Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten newspaper issued an apology and whisked it off to the Jordanian news agency Petra for publishing cartoons that supposedly were insulting to the prophet Muhammad. The arguments about the poor taste of the cartoonist notwithstanding, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark’s prime minister says he and his government cannot apologize for the country since the newspaper is independent and not an agency of the government. To most people this makes sense but Islam is not most people.

It would seem that this entire tip toeing around Islam is far above absurdity and much closer to insanity. Can anyone remember an apology coming to Indonesia for the bombings there by radical Islamists? Did the British get an apology for the bombings of its subway? Who has heard one representative of any radical Islamic group apologize for the death and destruction wrought in America on 9/11?

Is the apology offered by the Danish newspaper for there lack of taste and discretion or is it for other reasons? Is it because boycotts of Danish products like milk, insulin and food stuffs? Or finally is it the fear or reprisals in the form of terrorist attacks on embassies, public places, schools and homes. Perhaps it is only a reasonable attempt at diplomacy that a free nation would employ under any circumstances in a civilized world.

Terrorism by any other name is still just terrorism, insulted prophets notwithstanding. If free nations have decided not to negotiate with terrorists on any level then we are forced to ask, why then are we making apologies for cartoons? Last time I looked, no cartoon had ever toppled a building or killed a child in the street.

The behavior of radical Islam is creating a cartoon all on its own. It is more like a caricature than a cartoon. A caricature by nature is a cartoon that depicts something by exaggerating it’s most prominent or obtrusive qualities. The “would be” beauty has hips and other feminine features exaggerated to say she is voluptuous. The guy who wants his strength accentuated has the artist draw muscles way out of proportion to his body to accentuate that point.

Islam has been creating a caricature not with brush or pen for the last several years all around the globe. It has exaggerated features including the bombing of men, women and children almost always without mercy, without warning and without reason. Not one apology has ever been offered for this dreadful radical Islamic cartoon.

I have been warning Christians for over thirty years of the coming portent of the world’s last dictator commonly referred to as the Antichrist. It is well known to them that the bible clearly predicts that he will exalt himself above every other world leader before him and above every kind of worship of God, be it the worship of the true God or some aberration, heresy or cult. II Thessalonians 2:4 “Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.”

It is barley known to the Muslim faith and certainly would not be heeded or even acknowledged but that last dictator will make no apologies to them either. He will endeavor to crush every major religion in the world. He will momentarily succeed but not with warfare of force but rather by drawing the entire world into an economic system that no one will escape.

Only a handful of westerners have ever converted to Islam in its entire history because of pictures it draws much like the Danish cartoon. Those pictures make a caricature of its ugliest components which are death, judgment and punishment, both on an unwarranted and unreasonable scale. Maybe civilized people still prefer pictures of a gentle Savior with children around him. Or a woman caught in adultery saved from stoning by a merciful Messiah who came to save the world rather than judge it. Millions of people have been converted by these pictures and will be much more until the end of time.

Rev Bresciani is the author of two popular Christian books, one on the second coming of Christ. He has hundreds of articles published both online and in print. Visit the website at www.americanprophet.com

Rev Bresciani is the author of two popular Christian books. He has also written dozens of articles both online and in print.

Please visit the website www.americanprophet.org

Rock and roll music originated in the American South in the early 1950s and then quickly spread throughout the rest of the country and ultimately the world. By the late ’50s and early ’60s, rock and roll had become what many thought was the most popular genre of music in the western world. It has largely maintained a very high level of popularity since then, despite evolving over time into various sub-genres that are now lumped together under the generic term “rock”.

In the more than 60 years since rock and roll burst onto the national and international music scene, there have been literally thousands upon thousands of rock songs recorded (performed in English but also in many other languages) that we have loved, liked, were indifferent to, found pretty irritating, outright hated, or had a wide range of other responses to. The vast majority of these songs made absolutely no lasting impression on our musical psyches. But a small percentage did stand out in the crowd in a positive way, some so much that they were head and shoulders better than all the rest. And an even smaller percentage of those were so great that they have stood the test of time and entered the pantheon of greatest rock songs ever, depending on whom you ask, of course.

