Former Car Czar Rattner Rats on Obama
Former Obama administration car czar Steven Rattner is coming out with a new book that depicts him swashbuckling through the financial crisis and also shows Obama as “out to get” the car companies and the administration making political decisions about how to deal with bankrupt automakers GM and Chrysler.
[…]
Key points from the article and excerpts:
-When Obama was told of the plan to pay GM CEO Rick Wagoner a $7.1 million severance package after Obama ordered that he be sacked, Rattner writes: “Suddenly I felt that I was indeed in the presence of a community organizer…”
Rattner describes presidential political adviser David Axelrod coming to car meetings armed with poll data to support the takeover and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel identify Congressmen in whose districts large Chrysler facilities were located.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Police Uncover Funeral Parlour Tax Scam
Brescia, 31 August (AKI) — Funeral parlours in the area around the northern town of Salo have dodged a million euros in taxes in a scam uncovered by Italy’s inland revenue service.
Italian tax police in the northern city of Brescia have informed 20 funeral parlours that are being audited and that they have found “incontrovertible evidence of tax evasion”.
The tax police obtained the list of people who had died in 2005-2006 in some 40 towns in the district of Salo, and through cross-checks discovered around 2,200 funerals had not been recorded.
The Italian mafia has been investigated in Sicily and other parts of Italy over the so-called “dear dead” racket where bereaved families are coerced into using mafia-linked funeral services.
Salo in the Lombardy region was the seat of Nazi puppet government headed by World War II Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from Sept. 1943 to April 1945 after Italy’s surrender to British and American troops.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
BP Finds Three Pieces of Drill Pipe Inside Macondo
HOUSTON, Aug. 23 — BP PLC has found three pieces of pipe inside the Macondo well with the largest piece being an estimated 3,000 ft long and hanging suspended from Transocean Ltd.’s failed Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible’s blowout preventer, a federal spill response spokesman said.
National Incident Commander and retired US Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said a second pipe, estimated at 40 ft, is parallel to the longer pipe and a third pipe, estimated at 1 ft, is crosswise within the BOP.
Engineers and scientists are running tests to determine the position of the rams within the BOP and to determine the best way to remove the pipes, Allen told reporters during an Aug. 23 briefing.
In addition, engineers and scientists are reviewing BP’s suggested procedures for removing the capping stack from the Macondo wellhead and for replacing the Deepwater Horizon BOP on Mississippi Canyon Block 252 in the Gulf of Mexico.
An Apr. 20 blowout of the Macondo well caused an explosion and fire on the Deepwater Horizon, killing 11 people. The semi sank on Apr. 22.
BP started its fishing operation to find the pipes on Aug. 21 following a 48-hr ambient pressure test that confirmed the blown-out Macondo well remains shut in by cement pumped into it from the top. The well has been shut in since July 15 (OGJ Online, Aug. 20, 2010).
Allen said a stronger BOP needs to be put on Macondo before the first relief well, which is being drilled by the Development Driller III, can be completed to assure that the well has been killed from the bottom.
BP plans to replace the Deepwater Horizon BOP with a BOP from Transocean’s Development Driller II, which started a second relief well that has since been put on hold.
Allen estimates the Development Driller III relief well could intercept the Macondo well the week after Labor Day, assuming a planned sequence of events goes smoothly without weather delays.
| — Hat tip: Zenster | [Return to headlines] |
CAIR Director: ‘Tea Party and Republican Party Have Given the Green Light for These People to Defame and Stereotype Muslims’
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is putting some of the blame on both the Tea Party and the Republican Party for what it sees as a growing tide of anti-Muslim anger. CAIR officials said the rise in “Islamophobia” stems from the controversy surrounding the Islamic center and mosque that Muslims plan to build a few blocks from Ground Zero.
[…]
Hooper said the attacks could be driven by many factors: “The question is, why? Is it tied to the November elections? Is it tied to the rise of the Tea Party movement? Is it tied to the economy?” he asked. “I think it’s pretty clear that it’s been sparked…by these hate groups and their opposition to the Islamic community center in Manhattan.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Deep-Fried Beer Invented in Texas
A chef in Texas has created what he claims is the world’s first recipe for deep-fried beer.
The beer is placed inside a pocket of salty, pretzel-like dough and then dunked in oil at 375 degrees for about 20 seconds, a short enough time for the confection to remain alcoholic.
When diners take a bite the hot beer mixes with the dough in what is claimed to be a delicious taste sensation.
Inventor Mark Zable said it had taken him three years to come up with the cooking method and a patent for the process is pending. He declined to say whether any special ingredients were involved.
His deep-fried beer will be officially unveiled in a fried food competition at the Texas state fair later this month.
Five ravioli-like pieces will sell for $5 (£3) and the Texas Alcoholic Commission has already ruled that people must be aged over 21 to try it.
Mr Zable has so far been deep frying Guinness but said he may switch to a pale ale in future.
He said: “Nobody has been able to fry a liquid before. It tastes like you took a bite of hot pretzel dough and then took a drink of beer.” Mr Zable previously invented dishes including chocolate-covered strawberry waffle balls and jalapeño corndog shrimps.
Last year’s winner of the Texas state fair fried food competition was a recipe for deep-fried butter.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Farrakhan Expresses Support for Planned Mosque Near Ground Zero
Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Thursday an Islamic community center and mosque planned near ground zero should be built because Muslims were among those of many faiths who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Why then should a mosque, a cultural center, not be constructed a few blocks away?” Farrakhan asked at a news conference in Washington, where he was joined by a coalition of African-American Muslims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ground Zero Mosque: The Facts
First, the facts: The organization that will own and operate the “Islamic Cultural Center,” first known as Cordoba House, has not as yet been formed. Although it is claimed by many that both Christians and Jews serve on the board of directors, the reality is that the corporation, which is planned to be tax-exempt under IRS rule 501(c)3, does not yet exist. The man alleged to be the main planner, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, will be one of only 22 planned board members, according to developer Sharif el-Gamal who purchased the land (with an existing building that will be demolished) for Cordoba House with cash. Sharif el-Gamal, who is 37 years old and just a few years ago was waiting tables at a restaurant in New York City, refuses to reveal who furnished the cash to buy the construction site. He has been arrested numerous times on assault charges as well as soliciting for prostitution. El-Gamal is also delinquent on payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars of property tax on the building to be replaced by the Ground Zero mega-mosque.
One of the main financial backers of Sharif el-Gamal is Hisham Elzanaty who holds mortgages on other properties he is developing. Elzanaty owns several medical clinics in New York. The New York office of the Medicare inspector general has sent a summons to Elzanaty claiming that his clinics billed for unsubstantiated charges of $331,336. However, it is unknown if Elzanaty is the individual who has supplied the cash to buy the land at 51 Park. The money could have come from any individual or group anywhere in the world because Sharif el-Gamal refuses to provide any transparency at all. The funds to purchase the land could have come from the family of Osama bin Laden or perhaps the tooth fairy. There are news reports that the actual construction funds will be supplied by the the Ford Foundation and Saudi royalty.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Hey Pretty Girl’: Woman Severely Burned After Acid-Like Liquid Thrown Into Her Face Tells of Horror Attack by Total Stranger
[Comments from JD: WARNING — Graphic content.]
A 28-year-old woman severely burned when a stranger threw an acid-like liquid in her face has vowed that the attack will not ruin her life.
