No Place for Gay Discrimination in US: Obama
SX: US President Barack Obama has called for an end to discrimination, including inequality against gay people, in an address to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People last week.

In a speech mentioning the economy, health care, education and HIV/AIDS, Obama also addressed the issue of discrimination, calling for an end to prejudice against minority groups, specifically African-American women, Latinos, Muslim Americans and gays and lesbians.



“The first thing we need to do is make real the words of your charter and eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United States,” Obama said in the address. >>> Rachel Cook | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Keep the Faith: Should Muslim Children Receive Sex Education?
THE INDEPENDENT: A group run by a member of a radical Islamic organisation is opposing plans to give five-year-olds sex education.

In an underground hall at the London Central Mosque in Regent Street, a group of parents sitting on plastic chairs is clustered around a power point. A small, neatly dressed man at the front welcomes them, introducing himself as Yusuf Patel. "As Muslims we believe in values," he says, "We believe in haraam and halal, but sex and relationship education (SRE) teaching in this country does not provide this. It is the responsibility of parents to see their children educated, but not at the expense of these values."

Patel's organisation, SREIslamic, was established eight months ago to encourage Muslims to respond to the Government's consultation about whether to make SRE compulsory and extend it to five-year-olds. Since then, the organisation claims, it has held 40 workshops across the country and collected tens of thousands of signatures from Muslims opposed to the measures.

But Patel is not only a concerned parent and campaigner. According to his website, he is also a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organisation that Tony Blair considered banning in 2005. Patel's brother, Jalaluddin, is the former UK head of the political party, which is barred in countries including Germany, Russia and Egypt. Should we be concerned that, like other far-right or religious groups in Britain, SREIslamic might be using a sensitive community grievance to pursue a wider political agenda?

Although Hizb ut-Tahrir says it does not advocate violence, it is opposed to Western-style democracy and believes in establishing a global caliphate under sharia law. There is no evidence of its involvement in terrorism, but some of its members have defended terrorist acts abroad, most recently when a member described Pakistani militants as "brothers". >>> Lila Green | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Muslim Woman to Be Caned for Drinking a Beer
BALTIMORE SUN BLOG: A 32-year-old Muslim woman, a model, was sentenced this week to six strokes with a rattan cane for drinking a beer in a nightclub.

Word of this event, reported by the Associated Press in Australia and picked up The Huffington Post, comes from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Consuming alcohol is a religious offense in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population, reports say. Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related to family and moral issues for Muslim.

Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno was sentenced Monday to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for consuming alcohol.

Earlier news sources reported the woman would appeal the sentence. But yesterday the blog Nuraiana A. Samad's 3540 Jalan Sudin said the woman had decided not to appeal. There seemed to confusion, however, over who would strike the blows. Technically, she has to be in prison to be caned. She is not in prison.

The caning inflicts more shame than corporal punishment, a Malaysian official claims. Easy for him to say. [Source: Batimore Sun Blog] | Rob Kaspar | Comment here

150 Women Face Adultery Flogging on Maldives
THE INDEPENDENT: Almost 150 women living in the Maldives face a public flogging for indulging in extra-marital sex after being convicted by the Muslim country's conservative courts. Around 50 men also face the punishment.

Earlier this month, an 18-year-old woman fainted after she was flogged 100 times having been found guilty of having sex with two different men. The woman, who was pregnant at the time of sentencing, had her punishment deferred until after the birth of her child and the court said the teenager's pregnancy was proof of her guilt. In contrast, the accused men were acquitted, with one of them escaping punishment simply because he denied the charge. >>> Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Police Chiefs Press for Immigration Reform
USA TODAY: PHOENIX — Some of the nation's top cops on Wednesday called upon Congress to promptly adopt an immigration reform measure, saying local law enforcement agencies across America are struggling to deal with crime and confusion caused by a broken system.

About 100 police chiefs and administrators from Framington, Mass., to San Diego joined Department of Homeland Security officials in Phoenix for a National Summit on Local Immigration Policies sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum, a nonprofit law enforcement educational organization.

During closed discussions, the participants agreed that America needs a comprehensive new law containing guest-worker programs, a means for immigrants to become permanent residents and federal enforcement of the prohibition against hiring illegal immigrants, according to Chuck Wexler, the forum's executive director. >>> Dennis Wagner | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sharia-intent Extremists Convene in Chicago
ONENEWSNOW: A national defense analyst and former Reagan Defense Department official says Americans need to be deeply concerned that a radical Islamic organization calling for the overthrow of Democratic America was recently able to hold a meeting just outside Chicago.

