Image: Google Images
N.Y. Political Leaders’ Rift Grows on Islam Center
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Even as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg firmly rejected calls for the relocation of a planned Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero, signs of growing division emerged on Tuesday within the political establishment in Manhattan, as the powerful speaker of the State Assembly expressed forceful opposition to the plan.

Breaking his silence on the issue, the speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Democrat whose district includes ground zero, said the organizers’ honorable goal of healing post-Sept. 11 wounds and building bridges among faiths had instead provoked bitter fighting and raw emotions that could not be ignored.

“I think the sponsors,” Mr. Silver said at City Hall, “should take into very serious consideration the kind of turmoil that’s been created and look to compromise.”

Such a compromise, he added, would mean finding “a suitable place that doesn’t create the kind of controversy” engendered by the Park51 plan.

The opposition from Mr. Silver, a religious Jew who commands considerable influence in the city’s Democratic political world, is largely symbolic, because the city has already given its approval. But it fueled creeping doubts about the viability of the center, which faces a raft of obstacles, like paltry fund-raising, on top of the public outcry.

Mr. Silver’s remarks came on the same day that Mr. Bloomberg, the center’s most visible supporter, delivered a carefully prepared answer to the emerging voices calling for a compromise.

Speaking at a traditional dinner at Gracie Mansion as part of Ramadan, the mayor sought to tamp down the opposition and regain control over a national debate that has escalated by the day, starting as a local zoning dispute and becoming a referendum on the limits of religious tolerance in an age of terrorism.

Mr. Bloomberg, flanked by the center’s developer and the wife of its imam, said he understood the impulse to find a different location, in the hope of ending the controversy.

“But it won’t,” the mayor said. “The question will then become, ‘How big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be?’ ” >>> Michael Barbaro | Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum married a foreign woman for his second marriage. Photograph: The Telegraph
Dubai’s Grand Mufti Calls for Curb in Marriage to Foreigners
THE TELEGRAPH: The Grand Mufti of Dubai is calling for a curb in marriages between locals and foreigners as the price of marrying native brides has soared to more than £300,000.

The number of Emiratis marrying foreigners has risen by 10 per cent in the last four years, according to recent figures.

Officials and religious leaders blame the rising costs of dowries and extravagant wedding ceremonies and parties for encouraging “ordinary” local men to seek foreign wives, who cost less to marry.

Dr Ahmad al-Haddad, Dubai's Grand Mufti, the country's most senior Islamic scholar, wants to restrict foreign marriages to allow only Muslim, Arab spouses, and a maximum age difference of 25 years. For men, it would have to be his first and only wife.

“In Islam, choosing your life partner is a personal freedom,” the Grand Mufti said at a gathering in honour of the holy month of Ramadan. “But personal freedoms can be restricted for the benefit of the public interest.”

His proposals are unlikely to be welcomed, while he may have difficulty persuading Dubai’s ruler to approve his suggestion. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum took a Jordanian princess as his second wife, and would have fallen foul of the new rules. >>>Richard Spencer, Dubai | Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Jimmy Carter reist nach Nordkorea: Einsatz zur Freilassung eines inhaftierten Amerikaners
NZZ ONLINE: Um sich für die Freilassung eines inhaftierten Amerikaners einzusetzen, wird der ehemalige amerikanische Präsident Jimmy Carter nach Nordkorea reisen. Pjongjang wünscht offenbar zu politischen Zwecken einen angesehenen Politiker zu Besuch.

Der frühere amerikanische Präsident Carter wird in den nächsten Tagen nach Nordkorea reisen. Er will sich um die Freilassung eines dort inhaftierten amerikanischen Staatsbürgers bemühen. Carters Reise sei nicht offiziell, berichtete die Webseite der Zeitschrift «Foreign Affairs» am Dienstag. Er werde auch nicht von amerikanischen Regierungsbeamten begleitet.

Carters private Reise erfolgt zu einem Zeitpunkt, da die Beziehungen zwischen Nordkorea und Amerika gespannt sind. Carter, der sich in Nordkorea grossen Ansehens erfreut, könnte bei seiner humanitären Mission auch als Vermittler wirken. >>> Petra Kolonko, Tokio | Mittwoch, 25. August 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Jimmy Carter in Nordkorea eingetroffen: Bemühungen um Freilassung eines Amerikaners >>> ddp | Mittwoch, 25. August 2010

Interview, Sam Solomon, Ottawa June 7, 2010. A Mosque Is a Seat of Government


HT: Always On Watch >>>

Lyon 7e : dans le coma pour un café un jour de ramadan
LE PROGRÈS: Un homme d'origine sénégalaise a été grièvement blessé à la terrasse d'un café, place Gabriel-Péri, par un groupe d'individus qui lui reprochaient de ne pas respecter le jeûne musulman

Un café pris à une terrasse, au troisième jour du ramadan. Voilà ce qui a déclenché une violence inouie. Voilà pourquoi Hamara Diarra, 45 ans, durement touché à la tête, a passé plusieurs jours dans le coma. Il reste dans un état grave à l'hôpital neurologique de Lyon.

La scène remonte au vendredi 13 août, vers 17h00, place Gabriel Péri, à Lyon 7ème. Comme il en a l'habitude, Hamara prend un café avec des amis, sur une petite terrasse, derrière l' arrêt de tram, au tout début de la rue de Marseille. Un jeune homme, "entre 25 et 30 ans" selon un témoin, demande un sandiwch devant un restaurant kebab. Et fait une remarque en direction d'Hamara.

