Well, what have we heah. A rich nancy boy from the big city. WASHINGTON -- Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff arrived Tuesday at a federal prison in North Carolina to begin serving a 150-year sentence for what is believed to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
Federal Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman Linda Thomas said Madoff arrived at the Butner, N.C., facility after leaving federal jail in New York City on Monday. Them clothes got laundry numbers on them. You remember your number and always wear the ones that has your number. Any man forgets his number spends a night in the box. These here spoons you keep with you. Any man loses his spoon spends a night in the box. There's no playing grab-ass or fighting in the building. You got a grudge against another man, you fight him Saturday afternoon. Any man playing grab-ass or fighting in the building spends a night in the box. First bell's at five minutes of eight when you will get in your bunk. Last bell is at eight. Any man not in his bunk at eight spends the night in the box. There is no smoking in the prone position in bed. To smoke you must have both legs over the side of your bunk. Any man caught smoking in the prone position in bed... spends a night in the box. You get two sheets. Every Saturday, you put the clean sheet on the top... the top sheet on the bottom... and the bottom sheet you turn in to the laundry boy. Any man turns in the wrong sheet spends a night in the box. No one'll sit in the bunks with dirty pants on. Any man with dirty pants on sitting on the bunks spends a night in the box. Any man don't bring back his empty pop bottle spends a night in the box. Any man loud talking spends a night in the box. You got questions, you come to me. I'm Carr, the floor walker. I'm responsible for order in here. Any man don't keep order spends a night in the box.
Madoff has a projected release date of November 14, 2139, assuming he gets early release credit for good behavior while in prison. He is listed in Bureau of Prisons records as prisoner number 61727-054. No problem, Bernie. You can do it standing on your head...
The 71-year-old Madoff pleaded guilty in March to charges that his investment advisory business was a multibillion-dollar scheme that wiped out thousands of investors and ruined charities. Authorities said Madoff had carried out the fraud for at least two decades before confessing to his sons in December that his investment business was a fraud and that he had lost as much as $50 billion.
The Butner Federal Correctional Complex, located about 45 miles northwest of Raleigh, includes two medium-security facilities, a low-security facility and a hospital, according to the Bureau of Prisons Web site. Within the federal prison system, it is perhaps best known for its hospital facility to treat elderly or ill prisoners.
Among the well-known criminals being held at Butner are:
John Rigas, founder of Adelphia Communications, and his son, Tim, the company's chief financial officer. They were convicted on multiple charges of securities fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud.
Jonathan Pollard, the American convicted of spying for Israel more than two decades ago.
Omar Abdel-Rahman, also known as the blind sheik, who was sentenced to life in prison in 1995 for his role in a plot to kill Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and blow up New York City landmarks, including the United Nations. He was sentenced to life in prison in 1995 and moved to Butner in 2007.
And now they have a fourth for bridge. But watch the blind guy. I hear he cheats...
#6
This is the moment a a US Navy pilot gave a shocked resident a very close look at his F18.
The fighter/bomber streaked past an apartment block on the banks of the Detroit River at the weekend. It was part of a tactical demonstration fly-past to open a speedboat race in the North American city.
Officials waived rules to allow the Navy flyers to swoop under 100ft along the waterway.
Saudi Arabia announced tough new legal penalties for human trafficking on Monday after years of foreign criticism that it made little effort to stop abuses.
De facto versus de jure. If I recall correctly, slavery was made illegal there in 1967. Nut for a people that considers wives, daughters and sisters to be de facto property, extending the attitude to not-one-of-us of both sexes is no stretch whatsoever.
The cabinet set punishments of up to 15 years in prison and a $266,666 fine, the official SPA news agency reported. It's one thing to have a law, another to enforce it.
Don't make us notice what you're doing in there!
It included under the definition of trafficking holding a person under control for sexual abuse, forced labour,
This does not include house servants, I imagine. After all, that's their secondary purpose.
involuntary begging, slavery or slavery-like practices, and enforced organ removal or medical experimentation. The cabinet agreed that tougher penalties should apply where the offence was committed against a disabled person, a woman or spouse, or a child who was the victim of a parent or guardian. So they gonna start doing their own housework now? I think not.
