Unique, if inappropriate, Purim costume resembling 2001 terror attack on World Trade Center has Iranian media atwitter

Yaron Drukman
Published: 03.02.13, 23:40

A unique, if somewhat inappropriate, costume made for seven-year-old twins has sparked an Iranian conspiracy theory. An article written by Dr. Kevin Barrett and published Saturday on the state-run Iranian Press TV website, claims that this was expression of Israeli joy regarding the successes of the September 11 attacks.

The article, titled "Israel celebrates successful 9/11 operation on Purim holiday," stressed that the costume, which depicts the two al-Qaeda hijacked planes as they crashed into the World Trade Center in New York; proved the success of "Zionist scheme."

The author compared Purim, which he called "a strange holiday," to the September 11, 2001 attacks: "Purim exalts and commemorates an ancient operation very much like 9/11. It glorifies the deceptions of Esther, who concealed her Jewish identity to seduce the King of Persia, then slyly tricked him into slaughtering 75,000 people deemed 'enemies of the Jews,'" wrote Barrett.



Barrett, a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin and a radioman, further compared, writing: "In other words, Purim celebrates Jews lying, secretly penetrating the highest levels of government, and manipulating the leaders of an empire into mass-murdering perceived 'enemies of the Jewish people.'"

He added that if Israeli is successful in its scheme to cause the US to attack Iran, or cause the outbreak of WWIII, modern Queen Esthers will not only cause the death of millions, but rather even hundreds of millions will lose their lives in the war.

MORE...

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4351384,00.html

srael will open new “Palestinian bus routes” in the West Bank tomorrow after bowing to pressure from settlers who argue that sharing transportation is a security risk.

Officially, the new lines, operated by the Afikim company, are designed to ease pressure on the transport network that carries people from the West Bank into central Israel, which many Palestinians with Israeli work permits use each day. However, the Transport Ministry in Jerusalem has been accused of promoting segregationist policies after advertisements for the new routes were produced only in Arabic and distributed only in Palestinian villages in the West Bank.

The ministry insists that all bus lines are open to anyone, but the launch has followed pressure from the late Ron Nachman, former Mayor of the settlement of Ariel, who argued that Palestinians should be stopped from boarding buses going to the settlements. The new buses will not enter Jewish settlements and instead will terminate at the Eyal checkpoint. It is understood that the Judea and Samaria (West Bank) police force will deploy extra officers at Eyal.

One driver told the Ynet news service: “Obviously, everyone will start screaming ‘apartheid’ and ‘racism’ now. This really doesn’t feel right, and maybe [the ministry] should find a different solution, but the situation right now is impossible.”

MORE...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israels-palestinianonly-buses-prompt-apartheid-comparisons-8518401.html

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz expressed concern Sunday that U.S. financial difficulties would affect Israel’s economy.

“We are very worried about the financial difficulties in the U.S., and I hope they won’t hurt us,” he said at the weekly Cabinet meeting.

Steinitz’s comments came after Obama on Friday night ordered $85 billion in automatic, across-the-board cuts, called sequestration, after Congress failed to reach a compromise on deficit reduction.

--clip
The cuts are sure to affect military aid from the United States to Israel, with estimates of cuts as high as $300 million, including affecting funding for the Iron Dome missile defense system.

More...

http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/sequestration-worries-israel/2013/03/03/

Sequestration, those long-dreaded automatic, across-the-board spending cuts kicked in March 1st and the effects are expected to place a heavy toll on our military with civilian workers at the Pentagon and bases across the country firmly in the cross-hairs.

The Department of Defense is forced to trim at least $40 billion off its budget before the end of the fiscal year and Virginia Republican Rep. Ron Wittman says it could compromise our military’s readiness.

“We all want to make sure we reduce our deficit, but this is not the smart way to do it and it cuts right at this nation’s ability to defend itself,” he said.

During a press conference Friday, President Obama singled out Virginia to highlight the sequestration’s blistering effects on citizens. “Communities near military bases will take a serious blow, hundreds of thousands of people who serve their country. Border control agents, FBI agents, all will suffer significant pay cuts and furloughs,” he said.

More...

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/03/03/lawmakers-warn-of-compromised-military-readiness-with-sequestration-pains/

Boo-f'n-hoo. Our military 'crusades' are compromising this country's economy so bring our military home.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Three budget crises ago, in early 2011, Republicans and President Barack Obama faced off over raising the debt ceiling — and Alison Brown saw the writing on the wall.

Washington had entered the cycle of partisan brinksmanship over the budget that has sown confusion among federal agencies and delayed contracts to small companies like Brown’s Navsys Corp., which designs satellite navigation systems in this military town. So Brown slashed her 40-strong workforce in half. And as she feared back then, her revenues have since plunged by half.

The latest crisis hit on Friday with across-the-board automatic spending cuts. They total about $85 billion, but the economic damage created by two years of showdowns is far greater. And there’s no end in sight: Temporary resolutions funding the government expire on March 27. May brings another debt ceiling standoff.

