Pure Kafka
Category Archives: Selective enforcement
EDITORIAL: Obama to Christians: Forget you
From The Washington Times:
President Obama delivered official messages for Passover, Ramadan and Diwali. But for Easter? Not so much. The White House came under fire this week for neglecting to issue official statements for either Easter or Good Friday, though Mr. Obama did take time Friday to address Earth Day, a celebration observed by tens of thousands of pagan worshippers of the earth goddess Gaia.
Mr. Obama clearly didn’t simply forget Easter. He and his family attended an Easter service. He presided over the annual Easter egg roll, a White House tradition dating back to the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes. Mr. Obama also hosted his second annual Easter prayer breakfast, at which he said “as busy as we are, as many tasks as pile up, during this season, we are reminded that there’s something about the resurrection – something about the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ, that puts everything else in perspective.” His brief breakfast address could well have served as the official Easter proclamation, if the White House had thought of it.
Mr. Obama has had a difficult official relationship with Easter. His 2010 Easter proclamation was criticized because he attempted to include other faiths in what is a uniquely Christian holiday. This was not equal-opportunity multiculturalism; his Ramadan message did not include a shout-out to American Jews, for example, even though his 2011 Passover message bizarrely related the holiday to the current Arab uprisings. Likewise, Mr. Obama’s 2009 message stated that, “while we worship in different ways, we also remember the shared spirit of humanity that inhabits us all – Jews and Christians, Muslims and Hindus, believers and nonbelievers alike.” He also quoted passages from a historic 1945 sermon delivered by a chaplain in the wake of the fierce fighting on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima but edited out any mention of Jesus.
Man who burned Qur’an gets pain and suffering fees
Toronto Star… NEWARK, N.J. — The New Jersey Transit employee fired for publicly burning pages of the Qur’an on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last year is getting his job back.
A settlement obtained by The Star-Ledger Newark shows Derek Fenton will receive $25,000 for pain and suffering when he resumes his $86,110-a-year job.
He’ll also receive back pay equal to $331.20 for every day since his firing on Sept. 13, 2010.
The state will also pay $25,000 in legal fees to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a lawsuit claiming Fenton’s right to free expression was violated.
The 40-year-old was not working when he set fire to three pages of the Qur’an in September in Lower Manhattan to protest a planned Islamic centre near ground zero.
Hallelujah! An Easter victory as Christian electrician wins battle to display cross in his van
So how exactly is this a victory? The man in question retains the rights he has always had and that he is afforded under law but those who tried to punish him for his beliefs and to trample on his freedoms receive no punishment or official sanction.
So Mr. Atkinson, who once claimed he would not be silenced, has now done a secret backroom deal with the culprits and returned smiling and silenced.
Hows that victory tasting now Britain?
Mail Online… Christian electrician Colin Atkinson has won his fight to display a cross in his van following a nationwide outcry.
The dramatic climbdown by Wakefield District Housing came after senior church figures were joined by Hindu, Muslim and Sikh leaders in condemning his employers.
Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey had described the 64-year-old grandfather’s plight as ‘scandalous’ and Housing and Planning Minister Grant Shapps said WDH’s action was ‘wrong’.
Last night Lord Carey said: ‘I’m so glad. All that was needed was a little bit of compassion and understanding. Where there is a bit of common sense we can find a resolution.’
WDH caved in and agreed to let Mr Atkinson display his cross in an effort to end the embarrassing row.
The U-turn came at a ‘confidential and unminuted’ meeting between Mr Atkinson, his Unite union rep Terry Cuncliffe, WHD executive director of people Gillian Pickersgill and a senior manager at the organisation’s headquarters in Castleford, West Yorkshire, on Wednesday.
During the hour-long meeting WDH managers put a series of proposals to Mr Atkinson – all of which would allow him publicly to display the cross.
Mr Atkinson has agreed with managers not to reveal the details of the compromise agreement. But he had maintained all along his right to display the cross publicly was ‘non-negotiable’. Continue Reading →
Rich should be FORCED to help the poor, says Archbishop of Canterbury
For all those people cheering the words of Dr Williams. Ask yourselves if you would be so supportive had he suggested that all those unemployed and on benefits should be forced to work in hospitals, deliver meals to the old and indigent and sweep and weed the public streets and parks.
