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New thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963607/posts |
Posted on 01/02/2008 8:53:38 PM PST by nwctwx
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So... the terrorists who were called insurgents are now just merely called criminals? When did that change first start?
Loose translation - opinion:
Terrorists = terrorists
Insurgents = politically correct term for terrorists
Criminals = criminals (terrorism may or may not be involved)
Terrorists, Insurgents, Criminals = ALL BAD
Speaking of the terror charity Care International- recall who the defendants’ lawyers were:
(snip)A pair of nationally recognized lawyers have been retained to argue First Amendment issues in a criminal case involving an Islamic charity and two of its officers who are charged with misrepresenting the charity’s work.
Susan R. Estrich, a lawyer, author and media pundit, who managed Michael S. Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign, and Harvey A. Silverglate, a noted Cambridge criminal defense lawyer, entered appearances Thursday as counsel for Emadeddin Z. Muntasser of Brookline. He is accused of misleading the government about the nature of Care International Inc., a charity the government claims supported jihadist and mujahedin organizations.
Muhammed Mubayyid of Shrewsbury is also charged in the case, which is being heard in U.S. District Court in Worcester.
Mr. Silverglate said he and Ms. Estrich were drawn to the case because of several First Amendment issues, including freedom of religion and freedom of speech. He said criminal cases rarely involve First Amendment issues. “This is a case involving free speech,” Mr. Silverglate said. “All of the conduct outlined in the indictment is protected by the Constitution…. You don’t get that many criminal cases that are directly in violation of the First Amendment.” ...
...In recent court filings, the defense lawyers called the case a prime example of the government trying to “rewrite history” to suit its purposes after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
They contended that it also shows the government prefers other religions, including Christianity and Judaism, over Islam, and that the alleged criminal activity was actually the exercise of a religious right. ...
...”“Care was set up to advance religious goals; jihad is a religious concept; zakat (giving to charity) is a religious obligation...; support for the mujahedin is, according to certain interpretations of the Koran, a religious command....”(/snip)
-—————— “Susan Estrich Says Funding Jihad Is A Religious Right - Defending Terrorist Charity,” Sweetness & Light ^ | October 11, 2006 , http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1717691/posts
http://memriiwmp.org/content/en/blog_personal.htm?id=341
(Posted at January 10, 2008)
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Previously...
http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/3698.htm
(Posted at November 15, 2007”
That’s interesting piasa.
Thank you.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48637
Troops in Afghanistan Find Munitions Hidden in School
American Forces Press Service
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Jan. 11, 2008 – Afghan police and coalition forces found a munitions cache hidden in a boys school in Afghanistan’s Oruzgan province yesterday following a day-long battle.
The joint patrol, which had received a report of insurgent activity in the area, was attacked in the province’s Deh Rawood district with small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire from insurgents in reinforced fighting positions on a hillside. The Afghan police and coalition soldiers immediately maneuvered to pinpoint the location of the insurgent attack.
Coalition aircraft dropped precision-guided munitions on the fighting positions, eliminating the threat; however, reinforcements from a nearby village began firing on the ground forces.
Combined forces searched the immediate area, including the village, and discovered the munitions hidden in the school. The cache consisted of 15 boxes of automatic machine gun ammunition and 20 rocket-propelled grenades.
“Hiding weapons in a school is a clear indication the insurgents have no concern for the citizens of Afghanistan,” said Army Maj. Chris Belcher, a Combined Joint Task Force 82 spokesman. “Insurgents continue to threaten security in Oruzgan province. (Afghan national security forces) will continue to pursue the insurgents throughout the winter and the insurgents will not receive any respite.”
(From a Combined Joint Task Force 82 news release.)
