Sunday, June 3, 2012
"Sanctions That Benefit" - Obama's BFF Erdogan's Turkey their gold imports jump by 150 pct in May
"Sanctions That Benefit" - Obama's BFF Erdogan's Turkey their gold imports jump by 150 pct in May.(HD).Turkish gold imports leapt by 150 percent in May due to unrelenting demand from sanctions-strapped Iran, where buyers are increasingly choosing to keep savings in the precious metal rather than paper currency. Turkey has imported 19.47 tons of gold in May, up from 7.78 tons in April, according to data released by the Istanbul Gold Exchange. Some of the increase was also attributable to the onset of the wedding season and regional tensions related to the 14-month-old uprising in neighboring Syria. But export data released a day earlier showed Iranian buying from Turkish gold traders has been the crucial factor. Sanctions to force Iran to curb its nuclear programme have targeted its energy and banking sectors and new measures from both the United States and European Union take effect in July, The sanctions have made neighboring Turkey an ever more important channel for the Islamic republic. Gökhan Aksu, vice president of Istanbul Gold Refinery, suspected Iran was seeking to hold some of its oil revenues in gold, while ordinary Iranians sought a safer asset as the rial currency was losing value and access to foreign currency was being choked off by the Western sanctions. “Iran needs to employ its resources coming from oil exports,” Aksu said. “They also have problems such as embargoes and the depreciation of the rial.” Foreign trade data showed Turkey earned $1.27 billion from exports of 23.9 tons of gold in April, dwarfing the $75.4 million earned from sales of 1.65 tons last year. Some 95 percent of the total gold exports went to Iran in April.Hmmmm.....Turkish gold sales to Iran in March soared over 30 times.Read the full story here.
New minority label at CUNY: ‘Jewish’.
New minority label at CUNY: ‘Jewish’.(NYP).Something isn’t kosher about a CUNY scheme to single out Jews, angry professors charge. Touting a move to make its faculty more diverse, CUNY administrators have broken out Jews into a separate minority group: “White/Jewish.” CUNY insists “some faculty” want the label, instead of being lumped in as just white. But the theistic tag has outraged both Jewish and non-Jewish professors, and sparked a furor. “This is, as far as I know, the first time a religion has been introduced into any affirmative-action document,” said David Gordon, a history professor at Bronx Community College and the Graduate Center. “What would the response be to a category ‘White/Methodist?’ Silly? Irrelevant?”“It’s an insult and idiotic,” said Hershey Friedman, deputy chairman of the Finance and Business Management Department at Brooklyn College. “Most Jews are brown-skinned. We also have black Jews and Asian Jews. Once you mix religion with race you’re opening a Pandora’s box — and you look stupid.” The new White/Jewish category is discussed in a report on CUNY’s Diversity Action Plan, issued last month by CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. The plan is aimed at boosting the recruitment and inclusion of minorities.Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who last week called on the state attorney general to investigate complaints of anti-Semitism in hiring at Brooklyn College, called the new Jewish category “abhorrent.” An Irish-Catholic professor at Lehman College quipped: “I can get yellow stars to put on my colleagues’ arms,” referring to the badges that Jews were forced to wear in Nazi-occupied Europe.Hmmmm......Read the full story here.
Iran backs Iraq’s Shi'a Muslim Thamir Ghadhban to head OPEC, Shahristani says.
Iran backs Iraq’s Shi'a Muslim Thamir Ghadhban to head OPEC, Shahristani says.(TAZ).Iran backs the Iraqi government's candidate for the post of OPEC secretary-general, said Hussain al-Shahristani, Iraq's deputy prime minister for energy affairs, Bloomberg reported. Iranian Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi expressed his country's support for former Iraqi Oil Minister Thamir Ghadhban during talks in Baghdad today, Shahristani said in an e-mailed statement. Qasemi also discussed with Shahristani ways of boosting cooperation between the neighboring countries in the field of energy, by exchanging expertise and encouraging Iranian companies to invest in Iraq, Shahristani said. Iraq's Cabinet nominated Ghadhban, 67, to the post of secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries on March 6, competing against a candidate from Saudi Arabia, OPEC's de facto leader. Ghadhban is currently a top adviser to the Iraqi prime minister. He was oil minister in 2004 and 2005, after the U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki maintains close ties with the leadership in neighboring Iran which has tense relations with other Gulf neighbors including Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude exporter, nominated Majid al-Moneef, its OPEC governor, as head of the producer group, a person with knowledge of the matter said Feb. 1. Ecuador, OPEC's smallest producer, nominated Oil Minister Wilson Pastor, a person with knowledge of the matter said May 31. OPEC's current secretary-general, Abdalla el-Badri of Libya, will complete his second three-year term at the end of this year. OPEC ministers will probably consider the nominations at their June 14 meeting at the organization's Vienna headquarters. OPEC's members are Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.Hmmmm.......Obama's and Ahmadinejad choice?Read the full story here.
