Greece: 76% of People Say Worst Yet to Come, Survey
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, DECEMBER 23 — A massive 99% of Greeks say the country’s economic situation is bad, while 76% believe that the worst is still to come, as daily Kathimerini reports citing an Eurobarometer survey published in Bruxelles Thursday. This puts Greeks among the most pessimistic people in the 27-member European Union, along with the Irish, the Spanish and the Bulgarians. The survey found serious disaffection also with the political situation, with only 8% of Greeks saying they trust their government. Twelve percent said they trust the Parliament.
Both figures were down from the previous survey. The EU, which is involved in Greece’s bailout loan, is seen as a more effective actor, with 29% of the country’s respondents saying they trust the bloc. The Autumn 2011 Standard Eurobarometer was conducted between November 5 and 20.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Holidays: Italy’s Austerity, Pizza and Polenta on the Table
‘SupernEnalotto’ pizza popular, pig’s trotter resists
At times of economic crisis, pizza is on the table for the Holidays
(ANSAmed) — ROME — Italians are opting for low-cost holiday meals this year, and tend towards the unique and healthy variety. There will be none of the costly Christmas dinners of salmon and foie gras, as times of crisis call for a rediscovery of local products and even pizza will be seen on holiday tables decked out for the holidays….as long as it brings fortune.
This was seen in a survey carried out by the pizza makers association APES on a representative sample of 300 Italian pizzerias and restaurants just before with the not-to-be-missed gastronomic events of the holidays.
The so-called “Monti effect” is being felt even on the table: pig’s trotter will still be seen (31%), as will polenta with dried salt cod (23%) and ravioli and cappelletti (14%), while the new entry is pizza (21%), which one out of every five Italian families will be making recourse to, especially in the holiday version launched by pizza makers: the “SuperEnalotto” (lottery) pizza with culatello (a type of ham) and red hot chilly peppers. In times of crisis, 8 out of every 10 Italians say they are worried about the current situation and confess that they will be changing their habits this year. According to the respondents, the vast majority will be staying at home (74%), and estimates say that one out of every four Italians will be eating out but opting for cheaper pizzerias (56%) instead of restaurants (29%). “I can confirm,” said Enzo D’Angelo, Rome pizza maker from APES, “that pizzerias are getting many bookings for New Year’s Eve. It is clear that the new SuperEnalotto pizza, the pizza of fortune, will be very popular, a way to get 2012 off to a good start. Due to the economic crisis, many of my colleagues will remain open until 11 PM to allow their regular customers to eat pizzas and then head to the streets to celebrate. It is a valid alternative which is being chosen ever more in place of a more costly Christmas dinner.”
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Kite Runner’ Too Islamic, School Board Told
The ACLU of Arkansas is paying close attention to a move by Jonesboro high school patrons to remove “The Kite Runner” from a senior English class curriculum because of its “presentation of Islam as a viable and genuine religion.” An article in the Jonesboro Sun did not name the two Valley View School District patrons who want the curriculum changed, but one is apparently a substitute teacher who learned of the curriculum while substituting in the class. “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini, is a redemption story about a boy who betrays his servant friend, flees Afghanistan as the Soviets rise to power and returns years later as the Taliban take over to make amends to the servant’s family. The servant boy is sodomized in one scene, and that and language in the book were also named as objectionable.
As quoted in the Jonesboro Sun, the patrons complained that the book “may cause some students to question the validity of our ‘one nation under God’ … Is it permissible to have a book which deals with Islam and a man’s journey to receive it as truth when most schools are not allowed to teach the same in relation to the Bible?” Attempts to reach the school board president, Dr. Brian Gray, were unsuccessful, but according to the Jonesboro Sun, a couple of board members suggested the book be kept in the curriculum but not read aloud in class. The board will take up the issue again at its Jan. 10 meeting. Norm Stafford, a former professor of English at Arkansas State University and a member of the ACLU board, said he will join other ACLU representatives at the meeting. He said students were exposed to “far more explicit stuff about the Penn State story,” referring to the publication of allegations of abuse by former football coach Jerry Sandusky. He cited the irony that the patrons would try to ban a book whose story line is set against the evils of the rise of the extremist, book-banning Taliban.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Massachusetts Woman: TSA Confiscated My Cupcake
PEABODY — A woman who just flew back home from Las Vegas says an airport security officer confiscated her frosted cupcake because he thought the icing on it could be a security risk.
Rebecca Hains said the Transportation Security Administration agent at McCarran International Airport took her cupcake Wednesday, telling her its frosting was enough like a gel to violate TSA restrictions on allowing liquids and gels onto flights to prevent them from being used as explosives. She said the agent told her the frosting was conforming to the jar it was inside.
“I just thought this was terrible logic,” Hains said Friday.
Hains, who lives in Peabody, just north of Boston, said the agent didn’t seem concerned that the cupcake could actually be explosive, just that it fit some bureaucratic definition about what was prohibited. She said he even offered to let her eat it away from the airport security area.
Hains, a 35-year-old communications professor at Salem State University, said she told the agent she had passed through security at Boston’s Logan International Airport earlier in the week with two cupcakes packaged in jars, gifts from a student. But she said the agent told her that just meant TSA in Boston didn’t do its job.
The TSA, which is entrusted with protecting the nation’s transportation system, was reviewing the situation, agency spokesman Nico Melendez said. Passengers are allowed to take cakes and cupcakes through checkpoints, he said.