Mail Online… The rich and powerful should be required by law to spend some time every year helping the poor and needy, says the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Rowan Williams said today a return to the medieval tradition when monarchs ritually washed the feet of the poor would serve to remind politicians and bankers what should be the purpose of their wealth and power.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 Today programme’s Thought For The Day slot, he said the Bible made clear it was the duty of the powerful to ensure ordinary people were ‘treasured and looked after’ – especially those without the resources to look after themselves.
‘What about having a new law that made all Cabinet members and leaders of political parties, editors of national papers and the hundred most successful financiers in the UK spend a couple of hours every year serving dinners in a primary school on a council estate, or cleaning bathrooms in a residential home?’ he suggested.
Alternatively, he said, they could walk the town streets at night as street pastors ‘ready to pick up and absorb something of the chaos and human mess you will find there, especially among young people’.Because the duty to serve would be compulsory, those involved would not be able to claim credit for doing it, he added.
Dr Williams acknowledged that it might just be ‘a nice fantasy to mull over during the holiday weekend’, but insisted that it could bring genuine benefits.
‘It might do two things: reminding our leaders of what the needs really are at grassroots level so that those needs can never again just be remote statistics, and reminding the rest of us what politics and government are really for,’ he said.
Banished for his Christian beliefs: Now electrician who had a cross in his van is thrown out of depot
Mail Online… The electrician making a stand over his Christian beliefs was yesterday thrown out of his workplace of 15 years for displaying a cross to mark Easter.
Colin Atkinson was told he had ‘violated’ his contract by revealing he had been disciplined for having the symbol on the dashboard of his company van.
Senior managers told the 64-year-old grandfather he could no longer work at the depot because he had ‘upset his workmates’. He has been moved to another depot but fears he will be sacked in days.
Despite Wakefield District Housing’s ‘anti-Christian’ rules, Mr Atkinson’s boss, Denis Doody, is allowed to display a poster of communist revolutionary Che Guevara in his office.
It is believed Mr Doody is one of the ‘upset’ colleagues.
Yesterday morning senior WDH managers were waiting for Mr Atkinson – who retires in ten months – at the company’s depot in Castleford, West Yorkshire, to deliver the news.
Mr Atkinson told the Daily Mail: ‘I expect to be sacked within days. They have already found against me for failing to carry out a “reasonable management request” by refusing to get rid of the cross. Continue Reading →
‘What about burning poppies?’: Court outburst of man jailed for setting Koran alight
From The Daily Mail:
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 4:08 AM on 19th April 2011
A man has been jailed for 70 days today after he burnt a copy of the Koran just over a month after a Muslim got away with a paltry £50 fine for a similar offence.
Andrew Ryan, 32, stole a copy of the holy book from Carlisle Library then set it on fire by a monument in the city of Carlisle.
Last month Emdadur Choudhury was fined after he burned a poppy outside the Royal Albert Hall in London on Remembrance Day while shouting ‘British soldiers burn in hell’.
As he was led down to the cells, Ryan shouted at the judge at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court today: ‘What about burning poppies?’.
Andrew Ryan, left, shouted ‘What about burning poppies?’ as he was taken down to the cells today while Emdadur Choudhury was handed a £50 fine for burning a poppy last month
Police arrested Ryan shortly the Koran burning in English Street on January 19.
Sentencing him at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Gerald Chalk said: ‘This is a case of theatrical bigotry. It was pre-planned by you as you stole the book deliberately. You went out to cause maximum publicity and to cause distress.’ Continue Reading →
Two middle eastern men trashed bibles in ‘multifaith’ prayer rooms at Ottawa Airport Friday April 15 2011
Why am I posting this unsubstantiated story? Because all the mass media has abandoned its role as informants and purveyors of news and instead, has become fabricators of opinion, making sure that nothing bad Muslims do reaches our understanding while exagerating anything anyone else might do, especially if Muslims are made uncomfortable by it. So I am left with no choice. When someone claims something was done, I know for a fact that by the time the news reports it, if it ever reports it, that it is likely no longer relevant. So I have to take the word of people who say they have seen things.
From the Lowel Green show, CFRA AM radio, Monday April 18 2011
CFRA Airport
Electrician faces sack for displaying Christian cross in his van
The Telegraph
An electrician and former soldier faces the sack for displaying a small palm cross in the window of his company van.
