MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Citizens' Group Helps Uncover Alleged Rampant Voter Fraud in Houston.When Catherine Engelbrecht and her friends sat down and started talking politics several years ago, they soon agreed that talking wasn’t enough. They wanted to do more. So when the 2008 election came around, “about 50” of her friends volunteered to work at Houston’s polling places.“What we saw shocked us,” she said. “There was no one checking IDs, judges would vote for people that asked for help. It was fraud, and we watched like deer in the headlights.”Their shared experience, she says, created “True the Vote,” a citizen-based grassroots organization that began collecting publicly available voting data to prove that what they saw in their day at the polls was, indeed, happening -- and that it was happening everywhere.“It was a true Tea Party moment,” she remembers.Most of the findings focused on a group called Houston Votes, a voter registration group headed by Steve Caddle, who also works for the Service Employees International Union. Among the findings were that only 1,793 of the 25,000 registrations the group submitted appeared to be valid.The integrity of the voting rolls in Harris County, Texas, appears to be under an organized and systematic attack by the group operating under the name Houston Votes,” the Harris voter registrar, Leo Vasquez, charged as he passed on the documentation to the district attorney. A spokesman for the DA's office declined to discuss the case. And a spokesman for Vasquez said that the DA has asked them to refrain from commenting on the case.The outcome of the efforts grew in importance the day after Vasquez made his announcement. On the morning of Aug. 27, a three-alarm fire destroyed almost all of Harris County’s voting machines, throwing the upcoming Nov. 2 election into turmoil. While the cause wasn’t determined, the $40 million blaze, according to press reports, means election officials will be focused on creating a whole new voting system in six weeks. Just how they do it will determine how vulnerable the process becomes.Hmmm....who profited from the fraud?And what will they come up with now?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Saudi Arabia stops tourist visas indefinitely.Tour operators shocked as no reasons cited for ban.Saudi Arabia has stopped granting tourist visas to foreigners indefinitely.No reason was cited for the move, a news agency reported quoting Saudi officials and tour operators.Emirates 24/7 on August 31 reported that Saudi Arabia had halted issuing tourist visa till February 2011"It was an unexpected decision for everyone...no official reason has been given and if the move is permanent, it will have great impact on travel companies in Saudi Arabia," said Ahmad Moustafa, deputy chairman of the Consultative Committee for Tour Operators.Is there a countdown on? Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Ahmadenejad shared a hush-hush meal with Farrakhan and members of the New Black Panther Party Tuesday.It was a strange week for the loony strongman from Iran.President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's six nights in New York featured a secret sit-down with militant minister Louis Farrakhan, heckling in a hotel bar, and a fear of being rubbed out that bordered on paranoia.The president shared a hush-hush meal with Farrakhan and members of the New Black Panther Party Tuesday at the Warwick Hotel on West 54th Street.The meeting of the podium smackers took place in a banquet room, where the fiery leaders presumably exchanged theories on what's wrong with the world.On Thursday night, Sudanese diplomats trying to get in to see Ahmadinejad at the Hilton Manhattan East, on 42nd Street, squared off with security and a pushing match ensued. Two well-dressed women in their 40s came in, sat at the hotel bar and ordered drinks.One of them caught the attention of the president's security detail, which had set up a station in the hotel lobby. She was soon surrounded by eight angry Iranians, who ordered her to leave. She refused.A manager tried to calm things down. Suddenly, the woman stood up and pointed at the Iranians, yelling, "You stoned my sister! You're murderers!" Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Leftists aim to break Gaza siege.'Jewish vessel' carrying nine human rights activists from Israel, Germany, US and Britain – including Holocaust survivor – sets sail from Cyprus to deliver medicine, toys to Strip. Passengers say will not resist if ordered to stop.A boat carrying human rights activists from Israel, Germany, the United States and Britain has reportedly set sail for Gaza Sunday, hoping to breach Israel's blockade there and deliver aid.Richard Kuper, an organizer with the UK group "Jews for Justice for Palestinians," said one goal is to "show that not all Jews support Israeli policies toward Palestinians."Yonatan Shapira, a peace activist aboard the Irene, added that "We have a strategy of non-violence and non-confrontation, if the Israeli army stopped the boat, we will divert it to the port (of Ashdod)."We have a clear mission, to break the blockade. The Greek police just haled us to change our flag, no that we are it Greece's territorial water. We left around 1 PM and I hope we will arrive in Gaza in the next two days."We planned to leave before today, but there were delays in building the ship. We have finally gathered all of our passengers and we are on our way."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• The 'Zionist regime' enters the UN's Iranian underworld."'The Jerusalem Post?'" he said incredulously. "You have to leave. And you know why!" “Is the Ahmadinejad press conference really cancelled?” I asked the woman behind the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit desk at the United Nations.It was Thursday afternoon, and Ahmadinejad had just spoken to the General Assembly. A magazine journalist, Dave, and I had heard a rumor that the press conference was cancelled, but wanted to make sure.