Just before Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter’s, a woman rushed him and pulled him to the floor. The pontiff was unhurt, although a French cardinal suffered a broken leg. Pope Benedict got up immediately and went on to celebrate mass.In other news, deadly attacks on Christians and churches continue in Northern Iraq. Two churches in Mosul were bombed, and several people were killed.
Thanks to Barry Rubin, C. Cantoni, Esther, Insubria, JD, Sean O’Brian, SS, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
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Muslim Group Asks Obama for Protection
Citing the impact of the WND Books expose “Muslim Mafia” as an example of rampant “anti-Islam hate in our nation,” the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on President Obama yesterday to address what it calls an “alarming” problem.
CAIR — which has filed suit against “Muslim Mafia” co-author P. David Gaubatz and his son for an undercover investigation of the group’s terrorist ties — distributed a list of “anti-Islam incidents” that included “a call by far-right members of the U.S. House of Representatives to investigate Muslim interns on Capitol Hill as ‘spies.’“
“President Obama is in the best position to address the alarming level of anti-Islam hate in our nation and to urge religious and political leaders to speak out in support of tolerance and mutual understanding,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sun, Moon ‘Set Off Deep Tremors on San Andreas Fault’
Scientists have discovered that the faint gravitational tug of the sun and moon can set off tremors deep underground in one of the world’s most dangerous earthquake zones.
Although the pull of planetary objects is too weak to set off a full blown quake, the findings suggest that they could set in motion a chain of events, leading to devastation on the surface.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lithuania Denies Report it Hosted Secret CIA Prisons
Washington (CNN) — Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday rejected a report from lawmakers saying the country had hosted secret CIA prisons as part of the “war on terror.”
“There are neither facts nor information that secret CIA detention centers existed in Lithuania,” the ministry said in a statement, contradicting Amnesty International statements a day earlier based on a report by Lithuanian lawmakers.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Religiosity Among Danes
From Danish: 25% of Danes believes that Jesus is God’s Son, and 20% see him as the Savior of the world. According to one researcher, the massive focus on religious issues in society is causing the Danes to find their own faith, though other researchers disagree that this shows an increased religiosity.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: King’s Message Also on Basque TV for the First Time
(ANSAmed) — Madrid, DECEMBER 21 — For the first time since the start of democracy in Spain, the Christmas message from King Juan Carlos will be broadcast also on the Basque public radio and television ETB2. The broadcaster’s manager Alberto Surio made the announcement during a hearing today in the Basque parliament in answer to a question from a Basque nationalist party MP Iigo Iturrate. The decision is a gesture of respect for the institutions, to show that public television is for all citizens and not just those with nationalist leanings, said Surio, as reported by news agencies. He also said only one of the three public regional stations, the Spanish language channel, would broadcast the king’s speech Thursday. The other two ETB1 and ETB3, completely in the Basque language, will not air the speech. (ANSAmed)
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Leytonstone: Council Acts Over Prayer Room in a Toilet
A MUSLIM group has been banned from holding prayer meetings in former public toilet.
The Muslim Asian Cultural Centre (MACC) group has been using the building in Crownfield Road, Leytonstone, as a place of worship without permission.
Residents say their lives have been disrupted by parking problems and large numbers of people gathering outside the building every day.
Waltham Forest Council has now issued an order banning the meetings and submitted an enforcement notice instructing MACC to reverse any alterations it has made to the building.
People living in Gilbert Street, which is adjacent to the rear of the building, have welcomed the move.
Shae Clarke, 19, of Glbert Street, said: “I think it is wrong to turn something into a religious place without telling anyone nearby they are going to do it, so I am pleased the council is doing something about it.
“They use the prayer room all day, from early in the morning until late at night.
“The parking is terrible and sometimes there are 30 or 40 people stood outside our house.”
Another resident, Katie Bush, 17, said: “I am out most of the day working but if I was around I think it would bother me.
“There are people often around outside the building. “I don’t think there is any need for it, as there is a mosque on Leyton High Road.”
Pamela Donoghue, whose husband William has previously spoken out against the plans, said: “We don’t feel there needs to be a place of worship here and we are concerned about any extensions to the building.”
The MACC was denied planning permission in 2008 to build a three-storey community centre on the site with a prayer room and capacity for 90 people.
Council officers decided the development would have a “serious detrimental impact” on the surrounding area, including increased noise and traffic, as it would be too large.
The Guardian has been unable to contact MACC.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Woman Assails Pope at Christmas Mass
VATICAN CITY — A woman assailed Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday, yanking him to the floor as he entered St Peter’s Basilica to celebrate Christmas Eve mass.
Video footage showed the woman, wearing a red sweatshirt, leaping over a security barricade and rushing at the 82-year-old pope as he began leading the traditional procession to the vast basilica’s altar bearing a gold cross.
As a security guard tried to overpower her, the woman succeeded in grabbing Benedict’s vestments near the neck and yanking him down, according to video footage taken by a pilgrim broadcast on Sky News.
Several others fell over in the melee.
Prominent French Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, 87, broke a leg in the incident though he was “several metres (yards)” from the pope, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told AFP, adding that the prelate was rushed to hospital.
Benedict was back on his feet within moments and went on to celebrate the mass with apparent calm and confidence.
Lombardi sought to play down the incident, praising Benedict’s “great self-control and control of the situation.”
He added: “It was an assault, but it wasn’t dangerous because she wasn’t armed.”
The woman was questioned by the Vatican police, the ANSA news agency reported, adding that she said she wanted to hug the pontiff.
Lombardi said she tried to approach Benedict on the same occasion a year ago without getting past the security barrier.
Dressed in gold and white vestments and mitre, the pope showed no discomfort as he read out his Christmas Eve homily, decrying selfishness, which he said “makes us prisoners of our interests and our desires that stand against the truth and separate us from one another.”
The spiritual leader of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics said in Italian: “Conflict and lack of reconciliation in the world stem from the fact that we are locked into our own interests and opinions, into our own little private world.”
