A Christian woman was also abducted and raped.

Lahore (AsiaNews/Agencies) — Anti-Christian violence continues in Pakistan, after Easter was celebrated in memory of Shahbaz Bhatti, the country’s Minority Affairs minister assassinated in March. Yesterday, an extremist group ambushed a Protestant clergyman travelling with his family, seriously wounding his 24-year-old son. A few days ago, a young Christian woman was abducted and raped over several days by a man claiming to be a police officer. After she was let go, he fled without leaving a trace.

Two members of Tehreek-e-Ghazi Bin Shaheed (TGBS), an extremist Muslim group, attacked a Protestant clergyman and his family. The incident occurred near the town of Hamza, near Lahore (Punjab). The pastor’s 24-year-old son sustained serious injuries. The clergyman himself had received threats and demands for money a few weeks earlier.

Rev Ashraf Paul, 55, and his family were driving down Ferozepur Road. At one point, two men on motorbikes intercepted the vehicle, firing at the clergyman’s car, which was hit at least five times. His 24-year-old son, Sarfaz, was critically wounded.

The two suspects, aged 19 to 21, fled the scene right after the attack. Their identity is unknown, but in addition to police, activists from the Center for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) are on the case.

Just goes to show how pa-frigging-thetic the GOP field is if Trump (who’s not even a conservative) is leading.

(DC) — Trump leads among Republican primary voters with Romney close behind, according to a national poll released Thursday by Rasmussen. The poll is based on responses of 1,000 likely Republican primary voters nationwide.

Trump gets 19 percent of the vote, Romney gets 17 percent, just edging out Huckabee, who gets 15 percent. The next largest block of voters is those who are not sure — 11 percent.

The Donald does particularly well among self-identified Tea Party members, where he gets 22 percent of the vote, and Romney gets 15 percent.

Keep reading…

Given all the talk about “code language” recently, let me interpret this for you: “I plan to bankrupt the USA by spending it into oblivion.”

(CNSNews.com) — Deficits are not the only thing that could mortgage America’s future, President Barack Obama told Democratic donors in New York on Thursday. He stressed it would be mortgaging the country’s future if government did not spend money on certain areas.

“There’s more than one way to mortgage America’s future,” Obama said at The Town Hall in New York. “We mortgage that future if we don’t get a handle on our deficit and debt, but we also mortgage it if we’re not investing in those things that will assure the promise of the American Dream for the next generation.”

Obama, in the speech, broadly defined the government expenditures needed to ensure prosperity for the next generation that should not be sacrificed for deficit and debt reduction.

“I’m not going to sacrifice investments in education. I’m not going to make scholarships harder to get and more expensive for young people,” Obama said to a cheering crowd. “I’m not going to sacrifice the safety of our highways or our airports. I’m not going to sacrifice clean air and clean water. I’m not going to sacrifice clean energy at a time when we need to free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, and folks are getting killed at the pump.”

(more…)

Rep. Allen West calls into this morning’s Glenn Beck Radio Show: “Those who refuse to participate in politics shall be governed by their inferiors.”

Via PMW:

Hamas leader Mahmoud Azhar said that the political platform of Hamas is ‘no recognition [of Israel] and no negotiations.’ He said that he’s sure that the disagreements between Hamas and Fatah regarding the peace process will not affect the functioning of the government that will be established by this agreement, because the purpose of this government is only to handle internal Palestinian issues.

I’m afraid to ask the 21% what they consider the “right track.”

(Rasmussen) — Twenty-one percent (21%) of Likely U.S. Voters say the country is heading in the right direction, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey taken the week ending Sunday, April 24. It’s the fourth week in a row that the measurement has gone down, with confidence in the nation’s course now reaching the lowest point of the Obama presidency.

Prior to this past week, the number saying the country is headed in the right direction has ranged from a low of 22% to a high of 35% since President Obama’s inauguration in January 2009.

Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters now say the country is heading down the wrong track. Since January 2009, pessimism about the country’s direction has ranged from 57% to 72%.

Leading up to Obama’s inauguration, the number of voters who felt the country was heading in the right direction remained below 20%. The week of his inauguration, voter confidence rose to 27% and climbed into the low to mid-30s until mid-May of that year. Since then, belief that the country is heading in the right direction has been trending lower.

Vile stuff.

(NY Times) — Lara Logan thought she was going to die in Tahrir Square when she was sexually assaulted by a mob on the night that Hosni Mubarak’s government fell in Cairo.

