YOU TUBE: Brian Williams Ask President Obama About Gay Marriage
YOU TUBE: Obama Biden Support No Same-sex Marriage
Saturday, July 04, 2009
MEMRI: After the Taliban militants recently ordered Sikhs in Pakistan's tribal region to pay Jizia (Islamic poll tax on non-Muslims), a number of Muslim leaders in India issued a declaration criticizing the militants for not following the true spirit of Islam.
"Imposition of … Jizia is Nothing More Than Extortion By an Armed and Lawless Gang Which Does Not Constitute a Sovereign Government or State"
"We, religious, political and community leaders of the Indian Muslims, are alarmed at the reports coming out of Pakistan's tribal areas about the Pakistani Taliban's kidnapping, extortion of huge amounts of money from their Sikh compatriots as Jizia, and demolition of the houses and shops of those who fail to pay the demanded sums.
"We would like to say that Jizia is a tax paid in an Islamic state for exemption from military service by healthy non-Muslim adults who are free to follow their vocations without restriction or fear, and that there is no other tax payable by them after paying this tax - unlike Muslims who have to pay various taxes including Zakat and who have to perform military service as well.
"Jizia was payable by non-Muslims only in lands conquered by Muslims, like Egypt, Syria and Iraq, but not in unconquered areas like Madina, where, during the time of the Holy Prophet, no Jizia was ever imposed on non-Muslim citizens, who enjoyed equal rights and duties under the Constitution of Madina. >>> Memri.org | Sunday, July 5, 2009
Hat tip: JihadWatch >>>
THE JERUSALEM POST: The Iranian blogger who claimed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has Jewish roots is being detained by the authorities after he was arrested along with 150 university students earlier this week, according to sources in Teheran.
Dr. Mehdi Khazali, who reportedly participated in several recent opposition demonstrations, was reportedly summoned to a special court convened for religious figures, detained and transferred to an unknown location.
The son of a prominent, conservative pro-Ahmadinejad ayatollah, Khazali wrote on his Web site earlier this year that the president - a Holocaust denier and relentless critic of Israel - was of partially Jewish origin, asserting that Ahmadinejad had changed his family name from Saburjian, and calling for the origins of the Saburjian family in the town of Aradan to be investigated.
The assertion featured in the bitter presidential election campaign, when rival reformist candidate Mehdi Karroubi challenged Ahmadinejad in a live TV debate, reportedly stating: "My full name is Mehdi Karroubi. What is your full name?"
Ahmadinejad gave his full name, according to an Al-Arabiya TV report, but left out one surname which is said to indicate Jewish ancestry. >>> Sabina Amidi | Friday, July 03, 2009
Hat tip: JihadWatch >>>
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die Europäische Gemeinschaft will Geschlossenheit demonstrieren: Alle 27 Mitgliedstaaten haben sich auf ein Stufenmodell geeinigt, mit dem Iran bewegt werden soll, Mitarbeiter der britischen Vertretung freizulassen. Ein gemeinsamer Abzug der EU-Botschafter aus Teheran bleibt allerdings umstritten.
Hamburg - Deutschland und die übrigen EU-Staaten planen neue Sanktionen, falls die iranische Regierung ihren Umgang mit Regimegegnern nicht ändert. Die Politischen Direktoren der EU-Staaten haben für die Vorgehensweise nach Informationen des SPIEGEL ein Stufenmodell vereinbart.
Zunächst wurden am Freitag die iranischen Botschafter in die Außenministerien der EU-Mitglieder einbestellt. Iran wurde aufgefordert, sofort zwei inhaftierte Mitarbeiter der britischen Botschaft freizulassen. Wenn der diplomatische Appell nicht fruchtet, will die EU ab nächster Woche Reisebeschränkungen vorbereiten. >>> cai/hen/dpa/Reuters/AFP | Samstag, 04 Juli 2009
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: BRUXELLES | Les pays de l'Union européenne convoquent tous les ambassadeurs ou chargés d'affaires iraniens pour protester contre la détention d'employés locaux de l'ambassade britannique à Téhéran.
La décision a été arrêtée lors d'une réunion d'ambassadeurs des 27 pays de l'UE à Bruxelles. "Nous allons convoquer les ambassadeurs iraniens dans l'Union européenne et nous examinerons comment la situation va évoluer la semaine prochaine concernant le personnel local de l'ambassade britannique", a souligné une source proche de la présidence suédoise de l'UE.
