The British Israel-Boycott Debate...

It gets ugly....

A resolution by British lecturers last week to boycott Israeli universities was overturned on legal grounds. Jewish leaders condemned the vote, citing what they called "anti-Semitic" and "racist" overtones at a meeting held beforehand.

The balloting was held Wednesday at the University and College Union congress in Bournemouth. Delegates accused Israeli academics of complicity in Israel's acts against Palestinians.

This marked the fourth consecutive year that the Union voted in favor of boycotting Israel; the previous calls were never acted upon.

Especially disconcerting to Zionist Britons was a statement by Sean Wallis, secretary for the Union's branch at University College London, who reportedly said the position that a boycott was illegal was attributable to lawyers backed by people with "bank balances from Lehman Brothers that can't be tracked down."

Different Rules for Israel...

I just had to reprint part of the editorial in Saturday's National Post...

If more proof were needed that the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a feckless, biased, intellectually corrupt haven for dictators and Islamofascists, the evidence was clearly on display this week. The UNHRC voted to affirm Sri Lanka's right, justifiably, to self-defence from terror attacks launched against its citizens and territory by the Tamil Tigers. Indeed, the council went further, "condemning all attacks that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) launched on the civilian population and its practice of using civilians as human shields." Sri Lanka had every right to protect itself, the council concluded, even at the cost of an estimated 20,000 civilian Tamil lives since the beginning of May alone.

Why, then, when Israel seeks to do the same -- protect its citizens and territory from rocket and terror attacks launched from Gaza -- does the very same council accuse Israel of being a "genocidal empire?" No quarter is given for the way Hamas --every bit as much a terror organization as the LTTE -- hides its rocket bases and ammunition caches in schools, apartments and hospitals and launches its attacks on Israel from behind innocent human targets so that if the Israel Defense Forces wish to retaliate it is impossible for them to do so without taking civilian lives.

We are not disagreeing with the UNHRC's assessment of Sri Lanka's actions. Even more than Hamas and its jihadi brothers-in-arms, the Tigers were enthusiastic suicide bombers, targeting shops, public squares and Sri Lankan government offices. So proficient had they become, the Black Tigers -- the LTTE's suicide squads -- could calculate how many Sri Lankans would die in their initial blasts and how many more would be cut down by flying glass and debris. After nearly three decades of fighting and at least 70,000 deaths on both sides, we sympathize with the Colombo government's desire to bring their civil war to an end, once and for all.

Our question is merely: Why such a double standard when it comes to Israel?

Following Israel's offensive against Gaza earlier this year, members of the council accused the Jewish state of genocide. The UNHRC struck a investigative panel that examined only Israel's role in the fighting; it ignored the many thousands of provocative rocket attacks launched by Gazans against civilian targets in Southern Israel over the past eight years. It was silent on Hamas's repeated use of its own people as shields against Israeli counterattacks. What the council praises Sri Lanka for doing, it roundly criticized Israel for.

A Fatwa on WMD?

I think this needs clarification - is he saying here that if only non-muslims would be killed, then WMD would be OK???

Muslims should not use weapons of mass destruction and possess them only as a deterrent, a top Islamic cleric says.

Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa said using such weapons would violate Islamic teachings as Muslims as well as non-Muslims could be killed.

We need to stand tall against the Mohawks....

If Canada decides to arm border guards, then they should be armed...

Mohawk Warriors from the Akwesasne Mohawk reserve near Cornwall say they will storm a Canada Border Services Agency post on Monday and shut down the international border crossing, unless their political leaders receive a commitment from the government not to arm border guards at the post, which stands on reserve territory.

The agency started arming guards in 2007, and officers at the Akwesasne reserve, which straddles the Ontario-Quebec-New York state boundary, are scheduled to begin carrying 9-mm guns on Monday.

The Mohawks say they don't want armed guards at the post because it would violate their sovereignty and increase the likelihood of violent confrontations.

"We are going to clear them (border guards) out," said Thomas Stacy, a middle-aged former professional wrestler who stood across from the border post with a small group of young men carrying large Mohawk Warrior flags.

The Taliban's Teenage Suicide Bombers....

More depravity from the Taliban...

After the Pakistani army launched an operation to clear them from the Swat valley, Taliban went from house to house demanding a boy or young man from each family for grooming them as suicide bombers, a media reported on Sunday.

Propaganda films obtained by The Sunday Telegraph in Peshawar show boys of 14 or 15 recording farewell messages before climbing into vehicles filled with explosives.

The report said suicide bombings were extremely rare in Pakistan but have increased dramatically since the Taliban took control of Swat in the aftermath of a bungled government offensive against extremists in 2007.

One film that Pakistanis have been watching with horrified fascination showed a boy of about 15, named in the video as Arshad Ali from Swat, who attacked a polling station after the Taliban banned voting last year.

Sitting with an AK-47 cradled in his lap and fiddling with prayer beads, he said the people of Swat are living in evil times and that sacrifice is called for.

"Some hypocrites say that we are doing this for money -- or because of brainwashing – but we are told by Allah to target these pagans," he was quoted as saying.

Films also show gruesome "trials" and beheadings of alleged spies and captured policemen, whippings of criminals, the aftermath of attacks by guerrillas, and scenes of young jihadis in training camps.

When will Obama say something about this???

It's time for him to get involved and stop the killing...

An estimated 30 people have been murdered in Iraq over the past 90 days because they were “believed” to be homosexual.

According to reports from ABC News, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Rights made its estimate after several men were killed in Baghdad and two others survived torture and mutilation.

Amnesty International wrote a letter to Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s Prime Minister pleading with him to take “urgent and concerted action”.

According to reports, a Army officer, who wished to remain unidentified, said the killings were carried out by tribal vigilantes. He stated:

“Two young men were killed Thursday. They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor.”

Update: Anti-Israel banners are OK.....

It looks like Queers Against Israeli Apartheid will be marching....

Pride Toronto will permit groups to march in next month's parade with banners reading "End Israeli Apartheid," as long as they are officially registered.

Last year, a group called Queers Against Israeli Apartheid joined the march from the sidelines with similar banners, causing discomfort to organizers, according to Pride executive Tracey Sandilands. This week, she issued a statement clarifying that no unauthorized marchers would be permitted and political messages would be vetted.

She also said El-Farouk Khaki, the parade's grand marshall who drew condemnation from a Jewish group by speaking at a QuAIA event last weekend, is not an official spokesman and has promised not to speak about Israel in his official capacity.

Ms. Sandilands' approval of "Israeli apartheid" banners comes after Pride Toronto said all participants must carry messages "supportive of the LGBTTIQQ2S community," and that it would refuse permits to any group that violates its discrimination policy.

Will the Grand Marshall of Gay Pride Toronto once again slam Israel???

El-Farouk Khaki is a member of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid, and last year used his position to attack Israel...

“Anti-Israel advocacy has no relevance to Pride’s LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transsexual and Transgender] human rights mandate,” asserted Toronto lawyer and gay rights advocate Martin Gladstone.

The annual gay-pride parade, scheduled this year for June 28, has grown into the largest tourist event in Toronto, now attracting more than a million people a year. Stretching over 23 blocks, it receives $300,000 from the Ontario ministry of tourism, about $145,000 from the City of Toronto and $35,000 from Heritage Canada, as well as significant funding from corporate sponsorships.

Nevertheless, “in the last couple of years, I’m just horrified that in the middle of this party and celebration, there is this anti-Israel political advocacy going on,” Gladstone said, adding that this year some people have decided not to participate because they are nervous about their security.

“It’s supposed to be a celebration of diversity, inclusion and tolerance.” he said. “But it’s a microcosm of the antisemitism that’s happening globally.

“It’s a very uncomfortable environment because it vilifies Jews by extension. It has very eerie parallels to Nazi Germany. I don’t consider myself an activist, but I just can’t be silent anymore.”

Gladstone told the Jewish Tribune that he first met with the pride committee to address his concerns in April 2008, before last year’s parade.

“They listened and sympathized, but it was essentially ignored,” he explained, pointing to the anti-Israel atmosphere that prevailed, according to many participants.

This year, however, the committee has formally responded in a positive manner with a policy to put a stop to the situation, Gladstone said.

“They said these are rogue groups that act without authority.” Still, “we’re concerned, because the grand marshall [El-Farouk Khaki] is a featured speaker of Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.”

Queers Against Israeli Apartheid are banned from this year's march - but will they try to sneak in? Will Mr. Khaki attack Israel? Shouldn't Gay Pride celebrate the only outpost in the Middle East that accepts gays and lesbians???

Of course, it was Israel and the US....

Who else would bomb a mosque in Iran???

Iran blamed the US and Israel on Friday for a bombing in a Shi'ite mosque in southeast Iran that killed 25 people, saying the countries were trying to stoke sectarian tension with the Sunni Muslim minority.

The delusions of Abbas....

He's now staking out a hardline position...but get this quote...

Abbas intends to remain passive, he told the paper. "I will wait for Hamas to accept international commitments. I will wait for Israel to freeze settlements… Until then, in the West Bank we have a good reality . . . the people are living a normal life."

What? A good reality? A normal life? And, he believes that Hamas will accept 'international commitments'???

Hotel feels intimidated and shuts down conservative conference....