Ms. Logan, a CBS News correspondent, was in the square preparing a report for “60 Minutes” on Feb. 11 when the celebratory mood suddenly turned threatening. She was ripped away from her producer and bodyguard by a group of men who tore at her clothes and groped and beat her body. “For an extended period of time, they raped me with their hands,” Ms. Logan said in an interview with The New York Times. She estimated that the attack lasted for about 40 minutes and involved 200 to 300 men.

Ms. Logan, who returned to work this month, is expected to speak at length about the assault on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night. . . .

The assault happened the day that Ms. Logan returned to Cairo, having left a week earlier after being detained and interrogated by Egyptian forces. “The city was on fire with celebration” over Mr. Mubarak’s exit, she said, comparing it to a Super Bowl party. She and a camera crew traversed Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the celebrations, interviewing Egyptians and posing for photographs with people who wanted to be seen with an American journalist.

“There was a moment that everything went wrong,” she recalled.

As the cameraman, Richard Butler, was swapping out a battery, Egyptian colleagues who were accompanying the camera crew heard men nearby talking about wanting to take Ms. Logan’s pants off. She said: “Our local people with us said, ‘We’ve gotta get out of here.’ That was literally the moment the mob set on me.”

Mr. Butler, Ms. Logan’s producer, Max McClellan, and two locally hired drivers were “helpless,” Mr. Fager said, “because the mob was just so powerful.” A bodyguard who had been hired to accompany the team was able to stay with Ms. Logan for a brief period of time.

“For Max,” the producer, “to see the bodyguard come out of the pile without her, that was one of the worst parts,” Mr. Fager said. He said Ms. Logan “described how her hand was sore for days after — and then she realized it was from holding on so tight” to the bodyguard’s hand.

“My clothes were torn to pieces,” Ms. Logan said.

She declined to go into more detail about the assault but said: “What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence.”

After being rescued by a group of civilians and Egyptian soldiers, she was swiftly flown back to the United States. “She was quite traumatized, as you can imagine, for a period of time,” Mr. Fager said. Ms. Logan said she decided almost immediately that she would speak out about sexual violence both on behalf of other journalists and on behalf of “millions of voiceless women who are subjected to attacks like this and worse.”

Keep reading…

And it doesn’t stop there, “wild animal” is also a derogatory term, they prefer “free-living” or “free-roaming.” You really can’t make this stuff up.

LONDON — Animal lovers should stop calling their furry or feathered friends “pets” because the term is insulting, leading academics claim.

Domestic dogs, cats, hamsters or budgerigars should be rebranded as “companion animals” while owners should be known as “human carers”, they insist.

Even terms such as wildlife are dismissed as insulting to the animals concerned — who should instead be known as “free-living”, the academics including an Oxford professor suggest.

The call comes from the editors of then Journal of Animal Ethics, a new academic publication devoted to the issue.

It is edited by the Revd Professor Andrew Linzey, a theologian and director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, who once received an honorary degree from the Archbishop of Canterbury for his work promoting the rights of “God’s sentient creatures”.

In its first editorial, the journal — jointly published by Prof Linzey’s centre and the University of Illinois in the US — condemns the use of terms such as ”critters” and “beasts”.

It argues that “derogatory” language about animals can affect the way that they are treated.

“Despite its prevalence, ‘pets’ is surely a derogatory term both of the animals concerned and their human carers,” the editorial claims.

“Again the word ‘owners’, whilst technically correct in law, harks back to a previous age when animals were regarded as just that: property, machines or things to use without moral constraint.”

It goes on: “We invite authors to use the words ‘free-living’, ‘free-ranging’ or ‘free-roaming’ rather than ‘wild animals’

Keep reading…

All 10 of us!

(NH Journal) — A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in Massachusetts would like to see the 2006 health care law enacted by then-Gov. Mitt Romney and the state legislature repealed and replaced with something else, according to a new survey by Magellan Strategies for NH Journal.

Romney signed the law in 2006 alongside deceased U.S. Senator and liberal lion Ted Kennedy, whom he called his “collaborator and friend.” Some of his Republican critics have attacked the plan as too liberal and Democrats have mocked Romney for inspiring President Obama’s health care reform law, which Romney opposes.

Fifty-three percent of respondents said they wanted to see the Massachusetts law repealed, while only twenty-nine percent said they wanted to keep it. Eighteen percent were undecided or unsure.

Overall the plan is unpopular with Massachusetts Republicans. Fifty-one percent have an unfavorable opinion of it (Thirty-four percent view it very unfavorably) while only thirty percent view it favorably.

HT: Hot Air

This guy’s motivation skills leave a lot to be desired.

(Briefing Room) — President Obama told supporters in a video message Thursday their frustration with the “pace of change” during his time in office is a reason not to pull back but rather to redouble efforts for his reelection.

