Muslim converts from the Phillipines may be connected with ferry plots

Michelle Malkin finds info that the twosome who may have left a suspicious object on a Washington ferry had trained and operated in the Phillipines. Here's a PDF file with some of the info. Not only that, Saudi Arabia has been providing funding for terrorist groups there as well. More in this article and in another PDF file.

Egypt's Actor's Union doesn't want to do business with Israelis

They're not pleased that an Egyptian actor did some work in Tunisia with an Israeli one:

The chairman of Egypt's Actors' Union said Thursday that the group planned to investigate one of the country's brightest young movie stars for appearing in an upcoming miniseries with an Israeli actor.

The controversy began when the group discovered that Amr Waked, who starred in the Hollywood film "Syriana," was in Tunisia filming a four part series on Saddam Hussein's life opposite Yigal Naor, an Israeli of Iraqi descent.

"We found out Amr Waked was participating in a movie with an Israeli artist and so when he returns from abroad he will be investigated," union chairman Ashraf Zaki told the Associated Press. "The Actors' Union here is against normalization with Israel."

Media and artistic circles here remain deeply opposed to improving cultural relations with Israel even though Egypt is one of only two Arab nations that has made peace with the Jewish state.

Nearly a dozen articles have appeared in the past week condemning Waked for participating in the series, titled "Between Two Rivers" and backed by the British Broadcasting Corp. and Home Box Office.

"Who will hold Amr Waked accountable?" read a headline Monday in Egypt's opposition daily el-Wafd.

Actually, maybe someone should hold Waked accountable for helping make a propaganda movie like Syrianna instead? But there's another example of how "peace" with Egypt is political only.

By the way, why do I get the feeling that this miniseries on Saddam will be another work of propaganda too?

Update: More on this at Hot Air too.

All South Korean hostages were freed, but at what price?

Appeasement and dhimmitude are two of them, I fear. Here is the latest on the case:

Under the terms of a deal reached Tuesday, South Korea reaffirmed a pledge it made before the hostage crisis began to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan by the end of this year. Seoul also said it would prevent South Korean Christian missionaries from working in the staunchly Muslim country, something it had already promised to do.

As Michelle Malkin says:

The South Korean government’s direct deal-cutting with the Taliban ensures that we will see more infidels kidnapped

It seems that instead of going in there and mowing down those scum, they're appeasing instead.

Others on the subject include Eugene Cho, Wizbang.

Jewish Sports Foundation formed

Here's a press release I got from Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Contact: Steve Rabinowitz
Tami Holzman
Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
Thursday August 30, 2007
Phone: 202-265-3000
Leslie Bernstein
Phone: 202.422.6580

Top-Ranked Israeli Tennis Duo Announces Creation of Jewish Sports Foundation

FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – Two of the world’s leading tennis players have formed the Jewish Sports Foundation, intended to encourage young American Jewish athletes and combat negative stereotypes about Jews’ athletic prowess.

Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich, the number six ranked doubles team in the world, made the announcement between first-round play at the US Open Thursday.

“We seek to help enhance Jewish identity and combat some negative stereotypes about Jews by creating scholarships for young Jews who seek to pursue sports in school, in college, at camp or in a youth group,” Erlich says.

The two hope to dispel the myths that Jews have neither interest nor ability in athletics and there are few – if any – accomplished Jewish athletes. They also want to challenge the idea that all Jews are wealthy and would not benefit from nor need scholarships for athletic endeavors or college.

Erlich and Ram formed their partnership in 2003 and immediately achieved success by reaching the semifinals of Wimbledon as qualifiers. They have been a top 10 doubles team since 2005. Ram is the first Israeli to ever win a Grand Slam title; he is the first Jew to do so in the Open Era.

Products of American support for programs in Israel that help young tennis players in Israel, both Ram and Erlich say what they are doing now is a way of giving back to the people who first helped them.

“The American children and grandchildren of those who gave to support our success deserve the same chances we received,” says Erlich. “We thought a Jewish Sports Foundation was an ideal way to give back. There is a need in America and, as products of American generosity, we would like to start here before we begin other international work.”

A board of directors is being formed and the two are calling on other prominent Jewish athletes to join the cause.

“Many Jewish camps and day schools lack an emphasis on athletics,” says Ram. “We seek to persuade Jewish camps, youth groups, day schools and most of all parents to increase their commitment to athletics and developing Jewish athletes.”

“Many Jewish schools and Jewish kids feel that athletics aren’t a necessary variable in the equation of a Jewish education,” observes Erlich. “In fact, there is sometimes a perception that academic performance will suffer if too much emphasis is placed on athletic achievement. We want to show people this is simply untrue. Success in one area does not have to come at the expense of the other area. Athletics teaches sportsmanship, discipline and teamwork, which are all skills with a great deal of importance in higher education and in the workforce,” Erlich says.

Erlich and Ram also seek to foster Jewish identity through athletics for Jewish youth who are as yet unaffiliated or uninvolved in the Jewish community. “We hope to send kids with a demonstrated interest in athletics to athletic camps and Jewish programs, so they too, can connect with their community in a way that is meaningful to them,” Ram says.

The foundation will not organize the camps and programs, but hopes to provide funding to them and scholarships for kids who might not otherwise be able to afford to go. Erlich and Ram also plan to lead workshops and clinics at the camps and hope their fellow Jewish athletes will join them in molding and shaping the next generation of competitive Jewish athletes.

Tami Holzman

Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications

2852 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20008

(202) 265-3000
(202) 265-1212 (f)

Well that's certainly something nice!

Israeli think-tank slams UK for allowing Hamas safe haven

In a followup to this previous post, an Israeli think-tank has spoken out against the British government for letting Hamas operate freely in their country:

Just a short time after former British prime minister Tony Blair assumed the role of Middle East envoy, The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Herzelia, Israel, considered to be the "public face of Israeli intelligence," issued a scathing report in which it accused Britain of being a "major source of publishing and distribution of Hamas incitement."

