The big news of the day is a report that during the third quarter the euro and the yen surpassed the dollar as a preferred reserve currency. The amount of dollars held in reserve across the world has reached an all-time low.
The Fed’s correct response to the situation would be to raise interest rates drastically to tighten the drawstrings of the money supply. But that would guarantee a continuing recession, so the rates — already near zero — will undoubtedly be lowered again in a futile effort to induce foreign creditors to buy even more securities that are denominated in an essentially worthless currency.
The results of all this will be a massive inflation, which — according to Baron Nostradamus — will begin before the snows in Chicago melt next spring. Mark my words!
In other news, Egyptian Copts who are conscripted into the army report that they are being harassed, beaten, and tortured to force them to convert to Islam.
Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Henrik, Insubria, JD, and all the other tipsters who sent these in. Headlines and articles are below the fold.
– – – – – – – – –
Dollar Loses Reserve Status to Yen & Euro
Ben Bernanke’s dollar crisis went into a wider mode yesterday as the greenback was shockingly upstaged by the euro and yen, both of which can lay claim to the world title as the currency favored by central banks as their reserve currency.
Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen — not the greenbacks — a nearly complete reversal of the dollar’s onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar’s share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent — compared with two-thirds a decade ago.
Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks — the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund.
Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table.
After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Federal Reserve chief is now boxed into a corner battling two separate monsters that could devour the economy — ravenous inflation on one hand, and a perilous recession on the other.
“He’s in a crisis worse than the meltdown ever was,” said Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital. “I fear that he could be the Fed chairman who brought down the whole thing.”
Investors and central banks are snubbing dollars because the greenback is kept too weak by zero interest rates and a flood of greenbacks in the global economy.
They grumble that they’ve loaned the US record amounts to cover its mounting debt, but are getting paid back by a currency that’s worth 10 percent less in the past three months alone. In a decade, it’s down nearly one-third.
Yesterday, the dollar had a mixed performance, falling slightly against the British pound to $1.5801 from $1.5846 Friday, but rising against the euro to $1.4779 from $1.4709 and against the yen to 89.85 yen from 89.78.
Economists believe the market rebellion against the dollar will spread until Bernanke starts raising interest rates from around zero to the high single digits, and pulls back the flood of currency spewed from US printing presses.
“That’s a cure, but it’s also going to stifle any US economic growth,” said Schiff. “The economy is addicted to the cheap interest and liquidity.”
Economists warn that a jump in rates will clobber stocks and cripple the already stalled housing market.
“Bernanke’s other choice is to keep rates at zero, print even more money and sell more debt, but we’ll see triple-digit inflation that could collapse the economy as we know it.
“The stimulus is what’s toxic — we’re poisoning ourselves and the global economy with it.”
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buzz digg reddit fark it facebook rss Ben Bernanke’s dollar crisis went into a wider mode yesterday as the greenback was shockingly upstaged by the euro and yen, both of which can lay claim to the world title as the currency favored by central banks as their reserve currency.
Over the last three months, banks put 63 percent of their new cash into euros and yen — not the greenbacks — a nearly complete reversal of the dollar’s onetime dominance for reserves, according to Barclays Capital. The dollar’s share of new cash in the central banks was down to 37 percent — compared with two-thirds a decade ago.
Currently, dollars account for about 62 percent of the currency reserve at central banks — the lowest on record, said the International Monetary Fund.
Bernanke could go down in economic history as the man who killed the greenback on the operating table.
After printing up trillions of new dollars and new bonds to stimulate the US economy, the Federal Reserve chief is now boxed into a corner battling two separate monsters that could devour the economy — ravenous inflation on one hand, and a perilous recession on the other.
“He’s in a crisis worse than the meltdown ever was,” said Peter Schiff, president of Euro Pacific Capital. “I fear that he could be the Fed chairman who brought down the whole thing.”
Investors and central banks are snubbing dollars because the greenback is kept too weak by zero interest rates and a flood of greenbacks in the global economy.
They grumble that they’ve loaned the US record amounts to cover its mounting debt, but are getting paid back by a currency that’s worth 10 percent less in the past three months alone. In a decade, it’s down nearly one-third.
Yesterday, the dollar had a mixed performance, falling slightly against the British pound to $1.5801 from $1.5846 Friday, but rising against the euro to $1.4779 from $1.4709 and against the yen to 89.85 yen from 89.78.
Economists believe the market rebellion against the dollar will spread until Bernanke starts raising interest rates from around zero to the high single digits, and pulls back the flood of currency spewed from US printing presses.
“That’s a cure, but it’s also going to stifle any US economic growth,” said Schiff. “The economy is addicted to the cheap interest and liquidity.”
Economists warn that a jump in rates will clobber stocks and cripple the already stalled housing market.
“Bernanke’s other choice is to keep rates at zero, print even more money and sell more debt, but we’ll see triple-digit inflation that could collapse the economy as we know it.
“The stimulus is what’s toxic — we’re poisoning ourselves and the global economy with it.”
| — Hat tip: Henrik | [Return to headlines] |
When Politicians Are Clueless About Economics
Our current economic meltdown results from the federal government, under both Democrats and Republicans, declaring home ownership to be a “good thing” and treating the percentage of families who own their own home as if it was some sort of magic number that had to be kept growing— without regard to the repercussions on other things.
We are now living with those repercussions, which include the worst unemployment in decades. That is the price we are paying for increasing home ownership from 64 percent to 69 percent.
How did we get from home ownership to 15 million unemployed Americans? By ignoring the fact that there was a reason why only 64 percent of families owned their own home. More people would have liked to be home owners but did not qualify under mortgage lending standards that had been in place for decades.
Politicians to the rescue: Federal regulatory agencies leaned on banks to lend to people they were not lending to before — or else. The “or else” included not having their business decisions approved by the regulators, which could cost them more money than making risky loans.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Sizemore: How Judicial Corruption Stripped an Innocent Man of His Rights
I have fewer rights than a convicted felon
Let me make something clear right up front. Misleading press reports notwithstanding, I have never been convicted of a crime in my life. In fact, I have never been so much as charged with a crime. And I have never even got off on a technicality.
Someday, I may get the chance to stand before a jury and defend myself against some trumped up charge, but to date I have not been afforded that opportunity.
