Thursday, former Iranian president Khatami spoke at the National Cathedral in Washington. Yesterday, the Washington Times reported,

"Some leading Episcopal bishops have sharply criticized the decision to invite former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami to speak at the Washington National Cathedral, the seat of the presiding bishop of the church's American branch.

 
Citing the Iranian regime's stance on women's rights, homosexuality and Israel, Bishops John Lipscomb of Florida, Edward Little of Indiana and Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island said in a statement earlier this week that the event was "ill—conceived and inappropriate" and should be called off."

I believe that those of us of all faiths — and those atheists and other not—easily—catergorized secularists who believe that our Republic (and democracy in general) is worth supporting against tyranny — have to speak out against this visit/propaganda tour by former Iranian president Khatami.

The elites in Washington who don't think that anything they do will touch them or has anything but an automatic good effect on the culture and society, will see nothing wrong in a Khatami visit. I'm talking about The State Department, the National Cathedral directors — and, for that matter, The National Organization of Women.

Some of us, at least those who went to school a generation or more ago, are familiar with two historic phrases.

The famous line attributed to Englishman Edmund Burke is,

"All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing." 

And Benjamin Franklin, when asked what type of government has the Constitutional Convention created, replied,

"A republic, if you can keep it."

These are not just study notes to get a better mark on a history exam or impress people with at cocktail parties. These famous lines are remembered and passed down through the generations because they have stood the test of time as being worthy truths. 

To change the topic, but not the subject, Debbie Schlussel's website has a piece about Seventeen Magazine running an article that romanticized a young girl meeting a Palestinian Arab and wanting to run away with him from her home in Michigan to the West Bank of Israel, where she would convert to Islam and marry him. The money for the ticket came from the boyfriend's relatives in New York.

FBI agents and others stopped it from happening. There was no mention in the Seventeen article of the possibility that the young man maybe wanted to marry her primarily so he could gain an entrance visa to the United States, but Debbie Schlussel found that Abdullah Jimzawi, told the newspapers and various other press that that is exactly what he sought. 

And there is this event from 20 years ago to consider.

"In October 1986, a young Irishwoman, Anne Murphy, was duped by her Jordanian boyfriend, Nezar Hindawi, into carrying a bag with 3 pounds of plastic explosives when boarding an El Al Israel flight at London's Heathrow Airport, British law enforcement officials say."

I couldn't find the online "romance" article at Seventeen's website, so I went to my newstand and looked the issue over (I bought something else). This glowing "romantic tale" appears on p. 94. You would think that some adult at the magazine might consider warning teenage girls that their American citizenship is considered a prize as worthy as their heart. This type of naive article, written in the first person by a young girl is the product of a politically correct education and little real world experience.

Jack Kemp (not the politician)   9 09 06