Sunday, January 12, 2003

News Feed 20121021

Financial Crisis
»Another Obama-Funded Company Files for Bankruptcy: A123 Systems
 
USA
»Insulting the Prophet of Islam
»Message to the Tea Party
»Obama’s Last Stand
»Student Compares Toilet Water to Ice at Fast Food Joints, With Disturbing Results
»What’s the Problem With Obama’s Response to Benghazi?
»While America Slept, The Friends of Sharia Advanced
 
Europe and the EU
»France: Racism Watchdogs Seek Action After Mosque Stormed
»In France: Tensions Flare Over Proposed Sale of Church to Muslim Group
»Italy: Provincial Councillor Arrested in ‘Farm-Worker Fraud’
»Italy: Roma Camp Raided in Vicenza
»Italy: ‘Govt OKs Early Lombardy Elections’ After Corruption Scandal
»Italy: Public Funds Probe for Bolzano Provincial President
»Italy: Swiss Police Arrest Finmeccanica Man for ‘Money-Laundering’
»Most Voters Want Britain to Leave EU: Support for Pulling Out at Highest Level for 30 Years
»UK: Ex-Boyfriend Attacked Blackburn Girl’s Eyes
»UK: Jimmy Savile: Questions for Edwina Currie and the BBC
 
Balkans
»Bosnia’s New Grand Mufti to Promote Tolerance
 
North Africa
»Clashes in Libya: 26 Die in Bani Walid and 200 Are Injured
»Egyptians Turning Toward Iran, Want Nuclear Weapons
»Tunisia: Survey: Ennahdha Threatened by Nidaa Tounes Party
 
Israel and the Palestinians
»David’s Sling; Is it Broken?
 
Middle East
»An Electromagnetic Pulse Attack — The ‘Other’ Iranian Nuclear Threat
»Christian Arabs Targeted Throughout the Middle East
»Security Forces Foil ‘9/11 the Second’ Al-Qaeda Terrorist Plot to Kill Thousands With Suicide Attacks on Shopping Centres in Jordan
»U. S. Offers 12 Million Dollars for Two Al-Qaeda Backers
 
Caucasus
»Russian Troops Kill 49 Militants in the Caucasus
»Russian Forces Take Few Prisoners in Security Sweep
 
South Asia
»Ambush to Militaries in South Thailand, At Least 2 Killed
 
Far East
»Japan: Scientist Warns of Massive Eruption Chaos
 
Australia — Pacific
»GM Wheat May Damage Human Genetics Permanently
 
Culture Wars
»New World Order Education: Useful Engines in the “One World Schoolhouse”
 
General
»‘Lily of the Mohawks’ And Six Other Saints Named

Financial Crisis

Another Obama-Funded Company Files for Bankruptcy: A123 Systems

A123 Systems, a producer of batteries for electric vehicles, filed for bankruptcy on October 16, after being awarded $249 million in federal grant money from the Obama Administration to jump start a domestic battery industry for President Obama’s “one million electric vehicles by 2015” program. A123 Systems was considered to be a promising grant recipient by the Department of Energy (DOE) under its $2 billion stimulus program for electric car development. The company received about $132 million of the grant before filing for bankruptcy. Besides federal money, A123 Systems received a $9 million grant from the state of Michigan, as well as $100 million in tax credits and $41 million in tax breaks and subsidies.(ii) Ener1, another battery manufacturer, went bankrupt in January having received about half of the $118.5 million in grants approved by the Energy Department. (iii)

The total is now 20 companies that the Obama Administration has provided taxpayer funds to that are either bankrupt or in distress in the Administration’s quest to push technologies upon the American public that are uneconomic.(iv)

[…]

Now, A123 Systems intends to sell its 2 factories and equity interest in battery facilities in China to Johnson Controls, another American battery producer that is based in Wisconsin and that has also benefited from a federal grant totaling $299 million for an electric-car battery project. (Johnson Controls has used about $123 million of that grant so far.) Johnson Controls has already heavily invested in China battery production, and planned to produce 30 million batteries annually at its Chinese factories prior to the A123 deal.(viii)

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

USA

Insulting the Prophet of Islam

“The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” — Barack Obama

This column may not be very long but I want to describe to you what this fool, Barack Obama, is saying. Barack Obama has stated that he is a Christian. A Christian will never honor the so-called prophet of cult that demands the destruction of Israel. A Christian would never cancel the White House’s celebration of the Day of Prayer yet hold a celebration for a muslim holiday. From Obama’s own book, Audacity of My Father, he stated: ‘I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.’ He supports the Muslim Brotherhood and ignores the fact that the ‘Brotherhood’ continually murders the Christians that live in Egypt, Libya and all other muslim nations.

