The war started in the 7th century and lasted through the 17th century. I would contend it never stopped but historically the facts below are correct.

This is why I choke when I hear someone say we will defeat or contain these Islamic terrorists in a few years or even 30 years as recently stated by Leon Panetta.

If the latest batch of murders, beheadings, and killing of innocent Christians has shocked you, maybe you should read this compilation of historical facts about the hatred of Muslims.

This is all factually (and historically) correct and verifiable:

In 732 A.D., the Muslim Army, which was moving on Paris, was defeated and turned back at Tours, France, by Charles Martell. (Charlemagne)

In 1571 A.D., the Muslim Army/Navy was defeated by the Italians and Austrians as they tried to cross the Mediterranean to attack southern Europe in the Battle of Lepanto.

In 1683 A.D., the Turkish Muslim Army, attacking Eastern Europe, was finally defeated in the Battle of Vienna by German and Polish Christian Armies.

This crap has been going on for 1,400 years and half of the politicians don't even know it.

If these battles had not been won, we might be speaking Arabic and Christianity could be non-existent; Judaism certainly would not exist.

Reflecting:

A lot of Americans have become so insulated from reality that they imagine that America can suffer defeat without any inconvenience to themselves.

Pause a moment and reflect back.

These events are actual events from history. They really happened! Do you remember?:

1. In 1968, Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by a Muslim male.

2. In 1972, at the Munich Olympics, Israeli athletes were kidnapped and massacred by Muslim males.

3. In 1972, a PanAm 747 was hijacked and eventually diverted to Cairo where a fuse was lit on final approach. Shortly after landing it was blown up by Muslim males.

4. In 1973, a PanAm 707 was destroyed in Rome, with 33 people killed, when it was attacked with grenades by Muslim males.

5. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by Muslim males.

6. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by Muslim males.

7. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by Muslim males.

8. In 1985, the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70-year old Jewish American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by Muslim males.

9. In 1985, TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by Muslim males.

10. In 1988, PanAm Flight 103 was bombed by Muslim males.

11. In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by Muslim males.

12. In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by Muslim males.

13. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take down the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by Muslim males.

14. In 2002, the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against Muslim males.

15. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by - you guessed it - a Muslim male. (Plus two other American journalists were just recently beheaded).

16. In 2013, the Boston Marathon Bombing resulted in 4 Innocent people, including a child, being killed plus 264 people injured by Muslim males.

No Obama, I really don't see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?

So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screener's will no longer be allowed to profile certain people.

So, ask yourself "Just how stupid are we???"

Absolutely No Profiling! They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, secret agents who are members of the Obama's security detail, 85-year-old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winner and former Governor Joe Foss, BUT.......leave Muslim Males alone lest we be guilty of profiling.

Ask yourself, "Just how stupid are we? "Have the American people completely lost their minds or just their Power of Reason???

As the writer of the award winning story Forrest Gump so aptly put it, "Stupid Is As Stupid Does."
 

OK, I didn't even know there was such a day, but apparently there is. So here are some thoughts to contemplate the next time you think about eating a burger. This article was published in Psychology Today and was written by Marc Bekoff

Dead Cow Walking
National Hamburger Day Is A Celebration That Shouldn't Happen
Published on December 10, 2010

December 21 is National Hamburger Day. It's interesting that a dead cow on a bun is called a hamburger rather than a cowburger so I looked up the origin of the word. I discovered that historically, beef and other meats served on a bun were called "Hamburg steaks" because of their association with Hamburg, Germany. This popular meal first appeared on an American menu in 1826. But, regardless of what you call it, a Big Mac, le Big Mac or Royale with cheese (as in Pulp Fiction), or Whopper, a hamburger sandwich is essentially a dead cow on a bun. This is so whether it's grilled or barbequed, square, round, filled with holes or other ingredients such as flour, vegetable protein, or ammonia treated defatted beef trimmings (really!) or topped with assorted items including ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise or seasonings that enhance or mask its taste rendering the burger palatable. And you can be sure that the cow who provided the meal into which you're sinking your teeth suffered immensely during his journey from grazing to his home in a bun. The plate on which this unnecessary meal is sitting is a platter of death.

