RUSSIA AND ICELAND IN LOAN TALKS

This can't be good for anyone:

Russia started talks with Iceland on Tuesday on granting a 4 billion euro ($5.4 billion) loan to help the Nordic country through its financial woes, the Russian Finance Ministry said.

The delegation arrived in Moscow late on Monday for a series of meetings to agree terms for a loan that would allow Iceland's government to shore up its shaky national currency, the krona, which has lost about a quarter of its value against the euro since the start of the year.

"The delegation from Iceland is in the Finance Ministry. The negotiations are ongoing," a ministry spokesman said.

HIGH GAS PRICES ARE FORCING SOME WOMEN TO GET DOWN ON THE POLE FOR MONEY

The stripper pole. What did you think I meant?

During these tough economic times, many people are struggling to make ends meet. The city's housing market is in a slump, gas and food prices are rising, and some say it's either sink or swim. Now, some women are going to great lengths to make some extra cash right in Baton Rouge.

It's a fantasy, an escape for some attempting to close off the outside world. However, for the women inside who are barely clothed and strapped into high heels, exotic dancing can be a way to survive. "All of my bills were getting to be too much, especially when gas started going up," says one woman, who'll be referred to as Amber throughout the report to protect her identity.

With the average price of gasoline in these parts at an all-time high of $4.00 per gallon, and food costs rising, some women are entering the world of adult entertainment. This world of quick cash is nothing new to Amber. She stripped for three years in local clubs, but took a break after finding out she was pregnant. She then got back into the profession shortly after gas prices started rising and feeding her child got difficult. "Honestly, there are some days where I just don't eat because I can't afford to go buy food. Especially when it comes to diapers or milk, oh my God."

God? You have a God? What does your God think about your work?

CHINESE MERCHANTS RIPPING OFF WHITES

Whites in Aussieland are getting ripped off by immigrant shop owners. Whites are looked upon as "dumb" and "innocent" by immigrants and therefore the targets of getting ripped off.


Ha...At least Americans were smart enough to get them to build our railroads and wash our clothes

GERMAN BASED BLOGGER ACCUSED OF ENGINEERING IRAN MOSQUE BLAST

Damn! Engineering terrorism within Iran? I can't even get people to comment at my blog.

Six suspects among the 15 people detained over the explosion in Shiraz are linked to a German-based monarchist weblog, a report says.

The six agents, two of them chemistry students, were in contact with a blogger, belonging to the German-based Rahe Azadi (Way of Freedom) weblog, via email, JAHAN reported.

Earlier, they had detonated bombs in Fars Province sabotaging the Sivand and another Dam in return for a sum of over $20,000 from the blogger.

The blogger then requested the 'facilitators' to target two public places, promising each bomber a $100,000 reward.

A crowded mosque in Shiraz was the site of the first blast, which left 14 people killed and some 200 others injured on April 12.

The explosives used in the blast were described as two containers of chemical material.

The bombers were next assigned to target Tehran's International Book Fair, May 1-11, at the city's congregational prayer venue.

Iran has accused the United States, Britain and Israel of funding the suspects and providing them with necessary expertise to make bombs.

See this earlier report.

UPDATE: We covered this before, but it bears repeating...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Israel Tuesday of involvement in the Shiraz mosque explosion last month that killed 14 people, Iranian news agency (IRNA) reported.

After Iran claimed earlier that the United States and Britain were responsible for the explosion, Ahmadinejad named Israel too, and said that “the three countries announced that they were planning to assassinate Iranians, which was followed a short time later by the Shiraz mosque crime.” The Iranian leader added that “thanks to efforts by Iranian intelligence agencies, the perpetrators of the blast were quickly arrested and confessed to their ties to the Zionist regime, the US and Britain.”

Related stories:

IRAN WILL SUE U.S. AND BRITAIN OVER MOSQUE BLAST
IRAN NOW BLAMES MOSQUE BLAST ON WEST: MAKES ARRESTS
VIDEO: IRAN MOSQUE EXPLOSION BLAMED ON OLD BOMBS
REPORT: BOMB BLAST KILLS SCORES AT IRAN MOSQUE

TEACHER SAYS MINNESOTA TAX PAYERS ARE FUNDING AN ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS SCHOOL

A Minnesota school teacher has revealed that an inner-city, public school is teaching "islamic studies" at the expense of Minnesota tax payers. Religion, as the liberals have seen fit, is not supposed to be taught in public schools.

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.

Teacher breaks wall of silence

This nonsense while many schools have, or seek to, ban the pledge of allegiance.