What's going on around town?
Jan 4
Jan 5
Johnson County Young Republicans Monthly Meeting, Barley' Brewhaus, Shawnee
at 7pm.
Jan 12
Kansans for Life Meeting, Church of Christ, 10th Avenue, 7-9 pm
Jan 15
State Sovereignty Meeting, State Capitol, Topeka, 9:30am - 1:00 pm
Jan 18
Republican Women's Club Monthly Meeting and Luncheon, Riverfront Community Center,
11:30am - 1:00 pm
Hope for America Coalition meeting from 7-9pm at the Antioch Branch of the Johnson County Library.
Feb 1
Leavenworth County Town Hall Meeting from 7-9 pm at the Lansing Community Center
Feb 20
Lincoln Day Dinner, St Mary University, Saint Jeseph Hall, 6-10 pm |
Check Your Voting Status at:
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Chairman Comments
Now that the holiday season is behind us, it is time to put festivities aside and buckle down to the work ahead for the next 10 months. We must hold the line at the state level on several key policy issues. We will do this by ensuring we send strong conservatives to the Topeka statehouse. We have four Representative positions on the ballot here in Leavenworth County. (Two are Republican and two are currently Democrat). We need to make all four positions Republican. There are also other local positions including all of our Precinct Committee Members. At the state level we have the very critical position of Secretary of State. It is imperative we win this position as it is the Guardian or Gate-Keeper of the election process. We know that the Democrat Party has made it a national priority to take as many of these positions as possible among the 50 states. We have a Governor, a Senate seat, and a Congressional seat, all open as well. A huge amount of power is held within these positions and a loss of any one would have devastating results. This election will not be won through the efforts of one, or even a small group of people, but it will be won through the combined efforts of everyone pitching in and doing their part. The time to sit on the sidelines and watch has long since past. Now is the time for action. GET INVOLVED.
John Bradford |
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America -- Last Man Standing by: Geert Wilders
Geert Wilders is a Dutch Member of Parliament.
'In a generation or two, the US will ask itself: Who lost Europe?'
Here is the speech of Geert Wilders, Chairman, Party for Freedom, the Netherlands, at the Four Seasons, New York, introducing an Alliance of Patriots and announcing the Facing Jihad Conference in Jerusalem.
I come to America with a mission. All is not well in the old world. There is a tremendous danger looming, and it is very difficult to be optimistic. We might be in the final stages of the Islamization of Europe. This not only is a clear and present danger to the future of Europe itself, it is a threat to America and the sheer survival of the West. The United States as the last bastion of Western civilization, facing an Islamic Europe.
First I will describe the situation on the ground in Europe. Then, I will say a few things about Islam. To close I will tell you about a meeting in Jerusalem.
The Europe you know is changing.
You have probably seen the landmarks. But in all of these cities, sometimes a few blocks away from your tourist destination, there is another world. It is the world of the parallel society created by Muslim mass-migration.
All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it. This goes for the police as well. It's the world of head scarves, where women walk around in figureless tents, with baby strollers and a group of children. Their husbands, or slaveholders if you prefer, walk three steps ahead. With mosques on many street corners. The shops have signs you and I cannot read. You will be hard-pressed to find any economic activity. These are Muslim ghettos controlled by religious fanatics. These are Muslim neighborhoods, and they are mushrooming in every city across Europe. These are the building-blocks for territorial control of increasingly larger portions of Europe, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, city by city.
There are now thousands of mosques throughout Europe. With larger congregations than there are in churches. And in every European city there are plans to build super-mosques that will dwarf every church in the region. Clearly, the signal is: we rule.
Many European cities are already one-quarter Muslim: just take Amsterdam, Marseille and Malmo in Sweden. In many cities the majority of the under-18 population is Muslim. Paris is now surrounded by a ring of Muslim neighborhoods. Mohammed is the most popular name among boys in many cities.
In some elementary schools in Amsterdam the farm can no longer be mentioned, because that would also mean mentioning the pig, and that would be an insult to Muslims.
