Poll: Majority Of GOP Said Obama Wants Sharia Law
CBS4: MIAMI – A new Newsweek poll of registered voters highlights the divide between Republicans, Democrats, and Independents over the issue of Islam and President Barack Obama.

According to the poll, 51 percent of Republicans think it's definitely or probably true that President Obama "sympathizes with the goals of Islamic fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world."

In addition, 59 percent of Republicans and 28 percent of political independents think "Obama favors the interests of Muslim Americans over other groups of Americans."

The poll results come as conservative circles have exploded in furor over a proposed Muslim community center that would be built a few blocks away from the former home of the World Trade Center. However, the poll found that 72 percent said it would be okay if a Muslim group wanted to build a mosque in their community.

The poll also found that despite all of the evidence to the contrary and the repeated statements from President Obama, nearly one-quarter of those surveyed believe President Obama is a Muslim while 34 percent say he is something else or simply don't know. >>> Tim Kephart | Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Netanyahu: Peace Needs New Approach
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a peace deal with the Palestinians will require a creative, new approach. Deborah Lutterbeck reports. Video Courtesy of Reuters.

A Tale of Two European Remarks: De Gucht and Sarrazin
CANADA FREE PRESS: In August, Thilo Sarrazin a member of the board of the German Central Bank, and a critic of Islamic immigration, mentioned that Jews and Basque and some other ethnic groups have a common gene. What followed was a storm of protests and accusations that Sarrazin was anti-Semitic. Sarrazin was dismissed from his position on the board, and newspaper articles explained that it was for remarks that he had made about Muslims and Jews.

Last week, Karel De Gucht, the European Commissioner for Trade, gave a radio show his considered opinion of Jews. Naturally De Gucht put on his best jackboots, and explained that there will be no peace because the Jews run America, that Jews believe they are always right, and that it’s impossible to have a conversation with even a “moderate Jew”. While a few Jewish groups have protested, the European Commission has shrugged, and the media has shrugged too. The odds that De Gucht will be forced out of his job, the way that Sarrazin was are minimal.

But the difference between Sarrazin and De Gucht, was that Sarrazin said something truly unacceptable about an untouchable group. Muslims. While De Gucht mainly expressed a popular view among European elites about the Jews. The ferocious charges of Anti-Semitism against Sarrazin hinged only on him stating a casual fact that Jews are genetically related to one another. It isn’t Anti-Semitism, it’s Science. Sarrazin was not charged with Anti-Semitism because of what he had said about Jews, but because of what he had said about Muslims.


The media did not bother to report that Sarrazin had said that he would prefer immigration “if it was by eastern European Jews with a 15-percent-higher IQ than the German population.” An odd remark for an “Anti-Semite” to make. It would indeed seem that Thilo Sarrazin has a more positive view of Jews, than Karel De Gucht does. But it’s not really about the Jews. It’s about Muslims.

The Jews were used as cover by the advocates of multiculturalism to charge Sarrazin with bigotry. And there was a reason for that. Sarrazin had described himself as a mongrel, with French, Italian and Polish ancestry. His criticism of Muslim immigration was not genetic, but based on their refusal to integrate into Germany. Sarrazin had pointed out that other immigrants from Eastern Europe and Vietnam were productive members of society. Muslims however were not.

Muslims are not a genetic group, but a cultural and ideological one. The media couldn’t charge him with racial hatred for pointing out the cultural problems of Muslim immigrants. And discussing his remarks too much, would raise the danger that people might agree. And so the media was forced to treat Sarrazin’s offhand remark about Jews and Basque sharing genes as some sort of Third Reich throwback in order to charge him with racism. Except that there are Basque and Jewish genetic markers. But again this wasn’t about Jews or the Basque—it was about Muslims. >>> Daniel Greenfield | Saturday, September 04, 2010

Is the Dead Sea Dying?
TIME: The Dead Sea has long attracted tourists for its mineral-rich waters. But now man-made problems are causing the sea to shrink

Outside Ground Zero Mosque: Opinions Pro & Con (September 5, 2010)

Why President Obama Is Mr. Unpopular
TIME: TIME White House correspondent Michael Scherer analyzes President Obama's dwindling public support and its effect on the midterm elections

Burqa Barbie: News Anchor
TIME: After fans decided to make Barbie's new career a TV journalist in an online vote, Mona Eltahawy wonders why an Italian designer recently chose to outfit a "Muslim" Barbie in a burqa

Rare Colour Footage of Blitz Unearthed
THE TELEGRAPH: Rare colour footage of London during the Blitz has been unearthed after lying undiscovered in an attic for almost 70 years.



