MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• HT:IMRA.U.S. bars Palestinian statehood moves in U.N. agencies.Away from the headlines, Palestinians have been trying to advance their statehood agenda in small but symbolic ways in United Nations agencies that fall off the radar for most people.But even on the outer reaches of the sprawling U.N. system, their efforts have been blocked by a United States resolved not to display the slightest tilt toward Palestinians as it tries to act as honest broker in their halting peace talks with Israel.Many Israelis suspect President Barack Obama is bent on establishing a Palestinian state at any cost. But in Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinians' limited self-rule in the West Bank, they think he's not as serious about it as he sounds."We could have gone to voting and got what we wanted," said Sulaiman Zuhairi, a member of the Palestinian delegation last month at a meeting in Mexico of the International Telecommunications Union.He tabled a motion that would have secured them the rights of a member state, and after months of diplomatic preparation, it was endorsed by around 50 countries and was on track to pass with the backing of an additional 40 states."We asked for the rights and privileges of a state but without being a member state. Let them call us whatever they want, but I wanted all the rights of a member state," he said.There were U.S. objections, however, and the Palestinians backed down, fearing the consequences of rocking the boat, which Zuhairi did not detail.There was no comment from the U.S. State Department on his account. But the U.S. objections were consistent with a long-standing policy that treats the stateless Palestinians as no more than an observer member of the United Nations.When the Palestinians in September made their first bid for full access to the UNESCO committee where states may seek the return of antiquities, their representative Hamdan Taha hoped to use the body to pursue the recovery of tens of thousands of artifacts removed during the Israeli occupation.Their proposal would have allowed the Palestinians and the Vatican, which both have observer status, to table their concerns in the same way as member states, said Taha.But the U.S. representative alone opposed the idea, he said.Hmmm....not just before the midterms?Read the full story here.

• HT:BeforeitisNews.End of Free Internet: US Senate Committee Approves Internet "Blacklist" Bill.It seems the lame duck Congressional session is becoming anything but unproductive. Yesterday, we saw the cloture of the Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510), and today the Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act was unanimously approved by the US Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday with a 19-0 vote. The COICA has been overwhelmingly viewed as a corporate hijacking of the internet by mega-media cartels. Indeed, it is the end of the free internet as we now it.This legislation may be the most dangerous weapon against free speech in modern history. The infringing activity that may land a website on the "Blacklist" is defined very broadly. It appears that the blacklist can be enforced without a court order via ISPs.This is total information tyranny and all independent voices need to stand up and protest or surely we'll face the arbitrary blacklist . David Segal reported on the blacklist regulations.Segal has also established a petition against this hijacking of the free internet which can be signed here. However, given that this bill passed out of committee unanimously proves that our corporate-owned public officials will surely jam this legislation down our throats. It will likely change the internet as we know it, essentially redirecting the flow of free information to media conglomerates.Clearly this was funded by media cartels, but this has a lot more to do with internet censorship as it does about copyright infringement. Further, this law gives the Department of Justice power to block access to websites located outside the United States. Read the full story here.

• 'Send in the U.S. military': Calls for help in the Texan war against Mexican drugs cartels.They fly helicopter missions, deploy tactical strike teams and gather field intelligence, but the battles they fight aren't in the Middle East, they're in America.The Texas Department of Public Safety is engaged in an undeclared war with Mexican drug cartels, running militaristic operations day and night.Texas Governor Rick Perry claims the US military should be mobilised to help defeat Mexico’s violent drug cartels.Even without Washington’s help, the Texas Department of Public Safety says it is already running militaristic operations day and night in the border battle.'I never thought that we’d be in this paramilitary type of engagement,' Captain Stacy Holland told Fox News of her work with the DPS. 'It's a war on the border.'The Texas Department of Public Safety has a fleet of 16 state-of-the-art helicopters to fight Mexican drug cartels.In recent years, the drug cartels have adopted increasingly terrorist-like behaviour.The gang members are armed with powerful AK-47s, are dressed in camouflage and they recruit ex-prisoners from America to do their dirty work.'To suggest the southwest border is secure is ridiculous,' Holland said.Hmmm...meanwhile Obama just decided to withdraw troops from the border,but yes it's the American patriots who are the ennemy.Read the full story here.

