I Don’t Have to Thank the British Taxpayer; My Benefits Belong to Allah!
The British taxpayer should withdraw all benefits paid to Mr Choudary. Then we’ll see how much Allah will pay him! The last time I checked, Allah didn’t deal in money or benefits! – © Mark

MAIL ONLINE: Hate preacher Anjem Choudary has claimed he is proud to receive £25,000 a year in benefits from the British taxpayer because the money 'belongs to Allah'.

The extremist cleric was speaking hours after Home Secretary Alan Johnson banned Choudary's Islam4UK group, making it a criminal offence to be a member.

British-born Choudary provoked outrage earlier this month when he announced that 500 members of his group were considering marching through the Wiltshire market town carrying empty coffins to mark Muslims 'mercilessly murdered' in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The 42-year-old cleric cancelled the protest on Sunday but yesterday showed no sign of curbing his fanatical rants, warning that the ban on his group would force young Muslims 'underground'.

Asked about receiving £25,000 in benefits, the trained lawyer said: 'I am not doing anything illegal. If we were living under the shariah there would be free food, clothing and shelter for all.

'Whether you are on benefits or not that does not mean you cannot propogate your ideas. I have always remained within the ambit of the law.

'The money belongs to Allah and if it is given you can take it. You don't lie and you don't cheat- that is what the prophet said.'

Choudary's bizarre defence of his benefits payments came just days after a group of Muslim extremists who screamed 'rapists' and 'murderers' at British soldiers escaped unpunished and claimed the state would pay their fines. My benefits belong to Allah: Hate preacher Choudary defends £25,000 a year payments from British taxpayers >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Wednesday, January 13, 2010

France Gets Tough on the Burqah
MAIL ONLINE: Women who wear the burka in France should be banned from using public transport or receiving state handouts, a government spokesman has said.

The call came just one day after the head of President Nicolas Sarkozy's party, the UMP, said that Muslim women wearing full face veils should not be granted French nationality.

Now UMP party spokesman Frederic Lefebvre has demanded any woman breaking a proposed law making the garment illegal should be 'deprived of her rights'.

He said: 'When you don't respect your responsibilities, you should not have access to any benefits.

'The rights and responsibilities of citizens in France are important.

'When you ignore rules that make things illegal, like a ban on the burka, you have have some of your rights taken away, like the right to state benefits or using public transport.'

Ruling UMP party chief Xavier Bertrand said on Sunday that women who wear burkas and niqabs should not be allowed to acquire French citizenship.

He said: 'The full veil is simply a prison for women who wear it and will make no one believe a woman wearing it wants to integrate.'

President Sarkozy has branded Islamic face veils 'a sign of debasement that imprison women' and said they are not welcome in his country.

As the national debate raged on Islamic headwear, Sarkozy said last week he wants MPs to vote on a total ban on all full face veils in France. Ban women wearing the burka from benefits and public transport, demands French government spokesman >>> Ian Sparks | Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Islam4UK Boosted by Ban, Claims Leader
THE GUARDIAN: Controversial group says non-Muslims now want to join

The leader of a controversial Islamist organisation has boasted that the government's decision to ban it last week has boosted its popularity.

Anjem Choudary says his profile, and that of his group, Islam4UK, has soared as a result of the government's decision to proscribe it. "There's nothing like a government ban to make you popular," Choudary said.

The radical cleric, whose attempts to hold a march through the Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett prompted concerns that it would lead to civil unrest, claims his group has been inundated with requests from non-Muslims who want to join. "They think the government has run over our liberties and are disgusted by its actions," he said.

Choudary, who receives around £25,000 a year in benefits and has referred to the 9/11 hijackers as "magnificent", says he has been asked to give talks at Trinity College, Cambridge, and Leeds University. He warned that the government's actions would not stop his supporters from speaking out. "If they want to arrest me there are many others," he said. "You can't silence people."

The home secretary, Alan Johnson, banned the Islamist group – and its parent organisation al-Muhajiroun – last Thursday. The decision followed a threat from Choudary to lead a march through Wootton Bassett which marks the return of every fallen serviceman repatriated to nearby RAF Lyneham and has come to symbolise the UK's respect for its war dead.

