MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• CIA Man Is Key to U.S. Relations With Karzai.The Obama administration has turned to the Central Intelligence Agency's station chief in Afghanistan to troubleshoot Washington's precarious relationship with President Hamid Karzai, propelling the undercover officer into a critical role normally reserved for diplomats and military chiefs.The station chief has become a pivotal behind-the-scenes power broker in Kabul, according to U.S. officials as well as current and former diplomats and military figures. In April, when Mr. Karzai lashed out against his Western partners, it was the station chief who was tapped by the White House to calm the Afghan president.

• Job fears grip voters as Obama ratings fall.More Americans now disapprove of President Barack Obama than approve of him as high unemployment and government spending scare voters ahead of November's midterm elections, Reuters/Ipsos poll found on Tuesday.In the latest grim news for Obama's Democrats, 72 percent of people said they were very worried about joblessness and 67 percent were very concerned about government spending."The economy is really catching up to Obama and his administration," said Ipsos pollster Cliff Young. "For a time, voters gave him the benefit of the doubt. He inherited a very dicey economic situation and they were willing to give him time," Young said. "Patience has ... basically vanished."

• Yes Folks, Hindenburg Omen Tripped Again.The Omen, a technical indicator which uses a plethora of data to foreshadow a stock-market crash, was tripped again on Friday, marking the second time since Aug. 12 it has occurred. (It also came close on Thursday, but one of its criteria fell short.)The latest trigger has prompted the Omen’s creator, Jim Miekka, to exit the market. “I’m taking it seriously and I’m fully out of the market now,” Miekka, a blind mathematician, said in a telephone interview from his home in Surry, Maine. “I would’ve probably stayed in until the beginning of September,” depending on how the indicators varied. “That was my basic plan, until the Hindenburg came along.”

• HT:WeaselZippers.Good Grief: Ground Zero Imam’s Wife Now Being Sent on U.S. Taxpayer Funded Trip to Middle East to Trash America.Yup, the same woman who just said America is “beyond Islamophobic” is being sent by the Obama regime’s State Department to give her views on Muslim life in the U.S. to the United Arab Emirates.Hmmm getting to hot in the USA?

• Obama Justice Dept. Argued in Favor of Using Race As a Relevant Factor Among Others to Justify Immigration Stops.In at least three court cases, President Obama’s Justice Department has argued in favor of federal law enforcement officers using race as a factor in determining whether to stop someone for a suspected immigration violation.

• Rangel on the Hot Seat in Debate."Frankly, he has not been around long enough to determine what my dignity is,” Mr. Rangel said of the 49-year-old Mr. Obama." For the next two years, I will be more likely to protect his dignity."

• The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday rejected comments by the commander of NATO and U.S. forces that their progress had been reversed, saying attacks were increasing around the capital as well as in their heartland in the south.The Taliban have also become increasingly sophisticated in their use of the media and issued a statement on Tuesday to deny Petraeus's comments.A poll released last week by NBC and the Wall Street Journal found that seven in 10 Americans did not believe the war would end successfully.

• Protests, Rhetoric Feed Jihadists' Fire.Islamic radicals are seizing on protests against a planned Islamic community center near Manhattan's Ground Zero and anti-Muslim rhetoric elsewhere as a propaganda opportunity and are stepping up anti-U.S. chatter and threats on their websites.

• HT:TheAstuteBloggers.The UN has ratified the theft of Kosovo from Serbia!Remember the Balkan War in the 1990's? Do not think it is over and has been "solved"!Do not praise Lord Paddy "Pantsdown" Ashdown for the invaluable service he has provided for peace in the region!Read more here.

• Fake Hate Crimes: An Islamist Weapon.Over the recent Fourth of July weekend, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) interviewed attendees of the 47th annual Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention about their experiences in dealing with "Islamophobia." Shortly afterwards, on July 6, CAIR called on the FBI to investigate an act of arson at a Georgia mosque, saying that hate crimes were increasing because of a "vocal minority in our society promoting anti-Muslim bigotry."

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Imam Rauf on the State of Israel.In case any of you hadn't figured it out yet.... Imam Rauf has a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian problem. It is not the two-state solution supported by the United States, Israel, and the Quartet. No, he believes that the “one-state solution is a more coherent one than a two-state solution.” In other words, a unitary Arab state in all of the old Palestine Mandate, the end of Israel as a Jewish state, with a Jewish minority living under the control of radical Islamists who will treat them as dhimmi.How much longer can the fiction be maintained that this man and his proposed Ground Zero mosque is a moderate and a man of peace?It has been maintained for too long already.

• Iran Detains Two Members Of Reformist Student Group.Two members of the alumni association of the country's largest reformist student group have been detained by security forces in Tehran.

• Hikind To Mayor Mike: Denounce Ground Zero Mosque and Imam!Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) is calling on Mayor Bloomberg to withdraw his support of the Ground Zero mosque in the wake of the revelation of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s anti-American and anti-Western rhetoric. Rauf has been quoted as saying, “We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands that al Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims. . .the West has not been cognizant and has not addressed the issue of its own contribution to much injustice in the Arab and Muslim world.”Hikind, who has been an outspoken critic of the proposed project, recently demanded that the Mayor apologize to all New Yorkers for his sanctimonious remarks chastising those who oppose the building of the mosque.“The Mayor needs to publicly denounce this contemptuous Imam and withdraw his support for the project,” Hikind said. “It is unconscionable for this plan to move forward.”Hikind also noted, “How can this mosque possibly promote tolerance and understanding when the very foundation will be built with blood money from our enemies in Iran, Saudi Arabia, and other Muslim countries which despise us?

