The Western Word

This Week's Editorial

WHAT IS ON YOUR AGENDA?
By Avi Davis

The word “agenda” has left behind it something of a troubled etymological trail.

Once defined as a list of things to be done or considered, ‘agenda’ today, has come to represent something more covert and sinister involving ulterior motives and driven by considerations hidden from the usual realm of common experience.

The promulgation of the U.N’s Agenda 21 might have had something to do with that change in definition.

Agenda 21 was a program first disseminated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992, where 178 governments voted to adopt it. The program laid out what the gathered representatives of the world governments agreed needed to be done to reduce wasteful and inefficient consumption patterns in some parts of the world while encouraging increased but sustainable development in others. In a 40 chapter document, Agenda 21 outlined its plan for the control of the Earth and its resources, offering no less than the complete recalibration of human society and a re-structured approach to managing over-population, over-consumption and the Earth’s life-supporting capacity.

This, in turn , was built on the premises of General Assembly Resolution 44/228 of 22 December 1989, which was adopted when the nations of the world called for the commission of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, and on the acceptance of the need to take a balanced and integrated approach to environmental and development questions.

Yet over the past 17 years the implementation and the influence of the Agenda has been neither balanced nor integrated. Rather it has been used as a tool of an elite multinational bureaucracy to undermine national sovereignty, suppress individual rights, increase restrictions on indivudal mobility , squlech opportunity and raise the needs of the environment above that of humanity.

With the stamp of a supposedly multilateral consensus, the Agenda is now spreading throughout the world under the mantle of the Education for Sustainability Movement. This movement, through a variety of plans and designs, calls for an end to the structure of western civilization as we know it. The elimination of private property, the restructuring of the family unit, the negation of national sovereignty, a proscription on growth, increasing restrictions on mobility and access to opportunity and the control of human procreation - are all matters addressed by the sustainability movement.

Moreover, it addresses a host of features of modern society which it deems unsustainable. What are they? According to the Global Biodiversity Assessment Report, a publication of the United Nations Environment Program ( UNEP) and as reported by Freedom Advocates, they include golf courses, ski runs, scuba diving, synthetic drugs, railroads, paved roads, consumerism, fish ponds, modern hunting and irrigation. All are, in one way or another, prohibited by the sustainability agenda in the interests of an earth which will be protected from the hand of human degradation.

There can be few doubts of the rapid spread of this environmental dogma throughout educated elites of the Western world.

In Britain this month, sustainability and environmentalism was ruled by a UK judge a “protected religious belief”
Over 650 Presidents of Colleges in the United States have signed on to the Education for Sustainability Movement, signing the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment created by the advocacy group Second Nature and supported by several other groups. Other college administrators are creating sustainability programs in the residence life, student activities, and buildings and grounds.

UNESCO has called the decade of 2005-2015 The Decade of Sustainable Development.

The United States itself bought into this when the Congress passed all provisions of the Higher Education Sustainability Act (HESA) as part of the new Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008 (HR 4137) in July, 2008. Tis Act creates pioneering "University Sustainability Grants” which will offer funds to institutions of higher education to develop, implement and evaluate sustainability curricula, practices, and academic programs.

California State University in Chico held its fifth annual This Way to Sustainability Conference earlier this month, - the largest international conference yet on sustainable development, with over 100 speakers and 1,000 participants on subjects ranging from “ Tools for Leadership and Change” to “ Happiness.” (If anyone needs an idea of the extent to which the sustainability movement is seeking to influence education, go no further than viewing the 100 “ Green” courses” offered by the same university at
(http://cypress.csuchico.edu/APO/Course_net1/GreenCourses.aspx)

Moreover the sustainability movement is inordinately pagan in its practices and outlook. In 1992, Maurice Strong, the Secretary-General of the Earth Conference, hinted at the overtly religious agenda proposed for a future Earth Charter, when in his opening address to the Rio delegates he said, "It is the responsibility of each human being today to choose between the force of darkness and the force of light…….We must therefore transform our attitudes and adopt a renewed respect for the superior laws of Divine Nature." Strong finished with unanimous applause from the crowd.

In anticipation of the conference, his wife, Hanne Strong, held a three-week vigil with Wisdomkeepers, a group of "global transformationalists." Through round-the-clock sacred fire, drumbeat, and meditation, the group helped hold the "energy pattern" for the duration of the summit.

As if to prove the wild eyed ambition of this New Age millenarianism, authors of the Earth Charter, an environmental manifesto promulgated at a UNESCO meeting held in Paris in March, 2000 commissioned the building of The Ark of Hope , a latter day replica of the Ark of the Covenant as a place of refuge for the Earth Charter document.The Ark was later brought on foot to New York City from Vermont (just as the Ancient Israelites had once carried their Ark) and exhibited at the United Nations.

Is it any wonder that Strong would therefore comment after the promulgation of the Earth Charter: “The real goal of the Earth Charter is that it will in fact become like the Ten Commandments.”

Or that Mikhail Gorbachev, one of the world’s leading proponents of sustainability could state: “ Do not do unto the environment of others what you do not want done to your own environment....My hope is that this Charter will be a kind of Ten Commandments, a 'Sermon on the Mount', that provides a guide for human behavior toward the environment in the next century.”