Thursday’s incident occurred amid concern over the pope’s health prompted by a Vatican decision to schedule the mass two hours early this year instead of the traditional midnight hour due to the pontiff’s advanced age.
Lombardi insisted earlier that the change, a Vatican first, was only a “sensible precaution” for the octogenarian pontiff.
The decision was taken several weeks ago. Lombardi said the change was “no cause for alarm,” adding that the German pontiff’s condition was “absolutely normal” for a man of his age.
Lombardi said the move was aimed at making Christmas “a little less tiring for the pope, who has many engagements during this time”.
On Friday, Pope Benedict is to deliver his traditional “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) message broadcast to dozens of countries at noon on Friday.
Benedict has had no notable health problems since his 2005 election apart from a fractured wrist from a fall in July while holidaying in northern Italy.
Four years before he became pope however, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger spent nearly a month in hospital following a brain haemorrhage, according to the German daily Bild. It said he has suffered from fainting spells.
Pope Benedict’s long-serving predecessor John Paul II insisted on observing the tradition of beginning the mass at midnight despite years of ill health, notably the ravages of Parkinson’s disease, at the end of his life.
He died in April 2005 aged 84.
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Human Rights Court Rebuffs Bosnia
Excluding Jews and Roma from high office is unlawful, court rules.
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that provisions in the constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina reserving certain offices of state for members of Bosnia’s three ‘constituent peoples’ are discriminatory and unlawful.
The case had been brought in 2006 by Dervo Sejdić, a Roma, and Jakob Finci, who is Jewish. The court today (22 December) ruled in their favour by 14 votes to three.
Bosnia’s constitution was drafted as part of the 1995 Dayton peace accords, mostly by lawyers from the US Department of State with input from EU diplomats. It established a three-member presidency with one representative for each of Bosnia’s ‘constituent peoples’ — Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims), Serbs and Croats. The upper house of parliament is also made up of representatives of the three communities. Members of other communities and those who do not claim any particular ethnic affiliation are excluded from holding such positions of power.
Finci, Bosnia’s ambassador to Switzerland, is a former head of the country’s small Jewish community, which dates back to the15th century.
Finci told European Voice: “This ruling was against Bosnia and Herzegovina, but at the same time I am sure that it was in favour of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The court’s ruling is a major step towards an end to discrimination on ethnic grounds, and I am glad that the court has recognised the wrong that was done in the constitution 14 years ago. Finally, we — the ‘others’ — are no longer second-class citizens.”
Various attempts have been made in recent years to amend or redraft the constitution, with little success. The Venice Commission, an advisory body to the Council of Europe, has found that various provisions in the constitution violate basic human rights.
Bosnia is to hold a general election next October.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Egypt: Report on First Nuclear Plant Completed
(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, DECEMBER 22 — Australian Worley Parsons has completed a final report on the Al-Dabaa site on the Mediterranean coast, 220 kilometers north of Cairo, which has been chosen to accommodate the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, MENA news agency reported. Egypt will receive the report tomorrow from Worley Parsons, as the consultancy firm for the project, said today an official source at the Nuclear Stations Authority. The report will then be submitted to Egypt’s Electricity and Energy Minister Hassan Younis, according to the source. The source noted that Egypt has made strides to putting into action the country’s nuclear program which is planned to be implemented in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Egypt will remain fully committed to all international agreements in this regard, the source added. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Gaza: Egyptian Barrier ‘Mass Punishment’, Hamas
(ANSAmed) — GAZA, DECEMBER 23 — The Palestinian population in Gaza considers the construction of the underground steel barrier on the Sinai Peninsula along the border between Egypt and the Strip a form of ‘mass punishment’. The declaration was made yesterday during a press conference by a Hamas leader, the vice-president of parliament, Ahmed Bahar. According to Bahar, there is the feeling in Gaza that the construction of the barrier represents the preliminary phase of a new conflict. Bahar stated that he was disappointed over the position taken by Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and added that it is the duty of the international community to impede the “siege of Gaza”. Two days ago Hamas organised a popular demonstration to protest the barrier along the Egyptian border (for some 20 kilometres), which ended without incident. According to the press, the Egyptian barrier, designed to obstruct the passage of arms from the Sinai to Gaza, should be some 9 kilometres long. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The ‘Guardian’ Fixes Anti-Israeli Title
The Guardian issued an admission on Tuesday that it should not have used the headline “Israel admits harvesting Palestinian organs,” for a report it published on Monday alleging the harvesting of organs by specialists at the Abu Kabir forensic institute. The UK paper also changed the headline of the piece in its Internet edition to “Doctor admits Israeli pathologists harvested organs without consent,” thus averting it from being yet another reported instance of malicious Israeli handling of dead Palestinians, to a somewhat mundane instance of medical malpractice.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Analysis: The Domino Effect
by Jonathan Spyer
Lebanese Prime Minister Sa’ad Hariri’s December 19 visit to Damascus is the latest marker in the return of the coercive Syrian presence in Lebanon. It is also an indication of Syria’s successful defiance of the west.
Hariri’s ritual gesture of supplication to Bashar al-Assad in Damascus was the inevitable adjustment of the leader of a small state to a changing regional balance of power. Hariri and his supporters have little reason to take pride in the gesture. But the real responsibility for it lies not in Beirut, but further afield.
The pro-western and pro-Saudi March 14 movement, led by Hariri, achieved a modest victory in elections in June. This victory was effectively nullified in the lengthy coalition “negotiations” that followed. The new government as finally announced in November represented the unusual spectacle of a wholesale capitulation of the electoral victors before the vanquished.
The Hizbullah-led opposition kept their effective veto power in the Cabinet. The government’s founding statement included an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of Hizbullah’s continued armed presence.
This substantive conceding by Hariri of his election victory has now been accompanied by a symbolic gesture.
It should be remembered that the process which led to the ending of the Syrian occupation of Lebanon in 2005 was set in motion by the murder of Sa’ad Hariri’s father, Rafiq, in February, 2005. The murder of the elder Hariri is widely thought to have been committed by Syria or elements allied with it. The murder called forth a mass movement opposing Syrian occupation.
