Editor and Researcher Elisa Vandernoot

American Freedom Alliance Weekly Gazette

THE WEEK AT A GLANCE

This Week's Editorial

What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?
By Avi Davis

No one can accuse  the British musician Elvis Costello of straightforward exposition.   His deadpan lyrics are usually twisted around mixed metaphors, convenient puns and general non-sequiturs.  His album titles themselves give away a penchant for clumsy juxtaposition – Blood and Chocolate, Mighty Like  A Rose, Secret Profane and Sugarcane and Extreme Honey are just a few of the titles which betray Costello’s essential intellectual superficiality and lack of depth.

Nevertheless, Costello is often referred to as Rock’s Thinking Man’s  a title that has won him wide acceptance beyond  his fast evaporating rock  fan base and within the halls of academia as well as among the upper echelons of the classical music world.

How much of a ” thinking man”  Costello actually is, was put to the test recently when the musician weighed whether to cancel his two appearances in Tel Aviv, Israel which were to take place in June 30 and July 1 respectively.   In a lengthy post on his website, he explained his reasons for breaking his contract and disappointing the legions of  Israeli fans who had already paid to attend the concerts.

If anyone can make sense of this garbled and verbose self justification then they have my undying admiration.   Costello doesn’t seem to understand that if adding your name to a concert schedule can indeed be interpreted as a political act, then certainly removing your name from the same schedule can be regarded in exactly the same way.    Surely Costello understands that the demonizers of the Jewish state will use his cancellation as evidence of his acknowledgment of Jewish “apartheid” – a claim and a designation which is as spurious as it is ill informed.

While he rightly point out that one can’t really know anything about the Middle East conflict without first hand experience and that the issues are too complex to be addressed from the stage,  he then goes on to contradict himself by making the nonsensical argument that as a matter of conscience  a foreign  musician performing  in Israel cannot ” simply look away.”

But from what, exactly?    From the fact that Israel is a democracy , governed by the rule of law?  From the reality that thousands of its citizens have been killed and maimed by Palestinian suicide bombers; that Israel has made repeated concessions over  fifteen years without any reciprocal attempt of  Palestinian leaders to quell anti-Israel incitement or confiscate arms or that Israel has been faced for 60 years with the single minded determination of its neighbors to seek its destruction?

Either Costello’s interlocutors didn’t adequately brief him, or else he refused to study  the voluminous record of Palestinian atrocities that might have been made available to him, but if he had he might discover that there are actually good reasons that Palestinians suffer “intimidation, humiliation and much worse”  – and that is because Israelis don’t want to die.

Policies of national security, in case Costello has forgotten, is about preventing harm to one’s citizen’s. The notion that no policy of national security could justifiably visit “intimidation and humiliation” on another people, betrays Costello’s own acceptance of the canard ( and contrary to his own earlier assertions)  that Israel is not faced with a significant national security threat.

Then we come to Costello’s claim that his decision “is a matter of instinct and good conscience.”

Well, perhaps he might have deployed his antenna for injustice a little earlier, when his managers first  broached the Israeli venue and before contracts were signed and tickets sold.   His Johnny-come-lately recognition that  he  was about to stumble into a minefield, simply rings hollow.  Perhaps Costello doesn’t read the papers ( or only hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest) but there is plenty of information available about the Middle East conflict that would have afforded him an opportunity to determine whether to sign a contract in the first place , before deciding to make  his public (and very political) statement about withdrawing from it.

Finally we arrive at  this verbose and totally unintelligible line:

“It has been necessary to dial out the falsehoods of propaganda, the double game and hysterical language of politics, the vanity and self-righteousness of public communiqués from cranks in order to eventually sift through my own conflicted thoughts. “

Well, Mr. Costello, for someone who  doesn’t imagine himself ” to possess any unique or eternal truth,” you seem to have stumbled on some true gems:  ie: politics and politicians are wicked; official government communique’s cannot be trusted;  Israeli apologists are cranks and supporters of Israel as a genuine democracy in a sea of anarchy and despotism are simply vain and self righteous.

One has to wonder where the musician ultimately did find his information.  What libraries did he scour in the search for objectivity?  And if he was so concerned to sift through ” his own conflicted thoughts”  wouldn’t a clandestine trip to Israel to assess the true situation have given him an effective platform from which to avoid the ” cranks”  and “hysterical” politicians, he seems to so distrust.

The Thinking Man, ends his contemplative message with this Shakespearean flourish:

“I have come to the following conclusions.

One must at least consider any rational argument that comes before the appeal of more desperate means.

Sometimes a silence in music is better than adding to the static and so an end to it. “

Would this master soliliquizer have heeded his own advice!  Years hence, Costello scholars will be pouring over these words in order to plumb their inscrutable meaning.  Which ” rational argument”  was this sage referring to?   Ah, it must have been the  “argument” of Palestinian advocates who claim that it is only Israel’s  intransigence and its will to power that stands in the way of peace. Well, that seems pretty rational.  After all, if you accept that strong is always wrong and weak is always  right, then you are bound to select the Palestinian narrative as the rational one every time – no matter their consistent resort to the “desperate means” of terrorism and suicide bombing.

Silence would have indeed been better than  this hopelessly convoluted justification for an act of cowardice.   Costello, apparently afraid of what an appearance in Israel might do to his career (although it didn’t seem to harm his fellow Liverpudlian Paul McCartney) and brandishing a supposedly bruised conscience, has only added to the” static” with his ill timed and incompetently  argued contemplation.

There are plenty of ways to promote  peace , love and understanding.   But better to come from the pen, mouth or guitar of a man who actually knows what he is talking about, rather than one whose heartfelt expressions of concern for the innocent and  intellectual pretensions are just a mask for his base ignorance.

Avi Davis is the President of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. His writings and blog entries can be found at The Intermediate Zone and the Los Angeles Jewish Journal Blog  On The Other Hand.

__________________________________________________________________

View the best of The Intermediate Zone from last week:

HERZL: A REMEMBRANCE Sunday, May 2, 2010
HOW THE DOMINOES FELL Saturday, May 1, 2010
WHO IS MISSING FROM TIME’S LIST OF THE WORLD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE? Friday, April 30, 2010
THE WORLD’S RAGING GUSHERS Thursday, April 29, 2010
THE MYTHS AND MISTAKES OF THE VIETNAM WAR Wednesday, April 28, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO, 1906 Tuesday, April 27, 2010
NEWS AS ENTERTAINMENT Monday, April 26, 2010

Avi Davis can be contacted at adavis@americanfreedomalliance.org

NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA

U.S. Hiker Held by Iran: Loneliness "Difficult"-CBS/AP
Detained Trio Accused of Spying Speaks for 1st Time on Conditions of 10 Month Detention after Seeing Visiting Moms
Three Americans jailed in Iran for 10 months embraced their mothers and spoke of their life in Tehran's most dreaded prison Thursday in an emotional reunion that Iranian authorities broadcast on a main international channel. The women hope their weeklong visit will secure the release of Sarah Shourd, 31; her boyfriend, Shane Bauer, 27; and their friend Josh Fattal, 27. The mothers threw their arms in the air and rushed to embrace their children as they entered a room at a high-rise hotel that overlooks the Evin Prison where the three have been held. Anxious to show how well the captives are being treated, authorities arranged for the meeting at the luxury hotel, rather than a visit at the country's notorious Elin prison, where the trio are being held, reports CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer. They cried, laughed and kissed. The conservative Islamic head scarves worn by the mothers slipped back and bouquets of flowers were set aside as they sat together and began to reconstruct their lives since last summer. The families later ate an abundant lunch together at a feast of rice, kebabs and other traditional Middle Eastern dishes. The prisoners ate heartily and appeared to relish the food. The visit was scheduled to last until evening, said the families' Iranian lawyer, Masoud Shafii, but it was not clear whether the three detainees would have to return to the prison for the night. Iran's main task appeared aimed at leveraging high propaganda value for allowing the visit. (CBS)