There is little doubt this drive towards sustainability is part and parcel of the general environmental movement – embraced by such seemingly benign NGOs as the Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, National Wildlife Federation and even our own National Parks Service. These institutions, over the past twenty years, have become wholly radicalized by environmental elites who view themselves as the guardians of an earth pledged to protect us against human environmental degradation. But because sustainability presents itself under the mask of environmentalism, few people question its underlying motives. They fail to understand that their “Green movement,” so seemingly in keeping with responsible management of our planet and its resources, has morphed into a pseudo-religion, with its own definition of heretics and apostates and supported by communists, anarchists and New Age acolytes who, locked in an unholy alliance, want to change our lives.

The movement, however, is not marching on without its watchdogs and robust critics. Holly Swanson, founding director of an Oregon-based organization called Operation Green Out that works “to get Green politics out in the open and out of the classroom,” and the author of Set Up and Sold Out: What Green Really Means is a brilliant advocate for the anti-Sustainability movement. The National Association of Scholar’s Ashley Thorne reports regularly on the NAS’ website on developments in sustainability education.

Today, environmentalists, academics, celebrities and even multi-national corporations are touting “going green” as synonymous with social responsibility. Yet as we enter the second decade of this century, we would be well advised to take a cynical view of this movement and understand that the “Green” they are endorsing, rarely represents the drive for environmental excellence. Instead it is an attempt to impose a revolutionary social order upon humanity, inspiring a new form of religious observance and seeking to elevate environmental concerns well above human needs.

If you value the life you live today, then you better understand all this – no matter what’s on your own agenda.

Avi Davis is the President of the American Freedom Alliance.

Want to comment on this article? See Avi Davis’ blog
Avi Davis is the president of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. He can be contacted at isdev@ix.netcom.com

Nidal Hasan’s Ominous Islam
by Robert Spencer

Before he killed or wounded 54 Americans at Fort Hood on November 5, army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan had raised eyebrows with his Islamic proselytizing, which he carried on even when he was supposed to be conducting medical briefings. One such presentation has come to light: the June 2007 briefing which Hasan gave to other doctors at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Hasan’s PowerPoint slides say many of the same things found in jihadist literature and propaganda throughout the Middle East and among its apologists here in America. Hasan’s Islam is rooted in traditional understandings of the faith as taught by the authoritative schools of Sunni Muslim jurisprudence. It also is the same Islam that is taught by groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas and Al-Qaeda. In arguing that the Koran mandates defensive jihad against unbelievers, Hasan invokes the same Koranic verse that Osama bin Laden used as an epigraph on his “Letter to the American People” of October 2002: “Permission to fight (against disbelievers) is given to those (believers) who are fought against, because they have been wronged; and surely, Allah is able to give them victory.” (Humanevents)

The Darwin Debates:

Evolution to be compulsory subject in primary schools-Greg Hurst, Education Editor
Evolution is to become a compulsory subject for study in all state primary schools. The Government announced yesterday that Darwin’s theory of how life evolved through natural selection would be a legal requirement in science teaching from September 2011, although it will be left to schools to decide how this is done. The move, which was welcomed by scientists, comes despite a drive to slim down the national curriculum for primary schools and leave teachers greater discretion over what to teach. British history will also become, for the first time, an explicit part of the curriculum that primary schools must teach, although it makes no reference to which kings, battles, periods or events should be taught. Church and other faith schools within the state system will have to educate their pupils about the theory of evolution, although officials said it could be taught in a context that reflected a school’s ethos, in a similar way to compulsory sex education for children aged under 15. (Timesonline.co.uk)

Pentagon Study Aims to Prevent Future Fort Hoods- YOCHI J. DREAZEN and CAM SIMPSON
WASHINGTON -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the Pentagon would conduct a broad review of its procedures for securing military bases and identifying service members who may pose a risk to others, a push designed to prevent attacks like the bloody rampage at Fort Hood. The new probe will be led by former Army Secretary Togo West and retired Admiral Vernon Clark, a onetime Navy chief. Their 45-day review will try to determine whether officials could have done more to prevent the Fort Hood shootings, in which 13 people died. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Mr. Gates said the review would also look into a wide array of military medical and personnel policies. Confirming an earlier report in The Wall Street Journal, he said the Army would conduct a parallel review of how it could have done more to prevent the shootings. Former colleagues of the suspect in the shootings, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, say he sometimes scared them by expressing fervent Islamic religious beliefs. Their concerns were never relayed to other military authorities, raising questions about whether Army officials should have worked harder to sound alarms about Maj. Hasan. (WSJ)

