Three news stories tonight demonstrate the hypocrisy of the “green” Left. According to them, to save the planet we must cut our dependence on fossil fuels. Yet Sen. Dianne Feinstein doesn’t want to use federal land in the Mojave Desert for solar and wind power installations.In similar cases in Britain, opponents are blocking both solar and nuclear projects — the latter because radioactive material might fall into the hands of terrorists.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, C. Cantoni, Earl Cromer, Fjordman, heroyalwhyness, Insubria, JD, Nilk, RRW, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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EU: Protectionism Row Flares as Renault Brings Production Back to France
[Comments from JD: Contrast this with GM, which is using bailout to expand in Brazil.]
Renault and Peugeot, both running out of cash, were given billions in low-cost guarantees and loans provided they kept French plants open and saved as many jobs as possible
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Turkey Assess Annual Trade Volume
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MARCH 18 — There was a sharp decline in the amount of foreign investment Turkey received last year as the global economic crisis sank its teeth deep into each country around the world. But Italian investors, as Hurriyet daily reports today, did not rush out of the market, according to the chairman of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Izmir. “On the contrary, Italian companies’ investments in Turkey increased 196% in 2008 compared to a year earlier and reached $219 million,” Rebii Akdurak said at a meeting held in Izmir yesterday to inform Aegean companies that conduct business with Italian firms of the services provided by SACE SpA. A Rome-based company that was founded in 1998, SACE insures Italian companies in foreign markets. It offers insurance, financing and credit-management products, including credit insurance, financial guarantees, investment protection, surety bond and bank products. The company also offers advisory, credit opinion, training, investment initiatives and opportunities support, and environmental guidelines services. Reminding attendees that Italy is Turkey’s third largest trade partner, Akdurak said trade volume between Turkey and Italy reached $18.8 billion last year. That was an increase of 7.5% compared with a year earlier, he added. Some $11 billion of that amount was Turkey’s imports from Italy, he said during the meeting organized jointly by the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Izmir and PFS Finance, a Turkish consulting firm specializing in export credit and structured finance. SACE signed an deal with PSF Finance late last year to cooperate on Turkish financing. Currently there are 696 Italian investments in Turkey. The value of all those investments totals $4.7 billion, Akdurak said. Trade relations between Italy and the companies operating in Turkey’s Aegean region have always been well above average, said Simon Carta, the Italian consul in Izmir. “However, the global climate in 2008 did not allow the trade figures to near their usual levels. The trade volume between the two countries dropped 12% due to the global crisis,” he said. The Aegean region has always been a key location for many Italian firms, he said, adding that the investments implemented by Italian brands such Carta, Indesit, Eldor, Faber and Luxottica were proof of that. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Taxpayer Billions Support Shariah at AIG
Attorneys argue dismissal would leave U.S. funding Islamic terrorists
A non-profit legal group that sued the Federal Reserve Board and the U.S. Treasury over the distribution of billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to the Shariah-supporting American International Group is warning the case must not be dismissed.
The case was brought against the Fed and the Treasury by the Thomas More Law Center, and spokesman Richard Thompson says he’s challenging the U.S. government’s own “financial support to anti-American, Islamic activities.”
“Make no mistake, there is a cultural jihad underway against our great nation, and I fear that our government is unwittingly complicit in it,” Thompson said
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Bursa Loses 50% of Its Synthetic Thread Companies
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, MARCH 17 — Half of the synthetic thread companies in the northwestern province of Bursa — one of the leading textile cities of Turkey — were closed. Sonmez Filament, Nergis Textile and Polylen companies stopped production while Korteks, Sifas and Politeks are still continuing the synthetic thread manufacturing. Eray Sanver, secretary general of Synthetic Thread Manufacturers’ Union, told Anatolia agency that synthetic thread sector sold 75% of its products in domestic market, and exported the rest. Far Eastern countries like China and India were strong in world markets due to their low prices, Sanver said and added that there had been a 30-40% shrinkage in Turkish textile sector. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Democracy is the Road to Socialism
[Comments from JD: Video links are at end of article.]
“I once said, — ‘Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you,’ — and I got into trouble with it. Of course we will not bury you with a shovel. Your own working class will bury you.” — Soviet Leader Nikita Khrushchev
Thomas Jefferson correctly warned against “democracy” as a form of self-governance, properly defining it as “nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine.”
Marx’s proletariat, the working class, organized by trade unions and trained to vote themselves gifts from the public trough, replacing the representative republic with a pure democracy via rewritten history and ideologically redefined words, will rule by simple majority mob, forcing its will upon the minority, the American taxpayer.
Once fully indoctrinated in entitlement mentality and taught to vote themselves access to the public trough, the proletariat could be counted upon to use their democratic power to install socialism, — (in Marxist theory) the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Feinstein Seeks Block Solar Power From Desert Land
WASHINGTON — California’s Mojave Desert may seem ideally suited for solar energy production, but concern over what several proposed projects might do to the aesthetics of the region and its tortoise population is setting up a potential clash between conservationists and companies seeking to develop renewable energy.
Nineteen companies have submitted applications to build solar or wind facilities on a parcel of 500,000 desert acres, but Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Friday such development would violate the spirit of what conservationists had intended when they donated much of the land to the public.
Feinstein said Friday she intends to push legislation that would turn the land into a national monument, which would allow for existing uses to continue while preventing future development.
The Wildlands Conservancy orchestrated the government’s purchase of the land between 1999-2004.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Intellectuals and Philosophy vs. Conservatives and Tradition
Tired of being called a “traditionalist?” Maybe you shouldn’t be. Traditionalists may know more about truth than we have been led to believe.
Intellectuals, philosophers, and ersatz “progressives” have been hanging the albatross of tradition around conservatives’ necks for … well … let’s just say it is a long standing tradition for the intellectual elites to demean conservatives by calling them “traditionalists.”
