It’s all in the genes claim scientists

Gosh, just what are the liberals around the world going to say when they hear this news? For years they have been brainwashing the human population into believing that all races are the same, yet along comes science to prove – once again – that it ain’t so. No way you say. And this comes from the Department of Psychology at Northwestern University in Illinois – so liberals eat your heart out. According to the researchers, one gene differed between the Western and Asian populations which could explain why British people are more inclined to be free thinkers, and Asians have a more collectivist outlook. According to Ms Chiao, the findings showed how culture exerts a powerful influence on human genetics and evolution. Who knew! Well us racists race realists do that’s for sure. You can go wherever you like in the world, the Black man has the same culture and outlook; as do the Asians, and the Indians, and the Whites etc. Why would that be? Only the liberal fools try to teach anything differently. Best you read the article before the PC collectivist police remove it!

 

Cultural stereotypes may be deep rooted in our genetic makeup, say scientists. 

Common traits like British individualism and Chinese conformity could be attributed to genetic differences between races according to a new study.

The study, by the department of psychology at Northwestern University in Illinois, suggests that the individualism seen in western nations, and the higher levels of collectivism and family loyalty found in Asian cultures, are caused by differences in the prevalence of particular genes.

‘We demonstrate for the first time a robust association between cultural values of individualism–collectivism and the serotonin transporter gene,‘ said Joan Chiao, from the department of psychology at Northwestern University.

Chiao and her colleagues combined data from global genetic surveys, looking at variations in the prevalence of various genes. The findings were matched with other research which ranked nations by levels of individualism and collectivism.

The team focused their attentions on the gene that controls levels of serotonin, a chemical in the brain which regulates mood and emotions.

Their studies found that one version of the gene was far more common in western populations which, they said, was associated with individualistic and free-thinking behaviour.

Another version of the same gene, which was prevalent in Asian populations, they said was associated with collectivism and a greater willingness to put the common good first. 

People with this gene appeared to have a different response to serotonin.

If they are confirmed, the findings made by Chiao and her colleagues would suggest that races may have a number of inherent psychological differences — just as they differ in physical appearances. 

Chiao suggests that the version of the gene predominating in Asian populations is associated with heightened anxiety levels and increased risk of depression. 

She adds that such populations respond by structuring their society to ward off those negative effects. 

The success of such social structures would then ensure that the gene would spread.

She added the findings showed how culture could exert a powerful influence on human genetics and evolution.

Source

California’s Greek Tragedy

Oh, the authors of this piece come soooooo close to calling a spade a spade, and then they cop out. Cowards. They mostly use all the right words – even the correct statistics to back up their worry, but in the end they just can’t admit why California is going bankrupt. For example, here are the stats that count: From mid-1980 to 2005, the population grew by 10 million, whilst Medicaid recipients increased by 7 million; tax payers filing income tax increased by only 150 000, but the prison population rose by 115 000. California is home to 12% of America’s population, yet have 33%  of the welfare recipients. The annual spending on a prison inmate equals an entire middle-income family’s after-tax income. Also add to this burden the number of youth who are stoned out of their minds on cannabis, and add the number of illegal immigrants and the increase in the Black and Asian populations and bingo, you have a state that’s sucking off the welfare teat and going bankrupt. However, the authors only say that the states diversity is its strength. See, that’s where they were so close, but oh so wrong. Oh well, we live to fight another liberal or two.

 

Long a harbinger of national trends and an incubator of innovation, cash-strapped California eagerly awaits a temporary revenue surge from Facebook IPO stock options and capital gains. Meanwhile, Stockton may soon become the state’s largest city to go bust. Call it the agony and ecstasy of contemporary California.

California’s rising standards of living and outstanding public schools and universities once attracted millions seeking upward economic mobility. But then something went radically wrong as California legislatures and governors built a welfare state on high tax rates, liberal entitlement benefits, and excessive regulation. The results, though predictable, are nonetheless striking. From the mid-1980s to 2005, California’s population grew by 10 million, while Medicaid recipients soared by seven million; tax filers paying income taxes rose by just 150,000; and the prison population swelled by 115,000.

California’s economy, which used to outperform the rest of the country, now substantially underperforms.