Hains ultimately surrendered the cupcake. But she said the situation highlighted a lack of common sense by the agent and the ludicrousness of TSA policies.
“It’s not really about the cupcake; I can get another cupcake,” she said. “It’s about an encroachment on civil liberties. We’re just building up a resistance and tolerance to all these things they’re doing in the name of security, when it’s really theater. It is not keeping us safe.”
| — Hat tip: AC | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Abysmal Record on Civil Liberties
By signing the ‘anti-terror’ bill the president could end up being worse than his Republican predecessor on civil liberties
Here we are. More than 10 years after the 9/11 attacks, more than six months since the killing of Osama bin Laden and less than a year away from the next presidential election, Barack Obama is about to sign into law the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA). It authorises the indefinite detention in military custody of US citizens who are suspected of having “substantially supported” al-Qaida, the Taliban or “associated forces” — and makes such detention mandatory for foreign nationals who are accused of having links to al-Qaida.
In fact, say civil liberties lawyers and human rights groups, this pernicious and Orwellian piece of legislation doesn’t only enshrine in US law (in sections 1021 and 1022) indefinite military imprisonment without trial for terror suspects, but also makes it much easier for the government to transfer — or “render” — US citizens to foreign regimes for interrogation or incarceration, (also section 1021) and much more difficult to close the prison camp at Guantánamo Bay(sections 1023, 1026, 1027, and 1028).
Obama and the Democrats have a great deal to answer for. This brazen militarisation of US civilian justice and law enforcement cannot just be laid at the door of dastardly Republicans in Congress. In the Senate, the bill was co-sponsored by a Democratic senator, Carl Levin; in the House of Representatives, it sailed through with the support of 93 Democrats, including the minority leader, Nancy Pelosi (despite being opposed by, among others, the directors of the FBI and the CIA, the attorney general and the defence secretary). The president has the power to veto the bill and, initially, his aides had suggested he would do so. However, citing vague “changes” to the language of the bill, Obama — the most veto-shy president since James Garfield in the 1880s — made a U-turn this month and withdrew his veto threat in what a New York Times editorial called “a complete political cave-in, one that reinforces the impression of a fumbling presidency”.
But this isn’t about the president’s political incompetence or abject weakness. It is, above all, yet another example of Obama’s refusal to stand up for civil liberties and the rule of law. Over the past three years, the former constitutional law professor has failed to close Guantánamo Bay, expanded the detention facility at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, defended the use of warrantless surveillance and military tribunals, and — shockingly — asserted the right to assassinate, via drone strike and without due process, US citizens he deems to be terrorists. As the leading US legal scholar Jonathan Turley has argued, “the election of Barack Obama may stand as one of the single most devastating events in our history for civil liberties”. It is hard not to like or admire Obama as a person: the president is intelligent, reasonable, eloquent and witty. But presidents should be judged on their policies, not personalities; their records, not their rhetoric. Obama, however, has been handed a pass on indefinite military detention by the same liberals, progressives and Democrats who were so outraged and disgusted by the Bush administration’s much milder Patriot Act. Liberals have to ask themselves: do civil liberties and human rights only matter when a Republican is sitting in the Oval Office? A few weeks ago, at a private dinner, I was assailed by a senior state department official for echoing Turley’s critique of the president and for daring to compare Obama to his Republican predecessor. In fact, I now regret saying Obama was similar to Bush. When it comes to civil liberties, once he signs the NDAA into law, he will be worse.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Muslims Celebrate Christmas as Part of American Culture
LOS ANGELES • With Christmas comes tradition in the Traband household: A plate of cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. A stocking full of treats for Omar, the family dog. A noble fir decorated with golden garland and keepsake ornaments. But there is no angel atop the tree. Sahira Traband feels that would conflict with her family’s faith. They are Muslims. “The magic of Christmas is the part we celebrate,” said Traband, 45. “We didn’t get into the whole religious thing.” At a time when the holiday is being pulled in different directions — some people replace “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” so as not to offend, while others campaign to “Keep the Christ in Christmas” — it’s not uncommon for Muslims to use the occasion as an entry into American culture, no different from signing up their children for Little League. Just how many Muslims do observe the holiday is unclear, because it is a personal choice fellow faithful might criticize. But if they were to ask, Muslims might discover they know a family or two who put up trees or send letters to Santa.
That fact may come as an even bigger shock to those who regard Muslims and their faith as being at odds with Western lifestyles.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Archaeology: Aegean Islands Treasures on Display in Athens
Prestigious exhibition opens at Cycladic Art Museum
(ANSAmed) — ATHENS, DECEMBER 12 — The Cycladic Art Museum of Athens, in collaboration with the Greek Ministry of Culture and Tourism, has opened a series of archaeological exhibitions dedicated to the small and remote islands of the Aegean. The exhibition, which has the suggestive title of “Agoni grammi” (literally “the sterile line”) and will be repeated every three years, is curated by the director of the museum, Professor Nikolaos Stampolidis, and by the archaeologist and museum curator, Giorgios Tassulas. The first exhibition, which has the subtitle “Archaeological journey through the islands of Kastelorizo, Symi, Halki, Tilos and Nisyros”, is organised in collaboration with the 12th office of Classical and Prehistoric Antiques and the 4th office of Byzantine Antiques, was opened on Thursday December 8 and runs until April 23.