In the context of a more general US and pro-US assertiveness in the region at the time, the Syrians felt compelled to withdraw their forces from Lebanon.
From the moment of its humiliating retreat from Lebanon, Syria sought to rebuild its influence “by other means.” These other means included its overt backing of Hizbullah, the key deciding factor in internal Lebanese affairs. Syria also adopted a classic “strategy of tension” to undermine stability in Lebanon. A string of March 14 politicians and pro-independence political figures were mysteriously murdered.
As one Syrian analyst happily put it this week: with Sa’ad Hariri’s trip across the mountains to Damascus, the circle that began with the retreat of the Syrian army from Beirut is completed.
The Assad regime, in a typically feline gesture, even chose to accompany Hariri’s visit with a further attempt at ritual humiliation. A few days prior to the visit, a Syrian court issued summons against 24 former and current senior Lebanese officials, demanding that they stand trial in Syria. They are accused of defaming a notorious Lebanese client of the Assad regime, Jamal Sayyed.
Understanding what has happened requires a broadening of focus…
| — Hat tip: Barry Rubin | [Return to headlines] |
Imam Linked to Ft. Hood Rampage Believed to be Among 30 Al Qaeda Killed in Airstrike
The radical Muslim imam linked to the rampage at Fort Hood reportedly is believed to have been killed in a Yemen airstrike that may have also taken out the region’s top Al Qaeda leader and 30 other militants.
The raid in Yemen’s east targeted an Al Qaeda leadership meeting held to organize terror attacks. U.S. officials believe radical cleric Anwar Awlaki was “probably” one of dozens of militants killed in the strike, a source confirmed to FOX News.
“Awlaki is suspected to be dead [in the air raid],” Reuters quoted an unnamed Yemeni official as saying.
The head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Nasser al-Wahishi and his deputy, Saeed al-Saudi Shahrani, were present at the meeting and are believed to have died, but their deaths could not immediately be confirmed.
“The raid was carried out as dozens of members of Al Qaeda were meeting in Wadi Rafadh,” a source told AFP, referring to a rugged location about 400 miles east of the capital.
“Members of the group’s leadership, including Saad al-Fathani and Mohammad Ahmed Saleh al-Omir, were among those killed,” he was quoted as saying.
“Saudis and Iranians at the Wadi Rafadh meeting were also among the dead,” said the source, without going into detail.
Awlaki was once the imam at the prominent Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Virginia, where the FBI says he had a close relationship with two of the 9/11 hijackers. He fled the U.S. in 2002, eventually returning to Yemen, where he promoted the Iraqi and Afghan insurgencies to a growing religious following in sermons and online.
In an interview posted on Al Jazeera’s Web site, Awlaki said he received an e-mail from Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Hasan on Dec. 17, 2008, “asking for an edict regarding the [possibility] of a Muslim soldier [killing] colleagues who serve with him in the American army.”
Awlaki, who was born in Las Cruces, N.M., said subsequent e-mails “mentioned the religious justifications for targeting the Jews with missiles.” He told the Washington Post in an interview that Hasan eventually came to regard him as a confidant.
A Yemeni official, also speaking on condition of anonymity to AFP, said those attending the meeting “planned to launch terrorist attacks against economic installations in Yemen, in retaliation for Yemeni strikes launched last week.”
On Dec. 17, warplanes and security forces on the ground attacked what authorities said was an Al Qaeda training camp in the area of Mahsad in the southern province of Abyan. Saleh el-Shamsy, a provincial security official, said at least 30 suspected militants were killed. Witnesses, however, put the number killed at over 60 in the heaviest strike and said the dead were mostly civilians.
Much like the effort with Pakistan’s Frontier Corps, the U.S. military has boosted its counterterrorism training for Yemeni forces, and is providing more intelligence, which probably includes surveillance by unmanned drones, according to U.S. officials and analysts.
The Yemeni Interior Ministry said 25 suspected Al Qaeda members were arrested Wednesday in San’a and it has set up checkpoints in the capital to control traffic flow as part of a campaign to clamp down on terrorism.
The United States has repeatedly called on Yemen to take stronger action against Al Qaeda, whose fighters have taken advantage of the central government’s weakness and increasingly found refuge here in the past year. Worries over the growing presence are compounded by fears that Yemen could collapse into turmoil from its multiple conflicts and increasing poverty and become another Afghanistan, giving the militants even freer reign.
The country was the scene of one of Al Qaeda’s most dramatic pre-9/11 attacks, the 2000 suicide bombing of the destroyer USS Cole off the Aden coast that killed 17 American sailors. The government allied itself with Washington in the war on terror, but U.S officials have complained that it often strikes deals with militants.
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Iran Bans Graffiti on Banknotes: Media
Iran’s central bank has warned people not to write on banknotes and sought to collect defaced ones after the appearance of opposition slogans on many, local media reported on Thursday.
“It has unfortunately been noted that some people write words and sentences on bankotes or stamp them with emblems,” the bank said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Iran Protesters ‘Savagely Attacked, ‘ Reports Say
TEHRAN — Security forces and hard-line militiamen assaulted opposition protesters, beating men and woman and firing tear gas, as thousands gathered in a central Iranian city for a memorial commemorating the country’s most senior dissident cleric, who died this week.
The government’s crackdown showed signs of moving for the first time against clerics who support the opposition: Basij militiamen surrounded the house and office of two prominent religious figures, shouting slogans and breaking windows, opposition Web sites reported.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Two Killed in Bid to Foil Execution
Iranian police shot dead two gunmen among a group of attackers who tried to rescue two convicted bank robbers from imminent execution in a southeastern Iranian town, a news agency reported today.
About 25 people were wounded in a shoot-out after the assailants opened fire on security forces preparing for the execution in Sirjan town, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported, citing a senior official in Kerman province.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Iraq: Death Toll Rises From Attack Near Two Northern Churches
Mosul, 23 Dec. (AKI) — The final death toll from a bombing at two churches in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday rose to two, the Voices of Iraq news agency quoted an unnamed military source as saying.
