Friday, December 31, 2010
Why immigration doesn't help world poverty
Have a look at this brilliant gumball video by Roy Beck which visually explains why mass immigration into the USA (and obviously other Western countries) doesn't work to lessen world poverty. Hey - even those intellectual liberals will be able to understand this as it's simple! As conservatives know, these "immigrants" have to HELP THEMSELVES and not be encouraged by handouts and back-door immigration from the West to leave their countries for greener welfare pastures. FYI - Africa now has over 1 Billion people. In 1980 there were 500 million and it is predicted that by 2050 there will be 2 billion people in Africa. This is a lesson to liberal idiots that by assisting these people with food aid and money, it's causing their numbers to artificially increase against what nature intended, which means they will be invading the West en mass from now until the end of mankind, always seeking "asylum" from some or other injustice. Let's not mention what the Indian and Chinese population will look like by 2050. Yet, the West is expected to save all these "poor" people from themselves. To acquiesce to eventual third-world colonisation is foolish enough, but to aid and abet them with our foolish multiculturalism (multi-racialism) “principles” at the expense of our own people is racial suicide. European pioneers (not immigrants!!) and their descendants — who through blood, sweat and tears — were the very people who built the modern national infrastructure from the ground up — and this occurred in only a few hundred years. Why are we expected to look after the rest of the world as well? Can they not look and learn? Oh and BTW - the White race makes up only 8% of the world population...
USA: How to work minimum hours and earn more than the middle class
Unbelievable! Working ONE WEEK a month at minimum wage will benefit you better than working at a $60,000-a-year, full-time, high-stress job in the United States. This is how the very top of America’s social order steals from the middle class every day.
Here is the chart to prove it:
The chart is quite revealing. A single parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has MORE disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year.
And if that wasn’t enough, there’s more:
If the family provider works only one week a month at minimum wage, he or she makes 92 percent as much as a full-time provider grossing $60,000 a year.Ever wonder why Obama was so focused on health reform? It’s because those who have no interest, or ability in working at a job, receive as much money as representatives of America’s once exalted middle class.
First of all, working one week a month, saves big-time on child care. But the real big-ticket item is Medicaid, which has minimal deductibles and copays. By working only one week a month at a minimum wage job, a provider is able to get total medical coverage for next to nothing.
Compare this to the family provider making $60,000 a year. A typical Mississippi family coverage would cost around $12,000, then adding deductibles and copays adds about an additional $4,500 to the bill. That’s a big hit.There is a reason a full-time worker may not be excited to learn there is little to show for doing the “right thing.”
The full-time $60,000-a-year job is much more demanding than a person working one week a month at minimum wage. Presumably, the low-income parent will have more energy to attend to the various stresses of managing a household.
Best of all: being on welfare does not judge you if you are stupid enough not to take drugs every day, to make some sense out of this Mephistophelian tragicomedy known as living in the USA:
Most private workplaces require drug testing, but no drug testing to obtaining welfare checks.On America’s way to communistic welfare, it has long since surpassed such bastions of capitalism as China:
The welfare system in communist China is far more strict. Those people have to actually work to be able to eat.Source
Global warming
Piers Corbyn is a meteorologist, astrophysicist, consultant, and owner of the business Weather Action which makes weather forecasts up to a year in advance. He correctly predicted the cold weather experienced in the UK and the snow storms in the USA in December. He also predicted the Russian heatwave and the floods in Pakistan. His method of prediction is not based on the loony Global Warming false"data", but rather on science and facts. He uses Solar-Lunar-Action-Technique (SLAT) of weather & climate forecasting which analysis the predictable aspects of solar activity - particle and magnetic effects from the Sun - and lunar modulations as the basis for forecasting weather many months and even years in advance. This basically means that the sun is the direct contributor to our weather and climate and that CO2 is affected by our climate and not the other way around (as the scaremongers like us to believe). He has been mocked by the UK Met office for his predictions, but I wonder who's laughing now? In any case, he's predicting the next few years are going to get colder....
Germans are getting fed up with Muslims
It could get violent says author and former Muslim Udo Ulfkotte. He also says that Europeans should live in their own countries and that Muslims and Europeans can't live side by side peacefully because there's a clash in ideology and CULTURE. This is exactly what Apartheid also tried to achieve. The only problem was, South Africa gave the policy a name and therefore something for the Liberals to attack. We have always known the truth - different cultures can not live side by side - and the West is finally getting it.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Collection American Muscles Car
These muscle cars generally rear wheel drive vehicle using a powerful V8 engines to deliver high performance. Even car enthusiasts today, as many such vehicles.
Best Strong Muscle Cars Wallpapers
There are many people who are hardcore fans of muscle cars. So here are some wallpapers of this high-performance vehicles from the late 60s and early 70s. These cars are still used in the competitions of street racing.
New Stong Muscle Cars
Muscle cars are Mighty cars that ruled the road in 1960's and 1970's. Normally this vehicles use to be like synonym for high performance. They use to have only two doors and an rear wheel drive facility.
Strong Of Used Muscle Cars
Here are some photos of old cars used muscles. There are many people worldwide who are very interested in buying the same old cars in this category. Even in those days powerful V8 engine was used in this car.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
On holidays.....
That’s it for me until around 17 January next year. Thanks for visiting my blog this past year and I hope you'll return in 2011. Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all....LL
A day at the beach in Tel Aviv
Watch the video below from Tel Aviv, but before you do, have a good look at the picture below. Keep this visual in mind as you watch the video and then like me, praise whom ever you need to praise that our women don't look or live like the ones in the picture - nameless, faceless clones, sucking the joy out of life and scaring small children. Heck, I'm even scared of them and I'm a grown up.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
2011 Mazda Shinari Concept
Mazda has released its future direction car design concept Shinari Maszda Car elegant. which will make its public debut at the Salon de l'Automobile in Paris at the end of September. Extracts style four-door coupe the look of the next generation of Mazda and opens the way for a new design car Japanese.
With the launch of the new concept, Mazda also announced that the company’s future design language will be described by the word Kodo, which is Japanese for soul of motion. Talking about the new design language, Ikuo Maeda, general manager of Mazda Motor Corp.’s design division said: "this design will lead to the next generation of Mazda design and will lead to other elements." The coupe shows the future face of Mazda's family of vehicles -- an aluminum signature wing, the line that runs through the headlights and under the grille -- as well as the overall styling trend for future production models. The Shinari as a four-door coupe is a clear signal that Mazda is targeting the premium segment where similar vehicles such as the Aston Martin Rapide, Porsche Panamera and upcoming Fisker Karma already reside. In order to do so Mazda officials ackowledged that interior quality levels must improve.
The company has not released any official information on the Mazda Shinari yet. When it will, we'll be able to show you high resolution images of the Mazda Shinari and to offer a full set of details on the new concept.Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni Black Color Edition
The Anderson Germany have released a new package for the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni that ups the power on the RWD model and also offers new styling options. Instead of focusing on the exterior, they moved to the interior and outfitted the car with some technical enhancements.
The new wheels Anderson offers for this car are 8.5×20 and 11.5×20 inches in size, wrapped in high performance tyres measuring 235/30-20 at the front and 305/25-20 at the back. There’s also a new adjustable exhaust system with three-step valve and remote control. The standard engine 10-cylinder 5.2-liter that was due to upgrade from 550 hp to 590 hp. The performance of the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni Anderson have not yet been published, but I bet it takes less than 3.9 seconds and reach 100 kilometers per hour is probably greater than 320 mph (199 mph) top speed.
Modifications to the exterior consist of tinted tail lamps, the new exhaust system with three-step valve control and the 3-part 20 inch lacquered rims wrapped in performance tires while at the interior the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni by ANDERSON GERMANY comes with logo-decorated seats and various white carbon fiver inserts.Pricing of the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni by Anderson Germany is also kept a secret for the moment, as the tuners say it is only available upon request.
