Monday, February 21, 2011

Why I Changed My Mind About Unions

As Sen. Barry Goldwater observed in Conscience of a Conservative, the First Amendment guarantees freedom of association for union members. But "[e]mployers are forbidden to act collusively for sound reasons. The same reasons [should] apply to unions...Let us henceforth make war on all monopolies -- whether corporate or union. The enemy of freedom is unrestrained power" -- whether it be unrestrained management power or unrestrained union power.

Read more:  http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/02/why_i_changed_my_mind_about_un.html

End Public Sector Unions...Period

...public sector "collective bargaining" is a bad joke, given that there are only chairs on one side of the bargaining table.  The bigger universe of interested parties have zero representation in the process.  There is no natural force working to keep costs in line.
Moreover, quite often the very politicians who are "negotiating" with the public unions are politicians who have been financed by those same unions.  At least Bernie Madoff ripped off his clients with some panache.  No such style is even required in a public sector union negotiation when the folks in charge are bought and paid for Democrats.

Under any circumstances and in any economy, it is simply a matter of time before these costs reach a tipping point.  We are at that time.  There is simply no more money to give to these public sector unions -- period.

And that is why we are seeing what we are seeing in Madison this week and it is why we have seen the emergence of Chris Christie as a national phenomenon.  And I welcome it.  Things are finally so bad -- that they are good.  And by good, I mean that folks now cannot help but pay attention to the issue of public sector unions.

I submit that the very existence of these unions has only been allowed to happen because it's the kind of issue an electorate is never forced to confront -- until they are forced to confront it.  And now they are. ...
 

The U.S. Government: An insurance conglomerate protected by a large, standing army

American politics is one long argument about what government should or shouldn’t be doing, and how it should or shouldn’t be doing it. It’s rare that we step back, take in the larger picture and ask what it is doing. The release of the president’s proposed 2012 budget is a good time to do that. If you want to know what the federal government is really doing, just look where it’s spending our money.

Two of every five dollars goes to Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid, all of which provide some form of insurance. A bit more than a buck goes to the military. Then there’s a $1.50 or so for assorted other programs -- education, infrastructure, environmental protection, farm subsidies, etc. Some of that, like unemployment checks and food stamps, is also best understood insurance spending. And then there’s another 40 cents of debt repayment. Calvin Coolidge once said that the business of America is business. Well, the business of the American government is insurance. Literally. If you look at how the federal government spends our money, it’s an insurance conglomerate protected by a large, standing army.

But you wouldn’t know it to listen to the debate over the budget. When House Republicans talk about cutting spending and the Obama administration talks about freezing spending, neither group is talking about the vast expanse of the government’s commitments. They’re looking at a small corner of the budget, the 12.3 percent known as non-defense discretionary spending. The stuff that’s not Medicare, not Medicaid, not Social Security or the military. It’s the odds-and-ends, so to speak.

Read more:  http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/02/the_us_government_an_insurance.html

Saturday, February 12, 2011

How can health insurance be interstate commerce if it is not allowed by Congress itself to be sold across state lines?

States have regulated health insurance since the 1945 passage of the McCarran Ferguson Act, which, among other things, forbids interstate sale of insurance (health, auto, homeowners). States have regulated insurance ever since. Many insurance companies sell policies in different states but each is a separate company per state, and in doing so, must comply with a given state's regulations.

Some already purchase health insurance across state lines. The ERISA Act of 1974 allows businesses that self-insure their employees to include all employees in one health insurance pool, even if they live in different states. Self-insurance means that the company is responsible for paying the health expenditures of its employees after the employees have paid the specified deductibles and co-pays. Such companies typically hire an insurance company to process claims and are predominantly large employers who have chosen to self-insure to remove the insurance middleman. But why is third party payment by an employer allowed in the first place?