The amateur cine film, shot by an air raid warden, includes striking images of bombed-out landmarks such as the John Lewis department store on Oxford Street.

Sir Winston Churchill also makes a brief appearance in the footage as he reviews a parade of civil defence workers in Hyde Park.

The 20 minutes of film, covering the period of Sep 7, 1940 to May 10, 1941, was shot by the wartime mayor of Marylebone in west London, Alfred Coucher, who was also the area’s chief air raid warden.

After the war he stored the films in his attic where they were recently discovered by his family and passed on to the St Marylebone Society, an architectural preservation group of which he was founder.

The films have now been digitised with the help of Westminster Council, which is making them available to view on a dedicated website to mark the 70th anniversary of the Blitz. >>> Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter | Monday, September 06, 2010

West End at War >>>

TELEGRAPH VIDEO: Winston Churchill and King in rare colour footage of London during Blitz >>> | Monday, September 06, 2010

Bahrain Implicates Iran in Plot to Overthrow Government
THE TELEGRAPH: Bahrain has indicated Iran was implicated in an alleged plot to overthrow its government after 23 prominent opposition leaders were charged with terrorism offences in the US-backed Gulf kingdom.

Bahrain's capital Manama - the island state has claimed Iran was involved in the plot. Photo: The Telegraph
Authorities in the island state, which serves as a US naval base, made the arrests during weeks of unrest in the run-up to a parliamentary election next month.

Officials said activists were members of "a terrorist network with international support" and were planning a campaign of "violence, intimidation and subversion".

"This sophisticated terrorist network with operations inside and outside Bahrain has undertaken and planned a systematic and layered campaign of violence and subversion," said Abdulrahman al Sayed, a government prosecutor.

"The leaders of the network have been accused of several crimes including the planning and instigation of violence, conducting a wide ranging propaganda campaign against the Kingdom and seeking to overthrow the regime by force."

Although the foreign state behind the purported plot was not named, it was widely understood that Iran was the focus of official suspicion. The Bahraini government, which is dominated by the country's Sunni minority, has frequently accused its Shia Muslim dissidents of collaborating with co-religionists in Tehran. >>> Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, September 06, 2010

White House Blunder Over Oval Office Carpet Quote
THE TELEGRAPH: White House planners have mistakenly attributed a quotation to Martin Luther King in the new Oval Office carpet but the original author was in fact a now-forgotten 19th century activist.

Though President Barack Obama would no doubt admire the record of Theodore Parker, a Boston preacher and campaigner against slavery, his aides included the quote in the carpet to honour Dr King.

Among a series of quotes woven into the edge of the new beige carpet are the words: "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." >>> | Sunday, September 05, 2010

German Banker, Sacked for Making 'Jewish Gene' Remark, Threatens Litigation
HAARETZ: Thilo Sarrazin contends that the law is on his side; legal challenge could weigh on the German government.

A member of the German central bank's board is threatening to go to court to prevent his dismissal for controversial remarks on Jews and Muslim immigrants that led the board to vote to fire him.

In extracts from an interview with the German news weekly Focus released on Saturday ahead of publication, Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin likened a wave of criticism of him to a "political show trial."

He said if German President Christian Wulff approved his sacking in the next few days, the decision would be overturned by the justice system.

The president will have to consider carefully whether he "wants to see this political show trial to its end, and then see (his decision) thrown out by the courts," Sarrazin said.

Sarrazin has previously courted controversy with remarks about Germany's Muslim population, and the latest furor erupted in the run-up to the publication of his new book "Deutschland schafft sich ab" (Germany does away with itself).

Sarrazin argues in the book that Muslims undermine German society, sponge off the state and threaten to change its character and culture with their higher birth rate.

Almost 3 million people of Turkish origin and an estimated 280,000 of Arab extraction live in Germany - in total about 4 percent of the population. >>> Reuters | Saturday, September 04, 2010

Catholic Church Accuses BBC of 'Anti-Christian' Bias
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Britain’s most senior Catholic has accused the BBC of harbouring an institutional bias against “Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular”.

