Irish Irate as Bundestag Sees Budget First
The Irish and German governments became entangled in a spat on Thursday after details of the Irish budget were given to the German Bundestag, before being presented to the Irish parliament, the Dáil.
The sensitive plans, including a two-percent increase in the top value added tax (VAT) and a €100 house-hold tax, were sent by the German finance ministry — along with a letter of intent from the Irish Finance Minister — to the Bundestag budgetary committee.
This provoked outrage in Ireland, and denials from Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny that he had given the information to the Germans.
Irish opposition parties said if reports were true that the document was seen in the German parliament, it would represent a “staggering breach of faith” which suggested Germany was “now pulling the strings,” the Irish Times daily newspaper reported.
“Let me confirm something to you, the cabinet have made no decision in regard to the budget. It is on December 6,” Kenny said.
“I’m not going to comment on speculative (reports) or comment about decisions that have not been taken by the government at all.”
Kenny, who met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, added he had “no idea” how the document ended up in the Bundestag.
But the Irish Times, which has seen the document, said giving the information to the Bundestag was in line with German guidelines for participation in the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) — the German budgetary committee has to approve proposals to increase income and reduce spending before each bailout tranche can be released.
“What’s happened is the federal government meeting its legal information to inform the Bundestag about the EFSF,” one committee member told the Irish Times.
“This is widely known and seems unproblematic from our perspective. This is the day-to-day reality of a programme country.”
In November 2010, Ireland was forced to seek an €85 billion rescue package from the EU and the International Monetary Fund to deal with massive debt and deficit problems.
“We need to know whether the Irish government has revealed the detail of its budget plans to the German budget committee,” he added, according to the Irish Times.
Ireland’s 2012 budget next month will involve €3.8 billion in spending cuts and tax hikes aimed at cutting the public deficit to 8.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Monti Wins Confidence Vote With 281 Ayes — “We Are Not the Strong Powers. Divided We Fail”
PM announces changes to ICI property tax and pensions. Sacrifices will be fair. Preferential tax regime for women under consideration. Monti’s speech to Senate.
MILAN — The Monti government has received the Senate’s all clear. On Thursday evening, the new administration won a confidence vote in Palazzo Madama with 281 ayes, 25 noes (all from the Northern League) and no abstentions. This was record-breaking stuff with the former European commissioner’s government securing more Senate votes than any other in the history of the Italian republic.
ABSENCES — The fifteen who did not take part in the vote include life senators Giulio Andreotti, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, Rita Levi Montalcini, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro and Sergio Pininfarina.
THE SPEECH — A “far from straightforward mission”. Mario Monti was speaking to the Senate for the first time. Presenting his government’s programme, he stressed the delicate nature of the moment and the urgency of the task that awaited him. This is why the new premier likes to call his administration a “government of national engagement”. Its many irons in the fire include pensions, the ICI property tax, lowering taxes and combating evasion. In his address before the confidence vote, the premier reassured senators that “there are no international conspiracies” against Italy or plots by “strong powers”. Mr Monti said: “I can reassure you entirely on the government’s position”, adding that “our modest personal histories testify to this. In my case, I have been a European commissioner in Brussels but I am not sure that the multinational giants viewed me as one of their devoted, obedient servants”.
RIGOUR, GROWTH, FAIRNESS — Mr Monti announced or referred to a number of reforms (“thanks to them the spread will shrink”) and three guiding principles — rigour, growth and fairness. In his speech, the premier put most emphasis on the last of the three. “Sacrifices to pull us out of the debt crisis and restart growth will be fair”, he said, in the conviction that “the fairer the reforms, the more effective they will be”. “If we fail, if we do not achieve the reforms that are needed, we will all face much harsher conditions”, warned Mr Monti, who is convinced that the nation can be rescued if Italians remain united. “The margins of success have narrowed, otherwise I wouldn’t be here”. Mr Monti added: “We have ambitious objectives for the budget and the debt to GDP ratio but we will not be credible in the pursuit of these objectives if we do not start to grow again”…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Apocalypse? Wow! Peering Into Economic Abyss is Provoking New Creativity in Our Attitude to Death
Last week, at the Evening Standard’s party for influential Londoners, I spied a tall, dark man standing apart from the throng, casting a severe eye over the crowd. I asked if he was enjoying the party. “I don’t like people very much,” he said with a sigh. Oh, I said, apologising — I am a person. However, when he introduced himself as an extremely important figure in the City of London, I directed the conversation towards the global financial crisis. “Well, we’re f*****, aren’t we?” he said with certain macabre pleasure. “The end is nigh.” The end of the eurozone? “No!” he laughed. “The end of the world.”
As a vast asteroid called 2005 YU 55 passed silently within the orbit of the Moon, he provided a vivid picture of the future here on Earth. He described the imminent abandonment of Detroit and Pittsburgh; the coming social catastrophe in Glasgow (where even the pound shops have closed); the breakdown of law and order in rural England (“the countryside always goes first”). After a while, I realised I was laughing. What he described was not funny — far from it. But it was bracing to peer into the abyss. I came away with an undeniable feeling of uplift. Apocalypse? Wow!
It seems the rest of London is having a similar conversation. In the multiplexes and in bus shelters, in the playgrounds and on the trading floors, on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral and around the Oka-sourced dinner tables of Notting Hill, we are talking of doom, death and dread. As Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King announced our catastrophically rubbish growth figures earlier this week, could you hear a certain relish in his voice?
Politicians are at it, too. The Treasury is planning for “economic Armageddon”. The usually cheery Hazel Blears was cackling on Radio 5 the other night that there was no good news left. Politicians like to offer voters optimism — but David Cameron can’t stop talking about what an “alarming time” it is. The markets are “incredibly volatile” and we have “clear and present dangers” to face, he reckons. So even the Prime Minister is feeling miserable now. Once a Smiths fan, always a Smiths fan, I suppose.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
“Islam in Focus” Event to be Held at Frostburg State University
Media-Newswire.com) — The American Institute for Yemeni Studies will present “Islam in Focus: Contemporary Religion and Political Movements in North Africa and the Middle East,” a day of lectures and discussion on contemporary Islam, on Wednesday, Nov. 30, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Atkinson Room ( 232 ) at the Lane University Center at Frostburg State University. The symposium will provide an introduction to contemporary expressions of Islam, of culture in Muslim societies and of the politics of contemporary Islamic movements.
Three scholars of the Muslim world will present topics on religion and religion’s relationship to politics from the contemporary Muslim world. Following each presentation, the entire panel will engage in an open discussion about Islam, Islamic politics and political movements. The lectures are designed to stimulate questions from the audience about their understanding of Islam and politics in the Muslim world. Dr. Charles Schmitz from the American Institute for Yemeni Studies will open the symposium at 9 a.m. with an overview of the institute, its history, its accomplishments and the services it offers scholars of Yemen today. Schmitz will also give an overview of the three lectures, emphasizing the importance of understanding the Muslim world and Islam for global literacy among American students today.
The first presentation by Abdulla Hamidaddin at 9:30 a.m. will address religion and its relationship to politics and society in Saudi Arabia. Hamidaddin is a native of Saudi Arabia and a doctoral candidate at King’s College in the U.K. He has been in close interaction with the staff of the Embassy of the United States in Saudi Arabia and has lectured at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. State Department in Washington, D.C.
At 12:30 p.m., Dr. Anouar Boukhars from McDaniel College in Westminister, Md., will speak about contemporary Islamic political movements. Boukhars will speak about the evolution of the Muslim Brotherhood’s politics in Egypt over the 20th century and in the contemporary context of the Arab Spring. Boukhars is a specialist in Middle Eastern politics, international relations and security issues from Morocco.
At 2:30 p.m., Schmitz will speak about contemporary Islam in Yemen, emphasizing the diversity of political forms of Islam and the rapid transformation of religious expression in Yemen today. Schmitz will pay particular attention to the wide-ranging debates among Muslim scholars about proper Muslim approaches to politics in modern life.
Funding for this activity was provided by the not-for-profit Council of American Overseas Research Centers ( CAORC ) through a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. CAORC was awarded a three-year grant from the Islam Initiative at Carnegie Corporation to help increase public knowledge about the diversity of thought, cultures and history of Islam and Muslim communities and to develop a more complex understanding among Americans about Muslim communities throughout the world.
For more information about this event, contact Dr. Paul J. Charney at 301-687-3120 or pcharney@frostburg.edu.
Situated in the mountains of Allegany County, Frostburg State University is one of the 12 institutions of the University System of Maryland. FSU is a comprehensive, residential regional university and serves as an educational and cultural center for Western Maryland.
For more information, visit www.frostburg.edu or facebook.com/frostburgstateuniversity.