The fact is that true capitalism has never played a part in health insurance because of government intervention.  Government intervention is the problem that drives up costs.  Government intervention in the form of interstate commerce prevention and employer benefit income tax laws.  The non-payer cost factor is a side show compared to this true integral that drives up cost:  the moral hazard of government tax law policy with employee benefits.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Unions' Anti-Trade Agenda


In fact, a statement given by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka stated, “We’ve seen U.S. multinational companies take advantage of the investment and other corporate protections in past trade deals to shift production offshore, while maintaining access to the U.S. consumer market and undermining the jobs, wages and bargaining power of American workers… So long as these agreements fall short of protecting the broad interests of American workers and their counterparts around the world in these uncertain economic times, we will oppose them.”
If it is jobs that the unions are worried about then what about the fact that “South Korea, Colombia and Panama are together worth almost $13 billion of new sales for our U.S. goods and services?” This is according to Rep. Kevin Brady, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and Chairman of the Subcommittee on Trade.
Because of all the new sales, Rep. Brady went on to say, “We are going to create a lot of jobs and find new customers that will help us get out of this economic recession, if we can open those markets.”
Is it really American jobs the unions are worried about preserving or it is union jobs that concern them?

Read more at:  http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3063

VID: How Attempts To Save Penguins Don't Really Save Penguins Or The American Workforce #eco #green #fail

Social Security and the Fallacy of Government Compassion

"Social Security, of course, remains the vaunted third rail of American politics, the crown jewel of Roosevelt-era liberalism. Even conservative-minded Americans consider the program the one saving grace keeping the elderly out of the poor-houses. Like a national institution or memorial, it will be saved come whatever. Just the mere concept is an American value unto itself and we will make it endure, regardless of the costs or the puny payouts or the toll on the American worker.

Nothing written here is meant to endorse the privatization of Social Security, but I do submit that the American worker should not be coerced into planning his or her future on the edicts of Washington politicians and policy wonks. Social Security, like most government programs, offers one-size-fits-all solutions for a diverse nation of 300 million-plus and fosters dependency and conformity. From where in the Constitution does government derive the power to set my retirement age?"

Read more at:   http://blog.getliberty.org/default.asp?Display=3054

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Half of All States Now Suing to Stop Obamacare

If it is allowed to be implemented, Obamacare will eventually do deep and irreparable harm to our nation’s budget deficit. But while Obamacare is more of a long-term threat to fiscal health at the federal level, it is a  clear and present danger to the states. Of the 34 million Americans who gain health insurance through Obamacare, over half (18 million) will receive it through Medicaid.
While Obamacare will pay for all of the benefit expansion for the first three years of the law, and 90% of it after that, Obamacare never pays for any of the state administrative costs for adding those 18 million Americans to their welfare rolls. That amounts to billions in unfunded federal mandates for states to absorb. That is why 33 Republican governors signed a letter to the White House and Congress making an emphatic appeal that Obamacare’s Medicaid provisions be repealed.
It is also why the newly elected governors of Ohio, Oklahoma, Maine, and Wisconsin have all decided to sue the Obama administration in hopes of stopping Obamacare. Specifically, Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma has announced that the Sooner State will pursue its own case against the law, while Govs. John Kasich (R) and Scott Walker (R) (of Ohio and Wisconsin respectively) will add their states to Florida’s multi-state suit. And yesterday, newly sworn-in state Attorney General William Schneider announced Maine would also join the the Florida litigation. That brings the number of states on the Florida suit to 23 and the total number of states suing to stop Obamacare (which includes Virginia and Oklahoma) to 25.

Read more at:  http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/12/half-of-all-states-now-suing-to-stop-obamacare/

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Barack Obama, George Soros and Zbigniew Brzezinski are behind the fall of Egypt and the coming Islamic Revolution

But as it turns out, it’s not quite as simple as that. Obama’s words to the contrary, it’s highly likely that our president had a strong hand in bringing about the riots in Egypt. Beyond that, he was aided and abetted by the very man who engineered the financial meltdown that enabled Obama to get elected in the first place: George Soros.
The U.S. knew as early as December, 2008, that groups opposed to the Mubarak regime were already developing a plan to overthrow the Egyptian government. They received the information from a young dissident who the U.S. had sponsored to attend a meeting for international political activists that took place in New York City.
In addition, according to documents exposed by WikiLeaks, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey was aware of the plans of the Mubarak opposition group. Leaked documents also show that while the United States publicly supported the Mubarak government, U.S. Embassy officials continued to communicate with the activist in question throughout 2008 and 2009.
The problem is that in order for a country to hold “free” elections, it must have a democratic infrastructure, a democratic culture. In the most important sense, there is no Middle Eastern country that has this, except for Israel. Even our attempts to establish democracy in Iraq have done little to combat the influence of Iran or to insure that democracy will survive after we leave.