The Saudi government has been criticised for years for lacking anti-trafficking laws, despite frequent cases of alleged abuse particularly among the kingdom's seven to 10 million foreign workers, most of whom perform low-wage, low-skilled jobs. "Women, primarily from Asian and African countries, are also believed to have been trafficked into Saudi Arabia for commercial sexual exploitation," a US State Department report published this year said. So don't get caught, okay, folks?
"In addition, Saudi Arabia is a destination for Nigerian, Yemeni, Pakistani, Afghan, Chadian, and Sudanese children trafficked for involuntary servitude as forced beggars and street vendors."
Where is it that the boys become racing camel jockeys?
Second Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz said after the cabinet meeting that the new law "embodies the principles of sharia law which prohibit attacks on the rights of another human being". Winky winky, princey...
You have the right to be a slave to one of Allah's chosen, sexual or otherwise. You have the right to submit to whatever Allah's chosen may choose to do to you, for thus you submit to Allah himself, whether or not you recite the Shahada to announce your conversion to the one true religion. Should you revert to Islam, this will not change your slave status. Do you understand these rights as they have been told to you in a language you do not understand?
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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A MAN who hacked into NASA computers will launch a last-ditch effort in Britain's High Court to avoid extradition to face charges in the US.
Gary McKinnon, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, has admitted to hacking into 97 US computers from his London home in 2001 and 2002 following the September 11 terror attacks. The 43-year-old claims he was looking for evidence of UFOs and aliens on the high-security computer systems belonging to the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Department of Defence.
Former home secretary Jacqui Smith granted requests for Mr McKinnon's extradition in October 2008, with the Crown Prosecution Service backing up her decision in February. Two High Court judges will now begin a judicial review of the decisions after requests by Mr McKinnon's lawyers who hope he can instead face trial in Britain.
If the unemployed computer administrator is extradited, he faces up to 60 years in jail if found guilty.
However if he stands trial in Britain Mr McKinnon is likely to face a much less severe sentence.
His mother Janis Sharp said she feared for her son's mental health if he was extradited.
Perhaps you should have been fearing for his mental health at an earlier point in life, Mum ...
"It's very frightening because you can feel that the end is very close," she told the Daily Mail. "I am very scared because when I walk into the court it's like waiting to hear the death sentence."
Mr McKinnon's lawyers claim prosecutors failed to take into account medical advice warning that their client could commit suicide if extradited.
That's not our problem ...
They also argue it's inconsistent with previous cases involving Britons who hacked into US computers but were prosecuted on home soil.
The Crown Prosecution Service has stood by its decision to recommend extradition. Newly appointed Home Secretary Alan Johnson said it was up to prosecutors to decide whether to Mr McKinnon should stand trial in Britain or the US.
Mr McKinnon's attacks on the US Government computers allegedly caused mass chaos and caused an estimated $US900,000 ($A1.15 million) worth of damage. US prosecutor Paul McNulty described it as "the biggest hack of military computers ever - at least ever detected".
Honduran Interim President Roberto Micheletti continued to shore up his cabinet Monday, swearing in the nation's top diplomat and its environmental chief, as this Central American nation struggles to win international support amid a two-week political crisis.
At least they didn't call it a coup ...
Carlos López Contreras was named foreign affairs minister and sworn in at the presidential palace. Contreras had been the head of Micheletti's negotiating team, which met with with representatives of ousted President Manuel Zelaya in Costa Rica last week.
The talks were suspended over the weekend but could resume on Saturday, Micheletti said.
Shortly after being sworn in, Contreras said the mediation talks, which are being spearheaded by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, will continue to be one of his top priorities. He will also redouble efforts to win diplomatic support for the isolated government.