Some 390 artefacts from the five islands are on display in the exhibition, which opens with an overview of the geographical and geological characteristics of the island. Their mythology and history is then explained through a series of sculptures, work tools and vases that illustrate the customs and daily occupations of the antique inhabitants, but with a focus on the island’s modern problems, above all the lack of water and the difficulty of sea and air links with the Greek mainland and other islands, as told in a video by the people who live there today.
The visit begins with a marble plinth depicting a ship similar to the Winged Victory of Samothrace in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The exhibition is divided into five thematic areas, each of them a journey to one of the five islands, and starts with the room dedicated to Kasterlorizo, the island furthest away from the Greek mainland. The many finds on display here include a crown of golden ivy leaves discovered in 1913 on the plain of St. George and now housed in the Archaeological Museum of Athens, after being offered by the inhabitants of the Dodecanese islands to the motherland in 1948. The next room, which is dedicated to the islands of Symi and Halki, features an inscription dating back to 202-201 BC, but the content of which is quite modern. It refers to the taxation of the inhabitants, a practice that was common even in Ancient Greek times. The epigraph carved into the marble suggests a clear invitation from the island’s rulers to its citizens to make a contribution to tackle the community’s financial problems, a contribution, it is stated, that must be of at least 50 drachmas. Meanwhile, in the room dedicated to the islands of Tilos and Nisyros, visitors can admire prehistoric objects discovered in the cave of Arcadius, which include the remains of the dwarf elephants that died out around 4,000 years ago due to volcanic activity in the area. Speaking at the opening, the Minister for Culture and Tourism, Pavlos Geroulanos, said that the exhibition fills the visitor with “a taste for simplicity, rhythm, love for the beautiful and the real and hospitality, values that are profoundly Greek and anthropocentric”.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Islamic Studies Gains Foothold in State Schools
German Education officials are making moves to establish Islamic studies as a regular subject in North Rhine-Westphalia’s public schools, in line with other religious courses about Catholic or Protestant Christianity.
There have been several pilot projects to teach principals of the faith to German pupils, who are offered the option religious instruction in most state schools. But a vote by the NRW parliament will give it a more permanent foothold until at least 2018, when the effectiveness of the instruction will be comprehensively evaluated. Although there is demand for the courses — there are about 300,000 Muslim students in the state’s schools — Islamic studies classes have been controversial throughout Germany. But supporters have argued that offering approved classes at about 130 state schools by vetted teachers could encourage the flourishing of a more moderate version of Islam among German youth. State Education Minister Sylvia Löhrmann said the parliamentary vote represented a “sign of more integration” adding that North Rhine Westphalia could be “a good example” for other states. But there appears to be some discomfort among lawmakers about the idea. Although the Greens and the centre-right Christian Democrats and centre-left Social Democrats supported the parliamentary vote, the socialist Left party voted against it, and the pro-business Free Democrats abstained. Officials have emphasised that the classes are held in German and are offered only by specially trained teachers.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Woman With Drugs in Breast and Bottom Implants Stopped
Spanish model nabbed at Rome airport
(ANSA) — Fiumicino, December 21 — A Spanish model was arrested at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci airport Wednesday after trying to bring 2.5 kilogrammes of cocaine into Italy inside breast and buttock implants.
The woman, named as M.F.M, 33, was examined after “failing to satisfactorily explain” the reasons for her trip from Sao Paulo in Brazil, police said.
“Extremely pure crystal cocaine was found perfectly moulded to the very large implants on the women’s chest and rear,” they said.
“She tried to distract officers with a plunging neckline and a short skirt but they were not impressed,” a customs official said.
The model has been charged with international drug trafficking.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Norway: Gil Ronen Distorts Oslo Police Report by Claiming All Rapists Are All Muslims
Norway Ministry of Justice confirms that a 2010 Oslo police report on rapes which Gil Ronen and other Islamophobes claim has statistics showing the rapists were all Muslims are untrue.
Earlier this month, Arutz Sheva, an Israeli website popular with Kahanists, an outlawed movement that is gaining prominence with the rise of the extreme right in Israel published ‘Norwegian Minister Links Norwegian Rape Wave To Israel’ by Gil Ronen. The story purported to shed light upon a conspiracy involving a Norwegian minister who ordered the truth about an Oslo police report detailing rape statistics to be hushed up, otherwise Israel may use the report against Norway because the rapists were Muslims.
Ronen offered no evidence for his claims except to cite an Israeli blogger who writes a Hebrew blog, one Yehuda Bello whom he claims understands Norwegian, is ‘acclaimed’ and has contacts in Norway. Ronen wrote: “Bello reports that from January to late October, 48 rapes were confirmed to have been carried out in Oslo alone, 45 of them by Muslims. 48 rapes were confirmed to have been carried out in Oslo alone, 45 of them by Muslims.”
Ronen contradicts this statement in another paragraph where he writes that the politically correct culture prevents them from being reported as ‘Muslim’ crimes. When journalists expressed scepticism at the reports blaming the Norwegian minister, all citing Ronen, the headline at Arutz Sheva was edited to read ‘Muslim ‘Rape Wave’ Reported in Oslo‘. The original claims about the ministerial cover up, can still be seen quoted by propagandists of Islamophobia including Robert Spencer of the David Horowitz organisation FrontPage Mag. The only source Ronen links to as proof, is an earlier piece he wrote in June 2011 with the headline ‘Police Report: All Assault Rapists in Oslo Follow Muhammad, where he claims:”Norway’s police issues report with amazing statistic: all assault rapes in Oslo in 2010 were perpetrated by Muslims“
Meanwhile, anti Muslim bloggers like Pat Condell jumped onto the bandwagon as did neo conservative hatemongers Pamela Geller and Debbie Schlussul , the latter has suggested that 9/11 could have been prevented had the feds paid more attention to Rabbi Kahane instead of making Kahanism illegal. Not surprisingly, none of these bigots linked to ‘Voldtekt i den globale byen the Oslo 2010 rape statistics report which they were misrepresenting.
