The Rev. Rob Times - Politics
'Honor Killings' of Women: an Islamic Tradition
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Wednesday, 23 May 2007 04:57
Killing in the name of honor; thousands of women in the Middle East are murdered each year for crimes such as being raped or having premarital sex, or getting divorced, crimes that bring dishonor to their families. Slowly, people are fighting back, but the murders continue.
In 1995 a young Muslim Jordanian woman named Dalia, met an older, very masculine man named Michael. Michael, a Roman Catholic, was an enlisted man in the Jordanian National Army. Dalia and Michael, who met in a beauty parlor, subsequently began to visit each other frequently. After a short time of courting, Dalia’s brother caught wind of the news that his young daughter, an unwed virgin, was courting with a non-Muslim.
Immediately, the brother (whose name has been withheld) informed his father of the rumors. Having assumed that Dalia had begun sexual relations with this man, it was Dalia’s father who decided that she had brought dishonor to the family.
He waited one evening, callously, for his daughter to come home. When she opened the door to her home, he surprised her with the tip of a six inch steel blade. Her brother watched as his father silently pressed the cold metal into the soft bare skin of his daughter’s chest. In mere seconds he applied enough pressure that the blade slowly became completely buried within the girl’s fragile body.
Add a commentBill Richardson Makes Candidacy Official; What it Means for Obama and Co.
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Monday, 21 May 2007 22:00
He’s already formed an exploratory committee and has been in one debate; today New Mexico governor Bill Richardson officially declared his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. How does he fare, and how will his presence affect the “top-tier” contenders?
Add a commentMike Huckabee Looking as Good as John Edwards at a Beauty Shop
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Wednesday, 16 May 2007 22:39
Eulogy: Jerry Falwell Dead at Pivotal Time for the GOP
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Tuesday, 15 May 2007 20:28
The Rev. Dr. Jerry Falwell, who founded the fundamental-Christian Liberty University in 1971, and who ushered extreme-right religious activists into politics with the creation of “The Moral Majority” in 1979, has died today at the age of 73. The man’s legacy includes organizing Evangelical Christians which led to both Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush being elected to two consecutive terms.Pope Benedict XVI - How his Abortion Agenda Can Destroy the Church in the U.S.
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 10 May 2007 16:03
Pope Benedict XVI quickly steered the Catholic Church in reverse when he succeeded Pope John Paul II, who died on April 2, 2005. As a “tough-talking” Pope who is thoroughly dedicated to the more traditional views of the Catholic Church, a fact that he expresses by the attire he chooses to wear, he quickly reversed many John Paul II’s more future-looking changes.
Dismissing his predecessor’s declaration that Hell is not an actual place, rather a state of being, who said of Hell that it is, “…the ultimate consequence of sin itself. Rather than a place, Hell indicates the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy.” The new Pope, preferring a nostalgic return to a more “Hell and brim fire” type of sermon, redefined the Church’s view of Hell, “[It] really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much anymore.”
However, idea of Hell isn’t the only John Paul II doctrine that the right-leaning Pope is willing to overturn. Indeed, the new Pope is beginning to lay the foundation for cannon that could have serious consequences for the viability of an already troubled US Catholic Church. Pope Benedict XVI is lending his voice, power, and authority to a movement that seeks to not only deny communion, but to excommunicate politicians who support a woman’s right to choose.
Add a commentRepublicans on the Fringe: The 2008 Republican line-up
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 03 May 2007 00:16
In open election cycle, the first in over three decades, both political parties are preparing for what is expected to be the most expensive election year in the history of the world, Democrats are celebrating their candidates, so why are Republicans holding their breath for a new choice and looking to fringe politicians for hope?
Celebrity Republicans Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York City Mayor, and proclaimed hero of 9-11, Rudolph Giuliani are household names in America, especially in households that vote, which is good for them, because they are running for the Republican nomination for President of the United States.
Democratic debate: Biden, Edwards looking Presidential; others merely ambitious
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 26 April 2007 21:41
In MSNBC’s ‘first in the nation’ debate between the democratic presidential candidates, senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama went into the show with most of the media buzz, most of the money, most of the support, and most of all – the most to lose.
Add a commentThe Axis of the Abhorred: North Korea, Iran and the United States
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Sunday, 25 March 2007 06:16
With that, President Bush has already eliminated one member of the axis of evil (Iraq), is bending over backwards to appease another (North Korea), and is dangling a carrot in front of the third to bring them to a negotiating table over their very real nuclear program (Iran).
Well, move over axis of evil, there is a new axis in town, the ‘axis of the abhorred.’ Consisting of the two remaining axis of evil members plus, you guessed it, the United States. Bush’s words have now come full circle, and the price of Bush’s indifference was the world’s opinion of the US.
Add a commentSeparation of Church and State: Fact or Fiction? An analysis of the argument and the truth behind it
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 22 March 2007 09:26
Over the past three decades an increase in debate over the five words “Separation of Church and State” has been increasingly ramped up due to pressure from America’s religious and political right, as their agenda is to see that Christian theology play a vital role in the governing and in the legislation of our country. With the impending 2008 presidential election at hand, major news outlets such as Fox News have been running several programs and reports aimed at promoting the idea that religion and government should be mixed. One such special was hosted by GOP activist Newt Gingrich, who goes as far as to actually lie about the faith of the Founding Fathers.
