Officially sanctioned legal racism has emerged in Italy. An Italian court reduced a convicted murderer’s sentence because he is African, and African genes tend to create a predisposition for violence.In other news, a Muslim cleric on Egyptian television urged his followers to take the long view: “The Muslims will kill the Jews — be patient.”
Thanks to AM, Gaia, Insubria, JD, JP, Nilk, TV, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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UK: Gordon Brown Calls for Global Banking Shakeup
Gordon Brown has called on the world’s banks to be more responsible and adopt a ‘social contract’ to prevent future bailouts hitting the taxpayer.
Speaking at the G20 summit of financial ministers on Saturday, Brown said that there was currently an unfair distribution between ‘risks and rewards’ in global banking.
[…]
Among the measures being proposed was the introduction of a levy on financial transaction, known as a ‘Tobin tax’ and the setting up a special resolution fund.
However Brown warned that “enormous and difficult practical and technical issues” were involved in implementing any global reforms to the banking system and that Britain could not act alone.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
About That “Allahu Akbar”
The fact that Hassan reportedly shouted the above is meant, I suppose, to imply that he was an extremist fanatic.
I’m not sure that it does. My understanding is that it’s something Arab people often shout before doing something or other. It’s used in many different situations. It doesn’t mean the guy is an al-Qaida mole any more than my drinking a cup of tea would mean I was a tea partier.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Bloodless President Barack Obama Makes Americans Wistful for George W Bush
Barack Obama’s reaction to bad news is to play it so cool that Americans yearn for a bit more drama — and some even for his predecessor, writes Toby Harnden in Washington.
During the election campaign, Barack Obama’s cool detachment was a winning quality, the “No Drama Obama” a welcome contrast with the “Mr Angry” John McCain, never mind the hot-headed “I’m the decider” President George W Bush.
A year into his presidency, however, Mr Obama seems a curiously bloodless president. If he experiences passion, he seldom shows it. It is often anyone’s guess as to whether an event or issue truly moves him.
In a sign that the Obama honeymoon truly is over, I began to hear this week the first stirrings of a wistfulness about Mr Bush. “I never thought I’d hear myself say it,” one Democrat told me. “But Obama makes you feel that at least with Bush you knew where he was on something.”
When Mr Bush’s Republicans were defeated in the 2006 mid-term elections, it was the President himself who stepped up and declared that his party had received “a thumpin’“. The Democratic defeats on Tuesday were not on anything like the same scale but Mr Obama acted as if nothing at all had happened.
Mr Obama had campaigned for Jon Corzine, New Jersey’s Democratic governor, five times, twice just last Sunday. But when Mr Corzine lost by four points in a state Mr Obama won by 15 last year — a 19-point swing to Republicans — White House aides just shrugged.
In Virginia, which Mr Obama won by six points last year, prompting Democrats to declare an historic political realignment in the state, the Democratic candidate went down by 17 points in the biggest landslide since 1961 — a 23-point swing to the Grand Old Party.
It took Senator Mark Warner of Virginia to admit that his party “got walloped”. For three days, Mr Obama maintained a studied silence about the results while his aides blamed them on local factors that had nothing to do with the President. And to think that it was Mr Bush who was always accused of being “in denial”.
More serious perhaps was Mr Obama’s strange disconnectedness over the Fort Hood massacre of 13 soldiers by an Army major and devout Muslim who opposed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, had praised suicide bombing and shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he opened fire.
Maybe Mr Obama had been reading the American press, much of which somehow contrived to present the atrocity as a result of combat stress due to soldiers going on repeated war deployments (though Major Nadal Hasan had not been on any) and therefore, no doubt, Mr Bush’s fault.
When the television networks cut to the President, viewers listened to him spend more than two surreal minutes talking to a gathering of Native Americans about their “extraordinary” and “extremely productive” conference, pausing to give a cheery “shout out” to a man named Dr Joe Medicine Crow. Only then did he briefly and mechanically address what had happened in Texas.
On Friday, when most of the basic facts were available, Mr Obama tried again. It was scarcely any better. He began by offering “an update on the tragedy that took place” — as if it was an earthquake and not a terrorist attack from an enemy within — and ended with a promise for more “updates in the coming days and weeks”.
Completely missing was the eloquence that Mr Obama employs when talking about himself. Absent too was any sense that the President empathised with the families and comrades of those murdered.
It was a reminder that for the past 16 years Americans have had two Presidents who would often extemporise and express emotion. President Bill Clinton could certainly “feel your pain” while Mr Bush sometimes struggled to hold back tears. Mr Obama is more like President George Bush Snr, who famously communicated his concern for people by blurting out: “Message — I care.”
The White House argues that Mr Obama was not on the ballot last week and there is therefore no need to fret. The problem with this complacency is that voters were angry about the state of the economy, which Mr Obama can’t keep blaming on his predecessor. With unemployment now above 10 per cent, Mr Obama needs to show Americans that he can relate to what they’re going through, and take responsibility.
It could do him good to show he has a bit of fire in his belly. Perhaps he might make a decision or two based on gut instinct and deep conviction. In other words, maybe he should try being a bit more like Mr Bush.
| — Hat tip: AM | [Return to headlines] |
Californians Are Leaving California
What might interest Tiebout is that while California and Texas are comparable in terms of sheer numbers, their demographic paths are diverging. Before 1990, both states grew much faster than the rest of the country. Since then, only Texas has continued to do so. While its share of the nation’s population has steadily increased, from 6.8 percent in 1990 to 7.9 percent in 2007, California’s has barely budged, from 12 percent to 12.1 percent.
Unpacking the numbers is even more revealing—and, for California, disturbing. The biggest contrast between the two states shows up in “net internal migration,” the demographer’s term for the difference between the number of Americans who move into a state from another and the number who move out of it to another. Between April 1, 2000, and June 30, 2007, an average of 3,247 more Americans moved out of California than into it every week, according to the Census Bureau. Over the same period, Texas saw a net gain, in an average week, of 1,544 people. Aside from Louisiana and Mississippi, which lost population to other states because of Hurricane Katrina, California is the only Sunbelt state that had negative net internal migration after 2000. All the other states that lost population to internal migration were Rust Belt basket cases, including New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Michigan, and Ohio.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Democrats Seek Votes on Health-Care as Delay Possible
Democrats sought to ease lawmakers’ concerns over funding for abortion and illegal aliens on the eve of a health-care floor debate as House leader Steny Hoyer raised the possibility tomorrow’s planned vote may be delayed.
While Hoyer said he expects the House to complete the legislation tomorrow, he told lawmakers to be available Sunday and into next week in case the debate spills over.
“We are very close” to a majority, the Maryland Democrat told reporters. “Many people still need to get a comfort level that it’s the right thing to do.”
President Barack Obama pushed back a visit to Capitol Hill to Saturday to meet with Democrats as party leaders rally support for the measure. Thousands of people protesting the bill gathered at the U.S. Capitol yesterday, and several were arrested after entering Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Obama postponed his planned trip today to the Capitol because he wanted to go “a little closer to the vote” and because of yesterday’s mass shooting at the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. Obama plans to go tomorrow “as of now,” Gibbs said.
The White House issued a statement urging “quick action” on the legislation, calling it a “critical milestone in the effort to reform our health-care system.”
Obama Making Calls
The president has been contacting lawmakers on the bill, which calls for the biggest expansion of the nation’s health- care system since the 1965 creation of the Medicare program for the elderly.
Representative Jason Altmire, an undecided Democrat from Pennsylvania, said Obama, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and two Cabinet secretaries have called him to make the pitch that “this is an historic moment.”
Altmire said administration and House leaders have stressed that the House bill isn’t the final product, since the Senate is deliberating over its own version, “but if we didn’t do this, it’s dead,” Altmire said.
“It doesn’t appear they have the votes,” Altmire told reporters. “That’s pretty clear.”
Democratic leaders are trying to satisfy lawmakers who want assurances the legislation would restrict government financing of abortions or subsidies for illegal immigrants.
Threat From Lawmakers
Some Hispanic members threatened to vote against changing the measure to bar undocumented immigrants from buying insurance on a new online purchasing exchange.
Such a provision “would present a serious issue for many” in the Hispanic caucus, Texas Democrat Charles Gonzalez said yesterday.
The $1.05 trillion legislation would cover 36 million uninsured people and create a government program to compete with private insurers. It would require all Americans to get insurance, set up the new insurance-purchasing exchanges for people who don’t have employer-provided benefits, and provide subsidies to help people obtain coverage.
Representative Artur Davis, an Alabama Democrat, said there’s a “growing sense” among lawmakers the vote will be delayed until Sunday after a full day of debate tomorrow.
Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she is hopeful a Sunday session won’t be necessary. “It all depends on the Republicans and how long they want to delay,” she said.
“We’ll see when we get to the floor,” Pelosi said when asked if she had the votes.
AARP, AMA Endorsements
The legislation gained some momentum yesterday when Washington-based AARP, which represents 40 million seniors, and the Chicago-based American Medical Association each endorsed the measure.
At the same time, thousands of placard-waving protesters rallied outside the Capitol yesterday, where Republican lawmakers and anti-abortion activists spoke against the bill.
“Speaker Pelosi is trying to force her members to vote for a bill that the American people have soundly rejected,” House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio said at a press conference today.
America’s Health Insurance Plans, a Washington trade group representing about 1,300 health-insurance companies, registered its opposition.
“The bill does not address in any meaningful way the fact that the United States spends significantly more per unit of service than every other industrialized country,” Karen Ignagni, the group’s president said in a Nov. 5 letter to Pelosi and Boehner.
Cutting the Deficit
While the cost of the legislation has sparked concern, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it would reduce the federal deficit over 10 years by $129 billion, up from an Oct. 29 estimate of $104 billion.
The new figure reflects some changes to the measure, including a proposal to block tax credits for the production of fuels from byproducts of pulp-making.
Democrats opposed to abortion, along with many Republicans, are concerned that lower-income Americans in the proposed health-insurance exchanges could use federal subsidies to pay for abortions.
Democratic leaders are trying to line up support for a compromise proposed by one abortion opponent, Representative Brad Ellsworth of Indiana, which would clarify the restrictions, Hoyer said.
Bishops Object
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said it opposes the Ellsworth plan. Hoyer said negotiators were attempting to change the language to satisfy the group.
On the issue of illegal aliens, the legislation bars the undocumented immigrants from getting subsidies to purchase private insurance that would go to low-and middle-income people. Illegal immigrants would also be prevented from buying insurance from the government-run insurance plan.
Some lawmakers still want to prevent the undocumented people from purchasing private coverage on the online exchange.
House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter, a New York Democrat, said today the immigration language won’t be changed by her panel.
Raul Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat, said Hispanic lawmakers got a pledge from leaders to defeat any Republican attempt to insert language to bar undocumented immigrants from exchanges.
| [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Shootings: Again We Will be Judged for Acts We Didn’t Commit
So much is still unknown about the shooting at Fort Hood Army base and the motives of the alleged shooter, Nidal Malik Hasan, but still I have that same queasy feeling in my stomach that I’ve had before: this will not be good for Muslims.
First things first. Major Nidal Malik Hasan is in custody. We should judge him fairly and, if he is found guilty, punish him accordingly.
The same is true for Sergeant John M Russell. In May 2009 Russell shot and killed five of his comrades at a combat stress clinic in a US Army base in Iraq. Before that, Sergeant Joseph Bozicevich killed two American soldiers at his base just outside Baghdad in September 2008. What do these incidents point to?
We still have yet to understand how profound the depths are to the stresses of war, especially in cases of repeated exposure to war. And you don’t have to be on the battlefield to be scarred. We are only now beginning to learn that the Predator drone pilots, sitting in offices in southern California and dropping bombs some 7,000 miles away from their targets, suffer the same if not higher stress disorders as soldiers on the battlefield.
Perhaps these shooting incidents also tell us something about the pressures not only of receiving but also of providing mental health services to people who have suffered traumatic events. Army suicides are at an all time high (nearly 150 servicemen and women in the US took their lives last year). Rates of domestic violence in the military are sky high and far too often turn deadly. What effect must that have on the mental health providers as well?
And what do we know about the stress of being on the receiving end of prejudice, as Hasan was reported to have been? This is nothing unique to Muslims. Racial prejudice can lead to all kinds of stress outcomes. Social science research in the US has studied this phenomenon, but not frequently enough when it comes to Muslims, a space slowly being filled by the relatively new publication, the Journal of Muslim Mental Health.
These are the kinds of questions we should be asking, not out of a desire to excuse, but to explain actions that seem beyond words. But I worry that the mood in the US is dimming and turning in a more sinister direction. The questions we will be hearing are: why are Muslims in the military? And, do Muslims even belong in the United States? The allegiances of America’s Muslims, all of them and not just those in the military, will be called into question. Once again, we will be judged for an act we didn’t commit or condone and have loudly denounced.