Read more

Muslim Brotherhood Fact Sheet #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25









The Brotherhood’s goal is to turn the world into an Islamist empire. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is a revolutionary fundamentalist movement to restore the caliphate and strict shariah (Islamist) law in Muslim lands and, ultimately, the world. Today, it has chapters in 80 countries.
“It is in the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” —Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna[2]
·         The Brotherhood wants America to fall. It tells followers to be “patient” because America “is heading towards its demise.” The U.S. is an infidel that “does not champion moral and human values and cannot lead humanity.” Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Badi, Sept. 2010[3]    
·         The Brotherhood claims western democracy is “corrupt,” “unrealistic.” and “false.”Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Mahdi Akef [4]
·         The Brotherhood calls for jihad against “the Muslim’s real enemies, not only Israel but also the United States. Waging jihad against both of these infidels is a commandment of Allah that cannot be disregarded.” Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Badi, Sept. 2010[5]    
·         The Brotherhood assassinated Anwar Sadat in 1981 for making peace with the hated “Zionist entity.”[6]It also assassinated Egypt’s prime minister in 1948 and attempted to assassinate President Nasser in 1954.[7]
·         Hamas is a “wing of the Muslim Brotherhood,” according to the Hamas Charter, Chapter 2. The Charter calls for the murder of Jews, the “obliteration” of Israel and its replacement with an Islamist theocracy.
·         The Brotherhood supports Hezbollah’s war against the Jews. Brotherhood leader Mahdi Akef declared he was “prepared to send 10,000 jihad fighters immediately to fight at the side of Hezbollah” during Hezbollah’s war against Israel in 2006.[8]
·         The Brotherhood glorifies Osama bin Laden. Osama is “in all certainty, a mujahid (heroic fighter), and I have no doubt in his sincerity in resisting the occupation, close to Allah on high.” Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Mahdi Akef, Nov. 2007[9]
·         The Brotherhood “sanctioned martyrdom operations in Palestine.…They do not have bombs, so they turn themselves into bombs. This is a necessity.” Muslim Brotherhood Spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, Dec. 17, 2010[10]
·         The Brotherhood advocates violent jihad: The “change that the [Muslim] nation seeks can only be attained through jihad and sacrifice and by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death just as the enemies pursue life,” said Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Badi in a September 2010 sermon.[11] Major terrorists came out of the Muslim Brotherhood, including bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (mastermind of the 9/11 attacks).[12]
·         The Brotherhood advocates a deceptive strategy in democracies: appear moderate and use existing institutions to gain power. “The civilizational-jihadist process…is a kind of grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house…so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious overall other religions,” reads a US Muslim Brotherhood 1991 document.[13] It believes it can conquer Europe peacefully: “After having been expelled twice, Islam will be victorious and reconquer Europe....I am certain that this time, victory will be won not by the sword but by preaching and [Islamic] ideology.” Muslim Brotherhood Spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, “Fatwa,” 2003[14]
·         The Brotherhood uses democracy, but once in power it will replace democracy with fundamentalist shariah law because it is the “true democracy.” The final, absolute message from heaven contains all the values which the secular world claims to have invented....Islam and its values antedated the West by founding true democracy.” Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Mahdi Akef, Nov. 2007[15]
·         The Brotherhood’s view of women’s rights is to subjugate and segregate women: The ideal society would include “a campaign against ostentation in dress and loose behaviour…segregation of male and female students; private meetings between men and women, unless within the permitted degrees of relationship, to be counted as a crime for which both will be censured…prohibition of dancing and other such pastimes." Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, “Five Tracts”[16]


·         The Brotherhood supports Female Genital Mutilation: “[the Americans] wage war on Muslim leaders, the traditions of its faith and its ideas. They even wage war against female circumcision, a practice current in 36 countries, which has been prevalent since the time of the Pharaohs.” Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Mahdi Akef, 2007[17]
·         The Brotherhood will not treat non-Muslim minorities, such as Coptic Christians, as equals. “Allah's word will reign supreme and the infidels' word will be inferior.” Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Badi, Sept. 2010[18]
·         The Brotherhood refuses to commit to continuing the Israel-Egypt peace treaty.[19]Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said that “as far as the movement is concerned, Israel is a Zionist entity occupying holy Arab and Islamic lands...and we will get rid of it no matter how long it takes.” Former Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Mahdi Akef, 2005 and 2007[20]
·         The Brotherhood has anti-Semitic roots. It supported the Nazis, organized mass demonstrations against the Jews with slogans promoting ethnic cleansing like “Down with the Jews!” and “Jews get out of Egypt and Palestine!” in 1936; carried out a violent pogrom against Egypt’s Jews in November 1945; and made sure that Nazi collaborator and Palestinian Mufti al-Husseini was granted asylum in Egypt in 1946.[21]
·         The Brotherhood remains virulently anti-Semitic. “Today the Jews are not the Israelites praised by Allah, but the descendants of the Israelites who defied His word. Allah was angry with them and turned them into monkeys and pigs….There is no doubt that the battle in which the Muslims overcome the Jews [will come]....In that battle the Muslims will fight the Jews and kill them." Muslim Brotherhood Spiritual leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi[22]