In this article, I will argue that tradition is a good thing, not a bad thing — a smart position not a naïve one. I will suggest that the process we call “tradition” helps human beings understand and delineate, over the long run, what is true. Intellectuals and liberals are wrong about the meaning and value of tradition. And, once again, whether they understand and can articulate their reasons or not, conservatives are right.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Has Assembled Network of Lobbyists That Has ‘Penetrated’ Administration
[Comments from JD: article details those on the Iranian payroll.]
The number of significant pro-Iran lobbyists has grown and key players have gained access to the new administration of President Barak Obama, a report said.
The Center for Security Policy said veteran Iranian lobbyists, several of them former government officials, have been granted access to the Obama administration.
“A complex network of individuals and organizations with ties to the clerical regime in Teheran is pressing forward in seeming synchrony to influence the new U.S. administration’s policy towards the Islamic republic of Iran,” the report, titled “Rise of the Iran Lobby,” said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Let’s Have a Constitutional Showdown!
Arizona Representative John Shadegg has introduced the “Enumerated Powers Act” (H.R. 450), which requires that:
“Each Act of Congress shall contain a concise and definite statement of the constitutional authority relied upon for the enactment of each portion of that Act.”
What a great idea! Every congressman who has sworn to “… preserve, protect and defend the Constitution” should eagerly endorse this concept — or be exposed as a blatant hypocrite.
The bill was introduced on Jan. 9; it has 18 co-sponsors. This means that 417 representatives are not co-sponsoring the bill — yet. This number could, and should, change. It will not change, however, unless voters force their individual representatives to co-sponsor the bill or publicly explain why not.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Man Critical of Obama Case Judge Visited by Marshals
‘I told your Gestapo goons we had nothing to talk about’
[Comments from JD: Go to the URL to read the second letter the man wrote. It seems to me this man knows more about the Constitution than the judge.]
A Washington, D.C., man who believes Barack Obama probably isn’t eligible to be president — and colorfully stated as much to a federal judge who dismissed a case challenging Obama’s residency in the White House — says he got a visit from U.S. marshals for his exercise of free speech.
[…]
“After reading your story about Federal Judge James Robertson dismissing a suit challenging Obama’s natural born citizenship, and suggesting sanctions, I wrote him a very critical letter,” Merrell told WND. “Two U.S. marshals came to visit me, making threats to silence me.
“I told them unless the First Amendment had been repealed, or they had a warrant for my arrest, we had nothing to discuss,” he continued. “But they insisted on coming in, and making further threats.
“I responded with another letter, with firm language, but nothing I haven’t used for 30 years, and quoting Thomas Jefferson’s warning to bind judges with the ‘chains of the Constitution’ to prevent mischief.”
[…]
Merrell told WND his particular dislike of “government tyranny” has existed “since my fourth-great-grandfather, Captain Benjamin Merrell, was hanged — hanged, drawn and quartered — by the British Royal Governor of North Carolina in 1771 for protesting high and unjust taxes.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Military Demands Details on Soldiers’ Private Guns
Fort Campbell command reversed under pressure
A military commander at Fort Campbell in Kentucky demanded his soldiers give him the registration numbers of any guns they own privately and then reveal where they are stored.
The order was stopped, according to base officials, when it was discovered the commander was not “acting within his authority.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s New Pastor Club
One of those selected by Obama is Jim Wallis. Show me an issue in which Wallis is not in lockstep with the religious left and I’ll eat my hat.
Wallis supports redistribution of wealth, not only domestically but also internationally to end poverty. He is a zealot of global warming, which is nothing more than a thinly veiled fraudulent crisis designed to attack national sovereignty and lay the groundwork for subverting individual sovereignty through the higher calling of international authorities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Outpouring of Skeptical Scientists Continues as 59 Scientists Added to Senate Report
More Than 700 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims
Fifty nine additional scientists from around the world have been added to the U.S. Senate Minority Report of dissenting scientists, pushing the total to over 700 skeptical international scientists — a dramatic increase from the original 650 scientists featured in the initial December 11, 2008 release. The 59 additional scientists added to the 255-page Senate Minority report since the initial release 13 Â1/2 weeks ago represents an average of over four skeptical scientists a week. This updated report — which includes yet another former UN IPCC scientist — represents an additional 300 (and growing) scientists and climate researchers since the initial report’s release in December 2007.
The over 700 dissenting scientists are now more than 13 times the number of UN scientists (52) who authored the media-hyped IPCC 2007 Summary for Policymakers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Source: ‘Several’ Missing Somali-Americans Back in U.S. After Overseas Terror Mission
Many of the Somali-American men who were recruited to join an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group overseas have returned to the United States, according to a source familiar with an FBI investigation into the matter — but the FBI still has not revealed publicly if it is pursuing arrests in the case.
“Some of the guys who were missing aren’t missing anymore,” the source said. “Some of them got blown up and some of them came back, and some of them are still there [in Somalia].”
For several months the FBI has been investigating at least 20 Somali-American men from the Minneapolis area who traveled to war-torn Somalia, where some of them trained and fought with an Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group known as al-Shabaab, according to counterterrorism officials.
Asked to characterize how many of those men are now back on American soil, the source would only say that “several” have returned. Federal authorities believe the men went to Somalia to join al-Shabaab, which has been warring with the moderate Somali government since 2006.
Usama bin Laden weighed in Thursday on the battle. In an audiotape posted online, the Al Qaeda leader urged Somalis to fight against the Somali government, insisting, “The war which has been taking place on your soil these past years is a war between Islam and the international crusade.”
At a Senate hearing in Washington last week, counterterrorism officials said there is no intelligence to indicate that Somali-Americans who traveled to Somalia are planning attacks inside the United States.
“We do not have a credible body of reporting right now to lead us to believe that these American recruits are being trained and instructed to come back to the United States for terrorist attacks,” said Philip Mudd, a top-ranking official with the FBI’s National Security Branch. “Yet, obviously, we remain concerned about that, and watchful for it.”
Minneapolis has become the hub — and the media focus — of the FBI’s investigation. But the FBI is casting a wide and growing net across the country, even in places hundreds of miles away from Minneapolis.