In the ensuing outcry, Johnson introduced new laws that will make membership of the two organisations a criminal offence, punishable by up to 10 years in jail. >>> Jamie Doward | Sunday, January 17, 2010

Muslims in 21st Century America: Warning from Europeans
NEWS WITH VIEWS: Part 18: Warnings from Europeans concerning onslaught of Islam

We Americans remain deaf, dumb and naive as to the onslaught of Islam in America. Because immigration ‘built’ this civilization, we think it remains wholesome, normal and needed. We think millions of immigrants stampeding into America share our values, our language and our excellence in education. We assume everyone enjoys spiritual and religious similarities that can only enhance America.

Up until 1965, that emotional paradigm ‘worked’ as 150,000 immigrants arrived annually from Europe. They couldn’t wait to speak English and couldn’t wait to become Americans. Most engaged a Christian spiritual foundation. We numbered a mere 194 million at that time.

But the late Senator Teddy Kennedy changed the dynamic in 1965 to include 1.2 to 1.5 million immigrants annually from over 150 countries. They piled into America while adding 100 million within 40 years. Hundreds of thousands of them, right out of the third world, had never seen a toilet, shower or lavatory. They lacked education. They enclaved and they remain entrenched in enclaves in major cities around the country.

Quite naturally, Americans flee such areas, which allows more enclaving with gross examples such as Detroit, Michigan.
Few Americans understand that out of the next 100 million people added to this country by 2035—a scant 25 years from now—over 70 million will be third world immigrants. If that doesn’t send a chill up your spine, you may be brain-dead, but still breathing.

When Muslims began migrating in huge numbers in 1990, they entrenched themselves in enclaves, and today, no matter how much you hear from the main stream media telling us how Muslim immigrants have successfully melded into the American mainstream—that cannot be farther from reality. One look at Detroit, Michigan; Freemont, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois and dozens of other cities see a growing separation of Muslims from Americans. To give you perspective, … >>> Frosty Wooldridge | Monday, January 18, 2010

Syria's Division of the Sexes
BBC: Women in Syria enjoy a measure of freedom unlike women in many other Arab countries. But as Lina Sinjab explains from Damascus, tradition and religion still have a huge influence on some of their lives.

Damascus is getting trendier these day[s]. As Syria opens up, western-style cafes and restaurants are mushrooming.

Men and women gather together, sipping coffee and smoking and in the evenings, bars are filled with liberal-minded Damascenes gathering over a bottle of wine or Arak, the local aniseed-flavoured spirit.

Nights out may start with a lively debate about politics and end up on the dance floor.

But as common as such scenes are these days in the capital, in much of the country they are not the norm.

Women in most parts of Syria still live lives dictated by tradition, religion, and family.

You have to look very carefully to uncover their stories, because they are so often hidden away in this rigid society.

Shiny dresses

Some women's lives, I think, are like Damascene houses, buildings that may look obscure and dull from the outside, but inside the wooden doors, there are beautiful courtyards with brimming fountains.

In the outskirts of Damascus, 21-year-old Zainab is getting married.

She did not meet her husband in a bar or a restaurant. In fact, she did not meet him at all before they were engaged.

Like many weddings, hers was arranged by her parents.

She is used to doing what she is told. Zainab is a schoolteacher. She works a full day and then takes on another job when she gets home, cooking and cleaning for the family.

The sharp division of the sexes here extends to the wedding party itself. I saw this for myself at Zainab's celebration. As I entered the hall, it was filled with women, their hands and heads uncovered.

The bride sat in her white dress at the centre of the stage. Around her all the young girls, in long shiny dresses, danced to music. They clearly envied the bride and hoped, one day, to be in her place.

It looked like fun, and yet there was a traditional purpose to the festivities. The smiles and shimmies of the women were intended to impress the mothers of potential future husbands.

I looked around me, astonished at how blatant this was. The rows of chairs were filled with older women.

Their eyes scanned the stage and their hands covered their mouths as they whispered to each other, discussing the young women as if they were goods in a shop window.

"That's the daughter of Abu Mahmoud, the neighbourhood shopkeeper," one old lady said.

