DUBAI â The Emirates Environmental Group (EEG) recently organised a lecture on Islamic interpretation of the environment as embodied in the verses of the Holy Quran. According to EEG chairperson Habiba Al Marashi, despite the fact that concerns about the environment have been echoed in the last 300-400 years, the nucleus of ecological thinking dates back 1,400 years ago when the Holy Quran was compiled.
âKey concepts relating to the environment like ecological balance, biological diversity, environmental stewardship, rational consumption and conservation of resources have repeatedly appeared in the verses of the Holy Quran,â Al Marashi said.
"Killing infidels definitely brings the environment into better balance. It's in our Holy Book. You could look it up."
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Lol. Isn't there anything that Little Mo missed?
#2
Well that certainly explains how wherever Islam spread in the Mediterranean and Levant regions the result has been like one big Desertification project. Places famed for grain and produce production in ancient times turned to waste, and existing irrigation structures left to ruin or outright destroyed.
Visit to farmers' market, lunching with locals atop itinerary
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I'd like to ask - in the nicest possible way, of course -
WHO GIVES A SHIT?
Didn't we have a war to get rid of these people? :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/06/2005 1:11 Comments ||
Top||
#2
You have to look at the big picture, Barbara. Our war of independence occurred over 200 years ago plus change. We had it with King George the *ahem* er Third and his stupid and tryannical ways. Now, by bringing over Prince Charles and his *ahem* wife Camilla, the younger generation can see why we rebelled against the Crown. Thank you, Prince Charles.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/06/2005 2:56 Comments ||
Top||
#3
must have ticked the Royals off a bit when the all the punks on a skateboards kept saying, "get out of the way, you royal twats".
PARIS - Farida Verhaeghe-Amiri believes, with missionary zeal, that the Arabic version she has penned and recorded of Franceâs national anthem, La Marseillaise, will be a salve on the open wounds of French society.
Oh no doubt.
With dozens of ghetto-like enclaves in Parisâ suburbs â inhabited mainly by immigrants from Muslim north Africa â literally aflame with ethnic and class tension, the impulse to promote unifying civic values is surely too late welcome. If for no other reason, the improbable fact that her Algerian grandfather carried to safety a wounded soldier in World War I named Charles de Gaulle â founder of Franceâs Fifth Republic â should earn her a hearing.
But Verhaeghe-Amiriâs dogged efforts to get an Arabic rendition of Franceâs Republican rallying cry officially recognized by various state ministries, while endorsed in some quarters, is seen in others as sheer provocation.
"Mahmoud, what is that horrible sound?"
"It's Farida, singing da Mayonnaise. In Arabic."
"Really. Now I've heard everything. Kill her."
Born in the Algeria town of Setif, Verhaeghe-Amiri, 50, has first-hand knowledge of the frustrations felt by many of Franceâs six million residents who trace their origins to the Muslim, Arabic-speaking countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.âMany young north Africans feel left out in France,â she said. âThey grow up hating their lives here.â
Going back to the motherland never occurs to them.
Whatever barriers they may face in French society, however, does not justify the rampaging violence that has wracked Parisian suburbs for 10 nights and counting, she said. âI want them to learn to respect the values of peace and friendship, and, of course, liberty, equality and fraternity,â the cornerstone values of French republicanism, she said. âSo I wrote La Marseillaise in Arabic.â
"Mahmoud, what's taking so long? That noise is getting pretty bad!"
The idea was born in a moment of outright disgust. Along with tens of millions of French television viewers, Verhaeghe-Amiri watched hundreds of Franco-Arab youths boo the French national anthem and then riot on the pitch at a 2001 football match between France and Algeria. âI was ashamed to see the lack of respect the kids showed France,â she said. âThese kids have had no education in civic pride. The failure is at school, and especially at home.â
Oh, most especially at home.
The event, and the controversy it provoked, inspired Verhaeghe-Amiri, a former public high-school teacher, to rewrite a loose translation of the 18th-century revolutionary anthem. She then enlisted two professional pop singers to make a recording in her native Arabic, available today as a CD. So now âAllons enfants de la Patrieâ (âArise, children of the fatherlandâ) sounds like this: âhiya abâna el waâatan.â The background music is typical of Algerian pop music.
Few sounds are more loathsome.