Obama acknowledged that some of his liberal supporters have felt “impatient” over the administration’s follow-through on some 2008 campaign promises.

“I know that a lot of you who were involved in the campaign earlier, over the last two years, you’ve probably felt some frustration,” Obama said in a Web video posted Thursday to his campaign account. “There’s been some times where you wanted Washington to change a lot more quickly than it has, and it keeps on slipping into those same old bad habits.”

Liberals have expressed some frustration with Obama’s compromises with Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts for two years and on a 2011 budget that slashed tens of billions in spending from the budget. Obama also reversed himself on his pledge to close the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba; his administration relented to opposition earlier this month, and agreed to hold military tribunals for suspected terrorists, instead of criminal trials in the U.S.

Obama said his supporters’ frustrations should give them cause, though, to work even harder for him and Democrats in the 2012 elections.

“If you’ve been feeling impatient — and I understand that — if you’re feeling frustrated sometimes, that shouldn’t be a reason to pull back,” he said. “That’s a reason for us to get even more involved.”

Yeah, baby.

WASHINGTON — Public disapproval of President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy reached a new high in mid-April, according to a new McClatchy-Marist poll, as gasoline prices neared $4 a gallon and Washington lawmakers fought a bitter battle over the federal budget.

Some 57 percent of registered voters said they disapproved of Obama’s economic management, while only 40 percent approved. That’s the lowest score of his presidency.

“These numbers spell political trouble,” said Lee Miringoff, the director of the Marist Institute for Public Opinion in New York, which conducted the survey. “To get re-elected with a 57 percent disapproval rating would be a very tall order.”

Meanwhile, public pessimism is growing: Fifty-seven percent of U.S. adults said they thought the worst was yet to come for the U.S economy, up sharply from 39 percent in January. And 71 percent said the nation was still in a recession, even though the slump, which began in December 2007, officially ended in June 2009.

There’s only one opposition group in Syria, the Muslim Brotherhood.

(The Hill) — President Obama should “state unequivocally” that Syrian leader Bashar al Assad should step down from power, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Thursday.

The trio ramped up pressure on Obama to take a stronger stance against the Assad regime, which has violently cracked down on anti-government protesters demanding reforms.

“We urge President Obama to state unequivocally — as he did in the case of Qaddafi and Mubarak — that it is time for Assad to go,” the senators said in a statement referring to the leaders of Libya and Egypt. “The President should take tangible diplomatic and economic measures to isolate and pressure the Assad regime, including through targeted sanctions against Assad himself and other regime officials who are responsible for gross human rights abuses.”

Shockingly, Nancy’s kept her mouth shut this time around.

(CNSNews.com) — Back in 2008 then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) knew where she wanted to place the blame for high gas prices. “The price of oil is at the doorstep — 4 dollars plus per gallon for oil, is attributed to two oil men in the White House,” Pelosi said in a CNN interview on July 17th, 2008.

Now that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are out of the White House, Pelosi has been silent on the issue. She has made no public comments on gas prices over the past few months. President Barack Obama however, has been fielding questions on the issue as he begins his bid for re-election.

The Religion of Peace strikes again.

(Telegraph) — A British national and two French people are among 14 killed in a suicide bomb attack in a popular tourist cafe in Marrakesh, according to reports by French newspaper Le Figaro.

Evidence collected from the scene of an explosion on Thursday in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh confirms it was a bomb attack, the interior ministry said.

“Analysis of the early evidence collected at the site of the blast that occurred on Thursday at a cafe in Marrakesh confirms the theory of an attack,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency.

The blast in the iconic Jamaa el-Fna square is Morocco’s deadliest bombing in eight years.

More from the NYT:

Le Figaro, a French daily newspaper, reported that two French citizens and an Englishman were among the dead in the cafe, the Argana; Al Arabiya television reported at least 11 foreigners were killed in the blast.

Video posted online Thursday showed heavy damage to the cafe — the facade blasted off — and people in the square crowding to observe the destruction.

The entire country is a “hotbed of Muslim extremism.”

(Daily Mail) — Universities are failing to tackle the growing menace of Islamic extremism on campuses.

Although they have been aware of the problem for many years, university authorities are reluctant to combat it because they fear a decline in the number of foreign students, from whom they make millions of pounds every year, it has been claimed.

A report by a Parliamentary homeland security group said the evidence against universities was ‘damning’ and that there was no sign of the risk of student radicalisation diminishing.

The review highlighted serious problems and claimed that ‘some universities and colleges have become sites where extremist views and radicalisation can flourish beyond the sight of academics’.