'Barbaric' practices not welcome-BY LAURA STONE, WITH FILES FROM MIKE DE SOUZA AND RANDY BOSWELL, CANWEST NEWS SERVICE
"Multiculturalism doesn't mean anything goes,' minister tells potential immigrants
A new citizenship guide for potential immigrants to Canada flatly declares that new Canadians may not engage in "barbaric" cultural practices such as genital mutilation and "honour killings." The new guide, released Thursday by Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, says in a section called "Equality of Women and Men" that such practices are illegal and severely punishable under Canada's criminal laws. "Multiculturalism doesn't mean that anything goes. Multiculturalism means that we celebrate what's best about our backgrounds, but we do so on the basis of common Canadian values and respect for our laws," said Kenney. "It's no secret that we've seen instances of culturally rooted abuse of women, so-called 'honour killings,' forced marriages, and spousal abuse, and even female genital mutilation. We want to make sure that people understand that multiculturalism doesn't create an excuse to engage in those barbaric cultural practices." The updated guide, called Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, also puts greater emphasis on the obligations of citizenship, such as getting a job, as well as military history. (Vancouversun)

Fury at plan to try September 11 mastermind near Ground Zero-Tim Reid
The self-confessed mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks and four alleged co-conspirators are to be moved from Guantánamo Bay and tried in a civilian court in New York. The move was denounced angrily yesterday by victims’ relatives and Republicans on Capitol Hill. The extraordinary announcement of the trial was made by Eric Holder, the Attorney-General, who said that he would seek the death penalty for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others when they face prosecution in a court in lower Manhattan. The court sits a few blocks from where the twin towers collapsed after the 2001 attack and where nearly 3,000 people died. (Timesonline.co.uk)

Sweden expels Finnish citizen on suspicion of terrorist connections North-African born man denies allegations
A Finnish citizen of North African origin was expelled from Sweden last year because of suspicions of links with a terrorist organisation. Officials also permanently banned him from entering Sweden. The decision was based on a statement by SÄPO, the Swedish Security Police. Documents delivered to Helsingin Sanomat by the Swedish Ministry of Justice allege that the man is a leading member of a radical Islamist group which operates in Sweden. According to a SÄPO statement, as long as the man is in Sweden, he and his organisation will continue to support and finance international terrorist organisations. The statement also stipulates that there is reason to believe that the man would commit a crime of terrorism, or that he would help in the commission of such a crime. According to SÄPO, the 40-year-old man is a well-known figure radical Islamists in the Nordic Countries. Helsingin Sanomat learned that SÄPO also suspects that he earned his status while spending time in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Italian hostess accepts Colonel Gaddafi's Islam plea-Nick Squires in Rome
Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's appeal to hundreds of glamorous Italian hostesses to renounce Catholicism and convert to Islam has fallen on fertile ground after some of his guests agreed to consider becoming Muslims.
Of the 400 young women who were asked to two events hosted by the Libyan leader in Rome this week, a few said they were interested in travelling to Tripoli or even Mecca to consider becoming Muslims. "The meeting with Muammar Gaddafi has changed me," said one of the women, Alda Ribeiro, 27. "Islam used to frighten me, now it fascinates me. I don't know how my mum will take it – her name's Maria de Lourdes, so you get the idea that she is a staunch Catholic," she told the newspaper Corriere della Sera. "For me, Islam was always associated with the concept of the submission of women. The other evening there was fear among the girls that we would all end up in a harem," added Miss Ribeiro, whose family is originally from the former Portuguese colony of Sao Tome and Principe, off the coast of West Africa.

Oslo: Muslim students want to use gym hall for prayer, deans object
The Muslim Student Society asked to use a gym hall at Oslo university (Blindern) for half an hour every Friday for prayer, but the university administration is skeptic. Deans Hans Petter Graver (Law) and Trygve Wyller (Theology) are critical of such use of common areas. They want a principle debate on how you can meet the demands for exercising one's religion and at the same time protect the common, secular space, reports Uniforum, the university's newspaper. There's an especially big influx into the university's prayer room for Muslims on Friday afternoon, when 40-80 Muslims come in to pray. "That we are so many means that we must stand in line to pray in several rounds," says Bushra Ishaq, head of the Muslim Student Society at Oslo University. "We humbly asked to use an aerobics hall for prayer for half an hour every Friday, and it amazes me that the deans are making such a big issue out of it," she says. Ishaq thinks the Muslims' Friday prayer can't be compared to Christian Sunday mass, as dean Trygve Wyller claims. "Islam enjoins us to pray Friday prayer, but this lasts at most 20 minutes," says Ishaq. (Islamineurope)

Chopping off hands of thieves is 'deserving punishment' - Imam-Christian Peregin
Imam Mohamed El Sadi, the Muslim leader in Malta, believes chopping off the hands of thieves is a "deserving punishment". Mr El Sadi made the statement during Monday's television programme Bondiplus, where he defended Sharia law, a judicial system used in some Islamic states and which can involve severe corporal punishments. Contacted yesterday, Mr El Sadi stood by his comments and added the world was incurring the "wrath of God" through its permissiveness and destruction of spiritual and moral values, namely through the acceptance of "same-sex marriages, homosexuality, adultery and abortion". Under Sharia law, such things are considered crimes that may even be punishable by death. When asked if the he agreed with such punishments he said: "Yes, of course. I agree with everything Islamic." The TV show discussed whether crucifixes should be banned from classrooms. When presenter Lou Bondì asked Mr El Sadi if Muslims could be more tolerant and "light-hearted" in their reactions to parody and criticism, Mr El Sadi said Europe's permissive values were not necessarily ideal. (Timesofmalta)

