Should the West Ban the Burqa?
FOX NEWS: Early in June, Iran denounced European “intolerance” vis-à-vis the burqa. But is this true?

Many Muslims have come to the West in search of freedom and modernity; others have not. Controversy is inevitable. Islamist leaders believe that the West must “tolerate” the practice of gender apartheid as a “religious” right.

Western leaders have condemned the Islamic veil as a sign of hostility to Western ways and as a refusal to integrate. Muslim and ex-Muslim feminists and secularists have condemned the veil as a violation of women’s human rights and claim that it is not a religious requirement.



Many Muslim and ex-Muslim experts on Islam insist that the Qu’ran does not command women to cover their faces, bodies or hair. Women are merely told to dress modestly. They further point out that for part or all of the 20th century, many women in Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Afghanistan, stopped wearing the veil and wore western dress. Islamists claim that the veil is a religious requirement; that bikinis are worse than burqas; that veiled Muslim women are sacred and as such, should not be exposed to corrupting Western, secular mores.

All Europe is wrestling with the issue of whether to ban the Islamic veil.

On May 19, the French cabinet finally voted to ban the burqa. If parliament approves the bill this summer, female violators will be fined 150 euros; men who force their wives to cover their faces will be fined 15,000 euros and will face jail time. France did this despite a 2009 threat by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb to “do all in our power and take revenge at the first opportunity against France.”

In May, 2010, a burqa-clad woman in Novara, Italy, was fined 500 euros; the city had previously banned burqas and niqabs. In April, 2010, the lower house of Parliament in Belgium approved a ban on burqas and niqabs. In April, in Madrid, a girl wearing hijab was sent home from school. Throughout Germany, women are not allowed to drive while wearing a burqa. As of January 2010, 53% of Swedes polled wanted a ban on burqas and niqab in public. In May, 2010, in France and Switzerland, women physically attacked women who were wearing a burqa or a headscarf.

Where does America stand on the Islamic veil? In his June 2009 speech in Cairo, President Obama had this to say: "The U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it." Muslim feminists have condemned the president, arguing that the West must fight for a woman’s right not to wear the veil as well. >>> Phyllis Chesler | Saturday, June 05, 2010

Phyllis Chesler, is an author and emerita professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies. She once lived in Kabul, Afghanistan. She may be reached through her website www.phyllis-chesler.com.

The ‘Infallible’ Helen Thomas Blots Her Copybook
FOX NEWS: Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas has issued an apology after saying in an interview that Jews should “get the hell out of Palestine.”

Thomas, a longtime White House correspondent who now writes a column for Hearst newspapers, made the comments May 27 after a White House Jewish heritage event.

Asked by Rabbi David Nesenoff of RabbiLive.com if she had “any comments on Israel,” Thomas replied, “Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.”

Thomas went on to say that the Palestinian people “are occupied and it’s their land” and that Israelis should “go home” -- to Poland, Germany, America “and everywhere else.”

In a written statement issued Friday, Thomas apologized, saying, “I deeply regret my comments I made last week regarding the Israelis and the Palestinians.”

She said the comments “do not reflect” her “heart-felt belief that peace will come to the Middle East only when all parties recognize the need for mutual respect and tolerance.”

“May that day come soon,” she added. >>> [Source: Fox News : Helen Thomas Apologizes for Saying Jews Should Get the Hell Out of Palestine] | Friday, June 04, 2010

Helen Thomas Tells Jews to Go Back to Germany

The Bilderberg Group: Fact and Fantasy
THE TELEGRAPH: The Bilderberg Group is meeting in Spain this weekend. Iain Hollingshead tries to sort out fact from conspiracy theory.

A general view of the meeting place for the conference of the Bilderberg Group in Sitges, Spain. Photograph: The Telegraph
I have just discovered that a shadowy cabal of global luminaries, including Henry Kissinger, David Rockefeller, Prince Charles, Peter Mandelson, Lord Carrington, David Cameron, Queen Beatrix of Holland and the chairman of Barclays Bank, have been plotting to overthrow national governments and form a fascist one-world empire.

