The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir: Arif Jamal

27. September 2009 by admin.

The [Pakistan] government has its hands tied behind its back by the army and the secret services. President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Gillani really want to destroy the jihadist movement, but they are not able to. The secret services [the ISI] have the means to end the jihadis and the Taliban, but they refuse to do so.”

“The army and secret services are playing a double game” Arif Jamal is a specialist on Pakistan for the University of New York. He is the author of a book published last week in the United States, Shadow War, The Untold story of Jihad in Kashmir. Interview by PHILIPPE GRANGEREAU
Liberation, Paris What is Pakistan? The policy of Pakistan is the Pakistani army, as it holds the real power in this country, in tandem with the secret services, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). However, the primary objective of the army is to conquer Kashmir [territory divided between India and Pakistan since 1947, editor’s note]. To achieve this, the army and the ISI supported militarily Kashmir jihadis and their Taliban allies. The Pakistani army is she double game? She has always played a double game. After 11 September, President General Pervez Musharraf has continued, through the ISI, to provide military and logistical support for jihadists in Kashmir and the Afghan Taliban - who were granted an almost complete freedom of action. They have raised significant funds in Pakistan, which has allowed them to return in force. What is the latitude of the democratic government of Pakistan?
The government has its hands tied behind its back by the army and the secret services. President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Gillani really want to destroy the jihadist movement, but they are not able to. The secret services [the ISI] have the means to end the jihadis and the Taliban, but they refuse to do so. The offensive launched by the army in Swat are they dressing?
The scenario is the same as what has happened so far in the tribal areas. The Pakistani media, under the influence of the ISI, give the impression that there is significant fighting. In fact, before the army attacks a village where the Taliban are hiding, the ISI warns them the Taliban ahead of time. The army destroys a few empty houses, sits down, then the Taliban come back. But the Army to sacrifice its soldiers … From the viewpoint of the ISI, if the death of hundreds of soldiers may serve their interest, the price is not too high. The Swat valley is a critical issue because if the jihadists continue to gain ground, they will have a corridor linking Afghanistan and Kashmir. No army can then dislodge an alliance between jihadists, Taliban and members of al-Qaeda which has a sanctuary in that part of the Himalayas Is it the Chief of Staff of Pakistan Army, General Ashfaq Kayani, who is pulling the strings? Prior to leading the army, he headed the ISI. He was master of the double game played by Pakistan in recent years and it has not changed. But even if he is sacked, the strategy will remain the same as the Kashmir dispute is not resolved. To get rid of Islamic terrorism, it is necessary to resolve the Kashmir issue. How could change the situation? At the speed where the Taliban are gaining ground, Pakistan could fall into the hands of the Taliban in two years. The army and the ISI have created a monster that is now out of control. The target of the Taliban is not Kashmir or Afghanistan, it is Pakistan. If the United States leave the Taliban, will they get their hands on nuclear Pakistan? Washington knows a lot about the Pakistani nuclear program. But it does not know everything, and there is the risk. http://www.averroespress.com/AverroesPress/Main/Entries/2009/5/26_The_Untold_Story_of_Jihad_in_Kashmir__Author_Ar if_Jamal_on_the_%E2%80%9CShadow_War%E2%80%9D.html

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The Story of Philosophy: A Golden Century of German Philosophy

27. September 2009 by admin.

KANT

- never left his home province

- “Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Ethics” (Prologemona)

- anything we can’t experience we can’t know

- limitations on knowledge: what exists, what we can experience

- mistake to confuse representation with the object

- phenomena - world of things as they appear

- noumena - world of things as they are

- can’t imagine an obect not in space or moving not in time

- free acts of will take place in the noumenal world

- must believe in free choice

- nonempiricle world where decisions are made

- only one capable of reason can behave morally or immorally

- “Act only according to maxims which you can will also to be universal laws”

- can’t have knowledge of God

SHOPENHAUER

- linked western with eastern philosophy

- science only applies to empiricle world

- agreed with Kant on many things, corrected others

- for objects to differ they have to be distinct in space or time

- act of will and body movements are the same

- “Motives are causes experienced from within”

