Wednesday, May 09, 2012



Deep hatred for Israel in Norway

In January 2006, Socialist politician Kristin Halvorsen proposed a boycott of Israeli products, while insisting that her views did not reflect the government. Oslo may have distanced itself from Halvorsen’s controversial remarks, but it has refused to follow the United States and European Union’s classification of Hamas as a designated terrorist organization.

“We condemn organizations that are involved in terrorism,” said Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, “but Norway has considered the situation as such that having lists where we put an organization and call it a terrorist organization will not serve our purposes.”

Støre has also insisted that Israel dismantle its security wall built in response to the wave of suicide bombings from the West Bank.

Additional anti-Israel actions further raises the question of whether Norway objects to specific Israeli policies or is anti-Jewish. In 2008, Socialist politician Ingrid Fiskaa asserted to a Norwegian newspaper that the United Nations should fire “precision guided missiles against Israeli targets.”

Trine Lilleng, a Norwegian diplomat to Saudi Arabia, emailed dozens of pictures to friends of Holocaust pictures juxtaposed with images from Israel’s war with Hamas in December 2008 to portray Jews as Nazis.

Moreover, during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s anti-Israel tirade at the Durban II Conference in Geneva, Norway remained in attendance while most other Western nations either boycotted the conference or walked out.

NORWEGIAN ANTI-ISRAEL and anti-Jewish sentiment appears to be a “top-down” phenomenon. A 2010 report from NGO Monitor which provides information on organizations claiming to advance human rights revealed that Oslo provides tens of millions of kroner annually to West Bank and Gaza NGOs. Some of these organizations are blatantly anti-Israel and promote anti- Israel boycotts.

Norwegian Church Aid denounced Oslo’s decision to withhold aid to the Hamas regime in Gaza in 2006, and has met with senior Hamas leader Ahmed Yousef.

The Norwegian People’s Aid, funded by the Foreign Ministry, described Israel as “apartheid” and accused it of “war crimes.”

The University of Trondheim in Norway tried to impose an academic boycott against Israeli universities in 2009, but the motion ultimately failed. On November 9, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology hosted a six-session seminar featuring Norwegian scholars on Israel’s alleged use of anti-Semitism as a political tool. In a letter to Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, the Simon Wiesenthal’s director for international relations Shimon Samuels described the seminar as “a new stage in Norwegian incitement to Jew hatred.”

In October 2010, Norway’s Foreign Ministry announced that it would not permit the German shipbuilder HDW to test its Dolphin class submarine, built for the Israeli navy, in Norwegian territorial waters.

This despite the fact that HDW leases a base from Norway to test its submarines in deep water.

The most recent example of Norway’s genteel anti- Semitism was exemplified by Roar Arnstad, CEO of a Norwegian pharmaceutical chain called VITA, with his decision to boycott Ahava cosmetics manufactured in West Bank settlements. Arnstad justified the decision based on the logic that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank was illegal and that therefore it would be immoral to purchase Israeli products from occupied territory. Arnstad denies holding anti-Semitic beliefs and claims his policy is only against the Israeli occupation, but if this was indeed sincere, he would apply the same boycott to other occupying nations.

But Norway does not propose academic boycotts against universities in China, Britain, Turkey, Armenia, India or Morocco, nor does it enact sanctions and divestment programs. Singling out Israel is anti-Semitism and this demonstrable fact cannot absolve the Norwegian government of its own bigotry.

I would like to remind the Norwegian government and corporate CEOs of the European Union’s examples of the ways in which anti-Semitism manifests itself: “Claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor, applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded by any other democratic nation; and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

So tell us, do you boycott cultural and academic events in Britain (occupier of the Falkland Islands), China (occupier of Tibet), Russia (occupier of the Kuril Islands), Iran (occupier of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa Islands), Morocco (occupier of Western Sahara), Armenia (occupier of Nagorno-Karabakh) and Turkey (occupier of Northern Cyprus)? Do you ban imports from these countries? Moreover, do you criticize suicide bombings and rocket attacks against civilians with the same fervor with which you criticize Israeli policies? For many, regarding Norwegian policies – enough is enough. If Vidkun Quisling was alive today and read the anti-Israel an anti-Semitic statements that were coming out of Norway, a big smile would appear on his face.

SOURCE






Babies develop racist traits aged nine months, before coming into contact with other races

White babies aged just nine-months-old show signs of racial bias, according to a study in facial recognition.  Researchers at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst found that by the young age the babies were already discriminating against those of different races in their ability to recognise faces and emotional expressions.

