Philly Requiring Bloggers to Pay $300 for a Business License
By: Mark Hemingway
It looks like cash hungry local governments are getting awfully rapacious these days:
Between her blog and infrequent contributions to ehow.com, over the last few years she says sheâ€(tm)s made about $50. To [Marilyn] Bess, her website is a hobby. To the city of Philadelphia, itâ€(tm)s a potential money-maker, and the city wants its cut.
In May, the city sent Bess a letter demanding that she pay $300, the price of a business privilege license.
“The real kick in the pants is that I donâ€(tm)t even have a full-time job, so for the city to tell me to pony up $300 for a business privilege license, pay wage tax, business privilege tax, net profits tax on a handful of money is outrageous,†Bess says.
It would be one thing if Bessâ€(tm) website were, well, an actual business, or if the amount of money the city wanted didnâ€(tm)t outpace her earnings six-fold. Sure, the city has its rules; and yes, cash-strapped cities canâ€(tm)t very well ignore potential sources of income. But at the same time, there must be some room for discretion and common sense.
When Bess pressed her case to officials with the cityâ€(tm)s now-closed tax amnesty program, she says, “I was told to hire an accountant.â€
Sheâ€(tm)s not alone. After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.
Even if, as with Sean Barry, that profit is $11 over two years.
To say that these kinds of draconian measures are detrimental to the public discourse would be an understatement
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Audio: Ground Zero Imam Says U.S. Worse Than Al-Qaeda
New audio has surfaced of the imam behind the controversial mosque near Ground Zero allegedly telling an audience overseas that the United States has been far more deadly than al-Qaeda. “We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non Muslims,” Feisal Abdul Rauf said at a 2005 lecture sponsored by the University of South Australia. After discussing the U.S.-led sanctions against Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Rauf went on to argue that America is to blame for its testy relationship with Islamic countries.
“What complicates the discussion, intra-Islamically, is the fact that the West has not been cognizant and has not addressed the issues of its own contribution to much injustice in the Arab and Muslim world.” The audio was uncovered by blogger Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Chuck Norris: Obama: Muslim Missionary? Part 2
Last week, the media, White House and nation were in a hullabaloo over a Pew Research Center poll which revealed that one in five Americans believe President Obama is a Muslim.
The poll received so much attention and response that the White House released a rebuttal reiterating that Obama is “a committed Christian.”
The fact is, Americans are more baffled now by Obama’s personal religion than they were when he first came into office.
John Green, University of Akron politics professor and senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, concluded, “I haven’t seen any example, and I’ve been following polling of presidents for a long time now, of where we’ve seen increased confusion about religiosity the longer they’re in office.”
Part of the confusion comes, for example, when Obama doesn’t make room to commemorate a National Day of Prayer with prominent Christian leaders or even spend time with the God-centered Boy Scouts of America at their national jamboree (as preceding presidents have), but he doesn’t miss hosting the Muslim Iftar Ramadan dinner at the White House or pass up the chance to fight for the rights of Muslims to construct an Islamic mosque near Ground Zero.
At times, Obama has given pointed responses about his faith in Christ. At other times, he comes across ambiguous and even clueless about his faith. Still, at other times, he is downright condescending about the Christian faith.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Does Barack Obama Want to be Re-Elected in 2012?
Few Americans consider themselves bigger than the presidency but Obama might be one of them. The man in the Oval Office, argues Toby Harnden, may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world.
When David Plouffe, President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign manager, wrote recently that his former boss was “not concerned with his re-election”, there was predictable scepticism.
After all, it has long been a truism that every politician wants to cling to power and a reality that presidential campaigns are planned years in advance. Pronouncements about not looking at polls and concentrating on getting things done are, moreover, standard fare from poll-driven, election-obsessed politicians and their apparatchiks.
In this case, however, Plouffe may inadvertently be onto something. Almost everything Obama does these days suggests that he doesn’t care much about being re-elected. Strange as it might seem, perhaps he wants to be a one-term president.
Obama was elected in 2008 at an extraordinary moment in American politics. Suddenly, this charismatic figure, elected to the Senate without serious opposition in 2004 and without any executive experience, was catapulted into the White House.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mau-Mauing the Mosque
The dispute over the “Ground Zero mosque” is an object lesson in how not to resist intolerance.
By Christopher Hitchens
The dispute over the construction of an Islamic center at “Ground Zero” in Lower Manhattan has now sunk to a level of stupidity that really does shame the memory and the victims of that terrible day in September 2001. One might think that a mosque or madrassa was being proposed in the place of the fallen towers themselves or atop the atomized ingredients of what was once a mass grave. (In point of fact, the best we have been able to do with the actual site, after almost a decade, is to create a huge, noisy, and dirty pit with almost no visible architectural progress. Perhaps resentment at the relative speed of the proposed Cordoba House is a subconscious by-product of embarrassment at this local and national disgrace.)