Think about his statement, “The future does not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam”. A Jew that simply exists is offensive to a muslim. Making the statement that Jesus is the Son of God is slander to a muslim. Saying that Jesus is the only way heaven, John 14:6, is offensive to a muslim.

[…]

This president appeases those who hate us. Secretary of State Clinton does the same thing. This is Obama’s administration and all of his ‘çzars’ are marxists, and communists. Here are a few exmples:

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Message to the Tea Party

My message has been that before an enemy can be confronted and defeated, he must first be exposed and identified.

The well organized and well funded liberal domestic enemy within, stealthily oozing from their Trojan Horse like insects from a hive, communicate with each other in secret ambiguous code words, catch phrases, and propaganda slogans, like sustainable, comprehensive, single payer, quantative easing, sequestration, etc., which can mean just about anything to unwary and clueless mainstream real Americans not in their loop of influence.

We have been covertly duped by an Orwellian reverse-logic “newspeak”, or liberal-speak, revisionist language (“war is peace”; “freedom is slavery”; “ignorance is strength” etc.) in which the political and cultural building blocks of our social order are inverted and are now viewed as the diametric opposite of their original meaning and intent.

[…]

Norman Thomas, longtime communist party Presidential candidate, admitted that the American people will never knowingly accept communism under its own banner, but under the guise of liberalism and progressivism, they will unwittingly adopt every one of communism’s programs until they have incrementally assembled the entire package without ever knowing how it happened or even realizing that they have it.

[…]

I served in a war to keep what Obama & Co. stand for out of this country—it’s personal! The blood of 58,000 of my fallen comrades, who did not swear oaths to go to war and die to defend communism from Americanism, cries out from their graves for justice. I intend to do my part to see that they get it — my vote contributing to a desperately needed rite of political exorcism of the hideous VC cult that now occupies the White House.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Obama’s Last Stand

FDR, JFK, Obama, Obama was the third Democratic bid at an iconographic presidency

Once in power, FDR assembled a grab-bag of bad ideas from European Socialists and Fascists and employed a small army of writers and artists as propagandists to lionize his programs. Marginally competent, Roosevelt the Second cultivated an aristocratic paternal air, surrounded himself with experts and programs to create public confidence.

FDR did not fix the economy, but he did lead the country through World War II while preemptively losing World War III, which was enough to give him the iconic status that had made his presidency possible.

The Roosevelt Administration, with an assist from Harry Truman, had largely created the Soviet Empire through its betrayal of Eastern Europe and the Republic of China. The Liberal camp had been thoroughly infiltrated by Communist agents and was full of sympathizers for the Soviet Union.

Before WW2 the USSR had been a regional backwater power with a network of international agents at its beck and call. After WW2, Communists were on the verge of swallowing up Western Europe and had taken China.

Truman’s disastrous China policy led to the Communist takeover of a potential world power and to the bloody Korean War. The aftermath of the FDR Administration was largely preoccupied with covering up the disastrous results of its Communist-friendly program. The campaigns against MacArthur and McCarthy were necessary to cover up the consequences of Truman’s China policy and FDR’s USSR policy.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Student Compares Toilet Water to Ice at Fast Food Joints, With Disturbing Results

A Florida student found that the ice at fast food restaurants is actually dirtier than the toilet water at the same establishment.

The student, 12-year-old Jasmine Roberts, hypothesized that the ice at fast food joints was probably dirtier than the toilets.

So she went to five fast food restaurants and collected samples.

She ordered cups of ice and put them in sterile beakers. She also went into bathrooms, flushed the toilet once, and collected a sample.

The findings were pretty disturbing.

“I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant’s contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant’s toilet water,” Roberts told local station 10 News in Tampa.

How did that happen?

The reason that the bacteria was more prevalent in the ice could be that while toilets are cleaned regularly, ice machines are not.

Roberts’ findings could give one pause before ordering a fizzy drink at a fast food chain.

As for the star student, she placed first in the regional science fair and received $800.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman[Return to headlines]

What’s the Problem With Obama’s Response to Benghazi?

Too much focus has been given to whether the administration called the attacks on the American consulate at Benghazi an act of terror. Parsing the questions is important both to frame our objections to Obama’s behavior after this incident and to point out larger problems with his foreign policy.

