El Ayuntamiento de Madrid paga a los bancos 750.000 euros al día sólo por los intereses de su deuda

Y luego se queja de que la culpa de la falta de liquidez es que el gobierno central no le da dinero. ¡Tócate los ovarios! (o cojones, según el caso).

Y mientras tanto en el blog Borra la pizarra (de enlazar va esta entrada) descubrí hara un par de semanas una gran viñeta que puede que resuma ( entre otras muchas cosas) el por qué los madrileños siguen votando a semejante individuo, mucha gente le ve como gran gestor y como un futuro gran presidente del gobierno, a pesar de haber arruinado, literalmente, al ayuntamiento de Madrid y de hacer su santa voluntad sin importar cómo:

Nada que comentar al respecto. Ella lo dice todo.. Simplemente genial

Yes, I have finally joined the crowd (‘come on, all the kids are doing it’) and re-purposed this newsletter in an on-line version. The same newsletter that you now receive is also posted at www.spanishtable.wordpress.com along with an archive of previous editions that grows day by day.

If you have ever wanted to go back and find a favorite recipe, or share a wine description with friends who are not on the email list, you can now search or browse through years worth of past newsletters. You can also respond to my weekly chatter with thoughts and perspectives of your own. You can get RSS updates of new content as soon as it is posted (exciting, no?) and also link to the site from your own blog.

Of course, if none of this on-line stuff holds any allure for you, the email version will continue just as it does now.

Meanwhile, here in Berkeley we are receiving our annual but short lived allotment of fresh piquillo peppers from those intrepid folks at Happy Quail Farms.

These sweet red peppers, originally from the Navarra region in Northern Spain, are usually only found in cans and jars, but for a brief period you can experience the distinct joy of fresh piquillos grown nearby in East Palo Alto.

These thick skinned peppers need to be roasted to bring out their best flavors. It is a simple process that can be done on the barbecue grill or over a gas flame on the stove. A short video that I made a while back that illustrates the method of preparing fresh piquillos at home can be found here:

Getting back to wine, we have some new ‘house wines’ from Chile this week as well as a few new arrivals from Argentina and Portugal. Check out the new stuff below.

Viu Manent Sauvignon Blanc 2007 This bright, aromatic white wine from the Colchagua Valley in Chile is the latest of our ‘house wines’ (all priced at $6.99 per bottle with a special price of $5.99 per bottle in a full mix-n-match case of ‘house wines’). Abundant floral aroma and refreshing citrus and melon flavor. $6.99

Viu Manent Carménère 2007 This varietal wine from the Colchagua valley in Chile features the local Carménère grape in a ripe, youthful style that is a perfect match for spicy food. Dark purple color mimics dark berry fruit character with added contrast from subtle notes of jalapeño pepper. $6.99

La Guita Manzanilla Our friends at Kermit Lynch Wine Merchants are (sadly) no longer importing this delicious dry Sherry. We have a case or two left of the small 375ml size, after which there will be no more La Guita for the foreseeable future. Now is your last chance to pick up a bottle of this pale straw colored white wine that combines aromas of sea breeze and freshly mowed hay with flavors of chamomile and toasted almonds. $8.99 (375 ml)

Tiza Malbec 2005 This Argentine red wine from the prestigious Lujan de Cuyo region in Mendoza is produced from estate grown old vine Malbec. Aged in barrel for 12 months, this dark, full bodied wine has abundant ripe fruit character to balance the assertive oaky tannins. The Wine Advocate rated this wine at 90 points, describing it as “a ripe, smooth-textured, spicy wine with vibrant fruit, silky tannin, and a fruit-filled finish.” $17.99

Chaminé 2007 Cortes de Cima is a small family owned winery in the Alentejo region of Portugal run by the husband and wife team of Hans and Carrie Jorgensen. Hans is originally from Denmark and Carrie is an American (and a Cal alumna to boot). They have found a home in the small town of Vidigueira where they now raise their kids and make their wines. Chaminé is a youthful, unoaked blend of 54% Aragonez (aka Tempranillo), 36% Syrah, 6% Touriga Nacional, 3 % Trincadeira and 1% Cabernet Sauvignon. Fresh, lively fruit character blends effortlessly with soft, velvety grape skin tannins and a bit of minerality on the finish. $17.99

YA LO VES - Tiza, en el Búho Real (audio) - sé paciente y tomate el tiempo, ¿si? -

YA LO VES

Ni cielo, ni aire
Ni estufa que aguarde
Mis pies dando vueltas 
Bajo tu edredón
Pasé por tu calle
Y había oleaje
En tu habitación
Suicidar acordes
Cambiar de pronombre compuesto
Ahora sólo yo
Ni techo maltrecho
Ni esquina en el pecho
Que me haga pasar de estación...

 Si te gustó, seguí escuchando. Te aseguro, te vas a enamorar.

