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Thursday, August 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The daughter of Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York famously tough on crime, has been arrested for shoplifting.
Caroline Giuliani, a 20-year-old Harvard University student, was seen on security cameras pocketing five items worth more than $100 at a make-up shop in Manhattan, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.
Store managers, after calling police, said they did not want to press charges against her, he said. However, prosecutors decided she would be charged with petty larceny.
She was to be released later Wednesday from a police station. >>> | Thursday, August 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A planned mosque and Muslim cultural centre near the site of the September 11 attacks faces a new hurdle as a lawsuit has been filed aiming to block the controversial project.
The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday by the American Center for Law & Justice in Washington whose mission is defending religious freedom, challenged Tuesday's decision by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission not to grant landmark status to the 1857 Italianate building currently on the site.
"This issue has nothing to do with religious freedom," said Brett Joshpe, a lawyer for ACLJ. "Given what the (planned new) building represents, the placement of the project at that location is inappropriate and inflammatory."
Opponents of the center say it would betray the memory of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. >>> | Thursday, August 05, 2010
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MAIL ONLINE: Parents have expressed fury at plans to serve pupils halal-only menus for school dinners.
In a move which has also enraged animal welfare groups, only meat from animals killed and prepared using Islamic teaching will be allowed at 52 primaries in Harrow.
Critics say the plan puts the needs of Muslim children before those of other faiths, while parents say they have not been consulted over the scheme.
Schools are free to opt in to the programme or look elsewhere for their meals from the start of next month, according to Harrow Council.
The local authority is thought to be the first in England to insist on a halal-only menu apparently after recommendations of dietitians.
According to the 2001 Census, Harrow is one of the most religiously diverse areas in Britain with fewer than 50 per cent of the population Christian, a fifth Hindu and 7 per cent Jewish.
Using the halal method, animals are slaughtered by being slashed across the neck and being left so that the blood drains from the carcass.
The religious ritual, which does not allow the animals to be stunned beforehand, is considered cruel by campaigners and is exempt from animal welfare laws.
Harrow resident Sheila Murphy said: 'I am appalled at Harrow Council’s decision to serve only Halal meat in the borough’s schools. >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Thursday, August 05, 2010
”Eye-watering amounts of Saudi money goes into promoting Wahhabism. They fund mosques, religious-schools, imams, conferences and trips to Saudi Arabia. They are our wealthy allies and so are never questioned or stopped.” – Yasmin Alibhai Brown
MAIL ONLINE: Last November, on the steps of Tate Britain, I witnessed a scene that troubles me still.A furious Asian father was shaking his young son and tearing up the picture his child had drawn.
The boy kicked and cried. Recognising my face from TV appearances I had made as a commentator on current affairs, the father came across to say 'hello'.
So I asked him what his child had done that had made him so angry. He explained that according to his Islamic mentors, drawing pictures of people was forbidden.
I was flabbergasted. After all, this was in the middle of Britain's multi-cultural capital - a modern metropolis, not some dusty backstreet in Kabul.
What harm can there be in a picture?
So I asked the man if he owned a camera. 'Yes,' he replied. 'And a video camera.'
So why, I asked, was it acceptable for him to take pictures, but not for his child to draw a stick figure?
'The madrasa teacher told me children are not allowed to,' he said, referring to the places of religious instruction for Muslim children, which are the equivalent of Sunday schools for Christians.
'I am not an educated man, so I must listen to them.'
You might think this encounter was a case of an ill-educated parent misinterpreting the teachings of his elders.
Alas, in the past year I have come to realise his attitude towards his child is far from unique.
Such fundamentalist beliefs about parenthood are not uncommon. In private, teachers, lecturers, community, youth and social workers have told me many more such stories of the suppression of simple childhood pleasures in the name of Islam.
An investigation by the BBC revealed one London school where more than 20 Muslim pupils had been removed from music lessons because their parents felt such teaching to be anti-Islamic.
Another one-off? No, the Muslim Council of Britain confirmed that music lessons are likely to be 'unacceptable' to 10 per cent of Muslims.
What should be a simple pleasure is instead seen by thousands of families as a symbol of moral decadence. >>> Yasmin Alibhai-Brown | Thursday, August 05, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: A British woman was arrested and charged with indecency after walking through a Dubai shopping mall wearing a bikini, it was reported today.
The Foreign Office confirmed the woman was arrested and charged, but the charges have since been dropped.
The holidaymaker is believed to have been arrested after a complaint that she was dressed indecently in the Dubai Mall.
The mall is the world's largest shopping centre, with more than 1,200 stores, and is part of the 20 billion US dollar (£12.5 billion) Burj Khalifa complex.
