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Archive for September, 2011

Erdogan: Turkish Warships Will Escort Any Future Aid Flotillas to the Gaza Strip

09/08/2011 Leave a comment

“Turkish warships will escort any Turkish aid vessels to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said in remarks broadcast on Al Jazeera television on Thursday.

Erdogan also said that Turkey had taken steps to stop Israel from unilaterally exploiting natural resources from the eastern Mediterranean, according to Al Jazeera’s Arabic translation of excerpts of the interview, which was conducted in Turkish.

Last Saturday, Turkish officials told Hurriyet Daily News that the Turkish navy will significantly strengthen its presence in the easter Mediterranean Sea, as one of the steps the Turkish government has decided to take following the release of the UN Palmer report on the 2010 Gaza flotilla.

‘The eastern Mediterranean will no longer be a place where Israeli naval forces can freely exercise their bullying practices against civilian vessels,’ a Turkish official was quoted as saying.

As part of the plan, the Turkish navy will increase its patrols in the eastern Mediterranean and pursue ‘a more aggressive strategy’.” Source.

Israel-Turkey tensions here to stay, diplomat warns – “Israel has little prospect of restoring its once close ties for Turkey anytime in the near future and will likely find itself under pressure from Ankara in Egypt and in the Mediterranean, Alon Liel former Israeli envoy to Turkey said on Tuesday. His remarks came as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised bilateral tensions another notch on Tuesday by saying Turkey was ‘totally suspending’ defense industry ties and reiterating a vow to step up the country’s naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean. ‘This process will be followed by different measures,’ Erdogan told reporters in Ankara.” Read more.

Grab Your Binoculars – The Brightest Supernova Explosion Since 1957 Will Reach Its Brightest Point Between 9/9 and 9/12

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By Rob Waugh – “There will be a once-in-a-lifetime event in the night sky over the next few days – as a star exploding 21 million light years away becomes so bright it will be visible through binoculars across Britain.

The supernova is predicted to reach its brightest between September 9 and 12, and will be the brightest since 1954, visible all over Britain, weather permitting. A team of scientists at Oxford University are tracking it using the Hubble Space Telescope.

The explosion is so bright because the star is very close to Earth, cosmically speaking, in the Big Dipper constellation, Ursa Major. Most supernovae are more than 1 billion light years away.

Dr Mark Sullivan, the astrophysicist leading the Oxford team examining the supernova, designated PTF-11kly, said: ‘This is accessible to anyone with a decent pair of binoculars. For many it could be a once in a lifetime chance to see a supernova blossom and then fade before their eyes. We may not see another like it for over 100 years.’

It will appear, blueish-white, just above and to the left of the last two stars in the Big Dipper. Watchers are advised to stay away from street lights for maximum visibility.

The supernova explosion was first detected on August 24, by University of California at Berkeley scientist, Peter Nugent, using the wide angle 1.2-meter Samuel Oschin Telescope in California. It has grown brighter by the minute. Located in the Pinwheel Galaxy, it was 20 times brighter in one day.” Read more.

Categories: Cosmic Craziness

Muslim Persecution of Christians: August, 2011

09/08/2011 1 comment

Acts 14:22, “… we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.”

By Raymond Ibrahim – “This series was developed in order to collate some—by no means all—of the foulest instances of Muslim persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two purposes:

  1. Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians.
  2. Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not ‘random,’ but systematic and interrelated—that it is ultimately rooted in a Sharia inspired worldview.

As will become evident, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya; overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed dhimmis (second-class citizens); and simple violence. Oftentimes it is a combination of the aforementioned.

Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and even throughout the West, wherever there are Muslims—it is clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Sharia, or the supremacist culture borne of it.

Categorized by theme, August’s batch of Muslim persecution of Christians includes (but is not limited to) the following anecdotes, listed according to theme and in alphabetical order by country, not necessarily severity of atrocity:

Attacks on Christian Symbols: Churches and Bibles

Indonesia: Two churches were set aflame; officials downplayed these atrocities by arguing that the buildings were ‘only made of board’ and not real churches. A mayor also proclaimed that churches cannot be built on streets with Muslim names, even as Muslim majority regions reject the building of any churches.

Iran: Officials launched a Bible burning campaign, confiscating and destroying some 7,000 Bibles, many publicly burned. Likening their tiny Christian minority to the ‘Taliban and parasites,’ the regime also ‘cracked down’ on Christians (who make up less than 1% of the entire population), arresting many, the whereabouts of which remain unknown.

