Yea, quote Hitler good idea. From the www.thelocal.de

Firefighters feel the heat for Hitler Youth t-shirt slogan

Published: 20 May 08 17:34 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/11991/

Volunteer firefighters from the eastern German city of Cottbus issued an apology this week for using Adolf Hitler's famous exhortation to Nazi youth as a t-shirt slogan.

The eight young men wore polo shirts emblazoned with Hitler's call to German youth to be "fast as greyhounds, tough as leather, hard as Krupp steel" in a firefighting contest in the neighboring city of Lübbenau on Saturday - but said they had no idea who they were quoting.

"The slogan on the t-shirts was simply supposed to show the sporting character of the contest participants," the firefighters said in an apology issued on Monday. "We were not aware of the explosive nature of the slogan!"

The young men, part of a fire brigade from the Gross Gaglow district of Cottbus, said they had turned in the t-shirts to authorities.

The contest in Lübbenau was not the first time the firefighters wore the shirts, Lübbenau spokesman Hans-Joachim Schiemenz told The Local. Schiemenz said he was amazed that no one had pointed out the origin of the quote earlier.

"I know the history. I was born in 1950. My father was in the war and set great stock in explaining the background of all this to me," Schiemenz said.

Schiemenz said the Gross Gaglow team wore the shirts throughout the competition before organizers realized what the shirts said and approached the men about the slogan.

Authorities called the incident a sign of a lack of proper education. Informal street polling by local newspaper Lausitzer Rundschau found that most of the parents on an elementary school playground in the city didn't know the origin of the saying either.

"Witty quote," one 39-year-old mother told the newspaper, adding that she thought it fit young firemen.

All volunteer firemen in Cottbus will be required to take history lessons as part of their training starting in June, Lothar Nicht, head of the office of public order in Cottbus, told the newspaper.

The neo-Nazi NPD party has won seats in several state parliaments in the former East Germany in recent years and its supporters have grown increasing influential in small-town municipal institutions.

Apparently Iran's neighbors don't believe the Iranian nuclear program is for non-military purposes either.

Web posted at: 5/21/2008 1:35:15
Source ::: REUTERS

london • Growing interest in atomic power among Iran's neighbours could spiral into a nuclear arms race in the volatile Middle East unless preventive measures are taken, a leading think-tank said yesteday.

In a report, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iran's nuclear programme had prompted other states in the oil-rich region to consider acquiring nuclear technology.

"In the span of 11 months between February 2006 and January 2007, at least 13 countries in the Middle East announced new or revived plans to pursue or explore civilian nuclear energy," said the report, entitled "Nuclear Programmes in the Middle East In the Shadow of Iran".

"This upsurge of interest is remarkable given both the abundance of traditional energy sources in the region and the low standing to date of nuclear energy there."

Iran's plans to open a Russian-built nuclear power station at Bushehr would make it the first country in the region to develop nuclear power. Although Tehran says its programme is for peaceful power generation, Western powers and Middle East states say they fear Iran is trying to make a nuclear bomb.

The IISS report also looked at Israel's nuclear programme, concluding that the Jewish state possesses nuclear weapons despite its refusal to confirm this publicly, and would be unlikely to give them up to secure a nuclear-free Middle East.

Iran's plans should soon make it "the exception to the rule whereby the Middle East is the only region in the world without nuclear power", the report said. "If the recent aspirations of Iran's neighbours are ever realised, this exception would become the rule".

It said the United Arab Emirates is likely to become the next country in the region after Iran with nuclear power.

Signatories to the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are allowed to pursue nuclear power but must agree to controls to prevent them from building atomic weapons.

The report said nuclear power programmes in the Middle East could make it easier for countries to develop weapons programmes if the NPT breaks down.

Unlike other Middle Eastern countries, Israel has not signed the NPT. The report concluded that Israel has had atomic weapons for decades despite its official policy of "nuclear ambiguity".

"As Iran reaches one technological milestone after another in its journey towards acquiring a nuclear-weapons capability, Israel will face a sequence of dilemmas and be forced to make a series of fateful decisions as to whether and how it can live with this eventuality," it said.

