Thanks to Bidinotto, C. Cantoni, CSP, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, KGS, Tuan Jim, VH, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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“We Are All Socialists Now.”
Moral Musings on Capitalism’s Precipice
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The welfare state established the basic moral principle we now see in all its ugliness: that responsible taxpayers are to be sacrificial servants of the irresponsible — that they are to buffer the irresponsible from the destructive consequences of their actions, by absorbing that damage themselves.
But now, we are adding the following amendment to this premise of moral cannibalism: that the greater and more destructive the irrationality caused by others, the more immediate and pressing is the taxpayers’ moral duty to absorb the harm onto themselves.
The basic argument used to push this bailout is that the irrational institutions that were most responsible for the credit crisis are too big, and the harm that they cause too great, to be allowed to fail — i.e., to absorb the consequences onto themselves. The logical conclusion? That gigantic destructive consequences must therefore be transferred onto the backs of those who were not responsible for them.
The fundamental “redistribution” that goes on in our welfare “entitlement” state is not a transfer of money; that’s just a manifestation of its underlying immorality. The fundamental “guarantees” that are not of money, but of other people’s money — as a matter of moral entitlement.
What is being transferred in our “entitlement” state is moral responsibility. What we are witnessing is a transfer of rewards and penalties from those who caused them, to those who didn’t. In this moral inversion, it is the evil and irrational who are rewarded, while the good and rational are punished.
And it is clear that the impetus for enshrining these predatory premises comes from the American middle class — in order to “guarantee” their own middle-class “entitlements.” We are sacrificing the producer to the parasite…and to the predator.
After the triumph of the economic interventionist theories of John Maynard Keynes, Richard Nixon infamously said, in 1971, “We are all Keynesians now.” Many observers of this current bailout hysteria have amended his catch-phrase, chirping, “We are all socialists now.”
| — Hat tip: Bidinotto | [Return to headlines] |
Bailout, or Blowout? Financial “Rescue” Plan Turns Into Mad Spending Spree
As the United States of America stands on the verge of irrecoverable bankruptcy, U.S. Senators have decided to orchestrate a final “blowout” spending spree by dressing up the financial bailout plan with so much bloated pork that no lawmaker can resist its lure. The so-called “rescue plan” (renamed from “bailout plan” by Washington language police) has now ballooned into a 450-page overstuffed pork sandwich, featuring layer upon layer of outlandish expenditures tied to the bill like too must ballast on a sinking ship:
- Tax breaks for NASCAR race tracks
- Big handouts to Virgin Island rum makers
- Yet more tax breaks for Hollywood film producers
- Gifts to companies researching wool
- Huge tax breaks for companies like Microsoft and GE
…. and many other handouts yet to be discovered in its 450 pages of pork.
What began as a financial bailout bill to save the future of America’s economy has become a free-for-all financial blowout that will only accelerate its demise. What’s astonishing here is that even on the verge of financial collapse, Washington lawmakers are incapable of coming to their senses. They offer the same solution to every problem: Spend more!…
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Barack Obama Presses Black Pols to Agree to Bailout
WASHINGTON — A wave of House converts jumped aboard the $700 billion financial industry bailout Thursday on the eve of a make-or-break second vote, as lawmakers responded to an awakening among voters to the pain ahead of them if stability isn’t restored to the tottering economy.
Black lawmakers said personal calls from Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama helped switch them from ‘‘no’’ to ‘‘yes.’’ Republicans and Democrats alike said appeals from credit-starved small businessmen and the Senate’s addition of $110 billion in tax breaks had persuaded them to drop their opposition.
‘‘I hate it,’’ but ‘‘inaction to me is a greater danger to our country than this bill,’’ said GOP Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, one of the 133 House Republicans who joined 95 Democrats in rejecting the measure Monday, sending the stock market plummeting.
Still, the outcome was far from assured. Vote-counters in both parties planned to huddle first thing Friday morning to compare notes on coming up with the dozen or so supporters needed to reverse the stunning defeat.
Lawmakers were agonizing as they decided whether to change course and back the largest government intervention in markets since the Great Depression. ‘‘I’m trying desperately to get to ‘yes,’’’ said Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.
Fears about an economic downturn sent the Dow Jones industrials down nearly 350 points Thursday, three days after Monday’s historic 778-point drop. The Federal Reserve reported record emergency lending to banks and investment firms, fresh evidence of the credit troubles squeezing the country…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Jesus Was a Palestinian,’ Claims U.S. History Text
Study: American public school books have ‘same inaccuracies’ as Arab texts
A new study reveals that if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wanted to criticize the nation of Israel before the United Nations, he could use American public school textbooks to do so.
“It is shocking to find the kind of misinformation we discovered in American textbooks and supplemental materials being used by schools in every state in the country,” said Dr. Gary Tobin, president of the Institute for Jewish & Community Research and a co-author of the study.
“Elected officials at every level should investigate how these offensive passages are creeping into our textbooks. Presenting false information in the classroom undermines the very foundation of the American educational system,” he said.
Tobin teamed with insititute research associate Dennis Ybarra for the study, titled, “The Trouble with Textbooks: Distorting History and Religion.” The five-year effort, which looked at 28 prominent history, geography and social studies textbooks, reveals American public school students are being loaded up with indoctrination about Christianity, Judaism, Islam and the Middle East, to the cost of Christianity and Judaism and the benefit of Islam…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Northern Virginia Voter Profile: Muslim Americans
Many local Muslims are likely to lean Democratic next month in spite of more
When Fairfax County resident Ashraf Sadrin arrived at a local meeting of Republican activists in September, he was starving and glad to see the complimentary pizza.
Sadrin, a practicing Muslim, had not eaten since before the sunrise in observance of Ramadan. While other people grabbed slices, he waited diligently for 20 minutes until sunset — when observant Muslims break their daily fast during the month-long holiday.
But by the time Sadrin finally got to the food, he found only pepperoni and sausage pizza. Many Muslims do not eat pork and Sadrin had to pass on the pizza and head for the building’s vending machine instead.
The political activists may have been a little unprepared or ignorant of Muslim practices, but incidents like the one above are important and show why the Muslim community should be more politically engaged, said Sadrin.
At least one woman approached Sadrin and asked why he was eating vending machine food over the pizza.
“She saw me at the next meeting and wanted to know more about Islam,” Sadrin said. “When you keep an open mind and talk to people, they are no longer ‘the other.’“
Over the past decade, the Northern Virginia Muslim American community has started to focus on civic engagement and gained more political clout.