Bethany Storro was about to walk into a Starbucks cafe when a female approached her out of the blue and asked, ‘Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?’.
The total stranger then threw a cup of liquid in Miss Storro’s face — and doctors believe it was a kind of acid.
She is now recovering in the burns unit at a hospital in Portland, Oregon, having undergone surgery — and she held a press conference today recounting her ordeal.
[…]
About her attacker, who struck in Vancouver, Washington, she said: ‘I have never, ever seen this girl in my entire life. When I first saw her, she had this weirdness about her — like jealousy, rage.
[…]
Police have described the suspect as an African-American female between 25 and 35 years old. Eyewitnesses say she was wearing a green shirt and khaki pants at the time of attack. Her hair is described as either in a ponytail or slicked back.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NAACP, Left-Leaning Media Groups Form Tea Party Tracking Site
A new website sponsored by the NAACP and left-leaning media operations is seeking videographers and bloggers who will search out “racism” and “extremism” among Tea Partiers.
Teapartytracker.org will feature tweets, interviews with people at rallies, blog entries and a picture of a t-shirt they say someone spotted at a rally that reads “Blacks own slaves in Mauitania, Sudan, Niger & Haiti.”
The site, sponsored by the NAACP, Think Progress, New Left Media and Media Matters for America, will monitor “racism and other forms of extremism within the Tea Party movement. We call on the Tea Party to repudiate extremists among their ranks and join in civil dialogue with all Americans.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Police Release Scientist in Miami Airport Scare
MIAMI — Investigators on Friday released a scientist detained at Miami International Airport after screeners spotted a metal canister in his luggage that looked like a pipe bomb, prompting an evacuation, a senior law enforcement official said.
The official told The Associated Press that no charges were filed against the 70-year-old man and he was allowed to continue his trip. The official requested anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.
The scientist’s name and destination were not released. He is an American citizen and was “very cooperative,” FBI agent Michael Leverock said at a news conference in Miami.
The metal canister that sparked concern was a legitimate experiment, said another government official who also requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
That official said the man has a prior arrest record related to biological material and is a professor at Ross University in Dominica on a teaching assignment in Saudi Arabia. The professor told law enforcement that the metal canister was used for medical testing, and the FBI found that it was used to transport dead bacteria samples, the official said.
Most of the airport was shut down Thursday night after officials found the canister. A Homeland Security spokesman said at first it looked like a pipe bomb, but no explosives were found.
A police bomb squad spent hours scouring the airport. Passengers had to be evacuated from four of the airport’s six concourses and airport roadways were closed down, police and airport officials said. They described the shutdown of the concourses as a public safety precaution.
Passengers, workers and others were allowed back in just as the airport was expecting the first of 1,500 passengers on flights between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. alone — and more thereafter.
“Everything’s back to normal,” airport spokesman Greg Chin told The Associated Press.
The Miami International Airport Hotel, which is located near the airport’s international terminal, was also evacuated, Chin said.
The Transportation Security Administration declined to identify the passenger, saying in a terse statement that the screener spotted something suspicious in a checked back at about 9 p.m. Thursday.
Chin said between 100 and 200 passengers were forced to leave.
“I’m still not sure how many flights came in during this time, but any that did were relocated to the eastern or western ends of the airport,” Chin said, adding parts of Concourses D and J remained open to flights while the evacuation order was in effect for remaining areas.
Lennox Lewis, was waiting to fly to Barbados later Friday morning in one of the four concourses that had been closed.
He said the Miami airport is “one of the most stringent” to get through because he has to be fingerprinted and have his picture taken at customs.
“Traveling right now is a pain but you have to do it,” said 39-year-old Lewis, who was flying with his two small children after a trip to North Carolina and Disney World. “I don’t get overly worried that people will do stupid things.”
| — Hat tip: ESW | [Return to headlines] |
Sacramento-Area Leaders Gather to Support Muslim Americans
Attacks on Muslims from New York to California inspired 50 Sacramento community leaders to rally at the Capitol on Wednesday in support of the region’s 75,000 Muslim Americans.
“The people who flew the planes into the twin towers were not Muslims — they were terrorists hijacking Islam,” David Thompson of the Interfaith Service Bureau told the gathering of Muslims, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, African Americans, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders, labor leaders and veterans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Walid Shoebat: Open Letter to Ground Zero Imam
Dear Feisal Abdul Rauf,
The bottom line is that America wants to know if you are moderate. We have seen another imam before you, Anwar Awlaki, say on NPR and PBS that he condemned terrorism and even advocated for religious dialogue. He vanished and is now being chased by U.S. drones. You, too, seem to have vanished. We have not heard from you and we suspect that the reason you do not answer any questions is because you have great connections that speak in your defense — the president of the most powerful nation on earth, the mayor of the greatest city in our nation and the speaker of the House. We asked them about you and they simply tell us not to be alarmists, that we should judge you by your “positive” accomplishments. A drawback to this way of thinking can, at times, be akin to ignoring a drop of cyanide in a punch bowl. Remember Awlaki?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Injured by Exploding Package Near Montreal
REPENTIGNY, Que. — A man was rushed to hospital Friday after a package blew up in his face at his Montreal-area home.
The man, who is in his 50s, suffered injuries to his face and hands after the explosion in suburban Repentigny.
Repentigny police say his injuries are not considered life-threatening.
Police spokesman Bruno Marier said the man thought nothing of the package when he found it Friday morning.
“He opened his door and he saw a gift package on his doorstep,” he said.
“Since it was his birthday recently, he brought the package inside the house and when he opened it, it exploded in his face.”
Marier said about 40 homes were evacuated in the area following the blast.
He said the bomb squad will try to secure the package before officers begin their investigation.
The man works for a major petroleum company but otherwise little else is known for now, Marier added.
Police say it isn’t clear if the package arrived with the mail.
Marier said the man was alone in the home when the package exploded.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Saudi Embassy Must Move
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Copenhagen is embroiled in a squabble with neighbours and local authorities.
Permits for the Saudi embassy in Copenhagen appear to be in a mess.
No permits
The embassy is temporarily housed in premises in Gentofte north of Copenhagen, but has no permission to operate an embassy and consulate from the address, nor has it ever applied for permission.
Chief Legal Adviser Mette Mie Nielsen at Gentofte Council confirms that the embassy does not have permission to run an embassy from the premises and says that the local authority will strongly make this clear in communication with the embassy.
Enforcement notice
Gentofte Mayor Hans Toft is also involved in the issue: “First we will issue an enforcement notice to the embassy ordering it to cease embassy operations in the building. If the order is not followed, we will submit a report to the police,” Hans Toft told TV2/Lorry.
In order for the Saudi embassy to become lawful, it needs to ask the local authorities for permission to close down the housing part of the address and then apply for permission to establish an embassy in the building. The latter, however, is not so simple as the district plan for the area does not permit any more embassies in the district.
Head of Protocol Jette Nordam at the Danish Foreign Ministry says the Ministry will enter into dialogue with the embassy on the issue.
Other problems
The permit issue comes in the wake of two other issues. At its permanent address, the embassy has fallen out with neighbours due to illegal buildings that have taken away their view of the sea. Since then, the Saudi representation has become unpopular with its current neighbour who has complained about the embassy’s CCTV, which he alleges monitors his terrace and living room.
The embassy is in temporary premises because it is rebuilding its permanent address, but there are legal problems here, too. The district plan says that only 25% of the plot may be built up, but with the rebuilding, the plot ratio will be 40%.