It is worth mentioning here that Geller and Schlussul along with Caroline Glick have received flak for attempting to tie the Brievik attacks to Norway’s anti Israel stance. The gist of Ronen’s earlier piece is that Norway’s bored rich population have their priorities wrong. But never fear because a neo nazi like Fjordmann the Anders Brievik idol, and by now discredited Yehuda Bello, are here to educate the Norwegians whom he describes: “They are also traditionally anti-Semitic, he believes. As a result their politicians and press are focused on Israel’s actions in Shechem (Nablus) and Hevron and choose to ignore Muslim misdeeds — be they in Iran, Syria, or in Norway itself.”
What he writes next appears to be projection: “Despite this, he reports, the Muslim rape campaign has become so terrible that even Norwegians have begun to recognize the reality around them, and in recent months there have been protests where the slogan was “Muslims out!”
If Ronen believes that expelling Norway’s Muslims will make the Zionist expansionist project more acceptable to Norwegians then it’s a misguided assumption. The anti Israeli occupation sentiment in Norway existed before the Muslim immigrants arrived in any significant numbers. Shortly after Arutz Sheva published the Oslo rapes report in early December, I wrote to The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police asking them to verify Gil Ronen’s claims. I received the following reply from Elisabeth Lund a Senior Adviser to the Ministry:
“Statistics regarding assault rapists:
The Oslo Police District has given a report of rapes in Oslo in 2010. The report shows that for all types of rape, except assault rape, European perpetrators are in the majority, and they are mostly Norwegian. Assault rapes covers only five identified unique person. These have all a foreign origin. The number is however, so low that it does not provide a basis for drawing conclusions with regard to country of origin. Two of them were very young (under 18) and two had severe psychiatric diagnoses and cannot be regarded as representative of their ethnic culture. It is highlighted in the report that generalizations like “Oslo’s rapists are foreigners”, which have been seen in media, are wrong. The report gives no statistics regarding religion of rapists.”
Yours Sincerely,
Grethe Kleivan
Deputy Director General, “
Thus, the fabricated claims by Gil Ronen, can be dismissed as being little more than opportunistic distortions.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: JC [Jewish Chronicle] Readers Round on Bright
The article by Martin Bright in last week’s Jewish Chronicle denouncing prominent figures in the Jewish community for failing to boycott London Citizens over its links with the East London Mosque has provoked a welcome backlash from the paper’s readers. A leader in this week’s issue headed “Islamism’s allies”, presumably written by JC editor Stephen Pollard, states:
Last week we published an analysis by our political editor of the ongoing problems with London Citizens and the East London Mosque, and criticising those who lend these two organisations their support. We have received many outraged letters from those who think such support is not merely acceptable but vital. They are profoundly mistaken. If ever there was an issue that the JC exists to highlight it is this deeply misguided alliance with fellow travellers of Islamism.
The letters criticising Bright that appear in the print edition of the paper have not as yet been published on the JC website, so here they are.
WITTENBERG IS NO ‘USEFUL IDIOT’ BUT RATHER A ‘BRAVE, INSPIRATIONAL LEADER’
• Martin Bright (JC, December 16) calls Masorti senior rabbi, Jonathan Wittenberg, a “useful idiot” for participating in an interfaith celebration of the winter festivals alongside Christians, Muslims and Jews from dozens of churches, mosques, schools and community institutions across London. While the term “useful idiot” has specific historical connotations, most readers will rightly construe it as an unwarranted, offensive attack on one of our community’s most thoughtful, brave and inspirational leaders. We believe this kind of insulting language has no place in the pages of the JC.
Basil Shall (Co-Chair, New North London Synagogue); Clive Sheldon QC (Vice-Chair, Assembly of Masorti Synagogues)
East End Road, London N3
• I was among the 500 or so representatives of churches, mosques, schools, synagogues, trade unions, universities and youth organisations who attended the first annual assembly of North London Citizens. Unfortunately, I missed the opening progressive fanfare from shofarot, interspersed with readings underlining the call to action. I did hear the adoption of the social justice agenda: interfaith, Big Society and social action of the highest order. I believe Rabbi Wittenberg was present and anyone who has read his articles in the JC or seen his inspirational input into the New North London Synagogue would have found Martin Bright’s allusion to him as a “useful idiot”, abhorrent. Rabbi Wittenberg is marching in the footsteps of his teacher Rabbi Abraham Heschel, who campaigned for human rights with his friend, the Rev Martin Luther King. And we know there were extremists in the crowd that day. Better to engage with and defy the views of such people than to condemn them from the sidelines.
Neville Sassienie
sassienie@aol.com
• Martin Bright’s article raises a wider issue. The consolidation of the Anglo-Jewish community in North London and Manchester means that there are few Jewish voices to be heard elsewhere. Many Britons have never seen or spoken to a Jew. One of the few ways we can make contact with the wider British community is by participation in multi-faith activities.