It’s well known that the administration rejected requests for increased security at the consulate. The administration’s assumptions regarding the nature of the world has caused them to be unprepared for the Islamists at every turn over the last four years. But their refusal to protect Americans, as shameful and loathsome as that is, constitutes a different issue than the one I am addressing.

As I’ve pointed out before, I published an assessment within one day of the attacks in which, despite focusing on issues related mostly to how we move forward with increased security, my own military readers concluded that this was a well-planned, well-coordinated attack with ensconced fighters, involving a complex ambush with the use of combined arms.

Take careful note. The use of combined arms is deadly to your own fighters if it isn’t a well-rehearsed engagement. Firing mortars or light [or heavy] machine guns at your own fighters kills them, and you must know where they are and what they’re doing at all times.

My article was well-visited that day by the State Department, Department of Homeland Security, DoD network domains, and others that were in a position to make a difference with the administration. Glenn Reynolds linked the post, and the traffic his site drives isn’t the only interesting feature of his attention. The quality of his traffic is even more remarkable.

So within 24 hours everyone knew that this wasn’t the action of an angry mob. The administration also knew that very quickly from information to which only they would have been aware, as Former Spook points out.

In recent posts, we’ve asked the fundamental question about the terrorist attack on our consulate in Benghazi, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans: what did the administration know, and when did they know it?

As we’ve noted, there was a steady stream of intelligence reporting on the attack, delivered at the FLASH/CRITIC level. Messages assigned that priority must be delivered to the President within 10 minutes of receipt. This traffic captured conversations between the Islamist factions responsible for the attack, before and during the assault on our compound. That’s why administration claims that incident was some sort of “demonstration gone bad” are nothing more than a lie.

[…]

[Return to headlines]

While America Slept, The Friends of Sharia Advanced

There are good reasons why we are not now focusing exclusively on the Romney Campaign.

We certainly see a Romney victory as the top priority — another four years of president Barack Obama may well destroy the freedoms we have all taken for granted as Americans.

Jobs may, for sound reasons, be the themes of the Romney Campaign and of many GOP incumbents and challengers, but our freedoms (from Obamacare to control of our schools) are the fundamental stakes.

And when on November 7, the Romney Transition Team presumably goes into public action, they must face another grave (and unfortunately below-the-radar) challenge to our liberty and safety: rooting out of our government Muslim Brotherhood (MB) enablers and rolling back pro-Islamist policies in our armed forces, the FBI, the State and Homeland Security departments, and the Intelligence community. For a refresher on the lamentable details, click here and here.

We fear these root-out and roll-back goals may not become sufficiently urgent — unless conservatives make a serious effort to explain to their friends in the GOP how dangerous the Islamist problem is.

“Sharia and Freedom”

Former Federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy has fortunately just written (NRO) a useful guide (click here) called “Sharia and Freedom.”

It is his foreword to Andrew Bostom’s Sharia Versus Freedom: The Legacy of Islamic Totalitarianism.

It is also a statement of first principles we shall need when we sit down with Republican lawmakers and GOP operatives to spell out the scope of the Islamist threat.

[…]

[Click URL to get links in the original]

[Return to headlines]

Europe and the EU

France: Racism Watchdogs Seek Action After Mosque Stormed

A day after French far-right extremists stormed a mosque in the town of Poitiers, anti-racism campaigners called on France’s authorities on Sunday to take action against groups who “promote hatred” and “seek to divide” the country.

Anti-racism organisations in France are demanding the government launch a swift crackdown against far-right groups, following the storming of a mosque in the west of the country.

In strongly worded statements released on Sunday, two of France’s most high-profile racism watchdogs and a Muslim organisation asked the government to ban extremist groups, close their websites and prosecute individuals for inciting racial hatred.

“What they did was scandalous. They basically declared war against Muslims in France,” Bernadette Hetier, co-president of MRAP, told FRANCE 24. “These groups are dangerous because they promote hatred. We have asked the government to prevent them publishing their intolerable propaganda.”

“The fundamental rights of all citizens must be respected but these extremists want the opposite. They are a real threat to cohesion because they want to divide France and Europe,” Hetier said, adding that such groups had “already been around for too long”.

The fanatics stormed the mosque at around 6am, climbed onto the roof and unfurled a banner daubed with the symbolic phrase “732 Generation Identity” — a reference to the year 732, when Charles Martel halted the advance of the invading Muslim army to the north of Poitiers.

The group have also made their views clear on their website, which bears the statement: “We do not want more immigration from outside Europe or new mosque construction on French soil”.