Zelaya was sent into exile at gunpoint on June 28, after he ran afoul of the supreme court, the attorney general and his own party. Since then, both he and Micheletti have claimed to be the legitimate leader of this nation of 7.8 million. The Organization of American States and the United Nations have condemned the ouster and asked for Zelaya's immediate return, and not a single nation has officially recognized the new administration.
Despite that, diplomatic relations continue, Contreras said. ''There has been no diplomatic rupture,'' Contreras said. ``What there has been is no official pronouncements yet.''
Also sworn in on Monday were Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Valerio Gutiérrez López, and the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Energy.
When Zelaya was ousted much of his cabinet left the country or went into hiding.
Smart thing for Micheletti and the 'interim' government to do is to appoint ministers. Have the Honduran Congress pass a bunch of laws and have Micheletti sign them. Get on with the business of governance. Make Zelaya irrelevant.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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BEIJING (AP) -- Spying accusations against four Rio Tinto Ltd. employees have complicated contentious price talks between China and iron ore suppliers that could disrupt the industry. China consumes up to 60 percent of world iron ore supplies and wants it much cheaper. The manager of Rio's Chinese iron ore business and three co-workers were detained July 5 on espionage charges. "It's going to be difficult for Rio to negotiate when a key member of their team in China is locked up."
WASHINGTON -- Nine months into the fiscal year, the federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time. The imbalance is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation, and already pressuring the value of the dollar. There's also concern about trying to reverse the deficit -- by reducing government spending or raising taxes -- in the midst of a harsh recession.
The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit in June totaled $94.3 billion, pushing the total since the budget year started in October to nearly $1.1 trillion. The deficit has been propelled by the huge sum the government has spent to combat the recession and financial crisis, combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues. Paying for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also is a major factor.
Afghanistan is still small change and the war in Iraq is winding down. How does that drive a $1.8 trillion deficit?
The country's soaring deficits are making Chinese and other foreign buyers of U.S. debt nervous, which could make them reluctant lenders down the road. It could force the Treasury Department to pay higher interest rates to make U.S. debt attractive longer-term.
"These are mind boggling numbers," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Smith School of Business at California State University. "Our foreign investors from China and elsewhere are starting to have concerns about not only the value of the dollar but how safe their investments will be in the long run."
Government spending is on the rise to pork out the Democrats address the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate that has climbed to 9.5 percent.
Congress already approved a $700 billion financial bailout and a $787 billion economic stimulus package to try and jump-start a recovery, and there is growing talk among some Obama administration officials that a second round of stimulus may be necessary. This has many Republicans and deficit hawks worried that the U.S. could be setting itself up for more financial pain down the road if interest rates and inflation surge. They also are raising alarms about additional spending the administration is proposing, including its plan to reform health care.
President Barack Obama and other administration officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have said the U.S. is committed to bringing down the deficits once the country has emerged from the current recession and financial crisis.
Adistinctly nebulous time frame.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I wonder if the One planned to have ready made scapegoats in place?
French youts youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday, police say. Maybe if the gendarmes cracked some "French youths" skulls, this wouldn't be a now "traditional" event.
As French troops and their guests of honour from the Indian army made last minute preparations for the July 14 parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris, the suburbs of major cities were contemplating another clean-up operation. By 6:00am (2pm AEST), police headquarters in Paris had recorded 317 burnt out cars - up 6.7 percent on 2008 - and 240 arrests, almost double the total for the same period last year.
These numbers were expected to increase as fresh reports came in.
The injured officers, 12 members of the police and one gendarme, were mainly suffering from hearing difficulties after being targeted by youts youths throwing fireworks and small-scale home-made explosives.
France marks Bastille Day as the anniversary of July 14, 1789, when a revolutionary mob stormed the Parisian prison and set in motion the events that would lead to the overthrow of the monarchy. Today, disaffected youts youths from bleak suburban housing projects around major cities use it to express their frustration with high unemployment rates and what they see as France's failure to integrate ethnic minorities. Jean-Claude! Yves! Jacques! I'm soooo disappointed in you...