- in the noumenal world we are undiffereniated

- Major introduced Shopenhauer to Hinduism and Buddhism

- arrived to same conclusions via diffeent routes

- was first open athiest

- idea of a personal God is anthropomorphism

- thought life was meaningless and tragic

- always unsatisfied

- only way to escape is via art, espeically music

SOME COMPARISONS OF EAST AND WEST

- eastern more philosophical

- upanishads (hinduism) see world of our senses and world behind it

- world is ephemeral and unstable

- person is raindrop in oceas

- Bushisms Four Noble Truths: life is unsatisfactory; sufering caused by endless desire for things; suffering can end if we stop craving; we can end the craving with the Noble Eightfold Path

- Buddha didn’t believe in God

- real reality is behind appearance

- Hindus and Buddhists believe we live a series of lives

- Russian Revolution influenced by Marx

FICHTE

- empirical world is creation of the knowing mind

- empirical observations can be deduced from scientific laws

- universe is logical necessity

- we know we exist via our capacity as moral agents

- moral will is basic constituent of human consistence

- ego creates emprirical world

SCHELLING

- nature is reality and always evolving

- nature is unity, a process

- man does not exist ourside of natur

- most spiritually advanced creations are art

- house philosopher of Romantic Movement

HEGEL

- reality is an ongoing process

- geist is the stuff of existence

- development of geist is self-awareness and self-knowledge; lead to “the Absolute”

- Absolute Idealism

- everything that exists is the outcome of a procss

- change is never arbitrary

- dialectical procss (the dialectic):

1. thesis = initial stage

2. antithesis = reaction

3. synthesis = resolution of conflict between the two

- this is why things change

- inividual has the power to direct change

- only thing that could end this is a conflict-free situation, which would be where every individual functions harmoniously

- he saw himself as the culination of historical process

- thought Prussia was the conflict-fee state

- Right Hegelians agreed and wer the parents of right-wing German Nationalism

- Left Hegelians agree with the idea of conflict-free state but thought Prussia was 180 degrees from it, which lead to Marx

- three ideas:

1. reality is a historical process

2. history has a rational structure

3. man creates rules when building civilization that eventually constrains him, leading to alienation

- Kierkegaard through abstract systems of philosophy shouldn’t exist, as everything is unique

- Hegel = anti-liberal, individualism is shallow

- self-awareness can only be achieved as part of the oganic society

MARX

- fused German philosophy, French political theory and British economics

- Then components from Hegel:

1. reality is ongoing process

2. key to understanding reality is understanding nature of change

3. historical change is not random

4. law of change is the dialectic

5. alienation keeps this in operation

6. process not under human control

7. process will continue until conflicts are resolved

8. when reached, humans will be free

9. will make self-fullfillment possible

10. only work in organic society

- materialist

- humans need subsistence - food, clothing, shelter

- after basic needs are met, people specialize, which makes them dependent on each other

- people are defined by their relationship to means of production

- since means of production change, relationships change, which leads to development of classes and class conflict

- arts serve the ruling class, as does religion

- industrial capitalist society policies the classes

- a class-fee society would be conflict-free

- Marx thought these were scientific laws he’d discovered

- believed socialism to be inevitable

- nowhere did the changes lead to what he thought

- invariably lead to tyranny and poverty

NIETZSCHE

- there is no god and we have no souls

- regected Schoepenhauer’s idea that this world is only part of it

- should live our lives in full

- old morality comes from old religions and societies very different from today

- can’t base our lives on value systems from things in which we don’t believe

- humans emerged from animals by strong defeating the weak but “modern” morals now force us to protect the week

- we’d all be better off if the strongest in all aspects could be allowed to survive

- morals are human creations and we should choose the ones in our best interests

- “will to power”

- creative potential will have free reign

- gifted individuals can live full lives

- life should be worth living for life’s sake

- Mussolini and Hitler took from Nietzsche but Nietzsche was neither a facist nor a Nazi nor an anti-semite