Geert Wilders was going to talk, and the hotel manager feared for the safety of his guests...

The manager of a prominent Nashville hotel cancelled a contract with a conservative foundation to hold a conference this weekend on radical Islam, apparently after learning that the group would feature a keynote address by controversial Dutch parliamentarian and filmmaker, Geert Wilders.

Muslim groups succeeded in preventing Wilders from screening “Fitna,” his 15-minute movie on radical Islam, in the House of Lords this February, on claims it was insulting to Muslims, and dogged him during a recent U.S. tour as well.

Thomas A. Negri, managing director of Loew’s Vanderbilt Hotel and Office complex in Nashville, told Newsmax on Wednesday that he had taken the extraordinary step of cancelling the conference at the last minute “for the health, safety and well-being of our guests and employees.”

Negri refused to say why he felt the conference would adversely affect the “health, safety and well-being” of the hotel’s guests and employees, except to refer to the website of the New English Review, the group organizing the conference.

The website features articles that warn about radical Islam written by activists, journalists and scholars, including former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, and former Muslim scholar, Ibn Warraq.

We need to face up to Islamic Jew-Hatred....

This is the real issue that stops a settlement in the Middle East....

For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar University in Cairo, Egypt, has served as the academic shrine - much as Mecca is the religious shrine - of the global Muslim community. Al Azhar University and its mosque represent the pinnacle of Islamic religious education.

A front page New York Times story published Saturday Jan. 10, 2009, included extracts from the Friday sermon (the day before) at Al Azhar mosque by Egyptian-government appointed cleric Sheik Eid Abdel Hamid Youssef. Referencing well-established antisemitic motifs from the Koran (citations provided, below), Sheikh Youssef intoned:

"Muslim brothers, God has inflicted the Muslim nation with a people whom God has become angry at [Koran 1:7] and whom he cursed [Koran 5:78] so he made monkeys and pigs [Koran 5:60] out of them. They killed prophets and messengers [Koran 2:61/3:112] and sowed corruption on Earth. [Koran 5:33/5:64] They are the most evil on Earth. [Koran 5:62 /63]"

In authoritative classical and modern Koranic interpretations, the Koran's central antisemitic theme - its eternal curse for "prophet killing" and violating Allah's commands - is coupled to Koranic verses 5:60 and 5:78, which describe the Jews' transformation into apes and swine (5:60), or simply apes (i.e. verses 2:65 and 7:166), having been "...cursed by the tongue of David, and Jesus, Mary's son" (5:78). The Muslim prophet Muhammad himself repeats this Koranic curse in a canonical hadith (sacred collections of Muhammad's words and deeds).

Moreover, just before subduing the Medinan Jewish tribe Banu Qurayza and orchestrating the mass execution of their adult males, Muhammad invoked Koran 2:65/7:166, addressing these Jews, with hateful disparagement, as "You brothers of apes." Finally, Islamic end of times theology teaches that the dawning of the messianic era cannot begin until the Jews are violently exterminated en masse. Both Shiite and Sunni Muslims invoke the infamous hadith attributed to Muhammad: "The last hour would not come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them until the Jews would hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would say: 'Muslim, or the servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.'" Each Friday this genocidal hadith is quoted in sermons across the Islamic world, including among U.S. Muslim communities.

In February 2008, Franco Frattini, the European Union official responsible "for combating racism and antisemitism in Europe," revealed that Muslims - who comprise 4% of the European population - were responsible for fully half (50%) of the documented antisemitic incidents in continental Europe. Thus, on a population percentage basis, Muslims in Western Europe already accounted for roughly 25 times the number of Antisemitic incidents as their non-Muslim European counterparts.

When the late 23 year-old Parisian Jew Ilan Halimi was being tortured to death in February 2006, his Muslim captors reportedly phoned his family and made them listen to the recitation of verses from the Koran, interspersed with Ilan's background screams of agony. In the heart of Western Europe, Halimi's torturers-murderers did not invoke any non-Islamic sources of anti-Jewish hate - only the Koran.

Unless and until we confront the menace of theologically-motivated Islamic Jew hatred, we are missing the point. Despite continuous interfaith dialogue sessions, Jewish leaders in Europe and America never demand a mea culpa from their Muslim interlocutors for the living legacy of doctrinal Islamic Jew hatred, whose ugly consequences are evident on a daily basis. Their dereliction of duty is shameful.

Teacher sacked after forcing students to kneel and pray to Allah...

But, guess this...the school now says it never happened...but they still fired the teacher.....

A teacher has been sacked after parents claimed that their children were forced to pray to Allah during a religious education lesson.

Alison Phillips was accused of giving two pupils detention after they refused to kneel down and 'pray to Allah' during the class.

However, an investigation by the school concluded that there was no truth in the allegation.

Parents were outraged after stories emerged that the two boys, aged 11, were allegedly punished for not wanting to take part in a practical demonstration of how Allah is worshipped.

They said children should not be forced to take part in the exercise, which included wearing Muslim headgear, was a breach of their human rights.

But governors at Alsager High School, near Stoke-on-Trent, denied Mrs Phillips made pupils pray or that two boys were put into detention for refusing to do so.

The school suspended the teacher last July after receiving complaints and a lengthy disciplinary process was carried out.

A statement released on behalf of the school by Cheshire East Council said: 'It can be confirmed that following a long and rigorous disciplinary process, a member of staff at Alsager School has been dismissed from her post.

'The member of staff was suspended in July 2008 following parental complaints and newspaper reports relating to an RE lesson.

'In reaching this decision, the governing body wish to make very clear that they were completely satisfied that at no point did that member of staff make children pray to Allah or put boys in detention for refusing to do so.

'The RE lesson in question contains an element of role play which complies with acceptable practice.'

At the time of the alleged incident, one parent - Sharon Luinen, said: 'This isn't right, it's taking things too far.

'Being asked to pray to Allah, who isn't who they worship, is wrong and what got me is that came away thinking they were being disrespectful.'

Another parent, Karen Williams, said: 'I am absolutely furious and I don't find it acceptable.

'I haven't got a problem with them teaching my child other religions and a small amount of information doesn't do any harm.

'But not only did they have to pray, the teacher had gone into the class and asked them watch a short film and then said "we are now going out to pray to Allah".'

The grandfather of one of the pupils in the class added: 'It's absolutely disgusting, there's no other way of putting it.'

Parents had claimed that their children were made to bend down on their knees on prayer mats which the teacher had got out of her cupboard.

Political correctness at the New York Times....

The Times finds it hard to talk about muslim terrorists...

Last week's arrest of four men in the Bronx, New York on charges of plotting to bomb two synagogues and shoot down a military aircraft with a missile has revived an ongoing debate about the connection between Islam and terrorism and the twin pitfalls of religious bigotry and willfully blind political correctness.

The New York Times has been assailed by conservative critics such as Dallas Morning News columnist and blogger Rod Dreher for downplaying a troubling aspect of the case: all the suspects are Muslims. (They had converted to Islam while in prison for drug offenses, theft and other crimes.) The first Times report on May 20 mentioned this fact only in passing - despite a statement by New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly's at a press conference that the four had talked frankly about wanting to "commit jihad."

The next day, the Times ran a story on the secret FBI recordings in which the men discussed their hatred of Jews and their intent to kill U.S. soldiers in retaliation for killings of "Muslim brothers and sisters in Muslim countries." The article's lead paragraph focused on the men's criminal backgrounds; not until the fourth paragraph was there a reference to their jihadist motivation (they shouted "Allah Akbar!" as they brought their newly acquired stash of weapons to their warehouse).

In a particularly odd passage, the article noted that "law enforcement officials initially said the four men were Muslims, but their religious backgrounds remained uncertain Thursday" and that three had previously identified as Christian in prison records. This, despite ample evidence in the same article that the plot, set in motion with the help of an FBI informant, was motivated by Islamic fanaticism.

By contrast, the opening line of the New York Post story on the arrests referred to "four homegrown Muslim terrorists on a mission from hell" - inflammatory, to be sure, but arguably far more accurate.

Is the suspects' religion relevant? Given that they were driven by religion-based extremism and hate, common sense certainly suggests that it is.

Don't Hide, and Don't Lie...

Much better than Don't Ask, Don't Tell....

Amnesty goes after Israel....

Their 2009 Annual report (for events in 2008) just present the Palestinian narrative...here's some comments from NGO Monitor.

Amnesty International’s 2009 annual report (covering events in 2008) further highlights the NGO superpower’s highly biased approach. The sections on Israel and the Palestinian Authority present a gross distortion of the conflict, including selectively reports on events which erase the context of terrorism, and ignore human rights issues not related to AI’s political agenda, while repeating un-sourced and anecdotal claims.

The 4-page summary of Israel employs highly exaggerated language and absurd allegations. Amnesty accuses Israel of “unprecedented use of force” in Gaza, “virtual imprisonment,” and bringing the Palestinians to the “brink of human catastrophe,” and charges that “impunity remained the norm for Israeli soldiers.” This echoes the highly tendentious reports and press releases on these issues published by Amnesty throughout the year, and the extreme ideological bias which is entirely inconsistent with universal human rights values.

