Feminists ignore plight of Teddy Bear teacher – PC gone mad

Feminist group won’t take position on Teddy-Bear-Mohammed-Gate » Infidels Are Cool

The feminist group N.O.W. is proving once again why it is a morally bankrupt and spent political force due to  its failure to stand up and take a position in support of the British teacher who has been charged in Khartoum because the 7 year old children in her class named a teddy bear Mohammed.

By failing to support this teacher, the spokeswomen for N.O.W. have shown how political correctness has been allowed to go beserk. In this case the PC attitude has been bred from the fear of “offending Muslims”. If feminists were to show real courage then they would be standing up and speaking out against the way in which women are treated in Islamist countries and they would not be afraid of speaking up about the absurdity of Teddy-Bear-Mohammed Gate.

The boy who named the bear has the name Mohammed and none of the children in the classroom objected to the use of the name. Neither the teacher nor the children intended to denigrate the false prophet Mohammed with this action. It is, as another commenator stated, that the Sudanese have shown the insensibllity of this heightened sensitivity regarding Islam.

Just as N.O.W. has refused to speak out on behalf of the teacher, CAIR has also remained silent, whilst a truly moderate Muslim grroup in the USA has had the courage to speak up and has demanded the release of the woman in question.

If the woman is not released and the charge withdrawn, then she faces the pssibility of being found guilty of offending religion, and being sentenced to a whipping for what should be described as an imaginary offence.

As women, we should not be afraid to speak up against this form of oppression that is being faced by men and women in these Islamist countries. It is bad enough that in Saudi Arabia a rape victim can end up being sentenced to 200 lashes, over a false charge of adultery, but it is extreme when a teddy bear cannot be given what is an ordinary name in the M.E.  – Mohammed. The offence itself is imaginary, and not real, and it is for this reason that women everywhere should be standing up and protesting the actions of the Sudanese Islamist government.

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French cold cases about to be solved?

BBC NEWS | Europe | France holds man over 18 murders

The French police have arrested and are holding for questioning a 68 year old man in relation to 18 unsolved murders, of mostly homosexual men between 1980 and 2002. The suspect, Nicolas Panard is alleged to have killed 11 people in the Alsace region, four others in neighbouring Franche-Comte and three near Paris. His alleged accomplice Slim Fezzani is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence for a separate murder.

The pair are being held for questioning in the Franche-Comte town of Montbeliard, where the deputy state prosecutor has told the AFP newsagency that the two men denied the allegations and that there is “no formal proof” linking them to the crimes.

According to a local L’Alsace newspaper, the arrests were the result of a 2 year investigation by a police officer based in Montbeliard who had originally only been investigating a murder in 1991 in Sochaux. By using the police crime database, the officer found mentions of Mr. Panard’s name in the case files of several unsolved murders. The officer also discovered several common features in the murders, including the following:

• the victims had been killed by blows to the head;
• the victims had multiple knife wounds;
• the victims were found partly naked but with their faces covered.

Mr. Panard has a criminal record for burglary, and is said to have frequented the homosexual scene where he worked as a female impersonator.

During the 1980s there was a spate of unsolved murders of homosexuals across the border from Mulhouse in the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

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More on the Israeli strike on Syria

I have reported on this issue a few times and here is some further information from the Counterterrorism blog on why Israel felt that it was necessary to strike the nuclear facility inside the Syrian border:

Interestingly, while North Korea has been mentioned many times, the role of Iran has not been scrutinized.
I just wrote a piece for the Middle East Times on that topic.
Here is an excerpt:
Israel has been providing intelligence and satellite images to the U.S. about a secret Syrian nuclear program for several months, according to media reports. Discussions between Israel and the United States took place last summer regarding a possible strike. But when Israel found the matter so pressing that when they realized the U.S. was not ready to act, on September 6 they attacked a Syrian nuclear site. Hence the question: what is Syria really up to or more to the point what is Iran up to?

First, let’s start with an underreported explosion that occurred in a Syrian military base outside Aleppo on July 26. Jane’s Defense Weekly reported, citing Syrian defense sources, as saying the explosion took place during a test to fit a “Scud C” missile with a mustard-gas warhead. It quoted the sources as saying the explosion occurred when fuel caught fire in the missile production laboratory.

