Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/14/2013

The BBC has been hit with its first lawsuit in the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal. A woman who was allegedly victimized by Mr. Savile on BBC premises while still a child is suing the Beeb for an undisclosed amount. Dozens of other women are lined up behind her intending to file their own lawsuits.

In other news, Salafist Egyptian clerics warned Muslims not to observe St. Valentine’s Day, which they say is contrary to Islam. They said people should not wear red for the occasion, and cautioned street vendors not to sell heart-shaped balloons.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to C. Cantoni, Fjordman, Insubria, JD, JP, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Financial Crisis
» Children of Europe’s Debtor Countries Pushed Into Poverty, Charity Says
» Codacons Calls Italian Govt Growth Estimates a ‘Mirage’
» Economy Contracts Again, The Netherlands is Back in Recession
» Former MPS Finance Chief Detained in Italian Fraud Probe
» Greece: PPC Losing Millions Due to Electricity Theft
» Greek GDP Shrank 6% in Fourth Quarter Amid Jobless Crisis
» Is it Fair for People on Food Stamps to Buy Prime Rib and Lobster While Working Families Barely Survive?
» Italians Prefer ‘Happy Hour’ Option to Restaurants
» Italy: Vendola Taunts Monti on Twitter
» Italy: Ex-Publisher Angelo Rizzoli Arrested for Bankruptcy Fraud
 
USA
» A Call to Islam in the Arizona Senate
» Al Jazeera Hires K Street to Lobby Congress
» Cartel Kingpin Chicago’s New Public Enemy No. 1
» Court Orders Alpharetta, Mosque to Work Out Differences
» Daniel Pipes: Smart University Giving
» Empty Rhetoric and Meaningless Lines: The Obama Non-Presidency
» Gun Confiscation for US; Gun Protection for Them
» Media Reports Say American Airlines, US Airways to Merge
» Meet Stingray Surveillance: The “Unconstitutional, All-You-Can-Eat Data Buffet”
» Missouri Democrats Call for Gun Confiscation
» New Surveillance System Tracks Every Moving Object in an Entire City
» Pat Robertson Claims Islam is ‘Demonic’ And ‘Not a Religion’ But an Economic System
» Police Ludicrously Claim Dorner Cabin Fire Was Not Intentional
» Senate Gun Control Panel Gets an Earful
» Shaken Baby Syndrome Often Just a Cover Story for Children Who Are Brain Damaged by Vaccines
» State of the Union Address: Instigator on Jailhouse Steps
» The Living, Breathing — DEAD Constitution
» The Social Engineering of Texas’ CSCOPE Curriculum
» The State of DisUnion
» Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3g Capital to Buy Heinz in $28bn Deal
» Washington State Bill Would Make Almost All Gun Owners Criminals
» Why the Elite Would Lose a Civil War
 
Canada
» Deutsch Bahn Sues Train Builder Over Faults
 
Europe and the EU
» Berlusconi Lashes Out Against Italian Justice
» Geneva Physics Lab Shuts Down Accelerator
» Germany: Dresden Deserves to be Remembered
» Italy: Centre-Left Leader ‘Ashamed’ For Berlusconi
» Italy: Berlusconi Pledges Tax Cuts in Election Run-Up
» Italy: Monti Rejects Berlusconi’s ‘PD Alliance’ Claim
» Italy: Monti Denies Opening Up to Left-Wing SEL
» Italy: Danger Orsi Could Tamper With Evidence, Say Prosecutors
» Italy: League to Sue Over Reports of Finmeccanica Link
» Italy: Formigoni: Dacco Pressure Ensured Funding, Says Merlino
» Italy: Vatican to Restore Secret Papal Walkway
» Italy: Berlusconi Supporters Angry at German ‘Interference’
» Italy: Finance Police Seize 400 Tonnes of Fraudulent Olive Oil
» Norway: Man Arrested in Oslo Over Parliament Threats
» Small Bomb Targets Greek Far-Right Party Office in Piraeus
» Stoiber Says ‘Bunga Bunga’ Premier Left ‘Unbelievable’ Mark
» Sweden: Beacon of the Right
» UK: ‘I Hope You Suffer a Life-Threatening Illness’: Paramedic ‘Wrote on Facebook’ About Campaigner Who Helped Bring About Inquiry Into Scandal-Hit Stafford Hospital
» UK: Beware of a BBC Fleet Street
» UK: BBC Faces First Lawsuit for Jimmy Savile Sex Abuse Case
» UK: NHS Chief Gary Walker ‘Knew About Problems at Mid Staffordshire Hospital for Four Years’
» UK: Operation Bullfinch: Day 19: Bullfinch Trial Blog
» UK: Operation Bullfinch: Doctor “Arranged Golf Trip” While Examining Teenage Rape Victim
» UK: When Human Rights Organisations Align With the Far-Right
 
Balkans
» A Bad Grade for Air Quality in the Balkans
» Macedonia: Illegal Mosques Financed by Saudis Springing Up Near You
 
North Africa
» Al Azhar Wants Respect for the Muslim World From New Pope
» Egypt Widens Gaza Smuggling Tunnels
» Morocco: HM the King Sends Message to Participants in Inauguration Ceremony of Renovated Synagogue in Fes
» Saint Valentine: Egyptian Salafists Say It’s a Sin
» Tunisia: World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim — ‘Tunisia Inspired the World’
» Tunisia’s Young ‘General’ Sees Future in Sharia
 
Middle East
» 13 Saudis Among the Top Most Powerful Arabs
» Bahrein: Clashes Between Protestors and Police, One Dead
» Iran’s Senior Commander Assassinated in Lebanon: TV
» Opposition Says Erdogan ‘Islamizing’ Turkish Airlines
» Saudi Arabia: Haia to Enforce Ban on Men in Lingerie Shops Next Week
 
Russia
» Huge Section of Roof Covering Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Which Exploded Collapses Under the Weight of Snow
» Ukraine: Chechen Man Educated in Cotswolds to Go on Trial Over Putin Plot
 
Caucasus
» Suicide Car Bombing Kills 3 Policemen in Russia’s Dagestan
 
South Asia
» Bomb Blast Kills 4, Injures 13 in NW Pakistan
» Hollande Begins Crucial Trade Offensive in India
» India Govt May Cancel Probed Italian Helicopter Deal
» India: Live Blog: One Billion Rising
» India: Sound Familiar?
» NATO Air Strike Kills Civilians in Eastern Afghanistan, Officials Say
» Pakistan: Parties Hold Grand Moot on Terrorism, Taliban Talks
» Scores of Rohingyas Seek Refuge in Thailand
» U.S. Commander Calls on Afghan President
 
Far East
» Rampage in Guam Tourist District Leaves Three Dead and 11 Hurt After Driver Smashes Car Into Pedestrians and Slashes People With a Knife
 
Australia — Pacific
» Australia: Nothing to Fear From Me, Says Geert Wilders
» Geert Wilders on Australian TV Weathers a Very Hostile Interview
 
Sub-Saharan Africa
» Irish Soldiers to be Deployed to Mali: Minister
» Malawi Battles Witchcraft With Help From Norway
» Mali: Telegraph Finds Al-Qaeda Plan in Timbuktu
 
Immigration
» David Cameron Urges Indians to Come to ‘Welcoming’ Britain
 
Culture Wars
» Court Dismisses 6-Year-Old Challenge to Ten Commandments Monument; ACLU to Pay Costs
» Denmark: City’s Anti-Hate Campaigning Focusing on Gays and Jews
» Forcing Christians to Sin
» France: Euthanasia Should be Permitted: Ethics Council
» Italy: Gay MP Appeals to EU for Same-Sex Marriage Recognition
» Now Soliciting Bids for the G.I. Jane Combat Hall of Fame
» Obama Continues Radical Social Engineering of the Military
 
General
» Expert: Combat Terrorism With “Highly Drastic” Population Control
» Runaway Stars to Fill in the Blanks in Milky Way Map

Children of Europe’s Debtor Countries Pushed Into Poverty, Charity Says

Almost a third of children in Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain have been pushed to the brink of poverty by austerity designed to bring down public debt, the global charity Caritas said on Thursday.

Italy and euro zone countries that have received international loans are creating a generation of poorly-fed young people with low morale and few job prospects as the number of children at risk of poverty continues to rise, the charity said, citing EU statistics.

“This could be a recipe not just for one lost generation in Europe but for several lost generations,” Caritas said.

Since 2010 Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain have received tens of billions in loans from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in return for spending cutbacks and tax rises. Indebted Italy has not received an international loan.

In all five of these countries the increasing rate of children close to poverty coincides with the height of the crisis in 2008 and rises year-on-year to 2011. Statistics for 2012 are not yet available.

The charity blames children’s growing impoverishment on family-unfriendly cuts to welfare, unemployment benefits, rising value-added tax and increased fuel duties.

“It has become an established fact that children are more at risk of poverty than any other demographic,” Deirdre de Burca from Caritas said.

Figures from the European Commission show that in 2011 over 30 percent of children in Spain and Greece were at risk of poverty or exclusion, a four percentage point rise since 2005. In Portugal that figure is just below a third at 28.6 percent.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Codacons Calls Italian Govt Growth Estimates a ‘Mirage’

Istat posts GDP drop of 2.2% in 2012

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — Italian consumer association Codacons has defined government growth estimates for 2013 as ‘a mirage’ in light of the latest figures from the national statistics institute.

On Thursday Istat said recession-hit Italy’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 2.2% in 2012 with respect to the previous year according to seasonally adjusted data.

If GDP posts no growth in each quarter of 2013 it will drop a further 1% compared with this year, it added.

The figures “show that government growth estimates for the end of 2013 are somewhat miscalculated, not to say miraculous.

In short: a mirage,” Codacons said in a statement. “It is no accident that the European Central Bank has just revised downwards its growth estimates for the entire eurozone, predicting that GDP will remain unchanged in 2013, namely that there will be no growth until 2014”. No sector of the Italian economy has been spared the crisis, the consumer association said.

Codacons also called for the new government that will emerge from elections on February 24 and 25 to reconcile measures for book-balancing and growth.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Economy Contracts Again, The Netherlands is Back in Recession

The Dutch economy shrank by 0.2% in the final quarter of last year, meaning the Netherlands is now back in recession, according to initial estimates released by the national statistics office CBS on Thursday.

Year-on-year, the economy contracted 0.9% in the final quarter, the CBS said. In the third quarter, the economy shrank by 1% year-on-year. Two successive contractions means the country is officially in recession.

Household spending was down 3.2% in the final quarter, compared with the year earlier period. Investments were down 5.2% but exports provided some relief, showing 3.2% growth.

Earlier this week, the CBS said inflation has now reached 3%, its highest level in four years.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Former MPS Finance Chief Detained in Italian Fraud Probe

Baldassari probed for criminal association

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — The former head of the finance department of Monte dei Pasch di Siena (MPS), Gianluca Baldassari, was detained on Thursday as part of an investigation into fraud at the troubled Italian bank. Police said there was a risk the probed manager, who is being investigated for criminal association and aggravated fraud, may try to flee.

Siena prosecutors have in previous days ordered the seizure of some 20 million euros in assets which Baldassari — who was arrested in Milan — is accused of having entrusted to two fiduciary companies, Galvani Fiduciaria and Compagnia Fiduciaria Nazionale. According to the investigators, the money was initially held in foreign accounts and subsequently repatriated to Italy under a tax amnesty program.

The Siena prosecutors say they are certain that the money, as well as some other 40 million euros seized from Baldassari and other suspects, was obtained illegally.

Furthermore, the prosecutors say that the money is proof of illicit operations carried out in the bank by finance department.