Going by the name of the Bilderberg Group, these puppet-masters made and broke the career of Margaret Thatcher, triggered the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic and, this year, are planning to bomb Iran.

Quite a big story, don’t you think? And yet no one here will take me seriously. Perhaps, as representatives of the capitalist media, they’re too busy planning world domination at Bilderberg’s annual conference, which is taking place this weekend at Hotel Dolce in Sitges, one of Spain’s most exclusive (and, incidentally, gayest) resorts. Watch our cryptic crossword for clues; the swallows are flying south for winter.

Dan Brown aside, conspiracy theories don’t come much bigger than this. Here are some “facts” the establishment would have you believe. The Bilderberg Group (named after the Dutch hotel where they first met) was founded in 1954 by Denis Healey, Joseph Retinger, David Rockefeller and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, with the aim of bringing together financiers, industrialists, politicians and opinion formers. Every year around 120 of them meet, by invitation of the steering committee, away from the intrusive eyes of the press. They network, eat, drink, play golf and go home again.

“Bilderberg does not try to reach conclusions,” Viscount Davignon, the chairman, told the BBC in 2005. “It’s not that business contests the right of democratically elected leaders to lead.”

But he would say that, wouldn’t he? And where’s the fun in believing something perfectly logical when you can instead invent lurid theories that this covert liberal / Zionist / fascist (delete as appropriate) empire can trace its string-pulling roots back 800 years to the Venetian Black Nobility? >>> Iain Hollingshead | Friday, June 04, 2010

BP Oil Spill: The British Backlash Has Begun
THE TELEGRAPH: Could the US backlash against BP extend to other British companies, asks Tom Leonard

Protest outside of the Washington DC headquarters of BP. Photograph: The Telegraph
When the US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar promised to keep “the boot on the neck of British Petroleum” over its giant Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Republican Rand Paul rounded on the White House for being “really un-American” in attacking business.

If so, almost everyone is guilty of un-American activities, as the US has declared open season on the British oil giant. Just 50 yards up the street from The Daily Telegraph’s Manhattan office, the local BP petrol station had its sign daubed in paint the colour of drilling mud last week when 200 protesters turned up. “BP – a bunch of ----ing murderers!” said the message on a protester’s T-shirt. The chant was better: “BP, your heart is black, you can have your oil back.”

There have been similar protests at BP outlets across America and a call for a boycott which appears to have been roundly ignored. The demonstrations may be primarily anti-corporate and anti-oil but occasionally nationality of the corporation slips out. In New Orleans, a demonstrator stood on a Union flag. “We are all at the mercy of BP, a British-owned company,” wailed a Louisiana seaplane company boss in a letter to her senator after she was barred from taking US journalists to a possibly oily beach.

Notwithstanding the irony of a situation in which Americans are accusing a European corporation of putting “profits before people”, it is difficult to recall a more vicious backlash against a company here. The question of whether BP would have received so much vitriol if the initials had stood for, say, Boston Petroleum, has concerned those who worry about the implications for US-UK relations.

Although there is no sign of such a backlash at present, British officials in the US are concerned that if BP continues to fail to plug the leak or if it faces criminal charges, then other British businesses could suffer. >>> Tom Leonard | Saturday, June 05, 2010

The Ten Parts of Fitrah : فطرة
Narrated Ayesha. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Ten things are part of the Fitrah: cutting the moustache, letting the beard grow, cleaning the teeth with a Siwaak, rinsing the nose with water, cutting one’s nails, washing between the finger-joints, plucking the armpit hairs, shaving the pubic hair and cleaning one’s private parts with water.” (Sahih Muslim, 2/0502) [Saudi Gazette]

New Dark Age Alert! Trailer for Geert Wilders Fitna Sequel, “Islam Rising"


Islam Rising >>>

Pat Condell: No Mosque at Ground Zero

Nigeria: Court to Hear Child-bride Case
ASSOCIATED PRESS: ABUJA, Nigeria — A Nigerian federal court will hear a case over whether the West African nation's religious freedom and privacy laws allow a Muslim senator to marry a 13-year-old girl, the latest rift in a country split between Christians and Muslims.

