Israeli neo-nazi arrested

This is a German TV video on neo-nazis in Israel.

Today, there are nazis not just in Croatia, in Hungary, in the United States armed forces, and elsewhere … also in Israel, where many survivors of Adolf Hitler’s horrible anti-Semitic terror live, there are not just far Right nationalists who think it is OK to collaborate with European anti-Semites … but open admirers of Hitler as well.

From the Jerusalem Post in Israel:

Suspected Israeli neo-Nazi arrested at Ben-Gurion

By YAAKOV LAPPIN

01/03/2011 21:38

Dimitri Bogitch, headed gang that allegedly carried out hate crimes in Petah Tikva, detained upon extradition from Kyrgyzstan.

A suspected head of a neo-Nazi gang who allegedly terrorized homeless people in Petah Tikva in 2007 and filmed the attacks, was arrested in Kyrgyzstan and deported to Israel on Monday.

The suspect, Dimitri Bogitch, fled Israel in 2007 after police began investigating the gang, made up of Russian immigrants, and arrested eight suspects who have all been convicted of racist assault, illegal possession of firearms and obstructing the course of justice.

After becoming a fugitive, police put out an international arrest warrant, resulting in Monday’s deportation.

Police arrested Bogitch as soon as he landed at Ben Gurion Airport, and he will appear before the Ramle Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday for a remand hearing.

Hitler salutes in the street and firing practice in the forest: Neo-Nazis have taken over an entire village in Germany, and authorities appear to have given up efforts to combat the problem: here.

Israeli lawmakers approve ‘McCarthy-esque’ panel to probe ‘left-wing’ groups: here.

Israel’s communists hailed legislators and citizens today who participated in a mass rally against McCarthyism, racism and fascism in Tel Aviv on Saturday: here.

Tawfiq Toubi was born in Haifa in 1922 and was educated at the Mount Zion School in Jerusalem. He joined the Palestine Communist Party in 1941 and later was one of the founders of the League for National Liberation: here.

The sorry plight of female Palestinian prisoners in Israel: rats and shackles: here.

None of these films advocates fascism as a form of government, or disputes that Hitler was a nasty piece of work. But apparently there were nice fascists too – and in contemporary Western cinema we’re cheering them on. This trend represents a qualitative change in how fascism is treated on film, and demands an obvious question: Why are some film-makers trying to show followers of modernity’s most vile political doctrine in a sympathetic light? Here.

Croatian nazi dictator praised by priests

This is a video about mass murders in Croatia in 1941-1945 by local Hitler allies.

By Tanjug news agency in Serbia:

Memorial service for Croat Nazi leader

29 December 2010 | 10:21

ZAGREB — A memorial service was held at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Zagreb on Tuesday evening for Ante Pavelić.

The service also mentioned Jure Francetić, commander of the Ustasha Crna Legija (Black Legion).

The service was held by priests Vjekoslav Lasić and Stanislav Kos, who … referred to Pavelić as a respectable man who made sacrifices for all of Croatia.

Lasić, famous for his pro-Ustasha attitude and Pavelić-inspired sermons, called on the attendees to pray not only for Pavelić but also for Francetić, who, according to him, gave his life for Croatia.

Regardless of public criticism, Lasić has never been penalized by the Catholic Church nor by the state of Croatia, whose constitution emphasizes anti-fascist ideology.

Pavelić was at the helm of the WW2 puppet-Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH), whose Ustasha regime operated death camps where Serbs, Jews and Roma were imprisoned and murdered, including sites of mass slaughter such as the Jasenovac concentration camp.

British birds video

2.5D Slideshow from Mark Kilner on Vimeo.

This video says about itself:

The photos used in this presentation were all taken in East Kent by the author, and only wild birds were photographed. See: flickr.com/​photos/​markkilner/​ for source images.

Music by Saint-Saëns.

Deleted Scenes from Mark Kilner on Vimeo.

These images are by the same photographer.

Britain: New figures show populations of farmland birds at record low, with woodland birds also experiencing a 40% decline. Huge falls have been recorded for the song thrush, a woodland bird: here.

