Editor and Researcher Elisa Vandernoot

American Freedom Alliance Weekly Gazette

THE WEEK AT A GLANCE

This Week's Editorial

The Press and “Matters of Public Interest”
By Avi Davis

Give the New York Times at least a little credit for editorial discretion.

Last week, in a note to its readers accompanying the release of the first installment of nearly 90,000 classified documents, it claimed that it had ” taken care not to publish information that would harm national security interests.”

 

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.

NEWS: EUROPE AND AMERICA

US: Alaska couple accused of domestic terrorism had 20 names on hit list- Mark Thiessen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A rural Alaska couple accused of domestic terrorism compiled a hit list of 20 targets, including members of the military and media, and had moved to the operational phase of their plan, according to documents filed in federal court Monday. Paul and Nadia Rockwood have pleaded guilty to lying about the list and making false statements to the FBI in May. Under a plea agreement, Paul Rockwood will serve eight years in prison and three years probation while his pregnant wife will serve probation. Sentencing is scheduled Aug. 23 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage. Rockwood's public defender claims her client was lonely and befriended an undercover Alaska State Trooper while attending mosque during trips to Anchorage. "The relationship clearly was fed by the trooper's interest in Mr. Rockwood and the drama created by their conversations," his attorney, Sue Ellen Tatter, wrote in her sentencing memo. Prosecutors alleged that Paul Rockwood, also known as "Bilal," converted to Islam about a decade ago and began studying the teachings of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who has professed hatred for the United States and supports acts of terrorism. The couple then moved to King Salmon, where he worked for the National Weather Service. "While in Alaska, Rockwood researched and discussed methods of execution often at great length and in significant detail, components for mail bombs were purchased, the targets had been selected and a loose time line was established," assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven Skrocki and Bryan Schroder wrote in their sentencing memo. (Canadianpress)

Norway and Sweden: A Safe Haven for Dangerous Islamist Terrorists-EMERSON VERMAAT
August 16, 2010 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Norway’s daily “Aftenposten" reported in June 2009 that 33 Taliban asylum seekers were allowed to stay in Norway, even though they previously admitted having tortured or executed prisoners or having been Taliban soldiers. The Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (“Utlendingsdirektorat" or UDI) did not want them to stay, but they were overruled by the Immigration Appeals Board (“Utlendingsnemnda") or UNE. The Taliban asylum seekers were then given residence “on humanitarian ground." A very silly decision indeed. “Aftenposten" correctly pointed out that “Norwegian forces often clash with Taliban groups in Afghanistan." Four Taliban asylum seekers also claimed they had converted to Christianity – but only after their arrival in Norway, possibly to make a favorable impression on the Norwegian immigration authorities. Unfortunately, Norwegian immigration authorities and courts are rather lenient with respect to granting residence permits to so-called refugees from source countries of terrorism. A former Taliban Health Minister named Abdul Mohammad Rauf got asylum in 2001. Later, his family was allowed to join him. But he was subsequently convicted by an Oslo court for beating his 14-year old daughter. He also made several suspicious trips to Pakistan, possibly with a view to contacting local terrorist networks. Back in Norway, he gave ideological training to 25 young men some of whom planned to carry out terrorist acts in Norway. Others wanted to go abroad to participate elsewhere in the jihad, (“hellig krig i utlandet"" or Holy War abroad), the Norwegian newspaper “Dagbladet" reported. (Pipelinenews)

Pelosi Suggests Probe of Funding Sources Behind Opposition to Mosque Near Ground Zero
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is suggesting a coordinated effort is behind the opposition to a proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero, saying the whole dispute has been "ginned up" for political purposes and she supports an investigation into those opponents. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is suggesting a coordinated effort is behind the opposition to a proposed mosque and community center near Ground Zero, saying the whole dispute has been "ginned up" for political purposes and she supports a probe into those opponents. Commenting publicly for the first time on the Park 51 project, Pelosi said the issue was posing a distraction and that some organized force is behind it. "There is no question that there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some," she said in remarks posted Tuesday in a video on the San Francisco Chronicle website. "And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque (is) being funded." (Foxnews)