I don’t like anything much about the Cordoba Initiative or the people who run it. The supposed imam of the place, Feisal Abdul Rauf, is on record as saying various shady and creepy things about the original atrocity. Shortly after 9/11, he told 60 Minutes, “I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened, but the United States policies were an accessory to the crime that happened.” He added, “In the most direct sense, Osama Bin Laden is made in the USA.” More recently, he has declined to identify the racist and totalitarian Hamas party as being guilty of the much less severe designation of terrorist. We are all familiar by now with the peddlers of such distortions and euphemisms and evasions, many of them repeated by half-baked secular and Christian spokesmen. A widespread cultural cringe impels many people to the half-belief that it’s better to accommodate “moderates” like Rauf as a means of diluting the challenge of the real thing. So for the sake of peace and quiet, why not have Comedy Central censor itself or the entire U.S. press refuse to show the Danish cartoons?…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s START Treaty With Russia
An easy way to convince your enemy not to fight back, is to cause him to believe that even self-defense is immoral. The left has never succeeded in convincing anything close to a majority of Americans of that position—but they have settled for convincing them that some forms of self-defense are too dangerous and inconvenient. Just as they convinced them that nuclear power was too dangerous, so that countless billions could go on flowing to Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia financing Islamic terrorism. Just as they hope to convince them that the War on Terror is just too dangerous and too much work.
As Obama works to disarm the United States, both morally and tactically, he is continuing the work of those who do not believe that America is a moral entity or has any national right to exist. And the people who think that way, view Israel the same way. As well as all of Europe. Illegitimate national entities to be carved up and turned over to Third Worlders with more deserving values. In a world in which immigration has become a tactical demographic weapon, nuclear weapons can almost seem like a relic of a cruder and more mechanical age, when wars were fought with billion dollar weapons pitted against each other, not with cell phone activated bomb vests and press releases.
Yet we are poised on the edge of a new nuclear age, in which the widespread dissemination of nuclear weapons makes them widely available. Without nuclear deterrence, that age may well mean the end of civilization as we know it. The end of conventional nations and cities, as any faction or group with a grudge, and another nation’s backing, can kill millions to make a point. Anti-war activists suggest we meet the threat by talking about peace and reducing our own arsenals, while relying on the UN, to be the same useless wet noodle that it’s always been. But talking of peace is as likely to bring on wars, as prevent them. And paper lanterns make a poor defense against radiation poisoning.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Document That Should Stop the Islamic “Victory Mosque”
Racists, Xenophobes and bigots. Those are just a few terms used to describe the opponents of the Islamic center planned near Ground Zero. These characterizations could possibly be avoided, however, by more fact-based protest.
To date, defenders of the center seemed undeterred, despite all that is know about the project front man. Look just a bit deeper.
Among the golden nuggets of evidence produced during the trial of the United States vs. The Holy Land Foundation et al is a document that should end any ambiguity concerning the true intent of Feisal ABDUL-RAUF in his quest to construct an Islamic center at Park Place. In fact, it should be cause to reexamine all Islamic centers and mosques that fall within a certain criteria. Cataloged as “Exhibit 003-0085” by the U.S. federal government, a document translated from Arabic to English titled An Explanatory Memorandum, On the General Strategic Goal for the Group In North America details the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.
Feisal ABDUL RAUF is indeed an adherent and promoter of the Muslim Brotherhood’s goals and objectives. Any doubt to his Muslim Brotherhood connections are addressed by the excellent and timely report by Alyssa A. Lappen, which is required reading for factual insight into ABDUL RAUF’s link to the Muslim brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Greens May Push to Decriminalize Polygamy
TORONTO — The Green Party of Canada will consider a motion Sunday on whether or not they will push to decriminalize polygamy.
Party members in a workshop on Saturday evening voted to send the motion to the full-Party plenary, where they’ll debate and vote on it.
Speakers in the workshop were careful to define polygamy as a marriage between multiple spouses. They made a clear distinction between polygamy between consenting adults and a polygamist sect in Bountiful, B.C., where domestic abuse has been alleged, though charges were thrown out in 2009.
“It’s a human rights issue,” said Trey Capnerhurst, a Green Party candidate in Edmonton East, noting that she is a poly-advocate.
Polyamory is the process of having more than one intimate relationship at the same time, according to the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association.
Capnerhurst says in cases where police suspect domestic abuse against multiple wives and children, that should be the subject of criminal charges.
“We should be not be charging people with polygamy,” she said.
Several Green members in the workshop argued the policy is impossible to sell to voters and could mean losing support at a time when they hit record numbers in the last election.