The unemployment rate, at 10.9%, is higher than every other state except Nevada and Rhode Island. With 12% of America’s population, California has one third of the nation’s welfare recipients.

Partly due to generous union wages and benefits, inflexible work rules and lobbying for more spending, many state programs and institutions spend too much and achieve too little. For example, annual spending on each California prison inmate is equal to an entire middle-income family’s after-tax income. 

Many of California’s K-12 public schools rank poorly on standardized tests. The unfunded pension and retiree health-care liabilities of workers in the state-run Calpers system, which includes teachers and university personnel, totals around $250 billion.

Meanwhile, the state lurches from fiscal tragedy to fiscal farce, running deficits in good times as well as bad. The general fund’s spending exceeded its tax revenues in nine of the last 10 years (the only exceptions being 2005 at the height of the housing bubble), abetted by creative accounting and temporary IOUs.

Now, the bill is coming due. After running a $5 billion deficit last year and another likely deficit this year, Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget increases spending next year by $7 billion and finances the higher spending with income and sales-tax hikes. Specifically, he’s proposing a November ballot initiative raising the state’s top income tax rate to 12.3%, making it the nation’s highest, and raising the basic state sales tax rate, already the nation’s highest, to 7.75% from 7.25%.

While Mr. Brown deserves credit for some earlier spending cuts to reduce a large inherited budget shortfall, the budget fails to address long-run structural problems, counting on a cyclical economic recovery and stock bubble for a bailout until the next self-inflicted crisis. Moreover, he’s thus far failed to embrace a bold reform agenda to save money, improve services, and restore confidence among the state’s beleaguered taxpayers and bond holders.

The ballot initiative’s $31 billion, multiyear “temporary” tax increase is larger than the “temporary” hike it replaces and its income-tax hike is retroactive to Jan. 1, 2012. Worse, it doubles down on excessive reliance on high-income taxpayers, especially their stock options and capital gains, which are taxed as ordinary income. During economic good times, it’s not unusual for the state to collect one-half of all income-tax revenue from the top 1%. This extreme progressivity leads to boom-bust cycles of rapidly rising revenue followed by complete collapse. Not surprisingly, the revenue is all spent on the upswing, forcing disruptive “emergency” cutbacks on the way down.

The state’s progressive tax-and-spend experiment is broken, threatening basic services, from courts and parks to education and health care for its most vulnerable citizens. Mr. Brown’s tax initiative only exposes the state to an ever more dangerous roller-coaster ride.

No wonder many Silicon Valley CEOs say they won’t expand in California because of high taxes and burdensome regulation. And no wonder net migration has recently reversed, with hundreds of thousands of workers and their families leaving the state in search of better opportunities.

California still ranks first in technology, agriculture and entertainment among the 50 states. But it is near the bottom in business and tax climate and state bond ratings. It’s a complex picture, but at its core is the high-tax welfare state run amok.

Many Americans fear the federal fiscal train wreck will turn us into Greece. But, barring major change, they need look no further than California to see what this future portends. Relying on ever-higher taxes to fund payments to an outsized population of benefit recipients is a recipe for exporting prosperity. That is one California trend that other states emulate at their peril.

No one should write off California. It still has great strengths. And it can turn some of its short-term challenges, such as the pressures from ethnic and linguistic diversity (the state is now 37% Hispanic and 13% Asian), into long-term strengths in the global economy. But the political class must face up to the reality that services will have to be far more carefully targeted; the tax system overhauled with lower rates on a broader base of economic activity and people (almost half of all Californians pay no state income tax); and inefficient state programs reformed to spend less and produce far better outcomes.

Mr. Brown is a man of ideas, having run for president in 1992 on a bold flat-tax agenda. Instead of still more antigrowth tax hikes, he should break the grip on the state legislature of his party’s special interests—public employee unions, trial lawyers, teacher unions and extreme environmentalists.

A California renaissance—building on the best reforms in budgeting and taxes, education and welfare, crime prevention and pensions by such leaders as Rudy Giuliani, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Andrew Cuomo—is still possible. What it requires is a governor with the vision, determination and political will to see it through.

Messrs. Boskin and Cogan are, respectively, professors of economics and public policy at Stanford University, where they are both senior fellows at the Hoover Institution.