The Pakistan Government got rolled. Wow girls get to go back to school. This is what it takes to get girls back in school. How does any of this get enforced when the government troops are withdrawn? It won't. From www.gulfnews.com

Pakistan goverment reaches deal with Taliban militants

Agencies
Published: May 21, 2008, 18:55

Peshawar: Pakistan's government reached an agreement with Taliban militants in the country’s northwest on Wednesday, promising to “gradually” pull out troops from the region.

The deal came one day after the United States warned Pakistan against negotiating with the militants, saying it may give way for plots against Pakistan or abroad.

Authorities in North West Frontier Province also agreed to enforce sharia in Swat.

In return the militants led by charismatic cleric Fazlullah agreed to cease attacks, allow girls to go to school and stop carrying weapons in public.

The militants also agreed to stop operating illegal radio stations without permission from authorities, while the government also agreed to review the criminal cases filed against Fazlullah and other militants.

Officials said they hoped this new deal will restore peace in Swat.

The militants have said they are fully satisfied with the agreement.

How Backwards is this. From www.alarabiya.net. Seems more like they like to burn old people. I am sure the AARP will be right on this one.

Burnt alive in their homes
Kenya mob burns 11 "witches" to death

NAIROBI (Agencies)

A mob tied up at least 11 people accused of witchcraft and burnt them to death in a remote village in western Kenya, police said Wednesday.

Police were on patrol in the village of Nyakeo to prevent revenge attacks after eight women and three men, 10 of them aged between 70 and 90, were lynched and burnt to death on Tuesday, spokesman Charles Owino said.

"Their houses were torched. Eight women and three men suspected of being witches died," Kenya's deputy police spokesman Charles Owino said.

Kisii district residents confirmed the killings, saying an enraged crowd had gone house-to-house on Tuesday night, using a list of supposed witches in the region.

About 30 houses were torched.

Police chief Kibuchi said the villagers had recounted holding a meeting in Nyakeo earlier on Tuesday to try and dissuade those who wanted to go ahead with the killing.

Five of the victims had supposedly "confessed" at this meeting to practicing witchcraft and had begged for mercy, he said.

Traditional African beliefs, Christianity and Islam co-exist peacefully in Kenya. But there is widespread suspicion of sorcery, particularly in west Kenya, which has a long tradition of witch doctors and faith healers.

In 1993, eight elderly people from Kisii were also accused of witchcraft and burned to death in their huts by a mob.

Several cases have also been reported in recent months in neighboring Tanzania, forcing President Jakaya Kikwete to order special protection for albinos, who were murdered and mutilated for good luck by witch-doctors.

BOSTON - A cancerous brain tumor caused the seizure Sen. Edward M. Kennedy suffered over the weekend, doctors said Tuesday in a grim diagnosis for one of American politics' most enduring figures.

Why no mention of who started this. Why no mention of nearly unending rocket attacks on Israel. Why no mention of the "process of moral corruption" that lead the radicals in the west bank to do everything they can to bring about the elimination of all Jews in Israel. Idiot!!!! Actually he would make a good Democratic candidate for congress.

It's one of the most remarkable tours you can go on while in Jerusalem. The guides are former soldiers who take you to the places where they served during their tour of duty in the occupied West Bank. The veterans tell about the "process of moral corruption" which soldiers undergo; in other words "losing the sense of right and wrong". The former soldiers say the tour breaks one of the biggest taboos in Israeli society.

"Good morning, welcome to the Breaking the Silence Tour,"

one of the former soldiers says through the microphone at the start of the bus ride. Several times a week, Yehuda Shaul (25) and his former army buddies provide a tour for a busload of people to Hebron, where they served.

Military procedure
While walking the streets of the Palestinian town they give a candid picture of how they were when they were eighteen. They were youths with "good moral values" who enthusiastically joined the army. They were then stationed in Hebron. There they turned into soldiers who "did not consider Palestinians as equals on a human level".

Shaul takes a break to speak with soldiers who are serving in his former battalion. They refuse to comment but look somewhat uncomfortable when Shaul explains to the group in the bus what the procedure is if they see a plastic bag on the side of the road. The plastic bag could contain a bomb. Army procedures provide three options:

1. You shoot at it.
2. You wait until demolition experts deactivate the bomb.
3. You send a Palestinian.

"What do you think we did?",

Shaul asks the group.

"Option number 3, of course."

He explains why this was a logical choice from a military perspective. If Palestinians know they can be used as human shields they will forget about placing bombs on the side of the road. But it also means that as a soldier you can't afford to consider Palestinians as human beings.

