The Giant Otter

Lebanese children want war

2007-01-04T12:19:00.000-08:00

No kidding. Here is a transcript from a conversation between journalist Michael J. Totten and a group of Lebanese kids:

“That’s Hassan Nasrallah. Do you know Hassan Nasrallah? He is a big hero.”

“Why is he a hero?” I said.

“He resists the Israelis!”

“Are all of you guys with Hezbollah?” I said.

“Yes!” one of them said. “We are all with Hassan Nasrallah!” They said this in such a way that they expected me to share their views even though they knew I am American. At least they expected I wouldn’t mind that they support Hassan Nasrallah. I doubt they felt any hostility to me personally whatsoever.

“So, what is it you hope to accomplish downtown?” I said.

“We want Seniora to leave,” one of them said.

“We want to fuck Seniora,” said another.

“I know,” I said. “Why do you want to get rid of him, though? What do you want from the government that you can’t get with Seniora?”

“War!” said one of the kids.

“We want war!” said another.

A third kid slapped the second up the side of his head. The slapped kid laughed and pushed his hand in his friend’s face.
I couldn’t tell if this playful spat was because they didn’t agree about wanting more war, or because they weren’t supposed to admit it in front of a foreign reporter.

How the entire Muslim world is inferior

2007-01-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

The following is an article by a Pakistani Muslim named Farrukh Saleem, published in the Pakistani paper "The News." His title was "Arabs vs. Israel," but a more accurate title might be "How the entire Muslim world is inferior."

Arabs vs Israel
By Farrukh Saleem

Imam Ali Ibn Abi Taleb: "If God were to humiliate a human being He would deny him knowledge"

The League of Arab States has 22 members. Of the 22, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Kuwait, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman are 'traditional monarchies'. Of the 22, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria and Somalia are 'Authoritarian Regimes' (Source: www.freedomhouse.org). Of the 22, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Morocco and Somalia are among the 'world's most repressive regimes' (Source: A special report to the 59th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights). Of the 330 million Muslim men, women and children living under Arab rulers a mere 486,530 live in a democracy (0.15 per cent of the total).

A mere two hundred and fifty miles from the 'League of Dictators' HQ in Cairo is the only 'parliamentary democracy' in the region; universal suffrage, multi-party, multi-candidate, competitive elections. Israel's 6,352,117 residents are 76 per cent Jewish and 23 per cent non-Jewish (mostly Arab).

Israel spends $110 on scientific research per year per person while the same figure for the Arab world is $2. Knowledge makes Israel grow by 5.2 per cent a year while "rates of productivity (the average production of one worker) in Arab countries were negative to a large and increasing extent in oil-producing countries during the 1980s and 90s (World Bank; Arab Development Report)."

Facts cannot be denied: The state of Israel now has six universities ranked as among the best on the face of the planet. Hebrew University Jerusalem is in the top-100. Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Tel Aviv University and Weizmann Institute of Science are in the top-200. Bar Ilan University and Ben Gurion University are in the top-300. The Arab League does not have a single university in the top-400 (http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm). One in two Arab women can neither read nor write (remember, "If God were to humiliate a human being He would deny him/her knowledge").

Israel's universities are producing knowledge. Israeli society is applying that knowledge plus diffusing knowledge produced by others. On the other hand, within the Arab League, repressive regimes have erected religious, social and cultural barriers to the production as well as diffusion of knowledge.

Look at how knowledge is abandoning the Arab world: Between 1998 and 2000 more than 15,000 Arab physicians migrated. According to the World Bank, "roughly 25 per cent of 300,000 first degree graduates from Arab universities emigrated. Roughly 23 per cent of Arab engineers, 50 per cent of Arab doctors and 15 per cent of Arab BSc holders had emigrated."

Israel, on the other hand, has more engineers and scientists per capita than any other country (for every 10,000 Israelis there are 145 engineers or scientists). Israel ranks among the top-7 countries worldwide for patents per capita.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., Israel's pharmaceutical giant, is the world's largest producer of antibiotics (Teva developed Copaxone, a unique immunomodulator therapy for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, the only non-interferon agent available).

Facts are hard to deny: Most members of the Arab League grant Muslim women fewer rights -- with regards to marriage, divorce, dress code, civil rights, legal status and education. Israel does not. Spain translates more books in a year than has the Arab world in the past thousand years (since the reign of Caliph Mamoun; Abbasid, caliph 813-833).

Six million Israelis buy 12 million books every year making them one of the highest consumers of books in the world. Israel has the highest number of university degrees per capita in the world; the Arab world has the lowest. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita than any other country (109 per 10,000 Israelis); the Arab world -- next to nothing.

Results are for everyone to see: The average per capita income in Israel is $25,000 while the average income within the League of Arab States is $5,000.

The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist. Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com

And yes, the entire Muslim world really is inferior.

Palestinians mourn Saddam

2007-01-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem Post, Palestinians continue to mourn Saddam:

Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank once again Monday to mourn the death of Saddam Hussein.
Some 500 people attended a rally mourning Saddam in Halhoul, near the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, waving flags of all the Palestinian factions. They burned the Israeli and American flags, and chanted slogans against Iran and against Iraqi Shiites such as Muqtada al-Sadr who opposed Saddam.
In the northern West Bank town of Yabed, near Jenin, 500 people participated in a march for Saddam, firing in the air, and chanting slogans in support of Saddam. The also opened a mourning tent in his honor.

Gaddafi won't release Palestinian doctor who 'spread HIV'

2007-01-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

BBC, Gaddafi rejects release of medics:

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has rejected calls for the release of six foreign medics sentenced to death for infecting children with HIV/Aids.

Those who committed crimes must accept the consequences, he said.

Libya has been under increasing pressure because of international doubts over the fairness of the trial.

Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor have been tried and found guilty twice of deliberately infecting more than 400 children with HIV.

Colonel Gaddafi stressed the "the independence of the Libyan judicial system", and he rejected what he called "Western intervention and pressure in this affair".

The medics have been in detention since 1999, during which time 52 of the 426 infected children have died of Aids.

While Gaddafi's verdict is questionable due to the fact that he's an oppressive military dictator and terrorist, it's not hard to believe that a Palestinian doctor and the nurses under him could do such a thing. Especially considering Arab hatred for black Africans; Muslims, such as those in Sudan, have been known to infect black Africans deliberately with HIV via in gang rapes.

I'm still waiting for them all to hold hands and blame "The Jews."

Ethiopia crushes Muslim Somalia

2007-01-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

The last city controlled by Islamic warlords in Somalia fell to Ethiopian troops backing the legitimate Somali government. What a way to ring in the new year. BBC, Somali Islamic stronghold falls:

Somalia's Ethiopian-backed government says it controls the southern port city of Kismayo - which was the last stronghold of Islamist militiamen.

The Islamists retreated as the army, supported by Ethiopian aircraft, tanks and artillery advanced on the city.

The Somali prime minister urged the African Union to send peacekeepers and offered an amnesty to Islamic fighters.

The Islamists had swept through Somalia last year, and their retreat from Kismayo is seen as a major reversal.

Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi told AFP news agency: "Kismayo is already in the hands of the government. The Islamists have run away."

Happy New Year – this is yet another victory to add to Ethiopia's long history. Italian colonists couldn't take it, and neither could Islamic fascists.

Reuters: Al Qaeda 'militants', not terrorists

2006-12-25T20:19:00.000-08:00

With its policy of pseudo-neutrality, Reuters refused to refer to Al Qaeda members as terrorists. Instead, they're 'militants'. Reuters: Al Qaeda militant urges militants to keep up jihad:

DUBAI (Reuters) - A man believed to be a top al Qaeda militant who escaped from a U.S. airbase in Afghanistan last year said in a statement that the tide had turned against the West but urged Muslims to keep up their holy war.

Note the title. Not only are low-level members of al-Qaeda 'militants' according to Reuters, but high-ranking terrorist leaders are also 'militants'.

If you behead non-Muslim civilians Reuters won’t call you a terrorist. Somehow, by Reuters’ reasoning, beheading civilians is an act of ‘militancy’. Not terrorism, no way. Routine executions of homosexuals, something engaged in by all Islamic terrorist groups, are also acts of ‘militancy’. The liberal media must think that homosexuals are military targets (the left-wing is only for gay rights when they don’t conflict with liberal pro-Islamism). Likewise, keeping women in a virtual state of slavery, something practiced throughout the Muslim world, is also ‘militancy’. Just like those insidious gays, females are a clear military threat (the left-wing only supports female rights when they don’t conflict with Islam, too). Flying two airplanes into the center of a highly-populated city, with the sole intent of killing as many infidels as possible, is also an act of ‘militancy’ according to the liberal media. Remember, it’s not terrorism. Don’t you dare call it terrorism, or you’ll offend Muslims - Muslims who sympathize with the ‘militants’.

Every time a news agency engages in an absurd level of political correctness by referring to terrorists as ‘militants’ they implicitly give terrorism a legitimate military status. By doing this they equate groups like al-Qaeda and Hamas with legitimate militants. They equate terrorist attacks to military strikes. Attacks on civilian cities become morally equivalent to attacks on terrorist camps.

New Jimmy Carter Book

2006-12-22T14:14:00.000-08:00

(Image by David A. Lunde)

Fat holocaust denier set free in Austria

2006-12-20T12:18:00.000-08:00

David Irving (Reuters, right), notorious Holocaust denying pseudo-historian and all around fat pig, was released from jail in Austria following an appeal on his 3 year sentence. In Austria, denying the Holocaust is a crime that can land you up to 10 years in jail. BBC, Holocaust denier to be released:

An Austrian appeals court has ruled that UK historian David Irving - jailed for denying the Holocaust - should be released on probation.

Irving is now being held in police detention and will be deported to the UK on Thursday, officials said.

Irving was convicted in February in a case that sparked international debate about the limits of freedom of speech.

In 1989 he spoke in Austria denying the existence of gas chambers at Auschwitz, though he later said he was "mistaken".

The appeals court in Vienna had heard calls for both a reduction and increase in his sentence.

Irving on Wednesday welcomed his release and said he was "fit and well".

Although the Biased Broadcasting Clique hails Irving as a "UK historian," the academic world has rejected his status as such. He is no more a historian than bigfoot researchers are scientists.

And for those who believe that Irving shouldn't have been "persecuted for free speech," note this: free speech does not include libel, slander, hate speech, or incitement to genocide.

Oslo: Most rapes committed by non-Western immigrants.

2006-12-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Aftenposten, Oslo rape statistics shock:

Two out of three charged with rape in Norway's capital are immigrants with a non-western background according to a police study. The number of rape cases is also rising steadily.The study is the first where the crime statistics have been analyzed according to ethnic origin. Of the 111 charged with rape in Oslo last year, 72 were of non-western ethnic origin, 25 are classified as Norwegian or western and 14 are listed as unknown.

Rape charges in the capital are spiraling upwards, 40 percent higher from 1999 to 2000 and up 13 percent so far this year.

Nine out of ten cases do not make it to prosecution, most of them because police do not believe the evidence is sufficient to reach a conviction.

Police Inspector Gunnar Larsen of Oslo's Vice, Robbery and Violent crime division says the statistics are surprising - the rising number of rape cases and the link to ethnic background are both clear trends. But Larsen does not want to speculate on the reasons behind the worrying developments.

While 65 percent of those charged with rape are classed as coming from a non-western background, this segment makes up only 14.3 percent of Oslo's population. Norwegian women were the victims in 80 percent of the cases, with 20 percent being women of foreign background.

Libya sentences Palestinian doctor for spreading HIV

2006-12-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

On one hand we have Libya, a known state sponsor of terrorism. On the other hand we have a Palestinian, the vast majority of who support suicide attacks. It's difficult to tell what the real story is in this case. However, Libya came to a conclusion - a Palestinian doctor and four other medical staff is guilty of deliberately spreading the HIV virus to children. Reuters, Foreign medics sentenced to die in Libya case:

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on Tuesday for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS, provoking a chorus of Western condemnation.

It's ironic that a Palestinian has been found guilty of infecting people with the HIV virus considering the AIDS blood libel that exists in the Arab world. If you don't know, "The Jews" are blamed for inventing and spreading the HIV virus by Palestinians.

(Photo from Ouch! Snapped Shot: Palestinian doctor Ashraf Alhajouj speaks to the media as Bulgarian nurses Nasya Nenova (L) and Snezhana Dimitrova (R) wait for the verdict in a court in Tripoli December 19, 2006. (Rafael Marchante/Reuters))

Haniyeh's son shot in the face

2006-12-14T23:39:00.000-08:00

BBC, Gaza border shots 'targeted PM':

Ismail Haniya's convoy came under fire when it was allowed to cross, after being held there for several hours.

A bodyguard was killed and Mr Haniya's son was shot in the face as the fire fight erupted at the Rafah checkpoint.

Too strange for fiction

2006-12-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

MSNBC, World's tallest man saves dolphins:

BEIJING - The long arms of the world’s tallest man reached in and saved two dolphins by pulling plastic material out of their stomachs, state media and an aquarium official said Thursday.
The dolphins got sick after nibbling on plastic from the edge of their pool at an aquarium in Liaoning province. Attempts to use surgical instruments to remove the plastic failed because the dolphins’ stomachs contracted in response to the instruments, the China Daily newspaper reported.
Veterinarians then decided to ask for help from Bao Xishun, a 7-foot-9 herdsman from Inner Mongolia with 41.7-inch arms, state media said.
Bao, 54, was confirmed last year by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s tallest living man.

Circumcision to cut AIDS rate in half

2006-12-13T21:39:00.000-08:00

NY Times, H.I.V. Risk Halved by Circumcision, U.S. Agency Finds:

Circumcision appears to reduce a man’s risk of contracting AIDS from heterosexual sex by half, United States government health officials said yesterday, and the directors of the two largest funds for fighting the disease said they would consider paying for circumcisions in high-risk countries.

The announcement was made by officials of the National Institutes of Health as they halted two clinical trials, in Kenya and Uganda, on the ground that not offering circumcision to all the men taking part would be unethical. The success of the trials confirmed a study done last year in South Africa.

AIDS experts immediately hailed the finding. “This is very exciting news,” said Daniel Halperin, an H.I.V. specialist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development, who has argued that circumcision slows the spread of AIDS in the parts of Africa where it is common.

In an interview from Zimbabwe, he added, “I have no doubt that as word of this gets around, millions of African men will want to get circumcised, and that will save many lives.”

Uncircumcised men are thought to be more susceptible because the underside of the foreskin is rich in Langerhans cells, sentinel cells of the immune system, which attach easily to the human immunodeficiency virus, which causes AIDS. The foreskin also often suffers small tears during intercourse.

Yet another shred of evidence that highlights the medical benefits of a practice given to Western society by Judaism. Circumcision nay-sayers don't have a leg to stand on. It's a practice that has been repeatedly proven to have numerous health benefits.

Related: WHO: Circumcision to reduce AIDS rates

Palestinians stone Jewish baby

2006-12-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem Post, Israeli baby lightly wounded by rock throwers:

An Israeli baby was lightly wounded on Wednesday afternoon when Palestinians threw rocks at the car he was traveling in, south of Bethlehem.

[Follow-up: Muslims blame Zionist baby for oppressing Palestinians; forcing Palestinians to throw rocks at baby.]

More Americans killed by illegal aliens than by terrorists

2006-11-30T01:40:00.000-08:00

WorldNetDaily, Illegal aliens murder 12 Americans daily:

Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens. That's 21,900 since Sept. 11, 2001.

Total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq as of last week were reported at 2,863. Total U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan during the five years of the Afghan campaign are currently at 289, according to the Department of Defense.

UN Troops Rape Children

2006-11-29T22:21:00.000-08:00

More horrors from the world's favorite multicultural group (Photo right: UN peacekeepers torture a Somali child over a fire) - BBC, UN troops face child abuse claims:

Children have been subjected to rape and prostitution by United Nations peacekeepers in Haiti and Liberia, a BBC investigation has found.

Girls have told of regular encounters with soldiers where sex is demanded in return for food or money.

A senior official with the organisation has accepted the claims are credible.

The UN has faced several scandals involving its troops in recent years, including a DR Congo paedophile ring and prostitute trafficking in Kosovo.

The assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations acknowledges that sexual abuse is widespread.

"We've had a problem probably since the inception of peacekeeping - problems of this kind of exploitation of vulnerable populations," Jane Holl Lute told the BBC.

As the article stated, sexual abuse is widespread in the UN. This isn't the first rape scandal UN troops have been involved in. In fact, atrocities such as this are committed at the hands of UN troops more frequently than they are at the hands of US or Israeli troops.

This is what happens when your soldiers consist of recruits from Islamic nations in Africa where rape is widespread and culturally accepted.

Velazquez crucifixion

2006-11-29T22:08:00.000-08:00

Diego Velázquez painted the crucifixion (Right, Cristo Crucificado), but modern-day Thomas Velázquez took it further by crucifying himself. BBC, Paraguay man crucified in public:

Protesters in Paraguay have staged a public crucifixion calling for a jailed former army general to be set free.

Tomas Velazquez, a supporter of General Lino Oviedo, popular among Paraguay's indigenous people, was tied and nailed to a cross outside the Supreme Court.

Mr Velazquez called on the court to review Gen Oviedo's 10-year jail sentence for plotting a 1996 coup.

Gay marriage recognized in Israel

2006-11-28T04:37:00.000-08:00

The Israeli High Court stated that homosexual marriages will be recognized in the State of Israel. The only catch - you must get married outside of Israel first. YNet, Gays married abroad to be registered as married:

High Court judges rule that homosexual couples married abroad will be registered as married couples in population registry. Six judges vote in favor of decision, only one opposes

Precedent: For the first time in Israel , homosexual couples will be registered as married in the population registry, High Court judges ruled Tuesday morning after accepting a petition filed by gay couples married abroad.

The petition was approved by six judges. Only Justice Elyakim Rubinstein opposed.

