Monthly Archives: June 2014

Report from India: Defiant bikers as horse riders of jihadi Islam

by Village Lane

By Sh. R.K. Ohri

Jihadi Islam is in fast forward mode. Not only in India, but across the globe. The soldiers of Islam are waging a jihad against the so-called ‘kaffirs’ (read the non-Muslim) from America to the Phillipines via Europe, Middle East and Indian sub-continent. The fast-forward epidemic of rowdy bike-riders have managed to hold the citizens of Delhi for ransom during the last two successive years. There is a method in their madness. They are conveying a warning to the Indian masses (read Hindus) of the coming clash of civilizations.

In June 2013 the denizens of Delhi, especially the motorists and pedestrians on Delhi roads had to wade through a harrowing experience of lawlessness throughout the night of the Muslim festival of Shab-e-Barat . Th unsuspecting motorists and commuters were caught in a frightful melee caused by thousands of skullcap wearing jihadi motorcyclists. Many of them were gesticulating at motorists, especially to frighten the lone women car drivers, while performing stunts on the roads of New Delhi. Their shameful antics and rowdy behaviour was roundly criticized by the media which faulted the police for the monumental breakdown of public order on the fateful night.

This year, too, on June 13, 2014, which was the night of Shab-e-Barat many teams of skullcap-wearing bikers tried to stage a repeat performance of lawlessness and disorder unleashed last year. In a desparate bid to dissuade the defiant jihadi bikers from creating mayhem across the city on the night of Shab-e-Barat, the Delhi Police went out of their way to seek help of several so-called ‘moderate’ Muslim leaders, including 21 Imams of various mosques. But their endeavour ended as an exercise in futility

Interestingly despite the assurances given by the Imams and leaders of the Muslim community this year, too, the jihadi bikers chose to defy the law and the police. Caring two hoots for the warnings given by the Delhi Police Commisioner and unprecedented extensive deployment of police force at nearly 180 strategic points several determined groups of biker warriors of Islam came out in large numbers in a bid to create chaos in the central and south-east Delhi. They tried to create an atmosphere of lawlessnes in certain Muslim-dominated areas of East Delhi like Seelampur and Usmanpur. They succeeded in disrupting the orderly movement of traffic on a number of roads during the late hours of night and early morning hours. The police measures failed to stem the onslaught of rowdy bikers and there were multiple traffic snarls due to erection of multiplebarricades on major roads

muslim-bikers-indianews

Mercifully the police were able to prevent the jihadi bikers from going berserk. They challaned nearly 15 00 to 2,000 defiant bikers and impounded more than 300 motor cycles. Even then after idnight many bikers tried to confront the policemen by throwing stones at them. Many roguish bikers could not be caught and challaned on the spot despite best efforts of the police personnel detailed to arrest them.

There have been sporadic reports of skull-caps bearing bikers trying to create similar lawlessness in some other cities and towns of the country. Unfortunately the intelligence agencies and police officers have failed to read the tea leaves of the fast approaching ‘faultline conflicts’ forecast by Samuel Huntington in a seminal essay in 1993 which was subsequently elaborated in his famous tome on the clash of civilisations.

Our intelligence agencies have refused to learn any lessons from the havoc played by jihadi bikers in several parts of the world. Well known proactive members of Islamic outfits in several countries have been organizing Muslim bikers gangs. Some of them operating in Sydney and other twons of Australia call themselves as ‘MBM’ or Muslim Brotherhood Movement. Apparently the bikers claim to represent the ideals and goals of the notorious Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt. There is another gang of Muslim bikers, known as ‘Soldiers of Islam’, or “Sons of Islam” who have been operating with impunity in Australia’s Gold Coast, nearabout Mermaid Beach.

Similarly in the United Kingdom there is a bikers gang organized by Jamal Richards who had also founded an outfit called ‘Concerned Muslim Citizens’. Jamal is also the organizer and leading light of a devout Muslim bikers gang called ‘Deen Riders’ which was established 5 years ago in the year 2009. The Deen Riders ultimately plan to ride on motor bikes to Hajj in Saudi Arabia. According to Jamal Richards his group of the faithful proposes to call the bike journey to Hajj as “Enduring Hardship for Allah’s Pleasure”. He claims that people love to see the shining bikes of Muslims.

The Muslim bikers phenomenon has now surfaced in the USA. One such organization is known as United Muslim Bikers (or UMMA M.C.).They have branches and chapters of bikers in California, Oakland, Las Vegas,Atlanta and East Coast, etc. A number of hard-nosed Islamic preachers like Hasan of Oakland, Naim of Las Vegas and Dawud of Los Angeles are associated with the bikers movement across America The United Muslim Bikers also try to impress on their members that Prophet Muhammad was an excellent horse rider of his times. In Today’s world motorbike is a substitute for horse. The UMMA Club is meant for the Muslims who love to ride motor cycles.

The Muslim bikers of the USA had also tried to organize a ‘Million Muslim March’ on 12th anniversary of 9/11 jihadi attack. The American Muslims Political Action Committee was behind the proposed Million Muslim Rally and its avowed objective was to counter the unfair fear of Muslims caused by 9/11 terrorist attacks. But their attempt to cow down the Chritians was thwarted by a determined nationalist group who threatened to organise a two million bikers march against ‘Fear’ caused by Islamists. Though falling short of the 2 million mark, several thousand Christian bikers road into Washington D.C. on September 11. After thwarting the Million Muslim March, the national coordinator of the Christian bikers march Belinda Bee, announced that they plan to be present on 9/11 every year.

umma

Interestingly the Muslim bikers also promised to return for a bigger show next year on anniversary 9/11. So a race for supremacy appears to have been joined by the bikers of the two communities, namely the Muslims and the Christians

It is time that the Indian police officers and intelligence agencies woke up to the reality of the bikers menace seen in Delhi for two successive years and tried to learn lessons from the growth of Muslim bikers gangs in several countries. Equally important it is for the Hindu leaders to awaken the masses of the danger posed by jihadi bikers. As explained by the United Muslim Umma of Motorcyclists, they are going to use motor-cycles as the 21st century horses of jihadi Islam.

In Delhi the gangs of Muslim bikers try to gather in the infamous ‘No Go’ areas where entry of police is invariably resisted by aggressive rowdies. During the UPA regime the number of ‘No Go’ areas in Delhi and several Indian cities has grown manifold, especially after the Intelligence Bureau, NIA and CBI shifted their focus from Indian Mujahideen and SIMI to the so-called threat of ‘saffron terrorism’ as exemplified by Rahul Gandhi in December, 2010, during a meeting with the US Ambassador,Timothy Roemer. More importantly this allegation was repetitively emphasized by Digvijay Singh, a heavy-weight political guru of Rahul Gandhi and the former Home Minister, Sushil Kumar Shinde.