In discussing the combat in Gaza at the end of 2008, Amnesty falsely blames Israel for “launching” an attack; the long history of terrorism and rocket fire emanating from Gaza, as well as the 6 month cease fire which was used by Hamas to prepare for this conflict, are totally ignored. And on the conflict involving Hezbollah and Lebanon, Amnesty immorally presents Samir Kuntar, convicted and imprisoned for murdering a 4 year-old girl, her father and others, as a political prisoner “held since 1979”; Kuntar was released along with four other terrorists in exchange for the bodies of missing Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.

Amnesty only cites alleged Israeli violations within the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while showing no interest in a genuine evaluation of Israel’s human rights record. Of four pages, only two paragraphs at the end address topics (migrant workers/refugees and prisoners of conscience) other than the Palestinians. Other areas of concern, notably human trafficking and religious issues, remain unmentioned.

The section on the Palestinian Authority is equally ludicrous in the level of anti-Israel bias. While Amnesty belatedly acknowledges both the continued imprisonment and denial of access for kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and the widespread indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians in 2008, it also promotes an overwhelmingly Palestinian narrative of events. The end of the Gaza ceasefire (December 2008) is blamed solely on Israel, crudely rewriting history. AI blames Israel for a lack of health care in Gaza – and not Hamas misappropriation of resources for terror attacks, nor intra-Palestinian violence and civil war between the Palestinian factions. Deaths from the collapse of smuggling tunnels between Egypt and Gaza are also absurdly attributed to Israel; the extensive documentation of the use of these tunnels for transporting weapons into Gaza is also erased.

Gay muslim story line on East Enders.....

Well..do you think the Muslims on this show will debate whether they kill gays by throwing a wall on them...or stoning??

EastEnders is to screen a storyline involving a Muslim character who has a gay affair.

New character Syed Masood, a Muslim property developer who has a girlfriend, is to fall for openly gay Christian Clarke.

The couple will be shown kissing and 24-year-old Masood, played by Marc Elliott, finds his "religion and sexual feelings in conflict".

Last year, the BBC received more than 150 complaints over a gay kiss between Christian and Lee Thompson which was shown before the 9pm watershed.

Diederick Santer, the EastEnders executive producer, said BBC1 soap's production team had researched the plot while working with academics, gay Muslim support groups and the Muslim Council of Great Britain.

I'm already worried - they're listing to academics - a huge mistake - and the Muslim Council of Great Britain. This is not going to get to the heart of the matter - that Muslims routinely call for the death of gay people...

The Taliban's New Bombing Campaign....

Can the Pakistani military sustain their offensive????

Two bombs exploded in a market in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Thursday, killing six people, and gunmen on rooftops ambushed police as they arrived at the scene.

Militant violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan, an important U.S. ally, has surged since mid-2007, with attacks on the security forces, as well as on government and Western targets, and the Taliban threatened more on Thursday.

Pakistan is vital for U.S. plans to defeat al Qaeda and cut support for the Afghan Taliban and the United States has been heartened by a military offensive against the Taliban in their Swat bastion, northwest of Islamabad.

But there have been eight militant attacks since the army began battling militants in the region in April and there is a danger the violence could erode public support for the campaign.

A short while after the bombs went off in Peshawar, a suicide bomber attacked a paramilitary post in another part of the city, killing three soldiers, a hospital official said. A wounded soldier said earlier five comrades had been killed.

The attacks came hours after the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for a suicide car-bomb and gun attack in the city of Lahore on Wednesday that killed 24 people, saying it was revenge for the Swat offensive.

"We were looking for this target for a long time," Hakimullah Mehsud, a commander loyal to Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, said by telephone.

In Peshawar, the two bombs were planted on motorbikes in the Storytellers Bazaar in the old city and caused extensive damage. Six people were killed and about 70 wounded, provincial government minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour told Reuters.

Soon afterwards, gunmen on rooftops began firing at police in lanes below. Television showed policemen firing back while colleagues strapped on bullet-proof vests. Police later said two gunmen had been killed and two suspects detained.

Shortly after the suicide bomber attacked the paramilitary post, a bomb went off in the northwestern town of Dera Ismail Khan, killing four people and wounding six, police said.

An important thought experiment...

As Gordis says, this is for the sake of clarity...

IMAGINE THAT ISRAELIS decide that by Jerusalem Day, this coming week, they want a deal. So we take down the security fence. We remove the checkpoints. We open all the roads, and Gaza's sea and air routes. We agree publicly to return to something closely approximating the pre-1967 borders, and we accede to the demands that parts of Jerusalem be internationally governed, or even put under Palestinian control.

Does this end the conflict? Of course it doesn't. The Hamas Charter calls not only for the destruction of Israel, but for Islamic war on Jews everywhere. (Why do we consistently refuse to believe that Hamas means what it says?) What would change? The noose would tighten. The rockets would be fired from a shorter distance and the demand for the return of refugees (thus ending the Jewishness of the state) would persist. As was the case when Israel left Lebanon in May 2000 or Gaza in the summer of 2005, Israel's enemies would smell a weakened, bloodied state and would prepare for the next stage of their war.

But peace would not have come. Much as we all want this conflict to end, does anyone really doubt that? There is, as honest brokers must admit, nothing that Israel can do to end this conflict.

NOW, HOWEVER, TRY the opposite side of the thought experiment. Imagine that the Palestinians decide that they have tired of the conflict, or their electorate begins its long-overdue rebellion and insists on a settlement. So the Palestinians, Hamas and Fatah, demand everything Israel's agreed to above - an end to roadblocks and the wall, an opening of Gaza, a bridge or a tunnel between Gaza and the West Bank and a return to the 1967 borders. Let's say that they even insist on Palestinian control of east Jerusalem.

But they also recognize Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state. They agree to an immediate and permanent cessation of hostilities and violence (this is a thought experiment, after all) and insist that any other outstanding issues be negotiated and resolved with the US and the Quartet as intermediaries. And they require Israelis to vote within a month, no longer, on whether to accept the deal.

Will there be Israelis who object? Will there be residents of the West Bank who will resist leaving their homes? Yes, there will be. But would an Israeli plebiscite overwhelmingly approve the offer? Without question. In a matter of weeks, three quarters of a century of bloodshed and suffering would come to an end.

This, of course, is not going to happen, because all the new rhetoric notwithstanding, and all the confusion of today's young American Jews aside, there's always been one party that's sought peace, and another that's rejected it. It was true in 1948, and it was true in Khartoum. It's no less true today.

It's never been up to us, and it's always been up to them.

Israel doesn't have a partner for peace....

Khaled Abu Toameh is in Ottawa....

While Ottawa’s political leaders were meeting on Parliament Hill Tuesday with Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas, a group of businessmen (no women, for some reason) met for lunch in downtown Calgary with Khaled Abu Toameh, the Arab-born West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. And while the Conservatives condemned Israel's settlements as an obstacle to a peaceful "two-state solution", with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff and Abbas also mouthing support for the same vision for Israel and the Palestinians, Toameh couldn’t help but chuckle. “I laugh when they talk about a two-state solution,” he said. “It’s unreal. It’s not going to work. But we all have to say we support it, maybe because that’s what [U.S. President Barack] Obama wants.”

Toameh—in town as a guest of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy—doesn’t dismiss the idea for the same reasons as Hamas, which considers Israel a temporary, alien cancer to be mercilessly excised from the Muslim Middle East, not co-existed with. He dismisses it because, as those living in the territories well know, the Palestinians cannot even co-exist with themselves, let alone with Israel. Since Yassir Arafat died—“the only good thing he ever did,” Toameh says—life for the average Palestinian has gone from miserable to worse; the territories descended into low-intensity civil war, with 2,000 Palestinians killed in the last three years amidst the political and revenge-motivated attacks of Hamas on Fatah and Fatah on Hamas, as well as the marginal mayhem of terrorist groups such as the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine, Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades and the Popular Resistance Committees. For the first time, more Palestinians are killed from internecine violence than in conflicts with Israel. Election promises first by Abbas and then by Hamas of an end to corruption, lawlessness, poverty, and failure have all proven lies, Toameh points out: each has assumed power—Fatah in the West Bank, Hamas in Gaza—only to show themselves to be as abusive, crooked and ineffectual in building a civil society as Arafat was. Neither party enjoys credibility or actually governs in any real sense the anarchic territories, where unemployment exceeds 60%—though Hamas is at least closer to legitimacy, enjoying far more popular support than Abbas does (Palestinians see Western support for Fatah as Zionist meddling, he says, driving them further into the arms of Hamas and other jihadists). “Abbas doesn’t even have power in downtown Ramallah, where he works and lives,” he says.

A two-state solution sounds pleasant to Western ears. It seems the proper thing for Canadian politicians to say. Certainly the media would pillory Harper and Ignatieff were they to refuse to play along. But were Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to endorse the plan tomorrow—as Barack Obama wants as precondition to helping Israel resist Iranian nuclear agression—it would be utterly meaningless. “There is no partner on the Palestinian side,” Toameh says. Israel's West Bank settlements are no obstacle, he adds; they are a red herring: a minor issue that Jerusalem will easily handle—based on its readiness to dismantle its settlements in the past—when the moment is right. That time is not now, and is not coming soon. Because, in today's environment, whatever proposed peace agreement is backed by Abbas would only be instantly rejected by Hamas, and any deal with Hamas—were any possible—reflexively rejected by Fatah. And neither group has much validity in citizens' eyes, he reports. In fact, Toameh mischievously suggests Netanyahu might be clever to try what Obama wants and publicly back a two-state plan immediately, if only to put the Palestinians and international peace-plan backers “in a corner” by revealing to all how truly impossible implementing anything of the sort would be under the current circumstances.