The commonwealth has approximately 71,000 Muslim voters and about 87 percent of them live in Northern Virginia, said Mukit Hossain, a Cascades resident who founded the Virginia Muslim political action committee in 2002…
| — Hat tip: CSP | [Return to headlines] |
Obama and His Brown Shirts
One historical fact that has eluded most Americans, thanks to the illiberal education they receive in school and from the infotainment media, is that fascism has always been popular among so-called “progressives” — despite their tendency to mislabel and mischaracterize their political opponents as followers of the national socialist ideology.
Benito Mussolini was nearly worshipped by the left in his time. It was only Adolf Hitler who gave fascism a bad name with progressives — and then not until he broke the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact with Josef Stalin and their adored Soviet Union.
That’s why I fear fascism today much more than I fear communism.
Communism is a withered old discredited religion with few observers left besides balding political science professors at American colleges and universities.
It’s fascism we need to guard against, to be vigilant about opposing, to recognize and fight at every turn if we want to preserve any vestige of freedom in our republic and around the world.
What is fascism?
It is a thoroughly socialist ideology that feeds on class warfare and sustains itself on authoritarianism or even totalitarianism, central economic planning, subsidies of favored “private” businesses and something we’re seeing more and more of in the United States today — so-called “public-private partnerships.”…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Prospect of Obama Victory Raises Fears
Democrat backed leader allied with Muslims promoting Islamic law
NAIROBI, Kenya — Sen. Barack Obama is positioned to easily win the presidential election, former U.S. Rep. Walter Fauntroy told participants in Kenya’s National Prayer Breakfast at the Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi in June.
Fauntroy — an African-American noted as the first congressman to represent the District of Columbia in 100 years and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus — said an Obama victory would make Kenya the most important nation in the world, as the place where the first U.S. black president “is to come from,” elected “to teach the world how to live in the 21st century.”
Not all present necessarily felt as enthusiastic at the prospect of an Obama presidency.
The prayer breakfast was attended by Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki of the Kikuyu tribe, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka of the Kamba tribe and newly-appointed Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a Luo tribesman. Obama supported Odinga’s challenge to Kibaki for the presidency when the Illinois Democrat visited Kenya on a U.S. Senate “fact-finding” mission in 2006.
One of President Kibaki’s top advisers — interviewed by WND in Nairobi yesterday under an assurance of anonymity — pointed to Fauntroy’s remarks at the prayer breakfast as the type of “inappropriate partisan comments” that continue to reveal deep racial and tribal divisions within Kenyan politics.
Many Kikuyu politicians quietly express concerns that an Obama win in the 2008 U.S. presidential election could reverse power in Kenya, in favor of Luo tribesman such as Odinga, a perennial presidential challenger of Kikuyu presidential candidates.
Top politicians of Kenya’s largest tribe, the Kikuyu, have controlled the presidency in Kenya dating back to 1963 and Jomo Kenyatta, a Kikuyu tribesman who was the nation’s first president following independence…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Teachers Union E-Mail Touting Obama Scorned
An e-mail distributed by a Virginia teachers union encouraged members to bring politics into the classroom by wearing blue in support of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and simultaneously suggested that the union’s voter registration efforts include those “you teach.”
The Virginia Education Association (VEA) e-mail drew strong criticism Wednesday from elected Republican officials and some residents after the state Republican Party obtained a copy. The author of the e-mail conceded Wednesday that the e-mail should have been worded differently.
The VEA is an affiliate of the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers union.
“Schools should be perfectly neutral,” Virginia resident Julie Aurora said Wednesday. “They should teach students how to think, not what to think.”…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Barbara Kay, the Islamist Elephant in the Room No Politicians Will Acknowledge
I had the privilege of spending a few hours today, October 2, amongst the bravest people in Canada.
One, Marc Lebuis, is a name you won’t recognize, because up to now he’s kept a low profile as the one-man show running www.pointdebasculecanada.ca. This is an anti-Islamist site that brings francophone Quebecers the news and frank opinions on the relentless push of the soft jihadists in our midst to Islamicize society, opinions that the mainstream media are too politically correct to publish. Marc and some close associates organized today’s press conference on the subject, “Political Islam — A Threat to Our Freedoms.”
The three other brave people appearing with him should be household names, but their courage and eloquence is, shamefully, only known and saluted by a relative handful of grateful Canadians: Salim Mansur, Tarek Fatah and Raheel Raza, three Canadian Muslims facing death threats by other Canadian Muslims for exposing the dangers of Islamism, a totalitarian ideology that wears the mask of religion.
The room at the Omni hotel in Montreal was filled to capacity, reverberating with frequent applause to statements like these from Salim Mansur: “Islam is my private life, my conscience…[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties…to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;” “I am first and most importantly a Canadian;” “only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion.”
Appreciation was shown as well for the statements of Tarek Fatah, who spoke about the threat to freedom of speech posed by Islamists who constantly seek to chill any perceived criticism of any Muslim. In explaining the danger Islamism poses to society, Fatah said that “Islam is to Islamism as uranium is to weapons of mass destruction.” Having lived 30 years in Pakistan and 10 in Saudi Arabia, Fatah knows intimately what constitutes “soft jihad” when he sees it. He expressed his sorrow, as a lifetime social democrat that after 17 years of engaged support for the NDP, he could no longer be affiliated with that party. He saw the doors opening to Islamists under Alexa McDonough and now, under Layton, he has seen them “flood” into the party.
It soon became apparent that the particular political focus of all three of the speakers is the NDP, which has shamelessly courted and integrated into its inner circles Islamist Muslims with views that are antithetical and even dangerous to the continued health of Canadian values. Fatah has watched in frustration as Islamists in the NDP pursue a relentless campaign to instill a sense of victimhood in Muslim youth. Yesterday an NDP candidate in Toronto Centre — an immigration lawyer, Farouk El-Khaki — accused the judiciary of being anti-Islam. He was not chastised by Jack Layton, and even more worrying, he was not held to account by any other party candidate. It is clear that no party leader wants Islamism raised as an election issue.