En substance, il lui reproche de prendre un café un jour de ramadan, de ne pas respecter le jeûne musulman. Hamara aurait nettement répondu qu'il pratiquait sa religion selon sa convenance personnelle. Tout dégénère rapidement. Selon un commerçant tout proche, le jeune homme appelle des amis en renfort, au moins trois. Et une pluie de coups s'abat sur l'infortuné quadragénaire. Coups de pied, coups de chaise ? Les versions varient. Le résultat est là : l'homme blessé s'effondre sur le trottoir, secouru de longues minutes avant d'être transporté à l'hôpital. Son sac est même volé au passage. Continuez à lire et réagir à cet article >>> R.S. | Mercredi 25 Août 2010

HT: Jeannot >>>

HT: Vlad Tepes >>>

We Are The World 25 For Haiti - Official Video

Lionel Richie, Tina Turner, Michael Jackson: We Are the World

Lionel Richie: Dancing On The Ceiling

Lionel Richie: Do It To Me
Watch and listen here

Christian's Outreach to Gays: I'm Sorry


CBN.COM: Christian's Outreach to Gays: I'm Sorry: CHICAGO, Ill.-- Andrew Marin is trying to bridge a gap that has widened remarkably in recent years. >>> Heather Sells, CBN News Reporter | Friday, August 20, 2010

Ground Zero Imam's Controversial Comments
FOX NEWS: Audio surfaces of Feisal Abdul Rauf claiming U.S. has more innocent blood on its hands than Al Qaeda

'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam: America Killed More Innocents Than Al Qaeda
FOX NEWS:The controversial imam at the center of the debate over the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero says his goal is to create coalitions across the religious divide, but during a 2005 conference in Australia, he said America may be worse than Al Qaeda.

"We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than Al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims," said Imam Fiesal Abdul Rauf, speaking at the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Center during a question and answer session dedicated to what sponsors say was a dialogue to improve relations between America and the Muslim world.

"You may remember that the U.S.-led sanctions against Iraq led to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. This has been documented by the United Nations," said Rauf, who called himself a spokesman for Islam.

But diplomats and others, including former President Bill Clinton, have said that sentiment is wrong. Saddam Hussein's regime corrupted then-U.N. sanctions and denied humanitarian aid to his own people.

In a Nov. 8, 2000, interview on Pacifica Radio, Clinton said if any child is without food or medicine, then Saddam is to blame because the dictator is "lying to the world and claiming the mean, old United States is killing his children."

During his Australian visit, the imam also said the Arab and Muslim world senses that the West does not care about Muslim lives and their pain and anguish is not heard.

He explained that frustration and emotions can lead to terrorism, actions he condemned. >>> | Tuesday, August 24, 2010

A Mosque at Ground Zero: Not Here, Not Ever
MAIL ONLINE – BLOG – MARY ELLEN SYNON: Islam is a religion of peace and mercy, part 47.

Today in Saudi Arabia, the richest and most influential Islamic state in the world, a Saudi man who was convicted in court of paralysing a fellow countryman is being threatened by the judicial authorities with having his spinal cord cut as an official punishment.

It is Islamic law and Saudi Arabia enforces it: an eye for an eye.

As I write this, the case judge in the north-western province of Tabuk is waiting for replies to the letter he has sent out to several hospitals asking for their advice on whether it is medically possible to slice the spine.

Is the judicial mutilation going to happen? We will have to wait and see. But we do know that ten years ago an Egyptian worker had an eye surgically removed in a Saudi hospital as punishment for disfiguring a fellow worker in an acid attack.

I mention all that because I am going to write about two dust-ups going on in America now, both of them tied to Islam and what Americans are supposed to make of the Muslims in their midst.

Dust-up one is the question of whether a foreign-financed campaigning group of Muslims will be allowed to build a £65m mosque just two blocks from Ground Zero.

Dust-up two is the continuing question of whether or not President Obama is actually a Christian. A poll last week showed that one in four Americans believe he is not. They think he is a Muslim.

Now, the first response from people in this country to either of these issues is predictable. On the question of the mosque, the response is: ‘A mosque is a place of worship and to deny a place of worship to a religion because of a group of terrorists’ links to Islam is offensive. Islam is a religion of peace and mercy. Bin Laden does not represent Islam. He espouses a warped interpretation of Wahhabism.’

‘Warped?’ What, unlike the Wahhabism embraced by the Saudi state? See first paragraph. That ‘unwarped’ interpretation of Wahhabism enforces mutilation and beheading of criminals, execution of homosexuals, stoning of adulterers and violent suppression of all other religions. Sweet mother of Jesus, you’d be hard-pushed to spot just where the line is crossed between warped and unwarped if that sort of barbarity is okay.

We’ll leave that question for the moment and get on to Barack Hussein Obama and whether or not he is a Christian and whether it ought to matter anyway.

The first response to that question by most people in this country is to mock what they believe are the religious obsessions of the American rightwing.

Here’s the problem with that response. It is not the American right who have been making the most influential arguments that Mr Obama is Muslim. They don’t need to. All they have to do is point to arguments which have come instead from powerful Muslims such as President Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, and from intellectuals such as Dr Edward N Luttwak, a military specialist and historian writing in the Democrat New York Times.

The sheer frustration of the White House in all of this is shown in their determination to show that instead it is leading right-wingers such as the broadcaster Rush Limbaugh who are making the accusations.

Which leaves Mr Limbaugh laughing. He has challenged the White House to find any instance in which he said the President was a Muslim. Problem is the President’s staff can’t find a single instance. Continue reading and comment >>> Mary Ellen Synon | Monday, August 23, 2010

Mosque Debate Shines Spotlight on Sharia Law
FOX NEWS: Closer look sacred law advocated by imam behind Ground Zero Islamic center

Beck: Why the Mideast Matters
FOX NEWS: Is the Obama administration fundamentally transforming our relationship with Israel?

Obama's 'Crimes Against Liberty'
FOX NEWS: Author David Limbaugh's explosive new book says president is leading most destructive administration in U.S. history

Now, Why Would 20% of Americans Think Obama Is a Muslim?
AMERICAN THINKER: According to this poll released last week, nearly one in five Americans believe that President Obama is a Muslim, despite his consistent claims to be a Christian. The White House commented that "obviously" the president is a Christian; "he prays every day." Various liberal columnists quickly ran to the president's aid with mouths agape over the obvious stupidity of this sizable chunk of the American peasant class.

