Germany Raps Berlusconi’s Eurozone Exit Remark
‘Absurd’ to say German departure would not be dramatic
(ANSA) — Berlin, September 28 — Germany responded sharply Friday to ex-Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi’s suggestion the eurozone would not suffer too much if Berlin left it.
“Maintaining that a Germany exit from the eurozone would not be dramatic is absurd,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
Berlusconi, who stepped down when the eurozone crisis threatened to engulf Italy in November, has suggested more than once that mighty Germany might break away from the currency union as an alternative to struggling Greece leaving it.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
If Obama’s Economy is a Joke, Then What is Clinton Lying About Again!
The real question is in the last 4 years: What has Obama done to encourage innovation, education and job training? To answer the question substantially, and if you are honest the answer is nothing. It is true that you need to employ the middle class so they can pay the bulk of the revenue to the government. I don’t think Clinton means “strong”. He really means employed with real jobs paying taxes so we can reduce the debt caused by all the unconscionable government spending.
So far Obama has overspent about a trillion dollars a year. He didn’t have to deal with Katrina. He didn’t have to deal with 911. He could have gotten us out of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen etc. He could have spent money protecting our embassies and their personnel, but he was too busy campaigning.
In the end, Obama has nothing to show the middle class. Obama has made a lot of people rich. He has made bankers rich. He has made his friends rich by allowing them to move their factories to China and making it easy for them to sell their inferior products to Americans. Obama has made it easier for our American business phones to be answered in foreign countries. Can you find any reason to believe that Obama has done anything to make the middle class stronger?
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
by Heather MacDonald
The University of California backs a tax hike to support its ever-expanding bureaucracy.
The University of California, San Diego has done it again. Last year, it announced the creation of a new diversity sinecure: a vice chancellor for equity, diversity, and inclusion. Campus leaders established this post even as state budget cuts resulted in the loss of star scientists to competing universities, as humanities classes and degree programs were eliminated to save money, and as tuition continued its nearly 75 percent, five-year rise. The new vice chancellorship was wildly redundant with UCSD’s already-existing diversity infrastructure. As the campus itself acknowledges: “UC San Diego currently has many active diversity programs and initiatives.” No kidding. A partial list of those “active diversity programs and initiatives” may be accessed here…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Muslims May Convert Part of Hamtramck American Axle Plant to Islamic Center
HAMTRAMCK — Where machines once hummed in Hamtramck, Muslims may soon pray.
Hamtramck, a heavily Polish Catholic community where the Pope visited in 1986, has seen religious and cultural clashes as the Bangladeshi immigrant and other Muslim populations have grown.
More than 40 percent of Hamtramck residents were foreign-born in 2010, according to the U.S. Census.
Much of the public debate surrounded the issue of mosques playing a call to prayer, the “Adhan,” over loud speakers five times a day as required under religious guidelines.
In 2004, Hamtramck City Council approved an amendment to its noise ordinance to allow playing of the call to prayer.
A group “supervised” by Abdulrahman Bin Muhammad Al-Omaisan is in the process of purchasing a 32,000-square-foot building that is currently part of the shuttered American Axle Manufacturing Plant located in Hamtramck and Detroit along Interstate 75 at Holbrook.
“We hope to close within the next few weeks,” said Brent Beshears, a real estate agent for Colliers International, the company selling the property.
The listing price is $472,000. Planners issued flyers in recent weeks asking for donations to offset the cost.
“Many of the (mosques) are not fulfilling their legislated obligation, we have decided to establish a complete Islamic center in Detroit, Michigan and name it Abu-Bakr As-Siddeeq Islamic Center,” the pamphlet says. “We have named it after the best of the Companions — may Allah be pleased with them — because Allah has obligated us to follow them, be upon their guidance and remain steadfast upon their way.”
The two-story building with blue metal siding and no windows at 8904 St. Aubin in Hamtramck is bordered to the west by the plant.
American Axle purchased most of the surrounding lots about a decade ago and demolished the homes that once claimed them.
| — Hat tip: RE | [Return to headlines] |
Romney Won’t Challenge Liberal Media Bias
Longtime Democratic political operative and pollster Pat Caddell told the AIM “ObamaNation: A Day of Truth” conference on September 21 that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney should run against the press as well as Barack Obama. Romney should be strongly “pushing back” against the media bias, he said.
Caddell, who has become critical of the liberal direction of the Democratic Party, has recently declared that Romney is running an incompetent campaign. He said about Romney’s strategists, “They are incompetent, they believe that you can sit and an election will automatically come to you.”
At the AIM conference, he mentioned that criticism in the context of urging the Romney campaign to launch a vigorous attack on the major media. He said major news organizations are serving “as off-shoots of the White House press office,” and will destroy America unless their power is monitored, exposed, and checked.
He added, “Why isn’t Romney himself getting up and saying, ‘I’m running against two organizations—I’m running against the Democrats and the President, and I’m running against the mainstream media, which will not tell you the truth.’“
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Skirting Obama Booby Traps on the March of the Last Mile
Upcoming presidential debates won’t change anything, even though ego-driven mainstream media hosts will try to make you believe otherwise. For all but the wishy-washy, minds have already been made up.
The only thing left is not allowing anything or anybody stop you from getting out and casting your vote, one of the few freedoms still standing after four years of Barack Hussein Obama.
Don’t allow the news of the day depress you. It is part of the plan to demoralize you. Don’t get waylaid along the way by those hanging on to their free telephone like it is a lifeline. Don’t look behind you; don’t look away, don’t lose your focus. Keep a mental picture of your children and grandchildren in mind between now and whenever you get to exercise your vote.
On the way to the voting booth, you’ve being pummeled with faux poll results. The truth about the polls—they’re skewed—is the same truth about the presidential election. It’s not just another election, it is in fact the end of the line if the activist president who wants to fundamentally transform America gets four more years to continue his evil and deliberate mission.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Taxpayers Spent $1.4 Billion on Obama Family Last Year, Perks Questioned in New Book
Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks.
In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family.
Author Robert Keith Gray writes in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal” that Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sweden: Explosion Rocks Malmö Jewish Centre
Police were called out early on Friday morning after loud bangs were heard near the Jewish community centre in Malmö, southern Sweden.
“There as been an explosion. Something has detonated — we are certain of that,” said police officer Erik Liljenström to local paper Sydsvenskan early on Friday morning.
The police received a call shortly after 1am. Witnesses said they had heard loud blasts near the centre some 15 minutes earlier.
When police arrived at the scene they soon established that there had been some sort of explosion and that someone had tried to smash in the door.
There were loose paving stones lying among shards of shattered glass in front of the entrance, according to the paper.
While damage had been done to the front door, the building had not been damaged in any other way as far as the police could see, but according to witness statements the blasts were heard a few blocks away.
“I’m shocked that it’s happened now; that it’s happened at all. Jewish institutions are under constant threat, but we haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary recently,” Fred Kahn, head of the Jewish community in Malmö, told the TT news agency on Friday morning.
Shortly after 4am, police announced that they had identified one of the vehicles and brought two men in for questioning.
Both of the suspects are 18-year-old, according to Malmö police, who nevertheless believe that more people were involved in carrying out the attack.
No one was reportedly injured in the attack. According to the police, the men are under suspicion of destruction constituting a public danger.
“Now their going to be interrogated, then we’ll see. They weren’t caught in the act,” police spokesperson Anders Lindell told the TT news agency.
On Friday, Malmö’s Social Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu, who has previously been criticized for making controversial statements about the city’s Jewish community, condemned the attacks.
“It’s a terrible incident which damages different groups in Malmö as well as Malmö’s brand,” he told the TT news agency.
“It’s terrible and shocking when things like this happen.”
Reepalu added that he hoped police would be able to solve the crime quickly and that it doesn’t lead to heightened tensions in the city.
“This is a criminal act,” he said.
Earlier this year, Reepalu came under fire for comments in which he claimed that the far right Sweden Democrats had “infiltrated” the Jewish community in Malmö.
The comments were followed by a visit to Malmö from US President Barack Obama’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal, who said there is “no excuse” for using anti-Semitic language.