FSU is committed to making all of its programs, services and activities accessible to persons with disabilities. To request accommodations through the ADA Compliance Office, call 301-687-4102 or use a Voice Relay Operator at 1-800-735-2258.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Cass Defends Fliers Critical of Islam
Regarding the commentary, “Religious intolerance is never welcome,” Opinion, Oct. 28: Kaimipono Wenger criticized the actions of my organization, DefendStudents.org. What was our offense? Because mosques are continually engaged in proselytizing, my organization distributed fliers at high schools near mosques explaining the grave concerns we had about Islam. We felt compelled to do this because our public schools have been co-opted by political correctness and multiculturalism. They do not tell our students the truth and render our students susceptible to Islamic conversion and radicalization. The claims on our fliers were supported with thorough documentation from the Koran and other Islamic holy books and verified by an appeal to historical facts. Wenger accused us of engaging in “an obnoxious and shortsighted exercise in religious intolerance.”
My two previous replies submitted to the U-T did not meet its editorial standards. I’m told I can criticize the U-T for not publishing them. What they will let me say is I believe all religions are not equal and that tolerance of all religions would be a mistake. What I cannot do is buttress my arguments with any facts about Islam. They are allegedly inflammatory.
Yet the U-T allowed Wenger to cite a set of facts and Bible verses to make his multicultural, moral equivalency argument that all religions have problematic writings and histories, especially Christianity. So it appears the U-T does allow certain facts and authorities, so long as they are anti-Christian. I am also allowed to say I disagree with the teachings of Islam, which I believe encourages violence toward non-Muslims and continual Jihad to dominate all non-Muslims. I can’t support my opinion with quotes from the Koran, nor can I show from history how unique Islam is in this regard. It seems the U-T editorial policy is based on postmodernism; all feelings, and opinions, but no inconvenient facts. Because there is no truth, all opinions are equal, all cultures are morally equivalent and all religions are equally good, except of course, Christianity. Ironically, it’s the religion that gave us freedom of the press, speech and religion.
So the U-T appears ready to discriminate in the name of tolerance. Either it doesn’t see the glaring hypocrisy or it has completely surrendered to its irrationalism. This begs a few questions. If there is no truth or lie, right or wrong or good and evil, then why waste paper and ink publishing meaningless opinions and feelings? Why even report the “news” if it is only the biased and arbitrary accounts of meaningless facts? Robust disputations backed up with appeals to authority and facts are the hallmark of a healthy republic. Now only muted, limp-wristed opinions are permitted in the politically correct pages of the U-T. A trip to Iran, Syria or Saudi Arabia might be instructive to learn about morally equivalent religions. How many Iranian or Syrian reporters have recently been killed or silenced for trying to achieve the kind of liberty we enjoy? Ask the Christians in Egypt or Iraq about the joys of living under Islamic law. If my opinion that Islam is an existential threat to our liberty makes me an alarmist, so be it. But let the readers make that decision after an informed debate. Given the current editorial policies of the U-T, that seems very unlikely.
— Rev. Gary Cass, chairman & CEO, DefendStudents.org
Editor’s note: The U-T asked the writer to avoid inflammatory language that some readers might find insulting and derisive.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
House Protects Pizza as a Vegetable
The House of Representatives dealt a blow to childhood obesity warriors on Thursday by passing a bill that abandons proposals that threatened to end the reign of pizza and French fries on federally funded school lunch menus.
The scuttled changes, which would have stripped pizza’s status as a vegetable and limited how often French fries could be served, stemmed from a 2010 child nutrition law calling on schools to improve the nutritional quality of lunches served to almost 32 million U.S. school children.
The action is a win for the makers of frozen French fries and pizza and comes just weeks after the deep-pocketed food, beverage and restaurant industries successfully weakened government proposals for voluntary food marketing guidelines to children.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Islamic School Moves to New Mosque Complex Near Lyndon
Aly Farag envisions the new Muslim Community Center of Louisville that’s being built on Old Westport Road near Lyndon as a place where political candidates could discuss their views at public forums. Ideally, that would happen before the presidential election season ends next year, and center supporters hope the complex will be finished by next summer. But about $750,000 still needs to be raised to complete the $5 million project. In the meantime, organizers have reached a milestone after years of planning with the opening in August of the Islamic School of Louisville in much larger quarters in the center complex, which also has a mosque, at 8215 Old Westport Road.
The grade school moved from a house on the property, which center supporters bought 10 years ago for $480,000. The school is starting with an enrollment of about 50 to 70 and has a capacity of about 150, Farag said. “The kids are happy, the parents are happy,” principal Naima Abuazza said. The school wing also provides a roomier space in its dining area for Friday prayers, which had been held in the basement of the home, and which will move to the mosque when it is finished.
Although there are several other mosques in Louisville, the Lyndon-area community center will serve as the most comprehensive “mirror and face of Islamic culture in Louisville,” said “Farag, a community center leader and a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Louisville. “We would like people to know who we are.” Muslims see themselves as being part of American society, and they want their children to feel free to bring friends to their homes and to the center. Others also are free to visit the center without wearing head scarves or following other Muslim customs and traditions, he said. The aim is to be welcoming, he said. Farag also stressed that the school is open to anyone, just like other private schools in the city — such as Kentucky Country Day and Louisville Collegiate — and that it is going through a process to become accredited. Islamic studies are part of social studies, and otherwise the subjects are the same — science, English and math.
On a recent Friday, students were studying with their teachers in classrooms as men began arriving for prayers, led by Farag. Some of the older female students, teachers and staff gathered in the back of the room. Farag exhorted everyone to practice “right conduct,” to be kind to one another and “take a stand against evil.” School-related signs on the wall read: Smile, Do Your Best, Respect Each Other, Love to Learn, Make Friends and Be Patient. In Katie Kavanaugh’s third-grade math class, one small group was working on geometry and the other on telling time. The old school complex had three separate buildings, and students had to go outside to go from one to the other. “Now, we’re all in one building,” she said. “We’re all together. We don’t have to deal with behavior issues,” she said. “You don’t have kids misbehaving because education is so important” to the school’s families. The worst problem is someone not turning in homework.” Second-grade teacher Judy Graf showed off posters students had made depicting different cultural traditions in different countries, including Mexico and Canada, for an International Day to be held last Saturday.
Most of the exterior work on the overall center is finished, but some interior work remains to be done. Large religious gatherings are being held at other sites, including the Ramada Louisville on Bluegrass Parkway in Jeffersontown. “We control the pace of construction, based on the funds available,” said, Dr. Ammar Almasalkhi, a pulmonary and sleep specialist who is the center president. With the school relocated, “It’s a big lift to the people that donations are showing fruits,” he said. “God willing,” it could be the start of a final “upward movement” in giving to finish the project. Dr. Siraj Siddiqi, a center founder who’s from India, said he’s been impressed with the American spirit of volunteerism and that he hopes others would likewise “pick up some good things from here.” The center will be “open for anyone who wants to come,” he said. Center supporters had a booth at the recent Festival of Faiths based at the Henry Clay building downtown, and there was an announcement after prayers about completing a food drive for Dare to Care. Down the road, Siddiqi would like to see a viewing gallery at the center for people who would like to watch Friday prayers and a free medical clinic and community garden at the site. “One day, it will happen,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Radical Islam is on the Move in America
A recent study by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy revealed that between January 2009 and April 2011 60% of those arrested for terrorist events in America were American citizens. Islamic jihad is growing in America. American converts to Islam are everywhere, especially in our prisons. Doug Hagmann exposed that 1 in 3 African Americans in prison have converted to Islam. They are converting to the Wahhabi and Salafi sect, imported from Saudi Arabia. Hillel Fendel in Israel national news states that in 2003 12-20% were Muslim in prison, now 80% of prisoners who ‘find faith’ convert to Islam. Hillel and Hagmann both point out that long ago this focus on converts was planned out and pushed hard by radical Muslim groups.
The indoctrination of the prison population to radical Islam is well documented in al Qaeda training manuals. This growth and focus is by design. Disenfranchisement in prison is prime pickings for radical Islam to grow their Jihad population. Fendel documents the dramatic increase in Islamic, Wahhabi chaplains and growth in un reviewed Islamic reading materials. The way things are going, the least we will have to worry about when prisoners finally are out of prison is another bank robbery or rape. Instead, we will have to worry about airplanes being shot out of the skies, Malls being blown up and schools being attacked.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: “Imported” Termites Attack Island
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, NOVEMBER 17 — People usually think of termites as swarms of tiny black bugs that eat everything they find on their way within a few seconds in cartoons. Or they think of the pictures of their giant nests on the Savannas, published in travel magazines. Unfortunately, termites don’t live only in Africa or Asia (there are at least 4,000 species on Earth, of which around 10% harmful) but are also spreading to the eastern part of the Mediterranean area. There are already present in number on the island of Cyprus, where they are becoming a real nuisance that is getting worse by the day.
