MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• In spiked Vanity Fair piece, Jewish leaders worry about Obama.Prominent American Jewish leaders cast doubt on President Obama's policy in the Middle East in a long article posted today on Huffington Post by the writer Ed Klein.Foxman spoke to Klein, a former New York Times Magazine editor and author of gossipy books about the Kennedys and Hillary Clinton, about a meeting that July between Jewish leaders and Obama:"I came away from the meeting convinced that Obama has introduced a new and dangerous strategy and that it's revealing itself in steps," Foxman told me. "Unlike other administrations, this one is applying linkage in the Middle East. It's saying that if you resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the messiah will come and the lions will lie down with the lambs."The piece is sharply negative, but the a Vanity Fair spokeswoman, Beth Kseniak, said it was killed for reasons of space, not content; Klein said he'd been told the same, and had no reason to doubt it.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BlazingCatFur.Imam Zijad Delic Has Many A Sudden Change Of Heart...Or Does He?Let's have a look at the Canadian Islamic Congresses latest effort at Damage Control in the wake of Peter Mackay's justified removal as a speaker at a DND Function honouring of all things absurd - "Islamic History Month". The article which you may read in full here is from today's National Post."The Canadian Islamic Congress has some credibility problems as the purported voice of Canadian Muslims. As its reform-minded executive director Zijad Delic describes it, Canada’s largest Muslim advocacy group was until recently “a mess” that needed to be “purified from within” and “totally Canadianized.”“We cannot change an organization in two years. It takes a lot of time to remove some of the stuff,” he said, referring to 9/11 conspiracy theorists on the board of the CIC’s biggest project, Islamic History Month Canada (IHMC).Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Dutch deliver banned nuclear equipment to Iranian group.Improper supply goes ahead after IAEA order; UN watchdog mum on queries as to whether it violated EU sanctions.Authorities in the Netherlands improperly supplied nuclear equipment to the sanctioned Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the Dutch Economic Affairs Ministry wrote in an October 4 letter obtained by The Jerusalem Post.According to Economic Affairs Minister Maria van der Hoeven’s letter, “That shipment contained a helium-leak detector, which was ordered by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in line with its technical cooperation program with Iran, [but] was shipped to a banned recipient (AEOI).”The UN agency’s involvement in the delivery of EUsanctioned material raises thorny questions about the role of the IAEA in monitoring Iran’s illicit proliferation efforts.The American government sanctioned the AEOI under an executive order and the US Treasury Department noted that “The AEOI manages Iran’s overall nuclear program and reports directly to the Iranian president.”According to Van der Hoeven’s letter, a second illicit shipment “consisted of products under embargo (pressure meters) for the Iranian oil and gas industry.”Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Liberals wish death on Glenn Beck.Glenn Beck has tweeted that he is going through some trouble: “I am going through something right now that I will share in the coming days. Please remember me and family in prayers over the next week,” he says.Beck said he was seeing five doctors and will be undergoing a variety of tests. Beck said, "one of them said to me the other night, we have to do all of these blood tests because we have to look for toxins and poisons, and that word stuck out to me." Instead of being the caring and tolerant people liberals claim to be, they mocked him instead.Almost instantly, Internet discussions on the Huffington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Media Matters turned cruel with many comments asking God to kill Glenn Beck. A commenter with the name of “ConservatiesDie” says, “Let’s hope Glenn found out he or his wife is HIV Positive. That will teach him a lesson.”.Source.More here.Click here for comments.