Am I being irrational? I don’t think so. Every year since 2001 the Washington Post-ABC News poll has asked Americans if they hold negative perceptions of Islam. When the latest poll was released in April 2009, the number was 48%, the highest yet recorded.
The coming days will be meaningful. Will this crime and tragedy spur action so that we can finally see that war has enormous costs and is not merely an occasion to celebrate heroism? Or will the American public take one man’s crime and churn it into the terrorism of religion?
Muslims, the newest minorities in the American imagination, will be bowing heads in mourning for the loss of life at Fort Hood but, with the dark clouds around them, they will be doing so with one eye open.
Moustafa Bayoumi is the author of How Does It Feel to be a Problem: Being Young and Arab in America
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Has Enough Victims Already
Whatever was in the mind of alleged shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan is no reason to question the loyalty of Muslim Americans
After an American soldier’s tragic outburst of violence at Fort Hood, Texas — the army’s largest US post, with some 40,000 troops — dominates the headlines, a fear-mongering hysteria concerning his supposed religious motivations is taking priority over questions regarding his mental health.
Although the facts, and clues about motive, are still being uncovered, we know that the alleged shooter, 39-year-old Major Nidal Malik Hasan, is an American-born medical doctor and licensed psychiatrist, who also happens to be a Muslim born to Palestinian immigrant parents.
When Hasan’s Arabic name was revealed as the alleged shooter, the blogosphere and message boards lit up with the predictable assortment of anonymous bigoted bile vilifying Islam and questioning the loyalty of American Muslims.
Thankfully, most mainstream voices, such as Republican senator John Cornyn of Texas, urged caution and moderation, stating: “It is imperative that we take the time to gather all the facts, as it would be irresponsible to be the source of rumours or inaccurate information regarding such a horrific event.”
But some, such as Republican US representative Michael McCaul of Austin, Texas, alarmingly responded with inflammatory histrionics: “Whether it was domestic or foreign, clearly when a US military base is attacked in this fashion, that is an act of terror in my book.”
If it is discovered that this lethal rampage was motivated by an inexcusable and misplaced sense of religiosity, it would provide ammunition to those extreme rightwing, minority voices in America who are convinced their Muslim neighbours are stealth jihadists ready to commit suicide bombings at a moment’s notice. These proponents of modern day McCarthyism find their allies in members of the “Birther movement”, who remain convinced President Obama is not an American citizen. Their esteemed colleagues include those who pontificate about Obama being a closet Muslim and an agent of socialism..
Reports of an image taken hours before the killings showing Hasan in a prayer cap seem to insinuate that a common article of clothing worn by many Muslims before they are about to pray somehow conclusively proves an religious intent behind the violence. A blog note attributed (though this is unconfirmed) to Hasan — comparing terrorist suicide bombings to suicidal acts during war to protect fellow soldiers and inflict damage upon the enemy, such as Japanese kamikaze missions — is being pointed to on the net as his potential justification for the alleged shootings.
It should comfort most Americans that mainstream Muslim American organisations, which often espouse a sense of victimhood and unnecessary rationalisations, unequivocally denounced Hasan’s alleged actions as “heinous” and incompatible with Islam. The Council of American Islamic Relations issued a statement saying: “No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence.”
Ultimately, this use — or misuse — of fear and rumour over Hasan’s Islamic faith should be moot in light of the record of the thousands of Muslim American soldiers who have served and made sacrifice — such as Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, awarded the prestigious Purple Heart and Bronze Star and praised by Colin Powell, who now rests in Arlington cemetery after giving his life to protect and serve his country in Iraq. There are currently 20,000 Muslims serving with honour in the US military, according to the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council. If Hasan’s faith is ultimately proven to be the misguided inspiration for his violence, then the brave and patriotic service of thousands of Muslim American soldiers renders him an isolated and aberrant exception.
Sadly, although yesterday’s violent outburst against fellow soldiers was the most deadly in US history, it was not the first of its kind. In May this year, five soldiers were shot dead at Camp Liberty in Baghdad by Sergeant John Russell. In February 2008, an Air Force sergeant diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) upon returning from Iraq fatally shot his son and daughter after a domestic argument with his ex-wife. Religion was not the common link between these soldiers; it was mental instability. Even if such individuals purported to be religious, their wanton acts of barbarism reflect rather their tenuous grasp on sanity.
A cousin of Hasan, interviewed by reporters, has suggested an alternative motivation, not necessarily influenced by religious conviction. “He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,” said Nader Hasan. “He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there [in Iraq and Afghanistan].”
From the evidence thus far, it seems tragic and ironic that Hasan, a psychiatrist who helped heal soldiers suffering from PTSD, would allegedly turn against them upon learning of his deployment to Iraq. In the interview with Fox News, his cousin described going to Iraq as Hasan’s “worst nightmare”. He went on: “[Hasan] was doing everything he could to avoid that … He wanted to do whatever he could within the rules to make sure he wouldn’t go over.” Hasan’s aunt told the Washington Post that her nephew had consulted an attorney to see if he could leave the army before his contract expired due to harassment he had received from colleagues because he was Muslim.
Whatever the FBI investigation and any subsequent prosecution following the terrible shootings at Fort Hood may finally reveal, incidents such as these warrant a re-examination of how to treat and discharge or excuse those soldiers who are troubled or conflicted psychologically, politically or religiously over our foreign policy and, in particular, the current war in Afghanistan and occupation of Iraq.
No mere factual, evidential explanation could ever justify or excuse in any way Hasan’s alleged actions. But it ought to broaden the horizon of those in the media who seem infatuated with the need to pin the blame for this perverse tragedy solely on a man’s religious faith and Arabic last name, rather than exploring the possibility of a more complicated truth involving some combination of mental state, divided loyalty or conscientious objection.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood: Obama Urges Caution Amid Fears of Backlash Against Muslims
President joins calls for calm across the US in wake of Fort Hood shooting spree that left 13 dead
Barack Obama today joined calls from across America for calm amid fears of a backlash in the wake of the shooting spree by a Muslim soldier at the Fort Hood that left 13 dead and 28 wounded.
Obama, speaking in the White House Rose Garden after being briefed by the FBI, sought to dampen tensions, as did politicians from both the Democratic and Republican parties, the military, Muslim associations and the family of the alleged shooter, Major Nadil Malik Hasan.
“I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we get all the facts,” Obama said. The risk of a witchhunt rose today when the commander at the Fort Hood base, Lieutenant-General Robert Cone, disclosed that wounded soldiers said Hasan had shouted “Allahu Akbar” before opening fire on unarmed soldiers at the Texas base.
The troops, from 12 different units across the US, had been receiving final medical checks before deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hasan, 39, was initially reported by the military to have been killed but hours later officials confirmed he was still alive, though wounded. He was on a ventilator today.
The trained military psychiatrist had been due to be deployed to Afghanistan later this year and had been desperately trying to get out of it.
As the initial shock of the massacre began to wear off today, a bout of national soul-searching began about the mental strain caused to troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, in particular as a result of multiple tours of duty.
Although the vast majority of Muslims in the US are fully integrated, websites on major newspapers sites quickly filled with hate mail questioning their loyalty.
There have been only a few incidents since 9/11 of troops from a Muslim background killing comrades, and nothing near this scale.
Obama’s call for patience, saying there were still too many unanswered questions, was echoed by Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress, and by the Pentagon.
In a statement, Hasan’s family said his actions were “despicable and deplorable”. “His actions did not reflect how they were raised in the US,” they said.
Janet Napolitano, the homeland security secretary, joined the calls for patience. “That investigation is under way by law enforcement authorities, and let’s let that be the number one priory in terms of ascertaining what motivations he had,” she said in a television interview.
Obama ordered flags across the country to be flown at half-staff in tribute to the dead. The president was scheduled to visit Walter Reed military hospital today, where coincidentally Hasan previously worked as a psychiatrist.
Twelve of the dead were soldiers, with one lone civilian.
Dozens of grief counsellors were being sent to Fort Hood to help the families of the dead. The FBI was today going through Hasan’s apartment and office to see whether there is a clue to his motivation on his computer, as well as from his phone records.
Investigators were by his bedside, hoping to interview him when he regained consciousness. He took four bullets from a policewoman, Kimberly Munley, 34, who was wounded in the encounter.
“She happened to encounter the gunman. In an exchange of gunfire, she was wounded but managed to wound him four times,” Cone said. “It was an amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer.”
Soldiers said that Hasan had two handguns, including a semi-automatic, and shot down troops in clusters. Cone said one soldier who had been shot told him: “I made the mistake of moving and I was shot again.”
Hasan had been in uniform at the time.
Questions were raised about why the FBI had not pursued postings on a website from a person identified as Hasan who appeared to express sympathy for suicide bombings.
Hasan, a Virginian whose parents were Palestinians, worked as a psychiatrist at the Fort Hood base and before that at Walter Reed counselling troops suffering psychological problems after returning from war zones. He heard both what they had suffered and the violence they had inflicted on Iraqis and Afghans.
Video footage at a grocery store showed him relaxed, buying goods as normal. But his behaviour then changed, going home to clear out his flat and the usually reclusive figure went round his neighbours distributing groceries from his kitchen and handing out Qur’ans.
Colonel Steven Braverman, a hospital commander at Fort Hood for whom Hasan worked, said: “He took care of soldiers with behavioural health problems and evaluated people with disabilities.” He said there was no indication prior to the shooting that Hasan was unable to provide those services.
“We had no problems with his job performance while he worked at Darnall,” Braverman said.
A definitive figure for the number of Muslims in the US military is unknown, as recruits are not obliged declare a religious affiliation. There are only 3,526 declared Muslims in a military force totalling 1.4 million.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Shooting: An Attack by the Enemy Within
The murderous killing spree carried by Maj Nidal Malik Hasan will be seen by many Americans as a terrorist attack from an enemy within rather than the act of a lone madman.
It will take weeks to assess all the reasons Hasan acted. But the evidence of his devout Muslim faith, antipathy towards women, arguments in favour of suicide bombing and opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars point to a religious and political motivation at least in part.
The United States has grown sadly used to mass shootings. This case, however, is shockingly aberrational. The fact that it was unarmed soldiers cut down on an Army base in Texas makes it an attack on the nation rather than on a group of random victims.
Many of Mr Obama’s supporters were deeply worried that as the first black president he would be especially vulnerable to an assassination attempt by a white racist.
When the issue of his fiery, anti-American former pastor Jeremiah Wright threatened to derail his campaign, Mr Obama was eloquent in addressing the issues of racism, black anger and white fear.
The atrocity at Fort Hood is an altogether more difficult subject for Mr Obama to address.
Mr Obama played down his Muslim background on the campaign trail for fear of being portrayed as un-American. At one point, young Muslim girls in hijabs were moved from a campaign stage to prevent Mr Obama being filmed with them as a backdrop.
Since winning the White House, however, he has referred to himself as “Barack Hussein Obama” as a way of presenting himself abroad as uniquely placed to build bridges with Islam.
While he will rightly want to avoid fuelling any backlash against Muslims and to resist being seen to jump to conclusions, if he avoids any reference to the evidence of religious and political motivation then he will be accused of trying to avoid inconvenient truths.
Relatives of Hasan are already claiming that the ultimate reason — they have stopped short of suggesting it was a justification — for the Army psychiatrist’s action was that he was mocked by fellow soldiers for his Muslim faith.
That claim, when juxtaposed with the apparent reluctance of the military authorities to take action against Hasan despite his praise for suicide bombings, is potentially incendiary and could bolster those Americans calling for a less tolerant attitude towards Islam.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Fort Hood Gunman Major Nidal Hasan Had Being Trying to Leave ‘Anti-Muslim’ Army
In an interview with The Times today in the West Bank town of al-Bireh, near Ramallah, his cousin, Mohammed Hasan, said that Major Hasan had engaged a lawyer to try and leave the army.
“For six months he’d been trying to get out of the army,” said Mohammed, an unemployed 24-year-old.
“I think because he’s a Muslim he didn’t want to go to Afghanistan or Iraq, and he didn’t want to expose himself to violence and death,” he told The Times.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
‘Islam Not Responsible’ For Fort Hood Massacre: US Imam
SILVER SPRING, Maryland (AFP) — Islam is “not responsible” for the bloodbath at an army base in Texas where Muslim-American army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly gunned down 13 people, the prayer leader at the mosque where the officer regularly worshipped said Friday.