Those who spoke in favour said the party should treat it as a human rights issue, just as they did with same-sex marriage rights.
Green Party leader Elizabeth May says the party is open and democratic, allowing any motion with enough support to be discussed.
“It certainly isn’t a motion I voted for,” she said. “It’s something I continue to oppose.”
A spokeswoman for May says she doesn’t expect the motion to pass the full party plenary on Sunday.
Capnerhurst says there’s a bias against those in polyamorous relationships, of which she estimates number in the tens of thousands in Canada.
She compared it to the status of same-sex marriage rights a decade ago, and says being in a polyamorous relationship is sometimes used as a reason to deny child custody to parents in divorce cases.
She also pointed to hospital rules that don’t allow more than one spouse to visit patients.
A group of 20 families in B.C. are challenging the law at the province’s supreme court. The maximum penalty for polygamy is five years in jail, but it hasn’t been prosecuted in 60 years, according to media reports.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
A Third of Swedish Pupils Fear School Bullies
Ten percent of pupils in Swedish schools have been subjected to physical bullying, with a up to a third of 14-17-year-olds concerned over starting school again after the summer, a new survey by anti-bullying group Friends has shown.
A third of the 1,165 young people have been bullied physically, have been frozen out or exposed to harassment.
“According to the survey 48 percent of pupils which have at some point felt exposed to bullying or offensive behaviour. It is unacceptable that so many experience school as an unsafe place,” said Katarina Rosenqvist at Friends in a statement.
Rosenqqvist added that the survey, which is conducted annually, shows that there is much work to be done to counter bullying in schools.
“It is a clear sign that the work against bullying should be intensified,” she said.
The survey showed that a fifth of school pupils would not dare speak up when they had been victims of bullying, and 30 percent did not know who they would approach at their school in any case.
“Aside from schools working more actively with everyday security factors, with conscious preventative measures, they have to involve pupils in this work. Pupil participation is a recognised success factor in getting rid of the problem,” Rosenqvist explains.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Gender Issues Could Arise in Parliamentary Election Campaign
The populist True Finns party could stand to gain “guy votes” in next year’s Parliamentary elections, says political scientist Rauli Mickelsson of the University of Tampere.
Interviewed by YLE Morning TV, Mickelsson noted that all of the leaders of the largest parties, with the exception of Jyrki Katainen of the National Coalition Party, are women. This setup might serve as an incentive for some men to favour the True Finns.
He also predicts that the issue of gender-neutral marriage might become a major issue in the elections.
The controversy over election campaign funding, which mainly affects the Centre Party, could also boost the prospects of the True Finns, at the expense of the Centre.
The True Finns are striving for 10 to 15 parliamentary positions in next spring’s elections, according to Chair Timo Soini. The party currently holds five MP posts.
A YLE/Taloustutkimus survey published in July showed the right-wing party surpassing the Greens as the nation’s fourth-biggest with support of just over 10 percent.
A Gallup poll published the following day by the daily Helsingin Sanomat showed the True Finns remaining in fifth place with 9.1 percent support, the same as in June.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Food Giant McDonald’s in Tussle With Tiny Italian Shops
Sardinian opts for self-censorship over use of ‘Mc’
(ANSA) — Rome, August 23 — A Sardinian businessman has been cowed into self-censorship after fast food giant McDonald’s took exception to his use of ‘Mc’ in the names of two tiny outlets.
Ivan Puddu received letters threatening legal action from the chain’s lawyers after he called his shops selling traditional fare McPuddu’s and McFruttu’s.
“It seems absurd to me but I opted to cover the Mc part with tape with ‘censored’ written on and use the more Italian ‘De’ prefix instead,” said Puddu, whose shops are at Santa Maria Navarrese on the East of the island.
“I don’t have the money to face a legal dispute with a multinational”.
McDonald’s, like many big corporations, jealously guards against enterprises trying to free ride on its fame and has frequently sued those using Mc or Mac in trade names, not always successfully.
Puddu thinks the chain has overreacted in his case because the sort of food he sells is very different to the burgers and fries McDonald’s is famous for, so there is little danger of customers being confused.
“I was taken aback when I received the letters because I never thought I could be accused of exploiting the American trademark,” he said.
“I just wonder whether McDonald’s lawyers threaten everyone who has the Mc prefix in their company name or in their products”.
The recently renamed DePudda’s sells Sardinian goodies that can also be considered fast food, in the same way kebabs and sandwiches can, as they can be served up quickly and eaten on the move.
Traditional delicacies like the ‘culurgiones’ cheese filled pastries are among those on the men.
The other shop, DeFruttu’s — Fruttu is Puddu’s mother’s maiden name — sells milkshakes, smoothies and sorbets.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway Oil Divests From Israel
Norwegian gov’t says it won’t invest in West Bank construction.
