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Reporting on the Middle East, Science, and Education for February 28, 2010 - י"ד אדר תש"ע
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Google News, February 28, 2010
Editor’s Note: Despite all the disasters, strife, conflicts, struggles, and injustices going on in the world, Israel is still condemned for its defensive actions necessary for its survival. These articles were compiled from today’s World News from Google.
Compiled by Israel Zwick, CN Publications
BBC News – Islam Online – Radio Netherlands – Wikinews
Monsters and Critics.com – DAWN.com – Catholic Online – ChristianExaminer
Voice of America – Aljazeera.net – The Guardian – Detroit Free Press
AngolaPress – Sudan Tribune – News24 – Bernama
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts on February 28, 2010 - י"ד אדר תש"ע at 2:45 pm
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Purim is a holiday on which Jews are expected to get tipsy, wear costumes and do silly things – including posting completely imaginary and false interviews with the President of the United States on news websites that are perfectly serious on all the other days of the year.
by Gil Ronen, Arutz Sheva, Purim 5770, February 28, 2010
(Israelnationalnews.com) United States President Barack Obama admitted, in a special Purim interview for Arutz Sheva, that he “frankly does not have a clue” regarding the psychology of the Middle East and that “a three year old child with some experience in nursery-school power politics could probably understand the Middle East better than [he does].”
“I really am a space cadet when it comes to Middle East,” he said.
His mood swung from low to high and back again as he sipped occasionally from the Purim wine that the Arutz Sheva team had brought him. To our surprise, Obama chugged away at the bottle, finishing it before the interview was halfway through and asking for seconds. His mood from that point onward could best be described as “drunkenly sober” – until the end of the interview, when matters took a surprising turn.
ARUTZ SHEVA: Mr. President, as the Jewish people celebrate Purim, we remember our struggle with an evil Persian official named Haman, and look with foreboding at a new Iranian regime that threatens us with destruction too. Can you promise us that the US intends to apply biting sanctions against Iran before it is too late?
PRESIDENT BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA: First of all let me say that I am very much in favor of sanctions that bite. As a matter of fact, I think all sanctions bite. They really do. Sanctions are out! Any form of punitive action against a Muslim country is really counterproductive because Islam is a religion of peace and the US is after all a colonialist power. I was just talking to some old madarassah buddies of mine from Indonesia about this on Facebook.
Suddenly beaming, Obama waves at the camera and exclaims: “Hi Bilal and Japoor! Hope you are watching!” He fondles his wine glass pensively and continues.
BHO: Having said that – we have no intention of abandoning Israel to the wolves, so to speak. I have said before and I will say it again: the United States will not stand idly by as Israel is turned into a radioactive parking lot. If and when Iran uses nuclear weapons against Israel, and if we see that there is serious fallout and hundreds of thousands of people die horrible deaths – we will apply sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Humor, Judaism, Middle East, Recent Posts on February 28, 2010 - י"ד אדר תש"ע at 9:03 am
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By DAN BILEFSKY, NY Times, February 27, 2010
WARSAW — When Pawel looks into the mirror, he can still sometimes see a neo-Nazi skinhead staring back, the man he was before he covered his shaved head with a skullcap, traded his fascist ideology for the Torah and renounced violence and hatred in favor of God.
“I still struggle every day to discard my past ideas,” said Pawel, a 33-year-old ultra-Orthodox Jew and former truck driver, noting with little irony that he had to stop hating Jews in order to become one. “When I look at an old picture of myself as a skinhead, I feel ashamed. Every day I try and do teshuvah,” he said, using the Hebrew word for repentance. “Every minute of every day. There is a lot to make up for.”
Pawel, who also uses his Hebrew name Pinchas, asked that his last name not be used for fear that his old neo-Nazi friends could harm him or his family.
Twenty years after the fall of Communism, Pawel is perhaps the most unlikely example of the Jewish revival under way in Poland, of a moment in which Jewish leaders here say the country is finally showing solid signs of shedding the rabid anti-Semitism of the past.
Before 1939, Poland was home to more than three million Jews, more than 90 percent of whom were killed by the Nazis. Most who survived emigrated. Of the fewer than 50,000 who remained in Poland, many abandoned or hid their Judaism during decades of Communist oppression in which political pogroms against Jews persisted.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Recent Posts on February 27, 2010 - י"ג אדר תש"ע at 9:31 pm
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By Thomas Rogers
Salon.com, Feb. 23, 2010 |
At this point, the idea of somebody publishing an attack on Charles Darwin isn’t exactly surprising. The 19th-century naturalist, and the man behind the theory of evolution, has never been a particularly popular figure among conservative Christians, and, these days, the anti-Darwin movement is a cottage industry. In the last year, which marked the bicentennial of Darwin’s birth and 150 years since the publication of “The Origin of the Species,” the man was even subjected to the peculiar indignity of an assault by former “Growing Pains” star Kirk Cameron.
