These are all the Blogs posted on Friday, 4, 2009.
Friday, 4 December 2009
STUC protests meet with opposition at Celtic Park
Scotland TV News and the Jewish Chronicle There were arguments outside Celtic Park last night (Wednesday 2nd) as pro-Palestinian supporters attempted a “peaceful protest” during the Europa League match against Israeli side Hapoel Tel-Aviv.
Security officials attempted to move on the 60 or so protesters who were distributing placards branded with the Palestine flag within the Parkhead grounds.
Officials said no permission had been given for the protest.
The demonstrations were vocally opposed by some fans who saw the trade union’s call to action as a political hijacking of the club.
The actions followed on from calls from the Scottish Trade Union Congress for Celtic fans to show their support for the cause during the match.
STUC Deputy General Secretary Dave Moxham said: “We hope that Celtic fans will join with us in a demonstration of support for a just and lasting peace in Israel/Palestine based on a safe and secure Palestinian homeland living side by side with Israel.”
He continued: "I am today writing to Celtic FC and Hapoel Tel Aviv FC outlining the reasons and purpose of this call and making clear that we attach no blame either to Hapoel Tel Aviv players, nor their fans, for the outrageous actions of their government.”
The Scottish Trades Union Congress has been widely condemned for “politicising football” after it handed out thousands of Palestinians flags at the Hapoel Tel Aviv/Celtic match at Celtic Park in Glasgow.
Campaigners from the STUC and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign took 10,000 Palestinian flags to distribute to fans entering Celtic’s ground as an “act of solidarity” with Palestinians...
Mick Napier, chairman of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, described the flag initiative as a”an opportunity to let the Palestinians know that we have not forgotten their ongoing suffering.”
But the club strongly opposed the calls for a demonstration. Its spokesman, Iain Jamieson, said: “Celtic Football Club believes in football as a powerful medium for social integration. Celtic has always been a club for all people, regardless of gender, age, religion, race, politics or ability. We therefore believe Celtic Park is no place for a political demonstration”.
Outside the ground on Wednesday night around 60 volunteers from STUC and SPSC tried to hand out rolled-up Palestinian flags and anti-Israel material to supporters. But each campaigner was immediately surrounded by a large crowd, furiously debating the issue, with many fans shouting: “We don’t want you here.”
Match stewards approached the campaigners telling them to stop handing out flags and fliers on Celtic FC property.
Some flags were taken inside, though not anywhere near what the organisers had hoped. More than 300 Hapoel Tel Aviv supporters, with a dedicated high security presence, flew Israeli flags and banners.
At the end of the match a campaigner tried to run on to the pitch with a Palestinian flag. He was quickly escorted away by police, and booed by Celtic fans.
Steven Purcell, leader of Glasgow City Council, wrote to the STUC to express his “disgust” at their using a football match for political purposes.
David Links, a trustee of JNF/KKL Scotland, which hosted a reception for the Hapoel team and Israeli ambassador Ron Prosor at Celtic Park, is a long-time Celtic fan. He said: “I think it is totally wrong for the STUC to be involved in a football match. I feel disappointed at the fans who did pick up flags. There could have been serious aggravation here.”
Celtic fan Alan Levy said: “It was disgraceful to see campaigners handing out the flags. People didn’t even understand what they meant, and it was very worrying to see people accepting them.”
Israeli ambassador Mr Prosor said: “Sport prevailed over politics. Since Hapoel were originally a team based on the Israeli unions, it seems ironic that people demonstrated against them.” That is because British Trade Unions, even more than the "Labour" Party no longer exist to represent the people they were founded by and for.
My own former union, of which I was a member for 32 years and a Branch Secretary for 5 of them, refused to give us any help whatsoever when our jobs were being axed last year. All I received from them during that distressing period was a recorded telephone message urging me to vote to crush the BNP. Indeed when, on the advice of the TUC (Trades Union Congress), I wrote directly to the General Secretary to express my disappointment that we were so abandoned his response was to ignore three polite and reasonable letters. The next I heard of him he was calling for any Civil Servant found to be a member of the BNP, which for all that I find some of their views obnoxious is a legal party, with democratically elected representatives, sacked.
Good for Celtic FC to resist this intrusion. Now for the important bit. My husband watched some of the match on TV - didn't notice any Palestinian flags at all - said what he saw was a good exciting game. Celtic won 2-0, Samaras and Robson scored.
Security Incident Aboard AirTran Flight 297 Suggests Terror �Dry Run�
Here is further confirmation of what we reported here and here. Doug Hagmann reports in the Canada Free Press:
On November 17, an incident took place aboard AirTran Flight 297 scheduled to fly from Atlanta Hartsfield Airport to Houston that the media does not want to cover and everyone from the airline to the TSA and other government agencies want to keep very quiet. The reasons, I have been told, is fear of predatory lawsuits, negative publicity from accusations of religious profiling, and the obligatory subjugation to mindless mandatory Muslim sensitivity training that make a mockery of our American system of values. Interestingly, one airline official told me “we don’t want to become another flight 300,” which is a reference to a very similar scenario that took place aboard US Airways Flight 300 exactly three years ago.
I was first contacted about this incident two days after it happened by a passenger who was aboard AirTran Flight 297. Based on the allegations made by this passenger, we conducted additional research, interviews and investigation, all of which takes time to insure accuracy, and are now able to release our report of the incident that took place aboard that aircraft. Be prepared to be shocked, angered, and perhaps saddened by our national and corporate acquiescence to mafia-type tactics by Islamists who are engaged in a full frontal assault, and laughing about it.
