jewsyonkersislam # 722n,5 US&Law : NASA, Iran plus
jyi # 722n,5 US&Law : NASA, Iran plus
Below are articles (WHICH I HAVE EDITED IN ACCORDANCE WITH MY BLOG,
jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com) on the following topics.
NASA, IRAN, SPACE PROGRAMS, NEW PLANETS, stars undercounted, Space Plane,
space junk is disastrous and affects us all,
Terrorists ; Fundamentalism (Islamic, Jewish...) Terrorism ; middle class morality..., Is
Iran a problem ? Yes, but maybe there are better ways to engage it than today's approach,
racism, Engage Iran ? It might be a good idea - in space... to begin with. Moreever, who are
these peoples, aside from being Muslims, Sunni, Shiite...) ; Greedy Senior citizens
But first a few newsbits.
12-23-10
MEN-WOMEN-SEX
Mount Vernon Today, p.6, New York Times(NYT), p.A ? "You ought to know" better. An
intoxicated / unconscious woman is not to be presumed to have given consent to sex. Such
makes sense. But what was the woman doing drunk...in the first place...men are stupid,
women aren't. For any man to have sex with another man...it is absolutely wrong. And yet,
in today's feminist -crazed and debauched world... And for musicians... "Gay rights" are all
wrongs and should be explicitly noted and expunged as such.
MOTIVATION-MOBILIZATION
NYT, pp.A1, B1, Journal News(JN), pp.10A, 12A, Westchester Cuardian(WG), p.23 "US
says China breaks rules" in helping its industries. "Town stops checks...paying pensions...
(and this will only become more common over the next year. Such may be) extremely
unusual...but it proves the unthinkable can happen". An economic "forecast (by "experts",
economists...)says 2011 will "start strong". But this is all foolish nonsense. ALL our major
industries, like home building, oil, gas, coal, chemicals...., are today non-productive as well
as drags on the economy... "Hills collapse as floods lash southern California" in more
evidence of climate change. "Trends of 2011....The fruits of governmental and institutional
action -and inaction-" have led to horrendous, unintended consequences (all a result of
feminist filth and rot). Our "leaders and (know-it-all) 'arbiters of everything'...(are totally)
ineffectual and self-serving...(And one result is that people are getting more and more
desperate,) will defy authority ...(and) will revolt...(The stock) markets are no longer a
legitimate indicator of the recovery...(and world) economies will collapse (as) currency
wars (proliferate), trade barriers (are) erected, economic unions (collapse) and the
onset of the "Greatest Depression" will be recognized by everyone...Revolution (will be
worldwide - and next year)...The End of the World" is upon us. All we can do is watch the
human race become extinct all around us (including us) - or accept the inevitable and adapt
to it, in the ways I have noted in my blog.
We are in desperate times and I dont think many people realize it. See below
> Subject: Senator Alan Simpson Calls Seniors 'Greediest Generation'.. (AND HE IS RIGHT,
UNFORTUNATELY - NOT THAT SENIORS MEAN IT)
>
>
> This person is PISSED!!!! Wish I was the one that sent this to the beloved Senator!!!! The isn't a word
> that is false and I am believing that many Americans are beginning to think along these same lines......
> wally
>
>
>
>
>
> Subject: Senator Alan Simpson Calls Seniors 'Greediest Generation'...
>
>
> Senator Alan Simpson Calls Seniors 'Greediest Generation'...
>
> From a man in Montana ....who - like the rest of us - has just about had enough
>
> Hey Alan,
>
> Let’s get a few things straight…
>
> 1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS…
>
> 2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63)…
>
> 3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud…
>
> 4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN…
>
> 5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills…
>
> 6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay of YOUR debt…
>
> To add insult to injury, you label us “greedy” for calling “bullshit” on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU…
>
> 1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?
>
> 2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?
>
> 3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?
>
> 4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?
>
> It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators who are “greedy”. It is you and they who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That’s right, sir You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.
>
> And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.
>
> (i AGREE WITH BOTH SIDES. REGARDLESS, WE ARE ALL DOOMED UNLESS WE MAKE CHANGES - TODAY)
:
t
Pravda.ru
Russia and India to cooperate in Afghanistan and in space
(TO SAVE THE HUMAN RACE FROM EXTINCTION IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS, ALL
NATIONS MUSKE WORK TOGETHER IN SPACE)
Middle East
Dec 18, 2010
The value of a nuclear Iran
Ever since the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on Iran last week after the country refused to stop enriching uranium, concerns have mounted over the possibility of a nuclear-type conflict in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel, Iran and perhaps a host of Arab countries including Saudi Arabia.
Whilst the descent towards war may well prove inevitable over the course of 2011, this article explores the strategic necessities of the other side of the equation; namely the question of just how
bad a nuclear-armed Iran would be in what is considered the most volatile neighborhood in the world.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia repeatedly exhorted the United States to "cut off the head of the snake" by launching military strikes to destroy Iran's nuclear program, according to leaked U.S. diplomatic cables.
A copy of the cable dated April 20, 2008, was published in the New York Times web site on Sunday after being released by the whistleblowing web site WikiLeaks. The classified communication between the US Embassy in Riyadh and Washington showed the Saudis feared Shi'ite Iran's rising influence in the region, particularly in neighboring Iraq.
The United States has repeatedly said that the military option is on the table, but at the same time US military chiefs have made clear they view it as a last resort, fearing it could ignite wider conflict in the Middle East.
The April 2008 cable detailed a meeting between General David Petraeus, the top US military commander in the Middle East, and then US ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and King Abdullah and other Saudi princes.
At the meeting, the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir "recalled the King's frequent exhortations to the US to attack Iran and so put an end to its nuclear weapons program," the cable said. (ALL WELL AND GOOD, BUT FIRST THE US...MUST END ITS USE OF OIL, GAS, COAL,,,)
The sentiment broaches some obvious questions in the minds of anyone who is not beholden to the Saudi establishment or part of the George W Bush - Dick Cheney oil coterie.
Firstly, what is the snake that King Abdullah refers to?
There are multiple possibilities about the nature of the snake. One possibility is that the king referred to the Persians, or more likely the Shi'ite masses as the snake; with Iran as its head. While this view would certainly confirm with the Saudi/Wahhabi orthodoxy in respect of Islam and its evolution over the past 1,000 years, it doesn't make much for common ground with the United States. Americans are (presumably) neutral with respect to the different denominations of Islam, in the sense that they are already at war in two predominantly Sunni areas (northern Iraq and Afghanistan) and are embroiled in wars across Shi'ite regions in the southern part of Iraq, as well as the Reagan-era animosity towards Shi'ite Iran.
The snakes in the sands
There is something deliciously self-serving about Saudi exhortations for the US to act on Iran to prevent the rise of a new power in the Middle East, especially if the US were to step back and ask a tougher question about the role of "other snakes".
In case that is too obtuse, what I am referring to is the "snake" of religious(!!!) terrorism, and in particular the problem of disaffected youth(!!!) in predominantly Sunni kingdoms such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait et al; as well as those in anarchies such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It is not entirely clear that the natural enemy of such youth is necessarily the Americans; more likely, it is the established order of the Middle East, where the wealth of nations is controlled by a bunch of aging monarchies. (TOUCHE')
This snake of religious terrorism is the one that bit the US on 9/11. Most of the hijackers on September 11, 2001, were of Saudi origin and despite nominally falling under the leadership of Osama bin Laden it stands to reason that they were mainly disenchanted due to the stifling anti-democracy of Saudi Arabia and the inherent hypocrisy of Wahhabism in a country that spent most of its time kowtowing to the Americans.
Fearing the tactical nightmare of dealing with hundreds if not thousands of these disaffected youth, America and Europe chose to make the strategic blunder of supporting the crumbling monarchies as long as they attacked their own youth. This was a stupid bargain, to put it mildly. (TOUCHE')
A sustainable situation would be to engender wider regime change in the Middle East by booting out the creaking and corrupt monarchies, to be replaced progressively with Islamic leaders capable of taking a development-oriented approach to their countries. To ensure this new generation of Middle East leaders do not get overly tempted by the possibilities of attacking America or Israel, it would be necessary to have a "natural" check in the region - namely Iran.
As a nominally democratic state with a strong theological association with Shi'ite philosophy, Iran's potential to disrupt the stale status quo in the Middle East has been well known since 1979. The US along with various Sunni kingdoms egged on Saddam Hussein in his murderous war against Iran, in itself a war of survival for the minority Sunni community of Iraq against the plural majority Shi'ite population.
The atrocities that Saddam and his henchmen visited upon the Shi'ite population in southern Iraq are well known. Iran also suffered hundreds of thousands in casualties among its civilian population; atrocities committed by the Sunni regime of Iraq for which no means of accounting was even attempted by either the Europeans or the Americans; those so-called paragons of human rights.
Australia is at odds with its major security ally the United States over Iran, saying it is not a "rogue state" and its nuclear weapons program is for deterrence, not attack, according to US cables released by WikiLeaks. The documents, published in the Sydney Morning Herald on Monday, also reveal that Australia's top security organization believes Tehran sees a "grand bargain" with the United States as its best way to ensure national security.
But the Office of National Assessments (ONA) shared Washington's fears that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons could lead to conventional or nuclear war, noting a conflict between Israel and Iran was the greatest challenge to Middle East stability.
The ONA was also concerned that nuclear proliferation in the Middle East may drive Southeast Asian nations to pursue their own nuclear capabilities. "It's a mistake to think of Iran as a 'rogue state'," then ONA chief Peter Varghese told the United States in a briefing, according to the 2008 US diplomatic cables from Canberra. The cables said the ONA sought a balanced view of Tehran as a sophisticated diplomatic player rather than one liable to behave impulsively or irrationally.
The Australians are correct in their assessment, even if it was only made because of their fears that a nuclear conflagration in the Middle East would spark a rush towards nuclear weapons by Indonesia (the world's largest Muslim country and a close enough neighbor to worry Australian policymakers). Whatever their motives, the Australians may have hit the nail on the head - namely, that the West should take a balanced approach to this problem.
Any argument in support of Iran, though, automatically falls at the door of the hysterical pronouncements of the Iranian leadership from Israel. There is little doubt in the minds of most right-thinking Jews and Americans that given half a chance, Iran would quite literally proceed to "wipe Israel off the map
" as the president of Iran proudly claimed last year.
This is a serious worry in terms of the West or anyone else engaging Iran, primarily because there doesn't appear to be any motivation within the Iranian leadership to change attitudes towards Israel nor is there any apparent popular pressure in the country to do so. If anything, the proverbial "man on the street" is as inimical to the interests of Israel as the half-crazy leadership of Iran. (A "GRAND BARGAIN" INVOLVING MOVING OUT INTO SPACE MAY BE THE ANSWER)
That said, there have to be other considerations too. Firstly, it is unlikely that Iran actually has the ability and, distinctly, the willingness to withstand a Jewish state counter-attack (let alone American) should it ever contemplate an attack on Israel. With over 200 nuclear bombs at its command (some estimates even say 400), Israel is no pushover when it comes to retaliation.
Secondly, one has to sit back and examine what exactly the Iranians can claim to gain by the endeavor of pursuing this goal - precious nothing. Compare that to the direct benefit of addressing their key problem, namely a decline in the production and export of oil that Iran faces on a daily basis. Other authors - including my Asia Times Online colleague Spengler - have mentioned the dire straits of the Iranian economy with its over-reliance on falling oil exports.
Putting fear and greed together, the answer to engaging Iran is surely the expansion of Iranian influence over Shi'ite oil-producing areas around the Persian Gulf. A critical examination of this aspect could well be the key to resolving both the Middle East conundrum and containing the further spread of Wahhabi terrorism globally.
There is something of a truism in the energy industry that while Sunni states may claim ownership of oil reserves, most oil-producing areas are actually in regions populated exclusively or extensively by Shi'ite groups. For example, The Energy Bulletin published the following table in December 2008, in an article entitled "Shia Islam and oil geopolitics" by James Leigh; the table highlights the predominance of Shi'ite (Shia) populations in the regions with significant oil reserves.
The Gulf states of Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, have 81.3 million Shia or about 61% of the total Gulf population. Further, if we just take the Shia populations of the five nations of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE holding 58% of world oil reserves, we see Shia make up a total of 62% of their populations. Clearly the Shia have the potential for significant influence over this whole Gulf region through their own nations and also ultimately to the world. Of course they could also wield regional and world influence through their solid representation in OPEC.
A closer look at the exclusively Arab portions of the "oil map" is disturbing to say the least for the average Sunni fanatic. A number of key oil fields in various Arab states adjoining the "Arabian" Gulf (which is of course called the "Persian" Gulf in the rest of the world) are in areas with predominantly Shi'ite populations, the principal ones being Bahrain and Al-Hasa (a region that was under Bahrain during the time of the Ottoman empire).
This then is the core of the Saudi worry about Iran. An expansion of the Shi'ite state could provoke grave unrest within Saudi Arabian borders but also limit the country's ability to suppress dissent from its young and restless, a scenario that must provoke the greatest concern among all the crown princes as they mull the succession from King Abdullah.
The prospect of a nuclear Iran certainly creates its share of worries, not the least of which is the likely expansion of a theater of war away from the Middle East towards Europe and Asia. The country's attitudes towards Israel are also a matter of deep concern. However, if one assumes that an expansion of the Iranian military in non-conventional weapons is a certainty in an environment where the United States as a declining superpower is unable to intervene militarily, then the next best option - namely to harness this new emerging power(!!!) - should certainly be examined closely.
The primary advantage of a nuclear Iran and a rising Shi'ite state would be the instability it engenders in today's predominantly Sunni- and Wahhabi-controlled Middle East. That is not a bad thing as both America and Europe have precious little to show for their engagement of Saudi Arabia and neighboring kingdoms in the nine years since 9/11 and the West's attempts to curtail al-Qaeda. Instead, the rise of Iran could well promote the kind of reforms that have thus far been eschewed by Arab kingdoms, and in turn create the conditions for greater stability over the long run.
View Rate : 280 # News Code : TTime- 230852 Print Date : Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Culture Festival of Iranian Tribes opens in northern Iran
Tehran Times Culture Desk
TEHRAN -- The fourth edition of the Culture Festival of Iranian Tribes was inaugurated in the northern Iranian city of Gorgan in Golestan Province on Sunday.
The ceremony opened in the presence of a group of foreign ambassadors in Iran from Turkey, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Germany and other countries.
Organizers have arranged several exhibits in which traditional handicrafts and tourist attractions of the province along with a variety of rituals are on display, said director of Golestan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts department Fereidun Fa’ali.
The variety of tribes and their interests demonstrate the diversity of culture within the Iranian nation, he added. (WHO ARE THESE PEOPLES, ASIDE FROM BEING MUSLIMS, SHIITE OR SUNNI ?)
Traditional bands coming from the provinces of Gilan, Mazandaran, Lorestan, Kordestan, and Azerbaijan will give performances playing their exotic, regional music during the event that runs until Thursday.(AND THAT IS SOMETHING I'D LOVE TO HEAR)
The festival also tries to introduce tourist attractions of other provinces as well. 400 Iranian and foreign artists are attending this year’s event.
Photo: A Qashqai nomad woman spins wool in a ‘black tent’ in the Sadeh Eqlid region in Fars Province on September 5, 2010. (Mehr/Es’haq Aqaii)
WASHINGTON - The administration of United States President Barack Obama should pursue a policy of "strategic engagement" with Iran that would offer Tehran more attractive incentives to curb its nuclear program, according to a study group convened by two centrist Washington think-tanks.
Washington urged to engage Iran
The group, which included more than 40 recognized Iran, foreign policy and non-proliferation experts, also warned that a military attack, either by the US or Israel, on Iran would prove counter-productive in virtually every respect.
"A US decision to attack Iran, absent compelling evidence of an imminent Iranian attack on a US ally or facility, would destabilize the entire Middle East in ways that could do grave harm to US strategic, economic and political interests, alienate the entire
Muslim world, fracture the coalition that has imposed sanctions on Iran, cement Iran's determination to acquire nuclear weapons and doom the democratic movement in Iran indefinitely," according to the 77-page report, "Engagement, Coercion, and Iran's Nuclear Challenge".
Moreover, it went on, Washington "should avoid any reference to the possibility of a preventive war or air strikes. US military capabilities are well known. Reminding Iran of them only strengthens the arguments of those in Tehran who press for acquiring nuclear weapons."
The report, which was released by the study group's conveners, the congressionally-funded US Institute of Peace (USIP) and the Stimson Center, comes amid indications that Israel and its allies in Washington are preparing a major new campaign to persuade Obama to take a tougher line with Tehran if sanctions and current diplomatic efforts fail to curb its nuclear program by the spring.
"If the international community, led by the United States, hopes to stop Iran's nuclear program without resorting to military action, it will have to convince Iran that it is prepared to take such action," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a meeting of Jewish heavyweights in New Orleans last week shortly after reportedly delivering the same message privately to Vice President Joe Biden. "Containment will not work against Iran."
His remarks were followed by a column in this week's influential Defense News by one of Netanyahu's advisers, Efraim Inbar, a political scientist of Israel's Bar-Ilan University, in which he pronounced diplomacy dead and concluded that "only military action can prevent the descent of the greater Mideast into a very brutish region". (THAT IS HAPPENING EVEN TODAY BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE, DESERTIFICATION, THE NEAR EXHAUSTION OF WATER SUPPLIES...)
At the same time, several Republican lawmakers closely associated with the right-wing leadership of the so-called "Israel Lobby" echoed his calls for a more confrontational stance.
In remarks to the annual Halifax International Security Forum and celebrated at length in this week's neo-conservative Weekly Standard, Senator Lindsey Graham said Obama would help his own re-election chances in 2012 if he made "abundantly clear that all options [for halting Iran's nuclear program] are on the table" - a phrase that is associated with taking military action.
If Tehran actually obtained a nuclear weapon, he said, Obama should act "not to just neutralize their nuclear program, but to sink their navy, destroy their air force and deliver a decisive blow to the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guards [Corps]. In other words, neuter that regime. Destroy their ability to fight back."
Emboldened by their impending control of the House of Representatives, Republican leaders in the lower chamber are suggesting they will push the administration to increase pressure on Iran by tightening existing sanctions against companies, notably from Russia and China, that continue to do business with Iran and laying the groundwork for stronger measures.
The administration has pushed back modestly against the growing Israeli and Republican pressure. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who, among Obama's top advisers, is reported to be most strongly opposed to military action, publicly disagreed last week with Netanyahu's call to make the military threat more "credible", insisting that Washington's current strategy of diplomatic engagement and economic sanctions was "having an impact" on the Iranian leadership.
At a meeting of business executives in Washington on Tuesday, he said a military attack would only unite Iran behind its hardline leadership and make Tehran's nuclear program "deeper and more covert".
"The only long-term solution [to] avoiding an Iranian nuclear weapons capability is for the Iranians to decide it's not in their interest," Gates said. "Everything else is a short-term solution."
In order to reach that decision, however, the new report said Iran's leaders would need both positive incentives and greater clarity from Washington that it is prepared to accept Iran's right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium in exchange for a strict verification regime to ensure that none of it is being diverted to a weapons program.
The report commended Obama for his initial efforts to reach out to Iran and his subsequent success in mustering international support for a "much tougher set of sanctions by the United Nations and by individual nations".
"However, for a host of reasons, not least of which is Tehran's unwelcoming response to the administration's early engagement efforts, US diplomacy has come to rest largely on punitive measures," it went on, adding that this "emphasis on sanctions and related coercive steps is unlikely to elicit the cooperation from Tehran that Washington seeks."
While the "Iran Six" or "P5+1", comprising the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany, is the appropriate venue to discuss the nuclear issue, according to the report, it should also conditionally support, rather than discourage or reject out of hand, diplomatic initiatives by third countries - such as the one undertaken by Turkey and Brazil last spring to revive an earlier proposal to reprocess Iran's low-enriched uranium to fuel Tehran's research reactor that produces medical isotopes - that could help bridge differences between the parties.
Washington should also be prepared to pursue direct talks with Tehran bilaterally, and US diplomats in third nations and in multi-national organizations should interact with their Iranian counterparts, according to the report, which was co-authored by Stimson's Barry Blechman and USIP's Daniel Brumberg and Steven Heydemann.
An Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear facilities would prove as harmful to US interests as an attack undertaken by Washington, according to the report, which called for increased consultations with the Jewish state to enlist its support for "strategic engagement".
"In the context of this dialogue, the US should emphasize that Washington would neither countenance nor support an Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran," it said.
Jim Lobe's blog on US foreign policy can be read at http://www.lobelog.com.
Intellectual jihad with the West ; Iran Hajj message
An excellent report about a matter of necessity
Iran should engage in intellectual jihad with the West: Leader
TEHRAN -- Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says Iran should have the audacity to engage in intellectual debate with the proponents of Western liberal democracy.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in an address to a large gathering of academics and university professors in Tehran on Sunday.
Using cogent arguments based on Islamic thought is the appropriate way to debate about the West’s human sciences, and Iranian academics should redouble their efforts to fulfill this heavy responsibility, he said.
The Leader highlighted the importance of scientific progress in society and likened the acquisition of knowledge to jihad.
“In Islamic culture, jihad means making efforts to negotiate obstacles… and now the country is truly in need of academic jihad,” he opined.
He stated that universities are the engine of progress in the country.
If the Iranian nation wants to be held in high esteem and to be independent, powerful, and prosperous, it should enhance its universities, he noted.
The Leader also praised the progress Iran has made in various areas over the past three decades.
“We should regard all the achievements attained over the past 30 years as the first steps along the illuminated road to the scientific progress of the country, and with a strategic outlook, we should think of greater steps,” he stated.
clipped from www.tehrantimes.com
View Rate : 485 # News Code : TTime- 230541 Print Date : Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Hajj is a journey of self-discovery: Leader
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN - Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said the hajj is a journey of self-discovery for Muslims that shows the ummah their rightful place in the world.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in his message to hajj pilgrims, which was issued on the eighth of November.
Following is the complete text of the message:
In the Name of Allah, the All-beneficent, the All-merciful.
All praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds and may Allah’s blessings be upon our Master, Muhammad al-Mustafa and his immaculate Family and his elect Companions.
As a symbol of Islamic unity and honor and the emblem of monotheism and spirituality, the Holy Kaba, during the hajj season, is host to the ardent and hopeful hearts, who come hurrying from all over the world to the birthplace of Islam in response to the call of the Glorious Lord. At this time, the Islamic ummah can have a bird’s-eye view of its own great extent and diversity, seen through the eyes of its envoys who gather here from all over the world, and be witness to the profound faith that rules over the hearts of the followers of the True Religion, and appreciate its great and peerless heritage.