The truth, however, is altogether different. India’s intelligence agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and the Research & Analysis Wing of the Cabinet Secretariat, including the top political echelons of the Indian government are fully aware that the Inter Services Intelligence of Pakistan has a long term plan to overrun India, i.e., Bharat, annihilate its Hindu population and establish a powerful caliphate in this part of the world.. Their ultimate goal is to convert the entire sub-continent into Dar-ul-Islam. For achieving their sinister objective the ISI has managed to plant thousands of fifth columnists and fellow-travellers of militant Islam across the country.

According to a news published in an obscure corner of Times of India, New Delhi on June 20, 2014, a Hindu activisit, S. Suresh Kumar who was President of Hindu Munnani’s Tiruvallur unit was killed by four assassins who came on motor-cycles on the noight of June 18. The police authorities suspect them be members of extremist outfits. The murder led to outbreak of violence next day during which 17 buses of State Transport and shops were damaged.1 [Source: Times of India, New Delhi, p.4, a news item titled ‘Munnani Neta’s murder sparks violence in TN’]

The notorious terrorist of Indian Mujahideen Yasin Bhatkal was arrested on Indo-Nepal border near Dharbhanga. His interrogation by the NIA revealed that Yasin had planned to carry out multiple jihadi attack across the country with help of his close associate, Waqas, who was an expert bomb maker and an active participant in the notorious Hyderabad blasts. Among other things it was admitted by Danish Mohammed Ansari, another member of the I.M., in a statement got recorded by the NIA under section 164 Cr. P.C. before a Magistrate that in 2010 Yasin Bhatkal had confided in him that the I.M. had already enlisted nearly 33,000 volunteers for carrying out subversive activities and terror attacks in India. The point to note is that a statement recorded under Section 164 Criminal Procedure Code is admissible as evidence during trial. Unfortunately thereafter the trail went cold.

Interestingly neither the NIA nor the Intelligence Bureau were able to make any break through for identifying and arresting thousands of fifth columnists and militant volunteers who had joined the Indian Mujahideen.

The threat posed by the skullcap-wearing rowdy bikers of Delhi and other cities and States needs urgent attention of the intelligence agencies and security experts. The gangs of bikers have become a major threat to the maintenance of law and order. It is time to remember that today India is under siege of thousands of fifth columnists. Could it be that the rowdy bikers operating in Delhi and many other cities and States part of the 33,000 members enlisted by Yasin Bhatkal and his associates for subverting the Indian nation?

In any case, the time for stringent action against the growing menace of skull-capped militant bikers has arrived.

ohri

[Originally printed in India Tomorrow]

http://www.indiatomorrow.co/index.php/nation/1225-defiant-bikers-as-horse-riders-of-jihadi-islam

Photo credit: RadioKafka/Shutterstock

Electronics vs. Real Life: How to Unplug Your Family

by Village Lane Writers

Help!  How Do I Unplug the Kids!

Help! How Do I Unplug the Kids!

Tired of talking to a brick wall…or, more likely, the backside of an electronic screen? Village Lane asked parents across the country for suggestions on how to unplug the family from electronics.  Here are some of their ideas:

1. Get your family back to nature: send your kids outdoors for as many hours as possible — and leave the electronics at home!

2. Write down a time limit on recreational electronics use – theirs, and yours, too!

3.  Keep electronics in view – no electronics use behind closed doors.

4.  Keep an eye on your account if your kids are downloading materials and you’re paying for them on a credit card.

5.  Make sure that when you converse with each other, no one is looking at a screen of any kind.  Be a family that shows each other the basic respect of looking at each other when speaking.

6.  Don’t bring the electronics with you to sporting events, arts performances, worship services, or out to meals.  Create long spaces of time that are electronics-free and filled with other activities.

7.  Observe a tech-free day, a Sabbath day or another long period once a week where all electronics are banned.

8.  Find fun activities to do as a family. Many are low cost:  athletics,  walks, bike rides, visits to the beach, sailing or boating on a lake, hiking in the mountains, car trips, visits to national monuments and places of interest, swimming, playgrounds and parks, nature preserves, and camping (even if it’s in your own backyard!)

9.  Financial adviser Susie Orman gives the wise advice: “First people, then money, then things.”  We would add, “and last of all, electronics!”

10. Fill your home with books, board games and magazines that your children might just pick up and enjoy!

11.  Make sure your children have friends to play with.  If you don’t live in a neighborhood with other families, make the effort to ensure that your child is socializing with human beings and not just a screen.

12.  Keep the electronics – all of them – out of all bedrooms.

13.  Make a rule that there is no TV, phones or other electronic interruption during meals.  Bring back the “family dinner” into your home.

14.  Put a long interval between electronics use and bedtime.  In fact, if you can do a “no electronics after dinner” rule, it would be even better.

15.  Take your kids to live arts performances – without electronics. Even if they complain at first, eventually they most likely will come to appreciate and even love the arts.

16.   Try to think of ways of not using electronics. For example, when looking up something, sure, you can just Google it, but sometimes try turning instead to a book, atlas, or encyclopedia.  There may even be a family member or neighbor who has the answer!

17.  Make sure that electronics use is not the automatic transition between other activities.  When your kids come home, don’t let them run off to the tv or video games – require them to come in, greet parents and grandparents properly, engage in some conversation, etc. – break the bad habit of running to electronics automatically to fill down time.

18.  Bring your kids in on the discussion of how the family can substitute “human time” with “plugged in” time.  Let them know why you want to limit the electronics usage at home, and listen to their ideas.  Let them know also how much you value the responsible and limited use of electronics, so they won’t tell you you’re still stuck in the 1800s.

19.  Have a designated place for charging electronics so they don’t end up in bedrooms and behind locked doors.

20.  Have kids understand that there are priorities, and that involvement with electronics is not at the top of the list.  Talk with them about getting their school work done, musical instrument practicing, sports teams, chores, personal grooming, sleep, socializing with friends, reading books, and other activities that come first.

21.  Make sure everyone in the family has time to interact, converse with, and form relationships with real human beings.  Don’t let anyone in the family shut himself off from human interaction on a regular basis.

22.  Make as many everyday activities as possible family or group activities: do household chores together; do simple errands together; do something nice for another person together.  All of these things add to the connectedness we feel with other human beings.

23.  Be a good role model.  Start with yourself: turn it all off and experience the wonders of nature, enjoy the quiet and peace, and start interacting again with live human beings.  In time, your family will pick up on that positive example.

24.  Reward non-electronic time with quality family time:  hugs at bedtime, shared laughs, family stories from grandparents, time spent doing something that is fun and benefits the entire family (for example, planting or watering an organic vegetable garden, fixing a delicious weekend meal, wrapping gifts with colorful papers and ribbons, or planning a fun party).