ANDERSON GERMANY – Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni EditionIt is always a challenge when you take even the most seemingly perfect car – as the Lamborghini undoubtedly is – and have it undergo a treatment in order to present it to an admiring audience in an even moreperfect condition. For example with a car that is not exactly under-motorised – the Lamborghini Gallardo Balboni Edition. Because the exterior of this fast car can hardly be improved, the team at the company ANDERSON GERMANY – with their headquarters in Düsseldorf –have concentrated more on the interior than on the small visible external “details” and this has given them room to go all out.
Small visible details would include the tint of the tail lamps and the panes. Alone the description of the exclusive three-part rims with specialty lacquering would be enough to fill more pages than we have space for here. To sum up: these are specially lacquered rims, 8.5x20 and 11.5x20 inches in size, soled with high performance tyres measuring 235/30-20 at the front and 305/25-20 at the back. Although they are not immediately visible, this is more than made up for by the audible exhaust system, which can be adjusted with a remote controlled, three-step valve control.
In the completely refined interior the logo-decorated seats and the generously built Carbon in White are an absolute feast for the eyes. It is worth mentioning the increased performance of the engine, from 550 PSto 590 with an even higher maximum torque. The company ANDERSON GERMANY is an elite tuner, which turns luxury cars into truly one of a kind vehicles. The vehicles are of course fine-tunedfor the stars of this world according to their special requests, insideas well as outside. A special pick-up service is offered to do this, regardless of the car’s location. Naturally, the final product is delivered to the same place.
We offer exclusive rims, complete lacquering or film coating, carbon finishing, specially manufactured exhaust systems, increased performance, interior finishing to the finest degree as well as high end multimedia solutions.Merkel urges Germans: stand up for Christian values
Not sure what's happened to old Ange, but she's come alive! Not only has she recently admitted that multi-culturalism has "utterly failed" but she's now calling for Germans to stand up for Christian values! Go Ange. For us to survive as a people, we need to preserve our Judeo-Christian values and we need to stand by them and maybe the Germans have realised that their days are numbered by pandering to the multicultural myth.
Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans debating Muslim integration to stand up more for Christian values, saying Monday the country suffered not from "too much Islam" but "too little Christianity."
Addressing her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, she said she took the current public debate in Germany on Islam and immigration very seriously. As part of this debate, she said last month that multiculturalism there had utterly failed.
Some of her conservative allies have gone further, calling for an end to immigration from "foreign cultures" -- a reference to Muslim countries like Turkey -- and more pressure on immigrants to integrate into German society.
Merkel told the CDU annual conference in Karlsruhe that the debate about immigration "especially by those of the Muslim faith" was an opportunity for the ruling party to stand up confidently for its convictions.
"We don't have too much Islam, we have too little Christianity. We have too few discussions about the Christian view of mankind," she said to applause from the hall.
Germany needs more public discussion "about the values that guide us (and) about our Judeo-Christian tradition," she said. "We have to stress this again with confidence, then we will also be able to bring about cohesion in our society."
References to the CDU's Christian roots and "Christian view of mankind" are standard in party convention speeches, but the phrases have become more frequent in recent months as Germany has been gripped by a heated debate over Islam and immigration.
DEFINING CULTURAL IDENTITY
The debate began last summer when former Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin published a bestselling book arguing that Muslim immigrants were simple-minded welfare spongers who threatened the country's economy and its long-term future.
President Christian Wulff, a Christian Democrat, fueled the controversy last month by saying Islam "belongs to Germany" because of the four million Muslims who now live there.
Merkel has sharpened her rhetoric on immigration in recent weeks while avoiding the toughest tones coming from the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
But her party looks set to pass a resolution Tuesday stressing that German culture has Judeo-Christian roots, an idea that critics say aims to marginalize Islam.
The resolution says Germany's cultural identity is based on the "Christian-Jewish tradition," ancient and Enlightenment philosophy and the nation's historical experience.
"We expect that those who come here respect them and recognize them, while keeping their personal identity," it says.
The term "cultural identity" (Leitkultur) is the CDU's answer to multicultural policies favored by the left-wing opposition, especially the Greens, which Merkel said has failed.
Read more here
Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Germans debating Muslim integration to stand up more for Christian values, saying Monday the country suffered not from "too much Islam" but "too little Christianity."
Addressing her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party, she said she took the current public debate in Germany on Islam and immigration very seriously. As part of this debate, she said last month that multiculturalism there had utterly failed.
Some of her conservative allies have gone further, calling for an end to immigration from "foreign cultures" -- a reference to Muslim countries like Turkey -- and more pressure on immigrants to integrate into German society.
Merkel told the CDU annual conference in Karlsruhe that the debate about immigration "especially by those of the Muslim faith" was an opportunity for the ruling party to stand up confidently for its convictions.
"We don't have too much Islam, we have too little Christianity. We have too few discussions about the Christian view of mankind," she said to applause from the hall.
Germany needs more public discussion "about the values that guide us (and) about our Judeo-Christian tradition," she said. "We have to stress this again with confidence, then we will also be able to bring about cohesion in our society."
References to the CDU's Christian roots and "Christian view of mankind" are standard in party convention speeches, but the phrases have become more frequent in recent months as Germany has been gripped by a heated debate over Islam and immigration.
DEFINING CULTURAL IDENTITY
The debate began last summer when former Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin published a bestselling book arguing that Muslim immigrants were simple-minded welfare spongers who threatened the country's economy and its long-term future.
President Christian Wulff, a Christian Democrat, fueled the controversy last month by saying Islam "belongs to Germany" because of the four million Muslims who now live there.
Merkel has sharpened her rhetoric on immigration in recent weeks while avoiding the toughest tones coming from the CDU's Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU).
But her party looks set to pass a resolution Tuesday stressing that German culture has Judeo-Christian roots, an idea that critics say aims to marginalize Islam.
The resolution says Germany's cultural identity is based on the "Christian-Jewish tradition," ancient and Enlightenment philosophy and the nation's historical experience.
"We expect that those who come here respect them and recognize them, while keeping their personal identity," it says.
The term "cultural identity" (Leitkultur) is the CDU's answer to multicultural policies favored by the left-wing opposition, especially the Greens, which Merkel said has failed.
Read more here
Ailing Greece Struggles with an Influx of Illegal Migrants
My heartstrings were really pulled reading this story....not. I suppose TIME has to put the human into the story so that we can feel for these "refugees". All Rasha wants is "Job, food, house"! Me too! As you will read, most of these economic refugees use Greece as their springboard to better, brighter, countries - the ones with generous benefits are their target (I'm still trying to figure out why...). I might feel some compassion if it weren't tragic. Here we have these "refugees", who have made it their life goal to invade another country and make their problem someone else's. According to the UN, there are approximately 10million refugees in the world - when will this problem ever be resolved? Never - as long as countries keep allowing these people into their countries. Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. These people should stay in their own countries and make them a better place - instead they cherry pick which new host they can be a parasite to. It's any wonder there are Somali's left in that country at the rate that they are exporting their problem population all over the world - bringing their wonderful, corrupt culture with them. Then the bleeding hearts wonder why there's a huge swing to the right....you can fool some of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.
Rasha had a simple dream when she left Gaza's al-Shati camp a month ago. "Job, food, house," she says. "Or at least hope for this." Europe, she had heard, was full of hope. So Rasha, 25, and her husband Ali, 31, sold their belongings and borrowed from friends and relatives to pay a smuggler nearly $2,000 to help them and their 4-month-old son Yusef get there. One November night, they crossed the Evros River that marks the land border between Greece and Turkey. At dawn, Greek police found them at a dilapidated train station and sent them to the Fylakio detention center near the northeastern Greek city of Orestiada.
After three days at the center, which Rasha says was so crowded with migrants that she couldn't see the floor, the family got out. Now they're outside Fylakio waiting to board a bus bound for Athens, where they know no one. "I am hoping," says Rasha, as Ali holds their exhausted son. "And I am so happy."
Considering the rise in migrants traveling to Greece, and the poverty and bureaucracy that keeps them stuck there, Rasha's optimism might soon disintegrate. So far this year, more than 90% of illegal migrants to Europe have entered through Greece, according to Frontex, the E.U.'s border-patrol agency. Until recently, Italy, France and Spain were the most popular entry points for illegal immigration into the continent. But increased coast-guard patrols in the past couple of years have blocked routes by sea, forcing migrants to find a new way in. "Smugglers were being arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned, so criminal networks shifted their route to this area around Orestiada," says Frontex spokesman Michal Parzyszek.