Not surprisingly, a lot of French people donât like the idea of meddling with the national anthem. French politicians raised a chorus of protest this summer during a debate in the national assembly as to whether La Marseillaiseâs arguably racist and bloodthirsty lyrics should be revised.
Bloodthirsty beyond a doubt.
When enfant-terrible pop singer Serge Gainsbourg recorded a reggae-style adaptation in 1979, it was deemed scandalous. But none of this has discouraged Verhaeghe-Amiri, who has contacted various French administrations in her quest for an official stamp of legitimacy.
The response has always been polite, sometimes even encouraging. Franceâs beleaguered minister for equal opportunity Azouz Begag â on the front line this week of the governmentâs efforts to calm rioting suburban youth â wrote to Verhaeghe-Amiri earlier this year, for example, endorsing her efforts. âYour approach fits perfectly with the government policy of equal opportunity and I thank you for your citizenâs engagement,â he wrote.
Minister for equal opportunity??
But her efforts to have the Arabic anthem used in French schools, for example, have so far led to naught. No one dares say no â one senior education ministry official praised her initiative as âencouraging tolerance and fraternity.â But then he passed the buck to another office which will decide if the CD will be listed as authorized teaching material.
Verhaeghe-Amiri is not seeking to supplant the original. âThe official anthem must always be played in French,â she said. âBut sports clubs could play the Arabic version as an educational tool. And it could be played in foreign, Arabic-speaking countries as a message of peace from France.â
With Algerian pop music background. Sure, a message of peace allright.
âMany North African youths here do have an identity crisis, and maybe this can help,â said Karim Chayeb, an official in the Muslim Scouts of France organization. âThis might do good for Franceâs image outside the country even more than inside.â
But the idea is not universally welcomed. âI am of Guinean origin, but I do not need to hear La Marseillaise sung in Sou-sou to strengthen my respect of French values,â commented Lynda Morrel, a youth center official in a Paris suburb. Pascal Chollet, owner of a small toy store in Paris, agrees. âI think it must be sung in French, not in any other language, whether it be Arabic, Spanish or Chinese. Would you sing âGod Save the Queenâ in French?â
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Next up: adding a green crescent to the tricolour...
Would you sing âGod Save the Queenâ in French?
Hell, I wouldn't sing it in English.
But that's just me.... :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/06/2005 1:13 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The Marseillaise verses is about taking in arms in the defence of freedom. I can't see how this could be translated in islamic: the religion of total submission.
#5
At the film's beginning, the credits are displayed over a political map of Africa. In the first five minutes of footage, the introductory details are succinctly communicated. Over a crude, slowly-spinning globe and a zoom-in shot toward Western Europe, a doom-laden, ominous voice-over, similar to the March of Time newsreel narrations [by Westbrook Van Voorhis], explains the turbulent Nazi takeover of Europe, the coming of World War II, III and the frenetic stream of political refugees (superimposed over the globe) from persecution out of Hitler's besieged Europe to Vichy France and North Africa: With the coming of the Second Third World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully or desperately toward the freedom of the Americas. Lisbon became the great embarkation point. But not everybody could get to Lisbon directly...
A three-toned relief map of the land mass of Axis-occupied Muslim occupied Europe spins into the frame, showing the opposing sides in the conflict:
Excuse me please, I'm going down to Rick's for a drink.
#6
and when she completes her jihad version of Marseillaise, she is going to begin work on adapting the Guillotine for public beheadings. She feels that rioting and public beheadings of anyone who dares to speak against democracy and justice, will give the poor lads a better sense of what it means to be French.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/06/2005 22:35 Comments ||
Top||
#10
SW - before I condemn Zen, I'd look to see if she has had anything to say aboiut that - even absence of outrage speaks volumes.
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/06/2005 22:58 Comments ||
Top||
#11
Thank you, Steve White. I'll cheerfully take my lumps for posting that. It was a (however crude) attempt at turnabout on what is so common in the Arab world already. The irony of this moron recasting an anthem of liberty in the language of repression and autocracy was a little much for me.
I will duly note how my statement originated from a position that sought to "unconditionally condemn acid being thrown in a woman's face." A stance which I have always and still continue to maintain.
#1
The man needs to be treated as well as a Schwarzenegger supporter at a Teachers Union rally. Oh, that's right, them's just little people and don't deserve to be treated like those only fit to rule.