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US Triples aid to Pakistan

27. September 2009 by admin.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/India-protests-as-US-Senate-votes-to-triple-aid-to-Pakistan/articleshow/5055089.cms
  WASHINGTON/NEW YORK: The US Senate on Thursday voted unanimously to triple non-military aid to Pakistan to $1.5 billion per annum till 2014, triggering fresh concerns for India, which warned that such funds have been diverted to support hostile operations against states and needs The announcement to the tripling of annual aid from $50 million to $1.5 billion was made by President Barack Obama during his address to a meeting of the ‘Friends of Democratic Pakistan’ at the UN headquarters in New York, attended by a grouping of 26 countries and international organisations. Obama’s special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, called the unanimous vote on Kerry-Luger Bill “a very important step forward” for US-Pakistan ties. “For the first time in modern era the US congress has made a multi-year commitment to Pakistan,” he said. The Senate’s unanimous approval set the stage for action in the House of Representatives, where the measure was introduced hours later for a final vote. It will then be sent to Obama to sign it into law. Reacting to the Senate’s passage of the bill, foreign minister S M Krishna said in New York that India was concerned about it as Islamabad had in the past diverted American aid to bolster its defences against India. “Consider the statement that has been issued by the former president of Pakistan Musharraf himself where he has said that the aid provided to Pakistan by the US has been used for directing its hostile operations against India,” Krishna, who is participating in the opening session of United Nation General Assembly, said. “It is that statement of President Musharraf that really bothers us,” he said, ahead of his meeting with his counterpart Hillary Clinton. “With respect to the aid that was given to Pakistan we have brought the attention of the government of the United States that India’s concern is only that aid has to be appropriated for the purpose for which it is provided by the United States,” Krishna said, urging the US to monitor the use of the aid by Pakistan. In its early drafts, the bill had a condition that Pakistan would not be a base for terrorist attacks against India, but now it has been replaced with a clause on cooperation with Pakistan’s neighbours on war against terror.

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Your children may learn that Muslims discovered America

27. September 2009 by admin.

  A Native American tribe has forced distributors of an Arab studies guide for American teachers to remove an inaccurate and absurd passage that Muslim explorers preceded Columbus to North America, and eventually became Algonquin chiefs named Abdul—Rahim and Abdallah Ibn Malik!  The Middle East Policy Council, a Washington advocacy group that promotes this curriculum to school districts in 155 U.S. cities have apparently been somewhat unresponsive and dismissive of complaints. Ridiculous as this example is, it is illustrative of a far more disturbing development: the placement of propaganda in our schools by Muslim extremist groups. As the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation pointed out in a report issued this week titled, “The Stealth Curriculum:Manipulating America’s History Teachers” these efforts are intended “to use America’s public school classrooms to shape the minds of tomorrow’s citizens by manipulating what today’s teachers introducing into the lessons of today’s children”  
The American Textbook Council  has played a leading role in resisting Arab efforts to supply propaganda to our schools, and recently published a report, “Islam and the Textbooks”, by Gilbert T. Sewall, which reports this phenomenon. It can be found here.
These militants and their supporters have set their eyes on our children, and are attempting to brainwash them by supplying free textbooks which whitewash the truth regarding Muslim extremism, while promoting Arab and Palestinian political goals. These “teaching materials” also impugn and devalue America, Western nations, Israel. Judaism, and Christianity. The Council  on American—Islamic Relations, some of whose members have been “outed” as terror supporters, has an active program to supply these this type of propaganda to libraries across the nation. Naturally, like schools, the librarians are more than happy to accept inexpensive, or free, material to fill their shelves. Yet these same books and audio—visual material are filling our children’s minds with lies that are tantamount to propaganda that teach hate. Efforts should be made by local activists and PTA or PTO members to scrutinize the reading lists at our “educational” institutions.

on “Your children may learn that Muslims discovered America”

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Islam and the West: One Enormous Razzia

