Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JB, KGS, knldgskr, Larwyn, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Details are below the fold.
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Banking Bill Bails Out China
By Cliff Kincaid
During a time when most of the commentary and news “analysis” has been in favor of the Wall Street takeover plan, Rep. Brad Sherman of California was on Larry Kudlow’s CNBC show on September 30 to cite evidence that the legislation potentially “provides hundreds of billions of dollars of bailouts to foreign investors,” including those in Communist China.
The offensive provision is Section 112, “Coordination With Foreign Authorities and Central Banks,” which “Requires the Secretary to coordinate with foreign authorities and central banks to establish programs similar to TARP”?the Troubled Assets Relief Program.
In another strange twist, in order to get around the constitutional requirement that revenue raising bills must originate in the House, the Senate attached the Wall Street takeover plan to a House bill, the Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007. The socialist-style bailout passed 74-25 with one senator (the ailing Senator Ted Kennedy) not voting. Of the 25 opponents, 15 were Republicans.
Presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain both voted for it.
Obama, perhaps the most radical candidate to run for president on a major party ticket, is coming in for strong criticism from supporters of Ralph Nader, who is running for the presidency on a third party ticket. An article on the Nader-for-president website says Obama has been fronting “for the most vicious predators on Wall Street.”…
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Factors That Could Lead to Obama’s Downfall
by Lorie Byrd
Change is an effective mantra in elections following two consecutive terms by one party in office. That is especially the case when the current officeholder is unpopular and the economy is weak. Barack Obama has that as a tremendous advantage in this race and recent polls breaking his way show it, but there are some significant factors that could still lead to his undoing.
When you look at the unpopularity of the current administration, the financial crisis that has overshadowed all other issues, the fawning media and the promise of a charismatic young figure offering change, it would appear this race is over. In fact, it would not be surprising if that candidate were leading by twenty points by now. Prospects are certainly looking good for an Obama win at this time, but there are a few factors that can still work in John McCain’s favor. Obama’s liberal voting record, his far left associations and the fact that Democrats control the Congress could all still cause trouble for Obama.
Obama is spending significantly more in my state of North Carolina than McCain, so I see a lot of Obama ads. One I saw several times this week was incredibly reminiscent of some Bill Clinton ads from 1996. I remember the Clinton ads because even though I opposed him, I was impressed by how good and how persuasive they were. Bill Clinton sat in what looked like could be a living room, or perhaps a large homey office, with natural lighting, and talked directly to the camera. He told voters that he was for a middle class tax cut and for “ending welfare as we know it.” I couldn’t argue with either of those ideas. I knew enough about the Democratic party at the time to know it was pretty unlikely that would happen, but I had to admit it sounded good.
When Clinton promised those things, the economy had already begun, and was maintaining, a steady recovery. That didn’t stop him from referring to it as the worst economy in 50 years, though, and the nation bought it. Now we have an economic situation that both candidates agree is one of the most dire our country has faced. In spite of the fact that Democratic policies are largely to blame, the unpopular sitting Republican President and his party are going to be saddled with the majority of the blame. Those in the media will ensure they are, regardless of whether or not they are deserving of it…
| — Hat tip: Larwyn | [Return to headlines] |
The End of an Era
By Michael S. Malone
What if the current Mortgage/Credit Crunch is not just an isolated financial crisis, but in fact the signal for the death of one era, and the (painful) birth of another?
If that is the case, it goes a long ways towards explaining the bizarre nature of what we’re seeing going on in Washington and on Wall Street… and suggests that we need a whole different set of solutions.
Living out here in Silicon Valley, the heartland of American innovation, it’s hard not to be appalled by the events taking place 3,000 miles away in the seats of American finance and government — and hard not to fall back on the ‘pox on both their houses’ attitude that polls say is increasingly common among American voters.
From where I sit, the United States government has embarked on two pieces of social engineering in the last few years. One was to make oil expensive as expensive as possible to drive people to greater use of alternative energy sources — because anything less would be irresponsible and destructive to the environment. The other was to enshrine home ownership (i.e., easy-to-obtain mortgages) as a new American right — because anything less would be unequal and racist.
None of us voted on these decisions — indeed, neither was even spoken about directly, much less debated. But nevertheless, both became national policy… and both have sparked national, now international, crises. Then, once they became crises, both were blamed on ‘greedy capitalism’, instead of what they really were: legislative interference into market forces.