MPS, Italy’s third-largest lender and oldest bank, is creaking under the weight of failed derivatives transactions and a corruption scandal which has involved some of the bank’s top managers.

The bank was thrown into crisis in January when it emerged that a shady series of derivative and structured finance deals produced losses in excess of 720 million euros.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Greece: PPC Losing Millions Due to Electricity Theft

Consumers tamper with meters to avoid paying their bills

(ANSAmed) — ATHENS — The phenomenon of electricity theft has grown out of control in the last years in Greece due to the economic crisis and the inability of many to pay their bills. While before the crisis power theft was only seen in certain downgraded areas such as Roma settlements, it has now spread across the country and into expensive areas too, including the northern suburbs of Athens. As daily kathimerini reports, officials at the Hellenic Electrical Energy Distribution Network Operator (DEDDIE) estimate that the turnover from electricity theft at businesses alone has quadrupled within just one year, climbing from 10 million euros in 2011 to 40 million in 2012. The methods employed to steal power vary although authorities believe that in many cases electricians are paid to carry out the illicit connection.

Public Power Corporation’s data on its lost income have been compiled from checks on corporate supplies, as there are no inspectors available to conduct random checks on household meters. “Unfortunately (the illegal) connections are conducted in such a way that cannot be noticed by inspectors who check the meters once every four months,” a DEDDIE official told Kathimerini. “We have information about con artists who have made electricity theft their profession, but this information is not sufficient for us to catch them.” Meters are disconnected or tampered with in most cases, allowing consumers to avoid paying the full amount to the company for their power consumption. PPC officials say that only electricians have the ability to carry out such interventions. DEDDIE is set to start sealing some 7.5 million power meters within the next 12 months, which would clearly indicate signs of any tampering. Meanwhile PPC last week launched its second tender in a month seeking developers to build large-scale solar parks. The utility’s renewables unit (PPC Renewables) is awaiting bids for two 15-megawatt photovoltaic projects in Kozani, western Macedonia, by March 26, it said in a regulatory filing. The budget for the engineering, procurement and construction contract is 39 million euros, not including valued-added tax.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Greek GDP Shrank 6% in Fourth Quarter Amid Jobless Crisis

Greece’s economy contracted for an 18th straight quarter and the unemployment rate rose to a record, leaving more than six in 10 young Greeks out of work.

Gross domestic product declined 6 percent in the three months through December from the same period last year after dropping a revised 6.7 percent in the previous quarter, the Athens-based Hellenic Statistical Authority said in an e-mailed statement today. Greece’s jobless rate rose to 27 percent in November from 26.6 percent the month before, the statistics agency said in a separate release today.

“Despite an improvement in confidence, fiscal measures continued to be a drag on economic activity in the final quarter,” said Nicholas Magginas, an economist at National Bank of Greece SA. “We expect there will be a slowdown in the pace of the recession in the first half of this year, even though the pressure from the fiscal measures will remain strong.”

Greece’s economic slump, which has now entered a sixth year, has been exacerbated by austerity measures imposed by creditors to reduce its budget deficit. The country has received 240 billion euros ($321 billion) in loan pledges from the euro area and International Monetary Fund since 2010 and carried out the biggest sovereign debt restructuring in history last year.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Is it Fair for People on Food Stamps to Buy Prime Rib and Lobster While Working Families Barely Survive?

Should we all quit working and jump on board the Obama gravy train? Of course I am being facetious, but when you are barely surviving does there come a point when it just becomes easier to give up and totally rely on the government? Today, the federal government runs nearly 80 different means-tested welfare programs, and many state and local governments have their own welfare programs on top of that. If you become an expert on those programs and you learn how to game the system, can you live more comfortably than someone that lives honestly and works as hard as they can and yet still makes less than 10 dollars an hour? Now, right from the outset of this article, let me make it abundantly clear that I do not believe that most people are abusing the system.

As I have written about over and over, the number of Americans living in poverty is rapidly increasing because there are not enough jobs. There are not enough jobs because we are shipping millions of them out of the country to the other side of the globe, and we are also losing millions of jobs to technology. There have always been those that need our help, and because of the foolish decisions that we have made as a nation, the ranks of the poor will continue to expand. But it is also true that there are some people out there that are very brazenly abusing the system. For example, is it really fair for people on food stamps to buy prime rib and lobster while many working families barely survive? People like that are taking advantage of their fellow Americans, and they are making it harder for the people that really need the help to be able to get it.

Unfortunately, we are rapidly becoming an “entitlement society”. Close to half the country lives in a home that receives some sort of monetary benefits from the federal government each month at this point.

In particular, the food stamp program has experienced explosive growth in recent years. Since Obama has been president, the number of Americans on food stamps has grown by more than 49 percent, and more than 11,000 people a day have enrolled in the food stamp program since Obama entered the White House.

And if you can believe it, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain.

Will we all eventually be on food stamps?

[…]

But as I have shown in article after article, the “free trade” agenda of the global elite has resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of U.S. businesses and millions of good paying U.S. jobs.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Italians Prefer ‘Happy Hour’ Option to Restaurants

(AGI) — Rome, Feb 9 — Traditional eating-out has been replaced with the “Happy Hour” option by 16.5 million Italians, according to a survey by Coldiretti-Censis. It found that young people in particular prefer the “Happy Hour” formula of aperitifs and finger food “served in bars, wineries or even restaurants”. This change, particularly at weekends, is not an innovation, but a return to traditions and an adjustment of lifestyles to the crisis.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Italy: Vendola Taunts Monti on Twitter

(AGI) Rome, Feb 10 — The president of the Sinistra, Ecoligia, Liberta’ political party, Nichi Vendola, taunted Mario Monti on twitter following statements made earlier in the day, saying “Dear Monti, you are a real expert on unemployment. Half a million more unemployed in one year, all thanks to you.”

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Italy: Ex-Publisher Angelo Rizzoli Arrested for Bankruptcy Fraud

Investigators probing ‘30-million-euro scam’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — Former chairman of the Rizzoli publishing empire (RCS), Angelo Rizzoli, was arrested on Thursday in Rome for alleged fraudulent bankruptcy involving his company Audiovisual Tiber (previously Rizzoli Audiovisual) of which he was the sole director.

The ailing, 70-year-old entrepreneur and producer is accused of a financial fraud worth some 30 million euros that he allegedly ran through his four subsidiary production companies, say Rome’s tax police. Angelo Rizzoli is the third generation of the historic and troubled Rizzoli publishing family that was founded by his grandfather in 1927.

In 1974, Italy’s biggest-selling daily newspaper, Corriere della Sera, was purchased by his family-controlled publishing group and Angelo, known as ‘Angelone’ to distinguish him from his grandfather, took over at the helm with other family members in 1978. Together with his brother Alberto and the paper’s managing director Bruno Tassan Din, he was implicated in a scandal involving the P2 (Propaganda Due) masonic lodge and was arrested for fraudulent bankruptcy in 1983. They were eventually cleared of the charges, but the Rizzoli publishing group that controlled Corriere passed out of family hands in 1984. Following Thursday’s arrest, companies and real estate assets worth some seven million euros were seized and two of Rizzoli’s homes were searched. Investigators also included Rizzoli’s wife, Melania De Nichilo, in probes. Melania De Nichilo is an MP in center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party. Stefania Prestigiacomo, a minister in the previous government of Berlusconi, alleged political motivations behind the actions, with the arrest and probes coming just 10 days ahead of national elections.

Rizzoli was transferred to Rome’s Sandro Pertini hospital after he was deemed physically unfit for prison due to multiple health problems.

On Monday, he will be questioned by investigators.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

A Call to Islam in the Arizona Senate

by Robert Spencer

Last week, a representative of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) gave a prayer before the Arizona State Senate…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Al Jazeera Hires K Street to Lobby Congress

Apparently on the defensive over its unorthodox entry into the U.S. media market, Al Jazeera has hired a high-powered lobbying firm on Capitol Hill to stave off an investigation of the curious transaction with former Democratic Vice President Al Gore.

The firm, DLA Piper, represented Al Jazeera in the acquisition of Gore’s Current TV, has an office in Qatar, which owns Al Jazeera, and is also active in the “Islamic financial services industry” in the Middle East.

“Al Jazeera America is assembling a K Street team to advocate for its cable news channel,” reports The Hill. Current TV was purchased from Gore and other prominent Democrats, including Richard C. Blum, husband of Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. Gore reportedly got $100 million out of the $500 million deal.

But DLA’s top lobbyist on the Al Jazeera account is a Republican, Mark R. Paoletta, who used to work for President George H.W. Bush.

The term “K Street” refers to Washington, D.C.’s expensive lobbying industry, a sure indication that Al Jazeera realizes it has to deploy huge sums of cash from its owner, the Emir of Qatar, to make sure its takeover of Gore’s Current TV does not run into snags.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Cartel Kingpin Chicago’s New Public Enemy No. 1

The label was first given to Al Capone and hasn’t been used since Prohibition

Authorities in Chicago are naming a drug kingpin in Mexico as the city’s Public Enemy No. 1 — a label first given to gangster Al Capone and one that hasn’t been used since Prohibition.

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is being singled out for his role as leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, which supplies the bulk of narcotics sold in the city, according to the Chicago Crime Commission and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

“Not since the Chicago Crime Commission’s first Public Enemy No. 1 has any criminal deserved this title more than Joaquin Guzman,” J.R. Davis, president of 94-year-old Chicago Crime Commission, said in remarks prepared for an announcement later Thursday.

It was the Chicago Crime Commission that designated Capone Public Enemy No. 1 in 1930. The non-government body that tracks city crime trends called other people public enemies, but Capone was the only one to ever be its No. 1.

Until now.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Court Orders Alpharetta, Mosque to Work Out Differences

Atlanta: A federal appeals court has ordered a mosque and the city of Alpharetta to settle their differences over a zoning dispute in mediation. The Islamic Center of North Fulton is suing the city over a 2010 decision to deny the center permission to expand its facility on Rucker Road…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Daniel Pipes: Smart University Giving

The Problem

With a flurry of good will and generosity, the Helen Diller Family Fund gave $5 million for Jewish studies in 1999 to the University of California at Berkeley to bring an Israeli professor to the university each year. The intent was partially to balance the anti-Israel invective that permeates that university. As Diller herself put it, “With the protesting and this and that, we need to get a real strong Jewish studies program in there. Hopefully, it will be enlightening to have a visiting professor.” The appointing committee promised that visiting scholars’ political beliefs would not be considered, while Diller indicated her confidence in the committee.

But the Helen Diller Family Programs in Jewish Studies from the start went awry. The university used the funds to hire Oren Yiftachel, a viciously anti-Zionist professor who holds that “Israel has created a colonial setting, held through violent control and a softening illusion of a nation-state and democratic citizenship.” This left the donor displeased and frustrated; in the words of Moment magazine’s Liel Liebowitz, “having given the endowment, there was nothing she could do but wince.”…

These initiatives however, accept the existing donor-university relationship and the inevitability that donors will have little say over the disposition of their funds. I should like to challenge this assumption and propose an alternative: rather than endow institutions, as is presently the case, donors should offer to pay the operating expenses for individual scholars.

In this scenario, the donor chooses a scholar whose work and outlook reflects his own interests and views, then offers to pay for the scholar’s salary and associated expenses (such as research assistants). The pairing made, donor and scholar form a team. The donor then offers the scholar’s expenses-paid services to a university. As long as the scholar teaches at that university, the donor (or his estate) covers the scholar’s expenses. When the scholar leaves, retires, is incapacitated or dies, the funds paying for him evaporate.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Empty Rhetoric and Meaningless Lines: The Obama Non-Presidency

After Tuesday night’s State of the Union (5 down, 3 to go!), nothing has changed: Barack Obama remains a Marxist caricature, his presidency vapid by historical standards, and his leadership style exemplar of fecklessness… You wouldn’t know it by the applause in the House chamber, nor by the booming economy that never stopped booming around the Beltway, but this recovery is no recovery outside the skull of Chris Matthews.

