The Western Word

Perhaps it is an outworn cliché, but it still holds: everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing at the moment. I was a 5th grade schoolchild in Melbourne, Australia, sitting in a tiny classroom with 20 other children as the voice, crinkled with static, rumbled from the television set and across the room. We sat transfixed knowing, without any real prompting from our teacher, that we were watching a major historical event, quite unlike any other we were likely to witness in our lifetime.

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Avi Davis is the president of the American Freedom Alliance in Los Angeles. He can be contacted at isdev@ix.netcom.com

U.S. Holding Iranians Hostage?
by Robert Spencer (more by this author)

Did the United States hold three Iranian diplomats hostage for two years? That was the claim made by two unnamed “senior U.S. officials” last week in a Washington Times “exclusive.” The Times reported that Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, maintained that the three men were “consular officials who were arrested illegally in an office long used by the Iranians in Irbil, a city in the Kurdish region of Iraq.” According to one of the American officials who talked to the Times, they “were held for more than two years even though they had not been involved in anti-U.S. activities and were functioning as diplomats at the time.” Kazemi-Qomi likewise insisted that their work in Iraq was innocent: “They worked on issuing visas and other consular matters for ordinary people, patients seeking medical care, tourists and businessmen traveling from Kurdistan to Iran.” So why did U.S. officials hold these poor, conscientious diplomats? The Times asserted that it was done in order to try to compel Tehran to stop supporting anti-U.S. forces in Iraq; one of the U.S. officials claimed that the U.S. held these men as “potential leverage” against Iran. (Humanevents)

Senate Kills Funds for F-22 Fighters- AUGUST COLE
Defense Secretary Robert Gates scored a key victory Tuesday against the F-22 Raptor fighter in Congress, part of his battle to reshape Pentagon priorities. In a 58 to 40 vote, the Senate approved an amendment to cancel $1.75 billion that had been set aside by lawmakers to purchase seven additional F-22s in the 2010 Defense Department budget. Mr. Gates is adamantly opposed to buying more of the highly sophisticated fighters, which he says have little relevance to today's conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the money sought for the jets represents a fraction of the Pentagon's total annual budget of approximately $664 billion, the fight over the F-22 has become emblematic of Mr. Gates's broader effort to rebalance the priorities of the U.S. military toward counterinsurgency and away from conventional warfare. Members of Congress have resisted that change by trying to take control of the purse strings and funding several costly weapons systems that Mr. Gates has sought to kill. The F-22s, made by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., are considered the most technologically advanced fighter ever made, and carry a price tag of $143 million apiece. The Pentagon has already ordered 187 of them. (WSJ)

Afghan man held over murder 'in the name of the Koran'-DPA
Munich - Munich police are questioning a 27-year-old Afghan man suspected of stabbing his former wife to death "in the name of the Koran," police sources said Tuesday. A Munich police spokesman said the 24-old Afghan woman Nesima R., whose full name was withheld for legal reasons, had been stabbed some 20 times, and that the suspect had given the Koran as a justification for the attack. The woman received stab wounds to the heart and died Monday in hospital. The pair are believed to have been married while in Afghanistan, although when Zafar, a 27-year-old unemployed painter, came to Germany in 2008, he found the woman in a new relationship with a cousin. Police think that the former couple, who have a daughter, may themselves have been cousins. The 3-year-old daughter was an eyewitness to the stabbing, which took place early on Monday morning. A niece of the victim also saw the attack, which occurred outside her apartment. The spokesman said police were investigating the "very complex kinship relations" surrounding the case, and suspected it to be a so- called "honour killing." (Earthtimes)