“We offer our condolences and prayers to the families that have a person who died,” said Imam Mohammed Abdullahi over loud-speakers that carried the weekly Muslim prayer to several hundred worshippers gathered at the mosque.
“Islam is not responsible,” he stressed.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad at Fort Hood
by Robert Spencer
Posted by Robert Spencer on Nov 6th, 2009 and filed under FrontPage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
Robert Spencer is a scholar of Islamic history, theology, and law and the director of Jihad Watch. He is the author of eight books, eleven monographs, and hundreds of articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism, including the New York Times Bestsellers The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) and The Truth About Muhammad. His latest book, The Complete Infidel’s Guide to the Koran, is available now from Regnery Publishing.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist, murdered twelve people and wounded twenty-one inside Fort Hood in Texas yesterday, while, according to eyewitnesses, “shouting something in Arabic while he was shooting.” Investigators are scratching their heads and expressing puzzlement about why he did it. According to NPR, “the motive behind the shootings was not immediately clear, officials said.” The Washington Post agreed: “The motive remains unclear, although some sources reported the suspect is opposed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and upset about an imminent deployment.” The Huffington Post spun faster, asserting that “there is no concrete reporting as to whether Nidal Malik Hasan was in fact a Muslim or an Arab.”…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Massacre by Political Correctness
Experts at MSNBC discovered yesterday that Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is contagious. Presumably, Kathleen Sibelius is whipping up a vaccine which will soon be placed into the uber efficient HHS delivery system.
Army psychiatrist Malik Nadal Hasan slaughtered 13 people and wounded over thirty others.
This was no random shooting spree, Hasan chose his time, place and victims. The Muslim doctor has a history of hatred toward the US, saying that the Religion of Peace really ought to rise up against the US.
The left is hysterically trying to spin the Islam out of this attack, insisting that Hasan suffered from PTSD, despite the fact that he has never been in combat. The Einsteins at MSNBC are reporting that Hasan caught PTSD by working with returning combat soldiers.
[Comments from JD: “cultural marxism” is a more accurate term than “political correctness”. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Media Perspective in the Ft. Hood Massacre
Consider this: the murderous actions of Nidal Malik HASAN at Ft. Hood on Thursday resulted in more deaths and injuries in that single attack than in 15 years of violence at abortion clinics in the U.S. and Canada. Two days after the bloodbath at Ft. Hood, government officials from the President to local politicians, the media, their pundits and other experts are publicly cautioning against linking any religious or ideological motives to the actions of Nidal Malik HASAN.
Immediately after the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a noted abortionist at a women’s clinic in Wichita, Kansas on May 31, 2009 and the subsequent arrest of “anti-abortion extremist Scott Roeder,” however, the motives behind the killing of Dr. Tiller were never questioned. Those same politicians and pundits who are currently urging the public not to jump to the conclusion that HASAN’s motives were religious and ideological in nature are the same who immediately concluded that the murder of Dr. Tiller was a result of an anti-abortion extremist. The blatant hypocrisy does not end there.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Radicals Call Hasan ‘Officer and a Gentleman’
13 deaths were ‘pre-emptive attack;’ ‘We do NOT denounce his actions’
A website run by radical Muslims today honored Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the man accused of killing 13 people at Ford Hood in Texas, as an “Officer and a Gentleman,” saying his actions should not be denounced.
The massacre yesterday, which also left more than two dozen injured, was called a “pre-emptive attack” by supporters of the Revolution Muslim website.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Suspect Pushed Islam on Patients
Co-worker says Nidal Hasan was disciplined for proselytizing
The Muslim Army psychiatrist who allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood and killed 13 aggressively pushed Islam on his patients to the point he was disciplined over the issue, according to a report today.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, is suspected of opening fire with two handguns yesterday at the Texas base’s readiness center, where soldiers were getting last-minute checkups before deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan .
A source told National Public Radio’s Joseph Shapiro that Hasan was given a period of probation early in his postgraduate work for proselytizing Islam with coworkers and soldiers he was treating.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report: 237 Millionaires in Congress
Talk about bad timing.
As Washington reels from the news of 10.2 percent unemployment, the Center for Responsive Politics is out with a new report describing the wealth of members of Congress.
Among the highlights: Two-hundred-and-thirty-seven members of Congress are millionaires. That’s 44 percent of the body — compared to about 1 percent of Americans overall.
CRP says California Republican Rep. Darrell Issa is the richest lawmaker on Capitol Hill, with a net worth estimated at about $251 million. Next in line: Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), worth about $244.7 million; Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), worth about $214.5 million; Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), worth about $209.7 million; and Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), worth about $208.8 million.
All told, at least seven lawmakers have net worths greater than $100 million, according to the Center’s 2008 figures.
“Many Americans probably have a sense that members of Congress aren’t hurting, even if their government salary alone is in the six figures, much more than most Americans make,” said CRP spokesman Dave Levinthal. “What we see through these figures is that many of them have riches well beyond that salary, supplemented with securities, stock holdings, property and other investments.”
The CRP numbers are somewhat rough estimates — lawmakers are required to report their financial information in broad ranges of figures, so it’s impossible to pin down their dollars with precision. The CRP uses the mid-point in the ranges to build its estimates.
Senators’ estimated median reportable worth sunk to about $1.79 million from $2.27 million in 2007. The House’s median income was significantly lower and also sank, bottoming out at $622,254 from $724,258 in 2007.
But CRP’s analysis suggests that some lawmakers did well for themselves between 2007 and 2008, even as many Americans lost jobs and saw their savings and their home values plummet.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) gained about $9.2 million. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) gained about $3 million, Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) had an estimated $2.6 million gain, and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) gained about $2.8 million.
Some lawmakers have profited from investments in companies that have received federal bailouts; dozens of lawmakers are invested in Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America.
Among executive branch officials, CRP says the richest is Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary L. Schapiro, with a net worth estimated at $26 million.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is next, worth an estimated $21 million. President Barack Obama is the sixth-wealthiest, worth about an estimated $4 million. Vice President Joe Biden has often tagged himself as an original blue collar man. The CRP backs him up, putting his net worth at just $27,000.
He’s hardly the worst off.
Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), freshman Rep. Harry Teague (D-N.M.), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), Rep. John Salazar (D-Colo.) and Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) each a net worth of less than zero, CRP says.
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Responding to Modern Marxism
Tuesday’s elections sent a plume of political fallout across the nation. Obama invested heavily in the incumbent New Jersey governor — who was soundly defeated by a conservative Republican. A parade of Democrat dignitaries campaigned for the governor’s office in Virginia; the more conservative Republican won by a landslide.
The only Democrat victory was in New York’s District 23 where it took both the Democrat and liberal Republican candidate, who withdrew from the race to endorse the Democrat, to narrowly defeat a conservative independent. Conservatism also prevailed in Maine, where the voters rejected same-sex marriage.
Denial is not that river in Egypt. It seems to be a river that begins in the White House and flows freely through the Democrat Party and the media. The rest of the nation seems to be encouraged by the prospects of reining in the runaway policies Obama’s majority is trying to impose.
It is increasingly clear that the battle is no longer between Democrats and Republicans; it is between liberals and conservatives. Since these terms, too, are fuzzy, let’s be perfectly clear: The battle is between the people who subscribe to the principles of freedom set forth in our founding documents, and the people who subscribe to the principles of collectivism set forth by Karl Marx.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Shooter Advised Obama Transition
Fort Hood triggerman aided team on Homeland Security task force
NEW YORK — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the alleged shooter in yesterday’s massacre at Fort Hood, played a homeland security advisory role in President Barack Obama’s transition into the White House, according to a key university policy institute document.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Tensions of Faith and Nation: US Military Denies Letting in Extremists
Pentagon insists need for religious tolerance and diversity far outweighs concerns about Islamists joining the ranks
The US military has a long tradition of religious tolerance but military officials bristled today at suggestions that this has aided infiltrators.
“What our policies are and what we try to practise very earnestly is inclusion and diversity,” said Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Les’ Melnyk. “We need troops that reflect the diversity of America and we show the diversity of America to the world when we deploy.”
Only 3,526 of America’s 1.4 million active duty military personnel reported being Muslim, but Melnyk said the 283,000 who reported no religious preference could include some members of the faith.
Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s family members said he had complained of religious harassment.
Illustrating the tensions between the military and American Muslims, some Muslim soldiers say civilian co-religionists have questioned why they would join a force fighting in two Islamic countries. Just after the first Gulf war the military allowed Saudi clerics to lecture troops about Islam. Up to 3,000 soldiers are believed to have converted within months, the biggest surge ever of Muslims into the armed forces, and military officials later became concerned that foreign clerics had gained influence over US troops.
In March 2003, Sergeant Hasan Akbar, a Muslim convert, killed two of his commanding officers by throwing a grenade into their tent in Kuwait. His family said he had sensed his faith was causing tension in the ranks. He had recently been disciplined for insubordination, and prosecutors said he was angry about US troops killing his fellow Muslims in the Iraq war. He was sentenced to death by a military court in 2005.
That same year, two Muslim servicemen, including an army chaplain, were accused of espionage at Guantánamo Bay. Captain James Yee, the chaplain, was later cleared of the charges. Senior Airman Ahmad Halabi, an Arabic translator at the prison, pleaded guilty to lesser charges. In 2000, Ali Mohamed, an al-Qaida operative who became a sergeant in the army special forces, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in connection with the 1998 bombings at the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
Saleem Abdul-Mateen, a Navy veteran and head of the Washington-based Muslim American Veterans Association, said that when people learn that Muslims are responsible for violence, like the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the Fort Hood incident, “fingers are pointed at Muslims in the military and outside”.
“If there is no Muslim presence [in the military], then who is going to speak on behalf of Muslims?” he asked. “We have demonstrated our allegiance to the country”.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Tom Tancredo: The Threat of the “Muslim Mafia”
CAIR’s operatives and apologists try to paint all critics as “Islamophobes” and “McCarthyites” and seldom respond to specific charges. To these apostles of pre-emptive forgiveness, Islam is just another exotic religion, and we can all live together in peace and friendship if we will only put away the fears and slanders propagated by the “merchants of hate.” The problem is that the principal “merchant of hate” in the modern world is radical Islam and its jihad of violence, not those who are sounding the alarm.
Fortunately, authentic leaders within Islam have begun speaking out against the jihad waged by the radicals. The dividing line, however, between Muslims wanting to live within our democracy as Muslim-Americans and the radicals who want to replace it is not support or opposition to jihad. That dividing line, this book makes clear, is the choice of Sharia law over Anglo-American common law and the U.S. Constitution. CAIR and its allies are pursuing a plan to place civic loyalty and ultimately citizenship itself outside the Constitution and in the hands of radical imams.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Uncivil War: Conservatives to Challenge a Dozen GOP Candidates
In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010.
Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others.
But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and helped Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman surge into the lead on the eve of Election Day, has generated more money and enthusiasm than organizers ever imagined.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: Irish Surgeons Paid $1 Million for Doing Nothing
Fury in Ireland as surgeons reveal they are being paid while operations are canceled
Three Irish surgeons have revealed that they are being paid a whopping $350,000 to do nothing.
The three orthopedic consultants at Letterkenny General Hospital in County Donegal have revealed that the Irish Health Service is paying them to “sit around doing nothing” while operating theaters are empty.
Senior consultant and team leader, Peter O’Rourke said he is “frustrated and depressed” about the current working climate in Letterkenny General Hospital.
The surgeon claims there is little or no work for his team in the busy hospital despite massive waiting lists for essential knee and hip surgeries known as elective surgeries.
The health service has put such surgeries on hold until next year as the “elective” budget has overrun by $3.3 million.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: CIA Verdict: Frattini Sympathises
‘I don’t think agents will go to jail’ for imam snatch
(ANSA) — Rome, November 5 — Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Thursday he sympathised with the United States’ disappointment at a Milan court’s Tuesday conviction of CIA agents in the rendition of an Egyptian cleric in 2003.
Frattini said he sympathised with US concerns but noted that the Italian government had obtained a state secrecy injunction in the case that resulted in three CIA operatives obtaining immunity.
In the verdict, 22 ex-agents and a retired Air Force colonel were found guilty in absentia in the abduction of former Milan imam Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar.
Italy’s judiciary, which is independent of the government, went ahead with the case despite a successful government suit invoking secrecy that ruled out much evidence.
The US, and the agents themselves, have said they are worried they will be international fugitives but Frattini said: “I don’t think those US operatives will go to jail”.
“Judges’ decisions have to be respected even when you don’t agree with them,” he said.
Some US news outlets had speculated that the government might try to obtain a pardon by appealing to Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, who is titular head of the judiciary.
The two-year Milan trial was the first case in which the controversial US practice of ‘extraordinary rendition’ had been challenged in court.
Some think the verdict may set a precedent.
