Protecting or Over-protecting Our Children?

ONE News (October 29, 2007) reports, "Too many children are over-protected and lead "a bubble wrap existence", according to new research from Britain.The study found constant adult supervision and a zero-risk attitude was damaging for youngsters.

New Zealand psychologist Sara Chatwin told ONE News anything to the extreme can be dangerous.
"Over-involved and over-protective parenting can impinge on children's self esteem and their ability to explore the environment," she says.

But Chatwin says the other side of the continuum is neglect and abuse and the British report is right to stress the need for balance.

It seems to me that issues of protection and over-protection of children should primarily be matters of parental concern. When parents assume children are risking life and limb with every exploration, they limit essentially productive environmental experience and learning. The parents must be educated themselves in the proper application of risks and protections that pertain to children, even if they lacked such information in their formative years.

These days too many parents are not willing to dedicate themselves to producing balanced children. They prefer to let institutions such as daycare or school, or even worse -- media supervision -- provide most needed interaction in their children's so-called "safe" environments. With media reports of potential danger everywhere, parents not only shut off their children but also shut off themselves from curing the real problems. Loving parental control is seriously lacking, and children's sense of happiness is deteriorating at alarming rates.

 According to Sue Palmer, a damning survey by the U.K. National Consumer Council revealed that children who watch too much television and spend hours on the internet are "greedy and unhappy". The report said,"These children argue more with their families, have a lower opinion of their parents, and lower self-esteem than other children." (Sue Palmer, www.dailymail.co.uk, July 2007) Palmer claims unhappiness is not a natural state, yet she believes the challenges children face today are pretty toxic.

Britain also struggles with alarming numbers of children whose unhappiness causes anti-social behavior, self-harm, eating disorders, binge-drinking, under-age sex, and suicide.

Sue Palmer continues, "I'm convinced that, as our country has grown richer and more "advanced", we've lost sight of certain fundamental truths about child-rearing. We've come to believe that 21st century children are different from children in the past - that they can get by with less parental time and attention, skip stages in their development and cope with pressures and emotional burdens children shouldn't have to cope with.The brutal truth is that they can't. Life may have changed enormously over the past few decades, but the human brain evolves much more slowly - in fact, it hasn't changed since Cro-Magnon times."

The processes of child development cannot be rushed. Parents, supported by their wider community, must help children towards maturity, gradually equipping them with the inner strength, skills and knowledge needed to live in a complex technological culture. Now, more than ever, children need a gradual entry from innocent childhood into complex adulthood.

Children's basic developmental needs are physical: food, shelter, and sleep. Yet, with an abundance of talk about weight control and eating disorders have parents lost sight of the importance of wholesome food in recent decades? Do parents keep their children from essential opportunities to learn through real life experience -- riding bikes and breathing fresh air-- because they are overly concerned with safety? And, are children getting less sleep than ever while electronic games, cell phones, and televisions drone through the night? Food, shelter, and sleep, though seemingly simple needs, are very real concerns.


And what about the emotional stability of children? Parents' responsibility for providing children the feeling of being cared-for and secure is often transferred to day nurseries because both parents are forced to work to pay for necessities of life. And, as children grow older, emotional security is associated with regularity and routine -- family meals and bedtime rituals. These patterns for security seem sorely lacking in many families.

The responsibility for adults to love, to provide regularity, and to set and maintain boundaries for their children's behavior is often not provided with both warmth and firmness. Parents assume the children can handle such pressures with their own young minds. To complicate matters, how difficult is this to accomplish during times of divorce or in a one-parent unit?

Children also need to learn communication skills, another essential element in emotional and social development. Do most parents sing and talk to their babies to awaken the language instinct wired deep in the human brain and provide the crucial data through which children bond and learn language? Also, children must be constantly stimulated by books and other active language carriers to raise their intelligence. Parents are responsible for providing these devices.

Now, according to Sue Palmer,  "At home, babies often sit in front of an electronic babysitter and, as they grow older, there is that problem of older children having TVs in their rooms, which means that even when the family is in the same building, its members are splintered off from each other." (www.dailymail.co.uk, July 2007)
Ironically, with more ways to communicate than ever before, parents communicate less and less with their own children. Too much isolated play is happening on PlayStation, and too many solitary games are being played on GameBoy.

The U.K. National Consumer Council report found that in millions of households "the screen appears to be ever-present, particularly during meal times." As the Prime Minister pointed out, this "exposes children to the pressures of very aggressive advertising." Has television created a generation of mini-consumers who want everything they see on screen and equate happiness with materialism?

Speeding social and cultural change, driven by new technology and an increasingly competitive consumer society, has already occurred, like it or not. The parents have increasing responsibility to manage and control this fact of 21st Century life. Parents assume the children are "safe" in their bedrooms. But, as Sue Palmer says, they are learning about life from pop stars, celebrities, attention-seekers, and marketers who teach that "happiness comes from being rich and famous, from ownership of the latest must-have products, and a 'cool' lifestyle." And, hopefully, they are not sexting or becoming predators of Internet stalkers.