Support Fazil Say.Tell Obama's BFF that The right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right.
Support Fazil Say.Tell Obama's BFF that The right to freedom of speech is recognized as a human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.(SFS).HT: IsraelMatzav.This campaign has been created to support an internationally known Turkish pianist and composer who has been charged with insulting Islamic religious values in comments he made on Twitter. A court in Istanbul today approved charges against Fazil Say, who has played piano with the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, National Orchestra of France, and Tokyo Symphony. Mr Say has served as a culture ambassador for the European Union. The trial will be held on October 18. He could face one and a half years in prison if he is convicted. Our aim is to take a global attention to this inconvenient situation and bring people together to stop the lack of “Freedom of Expression”.Sign the petition here.
The Guardian’s ridiculous claim of 75% Arctic sea ice loss in 30 years – patently false.
The Guardian’s ridiculous claim of 75% Arctic sea ice loss in 30 years – patently false.(WUWT).Reposted from “Haunting the Library” (well worth a bookmark), another clueless journalist combined with an artist/activist makes The Guardian look pretty darned stupid. Five minutes or less of checking would have prevented this blunder.
Guardian Goes “Full Stupid” on Arctic Ice, Contradicts Itself.
The Guardian managed to outdo itself in it’s latest foray into global warming, claiming that Arctic sea ice has declined by three quarters in the last three decades. In a series of “factoids” following an interview with pop celebrity and latest Greenpeace spokesperson for the Arctic ice, Jarvis Cocker, Lucy Seigle, the Guardian’s environment reporter, informed readers that:
Of the Arctic sea ice, 75% has been lost over the past 30 years. Last year saw sea-ice levels plummet to the second-lowest since records began. It is estimated that the North Pole could be ice-free in the summer within the next 10-20 years.However, the problem with this was not just it’s total departure from both reality and common sense, but the fact that an article in the Guardian only a couple of weeks beforehand had pointed out that this simply isn’t the case.
The Guardian. Jarvis Cocker: The Iceman Cometh.
Quoting the Met Office’s Chief Scientist, Julia Sligo, the article noted that such claims were simply “not credible” -
She also said that suggestions the volume of sea ice had already declined by 75% already were not credible. “We know there is something [happening on the thinning of sea ice] but it’s not as dramatic as those numbers suggest.”In fact, as the NSIDC points out, the extent of Arctic sea ice is very close to the average for the last three decades, not down by 75% as The Guardian’s environment reporter seems to be confused about:
The problem, she explained, was that researchers did not know the thickness of Arctic sea ice with any confidence.
The Guardian. Met Office: Arctic Sea Ice Loss Linked to Drier, Colder UK Winters.
Overview of ConditionsSomeone should really help them out over at the Guardian’s environment section. Do you have an hour or two to spare, some basic common sense, plenty of paper and some crayons?
Arctic sea ice extent in April 2012 averaged 14.73 million square kilometers (5.69 million square miles). Because of the very slow rate of ice loss through the last half of March and the first three weeks of April, ice extent averaged for April ranked close to average out of 34 years of satellite data.
NSIDC: Arctic Sea Ice Extent Reaches Near Average in April.
I’ve extended that graph of Gleick’s down to the zero line, and annotated the 1980 and 2010 year values and the 75% loss of 1980 value line (3.125) for reference. As you can see, there’s a loooonnnng way to go from 12.5 million square kilometers in 1980 to 3.125 million square kilometers in 2010 to make a 75% loss in 30 years.
The Guardian is only off by 7.675 million square kilometers…close enough for journo work I suppose.Read the full story here.