France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls blasted Saturday’s dawn raid, describing it as “hateful provocation”.

On Sunday, MRAP and SOS Racism pointed the finger at France’s right-wing parties for stoking “xenophobic” fears and helping to “legitimise” groups like Generation Identity. “Such acts must be strongly condemned by the entire political class,” SOS Racism said in its statement.

The Union of Muslims in France (RMF) said Saturday’s seven-hour occupation of the mosque reflected a dangerous rise in Islamophobia in a country that is home to Europe’s largest Muslim population. “We want the authorities to take action to deal with this increasing climate of Islamophobia,” the Muslim group said in a statement. “This form of xenophobia threatens the very values of the French republic.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman[Return to headlines]

In France: Tensions Flare Over Proposed Sale of Church to Muslim Group

When the Rev. Alain Krauth preached to his dwindling flock at Mass last Sunday, the subject was real estate. But it was also Christian charity, tolerance and, indirectly, the gnawing malaise in France over an increasingly visible Muslim minority.

The issue was Saint-Eloi’s, a graceless 1950s-vintage church on the edge of this declining French city 150 miles south of Paris. With six churches to maintain and fewer faithful every year, Roman Catholic authorities decided they could no longer afford Saint-Eloi’s. It must be sold, Krauth lamented, and if one of the prospective buyers is a peaceful Muslim association looking for a new mosque, then so be it.

           — Hat tip: Steen[Return to headlines]

Italy: Provincial Councillor Arrested in ‘Farm-Worker Fraud’

Pension agency INPS ‘lost 11 million euros’

(ANSA) — Cosenza, October 19 — A provincial councillor in the southern Italian region of Calabria was arrested with 14 others Friday in a probe into suspected social-security fraud involving off-the-books farm workers.

Antonio Carmine Caravetta, of the centrist Catholic UDC party, is suspected of taking part in the alleged fraud which is said to have deprived Italian pensions agency INPS of 11 million euros in contributions.

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Italy: Roma Camp Raided in Vicenza

Gypsies ‘stole credit cards’

(ANSA) — Vicenza, October 19 — A Roma gypsy camp in the northern Italian city of Vicenza was raided by Italian police Friday in a probe into the alleged theft of credit cards.

Some 100 police and a helicopter were used in the raid, in which seven Roma were arrested and 30 lodgings searched.

Police said the suspects stole cards from the elderly and used them to fill up their cars.

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Italy: ‘Govt OKs Early Lombardy Elections’ After Corruption Scandal

Formigoni to form coalition with former Milan mayor Albertini

(ANSA) — Milan, October 19 — Lombardy Governor Roberto Formigoni said Friday that the Italian government has approved early elections in his region after he scrapped the executive when scandals peaked in alleged vote buying from the Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta mafia by a regional councillor.

“The government has officially confirmed it agrees with me that Lombardy should vote as soon as possible, as it would send a signal of clarity,” he said after a meeting at the premier’s offices in Rome. Formigoni, a member of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi’s People of Freedom (PdL) party, did not specify when they would be.

The PdL leadership is sending mixed signals about whether he should carry on, with some heavyweights saying regionalist Northern League leader Roberto Maroni, a former interior minister, should step in.

Formigoni said Friday he was working with former Milan mayor and fellow PdL member Gabriele Albertini “to form a coalition of moderates that could win the elections”. The League has almost as many seats as the PdL in the regional assembly.

One of its regional councillors is among 14 under investigation for various cases of alleged graft.

Formigoni is himself being probed for corruption.

Like the others, he denies all wrongdoing.

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Italy: Public Funds Probe for Bolzano Provincial President

Latest in national investigations into alleged funds misuse

(ANSA) — Bolzano, October 19 — The regional prosecutor of Italy’s Audit Court in the northern autonomous province of Bolzano has opened an investigation into the possible misuse of a personal fund by the Provincial President Luis Durnwalder of the South Tyrolean People’s Party (SVP). The probe began in light of reports filed concerning a birthday party held by the leader last year. “The fund can be used at the discretion of the president according to criteria that he doesn’t have to answer to,” said the prosecutor Robert Schuelmers.

“However it is clear that, being public money, it must be used within the scope of his institutional activity”.

Schuelmers said instead there was evidence to suggest the fund had been used to cover personal expenses such as medical treatments, dental check-ups and flights, “even though it seems Durnwalder paid back part of what had been taken at the end of each month”. Durnwalder has denied the allegations. “I have not used a single euro of the fund for my own private expenses,” he told ANSA. “My secretary advances the money and then the expenses are added up and recorded at the end of each month. My private expenses are deducted on that occasion,” he said.

