Check out the news stories about Nancy Pelosi and other Democrat leaders, who were fully briefed back in 2003 about waterboarding and other “tortures”.In other news, the Italian government is returning boatloads of illegal immigrants to North Africa, despite the outcries of human rights organizations.
Thanks to Andy Bostom, Brutally Honest, Insubria, islam o’phobe, JD, TB, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Obama Inc.
What do you call a man, a leader, a president of the greatest country in the history of the world that daily ignores constitutional strictures like separation of powers, which limits executive power? What do you call a pathological narcissist that daily creates vast, new totalitarian powers for himself by executive decree while the slavish Democrats, the irrelevant Republicans and the servile liberal media bow to his every will? How would you characterize Wall Street, private corporations, education, medicine, housing and energy who collectively tremble in fear if they don’t obey his latest unconstitutional commands, that they will be the next recipient of his vengeful wrath?
The recent headlines on DrudgeReport.com told the grim tale of Big Brother 2009, aka Obama Inc.:
* “Number of unemployed getting benefits climbs to record 8.9%” * “Obama vows to retrain” * BIG BUDGET BLOWOUT: $3,400,000,000,000.00 SPENDS $11,300 FOR EACH AMERICAN” * “Massachusetts welfare recipients provided cars at taxpayers expense” * “GM post $6 billion loss for first quarter” * “National bailout agency for U.S. cities” * “Computer sold on eBay ‘had details of top secret missile defense system’“ * “Chinese and U.S. ships clash — for fifth time”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Truly Moranic Idea
As if the federal government were not growing fast enough under Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership of Congress, one of the dumbest members of the House has introduced a bill that would, at your expense, train a whole new breed of public employees who would be recruited by the president and members of Congress.
It’s called the “Tuition-Free Public Service Academy Bill” sponsored by the aptly named Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va.
You might remember Moran was the guy who blamed the then-impending Iraq war on American Jews.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of ‘Enhanced Interrogations’
by Paul Kane
Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.
In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The memo, issued by the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to Capitol Hill, notes the Pelosi-Goss briefing covered “EITs including the use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah.” EIT is an acronym for enhanced interrogation technique. Zubaydah was one of the earliest valuable al-Qaeda members captured and the first to have the controversial tactic known as water boarding used against him […]
editorial comment: Pelosi: “liar,liar, pants on fire”
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‘Hate Crimes’ Fate Now Up to People
Congressman: ‘If you don’t raise enough stink, there’s not a chance of stopping it’
A Texas member of Congress is warning Americans that unless they act — and act now — the nation soon will have a “hate crimes” law that actually was written so that it protects pedophiles and others with alternative sexual orientations such as voyeurism and exhibitionism.
“If you guys don’t raise enough stink there’s not chance of stopping it,” U.S. Rep. Louis Gohmert said today on a radio program with WND columnist Janet Porter.
[…]
He warned Porter during the interview that even her introduction of him, and references to the different sexual orientations, could be restricted if the plan becomes law.
“You can’t talk like that once this becomes law,” he said.
He said the foundational problem with the bill is that it is based on lies: it assumes there’s an epidemic of crimes in the United States — especially actions that cross state lines — that is targeting those alternative sexual lifestyles.
“When you base a law on lies, you’re going to have a bad law,” he said. “This ‘Pedophilia Protection Act,’ a ‘hate crimes’ bill, is based on the representation that there’s a epidemic of crimes based on bias and prejudice. It turns out there are fewer crimes now than there were 10 years ago.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Next Step? No Guns Allowed for Right-Wing ‘Extremists’
Bill empowers attorney general to forbid firearms for those ‘suspected dangerous’
A new gun law being considered in Congress, if aligned with Department of Homeland Security memos labeling everyday Americans as potential “threats,” could potentially deny firearms to pro-lifers, gun-rights advocates, tax protesters, animal rights activists, and a host of others — any already on the expansive DHS watch list for potential “extremism.”
Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., has sponsored H.R. 2159, the Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act of 2009, which permits the attorney general to deny transfer of a firearm to any “known or suspected dangerous terrorist.” The bill requires only that the potential firearm transferee is “appropriately suspected” of preparing for a terrorist act and that the attorney general “has a reasonable belief” that the gun might be used in connection with terrorism.
Gun rights advocates, however, object to the bill’s language, arguing that it enables the federal government to suspend a person’s Second Amendment rights without any trial or legal proof and only upon suspicion of being “dangerous.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
NYC Starts Charging Rent at Homeless Shelters
By Jennifer Millman
City officials this month began charging rent to working families staying in public homeless shelters.
The policy stems from a 1997 state law that hasn’t been enforced until now. Under that law, shelter managers started to require families to pay a portion of their income, depending on the shelter and family size, according to The New York Times. Residents could be expected to pay up to half their earnings.
Some shelter residents say the new rule will ruin their chances of saving enough money to get an apartment.
One single mother living in a Manhattan shelter tells the Times she got a letter saying she had to give up $336 of the $800 she makes each month as a cashier. Vanessa Dacosta makes $8.40 an hour at Sbarro. She got a letter under her door at the shelter a few weeks ago saying she’d have to fork up nearly half of what she was bringing in.
For Dacosta, who pays nearly $100 a week on child care for her 2-year-old, paying the shelter is hardly an expense she can afford.