 Produced by StandWithUs

[1]Cited Lorenzo Vidino, “The Muslim Brotherhood’s Conquest of Europe,” Middle East Quarterly, Winter, 2005 at http://www.meforum.org/687/the-muslim-brotherhoods-conquest-of-europeand in Andrew C. McCarthy, “Fear the Muslim Brotherhood,” National Review, Jan. 31, 2011, at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/print/258419
[2]“The Muslim Brotherhood,” The Investigative Project on Terrorism, http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/173
[3]Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi, "How Islam Confronts the Oppression and Tyranny,” Sermon, Sept. 2010, translated at MEMRI at http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4650.htm
[4]Cited in Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad?
[5]Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi, "How Islam Confronts the Oppression and Tyranny,” Sermon, Sept. 2010, translated at MEMRI at http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4650.htm
[6]Andrew C. McCarthy, “Fear the Muslim Brotherhood,” National Review, Jan. 31, 2011, at http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/print/258419
[7]Dore Gold, “The Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Crisis,” Jerusalem Issues Briefs, Feb. 2, 2011, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=442&PID=0&IID=5953
[8]Cited in Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad?
[9]  “Reading into the Muslim Brotherhood’s Documents,” IkhwanWeb.org, June 13, 2007 at “The Muslim Brotherhood,” The Investigative Project on Terrorism, http://www.investigativeproject.org/profile/173
[10]Interview with leading Sunni scholar Sheik Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi, on Al-Hayat 2 TV on December 17, 2010, translated at MEMRI at http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/2731.htm
[11]Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi, "How Islam Confronts the Oppression and Tyranny,” Sermon, Sept. 2010, translated at MEMRI at http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4650.htm
[12]Dore Gold, “The Muslim Brotherhood and the Egyptian Crisis,” Jerusalem Issues Briefs, Feb. 2, 2011, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=442&PID=0&IID=5953
[13]Steven Merly, “The Muslim Brotherhood in the United States,” Current Trends, April 2009, at http://www.currenttrends.org/docLib/20090411_Merley.USBROTHERHOOD.pdf
[14]Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, “Fatwa,” 2003, translated at Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad?
[15]Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad
[16]"Toward the Light" in Five Tracts of Hasan al-Banna, trans. by Charles Wendell (Berkeley, 1978), ISBN 0-520-09584-7 pp.126f
[17]Cited in Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad
[18]Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammad Badi, "How Islam Confronts the Oppression and Tyranny,” Sermon, Sept. 2010, translated at MEMRI at http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/4650.htm
[19]“Muslim Brotherhood: ‘We are against Zionism,’” The Jerusalem Post, Feb. 4, 2011, at http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=206725
[20]Cited in Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad
[21]Mathais Kunztel, “Jew-Hatred and Jihad: The Nazi Roots of the 9/11 Attack,” The Weekly Standard, Sept. 17, 2007, archived at http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/Articles/Jew-Hatred%20and%20Jihad.pdf
[22]Cited in Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Dahoah-Halevi, “The Muslim Brotherhood: A Moderate Islamic Alternative to al-Qaeda or a Partner in Global Jihad?” Jerusalem Viewpoints, Nov. 1, 2007, at http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=2&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=443&PID=0&IID=1920&TTL=The_Muslim_Brotherhood:_A_Moderate_Islamic_Alternative_to_al-Qaeda_or_a_Partner_in_Global_Jihad