Hundreds of house owners in rural areas, but also in the cities, have recently turned to specialised companies to get rid of the termites that were literally eating their door and window frames and furniture. In one house in Nicosia, in a residential district, termites damaged the parquet floor to such an extent that it took three months to repair it, disinfecting the house to make it liveable again. A thousand euros had to be paid for the chemical products alone, apart from the cost of returning the floor to its original state. The wood with the termites inside obviously had to be burnt, and the pest control company also had to search for underground termite colonies and eliminate these as well. This is a problem that concerns a modern house. But in an old house, where the roof is perhaps resting on oak beams, termite can even cause the entire house to collapse. There is a reason why the number of requests to specialised companies to intervene is rising. “The termites we are asked to exterminate are not originally found on the island, they are imported,” explained Michael Michael, owner of the firm ‘Atom’ and chairman of the association of pest-control companies on Cyprus. “They arrive here in containers that transport furniture from Middle East countries.” “Termites and other wood-eating parasites have become a serious problem in Cyprus and a European Commission committee has put the island on the ‘red list’ because of the massive presence of these insects.” But the termite problem is made worse by the urbanisation of rural areas and the construction boom of the past 20 years because, Michael continued, “new houses were built where dry and already infested vegetation had been removed, ‘encroaching’ on the natural habitat of these insects.” Preventive treatment of the land where houses are built would suffice to avoid the termite problem, at least for new homes.
But this costs between 3,000 and 4,000 euros and builders, eager to avoid these costs, do not remove the parasites and leave the problem — and costs — to the buyers. The Cypriot authorities should introduce a law that requires the application of pest-control before any new house is sold, but the government is behind on schedule regarding pest-control legislation compared with the rest of the European Union. The most recent EU directive of July 29 on the use of pesticides in the housing sector is unlikely to be implemented before the start of 2013.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
EU Week: More Than 5:000 Initiatives for Reduction
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 14 — The countdown to the third ‘European Week for Waste Reduction’, held form November 19 to 27, has started. The goal: reducing the amount of waste that is produced every year in the EU, around half a tonne per person on average. More than five thousand eco-initiatives have already been registered for the 2011 edition, but this number continues to rise. A variety of activities are organised: explaining to school children what composting is and asking them to try it at home, or informing clients in a supermarket how to shop more ‘intelligently’. The 2010 campaign involved 24 countries and Italy will participate this year as well (www.menorifiuti.org), together with many others. Participants outside EU borders are the Dominican Republic and the Brazilian Minas Geiras region, and single initiatives have come in from Turkey to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A new element in this year’s event is the introduction of ‘joint action’, which will be realised across Europe using the same methods in several sectors, like the reduction of paper, food and packaging waste but also recycling, reuse and cleanups.
Reducing the production of waste has become a real priority for the European Union, considering the fact that the amount of waste produced per household more than doubled over a 40-year period, and continues to increase by 2% per year. In 2007, each EU citizen threw away more than half a tonne of waste (522 kg), a clear sign of unsustainable production and consumption models. Moreover, the consumption of products (their production, transport and distribution) represent almost 50% of emissions that contribute to climate change.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Europe Can Learn From Canadian Diversity, Blair Says
There’s a “disconcerting” dislike of religious minorities in Europe, he said, due to the economy and the election of far-right political parties “designed to divide people.” He pointed to Sweden as an example, and noted that Switzerland has banned minarets on mosques.
“We have to be really careful of doing something which ends up in a situation where we make religious minorities feel that they are being marginalized,” Blair said. People often worry when they don’t understand something, such as the debate over women wearing burqas in France, he said.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Farage Scolds Europe’s Wrecking Crew
In his cover story for last week’s Spectator, Fraser described how the Frankfurt Group — which he dubbed ‘a new EU hit squad’ — has begun imposing its will on Greece and Italy. In the European Parliament on Wednesday night, Ukip leader Nigel Farage made the same case against them — and quite forcefully, too:
[Youtube video]
It’s now going viral, with over 75,000 views so far.
[Reader comment by Peter from Maidstone on 18 November 2011 at 10:28pm.]
135,000+ views of this video. It will never be mentioned in the MSM though. How do we ensure that Farage is heard on TV and in the press?
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Slovenia: Ljubljana Mosque One Step Closer
Ljubljana, 18 November (STA) — The long-delayed construction of the first mosque in Slovenia is one step closer as of Friday, as a design by Slovenian architecture firm Bevk Perovic Arhitekti for the Muslim religions and cultural centre in Ljubljana was selected among 44 proposals in an international competition.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden to Save Millions in New EU Budget
Sweden welcomed the new EU budget agreement reached on Saturday, which will lower Sweden’s EU fee by 300 million kronor ($45 million) compared to the government’s original estimates.
The EU members’ governments and the European Parliament agreed to limit expenditures in 2012’s budget to €129 billion ($177 billion), an increase of two percent compared to 2011.
“The decision was unanimous,” said Jacek Dominik, chairman of the council of ministers, who led the marathon meeting which started on Friday evening and went on into the night.
Hans Lindblad, state secretary with the Swedish finance ministry, is pleased with the results of the budget talks.
“It’s one of the tightest budgets achieved, and it’s a good compromise for Sweden and for EU,” he said to news agency TT on the telephone from Brussels.
The agreement means that Sweden’s EU fee for next year will be 300 million kronor less than the government accounted for in the Swedish budget proposal.
“When we entered negotiations, the difference between us and the European Parliament was a raising of the fee by one billion kronor for Sweden, so of course we’re satisfied,” said Hans Lindblad.
The limitation was introduced by the European governments forced to cut their own budgets, and take on savings packages because of the debt crisis.
The agreement was a defeat for the members of the European Parliament who voted for a budget of €133.1 billion on October 26.
The ministers and diplomats who participated in Friday’s negotiations tried to agree on a budget that balanced between saving and financial growth.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Switzerland: Mercenary Trade Paid for Peace and Prosperity
For five centuries Swiss mercenaries served foreign powers and died for them on Europe’s battlefields — a lucrative business that served the country well.
Jost Auf der Maur, author of a book on the history of the mercenary system, says Switzerland owes its peaceful existence and prosperity to a large extent to the export of soldiers.
Their services were vital for medieval royals and warlords. At the same time, they provided a guaranteed flow of cash and wealth for a territory in the heart of Europe — which later became modern-day Switzerland.
Auf der Maur’s book — Söldner for Europa (Mercenaries for Europe), published in German earlier this year — shows how the system benefited both sides.
The foreign powers could rely on the export of fighters from the alpine region, which in turn was left in relative peace in order not absorb soldiers in local conflicts on its territory.
Jost Auf der Maur: No. They were involved in a dirty business.
J.A.d.M.: I want to draw attention to a chapter in Swiss history that is much more important than we are told in school. Swiss mercenaries were in the service of foreign powers for 500 years.
This is in stark contrast to Switzerland’s humanitarian tradition, which is often invoked, but which has existed for a relatively short time…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
UK: A Clockwork Orange Songs to be Performed for the First Time
Five songs written by renowned author Anthony Burgess from his 1969 screenplay of “A Clockwork Orange” are to be performed for the first time at The University of Manchester.
(Media-Newswire.com) — Five songs written by renowned author Anthony Burgess from his 1969 screenplay of “A Clockwork Orange” are to be performed for the first time at The University of Manchester. The lyrics have been set to music by Dr Kevin Malone, Head of Composition at The University’s Music Department ahead of the novel’s fiftieth anniversary next year. Dr Malone was invited to compose the music by the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, which owns the rights to Burgess’s novels and music. The world premiere of “A Clockwork Operetta” will be performed by all-female ensemble the Ebb Trio, dressed as Alex and his ‘droogs’, today ( November 17 ) at the University’s Martin Harris Centre.
Although there is no music in Burgess’s screenplay, Dr Malone has made reference to the novelist’s popular stage version, performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1990.
The play features other songs and music composed by Manchester-born Burgess, who graduated from the University in 1940 and returned in 1987 to receive an honorary doctorate.
Burgess’s screenplay was rejected by the director Stanley Kubrick, who wrote his own version for the film, which was released in 1972. Despite critical acclaim, the award-winning film — which contained scenes of gang violence — was withdrawn from circulation by Kubrick between 1973 and 2000. Dr Malone said: “Beethoven has been an important influence in the writing of this piece — and you’ll be able to ‘slooshy’ the Pathéthique, Tempest and Moonlight Sonatas as well as the Ninth Symphony. “No doubt the lead character Alex himself would have approved of this reference to his musical hero, Ludwig van. But actually Beethoven is a hero of mine, too. I have been quoting from him in my own compositions for over 15 years.”
Anthony Burgess, who died in 1993, wrote 33 novels, 25 works of non-fiction, two volumes of autobiography, three symphonies, and more than 250 other musical works including a piano concerto, a ballet and stage musicals. Dr Malone added: “I think and hope that Burgess would have approved of this, especially as his screenplay never the saw the light of day.
“And it’s fitting that after 50 years, this music will be first heard at The University of Manchester where Burgess himself once studied. “Indeed Burgess, was brought up Harpurhey and Moss Side and is one our city’s proudest sons.” Andrew Biswell, Director of the International Anthony Burgess Foundation said: “We’re very pleased to have worked with Kevin Malone and Manchester University on this project. We see it as a homecoming for Anthony Burgess and his most famous work, A Clockwork Orange. We hope that this will encourage other writers and musicians to work with our archives. Although Burgess spent much of his adult life living abroad, he never forgot his Manchester origins. When he was in Rome in the 1970s, he managed to introduce the word ‘Mancuniense’ ( meaning ‘Mancunian’ ) into the Italian dictionary.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: BINNED: Anti-Litter Poster That Was an ‘Insult to Muslims’
A Labour council was at the centre of a race row last night after printing a leaflet targeted at Muslims that invoked the name of Allah in urging them to stop littering the streets.
