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Despite Reports of Brutality Toward Civilians, Syria to Join U.N.'s Human Rights Council By Ben Evansky Published April 26, 2011 | FoxNews.com The brutal crackdown by Syrian President Bashar Assad may finally be getting the attention of world leaders -- but apparently not enough to stop Syria from becoming the newest member of the U.N. Human Rights Council. And despite calling for an independent investigation into the crackdown, which has left hundreds dead, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon apparently won’t do much about blocking Syria’s path to the human rights group. "That's not really for the secretary general to suggest to...

As some states like Utah look to put cops on the front lines of immigration enforcement, San Jose Police Chief Chris Moore and other prominent law enforcement officials warned Wednesday that using their shrinking pool of officers to target illegal immigrants is inefficient, costly and would make their cities more dangerous, not less. "I am looking at laying off 300 officers, so now more than ever I need to focus on partnerships with communities,'' Moore said during a national teleconference sponsored by the Police Executive Research Forum. "This (the issue of immigration enforcement) has become a wedge in our communities...

Unlike Moses Herzog, the eponymous character of Saul Bellow's novel "Herzog," I do not feverishly compose mad letters to public figures and sinister government agencies. But I often yell back at the TV set. This happened Sunday when Candy Crowley on CNN asked Rep. Pete King what his hearings into Muslim radicalism are really about. "Good luck, Candy," I yelled, having asked the same question of King's staff just the day before. Here, I am sure, is the answer: The hearings are about Pete King. King is the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. On Thursday, he will inaugurate...

Arizona senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain is warning that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s decision not to step down could touch off “a much more dangerous situation,” and he called for the Obama administration to tell Mubarak he must resign immediately. “The volatility of the situation was already very high,” McCain said on Fox News, “and I think it’s been ratcheted up dramatically. “I think the United States had better be more clear in our message to President Mubarak, that we are very clear in our message that he needs to step down,” McCain said. Asked by host...

Katie Couric: 'Maybe We Need a Muslim Version of The Cosby Show' By Tim Graham Created 12/30/2010 - 1:04pm By Tim Graham | December 30, 2010 | 13:04 Tim Graham's picture In her @katiecouric Web show analyzing the trends of 2010, the CBS Evening News anchor made a serious speech (in her serious, deep-thinker glasses) against the deep "seething hatred" against Muslims in America: I also think sort of the chasm, between, or the bigotry expressed against Muslims in this country has been one of the most disturbing stories to surface this year. Of course, a lot of noise was...

As violent drug cartels take over Mexico and expand their criminal enterprises north, the United States has signed a “trusted traveler” agreement that allows pre-screened Mexican airline passengers to bypass lengthy airport security checkpoints. The foreigners will get “trusted traveler cards” with fingerprints and other biometric data and they must answer customs declarations questions on touch-screen kiosks before leaving airport inspection areas. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano claims it’s a way to enhance information sharing and mutual security in the face of “ever-evolving, multinational threats.” About 84 million Mexicans are expected to qualify for the trusted traveler program, according to...

SAN FRANCISCO — While polls were showing her to be among the country’s most disliked politicians, Democrats were ducking her on the campaign trail and the Republican Party chairman was riding around in a “Fire Pelosi!” bus, the speaker of the House was checking out mattresses. “Wow, this is great,” said a sleep-deprived Nancy Pelosi as she stroked a plush specimen during a tour of the McRoskey Mattress Company here on Wednesday. While few politicians ever look comfortable on factory floors, Ms. Pelosi, the California Democrat, seemed particularly ill-suited, her big shiny pearls clashing with the goofy safety goggles she...

Los Angeles, CA – BACM Research/PaperlessArchives.com has published correspondences between Senator Barack Obama and the Department of Defense, dating from March 3, 2005 to February 8, 2008. These documents were released in October 2010 by the Department of Defense, after a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. These files can be downloaded for free at: http://www.paperlessarchives.com/barack_obama_department_of_def.html Topics of the letters include: Deployment of Illinois National Guard units. Request for information concerning the assigning of casualty specialists to the next of kin of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq. Questions about National Guard members being exposed to toxic substances while deployed...

Domestic safety alert: 500 Americans will be killed by guns this week in the USA. For safety, we advise taking loved ones to a safer continent such as Europe. (This is true. Five hundred Americans were killed by guns last week in the USA. An average of 500 Americans were killed every week in the last year. Officials are perplexed why no one seems to care in the USA. Perhaps being killed by a Muslim with a gun is more painful or evil.) And furthermore, 200 Americans will be killed by drunk drivers in the USA next week (12,000 died...