Alguna vez habrás visto aquel hombre que utilizando tizas de colores, en la calle, es capaz de reproducir verdaderas obras de arte en una simple acera mugrienta, pues aquí podemos ver al mejor haciendo uno, todo el proceso a cámara rápida ya que se invierten grandes dosis de tiempo para realizaras. El video lo podeis ver en youtube:

Esta mañana salía yo a pasear a los perros cuando he presenciado una escena curiosa.

El encargado de mantenimiento se había calzado su Fedora, lo cual sólo podía significar problemas. Si su característico tocado no hubiera sido pista suficiente, el corro de vecinas que siempre me indica que nadie me va a hacer ni caso porque ellas no se dan por aludidas habría debido bastar para presagiar que algo raro sucedía. Estas se arremolinaban en torno al pobre hombre, tratando de averiguar la solución al misterio. Yo, acostumbrado a hacer tres cosas imposibles antes de desayunar, me acerqué para ver si podía echar la mano que la correa de mis chuchos me deja libre. En la piscina de mi piso de protección oficial, sobre el cesped, alguien había dibujado con tiza una silueta, como si un cadáver hubiera decidido darse un baño nocturno, o practicar el nuevo deporte de moda, bondage subacuático (Olímpico en Londres 2012). Del cuerpo que tan bien rellenaba dicha silueta, por supuesto, ni rastro.

Yo seguiré buscando, que seguro que lo encuentro.

llitsdnatS rop, loS 3 ,2 ,1 - aíd led .S.B

Número de familiares en el extranjero: 1. Uno, por Muse

[wpvideo b0cKpWkp]

Samaha has information regarding the school's status and what they still need to change in order to comply with regulations. It seems that, although the curriculum is okay (i.e. the school does not teach Islam), there are still problems with the allotted times the school provides for prayers, or, for people like me, nap time.

Here's a pdf with some info too: tiza_findings

The Minnesota Department of Education has issued a report clearing Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy of the major allegations leveled against it and requesting that the school address smaller areas of concern.

The May 19 report states that the school's core business—curriculum—is nonreligious, in full compliance with all Minnesota statutes. The Department of Education's areas of concern related to how the school structures its voluntary Friday prayers as well as the timing of after-school busing. In a statement, Tarek school officials said that they take these concerns "very seriously" and will be getting together with parents and Department of Education officials to quickly rectify any possible or perceived infractions.

But the small concerns detailed in the report are not what should worry us most.

What should worry us most is the atmosphere of hate that surrounds them.

Just minutes after Sarah Lemagie's story about the Department of Education report was posted on the Star Tribune's website, the inflammatory comments began.

One was titled by its poster "They should not be here," and immediately painted all American Muslims with the same brush: "Think about this, This is one school in Minnesota how many are there in the united states. I don't trust them any more than I can throw that school. Remember those that took flight lessons?"

Even more concerning was that, three hours after the article was posted, a feature on the website announced that "50 of 80 people (who registered an opinion) liked this comment."

Another early comment, titled, "Terrorists in training," stated, "Nice to see our tax money help these people teach kids to hate americans." Although the comment was clearly unfounded, the website reported at 6:15 p.m. that "70 of 99 people liked this comment."

Of the 74 comments posted by 6:15 p.m., many of them used the article as an opportunity for hate speech against all Muslims. The Star Tribune--unlike its cross-town rival, the Pioneer Press--has thus allowed its website to be used as a platform for hate.

State statutes may have been transgressed: This is a matter for state officials, legal experts, and educators to debate and correct. Those of us in the general public need to worry most about why this becomes an opportunity for hatred, and how we can work to change that.

More on this story:

• The Pioneer Press states on its website that it does not allow "racist, defamatory, or abusive" postings. For that reason (although the headline is incorrect, as the school is open to all, not just Muslims), I encourage you to read the story there. State dispels suspicions over charter school for Muslim kids
• The Minnesota Monitor reviews the landscape: Kersten, KSTP, and reality. Education Department findings on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy contradict published reports
• The Minnesota Post goes through the report soberly, point by point. State's Arabic-school ruling; did Kersten's claims hold up?
• KARE-11 news reports on what happened after the report was issued, and states that "Inver Grove Heights Police Officer Steve Her confirmed to KARE 11 he told the KSTP crew not to come on the school property before the confrontation [with TiZA officials] happened." State tells charter school to avoid perception of religious endorsement
• The Associated Press has a short, straightforward article. Minn. review: Charter school doesn't teach Islam

Es impresionante el trabajo de Beever, así de simple. Sus artes han sido especialmente difundidos gracias a Internet -en Google imágenes pueden checar gran cantidad-, y recuerdo que alguna vez lo quisimos traer a México para una acción outdoor similar, sin embargo también recuerdo que el presupuesto asignado a nuestro proyecto era muy inferior a lo que este artista cobraba; sin embargo sinceramente creo que lo vale: tanto por el espectáculo como por el nivel de imacto, sin dejar de lado que Beever considera que su arte debe estar en la calle, al alcance de todos.