Bradford City Council was accused of inciting racial hatred by publishing leaflets that showed rubbish-strewn pavements — and appeared to place the blame on Muslims.
The pamphlet, titled ‘Be proud of your environment’, used the Koran to lecture them about breaking the law and making a ‘horrible’ mess of the city.
It said: ‘We should respect Allah’s creations and the environments they live in. We should not act with ungratefulness by treating our surroundings with disrespect and throwing litter.’
It was aimed at an area of the city boasting a high concentration of Muslims and which the council says has a problem with messy streets.
‘The pamphlet said: ‘Muslims are able to pray anywhere in the world?.?.?. we always have to keep our place of prayer clean — so why not start with the streets and neighbourhoods that we live in?’
Conservative councillor John Robertshaw said he was ‘mortified’ to discover 16,000 of the ‘full-colour, glossy’ leaflets.
‘If these had gone out, the council could have been charged with inciting racial hatred, suggesting that litter dropping is exclusive to, or more prevalent among, Muslims,’ he said.
‘A leaflet encouraging people not to drop litter, specifically targeting believers in Islam, is so outrageous that I still find it hard to believe that this has happened.
‘What next? Leaflets to individually alienate our Christian, Hindu and Buddhist residents?’
Last night, Ian Greenwood, the Labour leader of the council, admitted the idea had been insensitive and said that the leaflets had been withdrawn.
He told The Mail on Sunday a ‘well-intentioned’ junior official came up with the idea.
‘It was stopped by senior officials who realised it would cause offence.’
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Rapist Used ‘Human Rights’ To Fight Deportation — Then Struck Again
A convicted sex attacker raped and violently molested two young girls as he fought deportation on human rights grounds.
Asylum-seeker William Danga, 39, subjected the children to appalling abuse before and after he was jailed for raping a teenager.
One was just four years old when the Congolese national forced himself on her before heading out to preach as a Jehovah’s Witness.
Officials were ordered to deport Danga at the end of his sentence but he frustrated their efforts after losing his passport.
He was then freed on immigration bail while he challenged the move on the grounds that he had a right to a ‘family life’ because he had children with a young girlfriend.
Just two months ago Nigerian rapist Akindoyin Akinshipe, 24, escaped deportation after European judges ruled he had a right to a ‘private life’ in Britain.
Like many others, he used Article 8 of the Human Rights Act to claim the right to a ‘family life’.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Ex-Muslim ‘Royalty’ Faces Dicey Future Over Claims of Islam Deception
“Allah is the greatest enemy of the Muslim people, and Islam imprisons my brothers and sisters, the Palestinians, and all of the Arab world,” explains Mosab Hassan Yousef. Unlike the rest of us in the studio, he is utterly calm and seems to have no fear of the repercussions and consequences of what he says. But then, why would he? The oldest son of Sheik Hassan Yousef — a founding member of Hamas and its most popular leader — he initially followed his father in his work, was then imprisoned by Israel, then worked as a spy for Israeli intelligence. Compared to all that, an interview on The Arena on Sun News is a walk in the park, or at least the desert.
His story is unparalleled. Someone who was born so high within the Palestinian community — effectively the son of royalty — who rejected the entire Palestinian struggle, embraced his traditional enemy, and is now a devoted Christian. “Let me tell you this,” he says. “If Israel disappears, it is the end of western civilization. Europe, North America and the rest would only last for a matter of time.” A pause, a smile. “Islam keeps people from knowing the truth, the truth about the land belonging to the Jews, the truth of the Temple Mount and who built it. But this dishonesty is not only in Palestine, but all over the Muslim world. We have to free people from the dishonesty and the blindness that is keeping that war alive.”
I ask him what would happen if he ever returned to the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. He knows that I know. “I would be executed, of course, of course. But this cannot prevent me from telling the truth about what I know. Believe me, I actually want the new governments in Egypt, Libya, Syria to become truly Islamic — as they will — and then show the world the genuine face of Islam. Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Qaida, the Muslim Brotherhood, they are all the same faces of the one Muslim religion. Only when people really understand this will they take action.”
But what of those Palestinian Christians who are militant, who founded the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who have committed acts of terror? “Islam dominates the region to such an extent, that even those who are not Muslim are influenced by its teaching and by its violence. This idea of other people not being allowed to live in the Middle East — in this case the Jews — comes directly from Mohammad’s words. He was a politician, just like Gadhafi and the rest. The religion is politics.” Is he scared, does he live in fear?
“I am realistic, but I also walk with God, and I am a free spirit,” he explains, and his eyes do not leave mine. “I know now that I am a Christian that forgiveness, loving your enemy, is at the centre of what is important.” But, as we leave, I nod in the direction of his bodyguard. Mosab Hassan Yousef smiles. In addition to faith, there is common sense. Pray God the combination protects this extraordinary, courageous and vitally important man.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Kingsbury Stabbing: 4 Police Officers Injured; Man Goes Berserk With Butcher’s Knife
A man ran into a butcher’s shop on a busy shopping street in north London, snatched a knife and stabbed four policemen during a violent struggle.
The shocking incident took place this morning at the Kingsbury Halal Butchers in front of horrified witnesses.
The man walked into the butchers and demanded ‘a chopper’ before the carnage ensued.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lottery Cash Funds Jew-Hate Jamboree
The Arts Council has defended its funding of a concert by the author of what the Community Security Trust has branded “quite probably the most antisemitic book published in this country in recent years” by saying that it helps to “present a diverse view of world society”. Israeli-born musician Gilad Atzmon, who calls himself “a proud self-hating Jew” in his new book The Wandering Who?, is due to play with his jazz ensemble at the Raise Your Banners political song festival in Bradford next Friday. The Board of Deputies has protested to the Arts Council over its funding of the concert and urged it to intervene to halt Atzmon’s appearance. A spokesman for the council, which gave a Lottery-funded grant of £4,000 to the festival, said: “It is not the Arts Council’s role to dictate artistic policy to a funded organisation, or to restrict an artist from expressing their views. What our policies and procedures do ensure is that we fund a wide range of organisations and individuals who, collectively, present a diverse view of world society.”She added that Atzmon was participating in the event “as a musician and not in his capacity as a political writer”.The Department of Culture, Media and Sport declined to comment, saying it was an Arts Council matter.
Organisers of Raise Your Banners said that they had previously reconsidered the invitation to Atzmon following requests from Jewish Socialist Group members and some supporters of the festival. RYB secretary Sam Jackson said at the time that “we have discussed the matter with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and are satisfied that PSC have no boycott of Gilad Atzmon or events that he is involved in.” The PSC said this week that it has “no links” with Atzmon. The festival programme also includes a workshop entitled “Songs to Counter the Zionist bullies” led by the Strawberry Thieves choir, a radical choir from south London. One of its songs, War Crimes, describes Israel “as a state made for the chosen few, where lives of Palestinian folk are worth much less than lives of Jews”.
Mark Gardner, communications director of the CST, said: “Gilad Atzmon claims ‘Jewishness equals supremacy’ and uses this lie to attack Jewish identity, culture and history. He says the ‘great’ Jews were ‘self haters’. He is a dangerous provocateur and anyone supporting him is helping to spread anti-Jewish hostility. If he said this about Muslims or blacks, he would be immediately condemned as a racist.” Jon Benjamin, Board chief executive, said that Atzmon’s embrace “by the organisers of a publicly-funded event should be a matter for profound concern, particularly as the event website caries a link to Atzmon’s own, with all the divisive and bigoted invective that contains”. In a recent interview, Atzmon said that Nazi death marches were “actually humane”, suggesting that Jews preferred to stay with the Germans rather than fall into Russian hands.
[JP note: Do the British really deserve freedom? Freedom is too valuable a commodity to be wasted on the UK’s multitudinous and undeserving dhimmis — perhaps Paul Weston should re-name his new party the Anti-British Dhimmi Freedom Party — campaign slogan: Freedom but not for British dhimmis.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Truth About David Cameron’s ‘Good Manners’
“A most despicable creature with no redeeming features.” That is the sort of language that the Left employed to describe Margaret Thatcher. But in this case the speaker was a Conservative MP and his target was David Cameron. Patrick Mercer, a Right-winger with a well-known loathing of the PM, explained this week that his secretly tape-recorded words were meant in a “light-hearted way”. Call me a cynic, but I find that a little bit hard to believe. On the other hand, I’m not at all surprised that a backbench Tory should be caught sounding off like that. One of the few things David Cameron has in common with Lady Thatcher is a breathtaking ability to make people hate him. In his case, however, that hatred has — so far — been largely confined to colleagues.
