Thanks to Abu Elvis, C. Cantoni, Dymphna, Fausta, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, Jungle Jim, LS, RRW, TB, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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A Day That Will Live in… Accomodating Islam
by Diana West
A high school sophomore asked me this week whether Sept. 11 would always be remembered. Would it always be, as she put it, “somber”?
Lacking a crystal ball, I have no answer. And, frankly, looking back seven years to that cataclysmic jihadist atrocity, I realize I’m probably not the most dependable prognosticator because never would I have imagined back in 2001 how successful that heinous strike would be in utterly changing us and our world.
Blame ignorance, blame cowardice: The strangest effect of 9/11 has been, on balance, an accelerated campaign of accommodation of Islam’s law in the West, a campaign boosted across the globe by the jihadist attacks of 3/11 (Madrid 2004) and 7/7 (London 2005) and many, many others. Paradoxically, such fast-track accommodation has occurred even as any and all connection between jihadist acts and Islam — specifically Islamic war doctrine — have been emphatically ruled out by our leaders, both civilian and military. It’s not that they have disproven the connection. Worse, they have chosen to ignore it.
With this in mind, it becomes possible to understand how President Bush could this week vaguely invoke the spirit of 9/11, as it were, to spur Americans to “volunteer” more. Similar statements came out of the presidential campaigns with Barack Obama also talking up the “spirit of service,” while he and John McCain jointly called on Americans to “renew” the unity of 9/11 (while honoring the dead, and grieving with those who lost loved ones). It’s not that we shouldn’t do such things — but to what end? I mean, was 9/11 a catastrophic hurricane, or a jihadist act of war?
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Fallacy of Promise of ‘Green Jobs’
By JOHN STOSSEL
The Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has a great twofer pitch: “green jobs.” It sounds like a winner. In one fell swoop he can promise to end unemployment and fix and save the planet from climate change.
Or so he says.
“I’ll invest $150 billion over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of energy — wind power and solar power and the next generation of biofuels; an investment that will lead to new industries and five million new jobs that pay well and can’t ever be outsourced,” he told the Democratic National Convention.
Wow. Five million new jobs. All that work building windmills and creating biofuels are the “green jobs” that will come into existence when wise government creates the industries that will produce the energy and vehicles that will make fossil fuels obsolete.
Politicians always promise that their programs will create jobs. It’s used to justify building palatial sports stadiums for wealthy team owners. Rep. Don Young of Alaska claimed the infamous “bridge to nowhere” would create jobs. The fallacy is the same in every case: Even if the program creates jobs building bridges or windmills, it necessarily prevents other jobs from being created. This is because government spending merely diverts money from private projects to government projects.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
JBS Swift Fires About 100 Muslims for ‘Violation’ of Union Contract
A week-long dispute between JBS Swift & Co. and hundreds of Muslim workers seeking Ramadan prayer accommodations flared into firings of about 100 workers Wednesday afternoon.
Some said they will take legal action against the company, and a spokesman for United Food Commercial Workers Local 7, which represents production workers at Swift, said the union will file a grievance for any worker who wants his or her job back.
The workers had been off the job since early evening Friday, when about 220 of them walked off mid-shift, claiming they weren’t being given break times at a previously agreed to time. All the workers were notified they were being suspended.
A JBS Swift official on Wednesday said via email correspondence that the company upheld an agreement made with the workers and that the Friday walkout was a “direct violation of our collective bargaining agreement.”
Relayed through a group of Muslim leaders, JBS Swift officials told the workers early Tuesday afternoon that if they didn’t return to work for that day’s second shift, they’d be fired.
About 120 Muslim workers returned to work Tuesday. The roughly 100 remaining who didn’t report until Wednesday were handed termination papers as soon as they arrived, around 3:30 p.m.
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Cardinal Archbishop of Montréal: “I Am Returning My Order of Canada Insignia”
MONTREAL, September 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) — The Archbishop of Montreal, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, today announced that he is returning his Order of Canada Insignia in protest over the Morgentaler decision.
Cardinal Turcotte’s statement is as follows:
“On May 9th 1996, the office of the Governor-General of the time, Mr. Roméo Leblanc, announced that I had been named to the Order of Canada. I had accepted this honour on behalf of all those who, because of their faith in Jesus Christ, work in the social domain to serve the most disadvantaged of our society.
“I have the greatest respect for the Order of Canada. It is meant to recognize the contribution of persons who help to bring about the progress of our society and who are concerned about the future of our world. Until recently, I sincerely believed that the Order of Canada was bestowed upon persons about whom there was a consensus.
“I was away when the Governor-General, Madame Michaelle Jean, announced the nomination of Dr. Henry Morgentaler to the Order of Canada. This announcement generated a great deal of criticism on the part of those who do not share Dr. Morgentaler’s views regarding the respect for human life.
“I must admit that I had hoped that, in light of the large number of protests, the Consultative Council for the Order of Canada would revise its decision. Because it has not done so up to now and because silence on my part might be misinterpreted, I feel obliged in conscience to reaffirm my convictions regarding the respect for human life, from conception to death. We are not the masters of human life; it rests in the hands of God.
“As a result, I wish to declare that I am renouncing the title of Officer of the Order of Canada, bestowed upon me in 1996, and that I am returning the insignia that was given to me.”
To contact the Cardinal and thank him for his courageous statement, write: infos@diocesemontreal.org
| — Hat tip: Dymphna | [Return to headlines] |
Lack of Information Was Top Reason for Lisbon No Vote
Irish government research into why voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a June referendum has revealed that the biggest reason for voting No was citizens simply did not have enough information about the 400-page document.
A combination of a survey of voters and focus groups revealed that 42 percent of people said they had voted No due to a lack of information or understanding.
Neutrality and taxation issues also played key roles in people’s thinking.
A third of voters in neutral Ireland thought that the treaty would permit conscription into a European army. Many left wing and pacifist No campaign groups made the “militarisation of Europe” a core message in their anti-Lisbon literature.
Forty percent thought the treaty would affect the country’s low corporate tax levels — a key message of the free-market No campaign group Libertas.