“It’s not right,” Dacosta told the Times. “I pay my baby sitter, I buy diapers, and I’m trying to save money so I can get out of here. I don’t want to be in the shelter forever […]
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Obama and the 9/11 Families
The president isn’t sincere about ‘swift and certain’ justice for terrorists.
In February I was among a group of USS Cole and 9/11 victims’ families who met with the president at the White House to discuss his policies regarding Guantanamo detainees. Although many of us strongly opposed Barack Obama’s decision to close the detention center and suspend all military commissions, the families of the 17 sailors killed in the 2000 attack in Yemen were particularly outraged.
Over the years, the Cole families have seen justice abandoned by the Clinton administration and overshadowed by the need of the Bush administration to gather intelligence after 9/11. They have watched in frustration as the president of Yemen refused extradition for the Cole bombers.
Now, after more than eight years of waiting, Mr. Obama was stopping the trial of Abu Rahim al-Nashiri, the only individual to be held accountable for the bombing in a U.S. court. Patience finally gave out. The families were giving angry interviews, slamming the new president just days after he was sworn in.
[…]
Believe . . . feel . . . hope.
We’d been had.
Binyam Mohamed — the al Qaeda operative selected by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) for a catastrophic post-9/11 attack with co-conspirator Jose Padilla — was released 17 days later. In a follow-up conference call, the White House liaison to 9/11 and Cole families refused to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding the decision to repatriate Mohamed, including whether he would be freed in Great Britain.
The phrase “swift and certain justice” had been used by top presidential adviser David Axelrod in an interview prior to our meeting with the president. “Swift and certain justice” figured prominently in the White House press release issued before we had time to surrender our White House security passes. “At best, he manipulated the families,” Kirk Lippold, commanding officer of the USS Cole at the time of the attack and the leader of the Cole families group, told me recently. “At worst, he misrepresented his true intentions.”
[…]
Given all the developments since our meeting with the president, it is now evident that his words to us bore no relation to his intended actions on national security policy and detainee issues. But the narrative about Mr. Obama’s successful meeting with 9/11 and Cole families has been written, and the press has moved on.
The Obama team has established a pattern that should be plain for all to see. When controversy erupts or legitimate policy differences are presented by well-meaning people, send out the celebrity president to flatter and charm.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sovereignty Surrendered
Five international treaties stand poised, ready for ratification by the new nearly filibuster-proof Senate, pushed by the new, nearly giddy administration. Each of these treaties surrenders a little more of our national sovereignty to an international body governed by a majority of nations that despise the United States.
Treaties are voluntary agreements among nations to prohibit certain actions or to accomplish certain objectives. They are typically not enforceable — at this time — except through economic sanctions or nasty tirades at the United Nations or through the international media. Since 1998, however, a new dimension has entered the world — the International Criminal Court. The ICC has not been ratified by the United States, but clearly could be added to the list of treaties that are ready for ratification.
The ICC was created to prosecute genocide, war crimes, aggression and … crimes against humanity. Who decides when a national activity falls within the jurisdiction of the ICC? The ICC, of course. So far, the ICC doesn’t have the clout to exercise the authority it has on paper, but the mechanism is there. All it needs is the cooperation and funding of the United States and it will begin to spread its wings.
It is worth noting that at nearly every U.N. Climate Change Meeting, a delegate from one or more nations will take the podium to bad-mouth the United States for its refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol and label the refusal as a “crime against humanity.” The course this administration is charting will empower the ICC to prosecute individuals and companies within sovereign nations for treaty violations labeled “crimes against humanity.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
State Exempts Guns From Federal Regs
‘No firearm registration, serial numbers, criminal records check’
The state of Montana has drawn a line in the sand, challenging the federal government to decide whether to follow the U.S. Constitution with a new gun law that exempts from federal regulations any gun, gun accessory or ammunition made in the state and intended for use there.
“What this boils down to is:
* “Guns and ammo made, sold and used in Montana do not require any federal forms.
* “Silencers made in Montana and sold in Montana would be fully legal and not registered.
* “There would be no firearm registration, serial numbers, criminal records check, waiting periods or paperwork required.
“Moving to Montana soon,” wrote a blogger called Primevalpapa.
In an era in which the administration of President Barack Obama is replete with anti-gun activists in influential positions, including an attorney general who supported a complete handgun ban in the District of Columbia before it was tossed by the U.S. Supreme Court, Montana’s move is being called nothing less that revolutionary.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Top Pelosi Aide Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003
By Paul Kane
A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding and other harsh techniques were being used in the interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, according to documents the CIA released to Congress on Thursday.
Pelosi has insisted that she was not directly briefed by Bush administration officials that the practice was being actively employed. But Michael Sheehy, a top Pelosi aide, was present for a classified briefing that included Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking minority member of the House intelligence committee, at which agency officials discussed the use of waterboarding on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaida.
A Democratic source acknowledged yesterday that it is almost certain that Pelosi would have learned about the use of waterboarding from Sheehy. Pelosi herself acknowledged in a December 2007 statement that she was aware that Harman had learned of the waterboarding and had objected in a letter to the CIA’s top counsel.
“It was my understanding at that time that Congresswoman Harman filed a letter in early 2003 to the CIA to protest the use of such techniques, a protest with which I concurred,” Pelosi said in the Dec. 9, 2007, statement.
