Nothing like Hamas TV....

A child kills George Bush and turns the White House into a mosque...

A children's puppet show aired on Hamas TV Monday featured a child stabbing President Bush to death and turning the White House into a mosque.

The script of the controversial sketch was translated into English by The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), an independent non-profit organization which analyzes and translates Middle Eastern media.

In the sketch, "President Bush" is caught off-guard by a Muslim child who breaks into the White House.

"Get out," Bush orders the intruder, "bring your father.....or mother so I can talk to them... somebody older and smarter."

"You killed daddy in the Iraq war," the boy responds. "As for my mom - you and the criminal Zionists killed her in Lebanon. You and the criminal Zionists also killed my younger and older brothers in the Gaza holocaust."

The boy continues with a declaration of his solidarity with "thousands of thousands of children from Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Afghanistan," whom Bush has "denied their fathers and mothers."

The sketch ends with the hapless president begging for his life to no avail. "You are impure and I've turned the White House into a mosque," says his attacker before "stabbing the president repeatedly," according to the translated script directions. "Ahhh, I killed him," he declares.

What the west needs to know....

Many Dutchmen want to apologize...

Yes, they are actually making videos apologizing to the muslims for Fitna....

We're sorry.

We, Dutchmen, are sorry that this film has been made.

We are sorry that it seems to be our voice. We are sorry that it receives so much attention. That its maker abuses his liberties to spread his unfair message, founded on fear and hate. That he knows no respect. That he presents himself as a saviour of the West.

We do not want to be saved by him. We are ashamed of this man.

Don't judge us.

Pathetic, no?

The Palestinians get entrepreneurial...

Who says there arent' entrepreneurs in the west bank..

'Yahalom', a special task force of the Engineering Corps, is battling a revolution in the world of terrorism these days. A few months ago a unit of troops from the force was doing a routine scan of a seemingly ordinary tunnel dug by Hamas militants near the Karni Crossing in Gaza, when they discovered that the hen-house blocking the entrance was actually a ticking time bomb.

This is one of the many examples of sophisticated terrorist plots the task force has come in contact with lately, in which Palestinians hid bombs inside of mundane objects. Recently Yahalom soldiers have seen booby-trapped books, egg trays, canteens, and even baby shampoo bottles. On the eve of perhaps yet another operation in Gaza, this is worrying news for the IDF.

The wish of Hamas....

Khaled Meshal, the political leader of Hamas, talked to Sky News...

Meshal then denied that the group had targeted a kindergarten. Several of the Qassam rockets from Gaza have fell on or near schools and kindergartens.

"We didn't attack a kindergarten. We have primitive weapons. I ask the international community and the Americans to give us more advanced weapons so we can shoot more accurately."

Time out! I have to pray....

Here's a bus driver that should be fired..this is from the UK....

A MUSLIM bus driver told stunned passengers to get off so he could PRAY.

The white Islamic convert rolled out his prayer mat in the aisle and knelt on the floor facing Mecca.

Passengers watched in amazement as he held out his palms towards the sky, bowed his head and began to chant.

One, who filmed the man on his mobile phone, said: “He was clearly praying and chanting in Arabic.

Route to Mecca ... he kneels on prayer mat placed at front of the bus

Route to Mecca ... he kneels on prayer mat
placed at front of the bus

“We thought it was a wind-up at first, like Jeremy Beadle.”

The 21-year-old plumber added: “He looked English and had a London accent. He looked like a Muslim convert, with a big, bushy beard.

“Eventually everyone started complaining. One woman said, ‘What the hell are you doing? I’m going to be late for work’.”

After a few minutes the driver calmly got up, opened the doors and asked everyone back on board.

But they saw a rucksack lying on the floor of the red single-decker and feared he might be a fanatic. So they all refused.

Louise Arbour gets it wrong.....again!

Of course, she's against Fitna - and here she clearly is lobbying for restrictions on free speech...

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said Friday that she joins in the condemnation, as expressed by the Secretary-General and the three UN Special Rapporteurs, of the tone and content of the film 'Fitna' by Dutch Geert Wilders.

Arbour urged all those who understandably feel profoundly offended by its provocative message to restrict themselves to denouncing its hateful content by peaceful means.

"There is a protective legal framework, and the resolution of the controversy that this film will generate should take place within it," she added.

She also urged lawmakers everywhere to discharge their responsibility under Articles 19 and 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

"They should offer strong protective measures to all forms of freedom of expression, while at the same time enacting appropriate restrictions, as necessary, to protect the rights of others," Arbour said.

She noted that equally, they should prohibit any advocacy of national, racial, or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence.

Shame on the UN Secretary-General...

Here is Ban Ki-Moon's statement on Fitna...

I condemn, in the strongest terms, the airing of Geert Wilders’ offensively anti-Islamic film. There is no justification for hate speech or incitement to violence. The right of free expression is not at stake here. I acknowledge the efforts of the Government of the Netherlands to stop the broadcast of this film, and appeal for calm to those understandably offended by it. Freedom must always be accompanied by social responsibility.

The United Nations is the centre of the world’s efforts to advance mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. We must also recognize that the real fault line is not between Muslim and Western societies, as some would have us believe, but between small minorities of extremists on different sides with a vested interest in stirring hostility and conflict.

I guess he doesn't understand the concept of free speech.....and he clearly doesn't understand what comprises hate speech.....and he clearly doesn't understand the nature of what we are fighting against....sigh...he's just clueless, no?

UN passes resolution against defamation of Islam....

Well, at least the Europeans voted against it, as did Canada...but it still passed handily...

The top U.N. rights body on Thursday passed a resolution proposed by Islamic countries saying it is deeply concerned about the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it.

The European Union said the text was one-sided because it primarily focused on Islam.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, which is dominated by Arab and other Muslim countries, adopted the resolution on a 21-10 vote over the opposition of Europe and Canada.

EU countries, including France, Germany and Britain, voted against. Previously EU diplomats had said they wanted to stop the growing worldwide trend of using religious anti-defamation laws to limit free speech.

The document, which was put forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, "expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations."

Although the text refers frequently to protecting all religions, the only religion specified as being attacked is Islam, to which eight paragraphs refer.

Terrorists get released in the UK!

What a way to ease overcrowding!!!

Two convicted terrorists have been released early under a controversial Government scheme to ease prison over-crowding, ministers have been forced to admit.

One is a radical Muslim cleric - Yassin Nassari, 29 - who was caught trying to smuggle blueprints on how to build a missile into Britain.

The identity of the second terrorist had not been made public but the BBC reported he was Abdul Muneem Patel, who was released from Glen Parva jail in Leicestershire on Jan 7 this year.

Patel, of east London, was jailed for six months at the Old Bailey in October 2007 after a jury found him guilty of having a terrorism-related explosives manual.

The judge said there was no reasonable excuse to have the manual - but added the teenager was not a "radicalised or politicised Islamist".

Fitna - From Youtube....

Who knows how long it will stay up on Youtube???

If you scroll down to the Fitna from LiveLeak, you will see that, because of threats to their staff, they have removed the video from their site. This is a sad day for free speech.

Problems with the seal hunt!

Gee, what do you know? The ice is too thick!

Canada's annual seal hunt, which the government promised would be more humane this year, cranked up slowly on Friday because of thick ice.

The government is allowing hunters to kill up to 275,000 young harp seals on the ice floes off Eastern Canada, but only three had been reported killed on the first morning of the hunt in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

"It's a very slow start," said Phil Jenkins, spokesman for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, noting that sealing boats were finding it difficult to get to the herds because of thick ice.

The Israelis focus on Solar: The Palestinians on rockets...

Entrepreneurs in Israel work furiously on rockets and hi-tech; 'entrepreneurs' in Gaza work furiously on rocket technology....

Rooftops all over Israel look strikingly similar: More than 1 million households in the nation of 7.1 million people have solar panels that produce hot water—a relatively simple technology that gained popularity after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when oil prices shot up sharply. As of the early 1990s, all new residential buildings were required by the government to install solar water-heating systems.

Yet despite Israel's sunny climate and early lead in solar heating, it has been slow in adopting more sophisticated solar technologies that produce electricity from sunlight. Now, with oil hovering near $100 a barrel, a local startup hopes to build on the country's early embrace of sun power to carve out a new clean-energy business.

Zenith Solar, based in Nes Ziona near Tel Aviv, is a pioneer in a new type of solar energy that uses mirrors and lenses to focus and intensify the sun's light, producing far more electricity at lower cost. Compared with traditional flat photovoltaic panels made of silicon, this so-called "concentrated solar power" technology has proved in tests to be up to five times more efficient. That puts it on the verge of being competitive with oil and natural gas, even without government subsidies.