Fears relating to what could loosely be described as Ireland’s place in the European Union also had an impact, with 13 percent worried about domination by larger countries; five percent believing the treaty represented a loss of sovereignty; four percent worried about the loss of an Irish commissioner; and some eight percent just thought overall it was “a bad deal for Ireland.”
Some six percent voted No due to their lack of confidence in the Irish government.
Despite media reports to the contrary in the immediate aftermath of the June vote, immigration did figure amongst the reasons offered.
The research has also revealed that the No vote was not a vote against the EU, but a vote against this particular document, as 70 percent of voters overall and 63 percent of No voters believed the union is a good thing.
Unlike other polls about the No vote, citizens were not given a list of possible reasons from which to choose. Instead they offered their own explanations.
Unveiling the results, foreign minister Micheal Martin said that the government would still not be able to deliver to European leaders a way out of the impasse by the next EU summit, due to take place in October.
Questioned by reporters about whether a second referendum on the treaty was under consideration, Mr Martin said: “It is far too early to be prescriptive about the future.”
The minister said that the government was “examining all options,” and did not rule out passing elements of the treaty through the Irish houses of parliament, reports the Irish Times.
Mr Martin added that the next step is “to initiate a national public discussion that would be inclusive of the issues that have surfaced” from the survey.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Half of Judges Indignant With New GCJP Composition
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 10 — “Indignation” was expressed by the judges who are not members of unions and who represent half of the 4,200 Spanish magistrates, in reference to the candidates for renewal of the General Council of the Judicial Power (GCJP), the constitutional body which governs all the Judiciary of Spain, proposed by PSOE and PP. “The council arranged by Zapatero and Rajoy makes indignant the majority of the judges,” El Pais wrote today, reporting that none of the four magistrates proposed by this group, aspiring appointment in GCJP, was nominated. Among them is Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska, for who “it is clear that as independent neither PP nor PSOE appreciate us”. The magistrates also criticise the strong political profile of the councillors proposed by PSOE and PP, among who are the councillor for Justice of the Community of Valencia, two former MPs, a former secretary of state, a former undersecretary and two magistrates protagonists in the past of lawsuits against the socialist government. The independent judges consider this choice ¿an attempt to close ranks¿ in an institution which should pronounce on important legal reforms, from abortion to extension of the sentences for paedophiles, to assisted suicide. The proposed councillors come from the progressive association Judges for Democracy, the third biggest as regards the number of members, considered close to PSOE and from the conservative Professional Association of Magistrates, the biggest one as regards the number of members, considered close to PP. ¿The composition of the new GCJP shows that PSOE and PP, against their promises and proclamations, continue appreciating the political affinity of the candidates more than their professional reliability,¿ the leading article of El Pais, titled Impudence, observes today. According to the comment, ¿the strong political profile of the eight councillors nominated in the quota of the jurists with recognised prestige, to which the constitution refers, scandalises¿.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Garzon Asks for Identification of Civil War Victims
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 2 — Satisfaction was expressed today by the Associations of the families of the victims of the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) for the initiative of Audiencia Nacional judge Baltazar Garzon to demand the official identification of the victims and “desaparecidos” during Franco’s regime. The judge, in a decree issued yesterday, urged institutions such as the Valle de los Caidos, where the remains of the dictator Franco are buried, along with republican victims of the Civil War, the Documental Centre of Historical Memory, the Episcopal Conference and the Mayors of Granada, Cordoba, Sevilla and Madrid, to draft lists of the victims and missing persons in the conflict. The initiative, the decree reads, is preliminary to the decision whether the Audiencia Nacional is competent to investigate the charges presented on July 18, 2007 by eight Associations for the recovery of the Historical Memory. These associations were asking for the opening of a penal enquiry for crimes against humanity, against the perpetrators of assassinations, tortures, disappearances and forced exiles which took place as of 1936, during the Civil War. In February 2008, the prosecutors of the Audiencia Nacional demanded that such charges be filed away, due to the statute of limitations which was applied on the basis of the amnesty of 1977. They argued that these were common crimes on which the Audiencia Nacional has no competence, just as it is not competent for the crimes of “lese humanite”, which must be judged in the places where the action took place. Garzon’s initiative aims at encouraging the elaboration of a census of the victims and missing persons during the Civil war, on the basis of which it can be decided whether it is competent to investigate the charges or not. “In actual fact, the initiative of the judge has a different purpose, that the state and not the victims’ relatives or private organisations must take charge to open the common graves and identify the buried victims or the missing since the beginning of the Civil War,” the editorial of El Pais remarked today. In the decree, Garzon specifies that the common graves are located in the cemetery of San Jose (Granada), Nuestra Senora de la Salud and San Rafael (Cordoba), San Fernando (Sevilla), and asks that “the circumstances in which the burials took place, the dates and the deaths are written down in some public register”. Garzon also requests that the Episcopal Conference informs all the parish churches in Spain, 22,827 in total, to allow access to the judicial police, so that the possible victims and missing are identified starting from the uprising of the Generals, which was the prelude to the Civil War, through the books of the dead. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism Threat for Netherlands “More Manifest”, Wilders Blamed
THE HAGUE, 11/09/08 — “Developments in the recent period have made the international terrorist threat for the Netherlands more manifest. The main reason for this still appears to lie in the film Fitna, considered by Jihadists as a serious insult and a provocation,” the National Anti-terrorism Coordinator (NCTb) states in its latest quarterly report.
The report “confirms the international terrorist threat towards the Netherlands observed for some time as a result of Fitna.” Its maker, MP Geert Wilders, launched this anti-Islam film on 27 March. “Fitna is much less alive in public opinion in Islamic countries” than in NCTb’s previous quarterly threat analysis. “However, among Jihadists, the Netherlands’ profile is unabatedly high”.
The Netherlands is regarded “like for example Denmark, as an active player in what is seen in Jihadist circles as an unjust battle being waged worldwide against Muslims.” In recent months, “information has been gathered (…) showing that the Netherlands and its foreign interests are currently among the preferred targets of internationally operating Jihadist networks. A relevant development is the increasing number of reports of Western Jihadists in training camps in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border area.”