In 2009, comments by Reepalu prompted the the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in the United States warned Jews from traveling to Sweden’s third largest city.
| — Hat tip: The Observer | [Return to headlines] |
The Decade That Art Forgot (From Naked Emperors by Brian Sewell)
In one of the most defining essays from his new book, Naked Emperors, a revealing collection of Evening Standard exhibition reviews, Brian Sewell explains why he took against the conceptual artists and curators of the mid-Sixties and Seventies
It all seems so long ago and hardly worth remembering except that, at the time, in the haze of cannabis smoke it seemed so hopeful, innocent and flower-powerful, a time to reject the materialism of the past and escape into Kate Greenaway land. The first of those 10 years was marked by (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction sung by the Rolling Stones, and by the first shaven-headed children of the Hare Krishna movement; the last saw in sombre gloom the execution of Malcolm X and the election of Margaret Thatcher as the preposterous leader of the Conservative Party. In the years between, the Notting Hill Festival came into being, freedom was crushed by Russian tanks in Czechoslovakia, a human egg was fertilised in a test tube, a heart transplanted in South Africa, Greenpeace founded, Britain joined the Common Market and Bloody Sunday brought to a head the murderous divisions that had troubled Ireland since the founding of Sinn Fein in 1905. The years in question are those from 1965, in the middle of the Swinging Sixties, to 1975, when Britain was struggling to recover from the devastating effects of the oil crisis and an inflation rate of 28 per cent; they have now been identified by the panjandrums of the Whitechapel Gallery as a significant era in the history of English art.
[…]
Everybody of importance in the contemporary art world of the day was an angel too — the ICA, the Arts Council, the art magazines, the organisers of great international exhibitions — and the new art swiftly became invincible. Its apologists and propagandists founded what is now the universal jargon of criticism and theory, and their heirs have become the high priests of today’s Arts and British Councils, today’s Department for Culture, today’s Tate Gallery and Royal Academy, today’s art schools and universities, today’s new galleries funded by the Lottery and the Millennium Fund.
In revisiting this pretentious and dull trivia, the Whitechapel Gallery reminds us how arid it all was to both eye and intellect, and how utterly familiar it is, partly because the work of those contributing artists who are still alive has changed so little in the passage of a generation, and partly because so much of what they did has been done again and again by student imitators imitating imitations. It is all very well to argue that art must be disassociated from the skills of art, but to disassociate so far that the skills become disreputable, their exercise clear proof that the practitioner is not an artist, results in visual mayhem — though that is perhaps too exciting a word for literary and conceptual things that are incomprehensible without written explanations and obstinately unrewarding in any sense even when explained. When the students of the immediately post-Hockney years at the Royal College declared that “Every convention in art is now dispensable” and believed it, they were expressing with the glee of the adolescent iconoclast what Derek Jarman, their contemporary at the Slade, described with melancholy as “the final solution” — a phrase as telling in this context of culture control as in the history of the Jews, for it has indeed meant the death of art as once we knew it. This is the art at once of an Orwell world, preaching, hortative, domineering, and the art of the silly and frivolous, the art of those who, like communists, fascists and low-church Christians have a message and insist on delivering it, and the art of those who haven’t the foggiest notion of what their work may mean, but take the chance that to someone, somewhere, it may mean something.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Fire the Carers Who Scorned 147 Alerts Over Child Sex Gang’
BLUNDERING social workers should be named, shamed and sacked for ignoring an astonishing 147 warnings about Asian gang members grooming vulnerable white girls for sex, parents of victims urged last night.
Care staff were guilty of a series of “missed opportunities” which allowed nine mainly Pakistani men to entrap as many as 47 victims, some as young as 10, plying them with drink and drugs before abusing them, a damning report revealed yesterday. The independent investigation by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Board, which followed the jailing of the men in May for a series of offences, also condemned the police response in the Greater Manchester town…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
by Sue Reid
For 20 years or more, there has been a shameful silence about the sexual exploitation of young girls in this country. Hundreds of children — some of them still at primary school — have been groomed by street gangs and turned into sex slaves. And it is still going on today. When I have written about this subject after investigations in towns and cities in the North of England, I have been reviled as a hater of our immigrant communities in abusive emails, letters and phone calls by those who continue to deny such things are going on. For there is an uncomfortable truth about this abhorrent crime which we must not flinch from: the majority of girls ensnared by the street gangs are white, while most of the perpetrators come from the Pakistani and South Asian communities…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bullfinch Update: Child Exploitation is “A Sickening Slur on Our Society”
Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie YESTERDAY’S arrests may have shocked Oxford but for experts it was part of a disturbing increase in the sexual exploitation of children.
Over nine months last year, 15 British girls and a further 38 from other nationalities were identified by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre as being sexually exploited, while children’s charity Barnado’s said it dealt with 1,098 children who had been groomed in 2010 — an increase of four per cent.
Reports from both organisations detail how abusers groom their victims.
The report from CEOP, the lead agency for tackling the sexual exploitation of children revealed: “Child sexual exploitation is a complex crime.
“Perpetrators often act in network, grooming victims to believe they are in a genuine romantic relationship before sexually exploiting them.
“Some cases involve an element of trafficking, where a victim is taken from their place of residence to another town or city within the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation.” All the victims in the report were girls and chief executive Peter Davies said: “Our report showed that child sexual exploitation affects children of many different backgrounds across the country.”
Barnado’s report, Puppet On A String, said trafficking was becoming more common and more organised.
It highlighted cases where girls are groomed, often by a younger man, and then passed on to older men.
Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie said: “Too many children from all walks of life can so quickly be caught up in a world of drugs, violence and sex — this is a sickening slur on our society and we must do all we can to end it.
“Wherever we have looked for exploitation we have found it. But the real tragedy is we believe this is just the tip of the iceberg.”
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Crowd Gathers in Bradford in Protest at Anti-Islamic Film
Senior Muslims in traditional religious dress gathered early in sunlit Centenary Square, Bradford, today for a peaceful protest against the American-made film about the Prophet Muhammed. As they sat ringing the paved area, police kept a low profile as uniformed officers mixed and chatted with community leaders. But by 3.30pm the tables and chairs outside bars and restaurants in the area were discreetly moved inside as the number of protesters began to swell. Organisers, the Council for Mosques, expected thousands but half-an-hour into the rally the crowd was still only in its hundreds.
It opened with a recitation from the Holy Koran and before speeches began there was an impassioned appeal to everyone to keep calm. The speaker emphasised the protest was not about creating chaos. “It’s not about creating trouble,” he said. “It’s about registering our hurtful feelings that we all feel and that our beloved, beloved Prophet has been insulted in a disgraceful manner. We are here to show that we are not the troublemakers, we are the peace makers.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Child Sex Trafficking Case Police Arrest 13 in Oxford
Thirteen men have been arrested in Oxford by police investigating child exploitation offences.
Police said the men, aged between 21 and 37, were arrested following an investigation into exploitation of 24 girls aged between 11 and 16.
They have been arrested on suspicion of prostitution of females under the age of 18, trafficking, grooming and rape.
Four of the men have been released on police bail until 19 April and nine remain in custody.
Thames Valley Police said they believed the offences had taken place over a six-year period.
Twelve men were arrested during early morning raids with a 13th arrested on Thursday afternoon.
The suspects are also being questioned on suspicion of administering drugs for the purpose of rape.
Police believe gang members targeted British children living in care or who had run away from home and transported them around Britain.
‘Protect victims’
Det Supt Rob Mason said: “We believe we have uncovered an organised crime group who have been running a business of selling young girls for sex.
“We have also identified a number of customers who we have reason to believe have used this service.
“The warrants executed today are the second phase of this investigation and the arrests have been made to protect the girls from further harm.
“Our number one priority is to protect the victims, both their identities and wellbeing.”
Neighbourhood policing teams will be carrying out reassurance patrols in the area.
Oxford Commander, Supt Chris Sharp, said: “I understand today’s events will have an impact on residents.
“Policing teams will be issuing information about the operation with contact details if people need further information, or would like to report any activity in relation to this investigation.”
The police investigation was carried out in conjunction with Oxfordshire County Council’s children, education and families department.
Sheila Taylor, director of the National Working Group for Sexually Exploited Children and Young People, said: “As always, our concerns lie with the young people who have been victims.
“We are very pleased to see a complete multi-agency team approach to assisting the recovery of the young people.”
The men are being held in custody at an undisclosed police station.
Thames Valley Police said it expects to extend the custody for some of the suspects which will keep them detained until Friday.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
David Cameron has pledged to seek ‘fresh consent from the British people’ on Europe — if he wins the next election.
Speaking in a round of TV interviews in Rio de Janeiro, the Prime Minister said the fallout from the euro crisis would create ‘opportunities for a new settlement between Britain and Europe’.
He said he would give details of his new pledge later this autumn. But Tory MPs last night called for ‘action, not words’ and said any referendum must include an option to leave the EU if the Prime Minister was to restore his battered credibility on the issue.
It came on the da Mr Cameron visited one of Brazil’s toughest neighbourhoods, Mare Favela, just north of Rio De Janeiro, which is so dangerous it is not policed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A boy aged 14 today became one of Britain’s youngest ever degree students when he started his first day at university.