The international community’s error, says Toameh, is that it seems to think statehood is something to be handed to Palestinians, like a gift. It is, he believes, an undeserved one. “I believe a state is not something we should be given, it is something we should earn,” says the West Bank-born journalist. Far from demonstrating a capability to create a functioning, responsible civil society, he says, Palestinians have only proven their willingness to tolerate chaos, mob-rule and terror. They watched as, instead of building hospitals and schools and infrastructure with the billions sent to Ramallah and Gaza, Arafat lined his own pockets, Fatah fattened its cronies, and Hamas purchased weapons. On the one hand, Palestinians have fallen again and again for rotten leadership, which in turn, do their best to suppress the emergence of more responsible alternatives. On the other, Toameh seems to suggest that the Palestinians are getting the government they deserve. “Everything is going in the wrong direction, largely because of the failure of Palestinians to hold [their] government accountable,” he says.

Sorry, you shouldn't be head of UNESCO....

He thinks a simple apology will get him the job....

Doubts still surround the prospects for Egypt's candidate to lead Unesco, the UN's cultural arm, despite his public apology for past anti-Israeli remarks.

Farouk Hosny, who is Egypt's culture minister, expressed "solemn regret" over a May 2008 pledge to burn Israeli books in Egyptian libraries.

Israel withdrew its protest about Mr Hosny's candidature following a request from Egypt's President, Hosni Mubarak.

But Jewish European cultural groups continued to object to the candidacy.

Opponents of Mr Hosny's candidature have cited his response to a question in parliament in May 2008 from an opposition MP about whether Israeli books were held by the new library in Alexandria.

He said: "Burn these books; if there are any there, I will myself burn them in front of you."

Writing in the French newspaper Le Monde on Wednesday, Mr Hosny said: "I want to solemnly say that I regret the words that I used."

"I am a man of peace. I know that peace comes through understanding and respect. In the name of these values I want to go back on the words that I used, which were taken as an appeal to burn Hebrew books."

Oh yes....a man of peace!

Fallaci on European Anti-Semitism...

Hurrah for Vargas Llosa...

He's always been a staunch supporter of freedom...

Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa vowed Wednesday to speak his mind at a pro-democracy forum in Venezuela despite an official warning not to criticize President Hugo Chavez's government.

Vargas Llosa was stopped by authorities for more than an hour at Caracas' main airport, and said he was questioned and told "that as a foreigner I don't have the right to make political statements."

"Nobody can put limits on free thinking," Vargas Llosa told journalists at Simon Bolivar International Airport, pledging to speak freely at a forum organized by Cedice, a conservative Caracas-based think tank that has come under criticism from Chavez allies.

"Antidemocratic systems proceed that way. The truth is, they are scared of ideas," Vargas Llosa later said of his brief detention at the airport. "They think ideas are like bombs, that ideas can provoke social explosions. We don't want that."

Vargas Llosa, one of the Spanish-speaking world's most-acclaimed writers, has been critical of Chavez in the past, saying the socialist leader's government restricts liberties and "believes in a type of authoritarian democracy." Chavez denies limiting individual freedoms, saying his government is expanding rather than restricting liberties.

Former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga, former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda and Colombian intellectual Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza also are expected to attend the two-day forum, which starts Thursday.

Authorities also cautioned Vargas Llosa's son, Alvaro, against making political statements when he arrived on Monday.

Mario Vargas Llosa has written more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including "Conversation in the Cathedral" and "The Green House." In 1995, he was awarded the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's most distinguished literary honor.

Great news - Hamas funder sent to prison....

Thank God he wasn't charged here in Canada...he'd be out in no time...

A founding member of what was once the biggest Muslim charity in the US has been given a 65-year jail sentence.

Shukri Abu Baker, 50, was convicted of assisting the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, which the US lists as a terrorist organisation.

He is the first of five people from the Holy Land Foundation to be sentenced.

The charity was found guilty last year of sending more than $12m (£7.4m) to fund schools and social welfare programmes controlled by Hamas.

The five men were convicted in November on charges ranging from money laundering to supporting terrorism.

What about some fucking freedom???

Cuba is going to allow sex-change operations...

Cuba will reinstate sex-change operations previously banned on the island, President Raul Castro's daughter Mariela said Wednesday.

The Health Ministry authorized the operations last year, but none has been performed since. It was unclear when the surgeries would begin.

Mariela Castro, a sexologist and gay-rights advocate, announced the return of sex-change procedures in comments aired on state television. She runs the Center for Sex Education, which prepares transsexuals for sex-change operations and has identified 19 transsexuals it deems ready to undergo the procedure.

Castro also said she backs efforts to allow lesbians to be artificially inseminated, a procedure currently barred.

The first successful sex-change operation was performed on the island in 1988, but subsequent procedures were prohibited, Mariela Castro told an international congress on assisted reproduction meeting in Havana.

An Out Gay Moroccan....

I wish him the best...but I note that he's chosen to leave Morocco..

A soft-spoken slip of a young man, Abdellah Taia hardly looks the part of an iconoclast. But as Morocco’s first high-profile, openly gay man, Taia has made it his mission to win acceptance for homosexuals throughout the Muslim world.

Taia has defied Moroccan society’s don’t-ask, don’t-tell attitude toward homosexuality - and prison sentences that are still on the books in the North African kingdom - to write five autobiographical novels about growing up poor and gay in the northern coastal city of Sale.

The novels, peppered with sexually explicit passages, have catapulted him to fame in his native country and made him the de-facto poster child of its budding gay rights movement.

His work has sparked harsh criticism. Taia said some outraged critics have called on him to renounce Moroccan citizenship so as “not to bring shame” on the country.

It’s also alienated him from his parents and eight siblings, who figure extensively in the books and complain that Taia has publicly humiliated them.

But the 35-year-old author insists he’s never been cowed by fallout from his work.

“When I write, I feel a sense of urgency, as if my life depended on it,” Taia said in an interview in Paris, where he has lived for almost a decade. “When I first started writing, it never occurred to me to invent some fictional character and talk about made-up things.”

His latest novel, “L’armee du Salut,” or “Salvation Army,” focuses on his decision to move to Europe. An English translation recently came out in the United States, with an introduction by author Edmund White.

Though Taia immigrated legally - he was awarded a scholarship to study in Switzerland - his experiences in Geneva paralleled those of thousands Moroccans living in Europe without papers.

I don't understand the last paragraph...I don't see how being in Europe legally 'parallel's' illegal immigrants.

How can they even consider letting him go???

Only in Canada would you not be allowed to know what is happening to a cold-blooded killer...

The fate of a man who decapitated a fellow passenger on a Greyhound bus last July may not be made public.

Vince Li was found not criminally responsible for killing Tim McLean on a bus heading to Winnipeg. It is now up to Manitoba's Criminal Code review board to decide his fate.

The board is to meet next Monday to assess whether Li should be institutionalized or given a conditional release.

The board's chairman, John Stefaniuk, said making the decision public could violate Li's rights as a patient.

Violating his rights??? What about our right to live in secure, safe environments???

The Nakba of Arabic Jews...

Climate conferences are good for business....

Prostitutes love these sort of conferences...

The global climate challenge may have been on the daytime agenda during the recent World Business Summit climate conference in Copenhagen, but in the evenings many businessmen, politicians and civil servants are reported to have availed themselves of the capital’s prostitutes.

“We’ve been extremely busy. Politicians also need to relax after a long day,” says ‘Miss Dina’, herself a prostitute.

Nyhedsbrevet 3F called various escort agencies and prostitutes to hear whether they had been busier than normal during the climate conference – and all agreed; summits in Copenhagen are good for the economy.

Dorit Otzen, who leads Reden International says that major events in Copenhagen attract more sex workers.

“A lot of men in one place means more work for prostitutes. At the same time we have a government that will not ban prostitution, so in fact we invite visitors to avail themselves of prostitutes,” Otzen says.

Massive car bomb in Lahore....

A new front in the Taliban war in Pakistan...

About 300 people were wounded in the attack that caused huge damage to the city centre.

The attack deepened fears that militants will launch a wave of attacks in revenge for military operations in Swat against the Taliban in north-west Pakistan.

Pakistan's military has been locked in a one-month offensive against Taliban militants, which the authorities say has killed around 1,190 extremists and sent 2.4 million people fleeing their homes.

The attack also hit as General David Petraeus, head of the US Central Command, was in Islamabad for meetings with government and military leaders.

"I believe that anti-Pakistan elements, who want to destabilise our country and see defeat in Swat, have now turned to our cities," said the head of the interior ministry, Rehman Malik.

Just before the blast, two to four men got out of a car and opened fire at police guards at the gate. A driver then tried to ram a barrier outside the police emergency response unit.

The bomb caused widespread destruction, bringing down a government ambulance service building and damaging a nearby office of the military's main intelligence agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence agency (ISI).