Testimony from counterterrorism officials and others at the Senate hearing last week suggested that the FBI investigation is active in Columbus, Ohio; Cincinnati, Ohio; Boston; Seattle; and San Diego.
| — Hat tip: RRW | [Return to headlines] |
Taitz to FBI: Investigate ‘Tampering’ at Supremes
‘305 million Americans need to know if foreign national is usurping presidency’
A California attorney battling on a number of fronts to obtain documentation of Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president is asking the FBI and U.S. Secret Service to investigate suspected “tampering” at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Orly Taitz, who is pursuing nearly half a dozen causes through her Defend Our Freedoms Foundation, says the issue of Obama’s eligibility to meet the Constitution’s demand for a “natural born” president has been before the Supreme Court at least four times.
But she wonders whether the justices actually were given the pleadings to review.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The Sheriff — More Power Than the President
Scalia quotes President James Madison, “father” of the Constitution: “[T]he local or municipal authorities form distinct and independent portions of the supremacy, no more subject, within their respective spheres, to the general authority than the general authority is subject to them, within its own sphere.” The Federalist, No. 39 at 245.
Again and again, Justice Scalia pounds the point home (page 921): “This separation of the two spheres is one of the Constitution’s structural protections of liberty: ‘Just as the separation and independence of the coordinate branches of the Federal Government serve to prevent the accumulation of excessive power in any one branch, a healthy balance of power between the States and the Federal Government will reduce the risk of tyranny and abuse from either front.’. . .” Gregory, 501 U.S. at 458.
He quotes President Madison again: “In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself.” (P. 922)
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Governments Undermine Democracy in the Name of Human Rights
Ezra Levant tells his story and lays out his plan for a free speech revolution in his new book Shakedown: How Our Government Is Undermining Democracy in the Name of Human Rights, which will be released on March 24.
Shakedown also highlights some other HRC cases even more absurd than either Steyn’s or Levant’s, believe it or not: the McDonald’s employee who won the “right” not to wash her hands after using the restroom; the male-to-female transsexual demanding the “right” to counsel rape victims who wanted nothing to do with him; the medical marijuana user fighting for his “right” to smoke pot on another man’s property; the stand-up comic charged with “homophobia” for shouting down a drunken heckler.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Carry on Insulting UK Troops, Say Preachers
Three of the UK’s most prominent extremist Islamic preachers today compared British soldiers in Iraq to the terrorists who carried out the 7/7 and 9/11 attacks.
Exiled Omar Bakri, his follower Anjem Choudary and Ishtiaq Alamgir, the man who led the recent protest against troops in Luton, said Muslims should continue to insult British soldiers and attack “evil” democracy and freedom of speech, no matter what the consequences.
They said British forces had “blood on their hands” and warned that Britain could face more terror attacks if it did not accept “the truth of Islam”.
The clerics spoke at a hotel in Walthamstow, with Bakri appearing by video link from Lebanon.
They accused soldiers in Iraq of carrying out torture, rape and murder and also called for the introduction of Sharia law to Britain, saying non-Muslims who did not accept it should leave the country.
Alamgir said: “The soldiers are saying they are doing their job. This is very shallow. The same could be said about the individuals who carried out the 7/7 or 9/11 attacks that they carried out on the orders of Sheikh Osama bin Laden.”
| — Hat tip: Steen | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘He Really is Dead’: Son Takes His Father’s Ashes to the Doctor to Stop Endless Appointment Reminders
A son got so fed up with hospital staff sending letters to his dead father that he took the ashes to an appointment.
Andrew Wild, 44, received more than 20 reminders asking his father Peter to attend kidney clinics at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire — despite repeatedly telling them he had died in 2007 — so he took the urn to one of his own appointments.
He said: ‘The consultant asked how I was feeling. I said I was OK, then produced dad’s ashes and asked, “But what can you do for him?”
‘He was gobsmacked. I know it was morbid but I couldn’t think of what else to do.’
The hospital has apologised.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Government Halts Solar Energy Grants
Campaigners say closure of solar energy scheme makes mockery of pledge to build low carbon economy.
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Government Shuns Muslim Council Over Link With Hamas
The Government has severed relations with the country’s leading Muslim organisation, saying a senior member is a supporter of Hamas, the Palestinian military organisation.
A letter leaked to The Independent on Sunday shows that the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears, wrote to the Muslim Council of Britain, calling for Dr Daud Abdullah to resign.
She alleges he was one of 90 Muslim leaders from around the world who signed a public declaration of support for Hamas, the elected government of the Gaza strip in Israel, and military action against Israel.
A spokeswoman for the department said: “We are concerned that the statement calls for direct support for acts of violence in the Middle East and beyond. We are also aware that a senior member of the MCB may have been a signatory to this statement. If it is proven that the individual concerned had been a signatory, we would expect the MCB to ask him to resign and to confirm its opposition to acts of violent extremism.”
Members of the Muslim community reacted angrily to the letter at a conference in Birmingham where they met yesterday to discuss the issue.
An MCB spokesperson said: “We will make clear to the Government that as far as the MCB is concerned we utterly condemn the targeting or killing of soldiers anywhere in the world. But the MCB will not be dictated to by Hazel Blears. We do not take orders from Ms Blears. She is mistaken if she thinks the MCB will dismiss people at her say-so.”