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48640
“Countrywide Offensive in Iraq Aims at Stamping Out al Qaeda”
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2008
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=china
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http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=48642
“Pacific Commander to Visit China to Bolster Communication, Cooperation”
By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2008
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=taliban
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=taleban
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blog:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/01/in_pictures_the_tali.php
“In Pictures: The Taliban Leadership”
By BILL ROGGIO
January 11, 2008 8:17 AM
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1199964902163&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(AP)
Jan 12, 2008 11:59
“Vandals smash and loot private American school in Gaza”
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIT LAHIYA, Gaza Strip
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Gunmen smashed windows, burned buses and looted computers belonging to a private American school in Gaza before dawn Saturday, an attack officials believed was linked to US President George W. Bush’s visit to the West Bank earlier this week.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Saturday’s attack on the American International School was the second in 48 hours. On Thursday, just before Bush arrived in the West Bank, gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the school.”
http://truthusa.com/a/index.php?board=12.0
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http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080111/NATION/444629685/1002
Page 1 of 2
“U.S. satellites dodge Chinese missile debris”
By Bill Gertz
January 11, 2008
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Gen. Kresge, a F-15 fighter pilot, said the Chinese ASAT weapon test changed the equation for the military, which is working to better understand strategic threats posed by China’s satellite-killing missiles, ground-based lasers, cyberwarfare and other ground station attack capabilities.
The Space Command is conducting a series of reviews to better identify threats and develop defenses for U.S. and allied military and commercial satellites against future attack.
“We have embraced the notion that we now operate in a contested domain,” the one-star general said.”
blog:
http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/190717.php
January 10, 2008
“Hizbollah in Iraq’s YouTube Jihad hosted from ...”
Snippet: “Update: Website down”
If the world needed reminding of the ongoing threat posed by nuclear materials left unsecured and scattered across the former Soviet Union, it's got it now.
On January 9, Kyrgyz officials announced that they had taken possession of a small load of a radioactive substance discovered aboard a train bound for Iran. The material has been placed in a special area in Kyrgyzstan, but questions are being raised about the nature and quantity of the substance, who was behind its transport, and how the train carrying it crossed three border checkpoints before being detected.
While it might simply be a coincidence that the train was bound for Iran, such a destination is also likely to raise eyebrows, given Western concerns over Tehran's nuclear activities and alleged support of terrorism.
Kyrgyz officials are looking for answers, but their behavior has raised questions, too. Why, for example, did it take them nine days to announce the discovery of the material, which was found on December 31 when radiation detectors alerted Uzbek border guards? They promptly sent the train back to Kyrgyzstan. The Kyrgyz National Security Service continues to decline comment on that and other questions, and Almabek Aitikeev, a departmental head in the Kyrgyz Emergency Situations Ministry, offered only generalities about the quantity of the material when asked by RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service.
"Not quite a bucketload of radioactive waste material was there mixed in with sand, dust, and snow," Aitikeev said. "We did our work and sealed up the waste on December 31."
Through Three Border Checks
Kubanych Noruzbaev, an official from the Kyrgyz Ecology and Environmental Protection Ministry, said on January 10 that the material was cesium-137, a product of nuclear reactors and weapons testing that is often used in medical devices and gauges. But it could also be used in a crude radioactive explosive device -- a "dirty bomb" -- and underscores the fact that despite some progress since 1991, parts of the former Soviet Union are still littered with sites where lethal radioactive materials remain largely unsecured.
Noruzbaev said the cargo train belonged to a Tajik firm but the cargo was loaded by Kyrgyzstan's state railway company, Temir, in Kyrgyzstan with other material and was bound for Iran. Noruzbaev also questioned how the train made it so far before being detected by Uzbek border guards. "It passed through our border, the Kyrgyz border [and] it passed through two border checkpoints in Kazakhstan, entering and exiting [Kazakhstan]," Noruzbaev said. "Only on the territory of Uzbekistan was it discovered, and they [the Uzbeks] sent the train back to us."
Noruzbaev said the radioactive material should have been discovered long before the train arrived in Uzbekistan. "But how could it happen that it was not detected when it passed through special checkpoints?" Noruzbaev said. "And even more so, how could a [radioactive] source like cesium-137 or -140 pass [without detection]?"
Excerpted
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/01/460cd9d5-93ea-424a-a68a-316142bcf3e1.html
http://www.truthusa.com/MoreThanCartoons.html
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Watch the videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=EzraILevant
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The following text is a quote:
http://ezralevant.com/2008/01/kangaroo-court.html
EZRA LEVANT
Kangaroo court
By Ezra Levant on January 11, 2008 5:04 PM |
I have just returned home from my session at the kangaroo court, called the Alberta human rights commission. Here is my opening statement that I delivered at the interrogation. I will post more details about the interrogation soon.