Norway’s Ministry of Finance announced that the Norway Oil Fund divested from Africa-Israel Investments and Danya Cebus Ltd. on Monday.
The reason given is the companies’ construction in the West Bank.
The Norwegian Finance Ministry said, “The ethics council stresses that construction of settlements in the occupied territories violates the decision of the Geneva convention regarding defense of civilians during war time. Several decisions of the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice have reached the conclusion that construction of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories is prohibited.”
The Norway Oil Fund has assets worth $450 billion, and held $1.16 million in Africa-Israel shares. Danya Cebus is Africa-Israel’s construction subsidiary.
The fund is managed by the Norwegian Central Bank, and divests for ethical reasons. The Norwegian Oil Fund does not invest in companies that manufacture nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, and divests from those that harm the environment and deny workers their rights.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Feels the Squeeze in Finland
Share31 Swedish has been spoken in Finland for hundreds of years, yet declining numbers of speakers and a lack of support from many Finnish speakers mean the language is under pressure like never before, writes Carina Chela.
They have been called the world’s most pampered minority and it is easy to see why. Despite comprising just 5.5 percent of the population, Swedish-speaking Finns have their own newspapers, broadcasts and road signs, and all government documents and websites are translated into Swedish. However, there are those who fear that the special status of the language could soon be threatened.
The language is a reminder of the close historical ties between Sweden and Finland. They were one country for four centuries, but parted ways 201 years ago. The language was a legacy that survived over a century of Russian rule.
The language is now spoken by about 275,000 people in mainland Finland, plus some 25,000 in Åland, an autonomous archipelago in the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland and Sweden.
The past century has seen Swedish-speaking Finns in almost constant decline. In 1900, Swedish speakers made up about 13 percent of the population. Finnish nationalism in the late 19th century, plus emigration to Sweden during the Second World War, have led to their numbers dwindling.
Despite this numerical decline, Swedish speakers maintain a firm grip on the country’s constitution. They have their own political party in government, the Swedish People’s Party of Finland (Svenska Folkpartiet i Finland) and a vast number of cultural institutions. The Swedish Assembly of Finland, Folktinget, is their own cross-political body that protects the interest of the Swedish speaking Finns and acts as a forum for political discussion and cooperation.
The Assembly participates in Finland’s law-drafting process and all political parties with activities in Swedish are members. Swedish speakers have their own schools, health and day care centres, theatres, newspapers and broadcasts in Swedish. Swedish speakers have a legal right to be served in Swedish when dealing with state authorities.
Swedish-speaker Erika Helling, 43, teaches at the secondary school Högstadium in Sibbo, a bilingual municipality east of Helsinki. She says that she always speaks Swedish in Sibbo whether she goes to the bank, supermarket or health care centre.
“Everybody that works in Sibbo is or bilingual or at least functional in both languages,” she said. “It is practically impossible to get a job in Sibbo if you don’t speak both languages.”
The Swedish-speaking minority comprises about 40 percent of Sibbo’s population. In almost all cities and towns in Finland, public signs such as street names or traffic signs are in both Finnish and Swedish, with the majority language always first. However, in some unilingual municipalities, it is common to see just one of the languages.
Unlike in English, where both language groups are referred to as Finns, Swedish speakers use the Swedish word finländare (“Finlander”) when referring to both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking nationals. The word “finne” (“Finn”) is reserved for a Finnish-speaking Finn.
Both Swedish and Finnish are compulsory subjects at school for both Swedish and Finnish speakers, with pupils almost always receiving instruction in their native language. Tuition in the other language forms part of the curriculum in secondary school and upper secondary school. Students at universities and polytechnics are required to take an examination in the other domestic language. At the university level, there is a system of quotas and affirmative action for Swedish speakers. A certain percentage of students applying for the universities must be Swedophones.
Yet there are signs that the demographic reality could now be catching up with Finland’s Swedish speakers. There is growing resistance to learning Swedish among Finnish-speaking students. They claim that Swedish is of limited use to them in the jobs market and that other languages are more important in a globalised economy.
Others say that allowing Finns to drop Swedish will eventually lead to the death of the language in Finland and threaten the liability of the Swedish-speaking minority linguistic minority. If Swedish dies out, the argument goes, Finland will have lost an important part of its heritage.
There are also those that argue that making Swedish compulsory just puts pupils off, but this is not an argument that finds much favour with Erika Helling, who teaches literature and Swedish as a mother tongue to youngsters between the ages of 13 and 16.
“Of course everyone is more more positive if they aren’t forced to learn a subject,” she argued. “But I don’t think that this should be a guideline for anything. Knowing Swedish eventually results in more Finns knowing a Germanic language. This makes it easier to learn other languages of this linguistic group, such as English and German.”