| — Hat tip: Earl Cromer | [Return to headlines] |
UK: New Generation of Nuclear Power Stations ‘Risk Terrorist Anarchy’
Plans for more nuclear power stations increases the risk of terrorists seizing plutonium, report warns
| — Hat tip: heroyalwhyness | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: NATO Secretary, Troop Withdrawal From Kosovo Untimely
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, MARCH 19 — “Unilateral” and “untimely” were the words that NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer used to describe the withdrawal of Spanish troops in the KFOR mission in Kosovo which was announced today by Spanish Defence Minister Carme Chacon. Hoop Scheffer, reported EFE, considers what was announced today as a decision not to be made unilaterally, and that political and security conditions in the area do not allow for such a move. “Any substantial change in the size or structure of KFOR should be the result of a decision made by the entire alliance,” said Hoop Scheffer, “when we agree that there is political and security stability in Kosovo. This time has not yet arrived.” Announcing a withdrawal of Spanish troops before the summer today, Chacon promised that “the withdrawal will be staggered, not unilateral, and it will be coordinated by NATO allies”. Spain does not recognise Kosovo’s unilaterally declared independence, announced on February 17 2008. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy-Egypt: Ministries Sign 2009-2012 Action Plan
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 16 — Infrastructure, technology transfer, incentives for joint ventures and promoting industrial cooperation, investments and commerce, and new partnerships between small and medium sized companies; these are the main elements in the 2009-2012 Action Plan. The instrument for a programme of economic and financial cooperation between Italy and Egypt was signed by the Ministry for Economic Development, Claudio Scajola, and his Egyptian counterpart, Rachid Mohammed Rachid. The plan is already operational, on April 21 in Milan Scajola will meet the Minister for Industry Rachid heading a delegation of Egyptian companies for meetings with Italian entrepreneurs organized by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE). A summit between the governments will follow on May 12 in Sharm El Sheik to confirm the two countries strategic partnership. The Egyptian Minister for Energy, Younes, will be invited to the G8 Energy talks next May 24 and 25 in Rome, and Italy will host the Economic and Financial Forum in Milan on July 20 and 21 focusing on small and medium sized companies, energy and infrastructure. The Forum will be inaugurated by Presidents Berlusconi and Mubarak. On May 12, an energy sector agreement will be signed to create partnerships between companies geared to renewable energy sources, the development of the energy network, and energy connections in the Mediterranean area. Trade between Italy and Egypt has doubled in the last three years and is now over 5 billion euros. Italy is Cairo’s most important commercial partner in the EU and the third most important after the US and China. “With numbers like these”, declared Scajola, “wére aiming for an additional leap in the quality of relations, and looking, “beyond the crisis”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
A Fearful Thing, Betraying Israel
[Comments from JD: Note the last three paragraphs excerpt below.]
Does anybody remember how Israel ended up “occupying” the land it “captured” in 1967? Israel captured it after beating back the combined forces of the Arab world that had launched a war of annihilation against Israel. And this wasn’t the first pan-Arab war aimed at annihilating the Jews — it was the third.
[…]
The Palestinian State that the rest of the world insists that Israel owes the Palestinians could have been theirs in 1947. They turned it down in favor of a war of annihilation.
[…]
…The World Tribune reported this week that Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi cut short his visit to Washington after getting an “extraordinarily cool” reception from the new U.S. administration.
General Ashkenazi reportedly attempted to arrange meetings with President Obama, Vice President Biden and intelligence czars Bob Gates, Dennis Blair or Michael Mullen. None of them would see him. He had valuable intelligence information about Iran to share with them.
The Tribune quoted an unnamed diplomat who told them, “The administration is sending a very clear message to Israel, and this is we want to talk about Palestine and not Iran.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Israeli Police to Halt Arab Jerusalem Event
Israeli police warned on Friday it would not allow the Palestinians to hold cultural events in east Jerusalem to mark the city’s designation as the 2009 “capital of Arab culture.”
“Police will deploy reinforcements in Jerusalem tomorrow to prevent any Palestinian attempt to hold official activities,” police spokesman Smulik ben Rubi said.
The Palestinian Authority was planning to organise Saturday cultural activites in annexed, mostly Arab east Jerusalem to launch celebrations marking the proclamation of the Holy City as 2009 “capital of Arab culture.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
MO: EU Funded Vans for Palestinians Civilian Police
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MARCH 18 — The European Commission Representative for the West Bank and Gaza has handed over the keys of 36 vans to the Palestinian Civilian Police (PCP), part of an EU grant of equipment worth a total of 5 million euro. According to a press release the 36 vans are the first consignment of vehicles delivered under the grant, which covers three types of police vehicles and a radio communications tower. At a ceremony in Ramallah, Commission Representative Christian Berger said the EU would “continue to support the Palestinian police in building an effective police force able to uphold the rule of law, one of the cornerstones of a democratic society, and deliver a high quality service to the Palestinian people”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope: Israeli Ambassador, Cross Allowed in Wailing Wall
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, MARCH 17- On occasion of Benedict XVI’s visit to the holy land Israel “will respect the religious symbols carried by the Holy father and his entourage, according to the rules of dignity and hospitality”. The statement was made by the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See, Mordechai Lewy. The embassy’s note comes on the heels of an article published this morning by the Jerusalem Post which reported that the rabbi in charge of worship for the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, believed that it would not be “appropriate” to show up in the holy site wearing a cross. Lewy stated in a note that he believes that “it must be made clear that the same procedure for the Pope’s visit in 2000 will be applied on occasion of Pope Benedict XIV’s visit to the Western Wall”. In the note the Israeli ambassador to the Holy See states that the Jerusalem Post’s quote is “incorrect”, adding that “this has been confirmed to a high ranking person in Jerusalem’s ministry of Foreign Affairs by rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch”. It was Pope John Paul II who visited Jerusalem’s holy sites in the year 2000, and he approached the Wailing Wall wearing the usual religious symbols, cross included. But that visit, which excited the Jewish world, was also preceded by some doubts which a minority expressed in relation to the appropriateness of the cross worn by the Pope. In 2007 Asianews had reported that a delegation of Austrian bishops was denied access to the Wailing Wall because the president of the Episcopal conference Christoph Schoenborn refused to ‘hide’ the cross he was wearing on his chest despite being invited to do so by the abovementioned rabbi Rabinovitch. It is rumoured that in 2000 Pope John Paul II covered the cross with a discreet movement of the hand, but Lewy pointed out that pictures taken at the time show that the cross was in plain view. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Young Israelis-Palestinians in TV Peace Talks
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 18 — Bringing six 18-year-old Palestinians and six Israelis together in a country house for one month, to look for a solution to the crisis in the Middle East and film their discussions: this is the project of French-Moroccan director Mohamed Ulad, partner of (a secret for many years) François Mitterrand’s daughter, Mazarine, who rejects the accusations that he wants to make a show in the style of Big Brother. “This has nothing to do with reality-tv, they will not be filmed live nor in private, and the viewers cannot vote. It is not voyeurism, one cannot joke about such a serious and delicate issue” specified Ulad. He is waiting for an answer from the television network he presented the project to: a series of ten episodes, 26 minutes each, preceded by reportages on the crisis in the Middle East. Ulad’s idea, the basis of the project he has developed with a young researcher and philosophy teacher, Sophie Nordmann, is the result of his curiosity to see what happens if young people of both parties spend their daily lives away from their countries and on neutral ground. The participants in these special negotiations — similar to when the then American president forced Egyptians and Israelis to lock themselves inside Camp David to sign the first Arab-Israeli peace agreements — will be recruited in Israel and Palestine after the end of the school year. Six boys and six girls, all 18, both religious and not, must reach ‘agreements’ after a month of forced cohabitation, which will be handed over to the authorities of both countries in the final episode of the series. “We don’t expect miraculous solutions” said the director, “but we think these young people could surprise us”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Jordanian Beats Daughter to Death for Wearing Makeup in ‘Honour’ Killing
[Comments from JD: Hat tip via AtlasShrugs.]