"The family is reputable and they are devoted Muslims. I am sure my son will be happy to have her." >>> | Monday, January 18, 2010

Islamic Games Cancelled in Arab-Iran Row Over Persian Gulf Name
THE TELEGRAPH: The Islamic Solidarity Games, designed to strengthen ties among Muslim nations, have been cancelled after a dispute between Arab countries and Iran over the name of the waterway dividing them.

Arabs call the waterway the Arabian Gulf but Iranians insist it is the Persian Gulf. Photo: The Telegraph
The Saudi-based Islamic Solidarity Games Federation says they cancelled the sporting event, which were meant to be held in Tehran in the spring, after Iran put "Persian Gulf" on the logo.

Arabs call the waterway the Arabian Gulf and many were offended by references to its other common name. >>> | Sunday, January 17, 2010

Attitude from Brainwashed Convert to Islam

Sex in the Islamic World

Apostasy in Islam

Walking the Plank to a Dhimmi Nation – A U.N. Declaration of Religion?
RIGHT SIDE NEWS: United Nations Declaration of Religion?

A controversial resolution at the UN called "Defamation of Religion," ultimately aims to enforce recognition of Islam under the guise of racism and xenophobia. Even though sponsors of the resolution maintain it is for all religions, the wording says quite the opposite.

For starters, the title of the resolution substantiates disingenuousness, using the singular, "Religion" rather than the plural "Religions." Islam is the only religion that the resolution mentions by name, and sponsors of the U.N. Defamation of Religion view Islam as the only true religion. The Defamation of Religion resolution seeks to protect a totalitarian legal system-with mandatory beliefs and rituals-from question, debate, or critical inquiry worldwide. Using Orwellian vernacular to distort the true and expected definition of human rights and religious freedom, the Defamation of Religion resolution might more appropriately be titled

"The Declaration of Religion."

The totalitarian ideology of Islam only recognizes Shari'ah law, which violates the Constitution in several ways. Islamic Shari'ah Law violates the First Amendment granting freedom of speech and the press, and the separation of church and state. It violates the Fifth Amendment requirements for a grand jury and due process of law. It violates the Sixth Amendment granting legal council and an unbiased jury for criminal offenses. It violates the Eighth Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment. And finally, since rights in Islam are only relative to Shari'ah Law, it violates the tenth amendment guaranteeing that powers not delegated to the federal government belong to the states or to the people.

The Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), a group of 57 Muslim majority nations, holds the largest voting bloc in the UN. The OIC Secretary General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, is the one who congratulated Obama on his inauguration, and appealed for the new president's help to work out problems that face the Muslim world. In 1990, the OIC adopted the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam at the nineteenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers on August 5, 1990 dictating that Islam is the only legitimate religion. >>> Written by Mary Christina Love | Saturday, January 16, 2010

Terrorismus: Deutsche Islamisten stützen al-Qaida im Jemen
WELT ONLINE: Eine Gruppe deutscher Islamisten, die sich "Deutsche Taliban Mudschaheddin" nennt, hat einen Solidaritätsaufruf für Extremisten im Jemen gestartet. Die "Soldaten Allahs" kämpften dort gegen "Feinde des Islams" und bräuchten Hilfe in Form von "Geld, Waffen und Soldaten", heißt es in dem Aufruf.

Eine deutsche Islamistengruppe im pakistanischen Waziristan hat zur Unterstützung der jemenitischen Terroristen aufgerufen. In der im Internet veröffentlichten Botschaft der „Deutschen Taliban Mudschaheddin“ heißt es: „In diesen Tagen werden wir Zeugen heftiger Auseinandersetzungen, auf dem muslimischen Boden Jemens, zwischen den Soldaten Allahs und den Feinden des Islam.“ Dies geschehe „aufgrund der Aggressoren der jemenitischen Regierung und ihrer Herren aus dem Weißen Haus in Washington und der Unterstützung der Koalitionskräfte der Kreuzritter.“ >>> Von Florian Flade | Sonntag, 17. Januar 2010

Irak : Tarek Aziz dans un "état sérieux" après une "attaque" cérébrale
LE POINT: L'ancien vice-Premier ministre irakien Tarek Aziz se trouve dans un "état sérieux" après avoir été victime une "attaque" et a été transféré dans un hôpital sur une base américaine en Irak, a affirmé dimanche à l'AFP son avocat, Badia Aref. "Il a eu une attaque vendredi et a été transféré dans un hôpital sur la base américaine de Balad", au nord de Bagdad, a affirmé depuis Amman M. Aref, sans pouvoir préciser s'il s'agissait d'une attaque cardiaque ou cérébrale. "Son état est sérieux", a-t-il ajouté.

