MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Conservative Group Calls on Justice Dept. to Investigate Muslim Prayers on Capitol Hill.A conservative advocacy group on Friday called on the Justice Department to investigate a weekly prayer session on Capitol Hill that Muslims with terrorist ties have been participating in since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.The American Center for Law and Justice, founded by the Rev. Pat Robertson, issued the demand one day after FoxNews.com revealed that notorious Al Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was among the controversial figures who has attended the weekly Friday Jummah prayers hosted by the Congressional Muslims Staff Association during the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.There appears to be no public record of the people the Congressional Muslims Staff Association has invited to Capitol Hill, but FoxNews.com was able to glean a portrait of the Jummah prayer meetings through video footage, news reports, court records and social media posts. Among those who have participated are an Al Qaeda leader, the head of a designated terror organization and a confessed jihadist-in-training.Read the full story here.

• Saudi Arabia blocks Facebook, says site doesn't agree with its values.The official says Saudi's Communications and Information Technology Commission blocked the site Saturday and an error message shows up when Internet users try to access it.He says Facebook's content had "crossed a line" with the kingdom's conservative morals, but that blocking the site is a temporary measure.The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.Saudi Arabia follows a strict interpretation of Islam and religious leaders have strong influence over policy making and social mores.Pakistan and Bangladesh both imposed temporary bans on Facebook this year.Values like only one religion is tolerated,women are not allowed to drive ...etc,etc?Read the full story here.

• Obama’s Claiming More Power Over Americans Than King George III, Says Virginia Attorney General. Virginia Atty. Gen. Ken Cuccinelli, who has filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the health-care law signed by President Barack Obama last March, says Obama and the Congress that enacted that law--which mandates that individuals must buy government-approved health insurance plans--are seeking a power over the lives of Americans that even King George III did not claim to possess.“We now have a Congress and a president who believe they can order you to buy a product when King George III and the Parliament of Great Britain, whom we rebelled against, acknowledged that they could not,” Cuccinelli said in a video interview with CNSNews.com.Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.The House Should Curb Obama's Extravagant Lifestyle.Pundits, political analysts, and politicians on both sides of the aisle have offered their recommendation for items which should be placed at the top of the 112th Congress's legislative agenda. Surprisingly, in light of the negative press the Obamas have received relating to their recent junket to India, so far as I have seen, not one person has suggested including legislation limiting the amount of taxpayer funds that may be expended on presidential trips -- official or otherwise -- and the White House party budget. Like all government agencies, the White House operates on the basis of appropriations that originate in the House of Representatives, and it is incumbent on the House to exercise its responsibilities in guarding the taxpayers' money.It is time for Congress to intervene and put the kibosh on the spending of a president who has no idea, or who does not care, that his behavior is highly inappropriate. He parties continuously at the White House, entertaining his Hollywood supporters with music, dance, fine food, and wine. One would have expected that the 2010 midterms would have provided a much-needed reality check and led to the end of the glitz and glamor. Apparently not, and it is therefore time for the parents to cut off the apron strings, tear up the credit cards, and budget the children who seemingly were never taught the value of a hard-earned dollar.It is time for the Republicans to cut down Obama's out-of-control spending not only in terms ending the enactment of wasteful stimulus packages and socialist entitlement programs, but also in terms of the Obama family's extravagant lifestyle, which far surpasses that of any sane person's wildest dreams.Read the full story here.

• With Words on Muslims, Opening a Door Long Shut.A book arguing that Muslim immigrants are socially, culturally and intellectually inferior has sold more than a million copies.THIS quiet, orderly man, who lives in a quiet, orderly house, in a very quiet tree-lined neighborhood has caused a huge public stir here with his volatile book arguing that Muslim immigrants in Germany are socially, culturally and intellectually inferior to most everyone else. With the certainty of an accountant adding up rows of numbers, Thilo Sarrazin has delivered his conclusion in a book that has sold over one million copies, forced him to quit his job at the German central bank, may get him kicked out of his political party and for the first time since World War II made it socially acceptable in Germany to single out a particular minority for criticism. “The facts I quoted and analyzed are undeniable and cannot be done away with,” he said without a hint of defensiveness in his quiet, understated manner. “The facts I quoted and analyzed are undeniable and cannot be done away with,” he said without a hint of defensiveness in his quiet, understated manner. “I am not impolite,” he says. He prefers blunt.Read the full story here.