• Tehran has defences against cruise missiles: Iran.The Iranian capital is equipped with air defences against cruise missiles, a top military official said on Friday, warning against any attack on Iran over its controversial nuclear programme. "Tehran is one the rare capitals of the world which has been equipped with a defence system against advanced cruise missiles," said Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, the Revolutionary Guards aerospace division chief, quoted by Fars and Mehr news agencies. He did not elaborate on the defence system but said it has been tested during Iran's wargames this week."Any bases used by an assailant country are considered as its land and a target for Iran's fighters. This should be carefully heeded by those countries which give bases to America," he warned. Both Israel and the United States have refused to rule out resorting to military action to prevent Iran acquiring what they suspect is nuclear weapons capability, an ambition Tehran strongly denies.Read the full story here.

• Turkish military denies asking for 'photo proof' of homosexuality.Turkey’s military is asking for “photographic” proof that people seeking an exemption from compulsory military service on the grounds of their homosexuality are actually gay, the daily Milliyet reported last week, citing recent EU progress reports.Many homosexual citizens have reported being asked for photographs or video footage during the process of obtaining a report proving their ineligibility for military service, according to Fırat Söyle, a lawyer for LAMBDA Istanbul, a gay, lesbian and transsexual rights association, daily Taraf reported last week.Although such a practice is not listed in the regulations, people are still being asked, Söyle said.In both the 2009 and 2010 of the European Union’s progress reports for Turkey, gays were allegedly asked to provide “photographic proof” of their sexual orientation to avoid service.Read the full story here.

• Obama administration plans to pull back National Guard from much of the border.The Obama Administration plans to withdraw National Guard troops from the Texas, New Mexico and California borders by the end February under a new Southwest security plan, even as turmoil in Mexican border cities grows, according to documents obtained by The Washington Examiner.A letter sent to various members of the Texas Congressional delegation from Texas' Gov. Rick Perry's office says, "In February, 2011, the Texas, New Mexico, and California National Guard forces that were deployed to the border in September, 2010, under President's Obama's Southwest Border Augmentation Plan, will have 30 days to complete a total draw down of forces."The roughly 550 troops will have the month of February to redeploy back to their units, Texas Congressman Ted Poe told The Examiner. Troops would not be pulled off the Arizona border under the plan, and about 100 of the troops would re-deploy there from other states, officials said.Poe received the letter today. His office confirmed with Department of Homeland Security officials that the plan came from the administration."I'm surprised the president would so quickly remove troops from Texas. They're not supposed to leave until July," said Poe."It's apparently a plan the Obama administration believes will save money. We don't need fewer National Guard we need more. We need to pass the Border National Guard Border enforcement act that would put 10,000 National Guard on the border," Poe said.Hmmm....saving money on security after living like an Emperor on his Asia trip or just punishing Republicans?Read the full madness story here.

• Faith-Based Debate: Obama Signs Order on Funds for Churches.Bush's so-called faith-based initiative green-lighted taxpayer dollars to local churches and other religious organizations to help them expand their social services in local communities. It's an arrangement President Obama supports as well. But amid persistent criticism that the initiative walks a fine constitutional line, the administration moved to "strengthen the constitutional and legal footing" of the policy Wednesday with an executive order to add safeguards against inappropriate entanglement between church and state.The executive order also enhances transparency of the program, requiring government agencies to post online a list of faith-based groups receiving taxpayer funds and "to monitor and enforce standards regarding the relationship between religion and government in ways that avoid excessive entanglement." Rev. Harry Knox of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay and lesbian rights group, who is also a former member of Obama's faith-based and community initiatives advisory council, praised the executive order as a step forward but called its failure to implement employment non-discrimination protections troubling. "Until this administration makes clear that religious groups cannot circumvent federal, state and local anti-discrimination protections to discriminate against LGBT employees, the faith-based initiative will remain a deeply flawed program," Knox said.Hmmm....knowing Obama there's bound to be something toxic attached to this. "Affirms that faith-based organizations that receive Federal financial assistance may use their facilities to provide social services without removing or altering religious art, icons, scriptures, or other symbols from these facilities. In addition, a faith-based organization that participates in a social service program may retain religious terms in its name, select its board members on a religious basis, and include religious references in its organization's mission statements and other chartering or governing documents."Separation of Church and state indeed?Read the full story here.More here.

