Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Bloomberg's quiet investments in Sharia Finance: an ulterior motive in backing Ground Zero's Victory Mosque?

Lower Manhattan's St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church once sat across the street from the World Trade Center's Tower Two. It was leveled during the catastrophic attacks of 9/11.

For years, church officials have attempted to get permission to rebuild. Yet the New York Port Authority and other local bureaucrats have thrown every obstacle in the book at the rebuilding project. They said the proposed new church was too big and its dome too high -- even claiming that the structure could rise no higher than the WTC Memorial.

St. Nicholas Church’s difficulty in getting approvals to rebuild stands in stark contrast to the treatment that the developers of the proposed Cordoba mosque have received...

New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, state Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo, and a raft of city officials have all come out publicly in favor of building the mosque, and the city’s Landmarks and Preservation Commission recently voted unanimously to deny protection to the building currently occupying the site where the mosque is to be built.

The mosque is proposed to rise 13 stories, far above the height of the World Trade Center memorial, with no height restrictions imposed...

...The contrast has not been lost on at least one candidate for Congress. George Demos is a Republican running in New York’s 1st Congressional District... Demos said it is the church that has been unjustly delayed. “One place of worship was destroyed in the attacks. That should be the first thing on that board’s agenda. That should be the first priority,” he said. “There were actually relics of St. Nicholas in that church that were lost in the attacks. Why is it that the same government officials who are so ferverently fighting for the mosque’s right to be built aren’t also fighting for the church to be rebuilt.”

Demos was critical of Mayor Bloomberg’s recent comments on the occasion of the Landmarks Commission vote. In a speech immediately following the vote, Bloomberg said, among other arguments, that allowing the mosque project to go forward would be a victory of sorts over the forces that attacked America on 9/11.

Why would the Ground Zero mosque receive such seemingly special treatment?

An observant tipster notes that Bloomberg's namesake news service has a significant financial interest in keeping those of Middle Eastern heritage happy.

Spurred by a recent boom in sales in the region, Bloomberg is expanding its Dubai office into a regional hub, a move that will as much as quadruple its local staff over the next year.

...The company has ... been developing an Islamic finance portal, which Mr Linnington said would be helped by having more people on the ground building relationships.

“Particularly since the meltdown of the western capitalist system, there has been an increasingly large focus on the virtues of Islamic finance,” he said. “Today, there is no one single provider of information that caters to the Islamic finance market. So by Bloomberg being here, we are in the process of building out an Islamic finance product. We are very confident that we can build a product that meets the needs of the market right now.”

"Islamic finance" refers to banking systems and investments that are consistent with Islamic law (Sharia). For instance, Sharia prohibits the payment or receipt of interest on money lent. The rules associated with Sharia finance present significant and profitable business opportunities for men like Mayor Bloomberg.

In short: Churches and Synagogues bad. Sharia Finance and Islamic Victory Mosques good.


Hat tips: Crane, Mark Levin and BNI.

'I solved the mosque problem'

So writes Don Surber.

You are welcome, America.



Walking my way back on mosque, babe

(Cut to the chase)

Make it an ecumenical building.

Sure.

it will work out fine.

On Fridays, it can be a mosque for Islamic worship.

On Saturdays, a synagogue.

On Sundays, a church.

Good idea.

If anyone objects, just scream "RACIIIST" at the top of your lungs while speed-dialing Al Sharpton.


Larwyn's Linx: Clip and Save Until November 2nd

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

Clip and Save Until November 2nd: Hewitt
'I would like to see what they’re doing in Arizona done here': Malkin
The Re-Hollowing of the Military: Commentary

'Transparency' Mask Dropped: RWN
9th Circuit Grants Stay Pending Appeal in Prop. 8 Case: LegalIns
Nice: Dem Congresswoman brings thug to town hall meeting: GWP

Change: Obama's $30K-a-head Hollywood Fundraiser: WashExam
If You Thought "Taxation Without Representation" Was Bad...: Wizbang
Bam to New York: Drop Dead: AT (Lewis)

Economy

Dems Continue to Loot Food Stamp Fund, Now to Help SEIU: RWN
Another Day, Another Union Bailout: WashExam
HUD offers interest-free $50K loans to unemployed: Hot Air