As a heterosexual, gay marriage is not an issue of high priority for me. I stress homosexual issues because they highlight Israel's commitment to basic human rights in contrast to Israel's Islamic neighbors. Ironically, liberals who claim they support gay rights consistently take the side of Islamic oppressors of homosexuals over the tolerant Jewish State.

This proves gay rights are a gimmick issue for the left; the left is not really serious about homosexual marriage or equality. The left is serious, however, about its one-sided hatred of Israel and support for Islamic fascism. Remember, the Nazi party was a left-wing, liberal movement too - the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Hezbollah training Iraqi terrorists

2006-11-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

If you thought Hezbollah was only an Israeli problem, think again. NY Times, Hezbollah Said to Help Shiite Army in Iraq:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 27 — A senior American intelligence official said Monday that the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah had been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Iraqi Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr.

The official said that 1,000 to 2,000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias had been trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon. A small number of Hezbollah operatives have also visited Iraq to help with training, the official said.

Iran has facilitated the link between Hezbollah and the Shiite militias in Iraq, the official said. Syrian officials have also cooperated, though there is debate about whether it has the blessing of the senior leaders in Syria.

The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules set by his agency, and discussed Iran’s role in response to questions from a reporter.

WHO: Circumcision to reduce AIDS rate

2006-11-28T04:27:00.000-08:00

YNet, Israel teaches WHO about circumcision:

Research reveals circumcision reduces chances of being infected with HIV. World Health Organization seeks to hold mass circumcision in Africa, where virus is spreading; meanwhile, representatives arrive in Israel to learn about process

Circumcision against AIDS: A new program being developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) is attempting to suggest ways and principles for holding a mass circumcision in HIV-infected countries, particularly African countries.

Research has found that the removal of the foreskin, an act which is carried out during the circumcision ceremony, reduces the chances of being infected or infecting people with the HIV virus.

The issue was discussed in Jerusalem at the beginning of the week, in a meeting between WHO representatives, 20 Israeli physicians and Jewish and Muslim circumcisers.

Olmert, the Palestinian PM of Israel

2006-11-27T07:41:00.000-08:00

Just hours before the Palestinians broke a ceasefire by launching rockets into Israeli civilian areas, Olmert pledged to release large amounts of Palestinian prisoners - even those serving serious sentences - in exchange for kidnapped Israeli Gilad Shalit. In addition, Olmert offered to give up tracts of Israeli land for what he called "real peace." Reuters, Olmert says ready to free Palestinian prisoners:

SDE BOKER, Israel (Reuters) - Israel is prepared to release many jailed Palestinians, including long-serving prisoners, in return for a soldier militants seized in June, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Monday.
In a major policy speech, Olmert said he was reaching out to the Palestinians for peace -- offering a series of humanitarian and economic incentives if violence against Israel ceased.
Within hours of Olmert's address, Palestinian militants in Gaza fired rockets into the Israeli border town of Sderot, despite a ceasefire declared on Sunday. There were no reports of casualties...
In his speech, Olmert repeated that he was willing to dismantle many of the settlements Israel has built in the West Bank, which it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, to get "real peace".

If you're thinking that Olmert isn't working for the interests of the Jewish State, but rather for the interests of Palestinian terrorists, you're right on target. Israeli MKs noticed this as well.

Yuval Steinitz said that Olmert ended, "Israel's tradition of fighting terror decisively." Zehava Gal-On asserted, "Olmert's statements are great, but his actions have failed." Zvi Hendel stated Olmert was "not ashamed to promise the enemy the expulsion of all settlers and creation of a terror state." Read more at YNet here.

Meanwhile, MK Uriel Ariel said Olmert "is once against handing out gifts to terror organizations that are growing stronger." Right-winger Baruch Marzel simply called Olmert "a traitor and an idiot," then accused him of leading Israel into an "abyss."

Olmert continues to make serious mistakes in regards to the Palestinian problem. It isn't simply the right or the left accusing him of such. It's a unified cry from all points on the political spectrum. At this point the only ones who favor Olmert are his enemies, because they are able to exploit his weakness and incompetence.

'Revolutionary' Iranian Aircraft

2006-11-27T02:27:00.000-08:00

Like Germany under the National Socialists (Nazis) and fascist Italy under Mussolini, Iran loves to throw around the term revolutionary when describing its political groups (see Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps). However, Iranian aircraft are anything but revolutionary. BBC, Military plane crashes in Tehran:

An Iranian military plane has crashed while taking off from an airport in Tehran, killing elite troops.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that 36 people on board the Russian-built Antonov-74 had been killed - 30 soldiers and six crew.

Two soldiers survived and were being treated in hospital, it added.

The commander of the Revolutionary Guards suggested to a local news agency that there may have been foul play, but he gave no further details.

Good riddens! Apparently this type of thing isn't uncommon in Iran. In January, Revolutionary Guard commander Ahmed Kazemi was killed in a similar plane wreck. RTE News stated:

Air safety experts say Iran has a poor record, with a string of crashes in the past few decades - many involving Russian-made aircraft.

The last civilian plane disaster was in September and in January a military plane crashed, killing 11 people.

A United Arab Emirates publication called the Khaleej Times gave a chronology of similar crashes in Iran.

According to the BBC, the Revolutionary Guard commander said foul play was involved the latest crash. How much do you want to bet he blames the crash on "the Jews?" You got it, when those dastardly Jews aren't busy inventing HIV or harvesting Palestinian organs, they're tampering with Iranian airplanes.

The crash had nothing to do with the fact that it was an inferior Russian airplane. It must be the Jews!

Palestinians break ceasefire

2006-11-26T00:39:00.000-08:00

The ceasefire Palestinians practically begged for was broken within hours by Palestinian rocket fire. Reuters, Gaza truce violated after rocket attacks:

GAZA (Reuters) - Palestinian militants fired several rockets at Israel from Gaza on Sunday just hours after a ceasefire aimed at ending five months of bloodshed in the impoverished coastal strip took effect.
The truce, which has raised the possibility of moribund Middle East peacemaking being revived, is designed to end rocket attacks and halt a crushing Israeli army offensive in Gaza.

Islamic Jihad took responsibility for three of the rockets and Hamas took responsibility for the remaining two, proving that you can never trust a terrorist hudna.

UPDATE: Reuters changed the name of its story to Gaza truce violated by Palestinian rocket attacks.

UPDATE: Despite Hamas breaking the hudna that it requested and despite the fact that Israel was winning (like usual) in its Gaza operations, Israeli PM Olmert decided to forge ahead with the ceasefire anyway.

A small step for Pakistan

2006-11-25T15:27:00.000-08:00

BBC, Pakistan senate backs rape bill:

The upper house of Pakistan's parliament has backed a bill amending an Islamic law on rape and adultery.

Until now rape cases have been dealt with in Sharia courts. Victims had to have four male witnesses to the crime - or else face prosecution for adultery.

The new law, which must be approved by Pakistani leader Gen Pervez Musharraf, allows civil courts to try rape cases.

The senate rejected objections to the bill put forward by Islamist MPs who boycotted last week's lower house vote.

Khurshid Ahmed, a leader of an opposition coalition of religious parties, described the bill as "an attempt to promote an alien culture and secularism in Pakistan", according to the Associated Press news agency.

The new law allows for DNA and other scientific evidence to be used in prosecuting rape cases.

It also drops the death penalty for people having sex outside marriage.

A woman is raped every two hours and gang-raped every eight hours in Pakistan, according to the country's independent Human Rights Commission.

RAWA: Afghanistan worse for women after US invasion

2006-11-24T22:46:00.000-08:00

RAWA, the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, is a female rights group. Their site describes RAWA as, "The oldest political/social organization of Afghan women struggling for peace, freedom, democracy and women's rights in fundamentalism-blighted Afghanistan."

According to RAWA, the reality of life for Afghan women under Islam is not as positive as the Western media portrays it. In fact, they assert that conditions for women have worsened after the US removed the Taliban. YNet, Afghanistan Behind the burqas:

Activist with Afghani organization for women’s rights RAWA tells Ynet women’s situation in Afghanistan even worse than before American invasion: Rape, kidnapping, murder go unpunished. ‘Without western interference, 9/11 could happen again,’ warns Sahar Saab

“I know what they tell you in the West about the situation here,” Sahar Saab sighs despairingly. Saab, an activist with the women’s movement RAWA which operates almost underground in Afghanistan, adds, “They tell you women’s circumstances have improved greatly, but in reality there is no improvement. In the capital, Kabul, and in a few more cities, women even work in government offices, but their numbers are very few, and many dangers still ambush women in the cities. And in the suburbs? For their own safety, women continue to wear burqas. Almost daily, we hear of kidnappings, rape, murder, suicide and disappearance in areas still ruled by the Taliban or the Northern Alliance, and we know there are many more incidents not reported.”

Now the knee-jerk liberal response might be, "See, we made it worse! We must get out of the Middle East right now!" However, this isn't what RAWA advocates. RAWA supports Western action in Afghanistan, knowing that the presence of Western troops is the only hope the country has. Take that, moonbats.

Terrorist photo of the day

2006-11-24T22:31:00.000-08:00

This is an AFP photo of British terrorist Michael Stone. In the picture he's being subdued by security guards after attempting to attack Stormont, the governmental seat of Northern Ireland, with a handgun and a bag full of pipe bombs. Read more here.

Red-eye is easily fixed in photographs, but it appears they left it alone in this one. My guess is because it makes him look even more psychotic. The red nail polish on the thumbnail of the security guard gives the photo an overall Silence of the Lambs feel.

Saudi gang rape victim gets lashes

2006-11-23T17:19:00.000-08:00

Just one example, but this happens throughout the Islamic world on a daily basis. Washington Times, Gang-rape case roils Saudi legal system:

AL-AWWAMIYA, Saudi Arabia -- When the teenager went to the police a few months ago to report she was gang-raped by seven men, she never imagined the judge would punish her -- and that she would be sentenced to more lashes than one of the suspects received.

It's sad to say, but she got off light. In Iran and Pakistan, rape victims are routinely executed. Under Islamic law being raped makes you an adulteress, a crime for which the sentence is death.

The justice of the Religion of Peace^TM

Richards' Jewish Rant?

2006-11-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

When I first heard about Michael Ricahrds' racist rant I was appalled. I thought to myself that Richards should know better because he is Jewish. Jews and African Americans have always had close social and political relationships. During times when both Jews and African Americans were discriminated against by WASPs in the United States, they aided one another. Jews assisted African Americans all throughout the civil rights movement. African American leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. denounced anti-Semitism and were avid supporters of Israel and Zionism.

Some African American groups have forgotten this, such as the Nation of Islam, with its vile anti-Semitism and support of terrorism. And as it turns out, although Michael Richards' played a Jew on TV, he may not be one in real life. JewishJournal.com stated that Richards isn't Jewish, but Catholic.

You might read this and think, "Hey, he could be Jewish and Catholic." In fact, he cannot. A Jewish person who believes in Jesus, or converts to any religion, renounces their Jewish heritage. In short, you can't believe in Jesus and be a Jew. Sure there are many people who claim to be Jewish believers in Jesus, but none are actually Jews. This is Jewish law.

On top of Michael Richards' Laugh Factory lynching, new allegations of anti-Semitism surfaced. TMZ reported that Carol Oschin and J.P. Fillet were witnesses to a similar rant where Richards attacked a Jewish audience member with, "You fucking Jew. You people are the cause of Jesus dying."

To confuse the situation further, Richards' new publisher Howard Rubenstein (is he Jewish?) stated that Michael Richards is in fact Jewish; the anti-Semitic rant was, according to Rubenstein, part of Richards' act:

"He is Jewish and he said, 'I'm absolutely not anti-Semitic,' " Rubenstein said. "He acknowledged that he said those things. He said that he was role-playing and playing a character. He said, 'There is no way I'm anti-Jewish.' "

So is he Jewish? Is he Catholic? The fact that he is an active Mason came up too. But does it really matter? There have been many Jewish anti-Semites, such as Dan Burros and Noam Chomsky. Racism and anti-Semitism are unacceptable for Catholics and Freemasons as well. No matter what religious or ethnic group the man belongs to, it's clear he needs help.

Sex with animals in Islam

2006-11-20T13:46:00.000-08:00

Who hasn't heard the pejorative term "goat fuckers" used to describe Muslims? While crass insults like this aren't helpful, there is some truth behind them. Bestiality is common in the Islamic world. The following video is of a Muslim man in Afghanistan. Yes, he's having sex with a cow.

Link

Muslims sacrifice animals to Allah

2006-11-15T12:11:00.000-08:00

Indonesian Muslims throw animals into the boiling mud of an oil well blowout. The goal - to please Allah and fix the well. Looks like a small goat or dog in the picture above. (Hat Tip: LGF)

Somali death squads fought with Lebanon

2006-11-15T11:39:00.000-08:00

Somali Islamists fought alongside Hezbollah, according to a UN report. YNet, Report: 700 Somali volunteers fought alongside Hizbullah:

Over 700 Somali fighters joined Hizbullah in its war against Israel this past summer, a United Nations report revealed. According to the report, quoted by the New York Times, Hizbullah provided the Islamist Somali militias with training and weapons, through Iran and Syria, in exchange for their assistance.

The report also said that Iran sought to trade arms for uranium from Somalia to further its nuclear ambitions, though it does not say whether Iran succeeded, the Times reported.

Muslims voted Democrat

2006-11-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

Washington Times, Democrats' wins hinged on Muslims:

Muslim voters, an electoral ally of President Bush as recently as 2000, played a key role in turning over control of the Senate to Democrats, a study shows.

"Although the-get-out-the-vote campaign was nonpartisan, there is no doubt that our strategy to support a large Muslim voter turnout in areas with potentially close election races was a correct one," said Mahdi Bray, director of the Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom Foundation. "We looked at the states with close races and matched them up with states that had a large concentration of Muslims."

MAS also targeted races in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

In the U.S. Senate race in Virginia, more than 50,000 self-identified Muslim voters went to the polls, MAS said. A commanding majority of them, 92 percent, or 47,092, voted for the Democratic challenger, James H. Webb Jr. Mr. Webb won his race against Sen. George Allen, the Republican incumbent, by 9,326 votes.

"If Muslims had decided to put their weight behind Allen, Republicans would have had at least a tie in the Senate," said Mukit Hossain of MAS, which conducted the survey.

Muslim turnout of registered voters was exceptionally high in Virginia, at 86 percent, MAS reported. About 13 percent, or 7,822, of them were first-time voters.

Afghan women burn themselves to escape

2006-11-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

The plight of women in Afghanistan under Islamic law is so great, even after the fall of the Taliban, that women increasingly commit suicide to escape Islamic oppression. They even set themselves on fire. BBC, Afghan women seek death by fire:

Increasing numbers of Afghan women are committing suicide by setting fire to themselves to escape difficult lives, according to NGOs based in the country.

They say women forced into marriage or suffering chronic abuse are killing themselves out of desperation.

Although estimates are difficult to calculate, one group says cases of self-immolation in the capital have doubled since last year.

Kofi attacks climate, ignores Sudan

2006-11-15T11:17:00.000-08:00

Kofi Annan plans to take on African climate change at a Nairobi summit. Climate change, of course, refers to warming of the African continent. It's unlikely he will address the political climate, such an increase in Islamism or the ongoing genocide in Sudan and Chad. It's unlikely because Kofi hasn't paid serious attention to the political climate at all.

If the climate improves, that's wonderful. However, it likely won't. And while Kofi is playing in Nairobi, millions will become the victims of genocide at the hands of Islamic death squads in Darfur. Kofi won't go down in history as a man who helped the environment, but will be remembered as a man who ignored mass murder. Just like Boutros Boutros-Ghali went down in history as the UN Secretary General who ignored the Rawandan genocide, Kofi Annan will go down in history as the UN Secretary General who ignored the Darfur genocide.

BBC gets new competition

2006-11-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

The BBC has more competition with the English language version of al-Jazeera making it debut today. How many pro-Muslim, terror-endorsing networks do we really need? The Times, Slick, but depressing: a first view of English al-Jazeera:

Ten years after it began broadcasting, al-Jazeera launched its first English-language news channel at noon today. Michael Binyon of The Times tuned in to watch the channel's explosive start, which he says, could attract a loyal following around the world

It made its name with dramatic pictures of conflict and exclusive scoops: the war against the Taleban, Bin Laden’s tapes, the bombings and US-led attack on Baghdad, the war in Lebanon, the rising anger in the Middle East. Al-Jazeera quickly became the voice of the Arab street, a must-watch station for Arabs and for newsmen around the world — assuming they could follow the Arabic.

Today everyone can watch. After much hype, slick publicity and a long delay, al-Jazeera’s English-language world service was lauched from its headquarters in Qatar. It began with a bang, focusing, naturally, on what had made its name: hard-hitting news from the world’s trouble spots...

...There was little to quarrel with politically — though David Chater, the commentator did talk about “so-called terror organisations” which might raise an eyebrow in Jerusalem or Washington.

For balance we then went straight to Jerusalem, and Jackie Rowland — yet another ex-BBC frontline reporter wooed over to the new channel — to hear how Israeli public opinion reacted to shelling from Gaza. She was, like the mood there, blunt and uncompromising: Israeli military doctrine was to attack whenever people felt threatened.

Moving from the BBC to al-Jazeera must be a smooth transition.

Muslim countries aid Somali warlords

2006-11-15T11:02:00.000-08:00

A UN report stated that ten countries, mostly Islamic, are illegally supplying weapons to Somali warlords. BBC, Powers 'stoking Somali conflict':

What is most striking about this report is the detailed links between countries such as Iran, Syria and Lebanon and the Islamic Courts Union.

For example, the authors say 720 Somali fighters went to Lebanon to help Hezbollah fight Israel in July.

Syria is said to have sent an aircraft full of guns to the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Iran is reported to have sent three shipments of arms to Somalia between July and September.

And one paragraph in the report says two Iranians were in Somalia looking into getting uranium in exchange for supplying arms.