They analysed 48 Caucasian babies with little to no experience of African-American or black individuals.  Split into a group of five-months-olds and another of babies aged nine months, they were tasked with differentiating between faces of their people within own race and then of those belonged to another, unfamiliar, race.

Babies from the five-month-old group were far more adept at distinguishing faces from different races, while the nine-month-olds were able to tell apart two faces within their own race with greater ease.

In a second experiment the babies' brain activity was detected using sensors.  They were shown images of faces of Caucasian or African-American races expressing emotions that either matched or did not match sounds they heard, such as laughing and crying.  Brain-activity measurements showed the nine-month-olds processed emotional expressions among Caucasian faces differently than those of African-American faces, while the 5-month-olds did not.  The shift in recognition ability was not a cultural thing, rather a result of physical development.

Researchers found that the processing of facial emotions moved from the front of the brain to regions in the back of the brain in the older age group.

'These results suggest that biases in face recognition and perception begin in preverbal infants, well before concepts about race are formed,' said study leader Lisa Scott in a statement.   'It is important for us to understand the nature of these biases in order to reduce or eliminate [the biases].'

This is similar to how babies learn language, medicalxpress.com reported. Early in infancy babies do not know yet which sounds are meaningful in their native language, so they treat all sounds similarly.   As they learn the language spoken around them, their ability to tell apart sounds within other languages declines and their ability to differentiate sounds within their native language improves.

The results further earlier research which found that adults have more difficulty recognizing faces that belong to people of another race, indicating that the disparity begins sooner than previously realised.
The report is published in the May issue of the journal Development Science.

SOURCE






 ‘Everyone Is a Child’: NYC Department of Health Allegedly Mulling ‘Happy Hour’ Ban

The New York Post is reporting that the Department of Health is considering a ban on beer and booze specials in New York City bars and restaurants, and the proposal is apparently serious enough that one source quipped: “the alcohol lobby better find itself a good lawyer.”

While a spokesman for the Department of Health has denied “plans to pursue any policy around discount-alcohol sale,” a source reportedly told the Post: “It’s absolutely been discussed.”

The source continued: “It goes to show you the spirit with which they operate. Everyone is a child.”

The Post elaborates:
    [Sources] said the anti-booze sentiment at the agency has reached a fever pitch, with officials recently asking state officials about the “legality of liquor in ice cream,” referring to potent products infused with bourbon, rum and tequila.

    A prohibition on discounted drinks is solidly in line with [Commissioner Thomas Farley's] goals, which he outlined in his “Take Care New York 2012” report.

    Farley said he aimed to “reduce risky alcohol use,” noting [that] alcohol-related hospitalizations in 2006 were roughly 209 per 100,000 people. His goal was to reduce this number to 170 per 100,000 by this year.

    “DOH will advocate for policies that reduce access to alcohol by adolescents and for limits on sales practices in communities and campuses that promote drinking among adolescents and heavy drinking among adults,” the document reads.

Those familiar with the potential policy say Farley is proceeding with caution after his plan to reduce the “density” of alcohol outlets backfired, with Bloomberg apparently furious that he was never informed of the scheme.

“It’s ridiculous,” one New  York bartender, whose bar takes $2 off the price of any beer or hard liquor between 11 a.m. and 8 p.m., remarked.  “With the economy the way it is right now, it’s good to see cheaper prices. We try to be generous to get a good clientele in the door.”

The potential ban leaves many in a state of shock.  Soon, they say, New York will be a ghost town full of skyscrapers, having driven everyone out through excessive taxation or outrageous legislation. Either that, or we’re heading back to the days of prohibition.  New York would be joining 19 other states that have “happy hour” bans.

“What’s next — brunch?,” Tom Shanahan, a lounge owner and lawyer who represents bars and nightclubs, asked.

A writer for MSN maintains: “It just SOUNDS wrong…Why not just cut out the middle man and just outlaw fun!”

SOURCE






'I’m Arab, a Muslim, and I vote Marine Le Pen'

If French Muslims are largely left-leaning in their voting preferences, there are exceptions. France24.com spoke to three French Muslims of Arab descent, all of whom vote for the far-right National Front party. Here are their testimonies.

Karima, policewoman: “Many of my colleagues of Arab descent vote far right, but don’t dare say so.”

A 33-year-old naturalised French citizen of Moroccan origin, Karima is a mother of three, married to a Frenchman. She arrived in France 15 years ago, and has a diploma in Computer Science from a French university. Now she works as a policewoman in Paris and declined to provide her last name.

