Arizona Shooting: Barack Obama Leads Nationwide Silence
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Barack Obama led a nationwide moment of silence to honour the victims of the Arizona shooting.


Mr Obama, the US president, and his wife Michelle, emerged from the White House, took a few steps toward the South Lawn and stood, heads bowed, the only sound the sombre ringing of a bell.

The silence was observed outside the Capitol building, with staff members gathering on the steps to honour the victims.

The 22-year-old man charged with attempting to assassinate a US congresswoman in a shooting spree in Arizona is due to appear in a federal court in Phoenix, the state's capital.

Jared Lee Loughner, 22, is expected to be charged with the attempted assassination of US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, two counts of murdering a federal government employee, and two of attempting to assassinate a federal government employee.

"As the investigation goes on, there may well be additional charges that will be filed," Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, told reporters in Tucson. >>> | Monday, January 10, 2011

Lockerbie Release: Gordon Brown Should Tell Us What He Said to Colonel Gaddafi
THE TELEGRAPH – Telegraph View: It is utter nonsense to suggest that the release of Megrahi is purely a matter for the Scottish justice system.

As the controversy over the release of Abdel Baset Ali al-Megrahi continued to rage yesterday, seriously damaging relations between Britain and America, Government ministers stuck to the line that the decision was purely a matter for the Scottish justice system. That is the most utter nonsense, and as more details of the case emerged over the weekend Gordon Brown's silence generated increasing public anger, in Britain and the United States.

President Obama has said that the release of the Lockerbie bomber to a hero's welcome in Tripoli was a "mistake". The head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, called it a "mockery of justice" that had "given comfort to terrorists around the world". Not everyone will agree that America has the right to take such a lofty view: after all, it was not troubled by (and even helped to facilitate) the release of hundreds of Northern Irish terrorists, including the most vile murderers, as part of a US-supported peace process. So America is open to a charge of hypocrisy – but not naivety. It suspects that the "compassionate" release of a dying man has a political dimension. Plenty of Britons think the same. >>> Telegraph View | Monday, August 24, 2009

Why the Silence about ‘Islam Day’?
THE DAILY SENTINEL: And just why, we can’t help but ask, is the ACLU not enjoying the sunny beaches of Hawaii at the moment? Or the Grand Junction atheists, for that matter?

They both could find, in our 50th state, a cause that makes prayer before Mesa County Commission meetings a matter of little consequence.

The Hawaii state Senate this week, with only a smattering of lawmakers objecting, passed a bill that proclaims Sept. 24, 2009, “Islam Day.” The bill, which aims to recognize “the rich religious, scientific, cultural and artistic contributions” that Muslims have made to the world, has already passed the Hawaii House of Representatives and now only awaits the signature of the governor to be enacted into law.

No doubt Muslims have made contributions to the world. So have Christians, Jews, Buddhists and members of a lot of other religions. But they, unlike a few Muslims — and there are many more out there like them — didn’t kill more than 3,000 innocent Americans in 2001. We shouldn’t forget that, either.

The last time we checked, we could find no state that officially honors Christians, or Jews, or any other religion we can think of.

The United States has long been know for its tolerance. But tolerance should go only so far. Just ask the ACLU, or our local atheists, both groups that have fought long and hard for separation of church and state. Tolerance, for those groups, stops at the doors to public buildings.

We’ll forgive the local atheists. Hawaii, after all, is far outside their zone of influence, although we hope and expect that they would oppose the measure that is about to become law in Hawaii.

But the silence of the ACLU is perplexing.

It makes us wonder: Does the ACLU support separation of church and state, or simply separation of Christianity and state?
We think we know the answer. [Source: The Daily Sentinel] By The Daily Sentinel | Thursday, May 14, 2009