Fine. We’ve been through this before, and no doubt we will see similar, government-induced crises again — inevitably accompanied by Administration officials and our elected representatives pointing at everyone but themselves.
But what makes this particular economic crisis so appalling, at least from this vantage point, is the sheer scumminess, corruption, short-sightedness and general incompetence of everyone involved. At least in the business world, especially in the take-no-prisoners world of high-tech that kind of venality and ineptitude either gets you fired or kills the company; by comparison, in Washington, it puts you in charge of the recovery effort…
| — Hat tip: knldgskr | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Muslim MP Becomes Justice Minister
Shahid Malik promoted as part of cabinet reshuffle
Britain’s first Muslim minister, Shahid Malik, has been promoted to the department of justice as part of Gordon Brown’s cabinet reshuffle.
The Dewsbury MP, who is currently a minister for international development, said he hoped to make Britain “a more just society” in his new role as a minister in the department for justice.
“While I have truly loved my international role working to deliver justice for the poorest around the world, I’m now relishing the opportunity to make Britain an even fairer and more just society for all its citizens,” he said.
As an MP, Malik gained experience of violent youth crime in Britain when a teenager was murdered by a gang of young people in his constituency in May this year.
After the killing, the MP, who lives just a few minutes walk from the scene of the attack, called for “a change in society”, warning that too many young people were adopting a culture where violence was an accepted part of life.
In another government move, Tom Harris, transport minister, has been sacked. The Glasgow South MP said: “Obviously I’m disappointed; I really enjoyed being a minister. But I was always realistic — ministerial jobs come and go, but the role of an MP is more important than any other. And of course I will continue to support the government from the backbenches.”
The finishing touches to the government reshuffle are being announced over the weekend. The posts of immigration minister and police minister at the Home Office have yet to be filled.
A number of senior ministers have today been speaking out in support of Peter Mandelson, who has been brought back to the cabinet as business secretary.
Ed Miliband, who was appointed to the new post of Energy and Climate Change Secretary in yesterday’s reshuffle, said Mandelson would make the government “stronger”.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he said: “Peter Mandelson has people who like him and people who don’t like him, but even his critics would accept that this is someone of immense talent and someone of even greater experience now that he has been the EU Trade Commissioner for three years.”
Ed Balls, the schools secretary, described Mandelson’s appointment as “the right thing to do”.
| — Hat tip: JB | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: USD 60,000 From USA for Science, Technology Project
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, SEPTEMBER 25 — The United States will offer USD 60,000 to support an Egyptian initiative for science and technology as part of cooperation between the two countries in this field, said a statement released by the USA embassy in Cairo. The project aims to facilitate access of Egyptian researches to world markets, something which will lead to carry out new projects and create job opportunities in Egypt, the statement said. The initiative is being implemented in cooperation with the US-Egypt Joint Science and Technology Fund and a Texas University institute. The fund was established under the US-Egypt Science and Technology Cooperative Agreement, first signed in 1995, and then renewed in 2001 and 2005. Approximately USD 4 million per year is equally distributed between Egyptian and American scientists working together on joint Fund activities. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libyans Savour Joys of Market Economy
(ANSAmed) — TRIPOLI, OCTOBER 1 — Libyans are shaking off decades of deprivation resulting from an iron-fisted socialist rule, international isolation and sanctions to savour the joys of their new market economy, according to an analysis reported today by Middle East online. Gone are the days of having to queue outside gloomy state shops to buy subsidised consumer goods in Libya, which is an OPEC member and Africàs number two oil producer with reserves estimated to total 42 billion barrels. Thanks to high oil prices, a promise by flamboyant leader Moamer Gathafi to give the people a share of the country’s multi-billion oil revenues and the government’s economic reforms drive, Libyans have embraced consumerism. Designer boutiques dot the posh Gargaresh avenue of the capital Tripoli, where Libyans can shop for the latest fashions as well as stop in a US-style fast-food eatery for a late-night slice of pizza. Amid traffic jams, young Libyan men slip behind the wheel of their four-wheel drive cars or sporty BMW models and cruise the streets until the early hours, music blasting from their car stereos. “We have suffered enough, especially during the (UN-imposed) embargo,” from 1992 until 2003, said Ahmad, a 35-year-old banker, who declined to give his surname. “It is time we catch up on those lost years.” Private investors have tapped into the mood of the country of nearly six million inhabitants — which imports 90 percent of its consumer goods — by transforming a dismal state-run market into Tripolìs first superstore. The four-storey modern temple of consumerism opened in September drawing a flow of eager customers who pushed and shoved their way into the megastore. “Finally we can shop like everyone else,” said a 40-year-old woman. The investors, including a charity run by Gathafìs daughter Aisha, poured seven million dollars into the project. The scheme reflects a decision by the government to shake off Libyàs staunch socialist economy and embrace reforms and globalisation since mending its ties with the West. Libya has since 2000 been working to dismantle the central economy adopted in the 1970s and replace it with a market economy, by encouraging privatisation to create more jobs and phase out subsidies burdening