MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:NorthEastIntelligence.U.S. Government: Outreach or complicity with terrorists?3 December 2010: There are some deeply troubling aspects pertaining to the U.S. government’s approach to the “war against terror” that need to be fully addressed and investigated. It has often been considered unpopular and unpatriotic to question the official accounts of various aspects of 9/11 and the government’s handling of issues related to that event. Based on an honest assessment of investigative reports, recent revelations and current government sanctioned activities, however, it would be unpatriotic not to do so.Consider that the primary reason given by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that all air passengers must be subjected to a full body scan or an enhanced pat-down stems from the actions of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the 2009 Christmas Day “underwear” bomber and threats related to his modus operandi. Beyond the obvious irregularities surrounding that event (and the subject of a future report), the inspiration, facilitator and instructor of that failed attack has been publicly identified as Anwar al Awlaki (a/k/a Anwar Nasser Abdulla Aulaqi). Al Awlaki is currently “at large” and being sought by our intelligence agencies.It was first reported by Fox News correspondent Catherine Herridge that Al Awlaki was a guest at a luncheon held at the Pentagon just months following the 9/11 attacks as part of an official government “outreach program.” Despite being “vetted,” Al Awlaki had a long criminal history stemming back at least a decade-and-a-half before 9/11. According to investigative reports, Al Awlaki was interviewed by the FBI on 17 September 2001 due to his relationship to three of the hijackers, although was inexplicably released.Following that luncheon, he was identified as the inspiration behind Fort Hood killer Nidal Malik Hassan, the guidance counselor to the thwarted Times Square bomber, two “alleged” would-be New Jersey Muslim terrorists arrested in June, and the now infamous attempted Christmas Day airline bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.Despite the vast amount of information contained in the FBI, CIA and Pentagon files that have existed about Anwar al Awlaki for at least two decades, references within the 9/11 Commission Report are often overlooked. The 9/11 Commission Report, formally named the Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, was the product of an investigation that began on 22 November 2002 and lasted through the summer of 2004. The final report was published on 22 July 2004. The report noted that al Awlaki remained under suspicion by the Commission, but despite the money and resources at their disposal, they had been unable to locate him. One is forced to wonder how hard they tried, or if they tried at all.The outreach by Ambassador Susman was part of President Barack Hussein Obama’s “call for a renewed dialogue with Muslim communities around the world” that is being spearheaded by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. What the ambassador and the U.S. State Department declined to address are the direct and unquestionable connections between the East London Mosque and terrorists.The current actions of this administration combined with the historical decisions of the former administration begs the question: is it ignorance or complicity? In either case, it is inexcusable, and a full investigation must be launched that encompasses all aspects of our government’s involvement with terrorists and terror events from 9/11 to the present. Anything less would be an affront to those who have died on American soil or on behalf of our country.Hmmmm....Obama "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• Al Qaeda claims fire of Mount Caramel.A group, calling itself "Lions of the mujahideen in Palestine" in an Internet message, claims to have started the fire between Thursday and Friday to avenge the death of some fighters in Gaza. The Israeli authorities deny the fire was caused deliberately. International assistance arrives.The terrorist organization Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility for the fire that has devastated the forests of Mount Caramel, the most serious environmental disaster in the history of Israel. Although the local police authorities attribute the blaze to negligence and the prolonged drought that is affecting the region.Today, a new terrorist group, which claims links to Al Qaeda, posted a video message on jihadist forums, the same used by Osama Bin Laden, declaring to be behind the fire. The group, which calls itself “Lions of the mujahideen in Palestine" claims to have set fire to the trees of Mount Carmel, triggering the inferno which is still raging. "The lions of the mujahideen in Palestine" say they carried out the arson attack on the night between Thursday and Friday - "performing a holy and heroic expedition within the territory of the usurpers on occupied Mount Caramel setting fire to its trees, causing the deaths of more than 40 people and wounding dozens, as recognized by the enemy itself".Read the full story here.