Last March, the general threat level for the Netherlands was raised from limited to substantial. “This raising was based on the increasing international threat for Europe as a whole, in combination with a high international profile of the Netherlands.”
The level has been kept at ‘substantial,’ meaning that the chances of an attack on the Netherlands are realistic. “Against what target a possible attack will be made cannot be said with certainty although, in view of the geographic proximity, the risk of attack on Dutch political interests in the Pakistan/Afghanistan region appears the most likely.” A possible threat from North Africa must also be taken into account.
To realise their Salafist ideals, radical Muslims in the Netherlands increasingly adopt a moderate tone, the NCTb suggests. “Among Dutch political Salafists, more resistance appears to have arisen to overly radical positions because these produce negative publicity, which does not benefit the Salafist cause.” (…) “There are however signs of a resurgence of Islamic radicalism on the Internet.”
“Moderate mosques are increasingly winning back territory (in the Netherlands) that they gradually lost to Salafists over the past 20 years. To this end, mosques focus more emphatically on youths, as Salafists have been doing for years. Just like the Salafists, they do this by, for example, also offering Dutch-language lessons on Islam. (…) This growing attention by the mainstream mosques to youths could in time weaken the drawing power of the Salafist message.”
NCTb also reports that “an arrest took place in a coordinated international action led by France in the Netherlands.” The suspect may play a central role in a Europe-wide facilitating cell on behalf of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). “This organisation is active in the Pakistan/Afghan border area and has close links with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the core of al Qa’ida,” according to NCTb.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Terrorism: European Seminar on Islamists in Prisons
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, SEPTEMBER 11 — A European seminar on the ‘Islamist radicalization in prisons’ will be held in France on September 30 upon initiative of the French rotating EU Presidency. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie specified she had proposed to his European counterparts to draft “a manual on Islamism in prisons, bound to identify how to prevent recruitment of proselytes by radical extremist detainees”. Thus, the seminar will try to take stock of the circumstances in which recruitment takes place and which are the signs pointing one detainee has shifted to the extremist side. In addition, the minister hoped that those detainees be strictly monitored once they walk free. The minister, who told Le Figaro that “the French prisons are a preferred place of recruitment by the radical Islamists”, also proposed the creation of a database in all EU member states on the Nuclear, Radiological, Biological, Chemical (NRBC) threats. An European simulation of an NRBC attack will be organised in early November with the participation of several foreign countries, she added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Farmers Fear Harvest Could be the Worst Since 1968
Britain is facing its worst harvest for at least 40 years as 30 per cent of the country’s grain lies in waterlogged or sodden ground. Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, is expected to give the go-ahead today for farmers to salvage what is left of their crops by using heavy machinery on wet fields.
European Union rules ban farmers from using combine harvesters on wet land to protect soil quality. Those who flout the ban can be prosecuted. The exemption is expected to last for about three weeks.
The poor harvest is unlikely to lead to a rise in the price of bread, cakes, biscuits and flour, however. Gordon Polson, director of the Federation of Bakers, said that although much of the milling wheat was of a poor quality it could still be used for bread and flour.
He said: “The poorer wheat means it has less protein, but manufacturers can add gluten to ensure the proper quality for making bread. We are not happy and we may still have to import some milling wheat, but no one is talking about price rises for bread…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: 75,000 Sick Children Visit Amar Circus Since 2006
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, AUGUST 26 — Since 2006, when the tent of the ‘Amar Circus’ of the Togni family arrived to Algeria, some 75,000 sick children and orphans were able to see for the first time in their lives a circus performance, a representative of the Amar Circus, which came to northern Algeria on a special Ramadan tour, was quoted by ASP as saying. The 2008 programme of the circus of Max and Steve Togni includes acrobatics, tigers and lions, crocodiles and hippopotami, the usual clowns and motorcyclists of the death. Two tracks with some 1,500 seats are hosted under the circus tent: one traditional and now, for the first time in Algeria, one on ice too. After the first tours of 2003, Amar Circus was again invited in 2006 by the Algerian Ministry of Culture and transformed into a company registered under Algerian law. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: New Series Tells About National Reconciliation
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, AUGUST 26 — The return home of the penitent, of those who after having fought in the rows of pro-Islamist armed groups have decided to lay down arms and benefit from the pardon granted under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation: their stories are in the centre of new Algerian series ‘Darna Lakdima’ (Our Old House) which will be shown in Algeria in the month of Ramadan. The series, produced by the Algerian state television ENTV and directed by Lamine Merbah, is entirely dedicated to the “issues of national reconciliation” and envisages 15 episodes, 30 minutes each, APS wrote. “As the title suggests, Darna Lakdima is dedicated to the nostalgia of Algerian’s for their country, to the dream to revive an epoch in which people loved each other and did not kill each other,” Merbah said. The protagonist of the story is a young penitent fighter. After fighting in the mountains, the young man returns home, a cabin to which his family had been forced to move after the collapse of their old residence in the Casbah of Algiers. The mother is ready to forgive and embrace her son but the father gives him a cold welcome. The relations with his brothers, with the neighbours, with the entire society, are difficult too. The happy end is inevitable: “the dream comes true, the father restores the house in the Casbah and they return to the epoch of altruism and mutual affection”, the Algerian director said. The filming of the series, which continued for some three months, has just ended and the series will be shown on television during the holy month of Islam which starts in the beginning of September. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Morocco: Blogger Sentenced 2 Years in Jail, Criticized King