Does the BBC boost terrorists???

Sounds like their Arabic service is a winner....

A BRITISH solicitor who set up a website to monitor the BBC’s coverage of events in the Middle East this week released a report claiming that the corporation’s Arabic-language radio programming provided a platform for terrorist organisations who hate Israel.

Trevor Asserson presented his report, co-written by Deena Pinson, at a Jerusalem seminar opened by Tzipi Livni, Israeli’s foreign minister, on Wednesday.

In 2000, Mr Asserson set up www.bbcwatch.co.uk. His latest report ,The BBC Goes Native, has been released in the month that the Corporation launches BBC Arabic Television.

The report accuses the broadcasting network’s Arabic radio output of being “out of control”, and providing a respectable platform to “those who hate the USA and Israel”.

Mr Asserson’s comments are based on a study of the Arabic radio station’s main news-analysis programme, Hadeeth Al-Sa’a, over a four-week period in July and August 2006, at the time of the war between Israel and Hizbollah in Southern Lebanon.

In his report, Mr Asserson says: “We identified 17 spokespeople for Hizbollah and Iran amongst programme guests, and only five for Israel.

“The airtime given by BBC Arabic radio to the pro-Hizbollah position outweighed that given to the pro-Israel position by a ratio of some 4.5 to one.”

He adds that while the programme gave little indication of the destruction caused by the Hizbollah rockets fired into Israel, some of the language used to describe Israel was “hysterical in tone”.

The report also accuses the Corporation of giving a platform to those with extreme anti-American views.

Another film on Islam from Holland - April 20th...

At least Islam is encouraging the film industry in Holland....

While the cabinet is losing sleep over MP Geert Wilders' unpublished Koran film, a second film is due out on 20 April. Ehsan Jami plans to launch a cartoon film featuring the Prophet Mohammed as a paedophile.

Jami, born in Iran, announced that his film, The Life of Mohammed, is due for release on 20 April. On TV programme Netwerk, the young politician (22) showed a screen-shot in which the Prophet, with a visible erection, takes a child to a mosque to have sex. On the mosque is a swastika.

The fragment is a reference to the relationship between the prophet and the 9 year old Aisha as described in the Koran, according to Jami. His cartoon portrays all kinds of other perverse and violent verses, he added.

Jami set up a committee last September that aims to encourage leaving Islam and protect apostate Muslims. Shortly before the launch, he was attacked by Muslims in his home town of Leidschendam, where he was a local councillor for the Labour (PvdA) party. In October, PvdA terminated his party membership because his opinions were too radical for it.

The Muslims and Government Contact Body (CMO) has immediately announced it wants to bar the cartoon film via the courts. CMO is the government's official consultation partner on integration policy. CMO board member Ayhan Tonca, said on Netwerk that Jami's film will undoubtedly spark furious reactions in the Muslim world.

Fitna is Out!

British to expand Nuclear Power!

I think this is actually good news....nuclear power is going to become essential...

A major expansion of Britain's nuclear power sector that could create 100,000 new jobs has been heralded by the Government.

John Hutton, the Business Secretary, signalled that the next wave of nuclear plants will form a much larger part of Britain's energy mix in future, saying the country must "significantly expand" its nuclear sector.

Mr Hutton staked Britain's future on nuclear power as Gordon Brown prepared to sign a new atomic power deal with France.

The Prime Minister will tomorrow announce an agreement with France's Nicholas Sarkozy for the two countries to build new nuclear power stations and export the technology around the world.

The deal is aimed at giving Britain access to the skilled French nuclear engineers and technicians that will be needed to implement Government plans for a new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK.

Building those new power stations will be a huge task that will offer significant opportunities to industry, Mr Hutton said, likening the possible benefits to those delivered by the discovery of North Sea Oil in the 1970s.

Hezbollah's new rockets....

Yay!!! They can now hit the heart of Israel....nothing like good news...

Senior defense officials say Hizbullah has dramatically increased its rocket range and now threatens most of Israel.

The officials said the Lebanese group has acquired new Iranian rockets with a range of around 300 kilometers. That means they can hit anywhere in Israel's heavily populated center and reach as far as Dimona, where Israel's nuclear reactor is located.

Hizbullah fired nearly 4,000 rockets into Israel during the Second Lebanon War. Those rockets had a maximum range of some 70 kilometers.

The UN peacekeeping force dispatched to Lebanon after that war was meant to prevent Hizbullah from rearming. But the officials say Hizbullah now has many more rockets in its arsenal than the 14,000 it had before the conflict.

Poor examples of Weather Stations

CNN Offers to Air Fitna...

Will they follow through???

More on the Al-Dura Fraud

Child Abuse in Lebanon....

Where are the childs rights advocates????

Hizballah's state-within-the-Lebanese-state -- its hospitals, schools, banking system and even its consumer goods stores -- is a closed society that's off-limits to outsiders. But no part of the structure is more closed and more secret than the military wing, access to which is extremely limited for an American journalist such as myself. But my assistant, Rami Aysha, grew up in Haret Hrek, the mostly Shia Muslim suburb of Beirut that is Hizballah's main stronghold in Lebanon, and at my request, he spoke to a few Hizballah fighters in his neighborhood, some of them former school chums, about the process by which they became members of the formidable anti-Israeli militia.

The two phases in the development of a Hizballah fighter are like Boy Scouts and Boot Camp. During the first phase, Hizballah recruiters keep an eye out for young Shia Muslim students in both Hizballah-run schools and the national school system. They look for energetic kids, violent kids, and smart kids, from the age of seven into the late teens, and begin taking them on field trips and workshops where they are given a through ideological indoctrination, and then as they get older, a brief introduction to the AK-47 assault rifle.

Two important themes stick out: from the beginning, the training stresses the path to martyrdom, which is achieved through honesty, prayer, and combat. And from the start, Hizballah organizes its child recruits into the basic cellular structure of the organization. Each is assigned to a cell of about five kids, with each cell having its own kid commander, and their own missions: usually games and exercises like treasure hunts. This stage ideological training can last for years, or it can be done in as little as 9 months, depending on the zeal of the recruits and how much free time they have from school.

Hizballah trainers constantly separate the wheat from the chaff. Those who pass all the ideological training tests, move on to learn the basics of warfare: weapons training and outdoor maneuvers for a total of at least 9 months, much of it in the Bekaa valley. All along the way, the trainers are on the lookout for those with special abilities. The lazy ones -- with the ability to sit for hours on end without getting bored -- are chosen as lookouts to watch Israeli troop movements; the brave ones are chosen for attacks, the smart ones are chosen for intelligence and security; and the smart and unpredictable ones -- the guys who don't look or act or behave at all like fighters -- get chosen for what is called reverse security, or counterintelligence.

Avi Lewis goes home...

Yes, I am delighted he has gone to Al-Jazeera....

Nothing demonstrates the dangerously misplaced sympathies of Canada's intellectual elite so much as the case of Avi Lewis. A former host with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Jewish Lewis is Canada's answer to Keith Olbermann. But what has everyone in Canada talking is not his past career but his new job: Lewis has joined Al-Jazeera, the Middle East broadcaster that serves as a leading purveyor of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.

That the ambitious 40-year-old presenter has departed the state-funded CBC for an international network with exponentially bigger budgets and audiences isn't a huge surprise. But Lewis's career move underscores that the Canadian Left is all too willing to forge an unholy alliance with the official tribune of radical Islam.

In many ways, Lewis is a perfect archetype for Canada's intellectual elite. A third generation product of Canadian political royalty, he boasts a star-studded genealogy that has inspired not one, but two TV specials: Lewis is the son of Stephen Lewis, Canada's former ambassador to the United Nations and former head of Ontario's socialist New Democratic Party. His mother, Michelle Landsberg, is a longtime columnist with Canada's largest liberal daily, the Toronto Star. His grandfather, Stephen Lewis, once led the NDP party on the national level. From his education at the elite private school, Upper Canada College (the "Eton" of the 49th parallel), to his marriage to radical author Naomi Klein, Lewis confirms the critics' mockery that he is more of a "human resume" than a real person. And while the idea of a Jewish broadcaster joining the world's biggest Muslim and hate-America/Israel media outlet may seem shocking, it is in fact natural for a post-modern, "progressive" leftist like Lewis.

Lewis had cultivated a brass persona at the CBC. Armed with a smug, self-satisfied smirk that undermined his attempts to discuss serious issues, Lewis used the forum to propagate his far-Left politics. It is a revealing commentary on his political views that Lewis once criticized Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez. The reason? Chavez was not socialist enough for his tastes.