"To maintain a joyful family requires much from both the parents and the children. Each member of the family has to become, in a special way, the servant of the others."  -- Pope John Paul II

The World Record Inventor

Did you know that one man is credited with inventing the floppy disk, the taxicab meter, the CD, the DVD, the digital watch, the karaoke machine, the "PyonPyon" spring shoes and the Cereberex chair? In all, he has over 3,000 patented inventions -- a world record and more than double the 1,093 held by Thomas Edison, his next closest competitor. He is the only person who has licensed 16 patents to IBM.

He says his patented “Love Jet is a spray-type health enhancer (all natural with no side effects) spattered directly across the private parts works to combat impotency and increase sexual stimulation three fold.” 

He's even invented the Nostradamvs II Engine, which “can run with just water, so there is no pollution at all.” It’s this engine, unveiled in 1990, that lies at the heart of his assertion that he invented the fuel cell. Meet the incredible genious Japanese inventor, Yoshiro Nakamatsu, affectionately known as “Dr. NakaMats" in his country.

Who is Yoshiro Nakamatsu?

Yoshiro Nakamatsu, born June 26 1928, is known as the "Edison of Japan." He created his first invention at the age of five, an automatic gravity controller for a model plane that he says makes autopilot possible. "Dr. NakaMats" is a graduate of the University of Toyko. He has so far completed four doctor thesis and claims that he will never stop studying.

Archimedes, Michael Faraday, Marie Curie, Nikola Tesla and Yoshiro Nakamatsu were chosen by U.S. Science Academic Society as the five greatest scientists in history. (www.informationdelight.info)

An Early Life of Genius

Nakamatsu says in Japan the drive to succeed and the competition is unbelievably intense. From early on, Japanese children are under enormous pressure to learn. He believes he was fortunate to have parents who encouraged his natural curiosity and academic learning. He thinks his parents gave him the freedom to create and invent from the earliest age. His mother, who attended Tokyo Women’s University, began teaching him physics, mathematics and chemistry when he was only 3 years old.

Nakamatsu says that memorization as a child leads an individual to his greatest potential. In school in Japan, he practiced memorization until the age of twenty as training for the brain. After that, he used free-associating, putting everything together.

Creating Great Ideas

He believes in a balance of regimentation and freedom. According to Nakamatsu, "Freedom is most important of all. Genius lies in developing complete and perfect freedom within a human being. Only then can a person come up with the best ideas." (Chic Thompson, www.creativityatwork.com, April 29 1990) He also believes people must be given ample time to develop their best ideas.

Nakamatsu claims that a genius must be a well-rounded person, familiar with many things: art, music, science, sports --  not restricted to only one field of expertise.

Nakamatsu invented the food he eats during the day marketed as Yummy Nutri Brain Food, a mixture he believes to be very helpful to the brain's thinking process. They are a special mixture of dried shrimp, seaweed, cheese, yogurt, eel, eggs, beef, and chicken livers -- all fortified with vitamins. He eats only one meal a day—at dinner—with a maximum of seven hundred calories. He also photographs every dish he eats to recall the stimulating ones. (www.whatagreatidea.com) And, he forbids himself any alcohol.

He naps for thirty minutes twice a day in his special Cerebrex chair, claiming the chair improves memory, math skills, and creativity, and it can lower blood pressure, improve eyesight, and cure other ailments. Special sound frequencies pulse from footrest to headrest in the chair, and Nakamatsu claims an hour in his chair refreshes the brain as much as eight hours of sleep. According to Dr. NakaMats’ research, the unhealthy body has a poor blood circulation to extremities resulting in cold feet.This is the same state with the stressed body in which the sympathetic nervous system takes over the parasympathetic nervous system and anticipates for "fight-or-flight" situations.

Nakamatsu believes that sleeping more than six hours in any twenty-four-hour period, decreases brainpower. His most creative time is between 12 A.M. and 4 A.M., and he never sleeps more than four hours.

Nakamatsu says when people come up with a new idea, they “trigger” a bullet which contains spirit, body, study and experience - and finally that releases the actual invention. He believes a lack of oxygen is very important to trigger an invention. A lack of oxygen may be very important but is also very dangerous. According to Nakamatsu, he gets that flash just 0.5 seconds before death. 

Nakamatsu doesn't believe in Edison's claim that ideas are 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. He says, "Now it's 1 percent perspiration and 99 percent "ikispiration." Now, more than ever, we have to have ikispiration. This means I encourage myself to go through my three elements of creation: suji, the theory of knowledge; pika, inspiration; and iki, practicality, feasibility, and marketability. In order to be successful, you must go through all three stages and make sure that your ideas stand up to all of them, which is ikispiration." (Chic Thompson, www.creativityatwork.com, April 29 1990)

Nakamatsu's Process

Thompson reports that Nakamatsu has a three step process to spark his creativity. First, he has created what he calls a "static" room. He enters this room to induce calmness. It's a place of peace and quiet in which he has only have natural things: a rock garden, natural running water, plants, a five-ton boulder from Kyoto. The walls are white. He can look out on the Tokyo skyline, but in the room there is no metal or concrete -- only natural things like water and rock and wood. He uses this room to free-associate before focusing on one thing. Nakamatsu says he just throw out ideas and lets his mind wander where it will.

