Monday, August 16, 2010
CANADA FREE PRESS: The Saudis have unveiled a plan to define Mecca as the center of the world by building a giant clock tower in Mecca. The Bin Laden group’s Royal Mecca Clock Tower which reads “In the Name of Allah”, aims to replace GMT time, with “Mecca Time”. The Royal Mecca Clock Tower, which looks like something you expect to pass on the way to Disneyland, like Dubai’s Burj Tower, or its world islands are pathetic attempts to buy the facade of civilization with petrodollars.
The Royal Mecca Clock Tower is emblematic of the inability of the Muslim world to do the hard work of actually becoming civilized. Instead they build Pharaoh-like monuments to their own glory using imported slave labor. And they finance all that using money given to them by civilized countries in exchange for a particular resource that happens to be located on their territory. A resource that was discovered and developed for them by companies belonging to civilized countries.
The barbaric thinking behind the Royal Mecca Clock Tower is that if they build a really big clock tower, it will become a global standard and the infidels will acknowledge the Koran’s Islamic science “zero magnetism zone” claims for Mecca. That sort of thinking demonstrates a basic incomprehension of how civilization works. It shows no understanding of why Greenwich Mean Time serves the function that it does, which isn’t because England spent money given to it by more civilized countries to build a really big ugly tower that impressed everyone. >>> Daniel Greenfield | Monday, August 16, 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: President Barack Obama's weekend remarks supporting the right to build a mosque near Ground Zero reverberated across the country, nationalizing a debate over the New York City project.
A number of Republicans on Sunday folded the president's remarks into their election-year narrative that Mr. Obama, a former constitutional scholar, is out of touch with the American citizenry.
The dispute over the mosque is just the most prominent in a series of debates around the country where Muslim groups have sought to build mosques. In the community of Temecula, Calif., where a proposed mosque has sparked an intense dispute, Mr. Obama's comments spurred a surge of letters to local newspapers decrying his statements. Pastor William Rench of Calvary Baptist Church, next door to the proposed mosque site, said he now expected opposition to the mosque plan to harden.
"It will galvanize their desire for resistance to the mosque," he said. "It confirms in their minds the idea that Mr. Obama seems to be more accommodating to the Islamic world than he is for the Christian representation in America." Mr. Rench said former President George W. Bush, who also spoke of Islam as a peaceful religion, might have made similar statements, but Mr. Rench said he disagreed with those views.
Mr. Rench said initially he opposed the new mosque next door because he thought such a large structure on two acres would tower over the church. But since he has begun reading more commentary from American Islamic leaders, he said, he has grown concerned about extremist statements such as one imam declaring Islam the "dominant" religion. He said he now worried that a large mosque could attract an extremist crowd in contrast to the current local Muslim community. Continue reading and comment >>> Victoria McGrane and Siobhan Gorman | Monday, August 16, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Obama ‘insensitive and uncaring’, say furious 9/11 families >>>
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Call to prayer as “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset” >>>
THE GUARDIAN: Go some place else to build your mosque! >>>
FOX NEWS: NEW YORK -- A Hamas leader says Muslims "have to build" a mosque near ground zero.Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims "have to build everywhere" so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.
Al-Zahar spoke Sunday on "Aaron Klein Investigative Radio" on WABC-AM. He is a co-founder of Hamas and its chief on the Gaza Strip. >>> | Monday, August 16, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: Nick Clegg faced a Coalition backlash last night as he prepared to become the first Liberal leader to run the country in more than 80 years.
The Deputy Prime Minister takes the reins of power today from David Cameron, who is on holiday in Cornwall.
But Lib Dem deputy leader Simon Hughes immediately cast a shadow over the Coalition by categorically ruling out the prospect of any electoral pact with the Tories at the next election.
With the Government marking its first 100 days in power on Wednesday, Mr Hughes torpedoed the growing prospect of closer ties, publicly lecturing Mr Clegg about a non-aggression deal at the next election, which would see both parties tactically backing each other.
Mr Hughes denounced a deal as ‘a nonsense’ and said: ‘We will be standing in every seat in the next election, there will be no deals, there will be no pacts.
‘Nick knows that that’s the party’s position, and Nick knows that that’s the party’s constitution.’ Read on and comment >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Monday, August 16, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: CONDAMNATION | De grands noms du cinéma et de la littérature, ainsi que plusieurs femmes politiques françaises, ont publié dimanche soir une tribune de soutien à Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, suite à ses "aveux" forcés.