This might sound harsh but those are the facts even if the cow was one of a very lucky few who walked up Temple Grandin's purportedly humane "stairway to heaven." Dr. Grandin is famous for making the living conditions of cows more humane but only an incredibly tiny fraction of a percentage of cows who contribute to the more than 14 billion hamburgers eaten yearly in the United States alone benefit from these niceties, and their lives are still filled with misery and untold pain and suffering before they're killed on their to your mouth. A "better" life on a factory farm isn't close to being marginally "good." Surely, nobody would choose to send his or her dog to a factory farm.

Here are some more facts associated with one's choice to eat dead cows. Cows are sentient mammals who are very intelligent. They worry over what they don't understand and have been shown to experience "eureka" moments when they solve a puzzle such as how to open a particularly difficult gate. Cows communicate by staring and it's likely we don't understand their very subtle ways of communicating. They also form close and enduring relationships with family members and friends and don't like to have their families and social networks disrupted, nor do they like to be subjected to the reprehensible conditions to which they are exposed during their transport to the factory farm (or CAFOs, concentrated animal feeding operations) and their short stay at these filthy and inhumane facilities. They also suffer not only their pains but the pains of other cows who are their short-term roommates on the way to one's plate. Because cows are sentient one should really ask, "Who's for dinner?" not "What's for dinner?" if an animal is involved. Who we eat is a serious moral question.

Cows also carry numerous diseases they acquire while being prepared to become a burger, many of which are easily passed on to humans (for a summary of scientific research see the work of renowned physician, Michael Greger. Confinement at high densities at agribusiness factory farms require that cows be given antibiotics and hormones during their transformation from cows into burgers, and pesticides are also freely used. It's known that slaughterhouse workers may develop acute and chronic lung disease, musculoskeletal injuries, and may catch zoonotic infections (ones that transmit from animals to human beings and vice versa). Consumers also can suffer from the chemicals to which cows are subjected to control the spread of disease on filthy factory farms. Mad cow disease that causes variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), a fatal dementia, also is a major problem as is swine flu, so a burger can really turn out to be very dangerous to one's health. Let's also not forget recent E. coli outbreaks and the numerous recalls of hundreds of tons of cow meat that had been infected with feces. Millions of Americans are infected and thousands die each year from contaminated animal "food" products. For more on why one can safely say "eat a cow at your own risk" see CAFO: The Tragedy of Industrial Animal Factories.


Even if you don't care about the ethics of eating a cow because you consider it sentimental or dismiss the possibility of getting seriously ill, consider the environmental impacts of factory farms and what non-animal activists are saying about the well-documented and deleterious effects that CAFOs are having on the land in surrounding communities, water, the air we breathe, and climate change (see and and)

Even the United Nations has issued a concern about the environmental impacts of factory farming that are direct effects of rampant and unnecessary animal cruelty. It's been estimated that factory farms generate a fifth of the world's greenhouse gases, more than transportation. One-half of New Zealand's greenhouse gases come from animals on factory farms. Animals are living smokestacks, emitting methane and nitrous oxide. The use of water and land for the production for unneeded meat is huge compared to the amount of land and water needed to produce non-animal meals. With some 90% of managed water going for food production, and the forecast that by 2025 about 64% of humanity will be living in areas of water shortage, Commercial meat production is not sustainable. Clearly, the numerous and serious problems associated with eating burgers isn't a matter with which only organizations such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is concerned, or some radical point of view. The scientific facts speak for themselves. The benefits of making humane and ethical choices are evidence-based, supported by impartial and solid research.

So, what can we do? Each of us can make more ethical, compassionate, healthier, and environmentally friendly choices and not have December 21 be a day that actually celebrates unnecessary and intense pain, suffering and death, unnecessary because no one has to eat a burger. Excuses such as "Oh, I know they suffer, but don't show me because I love my burger," adds cruelty to the world because you're eating animals who do really care about what happens to them and to their friends. Indeed, as one of my friends who works "in the industry" has told me time and again, when you're eating meat you're eating misery. And, most likely, you're also eating filth and disease.

Rather than eating a dead cow on National Hamburger Day let's celebrate the shortest day of the year and the upcoming New Year with a pledge to add more compassion to the world and to reduce unnecessary cruelty by choosing not to eat the same old burger. You still can go to most burger joints and order a healthy vegetarian or vegan meal and know you're not only saving cows and the planet but also adding compassion to a severely wounded world. By replacing mindless eating with mindful compassionate eating, each of us can really make a positive difference that will benefit ourselves and future generations, our children and theirs, who depend on our goodwill, as they will inherit what we leave in our wake.