Alberta Human Rights Commission Interrogation
Opening remarks by Ezra Levant, January 11, 2008 – Calgary
My name is Ezra Levant. Before this government interrogation begins, I will make a statement.
When the Western Standard magazine printed the Danish cartoons of Mohammed two years ago, I was the publisher. It was the proudest moment of my public life. I would do it again today. In fact, I did do it again today. Though the Western Standard, sadly, no longer publishes a print edition, I posted the cartoons this morning on my website, ezralevant.com.
I am here at this government interrogation under protest. It is my position that the government has no legal or moral authority to interrogate me or anyone else for publishing these words and pictures. That is a violation of my ancient and inalienable freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and in this case, religious freedom and the separation of mosque and state. It is especially perverted that a bureaucracy calling itself the Alberta human rights commission would be the government agency violating my human rights. So I will now call those bureaucrats “the commission” or “the hrc”, since to call the commission a “human rights commission” is to destroy the meaning of those words.
I believe that this commission has no proper authority over me. The commission was meant as a low-level, quasi-judicial body to arbitrate squabbles about housing, employment and other matters, where a complainant felt that their race or sex was the reason they were discriminated against. The commission was meant to deal with deeds, not words or ideas. Now the commission, which is funded by a secular government, from the pockets of taxpayers of all backgrounds, is taking it upon itself to be an enforcer of the views of radical Islam. So much for the separation of mosque and state.
I have read the past few years’ worth of decisions from this commission, and it is clear that it has become a dump for the junk that gets rejected from the real legal system. I read one case where a male hair salon student complained that he was called a “loser” by the girls in the class. The commission actually had a hearing about this. Another case was a kitchen manager with Hepatitis-C, who complained that it was against her rights to be fired. The commission actually agreed with her, and forced the restaurant to pay her $4,900. In other words, the commission is a joke – it’s the Alberta equivalent of a U.S. television pseudo-court like Judge Judy – except that Judge Judy actually was a judge, whereas none of the commission’s panellists are judges, and some aren’t even lawyers. And, unlike the commission, Judge Judy believes in freedom of speech.
It’s bad enough that this sick joke is being wreaked on hair salons and restaurants. But it’s even worse now that the commissions are attacking free speech. That’s my first point: the commissions have leapt out of the small cage they were confined to, and are now attacking our fundamental freedoms. As Alan Borovoy, Canada’s leading civil libertarian, a man who helped form these commissions in the 60’s and 70’s, wrote, in specific reference to our magazine, being a censor is, quote, “hardly the role we had envisioned for human rights commissions. There should be no question of the right to publish the impugned cartoons.” Unquote. Since the commission is so obviously out of control, he said quote “It would be best, therefore, to change the provisions of the Human Rights Act to remove any such ambiguities of interpretation.” Unquote.
The commission has no legal authority to act as censor. It is not in their statutory authority. They’re just making it up – even Alan Borovoy says so.
But even if the commissions had some statutory fig leaf for their attempts at political and religious censorship, it would still be unlawful and unconstitutional.
We have a heritage of free speech that we inherited from Great Britain that goes back to the year 1215 and the Magna Carta. We have a heritage of eight hundred years of British common law protection for speech, augmented by 250 years of common law in Canada.
That common law has been restated in various fundamental documents, especially since the Second World War.
In 1948, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which Canada is a party, declared that, quote:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
The 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights guaranteed, quote
1. “ human rights and fundamental freedoms, namely,
(c) freedom of religion; (d) freedom of speech; (e) freedom of assembly and association; and (f) freedom of the press.
In 1982, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms guaranteed, quote:
2. Everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:
a) freedom of conscience and religion;
b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
Those were even called “fundamental freedoms” – to give them extra importance.
For a government bureaucrat to call any publisher or anyone else to an interrogation to be quizzed about his political or religious expression is a violation of 800 years of common law, a Universal Declaration of Rights, a Bill of Rights and a Charter of Rights. This commission is applying Saudi values, not Canadian values.