“The final toll of the attack that occurred near two churches in al-Saaa region in central Mosul, rose to two dead and five wounded,” the source told VOI.
A police source had said earlier that at least one civilian was killed and four others were wounded in a handcart bomb explosion in central Mosul.
Last year, thousands of Christians fled Mosul in the face of sectarian violence that claimed the lives of 40 members of the community.
Since the US-led invasion of 2003, hundreds of Iraq’s minority Christians have been killed and several churches attacked.
In further bloodshed on Wednesday, at least four people died and dozens were injured in an attack against a Shia mourning tent in central Baghdad, VOI reported.
Five civilians on Wednesday were injured in a blast that ripped through a popular market in southern Baghdad, according to a local security source cited by VOI.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Jordan: Marsa Zayed Project, Works to Begin in 2010
(ANSAmed) — AMMAN, DECEMBER 23 — In the third quarter of 2010, the Jordanian company Maabar Jordan Al Real Estate will begin works for the Marsa Zayed Project, the most important architectonic project ever built in Jordan. The Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA), reported the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) office in Amman, has approved the final plan presented by the Jordanian company. Worth 10 billion dollars, Marsa Zayed provides for the construction of buildings with retail outlets and shops for leisure activities, as well as offices and financial services on a 3.2-million-square-metre surface area and two kilometres of seafront property. Once finished (between two and five years down the road), the site will also contain seven hotels with 3,000 beds as well as over 20,000 housing units (small houses and flats), as well as an area for yachts with a boat capacity of 350. Marsa Zayed will create about 16,000 jobs. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Mosul Attacks on Two Christian Churches, Three Dead and Several Injured
The Chaldean Church of St. George and Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Thomas hit. One bomb was hidden in a cart carrying vegetables. The explosion kills a Chaldean Christian and two Muslim. Archbishop of Kirkuk: “disturbing message” to two days before Christmas.
Mosul (AsiaNews) — Two separate bombs struck this morning in Mosul, the Chaldean church of St. George and Syriac Orthodox Church of St. Thomas. The death toll so far is of three dead — a Chaldean Christian and two Muslims — and several wounded. Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, speaks to AsiaNews of a “disturbing message” ahead of Christmas, keeping tensions high as well as fear of further violence in northern Iraq.
Sources for AsiaNews in Mosul confirm that “the situation for Christians continues to worsen, given that the Christians buildings are again being targeted by terrorists. The two churches hit are two old buildings, of great historical and cultural value”.
In the attack on the church of Saint George three people were killed: a Chaldean Christian and two Muslims, others were injured. Local witnesses report that the explosion was caused by “a cart of vegetables, filled with bombs.” From the initial reconstruction, it seems that the target of the attack was a police barracks in the district of Khazraj. In the last six weeks in Mosul four churches and a convent of Dominican nuns have been attacked. The explosions were caused by car bombs producing serious damage to buildings and adjacent homes, Christian and Muslim. Five Christians have been murdered and others have become victims of kidnapping for ransom. These targeted attacks testify to the “ethnic cleansing” in act against the Christian community throughout Iraq.
Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, believes today attacks are yet another “disturbing message” to two days before Christmas. These threats, stresses the prelate, “continue to influence the Christian community” that hopes “for peace” but is the victim of violence. “The message of peace and hope — reaffirms the archbishop of Kirkuk — announced by angels, remains our best wishes for Christmas for the entire country: we want to work together to build peace and hope in the hearts of all men and women of Iraq. “(DS)
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Swine Flu: Figures to be Censored in Turkey, Press
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 23 — Turkey’s Health Ministry will no more make public death toll from swine flu, as Turkish daylies Milliyet and Vatan report today. The ministry was expected to release the toll today but it announced that routine statements would not be made anymore as the World Health Organization, or WHO, has not recommended such a practice. However, WHO announces global figures every Friday. According data released by the Health Ministry, in Turkey — out of about 70 million inhabitants — 4 million people have been infected with swine flu so far. The illness has spread throughout the country. Two million people have been vaccinated. Number of people who gained immunity reached 6 million. However, this figure is not enough to halt the spread of the disease. Death toll rose to 458 from swine flu as of December 17, 2009. Health Ministry has decided not to announce the death toll unless it rises significantly, the sources said. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey-Syria: Third Railway Border Crossing to be Opened
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 21 — The third railway border crossing between Turkey and Syria will be opened tomorrow, as Anatolia news agency reports. Cobanbey Border Crossing aims to further develop the existing railway network between the two countries. Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yildirim and Syrian Transport Minister Yarub Sulayman Badr will be in attendance at the opening ceremony. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey-Iraq: Oil Flow Through Kirkuk Oil Pipeline to Resume
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 22 — Turkish Energy Ministry said on Tuesday that shipment of crude oil would resume within a week from Kirkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline which broke down because of sabotage, as Anatolia news agency reports. The energy ministry officials said oil flow in Iraqi side of the pipeline halted two days ago after a sabotage. “Iraqi executives said the damage could be fixed in 5-6 days,” the officials said. Iraqi Oil Ministry spokesman Assim Jihad said the sabotage at the 55th kilometer of the pipeline caused damage and a large quantity of crude oil spilled outside. The Kirkuk-Yumurtalik oil pipeline connects the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, carrying the crude oil to Turkey. Iraqi-Turkey Crude Oil Pipeline was constructed under Crude Oil Pipeline Deal signed between the Turkish and Iraqi governments on August 27, 1973, aiming to ship the crude oil of Kirkuk and other production areas to Sea Terminal of Ceyhan (Yumurtalik). (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Turkey: Population Exchange Stories Become a Book