Cardinal Keith Michael Patrick O'Brien of Scotland with other Cardinals during a Consistory in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
Cardinal Keith O’Brien said the BBC’s news coverage is contaminated by “a radically secular and socially liberal mindset”.

The Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh said the corporation’s intolerance of religion is equivalent to its “massive” political bias against the Conservatives in the 1980s.

He also accused the corporation of plotting a “hatchet job” on the Vatican in a documentary about clerical sex abuse on the eve of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain.

Cardinal O’Brien believes that atheists like Professor Richard Dawkins are given a disproportionate amount of airtime while mainstream Christian views are marginalised.

He is also angered by a 15 per cent slump in religious programming over the past 20 years and believes the broadcaster should appoint a religion editor to address the decline.

He said: “This week the BBC’s director general [Mark Thompson] admitted that the corporation had displayed ‘massive bias’ in its political coverage throughout the 1980s, acknowledging the existence of an institutional political bias.”

“Our detailed research into BBC news coverage of Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular, together with a systematic analysis of output by the Catholic church, has revealed a consistent anti-Christian institutional bias.”

He added that insiders at the BBC had privately admitted that there is a cultural intolerance of Christianity at the corporation. >>> Heidi Blake | Sunday, September 05, 2010

Catherine Deneuve Critical of Carla Bruni's Support for Iranian Woman
THE TELEGRAPH: An appeal by Carla Bruni-Sarkozy on behalf of an Iranian woman facing death by stoning for alleged adultery was counterproductive, according to Catherine Deneuve.

The spat between one of France's most famous actresses and its first lady came as the Vatican announced it was interceding with Tehran for the life of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two.

Miss Deneuve, 66, star of Belle de Jour, a film about a housewife secretly working as a prostitute, said the first lady's intervention allowed Iranian hardliners to seize on her past to taint the world campaign for Mrs Ashtiani's release.

Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy signed an open letter in support of Mrs Ashtiani.

That prompted an Iranian newspaper to label her a "marriage wrecking prostitute" last week because of her previous affairs with high-profile celebrities who already had partners.

"When you are a famous person you need to be more cautious when you lend your support to causes – with her past she should have been more careful. It can be a double-edged sword," Miss Deneuve said. >>> Nick Pisa in Rome | Sunday, September 05, 2010

New Dark Age Alert! Geert Wilders’ Islam Rising


Islam Rising >>>

The Dawning of a New Dark Age >>>

Geert Wilders: ”Our Culture Is Better Than the Retarded Islamic Culture”
Watch Dateline video here | Mark Davis

Vatican: Stoning in Iran Adultery Case 'Brutal'
THE NEW YORK TIMES: VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican on Sunday raised the possibility of using behind-the-scenes diplomacy to try to spare the life of an Iranian widow sentenced to be stoned for adultery.

In its first public statement on the case, which has attracted worldwide attention, the Vatican also decried stoning as a particularly ''brutal'' form of capital punishment.

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said the Catholic church opposes the death penalty in general.

Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani was convicted in 2006 of adultery. In July, Iranian authorities said they would not carry out the stoning sentence for the time being, but the mother of two could still face execution by hanging for adultery and other offenses.

Her son, Sajad, told the Italian news agency Adnkronos that he was appealing to Pope Benedict XVI and to Italy to work to stop the execution.

Lombardi told The Associated Press that no formal appeal had reached the Vatican, but hinted that Vatican's diplomacy might be employed to try to save Ashtiani. >>> The Associated Press | Sunday, September 05, 2010

Einwandererdebatte: Merkel will mehr Offenheit in Integrationsdebatte
ZEIT ONLINE: Im Streit um die Äußerungen von Bundesbank-vorstand Sarrazin plädiert Merkel dafür, Probleme mit Migranten offen anzusprechen. Unterstützung kommt von SPD-Chef Gabriel.

In der Debatte um die Äußerungen von Bundesbank-vorstand Thilo Sarrazin über die Integrationsfähigkeit von Muslimen hat Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel (CDU) dafür plädiert, Probleme im Zusammenleben mit Migranten offen anzusprechen. Sie sprach sich in der Bild am Sonntag dafür aus, die statistisch erhöhte Gewaltbereitschaft strenggläubiger muslimischer Jugendlicher nicht zu tabuisieren: "Das ist ein großes Problem und wir können offen darüber sprechen, ohne dass der Verdacht der Fremdenfeindlichkeit aufkommt."

