Friday, July 11, 2008

On the Spot (CNSNews.com) – A top Democrat told high school students gathered at the U.S. Capitol Thursday that climate change caused Hurricane Katrina and the conflict in Darfur, which led to the “black hawk down” battle between U.S. troops and Somali rebels.
 
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House (Select) Energy Independence and Global Warming Committee, also equated the drive for global warming legislation with the drive for women’s suffrage in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
 
But one global warming expert from the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) told Cybercast News Service that such a remark reveals Markey’s ignorance on the subject of global warming.
 
“In Somalia back in 1993, climate change, according to 11 three- and four-star generals, resulted in a drought which led to famine,” said Markey.
 
“That famine translated to international aid we sent in to Somalia, which then led to the U.S. having to send in forces to separate all the groups that were fighting over the aid, which led to Black Hawk Down. There was this scene where we have all of our American troops under fire because they have been put into the middle of this terrible situation,” he added.
 
Markey was referring to the battle of Mogadishu in 1993, when 18 members of a U.S. military team were killed in a helicopter crash and a resulting firefight. The battle was made famous by a 2001 Academy Award-winning film, “Black Hawk Down.”
 
Markey was speaking to 25 students from the World Wildlife Fund's Allianz Southeast Climate Witness Program. The students had come to the Capitol to brief members of Congress on the risks of global warming. The students were from the Gulf States.
 
But Myron Ebell, director of Energy and Global Warming Policy at CEI, told Cybercast News Service that Markey’s remarks reveal his ignorance about the science of global warming.
 
“Yes, that part of the world is subject to drought at times, but it has very little to do with global warming,” said Ebell. “It is subject to drought whether the global average temperature is going up, down, or staying the same. To say you know the conflict was caused by global warming is to show how really ignorant you are of the scientific issues involved.”
 
The students who testified at the event, most of whom had lived in New Orleans prior to Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, described the difficulties they faced after the storm and blamed global warming for the disaster.
 
“Katrina woke me up and made me pay attention,” said 17-year-old Danielle Wold from Harvey, La. “One of the worst disasters in history made me want to do something. In 100 years, New Orleans could just be another Atlantis.”
 
Fifteen-year-old Stephen Bordes from New Orleans called on lawmakers to do something to end global warming. “Cutting carbon emissions is mainly in your hands since you pass the laws,” he said. ‘You basically control climate change. We should have changed yesterday, but it’s too late to change yesterday so we should start now.”
 
Bordes said that he thinks the warming of the atmosphere could lead to a situation in which his home, which is near the superdome in New Orleans, could become permanently inundated with water.
 
Markey also told the students that there no longer exists any debate about whether or not disasters like Katrina are caused by climate change.
 
“There now is no question that this harm is being caused by human activity,” said Markey. “It’s warming up the planet and melting the glaciers. There is an underwater heat wave going on. The waters get warmer and warmer and that intensifies the storms and creates even greater havoc when those storms reach land.”
 
“The planet is running a fever. It’s heating up but there is no emergency rooms for planets,” he said. “The worst consequences affect the planet -- not only New Orleans -- but the whole planet.
 
“The same thing is true by the way with Darfur,” Markey added. “Darfur is really about water. This is an issue which really goes to the heart of the incredible impact that climate change is having upon our planet. “
 
But Ebell said that droughts in Darfur are probably not an effect of global warming. “In that region, droughts have been going on for hundreds of years and before human beings started to burn coal and gas,” he said. “They will continue because of precipitation patterns. Again, I think Chairman Markey has revealed the extent of his ignorance on this issue.”
 
Markey finished his talk by comparing the debate against global warming to the 20th century fight for women suffrage. “Back 100 years ago, women rose up and said we want the right to vote, and they were successful,” he said. “Now, you are like the green generation and you are rising up and saying we must ensure the planet does not suffer the worst consequences of climate change.”

Bowing done to the Overlords again. Wikipedia tells us that Minarets provide"... a visual cue to a Muslim community, the call to prayer is traditionally given from the top of the minaret". The visual cue is that Islam is back in town and they are taking over. The call to pray will let everyone know that fact. What would the Swiss government do ,If I as Christian, put up a tower and broadcast the Lords Prayer to call all Christians to worship. They would stop it, in it's tracks. They would fear no backlash. They would yell separation of church and state, or some other such nonsense. Why? Because no one has killed anyone in the name of Jehovah recently. Islam is just the Mafia dressed up in religious garb. Go against them and someone will get hurt.

From CNSNews.