The Vatican addresses veils

2006-11-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

The crusading Catholic regime has made another blasphemous remark toward the religion of peace. This time a Vatican representative requested that Muslims follow the law. Those infidels! Jihad on following the law! BBC, Vatican enters Muslim veil debate:

Cardinal Renato Martino said immigrants must respect the traditions, culture and religion of the nations they go to.

They ought to abide by local laws banning the wearing of certain types of Muslim veils, he added.

"It seems elementary to me and it is quite right that the authorities demand it," said Cardinal Martino, who heads the Vatican department dealing with migration issues.

The good Cardinal obviously didn't get the memo. He should know by now that Muslims don't follow laws; they believe they are above all secular and non-Muslim laws. The only law Muslims respect is Sharia, which includes wearing veils and subjecting non-Muslims to dhimmitude. And respecting other cultures, traditions, and religions? You can forget about that right now.

Plutonium, bombmaking material found in Iran

2006-11-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

Peaceful nuclear power? The argument is getting harder to make when evidence of Iran's plan to build a nuclear weapon continues to surface. Reuters, U.N. sleuths find plutonium at Iran atom site: IAEA:

VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors have found traces of plutonium, of possible use in atom bombs, at an Iranian nuclear waste site as Tehran pursues a nuclear program despite the risk of sanctions, an IAEA report said on Tuesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency report, obtained by Reuters, also said the U.N. watchdog still could not confirm Iran's nuclear intentions were entirely peaceful given its continued stonewalling of IAEA inquiries dating to 2003.
IAEA inspectors detected bits of plutonium in samples of particles of highly enriched uranium (HEU) taken earlier from containers at the Karaj atomic waste facility near Tehran. In larger amounts, plutonium and HEU can detonate atom bombs.

What's really scary is that idiotarians actually believe Iran is only seeking a power source.

Pakistan initiates Taliban rule

2006-11-13T14:12:00.000-08:00

Pakistan, a country touted by Bush as an ally against terrorism, passed a bill that sanctions a secret police modeled after the Taliban or the Police of Vice and Virtue. BBC, 'Taleban Law' passed in Pakistan:

Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has passed a bill setting up a Taleban-style department under a cleric to enforce Islamic morality.

It gives the new department the power to use the police and media for the promotion of Islamic values.

The NWFP is governed by an alliance of religious parties, the MMA, that is sympathetic to the Taleban.

It has already introduced measures such as the banning of music on public transport.

This is "moderate Islam" at work.

Homosexual insults in Jerusalem

2006-11-13T14:00:00.000-08:00

[The Otter wasn't the only one to realize that the homosexual pride parade in Jerusalem was a hateful act toward religious Jews and other groups. David Fisher at YNet drew the same conclusion.]

YNet, Next year in Tel Aviv:

Homo-lesbian community has failed test of tolerance

David Fisher
Published: 11.12.06, 19:16

The debate over whether to hold the pride parade in Jerusalem put the conflict between the Orthodox and secular communities back in the limelight after years in which it seemed that it had subsided and lost its relevance.

As an ordinary citizen who followed this cultural war via the media, I feel that this time the homo-lesbian community went too far and in so doing lost support among the public in light of the community's insistence to hold the parade in Jerusalem of all places.

In recent years, the homo-lesbian community has achieved a great deal, achievements that could only have been imagined in the past. Does anyone still remember that homosexuality was deemed a criminal offense until the middle of the 80s? Since then, with the help of liberal elected legislators and opinion leaders, homosexuality has become a legitimate sexual orientation and the law that previously banned it now prohibits discrimination against same sex couples. Today, coming out of the closet is often deemed a promotional act. Politicians who in the past ignored the community are now seeking its company in the aim of securing their votes for the next elections.

In light of the community's success, the question of whether the parade was really necessary has often been asked, including by members of the community itself. Beyond the party atmosphere that breaks up the routine once a year, it doesn't convey any real message. And if this is the case, why does the community insist on celebrating its sexual orientations in Jerusalem of all places, a city with cultural characteristics very different to those prevalent in Tel Aviv.

Going one step too far

Even though they spoke of tolerance, the homo-lesbian community did not understand that they themselves were being intolerant not only towards Jerusalem residents, but also towards cultural traditions. They didn't understand that their conduct was not only offensive to the residents of Mea Shearim but also to the Christian and Muslim residents who view Jerusalem as a holy city in which sexual permissiveness should be prevented. Every city has its unique cultural traits; in Tel Aviv for example, a mass parade by born again Jews wouldn't have been looked upon favorably. Jerusalem is not a suitable place to hold a parade of a sexual nature.

When looking objectively at the status quo in Jerusalem, it is evident that those who demonstrated tolerance were in fact the residents of Mea Shearim. They have never paraded in the streets of Tel Aviv in protest of the pride parade being held there, and they took no measures to shut down the Open House and gay clubs operating in Jerusalem.

However, this year's pride parade was going one step too far, interpreted by the religious community as legitimizing something that is not at all crucial. Their willingness to accept the compromise proposed by the police shows that contrary to popular thought, agreements can be reached with them and that they are not blind to the goings on outside of Mea Shearim in the heart of the secular society.

The protest by the homo-lesbian community would have been understood had it asked to protest against a law that bans holding a parade or if a representative from a religious political party would have taken up the post at the Ministry of Education and Culture and proceeded to ban films of a homosexual nature.

A regime that prohibits the freedom of expression of same sex couples should be protested, but a people's protest coming from the various groups living in the city should be adhered to.

Had I been a member of the gay community, I would let the next pride parade be held in Tel Aviv.

David Fisher is the director of the New Israeli Foundation for Cinema and TV

[Related: When gays attack]

Islamic death squads ride again

2006-11-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

Darfur militias in deadly attacks:

About 30 people have been killed in Sudan's Darfur region, when pro-government militias raided a village, peacekeepers say.

Armed men on horses and camels rode into the village of Sirba, near the Chad border, killing those they found, say UN and African Union officials.

Al-Qaeda planning nuclear attacks

2006-11-13T13:28:00.000-08:00

Reuters, Al Qaeda seeking nuclear kit for attacks: UK official:

LONDON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda is trying to acquire the technology that would enable it to use a nuclear device to attack Western targets including Britain, a senior British official said on Monday.
"We know the aspiration is there. We know attempts to gather materials are there, we know that attempts to gather technology are there," the senior Foreign Office official told reporters.
The comments at a briefing came days after the head of Britain's domestic spy agency said Muslim extremists were plotting at least 30 major terrorist attacks in Britain which could involve chemical and nuclear devices.

The Foreign Office official, asked whether there was any doubt that Al Qaeda wants to gather nuclear material for use against Western targets, said: "No doubt at all."

'Borat' accurate depiction of Kazakhs

2006-11-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

ABC News, 'Borat' Backlash Brings Anger, Lawsuits:

"If I saw him, I'd kill him straight away," one Kazakh man told ABC News. "We like hunting."

The "we're a peaceful religion and we'll kill anyone who disagrees" mentality at work.

Clearly this type of behavior doesn't battle the stereotype Borat portrays, but instead reinforces it.

Germany to charge US over Abu Ghraib

2006-11-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

TIME, Exclusive: Charges Sought Against Rumsfeld Over Prison Abuse:

Just days after his resignation, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is about to face more repercussions for his involvement in the troubled wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. New legal documents, to be filed next week with Germany's top prosecutor, will seek a criminal investigation and prosecution of Rumsfeld, along with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA director George Tenet and other senior U.S. civilian and military officers, for their alleged roles in abuses committed at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The plaintiffs in the case include 11 Iraqis who were prisoners at Abu Ghraib, as well as Mohammad al-Qahtani, a Saudi held at Guantanamo, whom the U.S. has identified as the so-called "20th hijacker" and a would-be participant in the 9/11 hijackings. As TIME first reported in June 2005, Qahtani underwent a "special interrogation plan," personally approved by Rumsfeld, which the U.S. says produced valuable intelligence. But to obtain it, according to the log of his interrogation and government reports, Qahtani was subjected to forced nudity, sexual humiliation, religious humiliation, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation and other controversial interrogation techniques.

Full article: here.

Intolerant homosexual cries intolerance

2006-11-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

He's famous, too. Sir Elton: Ban organised religion:

Sir Elton John has said he would like to see all organised religion banned and accused it of trying to "turn hatred towards gay people".

Organised religion lacked compassion and turned people into "hateful lemmings", he told the Observer.

The Otter supports gay rights and tolerance of homosexuals. The Otter also supports tolerance of people who hold peaceful religious beliefs. A homosexual calling for a ban on religion due to intolerance is pure hypocrisy - it's an act of intolerance itself.

South Park recently lampooned this type of militant atheism by depicting Cartman unfrozen in a futuristic world with little creativity and constant war between atheist groups. Also, there were futuristic talking otters. No kidding. Watch it here.

It's ironic that Elton John's argument - religion teaches intolerance and should be banned - is found in communist political theories. Communist governments have oppressed homosexuals as badly as religious theocracies.

Israeli general resigns

2006-11-12T17:15:00.000-08:00

BBC, Israel general quits over Lebanon:

An Israeli general who commanded forces in the war against Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas has resigned.

Brig Gen Gal Hirsch was in charge of the unit whose soldiers were ambushed by Hezbollah men on 12 July, the incident that ignited the conflict.

Three soldiers were killed in the border attack, and another two were captured. They remain in captivity.

Gen Hirsch is the second high-profile military figure to lose his job over the 34-day Lebanon war.

Udi Adam, who headed the army's Northern Command, resigned in September, a month after the war ended in a UN-brokered ceasefire.

His departure was triggered by Hezbollah's firing of thousands of rockets into Israel during the war.

Last week, Doron Almog, a retired general who headed an army investigation into the 12 July incident, informed Gen Hirsch that he would recommend his dismissal.

According to Israel Radio, Gen Almog's report criticises Gen Hirsch's unit for not properly preparing its soldiers for the eventuality of a Hezbollah attack aiming to kidnap troops.

So it's a Rumsfeld-style resignation. Hirsch quit only due to pressure over a poor job.

Vietnam charges US citizens with terrorism

2006-11-09T20:51:00.000-08:00

Three US citizens were charged with terrorism in Vietnam. They'll likely undergo a mock trial and be imprisoned. What heinous crime did our brothers commit? Did they suicide bomb a bus? Plan to blow up a building? Did they poison water supplies or incite violence against ethnic groups?

No - all they did was broadcast anti-communist radio transmissions. BBC, US citizens on trial in Vietnam:

Three US citizens and four Vietnamese have gone on trial in Vietnam charged with terrorism.

The seven are accused of attempting to set up illegal transmitters to make anti-communist radio broadcasts inside the country.

The case may complicate ties with the US ahead of President George W Bush's visit to Vietnam next week and a Congressional vote on trade relations.

The trial in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to last no more than a day.

New Islamic Congressman linked with radical groups

2006-11-09T16:24:00.000-08:00

Minnesota's new Congressman Keith Ellison has ties to the radical, racist, and and anti-Semitic Nation of Islam according to Corruption Chronicles. Corruption Chronicles, Congress gets Muslim:

The first Muslim elected to the United States Congress is a Democrat from Minneapolis with ties to an Islamic group that supports terrorism and a radical cult whose leader says God will destroy the entire white race and establish a paradise nation ruled by blacks.

Minnesota’s new Representative in the House, Keith Ellison, was endorsed and partly financed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a massive U.S.-based organization that avidly defends Osama bin Laden and other militant Islamic terrorists and considers U.S. action against terrorists anti-Islamic. In fact, the group demanded the removal of a Los Angeles billboard describing bin Laden as “the sworn enemy” because it was “offensive to Muslims.”

Ellison, who converted to Islam as a 19-year-old college student, also has strong ties to the Nation of Islam, the black cult led by renowned anti-Christian and anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan. The group’s doctrine states that black people created white people in a genetic experiment 6,000 years ago and that “Judgment Day” means that the Gods will destroy the entire white race (devils) and establish a paradise nation ruled forever by blacks.

As if this weren’t enough to question the choice of Minnesota voters, as a state legislator Ellison supported and defended a convicted cop-killer and leader of a violent gang. Ellison used thug-like language to attack law enforcement officials as racists saying “we don’t get no justice, you don’t get no peace.”. Ellison also supports and demands freedom for another convicted cop-killer named Assata Shakur, who lives in Cuba and remains on the FBI’s most wanted list.

Perhaps having Ellison in the House, represents a victory for violent criminals worldwide. Little Green Footballs says they’ll be celebrating in Gaza tomorrow.

Related: LGF, CAIR's Congressman

Argentina calls for arrest of Rafsanjani

2006-11-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

Jerusalem Post, Iran ex-president sought for '94 Argentina bombing:

A federal judge in Argentina said Thursday he was seeking the "international capture" of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed 85 people.

A special prosecutor sought the order, alleging that the worst terrorist attack ever on Argentine soil was orchestrated by leaders of the Iranian government and entrusted to the Lebanon-based Hizbullah.

Speaking with The Associated Press and a group of local journalists at his offices in the Argentine capital, Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral added that he was seeking the help of Interpol in his effort.

Although he did not specify whether he had already issued arrest warrants, he said he also was issuing an "international exhortation" to Iran to comply with his request, adding he had received "serious" evidence warranting detentions of the nine.

Thank you Argentina. Baruch Hashem and may you catch him!

Related: BBC, Argentina seeks Rafsanjani arrest

Arab Muslims ethnically cleanse Chad

2006-11-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

An estimated 200 Chadians were ethnically cleansed this week by Islamic Janjaweed death squads. BBC, Chad ethnic attacks 'killed 200':

More than 200 people were killed in a spate of attacks in eastern Chad earlier this week, aid workers say.

They say five villages were attacked in a three-day assault by 200 men on horseback, armed with machine-guns, which began last Saturday...

...The attackers were from local Arab groups, while the villages attacked were non-Arab - mainly Dadjo and Moro.

The aggressors reportedly shouted: "You slaves. We have arrived and now we are attacking you."

Hamas to attack America, links with al-Qaeda

2006-11-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

MSNBC, Hamas calls on Muslims to attack U.S. targets:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Signaling a change in tactics, Hamas' military wing on Wednesday called on Muslims around the world to attack American targets after a deadly Israeli tank strike in the Gaza Strip.
"America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons," Hamas said in a statement sent to The Associated Press.
While critical of the U.S., Hamas has always focused its violent campaign of suicide bombings and rocket attacks against Israeli targets.
Wednesday's threat signaled that the group is identifying with global Islamic extremist movements, such as al-Qaida.

The new Muslim congressman

2006-11-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, has become the first Islamic Congressman in the United States.

According to CNN, Ellison stated:

"I opposed the war before it began. I was against this war once it started and I am the only candidate calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops."

CNN also stated:

His religious message is one of inclusiveness.

Regarding his Muslim faith, he said, "people draw strength and moral courage from a variety of religious traditions."
"Mine have come from both Catholicism and Islam. I was raised Catholic and later became a Muslim while attending Wayne State University. I am inspired by the Quran's message of an encompassing divine love, and a deep faith guides my life every day."
Ellison's position on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is supportive of the two-state solution and the road map to peace process. He has been critical of the Hamas movement.
"Peace is necessary for both Israeli and Palestinian people, and I wholeheartedly support peace movements in Israel and throughout the region," he said in a statement on his Web site.
He was endorsed by the Twin Cities newspaper, the American Jewish World, which said, "In Ellison, we have a moderate Muslim who extends his hand in friendship to the Jewish community and supports the security of the State of Israel."
Ellison is pro-choice and pro-labor, and supports "universal single payer health care" -- long popular stances among liberals.

If all of this is true, it would be great (except for the immediate withdrawal from Iraq). However, The Otter is skeptical. Pro-choice is contrary to what Islam teaches, as is support for Israel and the United States. Either he is being politically correct and hiding his true Islamic sentiment, or he has revised Islam to the point where it doesn't even resemble Islam anymore.

Haggard guilty of sexual conduct

2006-11-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

Ted Haggard, who admitted buying the illegal drug methamphetamine from gay prostitute Mike Jones, but denied a homosexual relationship, was found guilty of sexually immoral conduct by the Overseer Board of Haggard's massive New Life Church and forced to resign. CBS, Evangelical Rev. Quits Amid Drugs, Gay Sex Scandal:

The Rev. Ted Haggard agreed to resign Saturday from his New Life Church after its independent investigative board recommended removal, saying he was guilty "of sexually immoral conduct."

"We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard," a statement from the church said. "Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct."

The icing on the cake is that police are also investigating the claims to see if criminal charges can be brought against Haggard.

Evangelical homophobes are in many ways like Islamic homophobes. They condemn homosexuality in public while practicing homosexuality in private. The homophobia stems from an unnatural view of human sexuality based on twisted and incorrect religion.

UPDATE: Haggard finally confesses.

Denver Post, Haggard apologizes to congregation:

In a letter of apology read to the congregation of New Life Church Sunday morning, Ted Haggard confessed to sexually immorality and described himself as "a deceiver and a liar" who struggled with urgings most of his life.
Haggard said he had sought help often, but was unable eradicate to these urgings from his life.

Army Times calls for Rummy's resignation

2006-11-05T10:08:00.000-08:00

CNN, Army Times to call for Rumsfeld's resignation:

(CNN) -- An editorial to be published Monday in independent publications that serve the four main branches of the U.S. military will call for President Bush to replace Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"Basically, the editorial says, it's clear now, from some of the public statements that military leaders are making, that he's lost the support and respect of the military leadership," said Robert Hodierne, senior managing editor for the publications' parent company Army Times Publications.
"That they're starting to go public with that now, with their disagreements, added up with all of the other missteps we believe he's made, that it's time for him to be replaced," Hodierne.
Army Times Publications publishes the Army Times, Navy Times, Air Force Times and the Marine Corps Times.
It is the second time the publications have called for Rumsfeld to resign.