This self-discovery of the ummah enables us as Muslims to become aware of the position which is worthy of them in the world, today and tomorrow, and to keep moving towards it.
The expanding wave of Islamic awakening in the world today is a reality that heralds a bright future for the Islamic ummah. This powerful surge started three decades ago with the victory of the Islamic Revolution and the establishment of the system of the Islamic Republic. Our great ummah has continued to march ahead non-stop, removing the obstacles from its way and conquering new fronts. The sophisticated stratagems of the global arrogance and its costly maneuvers aimed at countering Islam are also a consequence of these victories.
The extensive propaganda of the enemy to spread Islamophobia, its offhand efforts to create discord among Muslim sects, to incite sectarian prejudices, to bring about pseudo-confrontations between the Sunnis and the Shia, to create disunity between Islamic states and to aggravate their differences, to change them into hostility and unsolvable conflicts, its employment of intelligence and espionage outfits to propagate corruption and immorality amongst the youth -- all these are nervous and bewildered responses to the steady and firm advances of the Islamic ummah towards awakening, honor and freedom. (to return to the 'eternal present)
Today the Zionist regime is no more the undefeatable monster of 30 years ago. The United States and the West are also no more the unquestionable decision-makers of the Middle East that they were two decades ago. Contrary to the situation that existed ten years ago, nuclear know-how and other complex technologies are no longer considered inaccessible daydreams for Muslim nations of the region. Today, the Palestinian nation is an acknowledged paragon of resistance, the Lebanese nation has single-handedly demolished the fake awesomeness of the Zionist regime and emerged as the victor of the 33-day war, and the Iranian nation is at the vanguard of the movement towards the looming peaks. (one must have a care about what one smokes ; delusions happen)
Today the arrogant United States, the self-styled commandant of the Islamic region and the real sponsor of the Zionist regime, is bogged down in the quagmire of its own making in Afghanistan. As a result of all its crimes against the people of Iraq, it is in the course of becoming isolated in that country. It is hated more than ever before in disaster-stricken Pakistan. Today, the influence of the anti-Islamic front, which for the past two centuries has acted as a despotic overlord over Islamic nations and states and plundered their resources, is receding before the heroic resistance of the Muslim nations.
On the opposite side, the wave of Islamic awakening is steadily advancing and growing in depth day by day.
On the one hand, this hopeful and promising situation should inspire us, the Muslim nations, to keep marching ahead towards the desirable future with ever greater confidence. On the other hand, the past lessons and experience should make us more vigilant than ever before. This general imperative undoubtedly calls for greater commitment from religious scholars, political leaders, intellectuals and youth than the others and requires them to be at the vanguard of the struggle.
The clear and living message of the Noble Quran is addressed to us:
You are the best nation ever brought forth for mankind: you bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, and have faith in Allah. (3:110)
In this majestic address, the Islamic ummah is declared as one which has been brought forth for the sake of humanity. The aim of its birth is the good of mankind and its deliverance.
Its major duty is to urge what is good and to forbid evil while maintaining unshakeable faith in God. There is no ‘right thing’ (ma’ruf) more significant than rescuing nations from the satanic claws of the global arrogance, and there is no ‘wrong thing’ (munkar) uglier than dependence on the arrogant and servitude to them.
Today the major duties of the elite of the Islamic ummah are to provide help to the Palestinian nation and the besieged people of Gaza (truthfully a waste of time, for the Middle East as a whole is dying from lack of water..., overpopulation and lack of resources), to sympathize and provide assistance to the nations of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Kashmir, to engage in struggle and resistance against the aggressions of the United States and the Zionist regime, to safeguard the solidarity of Muslims and stop tainted hands and mercenary voices that try to damage this unity, and to spread awakening and the sense of responsibility and commitment among Muslim youth throughout Islamic communities.
The glorious spectacle and stage of hajj provides us with an opportunity for the fulfillment of these duties and summons us to intensify and redouble our resolution and efforts.
Peace and Allah’s mercy be upon you!
Sayyid Ali Hussaini Khamenei
Dhul Hijjah 1, 1431
(Nov. 8, 2010)
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The Region: One land’s bigot is another land’s everyman
By BARRY RUBIN
09/13/2010 05:02
Racist actions in the US, Europe or Israel are usually those of private individuals; but in the Middle East it is often the governments that lead incitement.
News that a crackpot minister at an incredibly tiny church in Florida wanted to burn a Koran is a global story. The man’s plan was condemned by just about everyone, though some pointed out that he had a constitutional right to do so.
There were several reasons – all obvious – for this universal criticism, boiling down to two: It is disrespectful to another religion and inappropriate for a supposedly tolerant society. Also, such a deed might endanger Americans and US foreign policy goals by making Muslims turn to violence.
A lot of “proper-thinking,” good-hearted Americans are feeling mighty guilty – unnecessarily, I might add. One young man said: “Why do I feel the need to walk up to Muslims on the street, wish them peace and show them that Americans are not all bigoted racists?... What has happened to my beautiful country?... The day Americans start burning Korans is the day when Osama bin Laden has won...”
YES, THIS is what years of inducing and indoctrinating guilt has done. (in truth, feminist nonsense, feminist civil rights excess, shallow, selfish, surface-only garbage is responsible)The tiniest blemish on Western society or Israel proves they are evil, while elephant-sized warts in other countries are to be ignored.
One doesn’t, however, define a country by its most extreme, isolated individuals. Muslims will only believe that Americans are all bigoted racists if they are told lies about America. Similarly, Americans are being very foolish if they believe this kind of disproportionate nonsense.
Nowadays, the US can easily win any tolerance competition in the world. On the other hand, a lot of Americans are very much in the race with the rest of the world about who can be the most anti-American (a by-product of feminist excesses -especially the nonsense that boys and girls, men and women are "equal").
What is never pointed out is that the threatened action’s equivalent happens daily in dozens of locations throughout the Middle East and the Muslim-majority world, not at the hands of marginal nut jobs with no following but by powerful political and religious figures or media outlets with huge bases of support.
Every day, there are massive lies told to incite people to hate the West. Every day, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Jews are being persecuted and, in some cases, driven out of Muslim-majority countries with no one in the Western power establishment even noticing, must less protesting.
Unfortunately, it is true that the Muslim-majority areas of the world are to bigoted racists what Saudi Arabia is to oil, Newcastle is to coal, Florida is to oranges and Hollywood is to movies.
I thought of appending specific examples, but since there are so many I suggest you refer to the sites of MEMRI, Palestinian Media Watch, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Survey of World Broadcasts or the English-language edition of Arabic newspapers.
OH, AND by the way, according to the FBI figures for 2008, there are 10 times more anti-Semitic incidents (1,013) in the US than there are anti-Muslim ones (105). How many anti-Christian hate crimes were there? Only four less than anti- Muslim ones, 101.
Remember that bigoted actions in the US or Europe or Israel are those of private individuals. Radio programs, Christian ministers and citizens act on their own. In such matters, they face 99 percent social and political disapproval.
But when religious, national, ethnic or other kinds of slander, incitement and hatred happen in the Middle East, they are the result of government or government-approved action. The people who do so are often drawing government salaries, given access to state-controlled institutions and rewarded for what they do and say.
And in comparison to 99% disapproval for “hateful” actions in the West, in the Muslim majority Middle East virtually nobody, outside of a tiny group of (often persecuted) moderates, dare raise their voices against these actions.
Moreover, no matter how many condemnations, apologies or acts of tolerance occur in the West, no matter how many mosques are built or repaired with US taxpayer money (often in countries where it would be impossible to build a church), no matter how many times Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says “holy Koran” instead of just plain Koran, no matter whether the words “Islam” and “Islamism” are barred from US government documents, these efforts will have virtually no impact on Middle Eastern public opinion.
Why? For one thing, because public attitudes have been thoroughly prepared to be hostile and disbelieving; for another, few will ever hear about such things because the media will not report them.
Does that justify bigotry in the West or the burning of Korans? Of course not. But there’s something else it doesn’t justify: refusing to report, analyze and condemn what goes on daily with far more public support and official approval in the Muslim-majority Middle East.
What are the motives for that behavior?
• Fear that telling the truth will make “Muslims” angry.
• Belief that one only has the right to criticize one’s own country (or allies) and religion, but that exercising rational judgment in discussing others is somehow “racist.”
• Panic that reporting on the bigotry and extremism of millions of others will encourage a minister in Florida with 50 followers to burn a Koran.
Such paralysis is not how democracies are supposed to function. That is not how people keep their freedoms and way of life.
The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center and editor of Middle East Review of International Affairs and Turkish Studies.
He blogs at www.rubinreports.blogspot.com.
‘Sinner’ singer given 39 lashes by rabbis (equally barbaric)
Fuelling fundamentalism
clipped from www.jpost.com
RABBI AMNON YITZHAk (left) listens to Rabbi Ben Zion Mutsafi as he speaks of the leather strip with
Photo by: Courtesy
‘Sinner’ singer given 39 lashes by rabbis
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
08/27/2010 02:45
Punishment for performance in front of "mixed audience."
Talkbacks (59)
A singer who performed in front of a “mixed audience” of men and women was lashed 39 times to make him “repent,” after a ruling by a self-described rabbinic court on Wednesday.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, founder of the Shofar organization aimed at bringing Jews “back to religion” (hazara betshuva), has made it his recent mission to fight against musical performances for both men and women.
His “judicial panel,” with Rabbi Ben Zion Mutsafi and another member, sentenced Erez Yechiel to 39 lashes in order to “rid him of his sins.”
In a video clip of the court posted on the Shofar Web site, Ben Zion said that those who make others sin (mahtiei rabim), such as artists who make men and women attend performances or dance together, have no place in the world to come (such jihadist rubbish).
He displayed a leather strip he said was made by his father from ass and bull skin, with which Yechiel was to have been whipped.
Yechiel, who said, “I accept upon myself the lashing for my sins,” was ordered to stand by a wooden poll with his head facing north (“from whence the evil inclination comes”), his hands tied with a azure-colored rope (“a symbol of mercy”), and served his “sentence.”
Sunday, August 22, 2010
VIEW: Fuelling fundamentalism —Andleeb Abbas
While the Jews and Indians have invested heavily in education, skills and research, Muslim countries have been busy trying to build inequitable societies where the accumulation of wealth in a few hands is more important than an accumulation of knowledge in the minds of the masses (so, so true - and self-defeating to those "few hands")
Fundamentalism is a state of mind(!!!) where extreme views, mostly based on hardline religious preferences, create a provocation and retaliation to any opposition to the rigid stances held by the owners of these views. Sadly, this word is now considered synonymous with Muslims in general and any Muslim male who either wears a long beard or a female covering her face in particular. Stereotyping, labelling and categorisation is considered unjust and discriminatory as it results in victimisation based on appearances and not facts or deeds. However, the loudest propagators of this principle — western societies — are the biggest violators themselves. Discrimination based on colour may have died down to some extent, especially after the Obama factor, but discrimination based on religion and appearance is still rife and breeding.
The recent example of a fundamentalist reaction to a Muslim facility being proposed for construction in lower Manhattan is a sad spectacle of yet another American hypocrisy that will create a negative reaction all over the Muslim world. The protest is that a mosque is being built near the Ground Zero site and it is termed as an insult to the victims of 9/11. The basis for this protest is that, if allowed, it will encourage the terrorists to become more daring. As is the case with brainless petty minds, especially in the political circles of the US (and we in the USA have little but "brainless petty minds" today), nobody has bothered to find out the difference between a Muslim facility and a mosque. Every subnormal politician (and all of our politicians today are "subnormal", that which is "normal" to a politician today) has jumped on this opportunity to condemn and object without bothering to find out the real function of the facility. To head the list of ‘dumb and ignorant’ politicians is none other than Sarah Palin (she is a woman, more misguided than most perhaps, but a woman nonetheless, so what more can you expect ; when the going gets tough, she will resign -like she did in Alaska- and let "stupid", limited men work to solve the problems), whose brainless comments have become the object of derision and parody all over the world. She has, in her ‘wisdom’, claimed that such actions will stab the heart of most feeling Americans. Not to be outdone, Mr Gingrich, former speaker of the house of representatives posed an ‘amazing’, parallel question about why there should be a mosque near Ground Zero if there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia (in truth, he has a point, albeit not so much). Such is the ‘mature’ response of leading personalities in the US.
The fact that there is a huge difference between a mosque and a Muslim facility, none of these wise guys have bothered to find out. The proposed site, Cordoba House, is designed to be a Muslim facility that will act as a cultural centre with the aim to “promote integration, tolerance and community cohesion, a place where individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, will find a centre of learning, art and culture.” This facility will include a prayer area, sports facility, theatre and restaurant. To term it as a mosque is a huge stretch of the imagination. Another example of the cry wolf mentality of many American big wigs is that they have called it the Ground Zero Mosque as if it is being built right on the site. The proposed site is to be built two blocks away.
While most Americans, fed by a biased media (that is and always has been the case - even in the Muslim world), have seriously opposed the Ground Zero Mosque, some sane voices are still trying to make themselves heard. The most prominent among them are that of Fareed Zakaria, the famous Newsweek columnist and CNN TV host and President Obama himself. Fareed Zakaria has taken a strong stand against this blatant discriminatory reaction. He returned a First Amendment award to the Anti-Defamation League in protest against the organisation’s opposition. Zakaria received the Hubert H Humphrey First Amendment Freedom Prize in 2005. He said his conscience would not allow him to keep the award as the opposition to this site by this league violates its own principles.
President Obama, in an iftar dinner, forcefully supported the construction of this facility on the basis that the US must uphold its religious freedom credo. In his speech, he clearly de-linked al Qaeda from the cause of Islam and said that more Muslims than non-Muslims have been killed by al Qaeda.
However, some Americans have denounced the opinions of these two strongmen as biased owing to their own religious background. These two voices need more voices that are non-Muslim to give credence to their claims. That is why New York’s Jewish mayor Michael Bloomberg supporting Obama’s statement needs to be highlighted by the media more prominently.
The local media has reported this raging issue in the US occasionally and no prominent Muslim think tank has been able to give a logical and rational stand against this bigotry. It is important to capitalise on Obama’s statement and develop a comprehensive counter-strategy to reveal the biased approach of some westerners against Muslims. This is not only important in building up support for this facility but for the extreme discrimination Muslims are facing on all fronts. From giving visas to jobs, the clear disadvantage of having a Muslim background, especially of Pakistani origin, has now reached an almost indecent level. The strong Jewish lobby is normally credited for much of this discrimination. While we are ever ready to blame them, we have no counter-media and lobbying strategy to combat them and thus are sitting on the hope that one day the world will wake up to the reality of how unfair it all is. While hope for luck is a good sentiment, it is not very fruitful in getting meaningful results.
It is time for us to acknowledge that, if we are subject to this discrimination and humiliation, we have made a huge contribution to it. How come 1.6 billion Muslims are always defeated by a few million Jews or other lesser majorities? The answer lies in the abundance of ignorance(!!!) and arrogance(!!!) prevailing in the Muslim world (and there is no need for it). While the Jews and Indians have invested heavily in education, skills and research whereby they have control on major American industries, Muslim countries have been busy trying to build inequitable societies where the accumulation of wealth in a few hands is more important than an accumulation of knowledge in the minds of the masses. The need of the hour is to invest in building a knowledge base in the Muslim world that has a global standing and voice in the universities, think tanks and media of the west (touche'). Without this investment in the brainpower of Muslim countries, they will always be at the mercy of the political and economic astuteness of those who can think ahead and overtake and overrule minds barren of intellectual capital.
The writer is a consultant and can be reached at andleeb@franklincoveysouthasia.com
October 12, 2010...12:15 pm
What Makes a Terrorist?
By Taji M
How do you turn (change) a young man or a woman into a terrorist, particularly a suicide bomber? The answer is a mystery to me as well as a large number of Pakistanis. We thought we had a predictable answer a few years back. The poor underprivileged children studying in hard-line Madarssas could be brainwashed and turned into killing machines. But if that was the real answer we should have had thousands of terrorists running rampant, thankfully this is not the case. More recently we are increasingly coming across educated upper middle class Muslims who have become hardliners to the level of resorting to terrorism. Some of them have in fact been living in conflict-free countries of Europe. So again, what changes a person into a killer? (in truth, it is the lack of adequate common goals for the WHOLE human race, primarily surviving - to thrive)
Unfortunately to be effective and lethal, terrorists do not need a large number of recruits at any given point, they need only few but they do need a steady influx of new blood. We need to understand what factors would facilitate the terrorist agenda. I think one of the very fundamental mindset at play here is the distortion of concepts of Duniya and Aakhrat. Islam in general gives more importance to Hereafter than this world only to discourage the obsession of pursuing worldly gains alone. It was never meant to undermine this world totally. If that was the case, Islam would not have put so much emphasis on Rights of fellow human beings, on the conduct of good Muslims and so on. But take this view to the extreme, and observe how it can get warped. If someone starts to believe that world is a prison and many of the positives it has to offer are in fact fitna, then obviously the best thing one can do is to escape to hereafter as quickly as possible. And then what better way to enter Jannat then as a martyr who are supposed to get the highest echelons of heaven. This chain of thought would appear quite logical to an extremist. At the very extreme even collateral damage can be justified; killing a child of rival sect can be viewed as protecting the child from hell which he would be destined to go if he had lived to adulthood. Combine this logic with a sense of injustice prevailing in the Muslim youth of today on account of war on terror and you have a fertile ground for extremism.
The Bush administration’s war on terror has been a failure (assuredly). Its biggest failure is that it legitimized the dooms-day scenarios of extremist ideologists. It caused saner more moderate voices in the Muslim world to go on the back foot. It is a fact that American bombings killed innumerable people in Iraq and Afghanistan. The war gave acceptance to the theory that the world is conspiring against Muslims. Outfits like Al-Qaeda got a lot of credibility from the masses due to the continued war. The final failure of this war is that it has not achieved any of the objectives it set out in the beginning. Things are still shaky in Iraq; even if they get better it will take a long time. Afghanistan is still extremely precarious. Talibans are gaining territory every day, and we need to truly dread the day when coalition forces leave Afghanistan because how things look now Talibans will be in charge.
In addition to extremist ideology and botched up war on terror, the Pakistani context also contains pre-existing collective mistrust of politicians, sense of deprivation of masses, and tensions among religious sects. In my opinion this combination is what makes violence so much attractive to many. What really bothers me however, is not just the violence prone youth. If there were no support from the Media (publicity IS support) and the populist politicians, these overzealous young men would have been marginalized and their violent acts limited. The media not just feeds on inherent xenophobia, it perpetuates the mindset even further. For example after witnessing so many bombings with loss of innocent lives, one would have expected unequivocal condemnation of extremists’ agenda, and serious rethinking of role of religion in the society. Yet this is not the case. After a bombing we condemn the Talibans, but quickly start to blame the government for one thing or the other, and a few days later it is the same old Blackwater etc who are truly responsible for the deeds. Every time we do that, we give a tacit approval to the next suicide bomber. We don’t question that if the USA War is the cause of violence, then why bombers are attacking shrines(!!!), markets(!!!) and bus stands(!!!).
Media is the pastime of our educated class, if the educated Pakistanis are comfortable with its direction, what hope is there to modify the behavior of poor and uneducated people. The educated professionals and businessmen want to earn good money doing all kinds of worldly things, but at the same time they give support to causes and ideas which are contradictory to their own pursuits (self-defeating). The best example is bashing of USA. By bashing I do not mean honest critique of US policies, but propagating US as hidden hand in all sorts of things including floods and earthquakes. While the same people would be going crazy in getting access to US markets and a chance to live there.
The politicians are another interesting breed, nearly all lead double lives, even the less corrupt ones. They send their children to best foreign universities, have their primary residences in London or Dubai, and personally live very cosmopolitan lifestyles. But put them on a podium and they will be full of Pakistaniat and Islamic fervor. They project themselves as beacon of national sovereignty and defenders of Islam, but they themselves do not want to sacrifice much for these ideals. There seems to be little hope for any grassroot change in the social mindset, because the elements which can bring change are themselves compromised. Those who try against all odds are driven away from the country or sometime tragically eliminated. With increased frequency of bombings, we may have started hating the Talibans finally, but we continue to spin outlandish theories. We cannot even initiate an open dialogue about critical issues within ourselves, let alone actually achieve some results.
September 5, 2010...11:39 am
Imran Khan, Urban Middleclass Morality and its Contradictions
This article is critical of Imran Khan’s political orientation and tries to introspect middleclass liking for him. It admits Imran’s virtues as a cricketer and philanthropist but argues that his politics is the wrong medicine for the country. It also tries to examine as to why he has not been able to connect with the masses
By Raza Habib Raja
In Pakistan we, particularly those belonging to relatively more educated and urbanized middleclass, have developed this psyche to find strange solace in other’s miseries and in some rare patches of better times in our history. So when Sialkot lynching occurred, many of us were appalled and shaken to the core and then tried to draw parallels to similar incidences in other countries to bolster our dwindling self esteem. A war of articles started where liberals were described as self loathers and were reminded that such incidences were a norm in other countries. Hence there was no need to worry and be depressed.
And then this scandal broke out and exposed the moral depravity of some of our most talented cricketers on television. Predictably we were first shocked, disgusted and then in an ever familiar way started to look for conspiracy theories to remain in our self created delusional state of denial (and of course link it with corruption of Zardari also!!!). On Express news, actually RAW was cited as the possible culprit ( And their most famous anchor drew parallels to Zardari’s corruption). But deep down we all know that we are actually on a very weak wicket.
Invariably we are also looking towards a rare patch of successful and taintless period of Pakistan cricket much of which was under Imran Khan. Imran is being remembered fondly and as a cricket fan, I can fully understand. Yes those were the days and Pakistan’s cricket team has never been the same after his departure.
The persona of Imran Khan is also in the forefront in flood relief efforts. It is strange that a person who despite being a political minnow commands extraordinary respect in philanthropy. People are willing to entrust him with notes but not with votes.
Sometimes, I really feel disappointed that a person with his education, brilliance as a cricketer and above all his extraordinary services in the field of social work had to take a political direction that I actually have to pray that he never wins.
There is a tendency in the liberal media to lynch Imran Khan (Mr. Nadeem Farooq Paracha it seems has made it a passion of his life) and to some extent it is well deserved also. But let’s not forget that despite his reactionary political orientation, his contributions to Pakistan are enormous. In many ways Imran Khan is Pakistan’s asset and someone who has dedicated his life to this country. And here lies the irony that a squeaky clean person with an impeccable record, if elected, will be the one of the worst nightmares for Pakistan. (Can you believe it ? Or that it might be true ?)
