The Obama admin probably would have given her a medal.

TORONTO (AP) — The Palestinian Authority recalled their envoy to Canada this month for posting a link on twitter that included an anti-Semitic video.

Linda Sobeh Ali posted a tweet this month with a link to a YouTube video featuring an emotionally distressed Palestinian girl shouting a poem in Arabic titled “I am Palestinian.”

The English subtitles on the video include a passage where millions are called upon “destroy the Jews.”

Joseph Lavoie, a spokesman for Canada’s foreign affairs minister, said Monday it was a serious enough matter for the Palestinian Authority that they recalled Sobeh Ali.

“This video is completely unacceptable and offensive as it calls for the death of Jews,” Lavoie said.

Riad Malki, the Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister, speaking in Ramallah, said the envoy posted the link thinking it was a “normal national poem.”

“We asked her to leave Canada because we didn’t want to create any problems,” he said.

According to Malki, the “Jewish lobby and Jewish institutions” in Canada complained to the Canadian government. The envoy “went back to the poem and there was something wrong with the translation.” The phrase translated in the English subtitles as “destroy the Jews” was actually “to kill the soul of Zionism.”

(TheDC) — Frank La Rue, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression who made summer headlines when he proclaimed Internet access as a basic human right, conducted his research and delivered his conclusions with the support of organizations funded by liberal financier George Soros, The Daily Caller has learned.

La Rue’s statements on Internet freedom caused alarm among conservatives who believe “net neutrality” is a vehicle for a government takeover of the Internet.

Advocates of net neutrality, a position championed by the billionaire Soros and by the U.N., argue governments must regulate private censorship and bandwidth online to ensure it remains open and free. Soros, a philanthropist known for supporting liberal causes, has articulated his belief in the need for greater U.S. government regulation of the Internet.

While Soros is known among supporters as an advocate of pro-democracy causes, critics see the Open Society Institute — which he founded and chairs — as his instrument for funding and supporting his preferred causes.

Keep reading…

Good for them.

(JPost) — Israel denied a request by the United States on Thursday to temporarily freeze settlement construction in order to promote peace talks with the Palestinians.

In a meeting with Interior Minister Eli Yishai, US Ambassador Dan Shapiro requested the freeze — a repeated Palestinian precondition for negotiations — in order to bolster political goodwill as the US tries to counter Palestinian efforts to seek full UN membership.

Shapiro promised that the United States would veto such efforts regardless of Israel’s decision on settlements.

According to Army Radio, Yishai replied that no Israeli government had given in to the request to freeze settlements in the past, and that there was no reason for the current government to do so now.

Earlier in the month, the United States criticized a Likud-sponsored plan to legalize rogue settlement outposts, saying it does not recognize the “legitimacy of continued Israeli settlement activity.”

But she has such a delightful personality.

(Rasmussen) — While Congress’ overall job approval continues to hover around record lows, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi remains the most unpopular Congressional leader.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 63% of Likely Voters have at least a somewhat unfavorable opinion of Pelosi, just below her worst rating ever (64%) measured in July and February.

How Iran deals with its protesters.

Assploding chutzpah.

(CNSNews.com) — Iranians demonstrated in Tehran on Wednesday in support of the Occupy Wall Street rallies in the United States, which some Iranian leaders are hoping will lead to the downfall of Western capitalism.

Iranian media outlets described the protesters as laborers and said they displayed banners “condemning the suppression of Occupy Wall Street movement and tyranny of Zionist and capitalist system.”

According to an Iranian Students News Agency report, a declaration read at the protest urged the United Nations and human rights groups to investigate the authorities’ response to the protests in U.S. cities and support the demands of “impoverished” American workers.

A similar call came Wednesday from a lawmaker who chairs Iran’s parliamentary human rights committee. Zohre Elahian said in a statement Wednesday that “scenes of the suppression of U.S. protesters are upsetting” and deserve international condemnation.

And this knuckle-dragger is running for Congress again.

“For Paul Ryan or any Republican to talk about the president inciting the politics of division is much like O.J. saying he’s going to devote his life to finding the real killer. They’re the real killers.”

Down twinkles.

(The Hill) — Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) on Wednesday night said he is “ashamed” of the Oakland Police Department’s crackdown on protestors on the Occupy movement on Tuesday, and called on police across the country to act with restraint when dealing with those protestors.

