With more than a dozen political leaders having either established exploratory committees or declared their intention to seek the U.S. Presidency in 2008, it is not too soon to consider some of the qualities the next President should possess. Considering the eroding American geopolitical standing and major international challenges confronting the nation, the next President will likely need to possess extensive knowledge of foreign affairs. Election of a candidate with little or no meaningful foreign policy knowledge would be a risky proposition.

The next President will likely need to resolve or make significant progress in a number of major foreign affairs matters. These issues include:

∙ The ideological struggle with Islamist extremists: Ultimate success in this long-duration ideological struggle will likely rest on the development of a strategy that would bring together the United States, its allies, and moderate Muslim states. Unless the world’s Muslim community is given an incentive and means to isolate the extremists who lead the terrorist effort, progress will likely remain far more limited. Implementation of such a strategy will likely require frequent personal diplomacy by the President among the world’s major moderate Muslim states and a willingness to engage diplomatically hostile states such as Iran and Syria. The burden of refusing to work toward building a better relationship between the world’s Islamic states and the West should rest with the rejectionist states. Continuation of the present policy of refusing to pursue diplomacy to its fullest extent spreads the blame to all the parties who refuse to collaborate on such an important cause.

∙ Stabilizing Iraq or limiting the fall-out from a fragmented/failing state: The proposed “surge” strategy faces numerous substantial barriers that could preclude success. It provides too little manpower for a purely military solution, it places heavy reliance on an overly-sectarian and less-than-competent Iraqi transitional government to pull the country together, it does little to address Sunni political and economic disenfranchisement, and it is at the mercy of violent sectarian militias and outside states whose interests are not aligned with achieving a stable multi-ethnic/multi-religious Iraq. If the U.S. strategy is continuing to fail, the United States will need to limit its geopolitical losses and rebuild its regional credibility. It will also need to promote stability in moderate states such as Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia and provide protection from possible Iranian domination. In short, if a bad outcome is realized in Iraq, the next President will need to know from the onset how he or she will address it.

∙ Iran’s quest for regional hegemony: Iran’s nuclear program, military modernization, active role in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, and increasingly active diplomacy outside the Middle East gives every indication that Iran is seeking regional dominance. By the time the next President takes office, the difficulty in overcoming this rising challenge will likely have been exacerbated on account of the current U.S. refusal to directly engage Iran, along with clumsy efforts that do little to accommodate Russia’s and China’s critical interests even as the U.S. seeks their cooperation with regard to Iran’s nuclear program. In an environment in which direct diplomacy is non-existent and the major interests of key players are ignored, little progress can be expected. Interests, not unabashed idealism, set the framework for foreign policy. The next President will need to reverse the current diplomatic stance, develop an approach founded on common goals that safeguard or enhance the critical interests of all the players, and aggressively reach out to moderates within Iran’s political, academic and economic communities to promote gradual but unmistakable change. At the same time, the U.S. will need to demonstrate through words and actions that it will not sacrifice the wellbeing of its key regional allies, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

∙ China’s rising military power: China is a rising economic, political, and military power. Already, its economy is the world’s second largest. As it continues to grow, it has embarked on a vigorous campaign not only to modernize its military, but also to push the frontiers of technology. Toward that end, it is working to establish leadership in Space. At present, it is expanding both its civil and military capabilities in Space. How China continues to evolve will be of global importance. China’s recent destruction of one of its aging weather satellites offers the possibility of a new military rivalry. If China is able to gain a major capacity to control or dominate Space, on-the-ground advantages currently possessed by the U.S. Military would be rendered obsolete or useless. The present decisive U.S. advantage from smart weapons, communications capabilities, and other information-based capacities would cease to be relevant. That could make it far more difficult and costly for the U.S. to safeguard its critical interests. The next President will need to engage in regular, robust and personal diplomacy at the “President-to-President” level with China and initiate a strong U.S. research effort to assure that the United States would not lose its advantages in Space. The possibility of holding regular summits along the lines of those undertaken during the Cold War with the Soviet Union may also be necessary to manage this issue. Given China’s need for internal stability and sustained economic growth, the U.S. is in a good position to bring about a diplomatic agreement that ultimately precludes a Space-based arms race and strengthens the larger bilateral partnership between the two countries.

