MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• White House Insider: "They were in shock at the president’s behavior."Our latest interview with the White House Insider reveals a Democratic Party civil war, with growing opposition to the Obama White House.So how many seats do you see Democrats losing in the House? At least 50 – possibly a bit more. It will be worse than what we saw in 1994, and I was around for that ass-kicking.It is as bad as I and some others feared it would be for us a couple months ago. Nothing has improved - maybe a few races here and there have tightened, but overall, it’s looking very bad for us. Actually worse than the national polling data currently suggests even.I’ll give you an example of why President Obama is not right for America. He sure as hell has not been right for the party. Not long ago, the president took a meeting. He’s late, which apparently is becoming more and more common with him. The meeting was almost cancelled. In strolls the president, joking with an aide. He plops down on a sofa, leans over and claps another guy on the back asking how he’s been. Apologizes for being late, says he was “held up”. He laughs some more. The meeting begins. After just ten minutes, during which time the president appears to almost totally withdraw into himself, an aide walks in and whispers something to the president, who then nods and quickly stands up, shakes a few hands and tells another aide to update him later on the rest of the meeting. As the president is walking out he is laughing at something yet again. He asked no questions of those at the meeting – not one. He left after just ten minutes, coming in laughing and leaving laughing. His behavior during that brief time he was there was described as “borderline manic”.Care to know what that particular meeting was about on that day?Certainly. Afghanistan. That meeting was an update on Afghanistan, and the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief, could give a -expletive-.Were you actually there to witness this? No, I was long gone from the White House by then. It was told to me though by someone who was. They were there. First hand. They were also left to apologize to the ones left in the room after the president left. Some of these were military. They were not happy. No…that is not accurate. They were pissed. They didn’t say much at the time, but word got back. They were in shock at the president’s behavior. The country had just lost a number of soldiers the week prior, the public opinion on the war was falling…and the president didn’t seem to care. He arrives late, leaves early, appears to emotionally shut down during the actual discussion, and to then start laughing once again as he is leaving…how does someone reconcile with that kind of behavior? I can’t. It turns my stomach. I didn’t want to believe what I was being told, but I had seen similar kinds of behavior from the president myself, and I can’t dispute the credibility of the source. They have no reason to lie.Hmmmm......an American President Commander in Chief Laughes while American troops die?WHY?Read the full story here and here.Click here for comments.

• Islamophobia nourished by ignorance, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf says.Attending the World Forum of Spiritual Culture, recently held in Astana, Kazakhstan, Rauf made exclusive statements to the Cihan news agency. He claimed that Westerners’ lack of knowledge about Islam had led them to harbor prejudices and fears about the religion and explained that the source of prejudice against Islam in the West is not the Sept. 11 attacks but Islamophobia, which is caused by a lack of knowledge of Islam and provocative media articles.Rauf also noted that religious leaders, politicians and faith organizations gave their project strong support, adding that even President Barack Obama was in favor of the project. “We are now trying to explain to the people that it will be a cultural complex that will be constructed, not solely a mosque,” he said.Hmmmmm........what happened to "It's not a mosque."?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Secret Israeli-Arab study program sparks anger.(Video) For 12 years Israeli students join Arab counterparts worldwide in unique medical program. Former Jordanian participant: I changed my mind about Israel. Jordanian organization calls project 'Zionistic brainwashing'.For the past decade Israeli and Arab students from different countries have been involved in a joint medical program, which understandably has been kept secret. The first to go public about the project was the BBC network in Arabic, who managed to anger many people in the Arab world. In a TV report broadcasted recently, it was said that this project has been operating for over a decade and is perceived as an academic normalization between Israel and the Arab world. Each year around 30 Israeli students attend this two-year program, meeting with other students every few months in Israel, Jordan or Europe, where they study and spend time together.Rafiyah views the joint discussions, meals and quality time spent with Israeli and Arab students as an Israeli attempt to show a different side, something he considers to be "very dangerous and even more so when done secretly".Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Updated : Major quake hits off Indonesia coast. Temblor was magnitude 7.7.Death toll rises after Indonesia tsunami.At least 23 people have been killed and 167 are missing in Indonesia after a localised tsunami triggered by Monday's earthquake off the coast of Sumatra. A powerful earthquake hit off western Indonesia late Monday, briefly triggering a tsunami warning that sent thousands of panicked residents fleeing to high ground. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.The 7.7-magnitude temblor struck at a depth of 9 miles off Sumatra island, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency initially issued a tsunami warning, but ended it a short while later.At least five towns in the provinces of Bengkulu and West Sumatra were badly jolted, officials and witnesses said, as were the nearby Mentawai islands. Read and see the full story here ,more here.Click here for comments.

