dwc.com's Views on the News

Spotlighting religious scam artists, political hypocrites & wackos!

Archive for June, 2008

detroit—Hebba Aref and Shimaa Abdelfadeel, two Muslim supporters who attended a Detroit rally were denied seats directly behind Barack Obama. The women were part of two separate groups of supporters that were invited to sit behind the podium, but Aref said they were told that women wearing hijabs (traditional Muslim head scarves) were not included in the invitation because of a "sensitive political climate."

A backpeddling Obama official issued a statement that said this was "not the policy of the campaign." The statement went on to say that [the action] "was offensive and counter to Obama's commitment to bring Americans together.... We sincerely apologize for this behavior." Aref said although she thanked the official, she wanted an apology directly from Barack Obama, as well as an invitation to sit behind him at future campaign events. The 25-year-old lawyer was born in the US to Egyptian immigrants. Her position is that she has defended Obama against rumors that he is Muslim when he is (reputedly) a Christian. "I don't want to be called something I'm not," Aref said, "but I felt like ...everyone was treating this accusation of being Muslim as though it were some sort of crime or sin."

Hebba Aref is grateful that, after the campaign volunteers refused to seat her at the rally, the other members of her group—Muslims and non-Muslims alike—declined the invitation. Obama's message of "unity among races" was hard for Aref to take: "As he's saying it, I'm thinking, 'Well, wait a minute, I was obviously ... profiled and discriminated against an hour ago.'"

rome—For well over a half a century Hollywood has been used to having doors opened and red carpets rolled out when they come to town. Everyone goes ga-ga over the prospect of being in the movies—everyone but Pope Benedict XVI and his boys at the Vatican.

Tom Hanks and his costars in the new The Da Vinci Code film Angels and Demons had the doors slammed in their face when they sought to use Rome's historic Santa Maria del Popolo and Santa Maria della Vittoria churches for sets. In doing so Monsignor Marco Fibbi, spokesman for the diocese of Rome, explained that the movie "does not conform to our views." For one thing the film claims that Jesus married the prostitute Mary Magdalene and had children, which, if true, would cut the very foundation from under Christianity.

Referring to the author of The Da Vinci Code, Monsignor Fibbi added: "It's a film that treats religious issues in a way that contrasts with common religious sentiment. Normally we read the script but this time it was not necessary. The name Dan Brown was enough."

athens—Lesbians, which is what the inhabitants of the Greek island of Lesbos would like to call themselves, are suing a Greek gay rights group over the use of the word "lesbian" in its name. The name of the association—Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece—insults the identity of the people of Lesbos, according to one of the plaintiffs.

Practically the only claim to fame the small island has is as the birthplace of the ancient poet Sappho, who wrote passionate paeans in praise of love between women. Lesbos is a popular vacation spot for Gay women throughout the world, particularly Eressos, Sappho's reputed home town. Dimitrius Lambrou, one of the plaintiffs, perhaps in an attempt to avoid an accusation of homophobia, said, "This is not an aggressive act against gay women. Let them visit Lesbos and get married and whatever they like. We just want [the association] to remove the word lesbian from their title."

Over the years, inhabitants of Lesbos have preferred to call themselves Mytilenes, after the island's capital city. One reason could be that for decades gay women have preferred to call themselves Lesbians. Now, the two groups have come to loggerheads over the appellation. Evangelia Vlami, a spokeswoman for the Homosexual and Lesbian Community of Greece called the lawsuit "a joke in bad taste," bordering on discrimination. "I don't see how the word can be an insult," she said, "even the United Nations refer to us as Lesbians." But, Lambrou insists, "we have been Lesbians for thousands of years." Vlami's solution: "Can't a woman just say: I am from the island of Lesbos?"

The argument hinges on the presumption that Sappho was gay, which Lambrou, the publisher of a small magazine on ancient Greek religion and technology, flatly denies, but, he says, "even if we assume she was, how can 250,000 people of Lesbian descent—including women—be considered homosexual?"

amsterdam—Right-wing politician Geert Wilders is causing more than a little stir in Holland and many parts of Europe with the release of his video criticizing the Koran. Although millions of Hollanders are fed up with the onslaught of Islam into their tiny nation, the left-wing politicians, who are responsible for the mass immigration of Islamic fundamentalists, are denouncing the film and running for cover.

It was no surprise that the Dutch mainstream media refused to broadcast the film, and that immense pressure caused some Internet providers to take Wilders' Web site offline. But when "Fitna," which is Arabic for "strife," was posted on Liveleak, a video platform similar to YouTube, it was out there for the whole world to see and within its first hour the film was watched by well over a million viewers.