• Ht :Right SideNews.Pelosi Considering DREAM Act Vote in the House.Sources within the Democratic Party are saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants a vote on the DREAM Act during the lame-duck session, and it could be as soon as next week. The DREAM Act would provide amnesty to illegal aliens who are attending college or serve in the military, but it includes no enforcement provisions and several loopholes that would open the amnesty to many more than it is intended.Speaker Pelosi said she would keep controversial bills of the House floor in the months leading up to the election, but with the dramatic swing of the Immigration Balance of Power in the House as a result of the elections, she likely sees the lame-duck as the last chance to pass the DREAM Act.Read the full story here.

• Gary Shilling Sees `Significant' Stock Selloff Within 12 Months.Gary Shilling, who predicted the U.S. housing collapse, says the stock market is overvalued and foresees a “significant” selloff within a year as the Federal Reserve fails to stimulate economic growth. Shilling, who predicts real gross domestic product growth of 2 percent “and maybe less in the next couple of years,” said the government is out of options for fixing the economy. No Magic Bullet “There’s not much that can be done,” said Shilling. “There isn’t any magic bullet. There isn’t anything in my view that’s going to return us to the solid days of the 80s and 90s when consumers were spending freely. I don’t think that’s going to come back. The need to deleverage is just too great.”Read the full story here.

• Updated : Supporters wait for Suu Kyi news.Crowds gather near Myanmar opposition leader's home and party office as expiry of detention order nears. Throngs of supporters of Myanmar's detained opposition leader have been gathering near her home and outside her party headquarters waiting for news of her release.Reports earlier said the military government had signed the release order for Aung San Suu Kyi, but the military rulers have remained silent over the issue.Her latest detention order expires on Saturday.Scores of people holding vigils over the last few days had hoped to see the 65-year-old opposition leader, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, freed on Friday.Security was sharply up in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city where Aung San Suu Kyi lives, with riot police cruising the streets in lorries and keeping watch on major junctions.Crowds gathered on Saturday at the National League for Democracy (NLD) headquarters, with women cooking food and people bringing flowers to place before posters of Aung San Suu Kyi and her late father, the revered independence fighter General Aung San.Many wore T-shirts reading "We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi" and "Freedom from Fear", a title of one of her books.Other supporters gathered around a barbed wire barricade leading to her home in a residential area in Yangon."My sources tell me that the release order has been signed," Tin Oo, the NLD vice-chairman, said. "I hope she will be released."Tin Oo did not say when Aung San Suu Kyi would be freed or when the order had been signed.Read the full story here.Updated : Suu Kyi Freed in Myanmar, Reports Say.Read more here.

• HT:Memri.Iranian Official: Sarah Shourd Must Be Brought Back To Iran, With Interpol's Help.Iranian Majlis National Security Committee member Javad Jahangirzadeh has called on the Iranian regime to have Interpol return U.S. citizen Sarah Shourd to Iran to stand trial for espionage. Tehran prosecutor-general Abbas Jafari-Dolatabadi said that if Shourd does not show up for trial, the regime will redeem the half-million dollar bail posted for her September release – a release that was for humanitarian reasons. Shourd is one of three American hikers arrested by Iran in July 2009 near the Iran-Iraq border, who are being accused of espionage against Iran.Source.

• Secret service agent breaks his long silence on the day Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas.The secret service agent who was at John F Kennedy’s side on the day he was assassinated has spoken for the first time of the moment he was killed. Clint Hill told how he saw the former U.S. President collapse into the back of his car and into his wife’s blood-splattered arms after being shot while driving through Dallas in November 1963. The couple were rushed to hospital and on the way Jacqui Kennedy looked at her dying husband and said: ‘What have they done? What have they done?'‘When I got to the presidential vehicle, just as I approached it, a third shot rang out, hitting the president in the head, just above the right ear and left a hole about the size of my palm.Read the full story here.

• American Narcissus.The vanity of Barack Obama.Why has Barack Obama failed so spectacularly? Is he too dogmatically liberal or too pragmatic? Is he a socialist, or an anticolonialist, or a philosopher-president? Or is it possible that Obama’s failures stem from something simpler: vanity. Politicians as a class are particularly susceptible to mirror-gazing. But Obama’s vanity is overwhelming. It defines him, his politics, and his presidency.Just a few weeks ago, Obama was giving a speech when the actual presidential seal fell from the rostrum. “That’s all right,” he quipped. “All of you know who I am.” Oh yes, Mr. President, we certainly do.Hmmm....yes i do.Read the full "Folie des Grandeurs" story here.