So President Obama was just interviewed in Rolling Stone magazine, that thinning pamphlet for our country’s dwindling supply of pony-tailed pensioners. (AARP skews younger.) When asked about Fox News, this is what our Commander-in-chief had to say. I think Fox … is part of the tradition that has a very clear, undeniable point of view. It’s a point of view that I disagree with. It’s a point of view that I think is ultimately destructive for the long-term growth of a country that has a vibrant middle class and is competitive in the world. But as an economic enterprise, it’s...

The Muslim cleric behind plans to build a mosque close to the Ground Zero site has blamed politicians such as Sarah Palin for fuelling a "growing Islamophobia" that led to the burning of Korans on the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. The Reverend Terry Jones abandoned his "international burn a Koran day" in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday but there were isolated instances in Tennessee and New York of the Muslim holy book being set alight. "What has happened is that..certain politicians decided that this project would be very useful for their political ambitions," Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf said,...

SNIPPET: "SUE MYRICK, R 9th District includes parts of Gaston, Mecklenburg and Union counties. Home: Charlotte. Term: Eighth. Top committees: Intelligence, Energy and Commerce . Vote ranking: 34th most conservative member of the House, according to National Journal." SNIPPET: "The record: She's a vocal opponent of taxes, spending and illegal immigration, with a voting record to match. Last year she introduced the "10k Run for the Border Act", which would have upped penalties for employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. This year she chided President Obama for opposing Arizona's tough immigration law. In January, the House passed her amendment to...

by Fareed Zakaria September 04, 2010 Nine years after 9/11, can anyone doubt that Al Qaeda is simply not that deadly a threat? Since that gruesome day in 2001, once governments everywhere began serious countermeasures, Osama bin Laden’s terror network has been unable to launch a single major attack on high-value targets in the United States and Europe. While it has inspired a few much smaller attacks by local jihadis, it has been unable to execute a single one itself. Today, Al Qaeda’s best hope is to find a troubled young man who has been radicalized over the Internet, and...

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has come out strongly in support of the controversial Islamic center proposed for construction in New York, even as his party appears to be using opposition to the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" as a campaign issue. In an interview over the weekend with Fox 13 News in Salt Lake City, Hatch noted that "there's a huge . . . lack of support throughout the country for Islam to build that mosque there, but that should not make a difference if they decide to do it." "I'd be the first to stand up for their...

Osama bin Laden a CIA agent, says Fidel Castro FORMER Cuban president Fidel Castro said Osama bin Laden was in the pay of the CIA and was summoned up whenever George W. Bush needed to scare the world. "Any time Bush would stir up fear and make a big speech, bin Laden would appear threatening people with a story about what he was going to do," Castro told Sky News. "Bush never lacked for bin Laden's support. He was a subordinate." Castro made his remarks during a meeting with Lithuanian-born writer Daniel Estulin known for advancing conspiracy theories about world...

"EPA Now Accepting Public Comment on Petition to Ban Lead in Ammunition and Fishing Tackle" Thursday, August 26, 2010 By Susan Jones, Senior Editor SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – Environmental activists are pressing the Obama administration to ban the manufacture, processing and distribution lead shot, bullets, and fishing sinkers under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, but hunting and Second Amendment groups say the EPA lacks the authority to do so, for starters." SNIPPET: "The public comment period opened on Aug. 25 and ends on October 31. The EPA must decide whether to accept or reject the petition by November 1,...

It is hard to imagine that anything has gone unsaid about the so-called Ground Zero mosque, but an important point seems to be missing. The mosque should be built precisely because we don't like the idea very much. We don't need constitutional protections to be agreeable, after all. This point surpasses even all the obvious reasons for allowing the mosque, principally that there's no law against it. Precluding any such law, we let people worship when and where they please. That it hurts some people's feelings is, well, irrelevant in a nation of laws. And, really, don't we want to...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, called for an investigation of those who are protesting the building of the Ground Zero Mosque on Tuesday. She told San Francisco's KCBS radio: Link to audio

It is hard to imagine that anything has gone unsaid about the so-called Ground Zero mosque, but we seem to be missing an important point. The mosque should be built precisely because we don't like the idea very much. We don't need constitutional protections to be agreeable, after all. This point surpasses even all the obvious reasons for allowing the mosque, principally that there's no law against it. Precluding any such law, we let people worship when and where they please. That it hurts some people's feelings is, well, irrelevant in a nation of laws. And don't we, really, want...