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07/14/2009 15:49 ||
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Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/14/2009 17:05 Comments ||
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France marks Bastille Day as the anniversary of July 14, 1789, when a revolutionary mob stormed the Parisian prison and set in motion the events that would lead to the overthrow of the monarchy.
Who knew there were that many Constitutionalists Hondurans in Paris on that day? /sarc off
There is a shiny addition among the Ottoman mosques and palaces that make up Istanbul's stunning skyline: the metallic, mirrored dome of the new Sakirin Mosque, a Muslim place of worship built with a woman's touch. For what may be the first time in history, women have been at the forefront of the construction of a mosque in Turkey.
One of the project's leaders is Zeynep Fadillioglu, an interior decorator who has designed restaurants, hotels and luxury homes from New Delhi, India, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and London, England. She helped organize a team of traditional mosque artists specializing in Islamic calligraphy, along with craftsmen in glassworks, metal-casting and lighting who, like Fadillioglu, have built careers working in exclusively secular architecture and design. "I want people to feel peaceful and be left with themselves as much as possible and yet have beautiful art and artistic symbolism around them," she said.
Istanbul has a venerable tradition of mosque architecture, dating back centuries to when Ottoman sultans declared themselves caliph, or spiritual leader of the Muslim world. The shores of the Bosporus Strait are studded with 16th century masterpieces such as the Suleymaniye Mosque, built by the Ottoman Empire's most famous architect, Mimar Sinan, and ornate, neo-Baroque jewels designed by the Armenian Balyan family in the 19th century. But Istanbul's most senior Muslim cleric laments that mosque design suffered a decline after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the wake of World War I. "In the last 70, 80 years, we have built mosques that are copies of Ottoman architecture," said Mustafa Cagrici, the mufti of Istanbul. "This wasn't a good development, because the copy can never be as good as the original." Fadillioglu and her team of artists are hoping to change that.
Fadillioglu said one of her goals was to bring extra attention into the design of the women's section of the mosque, an area that she says is often neglected by architects. According to Islamic tradition, worshippers are segregated by gender at mosques. "I have seen mosques where women have been pushed to the worst part of stairs, cramped area. Sort of as if (they are) unwanted in the mosque," she said. "That is not what Islam is about. ... Women are equal in Islam to men"
Five minutes' drive from the Sakirin Mosque stands the Mihrimah Sultan Mosque, a 16th century structure built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in honor of his favorite daughter. Unfortunately, female worshippers do not get to enjoy its stunning stained glass windows the way the men do. They have to pray in a small women's section, hidden behind a bank of chest-high shelves that store shoes. At the Sakirin Mosque, Fadillioglu said, she gave women praying on the balcony an unobstructed view of the dome, the ornate chandelier, and the area on the floor where the imam will lead prayers. "I would like to come here to pray," said Elif Demir, an 18-year old art student with a funky, orange-dyed haircut who was working on the chandelier. "This mosque is completely different because of the light that's coming through the walls, through the glass."
Fadillioglu's role in the Sakirin Mosque is all the more surprising because she comes from a jet-set side of Turkish society not normally associated with Islam. "It is unusual," she conceded, "because first of all not many modern people have been commissioned to design a mosque." She spoke in a recent interview at Ulus 29, the expensive Istanbul hilltop restaurant and bar that is owned by her husband. Amid the Ottoman- and Selcuk-inspired flourishes she has sprinkled around the restaurant are echoes of designs seen at the Sakirin Mosque. A glass chandelier made of hundreds of crystal tear drops hangs above the bar, similar in style to the mosque's chandelier. Fadillioglu said being a night club owner does not prevent her from also being a Muslim. "You might be surprised in Turkey to find some very modern-looking people being very religious at the same time," she said.
On May 8, Turkey's prime minister attended an inauguration ceremony for the Sakirin Mosque. Afterward, in an interview with CNN, the mufti of Istanbul called it the start of a new era of mosque design in Turkey. "It is in Islamic tradition for women to commission mosques ... and now we have women who are building mosques as well," Cagrici said. "God willing, I hope the world will see more of these beautiful mosques, touched by women's hands."