“A betrayal of American values occurred last night in Oakland, California, when police fired tear gas on those peaceful demonstrators,” Rush said on the House floor.

According to press reports, police raided an Occupy camp in Oakland, citing reports of violence and unsanitary conditions caused by the protestors. Police also said protestors were throwing rocks at police, but protestors said the attack was unprovoked.

Rush took the side of the Occupy movement, and claimed that they were all demonstrating peacefully. He also said Americans should not condemn the movement given that Americans tend to support similar movements overseas when they happen.

“Is this not the very thing that we condemn around the world?” Rush asked. “How dare we denounce an action when committed abroad, but yet remain silent when it happens in our own backyard?”

Rush also praised the Occupy movement as the next great American protest movement, on par with those in history that sought redress on issues related to slavery, labor, civil rights and the environment.

“Members of the Occupy movement now emerge as yet another generation of courageous Americans, voicing our frustration that many citizens feel with the money-driven elite that mismanage the American economy,” he said. Rush also said police need to show more restraint.

Keep reading…

Campaigner-in-Chief.

(WHD) — President Obama in 2011 has attended more than twice as many presidential campaign fundraisers as George W. Bush had by this time in 2003 — the year before his reelection in 2004 — but has raised less money than Bush for his campaign.

Obama has been electioneering and fundraising at a torrid pace in recent weeks. White House officials say he is making up for time lost during the deficit negotiations with Republicans this summer, when some events had to be cancelled.

Obama was out of the office three days this week and three the week before. His excursion out West this week, from which he returned Wednesday afternoon, included six fundraisers in Las Vegas, Denver, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The president last week took a three-day bus tour through the key battleground states of North Carolina and Virginia. While supposedly a trip to promote his jobs plan, many saw the barnstorming as an obvious de facto campaign swing.

According CBS Radio News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller, Obama has staged 60 campaign fundraisers this year compared to only 28 by Bush by this time in 2003.

Keep reading…

Is that why Mooch wasn’t “proud of her country”?

(The Hill) — Speaking to a group of university students Wednesday about student loan debt, President Obama said that when he and Michele got married.

“We combined and got poorer together,” Obama said. “We combined our liabilities not our assets.”

Obama said that when they got married, he and Michele had a combined $120,000 in student loan debt and monthly payments on the debt were more than their mortgage.

The University of Colorado hosted the president on his way back from a west coast trip to promote his jobs plan.

The Obamas’ latest tax returns show that he has come a long way since combining liabilities with the president and first lady reporting an income of $1.7 million in 2010.

Something tells me those people aren’t Republican voters.

(Politico) — Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs argued Thursday that President Barack Obama was the best choice for the middle class distress illustrated by the Occupy Wall Street movement.

“Every one of the Republican candidates wants to roll back Wall Street reform, wants to put Wall Street back in charge of writing the rules that quite frankly got us into a lot of this current mess,” Gibbs, who is advising Obama’s campaign, said on NBC’s Today Show.

Gibbs said that the president, who Wednesday rolled out new rules that made it easier for those dealing with student debts, was the best candidate out there for the middle class.

“Barack Obama on the other hand is out fighting for the middle class and making sure we can send our children to college. I think that’s a pretty good contrast even in a bad economy,” said Gibbs, who said he “absolutely” thought the president would be reelected.

Asked about Occupy Wall Street, Gibbs said America faces problems with “income inequality” — which he argued has been worsening over three decades — as well as the “anxiety and frustration” that results from that.

However, Gibbs asserted that the Obama administration recognizes that upwards income mobility comes from education, and is taking steps to make it easier for students.

“What is the best way for somebody to get ahead into the middle class and get a better paying job? It’s to go to college. We know that works,” said Gibbs. “That’s why the president was so forceful in rolling out [student loan changes] . . . if people work hard and get the right to go to college, get accepted, we shouldn’t impede that by saying they can’t afford it.”

Hypocrites.

(NYP) — The Occupy Wall Street volunteer kitchen staff launched a “counter” revolution yesterday — because they’re angry about working 18-hour days to provide food for “professional homeless” people and ex-cons masquerading as protesters.

For three days beginning tomorrow, the cooks will serve only brown rice and other spartan grub instead of the usual menu of organic chicken and vegetables, spaghetti bolognese, and roasted beet and sheep’s-milk-cheese salad.

