Turkish Troops Stop Christmas

More Islamic supremacism from the reislamicized Turks with imperialistic aspirations of an Ottoman Empire. The local Cyprus TV and radio are reporting since Christmas evening that troops in northern occupied Cyprus entered at least seven Greek Orthodox churches, stopped the worship services, threw out the people, and in at least one case forced a priest to remove his clerical dress.

Why are the Muslims occupying Cyprus? Dreams of an Armenian genocide redux?

The Red Cross Bans Christmas

Christmas has been banned by the Red Cross from its 430 fund-raising shops.

Staff have been ordered to take down decorations and to remove any other signs of the Christian festival because they could offend Moslems.

The charity's politically-correct move triggered an avalanche of criticism and mockery last night - from Christians and Moslems.

Christine Banks, a volunteer at a Red Cross shop in New Romney, Kent, said: 'We put up a nativity scene in the window and were told to take it out. It seems we can't have anything that means Christmas. We're allowed to have some tinsel but that's it.

'When we send cards they have to say season's greetings or best wishes. They must not be linked directly to Christmas.

'When we asked we were told it is because we must not upset Moslems.'

Mrs Banks added: ' We have been instructed that we can't say anything about Christmas and we certainly can't have a Christmas tree.

' I think the policy is offensive to Moslems as well as to us. No reasonable person can object to Christians celebrating Christmas. But we are not supposed to show any sign of Christianity at all.'

Labour peer Lord Ahmed, one of the country's most prominent Moslem politicians, said: 'It is stupid to think Moslems would be offended.

'The Moslem community has been talking to Christians for the past 1,400 years. The teachings from Islam are that you should respect other faiths.'

He added: 'In my business all my staff celebrate Christmas and I celebrate with them. It is absolutely not the case that Christmas could damage the Red Cross reputation for neutrality - I think their people have gone a little bit over the top.'

The furore is a fresh blow to the image of what was once one of Britain's most respected charities.

The British Red Cross lost friends this year over its support for the French illegal immigrant camp at Sangatte and its insistence on concentrating large efforts on helping asylum seekers.

Yesterday officials at the charity's London HQ confirmed that Christmas is barred from the 430 shops which contributed more than £20million to its income last year.

'The Red Cross is a neutral organisation and we don't want to be aligned with any political party or particular philosophy,' a spokesman said.

'We don't want to be seen as a Christian or Islamic or Jewish organisation because that might compromise our ability to work in conflict situations around the world.'

He added: 'In shops people can put up decorations like tinsel or snow which are seasonal. But the guidance is that things representative of Christmas cannot be shown.'

Volunteers, however, said they believed the Christmas ban was a product of political correctness of the kind that led Birmingham's leaders to order their city to celebrate 'Winterval'.

Rod Thomas, a Plymouth vicar and spokesman for the Reform evangelical grouping in the Church of England, said: 'People who hold seriously to their faith are respected by people of other faiths. They should start calling themselves the Red Splodge. All their efforts will only succeed in alienating most people.'

Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said: 'There is really nothing to hurt the Red Cross in Christmas, is there? Would the Red Crescent stop its staff observing Ramadan?

'In practice, the role of the Red Cross is to run prisoner- of-war programmes and relief efforts for civilians. Those activities require the agreement of both sides in a conflict in the first place. Celebrating Christmas in a shop in England could hardly upset that.'

Major Heyman added: 'Moslems are just as sensible about these things as Christians. The Red Cross is just engaging in a bit of political correctness.'

Jihad Targets Swedish Christmas Shoppers

(English language Swedish newspaper)
(Updated 3) A car exploded at the busy shopping street Drottninggatan in central Stockholm. Then there was another explosion some distance away and one man died. According to news agency TT, a man had blown himself to death. He carried six interconnected pipe bombs but only one exploded. He also had a backpack full of nails, according to newspaper Aftonbladet.

Alarm calls started to pour in to the Emergency Services from concerned residents after the explosions in central Stockholm on Saturday afternoon. But the initial information from the police was very unclear. The initial information described two car explosions, but later it proved to be just about one.

“A car at street Olof Palmes gata has exploded, we got the alarm at two minutes over five o'clock PM. Two minutes later, we received yet another alarm about an explosion from street Bryggargatan some distance away," said Ulf Göranzon, at the Stockholm Police.

A man was found dead at the place of the second explosion . According to news agency TT the police assumes that the man was not damaged in the car explosion, but that he somehow blasted himself.


Shouted in Arabic

Police bomb technicians examined the dead man's bag by using a bomb robot. Radiographs show that it contained a large quantity of nails and an unknown substance which is suspected to be explosives.

At least four ambulances were sent to the scene. Two people were taken to hospital with minor injuries, they had been in the vicinity of the explosions.

According to witnesses, the man shouted something in Arabic before the bomb detonated.

The Swedish news agency TT reports that both them and the Swedish Security Service received a video-film only ten minutes before the explosions.

In the film a man addresses to "Sweden and the Swedish people". He, among else, refers to the Swedish silence on artist Lars Vilks paintings of the muslim prophet Mohammed, the Swedish soldiers in Afghanistan, saying that "now shall your children, daughters and sisters die as our brothers and sisters and children are dying."

Explaining the Decline is not Stopping It

9/15/08 was a dandy wake-up call, but it came 40 years too late. In the ensuing 15 months we have begun to put together what happened to us, but we remain clueless how to stop the free fall of the country. Civilizations rise with effective standards and fall when they are abused. This is a regular occurrence, because a person who can think out of the box is rare.
Two notions showed me a way out of the box. Our Republic failed in 1950. Most prominent US actors qualify as enemy combatants.
I have just come to know that next week the Jerusalem Municipality will distribute free Christmas trees to the Christian residents of Jerusalem. I missed my chance! I already bought a Christmas tree (plastic) and matching decoration in Bethlehem, on my visit last week.
It was a bit silly to drag around the tree all day, including in the narrow corridors of the checkpoint, on collective taxis I took on both sides and on the final Egged bus trip back to Tel Aviv. I bought the tree in Bethlehem rather than Jaffa for two reasons: an idealistic desire to support Palestinian shaky economy (I was embarrassed when the taxi drivers actually thanked me for that), and the will to fulfill a romantic dream. I am still a Christian, after all.
Ah, Bethlehem! What a beautiful little town. Too bad none of my Israeli friends could come for the ride. Sometimes I forget the reality of the place I live in. Call me naive, but I caught myself more than once daydreaming about the time were people (including me) will travel freely in the Middle East - how about an afternoon hibiscus tea in Damascus, before or after an hammam bath in Lebanon? Shall we drop by the Pyramids on the way?
This year I am throwing a Christmas party for my Jewish friends, who never had a Christmas tree or sang adeste fidelis. I do this lightheartedly, yet well aware of the amount of Judeo-Christian hate the birth of this little ah! so-special baby has brought about.
Talking about religious zeal, the lovely gesture of the Jerusalem municipality (a tradition which has been taking place yearly since 1965) did not fail to provoke its share of polemics: the Jewish state fomenting Christian traditions in the public square? With Orthodox taxpayers money?
Religious opposition in this matter stems from the way in which Christianity as a religion is classified in traditional Jewish legal sources. Since Christianity believes that God is made up of a trinity of beings, rabbinical codifiers such as Maimonides have described the religion as avodah zarah, a Hebrew term whose nearest English equivalent is idol worship. Under Jewish law, it is forbidden to financially support such worship. As such, observant Jews are opposed to the use of their tax dollars for the purpose of aiding in the celebration of a Christian holiday.
Laura Chiesa, Word Press