The Political Fish

Former President Jimmy Carter has been affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention for over 60 years now. He is well known to have been a Bible teacher in his local church. Apparently now that relationship has ended, and its very likely that the SBC will not be sorry to see him go.

Carter, now an 85 year old ex-President, wrote an essay in an Australian publication called the Age stating his disdain over the Southern Baptist Convention’s long held policy that women are not ordained to be pastors.

I HAVE been a practising Christian all my life and a deacon and Bible teacher for many years. My faith is a source of strength and comfort to me, as religious beliefs are to hundreds of millions of people around the world. So my decision to sever my ties with the Southern Baptist Convention, after six decades, was painful and difficult. It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention’s leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be “subservient” to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service

In my mind, as a practicing Christian, it is about time that President Carter splits with the church. His entire political career has been marked with significant differences with the church, namely the SBC on policy and his steadfast anti-semitism that he has consistently shown in his “negotiations” for peace in Israel and Palestine.

Disgustingly, Carter ties in the SBC policy of not ordaining women with the barbaric practices of religion around the world.

At its most repugnant, the belief that women must be subjugated to the wishes of men excuses slavery, violence, forced prostitution, genital mutilation and national laws that omit rape as a crime. But it also costs many millions of girls and women control over their own bodies and lives, and continues to deny them fair access to education, health, employment and influence within their own communities.

Mr Carter, the Southern Baptist Convention does not condone these practices, nor are these practices carried out legally in the United States at all. To tie in a Biblical principle of male leadership in the church to the mutilation of women in remote places in the Middle East is assinine. If your problem comes with the policy of the SBC, then deal with it here. Sadly, Mr. Carter had to go to a little known (at least here in the States) Australian publication to state these so-called strongly held beliefs, instead of voicing his concern here at home. Would the Atlanta Journal-Constitution not allow him to write an op-ed piece? Highly unlikely, as he has long been allowed to write some of the most illogical op-eds in recent memory ranging in subjects from Israel, Middle East, or his constant bashing of President Bush. His “courageous” stand that he is taking against the church is actually quite cowardly when you look at how it was done. Georgia has an enormous amount of Southern Baptist Churches, and would not likely receive the former Presidents “progressive” views very kindly, as he compares their churchs to Islamism in the Middle East.

Also, this is not a new policy. It is grounded in Biblical teaching and truth. Male leadership in the church is reserved to pastoral duties, deacons etc. Female leadership in the church extends much further. The Bible clearly states these truths, and to imply that women are relegated to sitting in the back rows on Sunday and listening only, is irresponsible at the very least, and is a dangerous statement about the church, as it could cause reprisals against them. Women in fact are not relegated to the “seen and not heard” mantra that Carter seems to link them to. They are teachers, administrators and the list goes on. The Bible only limits womens duties to pastoral leadership. Apparently it has taken Carter more than 60 years to figure this out.

So long President Carter, you have not represented your Christian faith yet again. In fact, you have opened up the Church in America to even more persecution, and have tried to damage the good reputation of the SBC. Thankfully, you were not smart enough to write your illogical op-ed here in the US, so you will continue to remain an irrelevant feature here at home.

This video comes from my home state of Michigan. Dearborn Michigan to be exact. Is America really sliding down this path?
The Fish will follow up on what you see here, and see if these two gentlemen have pressed charges on the thug security guards who intimidated and forced them out of what was supposed to be a public place. ArabFest in Dearborn is attended by thousands every year. The video states that Sharia Law is coming to the States, sounds a bit overstated to me, but these gentlemen definetely should have been able to freely attend and converse, and yes even video tape without this harrassment. The treatment they received was definetely over the line, and I would hope that the officials who hired this security team would be taken to task. We should not propagandize this however, and compare this treatment to what Sharia law offers our friends in the Middle East. It is much more brutal, and we should not diminish this the effect that this archaic form of law has on everyday Muslims around the world.

This open letter to the Lebanese people was posted on  an Iranian blog.

Dear Lebanese friend

I am sure you have seen the awful images circulated on the news and internet, images captured by millions of Iranians and sent out to the world, so at least someone could hear their side of story as well. Images and video shots that are ignored by the government run TV!

I hope  you have seen the massive demonstrations in Tehran, people risking their life to come out and demand their constitution right. The right to a fair and free elections.

These people you see in the videos protesting are my borders and sisters, my family , my classmates, my childhood friends, they were born, raised and studied in Iran under the Islamic Republic. They are tired of  a government that is policing their thoughts and dictating an ideology. An ideology witch doesn’t even match Islam !