It is believed the woman walked through the mall wearing a revealing top, attracting the complaint from a local woman. She then apparently stripped down to a bikini, prompting her arrest, the Daily Mail reported. >>> Ellen Branagh, Press Association | Thursday, August 05, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: British woman arrested for walking through Dubai shopping mall in a bikini: A British woman has been arrested and charged with indecency after walking through a Dubai shopping mall wearing a bikini, according to reports. >>> Laura Roberts | Thursday, August 05, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari has turned down an offer of hospitality at David Cameron’s country retreat Chequers.
Mr Zardari rejected an invitation to spend a night at the Buckinghamshire mansion, saying he was too busy as the diplomatic row continued over his country’s approach to tackling terrorism.
But he will visit Chequers for dinner this evening for informal talks with the Prime Minister, which are set to be dominated by Mr Cameron’s assertion last week that Pakistan is ‘exporting terror’.
He will then travel back to his hotel in London before returning to Chequers tomorrow for formal talks with the Prime Minister, who also accused Pakistan of ‘looking both ways’ on terror.
Mr Zardari will on Saturday address a rally in Birmingham at which he is expected to launch his son with Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal, onto the political stage.
Bilawal, 21, is the young heir to the most important political dynasty in Pakistan and has been at his father's side in France and the UK this week.
He became chairman of the Pakistan People's Party after his mother's assassination and has just graduated from Oxford and will now take to politics full-time.
Mr Cameron’s comments, made during a visit to India last week, have unleashed fury in Pakistan and angered some members of Britain’s million-strong British Pakistani community.
Pakistani sources have said Mr Zardari will use this week’s talks to ‘educate’ Mr Cameron on the suffering that terrorism has caused to his country. >>> Jason Groves | Thursday, August 05, 2010
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
PINK NEWS: An 18-year-old Iranian man is facing execution over a false sodomy charge, campaigners say.
Ebrahim Hamidi was sentenced to death two years ago at the age of 16 for an unspecified assault on another man.
Although the allegation was withdrawn and the Iranian Supreme Court has rejected the guilty verdict and execution order, a lower provincial court is insisting on Mr Hamidi's execution.
Now, his fate lies in the hands of the Supreme Court, which must decided whether to uphold the execution order.
Previously, he was represented by the human rights lawyer Mohammad Mostafaei but Mr Mostafaei has gone into hiding after a warrant for his arrest was issued.
The lawyer is also representing Sakineh Ashtiani, the Iranian woman who has been sentenced to death by stoning on charges of adultery.
Supporters of Mr Hamidi say that while Ms Ashtiani is unlikely to face death because she has international support, he could be executed at any time.
They are asking for people to contact their MPs to raise awareness of Mr Hamidi's plight. >>> Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
WA TODAY: Liberal leader Tony Abbott and WA Premier Colin Barnett have attacked a Muslim woman's request to testify in a court case wearing a full head covering.
A Perth judge is set to decide this week whether the woman who wears the burqa can testify before a jury in a fraud trial. She is a strict Muslim who does not want to show her face to men.
The traditional headscarf, also known as a niqab, covers virtually the whole body, allowing only a small slit for the eyes through which the woman can see.
The Opposition Leader today weighed into the debate, labelling the burqa a "particularly confronting" piece of clothing.
"I find the burqa a particularly confronting form of attire and I would very much wish that fewer Australians would choose it," Mr Abbott told reporters when asked about the case.
Mr Barnett today said he believed Muslim witnesses giving evidence in court should remove their burqa so the "true nature" of their evidence can be seen.
He said although he defended the right of people to dress according to their faith and religion, in this case it would be appropriate for the woman to remove her burqa.
"I would think, normally, witnesses should have their faces exposed," he said.
"I think it's important for the judge and jury to see the true nature of any evidence given, the expressions and the like. But that is a matter for the judge." >>> AAP | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Australian court to rule on whether Muslim woman can give evidence in burka: An intense debate over the burka has been sparked in Australia after a Muslim woman asked a judge to allow her to give evidence while wearing the full veil. >>> Bonnie Malkin in Sydney | Thursday, August 05, 2010
BBC: A group of young Muslim men have been publicly flogged in Sudan after they were convicted of wearing women's clothes and make-up.
The court said the 19 men had broken Sudan's strict public morality codes.
Police arrested them at a party where they were found dancing "in a womanly fashion", the judge said.
The men were not represented in court and said nothing in their defence, some hid their faces from the hundreds of people who watched as they were lashed.