Exclusive: ‘Muslims-Only’ Enclave Thrives In Philadelphia-Paul Williams, PhD
Thanks to U.S. taxpayers, an Islamic enclave is being carved out of the heart of the City of Brotherly Love. And how generous have you been with your tax dollars? You just gave $1.6 billion for the privilege of turning over all this cash to the Islamic community. The person doing the carving is Kenny Gamble, the author of such hit songs as “Love Train” and “Me and Mrs. Jones.” So far Americans have shelled out $1.6 billion in federal grants, loans, and “charitable” gifts to create an alleged “Muslims-only” community. A convert to Islam, Gamble, now known as Luqman Abdul Haqq, is affiliated with the National Ummah Movement which seeks to establish sovereign Islamic enclaves ruled by shariah (Islamic) law within major cities throughout the U.S.A. The movement was started by Jamil al-Amin (the former H. Rap Brown), who is now serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison for killing two police officers in Atlanta. Gamble managed to collect the $1.6 billion through Universal Company, a so-called “charitable organization,” which he formed in 1993. Gamble and his spokesmen say that the non-profit company provides a public service by cleaning up a blighted section of the south Philly, but local residents say that Universal has really used the $1.6 billion to create a Muslim ghetto. This allegation is supported by Gamble himself. Speaking to his fellow Islamists, the former songwriter quipped: “We are not here for Universal, we are here for Islam.” (Familysecuritymatters)

Detained Trio Accused of Spying Speaks for 1st Time on Conditions of 10 Month Detention after Seeing Visiting Moms Taliban Planning Attacks in Washington- J.J Green
WASHINGTON - Shortly after the arrest of Faisal Shahzad aboard an Emirates Airline flight to Dubai on May 3, authorities learned that the Times Square bombing was not his only plot. "There is a strong belief in the U.S counter-terrorism community that we will see additional attacks unfold in primarily New York City and Washington, D.C., in the next five- to six-month timeframe," says Fred Burton, vice president of intelligence at Stratfor Global Intelligence. U.S. law enforcement officials would not comment on the investigation or intelligence that suggests as many as a half dozen plots may have been in the works. WNYW-TV in New York reported that Shahzad told interrogators he wanted to attack Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Center and the Connecticut headquarters of defense contractor Sikorsky -- if the Times Square attack worked. (Wtop)

U.S. Says Arrested Man Had Ties to Times Square Suspect
BOSTON—A Pakistani man arrested in Massachusetts during the investigation into the failed Times Square bombing had the primary suspect's phone number and first name in his cellphone and written on an envelope, a government attorney said Thursday. Aftab Khan, a gas-station attendant, had the items in his belongings in his Watertown, Mass., apartment, said Richard Neville, deputy chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston. Mr. Neville revealed the information in court Thursday as he tried to persuade a U.S. immigration judge to keep Mr. Khan in the U.S. Mr. Khan was one of three Pakistani men arrested on immigration violations last week as federal agents followed the money trail in their investigation into Faisal Shahzad, who is accused of trying—and failing—to set off a car bomb in Times Square on May 1. Mr. Khan's cellphone had in its memory Mr. Shahzad's phone number and first name, Mr. Neville said. The envelope also had Mr. Shahzad's first name and phone number on it, he said. Defense attorney Saher Macarius said earlier Thursday that Mr. Khan had never heard of Mr. Shahzad before his arrest. Mr. Khan and a cab driver, Pir Khan, lived together in Watertown and were arrested last week. Friends have said the two are distantly related. (WSJ)

U.S. Names Pakistani Taliban in Attack on Times Square-EVAN PEREZ and SIOBHAN GORMAN in Washington and TOM WRIGHT in Karachi, Pakistan
The Obama administration on Sunday blamed the Pakistani Taliban for directing the attempted Times Square bombing—providing the firmest accusations yet by U.S. officials and potentially complicating relations with a key ally. Attorney General Eric Holder and John Brennan, a top White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, said evidence now indicated that the alleged bomber Faisal Shahzad, who is in custody in New York, was part of the most far-reaching operation attempted by the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan group. "We know that they helped facilitate it," Mr. Holder said on ABC News's "This Week" program, not providing any more detail. "We know that they probably helped finance it. And that [Shahzad] was working at their direction." Mr. Brennan told the Fox News Sunday program that the Pakistani Taliban trained, funded and met extensively with Mr. Shahzad prior to the attack. The comments are a reversal of declarations by U.S. authorities in the days following the attempted May 1 bombing that cast doubt on the Taliban group's claims of responsibility. Some administration and military officials had initially cast Mr. Shahzad as a "one-off" or "lone wolf." In comments to CBS's "60 Minutes" broadcast Sunday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned of severe consequences if an attack on U.S. soil were traced back to Pakistan. That marks a shift in rhetoric towards Pakistan and could presage increased pressure on the country to move against militants, including the Pakistani Taliban, in Pakistan's lawless tribal region in North Waziristan. (WSJ)

Bernardi backing for burqa ban reflects right-wing influence-JACOB SAULWICK NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT
THE shadow parliamentary secretary assisting Tony Abbott, Cory Bernardi, has called for Islamic women to be banned from wearing the burqa in a pointer to the growing assertiveness of the party's conservative wing. Writing on his blog yesterday, he argued his case on law and order grounds and the basis of respect for women. ''The burqa is no longer simply the symbol of female repression and Islamic culture, it is now emerging as a disguise of bandits and n'er do wells,'' he wrote. He was responding to a police report describing a hold-up in Sydney by a suspect in a burqa and sunglasses and said the garb could be used as a disguise. Mr Abbott responded by saying: "Senator Bernardi's call to ban the burqa reflects his personal views rather than Coalition policy. There is understandable concern in the community about what former prime minister John Howard called a 'confronting' form of attire." But the sentiments - rejected by the government and Islamic spokesman Keysar Trad - contradict views expressed by the shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey. (Thesydneymorningherald.au)

Toronto 18 ringleader pleads guilty in terror trial-Isabel Teotonio Staff reporter
In a surprise about-turn, Fahim Ahmad, the ringleader of the so-called Toronto 18 has pleaded guilty.
The reversal of his plea was revealed Monday morning to jurors in what is a landmark trial — the first terrorism case in Canada to be decided by a jury. Ahmad, described both as a “time bomb waiting to go off” and a “fantasist,” wanted to attack nuclear stations and storm Parliament, taking politicians hostage until they gave into his demands to pull troops from Afghanistan. Ahmad’s guilty plea leaves co-accused, Steven Chand and Asad Ansari, as the final members of the alleged terror cell on trial. “Ahmad’s guilty plea is not a factor to be taken into account,” Justice Fletcher Dawson told the five-woman, seven-man jury. “You must understand that has no impact on the guilt or innocence of the two men who remain on trial.” Ahmad was charged with contributing to a terrorist group for the purpose of carrying out an act of terror; importing firearms for a terrorist group, and instructing co-accused to carry out an activity for a terrorist group. On June 2, 2006, Ahmad and his co-accused were arrested after a lengthy investigation by Canada’s spy agency and the RCMP, which included wiretapped intercepts, car probes and the infiltration of a police informant turned agent. The Brampton court was told that in August 2005 Ahmad rented a car for two men, who were stopped at the U.S. border trying to re-enter Canada with three loaded semi-automatic guns. (Thestar)