Bien por Wunderman y Movistar andina; se trata de una maravilla que esperemos dure gran tiempo, y que seguro impactará a miles de personas en aquella ciudad y a millones más por la web.

La técnica utilizada por él se llama –anamorfosis o deformación óptica–, que consiste en alterar la perspectiva de manera tal que, desde cierto lugar, el espectador tenga la ilusión de ver elementos y personajes en tres dimensiones. Así ha logrado sorprender a los transeúntes en Estados Unidos, España, Francia, Alemania, Holanda, Bélgica y Australia, entre otros países.

Several years ago, I would have told you confidently—if haltingly—that I worked in a madrassa. Ana bashtaghal fi madrassa, I would've said. I worked there as a mudarissa, a teacher.

Madrassa and mudarissa were two of the first words to drop into my growing Arabic vocabulary. After all, I'd traveled all the way to Cairo, Egypt to take a job teaching pre-K at an international school. The words were useful.

For me, the word madrassa was almost empty of connotations, like escuela or école. When I first learned them, the words had no layers: They were attached to no stories, no sayings. All the word madrassa meant to me was a collection of beige buildings in the desert where I wrangled four-year-olds all day.

Time passed, and I got to know teachers at different schools around Cairo. The main difference between schools was not religion, but funding: There were public schools and better public schools; there were private schools and really wealthy private schools. There could be 70 children in your class or 50 or 20 or 15. If there were 70 children in your class, you'd better hope that your parents could scrape together enough money to get you an after-school tutor.

The texts I saw were oddly familiar. My wealthy private school, which ran almost all of its classes in English, used boring workbooks from the U.K. The son of an apartment-building super, who attended public school near our neighborhood, once showed me his boring English workbook. It had been published in the U.K.

I returned to the U.S. in 2005, but it was a long time before the new, odd use of madrassa penetrated my senses. A few months ago, when I heard the smear campaign about Barack Obama—the claim that he had attended a school—I found it difficult to grasp. I'd gone to school. Presumably all the reporters who passed along this non-story had attended school, as had the pundits and bloggers who dreamed it up.

The word shifted in my head: school, escuela, madrassa, école. I laughed a little and went about my business.

It was only when Katherine Kersten fixed her sights on Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) that the new, derogatory use of madrassa finally wormed its way into my consciousness. Taken aback, I read the posts of numerous Kersten-fueled bloggers, who accused TIZA of being a school.

I could no longer laugh. As though I were seeing the word for the first time, I had to look it up. As in some parallel version of Orwell's 1984, I doubted my senses. Had I really been a mudarissa? Had I really worked in a madrassa? Did the word not mean something sinister, terrible, cruel?

I looked it up in a sober Arabic-English dictionary—and on good-old Wikipedia—and of course its meaning hadn't changed. Nothing had changed since I'd associated madrassa with a cluster of sand-colored buildings in the desert where I wrangled four-year-olds all day. It was the same word it had been when I linked it to children whose shirts were untucked and whose gray uniform pants askew; when I linked it to boring British workbooks.

Then again, something had shifted. A small group of Americans had seized hold of a word—one we generally associate with the best in humanity, with education and enlightenment and opportunity—and turned it into a xenophobic slur. Even PBS fell into the error, claiming in a school study guide that a madrassa is a type of "Islamic religious school" where "many of the Taliban were educated."

I don't doubt the existence of militant religious schools, and that they cultivated many of the Taliban. However, to use the Arabic word school to imply terrorist activity seems to indicate that Arabs should forgo education altogether.

Most Minnesotans don't have emotional ties to the word madrassa. Still, we need not consign it (school, escuela, école) to the scrap-heap where we've tossed jihad and shariah and a lot of other words we've allowed a vocal minority to uglify. We can still rescue madrassa. Education is, after all, something we want for all Minnesotans, all Americans, all members of our human race.

For a tiny minority, there might be something sinister about a bunch of eight-year-old Muslims getting together inside a beige or red-brick building to learn how to read and write and do sums.

But, for the rest of us, we can take back the word madrassa. I can say: My son goes to a madrassa that is located in a Jewish temple off Mississippi River Boulevard. I've taught in a madrassa in New York, one in Russia, and one in Cairo. My aunt taught in a madrassa in Fridley until she retired. My great-grandmother Emma, who lived up in Morris, was certified to teach in a one-room madrassa.

I loved attending madrassa. While now and then we children could be a little cruel, the things I learned there have benefited me. Immeasurably.

This essay previously appeared in the MinnPost.

Marcia Lynx Qualey is an MFA candidate and works for the University of Minnesota's Voices from the Gaps website. She is also 38 weeks pregnant, which is a job in itself.

On April 9, we read Katherine Kersten's column in the Star Tribune, and the e-mail exchange between Kersten and Asad Zaman, executive director of Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), and were compelled to respond.

