Saturday, November 12, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
NEW HUMAN RIGHTS / PEACE LOGO
“Free as a Man,” created by Serbian artist Predrag Stakic, is the winner of an online competition conducted by the Human Rights Logo Initiative, which is on a mission to make the design an internationally recognized symbol for human rights.
An initial call for entries went out in May and kicked-up 15,000 submissions from more than 190 countries. After a healthy period for public comment, a jury made up of 36 designers, human rights advocates, and concerned politicians from around the world chose 10 finalists.
An initial call for entries went out in May and kicked-up 15,000 submissions from more than 190 countries. After a healthy period for public comment, a jury made up of 36 designers, human rights advocates, and concerned politicians from around the world chose 10 finalists.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
SELF-SERVING BLOOMBERG SELLS OUT USA, ISRAEL AND JEWS TO ARAB ENEMIES
Has major media company gone completely bonkers?
New York-based news giant becomes best buddies with controversial figure
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prince bin Talal and Jamal A. Khashoggi
"I met Osama in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), and ever since, I developed a close relationship with him."
Who said this? Bin Laden's second in command?
No, it's New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new business partner.
His name is Jamal A. Khashoggi, and he's heading the recently announced joint media venture between Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Bloomberg News.
The controversial partnership raises new concerns about infiltration of the U.S. media by Islamists bent on institutionalizing Shariah finance and other Islamic laws in the West.
In a recent Arab press interside view, Khashoggi revealed he grew up in Saudi Arabia with the late al-Qaida leader inside the radical Muslim Brotherhood, a secretive movement (operating inside the Obama White House!) whose credo is "Jihad is our way; Death in the cause of Allah our highest ambition."
He says he spent time with bin Laden in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and later in Sudan. The close friends shared a dream of a pan-Islamic nation.
"We were young Muslim activists who believed in our responsibility to support Islam and create an Islamic state," said Khashoggi, who previously worked for Saudi's intelligence minister (who also met with bin Laden in Afghanistan before 9/11).
"I was a Muslim Brotherhood type (and believed that by) establishing the Islamic system throughout, it will lead to the (return of the) caliphate," explained Khashoggi, who now calls himself a "neo-Islamist." "Now, I believe this is the work of God. If God wants (the caliphate) to happen, he will make it happen."
"Neo-Islamists" are a new generation of Muslim leaders distinguished by their seeming receptivity to the forces of modernization and engagement with the West. However, they remain faithful to the central tenets of Shariah law.
"What I admire the most in Wahhabism is that it empowers me to reach God directly without the need of anybody else," Khashoggi said regarding his faith. "And I like that and I call that positive Wahhabism."
Last month, Khashoggi and bin Talal announced the launch of a pro-Islamist 24-hour TV news network with Bloomberg's privately held news service.
The deal has Bloomberg News providing five hours of financial and economic news programming throughout the day on the new "Alarab" channel, which the prince says will be "right of Al-Jazeera" – that is, more fundamentalist.
A team of Bloomberg media specialists and producers will be provided to the Alarab channel, and will assist in the production of the channel's economic and business coverage, according to a press release.
Sources tell WND that Bin Talal and Bloomberg finalized the deal this May during a private meeting in the mayor's New York City office.
Critics fear the venture could serve as a platform for bin Talal's notoriously anti-Israel agenda. The billionaire has donated millions of dollars to Saudi telethons raising money for families of Palestinian "martyrs." Bin Talal also co-owns a Saudi TV station that once broadcast a fundraiser titled, "Jihad in Palestine," which glorified violence against Israel.
After 9/11, the prince presented a $10 million gift to then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. When bin Talal explained it came with a string attached – that America must acknowledge its pro-Israeli policies brought on the attacks – Guiliani famously rejected the relief check.
New York's current mayor, on the other hand, appears to have few qualms about doing business with the Saudi royal, even though Bloomberg is Jewish.
Critics say the mayor is chasing Arab petrodollars as his own business empire struggles amid the U.S. recession.
But the two seem to see eye-to-eye on many issues, including the Ground Zero mosque. Bloomberg gave his blessing to the Islamic shrine. In fact, to the shock of many, the mayor actually promoted its construction. His support is said to have been colored by bin Talal, who is said to be one of the project's silent foreign boosters.
Bin Talal's Saudi-based Kingdom Foundation has sunk more than $300,000 into American Society for Muslim Advancement, a U.S. nonprofit group promoting the mosque. His foundation is run by Saudi hijabi Muna Abu Sulayman, who appears on ASMA's website as one of its "Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow."
Sulayman, who spends much of her time in the U.S., happens to be the daughter of Dr. AbdulHamid Abu Sulayman, "one of the most important figures in the history of the global Muslim Brotherhood," according to the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.
The Egypt-based Brotherhood is the parent of Hamas and al-Qaida and the source of most of the jihadi ideology and related terror throughout the world today.
Citing its secret U.S. archives, prosecutors say the Brotherhood, which was set up in America with millions in Saudi cash, has a plan to "destroy" America "from within," and is using its agents and front groups in the U.S. to carry out that strategy. Khashoggi is said to have helped establish the Brotherhood network when he lived in Indiana decades ago.
Dr. Sulayman's U.S. offices were raided by federal agents after 9/11 on suspicion of providing material support to terror groups. An unsealed federal search warrant lists him as chairman and president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought, or IIIT, the Brotherhood's U.S. think tank.
In December 2008, IIIT hosted Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Rauf to discuss his Shariah Index Project, which was to be housed in the planned 15-story structure. The index will formally rate which governments best follow Islamic law.
Sulayman succeeded Rauf's late father, Muhammad, as rector of the International Islamic University in Malaysia. Rauf has kept an office in Malaysia, and he's held Shariah project meetings there.
More troubling to observers is bin Talal's obsession with mainstreaming Shariah finance in the West – and Bloomberg's apparent receptiveness to the idea.
Islamic banking rejects the cornerstone of Western finance: credit and interest rates. It also requires a share of profits go to Islamic charities, which often funnel money to terrorism.
Through a $20 million endowment, bin Talal has set up a Shariah law and finance section at Harvard University.
Bloomberg LP recently opened a regional hub in Dubai, where it has developed an "Islamic finance portal."
"Since the meltdown of the Western capitalist system, there has been an increasingly large focus on the virtues of Islamic finance," Bloomberg's Mideast chief Max Linnington told "The National" newspaper of Dubai. "Today, there is no one single provider of information that caters to the Islamic finance market. So by Bloomberg being here, we are in the process of building out an Islamic finance product."
Khashoggi told Al-Majalla.com that he wants to model the 24-hour Arab channel on Fox News, which his boss has a stake in. Bin Talal has sunk more than $600 million in Fox parent News Corp. With a 7 percent stake, he's now the biggest shareholder outside the Rupert Murdoch family.
Murdoch and Alwaleed together operate a media venture called Rotana. Zawya Dow Jones New Service, which covers Mideast markets, grew out of the deal.
Khashoggi denied Murdoch is a partner in the Alarab venture. But Zawya Dow Jones itself reported last year that Alwaleed would launch "the news channel in partnership with the Fox Network."
Last decade, Murdoch attended an awards dinner honoring the prince in New York. It was thrown by the Arab Bankers Association of North America, a group that supports Shariah finance in America. Murdoch sat next to bin Talal at the head table.
The media mogul took the podium to praise the Saudi billionaire for his investment in News Corp.
"Very proud, we are, that Prince Alwaleed is one of News Corp.'s largest shareholders," Murdoch gushed.
The prince's website says he "intends to leverage its relationship with News Corp.'s management to identify new investment opportunities." He counts Fox's parent as a "core holding."
Bin Talal, who has been interviewed by Fox in flattering features, has boasted of his influence over Fox news content. For instance, he recounted how when he saw Fox describing Muslim riots in France as "Muslim riots," he phoned Murdoch directly and had the wording changed within a half hour in order to delink Islam from the violence.
A Fox producer, moreover, suggested the Saudi shareholder also had a hand in unbooking authors of the bestselling "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," which exposes the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Muslim Brotherhood front groups in America. Bin Talal has donated millions of dollars to CAIR, which was recently implicated in a terror plot to funnel money to Hamas suicide bombers and has since been banned by the FBI from outreach functions.
Despite proven terror ties, top CAIR officials are regular invited guests on the O'Reilly Factor and other Fox News shows.
Bloomberg, for his part, recently published a glowing profile of bin Talal in his Bloomberg Markets Magazine.
"The prince says his shift in strategy at Kingdom Holding may put him on a path to surpass the riches of the 79-year-old (Warren) Buffett," the article says.
"When he was my age, he was not as big as me," bin Talal is quoted as saying. "I still have 20 years."
Bin Talal says his goal is to be the largest foreign investor in America.
And with his support for Moslem Obama and a blackmailed, cowed Republican party and the enemies that we face from within - Obama and Bloomberg - are just a couple of MANY traitors, America may well be doomed! Touch and go at the very best!
WAKE UP PEOPLE! you are being led to slaughter by this treacherous administration and their Islamists and Marxist supporters!
Who in America is standing up to and funding a resistance to this?
Anybody?
Do we have any POWERFUL patriots left?
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=358561#ixzz1bZmDoDy0
New York-based news giant becomes best buddies with controversial figure
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prince bin Talal and Jamal A. Khashoggi
"I met Osama in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), and ever since, I developed a close relationship with him."
Who said this? Bin Laden's second in command?
No, it's New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's new business partner.
His name is Jamal A. Khashoggi, and he's heading the recently announced joint media venture between Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and Bloomberg News.
The controversial partnership raises new concerns about infiltration of the U.S. media by Islamists bent on institutionalizing Shariah finance and other Islamic laws in the West.
In a recent Arab press interside view, Khashoggi revealed he grew up in Saudi Arabia with the late al-Qaida leader inside the radical Muslim Brotherhood, a secretive movement (operating inside the Obama White House!) whose credo is "Jihad is our way; Death in the cause of Allah our highest ambition."
He says he spent time with bin Laden in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and later in Sudan. The close friends shared a dream of a pan-Islamic nation.
"We were young Muslim activists who believed in our responsibility to support Islam and create an Islamic state," said Khashoggi, who previously worked for Saudi's intelligence minister (who also met with bin Laden in Afghanistan before 9/11).
"I was a Muslim Brotherhood type (and believed that by) establishing the Islamic system throughout, it will lead to the (return of the) caliphate," explained Khashoggi, who now calls himself a "neo-Islamist." "Now, I believe this is the work of God. If God wants (the caliphate) to happen, he will make it happen."
"Neo-Islamists" are a new generation of Muslim leaders distinguished by their seeming receptivity to the forces of modernization and engagement with the West. However, they remain faithful to the central tenets of Shariah law.
"What I admire the most in Wahhabism is that it empowers me to reach God directly without the need of anybody else," Khashoggi said regarding his faith. "And I like that and I call that positive Wahhabism."
Last month, Khashoggi and bin Talal announced the launch of a pro-Islamist 24-hour TV news network with Bloomberg's privately held news service.
The deal has Bloomberg News providing five hours of financial and economic news programming throughout the day on the new "Alarab" channel, which the prince says will be "right of Al-Jazeera" – that is, more fundamentalist.
A team of Bloomberg media specialists and producers will be provided to the Alarab channel, and will assist in the production of the channel's economic and business coverage, according to a press release.
Sources tell WND that Bin Talal and Bloomberg finalized the deal this May during a private meeting in the mayor's New York City office.
Critics fear the venture could serve as a platform for bin Talal's notoriously anti-Israel agenda. The billionaire has donated millions of dollars to Saudi telethons raising money for families of Palestinian "martyrs." Bin Talal also co-owns a Saudi TV station that once broadcast a fundraiser titled, "Jihad in Palestine," which glorified violence against Israel.
After 9/11, the prince presented a $10 million gift to then-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. When bin Talal explained it came with a string attached – that America must acknowledge its pro-Israeli policies brought on the attacks – Guiliani famously rejected the relief check.
New York's current mayor, on the other hand, appears to have few qualms about doing business with the Saudi royal, even though Bloomberg is Jewish.
Critics say the mayor is chasing Arab petrodollars as his own business empire struggles amid the U.S. recession.
But the two seem to see eye-to-eye on many issues, including the Ground Zero mosque. Bloomberg gave his blessing to the Islamic shrine. In fact, to the shock of many, the mayor actually promoted its construction. His support is said to have been colored by bin Talal, who is said to be one of the project's silent foreign boosters.
Bin Talal's Saudi-based Kingdom Foundation has sunk more than $300,000 into American Society for Muslim Advancement, a U.S. nonprofit group promoting the mosque. His foundation is run by Saudi hijabi Muna Abu Sulayman, who appears on ASMA's website as one of its "Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow."
Sulayman, who spends much of her time in the U.S., happens to be the daughter of Dr. AbdulHamid Abu Sulayman, "one of the most important figures in the history of the global Muslim Brotherhood," according to the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.
