THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Fires persist in Portugal and Russia, destroying villages and forests as authorities continue to battle the flames. Deborah Lutterbeck reports for Reuters.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: She is the Welsh-born Australian prime minister who is fighting in a neck and neck race for every last vote, including those cast by Australians in Britain.
It was only in June that Julia Gillard, 48, seized the job from her former boss, in a ruthless internal Labour Party coup that she said was essential to keeping the Left in power – but which critics saw as a treacherous stab in the back for Kevin Rudd, her hapless predecessor.
Now, with less than a week left until the election she promised she could win, Australia's first woman prime minister is engaged in a frantic nationwide tour after opinion polls showed her neck and neck with the opposition leader, Tony Abbott, 52.
From a 10 point lead before the campaign began, Labour slipped to being just two points ahead of the rival Liberal-National Coalition, and some recent polls have even put the party behind.
The harsh reality for Ms Gillard is that, despite having strong support among women voters, she is in danger of becoming one of the shortest tenures of any Australian prime minister – because so many Australian men do not warm to her.
Talking to The Sunday Telegraph on her campaign plane, she refused to speculate on the reasons – and whether, as some suggest, her own lack of a family as an unmarried career politician makes her even more intimidating to already apprehensive Australian men.
"At this stage I will leave it in the hands of the Australian people, both men and women, to make their decisions on election day, but I believe it will come down to choices about what's better for people's futures for them and their families," she said.
But she defended her decision to oust Mr Rudd, whose popularity had plummeted since he led Labour to a landslide election victory in 2007, making clear she had no regrets about having moved in for the kill. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Tasmania | Saturday, August 14, 2010
THE OBSERVER: Obama under fire over support for mosque near Ground Zero: After a barrage of criticism, president appears to backtrack, saying: 'I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making a decision to put a mosque there' >>> Paul Harris in New York | Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
CATHOLIC ONLINE: NEW YORK (Catholic League) - When President Barack Obama spoke at Georgetown University on April 14, the White House requested that all religious symbols and signage that might appear as a backdrop to where the president was to speak be covered up. Georgetown acceded to the request and made sure that the symbol “IHS,” a monogram of the name Jesus Christ, was not in sight.
Catholic League president Bill Donohue spoke to this issue today:
“The cowardice of Georgetown to stand fast on principle tells us more than we need to know about what is going on there, but the bigger story is the audacity of the Obama administration to ask a religious school to neuter itself before the president speaks there.
"No bishop who might speak at the White House would ever request that a crucifix be displayed behind him. Moreover, the same church and state fanatics who go nuts every time a polling place is set up in the basement of a Catholic school have been noticeably silent over this incident. >>> | Friday, April 17, 2009
PR NEWSWIRE: NEW YORK -- The human rights organization Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) strongly condemns Barack Obama's blessing of the Islamic supremacist mega-mosque to be built at the hallowed ground of the September 11, 2001 jihad terror attack.
SIOA founder and executive director Pamela Geller said in a statement that Obama "has, in effect, sided with the Islamic jihadists and told the ummah (at an Iftar dinner on the third night of Ramadan) that he believes in and supports what will be understood in the Islamic world as a triumphal mosque on a site of Islamic conquest."
Geller noted that in coming out in favor of the mosque, Obama confused the issue by framing it as one of religious liberty, when no opponent of the mosque is calling for restrictions on anyone's religious freedom; ignored the historical record showing that thousands of mosques have been built over the cherished sites of conquered peoples (notably the Dome of the Rock on the site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem); and also ignored the clear evidence of the mosque backers' duplicity and refusal to condemn the jihad terrorist group Hamas.
"Obama must know," said Geller, "that this is not about religious liberty. No one has suggested abridging the First Amendment to stop the mosque, and to oppose the Ground Zero mosque is not to oppose the First Amendment. There are hundreds of mosques in New York, thousands in America. This is not a religious issue. This is an issue of national dignity and respect for those who were murdered at that site in the name of Islam. Mutual respect is a two way street."
"We, in the West," Geller continued, "are constantly being told to be sensitive to Islamic sensibilities regarding images of Muhammad and so-called 'blasphemy.' We are told that criticism of jihad violence is 'hate speech.' But where is the reciprocity? Where is the Muslim compassion for the grief and the pain of not just the 9/11 families but of all Americans? Every American was a target that day; the 9/11 families took the hit for us."
The Freedom Defense Initiative (FDI) and SIOA will be hosting a rally against the Ground Zero mega-mosque on September 11 at 2pm at Park Place, between Church Street and West Broadway. >>> PRNewswire-USNewswire | Saturday, August 14, 2010
RUSSIA TODAY: Pastor sees pure evil in Obama: A New York pastor claims Barack Obama is pure evil, not an American citizen, and therefore has no right to run the country. >>> Published Wednesday, November 25, 2009; Edited, Tuesday, August 03, 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Dubiose Geschäfte, Geldverschwendung, Missachtung des Rechtsstaats – das System Haider wurde von der politischen Klasse hofiert
Die Methode ist seit Langem bekannt: Das System Haider bestand aus einer Mischung von schlechtem Entertainment, inhaltlicher Beliebigkeit, trotzigem Postnazismus und schamlos frechem Umgang mit Geld. Wer hinsah, wusste schon vor Jahren, dass mit Jörg Haider »kein Staat zu machen« war, wie Erhard Busek meinte. Wer jetzt noch von den neuen Enthüllungen über Millionenkonten überrascht ist, sollte sich fragen, warum die Ausflüge des tödlich verunglückten Politik-Desperados zu Diktatoren zu keinen Konsequenzen führten. Warum die provokante Geldverschwendung, die zum Markenzeichen dieses Systems wurde, nicht verstärkt kritische Fragen nach sich zog. Warum die fortgesetzte Verachtung des Rechtsstaates (Stichwort: Ortstafel verschieben) nicht dazu führte, dass die »staatstragenden Parteien« diesem Mann die Rolle eines politischen Paria zuwiesen. >>> Von Anton Pelinka | Samstag, 14. August 2010
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Sakineh Ashtani gestand gestern im Iranischen Fernsehen öffentlich ihren Ehebruch. Sie habe zu spät festgestellt, dass ihr neuer Partner ein Berufskiller sei. Für Amnesty International ist die Erpressung öffentlicher Geständnisse nichts Neues. Ashtanis Situation hat sich dadurch arg verschlechtert.
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