Hello Freepers ! Not all churches have steeples, and not all mosques have Minarets. What is the purpose of a Minaret ? My internet research is taking me into places I would rather not dwell (Like Islam conversion sites and other mind-numbing dreck) I see a few Mosques on US soil - But this Minaret thingy seems to suggest that a mosque is special in some way. Anyone know ?

Yes, yes, I know. I am most likely going to be blasted for riding the fence on this one. I am a conservative Republican. I believe in lower taxes, securing our borders, and protecting our country and our Constitutional rights. I support our troops and take pride in the foundation America was built. I own guns, and I know how to aim…accurately. I want our country to thrive, I want our economic hardships to cease. I want my kids to enjoy a solid future and not owe the government for the entirety of their lives. I want Reagan to be...

Forces that use terrorism, preach a totalitarian ideology and have genocidal goals are responsible for conflict in the Middle East. In this era, the most common way of dealing with radicalism, repression, terrorism, and such things in the Third World is to blame it on democratic states so often victimized by such things. The latest contribution to this genre comes from British ambassador to Israel Tom Phillips who said Israel’s sanctions’ regime on the Gaza Strip “was breeding radicalism.” He claimed it had driven “Gaza into a Hamas-controlled tunnel economy, and the Palestinian Gaza private sector has been almost completely...

Fiscal Policy: Timothy Geithner thinks tax hikes will help the economy dig its way out of the hole. Can we really afford two more years of this kind of thinking? Appearing Sunday on ABC News' "This Week," the secretary of the treasury said he had no problem with letting tax cuts expire for wealthy Americans. "It's responsible to let the tax cuts expire that just go to 2% to 3% of Americans, the highest-earning Americans." Responsible? Quite the contrary. Indeed, letting taxes rise on the most productive Americans is the most irresponsible thing our government could be doing right now....

"Hizb ut Tahrir is not a gateway to terrorism, claims Whitehall report" SNIPPET: "The Government has opened the way for official links with Muslim extremists after civil servants said radical groups could be a "safety valve" for those tempted by terrorism." By Andrew Gilligan Published: 7:30AM BST 25 Jul 2010 SNIPPET: "The groups specifically named - in documents leaked to The Sunday Telegraph - include al-Muhajiroun, which has praised 9/11 as “magnificent” and Hizb ut Tahrir, which wants to turn Britain into an Islamic dictatorship under sharia law. In the classified papers, presented last week to Coalition ministers on the...

NEW – UPDATED WITH AFFILIATIONS LAST UPDATE 7/25/10 Thank you to Glenn Reynolds for linking to this piece- Instapundit.com Welcome Andrew Breitbart and Big Journalism Readers. THANK YOU THOMAS LIFSON AND CLARICE FELDMAN FOR YOUR HELP COMPILING THIS LIST THIS LATTE PARTY SURE LOOKS EXCLUSIONARY, IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE AMERICA. IT LOOKS MORE LIKE THE UPPER WEST SIDE OF MANHATTAN.

The technician said that shortly after the cap was successfully placed, Dr. Chu wondered aloud why oil was still spewing from around the bottom. Engineers had to tell him that the leaks were expected, at least initially.

Hoping to lift sagging confidence in President Barack Obama's economic leadership, the White House will make the case on Wednesday that his policies are creating jobs and spurring private investment. A report to be unveiled at 11 a.m. EDT will estimate that Obama's $862 billion economic stimulus package, which passed last year, has saved or created 3 million jobs and is on track to meet its goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of this year. The analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers will say that government funding of clean energy, economic development, construction projects and...

SNIPPET: "A House appropriations bill calls for a $2-billion reduction in emergency funds, with the money going to help prevent teacher layoffs. Experts criticize what they call a lack of foresight."

Of the three monotheistic religions, Judaism is considered the mother faith and the other two, Christianity and Islam, her daughters. The first daughter, Christianity, under the influence of the early church fathers, rejected the mother and distanced herself from Judaism , even to the extent of changing the Sabbath from the seventh day, Saturday, to Sunday and renaming it the Lord's Day. Seventh-Day Adventists retain Saturday as their Sabbath. The younger daughter, Islam, under Muhammad, turned on both the Jewish and Christian tribes of Arabia, who declined to accept that Muhammad was the Messenger of God and the "Seal of...