Flanders: TV and radio by and for Muslims
The Muslim Executive has been trying to get broadcasting time since 2006.
If it depends on the Muslim Executive, the public broadcasters will send radio and TV programs made by and for Muslims starting January 1st, 2011. The Executive, which represents all Muslims in Belgium, wants to be allowed to broadcast as a third party, reports De Morgen. This year third parties - life-philosophy and social-economic organizations - created 64 hours and 14 minutes of radio and 50 hours of TV. The Flemish government subsides these broadcasts on the public broadcaster. In 2010, Flanders spent 50,808 euros on radio broadcasts and 1,448,000 euros on TV broadcasts by third parties. This sum is divided among six organizations: Catholic, Humanist, Orthodox, Protestant, Jews and the Gezinsbond (family union) . But this is going to change. Flemish Media Minister Ingrid Lieten will issue a tender next month for new candidates for third party broadcasts. The Muslim Executive will be first in line, says spokesperson Mohamed Achaibi. "The Muslim community in Belgium is somewhat behind when ti comes to using the media. With third-party broadcasts we hope to correctly inform public opinion. We'll explain Islam differently and better. Now there's still too many

Sweden: Municipality subsidizes Ramadan campaign
The municipality of Helsingborg is giving 30,000 Swedish kroner to the Ibn Rush student association to disseminate information about the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. "Ramadan is part of Swedish culture and we want to tell everybody about it," says imam Othman Al Tawalbeh. Ahlul Bayt News Agency (ABNA.ir), The municipality of Helsingborg is giving 30,000 Swedish kroner to the Ibn Rush student association to disseminate information about the Islamic holiday of Ramadan. "Ramadan is part of Swedish culture and we want to tell everybody about it," says imam Othman Al Tawalbeh. Ramadan has become an integral part of Swedish culture, but information about the Islamic holiday and Muslim customs and practices should be disseminated further, says imam Othman Al Tawalbeh, director of Muslim student association Ibn Rush's southern district. The organization just launched a campaign and will tour four Swedish cities: Helsingborg, Landskrona, Malmö and Kristianstad. In every city they will set up a tent in the center of town and give out informational material. Spokespersons and an imam will answer questions. "We hope to contribute to an increased understanding of Islam and to seeing it as just a self-evident part of Sweden as, for example, Christmas," says Othman Al Tawalbeh, who wants the campaign to be seen as an integration project. "It is ignorance which breeds fear. By talking about Muslims and our customs and traditions, we counteract xenophobia and racism," he says. (Abna.ir)

Car Bomb Attack Leaves 23 Injured In Russia's North Caucasus Region-RTT Staff
At least 23 people have been injured after a powerful car bomb blew up outside a crowded cafe in a town in the troubled North Caucasus region of southern Russia, said officials and news reports on Tuesday. According to Russia's Interior Ministry, the blast reportedly struck a cafe in the city of Pyatigorsk in the Stavropol region. Two of those injured in the blast were said to be in critical condition. Though no one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, Russian investigators have blamed Islamic separatists for the bombing in the southern city. Following the car bomb attack, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Federal Security Service and the Prosecutor General's Office to take all possible action to find those responsible for the bombing.

ACADEMIC FREEDOM

Plagiarism Is Not a Big Moral Deal-Stanley Fish
(For the second part The Ontology of Plagiarism: Part Two )
During my tenure as the dean of a college, I determined that an underperforming program should be closed. My wife asked me if I had ever set foot on the premises, and when I answered “no,” she said that I really should do that before wielding the axe. And so I did, in the company of my senior associate dean. We toured the offices and spoke to students and staff. In the course of a conversation, one of the program’s co-directors pressed on me his latest book. I opened it to the concluding chapter, read the first two pages, and remarked to my associate dean, “This is really good.” But on the way back to the administration building, I suddenly flashed on the pages I admired and began to suspect that the reason I liked them so much was that I had written them. And sure enough, when I got back to my office and pulled one of my books off the shelf, there the pages were, practically word for word. I telephoned the co-director, and told him that I had been looking at his book, and wanted to talk about it. He replied eagerly that he would come right over, but when he came in I pointed him to the two books — his and mine — set out next to each other with the relevant passages outlined by a marker. (NYT)

