Tel-Chai Nation

Jihad Watch presents a report from the Melbourne Herald Sun that tells about the special instructions police in Victoria are being given for dealing (or rather, not dealing) with spousal abuse cases in which Muslim husbands are the culprits:

POLICE are being advised to treat Muslim domestic violence cases differently out of respect for Islamic traditions and habits.

Officers are also being urged to work with Muslim leaders, who will try to keep the families together.

Women's groups are concerned the politically correct policing could give comfort to wife bashers and keep their victims in a cycle of violence.

The instructions come in a religious diversity handbook given to Victorian police officers that also recommends special treatment for suspects of Aboriginal, Hindu and Buddhist background...

Police are told: "In incidents such as domestic violence, police need to have an understanding of the traditions, ways of life and habits of Muslims."

They are told it would be appreciated in cases of domestic violence if police consult the local Muslim religious leader who will work against "fragmenting the family unit".

Islamic Women's Welfare Council head Joumanah El Matrah called the guidelines appalling and dangerous.

"The implication is one needs to be more tolerant of violence against Muslim women but they should be entitled to the same protection," Ms El Matrah said.

"Police should not be advising other officers to follow those sorts of protocols.

"It can only lead to harm."

Ms El Matrah said Muslim leaders should be brought into domestic violence investigations only if requested by the abused woman.

This certainly is a most appalling case here, since it implies that they're willing to bend over backwards when it comes to serious subjects because the culture is "different from ours."

Keep reading also the topic from Jihad/Dhimmi Watch, which presents some very good discussions from the commenting writers as well.

Also available at bRight and Early, Euphoric Reality, Outside the Beltway, Real Teen, TMH's Bacon Bits.

Last week, Condi Rice hosted a dinner for Iftar at the State Department, and Nihad Awad, director of CAIR, was one of the guests there. But as Western Resistance points out:

...after the speech, Awad informed Secretary Rice of his own plans to exploit the name of Rosa Parks. He said that CAIR would be introducing a "Rosa Parks Scholarship" for students studying in "fields that promote civil rights, social justice, and peaceful resolution of conflicts."

Awad also said:

These types of events represent a growing recognition of the positive role Islamic teachings and American Muslims can play in helping to promote peace and justice in this country and around the world."

Yawn.

Perhaps this was not unexpected, but that CAIR or any other such group of phonies would go and try to exploit Parks' memory for promoting lies is truly disgraceful. As Western Resistance says:

Condoleeza Rice has every reason to applaud the achievements of Rosa Parks. But for CAIR to appropriate her name when she has only just died, in a cheap Islamic promotional ploy, is as disgusting and low as CAIR can get. A Rosa Parks memorial to help show how Islamic teaching can produce a resolution of conflicts?

Nihad Awad, who has been vociferous in his condemnation of US policy in Afghanistan recently, has no shame. Rosa Parks, who now cannot prevent her name being exploited, was not a supporter of "Islamic teachings". She was a Christian.

I do hope that Parks has relatives who can help to prevent her memory from being exploited, and that the Martin Luther King Foundation can also help provide aid in protesting this.

As for Condi, it is very sad that she so ludicrously mixed the discussion of human rights with a dinner with a group that so blatantly/falsely pretends to uphold them. In fact, as this topic on One Jerusalem points out:

On October 25th, Secretary of State Rice called Islam a religion of "peace and love" while she proclaimed that given the history of the United States "America has no cause for false pride and we have every reason for humility."

Why would the United States Secretary of State compare the human rights record of the United States to that of the Islamic world and find the United States comes up short? Why would she do this to a gathering of Muslims which includes the radicals of the Council of American-Islamic Relations?

If you view this speech you will see that when she starts talking about American shortcomings she looks from the text and appears to have recited this indictment many times before.

What is really appalling is the implication she made that Islam's human rights record is better than America's.

See also this topic on Jihad Watch for more.

A Blog for All finds the ultra-establishment New York Times continuing with its disgraceful obsession with moral equivalency, blurring the differences between good and evil. The headline of the article alone shows what's wrong with it: "New Israeli-Palestinian Violence Puts Truce in Doubt"

As Lawhawk says:

What cease fire? Israel has repeatedly been attacked by Palestinian terrorists month after month. Sure, some of them have not resulted in casualties, but why should that be the indication? The terrorists have been trying to kill Israelis at every opportunity. Terrorists have repeatedly fired missiles and rockets into Israeli territory hoping to kill Israelis. Only luck and the poor aim of the terrorists have resulted in limited Israeli casualties.

Israel responds to all the attacks with what must be done - killing the terrorists before they can strike again. That's why they've killed terrorists getting ready to deploy more missiles to strike at Israel or going after the terrorist leaders themselves.

Correct. There is no genuine truce, and that the NY Times should be acting oblivious to the fact that the terrorists' actions are wrong, is simply disgraceful. In fact, they've done something similar when it comes to the Iraq war, partly by describing the terrorists there as "insurgents". Papers like them, and even TV stations like CNN, do not deserve and audience if that's how they've going to cover the news.

Labels: msm foulness

That's the speculation being raised recently since his lawyer rested without presenting any more arguments in the trial that's been conducted against this terror-supporting professor who worked in South Florida, who also happens to have been a guest in Dubya's White House in 2001 (and had his picture taken with both George and Laura during the 2000 presidential campaign). As Debbie Schlussel, one of the first to write about his terror-connected activities, revealed last Friday:

Yesterday, Al-Arian's defense lawyer rested without presenting a case in the ongoing trial against him. Speculation is that he didn't have to. After months and months of testimony, media reports say jurors eyes are glazing over daily. Clearly, prosecutors bored them and didn't stick to the meat of the case against Al-Arian. It will be a travesty of justice if Al-Arian walks. He is responsible for the murder of many civilians, including the bus-bombing murder of American college student Alisa Flatow.

But while it will be a travesty, if Al-Arian walks, it will be no surprise. The Justice Department has a terrible record post-9/11 of prosecuting terrorists, losing most major cases. It's as if they really want to lose and are just putting on a show for the post-9/11 audience who pays their salary, but whom they secretly disdain. The one terrific victory, in which prosecutor Richard Convertino obtained a guilty verdict against terrorists, Justice Department officials and a questionable judge did whatever they could to overturn the verdict and ruin Convertino.

There was a report a couple of months ago in The Washington Post that told that there were very few convictions in 9-11 investigations. If Al-Arian walks, it'll be another betrayal of the American public.

Also available at Adam's Blog, Basil's Blog, Big Dog's Weblog, Cao's Blog, Don Surber, MacStansbury.Org, The Mudville Gazette, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Soldiers' Angel, Two Babes and a Brain.

Caroline Glick's latest column discusses how Israel's government reps are trying to excuse Fatah for its own acts of terror, for the sake of political correctness, in sharp contrast to whatever they have to say about the Iranian dictator's own acts of racism. And not only that, it seems that Russian secutiry personnel are training PLO terrorists in Gaza:

As one Palestinian source noted to the Post, the fact that Fatah and Islamic Jihad terrorists are now operating in the same cells raises the prospect that Islamic Jihad operatives will infiltrate the Palestinian security services by claiming to be Fatah terrorists. As members of the security forces, these murderers will receive training at the hands of Russian security personnel who are now operating in Gaza.

And that's another thing. According to recent press reports, as the multitudes of foreign terrorists entered Gaza after the IDF abandoned the Philadelphi Corridor linking Gaza to the Sinai last month, Russian security forces also quietly entered the area. Without any prior coordination with Israel the Russians set up shop in Gaza, where they claim to be training Palestinian security forces which they also wish to arm with armored personnel carriers and other weapons systems.

Given Russia's intent to sell advanced anti-aircraft missiles to Syria and its continued support for Iran's nuclear program, the deployment of an unknown number of Russian security personnel in Gaza is an unwelcome strategic development that is liable to have disastrous and far-reaching consequences. Abbas himself spent a formative period of his terror career as a KGB underling in Moscow while he received his doctorate in Holocaust denial at the Soviet Institute for Oriental Studies in the 1960s.

This also shows that Communism is still rampant in the former Soviet republic.

Glick also discusses the fact that:

Tragically, the Right today is in no position to enunciate policy options based on its clear understanding that terrorists must be defeated, not coddled and negotiated with. After Sharon splintered his Likud party, defeated his political camp and pummeled his support base by adopting the policies of the Left, the Right is in shambles.

Sharon's opponents within the Likud are so confused in the aftermath of their failed attempt to advance the date of Likud primaries that they cannot contend with Sharon, let alone the Palestinians. Knesset members from the National Union and the National Religious Party have been missing in action since the expulsion of the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria. At the grassroots level, activists are too busy devouring the leaders of the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, whom they blame for failing to prevent the expulsions, and hating the IDF for carrying out the expulsions, to pay attention to what the Palestinians are doing.

As with the delusional Left, so too the Right, in its weakness, is showing that it has no ability to learn from its mistakes and prefers to sink into neurotic self-obsession rather than act responsibly by pointing out a sane path for Israel to embark upon.

There is going to be a demonstration next month in Jerusalem that I should hope will start setting the right path for a change. And leaders, if that's what they're to be called, on the right, are going to have to start acting responsibly if they want to truly make a difference.

Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, whom Dubya allowed to enter the US to attend the United Nations summit recently, has now taken off his mask and shown himself for what he truly is: a bigot. From Yahoo News, here's the inciteful language he used:

"Anybody who recognizes Israel will burn in the fire of the Islamic nation's fury, any (Islamic leader) who recognizes the Zionist regime means he is acknowledging the surrender and defeat of the Islamic world," Ahmadinejad said.

Now maybe it's possible that, following this sick little hatemongering diatribe of his, he won't be allowed to visit countries like the US ever again. But if you ask me, this is something that everyone should have thought of long beforehand, and he should not have been allowed to enter the US in the first place.

Hat tip: The Jawa Report. Others on the subject include One Jerusalem, Jihad Watch, A Knight's Blog, Sister Toldjah, California Conservative, Captain's Quarters.

Labels: iran, UN corruption

Harriet Miers, who was a candidate for chief justice in the Supreme Court, has withdrawn from the nomination following severe criticism by the conservative movement.

Until recently, I had no idea what to think of this whole affair, until I read this column by Barry Freedman of the NY Jewish Star, which notes the following:

What’s my opinion? I am with those that hope she withdraws, forcing President Bush to nominate someone who has a record of originalist opinions that can be relied upon. Another Blackmun, Kennedy or Souter – Republican appointments gone astray – would be bad for America and bad for Israel. Judicial activism that pushes for progressive causes and the looking towards international law and precedent not only dilutes American sovereignty, it is a great encouragement to the Judicial Imperialism of the High Court of Israel which in its post-Zionist drive to become part of a transnationalist and post-democratic EU/new middle east would be greatly encouraged by the subjugation of the American Constitution to those diluting forces. Not only would I hate to see that happen, I am greatly concerned about it.

And I think he's got a point there too, that Miers' being appointed could also have been bad for both the US and Israel alike, and a bad role model/influence even for foreign justice. On the other hand, if a candidate with an inspiring record were to be appointed:

On the other hand, a truly conservative appointment would mean that the Supreme Court’s activism would be reigned in and looking to international law and precedent would end – or be consigned to dissenting opinions. For the Israeli High Court, this could make the difference between having a co-traveler in the legal deconstruction of the nation-state or the opposite – a contrasting and disturbing reminder that the Israeli High Court is choosing a course of its own will, not born of American pressure and example, and a clearer perspective, through contrast, of what just exactly it is doing. That perspective, and an example set in America resisting the swallowing up of sovereign law into the progressive transnationalism of international law, precedent, and tribunals, might even help bring public awareness in Israel to the point where real change to the old-boy network of internal Israeli judicial appointments of leftist elitist judges might become possible through reform of the apparatus of appointments. That change is one that is recognized as needed by a vast majority of Israelis who know that the High Court is completely out of touch with them.

I think there's some interesting points to that part too, given how the High Court acted in a case like this one. So let's all hope that a real candidate for chief justice will be found and appointed, one who can inspire for the better both at home and abroad.

Oblogatory Anecdotes has one of the best summaries of the topic:

What has President Bush learned from this experience? Hopefully the President has learned that he cannot attempt to please the Democrats and keep the loyalty of his base. He has learned that conservatives are not blind followers, that when we see something we disagree with we will speak up no matter who is in the Whitehouse.

Others on the subject include Michelle Malkin, The Black Republican, La Shawn Barber, Patterico, Cao's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Betsy's Page, The Anchoress, Protein Wisdom, Ace of Spades HQ, Mark Tapscott, Real Teen.

James Taranto at Wall Street's Opinion Journal sums it up correctly in response to a laughable interview with former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft published in the New Yorker, quoted in the Wash. Post (Hat tip: Don Surber). As the WaPo notes here:

Scowcroft, in his interview, discussed an argument over Iraq he had two years ago with Condoleezza Rice, then-national security adviser and current secretary of state. "She says we're going to democratize Iraq, and I said, 'Condi, you're not going to democratize Iraq,' and she said, 'You know, you're just stuck in the old days,' and she comes back to this thing that we've tolerated an autocratic Middle East for fifty years and so on and so forth," he said. The article stated that with a "barely perceptible note of satisfaction," Scowcroft added: "But we've had fifty years of peace."

Ahem. Is this what you call fifty years of peace, Mr. Scowcroft?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or even this?

To which we might even add this?

As Taranto says in repsonse:

Now let's see. Between 1953 and 2003, here are the Mideast wars we can think of off the top of our head: the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Gulf War, the two Palestinian intifadas against Israel, the Algerian Civil War, the Yemen Civil War and two Sudanese civil wars. That doesn't even count acts of terror against non-Mideastern countries, from the Iranian invasion of the U.S. Embassy to the attacks of 9/11.

What do you call someone who describes this as "50 years of peace"? A "realist."

Or, a Don Quixote.

Scowcroft is yet another in a seemingly infinite line of people who act as if nothing is happening, or could happen. In this day and age, that kind of act is simply worn out.

The New York Sun's got a good editorial on him today (Hat tip: Intelligence Summit), and at the end, they say:

There are those of us to whom General Scowcroft, the former insider, looks like a tragic figure now operating in league with the Middle East's autocrats. Maybe for business reasons, maybe for other motives, maybe for some failure of analysis. We don't question his honor. But the fact is that for years the House of Saud, the Baathists, and the Hashemites have been telling us that they are the only defense against terrorism. They have tried their best to channel real discontent with their corrupt family-owned regimes on Israel. America bought into this logic for 50 years only to get attacked. The aging general can rattle on for the old approach, but it strikes fewer and fewer as realistic.

Well said.

Also available at Jo's Cafe, The Indepundit, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Point Five, The Political Teen, Stop the ACLU, Wizbang.

Because the terrorist-supporting CAIR demanded that Eid al Fitr be recognized by schools as a Moslem holy day, Hillsborough schools in Florida banned Christmas, Good Friday and just about all other religious holidays (via Lost Budgie Blog.).

Here's what the Alliance Defense Fund (via Hyscience) has to say:

(...) "The phrase ‘separation of church and state’ is not in the U.S. Constitution, but because of the fear, intimidation, and disinformation groups like the ACLU (and CAIR) promote, many public officials and educational leaders mistakenly believe it is their duty to silence Christian religious expression," said ADF President Alan Sears.

(...) Christmas has historically been one of the most celebrated holidays of the American people. 96% of all Americans celebrate Christmas. Yet, because of political correctness, the words Merry Christmas have become increasingly absent from our Christmas season traditions. Misconceptions and controversy about the so-called "separation of church and state" has led many public officials to "remove Christ from Christmas."

(...) This was not the intent of the founding fathers. In addition, no court has ever ruled that the Constitution requires government officials to censor Christmas carols, eliminate all references to Christmas, or silence those who celebrate Christ's birth.

Nor those who celebrate Jewish holidays and such. The ADF is quite right that this simply wrong of the school board to cower like that in order to avoid having a gang of anti-libertarians like CAIR - and the ACLU, which was also pushing for this - try to force the schools to recognize their would-be holidays.

Here's some more facts from the ADF's website:

* The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must ban the singing of religious Christmas carols or prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.
* School officials may refer to a school break in December as "Christmas Vacation" or as a holiday without offending the Constitution.

* School officials do not violate the Constitution by closing on religious holidays such as Christmas and Good Friday.

* No court has ever held that celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas as religious holidays requires recognition of all other religious holidays.

* The "Three Reindeer Rule" used by the courts requires a municipality to place a sufficient number of secular objects in close enough proximity to the Christmas item (such as a crèche) to render the overall display sufficiently secular. Although the overall display must not convey a message endorsing a particular religion’s view, Christmas displays are not banned as some people believe. Simply put, the courts ask, "Is the municipality celebrating the holiday or promoting religion?"

Here's a page on the legal rules regarding Christmas, which also apply with equal strength to Jewish holidays as well.

As this article from TheRaphi.Com points out:

Every attempt to appease "Muslim opinion" preserves, promotes, and emboldens our enemies. Every concession to angry Muslim mobs gives hope to the Islamist cause. Every day we allow terrorist regimes to exist gives their minions time to execute the next Sept. 11. America needs honest leadership with the courage to identify and defeat our enemies--"Muslim opinion" be damned.

