MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

  

• Islamophobia Grows in America, as Xenophobia Grows Around the World.The word “Islamophobia” has been in the news a lot this week, after TIME magazine ran a cover article wondering when America had become Islamophobic. So, is America Islamophobic? The question arises from the debate over the “Ground Zero” mosque and the lack of aid given to Pakistan after the epic floods.I’ve been startled by the level of irrational Islamophobia, especially on the right, that I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks because of these two stories.But I see it as the mirror reflection of the widespread xenophobia from the left, directed at Christians and even America in general. A few people in every political and ideological group today are simultaneously xenophobic toward someone and outraged at other groups’ xenophobia.

• Man Is Held in Anti-Muslim Stabbing of Cabdriver.A cabdriver was attacked Tuesday by a knife-wielding passenger who made anti-Muslim remarks, the police said.The passenger, Michael Enright, 21, of Brewster, N.Y., hailed the cab at Second Avenue and East 24th Street around 6 p.m. Tuesday, the police said. Twenty blocks north, they said, he slashed and stabbed the 43-year-old driver in his throat, face and arm.The driver, identified by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, a drivers’ group, as Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, stopped the cab and approached a police officer on Third Avenue near 42nd Street. Mr. Enright was arrested at the scene.This is exactly what i warned for!That Obama endorsing the Ground Zero Mosque would only make things worse.Updated story here.

• Two arrested in Ottawa after multiple raids in al-Qaida terror probe.OTTAWA — Police in Ottawa have arrested two men in connection with an alleged al-Qaida-related terrorism plot after searching two residences on the city's west side.The RCMP said in a news release that they were executing a number of search warrants and additional arrests were expected, including across the Ottawa River in Gatineau, Que.Police have been investigating the alleged plot for two years. It has apparently been dubbed Operation Samosa."These guys were doing more than just talking about terrorism. They were planning it," said a police source.More here.

• Updated !Man Who Stabbed Muslim Cabbie Works at Pro-Ground Zero Mosque Leftist Group.But as often at the intersection of politics and violent crime, the story doesn’t appear to fit any easy stereotype: The alleged assailant, Michael Enright, is — according to his Facebook profile and the website of the left-leaning media organization Intersections International — a student at the School of Visual Arts and a volunteer for Intersections, which recently produced a statement of support for the Park51 project, and is funded by the mainstream, liberal Collegiate Church of New York.

• HT:The ReligionofPeace.A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission.A woman domestic worker in Saudi Arabia nailed 24 times. Mrs. L.T. Ariyawathi (49), a mother of three has returned from Saudi Arabia after less than five months of employment. Within a short time of her return she was hospitalized for an operation to remove 24 nails from her foot and a needle implanted by her employer. Doctors who x-rayed her at Kamburupitiya hospital have identified these items and are preparing to operate in order to remove them.

• HT:WeaselZippers.Pakistani Political Leader Says Accepting Flood Relief Aid From U.S. is Like Taking “Poison,” Oh Yeah, and We’re by Far The Largest Donor of Aid.

• HT:Amnon&Jonathan.Mohamed ! What have you lost down there?The Mufti is DIGGING !

• Letterman Knocks Obama For Latest Vacation.Lefty David Letterman Turns on Obama: “He’ll Have Plenty of Time for Vacations After His One Term is up”.

• From Hanoi Jane to Imam Obama.It was the picture worth a thousand words.The emblematic political ancestor of the connection between the Ground Zero Mosque and the economy that is now wreaking havoc in the 2010 campaign."There's somethin' happenin' here", as the old Buffalo Springfield song used to have it.What it is, is exactly clear. There's a man with a Mosque over there.Hanoi Jane has morphed into Imam Obama.

• Wife Of Jailed Iranian Politician Appeals To Prosecutor.The wife of jailed Iranian reformist politician Mostafa Tajzadeh has written to Tehran's prosecutor expressing concerns about her husband, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.Tajzadeh is a senior member of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and the Islamic Revolution Mujahedin Organization, and a former deputy interior minister. He was arrested shortly after the disputed presidential election in June 2009 and spent nine months in prison.

• The OIC said it hoped the U.S. government would “take appropriate steps to protect the sacred religious sentiments of Muslims of America and of the Muslims across the world.”.A spokesman for the Jeddah-based bloc of Islamic states expressed concern Tuesday that the planned action by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville would stir up “anger across the Muslim world and provoke unrest.”

