MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:BacktoBasics.Pakistan Could Be Obama’s Biggest Blunder.President Barack Obama has been so preoccupied with the November elections that he has shamefully neglected foreign policy. This is especially true with regard to Pakistan — a nuclear nation that could soon tumble into the hands of Muslim extremists who want to buy a one-way ticket to paradise by killing Infidels.Despite deficits that have mounted into the trillions of dollars, the Obama administration has been downright miserly towards Pakistan. The result is a fractured Pakistan that may yet be swallowed up by jihad.According to The Express Tribune, “It is an undeniable fact that a revolution is coming in Pakistan.”Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Vatican Synod: the grim reality of the Christians of Arabia, where "there is no religious freedom".In countries where Islam is the state religion, no Muslim can convert (but Christians can become Mohammedans),where there is freedom of worship, it is limited and only in designated places. In Lebanon, Christian united among confessions, but divided politically."No religious freedom” for Christians living in Arabia, even when they are allowed (not in Saudi Arabia) to have a church. In Lebanon, however, the Arab country where the Christian presence is proportionately greater and has the constitutional and political implications (the President of the Republic is a Christian) they are united among confessions, but divided politically. These are the two experiences that have had the greatest impact yesterday at the Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, where bishops interventions continue, while work begins on the "circuli minores," the study groups.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Ahmadinejad Speaks at Israel's Doorsteps.President Who said Jewish State Should be "Wiped Off the Map" Shows Solidarity with Hezbollah on Symbolic Lebanon Visit.Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to the doorstep of his archenemy Israel Thursday, telling thousands of Hezbollah supporters in a Lebanese border town he was proud of their struggle as Israeli helicopters buzzed the skies along the frontier.The U.S. and Israel have called Ahmadinejad's visit to the border a provocation that undermines Lebanon's sovereignty.Iran, whose ties to Hezbollah date back nearly 30 years, funds the militant group to the tune of millions of dollars a year and is believed to supply much of its arsenal. Hezbollah boasts widespread support among Shiites and virtually runs a state-within-a-state in Shiite areas of Lebanon. "You proved that your resistance, your patience, your steadfastness, were stronger than all the tanks and warplanes of the enemy," Ahmadinejad said at the rally in Bint Jbeil, about two miles (four kilometers) from the border. "The people of Iran will remain by your side, and all the people in this region," he added.Read the full story here.Click here for comments. 

• Ht:ElderofZion.Ahmadinejad: "The Mahdi will come to liberate Palestine".Al Arabiya (Arabic) reports that Iranian president Ahmadinejad delivered a speech today in Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon, a few kilometers from the Israeli border.In the speech he declared that "the Mahdi will come here, accompanied by Jesus Christ" to liberate Palestine and allow the millions of Arabs of Palestinian descent to move there in his wake.Hmmm....related to the Islamic Group Organizing Giant Prayer Service in Front of U.S. Capitol to Trumpet the “Return of the Muslim Prophet Jesus”?Read the full story here.Click here for comments. 

• Iran to hold Opec presidency for first time in 36 years.Iran will assume the presidency of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) for the first time in 36 years.Iran, which takes over from Ecuador, is Opec's second-largest oil producer and holds about 10% of world oil reserves.At the meeting in Vienna, Opec also agreed to keep its oil production target unchanged at about 24.8 million barrels a day.Read the full story here.Click here for comments. 

