Coptic Pope Shenouda III, Dead at 88

Pope Shenouda III has died at the age of 88. Shenouda was the head of the Coptic Orthodox Church, and had served as pope since 1971. It is yet unknown who his successor will be. After over forty years of his reign, many have known none but him as pope.

Known for preserving his church's place in Egypt and the Middle East, he also did much to spread it further into North and South America. He strongly believed in dialogue between the various Christian churches, and sought unity amongst them.

From 1981-1985 he spent his time in exile, as then Egyptian president Anwar Sadat had him kicked out of the country. In 1985 former president Hosni Mubarak allowed him to reenter, and he led the Christmas mass.

Recently he had been criticized for not standing up against the political leaders, as they allowed Muslims to violate Coptic rights. Throughout the revolution, last year, he asked the people to go home and be safe. And since the revolution had backed the military council, until soldiers fired upon a Coptic crowd, of who's dead he called martyrs.

Clooney Arrested at Protest

George Clooney, his father, Democratic US Representative Jim Moran of Virginia, and NAACP President Ben Jealous have all been arrested at a protest outside of the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC. They were warned three times to not cross a police line, but continued to do so.


The protesters say that President Omar al-Bashir is causing a humanitarian crisis by blocking food and aid from entering the Nuba Mountains near the newly formed country of South Sudan. Clooney previously said he would take measures to draw media attention to the situation. Apparently being arrested was what he came up with.


One would think with Mr. Clooney's ease of access to the press, that there would be many other better options available to the former movie star. Maybe he is trying to add bad boy to his image? I seriously doubt he'll gain much notice to the cause of Sudan though. The majority of the press will skip over the 'why', solely to focus on that he was arrested.

Remembering: The Founding of West Point

March 16, 1802 Congress founds the United States Military Academy. The first military school in the United States, it's purpose is to educate and train young men, and since 1976 women as well, in the theory and practice of military science.

It's location along a turn of the Hudson River, in New York, made it a key fort during the Revolutionary War. The British sought to take it, so that they could enter the Hudson River Valley. One of the most infamous moments occurred when General Benedict Arnold sold his loyalty, and the fort, for 6000 pounds. His plot was found out, near the last minute, and he was branded a traitor for life.

In 1812, with another war with Britain looming, Congress expanded the facilities and size of the corps. And then in 1817, Sylvanus Thayer took over as superintendent. He would reorganize the school, to such an improved degree that he is now known as the "Father of West Point". Thanks to him, the school became a leading source of civil engineers.

By the time of the Mexican-American War, West Point graduates had spread throughout the Army. Unknown names would start to gain notice during that war. Those cadets would become the generals, on both sides, of the Civil War. Cadets fighting against cadets, the Point had been torn in two, just as the country had been. But it wouldn't be torn asunder, it would grow back stronger than ever.

Remembering: The Ides of March

On March 15, 44 BC Julius Caesar is murdered by the Roman Senate. As many as sixty of the nobles, including Marcus Brutus, Caesar's protege, took part in plotting the murder, but he was only stabbed twenty-three times. Though only one was likely fatal.

The Senate and nobles had grown tired of Caesar's control, not to mention jealous of his popularity with the people. Since returning from recent wars he had been giving himself more and more powers, yet at the same time giving more freedom to the masses.

Lines from Shakespeare's play about the events, have actually become more famous than the reality of what occurred. "Et tu Brute" has survived as a common phrase to this day. Historians recorded three different responses from Caesar, which has caused controversy over which is the one of reality. Most likely, Caesar actually said, "Kai tu, seknon", which would translate as "You too, child."

It is also rumored that he was warned by various people, including a soothsayer, to beware the Ides of March, or March 15. Whether he ignored the warnings in disbelief or thought his was death was necessary for Rome, we'll never know. But with Caesar either was possible.

Faith Assists in Tornado Ravaged Home

On March 2nd, two tornadoes touched down in Henryville and Maryville, Indiana, respectively. We often hear stories of items belonging to victims of the storm being found a few miles away, but this one is a little bit different.

Rob Geiger, after listening to his local Meteorologist Tim Hedrick talk about a letter from tornado ravaged Henryville which traveled an hour away to Loveland, decided he'd take a walk in which he noticed things "falling from the sky".

Walking by a creek behind his house, he found an insurance card belonging to a Steven Shaw of Henryville, Indiana. Steven and his family's home was destroyed by the EF-4 tornado. Immediately, Rob decided to go to Facebook to try and collect donations for what he described as "...a sign from God. These people need help".

Rob doesn't want to take away from local efforts to help, but with the backing of his church and his mothers retirement home, he knows he's answering a call from God to do his part to help Steve, his wife, and his two young children.

