Iranians shut down newspaper....

and for what? Well, it actually published an article saying that Hamas was to blame for the violence in the middle east...

A newspaper close to former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has been closed down for publishing an article the authorities said was sympathetic to Israel, the official IRNA news agency reported on Wednesday.

The moderate daily Kargozaran is regarded as close to Rafsanjani, who was defeated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election.

"The reason for the closure of the newspaper is because it published an article yesterday in which it sanitized the Zionist regime's crimes in Gaza," Mohammad Parvizi of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry told IRNA. He did not say when the ban would take effect. The newspaper appeared on newsstands on Wednesday.


Editor Mehran Karami said the government order to close the paper came up Wednesday. It said the move followed the publishing of a reformist student group statement saying Hamas is to blame for Israel's assault.

I'd like to know more about this reformist group...

Riots in Antwerp lead to Jewish Neighbourhood...

Here is a translated version of a story from Belgium...

The protest action by the Arabic European League (AEL) in Borgerhout feet had to put the bombing in the Gaza Strip, is completely out of hand. Na de ontbinding van de manifestatie trokken betogers naar de joodse wijk in Antwerpen, waar rellen met de politie ontstonden. After the dissolution of the event drew demonstrators to the Jewish district in Antwerp, where clashes with the police came. Vooral autoruiten moesten eraan geloven, maar ook trams en bussen werden aangevallen. Especially car had to believe it, but also trams and buses were attacked.

Protest Protest
De Arabisch Europese Liga hield vanaf 14 uur een protestactie in de Kerkstraat in Borgerhout. The Arab European League held from 14 hours in a protest action in the Kerkstraat Borgerhout. De manifestanten eisten de onmiddellijke stopzetting van de bombardementen in de Gazastrook en van het geweld tegen de burgerbevolking. The protesters demanded the immediate cessation of bombing in the Gaza Strip and the violence against the civilian population. Al tijdens de manifestatie in Borgerhout was er af en toe een verhit moment. While the event in Borgerhout there was occasionally a heated moment.

Joodse wijk Jewish Quarter
De situatie liep pas echt uit de hand toen de manifestatie omstreeks 15.15 uur werd ontbonden. The situation was really out of hand when the event was canceled around 15:15 hours. Een groep betogers trok daarop naar de joodse wijk in Antwerpen. A group of demonstrators took them to the Jewish neighborhood in Antwerp. De politie had die wijk volledig afgesloten, waarop er een kat-en-muisspel ontstond. The police district that had fully completed, which is a cat-and-mouse game created. De situatie dreigde uit de hand te lopen, en omstreeks 15.25 uur kwam de politie met steeds meer manschappen ter plaatse om de manifestanten uit elkaar te drijven. The situation threatened to walk out of hand, and around 15.25 hours, the police with more and more troops on the ground to the protesters from each other to drive. Rond 16 uur verplaatsten de relletjes zich weer naar Borgerhout, meer bepaald de buurt van de Turnhoutsebaan. Around 16 hours to move back to the riots Borgerhout, particularly near the Turnhoutsebaan.

Vernielingen Destruction
De betogers richtten heel wat vernielingen aan. The demonstrators set up a lot of destruction. Vooral autoruiten moesten eraan geloven, maar ook trams en bussen werden aangevallen. Especially car had to believe it, but also trams and buses were attacked. De Lijn leidt daarom alle bussen en trams op de as Turnhoutsebaan-Carnotstraat-Rooseveltplaats om. The line leads on all buses and trams to the axis Turnhoutsebaan-Carnotstraat-Rooseveltplaats about.

Here's how Israel treats its enemy....

What other country would do this???

The District Coordination Office in Gaza rejected Palestinian claims of lacking medical equipment in the Strip's hospitals on Wednesday.

DCO Head Moshe Colonel Levi told Ynet that since the start of the IDF's Operation Cast Lead in the Strip, unprecedented amounts of medical equipment have been allowed into Gaza, including medicine and blood units.

In addition, ambulances sent from the West Bank and donated from other countries were allowed into the Strip.

Colonel Levi also accused Palestinian Health Ministry officials of preventing the injured from leaving Gaza to receive medical treatment in Israel and piling up bureaucratic hurdles.

So far, a 16-year-old boy who was injured in the operation was permitted to leave Gaza for Israel and on Wednesday a seven-year-old boy who sustained serious wounds will follow.

A number of cancer patients were also transferred to Israel for treatment, but Palestinian medical officials demand a long list of documents to approve the release of patients, and therefore prevent any serious treatment of the matter.

"Gaza hospitals have not collapsed, and international organizations have not reported a collapse and even point out that the medical equipment sent there is improving the hospitals' efficient activity. Regarding food as well, we have not received official complaints, there are large amounts of food in the Gaza Strip and there is no crisis in this regard," Levi said.

Defense establishment sources said Gazan officials are trying to take advantage of the situation in order to create a false picture of a humanitarian crisis.

"Certainly the situation in the Strip is not easy, but Israel is allowing international organizations and neighboring countries to help in any way they can to provide all the necessary equipment to the Gaza Strip," said a defense establishment source.

More food and medical equipment is scheduled to be delivered to the Gaza Strip Wednesday, in some 100 trucks that will be inspected at the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Hundreds of blood units, donations from neighboring countries and equipment from international organizations are also slated to be sent to the Strip.

And the idiots in the press...

Here's a comment from the Times of London that paints Hamas as a secular, peaceful organization...

It is said that this conflict is impossible to solve. In fact, it is very simple. The top 1,000 people who run Israel - the politicians, generals and security staff - and the top Palestinian Islamists have never met. Genuine peace will require that these two groups sit down together without preconditions. But the events of the past few days seem to have made this more unlikely than ever. That is the challenge for the new administration in Washington and for its European allies.

Well, read the whole piece to see how deluded the author is. It appears that whoever wrote this piece has not read the Hamas charter - where they talk not only about the total destruction of Israel but the killing of Jews anywhere...

Moral idiocy....

Alan Dershowitz is again right on...

There have been three types of international response to the Israeli military actions against the Hamas rockets. Not surprisingly, Iran, Hamas, and other knee-jerk Israeli-bashers have argued that the Hamas rocket attacks against Israeli civilians are entirely legitimate and that the Israeli counterattacks are war crimes.

Equally unsurprising is the response of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia, and others who, at least when it comes to Israel, see a moral and legal equivalence between terrorists who target civilians and a democracy that responds by targeting the terrorists.

And finally, there is the United States and a few other nations that place the blame squarely on Hamas for its unlawful and immoral policy of using its own civilians as human shields, behind whom they fire rockets at Israeli civilians.

The most dangerous of the three responses is not the Iranian-Hamas absurdity, which is largely ignored by thinking and moral people, but the United Nations and European Union response, which equates the willful murder of civilians with legitimate self-defense pursuant to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

This false moral equivalence only encourages terrorists to persist in their unlawful actions against civilians. The US has it exactly right by placing the blame on Hamas, while urging Israel to do everything possible to minimize civilian casualties.

Hamas hiding in mosques and hospitals...

Where else would they go????

The Shin Bet head added that many of Hamas's senior activists were hiding out in mosques and hospitals in Gaza, some of them in the guise of doctors and male nurses.

"Some of them have turned dozens of mosques into command and control centers on the assumption that Israel won't attack those places," he said. "Their development laboratories have been completely destroyed. Their tunnel system has sustained heavy damage. Hamas is trying to utilize [what remains] so that their operatives can escape to Egypt."

Talk radio 1410 in Vancouver

I received a nice e-mail today from one of the producers at Talk radio 1410 in Vancouver, enquiring whether I would like to be a guest to talk about Gay Dominion. I called them right back, and I was literally on the air in 10 minutes.

The substitute host for the show, Dave Brindle, in his his first question indicated this was going to be a hostile interview.....and then he got downright nasty and hostile. How on earth can someone be gay and support the Conservative Party???? It was 10 minutes of pure hostility - with absolutely no intellectual curiosity about what I was trying to do with Gay Dominion.

I have asked the station for a tape of the interview - I would love to post it and show the hostility I regularly receive from the left. I get lots of really nice comments from conservatives - but hostility from the left.

The nuts come out of the woodwork...

Here's an email I received today in regards to the CanWest article on Gay Dominion....

According to an article in the Ottawa Citizen, you became a 'free-market libertarian' because of the 'horrors' of guerrilla attacks of 9-11.

First, the death toll of 9-11 was insignificant compared to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians murdered or forcibly ejected from their homes by rapacious Zionist invaders who coveted their assets and land. The 9-11 guerrilla fighters were (1) only seeking redress for past wrongs, (2) sending a message that those who aid and abet the Zionist invasion are as guilty as the Zionists who pull the trigger (just as the Nuremberg Trials found regarding other parties), and (3) looking for Zionists to atone for their egregious behaviours and make amends.

Second, the connection between 9-11 and your conversion to 'free-market libertarian' is suspect. What possible connection could there be except your misuse of 9-11 to postulate an unethical world out-of-control as an excuse to enable yourself to give vent to your own out-of-control greed and lack of ethics.

Third, the Gay Dominion mission statement mentions free markets which of course is a euphemism for unfettered, unprincipled greed free of regulation to safeguard the rights, life and health of others. It gives lip service to personal responsibility but is really promoting responsibility for actualizing one's greed. Personal responsibility entails not viewing other people as units of production or consumption nor as pawns for your own personal use.