The only thing truly obvious about this poll, in my opinion, is that it was meant to be a distraction from the growing, across-all-strata anger at the president's policies, a still-gloomy economy and a widely held perception of the president as a lazy man who much prefers the perks of high office to the actual work required of the office holder. So, Pew decided to provide a neat little piñata of supposed stupidity at which the liberal-elitist media could poke with holier-than-thou glee.

Obviously, however, these petulant liberal columnists did not bother to do their homework. From their every rant so far over the persistence of the Obama-Is-Muslim perception, it's clear that none of them have looked at this with anything but the most shallow objective. Obama says he's a Christian; therefore he is.

Ah, but the perception that he is a Muslim persists. Now, why might that be?

Let me count the reasons... Continue reading and comment >>> Kyle-Anne Shiver | Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mosque Debate Fuels Muslim Fury
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: BEIRUT: The heated debate across America over the construction of the so-called ''ground zero mosque'' is reverberating across the world, with the potential to create serious diplomatic problems for the US.

Many Muslims abroad are upset by the debate, largely conducted by non-Muslims, which has grown so loud as to become a topic of discussion from Baghdad to Berlin.
…

Some Muslims say it is a bad idea to construct the building so close to the site of the Twin Towers, whose destruction on September 11, 2001, at the hands of 19 Muslim extremists is etched into the minds of people all over the world.

''Building a mosque there will increase hatred between Muslims and non-Muslims in the west,'' said Gamal Awad, a professor at Cairo's Al-Azhar University. ''It will further connect Islam with a horrible event.''

…

>>> Borzou Daragahi | Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Hitler 'Had Jewish and African Roots', DNA Tests Show
THE TELEGRAPH: Adolf Hitler is likely to have had Jewish and African roots, DNA tests have shown.

Saliva samples taken from 39 relatives of the Nazi leader show he may have had biological links to the “subhuman” races that he tried to exterminate during the Holocaust.

Jean-Paul Mulders, a Belgian journalist, and Marc Vermeeren, a historian, tracked down the Fuhrer’s relatives, including an Austrian farmer who was his cousin, earlier this year.

A chromosome called Haplogroup E1b1b1 which showed up in their samples is rare in Western Europe and is most commonly found in the Berbers of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as among Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.

"One can from this postulate that Hitler was related to people whom he despised," Mr Mulders wrote in the Belgian magazine, Knack. >>> Heidi Blake | Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Verhärtete Fronten beim Ground Zero: Gouverneur bringt Alternativstandort für Moschee ins Spiel
NZZ ONLINE: Nach den Demonstrationen für und gegen eine geplante Moschee beim Ground Zero bleiben die Fronten in New York verhärtet.

Für Gila Barzavi ist es schlicht unvorstellbar. Ganz in der Nähe von Ground Zero in New York, wo vor neun Jahren ihr Sohn Guy ums Leben kam, planen Muslime den Bau einer Moschee. «Das ist heiliger Boden und es ist der Ort, an dem mein Sohn beerdigt wurde», sagt die gebürtige Israelin aus dem Stadtteil Queens. Die Moschee, so sagt sie, wäre «wie ein Messer in unseren Herzen». >>> ddp | Montag, 23. August 2010

Mosquée de Ground Zero : 
la polémique enfle
LE FIGARO: Des manifestants se sont fait face dimanche soir à New York. Le débat affecte la popularité de Barack Obama.

La place de l'islam dans la société américaine est-elle en passe de devenir un sujet majeur de la campagne pour les élections de mi-mandat du 2 novembre? Ils étaient plusieurs centaines à s'invectiver dimanche à New York, séparés par un cordon de policiers. «Pas de mosquée!», criaient les uns, reprenant des chants patriotiques et brandissant des affiches où le mot «charia» apparaissait en lettres dégoulinantes de peinture rouge sang. «Peu importe ce que les bigots disent, les musulmans sont bienvenus», scandait l'autre groupe de manifestants. >>> | Lundi 23 Août 2010

In Controversial Mosque, Young Muslims Pray for Understanding
TIME: Young students and professionals who pray at the Park51 mosque, two blocks from Ground Zero, defend the controversial site

Australian Leaders Compete for Independents
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition leader Tony Abbott compete for the support of independent MPs, as the nation remains in political limbo. Video courtesy of Reuters.

News Hub: Why Some Couples Sleep in Separate Beds
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The National Sleep Foundation says 25 percent of American couples sleep in separate beds. Elizabeth Bernstein takes a look at some of the reasons why.

Mosque Dispute Sparks NYC Rallies
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Supporters and opponents of a proposed Muslim cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center site staged competing rallies in downtown Manhattan. Video courtesy of Fox News.

Oman’s 40-year Transformation
CNN: As Oman celebrates four decades of rule under Sultan Qaboos, Rima Maktabi looks at what's in store for its future.

Muslim Women Who Wear the Hijab and Niqab
CNN: Nadia and Aliya, two Muslim American women who cover themselves in adherence to their faith's promotion of modesty, explain their choice.

A Look at Women’s Wear in Indonesia
CNN: A look at high fashion in Indonesia, with the Muslim culture in mind.

Wife of Ground Zero Mosque Imam Speaks Out on US 'Hate of Muslims'
THE TELEGRAPH: The wife of the imam behind the proposed Islamic cultural centre near the Ground Zero site of the September 11th terrorist attacks has compared the treatment of Muslims in America to discrimination against Jews.

'It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia - it's hate of Muslims' said Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Photo: The Telegraph
"This is like a metastasized anti-Semitism," said Daisy Khan, wife of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. "That's what we feel right now. It's not even Islamophobia, it's beyond Islamophobia - it's hate of Muslims. And we are deeply concerned."

