Sen. Durbin Attempts to Sneak Through UN Disability Treaty Through Unanimous Consent

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A surprise attempt to pass the UN Disability treaty in the U.S. Senate last week was thwarted when Senator Mike Lee announced he and 36 other senators object to passing any treaty at this time. The 37 senators are enough to block treaties.

Several senators anticipated that controversial measures like UN treaties would be pushed through in a “lame duck” session between the U.S. elections in November and when a new Congress convenes in January. On Thursday morning, Senators Lee and Pat Toomey circulated a letter for senators to sign stating, “The writers of the Constitution clearly believed that all treaties presented to the Senate should undergo the most thorough scrutiny before being agreed upon.”

With just a few people on the senate floor Thursday evening, Senator Dick Durban tried to pass the Disability treaty by unanimous consent. Sen. Lee responded, “If it is true that it is too fast to move a treaty through during a lame duck, then it’s also too fast to move it through now.”

Supporters and opponents agree the treaty does not improve existing U.S. laws. Some people with disabilities see it as a step to gaining acceptance and view opposition as a personal insult.

Others fear that a treaty intended to integrate disabled people into communities could exclude pre-born babies – particularly those with a disability – by permitting abortion.

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Ahmadinejad’s Men Go on NYC Shopping Spree, Occupy Two Full Floors at Luxurious Warwick Hotel

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After stirring up controversy at the United Nations after unveiling his vision for a ‘new world order’, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad decided to spend some time socking up the Manhattan high-life.

But as the dictator made himself at home at the luxurious Warwick hotel, his hired underlings were rushing around town to snap up bargains and products they can’t get back home at discount stores.

Meanwhile, his fellow Iranian delegates were visiting American chains including the Payless shoe store, Costco, Walgreens and Duane Reade to stock up on shampoo, soap, vitamins and cheap clothing.

A man assigned to work with the Iranians told the Daily News: ‘Since they are under sanctions, they can’t get this stuff. Their money is weak compared to the dollar.’

Tough sanctions have been imposed on Iran as punishment for its failure to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency to prove the peaceful nature of its drive to enrich uranium to levels that could be used to build a nuclear weapon.

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Video: Netanyahu’s anti-Iran UN Speech-`The Hour is Getting Late . . . Very Late’

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Prime Minister Netanyahu lays out his case against a nuclear-armed Iran. No one could have said it better:

China Launches Its First Aircraft Carrier, Experts Doubt Its Strategic Value

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In a ceremony attended by the country’s top leaders, China put its first aircraft carrier into service on Tuesday, a move intended to signal its growing military might as tensions escalate between Beijing and its neighbors over islands in nearby seas.

Officials said the carrier, a discarded vessel bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refurbished by China, would protect national sovereignty, an issue that has become a touchstone of the government’s dispute with Japan over ownership of islands in the East China Sea.

But despite the triumphant tone of the launching, which was watched by President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, and despite rousing assessments by Chinese military experts about the importance of the carrier, the vessel will be used only for training and testing for the foreseeable future.

The mark “16” on the carrier’s side indicates that it is limited to training, Chinese and other military experts said. China does not have planes capable of landing on the carrier and so far training for such landings has been carried out on land, they said.

Even so, the public appearance of the carrier at the northeastern port of Dalian was used as an occasion to stir patriotic feelings, which have run at fever pitch in the last 10 days over the dispute between China and Japan over the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

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Ahmadinejad Meets With Farrakhan, New Black Panther Party While in NYC

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By Jason Howerton. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is in the U.S. for the United Nations General Assembly this week, met with Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan and other religious “leaders” on Tuesday, according to a photo posted on an English translation of Ahmadinejad’s website.

In the photo [above], Farrakhan can be seen sitting and smiling in front of an Iranian flag, just one seat away from Ahmadinejad (Second from the left).

Farrakhan is one of the most controversial religious figures in all of America. He is openly anti-Semitic and anti-American and harbors extremist views. He has claimed that Jesus was black, accused Barack Obama of being a “murderer” after Libyan dictator Muammar Gadaffi was killed and called Jews “bloodsuckers” — just to name a few.

Ahmadinejad’s website says the Iranian president “made the remarks in a meeting with leaders of Abrahamic religions and peace activists” who share his same views on a new and just world order. Read more from this story HERE.

Click HERE for the source material from the Iranian president’s website.

Spain’s Economic Implosion Pushing Outlying Regions to Consider Secession

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The government’s drive to rein in regional overspending as part of its austerity measures has prompted a flare-up in independence fervor in Catalonia, the wealthy northeastern region that generates one-fifth of Spain’s economic output.

Just as the euro zone crisis has strained relations between wealthier nations of the north and heavily indebted countries to the south, Spain’s crisis has aggravated tensions between the central government and its self-governing regions.

Catalonia needs a 5 billion euros bailout from the central state to meet debt payments this year, but Catalans are convinced they bear an unfairly large share of the country’s tax burden.

More than half say they want independence from Spain, the highest level ever.

Artur Mas, the conservative president of Catalonia, announced on Tuesday he would hold early elections in November after Rajoy rejected his call for more tax autonomy. Mas’s Convergence and Union, or CiU, party is likely to win an absolute majority in the regional parliament, which he can use to battle Rajoy over spending cuts.