We have heard multiple reports from all over Iran indicating that some of the police force that are hitting and killing peaceful protectors and break peoples cars and personal properties speak arabic, and they don’t even know farsi!

Yesterday it was confirmed that Hezbolah has sent 5000 troops to help Ahmadi nejad take over power in Iran. This troops were sent before the results of election was out! It clearly shows that Hezbollah and Ahmadi Nejad planned to take over Iran with the back up of Khamanei!

My dear Lebanese friend , hitting and killing defenseless people is not humane and defiantly not Islamic.  When we heard your Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s congradulation statment to Ahmadinejad , it felt  like  being stabbed from the back!

Ahmadi nejad has sure tried to mislead a large group of people with his way of talking, and I admit he is good at this, but please open your eyes and your hearts see for yourself. this traitor is calling the protesters nothing but “dirt and dust” and opens fire in to peaceful protesters. His shameless police force even attached dorm rooms in every city killing defenseless students, and the burning the place down.

I am asking you to please send letters to your government and pressure them to condemn Ahmadinejad actions in Iran. Please write to Hezbolla’s members of parliaments in Lebanon and ask them to call back the 5000 troops. Ahmadi nejad is a criminal , don’t participate in his crimes.

Please help circulate this letter. This is a call for peace and a call for freedom

ARABIC Translation :

وأنا واثق من رأيتم النكراء على تعميم الصور والأخبار والإنترنت ، وصور التقطتها الملايين من الايرانيين وأرسلت إلى العالم ، وذلك على الأقل ما يمكن أن تستمع الى جانبهم من القصة أيضا. لقطات الفيديو والصور التي يتم تجاهلها من قبل الحكومة التلفزيون!

وآمل أن تكونوا قد شهدت تظاهرات حاشدة في طهران ، ويتعرض لحياة الناس للخروج على الدستور والطلب. الحق في محاكمة عادلة وحرة.

هؤلاء الناس تراها في الفيديو هي رسالتي احتجاج على الحدود والأخوات ، وعائلتي ، وزملائي ، وأصدقاء طفولتي ، ولدوا فيها ، والتي طرحت ودرست في إيران في ظل الجمهورية الاسلامية. انهم تعبوا من حكومة تكون الشرطة أفكارهم ويملي أيديولوجيا. أيديولوجيا لا بل ساحرة المباراة الإسلام!

لقد استمعنا إلى تقارير متعددة من جميع انحاء ايران مشيرا الى ان بعض قوات الشرطة التي ضرب وقتل السلمية حماة الشعوب وكسر السيارات والممتلكات الشخصية يتكلم العربية ، وأنهم لا يعرفون حتى الفارسية!

كان بالأمس أن Hezbolah ارسلت 5000 جندي للمساعدة على تولي احمدي نجاد السلطة في إيران. هذا وقد تم ارسال القوات قبل الاعلان عن نتائج الانتخابات! فإنه يبين بوضوح أن حزب الله وأحمدي نجاد يخطط للاستيلاء على ايران مع دعم من خامنئي!

يا صديق لبنان ، وضرب وقتل أناس لا إنسانية وبتحد غير الإسلامية. الخاص بك عندما سمعنا رئيس الوزراء فؤاد السنيورة في بيان congradulation لأحمدي نجاد ، فإنه يرى أن طعنها من الخلف!

أحمدي نجاد متأكد قد حاولوا تضليل مجموعة كبيرة من الناس في طريقه من الكلام ، وأعترف أنه في هذا جيد ، ولكن رجاء افتحوا أعينكم وقلوبكم لترى بنفسك. هذا الخائن تدعو المتظاهرين سوى “الاوساخ والغبار” ، ويفتح النار على المتظاهرين المسالمين. وقال إن قوات الشرطة وقح حتى تعلق بالمبنى المكون من غرف في كل مدينة مما اسفر عن مقتل الطلاب العزل ، وحرق المكان.

وإنني أطلب منكم الرجاء إرسال رسائل إلى حكومتكم والضغط عليهم لإدانة الأعمال أحمدي نجاد في ايران. يرجى الكتابة إلى Hezbolla أعضاء البرلمانات في لبنان ، ونطلب منهم ان الدعوة دعم 5000 جندي. أحمدي نجاد هو مجرم ، لا تشارك في جرائمه.