'Scared'
The sentence of 30 lashes was carried out as soon as the court in Omdurman, near Khartoum, gave its ruling.
They must also pay fines of as much as 1,000 Sudanese pounds ($400, £252).
One lawyer, who did not want to be named, told Reuters news agency the men had not received a fair trial.
"These people did not get a chance for justice, public opinion and the media prejudged them and lawyers were too scared to come and defend them," he said.
Newspapers had called the party a "same sex wedding". >>> | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: The leader of the Conservative party on Slough Borough Council has been charged with bigamy.
Councillor Pervez Choudhry, 52, was arrested on Monday and later released on bail.
Choudhry, who was originally elected as a Labour candidate for the Central Ward but later defected to the Tories, is due to appear at Maidenhead Magistrates' Court next Monday.
Peter Dale-Gough, the acting leader of the Conservative group on Slough Borough Council, said Choudhry had told him that he took part in a religious ceremony to his first wife but never went through with the civil ceremony and was therefore not married by law.
His second wife, a GP who was said to be about 10 years his junior, lives and works in Birmingham. He was said to have met her while using an online dating site and married her in Pakistan.
She was thought to have left Choudhury on learning that his previous marriage may not have legally ended.
Choudhry, of Slough, has vowed to clear his name, after agreeing to stand down as the Conservatives' leader. Tory councillor charged with bigamy >>> Nick Collins | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE GUARDIAN – BLOGS – RICHARD ADAMS: Judge rules that gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marriage, overturning California's controversial Proposition 8
A judge has overturned California's ban on homosexual marriage as unconstitutional in a sweeping victory for gay and lesbian civil rights – setting off a round of appeals that will see the issue ultimately decided by the US Supreme Court[.]
US district judge Vaughn Walker declared that the ban on gay and lesbian marriage enforced by the Proposition 8 referendum in 2008 – when it was backed by 52% of California's voters – violated the US Constitution's due-process and equal-protection clauses. Continue reading and comment >>> Richard Adams | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A federal judge has overturned California's same-sex marriage ban in a landmark case that could eventually reach the US Supreme Court.
US District Court Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco defied the state's supreme court and a narrow majority of its voters by ruling that homosexuals and lesbians have a right in the federal constitution to marry on an equal basis with heterosexuals.
The California Supreme Court last year upheld the ban, imposed after a public ballot in November 2008, and argued that people were entitled to change their constitution.
The ban runs counter to a growing trend of accepting such marriages in other states and Judge Walker's ruling had been awaited keenly by gay rights advocates.
His ruling is expected to be appealed and is almost certain to reach the US Supreme Court, via the appeals court. As a result, gay marriage will not yet be allowed to resume. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – TOBY YOUNG: Proposition 8: Hollywood is the capital of gay hypocrisy >>> Toby Young | Thursday, August 05, 2010
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: In New York soll in der unmittelbaren Nähe von Ground Zero, dem Schauplatz der Terrorangriffe 2001 auf das World Trade Center, eine Moschee entstehen. Dies sorgt für eine heftige Debatte.
Verbunden / Related >>>
Massachusetts Governor Declares His Support of the Ground Zero Mosque and Displays His Ignorance about Islam >>>
SCHWEIZER FERNSEHEN: Auf den iranischen Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadinedschad ist offenbar ein Anschlag verübt worden. Ahmadinedschad kam dabei nicht zu Schaden.
Related / Verbunden >>>
HAARETZ: PM also blames Lebanese government for violence at border, days after Grad rocket salvo killed Jordanian man in attack from Sinai.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Israeli television Wednesday that Hamas was responsible for the deadly rocket fire on Israel's and Jordan's Red Sea ports on Monday, and that Israel would retaliate.
Earlier Wednesday, Egyptian officials also confirmed that the rocket attacks, which had killed a Jordanian taxi driver in Aqaba, had been carried out by the militant Palestinian group operating from Egypt, after days of denials.
"Over recent days we've witnessed three attacks against Israel," Netanyahu said in a special announcement on Israeli television. "An attack from Gaza on Ashkelon, an attack by the Lebanese army on Israel Defense Forces troops carrying out a routine operation, and another attack from the Sinai peninsula at Eilat. I want to make very clear to Hamas and to the Lebanese government that we view them as responsible for the violent provocation against us."
"Don't test our determination to protect our citizens," the prime minister went on to say. >>> News Agencies and Haaretz Service | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
LE POINT: Elle n'a que 11 ans et vit dans un quartier pauvre de Córdoba, dans le Centre argentin. Alertée par son comportement bizarre, sa mère a découvert qu'elle était tombée enceinte après avoir été violée par un voisin. Mais lorsque la famille de la fillette demande un avortement, un fonctionnaire public avertit qu'il lui est "impossible d'avorter sans l'intervention de la justice".