Does Mr Bright suppose that Rabbi Wittenberg’s withdrawal from London Citizens would result in the organisation collapsing? Rather, it would be hailed by Muslim extremists as a victory and would marginalise the Jewish community even further. London Citizens involves 160 schools, churches, mosques, trade unions, synagogues and voluntary organisations, of which the East London Mosque is only one. Far from being a “useful idiot,” Rabbi Wittenberg is to be admired for fighting the Jewish corner — not always a pleasant task — and for providing a Jewish input to the London Citizens’ work, for example an amnesty for undocumented migrants and initiatives for safer cities. He also provides an ally for other member organisations threatened by extremism.
Bryan Reuben
bgreuben@gmail.com
• A pageant of schools and faith groups celebrates the diversity of their religious traditions in the East End of London. A day later, the JC launches the fiercest attack possible, linking the words “Jihad” and “Jews”. Synagogues and other Jewish communal organisations have a high degree of accountability. To whom is a JC journalist accountable? Should we, its readers, not expect the newspaper of the Anglo-Jewish community to uphold our expectations of responsible reporting? Synagogues such as mine and others involved in Citizens UK, understand that our raison d’etre extends beyond the scope of our internal realities, We want to work out what we have in common with our neighbours, and to work together to achieve change.
(Rabbi) Shulamit Ambalu
North London Progressive Jewish Community
shulamit.ambalu@ntlworld.com
• It would have been tragic if a Jewish voice had not been heard — particularly an inspirational one like Rabbi Wittenberg’s. Attendance was not an endorsement of Dr Bari’s opinions. But to have stayed away would simply have meant that those present would not have heard a Jewish voice. Martin Bright’s view that it would somehow have brought pressure to bear on the leadership of the East London Mosque might be described as “idiotic”. But then I would not use that kind of language.
Elkan Presman
Heath View, London N2
[JP note: A pageant of useful idiots?]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lutfur Rahman’s Tax-Avoiding Cabinet Member Buys Himself a Porsche
It’s been “Lutfur Rahman week” on the blog, as we look at some of the people around Tower Hamlets’ extremist-linked mayor. On Tuesday I introduced you to Cllr Shahed Ali, Lutfur’s cabinet member for the environment, who liquidated his restaurant business owing £25,000 to the taxman — though the restaurant continued to be owned by him, and continued to trade exactly as it always has. Tuesday, as it happens, was also Cllr Ali’s 41st birthday — and to mark the happy occasion, happy at least before the blogpost went up, he bought himself a Porsche. As Shahed puts it on his Facebook page: “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to. My new toy for my Birthday treat!”
That’s it in my photo — a Porsche Cayenne 4.5ltr 4×4 with a V8 turbo engine, currently retailing at up to £87,000. Being a Lutfur Rahman councillor must pay more than I thought…
To be fair, Shahed’s model appears to be last year’s, available on the secondhand market for as little as £46,000. But that, er, “saving” his company was able to make on tax must still have come in handy when he was amassing the pennies in the piggybank. Shahed receives just under £23,000 in “special responsibility allowances” from the taxpayer for his council role and is responsible for spending about £70 million of taxpayers’ money. But he told me this week he would not be paying the money his company owes in tax.
And has Shahed had yet another helping hand from the taxpayer, too, I wonder? In January this year, according to Companies House, he registered a new company, Arts Worldwide, giving his home address as a flat in Harkness House, Christian Street, E1. The flat concerned is a council property. You know, those things, subsidised with public money, that are supposed to be for people in urgent need. But Shahed owns at least four properties of his own — his Essex restaurant, the property next door, a flat in Cannon Street Road, Shadwell, and yet another flat in Manchester Road, on the Isle of Dogs. Whatever can his urgent need be? A parking space for his new Porsche?
It is perhaps just a coincidence that Shahed’s Christian Street flat first popped on to the public record soon after he announced his support for Lutfur, the man expelled from Labour for his close links with Islamist extremism. But there does seem to be a link between Lutfur supporters and Tower Hamlets council flats. In August, I exposed how Shiraj Haque, Lutfur’s chief backer and a millionaire, was the proud tenant of a housing association house in Bethnal Green, despite owning at least eight properties of his own, a chain of restaurants and a supermarket. Nothing’s too good for the workers, as they say.
PS We do of course have printouts, in case Shahed is tempted to change his Facebook.
PPS Lutfur denies links with extremism.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Minchin and the Nauseating Moral Cowardice of the Liberal-Left Trenderati
Did you hear the song Aussie comic Tim Minchin wrote savagely satirising Islam for Channel 4’s Eid special? No, I didn’t either. It didn’t happen and it never would happen: first because no broadcast station in its right mind would ever allow it; second because I don’t believe that Minchin would be stupid enough to write it. And I’m not calling Minchin out for physical cowardice on this issue. From the Danish cartoons to the Paris bombing, we’ve seen far too many cases of artists testing the right to free speech — only to find that where certain religions are concerned, such matters are strictly verboten. But what I am definitely accusing him of is hypocrisy and moral cowardice, as regards the banned song he wrote for a Jonathan Ross Christmas special likening Jesus to a blood-drinking zombie.
Personally, I’m sorry we didn’t get to hear the song. As one of those typical, laissez-faire, occasional churchgoing C of E types, I have no problem with having my religion being satirised. Also, the points he apparently made in it sound not just funny but also quite astute: yes, there definitely is something very weird about the New Testament story. In the performance Minchin likened the resurrection of Jesus to the 1978 horror film ‘Dawn of the Dead’, singing: “Try that these days you’d be in trouble, geeks would try to smack you with a shovel. Jesus lives forever, which is pretty odd, but not as odd as his fetish for drinking blood,” he sang while playing the piano before a studio audience and fellow guests including Tom Cruise and the cast of Downton Abbey. In a reference to the Christian doctrine of the virgin birth, Minchin sang: “Jesus’ mother gave birth to him without having sex with a dude, no she would never be that rude, never even been nude with a dude.”