Bush has no intention to listen to the military about Rumsfeld. Just another example of how the impotency and ineptitude of the Bush administration is ineffective in a very important conflict. If Bush had combat experience and didn't escape real service by joining the National Guard he wouldn't ignore the pleas of the military. Truly disgraceful.

The Bush administration needs to head the pleas of the military; replace Rumsfeld with a competent Secretary of Defense, fund the troops properly, ensure they have necessary equipment, and reinforce positions in Iraq with more men on the ground.

US Jews, reconsider support for left

2006-11-05T10:02:00.000-08:00

[Reprinted from YNET, US Jews, reconsider support for left. Essential reading for liberal Jews and non-Jews.]

Rabbi Levi Brackman
Published: 11/03/06

US Jews, reconsider support for left

Jews must be constantly on guard to oppose anti-Semitism wherever is rears its ugly head, even in places where we least expect to see it.

In an attempt to explain why most Jewish Americans are liberal and vote Democrat, a friend of mine sent me Philip Roth’s award-winning book entitled The Plot Against America (2004).

The Plot Against America is an alternative history novel, in which, at the presidential election of 1940, Democratic presidential incumbent Franklin Delano Roosevelt is defeated by isolationist and mildly anti-Semitic right-wing Republican candidate Charles Lindbergh.

The novel follows the Roth family during the right-wing Lindbergh presidency, under which anti-Semitism becomes more accepted in American life and Jewish–American families like the Roths are persecuted. If indeed this book is representative of Jewish–American fears about the Republican Party in 2006, I am rather perplexed.

Left, right, left…
Traditionally the terms right and left, used in the political sense, referred to different political philosophies in which the left defended the interests of the working class and the right defended and looked out for the interests of the wealthy and the aristocrats. According to this definition, Judaism is very much a left-wing religion.

However, most agree that this characterization no longer adequately defines the modern-day difference between right and left. The fact is that many who claim to have a right-wing ideology will champion the cause of the minorities and many self-proclaimed left-wingers will trample upon them.

In fact, the German Nazis considered themselves socialists and the Soviets held extreme left-wing ideologies but this did not stop the Nazis from killing Jews, gays and gypsies or the Soviets from killing and enslaving their working classes.

During the Holocaust, left-wing President Roosevelt himself could have done more to help the plight of European Jews but for political considerations decided not to.

For example, after the passengers of the "St. Louis" – which set sail from Germany in May 1939 carrying over 900 Jewish passengers fleeing Nazi Germany – had been refused entry into Cuba, President Roosevelt ignored a cable from the passengers asking for refuge in America and later refused to use his executive power to grant them visas. As a direct result of this, most of the Jews on board were sent back to Europe, where many were eventually killed by the Nazis.

To be sure, Roosevelt was not an anti-Semite and just because a politician does not stand up to protect Jews, it does not mean that she or he hates them. Nonetheless, in saying “never again” with regard to the Holocaust, we must be alert to the ever-changing guises of anti-Semitism and recognize that it does not consistently come from any one particular side of the political aisle.

Look left
In this vein, the British Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks once made the following important observation: “Anti-Semitism,” he said, “is a virus, and like a virus it mutates, and because it mutates, it gets past our immune systems, which are still on the look-out for last year's virus.”

He observed that in the 19th century the religious anti-Judaism of the Middle Ages became racial anti-Semitism and now that the world has become immunised against that strain of anti-Semitism, it has mutated again into anti-Zionism and defines all Jews as Zionists.

It seems that many American Jews are still trying to fight the old strain of anti-Semitism that manifests itself in an extreme right-wing ideology of patriotism and nationalism. Although this is undoubtedly still a threat, while our attention was directed elsewhere, a virulent strain developed, which manifested itself in extreme anti-Zionism – an alarmingly high rate of which is found on the left of the political divide.

The evidence for this is aplenty. Just read left-wing blogs (dailykos.com, moveon.org, myleftwing.com etc.) or witness how left-leaning radio stations and media cover stories related to Israel, not to mention the overt anti-Israeli sentiment and covert anti-Jewish feeling that exist in the liberal academic world.

With the potential of a nuclear-armed Iran, the threat to Israel and its six million Jews is real. It is therefore more important than ever for American Jews not to support a party whose base seems to have become both anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic.

Ultimately we Jews must be constantly on our guard to oppose anti-Semitism wherever is rears its ugly head, and be prepared and open to recognize it even in places where we least expect to see it.

Brits support terror, hate America

2006-11-05T09:57:00.000-08:00

According to polls, Brits believe George W. Bush is the second most dangerous man in the world. Only seven percent support the war on terrorism. YNET, Britons: Bush almost as dangerous as Bin Laden:

President Bush's image was dealt another blow this weekend as a poll conducted in Britain found that the American president is the second most dangerous man in the world.
British respondents who were asked who in their opinion is the man that most endangers world peace placed Bush as the second most dangerous man, only second to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.

An international poll published in the Guardian found that Bush is perceived to be more dangerous than dictators like North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Leading pastor resigns over gay sex scandal

2006-11-03T09:28:00.000-08:00

Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and senior pastor at the massive New Life Church, resigned from his post when he was outed by male prostitute Mike Jones. Haggard denied that he was a homosexual. Reuters, Evangelical leader resigns over sex scandal:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - The president of the U.S. National Association of Evangelicals, who has had regular talks with the White House and vocally opposes gay marriage, resigned on Thursday after being accused of having a sexual relationship with a male escort.

Ted Haggard, who denied the accusation, also temporarily stepped down as senior pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, the church said in a statement.

"I've never had a gay relationship with anyone," Haggard said in an interview with Denver television station KUSA on Wednesday night. "I'm steady with my wife. I'm faithful to my wife."

The New Life Church statement quoted Haggard as saying he could "not continue to minister under the cloud created by the accusations."

"I am voluntarily stepping aside from leadership so that the overseer process can be allowed to proceed with integrity. I hope to be able to discuss this matter in more detail at a later date," the church statement quoted Haggard as saying.

Mike Jones, who said he was a male escort, told KUSA on Wednesday he had had a three-year sexual "business relationship" with Haggard.

Resignations over sex scandals almost always imply guilt. A person who didn't bang a male prostitute for three years wouldn't drop their entire career. These types of resignations are an attempt to draw media attention away from the scandal and cut losses. "Cut and run" so to speak. Mike Jones, the male prostitute who made the allegations, also stated he had physical evidence of Haggard's homosexual trysts which include "pretty damning" voicemails. The world will have to wait for further confirmation, if it exists, of Haggard's alleged homosexual affairs. Right now, however, Haggard is acting like a guilty man.

Ted Haggard has a long history of homophobia, including lobbying for discriminatory legislation against homosexuals. What's ironic is that homophobes like Haggard are often closet homosexuals. The reason they become homophobic is due to clinical self-hatred. All one has to do is look at the homosexual sex scandals in the Republican Party or the Christian clergy to confirm this.

UPDATE: Reuters, Evangelical America hit by gay sex scandal:

Haggard, who has publicly denied the accusation, also temporarily stepped down as senior pastor of the New Life Church in Colorado Springs.
But the acting senior pastor at New Life Church, Ross Parsley, told Colorado Springs-based KKTV late on Thursday that Haggard had admitted to some of the allegations.
"There has been some admission of indiscretion, not admission to all of the material that has been discussed, but there is an admission of some guilt," Parsley said.

Hamas takes mosque, uses human shields

2006-11-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

On Friday an estimated 60 gunmen from the terrorist group Hamas barricaded themselves in a Gaza mosque. Israeli forces shot tear gas inside and tore down a wall to make the terrorists surrender, but Hamas had another trick up its sleeve - human shields.

Hamas broadcasted a plea for help on the radio that asked women to stand between the gunmen and the IDF. In response, hundreds of Palestinian women surrounded the mosque. Meanwhile, Hamas members disguised themselves as women to mix with the crowd. Shots were fired at Israeli troops from within the mob and the IDF responded, killing two. According to Hamas, all fugitive terrorists escaped. BBC, Gaza women killed in mosque siege:

Israeli military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich said: "Unfortunately, maybe one woman was killed - I don't know if it's by IDF or not. But our purpose is definitely not to hit the innocent ones."

"We saw crowds of women. Behind the women hid some of the militants. Some of them were even dressed up as women: we have footage," she said.

"Unfortunately because the militants shot at our forces, sometimes we had to respond."

At least two men disguised in women's clothes were seen being embraced by jubilant bystanders as the women rushed away from the mosque, the Associated Press reported.

Hezbollah admits Iranian funding

2006-11-03T08:57:00.000-08:00

Iran has previously denied funding Hezbollah or helping the terrorist group in any material way, stating that it only gives the group moral support. Despite this, the intelligence community has long known that Hezbollah does in fact receive weapons, training, and money from Iran to carry out terrorist attacks on Israel.

A leading Hezbollah official, Kassam Allaik, recently admitted that Iran is supplying Hezbollah with funds to carry out operations. BBC, Iran 'sending funds to Hezbollah':

A senior Hezbollah official has told the BBC that Iran is providing the group with money to help fund its reconstruction activities in Lebanon.

Kassam Allaik said Iran also had its own groups in Lebanon, rebuilding bridges, roads and mosques.

Lebanon's Finance Minister, Jihad Azour, also acknowledged that Iranian money is going directly to Hezbollah.

Darfur Muslims murder babies

2006-11-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

The continued genocide of blacks in Darfur at the hands of Islamic Janjaweed raiders claimed the lives of 63 victims during the last week, at least 27 of whom were under 12 years of age, according to African forces.

Janjaweed militias attack villages and civilians, not military targets. They are proxies of the Sudanese government used to ethnically cleanse the area of non-Muslims, non-Arabs, and black Africans. BBC, Darfur militias 'kill children':

Militias backing Sudan's government have killed at least 63 people in attacks in Darfur in the past week, African peacekeepers say.

At least 27 of the victims are thought to be children under the age of 12.

The attacks were carried on camps for the displaced in the rebel stronghold of Jebel Moon, in West Darfur.

Fat cops bounce Police Chief

2006-11-02T12:38:00.000-08:00

Former Florida Police Chief Paul Goward was forced out of his position after asking fat cops to lose weight and get back in shape. FOX News, Florida Police Chief Ousted After 'Jelly Bellies' Memo Telling Cops to Get Fit:

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. — Police Chief Paul Goward was tired of looking around his department and seeing blubber hanging over the belts of some of his officers. So he sent out a memo exhorting the "jelly bellies" to shape up.

In the end, the department lost 190 pounds — all of them belonging to Goward. He was forced out as chief because some of his officers took offense at the memo.

The Oct. 11 memo bruised feelings on the 80-member force, drew at least one anonymous letter of complaint from officers about the chief's management style and made his department the butt of jokes about fat cops and doughnuts.

"If they got their feelings hurt to the extent of 'Do something about it,' then I did what I was intending to do," said an unapologetic Goward, a trim 6-footer who was forced to resign his $92,000-a-year post last week.

Some of the chief's defenders said his ouster was a big overreaction.

"He offered tremendously good advice, yet he was sacked," wrote Thomas Roe Oldt, a columnist for The Ledger of Lakeland.

In his memo, titled "Are You a Jelly Belly," the chief never singled anyone out, and apart from the title, didn't call anyone names.

Instead, he provided a list of 10 reasons police officers should be in shape. He said overweight police poorly represent the profession, poop out when chasing suspects and might have to resort to "a higher level of force" if a criminal got the upper hand in a fight. He said out-of-shape cops are a liability to the city and their families.

"Take a good look at yourself," he wrote. "If you are unfit, do yourself and everyone else a favor. See a professional about a proper diet and a fitness training program, quit smoking, limit alcohol intake and start thinking self-pride, confidence and respectability. And stop making excuses for delaying what you know you should have been doing years ago. We didn't hire you unfit and we don't want you working unfit. Don't mean to offend, this is just straight talk. I owe it to you."

Winter Haven cops must pass physical examinations to be hired but are not regularly tested for fitness thereafter.

Goward, 60, said he is not a fitness freak, was not "asking for a department full of Arnold Schwarzeneggers here" and did not order his officers to stay away from fast-food restaurants or doughnut shops. In fact, the 36-year police veteran, who has also worked in Kansas and South Carolina, said Winter Haven's force is no less fit than the others he has served on.

David Greene, manager of the central Florida city of 30,000, said through a spokeswoman that he was too busy for an interview, but told the local newspapers the anonymous complaint letters made it clear the police department had a morale problem because of Goward's abrasive management style during his 2 1/2 years there.

"Emotions within the police department and the relationship with the police chief became raw," he told The Ledger.

Winter Haven officers contacted by The Associated Press said they were told not to talk to reporters about Goward's departure.

One of the anonymous complaint letters described the force as "upset to say the least" about the chief and called the "Jelly Belly" memo "the icing on the cake."

"This letter shows the type of harassment and hostile work environment we have. The chief of police is constantly 'bad talking' us in every way possible and we have had enough of his arrogance," the letter read.

Baruch haShem, I don't live in that community. I could never respect a department full of fat cops who couldn't take constructive criticism. Instead of dealing with the problem - the fact that they are overweight - they removed the one person in the department honest enough to call them out. Truly disgusting. Now instead of tax dollars paying the salary of an active, healthy police force they are being used to condone diseased living.

Blame it on Borat

2006-11-02T11:58:00.000-08:00

FOX News, Dharma and... Borat? A 'Victim' Complains:

Sacha Baron Cohen’s "Borat" may be the funniest movie made in a long, long time. But one person is definitely not laughing: TV news producer Dharma Arthur.

Arthur, 50, is claiming that Cohen’s antics during the shooting of his crazy movie cost her her job — and maybe worse.

Audiences who’ve seen the movie have noted an episode where Borat visits a live noon news show on WAPT in Jackson, Miss. While on the air, Cohen, posing as the Kazakh news correspondent, wreaks havoc with anchor Brad McMullan and weather guy Ken Johnson.

He makes sexual and scatological references, kisses Brad and stands up during the interview so that he’s out of frame. Once red-faced McMullan cuts the segment short, Borat then wanders into and disrupts Johnson’s live weather report.

Arthur, the producer who unwittingly booked Borat onto the show, is now living in Panama City, Fla., with her father. She recently wrote to Newsweek calling herself one of Cohen’s many “victims.”

“Because of him, my boss lost faith in my abilities and second-guessed everything I did thereafter,” she writes in Newsweek’s most recent issue. “I spiraled into depression, and before I could recover, I was released from my contract early. It took me three months to find another job, and now I'm thousands of dollars in debt and struggling to keep my house out of foreclosure.”

Calls to WAPT and an e-mail to McMullan, who’s still with the station, were not returned, but a person who answered the phone verified that Arthur once worked there. In Florida, Arthur’s father answered her phone and said that someone would get back to me.

“How upsetting that a man who leaves so much harm in his path is lauded as a comedic genius.” Arthur concludes in her letter. “Think of all the other people who've probably been fired because of his antics.”

So far, however, there have been no other reports of people losing their jobs over Borat. And some of Cohen’s “victims” have even turned into semi-celebrities.

Further developments: Borat also broke her arm, killed ten thousand puppies, invented HIV, poisoned all the wells in Europe, caused the tsunami, and was responsible for 9/11.

When gays attack

2006-11-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

Homosexuals vandalized a Tel Aviv synagogue in response to protest over an upcoming Jerusalem gay pride parade. BBC, 'Gay attack' on Israel synagogue:

A Tel Aviv synagogue has been attacked and daubed with graffiti, apparently in response to religious Jewish attempts to ban a gay pride march in Jerusalem.

Ultra-orthodox Jews have opposed the march, scheduled for next week.

Windows in the synagogue were smashed and the walls were painted with the slogan: "If we can't march in Jerusalem you won't walk in Tel Aviv".

On Wednesday evening ultra-orthodox protesters clashed with police in a district of Jerusalem.

The Otter supports equality for people who choose to live a homosexual lifestyle, but this is too much. A gay pride parade in Jerusalem is blatantly insensitive and demonstrates how the homosexual community in Israel has no respect for the feelings of others. It would be like having a straight pride parade in San Francisco or a white pride parade in New Orleans. Only insensitive groups who are being deliberately provocative would do this. The Ku Klux Klan does this.

In Israel homosexuals have more rights than they do in the United States and most European countries. Homosexual couples have the same liberties as married couples and are recognized with common-law marriages. They can be openly gay in the military. Gay couples can adopt children. It's illegal to discriminate against homosexuals in the workforce. Foreign partners of homosexual Israelis can attain residency in Israel. Gay couples are officially recognized as families, and thus afforded the same financial rights as straight married couples. So why are homosexuals in Israel having gay pride parades?

Clearly it isn't an attempt to gain equal rights; they already have equal rights. Gay pride parades are in no way similar to the civil rights marches in the United States. Gays in Israel do it to force people to endorse their homosexuality. They don't even want people to just accept them; they want people to endorse them. This is why they consistently pick the most provocative places to hold gay pride parades, such as Jerusalem. It's an attempt to desensitize anti-gay sentiment.

If homosexuals were truly interested in gay rights, not gay social endorsement, they would protest the routine executions of homosexuals in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Lebanon. However, like most liberals they aren't interested in universal rights. They are interested in their own selfish, personal agendas. That's why they choose to march in front of the Western Wall dressed in lingerie and bondage attire (yes, they have done this) rather than stage rallies on the Egyptian, Jordanian, and Lebanese borders to denounce discrimination against homosexuals in Muslim countries.

Hate speech?

2006-11-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

Pim's Ghost from What Would Charles Martel Do? posted a video over at YouTube discussing the new 'hate speech' flagging feature. Great video. You can watch it here - Happy Uncensored Halloween.

What really caught my eye in the video was how Ahmed Bedier, the Communications Director of The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), responded to a post on What Would Charles Martel Do? View the original post and comments here.

Here's one comment from Ahmed Bedier:

"I'm sorry that I can not say the same thing for you and your weak alliance. All of you are using some anonymous screen names and are ashamed to publicly share those views. I doubt that anyone of significance will ever actually pay any attention to you.

