“Hitting the Wall” of Debt
Over the past two years I have written about our national debt. Earlier articles were about the “wall of debt”. In an attempt to translate the utter size of our national debt, I tried to relate the amount in means other than dollars. The dollar amount is staggering and incomprehensible. The “wall of debt” consists of dollar bills, laid flat and end-to-end, stacked on top of each other and stretching around the world at the equator.
On 01/04/2011, I wrote “How Much Do You Owe?” Our national debt had just passed $14 trillion ($14,000,000,000,000) for the first time. This amount related to a 19’ tall “wall of debt”. It was equal to a debt of $45,000 per citizen. If we were to pay off the debt at the rate of one dollar per second (with no more borrowing and not paying any interest), it would have taken 448,000 years.
On 06/19/2011, I wrote “The 20’ Wall of Debt”. The national debt was $14.437 trillion and the “wall of debt” had reached a height of 20 feet. At that time, it would have taken 457,797 years to pay it off one dollar per second.
UPDATE! We are now crossing another infamous milestone. This week our national debt will cross the $16 trillion mark.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
80% of Green Stimulus Money Went to Foreign Companies
Money from the 2009 stimulus bill to help support the renewable energy industry continues to flow overseas, despite Congressional criticism and calls for change, according to a new analysis of the program by the Investigative Reporting Workshop.
The Workshop was the first to report last October that more than 80 percent of the first $1 billion in grants to wind energy companies went to foreign firms. Since then, the administration has stopped making announcements of new grants to wind, solar and geothermal companies, but has handed out another $1 billion, bringing the total given out to $2.1 billion and the total that went to companies based overseas to more than 79 percent.
In fact, the largest grant made under the program so far, a $178 million payment on Dec. 29, went to Babcock & Brown, a bankrupt Australian company that built a Texas wind farm using turbines made by a Japanese company.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
At Least One in Three Dutch Entrepreneurs Back the ‘Neuro’
At least one in three Dutch entrepreneurs think the eurozone should be restricted to northern countries, according to two new research projects.
Just over half Dutch entrepreneurs back continuing with the euro in its present form, according to a survey of 500 company bosses by business website Z24.
Almost 30% opt for the neuro option — they would like to continue with the euro but restrict the eurozone to northern countries only. The rest would like to leave the eurozone with or without Germany, the poll shows.
Other research by the Panteia bureau published on Monday concluded 38% of entrepreneurs would like the eurozone to be smaller while one in 10 would like to step out of the single currency system.
The Z24 poll also showed Mark Rutte, leader of the right-wing VVD, is by far the most popular choice as prime minister under entrepreneurs. Second on the list is Hans Wijers, former CEO of Akzo Nobel and a prominent D66 supporter.
The VVD has the support of nearly 53% of the company bosses who took part. D66 is second on 10% and the anti-European PVV third with 8% support.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Austrian Building Boom
The Austrian building business is once again booming after the financial crisis fuelled by heavy investment in property as fears grow over financial markets.
In the western Austrian province of Salzburg business is booming the most. According to the latest statistics from Statistic Austria the volume of building contracts has increased by 80 per cent in the first half of 2012 in comparison to 2011.
In Vienna it increased by 38.3 per cent and in Vorarlberg by 33 per cent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bulgaria Shelves Euro Membership Plans
Bulgaria has halted plans to join the euro in the latest public setback for the beleaguered currency union. Speaking in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on Monday (3 September) in Sofia, Prime Minister Boyko Borisov and Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said the decision was the result of the debt crisis and the double dip recession facing the eurozone, along with rising public opposition to joining the single currency.
“Right now, I don’t see any benefits of entering the euro zone, only costs,” Djankov said, adding that disagreement between countries on how best to respond to the debt crisis made the prospect of euro membership “too risky for us and it’s also not certain what the rules are and what are they likely to be in one year or two.”
In January 2010 Borisov claimed that Bulgaria would take steps to join the eurozone with a target date of 2013.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Congress Investigates WH Taxpayer-Funded Payoffs to MSNBC’s Olbermann, Maddow
Still unsure where all of the president’s $831 billion dollars in stimulus went?
So are a lot of Americans, including a House committee currently demanding records on half a million dollars in phony MSNBC ad buys the White House procured to promote job opportunities that did not exist.
The House Committee on Education and the Workforce wants to know what, if anything, came of the over 100 “green jobs” initiative commercials purchased through the 2009 contract that ran exclusively on Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC programs. According to the Washington Times:
“Spending reports showed that no jobs were created through the contract. The Washington Times first reported on the contract earlier this month, quoting one taxpayer watchdog who questioned not only the lack of jobs but why the commercials aired only on MSNBC, considered the most liberal of the major cable news outlets.”
If the assertions of this inquiry prove correct, it is, like the Solyndra scandal and others, further evidence that stimulus money was used not to stimulate the economy as promised, but to sell the public on the perception that the President has been effective in tackling the financial quagmire that continues to unravel society and destroy jobs — all while subsidizing his allies with lucrative deals, or in this case, ad revenue.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Draghi Signals ECB Bond Purchases to Go Ahead
European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi has suggested a controversial bond-buying scheme will go ahead despite opposition from Germany’s Bundesbank.
Bonds with a maturity of up to three years could be purchased under the plan, he said, according to MEPs present at a closed-door meeting on Monday (3 September).
“I would expect, after this session, that there will be more bond-buying,” German Green MEP Sven Giegold told journalists after the meeting.
His French centre-right colleague Jean-Paul Gauzes said Draghi had explained that “he does not have a problem with the ECB buying two-three year bonds on the secondary market, as this does not amount to printing money.”
It is the first time Draghi has indicated the maturity of the bonds to be purchased. In a press conference last month, Draghi referred only to “short-term bonds” which could be bought if a country first makes an official request to the eurozone bailout fund to buy up its bonds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Economic Failure: 58 Percent of the Jobs Being Created Are Low Paying Jobs
Are you good at flipping burgers , waiting tables or stocking shelves? Are you proficient with a cash register? Do you enjoy doing mindless work for very low pay? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you are probably going to fit in very well in the new U.S. economy.
According to a report that has just been released by the National Employment Law Project, 58 percent of the jobs that have been created since the end of the recession have been low paying jobs. So exactly what is a low paying job? Well, the National Employment Law Project defines it as a job with an hourly wage between $7.69 and $13.83. But of course you can’t pay a mortgage or support a family on $13.83 an hour. Even if you got full-time hours the entire year, you would make less than $28,000 on an annual basis. The federal poverty level for a family of five is $27,010. So needless to say, most of these new jobs are not paying enough to support a middle class lifestyle.
[…]
The numbers compiled by the National Employment Law Project are absolutely stunning. Most of the jobs lost during the recent recession were mid-wage jobs, and most of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs. This represents a fundamental shift in our economy. Just check out these figures…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Markets Mixed as Moody’s Downgrade EU Rating Outlook
European stock markets fell Tuesday but the euro was firm and tension on bond markets eased following a Moody’s downgrade of the outlook on the EU’s long-term AAA credit rating from stable to negative.
Moody’s said its move reflected credit risks faced by key European Union budget contributors, including Britain, France and Germany, all of which now have negative outlooks due to the continent’s economic crisis.
