op ed review 12/26
A dozen men, mostly Britons of Bangladeshi origin, were arrested in connection with an alleged plot to carry out synchronized bombings in British cities. The arrests were made after information was received that the alleged plotters planned to strike crowded shopping streets in the days before Christmas.
US Intelligence Director James Clapper was apparently unaware of the London terror arrests, which, when you consider that his job is to brief the President daily on national security, is sure to inspire lots of confidence in the administration. He learned about it from Diane Sawyer in this interview:
The Transportation Security Administration is more concerned about threats from whistleblowers: federal agents raided the home of a pilot critical of the TSA.
http://www.news10.net/news/article.aspx?storyid=113529&provider=top&catid=188
Federal telecommunications regulators approved new rules that would for the first time give the federal government formal authority to regulate Internet traffic
The FCC’s new "net neutrality" rules, passed on a partisan 3-2 vote, represent a huge win for a slick lobbying campaign run by liberal activist groups and foundations.
WSJ: “(The FCC takes) an unprecedented step to expand government's reach into the Internet by attempting to regulate its inner workings. In doing so, the agency will circumvent Congress and disregard a recent court ruling. Analysts and broadband companies of all sizes have told the FCC that new rules are likely to have the perverse effect of inhibiting capital investment, deterring innovation, raising operating costs, and ultimately increasing consumer prices. Others maintain that the new rules will kill jobs…”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703395204576023452250748540.html
Type in a search of “ObamaCare” into Google and the results may surprise you…the Obama administration has purchased top billing to divert internet surfers away from antagonist websites to a new “sponsored link” — the Department of Health and Human Service’s (HHS) healthcare.gov:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/obama-administration-purchases-google-obamacare-search-results/
The United States Senate voted for legislation that will impose heavy, unnecessary burdens on the backs of military men and women. They are the ones who will pay a very high price for Congress’ reckless decision to help President Barack Obama deliver on political campaign promises to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) activists.
http://bigpeace.com/edonnelly/2010/12/19/dont-ask-dont-tell-repeal-congress-ignores-combat-troops/
The vote was 65 to 31, with eight Republicans joining Democrats. “The New York Times is positively giddy over the possibility of a Pink Army.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/19/us/politics/19cong.html?ref=us
“In one last blaze of defiance of the American people, and expressly those who serve in our nation's armed forces, President Obama was able to shove social engineering into pretty much the very corner of American culture where we have no business doing so. Upon his signature President Obama will begin a process that will at the very least disrupt operations, and at the very worst see the eventual weakening of our armed forces.”
http://townhall.com/columnists/KevinMcCullough/2010/12/19/obamas_new_gay_force/page/full/
Now a liberal media watchdog group says it is planning a “communications war room for gay equality” in an effort to win the next big battle: same-sex marriage.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/20/us/politics/20marriage.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss
Obama gives America back to the Indians?? President Obama announced that the U.S. would reverse the position of the Bush administration and drop its opposition to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Article 26 of the declaration states that "indigenous peoples have the right to the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired." Article 28 states that indigenous peoples "have the right to redress," which can include "restitution" or "just, fair and equitable compensation" for lands and resources they have traditionally owned or occupied, but which have been "confiscated, taken, occupied" without their consent.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/16/obama-adopts-un-manifesto-on-rights-of-indigenous-/
Make that four presidents who have traveled to the Billy Graham Library. On Monday, President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura Bush, met with the evangelist and his son, Franklin Graham, before signing copies of their books for a waiting crowd.
Anti-Israel messages have been approved for buses in Seattle. A group calling itself the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign has paid Seattle’s King County $1,794 so that twelve buses will carry an ad reading “Israeli War Crimes: Your tax dollars at work”
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/141231
The David Horowitz Freedom Center is fighting back by purchasing ad space on twenty-five Metro buses. These ads feature images of Israeli bus passengers killed by Palestinian suicide bombers and toss the terrorist-enablers’ tag line back at them: “your tax dollars at work.”
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/12/24/victory-in-seattle-2/
Sound Transit “So $2.6 billion bought us light rail that only carries 0.17% of all trips and is late 21% of the time.”
Nearly one-fourth of the students who try to join the military fail its entrance exam, painting a grim picture of an education system that produces graduates who can't answer basic math, science and reading questions.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101221/ap_on_re_us/us_military_exam
The new Census data that just came out today is a huge win for the GOP. The National Journal describes it as an "embarrassment of riches". First of all, there was a big shift in Congressional states from "blue" to "red" states. Texas is the huge winner, picking up 4 seats. NY and Pennsylvania both lost seats. California failed to gain any seats for the first time.