Rendition was first authorised by Bill Clinton in the 1990s and stepped up when George W.Bush declared war on terror after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Barack Obama has not stopped renditions but the US for some years has been denying torture.
Nasr, an Islamist who was accused of recruiting jihadi fighters, claims he was tortured and threatened with rape in Cairo.
He and his wife were awarded 1.5 million euros in damages in Tuesday’s verdict.
Two top Italian former spies were cleared because of secrecy norms while two less senior operatives were convicted.
Successive Italian governments denied all knowledge of the case and consistently ruled out the possibility of extradition.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Lighter Sentence for Murderer With ‘Bad Genes’
Italian court reduces jail term after tests identify genes linked to violent behaviour.
A court in Italy has cut a prisoner’s jail term because he has genes associated with aggressive behaviour.Ingram PublishingAn Italian court has cut the sentence given to a convicted murderer by a year because he has genes linked to violent behaviour — the first time that behavioural genetics has affected a sentence passed by a European court. But researchers contacted by Nature have questioned whether the decision was based on sound science.
Abdelmalek Bayout, an Algerian citizen who has lived in Italy since 1993, admitted in 2007 to stabbing and killing Walter Felipe Novoa Perez on 10 March. Perez, a Colombian living in Italy, had, according to Bayout’s testimony, insulted him over the kohl eye make-up the Algerian was wearing. Bayout, a Muslim, claims he wore the make-up for religious reasons.
During the trial, Bayout’s lawyer, Tania Cattarossi, asked the court to take into account that her client may have been mentally ill at the time of the murder. After considering three psychiatric reports, the judge, Paolo Alessio Vernì, partially agreed that Bayout’s psychiatric illness was a mitigating factor and sentenced him to 9 years and 2 months in prison — around three years less than Bayout would have received had he been deemed to be of sound mind.
But at an appeal hearing in May this year, Pier Valerio Reinotti, a judge of the Court of Appeal in Trieste, asked forensic scientists for a new independent psychiatric report to decide whether he should commute the sentence further.
For the new report, Pietro Pietrini, a molecular neuroscientist at Italy’s University of Pisa, and Giuseppe Sartori, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Padova, conducted a series of tests and found abnormalities in brain-imaging scans and in five genes that have been linked to violent behaviour — including the gene encoding the neurotransmitter-metabolizing enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA). A 2002 study led by Terrie Moffitt, a geneticist at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, had found low levels of MAOA expression to be associated with aggressiveness and criminal conduct of young boys raised in abusive environments1.
In the report, Pietrini and Sartori concluded that Bayout’s genes would make him more prone to behaving violently if provoked. “There’s increasing evidence that some genes together with a particular environmental insult may predispose people to certain behaviour,” says Pietrini.
On the basis of the genetic tests, Judge Reinotti docked a further year off the defendant’s sentence, arguing that the defendant’s genes “would make him particularly aggressive in stressful situations”. Giving his verdict, Reinotti said he had found the MAOA evidence particularly compelling.
Reinotti made the decision in September, but the case only came to light a month later when the local paper MessaggeroVeneto reported the story.
Weighing up the evidence
But forensic scientists and geneticists contacted by Nature question whether the scientific evidence supports the conclusions reached in the psychiatric report presented to Judge Reinotti.
“We don’t know how the whole genome functions and the [possible] protective effects of other genes,” says Giuseppe Novelli, a forensic scientist and geneticist at the University Tor Vergata in Rome. Tests for single genes such as MAOA are “useless and expensive”, he adds.
One problem is that the effects of the MAOA gene are known to vary between different ethnic groups, Moffit says. A 2006 study in the United States found that former victims of child abuse with high levels of MAOA were less likely to commit violent crimes — but only if they were white. The effect was not evident in non-white children2.
“If the defendant has any African ancestry, this could bring up a question of how well the genotype of that particular gene could relate to his personal behaviour,” Moffitt says.
Pietrini and Sartori, however, did not test Bayout for his ethnicity.
“The ethnicity of the defendant is irrelevant” in this case, Pietrini told Nature. He argues that the defendent does not belong to any of the non-white ethnic groups considered in the 2006 study. “Besides, MAOA is just one of the candidate genes we analysed,” he added.
Other genes, such as those that encode the serotonin transporter, have also been linked to different reactions to stress. But these also show a large degree of dependence on environmental factors. “The point is that behavioural genetics is not there yet, we cannot explain individual behaviour, only large population statistics,” says Nita Farahany of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who specializes in the legal and ethical issues arising from behavioural genetics and neuroscience.
Cattarossi argues that all evidence that has a bearing on her client’s mental health should be considered by the court. “My client is clearly an ill person and everything that allows the judge to better evaluate the case and to decide the right sentence should be investigated,” she says.
Since the 1994 Stephen Mobley case in the United States — the first case in the world in which the defence asked to have their client tested for MAOA deficiency — lawyers have increasingly been trying to bring MAOA deficits and similar genetic evidence into courtrooms worldwide. According to Farahany, who updates a personal database on sentences passed in the United States, in the past five years there have been at least 200 cases where lawyers have attempted to use genetic evidence to support the idea their clients’ were predisposed to violent behaviour, depression or drug or alcohol abuse. In Britain, there have been at least 20 such cases in the past five years.
Up to now most such efforts have been unsuccessful in court — although a few have influenced sentencing in the United States. Judges have tended to reject the idea that a person has no control over their choices because of their genes, says Farahany.
Some fear that such cases could lead to the acceptance of genetic determinism — the idea that genes determine the behaviour of an organism — in criminal cases.
“90% of all murders are committed by people with a Y chromosome — males. Should we always give males a shorter sentence?” says Steve Jones, a geneticist at University College London. “I have low MAOA activity but I don’t go around attacking people.”
Farahany points out that prosecutors could use the same genetic evidence to argue for tougher sentences by suggesting people with such genes are inherently ‘bad’.
“The question is where do you stop,” Jones adds.
| — Hat tip: Nilk | [Return to headlines] |
‘Reggie Perrin’ Test Will Check Older Workers for Signs of Mid-Life Crisis Under EU Plan
Every worker over the age of 45 could be forced to undergo ‘Reggie Perrin’ tests to identify those at risk of a mid-life crisis.
Under an EU plan, firms would be ordered to carry out psychological tests on older staff.
The aim would be to spot troubled employees who are thinking of quitting their jobs because they begin to doubt their own abilities in middle age.
[…]
Critics dubbed them ‘Reggie Perrin’ tests after the TV character played by Leonard Rossiter, who faked his own death to escape his boring job.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
The European Union is Likely to Choose Weak Leaders. It Needs Strong Ones
THE ratification of Europe’s Lisbon treaty, now completed by the reluctant signature of the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, has been dispiriting. The treaty does little to make the European Union any simpler or more transparent, two supposed goals when the negotiations began eight long years ago. Nor will it make the EU more democratic or bring it any closer to ordinary citizens: indeed, voters in three countries said no to its provisions, only for their wishes to be steamrollered.
Yet with Lisbon now entering into force, it is time to move on from the EU’s introspective decade of institutional navel-gazing and turn to the pressing task of making it work better. Even the British Conservatives, who have wisely dropped their promise of a referendum on Lisbon, are slowly realising this (see Bagehot). The first task may come next week, when European leaders choose candidates for the two top jobs being created by Lisbon: the president of the European Council and a beefed-up high representative for foreign policy. Unfortunately, the continent’s rulers are likely to flunk it.
A consensus has emerged that the first council president should be a low-profile fixer, preferably from a small EU country and the political centre-right. That would rule out Britain’s Tony Blair (see Charlemagne). Mr Blair is also opposed by the Tories, who fear his clout; and by many others because of his role in the Iraq war and his perceived failure as prime minister to push his country closer to the EU. Eurosceptics are against him because the job is unelected, though they ought to favour a strong person chosen by elected leaders to represent national governments, rather than the hated Brussels bureaucracy. None of the declared alternatives to Mr Blair comes near his political heft. Almost comically, a current favourite is the Belgian prime minister of less than a year’s standing, the unknown Herman Van Rompuy, who seems not yet to have acquired as many critics as his longer-serving Dutch and Luxembourgeois counterparts, Jan Peter Balkenende and Jean-Claude Juncker.
There is nothing inherently wrong about a Benelux prime minister in Brussels. Indeed, a history of running tiresome coalitions might count as job-experience for a person who will have to draw up EU agendas and eke out midnight compromises. But, to most of the world, the president of the European Council, which brings together the EU’s heads of government, will stand for the EU as a whole. If Europeans want their club to be taken seriously, such a person must seem able to match the traffic-stopping power of an American or Chinese president. Although they are doubtless excellent men in their way, neither Mr Van Rompuy, nor Mr Balkenende, nor Mr Juncker could do that. Mr Blair would. If he is unacceptable, EU leaders must find somebody else who could, too: Sweden’s steely Carl Bildt, say, or perhaps Spain’s stern José María Aznar…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
The Flame That Was Snuffed Out by Freedom
The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago this week. But the new regimes that followed were not what some of us secretly worked for
by Roger Scruton
For ten years before 1989 I was in the habit of visiting Eastern Europe to support the fragile underground educational networks there. I would meet my contacts on street corners at prearranged times, to be taken by tram to some smoke-filled room in an outlying apartment, where a group of whispering “students” had gathered to meet me.
Every knock on the door was followed by a frozen silence and, from time to time, someone would lift a corner of the curtain and peer anxiously into the street. Books in many languages lined the walls and as often as not, a crucifix would be fastened to the wall above the shelves.
The people I met were of many different casts of mind. Some, among the older generation, still maintained a belief in the “socialism with a human face” that had been announced by Alexander Dubcek, the Czechoslovak President, during the Prague Spring of 1968. Most of the younger people did not believe that socialism could wear a human face or that, if it tried to do so, it would look any better than one of those monsters with a human face painted by Hieronymus Bosch.
For the most part, the people I met were quiet, studious, often deeply religious, attempting to build shrines in the catacombs, around which small circles of marginalised people could gather to venerate the memory of their national culture. This was especially true of the Czechs, from whom their national culture had been officially confiscated after the Soviet invasion. In Poland and Hungary dissidents could still occupy posts in the official universities, and in Poland — after Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to his homeland in 1979 — everyone was a dissident in any case. Still, that didn’t alter the fact that there was a heavy price for opposing communism, and only a few were brave enough to pay it.
My small contribution consisted of joining like-minded colleagues to smuggle books and printing materials, to organise lectures and to maintain an underground messaging service. The experience taught me a lot about people, and in particular about the transforming effect of sacrifice on the human character. The people that I met were imbued with a more than ordinary gentleness and concern for one another. It was hard to earn their trust but, once offered, trust was complete.
Moreover, because learning, culture and the European spiritual heritage were, for them, symbols of their own inner freedom, and of the national independence they sought to remember, if not to regain, they looked on those things with an unusual veneration. As a visitor from the world of fun, pop and comic strips I was amazed to discover students for whom words devoted to such things were wasted words, and who sat in those little pockets of underground air studying Greek literature, German philosophy, medieval theology and the operas of Verdi and Wagner.
In 1985 the secret police moved against me and I was arrested in Brno; visits to Czechoslovakia came to an end and I was followed in Poland and Hungary. But our team kept going until 1989 when, to our surprise, the catacombs were opened and our friends came pale, staggering and bewildered into the sunlight, to be hailed by the people as the natural trustees of their restituted country. This was a wonderful moment and, for a while, I believed that the public spirit that had reigned in the catacombs would now govern the State.
It was not to be. Having been excluded for decades from the rewards of worldly advancement, our friends had failed to cultivate those arts — hypocrisy, treachery and realpolitik — without which it is impossible to stay in government.
They sat in their offices for a while, pityingly observed by their staff of former secret policemen, while affable and much travelled rivals, of the kind with whom German Social Democrats and French Gaullists could both “do business”, carefully groomed themselves for the next elections.
Not since 1945 had so many records of party membership disappeared, or so many dissident biographies been invented. Within two years the real dissidents had returned to their studies, while the world outside was racing on, led by a new political class that had learnt to add a record of outspoken dissidence to all its other dissimulations. We were witnessing what Dubcek had promised, socialism with a human face.
The most urgent preoccupation of this new political class was to climb on to the European Union gravy train, which promised rewards of a kind that had been enjoyed, in previous years only by the inner circle of the secret police.
The resistance we have seen to the EU in Eastern Europe should be understood in this light. Although incomparably more benign than the Communist Party, European institutions involve imposing top-down government, unaccountable offices and a system of elaborate rewards for co-operation on a people who all associate such things with the Soviet past. The Czechs, in particular, have been troubled to discover that the new political class prefers unanswerable imperial power to the ardours of accountable government.