Alarmed by the sudden influx of illegal migrants pouring into Greece, the E.U. sent Frontex forces to Orestiada in November to help Greek police patrol an especially troublesome eight-mile (13 km) section of the 128-mile (200 km) land border between Greece and Turkey. Some 31,400 people crossed just that portion of the border in the first nine months of 2010 — more than the number of illegal crossings through all of the Canary Islands in 2006, a peak year for immigration to Spain.
Frontex says almost half of the migrants say they're Afghans, who pay smugglers around $3,000 to help them escape a country where per capita income is only $900. But for Jamir Khan, 22, it wasn't money that sent him to Greece — it was war. The skinny, tough car mechanic from Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan — a place he describes as "all fight, all the time" — learned his trade in Manchester, England, where he lived illegally for a few months about four years ago.
Then police raided the house he was sleeping in and deported him. "I told them, 'Give me a chance! I'm not a Talib! I am working!'" he tells TIME. "I told them I was going to come back." True to his word, he arrived at the Fylakio detention center in mid-November after his family took out loans to pay a smuggler $3,000. He's broke, so he's walking nearly 600 miles to Athens.
The journey to Orestiada is not without its dangers. Scores have died crossing the border from Turkey over the years, many while trying to get to the other side of the Evros River. According to Frontex, at least 44 migrants have drowned there this year. That's nearly twice as many as the number that died last year, says Mehmet Serif Damadoglou, the mufti of the mixed Christian and Muslim prefecture of Evros. He buries the dead in a makeshift cemetery on a hill near his village of Sidero.
Surrounded by 140 small mounds of dirt, each marking a grave, Damadoglou recalls meeting the distraught parents of a 16-year-old Somali girl who drowned in the Evros this summer. He remembers how the mother hugged the earth that held her daughter's body. "They could not swim, but they were trying to because their small inflatable boat overturned. The last time [the mother] saw her daughter, she heard someone yell, 'Help! Help!' and then the river took the girl away," Damadoglou says, sighing. "They came here to visit her and pray." He says he cringed when they told him they were heading to Athens to find jobs. "It's very hard in Athens, because right now even the Greeks don't have work," he says. "Migrants can fall into an abyss there and never get out."
Though most migrants go to Europe through Greece with the hopes of traveling on to countries like Sweden or Britain, where jobs and benefits are more plentiful, many run out of money and find themselves trapped in Athens. That's what happened to Tahar Zarouk, a 33-year-old Tunisian from the southeastern city of Medenine. He subsists on a free daily meal of soup, salad and bread prepared by the capital's Greek, Anglican and African churches. The food is distributed in a drab courtyard on Sophocleous Street, a drag in central Athens infested with drug dealers. He sleeps in a nearby alley and says he's been beaten up several times by anti-immigrant thugs. Standing in a food line on a damp December day, Zarouk says he's desperate to work. "Every day, Greeks tell me to leave," he says. "But I have no money. Where am I supposed to go?"
Others wait in Athens for asylum that will likely never come. The U.N. says Greece has more than 52,000 asylum requests waiting to be processed. Only 0.3% of those applications are granted, compared with an average of 31% in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden, the U.N. says.
Jobless and often homeless, migrants face increasing hostility from Greeks despairing over the country's rising unemployment. Supporters of the far-right, anti-immigrant group Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) regularly trawl through some central Athens neighborhoods brandishing clubs and beating up homeless migrants. In a troubling sign that relations between Greeks and migrants are souring further, Athenians elected Chrysi Avgi's president to the city's municipal council in October. "It's disillusioning for them, to see the Europe of their dreams be like this," says Father Jimoh Adebayo, a Nigerian minister who helps at the food line on Sophocleous Street. "They have sold everything back home and they see that here, there is nothing." Adebayo says he sees more people in the food line every week, including Greeks who have lost homes or jobs.
But Rasha knows none of this as she's leaving the Fylakio detention center and boarding the bus to Athens with about 80 other migrants. The Greek bus driver wears rubber gloves to handle their tickets; the seats are covered in plastic wrap. Tickets cost 60 euros, or $80, each, but Rasha can pay — she stashed euros left over after paying the smuggler in a money belt she wore under three layers of clothing. "Ali and I will have jobs, maybe at a shop, and we will have a little house, and the baby can sleep," she says. As the bus pulls away, Rasha waves through a window. She's the only one smiling.
Source
 |
| A group of African men who arrived on La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands waits to be transferred to an official detention center. Africans wash up on the Canary Islands at a rate of two to three boatloads a day. |
After three days at the center, which Rasha says was so crowded with migrants that she couldn't see the floor, the family got out. Now they're outside Fylakio waiting to board a bus bound for Athens, where they know no one. "I am hoping," says Rasha, as Ali holds their exhausted son. "And I am so happy."
Considering the rise in migrants traveling to Greece, and the poverty and bureaucracy that keeps them stuck there, Rasha's optimism might soon disintegrate. So far this year, more than 90% of illegal migrants to Europe have entered through Greece, according to Frontex, the E.U.'s border-patrol agency. Until recently, Italy, France and Spain were the most popular entry points for illegal immigration into the continent. But increased coast-guard patrols in the past couple of years have blocked routes by sea, forcing migrants to find a new way in. "Smugglers were being arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned, so criminal networks shifted their route to this area around Orestiada," says Frontex spokesman Michal Parzyszek.
 |
| A migrant worker leaves the silo where he sleeps in a former oil factory in the southern Italian town of Rosarno. All of the migrants were recently moved from the town after violent clashes with local residents. |
Frontex says almost half of the migrants say they're Afghans, who pay smugglers around $3,000 to help them escape a country where per capita income is only $900. But for Jamir Khan, 22, it wasn't money that sent him to Greece — it was war. The skinny, tough car mechanic from Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan — a place he describes as "all fight, all the time" — learned his trade in Manchester, England, where he lived illegally for a few months about four years ago.
Then police raided the house he was sleeping in and deported him. "I told them, 'Give me a chance! I'm not a Talib! I am working!'" he tells TIME. "I told them I was going to come back." True to his word, he arrived at the Fylakio detention center in mid-November after his family took out loans to pay a smuggler $3,000. He's broke, so he's walking nearly 600 miles to Athens.
The journey to Orestiada is not without its dangers. Scores have died crossing the border from Turkey over the years, many while trying to get to the other side of the Evros River. According to Frontex, at least 44 migrants have drowned there this year. That's nearly twice as many as the number that died last year, says Mehmet Serif Damadoglou, the mufti of the mixed Christian and Muslim prefecture of Evros. He buries the dead in a makeshift cemetery on a hill near his village of Sidero.
Surrounded by 140 small mounds of dirt, each marking a grave, Damadoglou recalls meeting the distraught parents of a 16-year-old Somali girl who drowned in the Evros this summer. He remembers how the mother hugged the earth that held her daughter's body. "They could not swim, but they were trying to because their small inflatable boat overturned. The last time [the mother] saw her daughter, she heard someone yell, 'Help! Help!' and then the river took the girl away," Damadoglou says, sighing. "They came here to visit her and pray." He says he cringed when they told him they were heading to Athens to find jobs. "It's very hard in Athens, because right now even the Greeks don't have work," he says. "Migrants can fall into an abyss there and never get out."