Karima says she started becoming interested in the ideas of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the extreme-right National Front party, in 2002. That was almost a decade before Le Pen handed over the party leadership to his youngest daughter, Marine, in 2011. These days, Karima says she regularly attends party meetings and votes for National Front candidates whenever she can.

“My vote is an expression of my rejection of certain Muslim Arabs [in France], whom I personally consider ‘thugs’. They’ve destroyed French society. At least in the old days, they lived in the same suburbs,” said Karima, referring to the largely immigrant, impoverished “banlieues” of major French metropolises. “But for the last several years, the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, has done everything in his power to house them in nice neighbourhoods – like the 15th district, where I live.”

She says she is generally furious at these French-born citizens of North African origin who show no consideration for their country. If the National Front ever gets a candidate elected to the presidency, she would like to see people who “don’t deserve” their French nationality stripped of their citizenship.

According to Karima, many of her “colleagues of Arab descent vote far right, but don’t dare say so”.

Farid Smahi, former National Front office employee: “I’m Arab, I celebrate Ramadan, and I vote Le Pen”

Farid Smahi, 59, is a Frenchman of Algerian descent, a father of three children, and graduate of a French university with a degree in French literature. He currently works for an association that offers aid to people in need in the Paris area. His father fought in the French army during World War II, before becoming an activist for Algerian independence.

“You can’t be both Algerian and French,” Smahi noted. His conversion to far-right politics occurred when he returned from a trip to the Palestinian Territories, which he describes as a giant open-air prison. His opposition to French citizens having two passports, coupled with his appreciation for Jean-Marie Le Pen’s criticism of Israel, led Smahi to join the National Front. Though he was once employed by one of the National Front’s bureaus, Smahi no longer works for the party; he was asked to leave after publicly denouncing Marine Le Pen’s “closeness with Zionists”.

Before he joined the party, Smahi confronted then-leader Jean-Marie Le Pen over his stance toward France’s black and Arab residents. He says he wanted to make sure that Le Pen was not planning to expel them. “I looked him in the eye, and he told me that was not his plan,” Smahi recalled. “I saw that he was an experienced and free-thinking politican.”

According to Smahi, most of the Arabs and Muslims who voted for Marine Le Pen in the first round of this year’s presidential election are those who arrived in France recently: doctors and engineers, for example, who had good jobs in their native countries, but decided to flee the repressive dictatorships of these countries.

“These are people who suffered to become French,” Smahi said. “Unlike those others who were born here and continue to vote for the left, when they still don’t understand that it’s the left that dumped them in the ghettos to begin with.”

Smahi expressed his distaste for Arabs and Muslims who have not yet adopted the ways of their country of residence. “I’m Arab, I celebrate Ramadan, and I vote National Front. I don’t like halal meat anymore. I can’t stand women who wear the headscarf, and even less, women who wear the burqa. France is a beautiful country,” he said. “In France, we drink wine and we eat pork. My Muslim compatriots need to calm down, and stop imposing their religion on society.” His bottom line: “We’re in France: love it or leave it.”

Myriam, hotel maid: “The day the National Front is in power, things will be different.”

Myriam, aged 45, is a French woman of Tunisian origin who also declined to provide her last name. Married, with four children, she has lived in the Parisian suburb of Melun for the past 20 years. After dropping out of school because of “family problems”, she began working as a maid in a Parisian hotel.

Myriam does not have kind things to say about her black and Arab compatriots. In her view, they are the cause of all of France’s problems. “If I could change my origins, I’d do it with pleasure,” she admitted.

“The only concern of Blacks and Arabs is looking for a way to get around French law to profit from the social benefits offered here, and to make money without making any effort. They’ve ruined our reputation,” she said. “It’s true that some of them struggle and work hard, but many others…take advantage of the help offered by the government. The day the National Front is in power, things will be different.”

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, GUN WATCHAUSTRALIAN POLITICSDISSECTING LEFTISM, IMMIGRATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL  and EYE ON BRITAIN (Note that EYE ON BRITAIN has regular posts on the reality of socialized medicine).   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here.  For readers in China or for times when blogger.com is playing up, there is a mirror of this site  here.

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Vidkun Quisling is still very much alive in Norway today, and even though the Third Reich was defeated 67 years ago, the Nazi occupation of Norway never ended! Quisling's name remains internationally synonymous with treason!

Perhaps, after Israel deals with the Palestinians and Iran, she should send those Dolphin submarines into the Norwegian fjords and root out the remaining Nazis which dominate Norwegian government and society!