Absolutely correct, which is we cannot just simply sit around and allow them to dictate how even our schools will be run.

Be sure to also read this topic from Stop the ACLU which talks about CAIR as well, and the alliance they've formed with the ACLU. Plus, here's another interesting article (in PDF format) from Capital Research Center by Daniel Pipes and Sharon Chadha.

Others on the subject include In the Bullpen, The Political Teen, Militant Islam Monitor, Relapsed Catholic.

Michelle Malkin discusses how the anti-war moonbats seem to be enjoying the reports of the body count in Iraq reaching 2000 this week, simply so they can find yet one more umpteenth excuse to protest the war, but not for concern for the troops. Quite the opposite, so that they can do their darndest to support the terrorists trying to take over the country.

Caroline Glick discusses the right strategy in dealing with Syria, and also in dealing with the PLO.

Diana West discusses Dubya's bizarre announcement of the White House's including a Koran in its library. As she says here:

Is it just me, or does the president's gesture of inclusion sock the rest of us in the head? Peaceful Muslims aside, the Koran is indisputably the favorite book to twist for the extremist agendas for Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the killers of Daniel Pearl, Hamas bus bombers, London Underground bombers, and anyone who has ever hidden an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on an Iraqi road to kill or maim an American soldier -- none of which is the best recommendation for White House honors.

But maybe the president meant he would now be reading the Koran. He could start with Chapter 5, Verse 32, which he's taken to quoting as, well, chapter-and-verse evidence of Islam's aversion to bloodshed -- always skipping the fatal exception. Bush will say: Killing an innocent human is like killing all of humanity, and then leave it at that. My translation of the Koran says: "... whosoever kills a human being, except (as punishment) for murder or for spreading corruption in the land, it shall be like killing all humanity." Easy guess that among Bush's Ramadan guests were a few who consider Americans guilty of murder, Israelis innocent of nothing, and both, as non-Muslims, complicit in "spreading corruption in the land" -- and thus deserving death, dismemberment and banishment as outlined in Chapter 5, Verse 33.

See also One Jerusalem's entry on the subject, which I also posted about.

The Washington Times (also via One Jerusalem) writes a very good editorial this week that discusses the fact that the PLO is also guilty of murdering American citizens, including three US citizens during October 15, 2003:

Three of these Americans -- John Branchizio, 37, of Texas, John Linde Jr., 30, of Missouri; and Mark Parsons, 31, of New Jersey -- died in an Oct. 15, 2003 bombing of a U.S. diplomatic convoy travelling in Gaza. The perpetrators used a remote-controlled explosive device which they activated once the Americans were in range. The vehicles, all of which had diplomatic license plates, were traveling on a road that had been closed to Israeli traffic. In other words, this was no case of mistaken identity; the killers knew that they were targeting Americans and they killed them. Moreover, in the weeks leading up to that attack, the Palestinian media intensified anti-American incitement, which included calls for the destruction of the United States and denunciations of this country as Palestinians' "No. 1 enemy."

Here is also an entry on the subject from the blog of Michael Freund, who wrote the column in the Jerusalem Post that that Wash. Times discusses in their own editorial. Plus, here's a discussion on the subject from the Free Republic.

Here's an article from Asharq Alawsat (Hat tip: Sudan Watch) in which Mary Brazier discusses how Sudan is very crucial to the stability of Africa as a whole.

Tom Gross writes a very good article over at Front Page Magazine on how the MSM has no genuine interest whatsoever in Jews who've been victims of terrorist attacks, and in the UK, no mention whatsoever was given by the MSM about Rachel Thaler, a teenager who lived in Britain.

Plus, here's the latest installment of FPM's War Blog.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam, msm foulness, racism, syria, terrorism

Another casualty of Ariel Sharon's appeasement without a single convincing reason. From the AP Wire, via FOX News:

HADERA, Israel — A Palestinian bomber standing in line at a crowded falafel stand blew himself up Wednesday in this central Israeli town, killing five people and injuring 21, police and rescuers said.

The bombing eroded hopes that Israel's Gaza pullout would revive peace talks.

Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the blast, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of a top militant leader by Israeli troops earlier this week.

Oh, I see, that again, is it? I thought these peace talks were already done with. Since when was that what was important anyway?

Israel National News' coverage of this is better.

There is also a notification of another terrorist attack north of Ofra.

While we're on the subject, here's another report in which government sources admit to failure regarding the US's stance on the Hamas. But that's exactly the problem, now isn't it? They should not have to be relying upon the US for everything, now should they? No indeed, they shouldn't.

Also available at The Political Teen, Right on the Right, Jo's Cafe, Euphoric Reality, The Blue State Conservatives, The Mudville Gazette, Outside the Beltway. Others on the subject include Israel Perspectives, Cosmic X, One Jerusalem, HCS's and Gen's Place.

Rosa Parks, one of the pioneers of the civil rights movement for minorities, who's famous for her refusal to vacate her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus at the time they were running discriminatory laws against blacks in the southern states, has passed away at 92.

I fully agree that she did the right thing to make it clear in her own protest that it was wrong to order her to give up her seat based on race. If there was something really appalling about the argument the police officers who arrested her were using, it's that one of them, when asked by Parks why they pushed the blacks around, replied that he didn't know. He just argued that "the law is the law [and you're under arrest]."

I'd have to figure that one of the reasons why there was so much discrimination in the southern states at the times against Blacks - and also Jews and Hispanics - was because the white community didn't have the guts to put morality before money. In other words, they were so afraid of losing jobs, if not businesses, that they'd just go along and enforce the so-called "law" simply because they were afraid they'd get fired? That, it seems, is exactly the problem with a lot of people even today - that they don't have the courage to argue even at the expense of their jobs, no matter how worthless could actually be.

Parks' arrest over nothing in 1955 led to the famous boycott of the bus network in Montgomery, which Martin Luther King, then beginning with the civil rights movement, helped to organize. This and other protests eventually led to the 1964 Federal Civil Rights Act, which banned racial discrimination in public accomodations.

Parks did the right thing to remain in her seat, and should most definately be remembered and honored for her courage to stand up by staying seated.

Here's also a very good column about Parks by Linda Chavez on Town Hall's website.

Others on the subject include La Shawn Barber, Michelle Malkin, Outside the Beltway, Wizbang, Vodkapundit, Mark Tapscott, Down with Absolutes, Infinity Prolonged, Rajan Rishyakaran, Poliblog, Fried Baloney, Legacy Matters, Dustbury, Project Nothing!, Iowa Voice, B Relevant, Right Faith, Right We Are, The Subjective Scribe, Basil's Blog, Don Surber, Severe Writer’s Block, JamulBlog, The Anchoress, Stop the ACLU, Brutally Honest, Sister Toldjah, Obligatory Anecdotes, Secular Blasphemy, Don Singleton, Pardon My English, Mike's Noise, The Indepundit, Politakid, The Kentucky Democrat, The Astute Blogger, T. Longren, The Political Teen, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Truckin' Wifi, The Jawa Report, The Mudville Gazette, Publius Pundit, Don Singleton, Agent Tim Online, One Voice, Commonplace, My Right Mind.

Riots have broken out in Birmingham, Britain, as the black community has lashed out in outrage over what may have been the rape of a 14-year old black girl by Pakistani store owners as punishment(!) for shoplifting. Lost Budgie Blog's got the details, but, as noted, nothing is fully clear so far. The best possible reasons why the riots were caused, and why the victim has not come forward, may have been this:

Blacks in Birmingham England clashed with Pakistani Muslims over the alleged gang rape of a 14-year-old black girl by Pakistani Muslim shop keepers. The girl was allegedly raped as punishment for shoplifting in the Pakistani store. The alleged rape victim is said to be reluctant to come forward as she is an illegal immigrant to Britain.

This report from BBC certainly mentions that, but this report does not, and rather, seems more interested in being sympathetic to the owner of the beauty shop* where the crime may have taken place than to ask about the meatier details surrounding all this. There is also the possibility that she's afraid to come forward for fear that she'll be targeted for death by extremists as well.

Here's a report from the UK Times:

"The weekend of violence was triggered by rumours that a 14-year-old Jamaican girl was gang-raped by up to 19 Asian men after shoplifting from a cosmetics shop. Details of the attack were broadcast on a pirate radio station and picked up by a black community website."

"A public meeting was held at a local church on Saturday night which attracted hundreds of Afro-Caribbean women, two police officers and local politicians. It was gatecrashed by a mob of up to 100 hooded youths, who - when barred from entering - turned their anger on police."

"The youths, many wearing bandanas over their faces, scattered through the surrounding streets throwing bricks, bottles and rocks. Cars were burned and shops owned by Pakistanis were looted. The windows of Lozells mosque were smashed."

"...Violence resumed last night with sporadic outbreaks of fighting in the Newtown area of the city, despite a heavy police presence. A gang of up to 100 Asian youths marched down Lozells Road, flanked by riot police, in a display that one protester said was an act to "reclaim our streets"."

"Police remain keen to trace the young girl whose alleged rape proved a catalyst for the weekend's violence. "As it stands, that victim has not come forward," said Supt Tom Coughlan at a news conference yesterday."

This report provides more details:

ABDUL HUSSAIN, 23, stood outside a sari shop on Lozells Road yesterday, spat in the road, and spoke in low, menacing tones about the riot on Saturday in which one man was killed and a policeman was shot. It was prompted by a false allegation of rape, he alleged, that gave the “kalas” — a derogatory term for black people in Punjabi — the perfect excuse to loot Pakistani and Bangladeshi-owned shops in an inner-city corner of Birmingham.

“This riot is about them getting hold of what we sell in our shops,” he said. “Someone has invented a story about a young girl being raped by a Pakistani to justify a smash-and-grab raid. If this rape victim exists, where is she? If she doesn’t exist, why did they attack our property?”

Eighty yards away on the same road, outside the imposing steeple of the New Testament Church of God, Maxwell, a 19-year-old student, said that the rape definitely happened — his cousin knew someone who knew the girl, he alleged — and the riot showed that the Afro-Caribbean community is ready to fight back against predatory Pakistani men

The animosity between Abdul’s Pakistani community and Maxwell’s Afro-Caribbean community has not abated since the violence in which four people were stabbed. A black man in his twenties died from knife injuries. A policeman was shot in the leg. Cars were set on fire, and hundreds of police officers in riot gear were attacked with baseball bats, bricks and bottles.

The spark for the disturbances — an unproven allegation that a Pakistani man, or men, raped a 14-year-old black girl in a hair products shop just off the Lozells Road — is still being hotly debated on the streets.

But, although police said on Saturday that they had arrested three men in connection with an allegation of rape, Assistant Chief Constable David Shaw, from West Midlands Police, said that his officers had not received “a shred of evidence” to support the claims. The girl had not come forward or been identified to the police, he added."

As the AP Wire reports, the riots may still be going on. It shows that many blacks resent the Pakistanis, who they may also believe are exploiting them.

See also this topic from Biased-BBC on how the UK's worst TV network covered the riots.

* That this was a beauty shop the Pakistanis who may have implicated themselves in the crime happened to run, strikes me as rather odd.

Also available at Big Dog's Weblog, The Indepundit, Obligatory Anecdotes.

Labels: islam, londonistan, racism

Front Page Magazine publishes a very important interview with Mike Dennin, the chief legislative coordinator of the United American Committee, a group of concerned Americans who're dedicated to helping promote awareness of the dangers that Homeland Security is facing, including Islamic extremism in the US (Hat tip: Cao's Blog). As Dennin points out here:

It is easy for terrorists to enter our country because the federal government has failed to appropriate the resources necessary to effectively secure our borders. It has been over four years since 9/11, and the legislation necessary to address the lack of funding, manpower and detention facilities is just now moving through Congress. This lack of responsiveness isn’t even remotely acceptable. At the rate Washington is moving, it will be years before we get enough boots on the ground to adequately secure our frontiers. This is why you see civil border patrols increasing, not decreasing, the scope of their activities. This is why we hear reports of MS-13 gang members smuggling al-Qaeda jihadis across our nation’s borders.

An equally mystifying situation is the continued presence of organizations in the United States who have reportedly supported jihadist organizations that have the blood of American citizens on their hands. For example, the Muslim World League, a Saudi Arabian “charitable” umbrella organization, has been permitted to maintain offices in the United States despite the fact that it is suspected of providing funds to Osama bin Laden and that several of its affiliates have been shut down in this country for supporting al-Qaeda and HAMAS.

There's also a link here to an earlier article from FPM back in September on how the left undermined security even before 9-11 that's also very interesting to read.

While we're on the subject, here's a topic with a video from The Right Track on the subject as well. This is most definately a most important subject that the MSM sadly is keeping quiet about, and that they should be hiding the potential dangers of Islamic terrorism on the homefront from the public is simply disgraceful.

There is also the problem in that the president and his staff, like their predecessors, aren't making any genuine efforts to curb the problem, as Juan Mann at Michelle Malkin's Immigration Blog points out. (And, as noted in these earlier topics, Dubya is sadly tolerating Hamas' running in the PLO's so-called elections and has even sold out politically to Islam.) Only if proper and responsible laws on both terrorism and illegal immigration are enforced, will we be able to deal with the problem successfully.

Also available at bRight and Early, TMH's Bacon Bits, Big Dog's Weblog.

The Brussels Journal (via Michelle Malkin) reports that a Danish newspaper's been threatened for publishing political cartoons deemed offensive to Islam (I do wonder: what isn't offensive to Islam?):

The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten is being protected by security guards and several cartoonists have gone into hiding after the newspaper published a series of twelve cartoons about the prophet Muhammad. According to the Islam it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet. Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to bomb the paper’s offices and kill the cartoonists.

The newspaper published the cartoons when a Danish author complained that he could find no-one to illustrate his book about Muhammad. Jyllands-Posten wondered whether there were more cases of self-censorship regarding Islam in Denmark and asked twelve illustrators to draw the prophet for them. Carsten Juste, the paper’s editor, said the cartoons were a test of whether the threat of Islamic terrorism had limited the freedom of expression in Denmark.

Then, the al Qaeda posted threats of its own on a website run by its own sympathisers:

On Thursday the ambassadors of eleven Muslim countries, including Indonesia, a number of Arab states, Pakistan, Iran, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, complained about the cartoons in a letter to Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen. They say the publication of the cartoons is a “provocation” and demand apologies from the newspaper.

Jyllands-Posten was also included on an al-Qaeda website listing possible terrorist targets. An organisation which calls itself “The Glorious Brigades in Northern Europe” is circulating pictures on the internet which show bombs exploding over pictures of the newspaper and blood flowing over the national flag of Denmark. “The Mujahedeen have numerous targets in Denmark – very soon you all will regret this,” the website says.

You can see the rest of the cartoons on this webpage.

The newspapaer, I want to say, has a very good point about the dangers of letting Islamofascism limit the freedom of expression in Denmark, or anywhere else in Europe for that matter, and that any Islamists would dare to threaten their usual violence is simply disgraceful.

Also available at Bright and Early, Cao's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Point Five, The Political Teen, Wizbang. Others on the subject include Right Minded, The Jawa Report, Marked Up, Don Singleton, Stop the ACLU, Angry in the Great White North, National Review's The Corner.

Labels: jihad, Scandanavia

Cafe Oregano, one of the best blogs and trackback parties on the web, is closing shop now, due to personal priorities.

Oregano will be missed. He wrote some very good topics and also posted some of the best trackback topics as well. It was one of the first blogs I knew of besides Basil's Blog that presented the concept of creating trackback link festivals (speaking of which, Typepad is having problems with trackback ping submissions to blogs hosted on their servers, and it may take a couple more days until they can be fully repaired), and I enjoyed submitting to them whenever I could. But I understand why, for now, he must retire from the blog scene, and I wish him well.

So for now, farewell and good luck to Oregano and I hope he'll be able to return one day to blogging again.

The Washington Times/AP Wire reports that hurricane Wilma's already struck hard in Florida, but it also got as far as Cancun, Mexico, as well:

KEY WEST, Fla. -- Heavy rain from Hurricane Wilma's outer bands battered parts of Florida yesterday as residents streamed out of the Keys under a mandatory evacuation order and forecasters announced a hurricane watch for the state's entire southern peninsula.
At the same time, a record 22nd tropical storm of the season formed about 125 miles off the Dominican Republic -- Tropical Storm Alpha.
Five months into the six-month Atlantic hurricane season, the annual list of storm names has been exhausted, and forecasters had to turn to the Greek alphabet for the first time in six decades of naming storms.
Yesterday in Cancun, Mexico, Wilma had ripped away storefronts and forced residents and tourists trapped in hotels and shelters to scramble to higher floors. At least three persons were killed.
Several dozen people looted at least four convenience stores, carrying out bags of canned tuna, pasta and soda, while others dragged tables, chairs and lamps from a destroyed furniture store. Police were guarding only larger stores, including a downtown Wal-Mart and an appliance store.
Yucatan Gov. Patricio Patron told Formato 21 radio that one person was killed by a falling tree, but he offered no details. And in Playa del Carmen, two persons died from injuries they suffered Friday when a gas tank exploded during the storm, Quintana Roo state officials said.
Wilma, which had weakened to a Category 2 hurricane as it inched northward with sustained winds of 100 mph, was expected to pick up speed today, sideswiping Cuba before it slams into Florida.
Last night, it was slowly moving back over the Caribbean Sea, and rains and winds were beginning to lessen in Cancun at nightfall.