The Saudi embassy has declined to comment on the issue.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
EU Commissioner Derides ‘Jewish Lobby’ In the US
EJC demands apology from De Gucht, a former Belgian Foreign Minister; says remarks are part of “a dangerous trend of anti-Semitism in Europe.”
The European Jewish Congress has demanded a retraction on Friday from a the European Union official who made anti-Semitic comments on Belgian radio.
Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade, was asked about the chances for peace in the Middle East on Belgian Flemis public radio VRT on Thursday, and answered with a tirade about the power of the “Jewish Lobby” in the US. He also insinuated that Jews are irrational when it comes to Israel and the Middle East.
EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor responded: “This is part of a dangerous trend of incitement against Jews and Israel in Europe that needs to be stamped out immediately.”
“Once again we hear outrageous anti-Semitism from a senior European official,” Kantor said. “The libel of Jewish power is apparently acceptable at the highest levels of the European Union. This should worry everyone who seeks a more tolerant Europe.”
Kantor added that the EU commissioner’s remarks are part of a new wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. “It has somehow become acceptable to attack Jews through Israel, even at the highest levels. The old anti-Semitic libels are remade to fit 21st century hostility to the Jewish state.”
De Gucht is one of the most senior officials in the European Union, and was formerly Belgian Foreign Minister.
The EJC has called for an immediate retraction and apology from De Gucht.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
New Rabbis Signal Jewish Renaissance in Germany
Judaism is making a comeback in Germany 65 years after the Holocaust, thanks largely to immigration from the former Soviet Union, as shown by this week’s ordination of two rabbis in the eastern city of Leipzig.
The Orthodox ordination of the men originally from Uzbekistan and Lithuania was Germany’s second since 1945, underscoring the growth of the city’s Jewish community that 20 years ago numbered only 30.
More than 300 German and foreign Jewish leaders attended the ceremony in a brightly coloured 19th century synagogue that somehow managed to survive the 1938 “Kristallnacht” Nazi pogrom.
“Judaism is alive and well in Germany,” said World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder, whose foundation supports Jewish communities, rabbinic schools and the Berlin Orthodox seminary from which the two new rabbis graduated.
Germany counted more than 530,000 Jews in 1933, when Hitler came to power.
In 1939, at the start of World War II, only 200,000 remained as many had emigrated to escape Nazi violence. Just a few thousand survived the war.
Today numbers are back to more than 100,000 since the 1990s decision to make it easier for Jews from the former Soviet Union to move to Germany and to obtain citizenship.
The two new Orthodox rabbis are among the arrivals: Shlomo Afanasev was born 29 years ago in Tashkent and Moshe Baumel, 22, is from Vilnius.
Addressing the young rabbis in the synagogue, Lauder spoke of their journeys to Germany, pointing out that their wives had also came from far and wide: Afanasev’s wife is from Ukraine and Baumel’s from Siberia.
“My message to you is you never know where you’ll end up,” Lauder said.
In the aftermath of World War II and the ravages of the Nazi regime, few would have believed there would be a Jewish renaissance, said Charlotte Knobloch, who heads the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
Leipzig had 12,000 worshippers in the 1920s, she said. After the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago, there were only 30 left. Now there are nearly 1,300, most of them immigrants from the former USSR, she said.
“In all the Jewish communities I have visited over the past few years I’ve been made aware … of the hope there is of being able to continue to live in a country which has caused so much suffering to our families … and trust in this country, its democracy, and its inhabitants,” she said.
“No one could have imagined that after the war,” she told reporters. “What once was utopia is now reality.”
Knobloch presides over a community in which nine out of 10 people originate in former Soviet states. She was born to a conservative family, but many former Soviet Jews are Orthodox.
“But for a religion, such differences in origin are unimportant,” she told AFP.
“What’s important isn’t where they come from (the rabbis), but where they studied, and whether they were trained as conservatives, liberals or Orthodox,” she added.
In an environment in which many worshippers are immigrants, having two new rabbis from the same background is helpful, said Hermann Simon, who heads the foundation in charge of Berlin’s main synagogue.
“It’s really a good thing that a rabbi can talk (to his flock) in their mother tongue, because sometimes he has to deal with difficult problems,” he said.
One of the new rabbis, Moshe Baumel, opened the ordination ceremony in German, the language he grew up with, having arrived in Germany at the age of three, saying “this isn’t just an ordination festival, but an integration festival.”
Some Germans are still responsible for acts of violence against foreigners or Jews, said Stanislaw Tillich, who heads the regional government of Saxony where neo-Nazis are active.
But, “The duty of democrats is to defend … Judaism in Germany,” he said.
In another event symbolic of Judaism’s return to Germany, President Christian Wulff inaugurated on Friday a new synagogue in the western city of Mainz, on the very site where Nazis destroyed the previous one more than 70 years ago.
“Exactly 98 years after the opening of the last major synagogue in Mainz, the Jewish community once again will have an architectural and religious centre,” Wulff said at the official ceremony.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Islam is World’s Greatest Threat — Tony Blair
Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has described radical Islam as the greatest threat facing the world today.
He made the remark in a BBC interview marking the publication of his memoirs.
Mr Blair said radical Islamists believed that whatever was done in the name of their cause was justified — including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
Mr Blair, who led Britain into war in Afghanistan and Iraq, denied that his own policies had fuelled radicalism.
Asked about the argument that Chechens, Kashmiris, Palestinians, Iraqis and Afghans were resisting foreign occupation, he said Western polices were designed to confront radical Islamists because they were “regressive, wicked and backward-looking”.
The aim of al-Qaeda in Iraq was “not to get American troops out of Baghdad [but] to destabilise a government the people of Iraq have voted for”, he told the BBC’s Owen Bennett Jones in a World Service interview.
‘Stronger will’
The former British leader — who now acts as the Middle East envoy for the international Quartet — said that Iran was one of the biggest state sponsors of radical Islam, and it was necessary to prevent it by any means from developing a nuclear weapon.
“We need to give a message to Iran that is very clear — that they cannot have nuclear weapons capability, and we will stop them,” he said.
Mr Blair said he was not advocating military action, but simply saying no option could be taken off the table.
Iran denies pursuing a nuclear weapons programme, and insists its atomic work is for civilian purposes.
Mr Blair told the BBC his view of foreign policy had changed as a result of the 9/11 attacks: “After 11 September, rightly or wrongly, I felt the calculus of risk had changed.
“There is the most enormous threat from the combination of this radical extreme movement and the fact that, if they could, they would use nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.
“You can’t take a risk with that happening.”
Mr Blair said he agonised over how to respond to radical Islam and still had doubts that he was right.
These are really difficult issues, he said, but added: “This extremism is so deep that in the end they have to know that they’re facing a stronger will than theirs.”
Mr Blair has also expressed optimism about the prospect of peace in the Middle East. Direct talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians began in Washington on Thursday.
Speaking in Dublin, on the prime-time entertainment programme The Late Late Show, Mr Blair said he believed the Middle East peace process was similar to Northern Ireland — and would be successful.
He said: “I feel it can be settled. You just have to carry on.”
There was a small anti-war protest outside the Dublin studio where the interview took place.
Mr Blair also told the Late Late Show that his successor as prime minister, Gordon Brown, remained a friend.
In his autobiography, Mr Blair said Mr Brown was “maddening”, had “zero” emotional intelligence and sought to frustrate key reforms.