A billboard proclaiming that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a Republican has stirred a religious and political hornets' nest in Houston, where a church leader is trying to draw black voters into the Republican Party.
The jumbo-sized roadside ad made its contentious claim for about a week -- until a local black activist charged that the sign unjustly politicized King's legacy and was hurting his community by telling a "blatant lie."
"Martin Luther King may have very well believed in some of the Christian principles of the Republican Party, but Dr. Martin Luther King was not a Republican or a Democrat," said Quanell X, who heads the New Black Panther Party in Houston.
"Dr. King was bigger than a political party -- he was a humanitarian, and so to attach him exclusively to any party is to devalue his humanitarian global status," he said. "We were insulted ... by the billboard because it was a blatant lie."
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#1
Well, Quanell, he sure as fuck wasn't a Panther.
And as I understand it, most southern blacks were Republican before the great post-Civil Rights Act realignment - it was different up north where the Democrats had some limited success in absorbing blacks into their immigrant-interest-group coalition during the New Deal. King died about halfway through the segregation political shift, and he was quite firmly on the leftist side of things by his death. Much more Obama than Palin, I'm afraid.
It might be technically true that he started out as a technical Republican, but it's misleading to play it up.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 18:24 Comments ||
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"The simple fact is that the leader of the Black Panther Party here in Houston called a news conference and they spooked," he said.
Raaaccciiiissstt!!11!!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2009 18:27 Comments ||
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He added that King would never have embraced the present-day GOP, which he said had "racist elements."
Hmmm...but no former high ranking Klansman like the Donks serving in the US Senate. BTW, you might take up the 'racist' concept with the 'wise latina' who seems to believe that its OK to be racist when it comes to whites and basic rights of equality before the law.
WASHINGTON (AP) President Barack Obama had just started a spirited defense of his economic stimulus plan on Monday when one of his teleprompter screens came loose, crashed to the floor and shattered into pieces. Some would call this an...omen, perhaps?
The gadget's fall surprised Obama, who uses a teleprompter during most speeches and even brief remarks. The glass plate displaying his speech hit the floor in the auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, a massive building within the White House compound. Maybe it was...the Ghost of Ike?
"Oh, shit! goodness," Obama said. "What do I do now! Sorry about that, guys." Who set that up? Well, find out and make him ambassador to Somalia!
The audience administration officials, mayors and urban policy experts laughed as Obama went back to his text. To finish his 11-minute remarks calling for a new policy toward the nation's cities and metropolitan areas, he used notes and the remaining teleprompter screen. He's gonna give us lotsa money? Guess we better laugh then...
Guys only? Surely there were some ladies in that captivated audience. The rules of engaging political correctness surely apply to The One, so Obama ought to be able to pontificate without breaking PC rules? Oh, he can't? Remember, he's just Obambi from the block!!!
The Israeli transport ministry said on Monday that it will get rid of Arabic and English names for cities and towns on road signs, keeping only the Hebrew terms. "Minister Yisrael Katz took this decision that will be progressively applied," a ministry spokeswoman told AFP. Currently Israeli road signs are written in Hebrew, Arabic and English, with the city names in each language. So Jerusalem is identified as Yerushalaim in Hebrew, Jerusalem in English and Al-Quds in Arabic (along with Yerushalaim written in Arabic script). Under the new policy the Holy City will only be identified as Yerushalaim in all three languages. Nazareth (Al-Nasra in Arabic) will be identified as Natzrat and Jaffa (Jaffa in Arabic) will only be written as Yafo. Katz told the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot that the move was a response to the Palestinian refusal to use Hebrew names for some Israeli towns.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Lots of visitors and Israelis need English signs.
