BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

Not once, since the Cordoba House Mosque controversy started - not ONCE have I heard the Imam or any of the mosque's planners, etc.  say they would be willing to move the mosque elsewhere.  No - they are SET on it being 2 blocks from Ground Zero. People actions speak MUCH louder than words and this action says it all - the mosque is a provocation.  An excuse for those who will be deluged with protests, attacks on the building, attacks on people worshipping there to say " SEE!! Americans are anti-muslim ."  And that's bulls**t.   If it was about a place of worship, moving it would a simple, easy to discuss matter.  A matter openly on the table.  But no, they're adamant.  And frankly, they're bullies.  Muslims have the right to worship in peace just like anyone else.  Since the planners won't discuss moving it - peaceful worship is obviously not the driving force here, is it? This is a very sensitive issue to people who lost loved ...

by Patricia Garrison The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda . How many times must females be killed because they are female, before we start decrying these horrific acts for what they are: hate crimes? Although gender is included as a category in the federal hate crimes bill signed into law last year, the recognition that women and girls are targeted and murdered solely because of their sex has yet to infiltrate our cultural framework or spark any sense of collective outrage. The media have yet to cover these crimes as acts of growing anti-women violence. Given the pervasive sexism in news and entertainment, that should come as no surprise. To be sure, our vulnerability as females is nothing new. At all ages, females are 90% more likely to be the victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, harassment and rape. While not all crimes targeting women can be classified as hate crimes, what does appear to be a serious a...

by Jonny Paul The number of anti-Semitic hate crimes against the Jewish community in Britain reached an unprecedented high in the first half of 2009, according to figures released on Thursday by a Jewish community organization. The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which monitors anti-Semitism and provides security for the Jewish community in Britain, recorded 609 anti-Semitic incidents across the UK from January to June this year, over double the 276 incidents recorded for the same period last year. The charity said that this is the worst year since 1984, when records began, and that the number of incidents in the first half of this year is higher than the 598 incidents recorded in all of 2006, during the Second Lebanon War, and the 544 in all of 2008. The charity records incidents reported by members of the Jewish community, organizations and witnesses of crimes and incidents. A further 236 incidents were reported to CST during this period but not included in the report, due ...

German Muslim Sentenced for Stabbing Rabbi (he's the guy in the black jacket/ white pants) An Afghanistan-born German Muslim has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in jail after he stabbed a rabbi in a Frankfurt street last September. The Jewish cleric believes the man was trying to kill him and that the sentence is too lenient. A German court sentenced a 23-year-old man Afghanistan-born man to three-and-a-half years in jail on Tuesday for stabbing and seriously injuring a rabbi in Frankfurt last September. The unemployed German Muslim, named only as Sajed A., stabbed rabbi Zalman Gurevitch, 42, in an altercation with the orthodox Jewish cleric who had been walking down a street with two companions. The court convicted him of causing grievous bodily harm. The Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office had initially planned to charge him with attempted manslaughter but refrained from doing so after investigating the case. During the trial an eyewitness said the two men had been invo...

Bush May Veto Hate Crime Bill With Gender Focus Does the Chimp-in-Charge do this because he's a bully and doesn't care? Or just because he can? Please let Bush & Cheney know you want this bill APPROVED! President Bush: comments@whitehouse.gov Vice President Cheney : vice_president@whitehouse.gov Comments: 202-456-1111 Switchboard: 202-456-1414 FAX: 202-456-2461 TTY/TDD - Comments: 202-456-6213 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ By Allison Stevens -- Washington Bureau Chief A bill to add gender into federal hate crimes legislation faces a veto threat. Proponents say it would help protect victims of crimes who are targeted for being female and the benefit to women is being obscured in the debate over sexuality. Women's rights groups are making a last-ditch push to enact legislation that would expand existing "hate crimes" laws to include gender and other categories such as sexual orientation, gender identity and disability. The bill cleared a major hurdle on May 4...