Opening with the caricature of Mohammed wearing a bomb as a turban—the image that sparked so much controversy and unrest back in September 2005 when published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten—the film almost seemed to invite religious unrest, or worse. No one knows this better than Kurt Westergaard, the cartoonist who drew the caricature, since he has been and still is the target of attacks, which is why he promptly protested against his caricature being used in the Wilders video. In itself this fact demonstrates the potential deadly danger of Islam in a Western nation used to a fair degree of freedom. To underscore this point, the film contains images of "the Madrid train bombings, of imams calling for global dominance, with a video showing the beheading of a Western hostage and with statistics on the rapidly growing number of Muslims living in the Netherlands."

"Wilders shows a postcard with the words 'Greetings from the Netherlands' on it, but instead of pictures of windmills, we see mosques. 'Is this the Netherlands of the future?' the film asks, as it shows an image of a girl being subjected to female circumcision. 'I had to warn people,' Wilders said. 'This isn't a provocation, it's the 11th hour.'"

Women being stoned, men being beheaded, videos of people being blown apart by bombs—the images of horror from Arab countries will have an effect, one way or the other. What it will do for Hollanders is unclear. But Dutch intelligence in The Hague have drawn up evacuation plans in their Arab embassies, and Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende has asked the European Union to support him if Holland becomes the target of Arab protests, violence and boycotts.

It's the film's final sequence that gives Dutch officials their greatest alarm since it again features the much-hated Mohammed cartoon, but this time with a lit fuse and the sound of an explosion. Recalling the uproar caused by the original caricature, the cowardly Dutch politicians seem to be unable or unwilling to do anything but quake in their clogs at the situation they created by opening their country to an invasion of religious fanatics. Instead of sounding the alarm themselves and moving to clean up the mess, they condemn Geert Wilders and humbly beg the pardon of people who enslave, stone, behead, hang, torture and murder in the name of a god; a people whose leaders have vowed to kill all infidels. "Infidel" is anyone who does not bow both knees to Allah.

council bluffs, iowa—In the aftermath of last Wednesday's murderous tornado, which shredded the Little Sioux Scout Camp north of Council Bluffs, terrorized the 93 campers and 25 staff members and killed four young boys, come the funerals. Once again grief stricken families, friends and neighbors are left behind to make sense of a senseless tragedy; and once again the Jesus crowd step up to the plate with their empty platitudes.

The following are just a sample of the many comments that have flooded newspapers, on-line news sources, chat rooms and blogs:

"God Bless!!!!"

"There is no way to avoid tragedies in our lives - we need to trust in God."

"Our prayers continue for the Iowa scouts families."

"Take comfort in knowing they are in God's hands, safe and happy."

"May God Bless All!"

"JUST WANTED TO SEND OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS TO THE FAMILIES THAT HAVE LOST LOVED ONES IN THE STORM."

"God Bless everyone in this time of tragic weather."

"I grieve for these scouts, and pray that the Lord will comfort their families."

"We all need to pray for one another, as we never know when this will happen to any one of us. Or even worse things. Keep the faith that the Lord will intervene if we just keep the prayers going up to Him."

The only sensible comment gleaned from the tangle of the "God bless" crowd was a lone voice asking why God failed to do what any loving parent, friend, neighbor or even stranger would have done: spared the camp! We at dwc.com will go even further and ask why God created tornados and hurricanes in the first place—surely an all-knowing and loving God should be able to create a world where such horrific disasters aren't necessary for the environment. In fact, we'll go all the way and ask the Jesus crowd why their ministers don't raise the dead, which Jesus commands them to do in Matthew 10:8?

Speaking of the deadly mayhem, Iowa's Gov. Chet Culver said: "There's always lessons learned from any natural disaster, from any tragedy." We agree with the governor, although not in the way he probably intended.

los angeles—Alex Kozinski was born in Bucharest, Romania to Holocaust survivors. By the age of 12 he was living in Los Angeles with his parents, where his father, Moses, ran a small grocery store. By 1972 Alex had graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, and by 1975 from UCLA School of Law. By 1982 he was named chief of the newly created federal claims court, and by 1985 President Ronald Reagan had appointed the 35-year-old Alex to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. By the time President George H.W. Bush was in the White House, Kozinski was being seriously considered for the U.S. Supreme Court. By 2007 Kozinski became chief judge of the 9th Circuit Court with jurisdiction over nine western states.