"As some people came out from that vehicle and starting firing at the ISI office, the guards from inside that building returned fire," said an eyewitness. As the firing continued, the car suddenly exploded, he said.

The Ban Ki-Moon Hoax.....

I wonder how many sites were taken in by this...

A document purporting to be an address by Ban Ki-Moon, secretary general of the UN, delivered to the UN General Assembly on May 11, 2009 “on the 60th Anniversary of Israel’s Admission,” and widely circulated on the Internet, is a deliberate forgery, said the newly created International Commission for Jewish Legal Affairs.
Brenden Varma from the UN Press Office confirmed to representatives of the commission that the perpetrators illegally copied the heading of the web site of the UN News Centre, so that the address would appear to be an official document of the United Nations.

Dr. Haim Katz, chair of the International Commission for Jewish Legal Affairs, newly established in cooperation with the B’nai B’rith World Center to help combat efforts to delegitimize the state of Israel, called upon the secretary general to immediately disassociate himself from this forged document, to condemn the dissemination of false and inflammatory information about Israel or any other member state, to commence an investigation to identify the perpetrators, and to pursue all available legal means to do so.

Dr. Katz indicated that the fake address to the General Assembly contained a complete distortion of the history of the UN resolution of 1947, which led to the creation of Israel and a pledge by the secretary general to call a special session of the General Assembly “at the earliest possible time to strip Israel of its membership.”

In his letter to the secretary general, Dr. Katz stated, “With the current climate of anti-Israel sentiment, undoubtedly hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people will accept this forgery at face value. If it is not denied promptly and publicly, this false document, which clearly has the potential for violence, can produce dire consequences in world opinion. The integrity of the United Nations will be damaged as well.”

Can't they build their own mosques???

Yet again, the west tries to whitewash Islamic violence with the claim that they are 'marginalized'...this is from the Dutch press....

Religious elders in Athens fear that the city's long-marginalised Muslims are a "time bomb" waiting to explode after a sudden eruption of violence offered a glimpse at their sense of anger and frustration.

Two days of clashes late last week, which broke out during a rally by around 1,000 Muslims in the Greek capital, followed claims that a police officer had torn up an Iraqi migrant's pocket Koran excerpt during an identity check.

More than a dozen people were injured, scores of cars vandalised and a handful of shops had their windows smashed. Police made 46 arrests.

Although the lid was soon placed on the violence, Muslim leaders who condemned the unrest also warned the state must act quickly to reverse the sense of marginalisation.

"This is a time bomb," said Naim El Gadour, chairman of the Muslim Union of Greece. "It might not explode now but in 10 years it will be a huge problem."

Thousands of Muslims from Arab nations, Africa and the Indian subcontinent now live and work in Athens, often scraping by with meagre wages and in squalid accommodation.

A long-standing grievance is that despite years of promises the Greek state has provided no official prayer sites, forcing the faithful to set up makeshift mosques in rented flats and disused warehouses.

George Galloway in Cleveland...

Look at the map of Israel behind him - it appears that all of Israel is to be Palestine, no???

Louise Arbour still doesn't get it...

No, Louise, Canada was right not to applaud your term - you showed no coherent view of human rights, except to go after Israel at every opportunity...

Louise Arbour could scarcely believe her ears.

Having just announced that she would not seek a new term as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Arbour listened as ambassadors from one country after another rose at a March, 2008, meeting in Geneva of the UN Human Rights Council to heap praise upon her and express regrets that she would be leaving.

Every country except her own, that is. In stark contrast, Canada's ambassador launched straight into a policy statement without making any reference to her decision.

“Frankly, it was pretty bizarre and startling,” Ms. Arbour, 62, recalled in a wide-ranging interview. “Everybody was taken aback. People I knew well expressed utter shock and utter surprise. You see, everybody says nice things on these type of occasions. You don't have to mean them, you just have to say them. In that context, it really stood out.”

Adding to the sting, Treasury Board president Vic Toews, the former justice minister, told the House of Commons several weeks later that Ms. Arbour had been “a disgrace” for comments she made during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon war that were perceived in some quarters as being anti-Israeli.

She's now hurt and upset - let's hope she doesn't go to the Human Rights Commission...

Another reason to applaud Jason Kenney...

Gee, there's a lot of talk about him one day running for the head of the Conservatives...I'll be there to support him....

A "new anti-Semitism" that emanates from an alliance of Western leftists and Islamic extremists is more dangerous than the "old European" form of Jew-hatred, Canada's minister of citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism said as he wound up a four-day trip to Israel Sunday.

"The existential threat faced by Israel on a daily basis is ultimately a threat to the broader Western civilization," said Jason Kenney, explaining the staunchly pro-Israel positions of his government, led by Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"It's a threat that comes from profoundly undemocratic forces that don't have the same conception of human dignity or freedom, and which abuse Israel as a kind of representative of the broader West and Western liberal-democratic values," said Kenney. "I also very acutely understand the nature of the new anti-Semitism, and I think it's even more dangerous than the old European anti-Semitism."

Kenney said many anti-Israel attacks come from adherents of a form of anti-Semitism that who appear to view a Jewish homeland as illegitimate.

"Israel is not perfect, obviously," Kenney said. "Israelis should be the first to admit that. But we acknowledge that so much of the criticism Israel faces is motivated by a dangerous form of anti-Semitism that tries to hide behind anti-Zionism and is represented by a coalition of the far left in the West with extreme currents of jihadi Islam that seek the destruction of the Jewish nation. They seem to believe that the Jewish people are the only people in the world that don't have a right to a homeland."

Shouldn't she be stoned????

They're getting too lenient in the UAE....a warning - if you're going to cheat on your spouse, don't visit a muslim country....

Mrs Antia, 44, who has lived in Dubai for more than a decade, was detained earlier this month following a raid on a hotel.

According to reports, she is locked in a custody battle with her husband, who is seeking a divorce, over the couple's two daughters.

The Sun reported that Mrs Antia's husband Vincent, 48, tipped off police, accusing her of having an affair and claiming she was in a five-star hotel with her lover.

Adultery in the United Arab Emirates is illegal and punishable by jail of deporation. Another British woman, Marnie Pearce, serviced a three-month sentence this year after her Egyptian former husband accused her of cheating on him while living in Dubai.

PETA targets maple syrup....

This makes sense - PETA is against seal hunting, so they target maple syrup...

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is taking its campaign against Canadian seal harvesting to America, urging consumers to boycott Canadian-made maple syrup.

Three PETA activists -- one dressed as a baby seal -- campaigned outside the Statehouse in Montpelier on Tuesday, smashing a likeness of a maple syrup bottle until it squirted red "blood" -- it was really theatrical makeup -- onto the sidewalk.

Passersby didn't need much coaxing, though. Nineteen-year-old Anna Macijeski (muh-JESS-key), of Northfield, said she never buys Canadian maple syrup anyway.

Simon Trepanier, a spokesman for the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers, says he doesn't understand what seals have to do with maple syrup. He says maple syrup makers are working with nature, not against it.

Identity politics at its worst.....

A horrible quote from Obama's choice for Supreme Court Justice:

In 2001, Sonia Sotomayor, an appeals court judge, gave a speech declaring that the ethnicity and sex of a judge “may and will make a difference in our judging.”

In her speech, Judge Sotomayor questioned the famous notion — often invoked by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her retired Supreme Court colleague, Sandra Day O’Connor — that a wise old man and a wise old woman would reach the same conclusion when deciding cases.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” said Judge Sotomayor, who is now considered to be near the top of President Obama’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees.

Hat tip: Thanks to Tony for sending this to me...

Buy this book immediately!

Bruce Bawer's new book, Surrender, is a tour de force. Please, do yourself a favor and go and buy this book immediately.

Here is the link to Amazon.I'm now about two-thirds of the way through the book, and it's hard to put down. Bawer shows convincingly how the powers that be are appeasing Islam - believe me, this book will make anybody angry. Many of the stories in the book are not new - the cartoons, Pym Fortuyn, Van Gogh - but Bawer weaves them into a coherent narrative that shows the danger we face.

When Bawer starts to dissect the New York Times - well, it's a sad commentary on a once-proud newspaper. Did you know that the Times did not review Bawer's last book? And, that they have refused to review a number of important books on the Jihad (like Bat Ye'or's Eurabia).

His chapter on the Islamic threat to the Gay Community and the response from 'official' gay leaders is important. I wonder how many gay newspapers will be reviewing this book - I suspect very few. And, that is very very sad.

Buy this book now. In fact, buy 2 copies, and give one to a friend.

Palestinians continue to honor terrorsts.....

And no one says a word about it....

As US President Barack Obama prepares to welcome Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to Washington this week, and US lawmakers debate the proposed $900 million aid package to the PA, it is once again using its money to proclaim that killing Israeli woman and children is heroic.

The PA chose to name its latest computer center "after the martyr Dalal Mughrabi," who led the most deadly terror attack in the country's history. Her 1978 bus hijacking killed 37 civilians, 12 of them children, including American photographer Gail Rubin. The new center is funded by Abbas's office, which is bolstered by Western aid money. (Al-Ayyam, May 5).