Non-Muslims turning to sharia 'courts' in Britain to resolve disputes, claim-John Bingham
Growing numbers of non-Muslims are turning to Sharia "courts" to resolve disputes in Britain, it has been claimed.
Up to five per cent of cases heard by the Muslim Arbitration Tribunal (MAT) involve people who do not follow the Islamic faith, it has been estimated. The body operates court-like arbitration hearings in London, Bradford, Birmingham, Coventry and Manchester, mainly dealing with disputes between business partners and mosques. Those who use the service agree voluntarily to submit to its adjudication but its rulings are considered to be legally binding and can be enforced in county courts under the 1996 Arbitration Act.A separate body, the Islamic Sharia Council, has been operating for several years, hearing divorce cases with a panel of seven "judges" based in London. But a report by Civitas, the think tank, published last month estimated that there are at least 85 sharia "courts" operating in Britain when unofficial hearings held in mosques are taken into account. It led to claims of a "creeping" acceptance of sharia principles in Britain and followed controversy over remarks by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, last year that the adoption of aspects of Muslim law seemed "inevitable". (Telegraph.co.uk)

Muammar Gaddafi’s New York visit angers families of Lockerbie victims-James Bone
Families of those killed in the Lockerbie bombing have expressed shock and outrage that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, is to visit New York, the destination of the doomed Pan Am Flight 103. The UN has disclosed that Colonel Gaddafi, who is blamed for the bombing of the aircraft in 1988 and loss of 270 lives, will address the 192-nation General Assembly in New York. The newly released UN schedule calls for Colonel Gaddafi to speak directly after President Obama on the opening day of the annual session on September 23, raising the prospect of a second encounter between the two. The trip will be Colonel Gaddafi’s first visit to the US after decades of conflict between Washington and Tripoli and 11 years of UN sanctions on Libya. It follows his recent rehabilitation on the international scene, which culminated in a 40-minute meeting with Gordon Brown and a handshake with Mr Obama at the G8 summit in Italy this month. Libya holds a two-year seat on the UN Security Council and its three-time Ambassador to the UN, Ali Treki, was recently elected this session’s General Assembly president. Colonel Gaddafi was elected this year to a one-year term as chairman of the African Union, which helped him to secure the coveted speaking slot after President Obama. Relatives of victims of the bombing of the London-New York flight over Lockerbie, Scotland, were horrified to learn of the Libyan leader’s visit. (Timesonline.co.uk)

Muslim woman in fear after friend 'loses tongue in acid honour attack'-Adam Fresco
Two men have appeared in court after the suspected lover of a married Muslim woman had acid thrown in his face and was stabbed twice in the back in a possible “honour attack”. The woman was warned that her own “wellbeing may be in danger”, a source at Scotland Yard told The Times. Detectives have been told that the man and woman were not in a sexual relationship but were just friends. However, their relationship is said to have upset her family. The 24-year-old Asian victim, believed to be from Denmark, is in a critical but stable condition in a specialist burns unit in Essex. He has lost part of his tongue, been left blind in one eye and has 50 per cent burns and fractures to his face after being attacked in Leytonstone, East London, on July 2. The two accused, aged 19 and 25, come from East London and are charged with attempted murder. Neither can be named for legal reasons. They were remanded in custody after appearing at Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court yesterday. They will appear at the Old Bailey on September 30. (Timesonline.co.uk)

Jonathon Narvey: University picks an extremist to teach 'Islamic values'- Jonathon Narvey
You want to help inform Canadian students about what Islam is really about and create the leaders of the future, so you bring in “the shrewdest Hamas propagandist in the English-speaking world”. What could possibly go wrong?
An Islamic history and culture course at Toronto’s Ryerson University launches this week, July 24-27. This is the chosen vehicle for the Al-Fauz Institute for Islamic Thought’s endeavors to educate Muslim youth about Islamic values and provide context for the “issues experienced in the daily lives of Muslims in the pluralistic Canadian society”. But intrepid investigative journalist Terry Glavin has the scoop here in the National Post on why the person delivering these lectures, Azzam Tamimi, seems particularly ill-suited to this organization’s stated mission:
Tamimi has loudly renounced democracy, explicitly praises suicide bombers, and he’s said he’d even be happy to blow himself up in Israel: “It’s the straight way to pleasing my God and I would do it if I had the opportunity.” Tamimi distinguishes good Muslims from their adversaries this way: “We love death. They love life.” Tamimi recently proclaimed: “I don’t believe in democracy anymore,” and it was at an anti-Israel rally in Dublin only three months ago that Tamimi declared: “With regard to their attitudes to liberation, I say ‘Long Live the Taliban’.”
And we’re just getting started. An excerpt from MEMRI’s report on Tamimi in regard to September 11 and the Taliban Regime: (Nationalpost)