Iraq: Two churches were bombed: the first damaged the church and wounded 23; the second damaged the church (a third church was targeted but the bomb was defused before going off).

Nigeria: Two churches were bombed, including a Baptist church no longer in use due to previous Muslim attacks; when officials arrested Islamist leaders, a third Catholic church was torched.” Read moreApostasy and Forced Conversions, General Oppression, Violence, and Murder of Christians

Germany: Two Muslim Terror Suspects Preparing ‘A Serious Act of Violent Subversion’ Arrested in Berlin After Gathering Chemicals for Bomb

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“Just ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist acts in the United States, security forces in Berlin may have prevented another possible attack. On Thursday morning, police in the German capital arrested two men suspected of gathering chemicals that could be used to build a bomb.

A 24-year-old German citizen of Lebanese descent and a 28-year-old from the Gaza Strip were apprehended following an investigation by police and state prosecutors that has been underway for some time, a police spokesman said.

Officials with the Public Prosecutor’s Office said the men are alleged to have been preparing a ‘serious act of violent subversion.’ They are believed to have amassed chemical substances that could have been used in the preparation of a bomb, he said. Authorities declined to reveal further details about the potential explosive.

While a police spokesman confirmed to SPIEGEL ONLINE that the two men had acquired chemicals, he said they had not begun building a bomb. They presented no immediate danger, he said. Investigators also believe the suspects are isolated individuals believed to be acting alone and with no known links to militant groups or extremists abroad, he added.

The announcement came as investigators were simultaneously conducting a search at a Muslim cultural center in the city’s Wedding district, along with the suspects’ apartments in the Neukölln and Kreuzberg districts.

‘The Islamic culture center is not under suspicion in this investigation,’ police spokesman Thomas Neuendorf told broadcaster N24, explaining that the two suspects were simply known to have spent time there.” Read more.

Official 9/11 Memorial Nothing More Than An Obama ‘Whitewash’ of Radical Islam

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By Bob Unruh – “The ‘official’ memorial on Sunday for the nearly 3,000 victims of radical Islamists on Sept. 11, 2001, will be nothing more than a ‘whitewash’ of the enemy trying to bring America down, so another event is planned, and at that one, the truth will be told, according to one organizer.

Pamela Geller, of Atlas Shrugs and a key leader in planning Sunday’s second annual Freedom Rally at 3 p.m. at Park Place and West Broadway, told WND today tens of thousands, including first responders and members of the clergy, are expected to be in attendance.

The focal point will not be obfuscated, either, by high-sounding calls to ‘service’ and advocacy for ‘tolerance,’ she warned.

‘If we don’t understand who wants to destroy our country, our way of life and civilization, how can we possibly be able to defeat them,’ she asked.

The event is being assembled by her American Freedom Defense Initiative, and its Stop Islamization of America Program, as well as Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.

‘We must show the jihadists we are unbowed in the defense of freedom,’ she said.

Back when she was being taught about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, an event that brought the U.S. into World War II and eventual victory over both the Japanese and German behemoths, she said, there wasn’t much discussion about either tolerance or service projects.

‘I was taught about a resolve, a united America that by 10 years later had defeated the Japanese,’ she said. ‘Ten years after [the 9/11 attacks] you would think we lost the war. We’ve adopted the Muslim narrative.’

The official memorial event in New York has been announced, but officials have confirmed it will not include members of the clergy and families of the first responders who died along with those they were trying to help were not invited, among other actions that leave an unwelcome flavor for those concerned about the U.S.” Read more.

Massive crane collapses at National Cathedral, Leaves ‘giant cross’ where Obama slated to observe 9/11 anniversary – “Just four days before President Obama was scheduled to speak inside the Washington National Cathedral to observe the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a 500-foot crane doing repair work collapsed today, leaving a haunting image of a giant cross. ‘The crane did not collapse on the cathedral itself,’ cathedral spokeswoman Meredith MacKenzie told the Washington Times. The Times reports Rev. Simone Bautista, canon for Latino ministries at the diocese, was inside the Church House when the crane fell, saying it ‘sounded like big thunder. Then the office started shaking.’ ‘When things like that happen and don’t hurt as much as it could,’ he said, ‘there’s something divine out there that prevented that from happening.'” Read more.

