The European Union Times |
- Obama Dictatorship Grows As Carter Declares Democracy Dead
- Polish parliament upholds ban on ritual slaughter
- In Korea, all children are older than their European peers
- Italy registers growing poverty rate
- Microsoft urges US Attorney General to allow releasing info on NSA requests
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Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:18 AM PDT
 A grim report issued by the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) today is warning that the Obama regime dictatorship has grown “beyond all logical scope and moral reason” after a US Federal Court ruling once again allowed the White House to legally indefinitely detain persons that fit in the category of enemy combatants or merely provide them with support. The crucial problem facing individuals fitting into this category, MOJ experts say, is that since 2009 the Obama regime has refused to define who an enemy combatant actually is, or to give a definition for terrorism. Even worse, this report says, is that the Obama regime has continued to refuse to explain its legal right for the killing of American citizens and has fought, and won, in US Courts to keep this information from the public. Nasser al-Awlaki, the US educated founder of Ibb University and former president of Sana University, and who served as Yemen’s minister of agriculture and fisheries from 1988 to 1990, in a New York Times editorial lamenting the Obama regimes killing of his American citizen son and grandson in separate drone attacks stated:  “My grandson was killed by his own government. The US government repeatedly made accusations of terrorism against my son Anwar — who was also an American citizen — but never charged him with a crime. No court ever reviewed the government’s claims nor was any evidence of criminal wrongdoing ever presented to a court. He did not deserve to be deprived of his constitutional rights as an American citizen and killed.” Likewise, and as reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) last month, the Obama regime openly assassinated award winning American journalist Michael Hastings by a drone strike in the middle of Los Angeles as he was fleeing for his life. Further to note about Hastings assassination, this report continues, is that Obama regime ordered his remains to be cremated without the permission of his family, have placed a “gag order” against any police or fire officers from talking about this case, and just yesterday enacted a revenge publicity smear campaign against Hastings former employer Rolling Stone Magazine.  And in a move unprecedented in human history, this MOJ report says, the Obama regime earlier this month, in effect, turned nearly 22 million (2012 est.) US government employees and contractors into spies against their own fellow citizens, and as we can read, in part, as reported by the highly respected McClatchy News Service: “In an initiative aimed at rooting out future leakers and other security violators, President Barack Obama has ordered federal employees to report suspicious actions of their colleagues based on behavioral profiling techniques that are not scientifically proven to work, according to experts and government documents. The techniques are a key pillar of the Insider Threat Program, an unprecedented government-wide crackdown under which millions of federal bureaucrats and contractors must watch out for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers. Those who fail to report them could face penalties, including criminal charges.” For the leader of a supposed democratic government to assume, and use, dictatorial powers such as the Obama regime has done, this report says, coincides with news reports after his last (2012) election wherein he asked his aides how he could govern without the US Congress.  Not just to domestic rule has Obama ruled dictatorially either, this report continues, as he has now turned the US State Department into his own personal cash machine, and as we can read, in part, as reported by The Guardian News Service: “Barack Obama has rewarded some of his most active campaign donors with plum jobs in foreign embassies, with the average amount raised by recent or imminent appointees soaring to $1.8m per post, according to a Guardian analysis. The practice is hardly a new feature of US politics, but career diplomats in Washington are increasingly alarmed at how it has grown. One former ambassador described it as the selling of public office. On Tuesday, Obama’s chief money-raiser Matthew Barzun became the latest major donor to be nominated as an ambassador, when the White House put him forward as the next representative to the Court of St James’s, a sought-after posting whose plush residence comes with a garden second only in size to that of Buckingham Palace. As campaign finance chairman, Barzun helped raise $700m to fund President Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign.” To how far America has fallen into tyrannical rule was evidenced this past week by Former US President Jimmy Carter, who during an interview with Der Spiegel stated, “America has no functioning democracy.” To the only American citizen of note who has sacrificed his life (and is still alive) for his fellow citizens, Edward Snowden spoke this past week from an exile imposed upon him by the Obama regime (and trumpeted by America’s propaganda mainstream press) and cited a principle from the Nuremberg trials in defending his actions letting the world know how monstrous the United States has become, “Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience. Therefore, individual citizens have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.” Source Related Posts:
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Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:17 AM PDT
 Poland’s chief Rabbi has linked the Polish parliament’s decision to uphold a ban on ritual slaughter to Nazi propaganda, but there has been no anti-semitic rhetoric associated with this long-running debate. In a statement responding to a vote on Friday that blocked a government-sponsored attempt to overturn the ban on ritual slaughter, Rabbi Michael Schudrich said: “The completely untrue idea that such slaughter is cruel, or even intentionally cruel, has triumphed. This idea gained popularity in Europe in the 1930s, when Norway and Sweden banned ritual slaughter under the influence of Nazi propaganda.” The ban, which came into force in January, was the result of pressure from animal welfare groups, not neo-Nazis. Their concern was a response to a massive increase in ritual slaughter in Poland to provide meat for export to Muslim countries and Israel, not the nation’s very small Jewish community. What is being perceived internationally as the curtailment of religious freedoms may be better characterised as a progressive victory for animal welfare. The controversy over ritual slaughter in Poland has been bubbling away since 1997, when parliament passed an act regulating the treatment of animals that included the requirement that livestock should be stunned before slaughter – a step forbidden under both Jewish kosher and Muslim halal rules. Jewish groups in Poland objected and, in 2004, the government amended the law to allow slaughter without stunning for religious reasons. Very little Polish livestock was subject to ritual slaughter at that time. This all began to change in 2010, when Turkey opened its doors to beef imports from the EU after a 14-year ban. With its strong agricultural sector, Poland was ideally placed to meet Turkish demand, and the 2004 ruling meant that Polish farmers could legally provide halal beef. By 2011, up to 30 per cent of all Polish beef exports came from ritually slaughtered cattle – more than 150,000 animals – and brought in about one billion euros. What had been a tiny, specialist sector had grown into big business, to the horror of Polish animal-rights activists. In 2011, animal-welfare groups persuaded Poland’s attorney general to submit the 2004 ruling to the country’s Constitutional Court on the grounds that it improperly overrode the 1997 animal welfare laws. The court agreed, and the ritual slaughter exception was struck down, effective December 31, 2012. Seeing a billion-euro market evaporating before their eyes, it was Poland’s meat producers who besieged parliament waving angry placards, not Poland’s Jews. The reaction from Poland’s Jewish community has been far more diverse than Rabbi Michael Schudrich’s statement might suggest. At least one prominent Jewish voice has expressed sympathy with the ban. Severyn Ashkenazy, the founder of the Progressive Jewish Community of Poland, said: “We Jews must behave honourably and lead in kindness toward animals… Now we live in the greatest scientific century, should we not rather trust a veterinary doctor than a mashgiach [supervisor of kosher observance]?” Jonathan Ornstein, director of the Krakow Jewish Community Centre is a staunch vegetarian and animal rights supporter, but opposes the ban on the grounds that it is unfair to outlaw one form of slaughter while allowing slaughter in general and hunting for sport to continue. He said: “I find it hard to believe that any reasonably intelligent, thinking person can hold the opinion that ritual slaughter, as practiced by Jews, is worthy of being singled out as particularly cruel to animals… I don’t accept the idea that a country where you can go out and hunt for pleasure… should outlaw a form of killing that was devised thousands of years go to be humane.” Poland’s lawmakers have decided on a question that was primarily to do with public reaction to an animal welfare issue, but that had an unavoidable impact on the lives of the nation’s Jews. It was a lose-lose scenario – allow meat producers to continue to take advantage of a ruling that had been solely intended to allow limited ritual slaughter for the benefit of the indigenous Jewish community, or close that door and be perceived as barbarously suppressing religious freedoms. The international reaction to their decision perhaps reveals an uncomfortable truth about our outdated view of Poland. Source Related Posts:
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Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:14 AM PDT