I (Fedwa) have an eight-year-old daughter. I visited TIZA and decided not to enroll my daughter, choosing instead Al Amal School in Fridley. The primary reason is that I was convinced TIZA is not an Islamic School and does not teach Islamic Education to kids. I pay from my own pocket to put my daughter in Al Amal, the only Islamic school in the Twin Cities.

I (Marcia) have a four-year-old son, enrolled in a private Montessori school in St. Paul. While the school is housed adjacent to a Jewish temple—as TIZA is housed adjacent to a mosque—my son has learned nothing about Judaism by mere contact with the building. The school’s vacations are, as you might imagine, focused around Christian holidays.

Both of us work at the University of Minnesota, a public institution that receives taxpayer money. This school also closes on Christian holidays. Tests and school breaks are planned around Christian holidays to allow Christians time to celebrate. The floating holiday this year was on the Christian Good Friday, right before Christian Easter. There are "holiday parties" around Christmas Day—not, for instance, Ramadan.

However, the University of Minnesota presents itself as a secular university.

I (Fedwa) live in Brooklyn Park. The community center receives public taxpayer money, and they have a very large Christmas tree every Christmas. They close on Christmas holidays and have "holiday parties" around Christmas day.

However, the community center presents itself as a secular institution.

Kersten is upset that "Friday prayer" is allowed at TIZA, although the right to practice one’s religion is protected by the U.S. Constitution. Where, on the other hand, is her challenge to the system that allows public schools to close on the Christian holy day, Sunday? This was designed, of course, to facilitate the religious needs of Christians. All public schools and public institutions are closed on Sunday, the Christian holy day. Christians do not pray five times a day like Muslims, but set aside special time to pray and reflect on Sundays. However, when Muslims ask for small accommodations to allow them to pray—as Christians do, on Sundays—some express a fear that Muslims are imposing Shariah.

While Christians are allowed space and time to go to church and celebrate religious holidays, commentators like Kersten grill minorities for wanting the same thing. Many Muslim students study for finals on Muslim holidays, while Christian students relax and celebrate Christmas with their families. Many Muslim youth are afraid and embarrassed to pray in school, and do not go to Friday prayer, while Christians have the day off to take their children to church.

Would Kersten call for allowing some public schools to close on Thursday and Friday instead of Saturday and Sunday so that the students attend Friday prayer not at school, but at a mosque with their parents?

Would she and similar commentators call for having public schools open on Sundays? Christians could pray in a small room as Muslims currently do. Are Kersten and others who are upset at TIZA similar upset by the presence of Christian symbols such as Christmas trees in public institutions, and the institutions' adjusting their schedules to accommodate Christian holidays?

We are not. In fact, we are not calling on schools to remove special accommodations for Christians. We ask only that the Minnesota Department of Education—and the public—extend equal treatment to non-Christian students, allowing schools to make small accommodations so that students can exercise their constitutional right to observe their religion.

The division between "church" and "state" is illusory—and, for most Minnesotans, not at all desirable. Last December, the Minneapolis Public Schools launched a faith-based initiative that encourages students to participate in church-led programs. (Read about it here.) The city’s school board has praised the initiative, which works with mostly Protestant churches, a few Catholic institutions and temples, and no mosques. However, to their credit, School Board Director Pam Costain, and program directors Hedy Lemar Walls and Jackie Starr, have stated a desire to reach out to the Muslim community.

We believe Asad Zaman's statements that TIZA is not an Islamic institution. At the same time, attempts to accommodate Christianity in our schools go unnoticed, while Kersten uses a fine-tooth comb to demand an iron-like separation of prayer and state for Muslims.

What we ask for is fairness.

--Fedwa Wazwaz is a Palestinian-American freelance writer who lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota. Marcia Lynx Qualey is a writer and mother who lives in St. Paul.

Kersten's column claims that TIZA is violating its charter and the "church and state" separation. She bases this largely on the observations of one short-time substitute teacher who was immersed in a different school culture, and could easily have been mistaken in her impressions and interpretations.

However, whether or not TIZA has violated the strictest interpretation of religion-state separation is not the issue. What school in Minnesota has not? Indeed, last December, the Minneapolis public schools launched a large faith-based initiative weighted almost entirely to Protestant congregations. Read about it here.

If we are going to examine TIZA's practices with a fine-toothed comb, then surely all faith-based initiatives, Easter pageants, Christmas trees, and even our choice of holiday vacations should come under strict scrutiny.

If you would like to urge the Minnesota Department of Education to be fair in its scrutiny of Tariq ibn Ziyad Academy, and to be wary of Islamophobic motivations, the department is steering all calls to this number: 651-582 8570.

From KSTP report on the TIZA Charter School in MInnesota:

State law requires the school to fly an American flag during school hours, however no flag flies outside of TIZA Academy.

Zaman (Executive Director of the School) told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS he didn’t know how to work the flagpole.

