Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (117733)	11/16/2011 4:14:47 PM
From: joseffy	Respond to of 224755

Benetton pulls pope-imam kiss ad after Vatican protest ................................................................................................................ 1/16/2011 news.yahoo.com Italian clothes company Benetton backed down and pulled a photo montage showing the pope kissing a leading imam from its new global ad campaign on Wednesday after the Vatican issued a stern condemnation. The company, which is no stranger to controversy over its advertising campaigns, said it was "sorry that the use of the image had so hurt the sensibilities of the faithful." The statement came shortly after the Vatican expressed "the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father." Benetton's poster showed Pope Benedict XVI kissing on the lips Egypt's Ahmed el Tayyeb, imam of the Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo and a leading voice in Sunni Islam. It launched Wednesday a new global advertising campaign called UNHATE that contained a series of photo montages of political and religious leaders kissing. They defended the campaign, saying its purpose "was solely to battle the culture of hate in all its forms". There were other shock pictures showing US President Barack Obama kissing Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao in one picture and Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in another. One picture showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu smooching Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas. In another, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is depicted kissing German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A picture of Silvio Berlusconi kissing Merkel was pulled at the last minute after the jovial billionaire submitted his resignation last week. The Vatican strongly criticised the Benedict ad. "We must express the firmest protest for this absolutely unacceptable use of the image of the Holy Father, manipulated and exploited in a publicity campaign with commercial ends," Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said in a statement. "This shows a grave lack of respect for the pope, an offence to the feelings of believers, a clear demonstration of how publicity can violate the basic rules of respect for people by attracting attention with provocation," he said. The Vatican was examining what steps to take "to guarantee a fair defence of respect for the image of the Holy Father", he added. The posters appeared in Benetton clothing stores across the globe as well as in newspapers, magazines and on Internet websites. The passionate embrace between the pope and the imam was briefly shown on a banner held up near Rome's landmark Castel Sant'Angelo castle not far from the Vatican. Benetton deputy chief Alessandro Benetton said earlier in a statement that the ads were "constructive provocation" intended "to give widespread visibility to an ideal notion of tolerance". Benetton "chooses social issues and actively promotes humanitarian causes that could not otherwise have been communicated on a global scale", he said. But Luca Borgomeo, head of the Association of Italian Catholic Television Viewers, called for the ad to be removed. "Is it possible Benetton could not come up with anything better?" he said. The company, which became famous in the 1990s with a series of shocking ads, said it was also setting up a foundation to promote international tolerance. "The central theme is the kiss, the most universal symbol of love, between world political and religious leaders," the company said. One of the iconic Benetton ads -- photographed by Oliviero Toscani -- was of a young nun in white kissing a priest dressed in a black cassock, and others addressed important social issues such as AIDS and homosexuality. Relations between the pope and the Al-Azhar imam, one of the leading voices in Sunni Islam, have been very tense particularly after Benedict expressed his solidarity with the victims of an attack on a Coptic church in Alexandria. The statement was interpreted by Tayyeb as interference and he did not send a delegation to an inter-religious meeting hosted by Benedict last month. e »

To: longnshort who wrote (117733)	11/16/2011 4:28:57 PM
From: joseffy	1 Recommendation Respond to of 224755

‘Honor Killing’: Muslim Father Charged With Daughters‘ Murder Said He’d Do it Again…100 Times ...................................................................................... November 16, 2011 by Billy Hallowell theblaze.com Mohammad Shafia, a 58-year-old Muslim man, has been charged with murdering his three teenage daughters in an apparent honor killing. Shafia is now on trial two years after the young girls were found dead — along with his first wife — in the family’s vehicle back in June 2009. Police wiretaps show an unrepentant Shafia in the days before he was officially charged. Disturbingly, he can be heard saying that he would take the same actions again — even if his daughters came back to life 100 times. The crime was committed in the Rideau Canal, which is located in the Kingston, Ontario, area. Shafia, who moved to Canada from Afghanistan and who is polygamous, was also heard after his arrest telling his second wife that their daughters had brought shame on the family. Newser has more: The wiretap evidence comes from the days immediately before Shafia was charged with murder. “Even if they hoist us onto the gallows … we have not done anything bad,” he says in the recordings, calling his daughters “whores” for having boyfriends. In another instance, police recorded him saying that his daughters — Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13 – were “treacherous” and he likened them to prostitutes. And in yet another recording, the father can be heard proclaiming that his daughter’s graves should be desecrated. The court has now heard these recordings in which he talks about his children and rails on about the family’s honor. The police remove the car from the canal back in June 2009 His eldest daughter, Zainab, had married her Pakistani boyfriend, which seemed to infuriate Shafia. Apparently, his wife Yahya knew what this marriage meant that the young girl was “already done,” but she expressed hope that the other two children could be spared. Shafia apparently also said that he was consoled after seeing images of his daughters. “Whenever I see those pictures, I am consoled,” he said. ’”I say to myself, ‘You did well. Would they come back to life a hundred times, for you to do the same again.’” Yahya and Hamed, the couple’s son, are also on trial with Shafia — facing first-degree murder for their complicity. Hamed has denied being at the scene and all three have plead not guilty to murder. They are being charged with four counts of first-degree murder.