Son Of Hamasby Mosab Hassan Youssef, the eldest son of the leader of Hamas will be coming out very soon. I have already ordered the book from Amazon. Below you will find the original post from Joel Rosenberg with links to articles about the book and the author, Mosab Hassan Youssef. This man, as you can imagine lives in constant fear for his and his family's life. I have also added a link to Amazon to order the book.
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UPDATE: I can now disclose that the book is called, Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable choices. it’s published by SaltRiver, an imprint of Tyndale House Publishers, and hits bookstores next Tuesday….the author is Mosab Hassan Youssef, the eldest son of the leader of Hamas….just since the Haaretz story was published, the book has skyrocketed on Amazon from #72,000 yesterday to #146 as of 11:00am eastern….it’s a phenomenal book — one of the most powerful testimonies of a Radical Muslim leader coming to Christ and turning from hatred for Israel to love for Israel that I have ever read….and Mosab is the real deal….we had the opportunity to speak by phone several times last year while he was working on the book….can’t wait to tell you more on Monday when I’ll be authorized to share with you exclusive excerpts from the book and details from my conversations with him….stay tuned….in the meantime, please pray for Mosab’s safety, for his courage, and for wisdom for him and his team as media interest builds and he has a chance to explain why he renounced Islam and terrorism became a discipleof Jesus Christ, and a friend of the Jewish people.
ORIGINAL POST: Last week, I mentioned that I had just finished one of the most powerful books I had ever read about a Radical Muslim leader who has come to faith in Jesus Christ….having signed a non-disclosure agreement, I couldn’t say more….I’ve just learned that on Monday, I will be able to say more….the author of the book has given me exclusive rights to write the first article in the U.S. about the new book, including his remarkable spiritual journey from jihad to Jesus….that said, I think you’ll be interested in this headline in one of Israel’s leading daily newspapers: Haaretz exclusive: Haaretz exclusive: Hamas founder’s son worked for Shin Bet for years
Excerpts from Haaretz article:
■“I wish I were in Gaza now,” said the son of the Hamas leader in an interview: “I would put on an army uniform and join Israel’s special forces in order to liberate Gilad Shalit. If I were there, I could help. We wasted so many years with investigations and arrests to capture the very terrorists that they now want to release in return for Shalit. That must not be done.”
■“The amazing thing is that none of his actions were done for money,” said a former Israeli Shin Bet official who was the double agent’s handler. ”He did things he believed in. He wanted to save lives. His grasp of intelligence matters was just as good as ours — the ideas, the insights. One insight of his was worth 1,000 hours of thought by top experts.”
The book is only $14.84 on pre-order due to be realeased on March 2, 2010.
It seems one of the focal points of the question of free speech revolves around the free speech of Israelis in the US. Now anyone with half a brain knows that Israeli ambassadors or academics should have a right to express their point of view in this great country of ours, right?
Well, not quite. You see the far-left allies of radical Islam and the pro-Palestinian lobby feel that anyone representing the nation of Israel should not have the right of free speech in America. Nowhere does this idea have more currency than in the world of academia. Now we have this outfit that works for the boycott of Israel asking a group to dis-invite an Israeli scholar from participating in a seminar on Iran in Santa Monica, California.
For the record, I grew up near Santa Monica. I know it well. It is still part of the United States of America. Tell that to the learned scholars of this rag-tag outfit.
Check out the names who signed this letter. Of course, there is that nut job at MIT, Noam Chomsky. He'll sign anything. In fact, he's signing so many letters and petitions, he probably doesn't have time to teach linguistics anymore-the only subject, I might add, that he knows anything about. Saree Makdisi I remember. He is at UCLA but is on the seminar circuit (including UCI) sitting on "panels" that spend hours telling audiences how bad Israel is. I never heard of the other folks, but I'll bet they all hold PHDs. Note that they all teach at our universities. This is what is teaching (indoctrinating, I should say) our children. Don't laugh. It's not funny.
Here we have a collection of so-called academics- you know, smart people-who don't have a clue about the First Amendment, our Constitution or anything else. All they know is that what they don't agree with must be suppressed. Of course, they will all stand with the so-called "Irvine 11", when they try to shut down the Israeli ambassador and say that they (the students) were exercising their free speech.