• Dead Sea to be topped up by Red Sea water.Water levels in the Dead Sea are falling sharply and farms and businesses along its shore are suffering. Lying in Jordan's Rift Valley, it is the world's saltiest sea and authorities have come up with an ambitious plan to pump water - through a pipeline from the Red Sea - to top it up.But as always with water in the Middle East, it is a contentious issue, as Ben Thompson reports.Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Hungary Says Second Spill 'Likely' From Sludge Reservoir!Hungary says there is growing risk of a new spill of toxic sludge from the damaged reservoir that has already caused the country's worst-ever environmental catastrophe.Prime Minister Viktor Orban called a second spill "likely" as authorities evacuated the village of Kolontar near the sludge reservoir today.The new spill comes as another dam threatens to give way at the reservoir of the alumina factory some 160 kilometers southwest of Budapest.Read the full story here.More here.Click here for comments.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Video: Douglas Murray - Ayaan Hirsi Ali debate "Moderates ": is Islam a Religion Of Peace :.....?Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• China mounts air exercise with Turkey, U.S. says.The air forces of China and Turkey have carried out a joint exercise, the U.S. Defense Department said on Friday, in what appeared to be the first such drill involving Beijing and a NATO member country.Turkey assured the United States it would take the "utmost care" to protect sensitive U.S. and NATO technologies, said U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Tamara Parker, a department spokeswoman.She described Turkey's government as committed to the NATO alliance and the continuation of strong ties to the United States."To the best of our knowledge, U.S.-made F-16s were not involved in the exercise," Parker said. She referred a caller to the Turkish government for details of the maneuvers.The office of the Turkish defense attache in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.James Clad, a U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia from 2007 to 2009, said the drill highlighted Turkey's "omni-directional" foreign policy.Hmmm....Iran....China.....Hezbollah...where ever that may be leading.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Let us rejoise!'Genie-possessed' girl found in Riyadh.A Saudi teen age girl whose parents say she had been kidnapped by a genie has been found in Riyadh nearly two weeks after she disappeared from her house in another city, local newspapers reported on Saturday.The 16-year-old girl was spotted wandering aimlessly in the streets of the capital by a Saudi man, who informed the police, the papers said.Police called her brother who identified the girl and took her home in the central town of Alkharj on Friday, they said.“I spoke to my sister…she is alright but she looked ill and exhausted…she asked me to take her home,” the papers quoted her brother, Mohammed bin Jarbou Alarjani, as saying after escorting his sister from a Riyadh police centre.Read the full Disney story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:philosemitism.'Throw Israel soldiers to the sea' educational game at Belgian Catholic school.In Flanders alone, during the last weekend of September, several such events took place. The city of Antwerp [!] - repeat the city of Antwerp [!] - supported, for the second year running, a "Day for Palestine". No wonder that the Antwerp Jewish community is moving out. At Bredene, NGO Belgium to Gaza held an information and sales booth at a fair. On the 30th, there was a debate in the Herent parish hall on the Israel-Palestine conflict.In the event, because of bad weather conditions, it was transferred to the school gym hall. The organiser was Griet Deknopper, a Belgian woman who took part in the flotilla supposed to break the Gaza siege. She used to be involved in Chiro, the Flemish catholic scouts, and is the niece of a CD&V alderman. The usual anti-Israel crowd always resorts to the same propaganda methods (flea markets, BBQs, music, anti-Israël propaganda: boycott calls, accusations against Dexia bank, leaflets by the far left-islam party Egalité whose incitement is well documented).I can't help wondering if the money collected is transferred directly to Hamas,so they can do the real thing?But it's not the first time that some Flemish people have truly Anti Semitic actions,some how History repeats itself.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Pakistan's youth taken back from the Taliban.Earlier this month, a respected Pakistani religious teacher was shot dead by Taliban militants. By the time of his death, the BBC's Orla Guerin reports, Dr Mohammad Farooq Khan's importance spread way beyond the classroom.On his first day in a new school last autumn, Dr Farooq knew what he was up against. When he walked into the classroom, there was a one-line message written in Urdu on the blackboard: "I will be a suicide bomber."The cordial and courteous Dr Farooq had just come face to face with a group of former Taliban recruits. These teenage boys were among the Taliban ranks when the militants were in control of the Swat Valley last spring.Dr Farooq had high hopes for those he taught. He believed they could return to their communities and get on with their lives. But he also believed that anyone released from the school should be carefully watched. Twelve have gone home so far.Pakistani has been robbed of one of the few religious scholars ready to challenge the militants, but the work at Sabaoon will continue. Others will carry on trying to free teenage boys from the long shadow of the Taliban.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BacktoBasics.How Crazy Is It?How crazy is it to keep telling people the economy is recovering when everyone knows the “stimulus” was a complete flop and unemployment is up?How crazy is it to ....?