A Misreading of Academic Freedom- Sara Dogan
A promising attempt to liberate at least one university campus comes to an end.
A promising attempt to liberate at least one university campus from the grasp of the indoctrinators came to an end last month, when University of California-Santa Barbara officials announced that the university is dropping its case against Professor William Robinson. Robinson, a Professor of Sociology at the University, was made the subject of an Academic Senate investigation for violating UCSB’s policies on classroom conduct for sending an extremist anti-Israel email to students enrolled in a “Sociology of Globalization” course he teaches. In his email, which did not allow for discussion or dissent, Robinson declared that “If Martin Luther King were alive …there is no doubt that he would be condemning the Israeli aggression against Gaza along with U.S. military and political support for Israeli war crimes, or that he would be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Palestinians.” The email contained an article by Jewish Palestinian sympathizer Judith Stone which characterizes Israel as “the final resting place of the massacred Palestinian people.” Along with the email, Robinson included 42 images which he described as “horrific, parallel images of Nazi atrocities against the Jews and Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians.” (Frontpagemagazine)

Religious Cleansing in Iran-J. K. Choksy & Nina Shea
Iran treats non-Muslims as harshly as political dissidents. Why doesn’t the West notice?
‘Every aspect of a non-Muslim is unclean,” proclaimed Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini. He explained that non-Muslims rank between “feces” and “the sweat of a camel that has consumed impure food.” Other prominent ayatollahs, including Ahmad Jannati, the current chairman of the Guardian Council, have made similar utterances. Thus Iran’s Zoroastrians, Jews, Mandeans, Christians, and Bahais are subordinated and indeed treated as a fifth column by the revolutionary Islamic Republic. No matter that most of these religious groups were established in Iran before Islam arrived there; none are accepted by Iran’s Shiite rulers as fully Iranian. With the recent controversial presidential election, the scapegoating of non-Muslims as agents of the United States, Israel, Britain, and the deposed monarchy reached new heights. Seven Bahai leaders and two Christian converts are in prison and will soon be put on trial for their lives, while other non-Muslims are suffering intensified government repression. Non-Muslim communities collectively have diminished to no more than 2 percent of Iran’s 71 million people. Forty years ago, under the Shah, a visitor would have seen a relatively tolerant society. Iran now appears to be in the final stages of religious cleansing. Pervasive discrimination, intimidation, and harassment have prompted non-Muslims to flee in disproportionately high numbers. Like political dissidents, these religious minorities are a moderating force against Iranian Shiite extremism. Also, their mere presence ensures a modicum of ideological diversity and pluralism in the face of the regime’s brutal insistence on conformity. But unlike the dissidents, the religious minorities have attracted little international concern, and their plight is poorly understood. (Nationalreview)