#2
"You have to have a wristband to listen to the governor?" Bening asked. "He represents all of us, right?"
I really don't care who is California's governor. They can keep chasing businesses to other states if they want.
But it is scary that the person who may be their next governor (or his wife) doesn't know the difference between a state executive and a state representative. What is the senate and assembly for?
Senior United Nations officials are ignoring the scathing reports into their handling of the corruption-ridden Iraqi oil-for-food programme, according to John Bolton, the outspoken American ambassador to the UN. He accused them of living in a "bubble" as they disregard the damning findings of the Volcker commission established by Kofi Annan, the secretary general. The inquiry criticised the UN and Mr Annan for their failings in running a scheme from which Saddam Hussein skimmed off an estimated $2 billion (£1.2 billion).
At a private dinner attended by the Sunday Telegraph in New York last week, Mr Bolton gave guests a hard-hitting critique of life at the UN. "In the bubble on First Avenue, Volcker is just ignored. I talk about it, but it's a solitary conversation. Nobody else will be fired unless people are indicted by outside authorities. Corruption didn't arise out of thin air, it arose out of the culture of the place. Bribes, mismanagement etc - it would be unacceptable for executives in any normal organisation."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#2
Two interesting, for the shock value alone, lol, LA Times articles which are less than complimentary regards the UN. The Ron Silver flic might be particularly interesting. This is far from the fawning BS of the past.
#3
Bolton is a tough guy doing noble work. If I had to choose between his job or taking on Iran alone, I think I would take Iran. at least I would be certain who the enemy was.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
11/06/2005 11:13 Comments ||
Top||
Negotiators at the Summit of the Americas have ended their two-day meeting without an agreement on a hemispheric free trade zone. The trade summit was the latest to be marred by regional divisions over the issue. A top negotiator who asked not to be identified told The Associated Press on Saturday that the summit's final declaration would present two opposing views. One view supports the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), while the other delays judgment on the issue until after World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in December.
The decision came after hours of wrangling that delayed the summit's close for eight hours. Almost all of the leaders - including US President George Bush - left during the dicussions and put high-level negotiators in charge of resolving the prickly subject. Mexico, the United States and 27 other nations wanted to set an April deadline for talks, but that was opposed by Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Americas Summit ends without consensus
I must respectfully disagree.
I do believe there is a consensus - here, at least - that the "demonstrators" are loser assholes of the first order.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
11/06/2005 1:15 Comments ||
Top||
Israeli officials say they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian Church in the Holy Land - on the site of a maximum security prison.
Israel's Antiquities Authority said the church at the Megiddo jail dated back to the third or fourth century AD and was "a once in a lifetime find". It contained a mosaic bearing the name of Jesus Christ in ancient Greek, fish murals and an altar, officials said.
The dig took place near the biblical site of Armageddon in northern Israel.
"This is a once in a lifetime find and the inscriptions are very rare," excavation supervisor Jotham Tefer told Israel's Channel Two television.
"This is a very ancient structure, maybe the oldest in our area," he said.
Mr Tefer added that the discovery could help shed new light on an important period of Christianity, which was banned by the Romans until the fourth century.
"Normally we have from this period in our region historical evidence from literature, not archaeological evidence," he said. "There is no structure you can compare it to, it is a very unique find."
The Vatican's ambassador to Israel, Pietro Sambi, described the find as a "great discovery".
Megiddo is Hebrew for Armageddon, the site which Christian teachings say will herald the final battle before the coming of the messiah.
#3
Get some troops around it now before the goat-loving child molesters decide the prison is the 12,087th Holiest Place in Islam and try to blow up the church.
#4
It's the other way around. Megiddo is just a place name for a famous fortress with a protected water supply. Armegeddon was grafted onto it later in Christian theology.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
11/06/2005 18:11 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Megiddo
Ar-Mageddo-n
Same name, just a said and spelled differently over the years.
One of the largest and most powerful commercial satellites in the world is set to blast off on Monday.
The UK-built Inmarsat-4 F2 is the second of three satellites designed to improve global communications systems. It will be lifted into orbit by a Zenit-3SL rocket from a sea platform close to the equator.
The first satellite, which covers most of Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Indian Ocean, was launched from Cape Canaveral in March.