Si la fillette a finalement fait une fausse couche, cette situation sordide a ouvert une forte polémique en Argentine sur le thème ultrasensible de l'avortement. Dans ce pays où 90 % de la population se dit catholique, l'avortement est illégal, sauf cas exceptionnel. L'article 86 du Code pénal argentin stipule que "l'avortement n'est pas punissable seulement s'il a été pratiqué afin d'éviter un danger pour la vie ou la santé de la mère" ou "s'il provient d'un viol ou d'un attentat à la pudeur commis sur une femme démente". >>> De correspondant du Point à Buenos Aires, Olivier Ubertalli | Mercredi 04 Août 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Leading Republicans have joined a push for a repeal of the constitutional amendment that confers citizenship upon anyone born in the United States as immigration takes centre stage ahead of the mid term elections.
They argue that the 14th amendment, which was enacted in 1868, is being exploited by illegal immigrants as well as wealthy people who want to use their children to "anchor" themselves to the US.
The suggestion of a review or repeal of the amendment is a highly controversial move as most American view the constitution as sacrosanct. The 14th amendment was designed to prevent individual states refusing to grant citizenship to slaves freed in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Among the leading Republicans in the Senate supporting the move is John McCain, the 2008 presidential candidate, who is currently facing a Right-wing challenge from within his own party in his re-election bid in Arizona, the border state where immigration is a dominant issue. >>> Alex Spillius in Washington | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Der tschetschenische Rebellenführer und selbsternannte «Emir vom Kaukasus», Doku Umarow, will entgegen eigener Ankündigungen seinen Posten nun doch behalten.
«Angesichts der Situation im Kaukasus erachte ich es als unmöglich, mein Amt abzugeben», sagte Umarow in einem Video, das am Mittwoch auf mehreren den Rebellen nahestehenden Webseiten sowie dem Internetportal Youtube zu sehen war. >>> sda/afp | Mittwoch, 04. August 2010
leJDD.fr: Lundi, le procès de l'ancien vice-Premier ministre malaisien, Anwar Ibrahim, qui risque 20 ans de prison pour sodomie, a été ajourné au 9 août. Son assistant, qui l'accuse, entretiendrait une liaison avec un membre de l'équipe du procureur. Le leader de l'opposition clame son innocence et dénonce une mascarade pour briser sa carrière politique.
Pour Anwar Ibrahim, l'histoire semble singulièrement se répéter. A 63 ans, le leader de l'opposition malaisienne et ancien vice-Premier ministre n'en est pas à son premier procès pour sodomie. Condamné en 1998, cet homme marié à une autre femme politique a passé six ans derrière les barreaux, avant d'être finalement acquitté en 2004. En Malaisie, où l'homosexualité est interdite, l'acte est passible de 20 ans de prison et qualifié de "relation charnelle contre l'ordre de la nature" dans le code pénal. En juillet 2008, nouvelle accusation d'un ancien de ses assistants, de 40 ans son cadet, pour le même motif. Depuis, Anwar Ibrahim n'a cessé de clamer son innocence. "C'est la répétition du même scénario " avait-il déclaré, joint par le New York Times en janvier 2010, un mois avant le début du procès. Une carrière politique brisée >>> Charlotte Lazimi, leJDD.fr | Mercredi 04 Août 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Anwar Ibrahim, the leader of Malaysia’s resurgent political opposition, took refuge on Sunday in the Turkish Embassy in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, saying he feared for his security after an aide accused him of participating in homosexual acts.
The police in Malaysia said they would investigate allegations by the aide, Saiful Bahari, a 23-year-old campaign worker, that he had been sodomized by Mr. Anwar. Sodomy is described under Malaysian law as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” and is punishable by up to 20 years in jail.
The accusation, similar to one that led to Mr. Anwar’s dismissal as deputy prime minister and jailing a decade ago, comes at a time of turbulence in Malaysian politics, with Mr. Anwar threatening to woo enough defectors from the ruling coalition to form his own government.
Mr. Anwar spent six years in prison for the 1998 sodomy case but was ultimately acquitted and released.
“Not again,” said Mr. Anwar, reached by telephone inside the embassy. “It’s a repeat of the same script.” >>> Thomas Fuller | Wednesday, June 30, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – JANET DALEY: The Battle of Obama’s Healthcare is looking to go down in history as a major confrontation between the power of federal government and the self-determination of individual states. And that eternal tension between what used to be called state’s rights and the coercive inclinations of federal authority has been at the heart of the most momentous struggles in national history – not least the civil war which tested the strength of the Union to breaking point.