Indonesia: TV Station Pulls Film Promoting Religious Tolerance … Because ‘Offended Muslims’ Threatened to Riot

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Pay particularly close attention to the last quoted sentence.  Where on earth (or below) would they have gotten such a ‘crazy misunderstanding’ about Islam like that? …

“JAKARTA: The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission criticised a major television station Friday for giving into Islamists’ demands that a film on religious tolerance be pulled.

The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) had threatened to storm SCTV headquarters if it broadcast a movie titled ‘?’, scheduled for the last night of the Ramadan holy fasting month this week.

‘We regret SCTV’s decision to not air the movie. The movie has passed the censorship requirements and it doesn’t violate any regulations,’ broadcasting commission official Ezki Suyanto told AFP.

‘It seems the station is just afraid of the FPI. SCTV should not have given in to them. This is a bad precedent for other groups to do the same to TV stations.’ The movie was directed by Muslim filmmaker Hanung Bramantyo, who has made several feature films on Islam, such as the box-office hit ‘Ayat-Ayat Cinta’ (Verses of Love).

FPI secretary-general Sobri Lubis said the movie tried to incite hatred toward Islam and disgraced the religion by suggesting Muslims could live together harmoniously with people of other faiths in one country.” Read more.

So where would they have gotten such a ‘crazy misunderstanding’ from?  Here are a few (of many) examples:

Qur’an 3:10, “(As for) those who disbelieve [non-Muslims], surely neither their wealth nor their children shall avail them in the least against Allah, and these it is who are the fuel of the fire [of hell].”

Qur’an 3:85, “And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it shall not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he shall be one of the losers [because he is in hell].”

Qur’an 3:118, “O you who believe! do not take for intimate friends from among others than your own people, they do not fall short of inflicting loss upon you; they love what distresses you; vehement hatred has already appeared from out of their mouths, and what their breasts conceal is greater still; indeed, We have made the communications clear to you, if you will understand.”

Qur’an 5:5, “O you who believe! do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.”

Qur’an 5:80, “You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve; certainly evil is that which their souls have sent before for them, that Allah became displeased with them and in chastisement [hell] shall they abide.”

Qur’an 9:23, “O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you taketh them for friends, such are wrong-doers.”

Tanzania: Muslim Family Severely Beats and Threatens to Kill Christian Convert

09/07/2011 Leave a comment

Luke 21:16-17, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake.”

“NAIROBI, Kenya, September 5 (CDN) — On Tanzania’s semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, Christians live in a climate of fear. It’s a place where a young man flees the island to escape death threats from his Muslim family, and a Christian who accidentally burned pages of the Quran opts for jail by entering a guilty plea rather than face certain death from a furious mob.

Yusuf Abdalla, 23, fled to Moshi, mainland Tanzania, after his family threatened to kill him in June. Having converted to Christianity in October 2010 after hearing the gospel on the radio, he was enrolled at a vocational school in Zanzibar city to learn tailoring when his family found out in March that he had left Islam.

The beating he then received from family members left him with injuries to his head, hand and torso, as well as a serious mouth wound and substantial loss of blood, said an area pastor who requested anonymity.

‘The family then took back the tailoring machine which they had bought him,’ the pastor said. ‘They also vowed not to support his training.’

As soon as he had recovered enough to leave, Abdalla found refuge on the premises of the pastor’s church before staying at his home on May 5. Within two months, reports had reached Abdalla’s family that he was staying at the pastor’s house, and on June 10 they threatened to kill him, the pastor said.” Read more.

Canadian Prime Minister: ‘Islamic Militancy’ Poses Greatest Security Threat to Canada

09/07/2011 Leave a comment

Viva la Canada!  Obviously, this Canadian Prime Minister isn’t impaired by far left lunacy or incapacitated by politically correct atrophia.  America would be better served if Eric Holder and Janet Napolitano would quit doling out the artificially flavored liberal kool-aid, and offered up a bit of this natural delight instead.  It leaves a much better taste in the mouth …

“OTTAWA, Sept. 6 (UPI) — Prime Minister Stephen Harper sees Islamic terrorism as the greatest threat to Canada’s security, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Tuesday.

In an exclusive interview that is to air in its entirety Thursday, the Conservative prime minister told the CBC he believes Canada is safer now than it was when al-Qaida terrorist cells attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. However, he said, ‘the major threat is still Islamicism.’

‘There are other threats out there, but that is the one that I can tell you occupies the security apparatus most regularly in terms of actual terrorist threats,’ Harper said.