How many of you are quoted in mainstream media?? That's what I thought."

Bedier said he doubts if anyone of significance would ever pay attention to her, or 'all of you', which I guess means the collective anti-jihad blogosphere. Yet here we have Ahmed Bedier doing exactly that - paying enough attention to Pim's blog to post multiple comments. Does that mean that Bedier isn't "[someone] of significance?"

Having read through the original post I didn't find any personal insults from Pim's Ghost. Though in Ahmed Bedier's comments I found infantile ad hominem attacks - "you and your weak alliance." It reminded me of the way Muslims always try to project an image of strength even though all Muslim countries are designated Third World. Or how these same Muslim countries attempt to assert victory, even when they get beaten, such as in every conflict with Israel.

What really sparked my interest is when Bedier said, "How many of you are quoted in mainstream media?? That's what I thought." I recall Little Green Footballs (Feetballs?) being quoted in the MSM a few times, both in regards to the Red Cross ambulance hoax and Reuters' forged photographs. Of course Michelle Malkin is routinely quoted in the MSM; I see her in the MSM more frequently than CAIR.

Then again, maybe we should look at just why people wind up in the MSM. When LGF covered the Reuters' photograph scandal it was productive. It exposed corruption within the MSM. Clearly this was a positive thing. Contrast this to CAIR; every time CAIR is in the MSM it's due to negative publicity. If I started a jihadist organization and disguised it as a human rights group I bet I could get in the MSM too. Likewise, if dozens of the members of my hypothetical group were arrested and convicted for terrorism-related charges, like CAIR members have been, we might get MSM attention as well.

Here is another comment Ahmed Bedier made:

Hate bloggers: understand this, you will never be as credible as CAIR. No one cares about your hateful views. You are very shady folks with questionable backgrounds and motives. Continue to live your fantasy on the Internet.

Ironic how a Muslim would use the term 'hate bloggers', or 'hate anything'. Islam is a religion and political system that teaches and endorses hate. Bedier did it with the ad hominems and saying "no one cares" when in fact Bedier himself cared enough to comment.

And what did Bedier mean by "as credible a CAIR?" This assumes that CAIR is credible to begin with. Bedier is living under the mistaken impression that there is a consensus of credibility surrounding his organization. Nothing could be further from the truth. CAIR is a questionable group at best, a terrorist sponsor at worst.

When the average person on the Internet isn't familiar with something they go to Google and Wikipedia. Those are the two most popular sources for basic information on the net. Typing in the search term and looking at the Wikipedia entry or the first page of Google's listings is a good way to check the general consensus. It's not good for in-depth research, but it is good for what's called common knowledge. And what type of information do we find for CAIR?

Wikipedia, CAIR(Terrorism):

Ghassan Elashi was a founder of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, and was a member of the founding board of directors of the Texas branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Elashi was arrested in December 2002 for conspiracy, money laundering, and dealing in the property of a designated terrorist. He was convicted on all charges in April 2005.

CAIR is a spin-off of the Islamic Association for Palestine, identified by two former FBI counterterrorism chiefs as a “front group” for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Several CAIR leaders have been convicted on terrorism-related charges.

So is CAIR credible? The novice who is completely unfamiliar with CAIR would find out the answer is no. Upon checking Wikipedia they would learn CAIR is linked to terrorist groups and many of it's top figures have been convicted for funding terrorism. More from Wikipedia, CAIR (Criticism):

CAIR has received recognition and praise from high-ranking official of both the Democrat and Republican parties. On the other hand, the organization has also received great criticism, from a number of both governmental and non-governmental sources, for actions it has taken and people and organizations it has been involved with.

The greatest source of criticism has involved CAIR's ties to terrorism and terrorist groups. As of 2006, at least four CAIR officials have been charged with terrorism-related offenses. CAIR has also been accused by the FBI of raising money for terrorist groups through fraudulent means. Officials of CAIR have been reported advocating for the establishment of an Islamic theocracy to replace the current United States government, and praising controversial groups such as Hamas.

CAIR has also been accused of doctoring photographs and reporting fraudulent statistics about the Muslim population of the United States in support of its own private agenda. Finally, another source of criticism is that CAIR attempts to suppress criticism of Islamic terrorism and intolerance through accusations of racism and anti-Muslim bias.

Among books donated to libraries in CAIR's "library project" were a version of the Quran that was subsequently found to contain numerous anti-Jewish commentaries and was banned by the LA school system and Paul Findley's 'Silent No More', which included complementary views of convicted terrorist Abdulrahman Alamoudi and former neo-Nazi William Baker.

This is all in the main entry for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. A quick review of Wikipedia reveals that CAIR promotes hate, anti-Semitism, and terrorism. CAIR lacks so much credibility that Wikipedia even hosts a second article devoted entirely to criticism of CAIR. It's listed here.

For our next experiment let's Google the term 'CAIR'. The first site listed is the official CAIR website. The second site is Anti-Cair. The third listing is unrelated. The fourth listing is an article critical of CAIR's links to terrorism by Daniel Pipes. The fifth listing is unrelated. The sixth listing is the Wikipedia article listed above. The seventh listing is an article in the Middle East Quarterly critical of CAIR titled, "Islamists Fooling the Establishment." The eighth and ninth listings are unrelated. The tenth listing is the CAIR California website.

So is CAIR credible? Out of the first ten listings on Google for 'CAIR' the only two that were pro-CAIR were official CAIR websites. Three of them were critical of CAIR. The novice who knows nothing about CAIR would discover it to be a controversial organization, not a credible one. Based on the common knowledge provided in a simple Google search, of course.

Ahmed Bedier needs to take heed of what people are saying. A review of key internet sources reveals that there is a general concensus about CAIR, but it isn't a positive one. The consensus says CAIR isn't credible. It says CAIR is a militant Islamist organization trying to wrap itself in the American flag. It asserts CAIR has a long criminal history with links to terrorism.

Muslims busted for steroid use

2006-11-01T09:11:00.000-08:00

Two Pakistani cricket players were banned when they failed a drug test. It's only interesting because Muslims pay lip service to clean living, while Muslim countries are leading the world in the drug trade and drug usage is rampant in Islamic life. BBC Sport, Pakistan pair hit by doping bans:

Pakistan fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been banned from all international and domestic cricket for failing a drugs test.

Shoaib, 31, will serve a two-year ban and Asif, 23, will be unable to play for 12 months after testing positive for nandrolone, a banned steroid.

The pair waived their right to have tests on their B samples carried out.

"After a thorough inquiry we feel they failed to prove their innocence," said tribunal chairman Shahid Hamid.

"The process of doping was investigated carefully. We made sure the tests were conducted properly, samples reached the laboratory in Malaysia safely and there was no error in testing in the laboratory.

"Both the players were satisfied and accepted the tests and gave their point of view but after a thorough inquiry and bound by the Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) and the International Cricket Council (ICC) we reached the decision."

Most Afghan women forced to marry

2006-10-31T14:25:00.000-08:00

Womankind Worldwide, a human rights group, stated that the majority of Afghan women are the victims of forced marriage. Furthermore, the majority of women in Afghanistan get married before the age of 16. The report released to the BBC also asserted that little to no change has occurred in Afghanistan for women since the Taliban was removed from power. BBC, No 'real change' for Afghan women:

An international women's rights group says guarantees given to Afghan women after the fall of the Taleban in 2001 have not translated into real change.

Womankind Worldwide says millions of Afghan women and girls continue to face systematic discrimination and violence in their households and communities.

Womankind Worldwide sent a film crew to Afghanistan to investigate the situation of women there.

They found a young Afghan woman crying in hospital who said she wanted to die. She was recovering after setting fire to herself.

Womankind Worldwide says there has been a dramatic rise in cases of self-immolation by Afghan women since 2003.

It believes many are the result of forced marriages, thought to account for about 60% to 80% of all Afghan marriages.

57% of girls are married before the legal marriage age of 16.

Domestic violence remains widespread.

At an Afghan women's shelter, a young woman told the film crew that she came to the shelter to forget life's troubles.

"I come here so I can ease the pain a little. When I am at home sometimes I feel as though someone is choking me," she told the film crew.

Womankind Worldwide says the Afghan authorities rarely investigate women's complaints of violent attacks.

Women reporting rape run the risk of being imprisoned for having sexual intercourse outside marriage.

You can be certain that out of the women who are forced to marry, each one is promptly taken home and raped by their new husband. The problem is not just the Taliban, the problem is Islam. That's why even with the Taliban out of power and with 'moderate' Muslims in control, 'moderate' Muslims supported by the Bush administration, the plight of women in Afghanistan has not changed.

Muslims kill 11 at wedding, children badly burned

2006-10-31T13:54:00.000-08:00

In the Muslim world the battle rages on not just against the 'Great Satan' but against other Muslims. No place is too sacred or holy for an Islamic suicide attack. Not even a wedding. MSNBC, Wedding party blast in Baghdad kills 11:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A suicide car bomber struck a wedding party in Baghdad on Tuesday, killing 11 people and wounding 21 outside the bride’s home, police said.
The bomber drove an explosives-rigged sedan into a crowd of Shiite celebrants in the northeastern Shaab neighborhood, police Lt. Ahmed Mohamed said.
Weddings and funerals are in Iraq are relatively easy targets for suicide bombers hoping to spark sectarian reprisals and push Iraq into a full-blown civil war.
Five children were among those hospitalized, said Dr. Qasim al-Suweadi of the nearby al-Sadr hospital.
Many of the wounded children were burned over much of their bodies. AP Television News video from the hospital showed victims in obvious pain.
One girl, who appeared to be no older than 4, had most of the hair burned from her head, tiny pierced earrings still in place in her badly burned ear. Most of her body was burned as well.

Yes, he really has Parkinson's

2006-10-30T11:09:00.000-08:00

Reprinted from FOX News. Brackets mine.

Michael J. Fox's Appearance in TV Ad Typical of Parkinson's

Wednesday, October 25, 2006
By Michael W. Smith

When actor Michael J. Fox appeared in a TV political ad supporting stem cell research, a flurry of controversy erupted around his Parkinson’s disease symptoms.

Was he exaggerating, as one radio commentator suggested? [FOX News decided not to print the name of this radio commentator, but The Otter will. It was Rush Limbaugh - fat, addicted to drugs, and a college dropout. Rush routinely makes pleasure trips to the Dominican Republic where the child sex trade flourishes and prescrption drugs are sold like candy.]

Many people don’t realize how severe Parkinson’s disease can be. This is largely because most of us have never witnessed these symptoms unless we personally know someone struggling with this disabling condition.

Fox has a very severe form of Parkinson’s that affected him at a young age. And he’s been through many aggressive treatments, including brain surgery.

The symptoms he displayed on the commercial are common Parkinson’s disease symptoms.

In the past we’ve witnessed his tremor that’s so characteristic of Parkinson’s. And his uncontrolled body movements that appeared during the commercial are also typical of Parkinson’s -- and also possibly a side effect of one of his medications.

Despite all his treatment, Fox continues to have severe Parkinson’s symptoms that are likely getting worse over time.

Unfortunately, medications often may not work that well, especially as the disease progresses. That’s why researchers are working furiously to find new and improved treatments for Parkinson’s.

More information on Parkinson’s disease symptoms and treatment can be found in WebMD’s Guide to Parkinson’s disease.

By Michael W. Smith, MD, reviewed by Louise Chang, MD.

SOURCE: WebMD Medical Reference in collaboration with The Cleveland Clinic: "Parkinson's Disease." Wire reports.

Hilali hospitalized

2006-10-30T10:57:00.000-08:00

'Rape Sheikh' Taj Aldin al-Hilali suddenly fell ill on Monday with chest pains and was hospitalized. BBC, Sydney Muslim cleric seeks leave:

On Monday, at a meeting with the Lebanese Muslim Association, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital.

He was said to be in a stable condition but would remain in hospital for at least three days.

Outside the hospital, Lebanese Muslim Association Tom Zreika released a statement from the sheikh, which said he had "asked for indefinite leave from my duties at Lakemba Mosque".

Israel Beitenu joins coalition

2006-10-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Despite protest from left-wingers and Arab MKs, Israel Beitenu was approved to join Olmert's coalition government and Avigdor Lieberman was appointed Minister for Strategic Affairs. YNet, Gov't approves Lieberman's entry:

During a three-minute session on Monday, the government approved the appointment of Israel Our Home leader Avigdor Lieberman as Minister for Strategic Affairs, signaling the inclusion of the hawkish party in the coalition.

Condi makes Israel less secure

2006-10-30T10:18:00.000-08:00

Pressure on Israel by Condoleezza Rice to allow Palestinians with US citizenship to remain illegally in Gaza and the West Bank may be making Israel less secure. By now most Americans who aren't complete idiots know about homegrown terrorists, the fifth column made up of radical Muslims bred in mosques right on our home soil. Frequently these are US-born Arabs who are raised in Arab communities with close ties to the Middle East. As a result they travel to and from places such as Palestine, exporting and importing terrorist resources.

Despite the existential threat to both Israel and the United States, Condoleezza Rice objected to Israel's legal right to deport illegal aliens living in the West Bank and Gaza. Washington Times, U.S. hits Israeli expulsion policy:

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Israel may be forced to reverse a policy of expelling Palestinians with U.S. citizenship from the West Bank and Gaza Strip after a vigorous protest from the United States.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has objected to the policy, which could drive tens of thousands of foreign passport holders from their homes in the Palestinian territories.

The territories are home to about 35,000 U.S. citizens of Palestinian descent, many of whom returned during the mid-1990s after the Oslo peace accord, and have since married and started families.

They have been unable to become permanent residents because Israel, which controls access to the territories, has refused to grant them residency. Although most have made do with tourist visas, Israel recently stopped issuing them, forcing Palestinians with foreign passports to leave immediately or stay illegally at risk of expulsion.

BBC waters down terror report

2006-10-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

On Monday, Pakistani gunships attacked a religious school in Afghanistan that was being used as a training camp for al-Qaeda. At least 80 terrorists were killed according to reports. It was quite an accomplishment by the Pakistani government.

Headlines in the mainstream media read like this:

'Al-Qaeda school' attack: 80 dead, CNN

Pakistan hits al-Qaeda-linked school, MSNBC

CNN and MSNBC are liberal news stations. We're not talking FOX or FrontPage here. Yet the BBC has swung so far left that it refuses to mention the school's link to al-Qaeda:

Pakistan madrassa raid 'kills 80', BBC News

Because this headline omits any discussion of al-Qaeda links it conveys the message that the madrassa was an ordinary Islamic school. Unlike with the other titles, you can't infer from the BBC that the 80 dead were al-Qaeda terrorists. It gives the impression that 80 innocent students were killed in a madrassa in Pakistan, rather than the truth - 80 terrorists were killed in an al-Qaeda training camp by Pakistani forces.

On dinosaurs, vampires, ghosts, and rubber balls

2006-10-30T09:27:00.000-08:00

In a move sure to anger young-Earth creationists and fundamentalist Christians alike, FOX News reported that mass extinctions, such as the disappearance of the dinosaurs, may be the result of multiple factors rather than one grand event (such as a meteor). FOX News did not comment on the possibility that Old Scratch put dinosaur fossils in the ground to trick Bible-believing Christians. This caused many of America's faithful to tear their clothes, don sackcloth, and cover themselves in ashes.

Likely to further incite Biblical literalists; FOX News reported that there is no scientific basis for ghosts and vampires. Between hinting at evilution and denying the reality of ghosts and demons despite their Biblical basis (1 Samuel 28:7-19, Matthew 8:16), FOX has become the true heretic's news source.

ABC News reported that a 100 million-year-old bee was found stuck in amber. Godless, demon-worshipping scientists say it's the oldest bee ever found. Bible-thumping, Jesus-jacking Christians know the Earth is no older than 6000 years, of course.

On a more serious note, a Delaware man made a 3,300-pound rubber ball.

Muslim-American immigrant on trial for genital cutting

2006-10-29T15:58:00.000-08:00

The practice of female genital mutilation, termed "female circumcision" by some, is common in the Muslim world.

There are multiple types of female genital mutilation; they differ between Muslim communities, ranging from complete removal of the clitoris to near-complete destruction of the genital area. In Islam the goal of female genital mutilation is to prevent a woman from ever receiving sexual pleasure or being aroused. Female genital mutilation is regarded as a human rights violation by most human rights groups and is illegal in most Western countries.

This is why Khalid Adem, an Islamic immigrant to the United States from Ethiopia, faces up to 40 years in prison for cutting off his 2 year old daughter's clitoris with a pair of scissors. ABC News, Genital Cutting on Trial in Georgia Case:

The trial of an Atlanta-area father accused of circumcising his 2-year-old daughter with scissors is focusing attention on an ancient African practice that experts say is slowly becoming more common in the U.S. as immigrant communities grow.

Khalid Adem, a 31-year-old immigrant from Ethiopia, is charged with aggravated battery and cruelty to children. Human rights observers said they believe this is the first criminal case in the U.S. involving the 5,000-year-old practice.

Prosecutors say Adem used scissors to remove his daughter's clitoris in their apartment in 2001. The child's mother said she did not discover it until more than a year later.

"He said he wanted to preserve her virginity," Fortunate Adem, the girl's mother, testified this week. "He said it was the will of God. I became angry in my mind. I thought he was crazy."

The girl, now 7, also testified, clutching a teddy bear and saying that Adem "cut me on my private part." Adem cried loudly as his daughter left the courtroom.

