http://phillyafsi.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/egypt-is-not-at-peace-with-israel-admits-john-kerry/ In a press conference on April 30th U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry admitted that Egypt is not at peace with Israel. In response to reporter’s question Kerry said: “This is literally a statement by the Arab world that they are prepared to make peace providing the Palestinians and Israelis reach a final status […]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324482504578453363318730182.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
He was convicted when it was obligatory—as it remains today—to give credence to every accuser charging a priest with molestation.
Last Christmas Eve, his 18th behind bars, Catholic priest Gordon MacRae offered Mass in his cell at the New Hampshire state penitentiary. A quarter-ounce of unfermented wine and the host had been provided for the occasion, celebrated with the priest’s cellmate in attendance. Sentenced to 33½-67 years following his 1994 conviction for sexual assault against a teenage male, Father MacRae has just turned 60.
The path that led inexorably to that conviction would have been familiar to witnesses of the manufactured sex-abuse prosecutions that swept the nation in the 1980s and early 1990s and left an extraordinary number of ruined lives in its wake. Here once more, in the MacRae case, was a set of charges built by a determined sex-abuse investigator and an atmosphere in which accusation was, in effect, all the proof required to bring a guilty verdict. But now there was another factor: huge financial payouts for victims’ claims.
That a great many of the accusations against the priests were amply documented, that they involved the crimes of true predators all too often hidden or ignored, no one can doubt.
Neither should anyone doubt the ripe opportunities there were for fraudulent abuse claims filed in the hope of a large payoff. Busy civil attorneys—working on behalf of clients suddenly alive to the possibilities of a molestation claim, or open to suggestions that they remembered having been molested—could and did reap handsome rewards for themselves and their clients. The Diocese of Manchester, where Father MacRae had served, had by 2004 paid out $22,210,400 in settlements to those who had accused its priests of abuse.
The paydays did not come without effort. Thomas Grover—a man with a long record of violence, theft and drug offenses on whose claims the state built its case against Father MacRae—would receive direction for his testimony at the criminal trial. A conviction at the priest’s criminal trial would be a crucial determinant of success—that is, of the potential for reward—in Mr. Grover’s planned civil suit.
The 27-year-old accuser found that direction from a counselor at an agency recommended by his civil attorney. During Mr. Grover’s testimony, this therapist could be seen (though not by the jury) standing in the back of the courtroom. There, courtroom observers noted, and it is a report the state disputes, she would periodically place her finger at eye level and slowly move it down her right cheek—a pantomime of weeping. Soon thereafter Mr. Grover would begin to cry loudly, and at length.
Thomas Grover’s allegations were scarcely more credible than those of the 5- and 6-year-olds coaxed into accusations during the prosecutions of the day-care workers—children who spoke of being molested in graveyards and secret rooms. The accuser’s complaints against Father MacRae were similarly rich, among them allegations that few prosecutors would put before a jury. In a pretrial deposition, Mr. Grover alleged that Father MacRae had “chased me through a cemetery” and had tried to corner him there. Also, that Father MacRae had a gun and was “telling me over and over again that he would hurt me, kill me if I tried to tell anybody.” The priest had, moreover, chased him down the highway in his car.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324326504578467211739938822.html At their worst, meetings can be both useless and mind-numbing. It calls to mind an observation made in that endless font of wise management advice, the comic strip Dilbert: “There is no specific agenda for this meeting. As usual, we’ll just make unrelated emotional statements about things which bother us.” David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images […]
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/348021/nyt-vs-wapo-coverage-irs-scandal
For those without dead-tree versions, the Washington Post has a story on the IRS scandal above the fold on page one, as well as a lead editorial demanding a full accounting. The New York Times puts the story on the bottom of page 10 and has no editorial.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/playing-politics-with-tax-records/2013/05/10/e36dfe5a-b9b7-11e2-aa9e-a02b765ff0ea_story.html A BEDROCK principle of U.S. democracy is that the coercive powers of government are never used for partisan purpose. The law is blind to political viewpoint, and so are its enforcers, most especially the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Any violation of this principle threatens the trust and the voluntary cooperation of citizens […]
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Jacob-Rees-Mogg-calls-election-pact-Tories-Ukip/story-18904009-detail/story.html#ixzz2T4mMS500
Outspoken Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has further fanned the flames of the Europe debate by calling for an electoral pact between the Conservatives and Ukip.
