How about a football holiday in Germany?

Just, bring your brass knuckles.

POLISH football fans intent on disrupting this summer’s World Cup with organised fights are planning to establish a “hooligan league” which will be headed by the most violent thugs.

The Polish fans, many of whom will be armed with knives, axes and 3ft truncheons, are preparing for battles with fans from rival countries, including England, throughout the five weeks of the tournament in Germany.

They say they will be seeking “pre-arranged fights” with travelling England fans because of their reputation as “the best of the worst”. One group of Polish hooligans has warned that if the English “ignore invitations to fight, they will be attacked anyway”.

The extent of the violence — often with fascist overtones — now commonplace in Polish football is understood by both German and British police. But little is known about the identities of many of the eastern European gangs who talk of turning Germany into a “battleground”.

The rise in football violence follows a wave of extreme right-wing and vehemently anti-semitic political discourse in the former communist country. Within the Polish parliament there are politicians who openly praise fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Hard-core fascist and anti-semitic publications are sold on newsstands.

Rafal Pankowski, who organises Never Again, a Warsaw-based human rights group, said: “The level of violence and its links to fascist and racist groups is a great concern to us. We are very worried this will be exported to Germany for the World Cup.”

Polish hooligans interviewed about their plans boast that they will be able to slip across the border into Germany without being detected. They talk of night-time raids on the campsites where many of England’s 80,000 to 100,000 travelling supporters expect to stay.

Good news! A Nuclear Breakthrough in Iran!

Just kidding. This is not good news.

Iran is developing an advanced centrifuge that would allow it to accelerate its controversial uranium enrichment programme, a senior official told state television yesterday.

Mohammad Saidi, the vice-president of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, made the claim a day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that Iran had ignored a United Nations ultimatum to end enrichment work.

A more sophisticated breed of centrifuge would allow scientists to speed up purification of uranium towards the 90 per cent level required for bomb-making. They recently achieved an initial enrichment level of 3.6 per cent - the purity required to generate electricity. "We have told the agency [IAEA] that we are studying and conducting research on different types of machines," Mr Saidi said. "We cannot limit ourselves when we have an enrichment programme."

His comments were supported by a television interview with Gholamreza Aghazadeh, Iran's nuclear chief. "As for more advanced machines - we indeed have plans to develop such machines," he said. "Having the advanced type of centrifuges and the new technology enables one to multiply production."

Emancipation for Women in Saudi Arabia...

Wow....changes are a'comin....

It is hailed as a major step forward for women's emancipation in Saudi Arabia: in the coming weeks they will enjoy the right to buy lingerie from female shop assistants.

This may be a far cry from bra-burning feminism but in Saudi Arabia the notion of buying one's brassiere from a woman is nothing short of revolutionary.

Muslim clerics try to shut down YMCA....

We've blogged many times in the past about the hostility to the Christian Arab community in the west bank by muslims.

An attempt by Muslim clerics to close a YMCA branch office in the West Bank has exposed growing tensions between the Holy Land's dwindling Christian community and the new Palestinian government led by Hamas.

Firebombs were recently thrown into the office of the YMCA in Qalqilya, a Hamas stronghold, forcing the group to move to new premises.

Islamic leaders have written to the local council demanding that the YMCA branch office close. Their letter concludes: "The presence of this office will lead to negative consequences.''

While the religious leaders were not members of Hamas, the failure of the local Hamas-run council to protect the YMCA is concerning local Christians.

Hashem al Masri, the deputy mayor and a Hamas member, admitted that the YMCA's name alone was a "challenge to the city''.

A modern day problem for muslims...

Just how many experts do you need to solve this one?

Malaysian scientists and religious scholars are trying to determine how Muslims should behave in space, as the predominantly Islamic country prepares to dispatch its first astronaut next year.

More than 150 delegates attended a seminar to consider how to pray in space given the difficulties of locating Mecca and holding the prayer position in zero gravity; as well as other questions such as halal food and washing.

"It's as important as sending the astronaut," said Mustafa Din bin Subari, deputy director of Angkasa, Malaysia's space agency. "We want to stress that being a Muslim does not restrict you from doing anything."

The application of a religion founded in the 7th century Arabian desert to space travel in the 21st century is complex. The International Space Station (ISS) moves at almost 17,000 mph, so the relative position of Mecca is constantly shifting. With 16 orbits a day, and the timing of five daily prayers determined in relation to sunrise and sunset, devout Muslim astronauts could find themselves intoning their chants 80 times in 24 hours.

Gee, Bush was right about the axis of evil...

Iran gets missiles from North Korea.

Iran has received its first batch of North Korean-made surface-to-surface missiles that put European countries within firing range, Israel's military intelligence chief said in an interview published Thursday.

The BM-25 missiles have a range of 1,550 miles and are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, the Haaretz daily reported.

The report came as U.N. members consider slapping sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment. The United States, Israel and other Western countries say Iran is trying to get nuclear arms, but the Islamic regime says its atomic program is for civilian purposes only.

The U.N. Security Council has given Iran until Friday to stop enriching uranium, a necessary step for developing nuclear weapons. Should Iran refuse to comply, which it has indicated it will do, the Security Council is likely to consider taking punitive measures.

Israeli security officials confirmed the Haaretz report. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Not enough 'female' art...

You know, I am not making this up...

The head of Stockholm's Modern Museum has asked the government for 50 million kronor to buy more art - but only from female artists.

Lars Nittve says that due to "an historical mistake" female artists are under-represented in the museum's collection, and the imbalance must be put right.

Writing in Dagens Nyheter, Nittve criticised the museum's purchasing policy over the last 40 years, which has led to 90% of the works in the collection being by male artists.

"The big mistake they made was in the 1960s when they bought 36 fantastic paintings. They only bought paintings by male artists," said Nittve.

The older the art period, the worse the female representation.

In the Surreal collection there is not a single work by a female artist.

"When you look around here there's surely a female artist among the twenty or so painters who are presented in this room - but there really isn't," said Nittve.

Among the early modern avant garde works, only 15% of the painters are women, while 20% of the art from 1940-1970 was by women. Only after 1970 do things level out, with 45% of the works from the last 35 years produced by female artists.

Should they even be measuring stuff like this???

Israeli flags burned at Liberation Day March in Italy...

This is really a horrible, disgusting act.

The Vatican newspaper on Wednesday called the trampling and burning of Israeli flags during a march in Milan a "disgusting" offense to all Jews.

In a news article about the march, the L'Osservatore Romano newspaper called the anti-Israel protests a "serious and disgusting offense."

"To offend a flag means to offend the people for whom it is a symbol, and therefore in this case it was an offense to the entire Jewish people, precisely on the day in which we celebrate liberation from their infamous oppressors," L'Osservatore wrote.

Earlier on Wednesday,the Israeli ambassador to Italy condemned as "barbarous" the anti-Israeli demonstrations held "As a Jew and an Israeli, I was filled with shame and anger at the sight of the barbarous behavior of the 'fascists' who defiled the sanctity of the Liberation Day holiday," Ambassador Ehud Gol said in a statement.

The protests occurred near a march Tuesday commemorating the 61st anniversary of Italy's liberation from fascism. Demonstrators trampled and burned Israeli flags and yelled "Intifada" in support of the Palestinian uprising, according to media reports.

The protesters reportedly were angered by the presence in the march of Israeli flags in honor of members of the Jewish Infantry Brigade Group, which helped liberate Italy.

Demonstrators near the Liberation Day commemorative march trampled and burned Israeli flags and yelled "Intifada," in support of the Palestinian uprising, according to media reports.

How's this for a fund-raising trip?

Ooops..

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar has had $450,000 stolen from his hotel room during his current visit to Kuwait, the Itim news agency quoted the Kuwaiti media as saying Wednesday.

According to the report, al-Zahar had asked the Kuwaiti authorities to keep the theft under wraps, but the incident was confirmed by a security official at the hotel.

A shocking revelation in the UK....

I wonder if we are any better!

More than 1,000 convicted foreign criminals, including killers, rapists and child abusers, have been freed from prison without being considered for deportation and hundreds are missing, Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, admitted yesterday.

All of the prisoners had committed crimes that should have triggered automatic assessment for removal from the country and the majority should have expected to be expelled.

About 160 were released without being considered for removal despite explicit recommendations by judges that they should be deported at the end of their sentences.

Such is the chaos in the system for dealing with "foreign national prisoners" that Home Office officials were unable to say last night whether they had found three foreign murderers - who should be on life-long licence - nine rapists and five paedophiles among the 1,023 prisoners released since 1999.

Iran to transfer nuclear know-how?

Yes, to other countries...and terrorist groups?