Many state schools in Belgium and Denmark only serve halal food to all pupils. In once-tolerant Amsterdam gays are beaten up almost exclusively by Muslims. Non-Muslim women routinely hear 'whore, whore'. Satellite dishes are not pointed to local TV stations, but to stations in the country of origin.
In France school teachers are advised to avoid authors deemed offensive to Muslims, including Voltaire and Diderot; the same is increasingly true of Darwin. The history of the Holocaust can no longer be taught because of Muslim sensitivity.
In England sharia courts are now officially part of the British legal system. Many neighborhoods in France are no-go areas for women without head scarves. Last week a man almost died after being beaten up by Muslims in Brussels, because he was drinking during the Ramadan.
Jews are fleeing France in record numbers, on the run for the worst wave of anti-Semitism since World War II. French is now commonly spoken on the streets of Tel Aviv and Netanya, Israel. I could go on forever with stories like this. Stories about Islamization.
A total of fifty-four million Muslims now live in Europe. San Diego University recently calculated that a staggering 25 percent of the population in Europe will be Muslim just 12 years from now. Bernhard Lewis has predicted a Muslim majority by the end of this century.
Now these are just numbers. And the numbers would not be threatening if the Muslim-immigrants had a strong desire to assimilate. But there are few signs of that. The Pew Research Center reported that half of French Muslims see their loyalty to Islam as greater than their loyalty to France. One-third of French Muslims do not object to suicide attacks. The British Centre for Social Cohesion reported that one-third of British Muslim students are in favor of a worldwide caliphate. Muslims demand what they call 'respect'. And this is how we give them respect. We have Muslim official state holidays.
The Christian-Democratic attorney general is willing to accept sharia in the Netherlands if there is a Muslim majority. We have cabinet members with passports from Morocco and Turkey.
Muslim demands are supported by unlawful behavior, ranging from petty crimes and random violence, for example against ambulance workers and bus drivers, to small-scale riots. Paris has seen its uprising in the low-income suburbs, the banlieus. I call the perpetrators 'settlers'. Because that is what they are. They do not come to integrate into our societies; they come to integrate our society into their Dar-al-Islam. Therefore, they are settlers.
Much of this street violence I mentioned is directed exclusively against non-Muslims, forcing many native people to leave their neighborhoods, their cities, their countries. Moreover, Muslims are now a swing vote not to be ignored.
The second thing you need to know is the importance of Mohammed the prophet. His behavior is an example to all Muslims and cannot be criticized. Now, if Mohammed had been a man of peace, let us say like Ghandi and Mother Theresa wrapped in one, there would be no problem. But Mohammed was a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile, and had several marriages - at the same time. Islamic tradition tells us how he fought in battles, how he had his enemies murdered and even had prisoners of war executed. Mohammed himself slaughtered the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. If it is good for Islam, it is good. If it is bad for Islam, it is bad.
Let no one fool you about Islam being a religion. Sure, it has a god, and a here-after, and 72 virgins. But in its essence Islam is a political ideology. It is a system that lays down detailed rules for society and the life of every person. Islam wants to dictate every aspect of life. Islam means 'submission'. Islam is not compatible with freedom and democracy, because what it strives for is sharia. If you want to compare Islam to anything, compare it to communism or national-socialism, these are all totalitarian ideologies.
Now you know why Winston Churchill called Islam 'the most retrograde force in the world', and why he compared Mein Kampf to the Quran. The public has wholeheartedly accepted the Palestinian narrative, and sees Israel as the aggressor. I have lived in this country and visited it dozens of times. I support Israel. First, because it is the Jewish homeland after two thousand years of exile up to and including Auschwitz, second because it is a democracy and third because Israel is our first line of defense.
This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, frustrating Islam's territorial advance. Israel is facing the front lines of jihad, like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way. The same way West-Berlin was during the Cold War.
The war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other venues to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Thanks to Israeli parents who send their children to the army and lay awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and dream, unaware of the dangers looming.