French police detain French-Moroccan dual national suspected of heading al-Qaida linked cell-Alfred De Montesquiou
PARIS — French authorities arrested a French-Moroccan man suspected of heading an al-Qaida support cell that planned to send militants to fight in Afghanistan, Iraq and other conflict zones, and was plotting terror attacks in Morocco, they said Thursday. The suspect, Ahmed Sahnouni, 40, was arrested last week in a Paris suburb and has been brought before a prosecutor, said an official at the DCRI, the French counterespionage agency. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the nature of his job, said Sahnouni is being interrogated. The Paris prosecutor's office said it filed preliminary charges against Sahnouni for "criminal association with the goal of preparing terrorist actions." Moroccan police say Sahnouni, born in Casablanca, headed a cell of 24 suspected terrorists arrested last month in the North African kingdom, where they were allegedly plotting large terror attacks. In an unusually detailed statement, Morocco's Interior Ministry said the cell planned to murder "symbols of the state" and attack foreign interests in the kingdom, a tourism haven and a strong Western ally in fighting terrorism. It said several of the cell's members were caught on their way to Somalia where they planned to join an Islamist militia. Others were preparing training camps to support al-Qaida militants in North Africa, Moroccan authorities say.
French counterespionage said Sahnouni was arrested late Friday in Aubervilliers, a working class suburb northeast of Paris. Police seized computer material, radical Islamist propaganda and photos of Sahnouni training with weapons. French justice officials says the suspect admits to having travelled to various Arab countries, but denies heading a terror cell. (Canadianpress)

Belgium: Al-Qaeda cell sentenced
The Brussels court sentenced Malika El Aroud to 8 years in prison and a 5,000 euro fine for establishing, leading and financing a terrorist group. Seven other Muslim extremists were convicted for recruiting youth to battle in Afghanistan, an accusation they denied. Malika El Aroud will appeal the sentence. Malika El Aroud, her husband Moez Garsallaoui and Hicham Beyayo were found guilty of leading and financing a network that sent fighters to Waziristan, on the Pakistan-Afghan border. They were sentenced to 8, 8 and 5 years in prison respectively. Moez Garsallaoui was sentenced in absentia, as he's currently in Afghanistan.
Seven other suspects were convicted of membership in a terror network. The ninth suspect, Jean Tréfois, was acquitted. His participation could not be proven with certainty. It couldn't be proven that he knew that Hamza El Alami, whom he brought to the Zaventem airport, was on his way to a battle zone. It looked as though he didn't knowingly actively participate in the activities of the group. "His very extremist notions are not a transgression, though they are disturbing," said the judged in their decision. The reading of the sentencing took five hours. The nine were accused of being members of a terror organization which had links with al-Qaeda. They supposedly planned attacks in Afghanistan, and according to the prosecution, it can't be ruled out that they wanted to commit extremist acts elsewhere. Moreover, they supposedly recruited youth for the battle in Afghanistan, but they emphatically denied that. They said they sympathize with the battle there, but that they did not encourage anybody to fight. (Islamineurope)

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Why Liberal Education Matters-Peter Berkowitz
The true aim of the humanities is to prepare citizens for exercising their freedom responsibly.
In 1867, when he discharged his main responsibility as honorary rector of St. Andrews University by delivering an address on liberal education to the students, the philosopher and civil servant John Stuart Mill felt compelled to defend the place of the sciences alongside the humanities. Today it is the connection of the humanities to a free mind and citizenship in a free society that requires defense. For years, an array of influential voices has been calling for our nation's schools and universities to improve science and math education. Given the globalized and high-tech world, the prize, pundits everywhere argue, goes to the nations that summon the foresight and discipline to educate scientists and engineers capable of developing tomorrow's ideas. No doubt science and math are vital. But all of the attention being paid to these disciplines obscures a more serious problem: the urgent need to reform liberal education. At the university level, enrollments in humanities courses have fallen precipitously and philosophical positivism is rampant. Many social scientists go beyond the sensible view that the scientific method is indispensable to achieving knowledge to a more dogmatic view that it is the one true form of reasoned inquiry and that only its results deserve to be called knowledge. The positivists disparage all other forms of inquiry and analysis as literature or journalism—by which they mean writings that are intrinsically unsystematic, subjective and of little intellectual value. (WSJ)

A Judeo-Muslim Civilization?-Rima Greene
A conference at the University of California, Berkeley, on April 28-29, 2010 (and continued at UC Davis [1] on April 30), “Muslims and Jews Together: Seeing From Without; Seeing From Within [2],” was billed as a major international symposium for “the inauguration of the Program for the Study of Muslim-Jewish Relations at UC Berkeley and the establishment of a UC-wide and West Coast working group for the study of Muslim-Jewish relations .” The conference was a collaborative effort between the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at UC Berkeley and the Jewish Studies Program at UC Davis. Its stated purpose was to use the frameworks of traditional Middle East studies and Jewish studies to develop a new academic field focused on the historical interaction between Muslims and the Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews who once lived among them. Most of the participants were historians or anthropologists specializing in North African Jewry, particularly Morocco. CMES chair Nezar AlSayyad introduced the conference with a discussion about “building bridges” by re-framing the term, “Jews of Islam,” into something that could be equated with Judeo-Christian civilization: something he called “Judeo-Muslim civilization.” CMES vice-chair and conference organizer Emily Gottreich echoed AlSayyed’s comments in her introduction to the first panel, describing the “Jews of Islam” as “an awkward and unfortunate” construction and seconding the notion of “Judeo-Muslim civilization.” The emphasis throughout this first panel, which was titled “Framing,” was on synthesis, symbiosis, and challenging “the dichotomy.” How does one teach about Jews in a Muslim country and teach about Muslims in a Jewish country? The first part of the question, however, cannot be answered, because very few Jews remain in the same Muslim countries where, prior to 1948, there were large, ancient communities. The reason for this exodus—the forced removal of Jews in response to Israel’s founding that year—went unexamined by panelists. (Frontpagemagazine)