Le texte a été publié sur le site de la revue du philosophe Bernard-Henri Lévy "La règle du jeu".
"Il est urgent d'intervenir pour empêcher une mise à mort dont les observateurs de la scène iranienne ont tout lieu de redouter l'imminence", affirment notamment l'écrivain tchèque Milan Kundera et le prix Nobel nigérian Wole Soyinka, la créatrice franco-iranienne de BD Marjane Satrapi ("Persépolis"), les comédiennes Juliette Binoche et Mia Farrow.
Dix-sept personnalités ont signé le texte intitulé "Il faut empêcher la lapidation de Sakineh", qui devait également figurer à la Une du journal Libération lundi.
L'organisation de défense des droits de l'Homme Human Rights Watch a dit samedi qu'elle craignait que l'exécution ne se déroule "bientôt". >>> AFP | Lundi 16 Août 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Abdelbasset al-Megrahi will und will nicht sterben. Der verurteilte Lockerbie-Attentäter war vor einem Jahr aus schottischer Haft entlassen worden, weil er todgeweiht sei. Dank eines gängigen Medikaments lebt er immer noch und bringt die Verantwortlichen in Verlegenheit.
Aus humanitären Gründen war der im Jahr 2001 wegen des Lockerbie-Attentats zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilte libysche Geheimagent Abdelbasset al-Megrahi von der schottischen Regierung begnadigt worden. Er habe wegen eines fortgeschrittenen Prostatakrebses nur noch maximal drei Monate zu leben, lautete die ärztliche Diagnose. Dies erlaubte es der schottischen Regierung, den 59-Jährigen in seine Heimat ausreisen zu lassen. Dort wurde er als Held gefeiert und Oberst Ghadhafi kostete den Triumph vor laufenden Kameras aus.
Deal zugunsten BPs
Inzwischen ist ein Jahr vergangen und Megrahi lebt immer noch. Und damit bringt er die damaligen Entscheidungsträger in arge Verlegenheit. Inzwischen ist nämlich klar geworden, dass die Freilassung Teil eines langen diplomatischen Ränkespiels zwischen der britischen und der libyschen Regierung war, welche schliesslich dem Energiekonzern BP den Zugang zu grosse Ölvorkommen vor der libyschen Küste sicherte. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> spi. | Montag, 16. August 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Nur einen Tag nachdem er den Bau einer Moschee in der Nähe des zerstörten New Yorker World Trade Center anscheinend unterstützt hatte, hat Präsident Obama seine Worte korrigiert.
Der Bau eines islamischen Zentrums und einer Moschee im Süden New Yorks, nur wenige hundert Meter von dem am 11. September 2001 in Terrorattacken zerstörten World Trade Center entfernt, ist heftig umstritten. Obwohl das Vorhaben von Bürgermeister Bloomberg und den zuständigen Behörden der Stadt unterstützt wird, hat sich das Weisse Haus lange aus der delikaten Kontroverse herausgehalten.
Das änderte sich am Freitagabend, als Präsident Obama in einer Rede das Recht von Muslimen verteidigte, die Moschee zu bauen. Seine Worte erweckten den Eindruck, dass er den Platz in der Nähe des ehemaligen World Trade Center billige. Er löste damit eine Welle der Kritik aus. So sagte John Boehner, der Fraktionsführer der Republikaner im Repräsentantenhaus, der Präsident stelle sich mit seiner Unterstützung auf die falsche Seite. Bei dem Bauvorhaben handle es sich nicht um eine Frage des Rechtes oder der religiösen Freiheit. Es gehe vielmehr um «Respekt vor einem tragischen Ereignis in unserer Geschichte». Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Gerd Brüggemann, Washington | Montag, 16. August 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has warned the Turkish prime minister that Ankara's position on Israel and Iran could lessen its chances of obtaining US weapons.
The Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, wants to buy American drone aircraft to attack separatist Kurdish rebels after the US military withdraws from Iraq at the end of 2011.
The rebel group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has bases in the mountains in the north of Iraq, near the Turkish border.
"The president has said to Erdogan that some of the actions that Turkey has taken have caused questions to be raised on the Hill (Congress)," a senior administration official told the Financial Times newspaper.