Precisely what Pelosi learned in classified intelligence briefings she received on interrogations has become a flash point in the battle over the effectiveness and legality of the methods used to extract information from alleged al-Qaeda operatives in the first years after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Republicans have accused Pelosi and other Democrats who attended the earliest classified briefings of knowing what CIA operatives were doing and offering their support for the methods, including waterboarding. They argue that Pelosi, who served as the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee until January 2003, objected only after the use of the techniques became public several years later […]
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Islam: 80% French Muslims Faithful to Country of Origin
(ANSAmed) — PARIS, MAY 8 — Some 80% of Muslims in France believe they remain faithful to their countries of origin, according to a survey by the American Gallup research institute that questioned a sample of Muslims in 27 countries. In all 8% said they were not faithful to their original countries and 12% did not reply. The research also showed that in Britain Muslims “loyal” to their original countries amount to 82% and in Germany the figure is 71%. The survey published yesterday but carried out in 2008 adds that only 44% of French of other religions believe that are faithful to their country against 35% who believe the contrary and 21% who didn’t reply. The French emerged as the most tolerant on religious matters and, together with the Dutch, the most willing in Europe to welcome a neighbour of another religion. At the other end of the spectrum are the Israelis who say openly that they do not respect other religions, according to the survey. The poll, carried out with the support of the Coexist Foundation, a British charity that promotes inter-religious relations, covered a sample of 500 Muslims per country. The samples of people from other religions varied from 100 to 1000 people in size.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy a Nest of EU ‘Farm-Subsidy Millionaires’
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS — Companies in Italy received the biggest single payments from the EU’s farm subsidies in 2008, with 180 of them provided with more than a million euros, a study released on Thursday (7 May) showed.
Sugar producers Italia Zuccheri and Eridania Sadam were also the only two companies winning more than a €100 million each under the EU’s Common Agriculture Policy (CAP), being awarded €139.8 and €125.3 million respectively, according to a study by Farmsubsidy.org — a cross-border network of journalists, reasearchers and campaigners pushing for more transparency in the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy.
The only non-Italian company to rank among the top five “farm-subsidy millionaires” was Ireland’s Greencore Group — a manufacturer and supplier of food and food ingredients — which came fourth, having received €83.4 million.
Some 165 companies in Spain, 47 in the Netherlands, 38 in Portugal, 22 in Belgium, 21 in the UK and 12 in both Bulgaria and Romania received more than a million euros.
In France — the top overall beneficiary of the CAP, with €10.4 out of the total €55 billion — 142 companies were granted more than a million.
The Doux Group, which sells chicken products worldwide, was the biggest single recipient in the country, with €62.8 million and coming sixth in the overall millionaire ranking.
Altogether, the 707 millionaires received between five and 10 percent of the total amount of the CAP in 2008, said Farmsubsidy.org co-founder Nils Mulvad at a press conference in Brussels. He stressed however that full data from only 18 member states had been taken into account at this stage..
Data from Cyprus, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia has not been included because these countries “have not yet published data on farm subsidy beneficiaries or have made it very difficult to access the data they have published,” the organisation said.
It explained that information from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland would be added to the study as soon as the conversion of the sums into euros is finalised.
Most countries breaching the rules
The research also included an evaluation of member states’ transposition of the European Commission’s transparency rules that oblige governments to disclose information on farm funds recipients.
Member states had until 30 April to publish information on the beneficiaries of farm subsidies for 2008, but the study found that only eight countries had fully complied with the rules.
Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Romania, Slovenia and the UK were the only countries to implement the commission’s transparency law well.
Ten countries, including Spain and Ireland, but also a number of new member states such as Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia and Bulgaria, were “clearly in breach of the regulations.”
Eight others — France, Greece, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Sweden — presented “important deficiencies, likely to be in breach of the regulations.”
The organisation cited Hungary, Ireland and the Netherlands as being among a number of countries “engaging in apparent deliberate obfuscation of their websites,” saying that Hungary had presented its data in a “totally unstructured” PDF document of more than 13,000 pages.
Poland was also cited as “one bad example” publishing only the names of the person applying for the subsidies and not of the companies, while the Netherlands was criticised for failing to provide a total amount for each recipient, making it difficult to find out how much a particular Dutch company has received.
Germany bashed
Germany is the only member state refusing to publish its figures, arguing that it has legal constraints due to data protection laws in local districts.
But the European Commission has refused to give Berlin an extension and has said it would start infringement procedures against the country if it does not fall into line.
“All 27 agreed on [the rules] and took this obligation … You take an obligation, you have to stick to it. It is that simple,” said Kristian Schmidt, deputy head of EU anti-fraud commissioner Siim Kallas’ cabinet.
He added the commission was “quite disappointed” by Germany’s behaviour and its “last-minute second thoughts.”
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Britain Bans Savage, Welcomes Che’s Daughter
For “fostering extremism and hatred “ Britain’s home secretary has barred the immensely popular U.S. radio commentator Michael Savage from setting foot in the U.K. “Coming to the U.K. is a privilege,” explained Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, “and I refuse to extend that privilege to individuals who abuse our standards and values to undermine our way of life. Therefore, I will not hesitate to name and shame those who foster extremist views as I want them to know that they are not welcome here.”