#2
Grom, I've never been. How prevalent is Hebrew usage in Israel? I had been under the impression that it was fairly universal, and that Hebrew had taken more than, say, Gaelic in the Republic of Ireland had.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 10:26 Comments ||
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There are tourists and new olim. Plus Hebrew writing is, essentially, consonant only. So, sometimes, you've to see a new word (especially names of non-Hebrew origin---common as street names) in English before you can figure pronunciation.
#4
Under the new policy the Holy City will only be identified as Yerushalaim in all three languages.
The names will be written in all three languages, but in Arabic and English will be a transliteration of what the place is called in Hebrew. Thus Israel visibly removes the Arab claim to places.
Miniature robots could be good spies, but researchers now are experimenting with insect cyborgs or "cybugs" that could work even better.
Scientists can already control the flight of real moths using implanted devices. I can do it already with a candle.
The military and spy world no doubt would love tiny, live camera-wielding versions of Predator drones that could fly undetected into places where no human could ever go to snoop on the enemy. Developing such robots has proven a challenge so far, with one major hurdle being inventing an energy source for the droids that is both low weight and high power. Still, evidence that such machines are possible is ample in nature in the form of insects, which convert biological energy into flight.
It makes sense to pattern robots after insects - after all, they must be doing something right, seeing as they are the most successful animals on the planet, comprising roughly 75 percent of all animal species known to humanity. Indeed, scientists have patterned robots after insects and other animals for decades - to mimic cockroach wall-crawling, for instance, or the grasshopper's leap.
Instead of attempting to create sophisticated robots that imitate the complexity in the insect form that required millions of years of evolution to achieve, scientists now essentially want to hijack bugs for use as robots. Bwahahaha!
Originally researchers sought to control insects by gluing machinery onto their backs, but such links were not always reliable. To overcome this hurdle, the Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (HI-MEMS) program is sponsoring research into surgically implanting microchips straight into insects as they grow, intertwining their nerves and muscles with circuitry that can then steer the critters. As expensive as these devices might be to manufacture and embed in the bugs, they could still prove cheaper than building miniature robots from scratch.
As these cyborgs heal from their surgery while they naturally metamorphose from one developmental stage to the next - for instance, from caterpillar to butterfly - the result would yield a more reliable connection between the devices and the insects, the thinking goes. The fact that insects are immobile during some of these stages - for instance, when they are metamorphosing in cocoons - means they can be manipulated far more easily than if they were actively wriggling, meaning that devices could be implanted with assembly-line routine, significantly lowering costs.
The HI-MEMS program at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has to date invested $12 million into research since it began in 2006. It currently supports these cybug projects:
Roaches at Texas A&M.
Horned beetles at University of Michigan and the University of California at Berkeley.
Moths at an MIT-led team, and another moth project at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research. Sand fleas at Rantburg University
Loons at Berkeley
So far researchers have successfully embedded MEMS into developing insects, and living adult insects have emerged with the embedded systems intact, a DARPA spokesperson told LiveScience. Researchers have also demonstrated that such devices can indeed control the flight of moths, albeit when they are tethered. TOW bugs?
To power the devices, instead of relying on batteries, the hope is to convert the heat and mechanical energy the insect generates as it moves into electricity. The insects themselves could be optimized to generate electricity.
When the researchers can properly control the insects using the embedded devices, the cybugs might then enter the field, equipped with cameras, microphones and other sensors to help them spy on targets or sniff out explosives. Although insects do not always live very long in the wild, the cyborgs' lives could be prolonged by attaching devices that feed them.
The scientists are now working toward controlled, untethered flight, with the final goal being delivering the insect within 15 feet (5 m) of a specific target located 300 feet (100 meters) away, using electronic remote control by radio or GPS or both, standing still on arrival. More than good enough to deliver a nuke!
Although flying insects such as moths and dragonflies are of great interest, hopping and swimming insects could also be useful, too, DARPA noted. It's conceivable that eventually a swarm of cybugs could converge on targets by land, sea and air. Seems to me that the "swarm of bugs" thing has been done long ago. Folks are still talking about it today. ;-)
Malaysian authorities are investigating two Muslims who sparked complaints after they pretended to be Christians and took Communion at a church service to research a magazine article, officials said Tuesday. The investigation poses a fresh challenge for the government in its efforts to reduce religious friction in this ethnic Malay Muslim-majority country, where religious minorities have complained that their rights are being sidelined in favor of Islam.