Your Recession, Not the Government's: Surber
Fiscal Conservatism's Social Roots: Jacksonian
Thoughts on Q.E. II: Sargen

Climate & Energy

How Obama is locking up our land, continued: Malkin
Granholm: Criticizing Chevy Volt is “un-American” or something: Hot Air
Liberals (again) blame, in unison, global warming for local weather: BlogProf

Rand Paul Gets It: Attacks Obama-Pelosi in Kentucky Coal Country: GWP

Media

What Can Be Done About the Increasing Worthlessness of Your Vote?: Patterico
Time’s Mark Halperin Pleads with GOP Not to Use Obama’s Support of Ground Zero Mosque Against Dems: WZ
Geller Goes Hollywood: RSM

Rush Limbaugh Calls Barack Obama our 'First Anti-American President': WZ
A Couple Of Pointers For TheStreet.com On Blogging Etiquette: Zero Hedge
LA Teachers' Union Wants to Censor the Times: LAT

World

Hamas Supports Building Ground Zero Mosque: RWN
Obama Changes Mosque Vote to “Present”: RWN
The Real Problem is Not the Mosque but the Nukes: AT

Bolton: Israel has Eight Days to Decide: GWP
'America is a project, Europe is a sorrow': Driscoll
IN PICTURES: Al-Qa'ida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP): Occident

Panderer: the Trouble with Harry: Fausta
Tolerance: Afghan Man and Woman Stoned To Death For Adultery: iOTW
Ground Zero Mosque odds and ends: Treacher

SciTech

Suit alleges Disney, other top sites spied on users: CNet
Volt Before and After: Highlighting Government Shortcomings: iOTW
The Coolest Thing You'll See Today: Whatever

Cornucopia

Those Voices Don't Speak For The Rest of Us: iOTW
Weekend Caption Contest™ Winners: Wizbang
Exercise in Tolerance: R&R

Images: Fox News
Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Had enough of Harry Reid? Support Sharron Angle in NV!

Monday, August 16, 2010

If Barack Obama Was Intentionally Trying to Destroy America, What Exactly Would He Be Doing Differently?

Discuss.


Perfect Timing: Media Matters Beclowns Itself Just as FDA's New Death Panel Begins Process of Denying Access to Breast Cancer Treatment

If you look up schmucks in the dictionary, odds are you'll see this logo. The nutters at Media Matters selectively spliced Jim Hoft's pick-up of this story to apply their typical Streicher-style spin.

While I appreciate the free P.R., what you'll want to note is what the cretins forgot to mention. That is, the Susan G. Komen for The Cure Foundation -- not exactly a bunch of wingnuts -- are among those protesting the FDA's discontinuation of Avastin "for metastatic breast cancer patients, noting that it is effective for some patients and warning of a chilling effect on new drug development if approval is withdrawn."

In the kind of exquisite timing at which Media Nutters specializes, Ace o' Spades reported the following delightful development earlier today, complete with flaming skull.

Ho Boy: FDA May Rescind Approval Of Anti-Breast-Cancer Drug As Political Favor To Obama


The FDA is not supposed to consider costs of treatment. Their mandate is to determine if a drug is "safe and effective," period. If it's safe and effective, it gets approved. Period. That's their job. Officials there recently re-iterated that cost considerations are not part of their mandate.

...This presents a political problem for Obama in the case of anti-breast-cancer drug Avastin. Apparently it's quite expensive. His new head of Medicaid and Medicare, Berwick, who makes a point of talking up controlling costs by denying some treatments, is going to deny reimbursement for an anti-prostate-cancer drug, Provenge. Or, well, they're still mulling it over, which means they're considering not covering it.

And now there is the anti-breast-cancer drug Avastin. Like Provenge, it has already been approved by the FDA. But that creates a political problem -- how can Obama control costs and reassure the public that he's not, as maintained by his critics, denying useful and effective drugs to seniors in order to free up money for ObamaCare?