Miss Khan, whose husband is travelling outside the United States on a tour partly funded by the US State Department, insisted that the centre - now being called Park51 - would be built as planned despite fierce opposition from many New Yorkers and calls for an alternative site to be considered.

"Of course, it has to go ahead," she told ABC News. "There's so much at stake." >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Monday, August 23, 2010

'Ground Zero' Imam on Mideast Tour
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The imam behind the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero surfaced yesterday far from the controversy -- in Bahrain, where he's on a U.S. taxpayer-funded trip to the Middle East to spread good will, The New York Post reported Saturday. Video Courtesy of Fox News.

Insult: A Time magazine poll released last week also revealed that more than 70 per cent of those questioned believed that to build the mosque would insult the memory of victims. Photograph: Mail Online
Hundreds of Protesters Rally Outside Ground Zero Mosque... and Sing Along to Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA
MAIL ONLINE: Hundreds of protesters rallied near the site of a proposed mosque and Muslim community centre near Ground Zero in New York yesterday.

A crowd of demonstrators against the project stood behind police barricades three blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Bruce Springsteen's anti-war song Born In The USA blared over loudspeakers as patriotic mosque opponents chanted, 'No mosque, no way!

Brooklyn plumber Steve Ayling says the people who want to build the project are the same ones who 'took down the twin towers.'

Nearby, several hundred people who support the mosque chanted: 'Muslims are welcome here. We say no to racist fear.'

The proposed £70million mosque has ignighted furious debate. (+ video) >>> Mail Foreign Service | Moonday, August 23, 2010

Anti-Muslim Rally at Ground Zero


Dueling Protests over Ground Zero Mosque
Watch video here

Australian Election: Dollar Falls at Prospect of Hung Parliament
THE TELEGRAPH: The Australian dollar has fallen as the markets react to the prospect of a hung parliament following the weekend’s inconclusive election.

Tony Abbott, opposition leader and Julia Gillard, Australia's Prime Minister. Photos: The Telegraph
Saturday’s cliff-hanger general election has left the incumbent Labour Party with 70 seats and the Liberal-National Coalition with 72 seat in the House of Representatives – well short of the 76 seats needed to form a government.

Julia Gillard, the current Labour prime minister, and Tony Abbott, leader of the opposition are currently trying to win over the support of the three new independent MPs and one Green Party MP – each claiming to have the moral right to form government. The Greens already hold the balance of power in the Senate, Australia’s upper house.

But it could be up to 10 days before a final result is known. If neither Ms Gillard nor Mr Abbott is able to stitch together a working arrangement with the independents and Greens, the country could have to go straight back to the polls to settle the matter. >>> Mark Chipperfield, Sydney | Monday, August 23, 2010

American Soldier, Convert to Islam, Teaching Taliban Fighters Bomb-making Skills
MAIL ON SUNDAY: A captured American soldier is training Taliban fighters bomb-making and ambush skills, according to one of his captors and Afghan intelligence officials.

Private Bowe Bergdahl disappeared in June 2009 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is thought to be the only U.S. serviceman in captivity.

The 24-year-old has converted to Islam and now has the Muslim name Abdullah, one of his captors told The Sunday Times.

A Taliban deputy district commander in Paktika, who called himself Haji Nadeem, told the newspaper that Bergdahl taught him how to dismantle a mobile phone and turn it into a remote control for a roadside bomb.

Nadeem claimed he also received basic ambush training from the U.S. soldier.

'Most of the skills he taught us we already knew,' he said. 'Some of my comrades think he's pretending to be a Muslim to save himself so they wouldn't behead him.' Taliban claim captured U.S. solider has converted to Islam and is teaching its fighters bomb-making skills >>> Mail Foreign Service | Sunday, August 22, 2010

An American Convert to Islam Speaks! : قصة أمريكي اعتنق الإسلام

Unmarried Malaysian Muslim Civil Servants Face Eviction from Government Housing
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Malaysian Islamic authorities have been evicting unmarried Muslim civil servants from government-owned housing if they are caught with their partners alone in a private place, according to reports.

A couple holds hands at the side of a street in Putrajaya, Malaysia. Muslims have been evicted from their homes under a campaign to rid Putrajaya of activities deemed immoral under Malaysian Islamic laws. Photograph: The Sunday Telegraph
Several Muslims have been evicted from their homes in government quarters under a campaign launched early this year to rid the country’s administrative capital Putrajaya of activities deemed immoral under Malaysian Islamic laws, the New Straits Times reported.

Che Mat Che Ali, director of the Federal Territory Islamic Affairs Department, said: “It may seem harsh but we want the people of Putrajaya to know that we take this matter seriously.”

He said those caught by Islamic morality police were hauled up in court and then asked to move out. >>> | Sunday, August 22, 2010

NY Mosque Imam: US Rights in Line with True Islam
ASSOCIATED PRESS: MANAMA, Bahrain — The imam spearheading plans for an Islamic center near the New York site of the Sept. 11 attacks says America's sweeping constitutional rights are more in line with Islamic principles than the limits imposed by some Muslim nations.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told the Al Wasat newspaper in Bahrain that the freedoms enshrined by the U.S. Constitution also reflect true Muslim values. >>> AP | Sunday, August 22, 2010

Does Barack Obama Want to Be Re-elected in 2012?
THE TELEGRAPH: Few Americans consider themselves bigger than the presidency but Obama might be one of them. The man in the Oval Office, argues Toby Harnden, may already be preparing for a role as a post-president in a post-American world.

When David Plouffe, President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager, wrote recently that his former boss was "not concerned with his re-election", there was predictable scepticism.

After all, it has long been a truism that every politician wants to cling to power and a reality that presidential campaigns are planned years in advance. Pronouncements about not looking at polls and concentrating on getting things done are, moreover, standard fare from poll-driven, election-obsessed politicians and their apparatchiks.

In this case, however, Plouffe may inadvertently be onto something. Almost everything Obama does these days suggests that he doesn't care much about being re-elected. Strange as it might seem, perhaps he wants to be a one-term president.