Then, he goes into his "dynamic" room, which is just the opposite of the "static" room. The "dynamic" room is dark, with black-and-white-striped walls, leather furniture, and special audio and video equipment. Nakamatsu says, "I've created speakers with frequencies between 12 and 40,000 hertz-which, you can imagine, are quite powerful. I start out listening to jazz, then change to what you call 'easy listening,' and always end with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. For me, Beethoven's Fifth is good music for conclusions."

The final step is pretty amazing: Nakamatsu enters his swimming pool to practice what he calls "creative swimming." He has a special way of holding his breath while swimming underwater. He declares that's when he comes up with his best ideas. He's even created a Plexiglas writing pad so that he can stay underwater and record these ideas.

The Future 

One of Nakamatsu’s many new ideas is a cigarette that he says makes a person smarter. According to Leeroy Betti, foreign editor for the Japan Times, among the 500 projects he has on the go is a “next generation” house, crammed with new technology – from an improved form of cement, to the “world’s smallest toilet” and a new take on stairs. The house is powered not from the regular electricity grid but from what Nakamatsu calls “cosmic” energy.

He also ran as a candidate in the Tokyo gubernatorial election in 2007, where one of his promises (only if he got elected) was to build a missile shield for Tokyo which would make incoming missiles turn around.

Yoshiro Nakamatsu is working towards a goal of 6000 inventions before he dies at age 144.

(www.brainsturbator.com)

I

 

Slut List Makes Students Popular

When someone calls a high school girl a "ho" or a "slut" or a "bitch," what does it actually mean these days? I am often rankled by these media-driven labels, now often associated with prideful power and sexual prowess. The negativity of such frequent prejorative usage overwhelms me. Whether a lingistic reflection of environment, an acceptance of colloquial usage, or an accompaniment of comedic language, the label shouts out "Intimidation!" and "Sexual Slur!" to me. Young women deserve no such harassment, and young men bristle when their significant other is labeled with such an offensive term. We are certainly living in strange times with regard to innocence.

Girl-on-girl bullying or hazing is old news by now, for anyone: popular girls organize a perfectly-coiffed and designer-clothed gang; fringe girl is targeted; bullies use their meanness and power to further marginalize fringe girl and reassert their status. Such plots are seen in television fiction, in reality shows, in movies, and in real life.

In an unacceptable example of hazing, Millburn High School seniors in New Jersey blow whistles in girls’ faces and push them into lockers, leaving them afraid to come back to school the next day. As if this behavior isn't bad enough, read further about Millburn's hazing craze. This nasty tradition may be the most damaging or the most desired form of hazing for young women.

Tina Kelley (New York Times, "When the Cool Get Hazed," September 26 2009) reports, "News of a 'slut list' at a top-ranked New Jersey high school last week highlighted two disturbing points: the increasingly explicit and sexual nature of the taunts, magnified by the Internet. And, in another twist, the perception that allegations of promiscuity — however fictional — are a badge of honor, a way into the cool group, and not a cause for shame."

This represents a 180-degree reversal of what a 'slut list' might have meant when the parents of these girls were growing up.

The list and other hazing went on for more than 10 years at Milburn High School in New Jersey. A dozen or more names were written on a piece of notebook paper, with crass descriptions, and copies are passed around — hundreds this year, some say. As shocking as the hazing itself is the lack of responsibility by school officials for allowing it to go on, only lightly checked, over that time. The repercussions are just coming to light.

Even more surprising to many is the prestige that seemed to come to those on the list — even though it accused the anointed girls of sleeping around, lap dancing and lusting after their own brothers.

The list made unsettling links between a girl’s power and popularity and what she allegedly would do with a boy. Or even seven of them.This so-called sign of sexual prowess seemingly raised the status of girls on the forbidden list among their peers. It was "girls' only" machismo.

Kelly continues, "And yet students, recent graduates and even the principal (who, with other administrators, was sent for sensitivity training last week) said a spot on the 'slut list,' which spread on Facebook, has been the way popular and athletic ninth-grade girls have been tapped by their older counterparts to possibly take their place."

One recent graduate commented on the hyperlocal news Web site covering Millburn, “Being on the list means you are rich, you wear expensive clothing, and probably fall under the general umbrella of attractiveness. Essentially, the slut list is the Goldman Sachs daughters list, a distorted assertion of wealth and power within a highly pressured upper middle class environment.”

A reporter for the Web site told Good Morning America she obtained this year's slut list and on it were the names of 21 freshmen out of a class of more than 300. Each entry had vulgar descriptions of the 13- or 14-year-old girls.