The Egypt-based Brotherhood is the parent of Hamas and al-Qaida and the source of most of the jihadi ideology and related terror throughout the world today.
Citing its secret U.S. archives, prosecutors say the Brotherhood, which was set up in America with millions in Saudi cash, has a plan to "destroy" America "from within," and is using its agents and front groups in the U.S. to carry out that strategy. Khashoggi is said to have helped establish the Brotherhood network when he lived in Indiana decades ago.
Dr. Sulayman's U.S. offices were raided by federal agents after 9/11 on suspicion of providing material support to terror groups. An unsealed federal search warrant lists him as chairman and president of the International Institute of Islamic Thought, or IIIT, the Brotherhood's U.S. think tank.
In December 2008, IIIT hosted Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Rauf to discuss his Shariah Index Project, which was to be housed in the planned 15-story structure. The index will formally rate which governments best follow Islamic law.
Sulayman succeeded Rauf's late father, Muhammad, as rector of the International Islamic University in Malaysia. Rauf has kept an office in Malaysia, and he's held Shariah project meetings there.
More troubling to observers is bin Talal's obsession with mainstreaming Shariah finance in the West – and Bloomberg's apparent receptiveness to the idea.
Islamic banking rejects the cornerstone of Western finance: credit and interest rates. It also requires a share of profits go to Islamic charities, which often funnel money to terrorism.
Through a $20 million endowment, bin Talal has set up a Shariah law and finance section at Harvard University.
Bloomberg LP recently opened a regional hub in Dubai, where it has developed an "Islamic finance portal."
"Since the meltdown of the Western capitalist system, there has been an increasingly large focus on the virtues of Islamic finance," Bloomberg's Mideast chief Max Linnington told "The National" newspaper of Dubai. "Today, there is no one single provider of information that caters to the Islamic finance market. So by Bloomberg being here, we are in the process of building out an Islamic finance product."
Khashoggi told Al-Majalla.com that he wants to model the 24-hour Arab channel on Fox News, which his boss has a stake in. Bin Talal has sunk more than $600 million in Fox parent News Corp. With a 7 percent stake, he's now the biggest shareholder outside the Rupert Murdoch family.
Murdoch and Alwaleed together operate a media venture called Rotana. Zawya Dow Jones New Service, which covers Mideast markets, grew out of the deal.
Khashoggi denied Murdoch is a partner in the Alarab venture. But Zawya Dow Jones itself reported last year that Alwaleed would launch "the news channel in partnership with the Fox Network."
Last decade, Murdoch attended an awards dinner honoring the prince in New York. It was thrown by the Arab Bankers Association of North America, a group that supports Shariah finance in America. Murdoch sat next to bin Talal at the head table.
The media mogul took the podium to praise the Saudi billionaire for his investment in News Corp.
"Very proud, we are, that Prince Alwaleed is one of News Corp.'s largest shareholders," Murdoch gushed.
The prince's website says he "intends to leverage its relationship with News Corp.'s management to identify new investment opportunities." He counts Fox's parent as a "core holding."
Bin Talal, who has been interviewed by Fox in flattering features, has boasted of his influence over Fox news content. For instance, he recounted how when he saw Fox describing Muslim riots in France as "Muslim riots," he phoned Murdoch directly and had the wording changed within a half hour in order to delink Islam from the violence.
A Fox producer, moreover, suggested the Saudi shareholder also had a hand in unbooking authors of the bestselling "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America," which exposes the Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Muslim Brotherhood front groups in America. Bin Talal has donated millions of dollars to CAIR, which was recently implicated in a terror plot to funnel money to Hamas suicide bombers and has since been banned by the FBI from outreach functions.
Despite proven terror ties, top CAIR officials are regular invited guests on the O'Reilly Factor and other Fox News shows.
Bloomberg, for his part, recently published a glowing profile of bin Talal in his Bloomberg Markets Magazine.
"The prince says his shift in strategy at Kingdom Holding may put him on a path to surpass the riches of the 79-year-old (Warren) Buffett," the article says.
"When he was my age, he was not as big as me," bin Talal is quoted as saying. "I still have 20 years."
Bin Talal says his goal is to be the largest foreign investor in America.
And with his support for Moslem Obama and a blackmailed, cowed Republican party and the enemies that we face from within - Obama and Bloomberg - are just a couple of MANY traitors, America may well be doomed! Touch and go at the very best!
WAKE UP PEOPLE! you are being led to slaughter by this treacherous administration and their Islamists and Marxist supporters!
Who in America is standing up to and funding a resistance to this?
Anybody?
Do we have any POWERFUL patriots left?
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=358561#ixzz1bZmDoDy0
Sunday, September 25, 2011
ISLAM AND GAYS PRESSURE TO BAN BIBLE
Police in Lancashire have told the owner of a Christian café to stop displaying Bible texts on a video screen, because it breaches public order laws.
MORE ISLAMIC (and some Homosexual) PRESSURE ON WESTERN CULTURES TRY TO BAN THE BIBLE (and Christianity). Lethal slogans displayed by Islamists in public appear to be immune from such laws! Why?
Officers attended the Salt & Light Coffee House on Layton Road, Blackpool, on Monday 19th September, following a complaint about “insulting” and “homophobic” material.
The café’s owner, Mr Jamie Murray, says the officers did not specify which Bible texts had caused the offence.
Breach
He says the officers told him that displaying offensive or insulting words is a breach of Section 5 of the Public Order Act, and told him to stop displaying the Bible.
The Bible texts are displayed on a TV screen at the back of the café. Mr Murray uses a set of DVDs called the Watchword Bible.
The DVDs cycle through the whole of the New Testament verse by verse, with the words appearing on the screen. Mr Murray mutes the audio.
Legal
He told the police officers he would agree to stop displaying the Bible verses while he sought legal advice. After speaking with a lawyer, he is once again displaying the material.
The café’s name, Salt & Light, is a quote from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Christian leaflets are available in the café, and it has links with a local church.
Mr Murray is being supported by The Christian Institute, a national charity that defends the religious liberty of Christians.
Free speech
There is widespread concern that the police are misusing the law to clamp down on words or material that "others" may find “insulting”.
Civil rights groups worry about the impact on free speech.
The Christian Institute is calling for the word “insulting” to be removed from Section 5 of the Public Order Act – a proposal supported by the National Secular Society, two civil rights groups Liberty and Justice, and Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights.
A backbench amendment to remove the word “insulting” from the Section 5 offence has been tabled in the House of Commons as part of the Protection of Freedoms Bill.
The Home Office has promised to consult on the change, but suggests the problem may be better dealt with by advice to police officers and improvements in police training. (Reduce influence of these "others" on pushing police to do their emotion based, biased bidding under the guise of authority).
Interrogation
Mr Murray said: “I couldn’t believe the police were saying I can’t display the Bible. The officers were not very polite, in fact they were quite aggressive. It felt like an interrogation.
“I said ‘surely it isn’t a crime to show the Bible?’ But they said they had checked with their sergeant and insulting words are a breach of Section 5 of the Public Order Act. I was shocked.
“I’m not here to insult or offend anyone, but the Bible is the Bible. We’re always being told that we’re a tolerant and diverse nation. Yet the very thing that gave us those values – Christianity – is being sidelined.
Enough
“I’m not looking to make a name for myself, I’d rather be quietly getting on with running my café. But there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough.”
The Christian Institute’s Head of Communications, Mike Judge, said: “We’ve all seen the police stand by while extremist Muslims hold placards calling for infidels to be beheaded, but woe betides a Christian café displaying Bible texts.
“Yes, the Bible speaks about morality, of course it does. But the Bible isn’t hate speech. Disagreement isn’t hatred. If a café customer dislikes parts of the Bible, the right response is to take their custom elsewhere – not dial 999.
Liberty
“Will Lancashire Constabulary be publishing a police-approved Bible? Perhaps they could call it the PC-PC version. Haven’t they heard of free speech or religious liberty?” (Or does that hold true only to loud-mouth Islam and Shariah, which claims "victim" status?)
In 2005 the same force, Lancashire Constabulary, paid out £10,000 compensation to Joe and Helen Roberts, an elderly Christian couple who had been investigated by the police for telling their council that they didn’t agree with homosexuality.
Mike Judge added: “I’d have thought Lancashire Constabulary would have learned their lesson after paying out £10,000 to a pair of Christian pensioners who they had interrogated over their views on gay rights.
Costly
“After that controversy they promised to review their procedures to stop this kind of nonsense. They broke that promise on Monday when their officers marched into the Christian café. The police may now be facing another costly legal action.
“This just shows why Section 5 of the Public Order Act needs a meaningful revision. The police clearly believe it gives them the power to clamp down on free speech – even to ban the Bible.”
Sam Webster, The Christian Institute’s in-house Solicitor-Advocate, said: “We will be advising Mr Murray of his legal options. He may well have grounds for a legal action against the police for infringing his rights to free speech and religious liberty.
Alarmed
“It ought to go without saying that reading the Bible out loud in a public place, or displaying Bible texts in a Christian café, is not of itself a criminal offence. I am alarmed that I even have to point that out.
“On the face of it, officers of Lancashire Constabulary appear to have said that such behaviour may fall within the scope of Section 5 of the Public Order Act. As a lawyer and a Christian, I find that deeply disturbing.”
MORE ISLAMIC (and some Homosexual) PRESSURE ON WESTERN CULTURES TRY TO BAN THE BIBLE (and Christianity). Lethal slogans displayed by Islamists in public appear to be immune from such laws! Why?
Officers attended the Salt & Light Coffee House on Layton Road, Blackpool, on Monday 19th September, following a complaint about “insulting” and “homophobic” material.
The café’s owner, Mr Jamie Murray, says the officers did not specify which Bible texts had caused the offence.
Breach
He says the officers told him that displaying offensive or insulting words is a breach of Section 5 of the Public Order Act, and told him to stop displaying the Bible.
The Bible texts are displayed on a TV screen at the back of the café. Mr Murray uses a set of DVDs called the Watchword Bible.
The DVDs cycle through the whole of the New Testament verse by verse, with the words appearing on the screen. Mr Murray mutes the audio.
Legal
He told the police officers he would agree to stop displaying the Bible verses while he sought legal advice. After speaking with a lawyer, he is once again displaying the material.
The café’s name, Salt & Light, is a quote from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Christian leaflets are available in the café, and it has links with a local church.
Mr Murray is being supported by The Christian Institute, a national charity that defends the religious liberty of Christians.
Free speech
There is widespread concern that the police are misusing the law to clamp down on words or material that "others" may find “insulting”.
Civil rights groups worry about the impact on free speech.
The Christian Institute is calling for the word “insulting” to be removed from Section 5 of the Public Order Act – a proposal supported by the National Secular Society, two civil rights groups Liberty and Justice, and Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights.
A backbench amendment to remove the word “insulting” from the Section 5 offence has been tabled in the House of Commons as part of the Protection of Freedoms Bill.
The Home Office has promised to consult on the change, but suggests the problem may be better dealt with by advice to police officers and improvements in police training. (Reduce influence of these "others" on pushing police to do their emotion based, biased bidding under the guise of authority).
Interrogation
Mr Murray said: “I couldn’t believe the police were saying I can’t display the Bible. The officers were not very polite, in fact they were quite aggressive. It felt like an interrogation.
“I said ‘surely it isn’t a crime to show the Bible?’ But they said they had checked with their sergeant and insulting words are a breach of Section 5 of the Public Order Act. I was shocked.
“I’m not here to insult or offend anyone, but the Bible is the Bible. We’re always being told that we’re a tolerant and diverse nation. Yet the very thing that gave us those values – Christianity – is being sidelined.
Enough
“I’m not looking to make a name for myself, I’d rather be quietly getting on with running my café. But there comes a time when you have to say enough is enough.”
The Christian Institute’s Head of Communications, Mike Judge, said: “We’ve all seen the police stand by while extremist Muslims hold placards calling for infidels to be beheaded, but woe betides a Christian café displaying Bible texts.
“Yes, the Bible speaks about morality, of course it does. But the Bible isn’t hate speech. Disagreement isn’t hatred. If a café customer dislikes parts of the Bible, the right response is to take their custom elsewhere – not dial 999.
Liberty
“Will Lancashire Constabulary be publishing a police-approved Bible? Perhaps they could call it the PC-PC version. Haven’t they heard of free speech or religious liberty?” (Or does that hold true only to loud-mouth Islam and Shariah, which claims "victim" status?)
In 2005 the same force, Lancashire Constabulary, paid out £10,000 compensation to Joe and Helen Roberts, an elderly Christian couple who had been investigated by the police for telling their council that they didn’t agree with homosexuality.
Mike Judge added: “I’d have thought Lancashire Constabulary would have learned their lesson after paying out £10,000 to a pair of Christian pensioners who they had interrogated over their views on gay rights.
Costly
“After that controversy they promised to review their procedures to stop this kind of nonsense. They broke that promise on Monday when their officers marched into the Christian café. The police may now be facing another costly legal action.