Unique chrétien du cercle étroit des puissants de la dictature de Saddam Hussein, Tarek Aziz, né en 1936, s'est rendu aux troupes américaines fin avril 2003. Il est incarcéré dans une prison proche de Bagdad, malgré des appels de sa famille à sa libération pour raisons médicales. En mars 2009, il a été condamné une première fois par la justice, écopant de 15 ans de prison pour "crimes contre l'Humanité" dans l'affaire de l'exécution de 42 commerçants en 1992. En août, la Haute cour pénale d'Irak l'a en outre condamné à sept ans de prison pour son rôle dans les exactions contre les Kurdes de confession chiite dans les années 1980. [Source] AFP | Dimanche 17 Janvier 2010

Le pape Benoît XVI en visite à la synagogue de Rome
LE MONDE: Vingt-quatre ans après la visite historique qu'y avait effectuée son prédécesseur Jean Paul II, le pape Benoît XVI doit se rendre, dimanche 17 janvier, à la synagogue de Rome. La visite, prévue de longue date, intervient un mois après que Benoît XVI eut, une nouvelle fois, soulevé la colère d'une partie de la communauté juive mondiale en proclamant, le 19 décembre, les "vertus héroïques" du pape Pie XII. Cette étape a ouvert la voie à la possible béatification de ce pape controversé pour son attitude envers les juifs durant la seconde guerre mondiale.

La relance du processus de béatification, qui avait pris de court le monde catholique, avait été suspendue afin de ne pas envenimer les relations entre le Vatican et le monde juif mises à mal en janvier 2009 par la levée de l'excommunication d'un évêque négationniste, Richard Williamson. L'annonce de décembre a durant quelques jours laissé planer le doute sur la venue du pape à la synagogue. Le président des rabbins italiens a décidé de boycotter l'événement.

"Nous devons dire à la communauté juive ce que Pie XII a fait en faveur des juifs pendant la seconde guerre mondiale et qui n'est pas assez connu", a de son côté défendu le cardinal Walter Kasper, chargé au Vatican des relations avec les juifs. "Pie XII a suivi la volonté de Dieu telle qu'il la comprenait à cette époque, nous ne pouvons le juger avec la mentalité d'aujourd'hui." >>> Stéphanie Le Bars | Samedi 16 Janvier 2010

Jewish Leaders Confront Pope Over Vatican's Holocaust 'Silence'
THE TELEGRAPH: A Jewish leader told the Pope on Sunday that his controversial wartime predecessor, Pius XII, should have protested more forcefully against Jews being sent to the "ovens of Auschwitz".

Pius's "silence" at a time when hundreds of thousands of Jews were being rounded up across Europe and despatched to death camps was still hurtful, Riccardo Pacifici, the president of Rome's Jewish community, said as Pope Benedict XVI visited the city's synagogue for the first time.

The criticism was one of the bluntest comments made in public by a Jewish leader to a pope.

"The silence of Pius XII before the Shoah (Holocaust) still hurts because something should have been done," Mr Pacifici told the pontiff during an address to the synagogue, which lies in an area of central Rome still known as the Ghetto, where Jews were confined for centuries on the orders of the Vatican.

"Maybe it would not have stopped the death trains, but it would have sent a signal, a word of extreme comfort, of human solidarity, towards those brothers of ours transported to the ovens of Auschwitz," he said.

The Vatican had hoped that the synagogue visit would rebuild bridges with the Jewish world, after the German-born Benedict dismayed Jews by rehabilitating a Holocaust-denying British renegade bishop a year ago, and by advancing Pius further along the path to sainthood by recognising his "heroic virtues" last month.