There is also a story written in March by Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch.  Some information he has about the school:

The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy was co-founded by two imams; is housed in the same building as a mosque and the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS);

Who is the Muslim American Society?

According to a 2004 Chicago Tribune exposé, the Muslim American Society is the name under which the Muslim Brotherhood operates in the United States. And according to a 1992 Brotherhood memorandum about its strategy in the U.S., it is embarked upon a “grand Jihad” aimed at “eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

Let's see----no flag, Islamic studies required, daily prayers, hand washing, Islam-approved food----Just your everyday run-of-the mill charter school, no doubt!

Worse...the school exists physcially in the same building as a mosque AND with the very organization espousing "Grand Jihad" and destroying Western civlization FROM WITHIN as part of its strategy in the United States!

What part of Muslim infiltration don't the Minnesota and US authorities understand?  I am afraid they do understand....but my theory is there is no reaction due to a Dhimmi attitude and leftist mulitculturism. 

We are reaping the multiculturist, politically correct, "Islam-is-peace" seeds we have sown.....as Spencer puts it:

The existence of the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy is, of course, yet another manifestation of the witless multiculturalism that grants protected victim status to Muslim groups in view of the “racism” and “Islamophobia” from which they supposedly suffer. Latitude that would never be granted to other faith groups, particularly Christians, is readily given here.

How far will this triad of Muslim Takiyah, Grand Jihad, and Dhimmitude progress in our country before we wake up?

How many times have we been told, to receive government funding, we cannot allow religious practices or displays on public school campuses. Really? I think maybe what they mean is, no CHRISTIAN religious displays or practices. Nothing done in the name of our one true Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. If you read the article below, you will see that the exclusion of religion in public schools is not what you may think it is. Do you want to continue sending your children to a broken establishment that lies? I for one am glad that I have my children at home to learn in a safe and honest environment under the leadership of God, my husband, and myself. Not the government and whatever officials cycle in and out over time, each with their own drive and motives.

This news story can be found here:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=61129

The article follows:

Teacher spills beans about Islamic classes
'The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to assembly for prayer'

Posted: April 09, 2008
3:28 pm Eastern

© 2008 WorldNetDaily

A Minnesota teacher who substituted for two fifth-grade classes at a publicly funded school located in the same building as an Islamic mosque says religion appears to be a significant focus of the education.

 Amanda Getz of Bloomington, Minn., told a columnist for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune her duties at Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy in Inver Grove Heights included taking students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing."

Then, the teacher told columnist Katherine Kersten, "teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day," was preparing to lead prayer.

Beside him, another man "was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered," the teacher said.

The Star-Tribune previously documented that the charter high school for kindergarten through eighth-grade students is named after a Muslim warlord, shares the address of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, is led by two imams, is composed almost exclusively (99 percent) of blacks and has as its top goal to preserve "our values."

And it's all funded by the taxpayers of Minnesota.

Kersten wrote she had asked for permission to visit the school and was denied. The school also declined to return a WND telephone request for an interview.

The institution has drawn objections from a number of people, including Robert Spencer, the expert who monitors such developments at Jihad Watch.

"Can you imagine a public school founded by two Christian ministers, and housed in the same building as a church? Add to that – in the same building – a prominent chapel. And let's say the students are required to fast during Lent, and attend Bible studies right after school. All with your tax dollars," he wrote. "Inconceivable? Sure."

If such a place existed, Spencer said, "the ACLU lawyers would descend on it like locusts. It would be shut down before you could say 'separation of church and state,' to the accompaniment of New York Times and Washington Post editorials full of indignant foreboding, warning darkly about the growing influence of the Religious Right in America."

Kersten's latest report documents the teacher's observations at the school.

Getz told Kersten that the orders when she arrived were to prepare for the "assembly" at the school by having the children do their ritual washing and take them to the gymnasium.

"The prayer I saw was not voluntary," Getz told the columnist. "The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred."

She said, "When I arrived, I was told 'after school we have Islamic Studies,' and I might have to stay for hall duty. The teachers had written assignments on the blackboard for classes like math and social studies. Islamic Studies was the last one – the board said the kids were studying the Quran. The students were told to copy it into their planner, along with everything else. That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other."

She also reported the fifth-graders stayed in the classroom after the end of the school day, and the "man in white" who led prayers during the assembly came in to teach Islam.

"TIZA has, in effect, extended the school day – buses leave only after Islamic Studies are over," noted the columnist. "Getz did not see evidence of other extra-curricular activity, except for a group of small children playing outside."

Kersten continued, "Significantly, 77 percent of TIZA parents say their 'main reason for choosing TIZA … was because of after-school programs conducted by various non-profit organizations at the end of the school period in the school building,' according to a TIZA report."

Kersten noted earlier that the school shares the same building as the headquarters of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota." There also is a mosque in the building, and TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, and its sponsor is a group called Islamic Relief.