The lawsuit filed by the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria on behalf of Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima challenges the country's child protection laws that ban women from marrying before age 18. The suit, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, claims that Yerima's constitutional rights are being trampled over the controversy surrounding his alleged marriage to a 13-year-old Egyptian girl.

"The Nigerian constitution guarantees and protects the privacy of any citizen (and) his family member ... against invasion, intrusion and interference," the lawsuit reads. >>> Bashir Adigun, AP | Friday, June 04, 2010

Italy: Top Court Rejects Gay Marriage Suits
AKI: Rome – Italy's Constitutional Court on Wednesday rejected a landmark bid by several gay couples to legalise gay marriage. The court found the cases were "inadmissible and unfounded," it said in a statement.

Gay groups in Italy reacted defiantly to the court's decision and vowed to continue their fight for equality before the law.

"Our struggle to obtain our rights will not end here," said rights group Archigay [sic] president Paolo Patane.

"There's a clear disparity in Italy between citizens here - we are talking about first-class and second-class citizens," said gay marriage lobbying group 'Yes, I Do' spokesman Enzo Cucco.

"We have to respect the court's decisions, but we don't believe it gave sufficient consideration to the case we brought before it," he added.

Sources expect the Constitutional Court's written reasoning for its decision will state the court is not competent to rule on the same sex marriage ban and the Italian parliament alone can lift the ban. >>> | Friday, June 04, 2010

Saudi Arabia: Scholars Call for 'Jihad' Over Israeli Raid
AKI: Leading Muslim scholars and religious leaders in Saudi Arabia have called for jihad against Israel after the deadly raid on the Gaza humanitarian aid flotilla this week. In a statement distributed to Arab media, 70 of the country's prominent religious leaders said Muslims had an "obligation" to take action and to help end the embargo on Gaza aid.

"We have to strike at the heart of Israel to drive them out of Muslim territories in a way that breaks the Gaza embargo," the statement said.

"Dialogue and negotiations only increases violence by the Jews," the statement said. "The only way to save our (Muslim) nation from attacks and humiliation is to return to the way of Allah." >>> | Thursday, June 03, 2010

Israel Faces Deepening Tensions With Turkey Over Raid, and Bond With U.S. Frays
THE NEW YORK TIMES: WASHINGTON — Tensions deepened between Turkey and Israel on Friday, and a new fissure threatened to open between the United States and Israel, as the three countries continued to deal with the fallout from Israel’s deadly raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla off Gaza.

A senior Turkish diplomat warned that his country might sever diplomatic relations with Israel unless its government apologized for the attack, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed; consented to an international investigation; and lifted its blockade of Gaza.

“Israel is about to lose a friend; this is going to be a historical mistake,” said the diplomat, Namik Tan, Turkey’s ambassador to Washington. “The future of our relationship will be determined by Israel’s actions.”

Israeli officials refused Turkey’s demands, saying their commandos acted in self-defense after activists on one ship set upon them with knives, clubs and metal rods. Israel also took issue with the Obama administration’s assertion that the United States had warned Israeli officials to exercise caution and restraint in intercepting the flotilla.

“I was not contacted by anyone in the administration about this,” said Michael B. Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States. Mr. Oren said he was not aware that anybody else in the Israeli government had been called and was seeking clarification from the administration.

A spokesman for the State Department, Philip J. Crowley, said the United States had “extensive contacts” with Israel and Turkey before the flotilla set sail. “We expressed to the Israelis the need for caution and restraint in dealing with civilians, including American citizens,” he said. >>> Mark Landler | Friday, June 04, 2010

Cyprus Leaders Criticize Turkey During Pope Visit
Pope Benedict XVI in Cyprus. Photograph: The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PAPHOS, Cyprus — In the presence of Pope Benedict XVI, Cypriot religious and political leaders unleashed a furious broadside on Friday against Turkey, whose troops have occupied northern Cyprus since 1974.