• Web Censorship Bill Sails Through Senate Committee.Who says Congress never gets anything done?On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approved a bill that would give the Attorney General the right to shut down websites with a court order if copyright infringement is deemed “central to the activity” of the site — regardless if the website has actually committed a crime. The Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA) is among the most draconian laws ever considered to combat digital piracy, and contains what some have called the “nuclear option,” which would essentially allow the Attorney General to turn suspected websites “off.”Among the sites that could go dark if the law passes: Dropbox, RapidShare, SoundCloud, Hype Machine and any other site for which the Attorney General deems copyright infringement to be “central to the activity” of the site, according to Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group that opposes the bill. There need not even be illegal content on a site — links alone will qualify a site for digital death. Websites at risk could also theoretically include p2pnet and pirate-party.us or any other website that advocates for peer-to-peer file sharing or rejects copyright law, according to the group.In short, COICA would allow the federal government to censor the internet without due process.Scholars, lawyers, technologists, human rights groups and public interest groups have denounced the bill. Forty-nine prominent law professors called it “dangerous.” (pdf.) The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch warned the bill could have “grave repercussions for global human rights.” (pdf.) Several dozen of the most prominent internet engineers in the country — many of whom were instrumental in the creation of the internet — said the bill will “create an environment of tremendous fear and uncertainty for technological innovation.” (pdf.) Several prominent conservative bloggers, including representatives from RedState.com, HotAir.com, The Next Right and Publius Forum, issued a call to help stop this “serious threat to the Internet.”Critics of the bill object to it on a number of grounds, starting with this one: “The Act is an unconstitutional abridgment of the freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment,” the 49 law professors wrote. “The Act permits the issuance of speech suppressing injunctions without any meaningful opportunity for any party to contest the Attorney General’s allegations of unlawful content.” (original emphasis.).Hmmm....copyright protection or  dictatorship implementation?Read the full story here.

• Airport security measures prompt new website.Too shy for full-body scanners? Embarrassed by vigorous pat-downs? A new website invites travelers to share their views about tightened airport security measures.The U.S. Travel Association set up the website, YourTravelVoice.org, after it received more than 1,000 unsolicited comments from travelers about the increased security following recently foiled bomb plots involving U.S. bound parcels."It was clear to us that there was some national concern about this issue. We are hoping that this website can help people express those views so we can all work together," said Geoff Freeman, the executive vice president of the trade group.He added that he hopes feedback from the website can provide a platform through which travelers can share their opinions with policy makers in Washington.Hmmm.....website to "Listen" and monitor?Read the full story here.

• Sources: FCC chief to move on net neutrality proposal.Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski is putting together a net neutrality proposal and plans to take action on the controversial issue as early as next month, according to several sources with knowledge of the situation. Details of the proposal being developed by Genachowski’s office are unclear, but sources say it could be similar to the deal stakeholders tried to reach with Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) earlier this fall.Read the full story here.

• US may offer pilots new airport security screening deal.The White House may announce new airport security measures for airline pilots, who have complained about full body X-ray machines and invasive pat-downs, a US official has said.The head of the US agency that oversees airport screenings told ABC News pilot inspections offered little protection.Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole did not say whether security for passengers would change."We've had a number of very good discussions with pilots and hope to be announcing something very soon in terms of a good way forward for the pilots for that very reason, using a risk-based intelligence driven process," he said.Read the full story here.

• With Holder at the helm, detainee policy is a disaster.The closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison and civilian trials for terrorists were more than policy changes proposed by Barack Obama as a presidential candidate. They were presented as a return to constitutional government - a dividing line from an uncivilized past.The indefinite detention of terrorists, according to Obama, had "destroyed our credibility when it comes to the rule of law all around the world, and given a huge boost to terrorist recruitment." Testifying last year before Congress, Attorney General Eric Holder not only defended a New York trial for lead Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, he lectured, he taunted, he preened. Unlike others, he was not "scared" of what Mohammed would say at trial. Failure was "not an option." This case, he told a reporter, would be "the defining event of my time as attorney general." Which it certainly has been. Under Holder's influence, American detainee policy is a botched, hypocritical, politicized mess.Where do these developments leave Holder, for whom failure is not only an option but a habit?How does Obama back down and accept a tribunal? He could begin by appointing an attorney general who understands the requirements of national security. Some on the left believe Holder should resign out of principle. Some on the right believe he should leave because he is out of his depth. Such bipartisanship should not go to waste.Hmmm...and then some think he's pro Islamic terrorists.Read the full story here.