• New documents uncovered by Judicial Watch show Pelosi took 85 trips on military aircraft in 15 months.Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and members of her family and staff took 85 tax-paid trips on military aircraft between March 2, 2009, and June 7, 2010, according to new documents uncovered by Judicial Watch.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Turkey to seek NATO consensus on missile.Turkey will approve a plan for NATO's possession of a missile-defense system only if it is convinced that there is a concrete threat against all NATO members or at least a perceived threat among all NATO members, officials said on Wednesday.As far as Turkey’s decision is concerned, Townsend said what the US is seeing in Turkey is not ambivalence and reluctance, but an attempt to balance what it knows is important for European, transatlantic and Turkish security and how this fits in with Turkey’s political calculations in the region.Good luck with this,Turkey will never accept the possibility of an Islamic(Iran-Pakistan)threat.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Christian refugees turning to prostitution to survive.For Mgr Audo, bishop of Aleppo, and Fr Farid Botros, a Chaldean Catholic priest in Damascus, the problem is growing.Damascus – Chaldean Christian refugees from Iraq are turning to prostitution in order to survive in Syria. Fr Farid Botros, head of the Chaldean community in the Syrian capital, is concerned about the trend, which is growing to hitherto unknown levels. “We have about 4,000 Chaldean families from Iraq, some fled with just the clothes on their back with a death threat hanging over them. Under Syrian law, they cannot work. Many do something underground; others, more and more, turn to prostitution,” he said.Interfaith dialog at it's best?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:JIDF.Star of David/Israeli Flags BANNED at UEFA Soccer Game in Milan.A friend of the JIDF, Matthew Gilbert, has informed us that the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League soccer game between Inter Milan and Tottenham Hotspur (with Inter being the home team), have banned the Star of David flags from entering the stadium. Whether this is a move on Inter or UEFA's part is unknown.Flags and banners with appropriate wording would be welcome at the Stadium, but the Police Authorities have advised that those flags showing the Star of David will not be allowed access and may be confiscated. Please respect this request.Anyone still doubting we are re-living the 1930's?How long before there's a repeat of the "KristalNacht"?Read the full story here.Click here for comments. 

• Beheadings, hangings plague Tijuana amid festival.A rash of decapitations and other gruesome killings have hit Tijuana since Mexican President Felipe Calderon visited the border city last week and called it a success in his drug war.The most recent killing occurred just before midnight Tuesday when motorists found a decapitated body underneath a bridge on a road leading to the beachside neighborhood of Playas de Tijuana, according to a police report Wednesday.Reporters at the scene saw a rope hanging from the bridge, suggesting the man had been hung from his feet but was too heavy and plunged into oncoming traffic.The discovery came a day after two other beheaded bodies were found hanging from their feet in Tijuana.Police said they were still conducting forensic tests on the body found Tuesday and had no immediate comment on the identity of the man or the circumstances of his death.Earlier Tuesday, police found a human head inside a bag in another Tijuana neighborhood, but it did not belong to the body found underneath the bridge.According to police reports, at least 16 people have been killed in the city since Sunday — a surge from the normal rate of about two homicides a day.Worst Christmas gift idea for 2010 A trip to Mexico?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:TeaandPolitics.Pakistan:Jamaat e Islami chief slams Pope Benedict's statement against Political Islam.The Jamaat e Islami cheif, Syed Munawar Hasan, has strongly reacted to the Vatican statement declaring the promotion of political Islam as a great threat, and said that the Vatican had also joined the crusade already going on against Islam and the Muslims.Commenting on the Vatican statement, he said this showed that the entire talk of inter-faith dialogue and relations and tolerance were a farce.He said the world peace and the Middle East were threatened by the US- Israel collusion while Islam, the Islamic civilization and the Muslim masses were the target of biased Christian rulers, and now the Christian religious leaders too had joined them.The JI chief explained that Islam had its own political system, its culture and civilization, besides also delivering an economic system based on equity and service to the humanity.He berated the way the Western civilization and the capitalistic system had divided the humanity had added to poverty and started an arms race. "Islam provided political and economic solutions to the current human problems," he added.Welcome to A.D. 620?