The debate about Swedish is not just about language. The class and power of Swedish speakers have arguably strengthened the language’s status in the past, but also adds to the ammunition of those now calling for its role to be reduced.
Swedish speakers are often criticised for isolating themselves as an elite group. Many of the wealthy and powerful families of Finland are Swedish speakers. They are often accused of being the world’s most pampered minority, given their relatively tiny numbers and the huge concessions made to their language. But for Helling, the protection of the language is not pampering, but a sign that “Finland is giving a good example of how minorities should be treated and protected all over the world.”
“Minorities should have rights like everybody else,” she said. “Otherwise all ethnicities will die of extinction. I think Finland should be an example for other countries. Though a lot still has to be done.”
Finland has already started chipping away at Swedish’s special status. In 2005, despite fierce lobbying from powerful Swedish speakers, the government eliminated Swedish from the tough final matriculation exam, which enables students to apply for universities.
Yet amid the setbacks, there are signs that Swedish might be making a comeback. In these last years the decline in the proportion of Swedish speakers has stopped. There are also signs of renewed interest from parents in Swedish-language schooling, something Helling welcomes.
“The trend in the past few years is that children coming from bilingual families very often attend Swedish schools,” she said. “I believe there is a change in attitude indicating a more positive approach. Yes, there definitely is hope.”
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
The Great British Solar Scam
Every year millions of Britons join the birds flying south for a vacation. The reason for the annual exodus is simple enough: guaranteed sun, guaranteed heat. I have yet to hear of a foreign tourist giving the same reasons for visiting British shores. So why, you might wonder, does the British Government want we Brits to invest heavily in solar panels?
[…]
I have constantly sought to reveal the true economics and the feeble efficiency and reliability problems inherent in the current wave of renewable energy alternatives. But when radical leftwing eco-ideologue and journalistic Point Man for the climate alarmist lobby George Monbiot describes the British pro-solar plan as a “great green rip-off”, you know something must be seriously amiss.
In April the outgoing UK Labour Government introduced a new feed-in tariff scheme obliging the power companies to pay their customers for any power they may produce either for themselves or for feeding into the National Grid. The money to pay them will, of course, be raised through higher energy bills. As Monbiot points out, the trouble is that these subsidizing feed-in tariffs (FITs) schemes too often end up rewarding schemes that are “comically inefficient”.
[…]
The British feed-in tariff system is making installing solar panels a highly attractive investment proposition, with a return potentially as high as 10 percent annually. A return that is index-linked and tax-free. As Monbiot says, “If you own a house and can afford the investment, you’d be crazy not to cash in” on this latest domestic “fashion accessory”. Of course, the small matter of being subsidized by households across the land who cannot afford it … well, that’s a separate moral issue. After all, business is business — at least for those wealthy enough to be able to afford the initial expensive outlay, that is.
[…]
But, over in Europe, the solar ‘sun’ is fast waning as the economy-sapping impact from guaranteed high returns over such an extended period has begun to register. Even in the world’s solar showcase, sunny Spain, the 2007 law that guaranteed 25 years of high market price returns to developers is about to be rescinded, after £22 billon has already been invested by industry. Subsidy cuts of around 30 percent for solar plants, 45 percent for ground-based PV generators with other reductions for rooftop generators are planned; cuts that will bankrupt hundreds of PV operators.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: EU: Health Benefit Packages Training in Damascus
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, AUGUST 23 — Designing health benefit packages and targeting beneficiaries: this is the training ongoing in Damascus, for thirty officials from various ministries, commission and syndicate, tailored within the syrian context.
The training, according to the Eu elegation in Syria, is funded by the European Union and has been organised by the ministry of Health and the Health sector modernisation programme. This module is part of a series of training courses provided in collaboration with experts from the American University in Beirut and will end the 26 of August.
Participants are representatives of various bodies that encompass the ministry of Health, the State planning commission, the ministry of Interior Affairs and Physicians syndicate. At the end of the course, these participants will be able to: analyse needs and financing capacities to develop mechanisms for targeting publicly subsidised packages of health services; analyse the role of benefit packages in fulfilling health needs of target groups and achieving efficient utilisation of available resources; understand the ways of designing benefit packages according to health needs, burden of disease and available resources.(ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Uproar Over TV Series on Muslim Brotherhood
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, AUGUST 23 — A fictional TV series on the Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition to the government in Egypt, is fanning the flames of polemics on the political scene two months before parliamentary elections. The movement, officially illegal but tolerated by the authorities, holds that the TV series is a subtle attack in view of the October elections. The programme’s authors deny this.