“It is reasonable to assume that the EU’s creditworthiness should move in line with the creditworthiness of its strongest key member states,” a Moody’s statement said.
Despite the downgrade, the euro traded for $1.2605, compared with $1.2598 late Monday in London trade, owing to expectations that the European Central Bank (ECB) will unveil a new round of sovereign debt purchases on Thursday.
Major European stock markets were lower in midday trading, with London’s FTSE 100 index falling 0.73 percent, the Paris CAC 40 down by 0.36 percent and Frankfurt’s Dax off by 0.22 percent.
Moody’s said the main reasons for holding its highest rating for the bloc at the moment remained unchanged: its “conservative budget management” and “the creditworthiness and support provided by its 27 member states.”
Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands — which together account for about 45 percent of the EU’s budget revenue, according to Moody’s — also maintain a AAA credit rating.
The agency did not exclude the possibility of a future EU downgrade however, saying that a “deterioration in the creditworthiness of EU member states” could prompt such a move.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Public Pension Funds Stung by Facebook’s Falling Stock
COMMENT: Infowars reporters were able to accurately predict both the looting (evaporation) of public pension funds as well as much of the Facebook IPO scam as pump-and-dump benefiting key insider investors leading up to and during coverage of the 2012 Bilderberg meeting based on the attendees and their known agendas. Browse our 2012 Bilderberg archives to see this and other coverage.
Public pension funds from around the country took part in Facebook’s IPO. The shares fell Friday to a record low of $18.06, or less than half their IPO price.
Public employee retirement funds from around the country took part in the Menlo Park, Calif., social networking juggernaut’s May 18 initial public offering and plowed millions of dollars into Facebook stock before its value plunged.
Facebook shares continued their decline Friday, falling $1.03, or 5.4%, to a record low of $18.06, or less than half their $38 offering price.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tech Layoffs Hit 3-Year High in First Half of 2012
Everything the government does to regulate the Internet is illegal. The last time Congress addressed Tech policy they intentionally left the ‘Net completely alone. They authorized no one to regulate the Web in any way. So of course the Obama Administration has been in full-on regulatory Internet assault mode. And they are successfully killing it.
And this last week was yet another terrible one.
After $1 trillion in private investment, and in less than ten years, 95% of Americans have broadband Internet access. This is an extraordinary — nigh unprecedented — private sector success.
Yet somehow, for the third year in a row, the Obama Administration has asserted that U.S. broadband deployment is not happening in “a reasonable or timely fashion.”
So they propose a dramatically increased government role. The same government that in 1934 charged itself with making universal telephone connectivity happen (which is MUCH cheaper than Internet access). And started taxing us to do it. Seventy-eight years later, the government’s best year was 93% delivery.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Three Times as Many Americans Enter Poverty as Find Jobs
Following a brief period in which it seemed that US foodstamp recipients may have peaked, with those living in poverty maxing out at 46.514 million in December 2011, and then declining modestly for the next few months, June saw a new surge in those Americans living in poverty and thus eligible for foodstamps, with 173,600 new entrants into the system, bringing the total to a new all time high of 46.670 million and once again rising fast. Furthermore, with subsequent emergency events affecting the heartland due to the drought, the administration has made sure even more Americans will be eligible going forward. As a result expect the July and August numbers to promptly surpass 47 million on their way to the psychological resistance level of 50 million.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Reshuffle Rolling Blog
On this blog we’ll be bringing you all of the latest news from the reshuffle which is now underway…
9.45am …and now Iain Duncan Smith is confirmed as staying at Work and Pensions, according to the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn, as is Michael Gove at Education, if that was ever in doubt…
[JP note: Do the hot shoe Titanic …. ]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Apple Granted Patent to Disable Cameras According to Location
Apple was granted a patent last week that will enable it to wirelessly disable the camera on iphones in certain locations, sparking fears that such techniques could be used to prevent citizens from communicating with each other or taking video during protests or events such as political conventions and gatherings.
The camera phone has revolutionized the flow of information in the digital age. Any time a major event takes place, news networks and video websites are immediately inundated with footage and photographs from the scene.
That could all change in the future however, with a flick of a switch, according to U.S. Patent No. 8,254,902, published on Tuesday, titled, “Apparatus and methods for enforcement of policies upon a wireless device.”
It states:…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Set to Move Obama’s Big Speech From 74,000-Seater Outdoor Stadium to 20,000-Seater Indoor Arena
Democrats are poised to avoid the danger of President Barack Obama accepting his party’s nomination before a partially-empty stadium by shifting his speech to an indoor arena and citing ‘severe weather’.
The Obama campaign have been working desperately to ensure that the 74,000-seater Bank of America stadium in Charlotte would be filled.
Buses for students from across North Carolina and even members of black churches in neighboring South Carolina have been arranged.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Evidence: FBI Tracking and Monitoring Americans Via Smart Phones
Hacker group Antisec has leaked what it says is evidence that the FBI is actively monitoring the communications of every American using an iPhone.
The hackers released a statement Tuesday claiming that it had obtained detailed information on some 12 million iphone users, taken from an FBI agent’s laptop.
The group, long associated with the more notorious Anonymous hacktivist organisation, released 1 million iOS device IDs to back up its claims.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Google Denies Racial Profiling Via Gmail. Here Are Some Disturbing Questions it Still Needs to Answer
by Willard Foxton
Last year, a tech writer in the US launched an experiment to see if Google was racially profiling users of its popular email service, Gmail. The experiment involved using totally clean email addresses which had racially charged names, sending particular emails with common titles (e.g. “I Need Cash”) and then looking closely at the ads which each of different ethnicities were served. The experiment unearthed compelling evidence that Google’s email service would give radically different advertising to different people, based on them having an ethnic name…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
‘He Was Magic!’ Tom Hanks Pays Tribute to Green Mile Co-Star Michael Clarke Duncan, Affectionately Calling Him ‘Big Mike’
Tom Hanks has praised late actor Michael Clarke Duncan for possessing a touch of ‘magic’.
The legendary Forrest Gump star has paid tribute to his late Green Mile co-star, paving the way for fellow celebrities showing their support since the tragic passing of the 54-year-old today.