Jack Layton, Mansur said “has gone to bed with Islamists.” He is running candidates in Ontario and Quebec who are closely identified with the push for Sharia law, which, all the panelists made clear is the litmus test for dividing real moderate Muslims from Islamists. Fatah also expressed his contempt for the Ontario Human Rights Commission which, he asserted is “infiltrated by Islamists”: There are commissioners in the OHCR closely linked to the Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canada-Arab federation, both of which, according to Fatah, have “contempt for Canadian values.” Anyone, he says, “who brings religion into politics should be suspect” because they “are a threat to western civilization.” The NDP’s failure to interrogate their Muslim supporters for fear of revealing their Islamism is the “racism of lower expectations.”…
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Islam: Risk of Sharia Entering in Italian Law, Sbai
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 1 — To ward off the introduction of judicial principles incompatible with the Italian law and of sentences passed in other countries in contrast to the public order or to the essential rights of defence is the objective of a question to the government which MP of PdL, Souad Sbai, presented today in relation to two events that happened in Cagliari and Genoa. The first one regards a ruling by the Cagliari Court of Appeals, announced recently by a few sites of judicial character, after an Egyptian had repudiated his wife in the country of origin, the Italian judges validated the repudiation in Italy, the spokeswoman of the MP said. The court received an appeal of the Egyptian with Italian citizenship, Sbai said, he had repudiated his wife pronouncing the formula of “talaq”, obtaining in this way divorce in Egypt, where the regulations and the religious culture allow this type of separation. The Appeal Court recognised it valid, receiving the request and declaring efficient and definitive this separation also according to the Italian law and writing out the divorce in the register of the civil state of the municipality. The Egyptian man got married in 1993 and repudiated his wife after two years. Sbai also offers at the government’s attention the case of a young Moroccan who one year ago in Genoa was arrested by the carabinieri for kidnapping and injuring his wife, a Moroccan of Muslim religion. Now the Court of Guercif in Morocco orders to the woman to return with him and to pay the legal costs. The lawyer of the man for the trial still under way said that the sentence passed in Morocco will be used to show that new checks will be needed. “The claims of the lawyer reveal an improper attempt to introduce in Italy sentences passed in other countries applying principles incompatible with the Italian law. To pay the price are mostly women and children, often victims of intolerable violence. We do not want that the moment to admit special courts as it happens in the United Kingdom comes,” Sbai underlines. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: Proselytism in Prisons, Alarm at European Seminar
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, OCTOBER 1 — Apart from wearing a heavy, long beard, he refuses to obey the female prison officers? Attention, most probably it is a Muslim terrorist, one of those who devote themselves to create proselytes in prisons, according to a “Manual of best practice” on the radicalisation of the prison’s environment designed for the staff in order to put an end to the phenomenon. In the French prisons, out of a total 64,000 inmates, 140 persons imprisoned for common crimes have already been identified as devoted to proselytism and another 200 are considered “moving towards radical Islamisation”, French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said at the opening of a European seminar on the issue alongside with European Commissioner Responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security Jacques Barrot. “French prisons are a favoured recruiting ground for the Islamist radicals,” the minister said, while the chief of staff on prison security Martin Pakuda pointed out that one of the problems is the lack of Muslim “chaplains” who can stop the phenomenon and remind of the real values of Islam: they are only 117 against 578 Catholic chaplains. According to Christophe Chabourd, the head of the anti-terrorist unit of France (UCLAT), “prison is an accelerator which makes it easier to join radical groups, because the recruiters use the religion to dominate over the others and to impose their rules.” Similar is the case of Safe Bourrada, suspected of preparing attacks in France and under trial starting tomorrow, who in prison managed to recruit numerous prisoners and to convince them to go fight in Iraq, once they have gone out. The solution? Certainly it is not the isolation of radicals, as it would mean to make victims out of them and thus to raise their prestige in the eyes of fellows. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Islam: Lay Status is Active in Turkey, Muslim Intellectuals
(ANSAmed) — ROME, SEPTEMBER 22 — “Turkey is a lay state which can give many examples even to Italy. The decision to launch a vast cultural programme which involves the mosques is a demonstration of how the state can encourage the religious life of a country, without interfering with it”, Ahmad Gianpiero Vincenzo, president of the Italian Muslim Intellectuals, said. “Also in our country an action would be needed, aimed at avoiding that the many prayer halls spread throughout Italy are managed by incompetent, if not dangerous, people. But a repressive policy without cultural initiative risks to be useless and counterproductive. Following Turkey’s example, we might relaunch the proposal of an education centre for Imams and the staff which manages the mosques. These, however, should have the dignity of holy places and cultural centres. Also in Italy it would be necessary to move from a passive and repressive laity to an active and constructive one, like the Turkish or the French one”, he said. “In Turkey there is a Presidency of Religious Affairs, Diyanet, which manages the over 75,000 Turkish mosques and pays salaries to some 100,000 Imams and public officers. The prospect of having an average of 50% of graduated Imams in the next few years is very important from the cultural point of view and is the biggest antidote against the spreading of fundamentalist ideologies”, Karim Mezran, general secretary of the association and lecturer at the Jhons Hopkins University, remarked. As regards fundamentalism, Mezran concluded, here “it is fought very effectively and on several fronts: also on the front of law and order, with the dismantling in the past few months of Ergenekon, a network of ultra-nationalists, deviated services and Turkish mafia, which had carried out several attacks, trying to blame the moderate Islamic exponents of the government for them”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Racism Rears Its Head in Norwegian Mountain Town
Norway’s state church is caught in what most church leaders admit is a racist conflict in the mountain community of Oppdal. The local church leader there faces harsh criticism after preventing a pastor who’s originally from Sierra Leone from conducting several funerals, allegedly because families of the deceased objected to his skin colour.
Pastor Joseph Moiba has been the victim of racism in Oppdal, according to most church leaders.
Pastor Joseph Moiba has also been told that people like himself “don’t fit in in Norway,” and he even was the target of both verbal and physical abuse while filling up his car at a local gas station. He also claims his car has been vandalized.
Top church leaders and several politicians say they’re shocked at what they believe are blatantly racist attacks against the pastor from Sierra Leone. “The church must be at the forefront of integrating people with different skin colour or ethnicity,” says Nils-Tore Andersen, leader of the state church council Kirkerådet.
He noted that Moiba is fully ordained as a pastor in the Norwegian church and must be allowed to carry out his duties. “We try to meet the wishes of families in a funeral, but there’s a limit,” Andersen told newspaper Aftenposten.
He said he didn’t at all like learning that Moiba’s boss, Pastor Kirsten Almås, had gone along with the wishes of the families who didn’t want Moiba to conduct their relative’s funeral service. Almås boss, acting Bishop Knut Andresen, initially tried to downplay the conflict — first reported by the local newspaper “Opp” in Oppdal — and said it was up to Almås to deal with it.
