Interesting side note here about Mr. Kirk, who also appears to be the co-chair of the House Caucus on Armenian Issues.

Throughout his years in the House of Representatives, Mr. Kirk has supported congressional efforts to affirm the Armenian genocide and provide adequate levels of U.S. aid to Armenia.
Source: Yandunts: Mark Kirk becomes Armenian caucus co-chair

Maybe some people also think their should only be ONE…Holocaust.

The Republican Jewish Coalition called foul Monday on the National Jewish Democratic Council after the group criticized GOP leaders and an Illinois Republican Senate candidate for failing, in its estimation, to repudiate anti-Semitic rhetoric.

The NJDC wrapped its’ criticism of the GOP in a statement declaring that it had “launched a ‘pledge campaign’ to demand that federal candidates condemn and refrain from ‘abusive Holocaust rhetoric and anti-Semitic language.’”

The NJDC offered specific praise for the candidates seeking the Illinois Democratic Senate nomination, while at the same time disparaging Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, for not embracing their language. Kirk is running for the Republican Senate nomination.

Source/Full Story: CNN.com

…
Kirk, a social moderate who’s recast himself as a fiscal conservative, has been largely unchallenged in the GOP primary set for Feb. 2 and is now viewed as a threat by Democrats.

Even Obama has been asking questions about the race.

“Naturally I won’t share the details, but he is following this race closely and talking about November,” said Illinois Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin.
…
On top of that, Democrats nationwide appear to be facing a backlash from voters, witnessed most recently in the Massachusetts special election, in which Republican Scott Brown beat Democrat Martha Coakley for the seat formerly held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy.

“We’re seeing a collapse of support for the organized Democratic Party … in places that we never thought would happen,” Kirk said, citing the Massachusetts election. “I think that will happen in Illinois as well.”

Democrats surely don’t want to see a Bay State election repeat.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

So in other words, there is absolutely nothing new to be gleaned from the display of these blueprints, but it is a handy tool and means by which to keep certain particulars of WWII alive and in the media, even after all this time.  In other words, it’s another propaganda piece and nothing more.  Imagine that…

Daniel Uziel, the historical adviser to the exhibition, said the blueprints did not add much to what is already known about the camps but they provide “a great illustration of the process of turning Auschwitz from a small Polish concentration camp to the center of the Holocaust.”

An old World War I barrack for the Austro-Hungarian army, Auschwitz opened as a concentration camp in the summer of 1940. It was originally designed as a Soviet POW camp and its first prisoners were Polish. But because of its central location and its close access to natural resources, Himmler deemed it the perfect spot to implement the “Final Solution.” In late 1941, it swiftly evolved into a highly efficient death camp.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com

There is a way for immigrant workers to come to the US legally…it’s called [legal] immigration.  Fill out the paperwork (available in convenient PDF format), pay the fees and wait, like everyone else does.

Thousands of immigrant rights advocates marched in front of a county jail in Phoenix Saturday in a protest that was aimed at Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s immigration efforts and was marked by a clash between a small group of protesters and police officers.

Organizers say the protest was meant to show officials in Washington that Arpaio shouldn’t handle immigration enforcement, and that Congress and the Obama administration need to come up with a way for immigrant workers to come to the country legally.

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

The vast majority of people in Italy would like all immigrants seeking citizenship to take a test of Italian civic values, according to a poll by Arnaldo Ferrari Nasi. 80.2 per cent of respondents share this view.

Additionally, 76.9 per cent of respondents say immigrants who do not share Italian values or commit crimes should be stripped of their citizenship. On the other hand, 79.2 per cent of respondents want immigrants who contribute to a city’s economy to be allowed to vote in municipal elections.

	Agree	Disagree	Not sure
Immigrants who play a role in the economic life of a city, after a number of years, must have the right to vote in municipal elections	79.2%	15.4%	5.4%
All immigrants should take a course in Italian and civic values before being regularized	80.2%	18.5%	1.3%
Italian citizenship should be revoked if an immigrant is found to not share our values or commits crimes	76.9%	17.7%	5.4%

Source/Full Story: Angus Reid Global Monitor

More than a thousand African workers were put aboard buses and trains in the southern Italian region of Calabria over the weekend and shipped out to immigrant detention centers, following some of the country’s worst riots in years.

The clashes began Thursday night in Rosarno, a working-class city amid citrus groves in Calabria, the toe of Italy’s boot, after a legal immigrant from Togo was lightly wounded in a pellet-gun attack in a nearby city. It is not clear who pulled the trigger — the authorities said they were investigating whether organized crime had provoked the riots — but the consequences were severe.

Blaming racism for the attack, dozens of immigrants burned cars and smashed shop windows in Rosarno in two days of riots, throwing rocks at local residents and fighting with the police. More than 50 immigrants and police officers were wounded, none seriously, and 10 immigrants and locals were arrested before the authorities began sending the immigrants to detention centers elsewhere in southern Italy on Saturday.

The images emerging from Calabria over the weekend — of torched cars and angry African immigrants hurling rocks — were the most vivid example of the growing racial tensions in Italy, which have been exacerbated by an economic crisis whose depth has only recently been acknowledged in the national dialogue. Both the official and underground economies increasingly rely on immigrants, while Italy remains torn between acceptance and xenophobia.

Source/Full Story: NYTimes.com

Near the end of the hit film “Avatar,” the villain snarls at the hero, “How does it feel to betray your own race?” Both men are white — although the hero is inhabiting a blue-skinned, 9-foot-tall, long-tailed alien.

Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral humans against noble denizens of a faraway moon, “Avatar” is being criticized by a small but vocal group of people who allege it contains racist themes — the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.

Since the film opened to widespread critical acclaim three weeks ago, hundreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and YouTube videos have made claims such as that the film is “a fantasy about race told from the point of view of white people” and reinforces “the white Messiah fable.”

Source/Full Story: Yahoo! News

The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate apologized on Saturday for comments he made about Barack Obama’s race during the 2008 presidential bid.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada described then-Sen. Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect.” Obama is the nation’s first African-American president.

“I deeply regret using such a poor choice of words. I sincerely apologize for offending any and all Americans, especially African-Americans for my improper comments,” Reid said in a statement released after the excerpts were reported on the Web site of The Atlantic.

“I was a proud and enthusiastic supporter of Barack Obama during the campaign and have worked as hard as I can to advance President Obama’s legislative agenda.”

In a written statement Saturday, Obama said he accepted Reid’s apology “without question because I’ve known him for years, I’ve seen the passionate leadership he’s shown on issues of social justice and I know what’s in his heart.”

“As far as I am concerned, the book is closed,” he added.

Reid spokesman Jim Manley says the Senator reached out to other Democratic and African-American leaders, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP Chairman Julian Bond and others.

“About a dozen in all,” Manley said.

Source/Full Story: FOXNews.com