Obama was elected in 2008 at an extraordinary moment in American politics. Suddenly, this charismatic figure, elected to the Senate without serious opposition in 2004 and without any executive experience, was catapulted into the White House.

His presidential bid had been based on the power of his life story and his ability with the spoken word. Doubtless he was as surprised as anyone else that he pulled it off. Governing has been altogether more difficult for him and there are signs he is already tiring of it.

Obama's intervention on the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" issue is a case in point. There was no need for him to get involved - the Islamic community centre two blocks from the 9/11 site is unlikely to get built and there was no political advantage in his making a statement.

What he said about religious freedom was typically Obama - high-minded, principled and legalistic. He is, after all, a former constitutional law professor. What his words lacked were any real empathy with what Americans felt and practical considerations about resolving the issue - never mind the political downside for him. >>> | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Australia Faces Hung Parliament as Julia Gillard's Labor Party Suffers Losses
THE OBSERVER: Labor lead shrinks thanks to strong opposition campaign, climate change concerns – and anger at treachery over Kevin Rudd

Labor leader Julia Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson leave the stage after an election night event in Melbourne. Photograph: The Observer
Australia looked to be heading for a hung parliament on Saturday night after one of the closest elections in decades.

After five weeks of bitter, negative campaigning, neither Labor, the current government, nor the conservative opposition Liberal party looked like they would be able to form a government in their own right. It appeared that both parties would have to rely on others in the lower house of parliament.

Labor can expect the support of the first-ever Green member, and probably also a former Green turned independent, who seemed likely to win a seat.

The Liberal party would have to rely on three other independents, two of whom have had links to the conservative National party, which is part of the opposition coalition. It may be days before the final outcome is known.

Whoever forms a government, it is clear that the big winners are the Greens. In addition to their seat in the lower house, they will control the balance of power in the upper house, the senate. They look set to win 12% of the vote nationally, 50% more than last time. They could also double their seats in the combined houses of parliament.

For Labor, the outcome is a disappointment. Yesterday, the party's leader, Julia Gillard, addressed the faithful – in what she had hoped would be a victory speech – with the words of Bill Clinton, saying: "The people have spoken, but it's going to take a little while to determine what they've said." Gillard said she would continue to lead the government until the result was clear. In an apparent appeal to the independents, she laid out her "good track record" of working with them in the house and senate. >>> Alison Rourke in Sydney | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Clay Abu Tariq: Allah Guides Whoever He Wills

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights Group Urges Authorities to Flog Crime Suspect Instead of Imposing Spinal Cord Punishment
LOS ANGELES TIMES – Babylon & Beyond: You know a country's human rights situation is bad when even Amnesty International is urging that a guy be methodically whipped or caned on his back as a compromise to avoid an even harsher sentence.

Human rights monitors have grown alarmed over the case of a Saudi man who might have his spinal cord severed as punishment for badly injuring another guy during a fight a few years ago.

Amnesty International has urged Saudi Arabian authorities not to deliberately paralyze the man as a form of retribution for injuries he allegedly caused with a cleaver during a fight.

"We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities not to carry out such a punishment, which amounts to nothing less than torture," Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, acting director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa Program, said in a statement. "While those guilty of a crime should be held accountable, intentionally paralyzing a man in this way would constitute torture, and be a breach of its international human rights obligations." >>> Los Angeles Times | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Nils von Bergner spricht über seinen Weg zum Islam

Now Muslim Miss USA Says DON'T Build Mosque Near Ground Zero
MAIL ONLINE: The growing movement against the building of a mosque near Ground Zero has gained another prominent supporter: the first Muslim Miss USA.

Rima Fakih, 24, the daughter of Lebanese immigrants and a Muslim, criticised the location of the planned £70 million Islamic Cultural Center planned just two blocks away from Ground Zero.

'It shouldn't be so close to the World Trade Center,' Fakih, 24, told Inside Edition during a break from the Miss Universe pageant preparations in Las Vegas.

'We should be more concerned with the tragedy than religion.'

After wading into the highly-charged political issue, the Michigan-born Fakih then went on to support President Obama's statement on the constitutional rights of religious freedom.

'I totally agree with President Obama with (that) statement,' said Fakih.

Meanwhile growing number of New York construction workers are vowing not to work on the mosque planned near Ground Zero, according to the New York Daily News.

'It's a very touchy thing because they want to do this on sacred ground,' said Dave Kaiser, 38, a blaster who is working to rebuild the World Trade Center site.

The grass-roots movement is gaining momentum on the Internet, says the Daily News. One construction worker created the Hard Hat Pledge on his blog and asked others to vow not to work on the project if it stays in its current location.

'Thousands of people are signing up from all over the country,' said creator Andy Sullivan, a construction worker from Brooklyn.

'People who sell glass, steel, lumber, insurance. They are all refusing to do work if they build there. >>> Mail Foreign Correspondent | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Erection of a Muslim Mosque at Ground Zero Is an Insult to All Americans
CANADA FREE PRESS: Since the very first mention of the erection of a Muslim Mosque almost on top of the ground desecrated by Muslims in an attack to destroy Amerrica’s financial capabilities by fire-bombing the World Trade Center’s two skyscraper buildings, Obama and his favorite people on earth, the Muslims, have been lying about their plans for the new edifice.

These people have gotten accustomed to good, honest and hard-working Americans bending over backwards to accommodate their repulsive and insanely demanding dictates on how WE should behave toward THEM in OUR country.

Since Barack Hussein Obama usurped our presidency by failing to provide LEGITIMATE proof of his “natural born residency” the Islamic faith followers have considered America to be THEIR country. Obama has practically said so in many instances, particularly in speeches given in foreign countries alluding to “America being a Muslim country and not Christian.”