Personally Imran is the embodiment of good aspects of upper middle class morality such as professional integrity, fairness and self pride. But politically he embodies whatever is wrong with the same class.
Self respect (identity) when projected on the political horizon becomes almost naïve(!!!) delusional(!!!) state of denial(!!!) further reinforced by slogans like “Qaumi Ghairat”. Although Imran has not been the conspiracy theorist but suffers from another somewhat related ailment of coming up with apologetic defense of extremism. Both of these “diseases” (conspiracy theories and apologetic defense) are broadly similar outcomes of immense self delusional pride(!!!) rooted in ideologically determined identity(!!!) which makes it difficult to find flaws in one’s own culture and tribe particularly when these are under the critical microscope of the others. The middleclass, particularly the upper segment suffers from a strange twisted envy of the West where it follows western fashions and prefers their luxury goods and lifestyles while being ferociously defensive about its own identity defined in terms of religion and Pakistani nationalism.
In Imran’s case also the western lifestyle fuses with the strange and immense self pride which extends to include the domestic culture and fails to even see some of its blatant shortcomings. In fact the brutal “justice” system of tribal areas is construed as fair and impartial. Taliban despite atrocities openly committed and then claimed by them are given apologetic defense of “reaction” against USA’s atrocities and drone attacks despite killing militants are interpreted as a violation of sovereignty..
This class which is dominant in Media, Corporate Sector, and all the “establishment” institutions is more conscious about its identity defined in terms of religion and Pakistani nationalism and has a stronger ideological fervor. It will ape West in the desire to be more sophisticated and modern and at the same time retaliate when there is some backlash on ideological front and identity. Even the most sophisticated and foreign educated ones belonging to this class write articles like “liberal lynch Mob” and are appropriately labeled as “designer patriots”!!
Other than “National Sovereignty”, corruption(!!!!!) becomes another obsessive concern of this class. Real or perceived corruption of the politicians is debated like hell in the drawing rooms ranging from Karachi to Islamabad. Of course Zardari is perceived as a corruption king and all the ills of the society are attributed to him. Imran khan once again voices that “concern” with utmost zeal on the media and is often perceived as the savior of the country by the same media watching middleclass. In fact if elections were held on internet, he would be a straight winner!!! I am categorically mentioning internet because frankly this class seldom bothers to stand up in the queue and actually vote! On social networking sites like Facebook the young and more sophisticated of this class regularly make Imran Khan the Prime Minister.
Imran, more than anyone else, symbolizes the middle and upper middleclass morality, its sophistication and its strange contradictions. And no wonder, he is well liked by the same class. This class is sympathetic towards the plight of the poor but is still yet unable to engage with them. Their attitude is more of patronizing rather than equality and once again Imran more than anyone else embodies it. After all despite doing extraordinary work in the field of philanthropy, the poor are the ones who despite respecting him cannot associate with him politically. Politics, particularly modern politics is strongly intertwined with connection and engagement. Successful politicians, particularly in a nascent democratic culture, have to successfully engage masses. Merely having sympathetic attitude towards masses will perhaps make you a respectable philanthropist but not a successful politician.
Imran and for that matter a large chunk of professionals belonging to the middleclass have to realize that in politics you have to engage (be a well-known political entity) and on issues which matter to MAJORITY of the people also. Yes corruption is an issue but is not the sole issue. Yes sovereignty is an issue but once again not that important. And yes, downright condescending attitude smacking of intellectual arrogance towards masses will not endear you to them.
For convincing you have to go mainstream(!!!!) and take your case to the masses(!!!!). Engage them(!!!! - with adequate common goals for the WHOLE human race) and that is how a polity changes in democracy. Unfortunately we are not ready for making such engagement and no wonder end up yearning for the military rule again.
Space Superfund Needed to Clean Mounting Orbital Trash
By Leonard David
SPACE.com's Space Insider Columnist
posted: 14 December 2010
08:06 am ET
The orbits around Earth are cluttered with chunks of space junk – high-speed riffraff that poses a growing threat to robotic satellites and human-carrying spacecraft.
There are currently hundreds of thousands of pieces of space debris greater than 1 centimeter wide whizzing around in space. But while this space litter may be out of sight, out of mind for most of us, a new report on orbital debris has flagged potential solutions to deal with the threat.
The report anchors its space cleanup thinking and approaches to more down–to-Earth woes like acid rain, hazardous waste, chlorofluorocarbon and oil spills.
The same superfund approach to those earthly pollution problems could be reworked to tackle space junk, according to the report, which is titled "Confronting Space Debris - Strategies and Warnings from Comparable Examples Including Deepwater Horizon." Superfund is the federal government's program to clean up the nation's uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.
The monograph, compiled by the nonprofit global policy think tank RAND, was prepared for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
The organization recently completed its "Catcher's Mitt" study, an assessment that, in part, explores technically feasible solutions for debris removal.
Superfund for space
At the core of the RAND report is an analysis of how industries(!!!) on Earth have approached their pollution problems, and how those lessons can be applied to cleaning up orbital debris.
A set of comparable problems that share similarities with orbital debris were identified in the RAND study, related because they all share the following set of characteristics:
* Behavioral norms (past and/or present) do not address the problem in a satisfactory manner.
* If the problem is ignored, the risk of collateral damage will be significant.
* There will always be an endless supply of "rule-breakers."
* The problem will likely never be considered solved because the root cause is difficult to eliminate.
One observation from the report is that the space Superfund could serve as an effective model for orbital debris cleanup.
A Superfund for space would make space polluters pay for cleanups while creating strong incentives for nation-states and private industry to take appropriate preventative steps to avoid creating additional space debris.
Also, the report stresses that the entire space community needs to agree that purposely creating orbital debris is not acceptable behavior.
Environmental calamity
"We tie orbital debris to things that were more intuitive, things that people sort of run into on a daily basis," said Dave Baiocchi, co-author of the report. "We purposely tried to tie the space debris problem to some environmental issues...to start making some connections in people's heads," he told SPACE.com.
Baiocchi said that the environmental calamity of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a saga that brings a key message home.
"We didn't quite have our act together for Deepwater Horizon," Baiocchi said, citing technological trial-and-error that dogged attempts to curb the underwater hemorrhaging of oil. "Maybe we don't quite have our act together for the space debris problem either."
Perhaps the biggest lesson of that oil spill, as pointed out in the report, is that simply having a remedy available, or several, is not sufficient. They must be tested and proven to work in the expected operating conditions.
Likewise, any future orbital debris removal tactic must be tested to make sure that it will work in the operating environment of space.
Space debris wake-up calls
RAND co-author, William Welser IV, added that nobody has a good idea of what the environment looks like up in space.
The report explains that when a problem's effects are not directly observable, a community is likely to misjudge the risk posed by the effects.
"You can have millions and millions of gallons of oil that has spilled. But you can't see it...until you see those birds that are covered with oil or you see the actual spill come to the surface. Until(!!!) that happens, the public(!!!) is not excited or worried about it," Welser told SPACE.com.
"As soon as a DIRECTV satellite gets knocked out – or a GPS satellite or some other space asset we use – then you're going to have a lot of people up in arms about space debris," Welser said.
What about the inadvertent February 2009 space collision between a defunct Russian weather satellite and an active Iridium satellite? Or China's purposeful 2007 anti-satellite test that spewed so much lingering debris that – now over three-and–a-half years later – poses distinct hazards to hundreds of operational satellites?
They weren't very good wake-up calls, responded Welser.
"The level of impact was not there," Welser said, in terms of public awareness or loss of commerce, whereas loss of a major asset in a war and a thousand troops die as a direct result – that's a tangible wake-up.
However, as the report explains, these two events are likely the cause for the increased interest – including the RAND research – in the orbital debris problem. In addition, remedies are needed to clean up the consequences of such shattering events.
Pathfinder technology
Developing the pathfinder technology now for such a remedy "may prove to be a wise decision" because on-orbit collisions are likely to continue to occur in the future, the report states.
There are a number of space cleanup ideas floating about — such as using garbage scows, tethers, laser beams, giant foam balls and such.
While outside the scope of their report, Baiocchi said, "it's really a matter of devoting resources. Eventually, you're going to get something. The hard part is convincing your friends in other countries that whatever you stick up there isn't a weapon."
As for an orbital debris tool kit, RAND researchers warn not to put all your technological eggs in one basket.
"You're probably going to need more than one of them," Baiocchi said. "You absolutely have to test your technologies in the environments in which they are going to be used."
"The biggest warning," Welser added, "is not to lull yourself into a false sense of security just because you think you have a tool set" – a tool set that hasn't been tested under actual operating conditions.
Welser noted that the group of people in the orbital debris research field is still very small. "That community has stayed small over time while the community that's been affected on a day-to-day basis by space systems has grown exponentially," he said.
There's a need to do a better job of relaying to the common person that relies on space that the problem of orbital debris is getting worse, Welser concluded. "We need to be concerned about this."
* Worst Space Debris Moments in History
* How Much Junk is in Space?, Video
* A Real Mess in Orbit: Space Junk to Hang Around Longer Than Expected
Found: The Most Fanciful New Planet Ever
For one thing, there's the heavy concentration of carbon in its atmosphere. For another, there's the potential for methane-loving life. Oh, and did we mention that vast stretches of land could be made of diamonds? O.K., few scientists — actually, no scientists — believe that those precise conditions prevail on WASP-12b. But new findings about the planet's atmosphere do suggest that such an environment is entirely possible on other worlds — perhaps even in WASP-12b's own solar system. (See the top 50 space moments since Sputnik.)
It's easy to go just a little nuts when you're studying exoplanets. Spend enough time investigating the exotic chemistry, composition and environments of newly discovered worlds orbiting distant stars and you can start to believe anything's possible. Little, however, can match the fairy-tale possibilities of WASP-12b.
It was just last year that WASP-12b was discovered by British researchers working in the Wide-Angle Search for Planets consortium — a collaborative whose acronym gave the planet its name. About 1,200 light years from Earth and 1.4 times the mass of Jupiter, the new world is on the smallish side, compared with the some 500 exoplanets that have been discovered since the first one was confirmed in the 1990s, but it otherwise seemed unremarkable.
As described in a new paper in the journal Nature, however, a team led by postdoctoral planet researcher Nikku Madhusudhan of Princeton University and planetary scientist Joe Harrington of the University of Central Florida used NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to monitor WASP-12b during one of its orbits, particularly in the instants before it passed behind its home star. In those brief moments, the light from the star would flow through the planet's atmosphere, allowing astronomers to study the wavelengths produced and infer the atmosphere's chemical composition. They combined their findings with those taken independently by a telescope based in Hawaii — and that's when they got their surprise. (Read about a new planet outside the Milky Way.)
Typically, the class of planets that includes WASP-12b — which are known to astronomers as extremely hot Jupiters — have atmospheres with a carbon-to-oxygen ratio of about 0.5. In this case, however, there was more than twice the concentration of carbon as usual and almost 100 times more methane than expected.
"It's the first carbon-rich planet ever found," says Madhusudhan. "Now that we've found one, we know there may be a lot more out there." (See pictures of the labor of space exploration.)
That has big implications for extraterrestrial biology, since life *****as we know it***** is based on carbon, and methane — which is made up of carbon and hydrogen — is a byproduct of metabolism. WASP-12b is too hot for life (again, as we know it) and has no solid surface. But its sibling planets could be a different matter. Solar systems form when clouds of gas and dust swirling around a star begin to coalesce — and later, when rocks and planetesimals that are the result of this process collide and fuse into larger bodies. Since all of the worlds would be made of the same raw stellar material, all of them would have similar chemistry — carbon-rich chemistry, in this case. Some of the planets formed along with WASP-12b could easily be smaller, with rocky formations made not of silica, like Earth's, but of graphite or — given enough time and enough pressure — something much more precious. "On a carbon-rich world, you could have big landforms made of pure diamond," says Madhusudhan.
The planet's carbon-heavy atmosphere could retain heat and light, providing energy for life to get started and thrive. That life would have to survive on comparatively little oxygen and water, and would have to be very tolerant of methane. In some respects, however, those are biological rounding errors, particularly when so many organic elements are in the mix. Remarkable forms of life are turning up all the time in extreme environments on Earth, not least being the recently announced organisms in California's Lake Mono that can survive on arsenic — a substance decidedly toxic to us.
None of this proves that somewhere in the galaxy, exotic, methane-breathing creatures are indeed at large, bounding across diamond landscapes. But the fact that such a possibility, however remote, is being plausibly discussed is a reflection of how little we know of the cosmos — and how much we're beginning to learn.
China, US, Russia have all sent men and women into space on their own. India, Europe...
have large space programs ; China, Russia, US to the Moon... but only the US has had its
astronauts walk on the Moon. But India, China, Russia...are pushing for such soon.
clipped from www.time.com
China
The rocket carrying Shenzhou VI, the PRC's last successful manned venture into space, stands in its assembly bay at a factory in Jiuquan, shortly before its October 12, 2005 launch. China has announced that it would like to complete a manned mission to the Moon by 2020.
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www.tehrantimes.com
Monday, December 13, 2010 | Volume: 11039
Iran plans to build second spaceport
Tehran Times Political Desk
TEHRAN - Iran plans to construct its second spaceport, Communications and Information Technology Minister Reza Taqipour said on Sunday.
“At present, there is only one space launch base in the country… but there are some geographical limitations (in regard to launching satellites and missiles),” Taqipour told the Mehr News Agency.
Thus, Iran has carried out a feasibility study on the construction of a second spaceport in order to overcome those limitations, he added.
The current launch site is located in Semnan Province, and in recent years, two spacecraft have been launched from the center.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Taqipour said there are two telemetry tracking and control centers in the country that can track and control satellites launched from Iran, but they belong to other countries.
Iran has made great progress in its space program in recent years.
The Islamic Republic successfully launched a domestically manufactured satellite carrying a capsule containing a rat, turtles, and worms in February 2010.
The launch of the Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) satellite was Iran’s first experiment in sending living creatures into space.
Iran also plans to send people into space within 10 years (I DONT SEE WHY -DESPITE OUR PROBLEMS- AMERICA, IRAN...CANT WORK TOGETHER IN SPACE)
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House Passes U.S. Spending Bill With More Money for NASA
By Amy Svitak
Space News Staff Writer
posted: 09 December 2010
05:32 pm ET
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House of Representatives narrowly approved a $1.09 trillion appropriations bill Dec. 8 that freezes overall U.S. federal discretionary spending at 2010 levels but provides a slight increase for NASA and nearly $600 million for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) the agency is building on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The House passed the bill, H.R. 3082, 212 to 206. The measure, a so-called continuing resolution that would keep the U.S. government operating at 2010 spending levels through most of next year, costing taxpayers $45.9 billion less than the 2011 budget U.S. President Barack Obama had proposed.
The bill now goes to the Senate where Democrats plan to offer a more ambitious omnibus spending bill as an amendment to H.R. 3082. If the Senate passes H.R. 3082 as is, or at least adopts the bill's NASA provisions, the space agency would receive $18.91 billion for 2011.
While that is $186 million more than NASA received for 2010, it is $90 million less than Obama had requested for the agency.
NASA and the rest of the federal government have been operating since October — the start of the government's 2011 budget year — under a short-term continuing resolution set to expire Dec. 18.
The House measure also directs NASA to begin developing the core elements and upper stage of a heavy-lift launch vehicle capable of lifting at least 130 metric tons to orbit and provides $1.8 billion for the effort in 2011. Development of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle — which Obama initially proposed canceling before directing NASA to restyle it as a space station lifeboat — would continue with $1.2 billion included in the bill.
H.R. 3082 also finally clears NASA to cancel the moon-bound Constellation program and establish a commercial crew initiative in its place, something NASA has been forbidden to do by restrictions Congress included in last year's spending measure.
Meanwhile, a congressional source said Dec. 9 that JPSS, the civilian successor to the dismantled National Polar-orbiting Operational Satellite System, would get a total of $596 million for 2011 under H.R. 3082. While that is a $214 million increase over 2010 levels, it is nearly $500 million short of what the Obama administration had sought for the program.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
jyi # 722n,4 US&Law : Politics, local and international
jewsyonkersislam # 722n,4 US&Law : Politics, local and international
jyi # 722n,4 US&Law : Politics, local and international
Below are articles...(WHICH I HAVE EDITED IN ACCORDANCE WITH MY BLOG,
jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com). Topics include a Westchester County Board of
Legislators (BOL) email, a comment on my blog in French, Ed Koch about Pres. Obama,
an article about Yonkers, racism, HEZI ARRIS'S SUPERB STORY (ANOTHER ONE)
ABOUT YONKERS TYPICAL SHENANIGAN-FILLED POLITICS ; Lower Hudson Valley as
well ; THERE IS NO EXCUSING THE CHURCH THE SEXUAL CRIMES ITS MINISTERS...
COMMITTED BUT NEITHER IS THERE ANY EXCUSING OF THE GREATER CULPABILITY
OF ABJECT FEMINIST NONSENSE ; MY EMAIL FRIEND FROM PAKISTAN -AN
AMERICAN-TRAINED LAWYER (RUTGERS LAW SCHOOL) HAS WRITTEN ANOTHER
SUPURB ARTICLE ; THE WEST IS IMPOTENT ; "Politics", "Leadership" ? As the oldest
of 9 children, such has been set upon me since childhood. WHY TRUST THE US ?
But first -after my address to the Mount Vernon City Council tonight, 12-22-10-
a few newsbits.
ADDRESS BY THOMAS J.P. COURTNEY TO THE MOUNT VERNON CITY COUNCIL
ON WEDNESDAY, 12-22-10 :
"Once again, I apologize to this Council / and the people of Mount Vernon / for what I
said / or seemed to imply / Not to excuse myself / but to shed some light on my situation /
I must confess that I am a very talented sinner / One of my many disabilities /
Hypersexuality / drives my to do what is considered sinful / consistently / After my disability-
causing accident / and because of it / from the time I got up in the morning / until the time I
went to bed at night / I had a rod in my pocket / And when I was practicing law in the Bronx
courts / guys would often come up and say / "You wet your pants" / Well / I tell you today /
that I had automatic discharges / 3 to 4 times a day / Because of this drive / I have always
been / and done / the consistently inappropriate / Shame / embarrassment / guilt / and
disappointment / have been my life-long companions / Having your private property
constantly popping up / is a real nuisance / (at this point the ever-gracious City Council
President, Mr. Yuhanna Edwards, cut me off and, in effect, told me not to come back to
Mount Vernon to speak. However, had I been allowed to continue I would have continued
as follows) / To ease the pressure / I did many not-right things / How many times I walked
through women's locker rooms / dressed as a woman / I cant recall / I apologize once again
and I declare that my endeavors here / before the Yonkers City Council, the County Board
of Legislators in White Plains / and other places too numerous to name / have all been /
attempts to atone / for all my excesses / As a normal man / who / at the same time / is not
normal / I am / and have always been / lonely and set apart / to the degree / my
not-normalness / shames / embarrasses / and scandalizes me / Another one of my many
disabilities / is my voice / which never completely changed / after my accident / So I speak
and sing / with an annoying boys voice (which is actually quite good, captivating and
compelling). / Seeing as this is the season / I hope you'll help me" and I was going to sing
"Go tell it on the mountain"
12-22-10
MEN-WOMEN-GAYS...
Journal News(JN), pp.10A, 12A "Birthrates decline in women in their 20s and 30s..." and
increase for women in their 40s. Such a shame. Best time for women to have children -best
time for children- is when women are in their 20s. Moreover, you have to feel terribly sorry for
the children of women who have children in their 40s. "Military adjusts to gays, as it did to
blacks and women". Blacks, yes - essential. Women and gays, never. Men and women are
not "equal" and the more the feminists push sexual "equality", the more gays -and the more
problems with gays- we have. Discipline and self-discipline is the key, of course, but with no
adequate common goals -a result of feminist, homosexual...nonsense- nothing works. "Lots
of workplaces" may have accommodated gender..equality, but the result has been our
current worldwide economic...problems as we are drowning in non-productive jobs... In
addition, a lot of the women with sexual complaints in the military were sexually abused as
children.
POLITICS
NYT, pp.A1, A10 As a result of the Census, the Northeast (NYS...) and Midwest (Ohio...)
will lose seats in Congress and the South and West will gain them - which could mean
gains for Republicans. But many of these citizens are Hispanic (more than a few are illegal,
of course) and the Republicans must figure out how to appeal to them (Soy Irelandes
moreno. Tengo heredencia Hispaniola). Russian P. M. Putin supports Russian nationalists
and soccer clubs but also calls for "ethnic tolerance" after mass riots and thousands of
people arrested - Russians fighting darker skinned, mostly Muslim, "unskilled laborers"
from the Caucasus and Central Asia.
MOTIVATION-MOBILIZATION-CLIMATE CHANGE - RISING TEMPERATURES AS A RESULT
OF USING OIL, GAS, COAL, CHEMICALS..., ALL OF WHICH INCREASE CARBON
DIOXIDE IN THE AIR, THUS RISING TEMPERATURES, AS WELL AS SO POLLUTING
THE AIR THAT HUMAN DEATHS SKYROCKET
NYT, pp.A1, A9 In Iran, Tehran's air is horrendously polluted (as is India's, China's...)
resulting in "all kinds of health problems, from headaches and dizziness to...cardiac and
pulmonary problems...(in 9 months, there have been) 3600...pollution-related deaths".
"Climate Reckoning...temperature rising...(As a result of the ever-increasing levels of carbon
dioxide in the air, we have ever)...more droughts and heat waves, more flash floods, more
storms, extinction of many plants and animals, depletion of sea life and...(increasing)
difficulty in producing adequate supplies of food (for the world's people ; indeed, China is
buying farm land in Africa to feed its peoples as it throws African farmers off their land; we
have seen many food riots around the world recently)...(And this is all fact. But there are)...
challengers to the science of climate change (to global warming - all paid by the oil, gas,
coal, chemical...industry who maintain it is a myth. But the truth is, the) real myth is that
"the natural resources and ability of the earth's habitable regions to absorb the impact of
human activities (and the ever-increasing human population) is limitless' ". Our problem
today is that "modern civilization is built on...cars, trucks, power plants, steel mills, farms,
planes, cement factories, home furnaces...(all of which use oil, gas, coal, chemicals...)...
(and) China, India, Brazil...(for whom) economic growth...is a moral imperative (are using
ever more oil, gas, coal, chemicals...)...(Far) more serious efforts to convert to a new
energy system (today are essential or)...global warming...(will) be out of control (before) the
end of this century". And the disastrous consequences of such are beginning to be felt
every day, more and more.