27. September 2009 by admin.

Islam and the West
One Enormous Razzia by Warner MacKenzie The recent phenomenon of Islamic terrorism against the west, and certain unwelcome aspects of the increasing Muslim presence in Western countries, seem new to us but, in reality, owe more than just a passing nod of acknowledgement to the Arab Bedouin tradition of the plundering raid (ghazwa or razzia.). The razzia, with its opportunistic seizure of spoils (anfal) was undertaken by a desert people who were unable or unwilling to contribute to the creation of their needs; so the Bedouin, who neither grew nor made anything, simply pillaged what they wanted from others. Likewise, Muslim emigrants keep their “eyes on the prize” when choosing a destination country and seem to find nations that are devoid of generous welfare systems and high standards of living, singularly unappealing. Migration for financial betterment is neither reprehensible nor new, and has been a primary motivating factor for many former immigrant groups; however, no group in the past has sought to bend the host country to its will, rather than assimilate, as have those of the Islamic faith. Unprecedented concessions have been made to Muslims and will continue to be made as they persistently chip away at the Western edifice. We can expect that any concessions granted will do no more than embolden the petitioners and encourage even more, and greater, demands in the future. If the demands are resisted or denied, and their numbers are sufficient, there will be civil disruption and confrontations as we see regularly in the media. The foreign policies of several European countries have been, or are in the process of being, modified to prevent a Muslim backlash, either physical or electoral. It’s evident that a two pronged pincer manoeuvre is well under way, with one faction of Islam softening us up by threatening to blast and terrorise us into submission, and the “good-cop” wing, represented by the various national Islamic councils and other Muslim interest groups, who are “grooming” us with assurances that, by dealing with them, we can avoid all the unpleasantness and bloodshed by acquiescing and “going along quietly”. Option “B” is merely option “A” by stealth, with a sugar coating; both lead to an identical outcome; and that is an influence on our way of life disproportionate to their numbers. Our governments have warmed to the sweeter, soft option without realizing it is merely the other side of the jihadi coin.  Rather than recognising and confronting this insidious and incremental erosion of our culture, our leaders have decided that it’s easier to retreat a yard than advance an inch. Recently, a British survey found that : “According to a poll of 1,003 Muslims, 37 per cent of 16- to-24-year-olds said they would prefer to live under Sharia law, the same number of young Muslims said they would prefer to send their children to Islamic state schools while 74 per cent said they preferred Muslim women to wear the hijab headscarf in public and a small overall minority, (7 per cent,) said they “admire organisations like Al Qaeda that are prepared to fight the West”. The European Union and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown, in a pathetic and obvious concession to the Muslim community, declared that the words “Islam, Islamic and Muslim” must not, under any circumstances, be used in conjunction with any mention of terrorism. The familiar modus operandi of strike―withdraw―regroup―pause― strike again, is a feature of the time honoured Middle-Eastern stratagem of deceptive triangulation. Analogous to the story of the “slowly boiled frog”- which is unable to detect the gradual increase in water temperature-the West, in a very short period of time, has been lulled, beguiled and manipulated into a position of passive acceptance. Reports of terrorist acts no longer surprise us and the hypocrisy of “lowered expectations” toward Islam and Muslims forces us to put up with all manner of absurdities and irrationality from them. We’re like rabbits mesmerized in their headlights and all we can offer up is the plaintive whine “why do they hate us” They hate us because we are their antithesis. Everything about us reminds them of their failings and shortcomings. We are the embodiment of post-enlightenment rationalists; generous, compassionate, the innovative and industrious creators and discoverers of everything the Muslims rely on every minute of their day. Every communication system, all forms of travel and transport, medical devices and procedures, pharmaceuticals and synthetics. Everything, in fact, down to their wristwatch and even the process that prints their Koran; all are a living testament to the infidel’s ability to organise his thought processes, to strive, through co-operative effort, with others in the development and constant improvement of the products of his disciplined, inventive mind. The chaotically fractious, nepotistic, corrupt and violent nature of what passes for a civil society in Islamic countries is, by contrast, their legacy.  