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BacktoBasics.“Communist” Is No Longer an Exaggeration.Frightened of this White House and Obama-friendly search engine management, many of my regular publishers may choose not to print this column. This is following the Obama administration’s new definition of “hate speech” which is any speech in support of the good ole USA and, more importantly, at odds with the Obama administration. This is what may cause some of my regular publishers concern, that they will lose search engine support for their publication.But so be it! Someone has to say it like it really is and if I don’t, I’m hard pressed to find anyone else in the old or new media who will.The people must engage and remain engaged, forever vigilant in defense of freedom and pursuit of prosperity or the same people who bankrupted the nation will soon bankrupt every American.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BigPeace.Open Thread: Beginning of the End in Iran?Amir Fakhravar, Secretary General of the Confederation of Iranian Students, recently spoke at the Institute for World Politics in Washington, D.C. and declared that we are witnessing the beginning of the demise of the Islamist government in Iran. “Last year when the Green Movement started, many looked at it with doubt. We, who have fought for freedom all our lives look at it as a revolution. Most scholars and so-called Iran experts and Islamic Republic lobbyists insisted that it was a civil rights movement….I would like to state my opinion clearly here. The Green Movement is unquestionably a revolution and the beginning of the end of the Islamic Republic.”Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Dr. Oz says avoid full body scanners.Scientists and health experts, including Dr. Oz are extremely concerned about the "backscatter" x-ray technology used in full body scanners at airports. The exposure to radiation is especially dangerous for frequent flyers. He explained that even though the exposure may be lower pressure, penetrating only the skin or a little deeper-the more times you walk through the more widespread the exposure.TSA officials have argued that the radiation level is so low that it is not a health concern. However, Dr. Oz explained that even though the exposure may be lower pressure, penetrating only the skin or a little more there is no evidence that any dose is safe. Additionally, if the exposure is frequent it can penetrate much deeper- especially if the machines malfunction.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Drill reaches trapped Chilean miners.Rescue workers have finished drilling an escape shaft for Chile's 33 trapped miners, offering them a way out of their underground cavern, where they have remained trapped for two months.The men have been in the San Jose gold and copper mine under the Atacama Desert, 700 kilometres north of Santiago, since Aug. 5 — longer than any miners who ever survived a collapse.The drill's success was announced with the blast of a siren that prompted cheers, tears and embraces across "Camp Hope," where families of the miners have kept vigil since the disaster began.Officials have warned it will be another three to eight days before the rescue mission can begin. Engineers must decide whether they need to reinforce the rescue shaft with steel tubing to prevent rockfalls and collapses during the rescue.Read the full story here.More here.Click here for comments.

• Lured Into a Trap, Then Tortured for Being Gay.He was told there was a party at a brick house on Osborne Place, a quiet block set on a steep hill in the Bronx. He showed up last Sunday night as instructed, with plenty of cans of malt liquor. What he walked into was not a party at all, but a night of torture — he was sodomized, burned and whipped.All punishment, the police said Friday, for being gay. There were nine attackers, ranging from 16 to 23 years old and calling themselves the Latin King Goonies, the police said. Before setting upon their 30-year-old victim, they had snatched up two teenage boys whom they beat, the police said — until the boys — one of whom was sodomized with a plunger — admitted to having had sex with the man.The break in the case came later Wednesday when someone in a crowd of onlookers outside the house quietly slipped an officer his phone number and, when a detective called, gave the name of the man believed to be the ringleader of the group of nine: Ildefonzo Mendez, 23. Officers later learned the name of the first victim from the other teenager.
  By Wednesday night, all three victims had given full accounts of the attacks, and for the next 36 hours, officers with the Hate Crimes Task Force, the Gang Division and Special Victims squad worked up a list of nine pieces of human waist suspects. Read the full hate crime story here.Click here for comments.

• Kuwaiti man sues to be a Christian.Here's something you don't see every day: A born-Muslim, in a Muslim country, wants to be a Christian. What's more, he's pressing the legal system for official recognition.Al-Jaridah reports that a 27-year-old Kuwaiti man identified as S.S. has sued the Kuwaiti Ministries of the Interior, Health and Justice, as well as the Public Authority for Civil Information. He regards himself as a Christian, and wants this to be reflected in his official documents.S.S. seems to be a brave person. Religious freedom is not a vital doctrine in Islam. Under at least some interpretations of Islam, apostasy is a capital offense. There are places where this is enforced; and there are people throughout the Islamic lands who are willing to enforce it. But Kuwait, it seems, is the sort of Muslim country where a man can sue in court to renounce Islam and be recognized as a Christian. Is it the sort of country where he might win?It will be interesting to see how this turns out.Source.Click here for comments.