He since has agreed to a meeting with both Almås and Moiba, following criticism from other bishops and even the head of Norway’s Christian Democrats political party. The leader of Norway’s bishops, Olav Skjevesland, said, for example, that it’s clearly unacceptable for Moiba to be prevented from performing his duties because of his skin colour.
“I think it’s sad that something like still happens in Norway,” said Skjevesland. “We clearly have a way to go, before we can claim open minds and shed our prejudices.”
Moiba himself has called the conflict “hurtful and painful.” He’s currently on sick leave because of headaches and sleeplessness, and says he’s fearful of more racist attacks if he goes outside.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Treasury is Empty, Madrid Says Goodbye to Big Works
(by Paola Del Vecchio) (ANSAmed) — MADRID, SEPTEMBER 25 — The treasury is empty and Madrid says goodbye to the big works. The Spanish capital, which has been a big construction site with numerous excavators on the streets for years, halts all new projects due to insufficient funding, deputy mayor Manuel Cobo, right-hand man of Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon from PP, said. Cobo attributed the decision to the lack of an agreement on the local funding blaming the central government of PSOE. ‘‘Given the fact that we are still expecting to get to know the scenario of the possible incomes, without any agreement with the government in terms of funding and with the forecasts that change every day the local government adopts a responsible management avoiding the launch of any projects until there are more precise forecasts of the evolution of the economic situation,’’ Cobo said. According to what Madrid councillor for Finance and Public Administration, Juan Bravo, said yesterday, the City will save 200 million euro halting the works that have not been launched before September 30 this year. ‘‘This is the only way to guarantee the social and welfare services that we would have been unable to guarantee if the funds were spent for public works,’’ the councillor said. With a budget similar to the one of a ministry — some 5.257 billion euro in 2008 — the city of Madrid tries in this way to avoid that the economic crisis empties the treasury, which has already been punished enough by the 6.636 billion euro debt that according to Bank of Spain is the highest among the local administrations in Spain, due mostly to the works for the reform of the M-30 motorway. Bravo assured that the ongoing works, such as the restoration of the Prado-Recolectos axis in downtown or the project for the big green area for the free time along Manzanares River or the Olympic infrastructure for Madrid’s candidature for the 2016 games, which are still far from the tender phase, will not be stopped. All tenders envisaged in the election campaign for this term, which regard mostly infrastructure, urban plans, furnishing and reconstruction of streets, will be postponed to future budgets. The freeze will regard social public works of which, according to sources from the city hall, the City of Madrid is responsible, but which are carried out by the municipal administration. Thus, the works are frozen because of the crisis. But the Economy Ministry thinks the responsibility lies elsewhere. ‘‘The situation in Madrid has nothing to do with the current economic situation and with the negotiations for local financing’’, the Ministry remarked, but it is ‘‘exclusive responsibility of the municipality’’. Madrid, the sources say, ‘‘will not receive less in the 2009 budget than in 2008’’ and the municipality’s debt ‘‘is an inheritance of the past’’, therefore it has nothing to do with the future revenue coming from taxes. The Ministry emphasised that Madrid receives only 25% of its budget from the state’s transfers for taxes and that ‘‘it is the most indebted city in Spain, with a debt exceeding by 158% its current revenue’’, standing at the dangerous edge of bankruptcy. Furthermore this year, the sources insisted, the municipality authorised a debt of 218 million euro, ‘‘despite the fact that it has tripled the expenses envisaged for the works of the M-30’’, from the initially envisaged 500 million euro to 1.5 billion euro. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Algeria: Constitution Amendment Very Close, Premier Says
(ANSAmed) — ALGIERS, SEPTEMBER 22 — A revision of the Algerian Constitution that could allow President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term is “very close”, the Secretary General of the National Democratic Rally (RND) and currently a Prime Minister, Ahmed Ouyahia, said, putting an end to the months of expectation and political uncertainty, agency APS reported. Even though it is not an official announcement, the declaration of Ouyahia shows a turn in the Algerian political panorama just six months before the date which the presidential elections have been set and which should take place in April. “There will be a revision of the Constitution, it is obvious,” the secretary of the second Algerian party, member of the presidential alliance, said. “It will not be made in March, but very soon,” he explained, implying that the expected amendment of the Constitution could be made by the Parliament and not through a referendum. Ouyahia did not provide any details on the range of the changes and if according to some observers the eliminations of the limit of the two presidential terms seems to be certain, according to others, the term of the head of the state could simply be extended from 5 to 7 years, thus postponing the elections. Ouyahia also announced the support of the RND and the other ruling parties, the National Liberation Front (FLN, the former single party) led by Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, and the Movement for the Society of Peace (MSP, ex-Hamas)of Aboudjerra Soltani, for Bouteflikàs candidature for a third mandate. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 71, has been in office since 1999. (ANSAmed).
2008-09-22 12:43
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Amnesty’s Obsession With Israel
Amnesty persistently condemns Israel while ignoring suffering elsewhere Even in a month when war raged in Georgia, Amnesty International continued to focus on the Gaza Strip, persistently blaming Israel for ongoing Palestinian hardship.
Amnesty, in fact, issued harsher condemnations of Israel than of any party to the Georgian conflict. With a ceasefire holding between Israel and Hamas, resulting in a period of calm, Amnesty stubbornly continued to spew hollow publications repeating outdated allegations.
Moreover, Amnesty took pride in its relentless criticism of Israel, while the rest of the world rightly concerned itself with the unfolding crisis in Georgia. In a press release, the organization boasted: “With the ceasefire holding, the suffering in Gaza has fallen off the international news agenda. However, Amnesty International members continue to campaign.” This “explanation” merely highlights Amnesty’s obsession with Israel, regardless of the reality on the ground.
Regular readers of Amnesty’s material are not fooled by their non-stop publications condemning Israel and can easily discern that they seldom reveal anything new. Many of its press releases are identical, except for minor alterations. Amnesty’s ulterior motive appears to be to maintain a constant production rate of material denouncing Israel, regardless of actual developments.
For example, Amnesty’s distasteful decision to continue issuing condemnations of Israel during a period of intense intra-Palestinian fighting clearly illustrates the point. Unsurprisingly, Amnesty failed to mention, let alone praise, Israel’s commendable acceptance of Fatah members fleeing from Hamas.
While devoting so many of its resources to Gaza, at a time of acute suffering and human rights abuses in Georgia, Amnesty International failed to provide effective coverage of the Georgian conflict. Although one would reasonably expect Amnesty to immediately respond with urgency to such a crisis, raising awareness for its victims, Amnesty preferred to focus on its usual target: Israel.