The Med's Best-Kept Secret
Had a Thai herbal massage in Israel lately?-by Willy Stern, Rosh Pina, Israel
Perhaps nowhere else on the globe does there exist a greater discrepancy between perception and reality than Israel. The press portrays the country as a savage land racked by war and terrorism, and many outsiders have the impression that Israelis live their daily lives cowering amongst endless cycles of violence. The reality, though, is a country of 7.4 million people whose stock market and economy are humming along quite nicely (at least in contrast to the rest of the globe) and whose citizens revel in their chic Mediterranean lifestyle. Anita Blum can't remember the last time her deluxe 100-room resort wasn't fully booked for the weekend. The Hotel Mizpe Hayamim is a well-appointed spa in the Galilee, two hours north of Tel Aviv, and suites go for $500-plus-a-night. Blum charges extra for the therapies--a Thai herbal massage runs $100--and enjoys a 75 percent occupancy rate year-round unchanged by the recent hostilities in Gaza and the world economic crisis. As you wander around the luxurious grounds and drop $75 on a lunch of beef carpaccio and veal entrecôte with organic vegetables, it's hard to think of Israel as a nation at war. And the guests aren't just the latest batch of Israeli high-tech millionaires. While Blum sees her share of the very rich--she has a helicopter pad, after all--she counts soldiers, schoolteachers, and university students, among her legions of happy clients. In Israel, life goes on. The Western newspapers just don't notice. They follow instead on a few hackneyed storylines: (Weeklystandard)

Library Association Buckles Under Pressure by CAIR; Censors Critic of Islamism-Steve Emerson
When an organization organizes an annual banned books week to celebrate "the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular," it is a little disturbing to see the same group cancel a panel discussion because one of the invited speakers is considered objectionable.
But that's how the American Library Association (ALA) handled pressure from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to silence an invited speaker for a panel discussion at its annual convention who has a perspective on Islam, Jihad, and terrorism that CAIR doesn't like. Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer, author of eight books on Islam and Jihad, had been scheduled to appear July 12th on an ALA panel entitled "Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping." ALA canceled the panel after the other speakers decided to boycott the panel due to Spencer's participation. But rather than inviting others to replace them, or letting Spencer honor his commitment, the ALA capitulated and gave the critics what they wanted.
CAIR spearheaded the drive to silence Spencer. In a letter to the ALA, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said he agreed in principle with promoting a diversity of opinions and opposing censorship. Still, he wrote "I ask you to rescind the invitation to Mr. Spencer in order to maintain the integrity of the panel and the reputation of the ALA." Spencer, he argued, offered "grotesque viewpoints that lie well outside the bounds of reason and civilized debate." (Familysecuritymatters)

Friday Sermon on Sudan TV: Preacher Abd Al-Jalil Al-Karouri Calls on U.S. 'President Hussein' to Acknowledge That the Jews Carried Out 9/11: '[Obama] Has Ideological Roots, Because his Father is One of Ours, and his Religion, Originally, is Our Religion; He Has a Longing for These Roots'-MEMRI
Following are excerpts from a Friday sermon in Khartoum, delivered by Sheikh Abd Al-Jalil Al-Karouri. The sermon aired on Sudan TV on June 5, 2009.
To view this clip on MEMRI TV, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2166.htm.
"Are 19 Young Men From The Islamic World Really Capable Of Destroying America... Can Such A Thing Happen, Mr. Hussein, President Of America?"
Sheik Abd Al-Jalil Al-Karouri: "As usual, the media focused only on the political aspects of the speech by the American President Hussein. They call a man after his father, don’t they? Then why shouldn’t we call him by the name [Hussein], which belongs to us? They stress the surname, rather than the first name. It wouldn’t be a mistake for our media to call him President Hussein.
"What President Hussein said in Cairo... He knew he was being hosted by the Cairo and Al-Azhar universities, and he declared that while Cairo University is 100 years old, Al-Azhar University is over 1,000 years old - back in the days when America wasn’t even a dream in the mind of Vasco de Gama...
[...]
"We want [Obama] to consider the reasons for the invasion of Afghanistan. Are 19 young men from the Islamic world really capable of destroying America? Can they really cause all that ruin there? Can such a thing happen, Mr. Hussein, President of America?
[...]
"We call upon him to examine publications issued in America, casting doubt on whether it was the Arabs and Muslims who attacked the two Manhattan buildings. Some of these publications went as far as to state: 'No Plane Hit the Pentagon.'"[...] (MEMRI)

