Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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Tuesday, February 05, 2008
YNET NEWS: New website for religious gay community launched last week. Founders struggle to juggle both identities, seek to garner legitimacy within the greater religious community
They appealed to rabbis, petitioned the press, and tried to raise awareness through movies and plays. Now the religious gay community is establishing a website in an attempt to yet again try and touch base with the religious world, which has condemned them at best, and shunned them at worst.
Last week the religious organization HOD (an acronym for religious gays in Hebrew) launched what they described as the “first independent website run by and intended for the gay and lesbian religious community.”
This new website is far from being stereotypically ‘gay’: alongside kippa clad figures under a bright sky painted in the colors of the ‘gay pride’ flag, the site also features articles on halachic issues as well as a page on the weekly Torah portion. Like many other sites, the HOD site also allows for some virtual Q&A. “Users can contact Rabbi R. regarding halachic concerns either by telephone or through the following link,” states the website.
Jewish thought thus clearly abounds on the site. As for gay pride, it is still a difficult notion. The site managers, as well as the aforementioned rabbi, still staunchly refuse to disclose their identity. ’A gay person cannot become straight’ >>> By Kobi Nahshoni
YNET NEWS:
Travel: Jerusalem proudly presents By Nuit Felter
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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NIS NEWS BULLETIN: THE HAGUE, 05/02/08 - The abrasive debate on Islam in the Netherlands is teaching Muslims to look at themselves critically, Social Affairs State Secretary Ahmed Aboutaleb believes. In this respect, he sees positive effects from the politics of Party for Freedom (PVV) leader Geert Wilders.
In a short film in March, Wilders wants to present his view that the Koran is a fascist book. The politician managed to attract a substantial portion of the electorate to himself in a short period with his anti-Islam agenda. But "Muslims themselves have made him big," Aboutaleb considers. State Secretary Sees Positive Effect of Wlders’ Politics >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE TELEGRAPH: Four weeks ago, the Bishop of Rochester, Michael Nazir-Ali, expressed on these pages his concern at the lack of integration into British society of some Muslim communities living here. He has since received an enormous amount of support from private individuals for his remarks - as well as death threats from fanatics who said they would kill him unless he stopped criticising the religion of Islam (something which he insisted he was not doing).
The most striking aspect of the response to his article, however, has not been that bigoted and offensive reaction from a small number: it has been the almost complete silence from the Government on the issues he raised. Despite recent claims by ministers that they want to revise the policy of multiculturalism, and that they wish for a vigorous national debate on what should replace it, their reaction to this - and indeed to all other attempts to generate debate - has been deafening silence. You could be forgiven for thinking there is a conspiracy to prevent discussion of the issues that the bishop, and millions of other Britons, are so concerned about.
The official reluctance to confront those issues acts far more effectively than death threats to suppress their discussion. Yet questions of immigration and integration are amongst the most critically important faced by Britain. As we report today, thousands of women in Britain are being beaten, bullied, intimidated and indeed sometimes murdered by members of their own families - and it is being done in the name of their religion and of "traditional values". An investigation by the Centre for Social Cohesion has established that whole communities have been involved in suppressing their female members' wholly legitimate desire to marry whom they choose, to follow careers of their own, and to dress and live according to their own will, rather than at the command of a male relative. A deafening silence that betrays our values >>>
Hat tip: Jim Ball
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
NEWSTATESMAN: What's going wrong for the man who would be president? Our US editor Andrew Stephen reports from Washington. Plus Joe Treasure among California's Clinton lovers
We at the New Statesman must take some of the blame, I suppose. Barack Obama had been a senator for just ten months in 2005 when we devoted a cover to his face, anointing him as one of ten people likely to have an impact on the world. It was only during 2007, however, that the American media fell head-over-heels in love with Obama; when he trounced Hillary Clinton in the Democratic party caucuses in Iowa on 3 January, it seemed that the electorate was swooning in a headlong rush to the altar with Obama, too. By the end of the first week of the '08 presidential election year, the media had all but handed over the keys to the White House to him.
