After His Hand Was Chopped Off, Kerala College Sacks Lecturer
THE TIMES OF INDIA: KOCHI – Adding insult to injury, a Kerala college has sacked its lecturer whose right hand was chopped off by activists of radical outfit PFI for preparing a controversial Malayalam question paper with alleged derogatory references to Prophet Muhammad.

The management of the Christian-run New Man College has informed T J Joseph that he had been removed from September 1 on the grounds that he had hurt religious sentiments, college sources said on Saturday.

Joseph reacted with shock to his dismissal saying it was an "unexpected blow" to him and his family while Education Minister M A Baby regretted the management action calling it an "extreme and irrationally negative" step.

The Popular Front of India activists had hacked the right hand of Joseph on July 4 when he was returning home with his family from a Church. 30 persons have been arrested so far in connection with the gruesome attack which shocked the country. >>> PTI | Saturday, September 04, 2010

HERALD SUN: Indian teacher's hand cut off for alleged Muhammad slight: TWO Indian men have been arrested over an attack on a college teacher who had his hand cut off for setting an exam question that allegedly insulted Muslims. >>> NewsCore | Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Indonesians Protest Fla. Church's Quran-Burning Day
NPR: About 3,000 Muslims marched Saturday through Indonesia's capital to the U.S. Embassy to protest plans by a Florida church to burn the Quran on Sept. 11.

Protesters from the hard-line Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir marched with banners and placards denouncing the burning set for Wednesday. Similar rallies were held in five other cities across Indonesia. >>> NPR Staff and Wires | Saturday, September 04, 2010

Venezuela Introduces Cuba-like Food Card
MIAMI HERALD: Presented by President Hugo Chávez as an instrument to make shopping for groceries easier, the “Good Life Card'' is making various segments of the population wary because they see it as a furtive attempt to introduce a rationing card similar to the one in Cuba.

The measure could easily become a mechanism to control the population, according to civil society groups.

“We see that in short-term this could become a rationing card probably similar to the one used in Cuba,'' Roberto León Parilli, president of the National Association of Users and Consumers, told El Nuevo Herald. “It would use more advanced technological means [than those used in Cuba], but when they tell you where to buy and what the limits of what you can buy are, they are conditioning your purchases.''

Chávez said Tuesday that the card could be used to buy groceries at the government chain of markets and supplies.

“I have called it a Good Life Card so far,'' Chávez said in a brief statement made on the government television channel. “It's a card for you to purchase what you are going to take and they keep deducting. It's to buy what you need, not to promote communism, but to buy what just what you need.'' Read on and comment >>> Antonio Maria Delgado | Friday, September 03, 2010

Top Iran Cleric Rejects Holocaust as 'Superstition'
BREITBART: A senior Iranian cleric, Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, dismissed the Nazi Holocaust of Jews during World War II as a new "superstition" for the West, media reported on Saturday.

"The Holocaust is nothing but superstition, but Zionists say that people of the world should be forced to accept this," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA.

"Americans and Westerners are affected by newly appeared superstitions such as the Holocaust," he said according to ISNA news agency.

"The truth about the Holocaust is not clear, and when the researchers want to examine whether it is true or the Jews have created it to pose as victims, they jail the researchers," said Makarem Shirazi, who is a "marja," or among the highest authorities in Shiite Islam.

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly branded the Holocaust a "myth" in his frequent anti-Israel diatribes drawing international condemnation, but Iran's prominent clergy have rarely echoed such comments. >>> AFP |Saturday, September 04, 2010

Poor Jobs Report in August; Obama Blames Republicans

Barack Hussein Obama – Weekly Address: Honoring the American Worker

Imam: Mosque Dispute Is About Muslim Relations in America


Bloomberg is not be trusted. Islam has no place in America. The Ground Zero mosque SHOULD NOT go ahead. – Mark

You Trust This Guy If You Want To; This Guy’s Not For Trusting! Blair Heckled At Book Promotion

Obama Says Stimulus Healed Economy (And If You Believe That, You'll Believe Anything!)
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: President Barack Obama said his economic stimulus plan help stop the economic "bleeding." Deborah Lutterbeck reports. Video Courtesy of Reuters.