Though most migrants go to Europe through Greece with the hopes of traveling on to countries like Sweden or Britain, where jobs and benefits are more plentiful, many run out of money and find themselves trapped in Athens. That's what happened to Tahar Zarouk, a 33-year-old Tunisian from the southeastern city of Medenine. He subsists on a free daily meal of soup, salad and bread prepared by the capital's Greek, Anglican and African churches. The food is distributed in a drab courtyard on Sophocleous Street, a drag in central Athens infested with drug dealers. He sleeps in a nearby alley and says he's been beaten up several times by anti-immigrant thugs. Standing in a food line on a damp December day, Zarouk says he's desperate to work. "Every day, Greeks tell me to leave," he says. "But I have no money. Where am I supposed to go?"
 |
| An Afghan migrant walks by a makeshift camp in the Greek port town of Patras. |
Jobless and often homeless, migrants face increasing hostility from Greeks despairing over the country's rising unemployment. Supporters of the far-right, anti-immigrant group Chrysi Avgi (Golden Dawn) regularly trawl through some central Athens neighborhoods brandishing clubs and beating up homeless migrants. In a troubling sign that relations between Greeks and migrants are souring further, Athenians elected Chrysi Avgi's president to the city's municipal council in October. "It's disillusioning for them, to see the Europe of their dreams be like this," says Father Jimoh Adebayo, a Nigerian minister who helps at the food line on Sophocleous Street. "They have sold everything back home and they see that here, there is nothing." Adebayo says he sees more people in the food line every week, including Greeks who have lost homes or jobs.
But Rasha knows none of this as she's leaving the Fylakio detention center and boarding the bus to Athens with about 80 other migrants. The Greek bus driver wears rubber gloves to handle their tickets; the seats are covered in plastic wrap. Tickets cost 60 euros, or $80, each, but Rasha can pay — she stashed euros left over after paying the smuggler in a money belt she wore under three layers of clothing. "Ali and I will have jobs, maybe at a shop, and we will have a little house, and the baby can sleep," she says. As the bus pulls away, Rasha waves through a window. She's the only one smiling.
 |
| The Greek Coast Guard stops an inflatable boat packed with migrants at the maritime border between Greece and Turkey near the Greek island of Agathonissi. The island has been overwhelmed by migrants, some of whom sleep outdoors and beg for food on the streets. |
PISA Scores Show Demography Is Destiny In Education Too—But Washington Doesn’t Want You To Know
A lengthy post but interesting. Below is a breakdown of the three-yearly OECD's PISA results by country and some by race. What the author is trying to illustrate is what no one wants to admit -that race actually plays a big part in the intelligence of countries. For example, New Zealand whites scored 541 on reading in 2009, 16 points above American whites. But the Kiwis’ national scores are dragged down somewhat by the indigenous Maori and by Pacific Islander immigrants, who do more for the current competitiveness of New Zealand’s national rugby team than for the future competitiveness of its 21st Century economy. Finland is also a conundrum - except when you realise that they haven't fallen for the multi-cultural myth that other countries have (yet). But then you don't have to tell us that - we see it in our daily lives...
Every three years, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], the rich country’s club, announces the results of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). These are tests of school achievement for 15-year-olds in the 34 OECD countries, plus 31 other countries or regions.
And, following the announcement, there is always wailing and gnashing of teeth about how the U.S. is doomed by the failures of the U.S. educational system relative to the rest of the world.
This time, for example, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared: "This is an absolute wake-up call for America. … we have to deal with the brutal truth. We have to get much more serious about investing in education." (Investing = spending more on teacher salaries).
Similarly, Chester Finn in the Wall Street Journal compared the release of the latest test scores to 1957, when the Soviet Union shocked the U.S. by putting Sputnik into orbit.
And the New York Times headlined Top Test Scores from Shanghai Stun Educators.
I wasn’t stunned. But then I’m not an educator.
It took me two days of looking through the voluminous PISA results to create the simple graph below. It shows what the Great and Good don’t want you to know about the 2009 PISA results: When broken down by ethnicity, American students did reasonably well compared to the countries from which their ancestors came.
In this chart, I’ve depicted American ethnic groups in red to show where they fall relative to other countries, which are colored to reflect their dominant populations.
As my chart shows:
Why does my second graph have to compare reading scores from 2009 to science scores from 2006 and math scores from 2003?
Because PISA and the U.S. government apparently conspire to keep the ethnic breakdowns of American scores a secret, except for whichever subject is the main theme of that year’s PISA (reading in 2009, science in 2006, and math in 2003). Thus the only American scores broken down by ethnicity yet released for 2009 were for reading.
Yet all three subjects are tested each year, and scores for all subjects are released in mind-numbing detail cross-tabbed for every conceivable factor … except race.
Considering the hundreds of pages of data PISA releases on its website on all three tests for 2009, it’s ludicrous (yet unsurprising) that PISA won’t publish the ethnic breakdowns it has collected. The words "Hispanic" or "Latino" don’t appear anywhere in the otherwise endless PISA 2009 data.
Instead, PISA conveyed the ethnic data confidentially to the U.S. government—which then released the racial breakdowns for just the reading test on its National Center for Educational Statistics website (PDF).
The goal of this byzantine process is evidently to make it more inconvenient for crass outsiders and possible critics to grasp the patterns underlying the scores.
Where’s WikiLeaks when you really need it?
A few caveats about the strong performance of the U.S.:
Rich, bustling Shanghai is not likely to be representative of China as a whole. Yet, Shanghai might not be the highest scoring part of China, either. Traditionally, the top scorers on the Imperial mandarin exams as well as on the current national college admission test tend to come from farther to the southeast, especially from Fujian province on the coast across from Taiwan. The Fujianese are the central component of the Overseas Chinese who dominate the economies of Southeast Asia.
The other gigacountry, India, is often lumped with China by American pundits like Tom Friedman. India certainly has a large number of highly intelligent people, but major questions remain about the Indian masses. India has never participated in PISA.
However, a version of the similar TIMSS international math test was given to a sample of Indian students in the states of Orissa and Rajasthan, as reported in a 2009 paper by Jishnu Das of the World Bank and Tristan Zajonc of Harvard, India Shining and Bharat Drowning: Comparing Two Indian States to the Worldwide Distribution in Mathematics Achievement. On average, the Indians performed poorly: "These two states fall below 43 of the 51 countries for which data exist." Note, though, that India was the second-most internally unequal country on TIMSS, behind only South Africa.
Finally, what about Finland, which always does very well on PISA? (Although Finland only scored above average when it participated in TIMSS in 1999.)
Finns tend to be both patriotic and public spirited, so it might not be hard to talk most Finnish teens into giving a solid effort on a two-hour PISA test by rationally explaining to them how that would be good for everybody.
Or, maybe Finns, who rank with Icelanders as the most northerly advanced culture on Earth, really are smarter (although IQ tests suggest they are about average for Western Europeans).
Of course, one obvious factor contributing to Finland’s high national scores: Finland benefits from not having its scores undermined by immigrants from low-scoring cultures. (Yet).
And maybe Finnish schools are better. But it’s noteworthy that American education reporters who have taken junkets to Finland since the PISA tests began a decade ago report back that Finnish schools are the laidback opposite of the pressure cooker cram schools popular in the Northeast Asian countries that score similarly to Finland.
It may be that, enjoying a non-diverse population, Finnish educators have been able to fine-tune their system to meet the particular needs of Finnish students.
That would be a major contrast to the United States. Here, the needs of low-scoring black and Hispanic students obsess educators and pundits and inspire a great deal of double-think and mendacity. But no-one has any idea what to do about it, especially in the one-size-fits-all culture of the government school industry.
Bottom line: Keeping the U.S. globally competitive turns out to depend less upon our endlessly-discussed need to "fix the schools “and more upon the need to "fix the demographic trends".
But this topic currently unmentionable in public debate and, for many in public life, literally unthinkable.
It might even lead to Americans doing something about immigration policy.
Read more here
------
Every three years, the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], the rich country’s club, announces the results of its Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). These are tests of school achievement for 15-year-olds in the 34 OECD countries, plus 31 other countries or regions.
And, following the announcement, there is always wailing and gnashing of teeth about how the U.S. is doomed by the failures of the U.S. educational system relative to the rest of the world.
This time, for example, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan declared: "This is an absolute wake-up call for America. … we have to deal with the brutal truth. We have to get much more serious about investing in education." (Investing = spending more on teacher salaries).
Similarly, Chester Finn in the Wall Street Journal compared the release of the latest test scores to 1957, when the Soviet Union shocked the U.S. by putting Sputnik into orbit.