the economy. At the same time the government has hiked the salaries of civil servants by 50 percent to bolster purchasing power. Three years ago credit cards appeared in Libya and banks are offering easy credit terms with preferential rates to private investors. The result has been a surge in restaurants, shops and apartments. And on the streets of Tripoli even the omnipresent portraits of Gathafi have given way to placards advertising a variety of goods and projects. During a ceremony to mark the 39th anniversary of his overthrow of the Western-backed monarchy in early September, Gathafi pledged anew a plan to hand out to the people 37 billion dollars of non-essential government spending. “Libyans should all be ready to receive a share of the oil revenues starting from the beginning of next year,” Gathafi said, after promising to scrap most government ministries and hand their budgets directly to the people. But this over-injection of cash and an increase in demand have sent food prices sky-rocketing. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mideast: PNA Backs Tuscany Project for Sick Children
(ANSAmed) — FLORENCE, OCTOBER 3 — “The Palestinian National Authority (PNA), confirming a letter from 2007 sent to the governor of Tuscany region Claudio Martini, officially supports Saving Children, the international cooperation project of Tuscany region which allowed so far to treat in Israeli hospitals over 5,000 Palestinian sick or wounded children, who were otherwise not treatable”, it was explained in a note issued by the region. “As regards this matter, an official letter to the regional councillor for international cooperation, peace and reconciliation among peoples, Massimo Toschi, was sent by the presidency office of the Palestinian National Authority. The letter mentions, among other things, that the children are treated in Israeli hospitals with procedures which are not possible in the territory under the control of the PNA. It is also acknowledged that the project, carried out thanks to the Peres Peace Centre, is executed in cooperation with Palestinian paediatricians”, the note added. The letter “represents for us a sign of appreciation for all the work carried out in the name of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East”, Toschi commented, recalling that “the Italian government is also contributing to this project”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Verbal Tension Between Hezbollah, Israel Rising
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 3 — Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah again has threatened to use force against Israel “to free the occupied territories” near the Blue Line of demarcation and controlled by UNFIL blue helmets, while the Jewish state assured that, in case of an attack, the response will be characterized by “disproportionate” use of force. “Israel does not understand any language other than that of violence, and the occupied territories could be free only forcefully,” Nabil Qawuq, the Hezbollah leader in south Lebanon, said. However, the Jewish state today warned that in case Hezbollah attacks Israel, “disproportionate” use of force would be applied to destroy “all villages” from which missiles are launched. South Lebanon and other regions of the country were hit hard by Israeli bombardments during the 34-day war in the summer of 2006 between Hezbollah and Israel, which was terminated with the approval of UN resolution n.1701. In the hamlet of Abbasiyye, one of the localities in the eastern sector of the Blue Line threatened to be destroyed by a possible new war, Qawuq spoke to the crowd at the celebration of the end of the Islamic month of fasting: “The diplomatic attempts to free the Shebaa Farms, the hills of Kfar Shuba and the village of Ghajar have failed. The only way we are left with to re-conquer our lands is resistance,” Qawuq said. The Shebaa Farms, occupied by Israel since 1967, are a piece of land covering 22 square kilometers of high strategic and symbolic value, situated along the southern slope of mount Hermon/Shaykh, on the border between Syria, Lebanon and Israel. According to rumours recurring in the past months, under the pressure of international diplomacy the Jewish state was preparing to leave the Shebaa Farms under the UN control. “The resistance will soon wave the flags of victory on the farmhouses in Shebaa”, the representative of Hezbollah underlined. However, beyond the warlike rhetoric, it turned out that the Shebaa region is one of the calmest parts of the Middle East. “Until today we have not registered important incidents, only a few rare violations of the Blue Line by shepherds,” Major Rakesh Kundlas, spokesman of the Indian contingent of UNIFIL, for ten years in charge of this sector of the UN mission and today in charge of 850 soldiers, told ANSA during a patrol tour along the Blue Line. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Resistance Only Way to Free Lands, Hezbollah
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 3 — For the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, “force” is the only means to liberate the territories occupied by Israel and the diplomatic efforts are exhausted, Nabil Qawuq, in charge of the Party of God in southern Lebanon, said, quoted by Beirut’s media this morning. “The attempts of the diplomacy to liberate the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba hills and the village of Ghajar have failed,” Qawuq told a rally at Abbasiyye, a village close to the eastern sector of the Blue Line of demarcation with Israel. The Shebaa Farms are a small plot of land disputed by Syria and Lebanon and since 1967 occupied by Israel; the Kfar Shuba hills, nearby, are claimed by Beirut and are also controlled by Israel; as well as the village of Ghajar, since 2000 cut in two by the Blue Line and since 2006 all occupied by the Jewish state. “The only means that we are left to regain our lands is resistance,” Qawuq added stating that “the resistance will soon cause the flags of victory to wave on the Shebaa Farms, the Kfar Shuba hills and Ghajar”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudi Cleric Favours One-Eye Veil
The two-eyed look remains too seductive for Sheikh Habadan
A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia has called on women to wear a full veil, or niqab, that reveals only one eye.