Jordan’s prosecutor has charged a man and his two sons for the premeditated murder of his 19-year-old daughter Saturday, in the latest “honour killing” to take place in this conservative desert kingdom.
The man and his two sons were charged with beating to death the daughter for leaving the house in makeup and talking to a stranger, according to prosecutor Salah al-Taleb’s indictment sheet.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Women-Only Taxi Service Launched
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT — Following in the footsteps of Iran and the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon can now also take its place among countries with a Muslim majority which have a women-only taxi service, with exclusively women drivers. As reported in the Beirut press, Taxi Bane’t (taxis for women) has only been around for a few days but already has “many users”. It boasts an office in the capital’s Christian suburbs, a fleet of bright pink vehicles and four taxi drivers desiring to work in a traditionally male-dominated sector. “Many women avoid taking taxis driven by men, especially at night,” said Christian Nawal Fakrhi, whose idea is behind the initiative. She added that, “starting today, no woman will be afraid to take a taxi at any time of the day or night.” The Tourism Ministry has supported the idea of Taxi Bane’t, seeing in it a tool to attract Muslim women from Gulf countries, who every year from May to September crowd tourist resorts in Beirut and the surrounding areas. “The spread of women-only taxis will likely sharpen the divide between the sexes,” is instead the opinion held by Rebecca Saade, from the Feminist Collective for the “promotion of equal opportunities” in Lebanon. “The women who are more likely to suffer sexual abuse,” said Saade, “are those who cannot afford a taxi.” (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: UNIFIL Presents New ‘More Complete’ Website
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 18 — The UN mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) has a new English website complete with updates on operations, responses to frequently asked questions by journalists and the public, as well as pictures and a map of the area in which they are working. Created in 1978 after the first Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, the mission was extended in the summer of 2006 following a war between Israel and Shiite Lebanese movement Hezbollah. The new website (http://unifil.unmissions.org) has replaced the old site, which can still be found in the general UN portal, and “offers more complete information about the history of the mission, its mandate, and its activities”. Soon, read a message released today by UNIFIL, there will be an Arab-language version of the site. Thirty different countries currently participate in the mission, but Italy provides the most soldiers, with a team of 2,000 responsible for the western UNIFIL area of operations. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon-France: Suleiman Ends Visit, Positive on Elections
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MARCH 18 — Lebanese president Michel Suleiman ended his first official visit to Paris and made optimistic statements concerning the future of the country: “nobody has any reason to worry about the June 7 elections” that includes the March 14’ coalition (which currently holds the majority in parliament and is supported by western countries) and Hezbollah (supported by Syria and Iran). Suleiman told the press that the elections will allow the Lebanese people to express their vote “for a democracy that is unique in the Middle East” and that June 7 will mark the “beginning of a process of reform in Lebanon”. Suleiman confirmed that Paris is ready to send observers in the context of an EU mission. French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner was also at the press conference and he stated that Lebanese leaders are not worried about the round of elections and that apparently all parties, including Hezbollah, are joining in the campaign. For the moment there are no tensions, except for those within individual groups and lists. As regards the disarmament of Hezbollah, which the anti-Syrian majority accuses of creating a state within a state, Suleiman said that the word in Lebanon is not disarmament but rather the handing over of weapons by the movement which ‘embodies the Lebanese resistance which played a major role in the protection of Lebanon when the State was absent”. He added that Nicolas Sarkozy expressed his full support to Lebanon’s sovereignty and stability, and that premier Francois Fillon promised to supply his country with missiles for the Lebanese army’s Gazelle helicopters. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Mohammed’s Carpet’ on Auction for 5 Million Dollars
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, MARCH 19 — The starting price is 5 million dollars, but it may well reach 20 during tonight’s auction in Qatar of an Indian carpet ordered 150 years ago to adorn Mohammed’s tomb in Medina, in Saudi Arabia. Sotheby’s auction house, which is organising the event, made the announcement on its website. Decorated with red and blue floral patterns and inlaid with hundreds of precious stones from the Gulf, including diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds, the carpet was ordered in 1860 by the then Maharaja of Baroda, in India’s Gujarat. The sudden death of the Maharaja of Baroda meant that the carpet never made it to Medina, Islam’s second Holy city after Mecca. Later the carpet was taken to the Principality of Monaco by one of the Maharaja’s descendants. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Book on Kemal Ataturk Promoted in Rome
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MARCH 18 — A book about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Republic of Turkey, has been promoted in Rome, as Anatolia agency reports. Turkish Embassy in the Italian capital hosted a meeting to promote Fabio L. Grassi’s latest book on Ataturk on Tuesday. During the meeting, Ataturk’s biography written by Grassi in Italian was introduced to the guests, moreover, Turkish journalist Can Dundar’s film “Mustafa” was screened. Speaking at the meeting, Turkish Ambassador in Rome Ugur Ziyal said that Italian researchers had had a growing interest in Ataturk in recent years. The book’s writer Grassi said that his 443-page book was the product of a 20-year research. “Ataturk dedicated himself to Turkey. He was a statesman who took off his uniform when he was a victorious soldier and dedicated himself to the cultural transformation of his country. This is what is unique about him,” Grassi said. Ataturk is the founder and the first president of the Republic of Turkey. Emerging as a military hero at the Dardanelles in 1915, he became the charismatic leader of the Turkish national liberation struggle in 1919. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Navy Vessels Collide in Strait of Hormuz
Reporting from Washington and Beirut — A nuclear-powered Navy submarine collided with another U.S. warship in the narrow Strait of Hormuz early Friday in what officials are calling the first incident of its kind in the Persian Gulf.