(ANSAmed) — ANKARA, DECEMBER 22 — The Foundation of Lausanne Treaty Emigrants has published a book titled “Stories of Population Exchange” on the 85th anniversary of Turkish-Greek population exchange, as Anatolia news agency reports today. In a written press release, Deputy Chairperson of the Foundation, Mufide Pekin, said on Tuesday that they held a contest in which 102 writers submitted 130 stories on the population exchange that took place between Turkey and Greece decades ago. Individuals from all corners of Turkey and abroad participated in the contest. The youngest story writer was 17 years old while the oldest was 78, Pekin said. Pekin said that the book “Stories of Population Exchange” will be introduced to the public on December 26 at the Tarihci Bookstore in Moda district of Istanbul with the participation of the writers. The years between 1912-1922 were marked by unrest and wars in the Balkans, the Aegean Islands and Asia Minor, creating masses of refugees who were forced to leave their homeland under conditions of misery and horror. Massive movements of population took place during and after the Balkan Wars with thousands of Muslims fleeing their homes in fear and panic following the retreating Ottoman Army. A similar tragedy of fleeing refugees was to be lived once more in 1922 when the Orthodox Greek population of Asia Minor departed with the defeated Greek Army after the war between Greece and Turkey. Many lives were lost and much suffering was endured during this period which resulted in a significant altering of the demographic map of the Aegean Region. The final solution was brought about by the Lausanne Convention of 30 January 1923 internationally endorsed in the Treaty of Lausanne which was signed between the New Turkish State and the Greek State in July 1923. This was to be the first ever compulsory exchange of populations, uprooting about 2 millions of Orthodox Greeks and Muslims in Asia Minor, mainland Greece and the Islands and transporting them to their new homelands. The decrees of the Convention of Population Exchange of 30 January 1923 was to be applied to all refugees since 1912. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Ally Reaches Out to Hamas
Officials warn terrorist group gaining ground in strategic territory
In what may be a sign of Hamas’ growing influence in the strategic West Bank, Jordan has been enhancing its ties to the Islamic group while scaling back associations with the U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority, WND has learned.
Jordan, a key U.S. ally, neighbors the West Bank. The U.S. supports the creation of a PA-led Palestinian state in the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem.
Historically, Jordan has had a troubled relationship with Hamas. In 1999, the country expelled Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal and shut down Hamas offices in the kingdom. In the past few months, however, Jordan has reached out repeatedly to Hamas.
A Jordanian intelligence official told WND that several months ago Jordan’s intelligence chief held a meeting with Hamas leaders to discuss drafting a common platform on which to begin a renewed relationship.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: 90-Year Old Woman to Compete in Quran Contest
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI — A 90-year old Emirati woman will compete with her 50 grandchildren in one of the Quran memorization competitions in Khorfakkan, Arabic dailies reported today. Fatima Mohammad Ali will participate in the competition by memorizing and reciting the Holy Quran. Her participation is considered first of its kind in the world. Fatima joined Al Hassawi Holy Quran Award in 2001 since the Establishment of Quran and Sunnah Award in Sharjah. Ahmad Mosa, one of her grandchildren, said she has been taking part in the competition despite her illiteracy, as she listens to cassettes and gets help from her other grandchildren. Fatima walks 700 metres everyday to get to the mosque, where the memorization takes place and refuses to be dropped by anyone. The Al Hassawi Holy Quran Award has prepared a special honouring ceremony for Fatima at the end of the competition. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Moldovan Orthodox Church: Jews to Blame for Menorah Incident
Church calls Hanukkah attack on menorah in Chisinau ‘unpleasant’, but adds, ‘We think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place.’ Buenos Aires rabbi says desecration of menorah in city ‘should not be blown out of proportion’
According to a report, published Monday by the Russian Interfax news agency, the church said in a statement, “We believe that this unpleasant incident in the center of the capital could have been avoided if the menorah had been placed near a memorial for victims of the Holocaust.”
The church said it opposed the form of the protest, and that it respects “the feelings and belief of other cults that are legally registered on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and expects a similar attitude from their side,” according to the report.
“At the same time,” the statement continued, “we think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place connected to the history and faith of our people, especially because Chanukah is classified by the cult books of Judaism as a ‘holiday of blessing’ that symbolizes the victory of Jews over non-Jews.”
[…]
An anti-Semitic incident was also reported in Buenos Aires during Hanukkah. Rabbi Shlomo Kiesel of the Chabad house in the Argentine capital told Ynet that one of the city’s public menorahs was desecrated and the words “Argentina is Catholic” were spray-painted near its base.
Kiesel said that despite the incident he does not believe the local Jewish community is in any kind of danger. “This is the first time such a thing has happened here, and while it is very unpleasant, it shouldn’t be blown out of proportion. It must be understood that we are living in a Christian country where Jews account for less than one percent of the population.
“There will always be one extremist within a large society,” said the rabbi. “There are over 20 menorahs throughout the city and only one was damaged. I do not believe this incident means that Argentine society is anti-Semitic.”
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Priest-Scientist From Krasnodar Claims He Made a Discovery Questioning Classical Ideas About the Sun
Krasnodar, December 21, Interfax — Archpriest Valentin Basenko, a scientist from the Kuschvskaya village, the Krasnodar Region, who is also rector of two regional churches claims that he has opened new characteristics of the Sun. “I’ve been involved in solar research for forty years and arrived at the conclusion that the Sun is not a gas and plasma sphere active thanks to energy produced by nuclear fusion but rather a solid body having a kind of atmosphere, a photosphere,” Fr. Valentin told Interfax-Religion on Monday.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Russia and Georgia to Reopen Border Crossing
Russia and Georgia have agreed to reopen a border crossing that has been closed since July 2006, Georgia’s foreign ministry says.
The Kazbegi-Upper Lars crossing is likely to reopen next March, deputy foreign minister Nino Kalandadze said.
It is the only crossing that does not go through the Russian-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Georgian forces were driven out of the two regions in a bitter war with Russia in August 2008.
The Russian government has confirmed the border agreement, saying that the checkpoint could “in theory” reopen from 1 March 2010.