That sounds almost like a "boomerang" effect that the hurricane took in this case. Or, you could say that it moved back and forth along the Gulf Coast. Terrible.

Michelle Malkin and Kicking Over My Traces have more on the subject.

Some very important and disturbing items on terrorist activites being led by the PLO/Hamas. For example:

The wife of a terrorist used a baby to hide a grenade:

Soldiers arrested a terrorist's wife who held her baby to hide a grenade. In the same house, troops found a suitcase of explosives. The IDF also killed four other terrorists who attacked them.

Haruv Battalion soldiers searched a house in a village near Shechem early Saturday after receiving reports that ammunition was hidden there, according to Lt.-Col. Arik Chen. They discovered 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of explosives in a suitcase and arrested five terrorists.

Noticing that Aziza Jawabra, the wife of one of the terrorists, was holding her one-month-old baby in an unusual manner, the troops searched her and found a grenade in a jacket she was wearing.

"To see a woman using her baby to hide a grenade is not typical," Lt.-Col. Chen said. "She didn't have much to say," he added, except to deny knowing that the grenade was in the jacket. After soldiers arrested the terrorists, sappers blew up the explosives, which destroyed the three-story building.

"I can firmly confirm that an attack against soldiers and civilians has been thwarted. Terror activities have not stopped for a minute," Lt.-Col. Chen added.

That is simply sick, using her own infant to conceal an explosive! It just shows how little respect they have, if at all, for human life, even that of the youngest. See also this topic on Friends of Micronesia for more on the subject.

Then, here's another report on attempts by terrorists to use Israeli ambulances for cover in terrorist bombings:

An ambulance bearing Israeli markings has reportedly been sold to elements in the Palestinian Authority. Concerned the vehicle may be used as cover in a terrorist bombing, police are investigating.

The vehicle, belonging to the HaGalil Ambulance company - a private Galilee area ambulance service - was spotted by Samaria District police officers on Wednesday. Subsequently, Afif Zaied, affiliated with HaGalil Ambulance, was picked up by police for questioning in connection with the transfer of the ambulance to Arabs from the PA. Zaied told investigators that the ambulance was sent for service to a garage in the PA-controlled city of Tulkarem, east of Netanya. Zaied was released by police on Friday, while the investigation into the sale continues.

Authorities are concerned that the HaGalil emergency medical services vehicle, previously owned by the national Magen David Adom (Red Star of David), could serve terrorists as cover for a bombing at an Israeli hospital or at the scene of another mass casualty incident. While the former MDA markings were removed from the vehicle prior to its sale to the private Galilee company, the ambulance is still equipped with Israeli license plates and Hebrew markings, which would facilitate bringing it into sensitive areas.

And then, proof that the Arab/Islamic terrorists truly have no respect whatsoever for Ariel Sharon:

A Popular Resistance Committee spokesman threatened "to rip [Sharon’s] heart out and erase the smile off his face and his people's face just as he is erasing the smiles of our people."

Israel Army Radio said that committee spokesman Mahmoud Abed Al-Al made the unprecedented threat against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Saturday and that it was reported by ABC Australia.

"The Palestinians will do everything in their power to hurt Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon," Al-Al warned. "I want to turn Sharon's life into hell on earth since he has turned the lives of the Palestinians into hell."

He confirmed Israeli intelligence reports that Arab terrorists have transferred knowledge and technology on making Kassam rockets from Gaza to Judea and Samaria.

Terrorists, meanwhile, continue civil war throughout Gaza, Judea and Samaria amid calls by Gaza strongman Mohamed Dahlan that armed gangs associated with the ruling Fatah party lay down their weapons. He said they should concentrate on the upcoming Palestinian Authority (PA) legislative elections scheduled for January.

One PA policeman died and another was wounded in a shootout when PA police tried to break up an argument in a Tulkarm coffee shop Friday night. No group has claimed responsibility for the killing, but the Al Aqsa Martyrs Bridge terrorist organization announced it was not involved.

Make no mistake, what that "Al-Al" is saying is simply an Orwellian smear. And, while we're on the subject, let's not forget that a rocket shell was discovered at the Sycamore ranch not too long ago.

And, one more: two Israeli Arabs confessed to being Hamas collaborators:

21:11 Oct 23, '05 / 20 Tishrei 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Two Israeli Arabs from Nazareth and Kafr Manda have confessed to carrying out assignments for Hamas in the 1990’s after being recruited by the terrorist group while learning dentistry in Romania.

The pair allegedly underwent terrorist training in Turkey before returning to Israel, said police and the Shin Bet security service on Sunday, who arrested them last month.

Prosecutors from Haifa district will ask that the suspects be held in custody until the end of their trial on charges of assisting the enemy in wartime and making contact with foreign agents.

This reminds me that even Turkey is starting to become pretty dangerous again today, and may not be a very good place to vacation either.

In the Saturday issue of The Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens, the former EIC of the Jerusalem Post, points out how the Arabs in the Gaza strip, for example, have a violent culture that's separate from their hatred of Israel (Hat tip: Betsy's Page):

Consider a statistic: In the first nine months of 2005 more Palestinians were killed by other Palestinians than by Israelis--219 to 218, according to the Palestinian Authority's Ministry of Interior, although the former figure is probably in truth much higher. In the Gaza Strip, the departure of Israeli troops and settlers has brought anarchy, not freedom. Members of Hamas routinely fight gun battles with members of Fatah, Mahmoud Abbas's ruling political party. Just as often, the killing takes place between clans, or hamullas. So-called collaborators are put to the gun by street mobs, their "guilt" sometimes nothing more than being the object of a neighbor's spite. Palestinian social outsiders are also at mortal risk: Honor killings of "loose" women are common, as is the torture and murder of homosexuals.

Atop this culture of violence are the Hamas and Fatah leaders, the hamulla chieftains, the Palestinian Authority's "generals" and "ministers." And standing atop them--theoretically, at least--is the Palestinian president. All were raised in this culture; most have had their uses for violence. For Arafat, those uses were to achieve mastery of his movement, and to harness its energies to his political purpose. Among Palestinians, his popularity owed chiefly to the fact that under his leadership all this violence achieved an astonishing measure of international respectability.

As Stephens correctly points out, even if the so-called palestinians were to get a state of their own, it would not change the fact that violence and poverty would be a forgone conclusion in becoming the norm amongst its Arab/Islamic residents. A most glaring example is their vandalism of the greenhouses left behind by the Israelis in August when IDF forces withdrew. This is a leading problem with Islam and such, in that it's part of their culture, and to call them a state would not change anything, if at all.

Needless to say, neither Yasir Arafat nor any of his cronies since then have ever shown any genuine interest in building a viable economy, and that, plus the fact that they destroyed the greenhouses left behind, is but one of the reasons why, for them, making a "state" is pretty much impossible.

Another problem is that the Bush administration, as this report from Israel National News reveals, considers this kind of culture acceptable, in this case by tolerating the Hamas' running in the PLO's so-called elections:

It's now official: Though the U.S. considers Hamas a terrorist organization, it will take no active steps to prevent Hamas from running in the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack, at his official Daily Press Briefing on Thursday, said clearly that Palestinian politics is exclusively up to the "Palestinian people."

At the same time, McCormack emphasized that the American and Quartet position has not changed regarding "terrorist organizations operating outside of the rule of law" - though he did not elaborate. He said that in the view of the U.S., "Hamas is a terrorist organization."

However, McCormack added in a lengthy explanation, "It is also the case that how the Palestinian political process unfolds and evolves is a question for the Palestinian people. And I think that President Abbas is at the forefront, saying that there can only be one rule, one gun and one authority. And you heard he and President Bush speak just a short while ago ... about the fact that President Abbas was elected on a platform of bringing peace and security to the Palestinian people. And we are working with him and other members of the Palestinian Authority to see that the Palestinian Authority is able to live up to its obligations under the roadmap. Those obligations are that they not only have to stop acts of terrorism and violence, but they have to act to dismantle terrorist groups."

McCormack praised a recent Palestinian Authority law that forbids "armed displays in mass demonstrations," indicating that this could soften the damage done by Hamas' participation in the elections.

U.S. President George Bush hosted Abbas in Washington on Thursday. PA sources said afterwards that though Bush raised the matter of disarming Hamas, he did not dwell on it or pressure Abbas on this matter. Neither did he mention the issue during a joint press conference with Abbas after the meeting.

If the US government and even the MSM refuse to view the PLO as the terrorist organization it is, and do not object to a violence-advocating entities like the Hamas taking part in the former's "elections", how can anyone expect the problem of violence in Arab/Islamic communities to be dealt with?

Also, as pointed out on Israel Perspectives and Blog Free, the US government, to put it that way, is simply no friend of Israel's.

Update: One Jerusalem's got more on Bush's legitimization of the Hamas in the PLO's elections, and makes some very good points on how he's undermining even the US's own war on terror by doing so.

Reuters (via Jihad/Dhimmi Watch) reports of an attack by Islamists on a Coptic church in Alexandria because of a play they despised:

CAIRO (Reuters) - Three demonstrators were killed when thousands of people protested on Friday near a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria over the staging of a play they said was offensive to Islam, security sources said.

The demonstrators were killed during clashes between police and the more than 5,000-strong crowd which had gathered near St. George's Coptic church in the Mediterranean port city after Muslim prayers, the sources said.

Police used teargas to try to disperse the crowd, which had pelted police with stones and which regrouped on several occasions after prayer times through the day and evening, the sources said. They said protests continued late into the night.

Police formed a cordon to prevent the crowd approaching St. George's church, prompting some of the demonstrators to try to storm another church nearby, the sources said, adding that dozens of police and protesters were injured in the clashes.

Coptic Bishop Armia denied accusations the play insulted Islam, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported, as monitored by the BBC.

"Copts would never tolerate anyone insulting Islam," Bishop Armia was quoted as saying.

He did not give details about the play or what it was about. Coptic officials could not be independently reached for comment.

I don't know about this particular article, but the one from CNN (Hat tip: The Dread Pundit Bluto) certainly tells what the play was about, and why the monsters attacked:

The riot was sparked by the distribution of a DVD of a play that was performed at the church two years ago. The play, "I Was Blind But Now I Can See," tells the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and becomes disillusioned.

The Sixth Column and Meryl Yourish also discuss the subject, and the latter gives even more details about what exactly the Islamists objected to. From AFP:

The play, performed by amateur actors, tells the story of a young Christian who converts to Islam and is exhorted by a sheikh to kill priests and destroy churches, according to the independent Al-Dustur paper.

Performances of the play had to be abandoned after it sparked a public outcry.

Church authorities have distanced themselves from the new recordings of the play.

So because the play focuses on Islamic sponsered terrorism, that's why they've got a problem with it. Now I get it.

See also this topic from Jihad/Dhimmi Watch for something the AP Wire didn't bother to report on, but the AFP (and Reuters) did, that being the injuring of a nun at the same church by a knifer, who also stabbed another man trying to help out in the back:

The protests came three days after a man lightly wounded a nun with a knife at the entrance to the same church, and a man who came to her aid was stabbed in the back.

This is something that otherwise cannot be expected to be spoken about seriously in the MSM.

Update: see also these postings from The Free Copts weblog for more.

Labels: Egypt

For an example of a bad Republican/conservative, we have Darrel Issa, who's now running for office in California. Here's Debbie Schlussel's report on the horrid things he's done:

Jihad Darrell, the multi-millionaire who constantly praised then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (for having nice little hands and a great sense of humor!) at the height of Intifada violence and right after the Passover massacre, is mentioned in an article in The Hill, which focuses on liberal Dem Rep. Jane Harman's possible run for California statewide office.

Jihad Darrell, who is tight with terror host state Syria, got a ticket for speeding at the border. He responded with a "Do you know who I am?" redux, but the brave Border Patrol agent gave him the ticket anyway. Issa then tried to deunionize the Border Patrol (there was no DHS then) and is continuing to try to shut down Border Patrol checkpoints and offices at various points in his district. Jihad Darrell pretends he is for tougher immigration laws and enforcement, but the opposite is true.

No surprise, given that the Jihadist Congressman has lied throughout his career--about his spotty military record, about how he stole his business from its founder in a tricky court maneuver, about his criminal past, mysterious arson at his company's buildings, holding an employee at gunpoint, etc., etc., etc.

I dislike Arnold Schwartzenegger, having once learned that he hasn't tried to truly shed his shoddy background (keeping nazi artifacts in his house), and the choice of Issa as the candidate for California is no improvement. It's simply incredulous how the Republicans keep scuttling their chances at winning big when they don't have to, by choosing representatives with such awful deeds to their records.

Labels: political corruption, RINOs, syria

Arlene Peck discusses the relationship between two terrible troublemakers in the US, that being the ACLU and CAIR, two of the phoniest self-styled "civil liberties" outfits, who're doing little more than undermining free speech in America.

Also available at Stop the ACLU, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Don Surber, The Political Teen, Jo's Cafe, MacStansbury.Org, Cao's Blog.

Newsbusters and Davids Medienkritik report that the German government financed an anti-Semitic movie that "humanizes" Arab suicide bombers. The film is called "Paradise Now" and if there's any problem it's got, it's two-fold: first, that it doesn't make clear whether the Israeli "occupiers" should be dealt with using deadly force or non-violent demostrations. But the most definate problem is that, as Medienkritik points out:

...The only thing certain in the film is the guilt and malice of the Israelis, the “occupiers”. It’s not worth going into detail about the film’s striking polemics against the Israelis. No attempt is undertaken anywhere in the film to explain the Israelis’ position. Almost all of the Israelis appear in the film as soldiers - intimidating, menacing, anonymous, occasionally with sadistic impulses.

I once served in the army myself, and am proud of my service, and while I may not be in the army today, I will say that as someone who once served there, I am simply disgusted by this.

As Newsbusters points out:

The filmmaker, Hany Abu-Assad, told a German website he wouldn’t condemn suicide bombers: "The suicide attacks are a consequence of oppression, which first has to stop...I am against killing people, and I want that to stop. But I do not condemn the suicide attackers. For me, it is a very human reaction to an extreme situation." In their marketing materials, Warner Independent is trying to make "clear that the film is one that carries a message of peace," says spokeswoman Laura Kim. "We are working with many organizations to help get the word out that the film is one to begin a dialogue, to ask questions."

Simply atrocious here is the revolting double-standard being expressed by the filmmaker. As Newsbusters also points out, Hollywood appears to be on the verge of making a ton of pro-terrorist movies, as even Steven Spielberg's next movie appears to be, and defenders of the war on terror (and also the blogosphere) should be ready to deal with this as best as possible.

Many countries in the world are being forced to become more like Israel today, the US included, since the terrorist threat is spreading nearly worldwide, and other countries are forced to adopt measures like those taken by Israel in order to deal with terrorism.

Others on the subject include Democracy Project, Solomonia, Theodore's World, Stupid Random Thoughts.

Labels: germany

The Express and Star (via Lost Budgie Blog), in reporting on the ban on pigs at the Dudley municipal offices in the UK, says that the council is against political correctness, yet at the same time, they haven't recinded the ban either.

This reminds me that even Tony Blair himself may have backed down on his warning that he would deport Islamists who took part in inciting terrorism against the country. It just shows how transparent the country's own leadership is, and how they're either afraid or unwilling to deal with the racism that's been plaguing the UK. The concerned citizenry will certainly have to do something to make it clear to their leadership that they won't accept this kind of ludicrous bias.

Labels: islam, londonistan

Michelle Malkin has just celebrated her birthday recently. I'd like to join in wishing her a wonderful birthday celebration, and to keep up the excellent work!

Continuing his downward spiral credibility-wise, Dubya met with Diana Buttu, an anti-Israelist who declared Israel "the greatest abuser of human rights". (Hat tip: One Jerusalem.) But that's not all. On October 17, Dubya hosted what he called "Ramadan Mubarak" in the White House (Hat tip: Is it Just Me?). From the press release:

America is fortunate to count such good-hearted men and women among our fellow citizens. We have great respect for the commitment that all Muslims make to faith, family, and education. And Americans of many backgrounds seek to learn more about the rich tradition of Islam. To promote greater understanding between our cultures, I have encouraged American families to travel abroad, to visit with Muslim families. And I have encouraged American families to host exchange students from the Muslim world. I have asked young Americans to study the language and customs of the broader Middle East. And for the first time in our nation's history, we have added a Koran to the White House Library.