Pour la suite, "on garde toutes les options ouvertes", a-t-elle ajouté, dans une allusion aux autres mesures actuellement à l'étude au sein de l'Union européenne.
Il s'agit d'une part de restrictions sur l'octroi de visas à certains dignitaires iraniens, et d'autre part du rappel temporaire des ambassadeurs de l'UE en Iran.
Dans l'immédiat, le message qui sera transmis aux ambassadeurs d'Iran en Europe est que les Européens "sont tous solidaires avec les Britanniques", que le maintien en détention de personnels locaux de l'ambassade du Royaume-uni à Téhéran est "inacceptable" et qu'il s'agit d'une mesure affectant "toute l'Union européenne" et pas seulement le Royaume-uni, a indiqué une autre source diplomatique européenne. >>> AFP | Vendredi 03 Juillet 2009
TIMES ONLINE: When Jörg Haider died in a car crash last year, many Austrians mourned the complex, fast-living populist. He may have been an admirer of Hitler’s employment policies, but he seemed to many rightwingers, frustrated with the Vienna Establishment, to hold the key to a new Austria.
Now pressure is growing to reopen the investigation into his death, and at least one investigative reporter is asking whether the 58-year-old politician was murdered.
“There are too many open questions,” said Gerhard Wisniewski, the author of the book Jörg Haider: Accident, Murder or Assassination? that has been selling quickly in Austria since it was launched last Tuesday. “After eight months of research I am convinced that it is highly probable that Haider was the victim of a politically motivated assassination.”
Neither the Haider family nor his political associates go quite that far, but they have been appealing this week for a more thorough look at the events of the night of October 10 last year.
“This case has to be reopened with an independent prosecutor . . . and with the involvement of international experts,” said Stefan Petzner, the former spokesman for Mr Haider and a leading figure in the right-wing BZOe party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria. He is threatening to mobilise a referendum on the issue unless the Justice Minister complies.
Mr Haider’s wife, Claudia, has also joined in the critical chorus, questioning the narrative provided by the police investigation team in the week after the crash. The police version, much of it leaked to the press before the official report, was that Mr Haider had visited various bars, including a reputedly gay hangout, on the night of Saturday October 10, in the town of Klagenfurt. He had drunk the equivalent of a bottle of vodka, according to blood sampling, and had driven at 142 kilometres per hour. >>> Roger Boyes in Berlin | Saturday, July 04, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: In the heart of the Swedish countryside the guests shed their inhibitions and their clothes
My husband looks doubtful. “Why the suitcase?” He has a point. I am going for two days to the first naturist B&B in Europe.
I normally find packing quite a trial; what to wear for dinner, for walks, even for lunch? This time it is easy — “nothing” is the answer to all the above questions. But one thing is worrying me: where to keep my notebook?
I arrive at Hylteberga gård, deep in the Swedish countryside, at about 6pm. I crane my neck to view the yellow farmhouse along the gravel road.
I scan the horizon, as if on an African safari, and I half expect to see naked people leaping through the cornfields like nymphs.
Then I park and knock on the door. I am nervous; shamefully, still fully dressed. The advice on the internet was to leave all your clothes at the door. Should I have stripped off?
The door is opened by a man. He is wearing a grin, but also shorts and a shirt. His wife is behind him, also dressed. “Welcome to Hylteberga,” Steffen Brummer Pind says.
His wife, Eva, shakes my hand warmly. They show me to my room. En route we pass a man who, let’s say, hasn’t held back on the pies — a bit of a fatty — and he is naked.
The man looks away from the television and says hello. I try not to stare at his private parts, although my eyes are inextricably drawn. Luckily his bits are more or less hidden by his belly. It is a sad fact that naturist resorts seldom attract those to whom Nature has been kindest. >>> Helena Frith Powell | Saturday, July 04, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Alan Duncan, a senior Conservative MP, has claimed tens of thousands of pounds in mortgage interest on his designated second home – even though he had owned the property outright for more than a decade, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.
Mr Duncan, the shadow leader of the House of Commons, bought a country house in Rutland in 1992 without a mortgage being secured against the property.
He designated the house as his “second home” for the purposes of claiming parliamentary expenses.
