DEDICATED TO EXPOSING DISINFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA AND TO PROMOTING UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS - WITH SHARP ANALYSIS AND BLUNT COMMENTARY. NO ADS. NO TIP-JAR. JUST THE TRUTH.
WHERE IS ADMIRAL GAOUETTE?
Here’s a Navy Times story from November 4.
Also: Navy Denies Admiral Removed Over Libya.
I don’t know what happened here, but it seems to be another of those things in which the press isn’t interested in doing any digging. Posted at 10:37 pm by Glenn ReynoldsHere's some more:
“Bank runs in Europe? The EU made them a little bit more likely this weekend, and as Cypriots stampede for the shrinking number of ATMs still handing out cash on the island, Italians, Greeks and Spaniards are also beginning to wonder if, with interest rates effectively at zero and confused politicians running Europe’s bank systems, the mattress might just be the safest place for their money after all.”THE SAD THING IS THAT BECAUSE THE CENTRAL BANKS THINK THAT PRINTING MONEY IS THE ANSWER, THE PAPER MONEY IN THE MATTRESS WON'T BE WORTH VERY MUCH EITHER.
ENEMEDIA IN AN UPROAR OVER PAMELA GELLER'S STATEMENT ON SUHAIL KHAN'S STEALTH JIHAD
Breitbart's "Uninvited" event was standing room only. And I was overwhelmed by the rush of applause and folks who stood up when I walked into the room for the event. It was mindblowing. Pamela Hall was there so we should have video later.USE THE LINK - NOW!
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To the militant atheists and postmodernists, the people who actually believe in God - (people like me) - are morons and they are dangerous morons if they dare seek high public office.BECAUSE THE WORST GENOCIDE IN HISTORY WAS COMMITTED BY ISLAMISTS AND ATHEISTS AND SOCIALISTS, NOT JUDEO-CHRISTIANS...
We are to be confronted on so-called news shows - like Hardball - as if we were a Torquemada or a Bin Laden.
But where would we be without Judeo-Christian believers? Where would Western civilization be, What would our nation be?
There would be no Declaration Of Independence without believers. We are endowed by our CREATOR with inalienable rights; (these rights are not the gift of aristocrats or the government or politicians!).
YES: Natural Law is the foundation of our founding - as the Judeo-Christian God is the very foundation of Western Civilization.
What would our civilization - our CULTURE - look like and sound like without God?No Sistine Chapel.
No Beethoven's Ninth.
No Bach.
No Psalms.
No Agnus Dei.
No Pieta.
No Gospel.
No Magdelene.
No David.
No Western Civilization.
YEAH YEAH YEAH: the knee-jerk left-wing postmodernists always retaliate to this by harking back to Europe's religious wars - as if they were the worst wars in history.
THEY WEREN'T. NOT BY A LONG-SHOT.
Socialism killed more in the last century - the 20th C - than Judeo-Christianity killed over religion in the previous 20 COMBINED! Western religion killed a few million in the religious wars. Socialism 150 million.
And Islam killed more than socialism - (granted, they had 14 centuries and killed about 270 million for their ideology, their martial creed; that's more than all the West's wars combined; YES: Islam is the world's most deadly ideology).
So when you hear the militant atheists and postmodernists rant and rave about the ills of Judeo-Christianity... tell them to shut up and consider what life would be without Judeo-Christian Civilization.
And remind them that without a belief in God, our future might easily become as devoid of higher value as our pre-Judeo-Christian past. That was a world without personal liberty and without democracy; it was a world instead filled with pagan despotism, human sacrifice, and utter debauchery.
SO WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN REALLY? WHAT DOES IT PROVE?
It may not prove the existence of God.
SO WHAT: FOR OUR SMALL MINDS - MINDS WHICH CAN ONLY SEE HINTS OF THE INFINITE AND ONLY FLEETING GLIMPSES OF THE ETERNAL - ACCEPTING GOD'S EXISTENCE REQUIRES A LEAP FAITH.
Does it prove anything, then?
Yes: It proves the value of the belief in God.
So... I say to my atheist friends: come, take that leap.
Be not afraid.
We're here on the other side of the divide, and we'll catch you. ALL OF YOU.
Yes... all of you.
You see... we've the strength of angels - the angels of our better nature.
"Persepolis," described by Time magazine as a memoir of girl growing up in Iran who has "an obsession with becoming God's new prophet," has been banned in Iran, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates because some Muslims consider it blasphemous.It's a facinating question if the board wanted to take it out for the same reasons the UAE and Satrapi's own Iran did - because it's against their oppressive Islamofacist regimes. Chicago's already notorious for the political correctness that plagues almost every neighborhood, and this is another bad step they're making. The real world is unfortunately full of harsh realities, and while I could understand if a fictional movie full of violence isn't something responsible parents and teachers would want to show younger children, a book/graphic novel about real life is something entirely different, and they have every right to know about the horrors Satrapi's native country is being devoured by. It makes no difference even if they're trying to just keep it out of 7th grade classes; that's still censorship, and suppression of vital info.
In a letter to principals, the schools CEO said that the move to remove the book from its seventh-grade curriculum came after "It was brought to our attention that it contains graphic language and images that are not appropriate for general use" for that age group.