The report called on the institutions to tackle the issue with ‘utmost urgency’.

Terror expert Professor Anthony Glees said the universities had failed to co-operate with the Government, making it much harder for them to tackle extremism.

He said ‘money-hungry’ institutions are more worried about their coffers than keeping the country safe and insisted they must allow counter-terrorist police access to campuses and clamp down on extremist Islamic societies.

He added: ‘We are dealing with people who hate this country and the way that it is governed.

‘Taxpayers would be sickened by the idea that taxpayer-supported universities are giving people the space to develop plans that will result in some of us being blown up.

Keep reading…

Bush did it, John Kerry did it (after much prodding) so why not Obama? It’s a legitimate question.

WASHINGTON — White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett said President Obama will not release his academic records, commenting a day after Obama put out his “long form” birth certificate and Donald Trump decided to press his luck by demanding Obama’s college transcripts.

“We know this is nonsense,” Jarrett said in an interview on The Joe Madison Show on SiriusXM on Thursday morning.”He is almost 50 years old. And he is president of the United States and I don’t think anybody will debate his intelligence and so now we do need to get serious . . . let’s just get serious . . . get back to focusing on what’s important.

Still, we should be focusing our energy on hammering him on the economy, ObamaCare, deficit etc., that’s going to win the election.

He’s really fighting hard to retain the title of “worst president ever.”

(Politico) — Wrapping up his visit this week to Pyongyang, former President Jimmy Carter says relations between North Korea and South Korea are “currently at rock bottom.” Nonetheless, he said he believes the North is committed to getting talks underway.

Carter was joined on the three-day trip by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland and former Irish President Mary Robinson. . . .

Carter also used his trip to North Korea to observe the country’s food rationing system. That the United States and South Korea have chosen “to deliberately withhold food aid to the North Korean people because of political or military issues not related is really indeed a human rights violation,” he said.

Same site who wants to see West’s “’nads sawn off with a plastic knife.”

(Sunshine State News) — Rep. Allen West is disputing the account by a left-wing website, ThinkProgress, that the congressman “pre-screened” questions at his town hall meetings this week.

After a small group of protesters tried to disrupt a meeting in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday, a more civil gathering was conducted in Boca Raton on Wednesday evening.

Angela Sachitano, spokeswoman for West, R-Plantation, issued this statement Thursday about ThinkProgress’ coverage and the events:

“The article is factually incorrect and we have already demanded a retraction.

“The facts are in both town halls:

“Congressman West did not prescreen his questions and didn’t even see them ahead of time.

“Every person who entered the town hall had the opportunity to write down a question.

“The questions were sorted by a third party — the employees of the venue.

“No staff was involved with the questions. We did this intentionally so there was no bias with the questions.

“The decision to do this was based on getting through as many questions as possible.

“In the past, with such a large number of people showing up — sometimes up to 600 people — very few questions were asked, as people waited for an hour in line at the microphone, and many questions were asked over and over.”

Bonus from the ThinkProgress comments section.

You think we’d catch any flack if we called Obama “Buckwheat?”

PC nonsense drives me batshit crazy. Is it really necessary to treat Marines like children? They have more important things to do, like fight a war and train, not be lectured like they’re in the 5th grade. They’re adults, they know how to behave.

SAN DIEGO (AP) — If a Marine spots two men in his battalion kissing off-duty at a shopping mall, he should react as if he were seeing a man and woman. If he turns on the television news to see a fellow Marine dressed as a civilian and marching in a parade with a banner that reads, “Support Gays and Lesbians in the Military!” he should accept it as a free right of expression.

Prescriptions for those possible scenarios are being played out at Marine bases as the military prepares to allow gays to openly serve, ending a 17-year-old policy commonly known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Training for the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines began early this year and is expected to finish by summer’s end. The repeal goes into effect 60 days after the president, defense secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that lifting the ban won’t hurt the military’s ability to fight.

“These changes are about policy,” states briefing material for Marine instructors. “The policy is about adherence to orders and behavior, and not about beliefs.”

The latest round of training material asks Marines to consider their reactions to a wide range of scenarios, from seeing a member “hanging around” a gay bar to hearing locker-room jokes from others who refuse to shower in front of gays. Members of the 1st Marine Logistics Group report to class Thursday at Camp Pendleton.

There is nothing wrong with “hanging around” a gay bar, the materials state. The officer who witnesses the loud locker-room banter aimed at gays and lesbians should remind the Marines any discrimination or harassment is inappropriate.

For those who oppose the new policy, the Marine Corps says it doesn’t expect anyone to change their personal beliefs. Still, everyone must follow orders.