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"German crucified frog sculpture upsets Italy"

frog_cross

Yes a frog on a cross with a beer in one hand and an egg in the other, And people are surprised when Christians take offense. But note, there are not protests in the street no one has been killed. Why because Christianity is compatible with freedom of speech where Islam is not. Christian object and move one. Muslims are today still organizing boycotts over the Mohammad cartoons. And if possible, some of these Muslims would take the heads of anyone who prints those cartoons again. Christianity equals freedom, including speech, Islam equals repression.

Here is the story from www.thelocal.de


A sculpture of a crucified frog at a modern art museum in Italy has stirred controversy in the staunchly Roman Catholic country.

“We’ve decided that a leaflet about this work will be distributed to all visitors to explain its artistic value,” a spokesman at the museum in northeastern Balzano told AFP on Monday.

The work by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger, about one metre (three feet) high, shows a bright green frog on a cross gripping a mug of beer on one side and an egg on the other.

Curators say the sculpture is a self-portrait of the artist “in a profound state of crisis,” according to the ANSA news agency.

“Although it is not our policy to pass judgement on works of art, the sculpture could be perceived as a provocation by the people of the Alto Adige region, which is 99 percent Catholic,” regional governor Luis Durnwalder told ANSA.

Balzano Bishop Wilhelm Egger also criticized the work, which went on display at the museum on Saturday, ANSA said.

Kippenberger, who died in 1997 aged 44, was a painter, sculptor and photographer.

Several exhibitions of his work have been held posthumously including a show at the Tate Modern in London in 2006.

AFP (news@thelocal.de)

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Yes They Really Care About Their Children.

Gaza Schoolyard Missile Launchers Discovered

 
by Hana Levi Julian

(IsraelNN.com) IDF soldiers uncovered missiles and anti-tank rocket launchers in a Gaza schoolyard in late Thursday. The anti-tank missile launcher and a stack of missiles were found at a school in Sajaiya, in northern Gaza, during routine counter-terrorism operations.

Read The Rest. See The Pictures.

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One Good Thing About Indiana Jones. It Pisses Off The Communists.

The latest Indiana Jones film is nothing more than crude anti-Soviet propaganda and its stars are the "running dogs of the CIA", say Russian communists.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is set in 1957 at the height of the Cold War, with Harrison Ford as a swashbuckling American archaeologist who races an evil KGB agent to find a skull endowed with mystical powers.

"What galls is how together with America we defeated Hitler, and how we sympathised when Bin Laden hit them," said Viktor Perov, a Communist Party member in St Petersburg. "But they go ahead and scare kids with communists. These people have no shame."

Andrei Gindos, another party member, decried Ford and Cate Blanchett, the Oscar winner who plays the KGB agent, as "second-rate actors, serving as the running dogs of the CIA". He added: "We need to deprive these people of the right to enter our country."

www.telegraph.co.uk
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A Pearl Of Wisdom From Rush. It Worth Repeating.

This is why Obama is scary.

Pearl of Wisdom: "Obama is a sock puppet. He is somebody's stooge. He's a marionette; somebody is pulling his strings. I don't know if it's Rev. Wright, Soros, or a combination of the two. Maybe it's his racist grandmother. I do know that he and his campaign are not what they appear to be."


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A Nice Critique Of Obama. More From www.jewishpress.com

As Senator Barak Hussein Obama forges ahead to the Democrat nomination for the Presidency, it is about time that the mainstream media do what it is paid to do – investigate and report. The media has coddled him with 84% positive stories, according to FOX News. So, little has been revealed about this Pied Piper of Illinois except that the most liberal senator in Congress wants to surrender in Iraq and penalize America’s most successful citizens.
 
         What has leaked out about the president wannabe, who does a fine political two-step around difficult questions, is that his calling for “change” appears to be no different than the change promised by his liberal and socialist predecessors. Obama is also offering something for everyone; among his largess are free education and universal healthcare. And he will pay for the giveaways with the same scheme others in his party have – taxes.
 