However, it was not until early 2004 that the multi-millionaire MP took out a £271,000 mortgage on the house. Since then, Mr Duncan has claimed £1,400 a month in mortgage interest payments on the house. In total, he has claimed more than £63,000 for the cost of interest on the mortgage.
The arrangement will lead to questions over whether Mr Duncan, a former oil trader, is milking the parliamentary allowances system. He has been appointed by David Cameron to lead the Conservative campaign to clean up the system. >>> Holly Watt | Friday, July 04, 2009
Friday, July 03, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Iranian employees of the British Embassy in Tehran face the prospect of a show trial after the regime said that they had admitted conspiring against the Islamic Republic.
The announcement, made by Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, 83, the head of Iran’s powerful Guardian Council, at Friday prayers, was a sharp escalation of the confrontation with Britain.
The British Government said that the charges against the arrested local staff were “wholly without foundation” and William Hague, the shadow Foreign Secretary, called a show trial of British embassy staff in Tehran "utterly unacceptable".
The European Union’s 27 member states summoned the Iranian ambassadors in all EU capitals to make formal protests and stopped issuing visas to Iranian officials. A senior European diplomat insisted that the dramatic step of withdrawing EU ambassadors en masse from Tehran was still “very much on the table”.
Two of the nine Iranians arrested last weekend were still being held last night. Ayatollah Jannati did not say how many would be tried or on what charges, but the penalty for extreme cases of treason is execution. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said that it was seeking urgent clarification on his announcement.
Officials feared that the employees’ “confessions” might have been extracted under duress or torture. British diplomats have not been given access to the two employees still held. >>> Martin Fletcher | Saturday, July 04, 2009
TIMES ONLINE: Bernie Ecclestone, the Formula One chief, said yesterday that he preferred totalitarian regimes to democracies and praised Adolf Hitler for his ability to “get things done”.
In an outspoken interview with The Times, the 78-year-old billionaire chastised contemporary politicians for their weakness and extolled the virtues of strong leadership.
Mr Ecclestone said: “In a lot of ways, terrible to say this I suppose, but apart from the fact that Hitler got taken away and persuaded to do things that I have no idea whether he wanted to do or not, he was in the way that he could command a lot of people, able to get things done.
“In the end he got lost, so he wasn’t a very good dictator because either he had all these things and knew what was going on and insisted, or he just went along with it . . . so either way he wasn’t a dictator.” He also rounded on democracy, claiming that “it hasn’t done a lot of good for many countries — including this one [Britain]”. >>> Steve Bird, Ruth Gledhill and Sam Coates | Saturday, July 04, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: The Prince of Wales has paid tribute to Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, the British officer killed in Afghanistan, saying his death was "completely heartbreaking".
Lt Col Thorneloe, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed by a roadside bomb near Lashkar Gah in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on Wednesday along with 18-year-old Trooper Joshua Hammond, of 2nd Royal Tank Regiment.
The Prince of Wales, who knew the officer, paid tribute to him and Trooper Hammond. The Prince, who is colonel of Lt Col Thorneloe's regiment the Welsh Guards, said he had been "mortified" when he heard of the deaths.
Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, also paid tribute to Lt Col Thorneloe, the most senior British Army officer to be killed in action since the Falklands War.
The Prime Minister, speaking on a visit to the Christie Hospital in Manchester, said: "I think the whole country will be mourning today."
And Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth paid tribute to Lt Col Thorneloe saying he was a "leader of men".
The Prince, during a visit to Cornwall, said: "Having been colonel-in-chief of the Welsh Guards for the last 34 years, as you can imagine it is a wonderful family regiment and having been involved for those 34 years I've seen sons and grandsons go through the regiment," he said.
"As you can imagine, the shock and horror that has affected the whole of the regiment family was quite dramatic.
"I was horrified to say the least about both deaths, Trooper Hammond as well. >>> Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent | Friday, July 03, 2009
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska announced Friday that she would step down by the end of the month and not seek a second term as governor, fueling speculation that she is seriously weighing whether to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.
Ms. Palin, who was Senator John McCain’s vice presidential running mate last year and solidified the support of the party’s conservative base, explained her decision at a news conference at her home in Wasilla, Alaska, accompanied by her husband, Todd, and other family members.
“We know we can affect positive change outside of government,” she said in making the announcement.