Fair enough, Ms Smith. But Che Guevara’s daughter, Aleida, will be in Britain next month for a hoopla titled Cuba50, which is billed as “the biggest European celebration in this 50th anniversary year.” In London’s expansive Barbican Centre, Britain will throw the continent’s biggest party commemorating 50 years of Castro’s Stalinist regime, which jailed political prisoners at a higher rate than Stalin’s, murdered political prisoners at a higher rate than pre-war Hitler’s, and came closest of anyone to plunging the world into nuclear war.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Freedom of the Press on Decline in Mideast and North Africa
(by Nando Piantadosi) (ANSAmed) — NAPLES — Freedom of the press is becoming increasingly evanescent in the Middle East and North Africa and the last bulwark of its defence, namely that of Israel, has also fallen victim to that country’s ‘Cast Lead’ military operation in Gaza. This is the gloomy picture painted of the MENA region by the 2009 Report of Freedom House, the independent US non-governmental organisation which campaigns for the spread of freedom across the world, and carries out a regular survey of the levels of press freedom worldwide. Israel has lost its status as a nation enjoying full freedom of the press due to the restrictions it imposed and the ‘official’ attempts to obstruct and to influence the work of press correspondents during its ‘Operation Cast Lead’. On the other hand, the report is keen to stress, there was less pressure on the part of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority on work done by local reporters. Another eyebrow-raiser in its league table is Italy’s relegation (“… due to its laws on libel, the growing intimidation of journalists perpetrated by organised crime and extreme-right groupings, and its concentration of media ownership…”) with the bottom rungs being occupied by Gaddafi’s Libya and other North African countries. Also of note are the restrictions on reporting found by Freedom House in eastern Europe, with the murder of several journalists in Bulgaria and Croatia and attacks on press staff in Bosnia. “The journalistic professions are today subject to notable hardships and are in a continual struggle with political and economic powers,” says Jennifer Windsor, Executive Director of Freedom House, “democracy’s first line of defence is represented by the press and its level of vulnerability can hugely influence the democratic life of a country”. Of the more than 195 countries reviewed by the study, 70 (36%) have been classified as liberal, 61 (31%) partially liberal and 64 (33%) illiberal. The study also highlighted how only 17% of the world’s population enjoy the benefits of a free press. In its report for 2009, the US organisation also assesses the situation of new media which, on the Web, tend to enjoy greater freedoms than the traditional media. Indeed, according to the study, the latter are better positioned to pierce the defences of oppressive regimes, as is happening in China and Iran, for example. The study emphasises that the growing influence of the new media is directly proportional to the level of surveillance over users employed by governments using traditional repressive methods. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope Expresses Respect for Islam
AMMAN: Pope Benedict XVI visited an Arab state for the first time yesterday, expressing his “deep respect” for Islam and hopes that the Catholic Church would be a force for peace in the region.
The pope was given a red-carpet welcome at the airport by Jordan’s King Abdallah and Queen Rania. He praised Jordan as a leader in efforts to promote peace and dialogue between Christians and Muslims. An honor guard played bagpipes and waved Jordanian and Vatican flags.
The trip to the region is the first for the German-born Benedict, who will travel on Monday to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
The pope has faced sharp criticism in the Middle East from both Muslims and Jews.
Benedict angered the Muslim world three years ago when he quoted a Medieval text that criticized the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Earlier this year, he sparked outrage among Jews when he revoked the excommunication of an ultraconservative bishop who denies the Holocaust.
“My visit to Jordan gives me a welcome opportunity to speak of my deep respect for the Muslim community, and to pay tribute to the leadership shown by his majesty the king in promoting a better understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam,” Benedict said shortly after landing in Jordan.
He said Jordan was in the forefront of efforts to promote peace, inter-religious dialogue and to “curb extremism.” Later at a Catholic center for the handicapped, he said his only agenda was to bring hope and prayers “for the precious gift of unity and peace, most specifically for the Middle East.”
The pope also called religious freedom a fundamental human right. “It is my fervent hope and prayer that respect for the inalienable rights and dignity of every man and woman will come to be increasingly affirmed and defended, not only throughout the Middle East, but in every part of the world,” he said.
The king, queen and their four children later met the pope at the royal offices in Husseinyeh west of Amman.
Welcoming the pope, King Abdallah urged expanded Christian-Muslim dialogue to dispel “divisions.” He stressed the “importance of coexistence and harmony between Muslims and Christians,” and warned that “voices of provocation, ambitious ideologies of division, threaten unspeakable suffering.”
“We welcome your commitment to dispel the misconceptions and divisions that have harmed relations between Christians and Muslims … It is my hope that together we can expand the dialogue we have opened,” the king said.
En route to Amman, the pope told journalists that interfaith dialogue is “very important for peace so that everyone can follow the tenets of their faith.”
Before landing in Amman, Benedict expressed hope his visit would help further peace efforts between Israelis and Palestinians. “We are not a political power but a spiritual power that can contribute,” Benedict told reporters aboard the plane.
The traditional news conference was scaled down with the Vatican spokesman asking the questions based on previously submitted questions from reporters. In the past, some of his answers have stirred controversy, but he appeared to avoid that.
Asked about Catholic-Jewish relations, he said the two religions had common roots and that it should be “no surprise” that there were misunderstandings during 2,000 years of history.