While saying "We are not banning this book from our schools," Byrd-Bennett instructed principals: "If your seventh-grade teachers have not yet taught this book, please ask them not to do so and to remove any copies of the book from their classrooms."
While "Persepolis" "may be appropriate" for junior and senior students, Byrd-Bennett said that CPS is reconsidering whether the book, because of "powerful images of torture," should be used in the curriculum of eighth through 10th grades. [...]
The controversy was sparked by reports of an email sent Thursday in which the Lane Tech principal told school staff members that he was informed by one of the CPS' Network Instructional Support Leaders group that all ISLs were given a deadline of Friday to make sure the book was not in the library, that it had not been checked out by a student or teacher, that it was not used in "any classrooms" and "to collect the autobiographic graphic novel by Marjane Satrapi from all classrooms and the Library."
"I was not provided a reason for the collection of 'Persepolis,'" Dignam's message concluded. [...]
A film version of "Persepolis," released in 2007, was banned in Iran, a move that the author told an interviewer in 2010 was probably because "it is too Western, and it is un-Islamic and maybe anti-revolutionary.”
In her statement Friday, the author said she visited a Chicago school in 2004 "and loved seeing the kids there, so full of passion and questions. I felt close to them and they felt close to me."
"But when I hear that they want to ban my book — in America — I just don't understand. I cannot accept it. Why? America is the largest democracy in the world!...Shame on them," said Satrapi.
“These are not photos of torture. It’s a drawing and it’s one frame. I don’t think American kids of seventh grade have not seen any signs of violence. Seventh graders have brains and they see all kinds of things on cinema and the Internet. It’s a black and white drawing and I’m not showing something extremely horrible. That’s a false argument. They have to give a better explanation.”What they really have to explain is if they're succumbing to dhimmitude, which I assume is the real reason. Again, it makes little difference if it's just the 7th grade they're trying to remove the book from, it's still an attempt to suppress the student's right to knowledge about a foreign country consumed by a bleak religious mindset.
A debate hosted by the Islamic Education and Research Academy ignited fire after attendees were required to separate by gender, with single women forced into seats in the very back rows.And how! Here's the UK Telegraph report:
The group has since been banned from holding any events on Britain’s leading University College-London campus, The Telegraph reports.
Panel participants said they were shocked by the segregation when they looked into the audience, and one — Professor Lawrence Krauss, a prominent physicist and atheist who served on President Obama’s science committee in 2008 — threatened to walk out unless the seating arrangement mandate was relaxed, and men and women could sit together, The Telegraph says.
He also suggested that Brits were cowed to comply with Islam standards.
The professor, a leading physicist and prominent atheist, threatened to walk out unless organisers agreed to let men and women sit together, which was eventually agreed - but was then astonished to find himself being accused of intolerance by angry members of the audience.You can say that again. David Aaronovich says that pandering to this kind of religious insanity can only end up harming us:
He said there had been no such problems when he recently took part in a similar debate in Australia. [...]
He said: "People are not only afraid to offend, but afraid to offend a vocal and aggressive group of people.
"There is a segment of the Islamic community that is very vocal about this."
The professor said: "I think the notion that these cultural norms should be carried out within a broader society that not only doesn't share them but that is free and open is a very serious problem."
This is what psychoanalysts call "violent innocence". I recall it from the days when South African apartheid was still a matter of debate for some people. It is hard to recall them now, but you could discover apologists for "separate development" on any letters page and in even some editorials. It's natural. White and blacks prefer to live separately. This big country for the whites, and these lovely little Bantustans for the childlike blacks. And you always find someone suitably black to say yes indeed, that was what they wanted, thank you very much.Food for thought, but there's one problem with his citation of Orthodox synagogues: he doesn't differentiate properly between them and Haredis, who in recent times have taken gender separation to extremes, all stuff that I took to blogging about, and simpler Orthodox, who only see this as important during prayer time - outside of that, nobody believes in gender separation; they just don't think the sexes should mix during prayer time/religious gatherings. This doesn't mean his argument doesn't have legitimate points, but if he'd just research more, he'd find that modern Orthodox are hardly like what he's suggesting.
And it never means separate but equal. It always means the white or the man is the boss. That's why in orthodox synagogues the women (including the grandmas) are upstairs and the men (including the adolescents) are in the stalls. That's why at UCL the women-only area was towards the back. That's why at other Islamic events held in British colleges the men ask questions directly and the women have to write them down on a piece of paper.
That's why, hilariously, on its own website iERA lists its speakers for debates, showing photos of the men and blank shapes standing in for the faces of the women. And doesn't anyone who thinks about it for more than a nanosecond realise that the obedient "modesty" of some women - even if voluntary - is used by the big beards as a way of coercing others to conform?
People in Cyprus have reacted with shock to news of a one-off levy of up to 10% on savings as part of a 10bn-euro (£8.7bn; $13bn) bailout agreed in Brussels.
Savers could be seen queuing at cash machines amid resentment at the charge.
