Food Fights and Class Warfare

(SultanKnish)Not only was the availability of food no longer associated with prosperity, but even the poor had begun to eat so well that fat began to carry working class and lower class associations. Fat was no longer wealth, instead conscientious fitness became a mark of prosperity... Now: The food may cost twice as much, but it's locally grown on a farm run by handicapped union workers who visit Cuba to receive free health care or by the indigenous peoples of Tuba-Tuba with the proceeds going to a complete sonic library of their chants and ceremonies.(MORE)

Back in 1638 when Rubens created this painting, this kind of female body was considered a kind of mature feminine ideal. The Three Graces are mythological figures representing charm, enjoyment and social goodwill, and as such are usually presented in art as cheerful and beautiful dancing women. (Rubens found @Fat Wars « Why Your Wife Won't Have Sex With You)

Widespread support for burka ban in Canada

The precedent for this does not exist: If there is threat to people's rights then free expression does not apply. The Marxists used the same argument to limit free expression. What proportion of fashion limits can a free society really have? My opinion is this is not how things should be dealt with. As you can see here in the article these people think Islam is not at fault, but Islam is really where the law can categorize as being violent. If we do not accept the truth about Islam then a free society can not... and will not exist. When a ideology is violent then it is acceptable to intervene, but simply saying you are protecting women and ignoring the cause of the problem is a mistake. Sadly feminism is taking priority over real human rights here.

(via creepingsharia.wordpress.com image via hardinrepublic.com h/t Sandra Kushner Zlotkin) via Widespread support for burka ban, Kenney says.

TORONTO – A month after Canada banned Muslim women from covering their faces during citizenship ceremonies, Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says the policy has won widespread support.

Speaking at a Muslim Canadian Congress event honouring his “courageous decision,” Mr. Kenney said polling shows that eight out of 10 Canadians agreed with the decision while only 14% were opposed.

“It is only a sign of respect for your fellow citizens, when you are pledging to them your commitment to live in a community with them, to show your face and who you are and that your pledge is heartfelt and authentic,” he said.

He said he would not act on suggestions to hold separate citizenship ceremonies for Muslim women who cover their faces in public. “We are all becoming Canadians together,” he said. “We are not going to start segregating our citizenship ceremonies.”

The Minister characterized the new rule as part of a broader strategy to strengthen the value of citizenship in Canada, which he said has the highest rate of naturalization of any country in the developed world. While the audience gathered at a Toronto hotel spoke mostly in support of the niqab ban, one woman said she was “extremely offended” by the comments she had heard. “If somebody believes in it [the niqab] then it’s their right to practise it,” said Fatema Dada of the Canadian Muslim Lawyers Association.

Mr. Kenney responded that taking an oath was a public act and could not be done in a way that hides identity. He also recalled meeting Sheikh Mohamed Tantawi, Egypt’s top Muslim authority, who told him face coverings were not a religious requirement.

“He clarified for me that people in the West who think this is a religious obligation do not understand Islam law. So I am not going to second-guess the most pre-eminent Sharia authority in the Sunni world.”

There was a tense moment at the event when a woman dressed in a burka approached the Minister and tore off the blue cloth to reveal she was actually author and women’s rights activist Raheel Raza. Writer Tarek Fatah also briefly wore a burka hand puppet.

“The niqab or burka is a political tool by Islamists who wish to segregate Muslims into religious ghettos, cut off from mainstream society,” said Farzana Hassan of the Muslim Canadian Congress. “Islamists consider women who do not cover their heads and faces, which constitutes the vast majority, as sinners and lesser Muslims.”

India to pay for Iranian oil in gold, China likely to follow

What side are these Hindus on? RT with the bad news... we know what side Russia Today is on though. The Ron Paul side. WHORES!