You see, to the academic left, it all comes down to this:
"What I believe is free speech. What you believe must be silenced."
Here is a post that I found at DownEast Blog. I have posted a couple of items from him in the past. I like DE because this site gives great examples of how Islam is spreading all across Europe. Islam does this in a dominate fashion, made to intimidate the local population and to make them feel inferior. This is precisely how Islam operates. To dominate the people and strip them of their individuality and thoughts. Coming to America soon, with the Blessing of Imam Obama and his mullahs from the Swamp.
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GERMANY: MUEZZIN CALL TO PRAYER FROM MINARET BECOMING MORE AND MORE COMMON.
The German town of Rendsburg [in northern Schleswig-Holstein, on the Kiel Canal - MFBB] has authorised the call to prayer via loudspeaker of a muezzin from a minaret of Rendsburgs mosque, despite the protests of a part of the population, thus announced on Tuesday Rendsburgs Social Democrat mayor, Andreas Breitner.
The project, defended by the Islamic Centre, which is running the mosque, had provoked lively protests from part of the population, which focused on the nuisance caused by the call to prayer, launched five times a day to invite the faithful to prayer. A petition of the group "No Public Call to Prayer" had gathered 800 signatures.
However, according to the mayor, a study on the limits beyond which noise levels would become troublesome had shown that the public calls to prayer would not exceed 40 decibels, which corresponds with a radio or bird cries [said the mayor].
"Skin color, one's origin, gender or different religions do not play a role (in this kind of decisions). And it's good like that", explained the mayor.
The mosque of this town of more than 28,000 inhabitants, situated 100 kilometers from Hamburg, is the biggest one in Schleswig-Holstein, with two 26m high minarets. It was inuagurated in the fall of 2009."
One party which absolutely welcomed the decision to allow the muezzin's call were the Rendsburger Gruene, the Greens. While it is certainly true that all over Europe, the greatest facilitators of islamization are socialists, the greens show barely less enthusiasm - perhaps they are so enamored with islam because they share with it the same color. It is no coincidence that the National Chairman of the German Greens is... a Turk and self-described "secular muslim", Cem Ozdemir. But perhaps the most striking case in point of the affiliation between greens and muslims remains a 2008 incident involving a Green Party spokesperson in Hause, a district of Frankfurt, central Germany. The district there was already home to two mosques, and yet another muslim association wanted to erect a third one, including a muslim community center... this within a 400-meter radius of the other two. Estimated cost: €3 million. When indigenous Germans protested at a meeting concerning the building plans that "It wouldn't feel like home anymore if more come here", the Green Party spokeswoman AND Frankurts Integration Official (!!!), Nargess Eskandari-Gruenberg, blasted back that:
"40 percent of the city's population are immigrants. "If that doesn't suit you," she said, "then you need to move somewhere else."
Oh yeah, never mind her liberal western looks. It's all taqiyyah you know.
Sadly, these are no isolated cases. Currently, 184 new mosques are being built and/or planned throughout Germany. That's basically, all of a sudden, a 115% increase over the existing 163 mosques [apart from that, there are also an estimated 2,600 prayer rooms - MFBB].
Powerful organizations behind this sudden building frenzy are DITIB and Ahmadiyya. DITIB is actually a branch of the Turkish Ministry of Religious Affairs, and is on its maps already dividing up Germany in religious entities not unlike Christian dioceses. Ahmadiyya is an organization totally apart from DITIB, but no less ambitious, since it has introduced a "100 Mosque Plan" - of which 25% has already been completed!
But back to our Rendsburger muezzin. If the gullible mayor thinks that the call to prayer won't exceed 40 decibels, I have another bridge across the Kiel Canal to sell him. The naivete of those people is really striking, especially in light of the undisputable fact that muslims don't give a jolt about kafir laws. Time and again, muslims do not honor their part of the bargain. Building perscriptions are violated, payment deadlines aren't met, and agreed on transparancy is not provided. Some examples:
So, if you think this guy, Hasan Unsal, the muezzin of the Rendsburg mosque...
... will stick to the 40 decibel limit when trying to wake up his co-religionists at five in the morning... you're probably one of those people who are still convinced the Himalaya's glaciers will all be gone by 2035. Meanwhile...