Unsurprisingly, the facts we developed during the course of our investigation are inconsistent with those being reported in the media, despite the media having the responsibility to report the truth.
The incident
A group of thirteen men dressed in traditional Muslim attire were among 73 passengers who boarded AirTran Flight 297 on Tuesday, 17 November 2009, a routine flight scheduled to depart Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, gate C-16 at 4:43 PM ET to Houston Hobby Airport. Reports developed by this investigator found two witnesses who observed direct interaction among all of these Muslim men at the terminal.
As the passengers boarded the aircraft, two of the Muslim men took seats in first class, while the remaining eleven were seated throughout the remaining rows of the aircraft. Most had carrying-on bags that they stowed in the overhead compartments above their seats.
As the aircraft began to taxi to the runway, a female flight attendant was beginning to issue the normal passenger advisories over the PA system. Almost on cue at the time passengers were told to turn off all electronic devices, one of the Muslim men seated in the front of the plane began to use his cell phone in a manner that was described by a flight attendant and passenger “as deliberate and obvious.” He was talking loudly in Arabic, nearly at the level of the flight attendant. Some reports suggest that this man actually called another Muslim passenger, although this has not been immediately confirmed. It is possible, however, as another passenger reported that a Muslim man seated toward the rear of the plane answered his cellular phone at the same time the man in the front began using his.
At this point, the flight attendant in the front of the plane approached the Muslim man using his telephone and instructed him to immediately turn it off. A second female flight attendant did the same at the rear of the aircraft. Concurrent with this cellular activity, two other Muslim men seated adjacent near the middle of the aircraft began operating what one passenger described as a palm type camcorder, ostensibly to view previously taken footage. It is possible, according to one flight attendant interviewed by this investigator, however, that the camcorder was being used for recording purposes. Whatever its use, a third flight attendant, aware of the incidents taking place in the front and rear of the aircraft, approached the two men for the purpose of securing the camcorder. At least two passengers reported that the men became abusive to the flight attendant and initially refused to comply with her request.
It was at this time that most of the passengers began to notice the multiple incidents involving over a dozen men dressed in Islamic attire. Next, as if previously rehearsed, at least ten of the 13 Muslim men aboard the aircraft began to leave their seats at the same time. At least one passenger stated she observed one of the Muslim passengers using his cell phone to take photos of other passengers on the aircraft, while one other Muslim passenger sang loudly in Arabic. According to information provided to this investigator from one of the flight crew who was alerted to an onboard emergency, the aircraft was now being taxied back to the terminal. The TSA, FAA and FBI were notified.
At the terminal
Once back at the terminal, the thirteen men were escorted from the aircraft by TSA and security officials. According to a report from an airline security official, their baggage was also removed and searched, the search finding nothing of apparent danger. According to a law enforcement official interviewed by telephone by this investigator on Monday, investigation revealed that all of the Muslim passengers are acquainted with each other and are associated with (or have ties to) a large Islamic center that has been the subject of investigative interest.
According to one aircraft passenger I interviewed, what happened next was “unbelievable” and caused a great deal of upset among the aircraft passengers and flight crew (some who opted off the flight in anger, fear, or admittedly, a mixture of both emotions).
After a lengthy delay while officials dealt with these Muslim passengers, ten (one uncorroborated report suggests 11) of the Muslim passengers were permitted to re-board the same aircraft to complete their flight. Some passengers and flight crew, traumatized by the blatant actions of the Muslim passengers, refused to travel with the Muslims who caused this orchestrated disturbance.
The flight continues
According to flight logs and information from one of the flight crew who continued with the flight, AirTran 297 ultimately departed Atlanta and arrived in Houston later that evening. The flight, however, was not without its curious incidents by the very same Muslim men who caused the initial delay and disturbance.
During the flight, one passenger interviewed by this investigator described the behavior of two of the Muslim passengers as less overt but still suspicious in nature. Without apparent legitimate purpose, one Muslim passenger moved a stowed bag from one part of the aircraft to another, well away from his seated position. Another spoke loudly in Arabic, with all appearing to interact in one form or another.
Ultimately, the flight landed safely and despite the early incidents in Atlanta, the Muslim passengers appeared able to leave freely from the terminal.
Comments from flight crew and airline personnel
As initially stated, proper and accurate investigation takes time to corroborate eyewitness accounts, which are often unreliable, contradictive and in cases like this, colored by emotion. Having interviewed a total of seven-(7) individuals directly involved in this incident over the last several days, including two law enforcement officers who handled the after action reports, the situation pertaining to the initial 13 and remaining 10 or 11 Muslim men allowed to continue their travels was far greater than an incident involving the unauthorized use of a cell phone that resulted in a minor flight delay, as reported by the mainstream media.
According to one airline security official, “This was a deliberate, well planned attempt to disrupt a domestic flight that was organized in advance of the boarding of these [Muslim] passengers. The purpose of their actions appeared to be multi-faceted, not the least of which was an attempt to change their status from passengers to victims of religious profiling. The situation was handled in a manner that we believe might have avoided an incident like USAir had in 2006, where everyone from the passengers who reported suspicious behavior to the airline was subjected to legal action by the Muslim passengers.”
While litigation might have been avoided, passengers and flight crew remain traumatized, and our air travel system was unnecessarily disrupted during one of the busiest air travel weeks in the U.S. The agenda of the Islamists behind this incident is clear, yet no one in the media seems to have the desire to expose these ideological cretins for what they are.