It is only to be expected that a Tory PM in an alliance with gullible Eurofederalists should be unpopular with Eurosceptics right now. But even if Cameron had a fat majority and was in ideological harmony with his troops, there would still be problems. Why? Because, to put it bluntly, Dave is rude. More specifically, he exhibits the calculated rudeness of people with very nice manners. That isn’t a contradiction in terms. Dave is one of those people who turns his good manners up and down like a dimmer switch. He uses them as a weapon. This is a speciality of the upper classes — and the black belts of the art, in my experience, are Old Etonians.
Don’t get me wrong: lots of Etonians are lovely people. And even some of the thrustingly ambitious ones don’t play this trick with manners — Boris Johnson, for example. Like many politicians, the Mayor of London occasionally resorts to confected joviality. He can be disingenuous — but he isn’t snooty. There’s no suspicion that his smile vanishes from his face as soon as the door closes. Dave, on the other hand, is quite capable of forgetting to thank someone inconsequential who’s spent the day driving him around. In this respect, he’s more the heir to Brown than to Blair. It’s a telling fact that Tony Blair needed to employ snakes and bullies to do his dirty work. Cameron doesn’t. Ask anyone who encountered him when he ran PR for Carlton: he was Flashman crossed with Mandelson.
Cameron reminds me so much of certain Etonians I’ve met over the years. The moment they lost the upper hand in conversation, there would be a sudden pulling of rank, a deliberate glazing of the eyes, or a neatly aimed belittling joke of the sort that Dave employs at PMQs. As I say, these weren’t typical OEs: what marked them out was that going to Eton was the defining experience of their lives.
Strange as it may seem, that’s true of our Prime Minister. Perhaps if he’d been elected to Pop, the elite club of Eton prefects to which Boris belonged, he’d be less aggressively snobbish. Then again, perhaps he would have been elected if he’d been nicer in the first place.
Given his readiness to erase people who aren’t useful to him, it’s surprising that “the dark side of Dave”, as one senior journalist describes it, hasn’t been properly exposed. Partly, I think, this is because after Gordon Brown voters are relieved to have a Prime Minister who is psychologically stable. Until now, they haven’t noticed or cared that they’re being addressed de haut en bas. But wait until the bottom really falls out of the economy. Dave’s nice manners will be stretched to breaking point and the chances of a Jekyll-and-Hyde meltdown will greatly increase. Hint to Labour: a joke about Pop may do the trick.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: When the Centre Goes Berserk
Over at the Leveson inquiry a smug Lord Patten — there is no other kind — said the BBC could not possibly be biased because left wingers attack it on some occasions and right wingers attack it on others. The BBC holds the ring, he implied. Uncontaminated by the ideologies of extremists, and possessing indeed no bias or ideology of its own, it speaks for moderation and reason. Although true, the argument that apparently moderate and reasonable people can be more ideological than extremists is ordinarily a hard one to make. Given the crisis in the eurozone perhaps even Patten can grasp that the centre ground offers no protection against deranged ideas.
Support for the euro was the mark of moderate men for almost two decades. No one seemed more reasonable than Patten when, as a former EU commissioner, he advocated policies that would lead Europe to ruin. On the contrary, it was the critics of the euro who seemed like crazies. Now those who warned against what I think I can fairly call BBC orthodoxy have been vindicated, and events have revealed the centrists to be the dangerous utopians.
When they talk about the centre ground, everyone reaches for the lines in Yeats’ Second Coming about respectable society collapsing.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
We may yet see anarchy or something like it in southern Europe. But for the moment a better poem for our time is Church and State. It shows that, as well as understanding the dangers of anarchy, Yeats also understood that the Chris Pattens of this world — the careful bureaucrats, the respectable judges, and moderate purveyors of conventional wisdom — can be the most dangerous men of all.
What if the Church and the State
Are the mob that howls at the door!
Wine shall run thick to the end,
Bread taste sour.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: You Don’t Have to be Left-Wing to be Good
What does the word ‘good’ mean? Recently, the answer has been that you support the protestors outside St Paul’s. So not only do you think capitalism is a evil, but you’re anti-cuts, pro-Palestine, and in favour of legalising drugs as well. In short, ‘good’ means Left-wing. Very Left-wing. Fifty years ago the word meant something rather different. Back then being good involved things like obeying the law and treating other people with respect. Crucially, goodness was not the preserve of any one political party or outlook. Morality was not a question of Left and Right.
But that’s not the case any more. Likewise personal virtue has become outdated now. Things like prudence, temperance and fortitude — well, who cares what you are like behind closed doors? These days morality is a public act. Being good is a performance. To young people especially your moral worth depends on the causes you support, and how publicly you support them.
Nowhere is this better demonstrated than the Occupy Movement. The Movement has made two important claims. First, that they represent the majority: that they speak for the 99%. Second, that they are the good guys, and their tents are pitched on the moral high ground. Celebrities, the Church of England and just about everyone under 40 seems to believe them. But both of these claims are flawed.
The occupy protestors do not represent people of all political outlooks and from all walks of life. Equally, their causes and concerns are not universal. Instead they are a bunch of pressure groups, fringe campaigns, and partisan causes, dressed up as a mass movement. Yet despite this fact, they pretend to speak for us all.
That pretence is the real objection I have to the Occupy Movement. The protestors think that they are on the side of goodness and virtue. So they are quite happy to assume the support of a general public that was never even asked. More worryingly, they are quite happy to ignore police eviction notices, and mock the traditional model of democratic accountability. The Left has laid claim to morality. And the cultural establishment has let them, indeed it has all but supported them. But the truth is, you don’t have to be Left-wing to be good.
Here are some things that I think are immoral: acting as if the law doesn’t apply to you; treating our traditions and institutions with disrespect; racking up debts for future generations to pay off. But these values don’t matter to the protestors outside St Paul’s. These moral standards don’t suit the Occupy Movement. Why? Well they’re just not Left-wing enough.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Wilders Slams Dutch-Turkish Celebrations
Anti-Islam Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders says next year’s celebrations of the 400th anniversary of Dutch-Turkish relations should be called off. His comments which appear in the opinion section of Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant on Saturday have been published online.
He writes that Turkish President Abdullah Gül is not welcome on a state visit to the Netherlands. He says there’s nothing to celebrate.
“Gül’s Islamic regime and his party colleague, Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, are no friends to the West and therefore neither to the Netherlands. President Gül is not welcome. Turkey has no place in the community of European values and there’s no reason for a party.”
“Whoever looks further than his nose can see that the regime of Gül and Erdogan is busy killing off Turkey’s secular constitution in order to re-Islamise the country.”
Next year marks 400 years since the then Republic of the Netherlands set up its first diplomatic mission in Istanbul, at the time the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Major celebrations are planned to mark the anniversary.
| — Hat tip: The PVV | [Return to headlines] |
Euro-Parliament’s Go-Ahead for EU-Jordan Accord
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 15 — A small step has been taken in Strasburg today towards the creation of a future single airspace for the Euro-Mediterranean region. The Euro-Parliament has approved the accord sealed last year between the EU and Jordan by the European Commission, and it should now be accepted by the twenty-seven member states. After Morocco, the first country in the region to obtain this kind of understanding with the EU, the European market is now free to integrate itself with that of the Hashemite kingdom.
There are various objectives: the gradual opening of markets on the base of reciprocal agreements concerning routes and capacities, but also guarantees of equitable conditions for all operators on the basis of the principles of EU treaties. There will also be an alignment of standards in such matters as air transport safety, production of air navigation and traffic control. On a formal level, the EU-Jordan accord substitutes the group of bilateral accords between the two parties and introduces uniform conditions for airlines of the 27 member states. European operators can now offer their services from any point within the EU and Jordan. According to estimates in the studies commissioned by the EU Commission, the air-transport sector accord with Jordan should lead to an increase of around 50,000 passengers and to savings for consumers amounting to around 30 million euros over the first year of the market’s actual liberalisation. The 2006 accord with Morocco has led to a boom in international and low-cost flights over the years.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Egyptian State TV Says 81 Injured in Cairo Clashes
CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian state TV says 81 people have been injured in clashes with police in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
The report said the casualty figure was from the Health Ministry.
Thousands of police are clashing with protesters for control of the downtown square after security forces tried to stop activists from staging a long-term sit-in there. Saturday’s violence is taking place just nine days before Egypt’s first elections since the ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak in February.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: We’ll Not Tell People to Ride Camels, Says Salafi Leader
Islamists ranging from ultra-conservatives to moderates could secure more than 30 percent of seats in Egypt’s first free parliamentary election in decades that will be launched later this month, a member of a Salafi group said on Friday. Youssry Hamad, a leader of the Nour Party which follows a strict interpretation of Islamic teaching, also accused liberals of smearing their image by using stereotypes that wrongly suggested the group would drag Egypt back in time. “We are surprised to find that the liberal and secular current, which rejects the doctrine of Islam, distorts our image in the media through lies and speaks about us as if we came from another planet,” Hamad said. “We will not tell people to ride camels, as others have said about us. We want a modern and advanced Egyptian society of people,” he said.