Mosque in Duisburg, in the Ruhr area
The "Tabakmoschee" in Dresden
The planned Sendlinger mosque in Muenchen
"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our
bayonets and the faithful our soldiers...Reccep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish
Prime Minister.
This is a really good article on pedophilia in Islam. In most cases if Mohammad did it, then that makes it acceptable for Muslims who follow Islam. There is an obligation in Islam to follow Mohammad and the examples he left behind. There are some things that some might take exception to in this post. With that possibility in mind, I will just post part of this with a link to the rest of the article from Trencherbone. You have read here many times about the perversions that exist, are allowed and deemed aceptable within Islam. Please understand that not all Muslim men are leechers and perverts that follow these horrid examples that Mohammad left for his followers. The incidence of such behavior is much higher within Islam than other ideologies or religions. There is quite a bit of information here on other areas of Islam.
The Perfect Pedophile
Muslims worship Mohammad as 'The Perfect Man'. If Mohammad did something then it's OK, in fact it's obligatory for Muslims to follow his example.
But unfortunately for millions of children throughout history, who have been born into Islam or fallen into the clutches of the Mohammedans, the 'prophet' Mohammad was a particularly warped and repulsive pedophile.
He acquired his sex-slave Aisha (var. sp. Ayesha) when she was six and he was fifty-something, much against her father's will.
However Allah said it was OK, so Aisha was dragged away from her dolls and handed over to Mohammed. As she was too young for Mohammed to penetrate, he climaxed by rubbing himself between her thighs without actually entering her body. This practice is known as Mufa' Khathat or 'thighing', and is practised in Muslim families to the present day.
- Incest
Since the sale of a girl involves a substantial cash transfer, it's better if the money flow can remain within the family. Consequently, incestuous marriages proliferate, with girls being sold to older cousins and uncles. This leads to a much greater incidence of birth defects.
- Sex starved young men
Women are kept in purdah, and must be accompanied by a male relative whenever they leave the house. Wealthy older men acquire the youngest brides (often young cousins), with polygamy ensuring that young women are always in short supply for impoverished young men. In traditional Muslims societies, by the time the average Muslim male has reached adolescence all the girls have been sold to old lechers. This gives the Muslim males four choices...
Depths of depravity towards Christians
The combination of their primitive, tribal 'religion', their brainwashed hatred of infidels, and the example of their loathsome 'prophet' means that there are no depths of depravity to which they will not sink when molesting infidel children, as the last two examples below illustrate...
Muslim pedophile gangs prey on British Children
"Of course you find pedophiles and rapists in all communities, but these are nearly always loners operating in secret, because pedophiles are despised and hated by normal people.
However Islam is different. Pedophilia is socially acceptable in Islam because 'the perfect man' Mohammed was a pedophile. In addition, pedophile attacks on 'kuffar' (non-Muslim) children are seen as a legitimate form of jihad, inflicting humiliation and demoralisation on the children and their parents.
The Islamic invasion of the West is one huge razzia (raid of rape and pillage) and Western children are war booty. Pedophila is widespread in Muslim communities, with Christian children being the main targets. The pedophiles operate in well-organised gangs and networks. They are protected and encouraged by their wider communities and enjoy immunity from prosecution so as not to damage 'Community Cohesion' - more
I really cannot add anything to this story except that I am and always will be pro-life. When my wife was pregnant with our second child her doctor recommended that we abort him becasue of 'abnormalities' in the tests results that showed he might have Downs Syndrome. 14 years later, our son is a great kid and very normal. Even if he had been born with mental or physical disabilities, we never have regretted his birth. Just for the record, we threw the doctor out of the room and fired her. Where did she ultimately end up? At a Planned Parenthood clinic. How many lives did she ruin or take?
Children are a true gift from God.
President Obama does not agree.
Officials Find Dozens of Frozen Dead Babies After Legal Abortion Death Probed
Philadelphia, PA (LifeNews.com) -- Officials investigating an abortion business in Philadelphia after a woman died from a botched legal abortion last November have made a grisly discovery. The found dozens of apparently late-term unborn children who were killed in abortions as long as 30 years ago.
The "Shop of Horrors" case involves the West Philadelphia abortion center Women's Medical Society run by Kermit Gosnell.