Michelle Obama's Global Graduates-Jeannie DeAngelis
Rather than tossing a graduation cap into the air, Michelle Obama's commencement address at George Washington University was enough to make a graduate fall on the ground weeping in a heap of despair.
After accomplishing the goal of completing a college education, the last thing a collegian should be subjected to on graduation day is a keynote speaker who does anything but uplift, motivate, and encourage. The First Lady's GWU commencement address would have been more stirring if accompanied by a funeral dirge. Students came to the ceremony hoping to be inspired to take on the world. Unfortunately, notable honorary degree recipient Michelle Obama took the opportunity to burden graduates with a yoke of global guilt. As she banged the drum for community and public service and placing herself in the position of conscience, free will, and individual charity, the First Lady's speech gave the impression that if not for her own directional goading, students would, like lumbering oxen, disappear into the vortex of self-interest and personal gain. The first mistake George Washington University students made was to respond to the maven of public service's initial commission to volunteer in the greater Washington community. Student willingness to participate in community was the carrot Mrs. Obama used to woo GWU as commencement speaker. At the time, youthful altruism blinded students from recognizing the First Lady's unquenchable thirst to make community activists out of doctoral candidates. In response to Michelle's original challenge, GW students held "food drives, beautified parks and made care packages for our troops," all commendable contributions. However, 100,000 hours of local community volunteerism, even national volunteerism, while good, came up wanting, because for Mrs. Obama, global citizenry and a lifetime of international commitment are the real objectives. (Americanthinker)

MEDIA BIAS

Tea Party Troubadour Sheds Sunglasses, Hat and Fake Name-NEIL KING JR.
Once Fearful of Hollywood Backlash, Screenwriter Claims Conservative AnthemINDEPENDENCE, Mo.—On stage, guitar in hand, Jon David belts out his tea-party anthem to a rapturous rally, as he has a dozen other times in venues from Searchlight, Nev., to Nashville, Tenn.
I got American parts, Got American faith In America's heart.
Then he rips into the refrain from "American Heart," which has tugged at conservative audiences and luminaries from Sarah Palin to Newt Gingrich.
Go on raise the flag. I got staaaaarrrs in my eyes.
Over those eyes he wears a pair of large shades and a Coors cap pulled low. And Jon David is not his real name. The guy in the spotlight singing "American Heart," it can now be revealed, is 42-year-old Jonathan Kahn, a Hollywood screenwriter, director and scribbler of songs whose faith in America doesn't extend to the place he calls home. Fearful of being ostracized in the town where he peddles his songs and scripts, Mr. Kahn has gone sub rosa on the rally circuit. "It's for protective reasons," he says. "In Hollywood, being a conservative is the kiss of death." The tea-party movement's passion for cutting taxes and shrinking government has spilled into hundreds of rallies and conventions across the country. Mr. Kahn has ridden that surge—under cover. He debuted his song on stage in Quincy, Ill., at a tea-party rally in September. "All those flags, those good folks," he says. "It moved me beyond belief." (WSJ)

Omission Watch: Empire State Building Honored Mao's Revolution, But Won't Honor Mother Teresa-Tim Graham
This sounds like an obvious jazzy story for national news. Last September, the Empire State Building drew controversy (at least in anti-communist circles) for honoring the 60th anniversary of the communist revolution in China with red and yellow floodlights. But now, as Lou Young of WCBS-TV reports [1], the same brass at the Empire State Building refuse to honor saintly Mother Teresa with blue and white lights, the colors of her religious order. "It's kind of hard to be against Mother Teresa," said Archbishop Timothy Dolan. The lighting would consist of a simple tribute in blue and white, the same colors used for a Yankees World Series win or an Israeli Independence Day. In this case it would be the colors worn by a crusader for the poor and a candidate for sainthood, the venerable Mother Teresa. Yet the people who own the Empire State Building said they won't pay this simple tribute in blue and white for the 100th anniversary of her birth this coming August, and they refuse to offer an explanation to people who made the application.... CBS 2 tried again Friday to see if we can get an answer for them, but every time we've asked it's been simply, "No comment." Then, they asked us to leave the building. We also got no where at the 42nd Street offices of Anthony Malkin, who owns the Empire State Building. Silence. He's out of the office. That's it. So the building that went pink for the release of Mariah Carey's album and red for the 60th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution still refuses to go blue and white for Nobel Peace Prize winner and advocate for the poor, the late Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Even Democrats on the New York City Council who love her work with the poor are requesting the building's managers to reconsider. City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. introduced a bill Friday formally requesting the tribute in behalf of the city. "She deserves better. She's one of the greatest women history has ever known," he told CBS 2. This should be a story on CBS nationally. But none of the national TV outlets offered a story, according to a Nexis database search. (Foxnews.com [2] has a story.) The only newspaper on it was The New York Post. This is one reason why Anthony Malkin figures he doesn't have to comment. (Newsbusters)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

Brussels: Municipality doesn't allow veil ban protest
The Muslim organization 'Muslim Rise' is calling on Muslims all over Europe to come Saturday to the Brussels Stock Exchange to protest against the burka ban. The city of Brussels is not allowing it, also because the Zinneke Parade will be marching through the city at the same time. This article was prepared by the Islam in Europe blog - islamineurope.blogspot.com The Muslim organization say they want to express their dissatisfaction in a peaceful manner. The demonstrators will go out into the streets to "allow the next generation a life with Islamic dress." Similar demonstrations will take place at the same time in the UK and Ireland, where demonstrators will stand by the Belgian embassy. A spokesperson for the city of Brussels told brusselnieuws.be that the demonstrations can't take place. "We made this decision on the basis of three criteria. On the application there's no official name, but rather an Islamic pseudonym. Moreover, 40,000 people will be coming Saturday to the Zinneke Parade, a family party. Finally, the police also gave negative advice, since the chance for a counter-protest is too great." (Islamineurope)

Facebook may remove contentious page in Pak-Lait K Jha
Disappointed at being blocked in Pakistan for a page encouraging users to post caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed, Facebook today said it is analysing the situation and may make the page inaccessible to users in that country. "We are very disappointed with the Pakistani Courts' decision to block Face Book without warning, and suspect our users there feel the same way," Facebook said in an e-mail statement made available to PTI here. "We are analysing the situation and the legal considerations, and will take appropriate action, which may include making this content inaccessible to users in Pakistan," a Facebook spokesperson said. "We want Facebook to be a place where people can openly discuss issues and express their views, while respecting the rights and feelings of others," the spokesperson said. The statement from Facebook came after Pakistan blocked access this popular social networking site following a court order over a competition created by a Face Book user who set up a page called "Draw Mohammed Day," inviting people to send in caricatures of the Muslim prophet on May 20. Depictions of Prophet Mohammed is strictly restricted under Islam religion and us considered as blasphemous by Muslims around the world. "With now more than 400 million users from around the world, who have varying cultures and ideals, using Face Book as a place to discuss and share things that are important to them, we sometimes find people discussing and posting about topics that others may find controversial, inaccurate, or offensive," said the statement. (Hindustantimes)

Swedish artist attacked during free-speech lecture-MALIN RISING
STOCKHOLM (AP) - A Swedish artist who angered Muslims by depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a dog was assaulted Tuesday while giving a university lecture about the limits of artistic freedom. Lars Vilks told The Associated Press a man in the front row ran up to him and head-butted him during a lecture, breaking his glasses but leaving him uninjured. It wasn't immediately clear what happened to the attacker. Vilks has faced numerous threats over his controversial drawing of Muhammad with a dog's body, but Tuesday's incident was the first time he has been physically assaulted. Earlier this year U.S. investigators said Vilks was the target of an alleged murder plot involving Colleen LaRose, an American woman who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane," and who now faces life in prison. She had pleaded not guilty. Vilks said a group of about 15 people had been shouting and trying to interrupt the lecture before the incident at Uppsala University.
Many of them stormed the front of the room after the attack and clashed with security guards as Vilks was pulled away into a separate room, he said, describing the scene as "complete chaos." "A man ran up and threw himself over me. I was head-butted and my glasses were broken," Vilks said before hanging up for questioning by police. Uppsala University spokeswoman Pernilla Bjork said Vilks was showing a provocative film with sexual content to the crowd when the attacker ran up and hit him in the face with his fists.