Benedict’s first stop was the Regina Pacis center for the handicapped in Amman where the crowd sang songs and chanted “benvenuto,” the Italian for “welcome.” Today he will follow in the footsteps of John Paul II in 2000 to Mount Nebo. The papal visit will end with a prayer at Wadi Kharrar on the east bank of the River Jordan. He will then leave for Tel Aviv. The pope will also visit Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday. The Coalition for Jerusalem, an alliance of Palestinian advocacy groups, on Thursday urged the pope in an open letter to denounce what they called “yet another wave of Israel’s ethnic cleansing crimes” against their people. But the pope is unlikely to want to further strain relations with Israel.
| — Hat tip: TB | [Return to headlines] |
Pope: Jordan, Radical Islamicists Request Apologies
(by Stefano de Paolis) (ANSA) — AMMAN, MAY 8 — A leading Islamic representative, who is to meet the Pope tomorrow, has said from Amman that Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the Holy Land, which began today in Jordan, is like “a golden bridge” between Christians and Muslims. But at the same time, the most radical segment of Jordan’s Muslim population are firmly insisting on “apologies for the insults made against Islam” in the famous Ratisbon speech in 2006. Professor Taisir Faithainy, a teacher of political sciences at Amman University and former parliamentary politician with the Islamic Action Front, said “the Pope is welcome as the King’s guest. We were hoping that he was coming on a visit founded on peace and love, but we now fear that his visit is an expression of support for Israel. We welcome every visit which brings the truth, and so we hope that in the next few days the Pope will offer a few words of apology for the insults he made against the Koran.” The current leader of the Front, Zani Baki Rusheid, expressed his much firmer line to ANSA, saying: “Pope Ratzinger insulted Islam and has never apologised to Muslims for his words. He apologised to the Jews for the Holocaust. He is coming to the region, but will not visit Gaza. This visit is a provocation to Christians in Jordan as well as Muslims, and so we do not accept it and we condemn it.” Abdul Latif Arabiyat, the Shura Council’s president of Muslim Brotherhood, of which the Action Front represents the political arm, confirmed that he had not been invited to the meeting between Benedict XVI and various Islamic representatives tomorrow, “but I would have gone without any problems.” In any case, he said that the Pope had made “unacceptable” declarations on Islam, for which “he has yet to apologize.” Arabiyat, who mentioned his attendance on the welcome committee for the visit of Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964, said that Benedict XVI “is welcome” in Jordan, “because this country is open to everybody, but we hope he now says things which will prove meaningful in our attempts to overcome the past.” The cause of concern which is the subject of contention, relates to the lectio magistralis in Ratisbon, in Germany, in September 2006, when the Pope quoted a Fourteenth century Byzantine emperor, Manuel II Palailogos, who said that Islam had brought nothing but malice and inhumanity, and sword-driven proselytism. His words caused outrage amongst millions of Muslims throughout the world, and provoked calls for the Catholic leader to apologise. Later, the Pope said his words had been misunderstood, and said that the Emperor’s words did not express ideas that he subscribed to. In any case, the speech has not been forgotten in the minds of many. “For political reasons, more than religious reasons. They are aiming for visibility, to the detriment of national interest,” said the director of the Jordan Times, Samir Barhum, who added that whilst the Islamicists are very influential, they nevertheless hold only 6 out of 110 seats in Parliament. Professor Hamzi Murad, a Professor at the Islamic University of Amman, and co-founder of the Jordanian research centre for inter-religious co-existence, did not want to enter into a political debate, and looked to the future, telling ANSA: “this visit will open a new page in good relations between Muslims and Christians.” In his opinion, the Pope chose Jordan as the first Arab country on his visit because the country holds many highly important biblical sites, and because King Abdallah II is a descendent of the Prophet Mohammed, and so their meeting is “necessarily different from any other, and it is a meeting which says that Islam and Christianity are together hand in hand, with one heart and one spirit.”(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Pope: Speaks in Amman of Religious Freedom and Human Rights
(ANSAmed) — ROME, MAY 8 — Defending religious freedom in the Middle East and with it “inalienable human rights”. On his first visit to the Holy Land, Benedict XVI has touched on the subjects of peace, but also of safeguarding individual freedoms to profess his faith without fear or restrictions. For this reason, the Pope called for the Christians of the Holy Land and the Middle East to be able “to remain in their lands” of which, he was keen to stress, they are “an important component”. “Freedom of religion,” the Pope said, “is doubtless a fundamental human right and it is my ardent hope and prayer that respect for the inalienable rights and the dignity of every man and woman be affirmed and defended more and more, not just in the Middle East, but in every part of the world”. Benedict XVI was also keen to express “my profound respect for the muslim community” and, turning to King Abdullah II of Jordan, “and to pay homage to the guiding role played by His Majesty the King in promoting greater understanding of the virtues proclaimed by Islam”. One of the first appointments the Pope wished include in his busy schedule was to visit the Regina Pacis centre for the disabled in the Jordan capital. During this visit two boy scouts presented him with a red and white Keffiyah headscarf which the Pope placed across his shoulders, repeating the same gesture as he did three weeks ago in St Peter’s Square when two youths from the parish of Bethlehem made him the same gift. (ANSAmed).
2009-05-08 20:03
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Win Indonesia Election
Official results in Indonesia’s parliamentary elections confirm the president’s Democrat Party in first place with 20.85% of the vote.
Its two main rivals — the PDIP and Golkar — both trail with around 14% each of the vote.
The election marked a huge surge in support for the Democrats — who entered the political race just five years ago.
That has sparked some intense jockeying for position ahead of the presidential poll in two months’ time.
This result — long predicted — has already turned the current presidential partnership on its head.
Support tripled
Five years ago the Democrats contested their first election and came away with just 7% of the vote. To boost their political weight in the presidential race back then, they teamed up with the grand old party of Indonesian politics, Golkar, and won.
Now the Democrats have tripled their support and surged ahead of their heavyweight partner. That has sparked a mad scramble for political allies ahead of the presidential race in July.