But air links could only be re-established if the safety of Russian air crews could be guaranteed, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
Diplomatic relations had not been restored since the war, and that was the problem, he added.
The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Moscow says there has been virtually no contact between Moscow and Tbilisi since the war, so the news that they are to reopen their border is a significant move, especially for the many Georgian and Russian families separated by the conflict.
But the hostility between the Russian and Georgian governments is unabated, our correspondent says.
Russia’s Sergei Ivanov on Thursday accused Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili of behaving like the Afghan Taliban, after he ordered the demolition of a Soviet-era war memorial.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Afghan Senator Killed at Police Checkpoint
KUNDUZ, Afghanistan — An Afghan senator was killed when he drove through a police ambush set for Taliban militants in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday, officials said.
Mohammad Younus — also known as Shirin Agha, or Dear Sir — was going home in the early hours when the incident occurred in Puli Khumri, capital of troubled northern Baghlan province, Mohammad Akbar Barikzai told AFP.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Giant Russian Helicopter Rescues Disabled Coalition Choppers
A Russian helicopter has successfully returned a chopper belonging to the Netherlands Air Force, which was damaged by ground fire in the South of Afghanistan, to its airbase in Kandahar.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Indonesia: High Alert for Attacks on Churches During Christmas Celebrations
Tens of thousands of police and army units deployed to protect places of worship. Among the provinces considered most at risk the Central Java and West Java. In recent days, the Christian community has suffered threats and assaults. Father in-law of Noordin M. Top, one of the country’s most wanted, captured.
Jakarta (AsiaNews) — Indonesian security forces have stepped up security across the country, a few hours ahead the start of Christmas celebrations. Police and soldiers are guarding the churches in the provinces considered most at risk, such as Central Java and West Java, but the state of alert is widespread. There is fears of a repeat of episodes of violence, similar to those of Christmas Eve of 2000. In recent days, in fact, some fundamentalist groups have attacked Christian places of worship, threatening the faithful.
In the province of West Java police have mobilized over 10 thousand agents, as well as army troops. Timur Pradopo, police chief of West Java, confirms “the massive deployment of police and army” to prevent “potential terrorist attacks.” Similar measures were taken by Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, head of the security forces of Central Java. More than 11 thousand officers deployed, backed by the military.
On Christmas Eve of 2000, terrorists targeted dozens of churches in Indonesia. But not only the threat of armed terrorism is curbing Christmas ceremonies. In West Java a number of Christian places of worship have been closed since 2004 due to the revocation of building permits. In Bandung, the provincial capital, hundreds of faithful “do not have a place” where they can celebrate Christmas functions.
The latest case concerns the Purwakarta Regency, also in West Java, where Christians can not celebrate religious services because authorities have revoked their permits. Two weeks ago the whole of the Church of St. Albert, in Bekasi regency, was attacked by thousands of extremists on the occasion of the Islamic New Year.
The lack of security has led groups of Christians in West Java to celebrate Christmas Mass in malls, hotels and restaurants, or in private homes. John Simon Timorason, president of the Federation of churches in West Java (Bksg), confirms that the decision is in result of “numerous obstacles encountered in the construction of churches.”
Anti-terrorism teams, meanwhile, have arrested Baharuddin (aka Bariddin), the most wanted man in the country. He is the stepfather of Noordin M. Top, the Malaysian terrorist killed September 18, 2009 in a police raid, and was hiding in Garut, West Java. Tito Karnavian, head of the elite counter-terrorism department, states that “he was captured along with one of his sons”. Both were transferred to Jakarta for questioning.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Pakistan: TTP Says Taliban Being Sent to Afghanistan
SHAKTOI: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) deputy chief says he has sent thousands of fighters to neighbouring Afghanistan to rebuff incoming US troops. Waliur Rehman says the TTP remains committed to battling the army in South Waziristan, but they are essentially waging a guerrilla war. “Since (President Barack) Obama is also sending additional forces to Afghanistan, we sent thousands of our men there to fight NATO and American forces,” Rehman said. The military estimates it has killed around 600 Taliban fighters but Rehman claimed that he had lost fewer than 20. He also said his group would stop attacking Pakistan’s security forces if the country would sever its ties with the US. He claimed the Taliban only attacked security forces and did not believe in any strikes on civilian targets.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Second Chance for Tamil Former Child Soldiers
Hundreds of former Tamil Tiger (LTTE) child soldiers are being educated in Sri Lanka as part of government rehabilitation efforts following the rebels’ defeat in May. The BBC Tamil service’s Swaminathan Natarajan spoke to some of them.
Sri Lanka’s government says it has 550 ex-child soldiers in its custody — and about half of them are being given the chance of education.
“I am from Trincomalee. I was studying in [the] ninth year when I was forcefully taken away by the Tigers,” says Murugan, one of the former combatants studying in Colombo.
“My mother rescued me from the Tigers with the help of Unicef and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC),” he says.
“After my release I went to a school in the LTTE-controlled area. But the situation was not conducive to pursue education. Here we have good facilities. I know I will not get these kinds of opportunities again. I want to be a judge,” adds Murugan.
Officials say 273 former child combatants are currently attending the Ratmalana Hindu College near Colombo.
“Others are given vocational or technical training because their education has been interrupted for a long period,” the commissioner general of rehabilitation, Maj Gen Daya Ratnayake (Retd), told the BBC.
Forcibly recruited
Most of the former child combatants studying in Colombo said they were forcibly taken by the Tigers…
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Somalia’s Shebab Put the Squeeze on Foreign NGOs
Somalia’s Shebab fighters are gradually weeding out the few foreign aid groups still operating in the country’s central and southern regions.
The Islamist armed group last week raided the offices of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Baidoa, on the same day its local administration issued a decree banning the organisation from the region. The Shebab accused UNMAS of spying, charging it had been “surveying and signposting some of the most vital and sensitive areas under the control of the mujahedeen (holy warriors).”
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Family of Mexican Marine Slaughtered in Revenge Attack Over Raid That Killed Drug Lord
Drug gang hitmen shot dead the grieving family of an elite Mexican marine who died after taking part in a raid that killed a notorious drug lord.