25.  Find new ways to interact one-on-one with family members.  Make “special time” with each family member from time to time. 

26.  This autumn, get outdoors and have FUN with your family!  Use all your senses: visit local farm stands and buy an untried vegetable or fruit to use in a fragrant new recipe, attend a country concert, drive or take a bus to see spectacular fall foliage, go to an orchard and pick your own crisp apples, or taste some freshly made cider.

 

 

Photo: Julia Kuznetsova/Shutterstock

A Patriotic Energy Policy is Required

by Lawrence Kadish

New York Opera Controversy: We have MET the enemy.

by Tabitha Korol

During World War II, a violinist dressed in military uniform went to play for the
servicemen in a United States Army hospital in Italy. As he entered a ward
designated for young men who had recently lost limbs, he was shocked to see
that one patient was attempting to applaud with his only hand. As the
musician’s face lit up with compassion and sensitivity, he raised his violin and
played. His name was Jascha Heifetz, a Lithuanian-born Jewish American whose
65-year career began at age four. He made his Carnegie Hall debut at age 16,
and became world renowned  for the perfection to which other violinists still
aspire.
Seated next to Heifetz at the hospital piano was pianist Milton Kaye. Fifty years
later, Kaye recalled that memorable concert when he heard “the greatest
violinist of the ages.” The following year, pianist Seymour Lipkin beheld that
same magnificence when he accompanied Heifetz on another GI tour, stating
that the violinist always played his best, no matter the circumstances. Heifetz
had been so moved when he entertained the paraplegics, that despite
his grueling schedule, he continued to add more such concerts to his tours, and
Kaye remembers those days as “the greatest privilege” of his musical life.
In addition to an unparalleled talent, Heifetz had what is known as neshamah, a
Jewish soul –  what may be described as an energy and essence of virtue and
humanity, passion and compassion, and depth of empathy for others. It was
even apparent to his father who saw the  four-year-old prodigy cry when he
played sad music. No doubt, it is the Israeli neshamah that  provides quality
medical attention even to their enemies, and the same that sends Israeli first
responders to countries devastated by natural disasters. And it is this same
quality that appears to have eluded the next generation of Heifetzes –  Jascha’s
great nephew, Peter Gelb, artistic director at the Metropolitan Opera (The
“Met”).
It was said of Gelb that he declares himself a man of the people, but that he is out of touch with the prevailing zeitgeist (culture of the time). The Berkshire Fine Arts noted that Gelb lacks the qualifications to organize a program and appoint or audition singers and, despite his lack of expertise, captured this Met position from the ailing James Levine. But it is Gelb’s choice of opera for the 2014 fall season that is most disturbing.

The Death of Klinghoffer was cited for being anti-Semitic and pro-Islamic terrorism, and Gelb’s integrity and moral compass are in question. Instead of eliciting compassion and tears for the murder of Mr. Leon Klinghoffer, a defenseless, wheelchair-bound veteran of WW II, a fellow-American and Jew, Gelb’s opera will offer sympathy and apology for the Islamic murderers – who might just as well have thrown the Jewish-American Gelb overboard, had he vacationed aboard the ill-fated Achille Lauro.

 

Gelb’s collaborators were director Peter Sellars and choreographer Mark Morris for concept, John Adams’ music and Alice Goodman’s libretto. The opera was commissioned by five American and European opera companies and was first performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. And the Met staff decided to cast ethics to the wind and fan the flames of anti-Semitism.

 

Rather than show concern for the victim and his family, and the other terrified, endangered tourists who were taken hostage, although ultimately spared, the artistes extol the contrived virtues of the cold-blooded killers. They have taken a pro-Islamic, anti-American/Jewish stance in favor of an avowed enemy – Islam, whose adherents repeatedly warn that they will overtake the West and establish an Islamic caliphate on our soil. And the Met’s callous staff and cast will provide the venue for the glorification of Islam, thereby softening the eventual conquest of an acclimatized people.

 

Would these soulless specimens sympathize with these Muslims if the victim were also their own family member or religious compadre? Did they likewise sympathize with the Mahmoud Abbas-financed and -orchestrated Munich Massacre of 11 Israeli athletes? Or the Muslims who commandeered the planes that killed three thousand in the World Trade Center? Or the Boston Marathon jihadists who killed three and injured/crippled 264 racers? Or Major Hassan who fatally shot 13 and injured more than 30 at Fort Hood? Would the Met also consider providing sophisticated entertainment while reproducing the beheading of Jewish-American journalist, Daniel Pearl? Or blowing up a school bus of children in Chechnya or Israel? Perhaps Gelb would consider a choral group of 200 young girls for an opera about the Boko Haram kidnappings in Nigeria? What other inspiration might one select for musical adventures into the exaltation of Islam and its adherents for the pleasure of the unenlightened?

Can the Met not grasp that to glorify evil is evil? Just as we must never recreate the atrocities of the concentration camps for our amusement, so must we never recreate any acts of malevolence to minimize their impact on the human psyche. While the author(s) and producer(s) claim to find motivation for Islamic acts, they do not seek the truth; Islamic motivation is hate, envy, resentment, against Jews, Christians, Americans, Western Civilization.

  • Mohammed bore extreme hate for the Jews because they rejected his new religion and his status as prophet.
  • In revenge, he beheaded the Jewish men of Mecca and Medina, captured other men, women, and children as slaves (or for slave trade), seized the coveted metal crafts for his booty, and declared the cities holy for Islam. This success became part of the Islamic “religion.”
  • The envy of Islam for Western accomplishments is strong because their lives were devoted to war, conquest, bloodshed, not learning or creativity. Therefore, their claims to invention come from the creativity of the nations they have conquered. Muslims are now asserting that Moses, Jesus, Christopher Columbus, and Albert Einstein were Muslim.
  • Further envy and hatred come from their belief that Islam is the best and only religion, yet they are conflicted because their society is beset with illiteracy, poverty, distrust, discrimination, enslavement, vigilante killings and unhappiness. They understand that life is better in the West, yet they are in the West to change our system to theirs.

Just as we must never recreate the atrocities of the concentration camps for our amusement, so we must never recreate any acts of malevolence to minimize their impact on the human psyche. No matter what the adversity or personal history behind acts of evil, never forget that the acts are evil. Although Islamic motivation is hate, embedded in the Koran, and taught to the very young and throughout their lives, the motivation is immaterial. Criminals must be held accountable, not excused, for their behavior, and never celebrated, or every felon would be freed and anarchy would reign.

You see, the Muslim terrorists did more than take a man’s life. They’ve stolen the humanity from every American who is even peripherally involved with this murder. Their Koran deals primarily with torture and death; our laws concern compassion and to respect life. For the sake of our survival as a nation and as a species, our obligation is morality.