Should the claims turn out to be founded Durnwalder could face charges of embezzlement. This is just the latest in a series of investigations involving the alleged misuse of public funds in numerous Italian regions, including Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont and Emilia Romagna.

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Italy: Swiss Police Arrest Finmeccanica Man for ‘Money-Laundering’

Haschke probed in Italy for role in 12 chopper sales to India

(ANSA) — Rome, October 19 OTT — Guido Ralph Haschke, the Swiss-American Finmeccanica intermediary under investigation in Italy for his role in facilitating the sale of 12 Augsta Westland helicopters to India, was arrested by Swiss law enforcement officers on Friday.

He is accused of money laundering, according to judicial sources.

Finmeccanica is an Italian defence and engineering group that is 30%-owned by the government.

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Most Voters Want Britain to Leave EU: Support for Pulling Out at Highest Level for 30 Years

Support for Britain pulling out of the European Union is at its highest level for 30 years, a Mail on Sunday poll has found.

If a referendum on leaving the EU was held tomorrow, 51 per cent say they would vote to leave, while just 34 per cent would opt to stay.

It means support for a pullout is at its most buoyant since the early Eighties, during Margaret Thatcher’s first term in Government, when nearly two thirds of voters wanted to leave the Common Market.

The Survation poll findings have emerged as David Cameron prepares to announce that he is in favour of a referendum on membership — and the EU plans to mount a multi-million pound pro-Brussels propaganda offensive to counter hardening Eurosceptic sentiment.

Tim Aker, from the anti-EU group Get Britain Out, said: ‘The EU should not be using our hard-earned cash to promote the so-called benefits of EU membership,’ he said. ‘The EU should stand back and let the British people decide’.

Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, said: ‘Spending taxpayers’ money on self-promotion is appalling and yet another reason why we need a referendum on our membership’.

           — Hat tip: Kitman[Return to headlines]

UK: Ex-Boyfriend Attacked Blackburn Girl’s Eyes

A BLACKBURN college student was left screaming in agony after her ex-boyfriend jabbed his fingers in her eyes and pushed down sharply.

Blackburn magistrates heard that Mohammed Uzair Ellahi threatened to put naked photographs of his former girlfriend on the Facebook website, and that he made abusive phone calls to her.

Ellahi, 19, of Burnley Road, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to assaulting Angelika Chmielowiec and harassing her.

He was sentenced to 17 weeks in a Young Offender Institute.

Miss Chmielowiec got a room in student accommodation at the college and it was there that Ellahi attacked her eyes. A fellow student called Adam responded to her screaming and Miss Chmielowiec was able to run to a friends room and they locked themselves in,” said Miss Akhtar.

“The friend told her not to look in the mirror because of the damage to her eyes that was already visible.

“Both her eyes ended up closing and going black.”

Keith Rennison, defending, said it was clear his client had issues with relationship.

           — Hat tip: Kitman[Return to headlines]

UK: Jimmy Savile: Questions for Edwina Currie and the BBC

The scandal of how Sir Jimmy Savile was able to abuse young girls for decades deepened last night after a Sunday Telegraph investigation implicated former government ministers and executives at the BBC.

A Sunday Telegraph investigation today reveals:

  • Edwina Currie appointed Savile to run a taskforce in charge of Broadmoor in the 1980s, where he is accused of sexually assaulting patients;
  • the taskforce he presided over was given temporary powers to oversee the running of the hospital following a series of industrial disputes — despite the fact Savile, a disc jockey and television presenter, had no professional qualifications;
  • a friend of Savile’s from his hometown in Leeds was then given the most senior job at Broadmoor;
  • the BBC investigated a lurid sex scandal at Top of the Pops and Radio 1 in the early 1970s, but never made the report public;
  • Savile was interviewed by the BBC as part of that inquiry but refused to cooperate, according to a senior source.

Scotland Yard last week announced it was launching a full-scale criminal inquiry into other members of Savile’s alleged sex ring who remain alive. The Met police is now looking at 400 separate lines of inquiry and more than 200 potential victims.

Savile, despite having no expertise in mental health, was given the job of chairman of the taskforce overseeing Broadmoor in 1988 after the hospital had been placed under direct control of the Thatcher government following a series of strikes.

Pete Saunders, the chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said of Savile’s role at the mental hospital: “It really is akin to giving Dracula the keys to the blood bank. It really is outrageous that a disc jockey was given unfettered access to Broadmoor.”