WKRC in Cincinnati:

First Preview of Civilization V: Gods and Kings

Back in February we let you know it had been announced that Civilization V would see an expansion, Gods and Kings. Since then, a few sites were able to get sneak peeks. Unfortunately, we weren't one of them, but we can tell you what they shared with us.

To add to the already known new civs and leaders: Netherlands (William I, Prince of Orange), the Celts (Boudicca), and the Mayans (Pacal the Great); Carthage (Dido) and the Byzantines have been confirmed.

Some units mentioned are the Pictish Warriors, which help produce faith for the Celts, as their unique unit. World War I era tanks, planes, machine gunners and artillery, have also been added so there will be another step in modernizing your armies.

Gamespy gave us a great description of how both the new espionage and religions work. And it sounds totally oooShiny! The way you can make your religion fit your playing style, or your situation in each game, sounds quite intriguing. Faith will now be a yield, just as food, culture, and production are. The more faith you generate, the fast you can grow your religion. Each type of civilization has unique ways to gain faith.

Once you have have faith, you build a Pantheon, which allows you to choose your first belief. After that your faith generates you a Great Prophet, who is capable of founding a religion. Once you have a religion you can combine two more beliefs to your system. The beliefs either effect you the founder, or give benefits to your followers. Once one religion has chosen a belief, that belief is no longer available to another.

Spies no longer being units at all, is interesting as well. Rigging elections, and causing coups are just part of what they're capable of. But you definitely do not want to let your spies get caught. Not only will they be executed, but you'll lose some major face and may find yourself at war over the incident.

Venturebeat's article mentions that the Dutch can produce tulips for trade, and that the city state of Tyre makes jewelry. This would seem to suggest that each civilization and city state has their own unique resource as well. A previously unmentioned change, that would add a whole lot to consider when conquering the world.

Another thing mentioned is that units are moving from a ten hit point system, to a hundred point system. Units will be a lot harder to kill, and combat will take longer. Battle lines could easily become much more of a stand still.

Alas, sadly, there still is no release date. Just sometime in late spring.

Diablo III Release Announced

Evil has returned. And it is time to return to Tristam to save Sanctuary.

The dark secrets of the fallen star must be discovered, or all will be lost when the demons invade.

Yes, Diablo III's release has been announced. On May 15, the game will go live. Digital copies are already available from Blizzard.

Blizzard, the creator of World of Warcraft, is currently working on two other games.  Mists of Pandaria, the latest expansion to WOW, and Heart of the Swarm an expansion to Starcraft II.

Human Trafficking; A New Approach to Awareness

Over the last few years there has been a growing effort to raise awareness of child trafficking, here in the states as well as over seas. The A21 Campaign, led by Christine Caine of Hillsong Church in Australia; educates, provides shelter for rescued children, and teams with law enforcement to help prosecute those who traffic.

Human trafficking is the second largest global organized crime today, generating approximately 31.6 billion USD each year. Specifically, trafficking for sexual exploitation generates 27.8 billion USD per year. There are 1.39 million victims of commercial sexual servitude worldwide. Tragically, only 1-2 percent of victims are rescued, and only 1 in 100,000 Europeans involved in trafficking are convicted.

While the A21 Campaign mainly focuses its resources in Europe (mostly Greece and the Ukraine), you might be surprised to know that there is sex trafficking into the U.S. Probably near you. In my hometown of Jacksonville, Fl., we've had several occurrences of sex trafficking, most of which are children.

From our local newspaper, The Florida Times Union:

Over the past several weeks, local and federal authorities have arrested six men in what they're calling a rare sex-trafficking operation in Jacksonville.

It started when a 15-year-old runaway wandered into the city's drug-ridden underbelly last spring. She met men who gave her crack cocaine in exchange for sex. Then they held her captive for nearly a month and sold her as a prostitute until she managed to break free and call her mother, who then called police.

Florida is one of the top three destinations for international traffickers, and over half of the 18,000 victims brought to the United States each year, half are children. So, what's the next step in the fight against human trafficking? Is there anything you can do?


Enter; Dan Benedict. Not only does he think he can make a difference, he's leading the front on fighting human trafficking in the city of Jacksonville, in the Dominican Republic, and wants to make a difference in every city of the U.S. as well as across the globe. Dan formed The Defender Foundation to do what no other civilian trafficking awareness group has done; rescue.

In an interview with Jacksonville.com:

"I think there is an awakening happening," said Dan Benedict, chairman of the Defender Foundation. "But there are still tons of people going to work and school who have no idea slaves are being trafficked down Interstate 95."

The Defender Foundation relies heavily on volunteers to help get the message out about what they do for those being trafficked. They work with local Russian churches, talk with hotel management and staff, and hand out flyer's at truck stops and local events. Mr. Benedict, in an interview with First Coast News:

"There are (sic) some major groups behind this, various 1%er biker gangs, Russian organized Crime..."