So it all came as a shock to the pundits and pollsters on the night of 8 January when, despite predictions of an overwhelming Obama triumph, it became clear that the voters of New Hampshire had given Hillary Clinton the victory over Obama she badly needed. The reason for the media's distortions, I believe, is that Obama's relationship with the press and the electorate is still at the stage of starry-eyed infatuation. Yes, he is a mesmerising political orator who offers a magic elixir that somehow contains both stimulants and sedatives: that we need not worry about the present or future, because we can look forward to a new dawn of hope and reassurance in the safe hands of President Obama. Exactly how and why this would happen is not clear, but it is heady and exciting stuff.
I suspect that the longer the relationship continues, however, the more Obama's many faults and shortcomings as a presidential candidate will emerge. In his speech admitting defeat in New Hampshire on Tuesday, for example, a hint of his bad-tempered haughtiness emerged. He is not the fresh-faced young idealist the media like to portray, but a hard-headed 46-year-old lawyer whose monumental drive and political calculations make the Clintons seem like a pair of amateurs. The media and electorate may have fallen in love with him spontaneously, but Obama has been carefully plotting his strategy to seduce them for decades.
A little "blow"
Even dedicated political operators such as the Clintons, for example, did not publish self-promoting memoirs at the age of 33 - but that is exactly what Obama did, revealing his use of cocaine ("a little blow") before anybody else could beat him to it, for example. In those memoirs, Dreams from My Father, he burnished a personal and political résumé that, in places, seemed almost unbelievable - so I was not surprised to read in his introduction to the reissued edition of "selective lapses of memory" and "the temptation to colour events in ways favourable to the writer". Obama unmasked >>> By Andrew Stephen
Hat tip: Jim Ball
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: RAISAH BINT ALAN DOUGLAS, an Australian convert to Islam who praised Osama bin Laden and says she would gladly send her children to fight Australian troops overseas, risks having her passport taken from her after her controversial comments.
Ms Douglas made the remarks in a documentary aired on ABC TV last night in which she also lambasted a female ASIO officer as a "reject from Sluts-R-Us" and spoke of her passion for bearded Muslim men who talk of jihad and carry swords.
Ms Douglas and her close friend Rabiah Hutchinson, who also featured in Jihad Sheilas, remain angry at the makers of the documentary, believing they were duped into taking part, filmed secretly at times and lied to by reporters. Second 'jihad sheila' faces losing passport >>> By Tom Allard National Security Editor
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
DAILY EXPRESS: A HOSPITAL porter was “devastated” last night after he was sacked following a row with a Muslim doctor over a crucifix.
Joseph Protano, a devout Roman Catholic, was a regular visitor to a prayer room open to all faiths at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital.
But Mr Protono, 54, became increasingly angry to find that a crucifix and a statue of the Virgin Mary were regularly being left covered up. Should Britain’s Christian Traditions Be Defended? (Have Your Say) >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE ATLANTICIST: A resurgent fundamentalist Islam is engaged in a global war against the West and the rest of the infidel world. In World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism former Commentary editor in chief Norman Podhoretz calls it WW4.
Republican presidential frontrunner John McCain believes “the transcendent challenge of the 21st century is radical Islamic extremists.” Mitt Romney said the “philosophy of radical jihadism says, ‘We want to kill.’” In stark contrast, Democrats, George Bush and many European leaders talk about combating terrorism – a means, disembodied from any animating ideology or purpose. It is as if in WW2 Roosevelt and Churchill had called for waging war against Panzer tanks. UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith in a positively Orwellian construction now refers to Islamic terrorism as “anti-Islamic activity.”
21st century Europeans and Americans no longer understand men motivated by and willing, indeed eager, to kill and die for their faith. World War IV: Europe on the front line >>> By Eric Grover*
*Eric Grover is a principal at Intrepid Ventures, providing corporate development and strategy consulting to private and public financial services, processing, technology and payment network businesses, principally in North America and Europe.
Grover’s prior experience includes GE Consumer Finance, Visa International, Bank of America, NationsBank, Transamerica and Intrinsic. His commentaries on financial services, payment networks and processing have been frequently published in the American Banker, Cards International, the Daily Deal, Digital Transactions, Credit Card Management, Cards & Payments, Card Technology, CRM Magazine, and Silicon Valley Business Ink.
Grover has a BA in economics from Amherst College and an MBA in Finance from New York University’s Stern Graduate School of Business.
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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BBC: The Vatican has reported a further dramatic fall in the number of Roman Catholic monks and nuns worldwide.