The 'Diversity' Sham-James Taranto
At New York University, intellect gives way to ritualized emotion.
It has been 6½ years since the U.S. Supreme Court, in Grutter v. Bollinger, upheld the legality of racial discrimination in university admissions for the purpose of realizing "the educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body." Longstanding precedent requires the court to apply "strict scrutiny" to any claim justifying discrimination on the basis of race. Writing for a 5-4 majority, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor asserted that the court's "deference" to the "expertise" of the defendant in this case was sufficiently strict to meet this test. But there is reason to doubt whether "diversity," as practiced by American higher education today, has any educational benefits at all--never mind whether those benefits are sufficient to justify discrimination. Whatever its benefits in theory, diversity in practice is often anti-intellectual, replacing reasoned debate with ritualized expressions of phony emotion. (WSJ)

SustainaReligion-Ashley Thorne
This month Tim Nicholson, a sustainability officer for Grainger, the UK’s largest residential property company, won the right to sue his employer after he was laid off. Nicholson claimed that his dismissal was an act of discrimination against him for his belief in climate change. To everyone’s surprise, the judge agreed with Nicholson and granted that “a belief in man-made climate change… is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations Act.” The decision poses a problem in several directions. For one, climate change scientists are dismayed that this will undermine their research by equating it with spiritual, unscientific belief. They quake with fear that the ruling might shake people’s faith in global warming rather than reinforce it. “As a scientist who works on climate change, I find it deeply alarming,” fretted Myles Allen (writing for the Guardian), who directs the Climate Dynamics group at the University of Oxford. Allen called it “an insult to science to rule that belief in man-made climate change is a religious conviction.” On the other hand, philosophers are also insulted. They are skeptical that “philosophical belief” is the right term—shouldn’t it be called a “lifestyle” instead? (NAS)

Who is Behind ‘Media Reform?’ (Part Two)-Cliff Kincaid
A professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Robert W. McChesney has said that “media reform” should be part of the march toward socialism in America and that capitalism has to be dismantled “brick by brick.” Van Jones, the ousted communist “Green Jobs Czar” of the Obama Administration, served with McChesney on the board of Free Press, a George Soros-funded organization, in 2007 and 2008. Despite its socialist orientation, Free Press is financially supported by extremely wealthy individuals such as George Soros, the leftist billionaire, and Marcy Carsey, one of the creators of “The Cosby Show” whose net worth has been estimated at $600 million. Carsey serves on the Free Press board and was a top Obama inauguration donor, having contributed $50,000 to the event.
Where is the Balance?
Jay Pearce, director of creative content of WILL Radio at the University of Illinois and executive producer of McChesney’s radio show, declared, “That’s a good question,” when asked why the radical “media scholar” fails to include interviews with any identifiable conservatives on the air. (Familysecuritymatters)

Palinophobes Hate First, Ask Questions Later-Jonah Golberg
Sarah Palin is neither savior nor satanic.
Slate magazine is just one of the countless media outlets convulsing with St. Vitus’ Dance over that demonic succubus Sarah Palin. In its reader forum, The Fray, one supposed Palinophobe took dead aim at the former Alaska governor’s writing chops, excerpting the following sentence from her book: “The apartment was small, with slanting floors and irregular heat and a buzzer downstairs that didn’t work, so that visitors had to call ahead from a pay phone at the corner gas station, where a black Doberman the size of a wolf paced through the night in vigilant patrol, its jaws clamped around an empty beer bottle.” Other readers pounced like wolf-sized Dobermans on an intruder. One guffawed, “That sentence by Sarah Palin could be entered into the annual Bulwer-Lytton bad writing contest. It could have a chance at winning a (sic) honorable mention, at any rate.” But soon, the original contributor confessed: “I probably should have mentioned that the sentence quoted above was not written by Sarah Palin. It’s taken from the first paragraph of ‘Dreams From My Father,’ written by Barack Obama.” The ruse should have been allowed to fester longer, but the point was made nonetheless: Some people hate Palin first and ask questions later. (Nationalreview)

Banished at Turtle Bay
A U.N. critic has her credentials stripped.
As part of our public-service reports on the workings of your favorite world body, allow us to introduce you to Anne Bayefsky. The Toronto native is an expert on human-rights law and an accredited United Nations observer. She is also a friend of Israel, which makes her persona non grata as far as the folks at Turtle Bay are concerned. Ms. Bayefsky's sin was a two-minute talk she delivered at the U.N. earlier this month after the General Assembly had issued a resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report, which levels war crimes charges at Israel for defending itself in the face of Hamas's rockets. "The resolution doesn't mention the word Hamas," she said. "This is a resolution that purports to be even-handed; it is anything but." Ms. Bayefsky's comments were the only note of criticism on a day otherwise marked by much U.N. jubilation. (WSJ)