Barack Obama’s health reforms have been challenged by a startlingly successful rebellion in Missouri. A state ballot referendum on Proposition C which prohibited federal government from requiring people to buy health insurance or from penalising them if they did not, was carried by a majority of 71 per cent. (Making health insurance compulsory is one of the fundamental tenets of Obamacare.) The actual constitutional basis for this challenge may seem technical in British terms: it centres on the point that there should be no federal compulsion forcing people to engage in inter-state commerce (ie buying things across state lines). Read on and comment >>> Janet Daley | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE GUARDIAN: Bill Gates's and Warren Buffett's campaign draws in top names including George Lucas and Michael Bloomberg
The world of philanthropy got a huge financial boost today as more than 30 American billionaires pledged to give away at least half of their fortunes to charitable causes, signing up to a campaign launched by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.
In an unprecedented mass commitment, top figures including New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg, the hotel heir Barron Hilton, CNN media mogul Ted Turner, and the Star Wars director George Lucas lent their names to the "giving pledge", an initiative founded last month to encourage America's richest families to commit money to "society's most pressing problems".
The pledge is not a legally binding contract but is described as a moral commitment. Buffett, the legendary Nebraska-based financier known as the "sage of Omaha", welcomed the influx of support: "At its core, the giving pledge is about asking wealthy families to have important conversations about their wealth and how it will be used. We're delighted that so many people are doing that." >>> Andrew Clark in New York | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Picture Gallery: US billionaires to give away fortunes to charity: Forty of the richest families and individuals in the US have committed to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes by taking the 'giving pledge', a campaign launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett >>> | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
CANADA FREE PRESS: Words are tricky things. Virtually every tyrant, no matter how bloody, has talked about his plans for conquest in terms of “peace”. For example in 1939, Nazi Germany and the USSR signed a declaration in which they described their conquest of Poland as creating “a sure foundation for a lasting peace in Eastern Europe”. The same year that Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, he delivered a speech at the Amman Summit in which he insisted that; “the Arabs seek peace and justice throughout the world”. And how can one argue with peace?
The Romans had the Pax Romana, which meant peace under Roman dominion. The “peace” that Hitler, Stalin and Saddam had in mind, was of that same nature. Dictators and tyrannies, national or ideological, frame the world as chaotic and requiring order. Only under their leadership and only their way will the world finally experience peace.
When Lenin stated that; “without overthrowing capital it is impossible to end the war by a truly democratic peace”, he was laying out the same basic thesis of every tyrant, and of Islam as well. That there can be no “true peace”, without the creation of a society that follows his ideology. For Lenin, everyone had to submit to Communism. For Hitler, to Nazism. For Mohammed, to Islam. Each spoke about peace, but they defined peace only in terms of their own ideology and rule.
When apologists insist that Islam is a religion of peace, they are correct. Insofar as it believes in peace through conquest, and its intended state of peace is to reduce non-Muslims to second class status. But since Islam is global and it recognizes no limit to its borders—its form of “peace” is to engage in constant wars to conquer the territory of non-Muslims and Muslims whose legitimacy they do not recognize in order to achieve “peace”.
Islam’s peace has as much in common with what most people think of as peace, as Hitler and Stalin’s assurance that they had laid a foundation for a lasting peace, by conquering Poland does with reality. Islam’s peace, like Hitler’s peace, was and is an expression of a Will to Power, a belief that the world would not be right without Mohammed or Adolf, or their followers running it. >>> Daniel Greenfield | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
CANADA FREE PRESS: There’s a pox on your house, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and your Mrs.[,] Daisy Khan. And it’s a pox that will long outlast the in-your-face insult of the intent to celebrate the groundbreaking of your mosque at Ground Zero on Sept. 11, 2011.
Rauf and Khan mimic the dialectic of the cunning Marxists now running America. But then again radical Islam and Marxism go hand in hand.
Mealy mouthed politicians like Mayor Michael Bloomberg never own up to cowardice, filthy lucre or political power by allowing a “mega mosque” to arise from the ashes of Ground Zero. Instead they describe 9-0 votes from their Landmarks Preservation Commission as being “an important test of the separation of church and state”.
Your honeyed, hackneyed words of “peace”, Imam Rauf are about as meaningful as President Barack Obama’s, who told those who had lost loved ones on September 11, 2001 at last year’s eighth anniversary, “No words can ease the ache of your hearts.”
