Security
Rebels concede Tripoli may be out of reach after 100-mile retreat
NATO Chief Opens The Door to Libya Ground Troops
US paves way to arm Libyan rebels
US Studying Rebels–After Going to War for Them
Muammar Gaddafi’s exit hindered by UN resolution, law experts warn
Qatar, First Arab State To Recognize Libyan Opposition, Will Market Opposition-Controlled Oil
Turkey To Have Triple Role in Libya Mission
Jihadi Sites Call on Libyans to Oppose Western Bid for Domination
Anger as Yemen blast toll rises
Yemeni’s divide-and-conquer ploy failing
Tens of thousands of Syrians gather in Damascus in support of president
Optimism in Damascus and determination not to take the regime’s bait
Water crisis floats Syrian unrest
Jordan’s king supports amending constitution
Prince Hassan Criticizes Jordanian Government
Saudi Arabia prints 1.5m copies of religious edict banning protests
Bahrain parliament accepts resignation of opposition lawmakers over crackdown
Oman detains anti-government protesters in flashpoint industrial city
Oman army clears roadblocks in Sohar pay protest
Chinese pieces to Iran’s nuclear puzzle
Hostages killed execution-style in Iraq siege before gunmen blow themselves up, officials say
In Egypt, Disappointment In New Parties Law; Demonstration To ‘Save The Revolution’ Announced
Article on Muslim Brotherhood Website Advocates Transportation for Women Only
‘Nakba Day, call for state may boost Palestinian protests’
PA leadership considering formally abandoning Oslo in September
After protest, Facebook remove page calling for armed Palestinian uprising against Israel
Israel considering annexing West Bank settlements if Palestinians seek unilateral recognition
Israel, grateful for border quiet, not cheering for demise of Syrian President AssadSyria Matters Far More Than Libya
Pressing Issues Are Elsewhere in Mideast
Ivory Coast rebels seize three towns
Fighting traps Ivorians at church
Ceasefire appeal in Ivory Coast
Protesters in Uganda threaten to attack US, Western embassies for Libya; police shut them down
Muslim Jihad in Christian Ethiopia: Lessons for the West
Taliban captures remote district in northwest Afghanistan
Pakistan says it agrees to visit by Indian investigators probing 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai
Pakistan’s secret dirty war
Inside Balochistan
Japan may have lost race to save nuclear reactor
Radioactive iodine hits 3,355 times limit in Japan
China warns UN not to interfere as dissidents are rounded up
Chinese official says Japan’s nuclear crisis will affect China’s atomic generation plans
Confucianism Returns to Chinese Politics
South Korea conducts live-fire drills on front-line island shelled last year by North Korea
Two Koreas hold volcano dialogue
North Korea ‘on a knife edge’ as aid agencies appeal for food donations
North Korea’s Nuke Lesson from Libya
Kim Jong-il ‘Dreamed Of being Stoned’
Myanmar junta ‘dissolved’: State television
Intelligence sources: Pakistani officials have arrested Indonesian terror suspect Umar Patek
Australian PM’s computer ‘hacked’
Russia, U.S. may ease visa regime ‘in foreseeable future’ – lawmaker
Eurozone crisis: The pain in Spain
Haiti postpones preliminary results of presidential election as counting drags on
Obama to outline plans for nation’s energy security in speech Wednesday
Suspicious package near Andrews AFB in Maryland prompts closure of long stretch of highway
Experts: Oil Will Continue To Dominate Energy Sector For At Least Another 30 Years

Maritime
Spanish Navy Bags 11 Suspected Pirates
Submarines Becoming The Boat Of Choice For Colombian Cocaine Smugglers

Military
New Pentagon Cyber Strategy Complete: Official
Gates is Turning America’s Defenses into a Boutique Military
GAO: Florida industry can maintain nuclear carrier
Taiwan Expects U.S. to Help With F-16 Upgrades
Homeland Security Budget: Highlights from the FY 2012 Request