In short, you and Gay Dominion are self-absorbed frauds.

Top 10 Dud Global Warming Predictions....

This is from Australia - but the point is the same almost anywhere....

1. OUR CITIES WILL DIE OF THIRST

TIM Flannery, an expert in bones, has made a fortune from books and lectures warning that we face global warming doom. He scared us so well that we last year made him Australian of the Year.

In March, Flannery said: "The water problem is so severe for Adelaide that it may run out of water by early 2009."

In fact, Adelaide's reservoirs are now 75 per cent full, just weeks from 2009.

In June last year, Flannery warned Brisbane's "water supplies are so low they need desalinated water urgently, possibly in as little as 18 months".

In fact, 18 months later, its dams are 46 per cent full after Brisbane's wettest spring in 27 years.

In 2005, Flannery predicted Sydney's dams could be dry in just two years.

In fact, three years later its dams are 63 per cent full, not least because June last year was its wettest since 1951.

In 2004, Flannery said global warming would cause such droughts that "there is a fair chance Perth will be the 21st century's first ghost metropolis".

In fact, Perth now has the lowest water restrictions of any state capital, thanks to its desalination plant and dams that are 40 per cent full after the city's wettest November in 17 years.

Lesson: This truly is a land "of drought and flooding rains". Distrust a professional panic merchant who predicts the first but ignores the second.

2. OUR REEF WILL DIE

PROFESSOR Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, of Queensland University, is Australia's most quoted reef expert.

He's advised business, green and government groups, and won our rich Eureka Prize for scares about our reef. He's chaired a $20 million global warming study of the World Bank.

In 1999, Hoegh-Guldberg warned that the Great Barrier Reef was under pressure from global warming, and much of it had turned white.

In fact, he later admitted the reef had made a "surprising" recovery.

In 2006, he warned high temperatures meant "between 30 and 40 per cent of coral on Queensland's great Barrier Reef could die within a month".

In fact, he later admitted this bleaching had "a minimal impact".

In 2007, he warned that temperature changes of the kind caused by global warming were again bleaching the reef.

In fact, the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network last week said there had been no big damage to the reef caused by climate change in the four years since its last report, and veteran diver Ben Cropp said this week that in 50 years he'd seen none at all.

Lesson: Reefs adapt, like so much of nature. Learn again that scares make big headlines and bigger careers.

Now, go and read the other 8 dud predictions...

Proportion does not work....

A terrific column by Marty Peretz....

Frankly, I am up to my gullet with this reflex criticism of Israel as going beyond proportionality in its responses to war waged against its population with the undisguised intention of putting an end to the political expression of the Jewish nation. Within hours, Nicolas Sarkozy was already taking up the cudgel of French righteousness and pronouncing the actually quite sober Israeli response to the continuous war on its borders "disproportionate." Enough. What would be proportionate, oh, so so proportionate apparently, are those tried-and-true half measures to contain Hamas that have never worked. Remember that in 2005 Israel ceded Gaza to the Palestinians waiting and hoping that they would make something of a civil society of their territory, civil for their own and civil to their neighbors. It was not to be.

There is only small likelihood that Hamas has learned its lesson. These Sunni fanatics are still supported by the Shi'a fanatics in Iran. And they are also backed by the House of Saud which cannot be seen to be turning its back on Sunni piety. Gaza is the only place in the Middle East where Tehran and Riyadh are allied. In both Lebanon and Iraq, they are the bankrollers (and more than bankrollers) of hostile sectarian forces engaged in killing each other. Thus, Hamas has still some rope with which to play. Cash, after all, is a great deluder.

The current warfare will go on a bit longer. If there is a pause and if I were giving advice to the Israelis, this is what I would say to Hamas and to the people of Gaza: "If a rocket or missile is launched against us, if you take captive one of our soldiers (as you have held one for two and a half years), if you raise a new Intifada against us, there will be an immediate response. And it will be very disproportionate. Proportion does not work."

No sooner had I written these last words that Khaled Meshal, the Hamas leader exiled in Damascus (which also apparently pines to make peace with Israel), announced the beginning of the Third Intifada.

GayandRight Hits the National Media....

Hey, we're in the CanWest papers today....

When Fred Litwin started a blog called "Gay and Right" a few years ago, he got three kinds of e-mail.

There were the gays who were ticked off that he was conservative.

There were the conservatives who were ticked off that he was gay.

And there were the gay conservatives who were elated to have found a kindred spirit.

It was the latter messages, and their encouraging abundance, that inspired Litwin to found Gay Dominion, a website through which he hopes to organize a network for gay conservatives in Canada - and to try to get the attention of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives.

Litwin wants to dispel the notion that the very term "gay conservative" is an oxymoron. Gay Dominion stands for "limited government, low taxes, free markets, the merit principle, personal responsibility, and the equality of gays and lesbians," declares the website (gaydominion.wordpress.com).

On the other hand, it opposes "rampant political correctness, myopic religious intolerance, moral and cultural relativism, anti-Americanism, and the tearing down of western civilization."

"If some crazy preacher from Alberta wants to rail about gays and lesbians in the Bible, let him," says Litwin. "Free speech is way too important to have it be abridged by people who take offence at the slightest, little thing."

Litwin, who by day, runs a record label called Northern Blues Music, says he used to be a diehard "lefty" who organized anti-nuclear protests. But the horrors of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and the experience of being in business, convinced him to become a self-described "free-market libertarian."

People shouldn't be surprised that some gays and lesbians hold small-c conservative views, he says. "Gay people are just ordinary people like everybody else, so why shouldn't they be concerned about taxes and the safety of their communities, and a whole variety of issues that concern other Canadians?"

Litwin hopes to build a base of enough like-minded individuals to hold a public meeting to discuss the group's future. He doesn't want it to be too closely allied to any political party. Nevertheless, he hopes eventually to establish a visible presence of gays and lesbians within the Conservative party.

He officially launched the site at the Conservative party policy convention in Winnipeg in November, and he says the reception from rank and file Conservatives has been good. In fact, most of the negative feedback comes from the gay community itself, he maintains.

"Left-wing and gay bloggers seem to go crazy over this stuff, because they seem to feel that gays can only be left wing."

Still, Litwin is disappointed the Conservative party hasn't reached out to the gay community as much as it has to other demographic groups. The Conservatives have spent much time and energy trying to attract the votes of ethnic minorities and women, for example.

There's more at the Canwest site...

IDF launches Youtube site....

You can see a variety of IDF videos here...

Recycling piles up....

I wonder what the situation is like in Canadian cities....

Experts estimate that up to 15 per cent of all recycling is now being stored in warehouses and ports, waiting for a buyer.

Some of the waste could be stuck there for a year.

One in four councils has asked for more storage capacity to cope with the problem, which is likely to have worsened because of the volume of recycling generated over Christmas.

Councils have been forced to recycle more by facing higher penalties for every tonne of waste that they dump in landfill to help the UK hit new European Union recycling targets.

But demand for recycling material has dropped sharply since October as sales of new cars, white goods and new homes - which provide a market for recycled material - have tailed off in the global downturn.

The price of recycled cans has fallen from £200 a tonne to £20 a tonne, while paper and card has also dropped from £60 a tonne to just £10 a tonne.

Prices have now fallen so far that the cost of making new plastic is cheaper than reusing the recycled material. The result has been a big increase in stockpiles of recycled rubbish, which contractors are battling to clear.

Hamas on Human Shields...

The obscene NDP

Have you seen the NDP statement on the situation in Gaza????

Canada's New Democrats condemn the unacceptable escalation of violence in the Middle East causing death and injury to so many civilians in the Gaza Strip and Israel.

It is a tragedy that hundreds of civilians have again become the victims of violence in this conflict. The continuing airstrikes by Israel on civilians in the Gaza strip and the ongoing rocket attacks on Israeli civilians are serving to compound the existing civilian disaster and further harm chances for a negotiated peace.

We call on the Government of Canada to immediately call for an end to the aerial bombing of Gaza, the blockade of aid to civilians and the indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israel. Indeed, the government must urge both sides to agree to end the current hostilities immediately, reinstate the ceasefire and return to the peace process.

The Government of Canada should also work to ensure that medical and food aid is provided to the civilians of Gaza through U.N. agencies.

New Democrats believe that Canada must pursue a balanced approach to the Middle East crisis, in keeping with Canadians' deep desire for peace in the Middle East and are ready to work with the new administration in the U.S. towards a lasting peace in the region. This goal cannot be achieved while citizens in such large numbers are being killed and endangered.

Of course, the NDP was nowhere to be found when Hamas was firing rockets.....and, don't the NDP know that Hamas has vowed to NEVER recognize Israel???? And, of course they don't realize that Israel never targets civilians...while Hamas PURPOSELY targets civilians???

Hamas Propaganda....

Sweden fires employee for writing pro-Israel blog....

And, what greater crime could there be than writing a pro-Israel blog???

Sweden's Migration Board has elected to pay over a million kronor in compensation to a demoted employee who maintained a pro-Israeli blog instead of following a court order to reinstate him.

A ruling handed down by the district court in Mölndal in western Sweden on November 11th found in favour of 51-year-old employee Lennart Eriksson. The court ruled that the demotion was tantamount to having Eriksson fired without cause, and therefore violated Swedish employment law.