They will also provide directions to local soup kitchens for the vagrants, criminals and other freeloaders who have been descending on Zuccotti Park in increasing numbers every day. . . .

“We need to limit the amount of food we’re putting out” to curb the influx of derelicts, said Rafael Moreno, a kitchen volunteer.

Many of those being fed “are professional homeless people. They know what they’re doing,” said the guard at the food-storage area.

Organizers took other steps to police the squatters, who they said were lured in from other parks with the promise of free meals.

“We’re not going to let some members of this community destroy the whole movement,” a volunteer said.

HT: Newsbusters

Here’s the Twitter feed OWS is using to track arrests of their comrades.

It’s almost like they’re admitting Obamacare is one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation in history.

(Roll Call) — In the latest battle in the Congressional franking wars, Democrats have been vetoing use of the word “Obamacare” in taxpayer-financed mass mailings, saying it violates rules against using the franking privilege for “personal, partisan or political reasons.”

Their objections are irking Republicans as the calendar advances toward the 2012 elections.

“It’s telling that Democrats are fearful of taking ownership of the president’s signature piece of legislation,” a GOP House aide said. “The White House and Congressional Democrats exhausted all of their political capital and a Congressional majority to move the bill across the finish line and into law. You would think given how much it cost them, that they would embrace the end result and proudly attach the president’s name to it at every opportunity.”

“You know, if it was popular they’d be all about calling it Obamacare,” another Republican source added.

At issue is the ability to send provocative communications using Congressional funds. The franking commission reviews official mail, email and social media for overtly political or inflammatory content.

Salley Wood, a spokeswoman for the Republicans on the House Administration Committee, said the parties “don’t always agree” on how the franking rules apply but that Obamacare is an instance where Republicans have conceded ground to expedite the process.

Obama’s non-stop class warfare rhetoric begs to differ.

“He is inciting civil war. That’s what he’s doing. You take his comments and dissect him and see exactly what they mean. It’s almost as if the Republicans want violence to take place in our society. And the Democrats just sit there and let President Obama take it. Where’s the communication team for the Democrats? Why aren’t you out on the talking heads on talk radio across america with editorial boards, on talking head shows on cable saying, ‘you know what, this is wrong.’ Where’s the force? Where’s the passion? Where’s the fight for the Democrats? Does President Obama have to do everything?” Schultz said on his MSNBC program.

Via RCP

Coward.

(JPost) — Iranian grandmaster Ehsan Ghaem Maghami was expelled from an international chess tournament after refusing to play Ehud Sachar, an Israeli.

Maghami refused to play Sachar, his scheduled opponent in the fourth round of the Corsica Masters championship, for political reasons.

Leo Battesti, the tournament’s organizer, told AFP that, “Politics has no place in competition at this level. I was forced to expel Ehsan Ghaem Maghami, who unfortunately refused to change his mind.”

More than 800 players from 30 countries participated in the tournament, according to AFP, including about 40 Grandmasters and International Masters.

Battesti has indirectly gone head-to-head with an Israeli in chess before; in February, he went up against a world record for simultaneous chess games set by Israeli Alik Gershon.

Maghami played 614 simultaneous games, beating Gershon’s record of 523.

How is this like the Tea Party?

(NYDN) — Protesters stormed through downtown Manhattan on Wednesday night to proclaim solidarity with fellow demonstrators who were forced out of encampments in Oakland, Calif., and Atlanta, Ga.

The drama unfolded when about 400 Occupy Wall Street protesters marched from Zuccotti Park to City Hall only to be met by a swarm of cops about 9 p.m.

The crowd quickly rerouted and began walking up Broadway towards Union Square only to be met by a police barricade near Reade St.

As organizers tried in vain to call off the march, scores of demonstrators splintered off and broke through a wall of cops — some of them even swiping a roll of orange netting used to kettle the large crowd.

“We wanted to go to City Hall to show solidarity with Oakland,” said Katama Rose, 22. “We wanted to come out and talk about how that wasn’t okay.”

But when protesters were held at bay by cops, “that’s when everything broke loose,” Rose said.

At least 10 people were arrested as the wild mob took to the streets towards Union Square chanting, “Oakland to NYC, stop police brutality.”

