http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=speculation Sun, 19 May 2013 17:28:41 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?q=speculation Sat, 18 May 2013 14:57:52 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=004_1368902041 Gruxxan The M1 was closed to allow the Air Ambulance helicopter to land following a single vehicle accident near the St Albans junction. Turns out it was for George Michael who, as a passenger in a Range Rover, had bumped his head.. 'Head' being the operative word if speculation on the cause of the accident are anything to go by.. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=004_1368902041 Gruxxan UK.. M1 Closed because George Michael 'bumped his head' george, michael, crash, m1, uk, blow, job, accident Fri, 17 May 2013 12:09:41 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73e_1368805956 KedarPL By: Ali Haydar Al Akhbar Source: http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/israel%E2%80%99s-syrian-media-games In an unusual step, an Israeli official recently contacted The New York Times to issue threats that Israel is prepared to bring down the Syrian regime if Damascus retaliates against Tel Aviv's earlier military strikes. "Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah," declared a senior Israeli official, who contacted The New York Times on Wednesday, May 15. The official continued: "If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies, he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate." The newspaper further quoted the Israeli official as saying, "Israel has so far refrained from intervening in Syria's civil war and will maintain this policy as long as Assad refrains from attacking Israel directly or indirectly." Some linked it with the landing of two mortar shells on Mount Hermon in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday, while others believed that it came as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent trip to Moscow.Mark Landler, the author ot the piece, wrote that the motives behind issuing such threats were "uncertain," noting that "Israel could be seeking to restrain Syria's behavior to avoid taking further military action, or alerting other countries to another military strike." He also suggested that there may be a secondary audience to the message, i.e. Iran and Hezbollah. The official's statement prompted much speculation in the Israeli media about its motives and timing. Some linked it with the landing of two mortar shells on Mount Hermon in the occupied Golan Heights on Wednesday, while others believed that it came as a result of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent trip to Moscow, which Israeli sources described as a failure. Amos Yadlin, a former Israeli military intelligence chief, told The New York Times that Russia could be one of the targeted recipients of the Israeli message, particularly given that two of the weapons that Tel Aviv has named as game changers in its confrontation with Hezbollah - the SA-17 anti-aircraft rockets and Yakhont shore-to-sea missiles - are Russian. In a different take, Amir Bohbout, a military affairs analyst from the Hebrew website Walla!, speculates that the Israeli message did not come from the security establishment, but was rather issued from political circles who intended it to be a reassuring signal to Israelis, particularly those living in the north, who felt that the military was unsure of how to respond to the mortar attacks on Mount Hermon. Bahbout suggests that Assad was inclined to retaliate after Russian President Vladimir Putin's cold reception of Netanyahu in Moscow earlier in the week, taking advantage of the opportunity to send a clear signal to Tel Aviv that Damascus does not intend to remain quiet about such aggression. The Israeli newspaper Maariv , for its part, put the official's threats in the context of conflicting views emerging in political and security circles over the Syrian crisis, with one side pushing to topple Assad - which they view as a devastating blow to Israel's most dangerous foe, Iran - and an opposing current, which is increasingly concerned about the kind of alternatives that would emerge to replace the regime in Damascus. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=73e_1368805956 KedarPL Israel's Syrian Media Games syria,israel,idf,war,battle,missles,media,assad,arab,saa Fri, 17 May 2013 10:20:29 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9b8_1368796530 omniradar The Hidden Agenda Behind Japan's Kamikaze Quantitative EasingUS$ dollars have been flooding the financial markets ever since Bernanke launched quantitative easing allegedly to turnaround the US economy. These huge amounts of US$ toilet paper are mainly in financial markets (and in central banks) outside of the United States. A huge chunk is represented as reserves in central banks led by China and Japan. If truth be told, the real value of the US$ would not be more than a dime and I am being really generous here, as even toilet paper has a value. That the US dollar is still accepted in the financial markets (specifically by central banks) has nothing to do with it being a reserve currency, but rather that the US$ is backed/supported by the armed might and nuclear blackmail of the US Military-Industrial Complex. The nuclear blackmail of Iran is the best example following Iran's decision to trade her crude in other currencies and gold instead of the US$ toilet paper. If the United States were not a military threat and a global bully that can blackmail with impunity the oil exporting countries in the Middle East, the global financial system which hinges on the US$ toilet paper would have collapsed a long time ago. The issue is why has the US$ not collapsed as it should have by now? When we apply common sense and logic to the state of affairs, the answer is so simple and it is staring at you. But, you have not been able to see the obvious because the global mass media, specifically the global financial mass media controlled mainly from London and New York, has created a smokescreen to hide the truth from you. Let's analyse the situation in a step by step manner, and apply common sense. 1. The US is the world's biggest debtor. The biggest creditors are China and Japan, followed by the oil exporting countries in the Middle East. With each passing day, the value of the US$ toilet paper is worth less and less. Like I said earlier, even toilet paper has some intrinsic value. It reaches zero value when everyone has to carry a wheelbarrow of US$ to purchase anything. 2. For the US$ toilet paper creditors, they cannot admit the fact that they have been conned by the global Too Big To Fail Banks (TBTFs) acting in concert with the FED and the Bank of England to accept US$ toilet papers. The central bankers of these countries have a reputation to preserve (not that there is in fact any reputation, for their so-called financial credibility is also part of the scam) and the political leaders that relied on them is in a bigger bind. How can the political leaders be so very stupid to trust these central bankers (who have stashed away in foreign tax havens huge US$ toilet papers as a reward for their complicity). This is the current state of affairs in plain English. They are having sleepless nights worrying if and when the citizens would wise up to this biggest con in history i.e. the promotion and acceptance of fiat currencies, the US$ being the ultimate fiat currency. 3. The global financial elites led by the FED know that this state of affairs is to their advantage and they are exploiting it to the hilt! They also know that no country or organisation has the military resources to threaten the US to stop this global ponzi scheme which has been going on since 1945 and intensified since 1971 when President Nixon de-coupled the US$ from gold. The pound sterling is another story but, it is not relevant for the purposes of this analysis. 4. Additionally, and as a result of the above-stated scam, countries were led to believe and to accept the false economic theory that export generated growth (GDP) should be the foundation of economic development, as the United States having limitless US$ toilet paper has the ability and the means to purchase the global exports, it being the largest consumer market in the world. In the result, the world's factories and their workers, including those in the developed world such as France and Germany worked their butts off to be rewarded with US$ toilet paper whose value is less than the paper and ink that produce it! The financial frolic went on for more than forty years and came to an abrupt and foreseeable end in the 2008 global financial tsunami. 