Many in Europe argue in favor of abandoning Israel in order to address the grievances of our Muslim minorities. But if Israel were, God forbid, to go down, it would not bring any solace to the West It would not mean our Muslim minorities would all of a sudden change their behavior, and accept our values. On the contrary, the end of Israel would give enormous encouragement to the forces of Islam. They would, and rightly so, see the demise of Israel as proof that the West is weak, and doomed. The end of Israel would not mean the end of our problems with Islam, but only the beginning. It would mean the start of the final battle for world domination. If they can get Israel, they can get everything. So-called journalists volunteer to label any and all critics of Islamization as a 'right-wing extremists' or 'racists'. In my country, the Netherlands, 60 percent of the population now sees the mass immigration of Muslims as the number one policy mistake since World War II. And another 60 percent sees Islam as the biggest threat. Yet there is a danger greater danger than terrorist attacks, the scenario of America as the last man standing. The lights may go out in Europe faster than you can imagine. An Islamic Europe means a Europe without freedom and democracy, an economic wasteland, an intellectual nightmare, and a loss of military might for America - as its allies will turn into enemies, enemies with atomic bombs. With an Islamic Europe, it would be up to America alone to preserve the heritage of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem.
Dear friends, liberty is the most precious of gifts. My generation never had to fight for this freedom, it was offered to us on a silver platter, by people who fought for it with their lives. All throughout Europe, American cemeteries remind us of the young boys who never made it home, and whose memory we cherish. My generation does not own this freedom; we are merely its custodians. We can only hand over this hard won liberty to Europe's children in the same state in which it was offered to us. We cannot strike a deal with mullahs and imams. Future generations would never forgive us. We cannot squander our liberties. We simply do not have the right to do so.
We have to take the necessary action now to stop this Islamic stupidity from destroying the free world that we know.
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Precinct Committee Member Training
by: John Bradford
With the Elections of 2010 fast approaching, it is again time for a training session for all Precinct Committee Members to ensure we are all focused on the same goals. For some, this will be a refresher class, but for many, it will be their first formalized training since assuming their duties.
We will meet at the Leavenworth Library (4th and Spruce) on March 13th at 1:30 - 4:00 pm (Saturday afternoon). A make up class will be given on the 27th for those that cannot make the class on the 13th. The training is also open to others who have an interest in possibly becoming Precinct Committee Members, or maybe just wanting to become better informed about the election process.
The content used and our format will be the Precinct Committee Handbook, which is on the County Party website. We have also invited members from the Wyandotte County Republican Party to come to our training sessions as well.
In addition to training, we will be looking for recommendations for new committee members. We have vacancies that need to be filled before we progress too far along into the election season. If you, your neighbor or a friend, have an interest in becoming a Precinct Committee Member, make plans to attend this event. If you are interested, but are not sure of what is required, email us or call us at 913-683-0871. I look forward to seeing everyone there. |
Milestones by: Seyyid Qutb
Review by: Kirk Sours
 If you have been attending many of the monthly Town hall meetings this fall you already know that Leavenworth County Republicans have been informing our county about Islam and focusing on the threat of Islamic terrorism to our nation and our culture. Two of our guest speakers, John and Steve, suggested a number of books and publications. I have since been wading through some of this information and recently finished the book Milestones by Seyyid Qutb who is considered by some to be the father of the modern Islamic revolution.
Milestones was written from an Egyptian prison in 1964. Qutb had spent 2 years in America several years prior, and reported that his prejudices had been confirmed concerning American depravity. America was ripe for the picking.
Qutb's book wasn't his first, or his longest work, but perhaps Milestones has had the most impact on the modern world. Although some attribute the modern "Islamic Revolution" to this book, that was not exactly the outcome that Qutb desired.
Actually, Islamic Revival was his desire and purpose. Milestones was to be the "vanguard" publication to accomplish this. By initiating a revival of Islam among those who profess it, the natural outcome would then be an alteration of the course of human history.
Revolution would not be necessary, but world conquest would be at hand. Revival of the fundamentals of Islam within the culture itself would make Islam irresistible in both principle and on the battlefield. A revived and truly Muslim population in the cause of Allah would be invincible.
