House Votes 244-185 to Repeal Obama Healthcare Reform Law
The House voted again Wednesday to repeal the 2010 healthcare reform law, giving Republicans some revenge against the late June Supreme Court ruling that found the law to be constitutional.
Members approved the bill in a 244-185 vote, after five hours of debate that stretched over two days.
As expected, just a handful of Democrats supported the GOP repeal bill. Five Democrats, Reps. Dan Boren (Okla.), Larry Kissell (N.C.), Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Mike Ross (Ark.), sided with Republicans in the final vote. Of this group, all but Matheson voted with the GOP in a procedural vote on the bill Tuesday.
Republicans insisted on passing the Repeal of Obamacare Act, H.R. 6079, in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling, even though Democrats pointed out that the bill would be ignored by the Democratic Senate. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) cast the bill as a way to give the Senate another chance to heed the will of Americans who oppose the legislation and see it as something that has led to increased healthcare costs and hindered job creation…
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Longview Mosque Opens Doors to Public
Members of Longview’s Muslim community announced they will hold an open house Friday for the city’s first mosque. “This room is called the musallah, the prayer hall,” said Saleem Shabazz, spokesman for the Islamic Centre of Longview, who welcomed reporters into a green-and-gold carpeted hall that dominates the roughly 3,000-square-foot mosque on Amy Street in far North Longview.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pastor Arrested for Holding Home Bible Study
When you hear of a pastor being arrested for holding a Bible study in his home what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Must be someplace like Iran where Christians are persecuted, right? Not this time. It happened right here in the good old U.S.A.
Pastor Michael Salman arrested for Bible study
Pastor Michael Salman and his family live on about 4 1/2 acres in the Phoenix area. Salman is an ordained minister who holds a number of biblical degrees, but since 2005, they have chosen to gather like the biblical church, in homes.
“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house” (Acts 2:46)(HCSB).
Today, Michael Salman sits in jail following a raid on his home because the city doesn’t allow people to hold private Bible studies on their own property! Fox News quoted Phoenix City Prosecutor Vicki Hall as saying, “It came down to zoning and proper permitting. Anytime you are holding a gathering of people continuously as he does, we have concerns about people being able to exit the facility properly in case there is a fire.”…
| — Hat tip: Janet Levy | [Return to headlines] |
Visit Your Local Mosque This Ramadan
Research shows that American mosques have strong outreach in their communities, are involved in interfaith fellowship, and good works. Muslim congregants are patriotic Americans and good neighbours, writes Hesham Hassaballa.
On June 22, the Justice Department indicted a Texas man for threatening a Tennessee mosque that is currently under construction. According to the indictment, last September, Javier A. Correa left a message on the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s phone allegedly saying: “On Sept. 11, 2011, there’s going to be a bomb in the building.” This is the latest in a long-pitched battle in that small Tennessee town over the construction of a mosque. Opponents of the mosque worry about radical Islam and Sharia law: “We don’t want Shariah law. We don’t want a Constitution-free zone in Rutherford County [Tennessee],” said attorney Joe Brandon Jr. on National Public Radio.
Yet, the fight in Murfreesboro is nothing new. Muslim communities across the country have had to deal with angry opponents of the construction of mosques in their communities, including right here in my hometown of Chicago. Some of these fights are over traffic or storm water drainage concerns, but in many cases, there is overt hostility to Islam itself and, of course, wild suspicions of terrorism and impossible accusations of seeking to supplant the US constitution with Sharia. Anyone who looked at the facts about mosques in the United States would wonder why there is so much hostility.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Age of Extremes: Mehdi Hasan and Maajid Nawaz Debate
What’s to blame for persistent Muslim extremism — the violent appeal of political Islam, or botched western foreign policy? Mehdi Hasan goes head to head with Maajid Nawaz of Quilliam.
Dear Maajid, Assalam alaikum.