Israel Discovers New Giant Off-Shore Oil and Gas Field.
Israel Discovers New Giant Off-Shore Oil and Gas Field.(INN).An Israel energy company announced Sunday it has discovered an off-shore energy field that may even surpass previous finds in terms of the possibilities of developing commercial grade oil. Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP announced that its Pelagic licenses indicate 6.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas and 1.4 billion barrels of oil. By comparison, the previously announced Tamar and Leviathan off-shore fields contain an estimated 9 and 17 TCF of natural gas. The amount of commercial oil, if any, has not been finalized, but estimates of possible oil in the Leviathan field have been downsized to 600 million barrels. Discoveries of oil and gas have made outdated the old joke that Moses took the wrong turn from Egypt, leading Israel to sand and leaving oil for the Arabs. After being chased by Pharaoh to the edge of the “Sea of Reeds,” which often if not correctly is called the Red Sea, Moses asked Heaven to save them, and He replied to step into the sea, which then was split by winds, allowing the Jews to cross and then burying the army of Pharaoh when it followed. Stepping into the sea now can be seen in retrospect as a sign of the treasures buried under the sea. “The quantity of gas discovered in the licenses, and the high probabilities, make it the third largest offshore discovery to date,” according to Israel Opportunity chairman Ronny Halman, quoted by Globes. He added, ”This quantity guarantees Israel's energy future for decades, and makes it possible to export Israeli gas, and boost the state's revenues without worrying about gas reserves for domestic consumption."The new discoveries make it more certain of a virtual revolution in the Israeli economy, with anticipation that Israel will be energy self-sufficient in three years and soon after will be able to export gas and possibly even oil.Read the full story here.
"CHANGE & Redistributing wealth" America Lost 129,000 Millionaires in 2011.
"CHANGE and Redistributing wealth" America Lost 129,000 Millionaires in 2011.(CNBC).America’s millionaire population declined last year for the first time since the financial crisis, according to a new report. The population of U.S. millionaire households (households with investible assets of $1 million or more) fell to 5,134,000 from 5,263,000 in 2011, according to The Boston Consulting Group’s Global Wealth study. Total private wealth in North America fell by 0.9 percent, to $38 trillion.
The ultra-rich were the largest losers in dollar terms. Households in North America with investible assets of more than $100 million saw their wealth decline 2.4 percent. Their population declined slightly to 2,928 from 2,989. The main reason for all this wealth loss? Stocks. With the wealthy today increasingly dependent on stocks for wealth, last year’s stalled stock market shrunk the population of millionaires and nicked the fortunes of existing millionaires. According to BCG, the amount of wealth held in equities declined 3.6 percent last year. Globally, the picture looked a little brighter. Virtually all of the growth in global millionaires came from emerging markets last year. While the United States lost nearly 130,000 millionaires, the rest of the world added 175,000 millionaires. (Hellooooo?They don't use stock markets?)There are now 12.6 million millionaire households globally, according to BCG. The country with the highest “millionaire density” - proportion of population who are millionaires - was Singapore. More than 17 percent of Singapore’s households are millionaires. While 2011 saw declines in U.S. millionaires, the future looks brighter, BCG said. They expect wealth held by millionaires globally to grow at around six percent a year in Asia-Pacific. “We are in a two-speed world,” said the report. “All of the growth is being driven by developing markets.”Hmmmm.....Obama: "All the Choices We've Made Have Been the Right Ones".Read the full story here.
"War on Christianity" - 15 killed and dozens wounded in Nigerian church attack.
"War on Christianity" - 15 killed and dozens wounded in Nigerian church attack.(Telegraph). The bomber targeted the Living Faith church, in a neighbourhood near the airport in Bauchi, the capital of northern Bauchi state. The timed blast caught many people outside the church without any cover to protect themselves from the explosion, causing heavy casualties, witnesses said. At least eight people were killed in the blast, as well as the bomber, Bauchi state police commissioner Mohammed Ladan said. He said security personnel stationed near the churches stopped the car from getting any closer to worshippers than it did. More than 40 people suffered injuries in the blast, the Nigerian Red Cross said. The powerful blast from the car destroyed part of the Harvest Field Church, sending walls of the building crashing down on worshippers still inside. Others suffered burns in the blast. The death toll from the blast could rise. Police and soldiers surrounded the church immediately after the explosion, stopping emergency workers from going inside to collect the corpses of those killed. Witnesses who left the church after the blast said they saw as many as 10 dead.A spokesman for Nigeria's Federal Emergency Management Agency confirmed the explosion, but gave no details. Police officials could not be immediately reached for comment. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, though the blast comes as Nigeria faces a growing wave of sectarian violence carried out by a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram. Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's Muslim north, has been blamed for killing more than 530 people this year alone. The sect's targets have included churches, often attacked by suicide car bombers.Read the full story here.