         Senator Obama reassures his constituents that he will only take from the rich and give to the poor, a canard reminiscent of communist founding father Karl Marx who exhorted, “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his need.” And Obama’s scheme will play out as it has always played out in history when the government penalizes the most productive workers and businesses: When incentives are eliminated, the desire to invest, invent, create and produce disappears. Just look at Western Europe! Remember the Soviet empire?
 
         In addition to his political agenda, Obama’s personal life needs to be scrutinized, especially his relationship with the former terrorist Weather Underground leader, William Ayers, and indicted real estate businessman Antoin “Tony” Rezko.
 
         Also, one must ask why Obama, desiring to be the next Commander-in-Chief, refuses to wear an American flag pin in his jacket lapel. What is it about the flag that represents a country conceived in liberty, that so many Americans died to preserve, that troubles Obama?
 
         With all eyes watching candidate Obama, the senator, says he has other ways of demonstrating his patriotism. There’s his two-step.
 
         Very troubling too is the church he attends in his hometown of Chicago, the Trinity United Church of Christ. Known for an Afro-centric separatist agenda, its pastor Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. recently gave a lifetime achievement award to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. Rev. Wright said Farrakhan “truly epitomized greatness” and was a man of “integrity and honesty.” Hearing such platitudes from his friend was probably not much of a surprise for Farrakhan. After all, they traveled together to Libya in 1984 to visit with an enemy of America, Libyan potentate Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
 
         Rev. Wright, who espouses the “Black Value System” and preaches black separatism, speaks of “white arrogance” and “the United States of White America.” The reverend has equated Zionism with racism. Concerning Jews, he said that when they discover his personal relationship with Obama, Jewish support for Presidential candidate Obama “will dry up quicker than a snowball in hell.”
 
         Rev. Wright is the pastor who Senator Obama admires and respects. This is the pastor who married Barak and Michelle Robinson. This is the pastor who baptized their two children. This is the pastor the Obamas listen to at Sunday services. Rev. Jeremiah Wright is the pastor the Obamas have yet to denounce.
 
         A glimpse into Michelle Obama also suggests visceral conflict with her country. The aspiring first lady recently admitted, “For the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barak has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change.”
 
         It wasn’t a slip of the tongue either because Mrs. Obama made the comment on at least two occasions. Perhaps her lack of pride in her country goes back to her Princeton days when she wrote in her senior thesis about “a white oppressor” in America, who incidentally gave her and her husband the opportunities to attend Ivy League universities.
 
         In Mrs. Obama’s 25 years of a charmed adulthood, the following are highlights of an America she is not proud of: American power in destroying the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Berlin Wall that resulted in freedom for millions of Russians and Eastern Europeans; American innovation in health care that is the envy of the world; American ingenuity in shooting a ship into space and bringing it back jet-like to earth onto a runway; American initiative to lead the world in technology, business and entertainment; unequalled American charity to the Third World.
 
         When it comes to the successes of her “brothers and sisters,” is she not even proud of a tolerant America that gave racial hustler Al Sharpton the opportunity to become a power broker and media celebrity?
 
         Or Colin Powell the freedom to rise from modest means to become the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Or Clarence Thomas the liberty to elevate himself from poverty to become a justice on the United States Supreme Court? Or Condoleezza Rice the chance to become America’s first black Secretary of State and Oprah Winfrey one of the richest women in America?
 
         Doesn’t Mrs. Obama have some pride in a Congress that enacted civil rights laws, or admiration for a country in which blacks have been elected senators, governors and mayors, and appointed police and fire commissioners, prosecutors, judges, federal, state and local officials?
 
         Is she not grateful for taxpayer funded entitlements and affirmative action, which incidentally was abundantly applied during the years Michelle was studying at Princeton and Harvard Law?
 
         It is understandable that Mrs. Obama is proud of her husband who is in the midst of a meteoric rise to political stardom. And, she is not alone.
 
         Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who a couple of decades ago led a Soviet backed revolution against the U.S. supported Contras, is also impressed with Senator Obama.
 
         “They are laying the foundations for a revolutionary change,” said the Sandinista Ortega about Obama’s supporters. Louis Farrakhan is proud too. Farrakhan endorsed Obama insisting that he will help Barak get elected. “If avoiding me would help him to become president, I’d be glad to stay in the background,” Farrakhan told ABC News.
 