***

TABITHA KOROL was cited as one of America’s modern-day, articulate, patriotic women in Frederick William Dame’s Three American Fur Hat Fighters for Freedom. Her essays have appeared on RightTruth, RenewAmerica, NewMediaJournal, JewishIndy, Israel’s Arutz Sheva, and others. She revised a book of Holocaust survivors’ accounts for publication, and proofreads/edits for a monthly city newsletter.  She has earned an award from CAMERA (Committee on Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America). http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/korol/140613

The Spoleto Festival of the Arts Highlights Renowned and Emerging Artists

by Village Lane

Every spring, for 17 days and nights, Charleston, South Carolina hosts the Spoleto Festival. Featuring classical chamber, symphonic and choral music, jazz, opera, theater, dance, and other artistic expression, the Spoleto Festival has well earned international recognition as a premier showcase for the renowned and emerging artists who perform there.

In 1977 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, Christopher Keene, and others founded the Spoleto USA festival as an American counterpart to their annual Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy.   They selected the lovely and cosmopolitan city of Charleston — replete with gardens, wonderful hotels and restaurants, stunning architecture, and a warm climate — as their choice to host Spoleto USA, where over 200 American and international premiers have  been featured.

According to its organizers, the the Spoleto Festival’s mission is “to present programs of the highest artistic caliber while maintaining a dedication to young artists, a commitment to all forms of the performing arts, a passion for contemporary innovation, and an enthusiasm for providing unusual performance opportunities for established artists.”  The fulfillment of their stated mission has brought Spoleto USA yearly international acclaim.

This year’s performances include:

Opera

KK_SFUSA2014_1316

KÁT’A KABANOVÁ

Tony Award-winner Garry Hynes makes her operatic debut directing one of the great 20th century operas

 

FG_SFUSA2014_2940

FACING GOYA

Sci-fi, art history, and a little conspiracy theory mix to challenge how we treat each other in this twenty-first-century opera

 

EN_SFUSA2014_1922

EL NIÑO

A “Messiah for the modern age” (Los Angeles Times), this beautiful retelling of the nativity story focuses on the voice of women and the miracle of birth

Theater

2014ABrimfulofAsha2

A BRIMFUL OF ASHA

A mother-and-son duo tell a heartwarming story of family, arranged marriage, and the quest for the perfect bride

 

2014MyCousinRachel6

MY COUSIN RACHEL

The incomparable Gate Theatre returns to Charleston with Daphne du Maurier’s spellbinding thriller.

Physical Theater

2014ASimpleSpace2

A SIMPLE SPACE

Australian acrobatic ensemble executes breathtaking feats and pushes the boundaries of human physicality

2014IlonaJantti1

ILONA JÄNTTI

Finnish aerialist challenges the boundaries of movement in a spellbinding program featuring animated projections, trapeze, and aerial ballet


Dance
2014DorranceDance3

DORRANCE DANCE

This unconventional tap troupe challenges the notions of tap in a new and exciting way 

2014GregoryMaqoma2

GREGORY MAQOMA/VUYANI DANCE THEATRE

South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma draws inspiration from his ancestral past in the vibrant work Exit/Exist

2014HubbardStreet1

HUBBARD STREET DANCE CHICAGO

This sleek contemporary ballet company presents a diverse repertoire of adventuresome choreography

 

2014Chamber4

BANK OF AMERICA CHAMBER MUSIC

Popular twice-daily concert series features 11 fresh and distinctive programs performed by a talented roster of artists

 

WESTMINSTER CHOIR | LEGENDS

The Festival’s acclaimed choir-in-residence performs works by Daniel Elder, Eriks Esenvalds, Brahms, and Durufle.

 

2014Westminster1

WESTMINSTER CHOIR | TE DEUM

Westminster Choir presents two exquisite settings of this timeless hymn of praise

 

2014BelaFleckandAbigailWashburn1

BÉLA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN

The unofficial “first family of the banjo” combines powerful vocals and revolutionary instrumental techniques

 

2014KatEdmonson1

KAT EDMONSON

This young singer/songwriter‘s music walks the line between jazz and pop

 

2014KrugerBrothers1

KRUGER BROTHERS

A trio of banjo, guitar, and bass expand folk music and embody the spirit of exploration with their innovative and original music

 

2014Orchestra3

CONCERTO FOR ORCHESTRA

Rising star Joseph Young leads the Festival Orchestra in a showcase of orchestral splendor with works by Barber, Adams, and Bartók

 

2014Orchestra2

BEETHOVEN TRANSFORMED

John Kennedy leads the Festival Orchestra in a program comprised of Beethoven’s seventh symphony and two homages to the masterpiece

 

2014AnEveningwithMichaelNyman2

AN EVENING WITH MICHAEL NYMAN

The film score composer for The Piano andGattaca is joined by Festival musicians for an evening of his compositions

 

2014Finale3

WELLS FARGO FESTIVAL FINALE FEATURING SHOVELS & ROPE

An all-day party including picnicking, a beer garden, fireworks, and a mainstage concert by Charleston’s own Shovels & Rope

Wells Fargo Jazz

2014AcaSecaTrio1

ACA SECA TRIO

Guitar, piano, and percussion explore the sublime possibilities of popular music from their native Argentina and other parts of South America

 

2014ChareneeWade2

CHARENÉE WADE

A finalist in the Thelonious Monk International Vocal Competition, this young singer is a rising star on the American jazz scene

 

2014DaniloBrito1

DANILO BRITO

A Mandolinist-led ensemble brings to life the rich syncopation and counterpoint of Brazilian choro music

 

2014GwilymSimcock1

GWILYM SIMCOCK

This British pianist and composer moves effortlessly between classical and jazz

 

2014LucindaWilliams1

LUCINDA WILLIAMS

This Louisiana-born singer/guitarist blends country, R&B, and blues-rock in her scuffed, rootsy songs

 

2014ReneMarie1

RENÉ MARIE

One of the Festival’s most popular jazz vocalists returns to Charleston in a performance paying tribute to the legendary Eartha Kitt

 

2014HakonKornstad2

HÅKON KORNSTAD

Part saxophonist, part opera tenor, Hakon Kornstad is not to be missed

All photographs courtesy of the Spoleto USA.  For further information, please visit Spoleto USA’s  website.

Political Asylum: Where Compassion and National Security Intersect

by Michael Cutler

On Sunday, April 21, 2013, just hours after the arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the bombing suspects in the horrific terrorist attacks carried out at the Boston Marathon and which spread to neighboring communities by the Brothers Tsarnaev, New York’s Senator Charles Schumer had the unmitigated chutzpah to once again step in front of the television cameras to proclaim that Comprehensive Immigration Reform was more important than ever before because it would, he asserted, protect Americans from the bad guys who are “hiding in the shadows.”