Muslims sell slaves in Islamic schools

2006-10-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

They are called daaras or madrasahs, Islamic schools that emphasize studying the Qur'an. Madrasahs are notorious for indoctrinating youths with jihadi dogma, anti-American propaganda, and conspiracy theories. Even more shocking are their dual purposes; they serve as fronts for the Islamic practice of child slavery. MSNBC, UN: Koranic schools fuel Africa child trafficking:

Holding a rusty begging tin that is the trademark of the “talibes” — students at Senegal’s Koranic schools — Balde says he must take back money or face a beating from his religious teacher, or marabout.
“I must bring back 500 francs, about $0.90, every day to my master or face punishment,” says the tiny boy, who travels from his squalid daara, or religious school, in the distant suburb of Thiaroye to beg all day in the city center.
Balde is one of an estimated 100,000 children begging on the streets of Senegal — about 1 percent of the population, according to U.N. officials — most of them sent out by their religious teachers...
...Now, the booming industry has become so successful that children are smuggled from neighboring Mali, Gambia or Mauritania to beg in Dakar, U.N. child agency UNICEF said. Balde was separated from his parents in Guinea Bissau.

The child slave trade isn't limited to begging, although in Senegal forcing children to beg on the streets has become a mafia-style racket that brings in hefty profits for Islamic leaders. Children are sold into other types of slavery as well. They go to labor camps, mines, lumber mills, and docks. Many are sold into sex slavery. NY Times, Africa’s World of Forced Labor, in a 6-Year-Old’s Eyes:

Mark Kwadwo is 6 years old. About 30 pounds, dressed in a pair of blue and red underpants and a Little Mermaid T-shirt, he looks more like an oversized toddler than a boat hand. He is too little to understand why he has wound up in this fishing village, a two-day trek from his home.
But the three older boys who work with him know why. Like Mark, they are indentured servants, leased by their parents to Mr. Takyi for as little as $20 a year.
Until their servitude ends in three or four years, they are as trapped as the fish in their nets, forced to work up to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, in a trade that even adult fishermen here call punishing and, at times, dangerous.
Mr. Takyi’s boys — conscripts in a miniature labor camp, deprived of schooling, basic necessities and freedom — are part of a vast traffic in children that supports West and Central African fisheries, quarries, cocoa and rice plantations and street markets. The girls are domestic servants, bread bakers, prostitutes. The boys are field workers, cart pushers, scavengers in abandoned gem and gold mines...
...The International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, estimates that 1.2 million are sold into servitude every year in an illicit trade that generates as much as $10 billion annually.
Africa’s children, the world’s poorest, account for roughly one-sixth of the trade, according to the labor organization. Data is notoriously scarce, but it suggests victimization of African children on a huge scale.

Related: Dubai Muslims Enslave Children

Civilian casualties in Lebanon

2006-10-29T15:12:00.000-08:00

Why were there so many civilian casualties on the Lebanese side during the Second Lebanon War? The knee-jerk response is to blame Israel. However, according to the Geneva Conventions it is unlawful for militants to hide behind civilians and in civilian areas to prevent attacks. When civilians are killed because they are being used as human shields the legal burden falls upon those using them as human shields. In the case of the Second Lebanon War that would be Hezbollah. Hezbollah is solely to blame for civilian casualties because Hezbollah used human shields and hid in civilian areas.

Hezbollah's use of human shields was not reflexive. Hezbollah had planned to use civilian areas to shield terrorist positions long before the war started. The Washington Times, Deadly Hezbollah chess match:

The activity upon which Hezbollah had embarked was conversion of private homes into mini-military sites from where it could easily target Israel's civilian population. Cloaking itself as the protective shepherd, Hezbollah effectively prepared an unwitting Lebanese civilian flock as sacrificial lambs to be slaughtered in furtherance of its own war-fighting capabilities.

Long before hostilities erupted on July 12, Hezbollah construction teams had gone out and modified numerous Lebanese homes. Sometimes with, but most the time without, the homeowner's permission, workers began adding on a large, single-function room. These rooms were unique for, when completed, they lacked an essential element of all rooms -- a door. Each room was sealed shut -- but only, and immediately, after an object was placed inside.

Often homeowners and neighbors did not know what exactly was entombed within the room as the object's insertion and the subsequent sealing of the room normally took place at night -- with the object always kept under wraps.

The residences Hezbollah selected for these unsolicited "home improvements" were chosen for their proximity to the Israeli border. When the fighting started after Tel Aviv responded militarily to Hezbollah's July cross-border raid, resulting in the deaths of three Israeli soldiers and the capture of two more, the purpose of the covert home improvements became evident to the owners -- though many were destroyed by Israeli air strikes before they could be activated.

When war erupted in southern Lebanon, designated leaders of Hezbollah combat teams received envelopes, each containing an address of one of the modified homes. The team quickly deployed to its assigned location, immediately breaking through an exterior wall of the sealed room. Each envelope contained aiming and firing instructions for the object prepositioned inside the room before it was sealed -- a surface-to-surface missile atop a launcher. After removing part of the room's roof to allow for unobstructed flight and on command, the team was to fire the missile, raining death and destruction down upon Israel's civilian population.

There was one major flaw in Hezbollah's home-conversion-to-missile-launch-site plan: Their construction activities had not gone unnoticed by Israeli intelligence. Closely monitoring Hezbollah's activities, they knew in advance the locations of most sites. As each room was completed, it had been added to Israel's target list so, once fighting started, it could quickly be destroyed -- its civilian hosts in many cases becoming collateral damage due to Hezbollah's illegal use of such a tactic.

Israel received much negative press for failing to accurately assess the Hezbollah threat. Clearly, some failures did occur, such as assessing how deeply Hezbollah had entrenched itself into southern Lebanon and Hezbollah's ability, undoubtedly with Iranian assistance, to monitor Israeli battlefield communications.

But Israel must be applauded for its success in identifying ahead of time the threat posed by Hezbollah's tactical use of private homes for military purposes -- a threat Israeli air power was then able to effectively negate. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman alluded two days into the conflict to these illegal Hezbollah tactics, a reference apparently lost on the media that failed to investigate further.

Hezbollah had designed a tactical plan calculated to maximize civilian casualties on both sides of battlefield -- by design on the Israeli side in targeting its major population centers and by consequence on the Lebanese side as Israel responded. While this tactic was, from the Israeli perspective, checkmated by virtue of good intelligence, from the Lebanese perspective, many civilians at these launch sites were forced to pay the ultimate price. Sadly, from Hezbollah's perspective, these civilian casualties were but dispensable pawns in its chess match with Israel.

(Hat tip: LGF)

Maimonides and stem cell research

2006-10-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from YNet, Maimonides and stem cell research.

[This is an important article for Christian fundamentalists, specifically the Christians who reject scientific fact in lieu of Biblical literalism and who reject scientific research on the basis of religious dogma. The same ones who want to impose religious legislation on our free Western society and set up a Christian theocracy. These are the Christians who are more similar to Muslim extremists than to Jews. You know who you are.]

Maimonides and stem cell research

According to Judaism, human knowledge should not be hindered or ignored

Prof. Moshe Kaveh
Published: 10.28.06, 16:28

The mid-term elections set to be held in the US in two weeks will involve science, but not anything that would warrant our envy. Among other things, members of the House and a third of the Senate will be scrutinized on their stance towards a field of innovative biological medical research – human stem cell research.

Such a situation is hard to imagine in Jewish law due to a distinct trait in Jewish orthodox thought.

About three months ago, President George W. Bush used his right of veto for the first time and his party is likely to pay the cost at the upcoming elections. He nullified the Senate's resolution to expand the abovementioned research and its public funding, and he did so by employing religious arguments. He, as a Christian believer, felt obliged to limit intellectual curiosity pertaining to human life.

Under the Bush administration and its commendable separation between state and religion, researchers are banned from conducting stem cell experimentation in public laboratories. Even the vast medical potential of stem cell biology is not currently available to the American academia in this current conflict.

Meanwhile here in Israel, a state that has yet to separate state from religion, there is no legal restriction regarding stem cell research for reasons pertaining to religion. This derives from Judaism's liberal attitude in its definition of the beginning of embryonic life (which enables abortions at the early stages of pregnancy, contrary to Christianity).

There is also no legal restriction stemming from religion imposed on any other research in the fields of natural science.

Jewish law on this matter leans on the rulings of our greatest rabbinical arbiters regarding religion and medicine aimed at saving human life. On dealing with the general topic of religion and science, the concept begins with Maimonides, who wrote more than 900 years ago: God's divine science will not be achieved without natural science.

In other words, contrary to what is often attributed to traditional Jewish thought, according to a pious Jew there is no contradiction between religion and science. "Only after achieving natural science," namely, only when relying on the truths embodied in the laws of natural science, can a Jew come closer to his God.

The understanding of this information and its rules is perceived in Judaism as "God's will", to which we are all obligated to adhere.

Subsequently, there is no contradiction in a law-abiding Jew - a believer in the laws introduced by Maimonides - being a scientist involved in a modern scientific discipline.

Faith is in the creator of the universe "who has no body and no bodily image" as in the words of the prayer, and therefore he cannot be described and has no form. Scientists explore the secrets of nature with the gifts bestowed on them so as not to deny the presence of logical facts.

A Jew who makes the connection between Judaism and science must not be a Karaite who interprets the Torah in a limited literal way. We must pursue the tradition of our great scholars who didn't call for "an eye for an eye."

Reconciling Judaism and Big Bang

I have found enough explanations in the pages of the Talmud to demonstrate that each of the six days of the creation were not limited to 24 hours.

Subsequently, there is no difficulty accepting the findings that tie the familiar beginnings of the "big bang" creation, set at roughly 15 billion years of age, to Earth at 4.5 billion years of age. Religious scientists are not sinning when they don't ignore evolutionary evidence – the gradual development of life throughout at least 2.5.billion years.

Scientific law in the eyes of the Jewish spirit is the will of God. Any contradiction between this and Jewish faith is fictitious, resulting from lack of human knowledge which is destined to be filled.

According to Judaism, such knowledge must be fully exploited; human knowledge should not be hindered and we should not ignore it by extolling ignorance.

Rape-endorsing cleric barred

2006-10-28T08:36:00.000-07:00

Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, the Mufti of Australia who blamed women for being raped, was given a slap on the wrist by Sydney's mosque association on Friday. BBC, Australia Muslim cleric suspended:

Australia's top Muslim cleric has been barred from preaching for up to three months, after comparing immodestly dressed women to "uncovered meat".

Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali's comments, suggesting that women who did not wear a headscarf attracted sexual assault, have caused a storm of protest.

Sydney's mosque association said the suspension would give the cleric time to consider the impact of his words.

But Australian Premier John Howard said the action was insufficient.

Up to three months means there is a chance he won't be barred for the full time. The Otter agrees with John Howard. Three months is not sufficient punishment for a man like al-Hilali. He incited and excused rape. Needless to say, the mosque association felt pressured to chasten al-Hilali only because the Muslim community had to save face in light of international criticism. The gentle, token punishment demonstrates that Australian Muslims really support al-Hilali and what he said about raping women. The fact that al-Hilali is still the leading Muslim cleric in Australia also indicates the widespread acceptance of his comments by the Australian Muslim community.

Well, let it be known rape isn't the only thing Australian Muslims are supporting. The Australian, Muddle headed Mufti:

Controversy has dogged the university-educated sheik since his days in Egypt, where he was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood...

...Hilali arrived in Australia in 1982 and overstayed his tourist visa. He came to the attention of the authorities in 1988 when he gave an anti-Semitic lecture to a group of Muslim students at the Universisity of Sydney. It was titled The Disposition of Jews in the Light of the Koran, and he was quoted as saying: "Judaism controls the world by secret movements (and) destructive doctrines and groups such as communism, libertinism, Freemasonry, Baha'ism, the Rotary clubs, the nationalistic and racist doctrines. The Jews try to control the world through sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, treason, and economic hoarding."

...In 2004 he created another furore with a speech he gave in a mosque in Lebanon. It was claimed he praised the September 11 attacks on the US as "God's work against the oppressors" and supported Arab martyrs and a holy war against Israel...

...A month ago he was dumped from John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group after denying the Holocaust and calling it a "Zionist lie". He also referred to Israel as a "cancer".

Not only did Sheikh Taj el-Din al-Hilali approve of raping women, he was a member of a terrorist organization, supported the 9/11 attacks, denied the Holocaust, and championed a whole list of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Note that the mosque association in Sydney has never taken action against al-Hilali for any of this. Why? It's never received enough media attention to warrant it.

Al-Hilali is the man who most Australian Muslims look up to. As Natalie O'Brien from The Australian wrote, "He is revered by the Muslim community almost everywhere he goes in Sydney's southwestern suburbs, the nation's Arab heartland." If this is who Muslims support in moderate, Western countries like Australia imagine who they support in the Middle East.

SA newspaper bans Jewish journalists

2006-10-27T16:14:00.000-07:00

Paula Slier is a Jewish South African and a journalist. She worked for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) covering the Middle East until she was fired - for being Jewish. The SABC came out and flatly told her that they took a pro-Palestinian stance and that they did not want any Jews covering the Middle East. YNet, Reporter blacklisted 'for being Jewish':

A Jewish South African reporter has been 'banned' by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) from providing news coverage from the Middle East, after her managing director said he did not want a "white Jewish girl" covering the region, the reporter told Ynetnews.
"I was a reporter and newsreader, and Snuki Zikalala was head of TV and radio news, so he was my line manager. He was not that great to work with," Paula Slier, the reporter, told Ynetnews.

In 2004, Slier went to Ramallah to cover Arafat's illness. While in the West Bank, Slier said she was informed that the SABC had "received a directive: 'No more reports from Paula.'"

"I tried to find out why they were not using my work anymore, and I was told by a senior manager in SABC, which obviously I can't name, that Zikalala said they don't want a white Jewish girl reporting from Ramallah, though the implication was from the whole of the Middle East," Slier said.
After it emerged that SABC's blacklist included a range of sources, including some critical of the South African government, SABC launched an investigation of itself.
"When the investigation came out, Zikalala told the inquiry: 'From the movement I come from, we support the PLO.' And then he went on to call what was happening in the Middle East a 'Jewish war,' and then he said: We know Paula, we know the position which she holds," Slier said, quoting from the investigation.

Clearly anti-Semitic and biased to say the least. It would be reasonable to expect the Jewish reporter who was discriminated against to be outraged. Yet this isn't the stance she took. In true self-hating, Chomskyesque style, she made excuses for the SABC's anti-Semitic policies:

"The thing is, in South Africa, I've been heavily criticized by the Jewish community for being pro-Palestinian. So he makes the inference that because I'm Jewish, I would automatically support what would be happening in Israel," Slier added...

...Slier told Ynetnews she did not feel the directive to blacklist her was anti-Semitic.
"For me personally I do think there is a difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment. Many in the Jewish community in South Africa fear that if many people start spreading anti-Israel sentiment, it will cause deeper anti-Semitism. But that's not the view I have. I often find that people do have the right to criticize Israel," Slier said.

"I don't have any experience of anti-Semitism at the SABC, and I worked there for quite a few years. He (Zikalala) has a particular anti-Israel view. What is worrying is that this guy now, as head of SABC, is taking his own personal view, and imposing it on the SABC," she added.

The same old line - "A difference between anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment."

Paula Slier missed the issue. They didn't fire her for being an Israeli (because she isn't an Israeli). They didn't fire her for being pro-Israeli (because she's pro-Palestinian). They didn't fire her for being Zionist (she's anti-Zionist). They fired her for one reason alone - she was Jewish.

She missed it because she's a brainwashed, self-hating lapdog. Instead of embracing her Jewish heritage and a strong moral compass she pandered to the idiotarians. She rejected Israel and supported terrorists thinking it would win her the acceptance of the press. She was that naive. No matter how much she fought against the Jewish people, her own people, it wouldn't make Zikalala forget she was Jewish. Even after being blatantly discriminated against for being Jewish she still tried to make excuses on behalf of the SABC.

There is a strong message here for all Jews - the left will never accept you. No matter how much you hate Israel you won't be accepted among the Israel-hating left. It's because you're Jewish. It's because, contrary to the claims of the anti-Semites, most criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. Anti-Semitism is oft disguised as criticism of Zionism and criticism of Israel. Like Martin Luther King Jr. said in a 1968 Harvard speech (not to be confused with the disputed Letter to an anti-Zionist Friend), "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews; you are talking anti-Semitism."

Muslim leader blames rape on women

2006-10-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

Sheik Taj Aldin al-Hilali, the leading Muslim cleric in Australia, blamed women for 'causing' rape. While shocking to any decent person, blaming the victims of crimes is quite common in the Muslim world. Al-Hilali also issued a half-assed apology after pressure from the political realm. YNET, Muslim cleric apologizes for rape remark:

In a translation from Arabic by the newspaper, later verified by other media, al-Hilali was quoted as saying in the sermon: "If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside ... and the cats come to eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats' or the uncovered meat’s?"

"The uncovered meat is the problem. If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab, no problem would have occurred," he was quoted as saying, referring to the head scarf worn by some Muslim women.

Does this mean that in the Muslim mindset women are like uncovered meat and Muslim men are like wild, predatory animals looking to tear the meat (women) apart? It seems so. It might explain the extreme violence against women that is so common in the Islamic world.

So, women, beware of wild Muslim cats. Don't be like uncovered meat - lock yourselves in you rooms and cover yourselves with beekeeper suits. Because now you know, according to Islam, if you get raped it's YOUR fault.

Moonbat writes in about BBC bias

2006-10-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

In response to The Otter's recent coverage of BBC's self-admitted bias, an Anonymous Roving Moonbat Wacko™ wrote, "Seeing as you're so concerned with fairness, balance and accuracy, I'm sure you'll be posting this link soon." The aforementioned link was an article by Helen Boaden, BBC news director. As I am indeed so concerned with fairness, balance, and accuracy, here is the link - Bias at the BBC?

You might be able to tell from the title it's an attempt to respond to the leak. And for patrons of the Beeb, such as our very own Anonymous Roving Moonbat Wacko™, anything Helen Boaden says is likely to be accepted on blind faith similar to that of a religious zealot. Those of us who are interested in taking a critical look at the article might find it lacking:

The Mail on Sunday based its story on a leak from what it called a “secret” meeting of BBC executives and governors, and claims that it was our former political editor, Andrew Marr himself, who confessed to the liberal bias of the organization. His take was reinforced by Jeff Randall, who until recently was our business editor. “If they say it, then it must be true” was the thrust of the story.