At least 15 sailors aboard the Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered submarine Hartford were slightly injured when it collided with the amphibious transport dock New Orleans, the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet announced.
The Navy said the Hartford’s nuclear propulsion plant was undamaged. But the collision ruptured the New Orleans’ fuel tank and caused the spillage of 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel.
Defense officials in Washington said there appeared to be serious damage to the upper part of the sub, called the sail. Initial assessments indicated it could be repaired. The extent of damage to the other vessel was less clear.
The New Orleans is just a month into its maiden deployment. It was conducting security operations, including training and counter-terrorism missions, officials said.
There has been no finding of fault so far. Traditionally, a commanding officer deemed responsible for a collision is relieved of command. However, submarines traveling while submerged are responsible for guarding against collisions with ships at the surface.
Officials said the incident was the first in recent memory in which two Navy ships struck each other in the oil-rich gulf’s cramped waterways, where U.S. war vessels stand ready to confront the naval forces of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, as well as pirates.
In January 2007, the nuclear-powered submarine Newport News struck a Japanese oil tanker.
Both of the U.S. vessels were heading into the gulf at the time of Friday’s accident, Navy Lt. Stephanie Murdock said in a telephone interview. The ships headed under their own power to Bahrain, where they are being inspected.
None of the injuries aboard the submarine were life-threatening, Murdock said. “All were evaluated as being fit for duty,” she said.
The 15-year-old, $900-million submarine is 120 yards long; the New Orleans stretches more than 225 yards.
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Afghanistan: U.S. Courts Former Warlords in Its Bid for Afghan Stability
Gov. Shirzai’s rising profile is part of a broader shift in America’s war-fighting strategy in Afghanistan. When the U.S. led the Afghanistan invasion force in 2001, it courted warlords such as Mr. Shirzai to stabilize the country quickly. But after ousting the Taliban, the U.S. began to rely more on Western-style technocrats in the central government run by President Hamid Karzai. The year of the invasion, the U.S. installed Mr. Shirzai as governor of Kandahar province, his home turf in the south. Three years later, he was removed when his warlord-like ways — such as allowing his personal gunmen to get into shootouts with the city’s police force — became an embarrassment.
Now, Mr. Shirzai and a handful of other former warlords are again being seen as useful partners as President Obama undertakes a massive overhaul of the war in Afghanistan. In addition to sending in 17,000 fresh troops, the administration is also finalizing a review of U.S. policy expected to be released early next week. The new plan will likely call for deploying hundreds of diplomats and other civilian officials, devoting more resources to local and provincial governments, and mounting a counter narcotics push in southern Afghanistan, say senior U.S. officials in Washington.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
India: Radical Hindu Leader Killed. Tension in Orissa
Prabhat Panigrahi had been arrested for involvement in the attacks against Christians. In the district of Kandhamal, there are fears of a new wave of violence. Meanwhile, Christians are being marginalized: they may return to their villages only if they convert to Hinduism.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) — Prabhat Panigrahi, a radical Hindu leader previously arrested for the violence against Christians in Orissa, was killed this morning by an armed group in the district of Kandhamal.
The police say that about 15 ultras — who were probably Maoists — entered the village of Rudiguma, 145 kilometers from Phulbani, and opened fire on the 30-year-old Panigrahi, a guest at the home of an activist of the nationalist Hindu organization RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh).
Panigrahi had been arrested for involvement in the violence against Christians in the district of Kandhamal, which erupted at the end of last August after the violent death of Laxamananda Saraswati, the leader of a fanatical Hindu group, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). He was released last March 14 from the prison of Baliguda.
Sajan K. George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, tells AsiaNews that “Panigrahi was very involved in the riots and a known baiter of the vulnerable Christian people, and now the situation in Kandhamal, which was already tense with sporadic killings of Christians, will bring renewed fear. Moreover, there are serious anxieties in the runup to the general elections.” Many analysts say that one of the motives in the pogrom was to disrupt the Christian electorate by driving them out of the region, in an effort to guarantee victory for the BJP, supported by radical Hindu groups.
Sajan K. George explains that there is still no peace for the Christians: “Our people are not even being allowed to collect the seasonal ‘Mahua’ flowers this season, these flowers which have traditionally been collected and sold to make local brew, found in abundance in the forests of Kandhamal. For years, they have been a source of livelhood for the villagers. However, this time even this is being denied to them, besides, they are not allowed to collect firewood. How will they survive?”
Sr. Sujith of the Missionaries of Charity recounts the other difficulties and forms of marginalization suffered by the faithful: “In many places, people are being given the first phase of compensation and told to leave the relief camps. Once the people leave, their names are struck from the rolls of the relief camps, and they cannot return. But our people are not allowed to enter the village as Christian, they have to become Hindu, so they have no alternative but to live under tarpaulin tents in groups in the outskirts of the villages, or live in shanties in the marketplaces, or become a displaced people, leaving the district or even state.”
