#CriticalAnalyst

Free Syrian Army shows video of alleged Iranian fighters abducted in Homs

2012-01-28T00:36:00.000-05:00

@Criticalanalyst

(AlArabiya) A group of Syria’s opposition “Free Army” has released a video showing what it was said were seven Iranians, including five members of the Revolutionary Guards, captured in the city of Homs.

The video showed travel documents of the captives, some of whom appeared to be speaking Farsi.
“I am Sajjad Amirian, a member the Revolutionary Guards of the Iranian armed forces. I am a member of the team in charge of cracking down on protesters in Syria and we receive our orders directly from the security division of the Syrian air force in Homs,” one of the captives said.
“I urge Mr. Khamenei to work on securing our release and return to our homes,” he added.

The armed Syrian opposition group, which called itself the “al-Farouq brigade of the Free Syrian Army,” also released a statement calling for Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamanei to “acknowledge in explicit and unambiguous words the existence of elements of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Syria in order to help the Assad’s regime in its crackdown on the Syrian people.”
The group also urged Khamanei to withdraw all Revolutionary Guard fighters from Syria, pledging that that it would then release all captive Iranian fighters.
The group said five of those abducted were military men working with the Syrian air force intelligence and two showed “civilian status” as employees in a power plant in Homs.
It added that all the seven captives entered Syria during the uprising and passports of the five military men did not contain visas, adding that it would soon release the two Iranians with civilian status.
Syrian opposition groups have previously accused Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah group of assisting forces of President Bashar al-Assad in their bloody crackdown on protesters.
The Syrian Revolutionary Coordination Union reported on Jan. 17 that a group of Hezbollah fighters had hit civilian protesters near Damascus with Russian-origin BM-21Grad rockets.
“The attack was coordinated with the forces of President Bashar Assad,” the Syrian opposition group said.
A source from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) told Al Arabiya on Jan. 16 that the “Iranian government has not yet interfered in situation in Syria,” but stressed that Tehran was committed to a joint defense treaty with Damascus.
“We and our brethren in Iraq and Lebanon are protecting Syria,” the source explained in a clear reference to Nouri al-Malikil’s government and Hezbollah, both allies of Iran.
Despite reports stating that so far the situation in Syria is “stable,” the IRGC, the source pointed out, is still worried of a division or a coup in the Syrian army.
According to American officials who believe the IRGC is taking part in the fight against Syrian opposition, Maj. Gen. Qassem Suleimani, commander of IRGC al-Quds Force, which specializes in operations outside Iran, was in Damascus this month.
Gen. Suleimani’s visit, they argued proved that Iran’s support for the Syrian regime includes the provision of arms and military equipment.
They added that they are sure Suleimani met with the most senior officials in the Syrian regime, including president Bashar al-Assad.
The joint defense treaty between Syria and Iran was signed in June 2006 by a former Syrian defense minister, Hassan Turkmani, and his Iranian counterpart, Mustafa Mohamed Najjar, in Tehran.

French breast implant boss arrested h/t @Jewess

2012-01-27T09:54:00.001-05:00

(JPOST)(PiP breast implant patients protest) MARSEILLE, France - Jean-Claude Mas, the Frenchman who sparked a global health scare by selling substandard breast implants, was arrested on Thursday as Marseille prosecutors build a case against him for manslaughter.
In the first arrests since the two-year-old scandal made headlines worldwide in December, Mas and a second executive at his now defunct company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were seized at their homes in southern France shortly after dawn.
The detention could lead within hours to Mas being placed under formal investigation on suspicion of manslaughter and causing bodily harm. That could in due course lead to criminal charges, which would carry longer sentences than those he now faces in a fraud case expected to be tried around October

Toxic Boobs!

Israel believes Iran is bluffing

2012-01-27T08:08:00.001-05:00

(Carl) I don't remember whether I have ever said this on the blog, and given that it's Friday afternoon, I'm not going to look. But trust me on this - deep down, I don't believe that Iran will retaliate in any meaningful way if we take out their nukes. They might have Hamas and Hezbullah shoot off some rockets (and take the retaliatory hits), but I don't believe Iran is going to go to war with us over their nukes, just like Syria and Iraq didn't. At least not if we do it before they have a nuclear weapons capability.

The New York Times reports that the working assumption of the Netanyahu government is that Iran will not retaliate. Or at least not very much.

But conversations with eight current and recent top Israeli security officials suggested several things: since Israel has been demanding the new sanctions, including an oil embargo and seizure of Iran’s Central Bank assets, it will give the sanctions some months to work; the sanctions are viewed here as probably insufficient; a military attack remains a very real option; and postattack situations are considered less perilous than one in which Iran has nuclear weapons.
“Take every scenario of confrontation and attack by Iran and its proxies and then ask yourself, ‘How would it look if they had a nuclear weapon?’ ” a senior official said. “In nearly every scenario, the situation looks worse.”
The core analysis is based on an examination of Iran’s interests and abilities, along with recent threats and conflicts. Before the United States-led war against Iraq in 1991, Saddam Hussein vowed that if attacked he would “burn half of Israel.” He fired about 40 Scud missiles at Israel, which did limited damage. Similar fears of retaliation were voiced before the Iraq war in 2003 and in 2006, during Israel’s war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. In the latter, about 4,000 rockets were fired at Israel by Hezbollah, most of them causing limited harm.
“If you put all those retaliations together and add in the terrorism of recent years, we are probably facing some multiple of that,” a retired official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, citing an internal study. “I’m not saying Iran will not react. But it will be nothing like London during World War II.”
A paper soon to be published by the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, written by Amos Yadlin, former chief of military intelligence, and Yoel Guzansky, who headed the Iran desk at Israel’s National Security Council until 2009, argues that the Iranian threat to close the Strait of Hormuz is largely a bluff.
The paper contends that, despite the risks of Iranian provocation, Iran would not be able to close the waterway for any length of time and that it would not be in Iran’s own interest to do so.
“If others are closing the taps on you, why close your own?” Mr. Guzansky said. Sealing the strait could also lead to all-out confrontation with the United States, something the authors say they believe Iran wants to avoid.
A separate paper just published by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies says that the fear of missile warfare against Israel is exaggerated since the missiles would be able to inflict only limited physical damage.
Most Israeli analysts, like most officials and analysts abroad, reject these arguments. They say that Iran has been preparing for an attack for some years and will react robustly, as will its allies, Hezbollah and Hamas. Moreover, they say, an attack will at best delay the Iranian program by a couple of years and lead Tehran to redouble its efforts to build such a weapon.
But Mr. Barak and Mr. Netanyahu believe that those concerns will pale if Iran does get a nuclear weapon. This was a point made in a public forum in Jerusalem this week by Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, chief of the army’s planning division. Speaking of the former leaders of Libya and Iraq, he said, “Who would have dared deal with Qaddafi or Saddam Hussein if they had a nuclear capability? No way.”

(Carl) I agree with the assessments that Iranian retaliation will not be much so long as they don't have a nuclear weapon. The Arabs are like a child throwing a tantrum - the screaming and crying is a lot worse than the actual physical consequences. The problem is that if God forbid they get a nuclear weapon, then it just becomes a question of pushing one button, and that's a whole different ballgame. That's why it's so important to stop Iran before they get a nuclear weapon.
JPost reports that US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsey, who visited Israel last week, believes that a strike against Iran is premature.

"I do think the path we're on - the economic sanctions and the diplomatic pressure - does seem to me to be having an effect," Dempsey said. "I just think that it's premature to be deciding that the economic and diplomatic approach is inadequate."
Dempsey admitted differences in opinion between the US and Israel's leadership on the Iranian threat and how soon to act against it.
"We have to acknowledge that they ... see that threat differently than we do. Its existential to them," he said. "My intervention with them was not to try to persuade them to my thinking or allow them to persuade me to theirs, but rather to acknowledge the complexity and commit to seeking creative solutions, not simple solutions," he said.

(Carl) But saying that there are differences in opinion because to us the threat is existential is only half the story. This is from the Times again.

But this approach poses a difficulty. America’s weapons and equipment are far more powerful than Israel’s. So as Iran enriches uranium underground, Washington can wait longer to decide to attack and still be effective. Israel worries that in the coming year Iran will enter what officials call a zone of immunity, meaning its facilities will move beyond reach.
And at this point, we have no commitment from the Obama administration to take military action to stop Iran - just vague speeches that Iran will be stopped - and I doubt most Israelis would accept a promise from Obama anyway. So Israel has to accept the reality that it may be up to us to stop Iran.
If we get past the US election and there is a new Republican administration that can be trusted (i.e. not Ron Paul), it may be possible to make an agreement that Israel will stand down for some period of time and let Washington deal with Iran.

mouths are moving... no action. does anyone really care what the NYTimes writes at this juncture. If they had their way there wouldn't be an Israel. So why are we even reading them. I suppose then I wouldn't have anything to blog about. Perhaps ignoring the NYTimes is the best idea. No one takes it seriously anymore anyway... it's untouchable and partisan.

#RonPaul booed on foreign policy - CNN Tea Party Debate Tampa Florida

2012-01-26T23:35:00.000-05:00

Ron Paul representative Michael Scheuer on Judge Napolitano: "Israel's man power has ever been used to do anything?" "There are no resources?"

Is this the policy of Ron Paul? To belittle Jewish workers? Is this the kind of interview we can expect from Napolitano?

Michael Scheuer depicts bin Laden as a rational actor who is fighting to weaken the United States by weakening its economy, rather than merely combating and killing Americans
In his 22-year career, he served as the Chief of the Bin Laden Issue Station (aka "Alec Station"), from 1996 to 1999, the Osama bin Laden tracking unit at the Counterterrorist Center. He then worked again as Special Advisor to the Chief of the bin Laden unit from September 2001 to November 2004.

No wonder we didn't get Bin Ladin till this guy was gone!

Saudi Cleric: It Is Forbidden to Pray to Allah to Place Steve Jobs in Pa...

2012-01-26T16:21:00.000-05:00

It probably won't help that Apple just set up a tech base in Israel

مواطن يحاول احراق نفسه فى التحرير #BurningMan h/t @ChallahHuAckbar #Egypt

2012-01-26T14:00:00.000-05:00

Making Popcorn here... Oops false alarm. Just a lot of shouting. What a pussy!

Israeli Hackers: We brought down official Iranian websites

2012-01-26T11:00:00.001-05:00

Israeli Hackers: We brought down official Iranian websites A group of Israeli hackers that calls itself "IDF Team" claims that it has brought down the websites belonging to the Iranian Health Ministry and an English-language Iranian television channel, Press TV. According to the group, the cyber attack came in response to Arab hackers' attacks on Israeli sites.(@ChallahHuAkbar)(#Israel)(#Iran)(YNet)(January 26, 2012)(Dudi Cohen and Aviel Magnezi)

Jesse Jackson Admits Gingrich’s Food Stamps Comments Are Not Racist…

2012-01-26T10:46:00.001-05:00

Then tries to backpedal claiming it’s actually a “double meaning.”

via weaselzippers.us

Hiemytown Jesse has an opinion!

U.S. Ambassador Shapiro: Pollard’s Future is Unclear

2012-01-25T21:54:00.001-05:00

(Arutz Sheva/Matzav) Shapiro, who met Wednesday with the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in Jerusalem, was asked by the MK about the possibility that President Barack Obama might commute Pollard’s sentence to time served.
But the U.S. ambassador told the Israeli lawmakers that he “can’t speculate” on Pollard, and frankly does not know what will become of him.
Vice President Joe Biden eventually met with American Jewish leaders over the issue last year, after he was pressured by a group during the annual Jewish holiday gathering held in Washington D.C. who made it clear that a consensus exists on this issue across the spectrum in the U.S. Jewish community .
Pollard, a Jewish American, was sentenced to life in prison 27 years ago on a single charge of passing classified information to an ally - Israel.
MK Meir Sheetrit also asked the ambassador why MK Michael Ben Ari was unable to obtain a visa to enter the U.S., while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejaad and Hamas terrorists have been able to do so.
Shapiro replied that he is not responsible for these matters.
(Read more: Arutz Sheva/matzav.com)

All this is very clear with Newt. It obviously is unclear with Obama. It also is unclear with Romney and any other candidate. This is one of the primary reasons I trust Newt because of his courage to take a stand on this issue.

Philippines may allow greater U.S. presence in latest reaction to China’s rise - No Thanks

2012-01-25T16:04:00.001-05:00

(Washington Post) Zachary S. Welch/AP - Two decades after evicting U.S. forces from their biggest base in the Pacific, the Philippines is in talks with the Obama administration about expanding the American military presence in the island nation, the latest in a series of strategic moves aimed at China.

Two decades after evicting U.S. forces from their biggest base in the Pacific, the Philippines is in talks with the Obama administration about expanding the American military presence in the island nation, the latest in a series of strategic moves aimed at China.
Although negotiations are in the early stages, officials from both governments said they are favorably inclined toward a deal. They are scheduled to intensify their discussions Thursday and Friday in Washington prior to higher-level meetings in March. If an arrangement is reached, it would follow other recent agreements to base thousands of U.S. Marines in northern Australia and station Navy warships in Singapore. ...(MORE)

"I thought it was Hitler who caused world war 2, not the American people who opposed going in." -Ron Paul when questioned about his opposition to WW2

2012-01-25T13:53:00.001-05:00

(Dondero)It’s his foreign policy that’s the problem; not so much some stupid and whacky things on race and gays he may have said or written in the past.Ron Paul is most assuredly an isolationist. He denies this charge vociferously. But I can tell you straight out, I had countless arguments/discussions with him over his personal views. For example, he strenuously does not believe the United States had any b...usiness getting involved in fighting Hitler in WWII. He expressed to me countless times, that “saving the Jews,” was absolutely none of our business. When pressed, he often times brings up conspiracy theories like FDR knew about the attacks of Pearl Harbor weeks before hand, or that WWII was just “blowback,” for Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy errors, and such.I would challenge him, like for example, what about the instances of German U-boats attacking U.S. ships, or even landing on the coast of North Carolina or Long Island, NY. He’d finally concede that that and only that was reason enough to counter-attack against the Nazis, not any humanitarian causes like preventing the Holocaust. “He told me numerous times it was not worth it to intervene to save the Jews in World War II,” Dondero said. “I don’t think that’s because he’s an antisemite. It’s because he’s an extreme isolationist and he’s trying to be 100% principled–he doesn’t think there’s any reason to intervene for human rights or any other reason anywhere on the planet.” In 2007, the Congressman actually faulted Abraham Lincoln for using military force to end slavery in the Civil War: “He shouldn’t have gone to war… Slavery was phased out in every other country in the world and the way I’m advising that it should have been done is do like the British Empire did; you buy the slaves and release them.”

note the reason for terrorism is because we have military bases in places where we do business.

David Galula’s Counterinsurgency Ideas Used in Iraq and Afghanistan

2012-01-25T05:49:00.000-05:00

(TabletMag) Every Berber I have met has told me that Amazigh were the original inhabitants of North Africa and that all of that land was once theirs. As one Libyan Amazigh told me, “I’m tired of hearing about the Palestinians and how the Jews took their land. What about how the Arabs took our land?”
There is also the fact that the official language of all the North African countries is Arabic—yet in Morocco 60 percent of the population are Tamazight or Berber-speaking, in Algeria 30 percent, and in Libya perhaps 10 percent. In most of North Africa, the Arabophone majority has suppressed or (in the case of Qaddafi’s Libya) outright prohibited the use of Tamazight, a language that is estimated to be anywhere from 2,200 to 3,000 years old; its tiffinagh script has more than 30 letters, differing somewhat from region to region, and some of them look like ancient Greek.(MORE @ Tablet)

Ann Marlowe uses conjecture to assume that the supposed father of workable counterinsurgency warfare through propaganda was less successful because he did not talk about his own North African Jewish background. I'm not so sure Ann is right about this (She seems to believe in the fiction of "Moderate Islam"), but the history here is interesting.

Rep. Allen West: I'd Step Up to Vice-Presidential Plate if Asked to Run

2012-01-25T05:47:00.000-05:00

(BY THE WAY, The Feminists of Think Progress and The Young Turks found this video offensive because he spells out what is going on with women right now.) I couldn't find anything wrong with what he is saying here.

(newsmax.com) U.S. Rep. Allen West, who generally has deflected suggestions that he could be a vice-presidential candidate, now is saying he would “step up to the plate” if asked.
The freshman Florida Republican and tea party favorite took that swing at pitches from three constituents at a town hall meeting, according to The Palm Beach Post.
In answer to the voters’ written questions at the meeting, West said: "If people come to me and ask me to continue to serve my country in a higher capacity, I'm not going to say no. It would be an incredible privilege and honor. I doubt that I'm on anybody's list.

my father seems to think that Santorum would be a VP for Romney. lolz... very amusing to hear how the left thinks the right would act. The GOP is not about accumulating power through partnerships... like Clinton and Obama. For example... the differences between the candidates in the GOP is very divisive. It's almost like Ron Paul is in an opposition party. No Republican will be picking Ron Paul as a VP and it's doubtful that Santorum would be a VP in a Romney presidency. Allen West is the logical choice.

Dopey Op-Doc at NYTimes

2012-01-25T04:31:00.001-05:00

(myrightword.blogspot.com) At the NYTimes, you can see an op-doc by Ra’anan Alexandrowicz, writer and director of “The Law in These Parts,” which is screening at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. He lives in Jerusalem and teaches film at the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film and Television School and read this introduction:

Israel’s Supreme Court is the body that provides checks and balances to the country’s executive and legislative powers, upholding constitutional standards...
¶ In the four decades since the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, the court has become a stage for an escalating conflict between two very different world views.
¶ Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decades. It is also unusual for a nation to allow residents of territories under a military occupation to petition its Supreme Court and request intervention in acts of state.
¶ Since the early years of the occupation...[rather] than functioning as the bastion of human rights that it was established to be, it has instead become the entity responsible for balancing the needs of a state engaged in a prolonged occupation with basic principles of democracy.
¶ This Op-Doc expands on one of the themes explored in my new feature documentary, “The Law in These Parts,” and asks about the role of the Supreme Court in the legal underpinnings of the longest military occupation in modern times.
(My Right Word) left this comment there:

RA is being petulantly picayune writing: "Israel is the only modern state that has held territories under military occupation for over four decade". Really?
Consider:
Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara has “only” lasted three plus decades. Turkey’s occupation of Northern Cyprus – a mere 37 years. But Russia’s occupation of the Kuril Islands began in August 1945…
And Tibet has been occupied by China since 1949.
And many consider Northern Ireland occupied, even after the 1998 arrangements of an Executive.
But I suggest the term is "belligerent occupation", resulting from an Arab war of aggression in 1967 and by acting in defense, not only does Israel have the right to retain all or most of the territories it now administers, but as Schweible, Rostow and other international law experts claim, Israel has a better right than anyone to remain there in Judea and Samaria based on, at the least, discussions, declarations and decisions of Balfour 1917, the Versailles Peace Conference of 1919, the San Remo Conference of 1920 and the League of Nations 1922.
And isn't it amazing that none of this legalese was ever voiced when those territories were invaded by, illegally occupied by and illegally annexed to Jordan all through 1948-1967?
(My Right Word) left out Kashmir.
^

NYT publishes "facts" too good to check (CAMERA) | #CriticalAnalyst

comment: Kashmir was what first came to mind when I was reading the top and the idea that Israel was the only Occupier immediately rang false with me as well.

Bloomberg Assails Showing of Anti-Muslim Film to Police - NYTimes.com

2012-01-25T04:08:00.001-05:00

They say it like it is a bad thing

(cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com) Mike Groll/Associated PressThe mayor on Tuesday. ALBANY – Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said Tuesday that whoever decided to show a film depicting American Muslims as extremists to nearly 1,500 city police officers “exercised some terrible judgment.”
Mr. Bloomberg said that neither he nor the police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, had known at the time that the film, “The Third Jihad,” was being shown to officers. Speaking to reporters after testifying here at a state budget hearing, Mr. Bloomberg said that the film had not been shown at the Police Academy.
“It was done someplace else and as soon as they found out about it they stopped it and took it down,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “Somebody exercised some terrible judgment. I don’t know who. We’ll find out.”
When the screening of the film for some officers was first revealed last year by Tom Robbins of The Village Voice, the Police Department’s main spokesman, Paul J. Browne, said it had been screened “a couple of times.”But an article in The New York Times Tuesday, based on documents received by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School through a Freedom of Information request, showed that it had been shown repeatedly for at least three months.
The film says that few Muslim leaders can be trusted. It also includes an interview with Mr. Kelly, which, Mr. Browne said, had been lifted from old footage.

Bagel Mood Swings

2012-01-25T01:56:00.001-05:00

For the first time since marriage and parenthood, I had achieved total control—until I punted the bagel with so much spin that it flipped onto its side and scurried off like a tire on the lam. (Wigpen h/t Simply Jews)

Food Fights and Class Warfare

2012-01-24T23:51:00.001-05:00

(SultanKnish)Not only was the availability of food no longer associated with prosperity, but even the poor had begun to eat so well that fat began to carry working class and lower class associations. Fat was no longer wealth, instead conscientious fitness became a mark of prosperity... Now: The food may cost twice as much, but it's locally grown on a farm run by handicapped union workers who visit Cuba to receive free health care or by the indigenous peoples of Tuba-Tuba with the proceeds going to a complete sonic library of their chants and ceremonies.(MORE)

Back in 1638 when Rubens created this painting, this kind of female body was considered a kind of mature feminine ideal. The Three Graces are mythological figures representing charm, enjoyment and social goodwill, and as such are usually presented in art as cheerful and beautiful dancing women. (Rubens found @Fat Wars « Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex With You)

Widespread support for burka ban in Canada

2012-01-24T14:25:00.001-05:00

The precedent for this does not exist: If there is threat to people's rights then free expression does not apply. The Marxists used the same argument to limit free expression. What proportion of fashion limits can a free society really have? My opinion is this is not how things should be dealt with. As you can see here in the article these people think Islam is not at fault, but Islam is really where the law can categorize as being violent. If we do not accept the truth about Islam then a free society can not... and will not exist. When a ideology is violent then it is acceptable to intervene, but simply saying you are protecting women and ignoring the cause of the problem is a mistake. Sadly feminism is taking priority over real human rights here.

(via creepingsharia.wordpress.com image via hardinrepublic.com h/t Sandra Kushner Zlotkin) via Widespread support for burka ban, Kenney says.

TORONTO – A month after Canada banned Muslim women from covering their faces during citizenship ceremonies, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the policy has won widespread support.

Speaking at a Muslim Canadian Congress event honouring his “courageous decision,” Mr. Kenney said polling shows that eight out of 10 Canadians agreed with the decision while only 14% were opposed.

“It is only a sign of respect for your fellow citizens, when you are pledging to them your commitment to live in a community with them, to show your face and who you are and that your pledge is heartfelt and authentic,” he said.

He said he would not act on suggestions to hold separate citizenship ceremonies for Muslim women who cover their faces in public. “We are all becoming Canadians together,” he said. “We are not going to start segregating our citizenship ceremonies.”

The Minister characterized the new rule as part of a broader strategy to strengthen the value of citizenship in Canada, which he said has the highest rate of naturalization of any country in the developed world. While the audience gathered at a Toronto hotel spoke mostly in support of the niqab ban, one woman said she was “extremely offended” by the comments she had heard. “If somebody believes in it [the niqab] then it’s their right to practise it,” said Fatema Dada of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association.

Mr. Kenney responded that taking an oath was a public act and could not be done in a way that hides identity. He also recalled meeting Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, Egypt’s top Muslim authority, who told him face coverings were not a religious requirement.

“He clarified for me that people in the West who think this is a religious obligation do not understand Islam law. So I am not going to second-guess the most pre-eminent Sharia authority in the Sunni world.”

There was a tense moment at the event when a woman dressed in a burka approached the Minister and tore off the blue cloth to reveal she was actually author and women’s rights activist Raheel Raza. Writer Tarek Fatah also briefly wore a burka hand puppet.

“The niqab or burka is a political tool by Islamists who wish to segregate Muslims into religious ghettos, cut off from mainstream society,” said Farzana Hassan of the Muslim Canadian Congress. “Islamists consider women who do not cover their heads and faces, which constitutes the vast majority, as sinners and lesser Muslims.”

India to pay for Iranian oil in gold, China likely to follow

2012-01-24T11:33:00.001-05:00

What side are these Hindus on? RT with the bad news... we know what side Russia Today is on though. The Ron Paul side.

WHORES!

(CARL)In a bid to circumvent Western sanctions, India has agreed to purchase Iranian oil using gold instead of dollars, and China is likely to follow suit. Between the two of them, India and China account for 40% of Iranian oil sales. The EU, which agreed on Monday to gradually place an embargo on Iranian oil, accounts for 20% of Iranian oil sales.
Let's go to the videotape.DEBKA adds (Hat Tip: Will):

Iran's second largest customer after China, India purchases around $12 billion a year's worth of Iranian crude, or about 12 percent of its consumption. Delhi is to execute its transactions, according to our sources, through two state-owned banks: the Calcutta-based UCO Bank, whose board of directors is made up of Indian government and Reserve Bank of India representatives; and Halk Bankasi (Peoples Bank), Turkey's seventh largest bank which is owned by the government.
An Indian delegation visited Tehran last week to discuss payment options in view of the new sanctions. The two sides were reported to have agreed that payment for the oil purchased would be partly in yen and partly in rupees. The switch to gold was kept dark.
What could go wrong?

Barak: We will negotiate with Hamas if they drop terror h/t @Jewess

2012-01-24T06:21:00.001-05:00

(thejewess: Barak: We will negotiate with Hamas if they drop terror http://t.co/8GUFZ9mR #JPOST @JIDF 12 minutes ago from Twitter)(jpost.com) Israel will continue negotiating with a PA unity government if Hamas agrees to Quartet conditions and dismantles its terror infrastructure, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with Israel Radio Tuesday.
"The continuation of the peace process is in the interest of Israel, the Palestinians and the world," Barak said. "If Hamas adopts the Quartet's conditions and dismantles its terror infrastructure, we will negotiate with them."
"We won't bury our heads in the sand and we won't give up on Israel's security interests," the defense minister elaborated.
Emphasizing that Israel was preparing for all possible scenarios, from successful negotiations to the outbreak of violence, Barak said, "We must be prepared to shake hands with our left hand and have our finger on the trigger with our right hand."

Police mistake marathon for gay pride parade

2012-01-24T05:57:00.001-05:00

Police in the Kaliningrad region have mistaken a marathon for a gay pride parade. (trueversy.com)(rt.com)

It looks like an illegal gay march? ...well... it kind of does. Between the Ron Paul endorsements and smirking British accents... Russian Television in English is quite good at getting our attention... aren't they? Can you think of any other country's news service that gets this kind of attention? The could teach American TV a thing or two about tabloid.

Reports that Syria arrested members of Meshal's family

2012-01-24T05:46:00.001-05:00

(EOZ) Last week reports began to filter out of Syria that members of Khaled Meshal's family, including his daughter Fatima and her husband, had been arrested by Syrian forces on the pretext of having property registered under fictitious names.
Hamas denied the report, but now Arab newspaper Elaph confirms it. Fatima and her husband were arrested on January 11.
According to the report, Meshal's wife and other children were also summoned by Syrian police on the 15th, and Fatima and her husband were released on 50,000 pounds bail (about $900.)
The harassment is allegedly to show Syria's displeasure at Hamas not supporting the Assad regime more strongly. Meshal has been trying to straddle the fence between supporting the Syrian revolution and not upsetting the regime.
Elaph's sources claim that Meshal's announcement that he will step down as Hamas' political leader is related to this pressure from Syria. Elaph says that Syria prefers that he be replaced with his current deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk.

Syria is the one place that deserves Hamas

Euro Taking E.U. Down With It: France On The Way To Financial Self-Destruction

2012-01-24T01:00:00.001-05:00

(stonegateinstitute.org) Last Friday's downgrading of France and Austria by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has left the eurozone, the group of 17 European countries using the euro as their currency, with just four countries with a triple A rating. Of these four Germany is the only one that was not given a negative outlook. Indeed, S&P thinks that the Netherlands, Finland and Luxemburg risk a further downgrade this year or next year.
This is bad news for the euro. The creditworthiness of the euro bailout fund, EFSF, depends on the ability of eurozone countries with the top rating to provide enough money to bail out eurozone countries in financial difficulties. With France, the eurozone's second largest economy, out of the top league the pressure on the four remaining countries rises. This explains why the Netherlands, Finland and Luxemburg were given a negative outlook. If these countries lose their ratings as well, even Germany, Europe's largest economy, risks losing its triple A rating. The euro is dragging all the eurozone countries down with it.
What Europe's politicians should do is draw up a contingency plan for a eurozone break-up, providing a blueprint for an exit of countries such as Greece and Portugal that urgently need to devaluate to save their economies. In last Friday's Financial Times, Nomura Bank's strategist Jens Nordvig gives a second reason why the eurozone needs such a plan, which must also offer guidance on orderly redenomination of euro-denominated assets and obligations in a break-up scenario. It would alleviate investor worries about such assets and improve the capital flow situation and funding costs. "Ironically," he points out, "spelling out guidelines for a eurozone break-up may -– at this stage in the crisis -– even help to reduce the risk of the break-up itself."
Unfortunately, it does not look as if such a plan is being considered. Instead of drawing up contingency plans, Europe's politicians continue their vain efforts to save the current European monetary union. When S&P announced the downgrading, angry European politicians, refusing to face economic reality, began to shoot the messenger. "It is not the rating agencies that dictate the policies of France," François Baroin, France's finance minister said defiantly. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann called S&P's decision "incomprehensible." German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned against "overestimating the ratings agencies in their assessments."
EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, a Finn, called S&P's decision "inconsistent" and said the agency had made mistakes in the past. Internal market commissioner Michel Barnier, a Frenchman, said S&P's evaluation did "not take into account recent progress."
Barnier is working on plans to establish a semi-official EU credit rating agency. Barnier has been castigating the three big agencies in the world -– S&P, Moody's and Fitch -– since the European sovereign debt crisis began. He argues that these three American agencies do not grasp Europe's economic realities.
The last thing Europe's politicians want to do is acknowledge that their own centralizing policy of imposing a common currency on such widely diverging economies and cultures as Greece and Finland, has caused Europe's current economic predicament. Instead, they blame capitalism, the financial sector and the "greed" of speculators and investors.
To "solve the debt crisis," French president Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a plan to introduce a eurozone financial transaction tax. Sarkozy is in the middle of a reelection campaign and has to convey the message to French voters that the banks, not he, is responsible for the current crisis, and that he will punish them for it. While investors need to be reassured and have their worries laid to rest, Sarkozy proposes to tax them.
Last week, Sarkozy received the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Schäuble and Baroin have been asked to draft proposals for a financial transaction tax by March. Last September, the European Commission proposed a financial transaction tax of 0.1% on bond and share trades, and 0.01% on derivatives. The Commission expects that such a tax could raise €57bn a year in the EU -– about €10bn of which would be Germany.
Economists warn, however, that the tax will leave a big hole in Europe's public finances. France and Germany seem prepared to introduce the tax on their own. At best, the Franco-German alliance will be able to persuade the eurozone to go along, but Britain -– an EU member, although not a eurozone member -– will definitely not join. Hence, if the tax plans materialize, the financial centers of Frankfurt and Paris are likely to move their activities to London, as they did in the 1980s, after Sweden introduced the tax: over 90% of its traders in bonds, equities and derivatives moved from Stockholm to London.
The results could be devastating. Germany, whose economy slipped into reverse the last quarter of 2011, contracted by 0.25%. Prime Minister Mario Monti of Italy is prepared to support Sarkozy's proposed tax on financial transactions, but said it should apply to the whole 27-nation EU and not just the 17 eurozone nations. Merkel and Sarkozy will also have to persuade governments in the Netherlands and Ireland.
The Dutch federation of employers has calculated that the introduction of a financial transaction tax would cost the Dutch economy between €7.5bn and €24bn. The Dutch pension funds have warned that the tax would diminish Dutch pensions by 10%, as the tax would cost them €3bn a year. Unlike many other European countries' pension systems, which are pay-as-you-go -- in which the benefits of the pensioners are paid by the current workforce -- the Dutch pension system is largely financed from the contributions pensioners paid in the past and from the return on the investment of these contributions.
It remains to be seen whether the Dutch are willing to bring such a huge sacrifice. French President Sarkozy, however, has announced that France is willing to proceed unilaterally with the introduction of the tax.
Sarkozy's motives, however, are political rather than economic. As François Hollande, his Socialist challenger in the presidential elections, said after last Friday's downgrade: "It is not France that has been downgraded; it is Sarkozy's government." Sarkozy therefore feels compelled to levy a tax on the so-called greedy investors and capitalist speculators who, he claims, are responsible for the current crisis.
If Sarkozy loses the elections, Europe risks being saddled with a Socialist-governed France.
That is bad. If Sarkozy wins thanks to his financial transaction tax, that is bad, too. Either way, France will suffer. And with France, the euro and the whole European Union.
Brace yourselves: the eurocrisis has only just begun.

hey... I have an idea... let's centralize some more! ...they can always blame the banks and finance for it.

Bermuda Introduces New Laws to Launch Sharia Compliant Services

2012-01-23T14:28:00.001-05:00

(Creeping Sharia) HAMILTON (Bermuda), 27 Safar/21 Jan (IINA)-Luring Islamic funds into the British island, Bermuda has introduced a set of new laws to launch Sharia-compliant platform amid efforts to become the first western center for the growing global industry, The Royal Gazette reported recently.

“We are looking at the Sharia side of Bermuda’s legislation to become the first Western centre for Islamic finance,” said Peter Hughes, director of Apex Fund Services group.

Hoping to become a western hub for Islamic finance, executives from the Island have been actively reviewing existing laws to launch a Sharia-compliant platform for investors.

These efforts began last November when Hughes, along with Business Bermuda CEO Cheryl Packwood, led a group at the 18th World Islamic Banking Conference in Bahrain.

The delegation tried to show the Island was open for businesses and clients from Asia and the Middle East, being capable of handling Sharia-compliant financial structures.

“We are looking to launch a Sharia platform that will allow us to have Sharia vehicles and products that would enable us to become the first one of its kind,” Hughes said.

“We have made a real push into this niche area,” he added.

The new Sharia complaint rules succeeded in luring new clients from Islamic finance hubs in Asia and Middle East.

“We now have strong links in Bahrain and there is a commonality of wanting to create a niche jurisdiction for Sharia compliancy, that is closer to the US timezone,” Packwood, Business Bermuda CEO, said.

Starting almost three decades ago, the Islamic banking industry has made substantial growth and attracted the attention of investors and bankers across the world.

A long list of international institutions, including Citigroup, HSBC and Deutsche Bank, are going into the Islamic banking business.

Currently, there are nearly 300 Islamic banks and financial institutions worldwide whose assets are predicted to grow to $1 trillion by 2013.

Taqiyya for Kids

2012-01-23T14:20:00.000-05:00

(How, Big Chief says, "Allah Akbar!")

Did you know that the Muslims married the Iroquois? If you are a student in Newton Massachusetts this is what your Harvard influenced education teaches you. Blue States... the greatest ignorance in America. The real sign of arrogance and intolerance is how people in Massachusetts think of the rest of our country who do not teach their children that Muslims discovered America.

Janet Tassel, AMERICAN THINKER (Thanks Ted Belman / Docs Talk )

It was the first week in October in Newton, an upscale suburb of Boston, and Tony Pagliuso’s daughter, a sophomore at Newton South High School, was visibly disturbed. When Tony asked her the problem, she showed him a passage from the chapter she was assigned in her World History Class. It was a chapter called “Women, an Essay,” from a supplemental text called The Arab World Notebook. In a paragraph devoted to women “in the struggle for independence from colonial powers,” we find:
Over the past four decades, women have been active in the Palestinian resistance movement. Several hundred have been imprisoned, tortured, and killed by Israeli occupation forces since the latest uprising, “intifada,” in the Israeli occupied territories.
Pagliuso assured his daughter that this was “total propaganda,” and took the matter up with the young teacher, a Miss Jessica Engel, who couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about. The material had been “vetted” and was deemed “appropriate,” she said, “and would stay in the curriculum. After all, she continued, the head of the history department had gotten this material at an outreach workshop of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard!

Thence to the principal, Joel Stembridge, who glared at Pagliuso and asked, “How do you pronounce ‘Pagliuso’?” and dismissing him brusquely with a refusal to apologize, added: “If you’re unhappy with this, you should know that next year we’re planning to teach material that will be even more inflammatory to your sensibilities.” (Where is Ferris Bueller when you need him?) Since Miss Jessica Engel had devoted one day each to Judaism and Christianity while spending 2 ½ weeks on Islam, Tony wasn’t sure how much more inflammatory things could get.
A couple of weeks later, nine stalwart Newton citizens presented themselves at the Newton School Committee meeting, where superintendent David Fleischman, and even the mayor, Setti Warren, were present. The citizens were courteously received, and as it happens Fleishman announced shortly thereafter that indeed the chapter “didn’t meet the learning goals of the class” and had been removed from the curriculum.
“Didn’t meet the learning goals” is Eduspeak for “What the hell is this and how the hell did it get in?” The answer to the latter is, as noted, Harvard, which, as it happens, held a seminar on Israel and Palestine at Newton South in April 2011. And Newton is far from the only community to take its lead on matters Islamic from Harvard. Public and private schools all over Massachusetts send teachers to the Outreach Center at Harvard for guidance and (free) materials. The program, like the Center for Middle Eastern Studies itself, is heavily Saudi-funded.
The answer to what it is can be found in a number of places. In 2005, responding to a complaint from a teacher in Anchorage, Alaska, the American Jewish Committee published a thorough critique of the Notebook (the full report Propaganda, Proselytizing, and Public Education, is available at the AJC website), thanks to which Anchorage stopped using the book. As background, the AJC report explains:
The Arab World Studies Notebook was first published in 1990 under the title Arab World Notebook [apparently Newton was using this edition], but was updated and republished in 1998 with its current title. The funding for the publication was provided by the Middle East Policy Council, formerly the Arab American Affairs Council….The Notebook was published in conjunction with Arab World and Islamic Resources (AWAIR), founded by Audrey Shabbas, who penned many of the articles…as well as the editorial commentary throughout.
Who is this Audrey Shabbas? The moving spirit behind AWAIR, she says all she wants from teachers is to “let you step with me to the inside, to see what a Muslim worldview looks like and feels like, so you can bring it back to your students.” This from an adoring 2002 interview posted, fittingly, at Saudi Aramco World.
A little earlier than the AJC’s report, in 2003, William J. Bennetta, president of The Textbook League, produced a preliminary assessment of the Notebook. He gives a little background:
The Middle East Policy Council, a pressure group based in Washington. D.C…adopted its present name in 1991. The MEPC’s activities include the sponsoring of “teacher workshops” that allegedly equip educators to teach about “the Arab World and Islam. AWAIR, which operates from Abiquiu, New Mexico, distributes printed items and videos for “ALL LEVELS-Elementary to College” and runs the “teacher workshops” sponsored by the MEPC.”
But on to the meat in Mr Bennetta’s scathing report:
The promotion of Islam in the Notebook is unrestrained, and the religious-indoctrination material that the Notebook dispenses is virulent. Muslim myths, including myths about how Islam and the Koran originated, are retailed as matters of fact, while legitimate historical appraisals of the origins of Islam and the Koran are excluded. [Audrey] Shabbas wants to turn teachers into agents who, in their classrooms, will present Muslim myths as “history,” will endorse Muslim religious claims, and will propagate Islamic fundamentalism. In a public-school setting, the religious-indoctrination work which Shabbas wants teachers to perform would clearly be illegal.
Or, in the words of Tony Pagliuso, “total propaganda.” What is striking, though, is how amateurish the chapter on women is. Taqiyya — telling falsehoods for Islam — is a well-known tool of Islamic propagandists, but this shoddy merchandise is so riddled with lies and half-truths that no respectable Arab merchant in the shuk would hang it in his market. Just a sample:
Women’s Rights in Islam. There is no basis in Islam for the subjugation of women or their relegation to a secondary role. Far in advance of women’s emancipation in Europe, Islam made revolutionary changes in the lives of women in 6th-century Arabia.
The alert reader will observe that there was no Islam yet in 6th-century Arabia, Muhammad himself having been born in about 570, and having been tapped by the angel Gabriel no earlier then about 609. Then too we think of the unpleasantries swept under the Oriental carpet — such as permissible rape, clitorectomies, honor killings, child marriage, indeed the whole sorry gamut of women’s trials under Islam, including those specifically decreed by the Koran. As Robert Spencer sums up:
–Women are inferior to men, and must be ruled by them: “Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other” (4:34).
–It [the Koran] likens a woman to a field (tilth), to be used by a man as he wills: “Your women are a tilth for you to cultivate so go to your tilth as ye will” (2:223).
–It declares that a woman’s legal testimony is worth half that of a man: “Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her” (2:282).
–It allows men to marry up to four wives, and also to have sex with slave girls: “If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, marry women of your choice, two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice” (4:3).
–It rules that a son’s inheritance should be twice the size of that of a daughter: “Allah (thus) directs you as regards your children’s (inheritance): to the male, a portion equal to that of two females” (4:11).
–It allows for marriage to pre-pubescent girls, stipulating that Islamic divorce procedures “shall apply to those who have not yet menstruated” (65.4).
“Such a verse might have made its way into the Koran,” writes Spencer, “because of the notorious fact that Muhammed himself had a child bride.” That would be Aisha: As the hadith says, “The prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e. till his death).” Newton’s Notebook chapter mentions Aisha in passing, that she heroically promulgated Islam after the Prophet’s death, but neglects to tell us how old she was when Muhammed found her, as the story goes, playing on a swing.
It turns out, not surprisingly, that most of the Notebook is as slipshod, even farcical, as the chapter on women. But it is no less dangerous for being slovenly. As the AJC report confirms, “Teachers are subjected to heavy propaganda, both in the Notebook and in the teacher workshops sponsored by MEPC and conducted by AWAIR, in which the Notebook is the primary source material….The Notebook critiques other educational materials for being Eurocentric; yet it provides students with a completely Muslim-centered perspective.”
Worst of all, educationally speaking, in addition to inventing history, the Notebook is guilty of two cardinal sins, according to the AJC: “It uses no qualifiers to differentiate between fact and interpretation; and it fails to clarify that, like the stories behind many other religions, some of the stories within traditional Islam are disputed or unverifiable.” The all-important qualifier, “Muslims believe,” or “Islam teaches that” is entirely eliminated. Imagine all the Miss Engels in the world preaching to the class, “And God chose Abraham.” Or “Jesus performed miracles.”
Other innovations from the Notebook, these concerning what the author calls “the Israeli ‘fetish of Jerusalem’”:
When people talk of Jerusalem and consider the historic rights over the city and claims to it, they are not talking about the European-type colonial suburb-turned-city which foreign Jews built next to the historic religious city-shrine, even though they called it Jerusalem too. They are talking about the walled city, fully built up, containing a small Jewish quarter, it is true, but almost exclusively a home to Christian and Muslim Palestinian Arabs.
Yet the “Old City,” the Jerusalem that most people envisage when they think of the ancient city, is Arab. Surrounding it are ubiquitous high-rises built for Israeli settlers to strengthen Israeli control over the holy city.
Other colonial suburbs were built by foreigners in Arab countries, but today no one suggests that Algiers, Tunis, Casablanca, etc., may be rightfully claimed by the Europeans who settled there during their colonial period of recent history. Only in the case of Jerusalem does colonialist thinking still predominate.
How many high-school students would be able to repudiate “facts” like these? Or total falsehoods such as, “In 1948, between 50 and 70 percent of Palestine’s Christians were driven from their ancestral homes with the creation of the Jewish state”?
Moreover, in an earlier version, we are told “that Yasir Arafat was president of a newly declared State of Palestine, that the United Nations General Assembly had voted to recognize this state in 1988, and that the Canaanites were the ancestors of many present-day Palestinians.” Sandra Stotsky, a professor at the University of Arkansas, deals with these gems and others in her 2004 report for the Fordham Foundation, The Stealth Curriculum, which has now been updated for a new book published by Palgrave MacMillan. She points to one article, ascribed to Audrey Shabbas and Abdallah Hakim Quick, titled “Early Muslim Exploration Worldwide: Evidence of Muslims in the New World Before Columbus.” The article claims that Muslims from Europe were the first to sail across the Atlantic and land in the New World, starting in 889… [and that]West African Muslims had not only spread throughout South and Central America, but had also reached Canada, intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin nations so that, much later, early English explorers were to meet Iroquois and Algonquin chiefs with names like Abdul-Rahim and Abdallah Ibn Malik.
Stotsky interjects, “The idea that English explorers met native Indian chiefs with Muslim names in the middle of the Northeast woodlands sounds almost like something a Hollywood film writer dreamed up for a spoof.” (Mel Brooks, of course.) Interestingly enough, the Algonquin Nation itself demanded a retraction of this “indefensible” farce. But seriously, as Stotsky continues, “What is most astonishing about this ‘historical information’ is that it seems not to have been recognized as fake history by all the satisfied teachers that MEPC claims have participated in its workshops over the years.”
Ay, there’s the rub. Thanks to the Tony Pagliusos of this world, perhaps more parents will rear up on their hind legs and shout, “Who’s teaching my kids? And what in God’s name are they teaching?”

Israeli hacker strikes back, publishes Saudi card details [Flickr]

2012-01-10T23:25:44-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

h/t @TheJewess:(REDRAW)

A solution to Austria's blonde jokes crisis [Flickr]

2012-01-05T07:39:53-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Look Into My Eyes You Are Under My Hypnotic Control (Simply Jews)(REDRAW) Read this:

Heard the one about the blonde in Austria? Well from tomorrow it will be a criminal offence if you have – and that’s no joke. The country has outlawed gags about blondes as part of the fight against terrorism. Officials fear that marginalised blondes – furious at being portrayed as stupid – could take revenge on society.
And heed this part particularly:

Offenders could be sentenced to two years’ jail.

Talal Twitter [Flickr]

2011-12-22T01:15:44-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

(REPLAY)Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, an investor in some of the world's top companies, has bought a stake in Twitter for $300 million, gaining another foothold in the global media industry.

Bend Over Obama [Flickr]

2011-12-21T10:36:25-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Kim Jong Il In Heaven

Loudspeaker Mosque [Flickr]

2011-12-19T16:21:45-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

(REPLAY) I knew that the Muslims claim to have been in the forefront of science, but I had no idea they had invented loudspeakers - even before Mohammed was born!

Obama's self destruct button [Flickr]

2011-12-15T06:45:07-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

(REDRAW) The Pentagon initially wanted to send a special forces team to recover the drone. Obama shot down that suggestion. Then the Pentagon offered up Plan B ,blow it to kingdom come. FOX News reports that there was third option and Obama struck that down also. Obama refused all three of those options and now Iran and China have a brand spanking new fully functional top secret US RQ 170 Sentinel Drone.

Pink Woman and dog [Flickr]

2011-12-04T17:08:58-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

(Redraw)

the rich and greedy take advantage by exploiting their connections with government to get bailouts, subsidies, and special treatment [Flickr]

2011-11-25T02:34:23-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

ReDraw

Human Shield Nuke [Flickr]

2011-11-19T09:35:23-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Hundreds of students on Tuesday formed a human chain around the uranium conversion plant in central Iran, in a demonstration staged by students to show that Iranians were ready to sacrifice their lives if the nuclear sites were attacked by Israel.(REDRAW)

fix a flat [Flickr]

2011-11-19T09:28:42-08:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Oneal Ron Morris took a look and went to work. Not on a tire. But on the backside of a Miami Gardens woman who was seeking the derriere of her dreams. Instead, she got a tush full of toxins. (REDRAW)

million 2 one then rockets [Flickr]

2011-11-01T05:52:51-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Rockets continue to fall in South, ceasefire reported
what cause did they have to shoot rockets right after the trade? Hamas called a cease fire so Israel would not retaliate... (REDRAW)

Mecca Poop [Flickr]

2011-10-27T22:41:58-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Mubarak teaches US Marines:

Don’t spit toward Mecca.

Don’t piss or poop toward Mecca.

Don’t sleep with your boots toward Mecca

(Diana West) (h/t Bare Naked Islam) Shafiq_Mubarak is a contractor hired by the Marine Corps Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning to help implement “the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, the winning of hearts and minds.” According to the North County Times,

Mubarak and Tremore spent hours walking troops through the nuances of meetings, or “shuras” with key local leaders. Both stressed the importance of those meetings. …

Mubarak taught the troops the proper way to sit during a shura. He told them they should plan on at least 30 minutes for an initial meeting, and that they should always finish their tea and eat any food presented. And that includes all the intestinal parasites. “If you don’t, that means to them that you don’t trust them, or think what they are giving you is poison or is unclean,” he said. Mubarak also said the Marines should never spit or urinate to the west, the direction of Mecca that Muslims in Afghanistan face when they pray. In addition, when sharing a base with Afghan army troops, Marines shouldn’t sleep with their feet pointed west, because that also is considered offensive, he said.

Burka Blow [Flickr]

2011-10-24T19:52:10-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

(Eye) Belgium has implemented a ban on the wearing of the burka since the 23rd of July this year. It was the reason why two policemen, who spotted a woman wearing the burka, stopped her and asked for her ID papers. Her husband, angry that the police dare stop his wife, physically attacked one of the policemen while informing his wife to go home.

Piss Bag [Flickr]

2011-10-09T01:02:29-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

This news is only a harbinger of the new austerity measure to come: The Dutch national railway has an unusual solution for passengers who need the bathroom on a train line designed without them: plastic bags. The bags have a cup-shaped plastic top and contain a highly absorbent material that turns urine into a gel-like mixture. After use the bags can be sealed and thrown in the trash. (REDRAW)

LightSquared's GPS Request Jeopardizes National Security [Flickr]

2011-09-29T17:41:39-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Over the last thirty years the US has spent more than one hundred billion dollars building and operating the GPS system. To put this investment at risk -- especially to please a campaign contributor -- will have lasting effects on both US national security and America's international position. REDRAW

Hugo Chavez in hospital 'for kidney failure' [Flickr]

2011-09-29T17:41:37-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

(Telegraph.co.uk) The leftist, staunchly anti-US stalwart Chavez went into the Military Hospital in Caracas on Tuesday morning, the report on the newspaper's website said, citing anonymous sources with knowledge of the case. "He was in fairly serious overall condition," a source told the Miami-based Spanish-language daily. "When he arrived, he was in quite serious shape and that is why he was brought in for emergency care." Venezuela's Information Minister Andres Izarra appeared to deny the report in a posting on the micro-blogging website Twitter. "Those who should be admitted are the journalists of the Nuevo Herald, except into a madhouse (instead of a hospital)," Izarra tweeted, without providing further details. On Sunday, Chavez sought to assure Venezuelans he was healthy, telling them that cancer-fighting chemotherapy treatment has not left him with any debilitating side effects.

Erdogan [Flickr]

2011-09-27T16:42:10-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Erdogan says Israel will not be able to move in the eastern Mediterranean as it wishes.
...oh and don't forget about those Turkish warships that are being built domestically. oh joy! (Hurriyet)...in the mean time Turkey acts like it is being diplomatic with it's other neighbors. It does not seem like the Arabs think so. noah.simonstudio.com/2011/09/guess-who-was-missing-when-e...

Obama [Flickr]

2011-09-24T17:25:33-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Change

stabbing iPod [Flickr]

2011-09-21T22:15:56-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

A 19-year-old Maryland college student was charged Friday with fatally stabbing her roommate inside their dormitory-style apartment after the two women argued about music playing from an iPod, police said.

Echo Valley [Flickr]

2011-09-21T22:15:54-07:00

simonstudionyc posted a photo:

Already an old story, but being the sick guy that I am... I'm going to post it, because it amused me! ...and I'm a horrible mean spirited shallow person. Echo Valley was not wearing a seatbelt, thus she was ejected from her car as a result of the collision. She died at the scene. According to a friend, she did not wear seatbelts while driving because of her large breasts. The irony is she died by being rear ended. She was married to James C. Stone, the former president of Alpha Health Services in Post Falls, Idaho. Stone was sentenced to a three-year term in prison and ordered to pay $170,000 in restitution in 2007 for stealing money from his employees’ pension plan. Believe it or not she was 57 years old when she died.