The newspapers here have gleefully reported every twist in the political saga. Every accusation of arrogance, every declaration of commitment and act of political adultery by the candidates. And still not much is clear.
July’s race is likely to see the current President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, run against former president Megawati Sukarnoputri.
But who they will pick as running-mates is still more rumour than fact. Newcomers like military general Prabowo Subianto have been heavily under the spotlight, as has the head of the Islamist PKS party.
The current Vice-President, Yusuf Kalla, meanwhile has been struggling to hold together his fracturing Golkar party, while pitching his own run at the presidency.
It may be messy, but a decade on from Indonesia’s democratic revolution, that is probably no bad thing.
| — Hat tip: islam o’phobe | [Return to headlines] |
Giant Spiders Invade Australian Outback Town
[Comments from JD: WARNING — Creepy picture.]
Australia is known around the world for its large and deadly creepy crawlies, but even locals have been shocked by the size of the giant venomous spiders that have invaded an Outback town in Queensland.
Scores of eastern tarantulas, which are known as “bird-eating spiders” and can grow larger than the palm of a man’s hand, have begun crawling out from gardens and venturing into public spaces in Bowen, a coastal town about 700 miles northwest of Brisbane.
Earlier this week locals spotted an Australian tarantula wandering towards a public garden in the centre of town where people often sit for lunch. They called in a pest controller, but not before using a can of insect spray to paralyse the spider.
Audy Geiszler, who runs Amalgamated Pest Control in Bowen, said that the spider was a large male with powerful long fangs and was so big that when he placed it — dead — in the palm of his hand its legs hung over his fingers.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Asylum Seekers; EU, 20,000 Per Month in 2008
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, MAY 8 — In 2008 the EU registered about 240,000 asylum-seekers, equalling about 20,000 per month, or 480 per million residents, reported Eurostat, the European statistics office. Iraqis topped the list of asylum seekers (29,000, 12%), followed by Russians (21,000, 9%), Somalians (14,300, 6%), Serbians (13,600, 6%), and Afghans (12,600, 5%). Among the countries where data is available (no data for Italy), the largest number of asylum-seekers was registered in France (41,800), followed by the United Kingdom (30,500, but this figure does not account for new asylum-seekers), Germany (26,900), Sweden (24,900), Greece (19,900), Belgium (15,900) and Holland (15,300). With regard to the population of each member state, the highest number of asylum seekers was registered in Malta (6,350 per million residents), followed by Cyprus (4,370), Sweden (2,710), Greece (1,775), Austria (1,530), and Belgium (1,405). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Demonstrators Protest Against Anti-Islam Rally in Cologne
Police in Cologne say about 1,600 people have protested peacefully against racism and a controversial “anti-Islam” rally held by right-wing groups that oppose the building of a large new mosque in the city.
Hundreds of left-wingers and members of church groups, trade unions and the Green party held a demonstration in Cologne to counter an “anti-Islam” rally organized by two rightist groups.
“Today we’re sending a signal that democrats stand united against right-wing radicalism, racism and agitation,” said Reinhard Bütikofer, former head of the Green party, who took part in the rally in downtown Cologne.
Cologne Mayor Fritz Schramma said the peaceful protests by residents on Saturday showed that the city is “open and tolerant.” He also said Cologne was “committed when it comes to defending these values.”
Security was tight as more than 5,000 police officers, outfitted with water cannons and riot gear, cordoned off the square where the “anti-Islam” demonstration took place. The authorities were concerned that there could be clashes between the two sides, as has frequently been the case in the past.
Cologne police had banned the right-wing groups from holding a high-profile demonstration in front of the Cologne cathedral in the city center and instead allowed them to assemble at another, more obscure, square in the Deutz district.
Police say there were about 300 people at the right-wing “Pro Koeln” and “Pro NRW” rally.
The groups, which are campaigning against the building of a large new mosque in the city, held a larger rally last September which was joined by members of nationalist parties elsewhere in Europe. That protest sparked violent clashes and rioting by far-left demonstrators.
The two anti-Islam groups are opposed to the building of mosques and what they see as an influx of Moslem immigration into Germany.
Mayor Schramma vowed that the forthcoming national elections in September would not be used to exploit ethnic or religious tensions.
There will be no “sordid election campaign on the back of our foreign fellow citizens,” he said.
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Italy Sticks to New Migrant Stance
More rescued people taken back to Libya
(ANSA) — Rome, May 8 — Italy stuck to its new policy of sending rescued migrants straight back to Libya Friday despite concern on asylum rights from the United Nations, human rights groups and the Vatican.
As a boatload of 77 migrants headed back to the North African country in the wake of Thursday’s first shipment of 227, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni hailed the policy as “a new phase in fighting illegal immigration” and rebutted claims that it might put lives at risk at sea or expose refugees to the threats they had fled. “The lives of people desperately trying to escape poverty or war comes before any other consideration for us,” he said.
“This principle has always inspired the search and rescue activities that the police and navy carry out in the Mediterranean, often in waters that are not Italy’s responsibility,” he stressed.
Maroni firmed up the new policy Wednesday after the latest in a string of disagreements with Malta over who should take migrants located in disputed waters.
Under the policy, which sees a key part of a landmark accord with Libya implemented for the first time, migrants are rescued in international waters and taken back to Libya where humanitarian organisations can vet their asylum claims.
Malta’s interior minister, Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, echoed Maroni in hailing the deal with Libya.