Iran threatened on Tuesday to halt all cooperation with the U.N. atomic energy agency if the
U.N. Security Council imposes sanctions, warning that Tehran might hide its nuclear program if the West takes any other "harsh measures."

Iran's supreme leader, meanwhile, said in a meeting with Sudan's president that Tehran was ready to transfer its nuclear technology to other countries.

Why men make more than wormen....

It is the choices that women make that lead to lower pay...

But the real feminist complaint festival begins on Tuesday April 25th. To feminists, it’s Equal Pay Day, a pseudo-holiday when National Organization for Women and National Council of Women’s Organizations lament the disparity between men’s and women’s wages. Feminists groups claim that the first four months of the year were spent making up for last year’s gap. On April 25, women have finally earned as much as men in 2005.

There’s one problem with Equal Pay Day—the premise is bogus. Department of Labor data confirms that the median wage of a full-time working woman is three-quarters of that of a full-time working man, but like too many statistics, this fact ignores more than it reveals. This data doesn’t account for relevant factors such as occupation, experience and educational attainment.

Feminists may not like it, but the evidence shows that women’s choices—not discrimination—cause wage gap. Warren Farrell — a former board member of the National Organization for Women’s New York chapter — identifies 25 decisions that individuals make when choosing jobs in his book, Why Men Earn More. Women, he finds, are much more likely to make decisions that increase their quality of life, but decrease their pay.

Most people understand that many women often take time out of the workforce to care for family members, particularly young children. Even women who work full-time log fewer hours in the office on average than full-time working men. It is common sense that a worker who remains employed continually is going to make more than someone who drops out of the workforce for several years.

Working less is just one of the decisions women make that results in less take-home pay. Women also avoid dangerous jobs (more than nine in ten occupational deaths occur among men) and jobs that place them outdoors in the elements. Women are less willing than men to move for a job or travel frequently. Dr. Farrell’s book provides a roadmap for how individual women can increase their earnings, by making different choices, including working more hours in the office, assuming more risks or relocating for a job.

Gee. Wimbledon still pays men more...

But, why not? I bet the men's part of the tournament gets higher TV ratings...

Wimbledon remains the only Grand Slam tournament that pays the men's champion more than the women's winner.

The All England Club announced Tuesday that the men's winner this year will receive $1.170 million and the women's champion $1.117 million, a difference of $53,000. It's a four percent increase in British currency.

When feminism turns ugly...

Another example of feminists having little regard for free speech.

On April 12, Sally Jacobsen, a tenured professor at Northern Kentucky University, gathered a handful of her graduate students during a break in her lecture to demolish a pro-life display on campus. Miss Jacobsen was angered when the newly formed Northern Right to Life group created a campus-approved exhibit which included approximately 400 small white crosses meant to represent a cemetery for aborted fetuses. The exhibit was accompanied by a sign explaining the demonstration.

Miss Jacobsen was photographed stomping on and destroying that sign, and she, along with the students whom she incited to destruction of property, ripped up, destroyed and threw away each cross. University President James Votruba subsequently announced that Miss Jacobsen will take the last 2 weeks of the semester off as paid leave, at which time she will retire.

Persecution of Gays in Iran...

I doubt this report will make it to the gay press here in Canada.

The Iranian government is executing gay and bisexual men under the cover of rape and kidnapping charges, according to a major new investigation by Simon Forbes of the UK-based gay and lesbian human rights group OutRage!

Mr Forbes's nine-month investigation, published today by OutRage!, is based on information gathered from sources inside Iran. His research reveals:

* Lynchings by Iran's security forces, and ‘honour killings' by families in the south western province of Khuzestan

* Secret hangings in prison

* The method of hanging is designed to cause slow, agonising strangulation

* Internet entrapment of gay Iranians using foreign-based online gay dating agencies

* A pattern of framing gay people on charges of kidnap, rape and paedophilia, as the following five sample cases suggest:

* The Gorgan case where two men were publicly hanged for Lavaat (sodomy) in November 2005

* Details of the Kermanshah case where three men were hanged in prison in November 2005 for sodomy that was alleged to have taken the form of the kidnap and rape of a younger male

* The Arak case of two men sentenced to death for sodomy in August 2005, which also involved the alleged kidnap and rape of a younger male, the son of an officer

* Two cases of public execution for sodomy in Mashhad in December 2004 and July 2005 that involved suspiciously similar charges

* Claims of rape are sometimes made to save the family's honour or to save the passive partner from execution, and are part of an Iranian government propaganda offensive to scapegoat and demonise gay people

* Comparisons with Saudi Arabia, where it is also suggested that bogus rape charges are levelled against gay men

* Hypocrisy of the mullah's attitudes towards the abuse of young girls, the rape of both males and females in custody, and widespread sodomy in religious colleges

"The Mushroom Cloud is on its way"

Steve Emerson's blog tells of a rally held by the Islamic Thinkers Society at the Israeli consulate last week. Here's what they were chanting:

Leader (in Arabic): With our blood and our lives we will liberate al Aqsa!
[The rest also respond in Arabic:] With our blood and our lives we will liberate al Aqsa!
Israeli Zionists What do you say? The real Holocaust is on its way
Takbeer!
Response: Allahu Akbar!
Takbeer!
Response: Allahu Akbar!

Israeli Zionists, What do you say?
How many women have you raped today?
Israeli Zionists, What do you say?
How many children have you killed today?

Zionists, Zionists You will pay! The Wrath of Allah is on its way!
Israeli Zionists You shall pay! The Wrath of Allah is on its way!
The mushroom cloud is on its way! The real Holocaust is on its way!

We are not your average Muslims, We are the Muslims of Was al Sunnah

We will not accept the United Nations, they are the criminals themselves
They get paid by the Israeli and the US government to do their job.
We don’t recognize United Nations as a body
We only recognize Allah

Israel won’t last long… Indeed, Allah will repeat the Holocaust right on the soil of Israel
Takbeer!
Response: Allahu Akbar!

* * *
No wonder they call you sons of apes and pigs because that’s what you are.

We know many government services are watching us
Such as the FBI…CIA…Mossad, Homeland Security…
We know we are getting on their nerves
And so are you….
So we say the hell with you!
May the FBI burn in Hell
CIA burn in Hell
Mossad burn in Hell
Homeland Security burn in hell!!

Islam will dominate the world
Islam is the only solution
Islam will dominate the world
Islam is the only solution
Takbeer!
La ilaha il Allah, Muhammad-ur Rasool Allah

* * *
Another mushroom cloud, right in the midst of Israel!
Takbeer!! Allahu Akbar!

Ahmadinejad meets with top terrorist...

Nothing like a summit of terrorists.

IRAN’S president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, attended a meeting in Syria earlier this year with one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, according to intelligence experts and a former national security official in Washington.

US officials and Israel intelligence sources believe Imad Mugniyeh, the Lebanese commander of Hezbollah’s overseas operations, has taken charge of plotting Iran’s retaliation against western targets should President George W Bush order a strike on Iranian nuclear sites.

Mugniyeh is on the FBI’s “Most Wanted Terrorists” list for his role in a series of high-profile attacks against the West, including the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet and murder of one of its passengers, a US navy diver.

Now in his mid-forties, Mugniyeh is reported to have travelled with Ahmadinejad in January this year from Tehran to Damascus, where the Iranian president met leaders of Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas.

The meeting has been dubbed a “terror summit” because of the presence of so many groups behind attacks on Israel, which Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe from the map.

Jane’s Intelligence Review cited “reports in recent weeks” of Mugniyeh’s presence alongside the president.

Profile of new Palestinian Security Chief...

He says it quite clearly - his enemy is not just Israelis...it's all Jews!

Jamal Abu Samhadana had just been appointed chief of the Palestinian security services, but his supporters saw no reason to celebrate.

Instead of driving around the potholed streets firing their AK47s in the air, his advisers gathered in a tin-roofed hut in a remote part of the Gaza territory, safe - they hoped - from prying ears.

For now is a dangerous time to be the Palestinians' security supremo, and Abu Samhadana's allies know that even if the Israelis do not succeed in killing him, there are plenty of Palestinian rivals who might like to.

In his first interview with a British newspaper since his controversial appointment as Hamas's "iron glove" last week, Abu Samhadana, 43, revealed his ambitions for the paramilitary force under his control.

"This will be the nucleus of the future Palestinian army," he said. "The resistance must continue."

Abu Samhadana was speaking only days after nine Israelis were killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber. He can expect that Israel security officials are hungry for revenge for the Tel Aviv bombing and regard him as an attractive target.

For his part, the new commander-in-chief remained defiant and gave no sign that he would seek to rein in future attacks.