"For what it's worth," commented Jonathan Kay at the National Post, "I think the jump to Al-Jazeera is a great career move for Lewis. Once he escapes the CBC, he will be able to bash the Americans without even the minimal ideological safeguards the Ceeb imposes. He will also no longer face the embarrassing sniggers of CBC colleagues who see him (fairly or unfairly) as a c-rater riding the coattails of relatives. If he becomes a star at Al-Jazeera, he will be preaching to an audience that's potentially many times the size of the CBC's — and he'll get some revenge against [his former bosses.]"

You can watch Avi Lewis interview Hirsi Ali on Youtube and you can see him getting quite upset at her views....

Those reports about Antarctica...

Last year, they said the Arctic had a shelf collapsing because of global warming. It turn out to be because of winds. You might have noticed a report yesterday about Antarctica and yet another so-called shelf collapsing.

ICECAP tries to put it into perspective....

The account may be misinterpreted by some as the ice cap or a significant (vast) portion is collapsing. In reality it and all the former shelves that collapsed are small and most near the Antarctic peninsula which sticks well out from Antarctica into the currents and winds of the South Atlantic and lies in a tectonically active region with surface and subsurface active volcanic activity. The vast continent has actually cooled since 1979.

The full Wilkins 6,000 square mile ice shelf is just 0.39% of the current ice sheet (just 0.1% of the extent last September). Only a small portion of it between 1/10th-1/20th of Wilkins has separated so far, like an icicle falling off a snow and ice covered house. And this winter is coming on quickly. In fact the ice is returning so fast, it is running an amazing 60% ahead (4.0 vs 2.5 million square km extent) of last year when it set a new record. The ice extent is already approaching the second highest level for extent since the measurements began by satellite in 1979 and just a few days into the Southern Hemisphere winter and 6 months ahead of the peak. Wilkins like all the others that temporarily broke up will refreeze soon. We are very likely going to exceed last year’s record. Yet the world is left with the false impression Antarctica’s ice sheet is also starting to disappear.

Global Warming: Adaptation is the best strategy....

I've continually written here that all of the schemes to lower CO2 emissions are useless - China and India will never lower theirs -- and thus if the climate warms, we must adapt to it...

The disastrous hurricanes of recent years have become the poster children of global warming.

But Roger A. Pielke Jr., an environmental policy expert at the University of Colorado at Boulder, wondered whether the billions of dollars of damage was caused by more intense storms or more coastal development.

After analyzing decades of hurricane data, Pielke concluded that rising levels of carbon dioxide had little to do with hurricane damage. Rather, it boiled down to a simple equation: Build more, lose more.

"Everything has been put on the back of carbon dioxide, and carbon dioxide cannot carry that weight," he said.

Pielke's analysis, published last month in the journal Natural Hazards Review, is part of a controversial movement that argues global warming over the rest of this century will play a much smaller role in unleashing planetary havoc than most scientists think.

His research has led him to believe that it is cheaper and more effective to adapt to global warming than to fight it.

Instead of spending trillions of dollars to stabilize carbon dioxide levels across the planet -- an enormously complex and expensive proposition -- the world could work on reducing hunger, storm damage and disease now, thereby neutralizing some of the most feared future problems of global warming.

Political correctness so bad in the UK even some muslims complain....

Gee, are the police doing anything in the UK???

A muslim leader has accused the police of failing to tackle Asian gangs suspected of prostituting young white girls.

Officers are accused of being "over cautious" when investigating Muslim criminals because they fear being branded racist.

Last night Mohammed Shafiq, director of the Ramadhan Foundation, said the police were differentiating between criminals on the basis of race.

He claimed, driven by fear of race riots in places like Blackburn and Oldham, officers were "overtly sensitive" and not clamping down on the sordid practice.

Up to 700 extremists living in Germany....

I'd like to know more about their base in North Africa...

The head of Germany's intelligence agency said that "several hundred" Muslim extremists are living in Germany and that al-Qaida is forming a strong base in North Africa, a German magazine reported Monday.

Ernst Uhrlau, who oversees the BND, the Germany intelligence agency, said that "up to 700 people are being surveilled, in different degrees," according to an interview with Der Spiegel.

He was also quoted by the magazine as saying that "more than a dozen" of those people had made trips to Pakistan and Afghanistan to try to make contact with Islamic extremist groups operating there.

In the interview with the magazine, Uhrlau underlined that northern Africa was becoming a greater security risk.

The magazine quoted him as saying that German intelligence and security agencies had followed "with great concern" the activities of a "handful of groups" that have settled in the region.

"What's growing there is bringing a brand new quality of jihad right to our front door," he was quoted as saying by the magazine.

A conservative end to Jihad??

An important article from Bret Stephens at the Wall Street Journal about how a conservative Islamic ruling is upsetting the jihadis...

Last year, imprisoned Egyptian radical Sayyed Imam Al-Sharif, a.k.a. "Dr. Fadl," published "The Document of Right Guidance for Jihad Activity in Egypt and the World." It is a systematic refutation of al Qaeda's theology and methods, which is all the more extraordinary considering the source. Sayyed Imam, 57, was the first "emir" of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, many of whose members (including his longtime associate Ayman al-Zawahiri) later merged with Osama bin Laden and his minions to become al Qaeda. His 1988 book, "Foundations of Preparation for Holy War," is widely considered the bible of Salafist jihadis.

Now he has recanted his former views. "The alternative" to violent jihadism, he says in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat (translated by Memri), "is not to kill civilians, foreigners and tourists, destroy property and commit aggression against the lives and property of those who are inviolable under the pretext of jihad. All of this is forbidden."

Sayyed Imam is emphatic on the subject of the moral obligations of the would-be jihadist. "One who lacks the resources [to fight jihad] is forbidden to acquire money through forbidden means, like [burglary]," he says, adding that "Allah does not accept martyrdom as atonement for a mujahid's debts." As for a child's obligations toward his parents, he adds that "it is not permitted to go out to fight jihad without the permission of both parents . . . because acting rightly with one's parents is an individual obligation, and they have rights over their sons."

"This has become pandemic in our times," he adds in a pointedly non-theological aside. "We find parents who only learn that their son has gone to fight jihad after his picture is published in the newspapers as a fatality or a prisoner."

Needless to say, Al-Qaeda supporters are trying hard to defuse this ruling....

Why did they ever release this guy from prison???

This will haunt the Indonesians for years to come...

Western tourists in Indonesia are "maggots, snakes and worms" who should be beaten up, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings has told hardline Islamic followers.

Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric who was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared and released from prison after 26 months, said the island resort had been overrun by scantily-clad tourists who deserved to be attacked for their immorality.

"Worms, snakes, maggots... those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel tourists. They are naked," he said.

Bashir, the alleged spiritual head of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist organisation, made the comments in a speech to an Islamic youth organisation in eastern Java last October.

Tourists who are disrespectful of Islamic customs should be lynched, he said, adding: "If there are infidels here, then beat them up. Do not tolerate them."

The sermon was videotaped by an Australian university student who was conducting research into Islamic boarding schools in the region.

Bashir told his followers to reject Indonesian laws that contradicted Islamic law, and said that signs should be placed in Muslim areas to tell western tourists to dress modestly.

He also stated that young Indonesians should "aspire to a martyrdom death", adding: "The young must be first at the frontline - don't hide at the back. You must be at the front, die as martyrs and all your sins will be forgiven."

Refugees from Darfur find a place in Israel...

Wow...a positive article from the Guardian....

"Even though we're Muslim, the Islamic world has done nothing to protect us", said Yassin, a refugee whose tortured flight from Darfur finally brought him to Israel three years ago. He was one of the first Darfurians to make it into Israel across the border from Egypt, and has dedicated his life to helping hundreds of his fellow countrymen who have made the same perilous journey.

It doesn't help that the Darfurians are accusing fellow Muslims of genocide, said Yassin, noting that the Muslim states who support the Sudanese government in turn claim that the refugees are collaborating with enemy states in the West. "All of the Arab countries support the government of Sudan - our problem is with the Arab League," Yassin stated with a shake of his head at his people's plight. Having watched most of his family slaughtered in a militia attack on his village, he fled the region hoping to find shelter in Egypt, but was soon forced to move on.

After the cold and often violent reception the refugees received at the hands of the Egyptians, Yassin decided that things couldn't be worse on the Israeli side of the border - despite the anti-Israeli indoctrination he'd been spoon-fed when growing up in Sudan. "The government controlled all of the media back home," he said. "The television stations, the radio, the newspapers... and all of them were very hostile towards Israel. They described it as an enemy state full of killers, and the cause of all of the world's problems."

Of course, the Guardian does try to draw Yassin in on the so-called Palestinian refugees...