And the New York Times headlined Top Test Scores from Shanghai Stun Educators.
I wasn’t stunned. But then I’m not an educator.
It took me two days of looking through the voluminous PISA results to create the simple graph below. It shows what the Great and Good don’t want you to know about the 2009 PISA results: When broken down by ethnicity, American students did reasonably well compared to the countries from which their ancestors came.
In this chart, I’ve depicted American ethnic groups in red to show where they fall relative to other countries, which are colored to reflect their dominant populations.
As my chart shows:
- Asian Americans outscored every Asian country, and lost out only to the city of Shanghai, China’s financial capital.
- White Americans students outperformed the national average in every one of the 37 historically white countries tested, except Finland (which is, perhaps not coincidentally, an immigration restrictionist nation where whites make up about 99 percent of the population).
- Hispanic Americans beat all eight Latin American countries.
- African Americans would likely have outscored any sub-Saharan country, if any had bothered to compete. The closest thing to a black country out of PISA’s 65 participants is the fairly prosperous oil-refining Caribbean country of Trinidad and Tobago, which is roughly evenly divided between blacks and South Asians. African Americans outscored Trinidadians by 25 points.
Why does my second graph have to compare reading scores from 2009 to science scores from 2006 and math scores from 2003?
Because PISA and the U.S. government apparently conspire to keep the ethnic breakdowns of American scores a secret, except for whichever subject is the main theme of that year’s PISA (reading in 2009, science in 2006, and math in 2003). Thus the only American scores broken down by ethnicity yet released for 2009 were for reading.
Yet all three subjects are tested each year, and scores for all subjects are released in mind-numbing detail cross-tabbed for every conceivable factor … except race.
Considering the hundreds of pages of data PISA releases on its website on all three tests for 2009, it’s ludicrous (yet unsurprising) that PISA won’t publish the ethnic breakdowns it has collected. The words "Hispanic" or "Latino" don’t appear anywhere in the otherwise endless PISA 2009 data.
Instead, PISA conveyed the ethnic data confidentially to the U.S. government—which then released the racial breakdowns for just the reading test on its National Center for Educational Statistics website (PDF).
The goal of this byzantine process is evidently to make it more inconvenient for crass outsiders and possible critics to grasp the patterns underlying the scores.
Where’s WikiLeaks when you really need it?
A few caveats about the strong performance of the U.S.:
- First: in 2009, the U.S. did slightly better in reading than in science, and moderately better in science than in math. So, my top graph, showing the 2009 reading results, puts America’s best foot forward in what ought to be a three-legged race. But of course I can’t show you PISA scores by ethnicity for 2009 in science and math because they are, apparently, federal secrets.
- Second: my top chart does not offer a true apples-to-apples comparison of whites in America to whites in other traditionally white countries. For example, New Zealand whites scored 541 on reading in 2009, 16 points above American whites. But the Kiwis’ national scores are dragged down somewhat by the indigenous Maori and by Pacific Islander immigrants, who do more for the current competitiveness of New Zealand’s national rugby team than for the future competitiveness of its 21st Century economy.
- Third: America pays royally for the results we do get. We spend more per student than any country in the world, other than Luxembourg, a small, rich tax haven. We spend about fifty percent more per student than Finland does.
Rich, bustling Shanghai is not likely to be representative of China as a whole. Yet, Shanghai might not be the highest scoring part of China, either. Traditionally, the top scorers on the Imperial mandarin exams as well as on the current national college admission test tend to come from farther to the southeast, especially from Fujian province on the coast across from Taiwan. The Fujianese are the central component of the Overseas Chinese who dominate the economies of Southeast Asia.
The other gigacountry, India, is often lumped with China by American pundits like Tom Friedman. India certainly has a large number of highly intelligent people, but major questions remain about the Indian masses. India has never participated in PISA.
However, a version of the similar TIMSS international math test was given to a sample of Indian students in the states of Orissa and Rajasthan, as reported in a 2009 paper by Jishnu Das of the World Bank and Tristan Zajonc of Harvard, India Shining and Bharat Drowning: Comparing Two Indian States to the Worldwide Distribution in Mathematics Achievement. On average, the Indians performed poorly: "These two states fall below 43 of the 51 countries for which data exist." Note, though, that India was the second-most internally unequal country on TIMSS, behind only South Africa.
Finally, what about Finland, which always does very well on PISA? (Although Finland only scored above average when it participated in TIMSS in 1999.)
Finns tend to be both patriotic and public spirited, so it might not be hard to talk most Finnish teens into giving a solid effort on a two-hour PISA test by rationally explaining to them how that would be good for everybody.
Or, maybe Finns, who rank with Icelanders as the most northerly advanced culture on Earth, really are smarter (although IQ tests suggest they are about average for Western Europeans).
Of course, one obvious factor contributing to Finland’s high national scores: Finland benefits from not having its scores undermined by immigrants from low-scoring cultures. (Yet).
And maybe Finnish schools are better. But it’s noteworthy that American education reporters who have taken junkets to Finland since the PISA tests began a decade ago report back that Finnish schools are the laidback opposite of the pressure cooker cram schools popular in the Northeast Asian countries that score similarly to Finland.
It may be that, enjoying a non-diverse population, Finnish educators have been able to fine-tune their system to meet the particular needs of Finnish students.
That would be a major contrast to the United States. Here, the needs of low-scoring black and Hispanic students obsess educators and pundits and inspire a great deal of double-think and mendacity. But no-one has any idea what to do about it, especially in the one-size-fits-all culture of the government school industry.
Bottom line: Keeping the U.S. globally competitive turns out to depend less upon our endlessly-discussed need to "fix the schools “and more upon the need to "fix the demographic trends".
But this topic currently unmentionable in public debate and, for many in public life, literally unthinkable.
It might even lead to Americans doing something about immigration policy.
Read more here
67 Percent of Marine Combat Forces Say Putting Homosexuals in Their Units Will Hurt Their Effectiveness in the Field, Says DOD Report
The big elephant in the room and what no ones seems to focus on, is that the person responsible for the leaks to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning, served as a US Army intelligence analyst, and became depressed after a break-up with his homosexual companion. So, what does he do? He decides to show just how unintelligent the US military intelligence is! Just what was so offensive with the DADT policy?? And as Gen. James Amos says: "The forces that wear this uniform, that are in the middle of what I call the real deal, came back and told their commandant of the Marine Corps they have concerns,". Those are the people who should be deciding if the military is ready for openly gay troops - not some politician who made an election promise and who has never fought a day as a soldier. The Anointed One must be laughing in his cups together with his pals in Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, China.....And so the social engineering of the US military begins.
66.5 percent of U.S. Marine combat forces surveyed by a special Defense Department working group said that putting homosexuals in their units would hurt their effectiveness in the field, and 47.8 percent of Marines in combat units specifically said putting homosexuals in their units would hurt their effectiveness “in an intense combat situation.”
The U.S. Congress voted last week to repeal the law—commonly known as Don’t Ask, Don’ Tell—that barred homosexuals from serving in the military.
Earlier this year, after President Barack Obama said in his 2010 State of the Union Address that he wanted to end the ban on homosexuals in the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates put together a special working group to begin making plans for integrating homosexuals into the Armed Forces if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell were in fact repealed.
The working group secured the services of Westat Corporation, a polling company, to survey more than 115,000 active duty service members on their attitudes and views about integrating homosexuals into the military. Among those surveyed by Westat were 989 men serving in Marine combat units.
Last week, before Congress voted to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military, Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marines, told reporters that he opposed lifting the ban because of what he had heard from Marines about it.
"The forces that wear this uniform, that are in the middle of what I call the real deal, came back and told their commandant of the Marine Corps they have concerns," Gen. Amos told the reporters. "That's all I need. I don't need a staff study. I don't need to hire three PhDs to tell me what to interpret it," he said. "If they have concerns, I do, too. It's as simple as that."
Gen. Amos said the distraction of having homosexuals in the ranks could cost Marines their lives. “Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives. That’s the currency of this fight,” said Gen. Amos. “I don’t want to lose any Marines to the distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction.”