People are suffering. Americans are suffering. And yet a president whose words belie the effects of his policies, a man who lies about “deficit reduction,” then turns around and puts the pedal down on spending, nonetheless has managed to ride a sycophantic media to popular appeal. The federal budget, as a percentage of the economy, is at historically high levels — nearly 25% of GDP… And yet Obama, with a straight face, continues to ask “the rich” to pay more — just “a little more,” mind you — floating an assertion removed from mathematics.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Gun Confiscation for US; Gun Protection for Them

Paul Joseph Watson wrote a very enlightening report relative to the way that proponents of gun control are themselves heavily protected BY GUNS. Watson writes:

“The fact that Senator Dianne Feinstein’s gun control bill exempts government officials from the planned semi-auto assault weapons ban illustrates the astounding hypocrisy of gun control advocates who, while working feverishly to disarm the American people, own firearms and surround themselves with armed men.

“As the Washington Times reported last week, ‘Mrs. Feinstein’s measure would exempt more than 2,200 types of hunting and sporting rifles; guns manually operated by bolt, pump, lever or slide action; and WEAPONS USED BY GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.’ (Emphasis in original)

“Back in 1995, while carrying a concealed weapon for her own protection, Feinstein simultaneously called for Mr. and Mrs. America to ‘turn em all in.’

“Feinstein’s hypocrisy has been matched or surpassed by virtually every other public figure now pushing for the second amendment to be eviscerated.”

The report continued saying:

[…]

The examples of gun control fanatics who either use guns for personal protection or hire guns for their own protection are ubiquitous. Not long ago, a gun-grabbing State senator from North Carolina used his own firearm to shoot intruders. FOX NEWS covers the story:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Media Reports Say American Airlines, US Airways to Merge

American Airlines and US Airways have approved a merger to create the world’s largest airline, according to media reports. The deal will be completed once American exits bankruptcy court.

The boards of American parent AMR Corp. and US Airways approved the deal late Wednesday, sources told the AP and AFP news agencies. The merger is expected to be formally announced Thursday morning.

The new company will keep the name American Airlines and will be headquartered in American’s Dallas-Fort Worth base in Texas. American’s CEO, Tom Horton, is to serve as chairman of the new company until mid 2014.

The deal, in the works since August, is one of a number of recent airline mergers designed to increase industry profitability that have left the US dominated by four major carriers.

Since 2008, Delta has absorbed Northwest, United has bought Continental and Southwest has taken over AirTran Airways. If approved, the new American deal would give those four major airlines around three-quarters of US airlines traffic.

Not counting regional affiliates, the new company will have more than 900 planes, 3,200 daily flights and around 95,000 employees, making it slightly larger than United by passenger traffic.

American has been under bankruptcy protection since November 2011, and antitrust regulators and a US bankruptcy court must approve the deal.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Meet Stingray Surveillance: The “Unconstitutional, All-You-Can-Eat Data Buffet”

It’s getting impossible to keep track of all the new spy tools being rolled out by the police state in the name of “fighting terrorism”, aka spying on innocent American citizens unconstitutionally. I thought that I had my hands full the other day with ARGUS: The World’s Highest Resolution Video Surveillance Platform, but this “Stingray” system is already being deployed illegally in cities throughout the United States. As the EFF states: “The Stingray is the digital equivalent of the pre-revolutionary British soldier.” From the EFF:

The device, which acts as a fake cell phone tower, essentially allows the government to electronically search large areas for a particular cell phone’s signal — sucking down data on potentially thousands of innocent people along the way. At the same time, law enforcement has attempted use them while avoiding many of the traditional limitations set forth in the Constitution, like individualized warrants. This is why we called the tool “an unconstitutional, all-you-can-eat data buffet.”

Recently, LA Weekly reported the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) got a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant in 2006 to buy a stingray. The original grant request said it would be used for “regional terrorism investigations.” Instead LAPD has been using it for just about any investigation imaginable.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Missouri Democrats Call for Gun Confiscation

The denial is over: Government is coming for the guns.

Democrats around the country are in a race to destroy the Second Amendment and the latest outrage is going down in Missouri.

Democrats Rory Ellinger and Jill Schupp have introduced House Bill 545, a law that with the stroke of a pen will turn thousands of law-abiding Missourians into class C felons. It will ban the possession, sale, transfer or manufacture of semi-automatic rifles and magazines capable of holding more than ten rounds.

The law is in effect de facto confiscation demanding the “surrender” of firearms to the government.

Missouri’s proposed law is strikingly similar to one recently enacted in New York:

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

New Surveillance System Tracks Every Moving Object in an Entire City

Sensor housed in drone can see 6 inch objects from 20,000 feet altitude

A state of the art spy system that is housed in a drone and can record every moving object across an entire city from an altitude of 20,000 feet represents the next level of Big Brother surveillance.

The 1.8 billion pixel ARGUS-IS surveillance camera, otherwise known as the Area Persistent Stare, has been developed by BAE Systems as part of a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Using 368 five megapixel cell phone cameras, the system can be fitted to an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and is eventually planned to be incorporated into the developmental solar eagle drone that will be able to stay airborne for years at a time.

The clip above features the creator of ARGUS, BAE Systems’ Yiannis Antoniades, describing how the system is equivalent to, “having up to 100 predators look at an area the size of a medium sized city at once,” and how it can track every moving object across an area of 15 square miles, right down to people walking down the street and even birds flying in the sky and objects as small as six inches on the ground.

“Everything that is a moving object is being automatically tracked… You can see individuals crossing the street. You can see individuals walking in parking lots. There’s actually enough resolution to be able to see people waving their arms or what kind of clothes they wear,” said Antoniades.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Pat Robertson Claims Islam is ‘Demonic’ And ‘Not a Religion’ But an Economic System

Controversial conservative Christian Pat Robertson doubled down Tuesday on claims that Islam is not a religion. According to Right Wing Watch, Robertson, an elder statesman of the evangelical movement, made the inflammatory claim during an episode of his TV program, “The 700 Club.” “Every time you look up — these are angry people, it’s almost like it’s demonic that is driving them to kill and to maim and to destroy and to blow themselves up,” Robertson said of Islam. “It’s a religion of chaos.” He went on to say, “I hardly think to call it a religion, it’s more of — well, it’s an economic and political system with a religious veneer.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Police Ludicrously Claim Dorner Cabin Fire Was Not Intentional

Despite scanner audio which clearly reveals plan to “burn down” building

The San Bernardino Sheriff’s office is ludicrously claiming that the cabin fire which killed Christopher Dorner was not started intentionally, despite numerous references to a plan to “burn down” the building that were heard on police scanners during the standoff…

Christopher Dorner’s actions cannot be justified, but neither can those of the police involved in his death, who for days before the standoff were busy shooting at innocent people who looked nothing like Dorner.

If law enforcement officials thought that burning Dorner to death was a reasonable way of dealing with a dangerous murderer then they should hold their hands up and admit to it.

However, the fact that San Bernardino police are brazenly lying in claiming there was no plan to intentionally set fire to the cabin, when police scanner audio clearly suggests otherwise, overwhelmingly indicates that police know that their actions were illegal.

Watch the videos below and decide for yourself whether police intentionally planned to burn the cabin to the ground.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Senate Gun Control Panel Gets an Earful

Gun violence victims testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee Tuesday, offering varying takes in the face of a contentious debate over gun control.

Suzanna Hupp of Texas, who was eating at Luby’s Restaurant in 1991 when a gunman crashed his pickup through the window and opened fire killing 23 people, including her parents, told lawmakers she was outraged no one in the restaurant was able to defend themselves.

“Honestly I don’t view myself as a victim of gun violence, I view myself as a victim of a maniac who happened to use a gun as a tool,” Hupp said. “And I view myself as a victim of the legislators that we had at the time that left me defenseless.”

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Shaken Baby Syndrome Often Just a Cover Story for Children Who Are Brain Damaged by Vaccines

The concept of SBS as a legitimate, trauma-induced form of brain damage was first popularized back in the 1970s when it was hypothesized that babies with serious brain injuries that could not be directly linked to external signs of cranial trauma must have been shaken violently by another person. Physical child abuse was essentially declared to be the sole cause of SBS, and eventually became the go-to diagnosis when dealing with inexplicable types of brain damage observed in children.

As time went on; however, those paying attention to the situation began to observe a curious pattern with SBS and its relation to vaccine injections. Many children who had been developing normally and growing at a healthy rate prior to receiving routine childhood vaccines, for instance, suddenly stopped progressing and their health actually began to deteriorate. And typically after the second and third round of injections, some children began to develop symptoms similar to those commonly associated with SBS.

In a report published in a 1998 issue of Nexus Magazine, Dr. Viera Scheibner, Ph.D., wrote extensively about the connection between SBS and vaccines. Through her research, Dr. Scheibner found that multivalent vaccines in particular, which contain antigens for two or more diseases as opposed to just one antigen for a single disease, were closely associated with causing encephalitis and other forms of brain damage. Such vaccines included DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus) and the five-in-one pentavalent vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, hepatitis B, and inactivated polio.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

State of the Union Address: Instigator on Jailhouse Steps

A wise man said there is nothing worse than a small person in a powerful position

Obama is the ultimate bully armed with the ultimate bully pulpit. He is an extremely smooth vindictive instigator. Obama speeches are thinly veiled “hit lists” targeting the rich, Republicans and Conservatives for destruction, retribution and revenge by his low-info minions. Obama is the movie cliché loudmouth guy in westerns who stands on the jailhouse steps and works town folks into a frenzied mob. The rabble-rouser yells, “If I were you guys, I would not allow them to get away with it!”

In response, the angry mob breaks into the jail, overtakes the sheriff, drags out the terrified prisoner and hangs him without a trial as they are too enraged to wait for the judge to arrive on the morning train.

Obama uses his jailhouse-steps-instigator tactic to destroy his opposition, thus, winning him every policy debate. Beginning with his 2008 presidential campaign, the message of every Obama speech and supportive marketing is Republicans are selfish racists who want you poor and/or dead. If I were you guys, I would not allow them to get away with it!

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

The Living, Breathing — DEAD Constitution

Becoming more than just a fight to keep our guns. Fight to maintain our rights under the US Constitution, our freedom and our liberty.

The US Constitution is NOT flexible. It was never intended to be flexible. That’s why there are provisions for amending the constitution when sufficient numbers of citizens agree an amendment is needed.

At RenewAmerica.com,Edward Daly writes:

“Many judges these days like to refer to the Constitution of the United States as a “living, breathing document,” implying that its text is designed to be flexible. It is not. The Constitution is a set of rules, and like any other set of rules, it is meant to be strict and uncompromising. Of course, the Constitution can be modified through the amendment process, but once ratified, any amendment becomes like the rest of the Constitution; rigid…

It is a common expression of the Progressives (read: Marxists) that the constitution is a living, breathing, document. I know it is not. YOU know it is not, and THEY know it is not. BUT — our children don’t. And they won’t — unless parents teach them the truth.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

The Social Engineering of Texas’ CSCOPE Curriculum

One would never guess that 875 Texas Schools , public, private and charter have purchased and implemented a Marxist Curriculum called Cscope in their schools. Our Texas Education Service Centers (ESCs) have formed a Non Profit business called Texas Education Service Center Curriculum Collaborative (TESCCC) and they operate out of our State Agency building, use State employees to create and then have the gall to sell their Cscope Curriculum product to Texas public schools. On top of this, no one is allowed to view the CSCOPE lessons except teachers who had to sign a gag-order not to tell anyone about the content of the lessons.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

The State of DisUnion

[Note: Please don’t miss our interview with Devvy Kidd posted Friday morning at NewsWithViews.tv]

I am proud to say that I did not watch one second of President Obama’s lie-fest on Tuesday night.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would waste his/her time listening to the bilge flowing out of the well of Congress. Obama is a hollow man, saying what he thinks will keep him in power, yet unwilling to state what he really believes.