Is America Conquered When the American Flag Is 'Offensive'?-John Griffing
Californians were recently confronted with a sobering reality. Students at a large high school in the Morgan Hill district were told by school administrators that American flag tee shirts and other patriotic paraphernalia were not allowed, citing Cinco de Mayo as justification. Few students at the school probably realize that America provided help to Mexico in expelling the French, whose defeat at the Battle of Puebla is commemorated on May 5. How can American flags be "offensive" on a day that is almost as much American as it is Mexican? Cinco de Mayo is not even celebrated as a national holiday in Mexico. This incident follows Columbus Day's downgrade to "Indigenous People's Day" in some cities in the dying state. While certainly no one is against the idea of cultural celebrations, guests do not get to tell the host to sit down and shut up. This is merely the tip of a very large iceberg stretching deep into the heart of the American Southwest. Due to immigration policies that cater to U.S. corporations and politicians -- witness the furor over Arizona's new law -- a substantial fifth column has been admitted into the halls of freedom, and they are starting to demand changes. Following the "reconquista" approach favored by many activists, Mexican immigrants have sought to return the American Southwest to Mexico through means of slow and patient occupation. (Americanthinker)

ANTISEMITISM

Galloway seeks new role as 'Michael Moore' of Palestine-Jessica Elgot
Former Respect MP George Galloway, who failed to win a seat in Thursday’s election, is heading to Hollywood, intending to become the “Michael Moore” of anti-Israel filmmaking. Mr Galloway told the Times he would fly to Los Angeles later this weekend to drum up funding of between £2m and £4m for a film about the Palestinians. Mr Galloway said he was disappointed that Respect would have no role to play in a hung parliament, after he failed to win a seat in Poplar and Limehouse. Mr Galloway – who boycotted the official count — said afterwards: “I was very disappointed. It’s quite a wrench, especially with a hung parliament — that would have been a very interesting thing to be involved with.” But other projects beckon: “I’m off to California on Saturday to speak to people in the film business about a long-standing idea I’ve had to do a Michael Moore-type treatment of the Palestinian conflict. “I think I could present well — do the Michael Moore part well. The story is attractive and controversial. I like trying to do things that have never been done before.” (Thejewishchronicle)

Terror Teddy Bear Teaches Martyrdom-Maayana Miskin
(Israelnationalnews.com) Hamas continues to educate children to become “martyrs” who die while waging war on Israel. In one of the latest episodes of its children's television show, Pioneers of Tomorrow, the terrorism-loving teddy bear Nassur urges children to sacrifice themselves, and a caller assures them that if they become martyrs, they will go to Paradise. "Dear children, when we grow up, we will become martyrs, God willing... the pioneers of tomorrow will liberate the Al-Aksa Mosque," Nassur declares. A caller from Holland then sings a song that begins, “When we get martyred we will go to Paradise... No, don't say we are too small.” The song concludes, “I am willing to sacrifice my blood for my country. Without Palestine our childhood means nothing.” The episode, first aired in April, was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). Nassur's reference to Al-Aksa Mosque reflects recent accusations by Palestinian Authority clerics that Israel is attempting to damage the structure. The mosque, located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, is controlled by the Muslim Wakf; however, some clerics continue to accuse Israel of attempting to seize control of the site for Jewish use. The character of Nassur is the fourth to co-host Pioneers of Tomorrow. Previous co-hosts, who worked alongside a girl named Saraa, included a Mickey Mouse look-alike named Farfur, a bee named Nahoul, and a rabbit called Assud. (INN)

Iran says can destroy Israel in week-Dudi Cohen
Ahmadinejad's chief of staff says if Israel attacks, 'Zionists will have no longer than week to live'
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, said Wednesday that if Israel attacked Iran it would be destroyed within a week. Speaking at a political conference of ultra-conservatives in Iran's north, Mashaei said, "If the Zionist regime attacks Iran, the Zionists will have no longer than a week to live."
The semi-official Fars news agency quoted him as saying that the Islamic Republic would destroy Israel "in less than 10 days". Mashaei, who was also formerly a vice president, added that new sanctions to be imposed on Iran for its nuclear program would only harm Western countries. The statesman is considered a close affiliate of the Iranian president and has previously caused a stir by saying that Iran was "a friend of the Israeli people". He later retracted this statement and issued a contrary one saying Israel should be destroyed. On a visit to Saudi Arabia Mashaei claimed that the annihilation of Israel should be a global goal. He told Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that "the corrupt and criminal Zionist regime is harming not only the Arab and Islamic world, but all of humanity." (Ynetnews)

Oxford students blame Israel for bad Palestinian healthcare-Jonny Paul
Anti-Israel activist, former British MP George Galloway invited as special guest at university conference.
LONDON – A conference at Oxford University on Thursday that blamed Israel for the poor state of healthcare in the Palestinian territories has been lambasted by a number of prominent Jewish medical professionals. They accused it of being politicized and one-sided. Organized by the university’s Society for Medicine, the conference was titled Healthcare Under Siege. The Student Society described the event as “leaders in the medical world to gather at Oxford University and say end the siege, remove the wall and build Palestinian health instead.” “In this conference, the speakers will draw on their personal experiences in the occupied Palestinian territories to expose the devastating effect of crippling economic blockades and military attacks on civilian health and access to medical care in Gaza,” the society said in advertising material.
“The occupied territories present a uniquely challenging environment to the work of doctors and surgeons,” said Omar Abdel-Mannan, a medical student and president of the society. “This event brings together some of the medical community’s highest authorities to discuss the factors contributing to the poor health of people in the region – and their solutions.” Keynote speakers included renowned medical researcher Sir Iain Chalmers; Colin Green, professor of surgical science at University College London; and Dr. Richard Horton, editor of the medical journal The Lancet. Seasoned anti-Israel activists former MP George Galloway and Ghada Karmi attended as special guests. (Jpost)

Tutu’s Crusade Against Israel-John Perazzo
At first blush, the suggestion that a Nobel Peace Prize [1] winner would have anything in common with a pack of unabashed, poison-tongued Jew-haters seems preposterous. But Desmond Tutu, the former archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, who in 1984 won the coveted Nobel award for his campaign against apartheid in that country, is today one of the most celebrated supporters of the “Divest from Israel” movement. Particularly widespread on university campuses across America, this movement routinely offers a high-visibility propaganda forum for some of the most rabid, combative anti-Semites of our time. At its heart, the campus divestment movement aims to cripple Israel’s economy by compelling universities to withdraw whatever funds they may have invested in Israeli-based or -affiliated corporations. These efforts are founded on the premise that Israel is guilty of practicing apartheid and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people. According to the divestment movement’s leaders, the human rights violations perpetrated by Israel are on par with those of the former apartheid regime in Desmond Tutu’s South Africa; many critics go so far as to liken modern Israel to Nazi Germany. When the Associated Students of UC Berkeley recently expressed their wish to have the university divest its money from Israel, Tutu praised their “principled stand” against the “injustice of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and violation of Palestinian human rights.” “[I]t is always an inspiration when young people lead the way and speak truth to power,” said Tutu. The philosophy underlying the divestment movement has been displayed in stark relief recently at a number of University of California campuses, where Muslim student groups sponsored events under the banner of “Israeli Apartheid Week: A Call to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Israel.” At a Muslim Students Association [2] (MSA) event at UC San Diego, for instance, one MSA member explicitly affirmed [3] that she supported Hezbollah [4] leader Hassan Nasrallah [5]’s assertion that [6]“if Jews all gather in Israel, it will save us [jihadists] the trouble of going after them worldwide.” (Frontpagemagazine)