(ANSAmed) — RABAT, SEPTEMBER 9 — A blogger that accused Morocco’s royal family of encouraging in the country a culture of dependence based on favours and profits has been sentenced to spend two years in prison and pay 5,000 dirham (some $626) fine. He was accused of offending King Mohammed, his family and a human rights group said. The young man, Mohammed Erraji, 29, had written in the online daily Hespress that Morocco is destroyed by the practice of distributing favours or gifts, such as for example taxi licences, only to few people, creating in the country the habit of begging for favours. Erraji made harsh accusations: “This behaviour has turned Moroccans into a people without dignity that lives only on gifts and donations”. According to his family, after being arrested on Friday, Erraji was tried yesterday in Agadir in the absence of a defence lawyer. The hearing lasted “ten minutes” during which he had no chance to prove his innocence, his family said. Erraji, who has delicate health and no steady job, was defined by one of his relatives as “a free thinker, who only wants the best for his country”, although having “basic education”. Reporters Without Borders defined his sentencing as “an act of a totalitarian state”, while according to the Moroccan human rights group AMDH “the basic elements of a free trial were disrespected”. So far the authorities in Rabat have not issued any comment on the case. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Israel, Haaretz: US Refuse Supply of Superbombs
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, SEPTEMBER 11 — A package of military aid for which in the last months Israel asked the United States, motivating it with the need to guarantee its security, was rejected fo fear that the Jewish state could use the weapons to hit Iran, Israeli daily Haaretz reported today. Among the high technological weapon systems which Israel wanted from the traditional and very powerful ally there are the famous superbombs, named bunker-buster, which the soldiers have already used successfully in Iraq to penetrate armed cement armours thick up to six metres, protecting particularly crucial installations. In the case of Iran, these are underground bunkers in which the nuclear installations which Israel probably wants to destroy are hidden. Moreover, Washington also refused to give an air corridor through Iraq which would allow to the Israeli aviation to reach Iran, advanced weapon systems and tanker aircraft of new generation to refuel the fighter bombers during the flight, Haaretz reported. The refusal of the US, after months of political talks at technical level between the two allies, will tie the hands of the Jewish state if it decides to launch an attack to Iran or at least would make much more precarious the possible result. Diplomatic and security sources, quoted by the daily, specify that the superbombs are GBU-28, laser-guided and over 2 tonnes each, which the administration of George Bush supplied to Israel in 2005. The refusal will regard a further delivery of a big quantity of similar devices. As regards the authorisation of a portion of the Iraqi air space, Washington told Israel to turn directly to Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri Al Maliki, taking for granted that if for him it is OK they would not oppose to the use of the corridor. A hypothesis which does not seem probable. In any case, the daily reads, as if pleased with the refusal of material which the US obviously do not consider of defensive nature as Israel holds, the United States has increased the aid in other defence sectors, including a new protective radar system. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Nasrallah: No Peace if Israel Exists
(IsraelNN.com) Hizbullah terrorist chief Hassan Nasrallah declared Thursday in an interview with Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) that there will never be peace in the Middle East as long as the State of Israel exists.
“The region will not see the light of peace and stability,” he said, because of the “aggressiveness and the natural militancy of Israel.” He added that the Jewish State “will not cease to try and achieve its goals. It will use every means in order to actualize its ambitions.”
Nasrallah took the opportunity to reiterate his oft-repeated threats against Israel, saying that “any Israeli attack against Lebanon, Iran, Syria or the Gaza Strip will be answered with a harsh response. Our situation is stronger than it has ever been, from the logistical point of view, militarily and in numbers,” he noted. Israeli military intelligence reports have confirmed that Hizbullah has re-supplied its arsenal with the generous assistance of Iran and Syria, with more weapons and matériel than it had stockpiled prior to the 2006 Second Lebanon War
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
Army Followed and Recorded Movements of Christian Missionaries in Turkey
The revelations, made by a newspaper, highlight the reports by military agents on the activities of all the Christian Churches. Meanwhile, there is tension over the visit to prison by the head of the military district of Koaceli, to the generals detained over the Ergenekon affair.
Ankara (AsiaNews) — The front pages of the newspapers continue to be dominated by two events, both related to the Ergenekon (clandestine Turkish paramilitary group) affair. The reports reveal how the Turkish army followed all of the movements of Christian missionaries in Turkey, and the visit made by the head of the military district of Koaceli, on the orders of the defense chief, to the men detained over the Ergenekon affair.
The newspaper Radikal has made important revelations, at the 53rd anniversary of the famous pogrom against the Orthodox community in Istanbul, which began the definitive “cleansing” of this community (in reality, it had its origins at the beginning of the 20th century, and was carried out during the 1920’s, ‘30’s, and ‘40’s, with various methods). Today, the community has been reduced to 3,000, with an average age of 60. The same factors have influenced the Catholic community. These revelations have brought to light reports drafted by the armed forces of the Aegean, which took on the task of following and recording all of the movements of Christian missionaries in Turkey, in seven of the nine regions under its jurisdiction, including Istanbul, Izmir, and Samsun. The reports contain a detailed daily account of the movements of the missionaries, and in the various Christian Churches.
In a report signed with the initials of a lieutenant colonel, all of the movements in the Kurtulus Catholic Church in Ankara are recorded, demonstrating that all of the churches and missions were under close surveillance by army intelligence.
So all of the movements of Christian missionaries were recorded in those regions, and there was aggression toward them and their churches. The victims of this violence include Kiamil Kyroglu, head of the Protestant church in Adana, in 2005; Adriano Francini, in Smyrna, in 2007, and Fr. Santoro, killed in Trabzon in 2006. All of the attackers arrested in these cases were underage or psychopathic.
In order to make an ironic description of the zeal of the intelligence agents toward Christian minorities, the same newspaper highlights an event that took place in Smyrna in 2005, when ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew, viewed as the greatest threat, attended a concert there. In that case, the agents recorded every aspect of the concert, even making detailed mention of the flute soloist. The comment of the patriarchate in this regard is laconic: “we have nothing to hide”.
And precisely in the light of these events, there is a great deal of concern over the visit made, on the order of the defense chief, by the head of the military district of Koaceli, General Galip Menti, to the two retired generals Tolon and Eruigur, imprisoned in Kadira over the Ergenekon affair. There has been a variety of comments over the visit. Erdogan has described it as purely humanitarian, while the opposition parties CHP and MHP have expressed their satisfaction with the visit, which according to them was a long time in coming. Some of the intellectuals, and most of the newspapers, are expressing a contrary view, considering it interference with the process of justice: the army seems to be saying that it still has a hand in managing political affairs in Turkey.
Just a few days ago, at his inaugural address the new head of the army said that foreign countries should not be trusted in Turkey’s fight against terrorism, and that the United States and the European Union instead have a concealed plan to dismember Turkey.