I don’t know about you, but I have had it up to here with this sort of balderdash and outright lies coming from the man who is pretending to be our leader. He is not a leader; he is a follower; a follower of a foreign religious faith that has as its primary goal the total destruction of the United States of America.

Barack Hussein Obama is the biggest enemy we have in this country. And he is slowly and deceitfully building an army of Muslim followers who will one day swoop down on us and try to physically destroy us and what we have held dear for over 234 years.

The sad part of this whole scenario is the fact that millions, yes I said millions, of deluded American citizens think that Obama is actually good for this country. He still polls about FORTY percent of our people as believing he is doing a good job as president. Where are their brains? These gullible fools will be rudely awakened one day to the truth; but it will be too late at that point to save them and us. >>> Jerry McConnell | Saturday, August 21, 2010

CANADA FREE PRESS: Obama Akbar: The media is all worked up over a poll that shows the majority of Americans don’t think Obama is a Christians [sic] and nearly a 1/4 of Americans think that Obama is a Muslim. Naturally the “mainstream” conservative blogs are embarrassed by these results. Politico is calling it a new Birtherism. Left unasked is the question of why people might think that. >>> Daniel Greenfield | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Fact-Checking the AP ‘Fact Check’ On the Ground Zero Mosque
BIG JOURNALISM: Stop the presses! This just in: The Associated Press “standards center” has issued a “staff advisory” on covering what is to be known from here on out as “the New York City mosque.” From now on, the AP “staff” – and, therefore, everybody who still actually reads newspapers that still actually use the wire service’s copy – is supposed to conform to what amounts to the Muslim Brotherhood narrative about the Islamic cultural center formerly known as the “Ground Zero mosque.”

AP’s Deputy Managing Editor for Standards and Production, Tom Kent, sent this “guidance” out to his colleagues, with inputs from Chad Roedemeier in the New York bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington: “We should continue to avoid the phrase ‘Ground Zero mosque’ or ‘mosque at Ground Zero’ on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at Ground Zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” Ground Zero, or two blocks away.”

Interestingly, among those who formerly used the now-proscribed descriptor “Ground Zero mosque” is none other than Feisal Abdul Rauf, its imam and chief promoter. He called it that even though the proposed venue has always been two blocks away from the World Trade Center site.

Perhaps Rauf used this moniker because his planned location for the mosque was part of the real estate attacked and damaged on 9/11 – the home of the Burlington Coat Factory until it was struck by a landing gear from a plane that struck one of the Twin Towers. Perhaps he used that term to brand his “Cordoba House” because body parts from the victims of those attacks have been found all over Lower Manhattan, including the old Burlington factory area, making it part of the hallowed ground.

Or perhaps, Imam Rauf called his project the Ground Zero mosque because he wanted to associate his 15-story, $100 million complex as closely as possible to the location where nearly 3,000 Americans and other innocent people – precisely because they were murdered there by people who wanted, as he does, to “bring shariah to America.”

The last explanation would certainly conform to the triumphalist past practice of adherents to shariah, the barbaric, totalitarian political program that masquerades as a religion. Indeed, there is a tradition of constructing mosques at the site of previous Islamic conquests for example in Jerusalem, Istanbul and Cordoba, Spain. Yes, it was for Cordoba – where a Catholic church was converted into the world’s third largest mosque by the Moorish conquerors of Spain – that Rauf wanted initially to name his Ground Zero mosque. Read on and comment >>> Frank Gaffney | Friday, August 20, 2010

HT: Jihad Watch >>>

Lockerbie Bombing: US Calls for Megrahi to Be Returned to Jail
THE TELEGRAPH: The United States has made an impassioned plea for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, to be returned to jail.

The Obama administration used the anniversary of the bomber's release on compassionate grounds – because he had advanced prostate cancer – to condemn the decision.

The US president's office said it had advised Libyan officials of its view that Megrahi should not be free.

John Brennan, Barack Obama's counter-terrorism adviser, criticised the "unfortunate and inappropriate and wrong decision."

He said: "We've expressed our strong conviction that Al Megrahi should serve out the remainder – the entirety – of his sentence in a Scottish prison."

Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, said that a "cloud of suspicion" hung over the decision to release Megrahi, who is now living with his family in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. >>> Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Iran '12 Months From Nuclear Weapon', US Warns
THE TELEGRAPH: The US sought to reassure Israel that Iran is still a year away from building a nuclear weapon, as Iran's leadership hailed the fuelling of its first nuclear power plant on Saturday.

Iran's Nuclear Chief Ali Akbar Salehi. Photo: The Telegraph
Iranian television showed live pictures of Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi and his Russian counterpart watching a fuel rod assembly being prepared for insertion into the reactor at Bushehr.

"Despite all the pressures, sanctions and hardships imposed by Western nations, we are now witnessing the start-up of the largest symbol of Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Mr Salehi told a news conference afterwards. He described the plant as "a symbol of Iranian resistance and patience". >>> Agency in Tehran and Telegraph reporter | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Which Islam Will Prevail in America?
NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: That is the real question at hand in the Ground Zero mosque debate.

The real battle for religious freedom lurks beneath the Ground Zero mosque controversy. It is sadly ironic that our public debate presents the mosque proponents as the partisans of liberty: That includes everyone from imam Feisal Rauf, the project’s sharia-touting sponsor, to President Obama, Mayor Bloomberg, and the rest of the Islamist-smitten Left, to the GOP’s own anti-anti-terrorist wing. Yet, wittingly or not, when they champion this mosque and its sponsors, it is the agenda of an alien and authoritarian Islam that they champion — an Islam against which many American Muslims chafe.

When it comes to liberty, no one in this society has been given a wider berth than the Islamists, the purveyors of this authoritarian Islam, which is the mainstream Islam of the Middle East. Their vise grip on the American Muslim community has been cinched for two decades by the government, the media, and the academy. For our post-American ruling class, “Islamic outreach” means prostituting themselves for Saudi largesse; it means putting the “moderate” label on the Muslim Brotherhood — the Saudi-backed saboteurs whose American operatives boldly promise to “eliminate and destroy Western Civilization from within.”