Authorities were prompted to investigate Women's Medical Society after an abortion patient died last November. Massive amounts of drugs found in the victim's system led authorities to suspect Gosnell was illegally prescribing pain-killers.
Officials also suspected the woman died from the botched abortion in part because she had been treated by unlicensed personnel.
The State Board of Medicine says Gosnell had the unlicensed staff member vaginal exams and administer the drugs Demerol, Promethazine and Diazepam. He was eventually fined $1,000 for the violations.
Yesterday, for the second time in four days, according to a CBS 3 report, local police along with State Licensing officials and DEA agents, searched the Women's Medical Society.
They found the dozens of unborn children killed in abortions who were frozen for decades. CBS 3 indicates they are now determining whether or not they may have been victims of illegal late-term abortions.
CBS 3 also reported that records from 1995 show Gosnell was publicly reprimanded by the State Licensing Board which found he ''employed a physician's assistant that was not certified ... saw at least one patient and treated him."
So far, as a result of the abortion death, Gosnell's medical license has been temporarily suspended, but he has not yet been charged with anything illegal. His abortion center is temporarily closed while the investigation proceeds.
Troy Newman, the president of the pro-life group Operation Rescue, told LifeNews.com that the suspension order described "deplorable and unsanitary" conditions at the clinic, indicating that "there was blood on the floor, and parts of aborted fetuses were displayed in jars."
The order declared Gosnell to be "an immediate and clear danger to the public health and safety."
Newman says the notion that legalizing abortion made it safer for women is fiction.
"This is not the exception to the rule in our nation's abortion clinics. It is standard operating procedure," he said. "This clinic is no better than a back alley abortion mill, and in fact may be worse."
"Collecting the remains of dead babies over a 30 year time frame is reminiscent of the actions of deranged serial killers who keep body parts as trophies. It doesn't get much sicker than that," he added.
Hat tip: The Green room and Cassy FianoTags:Abortion, death, womenTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the Patriot's Corner. Thanks!
Thanks to Ron at Obama cartoons for letting me 'borrow' this one. If you have not checked out Obama Cartoons or Hill Billy White Trash, please do so. I do not think you will regret it one bit.
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Judical Watch has come out with this list for the last several years. This one has some real'winners' on the list for 2009. While the list is not all inclusive of the most corruoted, vile politicians that many of us can think of or add, this list is great place to start. Notice the list is not all Democrats
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released its 2009 list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians." The list, in alphabetical order, includes:
1.Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT): This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 "Ten Most Corrupt" list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him. In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch's complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms. However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.
2.Senator John Ensign (R-NV): A number of scandals popped up in 2009 involving public officials who conducted illicit affairs, and then attempted to cover them up with hush payments and favors, an obvious abuse of power. The year's worst offender might just be Nevada Republican Senator John Ensign. Ensign admitted in June to an extramarital affair with the wife of one of his staff members, who then allegedly obtained special favors from the Nevada Republican in exchange for his silence. According to The New York Times: "The Justice Department and the Senate Ethics Committee are expected to conduct preliminary inquiries into whether Senator John Ensign violated federal law or ethics rules as part of an effort to conceal an affair with the wife of an aide…" The former staffer, Douglas Hampton, began to lobby Mr. Ensign's office immediately upon leaving his congressional job, despite the fact that he was subject to a one-year lobbying ban. Ensign seems to have ignored the law and allowed Hampton lobbying access to his office as a payment for his silence about the affair. (These are potentially criminal offenses.) It looks as if Ensign misused his public office (and taxpayer resources) to cover up his sexual shenanigans.