Oh -- here's a great idea! We'll just get the FDA to rescind its previous approval of the drug so that Medicare and Medicaid don't even have to consider reimbursing for it, thus sparing Obama a political headache, and merely at the cost of taking off the market, from anyone suffering from breast cancer, a drug already deemed "safe and effective" by the FDA.

Federal regulators are considering taking the highly unusual step of rescinding approval of a drug that patients with advanced breast cancer turn to as a last-ditch hope... The FDA is not supposed to consider costs in its decisions, but if the agency rescinds approval, insurers are likely to stop paying for treatment.

This is criminal. To avoid a difficult political debate -- and the honest confession that "bending the curve" of Medicare costs to free up money for ObamaCare is going to require a lesser standard of treatment -- the FDA is killing a safe and effective drug and thereby outlawing for anyone, including those who can be helped by this drug and no other, and who are paying for the drug with their own private insurance or own out-of-pocket money.

Ace points out that your betters -- i.e., the Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangels of the world, who are above the law -- will certainly have access to any drug they need.

As for the peasants?

We're just numbers in one of Donald Berwick's actuarial tables.

And what will you drones at Media Matters do now? The pencil-necked geek named TBogg appears to have proffered an invitation for you. Of course, it could be time for you to have another slumber party so you can regroup.


Set the Anger Level to Boil

Last week the invaluable Cato Insitute published several charts derived from a Bureau of Economic Analysis study of compensation.

In terms of raw wages, federal workers are making 38% more than their private sector counterparts.

Figure 2, which I like to call They're Really Making More Than Double, tallies federal workers total compensation -- including benefits -- against those of the taxpayers.

The idiot race-baiter Shirley Sherrod was right when she said, "you never get fired from a government job". Compare the federal termination rate -- the total of discharges and layoffs -- with that of the private sector. Private workers are more than three times likely to lose their jobs.

Finally, Cato observes that the "quit rate" is a good indicator as to whether compensation is overly rich. Private workers quit their jobs more than eight times the rate of federal workers.

Outraged yet?

Well, I've got one more factoid for you: Obama and the Statist Democrats want even more of your money. Even if they lose the election in November, they intend to pass new energy taxes, try to jam through a VAT tax, and slam in a mandatory unionization bill called "card check".

In other words, no matter how much money they take from you, it's never enough.

You had better vote in November if we have a prayer of stopping this madness. I've got a few suggestions as to how we can attack the Democrats' purely evil lame-duck intentions -- but only if we can take one or both houses of Congress in the fall. Those will be posted shortly. Remember November.


Astoundingly excellent automatically generated headlines o' the day

Spotted at Memeorandum.

Mr. Krugman, meet Mr. Ponzi. Mr. Ponzi, meet Mr. Schmuckman. I mean Krugman.


Larwyn's Linx: America's Democrat-Socialist Party

Have a great link you'd like me to review? Drop me an email. You can also install a Larwyn's Linx blog widget.

Nation

America's Democrat-Socialist Party: RWN
Congressional Report Blasts 'Propaganda Presidency': PJM
Harry Reid can’t believe I’m a Hispanic Republican: Cubachi

Palin on WTC Mosque: Not Above Your Pay Grade, Barack: NiceDeb
Good News: Border Patrol Forced to Retreat From Border: WZ
Obama vs. the Survivors of 9/11: GoV

Economy

The New Abnormal: Doc Zero
The Free-Marketeers Strike Back: City Journal
Feds to Guarantee Million Dollar Condos in NYC: BigGovt

The Journolist Issue No One Is Bringing Up: No Pasaran
Surprise! Economic Numbers Are 'Worse Than Expected': AT
Do We Really Need a New Tax?: AT

Media

Green Light People: RWN
That "20 Worst Americans of all time" list compiled: Althouse
Charlie Crist Hearts the Ground Zero Mosque: RWN

Actually, Mr. President, that’s not what the Constitution says about the Ground Zero mosque: Surber
Talking Down to a Bigoted Nation: Belmont Club
That New Yorker Cover: Not So Funny Now: Grand Old Partisan

The Enigma of Our Age: Hanson
Post About Coffee Party Decline Removed From Its Website: LegalIns
If Timothy McVeigh had been a Christian: AT