MOTIVATION-MOBILIZATION
New York Times(NYT) Bk Rev, p.28, 11-7-10 "Beyond Tourism,,,the experience of travel...
Creativity is found in restlessness"
NYT, 11-6-10, p.A17 The US Constitution is a "religious document" and "vulnerable to
literalism" from the uneducated and uninformed.
NYT Bk Rev, p.36, 11-7-10 "Religons are like businesses that meet desperate consumer
demands at all levels" - patience, endurance, hope and contentment. "Politics is mystical,
imprecise...(and) identity is ambiguous".
NYT, 10-3-10, Superlawyers , p.5-26 Lawyer Dorothy M. Keough looks like a very sad
woman, unfulfilled, unsatisfied...
Daily News(DN), p.30, 10-10-10 "Drowning in Law (the cesspool)...(It is necessary to
renew the taking of) risks and personal responsibility...(The) entitlement (expectations and
mentality) is suffocating" America, all thanks to the feminist-misguided legal profession.
A review and partial summation of an address I gave to and before the Yonkers City
Council on May 8, 1990 as well as a few other items including a brief review of the book
"How Psychotherapy Heals", all of which I included on the same few sheets of paper.
I noted the "three abominations of homosexuality, lesbianism and feminism - and all their
derivatives" as well as noting how I "detested psychological and psychiatric nonsense", that
"public schools do not teach the difference between boys and girls, men and women", that I
told John Dunne, US Attorney for Civil Rights, that "civil rights have become a crock of shit,
benefitting only gays, lesbians and feminists" at Fordham Law School on May 1, 1990 and
that the "law too much blurred the differences between men and women". And when he said
"But that's the law", I said "The law is an ass". On Ma6 16, 1990, at a Federalist Society
meeting at the Helmsley Hotel in NYC, I again met with US Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia, spoke with him and gave him some of my (anti-gay...anti-feminist) writings.
And I also noted an article in the New York Times on April 24, 1990 (Good Health Magazine,
p.24) on "Women and Sexuality", further noting that "men(xy) are capable of self-fertilization
unlike women(xx) who need men. But without women, men's fertilization is limited, shallow
and selfish" - which is the case in the world today. As far as "How Psychotherapy (is alleged
to) Heal", one must realize that I think psychology, psychiatry..., in my opinion, is all
nonsense. All our actions are, essentially, responses to experiences (external or internal) we
have - as filtered by and through our given ways of experiencing things, our languages. What
is real is before we name it and if we mis-name it, what we "see"... will also be wrong.
"Anxiety is an important energy source...(and) there is a (major) difference between
emotional and intellectual insights (and intelligence)...existential anxiety (is the) anxiety of
non-being (that which is given us so we continue to strive)...the fear of death". From the
May 3, 1990 issue of the The Christian Science Monitor, I quote "Leadership is the ability
to envision, define, articulate or show by example the values and interests which bind a
community (the WHOLE human race) together", an excellent definition of leadership.
COMPANY MAGAZINE, Fall, 2010, p. 5 U.S. Army Col. and NASA Mission Specialist
(6months in the Space Station), about his Jesuit education : the "Jesuit foundation of
questioning has led me throughout my career to experience many strange and wonderful
things".
.
clipped from www.dailytimes.com.pk
Thursday, November 25, 2010
COMMENT: Why trust the US? —Harlan Ullman (AND I AGREE)
The Democrats were out to obstruct, if not defeat, the presidencies of George H W and George W Bush. The Republicans sought to bring down President Bill Clinton, impeached but not convicted. Now, Barack Obama is in Republican sights
Quoted before in this column was President John F Kennedy’s dark joke that the only thing worse than being an enemy of the US was being an ally. In the shadow of the NATO heads of state summit that concluded last weekend in Lisbon, Portugal, Kennedy’s remark was stood on its head. The only thing worse for NATO than enemies were friends and allies. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and the US Congress represented by the Senate were cases in point.
The summit had four major goals. The first was to approve a new strategic concept to replace the one ratified in 1999, the second was to agree on an Afghan strategy, the third was to solidify the alliance’s position on missile defence and the fourth was to improve relations with Russia.
The new strategic concept as well as missile defence, including Russian participation, was indeed approved. The document wisely recognised the needs of the 21st century by broadening NATO from a purely military to a political-military alliance. However, it lacked convincing punch in explaining to its publics why NATO is still relevant today and is not a relic of the past. By listing so many notable aims and good intentions without prioritising them, the new concept circumvented the minefields sown by the many diverging political and strategic objectives among NATO’s 28 members. But until a viable action plan is drawn up and actually implemented, the jury will be out on the long-term impact of the concept.
The alliance further agreed to turn over all security responsibilities to the Afghan forces by the end of 2014. Politically, especially for member states whose publics are opposed to the Afghan adventure, this is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yet, the promise to engage the alliance in Afghanistan for at least four more years does not guarantee reversing failing public support for the mission.
Before the summit, Karzai was unhelpful in the extreme. An interview in The Washington Post early last week, followed by another in the Financial Times (FT), was explosive. Karzai railed against the US and NATO for killing civilians, dark of night arrests and the take down of alleged Taliban. In the FT, Ahmed Rashid, a well known Pakistani journalist, wrote that Karzai’s “new world view (anti-US and NATO) was the most dramatic political shift...in the 26 years that I have known him”.
Karzai more or less drifted back onto the reservation in Lisbon. However, as a senior Western diplomat once observed about Karzai’s behaviour, one wonders if he was “off his meds” or indeed was reflecting his true beliefs in the interviews. If the latter is correct, how can NATO succeed in Afghanistan?
It is now that the political fire-fight in the Senate over the new strategic arms treaty with Russia captures our attention. A little history: for all the mythology of leaving politics at “the water’s edge”, Congress has a sometimes feckless history regarding foreign policy.
A Republican Senate rejected Democratic President Woodrow Wilson’s Versailles treaty ending World War I in part because of how the president ignored that body during the peace conference deliberations. Before Pearl Harbour, Congress was largely isolationist and opposed President Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to engage the nation in World War II.
That legacy of fecklessness was accelerated by the Vietnam War and Watergate. Since then, the political atmosphere in Washington has become radioactively partisan. Both parties share responsibility and culpability. Consider the last 20 years.
The Democrats were out to obstruct, if not defeat, the presidencies of George H W and George W Bush. The Republicans sought to bring down President Bill Clinton, impeached but not convicted. Now, Barack Obama is in Republican sights. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell brags that his top priority is making Obama a one-term president, clearly ignoring his sworn first duty to defend the constitution.
The weapon of choice is ratification of the New Start with Russia. In the Senate, for months, the Republicans have been insisting that the agreements on missile defence and assuring the reliability of nuclear weapons are flawed. But the driving forces are political. In such a poisonous environment, the nation’s security as well as NATO’s are in jeopardy in the New Start debate and when or if the treaty is approved.
From an objective perspective, the treaty is unexceptional in advancing the interests of Russia and the US. That so many senior US military officers, former officials and NATO allies agree is very convincing. Critics cite distant fears over gaps in weapons reliability and missile defence. That NATO’s new strategic concept recognises the need for nuclear weapons and missile defences is a powerful antidote against these fears.
Kennedy may be proven correct again. Friends can be more dangerous than enemies. Worse, many will ask, why trust the US? ("WITH FRIENDS LIKE YOU [SAID A PSYCHIATRIST TO ME AFTER READING MY ANTI-PSYCHIATRY WRITINGS], WHO NEEDS ENEMIES")
Years ago, Walt Kelly’s iconic Pogo cartoon immortalised our politics: “We have met the enemy. It is us.” Amen!
The writer is Chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of government and business, and Senior Advisor at Washington DC’s Atlantic Council
Missiles are but a symptom
By JPOST EDITORIAL
12/19/2010 23:35
The French arms deal is a symptom of the West’s wider impotence, in the face of an increasingly belligerent Iran and Syria. (SO TRUE)
Defense officials voiced concern at the weekend over France’s apparent willingness to sell 100 HOT antitank missiles to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
One of the most advanced of its kind in the world, the HOT missile has a range of up to 4 km. and the ability to penetrate about 1,000 mm of armor. It can be installed on both vehicles and helicopters.
Israel’s concern that these missiles will fall into the hands of Hizbullah and be used against the IDF are acute.
The Second Lebanon War underlined the vulnerability of Israeli tanks to such weaponry.
But it would be unfair to single out France as the sole bad guy. The French arms deal is a symptom of the West’s wider impotence, if not disingenuous capitulation, in the face of an increasingly belligerent Iran and Syria, two states which unabashedly continue to strengthen Hizbullah at the expense of Lebanese sovereignty and regional stability.
The US and other western countries have argued that strengthening the LAF via military aid and arms sales promotes Lebanese sovereignty and independence in the face of Syrian and Iranian tutelage. This explains a US decision last month to lift a three-month freeze on $100 million in military aid that includes armored personnel carriers, helicopters, M-16 rifles, night-vision scopes and advanced training for LAF forces.
In an interview with the Lebanese daily An-Nahar just a few days before the freeze was lifted, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the following: “It has been our longstanding policy to support the LAF. The LAF helps to ensure stability and protect the people of Lebanon. It is a truly national institution and a strong symbol of national unity, which includes members of all of Lebanon’s diverse faiths and communities. It is representative and accountable.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to maintain this support, which we believe is in the best interests of the Lebanese people and contributes to stability in Lebanon and in the region.”
The basis for Clinton’s optimism is dubious, to put it mildly. Can she truly draw a confident distinction between the LAF and the ever-more powerful Hizbullah? Is there a barrier between them that Western-supplied arms can be guaranteed not to cross? More fundamentally, do America and France truly believe they can begin to counter Hizbullah’s rapacious appetites by providing a few hundred million dollars in military aid? BOGGED DOWN in Iraq and Afghanistan, perceived as over-extended in this region, its deterrent capacity eroding, the US is deemed highly unlikely to assert itself effectively in Lebanon. Hizbullah, meanwhile, enjoying massive Iranian backing as well as grassroots support from the large Shi’ite populace, continues to consolidate its military and political hegemony. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed after the Second Lebanon War, which calls for the disarmament of the Hizbullah, has been totally ignored.
Summing up IDF estimates, Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren warned recently that, “Hizbullah today now has four times as many rockets as it had during the 2006 Lebanon war. These rockets are longer-range. Every city in Israel is within range right now, including Eilat.”
The IDF has released information to bolster its claim that Hizbullah is storing these rockets beneath hospitals, schools and homes.
The once courageous Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, whose war-hardened Druse community fought the Party of God to a standstill in May 2008 – when Hizbullah nearly sparked a civil war in response to attempts to close down its satellite TV station Al Manar – have realized it would be suicidal to rely on the backing of the US or “moderate” Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia in a standoff against the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis.
King Abdullah of Jordan, with a healthy survival instinct that recognizes the real strong horse in the region, has shown signs of a desire to warm relations. He recently received an official invitation to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Now Hizbullah, with no one standing in its way, may not even have to resort to violence to persuade Hariri’s government not to cooperate with a UN tribunal that is expected to find senior Hizbullah officials responsible for the 2005 assassination of the prime minister’s father, Rafik Hariri.
YASSER,
What a masterful piece of work - which I will use as I often do. But see my (EDITING)
below.
TOM
clipped from www.dailytimes.com.pk
Monday, December 20, 2010
VIEW: Double standards of our Kharijites —Yasser Latif Hamdani
Every time the state prints a passport form or form for an identity card describing the founder of the Ahmedi faith as an impostor, liar and false prophet, it violates 295-A
The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 declares that, for the purposes of the law and constitution, Ahmedis are non-Muslims. Specifically, the Ahmedis have been mentioned as a non-Muslim community along with other faiths. It therefore follows that the Ahmedi faith is a separate, recognised religion of a class of citizens of Pakistan known as Ahmedis under our constitution, which protects freedom of religion, and law, which protects all classes of citizens in Pakistan in principle against violence and persecution. If there was any doubt about the legal position of Ahmedis, 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) crystallises their position as non-Muslims.
Now let us review the blasphemy laws of Pakistan, which are always used to persecute minorities but never protect them. 295-A for example says, “Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of the citizens of Pakistan, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, or with fine, or with both.”
One may also refer to 153-A of the aforesaid PPC which says, “Whoever (a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities; or (b) commits or incites any other person to commit, any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional, groups or castes or communities or any group of persons identifiable as such on any ground whatsoever and which disturbs or is likely to disturb public tranquillity; or (c) organises, or incites any other person to organise, any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the participants in any such activity shall use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in any such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force of violence, or participates, or incites any other person to participate, in any such activity intending to use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, or knowing it to be likely that the participants in any such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence against any religious(!), racial(!), language(!) or regional group(!) or caste(!) or community(!) or any group of persons identifiable as such(!) on any ground whatsoever and any such activity for any reason whatsoever causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of such religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine.”
Now, admittedly, under the law and constitution of Pakistan, the Ahmedi community is a religious community and class unto itself, which should, in principle, enjoy the same protections of law and constitution as any citizen of Pakistan must enjoy. Clearly then it follows that the founder of their faith, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, also enjoys the privilege of 295-A, and to defile his memory ought to be punishable by incarceration extending up to 10 years. It is also clear that any incitement against Ahmedis amounts to an incitement against a group of citizens of Pakistan defined(!!!, AH, YASSER, DEFINITIONS ARE CENTRAL TO WE WHO ARE LAWYERS, EVEN IF THE LAW -AS SO MANY IN aMERICA ARE- IS AN ASS. BUT WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE LEGAL PROFESSION ITSELF IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE -AS IN AMERICA- OR NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE ABIDE BY THE LAW -AS IN PAKISTAN) by its religious beliefs, which is punishable under Pakistani law.
The foremost guilty party is the state itself. Every time the state prints a passport form or form for an identity card describing the founder of the Ahmedi faith as an impostor, liar and false prophet, it violates 295-A. The next guilty party is every mullah and his mother-in-law. If Pakistan applied its laws justly and fairly, every ignorant mullah using the pulpit to abuse Ahmedis and inciting people to violence against them would be behind bars for combined sentences of 15 years at the very least.
No sir, in Pakistan the law does not protect the weak, helpless and marginalised. It persecutes them. Ignorant and hypocritical(!!!; IGNORANT, UNEDUCATED BUFFOONS) mullahs have made a mockery of the constitution, law and process in Pakistan. Justice Sardar Muhammad Iqbal, in his famous judgement in Kaikaus v. President of Pakistan PLD 1976 Lah 1608 (which my colleague Saad Chaudhry was kind enough to point me towards), had described the petitioners as Kharijites. Thirty-four years later it seems Pakistan is not an Islamic state or a Shia state or a Sunni state. It is now a Kharijite state held hostage by our Kharijite mullahs who are hell bent on destroying the rest of us and, in the process, Pakistan itself.
Instead, the violators of the PPC, like the ignorant Alim Online, are hailed as great scholars. Another ignorant mullah announces prize money for the death of a poor hapless woman incarcerated under clearly false charges through a dubious and unfair process and no one has the courage in this country to try him. Our great and mighty chief justice who has a penchant for suo motu notices has yet to invoke 153-A against the said mullah.
What depths will we not fall to? Could the contrast be any greater to our founding principles? At the height of the Pakistan Movement, Jinnah refused to endorse a cover for Time magazine on its editor’s request because it was derogatory and insulting “to the Hindu Community”. Our nation state was built on positive values, not hatred for others. Yet we now seem to call into question its very existence by our actions. Incidentally, questioning the creation of Pakistan is also punishable under Section 123-A of the PPC, though it has never stopped the PPP from sharing power with the JUI-F, a party whose famous antecedent Maulana Mufti Mahmood, the posthumous godfather of the Taliban and bigoted forces, historically denounced the creation of Pakistan. (YOU KNOW, YASSER, THERE IS MORE THAN JUST "HATRED" INVOLVED HERE ; SEE MY DISCUSSION OF THE COLLECTIVE FEMININE, THAT WHICH IS A SUBSTRATE OF HUMANITY, AN ATTRIBUTE OF ALLAH)
The writer is a lawyer. He also blogs at http://pakteahouse.net and can be reached at yasser.hamdani@gmail.com
Get Clipmarks - The
clipped from news.yahoo.com
Pope: Church must reflect on what allowed abuse (TOUCHE')
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican officials Monday that they must reflect on the church's culpability in its child sex-abuse scandal, but he also blamed a secular society in which he said the mistreatment of children was frighteningly common. (ALL SO TRUE - AND A RESULT OF THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT BOYS AND GIRLS, MEN AND WOMEN ARE "EQUAL")
In his traditional, end-of-the-year speech to Vatican cardinals and bishops, Benedict said revelations of abuse in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" that required the church to accept the "humiliation" as a call for renewal.
"We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen," the pope said.
Benedict also said, however, that the scandal must be seen in a broader social context, in which child pornography is seemingly considered normal by society and drug use and sexual tourism are on the rise.(WESTERN -INCLUDING AMERICAN- SOCIETY, TO PUT IT PLAINLY, IS DEGENERATE, STUCK IN A FOUL CESSPOOL...AND ALL BECAUSE OF THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT BOYS AND GIRLS, MEN AND WOMEN ARE "EQUAL")
"The psychological destruction of children, in which human persons are reduced to articles of merchandise, is a terrifying sign of the times," Benedict said. (I COULD NOT AGREE WITH HIM MORE)
He said that as recently as as the 1970s, pedophilia wasn't considered an absolute evil but rather part of a spectrum of behaviors that people refused to judge in the name of tolerance and relativism.
(AS AN ASSIGNED [LEGAL AID TYPE] AND PRIVATE DEFENSE LAWYER IN THE BRONX AND WESTCHESTER...COUNTY OF NYS FAMILY AND CRIMINAL COURT FROM 1978 TO 1991, I KNOW ALL ABOUT THAT AND THE PSYCHIATRIC -FEMINIST- NONSENSE THAT ALLOWED SUCH FILTH TO BE ACCEPTED AS "NORMAL" ; IT WAS FILTH SUCH AS THAT THAT LEAD ME TO ATTACK -TO DESTROY- THE CURRENT LEGAL SYSTEM ; AND TO CONTINUE DOING SO TO THIS DAY EVEN AFTER I WAS THROWN OUT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM FOR ATTACKING -TO DESTROY- THAT LEGAL SYSTEM, FOULED AND RUINED BY FEMINIST NONSENSE)
As an avalanche of cases of pedophile priests came to light, church officials frequently defended their previous practice of putting abusers in therapy, not jail, by saying that was the norm in society (AND IT WAS ; AND THAT IS WHY I MUST DESTROY THAT SOCIETY, THAT "NORM") at the time. Only this year did the Vatican post on its website unofficial guidelines for bishops to report pedophile priests to police if local laws require it.
"In the 1970s, pedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children," the pope said. "It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a 'better than' and a 'worse than.' Nothing is good or bad in itself." (I TELL YOU TRULY -BECAUSE I KNOW- THAT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, HOMOSEXUALITY...AND ALL OTHER FEMINIST NONSENSE IS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG)
"The effects of such theories are evident today," he said.
The traditional Christmas speech to Vatican cardinals and bishops is an eagerly anticipated address that Benedict uses to focus the church hierarchy on key issues.
Benedict has previously acknowledged that the scandal was the result of sin that the church must repent for, and make amends with victims. He repeated Monday that the church must do a better job of screening out abusers and helping victims heal.
"It is fundamentally disturbing to watch a brilliant man so conveniently misdiagnose a horrific scandal," said Barbara Blaine, president of the main U.S. victims' group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
She said the scandal wasn't caused by the 1970s but rather by the church's culture of secrecy and fixation with self-preservation in which predator priests and the bishops who moved them around rather than turn them in were rarely disciplined. (THE CHURCH WAS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT THIS WOMAN IS DEFENDING IS EVEN MORE WRONG)
"Whenever the pope tires of talking about abuse and starts acting on abuse, he should focus on taking immediate, pratical steps to oust those who commit, ignore and conceal clergy sex crimes first," Blaine said. (I COULDN'T AGREE WITH HER MORE, BUT SHE IS STILL WRONG)
The sex abuse scandal, which first exploded in the U.S. in 2002, erupted on a global scale this year with revelations of thousands of victims in Europe and beyond, of bishops who covered up for pedophile priests and of Vatican officials who turned a blind eye to the crimes for decades.
Questions were raised about how Benedict himself handled cases both as archbishop in Munich and as head of the Vatican office that handled abuse cases.
Recently, the Vatican released documentation showing that as early as 1988 then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sought to find quicker ways to permanently remove priests who raped and molested children in a bid to get around church law that made it difficult to defrock priests against their will.
While Ratzinger was unsuccessful then, Vatican rules now allow for fast-track defrocking. But victims advocates say the Vatican still has a long way to go in terms of requiring bishops to report sex crimes to police and release information and documentation about known pedophiles. (IT IS TIME FOR VICTIMS OF SUCH HORRIFIC CRIMES TO GO AFTER THE REAL -PRIOR- CAUSE OF SUCH HORRORS, THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT MEN AND WOMEN, GIRLS AND BOYS ARE "EQUAL"
AND START PUSHING FOR SEPARATE EDUCATION FOR BOYS AND GIRLS - WITH DIFFERENT FORMATIVE CURRICULA THAT DENOUNCES ALL FEMINIST NONSENSE FOR BOY
Yonkers Rising (YR), 12-10-10, p.9 Politics in the Lower Hudson Valley. Political corruption
in and from NYC into Westchester and Putnam Counties and beyond. NYS Sen. "Vinnie"
Leibel pleads guilty in Putnam County on charges arising out of a case in Yonkers involving
bribing a (Democratic Party) Yonkers City Councilwoman (Sandi Annabi) which was
accomplished by attorney Anthony Mangone and her cousin Zehy Jereis (Yonkers Republican
leader who worked in NYS Sen. Nick Spano's office) ; all three were indicted in Yonkers and
Mangone turned on Annabi and Jereis to cut a deal with US Prosecutors in which he also
ratted on Leibel and, perhaps, many more. Perhaps even Nick Spano, Al Pirro, Bronx
Republican leader Jay Savino (with whom he shared a legal office). Mangone also
represented members of organized crime. Jereis is supposedly also talking with the Feds,
to get a deal like Mangone did.What a rogues gallery here.
A French reader of my blog posted this message
From: Anonymous
Date: Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 3:06 PM
Subject: [jewsyonkersislamiii-tc] New comment on jyi # 722L,4 US&Law : A single mother's lament ; ....