Even though I have never been charged or convicted of any crime, here is a list of the restrictions two Multnomah County Circuit Court judges (Portland, Oregon) have placed on me, my family, and on my business and political activities.
By order of the court:…
[…]
So, you might ask, what have you done to get so many big dogs chasing you? Why is the entire political machine lined up against this one man and no one willing to step in and put a halt to the abuse, at least the most blatant violations of constitutional rights?
That’s actually a pretty easy question to answer.
Laying the morality of their tactics aside, I completely understand why the liberal machine in Oregon wants me gone. The public employee unions and the extreme environmentalist groups have spent more than $50 million running campaigns against my measures. That’s a lot of money by Oregon standards.
My measures have saved Oregon taxpayers in the neighborhood of $10 billion so far. That may sound like a good thing to you, but those who live off tax dollars, i.e. government employees and their unions, don’t like it and they are using the courts to insure that I stop putting tax cutting measures in front of those Oregon voters, who “selfishly” want to keep more of the money they earn.
[Comments from JD: Is this America? The restrictions placed on Bill Sizemore are stunning in their scope.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Bill Forces Citizens to List Guns on Taxes?
Firearms tracking act gives authorities access to your ‘mental health records’
A firearms tracking bill has many bloggers up in arms over a federal requirement that would purportedly force gun owners to list their firearms on federal income tax returns.
But while the bill implements sweeping gun-control measures — including one that would prohibit citizens from owning a gun without a license — the income tax provision doesn’t exist.
The Blair Holt Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act, or H.R. 45, was introduced Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Il., on Jan. 6. While the bill does not include stipulations about reporting guns on tax forms, it does contain numerous gun-control proposals that are drawing fierce criticism from gun-rights advocates.
[…]
Keane continued, “The U.S. Supreme Court definitively said in District of Columbia vs. Heller (2008) that the Second Amendment provides individual civil rights to law-abiding Americans to keep and bear arms. (They don’t have to be in a militia to own and keep guns.) This bill, however, would treat those citizens who exercise their civil liberties like criminals.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Blast at Islamic Center Raises Questions
Fire scene tape remained stretched across the entrance to the Ihsan Islamic School at 423 West Onondaga Street in Syracuse, New York as I walked the perimeter of the property yesterday morning.. The criss-cross of the yellow barrier serves a lone public reminder of a mysterious explosion that occurred there last Thursday afternoon. According to authorities, the blast occurred in an “unused” portion of the basement, spewing a cloud of natural gas, debris and dust into the main area of the building and forcing the evacuation of about 75 students and school personnel.
Investigators have yet to release a statement about the cause of the explosion, although at least one additional meeting between fire officials and investigators took place Monday to discuss their findings.
“It’s definitely odd,” stated one law enforcement official close to the investigation, speaking to this author on the strict condition of anonymity in Syracuse on Monday. “There are issues that are under investigation that are well outside of public purview,” added this source, saying that the blast was not directly related to the building’s heating or electrical system. “The blast occurred in a location that one would not expect if it was caused by a heating unit, at least not in the normal sense. It’s curious.”
This source also stated that “It is not likely, it has basically been ruled out that [the blast] was caused by any who shouldn’t have been there, or by an outsider with criminal intent such as arson.” Although such cryptically worded statements tend to fuel notions of conspiracy, it is clear that this source was purposely intending to offset previous publicly reported suggestions that the school might have been the target of some anti-Islamic individual or group. “The evidence simply does not point in that direction.”
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Globalist Cover-Up Hiding Obama’s Past?
Barack Obama has spent (or had spent for him) between $1.8 million and $3.2 million in legal fees to keep his personal records secret. These include his birth certificate, his college records and all else that could provide more insight into his past.
But why? Who spends that kind of money to keep their records hidden unless they have something to hide? And if someone (especially a political figure, not to mention a sitting president) is willing to go to such lengths, it is reasonable to believe he has something to hide. It is reasonable to believe that whatever it is they are hiding would be damning if revealed. What could it be that Obama is so fearful of having revealed?
Consider the kind of power it takes to command such silence. Let’s face it — there is nothing not known that cannot be made known — Jimmy Hoffa’s resting place notwithstanding.
Let’s first start with what it takes to keep the cacophony of silence and complicit cover-up silent and covered up.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Look What Massachusetts is Up to Now!
Emergency powers plan advances through House, Senate
A bill has been approved by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to take the state closer to giving the governor nearly unlimited power to declare states of emergency and public health emergencies.
By a better than 3-1 margin, House Resolution 4271 has sailed through the House with little opposition. The bill is a rewrite of the more controversial Senate Bill 2028, on which WND has reported.
As stated in SB 2028, upon declaration by the governor that an emergency exists that is considered detrimental to public health or upon declaration of a state of emergency, a local public health authority, with approval of the commissioner, could exercise the following authorities (emphasis added):
* to require the owner or occupier of premises to permit entry into and investigation of the premises;
* to close, direct, and compel the evacuation of, or to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated any building or facility, and to allow the reopening of the building or facility when the danger has ended;
* to decontaminate or cause to be decontaminated, or to destroy any material;
* to restrict or prohibit assemblages of persons;
[Comments from JD: long list continues at url above.]
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Muslim Advocates Charge NYPD is Racial Profiling in Queens Raids Tied to Alleged Zazi Terror Plot
Marchers gather in front of the Queens Public Library in Flushing Saturday to rally against perceived racial profiling in the NYPD’s terror probe.
Recent terror raids in Queens have led to a spike in fear and racial profiling, Muslim advocates charge.
About 40 people rallied outside the Flushing Public Library Saturday to draw attention to what they called an uptick in targeted policing.
The rally was in response to raids last month linked to a suspected bomb plot. Najibullah Zazi, 24, who authorities say was trained at an Al Qaeda terror camp, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to detonate explosives.
“An entire community of people and religion should not be profiled or characterized as terrorists because of [one] certain investigation,” said Monami Maulik, who runs the South Asian immigrant rights group Desis Rising Up and Moving.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Napolitano Says Al-Qaeda-Style Terrorists Are in U.S.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said law-enforcement authorities are tracking terrorists with al-Qaeda leanings in the U.S.