Brainbox Wajih Ahmed, from Chandler’s Ford, Hampshire, officially enrolled on an economics degree at the University of Southampton.
He picked up his new student ID before heading off to an introductory lecture as the youngest ever student at the university.
Incredibly Wajih isn’t the only genius in the family — his brother Zohaib achieved his second A-level in maths aged just ten.
But it is Wajih who is taking the first steps into Higher Education.
He is aiming for a first class honours degree to add to his already impressive haul of 15 GCSEs and four A-levels.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Cameron Prepares Series of Moves to Claw Back 100 Powers From EU
David Cameron is preparing a series of moves to loosen Britain’s ties with Brussels amid growing questions about our future in the EU.
The Prime Minister will push for the repatriation of more than 100 powers over justice, crime and policing.
He is also likely to veto the EU’s demands for a bigger budget and will give the clearest signal yet that the Tories will offer an EU referendum in the next Parliament, according to Government sources.
His plans put him on a collision course with Nick Clegg, who has described opponents of Britain’s membership of the EU as ‘insular’, ‘chauvinistic’ and ‘short-sighted’.
Mr Cameron is likely to make a major speech about Britain’s future relationship with Europe before a crunch EU leaders’ summit in December.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: EDL/Muslim Debate Initiative Event Cancelled
by Sarah AB
I grumbled slightly when I first read about this debate because I thought the way it was framed ‘Islam or Islamophobia — which is a threat to Britain’ was unhelpful. But I certainly had no problem with the general principle of holding a debate between Tommy Robinson of the EDL and a group called the Muslim Debate Initiative. Searchlight wrote a rather ridiculous letter complaining about the event — which it claimed was opposed by ‘real Muslims’ — and turning down an invitation to attend. Now Conway Hall has cancelled this event over security concerns. The MDI is clearly disappointed by this decision, and asserts that the objections, or threats, weren’t coming from Muslims who actually wanted to offer their perspective and answer the EDL’s criticisms.
That sounds convincing — and I’m sure the EDL were equally anxious to present their side of the case. I would like to know more about the circumstances of the cancellation, but my instinctive thought is to think it was a pity that UAF decided to demonstrate rather than participate. Anti-fascists ought to be able to articulate their concerns about the EDL — and, if appropriate, about the Muslim speakers should their views turn out to be extreme or unwelcome.
[Reader comment by tokyo nambu on 27 September 2012 at 9:43 am.]
Had, however, the meeting been being held by a bunch of Islamo-fascists, with an agenda mostly focused on blowing stuff up with a special guest appearance by video link by a couple of terrorists, Searchlight, UAF and the Quakers would have flocked to offer them support, succour and encouragement. That’s the world of the modern “anti-fascist” — supporting terrorism, so long as the terrorists are exotic, while having a fit of the vapours when the white working class in this country don’t toe the line.
[Reader comment by curious on 27 September 2012 at 10:08 am.]
Apart from the expression “ill-conceived debate” I especially like this sentence from the Searchlight´s letter: “We will be standing alongside anti-fascists, anti-racists and real Muslims to take the protest to the doors of Conway Hall and beyond, to help the bunch of quasi intellectuals that is the MDI to understand the reality of life in Britain today.” That reality probably means that it is Searchlight now who decides who is the real Muslim and who is just quasi-intellectual fake. Nice.
[Reader comment by tokyo nambu on 27 September 2012 at 10:18 am.]
That reality probably means that it is Searchlight now who decides who is the real Muslim and who is just quasi-intellectual fake.
That’s been a real problem on the left. Because Islam is exotic and exciting and gives nice white people the thrill of danger, there’s a tendency to assume that “real” Islam is the most violent headbanging variety, because that’s the most thrilling and transgressive. Richard Dawkins’ endless pursuit of straw men to attack means that he has his own set of tests for “real Christians”, which again means that he is now ready and able to tell many practicing and devout Christians that they aren’t really. He’s now expanding that ability to sense devotion in religions he knows little about to Islam as well. Labour’s anointing of “community leaders” was on the same basis: they always deemed reactionary and conservative elements as “more representative”, again because they seemed more exotic. We now have the laughable sight of Searchlight, under the guise of anti-fascism, essentially setting itself up as the arbiter of who is a coconut.
[Reader comment by Sarka on 27 September 2012 at 8:22 pm.]
gigi
Even with all my reservations about the EDL, I am very concerned about the multiple reports of this kind of persecution. I don’t think it’s fanciful to see this as a deliberate policy of not just trying to discourage EDL activism, but of pushing what activism there is in an extremist direction. When you put people under intense pressure like this, the less extreme and volatile give up, while the more extreme and volatile become more violent in rhetoric and easier to catch out for hate speech, conspiracy to circumvent police actions and so on.
One example is that Robinson was so frustrated by police tactics in Walthamstow that he said he would give up trying to organise own EDL stewards at demos to control supporters. After all, what was the point when the police did so much over-controlling of EDL supporters and under-controlling of Antifa/Muslim counter-demonstrators, who have no “stewards” at all?
But this is walking into a trap. The authorities (if not the police on the ground), probably would like nothing better than the spectacle of the EDL giving up the struggle to keep its own supporters disciplined. Compare this with the attitude to Islamist/Muslim protesters. Well, obviously the police/special branch do a great deal to track Islamist extremists — because of the terrorism threat — and many Muslims find this intrusive and oppressive. Yet Islamist/Muslim and Antifa protests and events would seem to pass off without any of this generalised police pressure on participants.
To me that strongly suggests that the police are much more genuinely nervous of the Islamists/Muslims than they are of the actual, on-the-ground, EDLers. They are shy of “strong-arming” the former, unless the provocation is extreme, and perhaps exercise great care in an effort to show a tolerance on the street that will counterbalance the resentments caused by covert surveillance, and to pursue the “Prevent” sort of policy that stresses the maximum of tolerance of any Muslim activism that stops short of actual conspiratorial terrorist activity. With the EDL, no such considerations apply, and it’s obvious from videos that cultural familiarity lends the police confidence when dealing with EDLers.
What the authorities fear, then, is not EDL extremism but that the EDL cause should be allowed to present any image of respectability. So — not really fearing EDL extremist actions, they can happily push the EDL in that self-discrediting direction. Meanwhile, the authorities do indeed very much fear Islamist or Muslim separatist extremism, and for that very reason, are motivated to police the mere street demonstrations of Muslim activism very correctly and relatively gently, not to risk radicalisations by excessive pressure on ordinary participants, and to treat them as respectable or semi-respectable expressions of political views.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: EDL Members Distribute Anti-Islam Pamphlets at Margate Mosque
POLICE were called to keep the peace after English Defence League (EDL) demonstrators targeted Muslim worshippers outside Margate mosque. Two men handed out anti-Islamic propaganda before Friday prayers last week, angering some members of the congregation who then reported the incident to police.
Salah Ansari, the imam at Margate mosque, said worshippers complained of EDL members distributing offensive leaflets outside. He agrees with the EDL that fundamentalist Muslims must be confronted but rejects the far-right group’s stance against mainstream customs. Imam Salah said: “People are free to hand out leaflets as long as they keep the peace.
“This is part of living in a pluralistic society. “We are all against extremism and fundamentalism and you can’t put all the people in one basket. I would advise them to educate themselves about Islam and ask if they have the same views of Jews and kosher.”
Officers attended to calm the situation but no arrests were made. A Kent Police spokesman said: “We were called to an address in Union Crescent at 1.50pm last Friday following a complaint from a member of the public about potentially racist material but officers found no breach of the law.” Pat Riot, leader of Thanet EDL, said: “Our aims are to highlight radical Islam through peaceful protests. “It is not a case of colour but a rather small culture within Islam that radicalises people. “We feel that honour killings, grooming of young girls, burqas or sharia law have no place in Britain.” The South East alliance of the English Defence League gathered in Thanet last weekend (see below) to discuss their movements and plan upcoming action to promote their views.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
An 81-year-old who collapsed outside a hospital was forced to lie in a gutter in the pouring rain, while an ambulance came from seven miles away.
Receptionists said there were no doctors available to assess Gladys Shepherd — so she lay where she fell in the grounds of Burnley General Hospital, Lancashire, while an ambulance was called from another hospital seven miles away.
Paramedics finally arrived 30 minutes later, picked up badly-bruised grandmother and drove her just 300m around the corner to the urgent care unit.
Her granddaughter Louise Woods, 26, who is heavily pregnant said: ‘My Gran was literally left lying in the gutter in the rain. I couldn’t believe it.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The country’s most senior judge said yesterday that the interminable delays in extraditing hate preacher Abu Hamza were ‘a source of real fury to me’.
