Hoping Rush Limbaugh gets well soon

I heard that radio host Rush Limbaugh fell ill while working in Hawaii, and it might have been a heart attack. He's recovering now in a hospital, and I hope he gets better soon.

Betrayed by a member of their own church

Atlas Shrugs writes about pastor Blake Lorenz's side of the Rifqa Bary story. He himself has been smeared, and it seems that Brian Smith, one of the members of Global Revolution Church, violated his own privacy rights by giving his mail at the time he worked at the church (as far as I know, the Lorenz's may no longer be affiliated with the church) to CAIR's lawyer for the Barys:

1. I was never told that when Rifqa Bary fled for her life that I was in violation of the law. I contacted eleven attorneys, two police officers, one judge, and the Department of Children and Families (‘DCF’) within a two-week period of Rifqa Bary’s arrival in Florida and not once was I told that I had broken any law. The affidavit of Brian Smith to the contrary is false.

2. On or about July 28, 2009, I asked Brian Smith to call DCF about Rifqa Bary. Then on July 29, 2009, I personally called DCF more than once. On or about August 5, 2009, I again called DCF in Orlando and then called the equivalent of DCF in Ohio. On or about August 5 and 6, 2009, I personally called the hotline about Rifqa Bary. This call finally resulted in Rifqa Bary being picked up by the Orlando Police Department on August 7. On that same day, August 7, I called the equivalent of DCF in Ohio and the police department in Ohio, warning them that Rifqa Bary’s life was in danger according to what she reported to me. The police officer I spoke with said he knew her life was in danger and stated that the department officials had talked to several of her friends.

3. I do know that Brian Smith called his attorney, but the only thing Brian ever told us following that conversation is that he suggested I call DCF, which I did.

4. Contrary to Brian Smith’s affidavit, he never implored me or my wife Beverly not to help Rifqa Bary, nor did he ever say that I or anyone else did anything illegal. Never in any of our staff meetings or out of staff meetings did Brian Smith say anything that had been done was illegal, nor did he voice his opinion against helping her. This can be confirmed by John Law, Wendy Law, Beverly Lorenz, Suzanna Lorenz and Laura Johnson, who all sat in our staff meetings with Brian Smith.

5. Brian Smith’s affidavit contains many other false statements. No one to my knowledge ever told Rifqa Bary to lie to the authorities. Such an allegation is outrageous. In fact, Rifqa was told specifically to tell the truth to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. At no time did I or anyone else to my knowledge bring in an expert on Islam and honor killings to talk to Rifqa Bary about those subjects. Rifqa Bary informed Beverly and me about Islam and honor killings, as we had no background in this area and had never been confronted with such matters before this time. Brian Smith calls Rifqa Bary a new convert in his affidavit, but he knew that Rifqa had been a Christian for four years, which information came from Rifqa herself. Brian Smith never sat down with Beverly and Rifqa to hear her story for an hour. Instead, Brian Smith’s account of Rifqa Bary’s story sounds almost verbatim from the account given by Rifqa’s father, not Rifqa. Beverly Lorenz never called Rifqa her “darling daughter.”

6. To my knowledge, Brian Smith is the only one who continues to have access to the post office box of Global Revolution Church. He has opened mail addressed to me personally. Instead of forwarding the mail to me without opening it, or even after opening it, he has apparently sent my mail to the attorneys for the father of Rifqa Bary in Ohio. Again, Brian Smith has done so without my consent. He has acted in a manner that is both untruthful, in filing many false statements in his affidavit, and in a manner to intentionally harm me, the reasons for which I can only speculate stem from concern that I had over his job while he worked at Global Revolution Church.

This is most astounding. A man in the service of the Lord committed a serious felony by passing on someone else's mail to forces of corruption on the outside. I hope a lawsuit is in the works for this blatant violation of the law. And I think the Barys and their lawyer are going to have to be questioned about this too. This is very serious.

Update: I corrected some potential typos I made here.

United Nations has to go ASAP

David Solway at Pajamas Media writes about the UN's vicious corruption, and why sooner or later, real democracies are going to have to leave it. Over the years they have only been and become a platform for anti-Israel sentiment, they've even barred observers like Anne Bayefsky from speaking there, they've accepted the Goldstone libel to the fullest, they've barred criticism of Islam, and let's not forget the Congo sex scandal, which members of their "peacekeeping" forces there so blatantly committed.

I must say, it's simply amazing how, over all these years, so many people even in entertainment maintained such a naive view of them, when in reality, the actual organization is a complete sham and disgrace. This is something that's going to have to change too.

Holland steps up flight security

The Netherlands, which had been quite careless in how they allowed Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab to board Flight 253, are now going to add scanning security to flights to the US:

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - The Netherlands announced Wednesday it will immediately begin using full body scanners for flights heading to the United States, issuing a report that called the failed Christmas Day airline bombing a "professional" al-Qaida terror attack.

A top Dutch official said a scanner of that type may have stopped Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from boarding Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on Friday carrying undetected explosives. Law enforcement officials say the 23-year-old Nigerian tried but failed to detonate the explosives on a plane carrying over 300 people.

"It is not exaggerating to say the world has escaped a disaster," Interior Minister Guusje Ter Horst told a news conference, referring to it as "another al-Qaida attack."

The Dutch minister said U.S. had not wanted these scanners to be used previously because of privacy concerns but said there was now agreement with Washington authorities that "all possible measures will be used on flights to the U.S."

A key European legislator urged the European Union to begin rapidly installing the new equipment across the 27-nation bloc, but no other European nations immediately followed the Dutch move.

Body scanners that peer underneath clothing have been available for years, but privacy advocates say they are a "virtual strip search" because they display an image of the body onto a computer screen.

Ian Dowty, a lawyer with Action on Rights of the Child, said allowing minors to pass through the scanners violates child pornography laws.

"It shows genitalia," he told The Associated Press. "As far as English law is concerned ... it's unlawful if it's indecent."

For that reason, British authorities have exempted under-18s from body scan trials at places including Paddington Station in London as well as Heathrow and Manchester airports.

I understand the concern here, but I hope they know that the blame for this must be placed at the feet of the terrorists who're seeking to cause problems. And let's not think even teenagers couldn't be used to smuggle explosives on board a plane.

Also, consider:

New software, however, eliminates that problem by projecting a stylized image rather than an actual picture onto a computer screen, highlighting the area of the body where objects are concealed in pockets or under the clothing.

So they may not need to worry then about being exposed.

Swedish link suspected in theft Auschwitz sign

The AP/FOX is reporting that Polish authorities suspect there was a Swedish connection in the theft of the Auschwitz sign a week ago. I won't be surprised if it turns out to be so. Sweden has been so corrupt, it's quite probable they produced this kind of offensive robbery.

An invasion of Rifqa's privacy

Jihad Watch and Atlas Shrugs report that the people involved in the Rifqa Bary case have agreed that she have her guardian ad litum review the mail she's getting. Now is that not running the risk of invading someone else's privacy, in a way?

The CAIR lawyer for the parents even wants to bar discussion of Islam in the further trial hearings, and Pamela feels that the defense lawyers are not handling the case properly. The next hearing is on January 19. If there's to be a rally for her then, make sure to be there. And you can send her a Happy New Year card at the address Pamela provided.

British concern over arrest warrants against Israeli politicians is not altruistic

Melanie Phillips writes about the recent subject of Israeli politicians who've been threatened with arrest warrants in the UK, and tells why they're really concerned about the one issued against Tzipi Livni:

In all that time, the government has sat on its hands. Only now that Tzipi Livni has had to cancel her trip to London following an attempt to arrest her over her part in Operation Cast Lead has the British government said it will change the law, probably by making the Attorney-General the gatekeeper for any such arrest attempts.

Why is it only now that the balloon has gone up? One reason is that this is the first time the Israeli government has responded with unbridled fury at Britain. But also, for British diplomats, Livni is ‘one of us’. That is because, since she is one of the most appeasement-minded politicians Israel has ever produced, it is considered an affront to try to arrest her, of all people, for her part in warfare.

‘Livni supports a two-state solution. This attempt to secure her arrest has really set alarm bells ringing,’ a horrified senior Foreign Office source reportedly told the Guardian. The unpleasant implication is that the Foreign Office cares far less about attempts to arrest Israeli politicians with more hawkish views.