“It is fair to say there are individuals in the United States who ascribe to al-Qaeda-type beliefs,” Napolitano said in an interview with Bloomberg Television today. “And so it makes information-sharing, it makes effective law enforcement and it makes the shared responsibility of law enforcement ever so important.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Obama’s Trophy Case
A cartoon illustrating Obama’s trophy case.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Plaintiff: Courts Must Hear Eligibility Arguments
Cites Marshall opinion that to refuse is treason
A plaintiff in one of the cases challenging Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president says federal courts must hear the challenges, because to do otherwise would be treason.
The claim comes from Charles F. Kerchner Jr., a lead plaintiff in the Kerchner vs. Obama & Congress lawsuit handled by attorney Mario Apuzzo.
[…]
Now on the attorney’s blog, Kerchner has written, “The federal courts and judges are committing treason to the Constitution by not taking jurisdiction and getting to the merits in the various cases before them regarding the Article II eligibility clause question for Obama.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sunstein: Take Organs From ‘Helpless Patients’
‘Though it may sound grotesque, routine removal would save lives’
President Obama’s newly confirmed regulatory czar defended the possibility of removing organs from terminally ill patients without their permission.
Cass Sunstein also has strongly pushed for the removal of organs from deceased individuals who did not explicitly consent to becoming organ donors.
In his 2008 book, “Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness,” Sunstein and co-author Richard Thaler discussed multiple legal scenarios regarding organ donation. One possibility presented in the book, termed by Sunstein as “routine removal,” posits that “the state owns the rights to body parts of people who are dead or in certain hopeless conditions, and it can remove their organs without asking anyone’s permission.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
U.S. Can’t Trace Foreign Visitors on Expired Visas
Eight years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and despite repeated mandates from Congress, the United States still has no reliable system for verifying that foreign visitors have left the country.
New concern was focused on that security loophole last week, when Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year-old Jordanian who had overstayed his tourist visa, was accused in court of plotting to blow up a Dallas skyscraper.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Vatican Backs Obama’s Global Agenda
Some pro-life Catholics are acting shocked that the Vatican warmly greeted the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama, who is pro-abortion. They don’t seem to understand that the Vatican and Obama agree on most major international issues. This is the untold story—how Obama and the Vatican accept major ingredients of what has been called a New World Order.
Another untold story is how, despite a disagreement over abortion, the U.S. Catholic Bishops and the Obama Administration agree on major aspects of so-called health care reform.
These topics are mostly taboo in the liberal and conservative media. Liberal and conservative Catholics alike would prefer not to discuss how the Catholic Church, here and abroad, functions like a liberal/left-wing political lobby.
But the facts should not be much of a surprise. A majority of Catholics voted for Obama, despite the fact that his pro-abortion record was well known, and when he was honored at Notre Dame, the premier Catholic University in the U.S., only about one-third of U.S. Catholic Bishops publicly objected.
[…]
What’s interesting is that you find the same Catholic personnel working on domestic and foreign policy issues.
For example, the executive committee on the Pax Christi national council includes figures such as Donna Toliver Grimes, a “Poverty Education and Outreach Manager” for the bishops who also serves on the staff of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). This is the entity that has poured millions of dollars into ACORN and related organizations over the years. Funding of ACORN was recently suspended because of corruption allegations.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Waco Siege “Enforcer” To Rule Over Global Police Force
UN and Interpol officials will meet today to discuss the formation of a “global police force” that would enjoy access to a worldwide database of DNA, biometric and fingerprint records. The effort will be spearheaded by a man known as “The Enforcer” who helped federal authorities both conduct and cover up the murderous Waco siege which killed 76 people in 1993.
“Interpol and the United Nations are poised to become partners in fighting crime by jointly grooming a global police force that would be deployed as peacekeepers among rogue nations riven by war and organized crime, officials from both organizations say,” reports the New York Times.
(…)
For a taste of what Americans who aren’t so favorable to taking orders from foreigners on home soil can expect, consider the fact that the secretary general of Interpol, and one of the men at the forefront of setting up the global police force, is none other than Ronald K. Noble.
Noble, who is known as “The Enforcer,” has been instrumental in working with Chinese authorities to provide policing in the Communist country for major national events. However, his most notorious role was in ordering and then, in his position as Undersecretary for Enforcement of the United States Department of the Treasury, whitewashing the actions of the BATF following the federal government’s murderous siege on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco which killed 76 people including more than 20 children and two pregnant women in April 1993.
As Carol Moore writes, “Noble had approved the decision to go ahead with the raid,” and therefore, “had little interest in issuing a report that either would challenge significantly the BATF’s investigation or modus operandi or would admit these led to crimes against the Davidians.”
Noble ignored in his report more than a dozen eyewitness reports, along with photographic and video evidence, of a BATF helicopter firebombing the Waco church during the siege. He also ignored David Koresh’s July 1992 invitation to the BATF to inspect the Waco compound, which if it had gone ahead could have prevented the siege and the murder of 76 innocent people altogether.
(…)
Noble told the New York Times that one of the main roles of the global cops would be to stop people to check their identities against a global database.
“The police will be trained and equipped differently with resources,” Mr. Noble said. “When they stop someone, they will be consulting global databases to determine who they are stopping.”
(…)
The danger of having a global police force conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil under the control of Interpol and the UN is self-evident. Global cops who do not have to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution have no obligation to follow it. Operating outside of the realms of the U.S. legal system, global cops will have carte blanche to snatch, grab and intern citizens without recourse. A highly centralized system of policing guarantees hardly any liability whatsoever and therefore encourages rampant illegality and police brutality.
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German-Turkish Author Seyran Ates: ‘Islam Needs a Sexual Revolution’
In the run-up to the Frankfurt Book Fair, German-Turkish writer Seyran Ates discusses her new book, which describes the necessity of a sexual revolution in the Islamic world, the recent integration debate in Germany and the arrogance of German women’s rights activists.
SPIEGEL: Ms. Ates, in your controversial new book, you call for a sexual revolution in the Islamic world.
Ates: You don’t know how necessary that is.
SPIEGEL: But what exactly do you mean by a sexual revolution?