5. When the party ended, the United States was up to her eyeballs in debts as a result of reckless financial speculation in the global derivatives casino and the consumption binge financed by housing mortgages. Debts must be repaid. But, the US has no means to do so. They cannot produce enough goods to earn the revenue to pay the debts because US manufacturing has been outsourced to the developing world - China became the world's number 1 factory. So, the financial elite appointed helicopter Bernanke to lead the charge for the US and the UK to use the printing press (digital or otherwise) to print more US$ toilet papers to pay off the debt. In economic jargon, this is "monetising the debt". It is outright fraud, but no one (i.e. central bankers) in his right mind would admit to this fraud as they would be hung from the lamp-posts if the truth is discovered as was the case when the Italian fascist leader Mussolini was hung by the Italian partisans. 6. Initially, central bankers confronted with this situation and having to face a restless populace embarked on a regime of competitive easing/ devaluation of their currencies. But, the price was horrendous. Inflation spiked in all these countries. But, this scheme of things did not work out as planned for the simple reason, the US$ toilet paper continued to be lower as a result of more QE by Bernanke. China realised the danger and adopted other means to overcome this situation, one of which was to enter into bilateral arrangements with her trading partners to finance trade in their respective currencies. Such agreements were entered between China and Japan, members of BRIC, Malaysia etc. This counter-measure was perceived as a threat to the continued dominance of the US$ toilet paper regime. In the result, Obama declared at the urging of the financial elites (he does not have the grey cells to think) a foreign policy shift - the Asia Pivot to prevent a further deterioration of US$ dominance. 7. When Japan entered the agreement with China, her behaviour was deemed unacceptable since Japan was under the nuclear protection of the US. Japan was caught between a rock and a hard place. It was expected that sooner or later the US would apply the squeeze on Japan to behave in a proper manner. Applying geopolitical strategies, the US towing South Korea along provoked North Korea by launching a military exercise which included flying B-2 bombers which are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. North Korea responded in the manner that was expected. Japan was exposed and in like manner reacted by seeking US protection. To muddy the waters and complicate the situation, the US engineered a Idispute between China and Japan over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands. This was followed by the installation of a new regime in Japan by the election of the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the appointment of Haruhiko Kuroda as the Governor of the Bank of Japan (BOJ). 8. Now comes the mechanics of US counter-measures in shoring up the artificial dominance/value of the US$ toilet paper. Japan was ordered to do its part as a quid pro quo for being protected by the US's nuclear umbrella. A new version of the Plaza Accord must be put in place - a "reverse Plaza Accord". 9. Let me explain. In the 1985 Plaza Accord, the dollar was devalued to reduce the current account deficit and to help the US recover from the recession of the early 1980s. It was a managed devaluation and the exchange value of the Dollar versus the Yen declined by 51 per cent from 1985 to 1987 - reaching yen151 per US$1 in March 1987. The dollar continued to slide till 1988. The effect of the strengthened Yen depressed Japan's exports and brought about the expansionary monetary policies that resulted in the infamous asset bubbles of the late 1980s. The G-6 countries then gathered in 1987 in Paris to arrest the slide of the dollar and to manage and stabilise the international currency markets. The end result was the Louvre Accord. In the next 18 months the dollar strengthened to yen160 per US$1. 10. However, in the current situation, the devaluation of the US$ toilet paper was the result of massive QEs so as to enable US to monetise her debts. However, for US to continue to monetise her debts and have the world's central banks agreement to continue to hold dollar reserves, the value of the dollar must appreciate, failing which the dollar would collapse, the US defaulting on her debts, as creditors would no longer accept US$ as payment. The trick was to artificially inflate the value of the dollar without arousing any suspicions. 11. In the 1970s, following the de-coupling of the dollar from gold by President Nixon, the dollar would have collapsed in like manner as it was not backed by gold. It became pure fiat money! The trick then was to create an artificial demand for dollar which would in turn raise the value of the currency. This was effected by the proposal of Kissinger to the Arabs that if they would dollarize their oil exports, the US would guarantee their safety and survival even from the threats of Israel. When the Arabs agreed to this arrangement, every country in the world had to buy oil in US$. Countries have to exchange their currencies into US$ to buy oil. This demand for US$ strengthened the currency and prolonged the US fiat money monopoly. 12. However, this option is no longer available presently as oil is now being sold in other currencies besides the US$. The petro-dollar is no longer in dominance. In any event, the continued use of petro-dollars would spike the oil price and this would be inflationary and detrimental to the US economy as well as the world's economy in the present economic climate - i.e. deep recession. Another means must be used. 13. This is the reason for the sudden "shock and awe" monetary policy of the new Japanese regime of Shinzo Abe and Haruhiko Kuroda. My detractors will accuse me of indulging in conspiracy theories. But, the facts speak for themselves. I had said earlier, that the G-7 countries have collectively attempted to devalue their currencies but, it did not stem the slide of the US$ because Bernanke was increasing the intensity of QE since 2008. And the EU was not willing and or able to adopt a suicide policy of massive QE as Germany was well aware of such a risk having suffered the negative effects of hyperinflation. China would not kow-tow to the US and in fact together with fellow members of BRIC was adopting counter-measures to confront Bernanke's QE financial weapon. That left only one country who can be compelled to do the US bidding, to commit Hara-kiri to save and or prolong the US$ toilet paper regime - Japan! 14. And so, Japan launched its sudden massive QE and the desired effect is that now the US$ toilet paper has artificially appreciated in value vis-a-vis the Yen and less so with other currencies. This cannot be disputed by my detractors because: On May 11, the financial elites of G-7 countries explicitly agreed with this kamikaze policy of Japan. Koichi Hamada has also declared earlier that the target for this policy is to allow the dollar to rise to yen110 per US$1 and this rise would be managed in a staggered fashion in small increments (step by step approach) thereby controlling the rate of inflation in Japan which would not be allowed to exceed the agreed target rate. It is suggested that Japan can do this because it can utilise its huge dollar reserves of US$1.2 Trillion to manage the devaluation! According to Alan Ruskin, the global head of Group of 10 foreign-exchange strategy in New York at Deutsche Bank ASG, he said "I think we are opening up the door to look at 105 in the next few months and 110 by the end of the year ..." and this surely must be interpreted to mean that Koichi Hamada's strategy is definitely in play. In conclusion, it is my view that such "managed artificial appreciation" of the US$ toilet paper while effective in the short run would fail in the long run because the fundamental issues of the US economy have not been addressed and resolved. Only real economic growth can reverse the dollar's demise. Seriously, would Bernanke stop further QE when the yen exchange rate reaches yen110 by the year end? Has not Bernanke declared that QE would continue till 2015? And since Japan has drawn the Red Line at yen110, can Japan risk further damage to its economy and continue to back-stop US beyond yen110? The US$ quadrillion derivative casino is the millstone around the US and the global economy, and as long as this is not resolved, the crisis would only get worse. Like water, after sufficient heat, the boiling point would be reached. While I cannot forecast the precise date of the implosion, I am of the view that the end is near, sparked by a black swan event and then snowballed to its final devastation. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9b8_1368796530 omniradar US Dollar Collapse and Japan's Sham Currency War Collapsing Dollar. Wed, 15 May 2013 21:21:53 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cab_1368666389 MAKMAK Around $900 billion in assets across the globe are managed by Islamic banks that operate according to sharia, an interpretation of Islamic law. In recent years, so-called Islamic finance has been growing at a rate of 15-20 per cent a year, and proved remarkably resilient to the financial crisis. Proponents of the relatively new sector point to its back-to-basics financial structures, which have made it popular with a number of non-Mulsim clients who have little appetite for risk. Critics, though, say the restrictions it comes with-prohibitions, for example, on paying interest and investing in anything that involves porn, pork or booze-are archaic and unworkable. Canada, with its 1.3 million Muslims, has lagged behind countries like the U.K. and the U.S. in embracing sharia-compliant financial products. None of the country's big banks currently offer sharia-compliant services, though some smaller players do. Toronto-based UM Financial Inc., which issued home mortgages conforming to Islamic law, filed for bankruptcy last year, leaving 170 Muslim borrowers in limbo, and opening a legal can of worms. Is the firm's failure evidence that Canada should steer clear of Islamic finance; or proof that the country needs more of it-i.e. that the banks and policymakers need to bring the practice into the mainstream, with tighter rules and better oversight? We asked the experts to chime in. Tarek Fatah is the founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a liberal-minded grassroots organization. He is also the author of Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic lllusion of an Islamic State, among other works. Walid Hejazi is associate professor of international business at the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, where he is currently teaching an MBA course on Islamic finance. What is Islamic finance? Fatah: In the words of one New York Muslim banker, Islamic finance is little more than "a $300 billion deception." According to Muhammad Saleem, former president and CEO of Park Avenue Bank, "Islamic banks do not practise what they preach: they all charge interest, but disguised in Islamic garb." In fact, Islamic finance is just one more front in the worldwide Islamist movement's attempt to depict all things Western as essentially inimical to Islam. Its foundational doctrine comes from the writings of two people: Abul Ala Maudoodi of the Jamaat-e-Islami movement in Pakistan and Hassan al-Banna of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. While these two pillars of the Pan-Islamist movement propagated jihad and war against the West, they also recognized the role international financial institutions could play in carrying out their political objectives. The theory was put into practice when the Islamist Pakistani military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq established sharia law in Pakistan, forcing the country's public-sector banks to run their operations based on Islamic principles and without the role of interest. As professor Timur Kuran, who taught Islamic thought at the University of Southern California, notes in his brilliant book Islam and Mammon: The Economic Predicaments of Islamism, "There is no distinctly Islamic way to build a ship, or defend a territory, or cure an epidemic, or forecast the weather." Hejazi: Islamic Finance allows individuals or companies to invest in conformity with the principles of Islam. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, though, Islamic finance has been extending its appeal to a wide range of clients-regardless of religion-because it relies on rather conservative and low-risk banking practices. It is critical to emphasize that sharia-compliant or Islamic financial products can be made available to anyone-not just Muslims. There are five key elements that must be avoided in Islamic finance: interest (riba); speculation (maisir); uncertainty (gharar); unjust enrichment/unfair exploitation; and unethical purpose. I will focus on the most well-known-and, I would argue, the least understood-dimension of Islamic finance: the ban on interest. Many interpret this ban to mean that money can be borrowed for free. This is not the case. Rather, it implies that the investor must have a stake in the underlying asset. What does this mean in practice? Here's an example (in which I am abstracting from differences that can arise in risk and administrative costs): Suppose you purchase a home for $300,000. Under a conventional mortgage, you may opt for a five-year, fixed-rate mortgage, say at five per cent, and amortized over 25 years. Your monthly payment would be about $1,745. Assuming that interest rates stay at five per cent, the amount that you would have to pay over the 25 year amortization period would be $1,744.81*300 months over 25 years = $523,443.00. In total, the homeowner will have repaid the $300,000 in principal plus $223,443.00 in interest. In reality, though, interest rates would vary and the mortgage would be renewed at whatever the prevailing rate is upon maturity of the mortgage. With one form of sharia-compliant mortgage, the bank would buy the home on behalf of the customer for $300,000 and then sell it to the customer for $523,443.00. It means that over the 25-year period, the customer pays the fixed payment of $1,744.81, but unlike in the case of a conventional mortgage, there are no changes in these payments over the duration of the mortgage. A second difference is that late penalties are not allowed-the bank cannot charge punitive fees if a homeowner, for example, is laid off and has difficulty making some of the payments. It all goes back to the key principles above around partnership, fairness and eliminating uncertainty. Should Canada embrace Islamic finance? Hejazi: It is in the interest of Canadians to embrace Islamic finance, both on the retail and the commercial side. On the retail side, Statistics Canada estimates that Muslims will be about seven per cent of the Canadian population by 2031. A recent study prepared for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported evidence indicating that the demand for sharia-compliant mortgages currently exceeds supply. This demand will only increase. We need to bring these Canadians into the financial mainstream and give them better access to a type of financing that is consistent with their religious principles. Doing so is entirely consistent with fundamental Canadian values and our proud history. These sharia-compliant mortgages would be profitable and self-financing-they would impose no extra cost to the institutions offering them or the Canadian government. In addition, these mortgages would be available to all Canadians, who feel that the structure of the mortgage better fits their personal risk and financial profile. Perhaps more important, though, is the commercial side. As my research has documented, Canada needs more foreign investment and our country has been slipping behind in terms of its attractiveness to foreign investors. Now, the Gulf region has a tremendous amount of excess liquidity-upwards of a trillion dollars! However, investors from that region often require their investments be sharia-compliant. The Rotman School, in conjunction with Deloitte, Bennet Jones, Torys, and King and Spalding have developed case studies in which we looked at whether sharia-compliant financial structures would be more costly than conventional ones in the context of three major Canadian projects. Our analysis found that the costs associated with a sharia financing structure were similar to those of the conventional financing structure. Having a capability within Canada to undertake these transactions will make Canada more attractive to foreign investment, and this will help grow the economy and enhance the prosperity of all Canadians. Fatah: Canadian banks and financial institutions are already flirting with the idea. Can we blame them? Who wouldn't want gullible consumers who demand zero interest on their deposits but are willing to pay more on their monthly mortgage payments, all in the name of Islam and avoiding eternal hellfire. Islamists are lining up with such icons of global capitalism as Citibank NA, HSBC Holdings PLC, and Barclays PLC, which have all endorsed sharia banking and started offering Islamic financing products to a vulnerable Muslim population. Promoting these products, of course, are a number of prominent Muslim corporate lawyers and bankers. This push from Muslim banking executives working inside the corporate world has had some success. While the Royal Bank of Canada didn't find enough market interest for a sharia finance product it tested a few years ago, other Canadian banks are smelling easy pickings and lining up to wear the Islamic mantle. Scotiabank and Toronto-Dominion Bank have been quietly considering whether to start offering sharia-compliant products as part of the big banks' strategy to reach out to a growing "immigrant population," a politically correct way of labeling Muslims. Canada should not permit this charade of lies and deception posing as multicultural banking to segregate its Muslim population from the rest of society. If it does, there will be a huge cost to our values and to our future as well as to vulnerable Muslim-Canadians who are being blackmailed into paying more and receiving less for their banking needs. Suppose mainstream Canadian institutions started offering Islamic financial instruments, making them widely available throughout the country. How would this affect, if at all, the integration of Canada's Muslim minority? Fatah: The question assumes there is one Muslim