This telling remark shows how the Foreign Office circles the wagons when one of its ideological soul-mates is under attack — and is wholly unable to see how the amoral and unprincipled view of the world it believes it shares with Livni may actually be contributing to the problem.

While the double-standard the British could have even against Israeli leftists is still quite possible, this nevertheless makes a lot of sense that their reaction is not for altruistic reasons. No wonder the idea of making the UK attorney general "gatekeeper" for these arrest warrants actually sounds fishy.

Speaking of Livni, she has just turned down an offer to join the government, which I assume Benjamin Netanyahu made because of the dangers the country is now facing like Iran's nuclear threat, and that's why unity is now needed. It doesn't really matter, because she is so stupid, there's little chance she could make any positive impact.

Update: I wish Paul Mirengoff at Power Line would stop talking in such a naive manner about Kadima beginning as a "centrist" party. Does this mean that, if Ariel Sharon, traitor he left as, were still around, Mirengoff would throw his support behind him immediately and without a single itty-bitty question? It's bad enough he said earlier this year that Sharon founded Kadima for "pragmatic" reasons. Message to Mirengoff: cut. it. out. That's insulting, and shows you're ill-informed about internal Israeli affairs.

What really happened in mideast history

Doug Ross has a pictorial guide of the Israel-Arab conflict telling the real story, and how there was no Palestine, just the Ottoman Empire, years before.

Hat tip: Maggie's Notebook.

There are rich jihadists too

In past years, many TV viewers have rightfully noted how Law & Order on NBC has a very farfetched view of crime in NYC because of how it features a lot of [white] criminals of wealthy backgrounds much of the time, yet does little to seriously depict criminals of poorer status in its so-called stories ripped from the headlines.

On the other hand, it seems that some very naive fools have a view of jihadists as just poor and oppressed, which is also far from reality. As this article in the UK Independent (via Michelle Malkin) tells, the Nigerian terrorist Abdul Farouk Abdulmutallab was actually from a very wealthy background:

Abdulmutallab, 23, had lived a gilded life, and, for the three years he studied in London, he stayed in a £2m flat. He was from a very different background to many of the other al-Qa'ida recruits who opt for martyrdom.

[...]

Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru, is the former economics minister of Nigeria. He retired earlier this month as the chairman of the First Bank of Nigeria but is still on the boards of several of Nigeria's biggest firms, including Jaiz International, a holding company for the Islamic Bank. The 70-year-old, who was also educated in London, holds the Commander of the Order of the Niger as well as the Italian Order of Merit.

So why do a lot of allegedly informed journalists try to perpetuate the myth of terrorists as solely poor and oppressed? Worse though is if they justify and apologize for these vile characters regardless of their income status. Being poverty stricken is no excuse for violently preying on innocents, rich or poor.

Update: Robert Spencer writes on Front Page Magazine about US security's failure to prevent Abdulmutallab from flying on the plane even though he was on a terror-watch-list. And Daniel Pipes also chimes in. And Debbie Schlussel writes about two terrorists released from Gitmo who were masterminds behind the attack plot, and has some more info to consider here and here.

PC-stupidity on Islam endangers public

A Muslim who went around making threats against businesses in Memphis, Tennessee, has been released on as little as $100 bond (Hat tip: Jihad Watch):

MEMPHIS, TN - Tonight, Mohamed Ibrahim is out after posting $100 bond. Earlier in the day, he was arrested after police say he walked into several Memphis businesses and threatened to blow them up.

Court records show Ibrahim was also telling people he was Muslim, and wanted to start a jihad, or holy war, in Memphis.

Police say when they arrested him, he had a butcher knife hidden in one of his jacket sleeves.

Let me get this straight. He had a knife hidden on him, yet they released him on as little ass $100? This is very serious, because what if he were to go on a rampage for real this time? I think this is going to have to be addressed in court, and either the police or the judge who released him have a lot of explaining to do. Residents of Memphis who care about their safety are going to have to demand answers from the local legal system.

Update: the man was arrested again, after making more threats just 2 days after release (also via Jihad Watch). If they have jailed him again, they'd do well to keep him there this time.

Terrorists who murdered rabbi have been wiped out

Israel National News reports that justice has been done in the horrific case of a rabbi who was murdered a few days ago:

(Israelnationalnews.com) General Security Services in partnership with soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) killed the murderers of Rabbi Meir Avshalom Chai. All three were convicted terrorists who had been committed to and later released from Israeli prisons.

Chai, 45, was murdered by Arabs in a drive by shooting while chauffeuring his wife and one of their children in their family car, between Shavei Shomron and Einav.

The Israeli military operation took place on the evening of December 25, the Jewish Sabbath. PA head Mahmoud Abbas was not forewarned of the mission.

And wisely so.

The homes of three men known to have taken part in the murder were surrounded by special forces units, who tried to arrest them. According to an army spokesperson, the men "refused to cooperate", rejecting calls to surrender. Troops subequently opened fire on the buildings.

Nader Raed Sukarji, a 40 year-old inhabitant of Shechem, was arrested in 2002 and suspected of being a top Al Aksa terror group brigade operative and participant in many terror attacks. He also prepared bombs and helped establish explosives factories in Nablus (Shechem). He was released from prison in January 2009.

Palestinian sources say Sukarji's wife was also injured in the operation, after her husband used her as a human shield while hiding in their house.

Now isn't that something. Shows how Islamists care only for but themselves, and truly, their families mean nothing to them.

This also shows the danger of releasing terrorists from prison, something that's going to need to be made an issue of.

Update: David Bedein writes about this in The Bulletin.

Another Nigerian terror suspect arrested in Detroit

Just shortly after the first cretin was stopped, another terrorist mole has been discovered too (via Michelle Malkin):

The Associated Press has learned that a second Nigerian man has been taken into custody aboard a jetliner in Detroit after locking himself in the airliner’s bathroom.

A law enforcement official tells the AP that the incident took place aboard the same Northwest flight that was attacked on Christmas Day. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident was ongoing.

More about this from WWJ radio in Detroit:

One day after a Nigerian man was charged with attempting to blow up a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, another man was detained for unruly behavior after the same flight landed safely in Michigan.

A Delta spokeswoman says all 257 passengers have been safely taken off the plane. Delta operates the Northwest flight.

About 10 emergency vehicles, sirens blaring, surrounded the plane after it landed.

Metro Airport spokesman Scott Wintner told WWJ radio there was a report of suspicious activity on Delta/Northwest flight 253 from Amsterdam – the same flight number as in the attempted Christmas Day attack.

Sue Elliott, a Delta spokesperson, told CBS News the passenger in question “was verbally disruptive. Out of abundance of caution the flight crew asked that the plane be met on arrival by law enforcement.”

There were reports that the man detained was also Nigerian. There was no indication he had attempted to cause any physical harm to anyone aboard the flight, or to the airliner, reportedly a Boeing 737.

A law enforcement official tells CBS News correspondent Bob Orr passengers and crew became suspicious after the man locked himself in an airplane bathroom. A search of the plane was being carried out. There was no immediate word of any device being found.

You know what? I think this calls for a demonstration demanding better action against terrorists who make our flights miserable for us. Why should people have to be discouraged from flying on vacation, which this kind of aggravating crap can cause?

Hot Air has a video interview with passengers aboard Northwest 253 discussing their experience. The UK Telegraph tells that the terrorist may have studied in London.

Update: according to The Times, the attempted bomber even defended 9-11:

He is remembered for his religious fervour. During Ramadan, he declined to join fellow pupils going to a disco, telling them gently but firmly that it would be un-Islamic. He defended 9/11 as an act of war, saying that it might have been necessary because there were American troops on Saudi soil.

And this was when he was in his teens, showing that he was indoctrinated early on.

2010 has good prospects for Israel

Barry Rubin at the Gloria Center writes that, in contrast to the Obama administration, Israel looks to have a better year. Let's hope so, but we may still have to be cautiously optimistic.

Al Qaeda terrorist attempted to blow up Detroit-bound plane

Another terrorist attack was attempted in the US, and it's fortunate that it was abortive, and one passenger heroically managed to stop the terrorist flying on the plane:

ROMULUS, Mich. (AP) - An attempted terrorist attack on a Christmas Day flight began with a pop and a puff of smoke - sending passengers scrambling to subdue a Nigerian man who claimed to be acting on orders from al-Qaida to blow up the airliner, officials and travelers said.