On Wednesday Mas took things further, saying Catalonia should also hold a referendum on independence, which the central government says would be unconstitutional.

Although an independent Catalonia is a remote possibility, the political instability sends a worrying message to investors. Rajoy’s People’s Party has threatened to take control of the budgets of regions that fail to meet deficit reduction targets despite Catalonia already having made tough austerity measures.

Read more from this story HERE.

Spain Recoils, as Its Hungry Forage Trash Bins for a Next Meal; Youth Unemployment at 50%

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On a recent evening, a hip-looking young woman was sorting through a stack of crates outside a fruit and vegetable store here in the working-class neighborhood of Vallecas as it shut down for the night.

At first glance, she looked as if she might be a store employee. But no. The young woman was looking through the day’s trash for her next meal. Already, she had found a dozen aging potatoes she deemed edible and loaded them onto a luggage cart parked nearby.

“When you don’t have enough money,” she said, declining to give her name, “this is what there is.”

The woman, 33, said that she had once worked at the post office but that her unemployment benefits had run out and she was living now on 400 euros a month, about $520. She was squatting with some friends in a building that still had water and electricity, while collecting “a little of everything” from the garbage after stores closed and the streets were dark and quiet.

Such survival tactics are becoming increasingly commonplace here, with an unemployment rate over 50 percent among young people and more and more households having adults without jobs. So pervasive is the problem of scavenging that one Spanish city has resorted to installing locks on supermarket trash bins as a public health precaution.

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Ahmadinejad Joins Russia’s Call for a New World Order Free of US Domination

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that a new world order needs to emerge, away from years of what he called American bullying and domination.

Ahmadinejad spoke to The Associated Press in a wide-ranging interview on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly – his last as president of Iran. He was to address the assembly Wednesday morning.

The Iranian leader also discussed solutions for the Syrian civil war, dismissed the question of Iran’s nuclear ambition and claimed that despite Western sanctions his country is better off than it was when he took office in 2005.

“God willing, a new order will come together and we’ll do away with everything that distances us,” Ahmadinejad said, speaking through a translator. “I do believe the system of empires has reached the end of the road. The world can no longer see an emperor commanding it.”

“Now even elementary school kids throughout the world have understood that the United States government is following an international policy of bullying,” he said.

Read more from this story HERE.

Powder Keg: Now Over 50 Taiwanese Vessels Challenge Japanese Claim to Islands (+video)

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About 40 Taiwanese fishing boats and 12 patrol ships intruded into Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands on Tuesday morning to assert Taipei’s claim to the Japan-controlled chain.

The armada further intensified the territorial dispute that has already seen ties between Japan and China deteriorate.

It was the first time such a large number of foreign vessels has intruded into the territorial waters since the diplomatic row over Japan and China broke out last month.

The Taiwanese fishing ships started entering waters near the islands around 7:40 a.m., and had left the area by midday, according to Japan Coast Guard officials.

The coast guard repeatedly sought to prevent the Taiwanese ships from approaching the islets by spraying water over them.

But the accompanying Taiwanese patrol ships responded to the warnings by announcing that it is their right to operate in Taiwanese territorial waters, according to the Japan Coast Guard.

There were no major clashes between the Japanese and Taiwanese maritime authorities, but officials confirmed that three Taiwanese patrol ships had fired their water cannons at the Japanese patrol boats.

Read more from this story HERE.

Here’s a video of the confrontation:

Czech President: EU in Final Phase of Destroying Democracy, National Sovereignty

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As European Union bosses now openly push for the complete elimination of national sovereignty in favor of a so-called “federation” with its own army, liberty-minded Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus warned that the destruction of democracy and the nation-state within the EU has entered its final phases. The anti-communist hero has been sounding the alarm for years, but his recent public remarks represent the most forceful warning yet about the looming threat posed by the budding supranational regime in Brussels.

Klaus, who has a new book coming out entitled Europe: The Shattering of Illusions, largely blamed “two-faced” politicians for allowing the precarious situation to develop. Included among the culprits is the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, which purports to be skeptical of the EU but has so far refused to allow British voters — polls show they overwhelmingly oppose the institution — any say in the matter. The situation is also partly due to the fact that political leaders want to avoid responsibility and accountability to their constituents, Klaus added.

Opposition to the formation of an “ever-closer union” is growing throughout Europe. The new socialist president of France Francois Hollande and pro-integration extremist Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, however, both demanded last week that more political and economic power be handed over to the EU anyway. “We don’t have a choice, but to march toward the destiny that is ours, march toward a unified Europe,” proclaimed Hollande.

Other officials called for an end to national veto powers over foreign and defense policies as part of an effort to pave the way for a single EU military. In addition, almost a dozen European governments called for changes in the way treaties are adopted to ensure that voters would no longer be able to halt the expansion of the sprawling super-state — not that they could before, as evidenced by the EU steamroller marching on in spite of numerous rejections in referendums from France and the Netherlands to Ireland.

Top European bosses echoed the calls for deeper integration as well. EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso, a former Maoist revolutionary, for example, demanded that national governments surrender even more sovereignty to erect what he called a federation. “We will need to move toward a federation of nation states. This is our political horizon,” he announced during a “state of the union” speech, adding that “unavoidable” changes to European treaties had to be made. “This is what must guide our work in the years to come.”

Read more from from this story HERE.