"TRANSPARENCY" Commander-in-chief leaks secrets in real time.
"TRANSPARENCY" Commander-in-chief leaks secrets in real time.(NYPost).By Michael Goodwin. ...The Allies broke German military codes in World War II, but it remained secret until the 1970s. Now our president leaks secrets in real time. The Times says the virus program, code named Olympic Games, started under President George W. Bush and was an effort to stop Iran from getting the bomb. While Bush “had little credibility,” the Times says, Obama “concluded that when it came to stopping Iran, the United States had no other choice.” See, when Bush does it, it’s bad; when Obama does it, it’s good. Give the Times a gold star for its campaign contribution.
The paper also hinted that one or more Iranian technicians helped introduce the virus into the computers. I asked Rep. Pete King, the GOP chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, if he saw anything wrong with the leaks. King had plenty to say: “It’s a pattern that goes back two years, starting with the Times Square bomber, where somebody in the federal government, probably the FBI, leaked his name before he was captured. That’s why he tried to leave the country — he knew they were on to him. “They did it with the movie about Osama bin Laden, leaking all kinds of operational details that are supposed to remain secret and setting up the producer with a member of the SEALs. They mentioned we had DNA, which is how the Pakistanis focused on the doctor they arrested. “And now this. It’s like two press releases coming from the Oval Office. It’s unheard of. It puts our people at risk and gives information to the enemy. And it gives our allies a reason not to work with us because what they do might show up on the front page of The New York Times.” ... Obama has a pattern of self aggrandizement while at the same time avoiding responsibility for things that go wrong. Our military and intelligence agencies are still doing a good job, so Obama tries to take credit for their accomplishments while blaming the economic results on everyone but himself and his policies. It shows a level of immaturity that is shocking for someone elected to be President. Putting our national security secrets on the front page of the NY Times is not leadership. It is irresponsible.Read the full story here.
How low has America sunk? Canada quits UN agency over monster Mugabe appointment, Obama admin silent.
How low has America sunk? Canada quits UN agency over monster Mugabe appointment, Obama admin silent.(AS).Remember when America was the world leader? Remember when it was America who would not sit idly by when outrageous evils were sanctioned by the collective negation of humanity (the UN)? How low America has sunk under the fraud.Even the pathologically leftist NY Times has said that Mugabe should be tried for war crimes.
And this just last week: President Robert Mugabe and his henchmen are accused of crimes against humanity, a British newspaper reported on Saturday, for among other things, "slowly hacking off the limbs and pulling out the teeth with pliers of his opposition's supporters. He had 'enjoyed' torturing victims."
And the UN appoints Mugabe special toursim ambassador ...to where? Hades? And Obama stood by. Silence is sanction. You could just vomit at how third world we are under Obama. And the media says nothing.
Candidate Itamar Gelbman is right, "defund the UN."
Kudos to Harper's Canada, whose brave and righteous leadership once again shames America, but gives freedom lovers hope that all is not lost.