“This just shows why Section 5 of the Public Order Act needs a meaningful revision. The police clearly believe it gives them the power to clamp down on free speech – even to ban the Bible.”
Sam Webster, The Christian Institute’s in-house Solicitor-Advocate, said: “We will be advising Mr Murray of his legal options. He may well have grounds for a legal action against the police for infringing his rights to free speech and religious liberty.
Alarmed
“It ought to go without saying that reading the Bible out loud in a public place, or displaying Bible texts in a Christian café, is not of itself a criminal offence. I am alarmed that I even have to point that out.
“On the face of it, officers of Lancashire Constabulary appear to have said that such behaviour may fall within the scope of Section 5 of the Public Order Act. As a lawyer and a Christian, I find that deeply disturbing.”
Friday, September 9, 2011
SHARIA DEBATE
Alyssa Lappen, Big Peace
Sharia advocates desperately want to convince legislators and the public that Islamic law is plain vanilla --- and totally non-threatening to existing U.S. legal codes. Notwithstanding a nationwide Muslim Brotherhood-backed pro-sharia push, nothing could be further from the truth . . .
Excerpts:
If sharia were advanced, progressive, wonderful, and "brilliant," its truth and beauty could withstand all criticism and questions. But sharia raises a major reg flag in banning free speech and inquiry. How it would play out in the U.S. is perhaps best examined by looks at Britain and Germany, where all sharia's ills stand fully exposed. One needs no PhD or LD to realize that officially accepting any part of a legal system so often demonstrably at odds with our own would, yes, prescribe genuine national disaster.
If anything, intense pressure from closet Muslim radicals for U.S. sanction of sharia should push every state that can to pass its own bill as quickly as possible.
XXX's sharia description is quite correct — not the “hate” or “lunacy” that Reza, Ali, Stilt and Fadel call it.
Sharia is indeed a “complete way of life” (social, cultural, military, religious, and political), governed from cradle to grave by Islamic law NOT theosophy… Shariah is, moreover, a doctrine that mandates the rule of Allah over all aspects of society.”
(Alan note: DOES THIS take Islam OUT of the protective confines of a "religion" that is being falsely demanded of us!)
READ MORE:
http://bigpeace.com/alappen/2011/09/09/sharia-lobby-shifts-into-5th-gear/
Sharia advocates desperately want to convince legislators and the public that Islamic law is plain vanilla --- and totally non-threatening to existing U.S. legal codes. Notwithstanding a nationwide Muslim Brotherhood-backed pro-sharia push, nothing could be further from the truth . . .
Excerpts:
If sharia were advanced, progressive, wonderful, and "brilliant," its truth and beauty could withstand all criticism and questions. But sharia raises a major reg flag in banning free speech and inquiry. How it would play out in the U.S. is perhaps best examined by looks at Britain and Germany, where all sharia's ills stand fully exposed. One needs no PhD or LD to realize that officially accepting any part of a legal system so often demonstrably at odds with our own would, yes, prescribe genuine national disaster.
If anything, intense pressure from closet Muslim radicals for U.S. sanction of sharia should push every state that can to pass its own bill as quickly as possible.
XXX's sharia description is quite correct — not the “hate” or “lunacy” that Reza, Ali, Stilt and Fadel call it.
Sharia is indeed a “complete way of life” (social, cultural, military, religious, and political), governed from cradle to grave by Islamic law NOT theosophy… Shariah is, moreover, a doctrine that mandates the rule of Allah over all aspects of society.”
(Alan note: DOES THIS take Islam OUT of the protective confines of a "religion" that is being falsely demanded of us!)
READ MORE:
http://bigpeace.com/alappen/2011/09/09/sharia-lobby-shifts-into-5th-gear/
Sunday, August 21, 2011
ALAPHABETICAL OBAMA DOWNGRADE OF AMERICA (& HIS DOWNWARD SLIDE)
Mental snapshots from President Obama's efforts to improve America's standing in the world, 923 days into his administration:
A is for the Arab world, and our standing in it: This year, Zogby International found that only 5% of Egyptians had a favorable view of the U.S. In 2008, when George W. Bush was president, it was 9%.
B is for the federal budget deficit, which is estimated to come in at around 11% of GDP in 2011, up from about 3% in 2008.
C is for China's military budget. For 2012, Beijing plans to increase spending on defense by 12.7%. The Obama administration, by contrast, proposed Pentagon cuts in April averaging out to $40 billion per year over the next decade, and Congress may soon cut a lot more.
D is for—what else—the federal debt, which grew to $14.3 trillion this month from $10.7 trillion at the end of 2008. D is also for the dollar, which has lost almost half its value against gold since Aug. 2008.
E is for energy. The average retail price of a gallon of gas hovered near the $1.80 mark when Mr. Obama was inaugurated. It has since more than doubled. E is also for ethanol, the non-wonder fuel the U.S. continues to subsidize to the tune of $5 billion a year.
F is for free trade. Bill Clinton signed Nafta in 1994, which facilitates $1.6 trillion in the trade of goods and services between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. George W. Bush midwifed more than a dozen FTAs, from Australia to Singapore to Morocco to Bahrain. Number of FTA's signed by the current president: zero.
G is for Guantanamo, which remains open, and for Gadhafi, who may no longer be in power, and for Greece, which offers a vision of America's immediate future if we don't reform our maniacal SPENDING and entitlement state.
H is for Hillary Clinton, who—I can't believe I'm writing this—would have made a better president than Mr. Obama.
I is for Israel, a Middle Eastern country the president claims to support even as he routinely disses its prime minister, seeks to shrink its borders and—why not?—divide its capital.
J is for jobs. In November 2008, president-elect Obama promised he would create 2.5 million jobs by 2011. By October 2010 the economy had shed 3.3 million jobs. (Alan note: actually SEVEN million)
K is for Karzai, Hamid, Afghanistan's feckless leader. Still, the Obama administration probably did itself no favors by publicly dumping on the man, leading him to seek new best friends in Tehran.
L is for Laden, Osama bin. The president's greatest triumph, which will forever put him one notch—if only one notch—above Jimmy Carter. (Alan note: local resident eye-witness denies Osama was killed or captured - video http://terrornewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2011/08/al-qaeda-in-iran-denial-by-witness.html
M is for Mexico, a country that manages 5.4% unemployment and 4.2% annual growth even as it fights a war against the drug cartels. (Alan note: to whose drug cartels, Eric Holder and his ATF provided thousands of automatic guns under the illegal "Fast & Furious" project)
N is for NATO, once a pillar of Western security, which Narcissist Mr. Obama is in the process of destroying through his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and his refusal to give NATO the push it needs to win in Libya.
O is for ObamaCare, which goes far to explain B, D, J as well as the Greek part of G.
P is for Pyongyang, whose ruler the administration is once again attempting to engage in the six-party talks. This is after the Kim regime welcomed Mr. Obama's plea for a nuclear-free world by testing a nuclear bomb, torpedoing a South Korean ship, shelling a South Korean village, and unveiling a state-of-the-art uranium enrichment facility.
Q is for QE2, the most disastrous experiment in monetary policy since Fed Chairman William Miller's low-interest rate policy crashed the dollar in 1978.
R is for the reset with Russia, the principal result of which is an arms-control treaty that brings us to parity in strategic nuclear weapons, leaves us behind in the tactical category, and ill-equips us for the challenge of a proliferating world.
S is for shovel-ready. Enough said.
T is for taxes, which Mr. Obama would like to see raised for "millionaires and billionaires"—curiously defined as people making $200K and up.
U is for Iran's uranium enrichment. When Mr. Obama came to office promising to extend his hand to the mullahs, Iran had enriched 1,000 kilos of uranium. Today they have produced more than 4,000 kilos of HIGH GRADE plus some weapon grade MATERIAL.
V is for Venezuela, a country whose extensive subterranean links to Iran the administration has consistently downplayed. (Alan note: and whose Communist leadership Obama openly supports)
W is for the W "Dubya" (Bush), whose presidency now looks like a model of spending restraint.
X is for Liu Xiaobo, an example of what a deserving winner of the Nobel Peace Prize looks like. X is also for Xanax, likely to be remembered as the drug of choice of the Obama years.
Y is for Yes, We Can! (Not!!) Unfortunately, it's also for Yemen.
Z is for zero, Obama's NICKNAME for his total inability to make anything positive happen.
Courtesy Defending Iranian Democracy
A is for the Arab world, and our standing in it: This year, Zogby International found that only 5% of Egyptians had a favorable view of the U.S. In 2008, when George W. Bush was president, it was 9%.
B is for the federal budget deficit, which is estimated to come in at around 11% of GDP in 2011, up from about 3% in 2008.
C is for China's military budget. For 2012, Beijing plans to increase spending on defense by 12.7%. The Obama administration, by contrast, proposed Pentagon cuts in April averaging out to $40 billion per year over the next decade, and Congress may soon cut a lot more.
D is for—what else—the federal debt, which grew to $14.3 trillion this month from $10.7 trillion at the end of 2008. D is also for the dollar, which has lost almost half its value against gold since Aug. 2008.
E is for energy. The average retail price of a gallon of gas hovered near the $1.80 mark when Mr. Obama was inaugurated. It has since more than doubled. E is also for ethanol, the non-wonder fuel the U.S. continues to subsidize to the tune of $5 billion a year.
F is for free trade. Bill Clinton signed Nafta in 1994, which facilitates $1.6 trillion in the trade of goods and services between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. George W. Bush midwifed more than a dozen FTAs, from Australia to Singapore to Morocco to Bahrain. Number of FTA's signed by the current president: zero.
G is for Guantanamo, which remains open, and for Gadhafi, who may no longer be in power, and for Greece, which offers a vision of America's immediate future if we don't reform our maniacal SPENDING and entitlement state.
H is for Hillary Clinton, who—I can't believe I'm writing this—would have made a better president than Mr. Obama.
I is for Israel, a Middle Eastern country the president claims to support even as he routinely disses its prime minister, seeks to shrink its borders and—why not?—divide its capital.
J is for jobs. In November 2008, president-elect Obama promised he would create 2.5 million jobs by 2011. By October 2010 the economy had shed 3.3 million jobs. (Alan note: actually SEVEN million)
K is for Karzai, Hamid, Afghanistan's feckless leader. Still, the Obama administration probably did itself no favors by publicly dumping on the man, leading him to seek new best friends in Tehran.
L is for Laden, Osama bin. The president's greatest triumph, which will forever put him one notch—if only one notch—above Jimmy Carter. (Alan note: local resident eye-witness denies Osama was killed or captured - video http://terrornewsbriefs.blogspot.com/2011/08/al-qaeda-in-iran-denial-by-witness.html
M is for Mexico, a country that manages 5.4% unemployment and 4.2% annual growth even as it fights a war against the drug cartels. (Alan note: to whose drug cartels, Eric Holder and his ATF provided thousands of automatic guns under the illegal "Fast & Furious" project)
N is for NATO, once a pillar of Western security, which Narcissist Mr. Obama is in the process of destroying through his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan and his refusal to give NATO the push it needs to win in Libya.
O is for ObamaCare, which goes far to explain B, D, J as well as the Greek part of G.
P is for Pyongyang, whose ruler the administration is once again attempting to engage in the six-party talks. This is after the Kim regime welcomed Mr. Obama's plea for a nuclear-free world by testing a nuclear bomb, torpedoing a South Korean ship, shelling a South Korean village, and unveiling a state-of-the-art uranium enrichment facility.
Q is for QE2, the most disastrous experiment in monetary policy since Fed Chairman William Miller's low-interest rate policy crashed the dollar in 1978.
R is for the reset with Russia, the principal result of which is an arms-control treaty that brings us to parity in strategic nuclear weapons, leaves us behind in the tactical category, and ill-equips us for the challenge of a proliferating world.
S is for shovel-ready. Enough said.
T is for taxes, which Mr. Obama would like to see raised for "millionaires and billionaires"—curiously defined as people making $200K and up.
U is for Iran's uranium enrichment. When Mr. Obama came to office promising to extend his hand to the mullahs, Iran had enriched 1,000 kilos of uranium. Today they have produced more than 4,000 kilos of HIGH GRADE plus some weapon grade MATERIAL.
V is for Venezuela, a country whose extensive subterranean links to Iran the administration has consistently downplayed. (Alan note: and whose Communist leadership Obama openly supports)
W is for the W "Dubya" (Bush), whose presidency now looks like a model of spending restraint.
X is for Liu Xiaobo, an example of what a deserving winner of the Nobel Peace Prize looks like. X is also for Xanax, likely to be remembered as the drug of choice of the Obama years.
Y is for Yes, We Can! (Not!!) Unfortunately, it's also for Yemen.
Z is for zero, Obama's NICKNAME for his total inability to make anything positive happen.
Courtesy Defending Iranian Democracy
Sunday, July 24, 2011
OBAMA FUNNELLING BILLIONS TO ENEMY TALIBAN
By Karen DeYoung,
Sunday, July 24
A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that U.S. taxpayer money has been indirectly funneled to the Taliban under a $2.16 billion transportation contract that the United States has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses.