This was the way popular and athletic ninth-grade girls had been tapped by their older counterparts to possibly take their place. This year it was created at an alcohol-fueled party and it was worse than ever, one current senior told Good Morning America. (Kate Snow and Kelly Hagan, ABC News, September 23 2009)

With powerful tools like cellphone cameras and the Internet at their disposal, means of carrying out the schemes were close at hand. Rosalind Wiseman, an expert on adolescent female behavior, said hazing and the more graphic sexual stuff are so new, “It’s like a generation passed in the past five years.” She mentioned cases of college girls who hazed younger ones by compelling them to have sex with or give oral sex to certain boys on campus.

The girls on the slut list at Millburn High were as young as 14. Problems can arise among girls in grade school as well. “They’re being conditioned, taught, parented and expected in the schools to be older, more sexualized, snippy and adolescent,” Ms. Wiseman said.

And, believe it or not, this behavior is the kind of childhood bullying so popular that it inspired Mattel to add a new American Girl doll this year — Chrissa, who moves to a new school and is immediately targeted by three girls in her class. Although, this seems pretty tame in relation to the slut list behavior.

Debra Fox, a board member, said she believes it's not important for the board to say they have a zero tolerance for hazing. They also need to act like it, she said. She said school officials should punish all the seniors because that would force out the girls who are at fault. (millburn.patch.com/articles, September 22 2009)

 

And They Say The Best Things In Life Are Free?

 Poverty Perspective


Poverty means hunger, lack of shelter, and being sick. and . Poverty is not being able to see a doctor, not being able to go to school, not knowing how to read, and not having a job. Poverty is fear for the future and living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness with lack of representation and lack of freedom. 

According to Anthony Faiola, Washington Post staff writer, far more people around the world live in severe poverty than previously thought, with the global underclass now numbering an estimated 1.4 billion, up from around 1 billion, according to a landmark World Bank Report. (August 27, 2008) The report found that roughly 26 percent of the world's population is now living in extreme poverty. 17.2% had been previously estimated. 

 
How Many People Live In Poverty?

Believe it or not, the world's richest 225 people have combined assets equal to the combined annual income of the world's 2.5 billion poorest people. (Forbes Magazine) 

Of the world’s 6 billion people, more than 1.2 billion live on less than $1 a day. Two billion more people are only marginally better off. About 60 percent of the people living on less than $1 a day live in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. (2007)

 A new poverty line of $1.25 a day was just recently announced in 2008 by the World Bank. For many years before that it had been $1 a day. But the $1 a day used then would be $1.45 a day now if just inflation was taken into account. Here is a list of familiar countries and the percentage of their inhabitants that live on income below $1.00 a day. (2007 standards)

Nigeria               70.8
Rwanda             60.3

Haiti                   53.9
Bangladesh      41.3
Cambodia         34.1
El Salvador      19.0
Pakistan           17.0

China                 9.9  

Source: CIA World Factbook, 18 October, 2007, World Bank World Development Indicators 2007   

Shaohua Chen and Martin Ravallion (World Bank, 2008) report at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. The $10 dollar a day figure is close to poverty levels in the U.S., so it is provided to give a more global perspective to these numbers, although the World Bank has felt it is not a meaningful number for the poorest because they are unfortunately unlikely to reach that level any time soon.

Children In Poverty

According to UNICEF, 25,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death." 

According to UNICEF Worldwide (2005) "State of the World's Children," 2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized and 15 million children are orphaned due to HIV/AIDS (similar to the total children population in Germany or United Kingdom)

Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted. The two regions that account for the bulk of the deficit are South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. (2007 Human Development Report, United Nations Development Program, November 2007)     

Main Causes of Poverty


Causes of poverty mainly concern reasons behind the low wealth and productivity of the poor or, conversely, the shortage and inflation of the goods they consume. Rises in the costs of living make poor people poorer. Poor people spend a greater portion of their budgets on food than richer people. As a result poor households, and those near the poverty threshold can be particularly vulnerable to increases in shocks in food prices.

Obstacles to Productivity

1. The unwillingness of governments and feudal elites to give full-fledged property rights of land to their tenants is cited as the chief obstacle to development. (http://www.newsweek.com/id/160070, "How to Spread Democracy") This lack of economic freedom inhibits entrepreneurship among the poor. (Ending Mass Poverty, Ian Vásquez)  

2. War and political instability also discourage investment.

3. Lack of opportunities can further be caused by the failure of governments to provide essential infrastructure such as roads, water supply, sewers, power grids, etc. (Global Competitiveness Report 2006, World Economic Forum Website and Infrastructure and Poverty Reduction: Cross-country Evidence, Hossein Jalilian and John Weiss, 2004)

4. Opportunities in richer countries drives talent away, leading to brain drains. For example, $4 billion in Africa annually (expatriate professionals) and $8 billion annually in India (students going abroad for higher studies) are lost to brain drain.  

5. Inadequate nutrition in childhood undermines the ability of individuals to develop their full capabilities. Lack of essential minerals such as iodine and iron can impair brain development. 

6. Similarly substance abuse, including for example alcoholism  and drug abuse can consign people to vicious poverty cycles. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce Fact Sheet, 2007)

7. Infectious diseases such as Malaria, tuberculosis, and AIDS can perpetuate poverty by diverting health and economic resources from investment and productivity.