Tom, who shared the screen with Michael back in 1999 for the Frank Darabont-directed film, also affectionately referred to the gentle 6ft 5in, 300-pound giant as ‘Big Mike’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Internal Army Poll: Only 26% of Officers Say Army Headed in Right Direction — ‘Political Correctness’ Cited
An internal Army survey that was conducted in 2011 and published this year discovered that only 26 percent of active-duty Army officers say yes — and that one of the two main themes cited by those who say no is that the Army is now adversely impacted by “political correctness” imposed by both outside policymakers and senior Army leaders.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Mitt Romney Gave a Game-Changing Convention Speech. Rebranded as a Centrist, He Looks Like a Winner
by Tim Stanley
Mitt Romney’s convention speech may have redefined both the man and the candidate. It was like a reverse Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Mitt went to bed a pod person and woke up a human being. The speech was warm, humble and hit Obama hard. Most importantly, it sold Mitt as Mitt really was all along but struggled to show it — a technocratic, pro-growth business nationalist. This is the Romney that won Democratic-leaning Massachusetts in 2002 — a moderate conservative who can appeal to women, independents and perhaps even minorities. It’s a Romney that now stands a much better chance of winning the White House in 2012…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims Are Thriving in American Catholic Colleges
DAYTON (OHIO): Arriving from Kuwait to attend college here, Mai Alhamad wondered how Americans would receive a Muslim, especially one whose head scarf broadcasts her religious identity. At any of the countless secular universities she might have chosen, religion — at least in theory — would be beside the point. But she picked one that would seem to underline her status as a member of a religious minority. She enrolled at the University of Dayton, a Roman Catholic school, and she says it suits her well. “Here, people are more religious, even if they’re not Muslim, and I am comfortable with that,” said Ms. Alhamad, an undergraduate in civil engineering, as several other Muslim women gathered in the student center nodded in agreement. “I’m more comfortable talking to a Christian than an atheist.” A decade ago, the University of Dayton, with 11,000 undergraduate and graduate students, had just 12 from predominantly Muslim countries, all of them men, said Amy Anderson, the director of the school’s center for international programs. Last year, she said, there were 78, and about one-third of them were women. The flow of students from the Muslim world into American colleges and universities has grown sharply in recent years, and women, though still far outnumbered by men, account for a rising share…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Says Republican Ideas From “Last Century’
URBANDALE, Iowa (Reuters) — President Barack Obama tried to bolster his re-election campaign on Saturday with a fierce critique of the Republicans’ convention and a plea to supporters to cast their ballots as early as possible.
Speaking to a crowd of 10,000 in the battleground state of Iowa, Obama said rival Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans had offered no new ideas when they held the national spotlight for three days during their convention in Tampa.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
You Want Fair? Then You Want Communism
About 165 miles due west of me, as I write, the democrats are having their “Obama Love Fest” otherwise known as the Democratic Party National Convention, but known by conservative Tar Heels as the “Communist Convention.” It is one of America’s largest gatherings of Socialists, Communists, Marxists, Leninists, followers of Engels, plus their associated rabble in the streets, which include assorted freaks, anarchists, commies, and fruitcakes. All of this is taking place just a few short miles from my hometown—and it makes me sick!
The Democratic Party National Convention is about as popular to Tar Heels as a really intense case of chlamydia—and it is about as unpleasant.
This week we are going to hear the word “fair” used over and over and over by the communists who, long ago, gained total control of the Democratic Party. (If you are a democrat, you need to take a close look at your affiliation with that political party. It is not your father’s Democratic Party. It is now a communist organ and it is set on destroying your country.)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: Wild Boar Numbers Causing Farmers Problems
Austrian farmers have warned that the damage being caused by wild boars this year is at a record level.
The destruction being caused by wild boars is particularly bad in South Burgenland.
Horst Gratzl, a farmer from Deutsch Ehrensdorf in Gussing said he had never seen the problem as bad as now.
He says that from the 36 cornfields he owns 30 have been affected by the wild boars eating or flattening crops.
And he said the boars were becoming increasingly brazen, showing up during daylight hours which according to Gratzl has never happened before.
Kurt Kanzer, a professional hunter, says that the problem is the growing wild boar population for which there are different reasons.
He said the milder climate that was meaning more fodder in the wild also favoured the wild boar population.
The Chamber of Agriculture, the hunting association and Bio Austria (an organization of biological farms) are now working together to come up with a solution and are hoping to have a strategy in the next five months.
Until then some farmers are opting for their own measures for example securing fields with electric fences.
Hunters also shoot about 6,500 wild boars a year on average in the Burgenland area alone but this no longer seems to be enough to keep the numbers under control.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Bat Ye’or: Answers to the Conspirators
Recent articles in the Jerusalem Post and Der Spiegel confirm my analysis published in my book Eurabia.
Der Spiegel revealed that the German government documents related to the massacre of Israeli athletes in Munich in 1972 by Palestinian terrorists, suggest that Germany had secret contacts with terrorists. For years the government maintained secret contacts with the terrorist organizations to appease the Palestinians and the PLO and protect German soil from other terrorist actions.
These statements are consistent with those of Eurt Italian politician who held the State’s highest offices. He disclosed to the Corriere della Sera (July 2008) the secret agreements in the early 1970s between Aldo Moro, then the Italian Prime Minister, Yasser Arafat and PLO-affiliated organizations. Palestinian terrorists could enter and leave Italy and move freely. Protected by the Italian secret service they could with impunity store weapons and have bases. In return, the Italian Government requested immunity for Italian interests in the peninsula and abroad. Cossiga admitted having been aware of the existence of these agreements between state officials and Palestinian terrorists.
Cossiga’s disclosure that could be corroborated by other European leaders for their governments, confirmed the secret collusion of European Ministers with terrorism. Palestinian terrorist organizations enjoyed boundless admiration and sympathy in Europe among the many ex-Nazis and collaborationist regimes officials, former ministers, officers, diplomats, bankers, intellectuals and propagandists recycled under different labels in post-war Europe. They maintained links with war criminals exfiltrated in Arab countries like the Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al-Hussein. They recreated complex networks of political solidarity, economic interests that contributed to the emergence of a network hostile to the existence of Israel and the Judeo-Christian European identity. Eurabia was a name chosen by their followers to designate this policy.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Breivik Emails Published in New Book in Norway
A new book out in Norway on Monday publishes the private emails of Anders Behring Breivik, showing a killer fond of emoticons but largely devoid of emotion and illustrating his attention to detail in planning his attacks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Cyprus Still Waiting for Eur 5bn Moscow Loan
(NICOSIA) — Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly said on Tuesday that Cyprus is keeping up efforts to secure a five billion euro ($6.25 billion) loan from Russia for its ailing economy but that no decision has yet been taken.
Shiarly told state radio there was “no new development” on the Russian loan after Politis newspaper reported on its front page that Moscow had approved the loan and a formal announcement was imminent.
He was not in a position to confirm the report but the finance ministry was providing information and data required by Moscow, Shiarly said.
A Russian finance ministry spokesman, meanwhile, told the Cyprus News Agency that no final decision had been taken.
“The negotiations are continuing. The Russian government is negotiating with Cyprus and the loan has not yet been agreed,” said the unnamed official, adding that the process had “yet to be completed”.
Cyprus cannot raise the money on international debt markets because of its junk status credit rating and is in negotiations with international lenders for an EU bailout package.
It already has secured a low-interest, 2.5 billion euro loan from staunch ally Russia to meet its financing needs for the year, and is holding out for a fresh five billion euro loan from Moscow to soften the bailout impact.
Nicosia sought the EU bailout in June after its two largest Greek-exposed banks failed to meet recapitalisation requirements.
The government of the island, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, hopes a loan from Russia would ease the pain of troika-imposed austerity.
Cyprus’s economy contracted by 2.4 percent in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the same period of last year.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Denmark: Banedanmark Hopes to Put Brakes on Copper Theft
Rail company is now considering dropping the use of copper due to its popularity on the black market
National rail infrastructure company Banedanmark has had enough of copper thieves. After train service was disrupted once again this past weekend due to the theft of copper cables along an S-train line, the company is now looking at using other materials as a way to deter potential thefts.
Saturday’s theft of 100 metres of copper cable at the Åmarken S-train station was the third such incident in just a week, Claus Christiansen of Banedanmark told Berlingske newspaper. In order to dissuade thieves looking to make quick money on copper, which can fetch around 40 kroner per kilogram, the company has contacted scrap dealers throughout Denmark.