• Delightful: White House Seeks to Shred More of the Constitution by Eradicating House of Representatives' Power of the Purse.Ed Morrissey finds the buried gem inside a staid Politico report on the U.S. budget.The action came as the administration sent to the Capitol more than 50 funding adjustments it wants considered as part of what would be a stripped-down appropriations package for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year ending Sept. 30.Many agencies would be left frozen at their current spending levels, but the documents indicate the White House is seeking more than $11.4 billion in new spending above 2010, chiefly for foreign aid and defense accounts as well as education initiatives and housing assistance for low-income tenants. The administration also wants to a remarkably open-ended authority to transfer funds between accounts — a power that is sure to be resisted by the Appropriations Committee leadership.This is what’s known as “burying the lead” in journalism. A Republican House will have the “power of the purse” to put an end to executive branch overreach — for instance, the efforts at the EPA to create carbon caps outside of Congressional authorization, the FCC’s attempts to regulate the Internet, and so on. That power is a key part of the checks and balances in federal government......[Obama knows] that Republicans plan on using the power of the purse to keep the Obama administration from abusing its power and making end-runs around the legislature. It all but demands a blank check from Congress as a budget plan and ends their ability to direct funding as it sees fit. It’s a carte blanche for runaway executive power.Morrissey is absolutely right to state that "every member of Congress should protest this demand to surrender the Constitutional prerogative of budgeting and the check on power it represents. Otherwise, they will consign the people’s branch to a mere rubber stamp for executive whims."The nation's highest law -- the Constitution -- is a mere inconvenience for the great Barack Obama and the most radical Congress in American history.Constitutional attorney Mark Levin once called the Obama White House "as close to a dictatorship as this country has ever seen". Every day and in every way, Alinsky's most celebrated acolyte seems determined to prove his detractors right.
  Hmmmmm.......still think there will be fair democratic elections in 2012?Read the full story here.

• New Shark attack kills German woman off Sharm El Sheikh.Experts captured two sharks on Friday, which they believed had mauled two Russian swimmers.A shark mauled to death a German woman tourist snorkeling off Sharm El Sheikh on Sunday, in the third shark attack in Egypt's popular Red Sea resort in a week."There has been a death unfortunately. She was a German lady. We have taken everyone out of the water," he said.Medical officials said the woman was pulled out of the water dead after the shark had mauled her thigh and arm.Hmmmm........."Jaws" the remake?Read the full story here.

• Anger as schools drop Christian assemblies in favour of multi-faith sessions or 'moments of reflection'.Christians have criticised the growing number of schools which have dropped their traditional assemblies in favour of multi-faith sessions or ‘moments of reflection’ which include children staring at rocks, meditating or discussing the news.More than 140 primary and secondary schools across Britain have won the right to opt out of the legal requirement to provide a daily act of worship which is ‘broadly Christian’ in character.Several hold Islamic assemblies with readings from the Koran, while others hold sessions giving weeksequal prominence to all faiths and sometimes incorporate events such as Black History Month and Chinese New Year.The disclosure that so many schools have ditched the Christian service has upset traditionalists.Mike Judge, of The Christian Institute, said: ‘It is part of an attempt to airbrush Christianity from public life. Of course it is important to be sensitive to other faiths but I think all children should be made aware of our Christian heritage. It is as much part of our island story as 1066 and the Battle of Hastings.‘A lot of Muslim parents don’t mind their children learning about the nature of Christianity. I think it’s a question of other people being offended on their behalf.’Bradford, West Yorkshire, which has a large Muslim community, has the highest number of opt-outs at 47. In 40 of these schools pupils attend one assembly a week which is devoted to Islam and four other sessions which have a multi-faith approach.In the other seven schools there are five multi-faith session. Hmmm...a new Crusade is going on,only this time it's the other way around,Christianity is all over the World under assault!Read the full story here.

• Assessment: Carmel fire nearing its end. Largest firefighting aircraft lands in Israel overnight, begins dumping water, flame retardant chemicals on inferno in north. IAF officer: It will contribute significantly to fire extinguishing efforts.Following a meeting with Israel Air Force commander Major General Ido Nehushtan and Fire Service chief Shimon Romah on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to halt the arrival of additional firefighting airplanes to Israel.His decision was based on the estimation that the deadly fire in the Mount Carmel region will be under control soon, and therefore no additional international aid will be needed.A giant American aircraft joined the battle against the deadly inferno in the Carmel region Sunday morning.As fires swept through the hills around the northern city of Haifa for a fourth day, hopes were high that the arrival in Israel in the early hours of a rented Boeing Supertanker, the largest aerial firefighting plane in the world, would finally tip the balance in the struggle to put out the flames.The plane was dumping water and flame retardant chemicals on the Carmel hills. Residents were asked to close windows and turn on the air-conditioner as long as the aircraft is operating.Prime Minister Netanyahu said that unlike aircraft already on the scene, the Supertanker was able to operate at night, a potentially decisive quality."The pilots and firefighters do exceptional work but night falls and the wind-fanned embers return to life, so the ability to operate at night is very significant," Netanyahu told a news conference in Haifa.Read the full story here.