US law prohibits the funding of Palestinian structures that use any portion of their budget to promote terror or honor terrorists. But $200 million of the US's proposed $900m. aid package is earmarked to go directly to the Abbas government, which regularly uses its budget to honor terrorists. In fact, this latest veneration of Mughrabi is not an isolated case, but part of a continuing pattern of honoring terrorists that targets children in particular.

Last summer the PA sponsored "the Dalal Mughrabi football championship" for kids, and a "summer camp named for martyr Dalal Mughrabi... out of honor and admiration for the martyr." It also held a party to honor exemplary students, also named "for the martyr Dalal Mughrabi," under the auspices of Abbas and at which Abbas's representative "reviewed the heroic life of the martyr [Mughrabi] (Al-Hayat al-Jadida, July 23, 24 and August 8, 2008). All these PA-funded activities were to teach kids that a killer of women and children is a role model.

TWO MONTHS AGO, 31 years to the day after the Mughrabi murders, PA TV broadcast a special program celebrating the terror attack, calling the killing of 37 civilians "one of the most important and most prominent special operations... carried out by a team of heroes and led by the heroic fighter Dalal Mughrabi" (PA TV March 11). And its not just Mughrabi who is a Palestinian hero. Despite professions in English by Abbas and other PA leaders that they reject terror, the PA has a long and odious history in Arabic of celebrating terrorists as role models and heroes, often involving US money.

USAID spent $400,000 in 2004 to build the Salakh Khalaf soccer field. After Palestinian Media Watch reported that Khalaf was the head of the Palestinian terror group that murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics and two American diplomats in Sudan, USAID publicly apologized and said it would demand that the PA change the name. The name was never changed.

Elena Bonner on Shalit...

The widow of Sakharov...

AND ANOTHER question that has been a thorn for me for a long time. It's a question for my human rights colleagues. Why doesn't the fate of the Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit trouble you in the same way as does the fate of the Guantanamo prisoners?

You fought for and won the opportunity for the International Committee of the Red Cross, journalists and lawyers to visit Guantanamo. You know prison conditions, the prisoners' everyday routine, their food. You have met with prisoners subjected to torture. The result of your efforts has been a ban on torture and a law to close this prison. President Obama signed it in the first days of his coming to the White House. And although he, just like president Bush before him, does not know what to do with the Guantanamo prisoners, there is hope that the new administration will think up something.

But during the two years Schalit has been held by terrorists, the world human rights community has done nothing for his release. Why? He is a wounded soldier, and fully falls under the protection of the Geneva Conventions. The conventions say clearly that hostage-taking is prohibited, that representatives of the Red Cross must be allowed to see prisoners of war, especially wounded prisoners, and there is much else written in the Geneva Conventions about Schalit's rights. The fact that representatives of the Quartet conduct negotiations with the people who are holding Schalit in an unknown location, in unknown conditions, vividly demonstrates their scorn of international rights documents and their total legal nihilism. Do human rights activists also fail to recall the fundamental international rights documents?

And yet I still think (and some will find this naïve) that the first tiny, but real step toward peace must become the release of Schalit. Release, and not his exchange for 1,000 or 1,500 prisoners who are in Israeli prisons serving court sentences for real crimes.

Returning to my question of why human rights activists are silent, I can find no answer except that Schalit is an Israeli soldier, Schalit is a Jew. So again, it is conscious or unconscious anti-Semitism. Again, it is fascism.

Nothing like a holiday in Somalia....

This is very hard to read...

A 19-year-old girl in Gothenburg has been awarded compensation after having been subjected to genital mutilation in Somalia as an 11-year-old.

The girl was awarded 390,000 kronor ($52,000) in damages for abuse and gross violation of integrity (grov fridskränkning), the Crime Victim Compensation and Support Authority (Brottsoffermyndigheten) has announced.

Then 11-years-old, the girl was taken on holiday to Somalia in 2001. While there she was subjected to genital mutilation.

She was held down by her mother and two other women while her clitoris and inner labia were removed by a man in return for payment.

The girl's vagina was then sewn up down to the opening of her urethra. The whole procedure was conducted without anaesthetic.

For several years after the violation the girl was subjected to repeated examinations by her mother who forced her fingers into her vagina to check that her virginity remained intact.

She also repeatedly assaulted her daughter with various implements including books, a curtain rail and a belt.

The girl's mother later explained in her court trial that the girl was taken to Somalia to be "cleansed".

The mother was later convicted for the violation in the Court of Appeal (Hovrätten) and ordered to pay her daughter 450,000 kronor in compensation.

Should schools close for muslim holidays???

Let's hope they don't do this...

A Connecticut school district representing two towns is considering a proposal to close schools on two Muslim holidays.

The Region 16 Board of Education is expected to take up the proposal this week from the Student Council.

The board represents Prospect and Beacon Falls.

The resolution asks the board not to hold classes on the day that marks the end of the fasting period of Ramadan. The second is the day that concludes the annual observance of the pilgrimage to Mecca.

We're so thin skinned...

Australians are in a frenzy because their PM said 'adios'....

Sol Trujillo, who was born in America and has Mexican heritage, said that his background had become an issue during his tenure as the head of Telstra. Mr Trujillo resigned from the high-profile role in February and left Australia to return to the US last week.

Mr Rudd used one word to sum up his resignation, bidding Mr Trujillo "Adios" – a message he interpreted as racist.

"I think by definition – there were even columnists who wrote stories that said it was," Mr Trujillo told the BBC.

"But you know, my point is that that does exist and it's got to change because the world is full of a lot of people and most economies have to take advantage – including Australia – of a diverse set of people.

"And if there is a belief that only a certain people are acceptable versus others, that is a sad state."

He said several Australians had apologised to him for Mr Rudd's remark because they were embarrassed

Please, Go!

What a powerful bloc that would be...

President Hugo Chavez says Venezuela could eventually withdraw from the Organization of American States and seek Cuba's help to create an alternative regional group.

Chavez claims the OAS serves the interests of the United States. The Venezuelan leader has repeatedly criticized Cuba's expulsion from the organization in 1962 on grounds that its communist government went against the hemispheric body's principles.

Chavez said Monday that "Venezuela would love to join Cuba" as a nonmember.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez chimed in, saying Latin American and Caribbean nations should create an organization that "serves our people rather than the Empire," a reference to the United States.

He should step down as President of the student association...

The incoming President of the York Federation of Students has been reprimanded for his part in harassing Jewish students...

York University has reprimanded two students who took part in a mob that barricaded Jewish students in a Hillel lounge while yelling anti-Jewish and anti-Israel slurs.

In findings not made public, the university named Krisna Saravanamuttu, the incoming president of the York Federation of Students, and Jesse Zimmerman as having violated the York Student code of conduct for their participation in last February's mob, which contributed to Jewish students "feeling intimidated, frightened, tense and nervous."

The report found that Saravanamuttu and Zimmerman promoted an atmosphere of "hostility, incivility and intimidation." York has imposed sanctions and a reprimand on both students.

In light of the "very damaging assessment" of Saravanamuttu's behavior and his contribution to the Feb. 11 incident, Hillel@York and Hasbara@York are demanding that he step down as president of the student body.

Is Venezuela supplying Iran with uranium???

Not that surprising....

Venezuela and Bolivia are supplying Iran with uranium for its nuclear program, according to a secret Israeli government report obtained Monday by The Associated Press.

The two South American countries are known to have close ties with Iran, but this is the first allegation that they are involved in the development of Iran's nuclear program, considered a strategic threat by Israel.

"There are reports that Venezuela supplies Iran with uranium for its nuclear program," the Foreign Ministry document states, referring to previous Israeli intelligence conclusions. It added, "Bolivia also supplies uranium to Iran."

Wind farms can cause problems for pilots...

Well..they don't make any sense anyways...

The wind turbines, which can reach 110m, can move at more than 160mph, and the movement can create blind spots for pilots trying to land aircraft.

Wind farms can create distortion on radar screens and as the number of farms has increased, so has the number of radar "blackout zones", meaning that aircraft passing through the area can effectively disappear with air traffic controllers losing their exact position.

Now the National Air Traffic Services (Nats), the body that monitors British airspace, has asked Raytheon, the American defence company, to design the world's first system to enable radar to avoid this interference.

Raytheon, the largest manufacturer of radar systems in the world, hopes to complete the £5 million project by the end of next year.

Jihadists guide to the galaxy....

Yes, becoming more professional every day...

“I see 16, 17-year-olds who have been indoctrinated on the Internet turn up on the battlefield,” says US Army Brigadier-General John Custer. And as head of intelligence for the US Central Command, he should know. “We capture them; we kill them every day in Iraq, in Afghanistan."

But while the use of the Internet as a recruiting tool is old news in the Middle East, experts are now warning that jihadist websites aimed at young Americans have made the jump from amateurish to dangerously sophisticated.

As with any new product in an oversaturated market, the polished online publication aimed to tap into an overlooked niche. And from the worried reviews of terrorism experts, 'Jihad Recollections' may well have succeeded in doing just that.

Nothing short of a comprehensive guide for the beginning jihadist, the Internet magazine provides its readers with everything from translations of the teachings of Al-Qaeda leaders Osama Bin-Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, to discussions on how best to expand the global jihad and detailed explanations of night vision technology and the principles of guerrilla warfare.