When I Tweeted this morning in response to this “Really looking forward to hearing Tim Minchin’s fearless comedy song about Mohammed”, some members of his fan club — including the ephebically pouty-smile-tastic Prof Brian Cox, no less — Tweeted back that he had written a funny song sending up Islam called “Ten Foot C*** And A Few Hundred Virgins.”
Actually, though, when you examine the lyrics, you realise that the title is about as daring as it gets. Nor is it directed specifically at Islam. It’s an equal-opportunities offence number, which also has a dig at Christianity, rapture-based cults and religion generally. Sure, it’s brave even to broach Islam at all. But no way does it criticise Mohammed — or indeed, even mention him — with the same unbridled satirical glee Minchin deploys on Jesus (above) and has done in the past on the Pope. Had he done so, he’d be needing a bodyguard this Christmas.
Again, let me stress, this isn’t a plea to Minchin to acquire set of cojones and commit suicide through the medium of satire. I wouldn’t write a rude song about Islam if you paid me a million quid. Or even ten million. But what I equally wouldn’t do is compromise my integrity by laying heavily into one soft-target religion while treating a rival one, far more ripe for satire, with kid gloves. To do so would, I think, make me look a hypocrite and a fraud. But hey, why single out Minchin? The problem I describe is absolutely endemic among the liberal left trenderati. You find it with the ‘comics’ on Radio 4’s beyond-dismal The Now Show; with the team that fronts the even-more-beyond-dismal-if-that’s-possible-but-yes-it-is-it-really-is 10 O’Clock Live; with the creators of the daringly satirical Jerry Springer: the Opera; with that rag-bag of Paul-Nurse-worshipping, Establishment lickspittles who call themselves “Skeptics” — the Ben Goldacres; the Simon Singhs; the Brian Coxes; the that-comic-who-does-those-science-shows-saying-how-true-man-made-global-warming-is-whose-name-I-keep-forgetting; and the rest…
Sorry. I know it’s the season of goodwill to all men and stuff, but really: have these faux-edgy lightweights ever actually stood up for any cause in their lives which requires an ounce of moral and intellectual courage or originality of insight? I don’t mean showing solidarity with Palestine or boldly declaring how fraudulent they find homeopathy or saying how ridiculous they find Christianity or being rude about Tories or supporting student protests or any of that predictable, career-safe, spray-on-credibility tedium. I mean actually, for once in their lives doing something that puts them out on a limb, that doesn’t tick all the usual green-left-liberal trendy boxes,that runs the risk of them never getting invited back as one of the resident lefty chortlemeisters on Radio 4’s News Quiz? Course not. For all their pretence at out-there dangerousness, these guys are as safe and cosy and establishment as you could get. Truly, they are the veritable IKEA, the World Of Leather, the Mister Byrite of popular culture. I’m sure it pays the rent — but at what cost to their shrivelled souls?
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Sunderland Mosque Plan is Handed to Council Chiefs
A CONTROVERSIAL planning application has been submitted to build a mosque in Sunderland. Some Millfield residents protested earlier this year when the city council agreed to sell a disused vehicle storage depot to an Islamic community group looking for a new place of worship. Neighbours are concerned about parking problems and noise late at night. Now an official application has been made to convert the depot into a place of worship, community and education centre with a new frontage and two domed columns, and 20 parking spaces.
The proposals include separate male and female entrances and prayer areas, a library and social services facilities, washing and toilet facilities and a body preparation area.
Lib Dem ward councillor Paul Dixon said residents had genuine planning concerns, but feared their protests would be hijacked by right-wing extremist groups. He said: “I think there will be hell on when people find out a planning application has gone in. “We only found out by chance the council were planning to sell the site. We were told there wouldn’t be an application until at least the new year, and people wouldn’t notice any changes to the building. Now they’ve applied to knock the front down, built parapet walls and put a tower on each corner. The council has let residents down from start to finish on this one. I’m disgusted with them.”
The application was submitted by Mazhar Mahmood on behalf of the Pakistani Islamic Centre. No one there could be contacted for comment. If approved, the mosque is expected to replace an Islamic centre which has been operating for years in the same street without planning permission. Coun Dixon said the council should have been more open with residents, and now fears the English Defence League (EDL) aims to capitalise on public anger to grow support in the area. The EDL already has a leaflet drawn-up and a Facebook group calling for a halt to the mosque plans. Coun Dixon said Millfield was a very diverse area with people from many religious and ethnic backgrounds — including other branches of the Islamic faith — and a backlash over the new mosque proposals could cause problems.