After reading Esmerelda’s very interesting posts on Public Houses and Inn signs at this post and also here I went crawling through my attic and dug out some of my notes from those ill-remembered lectures, delivered to me in far off and almost forgotten (yes, and halcyon) times, which I mentioned in the comments to her post here.
It seems, from that which I noted as a callow youngster paying but scant attention to a minor part of my degree course, that the chequerboard design of alternating differently coloured squares is ultimately, way back in the dim and distant past of our evolving civilisation, based on a natural flavouring for beer!
Now, bear with me here and forgive my natural loquacity - which is probably due to my natural penchant for consumption of the product of the brewer’s skills, anyway.
It seems, at least according to my badly written notes and poor memory, that archaeologists have determined that beer, before the discovery of hops, was often flavoured with the fruits of the of the wild Service tree (Sorbus torminalis, syn. Torminalis clusii). That particular rowan tree is native all across Europe, North Africa and across Asia Minor as far as as the Elburz Mountains and it’s interesting to note that true beer is not found in the archaeological record east of the Elburz range. The fruits of the wild Service tree taste a little like dates and are still collected from the few surviving trees in the hedgerows of Britain and preserved in honey and eaten at New Year in some country villages. It’s not every year that the fruits will ripen in Britain because Sorbus torminalis requires a hot summer and a long, warm autumn for the fruits to ripen and then blett to edibility, but global warming means that this is now happening in most years and frequent periods of climatic optimum means that regular ripening happened often enough in our past for the memory to be preserved from one generation to the next. However, beer was usually flavoured with underripe and slightly astringent fruits and, anyway, the bletted fruits produced a very short lived brew that was drunk young and was reviled by most as the old women’s drink.
Now what, I hear you all ask, has that got to do with ‘chequers’ and Esme’s interesting, and thirst provoking, disquisitions on Pub signs and her splendid photographs of a reviving artisanal artform? Well, stay with me for just a moment or two whilst I pour myself another foaming tankard of the brew that cheers from the jug, the little brown jug, which the boot boy has just replenished for me from the pub (‘The Swan in Happiness’, if you must know – too, too precious) on the corner of our lane and the High Street.
The bark of the Sorbus torminalis peels away in a roughly chequerboard pattern – the grey bark peels away in rough squares to reveal the dark brown layers underneath – but, and much more importantly, the ripe fruit has lenticel markings which look much like a chequered pattern and the fruits, in English and to this very day, are known as ‘chequers’. English is by no means the only Indic language to preserve this source, most do, and beer, specifically small beer (as a method of rendering water safe to drink using the sterilising properties of alcohol), is historically important. The chequerboard pattern on Inn signs indicated that there was sufficient alcohol in the water such as to render it safe to drink and that sign, that indication, dates from the day and age when the alcohol, the beer, was flavoured with the berries of the wild Service tree – the chequered berry – and that dates back so far into prehistory as to be almost astounding.
One can only guess at the meanings that our very ancient ancestors, lacking any understanding of chemistry or biology, might have ascribed to drunken insights and at how the chequerboard pattern of Dark and Light squares became embroiled in, and entangled with, our religious beliefs but that that pattern did become so mixed up with our beliefs and lives on, today, in so many ways, is undeniable. That Esme finds it hither and yon on so many of her carefully photographed Inn signs is proof, if proof is needed, of just how ancient much of our culture actually is. Esmerelda’s photographs prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that an ancient belief, perhaps an alchemical superstition, lives on into our modern world, albeit unrecognised and in a different way.
Oh, and let me be honest here, sometimes art is just art. Sometimes an Inn sign is just an Inn sign. Sometimes there is no ancient meaning. There is a pub that I know of called the “Queen in Arms”. It’s the hangout of several chess clubs and its sign is a chequerboard painted by the landlord, in all innocence, just two years ago. He doesn’t know that he is the heritor of a proud, millennia-old tradition – why should he? But he is!
By the way, Esme, does the Bosom’s Inn in St. Lawrence Lane still exist? Despite all the time I’ve spent in London I’ve never thought to check up on that! That was one of the great City Inns assigned to Charles Vs suite, when he came over to visit Henry VIII in 1522. At the sign of "St. Lawrence Bosoms" twenty beds and stabling for sixty horses were ordered.
That strange old bit about the trained horse and Bankes which was written under the pen names of "John Dando, the wierdrawer of Hadley, and Harrie Runt, head ostler of Besomes Inne," probably refers to the same Inn, but the horse in question mustn’t be confused with the spartina grazing Bankers living on the islands of North Carolina's Outer Banks.
But this brief entry into the affray is ‘Loves Labours Wonne’ and all I mean to do is shew how Esme’s lovely collection of photographs of ancient Inn signs demonstrate yet another example of our deep and ancient culture and what we could lose if the vile conformity of Islamic belief were to gain the upper hand in our countries.
Now, whose round is it? Thanks! Mine’s a pint of the best. Dash it, make it a half-and-half with a flesh and blood on the side. May as well be hanged for a lamb as led to the slaughter!
Its Friday - the Holy Day. We are at the Mosque. What shall we do? Kill!
From The Times- Suicide gunmen kill 35 at Pakistan army mosque
More than 35 people including army officers were killed in Pakistan after three suicide bombers stormed a mosque near a military headquarters during Friday prayers.