But the unresolved issue of the Palestinian right of return is not something Yassin wished to be drawn on. As far as he's concerned, Israel has provided for his people in a way that no Arab country would - and for that he's eternally grateful. And in terms of Israel's image in the eyes of the refugees as well as the outside world, accepting the unwanted Darfurians was both an astute and an admirable move to make.

The horror of self-censorship....

Here we go again...it's embarassing to see a western corporation give in to fear....

An American internet provider has moved to ban a website on which a Dutch MP was planning to host an anti-Islam film portraying the Koran as a "fascist" book.

An American internet provider has moved to ban a website on which a Dutch MP was planning to host an anti-Islam film portraying the Koran as a "fascist" book.

Mr Wilders had planned to broadcast a 10 minute movie comparing the Koran to Mein Kampf on the internet site following the refusal of broadcasters to screen the film amid fears of a violent international backlash across the Islamic world.

"Network Solutions has received a number of complaints regarding this site that are under investigation," said a statement by the internet provider.

Wind power vs. Nuclear...

A short piece from Christopher Booker in the Daily Telegraph in the UK...

A further huge question mark has been raised over the Government's plan to build 7,000 offshore wind turbines round Britain's coasts, to help meet its EU target of 15 percent of our electricity from â renewables' by 2020.

The director of renewable generation for Centrica, our largest windfarm developer, last week revealed that the cost of this plan to create 33,000 megawatts (MW) of capacity has doubled in three years, from £40 billion to £80 billion.

But since, thanks to fluctuations in the wind, offshore turbines generate on average only 27.5 per cent of capacity, the actual power produced by these turbines would be only 9,000MW, putting its price at £8.8 million per MW.

The latest nuclear power station being built in Finland at a cost of £2.7 billion will produce 1600MW, 24 hours a day, representing £1.7 million per MW. In other words, six nuclear power stations could produce more electricity than all those windfarms for only a fifth of the price.

If Centrica really wants to help Britain keep its lights on, it could, for £80 billion, build 30 "carbon-free" nuclear power stations to generate 48,000MW of electricity, more than the average 47,000MW now produced by all Britain's power plants.

But since this would not count towards meeting our EU renewables target, to do anything so sensible would put us in serious breach of EU law.

More on Saddam's terror...

There were always enough reasons to get rid of Saddam Hussein...here's some more...

Saddam Hussein's intelligence service collected information on dozens of sites in Israel, including airports, other transportation centers, as well as scientific and religious centers that were thought to be potential targets for attacks. Among the sources providing intelligence to Saddam's regime was Force 17, the security force of Yasser Arafat, which planned and carried out from its Ramallah headquarters attacks against Israeli targets.

This information emerged following the release of documents captured during the American invasion in 2003 and made available as part of a West Point program to evaluate the lessons of the war in Iraq.

In addition to the detailed collection of intelligence on potential Israeli targets, the documents also show that Saddam's intelligence was following closely the links between Iran and Hezbollah and the potential that such ties could provide Iran to operate in the territories and in North Africa.

The captured documents also detail a 2001 plan to release Iraqis jailed for three- to 20-year sentences if they agreed to volunteer to carry out attacks on Israeli targets.

The Americans captured more than 600,000 intelligence items, including thousands of hours of video and sound recordings, all of which have been scanned and summarized, but only 15 percent was fully translated into English.

A document from 2002, from the chief of staff of the Al-Quds Army, sent to the Karbala Division, orders each brigade to build a model of an Israeli town and practice taking it by force.

Hamas representatives, including Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was assassinated by the Israel Defense Forces in 2004, contacted Iraqi intelligence and asked to coordinate attacks against American and Israeli targets to delay the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The documents also show that Iraqi agents also followed the activities of Israel in Jordan, Qatar and the Philippines.

A video recording of a meeting between Saddam and Yasser Arafat on April 19, 1990, showed Saddam threatening to assassinate then president George Bush. "We may not be able to reach Washington, but we could send someone with an explosives belt to Washington," Saddam told Arafat, three months before the invasion of Kuwait.

"We can send people to Washington. A man with an explosives belt could throw himself on Bush's car."

Saddam also told his Palestinian guest that he intended to launch surface-to-surface ballistic missiles against Tel Aviv and that he possessed chemical weapons that "have been successfully employed" against Iran - and he would not hesitate to also use them against Israel.

The file lists in its "main targets" the bridges over the Jordan River, the central bus stations in Be'er Sheva, Jerusalem, Ashdod, Dimona, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat, Rehovot, Lod and Rishon Letzion and train stations in Tel Aviv and Haifa. Also in the file were road maps of Kiryat Shmona, Tel Aviv and Haifa, as well as maps of parking lots and taxi stations at the Tel Aviv train station.

In the table of contents it is noted that pages 42-76 contain a catalog of "main targets," listing 35 targets in Israel, including bus stations, pharmaceutical plants, medical centers and synagogues.

Following pages note, on a map of Israel, main sports venues and are then followed by 20 more pages that include 35 other potential targets: mosques, synagogues, swimming pools, government offices and sports centers. Also included is the Weizmann Institute, "56 airports and 18 runways," air force bases, including squadrons, aircraft types and missiles, the names of companies working in civilian airports and the crossing points on the border between Israel and Jordan.

False accusations are deadly....

Men are falsely accused of rape and other sexual crimes all the time....this is where it sometimes leads...

A man who lost his job after being falsely accused of a horrific sex crime has been found hanged in a shed.

Ian Adams, 51, was suspended and then sacked from his job at a local IKEA store after his employers received a letter saying he had raped a woman and her two children.

The writer claimed to be a journalist on a local newspaper, but the name and address in the letter were false and the author has never been traced.

Police confirmed that Mr Adams, from Highams Park East, London, had never been arrested or convicted of a sexual offence or had any complaints made against him.

Mr Adams' life went downhill as he struggled to recover from the accusations.

He failed to get his job back after being sacked in January. His drinking led to problems with his partner and he spent the last few nights of his life sleeping in a storage shed at the bottom of the block of flats in which he lived.

A neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "If it wasn't for that letter he would still be here, I am sure of it.

"He was happy and full of himself when he was working, he was more or less dancing on his way to work. But he went from working all day to doing nothing.

Growth of Islam in France...

The chart shows the number of mosques in each region...the island on the top right is Paris.

Shame on the Excalibur.....

The student newspaper at York University in Toronto prints an opinion piece praising the suicide attack on the Yeeshiva in Jerusalem.

It’s no wonder why Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook School was attacked.

I’m not surprised that Ala’a Hisham Abu Dhaim targeted Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook School in Jerusalem.

Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav Kook School is described as a religious camp that links Judaism with Zionism. This makes it very different from any other anti-Zionist Orthodox school in Israel.

This institution established a program known as the “yeshivat hesder”. The word “hesder” means the settlement of a curriculum that combines Talmudic studies with military service.

In other words, this school has direct connections with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and its graduating students are those whom are committing a holocaust in Gaza in the Palestinians eyes.

This school strengthens the idea on its students and graduates of the land of Israel from the Euphrates to the Nile, as well as the need to make this land a “religious land,” which means there should not be any right to return for the Palestinians that were expelled from their land.

The school has around 500 students aged 18 to 30. Many of its past graduates went on to found other similar religious schools in the West Bank settlements which are described as racist among the Orthodox Jews.

In the eyes of the Palestinians, it was the IDF who started the holocaust in Gaza, and the Palestinians are simply targeting the source of that attack.

Of course, they are free to publish whatever they want. But, what does it say about their judgement by printing such an article? I am sure that Osama Bin Laden and anybody from Al-Qaeda would love a forum in the Excalibur....but that doesn't mean they should print it.

The latest in Palestinian hatred....

The latest in child abuse from Gaza....

Palestinian children in Gaza were gathered for an exhibition that depicts Israel burning children in a crematorium. Young children are seen standing beside dolls being placed into a model of a cremation oven.

According to the article in Al Ayyam, "The National Committee for defense of Children from the Holocaust opened its activities with a Holocaust exhibit. The Exhibit include a large oven and inside it small children are being burned, the picture speaks for itself." [Al Ayyam, March 20, 2008]

Another part of the exhibit was a black platform with the words, "Stop the Israel's Holocausts." [Al Hayat Al Jadida, March 20, 2008]

Do we really have to spend money to curb cow farts???

Don't we have better things to do with our money???

Britain's finest scientific minds have turned their attention to a problem that they claim is threatening the future of the entire planet - farm animal flatulence.

Experts at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen say the average cow contributes as much to global warming as a family car that travels 12,000 miles.

The scientists are now trying to produce new foodstuffs that result in livestock producing less methane.

Professor Harry McArdle, of the institute, said: "Cattle and agriculture can be a very serious contributor towards the problem."