Following Savile’s appointment at Broadmoor, Alan Franey, an administrator who spent 10 years working at Leeds General Infirmary, also began work on the same taskforce, with progress to be reported to Mrs Currie.

Mr Franey worked as an assistant general manager at Leeds General Infirmary from 1975 to 1985, when the television presenter was volunteering as a night porter. Savile is also accused of sexually abusing girls at the Leeds hospital.

Mr Franey took early retirement from Broadmoor following an inquiry into the hospital in March 1997. The inquiry followed claims made in newspapers that a child pornography ring was operating at Broadmoor.

           — Hat tip: Kitman[Return to headlines]

Balkans

Bosnia’s New Grand Mufti to Promote Tolerance

Husein Kavazovic, the new spiritual leader of Bosnia’s Muslims, looks set to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps. Widely regarded as open-minded and modern, he seeks to strengthen the principles of “European Islam.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman[Return to headlines]

North Africa

Clashes in Libya: 26 Die in Bani Walid and 200 Are Injured

(AGI) Tripoli — Death toll of 26 due to clashes in the Libyan city of Bani Walid, once a bulwark of Gaddafi’s loyalists. Over 200 people have been injured. Data are reported by medical sources from Misrata, where the injured and the corpses have been taken.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]

Egyptians Turning Toward Iran, Want Nuclear Weapons

A poll of Egyptians conducted last month shows that they have increasingly positive views of Iran, believe that both Iran and Egypt should obtain nuclear weapons, and still trust their own military more than any other institution in Egypt.

The poll of 812 Egyptians, half of them women, was conducted in a series of in-person interviews by the firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and sponsored by the Israel Project, a pro-Israel advocacy organization with offices in Washington and Jerusalem. According to the poll, Iran is viewed favorably in Egypt, with 65 percent of those surveyed expressing support of the decision to renew Egypt-Iran relations and 61 percent expressing support of the Iranian nuclear project, versus 41 percent in August 2009.

Eighty-seven percent of respondents want Egypt to have its own nuclear bomb.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Tunisia: Survey: Ennahdha Threatened by Nidaa Tounes Party

(ANSAmed) — TUNIS, OCTOBER 19 — One day after the death in Tataouine of the regional coordinator of new party Nidaa Tounes, a survey found that the party led by Beji Caid Essebsi is right behind ruling party Ennahdha in the preferences of would-be voters.

The survey carried out in October by the 3C polling institute found that Ennahdha still topped preferences but Nidaa Tounes (

Despite a 1.8% decrease in preferences the Al Joumhouri party remained third while the new Popular Front and conservative Al Aridha al Chaabia followed at 5.6%.

The other two government parties registered a decline in support with Cpr losing 1.5% with a 5% of would-be votes and Ettakol losing 0.7% at 3.4%.

http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/sections/politics/2012/10/19/Tunisia-Survey-Ennahdha-threatened-Nidaa-Tounes-party_7658084.html

           — Hat tip: Insubria[Return to headlines]

Israel and the Palestinians

David’s Sling; Is it Broken?

Henry Kissinger’s recent statement, that in 10 years Israel will cease to exist, borders on senile. Although one of his staff members denied it, Cindy Adams from the New York Post insisted: “Reported to me, Henry Kissinger has stated — and I quote the statement word for word: ‘In 10 years, there will be no more Israel’“.

Kissinger is a controversial figure. He can hardly be suspected of excessive sympathy for Israel. He perhaps, inclines to the “syndrome of self-hatred” so fashionable nowadays in the Jewish elite. At the same time, Kissinger is not an exalted pop-diva, cheap populist or rebellious professor. He is an experienced, prudent politician who takes responsibility for his utterance.

What drove him to such a dramatic conclusion? Is there a real and grave threat to Israel?

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Middle East

An Electromagnetic Pulse Attack — The ‘Other’ Iranian Nuclear Threat

Some experts say Tehran may be preparing for an EMP strike — which could ‘fry’ electrical grids, with devastating consequences

Just what might happen if the Iranians got their hands on a nuclear weapon? Would they fire it at an Israeli city, causing tens or hundreds of thousands of casualties? Or would they use it as a geopolitical weapon, seeking to dominate the Middle East and forcing the hand of Western powers, either subtly or by overtly threatening death and destruction to those who fail to heed their dictates?

While political scientists and world leaders have debated the likelihood of those two possibilities, there is a third plausible scenario: The use of a nuclear weapon by Iran to carry out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack against Israel, the US, or Europe. Such an attack could cause severe damage to the electrical grid in the targeted nations, to the extent that the routines of daily life — centered around the use of electrical power — could be halted, for a short or even long period of time.