community. I suggest there are many and they will react in different manner. My cursory study of the clients of now-bankrupt mortgage lender UM Financial shows that the company appeals mostly to customers from the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent and Caucasian converts to Islam, with Arab-Canadians and Iranian-Canadians virtually absent. Thus the integration of Canada's Muslims into the rest of society has very little to do with the success or failure of Islamic banking; it has everything to do with the failed policies of multiculturalism that encourage segregation and make it difficult to propagate Canadian values that have crystallized over 400 years of Western civilization and are the core of who we are as a country. Charlatans attempting to squeeze money out of an already marginalized minority community should be an affront to all of us-Muslim and non-Muslim alike. Hejazi: If the mainstream financial institutions offered sharia-compliant financial instruments, such as mortgages, savings accounts, mutual funds, and so on, this would go a long way towards integrating conservative Muslims into mainstream financial markets and keeping our financial system strong and sound. At present sharia-compliant financial securities are not available in the mainstream; hence conservative Muslims who feel they must use sharia-complaint financial instruments are forced to deal with smaller, less well-known, less well-funded, and likely less well-managed financial institutions. Providing these Muslim-Canadians with this option does not come with any negatives. Who opts for sharia-based financial instruments? To whom does this model appeal? Hejazi: The Financial Times reports that the assets within the Islamic finance sector have now reached US$900 billion, double what they amounted to in 2006. This growth is remarkable given that it occurred during the global financial crisis. A recent report by the International Monetary Fund attributes the growth in Islamic finance to three factors: increasing demand from the growing number of Muslims living in Western countries; growing oil wealth among the Islamic members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries; and the attractiveness of sharia-compliant financial products and services to non-Muslims seeking ethical investments or fair financial products, as well as lower-risk, back-to-basics banking. Fatah: The primary movers and shakers of sharia-based financial instruments are the rulers of the petro-dollar states of the Persian Gulf. In the working class neighborhoods of Karachi, Jakarta, Cairo or Tehran, no one buys into this "paying more and receiving less" model. They may vote for Islamist parties, but when it comes to their hard-earned money, they trust their banks and credit unions, not the mullahs bearing tickets to paradise. Even in Pakistan, which has played a pioneering role in Islamic finance, few have embraced the Islamic banking institutions. Even in Saudi Arabia, home of the Islamic Development Bank, no-interest sharia banks did not find favour with the country's monetary agency, SAMA. In fact, as pious a leader as the late King Faisal allowed SAMA to place its surplus funds in interest-bearing accounts during the country's cash-strapped years in the 1950s and 60s. One thing is for sure: Muslims have voted with their feet and their chequebooks. UM Financial, a Canada-based Islamic financial institution, recently went belly up. What lessons does the bankruptcy hold for Islamic finance in Canada? Hejazi: At present, Canadians seeking sharia-compliant mortgages and other financial products are forced to turn to institutions which operate at the periphery of the financial system, such as UM Financial, because these services are not offered through mainstream financial institutions. As is now well known, Canada's financial markets are among the most stable and well-managed globally. A collapse such as that at UM Financial is not consistent with Canada's image, nor should such institutions be able to put so many Canadian homeowners at risk. Canada needs the financial mainstream to offer these products. It is mainstream institutions that should be reaping a profit from these instruments. The demise of UM Financial makes the case for bringing Islamic finance into the mainstream even stronger. Besides, as more Canadian institutions enter the Islamic finance market, competition will force the cost of sharia-banking products down to the level of their conventional equivalents. As noted in a recent CMHC study, in Canada, sharia-compliant mortgages currently cost between one and three per cent more than comparable conventional mortgages due to their modest supply and firms' relative inexperience with these products, as well as a lack of access to funding. In contrast, sharia-compliant mortgages in the U.S. cost only 0.4 to one per cent more than their conventional counterparts. Fatah: The bankruptcy of UM Financial tells a simple truth: most Muslims would not want anything to do with financial institutions that promise a path to Paradise while enriching the pockets of those who sell Islamic indulgences. Court documents reveal that, just a few days before UM Financial went into receivership, its Sharia Advisory Board invoiced it for $2.1 million. This amount was ostensibly the fee charged for providing advice to UM Financial on the compliance of its products and services to sharia law. In a scene that could have come straight out of a Bollywood crime thriller, UM Financial CEO Omar Kalair made this payment in gold and silver bullion at a Rexdale Parking lot, late into the night. The recipient, Joseph Adam, the finance manager of Multicultural Consultancy Canada, is said to have later flown to Egypt and is now reported missing-along with the gold. Canada has no room for charlatans who bring the medieval values of the pre-industrial era into the twenty-first century. Enough of this please. (original article by Erica Alini for Macleans magazine) Here's an interesting website listing some of the institutions which fund terrorism:https://moneyjihad.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/sharia-banks-that-fund-terrorism/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cab_1368666389 MAKMAK Does Islamic finance have a place in Canada? islamic finance, global, currency, markets, stocks, stock market, dow, NASDAQ, Wall Street, TSX, Canada, MAKMAK Tue, 14 May 2013 09:12:14 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9f6_1368536416 Detroit Iron The White House spokesman founders in front of a newly curious press corps. MAY 14, 2013 4:00 AM By Charles C. W. Cooke Thank you for that question," White House spokesman Jay Carney said feebly when, early in Friday's press conference, the issue of Benghazi was raised. And then he reflexively tried to recruit the questioner to his side. Look, Carney insisted, those darned Republicans are involved in an "ongoing attempt to politicize a tragedy that took four American lives." We're not going to fall into their trap and ask questions of the administration, are we? We're not like those other outlets that are engaged in a "pattern of spreading misinformation." Right, guys?Evidently, Carney had not yet realized that things had changed. What had been a fringe story had by now gone mainstream: The New Yorker had written that new evidence "seriously undermines the White House's credibility on this issue"; ABC News's Jonathan Karl had averred that developments "directly contradict what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said . . . in November"; Thursday's Morning Joe panel had agreed that the news was troubling for the White House; and George Will was gearing up to go onto the Sunday shows and complain that the nation had been "systematically misled." Newly intrigued, the assembled press corps ignored Carney's ploy; so, too, his flippant, Obamaesque insistence that "efforts to re-fight the political battles of the past are not looked on kindly by the American people." Benghazi might well have "happened a long time ago," as Carney hilariously assured the media on May 1, but the fourth estate was now interested.Cutting short the dismissal, Jim Acosta of CNN inquired of Carney why the State Department had removed Anshar al-Sharia's name from the CIA's story, and what the discovery of this edit has done to the credibility of the White House. "References to that group are removed from the conversation and don't make their way into the talking points," Acosta argued. "That is not a stylistic edit. That is not a single adjustment as you said back in November. That is a major, dramatic change to the information." "I appreciate the question and the opportunity," Carney said, twitching slightly and starting to go red. But apparently he didn't appreciate it enough to answer it. Nor to take the opportunity to admit that his prior claim that "the CIA drafted these talking points and redrafted" them - and that only "stylistic and non-substantive" changes were made from outside - was demonstrably false. At the fork in the road, Carney once again chose the well-worn low way. Acosta was visibly