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-gop-just-got-a-huge-win-from-the-new-census-data-2010-12
Vice President Joe Biden says letting all Americans keep more of their money is "morally troubling.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/19/biden-obama-tax-deal-morally-troubling/
The principal of a public school in Brookline, Mass., is asking parents to fill out permission slips before their children can participate in a weekly recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance.
After a day of irate phone calls, the principal reversed himself.
ObamaCare Rationing Begins: The FDA has reversed its approval of a widely used cancer drug approved in Europe to treat breast cancer on the grounds it doesn't provide a "sufficient" benefit….An agency overseeing the cost-conscious, government-run health care systems in the European Union says Avastin does provide sufficient benefit at little risk to the patient. The annual cost, however, is a staggering $88,000 annually, and under ObamaCare cost trumps medical care. The FDA has decided that extending your life is not worth the cost.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/557595/201012221907/ObamaCare-Rationing-Begins.htm
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THIS WEEK’S FEATURED COLUMN
Robert Knight, The Washington Times 12/20/2010
Once again, as in 2008, Sen. John McCain has led conservatives over a cliff. Both defeats were a result of a conscious decision to unilaterally disarm morally and allow spurious claims to go unchallenged. When an opponent advances by asserting moral authority, it's powerful even when wrong, as just occurred in the Senate vote to overturn the military's ban on homosexuality. The most effective defense is a superior moral offensive. That did not happen.
To his credit, the veteran soldier Mr. McCain, Arizona Republican, took up the cause. But weeks ago, he insisted that the debate be limited to combat readiness (a good argument, but in isolation, not a winning hand), procedure and timing. Even some pro-family groups bought into self-censorship. And the conservative talk show hosts were for the most part AWOL. That's why the moral invertebrates that populate some of the GOP leadership refrained from making a clear case. They also failed to examine the core issue -- homosexual behavior, and its impact on morale, health, discipline and the freedoms of soldiers to disagree.
Contrast this with the GOP's unexpected defeat of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's omnibus spending bill. Now, there's something they got passionate about - money. But when it came to protecting our servicemen and women, the rallying cry was basically "run out the clock."
Instead of using the military debate to bring to light many suppressed facts that could cripple the homosexual juggernaut if Americans only knew, they played by their opponents' rule book.
In "After the Ball," a 1989 gay-strategy manual, two Harvard-trained public relations experts warn that "the public should not be shocked and repelled by premature exposure to homosexual behavior itself. Instead, the imagery of sex per se should be downplayed, and the issue of gay rights reduced, as far as possible, to an abstract social question." Elsewhere, the authors say, "first, you get your foot in the door by being as similar as possible; then and only then ... can you start dragging in your other peculiarities, one by one. You hammer in the wedge narrow end first ... allow the camel's nose beneath your tent, and his whole body will soon follow."
With Democrats and turncoats like Sen. Susan Collins, Maine Republican, and Sen. Scott Brown, Massachusetts Republican, falsely framing military service as a "civil right," the focus remained off behavior and morality. Hapless defenders such as Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Georgia Republican, fell back to saying things like "this is not the time to do this," as if there ever were a good time to turn the U.S. military into a gay mecca with zero tolerance for chaplains and anyone else who disagrees.
Moral arguments against repeal were AWOL during Saturday's cloture debate. All the moral posturing was on the side of repeal. Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut Independent, even had the gall to cite the Declaration of Independence in support of open homosexuality in our military. That was nearly up there with Barack Obama invoking Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount in 2008 to support homosexual civil unions…….
Gen. George Washington first instituted the ban in the Continental Army in 1778 by drumming out those who engaged in acts of sodomy. The homosexual ban has been maintained ever since. Obama breaks a 232-year military policy."
A more conservative Congress should restore the law. At some point, America's temporary plunge into moral insanity must end, or it will be the end of this self-governing republic that God has blessed so richly - up to now.
Edited from a longer article, read it here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/20/a-new-meaning-for-brothers-in-arms/?page=2
Another good read: “Scrooge Was A Liberal” by Ann Coulter. “It's the Christmas season, so godless liberals are citing the Bible to demand the redistribution of income by government force. Didn't Jesus say, "Blessed are the Health and Human Services bureaucrats, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"?”……The Catalogue for Philanthropy analyzed a decade of state and federal tax returns and found that the red states were far more generous than the blue states, with the highest percentage of tightwads living in the liberal Northeast. In his book "Intellectuals," Paul Johnson quotes Pablo Picasso scoffing at the idea that he would give to the needy. "I'm afraid you've got it wrong," Picasso explains, "we are socialists. We don't pretend to be Christians."
http://townhall.com/columnists/AnnCoulter/2010/12/22/scrooge_was_a_liberal/page/full/
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START TREATY
Thirteen Republican Senators broke ranks with their top leaders and joined 56 Democrats and two independents in providing the two-thirds vote to approve the START nuclear arms control treaty.