Obama Continues Pushing Absurd College Agenda-George Leef
Americans who weren't fooled by the slick advertising and deceptive posturing of his campaign realized that Barack Obama was going to be a dogmatic authoritarian in office. One thing you can count on with such people is that they won't abandon their pet ideas, no matter the evidence against them. Barack Obama's notion that the way to increase employment and output is through government "stimulus" spending is one such idea. There never was any reason to believe that, and only die-hard Keynesians persist in this wishful thinking. Another such idea is his idea that the United States is "falling behind" other nations with regard to college graduation rates, and it's necessary for us to regain "leadership." Obama first raised that idea back in February 2009, and on August 9 of this year, he said exactly the same thing in a speech at the University of Texas. "In a single generation, we've fallen from first place to 12th place in college graduation rates for young adults," Obama said, a situation he declared to be "unacceptable." To deal with this supposed problem, he has set a national goal of "retaking the lead" by 2020 -- that is, having "a higher share of graduates than any other nation on Earth." Congress has already given Obama the policies he wants to reach that goal, by increasing Pell Grants and making it easier for students to repay their federal loans. I have argued elsewhere that those changes will have bad consequences; here, I'll show that the core idea, that the country needs more college graduates, is nonsensical. (NYT)

MEDIA BIAS

Things You Won’t Read in the MSM: The Children Of Illegals Have No Business Demanding Anything-Bob Parks
I contend we don’t need “Immigration Reform” but “Enforcement Reform,” meaning the federal government should do its job and enforce the existing laws on the books. However, the children of illegal aliens believe they should get a pass because they didn’t do anything wrong. Here’s my analogy on this situation….
Let’s say one day a family wakes up to the sound of the front door of their home being bashed in. The father is handcuffed and escorted out of the home by federal law enforcement officials and is charged with embezzlement. The family is told they have five minutes to gather their most personal belongings and then vacate the premises because their home and automobile are being seized because stolen money is believed to have purchased said assets. The family soon finds out their bank accounts have been frozen because they too may contain monies as a result of the father’s possible theft. Who should the family be mad at, the federal government that suspected the father of theft or the father for putting the family in the precarious position they find themselves in now? I suspect the wife would be rightfully furious with the husband, as would be the kids. But when it comes to parents who knowingly violated our sovereign border, no blame is being issued to them by their children. No, it’s the federal government’s fault for not letting those kids have their way and let them operate freely in a country they are in illegally. (Bigjournalism)

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

YouTube censors comedian's anti-Sharia video called 'Welcome to Saudi Britain' Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent
A comedian has been censored by YouTube for making a film in which he condemned the existence of Sharia courts in Britain.
Pat Condell, an outspoken atheist and veteran stand-up comic, uploaded the clip called "Welcome to Saudi Britain" to the popular video-sharing website following claims that judgements made under Islamic law are now legally binding. In the four-minute clip he denounces the "patriarchal bigotry" of Muslim men and the "corrupt" regime of Saudi Arabia. He refers to women wearing burqas as "letterbox ladies" and ridicules a Muslim warehouse worker who is suing Tesco for making him carry crates of alcohol. Condell also pours scorn on the "social engineering" and "doublethink" of the Labour Government and urges viewers to sign a Downing Street petition against the adoption of Sharia in Britain, which has received more than 4,000 signatures. However YouTube, which is owned by the internet search engine giant Google, has removed the video from its site because of "terms of use violation". It had been watched more than 40,000 times in the 24 hours after Condell uploaded it. YouTube has also threatened to disable his entire account if he commits "additional violations". (Telegraph.co.uk)