• Obama’s Radio Address Highlights Earmarks.gov Web Site to Increase Transparency on Gov’t Wasting ‘Billions of Taxpayer Money’. In his weekly radio address, President Barack Obama announced an update of the administration’s Web site, www.earmarks.gov, to help shed light on “Washington’s habit that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, and take a step towards restoring public trust.”“Today, we have a chance to go further,” said the president. “We have a chance to not only shine a light on a bad Washington habit that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars, but take a step towards restoring public trust.”Hmmm....only one thing wrong with the speech it's not Billions ....It's Trillions wasted Mr President ! Read the full story here.

• Russia uses new research data to enhance Arctic territorial claim.Russia has done more research on the Arctic seabed in a bid to renew its claim for the region's minerals resources, the deputy head of the Geology Department of the Natural Resources Ministry said on Saturday.Daria Vasilevskaya told RIA Novosti the new research was necessary as details of previous expeditions were labeled secret due to the use of military equipment."It was not possible to give a full description of the military technical equipment on account of secrecy," Vasilevskaya said.The new research was done on board the ship Akademik Fyodorov from July through October. Only civilian equipment was used, Vasilevskaya said.Read the full story here.More here.

• Expert: past 10 days have been worst of President Obama's 'political life'.President Obama is coming home from his overseas trip pretty much empty-handed.After watching his party take a beating in the midterm elections, Obama wasn't able to secure even a symbolic victory on a trip that was expected to give him plenty of opportunities to claim a win."This certainly was the worst 10 days of his political life," said Baruch College political scientist Doug Muzzio. "Given that he's not going to be able to get any domestic achievements with the Republicans in control of the House ... if he doesn't do it in foreign policy that's a big problem for him."He came back with bupkis [Yiddish for 'nothing']."Hmmm...Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.Churchill.Read the full story here.

• HT:TomNelson.George Soros U.N. Panel Organizes $100 Billion Climate Change Shakedown Aimed Against U.S.George Soros, the radical, far-left billionaire, with a long history of antipathy toward American interests, now sits on a United Nations (UN) panel charged with organizing a $100 billion wealth transfer from the developed world to the underdeveloped world in the name of environmentalism. News of his involvement here is buried away in a New York Times report but it should be the lead sentence.The nexus between environmentalism and anti-Americanism is not difficult to unravel. Van Jones, an avowed communist, who previously served as a czar for the Obama Administration, was forced to step down when far left history came to light. Buried deep in the NYT piece is a revealing nugget that should have been in the lead.The headline should read: George Soros Led United Nations Panel Organizes $100 Billion Anti-U.S. Shakedown Effort. But that it does not should surprise none.Read the full story here.

• Afghanistan: Taliban insurgents in attack on Nato base.Taliban militants have attacked a Nato military outpost near the airport in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad.The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said the attack on its forward operating base in Nangahar province lasted two hours.Eight militants, one of whom was wearing a suicide belt, died. The Taliban said it was behind the assault.Later, two policemen and six civilians were killed by a bomb on a motorbike in Kunduz province, local officials said.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said 14 suicide bombers had been involved. "They entered the airport. Some of them have blown themselves up," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.Read the full story here. 

• HT:BigPeace.Some Moderate! Imam, Friend of Professors and Hollywood, Wants Nukes for Muslims ‘To Terrorize Their Enemies’.During the past month, Imam Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood, has called on Muslims to acquire nuclear weapons “to terrorize their enemies.” He also boycotted an interfaith meeting with Jews on grounds he believes they support murdering Muslims in Palestine, and he additionally said Muslims are permitted to kill Israeli women because they serve in the army.In America, John Esposito, a religious scholar who is close to the Brotherhood, has called Qaradawi a supporter of a “reformist interpretation of Islam and its relationship to democracy, pluralism and human rights.” The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and prominent Islamists like Tariq Ramadan, grandson of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna, have expressed similar sentiments about Qaradawi.Qaradawi may hold more tolerant views on other issues. But when it comes to terrorism and anti-Semitism, his words and the consistency with which he offers them, speak for themselves.Read the full story here.

• Multikulturell? Wir?How a fresh debate on multiculturalism in Germany clashes with the country’s need for more immigrants.HOW well does Halime Cengiz fit into Germany? A “typical guest worker’s child”, she wears a hijab and spends much time at the Mevlana mosque in Gröpelingen, a Bremen neighbourhood with many immigrants. She has a German passport but “would never say I’m German” (or Turkish). She calls herself “a Bremer with Turkish roots”. Yet she also speaks flawless German. Neither her marriage nor her veil was forced on her. Part of her mosque work is with churches, lowering barriers between Muslims and Christians. She urges parents to send their children to kindergarten to improve their German. The parents fret about their children becoming “too German”, but Mrs Cengiz allays such fears. She may be a model migrant after all. Read the full story here.