To: tbitom52@gmail.com
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "jyi # 722L,4 US&Law : A single mother's lament ; ...":
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Posted by Anonymous to jewsyonkersislamiii-tc at December 16, 2010 12:14 AM
HEZI,
YOU ARE A SUPERB STORY TELLER. SEE HOW I HAVE EDITED THIS BELOW
(IN PARENTHESES).
TOM
First Amendment Rights Violated - Press Ejected from Open Meeting By Hezi Aris
EHezi_Hezitorial The Open Meetings Law ( OML) permits media to attend meetings at which the majority of the Yonkers City Council, that is a minimum of four of the seven members attend. Denying media to attend such meetings strips media of their First Amendment rights, an issue fought and recently won against Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone by The Westchester Guardian for which I now an editor. This time it was Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick who chose to wear a brown shirt
(A REMINDER OF NAZISM AND ITS CAMPAIGN TO EXTERMINATE THE JEWS ; AND CHUCK lEZNICK IS A JEW, AS IS HEZI, MY FRIEND [AS IS CHUCK, THOUGH LESS SO]. IT ALSO BRINGS TO MIND US SECT. OF STATE HENRY KISSINGER ABOUT JEWS IN RUSSIA - AND KISSINGER, WHOM I ADMIRE GREATLY, WAS ALSO JEWISH) to a meeting to which he was uncomfortable having media in attendance.
It was before 4:00 pm, Tuesday afternoon, december 14, 2010, when. I made my way to the Yonkers City Council Chambers. As I entered the chambers, Ricky Richard, Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick’s Chief of Staff who upon seeing me making my entrance into the chambers said the meeting was private and I was not invited. I advised the Opening Meeting Law permitted me the right to attend since at least four members of the Yonkers City Council were expected to attend. As I was espousing my rights, I glanced beyond Ms Richard’s left shoulder to see a U-shaped set up of tables and chairs upon which sat laptop computers and an 8 1/2“ by 1“ thick paper folded lengthwise in half upon which city councilpeople’s names were affixed. She shrugged her shoulders, as she departed from where I stood, and said, “Whatever! I found my place in the first pew (YONKERS CITY COUNCIL IS A CHURCH ? AY VEY.), toward the center aisle, placing my cell phone, pen, gloves, kafiyah, and jacket to my left, and began reading the latest edition of The Westchester Guardian (ALWAYS A GOOD PAPER).
Chuck Lesnick then came toward me. Upon reaching wooden partition dividing us on opposite sides of the railing, Mr Lesnick said I could not attend the meeting; adamant I was not invited. I repeated that as long as a minimum of four members of the Yonkers City Council membership would come to attend, I had a right to attend the meeting. He departed from my sight.
Next, a gentleman whose last name I remember was “White,asked for my identity. He wanted to engage me in conversation. I was not having it. I advised he had no right to ask for my identity and if he was so inquisitive, he should ask anyone in the Yonkers City Council Chambers at the time to ascertain who I was (GOOD MAN, HEZI). He would go on to explain that the meeting was in “fact” a course in “leadership training” for those who would attend and that I was not invited. I had noting more to say, and therefore said nothing.
The Yonkers Police Officer who sits at the northern entranceway to Yonkers City Hall was called the fourth floor to ask me to step outside the City Council Chambers. I advised him that I was rightly within the law to attend. By that time, Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick had sat at the u-shaped dais, as did Majority Leader Patricia McDow (1st District), attended by her dog, Councilmen Wilson Terrero (District 2), and Dennis Shepherd (District 4).
Within 10 more minutes approximately 6 or as many as 8 more Yonkers Police Officers entered the chambers to demand my departure from the premises. I refused, advising the YPD I was abiding by the rights afforded me by the Open Meetings Law. I knew I was within my rights to attend.
Then one officer, the one who engaged me in conversation and expostulation wanted to know why I was the only member of media in attendance. I advised that I am often the only one in attendance. I beseeched he request confrmation of my not being permitted attendance from the Yonkers City Council President Lesnick noting that he and the other city council members comprised a majority to which media is permitted attendance. I advised if Mr Lesnick advised I was illegally attending the meeting, I would depart. With great respect, the Police Officer said he would do just that but prior to being able to ask that question of Mr Lesnick, a much officer offer got in my face and said it was Mr Lesnick who asked for my expulsion. I told that officer I was rightly permitted attendance by the Open Meetings Law. He threatened to physically throw me out of the council chambers. I advised the officer that I would call Police Commissioner Hartnett. This statement so infuriated the older officer that he snatched my pen from my left hand. I had the impression he was aiming form my cell phone. A younger officer insinuated himself into the confrontation advising if I did not depart the premises within 1 minuee he would have me handcuffed and removed from the Yonkers City Council Chambers. (YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THEM DO THAT HEZI - AND THEN SUE),
Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick fomented every aspect of escalating confrontation from afar by first lying about the “learning session" by calling designating it a meeting. A meeting of four members of the Yonkers City Council membership permits media attendance. When “Lesnick the Liar” earlier had said that only three members of the Yonkers City Council membership would attend, he further engraved the coming together of members of the Yonkers City Council membership were doing so to attend a “meeting” to which the Open Meeting Law permits attendance by media. “Lesnick the Liar” defiled the YPD by having them act upon a set of false circumstances he concocted to suit his needs (TOUCHE', HEZI) and to keep the public unaware that the Office of the Mayor was paying for the “leadership learning" session . No conflict of interest here. There may be a legal difference between a “learning session" attended by 4 or more members of the Yonkers City Council and a “meeting" of a majority of members. “Lesnick the Liar" muddied the issue by waffling, not the number one leadership trait desired, by morphing the term “meeting” to “learning session.”
What is evident by this event, is that “Lesnick the Liar,” can and does concoct lies and foments trouble for anyone because he can. He is offended to be found out benefitting from another taxpayer paid perk at a time when the City of Yonkers can least afford to spend funds for his “learning on the job.” The course was meant to teach him and the others in attendance of the leadership skills to which he is not adept at grasping. (TOUCHE', HEZI, ONCE AGAIN)
“Lesnick the Liar” has again proved only to be adept at lurking behind closed doors to benefit himself, not to benefit The People who pay the bills for his ineptitude.
Anticipating the skullduggery afoot from the moment I met Ms Richard, I called two lawyers. The first was not available. the second was made aware of the circumstances.
I did depart the Yonkers City Council Chambers and sat in the lobby until about 6:30 pm when I re-entered the Yonkers City Council Chambers, took my seat in the first pew and was glued to the meeting.
Councilman John Larkin (District 6), Minority Leader John Murtagh (District 5), and Councilwoman Joan Gronowski (District 3) did not attend the "meeting / learning session."
(YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING HERE HEZI, PUSH AND MAKE IT WORK)
SAFED CHIEF Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu
Photo by: Marc Israel Sellem
(TAKE AWAY HIS BEARD AND HAT AND I COULD BE LOOKING INTO A MIRROR AT MYSELF)
This fire is still burning: Racism is spreading
By MICHAEL MARMUR
12/07/2010 23:21
Rabbis' ban on the rental or sale of property to non-Jews demonstrates lack of understanding for the basic currency of life in a liberal democracy. (TOUCHE' ; A "LIBERAL" DEMOCRACY IS THE BIBLICAL STATE)
Fifty Orthodox rabbis, most of them recipients of state funding, have just declared a ban on the rental or sale of property to non-Jews (WHO IS A "NON-JEW ?). They cite a number of halachic precedents, including the fear of intermarriage which apparently will ensue if such property deals are concluded. They also note that prices will fall if such transactions take place. It’s the Aramaic version of “there goes the neighborhood.”
If we allow these declarations to pass with no comment, there goes Judaism. If the true voice of Judaism is one which provides a mandate for bigotry and a license for racism (WHICH, IN THIS CASE, DOES), then our crisis is of epic proportions.
There are precedents for the position adopted by the 50 saintly rabbis. The Bible itself does not read like an advertisement for intergroup dialogue.
The questions then become: How do you understand the essence of Judaism, and how long are you prepared to stay silent as the soul of Judaism is kidnapped (SAME WITH ISLAM...) ? The declaration by these rabbis is shameful, harmful and wrong. Its argumentation may be sound, but its core is putrid. It demonstrates a breathtaking lack of understanding for the basic currency of life in a liberal democracy.
I just heard a very moving interview on the radio with Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa. He is no Jewish scholar, nor does he pretend to be. But as mayor of a city in which Jews and Arabs try to live together, he pointed out the obscenity of the rabbinic ruling and contrasted it with the displays of solidarity and good citizenship which characterized the past few days in the North. Jews and Arabs (and others too) fought the fire together, and often demonstrated great heroism and humanity in the process.
Last week, before the fire in the Carmel, evidence of the smouldering embers of bigotry was provided by a major survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute. It found that 53% of the Jewish public believes that the state is entitled (MORE LIBERAL FEMINIST EXCESS) to encourage Arabs to emigrate from Israel. I wonder if the 53% are prepared to think through the implications of this kind of ‘encouragement,’ and if the remaining 47% are ready and able to dampen these flames before all control is lost.
I am a bleeding-heart liberal (I AM A RATIONAL AND PRAGMATIC CONSERVATIVE). My heart is indeed bleeding, but not perhaps for the reason commonly attributed. It is true that the victims of this kind of intolerance deserve our sympathy.
My heart goes out to every non-Jewish citizen of this country whenever they are the victims of inequity. But it is for Judaism that my heart bleeds; if it cannot show the kind of moral (MORALE) focus and conceptual suppleness needed to face up to the challenges of the day. Bigotry makes us stupid, and it puts the success of our enterprise at risk. A Judaism which enjoins me to deny the civil rights and human dignity of any person does not deserve the monopoly on the brand name, nor is it worthy of state funding.
Judaism should never add fuel to our basest prejudices and lowest emotions. It is meant to give form to our highest aspirations and deepest yearnings.
WE ARE coming to the end of Hanukka, our fire festival. Some see it as a mandate for intolerance. (RACISM)
After all, Mattathias lashed out against the Hellenizing assimilators. Here again, the question at stake is how you understand Judaism. Are the candles symbols of bigotry or of boundary maintenance, of hatred or of hope? The fire in the Carmel is finally out. The fire of racism and intolerance is still burning. Indeed, it is spreading. If you are a Jew who cares about Judaism and Israel, regardless of your denominational affiliation, you need to stand up and say: This rabbinic ruling is wrong. Those within the four ells of halachic discourse will conduct the struggle from their vantage point. Those outside will use the tools available to them.
This fire threatens all. We have to douse the flames of bigotry with the life-giving waters which flow within a Judaism of humanity. Why don’t all those who strive for such a Judaism get our act together? We learned in this last crisis that when the situation is urgent, rivals and even enemies can cooperate (SURVIVAL IS NOT JUST FOR ONE, BUT FOR ALL). This fire is still burning. It is time to sound the alarm.
Ed Koch Commentary: Are We Witnessing A Greek Tragedy? By Edward I. Koch
Koch_EdwardIrving-standing The debacle that resulted from President Obama's negotiations with the Republican leadership is extremely complicated. Examining each vote and action by the Democrats in both Houses and assigning a significance to that vote and action would take the skills of a first-class investigative journalist with the resources and staff needed to do the interviewing of Democratic members of Congress and the Senate.
I don’t have those resources, so those interested in the rise and fall of President Obama will have to wait until some individual writer is stirred to do a book or a major media facility – one of the great newspapers – assigns an appropriate staff to examine the torturous road that brought President Obama to extraordinary heights. He won the presidency by defeating a gifted old pro, Hillary Clinton, whom I supported. Ultimately he was brought to his political knees by his inability to successfully govern. Has a tin ear and appointed a staff that left him vulnerable to a far greater degree than anyone could have imagined.
What the President would call his major legislative success – passage of the comprehensive health care legislation –-- could also be called his first major failure. I supported its passage because I wanted written into law the concept of universal medical care. However, instead of finding ways to cover the 32 million people he ultimately added to the system, he embarked upon a year and a half program to reinvent the wheel, endangering the coverage of the millions more who had insurance policies they liked. Yet, by taxing what his staff referred to as the “gold plated” insurance contracts that many of us had paid for with our own monies (AGREED, BUT WHAT IF THERE IS NO MONEY AT ALL LEFT ?), Obama Care jeopardized the entire reform. The major achievements of preventing insurance companies from rejecting those with prior major medical conditions or terminating or not renewing contracts, as important as they were, did not assuage the fear that we who liked (BUT SO MUCH MORE THAN "LIKING" IS AT STAKE - SURVIVAL OF AMERICA AND AMERICANS - AND THE REST OF THE HUMAN RACE) our policies were in danger of losing our protection.
So what should have become a monumental achievement on his part became instead a liability. A majority of the country’s citizens oppose the Obama healthcare legislation now the law of the land. That failure set the stage for President Obama’s taking a shellacking at the polls, losing 63 House seats and six Senate seats in the 2010 Congressional election.
What bothered the supporters of the president most about his leadership of the Democratic Party in the negotiations that involved him and the Senate leadership was that legislation that was perceived as Democratic signature legislation was never adequately fought for or defended by the President. When the Republican leadership threatened a filibuster – 60 votes being needed in the Senate to defeat one, with the Democrats having only 56 votes, the Democratic leadership including the president, folded, withdrawing the contested measures the Democrats wanted to pass, e.g., having a single-payer option in the comprehensive insurance legislation, restoration of income tax rates for those earning over $250,000 or enacting the Schumer compromise (those earning over a million), extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the now two million Americans for whom such insurance was running out, and many more legislative items.
What the Democratic members of Congress, particularly those who had survived the election debacle, wanted the President to do was exercise his leadership to bring those measures to the floor, dare the Republicans to filibuster and force Republican Senators to physically be present keeping the Senate Chamber in session 24 hours a day at least until the end of the year and perhaps do so next year as well, since the Democrats still have a majority in the Senate this year and next. (A RECIPE FOR TOTAL CHAOS IN AMERICA)
The President declined to do so and, with the Democratic Senate leadership, caved to the simple threat of filibuster. Obama apparently hoped to be seen as a new President, now willing to meet with his Republican adversaries, whom he had spurned, selling out to the latter by extending the Bush tax cuts on those making $250,000 for the next two years. In exchange, he got an extension of unemployment insurance for 13 months and a host of tax cutting measures such as a reduction in Fica (payroll) taxes for one year.
It offends me and anyone I’ve talked with to have the president’s defenders prattle he pressured the Republicans to accept his tax cuts. No one believes that the Republican leadership had to be pummeled to agree to the Obama tax cuts. The Republican leadership probably jumped with joy at the request, hoping he would request even more tax cut proposals, no matter the jeopardy to the nation’s economic stability and addition to the national debt.
It is unheard of for Democrats to refuse in such a concerted way to support a Democratic president’s request, as the House caucus did last week, with all but one voting down a resolution to support Obama’s agreement with the Republicans.
The New York Times of December 13th reported “While Democrats held on to the Senate, the sentiment is not much different across the Rotunda, though Democratic senators appear more resigned to the compromise on taxes.” The Times also reported, “Reluctant House Democrats predicted that the package would be approved before Congress adjourns this year, as days of rage and frustration began giving way to resignation and acceptance.”
Politics is the most fluid of professions. No one is ever out until the election is over. We all believe anyone can recover and become successful. Are we witnessing a Greek tragedy?
The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served New York City as its 105th Mayor from 1978 to 1989. His e-mail address is: eikoch@bryancave.com
The Hezitorial: That Which Was Said Has Been Intolerable By Hezi Aris
EHezi_Hezitorial In Sophocles’ play Antigone, a sentry reports the burial of Polyneices to King Creon. The sentry acknowledges that no one loves the bearer of bad news, but is unprepared for the strength of Creon’s reaction. “What you say is intolerable,” the king expostulates. He threatens the sentry with hanging.
2,500 years later we continue to attack those who dare tell us things we find intolerable. Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone smarts upon hearing that he is responsible for the rudderless, meandering management style that has brought a proud city too close to the shoals of danger from which he is now incapable to avoid. The coffers are empty because he has blundered while attempting to learn the job on the job. His hubris was exacted upon those that have stood in his way. No one was responsible for corrupting him. He alone is responsible for his failures. Yet he will not look in the mirror fearing he may learn the truth about himself. It is so much easier to point his finger toward others to deflect attention from issues of grave pertinence to the city we love.
Mayor Amicone has become the poster child of opportunity squandered. His failings will be bequeathed upon a populace he chose to dismiss and shun. He strayed from treating the voter with respect and moved toward disrespecting their perspectives.
Yonkers, the soon to be designated third largest city in New York State has been able to maintain its provincial, small town feel. The neighborliness and familiarity among Yonkers’ populace has maintained its close knit fabric through growing financial and political adversity for decades.
Rather than responding with forethought and vision to Yonkers issues and concerns, Mayor Amicone’s administration has chosen to demonize the people who elected him into office.
When he issued a statement that asserted Yonkers was the second safest city of cities of like populations, The Wall Street Journal’s research found his assertion a fabrication since they validated Yonkers placement relegated to the 131st position. Were Yonkersites told we were at the 131st position, there would be no uproar. Yonkersites CAN handle the truth! Still lies continue to emanate from Yonkers City Hall. Yonkersites never voted for another set of parents, had we, they would not be as dysfunctional as is Mayor Amicone’s administration.
Mayor Amicone’s directives are an agglomeration of failure. When he incorporated eminent domain statutes to seize a plot of land on Saw Mill River Road which were eventually converted to a failed parking lot, and worse still a legal suit lost by the City of Yonkers (CoY), the messenger of the telling of the circumstances was called at fault for mentioning Mayor Amicone presiding over the entire scenario unraveling under his watch.
The Yonkers Board of Education Board of Trustees, each appointed by Mayor Amicone, have been permitted to sue CoY with the alleged endorsement of Mayor Amicone. The funds used by the YBoE are taxpayer funds initially allocated for educating students have been squandered and have not been repaid to the YBoE.
Friends get jobs, those that fall into disfavor are kicked to the curb.
Inspector General Dan Schorr continues to kiss Mayor Amicone’s derierre rather than to confine himself to the tenets set for him by the law and the jurisdiction of his office (THE INSPECTOR GENERAL, I BELIEVE, WAS A WESTCHESTER COUNTY D.A. IN CHARGE OF CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN ; HOW COULD HE BE OTHER THAN SERIOUSLY DIS-ORDERED, HANGING ON FOR THE APPROVAL OF ANOTHER DISORDERED PUBLIC OFFICIAL). Another appointed official corrupted at Mayor Amicone’s whim. The taxpayer funds Mr Schorr earns makes it easy for him to fall asleep at night.When Inspector General Schorr was outed by this publication, Mayor Amicone became belligerent in his response for being found out.
When the Father Pat Carroll Greene housing development was found to have used taxpayer money to fabricate a development less than that marketed, Mayor Amicone was disgusted by the populace he claims to have helped but who in reality were duped into purchasing a product less than that advertised. Defined, designed, and built under his watch, the lawsuit to which Mayor Amicone must respond, exposes his arrogance. He simply hates the messenger of truth.
Our publication came before WikiLeaks came on the scene. We have conducted our efforts within the parameters defined by a moral
(MORALE) compass as opposed to the backroom deals (SOUNDS LIKE THE SPANO FAMILY, LIKE SANDI ANNABI, ZEHY JEREIS, ANTHONY MANGONE, JAY SEVINO, "VINNIE" LEIBELL...) to which Mayor Amicone has been privy, and whose power as strong mayor of the Mayor of Yonkers have been exacted despite public sentiment to the contrary. We’ve thrown the facts before him. He chose to trash them. It would have been easier to deal with each issue as it came to light. Mayor Amicone chose not to contend with anything that may have been construed as derogatory to his administration.
The WikiLeaks episode has exposed disgust of those dismissed by an all powerful, power elite who dismiss The People despite the U.S. Constitution affording The People “inalienable rights.”
Yonkers has alluded to George Orwell’s 1984 concepts becoming part of our reality. There are no longer “free” men and women within Yonkers border. There are only those with power and those without.
I am pessimistic about a good outcome.
Yonkersites have been weaned on a city notorious for telling its public the news its leaders wanted to tell - and for the contempt with which the public treated such news. Yonkers Mayor Amicone should be the last leader to threaten to hang the honest messenger.
Sheila M. Marcotte Reports
(SHE ISN'T A BAD LOOKING LADY. OF COURSE, SHE WASN'T ON THE B.O.L. WHEN
I SANG BEFORE IT -UNTIL THEY BANNED ME FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE
BOARD - YET I GET HER E-MAILINGS ; CURIOUS.
December 16, 2010
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The following is the Minority response to the 2011 budget as well as the Minority report which includes the Republican thoughts and concerns. It has been a long budget process and thanks to updated technology you can watch any and all of the budget testimony, including the individual meetings with the departments and commissioners, on www.westchesterlegislators.com. I look forward to your comments.
Respectfully,
County Legislator
Sheila Marcotte - 10th District
smm6@westchestergov.com
Westchester GOP Legislators Issue Minority Report On 2011
Budget Process Support Budget with Reservations and Ready to Vote to Sustain Vetoes to Improve Budget
White Plains NY – The Republican members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators issued a report (see below) on 2011 County Budget announcing support for the 2% property tax reduction, while citing reservations about the flawed and rushed budget process, and that they are prepared to support vetoes to the budget by the County Executive that will make it more fiscally responsible. (ALL HIS VETOS SHOULD BE UPHELD ; FAILING THAT WE SEE A NEW BOARD, SOONER RATHER THAN LATER : IMPEACHMENT FOR STUPIDITY AND INCOMPETENCE)
In the Minority Report, the Republican legislators cited detailed flaws in the budget itself and the process to approve it, and said the budget process was at odds with good and open government, when the additions and deletions to the budget for both expenditures and revenues were decided in the secrecy of closed door meetings of the Democratic caucus, with the public, press and Republican legislators shut out, as well as the Budget Director, Commissioners and County Attorney, and only shown to the Republican legislators just before votes were taken. (BRING UP MOUNT VERNON COMPTROLLER MAUREEN WALKER TO REVIEW
THE BOARD'S BUDGET, JUST LIKE SHE DID IN REJECTING MOUNT VERNON'S PROPOSED BUDGET)
Minority Leader Jim Maisano (New Rochelle) stated, “We have major concerns about the accuracy of the modifications to the budget. It is unclear if these numbers will provide us with enough money to run the County in 2011. The budget was clearly rushed, and the Republican legislators were denied a full and fair opportunity to review the additions and deletions prior to being forced to take votes on them. The Republican legislators will support vetoes to the budget that will ensure it is balanced and fiscally sound.”