He told The Sunday Telegraph: "We have only one enemy. They are Jews. We have no other enemy. I will continue to carry the rifle and pull the trigger whenever required to defend my people."

Education for Imams...

I wonder how widespread this is.

Muslim students training to be imams at a British college with strong Iranian links have complained that they are being taught fundamentalist doctrines which describe nonMuslims as “filth”.

The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs. The texts are taught at the Hawza Ilmiyya of London, a religious school, which has a sister institution, the Islamic College for Advanced Studies (ICAS), which offers a degree validated by Middlesex University.

The students, who have asked to remain anonymous, study their religious courses alongside the university-backed BA in Islamic studies. They spend two days a week as religious students and three days on their university course.

You'd think that Middlesex University would investigate.

A Culture of Whiteness?????

This sort of story makes me crazy....

Queen's University, one of Canada's most academically elite schools, admits it has allowed a "culture of whiteness" to take root that fails to welcome visible minority students and professors.

And the university vows to be more aggressive in shedding its reputation as a tony enclave of white privilege, says vice-principal Patrick Deane.

Queen's is responding to a critical report prompted by the resignation of six non-white professors several years ago — as well as recent incidents of white students going out to pubs in controversial "blackface" makeup — that suggest the Kingston school has done little to try to reflect the diversity of Canada.

"One student accused us of attracting not the best and the brightest, but the richest and whitest — and that may be not far off," says Prof. Joy Mighty, chair of the university's equity committee, which has proposed sweeping changes to boost diversity at the picturesque campus on the banks of the St. Lawrence.

"Even in Kingston, some parents tell us they worry that sending their children to Queen's won't prepare them for the diversity of the world," said Mighty, a black professor who notes she has not experienced discrimination herself, but knows professors of colour who feel isolated on campus.

If you have the stomach, please read the whole article.

I went to Queen's myself - graduating in 1980 with an MBA. I was one of three jews in the class, and at the time, we thought Queen's was a WASPY institution. However, that didn't stop us from having a great time, graduating, and going on to be very successful.

The plain fact of the matter is that it is pure bigotry to talk of 'whiteness'. To lump Greeks, Russians, Poles, Ukranians, Jews, and others into a huge category called 'white' is just wrong. I don't self-identify as a 'white' - I am a Canadian who happens to be gay and jewish. The only thing Queens needs to focus on is to ensure that the best go there - and I am sure they are already doing just that.

Instead, here is what Queens plans to do:

So Deane said the university is considering a number of committee recommendations, from setting loose goals for recruiting more visible minority professors and students, to targeting scholarships and grants to students of colour and setting up a resource centre on campus for visible minorities.

So, the way to solve their so-called 'problem' is to move away from merit as a principle and use racing as a guiding criteria!

And, of course, the politically-correct won't stop there - they also want to change the content of courses:

Speaking at the final Engaging the World town hall, Dr. Mighty recommended that Queen’s create a vice-principal position responsible for equity with a mandate for building diversity into the life of the university – through its recruitment and admissions practices as well as its pedagogy.

Can't they just touch-up the painting?

This incredible piece of political correctness comes from a meeting of the Provincetown, Mass., Governing Board.

In that meeting, Selectwoman Sarah Peake "raised a formal objection to the continued presence of the historical painting that graces the board’s meeting room."

That particular painting, of Pilgrims voting on the Mayflower Compact, has in the past received no comment in that regard, stirred no controversy because of subject matter, artist, even the quality of the work.

So why is Ms. Peake piqued?

There are no women in the painting.

And, he's bisexual too!

Well, at least something has made me smile today!

Pakistan's military ruler, President Pervez Musharraf, has tussled with Islamist terrorists, fundamentalist mullahs and liberal intellectuals in the struggle to shape Pakistan's identity.

But he is now facing an altogether different foe: the cross-dressing son of a retired colonel.

Ali Saleem, 27, has shot to fame as the most famous television personality in the predominantly Muslim, male-dominated country by donning a silk sari and adopting the alter ego of a flirtatious widow hosting a chat show.

Such is the popularity of Late Night Show With Begum Nawazish Ali, that Pakistan's military leadership has threatened to take the programme off air.

The Begum [the honorific in Urdu for Mrs] has ruffled feathers in a country where, despite the existence of a marginalised group of transsexuals that performs at weddings and birth blessings, cross-dressing is generally frowned upon.

"We decided to create a larger-than-life character to host a talk show where the host would be flirtatious and look good so she would be on a strong footing with her guests," said Mr Saleem.

Posing controversial questions that journalists routinely steer clear of, Pakistan's Dame Edna Everage tackles taboos as a routine.

He questions prominent Islamic religious figures, celebrities and politicians on issues such as Pakistan's support for the US-led war on terror, Gen Musharraf's dictatorship and discrimination against women.

Buy this book today!

Bruce Bawer is a gay man who has written a tremendous book about radical islam and Europe.

I'm about two-thirds through this book, and I can't put it down. Bawer learnt Dutch and Norwegian and lived in the Netherlands and Norway. He provides a very good account of the threat to Europe from within, but his journey in European life is fascinating. Like many Americans, he went to Europe with an attitude that Europe would be so much more cosmopolitan, so much more civilized, etc. But, Bawer had a rude awakening and found many ways that American culture is superior (like the ability to integrate immigrants).

This book is well-writen and I strong recommend you go out and buy it today. I can't say it more clearly. The book will also make you angry, as you see first-hand how the press in Europe is far more monolithic than the press in the US (Bawer found that the newspapers in Norway range from the far left to the near left); that the Europeans have a hard time with immigration; and that Jews still make them uncomfortable.

This book is not a scholarly text. But, it's a good emotional plea for Europe to wake up.

Drugging boys...

This article from the Daily Telegraph in the UK doesn't mention that most Ritalin prescriptions go to boys.

The over-prescribing of the drug Ritalin to children diagnosed with alleged behavioural problems is a growing scandal, a leading scientist said yesterday.

Baroness Greenfield, a neuro-scientist and president of the Royal Society, said the overuse of of the drug should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

In a House of Lords debate on science and education, she said children's inability to pay attention might simply be the result of too much time spent on a computer screen, or watching television where only short attention spans were needed.

"I am not proposing that we become information technology Luddites but we could be stumbling into a powerful technology, the impact of which we understand poorly at the moment," she said.

"The problem with these drugs (such as Ritalin) is that they do not target a single trait such as mood, or concentration or wakefulness.

"Drugs will manipulate in a very 'broad spectrum' way the chemicals in the brain that in turn could have both widespread and also long lasting effects."

She said that with all the new technology in schools and at home, "we must … ensure that the classroom will fit the child and buck the growing trend for the child to fit the classroom".

The number of children being prescribed drugs for so-called behavioural disorders has soared, causing alarm that they are being unnecessarily "drugged into submission".

Prescriptions of methylphenidate - most commonly sold as Ritalin - rose to 359,100 in 2004, a rise of 344,400 since 1995. Figures from the Prescriptions Pricing Authority revealed there had been a 180-fold increase in prescriptions since 1991 when only 2,000 were issued in England.

And, Ritalin's effects?

"Children are being drugged into submission," said a spokesman.

There are no medical tests for ADHD and children are diagnosed on the basis of their behaviour and questionnaires that ask if a child displays symptoms including restlessness, inattentiveness and fidgeting.

But American research found that Ritalin may cause lasting changes to the brain. In a study by the Harvard Medical School, healthy rats given the drug in their infancy were found to have a reduced sense of pleasure and were more prone to signs of despair during adulthood.

Prof Peter Hill, an honorary consultant in child psychiatry at the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, believes that the concept of ADHD had become popular, "partly because it offers an alternative explanation for antisocial behaviour, other than imperfect parenting".

The PA's new Terrorist Security Force...

The associated press refers to them as 'militants' but we all know that that means 'terrorists'.

The new Palestinian interior minister named a well-known militant as his top aide on Thursday and announced the formation of a new security branch to be composed of militants.

The moves were part of an ongoing power struggle between the new Hamas-led Cabinet and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Interior Minister Said Siyam issued a decree appointing Jamal Abu Samhadana, the head of the Popular Resistance Committees, as director general of the Interior Ministry. Samhadana's group is responsible for many of the homemade rockets launched at
Israel in recent weeks.

How's this for perverse?

Could you imagine the uproar if an Israeli killed another Israeli for selling to a Palestinian?

Muhammad Abu al-Hawa was a 42-year-old father of eight when he died last Wednesday night. As Israeli Jews were beginning our Pessah Seders and retelling the story of our exodus from Egypt and our rebirth as a free nation, Abu al-Hawa was being tortured by Fatah terrorists. As we ate our Seder meal, he was shot seven times. As we called out "Next year in Jerusalem," Abu al-Hawa's body and car were torched.