“We’ve done that to make them aware that there are a lot of stolen cables out in circulation,” Christiansen told Berlingske. “It is very easy to identify those cables which have been stolen from along Danish train track stretches.”
Although Christiansen didn’t want to comment on where most stolen cable ends up, he did tell Berlingske that he had heard of incidents in which lorries full of stolen cables have been stopped at customs points.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Europe’s Dangerous Autumn
by Gavin Hewitt
For Europe’s leaders and officials, the holidays are over. They owe a debt of gratitude to Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB). Ever since he said that he would do what it took to preserve the euro, the markets have been becalmed. Vacations have not had to be broken to fight the latest eurozone crisis. There has been much talking during August, but now difficult decisions have to be made — and the weeks ahead are full of dangerous stumbling blocks. Firstly, this Thursday the ECB holds a critical meeting. Mr Draghi will have to flesh out his plans. The expectation is that the ECB will return to buying the sovereign bonds of troubled countries like Spain and so lower their borrowing costs. The most likely outcome is for the ECB to indicate it will buy bonds, but only after a country has requested help from the eurozone’s current bailout fund, and agreed to conditions…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
European Parliament Partly Closed Due to Cracks in Ceiling
(BRUSSELS) — The European parliament building in Brussels has been partially closed following the discovery of cracks in beams over the plenary chamber, the parliament said Monday.
Cracks in three of 21 wooden beams were found during routine inspections but more work is needed to find the source of the problem, causing the administration to temporarily close part of the building, a statement said.
“The parliament has decided to take strong measures as a matter of precaution and prevention,” said spokesman Jaume Duch.
The parliament’s next plenary is scheduled to take place from September 10 to 13 in its other home in the French city Strasbourg.
The partial closure “is a fantastic metaphor for the structural weaknesses of the EU,” said British eurosceptic MEP Nigel Farage. “It is running out of popular support, the European Union and euro are both showing cracks.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Ex-Party Treasurer Accused of Embezzling Millions Denied House Arrest
Rome, 4 Sept. (AKI) — A court in Rome on Tuesday denied house arrest for the ex-treasurer of what used to be Italy’s largest left-leaning party meaning he must remain in prison as he waits to be tried for stealing millions-of-euros from his party’s coffers.
Luigi Lusi has been in prison since June after being arrested for embezzling the funds that could be in excess of 20 million euros from the now-defunct Daisy Party.
Luisi, a senator, says he is being made a scapegoat for what he claims was widespread pillaging of party funds. Italian political parties receive funds from the government.
The Daisy Party in 2007 was dissolved in order to merge with a rival centre left party to form the Democratic Party.
The court reject a request by prosecutors that he be granted house arrest.
The decision is expected to by appealed to the Supreme Court, with the defence requesting house arrest in Rome or a convent in the central Italian region of Abruzzo.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Little Interest in Russian at Finnish Schools
Business community worried over shortage of people with Russian language skills
It is Russian class in the fourth grade at the small Seutula School in Vantaa. The pupils have only had a few lessons in the new language. Teacher Raija Oiva uses name sings to test the children’s understanding of the Cyrillic alphabet. “We have learned letters and a few words”, Ronja Rundgren says.
The sight is an uncommon one, as it is the first beginning group in Russian in a lower-level comprehensive school in Vantaa in a number of years. Until now, those choosing an elective A2 language course at the Seutula School have taken either Swedish or German. The school is so small that they can form only one A2 language group each year. “We offer Russian every year, but there has not been enough interest”, says the school’s head teacher Sari Silander.
Russian sparks little enthusiasm at schools in other parts of the Helsinki region either.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Romania Wants EU Worker Restrictions Lifted Now
(BUCHAREST) — Gaining unfettered access to the European Union’s labour market is one of the Romanian government’s top priorities, Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean said Monday.
Romania and Bulgaria, two of Europe’s poorest nations, joined the EU in 2007 but their accession treaties had a seven-year transition period during which other members could limit access to their labour markets.
But Romania is pushing for these restrictions to be scrapped now.
“Our efforts to lift as fast as possible all restrictions to the working market in all of the European economic area will continue at the EU and bilateral level,” Corlatean said at a meeting in the capital Bucharest.
These efforts will especially target Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, Britain, the Netherlands and Spain, he said.
Other countries however have lifted restrictions, including Italy, Ireland and Norway, while France has relaxed some of its rules even as it continues to close Roma camps.
The European Commission has approved a request from recession-gripped Spain to bar Romanian workers from its labour market until December 31, 2012.
An estimated three million Romanians have emigrated in recent years, most of them headed to Italy and Spain.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Scottish Defence League Flops in Dundee
The humiliation of the English Defence League in Walthamstow has attracted most of the attention, but another flop for “counterjihad movement” took place in Dundee on Saturday, where the EDL’s sister organisation the Scottish Defence League staged a protest, primarily against a so-called “mega mosque” on the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education campus, construction of which is due to start this month, providing 70 jobs for local people…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: £1m York Mosque Plan Under Attack
THE decision to approve a new mosque in York without debate by councillors has come under fire. Independent Osbaldwick councillor Mark Warters has written to City of York Council planning chief Mike Slater and Hull Road councillors to express his dismay that a “significant change” to York’s historic skyline had been allowed “without the open, democratic scrutiny of a planning committee meeting”. He said many local residents had told him they felt let down that such a change had been agreed behind closed doors…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cabinet Reshuffle: Baroness Warsi Loses Job
David Cameron began his first government reshuffle last night by removing Baroness Warsi as Conservative Party chairman.
Sayeeda Warsi announced she was stepping down last night with a message posted on her Twitter account, saying it had been a “privilege and an honour to serve my party”. At the weekend she appealed to David Cameron to let her keep the post in order to win seats in the North, telling the Daily Telegraph: “I’m a woman, I’m not white, I’m from an urban area, I’m from the North, I’m working class — I kind of fit the bill. All the groups that we’re aiming for are groups that I’m familiar with.” The Prime Minister will continue shaking up ministerial jobs today in a shuffle that has raised doubts about the future of senior ministers such as Andrew Lansley…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: How the Left Went Bad
If I had to name half-a-dozen moral failures of the Labour years my choices would be…
| 1. | Borrowing during the good years so that the cupboard was bare when the rainy years arrived and leaving huge debts for the next generation; | |
| 2. | Creating a complex, demotivating welfare system that trapped people on benefits and discriminated against the two parent family; | |
| 3. | Allowing uncontrolled immigration that didn’t discriminate between the skills of migrants so depressing the wages and opportunities of Britain’s working class communities; | |
| 4. | A grade inflation in schools and a neglect of vocational education that means many young people are under-equipped to prosper in a competitive world; | |
| 5. | Creating new inequities between the private and public sectors — loading taxes on the private sector to pay for government employees to enjoy higher wages, better pensions, more job security and shorter hours than their private sector equivalents; | |
| 6. | Mishandling the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. |
Labour wasn’t all bad, of course and most on the Left are well-motivated. As a whole, however, the Labour Party has drifted away from its early moral clarity and has become chained to vested interests, dangerous ideologies, short-termism and materialism
[…]
[Reader comment by niconoclast on 3 September 2012 at about 6pm.]