unimpressed. Here it became clear that we were in it for the long haul. "Let me just follow up on this once and for all," he eventually asked. "Do you promise once and for all?" pleaded Carney. "Maybe not ," Acosta shot back. "You are comfortable with the way you characterized this back in November? That this was a single adjustment?" "I do. I do stand by it," Carney replied. "Jay, you told us that the only changes were stylistic," asserted ABC's Jonathan Karl, who earlier in the day had mainstreamed the yeoman's work of The Weekly Standard 's Stephen F. Hayes. (Hayes had blown the lid off the talking-points deception almost a week before, to little public thanks.) "Is it a 'stylistic' change to take out all references to previous terror threats in Benghazi?" Karl asked. "I appreciate the question again ," Carney answered, closing his eyes and twitching a little. "I accept that 'stylistic' might not precisely describe a change of one word to another . . . " Bristling, Karl interrupted, observing that the original talking points referred to al-Qaeda and to Anshar al-Sharia and had "extensive discussion of the previous threats of terrorist attacks in Benghazi." A new set of talking points, "based on input from the State department" was written, Karl added. It featured none of those things. "Do you deny that?" he jabbed. "I've answered this question several times now," Carney pretended. "I'm happy to answer it again if you'll let me?" he continued. Looking anything but happy to answer it, Carney started to list the branches of government involved in the draft. Then he moved back to blaming Republicans for creating a "distraction." Frequently, Carney attempted to assure the press that the government's talking points had been carefully put together in order to make "concretely for sure" that no mistakes were made. After all, he insisted, we weren't sure who did it, so the aim was "limiting the talking points to what we knew, as opposed to speculation about what may or may not have been, in the end, relevant to what happened in Benghazi." The message: Better "not include things we could not be sure of." Like blaming protests on a YouTube video, perhaps? The only thing that was inaccurate about his previous assertions, Carney insisted, was his claim that there were anti-video demonstrations outside the Benghazi compound on September 11 last year. Besides, he continued, Republicans are wrong to accuse the White House of "playing down an act of terror and an attack on the embassy," because "the president himself" took to the Rose Garden on September 12 and told the country that the attack was an "act of terror."This was quite an astonishing thing for Carney to repeat, not just because the CBS transcript is available to anyone who cares to look it up but also because Carney himself claimed on September 14 that the attack "was a response to a YouTube video." Worse, five days after that, he told the press: Our belief based on the information we have is it was the video that caused the unrest in Cairo, and the video and the unrest in Cairo that helped - that precipitated some of the unrest in Benghazi and elsewhere. What other factors were involved is a matter of investigation. This line was repeated at least once by Hillary Clinton, many times by Susan Rice, and, on September 26, by President Obama in his speech to the United Nations. We are thus supposed to believe that the government was so " about the integrity of the investigation," to use Carney's peculiar words, that it removed all the suspects from public discussion while simultaneously blaming the attack on a video. Among their many claimed sins, Republicans also drew Carney's ire for "leaking" information "for political reasons." "That's their prerogative," he sniffed. But this disgust at leaks struck a false note, given that the White House had held a secret meeting just a few minutes earlier in which it passed - "for political reasons"? - unattributable information to reporters. Just a few minutes before Carney's on-air press conference, Politico 's Dylan Byers reported : The White House held a "deep background" briefing with reporters on Friday afternoon to discuss recent revelations about the Benghazi investigation, sources familiar with the meeting tell POLITICO. . . . I asked Earnest to explain the meaning of "deep background," as defined by the White House, for my readers. He emails: "Deep background means that the info presented by the briefers can be used in reporting but the briefers can't be quoted." At times, Carney veered into abject nonsense: The effort is always to, in that circumstance, and with an ongoing investigation and a lot of information, some of it accurate, some of it not, about what had happened and who was responsible, to provide information for members of Congress and others in the administration, for example, who might speak publicly about it that was based on only what the intelligence community could say for sure it thought it knew. Glad we got that cleared up, then. Until those damnable journalists got involved, May 10 had been billed by the White House as "Health Care Day" - a happy occasion on which the virtues of Obamacare were to be extolled. It was not to be. Six months late, curiosity about Benghazi finally intruded on the president's parade. "A throne," Napoleon held, "is only a bench covered with velvet." If the president is to ride this one out, Jay Carney is going to have to start nailing that velvet back down. - Charles C. W. Cooke is an editorial associate at National Review . http://www.nationalreview.com/article/348217/jay-carney%E2%80%99s-waterloo/page/0/1 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9f6_1368536416 Detroit Iron Jay Carney's Waterloo ojay carney Tue, 14 May 2013 08:02:09 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=151_1368532510 Detroit Iron Senator slams administration on Benghazi, IRS, AP phone tap scandals Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com May 14, 2013 Senator Rand Paul responded to the barrage of scandals to hit the Obama administration, from Benghazi, to the IRS targeting conservatives, to the Justice Department spying on Associated Press reporters, by accusing President Obama of being "drunk on power." Scoffing at an upcoming House Committee on Ways & Means inquiry into the how the IRS targeted those who mentioned the Constitution, the bill of rights, or even making "America a better place to live," Kentucky Senator Paul said he would introduce a resolution today calling for the IRS agents involved to be fired for abusing their power in targeting people for their political activities. "The President says he's going to do something if they're guilty, well it sounds like there's already been an investigation and no one's been fired," Paul told Fox News' Sean Hannity. "I'm afraid he's going to do about as much as he did after Benghazi," he added, noting that those involved in the botched security operation still work for the State Department. Accusing Obama of engaging in "faux outrage" over the IRS scandal, Paul said the President was "using the power of his government to investigate his enemies, he's tapping the phones of the press, and it turns out last year he signed legislation that allows him to detain an American without a trial and send them to Guantanamo Bay." "This sounds like a President somewhat drunk on power, not cautious about how he uses power," added Paul. The Senator also responded to criticism over his claim that Obama is working "anti-American globalists plot against our Constitution," a quote that was characterized by the Washington Post as "black helicopter stuff." "The one thing they can't get away from is that there is a UN Small Arms Treaty, we're not making it up, President Obama has sounded and acted in the UN as if he's supportive, it is moving forward and we are trying to drum up support and publicity for people to say look we do not want to have Americans obey rules of the United Nations, it goes against our sovereignty, it goes against our Constitution," said Paul, adding that he would continue to push the issue. With the White House already reeling from its complicity in the Benghazi cover-up and the IRS controversy, it emerged last night that the so-called "most transparent administration" in history had, via the US Department of Justice, "secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news." Although the government refuses to divulge why it sought the records, which included 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012, speculation suggests the move was a reprisal against a May 7, 2012 AP story which disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen to disrupt an airliner bomb plot, a story which was initially delayed at the request of government officials. "There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters," said AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt in a letter to Attorney General Holder. "These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know. We regard this action by the Department of Justice as a serious interference with AP's constitutional rights to