• Sri Lanka’s president has appealed for clemency for a maid in a Saudi Arabia prison sentenced to death by beheading.A government statement released Tuesday says President Mahinda Rajapaksa has written to Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz seeking clemency after a court confirmed the death sentence of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek for killing an infant five years ago.Nafeek was sentenced to death in 2007, sparking protests by international human rights groups that say Nafeek was a minor when the incident took place.Earlier reports had said the baby died when she was bottle-feeding him. She was arrested for murdering the child, a charge confirmed by a Saudi court.With her family unable to foot the bill of litigation, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) based in Hong Kong had taken it up by paying SR150,000 to Saudi law firm Khateb Al-Shammary in a contract to defend her.the AHRC director for policy and programmes Basil Fernando sought his immediate intervention to save the life of the girl who has already spent nearly five years in prison.In the letter, Fernando noted that the sentence would have been carried without anyone’s knowledge if not for a media report about the maid’s appeal being dismissed.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Venezuela's Chavez Orders State Takeover Of U.S. Glass-Maker. In a televised speech on October 25, Chavez criticized the company's practices, saying it had been taking money from Venezuelans, destroying the environment and exploiting Venezuelan people."Owens Illinois is a North American company that has been here for years, exploiting workers for years, destroying the environment over there, over there in Trujillo [Venezuelan state]. Go look at the mountains they have destroyed and they are taking money from Venezuelans," Chavez said.Outraged American President in ...3...2...Gone Golfing.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:IMRA.United Arabic Emirates Opens Naval Base to Bypass Hormuz. DUBAI - The United Arab Emirates has opened a naval base on its east coast as part of efforts to secure its ability to export oil in the event Iran closes the strategic Strait of Hormuz, local media reported Oct. 21.Almost all oil exports from OPEC's fourth-largest producer now go through Gulf waters and the narrow strait which separates the UAE from Iran before reaching the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.The opening ceremony for the new base, in the emirate of Fujairah on the Arabian Sea, was held on Oct. 20.The base will "provide a quick response to natural and man-made disasters that may occur at sea, in addition to ... ensuring safe and quick passage for its oil exports," the official WAM news agency said.Having "a naval base in Fujairah would give the UAE more capabilities to protect its economic zone and its strategic facility, the port down there, which will be a major point of export for oil and gas," said Riad Kahwaji, founder of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis in Dubai.Kahwaji said that two pipelines from Abu Dhabi to Fujairah - one for oil and another for gas - have been announced."We've heard over the news for the past few years the threats directly and indirectly from Iran of closing the Strait of Hormuz if it was attacked," Kahwaji said.Countries like Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain and Iraq ... are really blocked in if the Strait of Hormuz is closed," he said.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Frank Caprio: Obama Can Take His Endorsement and "Shove It".Rhode Island's Democratic candidate for governor Frank Caprio on Monday dissed President Obama for refusing to endorse him, telling a talk radio host that Mr. Obama "can take his endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned."Mr. Obama travels to the Ocean State today for a set of Democratic fundraisers, as well as a visit to a factory. The White House told reporters yesterday, however, that Mr. Obama will not endorse Caprio or any other candidate in the race. Caprio is in a heated contest against Republican John Robitaille and Republican-turned-Independent Lincoln Chafee -- an early Obama ally when he ran for president.In an interview with WPRO-AM this morning, Caprio criticized the president for fundraising in Rhode Island today, after ignoring the state during the spring's record flooding."Now he's coming into Rhode Island treating us like an ATM machine," he said.In response to Caprio's comment that Mr. Obama could "shove it," Burton acknowledged that "emotions are running high" in the race.Yeah whatevah.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:KleinVerzet.Just typical.Isn't this just typical of the EUnion. The minutes of the toy European parliament are trying to hide a confrontation between Turkish minister of European Affairs Egemen Bagis and MEP for the PVV Barry Madlener, so reports De Volkskrant (NL).There was a confrontation between Bagis and Madlener took place last May in a meeting between Turkish and EUnion parliamentarians. During that meeting Madlener asked some pointed questions about the refusal of the Turkish government to meet with a delegation of Dutch parliament that included Geert Wilders.You are good friends with Iranian dictator Ahmadinejad, while you shun my party's leader. It is a disgrace.Bagis is reported as answering : Racism is a dangerous disease from which Europe suffers much. It is clear there are still people suffering from it. Mr Madlener, we will cure you.According to Madlener this was the most noteworthy moment of the meeting, yet someone scouring the minutes would look in vain for it.In the meantime Madlener, understandably miffed, is taking this incident quite seriously. 'I am not a racist. I am against Turkey joining the European Union, and I am critical if islam. That doesn't make me a racist'. He is asking for inclusion of the confrontation in the minutes: 'Minutes should be an honest reflection of what was said'.Evidently the EUnion begs to differ...Hmmmm....."who needs ennemies with such friends"?