Sheikh Muhammad al-Habadan said showing both eyes encouraged women to use eye make-up to look seductive.
The question of how much of her face a woman should cover is a controversial topic in many Muslim societies.
The niqab is more common in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, but women in much of the Muslim Middle East wear a headscarf which covers only their hair.
Sheikh Habadan, an ultra-conservative cleric who is said to have wide influence among religious Saudis, was answering questions on the Muslim satellite channel al-Majd.
| — Hat tip: KGS | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Dubai Gets World’s First Women-Only Tower
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, OCTOBER 1 — Hydra Properties, one of the leading real estate developers in the UAE, has completed excavation work on what is being billed as the world’s first tower exclusively for businesswomen, the Abu Dhabi-based developer said as reported by Arabian business online. Eve’s Tower, located within Dubai’s Business Bay development, will be the first tower where only women can own office space. Men will be allowed to work there, but women will be provided special facilities such as entrances, elevators and car parks. Hydra CEO Sulaiman Al-Fahim told Arabian Business the project will “encourage entrepreneurship amongst women”. “This project will give women the chance and incentives to own their own office space,” Al-Fahim said. Hydra said piling work on the 20-storey tower is expected to start soon, with the project expected to be finished by 2010. Eve’s Tower is part of the Hydra Towers Project that comprises five, high-rise buildings at the centre of Business Bay. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Anti-Christian Violence Continues in Orissa
Three villages are attacked in Kandhamal district. Central government sends in ten more paramilitary companies. Christians complain about police and government inaction. A Clarist nun dies from malaria contracted in the forest where she had fled; she wanted to go back to her work in Orissa. A Protestant church is attacked in Tamil Nadu.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — Three more villages were attacked and tens of Christian-owned homes were set on fire in the state of Orissa despite a curfew imposed by police. India’s central government has decided to send in Special Forces to contain the violence.
Yesterday more destruction was inflicted on Kandhamal district, centre of anti-Christian attacks since 24 August. Hindu nationalist groups burnt down five houses at Paningia village in Chakapad area in the early hours of the day. At least 30 houses were torched in two villages in the Rakia block in the afternoon.
For the first time in more than a month police arrested local leaders belonging to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Kui Samaj, an organisation of Kondh Tribals. This led to demonstrations by Hindu militants around police stations.
The Orissa High Court has called on the central government to send in new troops to maintain law and order.
In Delhi the Union Home Affairs Ministry on Wednesday rushed in ten more companies of paramilitary forces. Six Central Reserve Police Force Companies left immediately, the remaining will arrive in a day or two.
However, the great deployment of forces has not stopped the violence. Christians accuse the police of not acting in time or of standing idly by when violence does break out.
A source told AsiaNews that “sometimes attacks occur after police leave a village. On other occasions thousands of militants come and after they leave a trail of destruction police say that did not know about it, as if these large mobs could get together in a second. There are times when the victims identify their aggressors only to have police say that it is difficult to find out who they are. And then there are times when attackers flee with the police present.”
India’s Catholic Church continues to express its displeasure at the inaction (real or presumed) by the central and local governments in protecting Christians.