“It’s a very positive step, which we support,” he said.
“We’re a humanitarian country, we respect fundamental rights but we want to eliminate this criminal trafficking”.
“It is no longer acceptable to see people on leaky boats risking their lives to cross the Mediterranean while we stand by,” said the minister, who announced that he and Maroni would visit Libya soon along with European Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
Italy, which rescues thousands of North African migrants a year, mostly at Lampedusa south of Sicily, and Malta, which rescues hundreds, will now ask Brussels to put together a “stronger” aid package for Libya, he said.
In Brussels, Barrot’s spokesman Michele Cercone agreed with Maroni that “the first priority is preventing human lives being lost at sea”.
The European Commission is “constantly” monitoring the situation, he said.
“We went to Lampedusa, Malta, we met the competent ministers. We are active,” Cercone said.
Asked about Thursday’s statement from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which said deporting migrants while still at sea was against international law, Cercone replied: “It all depends on the details, there are many details to be considered, among which the waters where the boat exactly was and whether distress signals were sent”.
“That’s why we’re gathering information to see how things happened”.
CONTINUED CRITICISM.
The UNHCR’s strictures were echoed Friday by the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT).
“Mass deportations constitute a flagrant violation of human rights because states are obliged to verify, case by case, humanitarian needs and any asylum requests,” said CPT Chair Mauro Palma.
He said the latest report on Italy from the Council of Europe, Europe’s human rights body, highlighted the risk of xenophobia in Italy and stressed that deporting people to countries where they risked torture was banned.
Palma noted that, “as of September 2008, Italy was in eighth place among the 44 industrialised countries subject to asylum requests, after the United States, Canada, France, the UK, Sweden, Germany and Greece”.
“It is extremely serious that all this should happen in a country that is about to host a G8 summit,” he said.
The Vatican pitched in to the controversy FRiday with Msgr Agostino Marchetto, head of the Pontifical Council for Migrants, saying that Italy had broken international laws on refugee rights.
“International law, to which the UNHCR also referred, lays down that (all) possible asylum seekers…be considered ‘presumed refugees’,” he said.
POLITICAL WORLD SPLIT.
The case continued to split Italian politics, mostly along left-right lines.
Fabio Evangelisti of the opposition IDV party called the case “mass deportation” while Rosy Bindi of the Democratic Party (PD) said “Msgr Marchetto is right, this is not a victory for Italy but a disgrace”.
But PD bigwig Piero Fassino said sending illegal immigrants back was legitimised by all international agreements and had been practised by Italy’s previous centre-left government.
The UNHCR’s concerns were “legitimate, in principle” he said, but in practice, identifying genuine asylum seekers was a “very complex” procedure.
Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa, a leading member of Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party, said the new policy was “the best solution to illegal immigration because it’s the only way to make people realise it’s not in their interests to try to land in Italy”.
Addressing critics of the new stance, he said “either you accept that migrants will end up in holding centres, with useless suffering, or you want people to break the law”.
As well as deportation at sea, the deal with Libya also envisages joint patrols of Libya’s shores, a part of last summer’s landmark accord that has yet to be implemented.
Maroni said the patrols should be up and running by mid-May.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
‘Libya Will Vet Asylum Requests’
Maroni responds to UNHCR concerns
(ANSA) — Rome, May 7 — Libya will vet any asylum requests from the African migrants taken back without landing in Italy Thursday after a rescue dispute with Malta, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said. Speaking after UN refugees body UNHCR voiced concerns about the 227 migrants’ rights to apply for asylum under international law, Maroni said: “The migrants rescued off Lampedusa and taken to Libya today did not arrive on Italian territory but in Libya and there are organisations there who will see if there are any asylum seekers among them”.
The minister said Italy rescued the migrants from three stranded boats after a request from Libya.
“Everything was agreed with the authorities in Tripoli,” he said.
“It would have been different if they had arrived in Italian waters, but this way we are in line with international treaties”.
“The Italian government cannot be concerned about what happens in other countries; we deal with people who arrive here”.
Maroni also responded to concerns voiced by Save the Children about the possible presence of children on the boats.
“There were no children on board, to my knowledge,” he said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Libya: UNHCR, Nasty Surprise From Italy
(ANSAmed) — VATICAN CITY, MAY 8 — The way in which Italy rejected the boat of would-be illegal immigrants from Libya was “a nasty surprise” for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, (UNHCR), after the Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni had reassured him two weeks earlier that the policy of disembarking in Lampedusa would continue. So said the UNHCR spokesperson, Laura Boldrini, speaking on Vatican Radio. “About ten days or two weeks ago,” she said to the Vatican’s radio station, “High Commissioner Gutierrez met Minister Maroni, and during this meeting Gutierrez was given ample reassurance that the so-called Lampedusa model, that is, the system of support, welcome and information, was in no doubt at all. And so for us this was truly a nasty surprise.” “Resolving moments of dispute between countries and the European Union, deciding to ask others, third parties, to manage asylum, is in our opinion worrying,” she added. “However, in the past few years, Italy has managed to achieve a responsible management of these influxes of people. Today, this has all been swept away and what is being proposed is a model that does not respect the principle of not-rejection of asylum-seekers, which applies to international waters, and is not restricted to territorial waters.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Plan: No Extension of Border Fence
WASHINGTON — President Obama’s budget blueprint Thursday shelved extension of the controversial border fence beyond the 670 miles already completed or planned — rejecting the much-heralded security approach orchestrated by former President George W. Bush.