The attackers sprayed worshippers with gunfire before blowing themselves up.
The mosque is frequented by military officials in the town of Rawalpindi - the country's army headquarters - and, in theory, is one of the most secure locations in the country.
Others were involved in the attack which left 70 people wounded but it was not yet possible to say how many took part, police said.
The gunmen arrived in a grey Toyota car and then threw grenades and opened fire on the mosque, police and witnesses said.
Two of the militants entered the mosque while others ran into buildings nearby. Security forces exchanged fire with the assailants for an hour before they blew themselves up.
"They were three. They first opened fire and then blew themselves up," Rao Iqbal, Rawalpindi police chief, told Reuters.
Nasir Ali Sheikh, who was going towards the mosque to pray, said: "They were killing people like animals. I couldn’t understand what was happening."
Unsurprisingly, Saudi Arabia An Enthusiastic Climate "Skeptic"
Saudi Arabia's lead climate negotiator, Mohammed al-Sabban, told the BBC that leaked emails from a British climate research unit last month would have a 'huge impact' on the Copenhagen talks.
He said the emails cast doubt upon man's influence on global warming and could deter countries from offering emissions cuts at the conference.
Saudi Arabia, one of the world's biggest oil producers, has long taken a sceptical view of climate change.
Richard Todd the veteran paratrooper speaking on the 65th anniversary of D-Day here on his experiences with the 6th Airbourne Division at Pegasus Bridge.
Richard Todd the actor in his most famous role, that of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC in The Dam Busters. In this excerpt he solves a tricky technical problem in an unlikely place.
Geert Wilders Summons for Trial issued: violation of his free speech and ours
Geert Wilders, the courageous Dutch political leader of the Freedom Party in the Hague Parliament is facing a trial on January 20th. Yesterday, the Public Prosecutor issued a summons - see it here. It contains a chronicle of alleged violations of Dutch hate law concerning his criticism of Islam captured in his film Fitna and public statements in both the press and debates in the Hague Parliament. Wilders counsel has filed objections to this misguided prosecution arising from the flawed decision of the Amsterdam Court.
Wilders deserves international support in preparing for this "show trial" that effectively criminalizes his free speech. We expect that his rigorous and withering defense led by worthy counsel, Bram Moszkowicz will defeat this attempt by left apologists for the Dutch radical Islamists to muzzle his free speech and forrthright crriticism of Islam.
Note this statement that Wilders sent along with a copy of the summons:
Geert Wilders receives summons: a sledgehammer blow to the freedom of speech
The 20th of January 2010 will be a crucial day for defending our freedom. This is the day when the political trial against Geert Wilders will start. Yesterday, Geert Wilders was summoned by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) on behalf of the Court of Justice of Amsterdam. The indictment reads: group insult of Muslims, incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims due to their religion and incitement to hatred and discrimination against non-western immigrants and / or Moroccans due to their race.
Geert Wilders: "On the 20th of January 2010, a political trial will start. I am being prosecuted for my political convictions. The freedom of speech is on the verge of collapsing. If a politician is not allowed to criticise an ideology anymore, this means that we are lost, and it will lead to the end of our freedom. However I remain combative: I am convinced that I will be acquitted.”
In earlier stages, the PPS did not see any reason to prosecute Mr. Wilders.
Bram Moszkowicz, the lawyer on the case at hand, has submitted a notice of objection to the summons on the point of group insult on behalf of Geert Wilders. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands ruled that even though it is indeed punishable to insult a group of people, it is not punishable to insult a religion as such. Due to this the order of the Court of Amsterdam on this point is deemed incorrect.
My first dentist was not actually called Mr I. Tugham or Phil McCavity, but may as well have been. His doorbell was somebody's tooth, and his implements were rather primitive. The walls were a sickly shade of green, to match his patients' faces.
The design concept for the dental clinic of Dr. Ziegler devises a radically new morphology for a medical setting. Folding, undulating floors create rises and hollows to hide in, inspired by a beach dune landscape. Ceiling and floor reflect each other in waves, defining protective spaces without the use of distinct enclosures. Hills and valleys are configured to enable privacy and intimacy as well as openness and vista.
Open wide....
Anamorphic images In white are silk screened onto the orange surface and can only be deciphered from distinct viewpoints. While moving through the clinic, the surface's appearance continuously changes. Furniture and topographical volumes double as storage space, and technical equipment is seamlessly integrated into the contours of the interior.
While the treatment spaces are defined by their discreet use of technology and contemplative nature opening up towards the skyline of Berlin only, the waiting area is transformed into an unexpectedly large, lounge-like space with an adjacent outside sun deck. The same typology of dune shaped surfaces create a common beach scenario, with integrated seats and soft benches, grouped around a free hanging fireplace.
The concept of a dune-like sculpture at the floor and the ceiling is continued into a staircase, connecting the main floor with the terrace and the treatment spaces on the floor below. The horizontal shapes are transformed into walls, confining a middle corridor like a canyon. A rhythm of glass doors cut into this canyon providing visual connections to the street and courtyard and flood it with natural light.
"Treatment spaces" are all very well, but he's still poking about in your gob.
Outrage! - ISNA leader Louay Safi delivers �blood money� and lectures on Islam at Fort Hood
Andrew C. McCarthy, former US prosecutor on the 1993 WTC bombing trial has a stunning post on NRO Corner: “Somebody at Fort Hood Should Be Walking the Plank”. If McCarthy is outraged, so should all who are concerned about the truth of motivations that drove mass shooting suspect, Major Nidal Hasan.