Environment
Another strong quake jolts northern Japan
Worldwide-temperature increase has not produced acceleration of global sea level over the past 100 years
Cities ‘feeling heat of climate’

Economy
Consumer Confidence Index drops to 63.4 in March as worries about gas and food prices escalate
Home prices falling in 19 major US cities, with 4 now at lowest level in 11 years
More Housing Hell: The End Is Years Away

Politics
Hoyer: Odds of government shutdown have increased over past two weeks
Claims for Social Security benefits on the rise
State Tax Revenue Snaps Back
Mortgage-Lending Rules Unveiled
Pentagon: Libya tab at $550 million
Report: Deployments cost NC seat in Congress
U.S. Property Rights Protections Continue to Decline

Religion
Earliest Christian Documents Discovered?
Iran Secretly Executes Jewish-Armenian Couple; Christians Concerned
Iran Burns Bibles, Condemns Quran Burning
Evangelist in Bangladesh imprisoned for distributing Christian booklets
Nepal: Christians To Step Up Hunger Strike
Cuban Pastor on Conditional Release Prohibited from Preaching
Archbishop’s secret visit to Bhutan’s Christians, first in 18 years
Closing Arguments Begin In Canadian Test of Polygamy Ban
Church Finds Original King James Bible

While pondering the predicament into which we’ve gotten ourselves, I came across this:

So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, “Here are the policies of the king who will rule over you: He will conscript your sons and put them in his chariot forces and in his cavalry; they will run in front of his chariot. He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment. He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers. He will take your best fields and vineyards and give them to his own servants. He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators and his servants. He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.” [1 Sam. 8:10-18]

So, seeing how we, like a child cried out “I can do it myself!” and seized the reins of government in 1776, it looks as though we might now be left to work it out ourselves.

It’s not a happy thought, is it?

Here’s the narrative activists in and out of government are trying to construct, in a nutshell:

Thomas Perez, the assistant U.S. attorney general for civil rights, told the panel that anti-Muslim sentiment has brought a surge last May in the number of federal discrimination cases involving zoning boards and other local authorities that have acted to prevent mosques from opening in their communities.

That comes on top of more than 800 incidents of violence, vandalism and arson against people believed to be Muslim, Arab or South Asian, that the Justice Department has investigated since the September 11 attacks.

Perez said there has been a 150 percent jump in workplace discrimination against Muslims, often over religious dress and worship schedules, while Muslim youth can often become the victims of school yard bullying.

“In each city and town where I have met with (Muslim) leaders, I have been struck by the fear that pervades their lives,” Perez told the panel

And here’s a snapshot of what some of the data actually says:

The Center for Security Policy today released a revised edition of their groundbreaking longitudinal study, Religious Bias Crimes 2000-2009: Muslim, Jewish and Christian Victims – Debunking the Myth of a Growing Trend in Muslim Victimization, based on FBI statistics reported annually in the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The Center’s study contradicts the assertions that religious bias crimes against Muslims have increased, and that the alleged cause is widespread “Islamophobia” in America. In fact, the study shows that religious bias crimes – also known as hate crimes – against Muslim Americans, measured by the categories of incidents, offenses or victims, have remained relatively low with a downward trend since 2001, and are significantly less than the numbers of bias crimes against Jewish victims.

Granted, the study only looks at “hate crimes”, but it’s hard to see how the numbers of hate crimes went down if “bias” and “discrimination” were trending upward.

Though Friday was supposed to be a rope yarn day, I still had to go into work in the morning to take care of some things. In addition to kicking off my six-week class next month, we’re ramping up for a security sector development workshop to help the governments of four partner nations in Southeast Asia develop solutions to some of their problems.

Saturday and Sunday were all Pinewood Derby, all the time, with major preparations and the final execution taking place. Both Scouts did fine, but not great, in the racing. They both got major praise from their peers for their designs, though, which for them was the point. Fast is nice, but cool is cool.

I should get a few extra posts up this week, but next week is very questionable.