ANTISEMITISM

Our World: Standing on a landmine-Caroline Glick
Obama’s stance on the Ground Zero mosque should signal to Israel that the president is so wed to his ideology that he will push it regardless of political conditions.
US President Barack Obama’s warm endorsement of the plan to build a mosque by the ruins of the World Trade Center tells Israel – and its enemies – everything we need to know about the president of the United States of America. Speaking during a Ramadan fast breaking meal at the White House to an audience of people affiliated with various Muslim Brotherhood- related groups in the US, Obama couched his support for the mosque at Ground Zero in constitutional terms. In his words, “As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country. And that includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances. This is America. Our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country and that they will not be treated differently by their government is essential to who we are. The writ of the Founders must endure.” Of course, none of those who have voiced opposition to the mosque project at Ground Zero have claimed that the Islamic group behind the mosque project is acting unlawfully in seeking to construct a mosque. The nearly 70 percent of Americans who oppose building a mosque at Ground Zero oppose the mosque because they believe it is wrong to build a mosque at the site where less than a decade ago Muslims acting in the name of Islam murdered nearly 3,000 people in an act of war against the US and an act of terror against the American people. (Jpost)

Anti-Semitism soars in Holland-Isi Leibler
Like many Jews, as a youngster I associated Holland with windmills and tulips and a heroic people which bravely defended Jews during the Nazi occupation. Alas, I subsequently learned that the record of the Dutch towards the Jews was nothing of the sort. There were tens of thousands of Dutch righteous gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews but there were far more collaborators, over 25,000 of whom even volunteered for the Waffen SS. Overall, the Dutch authorities willingly assisted in the deportation of the Jews. Anne Frank and her family were amongst those denounced to the Nazis. Of the 140,000 Jews living in the Netherlands before the war, over 100,000 were murdered. Today, there is a popular misconception that the Dutch are an easygoing, tolerant, multi-cultured people. In truth, Dutch society has become polarized as a consequence of the massive influx of non-Western immigrants, predominantly Muslim, who have shattered social stability. Muslims currently comprise one million out of a 16 million population, a disproportionate number of whom have police records. Together with indigenous anti- Semites, some radical Muslims have effectively exploited the culture of permissiveness to violently promote their objectives. (Wordfromjerusalem)

Survey: 'The whole world is against us'-Yoni Cohen
TAU Peace Index finds that 54% of Jews say Israel is isolated.
Fifty-six percent of Jewish Israelis believe that "the whole world is against us," according to a recent Peace Index survey published on Thursday. The Peace Index project is conducted under the auspices of the Evens Program for Conflict Resolution at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Democracy Institute. Many Israeli Jews believe that the world will continue to be critical of Israel with 77% saying that it does not make difference what Israel does and how far it will go on the Palestinian issue. In contrast to the Jewish population, a large majority (75%) of the Arab public disagrees with the maxim that the whole world is against Israel. A small majority (54%) of the Jewish public believe that Israel is completely or moderately isolated, this is compared with 46% who believe that Israel is not alone. Opinion among the Arab public is similar, but in reverse, with 48% saying that Israel is isolated and 51% believe that Israel does not find itself isolated in the world. (Jpost)

Washington - Arabs Lobby U.S. on Anti-Israel Vote
Washington - Ignoring a U.S. warning, Arab nations are urging Washington and other powers to end support of Israel's nuclear secrecy and to push the Jewish state to allow international inspections of its program, diplomats told The Associated Press Sunday. Islamic nations have long called for Israel — which is widely believed to have nuclear arms — to open its program. But the fact that the Arab League has directly approached Washington and other Israeli allies for support at the September meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency is significant, considering that President Barack Obama last month warned against using that forum to single out Israel. Obama then suggested that such a move would likely kill hopes of breakthrough talks on a Mideast nuclear-free zone, as proposed by the U.N.'s 189-nation Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty conference three months ago. Over Israeli objections, the planned 2012 talks were backed by the U.S. and other nuclear powers for the first time since Arab nations pushed for such a gathering 15 years ago. (Vosizneias)