It condemned the British government for not stopping "the distribution of hateful propaganda against Israel and the West and publications glorifying suicide terrorism," adding that "British authorities have yet to take effective action to put an end to the exploitation of their country by Hamas for spreading incitement? that could strike a chord not only with Palestinian or Arab/Muslim target audiences worldwide but also with the Muslim community in Britain itself."

I just don't see it changing anytime soon, and I don't see any reason to maintain political relations with Britain's government.

Kitty Genovese syndrome in Minneapolis/St. Paul

And it's got what to do with Islam. As Front Page Mag once predicted, Muslim rape would become a problem in the US, but worse is that nobody came to the defense of the victim here. From the Pioneer Press (via Michelle Malkin):

As many as 10 people witnessed a man raping and beating a woman early Tuesday in the hallway of a St. Paul apartment building, police said Wednesday.

No one stopped it.

At one point, the 26-year-old victim knocked on a door, yelling for the occupants to call police. A man inside told police he didn't open the door or look out, though he said he called police. Police found no record of the call, according to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Ramsey County District Court.

St. Paul police arrested Rage Ibrahim, 25, on suspicion of criminal sexual conduct Tuesday. He hasn't been charged.

"It was horrifying. I can't describe how it sent chills up my back, watching this woman getting assaulted and people turning their backs and doing nothing," said St. Paul police Cmdr. Shari Gray, who oversees the department's sex crimes unit.

She saw surveillance video that recorded the attack in the Highwood neighborhood.

Notice how the rapist's name is "Rage"? But most shocking of all is how the witnesses and neighbors did nothing about it.

And a Somali advocacy group is even defending the scum for his crime. The spokesperson, Omar Jamal, has been dubbed an Al Sharpton of the Somali community, and appears to have also committed immigration fraud.

Just a week ago, the Star Tribune had an article about violence in the Somali Muslim community of the Twin Cities and the silence that goes with it.

Passenger arrested for trying to open door on Frontier Airlines

Fortuntely, he was stopped by brave passengers. From AP/FOX News (via Michelle Malkin):

DENVER — A passenger tried to open a plane door during a Frontier Airlines flight on Saturday morning but was subdued by airline staff and passengers, an airline spokesman said.

Police and Transportation Security Administration staff met Flight 514 after the plane landed in New York City and took the man into custody, said Frontier spokesman Joe Hodas.

Hodas said the man, whose name was not released, would not have been able to open the door even if he had not been subdued. "You need special training to open the door," he said.

There were 128 passengers and five crew members on the plane, Hodas said.

Passenger Bobby Vigil of Estes Park told KUSA-TV in Denver that the man had been acting strangely. Vigil said he and other passengers helped a flight attendant tie the man to his seat with duct tape.

"The whole rest of the flight, all the way in, he was yelling and trying to bite the tape, and they ended up restraining him with an extra lap belt," said Vigil.

What a wild animal that man sounds like! There's more about this on the NY Daily News. They say the passenger was "Asian". Is that as in the European definition of what Asian means? But if the press lets this rest, we may never know.

Trackposted to: Stop the ACLU, Third World County.

Leftists who demonize and abandon children

Sometimes, it seems to me as though some leftists are astoundingly incapable of congratulating someone for having the bravery to stand up and do what they feel is the right thing. I'm going to give at least two examples here of some who're like that.

First, there's the Detroit News, once a respectable newspaper but now a low-grade propaganda machine, which wrote a sob story for Jay Bennish, yet at the same time turned its back on who should be the real hero, Sean Allen, the dude who taped him doing his no-goodnik classroom activities. As Debbie Schlussel said at the time, the newspaper "reported" that Bennish's parents supposedly got threat calls, but how they even knew just where they lived is the question that goes unanswered here. Oh, and where are the phone transcripts to back up the father's allegations?

The courageous student, Sean Allen, who taped that jerk in his bad behavior, gets but a very minor mention at the end of the article, about how people are threatening him. I should hope that the school did provide for his protection if needed. But there's one example of leftists who'd rather honor a Chomskyite for his actions rather than to congratulate the hero who blew the whistle on him.

The next example here is a ludicrous writer for Reason magazine named Julian Sanchez, who five years ago attacked a 17-year old for turning in the would-be father who was growing crack plants. Seeing that the article he commented on happens to be from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a paper serving a moonbat area, that's all the more reason why I have to question just how well this was done. But I think the following does give a clue just what kind of danger may have lurked around the corner because of the father's stupidity:

He thought marijuana growing was taking over his father's life. Instead of spending time doing things with the family, his father tended to his plants -- moving the pots around and watering. He said that on two occasions, people visited the house on account of the marijuana.

I wonder, were they potential buyers? Or even possible creeps 'n characters who wanted to celebrate a party with dope? That's what the newspaper doesn't really get into here. And I wouldn't be surprised if the following were just meant to discredit the poor guy's motivations for turning in the awful father:

There were other conflicts. He thought his father paid attention to his sister's accomplishments, while ignoring his own. And he thought his ROTC courses, which were based on Marine Corps leadership training, put him at odds with his ex-Army father "on different military perspectives."

So, is that it? They were trying to make it look as though his decision was less than altruistic? Or were they trying to attack his aspirations to enroll in the USAF? Please. Besides that, it looks pretty awkward when you consider what's told about the father spending more time with poisonous plants than with the family.

Then, what does young master Sanchez say about this?

...this is just atrocious. Some 17 year old pissant just set his own father up for 5 years in jail for the crime of growing dope.

My my, he sure does have a raw tongue there, doesn't he. Seems he wanted to believe what the article said, and to make matters worse, he implied that he favors poisonous drugs. At the very least, he could've acknowledged the fact that the father was doing it without a license. It could've been plants used for making legal drugs, and aside from the fact that even legal drugs can be dangerous without a prescription and moderation, it's against the law to manufacture even legal medicine drugs without a license. Something that many pro-cannabis buffoons don't even seem to discuss.

The worst part is that it comes out all too clearly in the article that the kid was just doing it for attention. He felt neglected by dad, who he said paid more attention to his sister's accomplishments. Worse, he blathers on about how he was inspired to do it by his ROTC classes and The Red Badge of Courage. Not because either had a particularly strong anti-drug message, but because they made a big deal of bravery, and golly did little Trever feel "heroic" (as he told the interviewer) when he turned in ol' dad.