Eriksson said at the time that he was looking forward to getting back to work.

But in a reply to Ericsson's lawyers dated December 19th the Migration Board has stated that it does not intend to follow the court order and will instead pay 1,203,200 kronor ($155,000) in compensation to Ericsson - the equivalent of 32 months salary. The board writes that the sum is in accordance with Swedish employment law.

"With this payment all dealings between the Migration Board and Eriksson will be settled. The Migration Board rejects all other demands made to date or in the future."

The sum will be paid to Eriksson on January 12th 2009.

Lennart Eriksson has responded on his blog by arguing that he is not interested in the board's "Judas money" and instead wants the board to follow the court ruling and reinstate him.

"I want the Migration Board to be a democratic authority. An authority where the 'justice-seeking general public' can expect fair and just treatment."

The case dates back to February when Eriksson decided to sue his employer when he returned from a year's sabbatical to find that he had been demoted from his job as the head of an asylum assessment unit, a position he had held for six years.

Ericsson was from the outset suspicious of the grounds on which the Migration Board had justified the move, believing that it had to do with a new supervisor’s disapproval of a pro-Israeli blog Eriksson maintains in his spare time.

"I want to defend freedom and democracy. I try to be humble and just. Therefore I must - as every good democrat must - defend Israel," Eriksson wrote on his blog Sapere aude!

The case sparked more controversy when Migration Board lawyer Staffan Opitz criticized Eriksson during the trial for writing in his blog that Hamas-founder Ahmed Yassin was a terrorist, rather than a “Palestinian freedom fighter”, despite the fact that the Swedish government considered Hamas a terrorist organization.

“It’s quite remarkable, and that probably gets to the heart of matter. If the Migration Board has managers that believe that, I can understand that they don’t like me,” Eriksson said.

Israel and the Media

Some tips for Israeli spokespersons...

Israel cannot afford to lose another public relations war with jihadists, as it did during the Lebanon war. And so the first point Israeli spokespeople need to emphasize is that this is not just a war between mighty Israel and a ragtag militia, but part of an ongoing war with shifting fronts between Israel and its jihadist enemies, directed from Teheran.

The second point Israeli spokespeople must make is that the accusation against Israel of using disproportionate force is intended by many critics to prevent Israel from protecting itself. Tens of thousands of Israeli citizens have been terrorized for eight years by Hamas's rockets--and it doesn't matter if those have mostly inflicted only physical and psychological wounds rather than fatalities. In allowing the attacks to continue for so long--even after Israel withdrew to its 1967 border with Gaza--Israel has risked losing its deterrence against its enemies and the faith of its citizens in the country's viability. One recent cartoon in the newspaper Ma'ariv showed an Israeli family lighting the menorah and singing a Hanukah song extolling the heroism of the Macabees while outside their window Qassam rockets fell with impunity. For Israelis living within rocket range from Gaza, it is the government's shameful non-response to attacks that was disproproitionate.

Next, Israel's spokespeople must challenge the easy notion that the conflict in Gaza is the latest expression of a "cycle of violence." Israel has accepted the principle of a two-state solution; Hamas's goal is the destruction of Israel.

Finally, Israel's spokespeople need to be firm in the face of the sentimental journalism that empowers the jihadists by placing accidental civilian Palestinian casualties at the heart of the story. Dead civilians are not an Israeli interest but a Hamas interest: In Hamas's calculation, the more Palestinian victims, the more the world pressures Israel to stop its operation. Israel's greatest fear is an accidental shell fired at a Palestinian hospital or school--and that's precisely Hamas's fondest hope. Journalists are obliged to tell this story in all its anguished detail. But they aren't obliged to reward Hamas's cynicism by turning the story of Israel's war against genocidal jihadism into a contrived Israeli war against Palestinian civillians.

Already, the media are playing into Hamas' hands. On CTV Newsnet, they spent about 10 minutes talking to an Egyptian journalist this afternoon, without any comment from an Israeli. On CNN, they repeatedly emphasized the number of Gazan casualties, without ever mentioning that the Palestinians PURPOSELY target civilians - in fact, they wish they could deliver more Israeli casualties...but alas, they can't.

Hitting Back???

Why are Hamas leaders in hiding???

I thought they craved being a martyr! Isn't that what they always say....and yet they are now in hiding....

How's this for a school inspector????

It's hard to believe what goes on in the UK....

A hardline Muslim teacher who caused a furore by denouncing pupils for celebrating Christmas has been made a Government schools inspector.

Israr Khan's Ofsted appointment was described by a former colleague as 'absolutely astonishing'.

Mr Khan, now headmaster of an Islamic school, launched into his tirade during a concert rehearsal at Washwood Heath Secondary School in Birmingham in 1996 after the choir including around 40 Muslim youngsters, had sung a number of popular Christmas songs, including carols.

He leapt from his seat, yelling: "Who is your God? Why are you saying Jesus and Jesus Christ? God is not your God - it is Allah."

As children in the audience began booing and clapping, a number of choir members - both white and Asian - walked out, some in tears.

Mr Khan, a maths teacher, was asked to work from home pending an investigation but there was no disciplinary action.

It has been claimed that Washwood Heath school was then a 'hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism'. Rashid Rauf - the airline terror bomb suspect whose extradition is currently being sought from Pakistan - was a pupil there at that time.

Mr Khan left Washwood Heath a year later to found the independent Islamic Hamd House Preparatory School in Small Heath, Birmingham, where he is headmaster.

Earlier this year, he was appointed as a governor of Anderton Park Primary School, in Sparkbrook, Birmingham.

A former Washwood Heath colleague laughed openly when told of Mr Khan's role as an Ofsted inspector where he has the responsibility for passing or failing schools.

He said: "Given the man's history, it's absolutely astonishing. It's just the cheek of the man that he's been able to reach that position. He always was an extremely clever man.

"He gave me many insights into the Islamic cause and their hatred of the US and the Western World. He had a big support base among some of the Muslim parents.

"But there were some very influential, radical elements at Washwood Heath at that time and Israr Khan was very close to all that."

You can major in explosives at University in Gaza...

Yes, some of the world's best experts on explosives are coming out of Gaza...

IAF aircraft bombed the Islamic University and government compound in Gaza City early Monday morning, both centers of Hamas power. Witnesses saw fire and smoke at the university, counting six separate air strikes there just after midnight.

Two laboratories in the university, which served as research and development centers for Hamas's military wing, were targeted. The development of explosives was done under the auspices of university professors.

University buildings were also used for meetings of senior Hamas officials.

The IDF said rockets and explosives were stored in the buildings.

Israel's High Crimes.....

A nice summary of Israel's true crimes....

What have been Israel's "crimes?" Not "stealing Palestinian land," but making that land productive, while exposing the incompetence and sloth of Arab culture.

Israel's crime isn't striking back at terror, but demonstrating, year after year, that a country in the Middle East can be governed without resort to terror. Israel's crime hasn't been denying Arab rights, but insisting on human rights for women and minorities.

Israel's crime has been making democracy work where tyranny prevailed for 5,000 years. Israel's crime has been survival against overwhelming odds, while legions of Arab nationalists, Islamist extremists and Western leftists want every Jew dead.

But Israel's greatest crime was to expose the global cult of victimhood, to prove that hard work, fortitude and courage could overcome even history's grimmest disaster.

I think he means Jews....

The latest fatwa from Saudi Arabia...

A Saudi Web site reported on Sunday that a popular cleric issued a fatwa urging Muslims to target Israeli interests "everywhere," to avenge the attacks on the Gaza strip.

The site, Rasid, posts news about Saudi Arabia's Shiite community and said that Sheik Awadh al-Garni issued a religious edict urging Muslims to target "interests and anything that has a link to Israel," calling it "a legitimate target for Muslims everywhere."

If We Had Some Global Warming....

Abbas blames Hamas for bloodshed...

Nice to see this being reported in the Arab world...

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, has blamed Hamas for triggering Israel's deadly raids on Gaza, by not extending a six-month truce with the Jewish state.

He also blamed Hamas, which controls the coastal Gaza Strip territory, for disrupting national unity talks that could have paved the way for general and presidential elections.

"We have warned of this grave danger," he said in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday.

"We talked to them [Hamas] and we told them, 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop", so that we could have avoided what happened."

A statement from Amos Oz...

Here's the voice of a dove from Israel...

The systematic bombing of the citizens in Israel’s towns and cities is a war crime and a crime against humanity. The State of Israel must defend its citizens. It is obvious to everyone that the Israeli government does not wish to enter Gaza; the government would rather continue the ceasefire that Hamas violated and finally revoked. But the suffering of the citizens surrounding Gaza cannot go on.

The reluctance to enter Gaza stems not from indecisiveness but from well knowing that Hamas is actually eager to cause Israel to embark on a military operation: If dozens or even hundreds of Palestinian civilians, women and children are killed in an Israeli action, radicalism would gain strength in Gaza, Abu Mazen’s rule in the West Bank might collapse, and Hamas extremists could replace him.

The Arab world will rally together around the atrocious sights that Al-Jazeera will air from Gaza, and the world court of public opinion will rush to accuse Israel of war crimes. This is the same court of public opinion that remains unmoved by the systematic bombing of population centers in Israel.