∙ Rebuilding the U.S.-Russia relationship: Russia has been engaged in a policy of counterbalancing the United States. Such a stance raises the costs to secure and promote U.S. interests abroad. The weak United Nations Security Resolutions concerning Iran’s nuclear program and limited Russian assistance regarding North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are just a few of the consequences. With Russia becoming increasingly assertive in its “Near Abroad” and its oil resources giving it greater leverage on the world stage, a policy that distances Russia from the U.S. is counterproductive. The next President will need to offer Russia whole-hearted support in its own struggle with radical Islamist extremists, full partnership in NATO, and initiate discussions over a free trade agreement that would bring Russia closer to the U.S. and West.

∙ Reinvigorating trans-Atlantic relations: The trans-Atlantic relationship is among the most important U.S. relationships. The fundamental disagreements over the Iraq War have weakened this relationship. Those disagreements have not broken it, as the shared interests between the United States and its European allies are too great to bring about such an outcome at this time. Still, this relationship will need to be re-strengthened if the U.S. is to maximize its global leverage. This would entail more of a partnership than has existed in recent years. A partnership, of course, does not preclude U.S. freedom to act when critical interests are at stake. It does mean more collaboration and greater willingness to listen to other viewpoints. Indeed, hindsight is golden, but had the U.S. perhaps waited a little longer, the reality of no WMD in Iraq might have been established. More importantly, the extra time might have allowed for the development of an effective post-war strategy that could have resulted in a very different situation in Iraq than what exists today.

∙ Re-engage Latin America: The next President will need to visit the region and personally re-engage the major players including Brazil and Argentina in order to minimize the slow fracturing of the Continent in which several states are drifting toward a Venezuela-Cuba anti-United States./anti-free market orbit. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the region just recently. The U.S. President should be doing so on a regular basis. However, U.S. policy has amounted to little more than neglect. Such an approach undermines U.S. interests in the region. The increasingly assertive anti-U.S. policies being undertaken and expanded in parts of Latin America are, in part, more appealing and more readily-advanced on account of continuing American neglect.

When it comes to the campaign process, the news media should vigorously probe the candidates’ understanding of foreign policy. The Media should thoroughly test their assumptions, understanding, and calculations. For example, during the debates, the candidates should be asked questions along the lines of what in a country’s history, political or economic framework, or culture gives them confidence that a proposed approach might work. The questions should not be provided in advance to the candidates. Otherwise, it would difficult to determine whether the candidates have merely crammed for the debates or are truly prepared to lead. The next President needs to be truly prepared to lead, especially when it comes to foreign policy.
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Last week, I was asked if I would be willing to help sponsor a family who have been living in Middle Eastern refugee camps for several years. They are Palestinian Iraqis and Sunni Muslims, have been moved from one ill-equipped camp to another, and are now being forced to leave their camp in Syria. They are applying for refugee status to Canada. The hitch is, they have to get a group to agree to sponsor them for one full year. For a family of six, this would mean a commitment of about $26,000. Doug, one of the people willing to sponsor the family, explained that if 100 people were all to offer their financial and other forms of support, their total cost would be $250.00 per sponsor (or family), which could be spread out over four payments.

My first thought was that the timing is not very good. We’re in a recession. I don’t have a spare $250.00 right now. In fact I could use an extra $250.00, given current circumstances. But that first response didn’t sit right. I began to feel a significant discomfort. Was it really too much? What did it mean, on a weekly basis? Some quick math showed me that $250.00 breaks down to $4.80 per week. I spend more than that for the 2 Americano coffees I buy weekly from my neighbourhood Starbucks. Small change for changing lives.

I remembered a similar appeal, sixteen years ago. A representative for Welcome House, a branch of Immigration Services, came to my church, and told the congregation about the desperate plight of refugees fleeing a nation in civil war. He explained that many families accepted into Canada were struggling to understand the culture, learn the language, apply for jobs, and make friends. He had recently learned that one family had mistakenly been eating canned dog food because the no-name brand had only words, but no picture on the label. This image of a family sitting around a kitchen table here in Canada eating dog food pierced my heart.

When the sign-up sheet for volunteers to be a Canadian friend to one of these families reached me, 12 pews from the front, there were no signatures. As a single parent, I often felt pretty stretched at times, so I looked at the blank paper for several moments. Then I signed my name.

Soon I met my new family, a mother and father and two small boys. The parents had been separated by the war, and were only recently reunited. The mother and children spoke very little English, the father a little more. My commitment was to see them once a week for six months, be a friend who would also function as a cultural consultant, share significant Canadian holidays with them, and provide any other support that I could offer. There was no financial expectation, just time and kindness.