So, in an attempt to filter the water in the well allow me to share with you examples of why I believe the Union of the “State” has never been more fractured.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and 3g Capital to Buy Heinz in $28bn Deal

US financial titan Warren Buffett’s investment firm Berkshire Hathaway, along with 3G Capital, has agreed to buy baked beans giant Heinz for $28bn (£18bn), in the food industry’s largest ever acquisition.

The billionaire’s investment vehicle is reported to be putting up $4.5bn in cash as part of the purchase, according to US news channel CNBC.

“It’s my kind of deal and it’s my kind of partner,” Mr Buffett told CNBC, adding that Berkshire and 3G would be equal equity partners.

Heinz said the deal would be financed with cash from Berkshire and 3G, debt rollover and debt financing from JP Morgan and Wells Fargo.

Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital are set to pay stockholders $72.50 per share, a 19pc premium on $72.80 on Heinz’s all-time high share price, bringing the deal’s value to $28bn including debt assumption.

The deal received unanimous approval from the Heinz board.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Washington State Bill Would Make Almost All Gun Owners Criminals

Washington state Sens. Ed Murray (D), Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D) and Adam Kline (D) have introduced new gun control legislation that goes far above and beyond what anyone would consider a simple sales ban.

The bill, S.B. 5737, proposes “banning the sale of assault weapons.” According to the legislation, an “assault weapon” is any semiautomatic pistol, pump-action rifle or shotgun that can accept a detachable magazine, with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds. Any magazine that accepts over 10 rounds itself will also be banned.

Also included in the definition is any rifle or shotgun with a pistol grip, a stock of any kind, a muzzle brake or muzzle compensator. The bill also prohibits the manufacturing, possessing, purchasing, selling or transferring of an assault weapons “conversion kit.”

In order to continue to possess a so-called assault weapon that was owned before the assumed passing of the legislation, the person must “safely and securely” store the assault weapon and allow the sheriff of the county to, no more than once per year, conduct an inspection to “ensure compliance,” despite some apparent civil liberties implications related to the Fourth Amendment.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Why the Elite Would Lose a Civil War

Despite the fact that the banking elite wants to generate riots and stir social disorder in order to collapse the U.S. economy so they can buy up real assets on the cheap, if such chaos was to spill over into a full blown civil war, the consequences for the technocrats would be disastrous…

The banking elite which controls the US government — the same elite that has engineered riots in other countries — most recently Greece — as part of a process of turning those nations into empty vassals that can be easily looted for their wealth, infrastructure and resources, must realize that it cannot win a civil war in the United States.

Such an eventuality would result in massive bloodshed on both sides — and the elite simply doesn’t have the numbers to claim victory.

This is a warning to the technocrats — do not try to divide and conquer the American people, the police, and the military. Stop characterizing patriotic, freedom loving Americans as domestic terrorists. Do not try to initiate a civil war that would achieve nothing but carnage and a sustained breakdown of society.

As top constitutional scholars like Dr. Edwin Vieira and Lew Rockwell have noted, one of the reasons why the federal government is so petrified of the American people rising up to re-assert their God-given rights in the face of an establishment which is arming to the teeth against them, is the threat posed to their illegal power monopoly by the prospect of secession.

Secession is not about destroying America, it is about reinvigorating America as the founders envisioned it, and in the process disengaging from the very forces — the offshore banking elite — who are themselves working feverishly to destroy America so that they may be the first to slice up and devour the dead carcass of a once great nation, just as they have done to numerous other countries over the last three decades.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Deutsch Bahn Sues Train Builder Over Faults

Fed up with unreliable trains on suburban systems across Germany, Deutsche Bahn is suing Canadian train maker Bombardier for €160 million, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Thursday.

The axels are not strong enough, the brakes too weak, and the trains have to make repeated trips to the workshops, leaving timetables in chaos — and now kicking off court cases.

The paper said Deutsche Bahn had filed two suits in both Munich and Berlin, claiming a total of €160 million in compensation from Bombardier.

The complaint concerns more than 200 regional trains in operation in southern Germany which have experienced repeated problems with tilting technology and axles.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Berlusconi Lashes Out Against Italian Justice

2,700 hearings against him and group managers is ‘scandalous’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 12 — Former Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday said that it was “scandalous” that he and managers of his Mediaset television group had over the years participated in some 2,700 hearings in cases brought by prosecutors.

Speaking at an ANSA forum on Tuesday in Rome, Berlusconi — who is seeking re-election in the February 24-25 national poll as head of his People of Freedom (PdL) party — said: “We have now hit 2,700 hearings in trials against me and managers of my group. And notwithstanding, this scandalous thing slips away amid the greatest indifference”.

Berlusconi also hit back at Milan prosecutor Ilda Boccassini, who is going ahead with a trial against the media magnate in which he is accused of paying for sex with a 17-year-old girl and who accused Berlusconi of delaying tactics.

The statement by Boccassini that he was using delaying tactics in the trial, whose next hearing had been scheduled to take place just before elections, “is absolutely in line with the behavior of the Milan prosecutor,” Berlusconi said.

“I believe I have good reasons for not having to occupy myself with my defense while campaigning”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Geneva Physics Lab Shuts Down Accelerator

Seven months after its scientists made a landmark discovery that may explain the mysteries of mass, Europe’s top particle physics lab, based in Geneva, is taking a break.

The cutting-edge facilities at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), where invisible particles are smashed together, will begin winding down on Thursday.

They go offline on Saturday for an 18-month upgrade before the next scientific leap into the unknown.

A vast underground lab straddling the border between France and Switzerland’s canton of Geneva, CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was the scene of an extraordinary discovery announced in July 2012.

Its scientists said they were 99.9 percent certain they had found the elusive Higgs Boson, an invisible particle without which, theorists say, humans and all the other joined-up atoms in the Universe would not exist.

The upgrade will boost the LHC’s energy capacity, essential for CERN to confirm definitively that its boson is the Higgs, and allow it to probe new dimensions such as supersymmetry and dark matter.

“The aim is to open the discovery domain,” said Frederick Bordry, head of CERN’s technology department.

“We have what we think is the Higgs, and now we have all the theories about supersymmetry and so on,” Bordry told AFP.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Germany: Dresden Deserves to be Remembered

by Tom Chivers

It’s the 68th anniversary of the Dresden bombing. In Britain, we don’t think about it as much as, perhaps, we should. The bare facts. More than 1,200 RAF and USAAF bombers attacked the city between the 13th and 15th of February 1945, in four raids. They dropped 3,900 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs, killing between 22,000 and 25,000 people, almost all civilians. The city’s anti-aircraft defences had all been moved to defend the industrial works of the Ruhr valley…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Italy: Centre-Left Leader ‘Ashamed’ For Berlusconi

Bersani deplores ex-premier’s remarks on women

(ANSA) — Siracusa, February 12 — Democratic Party (PD) Secretary and leader of the centre-left coalition Pierluigi Bersani on Tuesday distanced himself from repeated comments made by ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi at the expense of women.

“When I hear some of Berlusconi’s remarks about women I feel ashamed for him,” Bersani told petrochemical workers in Sicily.

Berlusconi’s latest off-colour and allegedly sexist remarks were made to an energy company technician Monday whom he publicly asked how many times she came.

“We will rid the leopard of its spots because 40% of our members of parliament will be women and they will be the ones to teach him good manners,” Bersani said.

Last week the centre-left was leading polls just two weeks ahead of general elections on February 24 and 25, with the centre-right trailing not far behind. Berlusconi is the public face of his coalition’s campaign although he confirmed on Tuesday that he would nominate his party secretary Angelino Alfano for the post of premier in the event of victory.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Berlusconi Pledges Tax Cuts in Election Run-Up

Ex-premier plans to move tax burden ‘from people to things’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 12 — Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday pledged to reduce the tax burden in Italy in a bid to lead the centre right to victory in general elections on February 24 and 25. “Everyone knows we think it is possible and necessary to reduce public spending in order to reduce fiscal pressure,” the three-time premier told a forum organized by ANSA. “Our aim is to reduce tax pressure by one percentage point a year and public spending by two,” with a possible savings of 16 billion euros a year, he said.

Berlusconi added that his coalition intends to introduce just two income-tax brackets instead of the present five in the event of election victory as part of efforts to shift the tax burden “from people to things”.

The centre right also plans to scrap the regional business tax IRAP entirely over four years, he said. A recent media blitz by Berlusconi has allowed his centre-right coalition to narrow the gap with the centre-left coalition led by Democratic Party (PD) Secretary Pier Luigi Bersani, still the frontrunner as of last Friday when the last opinion polls to be published before the elections were released.

The media magnate has said that he does not want to be premier again in the event of victory but that he would prefer to head up the economy ministry instead.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Monti Rejects Berlusconi’s ‘PD Alliance’ Claim

Bersani’s leftist ally Vendola ‘profound obstacle’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 13 — Outgoing Premier Mario Monti Wednesday rejected ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s claim that a vote for his coalition was effectively a vote for the Democratic Party (PD).

“This is a profound falsehood, which I believe Berlusconi knows,” Monti told journalists in Perugia.

“In the PD-SEL (center-left) coalition I see many profound obstacles to reforms undertaken by my government that are essential to create a more dynamic Italian economy and society,” Monti said.

Leader of the left-wing SEL party and center-left coalition partner Nichi Vendola was opposed to Monti’s emergency technocrat government, unlike coalition leader Pier Luigi Bersani’s Democratic Party (PD), which supported it.

Both Vendola and the outgoing premier have said they would not be in the same government together, although the Italian press has speculated they might reach an accomodation.

With around 10% of projected votes, Monti’s coalition has said it will support any party, right or left, if it upholds the reform policies his government has implemented since replacing Berlusconi at the peak of the euro crisis near the end of 2011.

Polls have suggested that Bersani’s PD is favoured to win the elections, but may not have a working majority in the Senate.

This has led to speculation that Bersani could make a post-election pact with former European commissioner Monti, who is standing for office on a reform platform.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Monti Denies Opening Up to Left-Wing SEL

Outgoing premier talks to ANSA about post-election scenarios

(see related stories) (ANSA) — Rome, February 13 — Outgoing Italian Premier Mario Monti on Wednesday denied having dropped reservations about being in government with the left-wing SEL party of Puglia Governor Nichi Vendola. “There has not been any type of opening on my part with Vendola,” Monti, who is standing on a reform ticket for the February 24-25 election that is backed by centrist parties, told ANSA.

SEL is allied with the main centre-left Democratic Party and the coalition was in front in the polls before a pre-election blackout of opinion surveys kicked in last week.

However, many pundits say that the centre left may need Monti’s support to have a working majority in parliament even if it comes top in the election. photo: Outgoing Italian Premier Mario Monti with ANSA Editor-in-Chief Luigi Contu.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Danger Orsi Could Tamper With Evidence, Say Prosecutors

Indian authorities also probing corruption case

(see related story) (ANSA) — Busto Arsizio, February 12 — An Italian judge said there was a danger Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi could tamper with evidence in the order for his arrest on Tuesday.