Only President Klaus, a survivor from those first days of jubilation, has tried to take a stand against the new Moloch, and he, too, has had to back down.
The Poles have been equally shocked by the impact of EU legislation that insists on “non-discrimination” clauses and a battery of agenda-driven “human rights” that conflict with fundamental tenets of the Catholic faith. For the ordinary voter it seems as if the Polish nation, whose claims had been celebrated every Sunday since the Pope’s historic pilgrimage, has no part to play in the new political process. But in Poland, too, the political class is happy to be relieved of the burden of government by institutions that reward good behaviour and require no one to account for the really big decisions.
The EU has facilitated the transition away from communism. It has filled the legal vacuum — indeed, filled it to bursting. It has offered easy routes to cross-border trade and incoming investment. It has led to an exchange of expertise and — in Poland’s case — to a mass escape of the working population.
But those countries today bear no resemblance to the liberated nations that were dreamt of in the catacombs. For when the stones were lifted, and the air of freedom blew across the underground altars, the flame that had been kept alive on them was instantly blown out.
| — Hat tip: Gaia | [Return to headlines] |
Twenty Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall, The EU is a Reincarnation of the Former Soviet Union
By Hans Vogel
Now that the Czech Republic has announced it will ratify the Lisbon Treaty, the EU will be even closer yet to becoming a unified monster state, with more than half a billion inhabitants. Inhabitants is the correct term, since “citizens” would indicate a set of political rights. The people living in the EU should rather be called “subjects,” since they have no influence whatsoever on the constitution of the centralized European government, the “European Commission.” The Europeans are allowed to vote for members of the European Parliament, but this body has about as much political power as the ineffectual German parliament meeting at Frankfurt in 1848. Political power in the EU is firmly in the hands of the European Commission, which is set to obtain even more power under the Lisbon Treaty. This infamous treaty does not hold the peoples of Europe in high regard. As a matter of fact, it is only halfway through the treaty (originally presented as a “Constitution”) that one finds the first references to the people.
The first impression one gets while reading through Chapter III of the Lisbon Treaty (the so-called reader-friendly text), is a rather favorable one. This so-called Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union “ places the individual at the heart of its activities, by establishing the citizenship of the Union and by creating an area of freedom, security and justice.” That really sounds grand and reassuring, does it not? Reading on, one clause seems even more impressive than the other.
For instance, article 1 is wonderful: “Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected.” So is article 3:1: “Everyone has the right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity.” What about article 6: “Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person.” And look at article 8:1 “Everyone has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him or her.” Or what did you think of article 11: “Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers.”
The list goes on and on. The Lisbon Treaty obviously is an effort to put together the most enlightened elements of all existing European constitutions. Therefore, as far as these “fundamental civil rights” are concerned, the Lisbon Treaty may be regarded as having taken effect already, at least in most of the EU.
It is quite enlightening to take a look at the way the lofty articles cited above are being put into practice. Take “human dignity,” for instance. As a result of the benefits Neoliberal Capitalism has been showering on Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall, by day the streets of most European cities have become a living room for increasing numbers of homeless. At night these streets are transformed into open-air bedrooms, with the homeless making themselves comfortable on mattresses made out of flattened cardboard boxes. The streets seamlessly convert into dining rooms whenever the homeless are hungry. Then they go about scavenging for leftovers among the rubbish in dustbins and garbage containers.
And what about the CIA rendition flights to secret torture centers in EU member states Poland and Romania, with most other EU member states giving clearance for these flights through their sovereign airspace? So far, some 80.000 individuals are believed to have been abducted in this way, many of these with the full collaboration of the EU and its member states.
Clearly in the EU, “human dignity” is not inviolable, nor is it being respected or protected. The treatment meted out to EU citizens suspected of terrorism is a violation of articles 3:1 and 6. Their physical and mental integrity is not respected in any way, and their right to liberty and security of person is trampled on, courtesy of all 27 EU member states.
All talk about human dignity, physical and mental integrity, and liberty and security of person is empty. It is empty because the security of the state (the EU and its member states) is deemed to have priority…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
UK: ‘Islam Does Not Justify This Act of Terrorism’
Worshippers at one of Britain’s biggest mosques reacted to the Fort Hood shooting yesterday by saying Muslims who serve in the Armed Forces are complicit in killing their “brothers and sisters” in Afghanistan. However, a Muslim ex-soldier who twice served in Afghanistan said that the shooting could not be justified by any mainstream interpretation of Islam. Speaking to The Times after Friday prayers at East London mosque, young Muslim men said the lives of those who follow Islam were of more value than those of non-believers. They gave only their first names, claiming that the authorities might place them under investigation. Mustapha, 26, from South London, said that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were wars against Muslims and he would not consider joining the Army nor encourage fellow Muslims to. “I would not fight against my friends and brothers,” the house-builder said. “The Koran says even if you make allies with non-Muslims and join them to kill Muslims, then you die as a non-believer.” Asked his views on the killings at Fort Hood, he said: “Killing military members is all right. If you are killing people who are fighting against Muslims then that’s okay.”
Abdul-Hakim, 17, who was born in Britain but spent his formative years in Tanzania, said it was a bigger crime to kill Muslims than non-Muslims such as the soldiers at Fort Hood: “For you to go and kill your own brother, that’s more of a crime than killing them.” Ashraf, a Somali-born A-level student, said that only God could judge the murders committed by Major Hasan. “I’m not saying I justify it,” said the 17-year-old. “But maybe if he was alive he could justify what he done.” But their views contrasted with those of other Muslims. Zeeshan Hashmi, 30, who was born in Pakistan and served as a British soldier from 2000 to 2005, did two tours in Afghanistan. “People would ask what I would do if I was asked to fight fellow Muslims, but for me it was all about going there to help create a better understanding between peoples,” he told The Times. In 2006 Mr Hashmi’s brother, Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, became the first British Muslim soldier to be killed fighting the Taleban. “Jabron and I never had any difficulties squaring our identities as both British soldiers and Muslims,” he said. Mr Hashmi, in his final year as a Cambridge undergraduate, said Major Hasan’s killings would be celebrated by some jihadist extremists but could not be justified by any mainstream interpretation of Islam.”If an individual walks into a facility where people are unarmed and opens fire indiscriminately, that’s an act of terrorism.” Mr Hashmi said most Muslims would react to the atrocity with horror, but also with concern that it would be used to sow division. “People will feel they’ve got to justify their existence all over again and that’s not fair. Remember Columbine? That was terrible too, but it didn’t make us distrust all schoolchildren, did it?” Imam Asim Hafiz, a British army chaplain, said that he knew of no Muslims in the Forces who had objected to service in Afghanistan or Iraq. “What we do in Afghanistan is of concern not just to the Muslim community but for British society in general,” he said. Muslims comprise 0.3 per cent of the forces — about 500 are in uniform — but 2.3 per cent of the population.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Bereaved Family’s Fury After Judge Describes Pensioner’s Killer as ‘Kind and Caring’
The family of a pensioner murdered by her daughter’s boyfriend reacted with fury yesterday after a judge described the killer as ‘kind and caring’.
They were outraged that George Maben, 45, who was secretly taped by police confessing to strangling his pregnant partner’s ‘nagging’ mother, was jailed for a minimum of 13 years.
The sentence was two years less than the standard minimum term for a premeditated murder and seven years less than the punishment police had hoped he would receive.
[…]
Judge Roberts praised Maben’s character, saying: ‘It is clear you are generally a kind and caring person and you have done a great deal of good, especially to people in serious problems who you have helped.’
Outside court a spokesman for Mrs Cosgrove’s family said: ‘They are absolutely disgusted. They are livid. You cannot put overstate how badly they feel at this sentence.’
Police were also privately outraged and prosecutors are considering whether to appeal against the sentence for ‘undue leniency’. One officer said: ‘You would get more for armed robbery with a knife. It is an absolute disgrace.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Couple Flee to Save Their Unborn Baby From Social Workers After Girl, 17, Is Told She is Not Clever Enough to Look After Her Child
A heavily pregnant woman and her fiance have gone on the run after social workers threatened to take away their baby at birth.
Kerry Robertson, 17, and Mark McDougall, 25, had been told that she was not bright enough to raise their child and that they would have to give him up.
It was another blow for the couple, whose wedding this year was halted just 48 hours before the ceremony in a row over whether Miss Robertson was intelligent enough to marry.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Half a Million Criminals Let Off With Just Another Caution
More than half a million serial criminals have escaped with repeated cautions in ‘soft justice’ Britain.
In tens of thousands of cases, offenders are committing four or more crimes such as shoplifting or burglary, and still not being hauled before the courts.
Critics said it made a mockery of the idea that cautions should be used to warn the first-time offender that if they step out of line again they will be punished by magistrates or judges.
The Tories blamed the Government’s target culture for making prosecutors prefer to take the easy option of settling a case outside court.
Half of crimes are now dealt with by ‘soft penalties’, such as cautions or on-the-spot fines.
Figures obtained by the party’s police spokesman David Ruffley show that, between 2000 and 2008, an astonishing 2.2million have received police cautions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: More Than 5,000 Complaints Made Against Met’s Riot Squad But Only Tiny Proportion Upheld
More than 5,000 complaints have been made against Scotland Yard’s riot squad, mostly for ‘oppressive behaviour’, it emerged today.
But only nine — less than 0.18% — were ‘substantiated’ or upheld after an investigation by the force’s complaints department.
Details of all allegations lodged against the Metropolitan Police Service’s territorial support group (TSG) were released under the Freedom of Information Act and revealed the TSG has been subject of 5,241 complaints since August 2005.
They include 376 allegations of discrimination and 977 complaints of ‘incivility’.
More than 1,100 of the allegations concerned what members of the public believed were ‘failures in duty’.
By far the largest number of complaints — 2,280 — were categorised as ‘oppressive behaviour’.
[Comments from JD: It almost seems as if they are being trained to perceive the public as the enemy.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Parents of Two Murdered French Students Begin Claim for Negligence
[Comments from JD: Warning: graphic content.]
The parents of two French students murdered by an offender under probation supervision began a claim yesterday for “substantial damages” against the police and Ministry of Justice.
The families are seeking compensation over systematic failures and negligence in the justice system that contributed to the deaths of their sons, Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez.
The men were tied up in their flat in New Cross, southeast London, tortured and stabbed 244 times in what prosecutors said was an “orgy of blood-letting”. Their bodies were found after an explosion sparked by the murderers set fire to the premises.
Dano Sonnex, 23, from Peckham, southeast London, and Nigel Farmer, 34, of no fixed address, were jailed for life earlier this year for the murders.
At the time of the killings in June 2008, Sonnex was under the supervision of the Probation Service after being released from serving an eight-year jail term for violence and robbery. It emerged later that a series of blunders by police, the courts, and prison and probation services meant that Sonnex was free when he should have been recalled to jail.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Teenage Daughter of Murdered Garry Newlove in Tears as She Confronts Gordon Brown Over Killers’ Soft Sentences
A schoolgirl who saw her father kicked to death by a gang of thugs confronted Gordon Brown and told him the Government was too soft on criminals.
Amy Newlove, 14, fought back tears as she put the Prime Minister on the spot on what would have been her father Garry’s 50th birthday.
The father-of-three was battered to death outside his home in Warrington, Cheshire after he challenged a group of drunken teenage vandals.
[…]
The teenager, in the audience with her mother, Helen, said it was wrong that the people who murdered her father were given life sentences but also a minimum tariff setting out the number of years they will serve.
‘Every day I cry all day. It is hard for me as I was only 12 when I witnessed my dad’s murder. It hurts me to see my family go through that,’ she said.
‘Isn’t it about time you made sure the law and sentences were a lot tougher?’
Mr Brown said her father was a brave and courageous man but said sentences had got tougher under Labour.
[Comments from JD: “sentences had got tougher under Labour” — yeah, for speeders, people who don’t use the recycle bins properly, curb litterers, etc.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Wanted: The Teen Girl Muggers Who Punched a Two-Year-Old Toddler in the Head
A two-year-old girl was punched in the head by muggers who demanded money from her mother.
The 23-year-old victim was shopping with her daughter in Wembley, north-west London, when a pair of girls tried to rob her.
The attackers, who Scotland Yard said were thought to be in their teens, hit the mother on the arm before punching the toddler in the head. None of the victim’s belongings were taken.
Detective Inspector Rebecca Reeves, from the Metropolitan Police, said: ‘Although the victim and her daughter do not have any visible injuries, this was a frightening experience for them.’
Police have released a CCTV image of the two alleged attackers taken after the attempted robbery at around 5pm on Tuesday, November 3.