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Jolie Film Blocked In Bosnia After Objections To Story Line.The film -- Jolie's directorial debut -- is a love story set during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. According to Sarajevo media, the main characters are a Muslim girl who is raped by a Serbian soldier with whom she later falls in love. The minister of culture for the Muslim-Croat Federation, Gavrilo Grahovac, retracted Jolie's permits after activist group "Women -- War Victims" said the film's story was "unacceptable" and could cause rape victims "further emotional pain."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Sponsor of National Prayer Breakfast received money from alleged terrorist group.A group of Ohio ministers has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the organization that sponsors the National Prayer Breakfast because it received money six years ago from an alleged Islamic terrorist organization trying to finance illicit lobbying.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Walking could protect brain against shrinking, US research says.Neurologists who monitored 300 volunteers over 13 years say walkers could be defending themselves against memory loss.The historian George Macaulay Trevelyan wrote in 1913 that he had two doctors: "My left leg and my right". Now a report appears to show that the simple medicine of putting one foot in front of another is a potential defence against dementia and Alzheimer's.Walking may protect the brain against shrinking and preserve memory in the elderly, according to research by US neurologists who monitored 300 volunteers over 13 years.The data lends statistical authority to anecdotal findings, including the legendary perambulations of Alfred Wainwright, Benny Rothman and the Guardian's Harry Griffin.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Rape 'impossible' in marriage, says Muslim cleric.A senior Muslim cleric who runs the country's largest network of sharia courts has sparked controversy by claiming that there is no such thing as rape within marriage.Sheikh Maulana Abu Sayeed, president of the Islamic Sharia Council in Britain, said that men who rape their wives should not be prosecuted because "sex is part of marriage". And he claimed that many married women who alleged rape were lying.His comments have angered senior police officers, who say that such statements undermine the work they do to encourage women to report rape, a notoriously under-reported crime.He told the website: "Clearly there cannot be any rape within the marriage. Maybe aggression, maybe indecent activity... Because when they got married, the understanding was that sexual intercourse was part of the marriage, so there cannot be anything against sex in marriage. Of course, if it happened without her desire, that is no good, that is not desirable.Later he told this newspaper: "In Islamic sharia, rape is adultery by force. So long as the woman is his wife, it cannot be termed as rape. It is reprehensible, but we do not call it rape."British law was changed in 1991, making rape within marriage illegal.Dave Whatton, Chief Constable of Cheshire and spokesman on rape for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: "We know that the majority of rapes do not take place through strangers attacking women late at night but between acquaintances and within marriages and partnerships."It is a fundamental principle that sharia law should not replace the laws of the UK. Putting out views that rape can be dealt with in another way fundamentally undermines everything we are trying to do."The cleric's comments come just days after Germaine Greer suggested that rape victims should name and shame their attackers online instead of reporting it to the police.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• India's richest man Mukesh Ambani moves into £630m home.The richest man in India, Mukesh Ambani, has moved into his new home in Mumbai which is 27 storeys high and worth £630m. Ambani, his wife and three children have moved into the building which is named Antilia, after a mythical Island. It contains a health club with a gym and dance studio, at least one studio, a ballroom, guestrooms and a range of lounges and a 50 seater cinema.There is even an elevated garden with ceiling space to accommodate small trees.Well that proves the saying "Money can't buy taste?"Read and see the whole story here .Click here for comments.

• HT:JIDF.Official "Israel" YouTube Channel Launched.First Facebook and Twitter, and now YouTube, are part of Israel’s initiatives in digital diplomacy. The Foreign Ministry launched its official YouTube channel on Wednesday. The channel features nearly 130 videos about life in Israel.Until Wednesday, all of the Foreign Ministry’s videos were presented on the IsraelMFA page.The launch of the Israel YouTube account comes a month after the Foreign Ministry paid a Spanish man $3,000 to release the rights to the @Israel Twitter page.Chaim Shacham, the director of the Foreign Ministry’s information and Internet department, pushed the effort to obtain the Twitter and YouTube accounts, and he is now in talks with Facebook to take control of their Israel page.Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Iranian Intellectuals To Lebanese People: 'Ahmadinejad Doesn't Deserve Your Trust'.A group of about 30 Iranian journalists, intellectuals, and academics based in the United States, Canada, and Europe have said in an open letter addressed to the people of Lebanon that they should not be fooled by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, whom they accuse of being up to no good.