Neither Schumer nor the other seven members of the “Gang Of Eight,” or as I prefer to refer to them, the “Eight Gangsters,” could have foreseen that ten days after he made those remarks more evidence of ineptitude by the DHS Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would grab headlines across the United States. May 1, was rapidly approaching, but we will get to that shortly.

It is more than ironic that it was New York City that suffered the greatest harm during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a city that Schumer represents in the U.S. Senate. Those attacks were carried out by 19 aliens who had gamed the visa process and/or the immigration benefits program.

Alleged terrorists, Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, were not hiding in the shadows — they were hiding in plain sight! In fact, published reports indicated that they and their families may have gamed the immigration system by filing for political asylum even though there are reasons, with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, to be skeptical about the validity of their application for political asylum.

Consider this: The U.S. requires that aliens who seek political asylum attest to having “credible fear” that if they were to return to their home countries, they would face persecution or worse because of their race, religion, ethnicity, political beliefs, or other such factors. An alien who is granted political asylum becomes eligible to acquire lawful immigrant status and United States citizenship.

Political asylum must therefore be thought of as being a “Key to the Kingdom” with U.S. citizenship being considered “The Golden Key”!

According to published reports, the Tsarnaev family made their applications for asylum roughly a decade ago. There has been no regime change in Russia since they applied for and received asylum, yet they willingly returned to Russia of their own volition. The obvious question that this raises, is whether or not they were truly fearful about the potential consequences they would face upon being returned to Russia.

It is the responsibility of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and in some instances, the Department of State, to make determinations about the veracity of claims made in such applications. The reality is that USCIS has an abysmal track record in weeding out fraud in all sorts of applications for the various immigration benefits it is charged with adjudicating. Among the benefits are applications for authorization for nonimmigrant aliens to extend their lawful period of stay in the U.S., authorization for such aliens to attend school, acquire lawful immigrant status as signified by the issuance of an Alien Registration Card (Green Card), or naturalization whereby citizenship is conferred upon aliens.

While the “Gang of Eight” has been touting their compromise to concoct “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” and discussing whether or not the Southern border that is supposed to separate the United States from Mexico should be made secure, before or after Comprehensive Immigration Reform is implemented, no one — not one of the “Gang of Eight” nor anyone in the administration — is willing to concede that the adjudicators at USCIS cannot effectively adjudicate the estimated six million or more applications that they now deal with each year. Imagine what dumping millions or more likely tens of millions of additional applications onto the desks of the beleaguered adjudications officers would do to what shreds of integrity might still remain at that woebegone agency.

On April 21, 2013, less than a week after the terrorist attack, Senators Graham and Schumer appeared on the CNN news program, “State of the Union,” where, according to the Associated Press, they reiterated:

Sens. Graham and Schumer say Boston bombings no excuse for critics to stall immigration bill

The AP report noted, in part:

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday that the bombings that left three dead “should urge us to act quicker, not slower when it comes to getting the 11 million identified,” referring to the estimated number of immigrants living in the country illegally. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York added “keeping the status quo is not a very good argument, given what happened” in Boston.

The level of dishonesty in these outrageous statements should boil the blood of every American, irrespective of their political orientation. National security is neither a “Liberal” or “Conservative” issue — national security is an American issue.

What is broken about the immigration system is its pervasive lack of integrity, created by an abject lack of resources and a lack of political will to enforce the immigration laws that are already on the books.

The immigration laws have been enacted to achieve two primary goals: protect innocent lives by enhancing national security and community safety, and protect the jobs of American workers.

Clearly the immigration system failed abysmally at the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, but not the way that Schumer and his fellow gangsters would have you believe or come to understand.

Then, on May 1, 2013, the second shoe dropped. The New York Times published a report that was repeated by just about every other news agency about the arrest of three friends of the Tsarnaev brothers. The NYTs revealed:

The two Kazakhs, Dias Kadyrbayev and Azamat Tazhayakov, were charged on Wednesday with destroying evidence to obstruct the federal inquiry into the marathon bombings. Their American friend, Robel K. Phillipos, was charged with lying to impede the investigation. (“Three Are Accused of Impeding Boston Bombing Inquiry,” New York Times, May 1, 2013).

It is worth noting that according to published reports, Phillipos is a naturalized United States citizen and his mother, who emmigrated from Ethiopia, has purportedly worked to assist political refugees in the United States.

Furthermore it has been reported that Azamat Tazhayakov left the United States in December 2012 and then was re-admitted on January 20, 2013 on his student visa. The problem was that he was allegedly no longer attending the school for which he had been issued a visa. Purportedly his student status was revoked on January 3, 2013. The bottom line is that he never should have been re-admitted into the United States with that student visa if, in fact, he was no longer a student.

There is a computerized program, SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System), that is run by DHS and should have flagged Mr. Tazhayakov as no longer entitled to his non-immigrant student status in the United States, but it failed.

Oops!

The administration has been adamant about protecting women who suffer spousal abuse. The Violence Against Victims Act has provisions that create incentives for aliens who are deceiving their United States citizen spouses to lie about being abused to be able to self-petition for residency, thereby creating a nightmare, in some instances, for their American husbands and some instances, their American wives.

Yet the elder Tsarnaev, according to news reports, had been charged with spousal abuse against his United States citizen wife, but was never deported.

Today, under the auspices of the DACA (Deferred Action Childhood Admission), aliens who would have qualified under the DREAM Act, had that ill-conceived, wrong-headed legislation passed, are being granted temporary lawful status and employment authorization even though the immigration laws still deem them to be aliens who are illegally present in the United States. Nothing has changed their status except for the swish of the Presidential pen on an executive order that makes a mockery of our immigration laws and our Constitutionally mandated system of government that calls for checks and balances.

The Washington Times, and other sources, report that aliens participating in this program have a 99.5 percent approval rate, which certainly should raise red flags about the integrity of the adjudications process. As of this spring, more than 250,000 illegal aliens have, thus far, participated in this program.

Furthermore, it is important to note that essentially no face-to-face interviews are being conducted, and yet these illegal aliens are being granted official identity documents even though the true names, entry data, and other such vital information cannot be verified! These identity documents can be used to acquire driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, credit cards, library cards (thereby providing access to the internet) and employment possibilities at jobs that may have critical infrastructure implications if not national security implications. Jobs, I might add, that millions of unemployed American and lawful immigrants workers desperately need.

Aliens who are determined to enter the U.S. for illegal purposes will use any ploy they can to realize their goal.

The obvious path that receives the lion’s share of the attention is taken by the aliens who run our nation’s borders and evade the inspections process that is supposed to prevent the entry of aliens whose presence would be problematic.

Time and again we are told that the United States has four border states—California, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. In point of fact, as I have noted on every possible occasion, the United States actually has 50 borders states. Any state that has an international airport or a seaport is as much a border state as are those states that lie along America’s northern and southern borders.