The fictional TV series, of which 12 episodes have been broadcast, tells the story of a policeman investigating the Muslim Brotherhood’s leaders at the end of the 1920s, when the group was founded. The portrait that emerges is in no way flattering. The founding father, Hassan al-Banna, considered by many to be of legendary stature, instead is portrayed as an untrustworthy man hungry for power.
The series is being broadcast during the month of Ramadan, when families come together to share the meal eaten at the end of a day’s fasting and one of the periods of the year seeing the highest television viewing audiences.
“The authors simply want to destroy us,” protested Mohsan Rady, a deputy belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. Other representatives of the group say that the TV series is also full of factual errors. Some television critics admit that the broadcast undoubtedly was approved by the government since otherwise it would never have been aired. Others hold that, in any case, its impact will be limited.
The Muslim Brotherhood, a movement opposing the secularisation of Islamic nations and rejecting the influence of the West, with which Egypt has close tries, have a substantial number of supporters among the less privileged classes. Though not allowed to stand as a political party in the elections, many of its representatives have been elected to Parliament as independent candidates.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
English Teachers for Commercial Bank of Qatar Employees
(ANSAmed) — ROME — The Commercial Bank of Qatar, the largest in the private sector, has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the faculty of Administration Science at Metropolitan University of London.
The news comes from the Emirati newspaper, Al Bayan, which adds that the agreement includes the creation of a training school for the personnel of the bank in the capital, Doha.
The English faculty is known world wide for its over 100 years of experience in the field of financial training. In addition to the school in Doha, employees of the Commercial Bank will have the opportunity to attend summer courses in London.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Lethal Mosque Blast Rocks Northwest
Wana, 23 August (AKI) — A blast inside a mosque in Pakistan’s South Waziristan tribal region on the Afghan border killed at least 18 people on Monday and injured 20, intelligence officials said.
“Apparently it was a suicide attack and Maulana Noor Mohammad was the target,” said an intelligence official in Wana, referring to a former MP and pro-government official.
The mosque was badly damaged in the blast, where local residents were busy trying to recover people from the rubble, according to reports.
Noor was greeting members of the congregation in the town of Wana after prayers when the bomber struck, according to officials.
Though Wana does not fall into the part of South Waziristan where the Pakistan army has recently been conducting operations against militants, Western officials say it serves as a safe haven for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.
Earlier on Monday, at least seven people were killed in an explosion in Pakistan’s northwest Kurram tribal area, and least seven members of Pakistan’s security forces were injured in an explosion near a mosque in Bara, in neighbouring Khyber tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Italy to Raise EU Citizen Expulsion Policy at September Meeting
Italy has said it intends to expel citizens from other EU states if they are not able to support themselves, in a move apparently inspired by France’s current crackdown on Roma.
Interior Minister Roberto Maroni told daily newspaper Corriere della Sera on Saturday (21 August) that French president Nicolas Sarkozy — whose recent actions include closing down Roma camps and deporting around 200 Roma to date — is “right.”
The minister, from the anti-immigrant Northern League Party, said that “if anything, it’s time to go a step further” and referred to the mandatory expulsion of EU citizens who do not meet certain criteria.
“Yes, expulsions just like those for illegal immigrants, not assisted or voluntary repatriations. Of course only for those who violate rules on requirements for living in another member state: a minimum level of income, adequate housing and not being a burden on the social welfare system of the country hosting them.”
“Many Roma are EU citizens but do not respect any of these requirements,” he said. But added, when asked if this would be discriminatory, that the policy should apply to all EU citizens and not just Roma.
“If anything, the problem is something else: unlike in France, many Roma and Sinti here have Italian citizenship. They have the right to remain here. Nothing can be done.”
Mr Maroni admitted that previous attempt by Rome to go in this direction were shot down by the European Commission but said he intends to re-raise the issue of automatic expulsions at a meeting of EU interior ministers in Paris on 6 September.
In 2008, the commission threatened Italy with legal action if it went ahead with a decree allowing the expulsion of other EU citizens facing two years of jail. It gave its blessing to a controversial proposal by Italy to fingerprint Roma, however.
Some in Italy have suggested there is a discrepancy between the relatively strong reaction by Brussels to Italy two years ago compared with its muted response to Mr Sarkozy’s policy towards the Roma community.
According to Mr Maroni this is due to an old “prejudice” whereby a policy carried out by a minister from the Northern League, a junior coalition partner in Rome’s right-wing government, is assumed to “violate human rights.”
France
Mr Sarkozy’s government deported around 10,000 Roma to Romania and Bulgaria last year but the current raids against against a planned total of 300 Roma camps come after the French president for the first time expressly linked immigration and crime.
The European Commission, for its part, has said it is monitoring the situation in France noting that any deportation decisions must be proportionate and carried out on a case-by-case basis, with human rights watchdogs already questioning whether these criteria are being fulfilled.