In Orissa more than 50,000 people have become homeless, hiding out in forests, scared to go back to their villages, braving hunger, disease and other dangers.
One of them was Sister Mable, a 30-year-old Franciscan Clarist nun, who died last Sunday from malaria which she contracted in her forest hideout. The dispensary where she was working in Ruthunga (Kandhamal) had been attacked by Hindu militants. After she fled into the forest, where she stayed for two weeks, she was taken to Kochi (Kerala), to her congregation’s mother house, where she passed away.
Clarist nuns are actively involved in their communities but also engaged in a life of contemplation.
Sister Celia, the superior general of the congregation, said that in “Orissa we work in schools, not high schools but elementary schools, to provide a basic education to the poor.”
Her fellow sisters want to go back, she said. “Even Sr Mable, before she died, said she wanted to go back to Orissa as soon as she got better,” Sr Celia explained.
In Tamil Nadu a group of militants vandalised a Protestant church in Coimbatore, throwing stones and breaking windows. It is the sixth church attacked in Tamil Nadu.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Confidential Report Says Pakistan Intelligence Agency Aided Taliban
Madrid, 3 Oct. (AKI) — A confidential report by Spain’s Defence Ministry has claimed that Pakistan’s intelligence agency and Al-Qaeda aided Taliban militants in assassination plots against Afghan government leaders.
The confidential report, produced in August 2005, was obtained by Spain’s Cadena Ser radio and posted online (photo).
The 2005 report said that it was possible that Taliban training camps in Pakistan were being backed by the Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI.
“It appears possible, that advance IED (improvised explosive device or roadside bombs) training camps exist in Pakistan, where the Taliban receive training, support and intelligence from the ISI,” the confidential document said.
It also claimed that they were developing new improvised explosive devices, such as magnetic ones.
The report’s strongest claim was that the Taliban was using advanced IEDs, with the backing of the ISI and Al-Qaeda, to plan the assassination of high ranking officials in Afghanistan.
“The plan is that the TB (Taliban) use these RCIEDs (or IEDs) to assassinate high ranking officials of the IRoA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan). They will be put on vehicles, although there is no specification about the target,” said the report.
The report said that the Taliban had also been receiving help from Al-Qaeda.
Cadena Ser did not reveal how it obtained the report and the authenticity of the report has not been verified by the Spanish government.
Spain’s Defence Ministry as well as the office of the Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, have declined to comment on the document, while Pakistani officials this week denied any such link ever existed.
Spain currently has the tenth largest contingent in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan with 778 soldiers, according to the Defence Ministry website.
There are 53,000 troops from 40 countries in Afghanistan participating in ISAF, NATO’s largest ground operation outside Europe.
Spain backed the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but it later withdrew its troops after the March 2004 bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid.
The Madrid bombings were perpetrated by a loose group of Al-Qaeda-inspired Muslim militants, allegedly in response to the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: UCAN Document — Christians Turn to Mahatma Gandhi for Help
NEW DELHI (UCAN) — Dejected by government failure to check violence against Christians in India, leaders of various religions have turned to Mahatma Gandhi for help.
After a seven-day dharna (sit-in) in New Delhi from Sept. 26 to Oct. 2, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and Sikh leaders wrote a memorandum to Mahatma (great soul) Gandhi, father of the Indian nation.
Gandhi, who fell to a Hindu zealot’s bullets in 1948 at the age of 78, had led India’s nonviolent struggle for freedom from British colonial rulers. He inspired leaders of the freedom struggle to make India a secular, democratic republic.
Two children placed the memorandum at Rajghat, Gandhi’s memorial, on Oct. 2, Gandhi’s 139th birth anniversary, on behalf of the Christian Community and leaders of civil society.
The memorandum prays to Gandhi to inspire the current national leaders to take appropriate steps to end a wave of anti-Christian violence that continues even after weeks. Worst hit in the violence are Christians in Orissa state, eastern India.
Violence there began on Aug. 24, the day after a Hindu leader who opposed conversions to Christianity was killed with four of his associates. Even though a Maoist group claimed responsibility for the killings, Hindu radical groups blamed the murder on Christians. In the past six weeks, they have burned down 4,500 houses, 100 churches and 20 convents, presbyteries other Church institutions.
As of Oct. 3, at least 52 people, mostly Christians, have been killed in Orissa by Hindu groups such as Bajrang Dal (party of the strong and stout) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (world Hindu council), which want to make India a Hindu theocracy.