• HT:JihadWatch.New Turkish film highlights "America's paranoia with the Islamic world after 9/11".The movie is clearly an orgy of Muslim victimhood, complete with a villainous U.S. law enforcement officer (played by Robert Patrick) stalking into a mosque during prayers and making statements about Islam that no actual American law enforcement official has ever dreamed of uttering in today's hyper-PC environment.Interesting to note also Gina Gershon's and Danny Glover's presence in the film. Probably Hollywood's fashionable Leftism made acting in this America-hating screed seem to them to be a moral duty.Hmmm...in case anyone still had doubts about Turkey their allegiance ,now you know ,get them out of NATO NOW!Read and see the full story here.

• EU states show reluctance to cooperate with Turkey on terror.Turkish officials have added yet another complaint to the long-endured attitude of indifference from European security agencies towards members of terrorist organizations, such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), that reside in EU countries: Authorities in EU countries seem reluctant to engage in judicial solidarity to the point where they refrain from signing bilateral agreements on handing over detained terror suspects to Turkey.European countries are reluctant to hand over many PKK leaders, along with other detainees, such as Fehriye Erdal, who was convicted for the assassination of Özdemir Sabancı. As if this were not enough, no decisive measures have been taken against economic activities conducted by the PKK in those countries.In the last decade Turkey has demanded from Europe the repatriation of 158 detainees who are members of terrorist organizations, 154 of whom were PKK militants. Up until now, 14 PKK militants and an Islamic Great East Raiders Front (İBDA-C) militant have been handed over to Turkey. Belgium, Holland and Denmark are among the countries that completely rejected Turkey’s demands in this respect, whereas Romania, Austria, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine partially met them.Every year Turkey sends an updated list of detainees prepared on the basis of the current status of terrorist organizations such as the PKK and DHKP-C in Europe. As is known, most of the detained PKK militants in Europe have been sought by Interpol red notices, and Germany handed four of them over to Turkey. It was later determined that one was a lower-ranking militant in the terrorist organization. Turkey submitted to the US and Iraqi governments the list of 248 PKK militants it demands repatriation of. Turkey also called for the arrest of 18 PKK leaders who are leading prosperous lives in Europe. Leaders like Zübeyir Aydar and Ali Rıza Altun were arrested several times by authorities in Europe, but Turkey’s demands for their repatriation were rejected and the leaders were released.Hmmm...perhaps because they consider them "freedomfighters"?Read the full story here.

• Malaysian girl, 14, celebrates wedding in public. A 14-year-old girl and 23-year-old man have celebrated their recent marriage in public in Malaysia's largest city, a report said Sunday, fueling a debate on teen weddings.Underage marriages are allowed for Muslims with court permission and parental consent but are not common in this Muslim-majority country.The New Straits Times reported the Muslim couple, whose union was arranged by their parents, were married in July after obtaining permission from an Islamic court.The couple, whose photo was published on the government-linked newspaper's front page, celebrated their union at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur Saturday together with about 250 other couples. The celebration was organized by Kuala Lumpur's Islamic department."It has been hard trying to juggle two roles — as a student and a wife — but I am taking it in my stride," said the bride, Siti Maryam Mahmod, who studies at a religious school.But Deputy Health Minister Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin said child marriages should be forbidden."It is never OK for a 14-year-old to be married," the Muslim woman politician told The Associated Press.Read the full story here.