At the end of the six months, we chose to continue our developing friendship. My admiration for the family grew as I saw them deal with what seemed to be non-stop adversity in those early years – the sudden death of a beloved parent back home, lost jobs, and serious health problems. Our formal relationship evolved into a deeply caring friendship, in which I am often the beneficiary of their kindness. The two small boys are grown; both have post-secondary educations and good jobs, and last month the eldest married his sweetheart in a touching garden ceremony. During the wedding, I struggled to keep from crying as I remembered all that this family has endured, overcome and accomplished.

So I signed up for the Muslim family. I’m only a drop in the bucket. But with enough help, we can bring them to this diverse and vibrant Canadian city, and help them settle close to four other Muslim families who have also been ejected from the same camp. Perhaps together they can make their homes here, build new lives, heal wounds, and see their children prosper.
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The immense carnage of WWI was caused by one gunshot in Yugoslavia, “The shot heard round the world.” The Apocalypse, the sudden violent end of life on Earth forever has now been set in motion by people ignoring their 100 things in common and focusing on their 1 difference.

Prior to 911, how many Americans knew where Afghanistan was? Today, Feb. 23, 2006, how many Americans know the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni Muslim? The cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad triggered a world wide Muslim stampede which is now escalating into an Iraqi civil war between the Shi’a and the Sunni Muslims, and the Christian Americans are caught right in the middle of it. If the Sunnis win, then they will free Saddam Hussein, and he will likely go into exile with his Swiss Oil Billions in a friendly Muslim country, until his triumphant return to power in Iraq, as did the Ayatollah returning to replace the American Iranian puppet the Shah of Iran. Had George Bush spent 3 cents on 1 bullet and executed Saddam in his rabbit hole, this never would have happened. Imagine Scott Peterson coming into court in his underwear, constantly standing up and calling the Judge a puppet of the Americans, and winning. Saddam Hussein has got to be laughing his head off at George Bush right now, Mr. “Mission Accomplished.”, the son of his father Abu George, Mr. “Read my lips, no new taxes.” Unfortunately the Democrats are such weaklings, like Hubert Humphrey Dumptey and Walter Mondale that they can’t knock out the Republican Party that has already knocked itself out on the domestic and world stage, plunging America into bankruptcy and making it the black sheep of the World. Don’t worry because soon it will all be over.

Earthlings are the laughing stock, the comedy channel of the Universe. Many Americans today are wondering why the Bushes, whose oil company was financed by the Bin Laden family and who sit on the board of directors of their puppets the Saudi Royal family are now selling the American ports to the Muslim United Arab Emirates. The question is, “Who is pulling whose strings?” The House of Saud is obviously funneling billions into the Bushes Swiss bank accounts for keeping them in power and safe from Osama Bin Laden, the well known video star. Video did not kill the radio star. To say this is to blaspheme Howard Stern. Yeshua aka Joshua aka Jesus aka South Park Jesus was a Jewish Rabbi with a black hat and a black coat and long sideburns aka pais who created the Universe and everything in it, according to 2,000,000,000 Christians. 1,000,000,000 Christians believe that the successor to Joshua Goldstein was Peter aka The Pope aka His Holiness “Mr. Infallible”, Mr. incapable of error. Another 1,000,000,000 Christians don’t believe this. This disagreement over the successor to Jesus has led to countless wars and murders and raping and pillaging of innocent Christian men, women and children. It is so easy to see insanity in others but impossible to see it in ourselves. Yesterday my friend Isabelle attended a Hermes scarf club luncheon. One woman brought 30 of her 400 $500 Hermes scarves for show and tell. The Hermes head scarf is $5,000. The female Miami stevedores love their new uniform, burkas. The Jebusites and the Hittites are making a comeback at Disneyworld, which was recently purchased by the House of Saud aka the BarbJennaBush Development Corporation. Who needs screenwriters when truth is stranger than fiction?

So, what separates Sunni Muslims from Shiite Muslims other than their battle for the power, control and oil of Iraq? Well, the Prophet Muhammad lived about 1,400 years ago on a planet 5 billion years old with human skeletons named Lucy 4 million years old. A Prophet is a person, like Joshua Goldfarb, who speaks to God and gets the game plan. Today he would either be a schizophrenic undergoing electro shock therapy and a lobotomy or a best selling author. The Prophet Muhammad could not read or write, and he did not speak directly to God of Mount Sinai, aka Allah, God the Father, The Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Adonai, Yehovah, Elohim, Hashem, etc. Instead he spoke to the same Angel Gabriel who brought the good news to the Virgin Mary aka Mirriam Goldstein that God the Father had impregnated her with his Holy Spirit and she was about to give birth to the Messiah immaculately.