The three-phase vote for the lower house of Egypt’s parliament starts on 28 November. The new assembly will draft a constitution, raising the stakes for politicians seeking to set Egypt on a new course after ousting Hosni Mubarak. Islamists say liberals are trying to destroy Egypt’s Islamic identity. Liberals fear Islamists want to create a constitution that will put the nation on a path to establishing an Islamic state that they fear will remove civil liberties. Thousands of mostly Islamist Egyptians protested in Cairo on Friday against the army-backed cabinet’s proposal for a constitution that could let the military defy the elected government. “Islamic, Islamic, we don’t want secular!” many chanted.
“We are the strongest in terms of our grassroots power in Egypt at the moment,” said Hamad, referring to Salafis, adding that Islamists as a whole could secure 30 percent or more of the 498 elected seats up for grabs in the lower house. “We represented the widest grassroots base during Mubarak’s regime, following his National Democratic Party,” he said referring to Mubarak’s now defunct political party. Analysts tends to see the Muslim Brotherhood, which takes a less strict Islamist line than Salafis, as the best organized group with the broadest national network, built over decades although the group was banned under Mubarak. Parliament could also end up with a broad range of disparate groups without one current achieving a majority, which might weaken its ability to stand up to the ruling military council that will retain presidential powers, analysts add.
“The ballot box, which liberals and secularists often mention, will be the final arbiter. Let the Egyptian voter choose. Do not impose any guardianship on his mind despite your talk of freedom and democracy,” Hamad said. The Nour Party and other Islamist parties appeal to Egypt’s vast population of poor voters through its economic and social network which includes giving food and clothing to the needy. The party formed a coalition with other Salafi parties Asalah, Fadilah and Islah after breaking away from the Democratic Alliance, a coalition headed by its rival Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party.
The Nour Party says it has around 100,000 members and 150 offices across the nation of 80 million people. Asked whether his party would impose a strict Islamic moral code on society, Hamad said the party would not act by force but wanted to encourage adherence to its views on personal rights and freedoms. Some of its posters call for women to wear the Islamic hijab, or veil, already worn by most Egyptian women. “We will not force women to dress a certain way or prevent them from going out to the street. This is all nonsense. There is no coercion in religion,” he said, referring to a verse from the Holy Koran banning religious coercion. “But we seek to clarify what Islam teaches,” he said.
[JP note: But …]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Tahrir Square: Men With Beards
by Wendell Steavenson
Tahrir Square was packed Friday. The crowd was as large and dense, with as much pushing and shuffling and squeezing as I have seen since the night Mubarak fell. Most of those present were Islamists, with untrimmed beards and close-shaved mustaches, wearing white knit prayer caps or the red tarboosh and white turban of scholars from Al Azhar, Cairo’s venerable Islamic University. Many, perhaps most, had come from distant governorates, in buses organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafist organizations and parties.
I had lunch in Café Riche, just off the Square, where journalists and intellectuals used to gather in the old days, when the fight was against the British and the monarchy. Naguib Mahfouz used to preside over a weekly salon, and newly released political prisoners would borrow money from the head waiter. There was a secret door behind the bar, for escapes into the alley during police raids. Writers and commentators still meet there on Fridays. As I arrived, a well-known political cartoonist with a great gray bushy beard was giving an interview to a TV reporter.
“The intellectuals have lost,” he said, as a march of chanting Islamists, fists raised, went by in the street outside on the way to Tahrir. “Look at this!” As the cartoonist drew caricatures of people sitting around him, Hassan Ibrahim, a documentary producer for Al Jazeera, lamented that the Islamists were able to mass far greater numbers on the street than the liberals. “The liberals would never be able to match this,” he said. “They don’t have the money or the organization to get people out of their bars and their coffee shops and their pedantic discussions.”
“The Friday of Demand” was called to protest efforts by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to produce a template constitution that would secure its status (vetoing any civilian political control in matters of the military budget and of waging war), and to appoint the bulk of a committee to draft a new constitution. The original understanding, after Mubarak’s fall, had been that a new parliament would select the committee. The Islamists want to return to that plan, in part because they expect to do very well in the upcoming parliamentary elections; the Supreme Council doesn’t want to risk too much civilian interference; and the liberals, as usual, are torn between wanting to deny the Islamists influence and frustration with the Supreme Council’s agenda. About half of the liberal parties and movements stayed off of Tahrir Square Friday, and half encouraged their members to demonstrate.
On the square, I talked to Islamist lawyers and teachers, some from Cairo, some from Delta towns; some Salafists, some Muslim Brotherhood. They were committed to Sharia as the best way forward for Egypt, and they were all very much on message: the Supreme Council must hand over power to a civilian authority by April, 2012. Whenever I talk to Islamists, they are unfailingly friendly and are at pains to stress their respect for the Christian minority. (They do try to convert me, though.) When I press them on the question of just what their interpretation of Sharia would mean in terms of lifestyle choice, jurisprudence, and family law-alcohol, bikinis, divorce, cutting off hands for thieves-they hark back to historical examples of moderate Islamic reigns in India and Andalusia, and quote episodes from early Islamic conquests in which Islam was introduced gradually to new populations. My liberal Egyptian acquaintances roll their eyes at America’s recent diplomatic, conciliatory remarks about working with moderate Islamists in the wake of the Arab Spring. “You can’t trust them,” they say. Some liberals have decided that it’s perhaps better to go along with the Supreme Council’s efforts to push through a preemptory Constitution, as an end-run around an Islamist-dominated parliament. Increasingly, Egyptian politics feels like a three-way tug of war.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt in Uproar After Blogger Posts Nude Photos
‘I’m totally taken back by her bravery,’ fellow activist says
An activist who posted nude pictures of herself on her blog to protest limits on free expression has triggered an uproar in Egypt, drawing condemnations from conservatives and liberals alike. Some liberals feared that the posting by 20-year-old university student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy would taint them in the eyes of deeply conservative Egyptians ahead of Nov. 28 parliamentary elections in which they are trying to compete with fundamentalist Islamic parties. Nudity is strongly frowned upon in Egyptian society, even as an art form.
Elmahdy’s posting is almost unheard of in a country where most women in the Muslim majority wear the headscarf and even those who don’t rarely wear clothes exposing the arms or legs in public.
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy’s blog (contains images of male and female nudity)
Elmahdy wrote on her blog that the photographs — which show her standing wearing only stockings — are “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy.” The blog has received 1.5 million hits since she posted the photos earlier this week.
[…]
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45339553/ns/today-today_news/t/egypt-uproar-after-blogger-posts-nude-photos/
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Libya Says it Has Captured Qaddafi’s Son Seif Al-Islam
Libya’s transitional government said Saturday that its fighters in the southern desert had captured Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the last fugitive son and one-time heir apparent of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
In a scene of celebration outstripped only by news of Colonel Qaddafi’s capture and death last month, Tripoli’s streets erupted into revelry. Vehicles clogged intersections, horns blaring, and militiamen shot their rifles into the sky.
Officials in the capital promised that the son would be closely guarded so he could face trial. But in a troubling echo of Colonel Qaddafi’s capture a month ago, in which he was killed while in the hands of militiamen without ever reaching the capital, the local militias who announced Seif al-Islam’s capture on Saturday suggested they would be the brokers of his fate, at least for now.
| [Return to headlines] |
Tens of Thousands Protest in Egypt
Rally called by both Islamist and secular groups aimed at pressing military rulers to hand power to civilian government.
Tens of thousands of Islamist and secular protesters gathered in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and Alexandria on Friday for a mass rally to pressure the ruling military council to hand over power to a civilian government. The demonstration, dubbed the “Friday of One Demand,” was called in response to a document of “supraconstitutional” principles floated by the government that declares the military the guardian of “constitutional legitimacy”, suggesting the armed forces could have the final word on major policies even after a civilian parliament and president are elected.
A wide spectrum of political groups including liberals and ultraconservative Islamists have decried the document even as they reportedly negotiate with the government to get it changed. Though opposition to the military’s perceived power grab comes from all sides, Muslim religious movements are the most vocal. They fear that the document will push Egypt toward a more civil, secular state.
Yasir Hamida, a 40-year-old member of the Muslim Brotherhood, told Al Jazeera’s Malka Bilal that he had lived through the former regime and now wanted to “do something for our kids”. “My demand is that the … document be cancelled. Enough. We are tired now. We thank the army, but it’s time to transfer power and let the parliament start organising a constitution and get ready for a civilian state,” he said. “I’m happy that all the coalitions are here today.”
Elections for the lower house of parliament, the People’s Assembly, begin on November 28 and will last until January, occurring in three stages. The upper house, or Shura Council, will be elected after that. The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which assumed ultimate executive power after President Hosni Mubarak stepped down in February, initially promised a presidential election in early 2012 but has recently suggested it could occur as late as 2013. In the meantime, the SCAF will be able to propose and veto legislation, convene and adjourn parliament, and appoint the prime minister and cabinet.