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Africans in Switzerland find a common voice

So, the Swiss tend to think of Africans as drug dealers and violent people. Well, they are correct of course. Africans living in Switzerland now number nearly 61 000 – do the Swiss know what they’re importing? Apparently they do, but still the government allows it. The Africans are now trying to show the Swiss that they are more than just drug dealing pimps, and can be trusted. See, this is what I don’t understand. When Whites were in Africa, the African Blacks wanted them out asap.  Throughout their history they have brutally attacked and killed innocent Whites, yet they run to the White-man’s lands when they’re in trouble. Send them back. Let them sort out their own mess that they’ve created with their savagery and criminality. Let them build up their own countries – if it’s mud huts then so be it – that’s the way they chose to live. Do you honestly think that Whites would be able to move to one of the Black African nations – to the tune of 61 000 people, without them catching a heart attack? Let me answer that for you – no! They would wet their pants to get rid of them, calling them colonizers who are there to keep the Black man down. Yet, today they run to Europe in the form of refugees and war orphans and the White man takes them in over and over. There are 61 000 today, a million tomorrow and bang goes Switzerland. Their true nature will come out eventually, as we’ve seen over and over. Today they may be grateful and civil, but a few generations down the line you’ll have criminal savages running in the Swiss streets. You only have to look at what’s happening in the UK and Sweden to know the truth. Of course the Swiss know what they’re dealing with – if only their own government would too.

 

Some fled from a country torn by war. Others were following the dream of a better future: a job, a home, a family.

At the end of 2011 there were 60,658 Africans resident in Switzerland, not counting dual citizens or asylum seekers without refugee status. Most of them are Eritreans (8,377), Moroccans (7,270), Tunisians (6,489), Congolese (4,707) and Cameroonians (4,068).

With the exception of South Sudan, which has been independent only since July 2011, all 54 states of the world’s second-most populous continent are represented. Together they represent about 3.5 per cent of the foreign resident population here.

“African immigration is a rather recent phenomenon in Switzerland which experienced a significant development in the past 20-30 years,” explained the sociologist Denise Efionayi, author of a study on the Sub-Saharan diaspora published by the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies (SFM).

“This is a heterogeneous community, with extremely varied cultural, linguistic and religious affiliations. ‘African’ identity for these migrants is often defined negatively in response to a common migratory pattern and experiences of discrimination and marginality.”

In the eyes of many Swiss, these migrants are simply Africans. It matters little where they come from; whether they are Christian or Muslim, or speak French, English or Arabic.

It’s a prejudice which needs to be corrected, certainly, but one which the African diaspora is now trying to turn to its own advantage, playing down national barriers so as to speak with a single voice.

Earlier this month, several hundred Africans met in Bern to get to know each other, engage in dialogue, and share their hopes and frustrations.

The congress was organised by the African Diaspora Council Switzerland (ADCS) which intends to act as an umbrella for the hundreds of African associations, small businesses and places of worship now active around the country.

The aim is to improve the image of this community of migrants which is too often associated with problems like illegal immigration, drug dealing and violence.

Strength in numbers

“The initiative was started in 2010 after the death of a Nigerian asylum seeker during a forced repatriation.

The African community was in shock, but in spite of this only a small number of people took part in protests and awareness-raising actions that followed the event,” explained ADCS coordinator Celeste Ugochukwu.

“So we thought that, if Mohammed won’t go to the mountain… we needed to get going ourselves. And so we went around the different regions to get to know the groups and act as a bridge between them.”

The creation of an African diaspora council immediately aroused the  interest of the Federal Migration Office.

“For us it is fundamental to have a more institutional partner that can give voice to the needs of the migrants,” Eric Kaser from the Migration Office integration division told swissinfo.ch.

Around 30 associations have joined the initiative and, apart from Egyptian representatives, they are run by, or cater to, migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa.

Some concern themselves with facilitating the integration of Africans in Switzerland, others with promoting development in their home countries through exchanges of skills or sending money. There are politically motivated organisations and research centres for promoting peace.

A fundamental role in the integration of migrants is played by the religious groups, the food stores, hairdressers and restaurants, which also represent a significant focus on socialisation.

“Unlike the Spaniards and Portuguese, Africans were not able to count on the help of trade unions in creating a community where they could band together and defend their rights,” explained Efionayi.