An EMP is an above-atmosphere level detonation of a nuclear device that produces enough radiation to wreak havoc with electrical systems. The blast produces a very brief but intense electromagnetic field that can quickly induce very high currents in electrical devices, shorting them out. The stronger the electromagnetic field — the “pulse” — the stronger the current, and the more likely electrical devices are to “blow out.” It’s akin to a power surge that shorts out your refrigerator or TV when too much voltage surges through the electrical outlet… on a whole other scale.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Christian Arabs Targeted Throughout the Middle East

The nations of the Middle East have been steadily forcing out Christian Arabs that have lived there for centuries, often in the most brutal fashion. This is the hallmark of Islam that has no tolerance for any other religion. Islam is a cult that has been at war with all religions, using terror, intimidation, and deception to achieve its goal.

The process has a long history. A recent Wall Street Journal commentary, “When the Arab Jews Fled”, tells a story rarely told; the story of how an estimated 850,000 Jews living in Arab nations, many of whose families had lived in Middle Eastern nations for centuries, were forced to leave. What happened to them after Israel declared its sovereignty in 1948 is now occurring again, but for Christians in the wake of the so-called Arab Spring, the ascendency of the Muslim Brotherhood, and the militancy of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Security Forces Foil ‘9/11 the Second’ Al-Qaeda Terrorist Plot to Kill Thousands With Suicide Attacks on Shopping Centres in Jordan

A deadly terrorist attack codenamed ‘9/11 the second’ by plotters has been foiled by Jordanian security forces, it was claimed tonight.

Security forces say the al-Qaeda cell wanted to inflict ‘the heaviest human losses possible’ with coordinated suicide strikes on shopping centres and Western diplomats in the country’s capital capital Amman.

Authorities tonight arrested 11 suspects who planned on carrying out bombings using smuggled weapons and explosives brought from Syria, it is claimed.

Jordan’s state TV broadcast mugshots of the suspects — all in their 20s and 30s, all bar one wearing the same issue dark blue shirt, with most of them sporting long beards — identifying them as ‘militants’.

Announcing the foiled plot, government spokesman Sameeh Maaytah told an impromptu press conference that the suspects are all Jordanian and are in police custody.

‘They were plotting deadly terror attacks on vital institutions, shopping centers and diplomatic missions,’ he said.

‘They sought to destabilize Jordan,’ he said. ‘They plotted against Jordan’s national security.’

           — Hat tip: Fjordman[Return to headlines]

U. S. Offers 12 Million Dollars for Two Al-Qaeda Backers

(AGI) Washington, Oct.18 — The U.S. has offered a 12 million dollar reward for information leading to the capture of two Al-Qaeda backers, Muhsin Al-Fadhli and his right-hand man Adel Radi Saqr Al-Ahabi Al-Harbi. A statement from the American State Department says the men “facilitated the movement of funds and operatives through Iran on behalf of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.” . .

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]

Caucasus

Russian Troops Kill 49 Militants in the Caucasus

(AGI) Moscow — Russian troops killed at least 49 militants in the Caucasus. “The coordinated action helped terminate the activities of several odious gang leaders, gang members and their associates”, affirmed the National Anti-Terrorism Commission.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]

Russian Forces Take Few Prisoners in Security Sweep

Russian forces have killed 49 people in raids across the North Caucasus, according to a news report. Clashes between police and extremists are common in the region, which includes the war-torn republic of Chechnya.

In addition to those killed, Russian security forces arrested about 30 men and another 20 turned themselves in after being “convinced” by the police, according to a report cited by the news agency Interfax. The report did not give the date of the raids in Dagestan, about 1,050 kilometers (654 miles) south of Moscow, and Nalchik, the main city in the separatist-leaning Kabardino-Balkaria district.

“The coordinated action helped terminate the activities of several odious gang leaders, gang members and their associates, substantially damaging the system under which the bandits operate,” the statement read, as quoted by Interfax.

In Dagestan, troops killed five extremists suspected of carrying out several terror attacks, according to the report. Special forces in Nalchik killed four terrorist leaders thought to be behind the murders several judges and police officers.

The authorities also seized hundreds of firearms, mines, grenades and other explosives, and an estimated 19,000 rounds of ammunition from dozens of hideouts, according to the report.