For instance, on August 12, 2008, the organization released a statement headlined “Trapped — collective punishment in Gaza.” An expanded version was re-issued on August 27, 2008. As NGO Monitor analysis has demonstrated, the report lacks evidence and credibility, largely ignores the context of terrorism, exploits international legal terminology, and presents data in a highly selective and distorted manner.
Concurrently, Amnesty released a series of vague and neutral statements calling on all sides of the conflict in the Caucuses to avoid harming civilians, without assuming a clear stance, nor providing comprehensive reporting on the events. […]
Were it truly concerned with the universality of human rights, Amnesty would apply the same standards to all countries. Hence, Amnesty’s aim appears clear: to persistently condemn Israel, even if it means neglecting those suffering in other, more pressing conflicts across the world.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Justice Ministry Accuses Rabbi of Many Conversions
(ANSAmed) — TEL AVIV, OCTOBER 3 — A tug-of-war is underway in Israel with apparent exchange of roles between the Ministry of Justice and the Chief Sephardi Rabbinate which deals with conversions and according to the government is issuing too many ‘certificates of belonging to Judaism’ to foreigners who want to embrace the religion of Moses. According to daily Jerusalem Post, a senior official of the ministry, Harel Goldberg, expressed concerns that Israel will be accused of proselytism, practice that is not only uncommon, but according to many (most of all the rabbis) is against the canons of Judaism. The person responsible for the problem was reportedly Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who converted to Judaism to some 160 people in the last four years avoiding the filter of the Israeli authorities. This number could seem scant, but in the Jewish State it is considerable. However, the rabbinate said that only three of these people requested Israeli citizenship. The others returned to their countries of origin after obtaining the certificate. The conflict and the apparent contradiction are explained by the fact that behind the complaint of the ministry hides the concern that the converted people could at any time decide to be accepted in Israel as citizens. This — especially in case of poor countries — could represent an excuse for immigration to Israel. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: Gaza Smugglers’ Tunnel, Land Shakes
(ANSAmed) — GAZA/TEL AVIV, OCTOBER 2 — The day started in the worst possible way for Abu Mussab when an employee told him that an awaited batch of towels had arrived in Egypt, but unfortunately due to a pipe break they were all soaked with petrol. Another mishap for someone like him who manages the traffic of one of the tunnels in Rafah which guarantees the illegal transit of basic commodities from Sinai towards Gaza for one and a half million inhabitants in the Strip. The biggest concern which exceeds all others is that ‘‘within a month our tunnels will belong to the past.’’ Last week in Rafah, accompanied by a powerful explosion two of them collapsed and six workers who were underground found their death. Recently not a single day has passed without news of another sinking. In order to slip into a tunnel one needs an additional portion of courage. ‘‘We are afraid,’’ Abu Mussab admits. For Gaza these tunnels are fresh air, given that in June 2006 Israel and Egypt closed the borders with the Strip as a reaction to the putsch of Hamas against the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) led by Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen). In January Hamas pulled down the wall at the border with Egypt, but the free transit lasted for only two weeks. Afterwards the border was once again sealed. Those who need varied supplies (for example, water pumps, medicines, Viagra, cigarettes, clothing or fruit) should only go to the tunnels in Rafah: they are hundreds of metres long and several metres deep. Often their entrance is a modest apartment in Rafah and their exit is an oasis in Sinai. Hamas has its own tunnels, used for military purposes: huge quantities of arms, munitions, explosives are smuggled through them, according to Israeli intelligence services, as well as modern Iranian missiles, taken to pieces, which are then reassembled and studied in Gaza by the military experts of Hamas. Television images show well equipped tunnels, with rails, ventilation drifts, electric lighting, telephones, radio. For years Israel has been pressing Egypt to put an end to the trafficking towards Gaza. As many as 42 tunnels have collapsed in the past weeks, Yedioth Ahronoth daily reported. Certainly, many still remain active. However, the news deserves attention. ‘‘We have heard that there are new instruments in Sinai,’’ Abu Mussab said. Yedioth Ahronoth added that U.S. military experts are operating in Egypt, near the border with Gaza. They are in civilian dress, in order to avoid attracting attention. However, their presence has been noted. The newspaper did not clarify what their ‘‘secret weapon’’ would be. It suggested that they are using a sonar based system for the localisation of the tunnels. The repercussions are obvious. Last week, after the death of the Palestinian workers, their relatives gathered at protest rallies. ‘‘Egypt has stabbed us in the back,’’ they cried. Hamas is trying to remain cautious. Its resentment towards Egypt is obvious but is held under control: at least as long as Cairo continues the efforts for political reconciliation between Hamas and Al Fatah. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Palestine Must be Returned to Arabs’
The entire land of Palestine is holy and belongs solely to the Arabs, Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech delivered on Friday in honor of Al-Quds Day.
“Palestine, from the sea to the river, is the property of Arabs and Palestinians and no one has the right to give up even a single grain of earth or one stone, because every grain of the land is holy. The entire land must be returned to its rightful owners,” Nasrallah said.
He said Israel and the “Jewish lobby” ruled the world and influenced the US and its allies, and that jihad was the only way for Muslims to achieve results. “Our lands will be liberated, not by begging the US or the West, but with will, determination, resistance and sacrifices made by the region’s peoples,” he said.
Hizbullah’s leader stressed the holiness of Palestine and the suffering of the Palestinians, saying “the Islamic nation has a historic commitment to Jerusalem, Palestine and the Palestinian people.” […]
Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has observed the last Friday of Ramadan as Al-Quds Day. Rallies were also held in Damascus. More than 3,000 people gathered at the Yarmouk refugee camp carrying Palestinian flags and anti-Israeli banners. The event was attended by several officials from Syria-based Palestinian terrorist organizations such as Ahmed Jibril, the secretary-general of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine General-Command.
“This day is a day of popular anger in the Arab and Islamic nations. It is directed toward all those who are colluding against Palestine and Jerusalem,” Jibril said in an apparent reference to Arab nations that have relations with Israel. “Jerusalem is being destroyed and Judaized every day while Israeli flags fly in their capitals.”
Another official, Ziad Nakhale of Islamic Jihad, said Jerusalem was holy for Muslims and “we call all Muslims around the world to liberate it..”