“This is because of the great diversity of the community and an economic situation that is quite different from what it was in the post-war era.”

Overcoming prejudice

According to the SFM study, over 50 per cent of immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa are under the age of 40. It is therefore not surprising that the impulse for the creation of an African diaspora council came particularly from young people.

“Leaving aside our cultural differences, we are often confronted with the same problems: access to education or jobs, assimilation, loneliness and isolation,” said Joel Hakizimana, a 31-year-old originally from Burundi who is now secretary of the ADCS.

Prejudice is all too present in life and “even if at times people get tired of hearing about integration, sharing experiences and strategies lets us look to the future in a positive way”, he said.

Workplace discrimination is perhaps the most striking aspect of the experience of these young people. Between 2003 and 2007, two-thirds of African immigrants were working at semi-skilled or unskilled jobs, for the most part as manual labourers, or were working in retail, services and restaurants.

“Some of them have a university degree, but these are not recognised or have simply lost their worth after the months of inactivity taken up by the asylum procedure or unemployment, which among young Africans is over 20 per cent,” said Efionayi.

For the African diaspora, economic and social participation is the key to successful integration. The new organisation is a chance to show Swiss society the important role played by various regional associations.

It is an opportunity to reinforce a common African identity and create a political lobby able to overcome the many prejudices which exist.

“Integration is like doing the tango: it takes two,” participants in the diaspora meeting have been saying.

“We are ready to dance. Are you?”

Source

UN panel adopts sidelined report that praised Qaddafi rights record

It seems the UN hasn’t seen a dictator that they haven’t loved. The latest one to get whitewashed as a good guy is Muammar Qaddafi. The UN must be completely devastated to have lost such a bastion of human rights. Poor guy – just why did his own people kill him? They obviously hadn’t read the UN report that’s why! Next time UN, make sure to send your reports to the unhappy people before they revolt and kill your good guy. How about Syria? Quick, send a positive report to them – maybe it’ll prevent more bloodshed? Already 7500 have died – more than during the 46 years of Apartheid. Says a lot about the UN doesn’t it? It also says a lot about what the UN understands about the term human rights – seems to change from cause to cause, country to country, and race to race. And what was Canada thinking approving this report? 

 

A United Nations panel has adopted a report praising Qaddafi-era Libya for its human rights record, a year after the report was sidelined amid international objection. 

The report initially came before the U.N. Human Rights Council in the middle of the uprising against the Muammar Qaddafi regime. At the time, the U.N. had just voted to suspend Libya from the rights council — under pressure to maintain a consistent message toward Libya, the council later postponed consideration of the report. 

But the Human Rights Council on Wednesday returned to the document — and approved it. 

U.N. Watch Director Hillel Neuer blasted the council for the move, saying the panel should have called a new session entirely to review Qaddafi’s “heinous crimes.” 

“The council should have set an example of accountability by acknowledging that its original review was deeply flawed,” he said in a statement, claiming the report served to “falsely praise Qaddafi’s oppressive regime, insult his victims and harm the reputation of the U.N.” 

Qaddafi was ousted from power and killed in the uprising last year. 

The U.N. report — put together after a November 2010 session, months before protesters challenged Qaddafi — includes dozens of recommendations for how Libya could improve human rights. But it also included pages of commentary, mostly positive, from the dozens of delegations to the controversial Human Rights Council. 

The review commended Libya for improving educational opportunities, for making human rights a “priority” and for bettering its “constitutional” framework. Several countries, including Iran, Venezuela, North Korea, and Saudi Arabia, but also Canada, gave Libya positive marks for the legal protections afforded to its citizens — who later revolted against the regime and faced bloody reprisal. 

The commentary included some criticism, particularly from the United States and several European nations.

Source

South African police brutality continued

Anyone still in doubt that the police in South Africa are brutal thugs can view the video below. This is how they treat their own Black people. The world was up in arms a few decades ago when White police men would try and quell Black on Black violence or violent rioting. The MSM would plaster this laughable ‘brutality’ all over the media, trying to smear them. Today the Black police force is a far more sinister, violent, corrupt and useless police force which is being exposed over and over again via modern technology, yet all you hear from the world is crickets. Contrast to what the media reaction would be were this a White police officer? Why, the UN, Human Rights Watch and every other bleeding heart organisation would be frothing at the mouth, decrying the inhumanity. Black police? Not so much. 