Despite Reaction, Irish Student IDF Volunteer Would Do it Again-David Lev
(Israelnationalnews.com) Cliona Campbell, a 19 year old Irish student who volunteered to help in the IDF says that she returned home after two months in Israel to a hate campaign, organized by anti-Israel elements in Ireland who saw her story written up in a local newspaper. A resident of Cork in Ireland, Campbell volunteered several months ago for a program coordinated by Sar-El, which sends volunteers to work on IDF bases or in nursing homes, helping out with routine activities such as maintenance, packing 'kitbags', working in the kitchen, gardening, etc. Participants also take tours of the country, and learn about Israeli and Jewish life. Campbell, who is not Jewish, said she joined Sar-el because she was “captivated by the Jewish people - a nation which has endured hatred, persecution and genocide, and yet still retains an unyielding will to survive, unifying them in an unbreakable kinship.” In an article in the Cork Evening Echo which was reprinted on the Sar-el site, Campbell said she decided to volunteer for the IDF because she, “had watched the injustice during Operation Cast Lead, where after eight years of incessant rockets, Israel cried enough and was villainized for the deaths caused by terrorists who used their own people as human shields, hiding cowardly in densely populated civilian areas.” (INN)

Australian Jews warn of radical anti-Israel group-JTA
SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) – Jewish groups are expressing concern about a radical Islamic group banned in America that has held two recent conferences in Australia.
Hizb ut-Tahrir, a global movement that promotes a single Islamic state, or caliphate, is accused of promoting jihad and inciting anti-Israel and anti-Jewish invective. It staged a conference in Sydney last month and a meeting in Melbourne last week in a bid to recruit new members, prompting the Anti-Defamation Commission of B’nai B’rith to warn that “Australians would be foolish to ignore the violence and hatred this group has expressed in other countries.” Jewish Community Council of Victoria President John Searle said he would be writing to the local government council to ensure that it was aware it rented its town hall to an anti-democratic group with a history of racial hatred. “Hizb ut-Tahrir describes Israel as ‘a dagger in Muslim lands’ and argues that democracy is not for Muslims,” he said. But in a statement on its website, Hizb ut-Tahrir said of the Melbourne meeting, “There is no room for antisemitism or another form of racism in Islam. In Palestine, Islam is in conflict with ‘Israelis’…as occupiers and aggressors.” (Jewishtribune.ca)

TERRORISM, security and policy

The Real Threat Levels-Bill Siegel
The Ground Zero Mosque controversy has not raised our terror threat level one color. It affords us, however, an excellent opportunity to sort out the actual levels of threat we face from those who seek to destroy America as it is and transform it into an Islamic Sharia based territory. Let’s bypass the common but unhelpful questions “Is Islam a religion of peace?” and “Where are the Moderate Muslims?” and “Isn’t the American Muslim assimilated into our culture and doesn’t he share our beliefs and values?” and agree that some number of Muslims are openly devoted to, quietly in conformity with, or poised to fall in line with those who seek to establish Sharia law and secure Islam globally- our Islamist Enemy. Its actual numbers would astonish most Americans. This enemy operates on at least three different levels. The most familiar and easiest to comprehend is that of terrorism. While the U.N. has difficulty deciding on a definition of terrorism, for “level” purposes we all know it when we see it- violent acts geared to intimidate in support of the supposed rights of the Islamic community. This level covers the many killings, bombings, beheadings, and kidnappings we have seen worldwide for decades executed in the name of Islam, including by individuals, small groups, and well known entities such as Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and other proxies for the Islamic Republic of Iran. While the Obama administration has made it politically incorrect to combine the words “Islam” and “terror,” few are fooled by this idiocy. (Familysecuritymatters)