(Alan note: More taxpayer money being misused by Obama. Wonder what foreign enemy funding he wants to cover with the "extra" $400 BILLION he insistently demands from Congress as part of his deal)
The unreleased investigation provides seemingly definitive evidence that corruption puts U.S. transportation money into enemy hands, a finding consistent with previous inquiries carried out by Congress, other federal agencies and the military. Yet U.S. and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and ineffective, and all eight of the trucking firms involved in the work remain on U.S. payroll. In March, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months.
According to a summary of the investigation results, compiled in May and reviewed by The Washington Post, the military found “documented, credible evidence . . . of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy” by four of the eight prime contractors. Investigators also cited cases of profiteering, money laundering and kickbacks to Afghan power brokers, government officials and police officers. Six of the companies were found to have been associated with “fraudulent paperwork and behavior.”
“This goes beyond our comprehension,” said Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), who last summer was chairman of a House oversight subcommittee that charged that the military was, in effect, supporting a vast protection racket that paid insurgents and corrupt middlemen to ensure safe passage of the truck convoys that move U.S. military supplies across Afghanistan.
The military summary included several case studies in which money was traced from the U.S. Treasury through a labyrinth of subcontractors and power brokers. In one, investigators followed a $7.4 million payment to one of the eight companies, which in turn paid a subcontractor, who hired other subcontractors to supply trucks.
The trucking subcontractors then made deposits into an Afghan National Police commander’s account, already swollen with payments from other subcontractors, in exchange for guarantees of safe passage for the convoys.
Intelligence officials traced $3.3 million, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander’s account, that was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash.
A senior U.S. defense official said that a radically revised transport system, replacing the Host Nation Trucking contract when it expires in September, will be announced in a few weeks.
Based on the findings of the investigation, the new contract will expand the number of companies from eight to at least 30 and change the security system for the truck convoys. It will require detailed information on all subcontractors and supervision by military units in the field rather than headquarters-based contracting officers.
In the meantime, interim steps have been taken to improve oversight and accountability within the murky web of companies and individuals involved in the shipment of more than 70 percent of all U.S. military food, fuel, weapons and construction material within Afghanistan, said the official, who was authorized to discuss the issue only on the condition of anonymity.
Sunday, July 24
A year-long military-led investigation has concluded that U.S. taxpayer money has been indirectly funneled to the Taliban under a $2.16 billion transportation contract that the United States has funded in part to promote Afghan businesses.
(Alan note: More taxpayer money being misused by Obama. Wonder what foreign enemy funding he wants to cover with the "extra" $400 BILLION he insistently demands from Congress as part of his deal)
The unreleased investigation provides seemingly definitive evidence that corruption puts U.S. transportation money into enemy hands, a finding consistent with previous inquiries carried out by Congress, other federal agencies and the military. Yet U.S. and Afghan efforts to address the problem have been slow and ineffective, and all eight of the trucking firms involved in the work remain on U.S. payroll. In March, the Pentagon extended the contract for six months.
According to a summary of the investigation results, compiled in May and reviewed by The Washington Post, the military found “documented, credible evidence . . . of involvement in a criminal enterprise or support for the enemy” by four of the eight prime contractors. Investigators also cited cases of profiteering, money laundering and kickbacks to Afghan power brokers, government officials and police officers. Six of the companies were found to have been associated with “fraudulent paperwork and behavior.”
“This goes beyond our comprehension,” said Rep. John F. Tierney (D-Mass.), who last summer was chairman of a House oversight subcommittee that charged that the military was, in effect, supporting a vast protection racket that paid insurgents and corrupt middlemen to ensure safe passage of the truck convoys that move U.S. military supplies across Afghanistan.
The military summary included several case studies in which money was traced from the U.S. Treasury through a labyrinth of subcontractors and power brokers. In one, investigators followed a $7.4 million payment to one of the eight companies, which in turn paid a subcontractor, who hired other subcontractors to supply trucks.
The trucking subcontractors then made deposits into an Afghan National Police commander’s account, already swollen with payments from other subcontractors, in exchange for guarantees of safe passage for the convoys.
Intelligence officials traced $3.3 million, withdrawn in 27 transactions from the commander’s account, that was transferred to insurgents in the form of weapons, explosives and cash.
A senior U.S. defense official said that a radically revised transport system, replacing the Host Nation Trucking contract when it expires in September, will be announced in a few weeks.
Based on the findings of the investigation, the new contract will expand the number of companies from eight to at least 30 and change the security system for the truck convoys. It will require detailed information on all subcontractors and supervision by military units in the field rather than headquarters-based contracting officers.
In the meantime, interim steps have been taken to improve oversight and accountability within the murky web of companies and individuals involved in the shipment of more than 70 percent of all U.S. military food, fuel, weapons and construction material within Afghanistan, said the official, who was authorized to discuss the issue only on the condition of anonymity.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
HAWAII - OBAMA'S SAMPLE OF HIS NATIONAL WELFARE STATE PLANS
Tent Cities Or On The Streets
By Michael Snyder - HawaiiNewsDaily
Economic despair is beginning to spread rapidly in America.
As you read this, there are millions of American families that are just barely hanging on by their fingernails. For a growing number of Americans, it has become an all-out battle just to be able to afford to sleep under a roof and put a little bit of food on the table.
Sadly, there are more people than ever that are losing that battle.
Tonight, tens of thousands of formerly middle class Americans will be sleeping in their cars, even though that is illegal in many U.S. cities.
Tens of thousands of others will be sleeping in tent cities or on the streets.
Meanwhile, communities all over America are passing measures that are meant to push tent cities and homeless people out of their areas. It turns out that once you lose your job and your home in this country you become something of an outcast.
Sadly, the number of “outcasts” is going to continue to grow as the U.S. economy continues to collapse.
Most Americans that end up living in their cars on in tent cities never thought that it would happen to them.
Alan Note: NOT because of the debt ceiling but because moron Obama, who has never even run a lemonade stand and understands NOTHING about finance or economics has spent us into penury and fiscal slavery - to him as the slavemaster!
An article in Der Spiegel profiled one American couple that is absolutely shocked at what has happened to them….
Chanelle Sabedra is already on that road. She and her husband have been sleeping in their car for almost three weeks now. “We never saw this coming, never ever,” says Sabedra. She starts to cry. “I’m an adult, I can take care of myself one way or another, and same with my husband, but (my kids are) too little to go through these things.” She has three children; they are nine, five and three years old.
“We had a house further south, in San Bernardino,” says Sabedra. Her husband lost his job building prefab houses in July 2009. The utility company turned off the gas. “We were boiling water on the barbeque to bathe our kids,” she says. No longer able to pay the rent, the Sabedras were evicted from their house in August.
How would you feel if you had a 3-year old kid and a 5-year old kid and you were sleeping in a car?
Sadly, if child protective services finds out about that family those kids will probably be stolen away and never returned.
America is becoming a very cruel place.
Unfortunately, what has happened to that family is not an isolated incident. As rampant unemployment has spread across America, the number of people that have lost their homes has soared.
Today, it is estimated that approximately a third of the homeless population in Seattle live in their cars.
It is even happening to my readers. A reader named JD left the following comment on one of my articles a while back….
I was laid off from my construction job almost 2 yrs ago was on "unenjoyment" for over a year, they cut me off last september so i lost my apartment. Since then ive been couch surfing and hotel hopping. Now i occaisonally sleep in my car. I was lucky enough to have a friend with a lawn care business so i can at least put ever increasing gas in my car\house. I hate to say it but i think we will see hoovervilles in the major cities soon. When the welfare & food stamps & all the other govt. programs end the anarchy begins.
Desperation is rising all over America. Most people had hoped to see an economic recovery by now but it just hasn’t happened.
The phenomenon of Americans living in their cars has become so prominent that even Time Magazine has done a story about it….
For people who cannot afford rent, a car is the last rung of dignity and sanity above the despair of the streets. A home on wheels is a classic American affair, from the wagon train to the RV.
Now, for some formerly upwardly mobile Americans, the economic storm has turned the backseat or the rear of the van into the bedroom. “We found six people sleeping in their cars on an overnight police ride-along in December,” says John Edmund, chief of staff to Long Beach councilman Dee Andrews. “One was a widow living in a four-door sedan. She and her husband had been Air Force veterans. She did not know about the agencies that could help her. I had tears in my eyes afterwards.”
Unfortunately, it turns out that sleeping in cars has been made illegal in many areas of the United States.
In many cities, police are putting boots on the cars and when the homeless owners can’t pay the fines the vehicles are being taken away from them.
Venice, California is one place where people have been arrested for living in vehicles. Venice had been a popular spot for people living in their RVs to go, but police started arresting people that were living in RVs and they began towing away their vehicles. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared on the Daily Kos website….
They took Eric while he was changing his battery in his car. Claimed he lived in his car. A few days later they went to 3th Street and took his RV because he was in jail and no one moved it for 72 hours. Saturday they did a sweep of 7th and took Bear and his RV. They also took Elizabeth’s RV but do not know if they took Elizabeth but can not find her. The police went to 6th and took the white RV that always parks by Broadway on 6th. Everyday they take 1 to 4 RVs. Very soon there will be no one left.
Once you are down on your luck in America you will quickly find that authorities will try to take everything else you still have away from you.
The United States can be a very brutal place to be if you are poor.
All over America, communities are making tent cities illegal or they are simply just chasing them away.
It turns out that many Americans really don’t like large numbers of homeless people camping out in their neighborhoods.
But many of those now living in tent cities used to be just like you and me.
What is being done to tent cities in some areas of the country is absolutely disgusting.
For example, who could ever forget this video of police in St. Petersburg, Florida using box cutters to slash up the tents of the homeless….
What goes through your mind when you watch something like that?
If you don’t feel at least a little bit of compassion for those people then something is wrong.
You never know – you might be the next one forced to take refuge in a tent city.
In many U.S. cities, it is even illegal to sleep on the street. If you are homeless I am not sure what you are supposed to do. In some areas of the U.S. you can’t sleep in your car, you can’t sleep in a tent city and you can’t sleep on the street.
So what should we do with all of the Americans that are being forced out of their homes by this economy?
Should we just round them all up and put them into fenced camps?
Don’t laugh – we are getting closer to that kind of thing every day.
We live in very frightening times.
Poverty is absolutely exploding in America. The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006. There are 44 million Americans on food stamps. If it was not for measures like these, the streets of America would be filled with destitute people.
Things are tough out there and they are about to get tougher.
At the beginning of next year, the extended unemployment benefits that have been helping the unemployed during this economic downturn will expire. Up to now, many unemployed Americans have been able to enjoy up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. Now that is coming to an end.
According to the New York Times, this is going to drain 37 billion dollars out of the wallets of unemployed Americans that are just barely hanging on.
What in the world is that going to do to the economy?
This all comes at a time when it looks like unemployment is going to start rising once again.
Cisco has just announced that they are going to be laying off 10,000 workers. Other large firms are expected to announce more layoffs shortly. The number of good jobs continues to shrink.
There are other signs that the economy is slowing once again. Pre-orders for Christmas toys are way down. Vacancies at U.S. shopping malls are rising again. Nearly every major poll shows that Americans are extremely pessimistic about the economy right now.
So why in the world is all of this happening?
Where in the world did all of our jobs go?
Well, it turns out that millions of our jobs have been shipped overseas where the labor is far, far cheaper and it is really starting to catch up with us.
On The American Dream website, I just finished an article entitled “How Globalism Has Destroyed Our Jobs, Businesses And National Wealth In 10 Easy Steps“. It is a 2500 word essay that explains how globalization has absolutely gutted our economy. The article will hopefully help you understand why so many good jobs have left the United States and why they aren’t coming back.
Many of our great cities that used to be the envy of the entire globe are now a bad joke to the rest of the world.
The following is what one reporter from the UK found when he visited one of the worst areas of Detroit….
Occasionally a half-ruined or half-burned house still stands to remind you that this used to be a cityscape. Pathetic, besieged knots of surviving homes remind you of what was once here. Sometimes amazing efforts have been made to keep them smart. More often, they haven’t.
Many bear menacing notices warning visitors to stay away. On the door of one, easy to imagine as a neat home with an iron-pillared porch where the head of the family must once have sat on summer evenings, are the words ‘Enter at ya own risk’ accompanied by a crude drawing of an angry face.
I ventured into a nearby ruin, smashed, charred and half-filled with garbage. You have no idea who or what might be lurking in these houses.
But don’t laugh at Detroit. What is happening in Detroit is coming to your area soon enough.
America is in an advanced state of decay. The number of “outcasts” is going to multiply as more Americans lose their jobs and their homes. Millions more Americans will be sleeping in their cars, in tent cities or on the streets before this is all over.
The U.S. economy is never going to get back to “normal”. What we are living through now is the “new normal” and it is rip-roaring prosperity compared to what is coming.
Please show compassion to the people around you that are hurting right now.
You never know, as the economy continues to unravel it may be you that needs some compassion soon.