The goal of the conservatives and fundamentalists is to guide the government with the Holy Bible; the rationale for their argument compounded and spread out. The more fronts that they can make their argument on the more confusing it is for laymen and political novices to mount a rational defense, and thus the more easily accepted it is into uneducated and poorly informed groups of society.
Add a commentJohn McCain's Road to the 2008 Republican Nomination and why Mitt Romney will win it
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 22 March 2007 08:21
Election 2008 and the New JFK Era
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 22 March 2007 07:38
It has been said that those who lived in politics during the Vietnam era will be fighting Vietnam for the rest of their lives. The same is perhaps true of the Iraq war. Every Senate and House Republican and Democrat will be fighting the Iraq war, or the ghost of it, for the rest of their political life. Thus, quite a specter has been cast upon the 2008 Presidential Elections.
Add a commentEmbedded Journalism: International Journalism Made a Mockery of
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 22 March 2007 06:48
In a redundant war in a region in which war is a historical norm, a radical new method of proliferating information is born. On October 30th, 2003 United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld began by saying, “Is it [having journalists embedded] a core principle?” Sure. It is something more than that.
It's also self-serving. In Afghanistan, the Taliban and al Qaeda showed great skill in news management. The best way to combat that was to have accurate, professional journalists on the ground to see the truth of what was going on. We already have intelligence from Iraq that they are arranging things to mislead the press.
Add a commentBush Launches Negative Ads of Hypocrisy
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 22 March 2007 03:05
During his tenure in office, President George W. Bush has led America to a war on false pretences. He has lied to the world, he has hindered the 9-11 Commission, and he has allowed corporate criminals to breathe free air. And this is just his first term, folks.
On February 12 George W. Bush unveiled his latest weapon of mass-deception. Before the Democrats have selected a party nominee, the GOP re-election machine, Bush-Cheney 2004 Inc., released a negative ad against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry via their website, GeorgeWBush.com.
The negative ad in question, which says that a “fact” about Kerry is that he is “brought to you by special interests,” is designed to mislead.
Add a commentKerry's Proposed Education Reforms of 2004
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Thursday, 22 March 2007 02:38
To be competitive with Bush in the November elections Democratic frontrunner John Kerry has formulated a plan to make college affordable for most Americans. Democrats hope that this plan will be instrumental in swaying the votes of college students.
One of the top priorities of Kerry’s education plan a $50 billion “State Tax Relief and Education Fund.” This plan has been tailored in order to fight the declining rate of students who graduate from a four year college, which has fallen to 54 percent.
The goal of this fund is to help keep students from leaving school by and implement new and better counseling and support services in universities and community colleges, and also by providing money to lower rising tuition costs. High tuition fees, polls indicate, are a leading reason of why second and third year college students quit school.
Add a commentHawks Dive at North Korea
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Saturday, 22 April 2006 01:46
With a new doctrine and a sweeping radical new foreign relations philosophy, as the war with Iraq, continues endlessly, some within the Bush administration and Congress seek to continue this policy of regime change to other non-democratic nations which are at odds with White House policy.
After North Korea violated an agreement with the Clinton Administration to cease its nuclear programs, it has been going head to head with hawks within the Bush administration as well as the Republican Party. The White House believes that North Korea currently have at least one or two nuclear warheads and have the capability to produce several more through reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods from nuclear power plants. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has already demonstrated that they have a missile which is capable of delivering a warhead to any US interests in the South Pacific or as far west as the California coast.
9/11... 1994 - What We Didn't Learn the First Time
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Friday, 26 March 2004 00:00
By this time CNN/Gallop polls now show that nine out of every ten Americans knows who former National Coordinator for Counterterrorism Richard Clarke is, and are aware of the accusations that he’s made regarding the Bush Administration’s failures leading up to 9-11 in both his book, and now under oath before the 9-11 Commission.
In 2000 when then Governor George W. Bush was campaigning for president he vowed to “restore honor” to the White House. Clarke’s confessions and testimonies are now the most solid evidence Bush has done the exact opposite by destroying honor and removing credibility from the White House as he purposely misled the nation and our allies into a false war on terror in Iraq and covered up his counter-terrorism blunders in the months leading up to the events of September 11th.
“I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon; that they would try to use an airplane as a missile, a hijacked airplane as a missile.” This comment was made by National Security Advisor Dr. Condoleezza Rice during a White House press conference May 16 2002. The big gigantic picture (above right) says otherwise.
Add a commentGeorge W. Bush: Great Liberal of the World, or Realist with an Iron Fist?
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Wednesday, 04 June 2003 00:00
The landmark summit ended with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders making concessions and pledging a new commitment for peace in the region.
“All here today now share a goal,” declared President Bush. “The Holy Land must be shared between the state of Palestine and the state of Israel, living at peace with each other and with every other nation of the Middle East. All sides will benefit from this achievement and all sides have responsibilities to meet.”
More Resignations Plague Blair
Written by Rev. Robert A. Vinciguerra Monday, 12 May 2003 00:00
Today, for the second time since British Prime Minister Tony Blair teamed up with United States President George W. Bush, a member of Blair’s cabinet has turned in resignation papers.
This time it is Clair Short, Britain’s secretary for International Development. To the prime minister," she said, “I would say that he has achieved great things since 1997 but, paradoxically, he is in danger of destroying his legacy as he becomes increasingly obsessed by his place in history.”
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