Abu al-Hawa was tortured and murdered because he stood accused of committing what the Palestinians consider a capital crime. Eight young children were orphaned last Wednesday night because their father allegedly sold an apartment building in Israel's capital city to Jews. The building in question is located in Jerusalem's A-Tur neighborhood, just above the Temple Mount on the Mount of Olives.

Muhammad Abu al-Hawa was buried in a makeshift cemetery on the road between Jerusalem where he lived, and Jericho where he was murdered. His body was buried there because the Palestinian Authority's mufti in Jerusalem, Ikremah Sabri, has barred all Muslims accused of selling land to Jews from being buried in a Muslim cemetery.

The Iranians to cause yet more trouble...

I would hope that moderate muslims would start to speak out...

An Iranian terrorist group stated on Wednesday that it was recruiting Muslim British citizens to come to Israel to execute suicide bombing attacks against Israelis.

A spokesman for the group, Mohammad Samadi, told the London-based Guardian that Israel was the primary target of their attacks. "All the Jews are targets, whether military or civilian. It's our land and they are in the wrong place. It's their duty to pay attention to the safety of their own families and move them away from the battlefield," he stated.

He claimed that there were many disaffected Muslims throughout Europe that could volunteer for such a mission. "We understand the suspicion with which Britain, America and other western countries regard their Muslim populations," he said, adding "We don't condemn them for this because we believe every Muslim has the potential to turn into a bomb against the west."

Hamas smuggles weapons into Jordan...

Glad to see that the Jordanians now understand the threat from Hamas...

ordan accused Hamas activists of smuggling missiles and other weapons into the kingdom and said Tuesday it was canceling a planned visit of the Palestinian foreign minister — the second diplomatic snub for the Hamas-led government in a week.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar's visit to Jordan, which was planned for Wednesday, had been "put off until further notice," a Jordanian government spokesman said.

On Friday, Zahar went to Cairo, but Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he was too busy for a meeting.

The Jordanian spokesman, Nasser Judeh, told The Associated Press that "missiles, explosives and automatic weapons were seized in the last couple of days." Hamas activists had managed to smuggle "such dangerous weapons into the country" and store them, he said.

Another cartoon eruption?

A new cartoon in Italy....

An Italian magazine has infuriated Muslims by publishing a cartoon showing the Prophet Mohammed cut in half and burning in Hell.

The drawing appears in Studi Cattolici, a monthly magazine with links to the ultra-conservative Roman Catholic group, Opus Dei. It shows the poets Virgil and Dante on the edge of a circle of flame looking down on Mohammed.

"Isn't that man there, split in two from head to navel, Mohammed?" Dante asks Virgil.

"Yes and he is cut in two because he has divided society," Virgil replies. "While that woman there, with the burning coals, represents the politics of Italy towards Islam."

Cesare Cavalleri, the editor of the magazine, said last night that he had not meant to cause offence. "If, contrary to my intentions and those of the author, anyone felt offended in his religious feelings, I freely ask him in a Christian manner for forgiveness."

That was a marked change of tone from an earlier statement, when he said: "We must not fear freedom of opinion." If the cartoon provoked an attack, it would only confirm "the idiotic positions" of Muslim extremists.

"This is not a cartoon against Mohammed. It is a cartoon which addresses the loss of the West's identity.

"Why all the fuss over a cartoon which only represents that which has already been written centuries ago by Dante Alighieri?"

Dante placed Mohammed in Hell in Canto 28 of The Divine Comedy. His work inspired a painting by William Blake, depicting Mohammed with his entrails hanging out, and a fresco in Bologna Cathedral showing him being tortured by a devil.

Oslo runs out of jail cells....

Gee, I could see this happening in Toronto, no?

Police in the Oslo region are having to turn away criminal suspects and convicts who otherwise should be held in remand custody. The reason: There's no room at the jails.

"We're in an extremely unfortunate situation," Hanne Kristin Rohde of the Oslo Police District told newspaper Aftenposten on Tuesday. "The problem is that we have no place to hold people.

"If the jails had more cells, we wouldn't need to release them."

But that's what the police are being forced to do, and right before the five-day Easter holiday weekend in Norway.

The prisons, especially those in the Oslo area, are filled to the brim, officials admit. During the last three weeks, 11 persons sentenced to remand custody have been released, while 10 other convicts who have shown up to serve court-ordered prison terms have been turned away. There are no available cells.

Among those released, reports Aftenposten, are three persons ordered held after they were arrested in a major narcotics case. In order to prevent any tampering with evidence, the three were also ordered held in isolation with restrictions on any correspondence with the outside world.

Founder of Greenpeace advocates Nuclear Power....

We've said this a number of times on this blog - if you believe that cutting greenhouse gases is important (and I don't) - then the only option is nuclear energy.

In the early 1970s when I helped found Greenpeace, I believed that nuclear energy was synonymous with nuclear holocaust, as did most of my compatriots. That's the conviction that inspired Greenpeace's first voyage up the spectacular rocky northwest coast to protest the testing of U.S. hydrogen bombs in Alaska's Aleutian Islands. Thirty years on, my views have changed, and the rest of the environmental movement needs to update its views, too, because nuclear energy may just be the energy source that can save our planet from another possible disaster: catastrophic climate change.

Look at it this way: More than 600 coal-fired electric plants in the United States produce 36 percent of U.S. emissions -- or nearly 10 percent of global emissions -- of CO2, the primary greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Nuclear energy is the only large-scale, cost-effective energy source that can reduce these emissions while continuing to satisfy a growing demand for power. And these days it can do so safely.

Please read his whole article - he makes a persuasive case. Of course, I personally don't believe that cutting greenhouse gases is that important.

Is this coming to Toronto?

Or, is there already trouble from the Jamaican community towards gays?

Brian wears sunglasses to hide his gray and lifeless left eye—damaged, he says, by kicks and blows with a board from Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton. Brian, 44, is gay, and Banton, 32, is an avowed homophobe whose song Boom Bye-Bye decrees that gays "haffi dead" ("have to die"). In June 2004, Brian claims, Banton and some toughs burst into his house near Banton's Kingston recording studio and viciously beat him and five other men. After complaints from international human-rights groups, Banton was finally charged last fall, but in January a judge dismissed the case for lack of evidence. It was a bitter decision for Brian, who lost his landscaping business after the attack and is fearful of giving his last name. "I still go to church," he says as he sips a Red Stripe beer. "Every Sunday I ask why this happened to me."

Though familiar to Americans primarily as a laid-back beach destination, Jamaica is hardly idyllic. The country has the world's highest murder rate. And its rampant violence against gays and lesbians has prompted human-rights groups to confer another ugly distinction: the most homophobic place on earth.

A shameful headline on Al-Jazeera...

Have Israel-America-EU Set Up Palestine for Genocide?

Oh, I believe him....

I love how he phrases things...

Iran is opposed to anti-Semitism and massacre of Jews whether something called Holocaust has taken place or not, Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel said Sunday.

Climate of Fear....

Richard Lindzen, Professor of Atmosphereic Science at MIT, talks about how dissenting views of climate change are stifled.

So how is it that we don't have more scientists speaking up about this junk science? It's my belief that many scientists have been cowed not merely by money but by fear. An example: Earlier this year, Texas Rep. Joe Barton issued letters to paleoclimatologist Michael Mann and some of his co-authors seeking the details behind a taxpayer-funded analysis that claimed the 1990s were likely the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year in the last millennium. Mr. Barton's concern was based on the fact that the IPCC had singled out Mr. Mann's work as a means to encourage policy makers to take action. And they did so before his work could be replicated and tested--a task made difficult because Mr. Mann, a key IPCC author, had refused to release the details for analysis. The scientific community's defense of Mr. Mann was, nonetheless, immediate and harsh. The president of the National Academy of Sciences--as well as the American Meteorological Society and the American Geophysical Union--formally protested, saying that Rep. Barton's singling out of a scientist's work smacked of intimidation.

All of which starkly contrasts to the silence of the scientific community when anti-alarmists were in the crosshairs of then-Sen. Al Gore. In 1992, he ran two congressional hearings during which he tried to bully dissenting scientists, including myself, into changing our views and supporting his climate alarmism. Nor did the scientific community complain when Mr. Gore, as vice president, tried to enlist Ted Koppel in a witch hunt to discredit anti-alarmist scientists--a request that Mr. Koppel deemed publicly inappropriate. And they were mum when subsequent articles and books by Ross Gelbspan libelously labeled scientists who differed with Mr. Gore as stooges of the fossil-fuel industry.