Some of the flaws in budget cited in the Minority Report include:
1. $1,075,000 for “Albany style member items” added to undesignated miscellaneous lines;
2. $500,000 to create an unnecessary law department for the Board of Legislators (WE NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THE LAWYERS);
3. $2.3 million in inflated Sales Tax revenue (UNREALISTIC);
4. $3.5 million taken from the 2010 fund balance (A RAINY-DAY FUND IS NOT MEANT TO COVER UP FUNDAMENTAL INCOMPETENCE ON THE BOARD ; AND DONT BLAME KEN JENKINS. AT THE ROOTS OF ALL OUR PROBLEMS ARE WHITE FEMINISTS IDIOTS); and
5. Restoration of the administration of the Section 8 housing subsidy program, which is
6. currently being transferred to non-profits. (IN ACTUAL FACT THESE SECTION 8 FUNDS ONLY PUT 40 OTHERWISE USELESS, DO-NOTHING AND NON-PRODUCTIVE WORKERS BACK ON THE PAYROLL. MOREOVER, IT IS TIME
7. TO DO AWAY WITH FUNDS FOR "NON-PROFITS" AND DEMOLISH THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, THAT
8. PERVERTED PUSHER OF HOMOSEXUALITY, THAT WHICH MUST BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
“The taxpayers of Westchester do not support slush funds for County Legislators,” said Minority Whip Gordon A. Burrows, (R-Yonkers). “We worked diligently to oppose all wasteful spending in the budget and are still shocked that the Democrats insisted on adding back much of the spending that the County Executive had cut in his proposed budget.”
The Republican legislators say the budget process now continues to the veto phase, and they will vote in support of vetoes by the County Executive of the questionable revenues and spending in the budget. The Legislators are slated to meet again on December 23 to review vetoes. County law requires an approved budget no later than December 27.
The other Republican members supporting the Minority Report are John G. Testa, (Peekskill), Bernice Spreckman (Yonkers), and Sheila Marcotte (Eastchester).
Minority Report on 2011 Westchester County Budget from the Republican Members of the Board of Legislators
The Republican members of the Board of Legislators will vote in support of the 2011 County Budget with reservations. Most importantly, despite voting in support of the budget, we reserve our right to fully review any vetoes by the County Executive and vote to sustain the vetoes necessary to ensure the passage of a fiscally sound 2011 County Budget.
Our goal throughout the budget process was to reduce County property taxes, reduce spending to downsize the size and scope of this government, protect essential services and retain the County’s AAA bond rating. We maintain that the budget proposed by the County Executive fully met these goals. We also believe that after the additions and deletions of the Democratic Majority of the Board of Legislators that the budget still comes close to meeting our goals, although we are concerned about many of these additions and deletions - causing us to vote in support of the budget with reservations and keep open our option to support vetoes. This is why we believe that the budget process does not end with the budget vote and that vetoes by the County Executive are an important part of this process to ensure that the 2011 County Budget is fiscally responsible.
In particular, we are deeply concerned that the Democratic legislators have drafted and approved additions and deletions to the County Executive’s proposed budget with very little, if any, input from the administration. As admitted on the public record by the Budget and Appropriations Chair and staff, the additions and deletions were not even discussed with the Budget Director, County Attorney or affected Commissioners. Therefore, the 2011 budget process was deeply flawed and the modified budget of the Board of Legislators did not have the necessary vetting and due diligence. A key example of the flawed budget process was the moving up of the date of the vote from December 13 to December 10 (despite the fact that the budget vote was scheduled for December 13 for the entire year). Those extra three days could have been utilized by all legislators for further review of the modified budget and to work with the administration for input on the additions and deletions, and further, this extended review could have eliminated the need for some of the expected vetoes. Approval of the County Budget should never be rushed as it was this year.
The budget process was also flawed because all of the decisions relating to the additions and deletions to the County Executive’s proposed budget were made in the secrecy of the Democratic caucus – where the public, press and Republican legislators were excluded. The additions and deletions decided in those private caucus meetings were presented to the Republican legislators just prior to the actual votes on the changes in the Budget and Appropriations Committee (for the additions, only 20 minutes prior to the actual vote), and we were denied the necessary time to do our due diligence, conduct a proper review of the changes and suggest additional modifications.
The Republican caucus is not supportive of the approximately $43 million in expenditure additions to the budget that were approved on “Adds Day.” (The Republican legislators voted in opposition to the budget additions). We also remain concerned about the validity of the revenue additions and deletions that were approved by the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Once again, we do not believe that the additions and deletions of the Democratic Majority should have been approved until they were fully vetted and reviewed by the administration. It was critical for the legislators to be briefed by the Budget Director, Commissioners and their staff before taking any votes on the budget they presented. Additionally, we are concerned about the transfer of funds from trust accounts to the operating budget and maintain that the County Attorney should have reviewed any potential legal issues with these transfers prior to approval.
We appreciate that after the Republican legislators strongly objected to the taking of $10 million from the 2010 fund balance for the 2011 County Budget (an action the legislators were warned against by the County’s auditors and accountants), that this amount was reduced to $3.5 million. However, we still maintain that the $3.5 million should not have been taken from the 2010 fund balance.
We also suggested that $1,075,000 be eliminated from the Miscellaneous section of the budget. This spending is listed under anonymous and undedicated funding lines cited as Community Service, Youth and Education, Economic Development, Advocacy and Environmental Protection and were all added to the budget by the Democratic legislators. It is our experience that these budget lines have been used in the past in the form of Albany-like “member items” (better known as “pork”) by the majority legislators and distributed without any fair, open or competitive review process. The Republican legislators all voted to block this wasteful spending at the Budget and Appropriations Committee, as every Democratic legislator on the committee voted for it. The Republican legislators also voted in that committee to block the irresponsible spending of $500,000 to create a “law department” for the Board of Legislators and believe this “law department” will cause a conflict with the County Attorney’s office, may violate the County Charter and lead to unnecessary litigation.
We have other objections to the additions and deletions to the budget and wish to highlight three:
1. $7.2 million was deleted from the Corrections Department (CORRECTIONS HAS TO GO). This money was included to cover potential salary increases during 2011. Despite inaccurate answers to our questions in the Budget and Appropriations Committee, we believe the facts indicate that the two unions for Corrections Officers have a contractual right to binding arbitration, which could be decided outside the approval of the County Executive and Board of Legislators. If a binding arbitration results in an award with raises for the officers in 2011, we will not have enough money in the County Budget to pay for the raises. This is also true for the $2.5 million that was deleted from the Public Safety Department, and we would have a similar problem if our County police officers receive a raise through binding arbitration in 2011.
2. (ALL UNIONS TAKE NOTICE ; YOUR JOBS ARE ON THE LINE)
3. The County Executive made the right decision to transfer the administration of the Section 8 housing subsidy program to non-profits, this transfer has already been worked out with the State of New York and the transfer has been mostly completed. The addition of money to the budget by the Democratic legislators to continue the County’s operation of the Section 8 program is bad policy, an improper intrusion into the executive branch’s powers and fiscally irresponsible.
4. The addition of $2.3 million for additional sales tax as a revenue in the County Budget is inflated and not based on any respectable economic forecast.
Based on the foregoing, the Republican legislators will support the 2011 County Budget with its 2% property tax levy reduction with reservations, and we look forward to supporting vetoes by the County Executive that will address our concerns reflected by this report, which will ensure that the taxpayers of Westchester have a more fiscally responsible 2011 County Budget.
Dated: December 10. 2010
County Legislators Jim Maisano (Minority Leader), Gordon Burrows (Minority Whip), Bernice Spreckman, John Testa & Sheila Marcotte
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jyi # 722n,4 US&Law : Politics, local and international
Below are articles...(WHICH I HAVE EDITED IN ACCORDANCE WITH MY BLOG,
jewsyonkersislamiii-tc.blogspot.com). Topics include a Westchester County Board of
Legislators (BOL) email, a comment on my blog in French, Ed Koch about Pres. Obama,
an article about Yonkers, racism, HEZI ARRIS'S SUPERB STORY (ANOTHER ONE)
ABOUT YONKERS TYPICAL SHENANIGAN-FILLED POLITICS ; Lower Hudson Valley as
well ; THERE IS NO EXCUSING THE CHURCH THE SEXUAL CRIMES ITS MINISTERS...
COMMITTED BUT NEITHER IS THERE ANY EXCUSING OF THE GREATER CULPABILITY
OF ABJECT FEMINIST NONSENSE ; MY EMAIL FRIEND FROM PAKISTAN -AN
AMERICAN-TRAINED LAWYER (RUTGERS LAW SCHOOL) HAS WRITTEN ANOTHER
SUPURB ARTICLE ; THE WEST IS IMPOTENT ; "Politics", "Leadership" ? As the oldest
of 9 children, such has been set upon me since childhood. WHY TRUST THE US ?
But first -after my address to the Mount Vernon City Council tonight, 12-22-10-
a few newsbits.
ADDRESS BY THOMAS J.P. COURTNEY TO THE MOUNT VERNON CITY COUNCIL
ON WEDNESDAY, 12-22-10 :
"Once again, I apologize to this Council / and the people of Mount Vernon / for what I
said / or seemed to imply / Not to excuse myself / but to shed some light on my situation /
I must confess that I am a very talented sinner / One of my many disabilities /
Hypersexuality / drives my to do what is considered sinful / consistently / After my disability-
causing accident / and because of it / from the time I got up in the morning / until the time I
went to bed at night / I had a rod in my pocket / And when I was practicing law in the Bronx
courts / guys would often come up and say / "You wet your pants" / Well / I tell you today /
that I had automatic discharges / 3 to 4 times a day / Because of this drive / I have always
been / and done / the consistently inappropriate / Shame / embarrassment / guilt / and
disappointment / have been my life-long companions / Having your private property
constantly popping up / is a real nuisance / (at this point the ever-gracious City Council
President, Mr. Yuhanna Edwards, cut me off and, in effect, told me not to come back to
Mount Vernon to speak. However, had I been allowed to continue I would have continued
as follows) / To ease the pressure / I did many not-right things / How many times I walked
through women's locker rooms / dressed as a woman / I cant recall / I apologize once again
and I declare that my endeavors here / before the Yonkers City Council, the County Board
of Legislators in White Plains / and other places too numerous to name / have all been /
attempts to atone / for all my excesses / As a normal man / who / at the same time / is not
normal / I am / and have always been / lonely and set apart / to the degree / my
not-normalness / shames / embarrasses / and scandalizes me / Another one of my many
disabilities / is my voice / which never completely changed / after my accident / So I speak
and sing / with an annoying boys voice (which is actually quite good, captivating and
compelling). / Seeing as this is the season / I hope you'll help me" and I was going to sing
"Go tell it on the mountain"
12-22-10
MEN-WOMEN-GAYS...
Journal News(JN), pp.10A, 12A "Birthrates decline in women in their 20s and 30s..." and
increase for women in their 40s. Such a shame. Best time for women to have children -best
time for children- is when women are in their 20s. Moreover, you have to feel terribly sorry for
the children of women who have children in their 40s. "Military adjusts to gays, as it did to
blacks and women". Blacks, yes - essential. Women and gays, never. Men and women are
not "equal" and the more the feminists push sexual "equality", the more gays -and the more
problems with gays- we have. Discipline and self-discipline is the key, of course, but with no
adequate common goals -a result of feminist, homosexual...nonsense- nothing works. "Lots
of workplaces" may have accommodated gender..equality, but the result has been our
current worldwide economic...problems as we are drowning in non-productive jobs... In
addition, a lot of the women with sexual complaints in the military were sexually abused as
children.
POLITICS
NYT, pp.A1, A10 As a result of the Census, the Northeast (NYS...) and Midwest (Ohio...)
will lose seats in Congress and the South and West will gain them - which could mean
gains for Republicans. But many of these citizens are Hispanic (more than a few are illegal,
of course) and the Republicans must figure out how to appeal to them (Soy Irelandes
moreno. Tengo heredencia Hispaniola). Russian P. M. Putin supports Russian nationalists
and soccer clubs but also calls for "ethnic tolerance" after mass riots and thousands of
people arrested - Russians fighting darker skinned, mostly Muslim, "unskilled laborers"
from the Caucasus and Central Asia.
MOTIVATION-MOBILIZATION-CLIMATE CHANGE - RISING TEMPERATURES AS A RESULT
OF USING OIL, GAS, COAL, CHEMICALS..., ALL OF WHICH INCREASE CARBON
DIOXIDE IN THE AIR, THUS RISING TEMPERATURES, AS WELL AS SO POLLUTING
THE AIR THAT HUMAN DEATHS SKYROCKET
NYT, pp.A1, A9 In Iran, Tehran's air is horrendously polluted (as is India's, China's...)
resulting in "all kinds of health problems, from headaches and dizziness to...cardiac and
pulmonary problems...(in 9 months, there have been) 3600...pollution-related deaths".
"Climate Reckoning...temperature rising...(As a result of the ever-increasing levels of carbon
dioxide in the air, we have ever)...more droughts and heat waves, more flash floods, more
storms, extinction of many plants and animals, depletion of sea life and...(increasing)
difficulty in producing adequate supplies of food (for the world's people ; indeed, China is
buying farm land in Africa to feed its peoples as it throws African farmers off their land; we
have seen many food riots around the world recently)...(And this is all fact. But there are)...
challengers to the science of climate change (to global warming - all paid by the oil, gas,
coal, chemical...industry who maintain it is a myth. But the truth is, the) real myth is that
"the natural resources and ability of the earth's habitable regions to absorb the impact of
human activities (and the ever-increasing human population) is limitless' ". Our problem
today is that "modern civilization is built on...cars, trucks, power plants, steel mills, farms,
planes, cement factories, home furnaces...(all of which use oil, gas, coal, chemicals...)...
(and) China, India, Brazil...(for whom) economic growth...is a moral imperative (are using
ever more oil, gas, coal, chemicals...)...(Far) more serious efforts to convert to a new
energy system (today are essential or)...global warming...(will) be out of control (before) the
end of this century". And the disastrous consequences of such are beginning to be felt
every day, more and more.
MOTIVATION-MOBILIZATION
New York Times(NYT) Bk Rev, p.28, 11-7-10 "Beyond Tourism,,,the experience of travel...
Creativity is found in restlessness"
NYT, 11-6-10, p.A17 The US Constitution is a "religious document" and "vulnerable to
literalism" from the uneducated and uninformed.
NYT Bk Rev, p.36, 11-7-10 "Religons are like businesses that meet desperate consumer
demands at all levels" - patience, endurance, hope and contentment. "Politics is mystical,
imprecise...(and) identity is ambiguous".
NYT, 10-3-10, Superlawyers , p.5-26 Lawyer Dorothy M. Keough looks like a very sad
woman, unfulfilled, unsatisfied...
Daily News(DN), p.30, 10-10-10 "Drowning in Law (the cesspool)...(It is necessary to
renew the taking of) risks and personal responsibility...(The) entitlement (expectations and
mentality) is suffocating" America, all thanks to the feminist-misguided legal profession.
A review and partial summation of an address I gave to and before the Yonkers City
Council on May 8, 1990 as well as a few other items including a brief review of the book
"How Psychotherapy Heals", all of which I included on the same few sheets of paper.
I noted the "three abominations of homosexuality, lesbianism and feminism - and all their
derivatives" as well as noting how I "detested psychological and psychiatric nonsense", that
"public schools do not teach the difference between boys and girls, men and women", that I
told John Dunne, US Attorney for Civil Rights, that "civil rights have become a crock of shit,
benefitting only gays, lesbians and feminists" at Fordham Law School on May 1, 1990 and
that the "law too much blurred the differences between men and women". And when he said
"But that's the law", I said "The law is an ass". On Ma6 16, 1990, at a Federalist Society
meeting at the Helmsley Hotel in NYC, I again met with US Supreme Court Justice
Antonin Scalia, spoke with him and gave him some of my (anti-gay...anti-feminist) writings.
And I also noted an article in the New York Times on April 24, 1990 (Good Health Magazine,
p.24) on "Women and Sexuality", further noting that "men(xy) are capable of self-fertilization
unlike women(xx) who need men. But without women, men's fertilization is limited, shallow
and selfish" - which is the case in the world today. As far as "How Psychotherapy (is alleged
to) Heal", one must realize that I think psychology, psychiatry..., in my opinion, is all
nonsense. All our actions are, essentially, responses to experiences (external or internal) we
have - as filtered by and through our given ways of experiencing things, our languages. What
is real is before we name it and if we mis-name it, what we "see"... will also be wrong.
"Anxiety is an important energy source...(and) there is a (major) difference between
emotional and intellectual insights (and intelligence)...existential anxiety (is the) anxiety of
non-being (that which is given us so we continue to strive)...the fear of death". From the
May 3, 1990 issue of the The Christian Science Monitor, I quote "Leadership is the ability
to envision, define, articulate or show by example the values and interests which bind a
community (the WHOLE human race) together", an excellent definition of leadership.
COMPANY MAGAZINE, Fall, 2010, p. 5 U.S. Army Col. and NASA Mission Specialist
(6months in the Space Station), about his Jesuit education : the "Jesuit foundation of
questioning has led me throughout my career to experience many strange and wonderful
things".
.
clipped from www.dailytimes.com.pk
Thursday, November 25, 2010
COMMENT: Why trust the US? —Harlan Ullman (AND I AGREE)
The Democrats were out to obstruct, if not defeat, the presidencies of George H W and George W Bush. The Republicans sought to bring down President Bill Clinton, impeached but not convicted. Now, Barack Obama is in Republican sights
Quoted before in this column was President John F Kennedy’s dark joke that the only thing worse than being an enemy of the US was being an ally. In the shadow of the NATO heads of state summit that concluded last weekend in Lisbon, Portugal, Kennedy’s remark was stood on its head. The only thing worse for NATO than enemies were friends and allies. President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and the US Congress represented by the Senate were cases in point.
The summit had four major goals. The first was to approve a new strategic concept to replace the one ratified in 1999, the second was to agree on an Afghan strategy, the third was to solidify the alliance’s position on missile defence and the fourth was to improve relations with Russia.
The new strategic concept as well as missile defence, including Russian participation, was indeed approved. The document wisely recognised the needs of the 21st century by broadening NATO from a purely military to a political-military alliance. However, it lacked convincing punch in explaining to its publics why NATO is still relevant today and is not a relic of the past. By listing so many notable aims and good intentions without prioritising them, the new concept circumvented the minefields sown by the many diverging political and strategic objectives among NATO’s 28 members. But until a viable action plan is drawn up and actually implemented, the jury will be out on the long-term impact of the concept.
The alliance further agreed to turn over all security responsibilities to the Afghan forces by the end of 2014. Politically, especially for member states whose publics are opposed to the Afghan adventure, this is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yet, the promise to engage the alliance in Afghanistan for at least four more years does not guarantee reversing failing public support for the mission.
Before the summit, Karzai was unhelpful in the extreme. An interview in The Washington Post early last week, followed by another in the Financial Times (FT), was explosive. Karzai railed against the US and NATO for killing civilians, dark of night arrests and the take down of alleged Taliban. In the FT, Ahmed Rashid, a well known Pakistani journalist, wrote that Karzai’s “new world view (anti-US and NATO) was the most dramatic political shift...in the 26 years that I have known him”.
Karzai more or less drifted back onto the reservation in Lisbon. However, as a senior Western diplomat once observed about Karzai’s behaviour, one wonders if he was “off his meds” or indeed was reflecting his true beliefs in the interviews. If the latter is correct, how can NATO succeed in Afghanistan?
It is now that the political fire-fight in the Senate over the new strategic arms treaty with Russia captures our attention. A little history: for all the mythology of leaving politics at “the water’s edge”, Congress has a sometimes feckless history regarding foreign policy.
A Republican Senate rejected Democratic President Woodrow Wilson’s Versailles treaty ending World War I in part because of how the president ignored that body during the peace conference deliberations. Before Pearl Harbour, Congress was largely isolationist and opposed President Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to engage the nation in World War II.
That legacy of fecklessness was accelerated by the Vietnam War and Watergate. Since then, the political atmosphere in Washington has become radioactively partisan. Both parties share responsibility and culpability. Consider the last 20 years.
The Democrats were out to obstruct, if not defeat, the presidencies of George H W and George W Bush. The Republicans sought to bring down President Bill Clinton, impeached but not convicted. Now, Barack Obama is in Republican sights. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell brags that his top priority is making Obama a one-term president, clearly ignoring his sworn first duty to defend the constitution.
The weapon of choice is ratification of the New Start with Russia. In the Senate, for months, the Republicans have been insisting that the agreements on missile defence and assuring the reliability of nuclear weapons are flawed. But the driving forces are political. In such a poisonous environment, the nation’s security as well as NATO’s are in jeopardy in the New Start debate and when or if the treaty is approved.
From an objective perspective, the treaty is unexceptional in advancing the interests of Russia and the US. That so many senior US military officers, former officials and NATO allies agree is very convincing. Critics cite distant fears over gaps in weapons reliability and missile defence. That NATO’s new strategic concept recognises the need for nuclear weapons and missile defences is a powerful antidote against these fears.
Kennedy may be proven correct again. Friends can be more dangerous than enemies. Worse, many will ask, why trust the US? ("WITH FRIENDS LIKE YOU [SAID A PSYCHIATRIST TO ME AFTER READING MY ANTI-PSYCHIATRY WRITINGS], WHO NEEDS ENEMIES")
Years ago, Walt Kelly’s iconic Pogo cartoon immortalised our politics: “We have met the enemy. It is us.” Amen!
The writer is Chairman of the Killowen Group that advises leaders of government and business, and Senior Advisor at Washington DC’s Atlantic Council
Missiles are but a symptom
By JPOST EDITORIAL
12/19/2010 23:35
The French arms deal is a symptom of the West’s wider impotence, in the face of an increasingly belligerent Iran and Syria. (SO TRUE)
Defense officials voiced concern at the weekend over France’s apparent willingness to sell 100 HOT antitank missiles to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF).
One of the most advanced of its kind in the world, the HOT missile has a range of up to 4 km. and the ability to penetrate about 1,000 mm of armor. It can be installed on both vehicles and helicopters.
Israel’s concern that these missiles will fall into the hands of Hizbullah and be used against the IDF are acute.
The Second Lebanon War underlined the vulnerability of Israeli tanks to such weaponry.
But it would be unfair to single out France as the sole bad guy. The French arms deal is a symptom of the West’s wider impotence, if not disingenuous capitulation, in the face of an increasingly belligerent Iran and Syria, two states which unabashedly continue to strengthen Hizbullah at the expense of Lebanese sovereignty and regional stability.