If the Conservatives want to fight the Left on the moral battleground which is where it needs to fight they will have to reject and repudiate the whole Christian brother’s keeper religious rooted self sacrifice meme of altruism which underpins the whole rotten wretched stinking ideology of Socialism.Are they ready to do this?]
[JP note: The good is evil’s last intention.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: July 7 Survivor Faces Deportation From Britain
by Andrew Gilligan
A university lecturer injured in the 7/7 bombings faces being expelled from the UK even though he was born to British parents in a British colony.
In the frightening days after 7/7, John Tulloch was the face of Britain’s resistance to terror: bloodied, dazed, clothes in shreds, his picture appeared on newspaper front pages around the world. Sitting opposite a suicide bomber on a Circle Line train, he had been saved from death by his own luggage. He was visited in hospital by the Prince of Wales, who proclaimed him an example of the “resilience of the British people”. Prof Tulloch, 70, who traces his ancestry here back to the 14th century, was born to British parents in a British colony. He has a British wife, children and brother. He was raised and educated in Britain from the age of three, has substantial assets and property here and has lived or worked in the UK for most of his life, holding a series of posts at British universities. He even held a British passport. But now, his passport has been confiscated and he faces expulsion from Britain in the latest bizarre twist in this country’s “Kafkaesque” immigration laws. “I am totally gobsmacked by this,” said Prof Tulloch. “I’ve got a huge attachment to Britain. My family has served Britain for three generations. I’ve been banging my head against a wall trying to get this sorted out, but I’ve never before encountered so much frustration. It’s like Kafka.”
[…]
In July, this newspaper exposed the extraordinary story of Lance Corporal Bale Baleiwai, the soldier British enough to risk his life for this country in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, but now facing deportation for a technicality that no civilian would be caught by. Just as with L/Cpl Baleiwai, the Tulloch family’s service to the country might seem to qualify them for special treatment. In fact, it causes them to be treated worse than anyone else. Indeed, as British immigration law stands, Prof Tulloch would almost certainly have more chance of staying here if he had been a perpetrator, rather than a victim, of terrorism. [JP emphasis.] Last year, Ismail Abdurahman, a Somali convicted of providing a safe house for the would-be 21/7 bomber, Hussain Osman, was excused deportation after serving his prison sentence on the grounds that his human rights would be at risk if he was returned to Somalia. Abdurahman is one of at least 11 convicted foreign-born terrorists allowed to remain in the UK under such provisions. A UK Border Authority spokesman said: “It is the responsibility of an individual to check that they will not lose a previously acquired nationality or citizenship on acquiring an additional one.” However, Home Office sources said that it was still open to Prof Tulloch to apply for leave to remain in the country if he wished.
[JP note: The UK now is like one big total Kafka scene — note Walthamstow where peaceful EDL demonstrators are arrested and violent UAF types are not.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Nurses Are Being Forced to Clean Toilets and Mop Hospital Floors on Top of Their Patient Care Duties, Finds Survey
Nurses looking after patients in hospitals have also been forced to disinfect toilets and mop floors as hard-up NHS trusts cut spending on cleaning.
More than half of NHS nurses told researchers that they believed cleaning services for their ward were inadequate, with about a fifth saying their hospital trust had made cuts in the last year.
The survey of 1,000 nurses and health assistants revealed a third had cleaned toilets or mopped floors in the last 12 months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Parasite Linked to Cats Infects 350,000 a Year: Infections Linked to Dementia in Humans
A thousand people a day are being infected by a dangerous parasite spread by cats, a study has revealed.
Toxoplasma can cause birth defects, blindness and dementia and has been linked with schizophrenia and other psychotic disturbances.
Official figures to be released today show that around 350,000 Britons suffer infections every year. The link with Britain’s most popular pet will shock cat owners.
The animals are the primary carriers of the parasite because they are the only animals within which it can reproduce.
Humans, though, are most likely to become infected by the Toxoplasma gondii parasite from contaminated meat and vegetables or direct contact with infected cat litter.
Vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems are most at risk. The disease can cause serious damage to babies developing in the womb.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Self-Styled Muslim ‘Lord’ In Divorce Battle With Wife, 53, Over Live-in Pregnant Mistress, 33, Which He Claims is Allowed by Sharia Law
A self-styled ‘lord’ is fighting a bitter court battle against his wife who wants to divorce him for making his young mistress pregnant for the second time.
Houshang Jafari, 60, is fighting wife Aghdas Bidaki, 53, over an affair with a woman 20 years her junior.
Mr Jafari insists he is allowed a second wife under Sharia Law, the moral code of Islam and has moved mistress Katrina — who has dubbed herself Lady Jafari — into his luxurious £1.2million flat.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Arab Revolutions; What You Need to Know [Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre]
A Day of Discussion, Music, Performance and Exchange. Saturday 15 September 2012
Spend the day with activists and thinkers from the cutting edge of events, plus get up-to-the-minute news and analysis. Did you follow Tahrir’s 18 days? Do you care about Syria? And what’s really happening in the Arab world? Whether you think this is the spearhead of a global revolution, or you haven’t thought much about it at all — this event is for you. Curated by Salma Said and hosted by Ahdaf Soueif. Featuring Raja Shehadeh, Jamal Mahjoub, Omar Robert Hamilton, Maryam Al Khawaja, Sara Ishaq, Fadwa Soliman, Osama Muttawa, Rafik Omrani and many others.
Programme includes
11am — 1.15pm
The year that changed everything
News briefings from the revolutions — Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain and Sudan. Hosted and moderated by Ahdaf Soueif. Twenty-one months ago, Mohammed Bouazizi lit a spark that enflamed the Arab world. Now, the revolutions continue to grip the region. Where are they now? What are the new challenges facing them? How are they re-inventing themselves? Activists from different countries give an update from the frontlines of each revolution to give you an insight your television never could…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Mosque Helps Bosnian Muslims Stay Connected to Culture
Hundreds of Muslims gather in the Bosnian Islamic Association of Utica’s mosque on Court Street in the city for the noon prayer on Sunday, Sept. 2, 2012. Several thousand people attended the grand opening, which featured traditional Bosnian food and dance, a noon prayer in the new mosque and more.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Anchor Dons Hijab for 1st Time on Egypt State TV
An anchorwoman wearing a hijab head covering appeared on Egyptian state television for the first time in its 50-year existence on Sunday, sparking fears the move represents a further shift towards Islamism under the newly-empowered Muslim Brotherhood.
Under deposed president Hosni Mubarak, women wearing Islamic head coverings were only permitted to work behind the camera; however, in January, an Egyptian court overturned the prohibition.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Salafists Attack Hotel in Sidi Bouzid
Sidi Bouzid — A group of young Salafists, Monday afternoon, attacked a hotel in the city of Sidi Bouzid, damaged its equipment and destroyed a large quantity of alcoholic drinks.
This attack came after the announcement by Salafist groups last May 2012 of their commitment to ban alcohol marketing and sale, arguing that “many inhabitants demand the transfer of alcohol sale points outside the city.” Attackers had inflicted damage on the hotel equipment, particularly rooms, refrigerators and other equipment, without meeting with any resistance from hotel employees, reported TAP correspondent in the region, adding that there was no intervention of the security forces.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Frank Gaffney: Israel Betrayed
In October 2001, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon issued a prophetic warning: “Do not repeat the dreadful mistake of 1938, when enlightened European democracies decided to sacrifice Czechoslovakia for a ‘convenient temporary solution’.” He declared: “Israel will not be Czechoslovakia.”