gather and report the news." After the Justice Department responded by claiming it valued "the freedom of the press" and was "always careful and deliberative" in its actions, House Oversight Committee chairman Darrell Issa reacted by remarking, "This is obviously disturbing. Coming within a week of revelations that the White House lied to the American people about the Benghazi attacks and the IRS targeted conservative Americans for their political beliefs, Americans should take notice that top Obama Administration officials increasingly see themselves as above the law and emboldened by the belief that they don't have to answer to anyone. I will work with my fellow House Chairmen on an appropriate response to Obama Administration officials." http://www.infowars.com/rand-paul-ap-phone-spying-proves-obama-is-drunk-on-power/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=151_1368532510 Detroit Iron Rand Paul: AP Phone Spying Proves Obama is "Drunk on Power" Rand Paul, AP News, Obama Mon, 13 May 2013 16:09:16 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb2_1368474844 Daboia Two pilots from Belarus dies in Jet crash. Governement of Belarus asked for not reveling their names (one of them was highly ranked officer). Pilots recivied from control tower an order to catapult, but they propably decided they will take the machine away from the audience (aprox 100000). Final raport was made, but the Belarussian gouvernement asked not to take it to publicity. Speculation: 1) Jet flew too low without acceleration 2) Engine failure 3) (most possible) The Jet was customized in Belarus - altough their forces decline that theory, sayn they customized (upgraded) staelite system and armor - not steering or engines. Sorry for my poor translation skills. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb2_1368474844 Daboia SU-27 Jet crash at Radom Air Show 2009 Poland, crash, jet crash, air show, Sun, 12 May 2013 11:45:07 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e70_1368372631 Detroit Iron During a speech at the Iowa GOP's annual Lincoln Dinner, Sen. Rand Paul challenged possible 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton on her record as secretary of state during the deadly Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, saying it showed a "dereliction of duty and should preclude her from holding higher office." By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC NewsCEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Presidential elections start in Iowa. On Friday, Sen. Rand Paul put his stake in the ground for a possible run in 2016 by mocking the Obama administration and delivering a blistering critique of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens. The administration has been criticized for failing to provide security during the attack and for its characterization of the incident afterward. Speaking at the Iowa GOP's annual Lincoln Dinner, Paul questioned the initial response to the attacks and asked, "First question to Hillary Clinton: Where in the hell were the Marines?" "It was inexcusable, it was a dereliction of duty, and it should preclude her from holding higher office," the Kentucky Republican added to loud applause. Republicans' search for a candidate to deliver their first victory in a presidential election since 2004 began as Paul used the plum speaking slot to plant the seeds for his own possible bid. And he won his biggest applause by taking on Clinton, who's seen as the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination to succeed President Barack Obama. Paul was just elected to the Senate in 2010 and is perhaps best known as the son of the former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, whose two campaigns for president attracted a fervent, grassroots following that might translate to his son. But the Kentucky senator has been far from shy about stoking speculation about his own play for the Republican nomination in 2016. He told reporters earlier Friday that he had not made up his mind and would not decide until 2014. The fundraiser on Friday had unmistakable overtones of a presidential campaign, though the last one ended just six months ago. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, captured that sentiment best in his speech preceding Paul's: "The process of selecting the next leader of the free world begins in Iowa, and it's already begun." Paul's speech doubled at times as a comedy scene, as he seemed at ease before the crowd, stepping away from the podium, microphone in hand, to project a casual demeanor. He rattled off jokes about absurd pork-barrel projects, recalling the campaign style of Arizona Sen. John McCain as he ran for president in 2008. But Paul also used his closely watched speech to offer his own prescriptions about the path forward for the Republican Party, which has been suffering from somewhat of an identity crisis since Mitt Romney lost to Obama in last fall's election. On no issue is that crisis more clear than immigration. A bipartisan bill has advanced in the Senate to allow undocumented immigrants a pathway to citizenship, but King and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, both railed against the proposal in their speeches before Paul's. Paul has spoken in favor of some kind of immigration reform, a dicey topic before this Republican crowd, and he acknowledged those disagreements. But he also tried to align himself with King and Grassley - two of the most stalwart opponents of immigration reform. "I'm also with Sen. Grassley and Congressman King on the fact that I think we were hoodwinked in 1968," he said, referencing the last time Congress passed a major immigration overhaul. "We were promised security, and it never came." But Paul also said there's a "chance could vote for the bill" if he can add amendments strengthening its border security measures. Paul also spoke about broadening the party's appeal, namely to Latinos, African Americans and young voters. "We're an increasingly diverse nation, and I think we do need to reach out to other people that aren't like us, don't look like us, don't wear the same clothes, that aren't exactly who we are," he said. "We're going to have to do something." http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/11/18183010-rand-paul-challenges-hillary-clinton-in-key-iowa-speech?lite http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e70_1368372631 Detroit Iron Rand Paul challenges Hillary Clinton in key Iowa speech Sen. Rand Paul, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sat, 11 May 2013 17:14:23 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b47_1368305406 Omar-knows DailyMail UK By STEVE NOLAN - PUBLISHED: 13:10 GMT, 25 April 2013 South Korea's growing obsession with plastic surgery became apparent when pictures of a group of aspiring beauty queens posted online prompted claims that cosmetic procedures have left all the contestants looking the same. Pictures of the 20 Miss Korea 2013 finalists were posted on Reddit fuelling speculation that many of them had undergone surgery and prompting users to criticise the Asian nation's growing trend to go under the knife. South Koreans currently have more plastic surgery than in any other country according to recent figures, with the craze particularly popular among 19 to 49-year-olds. The popularity of surgery, particularly among the young, has been blamed by some on a desire to look more 'western' fuelled by an obsession with celebrity culture. All of the women vying for the crown of Miss Korea 2013 have dark, perfectly trussed hair, either tumbling over their shoulders or neatly tied up, pale skin, bright eyes and a perfect bright white smile. And their apparent similarity prompted Reddit user ShenTheWise to post their pictures online, suggesting that many of those vying for the Miss Korea title this year have had similar surgery. He captioned the image: 'Korea's plastic surgery mayhem is finally converging on the same face.' The post saw more than 3,000 people comment in response, debating the merits of widespread plastic surgery. Reddit user HotBrownie, who claims to hail from Seoul, said: : 'Those women in fact do look unnervingly similar and yes, Koreans think so too. 'This is called the Korean plastic face look. In certain areas of Seoul, you would think all the women are sisters because they look so similar due to same surgeries. 'Without the plastic surgery, korean women are very diverse looking and easily can be told apart. 'The surgery takes away their individuality and uniqueness and its sad. Most are beautiful without it but telling them that their Korean ethnic features are in fact lovely is as effective as screaming at a brick wall. 'They wont believe you because they've been brainwashed to think westernization of their features is superior, I don't think they want to look white, but a mix of white and Asian and definitely less Korean.' Another Reddit user, Forevertraveling, added: 'I live in Korea and older women complain how girls don't look Korean anymore because of all the plastic surgery. 'It's so common to the point if I meet a girl, I just assume she has had something done. 