The memorandum, which addresses Gandhi as bapu (father) and bapuji (respected father), was written in Hindi and English. The English version follows:
A Memorandum to Bapu
Our dear beloved Bapuji,
Respectful homage from the People of your India on your 139th Birthday!
There is pain and anguish in our voice today as we cry out to you for help. The nation you had helped in creating is experiencing destruction. Citizens are set one against another. Indian Christians are being killed. Our women, including a nun, have been raped and dishonored, even burned alive by Indian citizens belonging to Bajrang Dal.
Our homes are burned down, more than 4,300 of them in Kandhamal district of Orissa. More than 50,000 of us have been driven out of our homes, and live in forests, in India’s Concentration Camps. About 30,000 children face starvation, or worse. There is no protection for us even in the camps run by the Orissa government. Water supply is cut off, the camps repeatedly attacked, even bombed. The police stand by and watch.
Churches and prayer halls, over 140 of them, have been destroyed. Sacred objects are desecrated, vandalized. Nuns in prayer are attacked, beaten by policemen in Karnataka that violate the sanctity of the convent by entering without permission. The Blessed Sacrament — the most sacred object in our religion — is desecrated. A nun, a consecrated Indian woman, was gang-raped publicly in front of the police station.
The Christians are forced to convert to Hinduism in open and organized manner and those who refuse are chased out or assaulted and killed.
The chief ministers, particularly of Orissa, offer words but no action. In Orissa, the system of governance is paralyzed. The legal system is in self-imposed suspension. We are intimidated from filing First Information Reports in the local police station. The district authorities do not allow relief materials and personnel to come to our rescue. Our women and children, and the ill, have no medical assistance. Some have died in these camps.
We are sad to say that we have lost our confidence in the state. Helpless, we cry: WHERE SHALL WE GO? WHO WILL HELP US!
Now we appeal to you, Bapu, because we believe your moral force can confront and defeat untruth, that 60 years later, your sacrifice can help restore Freedom, Secularism, Democracy and Human Rights, values for which you lived and died, and which we, the affected Indian citizens belonging to the Christian tradition, now seek.
We have no FREEDOM to move about. Our LIFE is in grievous danger. Discriminatory treatment by the people and the state of Orissa has destroyed the EQUALITY guaranteed in our Constitution. Taking into consideration that the Rule of Law is inoperative and ANARCHY is prevalent in the affected Districts of Orissa, and Karnataka, we the Christians of Delhi and NCR [National Capital Region] urge you, Bapu:
1. To inspire the president of India to take over the administration of Orissa and Karnataka [states].
2. To send in, para-drop if necessary, contingents of the Indian army into Kandhamal district where the writ of the state no longer runs, followed by a total change in the incompetent, partisan, bigoted and tainted police and civil administration at the highest levels. Many of them must face criminal prosecution for complicity in heinous crimes, and for dereliction of duty.
3. To withdraw all restrictions imposed on entry of relief materials and personnel into the affected areas in Orissa.
4. To proscribe immediately all organizations and individuals carrying out or inciting communal violence, namely, the Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
5. To order investigation by CBI [Central Bureau of Investigation], not by State commissions, into the circumstances leading to the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad vice president Laxmanananda Saraswati and the organized violence which followed after the yatra [procession] in which his body was taken along hundreds of kilometers in the district of Kandhamal.
6. Order compensation without delay to the families of those killed in communal violence. Their houses must be rebuilt, their livelihood restored. Families that have lost in the arson documents like land deals, identification papers, ration cards, certificates, be offered state assistance by declaring such documents as valid when affidavits are given by the community or panchayat or gram sabha [types of village councils]. Above all, these internally displaced people of Kandhamal must be restored their homes.
Thank you, Bapu
Your people being discriminated in the name of religion
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
India: Nun Target of Rape in Sectarian Violence
Bhubaneswar, 3 Oct. (AKI) — The alleged rape of a Catholic nun in the eastern Indian state of Orissa is part of ongoing “tit for tat” violence between Christians and Hindus, sociologist Augustine Kanjamala, told Adnkronos International (AKI) on Friday.
Police have reportedly arrested four men in connection with the rape of the nun in the Kandhamal district of Orissa on 25 August.
Kanjamala, an ordained priest who worked in Orissa for five years is based at the University of Bombay.
He upheld the nun’s claim that she was raped by a member of a Hindu mob and marched naked through the streets.