"We have traffic victims coming in (the U.S.) through various ports; in cargo containers, drugged for that journey, and then they're sold up the east coast."

"We could rescue every girl on the planet tonight, and tomorrow, the demand is so huge that hundreds of thousands will be taken."

They have traveled to Pennsylvania and the Dominican Republic, to date rescuing 15 girls in 10 separate operations. Although the main focus of the Defender Foundation is rescue, something no other civilian awareness program does, they do not consider themselves vigilantes. They do not enter the homes; and only rescue victims who voluntarily want to leave.

When asked what do they do if the victim suddenly changes her mind, Dan said,

"We're not kidnappers, we're going to have to let them off."

They have an all-women volunteer team to answer calls from victims, establishing a trustful relationship, determining their location, and to potentially set up an escape plan for the victim.

Erin Pruett, a phone volunteer with the Foundation:

"I am one of the first people that connects with them and tries to, you know, just make conversation and make them feel safe."

"You can't do everything for everyone, you can't rescue everyone, but you can do for one what you'd wish to do for everyone. That's kind of how I take it."

Once the support team establishes a relationship and the victim chooses to leave , the Shield Team, comprised of an Investigative, Medical, and Security team; sets up the rescue...

"There is a security team, and their goal is to be there (at the pre-determined pick up location) within 5 seconds, if there are any problems", Dan says. "We're not out there being cowboys (and) kicking down doors."

The Defender Foundation passes along all information to the proper authorities to make sure that the perpetrators are prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

If you would like any additional information on The Defender Foundation, you can visit their website, or visit their Facbook page.

ObamaCare to Cost Almost Twice as Much as Promised

On September 9th, 2009, President Obama, while addressing members of Congress and the American people, said:

Now, add it all up, and the plan I'm proposing will cost around $900 billion over 10 years -- less than we have spent on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and less than the tax cuts for the wealthiest few Americans that Congress passed at the beginning of the previous administration.

Now we learn that we were being mislead by Mr. Obama (not for the first time), and ObamaCare will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade, rather than the $940 billion forecast when it was signed into law.

From Philip Klein at The Washington Examiner:

Democrats employed many accounting tricks when they were pushing through the national health care legislation, the most egregious of which was to delay full implementation of the law until 2014, so it would appear cheaper under the CBO's standard ten-year budget window and, at least on paper, meet Obama's pledge that the legislation would cost "around $900 billion over 10 years." When the final CBO score came out before passage, critics noted that the true 10 year cost would be far higher than advertised once projections accounted for full implementation.

Today, the CBO released new projections from 2013 extending through 2022, and the results are as critics expected: the ten-year cost of the law's core provisions to expand health insurance coverage has now ballooned to $1.76 trillion. That's because we now have estimates for Obamacare's first nine years of full implementation, rather than the mere six when it was signed into law. Only next year will we get a true ten-year cost estimate, if the law isn't overturned by the Supreme Court or repealed by then. Given that in 2022, the last year available, the gross cost of the coverage expansions are $265 billion, we're likely looking at about $2 trillion over the first decade, or more than double what Obama advertised.

Mr. Klein continues in a separate post:

The big picture takeaway is that due mostly to weaker economic projections, the CBO now projects that more people will be obtaining insurance through Medicaid than it estimated a year ago at a greater cost to the government, but fewer people will be getting insurance through their employers or the health care law’s new subsidized insurance exchanges. Overall spending will be higher than estimated a year ago, but increased revenue from penalties and taxes will more than offset this. Also interesting: CBO now expects two million fewer people to be covered as a result of the health care law than previously projected.

It’s worth keeping in mind that what the CBO did today was update its forecasts for the cost of expanding insurance coverage under the health care law. That represents, by far, the bulk of the spending in the legislation, but it doesn’t constitute a full rescoring of the law or a revised deficit estimate. That would have to include estimates for all the taxes, Medicare cuts and other spending in the law. Also, the $1.76 trillion cited above is for the years 2013 through 2022, but if we want to compare changes to last year’s estimates, we have to use the comparable years of 2012 through 2021. (Estimates for 2022 only became available today.)

Rush made a great point today as to why Obama kept his original estimates under $1 trillion. After all, what would an Obama speech be without a jab at the previous administration:

We were already accumulating mountains of new debt thanks to Obama's stimulus. And for some reason the magic number was $1 trillion. Well, the reason was the Iraq war cost about a trillion dollars. So the selling point from the Democrats was that it wasn't gonna spend any new money. "We're just gonna get out of Iraq; we're gonna stop fighting the Iraq war. We're gonna take that money and put it where it really matters: Health care, affordable health care for all Americans!"