Lord Judge, the Lord Chief Justice who heads the judiciary in England and Wales, said of the eight-year wait: ‘We really can’t have cases taking that long to reach a conclusion.’
He pointed to the European Court of Human Rights as the institution most to blame for the delay in the extradition of the hook-handed cleric to the US.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Institutional Racism is Keeping Black Children in Care
The Macpherson Report, which investigated the Metropolitan Police over their response to the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, defined “institutional racism” as:
“The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.”
I think “unintentional racism” might have been a better description. The term “institutional racism” implies that racism is an act of policy, determined by the procedures of an organisation. The police should be colour blind. They should recognise equality before the law and apply the law without fear or favour. Clearly in the past there were a lot of individual police officers who failed to maintain this standard. Does this mean there was “institutional racism”? True, not many police officers lost their jobs for racist behaviour — although I don’t think they were likely to be sacked for other failings either.
A few years later Sir Ian Blair accused the media of “institutional racism” on the grounds that more attention tended to be given to the murder of white people than of ethnic minorities. It is certainly true that journalists find some murder stories more newsworthy than others. But Sir Ian’s evidence for his claim was scant. Given the space devoted to Stephen Lawrence and Damilola Taylor I would be surprised if an exercise in totting up column inches would establish widespread racism among journalists. Still less “institutional racism”, in a sense that in any way reflected editorial policy.
However, there is one area where the decription of “instutional racism” could validly be applied. That is in relation to “Looked After Children” — the children in care. The discrimination concerns an issue of great importance for these children, that is their chance of being placed for adoption and the length of time it takes…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Just One GP for 500,000 Patients: The True Scale of Crisis in Out-of-Hours NHS Cover Revealed
Out-of-hours GPs are being left to care on their own for up to half a million patients.
Cost-cutting NHS chiefs are routinely assigning just one family doctor to districts that stretch over hundreds of square miles.
A third of primary care trusts, which manage GP services, have slashed night and weekend spending over the past 12 months.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Lord Ahmed Calls on Mosques ‘To Speak’ About Sex Abuse
Labour peer Lord Ahmed has called on mosque leaders in South Yorkshire to speak about the issues surrounding sex exploitation.
His comments follow a Times newspaper report of widespread abuse of girls by Asian men in the county. It prompted MPs to order South Yorkshire Police’s chief constable to answer the claims in Parliament. Lord Ahmed said: “It’s important that the community, rather than going silent… talk about it.” An investigation by The Times said a confidential 2010 report by the Police Intelligence Bureau detailed “a significant problem with networks of Asian males exploiting young white females, particularly in Rotherham and Sheffield”…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
A three-year-old boy was left with a burn on his head after a complete stranger stubbed a cigarette out on him.
Javid Lal was with his mother, Malikah, when the incident occurred in Hyson Green, Nottingham.
He was left with a mark on his head for two days following the random attack.
The youngster had been walking on the pavement with his mother when a man walked past them and then turned around, appearing to aim his lit cigarette for the top of the child’s head.
Miss Lal said: ‘It was absolutely horrifying. I’m so angry and upset. It breaks my heart someone could do this to any child, never mind my son.’
The 30-year-old said she was too shocked to go after the man and instead comforted her son.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: National Action to Fight the Child-Sex Gangs
by Andrew Norfolk
A new national forum to tackle the sexual exploitation of children is to be launched after damning revelations about the abuse of hundreds of children by organised groups of men.
Interviews are being held today for posts in the new “special interest” group, which will allow local authorities across England to pool information about sex-grooming networks, sharing the most effective ways to protect child victims and prosecute offenders…
[JP note: The rest of the article is behind a paywall.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Oxford Sex Ring is ‘Larger Than Feared’
Additional arrests are made in Operation Bullfinch as total number of victims estimated at over 50
Reports suggest that as many as 50 young girls have come forward claiming to have been exploited, following the high profile arrests of thirteen Oxford residents last month.
It was originally thought there were 24 victims, aged between 11 and 16 years, but more girls have since contacted the police alleging they were also abused.
Thames Valley Police have also made two more arrests in connection with the ongoing inquiry, bringing the total to 15 people.
A 39 year old man was arrested on Tuesday 10th April on suspicion of grooming and has been released on police bail until 10 May. He was out of the country when officers made the original arrests on 22 March.
A 40 year old woman was arrested on Wednesday 11th April on suspicion of grooming but was released without charge.
The news follows Operation Bullfinch, led by Thames Valley Police and assisted by Oxfordshire County Council, which revealed that a “criminal gang” of had groomed, drugged and raped vulnerable individuals over a period of six years. Thirteen men were arrested.
Esther Davidson, from the group Oxford Community Against Trafficking said, “The essential thing to realise is that human trafficking and sexual exploitation are happening on an appalling scale — not just in places like Eastern Europe or Cambodia, but in towns and cities right across Britain. We are not immune. Members of our society are involved.
“But because this is a hidden crime, we all need to keep our eyes open. If you are concerned that someone might be being coerced into exploitation, you can tell Crimestoppers safely and anonymously. The good news is that anyone can make a difference. And students have a particular role to play in raising awareness. We need every creative way of waking people up.”
OUSU’s Vice President for women, Yuan Yang, added, “Sex trafficking and forced prostitution stem from treating people as objects, not as humans. We can all stand against sexual violence by making sure to demonstrate respect to other human beings in our own lives. This can be as simple as making sure that people we have sex with are fully consenting, or as courageous as calling someone out on a sexually abusive joke.”
Last month Oxford residents Zehsan Ahmed, Kamar Jamil, Akhtar Dogar, Anjum Dogar, Mohammed Karrar and Bassan Karrar were all charged for crimes relating to child explotation.
The other seven men who had previously been arrested and bailed in connection with the inquiry answered their bail on Thursday 12th April and it has been extended until 7 June.
| — Hat tip: Seneca III | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Panel to Look Into Wedding Claims at Peterborough Mosque
An independent panel will investigate an imam alleged to have offered to carry out underage marriages at the Husaini Islamic Centre in Peterborough. Earlier this month a Sunday newspaper alleged imam Mohamed Kassamali, who works at the Husaini Islamic Centre in Burton Street, Peterborough, had told an undercover reporter it was possible to arrange the marriage of a 12-year-old girl and a man in his 20s. Following the reports in The Sunday Times on September 9, Imam Kassamali agreed to step aside for an investigation to take place.
Now Cambridgeshire police have confirmed that following a voluntary interview with the imam no criminal action will be taken following the publication of the allegations, as there was no evidence of any criminal activity taking place at the mosque. A panel, featuring religious experts and community leaders, has also been set up at the Islamic centre to investigate the claims further and it has already held its first meeting. A spokesman for the centre said: “An independent panel of cross-community experts has held its first meeting and is now considering the case of the Husaini Islamic Centre imam, Mohamed Kassamali, following comments made about the possibility of underage marriage reported in The Sunday Times newspaper.
“The seven panellists include a former senior police officer and specialist in child protection; a high-profile Islamic scholar and interfaith specialist from the Muslim Council of Britain; an Arabic and Islamic specialist and educationalist; a former BBC head of religion; a local social worker; and a local human rights lawyer. They will consider all aspects surrounding the case and make their recommendations to the management committee of the Husaini Islamic Centre in the coming weeks.”
The imam has not returned to work at the mosque since the allegations were reported. East Ward councillor Nabil Shabbir said he was pleased with the panel of experts that had been selected to conduct the enquiry. He said: “I welcome the news a panel has been set up to investigate the claims. It is also very pleasing to see no criminal action is being taken.
“As far as I know, and the police appear to have confirmed this, no crime has been committed in this case. Imam Kassamali is a very respected member of the community and has done a lot of good work for the city. He is held in high esteem by the public, so it is important there is a proper investigation into this. Nothing illegal happened at the mosque.”
Following the report’s publication, police confirmed there had been no reports of forced marriages in Peterborough.
[JP note: Everything hunky-dory in Peterborough then and it would be racist to suggest otherwise.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Rochdale Child Sex Ring: Council Head to be Questioned by MPs
Leader to be asked why social workers ‘missed opportunities’, as lawyer for victims considers legal action against authority
The head of Rochdale council will be questioned by MPs over why his social workers “missed opportunities” to stop the sexual exploitation of young girls, it has emerged, as a lawyer for some of the victims said it was “very likely” they would take legal action against the local authority. A critical review into child protection in the area was released on Thursday and Keith Vaz, the Labour chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, said he had been “deeply concerned” at its findings. He said the council’s chief executive, Jim Taylor, would be summoned to appear before MPs. “As part of its ongoing inquiry into grooming, the committee will be recalling the chief executive of Rochdale council to explain why social services missed opportunities to stop the exploitation of vulnerable girls, what is being done to ensure agencies are now working together to keep them safe and how individuals responsible for the failings will be held to account,” he said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Rochdale Child Sex Ring: Did Political Correctness Delay Justice?