The fact that Benedict is German and served during the war in the Hitler Youth – albeit against his will – makes Jewish sensitivities all the more acute.

The Vatican claims that Pius, who was Pope from 1939 to 1958, worked behind the scenes to save Jews and allowed thousands of refugees to hide in church institutions.

The Roman Catholic Church insists that he feared that criticising Hitler more strongly would have provoked even more severe persecution of the Jews. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Sunday, January 17, 2010

Muslim Group Minhaj-ul-Quran Issues Fatwa Against Terrorists
The 600-page document, drawn up by Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, declares that attacks on innocent citizens are "absolutely against the teachings of Islam". Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: A leading Muslim organisation in Britain has issued a fatwa against suicide bombings and terrorism, declaring them un-Islamic.

Minhaj-ul-Quran, a Sufi organisation based in East London which advises the Government on how to combat radicalisation of Muslim youth, will launch the 600-page religious verdict tomorrow. It condemns the perpetrators of terrorist explosions and suicide bombings.

The document, written by Dr Muhammed Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former minister of Pakistan and friend of Benazir Bhutto, declares suicide bombings and terrorism as "totally un-Islamic". It is one of the most detailed and comprehensive documents of its kind to be published in Britain.

The fatwa, which was released in Pakistan last month, uses texts from the Koran and other Islamic writings to argue that attacks against innocent citizens are "absolutely against the teachings of Islam and that Islam does not permit such acts on any excuse, reason or pretext".

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, who is based in Canada and has written more than 400 books on Islamic law, said: "All these acts are grave violations of human rights and constitute kufr, disbelief, under Islamic law." >>> Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent | Sunday, January 17, 2010

Even More Balls from Ed Balls! It’s Time Mr Balls Found His Balls!
Loophole: Girls studying at a Madrasah. Ed Balls is refusing to ban smacking in Islamic schools in Britain. Photograph: Mail Online
To look at these kids dressed like this in a British school is an affront to all that we stand for and hold dear! NO CHILD, even in Islam, needs to be dressed like this in a state of prepubescence. Not even in Saudi Arabia are children expected to dress like this before puberty. It's time for you to find your balls, Mr Balls! – © Mark

MAIL ONLINE: Schools Secretary Ed Balls has been accused of refusing to ban Islamic schools from smacking children for fear of upsetting Muslim 'sensitivities'.

Mr Balls was last week urged to close a legal loophole which gives teachers in Britain's estimated 1,600 schools associated with mosques the right to smack children - even though it is banned in other schools.

He refused, prompting claims that he is allowing an alleged 'culture of physical abuse' in some of the mosque schools - or madrasahs - go unchecked.

Smacking is banned in all State and private schools. However, it does not apply to madrasahs, where pupils usually study in the evenings or at weekends, because the ban exempts schools where children attend for less than 12.5 hours per week.

Lib Dem schools spokesman David Laws, who is spearheading the campaign to close the smacking loophole, said: 'The Government needs to legislate to protect children - not leave an opt-out simply because it fears some ethnic or religious backlash.'

He was supported by Labour MP Ann Cryer, who said it would be 'bonkers' if the Government did not act. She said: 'I suspect people are frightened of upsetting the sensitivities of certain members of the Muslim faith.'

A report just over a year ago warned that madrasah students had been slapped, punched and had their ears twisted.

Irfan Chishti, a former Government adviser on Islamic affairs, said that one madrasah student was 'picked up by one leg and spun around' while another pupil said a teacher was 'kicking in my head like a football'. Double standards row as Ed Balls refuses to ban smacking at mosque schools to avoid 'upsetting Muslim sensitivities' >>> Brendan Carlin | Sunday, January 17, 2010

Cock-up!
THE GUARDIAN: Health campaigners say the traditional manhood ritual, which carries HIV risks, should be replaced by operations in hospital

An edict by the king of the Zulus to bring back circumcision for thousands of teenage boys is causing alarm in South Africa, amid record numbers of deaths from the traditional manhood ritual.