• Chechen terror suspects busted in Belgian raid."NATO train with troops was terrorists’ target". The alleged brain behind the Chechen terrorist outfit based in Antwerp that was dismantled two weeks ago was arrested at Vienna Airport last Thursday. The news has only just been made public.Austria's Interior Ministry says police have detained a Chechen fugitive, who was sought on an EU arrest warrant for allegedly planning an attack in Belgium and being involved in recruiting terrorist fighters.The ministry's spokesman Rudolf Gollia told the Austria Press Agency on Saturday that the man, who lived in a village 70 kilometres south of Vienna, was arrested at the capital's main airport while returning from a trip to Mecca on Wednesday.At the airport Austrian investigators also seized a mobile phone and a computer.The Austrian daily Krone claims that the terrorists wanted to target a train carrying NATO troops.Belgian judicial services have confirmed the news. The Austrian authorities were tipped off by their Belgian counterparts. Belgian judicial authorities have requested the man’s extradition. Lieve Pellens of the public prosecutors' office says that the suspect could be in Belgium within two weeks.32-year-old Aslambek L. is thought to be the brain behind a Chechen terrorist outfit based in Antwerp. Belgian public prosecutors confirmed that the suspect has links to the terrorist suspects arrested in the northern port city two weeks ago.Hmmm....seems there's a lot of Chechen activity in Belgium,remember the one legged September Chechen from Belgium arrested in Denmark?Read the full story here.

• Farah Pandith : ‘Identity issue hardest challenge for young Muslims’“No matter where in the world I’ve been, no matter what country or community I’ve been [to], [I’ve found that] this generation is having a hard time navigating their identity. What does it mean to be modern and Muslim? What is the difference between culture and religion?” Pandith said. Her position was created following US President Barack Obama’s Cairo speech almost one-and-a-half years ago, in which he reached out to Muslims around the globe.Pandith has become the first person to serve in this role executing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's vision for engagement with the Muslim communities around the world.Secretary Clinton gets a report of each of my trips. One of the major initiatives that has come from my trips and that we launched in connection with Secretary Clinton's iftar in September is called Generation Change. We brought together young Muslims from across America who are doing amazing things to make positive change in their communities, and we are now working with our embassies to hold similar events around the world with some of the best young social entrepreneurs.Hmmmmmmm"Generation Change" who's among them?Secretary Clinton praised 70 young American Muslim leaders who attended the iftar, as well as an event earlier in the evening, called Generation Change. Generation Change gave the young leaders an opportunity to network and to discuss issues important to their communities.Rashad Hussein, the U.S. envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, and Precious Muhammad, a highly regarded historian, were singled out for praise by Clinton. Muhammad is writing a chronicle of Islam in America for the State Department.“And it is indeed a rich history that extends back hundreds of years,” Clinton said.Clinton said that an iftar can be a time of reflection on how to build a better future.Hmmmm.....lets look at "Precious Muhammad, a highly regarded historian".Precious Rasheeda Muhammad, a third-generation African-American Muslim and founder-editor of the Journal of Islam in America, introduced the August 11 panel, which was held in Washington. She said the convening of such a panel speaks of the freedom of Muslim-American women in the United States.Muhammad outlined the history of prominent women in Islam since the revelation of the Quran 1,400 years ago. Some of them were political leaders and others fought as soldiers alongside men, she said.Muhammad said that in the United States a movement to educate Muslims about their own heritage and culture began with Sister Clara Muhammad, the wife of the Nation of Islam’s founder, Elijah Muhammad. Sister Clara founded a network of schools to educate African-American Muslims beginning in the 1930s.Hmmm......Precious admires "the Nation of Islam's founder's wife sister Clara Mohammed" he was among other things the mentor of Louis Farrakhan,....i can't wait to read that "chronicle of Islam in America",and see what kind of Islamic leaders they will become in the USA...perhaps even obtain the Presidency?A pitty young Muslims ...all over the world don't have a challenge with that part in the Koran about hating Jews .Read the full story here.More on the Nation of Islam and Farrakhan here ,here and here.
  Hmmmm.....follow the dots!

• HT:NewsRealBlog.AmericanCatholic.org: Apologists for Islam.Google these two words — catholic islam — and the #1 search result is a page from AmericanCatholic.org entitled “Islam: What Catholics Should Know“. Instead of telling readers what reasonable Catholics (like the Pope?) understand to be true — that Islam is a violent political system married to a religion – the site paints quite a rosy picture. AmericanCatholic.org seems to be more “lip-service Muslim” than Catholic in its exposition of Islam. I’ll demonstrate that fact.In order to see how far off base AmericanCatholic.org is, it is helpful to first look at other top Catholic sites. Many of them address Islam only superficially and with what seems to be a mind toward convincing individual Muslims of shared beliefs, very likely in the hope that they might be converted to Christianity.At AmericanCatholic.org, however, the message about Islam is decidedly different. Here are some quotes from two pages on Islam, complete with my translations which I’m sure regular NRB readers will find easy to understand:Islam has been unjustly portrayed as a religion that fosters violent and extremist behavior. (The Real Islam)Translation: Everyone who calls Islam what it really is — as Pope Benedict did — must be an Islamophobe.Hmmmm....they must be the No. 1 in "interfaith dialog" also?Read the full submission story here.