A churchgoer filed a police complaint last week after reading an article in the monthly Malay-language Al-Islam magazine written by a contributor who described how he attended a Roman Catholic Mass with his friend and hid his Muslim identity.
Police federal crime investigations head Mohamad Bakri Zinin said officials were investigating whether the two men had caused religious disharmony a crime that carries a prison sentence of up to five years. Mohamad Bakri declined to elaborate. It was not clear which part of the men's actions might be considered a breach of the law. Causing religious disharmony is defined as taking any action that results in ill-will between people of various religions.
The writer said they were trying to confirm rumors that Muslim teenagers were being converted to Christianity in Kuala Lumpur's churches every Sunday. He described how they tasted Communion wafers to blend in with the crowd, but found no evidence to support the rumors. He also criticized portions of the ceremony and said Christians have strayed from the true faith.
Rev. Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the Herald, the Catholic church's main publication in Malaysia, said the men had "insulted the Christians" through their actions. "For us, this is a very holy matter," Andrew told The Associated Press. "They have shown disregard, disrespect. ... So we are very upset about this."
Norshamsinor Baharin, the assistant editor of Al-Islam, said the magazine did not want to make any statement for now. Al-Islam writes about Islamic teachings and news.
Church officials would not forbid non-Christians from attending Mass, but they cannot take Communion, Andrew said, adding that Catholics were also unhappy that the men had entered the church under false pretenses. The magazine article indicated the men had spat out the Communion wafer because they took a photograph of it partially bitten.
Joachim Francis Xavier, the Catholic man who filed the police complaint, said the men had been irresponsible and that their actions could cause religious tensions. "If everyone starts to intrude into each other's services and write about it, there will be chaos," said Xavier, who is not a member of the church that the men attended.
Christian, Buddhist and Hindu minorities who comprise about one-third of Malaysia's population often say their constitutional right to practice religion freely has come under threat from Muslim-dominated authorities. The government denies any discrimination. Religious disputes include a court battle between the Catholic church and the government over a 2007 order banning non-Muslims from translating God as "Allah" in their literature. The government says its use would confuse Muslims, but Christians say the ban is unconstitutional
#1
Man, don't fuck with Catholic communion. The more old-fashioned types take their transubstantiation seriously. In the old days, pogroms could break out if the crowds even *suspected* that infidels were profaning the Host. It's one of the traditional blood libels. There are shallow places in the veneer of western civilization, and messing with the Host is definitely one of them.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 16:31 Comments ||
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"If everyone starts to intrude into each other's services and write about it, there will be chaos,"
Yeah, I can kinda see how it could lead to chaos, if say, some Christian went to a mosque some friday, pretebnding to be muslim, and then wrote about how the muslims have it wrong and how they didn't wash properly beforehand, on purpose... AND, I'm sure those two guys going undercover to check out if any muslims were leaving the Master Religion did it out of seeking inter-religious harmony.
Reminds me of a thing i heard while a child, one of my Dear Mother's friend was a young muslim north-african girl, pretty westernized, who had at a time some kind of social work. One day, she took a bunch of Youths from the 'hoods, age around 8-10, on a visit of the french architectural heritage. One segment was visiting a church... what did those kiddies do (it was in the late 80's)??? Some hid their eyes, not wanting to look around in the church, some spat around, on the ground, on people there, the whole lot started making a racket, until the group had to be led out of the place. Nice.
An Iranian artist has been sentenced to five years in prison for having put the Koran to music. According to 'Fardanews', the Iranian authorities considered the move "offensive to Islamic morality". Mohsen Namju is accused of having ridiculed the Koran, "reciting it in a western and anti-Islamic style". All around the Prophet's house,
The monkey chased the Joooooo.