• For Slandering Americans and Ignoring the Plight of Muslim Women, The New York Times Deserves to Wear the Cone of Shame.OK–it’s time to just come out and say it. Liberals must be desperate, because–with regard to the Ground Zero mosque (as with so many other past cultural issues)–Barack Obama has sided against the American people–again. How do I know this to be true? Well, let’s just look at the steady stream of hysterical op-eds coming out of The New York Times slandering the American people as racist, Islamaphobic, unpatriotic dumb-dumbs. (Yes, I know, liberals must be pretty desperate to play the patriotism card–I thought they thought that patriotism was gauche.)

• HT:WeaselZippers.Author of ObamaCare Dem Senator Max Baucus Admits He Never Read the Bill.Judy Matott asked Baucus if he would work to improve Libby’s image, and then asked him and Sebelius, “if either of you read the health care bill before it was passed and if not, that is the most despicable, irresponsible thing.”

• Paris synagogue receives death threats.Synagogue in suburb famous for Jewish transit camp during WWII gets letter with swastika, bullets.A letter containing bullets and death threats to Jews was sent to a synagogue in a northern Paris suburb, where an infamous transit camp for Jews was set up during World War II, sources said.The letter to the synagogue in Drancy also bore a swastika, said Sammy Ghozlan, head of a national body monitoring anti-semitism.He said the letter had been sent on August 14 and discovered on Tuesday after the summer break.

• The Left Against Ads Reaching Out to Women Who Fear ‘Honor Killings’.Who would be against helping women in danger of violence? Who would not support advertising that reached out to these women? Why the American Left of course. The political end of the spectrum that is supposed to be the most feminist isn’t ready to support women avoiding muslim ‘Dishonor killings’ and other violence. They could burn their bras 40 years ago, but you better not take off your burqa today.

• Russia has deployed S-300 in occupied Abkhazia , Georgian FM.'Russia has S-300 in S.Ossetia too.'Georgian Foreign Minister, Grigol Vashadze, suggested on August 24, that along with Abkhazia, Russia also had its enhanced air-defense system, S-300, deployed in another breakaway region of South Ossetia.“Russia has actually created a triangle over South Caucasus and its bordering regions, which, as they think, will be needed for them for confrontation with NATO or Turkey,” he added.

• Islamophobia? Not really.The supposed anti-Muslim backlash among Americans is mostly a myth.Here's a thought: The 70% of Americans who oppose what amounts to an Islamic Niketown two blocks from ground zero are the real victims of a climate of hate, and anti-Muslim backlash is mostly a myth.Let's start with some data.According to the FBI, hate crimes against Muslims increased by a staggering 1,600% in 2001. That sounds serious! But wait, the increase is a math mirage.There were 28 anti-Islamic incidents in 2000. That number climbed to 481 the year a bunch of Muslim terrorists murdered 3,000 Americans in the name of Islam on Sept. 11.Now, that was a hate crime.Read all about it here.

• Obama war on fisheries jobs gets vacation protest.President Obama may be on vacation this week at Martha’s Vineyard, but as with all Presidents, it’s a working vacation. That’s good, because the people who rely on fishing in the Northeast Atlantic have a message for Obama, which is that they don’t think that fewer jobs is better for their industry.So the new mantra is “fewer, but better jobs”? I’m certain that the fishermen stuck on land will appreciate the beauty of the jobs they no longer hold.

• Schoolgirls and teachers sick from poison gas in Afghanistan.Dozens of schoolgirls and teachers were sickened Wednesday by poison gas in Afghanistan, medical and government officials said.The latest incident, this one at a high school, is the ninth such case involving the poisoning of schoolgirls, said Asif Nang, spokesman for the nation's education ministry.Dr. Kabir Amiri said 59 students and 14 teachers were brought to the hospital, and were faring better.

• Video:Holocaust Survivor Cursed Out by Ground Zero Mosque Supporter.An example of the intolerant, hate-filled vitriol delivered by proponents of the proposed mosque at ground zero, a protester at the August 22nd rally in New York erupts in a rage at an 83-year-old holocaust survivor.Yet main stream media figures continue to characterize the opponents to the mosque as ignorant, hateful bigots.

• HT:HIDF.Questionnaire for Muslims seeking US Citizenship.

• To Stop Iran’s Nuclear Program, Enforce the Sanctions.U.S law enforcement agencies’ investigation of the U.S. unit of HSBC could soon test the Administration’s resolve to act against big foreign correspondent banks that ignore the Iran Sanctions Act (ISA).

• Video:Rare ‘fire tornado’ filmed in Brazil.A 'fire tornado' has been caught on camera in the Brazilian municipality of Aracatuba, caused by strong, dry winds that fanned wildfires.A whirlwind of flames spiralling several metres high danced across fields, bringing traffic to a halt on a nearby road, before it disappeared.