This Blog is created to stress the importance of Peace as an environmental directive. “I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it’s hell.” – Harry Truman
(I receive no compensation from any entry on this blog.)
Back in the day before Ellis Island, New York City would receive immigrants on its East Side Docks.
When the amount 0f people coming through the docks started to reach 5000 per day, it became necessary to move the process of entering the country to Ellis Island.
I find the bigotry that exists today in the dialogue surrounding immigration embarrassing when one considers the welcome people would receive decades ago.
Hey Arizona, Can't We All Just Get Along? (click title to entry - thank you)
The controversial Arizona immigration law plays the "race card" rather than focusing on the real issue at hand....
This is nuts. There is no other word for it. How is a country suppose to have any kind of restructuring to cope with such citizen displacement amid violence?
This is crazy and there are 'sects' of religion that propagate this?
I don't think so.
There is absolutely nothing sane about this and I don't care what form of religion one practices. People can't receive food, water and shelter without being blown up?
The Arab Nations have to do something. This is NOT a means of government, nor is it a means of providing for citizens.
There is no charity here.
NONE !
Charity is a pillar of Islam.
This is an outrage to the practice of any Muslim principles.
This is CRIME at work. This is not any kind of religious fundamentalism (ORTHODOXY).
This is, however, pure, unadulterated mass murderers.
Pakistani mourners (click title to entry for audio - thank you) bury Friday's bombing victims in Quetta, Pakistan, 4 Sep 2010
As Pakistan tries to cope with the worst flooding in its history, the country has seen several major suicide bomb attacks in the past few days against minority Shi'ites. The two major attacks, one in Lahore and the other in Quetta, killed more than 100 people and wounded hundreds of others....
'Mideast peace process poses a strategic threat to Iran' (click title to entry - thank you)
Minority Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman: Cancellation of Iran FM's visit to Cairo is proof of the importance of the peace process.
By Barak Ravid and the Associated Press
Minister of Minority Affairs Professor Avishay Braverman said Saturday that the recently relaunched peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians posed "a strategic threat to Iran."
Speaking at the Shabbat Tarbut event in Haifa, the minister said that "the cancellation of a visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Egypt and the historical events that have occurred in Tehran since the start of peace talks are proof that progress in the talks will lead to an alliance between Israel and the moderate Arab states versus the axis of evil of Iran-Hamas-Hezbollah....
...Egypt has cancelled a visit by Iran's foreign minister to protest comments in which he accused Arab leaders of betrayal for attending the new round of Mideast peace talks in Washington.....
CAIRO -- Egypt has canceled a visit by Iran's foreign minister to protest comments in which he accused Arab leaders of betrayal for attending the new round of Mideast peace talks in Washington.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had been scheduled to visit Cairo Monday for a meeting of Nonaligned Movement members.
Iran has an uneasy relationship with U.S.-allied Arab nations, which have watched Tehran's growing influence in the Middle East with concern because of suspicions over its nuclear program and its support for radical Islamic groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.
Mottaki said Arab leaders who attended the relaunch of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Washington this week were "betraying their nations."
"Some leaders ... who follow America's orders must understand that they are betraying their nations," Iran's Fars news agency quoted him as saying on Tuesday.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II attended the talks.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry said it summoned Iran's charge d'affaires in Cairo to notify him it was canceling Monday's visit and postponing the Nonaligned meeting.
Iran severed ties with Egypt after it signed a peace deal with Israel in 1979 and provided asylum to Iran's deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
A top European official was accused of antisemitism tonight after declaring that there was little point in engaging in rational argument with Jews and suggesting that the latest Middle East peace talks were doomed because of the power of the Jewish lobby in Washington.
Karel De Gucht, the European commissioner for trade, and a former Belgian foreign minister, sparked outrage after voicing his scepticism about the prospects for the negotiations which opened in the US this week. He told a Belgian radio station that most Jews always believed they were right, and questioned the point of talking to them about the Middle East.
De Gucht, who negotiates for Europe on trade with the rest of the world, and is one of the most powerful officials in Brussels, was forced today to issue a statement declaring that the views he expressed were personal.
"Don't underestimate the opinion … of the average Jew outside Israel," he told the radio station. "There is indeed a belief – it's difficult to describe it otherwise – among most Jews that they are right. And a belief is something that's difficult to counter with rational arguments. And it's not so much whether these are religious Jews or not. Lay Jews also share the same belief that they are right. So it is not easy to have, even with moderate Jews, a rational discussion about what is actually happening in the Middle East."
Explaining why he thought the peace talks were probably doomed, he added: "Do not underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill. That is the best organised lobby, you shouldn't underestimate the grip it has on American politics – no matter whether it's Republicans or Democrats."
Jewish leaders were incandescent. "This is part of a dangerous trend of incitement against Jews and Israel in Europe that needs to be stamped out immediately," said Moshe Kantor, the head of the European Jewish Congress. "What sort of environment allows such remarks to be made openly by a senior politician? Once again we hear outrageous antisemitism from a senior European official. The libel of Jewish power is apparently acceptable at the highest levels of the EU."