Sadly, this is only the tip of a non-melting iceberg. In Europe, Henk Tennekes was dismissed as research director of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Society after questioning the scientific underpinnings of global warming. Aksel Winn-Nielsen, former director of the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization, was tarred by Bert Bolin, first head of the IPCC, as a tool of the coal industry for questioning climate alarmism. Respected Italian professors Alfonso Sutera and Antonio Speranza disappeared from the debate in 1991, apparently losing climate-research funding for raising questions.

Silly political correctness....

Just when you thought that political correctness couldn't get any silier.

PHILLIP Island's iconic fairy penguins have been renamed "little penguins" in Queensland to avoid offending the gay community.

In an act of political correctness gone overboard, Sea World theme park operators on the Gold Coast changed the name of their star attraction to avoid being "offensive".

Rebecca Smith, spokeswoman for Sea World, confirmed: "We didn't want to upset the gay community.

"We didn't have any complaints about the name of the penguins, but someone thought it could be seen as offensive so we decided to change it to little penguin instead.

This is so silly, that I'm speechless.

Tsunami aid wasted by graft...

Way too much money just couldn't be spent properly...

THIS was supposed to be the scene of the world’s greatest aid effort, but endemic corruption has drained it of millions of pounds while leaving tens of thousands of tsunami victims stranded in tents.

Banda Aceh was ground zero in the tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, which claimed more than 200,000 lives across the Indian Ocean. More people died here than anywhere else.

Now two charities that raised unprecedented sums in Britain have fallen victim to rip-offs that ruined their efforts to house the survivors and have forced them to suspend key projects.

Save the Children and Oxfam were both targeted by unscrupulous building contractors who took their money, only to build structures so flimsy that a new wave would wash them away.

Save the Children may have to write off more than £400,000 worth of building contracts. Oxfam, which counts its losses in “tens of thousands of pounds”, has stopped its construction work around Banda Aceh until investigators establish the extent of the abuse.

Indonesian anti-corruption campaigners, who uncovered the Save the Children case, have also assembled a dossier of fraud and incompetence that reveals why the Jakarta government and international aid agencies have failed in their promises to the survivors of Aceh.

“We calculate that 30% to 40% of all the aid funds, Indonesian and international, have been tainted by graft,” said Akhiruddin Mahjuddin, an accountant who investigates aid spending for the Aceh Anti-Corruption Movement.

Amir Taheri on why Iran wants the bomb...

Amir Taheri consistently writes interesting pieces on the middle east.

In Ahmadinejad's analysis, the rising Islamic "superpower" has decisive advantages over the infidel. Islam has four times as many young men of fighting age as the West, with its ageing populations. Hundreds of millions of Muslim "ghazis" (holy raiders) are keen to become martyrs while the infidel youths, loving life and fearing death, hate to fight. Islam also has four-fifths of the world's oil reserves, and so controls the lifeblood of the infidel. More importantly, the US, the only infidel power still capable of fighting, is hated by most other nations.

According to this analysis, spelled out in commentaries by Ahmadinejad's strategic guru, Hassan Abassi, known as the "Dr Kissinger of Islam", President George W Bush is an aberration, an exception to a rule under which all American presidents since Truman, when faced with serious setbacks abroad, have "run away". Iran's current strategy, therefore, is to wait Bush out. And that, by "divine coincidence", corresponds to the time Iran needs to develop its nuclear arsenal, thus matching the only advantage that the infidel enjoys.

Moments after Ahmadinejad announced "the atomic miracle", the head of the Iranian nuclear project, Ghulamreza Aghazadeh, unveiled plans for manufacturing 54,000 centrifuges, to enrich enough uranium for hundreds of nuclear warheads. "We are going into mass production," he boasted.

The Iranian plan is simple: playing the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame-duck", unable to take military action against the mullahs, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons.

Thus do not be surprised if, by the end of the 12 days still left of the United Nations' Security Council "deadline", Ahmadinejad announces a "temporary suspension" of uranium enrichment as a "confidence building measure". Also, don't be surprised if some time in June he agrees to ask the Majlis (the Islamic parliament) to consider signing the additional protocols of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Such manoeuvres would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director, Muhammad El-Baradei, and Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, to congratulate Iran for its "positive gestures" and denounce talk of sanctions, let alone military action. The confidence building measures would never amount to anything, but their announcement would be enough to prevent the G8 summit, hosted by Russia in July, from moving against Iran.

Please read the whole article...it's well worth it...

Iran secretly conducting nuclear research....

Not that surprising....but it's amazing how many people believe the Iranian regime...

Iranian scientists are secretly conducting crucial nuclear research and development, using university laboratories as cover to avoid international scrutiny, according to highly placed opposition supporters within the Islamic regime.

Teheran's Imam Hossein University, which is run on military brigade lines by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, is the main centre for experiments on nuclear weapon technology, the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) reported

I was watching PBS news hour on Friday night, and there was a small segment on Iran and one of their two guests just went on and on about how there was absolutely NO evidence that Iran was working on nuclear weapons.

I am happy with this ruling...

Yes, I am sure that gay activists are upset...but freedom of speech is important to me.

Gay activists are concerned a decision by Saskatchewan's highest court may provoke "gay bashing" as the country enters another round of debate on same-sex marriages.

"I'm very disappointed," said Gens Hellquist, one of three Saskatoon gay activists who initiated a human rights complaint against a Regina man. The complaint pitted religious freedom of expression against the rights of gays to protection against hatred and ridicule.

On Thursday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled Hugh Owens did not violate the province's Human Rights Code when he placed an ad in The StarPhoenix in June 1997 that refl ected his views on homosexuality.

The ad cited Scripture from the Bible condemning homosexuality and depicted two stick-figure men holding hands with the universal "not-allowed" symbol superimposed over the figures.

A human rights board of inquiry found Owens violated the code because the ad exposed members of the gay community to hatred and ridicule, and was an affront to their dignity because of their sexual orientation.

A 2002 Queen's Bench decision upheld that finding, but it was appealed by Owens, who called Thursday's decision a vindication of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

"This decision says sharing the gospel message concerning this particular sexual behaviour or any other behaviour is protected and not a violation of the Human Rights Code," Owens said.

In his decision Justice Bob Richards wrote on behalf of Justices Nicholas Sherstobitoff and Gene Anne Smith that the ad was "bluntly presented and doubtlessly upsetting to many," but it didn't violate the code.

Hurrah! Some sense from the Courts, at last!

The Top 100 Chomsky Lies....

Enjoy!

Ahmadinejad continues his threats....

He can't go a day without threatening Israel.

The president of Iran again lashed out at Israel on Friday and said it was "heading toward annihilation," just days after Tehran raised fears about its nuclear activities by saying it successfully enriched uranium for the first time.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called Israel a "permanent threat" to the Middle East that will "soon" be liberated. He also appeared to again question whether the Holocaust really happened.

"Like it or not, the Zionist regime is heading toward annihilation," Ahmadinejad said at the opening of a conference in support of the Palestinians. "The Zionist regime is a rotten, dried tree that will be eliminated by one storm."

Hey, this works for me!

Looks like I'm headed for Switzerland!

Switzerland, best known for its clocks, chocolate and the Alps, is luring this summer's World Cup "widows" with the promise of something more: its handsome men.

Strapping males bearing pitchforks, ropes and chainsaws are fronting a campaign to persuade women to take a holiday there as their husbands and boyfriends watch endless football in Germany.

A farmhand, a train conductor, a mountaineer, a ferryman and a lumberjack form the welcoming party in an advertisement being broadcast across German-speaking Europe.

"Why not escape the World Cup to a country where men spend less time on football and more time on you?" a sexy voice asks.

The invitation is accompanied by alpine music as the hunks go about their manly tasks against a beautiful rural backdrop.

The latest zionist conspiracy....

Oh yes, we control the churches too!

A Prominent Hamas member of parliament has explained why most American Christians support Israel. The churches are run by "converted" Jews who are exploiting Christians for Zionist purposes. "Even the churches where the Americans pray are led by Jews who were converted to Christianity, but they were converted to keep controlling the Americans," Sheikh Mohammad Abu Tir explained on an American radio show on April 7.

A Gallup poll released on April 6 shows that religious Americans tend to be more pro-Israel. But Gallup, according to Abu Tir, did not understand the real reason for this. "I made a study and I know very well that all this radicalism in some parts of the Christianity, [including] the Anglicans who are being led by Bush, is because of the control of Zionists," said the orange-bearded Abu Tir.

Hat tip: Shamthetoryman

Israel Condemned by FIFA....

Tom Gross looks at the hypocrisy of FIFA - the soccer governing agency.