April 2011: The RSPB is appealing to people to stop cutting their hedges and be extra careful gardening from now on, as many birds have started nesting: here.

Hungarian Rightist government censorship

This video is called Euronews: Hungary’s New Media Law Branded ‘Heavy-Handed‘.

From AFP news agency:

Hungarian newspapers protest “end of press freedom”

Two major Hungarian newspapers mourned what they saw as the end of press freedom Monday following the enactment of a controversial new media law, just as Budapest assumed the EU presidency.

“The freedom of the press in Hungary comes to an end,” the largest-circulation daily Nepszabadsag plastered on its front page in Hungarian, followed by the same sentence in every official language of the 27-member European Union.

The newspaper explained its move in an editorial, saying: “the media law only serves the Fidesz government’s authoritarian interests.”

“Its aim is to tame, punish and in the end to ruin those who have another opinion,” it added.

In a show of solidarity, the German daily Tageszeitung published the same protest on its front page.

Another Hungarian daily, Nepszava, meanwhile opened its Monday edition with a large drawing of a man swinging a hammer above the words: “Press freedom is a fundamental right in a member state of the European Union.”

“We must defend our democratic rights in Hungary! We demand the freedom of the press!” it added in Hungarian and English, calling on the EU to help.

“We hope Europe is aware of these undemocratic measures and will make its own prudent diplomatic decisions, even if the majority of Hungarians is unaware of any of this.”

In December, two weekly newspapers, Magyar Naracs and ES, had already published blank front pages to protest the new media law.

The controversial legislation, which came into force on January 1 just as Hungary took over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union, gives the government — made up mostly of members of Premier Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party — the right to regulate media content.

The NMHH will also have the right to impose fines for content considered offensive and material that “is not politically balanced”, with penalties going up to 200 million forint (720,000 euros, 950,000 dollars) for radio and television.

Other powers include the right to inspect media equipment and documents and to force journalists to reveal sources in issues related to national security.

This led to a torrent of protests from media and political observers in recent weeks, including the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE), Amnesty International, the European parliament and several European governments, such as Germany.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian government’s media restrictions have already been felt on national television: according to the Internet portal index.hu, the government was awarded 246 minutes of airtime in November, more than double the total of 111 minutes for the three opposition parties combined.

The new Fidesz governmental censorship organization has already attacked … no, not the anti-Semitism in media linked to Fidesz … no, not the neo-nazism of the Jobbik party, sometimes Fidesz allies … but an Hungarian anti-racist radio station for the “crime” of playing a song of United States rapper Ice-T.

Fidesz defends its censorship by saying it is directed “against porn”. That is why their media censorship organization is chaired by Fidesz member and former (?) porn enterpreneuse Annamaria Szalai. [sarcasm off]

Hungary Facing Possible EU Sanctions Over Policies: here.

Web censorship moves West: here.

Belgian nuns accused of sexual abuse

This video is called Catholic Clerical Sex Abuse.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Belgian says he was abused by nuns

Added: Monday, January 3, 2011, 14:31

In Kortrijk, a man has complained to a Belgian court, as he says that in the nineteen sixties he was abused by nuns at the Stella Maris Orphanage.

The man says that ever after he became five years old, two sisters from the orphanage where he lived forced him to perform oral sex. Also, he sometimes had to sleep with the women. Later in life, the man got psychiatric problems because of that.

Usually reports of abuse are of abuse perpetrated by men.

Exceptional

The staff at Stella Maris are shocked and call for an investigation. They call on all possible victims to report.

The sisters were faced with the abuse accusations but did not want to respond. Accusations of clerical sexual abuse by women are exceptional.

The West-Flemish Youth Care, the current owner of the orphanage, says that they know about another case of abuse there. That is said to be about a man who during the nineteen nineties every now and then stopped by the institute.

See also here.

Sexual abuse of girls at Stella Maris: here.

Dutch clerical sexual abuse: here.

US tax dollars for creationist pseudo-science

This video from the USA says about itself:

Headzup: Sarah Palin And Dinosaurs

Sarah Palin is asked about her belief that the earth is only 6000 years old and that man and dinosaurs co-existed.