The deal reached with euro partners and the IMF marks a radical departure from previous international aid packages. President Nicos Anastasiades defended it as a "painful" step, taken to avoid a disorderly bankruptcy. The Cypriot leader, who was elected last month on a promise to tackle the country's debt crisis, will address the nation on Sunday.
- Depositors with under 100,000 euros deposited must pay 6.75%
- Those with more than 100,000 in their accounts must pay 9.9%
- Depositors will be compensated with the equivalent amount in shares in their banks
- The levy is a one-off measure
Lenders are said to be gambling that the risk of a bigger banking crisis elsewhere in the eurozone has receded.
While Cyprus may be one of the eurozone's tiniest economies - its third-smallest - there could be serious repercussions for other financially over-stretched economies, such as those of Spain and Italy, Robert Peston writes. The point of the levy is as a caution to lenders to banks that they should take care where they place their funds, and avoid banks that overstretch themselves - as Cypriot banks did, he adds. Cyprus is the fifth country after Greece, the Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Spain to turn to the eurozone for financial help during the region's debt crisis.ALL THE POLITICIANS CAN DO IS TAKE MONEY AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO EARN IT.
IDF special forces arrested ten Palestinian men overnight Friday on suspicion of hurling rocks at an Israeli vehicle and being behind an attack that led the car to veer off the road, hit a truck, and leave a three-year-old girl fighting for life. Three members of her family are moderately injured.It was a form of terrorist attack. If anything, it was Islamic jihad. I hope the youngest victim will be okay. Nevertheless, the perpetrators must be given severe jail terms and even hard labor for the damage they caused.
The suspects were arrested after "accurate intelligence that was quickly assembled" reached the army, the IDF said. Duvdevan undercover soldiers took part in the arrest operation.
Eights suspects were arrested in the village of Haras, and two in the village of Harath, southeast of Kalkiliya.
The arrest operation was led by the commander of the Efraim Regional Brigade, Col. Ran Kahana. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and the Israel Police also took part. The suspects have been taken for questioning.
The IDF said it took a grave view of rock throwing attacks, and vowed to continue to act overtly and covertly to secure the residents of the area.
A senior army source told The Jerusalem Post, “We will, through intelligence and operational steps, seek to capture the attackers.”
Among those lightly wounded on the bus by glass shattered by rocks was the wife of former Likud MK Yehiel Hazon.
But the Magen David Adom medics who raced to the scene near the Barkan settlement, not far from Ariel, around 6:25 p.m. focused on the mother, 32, and her daughters, aged two, four and six.
It took 25 minutes to pull the family out of the car, medic Muawia Kabha said.
The youngest girl was not breathing and was resuscitated with a mouth-to-mouth procedure, he said. Medics were able to revive her, but she was unconscious and in critical condition, he said.
The mother was also in moderate condition but was conscious, Kabha said. The two girls in the back seat were moderately wounded, because they were not in the part of the vehicle trapped under the truck, he said.
“It was an awful scene. It looked like a terrorist attack,” he added.
The mother, the toddler and the six-year-old were moved to Schneider Hospital after being taken to the Rabin Medical Center-Beilinson Campus in Petah Tikva, while the four-year-old was sent to Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. As of press time, the toddler was in surgery.
Spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld said police had received a number of calls about stone-throwing on the road at that time.
Bayit Yehudi chairman MK Naftali Bennett reacted Thursday evening to the rock terror attack that has left a baby struggling for her life in hospital, alongside her wounded mother and two sisters.Everyone must pray for the life and safety of this innocent child.
"Rocks kill," he wrote on his Facebook page.
"A three-year-old toddler is currently in critical condition because of a rock terror attack.
"A mother and her three daughters (3, 4 and 5) were driving on the Trans-Samaria Highway a short time ago. A terrorist threw a rock at a truck, causing the truck to veer and hit the vehicle of the mother and her daughters.
"The baby girl, as we said, is in critical condition. And the mother and the two other girls are in moderate condition.
"Some people take rock throwing lightly, and prevent action against them. Rock throwers are trying to murder and they need to be treated accordingly.
"Let us pray for the life of the baby girl."
Adina Bar-Shalom, the eldest daughter of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, said on Tuesday that the lack of English and Mathematics education in haredi schools was a serious obstacle in increasing the numbers of haredim in higher education.I think it's pretty clear why they haven't - they're so stuck on welfare they simply cannot wake up and smell the coffee. Aryeh Deri acts vindictive and so do the UTJ leaders, and just at a time when Iran is a problem. Instead of being united, they do their darndest to divide. If they want to set a good impression, they'd do well to join these committees even as opposition members to help better the state of society.
Bar-Shalom established the Haredi College in Jerusalem, the first academic college for haredi men and women in Israel, where students can study for degrees in numerous fields such as computer science, medical science, psychology, social work and others. [...]
The overwhelming majority of haredi educational institutions teaching grade nine and above do not include any secular education in their curriculum at all, focusing instead on religious studies. Girls generally continue with a general education throughout their time in elementary and high school.
There are approximately 7,000 haredi students enrolled in higher education programs, representing a dramatic increase over the last decade but a small percentage of the number of college aged haredi youth.