Wakefield and District Housing claims the cross may cause offence Photo: JOHN ROBERTSON12:14AM BST 17 Apr 2011
Colin Atkinson, 64, from Wakefield, has been called to a disciplinary hearing at the housing association where he has worked for 15 years.
His bosses at the publicly funded Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) have demanded he remove the eight inch long cross made from woven palm leaves that sits on his dashboard.
The organisation claims the cross may cause offence but says it strongly promotes “inclusive” policies and allows employees to wear religious symbols at work.
It has provided stalls at gay pride events, held “diversity days” for travellers, and has allowed other staff to display photographs of Che Guevera, the revolutionary leader, in their office.
Mr Atkinson, who is a regular worshipper at church, said: “I have worked in the coal mines and served in the Army in Northern Ireland and I have never suffered such stress.
Persecuted for his cross: Electrician told he faces the sack for Christian symbol on his van dashboard
Pressed by Mr Cunliffe on whether a Muslim woman who wore a burka at work would be considered discreet, she said: ‘If they could do their job effectively, then yes.’
MAILONLINE…An electrician faces the sack for displaying a small palm cross on the dashboard of his company van.
Former soldier Colin Atkinson has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing by the giant housing association where he has been employed for 15 years because he refuses to remove the symbol.
Mr Atkinson, a regular worshipper at church, said: ‘The treatment of Christians in this country is becoming diabolical…but I will stand up for my faith.’
Throughout his time at work, he has had an 8in-long cross made from woven palm leaves attached to the dashboard shelf below his windscreen without receiving a single complaint.
But his bosses at publicly funded Wakefield and District Housing (WDH) in West Yorkshire – the fifth-biggest housing organisation in England – have demanded he remove the cross on the grounds it may offend people or suggest the organisation is Christian. Mr Atkinson’s union representative said he faces a full disciplinary hearing next month for gross misconduct, which could result in dismissal.
The association strongly promotes ‘inclusive’ policies and allows employees to wear religious symbols at work.
It has provided stalls at gay pride events, held ‘diversity days’ for travellers, and hosted a gender reassignment event entitled A World That Includes Transpeople.
Mr Atkinson, who has an unblemished work record, said he had not been shown similar respect.
‘The past few months have been unbelievable, a nightmare,’ he said.
‘I have worked in the coal mines and served in the Army in Northern Ireland and I have never suffered such stress. The treatment of Christians in this country is becoming diabolical. It is political correctness taken to the extreme.’
But he added: ‘I have never been so full of resolve. I am determined to stand up for my rights. If they sack me, so be it. But I am standing up for my faith.’
Mr Atkinson’s battle follows a series of similar cases involving Christians who claim their freedoms have been curbed following the introduction of controversial equality laws.
Campaigners accused the housing association of ‘remarkable intolerance’ at a time when millions of Christians will be celebrating Palm Sunday today, a week before Easter Sunday. Palms are traditionally distributed during services to mark Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem. READ MORE
Now elf ‘n’ safety bans 400-yard Easter parade
The war on Christians continues in UKistan.
MAILONLINE… Every year the Christians from different churches get together to march a 400-yard route to celebrate Easter.
But this year their Good Friday parade has been banned – because it breaches health and safety laws.
Church leaders say town hall bureaucrats are refusing Christians rights routinely afforded to minority groups, and have vowed to defy them.
Previously organisers of the parade in Willesden, north London, had only needed to inform police of their route. But new red tape means they now need permission from Brent Council.
Officials said they banned the procession because they were contacted too late to carry out a ‘consultation’ to close the roads. Continue Reading →
Egypt: Coptic Church bombing suspects released
Cairo, 11 April (AKI) – Twenty people arrested on suspicion of taking part in the deadly New Year’s bombing of a Coptic Church in the port city of Alexandria have been freed from prison, according to Egyptian newspaper Al-Dustur.
The release of the suspects was ordered by general Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, part of the military council that took power in February after nationwide anti-government protests ousted president Hosni Mubarak after around 30 years in power, the report said.
Twenty-four people were killed and around 100 injured during the bombing that sparked rioting and protests and drew international condemnation.
Coptic Christians account for about 10 percent of Egypt’s population.
