders who say the hate bill is really about “thought crimes”, which violates church leaders’ freedoms of speech and religion.

Makes you wonder if 237 senaters aren’t butt buddys.

Each year, families and individuals pay taxes to the government and receive back a wide variety of services and benefits. A fiscal deficit occurs when the benefits and services received by one group exceed the taxes paid. When such a deficit occurs, other groups must pay for the services and benefits of the group in deficit. Each year, govern­ment is involved in a large-scale transfer of resources between different social groups.

Fiscal distribution analysis measures the distribution of total government benefits and taxes in society. It pro­vides an assessment of the magnitude of government transfers between groups. This paper provides a fiscal distri­bution analysis of households headed by persons without a high school diploma. It measures the total benefits and services received by this group and the total taxes paid. The difference between benefits received and taxes paid rep­resents the total resources transferred by government on behalf of this group from the rest of society.

How many American children must have their lives permanently altered for the worse before their plight starts to matter to those who misplace their compassion only with interlopers while ignoring the needs and futures of our native sons and daughters?

By Susan Stephan
Slavery in the Arab World

Murray Gordon

New Amsterdam Books, New York, NY 1989

In his fact-filled work on the history of the Muslim Arab slave trade in Africa, Murray Gordon notes that this trade pre-dated the European Christian African slave trade by a thousand years and continued for more than a century after the Europeans had abolished the practice. Gordon estimates the number of slaves “harvested” from Black Africa over the period of the Muslim Arab slave trade at 11 million – roughly equal to the number taken by European Christians for their colonies in the New World.

“Despite the long history of slavery in the Arab World and in other Muslim lands, little has been written about this tragedy,” writes Gordon in his introduction. “Except for the few abolitionists, mainly in England, who railed against Arab slavery and put pressure upon Western governments to end the traffic in slaves, the issue has all but been ignored in the West.”
‘Conspiracy of Silence’ on Arab Slave Trade

Gordon decries a “conspiracy of silence. . .[that] has blocked out all light on this sensitive subject.” Among scholars in the Arab world, the author points out, “No moral opprobrium has clung to slavery since it was sanctioned by the Koran and enjoyed an undisputed place in Arab society.”

The book starts out with a brief outline of the growth of the Islamic attitude toward slavery. There is no evidence that Muhammad sought to abolish slavery, notes Gordon, although he urged slave-owners to treat their slaves well and grant them freedom as a meritorious deed.

“Some Muslim scholars have taken this to mean that his true motive was to bring about a gradual elimination of slavery. Far more persuasive is the argument that by lending the moral authority of Islam to slavery, Muhammad assured its legitimacy. Thus, in lightening the fetter, he riveted it ever more firmly in place.”

By Michael Cutler

The President has been trying to paint a rosy picture pertaining to our illegal immigration crisis. Last year he claimed that because arrests along the Mexican border were up, it should be interpreted that the Border Patrol was doing its job and the Border Patrol was dealing with the flood of illegal aliens across that border. This year the Border Patrol is claiming to be making fewer arrests and the President is now claiming that this indicates that there are fewer illegal aliens crossing our border with Mexico. It would seem that no matter what the statistics are, the President would find a way of showing that the crisis along our border with Mexico is being taken care of. It is a bit like saying, “Heads they win; tails we lose!”

Called Operation Cross Check, this localized, targeted enforcement initiative is part of an ongoing nationwide initiative focused on arresting criminal aliens. During this operation, ICE officers arrested 148 illegal aliens, including 41 with criminal convictions. Among those arrested were 124 men and 17 women; seven juveniles were also apprehended and returned to their countries of origin. Of the 148 aliens arrested, 84 have already been returned to Mexico.