By 2008 the Honorable Judge Kozinski was posting bestial pornography to his personal website, including a video of a man cavorting with a sexually aroused farm animal, and a picture of nude women on all fours painted to look like cows. Admittedly this revelation in itself isn't all that shocking, since Americans have long been accustomed to the sexcipades of their low-life hypocritical politicians, but the facts surrounding the story makes it just a tad bit much, even for politics-as-usual America.

Bestial porn isn't new to the porn industry. It's been around and tolerated for a long time. But in 2005, Christian evangelicals pressured the Bush White House to crack down on smut and that's how pornographer Ira Isaacs came to be put on trial in Los Angeles for producing and selling videos depicting extreme fetishes, including bestiality and sexual activity involving feces and urine, which, say federal prosecutors, violate community obscenity standards. Chief Judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Alex Kozinski, under a program that allows appellate judges to occasionally handle criminal trials at the District Court level, took on the case of Ira Isaacs.

Through his lawyer, Roger Jon Diamond, pornographer Isaacs is claiming his films are art and are therefore protected by the U.S. Constitution, even though Diamond admits that the films are "the most extreme material that's ever been put on trial. I don't know of anything more disgusting." Diamond's assessment must be right on target since Isaacs' films were so disgusting that when jury selection began this past Monday, dozens of perspective jurors were dismissed because they couldn't bring themselves to watch, which would be required if they were to fairly judge Isaacs and his "art." However, the Honorable Judge Kozinski, in an apparent gesture of conciliation, assured perspective jurors that "I will be there watching with you. This is part of the job we're doing."

When the Los Angeles Times broke the story about Kozinski's own bestial fetish, the 57-year-old chief judge was forced to suspend the obscenity trial, sheepishly telling a reporter that he didn't know how the material got on his site—even though seven years ago he fought with Washington, D.C., federal court administrators in a battle over Web filters they installed to block porn from government computers. This ended when the computer-savvy Kozinski walked into a San Francisco government computer room and personally disabled the filters for three appellate circuits, including his own, and administrators ultimately stopped blocking porn from government computers.

The shocker is not that another public official has been caught in a sex scandal, but that Kozinski was 1) dumb enough to post bestial videos and pictures on his personal web page, and 2) for accepting the Isaacs trial.

In the 21st century Americans expect its politicians to be more cunning in their corrupt and/or criminal activities. On the other hand, Judge Kozinski may have thought that if President Bush could repeatedly break the law, sneer at the Constitution, commit wholesale murder, etc., what was the harm in attaching himself to a little porn case wherein he could watch free bestial porn while insuring that future generations of "extreme artists" were federally protected by his favorable bias?

Since federal judges are appointed for life, it will be amusing to see how this little scandal plays itself out.

denver—Should you protest at the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August? According to protest coordinators it all "depends" on whether or not you bring along a supply of adult diapers.

Among the crowd control options at the DNC will be a weapon dubbed the 'Crap Cannon' or the 'Brown Note,' a silent, ultra-low-frequency weapon developed by the notorious Raytheon Corporation. The nicknames comes from the rumors that when demonstrators were hit during the 2003 free-trade-agreement protests, it caused involuntary defecation.

So, if you're planning on protesting at the Democratic Convention, should you first don your diaper? "No," says Dr. Roger Schwenke, an acoustical expert who appeared on Discovery Channel's 'Mythbusters.' He and his team experimented with low frenquency for the popular debunking television show and according to Schwenke "no involuntary gastro-intestinal motility was caused," although he did admit that the low frenquency used during the experiment caused some abdominal discomfort, which was alleviated by moving away from the source. However, it doesn't appear that Dr. Schwenke used the identical frequency that Raytheon's weapon uses, so his experiment is probably flawed. And it's also quite likely, at least to this writer, that television programs like 'Mythbusters' were deliberately launched in order to poo-poo (!) stories that might get the American public riled up against their government.

The hard fact is that Raytheon is not likely to develop a mildly effective military class weapon since it is the same company that also developed the "Active Denial System" or ADS, which sends out a microwave beam that heats the water just below a victim's skin and causes extreme burning sensations—a weapon that has not been tested for long term effects and that is also reportedly slated to be used at the Democratic Convention in Denver as a sort of 'trial run' before using it as a weapon in Iraq.

Meanwhile, US troops are fighting to bring American style freedom and democracy to the rest of the world, which might explain why the rest of the world fights so hard not to be on the receiving end of our kindness!

berlin—As President Bush winds his way across Europe in what is being called his farewell tour, most Europeans—like most Americans—wish the bastard would just quietly fade away. That's why most Europeans, from protesters to politicians, are ignoring his visit. The only ones paying him any heed are the newspapers, which isn't saying much.