The arrest warrant also said Orsi has been trying to hamper the probe into allegations bribes were paid to secure a contract for the sale to the Indian government of 12 helicopters produced by AgustaWestland, which Finmeccanica controls.

Prosecutors in New Delhi opened a separate probe into the case on Tuesday.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: League to Sue Over Reports of Finmeccanica Link

Maroni says taking action against ‘band of defamers’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 13 — Northern League leader Roberto Maroni said Wednesday his party was taking legal action after media reports linking it to alleged corruption at Italian defence giant Finmeccanica.

“Today I’ll launch new legal action against that band of professional defamers,” Maroni said, citing daily newspapers La Repubblica and Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi was arrested on Tuesday in relation to a probe into the alleged payment of bribes for the sale to the Indian government of 12 helicopters produced by AgustaWestland, which Finmeccanica controls.

Orsi, who was appointed in May 2011, is considered close to the Northern League, an ally of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi.

“Orsi is not a League man,” Maroni said. “He was appointed (by Berlusconi’s last government) because he is good”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Formigoni: Dacco Pressure Ensured Funding, Says Merlino

(AGI) — Milan, Feb 13 — Health manager Giuseppe Merlino told public prosecutors in Milan that funds allocated by Lombardy to the Maugeri Foundation and the San Raffaele hospital “were allocations about which every year we received great pressure and interference from President Formigoni and from Dacco.” Merlino made the revelations, which also involved Lombardy’s outgoing governor, after being questioned last October as part of investigations into the Maugeri foundation.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Italy: Vatican to Restore Secret Papal Walkway

Passetto del Borgo ex-escape route to be ‘virtually completed’

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — Italy and the Vatican on Thursday signed an agreement to complete the restoration of a secret walkway used down the years as an escape passage for popes and fictionally employed by the villains and heroes of Dan Brown’s blockbuster Angels and Demons The deal was inked by Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, head of the Vatican City’s ‘governorate’, and Italian Culture Minister Lorenzo Ornaghi.

They said the Vatican Corridor, also known as the Passetto del Borgo, would be “virtually completely open to visitors” after the restoration.

The corridor, famous as the avenue of escape for Pope Clement VIII during the 1527 Sack of Rome, has been partially reopened in two stages, first in 1999 and then in 2005.

The last restoration made about two-thirds of it visitable.

“We expect it to become an even bigger tourist draw when the restoration is over, while the passage will get much-needed structural bolstering,” Bertello and Ornaghi said.

Before its 1999 reopening, the Passetto had long been home to tramps and a pathway for burglars, while during the Second World War it was a hideout for anti-Fascist fugitives.

For the last seven years, in small groups and strictly by reservation, tourists have had the thrill of following many, but not all, of the footsteps of historical and fictional figures, while also getting a rare peep onto one of the more atmospheric ‘borghi’, or medieval quarters, in Rome.

The covered corridor runs for 700m from the Vatican palaces, through the heart of the medieval Borgo Pio nestling in the lee of St.Peter’s, to the riverside stronghold of Castel Sant’Angelo, once the safest of papal fortresses.

Today the castle, built on the tomb of Roman Emperor Hadrian, is one of Rome’s prime tourist attractions.

The corridor was built in 1277 by Pope Nicholas III, on top of walls originally put up by Pope Leo IV in 847-851 to protect the Vatican from Saracens who had sailed their warships as far as the mouth of the Tiber and swept in to sack the city.

After Nicholas, other popes added towers and reinforcements, coating the outside of the corridor — or Passetto del Borgo, as it known locally — with their emblems.

Until an expensive restoration that ended in 1999, the inside of the corridor had remained a secret, except for a select few with the right connections.

During the repair work, restorers found writings on the walls left by anti-Fascists who fled into the Vatican during the Second World War.

Later the Passetto became notorious as a home to tramps and a convenient pathway for burglars to break into the houses in Borgo Pio that are up against its walls.

One of the highlights for the new batch of visitors will be to imagine that moment in 1527 when, after being persuaded to reluctantly leave his grip on the papal throne, Pope Clement came rushing down the corridor away from the fury of Emperor Charles V’s German mercenaries.

The Venetian ambassador of the time said he saw the Medici pope “flit off like a white ghost,” candle in hand, as his Swiss guards held the foreign invaders at bay and died to the last man.

But the pope got the last laugh, holding off the invaders from Castel Sant’ Angelo. During the siege, the famous Florentine sculptor Benvenuto Cellini used his trusty cross-bow to kill a French notable.

But that was not the first time the Passetto was used, nor was it the last.

The first pope to flee along the walkway was Alexander VI, the Borgia pope, in 1494, when Rome was invaded by an earlier emperor.

Then, in 1870, after the fall of Rome signalled the loss of the Vatican’s last Italian possessions, Pius XI stamped down it in disgust, refusing to have anything to do with the newborn Italian state.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Berlusconi Supporters Angry at German ‘Interference’

Schaeuble tells Italians not to vote for ex-premier

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — Top brass of Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party on Thursday reacted angrily to recommendations by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that Italians refrain from voting for the ex-premier in parliamentary elections on February 24 and 25. “The German minister Wolfgang Schaeuble’s declarations show that Germany now openly claims the right to intervene in the choice of the next Italian government, as though Italy were a country with limited sovereignty or an area under German influence,” said PdL national coordinator Sandro Bondi, asking outgoing Premier Mario Monti and Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi what measures they intended to take against the German government. “There is no limit to the German government’s arrogance,” echoed PdL House whip Fabrizio Cicchitto. “Now Schaeuble is even telling us what we have to do and obviously he fully endorses Monti: another reason not to vote for him”. In an interview to the weekly Espresso magazine, Schaeuble advised Italians “not to repeat their former mistake by continuing to vote for (Berlusconi)” on grounds that a return to power by the media magnate would considerably weaken Italy and the whole of Europe. He also said the country needed to remain on the path of stability charted by Monti. Berlusconi is leading the centre-right election campaign against the centre left led by Pier Luigi Bersani of the Democratic Party (PD), the frontrunner before a pre-election blackout of opinion surveys kicked in last week. The two main coalitions are followed by the populist and anti-establishment Five Star Movement of Genoa comedian Beppe Grillo and a coalition of centrist parties on a reform platform led by Monti.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Italy: Finance Police Seize 400 Tonnes of Fraudulent Olive Oil

Bottles touted as ‘Made in Italy’ but really from abroad

(ANSA) — Bari, February 14 — Finance police on Thursday seized 400 tonnes of extra virgin olive oil in Calabria and Puglia touted as ‘Made in Italy’ but in reality coming from abroad or bearing a false ‘organic’ label. In all 37 companies and sales depots were involved in the operation in the provinces of Bari, Foggia, Cosenza, Catanzaro and Crotone. Farmers’ association Coldiretti said the seizure had prevented over half a million fraudulent bottles of oil from entering the market. The operation came two weeks after a new law came into force to protect genuine Italian olive oil.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Norway: Man Arrested in Oslo Over Parliament Threats

A Norwegian reported to be a far-rightist was arrested Wednesday after threats forced police to cordon off public buildings in Oslo where memories remain vivid of bloody attacks in July 2011.

The man, said by police to be aged around 20, was arrested after a bus driver heard him late on Tuesday make threatening statements on the phone, implying he might attack the parliament building.

Police cordoned off the parliament and Oslo town hall from Tuesday night until the man was arrested at midday Wednesday.

The suspect was not named but Norwegian media said he was a 27-year-old with links to the far-right Norwegian Defence League.

“This person is known by our services,” an Oslo police spokesman, Johan Fredriksen, told a news conference. “He has already made threats in the past.”

The police said they had found a jacket — without saying whether it was bullet-proof — along with a gas pistol and a bag full of clothes.

The spokesman said the vigorous response by the authorities was justified by vigilance needed nearly 18 months after Anders Behring Breivik killed a

total of 77 people on July 22, 2011.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Small Bomb Targets Greek Far-Right Party Office in Piraeus

A small bomb has exploded outside the local offices of a Greek extreme right-wing party in Piraeus, the port of Athens, causing no injury and minor damage.

It was the second attack of its kind in two days targeting the Golden Dawn party, which rose from the margins of Greek politics to enter Parliament last year.

Police said the device detonated around 9 p.m. local time Wednesday, damaging the door of the unoccupied seventh-floor office.

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack.

Also Wednesday, an anarchist group calling itself “Angry Brigade” claimed responsibility for a similar attack a day ago in the city of Larissa. No injuries were reported in that attack.

Golden Dawn has repeatedly been accused of violence against immigrants, which it has denied.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Stoiber Says ‘Bunga Bunga’ Premier Left ‘Unbelievable’ Mark

If Berlusconi wins, ‘all will pay the price’

(ANSA) — Berlin, February 13 — The legacy of the actions of the “bunga bunga (ex)-premier” Silvio Berlusconi” on the country of culture is something unbelievable,” honorary Christian Social Union (CSU) president Edmund Stoiber said on Wednesday.

“If he wins in the upcoming elections, all of Europe will pay the price,” the former Bavarian regional chief said at a political Ash Wednesday rally in Passau.

“One can only hope that the Italian people hold up a red card in the coming election”.

The CSU is the Barvarian ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Sweden: Beacon of the Right

Sweden — home of Abba, meatballs and social democracy. Well, not so much the social democracy anymore. In fact, as the Economist reports, 21st century Sweden is more of an inspiration to the right than to the left…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: ‘I Hope You Suffer a Life-Threatening Illness’: Paramedic ‘Wrote on Facebook’ About Campaigner Who Helped Bring About Inquiry Into Scandal-Hit Stafford Hospital

A mother who helped expose one of the worst hospital disasters has been sent grotesque hate messages by an NHS worker.

Julie Bailey set up Cure the NHS to campaign for an investigation into Mid Staffordshire NHS trust which later found up to 1,200 patients had died needlessly.

The café owner has since received a series of threats from an ambulance worker saying he wished she ‘had a life threatening illness’…

The mother of two added: ‘It has been the same for five years now, it’s the same as the threats I have always had hoping that I get some kind of disease.

‘These people need to be rooted out, they are just the kind of bully who works for the NHS.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: Beware of a BBC Fleet Street

by Paul Goodman

Everyone agrees that politicians shouldn’t control the press — even politicians, in public at least…

Other parts have an even more strategic view. They want to turn Fleet Street into what you might call a BBC press. The BBC itself shouldn’t be Conservative (capital C) and should be biased — towards the high Reithan vision that inspired the Latin words still inscribed above the entrance of Broadcasting House. (An English translation of the first part reads: “This Temple of the Arts and Muses is dedicated to Almighty God”). It is not, in my view, biased towards Labour. But the nature of its funding — by the license fee payer on compulsion — shapes its worldview, which tends to drift to the liberal left.

Whether the subjects is “cuts”, religion, global warming, tax, America, abortion, same-sex marriage, welfare, immigration and (to some degree) the Middle East, this drift is there, more often than not. Worse, there is often a lack of critical understanding and interest in different views. We don’t always agree on this site with our fellow travellers in Fleet Street, which is partly why we ran the Wrong Right series. But the demotic, noisy, campaigning right-of-centre broadsheets and tabloids are the voice of a big constituency in Britain, and help to keep political balance across broadcasting, print and the net. Bits of the left would like that voice to be silenced…

[Reader comment by colliemum on 14 February 2013 at about 9 am.]