Twelve-year-old Muhammad Kheir, who took part in the rally while wearing a camouflage uniform, said he would never forget Jerusalem. “Palestine is ours and it is the most valuable thing for me. We will never forget it. This is what my father taught us,” the boy said.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
More Questions Than Answers From Damascus Car Bomb
Syrian authorities announce the arrest of non-Syrian “Arab nationals” without specifying from which country. The killing raises questions. It is the second time that a Syrian general is killed; the first was in August, and the second time that a car bomb is used, the first one killed Hizbollah’s Moghniyeh in February.
Beirut (AsiaNews) — “Arab nationals” from neighbouring countries were involved in last Saturday’s car bomb that killed at least 17 people in Damascus, Syria’s official state news agency SANA reported. In its first account of the investigation that brought to the arrest of members of the terrorist group, the news agency said that none of those arrested were from Syria and the “the car used [. . ..] entered the country on September 26, 2008 via a neighboring Arab country.”
SANA and semi-official Al-Watan newspaper also reported that in this attack Brigadier General George Ibrahim al-Gharbi was killed. He follows Brigadier General Mohammad Suleiman, who headed the security of the Syrian Centre for Scientific Study and Research, and Hizbollah’s military chief Imad Moghniyeh, respectively killed in August and February. This year another car bomb exploded near the headquarters of the Muhabarat, Syria’ secret services. In a country like Syria the police and security services are ubiquitous.
“The target of the terrorist operation that took place on Saturday morning in the Al-Qazzaz district was not the district itself or the security branch in the area. The reasons behind the explosion will be disclosed at a later stage,” Syrian sources said.
“Links have been made between the operation and a Takfiri organisation, some of the members of which have been arrested previously and are still being questioned,” Syrian security sources were quoted as saying on Sunday in Asharq Al-Awsat.
Takfiri is a fundamentalist organisation often mentioned by Syrian authorities and has been accused of planning attacks.
In July the authorities cracked down on unrest in Saydnaya Prison, caused by “offenders condemned for crimes of terrorism and extremism,” which left 25 people dead.
Now another blast and more accusations against organised terrorist groups come a day after President Bashar al-Assad warned against the danger of terrorist infiltration from northern Lebanon and the deployment of 10,000 Syrian soldiers along that border and inside Lebanese territory.
In Lebanon’s blogosphere rumours are rampant. One theory suggests that the bomb was meant for Lebanon but exploded prematurely. It was supposed to be a response to the never explained murder of Moghniyeh (Suleiman was Syria’s liaison officer with Hizbollah). Another links it to a conflict within the regime over the destroyed Kibar nuclear reactor. According to another theory Suleiman was killed by or for the Iranians to warn Syria against negotiating with Israel. If this were true it would be a sign that a power struggle is underway within the regime between pro-Tehran factions and those in favour of opening and dialogue with the West. (PD)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Syria: Israel Accuses Damascus of Resuming Nuclear Activity
Damascus, 2 Oct. (AKI) — Israeli security officials claim that Syria has resumed nuclear activities for military purposes.
According to a report on Thursday by pan-Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, Israeli military officials say that Syria is building a number of nuclear facilities in different locations like Iran.
The sources also claim that North Korea was linked to the project and that experts from Pyongyang visited Syria last month.
“The past year has seen three incidents indicating that Syria’s nuclear armament is a red line that must not be crossed,” reported the daily, quoting an unnamed Israeli official, in a clear reference to recent assassinations and bombings involving Syria.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s top security advisor Brig. Gen.Mohammed Suleiman was recently killed, while according to one report, Brigadier General George Gharbi and his son were killed during last week’s bombing in Damascus that killed 17 people.
Israel believes Suleiman and Gharbi were in charge of Syria’s alleged nuclear programme.
The Israeli officials said Israel would not allow Damascus to replicate the Iranian model and would move to halt any attempts to do so.
In September 2007, Israeli warplanes bombed an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor which may have been obtained from North Korea.
The attack, in a remote location in eastern Syria called Deir al-Zur, was believed to have been conducted with US approval.
Syria signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows it to enrich its own fuel for civilian nuclear power, with monitoring from the International Atomic Energy Agency.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
‘Youtube’ Must Erase Anti-Islam Material: KHRS
Kuwait Human Rights Society (KHRS) Chairman Dr Adel Al-Damkhi has asked the government to put pressure on the officials of ‘YouTube’ — a video sharing website — to delete all derogatory statements about Islam and Muslims from the site, reports Al-Seyassah.
Urging the authorities to take the necessary legal action in case the website fails to erase the statements, Al-Damkhi stressed “uttering profanities against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the worst form of human rights violation in the world. Attacks on the values and tenets of Islam are extremely dangerous and unacceptable.”
Al-Damkhi pointed out the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) strongly condemns attacks on the holy prophets and religions. He confirmed KHRS recognizes the importance of freedom of conducting scientific research, exchange of information, and significance of the latest technologies and media on human lives, but it is against how ‘YouTube’ depicts Islam. He said this is an outright violation of the human rights of millions of Muslims all over the world.
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Acid, the New Weapon for Disfiguring Women
Wives, daughters, girls are punished by having acid thrown on them, permanently disfiguring them. The government prohibits the sale of the corrosive liquids, but they are easily found on the market. The phenomenon is spreading. The victims now include children and adult males.
Dhaka (AsiaNews) — Women in Bangladesh suffer marginalization. And the violence against them, at home and outside, continues to grow. Recently, a new weapon has been added: acid, which disfigures their faces and bodies.
Parul’s husband is 30 years old. In 2000, he disfigured her by throwing acid into her face, because her relatives had not paid the agreed dowry. The victim’s mother presented a charge a few months ago, because until then she was unable to leave her daughter’s side, who was always in various hospitals. The husband — who everyone knows to be guilty — is a free man.
Nasima has an 11-year-old mentally retarded daughter who was raped. She accused the attackers two years ago, and since then she has received continual threats. An acid attack left her torso and back devastated. Now she promises that she will not charge her daughter’s attackers, and will withdraw her previous accusation.
Domestic and international awareness-raising campaigns led the government to pass, in 2002, a strict law against the custom of throwing acid into the faces of young women for economic reasons, or because of jealousy, or because they resist sexual advances. After a certain reduction in these cases, they are now on the increase again. There were 1,428 from 2002-2007, 116 cases from January to August 2007, which rose to 125 in the same period this year. Since 2002, there have been only 190 trials, in which 254 defendants have been sentenced: 11 to death, 89 to labor camps. Authorities are unable to say how many of the sentences have been carried out, and how many of those sentenced are in fact in prison.