The commotion began as Northwest Airlines Flight 253, carrying 278 passengers and 11 crew members from Amsterdam, prepared to land in Detroit just before noon Friday. Travelers said they smelled smoke, saw a glow, and heard what sounded like firecrackers. At least one person climbed over others and jumped on the man, who officials say was trying to ignite an explosive device.

"It sounded like a firecracker in a pillowcase," said Peter Smith, a passenger from the Netherlands. "First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke."

Smith said one passenger, sitting opposite the man, climbed over passengers, went across the aisle and tried to restrain the man. The heroic passenger appeared to have been burned.

Afterward, the suspect was taken to a front-row seat with his pants cut off and his legs burned. Multiple law enforcement officials also said the man appeared badly burned on his legs, indicating the explosive was strapped there. The components were apparently mixed in-flight and included a powdery substance, multiple law enforcement and counterterrorism officials said.

The White House said it believed it was an attempted act of terrorism and stricter security measures were quickly imposed on airline travel. Dutch anti-terrorism authorities said the U.S. has asked all airlines to take extra precautions on flights worldwide that are bound for the United States.

The incident was reminiscent of Richard Reid, who tried to destroy a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoes, but was subdued by other passengers.

Multiple law enforcement officials identified the suspect in Friday's attempted attack as Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab. He was described as Nigerian.

One law enforcement official said the man claimed to have been instructed by al-Qaida to detonate the plane over U.S. soil, but other law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently - inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

Intelligence and anti-terrorism officials in Yemen said they were investigating claims by the suspect that he picked up the explosive device and instructions on how to use it in that country. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media.

The man was being questioned Friday evening. An intelligence official said he was being held and treated in an Ann Arbor, Mich., hospital. The hospital said one passenger from the flight was taken to the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, but referred all inquiries to the FBI.

Melinda Dennis, who was seated in the front row of the plane, said the man involved was brought to the front row and seated near her. She said his legs appeared to be badly burned and his pants were cut off. She said he was taken off the plane handcuffed to a stretcher.

One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. intelligence database, but he was not on a watch list or a no-fly list.

The suspect boarded in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit, Rep. Peter King, the ranking GOP member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told CNN. A spokeswoman for police at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam declined comment about the case or about security procedures at the airport for Flight 253.

Dutch airline KLM says the connection in Amsterdam from Lagos, Nigeria, to Detroit involves a change in carrier and a change in aircraft.

Schiphol airport, one of Europe's busiest with a heavy load of transit passengers from Africa and Asia to North America, strictly enforces European security regulations including only allowing small amounts of liquid in hand luggage that must be placed inside clear plastic bags.

There's more, and here's another article telling how this raises new concerns about airline security:

WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. counterterrorism officials are scrambling to assess a potential new threat from an explosive mixture that evaded detection aboard a Detroit-bound airliner but failed to bring down the plane.

Multiple law enforcement officials said the suspected attacker - identified as a Nigerian man named Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab - claimed to have acted on instructions from al-Qaida to detonate the explosive device over U.S. soil. The law enforcement officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

The law enforcement officials cautioned that such claims could not be verified immediately, and said the man may have been acting independently - inspired but not specifically trained or ordered by terror groups.

One law enforcement official, also speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the case, said Mutallab's name had surfaced earlier on at least one U.S. intelligence database, but not to the extent that he was placed on a watch list or a no-fly list.

As investigators try to determine the veracity of his claims, they also want to figure out exactly how the explosive device was made - and how much of a broader threat it may pose to air security.

In 2006, investigators in London uncovered a plot to use liquid-based explosives disguised in drink bottles to blow up airliners. The case prompted new restrictions on passengers carrying beverages or other liquids.

Now investigators are trying to determine whether the rules need to be tightened again, concerned that the components of the explosive device were smuggled onto the plane despite technological advances in screening and detection.

"It raises some serious questions, such as how was this person able to bring an explosive substance aboard a commercial airliner?" said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the senior Republican on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

You got that right. Security does need to be tightened again, and screenings will have to be much more to the point in order to prevent potential disasters like this from occurring in the future.

Update: The New York Post has an interview with the heroic Dutchman who helped subdue the vermin, and here's a FOX report on a search the UK authorities are conducting in connection with the case. Congress is going to probe this too.

2010 won't be a fun year for Obama

Barry Rubin at the Gloria Center says that 2010 looks to be an interesting year, but likely won't be a great one for president Obama.

Knesset calls for boycott of British products

The Bulletin reports about how a sizable number of Knesset members have called for a buycott of products from the UK:

Jerusalem – Nearly 50 Members of Israel’s Knesset Parliament have signed an unusual parliamentary petition calling for the boycott of products from the United Kingdom.

This is the response to the recommendation of British government officials that Israeli products made in Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights be marked, in order to abet those citizens wishing to boycott Israeli products.

In addition to the petition, the Knesset is considering legislation that would mandate similar marking of British products, as long as the British decision remains standing.

The petition, which was secretly organized in recent days, was initiated by Ronit Tirosh, of Kadima and a Member of Knesset (MK), and is signed by former senior Israeli government ministers, chairmen of senior Knesset committees, faction chairmen and regular MKs.

I know the reason why several members of Kadima have joined in on this - because of the arrest warrant issued against Tzipi Livni.

At the same time, MK Tirosh approached the accountant general in the Israel Finance Ministry and asked that he prevent senior public officials from flying with British Airways as well as other British airlines operating in Israel.

Yes, there's a British business well worth boycotting. Others can include Rolls-Royce and Bentley, though it's worth noting they're not even sold here in Israel, for all I know, though Rover cars are, and if they're still selling here, Israelis can stay away from them; their engines are crap anyway.

Rabbi murdered by Abbas terrorists

Yesterday, a rabbi, Meir Chai from Shevei Shomron, was murdered by Islamofascists from the Fatah brigade (H/T: Oy My Valve). There's already blame being made against the gestures made by the government towards the enemy as the cause leading to this. The government is now going to have to address this matter if they're to maintain credibility.

Others on the subject include Atlas Shrugs, JewPI, Voz is Neias.

French government warns principles are at stake, proposing to ban Islamic veil

Another show of courage in the war on encroaching Shari'a, as the French government again recommends banning full veils (via Jihad Watch):

France's ruling party, the conservative Union Pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), says it plans to present a bill to parliament in January, which would ban full Islamic veils in all public places. The bill is to be presented in the first two weeks of next month, just before the conclusions of a French parliamentary inquiry on the burqa and niqab are published.

Jean-Francois Cope, the parliamentary party leader of the UMP, said the measure was meant to defend France from extremists.

"There are principles at stake: Extremists are putting the republic to the test by promoting a practice that they know is contrary to the basic principles of our country," he said.

Veils "not welcome" in France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said that veils that hide women's faces in public are "not welcome" in France. Most politicians say they would like to see the results of the parliamentary inquiry on the veils before they decide on the need for a law.

According to French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, about 1,900 women in France wear full Islamic veils. Hortefeux has said that applications for French citizenship or residence by burqa wearing women, along with their husbands, should be "systematically" refused. However, reports by French intelligence services put the number of women wearing burqas at "fewer than 400."

In the Paris newspaper Le Figaro, Cope said that the move was "a law of liberation" and not a ban.

A complete ban on Islamic veils could be met with legal obstacles, in the same way the Swiss ban on minarets was challenged by the European Court of Human Rights. The French government has already been accused of racism with regard to its campaign to discuss national identity.

This is one of many notable cases where religion is confused with race, and the moonbats making the charges fail to use "anti-relgious" as the basis of their accusations. It's because they know they otherwise don't have much of a leg to stand on, so they boggle the exact facts and issues in their stupidity.

Update: Barbara Kay at Pajamas Media writes about why the west must ban the burqa and nix the niqab.

Some Russians just haven't changed

The left-wing Christian Science Monitor (via Hot Air Headlines) reports that in Russia, nearly 60 percent regret the USSR's demise:

Older Russians invariably recall the Soviet era as a time of stability and social security, if not prosperity, and feel they have suffered unfairly from the social turmoil and repeated economic crises of the past two decades.

“You could buy a loaf of bread for 16 kopeks (cents), and that was a stable price for many, many years,” says Alevtina Dimitrieva, a Moscow pensioner. “Now the price is different every day. The authorities promise to raise our pensions, but even when that happens, rising prices gobble up the increase immediately.”

Lack of money has blocked most pensioners from taking advantage of the expansion of personal freedoms, economic opportunity, and social mobility that many younger Russians began to enjoy in the wake of the Soviet collapse.