“Yes, but it may just be postponed...we don’t know,” the MALU woman said. “But we can escort you to the press conference area downstairs.”The camera-toting journalist from the elevator came over to us. It was clear from his demeanor that he wasn’t going to bring up becoming Facebook friends.“Where are you from?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed.“I’m from New Jersey,” I responded. Which, technically, is true.“You know that that’s not what I mean,” he said, starting to reach for my press pass around my neck.How to respond? “The Zionist Entity,” I wondered? Or perhaps “The Zionist Regime”? I stepped away from his hand. “The Jerusalem Post.”“THE JERUSALEM POST?” he responded, incredulously. “Well, YOU have to leave.” He leaned forward, somewhat menacingly. “And you KNOW why.”“Do I?” I asked.“You have to go,” he said, wearing what Dave would later call ‘thug face.’ “You have to go right now.”“We have every right to stay,” Dave said. “This is the United Nations. This is America.”But this isn’t really America, I thought as the thuggy guy, hands on his hips, breathed heavily in my face. This is not America. This is the basement of a multinational complex, where a staggeringly high level of deference is being paid to the whims and fancies of a man being protested by hundreds outside. This is a place where the regular rules don’t matter, and where regulations and standards are easily trumped by fear and cowardice. This is an underworld. The woman came over. “I’m sorry,” she said to me. “They know who you are, and you have to leave.”That’s the problem, I thought as I was escorted out. We all know who we are. We just don’t agree on who has to leave.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BacktoBasics.The Gulf is Still Leaking – Did BP Switch the Well Seen on TV?The announcement that the Deepwater Horizon Well Head has been capped is being blared all across ABCNNBBCBS with headlines “oil no longer gushing into gulf.” Among the more naive, it may be understood if they have the impression the problem is over (except for the cleanup) because that is the message being sold to the public.But is it reality, or is it politics? There is no question that the Gulf Oil disaster is not going to help Democrats retain their hold on Congress come November. Senator David Vitter points out, correctly, that President Obama has a vested political interest in convincing the public that the problem is over, so that it will fade from public memory in the few months from now until the November elections.The announcement of the attempt to cap the well this last week was greeted with stunned amazement among experts (those not on BP’s payroll). After all, BP had admitted back in May that the drill pipe and well casing had at least one leak 1000 feet below the blowout preventer; the reason the Top Kill procedure had failed.Evidence is starting to surface that BP has pulled a fast one and has changed the well being shown on TV.According to documents filed by British Petroleum with the US Minerals Management Service, there are two wells in the area of the spill. The first well, Well “A”, was drilled early this year, ran into troubles, and was abandoned.Well B is still out there if what I fear is correct, still destroyed and so badly that it cannot be capped at the wellhead. And even if it could be, BP itself reported that they had found leaks in the well casing, meaning that even a successful cap on the wellhead would not stop the oil from leaking out of the shattered well casing and from the vents that have formed in the ocean floor. But we are told it does not exist, so I guess it doesn’t. Even though these pictures prove the thing is out there.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Ht :IsraelMatzav.What's behind the 'Islamophobia' meme.For any of you who have not figured it out yet, of course, 'Islamophobia' has nothing to do with violence against Muslims. This is John Hinderaker from Power Line.There are any number of serious human rights issues in the world today, some of them involving mass murder on an industrial scale, none of which the U.N. has managed to do much about. But the existence of actual human rights crises never distracts the U.N. from pandering to the fantasies of the OIC.If you try to bring a Bible into Saudi Arabia, they will destroy it. That's different, of course.The current resolution does not exist in a vacuum; it is part of a long-term strategy to de-legitimize resistance to Islam, now widely known as "Islamophobia.".Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:PamelaGeller.Criticism of Islam Is New Front in PC War, Media Expert Says.Truth is the New Hate Speech, says Pamela Geller.This is the sharia. The silence on Islamic jihad in the media, on the college campuses, in the government etc is sharia. I will ask this for the zillionith time. Why is CAIR, named co-conspirator, Hamas linked, Muslim Brotherhood front, given senior status on media outlets everywhere? Their leadership has been convicted of funding Hamas and have been vocal in their support of the genocidal, Islamic jihadist group. This was entered into evidence in the largest terror funding trial in American history, the Holy Land trial.But they get the mainstream media megaphone to spew their Islamic supremacist hate and defamation. CAIR hates me becuase I speak the truth about jihad and Islamic supremacism. CAIR hates me because I help Muslims whose lives are in danger. CAIR hates me because I have aided and assisted in an underground railroad for those leaving Islam.I have worked to mark the graves of honor killing victims left to rot in unmarked graves. We have planted a grove of trees in Jerusalem for honor killing victims across the world. What have the Islamic imperialists and supremacists done to the victims of jihad? Name one thing.CAIR hates me.Islamic supremacists hate me because I am free. They hate freedom.The media has been irresponsible in their aiding and abetting of the stealth jihad. Where are the voices of Wafa Sultan, Ibn Warraq, Bat Ye'or, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, etc? Why are they not given equal time?"The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech." Justice Anthony Kennedy.