(CARL)In a bid to circumvent Western sanctions, India has agreed to purchase Iranian oil using gold instead of dollars, and China is likely to follow suit. Between the two of them, India and China account for 40% of Iranian oil sales. The EU, which agreed on Monday to gradually place an embargo on Iranian oil, accounts for 20% of Iranian oil sales. Let's go to the videotape.DEBKA adds (Hat Tip: Will): Iran's second largest customer after China, India purchases around $12 billion a year's worth of Iranian crude, or about 12 percent of its consumption. Delhi is to execute its transactions, according to our sources, through two state-owned banks: the Calcutta-based UCO Bank, whose board of directors is made up of Indian government and Reserve Bank of India representatives; and Halk Bankasi (Peoples Bank), Turkey's seventh largest bank which is owned by the government. An Indian delegation visited Tehran last week to discuss payment options in view of the new sanctions. The two sides were reported to have agreed that payment for the oil purchased would be partly in yen and partly in rupees. The switch to gold was kept dark. What could go wrong?

Barak: We will negotiate with Hamas if they drop terror h/t @Jewess

(thejewess: Barak: We will negotiate with Hamas if they drop terror http://t.co/8GUFZ9mR #JPOST @JIDF 12 minutes ago from Twitter)(jpost.com) Israel will continue negotiating with a PA unity government if Hamas agrees to Quartet conditions and dismantles its terror infrastructure, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with Israel Radio Tuesday.
"The continuation of the peace process is in the interest of Israel, the Palestinians and the world," Barak said. "If Hamas adopts the Quartet's conditions and dismantles its terror infrastructure, we will negotiate with them."
"We won't bury our heads in the sand and we won't give up on Israel's security interests," the defense minister elaborated.
Emphasizing that Israel was preparing for all possible scenarios, from successful negotiations to the outbreak of violence, Barak said, "We must be prepared to shake hands with our left hand and have our finger on the trigger with our right hand."

Police mistake marathon for gay pride parade

Police in the Kaliningrad region have mistaken a marathon for a gay pride parade. (trueversy.com)(rt.com) It looks like an illegal gay march? ...well... it kind of does. Between the Ron Paul endorsements and smirking British accents... Russian Television in English is quite good at getting our attention... aren't they? Can you think of any other country's news service that gets this kind of attention? The could teach American TV a thing or two about tabloid.

Reports that Syria arrested members of Meshal's family

(EOZ) Last week reports began to filter out of Syria that members of Khaled Meshal's family, including his daughter Fatima and her husband, had been arrested by Syrian forces on the pretext of having property registered under fictitious names.
Hamas denied the report, but now Arab newspaper Elaph confirms it. Fatima and her husband were arrested on January 11.
According to the report, Meshal's wife and other children were also summoned by Syrian police on the 15th, and Fatima and her husband were released on 50,000 pounds bail (about $900.)
The harassment is allegedly to show Syria's displeasure at Hamas not supporting the Assad regime more strongly. Meshal has been trying to straddle the fence between supporting the Syrian revolution and not upsetting the regime.
Elaph's sources claim that Meshal's announcement that he will step down as Hamas' political leader is related to this pressure from Syria. Elaph says that Syria prefers that he be replaced with his current deputy, Mousa Abu Marzouk.