"Why does the Minnesota Department of Education allow this sort of religious activity at a public school?" Kersten questioned.

She noted the ACLU of Minnesota is looking into the situation, and "the Minnesota Department of Education has also begun a review" now.

"TIZA's operation as a public, taxpayer-funded school is troubling on several fronts. TIZA is skirting the law by operating what is essentially an Islamic school at taxpayer expense," Kersten wrote. "The Department of Education has failed to provide the oversight necessary to catch these illegalities, and appears to lack the tools to do so. In addition, there's a double standard at work here – if TIZA were a Christian school, it would likely be gone in a heartbeat."

Kersten previously revealed other links between the school and Islam, including a carpeted space for prayer, halal food in the cafeteria and fasting for students during Ramadan.

Just last year, the program for the 2007 MAS-Minnesota convention, under the motto "Establishing Islam in Minnesota" asked the question, "Did you know that MAS-MN … houses a full-time elementary school?"

On the adjacent page was an ad for Tarek ibn Ziyad.

The Minnesota Department of Education confirmed the academy pocketed more than $65,000 in state money for the 2006-2007 year under one program alone.

WND previously reported in Idaho the five pillars of Islam were taught under the guise of history, "religion guidelines' used in public schools were assembled with help from a terror suspect and U.S. courts upheld mandatory Islamic training in schools.

The Minnesota school's own website explains it tries to provide students a "learning environment that recognizes and appreciates the traditions, histories, civilizations and accomplishments of Africa, Asia and the Middle East."

It boasts of a "rigorous Arabic language program" as well as "an environment that fosters your cultural values and heritage."

The school says it is named after Tarek ibn Ziyad, the "Ummayad administrator of medieval Spain. Thirteen hundred years ago, serving in the multifaceted roles of activist, leader, explorer, teacher, administrator and peacemaker, he inspired his fellow citizens to the same striving for human greatness that we hope to instill in our students today."

Even Islamic websites, however, explain that Tarek ibn Ziyad invaded Spain from Africa in a bloody battle after ordering the boats that had carried his soldiers burned so they could not retreat.

"This marked the beginning of the Muslim conquest of Spain. Muslims ruled the country for hundreds of years so gloriously and well that Spain became afterwards the fountain-head of culture and civilization for the whole continent of Europe," the Islamists boast.

Here are the characteristics of the school:

• The school shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is "establishing Islam in Minnesota."
• The school building houses a Mosque.
• The school's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
• The students are gathered, willing or not, to pray daily.
• The cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law.
• "Islamic Studies" is offered at the end of the school day....like most schools would offer other after-school programs.

Of course, school officials declare it is a not a "religious" school!  Now, just imagine if this school had a cross, a bible and a worship hall with pews....it would be forced to close faster than you can say "Amen"!

A substitute teacher, Amanda Getz, has come forward stating what she saw with her own eyes at the school:

• She arrived on Friday, a Muslim holy day, and was told there would be a "school assembly" that day.  Before that assembly, she was informed that her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform "their ritual washing."
• The substitute teacher led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day," was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man "was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered."
• "The prayer I saw was not voluntary," Getz said. "The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred."

Here is one of the more troubling parts of the story:

TIZA is now being held up as a national model for a new kind of charter school. If it passes legal muster, Minnesota taxpayers may soon find themselves footing the bill for a separate system of education for Muslims.

What comes to mind for me is something I learned about Islam.  It is called Takiyah or Taqqiyah.

From Blog Diacrino:

The word "al-Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing or disguising one's beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury." A one-word translation would be "Dissimulation." But it may be clearer to call it lying. Taqiyyah is uttering with the tongue what one does not believe in the heart.

From Bible Probe blog:

We can't be mulled by Muslims who claim they are "moderate" or "secular".  These too are under Satan's spell known as Islam.  Often these people are just practicing the well known Muslim tactic known as "Takiyah".  Takiyah teaches Muslims to do whatever is necessary to achieve victory over the "enemy" or "infidels".  In short, they can lie, promise peace, and even act like an infidel.  But when their opponents guard is down they are to crush them.

This school issue is one great example where we all better start reading up on Islam and the true intentions of the religion and the terrorist leaders.   The strategy seems to be to infiltrate in small, but effective ways until there is a foothold.

Be aware! 

PROVEN ! Minnesota Charter School Is a Publicly Funded Madrassa: "Last month I posted about a Muslim School Funded by Minnesota Tax Dollars/Run by Imams with help from MAS (Muslim American Society-a good friend) This charter school in Minneapolis that is run by Imams, has a central carpeted prayer space where there are regular prayer services, serves halal (kind of Muslim Kosher) food in its cafeteria---well except during Ramadan, when the student body is encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset. This is not a religious school according to the school's leaders but a cultural school. But this school, funded by tax payer dollars 'walks like a religious school, squawks like a religious school....