الرجاء المساعدة على تعميم هذه الرسالة. هذا هو دعوة للسلام ودعوة للحرية

Medius Oriens targetted a specific attack at The Political Fish today. For your viewing pleasure…

The Political Fish berates me over the Obama speech in Cairo:

Comment posted on Medius Oriens:

His use of the word colonialism simply doesn’t fit his purpose for being there. He went as the the President of the United States, allegedly speaking for the American people. The inference that the United States engaged in colonialism in the Middle East is patently untrue. France, Britain, sure…they did..please give me the instance where the US colonized a Muslim country or territory? You pin-pointed the first example for me, but this was a speech delivered with naivity [sic] of the fact that evil exists in the world, it was based on platitudes and a false hope with no real solutions to anything. The most disturbing part is that he continues to rail against his own country in order to appease Islam. Its not about “power at any price” as you say, its about loyalty to your country and remembering who put you in office, and who can put you back in the unemployment line.

I cannot even be bothered to respond to the claim about the US not being involved in attempted colonialisation in the Middle East. Does The Political Fish read recent history? Beyond that, the President was representing the West. As the leader of the Western world, the President of the United States sought to establish better ties with the Muslim world in the pursuit of battling extremism. Conservatives still don’t get it: you can’t change their mind without gaining their hearts. Brash arrogance is not going to stop extremism, and depending solely upon military power has already shown its weaknesses.

So let me return some questions to The Political Fish. What is the evil you are speaking of? What did the President say or not say that fails to recognize that evil exists in the world? Did he not mention extremism and did he not argue against those nations which fail to recognize women’s rights, democracy, etc.? What exactly did the President say that could be considered evidence that he ‘rail(s) against his own country’? Is making an apology the same as railing against one’s country? Is apologizing tantamount to disloyalty?

What I find ultimately disturbing about The Political Fish and his ilk—who represent the right-wing in America, which is also usually synonymous with the right-wing of Christianity—is the way they somehow forget the teachings of Jesus when approaching foreign relations. If these are followers of Jesus, why would they not applaud a leader who seeks to make atonement for past sins? Why would they insist on hard, stubborn power rather than to ‘turn the other cheek’ or to forgive ’seventy times seven’? These are also the same who have utilised every manner of twisted logic to justify the use of torture and the breaking of international law to obtain information from suspects who are denied the right to a fair trial.

The real shame in all of this is not an American president who apologizes to the Middle Eastern world, but an American Christianity that loses its soul in a pursuit to gain that world.

Let me first respond by introducing the Political Fish to my fellow blogger. The Political Fish is strictly and strongly independent from partisanship, Democrats and Republicans alike have drawn the ire of this blog. This blog represents the Judeo-Christian principles that this nation was founded upon, but have been forgotten. We stand up for the Constitution of the United States and all it represents, since it has recently been trampled. We represent Christian principles for America and for the world, which are constantly under attack. These facts about the Political Fish can be considered “right-wing” if you need a label, Conservative if you need an ideal, and Pro-American if you want the truth. For all of these, we are unashamed and unapologetic.

The original point being made was the President making reference to American colonialism  in the Middle East. The writer at Medius Oriens is clearly misguided when it comes to American history. As a self-proclaimed historian, he should be well aware of the fact that America has never gone into any country in the Middle East with the purpose of colonization. One example cannot be given. If the reference is being made to Iraq, I would consider the liberation of 10 million people from a brutal and genocidal dictator to not be considered colonization, but in fact a blessing from the West. It came at a steep price, but when has freedom not come at a steep price? Instead of mentioning this fact to the crowd in Cairo, Obama chose to to label this a “war of choice” and downplay and demonize the United States for making that choice. The lives of the Sunnis and Shia in Iraq are forever changed for the good by this “war of choice”. He accused the previous administration of foregoing diplomacy with Iraq, conveniently omitting  the years of diplomacy through the UN that were shunned by the Iraqi government. Another calculated omission, and falsehood.

While he did in fact mention extremism in his remarks, again he showed a lack of backbone to tell the real and whole truth about the problem. He is really preaching to the choir on this one. The vast majority of Muslims are good people, who denounce terrorism and all that goes with it. But lets not forget that the religion itself carries with it specific instructions on how to deal with those who do not carry the same belief system. Its called jihad. 

The constant barrage of veiled shots against the Bush administration show a lack of class, a lack of respect for his nation, and a desperate attempt to gain favor by way of slandering his predecessor. Its unnecesary, and extremely un-presidential. Bush, to his credit will go down in history as having liberated two nations from brutal regimes, with tens of millions of Muslims free to send their daughters to school, own businesses, and to live their lives under the umbrella of freedom. Mr. Obama cannot bring himself to realize,or maybe just to articulate the good that America has done in the Muslim world. Perfect? Absolutely not. But much good has been accomplished, and it has not been by him. He is looking for that worldwide appeal, by tearing down his country and their previous leaders to make himself look good. Its pure narcissism through and through. On the surface, it was a fine speech…but it follows the pattern set on the previous trip to Turkey of bashing American policy and playing up this “sunshine and kittens” mentality that he is going to make the world a better place, all the while forgetting about the .01% of Muslim extremists who could care less about what he has to say, and will only accept violence as their politics.