It is also deeply procedurally one-sided and unjust. The complainant – in this case, a radical Muslim imam, who was trained at an officially anti-Semitic university in Saudi Arabia, and who has called for sharia law to govern Canada – doesn’t have to pay a penny; Alberta taxpayers pay for the prosecution of the complaint against me. The victims of the complaints, like the Western Standard, have to pay for their own lawyers from their own pockets. Even if we win, we lose – the process has become the punishment. (At this point, I’d like to thank the magazine’s many donors who have given their own money to help us fight against the Saudi imam and his enablers in the Alberta government.)
It is procedurally unfair. Unlike real courts, there is no way to apply for a dismissal of nuisance lawsuits. Common law rules of evidence don’t apply. Rules of court don’t apply. It is a system that is part Kafka, and part Stalin. Even this interrogation today – at which I appear under duress – saw the commission tell me who I could or could not bring with me as my counsel and advisors.
I have no faith in this farcical commission. But I do have faith in the justice and good sense of my fellow Albertans and Canadians. I believe that the better they understand this case, the more shocked they will be. I am here under your compulsion to answer the commission’s questions. But it is not I who am on trial: it is the freedom of all Canadians.
You may start your interrogation.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=cair
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Note: The following press release is a quote:
http://www.americansagainsthate.org/press_releases/PR-BedierCENTCOM.php
January 12, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Joe Kaufman (info@americansagainsthate.org)
CAIR SPEECH AT CENTCOM CANCELLED
ACTION TAKEN FOLLOWING CALL AND E-MAIL FROM
AMERICANS AGAINST HATE
(Coral Springs, FL) Yesterday, the Department of Defense: Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed that its upcoming event featuring a speech by CAIR-Tampa Executive Director Ahmed Bedier was cancelled or, as CENTCOM put it, “postponed” with no future date planned. The event had originally been scheduled for Tuesday, January 15th. A CENTCOM representative stated that there was no reason given for the “postponement.”
The cancellation occurred after a phone conversation on Thursday took place between Americans Against Hate (AAH) Chairman Joe Kaufman and a CENTCOM official, who said that he would bring the matter up for discussion.
AAH had discovered that Bedier was set to speak at the government agency from a posting on the website of radio talk show host Michael Savage. According to Savage’s information, Bedier was going to speak about such controversial topics as jihad, martyrdom and dhimmitude (serving as a non-Muslim under Muslim rule), followed by a “question and answer session.”
At the behest of the official, Kaufman sent him an e-mail stating his specific concerns. The e-mail read in part, “[I]t would be wrong for CENTCOM to host Ahmed Bedier from CAIR this coming Tuesday, given CAIR’s extensive ties to terrorist organizations... Please reconsider allowing Mr. Bedier to speak to your personnel on Tuesday the 15th or anytime in the future. CENTCOM should be fighting terrorists, not embracing their friends.”
As well, in the e-mail, Kaufman made mention of the fact that CENTCOM had previously hosted Ramadan Shallah, a colleague of Sami Al-Arian and who later became the head of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Given Bedier’s own ties to Al-Arian, Kaufman asked, “Why do you want a repeat performance?”
Americans Against Hate praises CENTCOM for no longer having this event with CAIR and hopes the government agency exercises better judgment as to who it invites to speak for upcoming CENTCOM events.
Joe Kaufman is available for interview. E-mail: info@americansagainsthate.org.
“...bound for Iran”
Well now, that’s good news and thank you Oorang.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1947527/posts?page=533#533
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PING to Oorangs post no. 533 re:
“Kyrgyzstan: Authorities Seize Radioactive Material Bound For Iran”
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Thanks for the ping, Cindy.
I plan to post this on it’s own thread later tonight.
Thank you fanfan.
I do appreciate it.
UPDATE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1952709/posts
“Real ID is postponed for 5 years”
LA Times ^ | 01-12-08 | Nicole Gaouette
Posted on 01/12/2008 1:46:14 PM PST by SeafoodGumbo
WASHINGTON
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