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Child Sex Workers Rising in Asia, Says Expert
Sanur, 19 March (AKI/Jakarta Post) — Up to 60,000 children are being exploited to work in the multimillion dollar sex industry in Southeast Asia, an international seminar was told on the Indonesian the island of Bali on Wednesday.
“The number of victims of sexual abuse is on the increase. It is affecting every country, not only in Southeast Asia,” said Frans van Dijk, the regional director of Terre des Hommes Netherlands, a Dutch aid body focusing on children.
He was speaking at the three-day Southeast Asia conference on child sex tourism being held in the coastal town of Sanur in Bali.
Van Dijk encouraged the government to take the issue more seriously because he considered that current law enforcement was very weak.
However, he stressed that law enforcement was not the only solution to stop the abuse of minors because it did not address the causes.
He said that because poverty and poor education were the core problems, all elements of society should put sufficient effort into raising awareness and to give people more power to protect minors and establish a safety network for children.
Another speaker, Irwanto, president of the National Coalition for the Elimination of Commercial Sexual Exploitation, said law enforcement in the country was weak because police officers often hesitated about arresting a perpetrator if it meant a family lost their basic income.
He said Indonesia needed to immediately ratify the United Nations protocols on children in armed conflicts and the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography. Indonesia signed both protocols in 2001.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: Political Islam Under Threat, Analysts Say
Jakarta, 18 March (AKI/The Jakarta Post) — Once considered an imminent danger by some, political Islam in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, is now under threat analysts say, as Islamic parties may find themselves impaled by their own expectations ahead of the country’s legislative elections scheduled for 9 April.
Studies by the Centre for Strategic & International Studies and the Indonesia Survey Institute suggest a dry harvest for the nine competing Islamic parties, with optimistic projections at 23 percent, or worse dropping to 15 percent of votes.
There is a waning interest in political piety unseen since the final year of former Indonesian president Soeharto’s repression of the 1997 election.
“Either [religious] fanaticism is declining or voters are more rational,” National Awakening (PKB) party chairman Muhaimin Iskandar replied when asked by Indonesian daily The Jakarta Post about the falling popularity of Islamic parties.
Grand speeches are unlikely to save the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) or the National Mandate Party (PAN) from sliding to 5 percent or less, as haughty divisions halve the PKB’s 10.5 percent returns from the previous election.
The giddy heights of Indonesia’s first election in 1955 are a fading memory of Islamic parties surging toward 43 percent of votes.
When former president Soeharto “simplified” the party system, the amalgamation of Islamic parties under the PPP still received 29 percent of votes in the 1977 election. That marked the highest turnout ever for a single Islamic party.
The first democratic election in four decades saw political Islam return in force by winning 34 percent of total votes in 1999.
However, the absolute numbers told a more nuanced story, said the studies.
Only by combining the 24.5 million votes of the two biggest Islamic parties of 2004, the PKB and the PPP, could it be comparable to second placed Golkar’s 23.3 million votes, and far behind election winner the Indonesian Democratic Party Struggle (PDI-P)’s 35.4 million.
Five years later, Islamic parties again raised their tally to 38 percent.
But the spectacular rise of the PKS in 2004 — jumping from 2 percent under the Justice Party in 1999 to 7.3 percent — concealed the diffusion of support for Islamic parties.
Apart from the PKS, the support base for Islamic parties became thinner.
The PKB, the PPP and the PAN saw their collective votes drop by 3.4 million, in a deficit caused by the PKS’s rise, the emergence of new Islamic parties such as the Reform Star Party (PBR) and an appealing nationalist option in Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party.
Despite the fear of a religiously conservative Indonesia over the past 10 years, these developing trends lend credence to the view that Muslims across the archipelago are too syncretic and moderate to opt for right-wing politics, the studies revealed.
The rise of political Islam in 1999 and 2004 served as a surrogate for political dispossession rather than the birth of fundamentalism.
Although the country has the largest number of Muslims in the world, Indonesia has substantial Christian, Buddhist and Hindu minorities. The country’s constitution recognises five religions and allows all its citizens to run for public office.
At the same time of the six presidents that have been elected since independence , all were Muslims and all the candidates running in the forthcoming elections are Muslim.
Indonesia has a population of 235 million people and 90 percent of them are Muslim. Most practise a moderate form of the faith.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: No [Longer] Safe at Home, Pak Hindus Flee to India
Though there were no direct threats, the Hindu families were never left in any doubt about their minority status. Sometimes it would be a warning not to stare at Muslim women for long, at other times, it would be the subtle coercion of the local administrators to sell their land when the situation was still normal. The families were weighing their options until October when they were asked to wear a red patch in their pagadis (turban).
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Aims to Boost Underground Gold Reserves, Output
China, the world’s biggest gold producer, will seek to increase its underground gold reserves by 800 metric tons and raise production to 290 tons this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tibet: New Video of Torture Exposes Chinese Brutality in Tibet
[Comments from JD: Warning: graphic violence on video.]
The Tibetan government-in-exile, led by the Dalai Lama, has released a video that appears to show Tibetan monks being tortured by Chinese security forces.
“This is the first footage which visibly proves the use of brutal and excessive force against Tibetan protesters. It clearly challenges official Chinese statements that disproportionate force was not used on unarmed protesters,” said Stephanie Brigden, the director of the international campaign group Free Tibet.
The second half of the video, which is too graphic to show here, documents a serious set of injuries allegedly sustained by a Tibetan worker after he intervened in the beating of a monk.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Rape Victim Too Distraught to Speak After Video
A TEENAGE girl who woke up next to one of the notorious “K” brothers with her underwear missing and her skirt hitched up is too frightened to watch the video that forced her attacker to admit he sexually assaulted her.
MRK, one of four Pakistani brothers in jail for a spree of sex attacks on teenage girls in 2002, was 17 when he was filmed indecently touching and assaulting the unconscious 15-year-old.
In the footage, MRK directs the person holding the camera where to film as he repeatedly violates the girl.