The conference called "Fall of Capitalism and Rise of Islam," which took place at a Hilton Hotel in the Windy City, was sponsored by a group known as Hizb Ut-Tahrir. The group openly declared that it seeks to bring about an Islamic America.
 


Frank Gaffney served as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for international security during the Reagan administration and now serves as president of the Center for Security Policy. "They're talking explicitly about replacing the Constitution of the United States with a theocratic form of government under this barbaric, totalitarian program they call Sharia," he says. According to Gaffney, "sharia" requires its adherents to engage in jihad -- of either the violent kind or the "stealthy" kind, as he told Fox News recently. >>> Chad Groening | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Children to Be Baptised as Their Parents Are Married
This is absurd! Another one of the Archcrank’s ideas, I suppose! When a religion starts mirroring modern trends and keeps on trying to be ‘relevant’ to today’s world, then that ‘religion’ ceases to be a proper religion. Funny thing is that the more relevant the Church tries to be to modern life, the more irrelevant it becomes!

In any case, religions shouldn’t follow, they should be sources of inspiration, and they should lead. Any religion which follows trends is a flawed religion, and is destined to become even more irrelevant than it already is, it is destined to die out. Little wonder that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world today! That religion won't change its message. After all, people want to be told what is right in the eyes of God; they don’t want to tell Him! – ©Mark

TIMES ONLINE: The Church of England unveils a two-in-one wedding and baptism liturgy today as it seeks to make peace with families “living in sin”.

The “hatch-and-match” service allows couples to baptise their children after the wedding ceremony. Parents can even get baptised themselves.

The aim is to encourage cohabiting parents to marry as the Church tries to become more relevant to the way people live their lives, but critics said that it appeared to sanction having children out of wedlock. One bishop described the idea as “nutty”. The liturgy, costing £272, is being sent out to dioceses and parish clergy today.

The move comes after research commissioned by the archbishops of Canterbury and York found that increasing numbers of couples marrying in church already had children. The latest figures on births and marriages show that about 44 per cent of children are born to unmarried women. >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Thursday, July 23, 2009

Sharia Law in the USA

Michael Jackson: I Just Can’t Stop Loving You

Michael Jackson: Heal the World
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France Falls Out of Love with Topless Sunbathing
THE GUARDIAN: Health concerns and new feminist priorities mean French women are covering up on the beach

Photo: The Guardian
For some it's the stuff of naff Cote d'Azur postcards. For others it's a symbol of the feminist struggle in France. Topless sunbathing was once the summer battleground of French post-1968 society – educated middle classes insisted that peeling off was a women's right, while family groups claimed exposed nipples would scare children.

For decades, France has prided itself on being the world capital of seaside semi-nudity. Now the nation is facing a bikini-top backlash. A younger generation of women are covering up, citing new feminist priorities, skin cancer fears and a rebellion against the cult of the fetished body beautiful.

French academics and historians have spent the early summer months pondering the sociological meaning of the demise of France's once-favourite piece of beachwear, the "monokini" – the bottom half of a bikini with no top.

Since the 1970s, when the French state refused to ban "le topless" on beaches, women's semi-nudity has become a symbol of summer in France. It was a point of national pride that the same freedom to strip off in public was off-limits in other more prudish nations such as the US.

Women's bodies have always been the centre of national social debates in France. Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right Front National once produced a poster warning against immigration which showed carefree French topless sunbathers in the 1990s against a doomsday prediction of burka-clad women invading French beaches in the year 2010. >>> Angelique Chrisafis | Wedneday, July 22, 2009

Simon Highes: What a Twat*!

*Please excuse the expletive. But for this nincompoop, there is no other word that is appropriate!

Hat tip: Always On Watch >>>

Michelle’s New Image

The Woman in Red

United for Neda

German Language Adds 5,000 Words
BBC: Around 5,000 new words have been officially added to the German language - many of them from the English-speaking world.

The newcomers appear in the latest edition of the respected German dictionary, Duden.

Germans can now go to "eine After-Show-Party", as long as it is not "eine No-Go Area", and meet "das It Girl" - if she does not have "der Babyblues".

Fans of social networking can also "twittern", which means to Twitter.

The financial crisis has inspired many of the new entries in the 135,000-word dictionary.

'Kreditklemme'

Appearing for the first time are "Kreditklemme" (credit crunch), "Konjunkturpaket" (stimulus package) and "Abwrackpraemie" (car scrappage bonus).

The word "Ehrenmord" (honour killing) also makes it into the dictionary, which was published on Wednesday.

The German language is known for its extremely long compound nouns.

And the new edition includes a 23-letter example: "Vorratsdatenspeicherung", which means the saving of data relating to supplies.