Which begs the question: when were fathers of specific people suddenly above the law? Does that mean that if someone's father had committed aggravated assault of an innocent civilian and stolen their money, they shouldn't report them for that either?

And is bravery a bad thing? Does that mean that if Sanchez had discovered some terrorists operating in his neighborhood that he wouldn't report them? Boy, now is this setting a good example!

Maybe, if he'd had some coherent principled objection to pot, that would be applicable, giving his loathesome act some minute glimmer of nobility.

"Loathsome"? Go jump in the lake, bozo.

..."it's illegal" is about as far as his analysis got. Oh, and kids -- his siblings -- shouldn't have to grow up around drugs. Well, maybe heroin, but pot? Why? Apparently, because twice some of dad's buddies stopped by for dope. I'm sure the kids were scarred for life... whereas having dad locked away in prison couldn't possibly do them any harm.

In other words, he's saying that the illegality of growing crack alone isn't enough of an argument, and that the guy's siblings didn't deserve protection from something awful lurking around the corner? Sanchez clearly knows no shame, and I doubt he's changed much now. What if the "buddies" ended up going violent and attacking the children while they were there? And it seems that some people like Sanchez seem to think that because cannabis isn't as harmful as heroin that that alone makes it worthy of legalization. Sorry, but there have been people whose minds have been sent into tailspin by marijuana, much worse than what alcohol can do, even if they don't end up in a hospital as quickly as they could by gobbling cocaine.

Reason magazine deserves much better than this awful writer, if they're still employing him.

British Jews come to Netanya

No doubt realizing just how much contempt England has for them, many are immigrating to Israel, their main destination being Netanya:

The numbers of Jews from Great Britain buying property in Israel to be used as vacation/investment homes or as permanent dwellings has risen steadily over the past two years. More young families, as well as retirees and grandparents, are coming to Israel with typical British reserve and no great fanfare.

According to the aliya organization Nefesh B'Nefesh, the number of British olim has almost doubled over the past five years, from 323 in 2002 to 612 in 2006. Of the projected 600 arrivals this year, over 400 are coming though Nefesh B'Nefesh. The Jewish population of Great Britain numbers between 350,000 to 450,000, comprising under 0.25 percent of the total population of the UK.

Just as historians now concur that Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere did not shout the famous phrase "The British are coming!" while on his Midnight Ride, but rather spread the message quietly, the Jews from Great Britain are now calmly sending the message that "This is the time for British Jews to come, buy and live in Israel."

"Israel is the only place for Jews," says Dr. Anthony Daulby, accountant and Manchester city councilor (Conservatives) who will be formally making aliya with his wife Louise when they arrive on a British Airways jet at Ben-Gurion airport on September 24. Currently, they are renting an apartment at the Sea Opera complex in Netanya, where almost all the apartments are owned by Anglo Saxons. The Daulby's are waiting to take possession of their home in the adjacent, second Sea Opera tower when it is completed in 2008.

In Daulby's mind, there are two reasons why this is the best time for Brits to buy in Israel. "The rate of British sterling to the dollar (which apartments are priced in) is very good. One gets good value for money and the investment will increase in value."

Second, in Daulby's words, anti-Semitism in England is as bad as can be. He points out that children attending Jewish schools in Manchester are surrounded by barbed wire, security lights and 24-hour guards. "The children are taught that Hashem wants a Jew's heart to be connected to the Land of Israel, and I believe this is the time to turn desire into reality," he says.

If that's so, that has to be the most horrific place a child could possibly attend school. They're doing the right thing to come here, where they'll find a much more welcome society. England's not making any serious attempt to make living there safer for anyone.

South Florida officials told charter school to suspend Hebrew lessons

Something tells me that if this were madrassa, they wouldn't say a word. JTA tells about a shameful act in Florida:

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Less than 48 hours after classes began at the nation's only Jewish-oriented charter school, officials in Broward County, Fla., issued a command of their own: Thou shalt not teach Hebrew, at least for the time being.

The Ben Gamla Charter School ignored the ruling for one day, then decided to cooperate with the Broward County School Board -- even though Ben Gamla's founder, former Democratic congressman Peter Deutsch, said Thursday that his Hollywood, Fla., institution is going strictly by the book.

"I had to literally run around school yesterday telling the Hebrew teachers not to teach Hebrew," Deutsch said. He insisted that there's a great deal of confusion over what is being allowed and what's not. "The school board says we don't have a contract at this point in time. We say we not only have a contract that allows us to teach Hebrew, but a contract that obligates us to teach Hebrew."

Nevertheless, Deutsch said that he and the superintendent of schools, James Notter, want exactly the same thing: a Hebrew-English curriculum with no religious content. "It can't be religious -- that would be unconstitutional," Deutsch said.

Let me see if I have this right. No religious content? Somehow, I fail to see what this has to do with it, but even if there is religious stuff involved, is there something wrong with that?

And again, what if this were an Islamic madrassa in focus here? Would the reaction be different?

CNN only crosses a line with "Warriors"

Jonathan Tobin talks about CNN's ludicrous "Warriors", which does little more than to employ moral equivalence.

And as for Christiane Amanpour, who hosted this tripe, oh, she's just a bad lot herself who is not qualified to be a journalist.

NYC Muslim convert calls Korean hostages "terrorists" and supports murder of Daniel Pearl

The Jawa Report talks about a Muslim convert in NYC named Yousef al-Khattab who made videos where he called the Korean hostages in Afghanistan "terrorists" and even implied that he supports the murder of Daniel Pearl. Al-Khattab had his Youtube account suspended because of previous offenses he'd posted there, but appears to have snuck in through the back door again.

In agreement with Rusty Shackleford, I hope that the NYPD and the FBI are keeping an eye on him, and maybe now is the time to arrest al-Khattab for his hate crimes. Someone, somehow, should press charges against that repugnant man for what he's recording and posting to Youtube.

10 Kadima MKs planning to split

Interesting news about a group of politicians who seem to realize that their reputation needs to be protected:

A group of at least 10 Kadima MKs is seriously considering breaking off from Kadima before the final Winograd Report on the Second Lebanon War is released, in order to maximize their power and guarantee their political future, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's opponents in the faction revealed this week.