Significant in this regard is the analysis made by the authoritative newspaper Hurriet, according to which this visit was intended to transmit a message. The newspaper notes that: 1) the news of the visit was published on the website of the armed forces, which in this way expressed its solidarity and protection toward those who have served in the army; 2) the visit had the approval of the leadership of the armed forces; 3) in its statement, the armed forces expressed its trust in the judiciary, and declared that it does not intend to influence its decisions; 4) authorization for the visit was requested from the judiciary, and General Galip Menti made the visit in civilian clothing.
In short, the struggle continues between the AKP end the armed forces.
But the latest surveys, conducted after the court decision declining to shut down the AKP, and published by Turkish Daily News, see a reinforcement of the positions of the Islamic AKP party, with 50.9% supporting it, while 9.5% support the CHP (of Kemalist origin), 6.6% the MHP (ultranationalist) and 2.7% the DTP (pro-Kurdish). In another survey, published by Today’s Zaman, controlled by Fetulah Gulen, 67% of Turks say they are in favor of their country joining the European Union. As for the shutdown of the DTP, the pro-Kurdish party represented in the Turkish parliament, 57.6% say they are against it being disbanded, while 31.2% are in favor and 11.3% expressed no opinion. Finally, 77.9% approve of President Gul.
Finally, there is a rather curious and unique fact for Turkey. The historic visit of Gul to Erevan was supported by 60% of Turks — and by Bush — and protested by the opposition. But during and after the game against Armenia, that ended with a win for Turkey, there was not even a whisper of celebration. Orders from above?
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Christians Charged With ‘Apostasy’
Likelihood of death sentence grows as Parliament debates bill making it mandatory.
LOS ANGELES, September 10 (Compass Direct News) — Two Iranian Christians have officially been charged with “apostasy,” or leaving Islam, as a draft law making the death penalty mandatory for those convicted of the charge is set to be debated in Iran’s Parliament.
Mahmood Matin Azad, 52, and Arash Basirat (previously reported Bandari), 44, have been in prison since May 15, when they were arrested in Shiraz. When their lawyer went to authorities to inquire about the case in early August, he was informed that the two men had been formally charged with apostasy, sources confirmed to Compass.
At that time authorities gave the lawyer an official document stating that the formal charge of “apostasy” was based on the men’s confessions during interrogation. The “Interrogation Note — Investigator’s Final Order” said that their “culpability order” was based on Article 214 of the penal code and sections of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s treatise on legal affairs, the Tahrir ol Vassileh. Iran’s legal system is based on sharia (Islamic law).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Charity Rejects Entertainers’ Donations
Two Saudi actors and a Kuwaiti singer faced an awkward situation at a charity event for orphans when the organization manager refused to accept their donations under the pretext that their job is forbidden by religion.
The two comedians Hussein Useiri and Fayez al-Malki and Kuwaiti singer Abadi al-Gohar received an invitation from the Saudi magazine Sayedati to attend an iftar, the sundown meal that breaks the day-long Ramadan fast. With more than 80 kids expected to attend the iftar hosted by the Prince Thamer bin Abdul-Aziz Charity Organization, the three entertainers came several hours in advance to hand out donations to the children.
But only a few children showed up. According to report in the electronic journal Elaph, the organization’s manager prevented the children from attending the event and refused to accept the food the entertainers brought.
#”These are actors. Their work is against religion,” said the manager, whose name was not given. “We don’t want them, and we want nothing from them.”
The manager also rejected the donations, but the three actors insisted on sending them to the organization, saying they considered this part of their Ramadan duty towards the children.
According to the website, the three actors said they were surprised by “this strange decision,” but they decided not to take any measures against the manager, saying they came to cheer the children up, not to engage in useless arguments with the manager. However, they still insisted that what happened was “very unfortunate” and that it tarnishes the image of artists, especially in Saudi Arabia.
Useiri and Malki said they had participated in many charity activities and never faced such a situation.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
In Orissa Christians Treated Worse Than Animals, Says Father Bernard
As the situation gets back to normal amid fears and tensions, what happened is slowly emerging. Victims talk about the violence inflicted upon them, a true “attack against the sacredness and dignity of human life”. Beaten repeatedly and left unconscious for hours in the forest, Fr Bernard Digal tells his story.
Mumbai (AsiaNews) — “The attack on Christians in Orissa was an attack against the sacredness and dignity of human life. The world must know this,” said Fr Bernard Digal. “In some countries even animals have rights and laws. In Kandhmal we were treated worse than animals. Every possible indignity, obscenity and torture was meted out against helpless Christians. Men, women, children; everyone was targets of brutal atrocities.”
Fr Bernard Digal is the treasurer of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar. He spoke to AsiaNews about his pain over what is happening in Orissa. He, too, was wounded, beaten for hours by radical Hindus, left for a whole night unconscious, half naked, in the forest, until he was found by his driver. Now he is in the intensive care unit in Mumbai’s Holy Spirit Hospital.
During his talk with AsiaNews he was given another unit of blood. But his thoughts were with his people and family, all forced to flee to save their lives, now stranded in a refugee camp near Bhubaneshwar.
“My heart is filled with gratitude because God saved my life. But whilst I am being treated here my people are hiding in the forest and even there, there is no security,” he said. “There are mothers breast-feeding their infants, children, young and old people, all hanging on a precarious thread, in terror. Even refugee camps are not free of dangers.”
“I was visiting the parishes in Kandhamal district exactly on 23 August when Swami Laxamananda Saraswati and four of his followers were killed by Maoists. On 25 August, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and other radical Sangh Parivar groups decided to go on a dawn-to-dusk strike, bringing thousands of people together.”
On the 25 Father Bernard went to visit Father Alexander Chandi in Sankrakhol Parish when a Hindu mob attacked the latter’s church.
“On the night of 25 August the parish church and the priest’s house were sacked and set on fire. From far away we could hear the crowd shouting hate-filled slogans, levelling accusations against Christianity. . . . Fearing for our lives we fled into the forest.”