Critics question whether social services failed to act because of the ethnicity of the suspects
DID political correctness delay the authorities’ pursuit of the Rochdale sex abuse gang? An inquiry that found social services and police had “missed opportunities” to help victims of the Rochdale sex abuse gang has revived the national debate about whether race was a factor in the case. The report, published yesterday by the Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board, into the grooming and rape of young teenagers in Rochdale revealed systemic failures by social workers, police and officials from the Crown Prosecution Service. It has prompted a new national forum to be set up to help pool information about sex-grooming networks between authorities.
But, as one of the victim’s fathers has pointed out, there was no reference to the question of race or whether it played a part in the authorities’ unwillingness to act. The fact that nearly all the victims were white girls and the gang was predominantly of Pakistani origin sparked wide debate and far-right demonstrations when the nine men were jailed at Liverpool Crown Court in May.
Judge Gerald Clifton himself told the gang during the trial that he believed that “one of the factors that led to that was that they were not of your community or religion”. This morning, former home secretary Jack Straw insisted on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “there is an issue of ethnicity here which can’t be ignored” and that the Pakistani community “must face up to the grooming scandal following the Rochdale case”. Mohammed Shafiq, a youth worker and head of the Ramadhan Foundation, told On Islam that he agreed with some elements of Straw’s comments. “There are some people in my community, the Pakistani community, the elders, who think that the best thing to do is just ignore it and assume it is all a British National Party and English Defence League conspiracy,” he said. “I think that is really dangerous, it gives oxygen to the far right.”
But Peter Davies, chief executive of the Child Exploitation and On-line Protection Centre, told The Independent that claiming that this kind of offending is only perpetrated by British Pakistani men could “reduce victims’ awareness that it may be perpetrated by other people and put children at risk”. The newspaper also points out that in an analysis of more than 1,200 cases across the country, just 28 per cent of abusers were Asian, and that figures from Greater Manchester Police show that 95 per cent of those on its sex offenders’ register were white.
Others have questioned whether authorities missed opportunities to help the Rochdale victims because they were trying to be too “politically correct” over race. Tim Loughton, former Children’s Minister, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One yesterday: “There are clear cultural sensitivities around these cases that too often meant the relevant agencies were reluctant to intervene properly and then pursue the perpetrators all the way through, ending up being prosecuted in the courts.” He added that this sort of “political correctness is absolutely unacceptable”. In an editorial, The Guardian said: “If social services feared to tread to avoid causing offence, and perhaps complicating wider work within the Pakistani community, then that has proved a terrible error. For giving offence is as nothing compared with the grotesque offences that eventually transpired.”
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Rape Victims Failed by PC Dogma
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
It’s impossible not to be horrified by yesterday’s report into the serial failings by social workers, police and prosecutors that allowed a gang of Asian men to systematically rape and pimp vulnerable, underage white girls in the north of England.
Overwhelming evidence that the youngsters, many from broken homes, were being abused was ignored by social workers, some of whom reached the staggering conclusion that the victims were ‘making their own lifestyle choices’ — despite sex with a minor being blatantly illegal.
Almost as appalling is the fact the staff involved are still working under the aegis of Rochdale Council, whose pedantic, box-ticking chief executive Jim Taylor yesterday refused to admit the girls had been ‘betrayed’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Victim of Rochdale Gang Talks of Ordeal
[WARNING: Disturbing content.]
It all began just a few feet from the school gates.
The men persuaded her to get into their car before plying her with alcohol and taking her to various houses for sex with other men.
It was a routine repeated on a daily basis.
For the girl, who was only 15 at the time, there seemed no way out.
And as the weeks and months passed she realised she was alone and utterly helpless.
Like the other victims of the Rochdale child sex gang, she was well known to social services and the police. But they were unwilling to help her.
‘These men would be picking me up from school — as soon as I walked out of the gates at three o’clock — and take me to houses,’ she said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: What’s Happened to Labour’s Passion and Principle When the Only Way Was Ethics?
by Martin Bright
There was a time, not so long ago, when you knew where you stood with Labour Party foreign policy. Remember 1997 and that headline in the Observer: “Goodbye Xenophobia”? Robin Cook’s ethical foreign policy may now be lost in the mists of New Labour nostalgia, but it was an inspirational rallying cry. This was a break with Foreign Office realpolitik, we were told, and Labour would now develop policy according to principle. Mr Cook famously resigned over the decision to go to war in Iraq. But this itself was driven by another principle: the so-called “Blair Doctrine” of humanitarian intervention, developed in his Chicago speech of 1999. For some, this was the ultimate expression of an ethical foreign policy, for others its very betrayal.
Labour’s fall from grace can be traced, at least in part, to the Iraq intervention of 2003. Despite the election victory of 2005, the fallout from the war poisoned the last Labour government. It is no surprise, therefore, that Ed Miliband wished to distance himself from his predecessors in order to boost internal morale within the party. That he chose the Israel-Palestinian conflict as the iconic symbol of that differentiation was unfortunate. His leadership acceptance speech two years ago when he singled out Israel for attack was deeply unfortunate, but it was no accident. What more definitive way of signalling a break with the past than rejecting the Zionism of the Blair-Brown era?
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: We’re Right to Worry About Megan Stammers — But Why Was the Rochdale Grooming Allowed to Happen?
by Ruth Dudley Edwards
Now that — at last — some of the truth is coming out about the grooming of girls in Rochdale, for the record, let’s just remember and re-interpret what happened there when Gillian Duffy met Gordon Brown in April 2010. Duffy: “You can’t say anything about the immigrants because you’re saying that you’re … but all these eastern European what are coming in, where are they flocking from?” Gordon Brown: “A million people have come from Europe but a million British people have gone into Europe. You do know that there’s a lot of British people staying in Europe as well.” Later, in his car, Brown’s aide asked “What did she say?” Mr Brown: “Everything, she was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour.”
I watched that live. And even then I knew Rochdale’s immigration problem wasn’t Eastern European. It was Asian. Googling it now, I see a Daily Telegraph report in May that year telling me that the ethnic minority population had doubled in twenty years to 33,650, which included more than 27,000 from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Even though she tactfully mentioned white European immigrants rather than Asians, Mrs Duffy was denounced as a bigot. What would Gordon Brown have called her had she mentioned immigrants from Pakistan and Bangladesh?
Cultural relativism was so frightful over the past few decades that I found myself denounced as racist by some modish friends for saying that female genital mutilation was wrong, wrong, wrong. The social services and the police failed children, but the rot came from the top. It did all the decent Asian immigrants no good to cover up the crimes of their degenerates. There is an enormous hue and cry over the disappearance of Megan Stammers, a 15-year-old on the run with a teacher with whom she is in love. It is, of course, disturbing. But in the interests of racial harmony, no one in authority, apparently, gave a damn about 13-year-olds being gang-raped by men who thought them white trash and fair game and got away with it. Those men were bigots. And they were criminals. The authorities were cowardly colluders. The majority Asian community didn’t know, or, if they did, they didn’t tell. When will our masters grasp that lies imprison us and the truth — however unpleasant — will ultimately set us free?
[JP note: Note the message at the bottom of this piece: “Comments are closed” ie., the Daily Telegraph is too scared to allow its readers the opportunity to discuss this issue. For all its fine journalists and commentators, it remains a deeply dhimmi rag.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
No social workers have been sacked or suspended over their failure to prevent the systematic rape and abuse of white teenage girls by an Asian gang. A report into the Rochdale sex abuse scandal was condemned yesterday for failing to identify those responsible, none of whom have faced disciplinary action. The report was also attacked for making no mention of the race or religion of the perpetrators, all Muslims and all but one from Pakistani backgrounds, although critics say ‘political correctness’ was behind the failure to act.
The review was carried out by Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Board, whose members include the police, council, the NHS and prosecutors, and was itself responsible for organising child protection between different agencies in the area. A father of one of the victims said the 29-page report told him ‘nothing new’. He said: ‘The staff concerned should be named, shamed and sacked. ‘I don’t want them transferred to another department, pensioned off or given early retirement. Their wrongdoing, their negligence, their mistakes, have ruined lives.’ And he added: ‘I do spot that there’s no reference to the question of race in the report, as to whether that was a factor in their lack of willingness to act.’
Labour MP for Rochdale Simon Danczuk said the report was ‘limited’ and failed to ‘give a voice to the victims or explain why social services had a culture of blaming the victims for the abuse’. The abuse centred around nine men, eight of Pakistani origin and one from Afghanistan, who worked for or were connected to taxi firms and takeaway food outlets…
Failures That Left Abuse Victims to Their Fate
There were signs for many years that men were using vulnerable young girls in Rochdale for sex, but no action was taken. Here we highlight the failures.