Ates: My use of the term is based on Wilhelm Reich and his book about the sexual revolution. I believe that the Islamic world must grapple with the consequences of rigid sexual morals, not unlike the way, as he describes, the Soviet Union dealt with its own circumstances. It must pursue the path of change, just as any totalitarian system must do when it wants to become a democratic society. Part of the process is that sexuality has to be recognized as something that every individual determines for himself or herself. Institutions like moral and religious police must be abolished. People who have sex before marriage cannot be punished or ostracized by society. Parents must be confronted with the question of why they do not allow their 16-year-old daughter to have a boyfriend, while their sons can brag about how many girlfriends they have. Sex education must be taught in the classroom. Parents shouldn’t have to do it, but they should accept it when the schools do it. Young and old people who are already living a self-determined sexuality in the Islamic world have to be more confident and make their voices heard.
SPIEGEL: Where do you see signs that the time has come for such a development?
Ates: Many young people have sex before marriage, and many aren’t even great believers in the institution of marriage. Just look at these young people. They are burning up with passion. They have such a lust for life, and yet they are so inhibited. People in the Middle East are poets, writing poetry from morning to night, and what do they write poetry about? About desire. The little boy in the street does it, and so do the construction worker and the academic. They are all writing poetry about the same subject, the subject that is suppressed more than anything else.
SPIEGEL: You mention people in the Middle East, but there are Muslims all over the world. The world’s largest Islamic country is Indonesia, an Asian country. In fact, it’s impossible to refer to Muslims as a uniform group.
Ates: I think it is possible. There is a strong cultural connection among the world’s Muslims: religion. I find that it’s a wonderful religion, but the cultural interpretation of this religion has led to sexual repression. It wasn’t terribly different in the West not very long ago. But I don’t want to make a blanket judgment and treat all Germans and Muslims the same.
SPIEGEL: It’s also difficult to pass judgment about a community that may not be all that homogeneous. Thilo Sarrazin, a board member at the Bundesbank (Germany’s central bank), came under fire recently when he complained about German Muslims, particularly in Berlin. Was he right?
Ates: I believe that Mr. Sarrazin’s remarks were to the point and correct. We have serious problems in our multicultural society. Mr. Sarrazin isn’t the first to have brought them up.
SPIEGEL: In other words, he was completely in the right?
Ates: No, it’s more complicated than that…
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Germany: Turkish Leader Says Kids Need Islamic Holiday Off
The leader of the Turkish Community in Germany (TGD) Kenan Kolat said Tuesday that non-Muslim schoolchildren should be allowed out of school for an important Islamic religious holiday.
“I think it would be good if one for one day, such as the Eid ul-Fitr following Ramadan, to let all of the kids off,” Kolat told daily Berliner Zeitung.
“It would be a sign of tolerance,” Kolat went on. “The Muslim children already have this day, also known as the Sugar Festival, off.”
Kolat said that such a gesture would be a sign that German society is engaging with its immigrant population.
He also encouraged more sensitivity from teachers in German schools.
“Some teachers, in particular from the eastern districts of Berlin, must for example acquire more intercultural competence to better respond to migrant students,” he told the paper.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
German Soldiers Get Additive-Free Swine Flu Shot
According to a report out of Germany, German soldiers have been given an additive-free swine flu shot that doesn’t contain mercury, squalene, or any of the other dangerous adjuvants associated with the vaccine, raising questions as to why this version of the shot has not been made available to the general population.
An article that when translated is entitled, German soldiers gets non poisonous vaccine, explains how 250,000 German troops have been given a “friendly” vaccine made by Baxter that does not contain “controversial mercury-containing additives or preservatives”.
It appears that there are two versions of the swine flu shot, one for those in the know and another for the general population who trust the government to shoot them up with dangerous toxins that have been linked to autism and other neurological disorders.
Related:
New York Nurses Suing State Over Forced Vaccinations They say more staff have become ill from vaccines than from the actual flu
infowars.net/articles/october2009/131009Nurses.htm
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Italy: Two Suspects Arrested in Military Barracks Attack
Milan, 13 October (AKI) — Two suspects and alleged accomplices were arrested early on Tuesday in connection with the attack against army barracks by a Libyan man, Mohammed Game, in the northern Italian city of Milan on Monday.
Italian media reports say an Egyptian and a Libyan were arrested by police after they interrogated friends and family members. The Egyptian man helped Game reach the barracks, while the Libyan suspect helped Game in finding the explosives.
More than 100 kilogrammes of explosives containing ammonium nitrate were seized at a house near Game’s.
Meanwhile, Game’s wife Giovanna said she was “shocked” by the news and would have never suspected he could carry out a terror attack.
On Monday, an Italian soldier was injured after 35-year-old Game (photo) exploded a bomb hidden inside a toolbox at the entrance of the ‘Santa Barbara’ barracks (photo). The man is said to have entered the courtyard of the barracks on foot, where he was confronted by a military guard.
He then detonated the rudimentary explosives, which were reportedly made of solid nitrate.
The toolbox where the man hid the explosive device contained two more kilogrammes of explosives, and according to reports, it only partially detonated.
Authorities have said if the entire load had detonated, there would definitely have been deaths.
Early reports said the man shouted: “The army must leave Afghanistan!” which according to authorities is not true.
Following the attack, Game was taken to the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan.-
The Libyan man suffered severe injuries to his face and eyesight. His hand, which suffered severe damage during the blast, was amputated and although he was operated, doctors say he will permanently lose his eyesight.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Italy Hit by Wind and Rains, Girl Dies
(ANSAmed) — ROME, OCTOBER 12 — The wave of severe weather which has hit Italy over the past few hours — although forecast by the weather bureau — has led to the death of one person (a 19-year-old Romanian girl whose car was hit by a tree in San Vittorino Romano, not far from the country’s capital city) and injuries to many more in various parts of the country. Another — albeit indirect — casualty of the bad weather was a street trader in Pordenone who, having secured his canopies against the strong wind, died of a heart attack as he rushed to help his son do the same. Gale-force winds led to two Greek ferries breaking their moorings in the port of Ancona shortly after passengers had disembarked. According to initial estimates by agricultural sector associations, there has been very serious damage to crops — especially with fruit being shaken from the trees. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Jihadist Websites Exalt Milan Barracks Attack
Dubai, 13 October (AKI) — Extremist websites have lauded Libyan immigrant Mohammed Game’ s botched bombing of a military barracks in northern Italy — the country’s first attempted suicide attack. Police have arrested two people suspected of helping Game in Monday’s attack, in which he lost a hand, his eyesight and suffered injuries to his face. An Italian soldier was slightly injured in the attack.