Well I was one of the people who was at the "secret" meeting. and I have to say the reality was somewhat different to the way the press are reporting it.

For a start, this wasn’t a secret meeting... it was streamed live on the web. The meeting was made up of executives, governors and lots of non-BBC people like John Lloyd from the FT and Janet Daley from the Daily Telegraph. It was planned as a serious seminar to investigate and understand better the BBC’s commitment to impartiality in an age in which spin and opinion riddle much of the world’s journalism. The seminar was part of a bigger project kicked off by Michael Grade earlier this year to re-examine the underlying principles of impartiality in the digital age when boundaries between conventional broadcasting and the new platforms will increasingly disappear.

This failed to explain why both Andrew Marr and Jeff Randall admitted a liberal bias in the BBC. It also didn't mention Malcolm Balen's confirmation of the bias. In fact the only attempt to refute the allegations was to claim that Jeff Randall was making "a few good jokes." Boaden concluded by asserting that it was, "their personal opinions."

As if this article wasn't Helen Boaden's personal opinion. Boaden is a tainted source, to say the least, considering she had so much to gain by defending the BBC. Randall, Marr, Balen, and the other senior BBC staff members who asserted a bias had nothing to gain by doing so. Rather, they had lots to lose.

Although for the Anonymous Roving Moonbat Wacko™, the type of person to whom the BBC is a liberal Mecca, Helen Boaden's tainted opinion is worth far more than the combined analysis of other senior BBC members.

Here are some points brought up by the leak and senior BBC members. These are points that were not mentioned in Boaden's response at all:

The report stated the BBC was overstaffed with homosexuals and other minorities, giving it a bias toward those groups. It also stated that the BBC...

...was biased against the countryside.
...had anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bias.
...was biased against Israel and covered the second intifada unfairly.
...was anti-American.
...actively promoted multiculturalism.
...leaned toward political correctness rather than accuracy in reporting.

We'll give Boaden some credit on the Muslim issue. She addressed Muslim women wearing headscarves to read the news. She didn't address the fact that she would have allowed a Bible, Catholic icons, or kosher food to be thrown in the trash - but not a Qur'an.

Let's revisit her previous claim, that the meeting wasn't secret.

If it wasn't a secret meeting and was live on the web I'm sure the BBC could just make it public and end this whole fiasco. Right? The Telegraph revealed that the BBC has undertaken a legal battle to prevent the report of the meeting from becoming public. Normally the report would be accessible under the Freedom of Information Act. Instead, the BBC is trying to seal it away so that no one can ever get their hands on it. How can she claim it isn't secret while the BBC tries to keep it secret? Pure hypocrisy and idiocy!

Without addressing any of the issues mentioned above, Helen Boaden concluded with this:

And that’s where the broad audience comes in. What really counts is not what a group of BBC executives and VIPs think, or indeed what a few columnists believe. The important thing is whether or not our audiences think we are biased. And on that the evidence is robust.

Asked recently which of the four main broadcasters they would term "trustworthy", nearly two thirds - 60% - cited the BBC. In contrast, 26% said ITV, 16% mentioned Channel 4, and 14% Sky. (Mori, 2006)

No Helen, what really counts is the truth. Not what the uneducated masses believe.

This is a prime example of an informal logical fallacy, called argumentum ad populum, or the bandwagon fallacy. Even if 100% of the people surveyed believed the BBC was trustworthy it wouldn't make it so. The number of people who like the BBC, or consider it "trustworthy," says nothing about the actual content. Only about the opinions of the ignorant masses. And yes, the masses are ignorant.

What really counts is what a group of BBC executives and VIPs think. They are the only ones with real experience inside the BBC. They're the ones know the business well enough to make an educated analysis of the subject. And they know each other personally, thus being acquainted with deep-seated biases among themselves. The audiences know none of this.

The audiences Boaden spoke of are primarily composed of Anonymous Roving Moonbat Wackos™ who believe everything the Beeb tells them without any critical thought. They are the Idiotarians who think logical fallacies like Boaden's argumentum ad populum are strong evidence.

It breaks down like this: On one hand you can believe the leaked report, Andrew Marr, Jeff Randall, Malcolm Balen, and the other senior BBC staff members who have direct firsthand experience, plus evidence, of BBC bias. On the other hand you can believe the uneducated masses, the audience, the Anonymous Roving Moonbat Wackos™, and the Idiotarians.

BBC Finally Admits Bias

2006-10-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

What we've known all along has come to light. The British Broadcasting Corporation is biased. An account of a BBC impartiality summit, leaked to London's Evening Standard newspaper, confirmed that the BBC actively promotes homosexuality and multiculturalism. Furthermore, the leak confirmed an anti-Israeli and anti-American bias in the BBC compounded with an anti-Christian and anti-Jewish bias. However, the BBC does not have a bias against Islam but rather for Islam. The leak's claims have been validated by top-ranking BBC personalities, including senior editor advisor Malcolm Balen.

CBN, a senior Christian news station, wrote:

The report says BBC executives admit the corporation is dominated by homosexuals, is anti-American, and more sensitive towards the feelings of Muslims than Christians. For example, the report says "executives would let the Bible be thrown in to a dustbin on a TV comedy show, but not the Koran."

The Guardian, while trying to cover up for its partner in crime, went into more depth discussing the perfidy of the BBC (highlights mine):

Those who grumble tirelessly that the BBC is dominated by a culture of liberal partiality are enjoying themselves just now. The Corporation is spending lots of our money battling through the courts to prevent the release of a report on its Middle East coverage. Compiled two years ago by a former Nine O'Clock News editor, Malcolm Balen, in the capacity of editorial adviser, it is said to have found that the BBC was unfair to Israel in its coverage of the second intifada.

Now readers might ask, "Hey, I thought you said the Guardian was trying to defend the BBC?" Well, it was. It did it in a true Clintonesque style. In response to the Guardian's own title, "Does the BBC have a liberal bias?" It responds:

It depends what you mean by 'liberal' - and what you mean by 'bias'.

Well, we won't even go there. We all know that the BBC is a filthy rag full of liberal hatred toward Americans, Israelis, Jews, and Christians that consistently panders to Islamic fascism and terrorism. That must be what we mean by the terms 'liberal' and 'bias'. And the leaked report confirms it.

YNet gives us a prime example from the leaked report:

An internal memo, recently discovered by the British media, revealed what the BBC has been trying to hide. Senior figures admitted in a recent 'impartiality' summit that the BBC was guilty of promoting Left-wing views and anti-Christian sentiment.

Most executives admitted that the corporation’s representation of homosexuals and ethnic minorities was unbalanced and disproportionate, and that it leaned too strongly towards political correctness, the overt promotion of multiculturalism, anti-Americanism and discrimination against the countryside.

A truly shocking revelation to come out of the summit was expected to invoke a storm in Britain, which has already reached the boiling point with regards to the treatment of Muslims and the issue of the veil.
For the purpose of illustration, the executives were given a scenario in which Jewish Comedian Sasha Baron Cohen would participate in a program titled ‘Room 101’, a studio program where guests would be asked for their opinions on different issues, and allowed to symbolically throw things they hated in a garbage bin.
The executives were asked what they would do if Cohen decided to throw ‘Kosher food’, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bible, and the Quran in the garbage bin.

The executives said they would allow everything to be thrown in the garbage bin, save the Quran, for fear of offending the British Muslim community.

Some of it is clearly fear-driven. It's okay to throw the Bible and kosher food in the trash. Jews and Christians aren't going to behead anybody.

Right now a debate rages on between the BBC and the legal community to release the entire report under the Freedom of Information Act. Clearly the BBC has something to hide. Yet keeping the report hidden won't do much good. With senior editors like Malcolm Balen affirming the bias it will be very difficult to right its reputation. The Telegraph reports :

The High Court action is the latest stage of a lengthy and expensive battle by Steven Sugar, a lawyer, to get access to the document, which was compiled by Malcolm Balen, a senior editorial adviser, in 2004.

Mr Sugar said: "This is a serious report about a serious issue and has been compiled with public money. I lodged the request because I was concerned that the BBC's reporting of the second intifada was seriously unbalanced against Israel, but I think there are other issues at stake now in the light of the BBC's reaction."

All one has to do is take a look at the headlines circulating in the mainstream media to see what a blow to the BBC's reputation this has been.

CBN, BBC admits bias against Christianity

This Is London, Yes we are biased on religion and politics, admit BBC executives

YNet, BBC admits: We are biased on religion and politics

Arutz Sheva, BBC admits left-wing bias

World Net Daily, BBC confesses bias on religion, politics

YNet, BBC seeks to suppress bias report

Jewish refugees seek rights

2006-10-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows about Palestinian refugees. Liberals and anti-Semites blame the refugee problem on Israel. History accounts the problem to Jordan and Egypt, countries that attacked Israel and annexed the land set aside for a Palestinian state.

What is sadly overlooked is the fact that there were Jewish refugees as well. Not just from Palestine, but from the entire Middle East. As many as one million of them were expelled or forced to flee Arab countries between 1940 and 1950. Today liberals, Muslims, anti-Semites, and the mainstream media cry about the plight of Palestinian refugees while ignoring Jewish refugees. They also forget one fact - most Palestinian refugees are held in Arab prison camps, not in Israel.

Thankfully some aren't forgetting the suffering Jewish refugees endured at the hands of genocidal Muslims. Jerusalem Post, Rights sought for Jewish refugees from Arab lands:

Leaders from all over the Jewish world will convene in Jerusalem for a summit meeting with government officials on Monday to officially launch a worldwide campaign for the registration and recognition of human rights abuses and property losses suffered by Jewish families who were expelled from Arab countries during the 1940s and 1950s.
The International Rights and Redress Campaign, which will be run by the Justice for Jews from Arab Countries (JJAC) organization in partnership with several other American and international Jewish organizations, will focus on registering these families' claims against Arab states for losses and abuses sustained during the expulsions.
However, summit coordinator and JJAC executive director Stanley Urman told The Jerusalem Post that "this isn't primarily about seeking compensation." Rather, it is "about registration and recognition and Jewish history."
Yet while the JJAC seeks first and foremost to tell "the story of Jewish history before the memories [of the expelled Jews] fade," the campaign is also intended to prepare for the filing of compensation claims against Arab states.
"We have to also catalogue losses," Urman affirms. "There may be a time when Palestinians demand compensation, and we believe... it would be an injustice to provide rights to one victimized population [the Palestinians] without providing to the other."
This point - placing the Palestinian refugee issue in the context of the broader refugee phenomenon generated by the Arab-Israeli conflict - seems to be the campaign's central political message.
According to Urman, quoted in a JJAC press release, "Two, not one, refugee problems were caused by the strife in the region, and our campaign will insist that the world community recognize the appalling events that befell Jews from Arab countries."
Another press release tellingly noted that "In all relevant international bilateral or multilateral agreements (i.e. UN Resolution 242, the road map, the Madrid Conference, etc.), the reference to 'refugees' is generic, allowing for the recognition and inclusion of all Middle East refugees - Jews, Christians and other minorities."
Urman confirmed this goal to the Post.
"We're working to make sure [world] governments recognize that they [Middle Eastern Jews] were refugees and they have rights as well," he said.
In explaining the timing of the summit, Urman called the current period "our last chance," since "hundreds of these dispossessed Jews are dying every month with virtually no public recognition of either their tragic expulsion or their far-ranging individual and communal property claims."
While Urman declined to quote estimates as to the amount of compensation families of expelled Jews may seek from Arab states, estimates of the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries (WOJAC) put the figure at some $100 billion.
JJAC was founded in 2002 by a coalition of Jewish organizations, including WOJAC, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the American Sephardi Federation. It works closely with the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and the World Sephardic Congress.
While JJAC and WOJAC will coordinate the International Rights and Redress Campaign, it will operate in conjunction with Jewish organizations from 40 countries from South America, Europe, North America and Asia.

There were more Jewish refugees in 1940-1950 than Palestinian refugees. If we were to count Jewish refugees today the way the UN defines Palestinian refugees, people who had a "normal place of residence" and "who lost both their homes and means of livelihood" we would likely find that Jewish refugees still total a larger number.

Egyptian FM blames Hizbullah for war

2006-10-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from the Jerusalem Post, Egyptian FM blames Hizbullah for war:

Oct 22, 2006 12:37
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abu Gheit blamed Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah for the summer's Lebanon war, alleging that the organization had instigated the conflict to flout the 1989 Taif Agreement, under which Lebanon was supposed to disarm Shi'ite groups.

In an interview on Egyptian public television on Saturday night, Abu Gheit said that Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah had begun the war to justify Hizbullah's existence, Israel Radio reported.
The Taif Agreement, negotiated by the surviving members of Lebanon's 1972 parliament, addressed political reform, the ending of the Lebanese Civil War, the establishment of special relations between Lebanon and Syria, and a basis for Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, passed in 2004, echoed many elements of the Taif Agreement, calling for Lebanese sovereignty over all of its land and called upon "foreign forces" to withdraw from Lebanon and to cease intervening in Lebanese politics. The resolution also called on all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias to disband and declared support for a "free and fair electoral process".

More MSM Misinformation

2006-10-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

When seven Palestinian terrorists were shot and killed by the IDF on Monday, both the BBC and Reuters chose to take reports from Palestinians over those from the IDF. Reuters, of course, relied upon its favorite Muslim journalist, Nidal al-Mughrabi. As a Muslim and a Palestinian there is a clear conflict of interest with al-Mughrabi reporting on Israeli affairs. Not to mention his long history of biased, anti-Israel reporting and involvement with Palestinian groups. More information on Nidal al-Mughrabi here, here, and here.

The real story, by Jerusalem Post. IDF troops kill seven Palestinian gunmen in northern Gaza:

IDF troops operating the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Hanun on Monday shot and killed seven Palestinian gunmen and wounded 14, Palestinian hospital officials said.
The IDF said it was operating against Palestinian operatives on a mission to launch Kassam rockets at southern Israel, and that several armed men were hit. Palestinian security said the troops opened fire on a group of Palestinians.

What did Mr. al-Mughrabi of Reuters report? Israel kills seven in Gaza battle: Palestinian officials:

GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians, including at least three gunmen, and wounded about 20 people in fighting in the Gaza Strip on Monday, Palestinian officials said.

It must be a Palestinian magic trick! It went down from seven terrorists to three. Then again, look at where al-Mughrabi got his information - "Palestinian officials."

And the Beeb, Seven dead in 'Israeli Gaza raid':

Seven Palestinians including a senior militant figure have been killed in clashes with Israeli troops in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian officials said.

It went down from seven, to three, to one. A prime example of the bias in the BBC and MSM. And, yet again, we see the Beeb relying on these mysterious "Palestinian officials." For those who aren't aware, the only officials in Palestinian areas are members of terrorist groups such as Fatah and Hamas.

BBC demonizes the Mossad

2006-10-24T08:05:00.000-07:00

The BBC, now admittedly biased against Jews, depicted Mossad agents as a bloodthirsty gang of thugs in it's series Spooks. YNet, Mossad angry over British espionage series:

The Mossad is furious at a popular British espionage drama series, or so says the 'Sunday Express. The British daily reported Sunday that senior Mossad agents were so angry with the way their organization was depicted in the BBC production 'Spooks' that they decided to take the matter to the British secret service.

High-ranking Mossad agents reportedly flew to London to see the last episode, which aired on BBC3 last week.

The episode deals with a large-scale deal between Britain and Saudi Arabia wherein Britain is promised an unlimited supply of fuel for handing over plutonium to the Saudis. Mossad agents attempt to thwart the deal, and are seen shooting bound and blindfolded prisoners in the back...
..."This show makes us look like gang of thugs who are no different than the terrorists we're fighting," an unnamed Mossad agent told the 'Sunday Express'.

The next libelous show on the BBC's horizon includes, without a doubt, Jews dipping Passover matzo in the blood of babies.

Self-hating Ha'aretz defends Islamic oppression of women

2006-10-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

Bradley Burston of the far-left Ha'aretz newspaper wrote an article asserting that there was a 'new inquisition' on Muslims in Europe and the Western world. The Otter sums it up like this: Poor innocent Muslims are being oppressed in the West by being asked to remove the ski masks and beekeeper suits. The horror!

The article doesn't mention the fact that virtually all Islamic women are coerced into wearing veils by a violent, chauvinistic culture. It doesn't mention the fact that Muslim veils and coverings hinder daily life and social relationships. Burston didn't discuss the fact that Muslims react violently to even the most innocent questioning of their religion. Even when he quoted Conservative Party member David Davis, who said that veils divide society like voluntary apartheid, he failed to address the divisiveness of wearing veils.

Of course the clincher of his article was this statement; "Scarves don't explode. Veils do not kill. The niqab does not incite."

Islam 'explodes'. Islam kills. Islam incites. Veils, niquabs, burkas, chadors, and other Islamic coverings are the trappings of Islam. By endorsing them on any level you endorse terrorism. You endorse suicide bombing, oppression of women, and apartheid. It's almost certain we will see Muslim riots due to the current veil row. Did Burston forget about the dozens killed due to Muhammad cartoons and vague Papal comments? When innocent people are killed by violent Muslims frothing over the veil, will Bradley Burston still be able to say veils don't kill?

BBC hails 'martyrdom' of children in suicide attack

2006-10-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

In a recent suicide attack, two children and a British marine were murdered. It's always sad to see innocent lives taken by the vile scum of Islam, but what makes this even worse is that the BBC hailed the two children as having been "martyred." BBC, bombing kills children and marine:

Meanwhile, a policeman has died in an attack in Khost province. The Taleban and their allies have been blamed for a rise in the number of suicide attacks.

'Children martyred'

The explosion in Lashkar Gah took place in the town centre, near the governor's compound.