Jew-Hate at Jewish Film Festival- Jamie Glazov
Why is a Jewish film festival giving a platform to a documentary and to an individual that serve the cause of anti-Jewish hate? This Saturday, July 25, organizers of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival plan to show “Rachel,” an anti-Israel propaganda film. The documentary is based on the life and death of Rachel Corrie, an anti-Israel, anti-American activist who was killed in Gaza in 2003 when she deliberately ran in front of an Israeli bulldozer to protect a home that was sheltering terrorists. And not just content with showing the propaganda film, the organizers have invited Rachel’s mother, Cindy Corrie, also an Israel-basher, to speak at the screening and to participate in a question-and-answer session after the viewing. A closer look at who Rachel Corrie was – and what she represented – demonstrates why this event is such an outrage: A native of Olympia, Washington, Corrie was a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a viciously anti-Israel organization that calls and works for the destruction of the Jewish state. The radical organization recruits activists to travel to the Palestinian territories to obstruct Israeli security operations. The activists intentionally put themselves in harm’s way to hamper Israeli soldiers in their efforts to fight Palestinian terrorists. (Frontpagemagazine)

Obama's Real Agenda-Anne Bayefsky
President Barack Obama last Monday met for the first time with leaders of selected Jewish organizations and leaks from the meeting now make one thing very clear. The only free country in the Middle East no longer has a friend in the leader of the free world. Obama is the most hostile sitting American president in the history of the state of Israel. This was the very first meeting with Jewish community's leaders. Earlier requests for an audience with major Jewish organizations had reportedly been ignored. Six months after taking office the president finally got around to issuing an invitation to stop the bleeding. Increasing numbers of Jews – even among the overwhelming number who voted for Obama – have been voicing serious concern about his real agenda. The meeting, however, did not showcase the president's trademark engagement and dialogue routine. Instead, he decided to cherry pick his Jewish audience to include pro-Obama newcomers with little support in the mainstream Jewish world, such as J Street, while blackballing the Zionist Organization of America. The oldest pro-Israel group in the United States, with an important presence on Capitol Hill, was not a voice Obama wanted to hear. This leaves the president willing to engage Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad but not ZOA President Mort Klein. (Familysecuritymatters)

Amnesty International-In-Wonderland: Softly, Softly on Iran-But Pummel 'War Criminal' Israel- Abraham Cooper and Harold Brackman*
Here's a quote from Amnesty Secretary General Irene Khan on the bloodbath in Iran's streets and now its gallows: "[The authorities] should realise that healthy debate on issues of fundamental importance to people's lives informs - not threatens - policy makers, and that the young, with their boundless energy and optimism are the source of the future solutions to the many pressing problems our planet faces. The Iranian authorities must learn to respect and nurture debate, not seek to close it down." That's a remarkably restrained and nuanced statement, one that we have come to expect from the head of the Arab League or UN Human Rights Council, or European politician. Could it be that the most marketable Human Rights NGO has lost its edge? Not to worry: Amnesty has rediscovered its mojo just in time for its newly released report on Israel's incursion into Hamastan. When it comes to characterizing Israel's self-defense against Iran allay Hamas' attempt "to wipe Israel from the map", AI is reminiscent of the Red Queen's Inquisition in Alice in Wonderland-"Sentence first. Verdict afterwards!" This is biased approach of Amnesty's new report on the IDF's response back in December and January to the breakdown of the Gaza cease fire and Hamas' resumption of its nine-year long, 7,000 rocket-strong bombardment of southern Israel's synagogues, kindergartens, and hospitals. (Simonwiesenthalcenter)