How to Win the Clash of Civilizations-Ayaan Hirsi Ali
The key advantage of Huntington's famous model is that it describes the world as it is—not as we wish it to be.
What do the controversies around the proposed mosque near Ground Zero, the eviction of American missionaries from Morocco earlier this year, the minaret ban in Switzerland last year, and the recent burka ban in France have in common? All four are framed in the Western media as issues of religious tolerance. But that is not their essence. Fundamentally, they are all symptoms of what the late Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington called the "Clash of Civilizations," particularly the clash between Islam and the West. Huntington's argument is worth summarizing briefly for those who now only remember his striking title. The essential building block of the post-Cold War world, he wrote, are seven or eight historical civilizations of which the Western, the Muslim and the Confucian are the most important. The balance of power among these civilizations, he argued, is shifting. The West is declining in relative power, Islam is exploding demographically, and Asian civilizations—especially China—are economically ascendant. Huntington also said that a civilization-based world order is emerging in which states that share cultural affinities will cooperate with each other and group themselves around the leading states of their civilization. The West's universalist pretensions are increasingly bringing it into conflict with the other civilizations, most seriously with Islam and China. Thus the survival of the West depends on Americans, Europeans and other Westerners reaffirming their shared civilization as unique—and uniting to defend it against challenges from non-Western civilizations. (WSJ)

Jihadism moves from ME to S. Asia and Africa-MATTHEW LEVITT
Muslims accounted for well over 50% of terrorism fatalities in 2009.
The US State Department’s recently released “Country Reports on Terrorism 2010” reveals several important trends in the evolution of global terrorism. The good news is that al-Qaida is facing significant pressure, even as the organization and its affiliates and followers retain the intent and capability to carry out attacks. What remains to be seen is if the dispersion of the global jihadist threat from the heart of the Middle East to South Asia and Africa foreshadows organizational decline or revival for al-Qaida itself and for the radical jihadist ideology it espouses. How governments and civil society alike organize to contend with the changing threat will be central to this determination. The bad news is that governments and civil society remain woefully ineffective at reducing the spread and appeal of radical Islamist extremism. (Jpost)

9/11 Families Respond to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi-Debra Burlingame, Tim Sumner
New York, NY, August, 14--For the last four months, 9/11 families, first responders, survivors and concerned citizens have been asking where developers are getting funding for a $100-million dollar mosque and Islamic center planned for Ground Zero. The imam who is heading the project has refused to identify the source of the $5 million cash that was used to purchase the building, and told an Arab newspaper that he will get funding for the project from Arab and Muslim countries. Given the imam's statements, that America was "an accessory to the crime" on 9/11, that "Osama Bin Laden was made in the U.S.A." as well as his repeated refusal to condemn Hamas, we believe he has an obligation to come clean to the public on his financial sources. Our concern has been amplified by news that the imam's worldwide "Shariah Index Project" is being funded by the Malaysian government, and that he is a principal figure in the Perdana Global Peace Project, the number one funder of the Gaza Flotilla, a violent attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza. (Familysecuritymatters)

Under New American Management Al-Qaida Now Poses Inner Threat-PAUL SPERRY
If al-Qaida looks and sounds different as we approach 9/11's ninth anniversary, it's because it's under new American management. No fewer than four U.S. citizens and a permanent U.S. resident have risen to senior leadership posts. These five English-speaking leaders are actively planning or facilitating attacks against their countrymen, while recruiting and radicalizing other American turncoats to carry them out. By remaking itself into an American enterprise, al-Qaida is now more lethal than ever. Its new generation of leaders understands the way America works, having lived here for decades. They have a better sense of our security blind spots. They also know which kinds of attacks will produce both mass panic and maximum economic damage. Al-Qaida's indigenous rebirth, moreover, befogs our military strategy. We're no longer at war with just a foreign enemy, but fellow Americans recruited by the enemy. They're supplied, in turn, by a seemingly endless stream of homegrown foot soldiers, fed by a native Muslim population once believed quiescent and nonthreatening. (Investors)