Meanwhile, critics of Mr Sarkozy’s policy have suggested that the Roma will simply return as soon as they are able.
They also suggest that Paris is contributing to a vicious circle due to its decision to maintain until 2014 rules restricting access to the labour market to nationals from Bulgaria and Romania — where the majority of Roma come from — and with it a means of supporting themselves.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Beyond City Limits
The age of nations is over. The new urban age has begun.
The 21st century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by the city. In an age that appears increasingly unmanageable, cities rather than states are becoming the islands of governance on which the future world order will be built. This new world is not — and will not be — one global village, so much as a network of different ones.
Time, technology, and population growth have massively accelerated the advent of this new urbanized era. Already, more than half the world lives in cities, and the percentage is growing rapidly. But just 100 cities account for 30 percent of the world’s economy, and almost all its innovation. Many are world capitals that have evolved and adapted through centuries of dominance: London, New York, Paris. New York City’s economy alone is larger than 46 of sub-Saharan Africa’s economies combined. Hong Kong receives more tourists annually than all of India. These cities are the engines of globalization, and their enduring vibrancy lies in money, knowledge, and stability. They are today’s true Global Cities.
At the same time, a new category of megacities is emerging around the world, dwarfing anything that has come before. A massive influx of people has not only spurred the growth of existing cities, but created new ones virtually from scratch on a scale not previously imagined, from the factory towns in China’s Guangdong province to the artificial “knowledge cities” rising in the Arabian desert. The defining feature of this new urban age will be megalopolises whose populations are measured in the tens of millions, with jagged skylines that stretch as far as the eye can see.
Many will pose challenges to the countries that give birth to them…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islam, The False Mask of Religion
by Emanuel A. Winston
Religion, when taught and practiced with restraint and decency, is a valuable — ever irreplaceable — guide for humankind.
However, when a specific religion teaches its children to hate and kill, then it cannot be defended as a religion. Then it is a “blood/death cult”, practicing child abuse on their own children.
History is replete with confirmed accounts of nations and their particular religion being used as a reason for conquest, looting the victim society, forced conversion of the conquered society and, finally, mass extermination of all those who resist.
Some self-anointed religions are merely pagans who worship idols and gods whom their Priest Cult interprets as the wishes of their panoply of gods. The only limitations on their practices would be the creative imaginations of their Priest Cults. Human sacrifice was common then and, strangely, it last into present time.
Moreover, it would appear the more hideous the teachings and demands of the Priest Cults, the easier it is to recruit the general populace into gruesome acts of barbarity. These acts of savagery will (supposedly) bring them all they wish, for both this life and the after-life, which their gods will bestow upon them.
Today we hear from such pundits as President Barack Hussein Obama, Mayor Michael Rubens Bloomberg and a host of Muslim clerics that Islam is not only a “bona fide” religion but, one that must be accorded honor because they (Muslims) declare that they are peaceful, compassionate, honorable and dedicated to humankind.
Regrettably, from their earliest beginnings, Muslims have adopted a savagery which comes directly out of their Koran and the “Hadith” (Mohammed’s Oral Law). Muslims are taught that there are primarily two Pillars which guide Islam: “Dar al-Harb” (House of War — or House of the West) and “Dar al-Islam” (House of Islam or Peace). From within “Dar al-Islam” they are waiting to achieve full strength and move into their House of War: “Dar al-Harb”. This leads to “spreading Islam” (or Peace) by the sword (or War), leading to their ultimate goal of a Global Caliphate for Islam — where Islam rules everyone in the world under Sharia Law. They have literally declared war on the Free West for everything that is Free, including Freedom of Religion.
When nations blend their religions into justification for going to war, using their religion as a confirmed message from their pagan gods, it is no longer a religion. Islam, under its interpretation of Shari’a laws, demanding submission from all others is merely a War Party in Mufti (disguise).
We know from well-documented history how invading armies, under the banner of Islam, would conquer and parasitically live on the loot of their victims. When that was consumed and used up, they would move on to another victim/country/people.
What about that of today called a “moderate Muslim”? Don’t they study the lessons of Koranic teachings also? Are they not part of the Muslim community which includes Imams who preach the superiority of Islam and the right — even the obligation — to expand Islam by any means according to Shari’a Law, the Laws of Islam and Mohammed?
Why are so many second and third generation Muslims raised in America so anxious to join Al Qaeda, the Taliban or simply become supporters of hostile 22 Arab and 53 Muslim nations such as Iran, Syria, Yemen, etc?
The matter of placing a symbol of Islam in the form of a Mosque at Ground Zero is like throwing a rock into a pond and watching the ripples spread out. Remember that a piece of one of the plane bombs that attacked and vaporized almost 3,000 humans and the Twin Towers, fell through the roof of the building now designated to be a “Peace Mosque”…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad in the Twentieth Century and Today
Look at any college textbook on comparative religions or world geography and what you learn about Islam is essentially the harmless but colorful doctrines of devotion and worship that Muslims around the world practice on a daily or seasonal basis, referred to as The Five Pillars of Islam.