In any faith, interfaith or otherwise, actions always speak louder than words.
Obama was nowhere around to ease the hearts of the walking wounded yesterday. Instead he was preparing to go to Chicago where he will celebrate his 49th birthday, making some of us who still dare to think wonder whether America’s most pro-Islamist Mayor was giving America’s most pro-Islamist President a birthday present by green-lighting your ABC News-described “Islamic community center, including a prayer room”.
ABC and the mainstream media have been ever so snide in their reportage on the mosque that could not possibly be built anywhere in the entire Big Apple but in a place that would tower over terrorism’s killing field of 2,752 innocents.
But the courageous Pamela Geller of AtlasShrugs had already pointed out that Imam Rauf is no ordinary Imam, but the one who has refused to classify Hamas as a terrorist group and the one who has said that U.S. foreign policy was an “accessory” to the Sept. 11 attacks. >>> Judi McLeod | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
GATES OF VIENNA: Fox News has reported that the New York City Landmarks and Preservation Commission has voted against granting “landmark status” to the building near Ground Zero which Muslims have chosen to plant their so-called Cordoba Mosque Initiative.
The news didn’t come as a surprise, but it is deeply wounding nonetheless. In fact, even after all these months it's hard to grasp the idea that this nightmare could become a reality.
If they actually were what they claim - i.e., “moderates”, they’d be sensitive enough to know that putting a mosque in that spot makes a mockery of the very notion of “moderation”. There is nothing moderate about building a triumphal edifice to Islam on the graveyard of three thousand people who were brutally slaughtered solely by Muslims.
These innocent souls were incinerated, or asphyxiated, or jumped to their deaths on September 11th, 2001. They all died horribly and Ground Zero is their cemetery. No amount of Kumbayah and toxic tolerance can make those ashes disappear or bring back all those mothers and fathers and sons and daughters.
How dare the blunted human beings pushing for their “initiative” be permitted to erect this sacrilege? They can proclaim their innocence all they want to the Western press (who will eat it up), but Muslims in other countries read their message loud and clear: the killers of 9/11 have triumphed. Continue reading and comment >>> Dymphna | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
YAHOO! NEWS: KANO, Nigeria – Islamic police smashed 80,000 bottles of beer in the Nigerian city of Kano on Tuesday to enforce a sharia law ban on consumption of alcohol that exists in much of the country's north.
Over a dozen veiled female sharia police, called Hisbah, destroyed the beer bottles with sticks amid shouts of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Great) on the outskirts of the northern city in a ceremony.
The ceremony was attended by government officials as part of "efforts to rid the state of immorality," said Kano state Hisbah chief Saidu Dukawa. Kano city is the capital of the state by the same name.
"The sale and consumption of alcohol, like all forms of drugs and intoxicants, is illegal in Kano state, which practices sharia law and by this event we are enforcing that ban," Dukawa told AFP. >>> AFP | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
HT: Jihad Watch >>>
DAILY EXPRESS: This is what Muslims want for the UK! >>>
PEOPLE.COM: And just like that, they were off again. "It's over. I broke up with him," Bristol Palin tells PEOPLE exclusively of her second try at an engagement to Levi Johnston, father of her 19-month-old son Tripp.
Palin, 19, says the relationship soured on July 14, the very same day they announced their marriage intentions to the world. Palin says he told her that evening he might have fathered a baby with another teenage girl. (Palin did not name the young woman, but a pregnant former girlfriend of Johnston's has since publicly denied his paternity.)
In an emotional phone interview with PEOPLE, Palin spoke through tears about feeling heartbroken, humiliated and trapped – while Johnston acted cool. "There's been no remorse," she says, adding that she's seen him only once in the past three weeks.
"The final straw was him flying to Hollywood for what he told me was to see some hunting show but come to find out it was that music video mocking my family," she says. "He's just obsessed with the limelight and I got played." Continue reading and comment >>> Sandra Sobieraj Westfall | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: An outbreak of bubonic and pneumonic plague in Peru has killed a 14-year-old boy and infected at least 31 people in a northern coastal province.
Oscar Ugarte, the health minister, said authorities were screening sugar and fish meal exports from Ascope province, located about 325 miles north-west of Lima.
Chicama beach, a popular draw for tourists to Peru, is not far away.
Mr Ugarte said the boy, who had Down syndrome, died of bubonic plague on July 26.
He said on Monday that most of the infections were bubonic plague, with four cases of pneumonic plague. >>> | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A video showing an immigrant pregnant women and children being dragged along the ground by police has provoked outrage across France.