According to a recent study by the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies, haredi employment for men has fallen from close to 88% in 1979 to 48% in 2011. The rate of employment for haredi women is approximately 61%, according to the Bank of Israel, with the national average for women standing at 66%.
The new Knesset caucus was established by Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman, who, together with MK Erel Margalit (Labor), chairs the group.
Lipman said he founded the caucus because of the large high number of requests he received from haredim during the election campaign asking for assistance in matters of employment.
“The time has come for us as the country’s lawmakers along with the government ministers to do more to assist haredim to enter the work force and sustain their families,” said Lipman. “There is a gap between the haredi political leadership and the haredi street, and it is here where we can make a real difference.”
In the previous Knesset, Yoel Hasson, a former MK for Kadima, established a similar caucus in 2012 along with several other MKs, including David Azoulai of Shas. As of yet, Lipman’s caucus does not include any haredi MK members, although he maintains he personally invited all haredi MKs to join.
The British Labor party suspended politician Lord Nazir Ahmed over allegations that he blamed a road accident that he caused on a Jewish conspiracy.Sadly, he probably won't be the last. For all we know, there'll likely be more coming in during the next election in 2-3 years.
Ahmed, 55, was jailed for causing a deadly road accident while texting behind the wheel. Earlier Thursday the Times of London cited him as saying that his prison sentence was a result of pressure applied on the court by Jews “who own newspapers and television channels.”
Following publication of these remarks, a Labor spokesman said: "The Labor party deplores and does not tolerate any sort of antisemitism.
"Following reports in the Times today we are suspending Lord Ahmed pending an investigation."
The Board of Deputies of British Jews condemned Ahmed’s comments saying he had recalled the worse anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
“We are appalled by Lord Ahmed's alleged comments which recall the worst Jewish conspiracy theories. However outlandish and incredible his allegations, there will always be gullible or malicious individuals or groups that will accept what he has said and add to the growth of anti-Semitic discourse,” said Board chief executive Jon Benjamin.
“We note that Lord Ahmed has now been suspended from the Labor Party pending a full investigation. If he is found to have indeed made the reported comments, he should be expelled from the Labor Party, as such views should have no space in responsible political discourse,” he added.
Ahmed became one of the first Muslim peers in the UK after former British prime minister Tony Blair appointed him in 1998.
The ultra-orthodox parties are natural allies of Mr Netanyahu. “We wanted a broader more stable coalition and we didn’t hide that at any stage of the negotiations, unfortunately our partners wanted differently,” Zeev Elkin of Mr Netanyahu's Likud Party told Israel radio. “Under the difficult near impossible conditions, we had no other option and more or less had to conduct coalition talks under extortion, there is no other expression to describe it, under these conditions I think we obtained the maximum.”Oh, they're natural allies alright! Shas betrayed Netanyahu more than twice years before, to say nothing of the Zionist camp in Israel, and would not back him for prime minister because he wanted to cut back on the welfare payments given to the Haredi community. And Aryeh Deri said:
Arieh Deri – the leader of the ultra-orthodox Shas party, told Israel’s Army radio that, “our first mission is to topple this government.”Tsk tsk tsk. They contradict themselves almost immediately.
With the signing of a coalition agreement set for Thursday night, Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid wrote to Facebook fans Thursday, “Well, this is probably the end, or actually, the beginning...”What can I say? He might make a pretty good choice for the role.
Lapid, who fought hard to wrest control of the Education portfolio from Likud, added an apology for “the long silence,” writing that “every word would have had too many interpretations and spins.
“After we sign the final document (probably tonight) I’ll update and explain, but it was important to tell the Facebook community of Yesh Atid (There’s a Future) I am still here and will continue to be here, because our dialogue is part of the new politics where elected officials do not close the door and leave the day after receiving their position. Thank you for all the support, and thank you for caring,” Lapid wrote.
Lapid has won the post of Finance Minister. The party’s Number Two, MK Rabbi Shai Piron, will take the Education Ministry portfolio – ending a week-long battle with the Likud over the post.
Following an announcement that Ariel University students will not be invited to hear US President Barack Obama speak during his trip to Israel, Bayit Yehudi MK Yoni Chetboun condemned the exclusion of West Bank institution.Does he intend to visit the PLO's headquarters even as he snubs the Knesset? I don't see what the point is of his coming to visit here if he's going to shun a segment of society, which is a very poor example for a politician.
Obama is scheduled to make a speech in Jerusalem on March 21 as a part of his Middle East visit. The president's advisers said he will not be speaking at the Knesset because he does not intend to address politics.
Chetboun said that Obama's decision was "puzzling" and inconsistent. On the one hand the president announces his intentions are not political, he said, "but in the same breath he makes a political decision, boycotting Ariel University."
MK Chetboun added that "if the president invites students of all Israeli universities, he should also invite representatives from Ariel University, which is recognized by the Israeli government as legitimate academic institution."
Shai Gill, Chairman of Ariel University's student council said that the students were "shocked by the discrimination."
Gill added that this decision has provoked hostility among students and promised their presence in the vicinity of the event.