Ausgelöst hatte die Diskussion der umstrittene Bundesbank-Vorstand Thilo Sarrazin, dem aufgrund seiner Thesen nun der Job-Verlust und der Ausschluss aus der SPD drohen. Über Sarrazins Abberufung aus dem Vorstand der Notenbank muss Bundespräsident Christian Wulff entscheiden.

Der SPD-Vorsitzende Sigmar Gabriel rief seine Partei dazu auf, sich "intensiver und offensiver" der Integration zu widmen. Der Ärger der Menschen dürfe nicht verschwiegen oder nur in den Kneipen besprochen werden, sagte Gabriel der Neuen Ruhr Zeitung: "Es gibt die Hassprediger, die Sarrazin beschreibt." >>> Zeit Online, dpa | Freitag, 04. September 2010

ZEIT ONLINE: Sarrazin ist nicht der deutsche Wilders >>> Von Werner A. Perger | Freitag, 03. September 2010

BILD: Die Sarrazin Debatte >>>

Straßenfest: Verletzte und Festnahmen bei Krawallen in Hamburg

DER WESTEN: Hamburg. Bei Fest im Schanzenviertel ist es zu Ausschreitungen zwischen Randalierern und der Polizei gekommen. Insgesamt 42 Menschen wurden vorläufig festgenommen. Elf Polizisten und mehrere Zivilpersonen seien verletzt worden.

Im Anschluss an ein Straßenfest im Hamburger Schanzenviertel hat es in der Nacht zu Sonntag gewalttätige Ausschreitungen gegeben. Randalierer hätten Polizeibeamte mit Steinen, Flaschen und Böllern beworfen, sagte eine Polizeisprecherin. Elf Beamte und drei „Zivilpersonen“ wurden demnach leicht verletzt, insgesamt habe es 42 Festnahmen gegeben.

Hunderte Randalierer waren den Angaben zufolge in Gruppen im Schanzenviertel unterwegs. Sie bewarfen die Scheibe einer Bankfiliale und schlugen die Scheiben von zwei Supermärkten und einem Modegeschäft ein. Auch eine Telefonzelle wurde zerstört und ein Auto in Brand gesteckt. Die Randalierer, unter ihnen zahlreiche Mitglieder der linksautonomen Szene, hätten die Bankfiliale mit Molotow-Cocktails angegriffen, ohne sie jedoch zu beschädigen.

Die Polizei ging mit einem Wasserwerfer gegen die Randalierer vor und räumte eine Straße. Der S-Bahn-Verkehr im Schanzenviertel musste zwischenzeitlich ausgesetzt werden, weil immer wieder Menschen auf die Gleise geklettert seien. Der Einsatz dauerte bis gegen 03.20 Uhr, sagte eine andere Polizeisprecherin. Zusätzlich zu den Festnahmen gab es demnach drei Ingewahrsamnahmen. Bei den verletzten Zivilisten handele es sich vermutlich um Unbeteiligte. >>> Panorama, Der Westen, Samstag, 05. September 2010

Nazi Demo in Dortmund
DER WESTEN: Den ganzen Tag lang hielt die Nazi-Demo Dortmund in Atem - ebenso wie die vielen Gegendemos.

Den ganzen Tag lang hielt die Nazi-Demo Dortmund in Atem - ebenso wie die vielen Gegendemos. Hier die Chronologie im Video - zumindest in kleinen Auszügen aus Hauptbahnhof und Nordstadt. Den ganzen Tag über gab es verschiedene Veranstaltungen, beendet mit dem Friedensfest in Dorstfeld.

Blair in "Radical Islam" Warning
PRESS TV: Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said radical Islamists are the greatest threat for the world since they justify whatever they did - including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons - under the name of Islam.

Mr Blair fell short of mentioning his role in the occupation of Chechenya, Kashmir, Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan and denied his policies had fueled radicalism . He claimed Western policies were designed to confront people who were "regressive, wicked and backward-looking".

The Islamic Human Rights Commission expressed outrage at remarks made by prime-minister Tony Blair “insensitive and provocative statements.” The BBC reported “Mr Blair said no democratic regime would spend billions of pounds on chemical and biological weapons.” >>> SEF/HE | Saturday, September 04, 2010