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BloggerBase.Obamination: "endowed by their Creator'".I found this video clip at The Party of Know. President Barack Hussein Obama was using a teleprompter when he omitted the crucial phrase "endowed by their Creator" from the Declaration of Independence. Since that was not the only incidence of omission, we can assume that it was deliberate, not accidental.In a recent rant on his radio show, Sean Hannity asked why the President made that omission. The general assumption would be that he did so in compliance with the ACLU/AUSCS party line which denies the Creator any role in government. By the same token, we might assume that he included the phrase in a later speech because of political heat stirred up by Hannity and other commentators. I will offer a different, less benign explanation.Islamic doctrine includes a tactic of casting terror1 to weaken its victims, rendering them incapable of effectively resisting Islamic conquest. The modern implementation of that tactic involves the destruction of the victim's faith.The following quote is from a Pakistani Army training manual by Brig. S.K. Malik.(Country which Obama visited during a college trip to Pakistan)To instill terror into the hearts of the enemy, it is essential, in the ultimate analysis, to dislocate his Faith. An invincible Faith is immune to terror. A weak Faith offers inroads to terror.To succeed in terrorizing us, Islam must first weaken or destroy our faith in God. Since the end of WW2, Communists have been attempting to erode our faith for the purpose of easing the triumph of Communism. In my opinion, President Obama is attempting to erode our faith to ease the triumph of Islam.Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:NewZeal.Must-See Weather Underground Documentary.The entire 2002 documentary entitled "The Weather Underground" is now available to watch for free on YouTube. In the below excellently produced documentary, former members of the Weather Underground reflect candidly about the idealistic passion that drove them to "bring the war home". In it they paint a compelling portrait of troubled and revolutionary times, with unexpected and often striking connections to the current world situation.Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• UCLA Cuts Off Admission to Islamic Studies Program.It looks like another victory against Islamofascism is underway. UCLA made a daring move to temporarily freeze all admissions into its Islamic Studies program. As a result, several protests broke out on October 22nd, 2010, at the UC campus by the Muslim Students Association in wake of the decision.Why waste money on an ineffective program that breeds contempt for our nation? These “educational” programs are largely sympathetic to anti-American views that have proven dismal and dangerous in America.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Religious demands rise in French state schools - study.Muslim pupils and parents in France are increasingly making religious demands on the state school system that teachers should rebuff by explaining the country's secular principles, according to an official report.The High Council for Integration (HCI) reported growing problems with pupils of immigrant backgrounds who object to courses about the Holocaust, the Crusades or evolution, demand halal meals and "reject French culture and its values.""We should now reaffirm secularism and train teachers how to deal with specific problems linked to the respect for this principle," it said.France's strict separation of church and state relegates religion to the private sphere, an approach challenged by a growing Islamic identity among some of the five million Muslims in the country's 65 million population."Teachers regularly find that Muslim parents refuse to have their children learn about Christianity," it said. "Some think it amounts to evangelisation.""Anti-Semitism ... surfaces during courses about the Holocaust, such as inappropriate jokes and refusals to watch films" about Nazi concentration camps, it said. "Tensions often come from pupils who identify themselves as Muslims."During Ramadan, some Muslim pupils harass others who don't observe the annual daytime fast, it said. Boys who identify themselves as Muslims and reject French values harass girls who do well in class as "collaborators" with the "dirty French."Some girls ask to be excused from gymnasium or pool sessions because they are not supposed to mix with boys, it added.The report said French schools must insist on co-education, equal rights and mutual respect. "Being a French citizen means accepting challenges to one's opinions ... this is the price to pay for the freedom of opinion and expression."Must we recall that the crime of blasphemy has not existed in France since the French Revolution?" it asked.Hmmmmm.......Liberté, égalité, fraternité?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Pakistani Army Allows Taliban to Move to New Sanctuary in Kurram Agency While Finally Agreeing To Carry Out Operation Against Militant Commanders in North Waziristan.While the Pakistani Army has agreed in principle to conduct an operation against the Taliban safe haven of North Waziristan, it appears that a move is already underway to shift the militants to a new sanctuari.Hmmmm........perhaps give Pakistan a few Billion Dollars more?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:NewsRealBlog.Obama: Pelosi Will Go Down In History As One Of The Finest Speakers In The United States Of America.Mind you, Congress only has an approval rating of 20%, (and I think we all know who those 20% are). Moreover, in eight days, the American people are expected to rebuke Pelosi’s Dem-led 111th Congress by booting 40-70+ of them out of office.Yeah, she’s doing a bang-up job.Truth be told, she will go down in history as one of the most profoundly dishonest, and atrociously partisan, lefty hacks we’ve ever seen in the speakership.Of course, Obama loves her.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:MichelleMalkin.Voter fraud watch: They’re at it again.Here we go again. Desperation plus the by-any-means-necessary credo plus a nationwide force of Alinsky avengers equals another recipe for voter fraud.Read the full scam story here.Click here for comments.