The harshest have been German newspapers, which have been carrying articles like: "The Memory of Bush Will Darken America's Image for Years to Come"; "The Arrogance of Power"; "The Cowboy and His Sunset: Europe Happy to See the Back of Bush"; "'Yurp' Says Auf Wiedersehen to Dubya"; and "Bush Damaged America's Image Around the World." Writing of "democracy" and Bush's visit, the editors of Der Spiegel wrote: "It's the best of all bad forms of government, but for many it's no longer good enough. Today democracy leaves lots of people cold, and in Asia and Africa, many prefer autocratic systems. Damaged by Bush, Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, few are interested in the model of democracy exported by the United States."

Seemingly oblivious to the seething hatred around him, America's fearless leader (never knowing when to keep his mouth shut) again raised the possibility of military action against Iran by telling Europeans that "all options are on the table." But many Europeans fear what might be coming after George W. Bush if Sen. John McCain is the next president. Of him Republican Sen. Thad Cochran wrote that "The thought of his being President sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic, He is hotheaded. He loses his temper, and he worries me!"

Since Sen. Cochran went on to endorse McCain for president, what does that say about the state of American politics and the nation's future?

indianapolis—As the faithful assemble in Indianapolis today for America's largest evangelical denomination, the 16 million-strong Southern Baptist Convention, they face a pressing issue: just who in hell should they endorse for U.S. president? For many, this question is frustrating since they feel they're left with only one option: Sen. John McCain. "It's basically a choice between a liberal and an ultra-liberal," said Jodie Sanders, a Southern Baptist from Fairfield, Texas when comparing Sen. McCain to Sen. Barack Obama.

McCain's failure to support a federal ban on gay marriage, and his support of stem cell research and immigration reform are what have branded him a "liberal" among Evangelicals. Nevertheless, as Gary Ledbetter from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention notes, McCain's saving grace is that he is stronger than Obama on the issue of "family values", one being the question of abortion: "We can debate the war and the economy but there are some things we feel God has spoken about and it's not up for debate."

What Ledbetter didn't explain is why his all-powerful god failed to provide the nation with a good, proven Christian candidate instead of McCain, nor did he explain why Baptists label abortion as murder while saying that the question of George W. Bush using a lie to kill Iraqi citizens and over 4,000 American soldiers is open for debate. God's failure to provide a good Christian candidate explains Springfield, Tennessee Pastor Dan Yoder's comment that "I'm going to have to hold my nose while I vote for McCain."

To most voters it simply doesn't compute that there are other presidential candidates out there and that one need not choose either McCain or Obama. This situation is no surprise because, ever since G. Washington kissed his first baby back in America's prehistoric days, America's big money political machinery has endlessly labored to sell voters on a two-party system. Ignorance is why so many Southern Baptists are vexed by the feeling that they have no choice but to vote for the "liberal" McCain in November.

Although one will be hard-pressed to find this information in the mainstream media, for the record the following political parties are running candidates for president and vice president:

1. Constitution Party
2. Green Party
3. Libertarian Party
4. New American Independent Party
5. Party for Socialism and Liberation
6. Prohibition Party
7. Socialist Party USA
8. Socialist Workers Party
9. Independents

However, unless Americans get shot with an alien intelligence ray gun in the next few months, evangelicals will vote for John McCain in droves, even if they have to hold their nose with one hand and vote with the other. The pity is that they have a choice but are too damned ignorant and indoctrinated to understand the concept of true freedom, which begins with thinking for themselves.

istanbul—In a world gone mad, we can always count on religion being front and center! The latest round of Turkey's scarf wars now features its highest court, the Constitutional Court, dealing a humiliating rebuke to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan by ruling that his allowing female university students to wear Islamic head scarves was unconstitutional because it violated secularism.

Neslihan Akbulut, 26, a sociology graduate student, said she cried when she heard the verdict: "There is no way for me in Turkey now. When I see this result, I feel that I don't need to wait."

The madness of religion is demonstrated in Miss Akbulut's remarks because she is essentially saying that she cried because a court ruled that she can't be imprisoned in veils from head to toe while attending school. But the controversy is more serious than it sounds since it sets the stage for a showdown between Turkey's secular elite—its military, judiciary and secular political party—and Mr. Erdogan, an observant radical Muslim. As students of history can attest, wars have started over less!

seattle—Bringing the world of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek one step closer to reality, this week Boeing announced that it has tested its new thin-disk 25 kilowatt laser, which is the most powerful solid-state laser ever produced. This latest development brings the company closer to a planned 100 kilowatt laser, which has awesome possibilities since a 25 kW laser "will damage, disable or destroy targets at the speed of light, with little to no collateral damage, supporting missions on the battlefield and in urban operations."

