Remembrance Sunday: The traumas of war that haunt us still - Telegraph

For thousands of families, the poignancy of Remembrance Sunday has its source in a private grief that reaches down through generations. For my family this has certainly been true, but it was a long time before I began to understand it.

The first stories ever told to me were about my grandfather Gordon and the First World War. As I sat beside my grandmother in her little flat, she would tell me how, early in 1917, Gordon had led a small company of men through the wire and up to the opposite lines. On the edge of a German trench something had exploded under him, and he was knocked face down into the mud. Later, after the raid, a search party had gone out at night, but in the wreckage and darkness the men hadn’t been able to find any trace of him. My grandfather was reported missing, presumed dead. He was 23 years old.

Remembrance Sunday: The traumas of war that haunt us still - Telegraph

Shirley: Medical device tax will impact jobs and costs » Ventura County Star

Boston Scientific anticipates $100 million in additional taxes next year, with layoffs to follow. Medtronic estimates a $175 million loss in 2013 and will cut 1,000 workers. Stryker plans 1,170 job cuts.

Other medical manufacturers will follow: Smith & Nephew, with 770 layoffs; Abbott Labs, 700; Covidien, 595; Kinetic Concepts, 427; St. Jude Medical, 300; Welch Allyn 275; and Hill Rom, 200.

In January, medical device manufacturers in the U.S. will be asked to take a 2.3 percent hit to their bottom line in the form of a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices, part of the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

Read more:

Shirley: Medical device tax will impact jobs and costs » Ventura County Star

Obama's woman in Tehran - Israel News, Ynetnews

A Chicago lawyer is the key player behind the secret talks between the US and Iran. Yedioth Ahronoth reported Monday. A close friend of Michelle Obama, Valerie Jarrett is assisting the US government communicate behind the scenes with the representatives of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Jarret, who was born in the Iranian city of Shiraz, is a senior advisor to US President Barack Obama. 


Obama's woman in Tehran - Israel News, Ynetnews

Louisiana IDs face Jan. 15 federal Real ID Act deadline | The Town Talk | thetowntalk.com

 SHREVEPORT, La. -- Beginning in January, Louisiana residents may be unable to use their state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards to take domestic flights or enter federal courthouses and other federally secured buildings.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has set Jan. 15 as the deadline for states to comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law passed in 2005 that has been modified over the years as many states refused — or were unable — to comply with the original law.

The act sets in place security standards for identification cards issued by states and stipulates protocols state agencies must adhere to when residents apply for identification.

Louisiana IDs face Jan. 15 federal Real ID Act deadline | The Town Talk | thetowntalk.com

Voters in 2 states 1st to back same-sex marriage

While Barack Obama’s re-election drew the spotlight Tuesday night, causes championed by his Democratic Party also made history gains in statewide initiatives.

Maryland and Maine became the first states in which voters chose to legalize same-sex marriage while Washington state and Colorado appear to have become the first to pass measures legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.


Voters in 2 states 1st to back same-sex marriage

Barack Obama wins reelection: Mid East faces nuclear Iran, Brotherhood grip

Barack Obama has won re-election as President of the United States, according to all the projections of the Nov. 6 vote - albeit ahead of the final count of ballots. The prospect of another four years of Obama in the White House fills some Middle East nations, including the Persian Gulf and Israel, with trepidation.

They envisage a foreign policy that continues to focus on hitching US influence in the Muslim world – Sunni and Shiite alike – on to a wagon led by Iran as the first Islamic Shite Muslim nuclear power and the sponsorship of Muslim Brotherhood rule of Sunni Arab nations.

For Israel, this policy translates bleakly into American backing for the two most forbidding ideological foes it has faced in all its 63 years: Iran, whose leaders call openly for Israel’s extinction - even from the UN platform – although this is achievable only by nuclear aggression; and the hostile Muslim Brotherhood.


