SUSE ten?

SUSE 10.0 is out shortly, the product highlights show a fairly nice range of goodies.

German Elections

The media was full of speculation on the recent German elections, whether Schroeder or Merkel will be the next Chancellor. In the breakdown of the election results there is little coverage given to the 'other' section of voters.

Whilst we can see clearly the SPD or CDU totals, etc it is less clear who are makes up the 'others' in the breakdown of the votes, or at least unclear in English-language media.

Upon investigation the NPD (one of Germany's neo-Nazis parties) acquired some 1.6% of the vote, which might be considered small until we ponder that 1.6% translates into over 900,000 votes, and if they could recruit only one in 10 of their voters then that would leave the organisation potentially with 90,000 members.

A frightening prospect nowadays and if major changes were made to the German economy resulting in higher unemployment (greater than the current official 11.6%) the consequences are not bear thinking about.

Awaken al-Qaeda Agents?

The news of several Gulf states lifting their boycott of Israel in exchange for a trading agreement with the US highlighted to points: Saudi exceptionalism and the Saudi's failure at tackling their local Al Qaeda

Saudi exceptionalism is a product of US dependency on oil and American unwillingness to pressurise the Saudis into change.

The Saudi excuse for continuing their boycott otherwise “[it] could provoke the local Islamic organizations and awaken al-Qaeda agents” is indicative of the failure to stem local extremism and their use of Wahhabism is coming back to haunt them. The continued presence and activity of “al-Qaeda agents” results from years of indoctrination into Wahhabism, and not the other way around.

New Blog in Town

I know I am fairly predictable, but perhaps that is not so bad as you get older, but I welcome the advent of a new interesting blog: judeosphere

The comments on the aftermath of Katrina are informative, most of us missed that angle.

A Nicer Fox?

Firefox 1.0.7 is out and is a security and stability release. The release notes are here.

A Hunter Dies

The news of the death of Simon Wiesenthal is a sad, but his excellent work in hunting down Nazis will be remembered.

Simon Wiesenthal’s fine educational work continues on the web and at the Museum of Tolerance.

Women in Afghanistan

How we treat minorities, people without power or those who have traditionally been neglected or placed in a subservient role tells us a lot about our societies and attitudes. Therefore, the inclusion of Afghan women in the forthcoming election must be welcomed. Their courage in these circumstances is remarkable.

Afghanistan has been ravaged by civil war, dictatorships, warlords, famine and world neglect. Throughout these terrible events to position of women in Afghan society has diminished and become intolerable. The nihilist beliefs of the Taliban are still prevalent but until Afghan women can exert their presence and obtain their just rights then social reform, peace and stability may not be possible in Afghanistan.

The position of women in Afghanistan will be an indicator of its progress.

Lock on Intolerance

Brett Lock and the people at Outrage have kept the heat on Ken Livingstone over his support for Dr al-Qaradawi, and rightly so.

Brett Lock’s blog can be found here, he makes many pertinent comments, well worth a read.

Galloway's words

I have to admit I can not stand George Galloway, so with a degree of bias I present Galloway in his own words from Christopher Hitchens' site.

If you're in any doubt, previous video footage of Galloway's disgusting conduct can be seen here.

Beta on Down

Firefox 1.5 beta 1 has been released and contains many nice features, but a warning: many older extensions don't work with it.

I am sure they'll be fixed within a week or two.

A Black Pope

I ran across the notion of a 'black Pope' some months back and I thought it was just the rantings of complete fruitcakes, but to the rescue is www.illuminati-news.com

Best ignore if you're easy offended but it does offer an insight into the minds of some of these people. There appears to be a cross over from the ranting about the 'black Pope', Son of Satan, conspiracy freaks, UFOers and extreme right, which is very troubling.

Site of the Week 11

I like strong opinions and a different view on the world, so adloyada appeals to me. Norm is on the ball again.

Warm Storms Ahead?

Global warming and the increased destructive power in many hurricanes is tied together, according to the recent comments in the New Scientist:

"Global warming is pumping up the destructive power of hurricanes and typhoons, a new study suggests.

An analysis of data on storm winds and duration shows that potential wind-caused damage has roughly doubled over the past 30 years, although tropical sea-surface temperatures have increased by only half a degree over that time, says Kerry Emanuel at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US.

The frequency of hurricanes seems unaffected by global warming. Regional totals vary periodically, but the number of tropical cyclones around the world averages a steady 90 per year"

Spoof or Not

I can not work out if Michael Shore's ranting about the Illuminati and the 7/7 bombings in London is a spoof, or he's off his rockers. You decide.

"Today is 7/ 7 2005 {2+5} or 777, a "perfect" day for the insane Illuminati to do one of their dirty deeds. One thing the Illuminati are into is rituals and numbers. The Illuminati like to leave their secret markings on their crimes. Remember 911?"

Middle-East and Democracy

There was an informative programme on Radio 4's Analysis "Goodbye Autocratic Allies", with the transcript here.

New Orleans 1

The sad events in New Orleans were entirely predictable as National Geographic Magazine in October 2004 showed:


“When did this calamity happen? It hasn't—yet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great.

"The killer for Louisiana is a Category Three storm at 72 hours before landfall that becomes a Category Four at 48 hours and a Category Five at 24 hours—coming from the worst direction," says Joe Suhayda, a retired coastal engineer at Louisiana State University who has spent 30 years studying the coast. Suhayda is sitting in a lakefront restaurant on an actual August afternoon sipping lemonade and talking about the chinks in the city's hurricane armor. "I don't think people realize how precarious we are,"Suhayda says, watching sailboats glide by. "Our technology is great when it works. But when it fails, it's going to make things much worse."

Banking on Fatwas

Banks get everywhere, so it should not come as a shock to see that there is a "Fatwa Bank"!

Are you confused by the controversy over Ken Livingstone’s friend, Dr.Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a renowned ‘moderate’?

Do you wonder what Dr.Yusuf Al-Qaradawi’s views are?

Solution – check the Fatwa Bank


Take a look at his views on Gays:

“I should stress here that Muslim jurists have held differing opinions concerning the punishment for this abominable practice.”

Moderate?

The Doctor and 9/11

Dr Mohammed Naseem on Radio 4, makes some very weird comments
about 9/11 (implying it was some conspiracy or didn't happen, via video manipulation, e.g. "cows can be made as [to] dance"), and on 7/7 - denying the authenticity of Mohammed Sidique Kahn's recent video statement.

Maybe he is a regular on Rense?

Katrina and the Wackos

I occasionally look into weirdo conspiracy theories (no, I don’t believe them) but I think they do say something about modern day society and how seemingly rational people will articulate such nonsense.

A major crisis can bring the worst out in some people and the events in New Orleans is no different.

Rense is a fruitcake’s delight and their latest offering is on hurricane Katrina:

“The Illuminati and their government agents, Bush, Blair,Cheney, Rice, Putin, Sharon etc. etc. all play their roles in the Illuminati's hideous agenda of total control of Planet Earth. They do not care or have any compassion for the millions and possibly billions of humans who will have to be killed for the Illuminati to achieve their SICK agenda. Hurricane Katrina and the destruction and suffering it has caused is just one example of the SICK Illuminati minds who are behind the scenes manipulating these catastrophic wars and events on their way to achieve what they call their "Great Work of Ages".”

Wacky?

Fundies

The BBC's World Tonight had a piece on religious fundies, and if there was a common theme between them (07:30 into playback)

BBC Battles

Ziauddin Sardar has made some points on reforming Islam in the Guardian, and earlier on BBC radio.
He will be presenting Battle for Islam on Monday, 5th September 2005, 21:00-22:30 BBC2