Pres Obama Skips Church on Christmas

Pres Obama Skips Church on Christmas.HT: WhiteHouseDossier.By Keith Koffler.

President Obama and his family skipped church this Christmas, despite issuing a call last week for Christians to remember the religious aspect of the holiday and not overdo the commercial. ]

But he also spent a good amount of time with members of the armed forces serving in Hawaii, invoking the spirit of Christmas, even if not within a church.

The Obamas had attended church on Christmas each of the last three years they were in Hawaii.
Ten days ago while taping the annual “Christmas in Washington” special, Obama spoke of the birth of Christ, asking Americans not to forsake Jesus as they exchanged presents.

Every year, we mark the holiday season with celebrations and good cheer. And I should remind my girls that I like getting Christmas presents as much as anybody. (Laughter.) But this is also a time to remember the story of a child born to two faithful travelers on a holy night, long ago.

Obama played golf until late Afternoon Tuesday and then spent much of the holiday with his family. Christmas morning, the Obamas “gathered around to open up their Christmas gifts and sing carols,” according to the pool report.

The drop by was hardly pro forma. Obama spent more than two hours taking photos with service members and their families.Hmmm......Can't have Two 'Gods' revered in one day.

Iranian 'Moderate' regime judiciary chief: “Opposition to death sentence is opposition to Islam”

Iranian 'Moderate' regime judiciary chief: “Opposition to death sentence is opposition to Islam” .(NCRI).

Iran: Twenty-two executions in three group hangings

NCRI - Wave of executions continues unabated in Iran. On Wednesday, December 11, Khamenei’s henchmen group-hanged seven prisoners in Gohardasht prison. On December 5, in two other group executions, 15 prisoners were hanged in Diesel-Abad Prison of Kermanshah and the central prison of Ilam.
Three Kurdish prisoners were executed in prisons of Kerman and the central prison of Urumiyeh on December 7, 10 and 12.

Meanwhile, transfer of prisoners to solitary confinement in preparation for carrying out the barbaric punishment of death continues, including two political prisoners who are Arab compatriots of Ahwaz and on December 8 they were transferred to an undisclosed location and face execution.

On December 11, mullahs’ Head of Judiciary, head henchman Sadeq Larijani, called reports by the international community on dire condition of human rights in Iran as fabricated and biased.

He said: “Opposition to the death sentence is opposition to Islam”. 

Speaking on the anti-human and anti-Islamic law, he noted, “It is inconsiderate of them to expect us to refrain from implementing Quran’s substance for the sake of an adopted resolution. Without paying heed to protests, judiciary shall decisively continue its work”.

Mullahs use Islam is a pseudonym for their religious dictatorship and therefore consider opposition to the death sentence as opposition to the very rule of the Velayat-e faqih system that the Iranian people want to topple.

Unceasing waves of execution that have taken much added dimension since Hassan Rouhani has taken office, on the one hand betray regime’s horror of the explosive state of the society and threat of a widespread uprising and on the other hand demonstrate that casting a mirage of moderation and tolerance by this regime only adds fuel to mullahs’ machine of execution, torture and massacre.

Planned visit to Iran by a few members of the European parliament while all of Iran is traversed by arbitrary and mass executions is a betrayal to human rights and justice and encourages clerical regime to continue with more execution.

The visit by MEPs who are well-known for their support for Iranian mullahs has met extensive opposition in the European parliament.

The largest parliamentary group at the European Parliament, Group of the European People’s Party (EPP), has announced that non of their members will take part in visit.

The EPP Group Coordinator on Foreign Affairs Jose Ignacio Salafranca said: “The EPP Group regrets that the number of executions in Iran has increased since the arrival of the new administration… one of the essential elements of interparliamentary dialogue should include human rights, as well as NGOs and representatives of the opposition".

The leader of the Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR Group), MEP Martin Callanan , also declared that no one from the group would be part of the visiting delegation.

He added, “Iran’s human rights record is showing no sign of improvement under Rouhani, and the MEPs should not be making the visit until there is a clear change of attitude on questions surrounding human rights, support for terror, and clear action regarding nuclear proliferation.”

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 12, 2013

Cuban Regime on Obama Handshake: "may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba."

Cuban Regime on Obama Handshake: "may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba."(HD).

US President Barack Obama's surprise handshake Tuesday with Cuban President Raul Castro at a memorial for the late Nelson Mandela in South Africa was saluted in Havana as a hopeful sign.

The government website Cubadebate.cu ran a photograph of the moment with the caption: "Obama greets Raul: may this image be the beginning of the end of the US aggressions against Cuba." It was only the second time since diplomatic ties were broken in 1961 that leaders of the two Cold War antagonists have greeted each other -- and the first time the greeting took place in public.

Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Bill Clinton exchanged greetings in 2000 during the Millennium summit in New York. There was no picture of the encounter.

While the White House eventually said at the time a handshake had taken place, Castro said only words had been exchanged.

"I couldn't run out to avoid greeting him," the elder of the Castro brothers said at the time, adding that the encounter lasted 20 seconds. "It would have been extravagant and rude to do anything else." Fidel Castro came to power in the Cuban revolution in 1959.

Washington has maintained a trade embargo against Cuba for half a century, and the fate of the communist state is a bitter issue in US domestic politics.

Analyst Jorge Gomez Barata, in a comment sent to AFP, said the Obama-Castro handshake was a result of "Mandela diplomacy." "Mandela did not know that such a meeting was going to occur... But he most certainly cleared a path that allowed for the avoidance of confrontation and created the basis for such an important meeting."

Meanwhile Sen McCain had this to say: 

After images surfaced of President Obama shaking hands with Raul Castro of Cuba, Senator John McCain responded by saying, “it gives Raul some propaganda to continue to prop up his dictatorial, brutal regime … Why should you shake hands with somebody keeping Americans in prison?”

McCain then went on to say, “Neville Chamberlain shook hands with Hitler.”

The Republican senator was not the only lawmaker to criticize the handshake. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, who fled Cuba as a child, told Fox News “it is nauseating.”