However, Mr Blair said there were many things he admired about Mr Brown and would “probably” still go for a drink with him.
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
Two-Thirds of Germans Disagree With Sarrazin
Nearly two-thirds of Germans disagree with controversial central banker Thilo Sarrazin’s claim that rampant immigration is making Germany “dumber,” a poll released Friday has found.
A poll published by the news magazine Focus reported that 63 percent of respondents disagreed and 31 percent agreed with the proposition — a key claim in Sarrazin’s anti-immigration arguments that have sparked furious debate this week.
Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, told the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet in an interview published Friday that Sarrazin’s claims were “absurd.”
“They serve to divide. Whole groups in our community feel injured by this,” she said.
Merkel also said that integration was the most important issue of our time.
“We have to discuss it realistically and must not arouse antipathy and ill-will. That hinders integration instead of advancing it.”
While problems still existed, most Turks, who belong to the country’s largest immigrant group, were well-integrated, she said.
Improvements would take efforts from the government, the community and immigrants themselves, she said.
“Living together is a matter of give-and-take,” she said. Immigrants must be prepared “to get involved in life within our community and to accept our legal system without reservation,” she said.
Merkel is one of many politicians who have elevated improved integration of Germany’s Muslim communities since Sarrazin sparked widespread condemnation with inflammatory interviews surrounding the launch of his book, “Abolishing Germany — How we’re putting our country in jeopardy,” on Monday.
The chairman of the interior committee of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Bosbach of Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called for a “serious discussion to designate the progress and the problems of integration, without taboos.”
Though there were a million integration success stories, there were “also too many cases of refusal to integrate,” he told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.
The SPD’s interior spokesman, Dieter Wiefelspütz, said integration was “the mega-issue of the next year” and needed to be pushed forward with greater effort.
“In particular, the federal Interior Ministry is too passive,” he told the same paper. It must finally put integration at the top of its agenda.”
President Christian Wulff, who was on Friday weighing a Bundesbank recommendation to sack Sarrazin, also weighed into the debate. He defended the vast majority of immigrants against Sarrazin’s charge that they were not interested in integrating into mainstream German society, but acknowledged there was pressing work to be done.
“The majority of newly arriving citizens participate successfully in integration courses,” he told the Mainz Allgemeine Zeitung.
But he added: “Failed efforts in integration must be made up for,” he said. And while that was partly the role of the government, “clear demands have to be expressed to migrants,” he said.
Sarrazin has claimed, among other things, that Muslim communities don’t want to integrate with mainstream Germany, that they are making the country “dumber” and that ethnic groups are distinguished by particular genes — for example that “all Jews share a certain gene.”
For the Focus poll, the firm TNS Emnid surveyed 1,001 people on September 1 and 2.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Council Worker Rehana Mohamed’s Twitter Storm: ‘Servants Sometimes Need a Slap’
A senior council officer has sparked fury after claiming that it is acceptable for employers to slap their servants.
Rehana Mohamed made the comments on her Twitter account after watching a TV debate on the abuse of foreign domestic workers exploited by wealthy families.
While watching the Channel 4 Dispatches programme, Britain’s Secret Slaves, Cambridge University educated Miss Mohamed wrote:’Oh this is so self-righteous.
‘That b****y maid needs a good slap. Some ppl [sic] here have no idea what it’s like having servants.
‘I’m sorry but being on call 24/7 and not having a day off for months and not being allowed to leave the house DOESN’T make you a slave.’
Miss Mohamed, who is from Sri Lanka, works as a strategic change management consultant at Brent Council in north London, an ethnically diverse area.
She added: ‘Damn right they should get up and make what you want. That’s their job.
‘We never let out female servants for their own safety.’
Miss Mohamed, who is in her thirties, today insisted she had made the astonishing comments ‘in jest and that’s been acknowledged’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Drugs to Fight Bone Thinning ‘Double the Risk of Cancer’
Hundreds of thousands of women taking drugs to combat bone thinning could be doubling their risk of cancer of the oesophagus, warn British researchers.
A major study shows those taking bisphosphonate drugs for five years — the recommended duration to improve bone strength — are at highest risk, but any level of use was linked to excess risk.
Around 1.4 million British women are eligible for treatment because of osteoporosis, but a quarter do not respond or suffer crippling stomach side-effects.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Grade Gap is Biggest Among White Pupils as Better-Off Children Surge Ahead
The achievement gap between rich and poor children is bigger among white pupils than any other ethnic group, according to research.
White youngsters are more likely to leave school either well-educated or poorly-educated with fewer in between, it suggests.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Quarter of Primary Schools Have No Male Teachers: Fears Over Vanishing Role Models as Trend Worsens
More than a quarter of primary schools do not have a single male teacher, following a long-term decline in their numbers, official figures reveal today.
Staff rooms at 4,700 primaries are solely populated by women — 150 more than last year.
And just one man under the age of 25 works in a state-run nursery anywhere in England, the statistics show.
[…]
But experts warned that men also faced barriers to being accepted on teacher training courses — possibly because most recruiters are women.
Professor John Howson, a recruitment expert and director of Education Data Surveys, warned: ‘Colleges are converting fewer male applicants into people on courses than for women.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
An Exercise in Futility
by Srdja Trifkovic
Never in the field of Arab-Israeli conflict was so little expected by so many from so few. That is the accurate and near-universal verdict on the opening of the latest series in the longest-running soap opera in the world.
The three key roles are the same as ever. Two of them have been played with great consistency by a dozen or so bit-actors over the past three decades. Mr. Carter-Reagan-Bush I-Clinton-Bush II-Obama is the powerful, rich, yet exasperated sugar-daddy pretending to be even-handed in mediating the quarrel between his two infuriating mistresses. One of them, Miss Rabin-Begin-Shamir-Peres-Barak-Sharon-Olmert-Netanyahu, has him by the short-and-curlies back home—it’s a long and complicated story—making him look schizophrenic at some times, masochistic at others, ridiculous always. The other, played by the tried and tested tandem Arafat-Abbas, teases him endlessly by holding out the promise of granting him that which she knows she’ll never give. It’s a powerful drama, but it must never end. It is lucrative for the principals, and it is fun. There are lots of jobs for the extras, too—the maids and minders, consigliore and jesters, etc.—played by a long supporting cast of Foggy Bottom parasites, Euro-worthies, and other frequent-flying unemployables.
The Jerusalem Post offered a refreshingly value-neutral review of the new episode worthy of People‘s report on an opening night in LA:…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Caroline Glick: The New Netanyahu?
Despite a multi-million dollar media blitz, Israelis are not buying the US-financed Geneva Initiative’s attempt to convince us that we have a Palestinian partner. A week after the pro-Palestinian group launched its massive online promotion urging people to join its Facebook page, a mere 634 people had answered the call.
The US-funded agitprop involved ads in which senior Fatah propagandists were featured telling Israelis we can trust them this time around. The reason for its failure was made clear by a public opinion poll taken Tuesday night for Channel 10. When asked if they believed that Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas is serious about making peace with Israel, two-thirds of Israelis said no. Only 23 percent said he was serious and 17 percent said they didn’t know.