Archbishop Chrysostomos II, the leader of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, accused Turkey of an “obscure plan” to take over the entire island and called for the pope’s “active cooperation” in resolving the longstanding dispute.

The two sides have resumed peace talks after a lull, and President Demetris Christofias seized on Benedict’s visit — the first by a pope — to say, “Cyprus is in need of your words of peace, given the difficult situation it faces in its occupied territory.”

He and the pope spoke shortly after Benedict arrived on Friday on a challenging three-day visit. Aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue and closer ties between the Catholic and Orthodox churches, the trip was overshadowed by the killing on Thursday of a leading Roman Catholic bishop in Turkey who was to have participated in the Cyprus visit.

On his plane from Rome, the pope said his trip was religious in nature, not political, and insisted that Turkey or Turks in general should not be blamed for the murder of the bishop, Luigi Padovese. “The certain thing is that it was not a political or religious assassination,” the pope said. “It was a personal thing.”

Bishop Padovese’s death followed other attacks on Christians in Turkey in recent years, raising concerns among Catholic officials about the country’s commitment to protecting the rights of religious minorities.

The fate of Christians in the Middle East is a central reason for Benedict’s visit to Cyprus, where on Sunday he is expected to present the working paper for a meeting of Catholic bishops from across the Middle East in October at the Vatican. >>> Rachel Donadio reported from Paphos, and Alan Cowell from Paris | Friday, June 04, 2010

Egypt Responds to Flotilla Raid

French Interior Minister Fined for Racist Remarks
THE TELEGRAPH: Brice Hortefeux, France’s interior minister, has been fined €750 (£620) after being found guilty of making a racist remark to a young man of Arab origin during an informal political gathering last year.

Mr Hortefeux, appointed immigration minister when Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007 and promoted to the powerful Interior Ministry in a cabinet reshuffle last year, was captured on video joking with party activists while having his photograph taken alongside another party member of Arab origins.

In the video, taken last September, a woman says: “Amine is a Catholic. He eats pork and drinks alcohol.”

“Ah, well that won’t do at all. He doesn’t fit the prototype at all,” Mr Hortefeux is then heard saying to much laughter.

Another voice in the crowd says, “He is one of us ... he is our little Arab.”

Mr Hortefeux then replies, “We always need one. It’s when there are lots of them that there are problems.” >>> | Friday, June 04, 2010

Turkey's Role in the Gaza Flotilla Affair Should Worry Us All in the West
THE TELEGRAPH: Ankara is losing patience after being rebuffed in its attempts to join the EU, writes Con Coughlin.

A demonstrator holds a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel in Istanbul . Photograph: The Telegraph
For a country that has aspirations to join the Western comity of nations, Turkey certainly has a strange way of going about it. Its government may not have personally sanctioned the dispatch of a flotilla of militant aid activists to Gaza, but it has lost no time in leading the international chorus of condemnation for Israel's cack-handed response.

Ahmet Davutoglu, the foreign minister, has claimed that the military interception of the flotilla, which resulted in the deaths of nine "peace" activists, has become Turkey's 9/11. The Turks even achieved the remarkable feat of persuading the Nato alliance to come to its aid. But throughout the tumult, they appear to have conveniently overlooked the damning evidence that, far from being innocent aid activists, many of those on board the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish-registered ship that led the flotilla, were hell-bent on an armed confrontation. How else do you explain the presence of gas masks, bullet-proof vests, knives and axes on the vessel?

The team of Israeli commandos that rappelled from a helicopter on to the ship's upper deck were met by a lynch mob, some of whom had openly professed a desire to achieve martyrdom prior to the voyage. In some cases, it appears their wishes were met.

While the Turkish government says it was not directly involved in sending the Mavi Marmara on its doomed mission, Israeli security officials claim the charity responsible for chartering the ship does have links to Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party. >>> Con Coughlin | Friday, June 04, 2010

Star comment by instansaver:

The Islamist ruling party in Turkey has been waiting for years to become more overtly Islamist. We in Europe should not kid ourselves that our correct rebuffing of their entry into the EU was the principal factor. Admitting Turkey would be demographically and culturally disastrous.