Although vehicles produce a far larger volume of noxious gases, methane is 24 times more harmful to the environment than carbon dioxide.

In total, methane is thought to contribute about 18 per cent towards the global warming effect.

The Rowett institute is leading a European project to develop a feed additive that can inhibit the production of the foul smelling gas.

A case against climate alarmism...

Richard Lindzen of MIT is one of my favorite scientists....

Climate is always changing. We have had ice ages and warmer periods when alligators were found in Spitzbergen. Ice ages have occurred in a hundred thousand year cycle for the last 700 thousand years, and previous warm periods appear to have been warmer than the present despite CO2 levels being lower than they are now. More recently, we have had the medieval warm period and the little ice age. During the latter, alpine glaciers advanced to the chagrin of overrun villages.

Since the beginning of the 19th Century these glaciers have been retreating. Frankly, we don't fully understand either the advance or the retreat. For small changes in climate associated with tenths of a degree, there is no need for any external cause. The earth is never exactly in equilibrium. The motions of the massive oceans where heat is moved between deep layers and the surface provides variability on time scales from years to centuries. Recent work (Tsonis et al, 2007), suggests that this variability is enough to account for all climate change since the 19th Century. Supporting the notion that man has not been the cause of this unexceptional change in temperature is the fact that there is a distinct signature to greenhouse warming: surface warming should be accompanied by warming in the tropics around an altitude of about 9km that is about 2.5 times greater than at the surface.

Measurements show that warming at these levels is only about 3/4 of what is seen at the surface, implying that only about a third of the surface warming is associated with the greenhouse effect, and, quite possibly, not all of even this really small warming is due to man. This further implies that all models predicting significant warming are greatly overestimating warming. This should not be surprising. According to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the greenhouse forcing from man made greenhouse gases is already about 86 % of what one expects from a doubling of CO2 (with about half coming from methane, nitrous oxide, freons and ozone), and alarming predictions depend on models for which the sensitivity to a doubling for CO2 is greater than 2C which implies that we should already have seen much more warming than we have seen thus far, even if all the warming we have seen so far were due to man.

This contradiction is rendered more acute by the fact that there has been no significant global warming for the last ten years. Modelers defend this situation by arguing that aerosols have cancelled much of the warming, and that models adequately account for natural unforced internal variability. However, a recent paper (Ramanathan, 2007) points out that aerosols can warm as well as cool, while scientists at the UK's Hadley Centre for Climate Research recently noted that their model did not appropriately deal with natural internal variability thus demolishing the basis for the IPCC's iconic attribution. Interestingly (though not unexpectedly), the British paper did not stress this. Rather, they speculated that natural internal variability might step aside in 2009, allowing warming to resume. Resume? Thus, the fact that warming has ceased for the past decade is acknowledged.

Where is the correlation between CO2 and temperature???

Blood libel in Russia...

This is really disgusting...and scary....

In a shocking anti-Semitic incident on Wednesday, hundreds of blood libel flyers were found posted on homes in the Russian city of Novosibirsk, warning parents to protect their children from bloodthirsty Jews ahead of Pessah.

"Attention, Russian parents," the flyers read, "guard your children as April 2008 approaches, [and with it] the Jewish holiday of Pessah."

The flyers warned that "these disgusting [people] steal young children, draw their blood and use it to prepare their holy food. The children's bodies, they throw in the garbage dumps."

Novosibirsk, located in eastern Russia, has a Jewish population of some 13,000. It is Russia's third largest city.

Israel Radio said that a Jewish Agency envy reported the leaflets to police and said residents of city had expressed their shock.

Has global warming taken a hiatus???

The oceans have slightly cooled since 2003....

Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.

This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.

In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis says. So the buildup of heat on Earth may be on a brief hiatus. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."

How's this for incitement????

An Iranian group puts a price tag on Israelis head...

Do Ehud Barak, Meir Dagan and Amos Yadlin need to be worried? In the Iranian capital of Tehran, it was reported that an unprecedented ceremony took place on Sunday in which a price was put on the heads of the top ranking Israeli security officials as revenge for the assassination of Hizbullah arch terrorist Imad Mugniyah last month.

The Iranian news agency IRNA quoted an announcement from a radical organization called the "Islamic Student Justice Seekers" in which the group made clear its reasoning for the move.

"Following the increase in crimes by the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine and in the Gaza Strip, and in wake of the assassination that this regime carried out abroad of senior members of the resistance front, a ceremony will be held today to set a financial prize for the killing of the organizers of these acts."

According to the organization's announcement, the financial prizes are to be given to those who take out the three most senior members of the Israeli security establishment: Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Mossad Chief Meir Dagan and Head of Military Intelligence Amos Yaron.

"The prizes will be given to those who succeed in killing these three international terrorists in any place in the world," the statement read.

Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)

May he rest in peace. Benny Peiser has sent out a terrific email about Clarke, including some terrific jokes that Clarke wrote to friends....here's one:

Have you heard the Jewish joke about Neil Armstrong's first words on the Moon? (Neil had - I asked him!)

When asked why he said "That's one step for Man, one giant leap for Manny Klein," he explained that he once heard his neighbour Mrs Klein say "You'll get oral sex when the boy next door walks on the Moon!"

Cotler's right: Let's arrest Ahmadinejad...

Of course, the UN is not going to do anything...

Former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler on Monday called on the world community to act against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad before he carries out his threats of genocide against Israel.

Cotler spoke at the opening session of a conference at the Interdisciplinary College, Herzliya, on "Human Rights and Security." The speakers included Professors Amnon Rubinstein, Alan Dershowitz and Aharon Barak.

Ahmadinejad's actions proved he was guilty of incitement to genocide, Cotler said, and should be stopped before he had the chance to carry out his plans.

"There is more evidence on a factual basis with respect to the state-sanctioned incitement to genocide in Ahmadinejad's Iran than we had with regard to [a Rwandan convicted of incitement to genocide in Canada,]" said Cotler. "So that gives you a sense therefore, of how the principles and precedents on both matters of fact and conclusion of law feed into Iran, where what you have today is the toxic convergence of the advocacy of the most horrific of crimes, namely genocide, embedded in the most virulent of ideologies, namely anti-Semitism, dramatized by the parading in the streets of Teheran of a Shihab-3 missile draped in the emblem with the words, 'Wipe Israel off the map, as the imam says,' proving that this is state sanctioned incitement to genocide."

Cotler presented several case studies of rulings by an international court that convicted Rwandans, including a former prime minister, of incitement to genocide in the murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi tribesmen.

In convicting them, the court invoked the United Nations Genocide Convention, which established the criteria for proving state-sanctioned incitement to genocide, including intentionality, public calls for genocide and direct incitement by use of euphemisms and dehumanizing language.

Now, these women are nuts....

When women talk about 'different conceptions of equality', we know that means more power/rights to women, no?

A group of female lawyers have formed the Women’s Court of Canada to rewrite key Supreme Court of Canada decisions from a feminist perspective in hopes of ending what they call a recent neglect of equality rights.

“The goal is to spur a debate about what equality means and to do that in a very concrete way, not in an overly abstract academic way,” says University of Toronto law professor and WCC co-founder Denise Réaume.

“We have the impression that the way equality jurisprudence has gone in the last few years was, in a way, making the debate shut down. People were getting pessimistic about the prospects for getting anywhere with equality litigation, so people were starting to just shut up about it. We thought this is too important for people to just shut up about it. People have to keep talking about what equality can and should mean.”

The WCC came out of discussions a few years ago at a conference of the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund, says Réaume, where a group of some 30 female lawyers were pondering the future of equality law.

At a dinner meeting, “all of a sudden somebody said, ‘You know, we could do a better job of this than the Supreme Court is doing,’” says Réaume, who teaches tort law and discrimination law. “It was something said in frustration, and not really that seriously, but it kind of stuck with everybody.”

The off-the-cuff remark received further discussion the following morning at the conference, and the group decided that rewriting entire SCC cases “might be a way of really engaging with equality issues at a deeper level,” says Réaume, who adds the hope is the rewritten judgments will appeal to a wider audience than academic articles would.

A few of the women at the LEAF conference volunteered to write a few of the cases, and the idea continued to catch fire, with several other female lawyers jumping on board to participate

The WCC is now made up of academics, activists, and litigators. Its first set of judgments has been published in the current issue of the Canadian Journal of Women and the Law. Their publication was celebrated earlier this month during International Women’s Week at York University’s Osgoode Hall Law School and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law. The schools held a reception and symposium under the theme “rewriting equality.”

The project is funded by the Law Foundation of British Columbia, the Law Foundation of Ontario, and the federal Department of Justice. The group says it is guided by Oscar Wilde’s statement that, “The only duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”

Avvy Go, a Toronto lawyer and Law Society of Upper Canada bencher who is writing a WCC case, says the group is a reaction to its members’ disappointment in the way women’s equality issues have been handled by the courts in the past five to 10 years.