8. As a result of the business cycle, poverty rates can increase in recessions and decline in booms.

9. Cultural factors, such as discrimination of various kinds, can negatively affect productivity such as age discrimination, stereotyping, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, and caste discrimination. ("Ending Poverty in Community," EPIC and "UN Report Slams India for Caste Discrimination," CBC News)

Charles Dickens in Chapter 5, A Tale of Two Cities describe people who had undergone a terrible "grinding and regrinding in the mill" of poverty and hunger in a suburb of Paris in 1775.


"The mill which had worked them down, was the mill that grinds young people old; the children had ancient faces and grave voices; and upon them, and upon the grown faces, and ploughed into every furrow of age and coming up afresh, was the sigh, Hunger. It was prevalent everywhere. Hunger was pushed out of the tall houses, in the wretched clothing that hung upon poles and lines; Hunger was patched into them with straw and rag and wood and paper; Hunger was repeated in every fragment of the small modicum of firewood that the man sawed off; Hunger stared down from the smokeless chimneys, and started up from the filthy street that had no offal (entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal), among its refuse, of anything to eat. Hunger was the inscription on the baker's shelves, written in every small loaf of his scanty stock of bad bread; at the sausage-shop, in every dead-dog preparation that was offered for sale. Hunger rattled its dry bones among the roasting chestnuts in the turned cylinder; Hunger was shred into atomics in every farthing porringer of husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil."

 

Some History of Israel and the United States Friendship

 Roots of Israel-United States Relations

The Christian belief in the return of the Jews to the Holy Land has deep roots, which pre-date both the establishment of Zionism and the establishment of Israel.The British Balfour Declaration of 1917 advanced the Zionist movement and gave it legitimacy. The U.S. Congress passed the first joint resolution stating its support for a homeland in Palestine for the Jewish people on September 21, 1922.

President Woodrow Wilson didn't officially support Zionism but was sympathetic to the plight of the Jews. Then, in May, 1942, the Zionist movement made a demand "that Palestine be established as a Jewish Commonwealth." (Michael Oren, Power, Faith and Fantasy, Decision at Biltmore) After World War II, President Truman, was faced with defining U.S. policy in the Middle East in three sectors that provided "the root causes of American interests in the region: the Soviet threat, the birth of Israel, and petroleum." (George Lenczowski, 1990, American Presidents and the Middle East )

So, on May 14, 1948, President Truman -- encouraged by active support from civic groups, labor unions, political parties, and members of the American and world Jewish communities -- became the first country to extend de facto recognition to the State of Israel, 11 minutes after Israel declared itself an independent nation. Then, Truman's De jure recognition came on January 31, 1949.

Today and Israel-United States Relations

The United State Congress places considerable importance on the maintenance of a close and supportive relationship. The main expression of support for Israel has been foreign aid, which Congress monitors closely along with other issues in bilateral relations. Congressional concerns have affected different administrations' policies over the last 60 years.

These "bilateral" (political and cultural relations) relations have evolved from an initial American policy of sympathy and support for the creation of a Jewish homeland to an unusual partnership that links a small but militarily powerful Israel, dependent on the United States for its economic and military strength, with the U.S. superpower trying to balance competing interests in the region.

Israel is one of the United States' two original (1998) major non-NATO allies in the Middle East. Currently, there are seven major non-NATO allies in the Greater Middle East -- Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Bahrain. While the MNNA status does not automatically include a mutual defense pact with the United States, it does confer a variety of military and financial advantages that otherwise are not obtainable by countries not in NATO such as

• entry into cooperative research and development projects with the Department of Defense on a shared-cost basis
• participation in certain counter-terroism initiatives
• purchase of depleted uranium anti-tank rounds
• priority delivery of military surplus 
• possession of War Reserve Stocks 

In April 1996, President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister Shimon Peres signed the U.S.-Israel Counter-terrorism Accord. The two countries agreed to further cooperation in information sharing, training, investigations, research and development and policymaking.

At the federal, state and local levels there is close Israeli-American cooperation on Homeland Security. 

Israel was one of the first countries to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in developing initiatives to enhance homeland security. Among many areas of partnership include preparedness and protection of travel and trade. American and Israeli law enforcement officers and Homeland Security officials regularly meet in both countries to study counter-terrorism techniques and new ideas regarding intelligence gathering and threat prevention.

 Public Opinion About Israel-United States Relations

Israel is the one country that a majority of Americans feel favorably toward and say that what happens there is vitally important to the United States. (“The Camp David Accords: A Case of International Bargaining” Shibley Telhami, Columbia International Affairs Online)

Israeli attitudes toward the U.S. is overwhelmingly positive; Israelis, more than the citizens of any other developed country in the world, support the United States. In every way of measuring a country's view of America (American ideas about democracy; ways of doing business; music, movies and television; science and technology; spread of U.S. ideas), Israel came on top as the developed country who viewed it most positively. (Defense Security Cooperation Agency news release, July 14 2006) 

The Present Danger and How It May Affect Israel-United States Relations

With Tehran's construction on a new uranium-enrichment plant and recent test firing of Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles, both of which can carry warheads and reach up to 1,200 miles, putting Israel, U.S. military bases in the Middle East, and parts of Europe within striking distance, Iran is flexing its military might.