“The sister and a priest were paraded naked,” he told AKI by telephone. He said the nun had been “traumatised” by her ordeal.
While some media reports say that 30 people have been killed in sectarian violence, one church leader Archbishop Raphael Cheenath told AKI on Thursday that the figure was closer to 50. Up to 20,000 people are believed to be living in refugee camps.
There has been ongoing tension between Hindus and Christians for the past ten years, Kanjamala said.
But it intensified in August when a Hindu spirital leader was murdered.
Fundamentalist Hindu groups which oppose any kind of missionary activity have attacked Christians and church property.
“They claim that the education and health services Christian missionary orders provide are only a means of converting the poor and the ignorant,” said Kanjamala…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Greece: Death by Human Rights
About 80,000 migrants have traveled to Greece this year and decided to stay illegally, according to the authorities, who say the country can no longer handle the task of guarding the European Union’s southeast flank. While initial problems with the flood of migrants from Africa and the Middle East who are desperate to enter Europe centered on the Aegean islands, migrants are now wreaking havoc in the capital. The historic center of Athens has been riven by several street battles in recent months, involving what the police characterize as rival groups, often involved in dealing drugs, from Afghanistan, Iraq and war-torn African countries wielding swords, axes and machetes. After 11 people were hurt in one such brawl in late August, the police began 24-hour patrolling of the area. Store owners and residents are leaving the busy central shopping and restaurant district.
Thomas Hammarberg, human rights commissioner at the Council of Europe, has criticized Greece and other EU states for “criminalizing the irregular entry and presence of migrants as part of a policy of so-called migration management.” “Political decision-makers should not lose the human rights perspective in migration,” Hammarberg wrote in an e-mail message when asked to comment for this article. “Migrants coming from war-torn states should be given refuge.” The government says that Greece grants protection to all refugees, as long as their status can be proven. But UN refugee agency statistics show that Greece approves less than one percent of asylum applications, compared with a EU average of 20 percent. According to minority groups, the treatment of migrants from war-torn states as “illegals” rather than refugees requiring protection forces them to eke out a life on the fringes of society.
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Italy, Spain Share Priorities, Italian Ministry
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 3 — Between Italy and Spain exists ‘‘substantial sharing of the priorities and fundamental choices, also within the European collaboration, to face the immigration phenomenon,’’ the Italian Foreign Ministry pointed out today. Last night Spanish Labour and Immigration Minister Celestino Corbacho called upon Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni to ‘‘do so that his declarations and policy fall within what just 15 days ago we agreed upon in the council of the EU interior and justice ministers on immigration, that is the European pact on immigration’’. In an interview with Espresso, Maroni, as regards the census of gypsies in Italy, said: ‘‘we thought they were 120,000: they are less. Many have spontaneously gone towards Zapatero’s more permissive Spain’’. The Foreign Ministry specified that on the subject, as it is well-known, in the internal political scenario of the two countries exist articulate and pluralist political sensibilities, which however — although in the difference of tones and approaches, which are an expression of a legitimate difference in the interpretation of a complex phenomenon such as immigration — do not bring into question the opportunity of efficient and functional co-operation at inter-governmental level. This fundamental convergence is demonstrated by the fact that, in the definition of the European common policies, a privileged tool to govern the migratory flows on global level, Rome and Madrid have always voted in unison, the foreign ministry notes. Italy, the statement concludes, underlines that finally an accord on the views also regarding the European pact on immigration has been registered. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Another Polemic on Roma, Spanish Press
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 3 — The declaration of Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni that “many” Roma have left Italy to go “spontaneously to the more permissive Spain of Zapatero” and the answer of Spanish Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Celestino Corbacho were reported today by the dailies in Madrid, reminding the contrasts between Rome and Madrid in the past months on the issue of immigration. “A minister of Berlusconìs government opens another polemics with Zapatero”, affirms ‘El Pais’, adding that the Italian non-governmental organisations working with the community of Roma confirm the flow towards Spain, chiefly on the part of Romanian Roma, admitting that it is very difficult to provide certain figures.” “Italy assures that gypsies ‘have gone to the more permissive Spain of Zapatero’’, ‘El Mundo’ points out, reminding of the “regret” of Minister Corbacho for such declarations. “The census of nomads in Italy is almost over and the number of registered people (including Roma and non-Roma non-EU citizens and Italians) resulted fewer than expected” by the Italian Government, ‘La Vanguardia’ wrote. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Spain; 5 Years for Reunion With Parents