The first Duden dictionary was produced in 1880 and consisted of just 27,000 words. [Source: BBC] | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Saudi Cleric Sultan Al Dugheilbi on Corrupt Western Culture Impacting Muslim Youth

A Fan of Camel Milk Struggles to Start a Drome-dairy
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: In North Carolina, Ms. Hinkle Promotes Hard-to-Get Beverage; Milking Martha

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Millie Hinkle first tasted camel milk in the United Arab Emirates about 10 years ago. She had no idea the salty drink, still warm from the camel and served in an ornate bowl with a side of walnuts, would become an obsession.

"It has taken over my life," said the 57-year-old practitioner of natural medicine as she cruised down a tree-lined road here in her white SUV emblazoned with a camel.

Ms. Hinkle has drained her savings, slashed the number of hours she spends at her day job and started a company called Camel Milk USA. Her goal is to bring the milk, reputed to have healing and aphrodisiac powers, to the U.S. where it's been hard to get mainly because camels weren't listed in rules governing the sale of milk.

In April, Ms. Hinkle won initial approval from the National Conference on Interstate Milk Shipments, a nonprofit group, to market the milk. Now, she's awaiting approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on some final details.

But there are several humps to overcome before camel milk is widely available in the U.S. For starters, there aren't many camels here. Those that are mainly work in circuses or live in zoos.

Another challenge: Camels don't much like to be milked. Camels can be cantankerous and persuading them to give up their milk can be part chore, part art. Camel experts say the animals are often ticklish around their udders and, without proper training, might lie down in the middle of being milked.

Camel milk is a centuries-old staple for nomadic tribes across the Middle East and Africa. It is also drunk by elderly men to enhance virility; by the sick to treat a variety of ailments; and by those who believe it has magical properties. >>> Lauren Etter | Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Obama nach sechs Monaten unbeliebter als Bush
WELT ONLINE: Ein halbes Jahr nach seinem von großen Hoffnungen begleiteten Amtsantritt als US-Präsident wird Barack Obama vom Alltag eingeholt. Eine Mehrheit der Amerikaner empfindet seinen Kurs als falsch. Obamas persönliche Umfragewerte sind sogar schlechter als die von George W. Bush zur gleichen Zeit. Obama bleibt gelassen.

Ein halbes Jahr nach seinem Amtsantritt ist die Euphorie um den neuen US-Präsidenten Barack Obama verflogen. Eine Mehrheit der Amerikaner ist laut einer Umfrage der Nachrichtenagentur AP wieder der Ansicht, dass sich die USA auf einem falschen Kurs befinden. 54 Prozent der Befragten vertreten diese Meinung, gegenüber 46 Prozent vor einem Monat. Auch die allgemeine Zufriedenheit mit dem Präsidenten hat in den vergangenen Monaten abgenommen. >>> AP/fp | Mittwoch, 22. Juli 2009

Jihad in the Classroom
THE AUSTRALIAN: INDONESIA will continue to live with the threat of terror attacks unless its government cracks down on the militant Islamic schools and religious zealots who espouse worldwide jihad.

Last Friday's hotel bombings in Jakarta have focused attention yet again on a network of radical Islamic boarding schools across Indonesia that continues to espouse the cause of violent jihad and churn out eager young zealots willing to die in its name.

 Four days after the bombings, investigators have linked them to two Islamic schools that are well known to the Indonesian authorities but have neither been shut down nor had their activities or teachings curtailed.

The first of these is the now notorious Al Mukmin pesantren (boarding house) at Ngruki in Solo, Central Java, where the Marriott suicide bomber is reported to have been schooled.

The second is a smaller school at Cilacap in Central Java, where a bomb identical to the hotel bombs used in Jakarta was found in July, and which is believed to have provided shelter to suspected mastermind Noordin Top.

A Muslim leader in Jakarta yesterday identified the man who detonated a backpack and case full of explosives inside the Marriott restaurant as Nur Hasbi, who is believed to have graduated from the Ngruki school in 1995. Thus the school continues to live up to its reputation as "a crucible for the formation of cadres of mujahidin", and its mission, "to nurture zeal for jihad so that love for jihad and martyrdom grow in the soul of the mujahidin", in the words of its co-founder, Jemaah Islamiah leader, Abu Bakar Bashir.

Nur Hasbi was no doubt inspired by his reported classmate, Asmar Latin Sani, who carried out the previous attack on the Marriott in 2003, after which his severed head was found on the fifth floor of the smashed hotel.
The connection is no coincidence. >>> Sally Neighbour | Tuesday, July 21, 2009