The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush's ­doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say. ( PAPER: OBAMA CAMP READY TO OPEN UP DIALOGUE WITH HAMAS... DEVELOPING...)

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush ­presidency's ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 ­Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

 

(This is something which should concern all of us. Why should we sit down with people who want to see our nation destroyed along with the Jewish state brought down. They want to kill every person who is not a radical follower of Islam. It is looking more and more like Obama doesn't care about keeping America safe and fighting evil. Shame on him if he does this.Also if he keeps doing things like this and  if we have another 911 attack Obama and those who work for him will be punished by the voters. )

 Around the globe, Jews are being assaulted and are the subject of protests.   There have been arson attacks against Jewish congregations in England, France, and Sweden.

In 2005, thousands of Jews were pulled out of their homes and communities in Gaza. 

(I am tired of reading and hearing how Israel and the Jews are the bad guys over in the Middle-East. Some have even compared Israel to  Nazi Germany and the Third Reich. That in itself is an outrage. To read more of the above  radio commentary see  the whole  Transcript  or listen to the audio Truth About Gaza . Lets stand behind the nation of Israel.)

   

Outrage over an Israeli strike Tuesday near a U.N. school that killed 39 people continued, with the U.N. agency responsible for the building demanding an "impartial investigation" into the attack.

About 300 of the more than 670 Palestinians killed so far are civilians, according to Palestinian and U.N. figures. Of those killed, at least 130 are children age 16 and under, says the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which tracks casualties.

The number of armed fighters killed remains unclear. Hamas fighters are known to have begun wearing civilian clothes and the organization is keeping its casualties secret and housing its wounded and dead in undisclosed locations.

(Cuba is a failure. The one thing  Cuba has been successful at is not  showing human rights to her people. The rest of this must read  editorial, including the and damning record of failure is right here.)

I believe the following picture from the The Real Cuba web site says it all. 50 years ago today Castro took over in Cuba and that is nothing to rejoice about. We can hope and pray for and with the people of Cuba that soon Cuba would have a better government.

So what were the top stories in 2008 and what will happen in 2009. To find out what I think check out this video right here.

Marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Jordan Allott & Daniel Allott write "Cuba's Hidden Heroes" for the American Spectator.

December marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Crafted in the aftermath of World War II, the document (the world's most translated) represented the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled.

The Declaration's anniversary comes at a propitious time. January 1, 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of what Cubans call "La Revolución," which culminated in the overthrow of the regime of Fulgencio Batista by Marxist guerrillas led by Fidel Castro. The near concurrence of these historic anniversaries provides an opportunity to consider how far the Cuban government has to go in upholding the most basic rights of its citizens.

When discussing the island nation located just 90 miles from America's border, the Western news media almost invariably focus on the 200 to 300 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. Often overlooked, however, are the 200 to 300 Cuban prisoners scattered across the island, imprisoned not as terrorist suspects but as nonviolent political prisoners whose only "crime" is that of promoting human rights in a nation in which two generations have grown up without them. Arrested and given lengthy, often decades-long sentences for offenses like "dangerousness" and "pre-criminal activity," they are Cuba's prisoners of conscience.

Dr. Oscar Elias Biscet is a leading figure in Cuba's democracy movement. A physician and founder and president of the Lawton Foundation for Human Rights, Biscet has been confined to a prison cell for all but 36 days since 1999. He first drew the ire of the communist regime by exposing its use of infanticide and forced abortion. (Cuba has one of the world's highest abortion rates.) In 1999, after hanging a Cuban flag upside down in protest, Biscet was given a three-year sentence for the crime of "disrespecting patriotic symbols."

(Do read the whole article at the above link. The evil in Cuba is not what America is doing at Guantanamo Bay  but what the leaders of Cuba are doing to their own people.)

 She says the only Jew she knew was Jesus. There were no Jews around her in Bad Toetz, the West German village where she was born. No one talked about them. No one spoke about where they had gone or the war in which they disappeared, the war in which, she was told, her father died.

She grew up incurious about him -- she was a year old at the time of his death -- but that changed the day her spiteful mother told her, ``You are like your father and you will die like him.''

It turned out her father was a monster named Amon Goethe, and he commanded Plaszow, a forced labor camp in Poland. After the war, he was hanged. Once she knew these things, Monika Hertwig's uninterest became her obsession. ``I wanted to know what happened to the Jews and I wanted to know how my father was involved.''

(The above is from a column written by Leonard Pitts Jr. 

More of his column is below.)

If you saw Schindler's List, you remember Ralph Fiennes' portrait of Goethe as a preening, sadistic bully who amused himself by gunning down Jews for sport. That film, says Hertwig, made her ''sick with the truth.'' When she saw Jonas on a German documentary, it became her mission to find her. Eventually, Hertwig sent a letter. I know you are suffering, she wrote. But I am suffering, too.

(Good for this lady trying to change things unlike her evil father. We must never forget the evil of the Holocaust. Read more of the above column Holocaust tale of courage and redemption )

 (Here is some left over news from last week (Christmas.)

Pope Benedict XVI called Thursday for peace in the Middle East and stability in Africa during his traditional Christmas speech in St Peter's Square.