Massive pressure will be exerted on Israel to restrain itself. No such pressure will be placed on Hamas because there is no one to pressure them, and there is almost nothing left with which to pressure them. Israel is a country; Hamas is a gang.

What remains for us to do? The best thing for Israel is to achieve a total ceasefire in exchange for alleviating the blockade of Gaza. If Hamas insists on refusing the
ceasefire and continues bombing Israeli citizens, we must take care lest the military
action play into Hamas’ hands. Hamas’ calculation is simple, cynical and evil: If
innocent Israelis are killed – good. If innocent Palestinians are killed – even better. Israel must act wisely against this stance, and not out of the heat of the moment.

Hamas won't let wounded get treatment in Egypt...

Everybody loves to bemoan the 'fact' that Israel is blockading Gaza - and yet Gaza has a border with Egypt...

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Sunday the Islamist group Hamas was not allowing Palestinians wounded in Israel's attacks on Gaza to cross into Egypt for treatment.

"We are waiting for the wounded Palestinians to cross. They are not being allowed to cross," he told reporters. Asked who was to blame, he said: "Ask the party in control on the ground in Gaza."

Have we reached the tipping point on global warming???

Christopher Booker argues that this is the year that man-made global warming has been disproved....but I don't think the alarmists are ready to give in...

Easily one of the most important stories of 2008 has been all the evidence suggesting that this may be looked back on as the year when there was a turning point in the great worldwide panic over man-made global warming. Just when politicians in Europe and America have been adopting the most costly and damaging measures politicians have ever proposed, to combat this supposed menace, the tide has turned in three significant respects.

First, all over the world, temperatures have been dropping in a way wholly unpredicted by all those computer models which have been used as the main drivers of the scare. Last winter, as temperatures plummeted, many parts of the world had snowfalls on a scale not seen for decades. This winter, with the whole of Canada and half the US under snow, looks likely to be even worse. After several years flatlining, global temperatures have dropped sharply enough to cancel out much of their net rise in the 20th century.

Ever shriller and more frantic has become the insistence of the warmists, cheered on by their army of media groupies such as the BBC, that the last 10 years have been the "hottest in history" and that the North Pole would soon be ice-free – as the poles remain defiantly icebound and those polar bears fail to drown. All those hysterical predictions that we are seeing more droughts and hurricanes than ever before have infuriatingly failed to materialise.

Even the more cautious scientific acolytes of the official orthodoxy now admit that, thanks to "natural factors" such as ocean currents, temperatures have failed to rise as predicted (although they plaintively assure us that this cooling effect is merely "masking the underlying warming trend", and that the temperature rise will resume worse than ever by the middle of the next decade).

Secondly, 2008 was the year when any pretence that there was a "scientific consensus" in favour of man-made global warming collapsed. At long last, as in the Manhattan Declaration last March, hundreds of proper scientists, including many of the world's most eminent climate experts, have been rallying to pour scorn on that "consensus" which was only a politically engineered artefact, based on ever more blatantly manipulated data and computer models programmed to produce no more than convenient fictions.

Thirdly, as banks collapsed and the global economy plunged into its worst recession for decades, harsh reality at last began to break in on those self-deluding dreams which have for so long possessed almost every politician in the western world. As we saw in this month's Poznan conference, when 10,000 politicians, officials and "environmentalists" gathered to plan next year's "son of Kyoto" treaty in Copenhagen, panicking politicians are waking up to the fact that the world can no longer afford all those quixotic schemes for "combating climate change" with which they were so happy to indulge themselves in more comfortable times.

Why does Israel feed its enemies????

Isn't it time to say enough is enough???

And then there’s the issue relating to Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians in Gaza. Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair, recently entered Gaza aboard a protest boat on August 23 and told Ynet News in Israel that Gaza was "the largest concentration camp in the world today" and a "humanitarian crisis on the scale of Darfur." She was later photographed at a seemingly well-stocked grocery store in the so-called "concentration camp." So, let’s consider how these Israeli “monsters” have behaved. Hamas has declared its intention to destroy Israel and murder every Jew residing there, and has fired over 7,000 missiles at southern Israel. In return, Israel is providing 70% of Gaza’s electrical power and, each week sends tons of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to an enemy whose entire rationale for existence is the extermination or subjugation of every Jew in Israel. During World War II, the Allies firebombed Dresden, obliterated German cities, and dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Israel feeds its enemies!

The Palestinian war against journalists.....

The western media never reports on this....

Over the past two years Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have been subjected to a systematic campaign of intimidation that has resulted in the death of some and the detention of others.

The campaign, which is being waged by both Hamas and Fatah, has received almost no attention from human rights groups and advocates of the freedom of expression throughout the world.

By contrast, when a Palestinian journalist is accidentally wounded by Israeli gunfire during clashes with Palestinians, the incident makes headlines in major media outlets in the US and EU.

What is most disturbing about the campaign of intimidation is the fact that it’s being spearheaded by the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank. This is the same authority that is receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from American and European taxpayers’ money every month to build a proper judicial system and promote democracy and transparency among the Palestinians.

One should not be surprised when Hamas targets journalists. The Islamist movement has long been known for its tough measures against “unfriendly” reporters.

At least 13 Palestinian journalists have been arrested and tortured by Hamas’s militias in since the movement took full control over the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007. Hamas also raided the offices of most of these journalists and confiscated computers and other equipment.

In the most recent case, Ala Salameh, a reporter for a radio station in the Gaza Strip, complained that Hamas militiamen detained him for several hours and forced him to eat contaminated food.

In the West Bank, Abbas’s security forces have also focused their efforts on fighting against any journalist who don’t toe the line.

More than 10 Palestinian journalists have been targeted by Abbas’s security forces over the past few months. Most of them were held in detention without trial and denied the right to see a lawyer of family members.

Israel is forcing us to fire rockets.....

Yes, of course Israel is responsible for Hamas' firing of rockets into Israel...

With Kassam rockets raining down on cities in the western Negev, including Ashkelon, the Hamas military wing lashed out at Israel late Wednesday, saying that it was Israel, and not the Islamic group, which was responsible for the escalation.

"The increasing stupidity of Israel is forcing us to intensify the rocket fire, and put thousands more Zionists in the line of fire in order to protect the Palestinian people," a spokesperson for group's military wing said.

Geert Wilders in Jerusalem...

Here's what Geert had to say in Israel....

December 14, 2008

Thank you very much.

It’s a privilege for me to be here in this beautiful city Jerusalem, the capitol of the only democracy in the entire Middle East. When I was a teenager I lived some years here in this city and after that I visited Israel more times than I can count. Israel: the only country in the region with a functioning parliament, a rule of law and free elections. The only country in the region that shares the values of our Western societies, in fact is one of the foundations of our Judeo-Christian identity.

We are here to voice our concern over the growing Islamisation of the West. We do this in this city, the city of David. The city that, together with Rome and Athens, symbolizes our ancient heritage.

Perhaps a few of you may be new to Jerusalem, yet, Jerusalem is not new to any of you. We all carry Jerusalem in our blood, in our genes. We all live and breathe Jerusalem. We talk Jerusalem, we dream Jerusalem. Simply because, the values of ancient Israel have become the values of the West. We are all Israel, and Israel is in all of us.

This city is the capital of a democracy under threat. Israel is under siege, like the Jewish community in the Land of Israel is under siege for over a century now. Israel with all its glory and splendour is unique, and its history unparalleled. Yet, Israel’s security situation is not unique, and neither is its enemy.

Samuel Huntington writes it so aptly: “Islam has bloody borders”. Israel is located precisely on that border. This tiny country is situated on the fault line of jihad, just like Kashmir, Kosovo, the Philippines, Southern Thailand, Darfur in Sudan, Lebanon, and Aceh in Indonesia. Israel is simply in the way of the Islamic advance. Just like West-Berlin was during the Cold War.

- - - - - - - - -

Israel is simply receiving the blows that are meant for all of us. If there would have been no Israel, Islamic imperialism would have found other places to release its energy and its desire for conquest. Therefore, the war against Israel is not a war against Israel. It is a war against the West. It is jihad. Thanks to Israeli parents who see their children go off to join the army and lie awake at night, parents in Europe and America can sleep well and have pleasant dreams, unaware of the dangers looming.

At present the front-line of jihad runs not just through the streets of Tel Aviv and Haifa, but through the streets of London, Madrid, and Amsterdam as well. Jihad is our common enemy, and we better start Facing Jihad before it is too late.

Therefore, if we voice our concern over the Islamisation of the West, we have to do it here, where our civilization borders on Islam. Where jihadists fire Qassams into civilian homes in Sderot and Ashkelon, and where a doctor like Aryeh Eldad is characteristic of our civilization by treating terrorists the same way as he treats the Israeli victims. I salute Professor Eldad for his work for humanity, and for his patriotism. And I thank him for hosting this conference in this great city. Aryeh I am proud to be your friend.

I will say a few things about the Islamisation of Europe and my film Fitna. I will use some examples from the Netherlands, because they are indicative for the situation on the continent.

The mass migration to the Netherlands continues full-speed ahead. Currently, a staggering number of new immigrants arrive every year, many of them Muslim, often uneducated, if not illiterate. Bringing along with them the local customs of the mountains and deserts of backward Islamic countries. Thousands and thousands of Muslims arrive in the Netherlands every year, while already one million Muslims are living in our tiny country.