And Mr Mogg went further, suggesting the two parties could merge.
His comments will make uncomfortable reading for David Cameron who is coming under increasing pressure to call a referendum on Europe.
With Tory ministers warning they could not act without the support of their Liberal Democrat coalition parties, North East Somerset MP Mr Rees-Mogg had more advice for Mr Cameron.
He wants Ukip leader Nigel Farage to replace Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister.
“I think that would be a better bet for Conservatism and the right wing in British politics,” he said on the BBC yesterday.
Senior Conservatives have urged the Prime Minister to hold a “mandate referendum” on his plan to re-negotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership as early next spring in a bid to halt the rise of Mr Farage’s rampant UK Independence Party.
Which brings us to the eternal question: Will this be good for the Jews and Israel?….So far it is reassuring that the British Left has labeled UKIP as being “Zionists.”….rsk
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3505/galloway_israel_supports_al_qaeda
British Member of Parliament chirps up conspiracy crackpottery from his Press TV pulpit
It was reported several months back that the unhinged Member of Parliament for Bradford West, George Galloway, was working for al-Mayadeen TV, a propaganda outlet thought to be sponsored by Syrian and Iranian sources.
Galloway has worked for the Iranian-state media outlet Press TV for a while, but he further entrenched himself with al-Mayadeen and in recent weeks, appears to have been going to bat harder and harder for Assad’s murderous regime in Syria.
Indeed, even the British Prime Minister had to recently put the ‘honourable gentleman’ in his place.
But Galloway has now nailed his colours to the mast further, as if possible, by trotting out a line that can only really be heard in the most fringe of Assad-loyalist corners of the internet (when they’re not disconnecting it, of course).
Apparently, Israel is working with Al-Qaeda to help bring down the Assad regime. Yes. Apparently Israel is stupid enough to arm a terrorist group that would arguably work much harder to wipe the Jewish state off the map than Assad’s lot ever did.
Watch for yourself, as Galloway explains his ‘theory’:
http://www.thecommentator.com/article/3496/saudi_arabia_beheads_pakistani_drug_smuggler Saudi Arabian authorities have reportedly beheaded a Pakistani national for smuggling drugs into the country. A report in The Express Tribune stated that the man was caught attempting to smuggle an amount of heroin hidden inside his stomach. The statement was made by a spokesperson for the country’s interior ministry. The unnamed man was beheaded in […]
http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2013/05/palestine-google-goes-ga-ga-by-david.html
Here’s the latest article by Sydney lawyer and international affairs analyst David Singer.
He writes:
‘Google has spoken – Palestine is now indeed recognized as a country by the internet giant following the change of tag line on the homepage of its Palestinian edition from “Palestinian Territories” to “Palestine”.
In a statement given to the BBC, Google spokesman Nathan Tyler said:
“We’re changing the name ‘Palestinian Territories’ to ‘Palestine’ across our products. We consult a number of sources and authorities when naming countries.
In this case, we are following the lead of the UN, Icann [the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers], ISO [International Organisation for Standardisation] and other international organisations.”
Dr Sabri Saidam, advisor to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told the BBC:
“This is a step in the right direction, a timely step and one that encourages others to join in and give the right definition and name for Palestine instead of Palestinian territories
Most of the traffic that happens now happens in the virtual world and this means putting Palestine on the virtual map as well as on the geographic maps”
Tom McCarthy – a journalist for the Guardian US – has reported Google’s announcement under the following headline:
“Palestine now recognised by greater power than US or Israel – Google”
Certainly Mahmoud Abbas assumed the title “President of Palestine” and disbanded the Palestinian Authority on 3 January.
Yet no map has been produced by President Abbas indicating where the country he presumably heads is located. Nor has he called for the disbandment of the refugee camps run by UNRWA and extended a call to all Palestinian Arabs around the world to come and join him in the task of building and developing this newest country in the world.
http://www.jcpa.org/. A concerted and well-organized campaign calling for “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions” (BDS) against the State of Israel has been in effect for several years. In spite of its constant use of belligerent, violent, and deceitful tactics, the BDS movement has very little to show in the way of success regarding sanctions or […]