Well, they needn't worry too much, now that the Soviet structure has been resurrected under Putin and Medvedev. Russian society today has many old people in it, as their own birthrate declines, and also, lest we forget, as many as 25 million Muslims, and the socialist structure could one day become even worse with them around.

It's sad how some things have failed to change in all this time, and free economy never really succeeded in gaining a foothold in Russia, since the outgrowths of the commies were waiting right around the corner to retake the control they'd lost, and that, alas, was not for long.

Fort Hood jihadist's spiritual advisor killed in raid

Anwar al Awlaki, the abominable cleric who was Malik Nidal Hasan's major influence, is reported to have been killed in a US raid on an al Qaeda headquarters (Hat tip: Hot Air):

The leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and a Muslim preacher linked by U.S. intelligence to deaths at a U.S. army base are believed to have died in a Yemen air strike, a security official said on Thursday.

Yemen said 30 militants were killed in the strike in the eastern province of Shabwa.

Among those believed killed was Anwar al Awlaki, whom U.S. officials linked to the gunman who killed 13 people at the Fort Hood army base in Texas on November 5.

“Anwar al Awlaki is suspected to be dead (in the air raid),” said the Yemeni official, who asked not to be identified.

The air attack targeted a meeting of militants planning an attack on Yemeni and foreign oil targets, the official said.

He added that the leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Basir Nasser al-Wahayshi, may also have been killed in the strikes but that there was no confirmation.

Let's hope the abomination got what he deserved. In fact, Hasan himself, I discovered, was deservedly paralyzed from the chest down when the heroic policewoman shot him down at the army center.

And on that note, it's worth noting that Hasan and his lawyer are predictably playing victim, by protesting his being limited to speaking in English (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin):

The lead defense attorney for accused Fort Hood shooter Maj. Malik Nidal Hasan says he will file a motion complaining his client’s civil rights are being violated.

Belton attorney John Galligan told News Channel 25 via phone the restrictions the military has put on his client while he’s confined to his room at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio are illegal.

Hasan is restricted to speaking English only, and the only visitors he can have are his immediate family, and his legal counsel. “But his attorneys and his family can’t be in the room with him at the same time,” Galligan complained.

Galligan was upset that his client was praying on the phone with his brother Friday in Arabic when he said the military interrupted the call.

Ahem. The reason he's restricted to English language is so the authorities guarding him can understand what he's talking about better. What if he were to say something in Arabic they couldn't understand, that could be dangerous? That's why he has to be limited to English speaking. The army must start taking serious steps to protect itself from the kind of PC-stupidity that led to the tragedy in the first place, and that includes not bowing to demands that Hasan be allowed to speak in Arabic, because they have to know what he's saying clearly without possible confusion, and not every official in charge can understand the language.

Update: more on this at the Weekly Standard blog.

Rifqa Bary does not have to meet with parents, and can get Xmas cards

In some good news on this case, an Ohio magistrate has ruled that Rifqa Bary is not required to meet with her parents as part of a would-be reconciliation (via Riehl World View).

And, she can also recieve the Christmas cards sent to her. As FOX reports (via AmerIsrael):

"In the end, she's getting the Christmas cards," Sternberger told FoxNews.com. "They're just making sure there's no white powder or anything in them."

That's understandable! What if some Islamofascists were to take advantage of this and send booby-trapped mail to her? Yes, it is possible they could, so those responsible for the mail call are right to be concerned.

Her next dependency hearing is said to be on January 19th, so while this current news is good, Rifqa is still not out of the woods yet. Let's hope her defense and supporters are ready to campaign for her again when the time comes.

Update: The Jawa Report has a video of John Stemberger's interview with FOX, and some good points are made about how the parents are repeatedly undermining their daughter's trust.

So Carter apologizes. Big deal

Jimmy Carter, one of the worst presidents of the US, has offered an apology to the Jewish community for his vicious attacks on them, but he's still got a long way to go:

In a letter released exclusively to JTA, the former US president sent a seasonal message wishing for peace between Israel and its neighbors, and concluded: "We must recognize Israel's achievements under difficult circumstances, even as we strive in a positive way to help Israel continue to improve its relations with its Arab populations, but we must not permit criticisms for improvement to stigmatize Israel. As I would have noted at Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, but which is appropriate at any time of the year, I offer an Al Het for any words or deeds of mine that may have done so."

[...]

Carter has angered some US Jews in recent years with writings and statements that place the burden of peacemaking on Israel, that have likened Israel's settlement policies to apartheid, and that have blamed the pro-Israel lobby for inhibiting an evenhanded US foreign policy.

What if tomorrow he's back to his old ways again? What good will it do him then to apologize? Besides, he's one of those kinds of people who's wanted apartheid, and has never slammed Islamists for being the real ones to cause such a problem.

And Israel/the Jewish community isn't the only one he should be apologizing to: what about any innocent Iranians who were harmed by the takeover of the Ayatollah in 1979 and the overthrow of the Shah? What about any blacks in Sudan and other places in Africa who're still being harmed by modern day slavery, much of which is perpetrated by Islamofasicsts, which he has never made any genuine attempt to stop or speak against?

Carter's apology, I'm afraid, is pretty weak, insufficient and coming a little late.

Update: extra item on this from the American Spectator.

Will Egypt be the next Iran?

At Pajamas Media, Joseph Puder talks about Egypt's slow move back to darker Islamic fundamentalism (and I put it that way because Islamofascism was always there, and Anwar Sadat was one of the products and perpetrators of it), and how the Muslim Brotherhood may be on its way to seizing power (via Hot Air Headlines):

The improbable fall of the shah, and his replacement by the radical, anti-American, messianic Islamic Republic led by ayatollahs, could very well occur in Egypt. Hosni Mubarak’s 28-year martial-law rule is similar to that of the shah’s, albeit the shah’s treatment of his people was somewhat more moderate. And the shah at least strove to build a middle class by fostering economic growth and expanding educational opportunities to average Iranians.

[...]

The Egyptian internal security forces are as brutal as the Iranian SAVAK, and Egypt’s exploding population (83 million at last count), high unemployment, low wages, rampant corruption, and nepotism (Gamal Mubarak, the president’s son, is being groomed to succeed the 81-year-old Hosni Mubarak) makes Egypt like Iran in 1979 — ready for an explosion.

The Muslim Brotherhood, with its largest following in Egypt, is waiting in the wings — and it may yet proclaim Egypt as the next Islamic republic. Opposition to Mubarak’s arbitrary rule and the possibility of Gamal Mubarak’s succession is a prescription for a combustible political situation.

Mubarak’s visit to the White House last August demonstrated the Obama administration’s willful blindness to the Egyptian people’s frustration with the corruption and nepotism of the Mubarak dictatorship. The words “freedom,” “democracy,” and “reform” were not included in the Obama press conference held in the Oval Office. A December 2008 Gallup poll showed that 75% of the Egyptians surveyed answered “No” as to whether or not the U.S. was serious about establishing democratic systems in the Middle East region. These results indicate an increase of 12% in the distrust towards America by ordinary Egyptians.

In the meantime, the Obama administration has reduced funding for democracy promotion in Egypt from $50 million to $20 million this year. The State Department has agreed to Egyptian demands not to use economic aid to fund civil society organizations not approved by the government. As a result, U.S. funding for pro-democracy and human rights groups will drop by about 70%. At the same time, the Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee inserted $260 million in additional security assistance for Egypt into a supplemental appropriations bill, along with $50 million for border security, without attaching any conditions on Egypt.

[...]

While Mubarak “hails” Egyptian-American relations to American policymakers, his government promotes radical anti-American thinking through the educational system, the media, and the mosques. Egypt’s human rights record is abominable. It is a police state with no accountability, either to it’s citizens or the courts. Islamism is on the rise and women’s rights have declined. And with the Obama administration supporting the status quo in Egypt, the U.S. is essentially backing the Egyptian government’s suppression of human rights persecution — especially that of the Copts, the largest Christian minority in the Middle East.

Let's not be surprised if Egypt's Mubarak, as he reaches his deathbed, won't be too bothered by the Muslim Brotherhood taking over. In fact, I think he'll be quite pleased. As I may have said before, it's clear that dark days are coming as "peaceful" relations with countries like Egypt erode, and there's a very probably chance Jordan will be next.