FIFA has condemned Israel for an air strike on an empty soccer field in the Gaza Strip that was used for training exercises by Islamic Jihad and the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade. This strike did not cause any injuries. But at the same time FIFA has refused to condemn a Palestinian rocket attack on an Israeli soccer field last week which did cause injuries.

With the soccer World Cup, which takes place only once every four years, just weeks away, it is a time of mounting emotion for the hundreds of millions of people across the globe who passionately follow the game.

As FIFA meets in the next few days to decide what action to take against Israel, the double standards involved could not be more obvious. Up to now FIFA, which sees itself as a purely sporting body, has gone out of its way to avoid politics, and has refrained from criticizing even the most appalling human-rights abuses connected to soccer players and stadiums.

When Saddam Hussein's son Uday had Iraqi soccer players tortured in 1997 after they failed to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup Finals in France, FIFA remained silent. Uday, who was chairman of the Iraqi soccer association, had star players tortured again in 1998. And in 2000, following a quarterfinal defeat in the Asia Cup, three Iraqi players were whipped and beaten for three days by Uday's bodyguards. The torture took place at the Iraqi Olympic Committee headquarters, but FIFA said nothing.

Again, FIFA simply looked the other way while the Taliban used U.N.-funded soccer fields to slaughter and flog hundreds of innocent people who had supposedly violated sharia law in front of crowds of thousands chanting "God is great." (Afghan soccer coach Habib Ullahniazi said that as many as 30 people were executed in the middle of the field during the intermissions of a single soccer match at Kabul's Ghazi Stadium.)

FIFA equally failed to speak out when soccer stadiums in Argentina were turned into jails.

Is this the sound of appeasement?

I guess Islamic terrorism is just not in their dictionary.

European governments should shun the phrase "Islamic terrorism" in favour of "terrorists who abusively invoke Islam", say guidelines from EU officials.

Backed by diplomats and civil servants from the 25 EU members, the officials are drafting a "non-emotive lexicon for discussing radicalisation" to be submitted to Tony Blair and other leaders in June.

The Brussels officials hope the new lexicon, which would not be legally binding, would be adopted by governments and other EU institutions, such as the European Commission and European Parliament.

An EU official said: "The basic idea behind it is to avoid the use of improper words that would cause frustration among Muslims and increase the risk of radicalisation."

Along with civil servants from the Home Office, the officials have reviewed the impact of such terms as Islamist, fundamentalist and jihad when describing acts of terrorism and murder.

"Jihad means something for you and me; it means something else for a Muslim," EU officials at a Berlin conference on radicalisation said. "Jihad is a perfectly positive concept of trying to fight evil within yourself."

Iraq's economy is booming...

You'll never read this sort of stuff in your newspaper.

Though the economy expanded by an unimpressive 2.6% in real terms in 2005, that figure is scheduled to reach over 10% this year, as reported by the International Monetary Fund. Dawn Liberi, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Iraq, noted in February that per capita income has increased from $500 at the time of the invasion in 2003 to $1,500 today.

The New UN Human Rights Commission...

Anne Bayefsky looks at the so-called new UN Human Rights Commission.

In short, nothing has changed. The newly "reformed" human rights body of the U.N. will once again include countries that have no interest in protecting human rights; the regions of the world with the fewest democracies will hold 55 percent of the seats. Standing in the background lamenting U.S. nonparticipation are some, like Amnesty International's Irene Khan, who believe that the "gulag of our times" is Guantánamo--not the Egyptian, Syrian, Iranian, and Sudanese torture chambers--and that the business of promoting human rights is best conducted with the delinquents on the inside, enjoying the privileges of the human rights club, instead of standing outside until they reform.

Iraq did go shopping for uranium in Niger...

Christopher Hitchens has an important article on Iraq's attempt to buy uranium in Niger - this is the story that has gotten everybody up in a storm about leaks.

In the late 1980s, the Iraqi representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency—Iraq's senior public envoy for nuclear matters, in effect—was a man named Wissam al-Zahawie. After the Kuwait war in 1991, when Rolf Ekeus arrived in Baghdad to begin the inspection and disarmament work of UNSCOM, he was greeted by Zahawie, who told him in a bitter manner that "now that you have come to take away our assets," the two men could no longer be friends. (They had known each other in earlier incarnations at the United Nations in New York.)

At a later 1995 U.N. special session on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Zahawie was the Iraqi delegate and spoke heatedly about the urgent need to counterbalance Israel's nuclear capacity. At the time, most democratic countries did not have full diplomatic relations with Saddam's regime, and there were few fully accredited Iraqi ambassadors overseas, Iraq's interests often being represented by the genocidal Islamist government of Sudan (incidentally, yet another example of collusion between "secular" Baathists and the fundamentalists who were sheltering Osama Bin Laden). There was one exception—an Iraqi "window" into the world of open diplomacy—namely the mutual recognition between the Baathist regime and the Vatican. To this very important and sensitive post in Rome, Zahawie was appointed in 1997, holding the job of Saddam's ambassador to the Holy See until 2000. Those who knew him at that time remember a man much given to anti-Jewish tirades, with a standing ticket for Wagner performances at Bayreuth.

In February 1999, Zahawie left his Vatican office for a few days and paid an official visit to Niger, a country known for absolutely nothing except its vast deposits of uranium ore. It was from Niger that Iraq had originally acquired uranium in 1981, as confirmed in the Duelfer Report. In order to take the Joseph Wilson view of this Baathist ambassadorial initiative, you have to be able to believe that Saddam Hussein's long-term main man on nuclear issues was in Niger to talk about something other than the obvious. Italian intelligence (which first noticed the Zahawie trip from Rome) found it difficult to take this view and alerted French intelligence (which has better contacts in West Africa and a stronger interest in nuclear questions). In due time, the French tipped off the British, who in their cousinly way conveyed the suggestive information to Washington. As everyone now knows, the disclosure appeared in watered-down and secondhand form in the president's State of the Union address in January 2003.

Please read the rest to get a good indication of what happened in this story.

Is this going to be a dangerous trend in education?

Imagine, if students only learn history off the internet!

Children no longer need to know facts about history, geography or science because they can look them up on-line, teachers' leaders have claimed.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers wants subjects and the national curriculum to be scrapped and replaced with cross-curricular inquiries teaching children the skills they will need for the workplace.

I wouldn't trust the teacher's unions on this at all.

Gay Pride and Families...

It's time to make Gay Pride parades family-oriented.

Organizers and participants of gay pride festivals and parades in Canada say they're struggling to stage inclusive events that will be appropriate for families without censoring outrageous behaviour.

Over the weekend, organizers from across the country discussed the issue at the InterPride conference.

Bob Fougere, a gay parent from Halifax, said during a panel discussion on Sunday that his teenage grandson refuses to attend gay pride parades because some of the nudity makes him uncomfortable.

I love gay pride parades myself...but I could do without the nudity, to be honest...much as I like cute guys.

There is a problem with global warming!

According to Bob Carter a geologist in Australia, global warming has stopped.

For many years now, human-caused climate change has been viewed as a large and urgent problem. In truth, however, the biggest part of the problem is neither environmental nor scientific, but a self-created political fiasco. Consider the simple fact, drawn from the official temperature records of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, that for the years 1998-2005 global average temperature did not increase (there was actually a slight decrease, though not at a rate that differs significantly from zero).

Yes, you did read that right. And also, yes, this eight-year period of temperature stasis did coincide with society's continued power station and SUV-inspired pumping of yet more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

In response to these facts, a global warming devotee will chuckle and say "how silly to judge climate change over such a short period". Yet in the next breath, the same person will assure you that the 28-year-long period of warming which occurred between 1970 and 1998 constitutes a dangerous (and man-made) warming. Tosh. Our devotee will also pass by the curious additional facts that a period of similar warming occurred between 1918 and 1940, well prior to the greatest phase of world industrialisation, and that cooling occurred between 1940 and 1965, at precisely the time that human emissions were increasing at their greatest rate.

Political Correctness from both sides....

Nice to see ridiculous political correctness gets what it deserves....

The gentle sport of angling is at the centre of a political correctness battle that has pitched animal rights activists against anti-racism campaigners.

The row has erupted over a Government campaign to encourage ethnic minorities and women to take up fishing, after ministers decided that river banks are too full of white, middle-aged men.

The initiative, revealed by the Sunday Telegraph last week, has been welcomed by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) as a way to help integration.

However, it has run into opposition from an animal rights group which claims that fish are "intelligent and interesting individuals" who feel terrible pain when caught on an angler's hook.

The islamist axis?

I don't know how much of Caroline Glick's article is true...but it sure is scary.