The footage – which shows the officers trying to get rid of African squatters from a Paris housing estate – shows at least one woman fainting and young children screaming.
All were being targeted by officers from the elite CRS riot squad, who were armed and wearing body armour.
No female police were involved, and there was no medical assistance on hand.
The emergence of the video, filmed on July 21st, comes at the worst possible time for French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
He is currently trying to get rid of thousands of unwanted immigrants to his country, including gipsies and foreign criminals.
Mr Sarkozy has always been a firm believer in tough policing. >>> Peter Allen in Paris | Monday, August 02, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Queuing, along with warm beer and afternoon tea, was once a quintessential British trait. But it would seem we are no longer prepared to wait in line.
Two minutes is the longest many British consumers are prepared to queue, down from five minutes just six years ago.
Two-thirds of us have walked away from buying something in a shop because we were so fed up with queuing, the survey also found.
Queuing patiently was once considered a typically British trait, fostered during the era of rationing. It was deemed a sign of civility that consumers were prepared to wait a long time, sometimes only to discover the shop had run out of butter or meat.
British buses, with only one place to hop on, are also believed to be a key reason why we have been more prepared to queue than our European cousins – where the predominant form of public transport was the tram, with multiple doors, which discouraged the single, disciplined line. >>> Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has survived a bomb attack on his convoy, according to reports.
Al Arabiya television said an attacker threw a bomb at Mr Ahmadinejad's convoy before being detained.
A home-made bomb exploded near the convoy, a source from the president's office told Reuters, but Mr Ahmadinejad, who was travelling from an airport in the western city of Hamadan to give a speech in a sports arena, was unharmed. >>> | Wednesday, August 04, 2010
ZEIT ONLINE: Präsident Ahmadineschad überlebt Anschlag: Auf Irans Präsidenten Mahmud Ahmadineschad ist ein Attentat verübt worden. Das Staatsoberhaupt sei bei dem Anschlag unverletzt geblieben, teilte das Präsidialamt mit. >>> Zeit Online, dpa, Reuters, AFP | Mittwoch. 04. August 2010
LE TEMPS: Une bombe explose dans le convoi d’Ahmadinejad : Le président, en déplacement ce mercredi, aurait échappé à un attentat, indiquent plusieurs médias locaux. Une bombe aurait fait des blessés dans un minibus du convoi >>> AFP/ATS | Mercredi 04 Août 2010
Tuesday, August 03, 2010
BILD: Porno statt Politik! Indonesische Abgeordneten und Journalisten bekamen am Montag in Jakarta so richtig eingeheizt. Grund: Das Parlaments-TV zeigte nicht die angekündigte Politik-Debatte, sondern einen Sex-Film!
UND DAS AUSGERECHNET IM MUSLIMISCHEN INDONESIEN!
Üblicherweise sind auf den Monitoren die Tagesordnung des Parlaments und andere politische Informationen für Besucher zu sehen. Doch am Montag offensichtlich nicht! >>> | Dienstag, 03. August 2010
THE GUARDIAN: A plan to build a mosque and a Muslim community centre within two blocks of Ground Zero cleared a major hurdle today amid an intensifying groundswell of opposition from rightwing pundits and politicians.
The $100m project would see a 13-storey centre, replete with prayer space, swimming pool and restaurant, rise in Park Place, just north of the World Trade Centre where al-Qaida terrorists struck on 11 September 2001.
Opponents turned to the Landmarks Commission of New York City, that has the power to order the preservation of historic buildings, in the hope that it would put a stop to the plans by blocking the demolition of the existing building on the site.
Today the commission unanimously declined to preserve the building, an 1850s Italianate structure that was damaged on 9/11 and has been disused ever since. It said there was nothing sufficiently distinguished about its design that earned it landmark status.