• HT:InfidelBloggers.CAIR upset at non-muslim teaching class on Islam results with class dropped at Lane Community College.EUGENE, Ore. -- On Thursday, KEZI aired a story about a class just added to Lane Community College's schedule called "What is islam?"A Muslim civil rights group received word about it, and now it's calling for the professor to be replaced.After a failed attempt to bomb Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square last week, Islamic religion came into the national spotlight again.LCC added an educational course on Islam, but it hired a professor whom some say is anti-Muslim."What I do is I speak on what I see as the truth," said Barry Sommer, who wants to teach a class on Islam.That's a truth Barry Sommer says is based on more than two decades of research on Islam and the Middle East.He's taken an active political stance against radical Islam with a group called Act! 4 America."He is the president of an Oregon chapter of an anti-Muslim hate group -- perhaps one of the vicious anti-Muslim hate groups in America called "Act for America," said Ibrahim Hooper, Council on American-Islamic Relations.Hmmmm....those American-Islamic relations work really good just ask anyone flying and the TSA?As for Act for America hasn't hijacked any planes lately to commit a suicide act like some others?Read the full story here.HT:InfidelBloggers.

• Afghan Women's Uncertain Future.During yesterday's Afghanistan visit, Obama talked of progress. But as Ann Marlowe reports from Mullah Omar's birthplace, many women still suffer under customary law.When President Obama arrived in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit on Friday, all eyes were trained on his talk with President Hamid Karzai, and if he might be able to revive the flagging relationship between Washington and Kabul.At the top of the agenda was a U.S. withdrawal, now scheduled for 2014. In recent months, U.S. officials—including Gen. David Petraeus—have highlighted progress in the country. But for half the population—Afghanistan's women—that's a truth with modifications.The province of Zabul offers a contradictory—but realistic—window on the problems and opportunities facing the country.Hmmmm....Do we have the right to give people hope and then abandon them?Read the full story here.

• Saudi women’s veil versus modernity.Husband has not seen wife’s face despite 10 years of marriage.Alhayat said Mohammed was another one among many Saudi husbands who are deprived from seeing the face of their wives.“I could not identify my wife after she was killed in a road accidents…I asked security women to put the veil back on her face…after they did so, I recognized her and indentified the dead person as my wife,” he said.The paper quoted an unnamed teacher at a literacy centre as saying she succeeded in persuading two of her female students to uncover their faces in class. But after a while, she noticed that they could no longer concentrate.“They kept blushing and turning their faces away from their class mates although it is a female centre…after a few days, they quit the school,” she said.Hmmmm.....these are the people who have a seat in the UN for women rights?God have mercy on us!Read the full story here.

• Save Obama - by running against him.People who used to say, "Give President Obama more time" when the president was criticized for capitulating to the right, or who argued that Obama must have a plan to turn things around, are now largely depressed and angry. To many liberals and progressives, the president's unwillingness to veto any measure that includes continued tax relief for billionaires is the last straw, building on a record of spinelessness that includes his escalation of the war in Afghanistan, abandonment of a public option for health-care reform, refusal to prosecute those who tortured in Iraq or lied us into that war, and unwillingness to tax carbon emissions. With his base deeply disillusioned, many progressives are starting to believe that Obama has little chance of winning reelection unless he enthusiastically embraces a populist agenda and worldview - soon. Yet there is little chance that will happen without a massive public revolt by his constituency that goes beyond rallies, snide remarks from television personalities or indignant op-eds.But there is a real way to save the Obama presidency: by challenging him in the 2012 presidential primaries with a candidate who would unambiguously commit to a well-defined progressive agenda and contrast it with the Obama administration's policies. Such a candidacy would be pooh-poohed by the media, but if it gathered enough popular support - as is likely given the level of alienation among many who were the backbone of Obama's 2008 success - this campaign would pressure Obama toward much more progressive positions and make him a more viable 2012 candidate. Far from weakening his chances for reelection, this kind of progressive primary challenge could save Obama if he moves in the desired direction. And if he holds firm to his current track, he's a goner anyway.Hmmm....will there still be free elections in 2012?Read the full story here.