Four Men Arrested After Shoes and Eggs Are Thrown at Tony Blair at Book Signing
THE TELEGRAPH: Four men have been arrested after shoes and eggs were thrown at Tony Blair as he promoted his controversial memoir in Dublin on Saturday.



The former prime minister was heckled and jeered by anti-war protesters at his first book signing in the city’s O’Connell Street. >>> Michael Howie | Saturday, September 04, 2010

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to Be Lashed Over Newspaper Photograph
THE GUARDIAN: Iranian woman facing death for adultery to be whipped despite Times apologising for using picture of another person

Activists hold a solidarity rally for Sakineh Mohamadi Ashtiani who was convicted of committing adultery and sentenced to being stoned to death. Photograph: The Guardian
Iran has reportedly sentenced Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani – the 43-year-old Iranian woman who faces execution after being convicted of adultery – to 99 lashes in prison for "spreading corruption and indecency" after allowing an unveiled picture of herself to be published in a British newspaper.

The claim, which could not be confirmed, comes from her family and a lawyer representing Mohammadi Ashtiani, based on reports from those who have recently left the prison in Tabriz where she has been held for the last four years.

The latest charges against Mohammadi Ashtiani – if confirmed – would appear to suggest that the Iranian authorities have been stung by the international outcry her case has attracted through the campaign of her family and supporters in the media, and could be read as a warning that it is Sakineh who could suffer from the protests.

What has made the latest charges against her even more extraordinary is the fact that the unveiled photograph in question, published by the Times newspaper on 28 August, was not actually of Sakineh but of another woman, for which the paper has since apologised.

In reality, the woman pictured was Susan Hejrat, an Iranian political activist living in Sweden whose photograph had been published on a website along with an article she had written about Sakineh's case, perhaps causing the confusion. In its apology, published on Friday, the Times said that the photograph had been obtained from Mohammad Mostafaei, one of Sakineh's lawyers, who had claimed that he received the picture from her son, Sajad – which he has denied.

Instead, in an open letter today, Sajad Ghaderzadeh accused the Iranian authorities of using the mistaken picture as "an excuse to increase their harassment of our mother".

He added: "My mother has been called in to see the judge in charge of prison misdemeanours, and he has sentenced our helpless mother to 99 lashes on false charges of spreading corruption and indecency by disseminating this picture of a woman presumed to be her [Sakineh] without hijab." >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan and Peter Beaumont | Saturday, September 04, 2010

leJDD.fr: Nouveau châtiment pour Sakineh : Toujours menacée d’exécution, la mère de famille iranienne a été condamnée à 99 coups de fouet. >>>Karen Lajon - Le Journal du Dimanche | Dimanche 05 Septembre 2010

Heftiges Beben in Neuseeland lässt Gebäude einstürzen: Schwere Schäden in Christchurch
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Bei einem schweren Erdbeben sind im Süden Neuseelands zwei Menschen schwer verletzt worden. In der am stärksten betroffenen Stadt Christchurch stürzten unzählige Häuser ein. In der grössten Stadt der Südinsel wurde der Notstand ausgerufen. Nach ersten Schätzungen hinterlässt das Beben der Stärke 7,1 einen Schaden in Milliardenhöhe.



Related material here

Massenproteste im Iran gegen Nahost-Gespräche
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Im Iran haben Hunderttausende Regimeanhänger gegen die Wiederaufnahme der Nahost-Friedensgespräche protestiert. Die iranische Führung forderte einen Abzug Israels aus den Palästinensergebieten.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad May End Up as Genghis Khan with a Nuclear Bomb
THE TELEGRAPH: Iran will not be shamed into abandoning stoning, or its nuclear ambitions, says Alasdair Palmer.