Friday’s protest drew political parties and religious movements of different stripes, though the loudest voices in the square came from Islamists, including hardline Salafis and the comparatively moderate Muslim Brotherhood.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
What Secrets Will He Reveal? Gaddafi’s Playboy Son Saif Cowers After Capture by Rebels and Will be Quizzed About Blair, Mandelson and Prince Andrew Friendships
Looking haggard and fearful, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi cowers in terror after his capture by Libyan fighters yesterday.
His old swagger gone, the British-educated son of Colonel Gaddafi was clearly terrified that he might encounter the same fate as his father, who was killed a month ago.
Saif could yet face the death penalty for his crimes, but Libyan officials promised he would, at least, receive a fair trial. That trial could prove highly embarrassing for influential British figures — including Prince Andrew and Tony Blair — if Saif reveals details of the close links he enjoyed with them.
The 39-year-old former playboy and womaniser was captured trying to flee across the border into Niger. A mob of angry protesters tried to storm the plane but were beaten back by soldiers under orders to keep their prisoner alive so he could face justice.
Only three weeks ago Saif had vowed to avenge his father’s death, declaring defiantly: ‘I am alive and free and willing to fight to the end.’
But last night he was facing the likelihood of trial in his own country — or extradition to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.
Thousands of Libyans celebrated in the streets after hearing that the fugitive, who remained loyal to his father’s murderous regime to the end, had been captured without a struggle.
The dictator’s heir was intercepted near the oil town of Obari as he tried to reach the frontier in a 4x4 vehicle, accompanied by three bodyguards.
Desert fighters acting on a tip-off fired into the air and ground to bring the car to a halt.
As they checked the identity of those inside, Saif told them his name was Abdelsalam — which means ‘servant of peace’ — but he was immediately recognised and taken away by the fighters.
One of those involved in the capture, Ahmed Ammar, said: ‘At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him.’
Saif’s captors said they found only a few thousand dollars and a cache of rifles in the seized vehicles.
Saif is thought to have been hiding in the southern desert since fleeing the tribal bastion of Bani Walid, near the capital, Tripoli, last month.
After his capture, he was photographed lying on a bed in a prison cell, his fingers wrapped in bandages and his legs covered with a blanket. Officials said the injury had been sustained in a Nato air raid a month ago…
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus: Israel to Cooperate in LNG Plant and Pipeline
(ANSAmed) — NICOSIA, NOVEMBER 15 — Head of the Cyprus’ Energy Department of the Commerce, Industry and Tourism Ministry, Solon Kassinis, has submitted proposals for cooperation with Israel in constructing a liquid natural gas plant and a pipeline for which political decisions are still to be taken from Israel and Cyprus. Kassinis made the remark during the 4th Summit on Energy, organized by the ‘Economist’ held yesterday in Nicosia as CNA reported. In the discussion on “The status of energy exploration in Cyprus and its geostrategic significance for the region”, Kassinis referred to the situation as it stands in the field of energy and the efforts which the Republic of Cyprus is undertaking in finding hydrocarbons in its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). He said that by finding and exploiting its natural gas, Cyprus will be able to modernize its economy, improve its balance of trade and create new vacancies. Cyprus, he added, can become an area of viable development. He also referred to the agreement with the Houston-based Noble Energy which is carrying out exploratory drilling off Cyprus’ south-eastern coast, noting the agreement provides for exploiting Block 12 for three years by Noble, with a provision to extend it for another two. However it also stipulates that the area which the company is exploiting will decrease by 20% annually, as a lever to exert pressure on the company, to use the block quickly and effectively.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Launches YouTube TV for Christians
(ANSAmed) — JERUSALEM, NOVEMBER 15 — There are now two Youtube television channels run by Israel’s Tourism Ministry to attract Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and supply them with useful information, suggestions and travel tips. A statement released by the ministry says that the initiative is part of a new budget of 60 million shekels (12 million euros) laid out by the government for online tourism promotion aimed at potential Christian visitors, a fundamental component of the tourism make up of Israel (and of the Palestinian Territories), the consolidation of which appears to be decisive in increasing and reviving the influx in the country, recent efforts suggest.
The latest project, which begins in the next few days, is the new Christian Youtube channel, which is designed for Christians of all denominations and is available in various languages (Russian, now the language of the majority of pilgrims recorded every year, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish and Japanese).
The channel (
The website adds to an existing Youtube initiative by the Tourism Ministry, which serves the Catholic community (
“These new websites will help to spread information, but also messages on the special spiritual significance of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” said the Tourism Minister, Stas Misezhnikov, adding that the ministry sees Christian visitors today as the “key market target to incentivise visits” to Israel.
http://www.ansamed.info/en/news/ME.XEF90435.html
http://www.youtube.com/user/HolyLandVisit?blend=22&ob=5)willofferusefulinformationandfeatureshortvideosrecordedbyclerics,leadersofreligiousgroupsandsimpletouristsrecountingtheirexperiencesattheholysitesofJerusalemandthesurroundingarea.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Catholic Patriarchs Tell Christians, Don’t Flee
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, NOVEMBER 18 — The Catholic Patriarchs of the Eastern Churches, after meeting in Beirut, have launched an appeal to Christians of the area not to abandon the Middle East due to concerns over the consequences of the uprisings in Arab lands. “Stay bound to your land and to you sacred places in your historic nations and have faith in the future,” a concluding document from the conference reads, as it appears in the Lebanese press today.
The four-day meeting was chaired by the Patriarch of the Maronite Catholics of Lebanon Msg. Beshara Rai.
Following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, it is estimated that the country’s Christian population fell from 1.5 to less than half a million due to sectarian violence.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Emirates: Aerobatics Team Makes Debut Under Italian Direction
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, NOVEMBER 14 — The colours of the Emirates’ flag, white, red, green and black, written in smoke in the Dubai sky: this is how Al Fursan, the aerobatics team of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) air force, said goodbye to the international crowd that saw the team’s spectacular debut, made possible by the experience and direction of the Italian ‘Frecce Tricolori’ aerobatics team.
Five pilots-instructors of the Italian team led by colonel Paolo Tarantino have been teaching their secrets and know-how to their counterparts of Al Fursan for more than a year. Al Fursan, “Knights” in Arabic, uses MB-339 aircrafts, the same airplanes used by the Italian aerobatics team, made by Alenia Aermacchi.
“We have worked on technical but also emotional aspects, because the movements in the sky reflect those on land,” colonel Tarantino told ANSA. This was the first experience of the ‘Frecce Tricolori’ with training Arab colleagues, and the Italian team had to make adjustments in cultural terms, “revising our training and communication standards, making them more flexible and less head-on.” The UAE’s wish to have its own aerobatics team goes back to 2008, to the Airshow in Al Ain, in Abu Dhabi.
“The realisation that the UAE does not have a national aerobatics team caused the government to want one,” said Rana Al Dhaeri, spokesperson of the new team of seven, the same number of the number of emirates in the UAE. National pride is also reflected in the choice of the aircraft’s colours: the underside of the wings are painted in the colours of the national flag and the hull in black and gold, the colours of oil and desert sand. The Italian mission, which started with the first round of training at the base of Rivolto and continued at Minhad, in Dubai, does not end with the Air show that is in progress these days in the emirate. “There are three more goals we must reach,” said Col.
Tarantino, “continuing our training to qualify the pilots as instructors, creating an original and more difficult programme and accompanying the team in the next shows they will perform abroad.” Meanwhile, Al Fursan is ready to paint the Arab skies in the colours of the Emirati flag for the official celebration of the UAE’s 40th anniversary on December 2.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Syrians Would Accept Turkey Intervention, Brotherhood Leader
(ANSAmed) — ISTANBUL, NOVEMBER 18 — A leader of Syria’s outlawed Muslim Brotherhood said on Thursday the Syrian people would accept military intervention by Turkey, rather than Western countries, to protect them from President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces. Mohammad Riad Shaqfa, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, told a news conference in Istanbul the international community should isolate Assad’s government to encourage people in their struggle to end more than four decades of Assad family rule. Hundreds of people have been killed this month, one of the bloodiest periods in the revolt that began in March. The United Nations says more than 3,500 people have died in the unrest. If Assad’s government refused to halt its repression, Shaqfa said Turkish intervention would be acceptable, as Today’s Zaman reports. “If the international community procrastinates then more is required from Turkey as a neighbour to be more serious than other countries to handle this regime,” Shaqfa said. “If other interventions are required, such as air protection, because of the regime’s intransigence, then the people will accept Turkish intervention. They do not want Western intervention,” Shaqfa said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tatar President a No-Show for ‘World’s Largest Koran’
KAZAN, Russia — A Koran billed as the world’s largest has been unveiled in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan, RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service reports.
Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, who was scheduled to attend the November 17 ceremony at Kazan’s Qol Sharif Mosque, did not show up. Minnikhanov’s predecessor, longtime Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiyev, who was in attendance, explained Minnikhanov’s absence by saying he was in Moscow on official business. Tatarstan Prime Minister Ildar Khalikov; Russia’s chief mufti, Talgat Tadzhuddin; the chairman of Russia’s Council of Muftis, Ravil Gainutdin; and local Islamic scholars and leaders also attended the ceremony.