If the problems are overcome, and laser weaponry is developed to its full potential, a new dimension in the art of mass killing will be here: "Solid-state lasers will revolutionize the battlefield by giving the warfighter an ultra-precision engagement capability that can dramatically reduce collateral damage. These successful tests show that Boeing has made solid progress toward making this revolutionary capability a reality", said Scott Fancher, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems.

Stripped of the business-like wording of his press release, Mr. Fancher is saying that Boeing's laser weapons can kill without destroying property, which is all-important when war is conducted for the motive of profits. From the dawn of human history, profit has always been the ugly reality behind all warfare and weaponry, and that includes President Bush's "War on Terror" (just ask Vice President Dick Cheney's pals at Halliburton!) (See http://iraqforsale.org for more insight.)

tel aviv—Shmuel Rosner is the chief U.S. correspondent for Haaretz, the Israeli weekly newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. His lineup of informed guests often offer insight into a variety of subjects, including questions on Judaism. One is Rabbi Eliezer Shemtov, who directs Chabad activities in Uruguay.

Rabbi Shemtov is noted for his insistence that Jews not marry outside their race/faith, an argument which he outlines in his book on intermarriage, titled Dear Rabbi, Why Can't I Marry Her?

In Rosner's column this week one can find an example from Rabbi Shemtov's reasoning when he explains to a reader why it isn't considered racism when Jews teach their children that race and marriage matters, but it is racism if non-Jews promote the same message:

Dear Rabbi, I'm a father of two, and for a while was struggling to explain to them why marrying a Jew is important. They think I'm a racist at worst, or old fashioned at best. How would you make the case in a convincing way to a none-orthodox [sic] youth? Thank you for your thoughts, Neil R. Toronto

Dear Neil, Thank you for your question ... let me point out that there is a basic misunderstanding regarding the concept of Racism. Racism is when I say you can marry anyone BESIDES someone from X, Y or Z race or religion. When I say you may not marry anyone except one of us, that is not racism; that is self preservation.

A Jew, by definition, is part of a nation. That implies responsibilities as well as privileges. The main responsibility towards his or her nation is to perpetuate and defend its integrity and strength. One of the most important ways of doing that is by building a Jewish family. The only way to do that is by marrying Jewish. Of course, when faced with the choice between apparent personal happiness and the vital interests of the Jewish People, many people succumb to the former at the expense of the latter. The challenge is to educate the new generation so that they understand that the two objectives are intertwined and one cannot truly have the former without the latter.

Eliezer

P.S. Perhaps the following argument that I once heard from my colleague Rabbi Eli Silverstein will convince a 'not old fashioned' youngster: We are against intermarriage because we believe in Biodiversity.... We do not want the gentiles to become extinct..."

boston—As doctors continued spouting encouraging reports about Senator Edward M. Kennedy's medical condition following his brain surgery, and amidst a continual stream of well-wishers flooding the media with dribble, there is a somewhat silent segment of the American population that sees his illness as a payback.

Elected in 1962 to fill the Massachusetts senate vacancy left by his brother's White House win, Ted Kennedy's history of corruption, drug use, lies, sexual scandal and murder may be unique in the annals of American politics.

Although the Kennedy brothers learned their trade from two generations of scoundrels, organized crime connections, dirty money, perverted sex, etc., during his 46 years in the Senate Ted Kennedy has taken the meaning of corrupt politician to new heights—so much so that many feel that 70 years is long enough for any nation to endure the likes of the Kennedy clan.

Even if one forgets Ted Kennedy's ultra liberal political machinations, which have moved this nation ever more firmly into the clutches of the coming new world order, surely the murder of Mary Jo Kopechne in 1969 should send any reasonable person into fits of revulsion.

When Sen. Kennedy drove his car off a bridge and into Poucha Pond in Chappaquiddick in 1969, he left the still living Mary Jo Kopechne—a former campaign worker for his slain brother Robert F. Kennedy—submerged while he attempted to cover his tracks. George Killen, the Massachusetts State Police Detective-Lieutenant who investigated the accident, said that Senator Kennedy "killed that girl the same as if he put a gun to her head and pulled the trigger." Likely, the notorious boozing Kennedy needed the time to sober up and line up some big guns before the newspapers learned of the accident. The dying Miss Kopechne was simply collateral damage when it came to saving the career of a Kennedy. (Police diver John Farrar's testimony showed that Miss Kopechne survived for as long as two hours in the submerged automobile by breathing a pocket of trapped air.)

