MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:Newsrealblog.Confused or Lying? Obama Think He’s “Accomplished 70%” of Campaign Promises.This past week much was written about President Obama’s interview with Rolling Stone magazine. One thing few caught was Obama’s fuzzy math skills. The President claimed a 70% success rate in accomplishing campaign promises. What was it that John Adams said about facts? Wasn’t it something about them being stubborn things?Rolling Stone’s interview was a love fest toward the President, and the only ‘tough’ questions had to do with progressives wishing Obama was doing more. Of course, Rolling Stone went to bat for Obama in how they asked him the questions.Obviously Obama feels he has done a superb job as President. He believes (or wants us to believe) that he has accomplished 70% of his campaign promises in less than two years in office. Wow, that seems impressive (or terrifying if you aren’t a fan of Obama’s campaign promises). I wonder if there is a way to check the President’s math?We did and :Maybe Obama meant he had a 70% unaccomplished rate – then the numbers would actually make sense.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Ht:IsraelMatzav.Israel warns Lebanon on Ahmadinejad visit.Through diplomatic channels, Israel has warned Lebanon not to allow Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad to visit the border area between Israel and Lebanon next week. Through United Nations, U.S. and French mediators, Israel has urged the Lebanese government to prevent Ahmadinejad from visiting the border and engaging in what Jerusalem described as "provocation.""The message is that Iran is at the border with Israel," Fares Souaid, coordinator of the March 14 alliance, said."Ahmadinejad through this visit is saying that Beirut is under Iranian influence and that Lebanon is an Iranian base on the Mediterranean," said Mr Souaid, whose coalition is led by the Western-backed Prime Minister."His visit to the south would be a provocation, he doesn't need to go there."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• 'May Iran Shut Down Evin University Forever'.Blogger Chahar Divari (Four Walls, a reference to the privacy of home) hopes that one day "Evin University" will be shut down.In recent years, critics have come to attach that nickname to Tehran's Evin prison because of all the student activists, journalists, and intellectuals who've spent time there.We shouldn't be unfair, [Iranian officials] have kept their promise in this regard. There are professors in there, students; and it's the hangout of artists and thinkers. It has a great pluralistic atmosphere when it comes to thinking.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Analysis: Terrorism alerts reflect evolving militant threat.U.S. and British alerts about possible attacks in Europe highlight concern that growing numbers of militants are going from the West to remote war zones for training in answer to al Qaeda's online call for violence.Joerg Ziercke, head of Germany's BKA Federal Crime Office, said last month more than 400 Islamist radicals were living in Germany, some of whom had trained in camps overseas, including a hard core with combat experience in Afghanistan. Police had seen a rise in German residents moving to and from the camps."There's a number, a not insignificant number, of seriously dangerous people going around," he said.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Free-Speech Cases Highlight New Term.As the Supreme Court begins its new term, it will be a baptism by fire for its greenest justice, Elena Kagan.First Amendment cases top the Supreme Court's docket as it begins a new term with a new justice and three women on the bench for the first time.The court will look at provocative anti-gay protests at military funerals and a California law banning the sale of violent video games to children. These cases worry free speech advocates, who fear the court could limit First Amendment freedoms.The funeral protest lawsuit, over signs praising American war deaths, "is one of those cases that tests our commitment to the First Amendment," said Steven Shapiro, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Flashback.Geert Wilders and European democracy.The outcome of the current trial of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders on charges of “incitement to hatred” will represent a watershed in Europe’s response to the challenge of Islamic fundamentalism.Wilders, nicknamed Mozart because of his blond hair, is somewhat of a maverick. Voted politician of the year in 2007 by the Dutch media, he is a charismatic and popular politician who displays refreshing contempt for the hypocritical political correctness relating to Islam that has enveloped Europe. Some polls suggest that in an election now, his Freedom Party could become Holland’s largest parliamentary party.Wilders opposes what he regards as the craven appeasement of the Netherlands and most European nations to intimidation and threats of violence from Islamic fundamentalists.Against the background of the massive influx of Muslim immigrants, he fears that having embraced post-modernism and cultural relativism, most Europeans lack the stamina to maintain their core values and are capitulating to Muslims determined to impose Shari’a law in Europe.Wilders refers to Islam as “the Trojan horse in Europe” and predicts that “if we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia will just be a matter of time. One century ago, there were approximately 50 Muslims in the Netherlands. Today, there are about one million. Where will it end? We are heading for the end of European civilization.”WE JEWS, more than any minority, have suffered from incitement to hatred. But having regard to the extent to which Christianity and Judaism and its symbols are routinely satirized, mocked and abused in Western society, it would represent a bizarre application of double standards to prevent a man like Wilders from expressing critical views about Islam even if many disagree with him. Whilst democratic societies should prohibit incitement to violence, Wilders is surely entitled to be as critical about Islam as others are about communism, capitalism, Christianity or Judaism.Besides, Islamic countries are notorious for denying freedom of worship and freedom of expression to Christians and Jews. Their culture, media and mosques are saturated with hatred of other religions, especially incitement against Jews. To enable them to impose restrictions on freedom of expression in Western countries would amount to capitulation and appeasement to aggressive Muslim minorities. Particularly so now, when imams and radical Islamists continuously call for the assassination of critics of Islam as exemplified by the murderous response to the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad in Denmark.Read the full story here.More on his trial case here.Click here for comments.