Newly published statistics showed that the number of men and women belonging to religious orders fell by 10% to just under a million between 2005 and 2006.
During the pontificate of the late Pope John Paul II, the number of Catholic nuns worldwide declined by a quarter.
The downward trend accelerated despite a steady increase in the membership of the Catholic Church to more than 1.1bn.
However, correspondents say even this failed to keep pace with the overall increase in world population.
Dramatic fall
On the back page of its official newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican published on Monday new statistics revealing that between 2005 and 2006 the number "members of the consecrated life" fell by just under 10%.
The number of members, predominantly women, some engaged only in constant prayer, others working as teachers, health workers and missionaries, fell 94,790 to 945,210. Catholic nuns and monks decline >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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EXPATICA: AMSTERDAM – The reports against politician Geert Wilders are piling up. The foundation Nederland Bekent Kleur has once again gone to the public prosecution department in Amsterdam to lodge a complaint about 20 violations of antidiscrimination legislation of which Wilders and his party, the PVV, are reportedly guilty. Complaints against Geert Wilders pile up: Antidiscrimination organisation files report against Wilders >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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BBC: The World Bank has said the quality of education in the Arab World is falling behind other regions and needs urgent reform if it is to tackle unemployment.
In a report, Bank officials said Arab states had to make improving education their top priority, because it went hand-in-hand with economic development.
The region had not seen the increasing literacy and school enrolment witnessed in Asia and Latin America, they said.
Djibouti, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco were ranked the worst educational reformers. Arab education 'falling behind' >>> By Dale Gavlak
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THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: RABIAH HUTCHINSON, the Mudgee-born grandmother accused of being the "grand dame" of extremist jihadis in Australia, says she has limited sympathy for the victims of the Bali bombings because those holidaying on the Indonesian island engaged in pedophilia and drug taking.
And her close friend, Raisah bint Alan Douglas, another Australian convert to radical Islam who also married a suspected terrorist supporter, has praised Osama bin Laden, saying he followed a "correct" version of Islam.
The women are featured in a documentary to be aired on ABC television tonight, Jihad Sheilas.
Ms Hutchinson is a former hippie who converted to Islam in Indonesia in 1973. Ms Douglas also hails from country NSW, Dubbo, and has been married five times to Muslim men, including her current husband Omar Abdi Mohamed, a suspected terrorist financier who was deported from the US. Muslim convert slurs Bali victims >>> By Tom Allard National Security Editor
WATCH ABC TELEVISION - PREVIEW:
Jihad Sheila
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
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THE TELEGRAPH: The Duke of York has launched an unprecedented attack on President George W Bush's White House administration for failing to listen more to the advice of the British Government over the Iraq war.
The Duke's criticism of Washington represents an extraordinary departure from normal protocol, which determines that members of the Royal Family refrain from public comment on sensitive international and political issues.
In a rare newspaper interview, with the International Herald Tribune, the Duke expresses his strong personal regret that the US failed to heed British advice over the post-war strategy for Iraq, with disastrous consequences.
On the eve of a 10-day mission to America in his role as British trade envoy, he told the newspaper that there were "occasions when people in the UK would wish that those in responsible positions in the US might listen and learn from our experiences".
He said that because of Britain's imperial history, it had experience of many of the foreign policy challenges now facing the US.
"If you are looking at colonialism, if you are looking at operations on an international scale, if you are looking at understanding each other's culture, understanding how to operate in a military insurgency campaign - we have been through them all," Prince Andrew said. Prince Andrew rebukes America over Iraq >>> By Toby Helm, Public Policy Editor
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Mark Alexander (Hardback)
ARAB NEWS: RIYADH, 5 February 2008 — A Saudi mother of three, who works as a business partner and financial consultant for a reputable company in Jeddah, didn’t expect that a trip to the capital to open the company’s new branch office would have her thrown behind bars by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Yara, a petite 40-year-old woman, was in tears yesterday after she narrated to Arab News her encounter with a commission member that ended in high drama.
Yara, who has been married for 27 years, said she spent several hours in the women’s section of Riyadh’s Malaz Prison, was strip-searched, ordered to sign a confession that she was in a state of “khulwa” (a state of seclusion with an unrelated man) and for hours prevented from contacting her husband in Jeddah.