• Across The Atlantic, Another Mosque Splits A City.New York is not the only city divided over the building of a mosque. In the French Mediterranean port of Marseille, construction of a large mosque is being hotly debated. Even though the cornerstone has already been laid, the project is far from being accepted by everyone.The controversy reflects the deeper tensions simmering beneath the city's surface.France's oldest and second largest city, founded by Phoenician sailors in 600 B.C., Marseille has absorbed waves of immigrants throughout its history and is now a melting pot of cultures.Many people say the mix of politics, immigration and history makes Marseille an explosive place. Only last week, the premier of a film on the Algerian War brought hundreds of angry protesters into the streets declaring that it was anti-French.Djellil sits in a café where the Arab language news channel Al Jazeera plays in the background. He says that like him, many young Muslims are now rejecting a French identity and turning toward the values and religion of their countries of origin.The faces of the Frenchmen, who are Catholic and Jewish, are deeply tanned and wrinkled, attesting to a lifetime spent under the Mediterranean sun. They say they are against the mosque, but their objections seem to be about more than religion."They come here and then they live in their own world," he says. "They absolutely do not want to integrate. Look at these crazy burkas and things like that. How can we be expected to love them?"Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Ian Buruma in Turkish "Today's Zaman" disparages rise of Islam critical parties in europe.The Tundra Tabloids finds it odd that a British writer for aTurkish paper (Todays' Zaman) bemoans the political state of affairs in Europe which sees the rise of Islam critical parties, while completely ignoring the fact that it's the influence of Islam as a religious/political in Turkey under the AKP, which has directly influenced and underlined the positions promoted by these same parties he disparages in his column.Writing in the Today's Zaman, professor Ian Buruma, of Bard college, makes mention of the Dutch Freedom Party of Geert Wilders, the Danish People’s Party, led by Pia Kjaersgaard, and Jimmy Akesson’s Sweden Democrats, in saying that they "claim to be the defenders of Western civilization against its main enemy: Islam." Interestingly enough, Buruma, without exception, fails to note the reasons why these political leaders, and their parties, have become relevant in today's European political landscape. He fails to mention that it's the valid threat of the erosion of these European civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech and the gradual chipping away at their liberal democracies and the destruction of their cultural heritage as a whole, being ignored by the political self anointed elite, that has given life to these new political parties.Note how he takes aim at the American Tea Party movement, a movement by the way, that's founded on the strict observance of the US constitution, as a member of the "populist club", but an Obama administration, who's president ran a campaign that included his own fake presidential seal, an iconic photo of "hope & change", mass faintings in the crowds of his true believers who left these events thinking that they wouldn't have to fill their gas tanks anymore or even pay their rent, .... somehow doesn't quite qualify as one.Ian Buruma is a left-wing ideologue who finds it more important to bolster his fellow socialists in Europe and in the US (Obama and like ilk) than in addressing the actual truth behind the rise of these parties, his refusal to admit anything about the present AKP's role in highlighting European fears of Islam, should not go unnoticed.Read the full story here .click here for comments.

• Europe turns right! AMSTERDAM -- Whatever happened to the good Europeans, those nice folks in small northern countries who liked to think of themselves as the world champions of liberty and tolerance?Of course, many liberal Europeans are still alive and well. But first in Denmark, then in the Netherlands, and now in Sweden, illiberal, populist parties stirring up fear of immigrants -- specifically Muslim immigrants -- have managed to gain enough power to set, or at least influence, their countries’ political agendas.These parties are not confined to Scandinavia and the Low Countries, but are part of a global wave of anger against political elites, who are blamed for all of the insecurities that come with global economics, the financial crisis, and living in more ethnically mixed societies. The psychology behind the Tea Party in the United States and the anti-immigrant parties in Europe is similar, even if their policies vary.Modern European populists don’t wear black shirts, or indulge in street violence. Their leaders are youngish men in sharp suits, who don’t use the language of race, but that of freedom and democracy.The Dutch Freedom Party (whose only member is its leader, Geert Wilders), the Danish People’s Party, led by Pia Kjaersgaard, and Jimmy Akesson’s Sweden Democrats claim to be the defenders of Western civilization against its main enemy: Islam. They talk about Western liberties, including freedom of speech, but Wilders wants to ban the Quran and the burqa, and a Danish member of parliament has called Islam “a plague upon Europe.”Did you know that Geert Wilders has left the VVD in 2004, because the VVD wants to admit Turkey to the EU and Wilders is unconditionally opposed to this?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.