“What started off as some angry kids in their basement has transformed over the past several years into a robust Al Qaeda propaganda outlet right here in our backyard,” Fox News quotes terrorism scholar Dr. Jarret Brachman as saying.

Brachman, a renowned expert on Al-Qaeda and the spread of jihad, added that the new magazine "raises the bar for pro-Al Qaeda propaganda in English. Its presentation is flashier than any English language Al Qaeda propaganda that we’ve seen to date.”

But while 'Jihad Recollections' manages to avoid any explicit calls for violence, the jump to places like the 'Al-Hesbah' forum is short. Dedicated to global jihad, the forum offers a detailed plan Muslims interested in joining the "struggle."

Authored by a well-known online figure called 'Dar Li-man Wahada,' the PDF document is aimed at preparing the next generation of Al-Qaeda loyalists. After explaining that the plans were drawn up after consulting active Mujahideen, Dar Li adds that the target audience is young men under the age of 25 "who have not yet succeeded in reaching the fighting areas."

Opening with a series of verses from the Quran, the instruction manual offers its readers thorough training regimens and advises them on how to conceal their efforts from prying familial eyes.

Another program posted to the 'Shabkat Al-Muhahideen Al-Electroniya' forum outlines the necessary precautions to ensure a successful attack on infidels. "The youth who are carrying out Jihad in their country against the Zionists, the Crusaders and against Muslims who have left the religion, must consider a number of very important questions," the author writes, such as whether they have sufficient funds to carry out the attack and whether they can purchase arms without raising suspicion.

Did the jihad target Starbucks in New York....

There have been attacks on Starbucks all around the globe...

A bomb blast outside a Starbucks coffee shop rattled the early morning Memorial Day quiet of Manhattan's Upper East Side today, shattering windows and triggering the evacuation of 25 apartments.

The coffee shop was closed when the bomb erupted at 3:25 a.m., and there were no reported injuries.

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said the first officers on the scene "found windows blown out of the Starbucks and the chair, the seat that is right outside, shattered." The time of day echoed that of a pattern of unsolved early morning blasts that have occurred outside the British Consulate, the Mexican Consulate and the Armed Forces recruiting booth in Times Square over the past two years.

Iran says "Fuck You" once again...

When will the world realize that the Iranians are not going to stop their drive for nuclear weapons???

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday rejected a Western proposal for Tehran to "freeze" its nuclear work in return for no new sanctions and ruled out any talks with major powers on the issue.

Can't even leave a beach alone....

Gee, anything pro-Israeli has to be countered by lies...

Zionists and pro-Palestinian activists have set up shop on opposite banks of Vienna's Donaukanal River in a fight for public opinion in the Austrian capital.

The right bank, opposite the Stadioncenter, boasts Tel Aviv Beach - an Israeli PR project launched earlier this month which aims to bring a taste of Israel's beach culture to the Viennese public.

However, the Tel Aviv Beach drew resistance from pro-Palestinian and Muslim group. Their activists opened "Gaza Beach" opposite Tel Aviv Beach, in an attempt to link Israel with what they regard as the use of excessive force against Palestinians.

The Israeli chamber of commerce in Vienna received permission for the opening of the Tel Aviv Beach from the Mayor of Vienna to honor Tel Aviv's centennial celebrations this year. The beach, complete with white sand, was opened to the public on May 10.

Gaza Beach was launched in protest of what organizers called "the obscene Tel Aviv Beach," by organizations such as Women in Black, the anti-imperialist movement and Austrian-Arab associations.

An announcement by the organizers said their actions were planned for the whole summer and will "disturb the Israeli beach ambience."

The Saudi Gay Scene....

The internet is definately going to change things in the muslim world...it's already having a huge impact for gays in Asia...

For Samir*, a 34-year-old gay man living in Saudi Arabia, each day is a denial. He lives in Mecca, the holiest city according to Islam, and is acutely aware of the stigma that surrounds his gay lifestyle.
Gays in Saudi Arabia

"I'm a Muslim. I know it's forbidden, but I can't help it," he tells ABC News, clearly conflicted.

"I pray to God to help me be straight, just to avoid hell. But I know that I'm gay and I'm living as one, so I can't see a clear vision for the future."

Samir, like many gay men in the Arab world, guards his sexual orientation with a paranoid secrecy. To feel free he takes long vacations to Thailand, where he has a boyfriend, and spends weekends in Lebanon, which he regards as having a more gay-tolerant society.

But at home in Saudi Arabia, he is vigilant. Samir's parents don't know of his lifestyle. He says his mom would kill herself if she found out. They constantly set him up with women they consider potential wives. At work, Samir watches his words, careful not to arouse the suspicion of colleagues.

"You can't let a word slip that makes you seem gay-friendly or gay," he says. "Before you make a move you have to think."

Samir occasionally goes to Saudi cafes known to be popular gay hangouts, but his public engagements stop there. He and his friends are constantly wary of officers from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the kingdom's religious police, who patrol for and punish men they suspect of being gay.

Male Nurse Fired for Telling Patients to go to Church...

If only he had said they should go to the mosque, everything would have been OK...

A nurse who claims he was sacked for suggesting patients could benefit from going to church is considering legal action against the NHS, a Christian campaigner said.

Anand Rao, 71, said he spoke to the women during a role-play training session in which they played the part of patients with life-threatening conditions.

He told one woman, playing a patient with a heart condition, she should go to church to alleviate stress.

Mr Rao was suspended by Leicester NHS Trust after the course directors complained about his conduct and then dismissed after a disciplinary hearing.

Jailed Muslim terrorists make demands....

How much do you want to bet that the UK caves in on this one...

Jailed Islamic extremists want women prison officers banned from guarding them during Friday prayers - claiming it's against their human rights. Terrorists at Wakefield jail say having them there while they pray is an "insult to their religion".

The group at the West Yorks jail - led by convicted terrorist Kamel Bourgass who killed a cop during an anti-terrorism raid - told jail governor Jacqui Tilley of their anger.

Female and male prison guards oversee prayers from a glassed office.

Services are held in the prison's gym after the 60-strong group refused to pray in the jail's multi-faith chapel because it was used by "non-believers".

Desecration of Christian graves brings muslims and christians closer together....

Oh yes, only acts like these can bring the communities together...

Vandals desecrated some 70 graves in two Palestinian Christian cemeteries on Sunday in what a Palestinian Authority official said was a rare attack on the Christian minority in the occupied West Bank.

A church official in the village of Jiffna near Ramallah where the attack took place called in Palestinian security officials to investigate, but neither he nor the investigators said they had any initial clues who was responsible.

"This unfortunate incident has brought Muslims and Christians closer and many from the Muslim community have shown solidarity with us and have condemned this action," said Greek Orthodox Church official George Abdo.

He added that grave stones had been smashed and metal and stone crosses knocked off graves in the attack, which was discovered on Sunday. The head and a hand of a statue of the Madonna adorning one of the graves were also broken off.

I guess tomorrow they'll be blaming this on settlers. The fact of the matter is that the Muslims have been waging war against the Christians in the West Bank for years, and many Christians have left.

Iran's nuclear shopping list....

Is Obama listening???

Robert Morgenthau, the New York district attorney who is heading a long-term investigation into the Islamic regime's complex web of illicit overseas financial operations, told US senators there was little time left to halt Tehran's atomic weapons programme.

His warning is all the more sobering as Iran last week successfully test-fired a sophisticated medium-range missile that could strike Israel, central Europe and Western forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan with warheads.

"It's late in the game and we don't have a lot of time to stop Iran from developing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons," Mr Morgenthau told a recent Senate hearing. He described Iran's quest as "deadly serious".

His unit's findings also highlight the risks facing President Barack Obama as he hopes to forge improved diplomatic relations with Tehran at the same time as Iran presses ahead with a nuclear programme.

Mr Obama issued a timetable for future talks with Iran for the first time last week, telling the visiting Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, that he expected to know by the end of the year whether Tehran was making "a good faith effort to resolve differences".

But some senior figures in Israel are now increasingly convinced that the Obama administration believes that a nuclear-armed Iran is inevitable.

Mr Morgenthau's investigation has brought to light a multi-billion-dollar scam under which Iran channelled funds through Western financial institutions to buy banned dual-use materials for its nuclear and missile programmes. Lloyds TSB has already agreed to pay a fine and forfeiture of $350 million (£220 million) for its role in helping to disguise transactions.

The investigation has revealed that the Iranians were negotiating to buy 400 gyrometers, 600 accelerometers and 100 pieces of the metal tantalum - crucial technology for building accurate long-range missiles that could deliver nuclear payloads.

Mr Morgenthau's unit, which has prosecuted several major US white-collar criminal cases, also established that LIMMT, a Chinese company that has long been a major supplier of banned weapons material to Iran, had shipped a long list of weapons-related materials to Iran after skirting international financial sanctions.

The items included 15,000 kgs of specialised aluminium alloy used almost exclusively in long-range missile production; 1,700 kgs of graphite cylinders used for banned electrical discharge machines; more than 30,000 kgs of tungsten-copper plates; 200 tungsten-copper alloy hollow cylinders; 19,000 kgs of tungsten metal powder and 24,500 kgs of maraging steel rods, which are favoured for their superior strength.