Warning: graphic content.  

A video clip of a uniformed police officer brutally attacking an individual has surfaced on the internet. Instead of facing a charge of attempted murder, the officer involved is facing a lesser charge of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He also spent time as the acting station commander of Vaalwater Police Station, after the incident occurred. 

How Qatar bought Britain

Whilst British governments over and over squandered the oil and gas wealth by increasing the social welfare bill, Qatar has taken a different approach and has invested billions in a future fund, which in turn has invested in numerous English businesses and landmarks. Today Britain is up to her eyeballs in debt – all her riches gone, nothing to show for it but increased debt, increased welfare dependency and an uneducated population of youth, most of whom can’t find gainful employment. Qatar? Not so much. Qatar, a tiny gulf state has done very well by investing in its future. Poor Britain. They’re like the uncle you’re too embarrassed to introduce to your friends. Too bad, so sad. But, there is a silver lining.  The British now know where they can get a job – in Qatar!

Hat tip: Mark L

Qatar is one of the few countries able to do business and talk politics with almost anyone. Its advocates say it is in an ideal position to help reshape the Middle East

Creeping steadily above the London skyline, the Shard will be Europe’s tallest building when it is finally finished in a few weeks’ time: an extraordinary monument to glass, steel and sheer ambition. 

And an appropriate symbol for the rise of its Qatari owners and their ever-growing influence here in Britain.

From the ruins of the financial crisis, this tiny Gulf state has snapped up a range of famous British assets, and if you were to take a look from the upper storeys of the Shard, quite a few would be in view.

o the east, Qatar owns swathes of the Canary Wharf financial district through its majority holding in Songbird Estates plc. 

When Barclays was in trouble at the height of the banking turmoil, the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) emerged as a white-knight investor, and became the biggest shareholder. 

Over at Stratford stand the buildings of the Olympic Village – once the Games are finished this summer, QIA will take ownership. 

Due west lie Harrods and, close by, No 1 Hyde Park, the world’s most expensive block of flats, also Qatari-owned.

A sovereign wealth fund with tens of billions of pounds in assets and a global reach, QIA has already invested £10 billion in Britain, with more planned. Its influence is everywhere. 

If you walk into any Sainsbury’s across the UK, remember that Qatar is a major investor. 

It owns 20 per cent of the London Stock Exchange and, at the other end of the scale, it owns  20 per cent of Camden market, the biggest grunge emporium in the country. 

Qatar is smaller than Belgium yet seems to be laying claim to the future of our capital.

Its real influence, however, which could yet shape the lives of millions of ordinary Britons, is invisible and still growing. 

From a standing start, in the last two years Qatar has become Britain’s biggest supplier of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). 

Last year Qatari LNG accounted for 85 per cent of Britain’s liquefied natural gas imports, providing power to homes across the land.

But that figure is rising, and by the final quarter of 2011, Qatari supplies had jumped to 95.5 per cent of our total LNG imports.

For some, at least, our dependence on Qatar for a major part of our power has become a significant cause for concern. (LNG already accounts for one quarter of the UK gas supply.) 

As one union leader put it: ‘They have vast sums to spend, they invest in our strategic industries and that in turn allows them to influence the type of society we are.’

Certainly, as North Sea oil reserves diminish, this tiny Gulf state has become pivotal to Britain’s future energy security and our prosperity.

It is little wonder that both David Cameron and his predecessor as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, have been assiduous in courting the Qatari leader, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, and his glamorous wife, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al-Missned.

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How Engineering the Human Body Could Combat Climate Change

I can just see those Greeny latte-drinker inner-city types nodding their head in agreement with this nonsense. This is what happens when you allow kooky intellectual types with degrees in philosophy and who are cloistered in academic centres to have a voice. They should rather stay in their caves where they don’t sound stupid, instead of opening their mouths and removing all doubt. Their latest hair brained idea is to genetically modify humans so that they don’t cause too much damage to the environment. Like what you ask? Well, like genetically modifying a foetus so that they will be smaller in size – and therefore less resource intensive. How about a pill so that you don’t want to eat meat? How about genetically altering human eyes to be like cat eyes. Why? Well, because then humans won’t need so much light at night. See how wonky these people are? They don’t deserve to be walking amongst us. They should be on their own little island somewhere far away where they can pray to the moon, speak to the trees and chant to each other in their gobbly gook all-knowing language. Just leave us humans alone. We are doing just fine thank you. 