Pauline Featonby-Warren, chairman of the Millfield Residents’ Association and a member of the Filipino Christian faith group in the area, said the mosque was too big and there were genuine concerns about parking and noise. There was also disquiet that the council had not sold the site on the open market. She added: “I also think it could look very out of place — next to an Aldi and a row of wee cottages.” Coin Clark, head of planning and property at the council, said: “This application will be considered on its merits having regard to national and local planning policies, and other material considerations. “As part of the statutory requirements for this type of application, nearby residents have been consulted by letter, whilst site and press notices will appear in due course. Interested parties have the opportunity to make representations through the planning process.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Waterstone’s Backs Down Over Mein Kampf
Booksellers Waterstone’s has apologised for inappropriately promoting Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf as a “perfect” Christmas present. But the UK’s largest bookshop chain has denied it is attempting to bolster sales of the infamously antisemitic work, despite the JC discovering several stores deliberately and prominently displaying the book. Staff at Waterstone’s in Huddersfield used a festive point-of-sale sticker to promote the book as “the perfect present” with an accompanying personal recommendation message by a staff member trumpeting the book as “an essential read for anyone”. Town-centre stores in Manchester, Liverpool and Cheshire have been displaying front covers of multiple copies of the book, a sales technique designed to attract the attention of shoppers.
The trend was first spotted by Jewish travelling salesman Jonathan Levine, 44, from north Manchester. He has now received an apology from Waterstone’s, after he complained.
Mr Levine said: “I would be most obliged if Waterstone’s would explain what lies behind the apparent zeal on their part to promote this disgusting work. When challenging one of the staff in Manchester’s Deansgate branch, I was told that it was ‘a Christmas bestseller which sold really well’. A dubious justification indeed for selling this hateful work.” A Waterstone’s spokesperson said: “We do not believe we actively promote this book; our customers are capable of forming their own opinions on whether to purchase it or not.
However, you do raise a couple of instances where we have obviously got things wrong. The book should not be stocked in any politics section, and our Huddersfield branch should not have used inappropriate seasonal stickers on the book. “We have instructed stores accordingly, and apologise for the offence caused. We will also communicate with all our branches at the earliest possible opportunity to remind them of the sensitivities surrounding our stocking of Mein Kampf.”
[JP note: Note the weasel word ‘sensitivities.’]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: When Islam Met the Diversity Industry …
by Damian Thompson
This week, I was told about a London primary school whose pupils are overwhelmingly Muslim. It isn’t having a nativity play. There was a plan to sing carols in a lesson, but parents banned their children from attending. Mixed swimming lessons will soon be a thing of the past. Canteen food has to be halal. “This is effectively a faith school — a Muslim one,” says a teacher. Maybe so, but a visit to the school’s website reveals that the school also has an official religion: multiculturalism. Two of the major festivals in the year are a “Red Card to Racism” sports tournament and Black History Month. And here there’s no conflict. No Islamic father has pulled his little girl out of a black history celebration, even if she isn’t actually black. (Many of the pupils are Muslims from Kosovo.)
I’m fascinated by the relationship between British Islam and public sector multiculturalism. We’ve got into the habit of thinking of the multi-culti brigade as fervent secularists. So they are — where Christianity is concerned. But they feel strangely at home in the company of Muslims whose beliefs are ferociously conservative. How odd, you might think, that an ideology emanating from Sixties American campuses fits so comfortably with one that emerged from medieval Arabia. I’d assumed that the initiative was taken by liberals who patronise Muslims while turning a blind eye to their social attitudes. But that was before I discovered the Islamic Diversity Centre (IDC). The IDC is based in Newcastle upon Tyne and calls itself “the only authentic source for knowledge on Islam in the North East”. Although it seems to be a small group, its website is beautifully engineered by an upmarket design agency. However, it’s the extent of its institutional reach that really impresses. IDC offers an “Introduction to Islam School Workshop” whose “trained facilitators… teach schoolchildren the beauty of Islam”. Staff from Catholic schools, among others, offer testimonials. There are also courses for NHS professionals and anyone in the field of equal opportunities. “The goal is to break down the stereotypes surrounding the Muslim community,” we’re told.
Hmm. That depends which stereotypes we’re talking about. It’s true that the IDC rejects Islamist violence and rhetoric. On the other hand, try clicking through to the profiles of team members. While there are photographs of the men, every woman is represented by an identical headshot showing a pair of eyes peeking out of a niqab. This is seriously conservative Islam, in other words. Its courses aim to inform, not convert — but at weekends, IDC staff can be found proselytising vigorously on street corners. They run a New Muslim Support Centre “to meet the needs of the burgeoning numbers of Muslim converts in the North East”. Significantly, it also acts as a “Diversity and Equality Centre”. Islam has a long history of accommodating itself to its host culture without watering down its tenets. In 21st-century Britain, that means pressing the Islamophobia button, and pressing it hard.
Would conservative Christians be allowed to extol the beauty of the Gospel in secular primary schools and hospitals? Don’t be silly. The public sector knows which stereotypes it’s happy to challenge and those it would rather leave undisturbed. The IDC is a “non-judgmental place”, according to its advertisements. No doubt that’s true — so long as you don’t count the stuff on its website about the unrighteous burning forever in “the fire of hell”. But somehow I doubt that the subject crops up in diversity workshops.