Every year tens of millions of aliens enter the United States for nonimmigrant purposes, through ports of entry to be found along America’s northern and southern land borders, international airports, or seaports. A non-immigrant alien is one who has not abandoned his/her domicile in their native country and seeks temporary admission into the United States for tourism, business, education, or other such lawful purpose.

When aliens fail to depart the United States within the authorized time limit or when they fail to meet one of the other requirements of their temporary admission, such as failing to attend the school that they were admitted to attend, fail to show up for a job for which they were issued a temporary work visa, work on a job they are not authorized to work at, or commit crimes, they become deportable aliens.

Additionally, every year more than one million aliens are accorded lawful immigrant status, which means that they have abandoned their home countries for the United States and are immediately placed on the pathway to United States citizenship. These aliens may legally live in the United States for their entire lives and work at any job that they are qualified to do. However, if these aliens are convicted of crimes, they may also be rendered deportable.

It is estimated that 40 percent of all illegal aliens (deportable aliens) did not run the borders of the United States but rather violated the terms of their admission into the United States.

The problem is that most of the terrorists who have attacked or sought to attack our nation were admitted into the United States, and although they all committed visa fraud when they secured their visas and a number of them overstayed their authorized period of admission, nothing was done to take them into custody, and nothing of consequence has been done to plug this gaping hole in the system.

Now that Comprehensive Immigration Reform is, once again, rearing its ugly head in Washington, it is unfathomable that the “Gang of Eight,” the senators who have sequestered themselves behind closed doors to concoct their “witches brew” of elements of Comprehensive Immigration Reform, have not added any resources to enforce the immigration laws from within the interior of the United States. They have done nothing to combat the endemic fraud that permeates the visa process and immigration benefits program to attempt to deter fraud and restore even a semblance of integrity to these programs that have a clear nexus to national security. As noted previously, they have engaged in a cynical “debate” about whether or not the U.S./Mexican border should be made secure before Comprehensive Immigration Reform should be implemented, to distract those who might want to consider the other failing components of what should and must be a coordinated system.

They have managed to bamboozle most of their colleagues and nearly all of the journalists into participating in this sham debate over only one of ever so many failed components of the immigration system. Furthermore, in so doing, they have blithely ignored the findings and recommendations of the 9/11 Commission that made it clear that the 9/11 terrorists, as well as other terrorists who were identified as operating in the United States in the decade leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, used visa fraud and immigration fraud in order to enter and then embed themselves in the United States.

The 9/11 Commission found that of 94 terrorists who were identified as operating in our country in the decade leading up to the terrorist attacks of September 11, some 59 or roughly two-thirds were found to have committed immigration fraud to enter and/or embed themselves in our country.

Immigration benefits include the conferring of lawful immigrant status and United States citizenship upon aliens. They also includes the granting of political asylum to aliens who are able to establish that, because of their race, religion, ethnicity, or political orientation, that they have a “credible fear” that should they return to their home countries, they would be subject to dire circumstances — persecution, imprisonment, torture or death.

There have been numerous instances where criminals and terrorists who have seen in America’s kindness, weakness. They have come to understand that the easiest way to set up shop in the United States is to make their way to the United States, either by running our borders or by entering via a port of entry and then claiming political asylum.

By not investigating these applications and other applications for a wide array of immigration benefits, the U.S. has provided ample opportunities for criminals and terrorists to gain entry into the United States and subsequently enable them to embed themselves in towns and cities across America.

The 9/11 Commission Staff Report on Terrorist Travel detailed numerous examples of terrorists, who not only made use of visa and immigration benefit fraud to enter but to also to embed themselves in the United States.

As the Commission stated in the preface of their report:

Under the title “Immigration Benefits” (page 98):

Terrorists in the 1990s, as well as the September 11 hijackers, needed to find a way to stay in or embed themselves in the United States if their operational plans were to come to fruition. As already discussed, this could be accomplished legally by marrying an American citizen, achieving temporary worker status, or applying for asylum after entering. In many cases, the act of filing for an immigration benefit sufficed to permit the alien to remain in the country until the petition was adjudicated. Terrorists were free to conduct surveillance, coordinate operations, obtain and receive funding, go to school and learn English, make contacts in the United States, acquire necessary materials, and execute an attack.

Once terrorists had entered the United States, their next challenge was to find a way to remain here. Their primary method was immigration fraud. For example, Yousef and Ajaj concocted bogus political asylum stories when they arrived in the United States. Mahmoud Abouhalima, involved in both the [1993] World Trade Center and landmarks plots, received temporary residence under the Seasonal Agricultural Workers (SAW) program, after falsely claiming that he picked beans in Florida.

Mohammed Salameh, who rented the truck used in the bombing, overstayed his tourist visa. He then applied for permanent residency under the agricultural workers program, but was rejected.

Eyad Mahmoud Ismail, who drove the van containing the bomb, took English-language classes at Wichita State University in Kansas on a student visa; after he dropped out, he remained in the United States out of status. [p. 47]

In January 1993, a Pakistani national by the name of Mir Aimal Kansi stood outside CIA Headquarters armed with an AK-47 and opened fire on the vehicles of CIA officials reporting for work on that cold January morning in Virginia. When the smoke dissipated, two CIA officers lay dead and three others were seriously wounded.

Kansi had previously filed a fraud-laden application for political asylum before those attacks — this application enabled him to remain in the United States and seek gainful employment.

According to published reports, in the weeks before the attacks, he worked as a driver for a courier service which provided him ample opportunities to scope out the CIA complex without calling attention to himself.

Following his brutal attack, Kansi fled the United States but was ultimately brought back to stand trial. He was found guilty and executed for his crimes.

While the federal government was quick to embrace the use of all sorts of expensive equipment, much of which subsequently proved not to be effective, the federal government has shown no interest in combatting visa fraud or immigration benefit fraud.

The quest for national security has been cited as an excuse to violate our historic expectations of privacy for citizens of the United States. But resources have never been provided to truly seek to identify, investigate, and prosecute immigration benefit fraud. In fact, under the current administration, illegal aliens who may have run our borders or violated the terms of their admission into the United States are encouraged to step out of the “shadows” and receive official identity documents and employment authorization, even though there is no reliable way to know their true identities, backgrounds, or intentions!

There have been numerous examples of immigration fraud being ignored by the federal government. One egregious case illustrates this point. On March 30, 2010, the Department of Justice issued a press release: Eritrean Man Pleads Guilty to Alien Smuggling

As the DOJ revealed, a citizen of Eritrea pleaded guilty to smuggling illegal aliens into the United States. The aliens came from as far away as South Africa and East Africa via Latin America and, finally arrived in Texas from Mexico. Along the way, his “Magical Mystery Tour,” on some smuggling runs, passed through Brazil and Venezuela, the latter, a nation not considered a friend of the U.S. It causes me to wonder if the government of Venezuela offered any assistance to the smuggler, Samuel Abrahaley Fessahazion, aka “Sami,” aka “Sammy,” aka “Alex,” and aka “Alex Williams.”