Now it may not be a surprise that the even the library of such a prominent place as the White House, in and of itself, should have a Koran. But that they should be making such a big deal out of it most certainly is. And what's appalling, but not surprising here, is how Dubya pretty much doubles back on his argument about a week ago that democratic countries are at war with Islamofascism. In fact, coming so shortly after the case involving Joel Henry Hinrichs III, what the president is saying is actually insulting, because what if said "exchange students" were to turn out to be terrorist moles instead? Check, for example, this press release from the United American Committee, which warns of the dangers of militant Islam.

Somehow, I can't believe the White House never had a Koran in their library before, and if they did, then that makes the press release silly. But it does pretty much indicate that one of the reasons why Hughes is plying her non-trade is simply because the White House approves of it.

Most appalling is that the president, in his above speech, insulted/offended the very public that gave him a mandate to fight terrorism and to guard the American homefront as well. Who would've thought that Dubya was capable of taking advantage of his reelection, perhaps due to the fact that, in the US, a candidate can only run for two back-to-back terms?

Bush also flubbed by offering yet more undeserved praise for Mahmoud Abbas (H/T: Jihad Watch).

On Buttu, when she says that Israel is a human rights abuser, naturally, you can be sure that she doesn't mean this, or even this, does she? Alas, no. What she's saying simply is that Israel is an abuser of Arab human rights, while at the same time ignoring any that Islamist countries like Saudi Arabia commit, or even ones like Sudan, which is governed by an Islamic dictatorship. As told in this article from the Sudan Tribune (also via Jihad/Dhimmi Watch):

Oct 17, 2005 (KHARTOUM)— The Sudanese government has affirmed that it has reservations on some articles of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), particularly those which contradict Islam.

The minister of justice, Mohamed Ali al-Maradi, said in a press statement following his meeting with the special rapporteur on human rights in Sudan, Ms Sima Samar, that Sudan would not accept any article that contradicts the Islamic religion.

He added that women rights are guaranteed in all legislation and the constitution which enable women to assume public work and posts on equal footing with men.

Do cases like the above ever concern people of Buttu's standings? I guess not.

Labels: anti-semitism, islam

This may not have been spoken about by the MSM, but Penn Kemble of the Freedom House has passed away. As Allen Roth at One Jerusalem's blog, who wrote about his passing, says about Kemble:

A life long Democrat, Penn never allowed politics to stand in the way of promoting American principles in the world at-large. He worked for Republican and Democratic Administrations as a tireless organizer of coalitions that would counter the anti-freedom and anti-American messages of our opponents on the Right and on the Left.

I met Penn twice. Once at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C. and once over lunch in London. On both occasions Penn talked about his work and plans to form pro-American alliances in Europe. One of his most successful efforts was to bring labor unions into the battle for freedom.

This should also point out one of the most glaring problems the moonbat crowd today seems to have: they've repeatedly let their political leanings get in the way of virtually everything else they do. Kemble should serve as a role model for someone who knows why it pays much better to keep from letting this happen.

As the New York Sun, the only newspaper that's been seriously giving attention to Kemble's passing says in the following editorial:

Kemble's passing invites reflection on the facets of American democracy. He was one of those who started out on the left, believing so many of the ideals claimed by the left and working within its parties and institutions, only to find, increasingly over time, that the right half of the political spectrum was more hospitable to the ideals that inspired him.

(snip)

In the 1960s, he worked on civil rights and in the 1970s voter registration. In 1972, he helped found the Social Democrats, USA. During the Reagan administration he was accused, as Mr. Miller puts it, "of being a neoconservative," and, in 1983, he broke ranks with many prominent Democrats to support President Reagan in the war in Central America. He drew much fire for his work, but, as Mr. Miller so aptly put it, in 1990 "he had the satisfaction of seeing the Sandinistas voted out of office in peaceful elections."

It'll be a real shame if the MSM intends to remain silent about his death, but that's exactly the problem with them now, and exactly the reason why so many people are doing the right thing to turn to the internet instead to get their news.

Also available at Stop the ACLU, Outside the Beltway, The Mudville Gazette, Jo's Cafe, Big Dog's Weblog.

It wasn't unexpected, of course. His trial took place today, though disappointingly enough, it appears to have now been ajourned until November 20.

While we're at it, here's something that can refute the claim that Iraq -- and certainly Saddam himself -- were "secularist", as some PC-loonies are putting it:

Saddam — holding a copy of the Koran he brought with him into the session and held throughout — replied quietly, "I said what I said. I am not guilty," referring to his arguments earlier in the session.

Now does someone who's truly secular really take possession of the Koran so willingly? Me, I doubt it.

Meanwhile, I'm hoping that Saddam will be sent to the chair for his crimes committed as early as the mid-70s. But that's exactly why I hope this trial will resume on schedule, and be completed without further interruptions. Trouble is that, as of this writing, the press, led by the awful ABC News, is predictably trying to take Saddam's side in the trial. As Newsbusters points out:

ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas set up a Tuesday World News Tonight story, about Saddam Hussein's trial set to start Wednesday, by noting how “many Iraqis are eager to see him in the docks, finally held accountable for atrocities committed by his regime.” But then came the inevitable “but,” as in: “But already, human rights groups are worried about the fairness of the trial.” In the subsequent story, reporter Jim Sciutto in Iraq devoted most of his piece to how Iraqis are angry at Hussein and glad he's going on trial. Sciutto quoted one man who argued that “he should be tortured the same way he tortured the people.” Sciutto, however, ended with the concern earlier highlighted by Vargas: “Human rights groups doubt the former dictator will get a fair trial, with five inexperienced judges unable to resist pressure for swift justice, and his legal team with little time to answer the charges.”

Read the whole posting to see the ABC transcript, and also to see just how CBS dealt with the trial, which was just as bad.

Others on the subject include Michelle Malkin, Urban Grounds, Stuck on Stupid, Bright and Early, T. Longren, La Shawn Barber, Sister Toldjah, The Malcontent, Christian Coalition Blog, Conservative Outpost, Obligatory Anecdotes, The Political Pitt Bull, The Gray Tie, Pardon My English, SoCal Pundit, Don Surber, Electric Desert, Right Voices, Macmind, Donkey Stomp, California Conservative, Neo-Neocon, A Blog for All, Small Town Veteran, Alabama Watch, Mark Nicodemo, The Political Teen, Okie on the Lam in LA. Plus, here's a satire from Political Satire Fake News.

In an act of the absurd involving Islam, we have the following from New Kerala, which is public housing for Muslims that doesn't face Mecca:

Bristol: An Asian housing association in Britain has built a block of flats especially designed not to offend Muslims - the toilets do not face Makkah.
The 16 flats in the St Paul's area here have been built by Bristol-based Aashyana Housing Association, an Asian-led organisation. The toilets in the apartments have been built in such a way that they do not face southeast.

Farooq Siddique, from the Bristol Muslim Cultural Society, said he welcomed developments that took into consideration the cultural diversity of tenants.

He said: "I think it is a good thing that the flats are designed in this way. We do live in a multi-cultural society and rather than just paying lip service to that, it is important that there are policies in place that address it.

"Having toilets facing the right way is an issue that comes up, as Muslims do not like using them if they are facing in that direction."...

Bristol City Council spokeswoman Kate Hartas said:...

"With all our allocations, we apply the normal criteria.

"But where there are two households of equal priority who qualify for an Aashyana home, we would offer to the household who would most benefit from the culturally- sensitive services that Aashyana provides."

Gee, I had no idea Islam had that much of a problem with the "loo" as the slang goes in the UK. Article can also be found at Lost Budgie Blog and Jihad/Dhimmi Watch.

Then, there's the sinister, that being just how far Islamic fanaticism has gotten, as reported by AFP via the Sunday Times of South Africa (Hat tip: Jihad/Dhimmi Watch and Lost Budgie Blog):

TEHRAN - Iranian police have been accused of shooting and killing a motorist after he failed to stop when spotted eating during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, a press report said.

The victim, identified as 22-year-old Seyed Mostafa, was shot dead in Tehran on Saturday.

He was also playing loud music with his car stereo, the government Iran newspaper said.

"Even if the police claim is right, is eating during the fasting month punishable by death?" the victim's brother was quoted as saying.

The report did not say if the family would press charges against the police, who have been actively enforcing a dawn to dusk Ramadan ban on public eating, drinking and smoking as well as a wider campaign to crack down on "lawless elements".

As Dhimmi Watch says:

It isn't according to traditional Islamic law. The Iranians seem to be getting a bit overzealous; maybe they considered his eating and loud music to be ipso facto evidence that he was a heretic or an apostate.

Or, they have hostility to rock music, and I wouldn't be surprised if Aerosmith, to name but one rock group, were otherwise forbidden in places like Iran.

Labels: londonistan

Suddenly, all of a sudden, the FBI and the press are reporting of a suicide note left by Joel Henry Hinrichs III:

The University of Oklahoma student who died in an explosion Oct. 1 left a message on his computer that he was going to quit living, his father said.

The FBI read the message to the father Friday, after he came to Oklahoma to clear out his son's university-owned apartment.

(snip)

Joel Hinrichs Jr. said he understood investigators found the message on the computer screen when they arrived at the apartment.

"It was a single line of text on his computer," said the father, who lives in Colorado Springs. "The cursor was still blinking at the end."

As Mark Tapscott, who's been doing some of the best coverage of the case, points out, there are quite a few very good questions to be raised:

* Why did the FBI and Joint Task Force on Terrorism insist virtually from the outset that Hinrichs was a lone suicide, but then waited nearly two weeks before disclosing the existence of the message allegedly left by Hinrichs on his computer?

* How does the FBI know the message was typed on the computer by Hinrichs and not another individual? In the absence of convincing proof that Hinrichs was the author, the message could have been typed by anybody.

* The message was only one sentence long, according to the Oklahoman, but Hinrichs father was unable to remember the wording, which the newspaper said was read to him by the FBI. Why wasn't he shown a photo of the screen with the message?

And then, as Generation Why points out, this article, published by Channel Oklahoma just a few days after the bombing, says:

Hinrichs said his son did not leave a suicide note and that FBI agents told him hydrogen peroxide was used to construct the bomb.

And this article published in the Tulsa News on October 4 says:

Hinrichs says he told the FBI his son was disengaged from politics and says agents told him they did not find a suicide note.

Which is in sharp contrast to what's being reported now. So what's going on here exactly? This case is most definately not closed, and much more needs to be answered, if you ask me.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.

Others on the subject include Power Line, The Jawa Report, A Blog for All, Flopping Aces, BlancoBrawler, Don't Let Me Stop You.

While we're on the subject, here's an article from WorldNetDaily that warns of the possibility that Hamas could attack within the United States. And here's another one by Michelle Malkin on Town Hall about the MSM's repeated refusal to conduct any serious questions and answers about Islam and terrorism.

The Portland Press Herald in Maine interviews a family whose home and life in Waveland, Mississippi, which is about an hour from New Orleans in Louisiana, was destroyed in the wake of hurricane Katrina. From what's being told here, it appears that the interviewees are the family of the wrecked city's own mayor, Tommy Longo:

Just over a month ago, Longo lived less than an hour outside New Orleans in the small coastal city of Waveland, Miss. Her days, she said, were jam-packed working as a special education teacher and attending functions for her children and her husband, Tommy, the mayor of Waveland.

Then the unimaginable happened when Hurricane Katrina thundered onto the Gulf Coast. A city that had weathered countless storms, even Hurricane Camille in 1969, practically vanished.

At least 40 people in and around the community of 7,000 year-round residents died, and dozens more are missing. City hall was reduced to rubble, as was the courthouse, the post office, virtually all of downtown.

Can you believe that? An entire town suffered what Biloxi may not have: it was almost virtually erased from the map. The family is lucky to have survived the storm.

Also available at The Mudville Gazette, Bright and Early, Cafe Oregano, Jo's Cafe, Bloggin Out Loud.

In this list of briefings of reports on terrorism, most interesting among them is the discovery of a Kassam rocket being discovered on the Sycamore ranch:

* Prime Minister Sharon's Shikmim Farm in the Negev was almost hit by a Kassam rocket three weeks ago. Security forces found the remains of the rocket about 250 meters south of the Sharon family residence yesterday morning. The assumption is that the rocket was fired three weeks ago during a massive Palestinian rocket attack on Sderot and environs, in which five people were injured. Arutz-7's Haggai Huberman says that security forces told him this was not the first time a rocket was fired towards Sharon's farm.

And he wants to do business with people who're willing to let rockets be fired not just towards Sderot, but also towards his own ranch as well? Definately something to ponder.

Another result of Ariel Sharon's suicidal policies:

17:06 Oct 16, '05 / 13 Tishrei 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Magen David Adom personnel say two Israelis have died as a result of a shooting attack at the Gush Etzion Junction south of Jerusalem. Preliminary reports say four other people were wounded in the shooting, one of them seriously. According to the reports, the victims were in two vehicles at the hitch-hiking station. The Israeli army is trying to coordinate efforts with the Palestinian Authority (PA) to locate the terrorists, who were last seen headed toward PA assigned Bethlehem.

Just as I thought, wasting time "coordinating" with the wrong scum. As if it weren't bad enough that they were encouraging this kind of trash through shows of weakness, they continue to communicate with the PLO, which is responsible for encouraging this kind of murderous behavior.

Update: Now it's three victims of murder and five people injured. As Shaul Goldstein, head of the Gush Etzion regional council, says here:

Goldstein told Israel TV: "Many people were murdered in the area since the outbreak of the Oslo war, but the army gradually gained control of the situation by closing down side roads adjacent to the highway which the Jewish civilians use. The IDF drastically reduced the attacks. Then, the political echelons suggested confidence-building concessions, which are always made by Israelis to the Arabs, including the opening of the side roads. We begged them not to saying that they will again be used as escape routes following murders of Jews. Today's murders are the result of this policy."

Here's who the culprits are:

The Al Aksa Brigades, a terror group associated with the Fatah PLO faction claimed responsibility for the attack. PA chief Mahmoud Abbas is a member of the Fatah party that controls the Palestinian Authority.

So it's offensive that the Israeli government should want to do any business with these monsters.

In One Jerusalem's entry dealing with subject, there is some good news to go with it though:

Meanwhile our friends at the International Christian Embassy have donated a considerable sum of money to evacuees from Gaza.

That's certainly good, and it's always a very good thing to meet a righteous gentile, as the saying goes. I give my biggest thanks to the International Christian Embassy for their good deed.

Also available at Stop the ACLU, My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, Jo's Cafe, Cao's Blog, Outside the Beltway, California Conservative, Point Five, Wizbang.

Looks like Jodie Foster's got some competition now for who can be the worst Islamophile in the film industry: a sports team owner by the name of Mark Cuban. In this latest act of sympathy for the devil from Hollywood, "The War Within", reviewed by Debbie Schlussel, the concept is a "sympathetic" Pakistani homicide bomber who blows up NYC's Grand Central:

The movie, about a Pakistani Muslim homicide bomber who blows up New York's Grand Central Station, is especially frightening because the goal is to get you to like the terrorist, Hassan (played by Ayad Akhtar). Hassan does not have a scary looking Mohammed Atta-esque visage. He is a laid back, very likeable, devout guy, with regular values that could be those of the religious Christian or Jew next door.

And that's the point. Producers want you to sympathize with Hassan, understand his point of view. At the end of the film, viewers may find themselves actually rooting for this hail-terrorist-well-met to blow up Grand Central.

In media notes provided by the movie's publicists, Director and Co-Writer Joseph Castelo's answers to questions are mortifying. "How are we ever going to understand what's going on right now if we don't see these people [homicide bombers/terrorists] as human beings?" Is he asking or telling us?

His "Director's Statement" is the written definition of chutzpah:

"I understand the reluctance to extend sympathy to those who wish to do us harm. But I am a firm believer in the power of empathy. Whereas a sympathetic portrayal would imply an affinity, either emotional or intellectual, with Hassan, our protagonist, an empathetic depiction implies a more complex and potentially enlightening dynamic: that of coming into an awareness of the experience of another."

Huh?

Empathy. Sympathy. Whatever. It's a distinction without a difference, and this absurd psychobabble to justify rooting for terrorists is flat-out disgusting.

No film should EVER have a homicide bomber as its "protagonist." Period.

Then, there is the story of the "protagonist," Hassan, and why he chose to become a terrorist. When the movie begins, we see Hassan on the streets of Paris, a secular Muslim speaking on the phone about going to the movies. Then, he is called several obscene names and violently nabbed by American agents. We next see secular, innocent Hassan in a dark Karachi, Pakistan dungeon--questioned, tortured, and mutilated. Throughout the film we are treated to views of his various ugly scars and his flashbacks of the torture.

Yes, predictably, it's the Americans' fault. We turned this nice guy into a terrorist through torture.

There are a couple of other examples in showbiz items where it's been written to say, or even implied, that the victims are to blame for creating a "golem" that turns against them. (When Marvel Comics went and abused their own property in 2002 by forcing a similar approach upon Captain America, that was certainly one example.) It's truly offensive, and must be protested, most definitely by not paying any money to see this current dud.