Tragically, President Obama today is increasingly treating Israel as Western leaders did in abandoning the Czechs seventy-four years ago. He is signaling to a genocidal regime in Iran that the Jewish State is on its own — a signal like the one to which Hitler responded with the worst bloodletting in world history…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Arab-Muslim to Join ‘Green Lantern’ Comic Series
by Jeff Karoub
DETROIT (AP) — When DC Comics decided to blow up its fabled universe and create a brave, diverse future, Geoff Johns drew from the past for a new character: his own background as an Arab-American. The company’s chief creative officer and writer of the relaunched “Green Lantern” series dreamed up Simon Baz, DC’s most prominent Arab-American superhero and the first to wear a Green Lantern ring. The character and creator share Lebanese ancestry and hail from the Detroit area, which boasts one of the largest and oldest Arab communities in the United States. “I thought a lot about it — I thought back to what was familiar to me,” Johns, 39, told The Associated Press by phone last week from Los Angeles, where he now lives. “This is such a personal story.” Baz’s story begins in a standalone “zero issue” available Wednesday that’s part of a companywide effort to fill in the gaps or tell the origins of a character or team. Johns has no plans for Baz to fade into the background — the character in February is bound for the Justice League of America, one of DC’s premier super team books, to fight alongside Green Arrow, Catwoman and Hawkman…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Barack Obama Poised to Announce the ‘Red Lines’ That Would Trigger a US Attack on Iran
Barack Obama is ready to set out the “red lines” that would trigger a US attack on Iran if it continues to press ahead with its nuclear programme, it was claimed on Monday.
As his naval forces prepare to stage unprecedented manoeuvres in the Persian Gulf, the president is said to be seeking to match growing military pressure on Tehran by making an explicit declaration of what the US will not tolerate. Mr Obama has faced mounting criticism from Israel for failing publicly to state how far he is prepared to allow Iran to go before ordering military action. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, accused the president of lacking “resolve” on Sunday when he denounced the international community for not “placing a clear red line” for Iran.
[….]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Nasrallah: Islam Bans Possession of Chemical Weapons
TEHRAN (FNA)- The Lebanese Hezbollah movement strongly rejected the recent allegations made by the US and Israel about its willingness to acquire chemical weapons, stressing that Islamic Sharia (religious rules) forbids possession and use of the chemical weapons.
“We don’t have chemical weapons and we cannot use them for reasons linked to the Sharia and for humanitarian reasons,” he said in a live interview with Al-Mayadeen TV channel on Monday, rejecting the accusations that Hezbollah possessed chemical weapons. His remarks came in response to the claims made by some Israeli regime officials in July, who warned against the transfer of missiles and chemical weapons from Damascus to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Also in the interview, Nasrallah noted the Syria crisis and proposed that “a solution (for the) Syria (conflict) cannot be reached unless there is a ceasefire (followed) by dialogue between all Syrian factions”.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Italy Sends 30 Tons of Supplies to Turkey for Four New Refugee Camps
Rome, 31 Aug. (AKI) — Italy on Friday send a plane loaded with humanitarian supplies to aid more than a million refugees who have fled fighting in Syria.
The initiative was coordinated by the Italian Foreign Ministry working and given the go-head by Turkey where the 30 tons of relief supplies were sent.
The tents, stoves, cooking and other supplies will be distributed by the the International Red Crescent Movement in Turkey, where 80,000 Syrians have sought refuge from the civil war that has killed tens-of-thousands since violence broke out in March 2011, the Italian Foreign Ministry said Friday in a statement.
The supplies will be used to set up four new refugee camps near Syria’s northern border, the statement said.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Police Guarding Lebanese Ambassador Residence ‘Brutally Killed’
Damascus, 4 Sept. (AKI) — Armed men last week abducted and “brutally killed” two Syrian policemen whose job it was to guard the residence of the Lebanese ambassador to Damascus and the concierge , according to Lebanese newspaper As Safir.
The police officers charged with guarding Michel al-Khoury’s residence in Damascus were killed on Thursday, according to Tuesday’s report.
The residence is located in the Yaafor suburb where most ambassadors like. But diplomats have largely vacated the area amid sanctions against Syria to punish it for attacking civilians.
According As Safir, al-khoury and Lebanese charge d’affaires Rami Murtada are currently in Beirut and their return to Damascus depends on the results of an investigation into the killing.
The Syrian government, which is run by members of an offshoot of Shiite Islam, is supported Hezbollah, the largest Shiite party in Lebanon.
Some 26,000 people have died during around 18 months of violence that broke out during protests against the Syrian government. The United Nations on Tuesday said the fighting last month caused 100,000 Syrians to flee the violence to neighbouring countries like Turkey and Jordan.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Eyewitnesses Reveal Daraya Massacre Carried Out by U.S.-Backed ‘Rebels’
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
In an extraordinary account of the Daraya massacre by veteran journalist Robert Fisk, eyewitnesses reveal that it was U.S.-backed FSA rebels and not the Syrian Army who were responsible for the slaughter of 245 men, women and children.
The massacre, which took place last weekend, was instantly blamed on President Bashar Al-Assad’s forces by the global media despite video footage from the scene showing victims welcoming the presence of Syrian Army troops and blaming the violence on armed rebels.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Disappearing Middle Eastern Christians
by Srdja Trifkovic
Fourteen centuries of Islam have fatally undermined Christianity in the land of its birth. The decline of the Christian remnant in the Middle East has been accelerated in recent decades, and accompanied by the indifference of the post-Christian West to its impending demise. Once-thriving Christian communities are now tiny minorities, and in most countries of the region their percentages have been reduced to single digits. Whether they disappear completely will partly depend on Western leaders belatedly taking an interest in Christian plight and persecution. This seems most unlikely, as the examples of Iraq, Egypt and Syria demonstrate.
In Syria the Obama administration is fully committed to supporting the rebels, although it should be well aware of the ideological outlook and long-term objectives of Bashar al-Assad’s foes. They are Sunni fundamentalists. The partnerships forged thus far are ominous. The New York Times reported last June that CIA officers are operating secretly in southern Turkey, deciding which Syrian opposition fighters across the border will receive arms. The weapons are being funneled across the Turkish border “by way of a shadowy network of intermediaries including Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood.”
Syria is the region’s only remaining country where Christians live effectively as equals with their Muslim neighbors. It has the second largest Christian community in the region (after Egypt), some 2.5 million strong. Most of them are supporting President Bashar Al Assad amidst ongoing rebellion in the country because they prefer a dictator who guarantees the rights as a religious minority to the grim future that Assad’s departure might bring. According to George Ajjan, an American political strategist of Syrian origin, an existential fear about a bloody fate awaiting them—should the Assad regime fall in Syria—is the main driver behind the Christian community’s almost unanimous support of its policies:…
| — Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic | [Return to headlines] |
Axe Murder Complicates EU-Azerbaijan Love Affair
EU countries have criticised “strategic partner” Azerbaijan for making a national hero out of an axe-murderer.
On 19 February 2004 during a Nato seminar at a military school in Budapest, he walked into the bedroom of a sleeping Armenian soldier, hit him 16 times with an axe and partly decapitated his dead body.