The Obama administration’s turnabout left funds for roads, lights and so-called tactical infrastructure — but not a dime to extend the pedestrian fencing and vehicle barriers erected along roughly a third of the nation’s 1,947-mile border with Mexico.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Gay Advocates Eye Supreme Court
LGBT Groups Give President Obama High Grades for Considering Two Lesbians for High Court
Today, with his lesbian colleague Virginia Linder, there are two such justices in Oregon, in part because of the political efforts of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, an advocacy group that seeks to put openly gay candidates in public office.
Now, they have set their eyes on the Supreme Court, where rumors surfaced this week that two highly qualified lesbians had made President Barack Obama’s initial list to replace Justice David Souter.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Teachers Cite ‘Clergy’ Privilege to Hide Lesbian Teaching
Turned math, science classes over to visiting ‘minister’
Parents of students at Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, Calif., have filed a lawsuit against the educational institution after teachers there summoned a lesbian minister to speak to math and science classes, then tried to keep that information hidden from parents, according to officials with the Pacific Justice Institute.
The public interest law firm said nearly two dozen parents signed onto the lawsuit that was filed yesterday against the school and its supervising district organization because the school required their children to undergo whatever indoctrination the lesbian provided, but then refused to tell them what happened.
In fact, when school officials were asked about the lesbian’s presentation to the school’s math and science classes, the school flatly refused to provide any documentation on the event, the law firm said.
“To the astonishment of PJI attorneys, the district invoked the clergy-penitent privilege — ordinarily used to shield ministers from testifying in court about confessions made to them in private,” PJI reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Government Funds $400,000 Study on Gay Sex in Argentina Bars
The National Institutes of Health are paying researchers to cruise bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk — and what can be done about it.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Andrew Bostom: Educating Charles Krauthammer on Hamas’ Ten Year “Truce” Offer
Dear Mr. Krauthammer,
I read with interest your opinion piece on Hamas’ ten year “truce” offer, “The Hamas ‘Peace’ Gambit [1],” published today, Friday, May 8, 2009. While I certainly share your overall sentiments, unfortunately the piece ignores the uniquely Islamic context of Hamas’ truce “offer” which is firmly rooted in classical Muslim jurisprudence, the precedent being Muhammad’s temporary “treaty” of Hudaybiyyah
Below are extracts from my book “The Legacy of Jihad [2]” which elucidate the underlying Islamic principles for such truces. I have included for your edification the classical interpretation of the great jurist and scholar Averroes (d. 1198), followed by the historical/juridical analyses of two important 20th century scholars of Islamic Law/ jihadism, Antoine Fattal, and Bassam Tibi…
| — Hat tip: Andy Bostom | [Return to headlines] |
When is a Green Activist Glad to See 680,000 Barrels of Oil?
It was meant to be a carbon-neutral adventure to fire the imaginations of 25,000 schoolchildren.
Raoul Surcouf, 40, a landscape gardener from Jersey, and Richard Spink, 32, a physiotherapist from Bristol, shunned the polluting aircraft normally used to reach Greenland’s polar ice cap and set sail in Fleur, a 40ft yacht fitted with solar panels and a wind turbine. Schools were poised to follow their green expedition online; once the duo had skied across the Arctic wastes they had hoped to boast of the first carbon-neutral crossing of Greenland.
On Friday, nature, displaying a heavy irony, intervened. After a battering by hurricane force winds, the crew of the Carbon Neutral Expeditions craft had to be rescued 400 miles off Ireland.
As if their ordeal wasn’t terrifying enough, their saviour seemed chosen to rub salt in their wounds: a 113,000-ton tanker, Overseas Yellowstone, carrying 680,000 barrels of crude. In a statement from the tanker, Spink said: “We experienced some of the harshest conditions known, with winds gusting hurricane force 12 … The decision was made that the risk to our personal safety was too great to continue.”
In truth, the crew could not afford to be choosy. They were in a life-threatening predicament, and heaped thanks on Captain Ferro, the tanker’s skipper, and his crew for being “outstanding in the execution of the rescue”. But the rather awkward twist was not lost on Spink, who ruefully noted afterwards that “the team are now safely and ironically aboard the oil tanker” as they headed to Maine, where they are due to arrive in three days.
Their ordeal began on Thursday morning. With his vessel blasted by 60-knot gusts, skipper Ben Stoddart deployed the anchor to try and slow the craft down, only for a wave to come over the stern, causing the first of three capsizes. With the navigation instruments failing and structural damage, the crew alerted Falmouth coastguard. After two further waves lashed the boat, destroying the solar panels and generator, coastguards were asked to mount a rescue.
“They are extremely relieved to just be alive,” said Jess Tombs, a spokeswoman for the expedition. Were they feeling sheepish about being rescued by an oil tanker? “They were just relieved,” she said. “We don’t want to think about what the outcome would have been if they hadn’t.”
| — Hat tip: Brutally Honest | [Return to headlines] |
1 comment:
I love the bit about the spiders. Years ago I had a pet bird-eating spider. She was as big as my hand, and I could sit and watch her for hours.
Bird-eating spiders aren't tarantulas, by the way - they're hairy megalomorphs, but still different species.
Tarantulas are not allowed in this country except under license, although if you really wanted you could find a few illegal breeders.
And no, I don't know any of those.
My spider came from a pet shop, and got donated to the zoo ages ago.
I still miss her. :)
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