"Canada quits UN agency over Mugabe appointment". Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird told the Commons Thursday the appointment of Mugabe as an international tourism ambassador was what led to the withdrawal. The UN body, however, dismissed that reasoning, pointing out that it doesn't actually have an ambassadorial program. The UNWTO said it gave an Open Letter on Travel and Tourism to the presidents of Zimbabwe and Zambia on May 29, in recognition of a tripartite agreement with both countries on the hosting of the 20th Session of the UN General Assembly in Victoria Falls, which straddles the borders of both countries. The agency added that the same letter had been given to leaders of other countries around the world. "The receiving of the Open Letter implies no legal commitment or official title attribution to the country or the recipient," the agency said in a statement. But the mere recognition of Mugabe at a UN event was enough for Baird, who called it the "last straw" for Canada's participation in the UNWTO, the minister's spokesman said. "After (minister Baird) heard that (Mugabe) was honoured at an event, after he was invited to join this global leaders group, he signed the Order in Council almost immediately," said Joseph Lavoie. Canada had already signalled a year ago, by giving formal notice, that it intended to withdraw from the UNWTO. But an Order in Council is required to formalize any such notice period. "They were legitimizing him by enlisting Mugabe to promote tourism," Lavoie said.Mugabe is currently under a United States and European Union travel ban because of human rights abuses in his own country.Hmmm.....Canada the new leader in the world for defending Human rights and Justice.Read the full story here.
"CHANGE?" - U.S. Democrat candidate: Don’t Vote For The Jew!
"CHANGE?" - U.S. Democrat candidate: Don’t Vote For The Jew!(MNB).By Findalis.Is the words on this campaign poster against Rep. Steve Rothman in the upcoming Democratic Primary. The latest tactic in campaigning. Now it is outright anti-Semitism. A Democratic primary race in northern New Jersey has devolved into a highly competitive proxy war over Israel, pitting the state’s pro-Israel community against a growing constituency of Arab voters who have accused a sitting congressman of putting Israel’s interests before America’s. As the race between Democratic Reps. Steve Rothman and Bill Pascrell nears its Tuesday finish, veteran political observers on the ground have expressed concern at the way the battle between the two veteran lawmakers has transformed into a troubling ethnic brawl. “One side says, ‘We want this Jew out of office’ and, frankly, it’s pretty unsettling,” Ben Chouake, president of NORPAC, a pro-Israel political action committee based in Englewood Cliffs, told the Free Beacon.
“They emphasized [Rothman] is a Jewish congressman.” Others say they simply cannot recall a congressional race becoming a referendum on a candidate’s religion. “For the first time in recent American political history, we are witnessing a proxy battle between supporters and detractors of Israel, and it’s playing out in the Ninth District of New Jersey,” said one veteran campaign strategist who is knowledgeable about the district.
The race took an unprecedented turn on Monday when an Arabic campaign poster (see above) supporting Pascrell surfaced. It urged the “Arab diaspora community” to “elect the friend of the Arabs” and billed the race as “the most important election in the history of the [Arab] community,” according to a WFB translation of the sign. “I don’t read Arabic well, but I am pretty sure that the pro-Pascrell posters that have appeared across the district are not calling to elect the candidate who supports a strong relationship between America and the only democracy in the Middle East, one which is rooted in progressive Western values—women’s rights, gay rights, tolerance, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, etc.,” said Josh Block, a Democratic strategist and former spokesman for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Observers such as Susan Rosenbluth, publisher of the New Jersey-based Jewish Voice and Opinion, say the race took an anti-Semitic turn in late February, when a prominent Arab supporter of Pascrell accused the state’s Jewish voters of being more loyal to Israel than America.Hmmmm.......Obama "There's no stronger ally to Israel than me.".....yup it's pretty obvious.Read the full story here.
Egypt’s top prosecutor to appeal Mubarak verdict amid public outrage
Egypt’s top prosecutor to appeal Mubarak verdict amid public outrage.(AA).Egypt’s state prosecutor will appeal the verdict in Hosni Mubarak’s trial, which acquitted the former leader and his two sons on corruption charges and cleared senior police officers of complicity in killing protesters during last year’s uprising, an official told the Associated Press on Sunday. The prosecutor must appeal the entire verdict, which also included convictions and life sentences for Mubarak and his former security chief for failing to stop the killing of protesters in the uprising that ousted him. Six top police commanders, who faced the same charge of complicity in killing protesters, were acquitted for what the judge said was lack of concrete evidence. The official spoke Sunday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to media. Mubarak, the only autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring to be put in the dock, could have been sent to the gallows as demanded by the prosecution. He was also cleared of graft charges. The prosecution had asked for the death sentence against the ousted president and his security aides, but it has received much criticism over its preparations for the case. Mubarak’s defense has also said it would appeal. Both Mubarak’s defense team and lawyers representing his victims said the life sentence verdict could easily be appealed, triggering fears among protesters that he could be ruled innocent. Around 20,000 people took to Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square on Saturday after the verdicts were issued. We expect a lot more people to come during the day,” said Omar Abdelkader, a young protester in Tahrir on Sunday. “Many people had the feeling while listening to the verdict that we were back in the days of the old regime,” said student Feda Essam, another protester in the square.Hmmmm.......Welcome to the 'justice' by the "Age of the Muslim BrotherHood" ...a.k.a. A.D. 630.Read the full story here
"מזל טוב" "Mazel tov" - Muhammad Ali's grandson celebrates his Bar Mitzvah.