TERRORISM, security and policy

Teenage bombers are rescued from Taleban suicide training camps-Zahid Hussain in Mingora
Murad Ali, one of five schoolboy suicide bombers rescued from a Taleban training camp, looks haggard beyond his 13 years. He was thrilled at first when he was given a gun, but Murad told The Times last week of his ordeal at the hands of the Islamists, who have kidnapped 1,500 children like him to prepare for their fatal missions. Murad was studying in class five in Mingora, the main city in northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley, when the Islamists abducted him and took him to their remote mountain base in Chuprial. Looking drained in his smudged clothes and dirty sandals, he gave a glimpse into the short life that awaits boys who are taken by the Taleban. The next stage of his training included 16 hours a day of physical exercise and psychological indoctrination. “My instructor told me that martyrdom is the biggest reward of Allah,” Murad said quietly. Another boy, Abdul Wahab, 15, said that the Taleban lured him to the camp from his studies at a madrassa — Islamic school — in Mingora. “I was told that it was a religious duty of every Muslim to get training to fight the enemies of Islam,” he said. He said that he did not appreciate what he would be asked to do. “I panicked when a few days later I was told that I would be getting training for suicide bombing,” he said. The Army believes that between 1,200 to 1,500 boys as young as 11 who were trained in Swat to become suicide bombers were recruited after the Pakistani Government signed a peace deal with the Taleban in February, handing over control of the valley to the militants. (Timesonline.co.uk)

Abu Bakar Bashir's warning: the terror will not end -Paul Toohey,
ABU Bakar Bashir has endorsed the deadly work of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist, Noordin Top, saying Allah would protect him in his fight for Islam.
The fanatical Muslim cleric, who is the spiritual adviser to the al-Mukmin Islamic school for children on the outskirts of Solo, in central Java, said if the victims of the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton suicide bombings had ever held any thoughts against Islam, they deserved to die. Bashir refused to condemn the suicide bombings, saying the use of terror was justified in the war against infidels, or non-Muslims. Bashir was convicted and jailed for inciting terrorism in relation to the 2002 Bali bombings and has not since moderated his views. He is seen as the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah, and while he is deeply unpopular in Indonesia, he carries dangerous influence that marks him as more than a mere ranting eccentric. The 1000 boys and 1000 girls who board at the al-Mukmin school he co-founded are taught predominantly in Arabic, and are indoctrinated to his views from kindergarten through to their leaving certificate. (Theaustralian)

Brussels: Belgian al-Qaeda branch planned to blow up metro, stadiums-HLN
The big group of Muslim fundamentalists who were arrested last December in Brussels, were actually a Belgian branch of the international terror-network al-Qaeda, according to an American crown witness who trained with the Belgian suspects in Afghanistan, report De Tijd and Het Laatste Nieuws. The American confirms that the Belgians went through intensive combat training in Afghanistan and had contacts with top heads of al-Qaeda. The new crown witness is a 26 year old Muslim from New York, Bryant Neal Vinas, AKA "Bashir el Ameriki". HE was arrested last November in Peshawar by the Pakistani security services and handed over to the Americans. Vinas made detailed confessions to the FBI, also regarding attacks on American soldiers in Afghanistan and a planned terror attack on train traffic in New York. The federal prosecution service confirmed to De Tijd that Vinas also made confessions regarding the case against the dozen plus members of the terrorist cell connected to the internationally notorious Muslim activist Malika El Aroud. The examining magistrate, a federal magistrate and detectives of the Brussels Federal Judicial Police then went to the US. (Islamineuropeblog)

Grounding the F-22-WSJ
President Obama claimed a triumph for spending rectitude yesterday after the Senate stripped out funding for the Air Force’s F-22 Raptor fighter. Credit $1.75 billion in savings, or a third of a percentage point of the overall 2010 defense request. Only a couple of trillion more, and Mr. Obama will have a balanced budget. The Senate vote defers to an Administration’s assessment of defense priorities. In the budget sent up to the Hill in April, Defense Secretary Robert Gates made hard choices. Among them was his decision to kill the stealthy F-22, bar none the best fighter jet in the skies, and instead to focus resources on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We happen to think the U.S. needs this program to keep its superiority in the air for the next three or so decades. Designed for air-to-air combat and to fly at supersonic speeds without being detected by radar, the F-22 gets dismissed as a “relic” of the Cold War. But not all conflicts are likely to be against inferior, unconventional enemies. China and Russia are building up their conventional forces, for example. (WSJ)