Despite claiming he has no recollection of the offences, MRK, now 24, pleaded guilty in December to two counts of aggravated sexual assault after he was shown the video evidence.
An agreed statement of facts tendered to the District Court at MRK’s sentencing hearing yesterday said the incident happened after the girl watched the 2002 Mardi Gras parade with the brothers in the city.
Afterwards, she went with them to their Ashfield home where they plied her with alcohol until she grew dizzy, vomited and passed out. She woke the next morning to find MRK next to her in bed, her skirt around her waist and her underwear on the floor.
Nine months later, police discovered footage of the girl being molested by MRK on one of several video cassettes found in a search of the brothers’ home.
The girl has told police she refuses to view the assault because she is “ashamed of what it might contain”.
MRK was charged in December 2002, but before his trial the girl told police she did not want the prosecution to proceed and charges were dropped.
In July 2007, three months before MRK — who was serving 10 years — was eligible to be released on parole, police charged him with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and three counts of aggravated indecent assault after the girl provided a further statement. He will be sentenced this month.
MRK is in Goulburn’s supermax prison where he has asked to be kept in protection, the court heard. “Some of his brothers were brutally bashed last year . . . and he holds great fears for his safety,” lawyer Phillip Young said.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
The Last Stand of Zimbabwe’s White Farmers
Nine years ago, Zimbabwe had more than 4,000 white-owned commercial farms. In a fresh wave of invasions, farmers keep their guns close at hand as ZANU-PF thugs lay siege to many of the 300 that remain
[…]
Nine years ago, Zimbabwe had about 4,300 white-owned commercial farms. Today only about 300 remain, and many are reduced to small plots of land. Many of the invaded farms are sitting idle or neglected despite a desperate need for food in Zimbabwe, where three-quarters of the population is dependent on food aid from foreign donors.
Largely because of the invasions, Zimbabwe’s farm output has dropped by 50 to 70 per cent in the past seven years, and most people subsist on one meal a day.
After reaching a peak of brutal violence during the national election last June, the invasions stopped for a while. But in recent weeks they have accelerated again.
[…]
At a dairy operation near the Etheredge place, a group of armed men are in control of the property, and the farmer has fled. “He will be allowed back to collect his belongings,” says a young man carrying a shotgun. Then, showing some unease about the challenge ahead, the gunman asks a visitor whether he thinks the farmer might be willing to return as a “partner” to show them how to run the dairy operation.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
French Ask: Should it be a Crime to Help Illegal Immigrants?
High-profile cases and a new movie have sparked debate about the boundaries between compassion and civic duty.
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Paris — Three weeks ago, police officers in northern France came knocking on the door of a food bank volunteer named Monique Pouille. They searched her home, hauled her to the station, put her in a jail cell, and kept her in custody for nine hours.
Her alleged crime: providing assistance to some of the illegal immigrants who gather at the port city of Calais in hopes of smuggling themselves across the channel to England. Specifically, Mrs. Pouille recharged their cellphones.
The case of the “good Samaritan grandma,” as she is being called, might have remained a blip on the radar here, a one-shot curiosity on the national news. But shortly after Pouille’s ordeal, her story found a broader echo in a highly publicized new film about a fictional Frenchman reported to the police, also for helping a young refugee.
The confluence of the two events has set off a lively debate here about the boundaries between compassion and civic duty. The film, “Welcome,” tells the story of an ordinary middle-class swimming instructor named Simon, from Calais; and an Iraqi teenager who has sneaked across Europe in a desperate bid to join the girl he loves in London…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Gay Couple Sue Christians for Barring Them From Hotel Bed
[Comments from JD: Note the last sentence — “female partner”…what’s wrong with the word “girlfriend” or “wife”?]
The Christian owners of a seaside hotel may be prosecuted after refusing to allow a gay couple to stay in a double room.
Peter and Hazelmary Bull are facing an unprecedented court case under controversial new equality laws.
Martyn Hall, who lives with his civil partner Steven Preddy, has lodged a county court claim for up to £5,000 in damages alleging ‘direct discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation’.
But the Bulls deny the charge, saying they have a long-standing policy of banning all unmarried couples, both heterosexual and gay, from sharing a bed at the Chymorvah Private Hotel in Marazion near Penzance in Cornwall.
Mrs Bull, a 62-year-old great-grandmother, said that even her brother and his female partner had to stay in separate rooms when they visited the hotel.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jamie Glazov on Why the Left Actively Promotes, or Apologizes for, Totalitarian Islam
by Andrew Bostom
In a recent blog, I described how a courageous modern “traditional liberal” politician, Geert Wilders, aptly warns of the dangers posed by the ancient, but living totalitarianism of Islam, an entirely unreformed, and unrepentant religio-political system.
Why does the Left—from the more vociferous, to the (outwardly) sober—openly embrace, or rationalize, or at very best ignore and fail to condemn—the totalitarian scourge of contemporary jihadism, and all its accompanying “sacralized” Islamic ugliness: genocidal hatred of non-Muslims, Muslim “apostate” freethinkers, and women?
Almost immediately after Bolshevism emerged as an important political ideology, with real power, Bertrand Russell understood its similarity to Islam. He made the following comparison between Islam and Bolshevism in his 1920, “Theory and Practice of Bolshevism”…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
2 comments:
To get the truth on Islamic terror on southern Israelis, read on-site news reports from Sderot, Israel at www.sderotmedia.com.
"Democracy and Socialism" The problem is that most of us do not understand "democracy". One of the old Greek guys pointed out something like "liberty, well understood, is a good thing". When we really understand liberty, we also understand that the other guy also has liberty, and it's not a good idea for either of us to infringe on the other's.
Same for democracy. When the 51% overrules the 49% (as happens daily in Congress), justice is note served.
We note Ben Franklin's corollary: Democracy is 3 wolves and a lamb deciding what to have for dinner. Liberty is a armed lamb to contest the vote.
There's no doubt that this is why the Founding Fathers set us up as a Republic.
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