A number of satellite companies (including Western companies) continue providing communication services for Hezbollah and Hamas' television and radio, even though restrictions have been imposed by Europe and the United States. Supported by foreign companies, Hezbollah and Hamas are able to extend their range around the world, including Muslim communities.-The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
Overview
1. Hezbollah and Hamas operate an extensive media infrastructure, which includes satellite television channels and radio stations. Their media network spreads incitement and hate propaganda against Israel (and occasionally against the Jewish people) and the West, not only to Palestinian and Arab-Muslim target audiences in the Middle East, but to various target audiences around the world (including Muslim communities in Western countries).
2. Hezbollah and Hamas are receive services from Nilesat, and Egyptian satellite company, and Arabsat, a pan-Arab company, in which Saudi Arabia is the dominant partner. They receive the services despite their difficult relations with the countries which control the satellite-owning companies, especially Egypt (which recently viciously attacked Iran and Hamas for the rockets Hamas fired at Eilat and the Jordanian city of Aqaba from the Sinai Peninsula).
3. In the past the United States and European countries imposed restrictions on broadcasting Hezbollah and Hamas' incitement and propaganda programs, and even outlawed their media. However, both organizations found ways to circumvent the restrictions. An updated examination carried out by the Meir Amit ITIC revealed that commercial companies still provide Hezbollah and Hamas with communications services and in effect help them spread their hate messages throughout the world, even beyond the reception ranges of Nilesat and Arabsat.
4. Most of the aforementioned commercial companies, whose services are used by Hezbollah and Hamas, are European (based in France and Spain), one is Russian and one is Indonesian. (Terrorism-info.org.il)

GLOBAL GOVERNANCE AND RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM

Climate change: Behold, the gospel according to the UN-Christopher Booker
The Methodist Church is adopting the IPCC's report on global warming as holy writ, finds Christopher Booker
Anyone who has observed the way the belief in man-made global warming has become for many a new religion might be intrigued by a lengthy document published by the Methodist Church, in the hope that next year it will become official Methodist policy. Entitled Our Hope in God’s Future, it kicks off by proclaiming that “the theological task is to reflect on modern scientific accounts of the threats posed by climate change in the context of affirming the triune God as creator and redeemer of the universe”. “What is required of God’s people,” it goes on, “is repentance.” The first step must be “confessing our complicity in the sinful structures which have caused the problem”. The document makes it clear that all good Methodists must take as their new Bible the latest report of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, along with the famous report by Lord Stern. Inspired by this holy writ, like any Old Testament prophet it reels off all those familiar apocalyptic warnings of the catastrophes sinful mankind is bringing on the planet – floods, droughts, hurricanes, killer heatwaves, melting ice caps, sea levels rising by 20 feet (although they did get that one from the prophet Gore). One cannot imagine how they left out plagues and swarms of locusts, since they could have found biblical evidence for this in the IPCC report. But, of course, only the most devout disciple will still believe in all these apocalyptic predictions anyway, since in every case there is plenty of sound science to suggest they are no more than scare stories. (Telegraph.co.uk)

The Tissue Issue-Tom McLaughlin
It’s fashionable to be “green” these days, among liberals at least. Advertisers pick up on it to make products and services seem as green as possible. Given that man-made global warming is being exposed as a hoax with fudged data in British and American universities, NASA, and the UN, I’m wondering how long the fad will last. Two years ago, pop singer Sheryl Crow showed clips from Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” on her concert tour and insisted we could save the planet by using only one sheet of toilet paper per visit, “ . . . except, of course, on those pesky occasions when two or three could be required.” I can’t help but think that attempts to use just one sheet would be the main cause of “those pesky occasions,” but I’m one of those conservatives the Green People think don’t care about the environment and like to pollute it every chance I get because I like drinking dirty water, breathing dirty air, and using too much toilet paper, so what would I know? Remember that Gore is the guy who, as a US Senator, restricted each American toilet flush to two-and-a-half gallons, so now toilet paper doesn’t go all the way down after you flush. It just swirls around and stays in the bowl - an inconvenient flush, you could say, because we have to wait while the tank slowly fills up and try again. (Familysecuritymatters)