         With Jesse Jackson aboard the Obama train as well, Al Sharpton won’t be far behind. And Rev. Wright will do his share too. He told The New York Times according to Newsmax.com: “If Barak gets past the primary, he might have to publicly distance himself from me. I said it to Barak personally, and he said ‘yeah, that might have to happen.’
 
         In view of Obama’s type of supporters, how do you think enemies of America like Iran’s Ahmadinejad, Venezuela’s Chavez and Al Qaeda feel about a President Obama? You think they’re not hoping for the “change” in America as well?
 
         It matters little to Democrats that Senator Obama’s experience is so limited for America’s most important job. They couldn’t care the least bit about the warning from political consultant, author and writer Dick Morris who said that Senator Obama doesn’t even know where the men’s room is in the Senate.
 
         Regardless of his inexperience, the candidate’s excited constituents have bought into an enlightened change – the Obamas will be the first “black” family in the White House and that will go a long way to make up for slavery and Jim Crow.
 
         Warning: Before Democrats decide whether to actually place this empty suit in the Oval Office during these very dangerous times, the bolts of his suit of armor must be removed and what is beneath the suit revealed.
 

         For if the Obamas are not exposed, America could pay a heck of a price just to allay the irrational guilts of Obama’s followers.

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Some Who Gets It. From www.jewishpress.com

A Palestinian State: Launching Point For Al-Qaeda Terror Against The United States

President Bush – while waging a “war on terror” − remains determined to create a Palestinian state. Yet, Palestine would quickly become a primary launching point for terrorism against the United States, as well as Israel. Gaza is already the site of expanding new forms of tactical and strategic cooperation between Hamas and Al-Qaeda. Judea and Samaria (West Bank) and Lebanon are also witnessing an Al-Qaeda push to infiltrate and establish core terror bases.
 
Al-Qaeda has long asserted its commitment to waging jihad against Jews and the State of Israel in commentary aimed at the Arab-Islamic world, but only recently has this commitment come to Western attention. In his December 2007 Jihadi website posting, bin Laden said: “We will not recognize a state for the Jews, not even one inch of the land of Palestine.”
 
As al-Qaeda loses ground in Iraq, and comes under increasing pressures in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas, it will seek new areas of operation. The destruction of Israel has always been Hamas’ top objective, but Al-Qaeda, which has proven adept at inserting itself into local conflicts around the world, and then co-opting them to the broader Wahhabi-Salafi war against the West, has now fixed its own sights squarely on “Palestine.”
 
The Palestinian territories are the newest front in the international jihad movement. With Gaza now a forward base for global terrorism, Shi’a Iran, long a closely linked partner of Hamas, as well as a longtime Al-Qaeda ally, intensifies the threat to Israel, the region, and the world. It is fully understood among informed intelligence circles that operational collaboration between various Shia and Sunni groups need not be impaired by religious differences. Iranian intelligence first met with Osama bin Laden and the incipient Al-Qaeda at the Khartoum Jihadi conferences of 1992-1993.
 
Ongoing Palestinian internecine warfare reveals true and expanding concentric circles of jihadi alignment. In a February 2008 interview with the Al-Hayat Arab language newspaper, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas repeated claims that Al-Qaeda’s growing presence in both Gaza and the West Bank could imperil the entire region. Abbas also warned that Hamas was actively facilitating Al-Qaeda’s power in Gaza.
 
The January 2008 breach in the Gaza border with Egypt along the Philadelphia Corridor represented another disturbing development. This well-coordinated attack on the border wall permitted not only large quantities of Iranian-made weapons to enter Gaza, but also admitted scores of Al-Qaeda operatives.
 
Israel’s Military Intelligence Chief, Maj.-Gen. Amos Yadlin, told a February 2008 meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset that the breach had “enabled Hamas to bring back those who had left for training in Syria and Iran, including snipers, explosives experts, rocket experts and engineers.” He noted that Al-Qaeda members were among these returnees. Shin Bet (internal security) Chief Yuval Diskin voiced deep concern to the same Knesset Committee that Al-Qaeda was creeping ever closer to Israel from its extant Sinai terror base.
 