On Monday, Russia's Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported that part of Ukraine's Soviet-era nuclear arsenal may well have found its way to Iran. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Ukrainians agreed to transfer the Soviet nuclear arsenal that remained in Ukraine after its independence to Russia. According to Novaya Gazeta, some 250 nuclear warheads never made it to Russia and are thought to have been sent to Iran instead. The report further noted that the warheads will remain operational until 2010.

Responding to the report, Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, Russia's deputy defense minister and the chief of General Staff said, "Russia's General Staff has no information about whether Ukraine has given 250 nuclear warheads to Iran or not."

Read the whole article...One thing is sure...we need some action on Iran.

And, this is from a country at peace with Israel!

When peace was first signed with Jordan, the Dentists Association said it would throw out any dentist who worked on an Israeli visitor's teeth.

The Jordanian Journalists' Union threatened on Saturday to punish any of its members who were planning on visiting Israel.

The threat came following the announcement in Jordan that 40 of the country's journalists, mostly from state-owned television and radio stations, were planning to attend a three week "culture of peace" course at Haifa University.

Could you imagine - the gall of trying to attend a peace course.

Changing sex in Saudi Arabia...

Why aren't the feminists planning demonstrations in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy?

Tired of playing second fiddle to men in conservative Saudi Arabia, five women decided if you can't beat them, join them.

Al Watan newspaper said the five women underwent sex change surgery abroad over the past 12 months after they developed a "psychological complex" due to male domination.

Women in Saudi Arabia, which adopts an austere interpretation of Islam, are not allowed to drive or even go to public places unaccompanied by a male relative.

The newspaper quoted a senior cleric as saying the authorities have to fill what he described as a legal vacuum by issuing laws against sex change operations.

Yes, let's hope they plug this legal loophole!

Gay Arabs - can a group face more discrimination?

Here's a review of a book about Gay Arabs from the Lebanon Star.

When Salim, a 20-year-old Egyptian, told his family that he was gay, they packed him off for six months of psychiatric treatment. When Ali, a teenager from Lebanon, was discovered to be gay, his father broke a chair over his head and his brother threatened to kill him for tarnishing the family honor. Ali left home and no longer has any contact with his relatives.

When the family of another young Egyptian man found out their son was gay, they beat him and then sent him to a therapist. He convinced a young woman to pose as his girlfriend for a while, but once that ruse was up, his family beat him again, this time so harshly that he fled Egypt for the United States, where he applied for political asylum.

These are just a few among the many anecdotes that Brian Whitaker, the Middle East editor for The Guardian newspaper in London, relates in his new, groundbreaking book, "Unspeakable Love: Gay and Lesbian Life in the Middle East."

Of course, one of the few places where gays can live proud lives in the Middle East is Israel.

Why does the press always believe this crap?

Headline at CTV: Hamas hints at possibility of recognizing Israel.

A senior Hamas official said Friday the group is ready to accept a "two-state" solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but the Hamas prime minister said he is unaware of plans by the Islamic militants to change their hard-line government platform.

Even if they accepted a two-state solution, the two states they want to see are Palestine, and Israel - but an Israel that has to accept 4 million descendents of Palestinian refugees, and thus making Israel into another Palestinian state. But, the press always falls for their rhetoric.

Iran's missiles can carry nuclear warheads...

More discouraging news...

ran has successfully developed ballistic missiles with the capability to carry nuclear warheads.

Detailed analysis of recent test firings of the Shahab-3 ballistic missile by military experts has concluded that Iran has been able to modify the nose cone to carry a basic nuclear bomb. The discovery will intensify international pressure on Teheran to provide a comprehensive breakdown of its nuclear research programme.

Here's some more details:

Apart from modifying the nose cone, Iranian technicians are also trying to make a number of technical adjustments that will enable the missile to travel a greater distance.

Western intelligence officials believe that Iran is receiving assistance from teams of Russian and Chinese experts with experience of developing nuclear weapons. Experts who have studied the latest version of the Shahab have identified modifications to the nose cone.

Instead of the single cone normally attached to this type of missile, the new Shahab has three cones, or a triconic, warhead. A triconic warhead allows the missile to accommodate a nuclear device and this type of warhead is normally found only in nuclear weapons.

According to the new research, the Iranian warhead is designed to carry a spherical nuclear weapon that would be detonated 2,000 feet above the ground, similar to the Hiroshima bomb.

Shame on German Rail...

In Germany, the National Rail operator is refusing to host at its stations an exhibit about Jewish Children and the rail system used to send them to their deaths.

Deutsche Bahn said it acknowledged the "darker side of our company's history," but said the 150 portraits could not be shown because of security reasons, the danger of overcrowding and a lack of funds.

It's only 150 portraits and they can't be hung in train stations because of security concerns????

I agree - Let's open up Kyoto for debate...

Sixty scientists, not actors or singers, call on the Government to review Kyoto. I agree.

"Climate change is real" is a meaningless phrase used repeatedly by activists to convince the public that a climate catastrophe is looming and humanity is the cause. Neither of these fears is justified. Global climate changes all the time due to natural causes and the human impact still remains impossible to distinguish from this natural "noise." The new Canadian government's commitment to reducing air, land and water pollution is commendable, but allocating funds to "stopping climate change" would be irrational. We need to continue intensive research into the real causes of climate change and help our most vulnerable citizens adapt to whatever nature throws at us next.

We believe the Canadian public and government decision-makers need and deserve to hear the whole story concerning this very complex issue. It was only 30 years ago that many of today's global-warming alarmists were telling us that the world was in the midst of a global-cooling catastrophe. But the science continued to evolve, and still does, even though so many choose to ignore it when it does not fit with predetermined political agendas.

Susan Riley admists no need to "take back the streets"...

Susan Riley of the Ottawa Citizen is one politically-correct journalist who never fails to see women as victims. In today's paper, she rails against Stephen Harper's crackdown on crime.

Another familiar Conservative vow -- a crackdown on crime -- is based on the contentious claim that "our safe streets and healthy communities are increasingly under threat of gun, gang and drug violence." In fact, rates of violent crime have been declining over decades, with an uptick only in 2004. Nor does another common kind of violence -- the kind that claimed a Cumberland woman and her three children this week -- seem to figure in Tory anti-crime rhetoric. This is despite stats showing more women are far more likely to be hurt by an itimate partner, than caught in crossfire between duelling drug gangs.

It seems that she is admitting that our streets are indeed safe for women, and that there is no need to have those so-called "take back the strets" marches. And that is indeed true - men are far more likely to be the victims of violent crimes on our streets than women. It is men who face more danger out in the street.

Fun at a Berlin School..

You might have missed this report in last week's National Post about a Berlin school in an immigrant neighbourhood.

Police were sent to a high school in an immigrant neighbourhood of Berlin yesterday after teachers said they were living in fear of the students.

The teachers at Reutli high school in Neukoelln made a desperate plea for help to the police four weeks ago, complaining students were "disrespectful and aggressive" and violence had become a daily occurence.

Senior politicians blamed the crisis on the failure of immigrant students to integrate.

"We are helpless," the teachers said in a letter, adding they no longer dared to teach without their cellphones close by so they could call for help.

Pictures of hooded students pelting journalists with heavy cobblestones and police officers lining the entrance of the school in the heavily Turkish and Arab district of Berlin have filled prime-time news since Thursday.

Yesterday morning, the N24 news channel showed students hurling garbage cans out of window at the school.

"Things have been getting worse and worse because people seem to be crazy here. They are bringing knives and weapons to school," said one teen, who did not give his name.

Hamas affirms it will not recognize Israel...

It seems everybody wants to interpret varioius Hamas' statements as accepting of Israel. But, this is just silly.

Meanwhile, in a letter written to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar denied that he had agreed to recognize Israel's right to exist.

He wrote that the Palestinians wished to live in peace and security with their neighbors, but claimed that he did not mention Israel.

Big Terror Finance Group Stopped...

Good news that this pipeline has been shut...but how many others are there?

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau has shut down a massive terror-finance pipeline in which a whopping $3 billion in profits from drug deals and other crimes flowed through a major New York bank to Middle East fanatics, The Post has learned.

Morgenthau told The Post his office is pursuing a settlement involving possible penalties against one of the largest and most prominent banks in New York - which he declined to identify - for maintaining an account where funds that originated in South America's notorious "tri-border region" were rerouted to suspect accounts in the Middle East.

Evidence developed in the course of a three-year probe, which has already resulted in charges against other New York-based financial institutions, revealed that about $3 billion that flowed through the account over a two-year period was going to terror groups Hamas, al Qaeda and Hezbollah, Morgenthau said.

"I can't go out and arrest Osama bin Laden. But I can try to cut off his money," Morgenthau said of his massive probe.