[JP note: Link to the Islamic Diversity Centre www.islamicdiversity.org.uk/ Be sure to have a look at the team www.islamicdiversity.org.uk/team.asp and the quote from its ‘What is Islam’ section: Islam in Arabic means submission to Allah, and it is the only religion or way of life which Allah will accept from mankind. It is more than disturbing that these people have access to schools and other venues, and more than enough to inspire my inner Islamophobe.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: 24% Fewer Tourists in Third Quarter 2011
33.1% decline in tourist from the West
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 21 — The number of tourists that visited Egypt in the third quarter of 2011 has fallen by almost 25%, reports the Egyptian statistical agency. The agency explains that the number of foreign visitors fell by 24%, from 3.6 million in the third quarter of 2010 to 2.8 million in the same period this year. Mainly Western tourists stayed away from Egypt: their presence saw a 33.1% decline. The number of tourists from other countries in the Middle East fell by 21.6%.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Parents, Have You Read Your Child’s Textbook Lately?
by Beth Wettengel
Although it is hard to admit, parents are guilty of overlooking some of the “fine print” in life. The best-intended parents (myself included), who check homework, instill values, run soccer carpool, and tuck in children at bedtime, sometimes get mired in the busyness of life. While making sure all the schedules and needs are met on the home front, we often miss what is right in front of our noses. Parents sending their children off to school trust that the kids are being taught accurate, unbiased, and morally correct information. We put our trust into a school system that spends more “awake” time with our kids than we do. Sometimes we are a little too trusting when we do not review the textbooks, look over curriculum, and ask teachers questions about their lesson plans. Before I go any further, I want to clarify that I am a believer and a product of public education. I have five relatives who teach or have retired from the public school sector. My children have been blessed with excellent teachers in the Sumner County school system who are responsible, competent and caring.
There are two areas that should be a nationwide concern for parents due to the pressure of certain political organizations and activist groups. I will only discuss one in this article due to the length. After checking my child’s homework one night, I found an entire chapter dedicated to Islam. I understand that the formation of religion is a part of history and therefore should be discussed briefly; however, the length and depth of material are completely inappropriate. In the Holt World History book, the Islamic World chapter covers the roots of Islam, Islamic beliefs and practices, Islamic empires and cultural achievements. (14 pages of Islam compared to three pages of Christianity). Christianity was covered in one section under the Roman empire chapter. Furthermore, the chapter of Islam was whitewashed from clearly explaining the aspects of Sharia Law, the treatment and rights (or lack thereof) of women, and how Islam is “tolerant” (or not so much) toward other religions. The textbook glosses over the spread of Islam through bloodshed of non-Muslims and points out that trade “helped” non-Muslims convert (page 363). The post 9/11-issued book explains that jihad is “to make an effort, or to struggle.” Only in the last sentence was jihad also translated as “holy wars.” Although 96 percent of all social studies text books have been revised since that horrifying historic event, one-third of the textbooks make no mention of 9/11 according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. Another disturbing discovery, the textbook refers to Allah as God several times. As a Christian, I find the interchanging of “Allah” and “God’s” name offensive. Any studied Christian or Muslim would attest that the two religions believe in two different beings as God. Why, then, are the two different beliefs of God being presented as one?
If you think I might be overreacting to the teaching of Islam in the classroom, allow me to elaborate on another “tool” that was used in a Bryon, Calif., classroom. At Excelsior Middle School, the teacher was supposedly following an instructional guide when she told students they would pretend to be Muslims for three weeks in order to learn what Muslims believe. According to World Net Daily, during this time they were required to wear Muslim dress, memorize verses from the Quran, pray to Allah, simulate Ramadan by fasting, use the phrase “Allah Akbar” (Allah is great), and play “jihad games.” When parents were not allowed to opt out, Christian parents sued the school system. Tragically, the federal judge in the 9th Circuit ruled that such activities constitute teaching “about religion” and declared the program devoid of “any devotional or religious intent,” and therefore educational, not religious in nature. In essence, the courts ruled against parental rights and religious freedom. Stories of similar cases rarely get reported. Cinnamon Stillwell, an opinion writer for The San Francisco Chronicle writes, “Islamists have taken what’s come to be known as the ‘soft jihad’ into America’s classrooms, and children in K-12 are the first casualties. Whether it is textbooks, curriculum, classroom exercises, film screenings, speakers, or teacher training, public education in America is under assault.”
Parents need to research materials and resources being used in the classroom. Ask questions. Be rational and civil when you talk to your child’s teacher. Remember that the teachers did not write the textbook. Do find out what points she/he intends to make. My child’s teacher was clear, upfront and reasonable while addressing my concerns. I appreciate the sense of teamwork I felt when I left her classroom. As parents and concerned citizens, we cannot sit idly by. Stillwell writes, “Probably the single greatest weapon in the arsenal of those trying to fight the misuse of America’s public schools is community involvement.” This means you! If even 20 percent of parents took an active role in the fight against indoctrination in the public schools, substantial improvements would be made.
Beth Wettengel is a Hendersonville mother of two.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
Beth
I'm pretty old now and it is 25 years + since I had a child in school. I find your report disturbing and, in my day, I would have raised hell.
At the time I WOULD have counted since I happened to be a a seriously senior officer in a neighbouring authority. No need for judges. My objection, in those days, would have been enough.
Except that even today the situation that you describe still does not happen here in rural England. I suspect that it soon may. So far the US seems to be going downhill even faster than Britain.
I remember in religious studies at my grammar school, circa 1960, that I got top marks for saying in class that all Gods were the same and that different religions simply regarded them differently.
How naive I was and now I know otherwise thanks to the Baron and others. At the time I was then still a fully practicing Christian who may well, then, have "turned the other cheek". At that point I hadn't discovered that members of my church were hypocrites. Not all but most. Same is true in this village which is why I rarely attend Church. I still though enjoy the rituals which give me comfort.
Today? Well today I still sort of believe yet my scientific background suggests that I shouldn't. I am I suppose now agnostic.
Whatever. I would never accept the clear disparity in teaching, to the benefit of Islam, which you now suffer. I would go bananas and so should you. The child should have the choice and every religion should be presented on equal terms if they must be presented at all.
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