Note that "children martyred" is a subheading from the BBC. At first I assumed it was a quote from another location in the article. It wasn't. When I checked, it didn't occur anywhere. It would appear that "children martyred" is the assertion of the BBC. Calling innocent victims "martyrs" is not a far stretch from the BBC's current policy of refusing to print the word "terrorism."

Update: Phosphorous & Fair Reporting

2006-10-22T13:54:00.000-07:00

A far cry from the one-sided reporting on Israel's use of phosphorous by the BBC and Ha'aretz, MSNBC and the Associated Press deliver the full scope of events. Israel used phosphorous on Hezbollah targets, not civilian populations, which is fully legal. MSNBC, Israel admits use of phosphorous:

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army dropped phosphorous bombs on Hezbollah guerrilla targets during their war in Lebanon this summer, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Sunday, confirming Lebanese allegations for the first time.

Until now, Israel had said it only used the weapons — which cause severe chemical burns — to mark targets or territory, according to Israeli media reports.
But Cabinet Minister Yaakov Edri said Israel used the weapons before an Aug. 14 cease-fire went into effect, ending its 34-day war against Hezbollah. Edri said he was speaking on behalf of Defense Minister Amir Peretz, according to his spokeswoman, Orly Yehezkel.
“The Israeli army holds phosphorous munitions in different forms,” Edri said. “The Israeli army made use of phosphorous shells during the war against Hezbollah in attacks against military targets in open ground.”
The Lebanese government accused Israel of dropping phosphorous bombs during the war. Edri did not specify where or against what types of targets the bombs were used.
White phosphorous is a translucent wax-like substance with a pungent smell that, once ignited, creates intense heat and smoke. The Geneva Conventions ban using white phosphorous against civilians or civilian areas.
The United States acknowledged last year that U.S. troops used white phosphorous as a weapon against insurgent strongholds during the battle of Fallujah in November 2004, but said it had never been used against civilian targets.
Israel is a signatory to the Geneva Conventions. The Israeli military said in July its use of weapons “conforms with international law” and it investigates claims of violations based on the information provided.

Ha'aretz and the BBC made no mention of the fact that phosphorous was used on military targets. Ha'aretz even refused to acknowledge the fact that phosphorous is legal unless used on civilian targets. However it would appear that MSNBC deserves to be commended for telling the full story, this time.

Did Israel violate Geneva Conventions?

2006-10-22T12:40:00.000-07:00

With the recent admission by cabinet minister Jacob Edery that Israel used phosphorous bombs in the Second Lebanon War the question is being tossed around - did Israel break international law? A short answer, no. Despite attempts by the mainstream media to depict Israel as having engaged in war crimes, no war crimes were committed by the Jewish State. The use of phosphorous bombs is not outlawed in the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions, instead, outlaw the use of phosphorous bombs against a civilian population. Just like they outlaw the use of any weapons against a civilian population. Israel used phosphorous weapons against military targets, which is completely legal. The real outcry is from liberal "human rights" (pro-terrorist) groups and governments who don't like to see Israel defend herself.

However, the very existence of Hezbollah as an armed group is against international law (UN Resolution 1559) . So is Hezbollah's main tactic, launching rockets indiscriminately into civilian centers. Yet more attention has been placed on Israel's use of legal, but questionable, weapons than on the blatantly illegal actions of a terrorist group.

Let's look at a few examples of distortion in the mainstream media.

From Israel's liberal, self-hating Ha'aretz newspaper:

At the same time, soldiers in the artillery corps testified that the IDF used phosphorous shells, which many experts say is prohibited by international law. According to the claims, the overwhelming majority of the weapons mentioned were fired during the last ten days of the war.

Many experts say that phosphorous shells are prohibited by international law? Which experts are these? Even the BBC, notorious for its bias against Israel, admitted that the use of phosphorous weapons only violated international law if used against civilian populations:

The Geneva Conventions ban the use of white phosphorous as an incendiary weapon against civilian populations and in air attacks against military forces in civilian areas.

So which is it? Two anti-Israel newspapers contradicted one another. Is phosphorous against international law or only illegal when used against civilian populations?

Nowhere in the Geneva Conventions does it explicitly outlaw phosphorous weapons. Rather, phosphorous weapons are limited in the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. Protocol III limits the use of incendiary weapons. Phosphorous can be considered an incendiary weapon. Keep in mind the Geneva Conventions do not outlaw incendiary weapons, but only limit their use. Here is the full text of Protocol III:

It is prohibited in all circumstances to make the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects the object of attack by incendiary weapons.
It is prohibited in all circumstances to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons.
It is further prohibited to make any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of attack by means of incendiary weapons other than air-delivered incendiary weapons, except when such military objective is clearly separated from the concentration of civilians and all feasible precautions are taken with a view to limiting the incendiary effects to the military objective and to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing, incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects.
It is prohibited to make forests or other kinds of plant cover the object of attack by incendiary weapons except when such natural elements are used to cover, conceal or camouflage combatants or other military objectives, or are themselves military objectives.

So unless Israel used phosphorous weapons on civilian targets, military targets located within a concentration of civilians not clearly separated from the concentration of civilians, didn't attempt to limit the incendiary effects or minimize incidental loss of life or damage to civilian objects, or burned down forests with incendiary weapons, then it wasn't illegal.

Israeli cabinet minister Jacob Edery made it clear that phosphorous weapons were used only against military targets in open areas. By the criteria listed in the Geneva Conventions, Israel's use of phosphorous was one hundred percent legal.

Israel refuses to capitulate to Lebanese impotency

2006-10-22T12:26:00.000-07:00

Despite French and Lebanese threats to shoot down Israeli aircraft in Lebanon, Israel stated that it would continue to carry out strikes against terrorists. And despite a UN resolution stating terrorist groups in Lebanon must be disarmed, including Hezbollah, and despite Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon, the Lebanese government and UN peacekeepers have continued to allow weapon shipments to terrorist groups operating on Lebanese soil. MSNBC, Israel says flights over Lebanon will continue:

JERUSALEM - Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Sunday that air force flights over Lebanon would continue because arms smuggling to Lebanese guerrillas has not stopped.
Peretz made the statement to Israel's Cabinet after the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon termed the overflights a clear violation of the U.N. resolution that ended Israel's monthlong summer war with Hezbollah fighters.
In his remarks, Peretz accused the Lebanese government of failing to carry out its obligations under the resolution to keep weapons from reaching Hezbollah from its Syrian and Iranian backers.
"The accumulating intelligence in our hands points to a rising effort to transfer arms," and so "the legitimacy for overflights increases," Peretz said.
The U.N. cease-fire resolution, which went into effect on Aug. 14, calls for both sides to respect the U.N. boundary drawn in 2000 after Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
Israel says it has no choice but to conduct flights across that line because arms continue to flow to Hezbollah and due to the guerrilla group's continued armed presence in southern Lebanon, which, under the resolution, is to become a weapons-free zone.
Up to 15,000 Lebanese army troops and an equal number of U.N. troops have been assigned to create this zone. Last week, Maj. Gen. Alain Pellegrini, leader of the U.N. peacekeeping force, criticized Israel for sending its jets over the area.
Peretz, in response, said on Sunday that the U.N. force was "designed to operate against Hezbollah, not Israel."
"As long as the resolution isn't implemented, there is no other choice" but to keep flying over Lebanon, he said.

Religion of Peace intimidates to silence

2006-10-22T12:13:00.000-07:00

The British Commission for Racial Equality discouraged debate regarding the Muslim veil issue, stating that it could trigger riots and violence. Jerusalem Post, UK watchdog: Muslim veil debate could spark riots:

The heated debate over veils that cover the faces of some British Muslim women is growing ugly and could trigger riots, the head of Britain's race relations watchdog warned Sunday.
Britons are becoming increasingly polarized along racial and religious lines, and if they don't talk respectfully about their differences, bad feeling will mount and could fuel unrest, Commission for Racial Equality chairman Trevor Phillips wrote in The Sunday Times newspaper.
An angry debate "is the last thing Britain needs," wrote Phillips, whose commission is an independent, government-funded body created by law in 1976 and charged with fighting discrimination and encouraging good race relations.
"This could be the trigger for the grim spiral that produced riots in the north of England five years ago. Only this time the conflict would be much worse. We need to chill," he wrote.

It's a real shame that the Western world is capitulating to Islamic scare tactics. The fact is that an angry debate is exactly what we need. The world needs to put its foot down and let Muslims know that we can debate and discuss any issue that we want. Including Islamic veils or Muhammad (Pork and Beans Upon Him). If Muslims want to riot, let them. Let them get their heads split open by the business end of a bobby's baton.

Terrorist leader killed

2006-10-22T11:53:00.000-07:00

Hamas seems to be helping Israel - by killing rival terrorists. The leader of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades was gunned down outside his residence by what appeared to be members of the competing terrorist group, Hamas. Civil war between terrorist groups in the Occupied Territories has been looming for months. BBC, Gunmen kill leading Fatah figure:

Mohammed Shahadeh, leader of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the camp, was shot outside his home, officials say.

Fatah officials blamed Hamas for the killing - the latest in the current stand-off between the two Palestinian rivals that has left about 20 dead.

It begs the question, "If a Muslim terrorist is killed by another Muslim terrorist is he still considered a martyr?"

Further Reuters distortion

2006-10-21T07:48:00.000-07:00

In a Saturday raid in Gaza, Israeli forces exchanged fire with Palestinian terrorists. One terrorist was killed.

However, Reuters reported that one 50 year old civilian was killed in the exchange on fire. Reuters' report was based upon Palestinian resident and hospital claims. And we all know how reliable Palestinian sources are (cough, Pallywood, cough). The headline for Reuters was, Israeli forces kill Palestinian in Gaza raid. Here is a short excerpt (highlights mine):

By Nidal al-Mughrabi
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli forces killed a Palestinian civilian during a raid in southern Gaza on Saturday, hospital officials and residents said, as the army pressed on with a four-month-old offensive against militants.
An Israeli army spokesman said troops clashed with militants during an operation near the Sufa Crossing in the southern Gaza Strip, adding one gunman was hit. He had no further details.
Hospital officials said the dead civilian was a man aged 50. Residents said he was shot and killed by soldiers.

So it appears that a trusty Islamic Reuters reporter, Nidal al-Mughrabi, decided to take the word of Palestinian residents over the official military report. Let's see what the IDF really had to say. Jerusalem Post, Palestinian killed in Gaza was a gunman:

In response to Palestinian reports that the IDF had killed a 50-year-old Palestinian civilian during operations in the Gaza Strip early Saturday, the IDF confirmed it was operating the area, but said it had killed a gunman during an exchange of fire with Palestinian terror operatives.

So it turns out that the only person killed was a gunman. Reuters, you've been caught lying again. We would have expected some reform after the fake photos, the pandering to terrorists, and the physical violence against Israeli troops. Shame on you Reuters. And shame on Nidal al-Mughrabi.

Iran condemned for student McCarthyism

2006-10-21T07:41:00.000-07:00

Human Rights Watch is stunning the world this week. First it condemned Hezbollah for it's use of cluster bombs in the Second Lebanon War, next it condemned Iran for banning students who have dissenting political views. Usually HRW ignores Muslim countries; it's too busy attacking Israel 24/7. BBC News, Iran should stop student bans:

Iran must stop banning students from university because of their political views, a human rights group has said.

Human Rights Watch says some students have been barred from registering for university places despite passing the relevant entrance exams.

It said others have been offered places only if they promise to refrain from peaceful political protests.

Human Rights Watch said the Iranian government wanted to coerce students into silence and submission.

Iran paid Hamas $50m to kidnap Shalit

2006-10-21T07:33:00.000-07:00

According to Israeli ambassador Dan Gillerman, Iran bribed Hamas for the kidnapping of Cpl Gilad Shalit in June. BBC News, Iran blocks Israel soldier deal:

Israel's ambassador to the UN has accused Iran of paying Hamas $50m to block the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants.

(Photo right: Gilad Shalit. Shalit was kidnapped June 25, 2006 by the terrorist group Hamas)

Nazis march on German jail

2006-10-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

BBC, Neo-Nazis gather for Berlin march:

More than 1,200 neo-Nazis from across Europe are due to march on Berlin's Tegel Prison to demand the release of a jailed singer.

German neo-Nazi Michael Regener, aka "Lunikoff", is in jail for three years after a court ruled his band Landser was spreading racial hatred.

In March 2005, a German court rejected an appeal by Regener to have his sentence repealed.

Germany has strict laws against promoting Nazism or using Nazi symbols.

Three years ago, a Berlin court found Landser - meaning "foot soldiers" - guilty of spreading hatred of Jewish people and foreigners in Germany.

Idiotarians defend neo-Nazi groups under the guise of free speech. However, hate speech should not be protected. Not in Europe and not in the Untied States. It's illegal to walk into a crowded movie theater and shout 'fire' because it can result in damage, injury, and death. So why shouldn't it be illegal to hold extremist neo-Nazi rallies? Or advocate the murder of Jews in song lyrics? Those also cause damage, injury, and death.

We don't allow terrorist groups to congregate and spread propaganda so we shouldn't allow neo-Nazis; it's a movement tantamount to terrorism.

Pentagon admits Qur'an causes terrorism

2006-10-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Despite previous claims that Islamic terrorism was not the result of Islam, but rather a perversion of Islam, a Pentagon report stated that the Qur'an is at the heart of Islamic terrorism. World Net Daily, Suicide bombers follow Qur'an, concludes Pentagon briefing:

With suicide bombings spreading from Iraq to Afghanistan, the Pentagon has tasked intelligence analysts to pinpoint what's driving Muslim after Muslim to do the unthinkable.

Their preliminary finding is politically explosive: it's their "holy book" the Quran after all, according to intelligence briefings obtained by WND.

In public, the U.S. government has made an effort to avoid linking the terrorist threat to Islam and the Quran while dismissing suicide terrorists as crazed heretics who pervert Islamic teachings.

"The terrorists distort the idea of jihad into a call for violence and murder," the White House maintains in its recently released "National Strategy for Combating Terrorism" report.

But internal Pentagon briefings show intelligence analysts have reached a wholly different conclusion after studying Islamic scripture and the backgrounds of suicide terrorists. They've found that most Muslim suicide bombers are in fact students of the Quran who are motivated by its violent commands – making them, as strange as it sounds to the West, "rational actors" on the Islamic stage.

Finally some honesty! The fact that Islam is the prime motive in Islamic terror is something everybody knows but is afraid to admit. It's something that we've known in the academic world, too, despite many liberals muddying the waters with their one-sided defense of Islam. As an academic I expect more honesty out of universities, so it pains me to see liberals using the classroom as a pro-Islam and anti-American pulpit. I can understand it from the political realm where honesty costs votes. Not that I support it. I just understand it. Thus are the evils of political correctness.

It's always good to see an academic who isn't afraid to come out and say it - Islam causes terrorism. Not poverty, not politics, not a broken home, but Islam. Essential reading on this subject is David Bukay's paper, "The Religious Foundations of Suicide Bombings."

Suicide terrorism has been the scourge of the last quarter century. A suicide bomb attack on the U.S. marine barracks in Beirut compelled Ronald Reagan in 1983 to withdrawal peacekeepers from Beirut. Palestinian leaders deploy suicide bombers to force Israeli concessions, and Iraqi insurgents use suicide bombings to derail the new political order. Al-Qaeda terrorists attacked the U.S.S. Cole in Aden in 2000 and, on September 11, 2001, the World Trade Center and Pentagon. While some scholars argue there is no religious component to suicide bombing—often citing Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers, who are not Muslims—they are wrong. All Muslim suicide bombers justify their actions with their religion and, more specifically, with the concept of jihad.

Second Stingray Attack

2006-10-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

Shadowing the death of Steve Irwin by the barb of a stingray, a second attack has occured. On Tuesday a stingray leaped into a boat and stabbed a man in the heart, causing a near-fatal wound. CNN, Stingray leaps into boat, stabs man in chest:

A leaping stingray stabbed an 81-year-old Florida boater in the chest, authorities said Wednesday, leaving its poisonous stinger lodged close to his heart in an incident recalling the one that killed Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin last month...

...Officials say stingrays don't normally leap into boats, as one did in Florida Tuesday.

Hezbollah's cluster bombs

2006-10-20T10:33:00.001-07:00

Human Rights Watch, a notoriously anti-Semitic "human rights" group, made a startling move on Thursday by admitting Hezbollah used cluster bombs to attack Israeli civilian centers. This is quite a switch from its normal routine of accusing Israel of war crimes while ignoring Islamic terrorism.

Even more interesting than HRW's Bizarro world declaration was the way the mainstream media handled it. Have a look at the headlines:

Reuters, Hezbollah fired cluster rockets at Israel: Report

A surprisingly fair title from Reuters, a news source also notorious for its anti-Semitic reporters and photoshopped anti-Israel propaganda. Here's a funny quote from the Reuters article; "We are disturbed to discover that not only Israel but also Hezbollah used cluster munitions in their recent conflict, at a time when many countries are turning away from this kind of weapon precisely because of its impact on civilians," said Steve Goose of Human Right Watch in the report."

Steve Goose is "disturbed to discover" that a violent global terrorist group used cluster rockets to attack civilians. Yes, truly shocking indeed. Who would have EVER thought a terrorist group would do such a thing? It's truly a disturbing discovery.

Let's look at two BBC articles reporting on HRW's statements:

Hezbollah accused of cluster use

Lebanon mines 'continue to kill'

Even Reuters asserted that Hezbollah did in fact use cluster bombs. However, the BBC refused to acknowledge it. The BBC would rather print that Hezbollah was only accused of such a thing. The second article is also about HRW's condemnation of Hezbollah, yet reading the title alone it sound's like a condemnation of landmines in Lebanon. Only after you read it does it explain that no landmines were actually used. It's an emotional euphemism for unexploded ordinances.

While the BBC refused to state that Hezbollah actually used cluster bombs, it had no problem saying Israel did with articles such as, "UN denounces Israel cluster bombs," and, "US probes Israel cluster bomb use."