The victims of this lethal charade include American Muslims. They, too, crave religious liberty and Western enlightenment. Our elites abandon them to the sharia-mongers. That freedom destroyers have been allowed to pose as freedom defenders ought to tell mosque opponents something: We have done a poor job of explaining the stakes. >>> Andrew C. McCarthy | Saturday, August 21, 2010

Top American Surgeon Embraced Islam: "I Was Trying Very Hard to Be a Christian"


The Level Truth >>>

Eighth Scroll >>>

Shaykh Mohammad Al Yaqoubi:

Hamza Yusuf Interview: BBC Hardtalk 2001
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The US Blogger On A Mission to Halt 'Islamic Takeover'
THE GUARDIAN: New York blogger Pamela Geller is a key force in the campaign to stop Islamic centre near Ground Zero

Pamela Geller jokes on a video blog about being dressed 'in my burka' while warning of Islamic 'world domination'. Photograph: The Guardian
Pamela Geller is on a mission to save the free world and she's doing it, on this occasion, in a bikini as she writhes around in the sea.

"Here I am in my chador, my burka," Geller jokes to the camera in one of a string of video blogs campaigning against Islamic "world domination" shortly before kicking back in the waves. "There is a serious reality check desperately needed here in America and I'm here to give it to you, but I'm just not ginormous enough. What can I say? And on that note I'm going to go swimming in the ocean, and visit my mama, and fight for the free world."

This strange performance might suggest that Geller is a figure consigned to the margins of the widening and increasingly heated debate about the role of Muslims in America. Far from it.

The flamboyant New Yorker, who appears on her own website pictured in a tight fitting Superman uniform, has emerged as a leading force in a growing and ever more alarmist campaign against the supposed threat of an Islamic takeover at home and global jihad abroad – and never more so than in the present bitter dispute over plans to build an Islamic centre near the site of the World Trade Centre, brought down by al-Qaida.

Geller has been at the forefront of drumming up opposition to the centre, two blocks from Ground Zero, through an array of websites such as the Freedom Defence Initiative (FDI) and Stop Islamisation of America (SIOA). They have become increasingly influential as conservative politicians exploit anti-Muslim sentiment before November's congressional and state elections.

SIOA is behind a series of advertisements opposing the "Ground Zero Mega Mosque", as Geller calls it, which appeared on the sides of New York buses this week picturing a plane flying into one of the World Trade Centre towers and a mosque divided by the question: Why Here?

Geller's answer is that the planned centre is viewed by Muslims as a "triumphal" monument built on "conquered land".

As extreme as that may seem, Geller and her views have been embraced by leading politicians such as Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the US House of Representatives, and John Bolton, the conservative former US ambassador to the UN, who are scheduled to speak at a rally against the controversial New York Islamic centre organised by Geller for September 11.

Gingrich this week likened the planned centre to putting Nazi signs outside the Holocaust museum. >>> Chris McGreal in Washington | Friday, August 20, 2010

Home Secretary Bans English Defence League March in Bradford
THE TELEGRAPH: Theresa May, the Home Secretary, has authorised a blanket ban on marches in a city on the day of a planned protest by the English Defence League (EDL), an [sic] right-wing campaign group.

The EDL had intended to demonstrate in Bradford on Saturday August 28 and Unite Against Fascism has planned a protest in the city on the same day.

A Home Office spokesman said: ''Having carefully balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, the Home Secretary today gave her consent to a Bradford Council order banning any marches in the city over the bank holiday weekend. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Iran Broadcasts Missile Launch on State Television
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran has test fired a surface-to-surface missile, according to the country’s defence minister.



Ahmad Vahidi’s announcement comes a day before Iran is scheduled to launch its Russian-built first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.

Television images showed the sand coloured Qiam (Rising) blasting into the air from a desert terrain, amid chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

The words “Ya Mahdi” were written on the side of the missile, referring to Imam Mahdi, one of the 12 imams of Shiite Islam, who disappeared as a boy and whom the faithful believe will return one day to bring redemption to mankind.

Mr Vahidi, who was speaking during Friday prayers in Tehran, did not say when the launch took place nor did he disclose the precise range of the missile. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Pakistan to Clamp Down on Charities Linked to Militants
THE TELEGRAPH: Pakistan has threatened to arrest charities linked to Islamist militants amid fears their role in delivering aid to flood victims could undermine the fight against extremists.

Islamist charities, some with alleged links to terrorists who carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks, have moved swiftly to fill a void left by a government overwhelmed by a disaster that has left eight million people in desperate need of help. >>> Rob Crilly, Islamabad | Friday, August 20, 2010

Nick Clegg: Coalition Will Go On Even Without Electoral Reform
THE GUARDIAN: Liberal Democrat leader says reform of electoral system, always a central plank of party's policy, is not his 'sole purpose in life'

Nick Clegg says reform of the electoral system is not his 'sole purpose in life'. Photograph: The Guardian
Nick Clegg today risked the anger of the Liberal Democrat grassroots by suggesting he would not abandon the coalition with the Tories even if the key plans for electoral reform were blocked.

In a radio interview to be broadcast this weekend, the Lib Dem leader declared that reform of the electoral system, which has always been a central plank of the party's policy, was not his "sole purpose in life".

The comments came at the end of a week in which Clegg provoked unease among some within his party for agreeing with the appointment of Philip Green, the Top Shop boss whose tax affairs have been questioned, to advise on public sector cuts.