These questions centred on "whether we can have confidence in Turkey as an ally," said the official. >>> The Telegraph’s Foreign Staff | Monday, August 16, 2010
Sunday, August 15, 2010
MAIL ONLINE: The son of Libyan dictator Colonel Gadaffi is to celebrate the first anniversary of the Lockerbie bomber's release by giving a party for him.
Saif Gadaffi, whose friends include Tony Blair and Lord Mandelson, will attend the revelry for Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi in his two-storey house in Tripoli.
He will foot the bill for food and drink, following a day's fasting during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
When Megrahi, 58, was released on August 20 last year, Scottish authorities said he had only three months to live and was 'going home to die'.
Frank Duggan, a lawyer and spokesman for the families of the 270 victims of the Lockerbie bombing, said: 'Megrahi is obviously still deemed a hero in Libya.
'Saif Gadaffi was instrumental in pulling off a public relations masterstroke to get him released on the 40th anniversary of the Libyan revolution. >>> Gerri Peev | Sunday, August 15, 2010
CYBERPRESSE: Plusieurs élus républicains sont revenus à la charge dimanche pour dénoncer les propos de Barack Obama défendant le droit de bâtir une mosquée près de Ground Zero, le présentant notamment comme «déconnecté» de la population.
«Il ne s'agit pas de liberté de culte, parce que nous respectons tous le droit que chacun a de prier selon sa conscience», a dit le sénateur républicain du Texas, John Cornyn, sur la chaîne Fox News Sunday.
«Mais je pense qu'il n'est pas judicieux de construire une mosquée à l'endroit où 3000 Américains ont perdu la vie après un attentat. Pour moi, cela montre que Washington, la Maison Blanche, l'administration et le président lui-même sont déconnectés» de la population, a ajouté l'élu.
À moins de trois mois des élections législatives de mi-mandat, et alors qu'une majorité d'Américains voient ce projet d'un mauvais oeil, M. Obama a défendu vendredi le droit de mener à bien ce projet controversé à proximité des lieux des attentats qui avaient fait quelque 3000 morts en 2001. >>> Agence France-Presse, Washington | Dimanche 15 Août 2010
THE MONTREAL GAZETTE: 'This is not above your pay grade,' ex-Alaska governor tweets
WASHINGTON - Republicans pounced Sunday on U.S. President Barack Obama's comments supporting the right to build a mosque near Ground Zero, painting him as out of touch less than three months before key mid-term elections.
Democrats and Republicans squared off on whether it was appropriate for Obama to wade into the fray over the Islamic centre, which would include a mosque and would be built two city blocks away from the site of the former World Trade Center.
At a Friday Iftar dinner at the White House to mark Ramadan, Obama said Muslims "have the same right to practise their religion as anyone else in this country," including by building a mosque in lower Manhattan.
But the next day Obama appeared to dial back from his support, clarifying that he was commenting on rights enshrined in the U.S. Constitution and not on "the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there," a location he acknowledged as "hallowed ground."
Conservatives swiftly seized on Obama's comments, which came after the White House had for weeks declined comment on the controversy and deemed it local issue, and several prominent Republicans hammered home the message on Sunday political talk shows.
"This is not about freedom of religion, because we all respect the right of anyone to worship according to the dictates of their conscience," U.S. Senator John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said on Fox News Sunday. "But I do think it's unwise ... to build a mosque at the site where 3,000 Americans lost their lives as a result of a terrorist attack. And I think to me it demonstrates that Washington, the White House, the administration, the president himself seems to be disconnected from the mainstream of America." >>> Michael Mathes, Agence France-Presse | Sunday, August 15, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Veterans, politicians and royalty gathered today to remember the bravery, dedication and sacrifices of those who fought for their country during the Second World War.
Veterans, politicians and royalty gathered today to remember the bravery, dedication and sacrifices of those who fought for their country during the Second World War.
Prime Minister David Cameron, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall joined representatives of the three military Services and veterans of the conflict to commemorate the 65th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day).