In the background of this all hovers the EU, who has instituted a group to look at and recommend regulations across Europe, with national bodies reporting to the EU body. As always, the Left is chipping away at our freedoms, tiny slice by tiny slice, using regulations which become ever more stifling. It’s for our own good, naturally. […]

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: BBC Faces First Lawsuit for Jimmy Savile Sex Abuse Case

The British Broadcasting Corp. was sued by a victim of the late television star Jimmy Savile, who police say sexually abused hundreds of young girls and women for decades, including on the BBC’s property.

The lawsuit, the first since the scandal started, was filed Feb. 5 in London, according to court records. The victim, who wasn’t identified in the filing, also sued Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc’s NatWest unit, which is the executor of Savile’s estate.

“We have 31 cases ready to go and potentially many more to come,” Alan Collins, the lawyer for the victims, said today in a phone interview. The BBC is accused of “vicarious liability” in the case, he said.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: NHS Chief Gary Walker ‘Knew About Problems at Mid Staffordshire Hospital for Four Years’

Whistleblower Gary Walker, the former Lincolnshire Trust chief executive, claims he was fired and paid £500,000 to keep quiet about the state of his hospital.

NHS boss Sir David Nicholson was warned four years ago about problems at a trust which is being investigated for persistently high death rates, a whistleblower has claimed.

It comes as a leaked letter from a doctor alleged a patient being treated at the same trust died after a surgeon was forced to perform three ‘radical procedures’ on the same day due to ‘target pressure’.

The letter raised further concerns about the under-fire United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and said an ‘otherwise well patient’ had died two days after an operation, reported the Daily Telegraph.

Meanwhile whistleblower Gary Walker — sacked in 2010 as chief executive of United Lincolnshire Hospitals — said Sir David ignored him when he raised concerns about patient safety in 2009.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

UK: Operation Bullfinch: Day 19: Bullfinch Trial Blog

4:09pm: Girl 3’s mother finishes giving evidence and court ends for the day…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: Operation Bullfinch: Doctor “Arranged Golf Trip” While Examining Teenage Rape Victim

A DOCTOR was “on the phone arranging a golf trip” while examining a 14-year-old girl who had been raped, the Old Bailey heard this morning. The unnamed witness, known as Girl 3, told the court a doctor was “completely insensitive” after she told police she had been raped. The young woman, now 20, this morning finished giving evidence at the trial of nine men accused of raping and selling young girls for sex in Oxford. She claims Bassam Karrar beat her and “brutally” raped her at the Nanford Guest House in November 2006…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

UK: When Human Rights Organisations Align With the Far-Right

On Monday, in Toynbee Hall, London, the Centre for Secular Space (CSS) launched its first report authored by Meredith Tax entitled ‘Double Bind: The Muslim Right, the Anglo-American Left and Universal Human Rights’. The panel for the launch, which included Meredith Tax and Gita Sahgal, the former head of Amnesty International’s Gender Unit, now founder of the new centre, cut through much of the so-called left’s hypocrisy when it comes to siding with supporters of extremist views…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

A Bad Grade for Air Quality in the Balkans

Southeastern Europe is known as an area of tremendous natural beauty. But what is less well-known is that several cities in the Balkans have Europe’s most polluted air.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Macedonia: Illegal Mosques Financed by Saudis Springing Up Near You

Macedonia may need to follow Switzerland and ban the building of new mosques in the country. If the Swiss can do it and be applauded by the rest of Europe why can’t we? Mosques are springing up virtually over night, illegally, with no building permits of any kind and in almost every case, the mosques are financed by Saudi, Kuwaiti, Malaysian, Qatari or Lybian organizations, in many cases by these foreign governments…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Al Azhar Wants Respect for the Muslim World From New Pope

Cairo university students say Ratzinger ‘held shocking views’

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 13 — Two years after relations soured between the Vatican and the Muslim world as represented by Al Azhar, the most important Sunni institution in the world has said it will seek to “re-establish ties based on mutual respect and understanding”.

The statement came in response to the resignation of Benedict XVI, the pope accused of meddling when he called for the protection of Christians in the region after the 2011 New Year’s Eve attack in Alexandria. He had also sparked protest in 2006 when he quoted a Byzantine emperor who saw Islam as inhuman. Al Azhar theologians — and the students of the university bearing the same name, with its 300,000 youths from across the world — want respect for Islam. “There has been no contact yet and everything will depend on the new pope,” a close collaborator of Grand Imam Ahmed El Tayyeb told ANSA, while one of his former advisors, currently theologian of the Academy of Islamic Sciences, said that the new pope will have to show respect for Islam.

“Benedict XVI had opinions on Islam that were shocking not only to Al Azhar, but to all Muslims,” Abdallah Al Nagar told ANSA. He noted, however, that there is no hostility towards the pope, a “respectable” person in his eyes. “But dialogue must be based on mutual respect for the other’s religion. The West’s problem is that it recognises Muslims but not Islam,” he said. A quick stroll around the huge university, rigorously divided between the sexes, is enough to understand this view of Benedict XVI’s Vatican is widely shared. Very few know that the pope has resigned, but all say that his successor will have to show greater respect for Islam as a religion.

“Why is there a law against denying the Holocaust but not against insulting Islam?”, asked Mohamed, echoed by two other first-year engineering students. “The pope should support thus type of law,” they say. When the fact that the Holocaust has a specific historical dimension to it was pointed out, Samir said that “Arabs have also been massacred — in Andalusia when they were kicked out, and now in Bosnia”.

Female students are less willing to share their views. One small group of girls entrust Fatma, whose face is covered by a niqab, with representing them and their views. “No relations with the Vatican until it shows respect for our religion,” she said, before unexpectedly revealing that she is working towards a degree in Hebrew. “You need to know your enemy,” she said, with what would seem to be a smile until the black veil. As to the question of whether every Jew is an enemy, she said “no, but Zionists and fundamentalist Jews are. I am wearing a veil but I am not a fundamentalist. It is important for me to point this out, since this is a mistake the media often make even here in Egypt”.

The issue of the niqab also arose in a discussion with students in the male section of the university a few kilometers away. “Why did France ban it?”, one of the students asked indignantly. The reply that France is a State which enshrines secularism and prohibits religious symbols in public places met with silence. Mohamed, who is studying French, then asked angrily “and so where is freedom?”.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Egypt Widens Gaza Smuggling Tunnels

(AGI) Gaza — Egyptian security forces have resumed work on widening the smuggling tunnels under the border with the Gaza Strip.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni [Return to headlines]

Morocco: HM the King Sends Message to Participants in Inauguration Ceremony of Renovated Synagogue in Fes

Fes — HM King Mohammed VI sent a message to participants in the inauguration ceremony of renovated synagogue “Slat Alfassiyine” in Fes. Here follows the full text of the message read out on Wednesday by Prime Minister, Abdelilah Benkirane: “Praise be to God May peace and blessings be upon the Prophet, His Kith and Kin…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Saint Valentine: Egyptian Salafists Say It’s a Sin

Anyone in red or giving heart-shaped balloons is going to hell

(ANSAmed) — CAIRO, FEBRUARY 14 — Saint Valentine’s is a Christian feast and therefore “haram”, a sin, according to Egypt’s main Salafist movements. Jamaa Islamiya and Salafists in Suez put up posters calling for the abolition of St. Valentine’s, warning women not to wear red and street sellers not to sell heart-shaped balloons. Lovers’ presents, flowers and stuffed animals are also on the Salafist sin list.

“St. Valentine is a Western invention and it has nothing to do with religion,” according to an Egyptian Salafist movement spokesperson, Khaled. In Alexandria, unknown militants distributed flyers warning against “the wrath of God” and saying people who indulged in anything Valentine-related were going to hell. On Twitter, some fundamentalists threatened sinners with 80 lashes, because St.

Valentine is “against sharia”, or Islamic law.

A branch of Sunni Islam, the Salafist movement calls for a strict and puritanical approach to religion, with some elements espousing violent jihad against civilians as a legitimate expression of Islam.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Tunisia: World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim — ‘Tunisia Inspired the World’

Tunis — World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim today concluded a two-day visit to Tunisia during which the Group’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation, announced a $48 million investment to support the growth of private entrepreneurs. Kim met the country’s leadership and civil society to discuss the reform agenda and Tunisia’s progress two years after its popular uprising. “We are here as strong supporters of the Tunisian revolution,” said Kim. “[The people of Tunisia] went through some very difficult times, but in doing what you’ve done, you’ve inspired the entire world. [Now] we’ve got to make sure that Tunisia is successful in showing that Islam and democracy go together, that you can have economic development that includes everyone.”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Tunisia’s Young ‘General’ Sees Future in Sharia

Feted by the western media for penning the unofficial anthem of the Arab Spring, rap star El General believes the changes must go further. He is one of a number of young Tunisian “revolutionaries” calling for sharia law.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

13 Saudis Among the Top Most Powerful Arabs

The list topped by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal also included prominent female personalities such as Reem Asa’d, Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel, Lubna Al-Olayan, Wojdan Seraj, Sarah Attar and Manal Al-Sharif.

“The world’s most powerful Arab, Prince Alwaleed’s influence pervades global finance, real estate, politics, media, health, education and philanthropy. With an estimated personal wealth of over $ 27 billion — up from around $ 23 billion last year — the founder and chairman of Kingdom Holding Company doubled his firm’s share price in 2012. Under the umbrella of his company, Prince Alwaleed owns stakes in Citibank, Apple Inc, News Corp. and Twitter among other corporations,” the report said.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Bahrein: Clashes Between Protestors and Police, One Dead

In the village of Dia near Manama

(ANSAmed) — MANAMA, 14 FEB — A young protestor has been killed during clashes between police and demonstrators at a rally near Manama to mark the second anniversary of the uprising in the Gulf nation, according to Shiite opposition sources cited by Al Jazeera. Hussein al-Jaziri was killed by lead pellets fired by riot police in the village of Dia, Shiite opposition movement Al-Wefaq said on Twitter.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Iran’s Senior Commander Assassinated in Lebanon: TV

TEHRAN, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — A senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was assassinated in Lebanon, Press TV reported on Thursday. General Hassan Shateri was killed by unknown gunmen as he was travelling from Syria to Lebanon, said the report, adding that Israeli agents are blamed for the assassination. According to Press TV, Shateri was responsible for the Iranian-financed construction projects in southern Lebanon.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Opposition Says Erdogan ‘Islamizing’ Turkish Airlines

Controversy over new, unflattering flight attendant uniforms

(ANSAmed) — ANKARA — A plan by flag-carrier Turkish Airlines to lengthen female flight attendants’ skirts to well below the knee has sparked protests from secular society, and even a congressional inquiry.

Secular opposition leader Kemal Kilicadroglu, who has long been accusing Islamic nationalist Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan of plotting to “Islamize” the country and indeed its flag-carrier airline, which recently also banned alcohol on domestic flights, had his deputy, Umut Oran, ask in parliament whether Turkish Airlines is acting on Erdogan’s direct orders.

Recently leaked photos of designer Dilek Hanif’s new, unflattering flight attendant uniforms — hemlines 15 cms below the knee, “Islamic” raincoats to the ankles in Ottoman-style red and blue fabrics, fez-like hats — have sparked a wave of protest on social media and among the country’s secular, European components. “They look like Kuwaiti or Saudi Arabian airlines,” lamented designer Vural Gokcayli. “They should reflect Turkey, and that’s not what Turkey is like.” The new uniforms, said Kilicdaroglu, “damage the image of Turkey”, a country that has been a experiencing a 10-year economic boom, and which is striving to present itself as a bridge between Europe and Asia, West and East.

Management at the company — which is 49% state-owned — hastened to explain that the decision is not yet final, while Hanif added that other design options are on the table.