• Eastern Islam and the 'clash of civilizations'.Globalization is giving a harder edge to the softer strain of Islam in East Asia. Meanwhile, China's rising economic activity in the region is importing a glitzy capitalism and fueling consumerism.Islam was spread quickly by the sword from Arabia westward across North Africa, the history books tell us, and is supposedly prone to the extremities of thought to which deserts give rise. But there is a whole other side to Islamic history that has been obscured, even as it illuminates a key strategic geography of the 21st century. While we in the United States have concentrated on the western half of the Islamic world in the Middle Eastern deserts, there is an eastern half in the green forests and jungles of the tropics where global energy routes and merchant sea traffic now intersect.Whereas 20% of Muslims live in the Middle East, 60% are in Asia, according to the Pew Research Center. The Arab world plus Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan — the geographical summation of our own wars and trepidations — comprises 632 million Muslims. But in India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia and the southern Philippines, there are an additional 565 million Muslims. And as the burgeoning middle-class fleshpots of East Asia require increasing amounts of oil and natural gas from the Middle East, China has been aggressively courting the eastern Islamic world, which sits astride the main sea lanes of communication to the Middle East.Who will win the battle for the hearts and minds of Muslim East Asia — the extremist Saudis or the materialistic Chinese? We should be rooting for the Chinese.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:IslaminEurope.Netherlands: Muslim gays abused in asylum centers.Secret Garden, an organization of Muslim gays and lesbians, says they've received 158 complaints in the past 18 months from gay asylum seekers who have been abused in asylum centers in the Netherlands.Secret Garden published interviews with several asylum-seekers (PDF, NL) waiting in asylum centers in the Netherlands.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Islamic Party Cries Foul As Tajikistan's 'Women's Mosque' Burns. Tajikistan's Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) says a fire that destroyed the party's cultural center in Dushanbe -- widely known as the "women's mosque" -- was not an accident.The building, adjacent to the party's headquarters and its main prayer hall, was almost completely destroyed by fire on the afternoon of October 23.The religious center functioned as the only mosque in Tajikistan that allowed women to pray alongside men.IRP leaders say the incident took place a day after officials from the country's Religious Affairs Committee visited the center to tell the party to stop using the building for prayers."I see a direct connection between the delegation's visit and this fire," Hayit was quoted by the IRP's website as saying.The mosque is at the center of a long-running dispute between Tajik officials and the IRP, the only officially registered Islamic party in Central Asia.The state Committee for Religious Affairs insists the building is not officially registered as a prayer house and that political parties should not have mosques.Tajik religious authorities banned women from attending mosque prayers in 2004. No official reason was given, but pro-government clerics had argued that the Hanafi school of Sunni Islam -- followed by a majority of Tajiks -- does not require women to attend mosque prayers. But the decision sparked some protests by women and religious leaders, who criticized it as a violation of women's rights.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• America's largest corporations begin sending profits overseas to avoid paying US taxes.Google 2.4% Rate Shows How $60 Billion Lost to Tax Loopholes.Google Inc. cut its taxes by $3.1 billion in the last three years using a technique that moves most of its foreign profits through Ireland and the Netherlands to Bermuda.Google’s income shifting -- involving strategies known to lawyers as the “Double Irish” and the “Dutch Sandwich” -- helped reduce its overseas tax rate to 2.4 percent, the lowest of the top five U.S. technology companies by market capitalization, according to regulatory filings in six countries.“The system is broken and I think it needs to be scrapped,” said Avi-Yonah, also a special counsel at law firm Steptoe & Johnson LLP in Washington D.C. “Companies are getting away with murder.”Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• A European Lynch Mob Is Coming For Bank of America.I pity CEO Brian Moynihan and the 284,000 other employees of Bank of America Corp (BAC). That includes 15,000 Merrill Lynch brokers who are still recovering from the financial crisis and now have to explain to their clients why they work for a firm that is at the epicenter of America’s housing crisis.If it all plays out the way Mauldin is predicting, there is a lynch mob gathering and Bank of America and other big subprime pushers like Citigroup are firmly in their sights. It is no wonder John Paulson is apparently getting a bit nervous about BAC’s prospects.