Ely Karmon, a Senior Research Scholar at The Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Israel, has raised an alarm about Al-Qaeda members linked to the Sharm El Sheikh attacks of July 2005. These terrorists subsequently moved to the West Bank and Gaza from bases in the Sinai. Backed by Iran, Al-Qaeda is moving in on Israel from the north, by establishing its secure presence in Lebanon.
 
Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shia terror group Hizbullah, has tacitly acknowledged Al-Qaeda’s growing involvement in Lebanon, but disingenuously termed it a “dangerous and unacceptable” situation. Despite their religious differences, Sunni Al-Qaeda and Shia Hizbullah form a true partnership, led by Iran, whose common goal is the destruction of Israel, the toppling of less radical Arab-Muslim regimes (such as that of the Palestinian Authority’s Abu Mazen), and the establishment of a core territory around which a new Islamist Caliphate might be formed.
 
Radical Islamist behavior is now widely evident in Gaza. Several Al-Qaeda-linked groups have emerged, such as the Army of Islam and the Swords of Islamic Righteousness, some of which are clan-based and affiliated with Fatah or Hamas. They are reliably reported to be operational arms or offshoots of Al-Qaeda. As of mid-2007, attacks in Gaza were on the increase against targets considered “un-Islamic.” The American International School in Beit Lahiya, Internet cafes, Western-style boutiques, and music and cosmetics stores have all been hit.
 
By every pertinent measure, a Palestinian state would be contrary to the overriding security interests of the United States, its friends and its allies. Also perilous would be the inevitable competition for control of such a fragile and anarchic state by the various Sunni Arab regimes, now being armed by Washington − and by Shiite Iran, now being armed by Russia. A Palestinian state literally carved out from Israel would most plainly endanger the Jewish State, creating new opportunities for both conventional and unconventional acts of aggression.
 
Major wars could be launched by enemy states directly, or by proxies from Gaza. The attackers might assume the posture of suicide bombers, thus immobilizing the normal security bases of rationality and deterrence. Under even the most optimistic assumptions, a Palestinian state – any Palestinian state − would spawn an unstable balance of power in the region.
 

An Islamist Palestinian state remains contrary to our national strategic interest. Such a state would embolden and strengthen Al-Qaeda and other terrorist enemies of the United States. What had once been a basically secular nationalist territorial dispute between Israel and its Arab neighbors is now a genuinely primary battlefront in the international jihad.

Supported by Iran and by its terrorist proxies, Hamas and Hizbullah, Al-Qaeda targets Israel with a planned pincer movement. Its growing presence in the Palestinian territories (and also Lebanon) represents a major threat, not only to Israel, but also to U.S. national security interests in the Middle East and here at home. The Palestinian state favored by President Bush would quickly become a staging area against the forces of liberal democracy everywhere on earth. It surely does not deserve our support.
 
Copyright © The Jewish Press, May 23, 2008. All rights reserved.

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All You Wanted To Know About Islam: "Terrorism: Al-Qaeda halts spread of the church in Arab world, claims leader"

This show why I think "Moderate" Islam is a crock of sh!t. Oh and I case I forget to say it. Allah is Satan in disguise and Mohammad is his prophet. Feces be upon him.

Dubai, 23 May (AKI) - A senior al-Qaeda leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, claims that the terror organisation has stopped the expansion of the church in the Arab world.

"If it wasn't for our heroes, today we would have many churches in the Arabian Peninsula, as we have already seen with the opening of one in Qatar," said al-Libi in a video message posted to Islamist websites.

He was referring to the Catholic church inaugurated in the Qatari capital, Doha, in March this year.

Al-Libi also talked about the "danger" posed by inter-religious dialogue between the Arab Ulema or Muslim religious leaders and their Christian counterparts.

The 40-minute message entitled, "The moderation of Islam and the moderation of defeat", seeks to refute the notion of a moderate Islam.

"At this moment there is a crusader campaign against Islam and that has succeeded in corrupting the personalities in our religion," al-Libi said.