The MK said Olmert's assumption that he would face no major political crisis until the release of the Winograd Report, due no earlier than October, was false.

A third of Kadima's 29 MKs would be needed to break off and form an independent faction, but a smaller number might decide to join existing parties.

The MKs organizing the split said they had purposely left open their political endgame to allow as many lawmakers as possible to participate in the rebellion.

[...]

"There could ensue many processes [following a split], and it's better to take care of them before Winograd," a Kadima MK told The Jerusalem Post. "All the options are open. There are other parties that are interested in forming blocs. The entire political map could be reshaped."

Better yet, maybe it could be fixed! They'll be doing the right thing by leaving Ehud Olmert behind and not associating themselves with his own corruption.

Keep an eye out for these two men on a ferry

The FBI is looking for two men who exhibited strange behavior on a ferry in Washington. From King-5 TV (via Michelle Malkin, who's got a picture of the two):

The FBI is asking for the public’s help two identify two men who have been seen acting strangely aboard Washington State ferries recently.

According to federal agents, passengers have seen the men on several occasions exhibiting unusual behavior. The FBI did not say precisely what that unusual behavior entailed.

Anyone who knows the men or there whereabouts are asked to call the FBI at (206) 622-0460.

If you see them, let the feds know, because the Seattle Post-Intelligencer appears to be unwilling to help, this in spite of how terrorist moles seem to be quite active in studying the ferries and their docks. Absurdly enough, the Seattle P-I has even been running an odd haiku contest, but after the responses they got, they've had to admit it was a ridiculous idea.

Most fortunately, many people have been providing the FBI with tips, and aren't letting the CAIR grievance-mongers perturb them from helping to defend their country.

Update: ah, so that's why the FBI is looking for them: a suspicious package was left behind a ferry toilet, and it's possible that they may have planted the item there. Predictably, the Muslim community is angry about it but not at the suspects themselves.

Flying imams finally drop lawsuit against heroic John Does

Michelle Malkin has just gotten word that the troublemaking Muslims who caused a needless hubbub at the Minneapolis airport have finally dropped any mention of the John Does from the lawsuit they filed.

Now, if they're smart, they'll drop their suit against the airport as well and stop trying to undermine law enforcement and security.

More from Hot Air.

Is Jonathan Demme taking Jimmy Carter's side?

It would seem as though film director Jonathan Demme is one of the few people who's willing to side with the horrible Jimmy Carter, and has just made a documentary about him called "Man From Plains". John Podhoretz got a news clip about it.

Demme and a camera crew led by Declan Quinn filmed an intimate portrait of Carter as he dealt with the slings and arrows generated by his provocative public appearances across the country.

I wouldn't be surprised if it were favorable towards this awful man. "Intimate"? I think that could signal that this is gonna be bad.

There's an earlier report here that Brandeis University had denied Demme permission to film one of Carter's speeches that says:

Demme said he had hoped Tuesday's speech and the planned question-and-answer session afterward would be part of a powerful ending to his documentary, "He Comes in Peace."

When they speak about a powerful end, that too could tell that something is wrong. And the title given there, which must've been the initial title they were going to give it, also smells fishy.

Trackposted to: Dumb Ox Daily News, Inside the Northwest Territory, Nuke's News & Views, Rosemary's Thoughts, Stuck on Stupid.

EU stops funding for Gaza electricity, but will it last?

Here's a welcome step that the otherwise corrupt European Union just took, but for how long?

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Hundreds of thousands of Gaza residents were forced to make do without electricity Monday as the coastal strip's power supply became the latest victim of feuding between Gaza's Hamas rulers and their Fatah rivals.

European donors stopped paying key electricity aid over the weekend, concerned that Hamas is siphoning off revenues. As Fatah and Hamas traded charges of corruption, at least half of Gaza's 1.4 million people were plunged into darkness.

[...]

On Sunday, the European Union stopped funding fuel for the power plant that produces electricity for at least 700,000 Gazans. On Monday, it said the payments would not resume because it had information that Hamas was "diverting" electricity revenues.

"We are ready to resume our support to the Gaza power plant within hours once we receive the appropriate assurances that all the funds will be exclusively used for the benefit of the Gaza population," the European Commission - the EU's executive branch - said in a statement.

If they were smart, they'd take all that money and use it to help aid people on their own continent who need it more than a bunch of hatemongers do.

Here's some definite good news though:

Also Monday, an Israeli airstrike killed six Hamas militants in central Gaza, according to Hamas and Palestinian medical officials. The Israeli army said its aircraft targeted a car carrying gunmen who fired rockets into Israel earlier in the day.

Very good.

More proof of Hamas alliance with al Qaeda

The JCPA (via The Dread Pundit Bluto) has some news providing more confirmation that Hamas is helping and working with al Qaeda:

The declared policy of Hamas to provide sanctuary to any jihadi fighter invites additional terrorist groups associated with al-Qaeda to plant themselves in the Gaza Strip.

According to Dr. Zakaria Zain al-Din, chairman of Hamas' largest charity organization, the extremist views of al-Qaeda are spreading among the senior leadership of Hamas. Expressions of this were evident in the adoption of the radical world view of al-Qaeda that accuses other Muslims of being "infidels" and permits their being killed. Radical religious rulings permitted the killing of Fatah operatives.

Abu Ashur, the right-hand man of Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) leader Mumtaz Durmush, confessed that their organization received funds and instructions from al-Qaeda outside of the Gaza Strip. Jaish al-Islam was responsible for the kidnapping of BBC journalist Alan Johnston in March 2007. Leading the cell that abducted Johnston was Khattab al-Maqdasi, a Palestinian who in the past had fought alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But will US forces go after al Qaeda there or demand that they be crushed, and will the Dubya administration authorize it? It doesn't seem likely now.