Islam had, according to Qutb, become compromised by moderates and liberals (Muslim) who, for various reasons, embraced Western Culture and prosperity. Obviously the development of Middle Eastern oil fields was responsible for most of this merging of the two worlds and the petro-dollar brought an ancient culture roaring forward into the industrialized 20th century with so much speed that there was no time for gradual adaptation. Yet today, there is a stark contrast within these countries, and without the petro-dollar they would shrivel back into the desert survivalist culture of a mere century ago.
Seyyid was disturbed by the fact that Muslims, during the first half of the 20th Century, were with a few exceptions, content to "live and let live", professing Islam while immersed in 'Jahili' (the state of ignorance of guidance of Allah) culture. A Muslim should withdraw from all Jahilayyah relationships and become joined completely to Islam just as Muhammad and the Companions had disavowed all ties to polytheism and its adherents. A Muslim cannot be true Muslim, submitted to Allah, and retain any ties to non-Islamic influences.
Qutb laments, "This is why the true Islamic values never enter our hearts, why our minds are never illuminated by Islamic concepts, and why no group of people arises among us who are of the caliber of the first generation of Islam." He then adjures, "We must return to that pure source from which those people derived their guidance...[their]concepts of...the universe, the nature of human existence...Our aim is first to change ourselves so that we may later change the society...this system which is fundamentally at variance with Islam..."
Qutb's call to all Islam was a return to Fundamentalism, that being the founding principles of Islam. This "revival" within Islam would then lead to political reformation in Islamic countries, bringing to bear those governments which had established within their own constitutions; that Islam is the official state religion and Islamic jurisprudence (Shari'a) is the law of the land. This move to "right" Egypt's secularized government along with his fellow members of "Muslim Brotherhood" is the reason he was imprisoned and consequently executed by "The Arab Republic of Egypt" in 1966.
Egypt was but one of the Islamic Republics which had not implemented Shari'a as enumerated in its own constitution. Turkey is the most widely known which has managed, even today, to maintain a modicum of separation (though currently very tenuous) between religion and state; for practical purposes a secularized government. The United States has, in fact, assisted in the establishment of two of the latest Islamic Republics of the world; Iraq and Afghanistan, complete with constitutions which name Islam as the official religion.
Seyyid Qutb goes on in Milestones to express disdain for Muslim apologists who insist that "Jihad" is simply defensive war. He refers to them as "defeatists", and explains that Jihad is the means by which to establish the Divine Law (Shari'a). Jihad, according to Qutb as well as Koran, is offensive action that "tries to annihilate all those political and material powers which stand between people and Islam...It is not the intention of Islam to force its beliefs on people, but Islam is not merely 'belief'." Then he clarifies, "...in an Islamic system there is room for all kinds of people to follow their own beliefs, while obeying the laws of the country which are themselves based on the Divine authority (Shari'a)."
In other words, you can believe whatever you want, but you will live according to Shari'a Law. This is the mission of Islam defined: Not to convert the entire world to Islamic belief; but to bring the entire world under submission to Shari'a, or Islamic Law.
Muslims are not to commit allegiance to a nation or state or geographic area. Neither is a Muslim bound by any commitment or loyalty or oath to non-Muslims. Only to Allah does one claim or pledge allegiance. Only through Islam is any relationship, contractual or filial valid. "A Muslim has no country except that part of the earth where the Shari'a of [Allah] is established and human relationships are based on the foundation of relationship with [Allah]; a Muslim has no nationality except his belief, which makes him a member of the Muslim community in Dar ul Islam; a Muslim has no relatives except those who share the belief in [Allah]..."
Dar ul Islam is the "house of Islam" which "is that place where the Islamic state is established and the Shari'a is the authority..." The rest of the world is the "house of war" or Dar ul Harb. "A Muslim can have only two possible relations with Dar ul Harb: peace with a contractual agreement [hudna or truce], or war."
Seyyid further explains, "But any place where the Islamic Shari'a is not enforced and where Islam is not dominant becomes [Dar ul Harb]".
In the closing paragraphs of Milestones, Qutb conjures macabre images referring to his title, "This intricate point requires deep thought...to whatever country or period of time they belong; for this guarantees that they will be able to see the milestones of the road clearly and without ambiguity, and establishes the path for those who wish to traverse it to the end...Then they will not be anxious, while traversing this road ever paved with skulls and limbs and blood and sweat, to find help and victory..."