Both women were of Mediterranean appearance, with long dark brown curly hair and aged between 14 and 18.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: You May be Doomed, Mr Brown, But Stop Dragging US Down Too
During their final months in office, it is not unusual for prime ministers to find themselves tired, written off and doomed to almost certain defeat at the next General Election.
This is the situation now facing Gordon Brown and it poses an enormous test of character in many different ways.
On the one hand, a leader in his dying days at No10 needs to find the inner strength to give hope to his followers that all is not lost, even though privately he may feel only a deep sense of despair.
At the same time he must find a way of coping with the profound personal unpopularity which never seems to budge, like an immovable black cloud.
Toughest of all, he has to make an important moral choice about the way he governs.
When all seems lost, it must be very tempting for an outgoing prime minister to act in a selfish and partisan way to try to save his own skin — or alternatively to malevolently leave a poisoned legacy for his successor.
Continuing to follow policies which are in the country’s interests can seem hard when they will offer no political dividend for the doomed PM. Indeed, the opposite is often the case because, as now with Gordon Brown, it is his opponents who are most likely to benefit from any recovery in the country’s political and economic fortunes.
As a general rule, most prime ministers have emerged magnificently from this dilemma.
The example of Jim Callaghan in the winter of 1978/9 is most telling. We have since learnt that he privately realised that Margaret Thatcher’s Tories were bound to win the next General Election.
Yet Sunny Jim showed huge fortitude. It would have been easy for him to have added to the problems that the Conservatives would inherit on taking office by embarking on a pre-election spending spree.
Callaghan and his Chancellor Denis Healey, did the exact opposite. They ordered a series of spending cuts that split the Labour Party and therefore damaged its fading chances of re-election.
Indeed, some historians now claim that it was the responsible economic management of Callaghan and Healey in the late 1970s, as much as the early policies of Margaret Thatcher and her Chancellor Geoffrey Howe, that put Britain on the path of economic recovery.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
Med Union Secretaryship to be Appointed at End of Month, EU
(ANSAmed) — BRUSSELS, NOVEMBER 3 — The objective of the Swedish presidency of the EU is to appoint a secretary of the Mediterranean Union at the next meeting of high officials, set for November 23. So said Per Carlsson, Euromed coordinator for the Swedish presidency of the EU Council in a speech today at the Political Committee of the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly in Brussels. The office of the secretary of the Mediterranean Union will go to a south shore country, since the seat of the secretaryship of the Mediterranean Union (Barcelona) was assigned to a north shore country. “Until today, the co-presidency has only received one candidacy,” which came from Jordan. This does not mean that the race is over: “We are open to receiving other names,” said Carlsson. The number and ministries for the vice-secretaryship are still being discussed, which concern Italy, Greece, Malta, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories, to which “we also hope to add Turkey,” specified the EU presidency. However, “the secretaryship will be technical, it will only deal with the over 30 projects that have already been collected,” added Carlsson, “and finding donators and financing.” To decide upon the financing of the secretary’s office, which partially will come from the EU’s budget, “we must wait for it to be defined,” he added, “because without this guaranteed financing and a coordinated approach cannot take place.” “Therefore,” concluded the spokesperson, “it is important to finalise the statute at the beginning of this year: we will fight for this to happen.” (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Sicilian Firm Links 4,600 Libyan Schools
(ANSAmed) — CATANIA, NOVEMBER 2 — The Sicilian company Temix, specialised in technical solutions, has been assigned the literacy project of around 1 million Libyan students between the age of 6 and 18. The company has signed an agreement with the Gaddafi Foundation, chaired by Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, son of State leader Muammar Gaddaf. The project, the company announced in a statement, will start tomorrow at the As Baha El Sobho school in Tripoli. The project, ‘Ict for Exemplary school future education Libya tomorrow’, will form a network between more than 4,600 Libyan schools, allowing them to use ‘smart classrooms’ through an e-learning platform, with electronic blackboards, equipment for telepresence and virtual labs. Through this network one single teacher will be able to teach several schools in the country. An education web television programme will also be made available to the schools. Three very different schools with a long distance between them have been chosen for the first link: one in Tripoli, one in Beida and a school in Zwara, to show that the platform developed by Temix is able to deal with geographical obstacles and with the infrastructural deficiencies present in Libya. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Kill the Jews — be Patient”
Egyptian Cleric Amin Al-Ansari — Hatred of Jews is Prevalent in Sports and in the Animal Kingdom: “‘Judgment Day Will Not Come Before the Muslims Fight the Jews and Kill Them’; The Muslims Will Kill the Jews — Be Patient”
Following are excerpts from an address by Egyptian cleric Amin Al-Ansari, which aired on Al-Rahma TV on October 12, 2009.Earlier this year, Amin Al-Ansari appeared on Al-Rahma TV to show footage of torture and killing of Jews in Nazi concentration camps, stating, “This is what we hope will happen, but, Allah willing, at the hand of the Muslims. [1] “
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit www.memritv.org/clip/en/2261.htm…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Israel: Report: U.S. Stopped Israel From Attacking ‘Hezbollah Arms Ship’
The United States informed Israel of a ship carrying tons of weapons allegedly en route from Iran to Hezbollah, but vetoed Israel’s plans to attack, the A-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported on Friday.
Israel raided the ship in the waters off the coast of Cyprus earlier this week and redirected it to the Ashdod port, where it unloaded 500 tons of weapons. The ship was released back onto its route to Turkey and Egypt late Wednesday, after Israel confirmed that the crew was not connected to the cargo found aboard.
In its report on Friday, A-Sharq Al-Awset cited Israeli sources as saying that Israel had intended to attack the ship but had refrained at the insistence of the U.S. No other source could confirm the report.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Jihad: A Wake Up Call — Western Democracies Should Keep in Mind That Strong Israel Deters Jihad
Jihad (Holy War) has been a cardinal feature of Islam since the 7th Century. It constitutes a clear and present danger to Western democracies, irrespective of the Arab-Israeli conflict, independent of the Palestinian issue and regardless of Israel’s policies and existence.
Hebrew University Prof. Moshe Sharon, a world renowned authority on Islam, sheds light on Jihad in Islam against Israel and the West (2007):
“Jihad is the strategy and, therefore, agreements are a (tactical) interlude in the war (against the infidel),” he writes.
Sharon also notes the following: “Islam came to being as a fighting religion. Mohammed imposed his authority by means of his military strength…Islam was born in order to rule, as is only fitting for the religion of Allah which is one and exclusive”
“Any territory that was ever Muslim becomes sacred to Islam,” Sharon further notes. “If the territory is conquered by enemies of Islam, like Spain, Palestine and parts of Europe, it is incumbent upon Islam to do everything to restore it to Islamic rule.”
Finally, Sharon explains that “The laws of Jihad…form the basis of the relations between the Muslim world and the West…The only possible relations between Muslims and non-Muslims are war or a limited ceasefire.”
“Any sign of weakness is a clear call to renew Jihad,” he says. “An agreement which contains anything beyond a limited armistice or ceasefire is null and void. The only agreement with non-believers that is permitted by Islamic law is one that enables Islam to strengthen itself, so that when the time comes it can resume Jihad in better conditions.”
Meanwhile, according to Prof. Bernard Lewis, the world’s leading expert on Islamic history, “the Muslims believe that they had caused the fall of the Soviet Union (in Afghanistan)…Dealing with the soft, pampered and effeminate Americans would be easier…”
“The Muslims are now convinced that terror is the most effective weapon in their arsenal. They found out that they can kill civilians without being punished,” Lewis adds. “Muslim terrorists are encouraged by ‘experts,’ who keep repeating: ‘There’s no military solution to terror.”
At this time, Israel is the West’s First Yard Line of defense. A strong Israel deters Jihad; a weakened Israel fuels Jihad.
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
IAEA Says Iranian Nuke Site Harmless; Protests Rage in Tehran
Mohamed El-Baradei, head of the IAEA, was quoted as saying the Qom site, located 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the Iranian capital, is nothing but a “hole in a mountain.” It was designed as an underground bunker to provide a fortified back-up in the event the Natanz uranium enrichment plant was bombed by Iran’s adversaries, he suggested. According to the IAEA inspection teams that visited the previously concealed Qom facility last month, El-Baradei explained, the site is “nothing to be worried about.”
[Comments from JD: “nothing to be worried about” — yeah, sure. Bolton is right about Baradei and the IAEA. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran May Have Tested Nuclear Warhead Design, Secret IAEA Report Says
The United Nations nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain evidence suggesting the Islamic Republic’s scientists have experimented with an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian reported in its Friday edition.
The newspaper, citing what it describes as “previously unpublished documentation” from an International Atomic Energy Agency compiled dossier, said Iranian scientists may have tested high-explosive components of a “two-point implosion” device.
The IAEA said in September it has no proof Iran has or once had a covert atomic bomb program. The Vienna-based IAEA was not immediately available for comment on Thursday.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Israel Warns IDF Ready to Roll Against Iran
(IsraelNN.com) Israel’s warnings that it will not tolerate an existential threat in the form of a nuclear Iran should be taken seriously, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon warned in an interview with the Britain-based Sky News on Friday.
“The one who’s bluffing is Iran, which is trying to play with cards they don’t have,” Ayalon told the news network. “All the bravado that we see and the testing and the very dangerous and harsh rhetoric are hiding a lot of weaknesses.”
Israel has repeatedly warned the Islamic Republic — and the rest of the world — that it will not allow Iran to complete its nuclear development program and create an atomic weapon to be aimed at the Jewish State.
“If Iranian behavior and conduct continues as they have exhibited so far, it is obvious that their intentions are only to buy time and procrastinate,” Ayalon said. He pointed out that negotiations with Western nations have not resulted in any reduction in Iranian nuclear activities.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Penal Code Does Not Define ‘Incest’
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 3 — The Turkish penal code does not contain a definition of incest, which sometimes constitutes a problem in every phase of the process, including revealing and judging it, daily Today’s Zaman reports. An alleged incest case in Karabuk, a town on the west Black Sea coast, has brought this heinous crime to the nations agenda, but experts underline that society is not ready to address the issue, including the laws criminalizing incest and there is no preventive or protective system for the victims. Nebahat Akkoc, the chairperson of the Womens Center (KAMER), said that over the years 50,000 women have applied to them for help and 25% of them were the victims of incest. “Society is not ready to talk about it and also we prefer not to comment on the issue because it might harm our efforts to help the victims”, Akkoc declared. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) report prepared for Turkey under the title ‘Understanding the Problems of Incest in Turkey’ stresses that “the sentences against incest are regulated in accordance with the kinship level of the aggressor. Establishing a legal definition for incest shall improve awareness. The needs of the child differ depending on whether the aggressor is from the family or not”. “Certain marriage patterns in Turkey are considered as incestuous relations in other cultures such as marriages between cousins. Also in some places if the husband dies, his brother then marries the widow. Those kinds of traditions make it difficult to define the incest”, Selcuk Candansayari, from Gazi University’s psychiatry department, said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Half of Diyarbakir Women Marry Under the Age of 18
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — A report prepared by the Human Rights Board of the southeastern Diyarbakir Governor|s Office on social problems associated with early marriage has shown that a large number of women in the province marry when they are under the age of 18, daily Today’s Zaman reports. According to data from the Diyarbakir Bar Association|s Women Rights Center cited in the report, 2,035 women contacted the center between January 2006 and July 2009. The figures showed that 1,719 of the women were married and 938 of them had married before they reached the age of 18. The report reveals that 45% of the 5,000 women who had applied to the association on the grounds that they had been exposed to domestic violence were married under the age of 18 and 15% of those women were married before they reached the age of 15 while 5% reportedly married below the age of 13. The Diyarbakir Provincial Education Directorate also reported that 65 students had recently left school because they were getting married or engaged in the province. “Forced marriages below the age of 18 are found to be prevalent in regions where a traditional way of life persists. Berdel — the practice of exchanging brides between families to avoid wedding/marriage expenses — and Besik Kertmesi — a form of arranged marriage in which families betroth newborn children and force them to marry as soon as they come of age — also increase the number of early marriages”, the report noted
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Erdogan’s Ruling Party AKP Popularity Drops, Survey
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, NOVEMBER 2 — Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan ruling Party AKP popularity dropped to 31% for the first time since 2002 when the party swept to power, daily Cumhuriyet reports. According to a survey conducted by Sonar polling company, the AKP popularity was undermined by the celebrations held last month at Turkish-Iraqi border gate of Habur to welcome the suspected PKK terrorists who surrendered to Turkish security forces and the special arrangements for the PKK militants who returned to Turkey. Cumhuriyet adds that the main opposition party (CHP) was backed by 28% of the voters and that support for CHP was close to that for AKP. On October 19, 34 members of PKK from Mahmour refugee camp and Qandil Mountain, surrendered to Turkish authorities at Habur border gate where huge rallies were held with the participation of thousands of people and pro-Kurdish Party (DTP) members, a scene which created strong reaction in the public, opposition, media and the judiciary. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Diplomatic ‘Success’ May Backfire on Obama
Analysts worry ‘lack of administration vision plays into Russian hands’
TBILISI, Georgia — The “success” of Turkey’s diplomatic recognition of Armenia after almost a century of animosity dating back to the Ottoman Empire may backfire on the U.S., analysts have said in a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
The result could be, security experts agree, a dramatic lessening of influence on the part of the U.S. and the European Union in the critical South Caucasus and Central Asia regions.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Watchdog Chief: IAEA is ‘Total Mess’
Outgoing executive describes agency as ‘sleepy watchdog’
NEW YORK — The retiring director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, is defending Tehran’s denials it has reactivated its nuclear weapons program and is blaming Jerusalem for causing “humiliation and impotence” among other Middle East nations.