Norway's law enforcement may be worse than Britain's

Don Surber (via Power Line) finds that in Norway, they've got quite a way of dealing with criminals: arrest, try, and then release them and let the criminals decide if they want to go to jail or not. According to Aftenposten, one out of five criminals don't turn up to serve their sentence:

It almost sounds like something out of a film, but for the Norwegian Correctional Services (Kriminalomsorgen), the problem is real. 20 percent of convicted criminals simply fail to show up to serve their prison term, according to figures for 2007.

Criminals sentenced to long prison terms are particularly prone to bunking off. Almost every fourth person sentenced to six months or more in prison failed to meet in 2006. The situation is only becoming graver, with a total a 1799 people failing to show up during the whole of last year, compared to as many as 1068 people so far this year.

"It’s difficult to make plans for the prison terms when we have no idea who will show up and who won't," said Ellinor Houm, director of the Norwegian Correctional Services, section for eastern Norway.

[...]

The dilemma facing the prison authorities is that failure to show up at prison is not yet illegal. Although Parliament has passed new legislation making it a criminal offence to skip prison, the law has not yet been implemented and until it is, prison authorities can do nothing but hope that the criminals will eventually show up at the prison gates.

Which is unlikely, and something tells me that the authorities likely don't even search for the fugitives from justice and charge them with evasion of the law. And how come it took them so long to enact such laws? Where were the legislators all these years?

Some justice system, right? Even Britain's isn't as bad as that. One can only wonder how many terror suspects could get away thanks to this.

Trackposted to: Dumb Ox Daily News, Inside the Northwest Territory, Nuke's News & Views, Rosemary's Thoughts, Stuck on Stupid.

Britain's a breeding ground for even Hamas terrorists

It's not just al Qaeda that's been allowed to roam free there. Even Hamas is given free access to the blighty as well:

(IsraelNN.com) A special report by the government's Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center shows that Great Britain continues to serve as a center for publications of Hamas incitement. The report notes that despite the terrorism the British themselves have experienced of late, they are not preventing the use of their country as a center for the dissemination of publications that include incitement and hatred towards Israel and the west, and the encouragement of suicide terrorists.

The report's introduction states that the Hamas terrorist movement attributes great importance to the media, both written and electronic, as a major tool in its struggle against the West.

[...]

Although the headquarters of the Hamas media empire is found in Gaza, with guidance and help from Damascus and other Arab countries, it has a large branch in Great Britain, "which continues to be a center for the publication and dissemination of Hamas literature."

There's more at the link, including some photographs. Business as usual in Britain, where they've got no interest in keeping the country truly safe.

Egypt's Islamic tyrants arrested Christian Human Rights activists

I wish I'd posted this earlier, but was so swamped in the past week, I wasn't able to. But now, here's some news via Sliwa about one of Egypt's Muslim dictatorship's latest acts of totalitarianism:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Christian Solidarity International (CSI)
August 10, 2007
For Interviews Contact: Maria Sliwa, M. Sliwa Public Relations, 973-272-2861 / 212-202-4453, msliwa@msliwa.com

Egypt Arrests Christian Human Rights Activists

WASHINGTON: On August 8, members of the Egypt's State Security Investigations (SSI) arrested Christian activists Adel Fawzy Faltas and Peter Ezzat Mounir in Cairo. The arrests are part of Egypt's alarming and growing trend of state-sponsored persecution of Christians.

Although no formal charges have been announced, SSI officials claim the two men insulted Islam, preached Christianity, incited Christian-Muslim confrontation, and maintained an unlawful association with a foreign organization.

Egyptian government officials routinely torture prisoners within the first three days of arrest.

The prisoners are being held incommunicado at the Lazoghly Square headquarters of the SSI. Attempts by their attorneys to contact the accused have been unsuccessful. Other Christians have been targeted and are now in hiding in fear of arrest and torture.

Adel Fawzy Faltas heads the Egyptian branch of the Canadian-based Middle East Christian Association (MECA) - a religious liberty organization. Peter Ezzat Mounir is believed to be a MECA associate. MECA's corporate identity statement calls for secularism, equality and full citizenship for Christians living in Egypt and the broader Middle East.

The arrests follow increased MECA activity in Egypt, including the submission of a law suit against Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and other members of the Egyptian government on behalf of victims of the anti-Christian al-Kosheh riots of 2000, during which time 21 Christians were killed; the distribution of a book documenting the persecution of Egyptian Christians, and the highly publicized advocacy on behalf of the right of a convert to Christianity who had petitioned to legally change his religious identity.

Writing today to U.S. President George Bush, CSI-USA’s Chairman Dr. John Eibner said:

The arrests of Messrs. Fawzy Faltas and Ezzat Mounir take place against a background of increasing state-sponsored persecution of Christians in Egypt and growing intolerance of Christians and other religious minorities throughout the Middle East. If present trends of violence, intimidation and discrimination continue, the tragic fate of oriental Jewry could soon befall Middle Eastern Christians.

Dr. Eibner also urged President Bush to "request from Egypt ’s head of state, Pres. Hosni Mubarak, the immediate release of the three Christian prisoners, and to impress upon him the need for Egypt to respect the internationally confirmed human rights of religious and secular minorities."

I may have said it before, and I'll certainly say it now: put sanctions upon Mubarak's gang!

Houston defendants in Oil-for-food scandal should be charged with treason

Two oil tycoons in Texas who collaborated with the UN in the oil-for-food scandal have plead guilty (via Michelle Malkin):

Houston oilman David Chalmers, accused of funneling illegal payments to Saddam Hussein’s regime at at time when Iraq was the target of strict economic sanctions, pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy charge.

Chalmers’ business associate at Houston-based BayOil, Ludmil Dionissiev, pleaded guilty to one count of facilitating a shipment of merchandise into the United States, knowing that shipment to not be authorized by law.

That leaves Houston oil tycoon Oscar Wyatt as the lone defendant still slated to go to trial in September on charges he made millions of dollars in illicit payments to Saddam’s government for the privilege of buying Iraqi crude.

Wyatt attorney Carl Parker said today that his client is not guilty and intends to proceed to trial. Parker said he does not believe today’s guilty pleas will affect Wyatt’s prospects.

“I don’t think it will mean anything to Wyatt,” Parker said. “I think the government made a stretch trying to tie them together in the first place. They’re not partners. They haven’t acted together.”