But there might be another explanation. Kuwait’s Al Seyassah newspaper recently reported that a Shiite Lebanese religious cleric claimed the Iranians were allegedly supervising a chemical weapons manufacturing program and that tens of Iranian experts and engineers died as a result of that explosion. He also said Israelis attacked the base. He added that Western officials told him they received proof from Israel on the Syrian chemical weapons program. Even if Israel’s involvement is not proven, what remains sure is that it must be very happy that a chemical weapons facility in Syria has been partly destroyed.

You can read the story here

Archaeologists claim that they have found the Lupercale in Rome

For those of us who are familiar with the story concerning the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, the announcement that the Lupercale has probably been found is most interesting. The site was revered by ancient Romans as being the site where a wolf suckled the twins Romulus and Remus after they were found abandoned in the river Tiber. The site itself was revered by Augustus Caesar who was the Roman Emperor at the time of the birth of Jesus Christ.

 

ROME, Italy (AP) – Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city’s legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.

The vaulted sanctuary is buried inside Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome.

Technorati Tags: Augustus Casear, Lupercale, Romulus and Remus, Palatine Hill, Rome

A symbol of the Roman Empire was found atop the sanctuary’s vault.

 

 

Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome, the archaeologists said at a news conference.

In the past two years, experts have been probing the space with endoscopes and laser scanners, fearing that the fragile grotto, already partially caved-in, would not survive a full-scale dig, said Giorgio Croci, an engineer who worked on the site.

The archaeologists are convinced that they have found the place of worship where Romans believed a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of the god of war Mars who were abandoned in a basket and left adrift on the Tiber.

Thanks to the wolf, a symbol of Rome to this day, the twins survived, and Romulus founded the city, becoming its first king after killing Remus in a power struggle.

Ancient texts say the grotto known as the “Lupercale” — from “lupa,” Latin for she-wolf — was near the palace of Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, who was said to have restored it, and was decorated with a white eagle.

That symbol of the Roman Empire was found atop the sanctuary’s vault, which lies just below the ruins of the palace built by Augustus, said Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum.

Augustus, who ruled from the late 1st century B.C. to his death in the year 14, was keen on being close to the places of Rome’s mythical foundation and used the city’s religious traditions to bolster his hold on power, Iacopi said.

“The Lupercale must have had an important role in Augustus’ policies,” she said. “He saw himself as a new Romulus.”

Andrea Carandini, a professor of archaeology at Rome’s La Sapienza University and an expert on the Palatine, said the grotto is almost certainly the “Lupercale.”

“The chances that it’s not are minimal,” said Carandini, who did not take part in the dig. “It’s one of the greatest discoveries ever made.”

Most of the sanctuary is filled with earth, but laser scans allowed experts to estimate that the circular structure has a height of 26 feet and a diameter of 24 feet, Croci said.

Archaeologists at the news conference were divided on how to gain access to the “Lupercale.”

Iacopi said a new dig would start soon to find the grotto’s original entrance at the bottom of the hill. Carandini suggested enlarging the hole at the top through which probes have been lowered so far, saying that burrowing at the base of the hill could disturb the foundations of other ruins.

The Palatine is honeycombed with palaces and other ancient monuments, from the 8th-century B.C. remains of Rome’s first fledgling huts to a medieval fortress and Renaissance villas. But the remains are fragile and plagued by collapses, leaving more than half of the hill, including Augustus’ palace, closed to the public.

Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli said the first area to benefit from an extensive, $17.5 million restoration of the hills’ ruins will be Augustus’ palace, scheduled to reopen in February after being closed for decades.

 

 

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Turkey probes Richard Dawkin’s "God delusion"

Now this is an extremely interesting twist with regard to Islamic style probes, because it is the Turkish authorities who are examining Richard Dawkin’s book on the grounds of the possibility that the book is an attack on religious values. The party at risk in this story is not Dawkins, but the publisher.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) – A Turkish prosecutor has launched a probe into whether a book by best-selling atheist writer Richard Dawkins is an attack on religious values — a move that could lead to the prosecution of the book’s Turkish publisher.

“The God Delusion” has sold some 6,000 copies in Turkey.