What is of further concern to me, is the fact that Fessahazion was able to game the immigration system and successfully commit immigration fraud, obtaining political asylum by making false statements in conjunction with his application for political asylum.

Consider what the DOJ disclosed in their press release:

According to plea documents, from at least June 2007 until approximately January 2008, Fessahazion was the Guatemalan link of an alien smuggling network that spans East Africa, Central and South America. Specifically, Fessahazion illegally entered the United States at McAllen, Texas, on March 20, 2008. He applied for asylum on Sept. 30, 2008, claiming in his application that he was traveling across Africa in 2007 and 2008, fleeing persecution in Eritrea. However, Fessahazion was actually in Guatemala during that period facilitating the smuggling of East African aliens to the United States.

Fessahazion was granted asylum by the United States on Nov. 13, 2008.

Think about it: if he had not been able to con the bureaucracy at USCIS, it is entirely possible he would not have been able to remain in the United States or travel freely across our borders, an ability he gained when the agency charged with maintaining the integrity of the immigration benefits program failed, yet again!

According to the DOJ, Fessahazion, himself, ran our nation’s border on March 20, 2008, and then applied for political asylum roughly 6 months later. He had either studied our immigration “system” or had been well coached. In any event, Fessahazion was granted political asylum just 6 weeks after he applied for asylum, even though he claimed to have been facing persecution in Eritrea, nearly half way around the world!

Meanwhile the investigation disclosed that while he claimed he was fleeing persecution in Eritrea, he was dodging law enforcement in Guatemala as he smuggled East African aliens through that country en route to the United States!

It is clear that he committed fraud on his application for political asylum, yet there was not a word in the press release about any consideration being given to prosecuting him for committing immigration fraud in his application for political asylum, nor is there any indication that efforts will be made to strip him of his lawful status based on his fraudulent application for political asylum. This is extremely important because, as an individual who had been granted political asylum, it is unlikely that any efforts will be made to deport him from the United States after he serves his prison sentence for alien smuggling (presuming he is sentenced to serve jail time.)

Considering that it had been determined that Fessahzion lied on his application for political asylum, there would be no reason not to deport (remove) him from the United States. All that would be needed was to prosecute him for lying on his application for political asylum. Once found guilty of this crime, he would have lost his status as an alien who had been granted asylum.

In order to apply for political asylum, an alien must establish “credible fear.” How could USCIS conduct its investigation into Fessahazion’s claim to “credible fear” in just 6 weeks? Clearly the investigation — if there was an investigation — was fatally flawed.

Federal authorities are apparently more concerned with keeping the bureaucratic production line moving at warp speed rather than making certain that meaningful efforts are made to see to it that the process has integrity. The GAO and OIG have documented just how rife fraud is throughout the entire immigration benefits program, a program that is administered by USCIS. This is the very beleaguered agency that would be required to administer Comprehensive Immigration Reform, if it ever becomes law.

The Fassahazion case raises a number of serious questions:

• Who are Fessahazion’s co-conspirators in the smuggling ring and where are they now? Are they in custody? Do federal authorities even know their identities?

• Whatever became of the aliens who Fessahazion smuggled into the United States? Are they in custody? If Fessahazion is being charged with conspiracy, is anyone else being prosecuted for entering into the conspiracy? As the saying goes, “It takes two to tango!” You cannot enter a conspiracy by yourself!

The others who engaged in the smuggling enterprise would certainly be co-conspirators, as would the aliens he smuggled. They entered into a conspiracy with him or his partners. All too often our government has taken to the bizarre tactic of referring to smuggled aliens as “victims of human trafficking.”

When a person is moved across international borders against his (her) will, that person is most certainly a “victim of human trafficking.” Often we see this sort of reprehensible crime being conducted when women are smuggled into a country for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. However, an alien who pays a smuggler to enable him (her) to enter a country without inspection is not a victim but is a co-conspirator!

The bottom line is that while the U.S. may legitimately offer “safe harbor” for those who flee persecution, it must adhere to the advice we give to our children—“Safety first!” The U.S. must never permit those who would harm us to see weakness in our kindness. As I reiterated in the conclusion of my testimony for a hearing on immigration conducted by the Senate Judiciary Committee on March 20, 2013:

Law enforcement is at its best when it creates a climate of deterrence to convince those who might be contemplating violating the law that such an effort is likely to be discovered, and, that if discovered, adverse consequences will result for the law violators. Current policies and statements by the administration, in my view, encourage aspiring illegal aliens around the world to head for the United States. In effect the starter’s pistol has been fired, and for these folks, the finish line to this race is the border of the United States.

If political asylum and other benefits that enable aliens to become a part of the U.S. are thought of as being a “Key to the Kingdom,” with U.S. citizenship being considered “The Golden Key,” then USCIS could be thought of as the “Locksmith for the United States,” charged with handing out keys to those who, under our laws, qualify to receive such a key.

The time has long since come to secure our borders and enforce immigration laws seriously. The stakes are far too high for our government to ignore the extremely costly lessons that the failures should have taught us.

Gene Kranz is the Flight Director for NASA who, with his team, was confronted with the crisis of bringing the Apollo 13 astronauts home safely from their moon mission, after their spacecraft suffered damage from an explosion. He titled his account “Failure is not an option!” Back then the lives of three valiant astronauts hung in the balance. Today, more than 300 million American lives hang in the balance!

More than ever, America’s borders must be effectively secured, its immigration laws must be effectively enforced from within the interior of the U.S., and integrity must be given the highest priority in the processes by which aliens are given visas and granted immigration benefits — failure is not an option!

 

 

About the author

Michael W. Cutler is a retired Senior Special Agent with the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service).  He appears regularly on numerous radio and television programs, including Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. He hosts his own Internet radio program, “Bordering on Insanity.” Mr. Cutler has testified as an expert witness at more than a dozen Congressional hearings. Visit his website at: www.michaelcutler.net.

Copyright 2007-2013 The Social Contract Press

How important, really, is history to current affairs?  Do events from the 7th century—or, more importantly, how we understand them—have any influence on U.S. foreign policy today?

By way of answer, consider some parallels between academia’s portrayal of historic Islamic jihads and the U.S. government’s and media’s portrayal of contemporary Islamic jihads.

While any objective appraisal of the 7th century Muslim conquests proves that they were just that—conquests, with all the bloodshed and rapine that that entails—the historical revisionism of modern academia, especially within Arab and Islamic studies departments, has led to some portrayals of the original Muslim conquerors as “freedom-fighters” trying to “liberate” the Mideast from tyrants and autocrats. (Beginning to sound familiar?)