Like an insect trapped in amber, Muslim countries are museums, little more than a static display of seventh century pre-rational tribalism. They adore the trappings of modern technology but having a cell phone up to the ear doesn’t mean there’s a twenty first century mind on the other side of the eardrum. Having concluded that it is impossible for them to catch up to, let alone compete with, the rest of the modern world, they seek to force us back to their benighted state.    In the same manner that we are accepting the “good-cop” alternative, the  sedentary rural and artisan communities of Arabia came to accept  Bedouin brigandage and rapine as an unavoidable fact of life, for at any time and without warning, a camel mounted raiding horde could swiftly descend on their defenceless settlements and in a frenzy of sword brandishing, blood-curdling ululations and dust, the Bedouins, within a matter of minutes, would have made off with whatever they wanted-valuables, goats, chickens, produce and young women- decamping into the sandy wastes as rapidly as they had appeared. The only way to avoid these raids was to enter into a servile agreement to surrender a percentage of the annual date or grain crop and livestock to the marauders. Despite being born an Arab in what is present-day Tunisia, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) lived for a number of years in the city of Granada in Muslim Spain. In his master work, al Muqaddimah,(written in 1377) Khaldun describes the nature of the desert Arab in, what to us, would seem to be extremely uncomplimentary terms. Despite this, Arabs, generally speaking, identify strongly and proudly with the uncompromising “black and white” absolutist Bedouin outlook. This hard-line attitude of the desert was spread with the expansion of Islam. An Arabocentric emphasis with its seventh century Arabian values eventually came to be superimposed on the more contemplative religious, and tolerant cultural traditions of Asia. Khaldun also suggests, and history appears to support him, that an advanced civilisation steadily loses its asabiyya, i.e. its group identity, filiations and cohesion, through leading a soft, sedentary lifestyle. The citizens no longer need to be constantly fending off invaders in order to survive, the over indulgent society, having lost its martial skills, then degenerates to a point where it becomes unable to defend itself from a determined attacker or “Trojan horse” insurgents. Civilisations then tend to become vulnerable, their group-identity becomes diluted and weakened and finally non-existent.  The challengers succeed by retaining the wild-animal hunting pack ethos; they still have that most primeval sense of belonging to a common and cohesive identity, their asabiyyah, complete with a single-minded determination to further the self-interests of their tribe, and their tribe only. I would suggest that the Muslim world, despite its manifold schismatic divisions, is far more conscious of its asabiyya than we, in the West, are of ours.  With indistinct, blurred, and polarised populations coupled with subversive and seditious fifth columnists, we no longer know what we believe in.  Our common heritage and history are no longer taught in schools for fear of offending those late arrivers who do not share that heritage.  To what extent are we prepared to abandon and sacrifice those values that made us what we are, on the altar of inimical interlopers?  The West will only recover its lost asabiyyah when nations recognise that whilst they can certainly prosper as multi-racial societies, an original core majority culture must be the dominant identifying factor and the divisive policy of multiculturalism will need to be abandoned as a flawed concept and failed experiment based entirely on how some utopian, well-meaning “progressives”, would prefer Western society to be, rather than accept, and more importantly, support and celebrate how it is in reality. If we read the following excerpts from the Muqaddimah we can see just how well ibn Khaldun’s assessments of Arab cultural propensities have stood the test of time over the last six hundred plus years. For all intents and purposes, Khaldun’s words could have been written in 2007 rather than 1377. It contains some sobering advice for those who would take our dealings with Arab culture, and its accompanying religious zealotry, lightly. [”On account of their savage nature, (the Arabs) are people who plunder and cause damage. They plunder whatever they are able to lay their hands on without having to fight or to expose themselves to danger. They then retreat to their pastures in the desert. .Every stronghold or (locality) that seems difficult (to attack); they bypass in favour of some less difficult (enterprise). They do not attack it. Tribes that are protected against (the Arabs) by inaccessible mountains are safe from their mischief and destructiveness. The Arabs would not cross hills or undergo hardship and danger in order to get to them. Flat territory, on the other hand, falls victim to their looting and prey to their appetite whenever they (have the opportunity of) gaining power over it. Then they raid, plunder, and attack that territory repeatedly, because it is easily (accessible) to them. Eventually, its inhabitants succumb utterly to the Arabs and then they are pushed around by them. Eventually, their civilization is wiped out.”             