'Girls here consider eye surgery just like using make up. ' But others on the social networking site said that all the pictures served to prove was that there is a 'cultural divide' between the east and west in terms of plastic surgery. HerpDerpDrone commented: 'Western women want to exaggerate their features with plastic surgeries (fuller lips, bigger boobs, bigger butts) while Asian women want to refine their features (smaller chins etc) so there is definitely a cultural divide when it comes to plastic surgery.' Miss South Korea Yu-Mi Kim admitted having cosmetic surgery saying: 'I never said I was born beautiful' The pageant sparked controversy last year when pictures emerged of winner Kim Yu-Mi before she had undergone plastic surgery, with many claiming that cosmetic procedures give contestants an unfair advantage. The student revealed her plastic surgery secret after photos emerged of her looking very different at school, but she said she hadn't misled anyone. But she defended her crown telling the Korean media: 'I never said I was born beautiful.' South Koreans have more plastic surgery than any other nation according to figures released in January. Those in the Asian country have more treatments per members of the population, with one in every 77 turning to the knife or needle. The figures, from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS), show that in 2011, 15 million people across the globe turned to plastic surgery to enhance their looks. While the popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea may come as a surprise to many, the industry there is in fact booming. Last year, 20 per cent of women aged 19 to 49 in the capital city of Seoul admitted to going under the knife. One of the most popular surgical procedures is double eyelid surgery - which reduces excess skin in the upper eyelid to make the eyes appear bigger and make them look more 'Western'. It is believed that the rise of the country's music industry is behind the boom, and many patients visit clinics with photos of celebrities, asking surgeons to emulate American noses or eyes. Singer PSY, whose song 'Gangnam Style' became a global hit, said his record label had urged him to get plastic surgery. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b47_1368305406 Omar-knows Has plastic surgery made these beauty queens all look the same? Koreans complain about pageant 'clones' Korea, beauty pageants, miss korea, weird news, look alike, asians Sat, 11 May 2013 13:35:25 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=53a_1368293329 aranger45 Homeschoolers will not escape the Common Core - at least those who take GED tests. Thoughtcriminal Oleg Atbashian and his compliant underling Larissa Atbashian (the latter being the main culprit here) have once again threatened the tranquility of Progdom with this new scoop. Below is a revised version of the articles published in the American Thinker and the Washington Times. Adult basic education and GED programs, with about 800,000 students taking GED tests each year, serve a segment of society that escaped government schools, including many homeschoolers. But the national propaganda effort called the Common Core Curriculum is spreading its tentacles to them. While many may not take the GED seriously, calling it the "Good Enough Diploma," consider that quite a few homeschoolers take GED tests as a way to cancel out high school attendance requirements and lessen the record-keeping burden on home educators caused by compulsory attendance laws in every state. GED_Workbook.jpg Thus, aligning GED with Common Core has the potential of erasing all the efforts and sacrifices the homeschooling parents have put in to protect their children from the centralized indoctrination. You can run but you can't hide from the omnipresent Big Brother: the new GED workbooks and requirements will still drag many of their children through the biased Common Core curriculum. What exactly is in store for today's two million homeschoolers and the hundreds of thousands of American adults taking the GED test annually? In March 2013, New Readers Press, a publishing division of ProLiteracy - the world's largest organization of adult basic education and literacy programs - released a revised edition of its bestselling Scoreboost series for the 2014 GED test. With eight supplemental workbooks on the mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies tests, the new series is aligned with the Common Core State Standards and has been expanded, according to the publisher, "to cover the complexities of the new math test as well as the analytic writing required by the extended-response items." New extended-response items on the GED test will provide students with one or more source texts followed by a prompt or question, and the answers will be scored with a three-trait rubric. According to the Social Studies Extended Response Scoring Guide, a maximum of three points will be awarded in Trait 1 (Creation of Arguments and Use of Evidence) if the student can "generate a fact-based argument that demonstrates a clear understanding of the historical relationships among ideas, events, and figures as presented in the source text(s) and the contexts from which they are drawn"; can cite "relevant, specific evidence from primary and/or secondary source text(s) that adequately supports an argument"; and is "well connected to both the prompt and the source text(s)". But what if the source text is wrong on facts and presents a narrow set of partisan political beliefs - in addition to being poorly written and downright confusing? ~ Below is an excerpt from a larger Social Studies Extended Response, found on page 52 from Writing Across the Tests: Responding to Text on the Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science Test, entitled, "Does Foreign Aid Really Help?" Those who support sending aid to poor countries do so because poor countries often have high levels of poverty, poor educational systems, an ineffective police and judicial force, and limited public services such as healthcare, transportation networks, and banking systems. They believe that when living conditions are this poor, crime levels tend to be higher. Poorer countries, because they have weak governments, often have areas that attract terrorist groups because no one is there to stop them from pursuing those types of activities. Thus, poor countries are often home to terrorist groups that are free to plan and carry out attacks on the rich, industrialized nations, without fear of being stopped. This is in fact what happened on 9/11 when terrorists from Afghanistan hijacked planes and carried out attacks on the United States. In this case, the terrorists originated in a country that had received large amounts of foreign aid from rich countries. Apparently, it didn't work. And here is the following test prompt: Should rich countries continue to give aid to poor countries, or should they stop giving aid? Develop an argument that supports your position, and make sure to use specific details to help develop your ideas. The dictionary definition of "indoctrinate" is "to imbue with a usually partisan or sectarian opinion, point of view, or principle." This is exactly what will happen when GED students are required to generate ideas, attitudes, and cognitive strategies based on the above misleading and purely sectarian "progressive" worldview, which disregards the proven beneficiary power of the free markets, misconstrues the motivation of Islamic terrorists, and misrepresents the identities of the 9/11 hijackers, who were, for the most part, educated Muslim Arabs from well-to-do families in oil-rich countries that, in fact, send plenty of foreign aid to support Islamic extremism around the world. Global_Warming.jpg The source text on Global Warming (Page 54) provides a statement that global temperatures are increasing, followed by two theories that explain it - the use of fossil fuels and deforestation - both of which attribute Global Warming to human industrial activity and population growth. Omitted in this "scientific text" is the existence of other scientific data and theories, for example, the cyclical nature of the planet's climate and the impact of solar activity on Earth's temperatures. Nor does it mention the fact that the concept of man-made global warming is most actively promoted by those politicians who have a vested interest in imposing government regulations, which would allow them a greater control over the economy and people's lives. The students are then asked to write a short essay, within approximately ten minutes, with a "correct" explanation of "how human activity has directly contributed to the rise in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere," using "multiple pieces of evidence from the text to support their answer." A dictionary defines "leading question" as "a question phrased in a manner that tends to suggest the desired answer, such as What do you think of the horrible effects of pollution?" They may as well have used this new GED workbook as an example. Apparently New Readers