“There seems to be a regression of the equality rights in terms of the Charter of Rights jurisprudence,” she says. “The courts seem to be showing more and more deference to the government of Canada; they are allowing some questionable laws to be left unchallenged.”

Canadian Journal of Women and the Law co-editor Janet Mosher, who is an Osgoode professor, says the initiative dovetails with her publication’s goals.

“It creates the opportunity to open conversations about different conceptions of equality,” she says. “It creates a written record of some of those ideas. There’s lots of academic work about equality, and I think one of the really significant contributions is to put those alternative conceptions into the form of judgments, to show the way alternative conceptions of equality can actually shape the judicial decision itself.”

Why I like the Harper government....

I don't consider this a move to support Israel..but a move towards rationality...

A United Nations panel voted overwhelmingly this month to condemn Israel for a recent armed incursion in the Gaza Strip that claimed more than 120 lives, many of them civilian.

Thirty-three member countries of the 47-seat UN Human Rights Council endorsed the resolution, which accused Israel of war crimes in its ongoing battles against Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Those in favour of censuring the Jewish state included China, India and Russia. Thirteen countries abstained, among them seven European governments.

But one nation stood alone against the denunciation of Israel, and that country was not the United States – Israel's leading foreign supporter – or even Israel itself, for neither country has a seat on the human rights body.

Instead, the lone dissenter was Canada.

"We're very happy that we see things in a similar way," Carmela Shamir, deputy director of the North America division at Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in an interview last week.

"Canada has adopted several times in recent months very brave positions."

What the Pentagon report missed...

A terrific report by Richard Miniter of what the Pentagon report on the Iraq-Al-Qaeda connection missed....

The report utterly demolishes the myth that Saddam Hussein, a “secular dictator,” would never work with radical Islamists. The report contains a wealth of information demonstrating that Saddam Hussein was in touch with nearly every Islamist terrorist group in the Middle East and that his intelligence services had standing orders to monitor and reach out to any group of significance. That includes factions of Fatah, Hamas, the Army of Mohammed, and even Iran’s favorite terror group, Hezboallah. Of course, Hussein also worked with a number of Al-Qaeda proxies. Claudia Rossett has a good summary here. But the bigger point remains unnoticed: secular socialist Saddam did work with Islamist terrorists, despite their “ideological differences.”

The report was not “exhaustive,” as McClatchy Newspapers and others described it. Virtually every news story and blog post says that the researchers surveyed 600,000 captured documents in the Harmony database.

There are two problems with that claim. The Harmony database contains some two million documents. So the report examined less than a quarter of the captured Iraqi documents — hardly exhaustive. In the fine print, the report concedes it was not able to access many documents because they were being actively used by “other agencies” — meaning one or more of the nation’s 16 intelligence services, the State department, or other elements of the Defense department.

The second problem: The researchers didn’t even examine all 600,000 documents available to them, the report concedes. Only 15% — about 90,000 — of those 600,000 documents have been translated into English. The remaining 510,000 documents were, in the language of the report, “screened” not read. Every Harmony document has a title, number, and several key words in English. Researchers simply sifted through the labels looking for “bin Laden,” “Al-Qaeda” and so on. That isn’t very exhaustive; officials who have used the Harmony database say that the key words and titles were typed in by hourly contractors who often missed the significance of what they were inputting. Besides, they were rewarded for speed, not thoroughness. Worse still, Al-Qaeda did not refer to itself by its name until after 2001. Instead, it was known as “the company,” “the organization,” and so on, and bin Laden was simply referred to as “the director.” So it would be unusual for the phrase “Al-Qaeda” to show up in captured Iraqi documents. In short, the keyword search applied to 85% of the available documents is meaningless.

The report definitely missed documents that established the Iraq-Al-Qaeda connection. On Friday, I spoke with a former government official whose position required him to review captured Iraqi documents in the Harmony database. (He insisted on anonymity because his work was classified and he continues to consult on intelligence matters.) “I have been in that database and I saw an instruction from the [Iraqi] foreign ministry to its embassy in Havana, instructing them to cooperate with members of Al-Qaeda. The document named specific individuals we know are connected to Al-Qaeda.” Yet, that document does not appear in this report. Why? Most likely, my source says, because it is still being used by the State department or the CIA.

But, read the whole article...he lists all the evidence that Saddam had some sort of connection to Al-Qaeda.

The Gaza Prison Camp

Nonie Darwish presents a good overview of the situtation in Gaza...

"Gaza conditions at '40-year low'" the BBC headlined last week. Rarely a week goes by without a politician or organization deploring the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. But I do not hear anyone describe its root cause: 60 years of Arab policy aimed at maintaining Palestinians as stateless refugees in order to pressure Israel.

I lived in Gaza as a child in the 1950s when Egypt conducted guerrilla-style operations against Israel from Gaza, then under Egyptian control. My father commanded these operations, carried out by "fedayeen," (which means, "self sacrifice"). This became the frontline of Arab Jihad against Israel. My father was killed by Israel in a targeted assassination in 1956.

Today the Gaza Strip, now under the control of Hamas, has become the Gaza prison camp for 1.5 million Palestinians and continues to serve as the launching pad for attacks against Israeli citizens.

This is the legacy of the Arab world's Palestinian refugee policy, started 60 years ago, when the Arab League implemented special laws regarding Palestinians that all Arab countries had to abide by. Arab countries could not absorb Palestinians. Even if a Palestinian married a citizen of an Arab country, that Palestinian could not become a citizen of his or her spouse's country. A Palestinian can be born, live and die in an Arab country, but never gain its citizenship. Even now I receive e-mails from Palestinians telling me they cannot have a Syrian passport, for example, and must remain Palestinian even though they have never set foot in the West Bank or Gaza. Forcing the Palestinian identity on them is designed to perpetuate the Palestinian refugee status. Palestinians have been used and abused by Arab nations, and by Palestinian terrorists, for the purpose of destroying Israel.

The 22 Arab states certainly do not have a shortage of land. Many surrounding Arab areas, such as the Sinai Peninsula, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, are very sparsely populated. But absorbing Palestinians would end their refugee status and their desire to harm Israel.

Arab wealth, which is increasing dramatically because of skyrocketing oil prices, is not used to improve the lives, infrastructure and economy of the people of the West Bank and Gaza. Instead, it supports terror groups who reject Israel's existence and oppose peace with Israel. The average Gaza man has a better employment opportunity if he joins Hamas.

Biofulel demand is leading to food rationing....

We need to get off the biofuel bandwagon as soon as possible...

The World Food Program is preparing to ration food aid for the world's hungriest poor. Why? Primarily because we're burning food in our automobiles. The rich-country mandates for biofuels have doubled and tripled world food prices in less than three years.

The World Food Program's costs are rising by millions of dollars per week and the donations aren't, warns WFP executive director Josette Sheeran. The WFP is trying to feed more than 70 million people in 78 countries with voluntary contributions—but now can't afford to keep its agreed-upon commitments.

World corn prices are above $5 a bushel, up from $1.86 three years ago. Prices for wheat, soybeans, rice and even cotton are rising as they're crowded out of field space by biofuel crops. Pakistan says it will reimpose food rationing for the first time since the 1980s. China's food inflation rate is 18.2 percent, and the Chinese have blocked further expansion of their fledgling biofuel program.

Targeting whie men in the UK....

Open season on white men....

White men could be stopped from getting jobs under controversial government plans to allow employers to hire ethnic minority and female candidates ahead of them.

Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women, has launched a consultation into proposals to scrap current laws that ban employers from taking race or sex into consideration when interviewing job candidates.

The plan is described as "positive action" rather than "positive discrimination" because it would not allow a candidate with worse job credentials to be given preferential treatment.

Instead, the measure involves giving employers the right to take race or sex into consideration when choosing between candidates with exactly the same qualifications.

The proposed change in the law could also affect universities, allowing them to select more female students in subjects areas such as the sciences where men have traditionally dominated.

Critics insisted these decisions were already being taken by employers and recruitment officers keen to boost numbers of women and ethnic minorities.

However, Miss Harman is said to believe radical action is needed to help all disadvantaged members of the community gain their full potential.

Vicar attacked in London.....

And, this is not Gaza....but London....

A vicar was in hospital last night after being attacked in his churchyard by two youths in what is being treated as a 'faith hate' crime.

Canon Michael Ainsworth, 57, was kicked and punched in the head as one of the attackers screamed "f***ing priest".

He was left lying on the ground with deep cuts, bruising and two black eyes.