But unlike most of these attacks, “What Darwin Got Wrong,” a new book by Jerry Fodor, a professor of philosophy and cognitive sciences at Rutgers University, and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, a professor of cognitive science at the University of Arizona, comes not from the religious right, but from two atheist academics with — surprise — a nuanced argument about the shortcomings of Darwin’s theories. Their book details (in very technical language) how recent discoveries in genetics have thrown into question many of our perceived truths about natural selection, and why these have the potential to undermine much of what we know about evolution and biology.
Salon spoke to Fodor over the phone from his home, about the problems with Darwin’s ideas, bloggers’ “obscene” comments on his work, and why Darwinism might be as unreliable as creationism. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education, Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on February 24, 2010 - י' אדר תש"ע at 3:11 pm
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MSNBC.com
Popping a couple of pain pills helped Laurie J. Besden study night after night. They helped her pass the Pennsylvania bar exam. They helped her get more done in a day than many of her colleagues. Then they helped her land in jail.
Besden doesn’t seem like any drug addict you’d picture. She’s smart, motivated — and an overachiever. But she’s one of an alarming number of women who have turned to prescription pills to get ahead — or even just to keep up.
Almost 6 percent of American women, that’s 7.5 million adult women, report using prescription medicines for a boost of energy, a dose of calm or other non-medical reasons, according to the latest numbers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
While street drug use has been declining in recent years, prescription drug abuse has been up since the 1990s. The trend has been most striking in women because unlike with most drugs, which are more commonly abused by men, women are just as likely to abuse prescription drugs, says Susan R.B. Weiss, chief of NIDA’s Science Policy Branch.
Blame what some are calling the superwoman syndrome. Overworked, overwhelmed and overscheduled women juggling families, friends and careers are turning to stimulants, painkillers and anti-anxiety meds to help launch them through endless to-do lists.
“Women load their lives with so much that they get in over their heads, and some turn to prescription pills to cope,” says Talia Witkowski, a psychologist in Los Angeles.
Witkowski, 30, began abusing her prescription attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drugs in high school, and has been clean for three years.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education, Health Sciences, Women's Health on February 24, 2010 - י' אדר תש"ע at 11:34 am
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The prince reiterated a call he first made in July to the Arabs to be more pragmatic in seeking solutions to the conflict that has plagued the region for generations
Manama: Palestinians have been suffering and losing precious lives because of the Arabs’ unclear policies, Bahrain’s crown prince has said.
“We have to put an end to the senseless bidding and be realistic and responsible in our approach to the Palestinian issue,” Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa said.
“The Palestinians have been suffering and paying a heavy price because of the Arab’s blurred and confused policy towards their sensitive issue,” he said in an interview published in Al Ayam.
The prince reiterated a call he first made in July to the Arabs to be more pragmatic in seeking solutions to the conflict that has plagued the region for generations.
“We need to reach out to the Israeli people through a constructive dialogue and use the media to highlight the importance of a fair solution in their minds,” Prince Salman said.
“We need to drive the concept that we favour a negotiated peaceful solution over irresponsible claims,” he said.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Middle East, News Articles, Recent Posts on February 24, 2010 - י' אדר תש"ע at 11:25 am
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The political war against Israel has reached an unprecedented height with no comparison to even the ugliest days of the Intifada. And all of it has one common element, a blood lust spurred on by Israel’s willingness to accommodate, appease and retreat.
By Daniel Greenfield, February 24, 2010
In the summer of 2011, it will have been 18 years since the Oslo Accords were signed by Shimon Peres, secretly and without the knowledge of the Israeli public whose rights to their own land were being signed away. The accord was based on meetings by left wing academics with terrorists that were illegal under Israeli law, signed covertly by a disgraced politician who had been an admirer of Marx and finally sealed with a public handshake between the world’s greatest terrorist and an Israeli Prime Minister suffering from such severe dementia that he had trouble recognizing the man beaming down on them both as the President of the United States, who 5 years later would be facing impeachment.