Places that succumb to the Arabs are quickly ruined.  ”The reason for this is that (the Arabs) are a savage nation, fully accustomed to savagery and the things that cause it. Savagery has become their character and nature. They enjoy it, because it means freedom from authority and no subservience to leadership. Such a natural disposition is the negation and antithesis of civilization. For instance, the Arabs need stones to set them up as supports for their cooking pots. So, they take them from buildings which they tear down to get the stones, and use them for that purpose. Wood, too, is needed by them for props for their tents and for use as tent poles for their dwell­ings. So, they tear down roofs to get the wood for that purpose. The very nature of their existence is the negation of building, which is the basis of civilization”  ”Furthermore, it is their nature to plunder whatever other people possess. Their sustenance lies wherever the shadow of their lances falls. They recognize no limit in taking the possessions of other people. Whenever their eyes fall upon some property, furnishings, or utensils, they take it. When they acquire superiority and royal authority, they have complete power to plunder (as they please). There no longer exists any political (power) to protect property, and civilization is ruined.”  [”Since they use force to make craftsmen and professional workers do their work, they do not see any value in it and do not pay them for it. The sedentary population disperses, and civilization decays.”  ”The Arabs are not concerned with laws. They care only for the property that they might take away from people through looting and imposts. When they have obtained that, they have no interest in anything further. For this (reason), greater fortitude is found among the savage Arab Bedouins than among people who are subject to laws. [ those who rely on laws and are dominated by them from the very beginning of their education and instruction in the crafts, sciences, and religious matters, are thereby deprived of much of their own fortitude.”  ”Under the rule of (the Arabs), the subjects live as in a state of anarchy, without law. Anarchy destroys mankind and ruins civilization, Furthermore, (every Arab) is eager to be the leader. Scarcely a one of them would cede his power to another, even to his father, his brother, or the eldest (most important) member of his family.. Civilization, thus, decays and is wiped out.”  ”It is noteworthy how civilization always collapsed in places the Arabs took over and conquered, and how such settlements were depopulated and the (very) earth there turned into something that was no (longer) earth. The Yemen where (the Arabs) live, is in ruins, except for a few cities. Persian civilization in the Arab Iraq is likewise completely ruined. The same applies to contemporary Syria.”  ”Every Bedouin who is attracted to city life quickly shows himself unable (to compete) and is disgraced.” Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, found no need to explain or justify his unprovoked looting raids which suggests that the attitude of, “it’s there for the taking” and the lure of “something-for-nothing” was already well established and accepted as normal behaviour. This barbarous and predatory conduct may have, in time, changed-as it did with the Vikings- had it not been for Islam. Muhammad’s divinely sanctioned marauding of booty-laden merchant’s caravans became the imprimatur that entrenched opportunism and predation as, not only legitimate, but in fact exemplary, thereby immutably casting the die for eternity.   With Islam’s belief that all is preordained, where even the most minute detail in day to day life only happens because Allah has previously willed it, (the inshallah mentality), it doesn’t require a great stretch of the imagination to conceive that, in the Muslim mind, Allah has permitted Western society to develop, succeed and prosper so as to present the “faithful” with a ready-made “walk-in-walk-out”, “under new management” takeover, complete with a functioning infrastructure and a populace steadily retreating into an ever increasing degree of subservient “dhimmitude”.  Only an identity ‘reconquista’ can provide us with a defensive moat against this opening ghazwa of the third great jihad.   Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah can be read online at: http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ik/Muqaddimah/Table_of_Contents.htm