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Top supermarkets secretly sell halal: Sainsbury's, Tesco, Waitrose, and M&S don't tell us meat is ritually slaughtered.Britain's biggest supermarket chains are selling halal lamb and chicken without telling unsuspecting shoppers.Those stocking meat slaughtered according to Islamic law include Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Somerfield and the Co-op.And a Mail on Sunday investigation has found that fast-food chains including Domino’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, KFC, ­Nando’s and Subway are also using halal meat without ­telling customers.But the UK’s second-biggest supermarket, Asda, has refused to confirm or deny whether it sells halal meat.The Mail on Sunday contacted Asda on Tuesday, but by yesterday it had failed to answer any of our questions.Non-Muslim religious leaders say that Christians, Hindus or Sikhs may find it offensive to eat meat slaughtered according to Islamic ritual. Jews are unlikely to be exposed to such meat because they eat kosher, or animals slaughtered according to Jewish law.Last week The Mail on Sunday revealed how halal food was being served to unsuspecting people in hospitals, schools and pubs across the UK.We do not expect commercial interests to prevail, on a technicality, over something that many campaigned for – the humane slaughter of our animals.This is not only commercially wrong, morally it is a disgrace.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Armament in Mideast: Turkey’s immediate concern is regional instability.Renewed arms sales recently in the Middle East have triggered fears that a conflict with Turkey’s neighbor Iran may be imminent. Today's interactive toolbox Video Photo Audio Send to print Send to my friend Post your comments Read comments A former Turkish ambassador, however, is confident that a war in the region to prevent Iran from furthering its alleged nuclear arms program is not likely -- at least in the near future. US President Barack Obama is a clever man and would not risk triggering a war with Iran just before the Nov. 2 midterm congressional elections, said the retired ambassador.The Gulf countries have embarked on one of the largest re-armament exercises in peacetime history, ordering US weapons worth some $123 billion as they seek to counter Iran's military might, with US arms worth more than $67 billion going to Saudi Arabia, accounting for the largest single component of this military buildup and providing a huge boost to the American defense industry, reported the Financial Times on Sept. 21.The United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed contracts to buy military equipment worth $35 billion to $40 billion from the US. The UAE has received clearance to buy Thaad, a high altitude missile defense system being developed by Lockheed Martin.The UAE and Kuwait have each signed contracts for upgrades to their Patriot missile defense systems, developed by Raytheon, which cover lower levels of an air defense curtain. Oman is expected to spend $12 billion and Kuwait $7 billion through the end of 2014 on replacing and upgrading warplanes and new command and control systems.All these arms buys will enormously benefit US defense giants such as Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin.The prospective sale of $60 billion in advanced weapons systems and aircraft to Saudi Arabia is of both strategic and economic value to the US, aiming to counter the rising threat of a bellicose and potentially nuclear-armed Iran and purporting to create badly needed jobs, the UK based Jane's Defence Weekly (JDW) reported in its Sept. 17 issue.Read the full story here.Click here for comments. 

• HT:IslaminEurope.Netherlands: Radicalism level higher among Moroccans.According to a study by the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (University of Amsterdam) and Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 8% of the Dutch Muslims see themselves as very religious: 12% of Moroccans and 5% of Turks. This comes out to 24,000 very orthodox Moroccan Muslims and 12,000 very orthodox Turkish Muslims.These people do not shake hands with people of the opposite sex, don't listen to non-religious music and prefer not to go to places where both men and women are present. They support a theocracy and distinguish themselves by accepting violence."That is bad news from democracy," says political scientist Jean Tillie, who worked on this study together Ineke Roex and Sjef van Stiphout for two and a half years. "These people have very nasty views."read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:TundraTabloids.The Dearborn four acquited by Dearborn jury of incitement.A jury acquitted on Friday four Christian missionaries who were accused of inciting a crowd while videotaping themselves proselytizing to Muslims at the Dearborn Arab International Festival in June.Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly Jr. said Friday night that he respects the decision, but the missionaries were anti-Muslim bigots pulling a publicity stunt to gain attention on YouTube in order to raise money."They engaged in a misrepresentation of what Dearborn really is," O'Reilly said of the four missionaries arrested.But Dearborn attorney Majed Moughni, who supported the missionaries and helped represent them earlier, said "these charges should never have been brought."Moughni said that "freedom of speech is important. Everyone should be free to come to Dearborn to express themselves."