Princeton, Columbia Cancel Free Speech: Darwish Silenced-Phyllis Chesler
In our time, a speaker must face a gauntlet of hostility and a menacing crowd if she wishes to speak in favor of Israel or to tell the truth about Islam. That’s if she’s lucky. Most such speakers never get invited or when they do, their invitations are canceled. Nonie Darwish, the author of Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law [1] and Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror [2], has faced on-campus hostility and disruption before [3]. Over the years, I have interviewed [4] her about this a number of times. Like many of us, she has also sometimes been forced to have security guards with her when she speaks. This time, Nonie, who is the founder of Arabs for Israel, was invited to speak at both Columbia and Princeton. The official invitation at Columbia came from the very distinguished CAMERA, Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), and from a new student organization there: Campus Media Watch, a group which is not yet quite up and running. (Pajamasmedia)

AP Exclusive: Muslim Countries Seek Blasphemy Ban-AP
GENEVA (AP) -- Four years after cartoons of the prophet Muhammad set off violent protests across the Muslim world, Islamic nations are mounting a campaign for an international treaty to protect religious symbols and beliefs from mockery -- essentially a ban on blasphemy that would put them on a collision course with free speech laws in the West. Documents obtained by The Associated Press show that Algeria and Pakistan have taken the lead in lobbying to eventually bring the proposal to a vote in the U.N. General Assembly. If ratified in countries that enshrine freedom of expression as a fundamental right, such a treaty would require them to limit free speech if it risks seriously offending religious believers. The process, though, will take years and no showdown is imminent. The proposal faces stiff resistance from Western countries, including the United States, which in the past has brushed aside other U.N. treaties, such as one on the protection of migrant workers.Experts say the bid stands some chance of eventual success if Muslim countries persist. And whatever the outcome, the campaign risks reigniting tensions between Muslims and the West that President Barack Obama has pledged to heal, reviving fears of a ''clash of civilizations.'' (NYT)

Another Vast Jewish Conspiracy-Robin Shepherd
British media and society are gripped by lies about a "secret" Israel lobby controlling foreign policy.
Here is a small selection of events that have taken place in Britain since the end of Israel's Operation Cast Lead in Gaza earlier this year. The government has imposed a partial arms embargo on Israel and failed to vote against the Goldstone report in the U.N . The charities War on Want and Amnesty International U.K. have both promoted a book by the anti-Israeli firebrand Ben White, tellingly called "Israeli Apartheid: A Beginner's Guide." The Trades Union Congress at its annual conference has called for boycotts of Israeli products as well as a total arms embargo. In the media, the Guardian newspaper has stepped up its already obsessive campaign against the Jewish state to the extent that the paper's flagship Comment is Free Web site frequently features two anti-Israeli polemics on one and the same day. The BBC continues to use its enormous influence over British public opinion to whitewash anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Middle East. Its Web site, for example, features a profile of Hamas that makes no mention of the group's virulent hatred of Jews or its adherence to a "Protocols of Zion"-style belief in world-wide Jewish conspiracies. (WSJ)

The still strong voice of a vanishing Britain-Melanie Phillips
I have not had a moment until now to post up a comment on Robin Shepherd’s new book about the relationship between Israel and Europe, A State Beyond the Pale: Europe’s Problem with Israel (Weidenfeld and Nicolson). It is a remarkable book by an author with a remarkable history. Until a short while ago Shepherd, now Director of International Affairs at the Henry Jackson Society, was a senior fellow at The Royal Institute of International Affairs -- commonly known as Chatham House -- in charge of its European programme. After two years he left in bitter circumstances, claiming he had been forced out principally because of his publicly expressed support for Israel – a version of events that Chatham House contests.The fact remains, however, that his attitude towards Israel is one that is indeed unsayable within Britain’s foreign policy establishment, because it does not take an Arabist position but starts from the premise that Israel was not born in sin but is a legitimately constituted country legitimately entitled to defend itself against attack – and that the entirely illegitimate and unwarranted attacks upon it emanate not merely from the Arab and Muslim world but from the British and European intelligentsia, which in some ways are potentially just as lethal. (Spectator.co.uk)

Column One: Whither American Jewry?-Caroline Glick , THE JERUSALEM POST
During a recent speaking tour in Canada, MK Nahman Shai (Kadima) shocked some of his hosts when he said that his primary goal in politics today is to bring down the Netanyahu government. Although indelicate, Shai's comment was not surprising. Kadima is in the opposition. And like all opposition parties in all parliamentary democracies, the primary goal of its members is to bring down the government so that they can take power. Given that this is the case, it is unsurprising that until this week, Kadima leader Tzipi Livni tried to blame Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for US President Barack Obama's hostility towards Israel. Far more newsworthy than her criticism of Netanyahu was her public rebuke of Obama this week for his attempt to strong-arm Israel into barring Jewish construction in Jerusalem's Gilo neighborhood. On Wednesday Livni said, "Gilo is part of the Israeli consensus... and it is important to understand this for all discussions of borders in any future agreement." Indeed. There is an Israeli consensus. The Israeli consensus regarding Jerusalem is based among other things on the understanding that no nation can give up its capital city and survive. (Jpost)