Via: http://www.standwithus.com/app/iNews/view_n.asp?ID=1757

Al-Qaeda & the Muslim Brotherhood: United by Strategy, Divided by Tactics #Egypt

"For al-Qaeda, Egypt features prominently in the vision for an Islamic caliphate in the Middle East and beyond. This is evident in previous statements made by al-Zawahiri. In his July 9, 2005 letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Zawahiri outlines a broad strategy for al-Qaeda in the Middle East. According to al-Zawahiri's plans, Iraq is only a foothold for establishing a greater Islamic caliphate to include Syria and Egypt (DNI.gov, October 11, 2005). "

"On January 6 [2006], al-Zawahiri, former leader of Egypt's Islamic Jihad and al-Qaeda's leading strategist, recorded a videotape released on al-Jazeera television. Referring to the Muslim Brotherhood, although not specifying the organization by name, and sarcastically alluding to the position of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak regime, al-Zawahiri states, "Today you are winning 80 seats and after five years you will win 100 seats. Hence, at whatever time your behavior improves, we will offer you more. Once you become secular and falsely affiliated with Islam…we will let you assume power provided that you forget about the rule of Sharia, welcome the Crusaders' bases in your countries, and acknowledge the existence of the Jews who are fully armed with nuclear weapons, which you are banned to possess."

Read more:   http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=714&tx_ttnews[backPid]=181&no_cache=1

Muslim Brotherhood Influence in the United Kingdom #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25

The expansion of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan) in the 1960s happened mainly due to Saudi funding, with King Faisal - an anti-Semite and pan-Islamist who ruled from 1964 to 1975 - donating funds to Ikhwan groups abroad. According to Dr. Ghayasuddin Siddiqui of Britain's Muslim Parliament:
 
"In 1965 when there was conflict between Nasser and Faisal over the leadership of Muslim Brotherhood, a deal was struck between the Muslim Brothers and Saudi Arabia, that Saudis would give jobs and protection to the Muslim Brother leadership and in return the Muslim Brothers would mobilise Islamic movements in support of the Saudis. They got together for the glory and leadership of Saudi Arabia as the custodian of two holy places of Islam."
 
One of the first Muslim Brotherhood da'wah groups in the UK was FOSIS, the Federation of Student Islamic Societies. According to its website, it was founded in 1962, while its Facebook page claims it was formed in 1963. FOSIS has made English language editions of works by Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Egyptian MB. The last book they published on this matter was based on Banna's "Letter to a Muslim" which they produced in 1995.
 
One of the seven founders of FOSIS, Malaysian-born Dato Muhammad Iqbal is also involved with a group called Made in Europe, which claims to fight climate change and bring people together "to achieve social justice and peace in our increasingly troubled world." The chairman of Made in Europe is Khalid Sofi, who is a senior member of the Muslim Council of Britain, who was formerly a director of Muslim Aid. The Muslim Aid charity was founded by Yussuf Islam (Cat Stevens) in 1984 and in 2004 Muslim Aid became a member of the Union of Good (pdf) coalition of charities. The Union of Good ('I'tilaf al-Khayr) is headed by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, and was designated as a terrorist entity by the U.S. Treasury on December 11, 2008.
 

The Cartoon Jihad - The Muslim Brotherhood's project for dominating the West and #Egypt #Tahrir #Jan25

IT IS NOW ABUNDANTLY CLEAR that the recent murderous protests over cartoons of the prophet Muhammad published in a Danish newspaper last September were anything but spontaneous. The actions of Islamist agitators and financiers have deliberately drummed up rage among far-flung extremists otherwise ignorant of the Danish press. The usual suspects--the regimes in Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Iran--have profited from the spread of the disorders, and even the likes of tiny Kuwait has reportedly offered funds to spur demonstrations throughout France. More important, however, and perhaps less widely understood, the cartoon jihad is tailor-made to advance the Muslim Brotherhood's long-term worldwide strategy for establishing Islamic supremacy in the West.

As first reported by the Italian terrorism expert Lorenzo Vidino on the Counterterrorism Blog, one of Denmark's leading Islamists, Imam Ahmed Abu-Laban, led a delegation late last year to visit influential figures in the Muslim world. He took with him a dossier of cartoons, both those that had been published and others, much more offensive, of dubious provenance. One place he took his road show was Qatar, where he briefed Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, a prominent leader of the Muslim Brotherhood and a star of Al Jazeera.

Even after the riots began, Abu-Laban continued his meddling. On February 4, he told Islamonline.net that Danish demonstrators were going to burn Korans in the streets of Copenhagen, a falsehood that nevertheless added fuel to the fire.

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