FOXNews.com (September 25) reports that Israel views Iran as the world's greatest threat and continues to keep a military option on the table. Many question if President Obama can step in the middle of a proposed Israeli air strike.
Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the U.S. president is on weak ground as the revelation over the nuclear site makes an Israeli strike appear more likely.


"He will strongly urge Israel against military action, but Israel will do whatever is in the best interest of Israeli security, and I don't think that Barack Obama will have the political capital to prevent an Israeli strike if Israel chooses to go down that route," Gardiner said.

Dan Gillerman, former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, told FOX News Friday that Israel is prepared to take military action if sanctions don't work -- and suggested that it was prepared to act alone.

"Israel is always close to a strike, because Israel cannot afford to be asleep," Gillerman said. "Taking words from your president, yes we can. And if absolutely necessary, and if all other options are exhausted, yes we will. Israel cannot live with a nuclear Iran."

Meanwhile, according to FOXNews.com, senior Obama administration officials said they had the international support necessary to impose the crippling sanctions needed if Tehran does not stop construction on a new uranium-enrichment plant and allow immediate inspections.

What is next in Israel-United States relations? The world waits and worries until the situation can be resolved -- hopefully, by peaceful negotiations before any further terrifying escalations.

Money For the Taliban Terrorists

Everyone knows it takes lots of money to finance a war. Believe me, the Taliban has the money to sustain their holy war of terrorist activities. Fighting a Superpower such as the United States, the Taliban relies on vast amounts of money from non-governmental (and some believe, governmental) sources of funding. Destroying the Taliban demands that freedom-loving countries somehow cut the flow of cash to the hands of those in the organization. Have you ever thought about who really supplies the cash necessary for the insurgency of such a diverse mix of terrorists?


Who Funds the Taliban?

General David Petraeus, who oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, said in a recent interview that the Taliban has three main sources of funding: drug revenue; payments from legitimate businesses that are secretly owned by the armed group or that pay it kickbacks; and donations from foreign charitable foundations and individuals. (Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal, June 1 2009)

Foreign Money

The CIA reportedly estimates that the Taliban received $106 billion in foreign money last year alone. This tremendous amount of money makes it difficult for intelligence officials to track the terrorist group's money flow. United Nations' Taliban and Al Qaeda Monitoring Team Coordinator Richard Barrett, told the Washington Post that Taliban supporters have grown much more skillful at masking their donations.

The Wall Street Journal also reports that senior U.S. officials said the Taliban received significant donations from Pakistan -- where sympathy for the group is widespread in the country's Pashtun community -- and Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Pakistani Ambassador Hussein Haqqani said his government had frozen hundreds of bank accounts tied to the Taliban and other extremist groups and said the effort is a "work in progress."

FOXNews.com (September 27 2009) reports that the Washington Post says Afghanistan's Taliban-led insurgency is "so heavily funded by foreign donations that U.S. and Afghan officials say it may be impossible to obstruct the group's money supply." The largest source of funding comes from foreign donations, not drugs like opium.

Contractors

Anecdotal evidence is mounting that the Taliban are taking a hefty portion of assistance money coming into Afghanistan from the outside.Very high-level negotiations take place between the Taliban and major contractors, according to sources close to the process.

There are new claims that U.S.-funded contractors have been spending a hefty chunk of that funding on protection payments to the Taliban - for years, reports CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes. (September 3, 2009)

CBS reports that the State Department has spent more than $4 billion on development contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. Experts say the kickbacks could have netted the Taliban tens of millions of dollars and are such an open secret on the streets that the U.S. government had to know.

"You cannot do anything about it," said CBS News consultant Jere Van Dyke. "This is how it operated, this is how it was in the 1980s, this is how it is today."

Jean MacKenzie of GlobalPost (2009) states, "Virtually every major project includes a healthy cut for the insurgents. Call it protection money, call it extortion, or, as the Taliban themselves prefer to term it, 'spoils of war,' the fact remains that international donors, primarily the United States, are to a large extent financing their own enemy. Sources claim this goes beyond mere protection money or extortion of 'taxes' at the local level..."

“Everyone knows this is going on,” said one U.S. Embassy official, speaking privately, according to MacKenzie.

The militants recruit local fighters by paying for their services. As they move about in their traditional 4x4s, they have to feed their troops, pay for transportation and medical treatment for the wounded, and, of course, they have to buy rockets, grenades and their beloved Kalashnikovs.

Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan told reporters that he would add a member of the Treasury Department to his staff to pursue the question of Taliban funding.The degree of cooperation and coordination between the Taliban and aid workers is surprising, and would most likely make funders extremely uncomfortable.