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/article/20101223/DC5/12230324
Here are several views on this:
Pat Buchanan: “Before Republican senators vote down the strategic arms reduction treaty negotiated by the Obama administration, they should think long and hard about the consequences”
http://townhall.com/columnists/PatBuchanan/2010/11/23/is_gop_risking_a_new_cold_war
Phyllis Schlafely: “This treaty is not only a bad idea, it's downright dangerous to U.S. national security.”
http://townhall.com/columnists/PhyllisSchlafly/2010/08/31/time_to_start_standing_up_for_america
John Bolton: “A Treaty for Utopia….. there is no compelling reason for the Obama-Medvedev treaty, and there are many reasons to fear its impact.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/229564/treaty-utopia/john-r-bolton
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FROM OTHER COLUMNS
“A Democratic Congress, discharged by the voters on Nov. 2, has as one of its last official acts, imposed its San Francisco values on the armed forces of the United States. "Don't ask, don't tell" is to be repealed. Open homosexuals are to be welcomed with open arms in all branches of the armed services. Let us hope this works out better for the Marine Corps than it did for the Catholic Church…”
-Pat Buchanan
"The U.S. military, already strained by wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, faces transformation from the world's most powerful fighting machine into an organization where political correctness is more important than victory…... Though the repudiated lawmakers who rammed the repeal (of don’t ask, don’t tell)…pretend they are simply latter-day Rosa Parkses seeking to end discrimination, there is no comparison. Since 2005, a mere 1 percent of Army discharges involved homosexual conduct. This issue isn't about retaining or recruiting qualified personnel for the military. This is part of the Left's larger societal goal of using government to force others to embrace unorthodox personal lifestyle choices. The implications are clear from a look at how the federal government treats issues of homosexuality. ...Troops can look forward to so-called pride parades on military bases and awareness days for the transgendered. Everyone knows the sort of thing that might work in Greenwich Village or a San Francisco neighborhood doesn't go over well in a fighting force drawn largely from red state America -- an area whose residents Mr. Obama once derisively referred to as the type who 'cling to guns or religion.' That's why implementing the New Gay Army means forcing soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to endure 'diversity' training. Those who don't like it will be told to get out, as several senior military leaders have suggested already. Chaplains in particular will face the dilemma that preaching their faith will violate the new pro-homosexual code of conduct. As a result, far more are likely to leave or be thrown out of the military as a result of Mr. Obama's policy than were ever affected by Mr. Clinton's. It's hard to see how that will do anything to strengthen the nation's defenses."
-The Washington Times
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LEFTIST WATCH
The New York Times is horrified over Justice Scalia’s involvement in a tea party seminar: When the Tea Party holds its first Conservative Constitutional Seminar next month, Justice Scalia is set to be the speaker. Says the Times, “The Tea Party epitomizes the kind of organization no justice should speak…It has a well-known and extreme point of view about the Constitution…”
“Cables released by WikiLeaks show that the administration knew Honduran President Manuel Zelaya had threatened Honduran democracy -- but supported him in order to offer President Obama a “bonding opportunity” with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a chance to ingratiate himself with Latin America’s hard left.”
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/richman/384721
The Venezuelan National Assembly has approved a sweeping set of laws that impose penalties for spreading political dissent on the Internet, grant decree powers to President Hugo Chávez for 18 months and prevent legislators from breaking with his political movement.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/world/americas/25venez.html
“I was at – forgive the expression – a Christmas party,” NPR reporter Nina Totenberg interjected on Inside Washington……seemingly embarrassed to invoke any religious terminology for Christmas. She didn’t say what she’d prefer for parties this time of the year to be named. “Winter solstice party”? Just plain old “holiday party”? Or a “seasonal gathering”?
“On Wednesday, the ACLU sent a letter to federal health officials urging the government to force Catholic hospitals in the U.S. to perform abortions in violation of their core moral commitment to protecting the lives of the unborn.”
Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Illinois are offering holiday gift certificates. Promoted as “the gift of life,” the certificates include abortion services.
The Society of Professional Journalists will embark on a yearlong campaign to persuade journalists to not refer to illegal immigrants as "illegals."