But of all the great songs, which one truly rises above all the rest to claim the title of “greatest rock song of all time”? The answer is part of what appears to be a never-ending debate and there’s certainly no shortage of people willing to offer up their candidate. No doubt you have your own personal choice but for now let’s consider what some other folks think.
If you like poll results, you’ll be interested to learn that The Rock and Roll Report said that in a 2004 poll conducted by Planet Rock, a digital radio station in Britain, Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven was voted by over 70% of respondents as the greatest rock song ever recorded. Not so fast, chimed in “Eric” when he saw the list with Stairway to Heaven sitting at the very top, saying that he has “for many years declared to all who would listen to me that the best rock ‘n’ roll song of all time is Louie Louie by the Kingsmen.” But the editors of DJ Zone Magazine agreed with the Planet Rock poll results and think Stairway to Heaven is the all-time best.

Not to be outdone, Rolling Stone Magazine compiled its own list in 2004, getting a lot of input from a lot of people, and Stairway to Heaven didn’t even make it into its Top 5 (in fact, it didn’t even make it into its Top 10). The number one spot went to Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. However, “Drifter” posted a comment in which he heartily disagreed with their choice of Dylan’s song, asking pointedly: “In what sense is Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylanworking in the folk-song modeeven a rock and roll song?” Good question.

John Lennon’s Imagine was number 1 in Virgin Radio’s list of All Time Top 500 Songs published in 2004. Imagine that? And in 2000 MTV’s music video sister cable TV station VH1 ranked (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones at the very top of its list of 100 Greatest Rock Songs. While two of “Todd M.’s” friends (”Chuck C.” and “Hank S.”) agreed with VH1’s choice of number 1, many of his other friends didn’t, with a range of choices for the top spot, including songs such as The Beatles’ Let It Be, Cinnamon Girl by Neil Diamond, Voodoo Chili by Jimi Hendrix, Purple Haze (also by Hendrix), Hound Dog by Elvis, and various other selections in what turned out to be a pretty eclectic list of choices for best rock song of all time.

Now what does all this prove? Well, not very much except that everybody has an opinion of what they think is the all-time greatest rock song, and these opinions are pretty darn subjective. Even different polls will come up with different songs at the top, proving that it’s very difficult to gain a consensus on this subject or practically anything else, for that matter. Nonetheless, these lists are fun to make and fun to read and ponder. If nothing else, they bring back fond or not so fond memories of the many songs that we have encountered along the way and which have become an indelible part of our life experience.

So what’s your own personal choice for the Greatest Rock Song of All Time?

Copyright © Terry Mansfield. All rights reserved. Anyone may publish this free reprint, free content article online or in print as long as the entire contents of the article and accompanying resource box are left unaltered, including any hyperlinks (which must be active and clickable), and the author’s byline is included.

About the Author: Terry Mansfield, Owner/President of First World Enterprises, www.firstworld.biz, has been a big rock fan his whole life (his own personal choice for Greatest Rock Song of All Time is Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen). Terry recommends that, if you want to find TONS OF FREE MUSIC (plus movies, video, software, games, etcover 1 BILLION CHOICES), to check out this really cool web site:
snipurl.com/Free_Downloads

The nature of the blind bet in poker is to ensure that every hand will have action. Blinds, then, could just as easily be called ‘bait,’ as in most scenarios they are there to give a manner of definition to the action in a handsomething to vie for in raising and reraising, even when in the end they are often nominal comparatively to chip stacks and average pot sizes.

When a player raises the blinds at the casino online, then, they are essentially attacking. Especially in late position, when there have been no other bets in front, players will often make raises from or near the button under the assumption that minimally raising in position will make the blinds, who most often have nothing worth playing, lay their money down with no kind of resistance.

Calling a raise from the blind, especially with moderate hands such as connectors or etc., hands that might not be played from other positions, is considered ‘defending the blinds’: putting yourself out there because you already are partially invested. Not defending often enough, in these positions, can result in more aggressive players attempting even more regularly to steal, whereas defending with a wider range of poker online hands might discourage them from attacking with weaker holdings. In general, it seems best to be moderate but prudent in these situations, defending when necessary, but not simply out of spite.