• Pilots and passengers rail at new airport patdowns.Stepped-up security screening at airports in the wake of foiled terrorism plots has provoked an outcry from airline pilots and travelers, including parents of children who say they are too intrusive.With the busiest holiday travel season nearing, fliers face long security lines and new rigorous patdown checks begun in recent weeks aimed at discovering hidden explosives. As a result, some travelers are questioning whether to fly at all."Pilots are not the terrorist threat," said John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association and a veteran pilot for United Continental. "Seeing scarce security resources being used on pilots makes absolutely no sense."Some pilots, male and female, have complained the patdowns make them feel uncomfortable. The group urged any pilot who feels unfit for duty afterward to "call in sick and remove themselves from the trip."Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Video : Nasrallah: We'll Chop Off The Hand That Tries To Arrest Our Men.In a speech marking Martyrs Day in Lebanon, Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah announced that his organization would chop off the hand of anyone who tried to arrest his men on suspicion of involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri.He added that Hizbullah was waiting for war with Israel, and expressed confidence that the organization would triumph if war did break out. He said that France was the one that had proposed changing the Taif Agreement to Iran, and dividing the parliamentary and government posts equally among Christians, Sunnis, and Shi'ites in Lebanon in an attempt to lure Hizbullah into laying down its arms.Hmm....damd that peaceplan is working great Mr president.Read and see the full story here.

• UN report: North Korea smuggling nuclear material to Iran, Myanmar, Syria.North Korea using front companies, couriers with cash and other "secret" means to avoid international sanctions. China, seen as a key ally of the country, wanted to block the publication of the report ready last May. According to a UN report published yesterday North Korea is providing nuclear and ballistic materials to Iran, Syria and Myanmar by "secret means " to avoid international sanctions. China had blocked the publication of the report, for six months. The experts who compiled the report say that North Korea "uses a wide range of techniques to mask their transactions: the use of foreign companies, front companies, informal transfer mechanisms, couriers with cash and bartering." Four cases “not in compliance with the law, involving the exports of arms" have come to light, since the latest sanctions imposed in June 2009.The report gives no further details but maintains that North Korea uses "masking techniques" containers with false declaration of contents; ships with false routes and destinations, "multiple layers of middlemen, front companies and financial institutions." Diplomats say that China is the main ally of North Korea on the international stage and until now had blocked the report ready in May this year.Read the full story here.

• One and done: To be a great president, Obama should not seek reelection in 2012.President Obama must decide now how he wants to govern in the two years leading up to the 2012 presidential election.In recent days, he has offered differing visions of how he might approach the country's problems. At one point, he spoke of the need for "mid-course corrections." At another, he expressed a desire to take ideas from both sides of the aisle. And before this month's midterm elections, he said he believed that the next two years would involve "hand-to-hand combat" with Republicans, whom he also referred to as "enemies." It is clear that the president is still trying to reach a resolution in his own mind as to what he should do and how he should do it. Read the full story here.

• HT:EmptyWheel.Are Obama and Congress Set To Screw American Counties, Homeowners and Give Wall Street Mortgage Banksters a Retroactive Immunity Bailout?There are rapidly emerging signs the Obama Administration and Congress may be actively, quickly and covertly working furiously on a plan to retroactively legitimize and ratify the shoddy, fraudulent and non-conforming conduct by MERS on literally millions of mortgages.Just to make clear the implications of this craven action, the White House and Congress are conspiring to give a get out of jail free bailout card to the biggest banks and finance companies in the country to cover up and mask their illegal behavior and behavior that did not conform with state, county and local laws throughout the United States. On at least sixty (60%) percent of the existing mortgages in America.There are dozens of implications to individuals and both private and public entities. At a root minimum, it will likely decimate, if not bankrupt, most counties in every state of the union.Read the full story here,more on this here.