Read more about it here.

An editorial from the Toledo Blade in the USA:

Article published January 03, 2011

Biblical outrage

IF EVER a boondoggle was worthy of Tea Partiers‘ pitchforks and torches, millions of dollars in possible taxpayer subsidies for a creationist theme park in Kentucky should be at the top of the list.

The Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority has given preliminary approval to as much as $43 million in tax incentives to help fund an attraction in Grant County based on the story of Noah’s ark in the Book of Genesis. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear is an enthusiastic supporter of Ark Encounter, the 800-acre park that will tell the story of how men and dinosaurs coexisted less than 10,000 years ago, according to one interpretation of biblical texts.

Ark Encounter is the brainchild of Answers in Genesis, a Christian group behind the Creation Museum, a popular creationist-oriented destination in Petersburg, Ky., near Cincinnati. Ark Encounter commissioned and underwrote its own feasibility study of the project, but the state hasn’t reviewed it. This makes the preliminary approval of tax subsidies even more incredible.

Ark Encounter estimates that the park will generate 900 jobs and attract 1.9 million tourists a year. Taxpayers will be on the hook for 25 percent of the total cost, but only after the park has been built and has begun reaching its performance goals.

Even with this guarantee, expecting taxpayers to subsidize religious propaganda is absurd. Imagine the outrage that would have been generated if tax subsidies were approved for a Muslim or Hindu theme park.

Kentucky is the home of two self-described fiscal watchdogs, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen.-elect Rand Paul, a favorite of the Tea Party. These advocates of small government and tight spending have been uncharacteristically silent on this use of tax dollars.

Science education in Kentucky’s high schools could have used an infusion of $43 million. Instead, the people of that state will get an amusement park that shows humans, dinosaurs, and other animals living together on a wooden ship.

It’s an embarrassment for the nation, not just Kentucky.

Why is the Tea Party Targeting the Methodist Church? Good God! Here.

Another Teabagger hires yet another lobbyist: here.

Theater Audience Boos Tea Party Billionaire David Koch: here.

GOP Assault on Truth: Why Do Conservatives Pretend They Know More About Science Than Scientists? Here.

Evolution Abroad: Creationism Evolves in Science Classrooms around the Globe: here.

Islam, creationism, and anti-modernism: here.

Climate Skeptic’s Debunked Report Exposes How the Denial Industry Works: here.

Climate denialism in Britain: here.

Sarkozy helps Le Pen’s racism

This video from the European Parliament is called Le Pen honour forestalled.

By Anthony Torres:

Sarkozy’s right-wing policies bolster French neo-fascist

3 January 2011

The statements by Marine Le Pen―daughter and heir apparent of Jean-Marie Le Pen as leader of the neo-fascist National Front (FN)―have aroused a renewal of media interest in the FN and the influence of the neo-fascists in French politics.

Marine Le Pen’s statements have attracted many comments from bourgeois parties. On December 10, during a meeting in Lyon, Marine Le Pen launched a racist attack against Muslims who, for lack of mosques in order to pray indoors, pray in the street. Marine Le Pen compared “Muslim prayers in the streets to the [second World War] German military occupation of France.”

What a chutzpah, considering that Jean-Marie Le Pen denies the Holocaust and sold records with Hitler speeches. In the 1977 Dutch election election campaign, the neo-nazis of the Nederlandse Volksunie also compared immigrant workers in the Netherlands to World War II occupiers.

She also made several criticisms of the euro currency―affected by several financial crises during 2010―declaring that it would be better for France to abandon the European single currency.

The main political parties replied to Le Pen’s criticisms by attempting to accommodate them or by making secondary criticisms, which did not refute the substance of what she said.

The national spokesman for the Socialist Party, Benoît Hamon, did not adopt a fundamentally different position from that of Le Pen on Muslims praying in the streets. As regards this, he estimated that: “these are situations which cannot be tolerated much longer, we have a tense situation with neighbours and we have to find solutions.”