There are many problems concerning this massive influx: immigrants are overly represented in social benefits and crime statistics and the overall costs are staggering. The financial costs of mass immigration in the Netherlands exceeds 100 billion euro’s.

But what we have to fear most is the creeping Islamisation, the stealth jihad. Because every Islamic neighbourhood, every Islamic shop, every mosque, every Islamic school, every burqa, every veil is regarded by many Muslims as building blocks towards a larger goal, towards domination.

This is in fact the essence of the problem. Not crime, not even the financial burden. The biggest problem is the demographic development, and the way it influences our society at large. Immigration from Muslim countries and the demographics will result in the Eurabia that the brave Bat Ye’or is warning about. It will become reality if we don’t act now.

A decade and a half ago, a then unknown American politician used the following slogan in his political campaign: “it’s the economy, stupid.” From now on the motto of my party will be: “it’s demographics, dumbo”.

More than forty years ago a British politician gave a famous speech. He stated that, looking into the future, he saw ‘rivers of blood’ as a result of the uncontrolled influx of immigrants. Enoch Powell’s speech was the starting point of a debate on mass immigration in Europe. As usual, the leftist establishment labeled him an extremist and his career went down. But the British people loved him, and supported Powell. London’s dock workers took him to their hearts, marching by the thousands in support of Mr. Powell.

Looking back, I share Enoch Powell’s alarmist views on mass immigration, but ‘rivers of blood’ is not something I see happening. We will not face civil war. Our political elite is trying to make us believe that the influx of Muslim immigrants is similar to the waves of immigration that took place centuries ago. Or they say that “Christianity developed towards modernity, and therefore Islam will do the same”.

How are we to remain a democracy if a large part of the growing Muslim population is in favour of introducing sharia law? How is Amsterdam to remain the gay capitol of Europe if gays are regularly beaten up by non western immigrants, often Muslims? How are the Jewish communities of Europe to survive with a growing presence of an ideology that is so blatantly anti-Semitic? How are we to remain a centre of cultural and scientific excellence if Islam opposes art, and academic exploration? How are we to remain an open and tolerant society if we are faced with part of the Muslim community favouring self-segregation and showing no desire for assimilation? How can we look to the future with confidence, when a large part of the population turns to a seventh century desert for answers?

These are the questions the multiculturalists don’t want to answer.

Instead of providing leadership our political elite fooled us by using our own principles against us. I will give you five examples.

First. Our tolerance is used as an argument to bring in more Islam, to bring in more Muslims, and a way to tell us that we should not criticize their Islamic culture, if you do you are labeled intolerant and racist.

Second. Democracy. A growing Muslim electorate is too hard for politicians to resist, so they give in to their grievances and demands to win their vote. Before long sharia law will be introduced, legally and democratically, by means of majority vote. The former Dutch Minister of Justice once said that sharia law could be part of the Dutch legal system if a two third majority of the population would be in favour of it.

Third. Our religious freedom is utilized by an ideology that has no plans whatsoever to play by our rules, yet demands the same rights our traditional religions have had for centuries;

Fourth. Our welfare state that once was the envy of the world, now functions as a magnet for a lot of non-Western immigrants, dreaming of a cushy life in wealthy Europe.

Fifth. Our open borders came to symbolize our open mindset, an example of our cosmopolitan hospitality. But now we have lost control of our borders and we can’t even keep track of who is entering our countries, let alone prevent them from entering.

Our Western principles are hollow if they are not accompanied by a desire to sustain our culture and our civilization, based upon knowing who we are and where we come from. We are not from Saudi-Arabia. We are not from Iran. We come from Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. That makes our civilization special, and certainly worth preserving.

In spite of all that, the political elite are still madly in love with their pet project, the multicultural society, as they call it romantically. Apparently they don’t live in the neighbourhoods that are turning Islamic. They will tell you “they are nice people. I don’t see the problem?” The Muslim immigrant’s demands sound reasonably to them, like: “let us have an extra-large mosque”.

It is very difficult to remain optimistic in the face of the growing Islamisation of Europe. The tide is turning against us. We are losing on every front. Regarding the demographics, Islam is gaining momentum. The ruling elite is even proud of the Muslim immigration. After all, this way they can show everyone that they are not racists. Academia, the arts, the media, trade unions, the churches, the business world, the entire political establishment have all converted to the suicidal theory of multiculturalism and cultural relativism.

Cultural relativism is the biggest disease modern day Europe suffers from. Not all cultures are equal. Our Western culture is better than the Islamic culture. In the words of the brave Dr. Wafa Sultan: “It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality”. Indeed also here in Israel you are not fighting a territorial war, it’s not about territory it’s about ideology. The Islamic ideology does not seek cooperation or assimilation but aims for submission and dominance over non-Muslims. There is no moderate Islam, there will never be a moderate Islam. There might be moderate people who call themselves Muslim, but there is no moderate Islam.

Leftist journalists and leftist politicians hasten themselves to label anyone critical of the Islamisation a ‘right-wing extremist’. The entire establishment has sided with Islam. Leftists, liberals, and Christian-Democrats are now enslaved to Islam. They are Dhimmi’s. Lenin once labelled ignorant people that unknowingly aided his cause ‘useful idiots’. Well, the West is now full of these ‘useful idiots’, and they are even proud of it.

Now some words about my film Fitna.

I felt I had the moral duty to educate people about Islam and the Islamisation of Europe. The duty to make clear to everyone that the Koran stands at the heart of what some people call terrorism but is in reality jihad. I wanted to show that the problems of Islam are at the core of Islam, and do not belong to its fringes.

I have warned against the dangers of the Koran and Islam in numerous interviews, opinion articles, speeches and of course parliamentary debates, but pictures often say more than words. That is why I made Fitna.

Fitna is a documentary that shows what is being done in the name of Islam. Without placing all Muslims into the same category, I think I have succeeded in showing that the Koran is not some dusty old book, but that it is still used today as a source of inspiration for, and justification of hatred, violence and terrorism across the world.

A few weeks ago the world has once again seen what Islam is capable of. In Mumbai, jihadists separated Muslims from non-Muslims, according to a witness in a Belgian newspaper. The non-Muslims, the Kaffirs, were subsequently shot. The terrorists also went straight for the tiny Jewish centre in Mumbai, where, according to reports made to an Indian news website, they horribly tortured Jewish people before brutally murdering them.

Most of the Western media stick to naming the culprits as being members of ‘separatist movements’. In doing so, they are missing the main point and are unjustly ignoring the Islamic nature of the terror attacks. After all, if it is a conflict about borders, why are they killing Jews in Mumbai? Why, in a city of tens of millions, find the jihadists the shortest way to the only rabbi in town — in order to kill him and his wife? Why are Israel’s enemies always shouting “Allah hoe-Akbar” and “kill the Jews” if all they want is peaceful coexistence and mutual understanding? Maybe, I’m just guessing, is it because they have an ideology that tells them to kill Jews, to kill unbelievers, and to advance Islam until there is world domination. Islam, after all divides the world in a dar-al-Harb, and dar-al-Islam. Islam is a totalitarian ideology full of hate, violence and submission.

From the day the plan for my short film was made public it caused quite a stir, in the Netherlands, in Europe and across the world. First there was a political uproar, with government leaders across the continent in sheer panic. The Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs called on me to abandon my film project. The Minister of Justice let it be known that post hoc criminal proceedings could be initiated if the movie was shown. The Dutch government investigated the possibility of having Fitna banned in advance. The Dutch branch of the Islamic organization Hizb ut-Tahrir declared that the Netherlands was due for an attack. Internationally there was a series of incidents. The Taliban threatened to organize additional attacks against Dutch troops in Afghanistan and a website linked to Al Qaeda published the message that I ought to be killed, while the Grand Mufti of Syria stated that I would be responsible for all the bloodshed after the screening of the film.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan the Dutch flag was burned on several occasions. Dolls representing me were burned as well. The Indonesian President announced that I will never be admitted into Indonesia again, while the UN Secretary General and the European Union issued statements in the same cowardly vein as those by the Dutch government. I could go on and on. It was an absolute disgrace, a sell out. It was treason to our Western principles, it was treason to freedom of speech, it was treason to liberty itself. My own government was not defending me, but became my worst enemy in the process.

Because of Fitna the State of Jordan is currently litigating against me. Jordan wants to prosecute me for blasphemy, demeaning Islam and slandering the Prophet Muhammad; violations of the Jordanian Penal Code, even though the alleged violations did not even occur in Jordan. As you all know, Jordan is a non-democratic country, without an independent or impartial judicial system and without a strongly developed civil society. According to a recent study by Human Rights Watch, torture is a routine and widespread practice in Jordan.

Jordan’s attempt to prosecute me is an infringement on the sovereignty of my country, the Netherlands. It is an infringement on freedom of speech. Jordan’s attempt is in fact a hostile act towards freedom itself.

If Jordan succeeds in prosecuting a democratically elected member of a Western parliament, what kind of precedent would that set? But its not about me. The principle is not Geert Wilders. If you look at the press and the rest of the political elite in the Netherlands, nobody cared. Nobody gived a damn. This was the worst thing. A nondemocratic country like Jordan cannot use the international or domestic legal system to silence anyone. If this starts, if we allow this, we can get rid of all parliaments, and we should close down every newspaper, and we should shut up and all pray to Mecca five times a day.