Had the case gone to trial, the nation would have learned of Sen. Kennedy's drug and alcohol use, his endless list of sexual conquests, and doubtless more sinister revelations, which is why the old rule that money can buy anything was put into play. Enough cash and called-in favors from political bigwigs saved Ted Kennedy's hide: Pleading guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, the womanizing alcoholic senator received a suspended two-month jail sentence and lost his driver's license for one year.

When asked his views on Sen. Kennedy's medical condition, www.darrellwconder.com editor Darrell Conder replied that "if the bastard dies, then in my opinion it's too little, too late. If there was a god, then a man like Ted Kennedy would not continue to blight this world! But one cannot blame anyone for the Kennedys but the American voters, as Plato observed some 2,500 years ago: 'The penalty good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.'" (For more insight on Chappaquiddick go to: www.ytedk.com)

Islamabad—The battered corpse of a seven-year-old blind boy was found in his teacher's room at a Pakistani religious school after fellow students realized the boy had not slept in his bed the previous night and initiated a search for him. The teacher, Quri Ziauddin, beat the boy to death because he had failed to memorize the Koran.

Ziauddin, a mullah, is now in custody and has been charged with the torture and murder of his blind seven-year-old student, Mohammed Atif. Police state that Ziauddin had hung the boy from a ceiling fan for an hour before the beating. Results of the autopsy concluded that Mohammed died of head trauma and had also apparently been tortured. After the severe beating, Ziauddin cut his student down from the fan and let him drop to the floor. This, according the police, was likely the final blow that killed him.

Instead of calling for medical help, Qari Ziauddin hid the small boy in his own room and then fled the scene. Ziauddin has reportedly admitted to the beating and stated that it was a normal occurrence at the school. He said that when he was a student he and others were similarly beaten. "It is not uncommon," he said.

The parents of Mohammed Atif admitted that their son repeatedly complained of being abused at the school (called a madrassah). The father, Fayyaz Ahmed, stated that before the final attack the teacher had hit his son with an iron rod. He'd been cut so severely that stitches had been required. After treatment, Fayyaz said, "we wanted to pull him out of the madrassah but we decided to readmit him after the teacher said he would show some mercy...."

Gulzar Bibi, the boy's 28 year old mother, cried as she stated that they "kept pushing him" to go to the school because they wanted him to become a religious scholar. She said they dismissed his stories as an attempt to get out of his studies. She and her husband had hoped that Mohammed would become a "Hafiz-e-Quran", a scholar who has memorised the whole Koran. She added that "we thought he would be the key to our emancipation on the day of the judgement."

The Pakistani prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani ordered an inquiry into the conditions of madrassahs across Pakistan mainly because of this latest incident. Up until now, officials have turned a "blind eye" to abuses in the schools. Now there are widespread concerns for the 1.5 million children in madrassahs all across Pakistan.

washington—Speaking before the powerful American Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC) on Wednesday, Sen. Barack Obama, now the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, sounded more like Sen. John McCain and his mentor, George W. Bush than a man promising Americans political change. Obama: "The danger from Iran is great, it is real, and my role [as president] will be to eliminate this threat!"

Senator Obama's speech mirrored that of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who spoke before the same body and who said that "drastic measures" are needed to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The prime minister went on to say that the world must show Iran that there will be devastating consequences if it develops such weapons: "The international community has a duty and responsibility to clarify to Iran, through drastic measures, that the repercussions of their continued pursuit of nuclear weapons will be devastating."

Obama's official saber rattling will not be good tidings to those who are opposed to George W. Bush's Iraqi war, which now includes the majority of Americans. In fact, his words strongly hint that the changing of the guard in November will be in name only: new faces, same old crowd calling the shots.

rome—Speaking at the UN food agency summit in Rome on Tuesday, with protesters demonstrating outside, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Europeans that they "have suffered the biggest damage from the Zionists and today the weight of this artificial regime, both political and economic, is on Europe's shoulders."

Before his speech, Ahmadinejad predicted that Muslims would uproot "satanic powers" and repeated his controversial belief that Israel will soon disappear. Before leaving Rome for Tehran, he noted that "Iran, as an influential nation in the economy and agriculture, has clear solutions, programmes and suggestions for the fair production and distribution of food supply in the world. Iran can play a decisive role in today's world management."