Known as Sarah Barricuda when she played basketball in high school, Ms. Palin used point guard analogy in explaining her decision, saying she knows “exactly when to pass the ball so the team can win.”
She said that she planned to hand over the reins of the state government to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who would be sworn in at the governor’s picnic in Fairbanks on July 25.
“This decision came after much consideration,” Ms. Palin told reporters gathered at her home, and added, “I really don’t want to disappoint anyone with this announcement.” >>> Mitchell L Blumenthal | Friday, July 03, 2009
REZA PAHLAVI (رضا پهلوی): Press Conference – Paris, France / Opening Remarks
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Thank you for coming. Thank you for your time, and attention to the cry for freedom and democracy in Iran. The past three weeks, my brave compatriots have paid in blood the price of ripping the façade of acceptability of the regime in Iran, and its legitimacy to speak for the people of Iran abroad. The ensuing murderous oppression can silence the streets, and media blackout can reduce world attention. In the West you may see headlines declaring the end of the protests. Some will say a family quarrel inside the Islamic regime is over and Mr. Ahmadinejad will govern Iran for another four year term. But they misread the situation. Although more demonstrations may pop up, and the 10th anniversary of the student uprising on July 9th is a date to watch, phase one, that is election-related mass demonstrations is over. But let me clarify what phase two, which is the phase of national resistance, will look like:
Viewed as a usurper in his second term, Mr. Ahmadinejad's increasing insecurity at home will compel him to invent foreign enemies, further isolating Iran. Compounded with low oil prices, the need for slower liquidity growth to limit spiraling inflation, with massive capital flight and a drained stock market, and a further hemorrhage of skilled managers, just to name a few problems, he will face insurmountable obstacles in running the day to day affairs of government. He will need a minimal cooperation of the people for the ship of state to sail on. Instead he will find burgeoning resistance everywhere, until his government grinds to a halt.
Disappointed and alarmed, influential clerics, important parliamentary factions and other institutions will question his ability to cope and undermine his authority from within the Islamist state. That final paralysis will mark the end of the second phase.
It is hard to predict the third phase. Will a part of the Revolutionary Guards move in to fill the vacuum created by a collapse of authority and a functioning government? If so, the regime will be reduced to an unsustainably narrow base of support, expediting its fall. Will strikes spread and re-energized mass demonstrations sweep the country, compelling the authorities to yield to public pressure toward a new democratic order? No exact scenario can be written at this stage, but the end is clear.
Fast rewind to today, let's acknowledge that the path is perilous. The regime has just appointed a three-man commission to punish those involved in recent demonstrations. The commissioners are men responsible for tortures and summary executions of thousands of my countrymen some twenty years ago. After all of these years, the sounds of rape, torture and dying in Iran's prisons haunt my countrymen. And now those men are back. Ladies and Gentlemen: >>> Reza Pahlavi | Thursday, July 02, 2009
THE TELEGRAPH: Why does an educated, prosperous society choose not to reproduce itself, asks Charles Moore.
Our village is unusual in having a mainline railway station. Each day, a small number of people walk up from the station and past our house on their way to work. It is quite a long walk – perhaps a mile and a half – but I imagine they walk because they do not earn enough to own cars. They are virtually all foreign. They are on their way to serve as carers and nurses in an old people's home, whose inmates are virtually all British.
This procession is a daily visual illustration of what happens to a country when it lives and, increasingly, dies, under an illusion.
If you raise the subject of population with British people, most will tell you that the problem is overpopulation. There are too many people in the world, they say, and our own island is overcrowded.
Certainly, population growth causes problems, of which the greatest is the contest for resources, which can lead to war. But, as we are rediscovering with the recession, something frightening happens when what promised to go up, goes down.
Even quite marginal change has big effects. If you are getting 2 or 3 per cent richer each year, you can see a path of widening opportunity ahead. If you are getting 2 or 3 per cent poorer (let alone, as is currently the case, nearly 5 per cent), the future prospect narrows.
So it is with population; and the change is not marginal, but drastic. In 1960, OECD countries had a fertility rate of 3.2 children. Today, they have one of 1.6, well below the "replacement rate" of 2.1. So the rate has halved in my lifetime, moving from fast increase to steady decline. We in the West are collectively deciding not to bestow on others the gift which we most value for ourselves – life. >>> Charles Moore | Friday, July 03, 2009
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