As long as Cuban is owner of the Dallas Mavericks, I don't think I can be a fan of theirs either until he leaves ownership. He later went and wrote Schlussel a letter featuring a classic implication, that she had no idea what she was talking about and needed to see the movie, implying that she hadn't! That's typical moonbattery for you, folks. And Cuban is decidedly a millionaire who doesn't deserve his wealth.

See also at The View From the Nest.

While we're on the subject of the big screen, here's an interesting subject from the small screen too: an episode of Law & Order supposedly inspired by the Terri Schiavo case, that just goes to show how underwhelming and unbold the program actually is. As Newsbusters says:

Ripped from the headlines: The plot for Wednesday's Law & Order on NBC is inspired by the Schiavo case -- and it looks like one of those fighting to keep the Schiavo-like character alive may also be a murderer since the NBC Web site's description of the episode says that “a car bomb kills the husband of an incapacitated woman shortly before the victim planned to disconnect her feeding tube.” I would caution, however, that L&O plots often first pursue logical suspects before discovering an alternate motivation for the crime.

While they certainly make a good point there, the trouble is that when the "plots" go in the direction of the alternate motivations more often than they do the logical suspects, then it becomes more fiction that reality. And here I thought that the latter was meant to be what the show was about. Looks like I was wrong. One the replies to the thread tells what's going on here:

...I saw this episode - no one blew up in the Schaivo case of course - much to the MSM's dismay - so they made a "reality" it on TV (the only way they can ever get their way anymore). Of course the evil bomber turned out to be (suprise!) an evil pro-life Christian. MJB will be back here later promoting "how everyone knows" that all pro-lifers are really avid pipe bombers hell-bent on blowing up all ("truly decent") pro-choicers...

The bigger implication of the episode was that a pro-life clergyman cleverly orchestrated the bombing with diabolical mind-manipulation methods in order to gain media exposure...when is the last time we saw a positive pro-life character or conservative Christian on a major network televison program? The answer of course is never...they are all evil or mind-numbed robots in MSM la-la land...

The main ploy here here is to make the pro-lifers look like the killers - take the focus off of the REAL pro-choice killers. This is a common lib tactic I've noticed now as we also saw in New Orleans where racist libs tried to paint conservatives as the racists...

As I watch these programs week after week I increasingly wonder about these writers...their anti-Christian propaganda and agenda is now so transparent. They are so hate-filled, guilt-ridden, and bitter about their lives. They are such fear-mongers, such bigots...what truly pathetic lives they live...

This pretty much sums up what I've thought L&O was really like all these years (and I suspect it's still going for the same reasons the Simpsons are too: they just don't know when to quit!): bending over backwards, underwhelming, and afraid or unwilling to do any better than the MSM it's more or less part of. I remember they pulled some anti-Jewish propaganda possibly three times as well years ago, and early in its run, I vaguely remember an episode where a pro-life Christian was pegged as the culprit in an attack on an abortion clinic. And there were a few episodes where they pretty much backed away from any meaty possibilities regarding the subject of Islamic terrorism as well.

If that's how the producers of L&O are going to write things, then simply put, they're being no more realistic in their approach than even the movies are. And I think it's already due time that the series was cancelled.

Also available at The Mudville Gazette, Cafe Oregano, Soldier's Angel.

Proving that they'll bite the hand that serves them, the PLO's Fatah movement kidnapped some US and UK reporters recently, including one from Knight-Ridder News. Israel National News has the story:

Armed gunmen abducted a Knight Ridder reporter and British photographer in Gaza on Wednesday and released them a few hours later. The kidnappers were members of the armed Black Panther breakaway faction of the ruling Fatah party of the Palestinian Authority (PA), according to the All News Headlines news site.

PA police chief Ala Hosni described the kidnappers as a "gang" representing the powerful al-Najjar family clan in Khan Yunis, Gaza. They were demanding jobs and promotions.

A Khan Yunis civilian was kidnapped on Thursday and held for a $140,000 ransom.

PA legislative official General Mahmoud Labadi admitted, "We really have a problem. We have uncontrolled elements, whether on the Fatah side or the Hamas side. I think those elements who were financed and supported before by President Arafat, and those supported by finances from abroad, by international Islamic [groups]. I think they pose a problem to the government. It is difficult to control them and disarm them."

The PA and Egypt continue to allow the flow of arms across the Rafiah border, according to Middle East Newsline. "It's no longer a massive flow," an Israeli official said. "But it's a steady flow and much greater than what it used to be during our presence along the border." Ammunition and weapon parts are smuggled almost nightly, sources said.

The anarchy once was blamed on Hamas terrorists, but PA reports this past week revealed that Fatah armed gangs, part of the ruling faction, are behind most of the kidnappings and vigilante violence. The PA also admitted that half those killed in fighting this year were attacked by rival terrorists and not by the IDF.

They may have a problem, but the problem with said problem is that really, it's all de rigueur to them.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Outside the Beltway, Jo's Cafe, The Political Teen, Stop the ACLU, The Indepundit, MacStansbury.Org.

Here's several topics from this week to ponder for this posting.

First, we have Dubya's speech regarding the danger that the US and Israel both face: Islamofascism. Now that's certainly a positive step that the president is taking to name the specific danger, but, here's an interesting question: does the PLO, whose own members are also Islamists, also count? And if the al Qaeda were to start operating in Gaza, would the US try to shut them down?

On Politics and Other Random Thoughts provides extensive coverage of the suicide bomber in Oklahoma. As Mark Tapscott, through whom I found the link, asks, who is Tariq Alzoubi?

This is the student who commented in several articles regarding Hinrichs' roommate Fazal M. Cheema.
I have discovered that Tariq is an opinion column writer at the University of Oklahoma. His column appears every other Wednesday. Hardly what I would call an "objective" voice in all of this. I suspect he is the writer of this column which must contain a "spin alert".
Tariq is also listed as the contact for the Arab Student Association at OU.Read Tariq Alzoubi's editorial (originally printed in the OK Daily (OU) Newspaper). It has been posted on the "Friends of Al-Jazeera" website. "Considering Al-Jazeera: Objectivity and controversy".Also of interest is a Letter to the Editor of the Arab Times in which he mentions being "pushed around by the West". This letter was apparently sent on Sept. 15, 2005.
Most interesting, is this OU student webpage found on the OU system. It is an overview of political unrest in the Middle East. At the bottom "composer" credit goes to the following people; Tariq Alzoubi, Aaron Harner, Matt Sexauer, Adam Envoldson, Zak Abbott, and MOHAMED JIHAD!?!? Interesting indeed...

I fully agree. Keep reading all of the topic for more.

Also via Tapscott's Copy Desk, here's a Washington Post article that points out that any toxic chemicals that mingled with the waters in New Orleans may not have been as severe as the MSM was reporting earlier, and which pretty much knocks down the credibility of the MSM, which seemed to be exaggerating the findings in the area out of political motivations. As Mark says:

The discrediting of the toxic floodwater claims is merely the latest in a long list of major story points that dominated the mainstream media's Katrina coverage that have since been exposed as false. Among those points were the piles of dead bodies allegedly stacked in the Superdome, including a seven-year-old girl who had been raped and whose throat was slashed.

The most significant thing about the Post story, though, is what it doesn't include. Not a single mainstream media editor or academic journalist is asked about the growing list of discredited story points in the Katrina coverage.

Given that Wash. Post is but one of the many members of the big bad MSM, it shouldn't be that surprising that they'd come up short there.

Aarons.cc announces that he's leaving the Republican party. I most certainly can't blame him. The Dubya administration's become a mess in second term, and thanks to that, people are understandably let down.

Margaret Cho calls Michelle Malkin a racist, and the Philadelphia Daily News' Dan Gross is only so pleased to write about the story, in a paper that was never considered very high class by the people in my old neighborhood. It's sickening that Cho should stoop so low, and that Mr. Gross should too, but at least he apologized for what he did later on. Like Michelle, I too am glad for that. (Hat tip: California Conservative.)

Mark in Mexico provides coverage on Rania al-Baz, who was beaten by her husband, and then, for no apparent reason, was stripped of her rights to fly out of the country to Paris, where she was to give a press speech on domestic abuse in Gulf countries. She had since escaped by hiding in a truck en route to Bahrain, and from there took a flight to Paris from Dubai. Her family, however, including her children, are still in the House of Saud.

Ha'aretz, while usually a crummy newspaper, offers a rare gem of a report about a 14-year-old Arab boy from Nablus (Shechem) who'd been in a fight with his father, and was then exploited by Fatah in an attempt to use him as a suicide bomber (Hat tip: Meryl Yourish):

The Shin Bet security services said Wednesday morning said that it has arrested a 14-year-old Palestinian boy from the West Bank town of Nablus on suspicion of planning to carry out a suicide bombing. The boy was arrested Tuesday.

During questioning, the boy said he had an argument with his father and that militants from the Fatah movement in the Balata refugee camp who knew of this attempted to convince him to become a suicide bomber.

According to the boy, the wanted men took him for a motivation talk in an apartment in the refugee camp and even filmed his “video testimony,” in which the boy is seen holding a rifle and announcing his intent to carry out a suicide attack.

If the MSM at large does not report about this, that shows how truly, they care nothing about Islamic child abuse, and if it weren't for Rania Al-Baz's being a prominent journalist, it's quite likely they wouldn't care anything about her own victimization either.

Here's another article on the subject, from Israel National News:

Wanted Tanzim terrorist Rabi'ah Abu Alil originally tried to employ the boy as a suicide bomber after he and his father quarreled over money. The boy refused, and was taken to an apartment by Abu Alil and another wanted Arab terrorist, Jamal Tirawi. Tirawi is also a high ranking Palestinian Authority (PA) intelligence officer, the IDF said.

"Despite the youth's pleas that he be released to his home and left alone, Tirawi and Abu Alil threatened him that if he did not cooperate, they would kill him and distribute a communique claiming he had been collaborating with the Israeli army," the IDF announcement stated. Terrorists photographed the boy wearing a vest and holding a rifle and a copy of the Koran.

The terrorists finally released the youth without harming him. The Associated Press reported that Tirawai responded to the charges by saying that "the Israelis are liars."

"This is not an isolated case," an IDF spokesman said. "Since the beginning of 2005, the number of minors who have been drafted by the different organizations to carry out terror attacks and attacks against Israeli military targets has risen dramatically."

It's quite likely that the 14-year-old slandered the "Israelis" for fear that if he spoke out against the terrorists dominating the area he lives in, he'd be put to death in revenge for daring to speak out against them. That they would use scare tactics against youngsters is simply offensive.

Voice of Judea presents a video of police brutality at the Ozeri funeral and an interview with Shifra Hoffman, director of Victims of Arab Terror International, and also the Shuva Aliyah movement.

A former French UN ambassador, Jean-Bernard Merimee, is now charged with involvement in the Oil-for-food scandal. (Hat tip: Power Line) He was a former adviser to Kofi Annan, and as told here:

The charges against Jean-Bernard Merimee are part of France's investigation into the U.N.'s Oil-for-Food investigation. Merimee, who was taken into custody on Monday, is suspected of having received kickbacks in the form of oil allocations from the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, judicial officials said.

Kickbacks always get into the wrong hands, don't they?

With the news that the NYC terror threat notifications were a hoax and even a Georgia Tech student confessing that he'd pulled a prank this week, some points are going to have to be made.

As one person investigating an earlier bomb scare at Georgia Tech (Hat tip: Photodude) said, 'Folks need to know that things that would at one time be considered pranks can’t be done anymore.' And they're right. In this day and age when the possibilities of terrorist attacks can indeed happen, that anyone should pull a hoax upon the public is doing something quite offensive, mainly because of the risk being taken in causing people to let down their guard, which could enable a real act of terrorism to be pulled.

Most gawk-inducing of all, however, was the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's saying the following about the prankster:

In Hollot's online blog on myspace.com, he joked Saturday about needing "more dry ice and more water bottles." Monday night, he described his mood as "terrible beyond belief."

Now is this for real?* Because while it's true that these kind of reports serve as "blog bait", which is actually outraging, and should be, to the vast majority of bloggers, what's really angering here is that now, thanks to what the AJC is telling, if what's said about Theodore Hollot is true, it could be used as an attempt to smear bloggers by the MSM (the NY Times sure does enjoy doing that, don't they?). In which case, Hollot has done little more than to make people like himself the scorn of the sensible bloggers.

As for the NYC subway threat, here's what Neal Boortz had to say:

It looks like New York City was had on the subway threat last week. According to the U.S. government, the informant that provided the information has admitted to lying about it. So New York's subway system was in a panic for no reason. Such is life.

But you have to look at this situation and ask yourself: how prepared are we to handle a real threat to our cities, and can you trust the government to protect you? The answer is very clear: absolutely not. When an Islamic terror attack happens in a large American city....when, not if, but when....the same incompetent city, state and local officials will be there to protect you. Comforting, isn't it?

Now imagine if such an attack were nuclear. A dirty bomb going off in a shopping mall. A sports stadium. A downtown during lunch hour. What we've seen with these false alarms and with the response to Hurricane Katrina is a dry run for when the inevitable occurs, and it isn't pretty.

Something else...if there is a threat from Islamic terrorists to the New York City subway, will the authorities be profiling riders of Arab descent? Probably not...that would be discrimination, you know...which is of course a much worse crime than murder.

Boortz is correct, we cannot trust our guv'ment to protect us. But one thing is clear. So-called pranks cannot be tolerated, and, as Michelle Malkin says:

Very dumb. In a post-9/11 era, these kinds of pranks deserve strong punishment.

Yes, they do. Not just because there is a very probable chance that these "pranks" could cause severe injury, if not death, but also because it's just plain wrong, and serves to take attention away from the real possibilities of terrorist threats.

* I tried to see if I could find any blog on Myspace.Com that could be Hollot's, but was unsuccessful in searching.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Cao's Blog, The Political Teen

Labels: United States

In the House of Saud, as in 1984, sex is forbidden in many ways, and in public places like shopping malls, the religious police see to it that young bachelors may not enter lest they observe women's garments there. The following is from A-Sharq Al-Awsat:

"As young men, we cannot even buy a gift for our mothers or sisters from these malls that are the only places where the best products are available. I could not take my mother or my sister with me to buy her a gift, as this does not quite have the same effect. The beauty of the gift is when it comes as a surprise."

So even males are restricted in certain ways under Saudi dictatorship.

Hat tip: Lost Budgie Blog.

Then, there's this article, which talks about a TV program that discusses Islamic terrorists who'd like to get laid, and this appears to give a clue as to why they'd be so wanting to stoop to murder-through-suicide to get what they think they'd get:

A new television series being broadcast around the Middle East tells the story of young sexually-frustrated Islamists who want to become suicide bombers just so they can collect their rewards in heaven — 72 beautiful virgins.

The "Beautiful Maidens" program has produced an incredible response both from modernist Arabs and traditional Islamic hardliners. Some expect that the television network, cast members and producers will be targeted themselves for confronting the Islamist ideology - and for daring to reveal the connection between the warped Arab sexual values, Islamist misogyny and "misunderstood" Koran verses that leads sexually-frustrated young men to suicide and murder.

One of the show's writers is a would-be suicide bomber who changed his mind. He tells of a fellow suicide bomber who was in contact with his superiors via mobile phone and was heard counting down the seconds to the 'beautiful maidens.' His last words were: 'One second to the 'beautiful maidens.' He then blew himself up.

IMO, the only place where they'd end up is in the highest court.

This certainly gives some good clues and indications of the hows and whys of Islamists who stoop to terrorism, and it's one of many things about Islam that must be repaired, by reeducating youth.

Labels: House of Saud, islam

The Smurfs aren't only ones to undergo some kind of contempt. In Britain, all in the name of "tolerance" Miss Piggy and even Winnie the Pooh's pal Piglet have been banned in certain quarters so's not to offend the Muslims. The UK Sun's got the story (Hat tip: Donkey Stomp and Michelle Malkin):

NOVELTY pig calendars and toys have been banned from a council office — in case they offend Muslim staff.

Workers in the benefits department at Dudley Council, West Midlands, were told to remove or cover up all pig-related items, including toys, porcelain figures, calendars and even a tissue box featuring Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

Bosses acted after a Muslim complained about pig-shaped stress relievers delivered to the council in the run-up to the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

Muslims are barred from eating pork in the Koran and consider pigs unclean.

Councillor Mahbubur Rahman, a practising Muslim, backed the ban. He said: “It’s a tolerance of people’s beliefs.”

Oh really, is it? The Jewish community may not eat pork either, but unlike the Islamist community, we're not offended by the sight of them to the point of banishing them from complete view, and nobody's got a problem with buying their kids toys based on figures like Miss Piggy and Piglet, or even Jim "Garfield" Davis' very own porker creation, Orson (from the U.S. Acres comic strip), either.

This is utterly stupid, and shows complete disregard for what the councilor practicing the so-called religion talks about. Lost Budgie Blog's got more on various other victories of Islamofascists in Britain, plus an important part to note from the Koran:

Dhimmitude is the status that Islamic law, the Sharia, mandates for non-Muslims, primarily Jews and Christians. Dhimmis, "protected people," are free to practice their religion in a Sharia regime, but are made subject to a number of humiliating regulations designed to enforce the Qur'an's command that they "feel themselves subdued" (Sura 9:29).