McCarthy is outraged about Louay Safi, a director of the Islamic Society of North America, (ISNA) Leadership Development Center, being invited to go down and lecture about Islam and deliver a check-effectively ‘blood money’ to the families of those killed or seriously wounded. The ISNA was one of the unindicted co-conspirators in the federal Dallas Holy Land Foundation trial that resulted in convictions of the Muslim charity’s leaders who had funneled millions to Palestinian terror group Hamas.
Note what McCarthy wrote:
Prepare to be infuriated.
It's been brought to my attention by several reliable sources that the Defense Department has brought Louay Safi to Fort Hood as an instructor, and that he has been lecturing on Islam to our troops in Fort Hood who are about to deploy to Afghanistan. Safi is a top official of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and served as research director at the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT).
Worse, last evening, Safi was apparently permitted to present a check (evidently on behalf of ISNA) to the families of the victims of last month's Fort Hood massacre. A military source told the blogger Barbarossa at the Jawa Report: "This is nothing short of blood money. This is criminal and the Ft. Hood base commander should be fired right now."
My colleagues at Former Muslims United are also upset with Safi given his statements endorsing Sharia law penalties or apostasy from Islam. Note this comment of Safi from a Human Events article cited by McCarthy
In a 2003 publication, "Peace and the Limits of War," Safi wrote, "The war against the apostates [non-believers of Islam] is carried out not to force them to accept Islam, but to enforce the Islamic law and maintain order."
Then note this about Safi’s background, his views on Jihad, dialogues with Iran, ISNA’s anti-Semitism and defense of Islamic terrorists from prosecution:
Safi is a Syrian-born author who advocates Muslim American rights through his directorship of ISNA's Leadership Development Center. He advocates direct talks between Washington and Iran's leaders. He has spoken out against various law enforcement raids on Islamic centers.
He also wrote, "It is up to the Muslim leadership to assess the situation and weigh the circumstances as well as the capacity of the Muslim community before deciding the appropriate type of jihad. At one stage, Muslims may find that jihad, through persuasion or peaceful resistance is the best and most effective method to achieve just peace." [ACM: Implicitly, this concedes there is a time for violent jihad, too.]
At ISNA's annual convention in Washington in July, one speaker, Imam Warith Deen Umar, criticized Obama for having two Jewish people — Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod — in the White House. "Why do this small number of people have control of the world?" he said, according to an IPT transcript. He said the Holocaust was punishment for Jews "because they were serially disobedient to Allah."
[Steven] Emerson's group [the Investigative Project on Terrorism] collected literature at the convention approved for distribution by ISNA. It said the pamphlets and books featured "numerous attempts to portray U.S. prosecution of terrorists and terror supporters as anti-Muslim bigotry; dramatic revisionist history that denied attacks by Arab nations and Palestinian terrorists against Israel; anti-Semitic tracts and hyperbolic rants about a genocide and holocaust of Palestinians."
This is outrageous behavior by the Gates Defense Department bringing Louay Safi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood front, the ISNA, to lecture to troops about Islam. Couple that with the evident stonewalling of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force 'non-cooperation' with Senator Lieberman's HSGAC investigation of the Fort Hood Massacre and it raises a serious question about the Obama Administration objectives in assisting the HSGAC investigation of the Fort Hood mass shooting by suspect Maj. Nidal Hasan.
Note this from a Dallas Morning News report about the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force effectively ‘stonewalling’ the HSGAC Fort Hood investigations: Senator: We can't get info on Fort Hood shooter:
Almost a month after the Fort Hood massacre, lawmakers investigating it still don't have information from federal agencies regarding what they knew in advance about shooter Nidal Malik Hasan.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (right), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, said today that his investigators haven't been able to interview members of an FBI-led joint terrorism task force who knew about Hasan's contact with a radical imam before the Nov. 5 shootings.
Lieberman, an independent from Connecticut, said his committee also requested documents that haven't been produced. "Put me down as restless right now, but still understanding that they have a lot they are doing."
Lieberman and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, have suggested the terrorism task force failed to share information about Hasan's radical ties with the U.S. Army.
If anyone should be lecturing the troops at Fort Hood about the Islamic Sharia War doctrine it is Steve Coughlin, whom we have referred to HSGAC. Note what we said in a post about Coughlin vis a vis the Senate HSGAC investigation, “Coughlin on Major Hasan, Islamic Jihad threat, and Official Myopia”:
Stephen Coughlin was the Pentagon expert on Islamic War doctrine. He was vanquished as a consultant from the Joint staff in 2008 by Heshem Islam the former Muslim outreach aide to Bush Deputy Defense Undersecretary Gordon England. Through the assistance of friends both active and retired military, Coughlin has continued to conduct periodic briefings to troop units, field and staff officers in advanced command and general staff programs. There is a remote possibility he might brief the Joint staff at the Pentagon in the wake of the Fort Hood massacre by lone Jihadi, Major Nidal Hasan. There is a rumor that Coughlin’s current working relationship may yet again be at an end, despite the precise accurate nature of the warning about the individual jihad threat to our military - recently realized. In this instance, Coughlin has briefed this issue at the Joint Staff, CENTCOM and related national security elements since 2005.
As Coughlin has amply demonstrated, the threat of Jihad derogated by official myopia resurged with the shots fired by Major Hasan at Fort Hood on November 5th.