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=40766
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GLOBALONEY
So much for “green jobs”. “In a stunning reversal, the frequently lauded and taxpayer-funded SpectraWatt Inc. has told the state it will close its solar cell plant starting in March and lay off 117 workers.”
If the current forecast holds, it’ll be the first snow to fall on Christmas in Atlanta since a trace in 1993. The last time there was measurable snow on Christmas Day was more than a century earlier, in 1882, when .3 inch accumulated.
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-weather-snow-accumulations-785039.html
“Avalanche Danger Could Be Worst In Colorado History”
http://denver.cbslocal.com/2010/12/22/avalanche-danger-could-be-worst-in-colo-history/
Coldest December temperatures in Britain since records began in 1910.
Flashback to 2001: “with global warming, scientists predict snowfalls are a thing of the past..”
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/snowfalls-are-now-just-a-thing-of-the-past-724017.html
First it was the cuddly polar bears and the cute little penguins, and now USA Today reports that reindeer are endangered by climate change:
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/12/24/enviros-play-their-christmas-c
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ISLAM
The YouTube film clip shows a young woman being whipped in public by two police officers in Khartoum. “….whippings are handed down as punishment to about 40,000 women a year by the Sudanese authorities. Most of those receiving lashes are accused of indecent behaviour, a term which can cover anything from infidelity to wearing trousers.”
http://www.rnw.nl/africa/article/sudan-islamic-whipping-video-stirs-outcry
“Harry Potter Actress Beaten and Branded a Prostitute by Her Family After Dating a Non-Muslim”
The only thing notable about this story is that it’s being reported. And the only reason it’s being reported is because Ms. Azad is an actress in one of the most popular franchises in movie history. The facts are simple as they are horrific. Afshan Azad has been secretly dating a non-Muslim. Her father and brother found out, branded her a “slag,” beat her, and threatened to murder her. She made her escape by climbing out of her bedroom window. The unfortunate young woman is now in hiding. She refuses to press charges because she knows that the British police can’t protect her.
“No president in American history has taken a more admiring view of Islam than Barack Obama. Whether it is his repeated insistence that the attacks on Americans and the war that has been declared against the West have nothing do with Islam, or his flattering (and false) description of Islam as a religion “that teaches peace, justice, fairness and tolerance,” or his unprecedented revelation that he considers it “part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear..””
http://frontpagemag.com/2010/12/24/obama-and-islam/
Camel beauty pageant draws thousands of contestants. "This is the only animal we love," Salem Al-Mazroui, director of the Al-Dhafra festival which hosts the beauty pageant, told The Media Line. He explained that the competition was an opportunity to show gratitude to camels.
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=200600
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BOOKS
Former U.S. President George W Bush's memoir has sold an astonishing two million copies since it was released in early November - and it's not even in paperback yet. 'Decision Points', published both in hardcover and e-book form, is flying off the shelves, the Crown Publishing Group says. By contrast, former president Bill Clinton's memoir, 'My Life', has logged sales of 2.2million copies since it was first published in 2004.
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ARTICLES
Because there exists no area of human activity that couldn't benefit from more paternalistic attention . . . Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Federal Communications Commission to your Web browser. Congressional Democrats could not find the votes to pass "net neutrality." No problem. Three un-elected officials will impose rules on hundreds of millions of satisfied online consumers….. It's not that we don't need the FCC's meddling, it's that we don't need the FCC at all. Rather than expanding the powers — which always seem to grow — of this outdated bureaucracy, Congress should be finding ways to eliminate it.
http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16914654
Dick Morris: With the new Republican power in Washington, it is doubly important to keep a close eye on the doings of GOP senators and congressmen to spot those who are straying from orthodoxy, seduced by power and the insider clubiness that characterizes Washington. In the lame-duck session, we want to draw attention to six Republican U.S. senators who voted with the Democrats on a key issue. We should all bear their apostasy in mind and, in particular, make them mindful of the possibility of primary challenges to their renomination. Two senators, in particular, deserve to have primary challengers take them on in 2012 -- Tennessee's Bob Corker and Mississippi's Thad Cochran. Both men voted for the START Treaty, which conceded a permanent edge in nuclear weaponry to Russia. While the treaty provided for equal and reduced stockpiles of strategic warheads, it did nothing to address the vast piles of tactical nuclear warheads held by the Russians. The Russians have 10,000 of these battlefield nuclear weapons piled up in the stockpile, while we have only a few hundred. In addition, START's preamble blocks the U.S. from developing missile defenses, now especially important in light of North Korea's and Iran's expanding capacities. So, who sold out? Thad Cochran, Mississippi Bob Corker, Tennessee Mike Crapo, Idaho Tom Coburn, Oklahoma Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Johnny Isakson, Georgia
“WHEN it comes to a government overhaul of health care, what is the difference between President Obama and Mitt Romney? Obama was against an individual insurance mandate before he was for it. Romney was for the mandate before he was against it. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. The real difference is that Obama acknowledges reversing his position, while Romney seems to be trying to have it both ways.”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2010/12/19/the_great_romneycare_denial/
“There is now a class divide in the Republican party. Mitt Romney, the leading establishment candidate for the party’s presidential nomination in 2012, draws support from affluent, college-educated Republicans. Voters without college degrees, on the other hand, look more favorably on Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin — the potential candidates who most consistently rail against “elites” and “country-clubbers.”