Update: since I mentioned Sadat, it's disgusting to learn that Haifa's municipality may name a city square after him. Can we be clear here, a deceptive man like that deserves no such thing.

Auschwitz sign recovered

I'm glad to know that a sign from the Auschwitz concentration camp - important because of what it tells historically about the nazis and fascism, has been recovered after it was stolen, though it was cut into 3 pieces. It was a sign that said "work will set you free", a disgusting propaganda tool of the Germans, and one that anti-semites in Poland clearly didn't want anyone to know about.

I do have to wonder following this report though, what the quality of the security around those areas is really like. Otherwise, maybe this theft would've been preventable.

Bary brother busted

Atlas Shrugs reports that the brother of Rifqa Bary named Rilvan had been arrested last month on charges involving drinking, a strong clue to how some Muslims in the west, if anywhere, aren't that faithful to the Islamic opposition to alcohol. His arraignment is supposed to be in another two days, the same time the next hearing for Rifqa's custody issues was supposed to take place.

We have to hope this'll be noted in any further hearings Rifqa herself will have in court, but only if we remain on the ball and alert will it be possible.

Related: The Jawa Report has told that her parents want her to be held in contempt to force her to attend meetings with a Muslim counselor. That should tell they don't respect her right to choose her religion.

Britain's supreme court delegitimizes Orthodox Jewish school system

Melanie Phillips reports that the UK's supreme court has made an absurd ruling on the case of an Orthodox Jewish school that wouldn't accept a child whose mother had converted to Judaism under the Masorti (Conservative) sect. They claim it was racial discrimination, when it was just a case of their not accepting students who don't follow their sect of religion in Judaism. I've sometimes thought that a sufficient distinction is needed between the Jewish race and its similarly named religion, so that certain matters won't be confused. Unfortunately, you won't find those kind of distinctions in Britain, which is clearly set out to delegitimize the religious school system there. But don't worry, you can be quite sure that won't happen with Muslim schools in such a hurry!

In fact, I recommend taking a look at this article from the Weekly Standard, which tells how old school British anti-semitism is resurfacing, and even Mearshimer propaganda can find more willing supporters in the blighty than it can in the US.

Vedict reached on Naveed Haq in Seattle

Joel Mowbray tells Power Line that the current jury in the trial of the murderer Naveed Haq has convicted him of his crimes against a Jewish center in Seattle:

Seattle - A King County jury on Tuesday found Naveed Haq guilty of aggravated first-degree murder in the 2006 shootings at the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, a verdict that carries an automatic life sentence.

After hearing seven weeks of testimony, the jury also found Haq guilty of five counts of attempted first-degree murder, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of malicious harassment, the state's hate-crime law.

Haq opened fire in the center's offices, killing Pamela Waechter, 58. Several of the shooting victims who were in the courtroom hugged tearfully when the verdicts were announced.

He should be handed the death sentence to boot. If he's to go to prison for life, he should at least be put in isolation.

Demjanjuk murdered Moshe Lisogorsky

The Jerusalem Post has an exclusive article about Saul Lisogorsky, whose father Moshe was murdered by the horrific John Demjanjuk during the post-WW2 era:

John Demjanjuk, while working after World War II as a truck driver for the US army motor pool in Ulm, Germany, deliberately ran over and killed Moshe Lisogorski on August 20, 1947, Lisogorski's son Saul told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

Saul Liskin, who was six at the time of the alleged murder, said the family had never been able to track down their father's killer. They realized it was Demjanjuk, Liskin said, when reading a Post article last week.

The article reported that German prosecutors were investigating new allegations that Demjanjuk, who is on trial in Munich for his role in the murders of 27,900 Jews at Sobibor during the war, also deliberately ran over and killed an unnamed man, possibly a Jew, in Ulm in 1947.

"My father is that Jew," said Liskin.

"I always knew the circumstances of my father's death, but I never had a name to go with the murder," said Liskin, speaking to the Post by telephone from Los Angeles. "I was totally shocked to realize it was Demjanjuk. I've followed his story for the past 10 years and more."

Liskin said he was convinced that the Ukrainian-born Demjanjuk was the killer. "I would like to see him ultimately hanged after the trial, if he's found guilty, like Adolf Eichmann," he said.

Demjanjuk, 89, whose trial resumes on Monday, is known to have worked for the US army motor pool in Germany after WWII. He "found himself in the United States zone of occupation," according to biographical information cited by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. After residence in several camps, he "arrived in Regensburg, Germany, where he drove a truck in an American Army motor pool from 1947-1949," according to authors Henry Friedlander and Earlean McCarrick.

Liskin said the circumstances of his father's death were relayed to the family by his mother, Esther, who died 11 years ago, and are also detailed in a family memoir written by his uncle. Liskin read out the relevant sentence from his uncle's memoir: "My brother Maishke [Moshe's nickname] was later run over by a Ukrainian murderer who claimed it was an accident and was released."

Moshe Lisogorski was also working for the motor pool in Ulm, Saul Liskin said. The family - Moshe, Esther, six-year-old Saul and his infant younger brother - were living in the city in a displaced persons camp.

On the fateful day of August 20, 1947, Liskin said, citing his late mother's description of events, "My father and a group of other Jews working for the same company were sitting on a bench eating their lunch. An individual working for the same organization started threatening them with his truck. He was playing chicken with them. They all left the bench, except for my father."

Liskin continued: "My father sat there defiant. As a result, the crazed lunatic ran into him and killed him."

Moshe Lisogorski was 34.

Liskin said that "for years I tried to get more information" to no avail. He said his mother had thought that some kind of trial was held at the time, and that the killer went to jail for at least a certain period, but she may have been mistaken.

Along with his father's death certificate, he said, he had documents showing the insurance payments made to the family by the US army motor pool, which described his father's death as an accident. But he stressed that his mother had always emphasized that "others who were at the scene testified that he was purposely murdered."

Moshe Lisogorski was born in a shtetl called Zetl in Lithuania. Esther was born in Poland, where Liskin was born. Moshe served in the Russian army in WWII, while his young family fled into Russia. After the war, they were reunited in Poland, and then made their way to the displaced persons camp in Ulm, where his father got work as a painter and varnisher in the US army motor pool.

Moshe had intended to move the family to Israel, said Liskin, "but when he was killed in Ulm, my mom's relatives brought us to the United States." The family changed their name from Lisogorski to Liskin when they moved to the US.

The Post on Thursday contacted the public prosecutions office in Ulm on behalf of Liskin, who is ready to begin speaking to the prosecutors and giving evidence right away.

Demjanjuk must be hanged for his obscene, repulsive crimes. Or even given the electric chair.

Berlusconi emerges from hospital after assault

The Irish Independent reports that Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi has come out of the hospital following the attack on him by a would-be mental case a few days ago:

Mr Berlusconi suffered facial wounds, a broken nose and two broken teeth in the attack on Sunday, when Massimo Tartaglia (42) an electronics engineer with a history of mental illness, hurled a souvenir replica of Milan Cathedral at him. The assailant later apologised but told police that the prime minister was "ruining Italy".

Mr Berlusconi said: "If, after what happened, there is a better awareness of the need for calmer and more honest language in Italian politics, this pain will not have been in vain."

Well if he smart and knows how to play his cards, he can turn this into a serious debate on whether leftists are resorting to violence to solve their so-called problems. In fact, that's what's needed now, some kind of debate with leftists, and perhaps to interview some left-wing antagonists themselves, to see if they're willing to debate why they would use violence to try and get their way.

Plenty of Xmas cards for Rifqa Bary

Atlas Shrugs reports that Rifqa Bary, thanks to her campaign, received plenty of Christmas cards, perhaps because of CAIR's attempts to smash that. I'm glad to know that so many have been sent. Thinking about this, if Hanuka weren't ending now, I would've suggested to Jewish readers of the case who care to send some kind of greeting of their own, if possible!

On a related note, The Volokh Conspiracy has its say in the matter as well.

Did a British court issue an arrest warrant for Tzipi Livni?

If this is so, it shows that even leftists as pretentious as her are not immune to the hatemongering the UK already allows to thrive in that country. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, has apologized to her about this, but it's too late, as the outrage is only just beginning. According to this article, there are quite a few Israeli ministers who could face arrest in England if they make the mistake of going there; very disturbing information. There are demands already that the UK change the laws to make that less possible, but there's no telling if England will really make an effort to fix that.

Update: in a semi-related item, Avigdor Lieberman talks about modern anti-semitism.