The servicemen, many wearing their campaign medals, came together in Whitehall to reunite with long-lost comrades and acknowledge the thousands who did not make it back. >>> | Sunday, August 15, 2010
leJDD.fr: Le Hamas et d'autres mouvements palestiniens ont exhorté dimanche Mahmoud Abbas à ne pas reprendre les négociations de paix directes avec Israël. Pour les organisations palestiniennes, réunies à Damas, la capitale syrienne, "insister sur la tenue de pourparlers directs revient à lancer une bouée de sauvetage à Israël au moment où son isolement s'accroît". Le Front démocratique de libération de la Palestine, partisan de longue date de négociations avec Israël et détenteur d'un portefeuille au gouvernement de l'Autorité palestinienne, a également signé le communiqué commun. [Source: leJDD.fr] | Dimanche 15 Août 2010
WELT ONLINE: Erst war er für die Moschee an Ground Zero, dann doch nicht: Obamas Hin und Her ist symptomatisch für die verfahrene Debatte.
Barack Obama hat seine Unterstützung für den umstrittenen Bau einer Moschee nahe Ground Zero in Manhattan eingeschränkt. Er habe nicht kommentiert, ob es „klug“ sei, ein 13 Stockwerke hohes islamisches Zentrum mit einer Moschee nahe dem „geweihten Boden“ der Anschläge vom 11.September zu errichten – und werde dies auch künftig nicht tun, sagte der US-Präsident.
Zuvor hatte Obama anlässlich einer Feier zum Fastmonat Ramadan im Weißen Haus die seit der Gründung der USA verbürgten Rechte auf Gleichbehandlung und freie Religionsausübung verteidigt. Diese schlössen den Bau einer Moschee in New York auf privatem Grund ein. Das Bekenntnis zur Religionsfreiheit müsse „unerschütterlich“ sein.
An seinem Urlaubsort in Panama City an der Golfküste zeigte sich Obama von der sogleich aufbrandenden Kritik von Angehörigen der 9/11-Opfer und prominenten Republikanern erschüttert genug, sein Bekenntnis zu der Rechtmäßigkeit einer Moschee auch nahe Ground Zero nachzubessern. Newt Gingrich, früher Sprecher des Republikantenhauses mit Ambitionen im Präsidentschaftswahlkampf 2012, nannte die geplante Moschee in dem 100 Millionen Dollar teuren „Cordoba Haus“ ein „Symbol muslimischen Triumphalismus“. Ebenso gut könne man Hakenkreuze neben dem Holocaust-Museum aufstellen.
Krude Nazi-Vergleiche sind in dem Streit beliebt. Der rechtskonservative Kolumnist Charles Krauthammer schrieb, eine Moschee nahe von Ground Zero sei wie „ein Wagner-Konzert in Auschwitz“. Oder ein deutsches Kulturzentrum in Treblinka. Eine Opferangehörige, Debra Burlingame, beklagte bitter: „Der Präsident hat sich entschieden, unsere Erinnerungen an 9/11 für obsolet und die Heiligkeit von Ground Zero für beendet zu erklären.“ Laut einer CNN-Umfrage sind 68 Prozent der Amerikaner gegen den Bau einer Moschee zwei Häuserblocks von Ground Zero. Weiter lesen und einen Kommentar schreiben >>> Uwe Schmitt | Sonntag, 15. August 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia's labour minister Ghazi Algosaibi has died, two weeks after a ban on his books was lifted in the kingdom
Mr Algosaibi, 70, was a former ambassador to London and a confidant of King Abdullah, whose push for reform in Saudi Arabia fostered divisions among reformists and the most conservative clerics.
He was also a writer and poet whose liberal tone provoked the ire of both the official clerical establishment and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, who singled him out in a taped message in 2006.
"He is a man to be missed ... as a moderniser, government official, poet and commentator," said political analyst Jamal Khashoggi. >>> | Sunday, August 15, 2010
ARAB NEWS: Saudi labor minister, author dies of cancer: JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia's labor minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi died of cancer in Riyadh on Sunday, two weeks after a ban on his books was lifted in the kingdom, Al Arabiya television reported. >>> Reuters | Sunday, August 15, 2010
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: President Barack Obama has backtracked over his enthusiastic support for the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York, saying he was "not commenting on the wisdom of making the decision".
The decision to build an [sic] 15-storey Islamic centre in Manhattan, including a mosque, two blocks from the Ground Zero site of the September 11th terrorist attacks has incensed many Americans, with polls indicating that more than two-thirds oppose it.
Speaking at an iftar dinner held at the White House on Friday to mark the breaking of the Ramadan fast, Mr Obama abandoned his administration's previous stance that there would be no comment on the "local" issue.