Mark Steyn's got a good op-ed in the UK Telegraph on the UK's nigh-hilarious descent into Dhimmitude. And seeing this article too, I must agree with Lost Budgie that it's time to wake up.

Now, here's an article from Moonbattery on PETA's attempts with a comic book to incite against parents, which is also very disturbing (Hat tip: Ace of Spades):

Possibly inspired by totalitarian regimes that have persuaded children to turn their wrong-minded parents in to the secret police, PETA is now actively campaigning to turn kids against their parents.

Their new comic "Your Daddy Kills Animals!" (PDF) puts the EC comics I grew up on in a class with Casper the Ghost. Clearly aimed at the lower end of grade school, the comic implores kids to "Ask your Daddy why he's hooked on killing!" below a depiction of a middle-aged maniac in a fishing hat slitting open a fish to spill out its viscera.

As a parody, this would be hilarious. But to the target audience it's undoubtedly quite disturbing. Here's some of the text:

Imagine that a man dangles a piece of candy in front of you. You love candy so you reach for it. But, as you grab the candy, a huge metal hook stabs through your hand and you're ripped off the ground. You fight to get away, but it doesn't do any good. You are caught, and there is nothing that you can do about it.
You'd feel really scared, wouldn't you?
That would be an awful trick to play on someone, wouldn't it?
But guess what?
Your Daddy plays that same wicked trick on fish AND FISH GET SCARED TOO!

There follows a detailed explanation of how intelligent fish are (according to PETA they use tools) and an NC-17 description of death by fisherman. Finally, this stirring conclusion:

Until your Daddy learns that it's not "fun" to kill, keep your doggies and kitties away from him. He's so hooked on killing defenseless animals that they could be next!

Hopefully no one is missing the extreme irony of PETA accusing others of being a threat to dogs and cats.

The filthy book is supposed to be a sequel to one they put out 2 years ago called "Your Mommy Kills Animals" (see Right Wing News' post on the sequel here). Of all the sick exploitations of a once rich medium by the moonbats currently hijacking the showbiz industry, this is one of the worst.

Labels: londonistan

Update: I want to note that, since having written this topic, I've changed my mind on a little something that I note in parentheses towards the end of this item. See the later topic linked to there to know more about why.

Well it looks like UNICEF's been doing the Smurfs' incompetent archnemesis Gargamel a favor: they bombed the Smurf village, presumably by using time-warp devices to send rockets back in time to the 18th century, which is approximately the time period in which all these characters are set in, whether it's in Belgium or elsewhere. The UK Register says:

Here's a poser for you: you're trying to knock together a TV ad highlighting the effects of war on children. What's the plan?

Well, you could go down the traditional route of earnest voice-over accompanying footage of said kids miserably awaiting a better life or, on the other hand, you could arm up a squadron of attack aircraft and go and raze a Smurf village to the ground. Let's face it, it's a toughie.

Not for Unicef Belgium though, which earlier this week reduced an enchanted Smurf hamlet to smouldering rubble - much to the horror of some TV viewers across the Channel - when it aired a 25-second burst of animated warnography on the country's TV screens.

The offending cartoon, created with the full approval of the family of the Smurfs' departed creator Peyo, the Daily Telegraph notes, sees the cuddly blue creatures kicking off the action by dancing hand-in-hand round the campfire while singing that catchy Smurf song we all know and love.

Death then begins to rain from the sky as bombs spread fiery death through Smurfdom leaving just a "scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs", as the Telegraph puts it. The end caption reads: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."

Of course, the one question surrounding this whole fiasco is - just who are these adverts aimed at? Terrorists or the goodies fighting them? Bad news: this is obviously intended for consumption by the rank-and-file Belgian (for starters anyway), and anyone who thinks that terrorists are going to sit up and take notice is just plain, flat-out mistaken.

And the part about Peyo actually approving of this monstrosity is dubious at best, mainly because he's been dead for several years now. Just what exactly are they trying to prove here by using Peyo's name/pseudonym in vain?

And here's something else from the UK Telegraph article that shouldn't be overlooked:

Philippe Henon, a spokesman for Unicef Belgium, said his agency had set out to shock, after concluding that traditional images of suffering in Third World war zones had lost their power to move television viewers. "It's controversial," he said. "We have never done something like this before but we've learned over the years that the reaction to the more normal type of campaign is very limited."

Don't be fooled by that defense or argument regarding shock value. As bad as the situation is in Europe, there are people who find the sight of death painful, and say whatever that Belgian UN rep will, shock tactics solely for the sake of it have simply no place in entertainment. It's a very transparent argument that does little more than ruin more than a considerable amount of good showbiz items, and is also a reason why Hollywood is floundering these days.

And suffice it to say that UNICEF has pretty much despoiled my childhood, exploiting a decent children's comic book/cartoon (update: read this to learn why I've since changed my mind on that part fully) for the sake of political motivations. Make sure to stay away from this horrorfest, and make doubly sure your children don't fall victim to it either, should it ever turn up on your local TV station. And lest we forget, don't let UNICEF swindle any more of our tax dollars over abominations like this.

And Peyo would be spinning in his grave if he knew this was happening!

Hat tip: Wizbang. Also available at Basil's Blog, The Political Teen, Stop the ACLU, Jo's Cafe, Bright and Early, Obligatory Anecdotes, Outside the Beltway. Others offended by the UN's latest act of contempt include The Jawa Report, Bare Knuckle Politics, Caerdroia, Donkey Stomp, The Zero Point, Truth Quante-fied, Slublog, Parrot Check, Six Meat Buffet, MsUnderestimated. Plus, here's a satire post from A Healthy Alternative to Work, and also one from The Right Place.

Labels: UN corruption

David Horowitz and Joseph Light present research (in PDF format) on how leftists are still dominating academic law and journalism, trying to train students of the professions solely to adhere to their ideologies. As Moonbat Central says:

Leftwing professors are systematically brainwashing young lawyers and journalists, encouraging them to ply their trade in the fashion of a Hillary Clinton or a Dan Rather instead of a John Adams or a Benjamin Franklin. This is the sad conclusion of a new study by David Horowitz’s Center for the Study of Popular Culture (CSPC). The survey confirms what most of us long suspected — that leftist ideologues dominate the faculties of American law schools and journalism schools by an overwhelming margin.

The study found that most law and journalism professors at elite schools identify themselves as Democrats. This finding has special significance in today’s polarized environment, in which Democrats have evolved into a full-fledged party of the left in the European mode. Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean recently told NBC’s Tim Russert that he sees little substantive difference between a "liberal Democrat" and a "Democratic socialist." In such times as these, registering for the Democratic Party plainly implies opposition to mainstream American culture, values and tradition.

It reminds me of an almost similar argument Michael Medved once made about Hollywood in the early 90s, that they were showing pure contempt for the better values of America, as recent box office receipts have begun to indicate.

For now, the best options surrounding the ability to get a good education in law and journalism are to try and turn to universities and colleges where the representatives have the respect for the better values of both law and reporting needed to make the professions really work well.

Also available at Basil's Blog, The Mudville Gazette, California Conservative, Outside the Beltway, Jo's Cafe, Cao's Blog, Bright and Early, The Jawa Report.

Michelle Malkin provides coverage of more discoveries of bomb materials, in Atlanta, and even in Gwinnett County, Georgia, and at the UCLA in California. From Atlanta's WXIA-TV:

Three explosive devices found in a courtyard between two Georgia Tech dormitories on the East Campus Monday morning were part of a "terrorist act," an Atlanta police official said.

One of the devices exploded, injuring the custodian who found them inside a plastic bag. Two others were detonated by a bomb squad.

The custodian suffered ringing to the ears and was treated at a local hospital. The events led to a temporary evacuation Monday morning.

"It is a terrorist act at this point and depending on the outcome of the investigation it potentially could become a federal violation as well," said Major C.W. Moss of the Atlanta Police Department.

The custodian found the three devices about 9 a.m. in a plastic-type garbage bag, Moss said. When he picked up the bag, one exploded, as it was designed to do when handled. The explosives were made up of chemicals placed inside plastic bottles and could have seriously injured someone, officials said. Numerous agencies were on the Georgia Tech campus to search for suspects...

Remember what Mark Tapscott pointed out about Joel Henry Hinrichs III having "13 plastic bottles" kept in his car, and you'll get an even clearer picture of what he was apparently doing.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has a report of a suspicious device found in a parking lot in Gwinnett County:

A busy Gwinnett County intersection was shut down for about two hours Monday morning after a suspicious device was found in a parking lot, police said.

The "very suspicious device, about the size of a mini-flashlight," was discovered shortly before 9 a.m. in the parking lot of the QT gas station at Satellite Boulevard and Merchant's Way near Gwinnett Place Mall, said Gwinnett police spokesman Darren Moloney.

The gas station, as well as a nearby restaurant and strip shopping center, were evacuated, and police closed off the intersection.

Moloney said the device was rendered safe and removed by the arson squad, and the roads and businesses were reopened by 11:15 a.m.

No further information was released about the device.

And Prof. Stephen Bainbridge provides a report on another explosive device found at the UCLA last Friday:

A calm and quiet Westwood was briefly disrupted Friday afternoon when the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad inspected and detonated an explosive device found within the Midvale Plaza apartment complex on the 500 block of Midvale Avenue.

After responding to a call made at 11:13 a.m., the bomb squad arrived at 527 Midvale Ave. to find "an improvised explosive device" in the building's open-air courtyard, said Grace Brady, a spokeswoman for the LAPD.

No injuries were reported, but authorities have been slow to release details about the incident and the device.

Residents said they first heard a small explosion sometime between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday, but most said they went back to sleep. It was not until a resident found an explosive device later that morning that the police were called.

Now maybe it's just a coincidence, but, as Bainbridge says:

...when coupled with the recent University of Oklahoma bombing, one also hopes that there will be a complete investigation.

Agreed.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Outside the Beltway, Jo's Cafe, Cafe Oregano, The Political Teen. Others on the subject include Donkey Stomp, The Buzz Blog, Conservative Outpost, The Strata-Sphere, Sister Toldjah, Reaganites Unite, Say Anything, A Blog for All, Stop the Bleating, Sera and Ez, Laura Mansfield, Canadian Sentinel, The Jawa Report, Okie on the Lam in LA, The Anchoress, Myopic Zeal, NIF, Obligatory Anecdotes, Media Lies, Publius Rendezvous.

And also why it was neccassary to go to war in Iraq. As Melanie Phillips points out, left-liberal Nick Cohen, writing in the New Statesman, has made some very good points about the anti-Semitism that's been on the rise again in Britain:

'I learned it was one thing being called "Cohen" if you went along with liberal orthodoxy, quite another when you pointed out liberal betrayals. Your argument could not be debated on its merits. There had to be a malign motive. You had to support Ariel Sharon. You had to be in the pay of "international" media moguls or neoconservatives. You had to have bad blood. You had to be a Jew...

'As the months passed, and Iraqis were caught between a criminally incompetent occupation and an "insurgency" so far to the right it was off the graph, I had it all. A leading figure on the left asked me to put him in touch with members of the new government. "I knew it! I knew it!" he cried when we next met. "They want to recognise Israel."

'I experienced what many blacks and Asians had told me: you can never tell. Where people stand on the political spectrum says nothing about their visceral beliefs. I found the far left wasn't confined to the chilling Socialist Workers Party but contained many scrupulous people it was a pleasure to meet and an education to debate. Meanwhile, the centre was nowhere near as moderate as it liked to think. One minute I would be talking to a BBC reporter or liberal academic and think him a civilised man; the next, he would be screaming about the Jews...

'I could go on. The moment when bewilderment settled into a steady scorn, however, was when the Guardian ran a web debate entitled: "David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen are enough to make a good man anti-Semitic". Gorgeously, one vigilant reader complained that the title was prejudiced - the debate should be headlined: "David Aaronovitch and Nick Cohen are enough to make a good man, or woman, anti-Semitic"...

'To explain away a global phenomenon as a rational reaction to Israeli oppression, you have once again to turn the Jew into a supernatural figure whose existence is the cause of discontents throughout the earth. You have to revive anti-Semitism.'

Now of course, as even some of the topics I've posted here could point out though, being a Sharon supporter is not what it would take to have a blood libel issued against you in places like the UK. In fact, it doesn't matter who's in charge, they'll accuse Israel of "oppression" of Arabs, totally dismissing any historical facts or even the fact that Arabs under Israeli rulership enjoy much better status, civil and social rights than do those under PLO controlled areas, and target the Jewish community all the same. Which is exactly why, IMO, Jews shouldn't bother to live in the UK.

As Phillips points out, there's something Cohen's also missed:

It appears that it has taken some time for Cohen to realise the precise nature and extent of this madness that has consumed British public life. However, while he is correct to identify the extraordinary axis between the left and Islamic fascism, he has not spotted the fact that this group-think also embraces much of the right. Conservatively-minded middle-Britons, who start from the premise that there would be no threat to themselves from frightening Islamists if only Britain had pulled up the drawbridge across the Atlantic, fervently believe that the global jihad is indeed a rational reaction to Israeli oppression.

That could explain why I eventually stopped reading the Spectator, even for Mark Steyn's articles there: as a conservative magazine, they too were wallowing in anti-Israelism, and I seem to recall that back in the late 90s, they wrote what looked like a smear against the Aboriginal community of Australia.

See also this article from the UK Telegraph, in which UK rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks warns about the rise in anti-Semitism and voices concerns that a new wave of it could be on the rise. But at the same time, given that Sharon has turned against the very ideologies his party was built on, that's exactly why we can't necassarily say that he's not at fault in his own way anymore.

Labels: anti-semitism, londonistan

Here's some good news from the troops in Iraq, as Bill Roggio presents a special guest post written by a staff sergeant in the area:

As an update of the squad, about three weeks ago we participated with our platoon in the taking down of an IED/VBIED cell in our sector. More recently, we were the main effort in another raid doing the same. Future operations are in attempt to rid the area of those who wish to disrupt the voting process in mid-October and in December.

As far as squad personnel, most of us have had a chance to go home on leave. The others will be going shortly and will no doubt tell their family and friends of the generosity you have all shown us. There have been several well deserved promotions in the lower enlisted ranks. Two of our soldiers are scheduled to attend the Sergeant Promotion Board in December, they should have no problem being recommended.

I certainly wish them luck in earning a promotion to a higher rank, and I certainly hope they'll all be able to return home safely too. Good luck, gentlemen!

In a very crucial development, the NY Sun reports that the Senate Judiciary Committee will open an investigation into Saudi Arabia's role in spreading hate propaganda throughout the United States. (One Jerusalem also gives mention of the topic):

The flurry of activity comes months after a report from the Center for Religious Freedom discovered that dozens of mosques in major cities across the country, including New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, were distributing documents, bearing the seal of the government of Saudi Arabia, that incite Muslims to acts of violence and promote hatred of Jews and Christians.

A Washington-based group that is part of the human rights organization Freedom House, the Center for Religious Freedom also found during its yearlong study that the Saudi-produced materials describe democracy and America as un-Islamic. They instruct recent Muslim immigrants to consider Americans as enemies and the materials urge new arrivals to use their time here as preparation for jihad. The documents also promote the version of Islam officially embraced by Saudi government and several of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, Wahhabism, as the only authentic Islam.

In response to the Freedom House report and as part of the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005 sponsored by Senator Specter, a Republican of Pennsylvania, the Judiciary Committee - of which Senator Specter is chairman - will be holding hearings into the hate materials on October 25, a spokesman for the senator, William Reynolds, said yesterday.

The Accountability Act, introduced in June, says its purpose is "to halt Saudi support for institutions that fund, train, incite, encourage, or in any other way aid and abet terrorism, and to secure fully Saudi cooperation in the investigation of terrorist incidents." The legislation is highly critical of the House of Saud for its support of terrorist activity and cites the January Freedom House report as evidence of the kingdom's complicity in the spread of radical Islamist ideology. As part of the Accountability Act, Senator Specter has in the past held Judiciary Committee hearings into Saudi financing of terrorism and Saudi Arabia's role in injecting ideology into textbooks for Palestinian Arab schoolchildren.

Most odd about this though, is that Karen Hughes is also said to be demanding answers:

Also demanding answers about the hate materials is the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Karen Hughes. During a high-profile trip to the Middle East last week, Ms. Hughes said American representatives had addressed the propagation of Saudi hate material in America during private meetings with government officials.

In a State Department briefing held en route to Ankara, Turkey, from Saudi Arabia last Tuesday, Ms. Hughes was asked why she had raised the issue that day during a public meeting with Saudi journalists, becoming the first American official to do so publicly. "We had been raising the issue privately," Ms. Hughes said, "and as part of raising difficult issues that we need to discuss, I felt it was appropriate." The undersecretary did not elaborate on the results of the private meetings, but the degree to which Saudi Arabia is making efforts to stop the propaganda will be a subject of the Senate hearings, Mr. Reynolds said.