The National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) is accusing the Tea Party movement of being led by "hardcore white supremacists." The charge is made in an anti-Tea Party resolution to be voted on at the group's annual convention being held in Kansas City this week.The Los Angeles Times reported on the incendiary race-baiting rhetoric being used by the NAACP to stoke racial tensions ahead of the November elections:The NAACP is expected to approve a resolution at its annual convention condemning the "tea party" movement for harboring "racist elements that are a threat to our democracy," a spokeswoman...

SNIPPET: "Washington (AP) - Attorney General Eric Holder says there's a real question about whether a terrorist suspect such as self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed can face the death penalty if he were to plead guilty before a military commission."

So now it’s Gov. Michael Moore. Mr. Moore, the intrepid documentarian behind “Capitalism: A Love Story” and other films, were among the new governors elected to the board of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the academy said on Wednesday. Mr. Moore joined the director Kathryn Bigelow and the film editor Anne Coates among those joining the board for the first time. Others re-elected to positions on the board, whose members serve for three-year terms, were Curt Behlmer, Rosemary Brandenburg, Richard Edlund, Leonard Engelman, Charles Fox, Jim Gianopulos, Hawk Koch, Marvin Levy and Frank Pierson. John Bailey, Ed...

HOW do you pray facing Mecca five times a day when you are circling the Earth 16 times every 24 hours? This is one of the problems facing Malaysian authorities as they prepare to send their first man into space. There are others: how to hold the prayer position in zero gravity, ensure that only halal freeze-dried food is in your space cupboard and perform your ritual ablutions before worship? They have all been answered by a team of Islamic scholars and scientists that has spent more than a year working on guidelines for the astronaut.

Are hijab and women incompatible? Are the two contradictory? Is the one enemy ‎of the other? At least that is what is believed in the west. Isn’t that?‎ Nothing has been as much discussed as those of women among men. So has been ‎the argument about their dress, i.e. what they wear and how they wear?‎ Indeed, women’s clothing has always been in debate among public. It has ‎generated immense controversy, raised countless speculations and has attracted ‎both modernists’ and traditionalists’ views alike.‎ The issue has not yet died down. Just as early as June 17, 2010, an ‎article ‘Dressed...

Al Gore is on record as calling “climate change” a greater threat to humanity than terrorism or rogue dictators with nukes, and Barbara “Ma’am” Boxer has followed suit by saying that “carbon pollution, leading to climate change, will be, over the next 20 years, the leading cause of conflict.” And the only knock on Barbara Boxer that Carly Fiorina could make on open-mic night was about her hair? (name corrected, wrote earlier Meg Whitman said that, sorry Meg!) If by “conflict” she means harsh opposition to the continued takeover of the U.S. from within under the guise of saving the...

National Security: There seems to be only one thing White House arms negotiators want more than a reduction in U.S. nuclear weapons — a reduction in U.S. missile defenses to protect us from such weapons. The Washington Times' Bill Gertz reports that U.S. diplomats are secretly negotiating with Russia to link nuclear arms reduction to limits on our anti-missile defenses. As Gertz points out, "Pro-arms-control officials within the administration dislike missile defenses, viewing them as an impediment to offensive arms agreements." Ellen Tauscher, the undersecretary of state for international security and arms control, has been talking to Moscow's deputy foreign...

Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden should switch jobs. Really. It makes sense for the Democrats, actually. Clinton has done an incredible job as secretary of state. First of all, she has worked harder than anyone should ever be expected to. She has managed to do the impossible: She is the ambassador of the United States to the world, maintaining her credibility while playing the bad guy to President Obama's good guy, such as with North Korea, Iran and Israel, and still looking good. She has been a true team player. If Clinton is dissatisfied with her role, you would never...

"Andy Stern, A Member of Obama’s Fiscal Responsibility Commission, Says ‘Worshipping the Market’ Has Failed America" PHOTO CAPTION: "Andy Stern, former head of Services Employees International Union (SEIU) and a President Barack Obama appointee to the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, said on Monday that the free market has failed the country and American workers. He made his remarks at a conference of the Campaign for America's Future in Washington, D.C., on Monday. (CNSNews.com/Penny Starr)" SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – Andy Stern, the former head of the Service Employees International Union who now sits on President Obama's National Commission on...

SNIPPET: "A leading US expert on the Mideast has told Congress that the US should break with its policy and begin talking to Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed group that the US calls a terrorist organization. Ryan Crocker..