Finally, the most disturbing part of this targetted attack on the Political Fish goes to the inferrence that we have lost our souls to press a political agenda. It really deserves no actual response, as the pure lunacy of attempting to demonize, and critique one’s spiritual condition based on an opinion piece on the internet stands alone. However, that being said the teachings of Jesus were mentioned along with the ideals of forgiveness and turning the other cheek. Lets explore that on a national scale. Really, the teachings of the Lord in these passages speak to the individual, and not to the foreign policy of a sovereign nation. Numerous times the Lord instructed the children of Israel to go to war to defeat an evil in the world. And he certainly didn’t instruct them to follow any type of “rules of engagement” or adhere to any “Geneva Convention” limitations. Often times, the instruction to the children of Israel was to wipe the entire civilization off the map. Based on the comments of the blogger here, it would indicate that after Pearl Harbor took place, the best course of action would have been to sit down and chat with the emperor of Japan. Normandy was an enormous mistake if you follow the inane logic of the writer. Soft diplomacy would have been the only way to deal with the Hitlers and Stalins of the world. While American foreign policy has never been perfect and certainly has always contained an agenda that will benefit ourselves, can this writer not even reach back into that historian mind of his and find the good that we have done? The most good that we have done as nation have come through our power. Peace through strength is the ultimate goal.

Sometimes, you hear someone say something so utterly ridiculous that you just have to read it over again to make sure your awake and not dreaming. Today, we were given multiple quotes…here they are for your enjoyment.

First comes from our new friend in South America, Hugo Chavez.

“Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his right,” Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.

For the first time in my life, I find myself agreeing with Hugo Chavez. He could not be any more accurate in his “joke”.

Next coincides with the previous posting, and comes from our jilted lover of a President, seeking the admiration of the Muslim world.

If you actually took the number of Muslim Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.

This one, I cannot actually agree with. Given the Prez’s penchant for stretching facts and basically turning them into fiction, I would venture to say that we are not even remotely close to being one of the largest Muslim countries in the world. Simple fact of the matter is, we are not a Muslim country period. I will look again, but I am pretty sure the Constitution speaks to having a religious theocracy for a governmental system. It FORBIDS it. Not to mention, there really aren’t THAT many Muslims here. Maybe in the range of 10 million..sounds like a fair number, without doing the research.

These two quotes brought so much joy to my life today, I figured I would have to share them with the world. Insert sarcasm right there…

In a way, I feel sorry for him. He so desperately wants the love and affection of the Muslim world, and it appears he will stop at nothing to achieve it.  I think I will go with a bullet point outline today to illustrate my point.

• The name. During the campaign season, the middle name of Barack Obama was off limits. Hussein brought connotations of an Islamic background. He is a practicing Christian we were told, so back off with the Muslim reference by using his middle name. Its front and center now…
• The bow. Yeah, the Whitehouse tells us it wasn’t a bow. Video doesn’t lie. Our American President bowed to the Saudi King.
• The long time friend. The President through his actions and his words have all but sold out long time friend and ally Israel. Now the tiny Jewish nation faces down the fiery rhetoric of the Iranian regime without its friend to back her up. Speaking of Iran….
• The energy. Obama stated yesterday that he sees nuclear energy as a right of the Iranian regime. Assuming its for peaceful purposes of course. Its truly naive to think that Iran is seeking only nuclear power, but that they are clearly going after nuclear weapons to erradicate the other great satan of Israel. Does anyone really believe that our President is naive? I don’t. Which leads us to…
• The leak. I really swear to you that I am not into conspiracy theories. But come on, the irony here is almost too much. On the day Obama announces that Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear power, it just so happens that the Government printing office posted a 266 page memo on America’s civilian nuclear program. It was taken down eventually, but was up just long enough for our Iranian friends to hit the print button on their Commodore 64 computers. Like I said, the irony is a bit much to see that as being coincidental.

Well, that should do it for now. Its definetely not the only evidence of my initial point, but this is not a court proceeding, so I don’t feel the need to put all the evidence out their at once. For a good read on the subject, I highly reccomend Atlas Shrugs. Ms. Gellar is hard hitting and on top of all the Ali Obama antics, as he continues on his quest to achieve the love and admiration of Muslims around the world. Did I mention that he forgets to mention Muslim extremists who have carried out or tried to carry out attacks in the last two weeks? Yeah, won’t even talk about the extremist side of his prize demographic, but I digress…