BBC: The Netherlands has raised its terror threat level, citing concerns that Dutch citizens who have fought in Syria are returning more radicalised. The authorities have put the level up from "limited" to "substantial" - the second highest category. The government says there are also signs of growing radicalisation among young Dutch at home.THIS IS MORE PROOF THAT GLOBAL JIHAD IS REAL AND THE THREAT IT PRESENTS TO THE WEST IS GROWING.
Feds Spend $1.5 Million to Study Why Lesbians Are FatWe are living in a parallel universe of the absurd! That universe is being funded by taxpayer dollars.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded $1.5 million to study biological and social factors for why “three-quarters” of lesbians are obese and why gay males are not, calling it an issue of “high public-health significance.”
Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Mass., has received two grants administered by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to study the relationship between sexual orientation and obesity.
[...]
The project is being led by S. Bryn Austin, Director of Fellowship Research Training in the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital. Austin is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health, and an Associate Epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), which is a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School....
Snow halts Frankfurt airport flights and Eurostar trains
Frankfurt airport in Germany - Europe's third-busiest hub - has been shut down because of heavy snow. T
he Eurostar high-speed train service between London and Paris has also been suspended as snow blankets a swathe of northern Europe.MORE:
Heavy snow is causing travel problems for a second day after hundreds of drivers were stranded in their cars overnight in southern England.
Cross-Channel Eurostar train services are disrupted with severe delays due to bad weather in northern France. Sussex Police dealt with more than 300 collisions across the county in 24 hours, with drivers spending the night on the M23 in Sussex and A2 in Kent. Airports in the Channel Islands are still closed following heavy snow.AGW IS BS.
THIS VIDEO WAS RECORDED 45 YEARS AGO:
TO GIVE YOU AN IDEA OF HOW ANCIENT THIS MIGHT SEEM TO TODAY'S GENERATION OF 20-SOMETHINGS, 45 YEARS BEFORE THIS VIDEO OF ELVIS WAS RECORDED, IT WAS 1923:
THIS WAS ALSO A HIT: PAUL WHITEMAN'S ORCHESTRA RECORDING OF "I'LL BUILD A STAIRWAY TO PARADISE":
I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT TO ALSO NOTE THAT TODAY'S YOUTH IS MUCH LESS CULTURALLY CONNECTED TO THE THINGS WHICH MADE US BOOMERS WHO AND WHAT WE ARE, THEN WE ARE TO WHO AND WHAT OUR PARENTS - (WHO WON WW2) - AND GRANDPARENTS - (WHO SURVIVED THE GREAT DEPRESSION) - WERE AND MADE THEM THAT WAY.
WE GREW UP ON TV WHEN TV WAS B&W AND PLAYED OLD MOVIES WHICH OUR PARENTS HAD SEEN FOR A NICKEL.
JOHN WAYNE. HUMPHREY BOGART. CARY GRANT. MARLENE DIETRICH. INGRID BERGMAN. GRETA GARBO. WE SAW THEM ALL.
WE SHARED A CULTURAL HERITAGE WITH OUR PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS.
NOW KIDS PLAY 3D VIDEO GAMES AND KNOW AS MUCH ABOUT THE 20TH CENTURY AS THEY DO THE 12TH CENTURY.
WHICH IS TO SAY THEY NEXT TO NOTHING ABOUT IT. THEY'VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF LEAVE IT TO BEAVER" OR "I LOVE LUCY" OR "GREEN ACRES".
MANY HAVE NEVER HEARD OF "SEINFELD"!
IT'S SAD.SOMETHING HAS BEEN LOST... AND WILL ONE DAY BE AS DISTANT AS THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE....
THIS IS A DELIBERATE LIE ON THE PART OF ARABS, AND ONE DELIBERATELY TRANSMITTED BY THE MORE THAN WILLING ANTISEMITIC LEFT-WING MEDIA.
Non-Muslim women wore hijab for a day as part of Discover Islam Week at Northumbria University.Please, spare us the superficiality. They completely miss all the deeper issues involved deliberately. This article totally obscures the dominance of Muslim men over women they consider theirs to govern. That's one of the leading reasons why many Muslim women wear the hijab, if also because many are indoctrinated into believing it's positive in every way.
They were asked to continue their daily routine as normal wearing the head covering before a group discussion about their experiences.
The event was aimed at challenging negative preconceptions about Islamic women and improving understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Some Muslim women choose to wear the hijab because they say it is ordered in the Koran, to protect women's modesty.
Samantha McGregor, who took part in the event, said: “I found that people were looking at me. I don’t know if they were thinking she looks silly or she’s not actually a Muslim.
“I felt like saying: ‘Stop looking at me! I’ve done nothing wrong.’
“I like the idea that you wear a hijab so only your husband can see your hair, I find that quite special.
“I think people have bad views of Islam and today it’s made me completely change and get rid of all those views.”
Another participant Jeanna Spencer added: “It’s been really interesting to think about why someone would choose to wear it and why hair would be something to be kept private and be modest about.”
Head sister of Northumbria University’s Islamic Society, Rokeya Begum, said: “It’s actually quite liberating because we’re not forced to dress the way that society or fashion says that we should.
“The event is to show that we’re not forced to wear it and we’re quite happy.