"מזל טוב" "Mazel tov" - Muhammad Ali's grandson celebrates his Bar Mitzvah.(YJN).We have named former world boxing champion Muhammad Ali Heavyweight champion "The Greatest", "People's Champion" and "The Louisville Lip" Now I would like also call him "Zaidy" and he is very proud of that. The boxing news media reported that the grandson of Muhammad Ali recently became a bar mitzvah. The 13-year-old Jacob Wertheimer, the son of Ali's daughter Khaliah Ali Wertheimer and her husband Spencer Wertheimer. "I was born and raised as a Muslim," Ali Wertheimer said. "But I'm not into organized religion. I am more spiritual than religious. My husband is Jewish. Nobody put any pressure on Jacob to believe one way or another. He chose this on his own because he felt a kinship with Judaism and Jewish culture. "Accordingly, Jacob had his Bar Mitzvah ceremony in the congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia on April 28. Jacob's mother also shared that the theme of the bar mitzvah was a celebration of diversity and inclusion. "My father was supportive in every way. He followed all the Torah readings and looked closely. It meant a lot to Jacob that he was there," she said.Read the full story here.
Salafi Leader: No Freedom in Islam; Apostates Must be Persecuted
Salafi Leader: No Freedom in Islam; Apostates Must be Persecuted.(MEF).By Raymond Ibrahim.Jihad Watch.
Last month, Sheikh Yassir al-Burhami, a prominent figure in Egypt's Salafi movement—who also hates Christian Copts, hates Mother's Day, and is an advocate of taqiyya—appeared on the Egyptian show Al Hayat Al Youm ("Life Today"), giving his views on the presidential candidates. At one point, the host asked Burhami which of the policies of Abu al-Futuh—the "liberal" Islamist candidate who lost out to the more "conservative" Muslim Brotherhood candidate—he especially rejected.
Burhami started vaguely, saying "There were some things we were concerned about," adding that they met and discussed these matters with Abu al-Futuh, and how the latter had clarified his position, finally agreeing that he might need to revise his opinion.
Then Burhami made clear what the issue at hand was: Apostasy—if Muslims have the right to leave Islam and convert to other religions. In the words of Burhami:
Burhami started vaguely, saying "There were some things we were concerned about," adding that they met and discussed these matters with Abu al-Futuh, and how the latter had clarified his position, finally agreeing that he might need to revise his opinion.
Then Burhami made clear what the issue at hand was: Apostasy—if Muslims have the right to leave Islam and convert to other religions. In the words of Burhami:
Is it the right of the Muslim to convert to Christianity or another religion? Of course this is not a right; this is a matter that Sharia has clearly addressed, according to the agreed upon hadiths. It is impermissible, for any reason, for a Muslim to leave the community. Of course, you cannot coerce any infidel to enter into Islam [Koran 2:256]—except for the apostate. It is impossible to let the apostate remain in [a state of] apostasy, deeming it a form of "freedom."For the record, the "agreed upon hadiths" that Burhami indicated, are, in fact, unequivocal in regards to the crime of apostasy. The most canonical and oft cited among them simply has Muhammad saying: "Whoever leaves his religion, kill him."
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Iran's ‘The Sky of Snowy Days’ features the social, economical and family problems in the American life, warmly received in Ankara.