The group clogged traffic for several blocks in Soho and Greenwich Village after some urged fellow protesters to disobey police orders to stay on the sidewalks.

“We were blocking traffic, linked arm to arm,” said Patrick Bruner, 23.

Andy Davenport, 26, encouraged protesters to ignore police “because it’s in direct contradiction to the law,” he said. “This is how you fight the police state.”

Which Koran is she reading?

(Examiner) — At the 26th annual Dallas Women’s Foundation’s luncheon, Mavis Leno, wife of talk show’s comedian Jay Leno, shared with the audience accounts about her journey into activism to help empower Afghani women and girls under the Taliban regime.

“Global Women’s Voices: A Dialogue” was carried on by CNN Muslim journalist, Maria Ibrahimji, who together with Leno discussed how local voices can make positive change globally. The voices of local Dallas/Fort Worth Muslim women were heard during the event, when Texas Muslim Women’s Foundation was acknowledged for its local efforts in building bridges among communities.

Leno’s story started in the late nineties when she joined Feminist Majority Foundation, an organization for women’s equality, non-violence, economic development and empowerment of women and girls in all sectors of society. Leno was shocked to learn about the deteriorating status of Afghani women, who prior to the Taliban included women as elected officials in Kabul. . . .

When asked about the role of Islam in the status of women in Afghanistan, Leno confirmed that “the Quran is more liberal with women than the Bible.” She added that Prophet Mohammad was married to a wealthy and powerful woman, implying that Islam has nothing against empowering women; on the contrary it is a religion that supports women’s rights. Culture, on the other hand, affects the interpretation of religious texts which results in assaulting women’s rights.

HT: Stumpy

OWS is like a virus.

(PressTV) — Hundreds of Pakistani workers, tradesmen and students have staged rallies in the capital, Islamabad, to protest against capitalism in the country, Press TV reports.

Wednesday’s rallies were inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement which erupted in New York in mid-September to protest social and economic inequalities and corporate greed in the US.

“Under capitalism people can’t live a dignified life, they can’t even meet their basic needs. I think in this system people are not able to get jobs, they are not able to make ends meet,” said a protester.

Protesters also marched towards the World Bank office in Islamabad and chanted slogans against the international financial institutions.

Demonstrators also denounced the privatization of government companies, saying capitalists wanted to take total control of all the public money.

“Our serious problem is the policies of new liberalists and capitalists, for example the privatization of the telecommunication company has been a total disaster, restructuring of railway company has been a disaster and the big dams we built with World Bank money has also been a disaster environmentally, socially and economically,” said a protester.

HT: Dan

Join the club.

(The Hill) — Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expressed a cautious view of the Occupy Wall Street movement on Wednesday, seemingly giving voice to a growing uncertainty on the left that the ongoing protests are going anywhere.

“There are all kinds of different agendas going on [and it is] hard to figure out what people want,” Feinstein said Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“I don’t think” the protesters have the right to ‘Occupy’ forever, she added. “I don’t think people, for example, can sleep in a square for weeks on end. You have to have some order to it.”

Protesters have been camped out in front of City Hall in Los Angeles for two weeks, and some council members have expressed a growing unease with the impact they are having and the length of their stay.

They’re really taking this to heart.

TEHRAN (ISNA) — Iranian workers staged a rally before Swiss embassy in Tehran Wednesday, representing the US interests, to support Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement in the US.

Protesters carried banners condemning the suppression of Occupy Wall Street movement and tyranny of Zionist and capitalist system.

They chanted slogans against the US, Britain and Zionist regime and called for them to vindicate workers and impoverished people’s right living under hegemonic governments.

A declaration written by Iranian labor party to support the US suppressed worker was recited in the demonstration as well. “Zionist capitalist system particularly the US employed all of its capabilities to manage the crisis when the Islamic awakening expanded across the region.”

In the declaration they called for the UN and human rights’ Watchdog and other relevant organizations to form a committee to meet the US impoverished labors’ demands. They also called for release of the arrested people following the recent protests in the US and Europe.

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) is an ongoing series of demonstrations in New York City based in Zuccotti Park in the Wall Street financial district. The protests were initiated by the Canadian activist group Adbusters — The Adbusters Media Foundation is a Canadian organization based not-for-profit, anti-consumerist, pro-environment organization — They are mainly protesting social and economic inequality.