3.Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA): Judicial Watch is investigating a $12 million TARP cash injection provided to the Boston-based OneUnited Bank at the urging of Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank. As reported in the January 22, 2009, edition of the Wall Street Journal, the Treasury Department indicated it would only provide funds to healthy banks to jump-start lending. Not only was OneUnited Bank in massive financial turmoil, but it was also "under attack from its regulators for allegations of poor lending practices and executive-pay abuses, including owning a Porsche for its executives' use." Rep. Frank admitted he spoke to a "federal regulator," and Treasury granted the funds. (The bank continues to flounder despite Frank's intervention for federal dollars.) Moreover, Judicial Watch uncovered documents in 2009 that showed that members of Congress for years were aware that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were playing fast and loose with accounting issues, risk assessment issues and executive compensation issues, even as liberals led by Rep. Frank continued to block attempts to rein in the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs). For example, during a hearing on September 10, 2003, before the House Committee on Financial Services considering a Bush administration proposal to further regulate Fannie and Freddie, Rep. Frank stated: "I want to begin by saying that I am glad to consider the legislation, but I do not think we are facing any kind of a crisis. That is, in my view, the two Government Sponsored Enterprises we are talking about here, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are not in a crisis. We have recently had an accounting problem with Freddie Mac that has led to people being dismissed, as appears to be appropriate. I do not think at this point there is a problem with a threat to the Treasury." Frank received $42,350 in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008. Frank also engaged in a relationship with a Fannie Mae Executive while serving on the House Banking Committee, which has jurisdiction over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
4.Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner: In 2009, Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he failed to pay $34,000 in Social Security and Medicare taxes from 2001-2004 on his lucrative salary at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), an organization with 185 member countries that oversees the global financial system. (Did we mention Geithner now runs the IRS?) It wasn't until President Obama tapped Geithner to head the Treasury Department that he paid back most of the money, although the IRS kindly waived the hefty penalties. In March 2009, Geithner also came under fire for his handling of the AIG bonus scandal, where the company used $165 million of its bailout funds to pay out executive bonuses, resulting in a massive public backlash. Of course as head of the New York Federal Reserve, Geithner helped craft the AIG deal in September 2008. However, when the AIG scandal broke, Geithner claimed he knew nothing of the bonuses until March 10, 2009. The timing is important. According to CNN: "Although Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told congressional leaders on Tuesday that he learned of AIG's impending $160 million bonus payments to members of its troubled financial-products unit on March 10, sources tell TIME that the New York Federal Reserve informed Treasury staff that the payments were imminent on Feb. 28. That is ten days before Treasury staffers say they first learned 'full details' of the bonus plan, and three days before the [Obama] Administration launched a new $30 billion infusion of cash for AIG." Throw in another embarrassing disclosure in 2009 that Geithner employed "household help" ineligible to work in the United States, and it becomes clear why the Treasury Secretary has earned a spot on the "Ten Most Corrupt Politicians in Washington" list.
5.Attorney General Eric Holder: Tim Geithner can be sure he won't be hounded about his tax-dodging by his colleague Eric Holder, US Attorney General. Judicial Watch strongly opposed Holder because of his terrible ethics record, which includes: obstructing an FBI investigation of the theft of nuclear secrets from Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory; rejecting multiple requests for an independent counsel to investigate alleged fundraising abuses by then-Vice President Al Gore in the Clinton White House; undermining the criminal investigation of President Clinton by Kenneth Starr in the midst of the Lewinsky investigation; and planning the violent raid to seize then-six-year-old Elian Gonzalez at gunpoint in order to return him to Castro's Cuba. Moreover, there is his soft record on terrorism. Holder bypassed Justice Department procedures to push through Bill Clinton's scandalous presidential pardons and commutations, including for 16 members of FALN, a violent Puerto Rican terrorist group that orchestrated approximately 120 bombings in the United States, killing at least six people and permanently maiming dozens of others, including law enforcement officers. His record in the current administration is no better. As he did during the Clinton administration, Holder continues to ignore serious incidents of corruption that could impact his political bosses at the White House. For example, Holder has refused to investigate charges that the Obama political machine traded VIP access to the White House in exchange for campaign contributions – a scheme eerily similar to one hatched by Holder's former boss, Bill Clinton in the 1990s. The Holder Justice Department also came under fire for dropping a voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party. On Election Day 2008, Black Panthers dressed in paramilitary garb threatened voters as they approached polling stations. Holder has also failed to initiate a comprehensive Justice investigation of the notorious organization ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is closely tied to President Obama. There were allegedly more than 400,000 fraudulent ACORN voter registrations in the 2008 campaign. And then there were the journalist videos catching ACORN Housing workers advising undercover reporters on how to evade tax, immigration, and child prostitution laws. Holder's controversial decisions on new rights for terrorists and his attacks on previous efforts to combat terrorism remind many of the fact that his former law firm has provided and continues to provide pro bono representation to terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. Holder's politicization of the Justice Department makes one long for the days of Alberto Gonzales. Cotinue reading the next five
I was aware of all of these timely indicators that have been used and are still used to gauge how the economy is doing. Not that any of us need anymore indicators that our economy is very ill, and getting worse. At least in my opinion it is. Many seem to agree with me. Found this article on PMSNBC. Thought some of you might enjoy this and perhaps some of you may have never heard about some of these indicators that have been used to measure the health of the economy.