Joseph Stalin was once described as "Genghis Khan with a telephone". President Ahmadinejad may soon be Genghis Khan with a nuclear bomb. Admittedly, Ahmadinejad hasn't yet committed mass murder on that scale, although when he promised to "wipe Israel off the map", he showed that he would – if only he could. And he may treat his own people slightly better than Genghis Khan treated his. But as Dr Johnson said, "there is no settling orders of precedence between a louse and a flea".

Ahmadinejad has imprisoned thousands for protesting against the brutality, incompetence and illegitimacy of his rule; he has condoned the imposition of the death penalty for any Muslim who converts to another faith; and he supports punishing adultery by stoning those involved to death.

There has been a global campaign to persuade Iran to end stoning, a disgustingly barbaric punishment which inflicts pain of the same order as impaling, Genghis Khan's favourite method of execution, and may take even longer to cause death. It centres on the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 44-year-old mother and widow who was convicted of adultery in 2006 and punished with 99 lashes. She has been in prison ever since, as the judges decided that 99 lashes wasn't a severe enough sentence for the crime of loving someone who isn't your spouse: she deserved to be stoned to death. Continue reading and comment >>> Alasdair Palmer | Saturday, September 04, 2010

Sarrazin warnt Bundespräsident Wulff vor «Schauprozess»
NZZ ONLINE: Gefallener Banker und früherer SPD-Politiker setzt zum Rundumschlag an

Thilo Sarrazin hat Bundespräsident Christian Wulff vor einem «Schauprozess» gegen ihn gewarnt. Angesichts des gegen ihn laufenden Abberufungsverfahrens als Bundesbankvorstand sagte der wegen seiner Integrationsthesen kritisierte Banker dem Nachrichtenmagazin «Focus»: «Der Bundespräsident wird sich genau überlegen, ob er eine Art politischen Schauprozess vollenden will, der anschliessend von den Gerichten kassiert wird.»

Er gehe davon aus, dass Wulff ihn vor einer Entscheidung anhören werde, zumal der Bundespräsident die Stärkung der Demokratie und des offenen Diskurses als sein Zentralthema gewählt habe. >>> ddp | Samstag, 04. September 2010

NZZ ONLINE: Bayerns Innenminister teilt Sarrazins Kritik: Keine Aufenthaltserlaubnis für Imame ohne Deutschkenntnisse >>> ddp | Samstag, 04. September 2010

What is wrong with our so-called leaders? The problem is that they are not leaders at all. They lack the spine, guts, and courage to do what they are elected, employed and paid to do: to lead. Take Angela Merkel and Christian Wulff in Germany as examples. They have set upon poor Thilo Sarrazin and want him out of the Bundesbank, all because he has been intellectually honest and has written a book which I suspect most voters would agree with. Unfortunately, the book is anything but politically correct: It states what the political class, the political élite, does not want to hear. It tells it like it is. And the shit has hit the fan!

Fact is that the leaders in most countries in the West, America included, are part of the problem, not part of the solution, One has to ask oneself one simple question: If our ‘leaders’ won’t save the West from the onslaught of Islam, a dark, backward political system clothed in a deity, then what happens next? Whatever happens, the West HAS TO BE SAVED from the forces of barbarism and darkness. And if you think that I am exaggerating, consider what has been said by a convert to Islam in Australia in the past few days: He has called for Geert Wilders’ head – literally – all because Mr Wilders has criticised Islam and the prophet Muhammad, all because Mr Wilders wants to save the Netherlands from the forces of darkness.