Publisher Erol Karaaslan said he would be questioned by an Istanbul prosecutor on Wednesday as part of the official investigation into Dawkins’ book, “The God Delusion.”

Karaaslan could face trial and up to one year in prison if the prosecutor concludes that the book “incites religious hatred” and insults religious values, Milliyet newspaper reported. Karaaslan is both the publisher and translator of the book.

The investigation of the British scientist’s book comes at a time when Turkey has been criticized for targeting writers and intellectuals for expressing opinions. The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, is pressing Ankara to change laws that curb free expression, calling them inconsistent with the bloc’s free speech standards.

Turkey said this month it would soften a much-criticized law that makes denigrating Turkish identity, or insulting the country’s institutions, a crime.

A probe was launched into “The God Delusion” after one reader complained that passages in the book were an assault on “sacred values,” Karaaslan said.

No one was available for comment at the prosecutor’s office.

You can name a child Mohammed, but not a teddy bear – give me a break!!

An English teacher has been arrested in Khartoum because children in her class named a teddy bear that she intended to be used for instructional purposes, Mohammed.

The offense is insulting Islam, which is an offense under the Sharia rules in the Sudan.

 

KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) — A British teacher arrested in Sudan after allowing her class to name a teddy bear “Mohammed” has been charged by authorities with offending religion, British officials say.

An undated amateur photo of Gillian Gibbons.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, is being held by police in the capital Khartoum after she asked her class of seven-year-olds to come up with a name for the toy as part of a school project, Robert Boulos, the head of Unity High School told CNN.

It is expected that she will appear in court Thursday, Sudan state media reported.

A British Foreign Office spokeswoman said Gibbons had been charged under Article 125 of Sudan’s constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred.

The spokeswoman said the Sudanese ambassador had been summoned to the offices of the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband to discuss the case. Gibbons was arrested under the country’s Islamic Sharia law after parents of some of her students complained to police.

Paris Riots Redux – Sarkozy denounces those who shot at police

 

The French President has made it clear that the rioting that broke out after two minors who had stolen a motorcycle and drove it into the path of a police car died at the scene of the accident.

To date there has been three days of rioting in scenes that remind us of the previous riots caused by the minority rabble of Paris.

PARIS, France (AP) — French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Wednesday that rioters who shot at police would be brought to justice and called the violence that rocked Paris suburbs “absolutely unacceptable.”

Technorati Tags: paris riots

It was the first time Sarkozy, who had just returned from China, entered the fray since the rioting broke out Sunday night.

The violence ebbed Tuesday night after police were deployed in force and quickly rounded up youths lobbing Molotov cocktails and setting cars ablaze.

The violence has drawn comparisons with riots that raged through suburbs nationwide in 2005, and has shown that anger still smolders in poor housing projects where many Arabs, blacks and other minorities live largely isolated from the rest of society.

“We will find the shooters,” and they will “be brought to account before justice,” Sarkozy said after meeting with a wounded police captain hospitalized in Eaubonne north of Paris.

The violence erupted Sunday after the deaths of two minority teens whose motorscooter collided with a police car in Villiers-le-Bel, a blue-collar town on Paris’ northern edge.

Residents claimed the officers left without helping the teens. Prosecutor Marie-Therese de Givry denied that, saying police stayed on the scene until firefighters arrived.

Sarkozy described the teens’ deaths as “distressing.” But he added: “Shooting at police has no link to this incident.”

The French president was meeting Wednesday morning with the families of the two teens who died, and with the mayor of Villiers-le-Bel before having a security meeting with his top ministers.

While cars were set ablaze for a third night Tuesday, officials said the violence was less intense than the two previous nights. Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the overall situation was “calm.” Still, she said on Europe-1 radio, police presence would remain reinforced “as long as necessary.”

She said 39 people were arrested in the Paris region Tuesday night.

Bands of young people set more cars on fire Tuesday in and around Villiers-le-Bel. In the southern city of Toulouse, 20 cars were set ablaze, and fires at two libraries were quickly brought under control, police said.

The previous night, 82 officers were injured, 10 of them by buckshot and pellets, the police force said. The use of firearms — rare in 2005 — added a dangerous dimension.