But there is some hope. For instance there is some hope with the middle class workers. Underneath the empty bravado of the elite, the middle class worker, the average Joe, is starting to realise that there is something terribly wrong with Islam. In the Netherlands, sixty percent of the population considers mass immigration to be the worst mistake since the second world war. And an equal sixty percent sees Islam as the number one threat to our national identity. But the Freedom Party is the only political party in the Dutch parliament that shares their view.

And there is hope that political parties critical about the Islamisation of the West are gaining momentum all over Europe, are getting stronger. And we will work together with common legislation, with common initiatives, perhaps even with a common group in the European parliament as defenders of the West, defenders of our culture, defenders of our identity, defenders of our freedom.

We need a new way of thinking, a new paradigm, to defend our liberties. Just reiterating our devotion to tolerance and democracy is not good enough, as we are Facing Jihad. We need a new set of goals and ideas. We need new leaders. And we should always remember where we come from. We all come from Jerusalem.

Let me wind up. The essence of my short speech today is that Europe is in the process of Islamisation, and that we need to fight it. Because if we don’t fight the Islamization we will lose everything; our cultural identity, our democracy, our rule of law, our liberties, our freedom. We have the duty to defend the ideas of Rome, Athens and Jerusalem. The ancient heritage of our forefathers is under attack; we have to stand up and defend it.

A century and a half ago, on the other side of the world, a young President said exactly what I mean. This is what Abraham Lincoln said in 1862, and I leave you with that:

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise — with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

(Abraham Lincoln, Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862)

It is five to twelve. Freedom must win, we have to win and we will win.

Good news - Hamas to get tough on crime....

Yes, it's important to be tough on crime....

The Hamas parliament in the Gaza Strip voted in favor of a law allowing courts to mete out sentences in the spirit of Islam, the London-based Arab daily Al Hayat reported Wednesday.

According to the bill, approved in its second reading and awaiting the signature of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as the Palestinian constitution demands, courts will be able to condemn offenders to a plethora of violent punitive measures.

Such punishments include whipping, severing hands, crucifixion and hanging. The bill reserves death sentences to persons who negotiate with a foreign government "against the Palestinian interest" and engage in any activity that can "hurt Palestinian morale."

According to the report, any Palestinian caught drinking or selling wine would suffer 40 lashes at the whipping post if the bill passes. Thieves caught red-handed would lose their right hand.

The Arab Sole...

How can people celebrate the throwing of a shoe???

OK, so I'm coming to the shoe-throwing party a tad tardily; but I've been driven to comment on Muntader-al-Zaidi--the discalced disgrace to journalism, whose aim wasn't half as hot as his subsequent fame--by some absolute drivel I've just read on Facebook.

On a thread of comments that somehow found its way onto my home page, I read the following opinions on the man who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush at a press conference in Baghdad:

"Muntadar will be remembered as a man of courage who stood up for millions around the world at great personal risk and peril."

"… courageous, protest against perceived global bully gangster, revenge against rape of his proud nation, symbolic act to humble US President."

"I would do it for my country."

"In his mind, he holds Bush responsible for thousands of women on the street, whose only source of living is selling their flesh for sustenance; this man who threw his shoes may have witnessed the humility of such women who lost their husbands, fathers, brothers or cousins who took care of them."

And on and on they went, lauding Muntader, excoriating Bush, in a relentless stream of righteous indignation. Unable to allow such tripe to go unchallenged, I threw in my two dinars' worth by posting this to the thread, entirely against the current: "Puerile, pathetic act. His celebration across the Arab world shows how low that region has sunk, how bereft of inspiration and pride it is."

To which I received this immediate response from someone in the Arab world, dripping with dismissive and sanctimonious omniscience: "I don't think you've ever experienced a tragedy in your life EVER, Mr. Tunku."

It goes without saying that I have experienced tragedy in my life, but none as great as the tragedy that has befallen the Arab world--and I'm not referring to the "rape" of a proud people by Bush and his cohorts, aided and abetted (of course!) by the Jews. The tragedy I'm referring to is the intellectual and spiritual poverty of the Arab (and wider Muslim) world (for Muntader has been lauded also in Turkey, whose largely madrassa-free people ought to know better).

The Arabs, who once upon a time boasted Averroes and Avicenna, are now reduced to eulogizing a boorish act of agitprop as a heroic achievement. America gave us Martin Luther King; South Africa gave us Mandela; India gave us Gandhi; the Arab world gives us ... Muntader-al-Zaidi. A people who invented the zero are now reduced, themselves, to zero. Only a people who live under the boots of their rulers celebrate the throwing of a shoe at a guest.

No Traditional divorce for this traditional marriage....

You can get married before puberty...but divorce can only take place after puberty...

A Saudi court has rejected a plea to divorce an eight-year-old girl married off by her father to a man who is 58, saying the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty, a lawyer involved told AFP.

"The judge has dismissed the plea (filed by the mother) because she does not have the right to file such a case, and ordered that the plea should be filed by the girl herself when she reaches puberty," lawyer Abdullah Jtili told AFP in a telephone interview after Saturday's court decision.

The divorce plea was filed in August by the girl's divorced mother with a court at Unayzah, 220 kilometres (135 miles) north of Riyadh just after the marriage contract was signed by the father and the groom.

"She doesn't know yet that she has been married," Jtili said then of the girl who was about to begin her fourth year at primary school.

Relatives who did not wish to be named told AFP that the marriage had not yet been consummated, and that the girl continued to live with her mother. They said that the father had set a verbal condition by which the marriage is not consummated for another 10 years, when the girl turns 18.

The father had agreed to marry off his daughter for an advance dowry of 30,000 riyals (8,000 dollars), as he was apparently facing financial problems, they said.

Those nice British Muslim schools....

Well, not so nice afterall....

Britain's Muslim schools have been sharply criticised in a controversial draft report commissioned by a leading think tank which suggests that over 60 per cent of them are linked to potentially dangerous Islamic fundamentalists.

An early version of the report, entitled When Worlds Collide, alleges that of the 133 Muslim primary and secondary schools it surveyed, 82 (61.6 per cent) have connections or direct affiliations to fundamentalists. The 133 schools are in the private sector but supposedly subject to Ofsted inspection.

The report also claims that some of these schools teach "repugnant" beliefs about the wickedness of Western society and Jews.

The claims in the report, written by Denis MacEoin in response to a commission from Civitas, will provoke ritual cries of "Islamophobia" from the Muslim Council of Britain and fellow travellers such as Koran Armstrong. MacEoin has been careful to back up his claims with evidence - in particular, screen captures of links to Islamic hate-mongers, including supporters of Al-Qaeda.

Venezuela helping Iran evade sanctions....

Chavez is doing his part to create trouble...

Iran is using its warm relations with Venezuela to dodge UN sanctions and use Venezuelan aircraft to ship missile parts to Syria, an Italian newspaper reported Sunday.

Citing US and other Western intelligence agencies, La Stampa said Iran is using aircraft from Venezuelan airline Conviasa to transport computers and engine components to Syria for use in missiles.

The material comes from Iranian industrial group Shahid Bagheri, listed in the annex of UN Security Council Resolution 1737, adopted in December 2006, for involvement in Iran's ballistic missile programme.

The resolution instructed all nations to "prevent the supply, sale or transfer" of all material or technology that could be used for Iran's nuclear enrichment programme and the development of weapons to carry nuclear warheads.

Syria is a close ally of Iran in the Middle East, with the two nations having signed a military cooperation pact in June 2006.

In return for providing aircraft, Iran has made available to Caracas members of its Revolution Guards and the elite Al-Quds unit to train and reinforce the Venezuelan police and secret services, La Stampa reported.

Are electric cars decades away????

Yes, the French seem to think so....

Internal combustion engine has more of a future than all-electric, according to internal report.

A report commissioned by the French government has concluded there "isn't much future" in all-electric cars, at least before the year 2030. The 129-page report, drawn up by Jean Syrota, one of France's leading energy experts, was originally destined to be unveiled at the Paris motor show in September. The government, though, has so far refused to publicize the report, due to the unfavorable nature of the conclusions.

High battery pack costs, limited range and speed, and the absence of any battery charging infrastructure all combine to make all-electric vehicles unviable, according to the report. It predicts these factors are all unlikely to change significantly over the next two decades.

Cold weather in Thailand....

Think about how much worse this would be if not for global warming...

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation revealed that 33 provinces have been affected by extreme cold weather conditions.

The department declared that 30 of these provinces need emergency assistance as villagers there have been affected by extreme cold weather conditions.

The 33 provinces are located in the northern and northeastern parts of Thailand.

The lowest temperature in Thailand on Saturday -- 4 degree celcius -- is at Doi Intanond National Park in Chiang Mai province.

The department has established the ad-hoc administrative center to tackle problems caused by the weather in all affected provinces.

So far,244,250 warm clothing have already been provided to the victims.

Israel supports UN Gay Rights Resolution...

Not that surprising...but I hope the gay community takes notice...

Israel has joined a group of United Nations member states calling for the institution's first gay rights declaration, an initiative which has met with resistance by an Arab-backed opposition.

Canadian Human Rights Commission won't consider case againt Imam....

Gee, if it had been a Christian preacher from Alberta, they would have thrown the book at him....