Social Workers
From the outset, social workers failed to regard the teenage girls being passed around for sex among a gang of Asian men as victims.
That was despite more than 100 reports of abuse from the victims, health workers and elsewhere linked to men working in taxi and takeaway businesses dating back to 2004, and involving children as young as ten. Instead the girls were treated as their attackers treated them, ‘like prostitutes’.
Victims as young as ten were seen as ‘making their own choice’ and ‘engaging in consensual sexual activity’. In one case a parent making a complaint was told his daughter was ‘hanging out with a bad crowd’. As a result of this catastrophic dereliction of duty, information was not systematically passed to the police, and the terrified victims were left at the mercy of a gang of violent sexual predators.
Police
Just as social workers failed to protect the victims from the rapists preying on them, so the police failed for years to grasp the nettle and launch a serious investigation. As well as reports from social workers, Greater Manchester Police received 44 referrals from the NHS about the abuse.
In 2009 one victim, known as ‘Suzie’, made a detailed complaint about the attacks. Arrests were made but the case was dropped by state prosecutors. It was not until a year later that a full investigation was launched. Police also failed to demand proper bail restrictions on the attackers.
Even after the trial, the police refused to acknowledge the racial element of the crimes, saying it was wrong to get ‘hung up on race and ethnicity issues’.
Crown Prosecution Service
An early police investigation in 2009 was passed to prosecutors but astonishingly no action was taken. Instead a senior CPS prosecutor ‘refused charge’, claiming it was unlikely to lead to a successful trial. That was despite the existence of forensic evidence including DNA swabs from a victim’s underwear. It was two years before that decision was overturned. Yesterday’s report found prosecutors thought the main victim would be seen by the court as an unreliable witness, and blamed the cost of bringing the case and ‘officer workload’ for the decision.
The Muslim Community
Members of the community would have known about the abuse of white girls being carried out by Pakistani men but did nothing to stop it. Jack Straw, the former Justice Secretary, said there was ‘denial’ around the issue. He said: ‘These are small communities so people would have a rough idea that there is a group of men who are abusing white girls in this way. That has to be dealt with there, as well as much more effective police and social services action.’
[Reader comment by — Lurch, Palma de Mallorca, 28/9/2012 1:11]
The one group you miss off the list to blame are the Labour politicians who shouted “racist” at anyone who tried to confront the problem.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
EU-Albania: Brussels Says OK to Candidacy and Negotiations
In past three years Tirana made ‘substantial work’, report says
(ANSAmed) — Brussels, September 24 — Albania might become the next country in the Western Balkans to be candidate to EU membership, reports a document prepared by the European Commission to be made public on October 10.
According to the Commission report examining possible EU enlargement, dialogue between government and opposition in Albania has led to overcome the political stalemate. “The contry largely superseded political differences by adopting electoral and parliamentary reforms”. Tirana, the report says, has made a “substantial progress”, with regards to the priority key established by the European Commission to obtain the status of candidate country and the opening of accession negotiations.
After three years of failed requests to become an official candidate country in April 2009, Albania appears finally ready to pass the exam in Brussels, winning on October 10 a positive opinion by the European Commission.
A recommendation that will go straight on the table of EU Council in December, where the Member States will make a decision. In the likely case of a positive decision, Albania will become the fifth country in the Western Balkans to be candidate to join the EU after Croatia (which will make its entrance in July 2013), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia. Some other candidate countries remain to be added, such as Turkey and Iceland, while Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo will remain in the waiting room.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: Police Rape Victim Charged With ‘Indecency’
Gang raped by police, ministry criticizes media and civil society
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS — The Tunisian Interior Ministry on Thursday reprimanded Tunisian media and civil society for rallying in support of a young woman who was raped by police officers, but also confirmed that the violence did take place.
“The justice system is based on facts, and the judges will base their verdicts based on the facts at hand,” Faouzi Jaballah from the Interior Ministry told reporters.
His comments followed on widespread outrage after the 27-year-old victim was summoned by the investigating judge on Wednesday to face charges of “indecency” from the two police officers accused of raping her.
The young woman and her fiance were “apprehended” in their car by three police officers on September 3. One officer immobilized the young man while the other two raped the young woman, the couple said.
All three officers were subsequently arrested. They are due to appear on rape charges on a new hearing on Tuesday. Leading human rights and feminist groups and other prominent members of civil society have called for a protest outside the court on Tuesday in support of the young couple.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Tunisia: President Marzouki Says Police Torturing Citizens
Cites case of girl gang raped by officers, among others
(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, SEPTEMBER 27 — The office of President Moncef Marzouki on Thursday issued a communique stating that Tunisian police may be practicing torture once more.
Issued while Marzouki is attending the UN General Assembly in New York, the communique cited three examples of a possible return to pre-Arab Spring police practices, and which are currently under investigation: that of a young woman gang raped by police and then charged with indecency, that of a man who was beaten to death during an interrogation, and the repression of unrest in El Hencha square. The president invites all citizens to bring their charges to his office, which will investigate them and bring those responsible to justice, the communique said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Who Needs Reform Most: Egypt or America?
Prior to leaving Egypt for the United Nations General Assembly, Egypt’s Islamist President Mohamed Morsi told The New York Times the United States needs to “fundamentally change” its approach to the Arab world. That includes, he said, showing greater respect for Arab values, as well as helping to build a Palestinian state.
Is there an Arab equivalent for the Yiddish word “Chutzpah”? It isn’t the policies and attitude of the United States toward the Arab world that need changing. It’s the attitude and policies of the Arab world that need to change. For a former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, who still subscribes to the group’s radical beliefs, to blame America for problems in the Arab world is like blaming the mirror for what it reflects.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ex-Soldier Shalit at FC Barcelona Match, Hamas Protests
In Gaza, calls to boycott team
Children wearing a Barcelona shirt inTel Aviv
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 28 — Spanish football giants Barcelona face a possible boycott from Palestinian fans angered that Israeli sportswriter Gilad Shalit, a former Hamas hostage, will be attending a big match against Real Madrid next month. A Hamas radio station called on Palestinians to stop supoorting the club, which is popular with youth people in the Gaza Strip. Gaza youngsters expressed their outrage on social media, calling for their team not to let the former Israeli soldier come to the game.
The Spanish club on Friday confirmed that 26-year-old Shalit, who spent five years in captivity before being released in October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal, will be at Camp Nou for the Clasico against Real Madrid on October 7.
Barcelona did not invite Shalit, but accepted a request from the young reporter, who is a sports columnist for Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, to attend the game, the club said in a statement.
Former Israeli welfare minister and Labor Party MP Itzhak Herzog, solicited the invitation on Shalit’s behalf, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.
A former Israeli defense forces soldier, Shalit was abducted by Hamas militants in June 2006. He was held in a secret location for over five years, until his release in October 2011 in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
“Inviting Shalit is a new attempt to cover up Zionist crimes, using sport as a pretext,” the Hamas-linked Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in a statement on Friday. “How can such a respected club, that defends humanism and multiculturalism, invite a criminal and a murderer like Shalit, and show him honor and respect?” The Hamas prime minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, also condemned Barcelona in a statement on Friday and called on the club not to let Shalit attend the match. Barcelona has in the past invited young former Palestinian detainees to its matches.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The British Public Opposes an Israeli Boycott
by Jake Wallis Simons
The British public is often commended for its common sense. Over recent years, however, the movement to boycott all aspects of Israeli output — from vegetables and cosmetics to orchestras and dance troupes — has been so vociferous that it has begun to cast doubt upon our reputedly solid sense of judgment. Now, however, those concerns can be laid to rest. A new poll conducted by YouGov for the Jewish Chronicle has established that “fewer than one in five Brits believe that Israeli actors, dancers or musicians should not be welcome to perform here, and three-quarters can see no reason why British performers should not travel to Israel”.
[…]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Makkah: Saudi Authorities Stop 1,000 Nigerian Women Without Male Relatives
Visiting Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the women have been stuck for days at Jeddah and Madinah airports. The Saudi action breaches an agreement that allowed Nigerian Muslim women to enter the country without a male relative. The Saudis fear a rise in illegal immigration.
Makkah (AsiaNews/ Agencies) — Concerned about illegal immigration, Saudi authorities have stopped a thousand Nigerian women on their way to Makkah for Hajj.
Ostensibly, the women had violated an Islamic rule whereby each woman had to be accompanied by a male relative. However, the authorities waved through women 45 and over, stopping only those aged 20 to 35, who, for the past ten days, have been waiting to be repatriated at the airports in Jeddah and Madinah.