Hamas: Terrorism to Eliminate Israel is a 'Principle'-Nissan Ratzlav-Katz(Israelnationalnews.com) In an interview published Thursday in the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat, a Hamas spokesman said that the jihadist movement is loyal to "Palestinian principles" in its policy of terrorism against the Jews until Israel ceases to exist. Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas claimed earlier this month that Hamas had agreed to the establishment of a Palestinian state within temporary borders. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesman in Lebanon and close associate of powerful Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal, rejected the idea, however. Hamas, Hamdan explained, has never agreed and will never agree to any recognition of Israel's legitimacy as a sovereign state. An agreement to temporary borders contradicts this position, as it would constitute acceptance of Jewish sovereignty over the pre-1967 borders of Israel, he added. (INN)

Thousands gather to mark anniversary of Mumbai Chabad House terror attack-BEN HARTMAN , THE JERUSALEM POST
Chabad held a memorial dinner on Wednesday in honor of Rabbi Gavriel Holzberg and his wife Rivka, who were killed when terrorists raided the Chabad house in Mumbai a year ago on the Hebrew calendar. A crowd of well over 2,000 guests filled a massive tent in Kfar Chabad set up outside the replica of the Rebbe's house in Brooklyn. A service manager said over 100 people worked the event, including at least 80 waiters. Organizers said the demand for tickets was "enormous" and that thousands of people who wanted to attend were turned away. The event was a bittersweet celebration of sorts, as the Hebrew anniversary of the terror attack also fell on the third birthday of Moishe, Rabbi Holzberg's son, whose life was saved when he was spirited away from the attack by his Indian nanny Sandra Samuel. For Orthodox Jews, a boy does not cut his hair until his third birthday and the event is cause for a celebration. Across a blue-grey curtain on the wall of the womens' section of the tent, dozens of blue and white balloons spelled out "Moishe, three years old." Moishe himself was carried in by Sandra shortly before the beginning of the event, and stood before a gaggle of reporters and cameras, calmly, even lazily, taking in the spectacle. (Jpost)

Collaborators in the War Against the Jews: Sara Roy-Steven Plaut
Sara Roy, who holds a non-tenured “research” position at Harvard’s Center for Middle East Studies (CMES), claims to be a “political economist,” although she apparently has no training in economics or political science. She also claims to be an expert in Middle East Studies, but has no degree in that either. Her PhD is in Education. Roy claims to be an expert on the political economy [1] of the Gaza Strip, but her real expertise is in anti-Israel leftist political propaganda. She worked on her doctoral dissertation in education part of the time while living for a while in the Gaza Strip, and got paid as a a research assistant by the West Bank Data Base Project, a propaganda project directed by anti-Israel radical Israeli [2] non-academic leftists.
(Frontpagemagazine)

TERRORISM, security and policy

200 Web sites spread al-Qaida's message in English-DONNA ABU-NASR and LEE KEATH (AP)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Increasing numbers of English-language Web sites are spreading al-Qaida's message to Muslims in the West. They translate writings and sermons once largely out of reach of English readers and often feature charismatic clerics like Anwar al-Awlaki, who exchanged dozens of e-mails with the Army psychiatrist accused of the Fort Hood shootings. The U.S.-born al-Awlaki has been an inspiration to several militants arrested in the United States and Canada in recent years, with his Web-based sermons often turning up on their computers. "The point is you don't have to be an official part of al-Qaida to spread hatred and sectarian views," said Evan Kohlmann, a senior investigator for the New York-based NEFA Foundation, which researches Islamic militants. (AP)

ONE-YEAR LATER: Religious Leaders Convene in Mumbai in Solidarity and Remembrance of Terrorist Attack Victims
Simon Wiesenthal Center, leading Jewish NGO and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's Art of Living Co-sponsor anti-Terror Solidarity Meeting with faith leaders from overseas and across India (Read formal remarks of each speaker*) Mumbai, India – In a gathering of solidarity with the victims of November 26-29, 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, the U.S.-based Simon Wiesenthal Center and India's Art of Living convened a multi-faith event with Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and other faith leaders, as well as survivors of terrorism, local leaders and foreign dignitaries. Co-sponsored by two leading NGOs: the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Art of Living Foundation, was held in Mumbai. Among the religious dignitaries who attended were: Swami Gnana Tej of the Art of Living Foundation; Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance; Dr. Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, leading Islamic scholar in India; Dr. Ashok Arora, Chief of Education Division, Bharat Soka Gakkai; Sri Raman Tikka of the Shrimad Rajchandra Ashram; Mr. Karambir Kang, the manager of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel at the time of the November ’08 terror attacks; and Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, Director of the Chabad Mumbai Relief Fund. (SimonWiesenthalCenter)

The Making of an American Terrorist-Alex Alexiev
In light of Fort Hood, a quick look at the evolution of Islamic extremism in America.
Much has been written already about what happened at Fort Hood last week. But to understand why it happened, it may be useful to start by reminding ourselves that the shooting was the first act of suicide terrorism on American soil by a homegrown Islamic extremist. The question is how Hasan became a terrorist. It is a question of seminal relevance given the strong probability that homegrown terrorism might well be a greater threat to homeland security in the future than foreign jihadists will be. And the fact is that the U.S. government, under both President Bush and now President Obama, has studiously avoided acknowledging the threat, let alone addressing it in a systematic way. Yet, Washington’s tolerance of the intolerable will not make the problem go away. (Nationalreview)