In the interview with Radio 4's Westminster Hour, the Lib Dem leader rejected suggestions that his party was being damaged by the alliance with the Tories, insisting no one would be taking "any notice" of the Lib Dems if they were not in government. >>> Staff and agencies | Friday, August 20, 2010

THE GUARDIAN: Leon Brittan, Tory who discovered Nick Clegg, returns to politics after 24 years: Coalition asks former home secretary, who gave Lib Dem leader job in Brussels, to return to frontline as a paid trade advisor >>> Allegra Stratton, political correspondent | Thursday, August 19, 2010

Volksinitiative für Todesstrafe: Drastische Sanktion bei «Mord mit sexuellem Missbrauch»
NZZ ONLINE: Eine neue Volksinitiative verlangt die Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe bei «Mord mit sexuellem Missbrauch». Der Text ist noch nicht veröffentlicht. Die Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention verbietet die Todesstrafe.

Ein Initiativkomitee hat vor einem Monat eine Volksinitiative mit dem Titel «Todesstrafe bei Mord mit sexuellem Missbrauch» bei der Bundeskanzlei zur formellen Vorprüfung eingereicht. Laut Marcel Graf, Mitglied des Initiativkomitees, hat die Bundeskanzlei die formelle Vorprüfung vorgenommen. Diese sei positiv ausgefallen. Dies würde bedeuten, dass der Initiativtext demnächst im Bundesblatt veröffentlicht wird und danach mit der Unterschriftensammlung begonnen werden kann. Nach Informationen der NZZ ist diese Aussage korrekt.

Die Diskussionen um die Gültigkeit und die Umsetzbarkeit von Volksinitiativen haben in letzter Zeit zugenommen, besonders im Falle der Verwahrungs-, der Anti-Minarett- und der Ausschaffungsinitiative. Die neue Volksinitiative für die Wiedereinführung der Todesstrafe bei Sexualverbrechen wirft ebenfalls rechtsstaatliche Fragen auf. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar hinterlassen >>> Peter Eggenberger | Donnerstag, 19. August 2010

Retour de la peine de mort en Suisse: initiative lancée?
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: CRIMES SEXUELS | Une initiative pour le rétablissement de la peine de mort en Suisse serait sur le point d'être lancée. Elle vise à sanctionner les meurtres avec violence sexuelle.

L'information a été donné vendredi par la NZZ. Le texte de l'initiative a pour objectif de restaurer la peine capitale pour les meurtres avec violence sexuelle. >>>
Rédaction online | Vendredi 20 Août 2010

Abu Adam: Die Liebe zu unserem Propheten Muhammed

Jakarta Introduces Women-only Carriages in Trains
THE TELEGRAPH: Women-only train carriages have been introduced this week in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, in an attempt to avert groping and sexual harassment on packed commuter trains.

Women can choose to board the female-only, orange and pink-seated carriages at the front and rear of trains in Jakarta, the latest in a growing number of cities to offer women-only services.

The state-owned railway operator, PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), said it had not received many complaints about sexual harassment but the company had noticed that many women avoided densely-packed trains.

"The women-only carriages are aimed to make women feel comfortable," an official at PT KAI said.

PT KAI is now providing 20 female-only carriages and plans to add more in the next three months. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Saudi Judge 'Asks Hospital to Paralyse Man as Punishment'
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi judge has asked several hospitals to paralyse a man by damaging his spinal cord as punishment after he was convicted of attacking another man, the brother of the victim said on Thursday.

Abdul-Aziz al-Mutairi, 22, was left paralysed and subsequently lost a foot after a fight more than two years ago.

He asked a judge in north-western Tabuk province to impose an equivalent punishment on his attacker, his brother Khaled al-Mutairi told The Associated Press.

He claimed one of the hospitals, located in Tabuk, responded that it was possible to damage the spinal cord, but it added that the operation would have to be done at another more specialised facility.

Saudi newspapers reported that a second hospital in the capital Riyadh declined, apparently on ethical grounds, saying it could not inflict such harm.

Administrative offices of two of the hospitals and the sharia court in Tabuk were closed for the Saudi weekend beginning on Thursday and could not be reached for comment. >>> | Friday, August 20, 2010

Libya Has Made Fools of Us All Over Lockerbie Bomber Megrahi, and Much Else Besides
THE TELEGRAPH: Gaddafi was playing Tony Blair long before the release of the Lockerbie bomber, argues Con Coughlin.

It doesn't matter how much money BP stands to make from its deep-water exploration off the Libyan coast – it is never going to compensate for the humiliation Britain has suffered over last year's decision to repatriate the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi.

Britain's leading oil company says it has postponed plans to drill its first deep-water well in Libya's Gulf of Sirte until later in the year, because of the concerns that have been raised by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. But that is not the only reason BP is holding fire: its senior executives fear that if work commences just as Megrahi is celebrating his first year of freedom, it would further infuriate the members of the US Senate who are already demanding a full Congressional inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Megrahi's release.

The fact of the matter is that Megrahi, according to what we were told at the time, should not be alive, and certainly not the subject of the sickening spectacle that has been arranged today by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator's son and political heir. This will see 500 teenagers, flown in from around the world at vast expense, acting as guests of honour at a ceremony to mark the one-year anniversary of Megrahi's return home from his Scottish prison cell.

Precisely what role BP played in securing Megrahi's release, or what bearing this had on its $900 million oil exploration contract, remains unclear. The company says it did no more than lobby the Scottish Parliament for a prisoner swap. But many senior officials in the Obama administration believe that BP was more deeply involved. They point to the role played by Sir Mark Allen, a former senior MI6 officer who headed the negotiations that persuaded Libya to stop work on its nuclear weapons programme, in late 2003, and wrote to the Foreign Office seeking Megrahi's release.

The lenient approach that Scottish officials adopted in dealing with Megrahi's case, in which no serious assessment appears to have been made of the terrorist's medical condition, certainly fits with the approach that Tony Blair encouraged British officials to adopt towards Libya following the nuclear deal. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi might remain one of the region's less appealing dictators, but that did not prevent Mr Blair from working tirelessly to bring him in from the diplomatic cold. Continue reading and comment >>> Con Coughlin | Friday, August 20, 2010

Romanian and Loving Islam

Muhammad in the Bible
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