"We’re normal people, and others shouldn't judge us by the way we dress.”
Nine police officers and dozens of Palestinians were injured on Friday when riots broke out at the end of the weekly prayer service on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.It matters not an iota to Islamofascists whether it's true or not, blood libels are what feed their insanity, and lead to these atrocities.
Six of the wounded officers required medical attention, as did an Israeli photojournalist who was lightly wounded in the riot. Four Palestinians were arrested.
While protests at the end of Friday prayers are not uncommon, this was the first time that the demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at police. The police called the move "an escalation." [...]
According to the police, another contributing factor was a rumor spread by Islamist elements that a police officer had dropped a copy of the Quran on the ground, kicked it and stomped on it.
Ultra-Orthodox leaders are in an uproar because religious Zionists won the upper hand in the recent elections and will probably be part of the next government, while haredi representatives won't. They're yelling about the destruction of the "world of Torah" that will result from societal reforms that Habayit Hayehudi insists upon.It should make EVERYBODY wonder. Who are these self-appointed judges who come off sounding more like vulgarians and are obviously content to reject some of the most important beliefs in the Torah like "life and death are in the hands of the tongue"? They should be throughly ashamed of themselves. And we wonder why they have such horrific gall to slur women, who, just like men, are God's creations, as "shiksas", "whores" and other obscenities when they sit at the front of a bus?
So here's a news flash for my haredi brethren: You do not possess exclusivity on "the world of Torah," and with historic perspective you may yet come to thank Habayit Hayehudi for nudging you to a better place.
No less than you do, religious Zionist Jews represented by Naftali Bennett's resurgent national religious party want to strengthen the "world of Torah" — by keeping mitzvot, studying Torah and expanding yeshiva institutions, and by serving in the military, advancing the Israel's technological and industrial prowess, and contributing to the economy.
All of the above strengthen the "world of Torah." [...]
Frankly, your narrow "world of Torah" will not survive if the large haredi public is allowed to wallow in religious backwardness and poverty. So, with regrets — and excuse the condescension, for your own good — we're going to have to wean you off the national dole.
Because of the way we differ in building a "world of Torah," there is a very big difference in the way our respective politicians do their jobs. We religious Zionist Orthodox Jews want our elected representatives to act for the benefit of all parts of the population, not just take care of narrow, sectarian needs. Bennett and his colleagues, for example, intend to build cheaper housing for all young couples in the country, not just haredi couples.
We religious Zionists also want a user-friendly and open-minded rabbinate in this country, one that will bring about sanctification, not a desecration, of God's name in the general public, and that will draw nonreligious Israelis back toward tradition, not turn them away from it. I'm sorry that this means that we have to — we just have to! — take the Chief Rabbinate and all its local affiliates out of haredi hands, and place it back in the trust of moderate, Zionist rabbis who come with a Klal Yisrael approach to the job (emphasizing shared community and destiny among all Jews).
[...] the vile and violent name-calling some haredi leaders have taken to — labeling Yesh Atid's leadership, including the impressive Rabbis Shai Piron and Dov Lipman, as "haters and enemies of the Jewish people" and branding us religious Zionists as "goyim" — only calls into question your morals, religious standards and wisdom, not ours.
It makes me wonder how well you know the strictures against speaking with an evil and libelous tongue laid out in the "world of Torah's" codes of Jewish law.
Part of the "world of Torah" is settling the land of Israel — strengthening the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria, not tearing them down. And here is the moment I have to remind you that we religious Zionist settler-supporting types were right about the dangers of the Oslo Accords (which haredi political representatives notoriously voted for), and about the perils of the Gaza disengagement and expulsion (which weren't opposed by haredi leadership either).Tragically, some of them do. The socialist mindset some of these Haredi movements go by is an unfortunate outgrowth of Czarist Russia/eastern Europe, and it leaked over to some of the Sephardic groups who took up the lifestyle too. And which reminds me, Shas' leader Eli Yishai said:
It's shocking and repulsive that haredi politicians, speaking on behalf of the "world of Torah" which you improperly claim for yourselves, are now spitefully threatening to wreak revenge against Habayit Hayehudi by voting to withdraw lock, stock and barrel from the West Bank and destroy religious Zionist, Torah-true settlement communities.
I find it hard to believe that true haredi rabbinical giants have reached the conclusion that this is the "way of Torah." Do they really believe that rewarding Mahmoud Abbas as a righteous gentile and making terrible diplomatic and security mistakes are justified just because Aryeh Deri and Yakov Litzman aren't getting seats at the cabinet table? Or because some yeshiva boys at the margins of haredi society, who aren't anyway truly learning Torah, will have to do national service and go to work?
Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) wrote Saturday night on his Facebook page: "We are getting close to the unveiling of the new members of this government. You succeeded in bringing about the reality you have prayed for, but not one haredi will stand beside you to take pictures in the President's Residence garden. But on the day after, once the victory bells of those whom the prime minister allowed to take him hostage to fulfill their personal whims stop sounding, the 2013 elections will emerge as the day when an entire population, traditional and haredi, was cast out solely due to its beliefs and views."Why yes, that's right, beliefs and views just like what Weinberg described. That is why Shas does not belong in the government, and should be throughly ashamed of themselves for their sainthood and victimology stance.