• Vodafone removes contentious Muslim scientist ad.Tele-giant’s commercial angers viewers who flood social network sites with complaints leading to its withdrawal.British telecommunications company Vodafone’s Egyptian unit has dropped an advertisement showing an early Muslim scientist, Abbas Ibn Firnas, as a dim man who fell off a cliff when trying to fly with feathered wings.The decision was made after the company received viewer complaints who took to the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter to complain about what they said was an insult to the historic Islamic figure.In the statement, posted on its Facebook page, Vodafone said the advertisement was supposed to be funny but "due to the fact that some of our customers perceived (it) as offensive, we decided to remove this ad from YouTube and from our official Facebook fans page."Hmmmm.....sounds more to me like the ORIGINAL story of Icarus.Read the full story here.

• Burqa-clad mum Carnita Matthews jailed for six months.A BURQA-CLAD mother of seven who claimed she was the victim of mistaken identity has been jailed for six months for making a false complaint against a police officer. Magistrate Robert Rabbidge dismissed Carnita Matthews' allegations that a highway patrol officer was racist after he pulled her over for a Random Breath Test and claims he forcibly tried to remove her face veil as false.In sentencing her, he described her actions as "both deliberate and malicious" saying he had no option but to sentence her to jail given the seriousness of her allegations, and to send a clear message to the community.A second woman, also wearing a burqa today who was supporting Matthews in court broke down in tears as she was removed by Corrective Service officers.The court was told that after being issued an infringement notice for not properly displaying her P-plates, the 46-year-old branded the officer "a racist" and claimed he only booked her because of what she was wearing."You look at me and see me wearing this and you couldn't handle it. All cops are racist."In a statement read to the court, Sergeant Paul Kearney said he told her: "I'm looking at you and all I can see is two eyes."Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Saudi Women's Rights Activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar: For the Authorities, Saudi Women Are a Pair of Breasts, Not People with Feelings and Souls.In an article titled "Women's Breasts and Their Importance," posted on the liberal website Aafaq, Saudi reformist and women's rights activist Wajeha Al-Huweidar mocked the breast cancer awareness campaign recently conducted in Saudi Arabia. She said it is ironic that the Saudi authorities are so concerned for the health of the women's breasts, when they fail to regard them as full human beings with rights in the domains of education, family, housing, and employment. She added that women cannot be physically healthy when they suffer social and political repression."Where is her right to drive a car freely, in order to manage her affairs and the affairs of her family?"Where is her right to travel, which was enjoyed by her mother and grandmother before the passing of the law [obligating her to] receive permission from her [male] guardian?"Where are her full rights as an adult, as a citizen, as a human being?"The questions continue to spin in our minds without answer: Until when will the situation of the Saudi woman continue to be the worst in the world? And until when will the leaders of this country remain uninterested in [the women's] demands?Hmmm....these are the people who get the Women rights seat at the UN,never a bigger  mockery of justice has been done!Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Fatwas Posted on the Website of Abu Muhammad Al-Maqdisi Permit Targeting Infidel Companies Such As Coca-Cola and McDonald's – and Kidnapping and Killing Tourists in Muslim Countries.Source.

• HT:MichelleMalkin.Ray LaHood: Obama's Power-Mad Cell Phone Czar.America is in debt past its eyeballs. Unemployment remains stuck near double digits. Small and large businesses, unions and insurers are clamoring for Obamacare waivers in droves. Jihadists are making a mockery of homeland security. And border chaos reigns. So, what's one of the Obama administration's top domestic policy agenda items this month? Combating distracted drivers.Making the cable TV rounds to unveil a public service announcement campaign against "epidemic" cell phone use and texting on the road, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood revealed bizarre and alarming plans on Wednesday to install devices in cars that would block a driver's ability to communicate. "There's a lot of technology out there now that can disable phones, and we're looking at that," he threatened. LaHood – a liberal Republican and pork-addicted Chicago crony who embodies Obama "bipartisanship" – envisions centralized government mechanisms to shut off commuters' BlackBerries and iPhones.So what's really driving LaHood? He's pursued an anti-car ideological zeal from Day One – from entertaining proposals to impose mileage taxes on drivers and to track drivers' routes, to redistributing tax dollars to pie-in-the-sky high-rail projects that no private business will touch, to peddling a "livability initiative" that would discourage suburban growth and corral residents in high-density areas dependent on public transportation. Like the rest of Obama's radicals, the Transportation Department's self-appointed cell phone czar is a power-hungry busybody hiding behind children to expand government's reach.Hmmm...another link in the dictatorship chain,which is slowly strangling America.Read the full story here.