Her crime? Having a cup of coffee with a colleague in a Starbucks. Coffee With Colleague Lands Woman in Trouble >>> By Raid Qusti
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
Monday, February 04, 2008
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
ESSAY:
Islam: The Enemy of Democracy and Freedom - ©Mark Alexander
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy spent his "honeymoon" at a steelworks, as the French President sought to show his mind was on the job after his marriage to Carla Bruni.
"As honeymoons go, there’s nothing better," declared the President at the grim ArcelorMittal factory in eastern France, after pledging to do everything in the state’s power to preserve 600 jobs at risk there.
He then flew off to Romania for an official visit.
The president woke up to the news that French support for him had fallen once again, down 13 points from last month to 41 per cent, according to an LH2 poll in Liberation newspaper.
"The divorce", headlined the paper, referring to the growing number of French apparently no longer charmed by the leader they elected only eight months ago.
Only Jacques Chirac has lost support so quickly, according to the pollster, when he launched an austerity drive in 1996 to heal a "social fracture" between the country’s haves and have-nots. Nicolas Sarkozy honeymoons at steelworks >>> By Henry Samuel in Paris
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
LE MONDE: Dans son roman Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli, premier ministre de la reine Victoria, avait condamné la coupure du royaume en "deux nations entre lesquelles il n'y a ni relation ni sympathie... les riches et les pauvres". Ce thème, récurrent sous le gouvernement Thatcher (1979-1990), est redevenu d'actualité.
"En trente-cinq années de métier dans la distribution, je n'ai jamais vu de disparités aussi grandes : à Londres et dans le Sud, les nantis s'enrichissent, dans le reste du pays, les gens s'appauvrissent. Je ne reconnais plus le Royaume-Uni" : directeur général des grands magasins Marks & Spencer, Stuart Rose a repris à son compte la remarque de Disraeli. Malgré la baisse du nombre de touristes américains et japonais ou le ralentissement économique, lors des fêtes de fin d'année, les ventes de M & S ont explosé à Londres et dans les comtés voisins. En revanche, le chiffre d'affaires de l'enseigne dans le nord de l'Angleterre et en Ecosse a fortement diminué.
Lacunes du système éducatif
Dans la foulée, un rapport de l'institut des études fiscales, Institute for Fiscal Studies, confirme le fossé grandissant entre les riches et le reste de la population depuis l'arrivée au pouvoir du Labour, en 1997. Les 47 000 contribuables gagnant plus de 350 000 livres brut par an vivent dans leur quasi-totalité à Londres.
A l'évidence, cet écart régional est fécondé par le formidable essor des services, en particulier financiers, dans la capitale britannique. A l'exception des multinationales, pharmacie, défense, aéronautique etc., l'industrie britannique installée dans le vieux Pays noir, a souffert des délocalisations et de la concurrence étrangère, sans parler de la fermeté jusqu'il y a peu de la livre sterling.
Le Nord est pénalisé par une infrastructure de transports inférieure et les lacunes du système éducatif d'Etat. Tandis que les rémunérations s'envolent dans le tertiaire, les ouvriers et employés voient leurs revenus amputés par la hausse de la fiscalité indirecte et l'inflation. Cette situation contrastée est aussi patente dans les régions rurales du Sud-Ouest. Le retour des deux "nations" britanniques : la riche et la pauvre >>>
Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)
THE TELEGRAPH: Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.
Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.
Universities and NHS trusts fear many more will refuse to co-operate with new Department of Health guidance, introduced this month, which stipulates that all doctors must be "bare below the elbow".
The measure is deemed necessary to stop the spread of infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, which have killed hundreds.
Minutes of a clinical academics' meeting at Liverpool University revealed that female Muslim students at Alder Hey children's hospital had objected to rolling up their sleeves to wear gowns.
Similar concerns have been raised at Leicester University. Minutes from a medical school committee said that "a number of Muslim females had difficulty in complying with the procedures to roll up sleeves to the elbow for appropriate handwashing".
Sheffield University also reported a case of a Muslim medic who refused to "scrub" as this left her forearms exposed.
Documents from Birmingham University reveal that some students would prefer to quit the course rather than expose their arms, and warn that it could leave trusts open to legal action.
Hygiene experts said last night that no exceptions should be made on religious grounds. Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules' >>> By Julie Henry and Laura Donnelly
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