Moreover, most Israelis have had it with the peace paradigm based on Israeli concessions of land and national rights in exchange for Palestinian terror and political warfare. When asked whether the government should extend the prohibition on Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria beyond its Sept 26 terminus, 63 percent said no, it should not. A mere 21 percent of the public believes the government should respond positively to the US demand that Jews continue to be denied our property right in Judea and Samaria…
| — Hat tip: Caroline Glick | [Return to headlines] |
Islam is a Government Dictatorship Housed in Religion
As Doug Hagmann of Northeast Intelligence Network revealed on my national radio show a few weeks ago, Rauf is about as peaceful and harmless as a den of rattlesnakes. His translated words from several Arabic interviews portray him as a Hamas supporting, Sharia law pushing radical that gets his money tracked back to Saudi Royals, Iran and Muslim Brotherhood channels just to name a few.
Like so many Imams and Islamic leaders he hides behind the peaceful, white beard, statements of Religious rights and lectures us all about working together. Just this week, Whalid Shoebat, a former radical Islamic, Palestinian terrorist shared on my show the further statements of Imam Rauf translated from Arabic. It is clear his goal is for Islam and Sharia law to take over the US. He boldly said in an interview that he does not believe in Religious tolerance or respect for other religions at all, but talks of Islamic domination in society.
The bottom line is that the push for the massive ground zero mosque is nothing but the tip of the iceberg. Islam is in the process of taking over all of America and transforming her to an Islamic republic observing Sharia law.
The growth of mosques all across the US is aggressive and heavily funded by Saudi Arabia and Iran. In 2001 there were 1,209 mosques in the US and by 2008 there were 6,000. The money behind these mosques comes from the dangerous and activist strain of Islam, Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia. Since 1970 Saudi Arabia has spent 80 billion dollars to promote this radical Islamic message worldwide by funding mosques, schools and radical Wahhabi and Sharia agendas. Not to be outdone, Iran also spends billions to promote its radical version, Shiism. Together they are the double barrel shotgun that is funding their scheme to take over the world, with the US being their most sought after treasure.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US Envoy Oren Warns: Hizbullah Has 15,000 Rockets on Border
Ambassador says Islamist group amassing arsenal in southern Lebanon with long enough range to hit Eilat; missiles now hidden beneath hospitals, homes and schools to avoid Israeli Air Force strikes.
Hizbullah has an arsenal of approximately 15,000 rockets amassed on Lebanon’s border with Israel, including some with a long enough range to hit the southern city of Eilat, US envoy Michael Oren told AFP on Friday.
“The Syrian-Iranian backed Hizbullah poses a very serious threat to Israel…Hizbullah today now has four times as many rockets as it had during the 2006 Lebanon war. These rockets are longer-range. Every city in Israel is within range right now, including Eilat,” he said.
Oren expressed Israeli concerns with Hizbullah’s concealment of the weapons as well.
“In 2006, many of their missiles were basically out in the open, in silos and the Israeli air force was able to neutralize a great number of them…Today those same missiles have been placed under hospitals, and homes and schools because Hizbullah knows full well if we try to defend ourselves against them, we will be branded once again as war criminals.”
This was not the first time that Oren has warned of the threat that Hizbullah poses to Israel. Following a clash on the northern border between the Lebanese Army and IDF soldiers last month, in which Lebanese soldiers opened fire on two IDF officers, killing one and seriously wounding the other, Oren warned that the distinction between Lebanon’s Army and Hizbullah has become “cloudy.” He expressed concerns that advanced weaponry given to the regular army could find its way into the hands of the Islamist group.
Following the border clashes and Oren’s warnings, the US Congress voted to suspend $100 million in aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Yemen: Al-Qaeda Militants ‘Return to South’
Sanaa, 1 Sept. (AKI) — Al-Qaeda militants have returned to the town of Loder in Yemen’s southern Abdyen province, after being driven out during clashes last week with Yemeni troops, News Yemen website reports.
Several residents who returned to their homes in recent days after last week’s violence, said they had spotted the militants, News Yemen said.
Local tribal chieftains have been negotiating with the militants over the past few days to try and persuade them to leave the area.
Yemeni police said they had arrested 10 suspected terrorists during last week’s clashes, after the militants allegedly turned themselves in.
But a flyer distributed by Al-Qaeda on Monday in the city of Zinjibar denied the claims and said the militants were still at large. Hundreds of the flyers were handed out at mosques, markets and on the city’s main streets.
Yemen’s military have killed at least 18 Al-Qaeda fighters in Loder since an anti-militant operation began on Friday, according to the country’s interior ministry.
About 80,000 civilians have fled Loder since the military operation against Al-Qaeda militants began on 20 August.
South Yemen is feared to have become a base for Al-Qaeda’s local branch, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Meanwhile, in northern Yemen, Shia rebels led by cleric Abdel Malik al-Houthi on Tuesday exchanged fire with members of the Shaaban tribe over the collection of ‘Zakat’ or alms given by Muslims during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Al-Houthi rebels have since 2005 been conducting a low-level insurgency in the north of the country which last year spilled over into Saudi territory. Hundreds of people have been displaced in the conflict.
The rebels claim to suffer social and economic discrimination.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Hundreds Register to ‘Crush Malaysia’
Jakarta, 1 Sept. (AKI/Jakarta Post) — More than 230 volunteers from all walks of life have registered themselves with an ultra-nationalist group for military assignments if a confrontation erupts between Indonesia and Malaysia following a recent border incident.
Not only youths, but also a 81-year-old man signed up for the war, which looks unlikely, as soon as the Ganyang Malaysia (Crush Malaysia) opened its command post to register the volunteers in Jakarta on Tuesday.
“We answer to the call of duty. Malaysia has many times despised us,” command post coordinator Sonny P.Sasono told tempointeraktif.com.
He said his group opened the registration in response to the government’s soft stance against Malaysia. “Why the government always looks weak when dealing with Malaysia? Government officials only state the obvious when talking about the issue,” he added.
The registered volunteers will undergo military training to prepare themselves for the war, he added.
The government has insisted on diplomatic measures to solve border disputes with Malaysia.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
More Pakistan Flood Aid Pledged
The Scottish government has pledged an extra £300,000 to help the relief effort in Pakistan, where floods have claimed more than 1,600 lives.
The increased funding takes ministers’ support of the emergency humanitarian effort to £807,000.
First Minister Alex Salmond made the announcement at Edinburgh’s Blackhall Mosque.
He said the funds will go to 15 Scottish organisations on the ground, helping the victims of the floods.
‘Incredible suffering’
Mr Salmond said the severity of the crisis was immense and Scottish organisations were working tirelessly to save lives and rebuild communities.
“It is crucial that people across Scotland continue to give generously and support the aid agencies,” he said.
“The scale of suffering in Pakistan is incredible and so far people in Scotland have donated, with typical generosity, more than £3.9m to the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal.
“The holy month of Ramadan encourages Muslims to reflect on the poor and hungry throughout the world and the burden they bear.
“And this year’s Ramadan fast is a particularly poignant occasion for many Muslims, as we remember those in Pakistan whose lives have been left devastated.
The groups set to receive a share of the increased funding are Islamic Relief, Concern Worldwide, Christian Aid, Save the Children, the University of Glasgow, UCare Foundation, SCIAF, Mercy Corps, Oxfam, CBM, British Red Cross, Sightsavers, Healing Wounds, Islamic Centre Glasgow and Edinburgh Direct Aid.
Mervyn Lee, executive director of Mercy Corps, said the money was desperately needed.