But just two days later, the news that Turkish Airlines had discontinued alcoholic beverages on most domestic flights and on those to eight Islamic countries added fuel to the fire.

According to the company, it banned alcohol on domestic flights — except in business class between Ankara, Istanbul and Smyrna and the tourist paradises of Antalya, Bodrum and Dalaman — not for religious reasons, but because lack of demand. The argument, however, was not found convincing. “A company that puts itself out there as a global brand and as the best in Europe, cannot refuse a request for alcohol, even if it’s from just one passenger,” thundered Oran in parliament.

Solidly entrenched in power since 2002, Erdogan has already brought down several taboos laid out by the republic’s secular founder, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: the Islamic veil has made a comeback in universities, schools, and public ceremonies, new mosques are being built throughout the country, and parliament is even debating whether to change Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia museum back into a mosque.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Saudi Arabia: Haia to Enforce Ban on Men in Lingerie Shops Next Week

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) will start next week to implement an agreement, signed with the Ministry of Labor, to enforce a ban on men working at women’s lingerie and accessory shops in the Kingdom. Haia Chairman Abdul Latif Al-Asheikh was quoted in a local newspaper as saying that Haia members will carry out inspections across the country. “We shall assume this task of inspecting lingerie shops starting next week,” he said.

He said the Haia will record all violations “at shops, shopping centers, malls and markets.” A report on all offenders will be sent to the Ministry of Labor for further action. He said the grace period agreed with the Ministry of Labor will end in two weeks. “The Haia will follow legitimate procedures to penalize violators and refer them to the competent bodies.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Huge Section of Roof Covering Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Which Exploded Collapses Under the Weight of Snow

A huge section of roofing covering part of the defunct nuclear power plant at Chernobyl has collapsed under the weight of snow.

Officials immediately denied any threat of radiation even though the accident involved a cover on part of the workings of Reactor Number 4 which exploded in 1986 in the world’s worst atomic disaster.

‘There are no safety hazards. The radiation situation at the plant and in the exclusion zone is normal. No one was hurt,’ said the administration at the former Soviet plant…

‘There is no threat to the lives or health of the population,’ said a statement from Russia’s Emergencies Ministry, echoing Ukrainian assurances.

‘The snow piling up on the roof of the turbine hall caused part of the roof and some of the new panels to collapse,’ he said.

‘As for the state of the Shelter facility, it is stable. It will remain the way it has been. There are no radiation consequences of this emergency.

‘The main consequence is that all those holes will have to be patched up.’

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Ukraine: Chechen Man Educated in Cotswolds to Go on Trial Over Putin Plot

A Chechen man who was educated at a top private school in the Cotswolds is to go on trial on Thursday accused of an elaborate plot to blow up Vladimir Putin.

The alleged assassin, Adam Osmayev, will appear before a court in Odessa, Ukraine, charged with planning to detonate a home-made bomb next to the president of Russia’s motorcade as he drove through Moscow…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Suicide Car Bombing Kills 3 Policemen in Russia’s Dagestan

MOSCOW, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — Three policemen were killed and six others were wounded in a suicide car bombing on Thursday in the volatile Russian Caucasus region of Dagestan, the Interior Ministry said. A passenger vehicle exploded at a traffic police post in the town of Khasavyurt in the Dagestan Republic early Thursday when police officers were checking the cars, the Interior Ministry said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Bomb Blast Kills 4, Injures 13 in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — At least four people were killed and 13 others injured on Thursday afternoon when a bomb ripped through a busy market in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region of Orakzai Agency, local media reported…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Hollande Begins Crucial Trade Offensive in India

French President Francois Hollande embarked on a fresh push Thursday to clinch a $12-billion sale of Rafale fighter jets as he held talks in India on his first visit to Asia since taking office.

The Socialist president was accompanied by a high-powered delegation of five ministers including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and the chiefs of more than 60 top French companies.

The trip is aimed at building on the “strategic Indo-French partnership launched 15 years ago”, a French official said.

It marks Hollande’s first visit to Asia since taking office in May and both Indian and French officials say the mission underscores the importance France attaches to ties with the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

India Govt May Cancel Probed Italian Helicopter Deal

Finmeccanica could end up on New Delhi ‘blacklist’

(see related story) (ANSA) — New Delhi, February 13 — The Indian government may cancel a contract to buy 12 AgustaWestland helicopters if allegations of corruption that are being investigated by Italian prosecutors are true, Indian Defence Minister A. K. Antony said Wednesday.

Finmeccanica CEO Giuseppe Orsi was arrested on Tuesday in relation to a probe into the alleged payment of bribes for the sale of the helicopters produced by AgustaWestland, which Finmeccanica controls.

Antony added that Finmeccanica, which is controlled by the Italian State via a 30% stake, risks being put on New Delhi’s company blacklist. “Finmeccanica could end up on the blacklist and the contract could be cancelled,” he said after announcing he had ordered Indian investigators to look at the case. “We will act as soon as we have the results of our investigation”. Three of the helicopters have already been delivered.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

India: Live Blog: One Billion Rising

Across 193 countries, one billion people will dance and rise to end violence against women. We bring you live updates from New Delhi event and also from all that is happening across India. In the national capital, a march is scheduled at the Parliament Street at 5 PM. The movement seeks to highlight some disturbing facts about violence against women…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

India: Sound Familiar?

Upcoming Indian elections are shaping up as a monumental battle between “pro-growth” advocates; and the left-leaning Congress Party whose minions still believe that taking more from the top earners.

It seems that the United States is not the only country with officials on the left who believe that they can continue their uncontrolled spending so long as they define their wealthy citizens’ “fair share” high enough. Writing in the Times of India, columnist Lubna Kably, calls that “democratic theft.” Her piece, “Don’t Punish High Earners,” is a response to Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s suggestion of a higher tax burden on “high net worth individuals (HNIs).” Suggestions like these in India are either trial balloons or more likely preludes to government dicta already in the works.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

NATO Air Strike Kills Civilians in Eastern Afghanistan, Officials Say

If confirmed as Nato action, deaths of 10 civilians, including five children, likely to renew tensions between Karzai and Nato

A Nato air strike in eastern Afghanistan has killed 10 civilians, five of them children, and wounded five other children, Afghan officials said. Civilian deaths in air strikes have been one of the most emotive and high-profile issues of the war in Afghanistan, although in recent years UN statistics show that the Taliban have caused the majority of civilian casualties…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Pakistan: Parties Hold Grand Moot on Terrorism, Taliban Talks

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — Pakistan’s senior political and religious leaders Thursday opened a day-long conference to formulate a joint stand against terrorism, organizers said.

Top leaders of nearly 27 parties are taking part in the closed- door All Parties Conference in Islamabad, they will issue a joint communique later in the evening, organizers said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Scores of Rohingyas Seek Refuge in Thailand

Activists say that up to 19,000 people — mostly Rohingya Muslims — have set sail from Myanmar’s western Rakhine state to Thailand to escape violence and deteriorating living conditions.

There are around 800,000 Rohingyas living in Myanmar, also known as Burma. The minority group lives predominantly in the western state of Rakhine. They are not officially recognized by the Myanmar government as an ethnic minority group, and for decades they have been subjected to discrimination and violence by the Buddhist majority.

Viewed by the United Nations and the US as one of the world’s most persecuted minorities, many Rohingyas have fled to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh, India and also to Thailand to escape persecution.

Despite the fact that Myanmar has embarked on a series of political and economic reforms, human rights organizations and activists say the situation for Myanmar’s ethnic communities has not significantly improved.

Many Rohingya Muslims are fleeing from the northern Maungdaw and Buthidaung cities of Myanmar’s Rakhine state, and also from Sittwe, Rakhine’s capital, which was the center of sectarian violence last year. The clashes between ethnic Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas in the state lead to the destruction of homes, shops and places of worship and has left almost 200 dead and nearly 120,000 people displaced.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

U.S. Commander Calls on Afghan President

KABUL, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — Top U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Joseph Dunford met Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday and expressed regret over deaths of civilians, the U.S. forces said in a statement. “Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, met today with President Karzai to provide his insights into the Afghan and Coalition forces partnered operation that was conducted on Wednesday in Shigal district, Kunar province. Gen. Dunford took this opportunity to express his personal condolences for any civilians who may have died or been injured as a result of the operation,” the statement said…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Rampage in Guam Tourist District Leaves Three Dead and 11 Hurt After Driver Smashes Car Into Pedestrians and Slashes People With a Knife

[WARNING: Disturbing content.]

Three people have been killed and 11 injured after a 21-year-old allegedly went on the rampage through the tourist district on the tropical island of Guam.

A 51-year-old man, named by a Japan Foreign Ministry official as Hitoshi Yokota, was rushed to Guam Memorial Hospital in critical condition after the incident on Tuesday but died this morning.

Chad Ryan De Soto, 21, from Tamuning, is accused of plowing into several people with his gray Toyota Yaris before getting out a knife and stabbing several victims on Tuesday.

Two Japanese women stabbed to death are believed to be 81-year-old Kazuko Uehara and 29-year-old Rie Sugiyama.

Those injured with De Soto’s knife included Sugiyama’s 8-month-old son. The baby is being treated in hospital and is in a stable condition…

De Soto told police he wanted to hurt as many people as he could, first with his car and then with his knife, according to a declaration filed by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Quan.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Australia: Nothing to Fear From Me, Says Geert Wilders

CONTROVERSIAL right wing anti-Islamic Dutch politician Geert Wilders says Australia has nothing to fear from him when he visits the country next week.

Mr Wilders, speaking on the ABC’s Lateline on Wednesday, said he was on a global jihad to preserve freedom. He said he wants to warn Australia against allowing the mass immigration of people from Muslim countries “because Islam and freedom are incompatible”…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Geert Wilders on Australian TV Weathers a Very Hostile Interview

by Christina McIntosh

Yesterday evening, in the ‘Lateline’ evening program on Australia’s ABC TV, the host Tony Jones interviewed Geert Wilders (by teleconference). This is in the lead-up to Mr Wilders’ visit to Australia which has been sponsored by the Q Society. The interviewer was very hostile but I think Mr Wilders held his own admirably. At the moment you can see — and hear — the exchange on the ABC website; that, however, will not remain possible indefinitely. The transcript will, however, remain available into the foreseeable future.

http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2013/s3689995.htm

If you are reading this in February 2013, then please click on the link above and watch and listen: the sneering hostility of the interviewer, and the manner of his constant aggressive interruptions, are not as obvious from the transcript as it is from the audio and visuals

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Irish Soldiers to be Deployed to Mali: Minister

DUBLIN, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) — Irish Minister for Defense Alan Shatter said Wednesday he proposes to seek the approval of the government for participation in the planned EU Training Mission in Mali (EUTM Mali) as part of a joint training contingent with the British armed forces…

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Malawi Battles Witchcraft With Help From Norway

Norway has donated $600,000 dollars towards eradicating sorcery in Malawi, a leading anti-witchcraft civil group said on Tuesday.

The funds would be used to conduct a three-year nationwide drive to educate people against the dangers of witchcraft.

A preliminary investigation documented multiple cases of witch hunts and instances where witch doctors raped women and girls in an attempt to exorcise them.

“Women, children and the elderly are subjected to an alarming rate of witchcraft accusations and violence in Malawi,” said George Thindwa, who heads the Association for Secular Humanism (ASH).

Witchcraft was outlawed in Malawi under a 1911 British colonial-era law.

Norwegian ambassador to Malawi, Asbjorn Eidhammer, said it was “amazing how little attention has been paid to these grave issues.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Mali: Telegraph Finds Al-Qaeda Plan in Timbuktu

A secret document revealing how al-Qaeda in north Africa planned to seize “command” of the jihadist struggle in the Sahara has been found by The Daily Telegraph in Timbuktu. Telegraph Chief Foreign Correspondent David Blair reports.