On 11 April 2008, I filed a complaint for "hate propaganda" on the Internet before the Canadian Human Rights Commission against a Salafi Imam of Montreal, Abou Hammaad Sulaiman Dameus Al-Hayiti. The purpose of my complaint was to test the objectivity of the Commission. My complaint relates to the imam’s book L’Islam ou l’Intégrisme ? À la lumière du Qor’an et de la Sounnah (Islam or Fundamentalism ? In light of the Qor’an and the Sunna), (2006/2007), 3rd edition corrected. Imam Abou H., who is fluent in Arabic, attended universities in Saudi Arabia where he studied Islam and the science of Hadiths. His teachings can therefore be perceived as authoritative with respect to Islam.

My complaint under section 13 of the Canadian Human Rights Act (the "Act") claims that the writings of the imam are supremacist and expose persons belonging to the following groups to hatred or contempt : homosexuals, Infidels (non-Muslims), women, Jews, Quebecois (as an ethnic group and national minority).

On December 5, I received a letter fom Stéphane Brisson of the Commission informing me that they will not proceed to investigate my complaint. In the opinion of the Commission, the writings of the imam are not likely to expose persons from identifiable groups to hatred or contempt. Below is a translated excerpt of the letter of the Commission, followed by translated excerpts of the book of the Imam that I brought to the attention of the Commission in support of my complaint :

EXCERPT FROM THE LETTER OF THE COMMISSION

“ ...the majority of the references in “Islam or Fundamentalism” are to “infidels”, “miscreants” or “western women”. These are general, broad and diversified categories that do not constitute an “identifiable group” under Section 13 of the Act. As we have also mentioned, the extracts that identify groups on the basis of prohibited grounds of discrimination (homosexuals, lesbians, Christians, Jews) do not seem to promote “hatred” or “contempt” according to the criteria set forth in the Taylor case. Therefore, the document on which the complaint is based does not seem to meet the requirements of Section 13 of the Act for a complaint.”

BOOK EXCERPTS

Homosexuals

* Homosexuality is a "perversion"
* Homosexuals "spread disorder on earth"
* Homosexuals and lesbians should be "exterminated in this life"
* "Homosexuals caught performing sodomy are beheaded"

Infidels

* Most Infidels “live like animals”
* "they are evil people, they love perversity", and "they are our enemies"
* "sending our sons and daughters to the schools of the Infidels has devastating effects on their beliefs, their behavior and their character. For the children of Infidels are the most pervert children. At a very early age, they adopt the behavior of their parents "
* "Moreover, attending schools with Infidels may lead to friendship in their heart for Infidel children, which contradicts the foundations of Islam. Because Islam prohibits befriending even the closest relatives if they are Infidels"
* "there is no doubt that it is not permissible for a Muslim to love or to take as friend whoever follows a religion other than Islam"
* "Infidels say they are open-minded, but in reality they have opened their mind to garbage and filth, and closed it to all that is pure and right !"

Men are superior to women

* "men are superior to women and better than them". In general, "men have a more complete intellect and memory than women"
* "Infidels acknowledge this reality, but they do not want to accept the truth because they are blinded by their passions"

Muslim women are superior to Infidel women

* "The veiled Muslim woman is a light in the darkness of the 20th century, she carries the torch of modesty, of chastity and of Islamic values"
* "She brings the liberating message of "LA ILAHA ILLALLAH" to the poor western woman who has lost her femininity, her dignity and her honor and who is now crying for her savior"

Europe cools on global warming...

A nice overview of the latest development in global warming...

Participants at last week's United Nations climate conference in Poznan, Poland, were taken aback by a world seemingly turned upside-down. The traditional villains and heroes of the international climate narrative, the wicked U.S. and the noble European Union, had unexpectedly swapped roles. For once, it was the EU that was criticized for backpedalling on its CO2 targets while Europe's climate nemesis, the U.S., found itself commended for electing an environmental champion as president.

The wrangle over the EU's controversial climate package at a separate summit in Brussels wrong-footed the world's green bureaucracy. The EU climate deal was diluted beyond recognition. Instead of standing by plans to cut CO2 emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, the actual reductions might be as trivial as 4% if all exemptions are factored in.

The Brussels summit symbolizes a turning point. The watered-down climate deal epitomizes the onset of a cooling period in Europe's hitherto overheated climate debate. It may lead eventually to the complete abandonment of the unilateral climate agenda that has shaped Europe's green philosophy for nearly 20 years.

The reasons for the changing political atmosphere in Europe are manifold. First, the global economic crisis has demoted green policies nearer to the bottom of the political agenda. Saving the economy and creating jobs take priority now.

Second, disillusionment with the failed Kyoto Protocol has turned utopian thinking into sobriety. After all, most of the Kyoto signatories failed to reduce their CO2 emissions during the last 10 years. There are also growing doubts about the long-term viability of the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme. The price of carbon credits has collapsed as a result of the financial crisis. The drop in demand and the recession are likely to depress carbon prices for years to come. As a result, the effectiveness of the extremely volatile scheme is increasingly questioned.

Third, a number of countries have experienced a political backlash over their renewable energy schemes. Tens of billions of euros of taxpayers' money have been pumped into projects that depend on endless government handouts. Each of the 35,000 solar jobs in Germany, for instance, is subsidized to the tune of €130,000. According to estimates by the Rhine-Westphalia Institute for Economic Research, green subsidies will cost German electricity consumers nearly €27 billion in the next two years.

Perhaps even more important is the growing realization that the warming trend of the late 20th century has, for the last 10 years or so, essentially come to a temporary halt. The data collected by international meteorological offices confirm this. This most peculiar fact is rarely mentioned in policy debates, but it certainly provides decision makers with a vital respite to reconsider their climate policy options.

Why does the UN hire 9/11 conspiracy nuts????

Israel has finally said no to Falk, and is not allowing him in the country...

Millions of Americans believe the Sept. 11 attacks were not the work of Muslim fundamentalists. They like to call the strikes "false flag" operations - a conspiracy planned and executed by the Bush administration. Why? Under this unusual theory, the attacks provided President Bush and his aides the pretext to launch international wars and to enact policies that "led to widespread denials of rights under the pretext of homeland security."

So writes Richard Falk, a professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University - and also a special representative of the U.N. Human Rights Council, who is charged with investigating Israeli abuses against the Palestinians.

Anything believed by millions of Americans, according to (perhaps suspect) public opinion surveys, can hardly be called an underground movement. But I, for one, had never heard of this until a row broke out last month between Falk and U.N. monitors who try to defend Israel.

What does this have to do with Israel and the Palestinians? Nothing, really - except that the U.N. monitors who already view Falk with grave distrust are now throwing up his advocacy of the 9/11 conspiracy theory as further evidence that he is not qualified to serve as an important U.N. envoy. (The Islamic nations chose Falk for the position early this year in large part because he once compared Israel to Nazi Germany.)

Of course, Falk's supporters on the council - Egypt, Pakistan and other members of the Islamic conference - are not bothered by any of this. That should be no surprise. If the Bush administration actually perpetrated the Sept. 11 attacks, then the world's distrust of Islam would be largely unfounded.

Anti-semitism thrives in Norway...

And, why on earth are they so anti-semitic???

"I would like to take the opportunity to remember all the billions of fleas and lice that lost their lives in German gas chambers, without having done anything wrong other than settling on persons of Jewish background."

This is what Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen said on Thursday 27 November on the country's largest commercial TV station. Much worse, however, is that the director of the station defended this expression of "satire."

A week later Jespersen, in his weekly TV appearance, gave a "satiric" monologue of mixed anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli remarks. He concluded by wishing the Jews a happy Christmas. But then as an afterthought, he said this was not proper as the Jews had murdered Jesus. Two years ago the same comedian burned pages from the Tanach in front of a TV camera, but this was no reason to terminate his employment. Jespersen explained that he wouldn't burn the Koran if he wanted to live longer than a week.

LAST WEEK, on four consecutive days, there were anti-Israeli articles in Norway's second-largest daily Aftenposten. The first called for a general boycott of Israel. The second promoted an academic boycott, falsely accusing Israeli physicians of participating in torture and the Israeli Medical Association of remaining silent about it. Any honest debater would have reported that Israeli hospitals routinely treat Palestinian children, some of whom express joy when suicide bombers kill Israelis. One wonders whether any other country would allow this.

The third article stressed the right to criticize Israel. This is a typical attack on a "straw man," as nobody denies this right. The fourth claimed that Israel is not a democracy. Only thereafter a pro-Israeli voice was heard.

Two years ago the conservative Aftenposten got international attention when it published an op-ed by Jostein Gaarder which until this day remains the vilest anti-Semitic article published in a European mainstream paper since the Second World War.

Whoever wants to understand how Jews might live in a future democratic Europe if no major counter-forces are mobilized should study Norway. Among parts of the elite there, Jew-hatred and rabid anti-Israelism intermingle. The country's population numbers only 4.6 million. The Jewish population, even before the war, was never more than 2,000. It now numbers 1,300, of which only 700 affiliate with the organized community. Yet Norway must figure prominently in any future history of post-war European anti-Semitism.

ETA terrorists go green.....

Next, we'll be seeing the greening of Al-qaeda...