“The extremists also set my car on fire,” Father Bernard said. “Whilst Father Alexander stayed in the forest I went looking for some relatives who were in the area. I walked at least 15 kilometres. At one point the extremists caught me and beat be with iron rods, lances, axes and big stones. I don’t know for how long they beat me because I lost consciousness. My driver found me the next day, after ten hours, and I was taken to hospital. It is only there that I regained consciousness.”
Without acrimony but also without any warmth, Father Bernard said: “I was beaten and left naked in the forest for ten hours. Others were cut to pieces or burnt alive. Is all this human? Or is it an attack against life itself?”
“In Kandhamal the lives of Christians are under attack from Hindutva radicals,” the priest said. “The police and the government are incapable of doing anything about it. Sometimes they are not even willing to take preventive measures to contain these forces who are destroying our life and dignity.”
Even though there are still tensions and fear, the situation is getting back to normal in Orissa, said Fr Babu Joseph, spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of India.
Still refugee camps need tighter controls to prevent Hindu radicals from infiltrating them. The wounded require medical treatment. And everyone is wondering when they can go back to rebuild their homes.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India, Sisters of Mother Teresa Assaulted by Hindu Radicals and Arrested by Police
by Nirmala Carvalho
The fundamentalists attacked the religious, accusing them of the “kidnapping and forced conversion” of four children between one and two years old. Although their identification documents were in order, the children were taken away from the sisters and put in a government hospital. Tough condemnation by the Indian Church.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) — The Missionaries of Charity are again in the crosshairs of the fundamentalists: yesterday, September 5 — the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta — four sisters of Mother Teresa were attacked by about 20 Bajrang Dal activists at the Durgh train station in Chhattisgarh, a state in central India. The Hindu radicals forced them off the train, and then handed them over to police officers while chanting anti-Christian slogans.
The Hindu fundamentalists accused the sisters — Sr Mamta, the mother superior, Sr Ignacio, Sr Josephina, and Sr Laborius — of the “kidnapping and forced conversion” of four children between one and two years old, whom the religious were taking from their home in Raipur to the Shishu Bhava charity center in Bhopal. The activists followed the women to the police station, “insulting them and chanting slogans against the Christians”.
The sisters presented all of the identification documents for the children and their travel permit, in addition to other documentation brought later by the religious from the house in Bilaspur. In spite of this documentation, the children were taken to be housed temporarily at the government hospital in Durg, while the documents and identity papers presented by the sisters are verified by the judicial authorities.
“The mob threatened to beat us up, but I was not afraid”, Sr Mamta tells AsiaNews. Her only concern is for the children, who require care and assistance, “but most of all our love. We love these darlings like our own, that is our pain”.
The sister says that she “prayed to Mother Teresa” (yesterday was the anniversary of her death, and her liturgical feast day), entrusting the “well-being of the children” to her. She emphasizes that this new episode of “persecution” is an integral part of the missionary task of “witnessing to Christ” entrusted to them by the founder of the order. Although she got no sleep during the night spent at the police station, the following morning — today, September 6 — she took part in Mass, “thanking God and our beloved Mother Teresa”.
The Indian Catholic Church has taken a tough stance, through the head of the bishops’ conference, who denounces the climate of hostility and terror toward Christians. “I am absolutely shocked”, says Cardinal Osvaldo Gracias, “at the baseless and fabricated allegations of conversion levied against the Missionary of Charity”. The prelate stresses that he knew “Mother Teresa personally, and I was also involved with her mission, and I can vouch for the fact that never has any baby or anyone been converted by the Missionaries of Charity, either in the remotest rural area or in any part of the world”.
In condemning this new attack against the Christians, Cardinal Gracias accuses those who “are instrumental in poisoning minds” and foster interconfessional confrontation: “This is a climate of intolerance [against Christians] that is growing in the country, and it will have serious drastic long-term effects on Indian society”.
This new episode of violence against the sisters confirms the growing climate of hostility toward Christians, in the crosshairs of the Hindu fundamentalists who are seeking by every means to eliminate their mission and their charitable works in the country. The tribals, the Dalits — untouchables — and the many orphaned children find in Christianity and in the activity of the religious a way to improve their condition and bring dignity to their lives. By attacking the Christians, the Hindu fundamentalists are above all harming India and its people, anchoring it in a feudal and backward past, based on the hierarchy determined by caste and by slavery.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican: Italian Bishops Call for Day of Prayer for Indian Christians
Vatican City, 5 Sept. (AKI) — Italy’s Catholic bishops have taken up an appeal from Pope Benedict XVI and called on dioceses across Italy to observe a day of prayer and fasting for Christians suffering sectarian violence in India.
The Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) announced the initiative in a statement that said it was “a sign of spiritual closeness and solidarity with our brothers and sisters of India, so sorely tried in the faith”.
The CEI said the day of prayer could take place on a day designated by local diocesan bishops.
On 27 August, the Pope called for an immediate end to acts of violence against Christians in the Indian state of Orissa, sparked by the murder of local Hindu leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati.
Benedict invited religious leaders and civil authorities to work together to restore among the members of the various communities “the peaceful coexistence and harmony which have always been the distinguishing mark of Indian society”.
Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, called on all Indian dioceses to observe a day of prayer and fasting on 7 September, to express “solidarity with all the victims and prayer for all our missionaries in India, who are facing most trying and difficult times for the sake of the Gospel”.
Earlier this week, the Catholic Bishops Conference of India said that Christians in eastern India were being subjected to a “reign of terror” which had destroyed thousands of dwellings and left nearly 40,000 people homeless.
Father Babu Karakombil, spokesman for the CBCI, told Adnkronos International (AKI) that the unrest had provoked “unprecedented” attacks on Christians in the state of Orissa.
He said 4,300 homes, 50 churches and five convents had been destroyed in the worst affected district of Kandhamal and thousands of people were still hiding in the jungles of the state.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Rugby Racism Spat May Cause Soweto Club to Leave Main Union
The Soweto Rugby Club, which started Johannesburg’s first senior black rugby team, threatened to quit the main provincial union, saying its claims of racist abuse weren’t dealt with. The union denied the allegation.