Senator Lieberman’s Homeland Security Committee investigations should confirm Coughlin’s warnings about Jihad as the principal threat that faces our military both at home and in Iraq and Afghanistan. More in our command echelons need to recognize this threat. Pity, Coughlin exits at year end. Our national security is the poorer for his departure.
These disclosures about ISNA leader Louay Safi’s ‘gift’ and lectures on Islam at Fort Hood raises serious questions:
· Who in the Army command structure invited Safi to Fort Hood, given what is on record about his background, his support of Jihad doctrine and anti-Semitism?
· Why wasn’t Stephen Coughlin, an Army Reserve Major and former Pentagon expert on Islamic War Doctrine invited to lecture to the Fort Hood troops and command structure?
· Why are Army Chief of Staff, Gen. George Casey and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullins so pre-occupied with protecting political correctness in the face of Sharia War Doctrine?
· Why is the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force ‘stonewalling’ Senators Lieberman and Collins of HSGAC on their requests for information on the Fort Hood Massacre.
· Who is funding the civilian defense counsel in the Article 32 Courts Martial of Major Nidal Hasan?
We need answers to these questions for the Senate HSGAC public hearings to provide a record upon which to base counterterrorism policies that might prevent lone Jihad events like the one Major Hasan perpetrated on November 5th that killed 13 and injured 30 innocent soldiers and civilians.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Swiss Ban On Minarets Was Vote For Tolerance And Inclusion
From the Christian Science Monitor, Dec, 5, 2009:
Swiss ban on minarets was a vote for tolerance and inclusion
The Swiss vote highlights the debate on Islam as a set of political and collectivist ideas, not a rejection of Muslims.
By Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Washington
The recent Swiss referendum that bans construction of minarets has caused controversy across the world. There are two ways to interpret the vote. First, as a rejection of political Islam, not a rejection of Muslims. In this sense it was a vote for tolerance and inclusion, which political Islam rejects. Second, the vote was a revelation of the big gap between how the Swiss people and the Swiss elite judge political Islam.
In the battle of ideas, symbols are important.
What if the Swiss voters were asked in a referendum to ban the building of an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles as a symbol of the belief of a small minority? Or imagine a referendum on building towers topped with a hammer and sickle – another symbol dear to the hearts of a very small minority in Switzerland.
Political ideas have symbols: A swastika, a hammer and sickle, a minaret, a crescent with a star in the middle (usually on top of a minaret) all represent a collectivist political theory of supremacy by one group over all others.
On controversial issues, the Swiss listen to debate, read newspapers, and otherwise investigate when they make up their minds for a vote.
What Europeans are finding out about Islam as they investigate is that it is more than just a religion. Islam offers not only a spiritual framework for dealing with such human questions as birth, death, and what ought to come after this world; it prescribes a way of life.
Islam is an idea about how society should be organized: the individual's relationship to the state; that the relationship between men and women; rules for the interaction between believers and unbelievers; how to enforce such rules; and why a government under Islam is better than a government founded on other ideas. These political ideas of Islam have their symbols: the minaret, the crescent; the head scarf, and the sword.
The minaret is a symbol of Islamist supremacy, a token of domination that came to symbolize Islamic conquest. It was introduced decades after the founding of Islam.
In Europe, as in other places in the world where Muslims settle, the places of worship are simple at first. All that a Muslim needs to fulfill the obligation of prayer is a compass to indicate the direction of Mecca, water for ablution, a clean prayer mat, and a way of telling the time so as to pray five times a day in the allocated period.
The construction of large mosques with extremely tall towers that cost millions of dollars to erect are considered only after the demography of Muslims becomes significant.
The mosque evolves from a prayer house to a political center.
Imams can then preach a message of self-segregation and a bold rejection of the ways of the non-Muslims.
Men and women are separated; gays, apostates and Jews are openly condemned; and believers organize around political goals that call for the introduction of forms of sharia (Islamic) law, starting with family law.
This is the trend we have seen in Europe, and also in other countries where Muslims have settled. None of those Western academics, diplomats, and politicians who condemn the Swiss vote to ban the minaret address, let alone dispute, these facts.
In their response to the presence of Islam in their midst, Europeans have developed what one can discern as roughly two competing views. The first view emphasizes accuracy. Is it accurate to equate political symbols like those used by Communists and Nazis with a religious symbol like the minaret and its accessories of crescent and star; the uniforms of the Third Reich with the burqa and beards of current Islamists?
If it is accurate, then Islam, as a political movement, should be rejected on the basis of its own bigotry. In this view, Muslims should not be rejected as residents or citizens. The objection is to practices that are justified in the name of Islam, like honor killings, jihad, the we-versus-they perspective, the self-segregation. In short, Islamist supremacy.
The second view refuses to equate political symbols of various forms of white fascism with the symbols of a religion. In this school of thought, Islamic Scripture is compared to Christian and Jewish Scripture. Those who reason from this perspective preach pragmatism. According to them, the key to the assimilation of Muslims is dialogue. They are prepared to appease some of the demands that Muslim minorities make in the hope that one day their attachment to radical Scripture will wear off like that of Christian and Jewish peoples.
These two contrasting perspectives correspond to two quite distinct groups in Europe. The first are mainly the working class. The second are the classes that George Orwell described as "indeterminate." Cosmopolitan in outlook, they include diplomats, businesspeople, mainstream politicians, and journalists. They are well versed in globalization and tend to focus on the international image of their respective countries. With every conflict between Islam and the West, they emphasize the possible backlash from Muslim countries and how that will affect the image of their country.