In the Herriko Taberna, a bar in Bilbao's working-class area of Santutxu, a new picture hangs on the wall this weekend: the face belongs to Garikoitz Aspiazu, a local boy who was, police claim, the military chief of the Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, the armed Basque nationalist group long known to the world as Eta. In a necklace and a pink T-shirt, Aspiazu, linked to at least four deaths, smiles out at the drinkers, the slices of tortilla, the posters and the prizes for the Christmas raffle. 'A very good guy,' said Josu Telleria, who helps run the bar. 'We played football together. He was a great striker.'

Aspiazu, who was arrested a month ago, is lost to the struggle for the time being. But there are plenty of others to carry on the fight. In the same bar Carlos Ruiz, a former steelworker and member of a campaigning group close to the extremist Basque nationalists, argues that the violent confrontation with Madrid stems from its refusal to allow the Basques to decide their own future.

'No one wants the deaths,' he said, 'but when there is a wall and there is no way round it, then there are people who choose violence.'

This is standard talk from an Eta sympathiser, but the current target of the group's activities is anything but conventional. The organisation to which Ruiz belongs specialises in environmental campaigning. And this year Eta has declared war on a high-speed rail link to be built through the heart of some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe. Two weeks ago the new cause claimed its first victim - Ignacio Uría, 71, a businessman shot dead by two Eta gunmen as punishment for his involvement in the railway project. Eta has gone green, in characteristically deadly fashion.

How cruel can Hamas get???

Pretty cruel...and the international community just doesn't care about Schalit...

During Sunday's massive Hamas rally in Gaza City to mark 21 years since its founding, a Hamas member masquerading as kidnapped IDF soldier St.-Sgt. Gilad Schalit was led to the stage by Hamas militiamen.

The "show" was aimed at exerting pressure on Israel to succumb to Hamas's demand to release some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in return for Schalit.

The activist, who was dressed in an IDF uniform, pleaded for his life in Hebrew and begged the Israeli government to do its utmost to return him home.

"Shalom to my father and mother, I miss my father, I miss my mother," the "soldier" declared as hundreds of thousands of Hamas supporters shouted, "We will never recognize Israel."

Adaptation is the only solution to global warming....

A nice opinion piece from the left-wing Guardian. A couple of quibbles - I think nuclear is a good option....and geo-engineering is silly. Adaptation to a warmer climate (if indeed the world is warming) is our future...

The world's environmental leaders have spent the past two weeks meeting in Poznan, Poland, pretending that they're carrying on the fight against global warming first addressed by the Kyoto Protocol.

You recall the Kyoto Protocol. It was never ratified by the United States – defeated 95-0 in the US Senate in 1997, in fact – and has proven just as ineffective elsewhere around the world. It was supposed to be first step in the world's cutback of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide that are warming our atmosphere.

The hard truth be told, essentially none of those who signed onto the treaty have been able to cutback their greenhouse gas emissions.

People – surprise, surprise – demand to be warm at the cheapest prices. Developing countries like China and India have ignored it completely, with their emission rising at 6% to 8% a year. China now emits more greenhouse gases than even the United States.

Carbon dioxide emissions, which were increasing about 1% a year in the 1990s, are increasing about 3% percent a year in this decade. Leaders all across the world, including Barack Obama, continue to look straight into the camera and proclaim that they are going to solve the global warming crisis – by 2020, or 2050, or 2100 or … sometime soon.

The world desperately needs to get serious, including President-elect Obama, Europe's leaders and every UN bureaucrat who dined handsomely in the evenings in Poznan. The truth is, the world is not going to be cutting greenhouse gases anytime soon. If ever.

Global warming hits the prairies...

Gee, think how cold it would be if not for global warming.....

A deep freeze set in across Western Canada this weekend, as wind chill warnings continued into Sunday for parts of eastern British Columbia all the way over to Manitoba.

A ridge of high pressure travelling southeast across the Prairies that is carrying "bitterly cold Arctic air" is responsible for the temperature drop, according to an official weather warning on Environment Canada's website.

The statement warns of extreme wind chills of -40 C to -45 C or colder across much of southern Manitoba for Sunday and Monday.

A storm system from the Midwestern United States will combine with the Arctic air to whip up strong winds that may gust up to 60 kilometres per hour.

Blowing snow is also expected to make driving difficult in the region.

In Saskatchewan, wind chill warnings are in effect for Meadow Lake right down to the U.S. border, calling for temperatures ranging from -30C to -45 C or colder.

In eastern and central Alberta, wind chills are expected to hit between -40 C and -45 C.

According to Environment Canada, normal temperatures in central Alberta for this time of year are about -1 C.

And in eastern British Columbia, wind chills of -35 C are forecast for regions such as East Kootenay and Yoho Park, while wind chills of -40 C are predicted for Chilcotin and Peace River.

Is this the end of recycling????

Landfills are making more and more sense....

Mountains of used plastics, paper, metals and cardboard are piling up in the warehouses and yards of recycling companies across the US. Some contractors are negotiating to rent old military hangars and abandoned railway depots because they have run out of storage space for the glut of suddenly unwanted rubbish.

The collapse in the recycling market is a direct by-product of the financial crisis, as demand has slumped for material to be converted into everything from boxes for electronics to car parts and house fittings.

Householders have long been able to feel virtuous about their impact on the environment by sorting out their rubbish each week. But now the great trash market crash has even raised the environmentally alarming spectre that some waste intended for recycling may end up in landfills.

"The crash is all the more dramatic because as recently as mid-October the prices for recyclables stood at record highs," said Bruce Parker, president of the National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA).

Newsprint is now fetching less than $60 (£40) a ton, down from $160; corrugated boxing has slumped from $50 a ton to $10; while tin fetches $5 a pound compared to about $25.

Other materials are performing even worse, Mr Parker said. His members are now having to pay for the removal of low-grade mixed paper that two months ago was bringing in $120 a ton. "And plastics, you cannot even give them away," he added with a sigh.

The previous surge in prices had largely been driven by soaring demand from China and India. The emerging economic powerhouses were swallowing up rubbish as soon Americans were discarding it - often to turn into goods and packing that were then sold back to the US.

But the demand from Asia has now collapsed as the economic crisis has spread around the globe. "We truly live in a global economy where what happens at one end of the earth directly affects business at the other end," said Mr Parker.

The impact is devastating commercially - and not just for recycling businesses. Already confronting crippling budget shortfalls, local and state authorities have now seen a lucrative source of income dry up as recycling centres are no longer paying for their rubbish.

Some towns have even suspended their recycling operations, although in much of the country those programmes are required by law.

Actually, most recycling never made any sense - it just made people feel good. Modern-day landfills are safe and can actually generate electricity.

Does she really deserve $7,400????

Did she really need to be awarded damages???

A student at a Landskrona secondary school in southern Sweden has been awarded damages for being told not to wear an Islamic headscarf.

The Swedish Ombudsman against Discrimination (DO) has ruled that student was the subject of discrimination.

The three local councils that share the operation of the school have reached a compromise agreement with the ombudsman over a compensation payment amounting to 100,000 kronor ($7,400), according to local newspaper Helsingborgs Dagblad.

The student attends a hotel and catering course and the course involves a period of work experience at a hotel. But the hotel refused to accept that the girl wore a headscarf.

Staff at the school tried to persuade the girl to remove her headscarf. According to the school they did this out of concern for the her well-being and that they wanted to explain to her about the hotel industry in Sweden.

The school's management accepts that it has made a mistake. The hotel has since changed its regulations and now allows students on work experience to wear a head scarf or 'slöja', which in common parlance is often used to describe all sorts of female Islamic head coverings, including those that just cover the hair.

How political correctness leads to crime.....

The authorities in the Netherlands just don't want to tackle Moroccan teen crime....

De Telegraaf, the country's biggest newspaper, continues to draw attention to the problem of Moroccan teen criminals. On Friday, the newspaper chose the angle of a Moroccan entrepreneur alleging that the government is too politically correct to act against his criminal countrymen.

Jamal Jaadan (33), a Dutch-Moroccan businessman in the Amsterdam suburb of Weesp, has sounded the alarm, De Telegraaf reported. "Thirty young Moroccan delinquents are terrorising Weesp, but the politicians from the flower-power generation think that these louts can be guided back to the straight and narrow with a little pressure. And that is rubbish! Judiciary, cabinet, police: protect society from these scum," Jaadan says in the newspaper.

De Telegraaf has been hammering away for some months about the problems caused in the cities by Moroccan teenagers. The newspaper seemed to wish to make it clear on Friday that the passivity of the government, apparently to prevent the stigmatisation of the entire Moroccan community, is also criticised by Moroccans - at least some of them.

Jaadan's snack bar has been burgled three times this year. In one case, his entire safe was removed from the premises via the roof. In another, the snack bar was totally demolished. "No action was taken," said Jaadan. "The police claimed they had lost the videotape showing the perpetrators. When the safe was stolen, I knew exactly where they should look for the thieves. The Moroccan community is like a village in itself. I gave the detectives the names, addresses, everything". But the police made no efforts at all.

"At a certain point, I put one of the suspects in my car and said, listen! Everyone knows you were involved. Tell the police about it now and your sentence will be reduced. I arrived at the police station with the boy and they told me they had no time for us! Later, a statement was taken after all. But the case was closed. Lack of evidence. What sort of signal do you give these louts with this weak attitude?"