Nigeria’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Abubakar Shehu Bunu, said he had made a formal protest to the foreign affairs office in the capital, Riyadh.
He complained about the discriminatory treatment given to Nigerian women pilgrims and the violation of an agreement between the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and the Saudi authorities to allow visas to be issued to Nigerian women going to Makkah as long as they were accompanied by their local Hajj committee officials.
For their part, Saudis complain that the agreement has for years favoured illegal immigration. In fact, many Nigerian women come into the country for Hajj but end up looking for work, often falling into the prostitution racket.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
US Voters Back Ahmadinejad? Iranian News Agency Fooled by Article in Satirical Paper the Onion
A joke by the satirical newspaper The Onion appears to have gotten lost in translation. An Iranian news agency picked up — as fact — a story from the paper about a supposed survey showing an overwhelming majority of rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than President Barack Obama. But it was made up, like everything in the just-for-laughs newspaper, which is headquartered in Chicago.
The English-language service of Iran’s semiofficial Fars news agency republished the story Friday, several days after it appeared in The Onion.
The Iranian version copied the original word-for-word, even including a made-up quote from a fictional West Virginia resident who says he’d rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because “he takes national defense seriously, and he’d never let some gay protesters tell him how to run his country like Obama does.”
Homosexual acts are punishable by death in Iran, and Ahmadinejad famously said during a 2007 appearance at Columbia University that “in Iran we don’t have homosexuals like in your country.”
The Iranian version of the article leaves out only The Onion’s description of Ahmadinejad as “a man who has repeatedly denied the Holocaust and has had numerous political prisoners executed.”
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Facebook Deletes Anti-Muslim Film
(AGI) Moscow — The Russian Facebook, Vkontakte, decided to delete any links to the controversial film “The innocence of Muslims”. The movie has triggered Muslim protest the world over. The founder and owner of the Russian most popular social network, Pavel Durov, acted without waiting for the judges’ verdict on the movie ban requested by the Attorney General, due its extremist content. “I watched ‘The innocence of Muslims and I believe it is a squalid, low quality product that leaves no room to discussion. I deleted it. Give us quality anti-Islam movies!” Durov wrote yesterday on Twitter. Currently, Vkontakte gives access only to news on the issue. The petition to ban the movie, filed by the Russian Attorney General will be discussed on 1 October at the Tverskoy Court in Moscow.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
British-Built Schools in Afghanistan May be Forced to Close
Dozens of schools and health clinics built by the British military in Helmand may be forced to close down because the Afghan government can no longer afford keep them open, it was reported last night.
Millions of pounds were spent across the war-torn province over the last decade in an effort to win over hearts and minds and convince civilians to side with British troops rather than the Taliban. However, a confidential report admits that Britain “built too much” during the wave of construction and that the Afghan government would not be able to sustain the costs of the extensive programme. British officials have now reportedly been ordered to identify which facilities are “critical” to the people of Helmand and to begin closing down the others by the end of 2014…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: Minister Who Offered Bounty for Filmmaker is ‘True Muslim’ Says Taliban
The Pakistani minister who offered a $100,000 bounty for the murder of an anti-Islam film-maker, has been removed from a Taliban hit list and hailed by the militants as a “true Muslim.”
Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Pakistan’s railway minister, was widely condemned after he made his offer in Peshawar last Saturday. His offer was open to members of the Taliban or al-Qaeda if they killed Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the US-based Egyptian Coptic Christian whose film The Innocence of Muslims provoked violent protests around the world which left 21 people dead and 200 injured throughout Pakistan. His comments were disowned by both the Pakistan government and members of his own Awami National Party, who have seen 700 of their party colleagues killed by the Taliban in the last four years. Many of them remain targets for assassination. But according to a spokesman for the Tehrik e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Mr Bilour is no longer on their ‘hit list.’ “We have totally forgiven him and removed his name from our hit list,” Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the news agency AFP. Its ruling shura or council had met on Tuesday this week and “praised Bilour for his sacrifice”. “The shura paid rich tributes to Bilour and endorsed his bounty announcement,” he said…
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Zuma Not Fit for UN Education Role
[Comment by LH: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed South African President Zuma to participate in the UN Education First initiative. This despite the shocking state of South African education under Zuma’s leadership. It really makes one question the UN’s credibility.]
President Jacob Zuma is not “fit to serve” on the UN education panel because of the “destruction” of the school system on his watch, says the DA.
“As long as Zuma has accepted a position like this, he remains in denial that we have a poor education system, one that is almost in implosion,” DA spokeswoman on basic education Annette Lovemore said on Thursay.
Zuma has been invited by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the General Assembly meeting in New York to take part in the UN Education First initiative. Zuma accepted and is one of 10 inaugural member state champions of the initiative.
The members would provide support to the secretary-general to ensure the success of the initiative, the Presidency said.
“South Africa will, in essence, be strategically positioned to ensure that education projects that may accrue from this initiative benefit countries in southern Africa and the African region,” it said.
But Lovemore said:” The only value Zuma could add to the panel is to show the world how not to manage education systems.”
She said Zuma had overseen a “crumbling” education system, marked by failures, such as:…
| — Hat tip: LH | [Return to headlines] |
France: Criteria to Obtain Citizenship Eased
No more culture test and permanent contract
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 28 — France’s government will make the criteria to obtain French citizenship more flexible by eliminating, in particular, the obligation to have a permanent contract and a general culture test imposed by the right-wing administration of former president Nikolas Sarkozy.
‘It is important to affirm the intention of a strong integration with the citizenship. We don’t fear these new French citizens who represent a strength for the republic’, Interior Minister Manuel Valls told reporters. Valls was born in Barcelona, Spain, and became a French citizen when he was 20.
The minister said the new regulations will be transmitted ‘in the next few days’ to all prefects in the country. The document, he said, in particular scraps a test on ‘French history, culture and society’ promoted by Sarkozy, although ‘the knowledge of French and the adhesion to the values’ of the republic will remain among the conditions to become citizens.
Other criteria, said the interior minister, will concern the number of years spent in France, ‘family stability’ and employment.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Back to the Classroom for Milan Elementary School With “Too Many Foreigners”
Some stories do have a happy ending. The most multiethnic school in Italy, Lombardo Radice public school in Milan, had a new batch of first graders again this week.
Last year it wasn’t allowed to open to a new incoming elementary school class because it had “too many foreigners.” It had appeared to be an action that would de facto condemn the longstanding school, considered a model of successful integration, to be closed permanently within five years.
Instead, on Wednesday morning, 21 six-year-olds showed up for first grade at the school entrance at 83 Via Pier Alessandro Paravia, in the San Siro neighborhood near Milan’s famous soccer stadium.
Eighteen of the pupils are foreign, a proportion in line with Lombardo Radice’s tradition. Two years ago the school had 93 foreign students, from 27 different nationalities, out of a total of 97 children; last year the number was 80 out of 93. This year, if the count is correct, foreigners will make up 83 % of the student body.
But what does “foreign” actually mean here? Of the first grade’s 18 “non-Italian-citizen children” (none of whom are EU citizens), 14 were born in Italy, and every one of them went to nursery school in Milan.
“To us, they are little Milanese children,” says Deputy Mayor Maria Grazia Guida, who was at opening day Wednesday, along with all the others who have been working for the past year to save the school.
But why was the school put on the road to closure?…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Cardinal Ravasi on Religious Education in State Schools
(AGI) — Holy See, 25 Sep — The president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, today welcomed Education Minister Francesco Profumo’s latest proposals concerning religious tuition in Italian state schools. With religious education subject to Concordat agreements between Italy and the Holy See, the cardinal welcomed the minister’s proposals to inject innovation in the subject’s tuition methods arguing, however, that the core content of religious education should be the Christian religion. Ravasi said ‘it is important that we innovate methods,’ adding ‘the Gospel and the greater Christian teachings will continue to warrant teaching, but there is always room to latch on to changes within society, the times and culture.’ Ravasi went on to suggest that the issue of innovation would be the subject of follow-up discussions.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Couples Who Share Housework Divorce More: Study
Norwegian researchers have concluded that the more work a man does in the home the higher the risk that a couple will get divorced, explaining the correlation as a sign of “modern” attitudes.
The divorce rate among couples who shared housework equally was around 50 percent higher than among those where the woman did most of the work.
“The more a man does in the home, the higher the divorce rate,” Thomas Hansen, co-author of the study entitled “Equality in the Home”, told AFP.
Researchers found no, or very little, cause-and-effect. Rather, they saw in the correlation a sign of “modern” attitudes.