AND NO! IT IS OBAMA'S NOT BUSH'S FAULT. In two years he outspent/wasted what Bush spent in EIGHT!
By Michael Snyder - HawaiiNewsDaily
Economic despair is beginning to spread rapidly in America.
As you read this, there are millions of American families that are just barely hanging on by their fingernails. For a growing number of Americans, it has become an all-out battle just to be able to afford to sleep under a roof and put a little bit of food on the table.
Sadly, there are more people than ever that are losing that battle.
Tonight, tens of thousands of formerly middle class Americans will be sleeping in their cars, even though that is illegal in many U.S. cities.
Tens of thousands of others will be sleeping in tent cities or on the streets.
Meanwhile, communities all over America are passing measures that are meant to push tent cities and homeless people out of their areas. It turns out that once you lose your job and your home in this country you become something of an outcast.
Sadly, the number of “outcasts” is going to continue to grow as the U.S. economy continues to collapse.
Most Americans that end up living in their cars on in tent cities never thought that it would happen to them.
Alan Note: NOT because of the debt ceiling but because moron Obama, who has never even run a lemonade stand and understands NOTHING about finance or economics has spent us into penury and fiscal slavery - to him as the slavemaster!
An article in Der Spiegel profiled one American couple that is absolutely shocked at what has happened to them….
Chanelle Sabedra is already on that road. She and her husband have been sleeping in their car for almost three weeks now. “We never saw this coming, never ever,” says Sabedra. She starts to cry. “I’m an adult, I can take care of myself one way or another, and same with my husband, but (my kids are) too little to go through these things.” She has three children; they are nine, five and three years old.
“We had a house further south, in San Bernardino,” says Sabedra. Her husband lost his job building prefab houses in July 2009. The utility company turned off the gas. “We were boiling water on the barbeque to bathe our kids,” she says. No longer able to pay the rent, the Sabedras were evicted from their house in August.
How would you feel if you had a 3-year old kid and a 5-year old kid and you were sleeping in a car?
Sadly, if child protective services finds out about that family those kids will probably be stolen away and never returned.
America is becoming a very cruel place.
Unfortunately, what has happened to that family is not an isolated incident. As rampant unemployment has spread across America, the number of people that have lost their homes has soared.
Today, it is estimated that approximately a third of the homeless population in Seattle live in their cars.
It is even happening to my readers. A reader named JD left the following comment on one of my articles a while back….
I was laid off from my construction job almost 2 yrs ago was on "unenjoyment" for over a year, they cut me off last september so i lost my apartment. Since then ive been couch surfing and hotel hopping. Now i occaisonally sleep in my car. I was lucky enough to have a friend with a lawn care business so i can at least put ever increasing gas in my car\house. I hate to say it but i think we will see hoovervilles in the major cities soon. When the welfare & food stamps & all the other govt. programs end the anarchy begins.
Desperation is rising all over America. Most people had hoped to see an economic recovery by now but it just hasn’t happened.
The phenomenon of Americans living in their cars has become so prominent that even Time Magazine has done a story about it….
For people who cannot afford rent, a car is the last rung of dignity and sanity above the despair of the streets. A home on wheels is a classic American affair, from the wagon train to the RV.
Now, for some formerly upwardly mobile Americans, the economic storm has turned the backseat or the rear of the van into the bedroom. “We found six people sleeping in their cars on an overnight police ride-along in December,” says John Edmund, chief of staff to Long Beach councilman Dee Andrews. “One was a widow living in a four-door sedan. She and her husband had been Air Force veterans. She did not know about the agencies that could help her. I had tears in my eyes afterwards.”
Unfortunately, it turns out that sleeping in cars has been made illegal in many areas of the United States.
In many cities, police are putting boots on the cars and when the homeless owners can’t pay the fines the vehicles are being taken away from them.
Venice, California is one place where people have been arrested for living in vehicles. Venice had been a popular spot for people living in their RVs to go, but police started arresting people that were living in RVs and they began towing away their vehicles. The following is an excerpt from an article that appeared on the Daily Kos website….
They took Eric while he was changing his battery in his car. Claimed he lived in his car. A few days later they went to 3th Street and took his RV because he was in jail and no one moved it for 72 hours. Saturday they did a sweep of 7th and took Bear and his RV. They also took Elizabeth’s RV but do not know if they took Elizabeth but can not find her. The police went to 6th and took the white RV that always parks by Broadway on 6th. Everyday they take 1 to 4 RVs. Very soon there will be no one left.
Once you are down on your luck in America you will quickly find that authorities will try to take everything else you still have away from you.
The United States can be a very brutal place to be if you are poor.
All over America, communities are making tent cities illegal or they are simply just chasing them away.
It turns out that many Americans really don’t like large numbers of homeless people camping out in their neighborhoods.
But many of those now living in tent cities used to be just like you and me.
What is being done to tent cities in some areas of the country is absolutely disgusting.
For example, who could ever forget this video of police in St. Petersburg, Florida using box cutters to slash up the tents of the homeless….
What goes through your mind when you watch something like that?
If you don’t feel at least a little bit of compassion for those people then something is wrong.
You never know – you might be the next one forced to take refuge in a tent city.
In many U.S. cities, it is even illegal to sleep on the street. If you are homeless I am not sure what you are supposed to do. In some areas of the U.S. you can’t sleep in your car, you can’t sleep in a tent city and you can’t sleep on the street.
So what should we do with all of the Americans that are being forced out of their homes by this economy?
Should we just round them all up and put them into fenced camps?
Don’t laugh – we are getting closer to that kind of thing every day.
We live in very frightening times.
Poverty is absolutely exploding in America. The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006. There are 44 million Americans on food stamps. If it was not for measures like these, the streets of America would be filled with destitute people.
Things are tough out there and they are about to get tougher.
At the beginning of next year, the extended unemployment benefits that have been helping the unemployed during this economic downturn will expire. Up to now, many unemployed Americans have been able to enjoy up to 99 weeks of unemployment benefits. Now that is coming to an end.
According to the New York Times, this is going to drain 37 billion dollars out of the wallets of unemployed Americans that are just barely hanging on.
What in the world is that going to do to the economy?
This all comes at a time when it looks like unemployment is going to start rising once again.
Cisco has just announced that they are going to be laying off 10,000 workers. Other large firms are expected to announce more layoffs shortly. The number of good jobs continues to shrink.
There are other signs that the economy is slowing once again. Pre-orders for Christmas toys are way down. Vacancies at U.S. shopping malls are rising again. Nearly every major poll shows that Americans are extremely pessimistic about the economy right now.
So why in the world is all of this happening?
Where in the world did all of our jobs go?
Well, it turns out that millions of our jobs have been shipped overseas where the labor is far, far cheaper and it is really starting to catch up with us.
On The American Dream website, I just finished an article entitled “How Globalism Has Destroyed Our Jobs, Businesses And National Wealth In 10 Easy Steps“. It is a 2500 word essay that explains how globalization has absolutely gutted our economy. The article will hopefully help you understand why so many good jobs have left the United States and why they aren’t coming back.
Many of our great cities that used to be the envy of the entire globe are now a bad joke to the rest of the world.
The following is what one reporter from the UK found when he visited one of the worst areas of Detroit….
Occasionally a half-ruined or half-burned house still stands to remind you that this used to be a cityscape. Pathetic, besieged knots of surviving homes remind you of what was once here. Sometimes amazing efforts have been made to keep them smart. More often, they haven’t.
Many bear menacing notices warning visitors to stay away. On the door of one, easy to imagine as a neat home with an iron-pillared porch where the head of the family must once have sat on summer evenings, are the words ‘Enter at ya own risk’ accompanied by a crude drawing of an angry face.
I ventured into a nearby ruin, smashed, charred and half-filled with garbage. You have no idea who or what might be lurking in these houses.
But don’t laugh at Detroit. What is happening in Detroit is coming to your area soon enough.
America is in an advanced state of decay. The number of “outcasts” is going to multiply as more Americans lose their jobs and their homes. Millions more Americans will be sleeping in their cars, in tent cities or on the streets before this is all over.
The U.S. economy is never going to get back to “normal”. What we are living through now is the “new normal” and it is rip-roaring prosperity compared to what is coming.
Please show compassion to the people around you that are hurting right now.
You never know, as the economy continues to unravel it may be you that needs some compassion soon.
AND NO! IT IS OBAMA'S NOT BUSH'S FAULT. In two years he outspent/wasted what Bush spent in EIGHT!
Friday, June 24, 2011
WE NEED REMINDING HOW CARTER AND NOW OBAMA HELP(ED) TERRORISM AND DESTROY THE FREE WORLD
I FOUND THIS IN A FRIEND'S ARCHIVE AND FEEL IT WORTH REPOSTING
To understand the truth about the late Shah
To understand the truth about the late Shah
and what really happened in Iran in 1979,
one must read this article by Alan Peter,
An expert on security and intelligence matters in Iran.
=================================
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980),
A retrospective on his reign on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his death.
"They revere you in fortune
and trample you in defeat"
(Moliere)
("25 YEARS" DATED AT THE TIME THIS WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN)
Some 25-years ago this summer, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi the Shah of Iran was dying in Cairo. Egypt's President Sadat had offered him his last refuge and helped him escape from a perilous exile in Panama.
Historically, Egypt has been famous for providing shelter - even to those they do not approve - like the family of Yasser Arafart - at the time that Arafat was public enemy #1 in Egypt for inciting the overthrow of Sadat's regime, his wife and children were guarded by Sadat's government bodyguards.
In the case of the Shah, Sadat liked him and the Shah's marriage to former Egyptian King Farouk's sister made him "family", too.
In Panama, the fate of the ailing monarch had hung in the balance for several weeks as shadowy contacts between Panama's strongman, General Torrijos, and emissaries from the Islamic revolution increasingly pointed to a swap deal - the extradition of the Shah against the release the 52 American Embassy hostages in Tehran.
While the Shah's hand-over to Khomeini was seriously contemplated by President Carter, his administration had been drawn into an eerie gambit in Panama of which the hostage end-game was unknown .
The Shah's succumbing to cancer on July 27th, 1980 must have brought a sigh of relief in Washington as indeed in many other capitals burdened by the past courtship for refuge of the Iranian monarch, many of whom had previusly benefitted from his largesses.
Two decades and many sorry events later, some of the intricacies of the Shah's personality and rule still beg scholarly probe.
The majority of Iran's current population has been born after the Shah's demise. His image in their mind, as indeed in the minds of many casual observers abroad, has been shaped through unrelenting distortions of historical facts by Carter and an obliging liberal Media, intent on justifying Carter's decision to remove the Shah.
The younger Iranians deserve an unbiased account of these 37 years in its baffling turns and twists and contradictions. Including that when he left Iran for the last time, the Shah also left behind some $3 Billion of the Pahlavi Foundation funds over which he had total control and relied on some $90 million of his own money, accumulated over many decades, through investments in Europe, one of which was a jewelry business in Switzerland.
To be sure, a distilled account of these years would not completely vindicate the Shah. His handling of the constitution was self-defeating in ways that escaped his political savvy. Yet, at worst, was still aimed to benefit the country not himself. He had all the prestige he needed and required no constitutional short cuts to stroke his ego.
His authoritarian rule, much of it because he could not find "managers" to help run the country honestly and efficiently, carried the seeds of instability and a backward thrust, the prevention of which had served as an alibi to silence dissent. Yet, the surfeit of slander and libel before and after his downfall was largely undeserving.
Few leaders in history have been adulated and demonized in such a frivolous manner. A good illustration of hypes comes from two prominent Americans. On the New Year's Eve of 1978 -- a few short days before the triggering event of the Islamic revolution -- President Carter stunned the US western allies by calling the Shah his most trusted ally and dialogue partner.
Carter's effusive flattery - describing Iran as island of stability - was in opposing symmetry to another hyperbole by Senator Edward Kennedy, who some two years later, at the height of the American Embassy hostage crisis, castigated the Shah for having run "one of the most violent regimes in history of mankind".
Kennedy continues, even today, in his baseless attacks on anything and everything, including his own government and citizens.
Both remarks were clearly calculated to achieve short-term objectives. Carter came to Teheran, desperate to check the soaring price of the crude oil.
Kennedy's remark was timed to optimize the chances of his emissary to Tehran, tasked to obtain from Ayatollah Khomeini a token release of the American hostages.
Kennedy, then seeking to snatch the Democratic presidential nomination from the incumbent Carter, had chosen the former US Senator James Abourezk (of Arab extraction) for this unpublicized mission to Tehran.
Where should the line be drawn? In a mixed bag of achievements and flaws the Shah's balance sheet resembles other modernizing states. Many would grade it superior. What tarnished his image most was his alleged record on human rights and political freedoms, much of which proved in the aftermath to be highly exaggerated.
Detractors state "a silence of a cemetery" to characterize the political arena in Iran during most of the Shah's rule. The ubiquitous security agency SAVAK, created in 1957 with the help of the US through General Teymour Bakhtiar, later a sworn enemy of the Shah, was the instrument of the repression of mostly Communist attacks on the monarchy triggered by the Soviets.