• British intelligence denies US terror warnings sparked by new info.US warning of commando terror attacks in Europe irritates European officials, who say no evidence plot is imminent.The US's warning to Americans to be vigilant in Europe added fresh impetus to the scares. The Foreign Office upgraded its threat warning to Britons going to France and Germany, although the terror threat level in Britain remained the same.European officials again made it clear yesterday they were "irritated" with the US for leaking stories before they could gather more intelligence. There was no evidence that a plot was imminent, and intelligence was described by a well-placed Whitehall official as "ill-defined".Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Number Of Jailed Iran Students 'Highest In Decades'.An Iranian opposition website says 73 students are currently being held in Iranian jails over their activism.Daneshjoonews.com published the names of the jailed students and said the number is the highest it has been in decades. It said the students are being held throughout the country, from Tehran's notorious Evin prison to jails in Ahwaz, Tabriz, Isfahan, Babol, Rajaee Shahr, and in Gohardasht, which is outside of Tehran."I don't think the authorities will be able to control the student movement, as every year new students are coming to universities and they bring new life to the student movement," he said.Rashidi added that the atmosphere at universities "in the new semester will be much more difficult for authorities to control because fresh students are coming from communities that have experienced massive protests [against the government]." Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• The Rise of Black Republicans.I bet you haven't heard of Tim Scott, Allen West or Ryan Frazier. If they were Democrats, I might lose that bet.But they're not. Mr. Scott, Mr. West and Mr. Frazier are three of the 14 black candidates running for Congress as Republicans this November. Thirty-two black Republicans ran in the primaries.Most of the 14 are running all-but-hopeless races against black Democratic incumbents in black majority districts. But Mr. Scott, running in South Carolina, is a virtual cinch to win. Mr. West (Florida) and Mr. Frazier (Colorado) are in races that are judged tossups.Accusations of racism against Republicans are a staple of Democratic politics because Democrats need to keep blacks on the plantation to remain viable nationally. "Young people and minorities are all the president has left," the National Journal headlined its story on a poll released Wednesday.The most interesting datum to me in the National Journal/Pew poll is that just 76 percent of blacks approve of the job President Obama is doing. And a tracking poll Sept. 24 by the conservative PJTV indicated 35 percent of likely black voters either strongly or somewhat support the tea party.It could be the increased number of black Republicans running for office and their increased acceptance by other blacks is due in large part to Mr. Obama. His election represented the pinnacle of black hopes within the Democratic Party. His disappointing performance in office is causing more than a few to consider alternatives.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Mosque torched near Hebron.Palestinian sources report of prayer house desecration in West Bank village of Beit Fajar. Graffiti blaspheming Mohammad found on Mosque walls; arson investigation launched. Settlers' "price tag" policy strikes again? A mosque at the Palestinian village of Beit Fajar, north of the West Bank city of Hebron, was set on fire Monday and according to Palestinian sources, graffiti blaspheming the Prophet Mohammad was sprayed on several of the building's walls.The police are investigating reports by Palestinians that settlers arrived at the mosque and set several Koran books on fire, as well as a prayer rug. According to the sources, the building sustained serious damage.Contrary to Palestinian claims, the Civil Administration said that the incident was carried out in the middle of the night and that no clash broke out on the site. A Shai District Police spokesperson reported that large police and military forces arrived at the site along with a forensics team."This is the first time settlers have vandalized the village's mosque," he added.Extreme right-wing activist Baruch Marzel said that " I will not be surprised to learn that, while the Israeli government demonstrates helplessness and abandons the settlers to their fate, some Jew take matters into their own hands. The government must understand that Jewish blood is just as precious."The IDF Spokesman's Unit released a statement following the mosque torching north of the West Bank city of Hebron, saying Civil Administration Head Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai personally called his colleagues in the Palestinian Authority and assured them that the IDF and security forces are working to locate the vandals. "We see this as a grave event," said the statement.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:VerumSerum.Restoring Honor vs. One Nation: The Animated Gif.