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Leading Iranian Reformist Party Member Arrested.A senior leader of the recently banned Islamic Iran Participation Front has been arrested in Tehran "for reasons related to national security," RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.Tehran Prosecutor Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi announced the arrest of Participation Front leader Ali Shakurirad on October 13.Arash Ghafouri, a member of the Participation Front living in the United States, told Radio Farda that Shakurirad was summoned to court on October 12 to "give some explanations."Ghafouri said Shakurirad did not return home and his whereabouts are unknown.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:ShalomLife.Livni: Stop Comparing Terrorists with Israeli Soldiers.Just hours before her talk in Toronto last Wednesday for the 2011 UJA campaign, Tzipi Livni met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York to tell him in no uncertain terms that the U.N. must stop giving Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a platform to speak. “I told him the U.N. must be responsible not to spread Ahmadinejad’s hatred.”“Economic sanctions against Iran are not enough,” she told the sold out audience. “We need to add to this energy, [sanctions] and the delegitimization of their leaders.” She called on the world to toughen its stance on Iran. “They threaten the entire world, not only Israel,” she said.She strongly believes Israel needs to work hand-in-hand with the Diaspora. “The struggle against anti-Semitism is a joint struggle,” she said. “The struggle for the existence of Israel is a joint struggle. Together we can write the next chapter of world Jewry.As a souvenir of her visit to Toronto she was presented with a Blue Jays shirt. On the back was the number 18, with her name, Livni.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:SultanKnish.The Vanishing Christians of the Middle East.The Synod of Bishops for the Middle East is meant to address the decline of Christians in the Muslim world. The reason for the decline is obvious. It is the willingness to discuss that reason which is at issue.Christians in the Middle East are a minority in a Muslim region. Even the more moderate Muslim countries, such as Egypt, marginalize Christians and routinely deprive them of basic civil rights. Egypt is an American ally and nearly 10 percent of the country is Christian, yet that 10 percent live as second-class citizens, discriminated against and constantly subject to violence.The rising tide of Islamization has made it more dangerous than ever to be a non-Muslim in a Muslim country, in ways that range from everyday discrimination to terrorist attacks. But the West is suffused by a narrative which insists that Islam is tolerant and promotes tolerance. Such a false narrative makes it extremely difficult to address or recognize the problem.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• What's next for net neutrality debate?Net neutrality is at a standstill. On the campaign trail, an open Internet was one of President Barack Obama’s top technology priorities. Over the past five months, telecom and Internet companies have taken multiple stabs at coming up with a compromise for the controversial issue.But it was all for naught — at least for now. Talks fell apart at the Federal Communications Commission over the summer. Last month, the latest effort to craft a legislative fix failed when Republicans refused to support a proposal by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.).So what’s next? Here’s how the parties view the current state of play — and how they hope to move ahead.Congress: Waxman said he would “not close the door on moving legislation this Congress” on Net neutrality, adding that “cooler heads may prevail after the elections.”Cooler heads being a rare commodity in Washington these days, there’s no guarantee the politics will be less tricky after Nov. 2. If Democrats retain control of the House, Republicans may be willing to revisit the proposal, sources say. But if Republicans gain control of the House, they’ll probably want to come up with their own set of ground rules.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Iranian 'work accident' destroyed Shehab-3 missiles? More than 18 Revolutionary guards were killed and 14 others wounded in an explosion Tuesday at a base of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRG) Corps in the Western Iranian province of Lurestan, reported Iran's official news agency IRNA Wednesday.The base houses underground launching and storage facilities for Iran's medium-range Shahab-3 ballistic missiles, said research group Global Security.Lorestan Governor General Hassan Shariatnejad visited the injured persons hospitalized and offered his condolences over the tragic incident. Local officials declared a two-day mourning Wednesday and a funeral was scheduled for Thursday.The blast destroyed Shehab-3 missiles? And it was carried out by our sometimes (should be always) allies the Kurds?If you look at the map, you will see that the Shehab-3 can hit Israel and a chunk of Europe.Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:PajamasMedia.Congressional Muslim Staffers Hosted Second Al-Qaeda Cleric on Capitol Hill.a recent New York Post article about how Johnson’s former employer, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), complained to Homeland Security in 2006 about the questioning of another al-Qaeda-linked cleric, Anwar Hajjaj, stated that Hajjaj was then leading prayers for the Muslim staffers on Capitol Hill.In fact, Meeks invoked Hajjaj’s continued presence on the Hill to demonstrate that he was a “highly regarded” Islamic scholar.The presence of two al-Qaeda clerics on Capitol Hill — hosted by Muslim congressional staffers — is problematic on several levels. As we see in Rep. Meeks’ intervention in Hajjaj’s case, it is his involvement with Muslim staffers on the Hill that was invoked to demonstrate his acceptability. Thus, these high-level government contacts give these terror-tied clerics legitimacy and cover from media and public scrutiny.Another deleterious effect was identified by a group of Muslim leaders who spoke on Capitol Hill earlier this month, hosted by Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), who complained that the mainstreaming of terror-tied Islamic clerics by government officials ends up crowding-out the voices of true moderate leaders — many of whom have been openly critical of Muslim Brotherhood-backed infiltration efforts.But the stories of al-Qaeda clerics Anwar al-Awlaki and Anwar Hajjaj leading prayers on Capitol Hill raise even more questions about who else the Congressional Muslim Staff Association has been hosting in the People’s House. That’s a question members of Congress and other media outlets ought to be asking.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• 'Burka rage' teacher faces jail in France after ripping off Muslim woman's face veil.A retired teacher is facing three years in prison for ripping off a Muslim’s face veil in the world’s first known case of ‘burka rage’.The 63-year-old woman, so far only referred to by her first name Marlene, appeared before the Paris Correctional Court to defend her attack on Shaika, 26, who originally comes from the United Arab Emirates.Marlene, who is accused of aggravated violence, is said to have ‘lost control’ when she saw Shaika choosing furniture in a department store. ‘I knew I would crack one day,’ said Marlene. ‘This whole saga of the burka was really getting to me.’‘When I saw a burka in a Paris shop I thought it was very provocative. I did not hit or use any violence against this woman. I just wanted to pull her burqa off. I know I shouldn’t have got angry, but I lost it.’Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BigPeace.Douglas Murray: Is Islam a Religion of Peace?On October 11, 2010, The Centre for Social Cohesion Director Douglas Murray and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch politician and renowned author, won a major debate in New York organised by Intelligence Squared. They were arguing against the motion that ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. Arguing for the motion were Maajid Nawaz, former member of the extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, and Zeba Khan, a writer and advocate for Muslim-American civic engagement.Today, on Frank Gaffney’s Secure Freedom Radio, Douglas joined Frank to discuss the controversial proposition, its content, and surprising outcome.Listen to the whole story here.Click here for comments.

• Jewish Businessman Gifting Rescued Miners.A Chilean Jewish mining executive has written $10,000 checks to each of the 33 miners that are being rescued from a collapsed mine in Chile after being trapped for more than two months. Leonardo Farkas reportedly gave the checks in the miners’ names to each of the families and set up a separate fund to collect donations, The Associated Press reported. The money is more than some of the miners earn in a year.May God bless him for his kindness.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BacktoBasics.Gingrich sounds off on Obama eligibility.Former House Speaker and potential GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich used an appearance on Spanish-language television to sound off on questions surrounding President Obama’s birthplace and religious faith, declaring the president has an “obligation” to figure out why so many Americans doubt his life story.“If I were the president, that would really concern me, not because of Fox News or talk radio or Rush Limbaugh, but what is there that he’s doing that would let that many people be confused?” Gingrich said on Univision’s “Al Punto,” according to a report from The Hill.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• This could be a short fight: Nepalese teen bids to take world's smallest man title from Colombian dancer Nino.An inch in height might be no biggy to you or I but in the competition to be the world's shortest man it makes a giant difference.The current holder of the title is Edward Nino Hernandez, a 24-year-old Colombian dancer who measures just 27ins and who was officially recognised by Guinness on Monday.But Nino's reign is likely to be short because because Nepalese teenager Khagendra Thapa Magar is, metaphorically at least, looking over his shoulder.Read and see the full story here,for more on similar records click here.Click here for comments.