“Well done, God will reward you,” wrote a user of an Al-Qaeda linked website who called himself ‘Abdelaziz the Algerian’.
“What great men are those who are accompanied by their God. Death to the tyrants!
“All believers and the people of Libya deserve a good man,” he added.
Several extremist website users said they hoped that Game would be immediately released. One described himself as a follower of Sheikh al-Maqdisi, the Jordanian imam and teacher of Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s late leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
“I call on God to heal our brother, restore his sight and free him from jail. O God — curse all the Arab tyrants and foreigners!” al-Maqdisi wrote.
“The Crusaders have killed our sisters,” wrote ‘al-Muhajir al-Falluji’ in a lengthy statement that also prayed for Game’s recovery.
Another website user, ‘Abdel Rahman al-Nasir’ wrote: “May God free you and release me from my own inactivity.”
The Arabic media largely ignored Game’s attempted bombing of Milan’s ‘Santa Barbara’ barracks, in which he entered the barracks on foot and detonated rudimentary explosives reportedly made of solid nitrate.
Italian media reported an Egyptian and another Libyan were arrested by police on Tuesday after they questioned Game’s friends and family members.
The detained Egyptian suspect, named as Abdel Hady Abdelaziz Mahmoud Kol, allegedly helped Game reach the barracks. The Libyan suspect, named as Mohamaed Imbaeya Israfel, allegedly helped Game obtain explosives
More than 100 kilogrammes of explosive materials including 40 kilogrammes of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals were seized at an apartment near Game’s. He and Kol rented the apartment, which was in the same building as Israfel’s, according to investigators.
The toolbox where Game hid the homemade bomb contained two more kilogrammes of explosives, and according to reports, it only partially detonated.
Italian authorities said if the entire load had detonated, there would definitely have been deaths.
Game’s Italian partner and the mother of his three children, Giovanna, said she was “shocked” and would have never suspected he could carry out a terror attack.
Game underwent a second operation in a Milan hospital on Tuesday, where his condition was reported to be “critical”.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Milan Bomb Cell ‘Do-it-Yourself’
No link to terrorist groups, intelligence says
(ANSA) — Milan, October 13 — A man who let off a bomb outside a Milan police barracks Monday was part of a ‘do-it-yourself’ cell with two others with no links to jihadi groups, Italian intelligence said Tuesday.
The three acted alone and were not linked to al-Qaeda or other Islamist fighters, the sources said.
They formed a one-off cell but were “no less dangerous because of their isolation and because they were ready to die for their cause”.
Police found some 40kg of ammonium nitrate and other bomb-making materials Tuesday and arrested the two accomplices of Mohamed Game, the Libyan who blew himself up early Monday after being spotted entering the barracks near the San Siro soccer ground.
The pair were named as Abdel Haziz Mahmoud Kol, an Egyptian neighbour of Game who allegedly drove him to the barracks, and Mohamed Imbaeya Israfel, a Libyan friend suspected of helping him make the bomb.
All three face the same charges in the bombing.
Only a small amount of the explosives detonated because of a defect in the device.
A Carabiniere corporal received a very slight hand wound but several people could have been killed if all the explosives had gone off, experts said.
Game, 34, was said to be stable in hospital after an operation to amputate his shattered right hand and repair the area around his blinded eyes.
The bomber, an unemployed electrical engineer whose Milan construction company went bust two years ago, has two children with an Italian woman and has lived in Milan on a regular permit for several years.
He appeared on the police radar in 2007 when he was accused of receiving stolen goods.
Friends told police Game had recently “returned to Islam” and occasionally spoke of doing “something for our religion”.
Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said Monday a link with Italy’s part in the NATO mission in Afghanistan “could not be ruled out”. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni called a meeting of the National Public Order and Safety Committee which began on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking ahead of the meeting he said “the situation will be carefully assessed so we can take the right decisions”.
Experts say surveillance of mosques may be stepped up and security tightened at police stations and army bases.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Cordova Capital of Ecumenism for a Week
(ANSAmed) — MADRID, OCTOBER 13 — For a week Cordova will be the world capital of ecumenism: the Adalusian city in fact hosts, until October 19, the mixed work group of the Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches, created in 1965. It is an official consulting body for ecumenical dialogue, made up of 32 members from 5 continents, Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Anglicans and members of the free Christian churches, created the same year that the second Vatican Council came to a close, as the Archbishop of Seville and Papal administrator of Cordova, monsignor Juan José Arsenio, indicated while presenting the event. An “appeal for unity among Christians” came from the archbishop and the hope that the mixed work group, set to meet in the Sant’Antonio House of Spirituality, “constitutes an important sign along the path to complete communion and visible to all those who believe in Christ”. The prelate, quoted by the Europa Press agency, emphasised that the body “develops, evaluates, and supports collaboration between the World Council of Churches and the Catholic Church” and contributes to “reflections that help to make steps forward” towards the unity of all Christian churches and confessions. The work group will elaborate two studies on welcoming ecumenical dialogue and on the spiritual roots of ecumenism, but also on the participation of the new generations involved in the ecumenical movement and the global phenomenon of migration. In a pastoral letter released together with the meeting, the Archbishop of Seville asked Catholics to commit themselves “in the cause of unity”, so that “ecumenism is not a reality folded in on itself, but permanently open to the missionary dynamic”. Asensio reminded that ecumenism “is a duty of all those who have been baptised, the dioceses, the parishes, of all the ecclesiastic communities and the ordinary pastoral staff”. The pastoral letter reminded that “in the last 50 years the movement has taken a path that was unimaginable just a few years ago. It has advanced theological dialogue”, he observed, “and many misunderstandings and prejudices have disappeared among the different Christian faiths, while the knowledge that we are all humans and that there is much more that unites us than keeps us apart”; even if, the letter concludes, “we have still not reached our destination”. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Big Bang Scientist ‘Planned to Blow Up Oil Refinery in Terror Attack That Would Wipe Out City the Size of London’
A nuclear scientist turned Al Qaeda agent was targeting a Total Oil refinery in a bid to cause an explosion which would have destroyed a city ‘the size of London’, it emerged today.
Adlene Hicheur, 32, also compiled a ‘wish list’ of senior European politicians as ‘assassination targets’ including French president Nicolas Sarkozy and the country’s interior minister Brice Hortefeux.