The Prophet Muhammad had a scribe, and he dictated his prophecies to the scribe and 50 years after the Prophet died the Muslim Bible Writers came up with the Muslim Holy Scriptures: The Hebrew Old Testament, The Christian New Testament and the Koran. Perhaps they did not notice that in the Old Testament it says that the Messiah will kill every non Jew and the Christian New Testament says that the Messiah will kill every non Christian upon his arrival on a flying white horse from Heaven.

So, what separates Sunni Muslims from Shiite Muslims? God of Mount Sinai, in his very first commandment carved by Him personally in stone says, “Do not worship, bow down to or idolize or revere anyone on Earth.” The Muslims revere the Prophet Muhammad as the Christians revere the Prophet Jesus as the Jews revere Knicks tickets and corned beef sandwiches on rye with kimel, Jesus’ favorite dish. The Prophet Muhammad had a son in law named Ali ibn Abi Talib aka Imam Ali. The Shiites believe that he was the leader of Islam after Muhammad, the proper successor to Muhammad, and follow his heirs. The Sunnis do not. They believe that the true successor of Muhammad was his lieutenant Abu (father of) Baker. Bob Dole is a UAE port lobbyist. Prior to Jesus usurping power from the Roman Gods and Goddesses upon his election as God at the Council of Nicaea 300 years after his death, the Roman Empire and the Greek Empire worshipped their own Gods and Goddesses including the Greek Goddess of Love Aphrodite renamed Venus by the Romans. I’m your Venus, I’m your fire, I’m your desire.

In the fairy tale, Uranus was castrated by his son Cronus. Jesus, the Prince of Peace says, “I have not come to bring you Peace, but the sword, to turn son against father..”. Uranus’ severed testicles fell into the sea and fertilized the ocean water which began to bubble and from the concoction was born an 18 year old naked Goddess Aphrodite. Venus was painted by Sandro Boticelli. You can pick the painting up on eBay for $325 million. They do accept Pay Pal. Jesus stars in his own cable show “Jesus and Pals” on South Fork. The New Testament does not contain one word of description of Jesus yet his likeness appears on the cross in every Catholic Church to scare the Hell out of every Catholic child. Jesus never said the word Hell in his life. Every time he says Sheol or Gehenna in the Holy Bible the modern Bible Writers substitute the word Hell to scare the Hell out of every Christian child. Fear and guilt are the classic brainwashing techniques. Gehenna was where the Jewish and non Jewish people sacrificed their first born children alive on fire altars 2,500 years ago just south of Jerusalem. Sheol was the place underground where both the good and the bad spirits went to live together after death according to Jesus Christ in the original Greek manuscripts of the New Testament.

According to the Shi’a Muslims depictions of Muhammad are verboten. According to the Sunni Muslims they are allowed. This controversy stirred up by the cartoon is the root of the now exploding Iraq civil war. Cartoons are a form of art as old as hieroglyphics and paintings by our ancestors on cave walls. After the last American Civil War there were cartoons of carpetbaggers being hung from trees and donkeys branded with the emblem KKK. The triple K’s were disgruntled Americans from the southern states numbering in the millions who crucified blacks, Jews and Catholics and set the crosses on fire less than 200 years ago. Our ancestors were sadistic and masochistic freaks and we are their clones. Don’t worry because soon it will all be over.

The only thing on Earth that sells better then sex is the right to commit murder and the Religions have the market cornered. Islam rewards the murder of Christians and Jews with eternal paradise in Heaven with God and 72 virgins, crystal clear springs and unlimited wine with no side effects. (Koran Sura 9:29-30, Sura 56). Jesus is soon returning to throw all of the non Christians into the fire and to Rapture the Christians into Paradise for doing this for him. (Matthew 13:36-43). The Jewish Messiah is coming soon to smash every non believer into a million pieces like a potter’s vessel and conquer the world for the Jews. (Psalm 2). Every single nuclear scientist knows that nuclear world war III and its aftermath nuclear winter then ultraviolet summer will have zero survivors. The only way for us to survive is through world peace. The Temple of Love – The World Peace Religion, makes Peace among and unites Christianity, Islam, Judaism and everyone else by tying them together with their common threads and resolving all of their differences once and for all. The problem is that selling Peace to bloodthirsty Earthlings massacring innocent children because fairy tales command them to is like trying to teach great white sharks not to eat fish. At least they don’t eat pork.
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Geoff Neilson has written “7 quick steps proving HWA is the endtime Elijah,” that Herbert W. Armstrong was the prophesied individual to come in the power and spirit of Elijah, as taught by the former Worldwide Church of God and still believed by many of the branches of the Sabbath-keeping Church of God. However, not every individual within them believe he completely fulfilled that great restoration role but that he served as an Elijah to the Church and there yet remains for the appearance and work of an Elijah to the nations:

#7–If Elijah has not already come, then (a) the endtime hasn’t started; (b)everyone in the Church’s doctrine is in a state of huge disrepair until he comes and restores all things, (c) and no-one in our day has ever understood endtime prophecy.

That’s hysterically throwing the baby out with the bathwater and proving that too many have built their whole “house” upon a man rather than the WORD OF GOD. Mr. Rupert knew, taught and observed the biblical Sabbath, festivals, dietary laws and our Israelite identity, and prophesied of the great apostacy, long before God’s apostle was sent to take these already revealed truths to the world in a BIG WAY, as prophesied, laying the foundation (like Mr. Rupert did for him) for the TWO WITNESSES who will finish the Work. Mr. Armstrong finished the Work God gave for him to do. It’s time to go forward, to look ahead, and continue to let God’s Word correct and improve our understanding.

I thank God for His apostle Herbert W. Armstrong and give tremendous credit to the man, but my life and beliefs are based on the WORD OF GOD that remains alive and lasts forever, and it has the last say on every subject.

Mr. Armstrong was given the gift of inspired understanding, but he was not a prophet or he wouldn’t have made a single mistake! As Chanah wisely notes, if we say, against his own words, he was a prophet, then you’re making him out to be a false prophet, and I certainly don’t think that’s your intention.

Your intention, I believe is to honor God and His servant, but we’re to give credit due where credit is due – nothing more or less. Mr. Armstrong isn’t anybody less because he wasn’t a biblical prophet – and prophets are sent to the NATIONS with strong messages, not pretty platitudes appropriate for the times. Mr. Armstrong wrote of the time coming when the PLAIN TRUTH would drop like a BOMBSHELL about the origins of traditional Christianity.

That time has come! No more black tie dinners and diplomatic, refined and harmless speech, now it’s time to tell it like it is, drop all pretense and ROAR GOD’S FINAL WARNING TO THIS WORLD! We won’t merely say, as was appropriate at that time, “A Strong Unseen Hand from Someplace” will save us, we’ll herald the coming of the King of the Jews, the King of Israel, who will rule with a ROD OF IRON and knock some sense into the heads of state! He will smash all opposition! He will liberate Jerusalem and reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
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When becoming a member of the Wiccan religion, many people choose to adopt a new name, usually referred to as a “Wiccan name” or “Magickal Name.” This is done as a symbol of rebirth into a new life and typically represents an alter ego of who the person wants to be. So significant is this process that Wiccan names and their meanings become a solid foundation from which the rest of the Wiccan experience is grown from.

Choosing a Wiccan name should not be done casually. The individual should research names that have meanings he or she would like to live up to. So if the person seeks to be strong, patient and wise, he should find names that represent those characteristics. Oftentimes a simple baby name book can be a beneficial tool.

Sometimes the best name is a combination of two other names. So if the individual finds one name that means “strong” and another that means “cunning”, combining the two names and rearranging the letters can provide a new unique name that encompasses both qualities being sought.

And when talking about Wiccan names and meanings, one cannot leave out the numerology aspect of the name. Using digit summing (reducing the value of all the letters in the name by adding them together), a single number can be found for every name. And that number has a meaning that can be relevant to the person in creating or choosing the ideal name. By adding or removing a letter, you can significantly change the meaning of a Wiccan name in a numerological sense (ie. adding an “e” in Sarah to make the new name “Saraeh”).

Becoming a member of the Wiccan religion, like becoming a member of any religion, is a life-altering decision that should be handled with seriousness and thoughtfulness. Wiccan names and their meanings are the first step into this lifestyle, and taking the time and effort at this critical point will build a strong foundation to spiritually build on.
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Didn’t god get it right the first time? If god is infallible, why did god need an update?
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