• Was it a training exercise? Loch Lomond forest blast is linked to Al Qaeda.An explosion on the shores of Loch Lomond is being investigated as a possible Al Qaeda bomb test.The blast, which was reported by walkers and workmen, damaged a large area of woodland on the south-west edge of the lake.Police are believed to have found several suspicious devices at the site, which is being examined by bomb disposal officers and divers.Explosives experts from Scotland Yard’s Counter Terror Command have travelled to the Garadhban forest near the village of Gartocharn to assess the scene.They are investigating whether it might have been the site of an Al Qaeda training camp or a bomb testing and storage site.Islamic extremists are known to use remote locations to store bomb-making materials and train in terror tactics.The 7/7 London bombers were photographed on a training camp in the Lake District and other fanatics have trained in the New Forest.Read the full story here.

• White House to put up to 5,000 salad bars in schools.The White House is set to announce on Monday a major new initiative that would place up to 5,000 salad bars in public schools nationwide, despite uncertainties over how local health inspectors might treat those salad bars and USDA nutrition-tracking rules that could prove a major impediment.Officials in the White House, led by chef Sam Kass, and at the U.S. Centers for Disease and Prevention, have been working to build a coalition representing the produce industry and Ann Cooper, director of nutrition services in Boulder, Colo. schools, who recently teamed with Whole Foods to raise $1.4 million from customers to establish a grant program that would place salad bars in qualifying schools.Under the initiative expected to be announced on Monday in Florida, where First Lady Michelle Obama has taken her “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity, Cooper would manage applications for salad bars from the schools along with distribution of funds to purchase necessary equipment.One potential obstacle to the program is the refusal of many school districts to install salad bars for food-safety reasons and because of cumbersome USDA rules governing the federally subsidized school lunch program that feeds some 31 million U.S. school children every day.Cooper named three school districts she knows of—Philadelphia, Austin, Tex., and Montgomery County, Md.,—that have already indicated they will not support salad bars. Concerns have been raised that elementary school children in particular might be prone to spread disease at salad bars because they are too short for the standard “sneeze guard” installed on most salad bars, or because they might use their hands instead of the serving utensils provided.Cooper, who would not comment on the pending White House announcement, has dismissed those concerns, saying, “As far as I’ve found out, there are no documented disease outbreaks from school salad bars. By and large, this is not a high risk area.”Hmmm,,,,No salmonella outbreaks from salads?Try Google!Read the full story here.

• China's New Drones Raise Eyebrows .China is ramping up production of unmanned aerial vehicles in an apparent bid to catch up with the U.S. and Israel in developing technology that is considered the future of military aviation.Western defense officials and experts were surprised to see more than 25 different Chinese models of the unmanned aircraft, known as UAVs, on display at this week's Zhuhai air show in this southern Chinese city. It was a record number for a country that unveiled its first concept UAVs at the same air show only four years ago, and put a handful on display at the last one in 2008.The apparent progress in UAVs is a stark sign of China's ambition to upgrade its massive military as its global political and economic clout grows. The U.S. and Israel are currently the world leaders in developing such pilotless drones, which have played a major role in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and which analysts say could one day replace the fighter jet.This year's models in Zhuhai included several designed to fire missiles, and one powered by a jet engine, meaning it could—in theory—fly faster than the propeller-powered Predator and Reaper drones that the U.S. has used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.The Chinese drone of greatest potential concern to the U.S. is the one with several missiles and a jet engine—called the WJ600—which was displayed by China Aerospace Science & Industry Corp., or Casic, one of China's top weapons makers.Casic officials declined to comment, but a video and a two-dimensional display by the company showed Chinese forces using the WJ600 to help attack what appeared to be a U.S. aircraft carrier steaming toward an island off China's coast that many visitors assumed to be Taiwan.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Medvedev renames Twitter account to make it more informal.Russian President Dmitry Medvedev renamed on Friday his popular account on the Twitter micro-blogging site to make it more informal.The renamed account will save the history of all messages and the list of followers.The president's press secretary, Natalia Timakova, said Medvedev's press service will soon launch an official Twitter account with the old name KremlinRussia."The presidentialMedvedevRussia (MedvedevRussiaE is the English version).Timakova said the change was Medvedev's own initiative as he prefers to communicate with Twitter users personally.Read the full story here.