 

We have just had a horrible experience that has spanned four months to correct a relatively simple problem if it were treated with any seriousness. I have no idea how their conscience would allow them to turn a poorly running vehicle back to someone to drive after charging them $600 to fix it is beyond me. Ive tried to recapture the essence of the exchange between us all so you can see how they propogated a second and third visit where they tried to charge additional money after they "fixed" the first problem. Don't let this happen to you!


My girlfriend is from NY and found herself halfway here for a visit when her toyota 4runner started skipping a cylinder. When she got here I changed the spark plugs and it did not get any better.

A quick trip to Advanced Auto Parts for free diagnosis. Lia tried to charge us $99 after we gave them the list from Advanced Auto Parts; their diagnostics yielded the exact same result (could it be that it is the same exact code-reader the dealer uses?) but still put the charge of $99 for the 45 seconds it takes to plug the handheld computer in and read the digital display, that told the following:

1) bad plugs (nope, they are all new)
2) bad fuel (added dry gas and fuel conditioner, nope)
3) bad injector (need to have this checked at dealership)
4) bad head gasket (truck would be smoking and running worse than it was, so probably not this)

We took it to Lia Toyota of Northampton to have it checked. $600 and 10 days later (she had to rent a car out of pocket (an additional $200!) because they were not able to diagnose it in the first 3 days they had the vehicle.)

10 days later we pick up the truck and are told "The truck is running poorly, but its bubbles in the injection lines, just run it, it will get better. If the check engine light comes on, just stop by next weekend and we will shut it off."

Well, it ran terribly, worse than when it went in. Apparently they fouled all the new plugs I installed (about 90 bucks for the special toyota brand split-fires that are recommended for that vehicle). We brought the truck back the following week for another check.

The same person at the service counter (Melanie) told us "Well, you should never drive something when the service light comes on. If there is any damage, its your own fault." Without rehashing the ensuing arguement about them giving it back and telling us to drive it to get the bubbles out, they agreed to fix it again (after she paid $600 for the repair that never actually happened).

You would think it would end here, but Melanie continued the stupidity. When we returned to pick up the car they said "Your driving inappropriately with the check engine light on got too much carbon into the plugs. We treated them and did our best to clean them but in the end, we had to throw them away. Your total cost today is $168"

Talk about not getting it... they charged us parts and labor to fix something THEY broke in the first place. Anyone who knows an ounce about combustion engines, plugs get fouled a number of ways but the way she explained it, the only way they got fouled was my girlfriend's "poor driving habits". Right.

THEN... she tells us "We had a little problem when we were fixing it. The service tech broke your bug-deflector off when he was closing up the vehicle.. BUT... we are ordering a new one. They are no longer being manufactured so we have to special order one for you. It will take 3 - 4 weeks but we will replace it at not cost."

Gee, thanks Melanie. Did she think we were expecting to pay for parts and labor on something they broke?

Ok.... a month goes by and we never get a call. My girlfriend calls and is connected to parts to check the status of the order. Nothing was ordered. She was sent back to Melanie. She was busy. The end result of talking to 5 different people over 20 minutes plus hold time was that it wasn't ordered because Melanie had to do more research. She thinks the other one was ordered and went to a customer (not to her for my girlfriend, she was so mad she said) so "we have to find another one and have it shipped." The funny part, this time it only took 3 days. We got a call on tuesday of last week, the part is in.

Visit number four to pick up the truck after they installed it, they intended to charge her for the visit. She had to explain this all again and again until someone in service who knew how Melanie operates brought over the paperwork that indeed claimed dealership responsibility for the damage and repair.

This series of events started back at the end of MAY and its taken until Saturday August 14th to correct, and all because her truck started to act up on a drive through massachusetts. Do NOT let Lia get the better of you. It is sad in this day and age when they can treat a customer base the way they do.

Seriously, do you really buy those "we are all about our customers" commercials toyota is pushing to show just how much they care about you? Especially after having lied to those people who spent millions on their products to be lied to about the vehicle's afety and reliability.