Hate preacher Abu Hamza secretly gives lectures on Islam... through the water pipes of his prison cell-Rebecca Camber
Radical hate preacher Abu Hamza is delivering sermons to prisoners through the water pipes of his cell. The jailed Muslim extremist, 51, has already been banned from preaching by prison bosses. But now the hook-handed cleric is secretly delivering lectures on Islam in a bid to radicalise inmates by speaking into the water pipes which connect to neighbouring cells at Belmarsh Prison. A report on growing prison radicalisation by the counter-extremism think tank, the Quilliam Foundation, has called for the dangerous offender to be removed from the mainstream prison population. James Brandon, the report’s author and a senior research fellow, said of Hamza's preaching: 'This is from a friend of his who is in communication with him. 'He says the prison services have tried to stop him giving sermons openly. But Abu Hamza instead uses the pipes between neighbouring cells to preach sermons - talking through the pipes. 'This illustrates how these guys, once they are in prison there is a perception that they are being dealt with. 'In fact in many cases the problem is beginning. These are extremely determined and motivated people who are not going to stop preaching their message just because they are in prison.' (Dailymail.co.uk)

Police Chief Apologizes to Muslims over Fugitive Arrests – by Lloyd Bilinsgley
Fallout from a raid on fundamentalist Islamic separatists confirms that police officials take no back seat to politicians and the media when it comes to appeasement. The Ummah, a violent fundamentalist Sunni Islamic group in Detroit, advocates a separate Islamic state that would be controlled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, also known as H. Rap Brown, a veteran of the black power movement now in prison for gunning down two police officers. According to the U.S. Department of justice the Ummah group “is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years, and known to be armed.”Last month, as the result of a two-year investigation, the FBI raided the Michigan headquarters of the group, now headed by Luqman Ameen Abdullah, sought by the FBI for providing firearms and ammunition to a person known to be a convicted felon, sale or receipt of stolen goods, and other violations. Luqman Ameen Abdullah fired at federal officers, who returned fire and killed him. (Frontpagemagazine)

Terror in Mumbai: Finally, an Unapologetic Look at Jihad-Christian Toto
HBO’s programming slate teems with documentaries eager to please the blue states.
This month‘s presentation of By the People: The Election of Barack Obama is the most recent example, but other films like Teddy: In His Own Words [1] and Right America: Feeling Wronged — Some Voices from the Campaign Trail did little for those with a copy of Going Rogue [2] on their nightstand. Now, the movie channel is shaking things up with an unflinching look at the threat of global terrorism.
Terror in Mumbai [3], airing tonight, sounds as if the Weekly Standard wrote the narration and chose the images to display. It doesn’t mince words, hide the truth, or make excuses for the monsters behind last November’s attacks on the Indian metropolis. No mindless recitations of “Why do they hate us?” “The Mumbai attacks should worry us all,” says host Fareed Zakaria, the Newsweek correspondent who offers a bit of his own perspective on the attacks. (Pajamasmedia)

Detecting Military Radicalism in the Wake of Fort Hood-IPT News
The first congressional hearing in the aftermath of the Fort Hood massacre took place Thursday morning, with the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing from security experts, including a retired general and a former top White House advisor. Lieberman wanted to hear from FBI officials about missed signals that Nidal Malik Hasan exhibited radical viewpoints and created concern among his colleagues. But the administration didn't allow any current government witnesses, in deference to the ongoing criminal investigation. According to the Washington Post, Lieberman said conversations with Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates left him optimistic that the committee would gain access to some of the information it is seeking soon. Thursday, the committee heard testimony on how to better identify potential radicals in the armed forces and how to empower people to report their concerns up the chain of command, even when the concerns involved an officer like Hasan. Among the witnesses were retired Gen. John Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff; Frances Fragos Townsend, President George W. Bush's homeland security adviser, and terrorism expert Brian Michael Jenkins of the RAND Corp. (IPT)

Justice Delayed-Andrew C. McCarthy
Holder’s friends in the al-Qaeda bar caused the trial delays he now criticizes.
Of all the infuriating aspects of the decision to transfer five 9/11 war criminals to civilian federal court, the one that grates most is the contention that the Obama administration is finally moving forward after “eight years of delay” — as Attorney General Eric Holder put it at his Friday press conference — during which the Bush administration managed to complete only three military-commission trials. This is chutzpah writ large. The principal reason there were so few military trials is the tireless campaign conducted by leftist lawyers to derail military tribunals by challenging them in the courts. Many of those lawyers are now working for the Obama Justice Department. That includes Holder, whose firm, Covington & Burling, volunteered its services to at least 18 of America’s enemies in lawsuits they brought against the American people. (During 2007 alone, Covington contributed more than 3,000 hours of free, top-flight legal assistance to our enemy detainees.).(Nationalreview)