Syria is the one place that deserves Hamas

Euro Taking E.U. Down With It: France On The Way To Financial Self-Destruction

(stonegateinstitute.org) Last Friday's downgrading of France and Austria by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has left the eurozone, the group of 17 European countries using the euro as their currency, with just four countries with a triple A rating. Of these four Germany is the only one that was not given a negative outlook. Indeed, S&P thinks that the Netherlands, Finland and Luxemburg risk a further downgrade this year or next year.
This is bad news for the euro. The creditworthiness of the euro bailout fund, EFSF, depends on the ability of eurozone countries with the top rating to provide enough money to bail out eurozone countries in financial difficulties. With France, the eurozone's second largest economy, out of the top league the pressure on the four remaining countries rises. This explains why the Netherlands, Finland and Luxemburg were given a negative outlook. If these countries lose their ratings as well, even Germany, Europe's largest economy, risks losing its triple A rating. The euro is dragging all the eurozone countries down with it.
What Europe's politicians should do is draw up a contingency plan for a eurozone break-up, providing a blueprint for an exit of countries such as Greece and Portugal that urgently need to devaluate to save their economies. In last Friday's Financial Times, Nomura Bank's strategist Jens Nordvig gives a second reason why the eurozone needs such a plan, which must also offer guidance on orderly redenomination of euro-denominated assets and obligations in a break-up scenario. It would alleviate investor worries about such assets and improve the capital flow situation and funding costs. "Ironically," he points out, "spelling out guidelines for a eurozone break-up may -– at this stage in the crisis -– even help to reduce the risk of the break-up itself."
Unfortunately, it does not look as if such a plan is being considered. Instead of drawing up contingency plans, Europe's politicians continue their vain efforts to save the current European monetary union. When S&P announced the downgrading, angry European politicians, refusing to face economic reality, began to shoot the messenger. "It is not the rating agencies that dictate the policies of France," François Baroin, France's finance minister said defiantly. Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann called S&P's decision "incomprehensible." German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble warned against "overestimating the ratings agencies in their assessments."
EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn, a Finn, called S&P's decision "inconsistent" and said the agency had made mistakes in the past. Internal market commissioner Michel Barnier, a Frenchman, said S&P's evaluation did "not take into account recent progress."
Barnier is working on plans to establish a semi-official EU credit rating agency. Barnier has been castigating the three big agencies in the world -– S&P, Moody's and Fitch -– since the European sovereign debt crisis began. He argues that these three American agencies do not grasp Europe's economic realities.
The last thing Europe's politicians want to do is acknowledge that their own centralizing policy of imposing a common currency on such widely diverging economies and cultures as Greece and Finland, has caused Europe's current economic predicament. Instead, they blame capitalism, the financial sector and the "greed" of speculators and investors.
To "solve the debt crisis," French president Nicolas Sarkozy has launched a plan to introduce a eurozone financial transaction tax. Sarkozy is in the middle of a reelection campaign and has to convey the message to French voters that the banks, not he, is responsible for the current crisis, and that he will punish them for it. While investors need to be reassured and have their worries laid to rest, Sarkozy proposes to tax them.
Last week, Sarkozy received the support of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Schäuble and Baroin have been asked to draft proposals for a financial transaction tax by March. Last September, the European Commission proposed a financial transaction tax of 0.1% on bond and share trades, and 0.01% on derivatives. The Commission expects that such a tax could raise €57bn a year in the EU -– about €10bn of which would be Germany.
Economists warn, however, that the tax will leave a big hole in Europe's public finances. France and Germany seem prepared to introduce the tax on their own. At best, the Franco-German alliance will be able to persuade the eurozone to go along, but Britain -– an EU member, although not a eurozone member -– will definitely not join. Hence, if the tax plans materialize, the financial centers of Frankfurt and Paris are likely to move their activities to London, as they did in the 1980s, after Sweden introduced the tax: over 90% of its traders in bonds, equities and derivatives moved from Stockholm to London.
The results could be devastating. Germany, whose economy slipped into reverse the last quarter of 2011, contracted by 0.25%. Prime Minister Mario Monti of Italy is prepared to support Sarkozy's proposed tax on financial transactions, but said it should apply to the whole 27-nation EU and not just the 17 eurozone nations. Merkel and Sarkozy will also have to persuade governments in the Netherlands and Ireland.
The Dutch federation of employers has calculated that the introduction of a financial transaction tax would cost the Dutch economy between €7.5bn and €24bn. The Dutch pension funds have warned that the tax would diminish Dutch pensions by 10%, as the tax would cost them €3bn a year. Unlike many other European countries' pension systems, which are pay-as-you-go -- in which the benefits of the pensioners are paid by the current workforce -- the Dutch pension system is largely financed from the contributions pensioners paid in the past and from the return on the investment of these contributions.
It remains to be seen whether the Dutch are willing to bring such a huge sacrifice. French President Sarkozy, however, has announced that France is willing to proceed unilaterally with the introduction of the tax.
Sarkozy's motives, however, are political rather than economic. As François Hollande, his Socialist challenger in the presidential elections, said after last Friday's downgrade: "It is not France that has been downgraded; it is Sarkozy's government." Sarkozy therefore feels compelled to levy a tax on the so-called greedy investors and capitalist speculators who, he claims, are responsible for the current crisis.
If Sarkozy loses the elections, Europe risks being saddled with a Socialist-governed France.
That is bad. If Sarkozy wins thanks to his financial transaction tax, that is bad, too. Either way, France will suffer. And with France, the euro and the whole European Union.
Brace yourselves: the eurocrisis has only just begun.

hey... I have an idea... let's centralize some more! ...they can always blame the banks and finance for it.