Al-Qaeda leaders might live as outlaws in the depths of the Sahara, but they remain sticklers for bureaucratic protocol. When the “prince” gathers his Council, a detailed note is taken and the meeting carefully numbered…

[Reader comment by Wymington on 14 February 2013 at 1:24 am.]

In most parts of occupied Britain , fundamentalist mohammedans already have taken over sections of the NHS. […]

[JP note: Careful Wymington, you might find yourself reassigned to a Cheshire salt mine in the not too distant future.]

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

David Cameron Urges Indians to Come to ‘Welcoming’ Britain

There is “no limit” on the number of Indian nationals who can come to Britain to study and work, David Cameron has said.

The Prime Minister will next week visit India to tell prospective students that Britain will be “incredibly welcoming” to them if they come to this country to study and work. Even as he promises voters to cap immigration and deter the arrival of people from countries like Bulgaria and Romania, Mr Cameron will use his trip to try to persuade more Indians to come to Britain…

[Reader comment by skysurfing on 14 February 2013 at about 9:45 am.]

Idiot. Does he really think that the short-term financial concerns of greedy universities are more important than anything else? This was our culture, forged over centuries, all but destroyed by political traitors within 15 years.

[Reader comment by solrac on 14 February 2013 at about 9:45 am.]

If filling up the country with industrious foreigners is OK why the heck did we fight World War II to keep the Germans out? If the British nation does not remove Cameron from power it will deserve to cease to exist. At Eastleigh it is expected that the conservatives will still get about 30% of the vote — that alone shows that the British may have given up the ghost. In any sane country the Conservative vote would be reserved to the lunatic fringes of society.

           — Hat tip: JP [Return to headlines]

Court Dismisses 6-Year-Old Challenge to Ten Commandments Monument; ACLU to Pay Costs

Gainesville, FL — A federal district court has finally dismissed the ACLU’s six-year-old challenge against a Ten Commandments monument in Dixie County, Florida. As part of the court-ordered dismissal, the ACLU will now have to pay court costs caused by its failed lawsuit.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Denmark: City’s Anti-Hate Campaigning Focusing on Gays and Jews

As Copenhagen starts to tackle problems with hate crimes, the question is whether increasing dialogue and awareness is enough

Intolerance toward religious and sexual minorities in Copenhagen has been the focus of media attention in recent weeks after reports that Jewish children are bullied at schools in Nørrebro and homosexuals are assaulted at night in the city’s Latin Quarter.

Last month, the city started a new initiative to address and tackle so-called hate crimes by increasing dialogue between representatives of the gay, Jewish, Muslim and Christian communities.

According to the deputy mayor for immigration and employment, Anna Mee Allerslev (Radikale), the initiative is designed to increase awareness about the existence of hate crimes as well as to engage young people in order to hear their ideas for how to reduce acts of hate.

“It makes me really sad when I hear that Danish Jews do not want to wear a yarmulke in public, or that girls wearing head scarves feel victimised, or that two men don’t dare to hold hands or kiss in public,” Allerslev told Poltiken newspaper. “This is not the Copenhagen we want.”

But Tommy Pedersen, a spokesperson for the national gay rights group Landsforeningen for Bøsser, Lesbiske, Biseksuelle og Transpersoner, argues that more active measures are needed.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Forcing Christians to Sin

The State of Oregon is muscling up to destroy a baker who committed a grave crime: he refused to create a wedding cake for a pair of lesbians.

Oregon has an “Equality Act of 2007” which they dignify with the name of “law.” Apparently this “law” makes it an offence to disobey a lesbian. Do not assume from this that there is no more murder, rape, theft, or fraud in Oregon, leaving the state’s Department of Justice — you’ve gotta love that name — with ample time and resources to deal with balky bakers. There’s still plenty of old-fashioned crime in Oregon; but they can’t ignore the brand-new crime of defying a lesbian. The state must act.

Liberals, progressives, commies — whatever you want to call them — get a real charge out of forcing people to do things abhorrent to their conscience. That’s why we have a Health and Human Services “mandate” forcing religious objectors to pay for abortions. But there’s more behind it than just cheap thrills.

Why force a Christian to take part in someone else’s sin?

Because if they can get people into the habit of going against their Christian conscience, they hope to erase that Christian conscience altogether. It takes courage, and demands sacrifice, to disobey a law that forces you to sin — much easier, just to knuckle under. You’ve even got a ready-made excuse: you’re obeying the law. They can take away your livelihood, even send you to prison. Much easier just to make a lesbian wedding cake.

It’s always so much easier to let them take away your freedom, little piece by little piece. After all, the law’s the law and you have to obey it. If it says you have to fund abortions, or take part in a lesbian mockery of marriage, that’s what you’ve got to do.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

France: Euthanasia Should be Permitted: Ethics Council

France’s medical ethics council said Thursday that euthanasia should be allowed in exceptional cases and when suffering patients make “persistent and lucid requests.”

France’s medical ethics council said Thursday that assisted suicide should be allowed in exceptional cases when suffering patients make “persistent and lucid requests” in a step forward to legalising euthanasia.

Invoking a “duty to humanity,” the body said that this should be permitted upon the “persistent, lucid and repeated requests from someone suffering from an ailment for which the treatment has become ineffective”.

But it said the condition should be verified “not by a sole doctor but a medical team”.

The council did not use the term euthanasia but spoke of “assisted death”.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

Italy: Gay MP Appeals to EU for Same-Sex Marriage Recognition

PD member married partner in Germany last year

(ANSA) — Rome, February 14 — Italy’s first openly lesbian MP, Paola Concia, said on Thursday that she will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights after a Rome court rejected the application to register her same-sex marriage contract.

Concia, gay spokesperson for the centre-left Democratic Party (PD), exchanged vows with Ricarda Trautmann, a German criminologist, last August in Frankfurt.

The couple filed a request in Rome’s civil court last October to ask for their same-sex marriage contract to be legally recognized.

Concia came out in 2002 after working for the PD for several years.

She became an MP in 2008 and has become a prominent activist for equal rights for gays and hate-crime laws against gay-bashing.

           — Hat tip: Insubria [Return to headlines]

Now Soliciting Bids for the G.I. Jane Combat Hall of Fame

The Marines have already had a field test of women in combat and the women surrendered. Last September they opened the Infantry Officer Course to women. It’s three months of physical punishment that molds Marine officers. Of the 80 women potentially able to volunteer, two did so. On the first day one quit and the other washed out two weeks later for medical reasons.

Marine Capt. Katie Petronio wrote a detailed account of her deployment to Afghanistan titled, “Get Over It! We Are Not All Created Equal.” Her conclusion, based on personal experience, is that women are not physically able to take the punishment of extended combat conditions in the field.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Obama Continues Radical Social Engineering of the Military

The progressive revamping of the military has gotten another boost. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has offered an array of new benefits to the same-sex partners of service members, both active and retired, whether they are married or not. They include child care services, member-designated hospital visits, and the issuance of military ID cards to same-sex partners, granting them access to on-base commissaries, movie theaters and gyms.

“Taking care of our service members and honoring the sacrifices of all military families are two core values of this nation. Extending these benefits is an appropriate next step under current law to ensure that all service members receive equal support for what they do to protect this nation,” said Panetta in a statement announcing the development. Yet all service members are not receiving equal support: unmarried heterosexual partners and their families are not getting these benefits.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Expert: Combat Terrorism With “Highly Drastic” Population Control

In a Foreign Policy article titled “Mali’s 2.5 Percent Problem”, political writer and former Chatham House fellow Roger Howard calls for “new and highly drastic” population control measures in Mali to reduce the “terrorist threat”. Howard writes:

“[…] in the aftermath of the Algerian attacks and the insurgency in Mali, expect to hear an overwhelming silence about the population issue . . .The taboo that continues to surround the issue of population control needs to be cast aside. New, and highly drastic, means of curbing the rate of growth have to be devised and put into practice if this dire threat to regional and international stability is ever to be averted.”

To make his argument, Howard suggests that geopolitical “unstable” situations are in effect caused by population growth. Therefore, he argues, “highly drastic” population control policies in war-torn Mali should be put in place to avert a “threat to regional and international stability.” In other words: avert terrorism by fundamentalists by implementing mega-terrorism (population control).

Howard, who has made a name for himself writing articles on geopolitics for many international newspapers and is a Chatham House member, is also an editor connected with the UK based population control advocacy group Population Matters: a cesspool of conservationists and environmentalists describing humanity as locusts and calling for worldwide population reduction in the name of the earth.

[…]

For example, several studies have been published which call for mass population reduction in the name of poverty-reduction. In 2009 Ban Ki-moon’s top advisor, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs’ protégé, Matthew Bonds wrote a dissertation entitled Sociality, Sterility, and Poverty; Host-Pathogen Coevolution, with Implications for Human Ecology. In which the case is made that the best way to eradicate poverty and disease is to, well… eradicate humans.

           — Hat tip: JD [Return to headlines]

Runaway Stars to Fill in the Blanks in Milky Way Map

GUIDES to the galaxy might call it Zona Galactica Incognita — the half of our home galaxy we know little about. Indeed, the Milky Way is one of the least charted spiral galaxies in the nearby universe. Now it seems that stars kicked out of their birth clusters can help fill in the void and create the first proper map of the entire galaxy.

Young star clusters and clouds of hydrogen that formed in our galaxy help trace the shapes of the Milky Way’s arms, so astronomers are reasonably certain that it has a spiral structure (see right). Observations of stellar motion show that there is a supermassive black hole at its core.

But figuring out how fast the arms rotate or even counting how many there are is tricky, in part because we are embedded in one of its arms and unable to get an outsider’s view. In addition, everything behind the galactic centre is shrouded by a dense wall of stars and dust, blanking out a whole area of the Milky Way map.

“It’s quite difficult to see the actual structure,” says Manuel Silva of the University of Lisbon in Portugal. “I’m a little upset, really, that we don’t know our own galaxy that well.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman [Return to headlines]

3 thoughts on “Gates of Vienna News Feed 2/14/2013

  1. Quote:
    Al Azhar, the most important Sunni institution in the world has said it will seek to “re-establish ties based on mutual respect and understanding”.
    end

    What has light to do with darkness?
    Islam is profane.
    Mohammed is a false prophet.
    The Muslim “allah” is a demon.
    The Ummah is doomed, the lake of fire is waiting; they shall perish with the False Prophet and the Beast.

  2. Quote:
    The issue of the niqab also arose in a discussion with students in the male section of the university a few kilometers away. “Why did France ban it?”, one of the students asked indignantly. The reply that France is a State which enshrines secularism and prohibits religious symbols in public places met with silence. Mohamed, who is studying French, then asked angrily “and so where is freedom?”.
    end

    There is no room in our culture for pretended truth, totalizing ideology, “Allah’s Law,” propitiary magic and primitive traditions.
    Period.

  3. Quote:
    Marine Capt. Katie Petronio wrote a detailed account of her deployment to Afghanistan titled, “Get Over It! We Are Not All Created Equal.”
    end

    Again, a policy based on the fallacy that equality is sameness will always fail.
    Women and men are not and never will be the same. This is no insult to women.
    It’s just the truth.
    The franchise, and the protection of law should be the only spheres of debate for equality of the sexes; there one can be excused for some sameness thinking.
    But in most discourses of our lives, equality must be construed as the acceptance of difference instead of the imposition of sameness or unity of mind on the issue.
    Phyllis Chesler was right.
    Carole Tavris was right.
    Get over it.

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