Iran's ‘The Sky of Snowy Days’ features the social, economical and family problems in the American life, warmly received in Ankara.(PressTv).Iranian playwright Mohammad Charmshir’s stage production The Sky of Snowy Days has been warmly received in the Turkish capital of Ankara. Directed by Mansoureh Davarinejad, the play was warmly welcomed only at its second day of performance in Ankara’s Sahnesi Theater Hall on June 2, 2012. The play inspired by the American pop folklore Bonnie and Clyde features the social, economical and family problems in the American life; at the end, though, the audience will judge the depicted lifestyle, Davarinejad said. Despite the shortcomings in the scene due to time shortage and the fact that the performance was presented in Persian language, The Sky of Snowy Days impressed the audience and gained large critical acclaim, said Turkey's leading stage artist and manager of Sahnesi Theater Hall Mustafa Akmaz. He went on to say that Sahnesi Theater Hall will be always open onto the Iranian theater artists.Hmmm.....Turkey NATO Ally and Obama's BFF.Time to Wake Up and Smell The Coffee!Read the full story here.
President Obama's multiple personalities.
President Obama's multiple personalities.(IsraelMatzav).Lauri Regan eviscerates the man who claims to know more about Judaism than any of his predecessors.
And while we know the president enjoys "a good party," the real question is whether he enjoys sharing them with Jewish people when they do not involve raising money for his campaign. In a New York Times report on the history of "the Obama Seder," candidate Obama joined several staff members in a small gathering during the Passover holiday that fell during the campaign.
Obama invited several African-American friends who "peppered the outnumbered Jews at the table with questions...'We're not exactly crack Hebrew scholars,'" responded one of the Obama staffers. Apparently, the man who claims to know more about Judaism than the 43 U.S. presidents who preceded him was also incapable of responding to any of the questions relating to the Passover story. But the article does share with us that Obama took it upon himself to revise the Haggadah ending the Seder with "Next year in the White House!"
What we also learn from the Times story is that the Seder is now a WH tradition, and "[n]o one considered inviting prominent rabbis or other Jewish leaders; it is a private event." We also learn that "as in many Jewish households, the Obama Seder seems to take on new meaning each year, depending on what is happening in the world and in participants' lives." Wrong. The meaning of the Jewish holiday has not changed in thousands of years.
The man who claimed to "serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views" is nothing of the sort. He is more like Sybil, intentionally morphing into a different persona when he determines it politically expedient. He is certainly not knowledgeable about Judaism, he is not an honest man, and he has spent his life in the midst of some very bad people. Obama's personality will be vetted this time around whether he likes it or not. And grandiose statements made in the shadows of Greek columns will prove to be incapable of supporting his faux image and multiple personalities, just as the European Union has proven incapable of supporting the faltering Greek economy.
While the rest of the country is waking up to the fact that the smartest man to catapult to the highest office in the land may not actually be as brilliant as his handlers would have us believe, Obama has yet to take off his rose-colored glasses when he views himself in the mirror.Read the full story here.
Secret Cooperation - Israel Deploys Nuclear Weapons on German-Built Submarines.
Secret Cooperation - Israel Deploys Nuclear Weapons on German-Built Submarines.(Spiegel) HT: IsraelMatzav.Germany is helping Israel to develop its military nuclear capabilities, SPIEGEL has learned. According to extensive research carried out by the magazine, Israel is equipping submarines that were built in the northern German city of Kiel and largely paid for by the German government with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles.According to a Sunday report in Yedioth Ahronoth, the German-made U-boats – six of which have been purchased by the Israel Navy – will be equipped with Popeye missiles, which can carry nuclear warheads.
The missiles can be launched using a previously secret hydraulic ejection system. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak told SPIEGEL that Germans should be "proud" that they have secured the existence of the state of Israel "for many years." In the past, the German government has always stuck to the position that it is unaware of nuclear weapons being deployed on the vessels. Now, however, former high-ranking officials from the German Defense Ministry, including former State Secretary Lothar Rühl and former chief of the planning staff Hans Rühle, have told SPIEGEL that they had always assumed that Israel would deploy nuclear weapons on the submarines. Rühl had even discussed the issue with the military in Tel Aviv. Israel has a policy of not commenting officially on its nuclear weapons program. Documents from the archives of the German Foreign Ministry make it clear, however, that the German government has known about the program since 1961. The last discussion for which there is evidence took place in 1977, when then-Chancellor Helmut Schmidt spoke to then-Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan about the issue.Three submarines have already been delivered to Israel, and three more will be delivered by 2017. In addition, Israel is considering ordering its seventh, eighth and ninth submarines from Germany.Read the full story here.
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