Gunmen armed with assault rifles burst into the family’s home in Quintin Arauz in the southern state of Tabasco on Monday, killing the serviceman’s mother, brother, sister and aunt.
It appeared to be a revenge attack for a Mexican navy operation last week that killed the boss of a major drug cartel, Arturo Beltran Leyva.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Report Says 225,000 Haiti Children Work as Slaves
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Poverty has forced at least 225,000 children in Haiti’s cities into slavery as unpaid household servants, far more than previously thought, a report said Tuesday.
The Pan American Development Foundation’s report also said some of those children — mostly young girls — suffer sexual, psychological and physical abuse while toiling in extreme hardship.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
Being Illegal is Easy in the Netherlands
Illegal alien Brazilian Fernando Alves Pimentel earned a fair sum in the Netherlands. Now it is time to go home.
“I have had a good time here. I managed to stay out of police hands. I have worked, made money and had fun. But it’s enough. I want to go back home,” said Fernando Alves Pimentel one day before leaving the Netherlands. After two-and-a-half years in Amsterdam, Alves reported himself to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). In the Netherlands, this NGO helps illegal aliens return to their home countries by paying for their ticket if they can’t afford one.
Alves had stuffed two suitcases until they weighed 23 kilos each. He would bring home about 2,500 euros worth of goods purchased in the Netherlands: a computer, a camcorder, clothes. He barely had any cash on him; all his money had been safely wired to a Brazilian bank account. “What I made here will last about ten years,” the 28-year-old said.
Alves’ story is just one amongst the tens of thousands of similar ones lived by immigrants living and working in the Netherlands without a permit. Most live here for a couple of years to make money for the families they have left behind or to build a good life in their country of origin. Despite Dutch and European efforts to root out illegal aliens, it is relatively simple to live underground.
Tourist visa First of all, it is easy for Brazilians to enter the European Union, said Alves. “I flew to Paris on a tourist visa. I had a friend in the Netherlands and she told me it was easy to make money here, so I travelled on to Amsterdam.” After reaching the Netherlands he overstayed his visa. He has remained here illegally ever since.
“I did fear being caught and deported in the beginning. I had borrowed money on the black market in Brazil to pay for the ticket. If I had been deported before I had paid off my debt, I would have had a problem. If you can’t pay, they will kill you,” Alves said. Once an illegal immigrant is deported from the EU it is hard to get back in, a spokesperson for the Dutch justice ministry explained. A deportee is registered in the Schengen Information System database which can be consulted before issuing a tourist visa. An EU ‘return directive’ to be implemented in December 2010, will make it easier to deport and ban people from the European Union entirely.
Under Dutch law, police officers can ask aliens who they suspect may be here illegally for identification. Alves: “I know that if I am ever stopped for anything, I will be on the next flight to Brazil. That’s why I make sure the lights on my bike work and I never run a red light.”
Alves doesn’t speak Dutch and his English is very poor, yet he had no trouble finding work in the Netherlands. “The friend who lived here knew another Brazilian girl who was about to return. She had a cleaning job for three hours a week which I could buy from her for 120 euros.” And so Alves landed his first, 10 euro per hour, job in Amsterdam.
As he got to know more Brazilians, more jobs came his way. He painted, cleaned, washed dishes in restaurants, did odd jobs at a field hockey club. “There is a whole network of Brazilians in the city who help each other finds jobs,” Alves said.
While illegal aliens risk being deported, the employees who hire them are also in violation of the law. Businesses who have illegal employees risk being fined up to 8,000 euros. People who privately hire them as cleaners or painters have to pay 4,000 euros if they are caught.
“The risk of getting caught is slim,” explained one Amsterdam restaurant-owner who asked not to be named citing fear of the authorities. “The labour costs are low and illegal aliens work hard.” He said he occasionally had illegal aliens working in his kitchen. “Right now, I am looking for a new dishwasher. I will hire anyone who makes a reliable impression and is willing to work hard for little pay. That can be a either a student or an illegal alien.”
In his restaurant, the illegal aliens are not treated differently, he said. In fact their net pay is a bit higher than that of legal residents. “Other dishwashers make minimum wage, but because of all the taxes they cost me more,” the restaurant owner explained. He is not the only one willing to employ illegal aliens. “Think about all those who have a Ghanaian or Brazilian cleaning lady. They are all here illegaly,” he said.
The people who hired him were pretty much the only Dutch people Alves got to know. “I had a Dutch girlfriend for about a year and my landlord is Dutch,” Alves said. But he mostly stuck with fellow Brazilians, practically all of whom were here illegally. They have created their own society within society, according to Alves. But despite this isolation, they find their way to useful services. “All Brazilians know they can get home for free through the IOM and everyone I know travels that way,” Alves said. Meanwhile the Brazilian consulate in Rotterdam, helps all Brazillian citizens, legal or illegal.”
By the time this interview is published Alves will have safely returned to Brazil and taken up his job respraying cars. The money he earned in the Netherlands will allow him to refurbish his mother’s house and buy his own car.
He cherishes happy memories of the Netherlands, but will not recommend any of his friends to go there. For one, the Brazilian economy is in better shape than it was when he left. The other reason is the insecurity that comes with staying here illegally. “Fortunately I had a good friend in the Netherlands — a fellow illegal Brazilian — who would have called my family if anything were to happen to me. The worst thing that can happen to an illegal alien is to die without your family ever hearing about it,” Alves said.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Hit-and-Run Death Crash Asylum Seeker Can Stay in UK
An asylum seeker who fatally struck a girl with his car then fled the scene has won the right to stay in the UK.
Aso Mohammed Ibrahim, 31, of Blackburn, hit Amy Houston, 12, in 2003. He was later jailed for four months.
He faced deportation but successfully invoked human rights legislation granting him the right to a “family life” in the UK.
Justice Secretary and Blackburn MP Jack Straw said he will be seeking to appeal against the decision.