At least one of those freed claim to be have been detained to silence his criticism of the the state.
Ibrahim Ibata says he was arrested because he claimed his friend was killed by police during an interrogation.
Some of the suspects have called a press conference for Thursday during which they are expected to describe their alleged torture in prison.
BNP ‘Koran burn’ candidate Sion Owens case withdrawn
BBC…The Crown Prosecution Service said it was withdrawing the case against Sion Owens
The case has been withdrawn against a BNP candidate for the Welsh assembly election who had been accused of being filmed burning a copy of the Koran.
Sion Owens, aged 41, was charged with a public order offence on Saturday.
When he appeared at Swansea Magistrates Court the Crown Prosecution Service said it was withdrawing the case against him.
In other words, burning your own private property while on your own private property can not be concidered a public order offence.
But it said that investigations would continue and that “almost certainly other proceedings will ensue.”
In other words, we will get him on something else.
Mr Owens, from Bonymaen, Swansea, appeared in court from custody.
A BNP candidate for the South Wales West regional list, he was arrested on Friday evening when the force was passed a video recording showing a man burning the Koran.
He was charged on Saturday evening under the Public Order Act.
Joanne Shannon, another BNP candidate also arrested in connection with the incident, had already been released on police bail.
A BNP spokesperson said both would still be candidates in the assembly election on 5 May.
CPS prosecutor Bryn Hurford told Mr Owens to be in “no doubt” that investigations into his actions were continuing and that “almost certainly other proceedings will ensue.”
Speaking outside the court, Mr Owens solicitor, Rachel Elimelech, said he was “pleased” and “very relieved to be released from custody”.
Why Would I Care About The Ivory Coast?
What does the Ivory Coast have to do with the EDL: what does mass Muslim immigration and subversion of democracy have to do with a civil war?
Here’s another example of the mainstream media completely hiding the real reasons for a conflict from the masses. I could be kind and say they’re just stupid, or I could be correct and say they’re terrified of what will happen when people know the truth. If you knew that the Ivory Coast in 1957 had about a 20% Muslim population and that today it is over 50%. If you then knew that the supposedly democratically elected new leader is Muslim while the old one is Christian, do you think those facts might be important? Have you heard that on the BBC?
And if anyone can find any mention of the Islam vs Christianity element of this civil war on the BBC, do let us know.
The following is taken from a leading counter Jihad blog: Sultan Knish.
There is a civil war in the Ivory Coast between Muslims and Christians. Unsurprisingly the EU has chosen to back the Muslim side. France is using armed force to insure that the Muslims take over.
Islam came to the Ivory Coast via Berber slave traders. Now it is trying to take over with mass murder and the backing of the ‘international community’. The post-colonial Ivory Coast was a success story. But Muslim immigration has turned it into a nightmare. Continue Reading →
BNP candidate Sion Owens faces ‘Koran burn’ charge
The fact that the BNP is a dubious political party really makes no difference because this would happen to anyone who burns or insults Islam while on British soil. Had these fellows burned a Bible or Torah none would be in jail. If one wants to understand what is really going on in Britain simply compare this story to how the U.K. police refuse to investigate the rapes and murder of white British children, the desecration of English graves at the hands of Muslims and dhimmis and the hatred preached in mosques and Islamic schools in Britain. [There are simply to many examples to chose from for this last one so google away]
If Britain had a sound it would be that of a toilet flushing.
BBCNEWS… A BNP candidate for next month’s Welsh assembly elections has been charged with a public order offence, after police were passed a video appearing to show him burning a copy of the Koran.
Sion Owens, 41, was named as a party candidate for the South Wales West regional list last week.
He is due to appear at Swansea magistrates’ court on Monday.
A second BNP election candidate has been arrested in connection with the incident, and released on bail.
A BNP spokesperson said both would still be candidates in the assembly election on 5 May.
On Friday, police were given a video which appeared to show Mr Owens dousing a copy of the Koran with a highly flammable fluid, before setting it alight and watching it burn.
Later that day he and another of the party’s candidates for the assembly election, Swansea East candidate Joanne Shannon, were arrested.
Mr Owens was charged on Saturday night. He is in custody in Swansea, and due to appear in court on Monday.
Ms Shannon has been bailed pending further inquiries