He said while people think of Islamic terrorists as emanating from countries such as Afghanistan or the Middle East, ‘the truth is that threat exists all over the world’ and home-grown Islamic radicals in Canada are ‘also something that we keep an eye on.'” Read more.

Flashback: Terror cells suspected in Canada – “If there was one terrorist plying his trade in Edmonton, there are likely more where he came from, said a local criminologist. ‘Terrorist cells typically have four to seven people in them,’ said Bill Pitt, a former Mountie who now teaches at Grant MacEwan University. Pitt said CSIS suspects every major city in Canada likely has a couple of cells working for a variety of terrorist causes around the world.” Read more.

Israel: Security Forces Foil Multiple Terrorist Attacks in Jerusalem, Arrest Dozens of Hamas Militants

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By Anshel Pfeffer – “The Israeli Shin Bet security service foiled a suicide terrorist attack last month in Jerusalem, it emerged Wednesday. An explosive belt was seized only 24 hours before the planned attack, after it was already smuggled into Jerusalem.

The interception of the planned attack was part of a large-scale operation by the Shin Bet, the IDF and the police against the Hamas military infrastructure in the West Bank and Jerusalem. During the operation, dozens of Hamas militants – operating in alleged 13 separate cells – were arrested.

The main cell charged with carrying out the attack was based in Hebron. The cell was in touch with the Hamas headquarters in Syria, and the date of the attack was set for August 21. The planned attack involved a fire extinguisher which contained six kilograms of explosives. The device was supposed to be carried by a suicide bomber in a bus or a mall in the Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood in Jerusalem.

The same cell was responsible for the March 23 attack in the central bus station in Jerusalem, where Mary Jean Gardner, a British tourist, was killed, and 47 other people were injured.

The Shin Bet has recently noted significant attempts to restore Hamas’ military infrastructure in the West Bank and execute terrorist attacks.” Read more.

Terror attacks in Israel skyrocket in August – “A significant rise in the number of terror attacks was recorded in August, the Shin Bet reported Monday. According to the report, 178 attacks were recorded in August, compared to 53 in July. The figures include rocket strikes from the Gaza Strip. Overall, 134 rocket attacks against Israel were recorded during the month. Shin Bet officials noted that the number of terror attacks originating in the Gaza Strip rose to 135, compared to 30 that originated in Judea and Samaria.” Read more.

Useless Nitwits: Truth in Satire Can Indeed Be ‘No Laughing Matter’ When The Subject Matter Is Deadly Serious

09/07/2011 Leave a comment
Categories: Anything Else

Alaska: Officials Raise Alert as ‘Persistent Thermal Anomoly’ Raises Possibility of Explosive Eruption at Cleveland Volcano

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“The lava dome at a remote Alaska volcano has resumed growing, prompting officials to raise its alert level.

The dome now fills the floor of the crater at Cleveland Volcano, 940 miles southwest of Anchorage.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory on Tuesday raised the volcano’s alert level to watch status. The threat level was dropped on Aug. 30, but raised against after a persistent thermal anomaly started Saturday. Observatory officials say in a news release that’s when the lave dome likely started growing again.

The dome was 262 feet in diameter on Aug. 30, but is now about 394 feet in diameter.

Officials say if that continues, lava flows could start on the flanks of the volcano. The growing dome also increases the possibility — but doesn’t ensure — an explosive eruption.” Source.

Categories: Natural Disasters

Seismic Activity Increases at Iceland’s Most Feared Volcano Katla

09/07/2011 Leave a comment

“An increase in seismic activity with small earthquakes has been reported at Iceland’s one of the largest volcanoes, but scientists on Tuesday said that there were no signs that the activity would trigger eruptions.

‘Although earthquakes in the surrounding area around Katla are common, yet there has been an unusual spike in earthquake swarms in recent days,’ University of Iceland geophysicist Pall Einarsson said.

Iceland’s Civil Protection Department has increased its monitoring of the Katla volcano, according to a statement on its Web site.

‘It’s one of the most feared volcanoes, so we’re closely monitoring it,’ Einarsson told Associated Press.

‘It’s normal for earthquakes to be detected around Katla. What’s a bit unusual is that we’re seeing swarms of small earthquakes, some occurring every 10 minutes or so,’ he said.

Katla is located in the southernmost glacier in Iceland. It is situated to the east of the Eyjafjallajökull, where an eruption in 2010 caused vast destructions.

The increase in seismic activity follows a series of small earthquakes which struck along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on Monday.” Read more.

Categories: Earthquakes