That handshake with Arafat took place on September 13th, 8 years minus 2 days, before terrorists would duplicate a feat that only Arafat’s own terrorists had previously accomplished, by simultaneously hijacking 4 aircraft. Even as the United States had begun pandering to Arafat, the rise of the next wave of terrorism was already underway with Bin Laden hard at work on the organization that would evolve into the Al Queda we know today. The Oslo Accords would play a crucial role in the rise of Islamist terrorism creating a vacuum into which the Muslim Brotherhood could step into with groups such as Hamas and Al Queda. And the Oslo Accords would also come to define Israel’s worst defeat since the accords it had signed with Rome over two thousand years ago.
Now as that fateful 18 year mark approaches, there is still a crack in the door remaining through which Israel can save itself. In Hebrew the word for life is Chai, whose letters code as 18. And eighteen years after the scourge of Oslo has brought war and death into the heart of Israel, turned its town and cities into targets for missiles, made its roads into highways of death and now threatens to divide Jerusalem itself– Israel has the chance to choose life over death by appeasement. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on February 24, 2010 - י' אדר תש"ע at 11:13 am
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By Tom Teicholz, Jewish Journal, February 23, 2010
http://www.jewishjournal.com/ tommywood/article/qa_with_mel_brooks_20100223/
JewishJournal.com exclusive audio:
Interview with Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks sings
Mel Brooks is on a hot streak: He was just a Kennedy Center Honoree (along with Dave Brubeck, Robert De Niro, Grace Bumbry and Bruce Springsteen); 20th Century Fox just released “The Mel Brooks Collection” in Blu-ray — a nine-DVD set that includes “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” and “Spaceballs,” among other classics; and Shout! Factory has released “The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History,” a three-CD, one-DVD set that collects the various incarnations in which Carl Reiner, the world’s greatest straight man, interviews a visitor who’s survived since ancient times and who speaks in a thick Jewish accent to hilarious effect.
Brooks discussed all this, and a bit more, recently in a phone interview from the offices of his production company. I am glad that I taped our conversation, because I was so excited to talk to him that I stopped taking notes after the first few questions. This is an edited version of our conversation.
Tom Teicholz: You were honored recently at the Kennedy Center in Washington, and on TV it looked like you and Bruce Springsteen were kibitzing during the whole show —
Mel Brooks: Oh yeah, well, you know I’m a big fan, and I’ve got all his — we used to call them records — [and] we were talking about how wonderful the evening was and how honored we felt sitting next to the president. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Fun Stuff, Humor, Judaism, Recent Posts on February 24, 2010 - י' אדר תש"ע at 9:11 am
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ScienceDaily (Feb. 22, 2010) — A section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem from the tenth century B.C.E. — possibly built by King Solomon — has been revealed in archaeological excavations directed by Dr. Eilat Mazar and conducted under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
The section of the city wall revealed, 70 meters long and six meters high, is located in the area known as the Ophel, between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount.
Uncovered in the city wall complex are: an inner gatehouse for access into the royal quarter of the city, a royal structure adjacent to the gatehouse, and a corner tower that overlooks a substantial section of the adjacent Kidron valley.
The excavations in the Ophel area were carried out over a three-month period with funding provided by Daniel Mintz and Meredith Berkman, a New York couple interested in Biblical Archeology. The funding supports both completion of the archaeological excavations and processing and analysis of the finds as well as conservation work and preparation of the site for viewing by the public within the Ophel Archaeological Park and the national park around the walls of Jerusalem.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Education, Judaism, Middle East, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Science on February 22, 2010 - ח' אדר תש"ע at 8:09 pm
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By Or Kashti and Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent, February 21, 2010
The Education Ministry’s chief scientist sparked a furor among environmental activists and scholars Saturday with remarks questioning the reliability of evolution and global warming theory. The comments from Dr. Gavriel Avital, the latest in a series of written and oral statements casting doubts on the fundamental tenets of modern science, led several environmentalists to call for his dismissal.
“If textbooks state explicitly that human beings’ origins are to be found with monkeys, I would want students to pursue and grapple with other opinions. There are many people who don’t believe the evolutionary account is correct,” Avital said yesterday.
“There are those for whom evolution is a religion and are unwilling to hear about anything else. Part of my responsibility, in light of my position with the Education Ministry, is to examine textbooks and curricula,” he said. “If they keep writing in textbooks that the Earth is growing warmer because of carbon dioxide emissions, I’ll insist that isn’t the case.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Climate Change, Education, Evolutionary Biology, Middle East, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Recent Posts on February 22, 2010 - ח' אדר תש"ע at 2:37 pm
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