The second satellite will improve and extend communications across South America, most of North America, the Atlantic Ocean and part of the Pacific Ocean.
Inmarsat-4 F2 will lift off from a floating launchpad close to Christmas Island on the equator.
"It will be quite spectacular," said Inmarsat chief operating officer Michael Butler. "In the Pacific Ocean, it will be night time. It will be a very impressive fireworks display but hopefully without the explosions."
The sea launch was originally scheduled for Saturday but was delayed 48 hours to allow controllers to investigate technical issues.
The two satellites will support the London-based sat-com company's global broadband network - BGan.
Their onboard technology is designed to allow people to set up virtual offices anywhere around the world via high-speed broadband connections and new 3G phone technology.
The satellites offered broadband for a mobile planet, said Mr Butler. Those set to benefit include business travellers, disaster relief workers and journalists.
"It's the newest platform for mobile satellite technology," he said. "It's been described by our scientists as a quantum leap in technology."
The two six-tonne spacecraft, each the size of a London bus, should continue functioning for about 15 years. They were largely built at the EADS Astrium facilities in Stevenage and Portsmouth, UK.
When the earth churned violently in J&K on October 8, turning peoplesâ lives upside down, authorities were not aware that things would go so out of hand that cowsheds would be counted as bungalows.
But a month after the devastating earthquake, that is what is surfacing in Kashmir â weird, faulty claims for compensation. And those lining their pockets at the cost of thousands rendered homeless by the temblor cut across fat sections of the administration â house surveyors, politicians and government officials.
Large-scale fraud has been detected in the evaluation of damaged and destroyed houses in J&K. In many cases, members of one family, living under one roof, have been shown as owners of separate accommodations. In a few cases, cowsheds have been listed as double storeyed residential houses to allow its owners receive compensation of Rs one lakh.
Bashir Ahmad Runiyal, the relief commissioner for Uri, said he would re-examine the list of damaged houses. He admitted that some of those on the "corrupt list" have already received the first installment of Rs 40,000 out of a total of Rs one lakh.
"There are some allegations of wrong entries on the list and the persons responsible for the wrongs have been removed from the post," Runiyal claimed, adding that a case has been registered with the police for action against the accused. Sources in the know revealed that every fake claimant has had to shell out Rs 40,000 to grease the hand of government officials in order to get Rs one lakh.
TOI is in possession of the list prepared by the relief commissioner for Uri. It shows 450 damaged houses where the figure should be 350.
One Bashir Ahmad Mir, a clerk in the revenue department, got together with sub-divisional magistrate Bashir Ahmad Khan to show he had 20 houses. His "damaged houses" have been listed at serial numbers 1, 2, 5, 38, 42, 43, 86, 149, 150, 151, 154...
There is another list which shows a husband-wife duo in Uri living in three separate houses. Even their minor sons live independently in houses they "own". Similarly, the family of one Kaka Singh is split into nine houses.
The corruption, reminiscent of the one that had Gujarat convulsing after the Bhuj earthquake, is spreading as fast as the winter snow in Kashmir.
"Politicians", Iqbal Lone of Uri said, "are at the forefront". The police recovered 800-odd blankets from the house of one Rafiq Balot, a Congress worker. This is when there are still thousands shivering due to absence of tents and warm clothes in cold-lashed J&K.
Posted by: john ||
11/06/2005 07:19 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#5
At least it is Indian money being stolen. They refused all offers of aid.
Posted by: john ||
11/06/2005 17:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The billions that will be stolen by the Pak government will be from the West.
According to the Pak physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy, the last time the Pak government received earthquake relief (in 1971), they used it to kick start the nuclear weapon program.
Posted by: john ||
11/06/2005 17:33 Comments ||
Top||
Truck drivers are being asked to pay for the women's services in 20-litre lots of diesel
Zimbabwe prostitutes are demanding diesel in return for their favours, mostly from South African long-haul drivers. A report carried in The Manica Post, a government-controlled newspaper in Mutare in eastern Zimbabwe, says that truck drivers en route from Beit Bridge to Harare are being asked to pay for the women's services in 20-litre lots of diesel. The new fuel entrepreneurs then make twice what they would normally earn by selling on the fuel to locals. Zimbabweans have been starved of regular fuel supplies since March. The Manica Post said the flourishing trade was taking place in Mvuma, about 200km south-west of Harare. Mvuma police inspector Costa Taduwa was quoted as confirming that the side of the main road had become an informal service station, with fuel deals between the women and drivers taking place in "broad daylight". "We are making frequent raids but it continues and the ladies are taking advantage of the situation," he said.