Ratification of CEDAW Would Give UN Experts Control Over U.S. Domestic Policies-Global Governance Watch
In its latest reporting period, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (the “Committee”) made it abundantly clear that it expects national governments to conform their laws to the provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) as interpreted by the Committee. As the Obama Administration and the United States Senate consider whether to ratify CEDAW and other international human rights treaties, they would be prudent to consider the Committee’s aggressive efforts to ensure the supremacy of the provisions of CEDAW over U.S. laws and domestic policy.

Earlier this week the Committee opened its 44th session , which ends on August 7th. During the session, the Committee will review the required reports filed by a select group of nations that have ratified CEDAW. The reports must detail the progress that the countries have made in implementing the provisions of CEDAW. The Committee will also review the responses submitted by the reporting countries to questions posed by the Committee about perceived shortcomings in the full implementation of CEDAW. (Globalgovernancewatch)

Mr. Gore, Your Solution to Global Warming Is Wrong
The plan we are most likely to adopt to address climate change will cost far too much and do next to nothing. The fight over the science of warming is over, yes. But the debate over the solution to global warming hasn't even begun.
By: Bjørn Lomborg
I. A False Choice
On a family visit to Kenya long before he became president of the United States, Barack Obama declared that he wanted to go on safari. His Kenyan half sister, Auma, chided him for being a neocolonialist. "Why should all that land be set aside for tourists," she asked, "when it could be used for farming? These wazungu care more about one dead elephant than they do for a hundred black children." Obama had no answer to her question, he would later write in Dreams from My Father. Why are rich countries more concerned about poor nations' nature reserves than about farms that would ward off starvation? The safari story calls to mind the current preoccupation with global warming in the Western world. The financial crisis notwithstanding, many people — including President Obama — believe that global warming is among the most urgent issues of our time, and that cutting CO2 emissions is the most virtuous thing we can do about it. In fact, many say that doing so is perhaps the greatest moral obligation of the current inhabitants of planet earth. And they frame any discussion on warming by telling us that if we don't radically alter the way we live, the worst problems of humanity — chiefly disease and hunger — will become devastatingly worse. Before long, they say — perhaps a decade if we do not act immediately — it will be too late for us. These apocalyptic visions are not at all supported by the available evidence. And to me, the solutions prescribed by those leading the charge are akin to building more safari parks instead of farms to feed the hungry. Campaigners in rich countries are pushing politicians to spend a great fortune on an ineffective solution to climate change instead of tackling the real problems of today — or looking for better responses to warming.

Government monopsony distorts climate science, says SPPI-TransWorldNews
The climate industry is costing taxpayers $79 billion and counting
The Science and Public Policy Institute announces the publication of Climate Money, a study by Joanne Nova revealing that the federal Government has a near-monopsony on climate science funding. This distorts the science towards self-serving alarmism. Key findings:

• The US Government has spent more than $79 billion of taxpayers’ money since 1989 on policies related to climate change, including science and technology research, administration, propaganda campaigns, foreign aid, and tax breaks. Most of this spending was unnecessary.

• Despite the billions wasted, audits of the science are left to unpaid volunteers. A dedicated but largely uncoordinated grassroots movement of scientists has sprung up around the globe to test the integrity of “global warming” theory and to compete with a lavishly-funded, highly-organized climate monopsony. Major errors have been exposed again and again.