He said: “The floods have devastated communities on a massive scale, with over five million people — the equivalent to the population of Scotland — made homeless and now facing the very real threat of water-borne disease.
“The Scottish government funds, like all the donations we receive, will go straight to help the people of Pakistan, many of whom have lost everything.”
The Scottish government said its total support for Pakistan this year has now risen to more than £1.2m.
This includes £400,000 of development funds allocated to projects that help communities out of extreme poverty.
‘Strengthening links’
The Scottish government has said it is also committed to strengthening links between Scotland and Pakistan, beyond the current crisis.
It has published a Pakistan Engagement Plan to build on the historic and modern links between the two countries in areas of culture, business, trade and investment and tourism.
Pakistan Consul General in Scotland Shehryar Akbar Khan said: “I wish to acknowledge with deep gratitude the Scottish government’s generous and timely assistance for the flood affected people of Pakistan.
“On behalf of Government of Pakistan, I also welcome the publication of the Scottish government’s Pakistan Plan.
“Pakistan attaches great importance to its relations with Scotland and is keen to develop them even further.”
| — Hat tip: 4symbols | [Return to headlines] |
Japan — Iran: Tokyo Imposes New Sanctions on Iran, But Without Renouncing Oil Imports
The measures were approved today and provide for the freezing of assets of 88 entities linked to Iran’s nuclear program. All investment in the oil sector of the Islamic republic also suspended. But Japan remains the largest importer of Iranian crude.
Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) — Japan has imposed new economic sanctions on Iran after the UN request to tighten restrictions against the regime in Tehran, especially in terms of the financial sector, to counter Iran’s nuclear program that began in late August.
The measures were approved today by the Office of the Prime Minister Naoto Kan. They will freeze assets owned by 88 entities, 15 banks and 24 individuals linked to Tehran’s nuclear program. Earlier, Tokyo had already frozen the assets of 75 companies and 41 individuals.
Tokyo has also decided to suspend all investment in the Islamic republic’s oil sector, but for the moment the sanctions do not affect oil supplies and Japan remains the largest importer of Iranian crude. Tokyo is following the path of the United States and the European Union which approved a new set of restrictions in June in view of the activation of Bushehr nuclear plant.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Finland: Practice of Imprisoning Deportees Draws Fire
Hundreds of foreign nationals awaiting deportation are held in police facilities due to overcrowding at Finland’s only detention unit. The United Nations Committee Against Torture has reprimanded Finland for the practice.
This year, 500 to 600 such cases have been reported so far.
Foreign nationals can be placed in the detention centre if they are to be deported, or if authorities need to establish their identity. This can include asylum seekers or non-EU citizens.
Although these people are not guilty of any crime, they are often housed in police facilities until the country’s only official detention centre has room to accommodate them. The detention centre can house just 40 people.
Juha Holopainen of the Immigration Police says Finnish officials are not always to blame for the backlog at the detention centre.
“Often the delays are not due to Finnish officials. For example, collaboration between officials at transport firms and the destination countries takes time.”
This year, stays at the detention centre have increased by around a month. Meanwhile, time spent in police custody has also lengthened. On average, these people have to spend a few days in prison-like facilities. In rare cases, they could be there for weeks.
According to the law, persons at detention centres should be able to move about, go outside, visit with others, exercise and have access to the internet.
The UN Committee Against Torture reprimanded Finland for the stays at police facilities a couple years ago. Finland vowed to solve the problem by building more detention centres.
“We have estimated that we would need three million euros to do this,” says Sirkku Päivärinta, the head of the immigration unit at the Ministry of the Interior.
Construction would provide accommodation for dozens of more people. However, the proposal was axed from next year’s budget.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: ‘When Turks Have Problems, I Am Their Chancellor, Too’
In an interview with a leading Turkish newspaper, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday described anti-immigrant statements made by central bank board member Thilo Sarrazin as “absurd” and said that “groups in our society feel injured.” A chorus of politicians in Germany are calling for a national debate on integration.
Seeking to ease a debate about integration in her country that has bordered on the toxic in recent days, German Chancellor Angela Merkel granted an interview to the Turkish daily Hürriyet in which she said that many Turks had done a very good job of integrating into German society.
“Many Turks live in Germany, and I think most of them have adapted really well,” the chancellor said. “Problems should be openly expressed, but improvements should not be neglected. There are many examples in Germany that show successful adaptation is taking place.” Positive developments, the chancellor said, should not be ignored.
‘An Ostracizing Effect’
Merkel described allegations made against Muslim immigrants by Thilo Sarrazin, a member of the board of Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, as “absurd,” and said that she could not accept such statements. “They have an ostracizing effect,” she said. “Groups in our society feel injured by them.” In Turkish newspapers, the former finance minister for the city-state of Berlin has often been described as “racist.”
Thilo Sarrazin’s Urge to Provoke
A Jewish gene, foul-smelling civil servants and immigrants producing little girls in headscarves: German Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin has never been afraid to provoke. SPIEGEL ONLINE has assembled some of his most outrageous statements.
On Friday, the Bundesbank began procedures to remove Sarrazin from its board as a result of the publication of his new book “Germany Does Itself In.” In his interviews and writings, Sarrazin has stated that Muslim immigrants are making the country “dumber” and that Jews share a unique gene. The book has sparked mass outrage in Germany, where political leaders fear that Sarrazin’s xenophobic tone will launch the kind of ugly immigration debate seen in the Netherlands, where Islamophobe Geert Wilders is a major figure in parliament.
In her interview, Merkel called for a redoubling of integration efforts. She said that existing problems should be openly discussed and that integration requires efforts by the state and society, but also by the immigrants themselves. “Co-existence is a give and take,” she said, and immigrants must be prepared “to engage in life in our society and to unconditionally accept our entire legal system.”
“It is the paramount duty of the German state to actively incorporate immigrants into our society,” Merkel said. “We would like to present all the possibilities of an open country to our immigrant citizens. These people should receive their share from social, economic and cultural life. But we also expect them to actively ask for this and show effort.”
What Germans mean by integration, Merkel said, “is not forced assimilation and denying of one’s cultural roots. When Turks have worries and problems, I am their chancellor, too.”
During a visit to Germany two years ago, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan angered many with statements made in a speech given to the Turkish community in Cologne in which he warned against assimilation in Germany. He called assimilation a “crime against humanity.”
‘We Need To Improve Neglected Efforts’
German President Christian Wulff, whose position as head of state makes him a senior moral authority in the country, made similar comments. Wulff, who must now make a decision on whether to remove Sarrazin from his Bundesbank post, said it was untrue that the majority of immigrants in Germany were too unwilling to integrate. “The majority of people arriving here are now successfully taking integration courses,” he told the Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. He also conceded that there were problems with Germany’s immigration policies. “We need to improve neglected efforts when it comes to integration,” the president said. He also added that “clear demands for immigrants must be formulated.”
A number of German politicians with the country’s two leading political parties — the conservative Christian Democrats under Merkel and the center-left Social Democrats — called for a comprehensive debate in the country about the integration of immigrants. Wolfbang Bosbach, the chairman of the German parliament’s domestic affairs committee, said a serious discussion was needed that “named progress and problems in integration without any taboos. I urgently advise people to take the clear public concern seriously and to find answers.” He added that millions of people have successfully integrated into German society, “but there are also many cases of refusal to integrate.”