Travesty in New York-Charles Krauthammer
We are giving KSM a farcical show trial. For late-19th-century anarchists, terrorism was the “propaganda of the deed.” And the most successful propaganda-by-deed in history was 9/11 — not just the most destructive, but the most spectacular and telegenic. And now its self-proclaimed architect, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has been given by the Obama administration a civilian trial in New York. Just as the memory fades, 9/11 has been granted a second life — and KSM, a second act: 9/11, The Director’s Cut, narration by KSM. Sept. 11, 2001 had to speak for itself. A decade later, the deed will be given voice. KSM has gratuitously been presented with the greatest propaganda platform imaginable — a civilian trial in the media capital of the world — from which to proclaim the glory of jihad and the criminality of infidel America. So why is Attorney General Eric Holder doing this? Ostensibly, to demonstrate to the world the superiority of our system, in which the rule of law and the fair trial reign. (Nationalreview)

Climatologists Baffled by Global Warming Time-Out-Gerald Traufetter
Global warming appears to have stalled. Climatologists are puzzled as to why average global temperatures have stopped rising over the last 10 years. Some attribute the trend to a lack of sunspots, while others explain it through ocean currents. At least the weather in Copenhagen is likely to be cooperating. The Danish Meteorological Institute predicts that temperatures in December, when the city will host the United Nations Climate Change Conference, will be one degree above the long-term average. Otherwise, however, not much is happening with global warming at the moment. The Earth's average temperatures have stopped climbing since the beginning of the millennium, and it even looks as though global warming could come to a standstill this year. Ironically, climate change appears to have stalled in the run-up to the upcoming world summit in the Danish capital, where thousands of politicians, bureaucrats, scientists, business leaders and environmental activists plan to negotiate a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Billions of euros are at stake in the negotiations. (Spiegelonline)

The Anti-Globalist Agenda Behind The Climate Conference-Paul Vreymans
The environmental lobby gradually succeeds in promoting "the environment" to the "Golden Calf" of the 21st century. Rationality and sense of proportion have vanished from the environmental debate. Whoever questions Al Gore's climate alarmism gets labeled as "negationist" worse even than Holocaust deniers. Even human rights, democracy and prosperity give way to the new idolatry. Recent research however learns how much the climate alarmists exaggerate “global warming” an its effects. Anti-globalist motives seem to dominate the Copenhagen Climate Conference rather than environmental concerns. This hidden agenda is likely to distort global trade and inflict development and the environment far more bad than good. (Brusselsjournal)

Hacked Emails Show Climate Science Ridden with Rancor
By KEITH JOHNSON
The picture that emerges of prominent climate-change scientists from the more than 3,000 documents and emails accessed by hackers and put on the Internet this week is one of professional backbiting and questionable scientific practices. It could undermine the idea that the science of man-made global warming is entirely settled just weeks before a crucial climate-change summit. Researchers at the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, England, were victims of a cyberattack by hackers sometime Thursday. A collection of emails dating back to the mid-1990s as well as scientific documents were splashed across the Internet. University officials confirmed the hacker attack, but couldn't immediately confirm the authenticity of all the documents posted on the Internet. The publicly posted material includes years of correspondence among leading climate researchers, most of whom participate in the preparation of climate-change reports for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the authoritative summaries of global climate science that influence policy makers around the world. (WSJ)

Bone repair 'breakthrough' at Hadassah-Judy Siegel-Itzkovich , THE JERUSALEM POST
A team at Jerusalem's Hadassah University Medical Center has managed for the first time in the world to separate platelets and adult stem cells from the blood and bone marrow of patients with fractures and inject them - causing the bones to meld in a quarter to third of the time it usually takes to repair bones, and repairing some breaks that without the therapy would fail to heal at all. Prof. Meir Liebergall, chairman of the orthopedics department on the Ein Kerem campus, gene therapy expert Prof. Eithan Galun and colleagues worked for years on the technique, which he said involves a "breakthrough in concept and overcomes major scientific and logistical problems." All seven of those who received the experimental cell-based therapy have seen the broken tibias in their legs heal, even though the fractured bone in at least one control group patient who received only conventional treatment of screws or bone grafts failed to meld. Instead of taking six to nine months to heal, the fractures treated with adult stem cells and platelets healed in two months. (Jpost)

Hollywood's Favorite Cowboy-John Jurgensen
Author Cormac McCarthy, 76, talked about love, religion, his 11-year-old son, the end of the world and the movie based on his novel 'The Road.' He was just getting going.
San Antonio Novelist Cormac McCarthy shuns interviews, but he relishes conversation. Last week, the author sat down on the leafy patio of the Menger Hotel, built about 20 years after the siege of the Alamo, the remains of which are next door. The afternoon conversation, which also included film director John Hillcoat of "The Road," went on 'til dark, then moved to a nearby restaurant for dinner. Dressed in crisp jeans and dimpled brown cowboy boots, Mr. McCarthy began the meal with a Bombay Gibson, up. The 76-year-old author first broke through with his 1985 novel "Blood Meridian," a tale of American mercenaries hunting Indians in the Mexican borderland. Commercial success came later with 1992's "All the Pretty Horses," a National Book Award winner and the first installment of a Border Trilogy. Critics delved into his detailed vision of the West, his painterly descriptions of violence, and his muscular prose stripped of most punctuation. (WSJ)