“We’re planning for the worst,” Brown said in her office with a view of the Rampart Range, a portrait of President George W. Bush on the shelf behind her. “We’re not going to be taking risks and making investments, and that’s bad for the country as a whole.”

MORE...

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/03/us_economy_hamstrung_by_washingtons_brinksmanship/

Source: Associated Press

US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday rewarded Egypt for president Mohammed Morsi's pledges of political and economic reforms by releasing $250m in American aid to support the country's "future as a democracy".

Yet Kerry also served notice that the Obama administration will keep close watch on how Morsi, who came to power in June as Egypt's first freely elected president, honors his commitment and that additional assistance would depend on it.

"The path to that future has clearly been difficult and much work remains," Kerry said in a statement after wrapping up two days of meetings in Egypt, a deeply divided country in the wake of the revolution that ousted longtime president Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt is trying to meet conditions to close on a $4.8bn loan package from the International Monetary Fund. An agreement would unlock more of the $1bn in US assistance promised by President Barack Obama last year and set to begin flowing with Kerry's announcement.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/03/kerry-releases-us-aid-egypt

Mayor Bloomberg was booed yesterday as he walked in the annual St. Patrick’s Parade in the hurricane-ravaged Rockaways.

The jeers grew so loud toward the end of the Queens parade that mayoral candidate and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn appeared to break away from the mayor to march separately.

A spokesman for Quinn later said she always intended to walk separately from the mayor.

Locals didn’t spare their ire over the area’s slow recovery, hoisting signs reading, “Mr. Mayor, we need jetties” and “Listen to the Rockaways.”

“We’ve been dying down here, up to our ears in muck trying to rebuild, get back to a regular life,” one heckler told The Post.

MORE...

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/mayor_in_ire_land_pMrncLdQ64TBe94q9LxwsN

The agony of the 2014 election cycle has already begun for incumbent Democrats from "red" states.

That became apparent Thursday, when three Democratic senators from conservative-leaning states – Mark Pryor of Arkansas, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana – rejected their own party's fix for the budget-crimping “sequester.” It included $55 billion in tax hikes on the rich alongside cuts to farm subsidies and the Pentagon.

Earlier in the week, two powerful conservative groups had pegged Senator Pryor as a top 2014 election target.

That vote was only for political show, and thus not one that could make or break President Obama's agenda. But it nonetheless signals an uncomfortable reality for red-state Democrats: Votes on the president's agenda for the current congressional session – immigration reform, higher taxes for the wealthy, firearms legislation – could put them into a difficult spot with constituents back home, a majority of whom cast their ballots for someone other than Mr. Obama last November.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/03/long-slog-to-2014-begins-for-senates-red-state-democrats/

Sheldon Adelson, the casino magnate and billionaire financier of Republican candidates and causes, admitted in an SEC filing submitted Friday that his company probably broke a federal anti-bribery law through its business dealings in China.

In an annual regulatory report by Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corporation, the company wrote that an internal audit determined it had, “likely violated a federal law against bribing foreign officials.” The report did not go into specifics, but said the company was cooperating with investigators who are looking into the matter.

The company is under investigation by the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the SEC for their shady business dealings in China. Yet until Friday, the company had given no admission or indication of wrongdoing.

Adelson aggressively moved to tap the emerging Chinese economy over the past decade, striking deals with the government, opening two casinos and pushing other profitable ventures there. While those endeavors made Adelson fabulously wealthy, there was much speculation that those operations were not entirely on the level. Specifically, the company is suspected of bribing officials for sweetheart land deals and donating cash to an organized crime gang to drive business to their casinos.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/03/gop-mega-donor-admits-his-company-likely-bribed-foreign-officials/

Police in Mississippi charged a 22-year-old man with the murder of a gay mayoral candidate on Thursday, amid conflicting accounts about the nature of the two men’s relationship.

WPTY-TV reported on Friday that Lawrence Reed was accused of killing 34-year-old Marco McMillian. Authorities found McMillian’s body was discovered near a levy hours after Reed was spotted by officials in McMillian’s SUV on Tuesday, after allegedly crashing it into another vehicle. Reed is currently listed in good condition at a local hospital and is being guarded by police.

The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported that investigators believe Reed strangled McMillian before dumping the body in a levee. However, they are not treating the case as a hate crime.

McMillian’s mother, Patricia McMillian, said in a Feb. 28 statement she did not think her son was killed because of his sexuality, saying, “He did not announce in public that he was gay.”

According to Reed’s friends, WPTY reported, the two men became friends after meeting at a bar in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where McMillian was running as a Democratic mayoral candidate. They were supposed to go to a party on Feb. 25, when McMillian allegedly drove Reed to an unfamiliar area, at which point Reed called his girlfriend.

MORE...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/02/gay-mayoral-candidates-friend-charged-with-his-murder/