These are; the shahada or declaration that Allah is the only God and that Muhammad is his prophet, the haj (the pilgrimage to Mecca), sala (daily prayer five times a day), zaka (the giving of alms), and (saum), the month long fast from sun-up to sun-down during the month of Ramadan. If mentioned at all, Jihad is reported as an “internal struggle” of the individual to suppress his baser instincts. Nothing is mentioned of the hundreds of citations of the word Jihad in the Koran and in the sunnah and sirah that all focus on war against the infidel and pay attention to Islam’s geography and its role in international affairs.
Sunnah is an Arabic word that means habit or usual practice. The Muslim usage of this term refers to the sayings and habits of Muhammad. The Sunnah includes his specific words, actions, and practices. It is significant because it addresses ways of life dealing with friends, family, government and non-Muslims. It describes in detail what Muhammad believed, implied or tacitly approved and was noted down by his companions in form of what is today known as hadith (traditions). Sira may be translated with “way of acting” in the sense of a “biography”, which early Islamic authorities accepted as an authoritative account of the prophet’s life. In all of these works, Jihad is a fundamental principle of Muslim supremacy and the right to dominate all infidels (non-believers).
In order to understand JIHAD as a veritable sixth essential element in the spread of Islam historically and the threat it poses today, one must understand how Islam radically differs from other faiths and functions politically and geographically. Its role relates not simply to how Islam was spread and became a “world religion” from it original narrow basis in the Arabian peninsular. It has been a major political force in the 20th century and extends its potential threat into the 21st.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Reflected Sunlight Shines on IPCC Deceptions and Gross Inadequacies
Moonlight is not light generated by the moon, but reflected sunlight. First astronauts on the moon were amazed by the brightness of Earth when it appeared over the lunar horizon. What they saw was Earthlight, which is also reflected sunlight. It’s sunlight that does little to heat the Earth because it goes directly back out to space. The amount reflected varies with changes to the surface and atmosphere. These changes are significant yet poorly measured or understood and pushed aside by the fanatic focus on CO2. Global warming due to humans is based on the hypothesis that our addition of CO2 has changed the balance of energy entering and leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. There are a multitude of factors that can change this balance, many ignored or underplayed by climate science. They get away with this because the public is unaware.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
What is the Threat: Islam, Islamism, or Western Sins?
by Barry Rubin
The current debate over the roots of Islamist revolution, clashes in the Middle East, and conflicts between forces in that region and the West involves two critical issues of interpretation:
First, is there a threat to the West from groups whose members are Muslims or does the fault arise from Western policies and shortcomings which, if altered, would make any conflict disappear?
Second, if there is a threat does it stem from Islam as religion or Islamism as political philosophy?
It is important to understand that revolutionary Islamists do draw on mainstream, accepted, and sacred Muslim texts. Their argument has the potential to be just as “legitimate” in believers’ eyes as does the contrary view. At the same time, though, Islam as a religion is not the threat, even though it is the threat’s source and rationale.
The best image to use in order to understand this situation is neither to see the car’s driver (Islam) as inherently bad (as does the “Islam is the threat” camp) or inherently good but facing a would-be hijacker (the “Islam is a religion of peace” camp). A more accurate view is of a battle over the steering wheel by contenders who both have a claim to ownership. Both may be reckless drivers but the main danger is the Islamists, those who want to run us over and then drive the car and all its passengers over a cliff.
Islamism definitely draws on normative Islam and thus has wide appeal among Muslims. But, likewise, Islamism has many Muslim opponents who don’t accept it as their version of Islam.
There are many who do not want to accept the “Islam is the problem” argument because to do so is depressing (billions of people are against us!) or because it conflicts with their ideological assumptions (one cannot criticize any religion, or at least one that is not your own), or because it can be ridiculously labeled as “racist” (one cannot criticize anyone who isn’t wealthy or Western or “white.”)
These are fallacious arguments. But they don’t prove the “Islam is the problem” approach is correct, any more than do other fallacious arguments—that Islam is “really” a “religion of peace,” or that there is no threat, or that the conflict’s cause is Western sins-prove that revolutionary Islamism isn’t a danger.
Those who deny the nature of the threat often argue that when “properly interpreted” Muslim texts are not “really” radical, violent, and seeking political hegemony. However, one must quickly add that those “proper interpretations” are distinctly minority ones today, even if they predominated forty years ago.
The fact that Muslim texts do give backing to revolutionary Islamists does not mean that all or even most Muslims think that way…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
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