• HT:Memri.Prominent Saudi Preacher: Europe Will Become an Islamic Continent.In a recent interview posted on www.onislam.net, prominent Saudi preacher Dr. Aidh Al-Qarni said that 9/11, though a horrific event, was no more horrific than scores of other massacres that take place around the world every year, for instance in Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The only difference, he explained, is that 9/11 has been exploited to promote "the so-called War on Terror." He therefore recommended using incidents of what he termed Islamophobia – such as the Swiss minaret ban and the French ban on the veil – to promote Islam in the West. He also assessed that Europe is on its way to becoming an Islamic continent.Hmmm...It's not Islamophobia - It's Islamosophia.Read the full story here.

• Saudi journalist turns to human rights to avert lashes.A Saudi journalist who has been sentenced to 50 lashes with the whip has resorted to the local human rights group to stop the court from implementing the verdict, the Saudi Arabic language daily Okaz reported on Saturday.Fahd Al Jukhaidib was sentenced by a court in the central Saudi province of Al-Qassim last week after he was found guilty of instigating protests against a government electricity company because of continuous power cuts in his town.“The National Human Rights Society has received a letter from Jukhaidib asking it to interfere in his case…the Society has now started to gather information on the case for its intervention,” the paper said.“I will see a lawyer to appeal this sentence because the charge has no basis…I did not incite the residents but they only asked me to come with them and talk to the power company…there was no protest and everything was done peacefully.”Read the full story here.

• Air Canada losing $1bn for being Canadian: CEO.Airline chief says outdated aviation policies constrain growth.Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu said on Saturday that his country’s “outdated policies” around the aerospace industry were constraining economic growth. “Outdated policies... not only hobble airlines but frankly the entire country and the economy,” he said at a Canadian Club luncheon in Toronto, and was quoted by the Wall Street Journal.Between airport rent, airport infrastructure, navigation fees and charges, Air Canada estimates that it would save about C$1 billion ($992m) if it was a US airline with the same volume of business, he said.Rovinescu also commended the Canadian government for “having the backbone” to put the overall interests of Canadians before other considerations on the foreign takeover of Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan and the Canada-UAE bilateral air negotiations, WSJ said.Read the full story here.

• HT:BloggerBase.Pat Condell Speaks up for Free Speech, Join Him!Pat Condell has once again turned his wit on the opponents of free speech. He specifically condemns the persecution of Geert Wilders and Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff. Austria and Holland are not the only countries with hate speech laws that can condemn innocent critics of Islam.When warning of an existential threat becomes a crime, justice is a dead issue.Condell rips into corrupt judges and corrupt, cowardly appeasers and journalists. But if we remain silent, we, too will be complicit in the death of justice and liberty. We must rise up as one with a loud voice demanding the dropping of charges against the innocents unjustly accused and reimbursement for their legal expenses. We must demand the repeal of hate speech & blasphemy laws. We must tell the United Nations to go to Hell with its resolution "Combating Defamation of Religions", soon to be voted on by the Third Committee.Free to Believe has the best petition against the resolution:I affirm the universal human right to freely choose and express an individual’s religious beliefs.Accordingly, I urge fellow Member States of the United Nations to focus on protecting the fundamental freedom of individuals to express their religion or beliefs and to oppose the so called “defamation of religions resolutions.”These resolutions seek to criminalize dissenting ideas and peaceful expression of non-favored religious beliefs. The “defamation of religions” resolutions are in direct infringement of the guarantees to free speech and belief found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.For these reasons, I ask all Member States to vote NO on “defamation of religions resolutions.”Please click this link and sign it. Spread the word; urge your friends to sign the petiton.Source.

• Top Palin aide is on Soros' payroll.Revealed: the surprisingly close link between the liberal billionaire and the Republican superstar.Given Soros' alleged role plotting to destroy the United States, Beck and his Fox viewership might be surprised to learn that one of Sarah Palin's top aides has been on Soros' payroll for years.That would be Republican lobbyist Randy Scheunemann, Palin's foreign policy adviser and a member of her small inner circle. He runs a Washington, D.C., consulting firm called Orion Strategies. Scheunemann and a partner have since 2003 been paid over $150,000 by one of Soros' organizations for lobbying work, according to federal disclosure forms reviewed by Salon. The lobbying, which has continued to the present, centers on legislation involving sanctions and democracy promotion in Burma. Scheunemann's client is the Open Society Policy Center, a DC-based advocacy group founded and funded by Soros.Read the full story here.