Today’s approach to teaching the history of the Muslim conquests of the 7th century is something as follows: Yes, the Mideast was Christian, but local Christians helped Arab Muslims invade and subjugate their countries in preference to Christian Byzantine rule, which was oppressive due to doctrinal disagreements over the nature of Christ.  Hence, the Muslim conquerors were actually “liberators.”

This perspective, as with many modern Western perspectives concerning Islam, is less a product of objective scholarship and more of modern day epistemic distortions, chief among them: 1) repackaged narratives of the “noble savage” myth—yes, 7th century Muslim invaders were coarse, but had elevated ideals, including a fierce love for freedom and religious tolerance in comparison to Christians of the time (not to mention now); and 2) entrenched political correction that seeks towhitewash the true history of Islam followed by the uncritical acceptance of Islamic apologetics, some of which border on the absurd.

Of course, before the Islamic “liberator” thesis had become mainstream, historians such as Alfred Butler, author of The Arab Conquest of Egypt, had this to say about it:

Even in the most recent historians it will be found that the outline of the story [of the 7th century conquest of Egypt] is something as follows: …. that the Copts generally hailed them [Muslims] as deliverers and rendered them every assistance; and that Alexandria after a long siege, full of romantic episodes, was captured by storm.  Such is the received account.  It may seem presumptuous to say that it is untrue from beginning to end, but to me no other conclusion is possible. [emphasis added; pgs. iv-v]

In fact, one of the major themes throughout Butler’s Arab Conquest of Egypt—which, published in 1902, is heavily based on primary sources, Arabic and Coptic, unlike more modern secondary works that promote the Islamic “liberator” thesis—is that “there is not a word to show that any section of the Egyptian nation viewed the advent of the Muslims with any other feeling than terror” (p. 236).

Butler and other politically incorrect historians were and are aware of the savage and atrocity-laden nature of the Islamic conquests.  The Coptic chronicler, John of Nikiu, a contemporary of the Arab conquest of Egypt and possibly an eyewitness, wrote:

Then the Muslims arrived in Nikiu [along the Nile]… seized the town and slaughtered everyone they met in the street and in the churches—men, women, and children, sparing nobody.  Then they went to other places, pillaged and killed all the inhabitants they found….  But let us say no more, for it is impossible to describe the horrors the Muslims committed…”

Nonetheless, today’s accepted narratives do not come from antiquated historians or primary historical texts; they come from the Saudi-funded ivy league—Berkeley, Columbia, Cornell, Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, etc.—all of which peddle pro-Islamic propaganda (I personally had direct experience at Georgetown), including the “freedom loving jihadis” vs. “oppressive tyrants” thesis.

Percolating out of liberal academia to liberal mass media, the effects of this well-entrenched but false narrative have taken their toll, ultimately helping to create a disastrous U.S. foreign policy.

Put differently, the Islamic terrorists waging jihad against autocratic (but secular, religiously tolerant) governments—most notably in Syria today—are easily portrayed in the West as “freedom fighters” against oppressive tyrants and thus deserving of U.S. support in great part because this motif has permeated the social consciousness of America, molded as it is by Hollywood and the news rooms, and based on academic distortions of events that took place nearly fourteen centuries ago.

Meanwhile, back in the real world, the Islamic “freedom fighters” are slaughteringrapingbeheadingpersecuting and plunderingjust as they have been for nearly fourteen centuries.

That is the only unwavering constant in this sad story.

Raymond Ibrahim is author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War in Christians (published by Regnery in cooperation with Gatestone Institute, April 2013). He is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and an associate fellow at the Middle East Forum. The editors thank the Gatestone Institute for permitting us to reprint Mr. Ibrahim’s articles.
Photo credit: Kobby Dagan/Shutterstock.com

When You’re Thirsty, Try SodaStream!

by Village Lane Staff

Soda Stream

Soda Stream

 

Made in Israel, and currently under a global boycott by anti-Israel haters, SodaStream is an easy to use, fun product that enables you to make seltzers and sodas quickly, right in your own kitchen.

Kids love to use it, and you’ll love it, too because you’ll be lugging fewer heavy soda bottles from the store, and using fewer plastic soda bottles in your home.

Village Lane’s Country Kitchen recommends you choose natural flavorings to add to your Soda Stream creation. 

The creators of SodaStream tell us that by using this “active green” product, we can help the environment using water straight from the tap!    Here is what the makers of SodaStream tell us about their product and the environment:

Did you know?Bottled water is not safer than tap water (Food & Water Watch Organization)The bottled water industry has created a misconception in the United States that bottled water is cleaner, safer, and healthier than tap water. In fact, both regulation and enforcement of bottled water safety is weaker than of tap water safety. Federal, state, and local environmental agencies require rigorous testing of tap water safety.Bottled water is a waste of money(Food & Water Watch Organization)Americans spent $10 billion on bottled water in 2005 and paid up to 1,000 times the cost of production, a major windfall of profit for the companies. Bottled water can costs $7.50 to $11.00 per gallon in the supermarket but tap water costs most customers only one-tenth of one cent per gallon.Bottled water is bad for the environment(Food & Water Watch Organization)The United States is the world’s largest consumer of bottled water, purchasing 37 billion bottles in 2005. Our daily bottled water habit is bad for people and bad for the environment. Bottled water wastes fossil fuels and water in production and transport, and when the water is drunk the bottles become a major source of waste.

 

 

SodaStream: Better than recyclingHow Does SodaStream Help the Environment? SodaStream is an “Active Green” product, meaning that consumers  are actively reducing their CO2 footprint every time they make soda  or sparkling water at home instead of buying it from the store. The more the system is used on a daily basis, the more CO2 footprint the user actively saves. (This differs from “Passive Green” products, which use green-friendly production processes, but their products are not inherently helping the consumers save on their daily footprint.)Because SodaStream uses water straight from the tap, the system makes traditional store-bought beverage bottles obsolete. That means less plastic manufactured, less plastic waste is created, and fewer bottled beverages must be transported from manufacturers to distributors to stores to homes.Globally, 206 billion liters of bottled water were consumed in 2008 (Zenith International Global Bottled Water Report, 2008). The energy required to make water bottles in the US only, is equivalent to 17 million barrels of oil (Container Recycling Institute, 2002).According to the US Recycling Institute, more than 80% of bottles in the US do not get recycled and end up in landfills. Also, an estimated 4.7 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions were produced in the process of replacing the 134 billion bottles and cans not recycled in 2005.Using your own home carbonation system means:

  • Less packaging waste from cans and bottles.
  • Less pollution caused by transport of bottled beverages.

One SodaStream carbonator makes 60 or 110 liters, equivalent to 170 or 310 aluminum cans! When empty, the carbonator is refilled and reused, ready to make more fizzy and tasty soda whenever you want it.

For more information and to purchase SodaStream: SodaStream