Source
66.5 percent of U.S. Marine combat forces surveyed by a special Defense Department working group said that putting homosexuals in their units would hurt their effectiveness in the field, and 47.8 percent of Marines in combat units specifically said putting homosexuals in their units would hurt their effectiveness “in an intense combat situation.”
The U.S. Congress voted last week to repeal the law—commonly known as Don’t Ask, Don’ Tell—that barred homosexuals from serving in the military.
Earlier this year, after President Barack Obama said in his 2010 State of the Union Address that he wanted to end the ban on homosexuals in the military, Defense Secretary Robert Gates put together a special working group to begin making plans for integrating homosexuals into the Armed Forces if Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell were in fact repealed.
The working group secured the services of Westat Corporation, a polling company, to survey more than 115,000 active duty service members on their attitudes and views about integrating homosexuals into the military. Among those surveyed by Westat were 989 men serving in Marine combat units.
Last week, before Congress voted to lift the ban on homosexuals in the military, Gen. James Amos, the commandant of the Marines, told reporters that he opposed lifting the ban because of what he had heard from Marines about it.
"The forces that wear this uniform, that are in the middle of what I call the real deal, came back and told their commandant of the Marine Corps they have concerns," Gen. Amos told the reporters. "That's all I need. I don't need a staff study. I don't need to hire three PhDs to tell me what to interpret it," he said. "If they have concerns, I do, too. It's as simple as that."
Gen. Amos said the distraction of having homosexuals in the ranks could cost Marines their lives. “Mistakes and inattention or distractions cost Marines lives. That’s the currency of this fight,” said Gen. Amos. “I don’t want to lose any Marines to the distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda [National Naval Medical Center] with no legs be the result of any type of distraction.”
Source
Monday, December 20, 2010
Muslim pupil offended by the word 'ham' in class
Ham ham ham ham, glorious ham, wonderful ham! It’s astonishing how the word ‘ham’ or the smell of bacon cooking in the deli down the street offends them, but beheadings and bombings are just fine! In any case, I wonder when the penny will drop to this Muslim family that there are non-Muslim people living in Spain? Dear Offended Muslim Family - what about the ham in hamas? BTW - I'm having Ham for Christmas Day - can't wait!!
The parents of a Muslim boy who attends a secondary school in La LÃnea, Cádiz province, have reported their son’s teacher for an incident in the boy’s geography class which the child said caused him offence as a Muslim.
The teacher, José Reyes Fernández, with more than 20 years in the profession, was explaining to the class how the cold climate in Trevélez, Granada province, aided in the curing of the village’s most famous local product, jamón serrano. The boy told his teacher that hearing the word ‘ham’ in class was offensive to him because of his religion and asked his geography teacher to stop referring to the product which caused him offence.
El Mundo newspaper reports that the boy’s parents then reported the teacher to both the National Police and to the courts. They placed a denuncia against the teacher for psychological ill-treatment in the context of xenophobia and racism.
It’s understood that an internal investigation is also underway by the education authority in Cádiz province, although the regional government, The Junta de AndalucÃa, has said that it supports the teacher as the complaint is ‘out of place’.
The government’s Minister for Presidency, Ramón Jáuregi, was questioned on the incident in an interview on Onda Cero radio this Monday morning. He described the denuncia as ‘unfounded’ and said there was no hope of it going any further.
Source
The parents of a Muslim boy who attends a secondary school in La LÃnea, Cádiz province, have reported their son’s teacher for an incident in the boy’s geography class which the child said caused him offence as a Muslim.
The teacher, José Reyes Fernández, with more than 20 years in the profession, was explaining to the class how the cold climate in Trevélez, Granada province, aided in the curing of the village’s most famous local product, jamón serrano. The boy told his teacher that hearing the word ‘ham’ in class was offensive to him because of his religion and asked his geography teacher to stop referring to the product which caused him offence.
El Mundo newspaper reports that the boy’s parents then reported the teacher to both the National Police and to the courts. They placed a denuncia against the teacher for psychological ill-treatment in the context of xenophobia and racism.
It’s understood that an internal investigation is also underway by the education authority in Cádiz province, although the regional government, The Junta de AndalucÃa, has said that it supports the teacher as the complaint is ‘out of place’.
The government’s Minister for Presidency, Ramón Jáuregi, was questioned on the incident in an interview on Onda Cero radio this Monday morning. He described the denuncia as ‘unfounded’ and said there was no hope of it going any further.
Source
Christmas trees 'make non-Christians feel excluded'
This is the kind of research that the Canadian tax payer pays for - for some idiot named Michael Schmitt to inform us stupid, gullible people (through legitimate research involving a whole 134 people), that it would be better for everyone if Christmas would be toned down as non-Christians feel less self assured when there's Christmas tree in the room. Wow! A tree covered with lights, tinsel and decorations is so “threatening” especially if we “really do value respecting and including diversity”. Hey Michael - in your honor I've posted a huge picture of a scary Christmas tree - hope you don't feel too intimidated by it. Sorry to disappoint you but I won't be rushing out to take my tree down at home - we love intimidating those pesky non-believers.
Source
Researchers at Simon Fraser University in Canada, found non-Christians feel less self-assured and have fewer positive feelings if a Christmas tree was in the room.
The scientists conducted the study using 77 Christians and 57 non-believers, including Buddhists and Sikhs.
The participants did not know the survey was about Christmas, and were asked to fill in questions about themselves both when a 12-inch Christmas tree was in the room and when it was not.
"Non-celebrators" reported fewer positive feelings and less self-assurance in the Christmas room. Christians were mostly cheered by the tree.
Christians, however, did report feeling more guilt when a tree was in the room, which, claim the researchers, suggests the holidays can be stressful.
Michael Schmitt, a social psychologist behind the research, decided to carry out the study after controversy over whether Christmas should be celebrated in public in case it offends non-Christians.
He said: "Simply having this 12-inch Christmas tree in the room with them made them feel less included in the university as a whole, which to me is a pretty powerful effect from one 12-inch Christmas tree in one psychology lab.
"I don't think it's really going to undermine anyone's experience of Christmas to tone it down.
"We're not suggesting 'no Christmas' or 'no Christmas displays at all,' but in contexts where we really do value respecting and including diversity in terms of religion, the safest option is not to have these kinds of displays.
"I understand why it might feel threatening to people.
"But I think if people do care about making a whole range of different kinds of people feel included and respected, then we can make some small changes that would go a long way toward creating a more multicultural or inclusive society."
The researchers published their results in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Source
Black teens assault pregnant White teen after stealing her iPod.
This is actually quite painful to watch. How these two kids - especially the male - kept their cool I'll never know. I guess they're used to being assaulted by blacks; or they're used to what a group of black female teenagers are capable of. In any case - were it me subjected to such a prolonged assault I would probably be in jail, serving time for assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm. It's not quite clear in the beginning of the video, but you can see how a young white girl is seated listening to her iPod when a group of black "ladies" board the bus and one of them steals her iPod in broad daylight. Problems break-out when she asks for it back....oh the joys of diversity.
South Africa: China gets Eastern Cape fruit farm
Bizarre! Here we have the South African government allowing the Chinese to farm the country's lands. This after the white farmers have been bashed over the head (literally and figuratively) about the land rights of the blacks and how this land should be returned to the blacks. Not only do the Chinese get to farm the land, but the money will leave South Africa to go to China as the produce will be sold in the USA! Want to take bets how long before the Chinese start taking over South African farms vacated by murdered white farmers? All South Africans bow down to your new Commie masters. I guess the Chinese are entitled to the land above the whites who used blood, sweat and tears to start the farms nearly 400 years ago. Another brilliant move by the ANChina.
"Eastern Cape's abundant agricultural land has seen China survey the province for farming business opportunities to supplement its scarce land resources," spokeswoman Ikhona Mvaphantsi said in a statement.
The Yebo Africa Trading Hall (ATH) in Shangai, China, had entered into an agreement with the Alfred Nzo district municipality to use land in the area for pomelo citrus fruit cultivation.