Amnesty steps up action against Israel-Simon Rocker
Amnesty International’s UK branch is continuing to highlight Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians with an exhibition planned in London for next month directed against its security barrier. “Against the Wall” features art and graffiti on the wall in the West Bank “which cuts through Palestinian communities with devastating effect”, according to the publicity. The event follows a meeting last night on Israeli policy in East Jerusalem entitled “Capital Murder: Inside the Israeli authorities’ regime of discrimination and control in Occupied East Jerusalem”. Journalist Ben White, author of Israeli Apartheid: A Beginners Guide, described what was happening in the city as “a microcosm of Israeli apartheid”. Mr White told the audience of 70 that a “shocking finding” of a United Nations study last year was that 87 per cent of East Jerusalem was unavailable for Palestinian construction. Referring to a newspaper report that the Israeli authorities planned to surround the area with nine national parks, he said it would enable them to “market apartheid as being a tourist attraction”.
Najwa Silwadi, a Palestinian activist in Jerusalem, who addressed the meeting by video link, accused Israel of using its judicial system as a way to “ethnically cleanse Jerusalem of its indigenous people”. (Jewishchronicle

TERRORISM, security and policy

The Ground Zero Mosque Developer: Muslim Brotherhood Roots, Radical Dreams-Alyssa A. Lappen

The prospective developer of a $100 million, 13-story mosque 600 feet from Ground Zero presents himself as a Muslim moderate [1] (1) [2]. Yet Kuwait-born Faisal Abdul Rauf also boasts of his issue from an “Egyptian family steeped in religious scholarship [1]” (2) [3]. Indeed, Feisal Rauf’s Muslim Brotherhood provenance, radical by definition, is as authentic as it gets. Rauf’s father, Dr. Muhammad Abdul Rauf (1917-2004) — an Egyptian contemporary of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna — conveyed to Feisal his family’s long tradition of radicalism, which he acquired at Islam [4]’s closest equivalent to the Vatican, Al-Azhar University. The elder Dr. Rauf studied and taught there before fleeing Egypt in 1948. That year, Feisal Abdul Rauf was born in Kuwait. Feisal Rauf has planned for some time to further develop his father’s U.S. Islamic expansionism. In 1990, Rauf opened the tiny al-Farah Mosque at 245 West Broadway in lower Manhattan. Area residents did not even notice the mosque until 2006, when the New York State Liquor Authority (SLA) refused to license [5] a new bar on the same block and started yanking others’ liquor licenses (3) [6]. (Pajamasmedia)

Delhi CM fears trouble if Afzal is hanged
New Delhi: Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's mercy petition has been sent back by the Delhi government on Wednesday to Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna with the Delhi government fearing ant-social elements may try and foment communal trouble in some parts of the national capital. Sources have told CNN-IBN the state government has addressed the issues raises by the Lieutenant Governor Khanna. Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has reportedly replied that some anti-social elements can use the Afzal's hanging to their advantage in some parts of trans-Yamuna and Jamia Millia Islamia. Khanna had returned the file on Tuesday within hours of getting it seeking clarifications and asking the Delgi government to clearly specify whether it supported Afzal Guru's hanging or not. Delhi government has already agreed with the Supreme Court judgement that Afzal's was an act of terror and that it merits death by hanging. There are 30 mercy petitions pending with the President and Afzal's is one of them. The Home Ministry had first sent a file for Delhi government's opinion way back in 2006, but it has been hanging in the air since then. But with public opinion in favour of speedy hanging of Kasab, the Central Government is under pressure to move fast. However, a decision on Afzal's hanging could prove a deterrent. (Ibnlive.in)

World Cup bomb plot detailed by al-Qaeda suspect-BBC
An alleged al-Qaeda militant detained in Iraq has given details about a plan he had to attack the World Cup in South Africa next month.
The Saudi man, Abdullah Azam Saleh al-Qahtani, told reporters he had suggested an attack on the Dutch and Danish teams in revenge for cartoons drawn of the Prophet Muhammad. But he said senior al-Qaeda leaders had not yet approved the plan. On Monday Iraqi police claimed to have prevented an attack on the World Cup. The claims prompted phone calls from South African police, trying to find out what was going on.
'Target fans'
Mr Qahtani was arrested after Iraqi forces found a note detailing the plan in a hideout used by two senior al-Qaeda figures, killed in April. "We discussed the possibility of taking revenge for the insults of the prophet by attacking Denmark and Holland," Mr Qahtani told the Associated Press. "If we were not able to reach the teams, then we would target the fans." The plan would have included car bombs and gun attacks. The plan had not been approved, but had been awaiting the green light from al-Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Mr Qahtani said. "It was only an idea to blow up the World Cup," he said. "It was relayed through other men, but I didn't get a reply." (BBC)

Cyber attack 'could fell US within 15 minutes'-Alex Spillius in Washington
The US must prepare itself for a full-scale cyber attack which could cause death and destruction across the country in less than 15 minutes, the former anti-terrorism Tsar to Bill Clinton and George W Bush has warned. Richard Clarke claims that America's lack of preparation for the annexing of its computer system by terrorists could lead to an "electronic Pearl Harbor". In his warning, Mr Clarke paints a doomsday scenario in which the problems start with the collapse of one of Pentagon's computer networks. Soon internet service providers are in meltdown. Reports come in of large refinery fires and explosions in Philadelphia and Houston. Chemical plants malfunction, releasing lethal clouds of chlorine. Air traffic controllers report several mid-air collisions, while subway trains crash in New York, Washington and Los Angeles. More than 150 cities are suddenly blacked out. Tens of thousands of Americans die in an attack comparable to a nuclear bomb in its devastation. Yet it would take no more than 15 minutes and involve not a single terrorist or soldier setting foot in the United States. (Telegraph.co.uk)

Suicide bomber spotlights Russia's Islamist battle-Amie Ferris-Rotman and Olga Petrova
BALAKHANI, Russia (Reuters) - Rasul Magomedov identified his daughter after investigators showed him three photos of her detached head. It had blown off her body in the Moscow metro as she detonated explosives strapped to her waist. In the biggest such attack on the capital in six years, authorities say Magomedov's daughter Maryam Sharipova killed 28 people during the rush hour at the end of March. A 17-year old Muslim widow, Dzhannet Abdullaeva, killed another 12. Both came from Russia's troubled southern Muslim republic of Dagestan. A Islamist rebel group headed by Russia's most wanted man, Chechen Doku Umarov, the self-styled "Emir of the Caucasus", claimed responsibility for the attacks. Sitting cross-legged beside his sobbing, hijab-clad wife on the floor of their home in the mountain village of Balakhani, 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala, Magomedov refused to accept his daughter acted of her own will. "I am convinced that very specific people stole her, and these people are trying to destroy the Russian state," he told Reuters, casting his oval green eyes at a stack of textbooks penned by his 28 year-old daughter, who was the deputy head of information technology at the village's sole school. (Reuters)