07 June 2010 "JIHADIS DISCOVER GOOGLE'S ENCRYPTED SEARCH" SNIPPET: "What this means is that their connection to Google's servers is encrypted. Their search terms are not encrypted."

Americans, I have some bad news for you: You have the worst quality of life in the developed world -- by a wide margin. If you had any idea of how people really lived in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and many parts of Asia, you'd be rioting in the streets calling for a better life. In fact, the average Australian or Singaporean taxi driver has a much better standard of living than the typical American white-collar worker. I know this because I am an American, and I escaped from the prison you call home. I have lived all...

SNIPPET: "Sens. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and George S. LeMieux of Florida made their comments a day after one of the court's conservative icons, Justice Antonin Scalia, undercut Republican criticism of Kagan's lack of a judicial background." SNIPPET: "Scalia last week volunteered that he considers Kagan a friend." Chief Judge Royce Lamberth of U.S. District Court in Washington said

(CNSNews.com) - Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Wednesday that Dr. Donald Berwick, an advocate of health-care rationing nominated by President Barack Obama to run Medicare and Medicaid, is “absolutely the right leader at this time” to run the government’s largest health-care entitlement programs. Under the health-care reform law signed by President Obama in March, hundreds of billions of dollars will be cut from the Medicare program over the next decade. Berwick is nominated to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which oversees Medicare. Berwick, a professor at Harvard Medical School, has repeatedly indicated...

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama’s counterterrorism adviser John Brennan called Hezbollah a “very interesting organization” in remarks at the Washington-based Nixon Center on Tuesday. He also said the United States needs to “build up the more moderate elements" of tHezbollah which the State Department has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Brennan previously called Hezbollah “an interesting case stud[y]” when speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies last August. In his August remarks, Brennan praised the evolution of Hezbollah as a political force, and seemed hopeful about engaging its members in dialogue. “Hezbollah started out as purely a...

I want to see the schools work... I want to see hospitals work," he said. "I don't think the Republicans share that point of view. "Why would you put people in charge of government who just don't want to do it? I mean, you wouldn't expect to see Al Qaeda members as pilots." Grayson goes on to say his statements don't go to far and that he's acting courageously.

NEW YORK (AP) - A man accused of trying to detonate a car bomb in Times Square spent a decade on the path to respectability before abandoning his house in Connecticut and deciding to supplement his business degrees with explosives training in Pakistan, authorities say. A court hearing was canceled Tuesday in part because of [Faisal] Shahzad's continuing cooperation with investigators, but authorities said they had shed little light on what might have motivated him.

A Muslim protester who daubed a war memorial with graffiti glorifying Osama Bin Laden and proclaiming 'Islam will dominate the world' walked free from court after prosecutors ruled his actions were not motivated by religion. Tohseef Shah, 21, could have faced a tougher sentence if the court had accepted that the insults - which included a threat to kill the Prime Minister - were inspired by religious hatred. But - citing a loophole in the law - the Crown Prosecution Service chose not to charge him with that offence and he escaped with only a two-year conditional discharge and an...

My home state’s new immigration law may be seriously flawed, but it’s trying to solve a serious problem. Although I live in New York City, I still consider Arizona, where I was born and raised, to be my home. So for the past week, when it seems that my entire state came under fire from the national media because of its controversial new immigration law, I’ve found myself very protective of Arizonans, as I try to reconcile not only the politics but the emotions behind that law. Let me say upfront that I do not support the bill that was...

Yid With Lid: He was giving the key note speech at a Washington Institute For Near East Policy and started it out with a "joke" that borders on anti-Semitic, teaching the crowd that Jews are just greedy merchants in the same vein as Shakespeare's Shylock... Editor's note: For Yid With Lid's full post on "The Joke" see the related link below. "• Yid With Lid: Jews are greedy merchants YouTube video 

SNIPPET: "The leadership of the Tea Party Express PAC came to the National Press Club on Thursday to herald its early successes and to unveil its expanded list of 2010 electoral targets." SNIPPET: "In an effort to show that the Tea Party Express PAC is not a “tool” of the Republican Party, but instead is an independent political force, Russo announced that the PAC is getting behind one conservative Democrat who has opposed President Obama’s agenda: Rep. Walt Minnick (ID-01). The decision to get behind Minnick is attention-grabbing because Republicans have fielded a strong candidate in that race: Iraq war...