#2
"We are making frequent raids but it continues and the ladies are taking advantage of the situation," he said.
Yes inspector Taduwa, thanks for staying on top of this one. We've noticed a steady parade of Police bakkies leaving that area with the petrol gauges on empty, headed for the nearest Noczim station.
Political protests spread from the capital to other parts of Ethiopia Friday after a week of bloody clashes between demonstrators and police. Western diplomats said they had reports of several deaths in protests outside Addis Ababa Friday. Scattered gunfire and rioting was also reported in the capital, where doctors said at least two people were wounded. Police have killed at least 40 people since confrontations began Tuesday in the capital, medical officials said. The protests started peacefully Monday, with demonstrations against Prime Minister Zenawi Meles, whose May election has been disputed. The medical workers asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from government officials, who put the number of dead during the week at 24 civilians and seven police officers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/06/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Police have killed at least 40 people since confrontations began Tuesday in the capital, medical officials said.
Wonder if the chief of police of Addis would consider a Parisian TDY? I believe he may be on to something......
Zimbabweâs state media accused Britainâs Prince Charles on Friday of lobbying the United Nations to take action against the government of President Robert Mugabe. The southern African state is struggling with a severe economic crisis that many critics blame on policies pursued by Mugabe, Zimbabweâs ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.
On Friday, the government-controlled Herald and Chronicle newspapers said Prince Charles had this week appealed to the United Nations for "action" against Mugabe during a visit to the United States. The papers normally reflect the views of Mugabeâs inner circle. In a lead story headlined "Row sucks in Prince Charles", the Herald daily charged that the prince was partly behind a statement issued by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressing concern over Zimbabwe. Prince Charles expressed strong views on Zimbabwe at a business conference attended by Annan in New York before the UN boss issued his statement, and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw had "admitted" that he had pressured Annan to condemn Zimbabwe, the newspaper said.
"It has emerged that the heir to the British throne appealed to the United Nations to intervene in the diplomatic dispute between the United Kingdom and Zimbabwe by taking action against Zimbabwe under the guise of assisting the country," it said. Mugabe accuses Britain of leading a Western campaign against his government. His officials routinely denounce the opposition and other critics either as puppets or racists angry with him over his seizures of white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to landless blacks. On Friday, the Herald published a cartoon lampooning Annan as a puppet being asked by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to repeat after him that: "We are deeply concerned with the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Senior United Nations officials are ignoring the scathing reports into their handling of the corruption-ridden Iraqi oil-for-food programme, according to John Bolton, the outspoken American ambassador to the UN. He accused them of living in a "bubble" as they disregard the damning findings of the Volcker commission established by Kofi Annan, the secretary general. The inquiry criticised the UN and Mr Annan for their failings in running a scheme from which Saddam Hussein skimmed off an estimated $2 billion (£1.2 billion).
Negotiators at the Summit of the Americas have ended their two-day meeting without an agreement on a hemispheric free trade zone. The trade summit was the latest to be marred by regional divisions over the issue. A top negotiator who asked not to be identified told The Associated Press on Saturday that the summit's final declaration would present two opposing views. One view supports the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), while the other delays judgment on the issue until after World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks in December. 
Political protests spread from the capital to other parts of Ethiopia Friday after a week of bloody clashes between demonstrators and police. Western diplomats said they had reports of several deaths in protests outside Addis Ababa Friday. Scattered gunfire and rioting was also reported in the capital, where doctors said at least two people were wounded. Police have killed at least 40 people since confrontations began Tuesday in the capital, medical officials said. The protests started peacefully Monday, with demonstrations against Prime Minister Zenawi Meles, whose May election has been disputed. The medical workers asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation from government officials, who put the number of dead during the week at 24 civilians and seven police officers.
Zimbabweâs state media accused Britainâs Prince Charles on Friday of lobbying the United Nations to take action against the government of President Robert Mugabe. The southern African state is struggling with a severe economic crisis that many critics blame on policies pursued by Mugabe, Zimbabweâs ruler since independence from Britain in 1980. 