‘Extremely disappointed’
The UK Border Agency is also considering an appeal.
Amy Houston was found trapped under the wheels of Ibrahim’s Rover in Newfield Road, Blackburn, in November 2003. She died later in hospital.
Ibrahim was jailed for four months by Blackburn magistrates for driving while disqualified and failing to stop after an accident.
The father-of-two was due to be deported after he was taken into the custody of the UK Border Agency.
But the Iraqi Kurd claimed it was too dangerous to return to his homeland and won the right to stay in Britain after a lengthy series of appeals at the Manchester Asylum and Immigration Tribunal.
Jo Liddy, regional director of the UK Border Agency in the North West, said: “We are extremely disappointed at the court’s decision to allow Mr Ibrahim’s appeal against removal from the UK.
“We have made it clear that we will prioritise the removal of those foreign nationals who present the most risk of harm to the public.”
An agency spokesman added it was likely it would consider an appeal against the decision.
Blackburn MP Mr Straw said he found the judge’s decision “very disappointing”.
He said: “I will be speaking to the home secretary to see if there’s any way we can appeal against this decision, and I will also be talking to the family.
“They have been through an awful time.”
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Ireland: More Than 50% of 2004 Foreign Workers Have Left
MORE THAN half the foreign nationals who came to work in Ireland in 2004 have probably left the country, according to the Central Statistics Office.
Research published yesterday shows 52 per cent of the almost 118,000 foreign nationals who received personal public service numbers (PPSNs) in 2004 are not working or claiming social welfare.
There has also been a sharp fall in the number of new arrivals to Ireland, with 127,695 PPSNs allocated to foreign nationals in 2008, down almost a third from a peak of 226,800 allocated during 2006.
The CSO analysis of records from the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Social Welfare sheds light on emigration trends for migrant workers by tracking the activity rate for PPSN numbers.
It shows that 57,112 of the 117,983 foreign nationals who received PPSNs in 2004 were still either working or claiming welfare in 2008. It is not known what happened to the rest but it is very likely that they left the Republic.
The year 2004 is an important benchmark for measuring immigration trends to the Republic because it coincides with the “big bang” EU enlargement when 10 new member states joined the EU.
This enabled hundreds of thousands of citizens from new member states such as Poland and Lithuania to travel to work in the Republic.
However, there is growing evidence that recession is causing many foreign nationals to return home, while also significantly reducing the number of new arrivals. Four out of 10 of the foreign nationals who arrived in 2004 are still working in the Republic, while almost a quarter of the 57,112 active immigrants from 2004 are currently accessing some form of social welfare.
The CSO research shows the employment rate for new arrivals is typically high in the first year of their arrival, but falls rapidly in the following two or three years before steadying off somewhat.
Social welfare activity increases substantially the longer a migrant worker stays in the country.
“The trend seems to be that people are most likely to leave in the years immediately following their arrival. The longer a migrant worker stays in the country the less likely they are to leave,” said Adrian Redmond, senior statistician with the CSO.
The CSO says 967,800 foreign nationals aged 15 and over were allocated PPSNs between 2002 and 2008. Some 425,600 of these worked at some point in 2008. Of these, 249,700 were male and 175,900 were female.
The vast majority of these were employed in: real estate/business activities (94,900); hotels and restaurants (76,800); wholesale and retail (75,300); manufacturing (49,500); and construction (37,400).
The sharp drop in PPSN allocations in 2008 was primarily driven by fewer arrivals from the 10 new EU member states.
| — Hat tip: Sean O’Brian | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Refugee Status Granted to African Albino
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, DECEMBER 21 — The status of refugee was granted to Abdoulayne Coulibaly, an albino black man from Mali who made it to Spain last April escaping his potential death, which in certain African countries is deal to albinos with witchcraft rituals. The report was made by Coulibaly lawyer, Rocio Cuellar, who had filed the 22-year-old mans request for asylum after his landing in April on the shores of Tenerife on a boat carrying dozens of illegal aliens. This is the first time that Spains ministry of Interiors grants the status of refugee for such a case. According to sources of the Spanish Commission which helps refugees, the government is looking at another request for asylum by an immigrant with the same physical characteristics as Coulibaly who lives in Valencia. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Blame the Bishops
The only real chance of defeating the health care legislation came when the bill was lacking a majority of votes for passage in the House. That’s when the first deal was made. This was the deal that made all other deals possible. Acting at the behest of Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Catholic Bishops, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi agreed to a vote on the pro-life amendment introduced by Rep. Bart Stupak. It passed and then the bill itself was approved.
But why did Republicans vote for the Stupak amendment if they opposed the basic premise of the bill? House Republican Leader Rep. John Boehner got his marching orders as well. He was told by Cardinal Francis George, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, that the Republicans shouldn’t scuttle the Stupak amendment.
The Senate then proceeded to pass its own version of the legislation, without the Stupak language. Predictably, Stupak is complaining about that. But he— and the Democrats and Republicans who voted for his amendment—only have themselves to blame. At least five lobbyists for the Bishops worked with Pelosi and Stupak on the deal that is now also predictably falling apart. Clearly, the pro-life deal was a ploy designed to keep the legislation alive.
It has become apparent to some observers that the Bishops want the legislation to pass, with or without abortion language, because of its perceived impact on 600 Catholic hospitals. As they say in their own document, “Catholic dioceses, parishes, schools, agencies, and hospitals are major purchasers of insurance and health care. The rapidly escalating costs of coverage are impacting almost every diocese, agency, parish, and school.”
In other words, the Bishops see national health care legislation as a way to reduce their own costs. In addition, by expanding federally-subsidized health care to as many as 30 million people, many of whom might normally depend on Catholic hospitals for inexpensive or free care, the Catholic Bishops could save even more money.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Russian Orthodox Church “Accepts” Homosexuality
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church said on Wednesday that the church accepts any person’s choice, including homosexuality, but remains strongly opposed to abortions and euthanasia.
| — Hat tip: Esther | [Return to headlines] |
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