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 2 — The reunion with parents and the “extended family” will be possible for immigrants in Spain only after they “have obtained permanent residence”, that is to say after the fifth year. The measure, among others, is envisaged by the reform of the law on immigration which will be presented to the Spanish Congress by the end of the year, Labour and Immigration Minister Celestino Corbacho announced in an interview with the national television. The goal of the reform, indicated by Corbacho, is “to eliminate the contradictions regarding family reunion”. What concerns the family nucleus, that is bringing together spouses and children, will be implemented “in the least possible time, as currently envisaged by the law,” the minister explained. But work permits will be granted also to children aged between 16 and 18, who are minors and are not allowed to work at present, to avoid “that their only destiny would be the street,” Corbacho said. The minister reiterated that the government “is obliged to reform the law on immigration to acknowledge a ruling of the Constitutional Court “on the extension of the fundamental rights of immigrants and the European Union’s return directive”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Immigration: Illegal Immigrants Land at Apulia’s Coasts
(ANSAmed) — TRICASE (LECCE), OCTOBER 3 — Groups of illegal immigrants, as a whole 19 people, were discovered in the area of Salento by the finance guard and the carabinieri. It was announced that a first group of 11 illegal immigrants of Iraqi nationality was traced on the seashore between Tiggiano and Gagliano del Capo. After some time at the railway station of Tricase the carabinieri traced three illegal immigrants and another five at the station of Spongano, all of them of Iraqi nationality. The illegal immigrants, according to the investigators, arrived aboard a boat which after the landing put out to sea. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gun Control: Common Sense or Common Cause?
RENO — Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday he is “a strong supporter of the Second Amendment” and will not try take Americans’ guns away if elected.
“I believe it’s an individual right,” he said in an interview following Tuesday’s speech at [University of Nevada, Reno]. “Lawful gun owners have nothing to fear from an Obama Administration.”
But, Obama said, he is for “some common sense gun safety laws.” He said that means keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals, the mentally ill and children.
“And we need a system that makes sure we can trace guns back to the original owners and dealers.”[1]
What Obama isn’t saying is that in order to “trace guns to the original owners” we must enact national gun owner licensing and registration for each gun purchased. Such policies have both historical and future significance.
Brief History of Registration Leading to Confiscation
There is documented evidence that registration and licensing leads to confiscation, often with horrible unintended results…
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5 comments:
Some great ones here, esp. the Greek one.
Indeed, if YOU or I went to visit Greece and we brought along one of our "swords, axes and machetes," can
you imagine the hassle trying to get through security at the airport?
Note that these third worlders, on the other hand, never seem to forget to bring along their "swords, axes and machetes."
I sound like a broken record, but I'll say it again: Our imbecile politicians, who have turned our own populations in the West into vast herds of helpless sheep, are now importing into our countries tens of millions of ULTRA-VIOLENT THIRD WORLD BARBARIAN THUGS.
I agree entirely with Fjordman on this: find some way to arm yourself so you can at least go down fighting when our "guests" from the third world reach a critical mass in numbers and begin the "ethnic cleansing" of the native population
(that's US!)
Note also the situation in India. How many WEEKS has this business been going on? And nobody seems to really give a $#!+. I haven't even seen much about it in the "mainstream" (what I call the OBSOLETE) media; most of the reports I've seen are on the web.
Why do I know that if the violence was directed at Muslims, it would be all over the newspapers and television? (And "foreign fighters" would be swooping down on India like a swarm of locusts to aid their fellow members of the Ummah.)
But nobody gives a crap about Christians.
Sen. Barack Obama said Tuesday he is "a strong supporter of the Second Amendment" and will not try to take American's guns away if elected.
My goodness, the smell of HORSE MANURE is particularly pungent today.
I agree entirely with Fjordman on this: find some way to arm yourself so you can at least go down fighting when our "guests" from the third world reach a critical mass in numbers and begin the "ethnic cleansing" of the native population
(that's US!)
From their side no ethnic cleansing is going to happen, as we are in the process of dying out and they know that all they need to do is to just wait. Until that happens, they probably want to keep us around as taxpayers anyway. I, for my part, am utterly frustrated about this recurring fantasizing about civil wars and calls to get armed. Such thinking is just childish and nobody heeds that advice. Will we ever manage to do something constructive instead?
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