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," he said. "And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances." >>> Toby Harnden in Washington | Sunday, August 15, 2010
POLITICO: The harsh Republican response to President Barack Obama's defense of a mosque near ground zero marks a dramatic shift in the party's posture toward Islam — from a once active courtship of Muslim voters to a very public tolerance after Sept. 11 to an openly aired sense of mistrust.
Republican leaders have largely abandoned former President George W. Bush's post-Sept. 11 rhetorical embrace of American Muslims and his insistence — always controversial inside the party — that Islam is a religion of peace. This weekend, former Bush aides were among the very few Republicans siding with Obama, as many of the party's leaders have moved toward more vocal denunciations of Islam's role in violence abroad and suspicion of its place at home.
The shift plays to a hostility toward Islam among many Republican voters, and it fits with traditional Republican attacks on Democratic weakness on security policy.
"Bush went against the grain of his own constituency," said Allen Roth, a political aide to conservative billionaire Ron Lauder and, independently, a key organizer of the fight against the mosque. "This is part of an underlying set of security issues that could play a significant role in the elections this November."
Obama's remarks provide a clear, national focus for the simmering question of Islam in American life, and Republicans showed every sign Saturday of beginning to capitalize on it, with Republican candidates in New York and Florida seeking to inject the issue into local races as Democrats largely held their silence.
That stance in the GOP — both in terms of political strategy and policy views — appears to be carrying the day. Most of the potential Republican presidential hopefuls, led by Sarah Palin, came out sharply against the mosque.
And while most of its opponents note that they aren't opposing Islam, just this project, Republican attempts to build bridges with Muslims are few and far between — although some say that's because early post-Sept. 11 efforts were met with deep resistance. Republicans have stopped winning the Muslim votes they once split with Democrats, and largely stopped seeking them.
The spectrum ranges from silence on the issue to politicians and groups, like Keep America Safe, led by Liz Cheney and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, gearing up to engage the battle over the mosque and the basket of other issues involving the Obama administration's relationship with Muslims at home and abroad.
"The president supports a mosque at ground zero led by a man who blamed America for 9/11, his top intelligence official preaches the true meaning of jihad, and his attorney general can't even say the words 'radical Islam,'" said Michael Goldfarb, an adviser to Keep America Safe. "You start to worry they don't understand who the enemy is, and so Republicans might understandably feel like they have to spell it out for them." Continue reading and comment >>> Ben Smith & Maggie Haberman | Sunday, August 15, 2010
It is heartening to read that Republicans are now starting to take a harsher line on Islam. So they should. Islam has been given a pass for far too long. It's high time that Westerners woke up.
The fact is that this should not be a left v. right issue. The harsh reality is this: Islam is not compatible with democracy. The separation of church and state, mosque and state in the case of Islam, is the sine qua non of a democracy. Without that separation, no democracy can function. Islam categorically does not recognise such a separation. In Islam, religion and politics are ONE, and utterly inseparable.
If we in the West wish for our civilisation to survive, then we shall have to take a harsher stance on Islam, for Islam has snuffed out all the cultures of the countries it has been allowed to enter.
As for this cultural center / mosque so close to Ground Zero... It is an outrage to build such an edifice so close to where all those poor people perished.
Faisal Rauf, the imam behind this project, says he wants to build bridges between the faiths. He'll never build bridges this way; on the contrary, building this cultural center / mosque in that location will only fan the flames of Islamophobia in America. It will have the opposite effect.
Muslims should show some sensitivity towards the people that suffered directly as a result of 9/11. The fact that they can build this center doesn't mean that they should. They should back off. That way they will gain in acceptance. The fact is that by far the majority of New Yorkers do not want this center to be built. Muslims should respect their wishes. To build this structure is nothing short of an act of provocation. – © Mark
This comment also appeared on Politico
THE OBSERVER: 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'
Barack Obama has come under attack from American conservatives for supporting plans to build a mosque two blocks from the site of one of the terror attacks of 11 September 2001. The proposal for a mosque and community centre near the site of the World Trade Centre has attracted a large opposition movement in a fierce argument over religious freedom.