Katherine Kersten of the Star Tribune has followed up the initial report by interviewing a substitute teacher who confirmed the initial suspicion that this is a MUSLIM Religious school funded by tax dollars:

Teacher breaks wall of silence at state's Muslim public school
By KATHERINE KERSTEN, Star Tribune

April 9, 2008

Recently, I wrote about Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove Heights. Charter schools are public schools and by law must not endorse or promote religion.

Evidence suggests, however, that TIZA is an Islamic school, funded by Minnesota taxpayers.

TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is 'establishing Islam in Minnesota.' The building also houses a mosque. TIZA's executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.

Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law -- and 'Islamic Studies' is offered at the end of the school day.

Zaman maintains that TIZA is not a religious school. He declined, however, to allow me to visit the school to see for myself, 'due to the hectic schedule for statewide testing.' But after I e-mailed him that the Minnesota Department of Education had told me that testing would not begin for several weeks, Zaman did not respond -- even to urgent calls and e-mails seeking comment before my first column on TIZA.

Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA.

Arriving on a Friday, the Muslim holy day, she says she was told that the day's schedule included a 'school assembly' in the gym after lunch.

Before the assembly, she says she was told, her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform 'their ritual washing.'

Afterward, Getz said, 'teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day,' was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man 'was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered.'

'The prayer I saw was not voluntary,' Getz said. 'The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred.'

Islamic Studies was also incorporated into the school day. 'When I arrived, I was told 'after school we have Islamic Studies,' and I might have to stay for hall duty,' Getz said. 'The teachers had written assignments on the blackboard for classes like math and social studies. Islamic Studies was the last one -- the board said the kids were studying the Qu'ran. The students were told to copy it into their planner, along with everything else. That gave me the impression that Islamic Studies was a subject like any other.'

After school, Getz's fifth-graders stayed in their classroom and the man in white who had led prayer in the gym came in to teach Islamic Studies. TIZA has in effect extended the school day -- buses leave only after Islamic Studies is over. Getz did not see evidence of other extra-curricular activity, except for a group of small children playing outside. Significantly, 77 percent of TIZA parents say that their 'main reason for choosing TIZA ... was because of after-school programs conducted by various non-profit organizations at the end of the school period in the school building,' according to a TIZA report. TIZA may be the only school in Minnesota with this distinction.

Why does the Minnesota Department of Education allow this sort of religious activity at a public school? According to Zaman, the department inspects TIZA regularly -- and has done so 'numerous times' -- to ensure that it is not a religious school.

But the department's records document only three site visits to TIZA in five years -- two in 2003-04 and one in 2007, according to Assistant Commissioner Morgan Brown. None of the visits focused specifically on religious practices.

The department is set up to operate on a 'complaint basis,' and 'since 2004, we haven't gotten a single complaint about TIZA,' Brown said. In 2004, he sent two letters to the school inquiring about religious activity reported by visiting department staffers and in a news article. Brown was satisfied with Zaman's assurance that prayer is 'voluntary' and 'student-led,' he said. The department did not attempt to confirm this independently, and did not ask how 5- to 11-year-olds could be initiating prayer. (At the time, TIZA was a K-5 school.)

Zaman agreed to respond by e-mail to concerns raised about the school's practices. Student 'prayer is not mandated by TIZA,' he wrote, and so is legal. On Friday afternoons, 'students are released ... to either join a parent-led service or for study hall.' Islamic Studies is provided by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, and other 'nonsectarian' after-school options are available, he added.

Yet prayer at TIZA does not appear to be spontaneously initiated by students, but rather scheduled, organized and promoted by school authorities.

Request for volunteers

Until recently, TIZA's website included a request for volunteers to help with 'Friday prayers.' In an e-mail, Zaman explained this as an attempt to ensure that 'no TIZA staff members were involved in organizing the Friday prayers.'

But an end run of this kind cannot remove the fact of school sponsorship of prayer services, which take place in the school building during school hours. Zaman does not deny that 'some' Muslim teachers 'probably' attend. According to federal guidelines on prayer in schools, teachers at a public school cannot participate in prayer with students.

In addition, schools cannot favor one religion by offering services for only its adherents, or promote after-school religious instruction for only one group. The ACLU of Minnesota has launched an investigation of TIZA, and the Minnesota Department of Education has also begun a review.

TIZA's operation as a public, taxpayer-funded school is troubling on several fronts. TIZA is skirting the law by operating what is essentially an Islamic school at taxpayer expense. The Department of Education has failed to provide the oversight necessary to catch these illegalities, and appears to lack the tools to do so. In addition, there's a double standard at work here -- if TIZA were a Christian school, it would likely be gone in a heartbeat.

TIZA is now being held up as a national model for a new kind of charter school. If it passes legal muster, Minnesota taxpayers may soon find themselves footing the bill for a separate system of education for Muslims.