The book was commissioned by Resurrection, a Tatarstan state fund headed by Shaimiyev and engaged in the preservation and revival of the Tatars’ cultural heritage. It weighs 800 kilograms and is 1.5 meters by 2 meters in size. The text was printed in Italy, and the binding, encrusted with malachite and precious gems, was prepared by a Slovenian-owned company based in Gorizia at a cost of about 1 million euros ($1.3 million), Slovenian media reported earlier this week. The Koran will be placed on the first floor of the Qol Sharif Mosque until June 2012, when it will be moved to the town of Bolgar, the ancient capital of the Volga Bulgars, the ancestors of the present-day Tatars who converted to Islam in 922.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
India: Karnataka: Two Christian Communities Attacked in the District of Hassan
Ultra-nationalist Hindu Bajrang Dal activists accuse the Christians (still in prison) of forced conversions. Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): “Deliberate and well planned attacks. Apparent collusion between government and Hindu extremists. “ 40 incidents of anti-Christian violence in Karnataka, this year.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — Activists of the Bajrang Dal (Hindu ultra-nationalist movement) have attacked members of two different Christian communities, engaged in a prayer service, accusing them of practicing forced conversions. The episodes took place last November 12 and 13 in the district of Hassan (Karnataka). The assaulted Christians are still in prison. This brings to 40 attacks against the Christian community of the state in 2011. “Two incidents in two days — said Sajan K George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) — belie every promise made to the Christian community by the chief minister of Karnataka, a member of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Collusion between the government of the BJP and the Sangh Parivar is very real, the attacks are deliberate and meticulously planned. As long as these movements escape the harsh measures of the Indian criminal justice system, violence will continue. “
Since 2008 the Government of Karnataka has been led by the BJP, a party that supports ultra-nationalist groups and movements of Hindu extremists belonging to the wide umbrella group of the Sangh Parivar like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajarang Dal, responsible for numerous episodes of violence, anti-Christian persecution and discrimination that occur in India.
On 13 November, the pastor H.S. Nagaraj, of the Church of Immanuel Prarthanalaya in Arkalgud, had just started the Sunday service, when ten of the Bajrang Dal activists stormed the Church, interrupted prayer and tore the Bibles to pieces. Within a short time the local police also arrived, who arrested the pastor and three faithful, Shivanna, Ravi and Chandrashekar. The Christians are still in prison.
A day earlier, on 12, a similar incident happened. Six faithful of the Ministry of Bethel Church — a woman with a four year old son, the women Padmavathy and Gangamma and men Raju and Varu Chakravarthy — waiting for the bus at Belur station, after a prayer service. Suddenly, ten activists of the Bajrang Dal surrounded them, asking them what they were doing in the city and insulting them. After beating the two men, they led the entire group to Harehally police station, where police issued an arrest warrant for the six Christians. Thanks to the GCIC, the three women and child were released, but men are still in prison.
The president of the GCIC warns: “Is public worship a crime in secular India? What happened to religious freedom guaranteed by our Constitution? Is BJP allowed not to respect the constitutional guarantees of citizens of India, or the Christian minority — a community set in a Hindu majority — not to have access to the rights and privileges enshrined in art. 25 of the Constitution? “.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Embrace Islam
Sialkot — Four Christians including two women embraced Islam due to the humanity and righteous ways of the religion of Islam, at the hand of Hafiz Qari Shakkar Mehmood Qadri at Jamia Faiz Ul Quran Hunterpura Sialkot. Naveed Masih, Nadeem Maish, Mumtaz Maish and Kainat Maish are given new Muslim names as Muhammad Naveed, Muhammad Nadeem, Mumtaz Bibi and Kainat respectively. On this occasion Allama Riaz ud Din Siddique, Amjad Siddique, Ilyas Goraya, Haji Yassen and Tauqer ul Hassan welcomed and congratulate them.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
China: Hundreds of Children Still Suffering From Kidney Stones Caused by Melamine-Tainted Milk
Privately paid tests show that, three years after the scandal broke, children still suffer from kidney stones, blood in urine and overall poor health. The government has banned hospitals, doctors and lawyers to help families seek compensation.
Beijing (AsiaNews/RFA) — Three years since the melamine-tainted milk scandal broke, hundreds of children are still affected by kidney diseases. Tests (privately paid because the government has banned hospitals from helping victims’ families) show that children have kidney stones and blood in the urine.
Zhao Lianhai, whose child is one of 300,000 made ill by infant formula milk laced with the industrial chemical melamine, said his advocacy group, Kidney Stone Babies, launched a campaign earlier this year to test hundreds of children.
The scandal broke out in 2008 when reports revealed that many baby milk formulas contained high levels of melamine, added to give the impression that they had a higher protein content.
Seven children died after drinking the tainted formulas, and another 300,000 got sick with kidney diseases.
Zhao Lianhai was sentenced to two and half years in prison for “disturbing the social order”. He was released in November last year on medical parole.
For their part, the authorities have banned hospitals, doctors and lawyers from helping parents file complaints.
The parents’ association, which Zhao heads, has raised donations for 100,000 yuan (about US$ 16,000) to pay for testing of sick children.
The mother of a victim in Lushan (Sichuan) said her child has suddenly started having blood in its urine. A second parent said his child still had kidney stones. A third parent noted that after three years, there has not been much change, a lot of acid in the urine and two kidney stones. “The doctor told us there wasn’t any medical treatment they could offer,” he lamented.
Twenty-one people were convicted for their roles in the scandal, and two were executed.
Following the 2008 scandal, the government announced that it had destroyed all tainted milk powder, but reports of melamine-laced products have regularly made the headlines.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
A Boat Carrying 162 Immigrants Sailed Into Bari Last Night
(AGI) Bari — A 30 m fishing boat carrying 162 presumably Egyptian immigrants docked in the port of Bari during the night. The immigrants are being subjected to identification procedures. More specifically, the migrants are all presumed to be Egyptian, except for a few Somalis, and are all men, roughly 30 of which are minors. The boat was detected around 8 pm last night in international waters, at 15 miles north of the Port of Bari, and was rescued by the motorboats of the Italian Coast Guard and of the Guardia di Finanza.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Brussels Orders Britain to Let in More Migrants From Around the World
EUROCRATS ignited outrage last night by ordering Britain to open its doors to a fresh wave of mass immigration from around the world.
In a highly provocative diktat from Brussels the European Commission urged the EU’s 27 member nations to admit millions more newcomers from beyond Europe’s borders and adopt welcoming “migrant-centred” policies.
“To ensure prosperity, Europe must become a more attractive destination in the global competition for talent,” said a document from the EU’s ruling body.
It also made clear that new measures to “facilitate and organise legal immigration” to EU nations from eastern Europe, Asia and a string of North African countries were already on the way.
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
England ‘Is World’s Sixth Most Crowded Country: High Rate of Immigration Blame for Population Surge
High immigration has made England one of the most crowded countries in the world, a report said yesterday.
It found that 6.6million foreign-born people live in England — and only 500,000 elsewhere in the UK.
As a result England has become the sixth most densely populated major nation, according to the analysis from the MigrationWatch think-tank. Only Bangladesh, Taiwan, South Korea, Lebanon and Rwanda have more people per square mile.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Benetton Withdraws Pictures After Holy See Protest
(AGI) Rome — “We reaffirm that the sense of this campaign is solely to fight the culture of hate in any of its forms”, as Benetton Group spokesperson claimed referring to the pictures that aroused so many controversies, especially from the Holy See. “Therefore, we are sorry that the use of the picture of the Pope and the Iman hurt the feelings of believers. That is why we decided to withdraw this picture forthwith” .
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Controversial Therapy for Pre-Teen Transgender Patient Raises Questions
A lesbian couple in California who say their 11-year-old son Tommy who wants to be a girl named Tammy are giving their child hormone blockers that delay the onset of puberty — so that he can have more time that he can have more time to decide if he wants to change his gender.
The couple’s supporters say the Hormone Blocking Therapy has only minor side effects and is appropriate for a child who is unsure of his gender. “This is definitely a changing landscape for transgender youth,” said Joel Baum, director of education and training for Gender Spectrum, a California-based non-profit group. “This is about giving kids and their families the opportunity to make the right decision.”
| — Hat tip: Kitman | [Return to headlines] |
New Robert Spencer Book Coming Next Spring: Did Muhammad Exist?
I just received the cover image and thought I’d share it with you. It features a 16th-century Persian image of Muhammad with face veiled, since he cannot lawfully be depicted according to Islamic law. The veiling of his face is of course perfect for my book’s theme — the opening chapter of Did Muhammad Exist? is entitled “The Man Who Wasn’t There,” and details how for the first 60 years after the Arab conquests of the Middle East, Persia and North Africa began, neither the conquerors nor those whom they conquered made any mention of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the Qur’an, or Islam.
That is extremely odd for a warrior army that was supposed to be energized and inspired by the words of the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad. To try to understand why this may have been, and how Islam actually originated, is the preoccupation of this book.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
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