Here is an example of the funding process according to Jean MacKenzie, "The manager of an Afghan firm with lucrative construction contracts with the U.S. government builds in a minimum of 20 percent for the Taliban in his cost estimates. The manager, who will not speak openly, has told friends privately that he makes in the neighborhood of $1 million per month. Out of this, $200,000 is siphoned off for the insurgents."

Of course, if such negotiations fall through, the project will come to harm — workers may be attacked or killed, bridges may be blown up, or engineers may be assassinated.

The Afghan Tribal System

Within the Afghan tribal system, the Noorzai tribe is the most pro-Taliban, while the Achakzai tribal people partially support the Taliban. Between them, they dominate trade in the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

"There are only 100 members of the Chaman Chamber of Commerce, but there are over 3,500 importers and exporters in the Chaman market," Sardar Shaukat Popalzai, the president of the Balochistan Economic Forum that researches economic trends, told Asia Times Online. 

He continues, "Most of them have offices in Dubai and Jabal-i-Ali [in the United Arab Emirates] and they deal mostly in motor vehicles and clothes. It really looks like a wonderland when you go to the wastelands of Chaman and find many really affluent people actually live there. They have such a monopoly on trade that the regional agent of Three Fives cigarettes - which is the most expensive brand in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia - is based in Chaman." (Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times, January 10, 2007)
 

They also have a monopoly on the import of used heavy vehicles, which they refurbish and resell in the regional markets, beside reconditioned cars. After Dubai, they have set up offices in Europe for importing vehicles. Even in the Japanese cities of Nagoya and Osaka, Chaman businessmen operate successfully. "They have such an edge over everybody that they have ample cash liquidity - so much so that they can occupy whole floors of five-star hotels for months whenever they visit Japan," Shaukat said.

These traders are either from the Noorzai tribe (100% pro-Taliban) or from the Achakzai tribe (partially pro-Taliban). The tribesmen wield immense financial clout in Kandahar and most newly constructed hotels belong to them. With the UAE as the hub for the Taliban's finances, money moves through the traditional hawala (paper-free transfer) system or through direct contacts. A 2006 World Bank report about Afghanistan said the hawala system "carries out the majority of the country's cash payments and transfers." (Yochi J. Dreazen, Wall Street Journal, June 1 2009)

And getting the money back to Pakistan and then to Afghanistan is not a problem, as the Taliban don't use banks and they move freely across borders. (Syed Saleem Shahzad, Asia Times, January 10, 2007) 

 

Public Information On Terrorism

This is the terrorism news of the last week.This week's quote about terrorism is brief but memorable. 

"Fighting terrorism is like being a goalkeeper. You can make a hundred brilliant saves but the only shot that people remember is the one that gets past you."

PAUL WILKINSON, London Daily Telegraph

Nukes In Iran

Fox News reports Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, "The newly exposed Iranian nuclear facility proves without a doubt the Islamic republic is pursuing nuclear weapons."

The U.S. and its five partners (Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia) trying to stop Iran's suspected nuclear weapons program plan to tell Tehran in a key meeting on Thursday that it must provide "unfettered access" to its previously secret Qom enrichment facility within weeks, a senior administration official said.

Muammar Rants

Fox News relates Muammar Qaddafi's rambling assault against the UN Security Council included Qaddafi waving his hands and often turning to look at United Nation's Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the new General Assembly President H.E. Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki — who also serves as Libya's minister of African affairs — while defiantly declaring, "Nobody cares about the Security Council." He added, "this place was founded by terrorists." 

In addition, Qaddafi suggested Israel was behind the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.                          

Michael Moore Is At It Again

From Fox News comes word that Michael Moore, the filmmaking darling of the left has made yet another polemical documentary. Moore's latest film is called Capitalism: A Love Story. This time the filmmaker is calling for the replacement of America’s capitalist system with a socialist system, including, of course, pro-communist proposals to share all wealth or profits equally.

Commuter Train Bomb Plans

In a CNN report from Colorado comes news that a federal prosecutor said an Afghan native facing terrorism charges planned to bomb a target in New York on the anniversary of the terrorists attacks of September 11, 2001.

Najibullah Zazi intended to be in New York "with the intent of using" a bomb on September 11, federal prosecutor Tim Neff said during a court hearing Friday. His plan possibly involving hydrogen peroxide bombs on commuter trains. A federal judge ordered Zazi to remain in custody at the hearing.

A few hours later, he left Colorado for New York, where a grand jury indicted him on one count of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against unspecified targets in the United States.Investigators said Zazi plotted to make bombs from household chemicals. He made several recent purchases from beauty supply stores in suburban Denver, Colorado, employees said.

Threats During Elections in Germany

An Associated Press story from Berlin relates politicians ignoring threats by Islamic militants.Chancellor Angela Merkel and her main rival held their final political rallies Saturday before Germany's national election, focusing on the key domestic issues of jobs and economic recovery.

This occurred after two videos surfaced Friday — one by al-Qaida and another by the Taliban — threatening retaliation for Germany's military presence in Afghanistan. The Taliban video showed top German landmarks like the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin and Munich's world-renowned Oktoberfest.