Press is well aware of bias in writing and the difference between fact and opinion, stating: When a statement is made to appear true because it is related to known facts, but is not itself a fact, speculation has occurred. Be on the lookout for statements that may be mere speculation rather than solid facts. (Thinking Skills: Critical Thinking for Reading, Science, and Social Studies - Strategy 10 page 30). Unfortunately, the publisher doesn't apply this principle to its own materials, which not only mislead the students with biased allegations, but also require them to use these inaccurate statements to develop an argument in an essay, thus adding even more legitimacy to prejudicial assertions. We contacted the publisher and received a quick and rather amicable email response. The editor was open to the idea of rephrasing the inaccurate language and even offered to preface the questionable passages on foreign aid with a disclaimer that they should be taken as editorials. While we are grateful for the courteous concession, we're not in the mood for celebration. How many watchdog activists will it take to sift through all the Common Core materials once it launches nationally, and will future responses, if any, be as courteous when the curriculum is supervised and mandated by the federal government? Students_GED.jpg The GED Test is currently used by all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, U.S. insular areas, Canadian provinces and territories, the U.S. military, and federal correctional institutions for the purpose of awarding a high school graduation equivalency credential. While homeschoolers usually excel in GED testing, many of the GED students are high school dropouts who often lack background knowledge about government processes, historical facts, and the context in which they occur. It is imperative that resources used to help them gain this knowledge be above political opinion or biased representation. Until now the United States has benefited from its decentralized, compartmentalized political system, whereby various economic, political, and educational concepts could originate and be tested in individual states and localities before they were shared with others. If they were useful, other states would learn from these practices and willingly implement them within their own jurisdictions. If they were harmful, they would die out without inflicting major damage on a national scale. The initiative to centralize public education changes that, bringing it closer to the erstwhile Soviet model. Brainwashing_School.jpg Having lived and started my working career as a teacher in the USSR, I remember the imposition of identical, centrally planned curriculum on every cookie-cutter school nationwide. The main reason for such mandatory conformity was to maintain a total ideological control and compliance with policies of the totalitarian government. All other aspects of education were secondary to that prime directive. What possible purpose can centralized education have in the United States if not to channel the same ideological conformity to American students, making it easier for the federal bureaucracy to control the educational content? As history and culture of the Department of Education indicate, this isn't a mere theoretical projection. The educational career and legacy of Bill Ayers alone should raise enough red flags not to allow any centralized educational system to be implemented. Even if it may appear benign at first, the prevailing political tendencies in today's academia will inevitably turn such a system into a conduit of ideological indoctrination. Once Common Core is nationally implemented and federally enforced, public education will become just another word for a forcible indoctrination of our children to induce them to give up their parents' political, social, or religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept contrasting regimented ideas. This is the dictionary definition of brainwashing. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=53a_1368293329 aranger45 Common Core GED book: '9/11 hijackers were poor Afghanis' Common Core, GED, book: '9/11 hijackers, were, poor, Afghanis', Libertardism Sat, 11 May 2013 13:25:55 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b7b_1368292903 flashpointreport Ad was played as speculation was mounting that Syria would declare war on Israel. Source: http://facebook.com/syriareport Song: Souria Ya Habibiti http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=b7b_1368292903 flashpointreport Syrian State TV Ad (Aftermath of Israeli Airstrikes) syria ad tv, syria Fri, 10 May 2013 20:46:07 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=978_1368232905 echo4250 This is what competition looks like : One health insurer wants to charge $169 a month next year to cover a 40-year-old Portland-area non-smoker. Another wants $422 a month for the same standard plan. The new health insurance marketplace envisioned by federal health reforms doesn't formally kick in until fall. But it already is taking shape - and consumers for the first time can compare, premium by premium, identical plans by different insurers. Soon they'll be able to compare benefit-by-benefit as well. On Thursday, a comparison of proposed 2014 health premiums became public online, causing two insurers to request do-overs to lower their rates even before the state determines whether they're justified. The unusual development was sparked by a comparison that used to be impossible because plan benefits varied so widely. But under the federal reforms that take effect Jan. 1, health insurance is mandated and every insurer must offer certain standard plans. More >> Find the proposed rates for 2014 health plans in your area. Continuing coverage of efforts to reform health care in Oregon. Starting in October, the change will drive competition in a health insurance marketplace called Cover Oregon where individual consumers and small business owners can comparison shop. Though the state's comparison charts are far less detailed, they foreshadow what Cover Oregon is trying to do."Posting rate comparisons company-by-company is a taste of what is to come," says Cheryl Martinis of the Oregon Insurance Division. Judging by the reaction, there's already an impact. Providence Health Plan on Wednesday asked to lower its requested rates by 15 percent. Gary Walker, a Providence spokesman, says the "primary driver" was a realization that the plan's cost projections were incorrect. But he conceded a desire to be competitive was part of it. A Family Care Health Plans official on Thursday said the insurer will ask the state for even greater decrease in requested rates. CEO Jeff Heatherington says the company realized its analysts were too pessimistic after seeing online that its proposed premiums were the highest. "That was my question when I saw the rates was, 'Can we go in and refile these?'" he said. "We're going to try to get these to a competitive range." The oregonhealthrates.org website provides the filings by the individual carriers and a comparison of certain requested rates in the individual and small business market, broken down by region . The rate comparison shows identical standard-benefit plans rated bronze, silver or gold for their level of benefits for small businesses , as well as individual non-smokers aged 21, 40 and 60. The easy rate comparison is only one of the changes consumers who buy their own insurance can expect in 2014. Another is higher premiums in the 2014 individual market, though for many people they'll be offset by tax credits. The higher rates are because people with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied coverage. Also, plans have to offer stronger benefits than they used to, leading to higher premiums. The changes have spawned much speculation, with some predicting "rate shock" for people who buy their own policies. Now consumers can see for themselves what premiums could be available, at least for certain plans. Meanwhile, at least half the potential customers who buy their own insurance will qualify for a sliding scale of income-based tax credits that could more than-eliminate any price hikes. Nearly 400,000 Oregonians are expected to purchase their own insurance as tax credits lure previously uninsured consumers. In addition to comparing insurance plans, Cover Oregon can enroll people and qualify them for tax credits. Individual consumers and small businesses will be able to talk by phone or use computers to get questions answered. Insurance agents and outreach workers in the community will also be available to help. It's too soon to start shopping. The rates posted Thursday by the Oregon Insurance Division still must be approved by the state in July. The full Cover Oregon website launches in early October .. This is from the newspaper The Oregonian....This article is written so that even conservatives might be able to understand it. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=978_1368232905 echo4250 Two Oregon Insurers Rethink 2014 Premiums as State Posts First Ever Rate Comparison Oregon,Obamacare,working,