Your new memoir, Radical, exploring your journey from Hizb ut-Tahrir activist to self-professed “liberal Muslim”, is bold, fascinating and, at times, insightful. To be honest, I wasn’t always a fan of your work — and I am still bemused by the view in some circles that former extremists are the best (the only?) people qualified to identify and tackle extremism.
Nonetheless, you should be applauded for trying to answer one of the most uncomfortable questions of our time: what is it that turns a tiny minority of ordinary, young, Muslim men into fanatical, cold-blooded killers?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
France: Francois Hollande Falls Into ‘Trap’ To Look Like ‘Dwarf’ Alongside Coldstream Guards
Francois Hollande has been ridiculed in France for allowing himself to look like a “dwarf” alongside the Coldstream Guards — the battalion that won battle honours at Waterloo and then occupied Paris.
During an official visit to London on Tuesday, the French president inspected a Guard of Honour from the 1st Battalion of the Coldstream Guards at the Foreign Office. He then appeared in photographs alongside Major General George Norton, who looked around two feet taller than the Gallic head of state. Comments alongside the image on a website of pictures taken by AFP, France’s national news agency, suggested Hollande had fallen into a “trap” made to make him look ridiculous. “Poor France,” wrote Jean-Marc Rameau, from Paris, while Dmitri Kovaley mocked Mr Hollande, who is 5ft 7 ins, with the words “Dwarfs rule the world”.
[JP note: Among the shortage of garden gnomes constituting the world’s leadership — Bungalow Barrack, Cast Iron Dave, and Mutti Merkel, Mr Hollande is not out of place.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tree-Rings Prove Climate Was Warmer in Roman and Medieval Times Than it is Now — and World Has Been Cooling for 2,000 Years
Rings in fossilised pine trees have proven that the world was much warmer than previously thought — and the earth has been slowly COOLING for 2,000 years.
Measurements stretching back to 138BC prove that the Earth is slowly cooling due to changes in the distance between the Earth and the sun.
The finding may force scientists to rethink current theories of the impact of global warming.
It is the first time that researchers have been able to accurately measure trends in global temperature over the last two millennia.
Over that time, the world has been getting cooler — and previous estimates, used as the basis for current climate science, are wrong.
Their findings demonstrate that this trend involves a cooling of -0.3°C per millennium due to gradual changes to the position of the sun and an increase in the distance between the Earth and the sun.
‘This figure we calculated may not seem particularly significant,’ says Esper, ‘however, it is also not negligible when compared to global warming, which up to now has been less than 1°C.
‘Our results suggest that the large-scale climate reconstruction shown by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) likely underestimate this long-term cooling trend over the past few millennia.’
The finding was based on semi-fossilised tree rings found in Finnish lapland.
Professor Dr. Jan Esper’s group at the Institute of Geography at JGU used tree-ring density measurements from sub-fossil pine trees originating from Finnish Lapland to produce a reconstruction reaching back to 138 BC.
In so doing, the researchers have been able for the first time to precisely demonstrate that the long-term trend over the past two millennia has been towards climatic cooling.
‘We found that previous estimates of historical temperatures during the Roman era and the Middle Ages were too low,’ says Esper. ‘Such findings are also significant with regard to climate policy, as they will influence the way today’s climate changes are seen in context of historical warm periods.’
The annual growth rings in trees are the most important witnesses over the past 1,000 to 2,000 years as they indicate how warm and cool past climate conditions were.
Researchers from Germany, Finland, Scotland, and Switzerland examined tree-ring density profiles in trees from Finnish Lapland. In this cold environment, trees often collapse into one of the numerous lakes, where they remain well preserved for thousands of years.
The density measurements correlate closely with the summer temperatures in this area on the edge of the Nordic taiga; the researchers were thus able to create a temperature reconstruction of unprecedented quality.
The reconstruction provides a high-resolution representation of temperature patterns in the Roman and Medieval Warm periods, but also shows the cold phases that occurred during the Migration Period and the later Little Ice Age.
In addition to the cold and warm phases, the new climate curve also exhibits a phenomenon that was not expected in this form.