The US and other western countries have argued that strengthening the LAF via military aid and arms sales promotes Lebanese sovereignty and independence in the face of Syrian and Iranian tutelage. This explains a US decision last month to lift a three-month freeze on $100 million in military aid that includes armored personnel carriers, helicopters, M-16 rifles, night-vision scopes and advanced training for LAF forces.
In an interview with the Lebanese daily An-Nahar just a few days before the freeze was lifted, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the following: “It has been our longstanding policy to support the LAF. The LAF helps to ensure stability and protect the people of Lebanon. It is a truly national institution and a strong symbol of national unity, which includes members of all of Lebanon’s diverse faiths and communities. It is representative and accountable.
“We look forward to continuing to work with Congress to maintain this support, which we believe is in the best interests of the Lebanese people and contributes to stability in Lebanon and in the region.”
The basis for Clinton’s optimism is dubious, to put it mildly. Can she truly draw a confident distinction between the LAF and the ever-more powerful Hizbullah? Is there a barrier between them that Western-supplied arms can be guaranteed not to cross? More fundamentally, do America and France truly believe they can begin to counter Hizbullah’s rapacious appetites by providing a few hundred million dollars in military aid? BOGGED DOWN in Iraq and Afghanistan, perceived as over-extended in this region, its deterrent capacity eroding, the US is deemed highly unlikely to assert itself effectively in Lebanon. Hizbullah, meanwhile, enjoying massive Iranian backing as well as grassroots support from the large Shi’ite populace, continues to consolidate its military and political hegemony. UN Security Council Resolution 1701, passed after the Second Lebanon War, which calls for the disarmament of the Hizbullah, has been totally ignored.
Summing up IDF estimates, Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren warned recently that, “Hizbullah today now has four times as many rockets as it had during the 2006 Lebanon war. These rockets are longer-range. Every city in Israel is within range right now, including Eilat.”
The IDF has released information to bolster its claim that Hizbullah is storing these rockets beneath hospitals, schools and homes.
The once courageous Prime Minister Saad Hariri and Walid Jumblatt, whose war-hardened Druse community fought the Party of God to a standstill in May 2008 – when Hizbullah nearly sparked a civil war in response to attempts to close down its satellite TV station Al Manar – have realized it would be suicidal to rely on the backing of the US or “moderate” Sunni states such as Saudi Arabia in a standoff against the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis.
King Abdullah of Jordan, with a healthy survival instinct that recognizes the real strong horse in the region, has shown signs of a desire to warm relations. He recently received an official invitation to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Now Hizbullah, with no one standing in its way, may not even have to resort to violence to persuade Hariri’s government not to cooperate with a UN tribunal that is expected to find senior Hizbullah officials responsible for the 2005 assassination of the prime minister’s father, Rafik Hariri.
YASSER,
What a masterful piece of work - which I will use as I often do. But see my (EDITING)
below.
TOM
clipped from www.dailytimes.com.pk
Monday, December 20, 2010
VIEW: Double standards of our Kharijites —Yasser Latif Hamdani
Every time the state prints a passport form or form for an identity card describing the founder of the Ahmedi faith as an impostor, liar and false prophet, it violates 295-A
The Second Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973 declares that, for the purposes of the law and constitution, Ahmedis are non-Muslims. Specifically, the Ahmedis have been mentioned as a non-Muslim community along with other faiths. It therefore follows that the Ahmedi faith is a separate, recognised religion of a class of citizens of Pakistan known as Ahmedis under our constitution, which protects freedom of religion, and law, which protects all classes of citizens in Pakistan in principle against violence and persecution. If there was any doubt about the legal position of Ahmedis, 298-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) crystallises their position as non-Muslims.
Now let us review the blasphemy laws of Pakistan, which are always used to persecute minorities but never protect them. 295-A for example says, “Whoever, with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of the citizens of Pakistan, by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations insults or attempts to insult the religion or the religious beliefs of that class, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, or with fine, or with both.”
One may also refer to 153-A of the aforesaid PPC which says, “Whoever (a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities; or (b) commits or incites any other person to commit, any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional, groups or castes or communities or any group of persons identifiable as such on any ground whatsoever and which disturbs or is likely to disturb public tranquillity; or (c) organises, or incites any other person to organise, any exercise, movement, drill or other similar activity intending that the participants in any such activity shall use or be trained to use criminal force or violence or knowing it to be likely that the participants in any such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force of violence, or participates, or incites any other person to participate, in any such activity intending to use or be trained to use criminal force or violence, or knowing it to be likely that the participants in any such activity will use or be trained to use criminal force or violence against any religious(!), racial(!), language(!) or regional group(!) or caste(!) or community(!) or any group of persons identifiable as such(!) on any ground whatsoever and any such activity for any reason whatsoever causes or is likely to cause fear or alarm or a feeling of insecurity amongst members of such religious, racial, language or regional group or caste or community, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine.”
Now, admittedly, under the law and constitution of Pakistan, the Ahmedi community is a religious community and class unto itself, which should, in principle, enjoy the same protections of law and constitution as any citizen of Pakistan must enjoy. Clearly then it follows that the founder of their faith, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, also enjoys the privilege of 295-A, and to defile his memory ought to be punishable by incarceration extending up to 10 years. It is also clear that any incitement against Ahmedis amounts to an incitement against a group of citizens of Pakistan defined(!!!, AH, YASSER, DEFINITIONS ARE CENTRAL TO WE WHO ARE LAWYERS, EVEN IF THE LAW -AS SO MANY IN aMERICA ARE- IS AN ASS. BUT WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN THE LEGAL PROFESSION ITSELF IS ROTTEN TO THE CORE -AS IN AMERICA- OR NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE ABIDE BY THE LAW -AS IN PAKISTAN) by its religious beliefs, which is punishable under Pakistani law.
The foremost guilty party is the state itself. Every time the state prints a passport form or form for an identity card describing the founder of the Ahmedi faith as an impostor, liar and false prophet, it violates 295-A. The next guilty party is every mullah and his mother-in-law. If Pakistan applied its laws justly and fairly, every ignorant mullah using the pulpit to abuse Ahmedis and inciting people to violence against them would be behind bars for combined sentences of 15 years at the very least.
No sir, in Pakistan the law does not protect the weak, helpless and marginalised. It persecutes them. Ignorant and hypocritical(!!!; IGNORANT, UNEDUCATED BUFFOONS) mullahs have made a mockery of the constitution, law and process in Pakistan. Justice Sardar Muhammad Iqbal, in his famous judgement in Kaikaus v. President of Pakistan PLD 1976 Lah 1608 (which my colleague Saad Chaudhry was kind enough to point me towards), had described the petitioners as Kharijites. Thirty-four years later it seems Pakistan is not an Islamic state or a Shia state or a Sunni state. It is now a Kharijite state held hostage by our Kharijite mullahs who are hell bent on destroying the rest of us and, in the process, Pakistan itself.
Instead, the violators of the PPC, like the ignorant Alim Online, are hailed as great scholars. Another ignorant mullah announces prize money for the death of a poor hapless woman incarcerated under clearly false charges through a dubious and unfair process and no one has the courage in this country to try him. Our great and mighty chief justice who has a penchant for suo motu notices has yet to invoke 153-A against the said mullah.
What depths will we not fall to? Could the contrast be any greater to our founding principles? At the height of the Pakistan Movement, Jinnah refused to endorse a cover for Time magazine on its editor’s request because it was derogatory and insulting “to the Hindu Community”. Our nation state was built on positive values, not hatred for others. Yet we now seem to call into question its very existence by our actions. Incidentally, questioning the creation of Pakistan is also punishable under Section 123-A of the PPC, though it has never stopped the PPP from sharing power with the JUI-F, a party whose famous antecedent Maulana Mufti Mahmood, the posthumous godfather of the Taliban and bigoted forces, historically denounced the creation of Pakistan. (YOU KNOW, YASSER, THERE IS MORE THAN JUST "HATRED" INVOLVED HERE ; SEE MY DISCUSSION OF THE COLLECTIVE FEMININE, THAT WHICH IS A SUBSTRATE OF HUMANITY, AN ATTRIBUTE OF ALLAH)
The writer is a lawyer. He also blogs at http://pakteahouse.net and can be reached at yasser.hamdani@gmail.com
Get Clipmarks - The
clipped from news.yahoo.com
Pope: Church must reflect on what allowed abuse (TOUCHE')
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI told Vatican officials Monday that they must reflect on the church's culpability in its child sex-abuse scandal, but he also blamed a secular society in which he said the mistreatment of children was frighteningly common. (ALL SO TRUE - AND A RESULT OF THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT BOYS AND GIRLS, MEN AND WOMEN ARE "EQUAL")
In his traditional, end-of-the-year speech to Vatican cardinals and bishops, Benedict said revelations of abuse in 2010 reached "an unimaginable dimension" that required the church to accept the "humiliation" as a call for renewal.
"We must ask ourselves what was wrong in our proclamation, in our whole way of living the Christian life, to allow such a thing to happen," the pope said.
Benedict also said, however, that the scandal must be seen in a broader social context, in which child pornography is seemingly considered normal by society and drug use and sexual tourism are on the rise.(WESTERN -INCLUDING AMERICAN- SOCIETY, TO PUT IT PLAINLY, IS DEGENERATE, STUCK IN A FOUL CESSPOOL...AND ALL BECAUSE OF THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT BOYS AND GIRLS, MEN AND WOMEN ARE "EQUAL")
"The psychological destruction of children, in which human persons are reduced to articles of merchandise, is a terrifying sign of the times," Benedict said. (I COULD NOT AGREE WITH HIM MORE)
He said that as recently as as the 1970s, pedophilia wasn't considered an absolute evil but rather part of a spectrum of behaviors that people refused to judge in the name of tolerance and relativism.
(AS AN ASSIGNED [LEGAL AID TYPE] AND PRIVATE DEFENSE LAWYER IN THE BRONX AND WESTCHESTER...COUNTY OF NYS FAMILY AND CRIMINAL COURT FROM 1978 TO 1991, I KNOW ALL ABOUT THAT AND THE PSYCHIATRIC -FEMINIST- NONSENSE THAT ALLOWED SUCH FILTH TO BE ACCEPTED AS "NORMAL" ; IT WAS FILTH SUCH AS THAT THAT LEAD ME TO ATTACK -TO DESTROY- THE CURRENT LEGAL SYSTEM ; AND TO CONTINUE DOING SO TO THIS DAY EVEN AFTER I WAS THROWN OUT OF THE LEGAL SYSTEM FOR ATTACKING -TO DESTROY- THAT LEGAL SYSTEM, FOULED AND RUINED BY FEMINIST NONSENSE)
As an avalanche of cases of pedophile priests came to light, church officials frequently defended their previous practice of putting abusers in therapy, not jail, by saying that was the norm in society (AND IT WAS ; AND THAT IS WHY I MUST DESTROY THAT SOCIETY, THAT "NORM") at the time. Only this year did the Vatican post on its website unofficial guidelines for bishops to report pedophile priests to police if local laws require it.
"In the 1970s, pedophilia was theorized as something fully in conformity with man and even with children," the pope said. "It was maintained — even within the realm of Catholic theology — that there is no such thing as evil in itself or good in itself. There is only a 'better than' and a 'worse than.' Nothing is good or bad in itself." (I TELL YOU TRULY -BECAUSE I KNOW- THAT CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE, HOMOSEXUALITY...AND ALL OTHER FEMINIST NONSENSE IS WRONG, WRONG, WRONG)
"The effects of such theories are evident today," he said.
The traditional Christmas speech to Vatican cardinals and bishops is an eagerly anticipated address that Benedict uses to focus the church hierarchy on key issues.
Benedict has previously acknowledged that the scandal was the result of sin that the church must repent for, and make amends with victims. He repeated Monday that the church must do a better job of screening out abusers and helping victims heal.
"It is fundamentally disturbing to watch a brilliant man so conveniently misdiagnose a horrific scandal," said Barbara Blaine, president of the main U.S. victims' group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
She said the scandal wasn't caused by the 1970s but rather by the church's culture of secrecy and fixation with self-preservation in which predator priests and the bishops who moved them around rather than turn them in were rarely disciplined. (THE CHURCH WAS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT THIS WOMAN IS DEFENDING IS EVEN MORE WRONG)
"Whenever the pope tires of talking about abuse and starts acting on abuse, he should focus on taking immediate, pratical steps to oust those who commit, ignore and conceal clergy sex crimes first," Blaine said. (I COULDN'T AGREE WITH HER MORE, BUT SHE IS STILL WRONG)
The sex abuse scandal, which first exploded in the U.S. in 2002, erupted on a global scale this year with revelations of thousands of victims in Europe and beyond, of bishops who covered up for pedophile priests and of Vatican officials who turned a blind eye to the crimes for decades.
Questions were raised about how Benedict himself handled cases both as archbishop in Munich and as head of the Vatican office that handled abuse cases.
Recently, the Vatican released documentation showing that as early as 1988 then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sought to find quicker ways to permanently remove priests who raped and molested children in a bid to get around church law that made it difficult to defrock priests against their will.
While Ratzinger was unsuccessful then, Vatican rules now allow for fast-track defrocking. But victims advocates say the Vatican still has a long way to go in terms of requiring bishops to report sex crimes to police and release information and documentation about known pedophiles. (IT IS TIME FOR VICTIMS OF SUCH HORRIFIC CRIMES TO GO AFTER THE REAL -PRIOR- CAUSE OF SUCH HORRORS, THE FEMINIST NONSENSE THAT MEN AND WOMEN, GIRLS AND BOYS ARE "EQUAL"
AND START PUSHING FOR SEPARATE EDUCATION FOR BOYS AND GIRLS - WITH DIFFERENT FORMATIVE CURRICULA THAT DENOUNCES ALL FEMINIST NONSENSE FOR BOY
Yonkers Rising (YR), 12-10-10, p.9 Politics in the Lower Hudson Valley. Political corruption
in and from NYC into Westchester and Putnam Counties and beyond. NYS Sen. "Vinnie"
Leibel pleads guilty in Putnam County on charges arising out of a case in Yonkers involving
bribing a (Democratic Party) Yonkers City Councilwoman (Sandi Annabi) which was
accomplished by attorney Anthony Mangone and her cousin Zehy Jereis (Yonkers Republican
leader who worked in NYS Sen. Nick Spano's office) ; all three were indicted in Yonkers and
Mangone turned on Annabi and Jereis to cut a deal with US Prosecutors in which he also
ratted on Leibel and, perhaps, many more. Perhaps even Nick Spano, Al Pirro, Bronx
Republican leader Jay Savino (with whom he shared a legal office). Mangone also
represented members of organized crime. Jereis is supposedly also talking with the Feds,
to get a deal like Mangone did.What a rogues gallery here.
A French reader of my blog posted this message
From: Anonymous
Date: Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 3:06 PM
Subject: [jewsyonkersislamiii-tc] New comment on jyi # 722L,4 US&Law : A single mother's lament ; ....
To: tbitom52@gmail.com
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "jyi # 722L,4 US&Law : A single mother's lament ; ...":
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Posted by Anonymous to jewsyonkersislamiii-tc at December 16, 2010 12:14 AM
HEZI,
YOU ARE A SUPERB STORY TELLER. SEE HOW I HAVE EDITED THIS BELOW
(IN PARENTHESES).
TOM
First Amendment Rights Violated - Press Ejected from Open Meeting By Hezi Aris
EHezi_Hezitorial The Open Meetings Law ( OML) permits media to attend meetings at which the majority of the Yonkers City Council, that is a minimum of four of the seven members attend. Denying media to attend such meetings strips media of their First Amendment rights, an issue fought and recently won against Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone by The Westchester Guardian for which I now an editor. This time it was Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick who chose to wear a brown shirt
(A REMINDER OF NAZISM AND ITS CAMPAIGN TO EXTERMINATE THE JEWS ; AND CHUCK lEZNICK IS A JEW, AS IS HEZI, MY FRIEND [AS IS CHUCK, THOUGH LESS SO]. IT ALSO BRINGS TO MIND US SECT. OF STATE HENRY KISSINGER ABOUT JEWS IN RUSSIA - AND KISSINGER, WHOM I ADMIRE GREATLY, WAS ALSO JEWISH) to a meeting to which he was uncomfortable having media in attendance.
It was before 4:00 pm, Tuesday afternoon, december 14, 2010, when. I made my way to the Yonkers City Council Chambers. As I entered the chambers, Ricky Richard, Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick’s Chief of Staff who upon seeing me making my entrance into the chambers said the meeting was private and I was not invited. I advised the Opening Meeting Law permitted me the right to attend since at least four members of the Yonkers City Council were expected to attend. As I was espousing my rights, I glanced beyond Ms Richard’s left shoulder to see a U-shaped set up of tables and chairs upon which sat laptop computers and an 8 1/2“ by 1“ thick paper folded lengthwise in half upon which city councilpeople’s names were affixed. She shrugged her shoulders, as she departed from where I stood, and said, “Whatever! I found my place in the first pew (YONKERS CITY COUNCIL IS A CHURCH ? AY VEY.), toward the center aisle, placing my cell phone, pen, gloves, kafiyah, and jacket to my left, and began reading the latest edition of The Westchester Guardian (ALWAYS A GOOD PAPER).
Chuck Lesnick then came toward me. Upon reaching wooden partition dividing us on opposite sides of the railing, Mr Lesnick said I could not attend the meeting; adamant I was not invited. I repeated that as long as a minimum of four members of the Yonkers City Council membership would come to attend, I had a right to attend the meeting. He departed from my sight.
Next, a gentleman whose last name I remember was “White,asked for my identity. He wanted to engage me in conversation. I was not having it. I advised he had no right to ask for my identity and if he was so inquisitive, he should ask anyone in the Yonkers City Council Chambers at the time to ascertain who I was (GOOD MAN, HEZI). He would go on to explain that the meeting was in “fact” a course in “leadership training” for those who would attend and that I was not invited. I had noting more to say, and therefore said nothing.
The Yonkers Police Officer who sits at the northern entranceway to Yonkers City Hall was called the fourth floor to ask me to step outside the City Council Chambers. I advised him that I was rightly within the law to attend. By that time, Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick had sat at the u-shaped dais, as did Majority Leader Patricia McDow (1st District), attended by her dog, Councilmen Wilson Terrero (District 2), and Dennis Shepherd (District 4).
Within 10 more minutes approximately 6 or as many as 8 more Yonkers Police Officers entered the chambers to demand my departure from the premises. I refused, advising the YPD I was abiding by the rights afforded me by the Open Meetings Law. I knew I was within my rights to attend.
Then one officer, the one who engaged me in conversation and expostulation wanted to know why I was the only member of media in attendance. I advised that I am often the only one in attendance. I beseeched he request confrmation of my not being permitted attendance from the Yonkers City Council President Lesnick noting that he and the other city council members comprised a majority to which media is permitted attendance. I advised if Mr Lesnick advised I was illegally attending the meeting, I would depart. With great respect, the Police Officer said he would do just that but prior to being able to ask that question of Mr Lesnick, a much officer offer got in my face and said it was Mr Lesnick who asked for my expulsion. I told that officer I was rightly permitted attendance by the Open Meetings Law. He threatened to physically throw me out of the council chambers. I advised the officer that I would call Police Commissioner Hartnett. This statement so infuriated the older officer that he snatched my pen from my left hand. I had the impression he was aiming form my cell phone. A younger officer insinuated himself into the confrontation advising if I did not depart the premises within 1 minuee he would have me handcuffed and removed from the Yonkers City Council Chambers. (YOU SHOULD HAVE LET THEM DO THAT HEZI - AND THEN SUE),
Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick fomented every aspect of escalating confrontation from afar by first lying about the “learning session" by calling designating it a meeting. A meeting of four members of the Yonkers City Council membership permits media attendance. When “Lesnick the Liar” earlier had said that only three members of the Yonkers City Council membership would attend, he further engraved the coming together of members of the Yonkers City Council membership were doing so to attend a “meeting” to which the Open Meeting Law permits attendance by media. “Lesnick the Liar” defiled the YPD by having them act upon a set of false circumstances he concocted to suit his needs (TOUCHE', HEZI) and to keep the public unaware that the Office of the Mayor was paying for the “leadership learning" session . No conflict of interest here. There may be a legal difference between a “learning session" attended by 4 or more members of the Yonkers City Council and a “meeting" of a majority of members. “Lesnick the Liar" muddied the issue by waffling, not the number one leadership trait desired, by morphing the term “meeting” to “learning session.”
What is evident by this event, is that “Lesnick the Liar,” can and does concoct lies and foments trouble for anyone because he can. He is offended to be found out benefitting from another taxpayer paid perk at a time when the City of Yonkers can least afford to spend funds for his “learning on the job.” The course was meant to teach him and the others in attendance of the leadership skills to which he is not adept at grasping. (TOUCHE', HEZI, ONCE AGAIN)
“Lesnick the Liar” has again proved only to be adept at lurking behind closed doors to benefit himself, not to benefit The People who pay the bills for his ineptitude.
Anticipating the skullduggery afoot from the moment I met Ms Richard, I called two lawyers. The first was not available. the second was made aware of the circumstances.
I did depart the Yonkers City Council Chambers and sat in the lobby until about 6:30 pm when I re-entered the Yonkers City Council Chambers, took my seat in the first pew and was glued to the meeting.
Councilman John Larkin (District 6), Minority Leader John Murtagh (District 5), and Councilwoman Joan Gronowski (District 3) did not attend the "meeting / learning session."
(YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING HERE HEZI, PUSH AND MAKE IT WORK)
SAFED CHIEF Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu
Photo by: Marc Israel Sellem
(TAKE AWAY HIS BEARD AND HAT AND I COULD BE LOOKING INTO A MIRROR AT MYSELF)
This fire is still burning: Racism is spreading
By MICHAEL MARMUR
12/07/2010 23:21
Rabbis' ban on the rental or sale of property to non-Jews demonstrates lack of understanding for the basic currency of life in a liberal democracy. (TOUCHE' ; A "LIBERAL" DEMOCRACY IS THE BIBLICAL STATE)
Fifty Orthodox rabbis, most of them recipients of state funding, have just declared a ban on the rental or sale of property to non-Jews (WHO IS A "NON-JEW ?). They cite a number of halachic precedents, including the fear of intermarriage which apparently will ensue if such property deals are concluded. They also note that prices will fall if such transactions take place. It’s the Aramaic version of “there goes the neighborhood.”
If we allow these declarations to pass with no comment, there goes Judaism. If the true voice of Judaism is one which provides a mandate for bigotry and a license for racism (WHICH, IN THIS CASE, DOES), then our crisis is of epic proportions.