At a White House dinner marking Ramadan, Obama said: "As a citizen, and as president, I believe Muslims have the same right to practise their religion as anyone else in this country. That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community centre on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
But New York Republican congressman Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker, condemned the proposed mosque and the president's comments. He said the mosque would be a symbol of Muslim "triumphalism" and that building it near the site of the 9/11 attacks "would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust museum". >>> Paul Harris in New York | Sunday, August 15, 2010
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THE OBSERVER: Even the criminals have fallen on hard times in America's poorest city as the long-term unemployed struggle to keep a grasp on normality
Richard Gaines is one of the best-known faces on Camden's Haddon Avenue. It is a rough-and-tumble street, lined with cheap businesses and boarded-up houses, and is prey to drug gangs. Gaines, 50, runs a barbershop, a hair salon and a fitness business. He works hard and is committed to his community. But Haddon Avenue is not an easy place to make a living in the best of times. And these are far from the best of times.
Just how badly the great recession has struck this fragile New Jersey city, which is currently the poorest in America, was recently spelled out to Gaines. In happier times – whatever that might mean for a city as destitute as Camden – local businesses on Haddon Avenue could at least rely on a bit of trade from those who made their money on the street.
Young men bought flashy clothes and got sharp haircuts and always paid in cash. But no longer. The economy is now so bad in Camden that even the criminals are struggling and going short. "Even the guys who got money from illegal means really don't want to spend it," Gaines said.
Such a development, though, is just a snapshot of the deep problems still hitting the wider American economy. Growth rates are stuttering and a recovery is struggling to take hold. It may even now be showing signs of going backwards again, as countries such as Germany start to power forward. Joblessness has taken hold in America, with the numbers of long-term unemployed reaching levels not seen since the Depression of the 1930s. The figures are frightening and illustrate a society that remains in deep trouble.
The headline jobless figure of 9.5% is bad enough but does not begin to convey the problem as it fails to measure those who have stopped looking for work. Over the past three months alone more than a million Americans have fallen into that category: effectively giving up hope of finding a job and dropping out of the official statistics. Such cases now number some 5.9 million and their ranks are likely to grow as millions more find their jobless status becoming a permanent state of hopelessness. Surveys show that with each passing week on the dole their chances of finding a job get slimmer.
Though corporations, especially in the banking sector, are posting healthy profits, they are not hiring new workers. At the same time, government cuts are sweeping through city and state governments alike, threatening tens of thousands of jobs and slicing away at services once thought vital. Schools, street lighting, libraries, refuse collection, the police, fire services and public transport networks are all being scaled back. >>> Paul Harris | Sunday, August 15, 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: PANAMA CITY, Fla. — Faced with withering Republican criticism of his defense of the right of Muslims to build a community center and mosque near ground zero, President Obama quickly recalibrated his remarks on Saturday, a sign that he has waded into even more treacherous political waters than the White House had at first realized.
In brief comments during a family trip to the Gulf of Mexico, Mr. Obama said he was not endorsing the New York project, but simply trying to uphold the broader principle that government should “treat everybody equally,” regardless of religion.
“I was not commenting, and I will not comment, on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there,” Mr. Obama said. “I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about.”
But Mr. Obama’s attempt to clarify his remarks, less than 24 hours after his initial comments at a White House iftar, a Ramadan sunset dinner, pushed the president even deeper into the thorny debate about Islam, national identity and what it means to be an American — a move that is riskier for him than for his predecessors.
From the moment he took the oath of office, using his entire name, Barack Hussein Obama, as he swore to protect and defend the Constitution, Mr. Obama has personified the hopes of many Americans about tolerance and inclusion. He has devoted himself to reaching out to the Muslim world, vowing, as he did in Cairo last year, “a new beginning.”
But his “new beginning” has aroused nervousness in some, especially those who disagree with his counterterrorism policies, or those more comfortable with a vision of America as a white and largely Christian nation, and not the pluralistic melting pot Mr. Obama represents.
The debate over the proposed Islamic center in Manhattan only intensified on Saturday, as the conservative blogosphere lighted up with criticism of Mr. Obama, and leading Republicans — including Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker; Representative John A. Boehner, the House minority leader; and Representative Peter T. King of New York — forcefully rejected the president’s stance.
Mr. Gingrich accused the president of “pandering to radical Islam.” Mr. Boehner said the decision to build a mosque so close to ground zero was “deeply troubling, as is the president’s decision to endorse it.” And Mr. King flatly said the president “is wrong,” adding that Mr. Obama had “caved in to political correctness.”
Indeed, the criticism was so intense that the White House ultimately issued an elaboration on the president’s clarification, insisting that the president was “not backing off in any way” from the comments he made Friday night. >>> Sheryl Gay Stolberg | Saturday, August 14, 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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