On 31 August this year, Hungary put Azerbaijani lieutenant Ramil Safarov on a plane to Baku where President Ilham Aliyev pardoned him, promoted him to the rank of major and gave him eight years of back pay.
Speaking in the context of a 20-year-long ethnic conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, a senior Azerbaijani official the same day told state media that Safarov had “defended his country’s honour and dignity” in butchering the 25-year-old victim.
The official added that Aliyev clinched the deal personally with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Baku in July, fuelling speculation — and denials — in Hungary that Orban extradited Safarov in return for a promise that Azerbaijan will buy Hungarian bonds.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Burma: Myanmar Monks Protest Against Minority Muslims
by Rodion Michael Ebbighausen
In the central city of Mandalay, thousands of Buddhist monks have gathered to demonstrate against the minority Muslim community called the Rohingya. Myanmar remains deeply divided among religious and ethnic lines. A long row of monks clad in dark, red robes marches through the streets of Mandalay on Sunday (02.09.2012). Supporters and curious bystanders flank the streets. One banner carries a call to action: “Protect mother Myanmar by supporting the president!” They are the same monks who in 2007 protested against the military junta, according to Myanmar expert Hans-Bernd Zöllner. The junta, which supports current President Thein Sein, brutally suppressed those demonstrations. So what caused the monks to change their mind and support the military-backed president? “The Muslims and especially the Rohingya were always the whipping boys,” Zöllner told DW. The Myanmar expert said it’s a sad tradition that stretches back to the British colonial era…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Combat Stress in Afghanistan Could Alter Soldiers’ Long-Term Neural Makeup
by Joseph Stromberg
Some soldiers who serve in Afghanistan or other war-torn countries return home with visible injuries: concussions, broken bones or amputated limbs. Many others, though, suffer from injuries we can’t visibly see. The daily strain of being exposed to armed combat, enemy fire and unpredictable explosions can lead to a range of behavioral symptoms, including fatigue, slower reaction times and a difficulty in connecting to one’s immediate surroundings.
A new study of soldiers returning home from Afghanistan, published today online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hints at the underlying cause for these behavioral changes. Researchers from the Netherlands and elsewhere used neurological exams and MRI scanning techniques to examine 33 soldiers before and after a four-month deployment in NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, and compared them to a control group of 26 soldiers who were never deployed. The results were sobering-and indicate that a relatively short period of combat stress can alter an individual’s neurological circuitry for a long time.
As compared to the pre-deployment baseline tests and the control group, the returning soldiers’ brains showed distinct differences, despite the fact than none had suffered physical injuries and only one had exhibited enough symptoms to be clinically diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. A pair of different techniques using MRI-diffusion tensor imaging, which measures the diffusion of water in the brain, indicating tissue density, and fMRI, which measures blood flow in various parts of the brain-revealed that the soldiers’ midbrains had reduced tissue integrity and showed less neuron activity during a working memory task.
Working memory is related to sustained attention, the researchers note, which could explain the results of the study’s neurological performance tests. As part of the tests, the soldiers were asked to complete a complex, mentally draining task known as a dot cancellation test. When compared to the other groups, those returning from combat committed more errors in the task over time, indicating a reduced ability to pay sustained attention. On an individual basis, participants with a greater reduction in midbrain activity were more likely to be error-prone in completing the dot cancellation test…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Maldives Teenager Faces Lashing for Pre-Marital Sex
A court in the Maldives has ordered a public flogging for a 16-year-old girl who confessed to having pre-marital sex, defying UN pressure to drop corporal punishment of women, officials said.
The unnamed teenager was convicted on her confession under sharia law after her family complained that she has had sex with a 29-year-old man in July. The man was given 10 years in jail during a court hearing in the remote Raa atoll on Sunday. A court official said the girl, whose identity was not revealed, could refuse the public flogging and would then instead be subjected only to eight months house arrest under local laws. The court ordered the lashing to be carried out when she reached the age of 18. “In most cases, the offenders would accept the lashing as part of penance,” a court official who declined to be named said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Architectural Triumphs or Just Plain Pants? China’s Latest Superstructures Resemble a Giant Pair of Long Johns and the World’s Biggest Yorkshire Pudding
One has been trumpeted as ‘a dramatic, iconic gateway’ to the East that makes the Arc de Triomphe look like a mere ornament.
The other is a majestic, sweeping glass media centre that epitomises the daring architecture we have come to expect from the nation that gave us the magnificent Bird’s Nest stadium.
And yet anyone gazing up at China’s latest two superstructures may be forgiven for thinking they look more like a towering set of pants and an enormous Yorkshire pudding.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Hong Kong Protest Over School ‘Brainwashing’ By China
Thousands of protesters surrounded Hong Kong’s government headquarters on Monday over a plan to introduce a pro-China school curriculum that they describe as an attempt to brainwash students.
Chanting “No to brainwashing education. Withdraw national education”, some 8000 people denounced a Hong Kong government-funded booklet entitled “The China Model” they say glorifies China’s single Communist party rule while glossing over more brutal aspects of its rule and political controversies. One hunger striker was taken away on a stretcher on the third straight day of protests after fasting for more than 40 hours. The protests represent a challenge for Hong Kong’s new pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying, who took office in July, and who has come under pressure for policies that have highlighted underlying tensions as the financial hub becomes increasingly intertwined, economically and socially, with China.
Polls suggest Hong Kong public distrust towards China is at a record high some 15 years after the former British colony reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, with many fearing Beijing’s hand encroaching increasingly into the city’s cherished freedoms and political affairs…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Sydney’s Anglican Church Introduces ‘Submit’ Wedding Vows ‘After Fifty Shades of Grey’
Sydney’s Anglican Church has been criticised after changing the marriage ceremony to include a vow by the wife to “submit” to her husband — a pledge likened by critics to “reading Fifty Shades of Grey”.
The Archbishop of Sydney, Peter Jensen, known as one of the world’s most conservative Anglican bishops, defended the new vow as an attempt to combat the destructive rise of egalitarianism and individualism. He said the vow was “not an invitation to bossiness, let alone abuse”. “In the last three or four decades a certain egalitarianism has crept into society and the way people think and I understand that’s the reigning philosophy,” he told ABC television. “I just happen to think it’s wrong, unhelpful, and in the end we will find it’s better to recognise that men and women are different, that we have at certain points different responsibilities and men will be better men if we acknowledge that.” The new ceremony, expected to be approved by the diocese of Sydney at its synod in October, requires the minister to ask the bride: “Will you honour and submit to him, as the church submits to Christ?”. The bride then pledges “to love and submit” to her husband…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Shabaab and Post-Transition Somalia
by Abdi Aynte
For the first time in four years, the militant group al-Shabaab is not the center of attention in Somalia. Since the fighters were ejected from the capital Mogadishu a year ago by the African Union peacekeepers (AMISOM) and Somali government troops, they’ve sustained dramatic losses in central and southern Somalia — their traditional bastion. In the last few weeks, al-Shabaab fighters have been withdrawing from major towns ahead of an assault by AMISOM and Somali troops. This is a radical shift from their recent past, when they lost upwards of 200 ill-trained troops (mostly young pupils) defending the Bakara market in Mogadishu. Somalia’s largest market was by far the most important revenue source for the militants…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Germany Houses First Group of 195 Refugees From Shusha Camp
Medenine — An initial group of 195 refugees from Shusha Camp (Governorate of Ben Guerdan) from a total of 300 refugees, Monday, left Tunisia for Hanover, Germany.