SCIENCE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE

A solution to olive your problems-Karin Kloosterman
Inspired by biblical descriptions of the health benefits of olive oil, physiologist Dr Shaul Eger has devoted himself to concocting remedies in which it's a key ingredient.
Thirty years ago Dr. Shaul Eger, an Israeli physiologist specializing in animal husbandry, was told by specialists that his heart arrhythmia was incurable and that he might die. He turned to ancient Jewish sources, where he read about the health benefits of olive oil. "I realized I had a problem, so I went back to my ancestors - to the Bible," Eger tells ISRAEL21c. He was particularly inspired by the Jewish doctor Assaf Harofeh (Assaf the Physician) a Mesopotamian believed to have lived in the sixth century, whose works opened Eger's mind, and heart, to a new remedy. Harofeh writes that olive oil staves off mental illness and other ailments including those which afflict the heart. "We know from the Bible and Rambam [a leading 13th century Jewish scholar and physician] that olive oil is good for the memory," says Eger, citing the Jewish law book, the Talmud, where it is written that those who drink olive oil will retain their memory for 70 years. (Israel21c)

The Real-Life Murderesses' Row-Jonathan Eig
Before Velma and Roxie in 'Chicago,' there were Beulah and Belva and a bevy of other good-looking inmates
A gorgeous young woman in 1920s Chicago takes a short-cut out of an extramarital affair: She guns down her lover—and convinces her husband to pay for her defense. In prison, she joins Murderesses' Row, a veritable chorus line of gals accused of knocking off their men for one flimsy reason or another. Will our Jazz Age heroine beat the rap? Just watch her lawyer give 'em the old razzle-dazzle! Before director Rob Marshall made the story a box-office success with the 2002 movie musical "Chicago," before Bob Fosse turned it into a Broadway hit in the 1970s (a 1990s revival inspired the movie), before the tale was dramatized for the stage in 1926 by former Chicago Tribune reporter Maurine Watkins, there was the real-life arrest and prosecution of Beulah Annan for murder. Watkins covered the trial for the Tribune. Now comes "The Girls of Murder City," Douglas Perry's colorful account of how it happened in 1924 that the Cook County jail came to be packed with young women accused of murder. Their stories riveted the city. Their crimes were viewed as symptoms of a troubled era. Prohibition was backfiring spectacularly. Everyone, women included, seemed to be drinking. Everyone, women included, seemed to be packing guns. Firewater and firearms—not a good combination. (WSJ)

Will we soon set watches to Mecca Mean Time? Giant £500million clock being built in Islamic holy city-Mail Foreign Service
For over a century, an observatory in a south-east London park has been used as the reference point to set every watch on the globe. But Greenwich Mean Time is facing a challenge to its claims as the starting point for each new day. A giant new clock being built in the Islamic holy city of Mecca hopes to usurp the role of Greenwich Observatory, and aims to have the world's 1.5 billion Muslims setting their watches by its time. The four-faced clock, which bears a striking resemblance to Big Ben's tower, will top a massive skyscraper that when completed will stand at almost 2,000 feet, making it one of the world's tallest buildings. Only one of the clock's four faces has so far been completed and is covered with 98 million pieces of glass mosaics. Each face will be inscribed with 'God is greatest' in Arabic and fitted with thousands of coloured lights, making it visible from more than 16 miles. It will run on Arabia Standard Time, which is three hours ahead of GMT, and will begin testing tomorrow. The Saudi clock, will dwarf St Stephen's Tower which houses Big Ben, once the largest four-faced clock in the world, with dials more than five times greater in area. Islamic scholars hope that when the timepiece is finished, it will eclipse Greenwich Observatory as the world's centre of time. 'Putting Mecca time in the face of Greenwich Mean Time, this is the goal,' said Mohammed Al-Arkubi, the manager of one of the hotels in the complex. (Dailymail.co.uk)

www.americanfreedomalliance.org

  Links:

• Foundation for the   Defense of Democracy
• MEMRI
• Jihad Watch
• Simon Wiesenthal   Center
• The Investigative Project    On Terrorism
• Eye on the UN  
• Atlas Shrugs