Update 2: The American Thinker mentions this, but I may have to slightly disagree with the following:

Great Britain was tantamount in the creation of the current Israeli state in the age of Zionism. For this reason, its government should quash this and any future frivolous suits against Israel brought through its courts. However, Great Britain is folding as Western Europe already has.

Were they? Because while Churchill may have supported the creation of the modern state, I'm not sure much of the rest of England did. Britain actually tried to destroy Israel and enable the Arab/Muslim countries to as well. I cannot say for certain this is accurate. I can however say that today's British elite undoubtably regrets their part in Israel's creation.

Lockerbie bomber vanishes

This was clearly going to happen as a result of his being released. The Times (via Hot Air) reports:

Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.

Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance. Richard Baker, Labour’s justice spokesman in the Scottish Parliament, said the whole affair was turning into a shambles and putting Scotland’s reputation at risk. “This flags up just how ludicrous it is that East Renfrewshire Council, a local council thousands of miles away from Libya, is responsible for supervising al-Megrahi’s conditions of licence,” he said.

And if there's anyone who's to blame here, it's none other than the Scottish government themselves for having him released, most likely at the request of the main British government over on the south side of the isle.

A better title for this UK-filmed propaganda would be "An Indoctrination"

Britain's latest anti-semitic atrocity is cinematic, very similar to a nazi propaganda horror story. The Jewish Journal of LA writes about this crap whose scriptwriter, Nick Hornby, has deliberately titled, "An Education", featuring an otherwise pathetic Jew who takes advantage of a British girl, and even British society:

Jenny: “Oh, and by the way ... David’s a Jew, a wandering Jew. So watch yourself.”

We were only 15 minutes into the film and this was the second reference to the “Wandering Jew,” an age-old, European anti-Semitic stereotype. The British coming-of-age film, “An Education,” had gotten rave reviews, yet the more I watched, the more the character of David Goldman resembled the parasitical Jew of “Der Ewige Juden” (“The Eternal Jew”) — one of the infamous 1930s Nazi propaganda films I had studied in Peter Loewenberg’s class at UCLA.

From the moment David starts following the teenage Jenny in his fancy car, the pudgy, effete David Goldman (played by Peter Sarsgaard) proclaims his ethnicity. (Jenny: “I’m not a Jew.” David: “No, I am. I wasn’t ... accusing you.”) Like the predatory creature characterized in “Der Ewige Juden,” Goldman pretends to adopt the values of his host culture in order to turn its treasures into his profit. He offers Jenny “three five-pound notes” to drive her cello home safely out of the rain; “I’m a music lover,” he tells her. Then he proceeds to corrupt the innocent gentile girl (played by Carey Mulligan) with expensive flowers, gifts, concerts, art auctions and trips to Oxford and Paris.

David enriches himself by ruining good English neighborhoods, deflating property values and looting cultural treasures from displaced widows. He moves blacks into white neighborhoods: “Shvartzes,” he tells Jenny, “have to live somewhere; it’s not as if they can rent from their own kind.” The only identifiable Jew in the film, he constantly uses the collective “we” to justify his wickedness: “This is how we are, Jenny,” Goldman editorializes. “We’re not clever like you, so we have to be clever in other ways, because if we weren’t, there would be no fun.” He uses the word “stats” for old ladies he victimizes. They “are scared of colored people; so we move the coloreds in and the old ladies out and I buy their flats cheap.” Along with his partner, Danny, David barges into a house, military style, and speeds away with precious relics. “We have to be clever with maps,” he tells Jenny. An ancient map, he rationalizes, “shouldn’t spend its life on a wall…. We know how to look after it…. We liberated it.”

Is it possible that the film attempts to link the predatory Jew with his purloined Jewish homeland?

If it does, they certainly have done a very clever job making it as subtle as possible. What a piece of crap.

In his book “Anti-Semitic Stereotypes” (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), Frank Felsenstein explains that “stereotypes stress the difference between the dominant group and the other…. The ‘true born Englishman,’ is the ideal ‘counter-stereotype’ of the Jew. The wandering-Jew stereotypes were constantly invoked in anti-Semitic narratives to present the homeless Jews as living proof of God’s declared intention that these were once his chosen people and should not be granted respite until they recognized the true Messiah.”

I wouldn't be surprised if the invokers of those stereotypes were anti-God themselves; the research by Felsenstein certainly suggests that. And the "true" Messiah, I assume, is someone who's anti-religious?!?

Most telling about this alarmingly nasty film is how the writer Nick Hornby allegedly based it on the writings of a woman (as far as I know, it's a journalist named Lynn Barber who worked in the 1960s), yet changed it to suit his sick vision, and do as much as possible to tie this Jewish character's dishonesty with his race as a whole, and founding religion. Did I mention how disgusting it is that an actress as notable as Emma Thompson would take part in this? But I guess it shouldn't be too surprising when it comes to the Brits.

Anyway, there you have it, another disgusting example of anti-semitism from the UK, which clearly isn't going to improve much in the forseeable future.

Update: here's another review from Joe Baltake worth reading.

CAIR manipulates media coverage of Rifqa Bary case behind the scenes

First, Jihad Watch lets us know that the rally for Rifqa originally scheduled for December 22 has been delayed.

But, there's also more: it seems that CAIR, now under investigation by the FBI, has been working behind the scenes on this, and the media has been complicit in their involvement (also via Jihad Watch).

This is very atrocious, and should logically destroy the credibility of Meredith Heagney and Michael Kruse. The most telling thing about the pictures provided is the one saying "DO NOT RELEASE TO PUBLIC" and "FATHIMA RIFQA BARY TALKING POINTS". It's something very eyebrow-raising.

CAIR finally under investigation

Well, let's hope. Robert Spencer writes on Human Events about the FBI's new investigation against Nihad Awad and company:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a longtime partner of the FBI in its efforts to reach out to American Muslims, now appears to be under criminal investigation by that same FBI. It's a refreshing breakthrough of sanity in the FBI's dealing with the domestic terror threat -- and it came to light just as CAIR was poised to win yet another victory in its ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation against anyone who dares draw attention to jihadist activity in the United States.

CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case -- so named by the Justice Department. CAIR operatives have repeatedly refused to denounce Hamas and Hizballah as terrorist groups. Several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various crimes related to jihad terror. CAIR's cofounder and longtime Board chairman (Omar Ahmad), as well as its chief spokesman (Ibrahim "Honest Ibe" Hooper), have made Islamic supremacist statements. Yet despite the many indications that CAIR was not exactly a paragon of patriotism and loyalty to Constitutional values, the FBI worked closely with CAIR for years - until the organization's unindicted co-conspirator status was too much even for the politically correct Feds, and the FBI ended work with CAIR in fall 2008.

Yet even then, there was no public indication that CAIR was under investigation. That came to light through a series of improbable events. A young man named Chris Gaubatz, posing as a new convert to Islam named David "Dawud" Marshall, secured an internship with CAIR in 2008 - and began to carry out of CAIR headquarters 12,000 pages of documents and even audiotapes of CAIR officials.

This material became the basis for the explosive book Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America, by Chris's father David Gaubatz and Paul Sperry, which contains numerous revelations about the group's shady internal dealings. Muslim Mafia confirms what veteran CAIR-watchers have long suspected: that CAIR is an integral part of the Muslim Brotherhood's apparatus in the U.S.

The Brotherhood is an international Islamic organization, the parent group of both Hamas and Al-Qaeda, that is in its own words dedicated in America to "a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house." Muslim Mafia contains details of how CAIR has tried to block anti-terror investigations -- and has meanwhile insinuated itself into the highest levels of power in Washington.

As a result of the revelations in Muslim Mafia, Representatives Sue Myrick (R-NC) Trent Franks (R-AZ) Paul Broun (R-GA) and John Shadegg (R-AZ) wrote a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, requesting that he "provide each Member of Congress a summary of the evidence and findings by the DOJ and FBI which led them to name CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism trial." Holder has not publicly complied, but CAIR is by no means out of the woods yet.

When Muslim Mafia hit bookstore shelves, CAIR did not deny any of its allegations, resorting instead to its tried-and-true tactic of shooting the messenger, defaming the Gaubatzes and Sperry as "hatemongers" and suing to recover the documents, claiming that the material had been stolen and even that Chris Gaubatz had trespassed on CAIR property.