 We are used to counting our age from the day of birth. It turns out that not all peoples count age this way. Korea has long been using a different method of calculation. This is not the only difference, and the traditional relationship between parents and children in this country can serve as an excellent example to the rest of the world. The countdown of children’s age in Korea does not begin with the birth of a child, like in the West, but starts in the beginning of the year, rounding up the time spent by a child in the mother’s womb. In addition, people become older not on the day of birth, but on January 1st, according to the lunar calendar. For example, a child born in late December of 2013 will turn two on January 1st, 2014. This strange, at first sight, tradition can be explained by historical and cultural peculiarities of life of the residents of the East Asian region. Unusual for the Europeans system of chronology originated in ancient China and is still widely used in other cultures of East Asia. In Japan and Vietnam the system is now used in traditional divination and religion, but it has been forever removed from the everyday life. The eastern part of Mongolia echoes the unusual ancient traditions, and the age is traditionally determined by the number of full moons since conception for girls, and the number of new moons from the birth for boys. Koreans count their age in units called sal with the addition of Korean ordinal numbers. For example, a child born on the 29th day of the 12th month (lunar calendar) in the East Asian interpretation reaches the age of two on Seollal (Korean New Year), whereas under the Western system she is only a few days old. It is important for teachers and tutors of young Korean children to clarify whether the age they are told is according to the Korean or Western system. Except for the legal sphere, East Asian age calculation system continues to be widely used by Koreans, but city dwellers use the traditional system more often. The Gregorian calendar and the calculation of age from birth is officially accepted in Korea, and used in completing legal documents and procedures. In addition, it is used to count age limits for alcohol and tobacco use, the age of consent and the age of marriage, restrictions on viewing pornographic video, as well as the school and the draft age. While the age is calculation based on the lunar New Year, Koreans celebrate the day of their birth as well. Particularly important for the Koreans is the first year of a child’s life. This tradition emerged in Korea at the time when infant mortality rate was very high. It was believed that if the child lived up to one year, the crisis was over, and that the child would live a long life. On this day, a child was blessed for prosperous future. This holiday, Dol or doljanchi, is celebrated for all children in Korea. During the celebration the babies wear a hanbok, a special bright colored silk suit made specifically for this holiday, and a hat, a jobawi or gulle for baby girls and a bokgeon or hogeon for baby boys. On this day big celebrations and feasts are held. No matter how poor the family is, ample holiday treats are provided. Everyone from the poorest peasant child to an heir to the Emperor have this ritual. When this holiday is celebrated for the emperor’s son, the magnitude of the celebrations is truly enormous, with a lavish table, congratulatory speeches and even amnesties for prisoners. One of the most interesting rituals during the holiday is when Koreans set a variety of items on a table next to the child, each of them representing a specific meaning. The child picks something up and the adults make a conclusion on what the child will become in the future. Traditionally these items include rice, a thread, money, a brush, a book and a bow. Modern parents, as a rule, do not follow this custom too strictly, and set on their table a computer mouse, a baseball or a toothbrush. After the child makes her choice, they sing, dance and celebrate, give gifts, usually money, gold rings and clothes. The members of the family thank the gods guarding the growing child by offering rice and traditional soup. The soup (Miyeok Guk) is served at each birthday party to remind of the suffering of the mother at birth. One-year-olds sit next to their parents, watching the ritual in their honor. Since that day, the participation of children in traditional rituals, ceremonies and celebrations becomes a requirement of Korean life. On this day, a child first begins to understand the importance of traditional festivals, feels love and respect, gets to know family members and feels like a full member of the family. The child learns not only to treat gifts and entertainment with respect, but also for the first time feels respect for the elder and listens to their teachings and wishes. During such celebrations young Koreans get familiar with ancient traditions and rules of national ceremonies that became law for the Korean people. Traditionally, Koreans celebrate birthdays only twice in their lifetime, at the age of one and 60. According to the Korean tradition, a child represents the divine source until the age of five or six. It is believed that after one year of age the baby’s soul is fully formed, and they directly communicate with the souls of the ancestors helping them in the afterlife. This is why Korean parents spoil their children and allow different mischiefs. It becomes apparent that in traditional Korea birth of children is given a great importance. Interestingly, according to the Confucian tradition adopted today in Korea, any person is always in absolute obedience to their parents, and not until they become of age, as it happens in Europe. Koreans are some of the most caring parents in the world, and a question about their son or grandson is able to soften even the most unfriendly person. Korean children are given all mental and financial strength by their parents. Even if there is a conflict between the spouses it rarely affects children. Despite some oddities in determining age, the nations of the West have much to learn from the Koreans. Source Related Posts:
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Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:13 AM PDT
 Italians receive a free meal at a soup kitchen in Rome.The Wednesday report, citing a study conducted by ISTAT, revealed that about 4.8 million people, or 8 percent of the population, are grappling with absolute poverty, meaning they are unable to afford the minimum acceptable living standard. In 2011, 3.4 million people were reported to be living in poverty. An additional 9.56 million people, or 15.8 percent of the population, are relatively poor, up from 8.17 million people in 2011. The worst-affected region is the south, where almost one in three Italians lives in relative poverty and an additional 11 percent face absolute poverty. ISTAT said the poverty level increased particularly among families with several children. In May, ISTAT published another report, which showed that millions of Italians cannot afford to heat their homes properly, go on vacation or eat meat. In April, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that 17 percent of children in Italy live under the poverty line, meaning 1.8 million kids do not have regular access to basic necessities such as food. Source Related Posts:
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Posted: 18 Jul 2013 08:12 AM PDT
 Microsoft’s general counsel has written to the US Attorney General Eric Holder saying that the secrecy regarding the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance is damaging the “constitutional principles” of America. Microsoft has asked the Obama administration to allow it to share details about how it responds to requests from the US government for user account data. Microsoft’s general counsel and vice president, Brad Smith, sent a letter the Attorney General Eric Holder saying the government no longer has “a compelling interest” in preventing companies “from sharing more information”. The letter adds that by sharing how they respond to government requests companies can “allay public concerns” about the extent of the US surveillance program. “Today we have asked the Attorney General of the United States to personally take action to permit Microsoft and other companies to share publicly more complete information about how we handle national security requests for customer information,” writes Smith, on a Microsoft blog post. The letter continues that “the constitution itself is suffering” because of the ongoing secrecy at how wiretapping information is obtained. “It will take the personal involvement of you or the President to set things right”, the letter says. Last week Microsoft attempted to get permission to share more information about how its responds to government wiretapping requests, but the Justice Department and the FBI rejected the request. Smith said that government lawyers have not responded to a request made in June by Microsoft like Google before it, asking for permission to publish the volume of requests it has received through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). “To promote additional transparency concerning the government’s lawful access to Microsoft’s customer data, Microsoft seeks to report aggregate information about FISA orders and FAA directives separately from all other local, state and federal law enforcement demands,” Microsoft’s lawyers wrote in a motion filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Last month the US government allowed the disclosure of how many requests for customer data had been made, but not to reveal how many were crime related requests and how many were surveillance. In a Microsoft blog Smith writes that during legal discussions with the government Microsoft didn’t provide or agree to provide the government with direct access to users or the ability to break the company’s encryption. Microsoft and other tech giants like Google, Facebook and Apple are scrambling to assert their independence after documents leaked to the Guardian and the Washington Post by Edward Snowden suggested they are giving the US government direct access to customer accounts as part of the National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program. Under US law companies are compelled to hand over confidential data in some circumstances. This is usually in the form of a court order, which the FBI obtains for criminal investigations or through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for terrorist and counterespionage investigations. On Tuesday, search engine Yahoo won a court case allowing it to release NSA records that showed it resisted requests to hand over customer data to the US authorities. Through the ruling Yahoo hopes to prove that it did not collaborate with the NSA through its PRISM surveillance program. Source Related Posts:
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