The monkey stopped to pop off a round,
Pop goes the Koran.
One of the major experts on recitation of the the Koran in Iran, Abbas Salimi, reported the musician to the Islamic court in Tehran. The court found the artist guilty for having breached "Islamic morality". All around the Prophet's house.
The warthog chased the Joooooo.
The Joooooo pulled out his elephant gun.
Pop goes the Koran.
After the sentence, Abbas Salimi was reportedly "very satisfied" and underlined the importance of "defending the sacredness of god's book". No-one should be able to ridicule it," he said. Half a pound of rocket fuel,
Half a pound of Semtex.
Mix it up and make it nice,
Pop goes the Koran.
Under Islamic law, music is allowed if it does not result in provoking the faithful. Combining the recitation of the Koran and popular songs, like the Iranian artist, is not tolerated under Islamic Sharia law.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
music is allowed if it does not result in provoking the faithful
Two thoughts.
(a) The faithful are easily provoked.
(b) How come they let Michael Jackson convert to Islam?
#3
F&T: sounds like the musician was satirizing or parodying sacral music. Doing it as a rap, probably, knowing the crap tastes of this modern, degenerate generation. In poor taste, but not a big deal unless you're living under a theocratic tyranny.
Oops.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/14/2009 16:36 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sung to the tune of Gangsta's Paradise.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2009 18:06 Comments ||
Top||
Proving that the US military is moving faster than Hollywood's imagination, here is the latest program of the US Army:
A Maryland company under contract to the Pentagon is working on a steam-powered robot that would fuel itself by gobbling up whatever organic material it can find -- grass, wood, old furniture, even dead bodies.
Robotic Technology Inc.'s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot -- that's right, "EATR" -- "can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable," reads the company's Web site.
That "biomass" and "other organically-based energy sources" wouldn't necessarily be limited to plant material -- animal and human corpses contain plenty of energy, and they'd be plentiful in a war zone.
EATR will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an "external combustion chamber" burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.
The advantages to the military are that the robot would be extremely flexible in fuel sources and could roam on its own for months, even years, without having to be refueled or serviced.
Upon the EATR platform, the Pentagon could build all sorts of things -- a transport, an ambulance, a communications center, even a mobile gunship. Wouldn't you love to see some of these patroling Afghanistan?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/14/2009 16:44 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[12 views]
Top|| File under:
#7
Any one else see a problem with robots that can think and analyze a situation eating bodies to power itself? It might analyze you and think you would be a nice "snack".
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.
WASHINGTON -- Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff arrived Tuesday at a federal prison in North Carolina to begin serving a 150-year sentence for what is believed to be the largest Ponzi scheme in history.
A MAN who hacked into NASA computers will launch a last-ditch effort in Britain's High Court to avoid extradition to face charges in the US.
WASHINGTON -- Nine months into the fiscal year, the federal deficit has topped $1 trillion for the first time. The imbalance is intensifying fears about higher interest rates and inflation, and already pressuring the value of the dollar. There's also concern about trying to reverse the deficit -- by reducing government spending or raising taxes -- in the midst of a harsh recession. 
French 
There is a shiny addition among the Ottoman mosques and palaces that make up Istanbul's stunning skyline: the metallic, mirrored dome of the new Sakirin Mosque, a Muslim place of worship built with a woman's touch. For what may be the first time in history, women have been at the forefront of the construction of a mosque in Turkey.
Who knew?
Malaysian authorities are investigating two Muslims who sparked complaints after they pretended to be Christians and took Communion at a church service to research a magazine article, officials said Tuesday. The investigation poses a fresh challenge for the government in its efforts to reduce religious friction in this ethnic Malay Muslim-majority country, where religious minorities have complained that their rights are being sidelined in favor of Islam.
An Iranian artist has been sentenced to five years in prison for having put the Koran to music. According to 'Fardanews', the Iranian authorities considered the move "offensive to Islamic morality". Mohsen Namju is accused of having ridiculed the Koran, "reciting it in a western and anti-Islamic style".