The comments come from Mohamed ElBaradei, who was addressing the Council on Foreign Relations in New York City. He said the major powers who are trying to limit the spread of nuclear weapons have created a “total mess.”
In reality, he said, the agency is now no more than a “sleepy watchdog” whose effectiveness “is at the mercy of member states.”
[…]
He said Israel’s alleged nuclear weapons program has “caused humiliation and impotence” among Middle East nations and that cannot be “ignored.”
[…]
John Bolton, who first headed the arms control desk at the State Department and later was the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. during George W. Bush’s administration, lamented that the nuke agency chief “still has a month left to cause more damage.”
[Comments from JD: El-Baraedi is basically advocating that Israel be de-nuclearized.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Afghanistan: Rare Virus Poses New Threat to Troops
By Sara A. Carter
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | U.S. military officials sent a medical team to a remote outpost in southern Afghanistan this week to take blood samples from members of an Army unit after a soldier in the unit died from an Ebola-like virus.
Dr. Jim Radike, an expert in internal medicine and infectious diseases at the Role 3 Trauma Hospital at Kandahar Air Field, told The Washington Times that Sgt. Robert David Gordon, 22, from River Falls, Ala., died Sept. 16 from what turned out to be Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever after he was bitten by a tick. The virus is transmitted by infected blood and can be carried by ticks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Radike, who is with the Navy, said the medical team “will be taking blood samples and the results may take several weeks to get back.” He called it “a precautionary measure.”
Dr. Radike did not say how many individuals would be tested or why the military had waited until now to act. The unit involved is the 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry division, A-Company 2-1 Infantry.
The news comes as the Pentagon disclosed that it has sent 150,000 doses of vaccine for the H1N1 swine flu virus to Qatar for distribution to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan — half of what U.S. Central Command has requested. More than a half dozen Afghans have died of the disease, which apparently was transmitted to the country by foreigners.
Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters Wednesday, “We’re doing everything within our power to make sure our guys downrange get this [vaccine] as soon as possible.”
Dr. Radke said the hemorrhagic fever is similar to Ebola “in that the end there is internal degeneration and external bleeding. From the Black Sea to upper Turkey, you’ll see a dozen or more cases a year. Afghanistan falls right in the middle.”
The disease was first reported in the Crimea in 1944, then in the Congo in 1956, according to the World Health Organization. An outbreak was reported eight years ago in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s Baluchistan province, which borders Afghanistan.
Dr. Radke said U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan not only have to worry about the Taliban but also a host of ailments not commonly found in the West.
“Diarrheal diseases, typhoid fever, skin ailments and tuberculosis are some of what we have to be on the lookout for,” he said…
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India: New Radicals Feared to be Targeting Christians
Estimates are 70,000 believers left homeless by violence
A number of newly formed radical organizations have been identified by authorities in India, who fear they are targeting Christians for persecution.
The Voice of the Martyrs, in fact, has estimated that more than 70,000 Christians already have been left homeless in India by Hindu radicals.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
China Declares Space War Inevitable
The Obama adminstration must react responsibly to China’s declaration that military operations in space are inevitable, a top China expert says.
“How will the US react to Chinese diplomatic efforts in light of the PLA’s blunt statements on space warfare? This is something the Obama administration has to take into account,” said Dean Cheng, China specialist at Washington’s Heritage Foundation. “Are we going to see outrage, any meaningful reactions to the Chinese statements or again that it was someone speaking out of school and we just aren’t sure.”
Cheng was referring to what appears to mark a major shift in Chinese military and arms control strategy. The head of the PRC’s air force has said in an official interview that military operations in space are an “historical inevitability.”
“As far as the revolution in military affairs is concerned, the competition between military forces is moving towards outer space… this is a historical inevitability and a development that cannot be turned back,” said air force commander Xu Qiliang in an interview with the official People’s Liberation Army Daily.
“Only power can protect peace,” the commander said in an interview celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC’s air force.
[…]
Cheng thinks the most significant fact about the general’s declaration is that it came from an Air Force official. Unlike the United States, where the Air Force is inextricably linked to space policy and operations, “until three or four years ago the [Chinese] Air Force did not have an overt role in space issues. What does this suggest about who actually runs China’s space policy and military issues?” he wondered.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Evergreen Solar Moves Manufacturing to China
Evergreen Solar Inc. reported a 21 percent sequential rise in revenue in the third quarter on brisk sales of its solar panels, but the company confirmed speculation that they will be moving the production of panels out of its Devens plant.
The Marlborough-based solar panel maker (Nasdaq: ESLR) said that it would refocus the Devens plant, built in 2007, to production of the solar wafers but it would construct panels in China through a contract manufacturing agreement with Jaiwei Solarchina Co. Ltd.
A Boston Business Journal article in June indicated that company officials were considering such a move if solar panel prices fell sharply and the company was unable to cut labor costs fast enough.
On Wednesday, Evergreen CEO Richard Feldt said in a statement those factors ultimately came into play in the decision.
“Panel prices have fallen 30 percent since mid-2008, making it very difficult for manufacturers located in high-cost regions to remain price competitive. Therefore, we are accelerating our strategic initiative of increasing the focus on our unique wafer manufacturing technology, and we will begin to transition our Devens-based panel assembly to China in mid-2010,” he said.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
High-Tech Companies Face Shortages as China Hoards Metals
Germany is pinning its economic hopes on future-oriented industries such as solar panel manufacturing. But high-tech companies are facing shortages of essential metals as China, which dominates the world market in so-called rare earths, begins stockpiling the highly sought-after resources.
[…]
He is not just referring to problems with the supply of rare earth metals. In fact, Grillo is more generally concerned about the supply of important industrial metals like lithium and cobalt, for example, which are used in batteries, indium and gallium, used in thin-film solar modules, or tantalum, contained in the microchips used in mobile telephones. These are the sorts of metals that are essential in the production of quality, high-technology German products.
As it turns out, the fate of Germany’s future-oriented industries lies in the hand of suppliers from Latin America, Australia, Africa and, to a much greater extent, northern China. In a new study, scientists from the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), which advises the German government, warn of the possible consequences of that dependence. The imposition of limits on exports of rare earths could “lead to serious bottlenecks,” the scientists warn. They believe that there could be “a substantial shortage” of certain metals after 2012, and that it is “not clear” how demand for those metals will be met in the future. Does this mean that the German economy could soon run out of key raw materials? Or can the supply crisis still be prevented?
[…]
Even as it stockpiles its own mineral resources, China is systematically securing its access to other resources around the world, including investments in iron mines in Australia and cobalt reserves in Congo. At the same time, China is filling up its warehouses. Its zinc inventories have more than doubled since March, while its lead supplies have grown by close to 600 percent. With more than $2 trillion in foreign currency reserves, Beijing has more than enough money to fill up its stockpiles. In some cases, it even pays for resources with weapons.
A battle over coveted natural resources has now begun, as industrialized nations worldwide vie for access to the biggest reserves. Germany has remained more or less on the sidelines of this conflict until now. “Germany did not recognize the strategic importance of these resources early enough,” says Christoph Eibl, a Switzerland-based fund manager and commodities expert. According to Eibl, the country has itself to blame, at least partly.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Far Can Lula’s Stardust Scatter?
The president of Brazil stands for democracy, and for the poor. These are still valuable qualities in the 21st century
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, who has received the Chatham House prize for 2009 , is one of the few world politicians to have ridden out the global economic crisis with an enhanced reputation. In April he was congratulated by Barack Obama at the Summit of the Americas as the most popular politician on the planet, and he has had approval ratings of over 80%.
The Chatham House award may not be the greatest thing since sliced bread; Lula was voted for by members ahead of the prince who is foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, and the president of Liberia. But he deserves to be saluted not only for the economic management of his government — enormously helped by the discovery of deepwater oil fields, and the international commodities boom — but for the role he has played in consolidating democracy in his country. For over 20 years, from 1964 onwards, Brazil was a military dictatorship.
He has represented the democratic impulse since his days as a strike leader in the 1970s, he later set up the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores) at the start of the 1980s. He ran three times for president before getting elected in 2002, and has ruled out altering the constitution to permit a third four-year term, despite calls from “friends” who know his personal popularity is greater than his party’s.
Elsewhere, the undemocratic impulse is still alive and well. In the Commonwealth, Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni — outgoing chair of an association that advertises democracy — has altered the constitution so that he can stay in office. In Venezuela, president Chávez has done the same, waving the banner of radical Bolivarian socialism.
If all power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely, the rotational principle remains central to the practice of democracy. In fact Brazil’s 1988 constitution laid down a single term for the president, and Lula opposed President Fernando Henrique Cardoso when he altered it to permit two terms.
And not everything is splendidly democratic in Brazil. Shortly after Lula was re-elected in 2006 there was an enormous row when congressmen sought to virtually double their emoluments — a project only reined in by the public outcry. Corruption scandals, including a deal in which small, unprincipled and rapacious parties were put on the government payroll, nearly prevented Lula’s re-election. While his PT party has recovered slightly from its ethical disasters, he has had to rule by means of a series of coalitions, and the pork-barrel business of politics in a large, federal country has not greatly altered.
But Lula’s popularity rests not only on his famously dynamic personality, but on his efforts to reduce the huge inequalities in Brazil, and his success in putting the country on the world map. Even in his first term, experts were pointing out that increases in the minimum salary and in the Fome Zero (Zero Hunger) programme were reducing poverty and hunger for the poorest. His own experience as a poor northeastern boy in a dysfunctional family, who migrated to the industrial area around Sao Paulo, had given him a political determination quite unusual in the modern world.
Further his country, famously described as the “country of tomorrow” in the 1940s, seems actually to have arrived. The Bric grouping of Brazil, Russia, India and China beloved of emerging market analysts may conceal many differences, but the Brazilian currency has strengthened, Lula was standing at Obama’s right hand in official photos of the Pittsburgh G20 summit, and his active lobbying as a football and sports fan has yielded the football World Cup in 2014 and the Rio Olympics in 2016.
However no amount of presidential verve can wish away Brazil’s immense problems — social, environmental and economic. Crime remains horrendous; there aren’t many countries where gangsters shoot down a police helicopter, as happened in Rio recently, and human rights are routinely ignored in spite of an active NGO network and vibrant media.
And can Lula, who is working hard on it, mastermind his succession? Some say that he could get a broomstick elected. Others that his stardust is so personal to himself, that it will not scatter easily to others. His favourite has been Dilma Rousseff, a one-time guerrilla who has been managing the presidential office, but who has had a brush with cancer. Presidential elections will be held in 2010, and Brazilian politicos, working in a still fluid party system with four large parties and many others, are already manoeuvring the pieces at state level.
It is right that Chatham House is honouring Lula. He stands for democracy, and for the worst-off. These are still valuable qualities in the 21st century.
| — Hat tip: JP | [Return to headlines] |
A Guide to Understanding the Tactics of the Southern Poverty Law Center in the Immigration Debate
Overview
The debate about U.S. immigration policy is a difficult and often emotional one. In recent years, a new component has been added. Shifting focus away from a debate based on the merits of various policy options, some of those advocating higher levels of immigration and amnesty for illegal aliens have resorted to attacking and impugning the motives of their opponents.
The largest and most prominent immigration reform group to come under attack is the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The basis for the attacks against FAIR is a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) that designates FAIR as a “hate group.” This single report serves as the cornerstone of a relentless assault by the mass immigration and amnesty lobby against FAIR and other organizations that promote immigration reductions and enforcement of our immigration laws.