In response, authorities on Saturday banned all flights over Oktoberfest until it ends on October 4. The annual 16-day beer festival, which was targeted by terrorists in 1980, draws some 6 million visitors from around the globe. The U.S. government is also warning Americans traveling to Germany about possible terror attacks around the upcoming election.

Suicide Car Bombs In Pakistan

An MSNBC report tells of two suicide car bombs that killed 16 people and wounded about 150 others in separate attacks in northwestern Pakistan on Saturday, just days after the Taliban warned suicide strikes were coming if the military pressed forward with an offensive. A third bomb injured four in the restive region.

Pakistan's mountainous, lawless northwest region along the Afghan border — where the government holds little control — is a favored area for insurgents to plan attacks on U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, as well as on Pakistani security forces and government.

Bin Laden Threatens Europe

ABC News reported on September 25 of a new tape in which Bin Laden sends a warning of retaliation against Europe for the violence being committed by the international coalition forces in Afghanistan: "If today Europe is suffering the travails of the economic crisis…then how do you think you will fare after America pulls out, Allah permitting, for us to retaliate from the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed?"

Terrorists Plot Against U.S. Stadiums, Arenas, Luxury Hotels

From Washington, CNN reports that the Department of Homeland Security and FBI have issued security bulletins to raise awareness regarding "terrorist interest" in attacking sports and entertainment venues as well as luxury hotels.

The bulletins, which were sent to law enforcement Monday, said that authorities did not know of any credible or specific terrorist plots to attack U.S. stadiums, arenas or luxury hotels.

However, it said that terrorist groups such as al Qaeda view crowded stadiums and arenas as potential targets. It said hotels are also attractive targets for terrorists. "Detained terrorists have also discussed the use of aircraft and chemical weapons to attack stadiums and arenas." The Department said the al Qaeda training manual lists " 'blasting and destroying the places of amusement, immorality and sin ... and attacking vital economic centers' as a key objective."

Al-Qaeda and al-Zawahri Promote Feature Video

The Columbia Independent Examiner reports that yet another long, new video released by Al-Qaeda predicts the downfall of President Obama. The video says the Muslim world will bring Obama down.The AP story says the 106 minute video entitled The West and the Dark Tunnel is the latest in a series of messages celebrating the eighth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S. In the video, Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaeda's second in command states,"God willing, your end will be at the hands of the Muslim nation, so that the world and history will be free of your crimes and lies."

Springfield, Illinois, Attempt Foiled

From the Associated Press and FOX2now.com says the leader of the mosque attended by a central Illinois man jailed on suspicion of trying to detonate an explosive outside a Springfield courthouse says his congregation condemns any acts of terror.

Imam Johnnie Shabazz said at a Friday news conference that he's glad the FBI and local police saw the apparent potential for terror in Michael Finton, who was arrested Wednesday on charges that he tried to set off a car bomb outside the federal courthouse in Springfield.


"This alleged plot drives home the stark reality that we must avoid complacency and remain ever vigilant to the threats that violent extremists may pose to the public safety," acting U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Lang said.

Dallas, Texas, Attempt Foiled

 

From Dallas, Reuters reveals that a U.S. judge ruled on Friday that a Jordanian national accused of attempting to bomb a downtown Dallas skyscraper must remain in custody pending a hearing on October 5. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, 19, was arrested on Thursday and charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. A conviction carries a maximum life sentence.


Smadi, who had been under intense surveillance by the FBI, was arrested near a 60-story glass office tower in downtown Dallas after he placed an inactive car bomb at the location, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The device could not explode because the undercover agents monitoring Smadi had given him inert materials. "Unbeknownst to Smadi, the FBI ensured the (bomb) contained only an inert/inactive explosive device which contained no explosive materials," the department said.





Virginia Military Base Threatened


A Yahoo News story from Raleigh, North Carolina, reports prosecutors said Thursday that two North Carolina terrorism suspects plotted to kill U.S. military personnel and one of them obtained maps of a Marine Corps base in Virginia to plan an attack.


A superseding indictment returned against Daniel Patrick Boyd and Hysen Sherifi is the first time authorities have said the homegrown terrorism ring had specific targets. Prosecutors said Boyd "undertook reconnaissance" of the base located about 30 miles south of Washington.


"These additional charges hammer home the grim reality that today's homegrown terrorists are not limiting their violent plans to locations overseas, but instead are willing to set their sights on American citizens and American targets, right here at home," U.S. Attorney George Holding said in a statement.

Somali Explosives Attack By American

 An MSNBC story from Nairobi, Kenya confirms that FBI agents are investigating whether an American teenager detonated one of two stolen U.N. vehicles packed with explosives at a peacekeepers base in Somalia, killing 21 people last week.

The investigation highlights a disturbing trend of Somali-American youths returning to their ancestral homeland to fight for an Islamic militia that the U.S. government links to al-Qaida.

Three men, two from the Minneapolis area and one from Seattle, have pleaded guilty in federal court in Minneapolis to terror charges earlier this year after as many as 20 Somali-American youths vanished. At least three Minnesota men have died, including one whom authorities say carried out a suicide bombing.