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• SocGen's Albert Edwards: The U.S. Public Is About To Revolt.Albert Edwards of Societe Generale thinks U.S. citizens are on the brink of a political revolt, based on a declining standard of living brought on by an inefficient economic relationship with China.Here's why, according to Edwards:This would happen in any nation where a vision of prosperity has been shown to be a Ponzi sham, engineered by the authorities to help disguise the fact that the rich have been getting a whole lot richer.What Edwards sees is the depressed state of the U.S. citizen getting worse. He sees unemployment rising and another recession near.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:PajamasMedia.The Super La Nina and the Coming Winter.A super La Nina is developingHistorically, these strong La Nina events drop the Earth’s average temperature around one degree Fahrenheit, and the drop comes quickly. As a result, some of the same places that had record heat this summer may suffer through record cold this winter.La Nina is the lesser-known colder sister of El Nino. La Nina chills the waters of the tropical Pacific Ocean, and in turn cools the entire planet for one to two years or more. This chilling has the potential to bring bone-numbing cold to many parts of the world for this and the following winter. As a result, world energy demand may spike in the next one to two years as much colder weather hits many of the major industrial nations.This La Nina appears to be special, at least so far. It is well on its way to being the strongest of these events since the super La Nina of 1955-1956. During that powerful La Nina that lasted two years, the global average temperature fell nearly one degree Fahrenheit from 1953 to 1956.The current La Nina is coming on stronger than any in decades. The world is demanding more and more energy to fuel growth even in hard economic times. This winter may test the world energy supplier’s ability to provide it. The resulting increase in demand could produce a spike in energy costs. This could bring more hardship to people who are suffering through this long and deep recession. It remains to be seen if this La Nina equals or exceeds the super La Nina of 1955/56. Right now El Nino’s colder sister is on the fast track to generate more temperature extremes and a very cold winter in some parts of the world.MFS : "Then there are also those who believe that a halt in the Gulfstream might trigger a new Ice Age.Who's gone be right"?Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Saudi woman jailed for disobeying father freed.Governor of the Mecca region ordered the release of Samar Badawi.A Saudi woman jailed for disobeying her father has been freed after more than six months in prison, Saudi media reported on Tuesday.Samar Badawi, who was thrown in prison without formal charge or trial by a Jeddah judge, was released on Monday on the order of the governor of the Mecca region, Prince Khalid al Faisal, the reports said.Badawi's release came after a concerted campaign by human rights activists inside and outside Saudi Arabia for Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to intervene in the case, which they said was an example of the abuses of the country's rigid guardian system for women.Under the system, a Saudi woman must have the permission of her official "mahram" or male guardian -- her father, husband, brother or son -- for matters such as travel, work and marriage.Badawi was released into the oversight of a new official guardian, her uncle, according to the reports.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Are there plenty more fish in the sea?The pristine waters of British Columbia's Fraser River, a few hours drive upstream from Vancouver, belies the activity beneath.Below the tranquil surface, the river has just witnessed one of nature's most spectacular natural phenomena - the return of the sockeye salmon, and this year it is the biggest salmon run in a century. This year, despite dire predictions from scientists, 34 million sockeye salmon came back to the exact stretch of river where they were born to spawn.But what makes this even more astonishing is that it comes just one year after only one million fish returned. Last year's run was so low that the Canadian government set up a federal inquiry to try to understand what happened.All the more vital then that scientists strive for as complete a picture as possible to explain why so many salmon retirned this year, and so few last year, or they risk a loss in confidence until no-one is listening to apocalyptic warnings of threats to the wealth of our oceans. Read and see the full story here.Click here for comments.