A mosque can be built at ground zero, but a Spanish nightclub can not be called Mecca

The inauguration of a discotheque called Mecca in Spain infuriated Muslims in the country and raised questions about the position of Muslim workers offered jobs in the controversial place.

After 10 years of renovations, an old discotheque in the city of Aguilas in the southwestern province of Murcia opened its doors on June 18 under the name La Meca amid protests from Muslim individuals and organizations, the Arab Spanish newspaper Andalus Press reported Wednesday.


" Muslims pray towards Mecca and it is there that the prophet received the holy Quran. Calling a place for dancing and drinking by that name shows disregard to the feelings of Muslims "
Head of Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities Mohamed Ali
A poll conducted after the inauguration of the discotheque revealed the indignation of Spanish Muslims who viewed the action as disrespectful and prejudiced.

Mohamed Ali, head of the Spanish Federation of Islamic Religious Entities (Federación Española de Entidades Religosas Islámicas- FEERI), said Mecca is the most venerated place for Muslims all over the world.

“Muslims pray towards Mecca and it is there that the prophet received the holy Quran,” he said in a statement. “Calling a place for dancing and drinking by that name shows disregard to the feelings of Muslims.”

The inauguration of La Meca raised questions about Muslims who work there. In fact, a Moroccan man rejected an offer to work in the discotheque in protest of the name.

“It is up to him to decide,” Ali added. “It depends on his financial situation and whether he has the option to work in other places.”


" A discotheque is for worldly pleasures and what takes place inside it, like drinking alcohol, is not in line with the principles of Islam "
Founder of the Committee of Muslim Arbitration and Good Deeds Antonio García Petite.

Antonio García Petite, founder of the Committee of Muslim Arbitration and Good Deeds (Comité de Arbitraje Musulmán y Buenas Prácticas), said that the name Mecca is usually used commercially to refer to a center or destination of a specific activity.

“Expressions like ‘the Mecca of cinema’ and ‘the Mecca of Jazz’… etc. are commonly used without any offence,” he said.

However, he added, it is inappropriate to call a discotheque by that name.

“A discotheque is for worldly pleasures and what takes place inside it, like drinking alcohol, is not in line with the principles of Islam.”

As for the Moroccan worker, Petite said that he acted in accordance with his religious beliefs.

“We do support him in that,” he concluded.

FootBall time again

'suicide' blast at hotel in Copenhagen

BBC news reports

Danish police have detained a man injured by a small blast at a Copenhagen hotel amid media reports he was a would-be suicide bomber.

He suffered slight injuries on his face and arms and was arrested in a park where he is believed to have fled after the blast at the Jorgensens Hotel.

Police told the Associated Press news agency the blast had occurred in a toilet of the hotel.

The hotel is located about 90m (90 yds) from a busy railway station.

Police with sniffer dogs searched the park, Orstedsparken, and hotel, which was evacuated immediately after the explosion, Denmark's Politiken newspaper said on its website.

"We hope and believe that the person is the one who ran away from the hotel," police spokesman Moeller Jacobsen told AP.

He would not confirm several media reports, which suggested that the arrested man had tried to blow himself up, nor would he give details of the suspect's nationality.

The Jorgensens, described as a low-cost hotel, is located on Israel's Square, in the centre of the Danish capital. It is a short distance from Norreport Station.

Air Force buys six additional MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB, Ohio, 10 Sept. 2010. The U.S. Air Force is buying six more MQ-9 Reaper ground-attack unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) under terms of a $38.3 million contract awarded Thursday to manufacturer General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in Poway, Calif. Awarding the contract were officials of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.

The MQ-9 Reaper hunter-killer UAV, which is flying in combat operations in Afghanistan, is a medium-to-high altitude, long endurance UAV designed for close air support, air interdiction, and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.

keep the hell raining down on these terrorist

Fla. minister cancels burning of Qurans on 9/11

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The minister of a Florida church said he has canceled plans to burn copies of the Quran because the leader of a much-opposed plan to build an Islamic Center near ground zero has agreed to move its location. The agreement couldn't be immediately confirmed.