By the seventies, the suppression had spawned violence as groups, sprung from the very edges of the ideological spectrum, resorted to urban guerrilla tactics and acts of terrorism. A vicious circle set in. General Bakhtiar, domiciled in Iraq, was instrumental in sending waves of terrorists into Iran. Terrorists willing to shoot to kill.
For the first time traffic police, who usually had empty holsters or unloaded guns at their waist were issued side arms and bullets. The terrorists robbed banks to fund their operations and for the first time in Iranian history, the robbers shot innocent clerks to make a point.
Then SAVAK blended ruthlessness with incompetence.
It had been effective in dismantling the clandestine structure of Iran's Communist party (Tudeh) but failed to guage the creeping popular discontent, fanned by Marxist groups like the Mojahedin and Fedayeen, still less the coming of the fundamentalist Islamic bane that surprised the Soviets and snatched away their Marxist revolution to place it in clerical hands.
When the crunch finally came in 1978, this colossus fell on its clay feet unable to save its master. A dozen Soviet urban guerilla psychologists, operating from inside the Soviet Embassy in Tehran and calling the shots for anti-Shah operations overwhelmed Iranian intelligence and police autorities, who had no training in how to handle or oppose these attacks.
For instance, they had their Marxist minions knock on people's doors begging for Mercurochrome (a red antiseptic liquid common in Iran) and cotton wool. Ostensibly needed to treat wounded innocents shot by the Shah's forces in such huge numbers that pharmacies no longer had enough of stocks to provide them to these volunteers.
The red Mercurochrome was in fact used to stain the streets and clandestine flyers would then claim the Shah's men had shot innocents nd removed their bodies.
As proof they used another gambit. They collected old shoes - men's, women's, children's of both sexes and threw one shoe of each pair by the hundreds on top of the stains. The flyers would then invite people to witness the amount of deaths by those single shoes that had fallen off the bodies as the Shah's forces allegedly hurriedly removed the victims and left the shoes behind.
The extent of repression was never close to claims recklessly advanced in some quarters, including by such reputable institutions as Amnesty International, which finally concluded in late 1978 that there were less than 2,400 political prisoners in the Shah's jails.
Only this number despite the wide spread Soviet efforts to install their minions and find passage to warm waters providing thousands of candidates. Despite the Bakhtiar terrorists sent in their hundreds, despite the Marxist and Fedayeen in their thousands openly attacking the regime. And the Hezbollah-to-be, pro-Khomeini adherents who disregrded laws and inviting arrest on a daily basis.
No mass graves trailed the Shah when he finally quit the country in January, 1979. No "death caravans" haunted his memory. Tehran produced no equivalent of Buenos Aires's "Plaza de Mayo" where "grandmas" gather every Sunday to reclaim news of their missing children. To be sure the military courts were quick to mete out death sentences. But the practice of royal pardon was abundantly resorted to. The sentences were systematically commuted or annulled.
Some viewed this practice as a gimmick to earn political capital but be it as it may, few now dispute the fact that the Shah was averse to cruelty or execution. He even stayed Khomeini's execution in 1964 at the behest of General Pakrvan, head of SAVAK. In hindsight the gravest, catastrophic mistake possible, which not only later cost Pakravan his life but also Iran's progress into a modern nation instead of a deep well of suffering and pain it is today.
The overall number of executions by the military tribunals, including those occasioned by drug related offenses, after drug smuggling and distribution became a capital offense, were estimated at around 350 cases in a 25-year period. The USA has more than this and Iran currently has close to 200 a year, including teen-agers of both genders, which contravenes all laws and even Iran's own.
Figured among them were a few prisoners of conscience including some twenty-five ring-leaders of the military wing of the Communist party of Iran. Their crime, leading to execution, was to have been mesmerized by Stalinist Russia. The rest of the six hundred communist officers arrested in nineteen fifties - as indeed the bulk of other political prisoners - were rehabilitated, many were co-opted into the Shah's administration.
One of his favorite gambits was to invite dissident leaders into senior government positions and then ask them to do the job better than the person they replaced.
Then chortle when they eventually admitted they were unable to because the system and co-workers were too cumbersome and their staff often sabotaged work or were incompetent and they now understood why their predecessors failed to succeed.
Having experienced the challenges first hand, they usually ended up becoming strong supporters of the Monarch in his efforts to change and modernize the nation.
All in all some 3500 persons were reportedly killed in street unrests or by order of military courts during the Shah's reign, between 1953 to 1979 though little substantiaion exists for such a number.
In one famous incident of Jaleh Square, where claims of 5,000 deaths were made, secret martial law figures later showed only eight had died from bouncing bullets fired into the air to control the crowd and another 30 had been wounded the same way. The square was also not big enough to hold 5,000 people making such a claim even less possible. Over a thousand "unmatching" shoes were found in the square the morning after!
The Geneva based International Committee of Red Cross which visited all Iranian prisons in 1977 in an anti-Shah mission inspired by Carter and his allies, put the number of political prisoners at 3200 while some seventy prisoners were declared unaccounted for.
American liberal democrats, as was the intention, could pretend to be horrified by these figures, moderate though they are in relative terms and could use them to justify the removal of the Shah.
This having been said, there is another facet of human rights in the Pahlavi era which has largely been disregarded in the rush to condemn.
In an average middle class neighborhood in Tehran of the nineteen fifties, for example, a small alley had taken its name after a Jewish doctor, who had been the first to construct a house in that vicinity.
The alley housed an Assyrian Christian family, several Baha'i families, a Zoroastrian family and of course many Moslem households. No hint of bigotry disturbed the serenity of this cultural mosaic. Tolerance or lack of it was a personal matter not a government imposition and for the most part if you lived your life to the fullest but avoided anti-government activity, nobody bothered you.It would be hypocritical to claim that religious minorities were by law on the same footing as Moslems but intolerance was being discouraged and the system moved progressively towards full equality of rights among citizens.
There were differences: minority members could not rise above the rank of Brigadier-General in the military. On the other hand, each ethnic minority had representation in the Majliss (Parliament) and Senate proportionate to their numbers in the overfall population.
A previously unknown historical anecdote cited by a US scholar in a recent book best illustrates the point. It concerns the protection of the Iranian Jews living in the occupied Europe during World War II.
Reich on the false pretence that these citizens, having lived in Iran for over two millennium, had been assimilated in the Persian (Aryan) race. According to the author, the Iranian Government of the time, managed to procure them safe conduct from the authorities of the Third
The status of women is another case in point. Under the Pahlavis Iranian women were brought to the society's mainstream. The mushrooming institutions of higher learning opened their doors to women. Teachers, doctors, lawyers and administrators were trained and fielded in different walks of life, to the very highest levels such as Minister of Education, Member of Parliament and so on.
The right to vote, to seek divorce and be protected from an abusive husband was - to the dismay of the clerics - written into the law - weakening their supersititious and religious hold on the general populace. And creating resentment among them toward the Monarchy.Today, the Iranian women remain one of the vanguards of resistance to scourges of the fundamentalist Mullah rule.
The Bazaar merchants also resented their monopolistic control of imports and exports and general business being extracted from their little bazaar booths, which represented billions of dollars never put back into circulation for the improvement of the economy.
The Shah moved much of this into modern, multinational organizations in uptown Tehran, so the miffed merchants funded the clerics and encouraged them to foment trouble and use religion to attack the monarchy.
Much of the bravura exhibited by the Shah's administration in the seventies, was in the sphere of economy. The exuberance of the double-digit growth was indeed intoxicating. In 1974 - in the wake of a quantum jump in the oil price -- the Shah dismissed the counsel of prudence by experts and decreed an even faster growth. In his complex psyche, many imperatives drove him to go full blast.
One factor was to firm up the throne for Crown Prince Reza but he was equally concerned with his legacy and place in history - should he not disprove those detractors who claimed he did not measure up to the towering figure of his father. Reza Shah the Great, to use his full title, was a stern disciplinarian with a strong will to unify the country and willing to use force to bring Iran's tribal chieftains under Central Government control. A hard act to follow for his diplomat son.
But the economic bullishness did not pay off in the face of the sabotage by the bazaar. The country's weak infrastructure buckled under the weight of imports and the rise in the price of oil resulted in lower consumer demand in world markets.
As the economy wobbled and Carter's human rights agenda aimed like a javelin at the Shah, forced him to make liberalizing gestures, and the tide began to change.
Iranians respect power and strength.The moment he showed a "co-operative" attitude, they turned on him. Egged on by both the funds from the bazaar and the hostile clerics, whose influence had been diminished to almost nothing among a much more modern populace with open ties available to Western life styles and mind sets.
All these were unexpected perks for the disgruntled clerics. The magnetizing effect of the boom had already drawn rural masses to major cities glutting the congregations in mosques. Now the clerics reaped the harvest of fanned discontent, brandishing radical Shiite doctrine both as a challenge and a remedy.
The Shah's "politics of liberalization" had also created its own sliding spiral. To reverse these trends, the Shah should have - but failed - to rally secular political forces to his side.
With the hindsight, it is also fair to say that the rigidity of some of the secular National Front leaders, who could have showed support and not eventually been destroyed themselves by the clerics, was an error of historical scale on their part.
Marxist and libertarian influences also made them into a philosphical, snobbish elite, which could not see the pitfalls of their mindsets relative to increasingly literate but basically uneducated and inexperienced Iranian populace.
To what extent the Shah's judgment had been impaired by the secret diagnosis of lymphatic cancer in 1974 has not been established. Such a link is hard to quantify, all the more so that the Shah had apparently not been told of the exact nature of his illness, until the later years.
Be it as it may, his most serious errors occurred during the ensuing period. It was at this time that the Shah decided on one party rule to prevent the bickering that had ensued in the two party system of Iran Novin and Mardom and to allow very capable men in the minority Mardom party to accept important positions to carry the nation forward. Instead he decreed that the Rastakhiz party would have two "wings" to cover the differing views of the elected parliamenterians.
He replaced the Islamic calendar with an ostentatious imperial calendar in a historical acknowledgement - not of his reign - but that of some 5,000 years of Monarchy in Iran. Anti-Monarchy groups, using any excuse, immediately attacked this as personal grandure.
The Shah had also begun his somewhat fanciful flights on the "Great Civilization." The new royal mindset had the Iranians believe that within a generation or so Iran would rank among the world's industrial elite. Had he been given more time, his investments in key industries in the West, like Krupp steel and internal develoment of essential items like cement plants, nuclear power, etc., could well have made his vision come true. With all the various pieces inside his almost photographic memory he was looking beyond the horizon.
Had a race against the clock already began for the Shah? A wild-west climate of profiteering marked these balmy years. Abusive business practices, including by the Shah's close family and friends, became a hallmark of the laissez-faire policies practiced at overkill scale. Partly because policing or regulating everything in a rapid growth arena with too few people to help him, became too much to handle.
Remember, a country resembles a major corporation and needs competent managers, directors, vice-presidents, senior vice-presidents and staff to run profitably and efficiently. Iran's growth far outstripped the availability of persons who could accept responsiblity with any degree of competence - or sadly - with honesty and not line their own pockets.
The Shah himself could hardly be given a clean bill of health as he brooked corruption in his entourage, yet he was far from the rapacious persona, with a fabulous wealth, which the revolutionary puffery sought to depict. In fact he was a pragmatist. When complaints reached hin that his Minister of Interior had misappropriated some $40 million and should be sacked and thrown in jail, the Shah refused.
He explained that the man had been Minister of Interior for some ten years or so, knew his job well and if he were fired, would spend a few years in prison and then be free to go to Europe and enjoy his plunder.
Instead, the Shah stated, he will be at his desk every morning at six a.m., know that I know everything - and if from nothing else but guilt will do his job for the country better than before.
Which would be preferable to releasing him to go play in Europe with his stolen money, which could probably no longer be found to retrieve it.
During the Embassy hostage crisis, the revolutionary authorities kept no stone unturned to find documentary evidence of financial wrong doings by the Shah. This search was aimed, inter-alia, to substantiate claims in the extradition brief submitted to Panama.
In March 1980, foreign correspondents scrambled for scoops in the jammed conference hall of the Tehran's Central Bank, where President Bani Sadr was to make the Islamic Republic's legal case against the Shah. Scathing revelations were expected.
Yet nothing worth the print could be wired back to editors.The revolutionary authorities had not been able to pin the Shah to any financial irregularity. This was not, however, the case in respect of some of the Shah's close family members.
Interesting to note, however, is that within six months of taking power, the Mullahs had rapaciously transfered funds to private overseas accounts they created for themselves, which exceeded by about ten times the total amount of what the 1,000 elite families of Iran had placed overseas during the last 25-years of the Shah's reign.
Most of the money transfered out of Iran just prior to the revolution was done by trades people. Plumbers, carpenters, construction contractors, builders, electricians etc., who got their money out and quickly left while the Shah was still there.