For the first time, researchers have now been able to use the data derived from tree-rings to precisely calculate a much longer-term cooling trend that has been playing out over the past 2,000 years.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Can the Coalition be Rebooted?
by Tim Montgomerie
Forget for a moment that most of us didn’t want to be here. Most Tory members didn’t approve of the kind of changes Cameron made to the Conservative Party. Most Tory members didn’t think much of the awful Tory election campaign. Most Tory members wanted to govern as a minority government, not as coalition. Most Tory members then wish we’d pursued a more ambitious growth plan. In summary — — The wrong modernisation. The wrong election campaign. The wrong post-election strategy. The wrong economic policy. Those four things are all true but we are where we are. Can the Coalition be saved?
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hundreds Flock to Crawley £1m Mega-Mosque Opening
A MOSQUE has officially opened after the completion of a five-year extension project, costing more than £1 million. The Broadfield Mosque, in Broadwood Rise, held its opening ceremony last Saturday (July 7).
The work, which included building new wings onto the existing masjid to create five classrooms, a library, two halls, the Imam’s flat and a new kitchen, cost £1.2 million. The funds were raised through private donations. Imam Mohammad Huzaisa Bora said: “We had a fantastic turnout. About 750 people visited the mosque throughout the day. The extension has allowed us to create a whole new floor for people to use. The first floor used to only have a gallery and office area but it is now much larger in size.” Prior to the construction work, the mosque did not have enough space for worshippers to pray, with people forced to stand outside, exposed to the elements. The building has been extended to about four times its original size and now has two large prayer halls, with separate facilities for women, and it can accommodate about 1,800 people.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Hate Meetings in Parliament
Here is Labour MEP Richard Howitt, properly standing up against extremism and hatred in the European Parliament:
Socialist MEP Richard Howitt has demanded an investigation after right-wingers allegedly “hijacked” parliament’s facilities. It comes following what the deputy called a “clandestine” meeting of European far-right groups on Monday. The British member has now raised the issue with parliament’s president Martin Schulz.
On Monday afternoon, Tommy Robinson of the English Defence League (EDL) spoke to the meeting and described himself as the president of the British freedom party.
The meeting was hosted behind the “cover” of the launch of a new front organisation called the International Civil Liberties Alliance.
Here is Labour MEP Richard Howitt, standing up for extremism and hatred in the British Parliament. Two years ago, Richard Howitt spoke at a meeting the the House of Commons organised by Palestine Telegraph founder, director, and racist Sameh Habeeb on behalf of the pro-Hamas Palestinian Return Centre. The speaker line-up included Baroness Tonge. Habeeb is famous for inviting the neo Nazi MEP, Krisztina Morvai, to an earlier and similar event. Howitt has also invited the Hamas funders and thugs of the Turkish Islamist charity IHH to the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
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[Reader comment by QM on 10 July 2012 at 5:55 pm.]
Nothing particularly extreme about the BFP either. Problem is of course that it’s not of the ‘left’ which means of course that it has to be labelled extreme despite the fact that the ‘left’ if history is to be believed has occasioned far more wars, strife and general human rights abuses than any or all parties of the right put together.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: I Stand With Mehdi Hasan Against the Torrent of Islamophobic Abuse
by Jonathan Freedland
By all means disagree with me below the line. But no one should have to put up with vile racism and bigotry
It’s a standard debating technique. Your opponent offers a counter-argument. You respond with a smile, saying, “You make my point for me.” It often works but only rarely is it completely true. One of those rare occasions has arisen right here on Comment is Free — via the thread below Mehdi Hasan’s valedictory piece for this site. Mehdi’s parting shot focused on the abuse he and other prominent Muslims regularly endure when they enter the public square, with insults often hurled via the medium of the online comment. Sure enough, many of those who disagreed with Hasan’s essay piled on to the discussion below the line to use language and imagery so vile it instantly confirmed the very case he had been making.