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Economic indicators: Serious and silly
By Minyanville
Almost every day, business headlines provide a slew of numbers that can move markets or, supposedly, help us make investment decisions.
But every measurement, including housing starts or unemployment rates, has its detractors -- analysts who argue that the methodology is dubious and the figures likely worthless. Some argue that we'd be better off paying attention to less scientific indicators, such as magazine covers or the so-called Big Mac index.
No less an authority than Alan Greenspan has noted that the sales of men's underwear can signal a change in the economy, so why aren't we all tuned in to revenue figures for the nonessential purchase?
Minyanville took a look at a range of indicators, both formal and fanciful, and asked, do they work? Here's what we learned.
The unemployment rate
What it is: The Bureau of Labor Statistics considers the unemployed to be those who are "jobless, looking for jobs and available for work."
By law, and to ensure healthy economic growth, the Federal Reserve is required to pursue a policy of "full" employment, which would mean keeping the unemployment rate at or below 4%. The current unemployment rate is hovering around 10%, a figure that typically triggers calls for emergency measures to help create jobs and shore up the economy.
Does it work? Yes, but the official unemployment, or U-3, rate leaves out a substantial number of Americans, a group of people known as marginally attached workers. These are people who are neither working nor looking for work but are available and have looked for work in the recent past. Within this group are discouraged workers -- those who have given up looking during the previous four weeks.
The U-3 rate also doesn't count the underemployed -- workers who have settled for part-time jobs, for example. Adding these categories to the U-3 rate gives the Bureau of Labor Statistics its U-6 rate, which is considered the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment, what might be called the actual jobless rate.
The U.S. unemployment rate had been rising nearly steadily since December 2007, from 4.9% to about 10% recently. But in January, while the official figure was 9.7%, the U-6 rate was a staggering 16.5%.
Because of the gap between the U-3 and U-6 rates, David Leonhardt of The New York Times wrote in 2008, "there is no doubt that the unemployment rate is a less telling measure than it once was. It's simply no longer the best barometer of the country's economic health. A truer picture can be found elsewhere, by looking at compensation growth, for instance, or to changes in the percentage of the employed."
The hotel occupancy rate
What it is: Travel expenses, whether for business or pleasure, are some of the first to be cut when times are tough, which is one of the major reasons that investors and economists keep their eye on the hotel occupancy rate. It measures the number of rooms sold during a given time period against the number available.
Does it work? Yes and no. As a coincidence indicator, this index won't show you when a downturn is about to happen. Its recovery also lags behind that of the whole economy. But the rate is still considered useful because it comes out weekly and is a pretty good indication of where the economy is at a given time. Occupancy also can be broken out by region, so the rate can show you which areas of the country are hurting the most in a downturn.
The problem is that the true hotel occupancy rate is not always what it appears. Sometimes expansions are planned when times are flush and completed (rather than abandoned) when the economy has turned sour.
To be safe, experts recommend that investors look at RevPAR, or revenue per available room, as well as occupancy for a more accurate picture of the health of the industry. RevPAR decreased a whopping 17.3% in the first 11 months of 2009, for instance, as hotel chains lowered prices. This tops the 1.3% decline in revenue per available room that occurred from January to November 2008. Continue reading about Big Mac's and men's underwear...
I think I will stick to Big Macs and the women's skitrts. Not the most accurate but the most enjoyable
Nine Obama appointees have already represented terrorists. How many more are there that we do not know about?
"Bottom line: Holder revealed no names beyond the two already publicly known. He revealed no cases from which Justice political appointees recused themselves. The letter, which will likely be interpreted on Capitol Hill as a thumb-your-nose statement, is sure to anger Republican senators more than satisfy them."