The decision removes an important possible barrier to the plans going ahead, though critics have vowed to continue their fight. A group of protesters were present at the commission vote, including one man carrying a banner that said: "No 9/11 victory mosque". >>> Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
* Are Americans really going to be that weak and subservient? This is quite unbelievable. It would have been totally unimaginable in years gone by. If they allow this mosque to go ahead, they will deserve the Islamisation of their country. They will have earned it! – © Mark
FINANCIAL TIMES: ‘Ground Zero’ mosque moves forward: Months of rising rhetoric about religious freedom came to a head on Tuesday when a city commission voted that a contentious plan to build a mosque two blocks from “Ground Zero” could move forward. >>> Alan Rappeport in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
SKY NEWS: 'Ground Zero Mosque' Set To Go Ahead >>> Hannah Thomas-Peter, in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
BBC: Attempt to block 'Ground Zero mosque' fails: An attempt to stop a plan for a mosque near New York's Ground Zero has failed after the site was denied landmark status. >>> | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Ground Zero mosque and Muslim community centre wins approval: Controversial plans to build a Muslim community centre and mosque near Ground Zero can go ahead after a conservation agency cleared the way on Tuesday for the demolition of the existing building on the site. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Une mosquée sera construite à deux pas de Ground Zero : POLÉMIQUE | Une commission de la ville de New York chargée de la préservation du patrimoine a levé mardi un obstacle majeur à la construction d’une mosquée près de Ground Zero, en retirant un bâtiment de la liste des monuments historiques. >>> AFP | Mardi 03 Août 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Moschee am Ground Zero darf gebaut werden >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, 03. August 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: After a protracted battle that set off a national debate over freedom of religion, a Muslim center and mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero surmounted a final hurdle on Tuesday.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9 to 0 against granting historic protection to the building at 45-47 Park Place in Lower Manhattan, where the $100 million center would be built.
That decision clears the way for the construction of Park51, a tower of as many as 15 stories that will house a mosque, a 500-seat auditorium, and a pool. Its leaders say it will be modeled on the Y.M.C.A. and Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.
The vote on Tuesday was free of much of the vitriol that had been part of previous hearings. One by one, members of the commission debated the aesthetic significance of the building, designed in the Italian Renaissance Palazzo style by an unknown architect.
Later in the day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg*, who has forcefully defended the planned mosque, praised the landmarks commission’s vote. >>> Javier C. Hernandez | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
*The arrogance of Bloomberg is astonishing! Does this man really deserve the position he holds? – © Mark
THE GUARDIAN: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei claims the promotion and teaching of the artform is not compatible with country's sacred regime
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said today that music is "not compatible" with the values of the Islamic republic, and should not be practised or taught in the country.
In some of the most extreme comments by a senior regime figure since the 1979 revolution, Khamenei said: "Although music is halal, promoting and teaching it is not compatible with the highest values of the sacred regime of the Islamic Republic."
Khamenei's comments came in response to a request for a ruling by a 21-year-old follower of his, who was thinking of starting music lessons, but wanted to know if they were acceptable according to Islam, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. "It's better that our dear youth spend their valuable time in learning science and essential and useful skills and fill their time with sport and healthy recreations instead of music," he said.
Unlike other clerics in Iran, whose religious rulings are practised by their own followers, Khamenei's views are interpreted as administrative orders for the whole country, which must be obeyed by the government. Last month Khamenei issued a controversial fatwa in which he likened his leadership to that of the Prophet Muhammad and obliged all Iranians to obey his orders. >>> Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Monday, August 02, 2010
TORONTO SUN: OTTAWA - Canada should ban burkas in public, according to more than half of the people polled exclusively for QMI Agency.
The Leger Marketing online poll found 54% of people surveyed said the government should follow France's lead and not allow women to wear burkas in public for safety and transparency reasons.
Only 20% of respondents said Canada shouldn't consider a ban because it's an issue of freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and 15% said it didn't affect them either way.
Older Canadians were more likely to agree with a ban, with 71% of those 65 years and older choosing that option. Only 40% of Canadians 18-34 years old said burkas should be banned.
Leger Marketing vice-president Dave Scholz said the poll surprised staff at the research firm.
"This is Canada -- we don't ban anything," * he said. >>> Laura Payton, QMI Agency Parliamentary Bureau | Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Yes, you do, Sir! You ban smoking for a start! Check this out!
THE TELEGRAPH – BLOGS – BENEDICT BROGAN: Pakistan’s anger at David Cameron and his remarks about terrorism are getting great play ahead of president Asif Ali Zardari’s visit. The Telegraph details today the real purpose of his appearance in Britain, namely to promote the political interests of his Pakistan People’s Party and his son Bilawal, who is being lined up to succeed him. There’s a big rally in Birmingham on Saturday (sorry, no cameras apparently). Which helps to explain why the visit wasn’t cancelled as some demanded: the dinner at Chequers on Friday was always incidental. Continue reading and comment >>> Benedict Brogan | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
Now that David Cameron has been so frank with the Pakistanis, perhaps he should think about being as frank with the Saudis, too. Because the Saudis also have a Janus face: On the one hand they are supposed to be our partners in the ‘war on terror’, but at the same time they are funding the growth of Salafism in the West, and thereby undermining the stability of our Judeo-Christian civilization. The Saudis also quietly fund the Jihad against us. So come on Mr. Cameron! You like the truth; so come out with it: The whole truth, and nothing but the truth. – © Mark
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