What's most unsettling is that most of the $3 billion was generated in the border regions of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Gays face discrimination in Turkey....

393 gay people were surveyed in Istanbul.

* 38 percent of the 393 participants were women, and 62 percent were men. 83 percent hide from some or all of their immediate family that they are homosexuals or bisexuals. 70 percent are faced with pressure to get married.

* 88 percent of the 268 participants who work, hide their sexual orientation from all or some of their employers, bosses, or coworkers. 10 percent of the 242 male participants were forced to go to a brothel.

* 63 percent are forced to pretend that they have a lover of opposite sex. 23 percent are faced with physical violence because of their sexual orientation. 87 percent are faced with at least one form of social violence, such as verbal abuse or exclusion.

* 62 percent of the 27 men who applied for military exemption, were asked to undergo anal examination, and 29 percent were asked to present photographs of sexual intercourse. When coming clean about their sexual orientation, 66 percent were asked, "Are you sure?" 52 percent were told to consult a psychologist or psychiatrist, 75 percent was told they don't look like 'them' (homosexuals) and 50 percent were forced to change the subject.

* 33 percent of the 178 participants who have been to a psychologist or psychiatrist, go because others want them to. 67 percent were forced by their psychologist or psychiatrist to become a heterosexual, to use medication, or were given false information about homosexuality.

When will the gay community in North America start to organize to help our brothers and sisters in Muslim countries?

Zahar has a dream....

This is the Foreign Minister of the new Hamas government....

Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar of Hamas said this weekend that he "dreamed of hanging a huge map of the world on the wall at my Gaza home which does not show Israel on it," the China View news service reported.

"I hope that our dream to have our independent state on all historic Palestine (including Israel) will become real one day. I'm certain of this because there is no place for the state of Israel on this land," said Zahar.

An interview with the Dalai Lama...

I was never a big fan of the Dali Lama.....look at his comments on homosexuality and oral sex.

Although he is known for his tolerant, humane views, he is a surprisingly harsh critic of homosexuality. If you are a Buddhist, he says, it is wrong. "Full stop.

No way round it.

"A gay couple came to see me, seeking my support and blessing. I had to explain our teachings. Another lady introduced another woman as her wife - astonishing. It is the same with a husband and wife using certain sexual practices. Using the other two holes is wrong."

At this point, he looks across at his interpreter - who seems mainly redundant - to check that he has been using the right English words to discuss this delicate matter. The interpreter gives a barely perceptible nod.

"A Western friend asked me what harm could there be between consenting adults having oral sex, if they enjoyed it," the Dalai Lama continues, warming to his theme. "But the purpose of sex is reproduction, according to Buddhism. The other holes don't create life. I don't mind - but I can't condone this way of life."

I've always been amazed at the free pass the Dalai Lama gets in the press whenever he vists the West.....how many so-called buddhists are aware of some of his attitudes?

Shame on Borders...

Yet another book chain, like Chapters, gives in to the islamists...SHAME!

Executives at Borders Group Inc., parent company to Borders and Waldenbooks stores, aren't known to censor the newspapers and magazines the chain carries, much less adhere to Islamic law. Its recent decision to decline the April/May issue of Free Inquiry magazine over the Danish Muhammad cartoons is neither of those, but clearly it is a capitulation.
Borders has carried this highbrow Albany, N.Y.-based title since the mid-1980s. Published by the Council for Secular Humanism, Free Inquiry runs the likes of Christopher Hitchens and Peter Singer; it reads like its title suggests. It's only sensible that a magazine which publishes "C.S. Lewis's Hideous Weakness" or "Morality without Religion" would also want to comment, with illustration, on the Danish cartoon affair.

When Borders announced its decision this week, the chain cited security. "For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group spokeswoman Beth Bingham told the Associated Press. "We absolutely respect our customers' right to choose what they wish to read and buy and we support the First Amendment, and we absolutely support the rights of Free Inquiry to publish the cartoons. We've just chosen not to carry this particular issue in our stores."

If this type of deference to radical Islam becomes a pattern, it will have a profound chilling effect on the publishing industry. It will be harder and harder to publish material which discomfits radical Islamists.

Help the Western Standard....

I am a huge fan of the Western Standard....every time I get an issue in the mail, it's like a breath of fresh air. And, Ezra Levant was courageous and printed the cartoons....so, now it's all up to us to pitch in and help them....here's the letter that Ezra is sending around.

Our magazine has been sued for publishing the Danish cartoons, and I need your help to fight back!

As you know, the Western Standard was the only mainstream media organ in Canada to publish the Danish cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed.

We did so for a simple reason: the cartoons were the central fact in one of the largest news stories of the year, and we're a news magazine. We publish the facts and we let our readers make up their minds.

Advertisers stood with us. Readers loved the fact that we treated them like grown-ups. And we earned the respect of many other journalists in Canada who envied our independence. In fact, according to a COMPAS poll last month, fully 70% of Canada's working journalists supported our decision to publish the cartoons.

But not Syed Soharwardy, a radical Calgary Muslim imam.

He asked the police to arrest me for publishing the cartoons. They calmly explained to him that's not what police in Canada do.

So then he went to a far less liberal institution than the police: the Alberta Human Rights Commission. Unlike the Calgary Police Service, they didn't have the common sense to show him the door.

Earlier this month, I received a copy of Soharwardy's rambling, hand-scrawled complaint. It is truly an embarrassing document. He briefly complains that we published the Danish cartoons. But the bulk of his complaint is that we dared to try to justify it - that we dared to disagree with him.

Think about that: In Soharwardy's view, not only should the Canadian media be banned from publishing the cartoons, but we should be banned from defending our right to publish them. Perhaps the Charter of Rights that guarantees our freedom of the press should be banned, too.

Soharwardy's complaint goes further than just the cartoons. It refers to news articles we published about Hamas, a group labelled a terrorist organization by the Canadian government. By including those other articles, he shows his real agenda: censoring any criticism of Muslim extremists.

Perhaps the most embarrassing thing about Soharwardy's complaint is that he claims our cartoons caused him to receive hate mail. Indeed, his complaint includes copies of a few e-mails from strangers to him. Some of those e-mails even go so far as to call him "humourless" and tell him to "lighten up". Perhaps that's hateful. But all of those e-mails were sent to him before our magazine even published the cartoons. Soharwardy isn't even pretending that this is a legitimate complaint. He's not even trying to hide that this is a nuisance suit.

Soharwardy's complaint should have been thrown out immediately by the Alberta Human Rights Commission, just like the police did. But it wasn't. Which is why I'm writing to you today.

According to our lawyers, we will win this case. It's an infantile complaint, without basis in facts or law. Frankly, it's an embarrassment to the government of Alberta that their tribunal is open to abuse like this.

Our lawyers tell us we're going to win. But not before we have to spend hundreds of hours and up to $75,000 fighting this thing, at our own expense. Soharwardy doesn't have to spend a dime - now that his complaint has been filed, Alberta tax dollars will pay for the prosecution of his complaint. We have to pay for this on our own.

Look, $75,000 isn't going to bankrupt us. But it will sting. We're a small, independent magazine, not a huge company with deep pockets. All of our money is needed to produce the best possible editorial product, not to fight legal battles. This is clearly an abuse of process designed to punish us and deter other media from daring to cross that angry imam in the future.

One of the leaders in Canadian human rights law, Alan Borovoy, was so disturbed by Soharwardy's abuse of the human rights commission that he wrote a public letter about it in the Calgary Herald on March 16th. "During the years when my colleagues and I were labouring to create such commissions, we never imagined that they might ultimately be used against freedom of speech," wrote Borovoy, who is general counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association. Censorship was "hardly the role we had envisioned for human rights commissions. There should be no question of the right to publish the impugned cartoons," he wrote.

Borovoy went even further - he said that the human rights laws should be changed to avoid this sort of abuse in the future. "It would be best, therefore, to change the provisions of the Human Rights Act to remove any such ambiguities of interpretation," he wrote. That's an amazing statement, coming from one of the fathers of the Canadian human rights movement.

I agree with Borovoy: the law should be changed to stop future abuses. But those changes will come too late for us - we're already under attack. The human rights laws, designed as a shield, are being used against us as a sword.

We will file our legal response to Soharwardy's shakedown this week. And we will fight this battle to the end - not just for our own sake, but to defend freedom of the press for all Canadians.

Do you believe that's important? If so, I'd ask you to help us defray our costs. We're accepting donations through our website. It's fast, easy and secure. Just click on http://www.westernstandard.ca/freedom

You can donate any amount from $10 to $10,000. Please help the Western Standard today - and protect freedom for all Canadians for years to come.

Please support the Western Standard!