[…] On Aug. 30 a black female spectator was attacked by white supporters at a Tri-Nations match between the national team, the Springboks, and Australia. Last week, the country’s first black national coach, Peter De Villiers, threatened to quit over allegations, that he denied, of the existence of a sex tape involving him and an unidentified woman in a parking lot.
“We’ve lost complete faith in the union,” Asad Bhorat, the deputy chairman of the 12-year-old Soweto Rugby Club, said in an interview today. “When it comes to protecting players against racism, they don’t do it. There is no benefit to being part of the union.”
During club matches, black players are often called “kaffirs” * — a highly derogatory term, Bhorat said, with the latest incident happening two weeks ago in front of a referee. […]
The club, which has 150 black players and runs programs for another 3,000 schoolchildren in the township, plans to become a stand-alone union, Bhorat said. The club plans to ask Sports Minister Makhenkesi Stofile to intervene. […]
President Thabo Mbeki’s government has pushed for sport to be more representative of the population. South Africa’s 22-man rugby squad, which won the World Cup in France last year, included 20 white players. White South Africans account for about 9.1 percent of the country’s 48.5 million people. Last week, the Springbok team joined in condemnation of the attack on the spectator. […]
Soweto temporarily cut its affiliation with the union in 2006 after a white player was given a suspended sentence for calling one of its black players a “kaffir,” Bhorat said. […]
—- Note:
“Kaffer” derives from “Kaffur” and was the nickname given by the Dutch to a quite aggressive tribe at the border of “Southern Africa” that was not native there. This tribe was believed to be descendant of Bedouin Arabs and in those days still practised some typical Muslim rituals. They were notorious for making a living by mercilessly gang-robbing peaceful neighbouring tribes in the area.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Rwanda Refuses Visa to Vlaams Belang Euro Parlementarian [Translation by VH]
It only now becomes known that the Rwandese authorities refused a visa to Koen Dillen for the “EU election observers commission” of the European Parliament in the elections that will take place next week. An initial and remarkable finding is that this happens without their providing any reason for the refusal.
The attitude of the Rwandese authorities is all the more remarkable since Koen Dillen last year was present at the annual meeting of the EU-ACP parliamentary assembly in Kigali. The presence of the Euro Parliamentarian of the Vlaams Belang apparently was of no problem then.
The participation of Koen Dillen to the EU election observers commission in Rwanda already in July led to a sour belch of a certain Alain Hutchinson, a Euro Parliamentarian for the Walloon Socialist Party. He said then with great aplomb that he’d refuse to act as an observer if Koen Dillen would be part of this committee. This nourishes naturally the presumption that from Belgium there has been an intervention with the Rwandan authorities to prevent the participation of Dillen.
Finally, the Vlaams Belang would like to remind that last year a Rwandese delegation could not journey to Brussels because the head of the Rwandan security forces was — and still is — wanted for crimes against humanity.
In a recent interview with De Standaard (06.09.2008) the Rwandese president Paul Kagame said about this: “We felt that it was not up to the Belgians to decide who is part of our delegation or not. We won’t accept that decisions are made in our place, that someone points at one of our leaders or delegate members.”
Apparently the European Parliament does not mind others deciding on the composition of its delegation(s). It goes without saying that the Vlaams Belang will denounce this course of affairs in the European Parliament.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Morales Says He’ll Expel U.S. Ambassador From Bolivia
Bolivian President Evo Morales said the U.S. Ambassador, Philip Goldberg, is “persona non grata” and accused him of fomenting divisions in the country, EFE said, citing a speech by Morales in La Paz.
Morales, saying he “isn’t afraid of the empire,” gave the speech at the presidential palace hours after the government blamed opposition groups in eastern Bolivia for damaging a natural gas pipeline to Brazil, the newswire reported.
A call by Bloomberg News to the press office of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz wasn’t answered.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Venezuela’s Chavez Says US Ambassador Must Leave
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez ordered the U.S. ambassador to leave Venezuela in 72 hours and said he was immediately withdrawing his ambassador from Washington.
Chavez said Thursday night that U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy is no longer welcome, just as his close ally Bolivia expelled the American envoy from La Paz a day earlier.
“They’re trying to do here what they were doing in Bolivia,” Chavez said, accusing Washington of trying to oust him.
“That’s enough … from you, Yankees,” he said during a televised rally, using an expletive.
The socialist leader said Venezuela’s ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, would return to the U.S. “when there’s a new government in the United States.”
The move by Chavez brings relations with Washington to a new low and raises questions about whether the diplomatic clash could hurt trade. Venezuela is the fourth-largest oil supplier to the United States, and Chavez threatened on Thursday to cut off crude shipments “if there’s any aggression against Venezuela.”
He has made similar threats in the past, but the United States is his No. 1 oil client and taking such an action would debilitate his government financially.
| — Hat tip: Fausta | [Return to headlines] |
“Bleeding for Allah”
Outrage in the Islamic world over controversial new book Markus Aurelius’ explosive new book, “Bleeding for Allah: Why Islam will Conquer the Free World, What Americans Need to Know” has Muslims from Turkey to Saudi Arabia blistering with rage.
The new book, which took more than four years to research and write, scrutinizes Islam from its very birth. The Koran, the holy book of more than one billion people worldwide, is systematically analyzed by Aurelius to reveal the true nature of its message. “Bleeding for Allah” goes the full distance in detailing the uncomfortable and painful truth of that message.
Turkish news agencies have attacked the author as a being “Christian extremist” (Ankara News) and of “promoting culture wars” (Jurnalturk).
Dozens of websites in Turkey, Syria and Saudi Arabia have condemned the work as nothing more than propaganda of the Bush administration.
The Turks appear particularly sensitive to Aurelius’ gruesome account of the Turkish propagated Armenian Genocide. Turkish news outlets reiterate that Islam is only a religion of peace.
Aurelius also carefully examined the Prophet Muhammad’s life, including the gruesome details of his ruthless rise to power in the early seventh century. “The shrewd Prophet creatively found divine words of support from Allah for his banditry and mass murder,” Aurelius writes. “Sadly, more than one billion people believe those words today.” Aurelius believed that such beliefs contributed to the genocide of Hindus in Bangladesh and to the current human catastrophe in the western Sudan.