Well now, that's certainly very odd that Ms. Hughes would do that. But the best guess I can offer is that she's trying to play both sides in hopes of staving off her critics. The Jewish Exponent reports that she's already getting well-deserved criticism for her actions:

Hughes has trouble distinguishing between friends of freedom and their enemies. Before she set out on her "listening tour" of the region, Hughes met in Washington with the Islamic Society of North America, a group that is led by apologists for Al Qaeda. In Egypt, she met with a cleric who is an advocate of jihad against both Israel and the United States; she pronounced him an advocate of "the spirit of love" and a foe of terror.

Hughes is clearly in over her head. According to The Washington Post, she had no idea of who or what comprised the Muslim Brotherhood (the political center of Islamist extremism and terror in Egypt). She was also the object of what seemed to be something like a practical joke when, in a meeting with Saudi women - reported in The New York Times - the American was left virtually speechless when the Saudi gals testified to their happiness about being deprived of the right to vote or drive.

Hughes has been sent on a fool's errand. All of her considerable skill at spinning will not make Islamists love us. Whenever we overthrow an Arab despot, Muslims will be humiliated, even if they hated him as well. And as long as we stand behind the region's only real democracy in Israel and back its right to self-defense against terrorists, most Arabs and Muslims won't like that either.

Simply repeating the mantra of how much we respect Islam and want democracy for everyone won't cut it if we're in apology mode.

The part about women under Islam in its zygote (where it all began) in Saudi Arabia being happy to be oppressed should point out two things: either their saying so stems from something that Islamists in such places do indeed like to specialize in, which is brainwashing them to the point of where the women are happy with being turned into prisoners in their entirety, or that they're not happy about it, but if they were to say so, it would endanger their lives.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Jo's Cafe, Outside the Beltway, Stop the ACLU, The Political Teen, The Mudville Gazette, Point Five, Cafe Oregano, Cao's Blog, Wizbang, Bright and Early.

Labels: House of Saud, United States

Guess who's been awarded the Nobel Orwellian Peace Prize? Mohammed Elbaradei, head honcho of the International Atomic Energy Agency, a very notorious anti-Americanist (and I wouldn't be surprised if he were also an anti-Israelist). And thus does the Norwegian company responsible for putting out this "prize" prove that it's nothing but a totally politicized joke. As Neal Boortz points out, this is why he won:

Supposedly for his efforts in limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. Right. Let's take a look at his record, shall we? On ElBaradei's watch, we have seen his inept bungling when it comes to Iraq. Under his Nobel Prize-winning oversight, North Korea and Iran have become nuclear powers. What a guy! He's been a complete failure, but such success has to be rewarded in the international community.

But if you look a little closer, you see the real reason ElBaradei was chosen. It turns out he has been running around for a couple years bashing the United States and George Bush over the claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. So once again, the Nobel Peace Prize goes to the most anti-American person they can find.

True to form, expect ElBaradei's acceptance speech to include criticism of the United States. It's all part of the America-hating template at the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

The phony prize cup, you might say, is just something that they award to whomever they see as being part of their collective conscience, and outsiders are not allowed to receive it. It should not be recognized as a true award any more than the Oscars or the Emmys, and the Nobel Committee would be best avoided by anyone with sense.

As Little Green Footballs says:

"This completes the transformation of the Nobel Peace Prize into a politically-motivated sideshow, with no connection whatsoever to reality."

And just as I feared, the Bush administration, despite Elbaradei's awful deeds, applauded his winning of the prize, with Condi Rice saying the following:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement saying the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency deserved the honor.

What a shame. Another show of farce by the Dubya administration, showing just how badly they're continuing their trip downhill.

Hat tip: Michelle Malkin. Others on the subject include Wizbang, Strange Women Lying in Ponds, Cheat-Seeking Missiles, A Blog for All, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Whole Wheat Blogger, Say Anything, Joe Grossberg, The Zero Point, Caerdroia, Dougie Pundit, Joust the Facts, Indepundit, The Heretik, Tannerball, She Who will be Obeyed, Outside the Beltway, The Jawa Report, The Glittering Eye, Politechnical, Don Surber (via NIF), Meryl Yourish, plus special spoofs from Lawrence Simon and Point Five.

Labels: Moonbattery, Scandanavia

USA Today (via Debbie Schlussel) reports that Daniel Ortega, the Communist of Nicaragua who was a PLO and IRA sympathiser, is trying to retake the presidency in Nicaragua. And where is Dubya, one might wonder? Apparently, he's uninterested in dealing with the problem, in sharp contrast to Reagan, who fought to get him removed from office, as Ortega was in 1990.

Then again, seeing how Dubya is also oblivious to slavery in Sudan, and also Castro's reign in Cuba, right on his front doorstep, I guess it's no surprise that he's content to ignore the return of Ortega.

Dubya may have started out promisingly in the war on terror during his first term of office, but now, in his second term, he certainly seems to be exploitative that so he can just lazy around and not do anything.

Michelle Malkin reports on the NYPD's investigation of terrorist threats against the subway system in the Big Apple.

One problem however, is just how seriously mayor Bloomberg is responding to the threat. The AP Wire reports that:

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his police chief insisted Friday they did the right thing by going public with a terrorist threat to bomb the New York subway, brushing aside suggestions from Washington that they overreacted to information of dubious credibility.

On the other hand, as Terrorism Unveiled points out:

Apparently a news outlet had information on this threat two days ago, but they were asked to hold the information, and they did. Most likely, this is because our law enforcement had to undertake operations or at least investigate without causing attention and tipping off the suspects.

"This is the first time we've had a threat with this level of specificity" comments Bloomberg as well as "If you see something, say something." As always, he's downplaying.

This really comes as no surprise. France just interdicted a threat that was to bomb their metro system and the Italian authorities have recently been practicing what to do in case of an attack---and there is information that Italy is a major target as well. Keep in mind it's also Ramadan, the period of victories for the Prophet Muhammad (such as the battle of Badr), and it takes on a special significance for Islamist terrorists.

The details of the threat are classified. If I knew the nationalities, I could provide more possibilities, but since I do not, following leads of threats in Europe would be conjecture.

So we can't be sure if Bloomberg is really trying to be convincing in his own efforts or not. And they're right, we need to know what the possible nationalities and backgrounds are in order to determine the possibilities.

Even before the news became official, this disturbing report came up, of an NBC-TV station that initially withheld the info:

The station decided to hold off, citing "the intensity of the level of the request," said Dan Forman, vice president of news. He said the officials stressed that they would not normally ask a media outlet to hold a story, but that people overseas could be placed in harm if it aired then.

"They were in the best position to know the nature of the threat," Forman said of the officials.

"We agreed to hold the story until it could be reported in a responsible fashion. We believed we served our viewers well. It was best for the city and the responsible thing to do."

I beg your pardon, Mr. Forman? Overseas or not, the safety of innocents everywhere counts, and the public has a right to know ASAP if something is wrong. So quit trying to sell us that derivative argument of yours, please.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Outside the Beltway, The Mudville Gazette, Jo's Cafe, Bright and Early, Cafe Oregano, Stop the ACLU, The Political Teen, Cao's Blog, Point Five, California Conservative, Big Dog's Weblog, Wizbang, Obligatory Anecdotes. Others on the subject include: Generation Why, Confederate Yankee, Urban Scrawl, Flopping Aces, The Bad Hedgehog, The Strata-Sphere, The Counterterrorism Blog, Ace of Spades.

Labels: United States, war on terror

Here's a recent column by Caroline Glick on the Jewish World Review that helps offer some explanations as to what's been going on in Israel in the past few weeks, and what can be done in order to ensure a proper success for Ariel Sharon's opponents:

In the post-mortem review of the causes for Sharon's close victory in the Likud Central Committee on Monday, it is clear that the primary reason he won is that his opposition refused to rally around former finance minister Binyamin Netanyahu as their leader. For the past year and a half Sharon has avoided providing a defense of his policy of surrender by casting every political and policy battle as a personal dispute. With the firm backing of the local media, Sharon has beaten all his opponents by accusing them of the crime of attempting to usurp his power. It is not that his political opponents cannot do anything against this tactic, it is just that to date they have refused to adopt the one remedy — providing an alternate, agreed-upon leader to replace him — that could force Sharon to engage in a policy debate.

In light of this, there is no reason for Israelis in general or for Sharon's political opponents specifically to despair over the results of Monday's central committee vote. All that is necessary to return vibrancy to the political debate in Israel is to maintain pressure on Sharon by rallying around the one leader with the ability to actually win a national election.

Just don't expect the Yesha Council, if anyone, to actually do it. Pinchas Wallerstein, failure that he is as the "chairman" of the groups that's supposed to represent the Jewish community of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, and his co-workers, have pretty much proven that they are incapable of leading a convincing campaign themselves, and Netanyahu for one would best lead his current campaign without expecting or asking of them to take part.

I'm serious. Wallerstein's refusal to step down as head honcho for the Yesha Council pretty much shows that he's not in the job for genuine reasons. And if not, then I should hope that an alternative movement is indeed in the works to replace this wimpy would-be Council. The public, from what I can tell, is no doubt mad at them, having expected better from them, and I certainly wouldn't be surprised if indeed that turned out to be the case.

Reporter and blogger Mark Tapscott provides a special exclusive on more discoveries made about Hinrichs that reveal more than meets the eye (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin). Near the site where the explosion took place, there were a lot of small round holes in a nearby tree:

Tapscott's Copy Desk has also learned that a tree near where Hinrichs' bomb detonated displays a number of small round holes and some areas of a metallic substance. The holes and substance are only on the side facing the bench on which Hinrichs was seated when the bomb detonated. The holes appear to be about the size of the head of 16 penny nail.

Meaning, in other words, that this could've been a nailbomb Hinrichs was using.

And what kind of people may Hinrichs have lived with?

One of Hinrichs' neighbors told Tapscott's Copy Desk today that he believed Hinrichs lived with "three or four Arab guys." The neighbor said he rarely saw Hinrich or his roommates, except when they appeared to be going to and from classes.

The neighbor said all of the residents of the university apartment complex where he and Hinrichs lived are from Nigeria, China and Middle Eastern/Southeast Asian countries.

Another important clue to the mystery.

The updates are still coming from the blogosphere, with more from the Jawa Report, Mark Tapscott and Zombietime. The moonbat media, unfortunately, has decided to overlook and hush it up.

Others on the subject include: Small Town Veteran, Stuck on Stupid, Generation Why, Mike's Noise, The Counterterrorism Blog, Protein Wisdom, Acorns from an Okie, BlancoBrawler, Cut on the Bias, Oblegatory Anecdotes, Caerdroia, ROFAsix, Resurgemus, IRIS Blog, The Uncooperative Blogger.

Labels: terrorism

The Washington Times/UPI reports on how Mahmoud Abbas' control over what goes on in Gaza is slowly draining (Hat tip: One Jerusalem). Just look at what kind of things happen in the hellhole:

TEL AVIV - An argument between two persons at an automated teller machine in the Gaza Strip early this week escal-ated into a battle between Palestinian policemen and Hamas members.
What exactly happened is disputed, but it led to the dissolution on Monday of the Cabinet of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said yesterday that Hamas was setting itself up as a shadow government of the Palestinian Authority and must be dismantled. He demanded that the Palestinian Authority disqualify the militant group from running in Palestinian parliamentary elections scheduled for January.
Hamas is a Palestinian offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928 to protect Islam from European powers, particularly Britain and France, which took over portions of the Middle East after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.
Tawfiq Abu Khousa, a spokesman for the Palestinian Interior Ministry, told UPI that policemen went Sunday to separate two persons fighting at the ATM. One of them, a Hamas member, summoned his friends, who fired in the air and hurled a hand grenade.
Al Jazeera television quoted Usama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman in Lebanon, as saying that Palestinian police were sent to arrest Muhammad Rantisi, son of the late Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. Neighbors protected him and police opened fire. The fighting quickly spread to the nearby Shati refugee camp, from which Hamas members shot four rocket-propelled grenades at a Palestinian police station.
Three persons, including a police major, were killed and more than 40 wounded before representatives from the two sides put an end to the fighting.

Notice also the part about an automatic teller machine being involved. That shows you that, contrary to many reports of yore that the Arabs who live in Gaza are poor to the point of not having something like a bank machine handy, there really are some available there.

Even more telling about this report though, is that:

The United States and the European Union have refused to deal with Hamas, and Israel has been fighting it because of its terrorist activity. Late last month, Hamas kidnapped an Israeli civilian, apparently to negotiate a prisoner swap, and later killed him.

Update: The terrorist cell that did that has luckily been captured circa October 10. But even so, this shows just how unserious the US and Europe are about fighting terrorism if they're not going to take any serious steps against the Hamas.

As One Jerusalem says:

It is clear that American policy that depends on Abbas, who refuses to take on Hamas and the other terrorists, is sure to fail. Chaos in rules in Gaza and the terrorists with the most guns will end up ruling the roost.

In the past, Abbas would simply leave when he did not get his way. It may take a while because money from the EU and America is just starting to flow but soon after his pockets are full look for him to impose an exile on himself. Which isn't such a bad thing given his support of Arafat, his denial of the Holocaust, and his Marxist beliefs.

I do wonder, where would Abbas go? Well, you can be quite sure that more than enough Islamist dictatorships, Saudi Arabia included, would be delighted to host him.

Quite an amazing discovery, thanks to the fine folk at One Jerusalem. A US diplomat working in Algiers in the 18th century studied Islam, and the following is an analysis that the diplomat gave to president Thomas Jefferson and also John Adams:

"it is written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every (Muslim)who was slain in battle was sure to go to paradise."

Now what does the latter part sound like? The thinking pattern of suicide bombers of today. The difference of course, is that at that time, the Arab pirates of the times were doing their jihad on land and sea, attacking civilians, sailors and soldiers; today, the jihadists are even more cowardly.

Nidra Poller, who wrote the article in Commentary magazine last month exposing France 2's lies about an Arab youngster supposedly being killed by Israeli troops during 2000, writes another article in the National Post that provides more info on the abominable lie the TV station pandered to the Islamist world (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.):

'In the first year of the Intifada, 581 Palestinians and 34 Israelis were killed. This was because the IDF ... is the least moral [army] in the world. I want to remind the entire world that saw how the boy Muhammad al-Dura was killed while the soldiers sat and laughed.' -- West Bank Tanzim chief Marwan Barghouti in the closing arguments of his Israeli terrorism trial in 2003.

- - -

Five years ago last Friday, on Sept. 30, 2000, the now-famous Muhammad al-Dura death scene flashed on the world's television screens for the first time, instantly creating a powerful icon of Palestinian suffering. Viewers were stunned at the sight of a man and a boy cringing in fear, allegedly targeted by Israeli gunfire, captured on film by a French cameraman. In the flash of a minute, their tragic fate was announced by France 2 correspondent Charles Enderlin: "One more round of gunfire, Muhammad is dead, his father critically wounded."

The news report was distributed to the international media free of charge by the state-owned French channel. Viewers felt as if they could enter into the very heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict and seize its essence. The image of the 12-year-old Palestinian boy killed by Israeli soldiers -- or so viewers were told -- was given unprecedented exposure. Muhammad al-Dura became the poster boy of the al-Aqsa Intifada, inspiring a Palestinian death cult, and provoking murderous hatred of Israelis and Jews in the Arab and Muslim world.

But what really happened at Netzarim Junction in the Gaza Strip on Sept. 30, 2000? Close examination of available evidence shows that the al-Dura death scene was deliberately fabricated, and that this fabrication fits into a broader strategy of violent confrontation masked as resistance.

Keep reading this article, because this too is very good.

Also available at Basil's Blog, Bright and Early, Jo's Cafe, Outside the Beltway, Wizbang, The Mudville Gazette, Cafe Oregano, Point Five, Cao's Blog, Stop the ACLU, The Political Teen, California Conservative.

Labels: Europe, France

Haim Saban, the very self-important animation mogul in H'wood, was a fundraiser for Ehud Barak several years ago, and yes, he did give him more than was allowed by law. Here's a report for starters from the San Francisco Jewish News Weekly that gives some information on him. But even more interesting is a reprinting of an Evening Standard article about him - or what they could find out about him; he's soooo secretive - in the past year and a half, from David Rowan's blog:

Telegraph journalists are concerned to know what Saban wants from the titles. They are anxious about his lack of experience in the newspaper industry - and about potential editorial interference by a man who recently identified a "pro-Arab bias" in the British media.

"The problem is that not many people here know much about him," says Charlie Methven, in charge of drawing up the Telegraph journalists' response to the takeover. "Most of the bidders have track records in the business, but Saban doesn't. He obviously wants The Jerusalem Post, but it's not clear which other parts of the empire he'd be interested in."

Saban's interest in the Middle East is well established. He spent $3.3 million creating the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy in Washington, and founded the Saban Institute for the Study of the American Political System at the University of Tel Aviv. His views of British media coverage became clear at the Royal Television Society convention last September, when he berated the BBC and Sky for what he said was hostile reporting from Israel.

Saban - who would not be interviewed for this article - has called himself "someone who has an abiding interest in promoting Arab-Israeli peace and preserving American interests in the Middle East". But even in Israel some see his political involvement, in support of the Labour party, as excessively intrusive.