• World running out of new places to fish: study.The world's fishing industry is fast running out of new ocean fishing grounds to exploit as it depletes existing areas through unsustainable harvesting practices, according to a study published Thursday.Expansion into unexploited fishing grounds allowed global catches to increase for decades, and disguised the fact that older areas were being depleted, according researchers at the University of British Columbia and National Geographic."We knew the expansion was going on, but this is the first time we have quantified it," said Daniel Pauly, a scientist at the Vancouver-based university who co-authored the report published in the online journal PLoS ONE.About 19 million tons of fish were landed in 1950, and that increased to a peak of 90 million tons a year in the late 1980s, according to the researchers, who looked at data from 1950 to 2005.The researchers tracked the expansion of fishing activity using computer models that examine both the total number of fish caught and the impact that catching different types of fish has had on the ocean's productivity.By the late 1990s, the world's fishing fleets had largely run out of new fishing grounds to exploit, the researchers said.Hmmm...During WWII the European fish stocks recovered greatly due to the fact that there was hardly any commercial fishing in Europe.No need to say more!Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.The surreal treehoppers !The model of the Brazilian treehopper Bocydium globulare, struck me as one of the weirdest animals I’ve ever seen.The first thing a biologist does on seeing a model like this is think, “This can’t be real,” and resorts to some Googling. Sure enough, it’s a real insect.MFS - I've seen some pretty weird critters in my life but these beat anything - everytime !See the full collection here Pdf.

• And now for something complething completely different.Reports of weeping Virgin Mary statue draw faithful to Ontario church.A Virgin Mary statue is drawing scores of people to an ethnic Roman Catholic church with reports that she smiles during the day and weeps tears of healing oil at night.Two veteran investigators of religious and paranormal phenomenon cautioned, however, that the weeping Madonna figure is more likely a case of "pious deception."The plaster statue has been displayed since Nov. 6 at St. Charbel Maronite Roman Catholic Church in Windsor, Ontario, a modest brick building serving Lebanese Catholics.The church has been packed with more than 400 people at recent weekend Masses, but on a recent Tuesday evening, about 40 people participated in a 7 p.m. recitation of the rosary. After about 20 minutes, a reverente is drawing scores of people to an ethnic Roman Catholic church with reports that she smiles during the day and weeps tears of healing oil at night.Two veteran investigators of religious and paranormal phenomenon cautioned, however, that the weeping Madonna figure is more likely a case of "pious deception."The plaster statue has been displayed since Nov. 6 at St. Charbel Maronite Roman Catholic Church in Windsor, Ontario, a modest brick building serving Lebanese Catholics.The church has been packed with more than 400 people at recent weekend Masses, but on a recent Tuesday evening, about 40 people participated in a 7 p.m. recitation of the rosary. After about 20 minutes, a reverent buzz arose from the front of the church.A man in a leather jacket near the statue pointed a finger at the corner of his eye, then moved his finger down his cheek -- signaling that the Madonna was weeping.Meanwhile, pilgrims collected tears, and Ibrahim began getting reports that people had been miraculously healed by the oil.The Rev. Chaaya Akkari agreed to accept the statue at St. Charbel's, although he was not convinced at the time that the tears were real. He washed and scrubbed the statue twice by hand, wanting to ensure there was no oil or residue or trickery.For the first week that Mary stood in St. Charbel's sanctuary, there were no signs or miracles.Then, during recitation of the rosary on the evening of Nov. 13, the Maronite priest said he and about 50 worshippers clearly saw tears dripping from the statue's eyes. "It's true. I saw it," Akkari said. "Now I know."The Virgin Mary statue has been weeping almost nightly ever since, and people have been visiting the church from throughout Ontario and Michigan.Rhett Rushing, a professor at the University of Texas-San Antonio, also a veteran investigator of weeping Madonnas, said, "My theory as a social scientist is that you'll see what you came expecting to see."The public is fascinated with the supernatural, Rushing said. "You're looking at two words here: truth and faith. Where do they cross? And can they cross? You can't scientifically debunk or investigate something that's based on faith. A faith-based investigation is an oxymoron."Hmmmm ...maybe...on the other hand a new statue ,new wood drying could give a kind of sap leakage ,Canada and Maple syrup go together.Read the full story here.