By contrast, those who reject the ideas and practices of political Islam are in touch with Muslims on a local level. They have been asked to accept Muslim immigrants as neighbors, classmates, colleagues – they are what Americans would refer to as Main Street. Here is the great paradox of today's Europe: that the working class, who voted for generations for the left, now find themselves voting for right-wing parties because they feel that the social democratic parties are out of touch.
The pragmatists, most of whom are power holders, are partially right when they insist that the integration of Muslims will take a very long time. Their calls for dialogue are sensible. But as long as they do not engage Muslims to make a choice between the values of the countries that they have come to and those of the countries they left, they will find themselves faced with more surprises. And this is what the Swiss vote shows us. This is a confrontation between local, working-class voters (and some middle-class feminists) and Muslim immigrant newcomers who feel that they are entitled, not only to practice their religion, but also to replace the local political order with that of their own.
Look carefully at the reactions of the Swiss, EU and UN elites. The Swiss government is embarrassed by the outcome of the vote. The Swedes, who are currently chairing EU meetings, have condemned the Swiss vote as intolerant and xenophobic. It is remarkable that the Swedish foreign minister, Carl Bildt, said in public that the Swiss vote is a poor act of diplomacy. What he overlooks is that this is a discussion of Islam as a domestic issue. It has nothing to do with foreign policy.
The Swiss vote highlights the debate on Islam as a domestic issue in Europe. That is, Islam as a set of political and collectivist ideas. Native Europeans have been asked over and over again by their leaders to be tolerant and accepting of Muslims. They have done that. And that can be measured a) by the amount of taxpayer money that is invested in healthcare, housing, education, and welfare for Muslims and b) the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who are knocking on the doors of Europe to be admitted. If those people who cry that Europe is intolerant are right, if there was, indeed, xenophobia and a rejection of Muslims, then we would have observed the reverse. There would have been an exodus of Muslims out of Europe.
There is indeed a wider international confrontation between Islam and the West. The Iraq and Afghan wars are part of that, not to mention the ongoing struggle between Israelis and Palestinians and the nuclear ambitions of Iran. That confrontation should never be confused with the local problem of absorbing those Muslims who have been permitted to become permanent residents and citizens into European societies.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, author of "Infidel," is the Somali-born women's rights advocate and former Dutch parliamentarian. Her forthcoming book is entitled "Nomad."
Except civilisation. It is hard to say which is more revolting - the undeserved opulence of the Arab playboys or the squalor of their slave labourers. And those on this site who get hot under the collar about global warming will boil over at the bit about the indoor ski mountain. Thanks to Harry's Place, which has recovered a bit of its sanity, although it is still wilfully blind to the real enemy:
David Littman: Jew hatred publications for sale in Syria
David Littman, was recently honored by the State of Israel for his humanitarian clandestine rescue mission (Operation Mural) in Morocco in the summer os 1961. We published an article on the conferring of the prestigious ‘Hero of Silence’ Orderin the December, NER edition. Littman is the representative for the Association for World Education and the World Union for Progessive Judaism at the infamous UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Littman has been a human rights activist, battling Islamic Jew hatred and dhimmitude, as well as other taboo subjects since 1986. In this latest statement of October 27, 2009, he inveighs against irrefutable evidence – compiled by a diplomat – of numerous Jew-hatred publications available in book stalls and the streets ofDamascus.
Below is Littman's statement to the UNHRC.
ASSOCIATION FOR WORLD EDUCATION
WORLD UNION FOR PROGRESSIVE JUDAISM
UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL (2nd Session: 19 to 30 October 2009)
Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards
President: Ambassador Idriss Jazaïry (Algeria)
STATEMENT: Representative David G. LITTMAN – Tuesday (12:30pm) 27 October 2009
Discrimination based on religion or belief – and genocide
Proposals on the format and nature of possible complementary standards to be elaborated
* * * * *
(Statement translated from the French 7 delivered at the morning meeting on 27 October)
[Documentation provided below in [ ] brackets was not pronounced during the 3 minutes statement]
Judeophobia / Antisemitisme: Large number of publications in Damascus
Thank you, Mr. President. During a recent visit to Damascus a European diplomat, who prefers to remain anonymous, was profoundly shocked on finding so many antisemitic publications in the bookstores of the Syrian capital – in the respectable centres like the Maktabat al-Qital (Librairie du Combat) and Dar Albyrouty, and the bookshop district at Halbouni, as well as on the streets of the capital. The most numerous are:
– Arab editions of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler;
– The Unleavened Bread [Matzot] of Zion by of Général Mustafa Tlass, Defence Minister of Syria for more than 30 years (1972-2004);
– The Protocoles of the Learned Elders of Zion. This volume – in French and English editions – was also offered in dollars near tourist hotels. [The cover has an English map of the Middle East, showing a red and black serpent which surrounds the entire Arab world, in the centre of which is ‘Occupied Palestine’ – without the word ‘Israel’.]
Next to these Judeophobia /Antisemitic ‘classics’, bookstore windows overflow with scandalous pamphlets containing pernicious opinions on Jewish history, the falsity of the Bible, Jewish sects that use medieval sources, and international Zionist conspiracies
[– in league with Francmasonry, the Donmehs, the Bahais, predictions of Nostradamus, and of Gog and Magog, in regard to the destruction of Israel in 1913.]