"Changes in Islamic thought are happening in particular in the most important Arab countries. With the excuse of moderation, they are corrupting our faith."

He said that Christians "use false slogans and declare that civilisations are talking and not fighting, that the religions are getting closer and are not clashing."

Al-Libi criticised these "ideas of the unbelievers".

"We must not believe any international laws or laws of the United Nations and we must knock down their idols," he said.

"With them, there can be no dialogue and no cooperation."

Al-Libi attacked Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who has suggested hosting a conference on religious dialogue in Saudi Arabia.

"The guardian of monotheism has raised the flag of brotherhood between religions and speaks about things that he does not know," al-Libi said.

"I swear to Allah to fight this apostate and to denounce his absurdity."

The message ended with a warning.

"Qatar is not far," said al-Libi, adding that "soon we will ring the bells of the church in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula."


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Something Is Afoot In Canada: Fourth severed foot washes up on Canadian coast

From www.abc.net.au

Another severed human foot has been discovered washed ashore on Canada's Pacific coast, but police are no closer to solving the gruesome mystery.

The foot, still wearing a shoe, was discovered on a small uninhabited island south of Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia.

It was the fourth right foot discovered in the region in the past 10 months.

The previous cases all involved right feet still in sneakers, and each was found on a different island.

DNA testing has failed to link the earlier discoveries to any missing person cases.



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Can Hardly Wait To See Who These Guys Are: Five arrested over stolen explosives

From www.abc.net.au

Posted 28 minutes ago

Queensland police have arrested five people and recovered some of the explosives stolen from a house near Ipswich, west of Brisbane, this week.

Fifty kilograms of the highly volatile Magnum Powergel was taken on Tuesday, sparking a major investigation and a public warning that it was unstable and could explode at any time.

Police have now recovered 25 kilograms of the explosives and are confident they will find the rest.

Four men and woman have been charged with an array of offences relating to the theft, possession and transportation of the explosives.

They are expected to appear in separate courts in south-east Queensland, some next week and others next month.

The investigation is continuing and police say they are looking for several other people.

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He Would Have Shook A Mans Hand. More Second Class Treatment Of Woman Under Islam.

Employment agency sued for discrimination

Published: 23 May 08 11:54 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/11966/

The Ombudsman against Ethnic Discrimination (DO) is suing the Swedish Employment agency for 160,000 kronor ($27,000) in damages to a Muslim man who lost his benefits after refusing to shake a woman's hand during an interview.

In May 2006 the 24-year-old man applied for a trainee position as a welder at a company in Älmhult in southern Sweden. During the interview, the man declined to shake hands with the woman interviewing him, citing religious reasons that do not allow him physical contact with women outside of his family.

He did explain this to the woman and instead put his hand on his chest, and bowed. However, not only did the gesture cost him the chance of securing the trainee position, he also had his unemployment benefits removed.

This is the first time the DO has sued the employment agency, Caroline Dieb, information chief for the DO, told The Local.

"By taking away the man's unemployment benefits the employment agency has not followed the law which deems that all should be treated equally, regardless of ethnic or religious persuasion," she said.

Apparently the company interviewing the man reported that they would not hire him due to "incompetence", but the employment agency instead chose to interpret his actions during the interview as the real cause and therefore withdrew his benefits.

According to Dieb this constitutes "indirect discrimination" and she believes they have a strong chance of winning the case at the District Court.

Speaking to the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, Katri Linna of the DO explained that the employment agency had completely misjudged the situation.

"If an official body cannot follow the law then how are we to motivate the individual to do so?" she said.

TT/Allegra Grevelius (news@thelocal.se)



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Brain Break.

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Why Is It They Get It In Europe, But Not Here?

Oh I know why. They have already tried socialism and found it does not work. If Obama was as smart as some think he is then he would turn right as well. We need a hard right turn people.

Norway turns to the right

A new public opinion poll indicates that fully 45.5 percent of Norwegian voters would cast ballots today for either the right-wing Progress Party or the Conservatives. Together, they have far more support than the current left-centre coalition government and are close to a majority in parliament.