According to the law, acid can be bought only with a license, but anyone is able to procure it on the open market, at a price of about 60 euro cents per kilo: this is enough to disfigure a person, often completely “melting” the throat, trachea, esophagus, with horrible suffering.
Most recently, the victims have not been only young women, but also children, out of vengeance against their parents, and men, especially over land disputes and romantic rivalries.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Archbishop Claims 100 Christians on Hindu ‘Hitlist’
An Indian archbishop from the eastern state of Orissa claims he is one of 100 Christians, including church clergy, whose lives have been included on a Hindu “hitlist” threatening their lives.
In an exclusive interview, Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhunaneswar, told Adnkronos International (AKI) the names of bishops, priests and other Christians were included on a “postcard” sent to him by Hindu extremists who threatened violence.
“I am under threat of death,” he told AKI. “The card says ‘We will eliminate you’ and not only me. There is a list of people.”
State authorities reinstated a curfew in parts of Orissa on Wednesday after a woman was killed and 12 others were injured in the troubled Kandhamal district in the latest religious violence.
“It is simply out of control,” Cheenath said. “Because the administration is so irresponsible, people do this sort of thing without any hindrance.”
Kandhamal has been at the centre of anti-Christian violence for several weeks. Fierce clashes between Christians and Hindus broke out after a Hindu religious leader was shot dead. Now the violence has spread to four other Indian states, including Karnataka.
While Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has described the violence as “unfortunate” and appealed for calm, Cheenath said the authorities were failing to stop continuing violence.
“A curfew has been imposed but it is only for Christians who are law-abiding citizens, not for the others,” he said.
“Others go on doing whatever they want, destroying chapters, burning houses, and killing people.
Cheenath echoed other clergy who have claimed Christians are being forced to denounce their faith.
“Under attack they are being forced to say that they are Hindus, or their relatives will be killed or their property will be looted or their houses will be burned. Under these kinds of threats they are making everybody Hindu.”
Cheenath’s archdiocese covers the capital of Orissa, Bhubaneswar, which has 100 churches and chapels.
He said many church buildings had been destroyed in the recent conflict and up to 20,000 Christians in Kandhamal had sought relief in refugee camps because they were too afraid to go home.
“For one or two months, they will not go back because there are people going around with swords, spears and guns to shoot anybody and attack anybody,” he said.
Cheenath said the religious conflict was embarassing for the government and unacceptable under India’s Constitution which gave every individual the right to practise their faith and freedom of speech.
“Why should Christians be earmarked for practising their faith,” he said. “It is a duty of the state government to observe the Constitution.”
Recent violence has drawn strong condemnation from Pope Benedict XVI and the Italian government.
The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, on Wednesday welcomed moves by Indian authorities to stop the spiralling violence, restore human rights and ensure respect for fundamental freedoms, including religion.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan Official Says Country at War
A senior Pakistani official says the government is fighting a war that will continue until the country is free of terrorism.
Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik said in remarks broadcast Friday that previous Pakistani military campaigns against Islamic militants were halted too soon. He said the current government will take operations to their “logical conclusion” and that “this war will continue until we make Pakistan terrorism-free.”
| — Hat tip: VH | [Return to headlines] |
Chinese Skype Software Secretly Logs Political Chat Messages
A Chinese-language version of Skype scans users’ chat messages for keywords such as “democracy,” and sends a copy of the offending message to the company’s servers, according to a report released Thursday by a Canadian online human rights group.
That’s despite adamant claims by the Ebay-owned company that its software offers encrypted, safe communication.
Nart Villeneuve of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab found that a Chinese version of the popular chat and internet phone-call software sent the full text of millions of messages with ‘sensitive’ keywords to servers controlled by Skype’s Chinese partner TOM Online.
Captured messages discuss sensitive topics such as Taiwanese independence, tainted milk and the banned Falun Gong group.
Villeneuve used forensic software to watch how the TOM-Skype software communicated, and noticed that the software sent an encrypted message to an unknown server whenever he typed in an English curse word.
Following the electronic breadcrumb trail, Villeneuve found the servers belonged to TOM-Skype. The servers were not secure and he was able to download both the logs and the key to decrypting them.
He claims to have found millions of communications, including undisguised communications from Falun Gong members. Political activist groups often recommend using Skype because the company promises that all messages and phone calls are protected by end-to-end encryption.
While that may be the case, the TOM-Skype software bypasses that protection by checking a text message against a secret keyword list either before or after the message is encrypted. If found, the software would send an encrypted copy to TOM-Skype’s own servers…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Comedian Defends ‘Achmed the Dead Terrorist’ Puppet Routine Against South African Ban
t’s no laughing matter.
Funnyman ventriloquist Jeff Dunham is fuming after a ringtone advertisement based on his popular comedy skit, “Achmed the Dead Terrorist,” was scrubbed from South African TV because it mocks Islam.
The ringtone was taken from a puppet routine performed by Dunham, a native Texan, in a TV special on Comedy Central. A 10-minute clip of the comedian’s routine that was posted on YouTube has been viewed more than 66 million times since April.
Click here to see video of Dunham’s act with Achmed the Dead Terrorist.
But the government of South Africa doesn’t think it’s funny. According to iafrica.com, South Africa’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that a GloMobile ringtone commercial featuring Dunham and his puppet was offensive to Muslims.
The commercial depicts Dunham holding his skeletal puppet, Achmed, dressed with a white cloth around his head and demanding that the audience keep quiet, uttering, “Silence! I will kill you!”
ASA officials said a South African man, Moegamat Khan, had filed a complaint that the commercial was offensive to the Islamic religion and created an impression that all Muslims were terrorists.
And the ASA agreed. “To associate this divine inspiration to a terrorist is offensive to the people who believe in [Muhammad],” the authority ruled. Muslims make up 2 percent of South Africa’s population.
But Dunham begs to differ. In a statement to FOXNews.com, he said: “Achmed makes it clear in my act that he is not Muslim, so I’m sorry the gentleman Khan didn’t see my entire show.
“I’ve skewered whites, blacks, Hispanics, Christians, Jews, Muslims, gays, straights, rednecks, addicts, the elderly, and my wife. As a standup comic, it is my job to make the majority of people laugh, and I believe that comedy is the last true form of free speech.”
Dunham — whose other puppets include Peanut, Bubba J and Walter, a grumpy retiree — said he has no plans to retire the controversial act.
The comedian said moves like this stymie the freedom to poke fun at any group.