A court ruled in CAIR's favor, but just as CAIR was about to regain control of the documents, the FBI stepped in with a subpoena, taking the documents for its own hitherto unknown investigation of CAIR.

This investigation is long overdue. The respect and access CAIR has enjoyed from government and law enforcement agencies, as well as the mainstream media, has long been out of sync with its steadfast opposition to virtually every anti-terror measure that has been devised since 9/11; its assistance in an attempt to sue airline passengers who reported on suspicious activity by Muslims in an airport; and its relentless demonization of everyone who speaks honestly about the jihad threat in the U.S.

CAIR should be closed down, and its officers prosecuted where prosecution is justified. And if that ever happens, Americans will finally be able to be sure that the resistance to jihad activity in the U.S. is on track.

And those state-based governing councils and authorities who may be still maintaining relations with them should cease all such contacts immediately. I'm glad to know that the FBI stepped in and took the documents for safekeeping. CAIR cannot be allowed to continue with their relentless harrassment of people who're trying to keep the country safe from terror, nor can they be allowed to continue suppressing free speech. It's time already to shut them down once and for all.

Italian prime minister assaulted in Milano

Silvio Berlusconi, the premier of Italy, was struck in the mouth by a crazed leftist while signing autographs in Milano (via Atlas Shrugs):

An attacker hurled a statuette at Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, striking the leader in the face at the end of a rally Sunday and leaving the stunned 73-year-old media mogul with a broken nose and bloodied mouth.

Police said the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi as he signed autographs in Milan was immediately taken into custody. The Italian leader was rushed to a hospital where he was being held overnight.

[...]

TV showed the stunned leader with blood under his nose, on his mouth and under one eye as he was lifted to his feet by aides after Sunday's attack. He was hustled into the back of a car, but he immediately got out, apparently to show he was not badly injured.

But Berlusconi suffered a "small fracture" of the nose, two broken teeth and an injury to the inside and outside of his lip, said Paolo Klun, chief spokesman for Milan's San Raffaele Hospital.

"He wanted to go home right away, but he is being held as a precaution" for overnight observation, Klun said. The premier suffered "a significant bruising trauma from this blunt instrument that was hurled at him."

Police first said it appeared the assailant had punched Berlusconi in the face while clutching a souvenir statue of Milan's Duomo, or cathedral with gargoyles that symbolizes the city. But state TV later showed a video, somewhat blurry, of what appeared to be the attacker's hand coming close to Berlusconi's face while holding the statue, then letting go of the object at the last minute as it hit the premier's face.

Berlusconi was "very shaken and demoralized," Klun said. "He didn't understand very well what happened to him."

Immediately after the attack, the premier, after getting out of the car and without saying a word, was pulled back into the vehicle by bodyguards.

The attack occurred after Berlusconi had just finished delivering a long, vigorous speech at the rally to thousands of applauding supporters from his Freedom People party in the square outside the cathedral at about 6:30 p.m.

Officials at Milan's police headquarters said they didn't immediately know what the miniature Duomo statue was made of.

Berlusconi's spokesman, speaking by telephone from the emergency room from San Raffaele hospital where the premier was taken, told Sky TG24 TV that doctors had decided to keep Berlusconi in the hospital overnight for observation. "We'll see what the doctors say tomorrow morning," spokesman Paolo Bonauiti told Sky. The exams of his jaw area included a CT scan, Bonaiuti said.

He's lucky the attacker didn't hit him any higher, or he might've really been injured badly. I hope he gets well soon, and as for his attacker, I hope he's sentenced to prison for a long, long time.

Unable to convert to Disqus, so I'm switching back to standard Blogger commenting

I tried signing up for and installing a commenting system from Disqus, but I could not comprehend any of the features, nor could get their options to work on my template. Total madness. I found a page on Ask.Com that told to select "generic code" yet their was nothing like that available on the Disqus dashboard to help.

Great. So now I'll have to revert back to the standard Blogger commenting feature. I tried to save all the comments from the account Haloscan will soon be shutting down as part of their change of system (when I logged in today, it put up a wall telling to either convert to their paid options or just export everything to another system), and with any luck, maybe I can install them manually on past posts. But for now, it appears that I'm forced to return to the old commenting feature. I'll try to use something new in the near future if I can find a program that's comprehensible, and most importantly, works with the template properly.

Edit: okay, I did my best to restore some of the past comments as best as possible. I suppose I could keep trying to install Disqus software, but it was way too challenging for me. Even Intense Debate, to my astonishment, was an incomprehensible mess. Clearly, we've come a long way since Haloscan, which was pretty simple by comparison.

Haloscan being turned into pay service. I hope to replace it with Disqus

It seems that Haloscan, which I've used for almost 4 years now, is going to be discontinuing its free services as JS-Kit, the company that took them over, turns them into a new pay per service called Echo. And since I cannot afford to pay almost 10 bucks for the new system - a real ripoff price IMO - that's why I'll be trying to see if I can replace Haloscan with Disqus, another free commenting service, or even Intense Debate, if they also have free accounts.

I hope I can import/export all the comments I have in Haloscan to another service I'll get, but there's no telling for now if I can. I'll try to spend time working on it tomorrow, and hope I can get the changes in gear accomplished as best as possible.

Britain doesn't want food produced in Judea/Samaria

Once again, the UK government rears its ugly head and encourages a boycott of Israeli goods produced in Judea/Samaria:

(IsraelNN.com) The government of Great Britain has begun advising its supermarkets on how to distinguish between Jewish and Arab manufactured foods from the Judea and Samaria regions of Israel. The British Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), has recommended that food labels for products made in Judea and Samaria say either “Israeli settlement produce” or “Palestinian produce.” The labels are intended to increase pressure on Israel to surrender these areas and to result in the exulsion of all Jewish residents.

DEFRA, in keeping with Britain’s longstanding opposition to a Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria, said that traders would be committing an offense if they declared produce from these areas as “produce of Israel.”

Israeli officials and leaders of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria criticized the British government Thursday evening for the recommendation. Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor expressed fear that this was a slide towards a broader boycott of Israeli goods and called the move a matter of concern. “It looks like it [the British government] is catering to the demands of those whose ultimate goal is the boycott of Israeli products.”

How so. A pity I cannot tell what food products there are from Britain worth boycotting as a countermove. All I really know of that could be boycotted is their tourism industry, and perhaps even their cars like Bentley.

CAIR's encouraging Muslims to go to jihad overseas

Front Page Magazine has another interview with Dave Gaubatz, co-author of Muslim Mafia, who's done some research on how CAIR has been promoting jihad even overseas.

CAIR doesn't want Rifqa Bary to get Christmas cards

The Jawa Report informs that a lawyer for CAIR is demanding the ban and seizure of all Christmas cards sent to Rifqa Bary. In other words, he and his ilk are intent on insulting all those who wish to offer kindness to a child in distress.

This is exactly why those who find it offensive that the cards they worked so hard to send should make sure to respond to this disgusting attempt to interfere with free speech. Again, be sure to attend the rally on December 22 in Columbus, Ohio!

Turkey still maintaining military ties with Israel

And that's only for now. We can't be sure it'll survive in another decade. From The Bulletin:

Jerusalem – Israel and Turkey have managed to retain military cooperation despite rising political tension, a report by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs said.

The report asserted that the Islamist government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has kept their military partnership with Israel despite their political crisis this year. Still, the Center, in a report by a leading U.S. analyst, warned that Israeli-Turkish relations were threatened by Ankara’s strategic alliance with Syria.

“Israel’s military relationship with Turkey, including ongoing joint air force training, military exchanges, and arms sales, appears to be secure for the time being,” the report, titled “The Islamist Transformation in Turkish Politics,” said. “Should bilateral political tensions continue, and as Ankara and Damascus enhance strategic ties, inevitably Israeli-Turkish military-to-military relations will suffer.”

I think sooner or later, Israel will have to come to terms with how Islamofascism is on the rise again in Turkey, and that's why continuation of army ties with them just isn't worth it.

Mr. Schenker, now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, said Ankara’s embrace of Syria over the last three years reflected the decline of Turkey’s military. He said Mr. Erdogan’s party, which has succeeded in marginalizing the military, has been promoting relations with such countries as Qatar, Sudan and Syria while rejecting pro-Western Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia.

Are they so sure they're pro-western? Because signs are that even Jordan is slowly cooling from that stance. And one can only wonder how it'll be before Turkey's army becomes more Islamised.