Lia is in it for the cash, just like Toyota. Its clear by their actions during all this. We were treated reasonably fairly in the end, but only because we argued and fought for what was right and not backing down. They still charged us for the parts they damaged but waived the labor charges. They took off the diagnostic fees (both times) and they did not charge us parts and labor for the bug guard. But 4 months to fix a fuel injector (which was the whole problem and 115 part) got them almost $700 by the time this was done and that was after waiving all those extra fees and charges.

Please, learn from this experience and take your business to another dealership. There is no reason for you to suffer like we have.
 

FYI - Forwarding the following that I received:

Subject: Health Care Details: If you don\'t like the plan, NOW is the
time to contact your representatives

The details regarding the proposed health care are finally coming out.
Here are a couple of resources for you to review. The first is from
Fortune Magazine - 5 freedoms you will lose under the new healthcare
proposal. Follow the link:

http://finance.yahoo...freedoms-you-would-l
ose-in-health-care-reform.html?mod=insurance-health

The next article was forwarded to me by one of our members and had even
more concise points listed:



Citizens Working in Fernley Nevada distributed this information this
morning.
The Research is credited to Herman Statum, Management Consultant.

Here is what your representatives would find should they actually read
the House Health Care Reform bill:

Actual itemized contents of the Health Care Reform Bill:
* Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
* Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
* Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and
benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals
process)
* Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health
benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
* Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided
with free healthcare services.
* Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
* Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time
access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
* Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and
community organizer health plans (read: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
* Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government
rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
* Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the
Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
* Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for
services; translation: illegal aliens
* Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up
individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
* Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically
enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
* Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No
"judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put
simply, private insurers will be crushed.
* Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set
wages.
* Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the
government-run public plan. No alternatives.
* Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time
employees AND their families.
* Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does
not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll
* Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who
does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
* Page 167: Any individual who doesn't' have acceptable healthcare
(according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
* Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes
(Americans will pay for them).
* Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare
Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal
records.
* Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be
treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.
* Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid.
Seniors and the poor most affected."
* Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all
be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
* Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their
professional judgment, etc.
* Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for
private healthcare industries.
* Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of
power-driven wheelchairs.
* Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of
rationing!
* Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government
deems preventable re-admissions.
* Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial
admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the
government.
* Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and
investing in healthcare companies!
* Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot
expand without government approval.
* Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in
other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
* Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based
measures: i.e., rationing.
* Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare
Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
* Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS
individuals.
* Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee
(healthcare by phone).
* Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult:
Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
* Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living
wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in
estate taxes ahead of time.
* Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life
resources, guiding you in death
* Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life
treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
* Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate
treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER
for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
* Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you
may have at end-of-life.
* Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs
for ACORN.
* Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more
payoffs for ACORN.
* Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy.
Government intervenes in your marriage.
* Page 494: Government will cover mental health services:
defining, creating and rationing those services.
Whatever health insurance bill is passed in Congress MUST apply to
members of Congress and other federal employees.
No Exceptions. If it isn't good enough for them, it isn't good enough
for us.

Contact Info:
The White House
202-456-1414

U.S. Congress
202-224-3121

Dr. David Blumenthal
Department of Health and Human Services
National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Dr. Blumenthal has been given the responsibility of developing a
nation-wide medical monitoring system, which will "oversee" the choices
your doctor makes when it comes to your health. Diagnoses, treatments,
and recommendations will all be recorded in this system and analyzed by
the government. If you doctor refuses to be a "meaningful user" of the
system, he or she can expect to be penalized starting in 2014.
Contact Information
Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave. SW
Suite 729-D
Washington, DC 20201
Phone: 202-690-7151
Fax: 202-690-6079
Email: onc.request@hhs.gov


Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel
Head of the Department of Bioethics
The Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health
Dr. Emanuel, the brother of white house chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, has
written extensively of the benefits of "comparative effectiveness
research." This concept is keystone in socialized health care policies,
such as those in Canada and the UK. In essence, comparative
effectiveness research promotes devoting health care resources to those
who have the most time left to benefit from them. To put it another way,
those who are considered too old or too sick to truly reap the benefits
from expensive treatments would be denied such care. Can this be where
medicine is heading?
Contact Information
Department of Bioethics
National Institutes of Health
10 Center Drive, Building 10, Room 1C118
Bethesda, MD 20892-1156
Phone: 301.496.2429
Fax: 301.496.0760
Email: bioethics-inquiries@mail.nih.gov