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[JP note: Plenty of commentators below the line seem to think that Freedland is standing on the wrong side of the line.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Jewish Group: Church Synod Israel Vote ‘Inflammatory’
The representative organisation of British Jewry has condemned the Church of England’s General Synod for choosing to “promote an inflammatory and partisan programme at the expense of its interfaith relations”. In a strongly worded statement, the president of the Board of Deputies expressed its concern over the decision at the Synod yesterday to pass a motion endorsing the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: NF Supporter Arrested During Swansea Protest Against ‘Muslim Rapists’
A 21-year-old man has been arrested during a demonstration by Far Right campaigners in Swansea. Police intervened during the demonstration in the city centre on Saturday organised by the South Wales National Front in Union Street. Officers made the arrest for an alleged racial public order offence. They also confiscated banners and posters to ensure there was no breach of the peace. The 21-year-old man is believed to be from Swansea and has been released on bail following the arrest.
South Wales Evening Post, 9 July 2012
As the NF’s own report makes clear, the demonstration was directed against “Muslim rapists” and involved protestors brandishing placards featuring the popular racist slogan “Our children are not halal meat”.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
US Child Beauty Contest Struggles to Host Irish Event
BOSSES of a contentious child beauty pageant are planning their first-ever event in Ireland, despite three separate snubs from worried hoteliers.
Chiefs of the Texas-based Universal Royal Beauty Pageant, which has been running competitions across the US for 18 years, are hoping to host their first-ever contest in this country in November.
Already three hotels have pulled the plug on a proposed event, fearing a backlash of protests from angry parents and regular customers.
But chiefs of the pageant claim they’ve been inundated by calls from over 300 parents of Irish toddlers, who they say “are desperate for us to come to Ireland”.
Texas-based organiser Annette Hill said yesterday she was still confident of running the pageant in November, shortly after she stages her first European competition at a venue in Manchester, UK, in October.
Ms Hill insists she doesn’t understand why her pageants are causing such controversy on this side of the water, adding yesterday: “I’ve seen videos of Irish dancing, with children who’ve had their hair and eyelashes done and wearing fake tan.”
But she said: “It’s proving very difficult to find a venue. Three hotels I’d been talking to have cancelled, because they’re worried about protesters turning up. It amazes me, because this is no big deal in America where pageants take place every day. But the media get on our backs as soon as we go outside America.”
Ms Hill also confirmed she’d be bringing over seven-year-old child pageant star Eden Wood who’s a household name in the US after featuring on hit reality show ‘Toddlers & Tiaras’.
Secretive
Eden has reportedly had almost $100,000 spent on her by her mother, including weekly spray tanning, photo sessions, catwalk coaching and dresses costing up to $3,000.
Although several secretive child pageants have taken place in Ireland since early last year, the sheer scale of Universal Royal’s events will cause concern to parents’ groups, who worry about the long-term psychological effects on children who take part.
| — Hat tip: McR | [Return to headlines] |
Without a Mosque, Greece’s Muslims Go Underground
Muslims in Greece are left to pray in basement apartments, coffee shops, garages and old warehouses, many of which are targets of arsonists, as the Greek government has stalled for over a decade in building an official mosque. “All the other religions here — Jews, Buddhists — they have a place but we do not,” Osama al-Najjar, 48, a petroleum industry supervisor, told SETimes. “If we want to observe our religion, we have to do it underground. We are not doing anything wrong,” he said. Naim Elghandour, 57, chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece, which claims nearly 18,000 members, said he has not prayed in a mosque for 40 years since coming to Greece from his native Egypt. There are over 100 makeshift mosques in Athens, such as in the basement next to a convenience store owned by Elghandour’s friend, Mazen Rassas. “It is not the same,” Elghandour told SETimes. “Without an official sanction, Muslims are also without an imam,” he said.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bosnia: Remembering the Dead of Srebrenica
On the anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, Sayeeda Warsi says that we need to remember the atrocity, to ensure it never happens again.