The Rev. Terry Jones said Thursday that Americans oppose the mosque being built at the location and that Muslims do not want the Quran burned. He said instead of his plan to burn the books on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11, he will be flying to New York to speak to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf about moving the mosque.

"We are, of course, now against any other group burning Qurans," Jones said during a news conference. We would right now ask no one to burn Qurans. We are absolutely strong on that. It is not the time to do it."

Patriotism

Ex-N. Korea Soldiers Launch Group To Topple Regime

SEOUL - Former North Korean soldiers who have defected to the South formally launched a campaign Sept. 9 to topple the Pyongyang regime with the help of serving soldiers there.

The NK People's Liberation Front simulated the execution of the North's leader Kim Jong-Il at an inauguration ceremony held on the 62nd anniversary of the founding of North Korea.

It was attended by about 100 defectors who pledged to overthrow the regime with the help of military members still in the communist state

Hennessey Armored Ford Raptor SUV

Hennessey's already made a nice side business building ridonculous supercharged and twin-turbocharged Raptors dubbed the VelociRaptor. Now Hennessey's getting into the armored car business with a modified Raptor built with a 6-to-8 passenger SUV body and armor-plating.

looks cool but would i drive one through the streets of iraq, HELL NO!!!!!

Castro says Cuban model doesn't work

HAVANA – Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's communist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since stepping down four years ago.

The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeatedly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eyebrows.

Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked if Cuba's economic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog.

He said Castro made the comment casually over lunch following a long talk about the Middle East, and did not elaborate. The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account.

Since stepping down from power in 2006, the ex-president has focused almost entirely on international affairs and said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes.

Goldberg, who traveled to Cuba at Castro's invitation last week to discuss a recent Atlantic article he wrote about Iran's nuclear program, also reported on Tuesday that Castro questioned his own actions during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, including his recommendation to Soviet leaders that they use nuclear weapons against the United States.

Even after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba has clung to its communist system.

The state controls well over 90 percent of the economy, paying workers salaries of about $20 a month in return for free health care and education, and nearly free transportation and housing. At least a portion of every citizen's food needs are sold to them through ration books at heavily subsidized prices.

President Raul Castro and others have instituted a series of limited economic reforms, and have warned Cubans that they need to start working harder and expecting less from the government. But the president has also made it clear he has no desire to depart from Cuba's socialist system or embrace capitalism.

Fidel Castro stepped down temporarily in July 2006 due to a serious illness that nearly killed him.

He resigned permanently two years later, but remains head of the Communist Party. After staying almost entirely out of the spotlight for four years, he re-emerged in July and now speaks frequently about international affairs. He has been warning for weeks of the threat of a nuclear war over Iran.

Castro's interview with Goldberg is the only one he has given to an American journalist since he left office

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100908/ap_on_re_us/cb_cuba_fidel_castro

so what took him so long to figure that out????

Criminals Building Fake Police Cars/Trucks to commit crimes

As police officers and other law enforcement agencies equip themselves with a wider array of vehicles, some lawbreakers have found a new tool to perpetrate their crimes: Fake police trucks.

The Ford F-150 above wears the decals of Webb County, Texas, and comes with working emergency lights. Yet something seemed off about it to U.S. Border Patrol agents in June, who stopped a driver wearing a sheriff's deputy uniform. Upon closer inspection, the badge was from a security guard and the cab of the truck concealed 1,000 pounds of marijuana.

Smugglers have long used faked vehicles to move their contraband, from Fed-Ex trucks to Dakar Rally racers. And it's not just cargo that's been hauled this way

In July, Border Patrol officers in California found a California Highway Patrol Dodge Ram like this one with a flat in Imperial County. The badges and decals were once again off just enough to make the officers suspicious; inside the camper top were nine illegal immigrants. The driver had abandoned the truck, which had not just working lights and bumper bar but faked CHP license plates.

The only way to fight these techniques appears to be relying on smugglers to keep their quality control shoddy - or for police agencies to buy harder to copy vehicles.