The charges stemmed from oil sales conducted under the United Nations’ scandal-plagued oil-for-food humanitarian program for Iraq.

That program was designed to allow Baghdad to export crude to help the Iraqi people while keeping the proceeds out of Saddam’s hands.

But the Iraqi government began demanding that purchasers pay a secret surcharge to lift Iraqi crude. All three men were accused of funneling payments to Saddam’s government from mid-2000 to March 2003.

Here's more on the case:

Oscar Wyatt’s defense lawyers are trying to ensure a jury never sees an Iraqi document they say suggests the Houston oil tycoon “has committed the deplorable crime of treason.”

The 82-year-old Texas oilman is slated to stand trial in September on charges he funneled millions of dollars in illegal payments to Saddam Hussein’s government in order to win lucrative oil export contracts.

The document in question suggests Wyatt discussed American troop levels and possible dates for an attack with members of Saddam’s regime, prior to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

While the purported discussion about troop levels and attack dates are reminiscent of some of the armchair speculation common in the runup to the war, the details varied from what actually occurred when the war started.

Wyatt attorney Gerald Shargel, in an interview today, said the document contains “not a single fact that wasn’t reported in media outlets both in the United States and internationally, not a single fact.”

In a motion filed late Monday in U.S. District Court, Wyatt’s lawyers argue: “This document essentially alleges that Wyatt has committed the deplorable crime of treason and aided an enemy of the United States.” The filing does not contain the document itself, although Wyatt’s lawyers have confirmed it is the one obtained by the Chronicle from other sources.

Wyatt’s lawyers want U.S. District Judge Denny Chin to keep the document from being presented as evidence at the trial because “such actions would likely to be considered repugnant by most Americans and could potentially cause bias.”

But they should be considered repugnant, because they are, though I wouldn't go so far as to say that this could cause "bias". It's an opinion that they should lead to, that Wyatt should be charged with treason for his crimes. And I hope that in time, they are. Or that an appeal will be filed to try and get them to be.

Be sure to check out the Oil-For-Food Facts site, as it contains plenty of info that should be known about the UN's crimes in profiteering.

Others on the subject include JunkYardBlog, Bill's Bites, Marginalized Action Dinosaur.

Olmert refuses to help all refugees from Sudan

Ehud Olmert has said that he'll absorb 500 refugees from Darfur, but expel the rest. But look at what he called them:

In a decisive move to address the African refugee crisis, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced on Sunday that Israel has agreed to absorb 500 refugees from Darfur among the 2,800 Africans that have illegally entered into Israel.

"Those who have entered Israel illegally from Egypt will be returned to Egypt," government spokesman David Baker said, according to the Jerusalem Post. "These people are illegal economic migrants and will be returned."

Is that implying that they're literally illegal immigrants looking to take advantage of state welfare and jobs like those infiltrating the US? These are people who've fled from the Islamic massacres against the black natives of Sudan, and are really here to find safety. They certainly haven't found it in Egypt, where police once massacred many refugees. They all deserve to find some safety from the barbarism they've been forced to flee, yet Olmert's government turns the majority of them away? That's another example of how bad he really is.

Jose Padilla is GUILTY

His trial has come, and he's now getting the conviction he deserves: the verdict for him is deservedly GUILTY.

And while we're on the subject, the NYPD's got a new report in PDF format (via Michelle Malkin) that's important for reading.

Others on the subject include Sister Toldjah, Stop the ACLU (plus, another one), Four Pointer, Hot Air, Pajamas Media, Rhymes With Right, Blue Star Chronicles, A Blog for All, The American Mind, Webloggin, Pirates' Cove, Right Truth, The Hill Chronicles, Neocon News.

Two years after eviction from Gaza, evictees still trying to pick up the pieces

Here's an article from the JTA that tells how people who were evicted from Gaza and Gush Katif are still trying to rebuild their lives.

Spam MUST be stopped!

About a week ago, The New Yorker ran an article about the increase of e-mail spam on the internet and the history of how it all began.

As someone who gets more than enough spam in his own mailboxes, I can say for sure that I too am furious about it.

Libel tourist backs off of Wash. Institute

A victory for free speech in America (Hat tip: Hot Air):

(WASHINGTON) — Yesterday, KinderUSA and Dr. Laila Al-Marayati dismissed with prejudice their libel suit, recently filed in California, against The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, its senior fellow Dr. Matthew Levitt, and Yale University Press. The suit involved passages contained in Dr. Levitt’s critically acclaimed and carefully researched book Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, published by Yale University Press.

In addition to dismissing its lawsuit, the plaintiffs released all their claims based on Dr. Levitt’s book. Dr. Levitt, The Washington Institute, and Yale University Press are not obligated to make any changes to Hamas, they are not limited in what they can write in the future, and they have not offered or given any compensation — monetary or otherwise, now or in the future — to plaintiffs for their dismissal of the suit.

“We view this early, voluntary, and full dismissal as a complete victory,” commented Dr. Robert Satloff, The Washington Institute’s executive director. “As a result of the dismissal, Dr. Levitt’s scholarship stands as it should be — on its own merit, unchanged by litigation or legal compromise. We were deeply concerned about the chilling effect lawsuits like this may have on other important scholars who are researching similar topics, and we hope that this result will help to create an environment more conducive to an open and honest discussion of such significant topics.”

KinderUSA and Dr. Al-Marayati dismissed their lawsuit shortly after The Washington Institute and Dr. Levitt filed a motion under California’s anti-SLAPP provisions supported by a declaration of Dr. Levitt contesting plaintiffs’ allegations. Yale University Press also filed its own anti-SLAPP motion. The anti-SLAPP statute provides a mechanism for quickly resolving lawsuits designed primarily to chill the valid exercise of constitutionally guaranteed rights, including free speech.

Note that this is in the US, though, where the case took place. If the suit were conducted from Britain, would the results be as successful? Excellent question. For now though, it's very fortunate that free speech has prevailed.

Wiki-watching

A new, useful tool to monitor who's vandalizing Wikipedia is now available. So, if the New York Times or Al Jazeera are up to no good, you'll be able to find out. (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin.)