Ambassador of Germany in Tunis Jens Plotner, who was present at the Djerba-Zarzis International Airport to supervise the departure of these refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq and Pakistan, expressed “the gratefulness of the German Government to the people of Tunisia who have accommodated and rescued thousands of refugees.”
This process is part of efforts to “find lasting solutions to refugees,” he said, emphasising that the choice of refugees meets “objective criteria, rather than ethnical and religious considerations.”
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Somali Danes Seek American Spirit
Delegation of Somali Danes take a trip to Minneapolis for integration inspiration
MINNEAPOLIS — A delegation of six young Somali Danes, two Swedes and one Norwegian visited the American city of Minneapolis last week to break bread with their Somali immigrant counterparts and learn how this city has integrated them into civic and economic life. Minneapolis boasts the largest Somali population outside of Africa and became a haven for them when the country broke into civil war in the early 1990s.
The exchange was initiated by the American ambassador to Denmark, Laurie S Fulton, in conjunction with the Danish Ministry of Social Affairs and Integration. Fulton said that young Somalis have trouble feeling accepted into Danish society and a recent trip she took to Minnesota inspired her to initiate the programme.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Scandal of Tens of Thousands of Bogus Students Free to Work in the UK
Tens of thousands of bogus students have been left free to work illegally in the UK by staggering Government incompetence, MPs revealed last night.
Border officials were accused of ‘ignoring’ the scandal, which dates back to changes to the visa rules made by Labour in 2009.
In a withering report, the powerful public accounts committee said the Home Office has taken an ‘unacceptably’ long time to make any attempt to deal with the estimated 50,000 illegal workers who arrived claiming to be students.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Deaf Preschooler Told to Change His Signed Name Because it ‘Resembles a Gun’
Tuesday morning, Grand Island School District in Nebraska was told the Spanjer family that they would not be requiring Hunter, a deaf preschooler, to change the way that they sign his name. Last week, it was reported that the school district wanted his name changed because they felt it violated their ‘no tolerence’ policy because his name sign kind of, sort of, maybe just a little bit, looks like a gun.
When deaf preschooler Hunter Spanjer signs his name, he does so by crossing his middle finger over his index finger on both hands and moves them up and down. His father says that this is a registered sign within S.E.E. (Signed Exact English) and he should not be made to change his name. The school board says that they feel his name is too close to the sign for a gun, which many teachers at the grand Island district feel is taking things a step too far as the signs are not similar in any way.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Reding Wants EU Law Imposing Gender Quotas
The EU commissioner for justice and home affairs, Viviane Reding, will table a proposal in October or November that would fine or sanction state-owned companies whose supervisory boards are composed of less than 40 percent of women by 2020.
The draft legislative proposal — seen by the International Herald Tribune and the Financial Times — aims to tackle persistent gender imbalances across the EU.
“Progress in the share of women on company boards is very slow, with an average annual increase of just 0.6 percentage points over the past years,” says the draft directive, reports the Financial Times.
Reding back in April said: “The economic case for getting more women into the workforce and more women into top jobs in the EU is overwhelming.”
Women currently occupy less than 14 percent of board positions in top publicly-listed companies, according to EU data published in January. In 2010, it was 11.8 percent.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
The Great Lie of Racism
In 1965, LBJ introduced Affirmative Action as the “next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights”. The new goal was “not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result.” And manufacturing equality first required manufacturing inequality to achieve a perfect balance. Equal opportunity in the free market was traded for an equal result in a planned racial economy. And it worked about as well as all planned economies do.
In the process, racism was conflated with socialism. Principled civil rights objections to government laws were the new racism. Obstructing the unlimited power of the Federal government had become the equivalent of bigotry. To truly support racial equality, one had to support racial inequality and to show one’s opposition to past government racial laws, one had to support the new government racial laws meant to redress those laws… even 60 years later.
[…]
Racism is no longer about race. Not when Bill Clinton was the first black president and Allen West is a racist for bringing fried chicken to a Congressional Black Caucus meeting. Liberalism is the new race, and it is a category that transcends and encompasses race. Liberalism defines race, allowing white liberals to be defined as black and black conservatives to be defined as white.
The race in racism is nothing but a symbol now, but since most people still assume that racism means hating black people, rather than questioning government power, it helps to have a half-black man around as a symbol of why abuses of government power are justified for the greater good of race relations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Former Asian First Minister: Global UN Police Force to Enforce World Government Dictates
Former Malaysian First Minister Harris Saleh: “The Security Council will pave the way to setting up of a World Parliament and a World Cabinet making the UN the most powerful and having full authority on earth.”
Yesterday the Malaysian Daily Express reported on a plea by former Malaysian “first minister”, Harris Salleh calling on the United Nations to reform itself, changing the current system to a single “World Parliament with member countries’ representatives as members”. This proposed parliament must co-exist with, as Harris explains, a “World Government Ministry” which in turn must direct a UN Police Force, to be deployed all over the world to enforce decisions green-lighted by the World Parliament.
“Make the United Nations the only authority vested with power and authority to solve country to country international finance, monetary and trade problems”, Harris states in his paper “United Nations Needs Reform and Restructure Very Badly”- which apparently he e-mailed out to all member countries at UN headquarters in New York.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
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When Baroness Warsi was stripped of her position as chairman of the Conservative Party we all thought, oh good. But now we are appalled to learn that she has been appointed the minster for faith and communities. It was no surprise that the leftist BBC now has a muslim as the head of religious broadcasting but the Conservative Party is meant to be the conservator of traditional England. Fortunately, there is now a group called Traditional Britain who are seeking to do that job for them.
As I see it a Pakistani muslim woman whose roots in England go back at the most 50 years is now in charge of the "white community", for our American friends we used to be called the English. Another expression for in charge of could be have the whip hand over, the term that Enoch Powell used when he predicted it in 1968. Not only have we been in this island for 11,000 years compared to her 50 but we have been christian as has our country for the last 1500. Yes, we are very very angry!!
This may explain the news that we hear today that David Cameron, the one worlders' henchman, is backing the move to ban the wearing of crosses in the workplace, telling us to keep our religion, the religion of what he recently said was a Christian country ( just trying to hold on to traditional conservative votes) at home.
I am now waiting for him to say that Sikhs must keep their turbans at home, burkhas and niqabs should be banned and even skull caps and Orthodox Jewish clothing be banned, too. Plus, no muslim just be allowed to absent himself from his desk to pray.
David Cameron is now revealing his true colours, the descendant of financiers and anti-Christian and pro European genocide. As for Baroness Warsi, a northern working class Pakistani muslim who would wrench her compatriots away from the Labour Party ( until the Muslim Party is formed ) perhaps she should spare a thought for the English working classes whom her fellow countrymen are increasingly displacing in their own country so that there is a real possibility of a breakaway islamic state in 20 years. If Mr Cameron were to suggest the repatriation of all muslims, as Enoch Powell did all those years ago, he would find the real working classes flocking to his side and there are still more of those for a few more decades than Baroness Warsi's working class Pakistanis.
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