There are precedents for the position adopted by the 50 saintly rabbis. The Bible itself does not read like an advertisement for intergroup dialogue.
The questions then become: How do you understand the essence of Judaism, and how long are you prepared to stay silent as the soul of Judaism is kidnapped (SAME WITH ISLAM...) ? The declaration by these rabbis is shameful, harmful and wrong. Its argumentation may be sound, but its core is putrid. It demonstrates a breathtaking lack of understanding for the basic currency of life in a liberal democracy.
I just heard a very moving interview on the radio with Yona Yahav, the mayor of Haifa. He is no Jewish scholar, nor does he pretend to be. But as mayor of a city in which Jews and Arabs try to live together, he pointed out the obscenity of the rabbinic ruling and contrasted it with the displays of solidarity and good citizenship which characterized the past few days in the North. Jews and Arabs (and others too) fought the fire together, and often demonstrated great heroism and humanity in the process.
Last week, before the fire in the Carmel, evidence of the smouldering embers of bigotry was provided by a major survey conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute. It found that 53% of the Jewish public believes that the state is entitled (MORE LIBERAL FEMINIST EXCESS) to encourage Arabs to emigrate from Israel. I wonder if the 53% are prepared to think through the implications of this kind of ‘encouragement,’ and if the remaining 47% are ready and able to dampen these flames before all control is lost.
I am a bleeding-heart liberal (I AM A RATIONAL AND PRAGMATIC CONSERVATIVE). My heart is indeed bleeding, but not perhaps for the reason commonly attributed. It is true that the victims of this kind of intolerance deserve our sympathy.
My heart goes out to every non-Jewish citizen of this country whenever they are the victims of inequity. But it is for Judaism that my heart bleeds; if it cannot show the kind of moral (MORALE) focus and conceptual suppleness needed to face up to the challenges of the day. Bigotry makes us stupid, and it puts the success of our enterprise at risk. A Judaism which enjoins me to deny the civil rights and human dignity of any person does not deserve the monopoly on the brand name, nor is it worthy of state funding.
Judaism should never add fuel to our basest prejudices and lowest emotions. It is meant to give form to our highest aspirations and deepest yearnings.
WE ARE coming to the end of Hanukka, our fire festival. Some see it as a mandate for intolerance. (RACISM)
After all, Mattathias lashed out against the Hellenizing assimilators. Here again, the question at stake is how you understand Judaism. Are the candles symbols of bigotry or of boundary maintenance, of hatred or of hope? The fire in the Carmel is finally out. The fire of racism and intolerance is still burning. Indeed, it is spreading. If you are a Jew who cares about Judaism and Israel, regardless of your denominational affiliation, you need to stand up and say: This rabbinic ruling is wrong. Those within the four ells of halachic discourse will conduct the struggle from their vantage point. Those outside will use the tools available to them.
This fire threatens all. We have to douse the flames of bigotry with the life-giving waters which flow within a Judaism of humanity. Why don’t all those who strive for such a Judaism get our act together? We learned in this last crisis that when the situation is urgent, rivals and even enemies can cooperate (SURVIVAL IS NOT JUST FOR ONE, BUT FOR ALL). This fire is still burning. It is time to sound the alarm.
Ed Koch Commentary: Are We Witnessing A Greek Tragedy? By Edward I. Koch
Koch_EdwardIrving-standing The debacle that resulted from President Obama's negotiations with the Republican leadership is extremely complicated. Examining each vote and action by the Democrats in both Houses and assigning a significance to that vote and action would take the skills of a first-class investigative journalist with the resources and staff needed to do the interviewing of Democratic members of Congress and the Senate.
I don’t have those resources, so those interested in the rise and fall of President Obama will have to wait until some individual writer is stirred to do a book or a major media facility – one of the great newspapers – assigns an appropriate staff to examine the torturous road that brought President Obama to extraordinary heights. He won the presidency by defeating a gifted old pro, Hillary Clinton, whom I supported. Ultimately he was brought to his political knees by his inability to successfully govern. Has a tin ear and appointed a staff that left him vulnerable to a far greater degree than anyone could have imagined.
What the President would call his major legislative success – passage of the comprehensive health care legislation –-- could also be called his first major failure. I supported its passage because I wanted written into law the concept of universal medical care. However, instead of finding ways to cover the 32 million people he ultimately added to the system, he embarked upon a year and a half program to reinvent the wheel, endangering the coverage of the millions more who had insurance policies they liked. Yet, by taxing what his staff referred to as the “gold plated” insurance contracts that many of us had paid for with our own monies (AGREED, BUT WHAT IF THERE IS NO MONEY AT ALL LEFT ?), Obama Care jeopardized the entire reform. The major achievements of preventing insurance companies from rejecting those with prior major medical conditions or terminating or not renewing contracts, as important as they were, did not assuage the fear that we who liked (BUT SO MUCH MORE THAN "LIKING" IS AT STAKE - SURVIVAL OF AMERICA AND AMERICANS - AND THE REST OF THE HUMAN RACE) our policies were in danger of losing our protection.
So what should have become a monumental achievement on his part became instead a liability. A majority of the country’s citizens oppose the Obama healthcare legislation now the law of the land. That failure set the stage for President Obama’s taking a shellacking at the polls, losing 63 House seats and six Senate seats in the 2010 Congressional election.
What bothered the supporters of the president most about his leadership of the Democratic Party in the negotiations that involved him and the Senate leadership was that legislation that was perceived as Democratic signature legislation was never adequately fought for or defended by the President. When the Republican leadership threatened a filibuster – 60 votes being needed in the Senate to defeat one, with the Democrats having only 56 votes, the Democratic leadership including the president, folded, withdrawing the contested measures the Democrats wanted to pass, e.g., having a single-payer option in the comprehensive insurance legislation, restoration of income tax rates for those earning over $250,000 or enacting the Schumer compromise (those earning over a million), extension of unemployment insurance benefits for the now two million Americans for whom such insurance was running out, and many more legislative items.
What the Democratic members of Congress, particularly those who had survived the election debacle, wanted the President to do was exercise his leadership to bring those measures to the floor, dare the Republicans to filibuster and force Republican Senators to physically be present keeping the Senate Chamber in session 24 hours a day at least until the end of the year and perhaps do so next year as well, since the Democrats still have a majority in the Senate this year and next. (A RECIPE FOR TOTAL CHAOS IN AMERICA)
The President declined to do so and, with the Democratic Senate leadership, caved to the simple threat of filibuster. Obama apparently hoped to be seen as a new President, now willing to meet with his Republican adversaries, whom he had spurned, selling out to the latter by extending the Bush tax cuts on those making $250,000 for the next two years. In exchange, he got an extension of unemployment insurance for 13 months and a host of tax cutting measures such as a reduction in Fica (payroll) taxes for one year.
It offends me and anyone I’ve talked with to have the president’s defenders prattle he pressured the Republicans to accept his tax cuts. No one believes that the Republican leadership had to be pummeled to agree to the Obama tax cuts. The Republican leadership probably jumped with joy at the request, hoping he would request even more tax cut proposals, no matter the jeopardy to the nation’s economic stability and addition to the national debt.
It is unheard of for Democrats to refuse in such a concerted way to support a Democratic president’s request, as the House caucus did last week, with all but one voting down a resolution to support Obama’s agreement with the Republicans.
The New York Times of December 13th reported “While Democrats held on to the Senate, the sentiment is not much different across the Rotunda, though Democratic senators appear more resigned to the compromise on taxes.” The Times also reported, “Reluctant House Democrats predicted that the package would be approved before Congress adjourns this year, as days of rage and frustration began giving way to resignation and acceptance.”
Politics is the most fluid of professions. No one is ever out until the election is over. We all believe anyone can recover and become successful. Are we witnessing a Greek tragedy?
The Honorable Edward Irving Koch served New York City as its 105th Mayor from 1978 to 1989. His e-mail address is: eikoch@bryancave.com
The Hezitorial: That Which Was Said Has Been Intolerable By Hezi Aris
EHezi_Hezitorial In Sophocles’ play Antigone, a sentry reports the burial of Polyneices to King Creon. The sentry acknowledges that no one loves the bearer of bad news, but is unprepared for the strength of Creon’s reaction. “What you say is intolerable,” the king expostulates. He threatens the sentry with hanging.
2,500 years later we continue to attack those who dare tell us things we find intolerable. Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone smarts upon hearing that he is responsible for the rudderless, meandering management style that has brought a proud city too close to the shoals of danger from which he is now incapable to avoid. The coffers are empty because he has blundered while attempting to learn the job on the job. His hubris was exacted upon those that have stood in his way. No one was responsible for corrupting him. He alone is responsible for his failures. Yet he will not look in the mirror fearing he may learn the truth about himself. It is so much easier to point his finger toward others to deflect attention from issues of grave pertinence to the city we love.
Mayor Amicone has become the poster child of opportunity squandered. His failings will be bequeathed upon a populace he chose to dismiss and shun. He strayed from treating the voter with respect and moved toward disrespecting their perspectives.
Yonkers, the soon to be designated third largest city in New York State has been able to maintain its provincial, small town feel. The neighborliness and familiarity among Yonkers’ populace has maintained its close knit fabric through growing financial and political adversity for decades.
Rather than responding with forethought and vision to Yonkers issues and concerns, Mayor Amicone’s administration has chosen to demonize the people who elected him into office.
When he issued a statement that asserted Yonkers was the second safest city of cities of like populations, The Wall Street Journal’s research found his assertion a fabrication since they validated Yonkers placement relegated to the 131st position. Were Yonkersites told we were at the 131st position, there would be no uproar. Yonkersites CAN handle the truth! Still lies continue to emanate from Yonkers City Hall. Yonkersites never voted for another set of parents, had we, they would not be as dysfunctional as is Mayor Amicone’s administration.
Mayor Amicone’s directives are an agglomeration of failure. When he incorporated eminent domain statutes to seize a plot of land on Saw Mill River Road which were eventually converted to a failed parking lot, and worse still a legal suit lost by the City of Yonkers (CoY), the messenger of the telling of the circumstances was called at fault for mentioning Mayor Amicone presiding over the entire scenario unraveling under his watch.
The Yonkers Board of Education Board of Trustees, each appointed by Mayor Amicone, have been permitted to sue CoY with the alleged endorsement of Mayor Amicone. The funds used by the YBoE are taxpayer funds initially allocated for educating students have been squandered and have not been repaid to the YBoE.
Friends get jobs, those that fall into disfavor are kicked to the curb.
Inspector General Dan Schorr continues to kiss Mayor Amicone’s derierre rather than to confine himself to the tenets set for him by the law and the jurisdiction of his office (THE INSPECTOR GENERAL, I BELIEVE, WAS A WESTCHESTER COUNTY D.A. IN CHARGE OF CRIMES AGAINST WOMEN ; HOW COULD HE BE OTHER THAN SERIOUSLY DIS-ORDERED, HANGING ON FOR THE APPROVAL OF ANOTHER DISORDERED PUBLIC OFFICIAL). Another appointed official corrupted at Mayor Amicone’s whim. The taxpayer funds Mr Schorr earns makes it easy for him to fall asleep at night.When Inspector General Schorr was outed by this publication, Mayor Amicone became belligerent in his response for being found out.
When the Father Pat Carroll Greene housing development was found to have used taxpayer money to fabricate a development less than that marketed, Mayor Amicone was disgusted by the populace he claims to have helped but who in reality were duped into purchasing a product less than that advertised. Defined, designed, and built under his watch, the lawsuit to which Mayor Amicone must respond, exposes his arrogance. He simply hates the messenger of truth.
Our publication came before WikiLeaks came on the scene. We have conducted our efforts within the parameters defined by a moral
(MORALE) compass as opposed to the backroom deals (SOUNDS LIKE THE SPANO FAMILY, LIKE SANDI ANNABI, ZEHY JEREIS, ANTHONY MANGONE, JAY SEVINO, "VINNIE" LEIBELL...) to which Mayor Amicone has been privy, and whose power as strong mayor of the Mayor of Yonkers have been exacted despite public sentiment to the contrary. We’ve thrown the facts before him. He chose to trash them. It would have been easier to deal with each issue as it came to light. Mayor Amicone chose not to contend with anything that may have been construed as derogatory to his administration.
The WikiLeaks episode has exposed disgust of those dismissed by an all powerful, power elite who dismiss The People despite the U.S. Constitution affording The People “inalienable rights.”
Yonkers has alluded to George Orwell’s 1984 concepts becoming part of our reality. There are no longer “free” men and women within Yonkers border. There are only those with power and those without.
I am pessimistic about a good outcome.
Yonkersites have been weaned on a city notorious for telling its public the news its leaders wanted to tell - and for the contempt with which the public treated such news. Yonkers Mayor Amicone should be the last leader to threaten to hang the honest messenger.
Sheila M. Marcotte Reports
(SHE ISN'T A BAD LOOKING LADY. OF COURSE, SHE WASN'T ON THE B.O.L. WHEN
I SANG BEFORE IT -UNTIL THEY BANNED ME FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE
BOARD - YET I GET HER E-MAILINGS ; CURIOUS.
December 16, 2010
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
The following is the Minority response to the 2011 budget as well as the Minority report which includes the Republican thoughts and concerns. It has been a long budget process and thanks to updated technology you can watch any and all of the budget testimony, including the individual meetings with the departments and commissioners, on www.westchesterlegislators.com. I look forward to your comments.
Respectfully,
County Legislator
Sheila Marcotte - 10th District
smm6@westchestergov.com
Westchester GOP Legislators Issue Minority Report On 2011
Budget Process Support Budget with Reservations and Ready to Vote to Sustain Vetoes to Improve Budget
White Plains NY – The Republican members of the Westchester County Board of Legislators issued a report (see below) on 2011 County Budget announcing support for the 2% property tax reduction, while citing reservations about the flawed and rushed budget process, and that they are prepared to support vetoes to the budget by the County Executive that will make it more fiscally responsible. (ALL HIS VETOS SHOULD BE UPHELD ; FAILING THAT WE SEE A NEW BOARD, SOONER RATHER THAN LATER : IMPEACHMENT FOR STUPIDITY AND INCOMPETENCE)
In the Minority Report, the Republican legislators cited detailed flaws in the budget itself and the process to approve it, and said the budget process was at odds with good and open government, when the additions and deletions to the budget for both expenditures and revenues were decided in the secrecy of closed door meetings of the Democratic caucus, with the public, press and Republican legislators shut out, as well as the Budget Director, Commissioners and County Attorney, and only shown to the Republican legislators just before votes were taken. (BRING UP MOUNT VERNON COMPTROLLER MAUREEN WALKER TO REVIEW
THE BOARD'S BUDGET, JUST LIKE SHE DID IN REJECTING MOUNT VERNON'S PROPOSED BUDGET)
Minority Leader Jim Maisano (New Rochelle) stated, “We have major concerns about the accuracy of the modifications to the budget. It is unclear if these numbers will provide us with enough money to run the County in 2011. The budget was clearly rushed, and the Republican legislators were denied a full and fair opportunity to review the additions and deletions prior to being forced to take votes on them. The Republican legislators will support vetoes to the budget that will ensure it is balanced and fiscally sound.”
Some of the flaws in budget cited in the Minority Report include:
1. $1,075,000 for “Albany style member items” added to undesignated miscellaneous lines;
2. $500,000 to create an unnecessary law department for the Board of Legislators (WE NEED TO GET RID OF ALL THE LAWYERS);
3. $2.3 million in inflated Sales Tax revenue (UNREALISTIC);
4. $3.5 million taken from the 2010 fund balance (A RAINY-DAY FUND IS NOT MEANT TO COVER UP FUNDAMENTAL INCOMPETENCE ON THE BOARD ; AND DONT BLAME KEN JENKINS. AT THE ROOTS OF ALL OUR PROBLEMS ARE WHITE FEMINISTS IDIOTS); and
5. Restoration of the administration of the Section 8 housing subsidy program, which is
6. currently being transferred to non-profits. (IN ACTUAL FACT THESE SECTION 8 FUNDS ONLY PUT 40 OTHERWISE USELESS, DO-NOTHING AND NON-PRODUCTIVE WORKERS BACK ON THE PAYROLL. MOREOVER, IT IS TIME
7. TO DO AWAY WITH FUNDS FOR "NON-PROFITS" AND DEMOLISH THE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, THAT
8. PERVERTED PUSHER OF HOMOSEXUALITY, THAT WHICH MUST BE TOTALLY DESTROYED)
“The taxpayers of Westchester do not support slush funds for County Legislators,” said Minority Whip Gordon A. Burrows, (R-Yonkers). “We worked diligently to oppose all wasteful spending in the budget and are still shocked that the Democrats insisted on adding back much of the spending that the County Executive had cut in his proposed budget.”
The Republican legislators say the budget process now continues to the veto phase, and they will vote in support of vetoes by the County Executive of the questionable revenues and spending in the budget. The Legislators are slated to meet again on December 23 to review vetoes. County law requires an approved budget no later than December 27.
The other Republican members supporting the Minority Report are John G. Testa, (Peekskill), Bernice Spreckman (Yonkers), and Sheila Marcotte (Eastchester).
Minority Report on 2011 Westchester County Budget from the Republican Members of the Board of Legislators
The Republican members of the Board of Legislators will vote in support of the 2011 County Budget with reservations. Most importantly, despite voting in support of the budget, we reserve our right to fully review any vetoes by the County Executive and vote to sustain the vetoes necessary to ensure the passage of a fiscally sound 2011 County Budget.
Our goal throughout the budget process was to reduce County property taxes, reduce spending to downsize the size and scope of this government, protect essential services and retain the County’s AAA bond rating. We maintain that the budget proposed by the County Executive fully met these goals. We also believe that after the additions and deletions of the Democratic Majority of the Board of Legislators that the budget still comes close to meeting our goals, although we are concerned about many of these additions and deletions - causing us to vote in support of the budget with reservations and keep open our option to support vetoes. This is why we believe that the budget process does not end with the budget vote and that vetoes by the County Executive are an important part of this process to ensure that the 2011 County Budget is fiscally responsible.
In particular, we are deeply concerned that the Democratic legislators have drafted and approved additions and deletions to the County Executive’s proposed budget with very little, if any, input from the administration. As admitted on the public record by the Budget and Appropriations Chair and staff, the additions and deletions were not even discussed with the Budget Director, County Attorney or affected Commissioners. Therefore, the 2011 budget process was deeply flawed and the modified budget of the Board of Legislators did not have the necessary vetting and due diligence. A key example of the flawed budget process was the moving up of the date of the vote from December 13 to December 10 (despite the fact that the budget vote was scheduled for December 13 for the entire year). Those extra three days could have been utilized by all legislators for further review of the modified budget and to work with the administration for input on the additions and deletions, and further, this extended review could have eliminated the need for some of the expected vetoes. Approval of the County Budget should never be rushed as it was this year.
The budget process was also flawed because all of the decisions relating to the additions and deletions to the County Executive’s proposed budget were made in the secrecy of the Democratic caucus – where the public, press and Republican legislators were excluded. The additions and deletions decided in those private caucus meetings were presented to the Republican legislators just prior to the actual votes on the changes in the Budget and Appropriations Committee (for the additions, only 20 minutes prior to the actual vote), and we were denied the necessary time to do our due diligence, conduct a proper review of the changes and suggest additional modifications.
The Republican caucus is not supportive of the approximately $43 million in expenditure additions to the budget that were approved on “Adds Day.” (The Republican legislators voted in opposition to the budget additions). We also remain concerned about the validity of the revenue additions and deletions that were approved by the Budget and Appropriations Committee. Once again, we do not believe that the additions and deletions of the Democratic Majority should have been approved until they were fully vetted and reviewed by the administration. It was critical for the legislators to be briefed by the Budget Director, Commissioners and their staff before taking any votes on the budget they presented. Additionally, we are concerned about the transfer of funds from trust accounts to the operating budget and maintain that the County Attorney should have reviewed any potential legal issues with these transfers prior to approval.
We appreciate that after the Republican legislators strongly objected to the taking of $10 million from the 2010 fund balance for the 2011 County Budget (an action the legislators were warned against by the County’s auditors and accountants), that this amount was reduced to $3.5 million. However, we still maintain that the $3.5 million should not have been taken from the 2010 fund balance.
We also suggested that $1,075,000 be eliminated from the Miscellaneous section of the budget. This spending is listed under anonymous and undedicated funding lines cited as Community Service, Youth and Education, Economic Development, Advocacy and Environmental Protection and were all added to the budget by the Democratic legislators. It is our experience that these budget lines have been used in the past in the form of Albany-like “member items” (better known as “pork”) by the majority legislators and distributed without any fair, open or competitive review process. The Republican legislators all voted to block this wasteful spending at the Budget and Appropriations Committee, as every Democratic legislator on the committee voted for it. The Republican legislators also voted in that committee to block the irresponsible spending of $500,000 to create a “law department” for the Board of Legislators and believe this “law department” will cause a conflict with the County Attorney’s office, may violate the County Charter and lead to unnecessary litigation.
We have other objections to the additions and deletions to the budget and wish to highlight three:
1. $7.2 million was deleted from the Corrections Department (CORRECTIONS HAS TO GO). This money was included to cover potential salary increases during 2011. Despite inaccurate answers to our questions in the Budget and Appropriations Committee, we believe the facts indicate that the two unions for Corrections Officers have a contractual right to binding arbitration, which could be decided outside the approval of the County Executive and Board of Legislators. If a binding arbitration results in an award with raises for the officers in 2011, we will not have enough money in the County Budget to pay for the raises. This is also true for the $2.5 million that was deleted from the Public Safety Department, and we would have a similar problem if our County police officers receive a raise through binding arbitration in 2011.
2. (ALL UNIONS TAKE NOTICE ; YOUR JOBS ARE ON THE LINE)
3. The County Executive made the right decision to transfer the administration of the Section 8 housing subsidy program to non-profits, this transfer has already been worked out with the State of New York and the transfer has been mostly completed. The addition of money to the budget by the Democratic legislators to continue the County’s operation of the Section 8 program is bad policy, an improper intrusion into the executive branch’s powers and fiscally irresponsible.
4. The addition of $2.3 million for additional sales tax as a revenue in the County Budget is inflated and not based on any respectable economic forecast.
Based on the foregoing, the Republican legislators will support the 2011 County Budget with its 2% property tax levy reduction with reservations, and we look forward to supporting vetoes by the County Executive that will address our concerns reflected by this report, which will ensure that the taxpayers of Westchester have a more fiscally responsible 2011 County Budget.
Dated: December 10. 2010
County Legislators Jim Maisano (Minority Leader), Gordon Burrows (Minority Whip), Bernice Spreckman, John Testa & Sheila Marcotte
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