“Modern couples are just that, both in the way they divide up the chores and in their perception of marriage” as being less sacred, Hansen said, stressing it was all about values.
“In these modern couples, women also have a high level of education and a well-paid job, which makes them less dependent on their spouse financially. They can manage much easier if they divorce,” he said.
There were only some marginal aspects where researchers said there may be cause-and-effect.
“Maybe it’s sometimes seen as a good thing to have very clear roles with lots of clarity … where one person is not stepping on the other’s toes,” Hansen suggested.
“There could be less quarrels, since you can easily get into squabbles if both have the same roles and one has the feeling that the other is not pulling his or her own weight,” he added,
In Norway, which has long tradition of gender equality, childrearing is generally shared equally between mothers and fathers (in seven out of 10 couples), said Hansen, speaking notably from a park where he was minding his children.
But when it comes to housework, women in Norway still account for most of it in seven out of 10 couples.
The study also pointed out however that those women were largely satisfied with the situation, and their overall happiness was very close to those women who lived in “modern” couples.
==== Fjordman
http://www.ansa.it/ansamed/en/news/sections/culture/2012/09/27/Cyprus-hosts-Euro-Mediterranean-celebration-music_7541302.html
Cyprus hosts Euro-Mediterranean celebration of music
From classical to rock, series of concerts in Limassol until 30
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, SEPTEMBER 27 — Cyprus is welcoming hundreds of young and upcoming musicians from EU member states and the Arab world, in a true Euro-Mediterranean celebration of music, until the 30th of September.
A series of concerts and music workshops are held in the coastal city of Limassol and the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth, Mrs Androulla Vassiliou, will address the opening ceremony on Friday 28 September.
“From classical (Western and Arabic) music to rock, ethnic, jazz, hip-hop and reggae, artists will present something for everyone’s musical taste during this Euro-Mediterranean celebration of music” says the Cypriot presidency of the EU.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Minister Sets Off Firestorm Over Religion in Class
‘Mediterranean crossroad of faiths which should also be taught’
(ANSAmed) — Rome, September 26 — Italy’s education minister refused to back down Wednesday from his earlier suggestions that schools in the country should teach more than Catholicism in the classroom. But Francesco Profumo said he had no immediate plans to change “certain rules or terms” of the curriculum for religion classes. The minister triggered controversy recently when he suggested it was time to update school curricula with respect to teaching the Catholic religion in public schools. As Italy becomes more multicultural, it may be important to teach students about other faiths, Profumo said.
He expanded on his views in a letter to Catholic philosopher Giovanni Reale, a copy of which was obtained by ANSA Wednesday. “Our country is at the center of a tumultuous evolution, both political and spiritual, in the Mediterranean, which has always been a crossroads of peoples and faiths,” Profumo wrote. It’s time, therefore, that Italian schools “deal with this changing reality” of a multicultural world, he added.
Religious education teachers have responded to Profumo’s ideas by saying the Catholic faith is a deeply embedded part of Italy’s historical heritage, and curricula shouldn’t be changed.
These teachers, and an association for Italian families, noted that in June Profumo signed new agreements on what would be taught in religious education classes and now is no time for change. “Christianity is inextricably inserted in the history of our country,” said Francesco Belletti, president of the Forum of Family Associations.
Religious teachers are appointed by schools in consultation with local religious Catholic authorities. Students who opt out of religion classes should be given alternative teaching.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: ‘School Lessons Must Reflect Multiethnic Population’ Says Minister
Rome, 25 Sept. (AKI) — The teaching of religion and other subjects in Italy’s schools needs to be overhauled to be relevant to immigrants and their children living in the country, education minister Francesco Profumo said on Tuesday.
“There are students in our schools who come from different countries, cultures and religions,” said Profumo, opening a new library in Rome.
“We need to update the religion curriculum but also the geography curriculum to reflect this.”
Italy’s traditional school curriculum needs reforming to make its schools “more open, more multiethnic and able to be relevant to the world,” said Profumo.
On Monday, he visited a school classroom in Italy where 50 percent of its pupils were from other countries, he said.
The integration of non-Italian pupils in Italian schools has been a contentious issue in recent years as the number of immigrants has continued to rise. Around 4.6 million or 7.5 percent of the population are foreign residents in Italy according to the central statistics office Istat.
During the conservative government of Silvio Berlusconi which fell in November 2011, its junior coalition partner, the anti-immigrant Northern League party proposed allowing schools to have separate classes for immigrant children who do not speak the Italian language or fail admission tests for Italian state schools.
Immigrant leaders, Italy’s centre-left opposition and Catholic leaders criticised the Northern League plan, which also wanted mainstream classrooms to contain a ‘proportionate’ number of Italian and immigrant pupils.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Morning-After-Pill Free in 13 New York City High Schools
(AGI) New York — Thirteen NYC high schools are making available a free morning-after-pill plan to girls over 14 wishing to avoid pregnancy. This occurs without parents being informed of the experimental program, called “CATCH”, which aims at avoiding unwanted pregnancies among minors, writes the New York Post.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Religion Teachers Against Min. Profumo: “It’s No Solution”
(AGI)Rome -Teaching the Catholic religion “is in school curricula because the Italian Republic acknowledges the value of religion. This is because the principles of Catholicism form part of the historical heritage of the Italian people, teaching them according to the objectives set out for schools”. Orazio Ruscica, the President of the Italian Independent Trade Union of Religion Teachers (SNADIR), comments the controversy on the teaching of religion that exploded following the statements made by Minister Profumo on the need to update school curricula and recalls that “at the end of June, the Minister signed two agreements on the teaching of the Catholic religion in public schools, including teaching guidelines, without however having paid much attention to what he signed”. “Of course — Ruscica observed — the Minister is concerned about other cultures and religions present on our territory and about the students who opt to not take the Catholic religion classes but the solution does not lie in trading in the current teaching of religion with a class offering a broader panorama”. Upstepping his argumentation, he went on to say: “The Minister should know that in Italian schools, religion teachers give each student the opportunity to become culturally acquainted with texts, documents, traditions, testimonies and contents that constitute the universe of religion. Let’s say that, if they fail to attend their religion classes, students would be deprived of qualified religious literacy. Therefore, if we have at heart training our students for peace and dialogue, we can’t surrender them to religious ignorance”. The problem, he went on to say, “is not the current teaching of the Catholic religion, which offers highly qualified courses by teachers with a high-level University training; what must concern us now is to offer this teaching also to those students that are not provided with an equally qualified training”. In conclusion, “it would perhaps be advisable to focus on that sham alternative to the teaching of religion that has turned into a monstruous negation of knowledge: i.e. dropping out of school”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Who is Muhammad? (Peace be Upon Him)
Mahatma Gandhi “wanted to know the best of one who holds today undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind…” George Bernard Shaw believed, “he would succeed in solving” the problems of the world “in a way that would bring it much needed peace and happiness” He is the most talked about human being throughout human history now and for centuries. So who is he?
Click to see if you know him.
Watch: The Life of Prophet Muhammad
Read: Who is Muhammad? By Khurram Murad
[JP note: Who indeed.]
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
1 comments:
Here in England I think it is time to stop listening to any of the leaders of any of the three main parties. As my chimney sweep put it quite rightly, they are all a load of idiots.
Slippery Dave Cameron is repeating the same lie he came out with before the last election, namely that if re-elected he would hold a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU. He is not talking about a referndum to leave the EU but is merely frightened that the party committed to the same whic now has more support than the Liberal Democrats i.e. UKIP will take votes off him. So he comes out with another lie. He has no intention of taking Britain out of the EU because he is just following instructions issued by the One World Biderberg Group.
Between them the Conservatives and Labour have over the last 60 years totally destroyed a peaceful civilised homogenous country with a thousand years of history. The country that existed at the time of the Queen's accession will be a distant memory by the middle of the present century.
New Labour let in 4m people, mostly muslims, in ten years and cared more about anybody who wasn't the traditional British working class who created the party and yet who continue to vote for them like turkeys voting for Christmas. Now Ed the Marxist Milliband whose daddy is buried next to Karl Marx talks of rebuilding Britain. If it was not so heinous it would be laughable.
But the British electorate continue to be fooled. Teresa May no more than her Labour predecessor sees no problem in Britain's population - the fourth mostly densely populated country in the world - rising to 70m or above. For those of us with a brain, which excludes virtually every politician and a large portion of the electorate unfortunately, it makes you want to engage in a bit of desperate head-banging.
Money and power are all that counts to these people, the nation state is an abomination to them as it limits them in respect of these.
I have no doubt that they would support a planning application for St Paul's Cathedral to become London's answer to Constantinople's Hagia Sofia if those involved voted for them to show their gratitude. Will nobody rid us of these meddlesome cretins?
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