"If they are equals you also don't shoot bullets through their roofs in the middle of the night, waking up the entire family."

One of the biggest taboos
Shaul says the army's behaviour in the occupied territories is "one of the biggest taboos in Israeli society". He points out that although the occupied West Bank is only a few minutes drive from Jerusalem many people do not consider it a worthy topic of conversation. That's despite the fact that a large number of Israeli soldiers are stationed in the West Bank or in military outposts near the Gaza Strip.

When Shaul returned to civilian life he realised that he'd fallen prey to a "process of moral corruption". Together with other soldiers from his battalion he founded the organisation Breaking the Silence. Shaul says it caused shockwaves in Israeli society.

Last year, Breaking the Silence brought 3,000 people to Hebron, including many youngsters under the age of 18 who must still do their compulsory military service. Shaul tries to explain to them that as a soldier you irrevocably change your manner of thinking.

"When you are a soldier in the military your mindset is very narrow. You don't talk at the end of your shift about what you did to the Palestinians, and you don't question things. You ask: How can I get more sleep? How can I get better food? These are the only things you care about."

Volley of curses
Shaul and his colleagues get a lot of support, but also meet a lot of hostility. Especially from the settlers who live in the centre of the Palestinian town of Hebron. The principle reason the Israeli army is stationed in Hebron is to protect the colonists. During our tour a settler photographed everyone in an intimidating manner. Another angrily got out of his car and began  firing a volley of curses at Shaul for, among other things, collaborating with the enemy (the Palestinians). Shaul stayed calm.

"This time I at least didn't get any eggs or bricks thrown at my head."

A few weeks ago he showed a group of German parliamentarians around. They were pelted with stones.

Despite the attacks by settlers he has no doubts about his mission. He wants to force Israeli society to look in the mirror.

"Breaking the Silence asks people to take responsibility not only for Israeli society but also for what is going on in the occupied territories. It's our obligation as people who were there to educate people and to force a debate in Israel regarding what is going on in the occupied territories. If we won't do it, no one else will."'

Osnabrück to host dialogue with Muslims: report

The Key paragraph.

A small city in the German state of Lower Saxony where Christians negotiated to end a religious war in the 1600s should be a centre for Christian-Islamic dialogue today, the state premier told a newspaper on Tuesday.

I am perfectly willing to negotiate the unconditional surrender of all radical Islalmist. After that the we can talk about.

“Peace between religions and the orderly relationship between the state and religion is one of the key questions of the 21st century,”

If that first condition is met fine. If not go blow it our your ear. It just a ploy to hold us off the fight against radical Islam, while the Jihad to over throw the world marches forward.

The story from www.thelocal.de

Published: 20 May 08 08:30 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/11969/

A small city in the German state of Lower Saxony where Christians negotiated to end a religious war in the 1600s should be a centre for Christian-Islamic dialogue today, the state premier told a newspaper on Tuesday.

Premier Christian Wulff said the state should sponsor conferences, academic seminars and training for German-speaking imams in Osnabrück, known as the City of Peace.

“Peace between religions and the orderly relationship between the state and religion is one of the key questions of the 21st century,” Wulff, a Christian Democrat, told the newspaper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung.

Wulff said he and the former mayor of Osnabrück, Hans-Jürgen Fip, a Social Democrat, had already discussed the project. Fip helped bring the German Foundation of Peace Research to Osnabrück.

In 1648, Osnabrück was one of the cities where the end to the 30 Years’ War – a conflict that started as a fight between Protestants and Catholics – was negotiated.

Wulff said the city helped develop a rubric for religious peace – and a new way of thinking about the relationship between church and state – that could be useful today.

He said Lower Saxony should soon sign a treaty with Muslims similar to similar to treaties signed with the federal state’s Protestants in 1955 and with its Catholics in 1965.

DDP/The Local (news@thelocal.de)

No matter what parts Dr. Gepeto can slap on you, or cut off for that matter, you are still what God Made you at birth. Your a woman. How do we know? Hummmmm let me think. Oh yes YOUR PREGNANT. Jesus can fix this little delusion of yours if you want Him to. You just have to ask. And Dr. Gepeto can put the parts back the way God intended. Here is story from www.telegraph.co.uk