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Who the heck is Consolacion Ediscul?Another lie that was exposed by Eli Lake on Friday was the claim that most of J Street's money came from small donations by American Jews. In fact, aside from the 15% that came from George Soros, 50% came from a woman in Hong Kong named Consolacion Ediscul.The group's 990 forms -- which I've also obtained and put online for the first time here -- show the group's single largest contribution, in the odd sum of $811,697 coming from one Consolacion Ediscul of Happy Valley, a Hong Kong suburb. Ediscul, whose name is Filipino, has no presence on Google or Nexis aside from this story, and people I spoke to in Jewish groups left and right had never heard of her.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Obama argues his assassination program is a "state secret".At this point, I didn't believe it was possible, but the Obama administration has just reached an all-new low in its abysmal civil liberties record. In response to the lawsuit filed by Anwar Awlaki's father asking a court to enjoin the President from assassinating his son, a U.S. citizen, without any due process, the administration last late night, according to The Washington Post, filed a brief asking the court to dismiss the lawsuit without hearing the merits of the claims.But what's most notable here is that one of the arguments the Obama DOJ raises to demand dismissal of this lawsuit is "state secrets": in other words, not only does the President have the right to sentence Americans to death with no due process or charges of any kind, but his decisions as to who will be killed and why he wants them dead are "state secrets," and thus no court may adjudicate its legality.David Rivkin, a lawyer in the White House of President George H. W. Bush, echoed that concern."I'm a huge fan of executive power, but if someone came up to you and said the government wants to target you and you can't even talk about it in court to try to stop it, that’s too harsh even for me," he said.I guess Putin must be drooling? Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Turkey’s non-Muslims also demand respect for sacred sites.Non-Muslim minorities in Turkey have expressed an expectation that their buildings of religious and historic significance deserve respect amid a debate over whether a fashion show should be held at Mardin’s Kasımiye Medrese.Some locals and civil society organizations were offended by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s plan to hold the “An Eastern Tale: Four Seasons” fashion show by famous designer Cemil İpekçi at the historic building of a medrese, an educational institution estimated to have been built in the late 15th or early 16th century. Last week the Mardin Governor’s Office stated that the building was being rented from the Diyarbakır Foundations’ Regional Directorate for cultural purposes. The statement also said the masjid (a room for worship) inside the building was not functional up until April 2009, when it was put back into use by the Mardin Governor’s Office, and a religious official led the noon and afternoon prayers there each day. “Displaying the creations of humans should not be a sin. Humanity’s efforts to produce and create can be also considered acts of worship,” he said. “But if in a fashion show the bodies of top models are displayed more than the designs, this could be disturbing. Likewise, having a belly dancer at Aya Irini would not be appropriate.”Vasiliadis added that Anatolia was full of old churches, giving an example from the Cappadocia region -- one of Turkey’s most popular tourist destinations -- which is home to hundreds of ancient monasteries and churches.“If an abandoned church will house a homeless person, this is good, but if it will be destroyed by hatred, this is not good,” he said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had prepared a report in recent years identifying the number of minorities living in Turkey -- which has a population of more than 70 million. According to the report, Turkey hosts 89,000 minorities, including 60,000 Armenians, 25,000 Jews and 3,000 to 4,000 Greeks -- most of them living in İstanbul. Those communities were in much larger numbers before political circumstances forced the minorities to leave the country.Hmmm i don't think that the number of Jews is correct.In 2006 there were about 17.500 jews living in Turkey but that number has drasticly been lowered.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Told to Eat Its Vegetables, America Orders Fries.It’s been a busy week for vegetables.Good luck. Despite two decades of public health initiatives, stricter government dietary guidelines, record growth of farmers’ markets and the ease of products like salad in a bag, Americans still aren’t eating enough vegetables.This month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a comprehensive nationwide behavioral study of fruit and vegetable consumption. Only 26 percent of the nation’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day, it concluded. (And no, that does not include French fries.) This week, the company released the 25th edition of its annual report, “Eating Patterns in America.” The news there wasn’t good, either. For example, only 23 percent of meals include a vegetable, Mr. Balzer said. (Again, fries don’t count, but lettuce on a hamburger does.) The number of dinners prepared at home that included a salad was 17 percent; in 1994, it was 22 percent.At restaurants, salads ordered as a main course at either lunch or dinner dropped by half since 1989, to a mere 5 percent, he said.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.