Obama and Holder: True backstabbers of the American people
Holder admits nine Obama Dept. of Justice officials worked for terrorist detainees, offers no details
Byron York
Attorney General Eric Holder says nine Obama appointees in the Justice Department have represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before joining the Justice Department. But he does not reveal any names beyond the two officials whose work has already been publicly reported. And all the lawyers, according to Holder, are eligible to work on general detainee matters, even if there are specific parts of some cases they cannot be involved in.
Holder's admission comes in the form of an answer to a question posed last November by Republican Sen. Charles Grassley. Noting that one Obama appointee, Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal, formerly represented Osama bin Laden's driver, and another appointee, Jennifer Daskal, previously advocated for detainees at Human Rights Watch, Grassley asked Holder to give the Senate Judiciary Committee "the names of political appointees in your department who represent detainees or who work for organizations advocating on their behalf…the cases or projects that these appointees work with respect to detainee prior to joining the Justice Department…and the cases or projects relating to detainees that have worked on since joining the Justice Department."
In his response, Holder has given Grassley almost nothing. He says nine Obama political appointees at the Justice Department have advocated on behalf of detainees, but did not identify any of the nine other than the two, Katyal and Daskal, whose names Grassley already knew. "To the best of our knowledge," Holder writes,
during their employment prior to joining the government, only five of the lawyers who serve as political appointees in those components represented detainees, and four others either contributed to amicus briefs in detainee-related cases or were otherwise involved in advocacy on behalf of detainees.
Holder says other Obama appointees, like Holder himself, came from law firms which represented detainees but did no work on behalf of the terrorist prisoners. But other than Katyal and Daskal, Holder does not reveal any names of any Obama appointees, nor does he mention the cases they worked on. Continue reading
Washington ExaminerTags:Eric Holder, National Security, Department of Justice, ObamaTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the Patriot's Corner. Thanks!
Ever wonder how the Arab world feels about Iran and the rush to acquire nuclear weapons? The West and its collective respeonse to the Iranian threat has been really tough, almost to much to deal with. Poor Iran! The fear of the THREAT of more severe sanctions must have the mullahs in Iran doubling over in laughter. That is if one can find any place in the Koran where it states that laughing and humor are allowed. That is a topic for another time. When, not if Iran achieves nuclear weapons, Iran will be able to hold the entire region captive with fear and loathing. Once Iran crosses this line into the community with nuclear weapons, many arab countries will have no choice but to cuddle up to Iran and throw themselves into the boiling pot that comprises a region gripped by a possible Iranian checkmate.
Arabs Fear Iran As a Tidal Wave; The West Thinks It's Easily Contained by a Sand Castle
How do leading Arab forces view the U.S. and Iranian maneuverings over Tehran’s drive to get nuclear weapons, the world’s number one political and strategic crisis? Such reactions are almost always either left out of Western calculations on the Middle East or treated in a distorted manner, replaced by clichés: they only react to what the West does and they are overwhelmingly concerned about the Arab-Israeli conflict.
If treated properly, however, such primary materials are a gold mine for comprehending world views, the situation, and probable responses. Al-Sharq al-Awsat is probably the most interesting Arabic-language newspaper today. It is Saudi-owned, London-based, and the closest thing to a liberal daily. Still, though, it reflects Saudi elite viewpoints.
The newspaper’s editor, Tariq al-Homayed, in a February 18 article, sees the region heading toward war, and he is far from alone in doing so. What he says is extraordinarily important even if—especially if—one doesn’t take it literally.
Now it is going to be the Age of Ahmadinejad and the Egyptians, Saudis, Jordanians, and others know that this involves far more than getting a nuclear umbrella. Either there will be a shooting war or, more likely, a combat conducted through subversion, terrorism, mass hysteria, and serious efforts at revolutionary upheaval.
Meanwhile, in the West, the debate continues of whether to have sanctions; precisely what weak and useless sanctions to impose; or how easily it will be to “contain” Iran through a few sentences of speech by a president not noted for his strength or readiness to use force along with a few military units in the Gulf.
Rubin ReportsTags:Arab-Israeli History, Iran, Israel, Nuclear weapon, IranTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the Patriot's Corner. Thanks!
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