On December 14, the Europe 1 Internet site wrote: “Questioned about the comments of Jean-François Copé, leader of the right-wing ruling party the UMP (Union for a Popular Movement), who had asserted: ‘Marine Le Pen, she’s like her father,’ she replied, ‘Jean-François Copé, as it happens, wants to re-launch the debate on national identity. He’s my best ally, taking into account the fact that the UMP has nothing to say on this subject. I think Jean-François Copé wants, in fact, the defeat of Sarkozy in 2012 [presidential election]’, she said.”

Marine Le Pen now tries to present herself as the defender of secularism and republican values. According to the magazine Marianne, Marine Le Pen stated: “I am the one who is the true defender of the French Republic!” Confronted with the reactions of Martine Aubrey (Socialist Party leader) and Jean François Copé, she added: “By expressing themselves in this way, the UMP/Socialist Party coalition has shown that the response to the attack on secularism will not come from their quarter.”

Marine Le Pen’s response, by presenting herself as the defender of secularism and the republic, breaks with the traditional rhetoric of 20th century fascists. The latter denounced the French Republic as “the whore”―notably before its capitulation to the Nazis in 1940―and were often motivated by Catholic fundamentalism.

Marine Le Pen, daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, was elected president of the National Front on January 16. Her election and investiture speech have been the object of media coverage unsurpassed for the French far right: here.

Judges wearing their traditional long black robes demonstrated throughout France today in protest at President Nicolas Sarkozy’s “demagogic” meddling with the judicial system: here.

Why the rich don’t care about the poor

This satiric video from the USA is called The Tea Party Made Simple by Ted Rall.

From the New York Times in the USA:

As for Empathy, the Haves Have Not

By PAMELA PAUL

Published: December 30, 2010

THE GIST The rich don’t get how the other half lives.

THE SOURCE “Social Class, Contextualism, and Empathic Accuracy,” by Michael W. Kraus, Stéphane Côté and Dacher Keltner, Psychological Science.

ARE the upper classes really indifferent to the hopes, fears and miseries of ordinary folk? Or is it that they just don’t understand their less privileged peers?

According to a paper by three psychological researchers — Michael W. Kraus, at the University of California, San Francisco; Stéphane Côté, at the University of Toronto; and Dacher Keltner, the University of California, Berkeley — members of the upper class are less adept at reading emotions.

Research on psychological effects of social status is recent in this country, where the mere mention of class can set off Marxism alarms. “Only in the last seven or eight years have we tried to capture all the nuances of differences between the ways the rich and the poor experience the world psychologically,” Dr. Keltner said. “It’s a really new science.”

The paper, published in October by the Association for Psychological Science, recounts three experiments conducted among students and employees of a large (unidentified) public university, some of whom had graduated from college and others who had not. In American social science, the definition of class is generally based on measures like income, occupational prestige and material wealth. In these experiments, class was determined either by educational level or by self-reported perceptions of family socioeconomic status.

In the first experiment, participants were asked to look at pictures of faces and indicate which emotions were being expressed. The more upper class the judges, the less able they were to accurately identify emotions in others.

In another experiment, upper-class participants had a harder time reading the emotions of strangers during simulated job interviews.

In the third one — an interesting twist of an experiment — people of greater socioeconomic status were asked to compare themselves to the wealthiest, most powerful Americans, thus diminishing their own relative stature. When asked to identify emotions by looking at 36 sets of emoting eyes, they did markedly better than their upper-class peers.

Here’s why: Earlier studies have suggested that those in the lower classes, unable to simply hire others, rely more on neighbors or relatives for things like a ride to work or child care. As a result, the authors propose, they have to develop more effective social skills — ones that will engender good will.

“Upper-class people, in spite of all their advantages, suffer empathy deficits,” Dr. Keltner said. “And there are enormous consequences.” In other words, a high-powered lawyer or chief executive, ill equipped to pick up on more-subtle emotions, doesn’t make for a sympathetic boss.

In an apocryphal but oft-cited exchange, Hemingway supposed the rich to be different only because they had more money. But, as Fitzgerald rather presciently wrote in his story “Rich Boy,” because the wealthy “possess and enjoy early, it does something to them,” surmising, “They are different from you and me.” Score one for Scott.