Islamic Jihad: Let's have a bake sale

I wasn't able to see Jeffrey Goldberg -- the author of "Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide" who had a great Atlantic cover story this month on the future nations of the Middle East -- when he spoke at UCLA Hillel and Sinai Temple this month. But Jewish Current Issues has an interesting quote about the presidential election from his talk at the latter location.

There is almost this childish belief that on January 20, 2009 we will elect another president and that it will be Obama, or at least a woman, and the world will say “Oh great! Now we can like you again!”

There is this level of childish certainty in that -- that I find unfathomable. Because the next American president will have to advance America’s interests around the world. Some of those interests will have to be advanced in hard ways.

I predict that if Barack Obama becomes president, by late 2009 the stories in newspapers in Europe and on TV across the Arab world will be “Oh my God, this Obama is like Bush Lite!”

Why? Because he’s had to take hard steps in Afghanistan. Because he’s had to take hard steps in Pakistan. Because he hasn’t actually pulled out of Iraq, because pulling out of Iraq is not as easy as it sounds when you are debating Hillary Clinton on a stage somewhere. . . .

Because the next president -- whoever it is -- is going to face the same set of enormous problems, and like any president is going to have limited maneuverability to deal with those problems. And those problems are not going to go away. The Islamic Jihad is not going to say “Well! They elected Barack Obama! I guess we should just have a bake sale or something.”

Could God build a rock so big Romeo couldn't lift it?

That is World's Smallest Bodybuilder Aditya "Romeo" Dev being held aloft. He's 2'9" and weighs less than 20 pounds, according to the story from London's Telegraph. I know this picture looks Photoshopped, but based on the others at the Telegraph's site, Romeo is for real.

What's the cure for 'sudden-jihad syndrome?'

An old colleague of mine writes about terrorism for the Washington Times, and the other night I can across a month-old story referring to sudden-jihad syndrome, which sounds like the evil spawn of SIDS and a small-man complex

Sympathy for al Qaeda has produced "sudden jihad syndrome" in domestic terror cells unaffiliated with foreign terrorists and people seeking to carry out attacks in the U.S., a law-enforcement intelligence analysis says.

The Dec. 6 report by the Texas Public Safety Department's Bureau of Information Analysis warns officials not to dismiss individual or homegrown terror cells as "wannabes," saying they pose a credible threat to homeland security.

"Oftentimes, these attackers are dismissed as suffering from mental health issues, but their own words and writings reveal an affiliation with Islamic supremacy or an affinity for Islamic extremism," said the report, which was distributed to federal, state and local law enforcement in Texas. "As a result, law enforcement should not be too quick to judge their attacks as having no nexus to terrorism."

Lily Isaacs, from Jewish folk to Christian Gospel

The Baptist Press has a worthwhile profile of Lily Isaacs, the German-born Jew selling well as a Christian Gospel singer.

In retrospect, Isaacs said it was her parents' Holocaust experience that was such an obstacle for her in coming to know Jesus as Christ. The horror of her parents' ordeals as well as the Nazi murders of other family members created a powerful bond with her Jewish heritage that transcended any religious attachments.

"I grew up in a Jewish home," Isaacs told Baptist Press. "But, I was more tied to Judaism through the Holocaust than I was the actual religion itself.

"We were not Orthodox. We weren't very religious when we were growing up, but I was very tied to the Jewish cause simply because so many of my family were killed during World War II."

(Hat tip: DMN)

30-day sex challenge

It feels like I read this story every six months:

A southwest Florida church issued a challenge for its married members: Hanky panky every day.

Relevant Church head pastor Paul Wirth issued the 30-day sex challenge to take on high divorce rates.

"And that's no different for people who attend church," Wirth said Sunday. "Sometimes life gets in the way. Our jobs get in the way."

The challenge doesn't extend to unwed congregants, however.

The accompanying video report, embedded above, is a joke. So trite. The reporter so obviously clueless. My favorite line: "Jarrett Haas says even if a sexy girl tempts him, he won't break the challenge."