Earlier this year I stood in the middle of a beautiful, quiet valley in rural Bosnia-Herzegovina. As I do every time I stand there, I asked myself: how could somewhere so peaceful be the site of Europe’s worst atrocity since the Second World War? That spot in the Drina Valley is the town of Srebrenica, the place where — 17 years ago to the day — eight thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys were rounded up and murdered by Ratko Mladic’s Serb troops. Those hills are the place they fled their attackers. The nearby factory is where they sought shelter, and where they met their end.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Europe United Against Israel
Europe’s failure to run its own affairs doesn’t stop it from constantly interfering in Israel’s affairs
BERLIN — Just when the vision, or delusion, of Europe’s unity is facing a grave reality test, it’s amazing to see how one issue manages to unite the failing, disintegrating European bureaucracy: The grudge toward Israel.
Even the Euro crisis, which threatens to sink European unity into a new nationalist storm, cannot ease the inherent hostility of the European apparatus, located in Brussels, to the Jewish state. By now it looks like a sick obsession that blinds the patient’s eyes and prevents him from seeing his real problems.
Almost not a day goes by without the office of “foreign minister” Catherine Ashton or the EU “embassy” in Israel issuing a condemnation of Israeli actions in the West Bank, Gaza Strip or inside Israel. With zealousness that can only attest to disproportional devotion, EU emissaries — mostly with the help of Israeli collaborators who enjoy generous funding — monitor anything that could be perceived to undermine the rights of Palestinians or Israel’s Arab citizens.
For a long time now, the Europeans have not been protesting only matters pertaining to the occupation; rather, they are working methodically to undermine the very existence of Israel as an independent Jewish state.
Large sums of money provided to fund activities in different areas have created dangerous dependence between Israel and the European Union. Had this investment been aimed at developing human resources for the benefit of the EU there would be nothing wrong with it. However, the Europeans are aiming to exploit and rule: Take advantage of what Israel can give them, while at the same time dictate how it should conduct itself.
EU adopts Arab formula
An absurd situation has been created whereby the European Union, which cannot manage its own affairs efficiently, is working with great determination to decide for Israel how it should behave.
Meanwhile, the Europeans are pouring huge sums of money into the Palestinian Authority without a hint of criticism about Palestinian actions. Senior EU officials refrain from meeting with Israel’s foreign minister, yet preach for dialogue with Hamas. And in at a time where the Middle East is burning because of endless violations of human rights, condemnations are constantly being issued against Israel.
It appears that the Europeans have been taken captive by the Arab magic formula, whereby the conflict with Israel is at the heart of the region’s problems and only its resolution — that is, making Israel capitulate to Arab demands — will bring peace and stability. And please don’t bother the Europeans with other explanations. It could undermine their stability.
Israel has an interest in good relations with Europe. The European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, will be awarded an honorary doctorate from University of Haifa Tuesday “in appreciation of his firm stance against anti-Semitism, his work to commemorate the Holocaust and his devotion to peace.” However, the Europeans must understand that such ties can only develop on the basis of dialogue between equals, while completely refraining from any attempt to undermine Israel’s sovereignty.
If someone in Brussels is truly interested in fruitful, mutual relations with Israel, which has much to offer, they should start to change their approach.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza Presents: ‘Prisoners’ Summer Camp’
Hamas movement offers children throughout Strip unique chance to experience suffering of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Activities include tour of mock interrogation room, walking on rusty nails
Summer fun - Narrow hallways, interrogation rooms painted black, isolation cells and handcuffed mannequins — this is all part of the setting of a new summer camp operated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Islamic group has been operating summer camps for children in all cities and refugee camps throughout the Strip. This year, the organizers came up with an original theme — “the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners” — allowing children to experience first hand the daily lives of prisoners held in Israel.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Levy Commission in Israel Advises PM That Settlements Are Not Illegal
by Ted Belman
The legal tsunami gathering strength in Israel could engulf the world. A report is soon to be released that says the Fourth Geneva Convention (FGC) does not apply to Judea and Samaria, aka West Bank, and that Israel has every right to build settlements there.