           — Hat tip: Fjordman[Return to headlines]

South Asia

Ambush to Militaries in South Thailand, At Least 2 Killed

(AGI) Bangkok — Ambush in Bacho, Southern Thailand, killed two people and injured seven. Two remotely controlled devices exploded on a military patrol vehicle in the Muslim region of Southern Thailand, explained local police chief, Pakdi Preechachon. Three more devices exploded the night before in the district of Tak Bai.

           — Hat tip: C. Cantoni[Return to headlines]

Far East

Japan: Scientist Warns of Massive Eruption Chaos

A Japanese scientist has warned Mount Fuji is due for a “big-scale explosive eruption” that could affect millions of people and cause billions of dollars worth of damage. Last month a study found the magma chamber under the mountain has come under immense pressure, which could even trigger a volcanic eruption. It said the added pressure could have been caused by last year’s earthquake, which was followed a few days later by another large tremor directly underneath Fuji. Professor Toshitsugu Fujii, the head of Japan’s volcanic eruption prediction panel, says an eruption could cause chaos and carnage all the way to Tokyo.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Australia — Pacific

GM Wheat May Damage Human Genetics Permanently

We have not yet seen the worst damage that genetic engineering may do. Australia’s governmental agency, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is developing a wheat species that is engineered to turn off genes permanently.

Professor Jack Heinemann at the University of Canterbury’s Centre for Integrated Research in Biosafety has studied the wheat’s potential. Digital Journal reports that he says1:

“What we found is that the molecules created in this wheat, intended to silence wheat genes, can match human genes, and through ingestion, these molecules can enter human beings and potentially silence our genes. The findings are absolutely assured. There is no doubt that these matches exist.”

The implications are clarified by Professor Judy Carman of Flinders University:

“If this silences the same gene in us that it silences in the wheat—well, children who are born with this enzyme not working tend to die by the age of about five.”

Silencing the equivalent gene in humans that is silenced in this genetically modified wheat holds the potential of killing people. But it gets worse. Silenced genes are permanently silenced and can be passed down the generations.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

Culture Wars

New World Order Education: Useful Engines in the “One World Schoolhouse”

He’s a really useful engine, you know All the other engines they’ll tell you so He huffs and puffs and whistles Rushing to and fro He’s the really useful engine we adore[1]

A Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded online education service seeks to introduce and control a one-size-fits-all worldwide school curriculum. The strategy aptly fits alongside historically persistent schemes to further restructure education en route to an internationally-based technocratic order.

A seemingly benign and playful lyric from the overwhelmingly popular toddler’s animation Thomas the Tank Engine captures the modus operandi and consequence of American public education over the past century. Like the child subjected to years of compulsory schooling, Thomas is an entity devoid of meaningful social agency and reduced to demonstrating his overall worth by being “useful” in Sir Topham Hatt’s enterprise.

As an institutional process definitively influenced over the past century by the world’s most wealthy and influential figures, public schools equip individuals with a performativity code that functions along the lines of how Thomas behaves for his overseer, with the implicit knowledge that life has largely been planned; his intellectual and creative faculties reduced to an instrumental motivation to merely stay “on track.”

[…]

Against this backdrop the arrival of the Gates-funded Khan Academy—a 501(c)3 charity overseeing an exclusively computer-based array of Youtube-delivered tutorials—is entirely fitting. Already the Khan Academy claims that children around the world “have done nearly half a billion exercises” through its software.[3] Yet Gates’ fascination with the new “school” almost certainly lies in the potential for where surveillance and control of the public education enterprise may be easily exercised with a few key strokes.

“This is great,” Gates exclaimed after meeting Khan Academy founder Salman Khan in 2009, who he refers to as as his “favorite teacher.”[4] Indeed, Khan, a former hedge fund manager who developed a soft-spot for tutoring children online, is poised to do for public education what Monsanto is doing for global agriculture—make it over along the lines of a one-size-fits-all model. Such a system is capable of rapidly accelerating the standardization and execution of curricula by a handful of individuals fawningly beholden to Gates while enforcing a strict set of controls on teacher and student alike.

           — Hat tip: JD[Return to headlines]

General

‘Lily of the Mohawks’ And Six Other Saints Named

Pope Benedict XVI has named seven new saints, including the first Native American. He praised their “heroic courage” in a year when the Catholic Church is seeking to counter mounting secularism in the West. In a lavish ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Benedict XVI named seven new saints on Sunday, including the first Native American to be canonized, Kateri Tekakwitha, informally known as “Lily of the Mohawks.”

           — Hat tip: Fjordman[Return to headlines]

0 comments: