#CriticalAnalyst

Moses would be pissed. Ten Commandments was recieved in what we now call a bad neighborhood

2012-02-09T18:11:00.001-05:00

A no-man's land with no one in charge.

Armed beduin in Sinai kidnapped two police officers and 17 soldiers, Egypt's Al Ahram reported, in the latest in a series of kidnappings by beduin in the Sinai peninsula.
The kidnapping took place in northern Sinai in reaction to the killing of a man that was attempting to smuggle tobacco into bordering Israel, "official sources" told the Egyptian newspaper.
Security in the Sinai peninsula has deteriorated since the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak, as beduin long-complaining of neglect from Cairo have kidnapped tourists, foreign workers and taken over a seaside resort, holding the employees hostage.
The natural gas pipeline to Israel and Jordan has also been bombed at least 12 times in the past year, though in that development the Egyptian authorities have hired beduin tribesman to provide security.
Last week, beduin kidnapped two American women in an apparent attempt to hold them for ransom, only to release them to army authorities a few hours later.
While the Egyptian army did not comment on the conditions of the women's release, a beduin source said the authorities had agreed to a demand to free four fellow tribesmen from police custody in exchange for the two tourists.
Israel agreed after Mubarak was deposed that Egypt could station troops in Sinai for the first time since the Camp David accords were implemented.

Brazil's President in Cuba: Business Yes, Dissidents No

2012-02-08T18:19:00.001-05:00

(Anna Mahjar-Barducci)Human rights activists had high expectations for Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's first official visit to Cuba last January 30. Rousseff visited Cuba just few days after the international media reported that Brazil was distancing itself from Iran over the Iranian regime's human rights abuses. Further, just a week before her arrival to Cuba, the Brazilian government gave a visa to a Cuban opponent and blogger, Yoani Sanchez, raising hopes that Rousseff would show some support to dissidents. Many therefore thought that the Brazilian president would have taken a public stand against human rights violations perpetrated by the Castro's dictatorship, but that turned out to be just wishful thinking.
Although Rousseff once said she "prefer[red] a million critical voices over the silence of the dictatorships," in Cuba the Brazilian President preferred business. Rousseff refused to meet Yoani Sanchez or other Cuban dissidents, and focused in promoting bilateral trade. The Americas Society website reports that trade between the two Latin American countries increased 31% from 2010 to 2011, reaching $642 million last year. The Brazilian government is opening a $350 million credit line to Cuba to finance food purchases, and another $200 million to purchase agricultural equipment. Moreover, Brazil's development bank, Odebrecht, is investing in the Cuban sugar industry and also helping to finance an $800 million plan to renovate the port of Mariel, hoping to transform it into one of the most important hubs in Latin America that could be of use to Cuba's nascent oil industry. The Miami Herald's Cuban Colada blog stated that Cuba confirmed the presence of reserves of up to 20 billion barrels of crude oil in waters off the Gulf of Mexico; and the Brazilian oil company Petrobras is negotiating with Cuba for offshore exploration rights. Oil was evidently more attractive than human rights. Reuters sarcastically commented that Rousseff made her first visit to Cuba with capitalism on her mind.
Rousseff, who was a leftist guerrilla fighter inspired by Fidel Castro's communist revolution, nevertheless found the time to criticize the US prison camp at Guantanamo and the US trade embargo against Cuba, but apparently felt it was not relevant to discuss the condition of dissidents in Cuba. According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, the Cuban government relies on beatings, short-term detentions, forced exile and travel restrictions to repress virtually all forms of political dissent. In January, the Cuban dissident Wilman Villar died in custody after a 50 day hunger strike. The Buenos Aires Herald mentioned that Villar's death created pressure on Rousseff to raise human rights issues with Cuban leaders, but that she was unlikely to do so publicly.
Reuters notes that Rousseff's trip to Cuba was made just before a visit in Washington set for next month, and mentioned that the decision raised some eyebrows, given Brazil's recent confrontations with the United States over trade. Brazil's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world. In the last few years, in spite of the world's crisis, Brazil's GDP kept growing at an average rate of more than 5%. As the seventh largest economy by GDP, with a population nearing 190 million, Brazil understandably aspires to become a world power and a regional giant. The last two Brazilian presidencies, however, former President Lula da Silva's and Rousseff's, have coupled this legitimate aspiration to an ideological confrontation with the US.
The Americas Society website suggests that Brazil's strategic trade and investments in the Caribbean, and elsewhere in the developing world, are part of the government's global strategy. Matthew Taylor, a Brazil specialist at the American University's School of International Service, commented that Rousseff's policy is to grow Brazil's "soft power" on the international scale to raise Brazil's role in the world. As Taylor told the Wall Street Journal, "Brazil is taking on a bigger role in the hemisphere in terms of aid and finance."
Brazilian commentators, however, mentioned that precisely because Brazil is becoming a raising power, it would have been better for Rousseff not to visit Cuba at this moment. The visit actually provoked strong criticism both in Brazil and worldwide. The Brazilian diplomat Marcos Azambuja wrote that if Brazil wanted to do business with Cuba, he should have sent high government officials, but that Rousseff herself should have not gone. "A [Presidential] visit to Cuba has its price to pay," he wrote, mentioning that even if Rousseff's intentions were only to do business, the end result is that she paid tribute to the failed policies of the Cuban regime.
(IMAGE VIA AJ)

Compromises, Compromises...

Why Same-Sex Marriage Bans Qualify as Sex Discrimination

2012-02-08T14:10:00.001-05:00

(Volokh.com) Today’s Ninth Circuit decision striking down California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage is unpersuasive because it claims that the law fails to meet even minimal “rational basis” scrutiny. Eugene Volokh does a good job of explaining why. But there is an alternative constitutional rationale for striking down same-sex marriage bans that avoids this problem. Proposition 8 is an example of sex discrimination, and must be evaluated under the higher standards of scrutiny applied to gender discrimination by the Supreme Court.
Although the sex discrimination argument has been advanced by several academic advocates of gay marriage, nonacademics tend to be skeptical because the same-sex marriage bans seem to be targeted against gays, not men or women. Hostility towards gays is certainly part of the motivation for bans on same-sex marriage. But that does not prevent these laws from qualifying as sex discrimination. In terms of the way the law is actually structured, a same-sex marriage ban in fact discriminates on the basis of gender rather than orientation. And it is perfectly possible to discriminate on the basis of sex even if the motivation for doing so is something other than sexism.
Consider the hypothetical case of Anne, Bob, and Colin. If same-sex marriage is forbidden, Anne is allowed to marry Colin, but Bob cannot do so. This is so even if Anne and Bob are identical in every respect other than gender. Bob is denied the legal right to marry Colin (and all other men) solely because he is a man. Denial of a legal right solely on the basis of gender is the very essence of sex discrimination.
By contrast, sexual orientation actually has no effect on the way the law operates. Anne is still allowed to marry Colin, even if one of them happens to be gay or lesbian. Bob is denied that right regardless of his sexual orientation. There are actually lots of real world cases where gays or lesbians have entered into opposite-sex marriages, such as the famous example of former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, a closeted gay man who was married to a woman for many years. McGreevey’s marriage was not illegal, even if his actions were morally dubious.
All of this simply underscores the reality that a ban on same-sex marriage discriminates on the basis of gender rather than orientation – even if the motivation for the discrimination is hostility towards gays and lesbians. Under the Supreme Court’s approach to sex discrimination, any “statutory classifications that distinguish between males and females” are subject to heightened judicial scrutiny. A ban on same-sex marriage pretty obviously “distinguish[es] between males and females.”
Although a ban on same-sex marriage qualifies as sex discrimination, it is not automatically unconstitutional. Since the 1970s, the Supreme Court has taken the view that laws that discriminate on the basis of sex do not violate the Constitution if they can pass “intermediate scrutiny,” which requires them to be “substantially related” to an “important state interest.” If opponents of same-sex marriage are right to claim that Western civilization will fall into deep decline if the practice is allowed, that would be enough to pass the test. Ditto if they can show that same-sex marriage somehow inflicts severe harm on children. But any such arguments would be subject to detailed judicial scrutiny. They would have to be backed by real evidence, and could not pass muster just by being minimally plausible, as under the “rational basis” test.
Some originalists might reject my argument on the grounds that sex discrimination itself is not really banned by the original meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. I criticized such arguments in this post. For a much more comprehensive rebuttal, see this important recent article by Steven Calabresi and Julia Rickert.
A more moderate originalist critique of my position might hinge on the idea that the framers of the Amendment would not have thought of a same-sex marriage ban as sex discrimination. But it is not hard to figure out that a law under which a legal right is dependent on gender discriminates on the basis of sex. The Framers surely thought that this was justifiable sex discrimination. But that does not mean that it isn’t sex discrimination at all. If asked whether marriage laws circa 1868 limited the right to marry on the basis of gender, most people at the time would surely have said yes. And, as in the case of occupational discrimination against women, the Framers’ view that this form of sex discrimination is constitutionally permissible hinged on dubious factual assumptions that we are not bound by today.
In sum, a ban on same-sex marriage easily qualifies as sex discrimination and is therefore subject to heightened judicial scrutiny. Whether it could withstand such scrutiny is a question I leave to others, though I am skeptical about its chances.
UPDATE: Many commenters seem to be assuming that, in order for a law to qualify as sex discrimination, it has to be motivated by hostility to men or women. Not so. As the Supreme Court puts it, a law can qualify as unconstitutional sex discrimination so long as it is a”statutory classification… that distinguish between males and females.” Similarly, a racial classification counts as racial discrimination for constitutional purposes even if the motives behind it are benign.
It is also not true that a ban on same-sex marriage avoids qualifying as sex discrimination because it affects members of both genders. It still denies rights to both men and women solely on account of their sex. The fact that Bob cannot marry Colin solely on account of gender is not somehow “balanced” by the fact that Anne is similarly forbidden to marry Carol. Similarly, a law banning interracial marriage still qualifies as race discrimination even though both blacks and whites are barred from marrying members of the other racial group.

you can slice it how you like it, and call it what you want it... but I don't see the existential need for gay people to protect themselves from unwanted accidental pregnancy within the contractual union. It doesn't matter if it is because of gender or orientation... this is a label. It doesn't matter if the cup is half full or half empty... the point is there is a need for a cup to hold water. The real world application invokes a real need for aid to those that have a unique problem that Gay people don't have.

Reversing the Reconquista

2012-02-07T20:31:00.001-05:00

(Gates of Vienna) Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for uploading this video:The CBN report below examines the ongoing re-Islamization of the Iberian Peninsula, as evidenced by the accelerating immigration of Muslims into Spain — and the exodus of well-educated middle-class Spaniards from the country. Based on recent surveys, most of the new arrivals have no intention of assimilating, but owe their primary loyalty to the Ummah. Absurd Lies about Cordoba Spain - Islamic Inquisition

Arabs boycotted Einstein lecture in Jerusalem in 1923

2012-02-07T18:36:00.001-05:00

(EOZ) From the JTA Archives, February 9, 1923:

A very representative gathering of notables, with the exeption of the Arabs, gathered to hear Professor Albert Einstein lecture on his theory of relativity at the Hebrew University House on Mt. Scopus, Wednesday night. Prominent Arab residents declined the invitation presumably because they did not wish to honor the Jewish scientist.
Speaking in Hebrew, M. Ussishkin welcomed the Professor on behalf of the Jewish community. Prof. Einstein began his speech in Hebrew and continued in French evoking great enthusiasm, as he touched on the phases of his theory. Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner, thanked the Professor for his work in the interests of humanity. He added: "It is a good sign for the Hebrew University that the first lecture is delivered by the greatest physicist in the world".
Zionism is not only a spiritual movement. Its practical work in Palestine is of equal consequence, Prof. Einstein told a Jewish audience at a reception arranged by leading organization here. The address of welcome was delivered by David Yellin, President of the Council of Jerusalem Jews who handed the Professor an illuminated testimonial with the signatures of the representatives of Palestine Jewry.
"The international recognization of Zionism has strengthened my belief in its success", the Professor said in the course of his address.
This was two years before the official opening of Hebrew University in 1925, but it is considered the first lecture ever given there.
According to this book, the lecture was attended by "English, French, Americans, etc., Catholics, Protestants, Templars, and the majority: Jews."

That BDS thingy isn't terribly new

Saudis Sing It Too: Bomb Bomb Iran

2012-02-07T17:19:00.001-05:00

(American-Interest) Over at The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg says that the “most consequential news from the Middle East today” is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal’s promise to keep oil prices under $100 a barrel. Why does this matter? Argues Goldberg:

Because it clears the way for an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. I’m not suggesting coordination between Israel and Saudi Arabia on this, any more than I would ever suggest that Superpacs coordinate with presidential campaign staffs. I’m merely noting that one factor that inhibits Israel from striking at Iran is fear that an attack will cause Iran to retaliate against Persian Gulf shipping (among other things), which would cause oil prices to skyrocket, which would, of course, generate a fair amount of anger directed against Israel.
The “blame Israel first” crowd continues to interpret the Iran-US crisis as an example of a sinister Israel lobby pushing the US into a war to serve the ambitions of the Jewish state. Not only does this analysis miss the vital US interests at stake in the region and the threat Iran poses to a balance of power the United States needs, it misses the reality that for several years now some of the strongest, most consistent pressures on Washington to act against Iran have come from the Arab world.
The Arab Lobby’s strong pressure for war against Iran is a major factor in French, British and even German hawkishness as well in this crisis.
But the blame Israel firsters don’t care; if we have a war with Iran they will know who to blame.

McCain was right

Twitter Goes “Establishment” On Free Expression

2012-02-07T16:30:00.001-05:00

(Brian Cuban) Twitter has announced they will begin deleting tweets at the request of certain countries. This has caused an uproar from free speech advocates. In reality, it simply brings Twitter in line with other major social media sites whose content interacts with the borders and laws of other countries who may not view free expression the same way we do here in the United States.
Note that in my title I used the phrase, “Free Expression” instead of “free speech” or “freedom of speech.” I did this because there is a major difference in application. Whether Twitter does or does not censor content in this country is not a First Amendment issue. The First Amendment only applies to goverment restrictions on speech. Twitter is a private company and can restrict speech in any way it sees fit. It is frankly surprising that Twitter has taken so long to recognize that speech does not occur in social media in a “free expression vacuum”
Prior to this announcement and after, Twitter will continue to be the most liberal platform in terms of free expression. It has virtually no restrictions on speech in it’s Terms of Service. Users are allowed to be as racist, hateful and to a degree threatening as they like as long as the tweet does not constitute a “true threat” as defined by Twitter.
Conspicuously missing are the rules against certain types of “hate speech” that you see on Facebook, YouTube and other major sites even under the most vague definition of such content. This has lead to a wild west atmosphere of ethnic, racial and pretty much any type of vile speech that can be imagined allowable as long as no U.S. laws are being broken and no true threat is made. The problem Twitter faces is that what is legal and allowable here may not be allowable if the tweet originated from another country that has hate speech laws in effect. The must now strike a balance between growth in these countries and free expression. This is not a new dilemma.
eBay and Yahoo banned the buying and selling of Nazi memorabilia world wide even though it is not illegal in the United States but illegal in several countries in Europe. For the last few years Facebook has blocked Holocaust Denial and other content in countries which such expression is illegal even though it is not illegal in this country under First Amendment principles
This was not a morality move nor a judgment on the nature of hate speech or other expression that may be illegal in other countries. Twitter did not care about that before the decision and does not care now. Twitter simply wants worldwide growth and for it’s executives to stay out of foreign courts. In order to accomplish that they have to take world wide morality and legal standards into account. This move was inevitable and necessary to achieve that. Welcome to the “Free Expression Establishment.”

The self righteous can now use the U.S postal service as a social network. It's a culture. One network isn't better then the other. It's what I've said for a while. Still, it is quite upsetting that twitter thinks an account from some Jihadist group is free expression, but are willing to muffle the expression of people in third world countries. From the start twitter didn't respect their own terms. They actually don't give a lot of energy towards justifying their arguments (yes I put them to the test... twitter thinks using twitterfeed is "architectural abuse")... but like you say... it's their network. right? so if that is the way it is... then perhaps we need to take the technology rights away from them. It would appear their innovation is getting in the way of the rights of others. Anti-Trust is the way to go.

The Palestinian refugees of 1936 were...Jews

2012-02-07T13:44:00.001-05:00

(EOZ) Here are photos of Jewish houses in Tel Aviv destroyed by Arabs of Jaffa at the outbreak of the "non-violent" riots in 1936:

Thousands of Jews were forced to flee their homes:

Some Jews were forced to move their belongings to a public park in Tel Aviv:

Here is a refugee camp near Rishon LeZion for the Jews who lost their homes during the riots.

All these photos were done by Zoltan Kluger.
(EOZ) found them at this Israeli photo archive website that just became public - although the website was created in 1998, and it shows.

US threatens to withhold aid to Egypt over NGO charges

2012-02-07T11:59:00.001-05:00

(Fayza Abul Naga)

From WaPo (EOZ):

(Ray and Sam LaHood)

Nineteen Americans will face criminal charges as part of a probe of the funding of pro-democracy groups, Egyptian officials announced Sunday, a provocative move that could deprive Egypt of crucial aid from the United States and upend one of Washington’s most important bilateral relationships.
The development added pressure to an already strained relationship between Egypt’s ruling generals and the Obama administration. The targets of the investigation include well-connected A
merican groups, among them one led in Cairo by Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. Sam LaHood reportedly was among those facing charges.
U.S. officials have sternly warned Cairo in recent days that the roughly $1.5 billion in aid earmarked for Egypt this year could be withheld if the politically charged investigation isn’t resolved quickly. But the tone of Sunday’s announcement suggested the Egyptian government is doubling down on what has become a high-stakes diplomatic dispute.
Fayza Abul Naga, Egypt’s minister for international cooperation, who is widely seen as the mastermind of the probe, said Sunday’s announcement should leave no doubt about the “government’s seriousness about discovering some of these groups’ plans to destabilize Egypt,” the state-owned newspaper al-Ahram reported on its Web site. The minister is among the few Mubarak loyalists who remain in the Egyptian cabinet.
Egypt has banned a number of non-government organizations’ workers, including LaHood, country director for the International Republican Institute, from leaving the country. Fearing they could be arrested, at least three of the Americans under investigation have sought shelter at the U.S. Embassy.
In response to pressure from Washington, Egyptian officials have said in recent days that they were unable to meddle in a judicial matter.
Local news reports said that in addition to the 19 Americans, 14 Egyptians, five Serbs, two Germans and three Arabs will stand trial. Egyptian officials have not indicated when formal charges will be handed down, and no trial dates have been set.
Pro-democracy groups have worked openly in Egypt for years, although the government has long refused to grant them operating licenses. The groups were buoyed last year when the government allowed them to monitor parliamentary election, the first time foreign monitors were allowed to observe polls in the country.
Hopes that Mubarak’s fall a year ago would be a boon for pro-democracy activists were dashed on Dec. 29 when Egyptian authorities raided the offices of 10 NGOs and seized files and computers. The current investigation, led by two investigative judges who were state prosecutors, is predicated on a 2002 law that bars organizations from accepting foreign funding if they are not licensed by the state.
U.S. officials have long sought to make assistance to Egypt conditional on democratic reforms. Experts on the country said the ruling generals might be assuming that the latest threats from Washington will prove to be empty. Similar warnings linking reforms and aid, dating back at least two administrations, have not been pressed.
The Egyptian government has long seen its yearly aid package from Washington as payback for signing a treaty with Israel in 1978.
The generals don’t “see this aid as being aid,” said Shadi Hamid, an Egypt expert at the Brookings Doha Center. “They see it as their birthright. They see it as a bribe, and they feel they are undertaking their side of the pact.”
But LaHood’s involvement in the case could leave Washington little recourse, Hamid said. “Threatening to arrest and try the son of a top U.S. official is a red line, and they’ve crossed it,” he said.

Is it me, or is anyone else bothered by the idea that the US would only consider acting when one of those threatened is politically connected?

the reality is this will be like the UNICEF financial halt. Symbolic.... with a lot of strained egos and a bunch of hugging at the end of it. Disgusting... and it will work in Obama's favor.

So called Israel Firster: Anatomy of an Antisemitic Smear

2012-02-07T11:18:00.001-05:00

(cifwatch.com) Beginning in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War, approximately 2800 Americans fought in Spain on behalf of the Republican cause, in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and elsewhere. Most were members of the Communist Party or other leftist organizations. They served without the support of the U.S. government, were treated with suspicion after the war, and in some cases were even prosecuted by the Roosevelt Administration for recruiting volunteers into the Brigade. These volunteers into a foreign army are universally regarded with respect and even reverence by American liberals and the broader left. (image via alba-valb.org)(MORE)

Change! Obama reverses his position on Super PACs, urges supporters to donate to his "Priorities USA" Super PAC

2012-02-07T10:49:00.001-05:00

Obama has previously been a staunch opponent of so-called "super" PACs because they can spend unlimited amounts of cash to influence elections.
Now he is a staunch supporter of them and is encouraging the hated 1%-ers to make generous donations to his Super PAC.

(NYDN) On second thought, President Obama would like that Super PAC money after all.
The Commander-in-Chief is doing a 180 and asking top fundraisers to support an independent political action committee backing his reelection.
The President has previously been a staunch opponent of so-called "super" PACs because they can spend unlimited amounts of cash to influence elections.
But Team Obama argued Monday night that it cannot allow for "two sets of rules" in which the GOP presidential nominee benefits from "unlimited spending and Democrats unilaterally disarm."
Obama's campaign encouraged top donors in a conference call to donate to Priorities USA, a super PAC spearheaded by two of the President's former aides.
A huge disparity was revealed earlier this month when Super PAC financial filings were made public. The Republican's American Crossroads and Crossroads GPS — groups affiliated with George W. Bush architect Karl Rove — reported a jaw-dropping $51 million last year.
That's in comparison to major Democratic groups, which collected $19 million during the same timeframe.
"We decided to do this because we can't afford for the work you're doing in your communities, and the grassroots donations you give to support it, to be destroyed by hundreds of millions of dollars in negative ads," the President's campaign manager Jim Messina wrote in an e-mail to supporters.
Republicans immediately seized on President Obama's reversal, calling the move "hypocritical."
"This is a brazenly cynical move by Barack Obama and his political handlers, who just a year ago had the chutzpah to call outside groups a threat to democracy," Jonathan Collegio, a spokesman for American Crossroads, told The Associated Press.

via the-eyeontheworld.blogspot.com

ah... politics!

George Galloway flatters Assad's media advisor | FP Passport

2012-02-07T09:52:00.001-05:00

((blog.foreignpolicy.com) Posted By David Kenner Monday, February 6, 2012 - 6:28 PM) As my boss Blake Hounshell noted this morning, Syrian activists are having a field day trawling through the hacked e-mails of officials in President Bashar al-Assad's regime. One particularly interesting note was sent by former British parliamentarian George Galloway to Assad advisor Bouthaina Shaaban.Galloway was writing to request the Syrian government's help in organizing a convoy to the Gaza Strip. The plan was for vehicles to travel over land from London and the Gulf to the Syrian city Latakia, at which point they would board the Mavi Marmara - which had been the scene of a deadly raid by Israel Defense Forces solders only months earlier, as it tried to breach the Gaza blockade -- and travel to the Egyptian port city of al-Arish. From there, they would enter Gaza through the Rafah crossing. While the convoy did complete its mission, the Mavi Marmara does not appear to have ultimately taken part. In securing Assad's help, Galloway recited the Baath Party's own rhetoric back to Shaaban. "Syria is as I have often said is the last castle of Arab dignity," he writes.

Von: b.shaaban@mopa.gov.sy
Reply-to: b.shaaban@mopa.gov.sy
An: buthainak1@hotmail.co.uk
Betreff: Fwd: IMPORTANT - private and confidential
Datum: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 06:03:38 +0300 (14.08.2010 05:03:38)
Your Excellency Dr Bouthaina Sha'aban
Special Advisor to President Bashar al Asad
President of the Syrian Arab Republic
Your Excellency, dear Dr Sha'aban

I hope this letter finds you well. Please be assured of my warmest fraternal greetings always. I am writing on behalf of Viva Palestina whose world-wide family of solidarity organisiations and registered charities will soon be setting out for beseiged Gaza again with our fifth convoy of aid. You will recall the outstanding assistance afforded us in Syria on previous occasions over the last period. I am writing once again to ask for Syria's co-operation although I do not doubt it for one moment. Syria is as I have often said is the last castle of Arab dignity. My only regret is to have to ask for your help again.
This convoy sets out simulataneously on September 18th 2010 from London, from Casablanca and from the Gulf. The London and Gulf columns of vehicles would like to converge on Latakia and sail from there to Al Arish. The Casablanca column hopes to join us in Al Arish and we hope all three columns - hundreds of vehicles strong - will enter Gaza through Rafah without hinderance.
The aid on board the vehicles will be 50% medical equipment and 50% educational, construction and other aid. The organisers of the convoy are Viva Palestina UK, Viva Palestina USA, Viva Palestina Arabia, Viva Palestina Malaysia, Viva Palestina Ireland, the Turkish NGO IHH,the International Committee to break the Seige on Gaza, Kia Ora - the Viva Palestina sister organisation in New Zealand, Viva Palestina Australia, Viva Palestina South Africa, Viva Palestina Spain, Viva Palestina Italia, and Viva Palestina France.
It is intended that the vehicles and passengers should sail to Al Arish on board the Mavi Marmara, which as you know is owned by IHH. If His Excellency the President Bashar al Asad and his government can accept this proposal in principle perhaps you could nominate partner organisation(s) and individuals with whom my colleagues could liaise about the practical details? The liaison from our side would be Mr Kevin Ovenden and Mr Zaher Birawi of Viva Palestina UK (as we believe 2 is enough).
In any case please convey my respect and my admiration to His Excellency the President.

With all good wishes
George Galloway

more will come out later.

Israel prepares for Syria refugees after Bashar al-Assad's predicted fall | News | National Post

2012-02-06T22:58:00.001-05:00

(National Post)Israel is making preparations for the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a flood of refugees from his minority Alawite sect into the Golan Heights, Israel’s military chief told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.(MORE)

Huh? What? These guys been trying to kill you for years... and you want to bring them into your home? This is stupid. I'm hoping it is just a public relations stunt, but the world will hold Israel accountable for it's false claims if it is bullshit. I'm not sure why Israel needed to have it's own state if every time there is a minority bullied in the Arab world... Israel brings home the losing party. Why is Israel responsible for the Alawite? Their allies are the Iranians. Let A'jad take them in.

Iran racing for the immunity zone

2012-02-06T19:33:00.003-05:00

(CARL HAS) ...discussed the concept of an 'immunity zone' - a point where Iran has moved enough nuclear enrichment underground so that Israel could no longer effectively attack Iran's nuclear program, but the United States still could - several times over the past few weeks. The most detailed discussion is here.
On Monday, diplomats in Vienna reported that Iran has moved more of its uranium enrichment activities underground. Neither Iran, nor the IAEA which is based in Vienna, were available for comment.

Iran last month confirmed it had begun refining uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent at Fordow, shifting its highest-grade enrichment from an above-ground location to better protect it against any strikes by Israel or the United States.
Washington, which has not ruled out military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to resolve the long-running nuclear dispute, on Jan. 9 denounced the start-up of the Fordow plant as a further escalation of Iran's "ongoing violations" of UN resolutions.
At that time, diplomats said Iran was operating at Fordow two so-called cascades, each of 174 centrifuges - machines that spin at supersonic speed to increase the ratio of the fissile isotope. More centrifuges were being installed, they said.
Enriched uranium can have both civilian and military uses.
One Vienna-based diplomat said two more cascades, like the first pair connected with each other to make the process more efficient, had now also been deployed to enrich uranium.
"The second set of cascades is operational ... my understanding is they are both operational and (have) no problems," the diplomat said.
Another diplomat accredited to the IAEA also painted a picture of expanding activity at Fordow, without giving details.
...
The decision to move work which the UN Security Council has called on Iran to suspend to an underground facility could further complicate diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff peacefully.
How's that last paragraph for an understatement.
It's no longer a question of whether there will be a strike on Iran's nuclear weapons program. It's a question of when and by whom. US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta may have been right. Or he may have given too late a date.

I don't get it. someone explain this. Surely Israel could bomb the place enough that it would crater?

Apple to join Microsoft and Google in setting up Israeli R&D?

2012-02-06T08:03:00.001-05:00

(Carl) In December, I reported on Apple's acquisition of Israeli flash memory company Anobit, and how it would likely result in Apple opening up an R&D facility here.
But Intel has been here for 40 years, and Microsoft and Google have also been here for a long time. So what took Apple so long? I'm sure you'll be shocked (Hat Tip: Israellycool).

The real question: why did it take Apple so long? One suspected cause was the political leanings of Steve Jobs’ wife: firmly in the left-leaning liberal and pro-Palestinian camps. Apple has neglected Israel as a market for its computers for years despite Israel leading the world in per-capita computer use. Apple’s market share in personal computers is much lower in Israel than in the United States or even Europe, and support for Hebrew is not as comprehensive as it is on Windows.
And people always ask me why I don't consider buying a Mac (it's also a lot more expensive and that's another good reason). Read the whole thing

don't forget that Jobs was Syrian by blood.

Hackers attack NBN with “Zombie Assad”

2012-02-06T08:00:00.001-05:00

(Now Lebanon) A snapshot of the NBN news website after it was hacked on Monday.
A hacker going by the name, “Dark Coder,” hit the NBN news website – affiliated with Speaker Nabih Berri – on Monday, calling the organization “dirty criminals” and posting a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad photoshopped as a Zombie.
Here is an English translation of the hacker’s message:
“Dear hypocritical criminals, your support for this regime makes you despicable accomplices to his crimes, which is why I’m telling you that you are dirty criminals without a single ounce of humanity in you. You, who trade the blood of humans, know that we Syrians will not accept this humiliation and shame, and you and your channel can go to hell, and screw you, Bashar, Dounya Channel, and the Syrian Channel, and they better know that their turn is coming.”
As for the zombie reference, I for one already think of Assad as a soulless politician…. So, well played.

Do you think the Arab world would cheer if it turned out they were hacked by Israelis?

Obama's latest crisis: Iran - POLITICO.com LOLZ BULLSHIT

2012-02-05T14:58:00.001-05:00

(politico) A few months ago, President Barack Obama looked like he could claim 2012 bragging rights as a deft foreign policy leader.

Iran threatens to change all that.
The possibility of an Israeli military strike aimed at Iran’s nuclear program could turn into the most complex foreign policy challenge of Obama’s presidency, overshadowing a string of national security successes: the winding down of the Iraq War, the killing of Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and the pursuit of an aggressive armed drone campaign that killed terrorism promoter Anwar al-Awlaki.

So I guess the Arab Spring was a success according to Politico. I feel threatened knowing these people control our president's policy with such obvious spin. Obama goes to Cairo at the start of his presidency and makes a landmark speech about how America loves Islam and now the Muslim Brotherhood and other Salafists are controlling Egypt and the rest of North Africa and that is Obama's success? I know none of you are shocked in the least. We've grown accustomed to the lies. oh it gets worse...

“If we have a foreign policy of our own and we have a friend we are generously financing and even more generously arming, that friend has to take our interest and our views into account and not confront us with accomplished facts,” said Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser to President Jimmy Carter. “If the U.S. government is not capable of conducting such a discussion, it has really defaulted as far as its management of foreign policy. These are large stakes. Large stakes among friends should be discussed frankly and not with some deference to political calculation.”

yeah... Brzezinski still gets respect at Politico. It's like a bad joke. Respect of Brzezinski and Obama is more important then an existential threat. I had teachers who used to lecture me like this when I got beat up in highschool. There was a word for them... oh yeah... liberals. You pay the price for the collective.

German Reporter Says He Was Beaten in Iran - ABC News

2012-02-05T13:54:00.001-05:00

(abc/AP)Hellwig and German photographer Jens Koch — both working for Bild am Sonntag — had entered Iran on tourist visas and were detained in October 2010 after interviewing the son of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery.
Her case had generated widespread international outrage.
The two journalists were freed a year ago after German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle traveled to Tehran for a rare meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, then brought the pair home on his government plane.
Iranian resistance groups later criticized Westerwelle's Tehran visit as a propaganda victory for the Iranian regime.
Hellwig said that prison guards, in an apparent move to frighten him, took him "to a torture cell to show me what they were using there to torture people."
"I was beaten. And there were some other things, but I do not want to talk about them," he said.(MORE)

These silly Germans were shocked... just shocked! What do you think he doesn't want to talk about? I'm guessing his ass is sore.

“Lady Bitch Ray” writes doctor thesis about headrag

2012-02-05T13:49:00.001-05:00

(SheikYerMami) The mullahs would have fun with this one: She wears bright red dresses that sport graffiti-like writing with “F*kc Sarazzin” and “C*nt Power” and she gets attention: (Thanks to Politically Incorrect) An Alevite Turkish female who calls herself ‘Lady Ray Bitch’ aka Reyhan Sahin claims she is being misunderstood. She wrote, supported by the deeply red Rosa-Luxemburg foundation, a dissertation titled ”The Meaning of the Islamic Headscarf – a dress-emotive inquiry into Muslim headscarf wearers in Germany”. Next month she wants to attain a doctorate at the deeply red university of Bremen. She already established a publishing firm called “Vagina-Style-Pussyjuice” to publish her ‘work’. Dr Bitch then plans to move on to become ‘professor’ Bitch. So much for successful integration….. Back in the US of A: Hezbo-b*tch in the dock for drunk driving: Ex-Miss USA, Rima Fakih, Meets the Judge For Driving Under Influence. Good thing she’s in the United States and just facing an irate judge rather than a public lashing… Story HERE.

These cultural elite types really seem to believe that they can have their cake and eat it too when it comes to Islam and Feminism mixed together.

Amnesty's mendacious use of language to demonize Israel

2012-02-05T07:49:00.001-05:00

(EOZ(h/t Erik)) Amnesty International has published another broadside against Israel, this one in Huffington Post. It lists a long line of supposed Israeli crimes, without giving sources.

Here is just the first sentence:

As the Quartet celebrates the resumption of bilateral negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians in Jordan this month, a record number of Palestinians find themselves out in the cold this winter due to illegal home demolitions by Israeli authorities in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).
Lets examine this sentence.
Its main point - repeated in its press release from December, released along with some twenty other NGOs - is that "a record number of Palestinians " are displaced.
What is this record number?

The figures show that since the beginning of 2011 more than 500 Palestinian essential structures were destroyed in the OPT, with over 1,000 Palestinians displaced -- doubling the number displaced over the same period in 2010, and the highest figure since at least 2005.
Amnesty's definition of a "record" is apparently "the most in the last seven years." That is not what the word "record" means.
And note that they aren't saying 500 homes, but 500 "essential structures." These include illegally built wells - wells that threaten the entire region's water supply. Amnesty is claiming that Palestinian Arabs have the right to damage everyone's access to water, and Israel has no right to stop them in territory they define as "occupied."
But if Israel is occupying the territory, as Amnesty claims, then Israel's responsibility is precisely to administer natural resources according to the Hague Convention - which presumably includes water.
Certainly, under the laws of occupation, Israel would be obligated to continue applying Jordanian law that applied to the areas before 1967, and it seems difficult to believe that Jordan did not enforce any zoning laws in the territory it occupied or that it tolerated the wanton illegal construction of housing. Amnesty pointedly does not address that issue - can any (Arab) who desires build anywhere they want in occupied territory?
Now, are the people who previously lived in these illegal structures out in the cold? Are they homeless? The NGOs give no evidence in that regard. This is Amnesty's hyperbole meant to demonize Israel and they have no basis in fact.
The real fact is that in 2011, the Palestinian Authority built or was expected to build 33,822 dwelling units. In just that one year. Israeli "record demolitions" are less than one percent of the total new construction last year. (In fact, the PA constructed more new units than Israelis did -not in the territories, but in Israel itself!)
And yet again, Amnesty - along with the UN and every other NGO - refers to the territories as "Occupied Palestinian Territories."
When international law scholar Eugene Kontorovich spoke at NYU last month, I asked him a question afterwards about Jordanian and Palestinian Arab claims to the West Bank. He stated:

If you think that the competing claims to the West Bank are Israel and its previous occupant, Jordan, then you would think that Israel would enjoy undisturbed title, and then this group of Palestinians organized themselves to challenge that title, it would have to be a retroactive challenge, which is the difficulty of it.
When Newt Gingrich said that the Palestinians were an "invented people," he was much criticized. Some people said, and I think quite rightly, that even if they are invented, it doesn't really matter, because you can invent a people - people can be invented. If a group of people decide to think of themselves as a nation, that can actually have real force. Who's to stop a people from inventing themselves?
I completely agree with that. There is nothing wrong with being an invented people; every people is in some sense invented.
The only question is: what's the date of that invention? If it is a post-'67 phenomenon, it seems hard to understand how that can make territory, whose status changed in 1967, "Palestinian Territory" retroactively.
I have never seen any real legal opinion that describes exactly how Palestinian Arabs can be described as the presumed legal owners of the West Bank. As with the UN, Amnesty seems to be using the term "Occupied Palestinian Territories" as a catchphrase, without any legal basis. It has become part of the discourse based on repetition and wishful thinking, not based on fact. Calling Area C and perhaps Area B "occupied" is defensible from a legal standpoint, but not calling them "Occupied Palestinian Territory."
This single sentence in the Huffington Post shows four separate examples of how Amnesty is less interested in truth than in demonizing Israel. For people who believe that Amnesty is the paragon of impartiality, this should be troubling indeed.

Maan News Agency: Haniyeh meets renowned Egypt sheikh in Qatar

2012-02-05T07:30:00.001-05:00

(Maan) GAZA CITY – Influential Egyptian Muslim theologian Yususf al-Qaradawi on Friday stressed the necessity that the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip should be open completely.
During a meeting with the premier of the Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip Ismail Haniyeh in Qatar, al-Qaradawi said, “It is unusual that closure of the Rafah crossing continues barring movement of people and goods.”
He added that the Gaza Strip expected support from the Arab and Islamic nations. Al-Qaradaqwi applauded the emir of Qatar, Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, for his support to Palestine and to Gaza.
“In light of what the triumphant revolutions in the Arab world achieved, I can assert that Palestine will achieve victory because Palestine is rightness and rightness always wins, while occupation is falseness and falseness will eventually vanish.”
For his part, Haniyeh applauded Qatar and Sheikh Al Thani for the support to Palestine and the Palestinian cause. He highlighted that the emir of Qatar responded positively to calls for reconstructing the war-torn Gaza Strip.

...denied correlative: the repressive and brutal totalitarian crackdown on the people of Qatar

GERMAN COURT: JIHADI TERRORISTS ON TRIAL HID PLANS IN PANTS……. |

2012-02-05T05:37:00.001-05:00

(Tundra) And look what else popped out. H/T: Fjordman, Picture: Sheik Yer’Mami (PBUH)
Austrian and German terrorists hid plans in their underpants

Two alleged terrorists including one Austrian hid plans in their underpants to hack off heads, burn bodies and then send the videos back to their al-Qaeda bosses in Afghanistan, a German court has heard. German Yusuf Ocak, 26, and Austrian Maqsood Lodin, 22, were arrested last year and charged with membership in a terrorist organization. Prosecutors in Berlin say both underwent terrorist training in the lawless frontier region of Pakistan.

The court investigating the activities of the two Berlin-based suspected terrorists has heard how a USB stick was found in the underpants of 22-year-old Lodin which included a folder with the filename “future work”. It detailed how they would terrorise the Western world with small campaigns that “the enemy” would find it impossible to combat, and that would generate “panic” in the population.

Other folders detailed how to carry out kidnappings and murders and to inspire fear that anyone living in the West could find themselves murdered at any time. It also included details on how to avoid capture by accidentally releasing information that might lead investigators onto the terrorist’s trail. The pair had been allegedly trying to build up a network of suicide bombers in Berlin and Vienna.

The pair are charged with recruiting Islamist militants and releasing a propaganda video threatening attacks. Ocak is accused of travelling to the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan in May of 2009 to take part in armed combat against NATO forces. He is also charged with helping to found a group called the German Taliban Mujahideen, which in one Internet video threatened Germany over its troop deployment in Afghanistan.

More here.

what an asshole

France: Not all civilisations equal, minister says

2012-02-05T05:27:00.001-05:00

(Islam In Europe via AFP): French Interior Minister Claude Gueant, who also holds the immigration portfolio, caused political uproar by claiming that not all civilisations are equal, with some more advanced than others.

"Contrary to what the left's relativist ideology says, for us all civilisations are not of equal value," Gueant on Saturday told a conference in the French parliament building, but closed to the media.
"Those which defend humanity seem to us to be more advanced than those that do not," he argued in his speech at a meeting organised by a right-wing students group.
"Those which defend liberty, equality and fraternity, seem to us superior to those which accept tyranny, the subservience of women, social and ethnic hatred," he went on his speech, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.
(source)

it is a simple idea really... it shouldn't just be about Islam. We have lost all respect for details and the integrity of observation.

Israel beats Egypt to the punch on selling electricity to Europe

2012-02-04T19:29:00.001-05:00

(Carl) A new Israeli electrical plant being built in Ashdod is to be used to export electricity to Europe via Cyprus and Crete - and the Egyptians are seething about it. Calling the project Israel's "High Dam," after Egypt’s major Nile dam and electrical power station, the reports note that the project will receive joint European-American funding. The project will both aid Israel in reducing its dependence on gas imports and allow the Jewish state to export electricity to Cyprus and Europe.

The Israel Electric Company (IEC) and Greece's DEH Quantum Energy are expected to sign the MOU in a few weeks' time. This will lead to a feasibility study, which will be followed – if all goes well – by ratification of the project by the Israeli and Cypriot governments, in the course of 2012.
The cable will be 270 km. long. Another cable will connect Cyprus and Crete, which is part of the Greek electricity grid. An MOU for the longer cable has already been signed between Greece and Cyprus.
According to the Egyptian newspaper Rose al-Youssef, both former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and businessman Hussein Salem, owner of the company in charge of exporting Egypt's gas, who is currently a fugitive in Spain, knew about this project when they signed deals with the Israeli government.
The closeness of Israel to Cyprus and Greece helped make the High Dam project more feasible, since Israel will be linked to the Cypriot and Greek electricity networks with 53,000 kilometers of connections under the sea to European shores, and is later expected to extend for another 600 kilometers inside European territories.
The electricity generated by the High Dam will provide more than 10 European countries with an electric power estimated at 2,000 megawatts and will reach 4,000 megawatts by 2020.
Israel made information about the dam project available to the majority of European countries involved, but did not notify Egypt, Rose al-Youssef claimed.
Heh.

Samaria in a sewage stalemate

2012-02-04T18:28:00.001-05:00

Jooos Good For Terrorists to POOP ON! - Ecological Intifada (Image: Sewage west bank part of Israel complains of Palestinian ecological damage) - (SHARON UDASIN - The Jerusalem PostIMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis - Website: www.imra.org.il via WritingTW) All but one of 22 Palestinian villages refuse connection to sewage line, Environmental Protection Ministry says. Swirling in the strikingly green valley below the southern Samaria community of Nofim is a rambling stream amid grass and trees – filled with dangerous quantities of sewage.A subterranean sewage pipe connects to the underbellies of four of the five
surrounding settlements – Nofim, Yakir, Etz Ephraim and Sha’arei Tikva – and will within a few months also connect to that of Ma’aleh Shomron, bringing all of the effluent to a treatment facility in Eliyahu.
Despite Israeli offers to connect the 22 surrounding Palestinian villages to the same pipe, all but one of them refused the proposal, Environmental Protection Ministry and Shomron Regional Council officials explained during an exclusive tour of the area on Thursday.
Instead, their sewage flows into the aquifer below and ends up directly in the stream, according to the officials.
“That’s a testament to the fact that we are doing everything we can to prevent pollution in Judea and Samaria, but nevertheless, the Palestinians refuse to cooperate,” Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan told The Jerusalem Post during the tour.
Although planned about 15 years ago, the pipeline was only constructed about eight years ago, and a decade ago sewage from the settlements as well flowed directly into the stream, according to Shomron Environmental Association director Itzik Meir. Erdan expressed hope that donor countries would agree to only continue giving the villages financial support if they agree to connect to the sewage pipeline. Meanwhile, he also said he hoped that the relationship between the local Palestinian and Israeli communities would improve, though he certainly has doubts about this matter.
“Hopefully I will be surprised,” he said.

Piece Activist

When the leader of Palestine AKA Abbas AKA Abu Mazen speaks at the U.N., when he isn't talking about his fake Piece, he is usually tipping his hat to Al Gore and the lemmings in America by talking about a clean environment. You would think with all the U.S tax payer dollars going to the Muslims in Israel to prop up a fictional Nazi State called Palestine that he would do something about this. ...but the problem is that the Muslims don't love their land. They just don't want the Jews to have it.“It’s important for me to reveal whether they’re making political use of water,” Erdan said. “Or maybe it’s a problem of misunderstanding – but that is hard for me to believe.”
Another Environment Ministry official was slightly more optimistic, explaining that one of the 22 villages had, in fact, recently agreed to hook up to the sewage pipe, a deal that would be finalized in a few weeks time. The official said he could not reveal the name of the village at this point. Yet a third official told the Post he suspected that the local Palestinian governments were unwilling to connect their villages due to “political
reasons” – simply “because they don’t want to recognize Israel as a presence in the area.”
The Palestinian Water Authority could not be reached by press time.

Shit!

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.