The results of the poll, conducted by research bureau Opinion for news group ANB, mark a major shift in traditional political persuasion in a country modelled as a social welfare state. And the results are bad news for the Labour Party, which currently heads the left-centre government.

Newspaper Dagsavisen reported Thursday that fully 27.7 percent of voters now support the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet, Frp), Norway's most right-leaning party represented in parliament. That's up 1.5 percentage points from the last poll.

The poll results indicate that the Progress Party is thus Norway's largest, bigger than Labour, which garnered 25.3 percent of the vote, down 1.7 points. That's a relatively small amount of support for Labour and a real downturn for the party, given its history of dominance in Norwegian politics.

The Conservative Party (Høyre), meanwhile, also gained voter support, up 1.4 points to 17.8 percent. That's quite a bit smaller than the Progress Party, but together, the two parties could rather easily form a non-socialist ("borgerlig") government with more than 45 percent of the vote.

By contrast, the three parties forming the current government with Labour together commanded only 36.9 percent of the vote, ironically the exact same percentage that former Labour leader Thorbjørn Jagland once said was needed by Labour alone to rule. Labour had to leave power in 1997 when it "only" won 35 percent in national elections.

The current poll shows just how far Labour has fallen since that time. Its government partner SV (the Socialist Left party) also saw support slip, to 5.9 percent, while the Center Party (sp) rose slightly, to 5.7 percent of the vote.

Voters want change, and more for their money
Explanations for Norwegians' new attraction to more conservative politics varied, from theories that voters are simply tired of the current ruling coalition, to a desire for change and even a new perceived sense of greediness after years of rising affluence tied to high prices for Norway's oil. They're perhaps less willing to share their newfound wealth with the rest of society, preferring to keep more of their earnings for themselves, argue some.

Tommy Wessel, a longtime Progress Party voter, disagrees. He's simply fed up that his daughter's school is as rundown as it is, and that his parents can't get a room in local nursing homes. He, like many others, perceive a decline in social services, while taxes keep going up.

He can't understand why the government won't use more of its oil wealth to invest in the public sector at home, something the Progress Party wants to do. Even longtime Labour Party voter Eve Vold shares his frustration.

"I'm disappointed with (Prime Minister) Jens (Stoltenberg)," Vold said. "There's so much talk. The government doesn't live up to expectations for schools and health care." She thinks voters are fleeing to the Progress Party because it says things people agree with.

"The Progress Party speaks a language people want to hear," agrees Wessel. Party leader Siv Jensen has made it clear she's ready to take over as prime minister, but that still depends on cooperation from the Conservatives. Unlike some of the small centrist parties that have claimed they'd never cooperate with the Progress Party, the Conservatives are keeping the door open.




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Symbolism Over Substance. Just Like Obama.

bridgetonowhere1mg

Obama supporters gather for "Yes We Span" in Spain

This is a bridge to nowhere folks. From Expatica.

Democrats in Spain join worldwide campaign initiative and will meet Saturday on top of Calle Bailén bridge.

22 May 2008

MADRID - "Barack Obama is a uniter." You can hear the phrase coming from the lips of the Democratic presidential hopeful's more outspoken supporters both domestically and abroad.

And it was this very concept that sparked the idea for the international initiative dubbed "Yes We Span," involving local rallies of overseas Obama supporters in the various world cities where they reside.

Over the past 14 months, "Yes We Span" has seen pro-Obama groups pose in over 35 cities for collective photos on landmark bridges, sights symbolic of the presidential hopeful's uncanny power to bring people together.

A spin-off from the music video Yes We Can that instantly popularised US Senator Barack Obama's campaign slogan, bridges over the past year have become the backdrop to Obama supporters from Paris to Jakarta, London to Istanbul, and Berlin to Barcelona.

The photos run on loop on Obama's website, and a montage is being set to music with the idea of it being shown at the Democratic National Convention in August.

The initiative was brainstormed by Meredith Wheeler last March at a Democrats Abroad meeting in Brussels. Wheeler, an American living in Strasbourg, France, and chair of her Democrats Abroad (DA) chapter, saw the initiative as a way for her to use her influence and connections with the organization's chapters worldwide to support her choice for candidate.