“I truly believe that laughter can heal many wounds,” Dunham said.
In a jibe at the South African complainant’s name, he said: “I thought Khan was awesome in Star Trek.”
“If it would help things,” he added, “I’m considering renaming Achmed, ‘Bill.’“
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
Student Opposition Leader Gunned Down in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan authorities are investigating the fatal shooting of a student leader who helped organize protests against constitutional amendments proposed by President Hugo Chavez.
Julio Soto, a student leader at the University of Zulia, was killed Wednesday by unidentified gunmen in the western city of Maracaibo.
Local Police Chief Jose Gonzalez said he believes Soto was specifically targeted because the assailants sprayed his vehicle with gunfire and then fled without taking anything.
But Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami said federal authorities have not yet determined if the killing was a politically motivated hit.
Soto was a member of the Copei opposition party. Voters rejected Chavez’s proposed reforms in December.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Immigrants Prefer Finns as Neighbours
Immigrants and members of the Roma minority in Finland would prefer to live alongside native Finns. However a recent study by the Interior Ministry has revealed that minority groups in Finland often don’t have the luxury of being able to choose their neighbours.
Up to 75 percent of immigrants and Roma interviewed in the study felt that ethnic enclaves were undesirable. A clear majority preferred to settle in areas with good services and with close contact with native Finns, particularly those with families.
Respondents emphasised the difficulty of finding homes even though they were financially secure. Minorities in Finland say they would gladly live among their Finnish neighbours, or even in sparsely populated areas as recommended by officials. In spite of their preferences, the concentration of rental homes has resulted in minority groups residing in only certain areas.
The report revealed that the concentration of immigrants and Roma is already a known phenomenon in the capital city area in certain apartment blocks, and even in certain buildings. Rental apartments in particular become available when native Finns move away to different locations. In such situations segregation and its associated problems can also be detected.
The Ministry interviewed 45 immigrants and 12 Roma from six different residential areas. The final report also reflects the perspectives of officials and certain organisations.
| — Hat tip: Tuan Jim | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Many Roma Gypsies ‘Gone to Permissive Spain’ Says Minister
Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said that Roma Gypsies have left the country and gone to ‘permissive Spain’ in an interview with Italian weekly L’Espresso.
“We thought there were 120,000 (Roma Gypsies in Italy). There are less. Many of them have spontaneously gone to the more permissive Spain of Zapatero,” said Maroni, referring to Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
However, Spanish Minister of Work and Immigration Celestino Corbacho responded to Maroni on Friday by saying:
“I think that Roberto Maroni would do better by making his remarks and policies fit with what we agreed on, only 15 days ago, in the Council of Ministers of the Interior and Justice, which is the European Pact on Immigration and Asylum,” said Corbacho quoted by Spanish daily El Pais.
The pact, set to be approved by European Union leaders this month, will make it harder for member states to grant mass amnesties for illegal migrants. It will also urge EU states ensure that foreigners without papers are removed.
Italian rights groups and charities such as the Comunita San Egidio say the Berlusconi government deliberately exaggerated the numbers of Gypsies living in Italy to justify its “emergency measures” against the them.
Such measures include a Gypsy census involving fingerprinting, and the dismantling of illegal encampments.
“The numbers (of Roma Gypsies) were somewhat inflated, but thousands of Roma Gypsies have decided to leave the country, fleeing from harassment and persecution,” said rights group, Everyone, quoted by El Pais.
At least 70,000 Roma Gypsies are Italian citizens, and many others come from European Union countries such as Romania, while others came from countries of the former Yugoslavia.
“In the Gypsy camps, we have found Roma Gypsies of Romanian origin, Roma and Sinti Gypsies of Italian origin, non-EU citizens that are not Gypsies, as well as Italians.
“We found everything. The shocking aspect is that half are children without parents. We will send them to school,” said Maroni.
In June, Gypsy camps in Naples were set on fire in arson attacks after a teenage Roma Gypsy girl was accused of trying to steal a baby.
The Roma census was compared by both Jewish and Catholic groups in Italy to Nazi racial discrimination and persecution.
The Italian government argues that the census is intended to stop Gypsy children begging and stealing, but also to help them gain access to the Italian health and education systems.
Maroni has defended the dismantling of illegal Roma camps and other measures targeting illegal immigrants, including expulsions.
He claims the government wants to identify those who have the right to stay in Italy and make sure they can live in “decent conditions”.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
‘Bride,’ ‘Groom’ Can’t Marry in California
‘We thought we couldn’t go any lower. We discovered actually we can’
A man and woman have had to go to court in California because they want to be recognized as married after officials rejected their marriage license because it listed “bride” and “groom” instead of “Party A” and “Party B.”
After the state Supreme Court in May expanded the rights enumerated in the state constitution and found same-sex couples couldn’t be denied marriage rights, “Many thought we couldn’t go any lower,” said Brad Dacus of the Pacific Justice Institute, which is working on the case. “We discovered actually we can.”
Gideon Codding and Rachel Bird recently were married in Placer County, near Sacramento. However, surprised by new marriage license forms created by state bureaucrats with “Party A” and “Party B,” they jotted an explanatory “Groom” and “Bride’ next to “party” designations.
The couple soon discovered the strength of the pro-homosexual lobby in the state: The form was returned to Pastor Doug Bird, who officiated, with a form letter stating the license “does not comply with California State registration laws.”…
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Religion: Next Al Azhar-Episcopal Church Meeting in Cairo
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, OCTOBER 2 — Al Azhar Sheikh Mohamed Sayed Tantawi has agreed to hold the next meeting of the interfaith dialogue committee between Al Azhar and the Anglican Episcopal Church on November 19-20 at the Al Azhar’s headquarters in Cairo. Azhar Undersecretary Sheikh Abdel Fattah Allam, also the head of the interfaith dialogue committee at Azhar, told MENA news agency today that the two sides are now deciding on the topic to be discussed at the upcoming session. They are chosing one of the following issues proposed by Azhar: the principles of religion and their effects on solidifying citizenship — ideologically and practically — social justice and equality in light of religions and ways to entrench the principles of social peace, he said. The two sides meet periodically in London and Cairo to discuss promoting dialogue to spread the principles of social justice and brotherhood, he said. Azhar is interested in the interfaith dialogue and spreading the principles of heavenly religions that call for tolerance and social justice, he said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
1 comment:
Actually, I thought it was Milton Friedman who said "We are all Keynesians now".
But Nixon would certainly qualify as one.
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