This book, the "vanguard" of modern Islamic Fundamentalism, written in 1964 has inspired Jihadists, Mujahidin and Shahada ("martyrs" aka suicide bombers) for 45 years. Seyyid Qutb is considered Shahada by fundamentalist Muslims around the world. I have read several books from and on Islam and would recommend Milestones as essential reading for one who desires to understand the purpose and designs of modern Islam and the resolve of Islamic fundamentalists.
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Kansas Budget Continues to be Top Priority by: Rep. Connie O'Brien
 Legislative Update
I hope everyone enjoyed the "White Christmas". I always loved that song. "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas", but I would like to change the second stanza from, "Just like the ones I used to know", to, "Not like the blizzard of 09". White Christmases are fun but blizzards are not. Well, hopefully the blizzards are over because the legislative session begins very soon and I don't like driving in the snow. Kansas legislators will be focusing again on the state budget. With revenues down, we will be looking for ways to make the necessary budget adjustments. I recently attended the ALEC (American Legislators Exchange Council) seminar in Washington D.C. What I learned is that there are many states facing the same budget problems that Kansas is facing. It became apparent to me that how these states and Kansas handle these budget challenges will determine which states will be the most competitive coming out of this recession. Some of these states will be planning for a permanent reset in how they manage their fiscal resources, others will rely on the same failed policies and continue to have budget problems long after the recession ends.
When I first ran for office I campaigned on a platform of fiscal responsibility. I took the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to oppose any tax increases. I don't believe we can tax ourselves into prosperity and I intend to keep that pledge. I know that the best way to raise revenue for the state is through "Job Creation, Not Taxation". If Kansas legislators can adhere to this philosophy we will emerge from this recession way out in front of those states that chose to shift their financial burden to businesses and taxpayers.
Kansas Revenue Secretary, Joan Wagnon, wants to eliminate sales tax exemptions. Those eliminations would include non profits like farmers, churches, and the Girl Scouts. Wagnon and Governor Parkinson see tax increases and the elimination of tax exemptions as the answer to our budget problem. They believe that Kansas taxpayers are here to simply serve the needs of the government. They see tax increases as an easy and quick way to fix revenue problems but what they don't see is that these fixes are temporary. Tax increases will further depress our struggling economy and the end result will be a continued decline in state revenue. I believe that we should take the time to focus on real answers to our budget problems. What have we been funding that is no longer necessary? What programs have outlived their usefulness? What are we getting for our investment? Where can we make adjustments in how we utilize our resources? The projections for our declining state revenues is expected to be strung out over the next few years. Kansas economic outlook appears to be slower than other states, but a bright spot appears to be in the agriculture area. Agriculture is the foundation of the biggest businesses in our state. Now is not the time to penalize our businesses by eliminating tax exemptions.
Some of the department heads realize we are in a recession and are adjusting their budgets as necessary. SRS and KDOT have begun making the necessary budgetary adjustments. They realize that you can't spend money you don't have. While several government agencies are helping by making the necessary adjustments on their own, education continues to ask for more money. They are considering another law suit. They are using taxpayer funds for lawyers to ask the courts to make the legislature allocate more revenue for education. Using taxpayer funds to get more taxpayer money. There is definitely something wrong with that scenario. While every other agency is bracing for this economic storm, education wants more money despite the fact that they have been least affected by the recent cuts. Education, K through 12, receives more than 54% of our state budget, and when you add higher ed into the mix, education receives 68% of the state budget. What education wants would require raising taxes. There is simply no other way to meet their demands. Perhaps that is what motivates Wagnon and Parkinson. They apparently aren't worried that there may be fewer good jobs waiting for Kansas children after they leave school.
"That government is best which governs least". |
Leavenworth County Republican Party Leadership
First District
James C. Tellefson.................913-651-3853
Second District & Board Chair
Clyde Graeber......................913-682-4514
Third District
John C. Flower.....................913-634-0061
State Representatives
Kansas House of Representatives, 39th District
Kansas House of Representatives, 42nd District
National Representatives
US House of Representatives
US Senate
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