It may be that Lapid preferred a government that did not include the haredim. And it may also be that behind closed doors he told associates that it would hurt him politically if on the day the new government is sworn he is photographed alongside Shas and UTJ MKs.Actually, there are some interesting things that came in the wake of this: the Haredi parties have let everyone see just how dishonest and even prejudiced they sadly are, to say nothing of the alarmingly crude language they see nothing wrong with employing. And if that's how they're going to behave, like a whole bunch of spoiled juveniles, then I honestly can't feel sorry to see them on the outside looking inside. Nor can I feel sorry for Aryeh Deri of Shas, who's also taken to whining:
But if haredi politicians had been willing to accept in principle the idea that haredi exceptionalism must gradually come to an end, Lapid could not have prevented Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from adding the ultra-Orthodox parties to the coalition.
Unfortunately, even Shas, the more moderate of the two parties, refused to accept even one of the most lenient approaches to integrating haredi men into the IDF and national service – the plan backed by Netanyahu and formulated by Prof. Eugene Kandel, chairman of the National Economic Council in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Regardless of whether or not Lapid and Bennett had made “sharing the burden” central to their demands as part of the coalition negotiations, the incoming government has an obligation to find a suitable replacement for the “Tal Law,” which the High Court of Justice in February 2012 ruled discriminated against the non-haredi public who are obligated to serve a full three years and was, therefore, unlawful.
Did the haredi parties truly expect the government to ignore this ruling and risk being held in contempt of our highest court? Still, it is unfortunate that at least one of the two haredi parties was not successfully incorporated into the coalition, not because there is anything inherently unjust about being “exiled” to the opposition for refusing to compromise on one’s principles as some haredi politicians would have us believe, but because without cooperation, the inevitable integration of haredi men into the IDF and into the labor market will be needlessly delayed.
Shas leader Aryeh Deri castigated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday for keeping the ultra-Orthodox out of coalition talks, and ultimately out of the emerging coalition, saying Netanyahu had failed to take the country’s less fortunate and poverty-stricken citizens into consideration.No, Shas has failed, since they couldn't encourage them to make a convincing effort to get jobs for themselves and share the national burden, which would've helped tremendously.
“We see here before us the establishment of a bourgeois government, which for the first time consists entirely of members of the upper class… a government whose leaders do not know the meaning of hardship. And as if that were not enough, they are also the ones that are supposed to cut the flesh, to order the difficult cuts whose immediate casualties will be the poor. They are the ones who unfortunately have to determine policies,” Deri wrote on his Facebook wall.Instead of being self-reliant, a lesson that can be found within the pages of the Torah/Bible too. Dependence on welfare and laziness rather than to seek a real job is exactly why a lot of the rest of the public got mad at them - because the Haredis seem to think that only the non-Haredi citizens should have to do the hard work. That aside, Deri is resorting to some absolutely boring cliches of attacking the rich, instead of encouraging people to work to be as wealthy as the politicians he blatantly attacked.
The Shas party has traditionally represented the interests of the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox, many of whom have large families and fall below the poverty line, and depend on government help to feed and shelter their families.
“You cannot wash your hands of this,” Deri warned Netanyahu. “I have no doubt that history will harshly judge the person who gave his hand to this condition. True, there are plenty of excuses: They forced you to say it… you even bothered to condemn the steps… but those excuses do not stand the stringent test of history,” Deri said.And Deri cannot wash his hands of the dhimmitude he put on display when he supported the Oslo accords and making concessions to the PLO. Such cowardly steps do not stand the historical test. And with Deri's convictions for corruption, that's why it's better not to have someone like him inside the government, where he could do potential damage to the state and its funding.
...The executive mansion is not in that much trouble, of course. It’s certainly not in sufficiently dire straits for Air Force One ($181,757 per hour) to be grounded, or to see the executive chef ($100,000 per year) furloughed, or to cut back on the hours of the three full-time White House calligraphers ($277,050 per year for the trio), or to limit the invaluable work of the chief of staff to the president’s dog ($102,000 per year), or to trim his ridiculous motorcade ($2.2 million). If Ellen DeGeneres wants another dancercize session or Spain holds another clothing sale, the first family will be there before you can say “citizen executive.” Fear ye not, serfs: Austerity may be the word of the week, but the president is by no means in any danger of being forced to live like the president of a republic instead of like a king....Millions of Americans are scrambling: low salaries, higher taxes, and rising health-insurance premiums. But those in the Obama White House are living like kings.
President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have inaugurated a controversial gas pipeline linking the two neighbours. The US has warned that the project could incur sanctions connected with Iran's nuclear programme.
The long-delayed pipeline is seen in Pakistan as a way of alleviating the country's chronic energy shortages. The work on the Iranian side is almost complete. Monday marks the start of construction in Pakistan.THINGS IN THE REGION ARE WORSE NOW THAN IN 2008.