 

From drugs to help you avoid eating meat to genetically engineered cat-like eyes to reduce the need for lighting, a wild interview about changes humans could make to themselves to battle climate change.

The threat of global climate change has prompted us to redesign many of our technologies to be more energy-efficient. From lightweight hybrid cars to long-lasting LED’s, engineers have made well-known products smaller and less wasteful. But tinkering with our tools will only get us so far, because however smart our technologies become, the human body has its own ecological footprint, and there are more of them than ever before. So, some scholars are asking, what if we could engineer human beings to be more energy efficient? A new paper to be published in Ethics, Policy & Environment proposes a series of biomedical modifications that could help humans, themselves, consume less.

Some of the proposed modifications are simple and noninvasive. For instance, many people wish to give up meat for ecological reasons, but lack the willpower to do so on their own. The paper suggests that such individuals could take a pill that would trigger mild nausea upon the ingestion of meat, which would then lead to a lasting aversion to meat-eating. Other techniques are bound to be more controversial. For instance, the paper suggests that parents could make use of genetic engineering or hormone therapy in order to birth smaller, less resource-intensive children. 

The lead author of the paper, S. Matthew Liao, is a professor of philosophy and bioethics at New York University. Liao is keen to point out that the paper is not meant to advocate for any particular human modifications, or even human engineering generally; rather, it is only meant to introduce human engineering as one possible, partial solution to climate change. He also emphasized the voluntary nature of the proposed modifications. Neither Liao or his co-authors,  Anders Sandberg and Rebecca Roache of Oxford, approve of any coercive human engineering; they favor modifications borne of individual choices, not technocratic mandates. What follows is my conversation with Liao about why he thinks human engineering could be the most ethical and effective solution to global climate change. 

Your paper focuses on human engineering techniques that are relatively safe. Did your research lead you to any interesting techniques that were unsafe? 

Liao: Actually, yes, although unfortunately the science is not there yet—we looked into cat eyes, the technique of giving humans cat eyes or of making their eyes more catlike. The reason is, cat eyes see nearly as well as human eyes during the day, but much better at night. We figured that if everyone had cat eyes, you wouldn’t need so much lighting, and so you could reduce global energy usage considerably. Maybe even by a shocking percentage.

But, again, this isn’t something we know how to do yet, although it’s possible there might be some way to do it with genetics—there are some primates with eyes that are very similar to cat eyes, and so possibly we could study those primates and figure out which genes are responsible for that trait, and then hopefully activate those genes in humans. But that’s very speculative and requires a lot of research. 

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Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith Calls on Blacks to Back Obama

Apparently this is not racist. If you are a ‘minority’ then anything racist you do is justifiable and isn’t actual racism, just payback because the Whites deserve it. But, let’s imagine for a second that Romney were POTUS and a White coach were to say that he supports Romney because he’s White and he calls on his fellow Whites to vote for Romney, what do you think would happen?? Take a wild guess. See, I love when this happens because you can always use it against these fools later. And in any case, why the heck is this coach even worrying about the Black vote seeing as Obama has a 97% approval rating amongst them – they already got the race memo when they were born with their race card strapped to their hip, ready for immediate use. This guy is as dumb as they come. It’s almost as if he believes he walks on water and his word is that important. No Mr Lovie Smith (!) – you’re only a coach of some lame sport team and you really aren’t that important. 

 

Chicago Bears head coach Lovie Smith wants African-Americans to “be patient and look into the future,” setting aside any disappointment in President Obama to actively support his campaign for a second term.

“Our future’s looking bright, because I trust the man who’s leading us. And that man is Barack Obama,”  Smith, 53, says in a new Obama campaign Web video to promote the group African-Americans for Obama.

“I have the president’s back, and it’s up to us as African-Americans to show that we have his back also.”

Ninety-six percent of black voters in the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll say they approve of the way Obama has handled his job, while just 3 percent do not.