Likely Ahmadinejad's words are music to the ears of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney & Co., who continue to beat their ominous war drums. They certainly will add to Sen. McCain's rhetoric as he all but promises a war with Iran should he be elected.

jerusalem—Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain is making headlines in Israel by promising that the U.S. "is committed to preventing a second holocaust", which is nothing short of a blatant promise to deal militarily with Iran and Syria should he be elected to the Oval Office.

The response came when McCain was interviewed last week by Jeffery Goldberg from The Atlantic magazine and was asked if the U.S. was confusing its own interests with Israel's regarding Iran's supposed efforts to develop nuclear weapons. With George W. Bush still beating his war drums against Iran, McCain's over-dramatized response sounds very much like the dangerous rhetoric of his White House pal, who might yet tangle the U.S. in another disastrous Middle East war before he leaves office.

McCain made his position crystal clear on Monday when he addressed the opening of the American Israel Public Action Committee (AIPAC), the extremely powerful pro-Israel lobbying organization in Washington that essentially dictates Israeli policy to the U.S. Congress. (The incredible influence of American Israel Public Action Committee may be seen by the fact that both Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama will take time out of their campaign schedules to speak at the conference.)

McCain told AIPAC "I'm committed to making certain Israel maintains military edge ... When we join in saying never again, that is not a wish, a request or a plea to the enemies of Israel, but a promise that the United States and Israel will honor against any enemy.... Tehran's continued pursuit of nuclear weapons poses an unacceptable risk, a danger we cannot allow. The world would have to live indefinitely with the possibility that Tehran might pass nuclear materials or weapons to one of its allied terrorist networks. Armed as well with its ballistic missile arsenal, an Iranian nuclear bomb would pose an existential threat to the people of Israel."

In wrapping up his speech, McCain said: "Foremost in all our minds is the threat posed by the regime in Tehran. The Iranian president has called for Israel to be wiped off the map and suggested that Israel's Jewish population should return to Europe. He calls Israel a stinking corpse that is on its way to annihilation, but the Iranian leadership does far more than issue vile insults. It acts in ways directly detrimental to the security of Israel and the United States." (www.ynetnews.com)

The only thing missing from McCain's rhetoric was the slogan "weapons of mass destruction," which was the lie that helped George W. Bush mire this nation into an unnecessary bloody war. And this from a guy who said he is willing to keep U.S. troops in Iraq if it takes 100 years to get the job done—presumably meaning that he would keep U.S. troops in Iraq as long as it continue to be a profitable enterprise for his buddies.

chicago—After sitting in a South Side Chicago church for the past 20 years listening to racist rhetoric, presidential hopeful Sentor Barack Obama has decided to dump his brand of Jesus and look for something more in line with his political aspirations.

The split became official when Obama sent the current pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, a letter of resignation from Trinity United Church of Christ. No doubt that Obama's longtime friend, Father Michael Pfleger, spurred the decision when he preached a racist tirade against Sen. Hillary Clinton a week ago in that same church.

To a delighted congregation, Pfleger said: "Rev. Moss, when Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on," Pfleger said from the pulpit. "I really believe that she just always thought, 'This is mine! I'm Bill's wife, I'm white, and this is mine! I just gotta get up and step into the plate.' And then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama,' and she said, 'Oh, damn! Where did you come from? I'm white! I'm entitled! There's a black man stealing my show!'" To the laughter of his listeners, Pfleger then mocked Clinton's tears: "She wasn't the only one crying, there was a whole lot of white people crying!" After his show sermon, Rev. Moss profusely thanked Fr. Pfleger: "We thank God for the message, we thank God for the messenger, we thank God for Father Michael Pfleger."

Many Americans see Sen. Obama's resignation from a church that has a long notorious racist history, as too little too late. Many have observed that had the tables been reversed, and Sen. Clinton had had a twenty-year affiliation with a church whose pastor was an avowed racist, a church that openly sells racist books, whose very creed is racist, then she and husband Bill never would have had a career in politics. Many see the whole affair as a distinctive double standard that pervades American society.

In the coming weeks it will be interesting to see what brand of Jesus Sen. Obama buys, since the right one will be necessary to woo potential fundamentalist Christian voters.

jerusalem—A New York Jewish novelist, Jonathan Littell, is the most recent author to milk the international cash-cow known as the holocaust industry (to use Prof. Norman G. Finkelstein's term).

Since its 2006 release, Littell's novel, Les Bienveillantes, has sold an astounding 800,000 copies in France, and with the slated release of English and Hebrew editions, his novel stands to make him a rich man. One of the reasons the novel has stirred so much controversy is because of its storyline.