Live television footage showed the two presidents shaking hands with dignitaries as the ceremony got under way at the border. A total of 780km (485 miles) of pipeline is due to be built in the country over the next two years. Dubbed the "peace pipeline", talks on the project began in 1994. The pipeline was initially intended to carry gas on to India, but Delhi withdrew from negotiations in 2009 just a year after it signed a nuclear deal with the US.
Today Biden spoke over the phone to Pakistan's President President Pervez Musharraf, who declared a state of emergency in his country over the weekend. Biden issued a statement after the conversation.
"We had a very frank and detailed discussion," it says. "I told President Musharraf how critical it is for relations between our two countries that elections go forward as planned in January, that he follow through on his commitment to take off his uniform and that he restore the rule of law to Pakistan. It is clear to me from our conversation that President Musharraf understands the consequences for his country and for relations with the United States if he does not return Pakistan to the path of democracy."MORE FROM THE IDIOT JOE BIDEN IN 2007:
Biden, who chairs the U.S. Senate's foreign relations committee and is knowledgeable on international relations, says what is happening in Pakistan is linked to broader U.S. foreign policy goals. He says U.S. policy should be shifted from one focused solely on President Pervez Musharraf to one based on Pakistan as a whole.
"Pakistan has strong democratic traditions and a large, moderate majority. But that moderate majority must have a voice in the system and an outlet with elections," Biden was to say Thursday during a speech at Saint Anselm College. "If not, moderates may find that they have no choice but to make common cause with extremists, just as the Shah's opponents did in Iran three decades ago."ALSO JOE IN 2007 - (AND HE WAS BACKED AT THE TIME BY KERRY AND HAGEL):
Calling the Bush administration's reaction to emergency rule in Pakistan inadequate, Sen. Joseph Biden, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he is considering suspending sales of major weapons systems to Pakistan.KERRY WAS ADAMANTLY OPPOSED TO MUSHARRAF.
In particular, he said that U.S. sales of F-16 fighter jets and P-3 surveillance aircraft could be used as a lever to prompt the powerful Pakistani military to pressure Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to reverse his declaration of emergency rule.
"Some of the big-ticket weapons items not designed to combat al Qaeda and the Taliban are on the table now," Biden said. "It will have impact on his military, and he relies still on his military." Biden called on the Bush administration to act more "proactively" in pressuring Musharraf to restore democracy and hold the January elections as scheduled. He raised the specter of the 1979 coup in Iran that brought religious conservatives to power.
Biden, joined by Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., saw Musharraf on the morning after the election.
"He walked in and said, `Look, the results are in. I lost. I am prepared to be a transition' — he didn't use these words — `a transition figure here," Biden said.
Three senators who met with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf after opposition parties won a governing majority last week urged a "graceful exit" from power for the close Bush terror-fighting ally.
"Were I their political adviser, that's what I would advise," Sen. Joe Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Sunday. He did not favor an attempt by that new coalition to impeach Musharraf; the parties have enough seats to govern, but not enough to impeach the president.
"I firmly believe if they do not focus on old grudges — and there's plenty in Pakistan — and give him a graceful way to move," then it could happen, said Biden, D-Del.... The senators also met with Asif Ali Zadari of the Pakistan People's Party and Nawaz Sharif of the Pakistan Muslin League-N. Together, those parties won at least 154 of the 268 contested seats in the National Assembly. Musharraf's ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League-Q, won only 40 seats. Pakistan's Election Commission has yet to declare winners of six seats.
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| 2008: OBAMA'S FOREIGN POLICY "BRAIN" TRUST WITH THE ISLAMIST NAWAZ |
MORE:
Senator Biden called the election, which resulted in a major defeat for parties supporting Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, credible and reflecting the will of the country's moderate majority.
Biden said the new government of Pakistan should enjoy what he called "a democracy dividend."
"I believe, I am speaking only for myself now, that we should be tripling our non-military assistance," he said. "We should sustain that commitment for a 10-year period. We should be focused on helping you build schools and roads and health care centers and dealing with the infrastructure of the entire country."
Currently the United States gives Pakistan $500 million in non-military aid per year. So under Senator Biden's proposal that figure would jump to $1.5 billion.
Forty two percent of Austrians think "not everything was bad under Hitler," while 57% think "there was nothing positive about the Hitler era," according to a poll conducted by newspaper Der Standard that was published on Friday.Would they please just stop using that tired cliche of "far-right" when the nazis happen to have been socialist, the trait connected with the left? That aside, this is something to worry about in a country where Hitler came from. It may not be the majority, but it's still a very high number.
The poll was conducted among 502 eligible voters in Austria and published ahead of the 75th anniversary of the country's annexation by Nazi Germany.
61% thought the country adequately dealt with its Nazi past, while 39% thought more should be done.
[...] Jewish leaders have warned of late against what they called creeping tolerance of anti-Semitism in Austria.
A rabbi said in September that neo-Nazi soccer fans had verbally abused him while police looked on, and a far-right politician drew criticism from the country's president for posting a cartoon on his website that was widely seen as anti-Semitic.
HOPEY-CHANGEY: One woman with 6 jobs to make ends meet. You know those jobs Obama says he created? She’s got 6 of them!
Posted at 12:21 pm by Glenn Reynolds