"It's the usual list of items that Iran needs for its missile and weapons programmes," said John Pike, director of globalsecurity.org, a private security research group. "Whether it's dual use or not is irrelevant. The Iranians are acquiring a glass half-full. They can use that stuff for what they want when they get it."

Mr Morgenthau's office has issued a 118-count indictment against LIMMT and its owner Li Fang Wei for allegedly misusing New York banks via front companies and supplying illicit missile and nuclear technology to Iran. But there are believed to be other targets of the "broad and ongoing" investigation.

His office consulted weapons experts from the CIA, private institutions and universities about what it had uncovered. They were "shocked by the sophistication of the equipment they're buying", he told a hearing of the Senate foreign relations committee.

Mass Graves for Egypt's Pigs...

Most 'police officers' killed in Gaza were terrorists....

Hamas claimed that many were just innocent police officers...that is now shown to be a lie...

An independent research company revealed Sunday that 90% of the Palestinian "security personnel" killed in Gaza during the IDF offensive there in January were members of terror organizations.

The IDF says 709 gunmen were killed in the fighting, of which Hamas has claimed 343 were innocent police officers.

But the independent Israeli 'Orient Research Group', hired by former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to investigate the identities of those killed, has released a report challenging Hamas' claim.

The report says 286 of the 343 "police officers" killed were members of terror organizations, the vast majority of them belonging to Hamas' military wings.

It also states that the official list of names provided by Hamas includes one traffic officer, who was a member of the Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and 27 members of various forces trained to battle Israel.

"The statement that Israel attacked innocent policemen was apparently rushed and made without an investigation by the organizations into the identities of the slain policemen," the report says, adding that the organizations did not wait until the publication of the IDF's report on the matter, "which relies on intelligence regarding the targets that were struck".

The report also refers to the claim that the first Air Force strike of the Gaza offensive hit a ceremony attended by members of a Hamas traffic police training course.

It says almost 88% of those present were terror operatives, many of them belonging to the al-Qassam Brigades. Altogether they numbered 78 of the 89 Hamas reported dead.

Muslim chef must now cook pork....

A win for our side....

A Muslim chef who accused the Metropolitan Police of religious discrimination when told he must handle pork has lost his tribunal case.

Hasanali Khoja was told he would be expected to handle pork products at his new job at the Empress State Building in Earls Court, west London.

The 60-year-old from Edgware, north-west London, also said racist gestures were made to him when he complained.

The force was it was "pleased" at the tribunal's decision.

Mr Khoja said earlier he was "stressed and humiliated" at the prospect of handling pork products, which Islam considers to be unclean.

He said even wearing gloves or using tongs to cook would not protect him from the risk of splashes.

The catering manager had also claimed that he was the victim of racism by an official when he went to discuss his situation.

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "We are pleased to have been cleared of allegations of discrimination on the basis of religion or belief against Mr Khoja."

Eating Lamb and Drinking Beer is bad for the environment......

Guess what I am having for dinner tonight!

Diners are being encouraged to eat more pork and chicken instead, as they produce fewer carbon emissions.

A Government-sponsored study into greenhouse gases has found that producing 2.2lbs of lamb was the equivalent of releasing 37lbs of carbon dioxide.

Other foods such as tomatoes only produce 20lbs of CO2 while potatoes release about 1lb of CO2 for each 2.2lbs of food.

Lamb produces so much carbon dioxide because sheep belch so much methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas. Cows are also damaging, releasing the equivalent of 35lbs of CO2 per 2.2lbs. Previous studies have shown that a herd of 200 cows can produce annual emissions of methane - roughly equivalent to driving a family car more than 100,000 miles on more than four gallons of petrol.

The study also found that alcoholic drinks contribute significantly to emissions, with the growing and processing of hops and malt into beer and whisky producing 1.5 per cent of Britain's greenhouse gases.

"Changing our lifestyles, including our diets, is going to be one of the crucial elements in cutting carbon emissions," said David Kennedy, chief executive of the Committee on Climate Change.

Obama's Narrow Window....

And, just how narrow is it???

President Barack Obama's top military adviser says Iran's objective is to obtain nuclear weapons -- and that threatens the region.

Adm. Mike Mullen says he's worried about Iran and what U.S. intelligence agencies don't know about the Tehran government. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says the United States and its allies must work to engage Iran's leaders.

Mullen says there's a narrow window in which to work to block Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities.

Left-wing activists infiltrate Sweden's Refugee Detention Centre.....

Ahh....nothing like the alliance between the left and the Islamists....

Sweden's security service Säpo and the border police in the West of the country believe a refugee detention centre run by the Swedish Migration board has been infiltrated by leftwing activists.

Säpo has made the claim on the back of the large number of people who've escaped from the centre near Gothenburg in the past year as well as what they say is a lack of co-operation from the staff working there, one of whom has been found guilty of rioting during an EU protest in the city in 2001.

According to the Göteborgs-Posten newspaper, 50 people have escaped from the Kållered centre since 2008.

Lars Skoglund from the Western border police told the newspaper that the centre has been looked at for some time.

" We have long questioned the facility's operations and there have been several strange escapes."

The police and the staff at the centre were in open dispute in February this year when the police suspected that the deportation of a refugee, a Libyan man, was sabotaged by staff there.

Police later came in force with a warrant to take the man but were denied entry to the centre. The man was subsequently taken after the police threatened to break in.

The incident in February was reported but dropped due to lack of evidence.

Not bad - Taliban has torched 200 schools in SWAT....

And, these are the people that Jack Layton wants us to negotiate with...

Taliban militants have burnt down more than 200 schools in Pakistan's restive Swat valley in the last two years and made all out efforts to prevent girls from receiving education, a media report here said on Sunday.

The militants told the residents in the valley that if they were good Muslims they would stop sending their daughters to schools, 'The Sunday Times' said in a report from Mingora, the capital of Swat.

"Every evening (Taliban commander) Maulana Fazullah, nicknamed 'Radio Mullah', broadcast the names on the radio of girls who had stopped going to school - it would be, 'Congratulations to Miss Kulsoon or Miss Shahnaz, who has quit school.' Then he warned others if they continued with their education they would go to hell," the paper said.

The Taliban have torched over 200 of Swat's 1,500 schools in the last two years, it said.

Just how much are we willing to pay for global warming...

It looks like the world is going to pay trillions to reduce CO2 emissions...which will get us nowhere....

One measure of the fantasy world now inhabited by our sad MPs was the mindless way that they nodded through, last October, by 463 votes to three, by far the most expensive piece of legislation ever to go through Parliament. This was the Climate Change Act, obliging the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change to reduce Britain's "carbon emissions" by 2050 to 20 per cent of what they were in 1990 – a target achievable only by shutting down most of the economy.

Such is the zombie state of our MPs that they agreed to this lunatic measure without the Government giving any idea of what this might cost. Only one, Peter Lilley, raised this question, and it was he who, last month, alerted me to the fact that the minister, Ed Miliband, had at last slipped out a figure on his website (without bothering to tell Parliament). The Government's estimate was £404 billion, or £18 billion a year, or £760 per household every year for four decades.

Such figures, produced by a computer model, are, of course, meaningless. But one of the mysteries of our time is how impossible it is to interest people in the mind-boggling sums cited by governments all over the world as the cost of the measures they wish to see taken to "stop climate change".

Last week I dined with Professor Bob Carter, a distinguished Australian paleoclimatologist, who has been trying to alert politicians in Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand to the scarcely believable cost of these proposals. He gave me a paper he presented to a committee of New Zealand MPs. China and India, as the price of their participating in the UN's planned "Kyoto Two" deal to be agreed in Copenhagen next December, are demanding that developed countries, including Britain, should pay them 1 per cent of their GDP, totalling up to more than $300 billion every year.

Africa is putting in for a further $267 billion a year. South American countries are demanding hundreds of billions more. In the US, the latest costing of President Obama's "cap and trade" Bill is $1.9 trillion, a yearly cost to each US family of $4,500.

Meanwhile, as Mr Obama's Nobel Prize-winning Energy Secretary, Stephen Chu, babbles on the BBC's Today programme about how the world's energy needs can be met by wind and solar power (for which, he assured us, we would need to cover only
5 per cent of the planet's deserts with solar panels), a study shows that for every job created in Spain's "alternative energy industry" since 2000, 2.2 others have been lost. (Mr Obama talks about creating "five million green jobs" in the US.)

Last week the BBC and various newspapers excitably greeted the opening by Alex Salmond of Whitelee, "Europe's largest onshore wind farm", 140 giant 2.3 megawatt turbines covering 30 square miles of moorland south-east of Glasgow. It was happily reported that these would "generate" 322MW of electricity, "enough to power every home in Glasgow". They won't, of course, do anything of the kind. Due to the vagaries of the wind, this colossal enterprise will produce only 80MW on average, a quarter of its capacity and barely enough to keep half Glasgow's lights on.

It really is time people stopped recycling the thoroughly bogus propaganda claims of the wind industry in this way. Any journalist who still falls for these lies by confusing turbines' "capacity" with their actual output is either thoroughly stupid or dishonest. The truth is that the 80MW average output of "Europe's largest wind farm" is only a fraction of that of any conventional power station, at twice the cost. For this derisory amount of power, the hidden subsidy to Whitelee over its 25-year life will, on current figures, be £1 billion, paid by all of us through our electricity bills.