The ATH is an entity formed by Chinese businessmen to facilitate trade between Africa and China and was set to open its doors for trade in March 2011.
Alfred Nzo Development Agency chief executive officer Nandipa Bam said local farmers would benefit from the agreement.
"We are looking at 500 hectares minimum, and since each farmer has about 10 hectares about 50 farmers will benefit directly. The project will bring job creation from primary production and spin-offs in packing, transportation and skills development," he was quoted as saying.
The fruit would be sold in the United States.
Source
The Yebo Africa Trading Hall (ATH) in Shangai, China, had entered into an agreement with the Alfred Nzo district municipality to use land in the area for pomelo citrus fruit cultivation.
The ATH is an entity formed by Chinese businessmen to facilitate trade between Africa and China and was set to open its doors for trade in March 2011.
Alfred Nzo Development Agency chief executive officer Nandipa Bam said local farmers would benefit from the agreement.
"We are looking at 500 hectares minimum, and since each farmer has about 10 hectares about 50 farmers will benefit directly. The project will bring job creation from primary production and spin-offs in packing, transportation and skills development," he was quoted as saying.
The fruit would be sold in the United States.
Source
The Red Cross bans Christmas
I would even go so far as to say that the Red Cross is becoming a lefty bleeding heart organisation. Anyone who is so sensitive as to ban Christmas from their fund-raising shops is seriously on the path to Socialism. Just who supports the Red Cross? It's the people from western societies who heed their call for support - support which then goes to fund predominantly refugees these days. Needless to say I avoid them and would rather support the Salvation army - who do a lot more good for the community as a whole. This is just getting ridiculous.
Christmas has been banned by the Red Cross from its 430 fund-raising shops.
Staff have been ordered to take down decorations and to remove any other signs of the Christian festival because they could offend Moslems.
The charity's politically-correct move triggered an avalanche of criticism and mockery last night - from Christians and Moslems.
Christine Banks, a volunteer at a Red Cross shop in New Romney, Kent, said: 'We put up a nativity scene in the window and were told to take it out. It seems we can't have anything that means Christmas. We're allowed to have some tinsel but that's it.
'When we send cards they have to say season's greetings or best wishes. They must not be linked directly to Christmas.
'When we asked we were told it is because we must not upset Moslems.'
Mrs Banks added: ' We have been instructed that we can't say anything about Christmas and we certainly can't have a Christmas tree.
' I think the policy is offensive to Moslems as well as to us. No reasonable person can object to Christians celebrating Christmas. But we are not supposed to show any sign of Christianity at all.'
Labour peer Lord Ahmed, one of the country's most prominent Moslem politicians, said: 'It is stupid to think Moslems would be offended.
'The Moslem community has been talking to Christians for the past 1,400 years. The teachings from Islam are that you should respect other faiths.'
He added: 'In my business all my staff celebrate Christmas and I celebrate with them. It is absolutely not the case that Christmas could damage the Red Cross reputation for neutrality - I think their people have gone a little bit over the top.'
The furore is a fresh blow to the image of what was once one of Britain's most respected charities.
The British Red Cross lost friends this year over its support for the French illegal immigrant camp at Sangatte and its insistence on concentrating large efforts on helping asylum seekers.
Yesterday officials at the charity's London HQ confirmed that Christmas is barred from the 430 shops which contributed more than £20million to its income last year.
'The Red Cross is a neutral organisation and we don't want to be aligned with any political party or particular philosophy,' a spokesman said.
'We don't want to be seen as a Christian or Islamic or Jewish organisation because that might compromise our ability to work in conflict situations around the world.'
He added: 'In shops people can put up decorations like tinsel or snow which are seasonal. But the guidance is that things representative of Christmas cannot be shown.'
Volunteers, however, said they believed the Christmas ban was a product of political correctness of the kind that led Birmingham's leaders to order their city to celebrate 'Winterval'.
Rod Thomas, a Plymouth vicar and spokesman for the Reform evangelical grouping in the Church of England, said: 'People who hold seriously to their faith are respected by people of other faiths. They should start calling themselves the Red Splodge. All their efforts will only succeed in alienating most people.'
Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said: 'There is really nothing to hurt the Red Cross in Christmas, is there? Would the Red Crescent stop its staff observing Ramadan?
'In practice, the role of the Red Cross is to run prisoner- of-war programmes and relief efforts for civilians. Those activities require the agreement of both sides in a conflict in the first place. Celebrating Christmas in a shop in England could hardly upset that.'
Major Heyman added: 'Moslems are just as sensible about these things as Christians. The Red Cross is just engaging in a bit of political correctness.'
British Red Cross leaders have, however, not extended the ban to their own profitable products. Items currently on sale include Christmas cards featuring angels and wise men and Advent calendars with nativity scenes.
The spokesman said: 'The Red Cross is trying to be inclusive and we recognise there are lots of people who want to buy Christmas cards which they know will benefit us.'
The charity's umbrella body, the Swiss-based International Red Cross, has also had politically-correct doubts about its famous symbol. But efforts to find an alternative were abandoned in the face of protest and ridicule five years ago.
Source
Christmas has been banned by the Red Cross from its 430 fund-raising shops.
Staff have been ordered to take down decorations and to remove any other signs of the Christian festival because they could offend Moslems.
The charity's politically-correct move triggered an avalanche of criticism and mockery last night - from Christians and Moslems.
Christine Banks, a volunteer at a Red Cross shop in New Romney, Kent, said: 'We put up a nativity scene in the window and were told to take it out. It seems we can't have anything that means Christmas. We're allowed to have some tinsel but that's it.
'When we send cards they have to say season's greetings or best wishes. They must not be linked directly to Christmas.
'When we asked we were told it is because we must not upset Moslems.'
Mrs Banks added: ' We have been instructed that we can't say anything about Christmas and we certainly can't have a Christmas tree.
' I think the policy is offensive to Moslems as well as to us. No reasonable person can object to Christians celebrating Christmas. But we are not supposed to show any sign of Christianity at all.'
Labour peer Lord Ahmed, one of the country's most prominent Moslem politicians, said: 'It is stupid to think Moslems would be offended.
'The Moslem community has been talking to Christians for the past 1,400 years. The teachings from Islam are that you should respect other faiths.'
He added: 'In my business all my staff celebrate Christmas and I celebrate with them. It is absolutely not the case that Christmas could damage the Red Cross reputation for neutrality - I think their people have gone a little bit over the top.'
The furore is a fresh blow to the image of what was once one of Britain's most respected charities.
The British Red Cross lost friends this year over its support for the French illegal immigrant camp at Sangatte and its insistence on concentrating large efforts on helping asylum seekers.
Yesterday officials at the charity's London HQ confirmed that Christmas is barred from the 430 shops which contributed more than £20million to its income last year.
'The Red Cross is a neutral organisation and we don't want to be aligned with any political party or particular philosophy,' a spokesman said.
'We don't want to be seen as a Christian or Islamic or Jewish organisation because that might compromise our ability to work in conflict situations around the world.'
He added: 'In shops people can put up decorations like tinsel or snow which are seasonal. But the guidance is that things representative of Christmas cannot be shown.'
Volunteers, however, said they believed the Christmas ban was a product of political correctness of the kind that led Birmingham's leaders to order their city to celebrate 'Winterval'.
Rod Thomas, a Plymouth vicar and spokesman for the Reform evangelical grouping in the Church of England, said: 'People who hold seriously to their faith are respected by people of other faiths. They should start calling themselves the Red Splodge. All their efforts will only succeed in alienating most people.'
Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said: 'There is really nothing to hurt the Red Cross in Christmas, is there? Would the Red Crescent stop its staff observing Ramadan?
'In practice, the role of the Red Cross is to run prisoner- of-war programmes and relief efforts for civilians. Those activities require the agreement of both sides in a conflict in the first place. Celebrating Christmas in a shop in England could hardly upset that.'
Major Heyman added: 'Moslems are just as sensible about these things as Christians. The Red Cross is just engaging in a bit of political correctness.'
British Red Cross leaders have, however, not extended the ban to their own profitable products. Items currently on sale include Christmas cards featuring angels and wise men and Advent calendars with nativity scenes.