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/255596/republican-class-war-ramesh-ponnuru
A Republican senator has drafted what he calls a "wastebook" - a guide to what he considers to be the top 100 examples of wasteful government spending in 2010. Some highlights: The Department of Agriculture awarded the University of New Hampshire $700,000 this year investigating methane gas emissions from dairy cows. The conclusion? "Cows emit most of their methane through belching, only a small fraction from flatulence," said project investigator Ruth Varner.
Wes Pruden: "Net neutrality" sounds good to anyone not paying attention, but it must be accomplished by a seizure of authority to do so, a seizure not by Congress (which would be scary enough), but by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Anyone paying attention can see how this would be a first step toward revival of the so-called Fairness Doctrine, sought by Barack Obama and the Democrats since he first arrived in Washington.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/dec/20/nothing-neutral-about-this-unholy-scheme/
Dennis Prager: “What do men want?”
http://townhall.com/columnists/DennisPrager/2010/12/21/what_do_men_want/page/full/
The Ryun brothers want to infuse new Tea Party blood into the political system. So the veteran politicos behind the conservative American Majority organization are putting their energy into training novice Tea Party candidates running for a school board, city council or state senate seat in your town. While other Tea Party-affiliated groups have zeroed in on specifically helping candidates win seats inside the U.S. Capitol, Drew and Ned Ryun are more focused on developing a farm team at the local and state level who one day could run for Congress.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/12/20/american-majority-wants-to-infuse-new-tea-party-blood-in-system/
Everybody hates Tim Eyman. That’s what you might think if you spent too much time listening to politicians in his home state of Washington, or perusing ill-mannered and condescending Internet postings smearing the “initiative-crazed madman” for seemingly single-handedly starving their Big Brothers in Olympia, the state’s quaint capital. Legislators have compared Eyman to a terrorist and a pig — but, ever-so-generously, not “a terrorist pig.” He’s said to lack “one ounce of compassion” and to be “the state’s most infamous political liar.”
http://townhall.com/columnists/PaulJacob/2010/12/19/americas_no_1_freedom_fighter/page/full/
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NOTEWORTHY WEBSITES
Underfunded public pensions map:
http://www.tableausoftware.com/public/gallery/mish-pension-viz
Sen. Tom Coburn’s “Wastebook” of government spending
http://coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=774a6cca-18fa-4619-987b-a15eb44e7f18
The animals of YouTube sing Jingle Bells
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=iv&v=uRzhd3eUyO8&annotation_id=annotation_51591
The Nativity – the digital story
http://bitsandpieces.us/2010/12/14/the-digital-story-the-nativity/
Total lunar eclipse in pictures
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LATE NITE
Jay leno: President Obama read his new children’s book to a classroom of second-graders in Virginia. It did not go well. Fifty-nine percent of the kids disapproved, and 83 percent of the children felt the story was headed in the wrong direction. …….The census shows there are more than 308 million people living in America. The amazing part is: More than half of those people are Americans……Vice President Joe Biden said there has been no "substantive damage" to the United States by Julian Assange in the whole WikiLeaks scandal. He says it has been embarrassing, but you can't prosecute people for embarrassing the United States. If that were true, Joe Biden would be serving life in prison…….On a flight from Cuba to Canada, a man threatened to shoot flight attendants after they stopped serving him drinks. He has been charged with making death threats and if convicted, he could lose his pilot's license.
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WISE WORDS
"[R]eligion and virtue are the only foundations, not of republicanism and of all free government, but of social felicity under all government and in all the combinations of human society."
-John Adams
posted by gary at
9:10 AM
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October 16th, someone threw a Molotov cocktail at the Latter Day Saints church in Mukilteo. The fire it started destroyed the building, which is valued at more than a million dollars.