As an example, Bosbach pointed to obligatory German language courses for foreigners who collect social welfare. “Close to one-third of those who were required to take the language courses to improve their opportunities on the labor market, either don’t attend classes or quit them early.” Here, he said, foreigners have an obligation.
Meanwhile, Dieter Wiefelspütz, the domestic policy spokesman for the Social Democrats, told the Neuen Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper that integration would be the “mega issue of the coming years.” He said the issue needs to be addressed more urgently. Even though Germany is in a better position when it comes to integration of its foreigners than many other European Union member states, he said, it is nowhere close to achieving what is possible. “Our federal interior minister, especially, is overly passive on this issue,” Wiefelspütz said. “He needs to finally put integration at the top of his agenda.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mayor Moves to Demolish Roma Gypsy Camps
Rome, 1 Sept. (AKI) — Illegal Roma Gypsy camps which have sprung up in the Italian capital will be razed to the ground starting next week, Rome’s conservative mayor Gianni Alemanno said on Wednesday.
“The camps will begin to be closed down this week and checks carried out. We are talking about numerous camps that are very small, often with only five to ten residents, and which are frequently in extremely dangerous locations,” Alemanno told state television Rai1.
“We need to help children and women, but it is equally clear that people who have arrived in Rome must be able to support and house themselves adequately, otherwise they have to leave,” Alemanno, a former neo-Fascist, said.
Authorities in neighbouring France dismantled 128 camps and — controversially — deported 977 Roma Gypsies to Romanian and Bulgaria in August on security grounds, according to the government.
“The state must be able to keep its territory under control,” said Alemanno, adding that France’s policy of Roma deportations was “unconvincing and weak”.
“A European strategy is needed to control the rate of immigration,” he said.
Earlier this year, Alemanno demolished Rome’s largest gypsy camp, the Casilino 900, which had 600 residents. The sprawling camp had existed for 40 years and was inhabited by people from the former Yugoslavia, as well as Italian gypsies.
The destruction of the Casilino 900 was part of Rome city council’s so-called ‘Nomad Plan’ to demolish around 100 illegal, insanitary and unsafe camps around the capital and relocate 6,000 Roma, commonly referred to as Gypsies, to 13 new or expanded locations on the outskirts of the Italian capital.
The ‘Nomad Plan’ has drawn criticism from rights groups including Amnesty International, who in a report said the plan would leave at least 1,000 people homeless, and would uproot Gypsies from their homes and communities.
Amnesty and other non-governmental organisations fear Rome’s ‘Nomad Plan’ will be used as a blueprint for similar demolitions of Roma Gypsy camps in other Italian regions.
After a visit to the Casilino 900 camp Italian camps last year, the Council of Europe’s human rights commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, expressed “serious concerns” about Italy’s policies towards its Gypsy minority, whom he said faced “a persistent climate of intolerance.” “
There are an estimated 150,000 Gypsies in Italy, nearly half of whom were born in the country and have Italian citizenship. Between 12,000 and 15,000 Roma live in Rome, according to Amnesty International.
Tens of thousands of Roma Gypsies have entered Italy in the past few years since Slovakia and Romania joined the EU, and are being blamed by many Italians for much of the recent rise in crime rates.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: One in Six Milan Residents Now Immigrants
Milan, 1 Sept. (AKI) — There are currently over 208,000 immigrants legally residing in Milan — almost 1 in 6 of its population — and their numbers are continuing to rise, according to the city council. In 1980, there were just 21,000 immigrants in Milan, it said.
The 208,021 immigrants living in Italy’s business and fashion hub make up 16 percent of its population — more than double the national average of 6.5 percent, the Milan city council report said.
On top of the immigrants legally living in the northern city, there are another estimated 50,000 that have not registered with authorities, according to city councillor for security Riccardo Di Corato.
“Thirty years ago, there were 21,000 immigrants in Milan or 1 in 100. Now immigrants make up 1 in 6 of the population,” said De Corato.
“Given these statistics, if immigrants are to integrate, we need to ensure they respect Italy’s laws and and basic western values.”
Almost 9,000 immigrants are arriving each year, the report said.
Filipinos are the largest immigrant group (32,000) followed by Egyptians (27,000), and Chinese (18,000).
After an influx when Romania joined the European Union in January 2007, the number of Romanians resident in Milan declined by 5 percent from January to July.
Ukrainian immigrants in Milan increased by 10 percent over the same period, according to the report.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Red-Greens in Migration Policy Agreement
The Red-Green coalition have presented a new agreement on immigration police, arguing that the Swedish Aliens Act is applied too strictly and calling for a review of the asylum process and rules for family reunification.
“Asylum procedure should have a basis on a just, fair and individual assessment, consistent with international conventions of the individual’s reason for applying for residence,” the parties wrote in a statement on Friday.
The parties write that they are in agreement that Sweden should have a regulated immigration policy with rules for those able to visit and reside in the country. The coalition is also in favour of labour migration, on the proviso that safeguards are put in place against exploitation.
“When people move knowledge in dispersed, networks grow, and new opportunities arise. Sweden is in itself a clear example that the knowledge, manpower and diversity that has come here has been of great importance for Swedish growth and development.”
The Red-Greens observed that migration is a growing phenomenon worldwide and “Sweden is part of that development”. They add that the situation faced by women is of particular concern as migration can open the door to a safer, more secure life.
“The right to seek shelter from persecution is a human right and should not be allowed to be affected by the economic cycle or labour market requirements,” the parties argued, while they declared their support for a system of labour migration.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UN Slams European Governments for Deporting Iraqis
The United Nations refugee agency has called on European governments to halt deportations of Iraqis, denouncing a forced return of some 60 Iraqis on Friday it said was at least the third since April.
A chartered flight with up to 61 Iraqis who had been living in Britain, Denmark, Norway and Sweden landed at Baghdad airport on Wednesday, coinciding with the end of the US combat operations in Iraq, the United Nations refugee agency confirmed to Deutsche Welle on Friday.
“We strongly urge European governments to provide Iraqis with protection until the situation in their areas of origin in Iraq allows for safe and voluntary returns,”said Adrian Edwards, spokesman of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR).
The UNHCR has issued guidelines to all governments strongly recommending that Iraqis should not be sent home to five central provinces, including Baghdad, as those areas remain dangerous.
“Car explosions, roadside bombs, mortar attacks and kidnapping remain daily threats for Iraqis,” Edwards told a news briefing, according to news agency Reuters. “In this critical time of transition, we also encourage all efforts to develop conditions in Iraq that are conducive to sustainable and voluntary return.”
Mandatory international protection
The United States is wrapping up its combat role at a time when political tensions in Iraq remain high. Six months after an inconclusive election, major parties have yet to agree on the shape of a coalition government.
Roughly 50,000 US soldiers still in Iraq are moving to an advisory role in which they will train and support Iraq’s army and police. US President Barack Obama has promised to pull all American troops out of Iraq by the end of 2011.
The provinces of Baghdad, Diyala, Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salahuddin continue to be plagued by serious human rights violations and security incidents, according to the UNHCR.
“Our position is that Iraqi asylum applicants originating from these five governorates should benefit from international protection in the form of refugee status under the 1951 Refugee Convention or an alternative form of protection,” Edwards said.
Over one million Iraqi refugees in neighboring lands
According to the UNHCR, deportations of Iraqis from Western Europe began in April. Spokeswoman Sybella Wilkes said this was the third coordinated forced return since.
Some of the latest returnees may be destined for safer areas such as the semi-autonomous Kurdish region, while others may have elected to return voluntarily, Wilkes added.