UK could be target for Tehran missiles ‘in four years’- Deborah Haynes, Defence Editor
Iran is focused on improving a growing arsenal of ballistic missiles but needs at least four more years to be able to target London and more than a decade to threaten the East Coast of the United States, a leading think-tank said yesterday. The analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) came after Tehran said that it had test-fired for the first time a series of short-range Fajr (Dawn) missiles in the Gulf. “The missiles were fired from surface to sea and hit the target with great precision,” Kiomars Haydari, deputy chief of the army ground forces, was quoted by a local news agency as saying. The Fajr-5 missile is 6.6 metres (22ft) long, with a range of 75km (47 miles). The IISS said that Iran is also working to develop much longer-range weapons and noted that all of the country’s ballistic missiles are inherently capable of carrying nuclear bombs. “In tandem with efforts to expand its nuclear capabilities, the Islamic Republic of Iran is making robust strides in developing ballistic missiles,” the IISS said in its report: Iran’s Ballistic Missile Capabilities. “The two programmes appear to be connected, with the aim of giving Iran the capability to deliver nuclear warheads well beyond its borders.”

Terrorism Expert: America's Blindspot is the Homeland-Matthew Harwood
Saturday's botched attack in Times Square continues to show that al Qaeda and its sympathizers have successfully sown the seeds of jihad on American shores, a respected terrorism expert said Friday. Speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., terrorism expert and Georgetown Professor Bruce Hoffman argued a confluence of terrorism trends converged last Saturday evening in Times Square. The attack demonstrated that a foreign terrorist group, the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), with previously only parochial concerns, is believed to have radicalized, trained, and deployed naturalized American Faisal Shahzad—a well-educated, upperly mobile young Muslim man—to kill his fellow citizens.
The attempted attack against Times Square, Hoffman maintains, shows the blind spot in America's defense strategy is the homeland itself, repeating his thesis from a recent essay he wrote for The National Interest called "American Jihad [1]," on which the talk was based. (Assistant Editor Joe Straw reported on "The Evolving Terrorist Threat [2]" against the United States homefront in the April 2010 issue of Security Management.) Hoffman said Shahzad's failed attack and other similar incidents over the last year should provoke some tough questions about the U.S. war on terrorism: Can the United States really be winning it when the threats are diversifying beyond al Qaeda to other groups? Can a war be won when the enemy recruits American citizens and residents to attack their country from the inside? (Securitymanagement)

A Mosque at Ground Zero Equals Victory-Wafa Sultan
A new mosque is now being planned in New York near "Ground Zero," two blocks from where the World Trade Center used to be. This mosque is headed by an Imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the Cordoba Initiative, who proposes to convert the now-shuttered Burlington Coat Factory on Park Place into an Islamic Cultural Center which would contain a mosque. It is crucial to study the supremacist ideology of Islam and to recognize, for example, that the building of a mosque especially at Ground Zero is viewed by Muslims as a decisive victory over the infidels in Islam's march to establish its ultimate goal: the submission of all others to Islam and to Sharia Law. On a daily bases, in so many parts of the world, deadly attacks are perpetrated by Jihadists either against non Muslims or, frequently, against Muslims -- especially Muslim women. The terror type of Jihad, however, is only one way for Islamists to accomplish their mission of making the "Kafir," or infidels, submit to Sharia Law. Another method is, as the author Robert Spencer calls it, an insidious, creeping "Stealth Jihad." While Mr. Shahzad is the impatient Jihadist who attempts to destroy the West through terror, there is also the second type of Jihadist, who is much more patient, and who employs the "Stealth Jihad." The Stealth Jihadis are subtle in their approach and take their time to accomplish the same objective of submitting us all under Islam and under Sharia Law. Recently, two separate episodes highlight this gloomy reality. The first is the attempted bombing of Times Square by the Pakistani terrorist, Faisal Shahzad, called by Leon de Winter "The Foreclosure Terrorist" from an anchor at CNN who said, "It can be confirmed that his house has been foreclosed in recent years. I mean, one would have to imagine, that brought a lot of pressure and a lot of heartache on that family." (Hudsoninstitute)

The State Department Can’t Be Trusted with Iran Sanctions-JONATHAN SCHANZER
The U.S. Treasury is far more willing and equipped to make sanctions truly biting.
The U.S. Congress is very close to sending President Barack Obama a bill designed to sanction Iran's energy industry -- and potentially stop Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his coterie from getting a nuclear bomb. The Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act is taking its final steps toward congressional reconciliation. If passed, the new law will hammer Iran's lucrative energy sector, making it even harder for cash-strapped Tehran to finance its illicit nuclear program. The act as it stands is an important step. But there's one more thing Congress should do to make sure the law's provisions actually work: hand over responsibility for enforcing sanctions to the Treasury Department instead of Foggy Bottom. This is not an issue of inside-the-Beltway turf wars -- it's about effectiveness. Over the past three decades, the Treasury Department has shown that it's far more capable and willing to enforce sanctions than the State Department is -- and the sanctions in the new law are just too important to risk implementing halfway. As it stands now, the Treasury Department mostly handles the sanctions portfolio stemming from presidential executive orders. In the case of Iran, it has placed targeted financial sanctions (freezing assets and banning transactions) on several Iranian terrorist groups, following from Executive Order 13224. It has, for example, cut off funds from the Iranian Quds Force, an elite unit within the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which was designated as a terrorist entity in 2007. (Foreignpolicy)

Egypt's Persecuted Christians-MOHEB ZAKI
Violence against Copts is on the rise and all but ignored by the state. Cairo
A few weeks ago in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh, an enraged mob of some 3,000 angry Muslims gathered after Friday prayers. After the mosque's imam exhorted them to cleanse the city of its infidel Christians, called Copts, they went on a rampage. The toll was heavy: 18 homes, 23 shops and 16 cars were completely destroyed, while 400 Copts barricaded themselves in their church for 10 hours until the frenzy died out. This was only the latest of more than a dozen such attacks during the past year, including in the village of Kafr El-Barbary on June 26, the town of Farshout on Nov. 21, and the village of Shousha on Nov. 23. Then came Naga Hamadi, where passengers in a drive-by car fired at random into Christians leaving a Coptic Christmas service on Jan. 6. The massacre killed seven and left 26 seriously wounded. Although the Copts have long been the target of sporadic attacks, the violence of the last few years is more like a purge, as waves of mob assaults have forced hundreds, sometimes thousands of Christian citizens to flee their homes. In each incident the police, despite frantic appeals, invariably arrive after the violence is over. Later the injured are coerced by the special security police forces into accepting "reconciliation" with their attackers, in order to avoid the prosecution of the guilty. No Muslim to date has been convicted for any of these crimes. (WSJ)