Here's some more from Hot Air.

Others on the subject include Ace of Spades HQ, Bits Blog, The Stout Republican.

An Old City security guard's heroism in stopping a terrorist

There was a terrorist attack in the Old City of Jerusalem last Friday. Fortunately, the filth was stopped, and, there's a video here of what happened:

For more, here's an INN article about the case.

Trackposted to: Big Dog's Weblog, bRight and Early, Leaning Straight Up, Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Point Five, Right Voices, The Yankee Sailor.

A terrorist's wife loses citizenship in Tunisia

And who might that be? Suha Arafat:

Yasser Arafat's widow Suha lost her Tunisian citizenship, the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Monday.

Reportedly, the instruction to withdraw Arafat's naturalized status comes from Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The Tunisian government did not state a reason for revoking the citizenship, but sources in the justice system said Arafat lost her "moral and material rights."

Arafat, who has been living with her daughter in Tunisia since the death of her husband in 2004, was naturalized in 2006. Al-Hayat, another London-based Arabic daily, reported that Suha Arafat left Tunisia last month. A reason for her leaving the country was not given.

It probably doesn't matter either. All that matters is that she's being punished for being as evil as her horrible husband, now thankfully deceased.

Tony Blair's a bad choice for an envoy

I went onto The Jewish Week and looked at the poll they had up today, asking, "Do you think former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is a wise choice as the new Mideast envoy?" Here are the results:

229 people said No
194 people said Yes

And here's my explanation as to why he's a bad choice: because, simply put, he goes by the approach of appeasement, all too common in Britain nowadays. Boo for Tony phony!

Two South Korean women freed from clutches of Taliban

It is most fortunate that two of the South Korean Christians who were taken hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan have now been freed (via Michelle Malkin). However, there are still more who haven't been. And the really worrisome thing is: will Korea perform appeasement to get them freed as well?

Others on the subject include Macsmind, Shyspeak, Korean Military and Society.

John Reynolds shouldn't be head of the Memorial Project

Alec Rawls at Error Theory reports that John Reynolds, the head of the Flight 93 Memorial project, has gone public about the argument that the proposed design still looks like an Islamic crescent. Unfortunately, Reynolds refuses to accept this, and even seem to think that Islamic prayer is determined by shadow angle, when it's really determined by direction towards Mecca.

I think that John Reynolds should be taken off the project if he's going to respond so dishonestly, and not accept that the design that looks like a crescent is just plain wrong.

Exposing Saudi millionaire's terror ties

Mark Steyn (via Fiery Spirited Zionist) has boldly discussed the case involving the Saudi millionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz, who's been using the British courts to prevent his ties to terror funding from being exposed and which Rachel Ehrenfeld's had to maintain a legal battle against.

Update: more related news on Hot Air and on Phyllis Chesler's site. And another thing I hadn't noticed, here's an interview with Ehrenfeld by Bryan Preston (Hat tip: Daled Amos). And see also this disgusting news, because by now, I don't see why any publisher should have to do business with a country that bans books written for a good cause. Fortunately, there is some good news in all this.

Others on the subject include Solomonia, Michelle Malkin, Sierra Faith, Dinocrat.

How America entrenched al Qaeda in Gaza

This week, we've got some op-ed gold from Dore Gold on Opinion Journal:

The U.S. and other Western powers are pushing for a new Israeli-Palestinian breakthrough, to help contain Iran and undercut the appeal of al Qaeda and radical Islam. A grand-scale Middle East peace conference is planned for this fall.

The underlying assumption is that radical Islam has something do to with Israel-related political grievances. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair has made this argument repeatedly. If he and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice roll up their sleeves and work toward a permanent settlement of the Palestinian issue, so the logic goes, they will be providing a powerful diplomatic antidote to the jihadism threatening the security of the entire Western alliance.

But is this really the case? In August 2005, the international community embraced Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza, largely for these very reasons. The "occupation," which they tirelessly argued was polarizing the Middle East, would be rolled back. The Palestinians would take over Israeli greenhouses and export cherry tomatoes to the European Union. They would pump gas from lucrative off-shore gas fields being developed by British Gas to bring in huge revenues to the Palestinian people.

Ms. Rice also pushed hard for the "Rafah Border Crossing Agreement," which was supposed to facilitate trade between Gaza and the rest of the world while keeping terrorists out. EU observers were deployed.

But moderation did not ensue. Five months after Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, Hamas won the Palestinian elections and formed a government. In March 2006, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told the London Arabic daily Al-Hayat that al Qaeda had penetrated the area. A month later, the newspaper reported that al Qaeda operatives had infiltrated Gaza from Egypt, Sudan and Yemen.

Huge amounts of weapons and cash also poured into Gaza. And regardless of their tactical disagreements, Hamas did not fight al Qaeda but in fact joined forces with one of its Gaza affiliates, the Army of Islam (Jaish al-Islam), in kidnapping Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit. In July 2007, the head of al Qaeda in Egypt fled that country's security forces to hide in Gaza.

In short, the U.S. and its Western allies thought that Israel's Gaza pullout would establish the foundations of a Palestinian state and thus reduce the flames of radical Islamic rage. Instead they got an al-Qaeda sanctuary on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The fact that western diplomats do not advocate plowing into Gaza and smashing the Hamas and al Qaeda operatives working there to pieces once and for all also shows how they're not serious about peacemaking. To make peace, you need to get rid of the evil that's intercepting it.

Muslim woman convert murders her bigamist husband, but for money?

One might think at first that this story is about an ordinary woman in America who goes overboard in seeking revenge upon her philandering husband. But lo and behold, this case (via Smooth Stone), which took place not far from my native home city region, is a case of a Muslim woman and convert who may have murdered her Muslim husband (also a convert) for the money.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (Aug. 10) -- A woman killed her longtime husband hours before he was to leave on a trip to Morocco to try to impregnate his new second wife, prosecutors said in filing murder charges Thursday.

Myra Morton, 47, turned herself in Thursday to face murder charges in the death of Jereleigh Morton, also 47, who was shot in his bed early Sunday morning in his million-dollar home outside Philadelphia.