Saudi promises a review of Qatif rape case

Prince Saud al-Faisal has promised to have a review of the case of a girl who has been sentenced to 200 lashes because she was raped.

In a typical Islamic fashion the Saudi authorities claim that they are receiving unfair criticism over the case. Al-Faisal is more concerned about the press coverage than about the punishment given to the girl, and then the attempt to claim that she was an adulteress.

Hamas will most likely not honour any peace settlement that is brokered by George Bush

The BBC reports that the Islamist movement HAMAS has reportedly stated that Palestinians will not be bound by any decisions taken at this weeks US-backed Middle East Peace talks. Ismail Haniya, the leader of HAMAS in Gaza, who is not attending the talks, has described the discussions as “fruitless”.

 

Several of the Hamas leaders met at the Palestinian Parliament in Gaza city to sign a document stating that Mr Abbas had no right to make concessions in any peace deal.

“The people believe that this conference is fruitless and that any recommendations or commitments made in the conference that harm our rights will not be binding for our people,” Mr Haniya said as he entered the building.

“It will be binding only for those who sign it.”

Mr Haniya was dismissed by Abbas from his position of prime minister of a national unity government in June, shortly after Hamas seized control of the Gaza strip from the president’s Fatah movement.

Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the USA and Israel and is not represented at Annapolis.

It seems that Hamas is only interested in perpetuating the myth that Israel is occupying Palestinian land, but this is clearly not true. Historically, the Palestinians did not exist until around the 1920s. Gaza was won in the 6 day war, and Israel was entitled to occupy that territory. The same goes for East Jerusalem. It does not belong to the Palestinians. Therefore, we should take heed of the following (threatening) words of Mahmoud Zahhar:

Another senior Hamas leader in Gaza, Mahmoud Zahhar, told the BBC that even if the group had been invited, it would be pointless participating because Israel was not prepared to end the occupation of Palestinian land.

“We are very proud that we are not involved in this conference which will bring for us nothing,” he told the BBC World Service.

“We don’t believe that this is a real peace process, because without fulfilling our basic demand it will be just as previous agreements reached and unable to be practised practically on the ground,” he added.

“Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas] is not representing the majority of the Palestinian people.”

Palestinian officials say, however, that as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Mr Abbas is entitled to negotiate on behalf of Palestinians. Agreements are signed between Israel and the PLO.

UK gives superbug alert outside of the hospital environment

The BBC reports that experts are warning that bugs such as MRSA have been spreading in the wider community environment. They want doctors to be alert to the most dangerous form of MRSA that can attack the lungs and may strike young people in particular.

 

Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL) strains of community-acquired MRSA can cause a condition called necrotizing pneumonia, which destroys lung tissue.

This only affects a minority of those infected, but can be deadly.

“These new strains of bacteria appear to be able to stick to damaged skin and airways better than the hospital MRSA strains, and they can also multiply at a faster rate,” says Dr Marina Morgan, of the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation NHS Trust.

So far these strains are mainly spreading in the US, where 12% of all MRSA cases are community-acquired, but the UK has seen an increasing number of cases.

It is unclear why children seem to be at particular risk, but the speculation is that older people in the community have fewer cuts and abrasions – a key transmission route – and have less contact with other people.

 

Nursing home threat

Meanwhile, Irish researchers are examining a new breed of bacteria which carry enzymes called extended spectrum beta lactamases (ESBLs), which are capable of destroying a many common antibiotics.

They include a strain of E. Coli, which is spreading into nursing homes and communities across Europe.

This was held responsible for a severe outbreak of cystitis, a bladder infection, in the UK between 2003 and 2004.

“Although cystitis is not life threatening, it is the most common form of urinary tract infection, and the economic consequences of failing to treat an outbreak quickly and properly are considerable,” said Dr Dearbhaile Morris, of the National University of Ireland.

“In severe infections, patients may suffer serious complications if the first antibiotic given to them does not work.”

Mark Enright, professor of molecular epidemiology at Imperial College, said he was “not surprised” by the findings.

“The emergence and spread of ESBL E. Coli does give physicians problems in providing proper initial care for some patients especially those with urinary tract infections.”

He added: “The control of infections in many nursing homes is inferior to hospitals despite the medication and specialist care required by some residents.”