The attack took place in the early evening after Canon Ainsworth politely asked three Asian youths who had gathered in the churchyard to quieten down.

Another group of youths intervened to protect him and they helped him into the rectory as the attackers fled.

The incident happened outside St George-in-the-East Church in Wapping, East London.

It has regularly had windows smashed by youths - who on one occasion shouted: "This should not be a church, this should be a mosque."

Canon Ainsworth, a father of four, was taken to hospital and discharged after treatment, but was readmitted after a relapse.

The church is situated in the heart of Tower Hamlets where the majority of the population - some 57 per cent - belong to black and ethnic minority groups.

A third are of a Bangladeshi background.

In another attack on the church, families were showered with glass when a brick was thrown through a window during a service.

Mr Allan Ramanoop, a member of the Parochial Church Council, said often parishioners were too scared to challenge the gangs.

The Asian church member, who lives nearby, said: "I've been physically threatened and verbally abused on the steps of the church.

"On one occasion, youths shouted: 'This should not be a church, this should be a mosque, you should not be here'.

"I just walked away from it - you are too frightened to challenge them. We have church windows smashed two to three times a month.

Can we really measure our CO2 emissions???

Here's a report from the Times about estimating carbon emissions....

BRITAIN’S greenhouse gas emissions are 12% higher than claimed by Labour, according to an investigation by the National Audit Office (NAO). The report could undermine Gordon Brown’s claims to be creating a low-carbon economy.

The NAO analysis, published this weekend, says Labour’s figures exclude aviation, shipping, British businesses operating abroad and emissions caused by Britons holidaying overseas. This makes Britain’s emission figures seem artificially low.

And the British consider him a moderate....

This is the second time we have blogged about this guy....

The editor of a pan-Arab daily published in London says the terrorist attack on Jerusalem's Mercaz Harav Yeshiva on March 6 attack was "justified" and that the religious seminary is responsible for "hatching Israeli extremists and fundamentalists."

In his lead article last Sunday, Abd al-Bari Atwan, editor of Al-Quds Al-Arabi, chose not to condemn the shooting attack in which eight students were killed and nine were wounded, and said the celebrations in Gaza that followed symbolized the "courage of the Palestinian nation."

He added that the recent violence in Gaza might "mark the countdown to Israel's destruction."

"This article is alarming, since Atwan is perceived as a legitimate and unbiased analyst by the British media, and is often invited to voice his views in different media platforms," said Lior Ben-Dor, spokesman at the Israeli Embassy in London. "The problem is that when addressing the British public, he tends to hide his true opinions and ideology - his support for terror and the murder of civilians. This article reveals Atwan's real colors, a supporter of fundamentalism and terror, and hence he should be treated accordingly."

In an interview on ANB Lebanese television in June, Atwan said, "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by God, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight.

Does carbon capture and storage work???

Patrick Moore, ex-founder of Greenpeace, says no...and that requiring it will just push producers to nuclear...

Carbon capture and storage (CCS), which coal-miners worldwide hope will guarantee a future for coal as an energy source, may not be viable, technically, economically, and in terms of liability.

This is the view of Canadian scientist, environmentalist, and a former director of Greenpeace International, Dr Patrick Moore.

“It’s a huge technical problem. It’s massive volumes we’re talking about here – millions of tons of gas. All the feasible approaches that I have seen would end up using a very large portion of the energy from the power plant just to do the sequestration,” he says.

Once the carbon dioxide has been captured, it must be sequestrated. This involves transporting it, whether in gaseous, liquid, or supercritical form, by pipeline and/or road tanker and/or ship, through storage sites, to the sequestration location. The catch is that this sequestration has to endure for a very long time indeed – at least centuries, if not millennia. In theory – and, currently, in limited practice – the carbon dioxide can be injected into permeable geological formations, surrounded by impermeable rocks, such as deep saline formations, exhausted oil and gas reservoirs, unminable coal seams, and even abandoned coal mines.

“I do not believe that it is economically or technically feasible, compared to other technologies,” affirms Moore. “In other words, if the coal-fired power industry was required to sequester its carbon, I think they would stop building coal plants and build nuclear plants instead, where you don’t have this problem.” Moore is a strong supporter of nuclear power and hydroelectric power as the most environment-friendly options for baseline power generation.

Saddam's Terrorist Ties..

The Mainstream media has made much of a Pentagon study showing no operational links betweeen Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaeda...but here's a summary of his links to terrorists that the media has not reported on...

• The Iraqi Intelligence Service in a 1993 memo to Saddam agreed on a plan to train commandos from Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the group that assassinated Anwar Sadat and was founded by Al Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

• In the same year, Saddam ordered his intelligence service to "form a group to start hunting Americans present on Arab soil; especially Somalia." At the time, Al Qaeda was working with warlords against American forces there.

• Saddam's intelligence services maintained extensive support networks for a wide range of Palestinian Arab terrorist organizations, including but not limited to Hamas. Among the other Palestinian groups Saddam supported at the time was Force 17, the private army loyal to Yasser Arafat.

• Beginning in 1999, Iraq's intelligence service began providing "financial and moral support" for a small radical Islamist Kurdish sect the report does not name. A Kurdish Islamist group called Ansar al Islam in 2002 would try to assassinate the regional prime minister in the eastern Kurdish region, Barham Salih.

• In 2001, Saddam's intelligence service drafted a manual titled "Lessons in Secret Organization and Jihad Work—How to Organize and Overthrow the Saudi Royal Family." In the same year, his intelligence service submitted names of 10 volunteer "martyrs" for operations inside the Kingdom.

• In 2000, Iraq sent a suicide bomber through Northern Iraq who intended to travel to London to assassinate Ahmad Chalabi, at the time an Iraqi opposition leader who would later go on to be an Iraqi deputy prime minister. The mission was aborted after the bomber could not obtain a visa to enter the United Kingdom.

The report finds that Abdul Rahman Yasin, who is wanted by the FBI for mixing the chemicals for the 1993 World Center Attack, was a prisoner, and not a guest, in Iraq. An audio file of Saddam cited by the report indicates that the Iraqi dictator did not trust him and at one point said that he thought his testimony was too "organized." Saddam said on an audio file cited by the report that he suspected that the first attack could be the work of either Israel or American intelligence, or perhaps a Saudi or Egyptian faction.

The report also undercuts the claim made by many on the left and many at the CIA that Saddam, as a national socialist, was incapable of supporting or collaborating with the Islamist al Qaeda. The report concludes that instead Iraq's relationship with Osama bin Laden's organization was similar to the relationship between the rival Colombian cocaine cartels in the 1990s. Both were rivals in some sense for market share, but also allies when it came to expanding the size of the overall market.

"We desire death like you desire life."

Ahhh....lovely words from Hamas MP Fathi Hammad...

Following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Hamas MP Fathi Hammad, which aired on Al-Aqsa TV on February 29, 2008.

Fathi Hammad: [The enemies of Allah] do not know that the Palestinian people has developed its [methods] of death and death-seeking. For the Palestinian people, death has become an industry, at which women excel, and so do all the people living on this land. The elderly excel at this, and so do the mujahideen and the children. This is why they have formed human shields of the women, the children, the elderly, and the mujahideen, in order to challenge the Zionist bombing machine. It is as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: "We desire death like you desire life."

Gays win marriage rights in Norway...

Yay....yet another country grants gays the same rights as straight people....

The Norwegian government put forth a long-expected gay marriage bill on Friday, clearing the way for homosexual couples to secure the same marriage rights as heterosexuals.

Norway already has a so-called "partnership law" that has allowed homosexuals to form legal domestic partnerships. Now they likely will be able to marry, with all the rights that entails, since the government has a majority in parliament and the law is expected to win approval.

The bill, called "felles ekteskapslov" in Norwegian, will also ensure that children of lesbian couples will have two legal parents from the beginning of life, and that married homosexuals will be evaluated as adoptive parents along the same lines as heterosexual couples.

The new government minister in charge of children's and family issues, Anniken Huitfeldt of the Labour Party, called the proposed law "an historic step towards equality." She said the goal of the law is to demonstrate that homosexual and heterosexual couples are equal under the law.

"The new law won't weaken marriage as an institution," Huitfeldt claimed. "Rather, it will strengthen it. Marriage won't be worth less because more can take part in it."

Freedom from Blasphemy???

Yes, this is what the Islamic states are after...

At the conference, Muslim nations also mulled taking legal measures for slights against Islam.

Concerned about what they see as a rise in the defamation of Islam, Muslim leaders at the summit are considering legal action against those who slight their religion or its sacred symbols.

The plan represents an attempt to demand redress from nations like Denmark, which allowed the publication of cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad, an incident that infuriated the Muslim world.