On Tuesday, at a meeting called in Durban by the government of KwaZulu-Natal, traditional leaders in the province will outline how they wish to implement King Goodwill Zwelithini's decision to reintroduce circumcision 200 years after it was scrapped by King Shaka. But health officials working with South Africa's second largest tribe, the Xhosa – who never gave up the practice – say the move could put thousands of lives at risk. Thousands face agony or death after Zulu king's circumcision decree >>> Alex Duval Smith | Sunday, January 17, 2010

China-Reise: Westerwelles sanfte Kritik lässt Peking kalt
WELT ONLINE: Für den deutschen Außenminister nahm sich die Pekinger Führung viel Zeit. Mit freundlichem Gesicht hörte man sich von Guido Westerwelle dabei auch dezente Kritik an. Er folge dem Prinzip, „steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein", so Westerwelle. Doch Pekings Prioritäten liegen ganz woanders.

Gelächelt wird viel, doch die kritischen Äußerungen von Guido Westerwelle (l.) prallen an Wen Jiabao ab. Bild: Welt Online
Außenminister Guido Westerwelle feierte seinen erfolgreichen Antrittsbesuch bei Pekings Führung Freitagnacht mit einem späten Dinner im feudal-exklusiven „China-Club Beijing“. Das während der Qing-Dynastie erbaute kaiserliche Palais im Zentrum der Hauptstadt diente zu Zeiten Maos 35 Jahre lang als proletarisches Sichuan-Spezialitäten-Restaurant, wo auch Deng Xiaoping der chilischarfen Küche huldigte. Dann wurde der Hotpot in den neunziger Jahren von reichen Investoren zum Dritten im Bunde der vornehmen „China-Club Kette“ Hongkongs und Singapurs umgebaut und Mitglieder-Treff für 1600 auserwählte Neureiche der Gesellschaft.

Die bewegte Geschichte Chinas spiegelt sich im Wandel Klubs wieder. Es ist die angemessene Kulisse zum Nachdenken für Westerwelles Umgang mit der künftigen Weltmacht Chinas.

Der Liberale will dafür eine Anleihe bei der lange zurückliegenden Koalition von Willy Brandt und Walter Scheel machen und übernimmt ihr Motto vom „Wandel durch Handel“. Er glaube daran, so lautet Westerwelles Fazit zu seinem zweitägigen Chinabesuch, dass Deutschland eine „ebenso wertorientierte wie interessenorientierte“ Außenpolitik gegenüber Peking vertreten muss. Er stehe für eine Außenpolitik, die die „Wirtschaft fördern und bei der Frage der Menschenrechte nicht leise treten will.

Wandel durch Handel und kulturellen Austausch und nicht durch Gesprächsverweigerung“ sei das Prinzip, von dem er sich leiten lasse. „Steter Tropfen höhlt den Stein.“ >>> Von Johnny Erling | Samstag, 16. Januar 2010

Elton John: Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

Stevie Wonder: Part-time Lover

Church to Vote on Greater Rights for Partners of Gay Clergy
THE TELEGRAPH: The Church of England is poised to give greater recognition to homosexual clergy in relationships, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

A proposal to give the partners of gay priests some of the same rights that are awarded to priests' spouses is likely to spark a new row over homosexuality.

Bishops and senior clergy will debate at next month's General Synod whether the Church should provide same-sex couples with the same financial benefits as are awarded to married couples.

Traditionalists have expressed strong opposition to the move, which they claim would give official recognition to homosexual relationships.

They warn that affording equal treatment to heterosexual and homosexual couples would undermine the Church's teaching on marriage.

At present, the Church bars clergy from being in active gay relationships, although it bowed to pressure to allow them to enter civil partnerships on the condition that they are celibate.

Liberals believe that the motion, to be unveiled this week, could be a major breakthrough in securing rights for gay clergy.

It calls on the Archbishops' Council, chaired by Dr Rowan Williams, to introduce changes that would "provide for pension benefits to be paid to the surviving civil partners of deceased clergy on the same basis as they are currently paid to surviving spouses".

However, there are serious concerns over the effects that such a change would have on the Church's finances as well as on the thin hopes of maintaining unity in the Anglican Communion, which is deeply divided over the issue of homosexual clergy. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, January 16, 2010