Swiss Wary of Islamic Backlash Over Call to Ban Minarets
Thursday, July 10, 2008
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

(CNSNews.com) – Fearing a backlash in the Islamic world, the Swiss government will mobilize opposition to those who want to ban the building of minarets. This comes after a right-wing party secured the necessary public support to force a referendum on the matter.
 
Campaign organizers this week delivered to the seat of the federal government in Bern a petition signed by more than 114,000 people supporting a move to add a clause to the constitution prohibiting the construction of minarets, the towers or spires that rise from some mosques.
 
The executive Federal Council subsequently announced in a statement that the 100,000-vote threshold for a referendum had been achieved.

It stressed that the initiative did not originate from the government or parliament. Other European governments, notably Denmark and the Netherlands, also have sought to distance themselves from controversial actions taken by citizens that have sparked anger in Islamic countries in recent years.
 
The Federal Council said it would recommend that the electorate and parliament vote “no” when the referendum is held. No date has yet been set.
 
“President Pascal Couchepin reiterated that several members of the government have publicly expressed their objections to a ban on minarets as sought by this initiative,” the statement said.
 
Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey warned that the anti-minaret campaign would provoke Muslim anger and cause security problems. (Swiss conservatives earlier this year criticized Calmy-Rey for wearing a headscarf during a visit to Iran, saying it was a sign of submission.)
 
World Radio Switzerland, an arm of the country’s national broadcaster, said it was unusual for the government to take a position against a referendum initiative so quickly and described the minaret issue as a “diplomatic nightmare for Switzerland.”
 
It said “Swiss diplomacy and economic sectors are worried that this kind of initiative could unleash the same kind of anger [and] calls for a boycott” as those that met the publication by Danish newspapers of cartoons satirizing Mohammed, Islam’s founder.
 
Of a total of some 90 mosques in Switzerland, only two – in Zurich and Geneva – have minarets, with another three planned. Around 350,000 of a total population of 7.5 million Swiss are Muslims, mostly originating from Turkey and the Balkans (Catholics comprise 42 percent of the population and Protestants 35 percent).
 
According to the Encyclopedia of the Orient, minarets have no Koranic basis, and the first minarets appeared only 80 years after Mohammed’s death.
 
Those spearheading the campaign led by the nationalist Swiss People’s Party (SVP) say minarets are symbols of Islamic political-religious domination and Islamic law that is intolerant of other religions.
 
Noting that many mosques do not have towers, they say minarets are not a required part of Islamic worship, and that a ban would therefore not prevent the free exercise of religion.
 
In a flyer used to gather signatures for the petition, the organizers said that “to strengthen Christian and Western culture … we must stop the propagation of Islam. Banning minarets is indispensable.”
 
“[Muslims] follow and they want to impose another order of law which is in conflict with our order of law coming out of our constitution coming out from a long democratic process,” Ulrich Schluer, an SVP politician and one of the organizing committee, told Swiss radio.
 
Critics say outlawing minarets would contravene the Swiss constitution and be incompatible with the country’s international human rights commitments.
 
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) regards the calls for a ban as an case of “Islamophobia.” An OIC body set up to study Islamophobia said in a recent report the minaret issue had to do with “discrimination against Muslims and being intolerant to Islam.”
 
Switzerland is not the only country in Europe where the building of minarets is controversial. Plans to build a 48,000-square foot mosque in Cologne, Germany, along with twin minarets 180-feet high, triggered a national storm, with some warning of “creeping Islamization.” Cologne’s famous 13th century cathedral is one of the world’s largest.
 
Rows have also erupted over the building of minarets in Sweden, France, Belgium, Italy and elsewhere in Europe.
 
Swiss Muslims won support this week from the country’s Federation of Protestant Churches, which called the anti-minaret initiative inappropriate and divisive.
 
The center-right Christian Democratic Party, which has historical ties to the Catholic Church, described the move as “unconstitutional, dangerous and stupid.”
 
The party acknowledged that issues like the preaching of hatred, jihad and the subordination of women were in conflict with Swiss traditions and laws, but said prohibiting minarets would encourage marginalization rather than do anything to contribute towards solving the problem.
 
Since the 19th century, Switzerland has held regular referendums on a wide range of issues, although few that are initiated by citizens (as opposed to the government) succeed. Referendums are usually held three or four times a year.
 
Switzerland is run by a seven-member Federal Council with a rotating presidency. Members are elected by both houses of the Swiss parliament.
 
The SVP is the largest party in the larger chamber of parliament, but is not currently represented in the Federal Council. Following a split earlier this year, two liberal former members who formed a new party, are members of the council.