Barack Obama wins reelection: Mid East faces nuclear Iran, Brotherhood grip

The Ron Paul Revolution Moves to Congress

 Wednesday, 07 November 2012 08:59

The Ron Paul Revolution Moves to Congress

Written by  Thomas R. Eddlem

Libertarian-leaning Republican Congressman Ron Paul lost his bid for the Republican presidential nomination this year, but a number of his acolytes ran for Congress as Republicans and won November 6. Is Congress the real location of the growing “Ron Paul revolution”?

After a candidate loses an election, it's rare that the candidate's movement continues as a “revolution.” Nobody talks about a John McCain revolution, and even a day after the Mitt Romney defeat for president, nobody's talking about a Mitt Romney movement that will continue after his candidacy. But Representative Ron Paul, a 12-term Texas congressman who is retiring in January, always said his campaign was about ideas instead of personalities. In making endorsements for the U.S. House of Representatives, the former obstetrician played the role of king-maker, winning an astonishing eight of 11

The Ron Paul Revolution Moves to Congress

In Egypt streets, Islamists throw weight around | Reuters

 
(Reuters) - Mohamed Talaat didn't like the fact Christian music was being played at a party to promote interfaith harmony in the Egyptian town of Minya south of Cairo, so together with a group of like-minded Islamist hardliners, he showed up to put a stop to it.

It was simply un-Islamic to broadcast Christian songs, Talaat explained.
"Egypt is Islamic and so we all have to accept Islamic rules to halt any strife," he said by telephone.

Four months since Egypt elected veteran Muslim Brotherhood politician Mohamed Mursi as president, human rights activists say hardliners are trying to impose Islamist ways on society.

Although reliable data on social trends is hard to find in Egypt, many people believe that cases of religious intimidation have increased.

"There is no doubt that the rate of strange and violent practices by strict Islamists has increased tremendously since the election of Mursi," said Gamal Eid, founder of The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, a human rights group.
"We have in a few months seen many more of such incidents than we have seen in years before Mursi," he said.

In Egypt streets, Islamists throw weight around | Reuters

Colorado, Washington first states to legalize recreational pot | Reuters

Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use on Tuesday in defiance of federal law, setting the stage for a possible showdown with the Obama administration.
But another ballot measure to remove criminal penalties for personal possession and cultivation of recreational cannabis was defeated in Oregon, where significantly less money and campaign organization was devoted to the cause.
Supporters of a Colorado constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana were the first to declare victory, and opponents conceded defeat, after returns showed the measure garnering nearly 53 percent of the vote versus 47 percent against.

"Colorado will no longer have laws that steer people toward using alcohol, and adults will be free to use marijuana instead if that is what they prefer. And we will be better off as a society because of it," said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Colorado pro-legalization campaign.


Colorado, Washington first states to legalize recreational pot | Reuters

A Warning to Moral Conservatives

If Rush Limbaugh, Karl Rove, Dick Morris, Michael Barone and others are right and Mitt Romney is our next president, we moral conservatives cannot take our foot off the gas.

We cannot let up in our advocacy for life and family. We cannot relax or shift into neutral as if some great victory has already been won. To do so would be to make a fatal mistake, and four years from now we will be kicking ourselves again, vowing once more not to sell our souls to the Republican Party, claiming that this time we have learned our lesson, only to repeat the cycle four years hence.

But being forewarned is being fore-equipped, and that negative scenario does not have to unfold. Instead, if we do our job and urge the president to do his, calling him to account at every point and offering positive support, whether he fails or succeeds, our mission will continue unabated. In fact, the more he fails, the more will we realize that the responsibility for moral and social change falls on us, not on him.


A Warning to Moral Conservatives

In Case You Missed It: Real ID Act could bring real changes

Beginning in January, Louisiana residents may be unable to use their state-issued driver’s licenses or identification cards to take domestic flights or enter federally secured buildings such as the U.S. Courthouse in downtown Shreveport.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has set a hard deadline of Jan. 15 for states to comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law passed in 2005 that has been modified over the years as many states refused — or were unable — to comply with the original law.