Although touted as a peaceful religion and Islamic terrorists dismissed as misguided fanatics, it is clear that the very words of Allah, as voiced through the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad, are anything but peaceful. Markus Aurelius’ breakthrough work gives countless examples of Koranic verse that readily demonstrates its militancy and violence. While Aurelius was quite sensitive to the influence of cultural bias on interpretation, he found it extremely difficult to dismiss the troubling tenor of so many of the Koran’s verses, such as…
| — Hat tip: LS | [Return to headlines] |
Cleared: Jury Decides That Threat of Global Warming Justifies Breaking the Law
The threat of global warming is so great that campaigners were justified in causing more than £35,000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power station, a jury decided yesterday. In a verdict that will have shocked ministers and energy companies the jury at Maidstone Crown Court cleared six Greenpeace activists of criminal damage.
Jurors accepted defence arguments that the six had a “lawful excuse” to damage property at Kingsnorth power station in Kent to prevent even greater damage caused by climate change. The defence of “lawful excuse” under the Criminal Damage Act 1971 allows damage to be caused to property to prevent even greater damage — such as breaking down the door of a burning house to tackle a fire.
The not-guilty verdict, delivered after two days and greeted with cheers in the courtroom, raises the stakes for the most pressing issue on Britain’s green agenda and could encourage further direct action…
| — Hat tip: Jungle Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Paedophile Judge Advises Supreme Court on Paedophilia
MAASTRICHT, 11/09/08 — Former judge Fokke Fernhout is part of a university research team looking into a possible miscarriage of justice in a child abuse case. This is striking as he was convicted of possessing child pornography himself.
Fernhout is involved in a project at the University of Maastricht to examine whether reasonable doubt has been overlooked by judges in criminal cases. He is one of the researchers who will shortly produce a report about the case of a man who claims to have been wrongly convicted of child abuse. This man hopes that the study will provide him with ammunition to contest his conviction before the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad).
Fernhout’s advice can have a strong influence on the request for review that the man has submitted. International Criminal Law Professor Geert-Jan Knoops, who has no interest in the case himself, considers that Fernhout’s involvement could have disastrous consequences for the convicted man, since the ex-judge is himself a convicted paedophile.
“In such important cases, university researchers must be above reproach where criminal law is concerned,” Knoops said yesterday in newspaper De Telegraaf. “If a miscarriage of justice is in fact identified in this case, the review request may be rejected because the Public Prosecutors’ Office (OM) will consider Fernhout prejudiced in a case of this nature.”
Neither Fernhout nor Peter van Koppen, the supervisor of the university’s Gerede Twijfel (Reasonable Doubt) project, was unwilling to comment, according to De Telegraaf. University of Maastricht Dean A. Heringa, however, said that he saw no problems in Fernhout’s role in the research. “Fokke is entirely able to make an objective judgement. Moreover, he has not been irreversibly convicted in his own case; an appeal to the Supreme Court is still in progress”.
Fernhout was vice president of the court in Maastricht when he was found to possess a substantial collection of child pornography of an extreme nature in 2001. Videotapes and CD-ROMs with very explicit material were found under the floor of his house by a painter.
Fernhout was found guilty in July by the appeal court in The Hague, which did not impose a sentence however, partly because the judges said media attention for his case had harmed his reputation. That verdict was the result of many court cases in which the sentence on Fernhout gradually became lower and lower. Initially the OM also suspected him of sexually abusing his foster son but it dropped this charge.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Al-Qaida Hikes ‘Dirty Bomb’ Efforts
British intelligence issues global-wide warning
LONDON — Britain’s MI6 intelligence service has issued a global-wide priority warning to all security services that Islamic terrorists now are closer to obtaining material to create a “dirty bomb” to launch against Western targets, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
Osama bin Laden long has made this a priority and reinforced it with regular messages from his mountain redoubt in the northwest province of Pakistan. He repeatedly has said every “true Muslim must make it his duty to assist in all ways possible to find the next powerful weapon to destroy our enemies.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
University Offers Course in Training the Jedi Way
Lightsabres are not included but Queen’s University Belfast says it is the first institution in the UK to offer a course in Jedi.
The course, entitled “How to train in the Jedi way”, will use the psychology of the Star Wars knights to teach techniques for personal development.
“Battle your dark side: fear and aggression,” says the course blurb. “Begin your own hero-quest. Lightsabres not provided.”
It is the latest incursion by Jedi Knights into the British consciousness, after the UK’s first Jedi Church was established in 2007 by brothers Barney and Daniel Jones in Anglesea, Wales.
| — Hat tip: Abu Elvis | [Return to headlines] |
5 comments:
The media always makes a fuss about a few white fools but never says anything about black racism or black violence against whites.
" ...established in 2007 by brothers Barney and Daniel Jones in Anglesea, Wales. "
That'll be AnglesEY, then, I take it? They same AnglesEY I was born and grew up on? Where all my family but myself and one other still live?
Just wondered.
It's not even as if Anglesey is a Welsh word, with 'ea' as an anglicised spelling. We Welsh call it Môn. AnglesEY is itself Anglo.
Ok, most of those stories were the usual stuff we've been seeing - but a pedophile judge who's still sitting on the bench - because they don't want to damage his rep?!? WTF! That is F****ing disgusting! What is wrong with the judicial system there?
Sir Henry --
Sorry, but they come through here unedited. The way they were published is the way I post them. Mostly I don't have time to do more than skim them to make sure they are neither obscene nor totally insane.
I notice that it was the Times doing the misspelling, too, and not some bloody Yank newspaper. Tsk tsk! Ignorance is rife.
's ok Baron - I was only poking a bit of fun (at the Times, actually, who originally published exactly as you copied it). And as for the two prats and their Jedi church ... they've been doing it a few years now and are well known pair of ... eccentrics.
I've no problem with Yank newspapers - they're no worse than ours, and on rare occasions in the past have been better. I think "in the past" is the operative phrase there. I suppose our papers too must have been better in the past, but I'll be damned if I can remember it.
I'm not THAT touchy. Honest.
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