Erdogan spends half his time these days dining with Assad and Ahmadinejad. Turkey's great geopolitical priority right now is to prevent an independent Kurdistan arising out of the ashes of post-Saddam Iraq. That explains the majority of what is driving Turkey's (literal) reorientation.

The earlier dispute with Israel featuring Danny Ayalon centred around the production of an anti-semitic tv series in Turkey - a fact which was lost in the West due to the typical propensity for succumbing to anti-Israel spin.

We in the west would be greatly mistaken by thinking that the best way to handle Turkey right now is to mollify or appease it. The best hope for Turkey is if the secularist politicians get their act together. The Islamist ruling party needs a bucket of cold water throwing over it, not a bunch of flowers and the keys to the house. – (Edited by a moderator) [Source: Telegraph Comments]

Con Coughlin's article is excellent, well-written, and logically set out. But it is based on a false assumption! The assumption that if Turkey is allowed into Europe, all will be well. But this will clearly not be the case. Mr Coughlin, it appears, has little understanding of the true nature of Islam and Muslims. All Muslims have Islam coursing through their veins. Turkish Muslims are no different. They may appear to be more 'moderate' – whatever a 'moderate Muslim' is – but do not be fooled. Muslims are Muslims, and Islam is Islam. There is but ONE Islam, and therefore, by logical extension, ONE true Muslim.

Israelis understand the true nature of their Muslim neighbours. Con Coughlin, apparently, does not.

Allowing Turkey into Europe will be nothing short of a disaster for Europe. It will change the course of its future. The continent will be transformed in no time at all. If people like Mr Coughlin want to throw away our Judeo-Christian civilization in one fell swoop, then all that needs to be done is to allow Turkey into the Union. That will clinch it for them! But this will be one foolish step too many. – © Mark

California to Ban Plastic Bags
THE TELEGRAPH: California is to become the first US state to ban plastic bags in supermarkets in a move Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger called a "great victory for the environment."

Shoppers will have to bring their own reusable bags or pay at least 5 cents (3p) each for recycled paper ones under the ban which was approved by state politicians.

Californians currently use an estimated 19 billion plastic bags a year, equivalent to 552 for each person, only five per cent of which are reused.

The cities of San Francisco and Malibu had already banned plastic bags and the statewide ban, which also includes pharmacies, grocery stores and liquor stores, is likely to begin at the start of 2012. >>> Nick Allen in Los Angeles | Thursday, June 03, 2010

Being Greek - Greece
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here

Aeroflot Bans Alcohol on Its Flights
THE TELEGRAPH: Russian national flag carrier Aeroflot has banned the sale of alcohol on selected long-distance flights in an attempt to end alcohol-fuelled violence and debauchery.

In a move prompted by a series of embarrassing mid-air drunken fights and scandals, Aeroflot revealed it had introduced a blanket ban on the sale of alcohol in economy class on selected routes from February.

It said it had targeted routes infamous for heavy drinking and loutish behaviour and reported a "significant drop" in the number of alcohol-related incidents as a result.

The move, which affects flights to and from Russia's Far East, China, Cuba and Thailand, is likely to anger a certain kind of Russian male passenger who loves to binge drink on such flights. >>> Andrew Osborn in Moscow | Friday, June 04, 2010

Erdogan Tells Israel: You Shall Not Kill
YNET NEWS: Turkish prime minister announces Hamas not terror organization, but democratically-elected party fighting for its land. Of flotilla raid he says, 'If you don't understand it in Turkish, I will say it in English: You shall not kill (sic)'

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel Friday of murdering passengers on board the Turkish Marmara, which was sailing to Gaza as part of an aid flotilla.

"If you don't understand it in Turkish, I will say it in English: You shall not kill (sic)," he said, repeating the phrase in Hebrew.

Speaking at a ceremony in Konya, the prime minister announced that Hamas was not a terror organization. "They won an election. You always speak of democracy, but you will not let Hamas rule. What kind of democracy is that?" he asked. >>> Ynet | Friday, June 04, 2010

The Bankrupt State – Greece
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here