Officials in Brussels stressed the remarks did not represent EU views or policies. De Gucht was forced to issue a statement clarifying his remarks.
"I gave an interview … I gave my personal point of view," he said. "I regret that the comments that I made have been interpreted in a sense that I did not intend.
"I did not mean in any possible way to cause offence or stigmatise the Jewish community. I want to make clear that antisemitism has no place in today's world."...
Can the process go forward not that everyone has VENTED !
Personally, I think we are well on our way to a sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine with a Middle East that has had quite enough of the violence within the Islamic world.
This is what we have to look forward to with these idiots.
Hate mongers. That is all they are. They have nothing constructive to add to the American Landscape.
Such morality I've never seen.
In a Saturday, Aug. 28. 2010 photo, Rutherford County Sheriff's Office and ATF (click title to entry - thank you) investigators examine equipment damaged in a fire at the future site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Authorities told mosque officials that four pieces of heavy construction equipment on the site were doused with an accelerant and one set ablaze, said Camie Ayash, spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.
The Daily News Journal, John A. Gillis / AP Photo
George Walker Bush called al Qaeda"Islamic Facissts." Remember those noble words? How could anyone forget?
...The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI is offering a $20,000 reward to anyone with information leading to an arrest....
The president turns a new phrase to describe the 'war on terrorism'
By Kari Huus and Tom Curry
msnbc.com
updated 8/11/2006 11:31:34 PM ET
...It was a “stark reminder,” President Bush said in his first public reaction to the events, that “this nation is at war with Islamic fascists,” seeking to destroy freedom-loving societies.
At this dramatic moment, it was not “war with terrorism,” as the president characterized events shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, or a “war on terror," as he has referred to it more commonly over time.
Instead, the war was now with “Islamic fascists” — a term that has rarely been used by the president before this week. Was it used in the heat of the moment, or was the president rolling out a new way of explaining U.S. policy — choosing new words to explain and solidify support...
Some lingering 'rough' surf remains an issue at some East Coast beaches, but, overall the weather in the USA should be good for a holiday weekend.
Labor Day,
There is still some activity near Africa, but, currently nothing that is moving in unison with any of the previous storms. Earl and Fiona served to cool things down a bit as the sun's direct rays are transitioning south.I look forward to the report coming from NOAA and NASA and the Hurricane Center regarding this system of storms. They did a great job.
Earl may pick up some velocity on it way through Canada when it hits open water.
There seem to have been some people lost during the time tides were turbulent. ...Meanwhile, New Jersey authorities have called off a search for a second victim of rough surf caused by Earl and its predecessor Danielle.
High winds and looming rains forced the Coast Guard around midday Friday to suspend a search for 20-year-old Pardip Singh of Carteret, N.J. State police hope to resume the search by boat if conditions improve later in the day.
Singh entered the ocean Thursday night at Belmar, N.J. with a group of people but did not reappear. His disappearance came on the same day authorities recovered the body of 23-year-old Franky Lezin of Asbury Park, N.J. Lezin drowned after entering the roiling waters Tuesday.
Nantucket police chief William Pittman warned island residents against complacency, saying Earl was "still a dangerous storm" with severe winds that could be stronger than those carried by the gusty nor'easters the island is used to absorbing.
The National Hurricane Center reduced the New England areas under a hurricane warning to just Cape Cod and the islands. The rest of the New England coast remained under tropical storm warnings and watches.....
It absolutely boggles my mind to realize how silly people treat their own lives. These events were nothing but fool - hearty activities that should have never occurred. They don't listen to common reasoning. It is amazing how some people consider government to be insignificant in the efforts it puts forth to safeguard life and property.
There will be ecological damage all along the East Coast and that will have to be assessed for erosion, habitat loss and the damage that brings to natural areas (which are vital to tourism) and sand dunes that protect the homes and businesses along the seashore.
In the past administration the federal authorities sought to minimize these events as impacts on the economy. That is about as stupid as it comes in governing. Citizens realize the conditions of the troposphere makes for dangerous times in life. They know these events are short lived and surviving the day is paramount to enjoying the holiday. MINIMIZING danger in a society adds to its violence tolerance as well. It is hideous.
There is a lot of damage. Railroads are disabled. This is from the "New Zealand Herald."
..."This was very similar to the earthquake (click here)that struck Haiti," said Paul Caruso, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo. "The main difference is that New Zealand has a lot of experience with earthquakes, and they have good construction codes to make sure that their buildings withstand a strong earthquake."...
This happened on the South Island. What are they thinking there? Tourist schedules are more important than prudent safety measures.
Thrill seekers. Well, it is no thrill now, is it?
New Zealand plane crash kills nine (click title to entry - thank you)
British man among victims after aircraft crashes on takeoff from Fox Glacier airport in South Island
...The aircraft, carrying a party of skydivers and tourists, crashed and burst into flames shortly after takeoff from Fox Glacier airport on the west coast of the South Island, police said today.
A police spokesman said five New Zealanders were killed, including the pilot, and individuals from Australia, Ireland, Germany and the UK.
"The embassies of each overseas victim have been informed and relatives are in the process of being advised," he said....