In addition, there is a recent book by Shams al-Din al-Ajlani in Arabic on, The Jews of Damascus [Librairie El-Ulbi, Damas, 2009, pp. 430), in which one reads how the Jews of Damascus savagely strangled Father Thomas and his valet in 1840, in order to use his blood in the preparation of their unleavened bread [Matza] for the Feast of Passover.
[Also in the book one sees, for the first time in many years, photos of the old Jewish community (an ancient community of more than 40'000 in 1945, now under 100 elderly people) and institutions such as the building of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, which became the School of Palestine in 1967. Despite chapters on Jewish financial power and prostitutes, al-Ajlani tries to give an impression that it is a serious study – until one reaches the descriptions on the Blood-Libel with ‘historic’ illustrations.]
This calumny, denounced in 1841 by the Ottoman Sultan in a firman, is perpetuated today by an Italian inscription and a detailed Arabic ‘explanation’ in a church near the old Jewish quarter of Bab Touma. In this newly-published book (the diplomat bought a copy on 17 October), one finds, on page 181, a reproduction from the Nazi Der Stürmer
by Julius Streicher, titled Ritualmord, with an illustration showing Jews killing children.
[And two others show the alleged ritual murder of Simon of Trente in 1475 (pp. 175 and 179). After Vatican II Pope Paul VI denounced the medieval trial of the Jews as a fraud, ending Simon’s worship.]
* * * * *
In a similar ‘Judeophobia’ context in 1991 – at the 47th session of the Commission of Human Rights – Syrian delegate Ms. Nabila Chaalan relaunched the 1840 Damascus Blood Libel Accusation (during the first Gulf War), citing a book by Syrian Minister of Defence General Mustafa Tlass, called Fatîr Sahyün – ‘The Unleavened Bread of Zion’.
[Holding the book, with its colour illustration showing Jews with prayer caps cutting Father Thomas’s throat, she declared: “We should like to launch an appeal to all members of this Commission to read this very important work that demonstrates unequivocally the historical reality of Zionist racism (…) And those who read the book can understand the reasons underlying the death of Father Tuma and those unmasked realities in Zionism.” (E/CN.4/1991/SR.18).*]
[It is appropriate that this 2nd session of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Elaboration of Complementary Standards – an organ of the Human Rights Council – is currently discussing: ‘Discrimination based on religion or beliefs, as well as incitation to racial, ethnic, national and religious hate’.]
Why does Syria, and other countries, allow the circulation and sale of tens of thousands of such books annually – and the screening of TV programmes on these same themes? Why is this ‘Judeophobia’ propagated without any criticism in their countries, whereas ‘Islamophobia’ is anathema, and the same should be asked of UN Special Rapporteurs?
[On 4 February 2006 the embassies of Denmark and Norway in Damascus were attacked and burned by a mob, without much police hindrance, and this occurred as a result of deliberate incitement more than four months after the Danish cartoons ‘affair’.]
We appeal to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Presidents of the Human Rights Council and its Ad Hoc Committee, and the Special Rapporteurs concerned, as well as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, to address this hate phenomenon. The last study of French sociologist Pierre-André Taguieff, director of research at the CNRS in Paris, is called: Prêcheurs de Haine : Traversée de la judéophobie planétaire. We have been denouncing this plague for 20 years here. Surely, it is time to act now? **
---------------------
* See David Littman, Human Rights and Human Wrong’, N° 10 – Supplementary Document Section: 1991 Revival at United Nations / 1840 ‘Damascus affair’ Blood-Libel Accusation (WUPJ: Genève, 10 June 1991, pp. 58); Human Rights & Human Wrongs, N° 11 – 2nd Supplementary Document Section: 1991 Revival at UN / Correspondence & Consequences (Avenir: Genève, 20 January 1992, p. 32).
* * AWE / WUPJ: Defamation of Judaism & Jews by ISESCO (OIC): 60th UDHR Anniversary ate UN (A/HRC/10/NGO/29 – 4/3/2008)
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David G. Littman – Representative to the UN in Geneva
Association for World Education (AWE): Case Postale 205 – 1196 Gland – Suisse
World Union for Progressive Judaism (WUPJ) c/o Beith GIL, 12, Quai du Seujet, 1201 Genève
The Turkish press continues discussing the agenda of the meeting between Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Barack Obama scheduled for December 7. The United State’s demand that Turkey increase its contingent in Afghanistan is among the issues on the agenda. There is growing interest in this problem in both Turkey and the United States. The problem is that Turkey came to realize that it did not want to come into conflict with Muslims in Afghanistan.
U.S. President Barack Obama stated that another 30,000 troops will be dispatched to Afghanistan. The ensonhaber.com reports that U.S. Ambassador to Turkey James Jeffrey demanded that Turkey increase its military contingent in Afghanistan to fight Al-Qaeda and Taliban. He stated that the issue is also on the agenda of the Turkish Premier’s visit to the United States.
Turkey, however, is known to be against dispatching offensive forces to Afghanistan. The Turkish authorities believe that using Turkish troops against Muslim elements is pregnant with even greater harm.
Turkey is not expected to change its stance at the forthcoming Erdogan-Obama meeting, but the United Statesm, which expressed its support for the Turkish authorities’ initiative of democratization, is interested in the Turkish Premier’s stance (...)
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David Littman, was recently honored by the State of Israel for his humanitarian clandestine rescue mission (Operation Mural) in Morocco in the summer os 1961. We published an 
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