The report said Turkey began weakening its relationship with Israel as early as 2006. This year, however, Ankara sparked a crisis with Israel during its war with Hamas as the Turkish government improved relations with Syria. This included the first Syrian-Turkish military exercise in April.

“Clearly, 2009 was a watershed year for the Turkey-Syria bilateral relationship and a year of setbacks for Israeli-Turkish ties,” the report said. “While the long-term implications of these developments remain to be seen, the current trajectory is not cause for optimism.”

They got that right.

Obama snubbed the Norwegians

I'm sure they weren't exactly expecting this to happen, but it did (Hat tip: Hot Air):

Obama had quite a whirlwind day Thursday – he signed the Nobel guest book, huddled with Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, met with King Harald V and Queen Sonja, and delivered an acceptance speech after he was formally presented with the prize. He also joined the king and queen at an evening banquet.

But he skipped out on several other activities, including lunch with the king, a news conference at Oslo’s Grand Hotel, CNN’s traditional interview with the prize winner and a “Save the Children” benefit concert, where organizers replaced him with an Obama cardboard cutout. Obama also won’t be around for Friday’s Nobel Concert.

It should be pretty clear now that the man is simply self-interested, to say nothing of irresponsible. In that case, one has to wonder if they're regretting now that they gave him the Nobel Peace Prize. Perhaps they'd consider revoking it?

NBC's Law & Order indicts conservative press

In the continuing train wreckage that is L&O, they're even coughing up an episode that features a conservative talk show host being prosecuted for creating a "climate of hate". So what else is new? Cancel the series already, please. And stop pretending it's realistic.

Update: Glenn Beck has a response to this.

Thoughts on a now awful man running a site called "LGF"

I thought to myself that sooner or later, I'd have to address the case of Charles Johnson, blogmaster of the now devalued Little Green Footballs, who's turned against what I thought he stood for at least a year ago.

Well now, after stumbling upon the latest horror story about his newfound insanity, that Johnson is now approving of Hezbollah supporters, and there's more disgusting news about this over here, I suppose I'll have to say something about him.

I was not fully aware that before 9-11, he had been a leftist of some sort, but later on, I was told that apparently, he was. But now, how can I possibly appreciate his coming to sensibility if he's turned his back on it again?

A few years ago, he complained about anti-jihad bloggers who were running the gauntlet of supporting fascist groups. First, I want to make clear that when it comes to the notion of supporting neo-nazi groups who've been exploiting the problems with Islamofascism in Europe, that in and of itself is a legitimate argument. After all, supporters of nazism and Islamofascism and communism share many of the same "values", and to think that allying with them when they're failing to look themselves in the mirror and understand the error of their ways and how they're supporting platforms with similar ideas, is just simply mistaken. And what if, in our quest to stop Islamofascism, we ended up elevating these neo-nazi and commie fiends to power? Simply put, we would accomplish nothing.

However, if Johnson was in any ways smearing and libeling bloggers by wrongly accusing them of the above, that's wrong. Yes, there have been some, most unfortunately, who did make the mistake of supporting Jean-Marie Le Pen, and now Nick Griffin of the BNP, and I may have noticed that well before Johnson did, but it seems there's quite a few bloggers out there who most certainly did not support those fiends, and if Johnson smeared them and never apologized for it, that was dead wrong.

Now, for about a year, he's been slowly doing a 360, and abandoning many of the people who were his friends for many years, saying nasty and libelous things, and it looks like Donald Douglas may have predicted correctly, that Johnson would turn anti-Israel, even by proxy. Among those whom Johnson has attacked unfairly include Robert Stacy McCain, Robert Spencer, and the list is still counting. He even severed ties with Pajamas Media, which he himself co-founded.

It's a shame it had to come to this. Will we learn next that Johnson even voted for Obama last year?

I remember when over a year ago, I wanted to register for LGF so I could try out the linkage system and provide external links on all sorts of subjects that might interest those popping in and out of the site. But I was never able to reach it in time before he closed the registration. Now, I'm actually feeling glad I never got the chance. It's a pity that the open trackback parties that used to be in vogue a few years ago have now worn off (and even I sadly was unable to think about trying to keep on submitting to them, as I became too busy), because now that I think of it, those were far better to submit to than the quagmire LGF has become.

I guess maybe that's why I'm hoping that some other major blog out there will allow its registered commentors access to features similar to those LGF had, but likely no longer; not that it matters now. The revelations I've made on Johnson of recent have left me with such a bad aftertaste, even I don't want to link to his site anymore.

That told, this will hopefully be the last word I have on the self-destruction of Charles Johnson. It really is embarrassing, and the less said about him now, the better.

Thousands go to protest the building freeze

Many people went to a demonstration today intended to protest the government's ludicrous building freeze. It's good to see that this time, there was a serious wake up call initiated.

More on the case of a Liberian girl who was raped by fellow immigrants in Arizona

In an update on this earlier story, the parents of the 8-year old girl who was gang raped by 4 other young boys have been charged with abuse themselves; seven counts total. This whole article in the Arizona Republic tells quite a bit of history about how Liberia developed a rape culture during the years of its civil war, and how the girl's own parents were negligent yet simultaneously violent towards their own offspring. Now, they too are facing charges for their own offenses.

I hope they get deported after any jail time they'll hopefully serve, and the girl can continue living away from them. This is justice that Rifqa Bary, on the other hand, may sadly not get.

Referendum bill approved

A positive development:

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation decided Tuesday to give the government's backing to a bill proposed by MK Yariv Levin (Likud) requiring that a national referendum be held if the government ever intends to cede land under Israeli sovereignty.

[...]

The ministerial committee also struck down an appeal against a similar decision it had made in the past. The appeal was filed by Minister Dan Meridor, who is a proponent of a Golan retreat in return for a peace deal with Syria.

Glad to see that terrible politician's been put in his place too. This referendum is important for safeguarding the country, and people like Meridor cannot be permitted to sabotage it. Extra news on this here.

Saudi student murdered professor on Campus

Look at what the prior Dubya administration led to by allowing Saudi "students" to just come to the US without consideration of how dangerous they could be (H/T: Michelle Malkin):

Richard T. Antoun, a respected Binghamton University anthropology professor who grew up in Shrewsbury, spent his entire career seeking peace. His work focused on bridging the divide between religions and cultures, particularly in the Middle East.

But the 77-year-old professor’s life ended violently Friday when he was stabbed multiple times in his campus office, allegedly by a graduate student whom he was advising on his doctoral thesis.

The student, Abdulsalam S. al-Zahrani, 46, was from Saudi Arabia. Mr. Antoun was serving on the dissertation committee for Mr. Zahrani’s graduate thesis and apparently had known him for quite some time, according to news reports. The university’s Web site says Mr. Zahrani’s doctoral thesis is called “Sacred Voice, Profane Sight: The Senses, Cosmology, and Epistemology in Early Arabic Culture.”

Mr. Zahrani was immediately arrested and charged with second-degree murder and is being held without bail. The motive for the attack is unclear.

Nuh uh. They just don't want to delve for the deeper facts about Islamofascism, that's all. National Review has more:

The two apartment-mates of Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, the Saudi national and doctoral student charged with stabbing to death Richard Antoun, a Binghamton University professor emeritus, said the suspect was (as Press Connects reports) “confrontational, argumentative and ‘acted like a terrorist.’”

Al-Zahrani is a graduate student in cultural anthropology, while Antoun, an expert on comparative religion, is described as a “gentle man dedicated to dispelling stereotypes about different cultures.”

Souleyman Sukho, a Senegalese doctoral student at BU who was one of Al-Zahrani’s apartment-mates, stated he “‘came at me with a knife . . . asked me if I was afraid of dying . . . behaved like a terrorist . . . . would open his door and would be screaming on the phone . . . [and] claimed he was persecuted.’”

The other apartment-mate, Luis Pena, a master’s-degree student at BU, related that Al-Zahrani would abruptly exclaim “I just feel like destroying the world” and would “make weird remarks.”

And yet the university allowed him to remain. This does beg some questions. Whether or not the campus police would deal properly with this, did any of the people who felt threatened by Al-Zahrani ever consider going to the city police and voicing their fears about him there? Because if the university isn't going to ensure safety, then that's why it's best to turn to the outside for help.

For now, I'd say the university has a lot of explaining to do on why they'd let someone so deadly onto their grounds. This is exactly why universities today are a bad lot.