(Via YID With LID.)</

]]> http://boscour.wordpress.com/?p=8 Wed, 02 Apr 2008 00:52:04 +0000 Bosco http://boscour.es.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/mientras-afuera-llueva/ La clase transcurre lenta en el bochorno de las moscas y la humedad. Llueve. Cosa que no disminuye el calor sino que lo hace pegajoso e impregnado más que nunca del olor de siempre. Tiza y sudor de niños.
El florerito de la maestra, sobre su escritorio, remoja dos flores, regalo de algún alumno. Ismael, mientras sigue delineando, lo mejor que puede, las letras en el bloc; mira desde atrás a Laura…

"Gregorio, ¿qué te voy a contar a vos que estuviste allí aquella noche?"

El tren se sacude sobre las nalgas moradas de la mujer de canela. Porque aquello doliente de su cara y de su boca, aquel perfume a clavo de olor… Las medias con puntos corridos de lástima. Los zapatos blanco y negro, deformados por el uso –esa coquetería imposible de siempre- mientras se recogía el mechón de pelos resbalado desde la frente y pegado en la mejilla con la transpiración o tal vez las lágrimas. El rojo carmesí de aquellos labios. Las manchas de la piel, machucados pétalos de rosa. Los inocentes claveles bordadas en su blusa de gasa…

Fue persistente el amargor de aquella noche, hasta más tarde, cuando todos en la casilla de Octavio siguieron con el vino y las barajas, y hasta ahora. Aunque se vea ahora proyectado sobre las rosadas carnes de esa rubia que repinta el esmalte de sus uñas y de tanto en tanto mira distraída por la ventanilla hacia fuera.

Gregorio era el único que pudiera explicar aquello. Él la conocía desde los tiempos de Godoy, cuando andaban siempre juntos. Porque a Godoy mismo…no se le podría preguntar. –Bigotes diagonales a caballo sobre una boca agreste.

Colgaron los tacos y se fueron a conversar a la mesa. Yo estaba mirando desde un rincón con ganas de acercarme, pero…la actitud de los cuerpos me dijeron que el tema era sólo entre ellos.

A la noche la luna blanquea una casa, un patio y un aljibe.
Las begonias hacen sombra.
Hay pisadas de trapo por los lados.
Una sombra blanca hace señales que ya nadie entiende.
Se derrama canela y clavo de olor sobre los naranjos del fondo.
Dentro del aljibe hay ondas circulares en el agua, como si la luz de la luna rozara la superficie.
Lo negro de la noche se ha hecho con pétalos de rosas negras.
Lo blanco con jazmines carnosos.
Sobre las losas del patio cae coco rayado.

Para ser sincero, Gregorio, mastico aun aquella carne amarga. Esas flores bordadas en la blusa, dibujos primorosos de niños en sus cuadernos…y de pronto, lo amoratado de aquellas piernas gordas desparramadas abruptamente sobre la colcha sucia. Los pezones inmensos y aquella inconsciencia en los ojos y la boca, deformados por tanto vino o aflojados por la tristeza. Porque uno a uno, casi con desesperación, nos habíamos saciado de su carne, como caranchos hambrientos, mientras los otros seguían tras el tabique con las canciones y la guitarra.

Otra vez los vidrios del vagón son golpeados por la fuerza de la lluvia. El agua corre por ellos borrando toda referencia de lugares, volviendo al viaje mismo una especie de ocurrencia. Acaso una hipótesis probable. Acaso una mentira.

]]> http://elsonidoylafuria.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/profesiones-apasionantes/ Sat, 29 Dec 2007 17:21:03 +0000 elsonidoylafuria http://elsonidoylafuria.es.wordpress.com/2007/12/29/profesiones-apasionantes/

En todas las comisarías hay un tipo de la tiza. Cuando hay un cadáver, se presenta, le hace una silueta y se pira. Es un trabajo fácil y muy artístico. Y si vives en una ciudad segura, se curra poco (otra cosa es en sitios como en Nápoles, Palermo o Medellín) Como oficio, es sencillo, porque el modelo nunca se mueve. Se trata de rodear el contorno. Si el trabajo se vuelve repetitivo, siempre te puedes llevar los ROTULADORES para colorear a tu gusto.

Pues bien, este artista ha pasado por Madrid y ha dejado en esta ciudad su peculiar huella, así q si dispones de tiempo pasaté por Manuel Gómez Moreno en Nuevos Ministerios y podrás disfrutar de esta cascada suya

Aquí dejo otras de sus obras

A ese malditojudiohijodeperra no se le ha ocurrido otra cosa que ponerme un satelite de la liga de baseball para que me espíe y encontrar fuente de inspiración para sus largometrajes. Si si, muy gracioso, muy gracioso, hasta que te das cuenta de que es tu vida lo que esta pasando por esa pantalla. Mi hermana lesbiana, su novia también, y la cuñada que no es lesbiana pero no me hecha ni caso. Empiezo a pensar que la liga de baseball está formada sólo por lesbianas.
A partir de ahora sus peliculas me dan mucho miedo.