• Carbon trading worldwide reached $126 billion in 2008. Banks, which profit most, are calling for more. Experts are predicting the carbon market will reach $2 - $10 trillion in the near future. Hot air will soon be the largest single commodity traded on global exchanges. (TransWorldNews)

Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man- JOHN MARKOFF
A robot that can open doors and find electrical outlets to recharge itself. Computer viruses that no one can stop. Predator drones, which, though still controlled remotely by humans, come close to a machine that can kill autonomously. Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society’s workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone. Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences. As examples, the scientists pointed to a number of technologies as diverse as experimental medical systems that interact with patients to simulate empathy, and computer worms and viruses that defy extermination and could thus be said to have reached a “cockroach” stage of machine intelligence. While the computer scientists agreed that we are a long way from Hal, the computer that took over the spaceship in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” they said there was legitimate concern that technological progress would transform the work force by destroying a widening range of jobs, as well as force humans to learn to live with machines that increasingly copy human behaviors. (NYT)

With 'Med Pot' Raids Halted, Selling Grass Grows Greener- JUSTIN SCHECK and STU WOO
LAKE FOREST, Calif. -- Sellers of marijuana as a medicine here don't fret about raids any more. They've stopped stressing over where to hide their stash or how to move it unseen. Now their concerns involve the state Board of Equalization, which collects sales tax and requires a retailer ID number. Or city planning offices, which insist that staircases comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Then there is marketing strategy, which can mean paying to be a "featured dispensary" on a Web site for pot smokers. After years in the shadows, medical marijuana in California is aspiring to crack the commercial mainstream. "I want to do everything I can to run this as a legitimate business," says Jan Werner, 55 years old, who invested in a pot store in a shopping mall after 36 years as a car salesman. State voters decreed back in 1996 that Californians had a right to use marijuana for any illness -- from cancer to anorexia to any other condition it might help. But supplying "med pot" remained risky. The ballot measure didn't specify who could sell it or how. The state provided few guidelines, leaving local governments to impose a patchwork of restrictions. Above all, because pot possession remained illegal under U.S. law, sellers had to worry about federal raids. (WSJ)

Step by step, we're sleepwalking into barbarism as we blur the boundaries on assisted suicide-Melanie Phillips
During the past few months, the campaign to permit assisted suicide has been steadily ratcheted up. There has been a stream of stories about people travelling to the grisly Dignitas euthanasia 'clinic' in Switzerland to be killed, the most recent of whom were the conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife.
An attempt by Lord Falconer to change the law so that anyone helping someone travel to such a place to end their life would no longer face prosecution was beaten back in the House of Lords - but it was a close-run thing. Now the Royal College of Nursing has announced that it is taking a 'neutral' position on assisted suicide, becoming the second major medical institution to withdraw its opposition. The British Medical Association did so in 2005, although it switched back to opposition after a backlash from appalled members. (Dailymail.co.uk)

Fame: From the Bronze Age to Britney by Tom Payne-Christopher Hart
Accounts of celebrities are usually either sneering or gushing — or both simultaneously, those attitudes being two sides of the same coin. Tom Payne’s wonderfully witty and erudite study of modern fame in the light of ancient myths and rituals is markedly kinder and more balanced, and yet also more unsettling. Drawing on tales of classical heroes such as Hercules and Achilles, as well as Jewish wedding customs, stories of human sacrifice in ancient Mexico and apposite quotes from Homer and Hesiod, Payne shows that the modern ascendancy of Jordan and Britney does not presage the end of civilisation. Celebrity worship, it turns out, is neither new nor lamentable. It bonds us together, and “expresses something about how our civilisation works”. Yet Fame paints a far more disturbing picture. It’s not that celebrity worship is dumb and trashy, but that it’s so manifestly a throwback to the cruellest forms of human behaviour and belief. By guiding us through the fate of some of their mythical predecessors — the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the martyrdom of St Perpetua, the execution of Marie Antoinette — Payne shows us how the lives of our modern chosen ones, both priviliged and anguished, provide us with an outlet for our most violent instincts, neuroses and jealousies. (Timesonline.co.uk)