When the crunch finally came in 1978, the Shah was unprepared and not up to the challenge. He was quick to shed the awe-inspiring mask of the mighty king and meekly looked for advice.
The Anglo & American Ambassadors were solicited most, yet their counsel was tentative and vague, reflecting indecision and discord with their own chancelleries. Others consulted, were an array of retired politicians, social scientists, military leaders and some prominent clerics.
Their advice was too contrasting to allow the Shah to overcome his indecision. In managing the crisis the Shah committed blunders, practicing appeasement from a position of weakness. By the last quarter of 1978, in the face of an astounding quiescence by the Shah, the largely apolitical mass of the urban population, 60% under the age of 25-years and still wet behind the ears politially, swung to insurrectionists' inflammation of them, rendering the trend irreversible.
But to his credit the Shah skirted a bloodbath. Evidence abounds that on this score he had remained steadfast throughout the crisis period. He repeatedly rejected the get-tough advice proffered not only by some of his generals but coming also from some unlikely quarters in the West.
By the year-end the Shah was ready to unclench his hold on power.
Images of his tearful farewell at Mehrabad airport on January 14, 1979 remain haunting memories of a dream turned into a nightmare.
In a grisly act of disappointment, the Shah left behind in detention his loyal and highly refined Prime Minister of 13-years, Amir Abbas Hoveyda. The ex-Premier was summarily executed by the revolution's hanging judge, Mullah Khalkhali, shortly thereafter.
With the Shah's departure, Iran sank into the darkness of the Middle Ages. A reign of terror, of which he had presciently warned the nation, set in. The first public act of Khomeini, when he took over the reins of power in February 1979, was to abolish women's right to sit in as a judge in a court of law.
He initially dissolved the Ministry of Justice, stating that anyone against him was against Allah and should be killed where they stood - with no need for a trial or other justice system.
That presaged the calamities and blood-letting that were to follow.Perhaps no ruler in history like the Shah has benefited from a postmortem redemption, due not to any re-appraisal of his balance sheet but the misdeeds and brutal excesses of those who succeeded him in power. Far above and beyond anything of which he could have been accused even by his most biased opponents.
A case study would support a theory that the value accorded to any given regime should be measured in light of its inevitable successor and the ability of the latter to improve conditions and ills of which they accused the predecessors.
As they ask in American politics, are you better off now? Iranians would certainly say "no".
Year 2565, Shahanshahi,Irani Parsi, (Persian).
His Late Majesty, Shahanshah of Iran.
The benevolent Father of modern Iran
& a patriot betrayed by the free world.
May God Bless His Soul.
The late Shah's hand of friendship was extended to all nations.
With an exception of Libya and Cuba, most leaders of the world
benefited from their association with His Majesty's Government.
But at the time of need, only President Sadat showed courage
and decency but no one else.
Sadat - friend in need, friend indeed.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
WHAT’S "DOWN" WITH THE SUN?
MAJOR DROP IN SOLAR ACTIVITY PREDICTED - ICE AGE INSTEAD OF GLOBAL WARMING?
Read the full article with graphics and conflicting comments at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2735391/posts
Read the full article with graphics and conflicting comments at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2735391/posts
Saturday, June 11, 2011
CHINA PLANNING SELF-SUSTAINING CHINA OWNED CITIES IN THE USA
China Wants To Construct A 50 Square Mile Self-Sustaining City South Of Boise, Idaho
Thanks to the trillions of dollars that the Chinese have made flooding our shores with cheap products, China is now in a position of tremendous economic power.
So what is China going to do with all of that money?
One thing that they have decided to do is to buy up pieces of the United States and set up "special economic zones" inside our country from which they can continue to extend their economic domination.
One of these "special economic zones" would be just south of Boise, Idaho and the Idaho government is eager to give it to them.
China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach for short) plans to construct a "technology zone" south of Boise Airport which would ultimately be up to 50 square miles in size. The Chinese Communist Party is the majority owner of Sinomach, so the 10,000 to 30,000 acre "self-sustaining city" that is being planned would essentially belong to the Chinese government.
The planned "self-sustaining city" in Idaho would include manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail centers and large numbers of homes for Chinese workers. Basically it would be a slice of communist China dropped right into the middle of the United States.
According to the Idaho Statesman, the idea would be to build a self-contained city with all services included. It would be modeled after the "special economic zones" that currently exist in China.
Perhaps the most famous of these "special economic zones" is Shenzhen. Back in the 1970s, Shenzhen was just a very small fishing village. Today it is a sprawling metropolis of over 14 million people.
If the Chinese have their way, we will soon be seeing these "special economic zones" pop up all over the United States.
So exactly who is "Sinomach"?
The following description of the company comes directly from the website of Sinomach....
With approval of the State Council, China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMACH) was established in January 1997. SINO-MACH is a large scale, state-owned enterprise group under the supervision of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
As you can see, Sinomach is basically an arm of the Chinese government.
The borrower is always the servant of the lender, and now China is buying up America.
The reality is that Sinomach is not looking only at Idaho. Sinomach is in discussions to develop "special economic zones" all over the United States. (THANK YOU OBAMA!)
Sinomach has recently dispatched delegations to Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania to explore the possibility of establishing "special economic zones" in those states.
Will such "self-contained communities" soon start appearing from coast to coast?
According to Dr. Jerome Corsi, the U.S. government has already set up 257 "foreign trade zones" across America.
These "foreign trade zones" will apparently be given "special U.S. customs treatment" and will be used to promote global free trade.
"The FTZs tend to be located near airports, with easy access into the continental NAFTA and WTO multi-modal transportation systems being created to move free-trade goods cheaply, quickly and efficiently throughout the continent of North America."
So what do our politicians think about all of this?
Most of them are greatly in favor of it.
"Idaho’s the last state that should say we don’t want to do business with Asia," Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little said last year. "Asia’s where the money is."
So will all of this "foreign investment" really bring jobs back to the American people?
Alan Note: FTZ's will handle FOREIGN goods, manufactured overseas and imported! Not a way to bring jobs back to the USA.
Perhaps a few, but the truth is that these "special economic zones" that the Chinese are setting up are designed to be self-contained communist Chinese communities. Some Americans will likely be employed in these areas, but not nearly as many as our politicians would have you to believe.
In addition, these "special economic zones" represent a massive national security threat. The communist Chinese could potentially be able to bring in and store massive amounts of military equipment virtually undetected.
In the days of the Cold War, we would have never dreamed of giving the Russians a 50 square mile city in the middle of Idaho.
But today we have become convinced that the communist Chinese want to be our great friends.
The following quote originally appeared in the Idaho Statesman, but has since apparently been taken down....
"The Chinese are looking for a beachhead in the United States," said Idaho Commerce Secretary Don Dietrich. "Idaho is ready to give them one."
Indeed!
If relations between the U.S. and China go south someday, we will deeply regret giving China so many open doors.
The truth is that you can never fully trust the communist Chinese. Their top military officers talk about a coming conflict with the United States all the time. China is extremely interested in North America. In fact, the Chinese and the Mexicans have even been holding talks on military cooperation.
But even if you don't consider the communist Chinese to be a military threat, you should be deeply concerned about the economic implications of what is happening.
Today, tens of millions of Americans are wondering why the economy is so bad.
Well, there are a lot of reasons, but the fact that we have sent China thousands of our factories, millions of our jobs and trillions of dollars of our national wealth is a major contributing factor.
If you do not know the truth about how badly the Chinese economy is wiping the floor with the Americen economy then you need to read this article: "40 Signs The Chinese Economy Is Beating The Living Daylights Out Of The U.S. Economy".
Beautiful new infrastructure is going up all over China today, and meanwhile many of our once great manufacturing cities are turning into rotted-out war zones.
China would not be what they are today if we had insisted that they abandon the communist system and respect basic human rights before we ever opened up trade with them.
But that did not happen. Instead we enthusiastically welcomed China into the WTO and we let the predatory Chinese system run wild.
In 2010, China had a "current account balance" of over 272 billion dollars, which was the largest in the world.
In 2010, the United States had a "current account balance" of negative 561 billion dollars. According to the CIA world factbook, that put us in last place in the entire world. In fact, our negative current account balance was more than 9 times larger than anyone else in the world. If you go check out this chart it will give you a really good idea of how nightmarish our trade situation has become.
The world is changing and nothing is ever going to be the same again.
Just ask the residents of Boise, Idaho - they are about to have a 50 square mile self-contained communist Chinese city plopped right into their backyard.
Thanks to the trillions of dollars that the Chinese have made flooding our shores with cheap products, China is now in a position of tremendous economic power.
So what is China going to do with all of that money?
One thing that they have decided to do is to buy up pieces of the United States and set up "special economic zones" inside our country from which they can continue to extend their economic domination.
One of these "special economic zones" would be just south of Boise, Idaho and the Idaho government is eager to give it to them.
China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach for short) plans to construct a "technology zone" south of Boise Airport which would ultimately be up to 50 square miles in size. The Chinese Communist Party is the majority owner of Sinomach, so the 10,000 to 30,000 acre "self-sustaining city" that is being planned would essentially belong to the Chinese government.
The planned "self-sustaining city" in Idaho would include manufacturing facilities, warehouses, retail centers and large numbers of homes for Chinese workers. Basically it would be a slice of communist China dropped right into the middle of the United States.
According to the Idaho Statesman, the idea would be to build a self-contained city with all services included. It would be modeled after the "special economic zones" that currently exist in China.
Perhaps the most famous of these "special economic zones" is Shenzhen. Back in the 1970s, Shenzhen was just a very small fishing village. Today it is a sprawling metropolis of over 14 million people.
If the Chinese have their way, we will soon be seeing these "special economic zones" pop up all over the United States.
So exactly who is "Sinomach"?
The following description of the company comes directly from the website of Sinomach....
With approval of the State Council, China National Machinery Industry Corporation (SINOMACH) was established in January 1997. SINO-MACH is a large scale, state-owned enterprise group under the supervision of the State Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
As you can see, Sinomach is basically an arm of the Chinese government.
The borrower is always the servant of the lender, and now China is buying up America.
The reality is that Sinomach is not looking only at Idaho. Sinomach is in discussions to develop "special economic zones" all over the United States. (THANK YOU OBAMA!)
Sinomach has recently dispatched delegations to Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania to explore the possibility of establishing "special economic zones" in those states.
Will such "self-contained communities" soon start appearing from coast to coast?
According to Dr. Jerome Corsi, the U.S. government has already set up 257 "foreign trade zones" across America.
These "foreign trade zones" will apparently be given "special U.S. customs treatment" and will be used to promote global free trade.
"The FTZs tend to be located near airports, with easy access into the continental NAFTA and WTO multi-modal transportation systems being created to move free-trade goods cheaply, quickly and efficiently throughout the continent of North America."
So what do our politicians think about all of this?
Most of them are greatly in favor of it.
"Idaho’s the last state that should say we don’t want to do business with Asia," Idaho Lt. Gov. Brad Little said last year. "Asia’s where the money is."
So will all of this "foreign investment" really bring jobs back to the American people?
Alan Note: FTZ's will handle FOREIGN goods, manufactured overseas and imported! Not a way to bring jobs back to the USA.
Perhaps a few, but the truth is that these "special economic zones" that the Chinese are setting up are designed to be self-contained communist Chinese communities. Some Americans will likely be employed in these areas, but not nearly as many as our politicians would have you to believe.
In addition, these "special economic zones" represent a massive national security threat. The communist Chinese could potentially be able to bring in and store massive amounts of military equipment virtually undetected.
In the days of the Cold War, we would have never dreamed of giving the Russians a 50 square mile city in the middle of Idaho.
But today we have become convinced that the communist Chinese want to be our great friends.
The following quote originally appeared in the Idaho Statesman, but has since apparently been taken down....
"The Chinese are looking for a beachhead in the United States," said Idaho Commerce Secretary Don Dietrich. "Idaho is ready to give them one."
Indeed!
If relations between the U.S. and China go south someday, we will deeply regret giving China so many open doors.
The truth is that you can never fully trust the communist Chinese. Their top military officers talk about a coming conflict with the United States all the time. China is extremely interested in North America. In fact, the Chinese and the Mexicans have even been holding talks on military cooperation.
But even if you don't consider the communist Chinese to be a military threat, you should be deeply concerned about the economic implications of what is happening.
Today, tens of millions of Americans are wondering why the economy is so bad.
Well, there are a lot of reasons, but the fact that we have sent China thousands of our factories, millions of our jobs and trillions of dollars of our national wealth is a major contributing factor.
If you do not know the truth about how badly the Chinese economy is wiping the floor with the Americen economy then you need to read this article: "40 Signs The Chinese Economy Is Beating The Living Daylights Out Of The U.S. Economy".
Beautiful new infrastructure is going up all over China today, and meanwhile many of our once great manufacturing cities are turning into rotted-out war zones.
China would not be what they are today if we had insisted that they abandon the communist system and respect basic human rights before we ever opened up trade with them.
But that did not happen. Instead we enthusiastically welcomed China into the WTO and we let the predatory Chinese system run wild.