• Briton, 91, and his 82-year-old wife ordered off QM2 cruise ship after expletive-ridden row over 'anti-Semitic' remarks.Cunard said in a statement that it only refunded the couple £529 because they engaged in ‘multiple incidences of disrespectful and disruptive behaviour towards crew members and other guests'.It added the company ‘fully supported’ the captain's decision.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:Memri.Video : Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, Secretary-General of the International Union of Muslim Scholars: Copts Amass Weapons in Egyptian Churches and Are "Preparing for War against the Muslims".Click here for comments.

• Lieberman: Obama trying to force agreement on Israel.FM tells fellow Yisrael Beiteinu members US wants two-month settlement freeze to draft peace deal that would mean two states for two people along 1967 borders. On controversial UN speech: I wanted to tell the world the truth as I see it.Why am i not surprised?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Kılıçdaroğlu draws ire with Iranian-model headscarf proposal.Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who has been pledging to solve Turkey's headscarf issue since he took the helm of his party, finally made public his proposal: He cited the Iranian and Pakistani style of head covering as his example, drawing severe criticism from multiple fronts. “I am referring to Turkey's covering as ‘türban' and not headscarf because they are different from each other. The basic difference is that headscarf is a traditional covering and it does not have to cover all the hair. … Türban, on the other hand, is used to cover all of a woman's hair.For Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it was ironic that the CHP, which has been arguing for years that Turkey faces the threat of becoming like Iran, is now showing Iran as a model for the solution to the headscarf issue.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Hot Post:Red Guard Harvard Students “Educate” Dr. Martin Peretz.This past weekend, a throng—nay, a large crowd of Harvard students publicly taunted, shamed, and stalked the venerable liberal intellectual Martin Peretz. Like the jihadists who distribute videos of their beheadings, the protesters also released their mini “Aktion” on YouTube. They call it: “Party for Marty.”The event was to mark the fiftieth anniversary of a Social Studies program. Harvard alumni had raised additional funding for this program in Peretz’s honor. Students protested what they believe Professor Peretz wrote, thinks, is—or perhaps they were also protesting Harvard for daring to honor him.At the end of the day, Harvard allowed Peretz to speak—but only briefly. Very briefly. Harvard still honored him. Speakers included the president of Harvard, various alumni of the Social Studies program, the president of Penn, as well as various social scientists and students.Peretz was, essentially, silenced. But that was not enough. The righteous, self-satisfied protestors made it a point to hunt Peretz down as he tried to exit quietly, with some dignity, and mocked him continuously as they accompanied him on his long walk through Harvard Yard to his car; they also held the “offending words” posters.They remind me, not only of Muslim rioters, or Nazi brown shirts, but more and more, of the cruel, heartless and young Red Guard in Mao’s China, who also believed they were politically perfect and that their enemies, sometimes their own parents, deserved to die.Hmmm.....i would call it something else.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:PajamasMedia.Norwegian Publisher Cancels Biography of Muhammed.The book had already been listed in last year's catalog. Why was it pulled?The Norwegian historian and journalist Halvor Tjønn has written a biography of the founder of Islam, Muhammed. The book was announced by the Oslo publisher Kagge in last year’s fall catalog. But now the publisher has suddenly pulled out — and refuses to provide any explanation of why it no longer wishes to publish the book.What is this? An act of self-censorship on the part of the publisher? Some professional disagreement? If the latter, why can’t it be straightened out? But if it’s the former, it’s nothing less than a tragedy. It is not becoming for a publisher to say ”No further comment.”It can only be hoped that another publisher will decide to snap up what must certainly be described as a very timely book. Then the readers will be able to decide whether it was worth publishing or not.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.