Though the type of legal action it could take is not fully spelled out, the threat pits the Muslim world against the principles of freedom of speech enshrined in the constitutions of numerous western governments.

"I don't think freedom of expression should mean freedom from blasphemy," said Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade, the chairman of the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference on Friday. "There can be no freedom without limits."

At the summit, delegates were given a voluminous report recording anti-Islamic speech and action around the world. It cites the publication of the Danish cartoons, as well as the op-ed articles of a Somali-born Muslim woman who said women do not have rights under Islam. The report concludes that Islam is under attack and that a defense must be mounted.

"Muslims are being targeted by a campaign of defamation, denigration, stereotyping, intolerance and discrimination," said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the group.

To protect the faith, Muslim nations have already created an 'observatory' that meets regularly to monitor "Islamophobia." It examines lectures and workshops taking place around the world and prints a monthly record of offensive content.

The report presented Friday urges the creation of a legal instrument to crack down on defamation of Islam, but it is unclear what kind of legal action could be taken. Some delegates point to laws in Europe criminalizing the denial of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic rhetoric. They also point to articles within various UN charters that condemn discrimination based on religion and argue that these should be made stronger.

"In our relation with the western world, we are going through a difficult time," Ihsanoglu told the summit's general assembly. "Islamophobia cannot be dealt with only through cultural activities but [through] a robust political engagement," he said.

In reaction, the International Humanist and Ethical Union in Geneva issued a statement accusing the Islamic states of attempting to limit freedom of expression and of attempting to misuse the UN.

At least they have a shelter.....

Men in North American have a huge need for assistance after break-ups/divorce, etc...

Battered women in Denmark have a multitude of shelters to choose from but men in need of a haven after divorce, losing their job or fleeing abusive wives have to elbow for room in just three brimming crisis centres.

Overlooking a canal in the picturesque Christianshavn neighbourhood of Copenhagen sits a red brick building with large bay windows: Mandecentret, the Scandinavian country's newest centre for men in distress.

Inside the 650-square-metre (7,000-square-foot) building, the ambience is tranquil, with modern furniture, paintings on the walls, 12 rooms equipped with televisions and Internet connections, and professional counsellors to help men in need.

Two other such centres exist in Denmark, but Mandecentret is the first in northern Europe to offer professional help to men fleeing from psychologically or physically abusive wives or floundering after a divorce.

Fathers can also stay here with their children for short periods.

Three shelters for all of Denmark "is largely insufficient and the needs are enormous," laments Thorkild Vestergaard-Hansen, who heads Mandecentret.

"It's crazy that the men's crisis centres don't receive the same amount of subsidies as the 40 or so women's shelters," he says.

Hezbollah raises its profile in the west bank...

Nothing like good news...

"Hezbollah is coming," mourners chanted at Thursday's funeral of a Palestinian militant killed by Israel, his body wrapped in the flag of the Lebanese guerrilla group.

A Hezbollah flag, along with Hamas banners, also adorned the home of a Palestinian man who was killed after gunning down eight Israeli students at a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem last week. A shadowy group Palestinian security officials say is a front for Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the rampage.

Hezbollah has long operated behind the scenes in the Palestinian territories, funneling millions of dollars to militant groups for attacks against Israel, according to Israeli and Palestinian security officials. The Lebanese group's influence has become increasingly visible in the West Bank since last month's assassination of its military chief, Imad Mughniyeh, in an explosion in Syria that Hezbollah has blamed on Israel.

Fire the UN Secretary-General....

He goes to the Organization of the Islamic Conference and talks about Israel....

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday condemned Israel's attacks on Palestinian civilians in a speech to a summit of Muslim leaders here.

Ban said Israel had employed "inappropriate and disproportionate use of force" in its renewed attacks on the Palestinian territories and called for an immediate ceasefire by both sides.

Highlighting the deaths of women and children in the Israeli attacks he said, "I condemn these acts and call on Israel to cease them" in his speech to the Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit.

He could have told the Islamic countries that terrorism must stop. He could have told them that they must make peace with Israel. He could have told them to stop the anti-semitic incitement in their media. He could have told them to love their children. But he didn't.

Does anybody really belive in global warming???

Is there any leader in the world who really believes this stuff???

It's a brave reporter who challenges Arnold Schwarzenegger face to face. Who knows what physical retribution the former Terminator might wreak? Yet one man was brave enough to trade (verbal) blows with the Governor of California last week.

It followed the revelation by the Los Angeles Times that Schwarzenegger – who after Al Gore is the US politician most identified with the "battle against climate change" – had been commuting almost every day by private jet.

Let me share with you this extract from a transcript of a news conference, as released by Schwarzenegger's office: "Governor, there have been reports coming out that you're flying up and down the state on a daily basis in a [private] jet...How do you reconcile your public rhetoric on global warming versus your personal lifestyle choices?".

"Are you always that positive? What a positive guy! To me it's very important that I serve the people of California but also at the same time that I serve my family... do the homework with the kids, spend time with my wife and everything."

"So global warming is for other people to worry about, as long as you can afford carbon offsetting?"

"You're absolutely correct. Global warming is very important and that's why we're fighting global warming... in all kinds of things we are promoting."

Schwarzenegger might be a hypocrite, but at least he is not charging the public: it's his own private jet and he's paying all the bills. In Britain, where the New Labour government vies with the Governor of California to be seen as a "leader in the battle against global warming", such moral inconsistency is entirely funded by the taxpayer.

Yesterday it was disclosed that two Cabinet ministers, Ed Balls and Shaun Woodward, used chauffeur-driven ministerial cars to travel 150 yards from Downing Street to a dinner party for Labour donors. The chauffeurs waited outside and then after dinner drove the pair, separately, a further 300 yards to the House of Commons. This has come to light because the Conservative MP Justine Greening has written to the Cabinet Secretary arguing that since the event was a Labour Party fundraiser, official limousines should not have been made available – at least for the first 150 yards of this 450-yard round trip.

The more obvious, but less party-political point, is that if ministers truly believe what they say about the dire threat of irreversible and murderous climate change through man-made carbon emissions, how could they simultaneously behave in such a casually wasteful manner? Surely they cannot be so wicked as knowingly to condemn another African to a premature death through thirst – or whatever the latest climate-catastrophe theory insists – in order to avoid walking for a quarter of a mile down Whitehall?

The OIC goes crazy about Islamophobia....

The Organization of the Islamic Conference is throwing its weight around by accusing people of Islamophobia....

The Netherlands comes in for considerable criticism in the first ever ‘Islam phobia’ monitor drawn up by the influential Organisation of the Islamic Conference which is due to discuss the issue today, reports Thursday’s Volkskrant.

The OIC has informed Dutch foreign affairs minister Maxim Verhagen that the anti-Koran film by Dutch MP Geert Wilders – expected to be released shortly – will have ‘serious repercussions which could get out of hand and will be difficult to control’, says the paper.

The OIC report calls Wilders’ film ‘an extremely provocative documentary’ and says its screening is an ‘alarming development’.

The organisation also says that it has asked the European Union, the Council of Europe, the UN and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation to intervene and prevent the release of the film, reports the Volkskrant.

The OIC report recognises the stance of the Dutch government – that the right to freedom of expression is not the same as the right to the freedom to insult others. But it concludes that the West lacks the political will to tackle ‘Islam phobics’, says the Volkskrant.

No-go areas for soldiers in uniform in the UK....

They've got to fight this...you can't have no-go areas for soldiers...

Certain areas in Britain will still have to remain off-limits for servicemen and women in military gear, despite the Government’s desire for a nationwide uniform free-for-all, senior RAF sources acknowledged yesterday.

After the ban on uniforms in Peterborough, ordered by the station commander at nearby RAF Wittering, one senior air force source said that military commanders had to be aware of potential problems of personnel wearing combat and other military clothes in the street.

“We’re aware of the sensitivities, for example, in some ethnic minority communities which is why we need to have a dialogue with local authorities and police if we don’t want to cause a problem,” the source said.

Group Captain Ro Atherton, station commander at RAF Wittering, was praised by her superiors for taking the “sensible precaution” of advising personnel under her command to wear civilian clothes in parts of Peterborough after a number of incidents of abuse by members of the public.

The RAF said the ban would be reviewed but there was no question of overruling Group Captain Atherton who was in the best position to make a judgment, after taking advice from the military police and the local police force.

“This was not a blanket ban for the whole of Peterborough but service personnel were advised to watch out for certain areas,” the senior RAF source said.

Yesterday it emerged that students at University College London voted to ban the military from setting up recruitment stalls there. They also backed a ban on the Officer Training Corps at the college campus.

A meeting of the students’ union supported a motion condemning British Forces for waging “an agressive war overseas”.