In 2010, China had a "current account balance" of over 272 billion dollars, which was the largest in the world.
In 2010, the United States had a "current account balance" of negative 561 billion dollars. According to the CIA world factbook, that put us in last place in the entire world. In fact, our negative current account balance was more than 9 times larger than anyone else in the world. If you go check out this chart it will give you a really good idea of how nightmarish our trade situation has become.
The world is changing and nothing is ever going to be the same again.
Just ask the residents of Boise, Idaho - they are about to have a 50 square mile self-contained communist Chinese city plopped right into their backyard.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
IRAN RELATED WEEKEND READ
Iran: The fight at the top heats up
Al-Arabiya - 19 hours ago
For Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that has become the question. Not long ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad was regarded as the most powerful of the five ...
http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2011/06/03/151726.html
Khamenei calls for unity among conservatives
AFP - 4 hours ago
TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader called on the ruling conservatives to end their ... Iran has not recognised Israel since the 1979 Islamic revolution and ...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jb_oc5ZUbLJ2exXLgkCF22rtc3xQ%3FdocId%3DCNG.4110b3e99956903bdf5fbd9d268ff9c0.4d1
Why sanctions against Iran won’t work
Salon - 42 minutes ago
To the surprise of few, new Iran sanctions legislation was recently introduced in the House and Senate, shortly before this year’s AIPAC ...
http://www.salon.com/news/iran/%3Fstory%3D/politics/war_room/2011/06/04/iran_sanctions - 5 related articles
Russia Favors Curbs on Iran Sanctions
Global Security Newswire - 23 hours ago
Governments should propose dialing back economic penalties against Iran in an effort to address a long-running dispute over the Middle Eastern nation’s ...
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110603_5467.php
Increasing Pressure On Iran
Voice of America - 1 day ago
The United States has imposed sanctions on seven foreign companies for activities in support of Iran’s energy sector, and on sixteen companies and ...
http://www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/Increasing-Pressure-On-Iran-123043993.html
OPEC to Consider Oil Output Increase
Wall Street Journal - 34 minutes ago
Key OPEC officials said the group is likely to raise its oil-output ceiling, but open criticism from Iran sets the stage ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576365411157281014.html
Iran to continue crude supply despite payment issues: MRPL
Business Standard - 1 day ago
“We are the largest crude importers from Iran. Last year, we had taken close to 7.5 million tonnes and this year also we would be taking a similar range. ...
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/iran-to-continue-crude-supply-despite-payment-issues-mrpl/137421/on
Venezuela-Iran ties go beyond the oil issue
El Universal - 22 hours ago
And, they underscored, “Venezuela will sell oil whomever it feels right to,” including Iran, also a Member State of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting ...
http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/06/03/venezuela-iran-ties-go-beyond-the-oil-issue.shtml
Iran says foreign forces cause of Afghanistan instability
Xinhua - 1 day ago
Speaking at a meeting with the United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, in Tehran on Wednesday, Fathollahi said, “Iran has always supported ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/02/c_13908116.htm
Analysis: Saudi rulers aid allies against Iran, Arab revolts
Reuters - 2 days ago
Saudi Arabia shares US fears that Iran wants nuclear arms and has struggled to adjust to rising Iranian regional influence since the 2003 US-led invasion of ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-saudi-mideast-idUSTRE7512LP20110602
Syrian protesters turn on Iran and Hezbollah
FRANCE 24 - 6 hours ago
Videos of recent protests in Syria show demonstrators chanting slogans against Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s Islamic revolution, ...
http://observers.france24.com/content/20110603-angry-syrian-protesters-turn-iran-hezbollah
Khameini: Iran backs Arab uprisings unless pro-US
Jerusalem Post - 5 hours ago
By REUTERS TEHRAN - Iran backs all Muslim uprisings except those stirred up by Washington, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday, ...
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx%3Fid%3D223563
Iranian Dissidents Outraged at Death of Female Activist, While ...
Fox News - 12 hours ago
Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said, “The shameful actions of government thugs in this incident reveal a deep contempt ...
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/03/iranian-dissidents-outraged-at-death-female-activist-while-others-faces-charges/
Evidence grows Iran aiding Syria’s Assad
UPI.com - 2 days ago
CAIRO, June 2 (UPI) — Evidence is growing that Iran is helping the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, Tehran’s key Arab ally, to suppress a ...
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/06/02/Evidence-grows-Iran-aiding-Syrias-Assad/UPI-72061307024479/
Assad Rampage in Syria
Pajamas Media - 12 hours ago
Demonstrators burned flags of Iran and China. The Obama administration continues to do little or nothing. 1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is ...
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/03/assad-rampage-in-syria/
Iran defence minister forced to leave Bolivia over 1994 Argentina ...
Telegraph.co.uk - 3 days ago
Iran’s defence minister was forced to leave Bolivia during a diplomatic trip after Argentina demanded his arrest in connection with the deadly 1994 bombing ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/bolivia/8550445/Iran-defence-minister-forced-to-leave-Bolivia-over-1994-Argentina-bombing.html
Al-Arabiya - 19 hours ago
For Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that has become the question. Not long ago, Mr. Ahmadinejad was regarded as the most powerful of the five ...
http://english.alarabiya.net/views/2011/06/03/151726.html
Khamenei calls for unity among conservatives
AFP - 4 hours ago
TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader called on the ruling conservatives to end their ... Iran has not recognised Israel since the 1979 Islamic revolution and ...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jb_oc5ZUbLJ2exXLgkCF22rtc3xQ%3FdocId%3DCNG.4110b3e99956903bdf5fbd9d268ff9c0.4d1
Why sanctions against Iran won’t work
Salon - 42 minutes ago
To the surprise of few, new Iran sanctions legislation was recently introduced in the House and Senate, shortly before this year’s AIPAC ...
http://www.salon.com/news/iran/%3Fstory%3D/politics/war_room/2011/06/04/iran_sanctions - 5 related articles
Russia Favors Curbs on Iran Sanctions
Global Security Newswire - 23 hours ago
Governments should propose dialing back economic penalties against Iran in an effort to address a long-running dispute over the Middle Eastern nation’s ...
http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20110603_5467.php
Increasing Pressure On Iran
Voice of America - 1 day ago
The United States has imposed sanctions on seven foreign companies for activities in support of Iran’s energy sector, and on sixteen companies and ...
http://www.voanews.com/policy/editorials/Increasing-Pressure-On-Iran-123043993.html
OPEC to Consider Oil Output Increase
Wall Street Journal - 34 minutes ago
Key OPEC officials said the group is likely to raise its oil-output ceiling, but open criticism from Iran sets the stage ...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576365411157281014.html
Iran to continue crude supply despite payment issues: MRPL
Business Standard - 1 day ago
“We are the largest crude importers from Iran. Last year, we had taken close to 7.5 million tonnes and this year also we would be taking a similar range. ...
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/iran-to-continue-crude-supply-despite-payment-issues-mrpl/137421/on
Venezuela-Iran ties go beyond the oil issue
El Universal - 22 hours ago
And, they underscored, “Venezuela will sell oil whomever it feels right to,” including Iran, also a Member State of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting ...
http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/06/03/venezuela-iran-ties-go-beyond-the-oil-issue.shtml
Iran says foreign forces cause of Afghanistan instability
Xinhua - 1 day ago
Speaking at a meeting with the United Nations envoy to Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, in Tehran on Wednesday, Fathollahi said, “Iran has always supported ...
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-06/02/c_13908116.htm
Analysis: Saudi rulers aid allies against Iran, Arab revolts
Reuters - 2 days ago
Saudi Arabia shares US fears that Iran wants nuclear arms and has struggled to adjust to rising Iranian regional influence since the 2003 US-led invasion of ...
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/02/us-saudi-mideast-idUSTRE7512LP20110602
Syrian protesters turn on Iran and Hezbollah
FRANCE 24 - 6 hours ago
Videos of recent protests in Syria show demonstrators chanting slogans against Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran’s Islamic revolution, ...
http://observers.france24.com/content/20110603-angry-syrian-protesters-turn-iran-hezbollah
Khameini: Iran backs Arab uprisings unless pro-US
Jerusalem Post - 5 hours ago
By REUTERS TEHRAN - Iran backs all Muslim uprisings except those stirred up by Washington, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday, ...
http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx%3Fid%3D223563
Iranian Dissidents Outraged at Death of Female Activist, While ...
Fox News - 12 hours ago
Hadi Ghaemi of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran said, “The shameful actions of government thugs in this incident reveal a deep contempt ...
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/06/03/iranian-dissidents-outraged-at-death-female-activist-while-others-faces-charges/
Evidence grows Iran aiding Syria’s Assad
UPI.com - 2 days ago
CAIRO, June 2 (UPI) — Evidence is growing that Iran is helping the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, Tehran’s key Arab ally, to suppress a ...
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/06/02/Evidence-grows-Iran-aiding-Syrias-Assad/UPI-72061307024479/
Assad Rampage in Syria
Pajamas Media - 12 hours ago
Demonstrators burned flags of Iran and China. The Obama administration continues to do little or nothing. 1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is ...
http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/06/03/assad-rampage-in-syria/
Iran defence minister forced to leave Bolivia over 1994 Argentina ...
Telegraph.co.uk - 3 days ago
Iran’s defence minister was forced to leave Bolivia during a diplomatic trip after Argentina demanded his arrest in connection with the deadly 1994 bombing ...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/southamerica/bolivia/8550445/Iran-defence-minister-forced-to-leave-Bolivia-over-1994-Argentina-bombing.html
Thursday, June 2, 2011
15 MORE KILLED IN SYRIA
Syria: Attack on Central Town of Rastan Kills 15
June 2, 2011
Syrian government troops have heavily bombarded Rastan, near Homs, in the centre of the country, killing at least 15 people, activists say.
More than 50 people have been killed in Rastan since a military operation there started at the weekend, reports say.
The offensive comes despite an amnesty offer by President Bashar al-Assad's government and the release of hundreds of detainees.
The initiatives have been dismissed by Syrian opposition groups.
The opposition groups, which are meeting in Antalya in neighbouring Turkey, say the Syrian government's concessions have come too late, correspondents say.
The groups are working on what they hope will be a roadmap for peaceful transition.
The Local Co-ordinating Committee, which helps to organise and document the country's protests, gave the names of the people it said were killed in Rastan in the latest artillery and tank bombardments.
The committee said the offensive had hit at least two mosques and a bakery, as well as houses that collapsed, killing entire families.
Eyewitnesses told BBC Arabic that army and security forces are not able to take control the town, even though it has been surrounded by tanks over the past few days.
Detainees released.
Following the announcement on Tuesday of a conditional amnesty, hundreds of detainees have been released.
More seem to be on the way, although it is not clear if the authorities intend to free all the 10,000 or more people they are believed to have detained in the past 10 weeks and the thousands already in jail before that, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.
The authorities have announced the formation of a high-level commission to oversee a proposed national dialogue aimed at stabilising the situation.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against President Assad began in March, activists say.
Reports from Syria are hard to verify independently, as foreign journalists are not allowed into the country.
June 2, 2011
Syrian government troops have heavily bombarded Rastan, near Homs, in the centre of the country, killing at least 15 people, activists say.
More than 50 people have been killed in Rastan since a military operation there started at the weekend, reports say.
The offensive comes despite an amnesty offer by President Bashar al-Assad's government and the release of hundreds of detainees.
The initiatives have been dismissed by Syrian opposition groups.
The opposition groups, which are meeting in Antalya in neighbouring Turkey, say the Syrian government's concessions have come too late, correspondents say.
The groups are working on what they hope will be a roadmap for peaceful transition.
The Local Co-ordinating Committee, which helps to organise and document the country's protests, gave the names of the people it said were killed in Rastan in the latest artillery and tank bombardments.
The committee said the offensive had hit at least two mosques and a bakery, as well as houses that collapsed, killing entire families.
Eyewitnesses told BBC Arabic that army and security forces are not able to take control the town, even though it has been surrounded by tanks over the past few days.
Detainees released.
Following the announcement on Tuesday of a conditional amnesty, hundreds of detainees have been released.
More seem to be on the way, although it is not clear if the authorities intend to free all the 10,000 or more people they are believed to have detained in the past 10 weeks and the thousands already in jail before that, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut.
The authorities have announced the formation of a high-level commission to oversee a proposed national dialogue aimed at stabilising the situation.
More than 1,000 people have been killed in Syria since an uprising against President Assad began in March, activists say.
Reports from Syria are hard to verify independently, as foreign journalists are not allowed into the country.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
VENICE MOSQUES
NO Mosques In Venice
The Italian government did not allow any mosques to be built in Venice , and ...
Because there are no mosques in Venice , the Government has allowed the Italian Muslims to pray in the streets as they do in France
The Italian government did not allow any mosques to be built in Venice , and ...
Because there are no mosques in Venice , the Government has allowed the Italian Muslims to pray in the streets as they do in France
So far only 543 have drowned.
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