But lingering economic frustration in the black community, where unemployment was 14.1 percent in February, has highlighted the issue of whether blacks will turn out in record force for Obama in November as they did four years ago.

Smith and former Obama personal aide Reggie Love, who also appeared in an African-Americans for Obama Web video, are among a group of high-profile figures leading outreach to the black community. R&B singer Janelle Monae and author and Baptist minister Michael Eric Dyson also appear in online appeals.

Smith and Love hit the campaign trail together last month, joining Obama campaign manager Jim Messina in Indianapolis for a Super Bowl Sunday campaign fundraiser.

Source

Leader of militant group behind Gilad Schalit kidnapping killed by Israel airstrike in Gaza

Don’t mess with Israel…..

Zuhair al-Qaissi (left) of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees was behind the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit

The commander of the Palestinian militant group behind the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit was killed in an airstrike in Gaza on Friday.
Zuhair al-Qaissi, the commander of the armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a Hamas-aligned militant group, was targeted in a midday strike as his car rolled through Gaza City.

His son-in-law and another aide also died in the attack while Israel’s military said it killed two more militants in a separate operation.

The strike is the highest-profile in Gaza for months and sparked an immediate burst of retaliatory rocket fire as well as fears that the violence may escalate in coming days.

Militant groups responded by firing dozens of rockets and mortar rounds into southern Israel, reportedly injuring four people.

Israel said al-Qaissi was plotting an attack similar to the raids in August last year, where four groups of militants crossed over the border from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and killed six civilians and two members of the security forces.

Al-Qaissi was reportedly also in charge of funneling money the Lebanese group Hezbollah to militant organisations in Gaza. His predecessor, Kamal Nairab, was killed by a similar Israeli strike seven months ago.

A PRC spokesman promised retribution for yesterday’s attack, saying: “We shall avenge our leader and the response, God willing, will be equal to the size of the heinous crime.”

The PRC are among the most active groups firing rockets into Israel but are best known for orchestrating the kidnap of Mr Shalit in June 2006.

The Israeli conscript was held for more than five years until Israel agreed to free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to secure his release in October last year.

While Mr Schalit returned to a hero’s welcome in Israel some questioned the wisdom of freeing so many suspected militants, many of whom vowed to return to the fight against the Jewish state.

The peace process between Israel and the Palestinians has largely stalled in the last year as focus shifted to the Arab Spring and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Riad Malki, the Palestinian foreign minister, said yesterday that American diplomats had warned him the US would be unable to focus on the issue until after the presidential election in November.

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No Warming For 17 Years – Game, Set, Match

Say it isn’t so! You mean, global warming….errr….climate change isn’t real? Oh dear, and here’s Australia set on imposing a $23 per tonne – yes, you read correctly, a $23 per tonne – carbon dioxide tax on everything in the country from July so that we can reduce our ‘footprint’ by a whole 5%! Now, if you want a picture of how much CO2 Australia is responsible for, then imagine a room 3x3x2 and put a big corn-flakes box in the corner and that box represents how much of the entire CO2 we are responsible for. And our government wants to cut that corn-flakes box by 5% so as to save the world from dangerous overheating! Meantime China builds a new coal-fired power station every week…..but nothing to see there so look the other way Australia. Our new super tax is only going to cost $50 billion over the next few years, so I’m sure we’ll see a dramatic drop in the world temperatures…..no wait, there has been no warming after all! Oh well, I’m sure all that money Ms Gillard is going to suck out of our economy will be put to good use……..oh wait, the Labor government has already racked up $200 BILLION in debt over the last 4 years – after being left with $20 billion in surplus by John Howard and Peter Costello (the evil Conservatives). Now, I wonder why Ms Gillard is still going ahead with the carbon dioxide tax, even though there hasn’t been any warming over the last 17 years, and even though the European emissions trading scheme has all but collapsed and you can pick permits up for under $10 per tonne, and even though the tax will reduce the world’s temperature by only 0.00000001%, or some such ridiculous non-measurable amount. No, there has to be a good reason why the Australian Labor government is still going ahead with economic suicide….hmmmmm. Nah, I can’t quite put my finger on it. Anyone with any ideas?? 

 

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