But what is being done about this Muslim’s hate-filled comments, what is being done about his incitement to violence against an innocent man who just doesn’t happen to share this fanatic’s worldview? The answer is simple: Nothing! But when a great intellect such as Thilo Sarrazin writes a book as a warning to Germans that their country is being destroyed, all hell breaks loose! And something IS done about it: Thilo Sarrazin loses his prestigious position in the Bundesbank. And all because the so-called leaders have no spunk. Disgraceful! – © Mark

Related matter here and here

Thilo Sarrazin, How Germany Is Commiting Suicide


HT: Gates Of Vienna >>>

EU Austerity Policies Risk Civil War in Greece, Warns Top German Economist Dr Sinn
THE TELEGRAPH: Greece’s austerity measures cannot prevent default and will lead to a breakdown of the political order if continued for long, a leading German economist has warned.

Hans-Werner Sinn, head of Germany's prestigious IFO Institute, said it was impossible to cut wages and prices by 30pc without major riots. Photo: The Telegraph
“This tragedy does not have a solution,” said Hans-Werner Sinn, head of the prestigious IFO Institute in Munich.

“The policy of forced 'internal devaluation', deflation, and depression could risk driving Greece to the edge of a civil war. It is impossible to cut wages and prices by 30pc without major riots,” he said, speaking at the elite European House Ambrosetti forum at Lake Como.

“Greece would have been bankrupt without the rescue measures. All the alternatives are terrible but the least terrible is for the country to get out of the eurozone, even if this kills the Greek banks,” he said.

Dr Sinn said Greece is an entirely different case from Spain and Portugal, which still have manageable public debts and can bring their public finances back into line with higher taxes.

“Greece would have defaulted in the period between April 28 and May 7, had the money not been promised by the European Union,” he said, describing the failure of the EU’s bail-out strategy to include a haircut for the banks as an invitation to moral hazard.

“There should be a quasi-insolvency procedure for countries. Creditors have to accept a haircut before any money flows for rescue plans, otherwise we’ll never have debt discipline in the eurozone,” he said.

Greek society has so far held together well, despite a wave of strikes and street violence in the early months of the crisis. However, unemployment is rising fast and political fatigue with such austerity policies typically sets in the second year. >>> Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Cernobbio, Italy | Friday, September 03, 2010

Geert Wilders Protests NYC Mosque

Mr Wilders said his trust in the CDA was at "an all-time low". Photograph: BBC
Dutch Coalition Talks Collapse as Geert Wilders Quits
BBC: Negotiations to form a coalition in the Netherlands have collapsed after the leader of the far-right Freedom Party, Geert Wilders, walked out.

Mr Wilders said he did not trust some members of the Christian Democrats to adhere to any agreement reached.

Some Christian Democrats have expressed deep reservations about any deal with Mr Wilders because of his strong anti-Islamic and anti-immigration views.

The collapse comes three months after an inconclusive general election.

The Netherlands has been without a government since the previous coalition collapsed in February.

Controversial

"The negotiations did not succeed," Mark Rutte, leader of the centre-right Liberal Party (VVD), told a news conference at the Hague. >>> | Saturday, September 04, 2010

Firebrand Sheikh Is Back Preaching
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: The Sydney-born Islamic cleric who called for the beheading of a Dutch anti-Muslim MP has been back in Australia for several months and preaching at an Islamic centre in Campbelltown in Sydney's south-west.

In a speech on his website, Sheikh Feiz Mohammad described Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Party for Freedom, as ''this Satan, this devil, this politician in Holland'' and said his head should be chopped off for denigrating Islam. Sheikh Feiz Mohammad gained notoriety for a speech in Bankstown in 2005 when he said a rape victim had no one to blame but herself for wearing ''satanic skirts''.

An Islamic news website, MuslimVillage.com, reported yesterday the cleric gave the Friday Prayer sermon at the Campbelltown centre last week.

Mr Wilders has called Islamic culture ''retarded and violent''. [Source: The Sydney Morning Herald] Jim O'Rourke | Sunday, September 09, 2010

Why isn't this firebrand arrested for hate speech and inciting violence? Does the West now officially have double standards for Muslims and infidels? Because this is certain: If an infidel called for a Muslim to be beheaded, for whatever reason, he would arrested and incarcerated forthwith. – © Mark