In January of this year, Prime Minister (PM) Netanyahu set up the Levy Committee to investigate the legal status of unauthorized West Bank Jewish building. The Committee was headed by Supreme Court Justice (Ret.) Edmund Levy. It included Tel Aviv District Court Judge (Ret.) Tehama Shapiro and Dr. Alan Baker, an international law expert, who was part of the team that devised the Oslo Accords.
The Committee reviewed legal briefs from right of center groups but also from far left groups such as Peace Now, Yesh Din and Btselem. Its 89 page Report was submitted to PM Netanyahu a few weeks ago and is now under review by his Ministerial Committee on Settlements. Though the Report has yet to be formerly published, the contents are already well known.
It found that the settlements are not illegal. To reach this conclusion it first found that the Fourth Geneva Convention which applies “to all cases of partial or total occupation of the territory of a High Contracting Party” does not apply to Judea and Samaria because “Israel does not meet the criteria of ‘military occupation’ as defined under international law” … as “no other legal entity has ever had its sovereignty over the area cemented under international law.”
Furthermore, it found that there was no provision in international law which prohibited Jews settling in the area.
The UN and the EU have for decades repeated the mantra that the land is occupied and the settlements are illegal, both pursuant to the FGC. However, there has never been a binding legal decision on which they based their assertions. The US has been more cautious and considers the settlements “an obstacle to peace” or “illegitimate”. Nevertheless, it leads the chorus in demanding an end to Israel’s settlement construction.
In 2010, Nicholas Rostow, in The American Interest, regarding the legality of the settlements, wrote:…
| — Hat tip: Jerry Gordon | [Return to headlines] |
Russia Sends Warships to Syria
Russia despatched a flotilla of warships to its naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus on Tuesday in an apparent show of support for President Bashar al-Assad.
Two destroyers and three amphibious landing vessels carrying marines set sail from Russian bases in the Arctic and the Black Sea, according to Russian military sources.
Russia’s defence ministry insisted that the mission was part of a previously scheduled exercise in the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea and at least one of the vessels in the flotilla has patrolled waters off Syria earlier this year. But Western diplomats say the purpose of the mission is to show tangible support for Mr Assad, to warn the West against military intervention in Syria and to prepare for the possible evacuation of Russian nationals from the country.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A New Contract for Afghanistan
Afghanistan has at the international donor conference in Tokyo committed to meet the requirements of good governance, corruption and human rights, in particularly women’s rights. In return, the international community has up to and including 2015 guaranteed to provide financial assistance of 16 billion until 2015.
The Minister for Development Cooperation Christian Friis Bach said from Tokyo:
“It’s a robust result and it sends a clear message to the people of Afghanistan that we will not fail them when the foreign combat troops return home in 2014. It is a contract we have made, where we promise significant support to among others schools, health clinics and security with a clear Afghan promise of a continued reinforcement of the democracy, human rights, women’s rights and a stronger action taken against corruption and abuse. Denmark has committed to contribute 530 million DDK annually until 2017, if the Afghan government delivers.”
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[JP note: The wonders of Danegeld benevolence in the never-never land of wishful utopia.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Preston Mosque in Strife Over Telling Wives to Share Their Husbands With Other Women
VICTORIA’S largest mosque has been forced into an embarrassing back-down after women were told they must “fulfil the rights” of their husbands and share him with other women.
In a move that has outraged local Muslim women, at least one Preston Mosque committee member authorised a post on its official Facebook page instructing women that polygamy was a better alternative to divorce and husbands were “someone you share”.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Kenya: Muslim Leaders Pile Pressure Over Anti-Terror Bill
Nairobi — Muslim leaders and human rights lobby groups under the umbrella of the Muslims for Human Rights have vowed never to support the proposed Prevention of Terrorism Bill of 2012 until contentious clauses are amended. The leaders who spoke at a forum in Nairobi said the Bill is not acceptable in its current state. Human rights crusader Hassan Omar Hassan said unless the proposed legislation is amended, rights of Kenyans risk being violated blatantly by law enforcers in the name of fighting terrorism.