Hicheur is currently on remand in Paris after being charged on Monday afternoon with ‘criminal activities related to a terrorist group’.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UK: The Devastating Moment Parents Said Goodbye to Their Son Left Severely Brain-Damaged by Hospital Blunders
The NHS was today ordered to pay the couple £160,000 compensation after midwives at the University Hospital of Wales (UHW), Cardiff, failed to spot the unborn child was in distress.
One doctor even rejected Ms Rees’ pleas that she had gone into labour, saying she simply needed the toilet.
The harrowing pictures, which were taken by another family member, were released through the couple’s solicitor today to highlight their plight.
[…]
She was admitted at 32 weeks in November 2005 with abdominal pains and was already being checked because her waters had broken at 18 weeks.
But she told how her labour was not properly monitored for more than two hours at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. She said heart readings ‘clearly showed’ her unborn baby was in distress.
She said: ‘I just couldn’t understand why they weren’t doing anything to help me and my baby.
‘At my last antenatal visit I was told my baby was breech and I would need a caesarean section.
‘It was a no-brainer — I knew my baby needed to be delivered urgently.
‘I was screaming in agony and begging the midwives to get my baby out but they just left me.
‘I couldn’t believe it when a doctor arrived and said I wasn’t ready to deliver but had probably eaten something that had disagreed with me and to try going to the toilet instead.’
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Forced Islamization of Christian Conscripts in the Egyptian Army
by Mary Abdelmassih
(AINA) — Mistreatment of Christian conscripts in the Egyptian army, including beatings, psychological harassment and torture, at the hands of radical Muslim officers to force them to convert to Islam is widespread, but is rarely reported by conscripts for fear of reprisals.
In the latest incident, 22-year-old draftee Mubarak Masood Zakaria, a Coptic Christian, died in mysterious circumstances on August 15, 2009. Three days after his death the police in Mallawi summoned his father, Masood Zakaria, to inform him of his son’s “sudden death” of “natural causes,” and give him the body and burial permission. “We were not allowed to see the body,” said the father, who works as a rope spinner and lives under the poverty line, in the Upper Egyptian village of Deir Abu Hennes, Mallawi, in Al-Minya Governorate.
Although the death certificate stated “cause of death still under investigation,” permission for burial was granted.
On their way to the church for the funeral ceremony, the odor from Mubarak’s corpse was so offensive the Zakaria family and some mourners decided to inspect the body before its burial. They discovered that Mubarak’s body was riddled with bullets, his face was bruised and his abdomen was cut open and sewn.
The military prosecutor in Assiut summoned the father several days after the burial and tried to explain to him how his son shot himself during his sleep, with the weapon that was with him, reported Ms Nermine Reda, correspondent for Copts United advocacy.
The father believes that there is foul play, because his son was always complaining of ill-treatment by his superiors because of his religion “My son sustained multiple gunshot wounds, and what the persecutor told me is illogical,” he told Ms. Reda
A mourner at the funeral voiced his fears that the booming clandestine human organs trafficking in Egypt could have found a new source of supply in poor Copts serving in the Egyptian army. “Why was his abdomen cut open and sewn if no autopsy was carried out. I believe they admitted him to hospital for a few hours to examine the state of his internal organs for harvesting.”
He explained that conscripts who are targeted for enforced Islamization are those who have no school education and come from the villages, mostly from Upper Egypt; their families are poor and easily intimidated by the authorities should their sons be harmed. They have no awareness of how to seek human rights organizations or the means to pursue their grievances further.
Army officers have been previously accused by Coptic activists, based on documented evidence, of subjecting Christian draftees to persecution and extreme torture leading sometimes to their death, as a way to force them to convert to Islam.
One of these cases was that of Hany Seroufim, a Coptic draftee serving in the Egyptian army in Aswan, who was tortured and killed in August 2006, after refusing to convert to Islam. His body was thrown into the Nile near his home town Naga Hamadi. His family was told by the army that he drowned. Marks of torture covered his whole body, with the cross tattooed on his arm cut out with a knife.
Earlier, Hani had told his family that the unit commanding officer always humiliated and tortured him in front of his peer soldiers, because Hani was a Christian. When he asked him blatantly to convert to Islam, Hani refused and told him he would notify the military intelligence, to which the officer threatened Hany with revenge.
Pressure from Coptic advocacy groups forced the state to perform an autopsy nearly four months later but the results were inconclusive because of the lapse of time and the state of the corpse. Christian organizations were able to obtain photos of Hany’s tortured body. Recordings of his family’s testimony were obtained and aired by the Ameican CBN News.
Coptic activist Wagih Yacoub said that his advocacy, Middle East Christian Association, will sponsor the case of Mubarak Masood Zakaria and that top attorney Mamdouh Nakhla, head of the Al-Kalema Human Rights Center will handle the case.
The death of Mubarak leaves many unanswered questions, including the extent of collusion between the different authorities, including the prosecution, to cover-up the crime.
http://www.aina.org/news/20091012150443.htm
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Police Deploy Secret Unit to Monitor Arabs in Israel
Tel Aviv, 13 October (AKI) — Israel has deployed a secret police unit to monitor predominantly Arab towns in Israel. The unit, called “mistaravim” has been operating primarily in East Jerusalem and adjacent Arab villages for the past few years, said Israeli daily Haaretz on Tuesday.
The police unit was set up because according to police commissioner David Cohen, Israeli police had “no intelligence infrastructure to deal with the Arab community.”
The original goal of the unit was to thwart terror attacks inside Israel. Later, however, the scope of the “mistaravim” was expanded to include other areas and security-related matters.
In Israel and East Jerusalem there are more than 1.2 million Arabs, comprising 20 percent of Israel’s population.
The community often complains of discrimination inside Israel.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Six People Hanged in South Since Last Week
Ahvaz, 13 October (AKI) — At least six death sentences have been carried out in the south of Iran since last week, said Iranian conservative daily Kayhan, quoted by official Iranian media. Kayhan said five of the six people hanged were drug traffickers, two of them women. Another person was a convicted murderer.
The females were identified as Fouzieh and Khadijeh and the male was identified as Abdollah. A man identified as Karim A. however, was convicted of murder.
Kayhan said the hangings took place between 6 and 8 October in Karoun prison, located in Ahvaz, capital of the southern province of Khuzestan.