World

The Koran and the Psychopathology of the Prophet (Part II): GoV
Remembering FDR's Historic Shinto Shrine Speech: Hindenblog
Here's Why It's Called the 'Ground Zero Mosque': Malkin

General Petraeus: Not so Fast on That 2011 Troop Withdrawal, President Obama.: WZ
Why Are the Intolerant Preaching Tolerance?: Gutfeld
N.J. rabbi leads Jews, Muslims on interfaith trip to Nazi concentration camps: NJ

Why is the Ground Zero mosque removing web pages, and changing its name?: Creeping

SciTech

Defeating Rogue Ads: Network World
Chrysler's Gun-Toting Pickup Truck: Fox News
Report: Hurd short-circuited HP board's probe: CNet

Cornucopia

The Not-So-Great Generation and the Vision That Dare Not Speak Its Name: AmDigest
Mystery Solved!: C&S
Spider-Man’s Got Nuttin’ on These Guys: Parkway Rest Stop

Miniature Golf for a Miniature Vacay: MOTUS
Your Ad Here!: MOTUS
Pirate Latitudes: Parkway Rest Stop

Today's Larwyn's Linx sponsored by: Like Eric Holder? Then Thank John McCain


Sunday, August 15, 2010

Democrats Gone Wild: California So Broke It's Assessing Payroll Taxes and Fines on Down's Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy Caretakers It Hasn't Paid

A KPBS interview with California State Assemblyman Joel Anderson (R) describes the tragic failure of the Democrat Party's brand of socialism.

Q: Tell me where we are with the vote on the budget.

A: We haven't had a vote yet. I'm in the minority party. We don't dictate when the votes come. The majority party does. Last year, we issued over 450,000 IOUs, totaling more than $3 billion. And many of these IOUs went to individuals and also to companies.

Q: Who gets the IOUs?

A: Vendors. Primarily vendors of the state of California.

Q: People who sell to the state?

A: Or people who have services. For example, we have Novis Homes in... in San Diego County. This is a 70-bed facility for Down's Syndrome and Cerebral Palsy clients. Many are orphans, their parents have long since passed away. And they're looking at a $270,000 fine.

Q: Can they say open under these circumstances.

A: I don't see how they can. Because they're having a tough time meeting payroll. And at the same time, we're asking them to pay payroll taxes.

I wonder whether the taxpaying residents of California's sanctuary cities appreciate the genius of the Democrat Party's brand of economic leadership.


Making a Statement--Harvard University Divests Itself of Israeli Companies; Invests Heaviest in China's Polluters That Use Child Slave Labor





From the Israeli business journal Globes (via Drudge):

In another blow to Israeli shares, the Harvard Management Company notified the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday that it had sold all its holdings in Israeli companies during the second quarter of 2010. No reason for the sale was mentioned. The Harvard Management Company manages Harvard University's endowment.

Harvard Management Company stated in its 13-F Form that it sold 483,590 shares in Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) for $30.5 million; 52,360 shares in NICE Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE: NICE) for $1.67 million; 102,940 shares in Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) for $3.6 million; 32,400 shares in Cellcom Israel Ltd. (NYSE:CEL; TASE:CEL) for $1.1 million, and 80,000 Partner Communications Ltd. (Nasdaq: PTNR; TASE: PTNR) shares for $1.8 million.

Harvard Management Company's 13-F Form shows some interesting investments. Its two largest holdings, each worth $295 million, are in... Chinese equities, and the other on emerging markets...

Makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Harvard has massive investments in China, the world's home of child slave labor as described over and over and over again by human rights activists.

Q: How many days a week do you work

A: Seven days. We start half past six in the morning and work 'til midnight.

Q: What toys are produced at the factory?

A: Dolls and dogs for Disney.

Just so I understand, Mr. and Mrs. Harvard University alumni, China's rampant use of slave labor and unbelievably nefarious pollution of the planet are swell.

But Israel's efforts to defend its tiny strip of land from swarms of intolerant extremists is somehow wrong.

I guess you have to possess a different sort of mindset to understand the reasoning.

Perhaps some Harvard alumni who might be concerned with this logic could pursue an inquiry into the rationale behind this divestiture.

 



Linked by: Michelle Malkin. Thanks!