Before the last Israeli election, he organised a fundraising dinner in Los Angeles for Ehud Barak's campaign, raising a six-figure sum. He has also been a substantial donor to the US Democrat s. A $7 million gift before the 2002 midterm elections was the largest single donation outside a presidential election. Bill Clinton, who calls Saban "my great friend", made him an adviser on trade issues.

While I never really thought much of his resume in animation, one thing is clear: Saban's positions, whether clear or not, are certainly dismaying. And while one might be able to agree with him on his feelings about BBC and Sky's coverage of Israel, his ambiguous positions on the Israeli-Arab conflict give reason for concern.

He also seems very self-important, as evidenced by this topic from FunctionalAmbivalent:

Take, for example, Haim Saban, who contributed this complete entry to The Huffington Post, somehow thinking it adds value to people's lives:

"What is happening in Iraq is much more an issue of Sunni and Shiite conflict than it is about America. Decade-long conflicts have been reawakened. Whether we should act like a police state is a legitimate question for us to ask. If we don't build military bases, and we leave Iraq, what kind of chaos would ensue? This is no longer about whether we should have gone to war or not, it’s about what’s the right thing to do now that we are there."

As the blogmaster says:

Uh, great, Haim, but, uh, the first part of your posting is factually wrong -- the Sunni/Shi-ite thing goes back way further than a decade -- and the second part is pretty much the point half the blogworld has been making for about the last 18 months. So it's not interesting, really, except that it's being said by Haim Saban, who thinks he's interesting because no one tells him he's not. Certainly, Ariana Huffington isn't going to tell him, since her business plan is dependent on keeping famous people like Haim Saban on board. So Haim Saban, who really must have better things to do with his time, opines a few banalities about Iraq and Huffington gratefully posts them.

Unfortuantely for Saban, out here in blogworld, removed from the context of his 3,000 square-foot corner office, his private jets and his access to elite restaurants, banality enjoys no camouflage. What he wrote doesn't seem interesting or insightful at all, and there are lots of kibbitzing nobodies like me who are perfectly willing to say so.

Well said. Saban had best stick to [honest] business.

Here's some more on Saban:
Front Page Magazine
Women in Green

Oh, and if it matters, Saban is also a supporter of Ariel Sharon in this way or that. It's kinda scary, isn't it, how money makes the world go around.

If you're wondering who Cyril Kern is exactly, he's one of Ariel Sharon's funders who gave him dough illegally. Here's what the Jerusalem Post had to say about Kern last month on Sept. 16, for starters.

Masada2000 presents the following:

In January 2001, three weeks after Arik Sharon was elected prime minister, Dov Weissglas, Yossi Ginossar and Omri Sharon visited Martin Schlaff, one of the owners of the Oasis Casino in Jericho, in his Vienna home. Muhammad Rashid, Arafat?s economic advisor and Leo Walner, the manager of the Casino Austria company, also joined them. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the compensation the Sharon government would pay the owners of the casino as a result of its closure due to Arab terror. The police, based on its findings in the Cyril Kern affair, concluded that Cyril Kern was essentially a pipeline for the transfer of funds to the Sharon family in that episode and that the twisting money channel was intended to conceal the identity of the real person behind the money ? the Israeli-American businessman Arye Ganigar or the Austrian millionaire, Martin Schlaff, a close friend of Sharon?s, or a combination of the two.

Besides that, here are some other topics worth perusing:
Jerusalem Post, Jan 9, 2003
JPost (via IMRA), Sept. 9, 2005
Pravda in English, Jan 13, 2003
The Conservative Voice (via Israpundit)
UK Telegraph
Israel National News
Menorah
ACBLoan.Com
News24 (Cape Town, Africa)
PressReleaseNewswire
Sydney Morning Herald
Sydney Morning Herald (extra)
With Issue
Ben Chorin
SklarOWorld
Crimes and Corruptions of the New World Order
Articles by David Wilder (note: I needed to highlight the text here in order to view it properly; it's possible others may need to as well.)
Israel Behind the News

Be sure also to check out this older posting of mine for more on the subject of the Sharon family's scandals. And, here's the latest report from the Jerusalem Post, which reveals that Kern's being probed again.

The AP Wire reports that a suicide bomber struck at the Oklahoma University football stadium in Norman (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):

One person was killed in an explosion near a packed football stadium at the University of Oklahoma on Saturday night in what authorities said appeared to be a suicide.

The blast, in a traffic circle about 100 yards from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, could be heard by some in the crowd of 84,000, but university President David Boren said no one inside the stadium was ever in danger.

"We are apparently dealing with an individual suicide, which is under full investigation," Boren said in a statement. There was no information about the person who was killed, and no reports of any other injuries.

A police bomb squad detonated explosives found at the site of the blast. The area near the stadium was searched by bomb-sniffing dogs.

There's a very probably chance it could've been a terrorist attempting to attack the stadium, and hopefully, it was just the terrorist who got blown up.

The Norman Transcript has more:

The investigation into an apparent suicide bombing on the University of Oklahoma campus Saturday evening moved to the nearby Parkview Apartment complex early today. Law enforcement authorities evacuated about 35 residents of the university-owned complex this morning. The apartments are south of the Brandt Park Duck Pond on Lindsey Street and about half a mile from the blast site.

...Early Sunday, Norman police, OU police, FBI and other federal agents were combing the scene.
On Saturday, Boren said he ordered a search of the garage area near the stadium along with lower levels outside the stadium.
The suicide happened in or near the George Lynn Cross botany/microbiology building the oval’s east side.

Damage to the microbiology building or any other structure couldn’t be seen from the distant perimeter. Sgt. Gary Robinson of OUPD confirmed one death, but gave no further details on the person or whether anyone else was injured. He said detectives were unable to investigate the scene right away because other personnel needed time to thoroughly sweep the area for additional explosive devices.

“One fatality is all we know right now,” he said.

Student Keaton Fuchs of the cable television station TV4OU had a video camera at the stadium’s highest level. He turned toward the South Oval right after the explosion and saw a small amount of gray smoke rising from the botany/microbiology building.

The OU Daily confirms the bomber's identity, and corrects any errors in previous reports:

4:05 p.m. — Joel Henry Hinrichs, 21, engineering junior and Triangle fraternity member, was identified as the individual killed in the bombing at a 4 p.m. press conference with Boren at Evans Hall.

4 p.m. — The FBI took over as the lead agency investigating the bombing Saturday during the OU football game against Kansas State. Three buses have been wiped down and sprayed, clearing the remains of the suicide bomber. The buses are still parked on the South Oval.

The scene is very calm right now. Children and former OU head football coach Barry Switzer were biking around the South Oval. A policeman is still stationed near a small 6-by-1 ft. roped-off area in front of G.L. Cross Hall, but all other areas that were blocked following the game are now open.

Catherine Bishop, vice president for Public Affairs, confirmed at 1:45 p.m. today that classes will still be held Monday.

More information will be available following a 4 p.m. press conference.

3: 15 p.m. — OU President David L. Boren released a second statement Sunday confirming that there was no second device. Early reports that there was a second device were incorrect. The second detonation was the bomb squad making sure there was no second device in the area.

OUDaily.com has also learned that as of 3:15 p.m. Sunday, class will be held Monday as scheduled. More information will be posted here as it becomes available.

Keep reading more of the coverage Michelle provides, and also check out this PDF presenting the FBI's press statement.

Update: Oklahoma Travels has a topic about this that may reveal a much clearer picture than what any of the press reports have to offer. And WorldNetDaily confirms that the student had jihad related material in his possessions. (Hat tip: Jihad Watch.) And here's a video link from the Oklahoman's website (also via Jihad Watch) that gives a report on how Hinrichs attended a local mosque.

Others on the subject include: Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, Wide Awake Cafe, Stephen Spruille, KKTV from Oklahoma, Jim Hartline, Something...and half of Something, Deep Down in Texas, OpinionBug.Com.

Michelle Malkin reports on a Muslim cleric who was hired as a chaplain for the Fire Department in NYC, and really ended up angering everyone with his questioning that Islamic terrorists were responsible for 9-11, and his suggestions that it was some kind of inner circle conspiracy that carried out the crime.

An imam slated to be sworn in Friday as the second Muslim chaplain in Fire Department history said he questioned whether 19 hijackers were responsible for the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and suggested a broader conspiracy may have brought down the Twin Towers and killed more than 2,700 people.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Imam Intikab Habib, 30, a native of Guyana who studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, said he doubted the United States government's official story blaming 19 hijackers associated with al-Quaida and Osama bin Laden.

"I as an individual don't know who did the attacks," said Habib, 30, a soft-spoken man who immigrated to New York in July 2000 after spending six years in Saudi Arabia getting a degree in Islamic theology and law. "There are so many conflicting reports about it. I don't believe it was 19 ... hijackers who did those attacks."

Asked to elaborate on his reasons for doubting that story, he talked about video and news reports widely disseminated in the Muslim community.

"I've heard professionals say that nowhere ever in history did a steel building come down with fire alone," he said. "It takes two or three weeks to demolish a building like that. But it was pulled down in a couple of hours. Was it 19 hijackers who brought it down, or was it a conspiracy?

This very irritating problem with roles and projects like these being hijacked by moonbats is getting very aggravatingly out of hand by now. As Michelle says:

It's one thing for C-list rappers (see also here) and academic moonbats to peddle such conspiratorial claptrap. But a New York Fire Department chaplain? Have we no respect for the 9/11 dead? Have we no respect for ourselves?

Exactly why the fire chief who was willing to just flat out hire the man in first place has a lot explaining to do now.

The report from Newsday also says:

A spokesman for the Fire Department, Frank Gribbon, said that Habib was recommended by the department's Islamic Society and was hired "based on his credentials as a religious person. We don't ask new employees about their political views before we hire them."

Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, could not be reached for comment.

Normally, not asking about people's political views is the right tack. But in a case like this, it may become inevitable if they have to.

Now, here's where Habib seems to really become ambiguous:

Habib's remarks about the attacks came in response to questions about whether he thought firefighters would accept a chaplain who had been educated in Saudi Arabia.

He said he did not expect that to be an issue because "I come from a country where you're accustomed to living with people of different ethnic, religious and racial backgrounds."

When pressed further about whether the hijackers' backgrounds -- 15 of whom were Saudi -- might make his training an issue for still-grieving firefighters, he went on to express his own doubts about the hijacker story.

Habib was one of several imams recommended for the chaplain's job by the Islamic Society for the Fire Department, as a result of his work teaching junior high students at Al-Ihsan Academy in Ozone Park, a private Islamic school, where he worked for about five years.

Ummm...is it not so that non-white, non-Jewish minority groups, and even Christian/Buddhist movements, are very few, if at all, in residency in the House of Saud, and that Mecca is off-limits to all non-Muslims entirely? There seems to be something fairly unclear going on here.

And after this incident, will anyone with sense be able to trust this Islamic Society for the NY Fire Department again? Probably not.

You can e-mail the Fire Department commisioner here, and NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg here.

In the meantime, the imam has resigned from the post. From Bloomberg:

Imam Who Doubts 9/11 Story Quits as NYC Fire Chaplain, NY1 Says 2005-09-30 11:27 (New York)

By William Goldschlag

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- A Muslim cleric who was to be sworn in as a New York Fire Department chaplain today resigned following a newspaper interview in which he said he doubted official accounts that 19 terrorist hijackers carried out the Sept. 11 attacks, the cable news station NY1 reported.

Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta said Imam Intikab Habib, 30, had resigned. Habin told NY1 that leaving the post was the best thing for the department, the report said. Habib, 30, a Guyanese who studied theology in Saudi Arabia and taught at a New Jersey Islamic school, suggested that a
broader conspiracy may have brought down the World Trade Center, according to a Newsday interview published today. He said there were ``so many conflicting reports'' that he questioned whether hijackers associated with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist group were responsible, Newsday said.

But as Michelle points out, the commisioner shouldn't be let off the hook so easily. That was wrong of them to act in such poor judgement in the first place by hiring such a Muslim moonbat, and we've got to make extra sure it won't happen again.

Others on the subject include: Conservative Outpost, Angry in the Great White North, One Jerusalem, Western Resistance, The Jawa Report.

Labels: House of Saud, islam, United States

La Shawn Barber's got a very interesting topic about the Jewish community and the left. It asks if those who vote Democrat and/or have liberal leanings are aware of the anti-semitism and anti-Israelism that are becoming a growing problem within the party or its supporters.

Part of the problem, IMO, is that the representatives of the Democrats seem afraid or unwilling to speak up and tell their supporters who lose their heads over anti-war/Zionist/Israel positions and even go so far as to support the villains in cases like these that such ways are not only wrong, but are part of the problem with the bigotry currently eating away at the left, and leading to its losing support bases.

As some respondants point out, their families or people they know of Jewish backgrounds are either disinterested in the problems facing both the US and the middle east, or unwilling to take them seriously. I can only wonder though what their thoughts on bad government are like, and if a grave subject like what Prof. Paul Eidelberg cites here are of any interest to them. Or, if they consider any corruption like what the Israel Labor Party's been wallowing (mentioned here) in to be of any serious concern. Or even someone like Charles Bronfman, who made illegal contributions to the Labor party, and to Ehud Barak's own campaign at the time.

My point there would have to be if they realize that crime, even political, does not pay. That's a question I see being asked too little, even among Jewish reps of left-liberal standings, and if you ask me, I think it should come into discussion more often.

One more thing: someone on the topic argued that he didn't think being anti-Israel was anti-Semitic. Not so, as even Martin Luther King once pointed out in this way at the Boston-Harvard University campuses in his time:

“And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism. The antisemite rejoices at any opportunity to vent his malice. The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly seek new forms and forums for his poison. How he must revel in the new masquerade! He does not hate the Jews, he is just 'anti-Zionist'!” -- Martin Luther King, Jr

The same could be pointed out about anti-Israelism. In fact, if it matters, let me just say that, to be anti-Holland is also to be anti-Dutch as well. My assumption is that, because the names of the nationality and the country are different, so that comes as a perfect excuse for some racists to go and spout their foolish arguments. But as the great King pointed out in his time - not so.

Here's an interesting report about a Bnei Akiva member who was honored at Soccer Park in Jerusalem for his efforts in protesting the expulsion from Gaza last month.

The thing is, this very same gathering was also criticized by others in the same camp, and for understandable reasons:

"At least 10,000 youths were there at Sacher Park in Jerusalem at the 'Orange Thanks' event [this past Wednesday night] - those wonderful youth who were willing to give up their freedom and be arrested and imprisoned in order to prevent the expulsion of Jews from parts of the Land of Israel.

In truth, when I saw the organizations that sponsored the event, I knew that I should not have high hopes. These were the same bodies that used the public's longing for unity, gathered the tens of thousands under their wings, and led a strong political battle - while making sure that a serious struggle would not develop on the ground, even though the public was tremendously ready for it, and especially in Kfar Maimon. Not to mention that some of the organizing bodies condemned the idea of refusing orders...

In truth, I did not understand why the event took on a festive nature, when the expellees are still in hotels, caravans and tents. Where is the great victory here? ...

I came with full knowledge that this event would not herald the liberation of the national-religious camp from the bonds leashing its collective consciousness - but I also didn't expect such patent darkness. This was darkness whose meaning was that since we supposedly won by holding ineffective protests, not only is there no need to change our strategy, but the opposite is true: We should continue the same way even more forcefully.

First, one rabbi got up and said that we love and embrace the IDF and will continue to enlist and influence; at least he didn't say 'with sensitivity and determination' [the phrase used by those who implemented the expulsion]. These words, for me as an expellee, were like a sword in my heart. How can the rabbi love those who destroyed our lives and threw us out? My little children even now tremble when they see an army uniform. Isn't it a bit early, honored rabbi? Right after he spoke, they showed a chilling film of the destruction of N'vei Dekalim, the beautiful town destroyed by those the rabbi had just embraced...

Later, a 15-year-old girl was called to the stage, one of the heroines who sat in jail for a long time, followed immediately afterwards by a famous and important rabbi who in the past claimed that the road-blockings were a desecration of G-d's name! For a moment it wasn't clear whether the 'Orange Thanks' were from the leadership to the youth, or from the Prime Minister to the leadership...

This intolerable disparity between the words of the rabbis and the actions of the youth is precisely the same gap between the leadership and the public. And this event, where the messages were contradictory and confusing, expressed clearly the confusion from which the Orange camp suffers.

This helps us understand what happened in the Likud this week. You can't stutter and straddle both sides of the fence, and then expect to win. You can't expect a Likud Committee member who admires Sharon for his great past achievements but opposes the expulsion to translate his opposition to a vote against Sharon - when at the same time you grant legitimacy to the expulsion by embracing the expellers and allow it to transpire smoothly; it doesn't work!

Now there's another good point, to go with what One Jerusalem had to say. It's also a problem the Bush administration's got, what with allowing people like Karen Hughes to go and conduct "appeasement" tours in Arab countries only, never in Jewish or even Armenian communities. That kind of approach must be changed.