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon delivered a message to the Iranian people on Monday by means of an Israel Radio broadcast in Farsi. "Israel bears no animosity towards the Iranian people. We have deep respect and aspire to cooperate with them to bring about a better reality in the region. The problem is intrinsic to the Iranian regime and its conduct, particularly regarding the nuclear issue. This is a regime that calls for 'Death to the United States, Great Britain and Israel'. The Iranian regime spreads instability, supports terror, and oppresses its own people. It is impossible to accept atomic weapons in the hands of such a regime.

• Roger Ebert’s Moral and Intellectual Bankruptcy: 10 Ridiculous Statements Supporting Cordoba House.In his most recent post, “Ten things I know about the mosque,” Ebert takes on opponents of the Cordoba House project near ground zero of the 9/11 attacks. In usual Ebert fashion, his post lacks an overall thesis and wanders aimlessly between several barely related thoughts. In light of this stream-of-consciousness writing style, answering Ebert requires point-by-point refutation. Hence, here are ten things I know better than Roger Ebert.

• Al Sharpton Hypocrisy: Build the Ground Zero Mosque, But Glenn Beck Can’t Pray at Lincoln Memorial.Al Sharpton is a professional bigot. During his long career the Reverend has incited two anti-Semitic pogroms: the Crown Heights riot and the firebombing of the Jewish-owned Freddy’a Fashion Mart in Harlem. Each of the Sharpton-incited pogroms resulted in deaths, but now for some unknown reason Reverend Al believes he is the caretaker of religious tolerance in the country, as well as the protector of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy of peaceful protest.

• For Obamacare supporters, judgment day approaches.Say you're a Democratic member of Congress. You proudly cast your vote for Obamacare, you cheered when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed it as the achievement of a generation and you scoffed at Republicans who vowed to repeal it. Now you're running for re-election, and a voter asks: What is the most important thing you've done in the last two years?

• Fears of Arctic oil rush as 'oil-bearing sand' discovered off the coast of Greenland.British firm Cairn Energy has sparked fears of an Arctic oil rush today as they confirmed the discovery of 'oil-bearing sand' in the untapped waters off the coast of Greenland.Cairn's discovery could indicate signs of a 'working hydrocarbon system' in the Baffin Bay basin.The group said it had discovered gas in thin sands in the area, which signals potential for oil.

• Dem Strategist on Obama: “He Is a Walking Radioactive Disaster”.A democratic strategist warned his colleagues today that Barack Obama has become a “walking radioactive disaster.”

• The Mosque IS At Ground Zero!Despite what the Associated Press and the politically correct say, I agree with Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf in calling the Cordoba House (oh, excuse me, Park51) the Ground Zero Mosque. It is insane to consider the former site of the Burlington Coat Factory anything but Ground Zero.

• More Muslims Speak Out Against Ground Zero Mosque.Muslims across the U.S. and around the world are speaking out against building an Islamic center and mosque near the mass murder site at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.Their statements show the emptiness of a handful of Arab and Muslim Republican activists who, in a well-publicized letter defending the Ground Zero mosque, purported to speak for the interests of “the Arab and Muslim community in America.” They also eviscerate claims that critics of the project are motivated by prejudice and hatred toward Muslims.Even before the six GOP Muslim and Arab-American activists signed the August 17 letter, Muslims in the U.S. and abroad were criticizing Imam Feisal Rauf and his $100 million Cordoba Initiative project. Some Muslims called the mosque plan a deliberate provocation, a political gesture to thumb one’s nose at the “infidel,” and equivalent to building a Christian church where Serbian troops slaughtered 6,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Kosovo.

• America's 10 Most Bedbug-Infested Cities.Amid a national outbreak of the parasitic insects, The Daily Beast crunched numbers provided by a national exterminator to rank the 10 cities with the worst bedbug problem.

• HS test 'slams' Christianity, lauds Islam.State testmakers played favorites when quizzing high-schoolers on world religions -- giving Islam and Buddhism the kid-gloves treatment while socking it to Christianity, critics say.Teachers complain that the reading selections from the Regents exam in global history and geography given last week featured glowing passages pertaining to Muslim society but much more critical essay excerpts on the subject of Christianity.The passage reads: "Wherever they went, the Moslems [sic] brought with them their love of art, beauty and learning. From about the eighth to the eleventh century, their culture was superior in many ways to that of western Christendom."

• West Java, Christians celebrate in the streets demanding freedom of religion.The Sunday service of Yasmin Church was held in Bogor. Islamic extremists put pressure on the civil authority that closed their place of worship, even if legal. The liturgical services are held in the streets since April 10.

• Revealed: Dramatic details of secret missions carried out by Lawrence of Arabia's X Flights.An amazing diary of previously unpublished and intimate details of secret missions led almost 100 years ago by Lawrence of Arabia has been uncovered.Retired lecturer James Hynes, 80, had been in contact with his cousin when she told him of a type- written journal of her father’s experiences with hero British army officer Lt Col TE Lawrence during World War One.The diary features stories of espionage and bombing campaigns known as 'X Flights' led by Lawrence across the former Ottoman Empire.

• Video:Humpback Whale Delivers Spectacular Show.A humpback whale has put on a spectacular show in waters off Australia's north Queensland state coast on Monday.

• Tech at Night: Net Neutrality, FreedomWorks, Christian Coalition, RIAA, Copyright, Cybersecurity, Intel, McAfee.Way back when I started covering this issue, I said there were three names on the Save the Internet (Free Press front group) list that bugged me: Gun Owners of America, Christian Coalition, and Glenn “Instapundit” Reynolds. If we can peel off at least two of three, I’ll be happy.