In the eyes of the law, there is no such thing as a “hate group.” It does not exist in federal statutes. It is a term entirely concocted by the SPLC. Moreover, the SPLC itself has no concrete definition. While lacking any useful specificity, the SPLC nonetheless deliberately uses this highly charged term to achieve political ends and to create an illusion that there is a surge of dangerous groups operating in America in order to increase the SPLC fundraising. In the process, the truth gets lost, reputations are damaged, and meaningful discourse on immigration policy is muted.
It is therefore essential that we thoroughly examine and respond to the charges and the motives of those leveling the accusations. This publication is designed for the media, legislators and others who are actively involved in writing about or formulating immigration policy. Its purpose is to provide…
| — Hat tip: TV | [Return to headlines] |
Tom Tancredo: Stopping the Next Amnesty is Not Enough
If you think a congressional amnesty for 15 million illegal aliens is a bad idea, think about a stealth amnesty for 50 million. That’s what we’ve got now even without any new legislation from the 111th Congress.
Whether or not Obama pushes for the new amnesty — which will again be packaged as “comprehensive immigration reform” as it was in 2006 and 2007 — proponents of border security and immigration control need to look beyond that battle. We need a strategy to end the stealth amnesty created through non-enforcement of our immigration laws.
Non-enforcement is the policy of our federal government on our borders, in our employment laws, in our courtrooms and in our school buildings. Non-enforcement allows at least 2 million illegal aliens to join our society each year — a million coming across our open borders and at least another million coming on tourist visas, student visas and guest worker visas, and then never going home. Those people are called “visa overstays,” and the number is at least 20 million and growing daily.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Home Office Covered Up Immigration Risk
Labour’s “open door” immigration policy knowingly risked allowing dangerous people to settle in Britain unchecked, according to documents seen by The Sunday Times.
The Whitehall correspondence, which was illegally withheld by the Home Office for four years, shows how ministers were told by the country’s most senior immigration official that his staff were to be “encouraged to take risks” when granting visas, work permits and extended residency to hundreds of thousands of new migrants.
The cover-up of this policy of risk-taking was so concerted that Richard Thomas, the then information commissioner, sent a team of investigators into the Home Office to trawl all the relevant papers. Earlier this year he rebuked the department for breaking the law and ordered it to release the material under the freedom of information (FoI) law.
The documents help to explain the huge rise in the flow of migrants into Britain as the Home Office rushed to clear a backlog of 45,000 cases.
Officials agreed to fast-track 337,000 applications with minimal checks. This led to a rapid rise in immigration. In 1999, 170,000 visas were granted; by 2002, this had risen to 300,000.
As officials were being ordered to take risks, several potentially dangerous people entered the UK. In late 2001, more than 20 Taliban, who had fled from Afghanistan after their defeat by American and British forces, were allowed to stay in the UK.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Court to Review San Fran’s Catholic-Bashing
City officials formally called church’s beliefs ‘hateful,’ ‘callous,’ ‘insult’
The dispute over a court decision approving a governmental resolution virulently condemning the Catholic Church will be reviewed by the full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, following a ruling from that judicial body.
WND reported in June when a panel of judges on the 9th Circuit upheld a decision by officials in San Francisco formally to call Catholic beliefs “hateful,” “callous” and an “insult.”
[…]
“In total disregard for our Constitution, homosexual activists in positions of power in San Francisco abused their authority as government officials to attack the Catholic Church,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel for the Law Center.
“Our Constitution plainly forbids government hostility toward religion, including the Catholic faith. And we are fully committed to fighting homosexual activists who seek to promote their personal political agenda at the expense of our constitutional freedoms.”
The city’s resolution urged Catholic officials in San Francisco to “defy” church teachings.
“This is a significant case on many fronts,” said Robert Muise, the attorney who handled the case for the Law Center.
“Should the full court ultimately render a decision in our favor, this case will establish much needed precedent for claims alleging government hostility toward religion. If the full court allows this government attack on Catholics to stand, it will likely further embolden anti-Christian attacks by government. However, the fact that a majority of judges vacated the unanimous ruling and agreed to rehear the case en banc is a very good sign,” he said.
[…]
“This is beyond belief. It clearly is a hostile environment,” he said.
He said it also, just as clearly, is a tolling of what will be happening under a “hate crime” law recently signed by President Obama.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
GOP’s Boehner: Pelosi Plans ‘Monthly Abortion Premium’
House minority leader says 2,032-page health-care takeover specifies payments
U.S. House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, is warning voters across America that the “government takeover of health care” pushed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., contains a “monthly abortion premium” for participants of a proposed government insurance company.
[…]
“Health care reform should not be used as an opportunity to use federal funds to pay for elective abortions,” Boehner wrote. “Health reform should be an opportunity to protect human life — not end it.”
But, he said, line 17 of page 110 of Pelosi’s 2,032-page plan specifically states, “Abortions for which Public Funding is Allowed.”
There, Boehner explained, the Health and Human Services Secretary “is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the government-run plan.”
“What is even more alarming is that a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all enrollees in the government-run plan,” Boehner continued. “It’s right there on line 16, page 96, section 213, under ‘Insurance Rating Rules.’ The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account — and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
How Teachers Are Poisoning Our Children
On their official web-site, the NEA is currently promoting the radical anti-establishment doctrines of Saul Alinsky. The NEA is actively, and openly, advocating the overthrow of capitalism, free enterprise, and conservative (read that , pro-American) values.
The NEA is recommending that teachers familiarize themselves with Saul Alinsky’s books “Reveille for Radicals,” and “Rules for Radicals.” They then can then pass the seditious information on to their students—our children.
The NEA web-site contains numerous quotes from the Alinsky books—whether to educate those who might not read the books, or to whet the appetite of potential readers, I can’t say.
Here is a sample quote of Alinsky’s from the NEA web-site:
“Society has good reason to fear the Radical. Every shaking advance of mankind toward equality and justice has come from the Radical. He hits, he hurts, he is dangerous. …Radicals are most adept at breaking the necks of Conservatives.”
[…]
Approximately 80% of America’s teachers are “liberal.” This means that, for generations, conservative values have been downplayed, ridiculed, and dismissed. It’s killing our country.
Approximately 70%-80% of Americans hold conservative values, but our children are being educated to despise the very traditions that we hold dear.
There can be no doubt about this. There is no debate. It’s a fact.
It’s past time to get active, folks.
If you would like to get a more in-depth look at what Alinsky advocates, I’ve included below a shortened, edited version of an article I wrote for Canada Free Press, about half a year ago.
[Comments from JD: Long article, but it brilliantly shows the deceptive and dangerous tactics espoused by Alinsky in his book. Many of which are extensions of Machiavelli as the article outlines clearly. ]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Will Pelosi’s Health ‘Care’ Fund Late-Term Abortions?
Former Kansas state AG cites Sebelius’ advocacy for procedures
A former Kansas state attorney general says the Democrats’ health-care proposal is alarming because it allows Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the former governor of Kansas, to decide when the government should pay for abortions.
“Well, let’s take a quick look at what Gov. Sebelius supported in Kansas,” wrote former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline in a newsletter on the issues. “Late-term abortions on viable children were performed, for instance, because a prospective mother did not want to hire a babysitter when she attended the concert of her favorite rock band.
“Another example: a desire to compete in the current rodeo season was sufficient to justify the termination of the life of a perfectly viable unborn child just a few weeks before natural childbirth,” he wrote.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Communism Never Went Away
We have been battling the same old nightmare that continues to morph into cause after cause and shape after shape. Many of you thought we had beat Communism when Ronald Reagan said “Gentlemen tear down that wall” and Communist Russia disbanded. Sadly, it oozed into other bodies. A lot of you don’t know it but the rope is already tightening around your little necks. Even worse, many of you support your own strangulation because you have bought the enemy’s strategy that makes the murder feel like a massage until it is too late. I see red marks on our necks. We had better wake up.
Communism and Government control today hides behind contrived international emergencies and causes that seduce you in. One of the biggest, most distorted and lied about international emergencies is global warming and its relatives… the greens… carbon emissions concerns, cap and trade and the push to sign international environmental treaties…ala Copenhagen coming up. There are only 3 things I can honestly say about the environmental movement. LIE! LIE! LIE!
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
11 comments:
The Guardian of London writes :
"Although the vast majority of Muslims in the US are fully integrated, websites on major newspapers sites quickly filled with hate mail questioning their loyalty."
Why, of course. Shooting 51 people in cold blood is not "hateful". Being angry over such a crime is.
"There have been only a few incidents since 9/11 of troops from a Muslim background killing comrades, and nothing near this scale."
Only a few incidents ? Oh, that's all right, then. We even could have a few more, and not be overly bothered about it.
After all...
There has been only one incident of Muslims ramming commercial airliners into skyscrapers.
There has been only one incident of Muslims blowing up commuter trains in Madrid.
There has been only two incidents of Muslims blowing up public transport in London.
There has been only one incident of Muslims driving a burning SUV full of gas canisters into Glasgow airport.
There has been only one incident of Muslims blowing up a United States warship.
So could we get back to serious business, please, such as preventing ethnic discrimination and islamophobia ?
I am sorry to repeat myself. I just cannot see how this war will not become much larger before these issues are resolved. Political Islam must be eliminated.
Southern Poverty Law Center? If I'm not mistaken, Stephen Bright referred to them as scam artists. And SPLC also appeared on the list of "Charities to Watch Out For" in Colorado. To these people, anyone who is against giving illegal aliens green cards is a racist, xenophobe and a bigot. Likewise, if you're opposed to Islamification of your country you're also labeled a racist and a bigot. I don't know if anyone from Gates of Vienna ever visits their website, but recently Geert Wilders was actually given a mention.
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/10/20/dutch-lawmaker-brings-his-anti-muslim-spiel-to-us/
And look at this gem here:
http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2009/11/06/dangerous-liaisons-congressmen-to-join-nativist-hate-group-today/
However, a quick look at the SPLC website doesn't show even a single mention of the Fort Hood massacre. A massacre that was perpetrated by a Muslim jihadist driven by his hatred towards non-Muslims. And that's despite SPLC's claim that they keep track of all hate incidents. Nevertheless, a caption under the "Hate-Watch" banner that reads "Keeping an eye on the Radical Right" says it all about them, doesn't it?
That's bizarre.
Re. the case in Italy: "Italian court reduces jail term after tests identify genes linked to violent behaviour."
If this person (any person) is genetically more predisposed to violence than the rest of the population, surely that is an argument for keeping that person locked up (or, at least, under observation) for longer than the average sentence, not shorter.
(It's also a good argument for not allowing random immigration into the West of people from populations that have higher frequencies of such genes.)
Somali rebels say bra un-Islamic, whip women:
Residents said gunmen had been rounding up any woman seen with a firm bust and then had them publicly whipped by masked men. The women were then told to remove their bras and shake their breasts.
Only in Islam...
I bet you at least some ultra-feminists have hailed this as a good thing. Remember, back in the day they burned their bras. The fact that these women are having it forced on them is neither here nor there, they're being "freed" from the shackle of male oppression that is the brassier.
The left seems to do this a lot. It's a peculiar mindset that can't tell the difference between voluntary and enforced compliance with a particular activity, which calls taxation "charity" and the imposition of walking prison bags "freedom".
C'est la guerre...
Graham,
I bet you at least some ultra-feminists have hailed this as a good thing. Remember, back in the day they burned their bras.
Well, these ultra-feminists will be publicly whipped and then their naked breasts are "freed" and they are forced to shake them in front of the people.
Maybe this is a secret urge among ultra-feminists? Women in general can be hard to understand. Ultra-feminists are so utterly bizarre, that it is impossible to know what they want. I'm sure many of them would love to participate in Islamic ceremonies like above mentioned.
I can believe there's a sheen of masochism behind their actions. I've seen what happens to women who run around without a bra on. It isn't pretty, and I bet it hurts like hell. Symbolic of removing the foundations of society? :D
@ Maybe this is a secret urge among ultra-feminists? Women in general can be hard to understand. Ultra-feminists are so utterly bizarre, that it is impossible to know what they want. I'm sure many of them would love to participate in Islamic ceremonies like above mentioned. – C.S.
Bizarre, yes: but I claim I understand them. Remember my promised article about a far-left hysteric woman in the October 15 article “Anita: Done” here in GoV? Under another title, “Why so many Westerners hate the West?”, I’ve just finished the English translation. GoV-ers can now judge whether or not I understand ultra-feminists who bizarrely like Muslim immigration.
Dymphna,
I’ve already got four posts in the Anita thread, where Homophobic Horse, You New and Félicie expressed their interest to read my article. Would you kindly post this message or a summary of it in that thread so that they know the article is now available in my blog? The “hysteric woman” I psychoanalyze there said awful things about both Fjordman and Gates of Vienna. She also listened to my telephone talking to Con Swede…
Enjoy the piece!
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