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM

Climategate 2010: The Inconvenient Facts About Global Warming-S.T. Karnick

In the wake of the Climategate scandal, panelists and audience members at the Fourth International Conference on Climate Change [1] (ICCC4) indicated growing confidence that the tide is turning in favor of those who believe that manmade global warming is not a crisis. More than 700 people — including a good many scientists, along with economists, policy analysts, and legislators — have gathered together since Sunday night, discussing the once-settled but increasingly controversial proposition of an anthroprogenic global warming (AGW) crisis. Any triumphalism was averted by a general agreement to explore real-world facts and test the assertions of alarmists. The presenters and audience members continually asked whether the data says what the modelers say it does. The conference opened with a Sunday evening dinner at which Canadian statistical analyst Stephen McIntyre presented a meticulous history of the hugely influential “hockey stick” graph — which found an alarming rise of global temperatures since 1979 and led to the IPPC conclusion that AGW is causing a global crisis that requires drastic measures. McIntyre had begun publicly questioning the data several years ago, setting off an effort which ultimately led to the recent Climategate scandal [2], in which it was shown that the people behind the hockey stick graph knowingly altered the temperature record in a way that expanded a relatively common global temperature change into a shocking heat spike. The scientists’ own words show them as phonying up temperature data “in order to trick you,” as McIntyre noted repeatedly in his presentation, quoting comedian Jon Stewart’s scathing mockery of the alarmists’ attempted evasions. McIntyre quoted extensively from the various parties that perpetrated this massive fraud, but he avoided using such emotionally charged words. Fellow keynote speaker Harrison Schmitt — a Ph.D. scientist and former NASA astronaut — by contrast, embraced the characterization of the Climategate events as a fraud, in response to audience comments in a lively Q&A session after McIntyre’s speech. The questioners strongly criticized McIntyre’s reticence and his argument supporting a central role for government in pressing a climate agenda. (Pajamasmedia)

European Court Ruling Forces Release of Rapists and Murderers-Dietmar Hipp and Marcel Rosenbach
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that German laws on preventive detention of dangerous criminals is a violation of their human rights. Now Germany will be forced to release almost 200 felons, including convicted rapists and multiple murderers. The first repeat offender has already been released.
Walter H. spent about 37 years, well over half of his life, behind bars. He was sent to prison for a sexually motivated homicide as a young man. He later served time for attempted rape while fully intoxicated and for aggravated battery. He had been incarcerated in a prison in southwestern Germany since 2007, after a court ordered his preventive detention on the grounds that he presented a danger to the general public. But on Wednesday of last week, shortly after 4 p.m., the doors of the prison were suddenly opened for the man, who had been classified as a likely repeat offender. He was given €50 ($62) in spending money. Then, two police officers and a parole officer took him to a hotel, paid for four nights in advance -- and left him to his own devices. The first thing H. did was to call the people who had been fighting for his release for years. Weeping with joy, he told his defense attorney, Michael Rehberger: "I'm out. I'm in a hotel." But his attorney has mixed feelings. Of course, he says, he was very happy for his client, and yet he believes that the whole thing is "lunacy." According to the attorney, H. was released "with almost no preparation" and has not even been placed under so-called supervision of conduct, whereby H. would be subject to the control and assistance of his probation officer. Cases like this, says the attorney, involve "people who are basically unable to live in the real world." (Spiegelonline)

SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

A meeting of biotech minds-Karin Kloosterman
Israel's Biomed 2010 hosts top personnel from Roche, JP Morgan Chase and Johnson & Johnson, at an annual event where multi-million dollar pharmaceutical deals are made.
It's in Israel, and it's the second largest biotech convention in the world, says Biomed 2010's spokesperson Nahum Donitza. Initially its attendees were mainly Israeli academics, but the highly focused meeting of minds soon caught on, with its founding researchers and start-ups grabbing the attention of high-caliber pharma companies and investors. The event has since been instrumental in closing multi-million dollar deals for pharmaceuticals and devices. "It's a good meeting point to see your colleagues in Israel," admits Donitza, whose PR firm has been working with the annual June biotech event for the last decade. He tells ISRAEL21c that it has come a long way from its early days, when it was more like an intimate convention for doctors and researchers, who came to share research ideas, solutions and possible business ventures. Held by the Israel Life Science Industry (ILSI), the conference, called the Biomedical Innovation Summit this year, is chaired by two industry specialists - Rut Alon from Pitango Venture Capital, who chairs the ILSI, and Israel Makov, former president and CEO of Teva, who now chairs Given Imaging. (Israel21c)

Worldwide Trends in Honor Killings-Phyllis Chesler
To combat the epidemic of honor killings requires understanding what makes these murders unique. They differ from plain and psychopathic homicides, serial killings, crimes of passion, revenge killings, and domestic violence. Their motivation is different and based on codes of morality and behavior that typify some cultures, often reinforced by fundamentalist religious dictates. In 2000, the United Nations estimated that there are 5,000 honor killings every year.[1] That number might be reasonable for Pakistan alone, but worldwide the numbers are much greater. In 2002 and again in 2004, the U.N. brought a resolution to end honor killings and other honor-related crimes. In 2004, at a meeting in The Hague about the rising tide of honor killings in Europe, law enforcement officers from the U.K. announced plans to begin reopening old cases to see if certain murders were, indeed, honor murders.[2] The number of honor killings is routinely underestimated, and most estimates are little more than guesses that vary widely. Definitive or reliable worldwide estimates of honor killing incidence do not exist. Most honor killings are not classified as such, are rarely prosecuted, or when prosecuted in the Muslim world, result in relatively light sentences.[3] When an honor killing occurs in the West, many people, including the police, still shy away from calling it an honor killing. In the West, both Islamist and feminist groups, including domestic violence activists, continue to insist that honor killings are a form of Western-style domestic violence or femicide (killing of women).[4] They are not.[5] This study documents that there are at least two types of honor killings and two victim populations. Both types differ significantly from each other, just as they differ from Western domestic femicide. One group has an average age of seventeen; the other group's average age is thirty-six. The age difference is a statistically significant one. (TheMiddleEastQuarterly)

Blind Ideology is Dancing on the Grave of Reason-Melanie Phillips
In Britain, the benefits of diversity are apparently boundless. Now that the Pagan Police Association has received government recognition, police officers can take a string of pagan festivals as official holidays.
These include celebrating the festival of lactating sheep and drinking mead and dancing naked to celebrate the harvest. In court, pagan officers will be allowed to pledge to tell the truth not before God but by what “they hold sacred,” including, presumably, the Sun God or Kriss Kringle, the Germanic god of yule. In Australia, as historian Keith Windschuttle has chronicled in his new book The Stolen Generations – volume three of his tireless evisceration of The Fabrication of Aboriginal History — the allegedly monstrous theft of 100,000 Aboriginal children by Australian officials just because they were Aboriginal never actually happened. In the U.S., when a car bomb was planted recently in New York’s Times Square by a man later revealed to be a Muslim trained in bomb-making in Pakistan’s Waziristan region, there was an initial stampede to declare the attempted atrocity was unconnected to Islamic terrorism. It was said to be most likely the work of a Tea Party member, right-wing militiaman or lone nut. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg even suggested the bomb could have been placed by “somebody with a political agenda who doesn’t like the healthcare bill or something.” What has Britain come to when its police officers are given leave to dance about naked? How can generations of Australians have been taught the egregious falsehood of the Stolen Generations as fact? And how many times have Tea Party members or people opposed to a piece of legislation tried to commit mass murder against their fellow Americans, compared with the number of recent attempts by Muslim terrorists? Such intellectual perversity can be understood only in the context of a far wider and profound retreat from reason throughout the West. (Familysecuritymatters)

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