The spokesman said: 'The Red Cross is trying to be inclusive and we recognise there are lots of people who want to buy Christmas cards which they know will benefit us.'
The charity's umbrella body, the Swiss-based International Red Cross, has also had politically-correct doubts about its famous symbol. But efforts to find an alternative were abandoned in the face of protest and ridicule five years ago.
Source
VIOLENT NIGHT
Thanks goodness for wonderful people like Anjem Choudary. He's going to show the misguided Christians the greatness of Islam....on Christmas Eve. According to Choudary, “Islam does away with the need for drugs and alcohol and all the other evils that are synonymous with Christmas.” Yeah, they would rather promote paedophilia; violence against women; Sharia law and other wonderful Islamic beliefs on one of our Holiest days. Thanks Mr Choudary, but I think I'll take my chances with Christianity all the same. Oh, and I hope for your sake that the English Defence League (EDL) doesn't decide to shop in Oxford Street on Christmas Eve....they might take offence to you harassing Christians. Oh, and Mr Choudary, please let me know where you'll be celebrating Eid ul-Fitr next year so that I too can come and tell you about the joys of Christianity during your holy time.
HATE-FILLED preacher Anjem Choudary is holding an anti-Christmas protest on Britain’s busiest shopping street.
The nut is heading to London’s Oxford Street on Christmas Eve to try to convert a million “lost souls”.
The ranting cleric will lead disciples in a protest against the “promiscuity and materialism” of Christmas on a day when more than a million shoppers will in the world’s most famous shopping district.
And the Muslim rabble rouser hopes his actions will boost his evil plan to fly the “Black Flag of Sharia” over yet another British institution.
Last night Choudary, 43, said: “Christmas is the complete anathema to Islam. Drunkenness, promiscuity and materialism are just a few of the issues we want to tackle.
“For us these are the ‘Evils of Christmas’. That’s why we are going to hold our latest roadshow in Oxford Street and Regent Street in the heartland of London’s best-known shopping district.
“Abortion, unwanted children, domestic violence and even blasphemy. It all happens at Christmas.
“We will be setting out stalls and marquees. We hope to have a presence of at least 200 Muslims.
“Hopefully around a million people will pass through this area. We will speak to as many of them as possible about the issues concerned.”
He added: “We will be distributing material about Islam. We hope, at a time when the country is in recession and the Government is frittering away money on foreign policy, people will see that Islam offers an alternative to the consumerism of this time of year.
“Islam does away with the need for drugs and alcohol and all the other evils that are synonymous with Christmas.”
Last year Choudary sparked outrage when he proposed a protest march through the repatriation town of Wootton Bassett. The demo was called off after a public outcry.
Source
HATE-FILLED preacher Anjem Choudary is holding an anti-Christmas protest on Britain’s busiest shopping street.
The nut is heading to London’s Oxford Street on Christmas Eve to try to convert a million “lost souls”.
The ranting cleric will lead disciples in a protest against the “promiscuity and materialism” of Christmas on a day when more than a million shoppers will in the world’s most famous shopping district.
And the Muslim rabble rouser hopes his actions will boost his evil plan to fly the “Black Flag of Sharia” over yet another British institution.
Last night Choudary, 43, said: “Christmas is the complete anathema to Islam. Drunkenness, promiscuity and materialism are just a few of the issues we want to tackle.
“For us these are the ‘Evils of Christmas’. That’s why we are going to hold our latest roadshow in Oxford Street and Regent Street in the heartland of London’s best-known shopping district.
“Abortion, unwanted children, domestic violence and even blasphemy. It all happens at Christmas.
“We will be setting out stalls and marquees. We hope to have a presence of at least 200 Muslims.
“Hopefully around a million people will pass through this area. We will speak to as many of them as possible about the issues concerned.”
He added: “We will be distributing material about Islam. We hope, at a time when the country is in recession and the Government is frittering away money on foreign policy, people will see that Islam offers an alternative to the consumerism of this time of year.
“Islam does away with the need for drugs and alcohol and all the other evils that are synonymous with Christmas.”
Last year Choudary sparked outrage when he proposed a protest march through the repatriation town of Wootton Bassett. The demo was called off after a public outcry.
Source
USA - Reporters told: Don't say 'illegal immigrant'
Apparently, we're just stupid and easily misguided to hate when journalists describe illegal aliens as....errr..."illegal aliens". As a result, the Society of Professional Journalists "Diversity Committee"have decided that journalists need to be re-educated with a yearlong campaign so that they can be sensitised to the best language to use when writing about "undocumented immigrants" (the new buzz word for illegal aliens). As the Culture and Media Institute correctly notes, the only people that should be offended by the label "illegal aliens" are the illegal aliens. Makes sense to me...but wait! I have some common sense and am stupid and need to be re-educated quick sticks.
A diversity plan from a group of journalists says reporters should not be using the term "illegal aliens" because it is not constitutional.
"Frequent use of the phrases 'illegal immigrant' and 'illegal alien' by our mainstream media is being questioned in order to remain faithful to the principles of our U.S. Constitution," Leo Laurence wrote in the "Diversity Toolbox" column on the website for the Quill, which is produced by the Society of Professional Journalists.
He said the organization's "Diversity Committee" met during its 2010 convention in Las Vegas and "decided to engage in a yearlong educational campaign designed to inform and sensitize journalists as to the best language to use when writing and reporting on undocumented immigrants."
The concept, however, elicited some pointed criticism from analyst Alana Goodman of the Culture and Media Institute, who noted that the campaign appears to be targeted toward one situation, when there are many others that also could be addressed.
"The label 'remains offensive to Latinos, and especially Mexicans, and to the fundamentals of American jurisprudence,' wrote Leo E. Laurence," said Goodman.
"Seeing as most Latinos in the U.S. are not illegal immigrants – and since the term has no racial or ethnic connotation – it's hard to see how it would cause offense to this group. In fact, the only people who should really be put off by the term are illegal immigrants themselves (or their advocates), who don't believe unlawful residency in the U.S. should be a crime," Goodman wrote.
The term "illegal immigrant," in fact, is cited in a recent style book for the Associated Press, which often has advertised it is the world's oldest and largest newgathering organization, as "the preferred term, rather than 'illegal alien' or 'undocumented worker.'"
It is used, the book documents, "to describe those who have entered the country illegally."
Goodman noted that Laurence believes, "Only a judge, not a journalist, can say that someone is an illegal."
Read more here
A diversity plan from a group of journalists says reporters should not be using the term "illegal aliens" because it is not constitutional.
"Frequent use of the phrases 'illegal immigrant' and 'illegal alien' by our mainstream media is being questioned in order to remain faithful to the principles of our U.S. Constitution," Leo Laurence wrote in the "Diversity Toolbox" column on the website for the Quill, which is produced by the Society of Professional Journalists.
He said the organization's "Diversity Committee" met during its 2010 convention in Las Vegas and "decided to engage in a yearlong educational campaign designed to inform and sensitize journalists as to the best language to use when writing and reporting on undocumented immigrants."
The concept, however, elicited some pointed criticism from analyst Alana Goodman of the Culture and Media Institute, who noted that the campaign appears to be targeted toward one situation, when there are many others that also could be addressed.
"The label 'remains offensive to Latinos, and especially Mexicans, and to the fundamentals of American jurisprudence,' wrote Leo E. Laurence," said Goodman.
"Seeing as most Latinos in the U.S. are not illegal immigrants – and since the term has no racial or ethnic connotation – it's hard to see how it would cause offense to this group. In fact, the only people who should really be put off by the term are illegal immigrants themselves (or their advocates), who don't believe unlawful residency in the U.S. should be a crime," Goodman wrote.
The term "illegal immigrant," in fact, is cited in a recent style book for the Associated Press, which often has advertised it is the world's oldest and largest newgathering organization, as "the preferred term, rather than 'illegal alien' or 'undocumented worker.'"
It is used, the book documents, "to describe those who have entered the country illegally."
Goodman noted that Laurence believes, "Only a judge, not a journalist, can say that someone is an illegal."
Read more here
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