I guess the only thing left to say is just a repeat of what was said the same night Obama gave his health care speech;

How right you were, Joe Wilson.

UPDATE: 03/15/12

From Rep. Paul Ryan:

CBO CONFIRMS ANOTHER BROKEN PROMISE IN THE PRESIDENT’S HEALTH CARE LAW

March 15, 2012

WASHINGTON – Earlier today, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in response to a request from House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, released an analysis of the President’s health care law, finding that three to five million Americans will be pushed out of their employer-provided health insurance each year from 2019 through 2022.

In response to CBO’s confirmation of another broken promise by President Obama, Chairman Paul Ryan issued the following statement:

“President Obama’s string of empty promises is quickly becoming a disappointing trail of broken promises. He promised Americans that his overhaul of the health care sector would not jeopardize the health coverage of those who liked what they had.  As nonpartisan analysts made clear today, millions of Americans will soon learn the hard way that Washington’s overreach into their health care decisions will result in sharp disruptions to their coverage and their care. The President’s disastrous health care law continues to unravel. To advance bipartisan, patient-centered solutions, the President’s partisan roadblock must be repealed.”

Anti-American Obamanation Flag

It’s been called disrespectful, a disgrace and a desecration of the flag of the United States of America. It is the ‘Obama’ flag that was being flown over the Democratic Party offices in Tavares, Lake County, FL.

“I want to buy two of them there flags. One to crap on and the other to cover it up.” says my friend Bill Czyzewski, a Vietnam veteran who, while serving with the 11th Armored Calvary, was shot in the upper leg, while serving in Vietnam and subsequently had that leg amputated. He feels, as many do, that the display of this flag disrespects our country and our veterans and active military that fight to protect and preserve the United States. “This country keeps slapping the face of every veteran, anybody (Obama) that treats our country like that needs to GO.”

Comments on Facebook from both active military, veterans and civilians ranged from “That is a pure disgrace to the colors red, white and blue” to “Can we say impeachment?” to “totally disrespectful of the American flag.”

In the Orlando Sentinel, former Marine and retired schoolteacher from Leesburg John Masterjohn says, "It's a cult of personality to show his face, like Stalin or Mao. It's despicable. They don't realize how sick they are."

"It's absolutely disrespectful," Jim Bradford, a 71-year-old veteran who participated in the Bay of Pigs Invasion told Fox News.

Federal Flag Code:
Any person who, in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed. The words “flag, standard, colors, or ensign”, as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.

It is unlikely any legal action will be taken, as there are no penalties for the Federal Flag code as United States Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that desecration of the flag falls under the first amendment rights of the individual desecrating the flag.

Criminal penalties for certain acts of desecration to the flag were contained in Title 18 of the United States Code prior to 1989. The Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson; June 21, 1989, held the statute unconstitutional. This statute was amended when the Flag Protection Act of 1989 (Oct. 28, 1989) imposed a fine and/or up to one year in prison for knowingly mutilating, defacing, physically defiling, maintaining on the floor or trampling upon any flag of the United States. The Flag Protection Act of 1989 was struck down by the Supreme Court decision, United States vs. Eichman, decided on June 11, 1990.

This code is the guide for all handling and display of the Stars and Stripes. It does not impose penalties for misuse of the United States flag. That is left to the states and to the federal government for the District of Columbia. Each state has its own flag law.

Florida Statute 256.05 Improper use of state or United States flag, or other symbol of authority. No person shall, in any manner, for exhibition or display:
(1) Place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing or advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, color, ensign or shield of the United States or of this state, or authorized by any law of the United States or this state; or
(2) Expose to public view any such flag, standard, color, ensign or shield upon which shall have been printed, painted or otherwise produced, or to which shall have been attached, appended, affixed or annexed any such word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing or advertisement.

It certainly seems as though this falls into desecration of the flag and is also in violation of Florida Statute 256.05.

Jay Agg, communications director for AMVETS, told Fox News that the American flag should never be altered. "While we are pleased the flag in question has since been removed from public display, the reported fact that it had flown for months without protest is a clear indication that we have much work to do in educating the public of the importance of protecting our flag," Agg wrote in an email. "This issue is especially important to AMVETS' members, the men and women who have proudly worn our nation's uniform and served under her flag."

The lake county Democratic Headquarters was offered a POW/MIA flag to fly instead, which was refused. Another affront to our brave military men and women who risk their lives in defense of all the people of the United States, even those who fly a desecrated flag.

Proper flag etiquette:
The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind.

As if to add insult to injury, the flag was made in China. It was for sale on eBay this morning. It is interesting how, after the attention the Lake County flag has gotten by the media, it is no longer available. Five had already been sold.



This is just another reminder of the disgraceful, Anti-American direction of the Obama administration and the Democratic party. Today it’s desecration of the American flag, what else is to come?