• School Makes Boy Take American Flag Off Bike.13-year-old Cody Alicea rides with an American flag on the back of his bike. He says he does this to be patriotic and to honor veterans, like his own grandfather, Robert. He's had the flag on his bike for two months but Monday, was told to take it down.A school official at Denair Middle School told Cody some students had been complaining about the flag and it was no longer allowed on school property.Cody's grandfather says the school was concerned about racial tensions or uprisings because of the flag. He feels if there was really a problem it should have been brought up two months ago, not during Veterans week. And if it was an issue of safety, parents should have been contacted.After being contacted by FOX40 Friday morning, Denair's Superintendent says Cody will be allowed to keep the flag on his bike. He told FOX40 he and the school are patriotic, but their main priority is keeping students safe; the school will focus on the students who are causing uprisings. Riding a bike is still not allowed on school campus, but when Cody rides his bike to school he can now fly the flag.Read the full story here.

• Catholic Bishops: More Exorcists Needed.Citing a shortage of priests who can perform the rite, the nation's Roman Catholic bishops are sponsoring a conference on how to conduct exorcisms. A renewed focus on exorcism highlights the divine element of the church and underscores the belief that evil is real."For the longest time, we in the United States may not have been as much attuned to some of the spiritual aspects of evil because we have become so much attached to what would be either physical or psychological explanation for certain phenomena," DiNardo said. "We may have forgotten that there is a spiritual dimension to people."Read the full story here.

• Kidnapping, Tribal Reprisal Upend Iraqi Woman's Life.Some of what you're about to read might not actually be true. The reasons for this will become clear as the story unfolds.It starts with a young woman named Uhud, who is 19 years old, barely literate, and the daughter of a proud and ancient tribe in Diyala, a province northeast of Baghdad.One day back in August, Uhud went shopping in the center of town. Recalling her ordeal during an interview with NPR, she told us she walked out of a store that day and was about to cross the street."A car stopped — four men," she said. "They threatened me with a pistol and then grabbed me, wrapped me in my abaya and put me in the car."The men took her to a house and beat her across the feet so badly she eventually lost her toenails. She said they blindfolded her and locked her in a room."They threatened me that if I escaped, they would go kill my father or my brother," she said.They held her for 10 days, then drove her north to a house in Irbil, a city in the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan."They put me with four girls who were as young as I am," she said. "Some of them were kidnapped like me."One girl told Uhud, "If you want to work as a prostitute, join us. If you want a more decent job you can work in a cafe." Uhud chose the cafe.Human rights groups say this is how girls are often trafficked: with the promise of jobs, money or even love. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees says tens of thousands of Iraqi women are being held in "sexual servitude."Many of them end up in other Arab cities, like Damascus or Dubai. Sometimes they remain in their own country.Read the full story here.

• Principal sacked from Harlem school after confessing lesbian affair with her assistant.A principal in New York has been removed from her position after she revealed to her school board that she had been conducting a secret affair with her deputy principal.A report into the incident revealed that the principal only brought up the liaison because her now ex-lover had allegedly threatened her.During the investigation, Miss Simmons confessed to the relationship with her subordinate. Miss Jones is accused of threatening to kill Miss Simmons after being asked to resign, telling another school employee that 'it was easy to purchase a gun down south' and that her father 'had already purchased one', the report says.Read the full story here.

• Stubborn Antarctic Ozone Hole refuses to change.Maybe it is because the major catalyst isn’t CFC’s after all? See this story:Galactic Cosmic Rays May Be Responsible For The Antarctic Ozone Hole.In the conclusions of the paper.Read the story here.

• Blind Muslim woman uses miniature horse instead of a guide dog. Blind Mona Ramouni's family would not let her have a guide dog - but they didn't say neigh when she came up with an unusual alternative.Mona, 28, used three years of savings to pay for a miniature horse to be trained to act as her eyes. Mona lives with her strict Muslim parents and they would not allow a dog in the house because they consider the animal unclean.Dogs and pigs are considered "unclean" by Muslims.Read the full story here.HT:TheReligionofPeace.

• And now for something completely different.Polar bear shot by hidden scumbag "sniper" at Moscow Zoo.Veterinary doctors are taking all efforts to heal a Polar bear which was shot at Moscow Zoo in late October, the Moscow government's information center reported, quoting zoo officials.The male bear, called Vrangel, is suffering from multiple wounds and doctors are trying to prevent inflammation, a statement said.Zoo officials believe a gunman who shot the animal was hiding in a neighboring building as the bear was not shown to the public and could only be seen from the windows of this building.We express our deep indignation over the behavior of those who committed this indecent action. The "sniper" probably feels himself a hero. But is there any heroism in shooting a helpless animal from a safe place? Vrangel did not deserve such attitude," zoo employees were quoted as saying.Source.