The killing happened just hours before Jereleigh Morton was to travel to Africa to try to conceive a baby with his second wife, whom he met on the Internet last year and married in March, prosecutors said.

Myra Morton had reluctantly agreed to the second marriage and even traveled to Morocco to sanction it under Islamic law, authorities have said.

On Sunday, she told police that an intruder had come into the bedroom and shot her husband. Authorities, though, found no signs of a break-in. He was shot twice in the head with his own gun, which had been kept in a relatively inaccessible place, authorities said.

"Myra Morton's description of events is thoroughly inconsistent with the physical evidence found at the scene," authorities wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.

Prosecutors charged Morton with first-degree murder, third-degree murder and related counts. She was being held without bail pending an Aug. 20 hearing. She removed her veil that left only her eyes showing, customarily worn by some very conservative Muslim women, at the request of law enforcement during the arraignment.

Prosecutors suggested that jealousy and control of the Mortons' more than $6 million in assets were possible motives for the killing. "$6 million is an awfully large motive," First Assistant District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

[...]

The Mortons, who hail from North Philadelphia, converted to Islam about 20 years ago. They lived in a small Philadelphia row house until a medical malpractice settlement over their teenage daughter's death netted them a reported $8 million in 2005.

[...]

Prosecutors have said they aren't sure whether Pennsylvania's polygamy ban would apply to a marriage in a foreign country.

I think it should. A polygamous marriage should not be recognized by any country that opposes it. But more importantly, this is exactly why foreign countries that allow morally questionable practices should be criticized for what they're allowing, and don't deserve our support.

"Intifada NYC" principal resigns

The principal of the controversial Khalil Gibran Arabic school who condoned some "intifada NYC" t-shirts has resigned (Hat tip: One Jerusalem):

NEW YORK — A New York City principal who came under fire for controversial comments about an "intifada" T-shirt that seemed to condone terrorism has resigned.

On Friday, Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted the resignation of Debbie Almontaser, principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy, an English-Arabic school set to open next month in Brooklyn, N.Y.

"I became convinced yesterday that this week's headlines were endangering the viability of Khalil Gibran International Academy, even though I apologized," Almontaser said in an e-mail to FOX News.

The principal had come under fire for comments she made to The New York Post about an "Intifada NYC" T-shirt that is sold by an activist group which shares an office with the Yemeni-American association that Almontaser represents.

The day before she condemned the T-shirt message's connection to Palestinian terrorism, Almontaser told the Post that "intifada" meant "shaking off" and the shirts represented women "shaking off" oppression.

Wrong. Intifada means something like uprising, and breaking the law. Almontaser's defense was taqqiya.

The comments infuriated the city's United Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten, who called the message "war-mongering."

“That’s something that ought to be denounced, not be explained away,” she told the paper.

As far as the school is concerned, some good news may be that they haven't gotten the turnout they were hoping for. If not, good. Their flopping is well deserved.

Others on the subject include Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, Stop the Madrassa, Thought Cops.

LA Times are traitors: they want an American Taliban member released

Those still subscribing to the newspaper would be well advised to cancel their subscriptions, because the Los Angeles Times is clearly determined to undermine justice in the war on terrorism, as they show with this latest hogwash (Hat tip: Rhymes With Right). They say:

John Walker Lindh broke the law. But 'the American Taliban' wasn't a terrorist, and he deserves clemency.

What?!? Excuse me? Seperating between just about anything he actually did and the descriptions that fit the crimes is unforgivably obscene. He should be sent to chair, pure and simple. This is propaganda and denial of the worst kind.

News on Ehud Olmert's involvement in Bank Leumi scandal

State prosecutor is supposed to issue a decision on an indictment following this investigation:

(IsraelNN.com) Testimony by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert before the National Fraud Investigation Unit in the next few days is expected to clinch a decision by State Prosecutor Eran Shendar as to whether to issue an indictment in the Bank Leumi privatization affair.

Investigators will grill the prime minister about his involvement in the sale of the government shares in the bank during his reign as acting Finance Minister. The tender was issued by Olmert in November 2005, during the term of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Olmert is suspected of using his position to help two business associates compete in the bidding for the bank shares. One of the two, Australian business tycoon Frank Lowy, was set to become a controlling shareholder in Bank Leumi after it was privatized.

[...]

State Prosecutor Eran Shendar is right now deciding whether or not to proceed with the investigation of the Prime Minister, or even to indict him. Olmert's future months therefore depend heavily on the lengthy testimony he is expected to give in the next few days.

I'm going to keep an eye out for further developments on this.

South Korean hostage crisis

I wish I hadn't been so busy in the past two weeks, otherwise, I would've had more time to blog about this horrifying case of at least 21 Korean relief workers who were taken prisoner in Afganistan by Taliban terrorists. To make matters worse, two of them may have already been murdered by the terrorist filth.

The Korean government must not bow to these monsters who've taken these heroes hostage, and should do whatever they can to rescue the hostages.

Secret but unsurprising talks between Fatah/Hamas

This proves once again that anyone who thinks that Fatah is any better than Hamas is wrong:

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's plans to bolster Fatah may experience a grave setback in light of Hamas and Fatah's renewal of secret talks aimed at repairing relations. Olmert has been attempting to bolster Fatah's position and isolate Hamas, a militant group whose primary goal is to destroy Israel.

"The talks are being held at a low-level," a Fatah official told the Jerusalem Post. "It's premature to talk about a breakthrough, but at least we are talking again."

Olmert said on Tuesday that he does not have information about the talks, according to sources in the prime minister's office. However during his meeting with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday, Olmert said that the renewal of Fatah-Hamas talks could have harsh "diplomatic ramifications," underscoring his opposition to a united Palestinian government. Abbas vowed not to renew contact with the militant group.

A Hamas-Fatah reuinification could undermine all diplomatic progress achieved so far between Olmert and Abbas.

But it's really because Abbas doesn't want any "progress", that's all. He says the Hamas takeover of the Gaza strip is "destructive", but that does not prove that he's against their existence at all.

Note: I'm back in the saddle now, having had to do some lengthy work for the Man for almost two weeks now.