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| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mali: How the West Cleared the Way for Al-Qaeda’s African March
With the world’s attention elsewhere, Islamists and al-Qaeda have seized a vast area of northern Mali. David Blair reports.
A few days after desert gunmen swept out of the Sahara and captured Timbuktu, the city’s conquerors broadcast a message over its radio station. “We are going to welcome some foreigners,” the inhabitants of this ancient trading centre in northern Mali were told. “Do not be afraid when you see them: we must all welcome them.” A convoy of Land Cruisers duly arrived, laden with bearded fighters clad in sand-coloured turbans and robes. These were not rebels from the local Tuareg tribe, who had claimed credit for the fall of Timbuktu, but international jihadists from across the Muslim world including Algerians, Nigerians, Somalis and Pakistanis. This multinational parade drove home a harsh message: a new state had been born under the effective rule of al-Qaeda. Bewildered townspeople, who had only seen Tuareg insurgents up to that point, realised its true significance.
[…]
When Britain and France went to war to topple Gaddafi, they were inadvertently clearing the way for al-Qaeda to take control of a swathe of the Sahara. At first, AQIM allowed Tuareg rebels to take the lead, helping them to capture Mali’s three northern regions in April. Since then, AQIM has thrust the insurgents aside and become the dominant force in the area, acting through an offshoot known as “Ansar Dine”, or “defenders of faith”.
[…]
Al-Qaeda’s allies have imposed the rigours of Sharia, banning alcohol and music, blocking the local television signal and preventing radio stations from broadcasting anything but official announcements and Koranic verse. Earlier, Mr Maigar witnessed the flogging of a man and a woman in Sankore Square in Timbuktu, allegedly for having sexual intercourse outside marriage. Djenebou Traoré, 48, left the city in May after two men came to her door and demanded to know whether any of the women inside were unmarried. They would be handed to the new overlords for compulsory “marriage”. AQIM’s priority appears to be consolidating its control, rather than striking targets beyond the country’s borders. Officials warn this could change. “This could ultimately be the base to attack Europe,” said the diplomat.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
“The Fortunes of Permanence — Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia”
by Ruth King
It is summertime and the reading is hard. I am overdosed on the tomes that warn how our schools, our culture, our academies, and our justice system are failing. The “caliphate” is coming, capitalism is dying, pseudo environmentalism is ruining the planet and industry, we are on a downward spiral, the sky is falling and only obesity, the new bi-partisan national obsession, is going up. Don’t get me wrong. Most of those books are informative and worth reading, but I’m suffering from crisis fatigue and a desire for a touch of political amnesia and an Anthony Trollope novel.
[…]
His essays on Rudyard Kipling, Malcolm Muggeridge, G.K Chesterton, James Burnham (I confess to ignorance and James who?) are gems of information. A particular delight for me is the chapter “Rereading John Buchan. “ Buchan, who described himself as “high- low brow” was author of a spy thriller “Greenmantle” in 1916 which describes a German effort to manipulate a radical Islamist group in Turkey. Kimball quotes a protagonist in the book: “Islam is a fighting creed, and the mullah still stands in the pulpit with the Koran in one hand and a drawn sword in the other.”
There’s more. Kimball mines this from another character in the book. “There is a great stirring in Islam, something moving on the face of the waters….Those religious revivals come in cycles, and one is due about now. And they are quite clear about the details. A seer has arisen of the blood of the Prophet, who will restore the Khalifate to its old glories and Islam to its old purity.” Goodness gracious! Islamophobia in 1916!
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Northern Lights Oddity: Strange Sounds of Auroras Explained
The results vindicate folktales and reports by wilderness travelers, which have long described sounds associated with the northern lights.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
"...When Britain and France went to war to topple Gaddafi, they were inadvertently clearing the way for al-Qaeda to take control of a swathe of the Sahara.."
Inadverently indeed? I am nearly to believe they "inadverently" supported the Muslim cutthroats in Chechnya, Bosnia, Kosovo as well?
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