"Why not use the bridge as the symbol of his campaign and gather photos of supporters on famous or scenic bridges around the world - showing that the world wants Obama?" she says.

Last Saturday, 35 Obama supporters in Barcelona spanned across the Rambla de Mar Bridge. Event organiser and member of DA Barcelona, Adam Lang, said that the Obama issue is hitting particularly close to home.

"For me spanning across the world shows that Obama is the choice for us overseas Americans, who really have a front-row view of the disaster that is the current US foreign policy in our daily lives."

In Madrid, Obama supporters will meet this Saturday at 12 noon on top of Calle Bailén bridge.

Sean Carroll, an event organizer from DA Madrid explains: "The idea is that Obama is unifying. He is the candidate that bridges differences. And the international initiative shows that relations between us and other countries are broken and we need to build these bridges back up."

Describing the Illinois as "electric” and not hesitant about using what has been Obama's buzz word, "change," Carroll says that he has never been so excited about a candidate.

A veteran of Democratic campaigning, he has previously volunteered for candidates from Walter Mondale to John Kerry, but "it is Obama who really gets people excited," he says. "If he gets elected, it will be the right change."

Although Obama is one step closer to the nomination after Tuesday's primary win in Oregon, Hillary Clinton, unwavering in her allegiance to what Obama supporters criticize as the opposing message, has vowed to "fight on".

[El Pais / Kelly Ramundo / Expatica]

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Naked Mummies. And Not The British Kind. The Egyptian Kind.

How silly is this. But this seems to be the day for stuff like this. It's my kind of day.

Museum covers up ‘naked’ mummies
Web posted at: 5/22/2008 6:44:33
Source ::: AFP

LONDON • A British museum is covering up its collection of ancient Egyptian mummies following visitor complaints about them going on show "naked", it said yesterday.

Two unwrapped mummies and one partially wrapped mummy out of 11 on display at The Manchester Museum in northwest England were covered after comments were received that they should be treated with more respect and dignity.

The mummies will be kept under wraps temporarily while a public consultation is carried out about the best way to display human remains at the centre, said deputy director Piotr Bienkowski."This is an interim measure designed to find out public reaction because of the negative comments we have been getting, especially about the unwrapped mummies," he said.

"We collect visitor comments on a regular basis and over the last few months there have been an awful lot of people questioning the public and educational value of showing such mummies."

He said that public perception of displaying human remains, particularly those from the United States, Australia and New Zealand, had shifted and questions are now being asked why Egyptian remains are treated differently. British public opinion had also been affected by recent revelations about the unauthorised detention by pathologists of children's organs at British hospitals.

Bienkowski accepted that covering the mummies was "slightly provocative" but said it was designed to generate debate and to determine whether the museum's policy on displaying human remains should be applied consistently. Reaction on the museum's weblog showed that many Egyptologists are against the move. One respondent called it "totally misguided". Another called it "misinformed" while a third called it a "step backwards".

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A Cool New Place For Palestinian Terrorist To Drive Their Truck Bombs.

I only posted this because I had a title I liked for it. I don't give a rats back side about the Saudis building a mall in Palestine. Lipstick on a pig as far as I can see. I will say though, given the money the Saudis are making off me filling up my gas tank, maybe they could just buy the whole "country" and clean the rats out of that sewer. Here you go from www.asharqalawsat.com.

Saudi-Led Group to Build Palestinian Mall Complex

22/05/2008

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, (Reuters) - The Palestine Investment Fund and a Saudi-led group signed a $200 million deal on Wednesday to develop a Palestinian commercial real-estate project in the occupied West Bank.

The project, slated for launch this year, envisages a 50-dunam (12 acre) plot in the centre of the hub city of Ramallah with shopping, financial and leisure facilities.

The Land Holding Company, a subsidiary of Al-Rajhi group, and the PIF signed the deal in the West Bank city of Bethlehem during a conference aimed at encouraging foreign investment in the administration of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The signatories said they would set up a dedicated company, Arduna, to expedite the project.

Established in 2003, the Land Holding Company is a leading real-estate company in the Middle East. It has been involved in projects in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Jordan.


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