Murder, rape, sodomy, apostasy armed robbery and drug trafficking of quantities in excess of 5 kilogrammes are among the crimes punishable by death in Iran.
Last week, rights group Amnesty International urged Iran to impose a moratorium on executions.
Amnesty lists Iran as the world’s second biggest executioner in 2008 after China.
Iran executed at least 346 people last year, according to Amnesty.
| — Hat tip: C. Cantoni | [Return to headlines] |
Iran: Petition Demands Freedom for 2 Christians
Organizer: ‘I’m entirely open to travel to Tehran to talk to somebody about this’
A new petition to the U.S. Senate seeks help to free Maryam Rustampoor and Marzieh Amirizadeh, two Iranian women who have been jailed for being Christian.
The petition cites the “clear violation of globally recognized principles of freedom of religion and conscience” and argues Iranian leaders have made “numerous public claims … that they represent a just government.”
[…]
Rustampoor, 27, and Amirizadeh, 30, have been held in Iran’s prison system since March 5, when they were taken into custody because of their faith.
According to a report from the Christian ministry Elam, during a hearing, the women dramatically refused to deny their Christian faith.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Palestinians Arrested, Planning to Attack Army
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 13 — They were from the most crowded Palestinian refugee camp and they were planning attacks against the Lebanese Army: three Palestinians were taken into custody after being accused of “being part of an armed group planning to carry out terrorist acts”. Pan-Arab daily, al Hayat reported this morning that the three individuals from the Ayn al Hilwe refugee camp, near the southern port of Sidon (40km south of Beirut), were stopped by Lebanese intelligence officials. Another seven of their companions, including two Syrians, managed to avoid arrest. According to the newspaper, the cell, led by Usama Shihabi, already known by authorities, was part of the Fatah al Islam group, inspired by al Qaida, which in the summer of 2007 fought against the Lebanese Army in the refugee camp of Nahr al Bared in the northern part of the country. The camp was completely destroyed during the battle in which 400 people died. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Lebanon: Explosion in South, Hezbollah Criticises Media
(ANSAmed) — BEIRUT, OCTOBER 13 — Another official of Shiite movement Hezbollah accused members of the Arab and Israeli media of reports that “exaggerated and exploited” the explosion that occurred last night in a village in the south of Lebanon in which, according to Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army, only one person was injured. International pan-Arab daily owned by Saudi Arabia, Asharq al Awsat wrote today on its front page that the explosion occurred in a Hezbollah weapons cache in Tair Falsay, while Israel rapidly accused the Shiite movement of storing weapons in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the war between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in 2006 after 34 years. “Israel wants to politically and diplomatically exploit the incident by exaggerating it,” said Haj Hassan, a Hezbollah representative in Lebanon’s Parliament, broadcast by LBC television. The Lebanese army, he added, is investigating the incident, which occurred in the “garage of a house”. Haj Hassan accused the Arab and Lebanese press, which he did not cite explicitly, of “exploiting the incident, insisting that 5 or even 9 people died,” but these are “incorrect figures”. In a statement, the Lebanese army stated today that “the explosion of an artillery shell caused one person to be injured,” and an investigation is underway.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Saudis: Now We Really Want Your Money
Country demands hefty bailout if climate pact calls for oil cutbacks
Saudi Arabia is demanding that oil-producing nations receive financial assistance if a new climate pact designed to replace the Kyoto Protocol calls for substantial reductions in the use of oil and natural gas, Jerome Corsi’s Red Alert reports.
The country is waging a quiet war against climate alarmists who want to use the upcoming global summit in Copenhagen to impose further restrictions on the use of hydrocarbon fuels. The Saudis estimate they stand to lose $19 billion a year under a new Copenhagen climate pact.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
UAE: Supreme Court Sentences American Citizen
(ANSAmed) — DUBAI, OCTOBER 13 — An American citizen of Lebanese origin was sentenced by the Supreme Court of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to 18 months in prison followed by deportation for supporting terrorist activities, reports Gulf News. Forty-three-year-old Naji Hamdan, who has been in prison in the country for 14 months, was ruled guilty for having donated 2,000 dollars to an unspecified Islamic charity to finance terrorist attacks and for having contacts with terrorist group, Ansar Al Sunna, in Iraq. Despite initially confessing, Hamdan’s defence then during the trial said that he was forced into confessing with abuse and cruelty. They also made an objection regarding the court’s jurisdiction, since the actions for which he is being prosecuted were committed in the United States.(ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
“Drive Them Out of Kabul”
Santa Barbara barracks attacker’s comment on bombing of Italian soldiers
MILAN — “They’ve got to go home, otherwise that sort of thing will happen again”. Sporting an untidy beard, a thick moustache and a strange angry look, Mohamed Game talked about the attack in Kabul in which six Italian paratroops lost their lives. That evening, a few days after the 17 September bombing, he was holding forth to two friends: “They shouldn’t be in Afghanistan. Someone has to make them realise”.
The two friends nodded without giving much thought to Game’s words. Later on, they began to wonder: “What’s happening to him?” The signs were getting more urgent: the days spent at the computer, the obsessive interest in Afghanistan and the interest in religion. And those appeals that now sound worrying: “We’ve got to take a stand. We’ve got to wage jihad”. The transformation took place over the past six or eight months but no one saw how deeply the father of four, a former businessman and restaurateur, had sunk into Islamist delusions. Not even his wife, Giovanna, 39, who told investigators: “I didn’t think it would come to this”. Terrorist aspirations were burgeoning in a council house near the San Siro football stadium.
When he decided to become a suicide bomber, Mohamed Game chose the target nearest home, the barracks just five minutes away from his front door. The Benghazi-born Libyan national will be thirty-five next Saturday. He came to Italy in early 2000 and at first, his story was one of successful immigration. In 2004, he set up a building company. He won contracts, worked on many sites and in 2005 became a partner in a restaurant. He drove a Mercedes 200, drank alcohol and did not go to the mosque. He took a divorced wife with two children. Religion was the last thing on his mind. Then last year, Game’s world began to fall apart financially. “The builders haven’t paid me”, he told his friends, “I don’t know what to do”.
Game told friends how a builder in receivership had crippled his company by bouncing a 100,000-euro cheque. Court records add more detail. Next month, there will be the first hearings for seven workers Game employed but failed to pay from October to December 2008. Five were illegals who complained to the Tribunale dell’immigrato association. There are also rumours that Mohamed Game was a gangmaster and, according to the charges, exploited undeclared workers.