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INDIANAPOLIS: INDIANAPOLISTAN - MUSLIMS TO GET FLOORS SINKS BY FALL

27. September 2009 by admin.

Sharia law is no longer creeping, and it cannot be stopped, not with foolish decisions such as this. Indiana is proving to be a Muslim stronghold in the US, bending the rules for Muslims at every turn – religious foot baths for Muslims (paid for by whom?), Muslim Congressman, Moroccan bath houses, and even separate Muslim communities. Indy must be conducive to Muslims, Tariq Ramadan even wanted to live in Indy – but he was barred from entering the US (more on Ramadan here). Floor sinks to accommodate prayer requirements for Muslim taxi drivers will be installed at Indianapolis International Airport by fall. David Dawson, a spokesman for the airport project, said this week that two bathrooms, one for men and one for women, will have the sinks. Both will be in a 900-square-foot building where taxi drivers gather before picking up passengers at the terminal. Many of the taxi drivers are Muslims who pray five times a day. The prayer involves many rituals, including washing the feet. Drivers now use hand sinks at the existing terminal, which has caused safety hazards. “The result of that is there is standing water on the floor and structural stress on the sink,” Dawson said. That created a sanitation problem and was the main reason the floor sinks were proposed, he said. Osmand Djama, 44, a taxi driver who uses the facility, said about 180 taxi drivers, most of whom are men, use the bathroom, making it unsanitary. According to Dawson, the cost of the sinks is estimated at $750 each. They are expected to be installed by the end of October, the same time construction on the new midfield terminal should be completed. The Airport Authority Board approved the installation plan in February despite some public objection and criticism from a local minister. The Rev. Jerry Hillenburg of Hope Baptist Church in Indianapolis, whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004, called the sinks unconstitutional and said they showed a dangerous concession to Islam. Hillenburg and his supporters rallied at Hope Baptist Church against the sinks last fall. Marc Monte, pastor at Faith Baptist Church in Avon, attended the rally. He said installing the sinks indulges a globally violent religious group. “I continue to oppose (the plan) on the grounds that it shows preferential treatment to that religion,” he said. “I don’t think the Airport Authority is going to let me install a baptismal font to baptize people in.” Monte said he is not sure whether his or Hillenburg’s community will take further action against the installation but thinks it shows that “in the name of multiculturalism, people will sell America down the river.” Taxi driver Abdi Mahamud, 44, said he and other Muslims would continue to pray even if there were no floor sinks. “We feel the pain for (Hillenburg’s) son,” Mahamud said. “But that has nothing to do with this.” Shariq A. Siddiqui, executive director of the Muslim Alliance of Indiana, said he’s glad the board made its decision based on sanitation, not religion. “We’re glad they’re dealing with health and safety rather than falling into Islamophobia,” he said. “None of us ever requested that these sinks be installed,” Siddiqui said. “But once they made this (announcement), a lot of people said this was like aiding the enemy. We are against this kind of rhetoric.” Dawson, the airport spokesman, said everyone’s comments about installing the sinks were taken into account. He said the issues the airport sought to address were safety and sanitation concerns, not religious practices. In other words, Muslims are unsafe, dirty, and have no respect for anyone but themselves. Thank you Mr. Dawson. Can we get some halal next, and a ban on pork products?

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New Nettop by Lenovo

27. September 2009 by admin.

Lenovo Ion-powered IdeaCenter Q110 Nettop

Lenovo has finally launched the Ion-powered IdeaCenter Q110 nettop. Priced at $399, the nettop features a 1.6GHz Intel Atom 230 processor, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit, a 2GBRAM, and a 160GB HDD. You are also eligible for a free upgrade toWindows 7 OS. Sadly, this computer doesn’t come with keyboard andmouse. The IdeaCentre Q100 nettop is also available for $299, which is powered by the SiS Mirage integrated graphics.

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GERMANY: Islamists make threats ahead of elections.

27. September 2009 by admin.

Islamists make threats ahead of election

Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20090926-22163.html

German authorities have uncovered a new video threatening attacks against the country over its military engagement in Afghanistan ahead of this weekend’s pivotal elections, according to officials in Berlin.

 

• Skies cleared over Oktoberfest crowds amid terror fear - Society (26 Sep 09)
• Growing military trauma cases going untreated - National (24 Sep 09)
• US warns of travel to Germany after terrorist threat video - National (24 Sep 09)

The new internet video threats are believed to come from the Taliban, an Interior Ministry spokesman said, and demand that Germany withdraw its troops from the war-torn country.

They followed a separate message that emerged earlier Friday from al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden with German subtitles demanding that Europeans leave Afghanistan. Bin Laden’s message came hours after a third German-language video in a week surfaced by another al-Qaida militant, Abu Talha al-Almani - or “The German.”

In the new video, a man calling himself “Ajjub” and speaking in German said: “Because of your commitment here against Islam, attacking Germany has become an attractive idea for us, the mujahideen,” according to the spokesman. The militant said it was only a matter of time “before jihad destroys German walls.”

Photos of famous German sites and events then appear, including Brandenburg Gate, Munich’s Oktoberfest beer festival and Cologne Cathedral. Politicians, including Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble and Defence Minister Franz-Josef Jung, are also shown, the spokesman said.

A German investigator quoted by Der Spiegel magazine’s internet site described the threat as “the most concrete” against the country because of the places and people singled out. The magazine said it was the first known German-language video from the Taliban. But the ministry spokesman insisted the recording “does not change our evaluation of the risk of an attack.”

Germans have already been shaken by bin Laden’s message and other videos. Abu Talha al-Almani’s video amounted to an “abstract threat” against the country, the German government said. The recording, posted Thursday, came days after the Al-Qaida operative threatened attacks in Germany over its military mission in Afghanistan. Germany votes Sunday in an election to choose the coalition that must decide how long to keep the country’s more than 4,000 troops deployed as part of NATO’s mission in Afghanistan.

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