Neighboring Jordan and Syria still host an estimated 1.6 million Iraqis who have fled violence and persecution, with another 50,000 in Lebanon, according to government figures provided to the UNHCR.
“We are certainly concerned about the message this gives to surrounding countries that need to continue to give the protection they have offered,” Edwards said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Obamacare, Genocide, And the War on the Unborn
The “eco-terrorist” shot to death in Maryland hated humanity, especially unborn children. But this mentality should not be considered out of the mainstream. He was just more of an activist about it. After all, the “womb war” that Alveda King talked about at Glenn Beck’s rally has already cost the lives of more than 50 million children through abortion.
The mission, said the terrorist in his manifesto, was to stop “all programs” on the Discovery Health cable channel which are “encouraging the birth of any more parasitic human infants and the false heroics behind those actions.” He demanded, “Stop all shows glorifying human birthing on all your channels…”
[…]
Here, a big controversy has emerged in the conservative media over an Obama State Department report to the United Nations that has a few lines about the controversy over Arizona’s immigration law. But the 29-page report to the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has much more that is objectionable.
[Comments from JD: see url for complete list of what else Obama put in the report to the UN.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
SAS to Host First Mile-High Gay Wedding
Scandinavian airline SAS has begun the search for a suitable couple to walk down the aisle after announcing plans to play host to the first-ever airborne gay wedding in December.
“It will be a very traditional wedding,” SAS spokesman Anders Lindström told AFP. “There will be wedding cake and dancing in the aisles.”
SAS is accepting entries from gay couples who wanted to celebrate their nuptials mid-flight from Stockholm to New York on December 6th, with the winning entry will be chosen by an online vote.
The airline said it would pay for the winners’ tickets, hotels and honeymoon in Los Angeles, and cater the on-board banquet, albeit with a special wedding menu instead of normal passenger fare.
Lindström said SAS was playing catch-up to US airlines, who have spent years courting gay, lesbian and bisexuals in the United States with targeted marketing and sponsorship campaigns.
The ceremony itself would need to take place in Swedish airspace, where gay marriage is legal, he added.
The wedding couple and their guests would have the entire business class section closed off, in part to avoid offending any other customers who might not approve of the mile-high matrimony.
“We don’t want to offend anyone. We hope we won’t offend anyone. It is the year 2010 after all,” Lindström said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scotland: Kids Get Green Light to Surf Sexual Sites
‘A lot of parents will be concerned about this’
Schools in one region of Scotland are lifting the Internet filters on their school computers so students will be able to access sexually explicit websites if they choose, according to a new report from the Christian Institute.
The institute’s report today said the move will impact thousands of children in the National Health Service’s Lanarkshire health board area who are being given access to the health board’s sexual health Web pages from school computers.
The website, among other things, includes graphic descriptions of “unconventional sex acts” and discusses how sexually transmitted infections are “as common as the cold,” according to the report.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sex Toys on Display at the World Youth Conference
LEON, MEXICO, September 2 (C-FAM) Last week at the World Youth Conference, organized primarily by the Mexican government and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the main event for most of estimated 5000 “participants” was the Interactive Global Forum, a massive expo with hundreds of booths and exhibits. A tour of the booths revealed what passes for “age-appropriate” sexual education in some UN circles.
Because the venue for the World Youth Conference had considerably more exhibit space than most UN conferences, it was a unique opportunity for organizations focusing on youth to put their best face forward. In the expo hall, there were dozens of booths with pornographic or sexually explicit materials or presentations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
US: Principal Threatens to Fire Teachers Who Help Christian Club
Earns warning from civil rights organization
A principal who reportedly threatened to fire any teacher who helped with the organization of a campus Fellowship of Christian Athletes club is getting a warning letter from a civil rights organization.
The Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based civil liberties group, sent the letter to Don Curtis, principal of Wilson Middle School in Fishersville, Va.
“By intimidating teachers, through threat of termination, into refusing to provide the same types of administrative assistance to the FCA as are made available to other student groups, Principal Curtis has pitted himself in direct opposition to the spirit of the First Amendment,” said Rutherford President John W. Whitehead.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Nano Snacks! Researchers Say Edible Nanostructures Taste Like Saltines
We’ve asked tiny nanostructures to thwart counterfeiters, heal wounds, and boost computing power. Now, we want to eat them. Researchers have made “all-natural metal-organic frameworks”—and hope their creations’ edible frames may find use storing small molecules in foods and medical devices.
Though researchers have made similar metal-organic frameworks since 1999, most of the structures require chemicals from crude oil. As described in a recently published Angewandte Chemie paper, this team has devised a cheaper method employing starch molecules leftover from corn production.
The trick was to make a substance crystallize as a highly ordered, symmetrical, porous framework. Getting tiny symmetrical structures from non-symmetrical natural ingredients had seemed unlikely, but the team found the perfect molecule cages, using a special type of sugar (gamma-cyclodextrin) from the cornstarch and potassium salt. After dissolving gamma-cyclodextrin and potassium salt in water, they crystallized them to form the nano storage cubes.
Despite the sugar and salt combo, the nanostructures are not that tasty, team member Ronald Smaldone says in a press release:
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Insanity Virus
Schizophrenia has long been blamed on bad genes or even bad parents. Wrong, says a growing group of psychiatrists. The real culprit, they claim, is a virus that lives entwined in every person’s DNA.
Steven and David Elmore were born identical twins, but their first days in this world could not have been more different. David came home from the hospital after a week. Steven, born four minutes later, stayed behind in the ICU. For a month he hovered near death in an incubator, wracked with fever from what doctors called a dangerous viral infection. Even after Steven recovered, he lagged behind his twin. He lay awake but rarely cried. When his mother smiled at him, he stared back with blank eyes rather than mirroring her smiles as David did. And for several years after the boys began walking, it was Steven who often lost his balance, falling against tables or smashing his lip.
Those early differences might have faded into distant memory, but they gained new significance in light of the twins’ subsequent lives. By the time Steven entered grade school, it appeared that he had hit his stride. The twins seemed to have equalized into the genetic carbon copies that they were: They wore the same shoulder-length, sandy-blond hair. They were both B+ students. They played basketball with the same friends. Steven Elmore had seemingly overcome his rough start. But then, at the age of 17, he began hearing voices.
The voices called from passing cars as Steven drove to work. They ridiculed his failure to find a girlfriend. Rolling up the car windows and blasting the radio did nothing to silence them. Other voices pursued Steven at home. Three voices called through the windows of his house: two angry men and one woman who begged the men to stop arguing. Another voice thrummed out of the stereo speakers, giving a running commentary on the songs of Steely Dan or Led Zeppelin, which Steven played at night after work. His nerves frayed and he broke down. Within weeks his outbursts landed him in a psychiatric hospital, where doctors determined he had schizophrenia.
The story of Steven and his twin reflects a long-standing mystery in schizophrenia, one of the most common mental diseases on earth, affecting about 1 percent of humanity. For a long time schizophrenia was commonly blamed on cold mothers. More recently it has been attributed to bad genes. Yet many key facts seem to contradict both interpretations.
Schizophrenia now seems so peculiar, in fact, that they have led a growing number of other scientists to abandon the traditional explanations of the disease and embrace a startling alternative. Schizophrenia, they say, does not begin as a psychological disease. Schizophrenia begins with an infection…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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