"May the divine light of Bethlehem radiate throughout the Holy Land, (bringing) forth rich fruit from the efforts of all those who (shun) the twisted logic of conflict and violence," he said, addressing thousands of pilgrims gathered in the square and millions of viewers on television.

In the Middle East, "the horizon seems once again bleak for Israelis and Palestinians," said the 81-year-old pontiff after nearly four years on the papal throne.

Benedict also spoke out strongly about greed, saying "our world will certainly fall apart ... if people look only to their own interests."

"Wherever the selfishness of individuals and groups prevails over the common good ... may the light of Christmas shine forth and encourage all people to do their part in a spirit of authentic solidarity," the pope urged.

 

(Most  outside of  the Hitlers of the world and those who follow radical Islam want peace. However the Bible teaches there will be no peace until Jesus returns. Also Christmas should be a time when spiritual leaders from the Christian faith preach Jesus came to save us and give us peace in our souls, no matter if there is peace in the world not. It is not a time to preach a man made peace. If you like read more of what the Pope said check it out Pope calls for Mideast peace .)

 In the palace of a fallen dictator, the grade-school kids in their red Communist Pioneer bandanas are getting their mandatory introduction to the glories of the revolution. (Cuba's revolution turns 50, an aging Castro's grip is softer at edges, unyielding at heart)
Clattering from one display case to the next, they gaze wide-eyed at an antique gun, a fighter's bloodied shirt, the engine of a downed U.S. spy plane. Moving on, they stare at the yacht named Granma that carried Fidel Castro back from exile to launch his guerrilla war, and the combat boots his brother-successor wore as a ponytailed 27-year-old rebel.

The palace of Fulgencio Batista, the ruler whom Castro overthrew, is now the Museum of the Revolution, and these 6- and 7-year-olds are the heirs to a communist government about to turn 50 — a system that may be softening at the edges but appears determined to crush any threat to its grip on power, lest it crumble like its one-time godfather, the Soviet Union.

Since Castro declared victory on New Year's Day, 1959, the day after Batista fled the country, his rule has prevailed through 10 U.S. presidents, the U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion, a world-shaking missile crisis, the U.S. embargo, the Soviet collapse and the onslaught of globalization. Now 82, he is ailing and out of sight but still the head of the Communist Party of Cuba. Raul Castro, his successor as president, is taking baby steps toward change and vowing to fend off any challenge to his brother's legacy.

Dissidents have a new way to reach the outside world — blogging. Yoani Sanchez, 33, gets her message out by dressing like a tourist and slipping into a hotel with Web access for foreigners. She works quickly at a computer terminal and gets out before someone notices her.

In a posting this month, Sanchez noted that the government, which used to send gays to labor camps, now accepts homosexuality. So why not political opposition? she asked. "Why does the adjective 'counterrevolutionary' continue to be used for those who think differently?"

 

(Lets all keep hoping and praying the nation of Cuba is changed soon and the government is replaced with one which will allow her  people the freedoms we enjoy here in the West.)

 Thousands of Christian pilgrims gathered in Bethlehem's Manger Square on Wednesday to celebrate Christmas under the protection of security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.  (   Bethlehem fills up with Christmas pilgrims   )

About 500 security men arrived from the West Bank cities of Ramallah and Jericho to provide security for the holiday. Similar deployments have taken place across the West Bank over the past year with U.S. backing.

"We expect about 40,000 visitors in Bethlehem this week," said Khouloud Daibes-Abu Dayyeh, the Palestinian Authority's minister of tourism.

Heath and Deborah Campbell said their local ShopRite supermarket in Greenwich Township, N.J., refused to personalize a cake for their son.

(That sounds sad and looks like an outrage that a store won't even personalize a cake for a little boy right, or is there more to the story. Please read the rest of the story below.)

A New Jersey family who named their child after Adolf Hitler is having problems getting a birthday cake made for their 3-year-old.

"We believe the request ... to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate," Karen Meleta, a ShopRite spokeswoman, told the Express-Times.

Barry Morrison of the Anti-Defamation League agreed with ShopRite's decision. "Might as well put a sign around their [the children's] neck that says bigot, racist, hatemonger,"Morrison said. "What's the difference?"  ( Child Named Hitler Has Problem Getting Birthday Cake )

The Campbells say they don't understand what the big deal is. "ShopRite can't even make a cake for a 3-year-old," mother Deborah Campbell said."That's sad."

(The little boy of course has done nothing wrong here. The store was right to refuse to write Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler. Why did the parents do such  a dumb thing and then say they don't understand what the big deal is. The outrage is the parents having an attitude like that. Every name in the world makes people think of something if it be Jesus, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa , Saddam Hussein, or Adolf Hitler. The fact is the name Hitler will always remind people of the evil of  the  Holocaust .)

In Sadr City, the sprawling Baghdad suburb that has seen some of the most intense fighting between insurgents and U.S. soldiers since the 2003 invasion, thousands of people marched in his defense. In Syria, he was hailed as a hero. In Libya, he was given an award for courage.

Throughout much of the Arab world Monday, the shoe-throwing incident generated front-page headlines and continuing television news coverage. A thinly veiled glee could be discerned in much of the reporting, especially in the places where anti-American sentiment runs deepest.

Muntader al-Zaidi, 29, the correspondent for an independent Iraqi television station who threw his black dress shoes at Bush, remained in Iraqi custody Monday.