The act sets in place security standards for identification cards issued by states and stipulates protocols state agencies must adhere to when residents apply for identification.


The law only affects state identification cards and driver’s licenses, not other official forms of identification.



In Case You Missed It: Real ID Act could bring real changes | Shreveporttimes | shreveporttimes.com

Sunday protests planned in Kuwait despite government warning | Reuters

(Reuters) - The opposition in Kuwait will press ahead with a march on Sunday to protest against new voting rules despite the government warning it will not tolerate unsanctioned demonstrations, an activist said.
The OPEC member and U.S. ally said on Saturday it had not authorized any protests and the prime minister warned police could use force if the authorities felt the Gulf Arab state was under serious threat.
Kuwait has avoided the kind of mass pro-democracy unrest seen in other Arab countries, but tensions have mounted between the elected parliament and the government, which is dominated by the Al-Sabah ruling family.



Sunday protests planned in Kuwait despite government warning | Reuters

Signs Of The Times: Extremist Imam To Hold Fundraiser In Florida For America’s First Muslim College « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

What is equally as outlandish here is the fact that an institution of ‘higher learning’ – whose own ideology is entirely based upon the absurd irrationalities of a man who believed in the health benefits of drinking camel urine, who believed that Jews were descendants of apes and pigs and who believed that the earth was flat – is also providing a course offering ‘a comprehensive overview’ of logic …
By Ryan Mauro, Radical Islam – “A fundraiser will be held for Zaytuna College, America’s first Muslim college, at the Hilton University of Florida Conference Center in Gainesville, Florida on Saturday, November 3. The featured speaker is one of Zaytuna’s founders, Imam Zaid Shakir, an Islamist cleric whose extremism has been repeatedly documented by RadicalIslam.org. The lecture is free of charge, but tickets for the dinner reception afterwards are $50.



Signs Of The Times: Extremist Imam To Hold Fundraiser In Florida For America’s First Muslim College « MidnightWatcher's Blogspot

Guess who U.S. Muslims are voting for

Nearly half of 600 Muslim-American citizens polled who plan to vote in the 2012 presidential election believe parodies of Muhammad should be prosecuted criminally in the U.S., and one in eight say the offense is so serious violators should face the death penalty.

The results came in a groundbreaking scientific poll for WND by the public-opinion research and media consulting company Wenzel Strategies. It was taken Oct. 22-26 and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 3.98 percentage points.

The poll also found 40 percent of Muslims in America believe they should not be judged by U.S. law and the Constitution, but by Shariah standards.
And the big winner among Muslim-Americans in the presidential election is Barack Obama, the poll found. More than 72 percent said they are definitely supporting Obama, and another 8.5 percent are leaning that direction. Only 11 percent are for Romney.


Guess who U.S. Muslims are voting for

France kicks out devout Imam who called for jihad, Jewish genocide and corporal punishment of woman - Atlas Shrugs

"The imam of a mosque in Paris deported to Tunisia" 20 Minutes, France (thanks to Jean)

Google translate: SAFETY - is accused of "violent jihad valued, uttering anti-Semitic remarks and justified the use of violence and corporal punishment against women" ...

Mohamed Hammami was eventually expelled. The imam of the mosque Omar, located in the 11th arrondissement of Paris, was deported Wednesday to Tunisia , where he is a national, announced Manuel Valls a statement.
The Interior Minister considers that the charges against Mohamed Hammami "particularly serious" "He made comments openly hostile to the values ​​of the Republic. He valued violent jihad, uttering anti-Semitic remarks and justified the use of violence and corporal punishment against women, "says the statement.

France kicks out devout Imam who called for jihad, Jewish genocide and corporal punishment of woman - Atlas Shrugs

Limited Open Carry Comes to Oklahoma

 On Thursday of this week, the state of Oklahoma will take an important step on the slow return to a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. A new law comes into effect on November 1 that allows those citizens who have concealed carry permits to openly carry a firearm.

Limited Open Carry Comes to Oklahoma