The fictional story centers on SS Obersturmbannfuehrer (Lieutenant Colonel) Maximillian Aue, who is a homosexual, has a passionate incestuous sexual desire for his twin sister, and who fantasizes about his mother's murder. Consequently, the book is saturated with sex and homosexual fantasies. Aue is also a dedicated murderer who mercilessly "liquidates" Jews in Eastern Europe. The most bizarre part of the story is when the SS officer meets high ranking Nazi officials, including Adolf Hitler, whom he bites on the nose. Perhaps this nonsense is why a French critic concluded that the novel's protagonist is a "totally untenable", even if others praised it to high heaven. (The novel won France's most prestigious literary prizes, the Prix Goncourt and the French Academy's Grand Prix du Roman.)

Les Bienveillantes was released in Germany this past February and stirred a commotion when the fist 100 pages were serialized in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Despite the sensationalism, most of the reviews were very negative. Typical is this one from Iris Radisch in Die Zeit: "Why should we read a book written by an educated idiot who writes badly, is haunted by sexual perversities and abandoned himself to racist ideology and an archaic belief in fate? I am afraid that I have yet to find the answer."

But all this aside, the real stir of Littell's novel comes from remarks by the author himself in an interview with Assaf Uni, which were published in the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz. During the interview Littell downplayed the holocaust by comparing it to other, no less murderous events, in world history. In the sacred world of the holocaust industry such a view is tantamount to heresy.

Littell states: "My reading of what you call 'Holocaust' is also less Jewish and Judeo-centric than that of my father. I think that what happened was far broader than a narrow issue of 'Germans killing Jews.' The English word 'holocaust' is certainly the wrong term to describe what happened. It is a religious term, rife with non-historical meaning. I don't think the word 'shoah' is any better. It's a controversy among historians.... Ulrich Herbert calls it the 'National-Socialist extermination policy,' and I find that a far more accurate description because it also includes the extermination of the homosexuals, the Gypsies, the disabled and other minorities."

Assaf Uni asks: "But doesn't the unprovoked nature of the destruction of the Jews, the underlying ideology, the apparatus that was created to implement it, its scale, make it exceptional in human history?, to which Littell replies: "I personally understand the arguments for the exceptionality of the Holocaust, but I don't agree with them. The basic argument is that the Nazis wanted to kill all the Jews, but I don't see the difference between that and an extermination policy that was aimed—and implemented on a large scale—at groups such as the peasants in the Soviet Union or in Cambodia. Every genocide is exceptional."

Littell goes on to explain: "I think the extermination of the Jews is a universal problem, I think it concerns everyone. Beyond that, I think that today the issue is being used for political purposes in Israel.... It is more like, you know, 'Listen up, young future Israeli soldiers, this is why you are going to fight.' It is political, a mechanism. It has no connection to what actually happened. The Holocaust, I think, is being exploited politically, in a way that the Nazi extermination policy against other groups—Russians, homosexuals, Gypsies—is not."

When Assaf Uni asked whether Littell thinks the Holocaust shapes Israeli actions today, he replied: "On the one hand, Israel is a country that underwent a serious trauma, and the Holocaust made it dramatically paranoid. But then there is also greed and land-grabbing and all that shit. That's just inexcusable. I'm sorry, but this cannot be excused by traumas that occurred 60 years ago.... Bizarrely, Israel, which was created to be a safe haven for Jews, has become the most dangerous place in the world for the Jews. And [Israel] has made it more dangerous to be a Jew in other countries, too."

During the interview Littell also drew parallels between the Nazis and the Israel Defense Forces and their behavior towards Palestinians. When pressed if they were really comparable, he replied "No, we cannot compare: There is nothing like genocide in the territories, but they are doing absolutely atrocious things. If the government would let the soldiers do worse things, they would. Everyone says, 'Look how the Germans dealt with the Jews even before the Holocaust: cutting the beards, humiliating them in public, forcing them to clean the street.' That kind of stuff happens in the territories every day. Every goddamn day.... I think the Israelis, instead of beating their breast, should take a long, hard look at what they are doing now. I am not saying that present-day Israeli society is comparable to Nazi society in World War II, but it is definitely one of the most crazed Western societies."

When all the hype is stripped away, Littell's perverted sexual Nazi-holocaust novel doesn't sound any different from such classics as Werewolf Women of the SS; Ilsa, She Wolf of the SS; Fraulein Devil, and Love Camp 7!

(Assaf Uni's entire article and interveiw "The executioner's song", can be read online at: www.haaretz.com.)