In the past few months, Game had been in serious trouble. He lives in a ground-floor home in Via Civitali that his wife has occupied since 2003 with her two children by her first husband (she had two more with Game). Six people in thirty square metres with no toilet. They are illegal occupants and started to fall behind with the rent. The last straw was a heart operation which also worsened Game’s diabetes. Depressed and increasingly worried, Game started to pray over the past six months and occasionally attended the mosque in Viale Jenner. He became a faithful devotee of internet jihad and for the first time in his life observed Ramadan. He frequented radicals and struck up a close friendship with a neighbour, an Egyptian plumber.
What makes a suicide bomber? Mohamed Game’s friend may have an answer to this question: “His life was in tatters. He couldn’t go on. He might have been thinking about killing himself. In the grip of depression, he was seeking a cause, something to hang onto”. First, he found the idea, radical Islam. Then he found a target, the barracks one kilometre from his home in Milan.
English translation by Giles Watson
www.watson.it
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Obama Pushing India Into Back Seat
‘Reality is greater attention is being paid to China’s sensitivities’
While President Obama has bestowed on India the honor of his administration’s first state dinner at the White House, he is edging more toward China in its battle of words with India over a key border area and inching away from prior Bush administration commitments to New Delhi, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.
The state dinner with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh comes Nov. 24. While it is considered to be one of the more outgoing displays of friendship, recent policy initiatives by the Obama administration take issue with maintaining previous commitments and support.
In recent months, the Obama administration has shown greater favor for India’s arch-rival, Pakistan, through increased military cooperation in going after Islamist extremists in neighboring Afghanistan.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Malta Rescues 78 Migrants at Sea in Gale
(ANSAmed) — VALLETTA (MALTA), OCTOBER 13 — A group of 78 migrants was rescued last night by a vessel from the Maltese Navy about 69 miles south of Valletta during a gale with seas reported at Force 6-7. There were 25 women among them, 5 of which were in a advanced stage of pregnancy, and five minors. They were the same illegal migrants aboard a large rubber boat with the motor broken to launch the SOS via satellite telephone. The immigrants, who arrived this morning in the port of Valletta, are all in good health, accept for one of the pregnant women who was transported to hospital as she was about to give birth. (ANSAmed).
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
USA: Hispanics Mull Boycotting 2010 Census
Angered by President Obama’s lack of success in legalizing illegal immigrants, some Hispanic activists are urging all Hispanics to boycott the 2010 census as a sign of displeasure.
Other groups have asked the federal government to suspend immigration raids while census takers are in the field, hoping that will make illegal immigrants more likely to respond to questions.
[…]
Meanwhile, a group of Republican senators is trying to have the 2010 census form include a question about citizenship. They are trying to set a precedent that congressional seats be reapportioned based on a count of citizens, rather than all residents.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Principal to Boy: Strip Off ‘Insulting’ Pro-Life Shirt
Student wears ‘Abortion is not health care’ slogan to Obama school speech
A Christian middle-school student is suing his school district after a principal ordered him to remove a T-shirt bearing the message “Abortion is not health care” on the day of President Obama’s speech to schoolchildren.
[…]
The boy wore the T-shirt to his classes at Crossroads Middle School and said he received no complaints until his fifth-period teacher ordered him to go to the principal’s office to determine whether the shirt was “appropriate.”
E.B. claims he was immediately told to remove his shirt “because it might insult somebody.”
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Schwarzenegger Signs Gay Rights Bills
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed two gay rights bills, one honoring late activist Harvey Milk and another recognizing same-sex marriages performed in other states.
In the last of hundreds of bill actions taken before midnight Sunday, Schwarzenegger approved the two bills by Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
A Third of Dinosaur Species Never Existed?
Many dinosaurs may be facing a new kind of extinction—a controversial theory suggests as many as a third of all known dinosaur species never existed in the first place.
That’s because young dinosaurs didn’t look like Mini-Me versions of their parents, according to new analyses by paleontologists Mark Goodwin, University of California, Berkeley, and Jack Horner, of Montana State University.
Instead, like birds and some other living animals, the juveniles went through dramatic physical changes during adulthood.
This means many fossils of young dinosaurs, including T. rex relatives, have been misidentified as unique species, the researchers argue…
| — Hat tip: Fjordman | [Return to headlines] |
Sex and Socialism
Socialism cannot operate under the familial model of Western Civilization. Under a socialist regime, there can be no traditional family, as the state is the leader of, and the provider for, everyone. Additionally, all spirituality and emotion must be reserved solely for the state. Therefore, Marx knew that in order to make socialism succeed, he had to find a way to destroy the family.
The easiest way to accomplish this goal, he found, was to encourage any and all sex. If sex was commonplace and unmarried individuals had relations with as many partners as they desired, sex would lose all of its spiritual and emotional meaning. Thus, marriage would become irrelevant, and families would eventually cease to exist.
To that end, Marx applied his economic philosophy to his view of marriage. Just as he preached that all private property should be abolished, he likewise preached that all private relationships should be abolished. In “The Communist Manifesto,” Marx called for the “open community of women,” meaning that no woman should be sexually exclusive to one man. Instead, women were to share themselves with all men, no strings attached. This is the origin of the “free love” movement popularized in the 1960s.
Indeed, it’s no mistake that the rise in socialist-based entitlement programs in the 1960s coincided exactly with the rise of the “free love” movement. It was the socialist one-two punch against our traditional culture. “Sexual liberation” would devalue the meaning of sex and family, and the state would step in to fill the void, replacing the husband as leader and provider.
| — Hat tip: JD | [Return to headlines] |
Sunstein needs a brain transplant. There was a story recently about a transplant recipient contracting cancer from a donated organ.
You have maybe read that today Putin announced the Russians have the right to start a nuclear war.
Almost simultaneously, BIG BRObama surrendered to the Iranian theocrats by cutting off funds to the underground resistance:
“The move is apparently intended to please Iran’s rulers after they criticized President Obama and the State Department for allegedly seeking to fund a “velvet revolution” during the June presidential elections in Iran.
“It sounds like the Iranians complained in Geneva and we acceded to their demands,” a former senior government official familiar with the pro-democracy programs told Newsmax.”
See:
Surrender