MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Obama to Ease Export Controls for Sales to Allies, Locke Says.President Barack Obama will propose easing restrictions on the sale to the closest U.S. allies of technology items that can be used for military purposes, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke said. Reworking those rules is part of Obama’s efforts to spur exports and preserve the U.S.’s role as a research and manufacturing hub, he said. Locke announced plans to ease limits on sales of dual-use items to close allies a year ago, and today said the regulations would be announced this week. “You will see the president making an announcement any day now,” Locke said in an interview at the Bloomberg office in Washington, when asked about the proposal. “We’ve been raring to go for a year now, and we’ve been working collaboratively.”The U.S. requires exporters to obtain a license to sell civilian technology, such as aircraft parts and computer hardware, that also can be used for military purposes. The restrictions vary based on U.S. relations with the foreign government, and those rules are administered by the Commerce Department and State Department.The process of applying for and receiving such licenses slows commerce and harms the competitiveness of American manufacturers, Locke said. He didn’t say which countries would be exempt from export controls, and how the regulations would be structured.Hmmm....Allies...like NATO allies..lets say Turkey the same country that allows Iran to use the Turkish harbours more for shipping "Goods"? Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGoverment."Piggyleaks"Obama Using Pigford Cash to Pay Campaign Debts?One key to understanding the Pigford travesty is realizing how Barack Obama came to the point where today he is giving away billions in taxpayer dollars for potentially fraudulent Pigford-related claims. What may have begun as a legitimate 100 million dollar effort to repair genuine damages caused by alleged USDA discrimination evolved into what amounted to a pay-for-play scam with two linked goals – to defeat Hillary Clinton in the Democrat primary, then get Barack Obama elected president.The Hill, not Big Government, let that cat out of the bag back in April of 2009:Supporters of Obama’s presidential campaign argued the then-Illinois senator’s move to resolve late Pigford claims would endear him to Southern black voters during the tough Democratic primary race against former Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). At the time of the bill’s introduction in 2007, Obama was finding his footing as a candidate and polls suggested he was struggling to attract black voters. He later won almost unanimously among this group against Clinton and then in the general election against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).Now Obama may have to face off with several of his own campaign supporters over how best to compensate discrimination claims by black farmers. Clay, Davis and Thompson endorsed Obama during the presidential primaries.Just as Obama is today caving to Republicans on a a tax deal, instead of standing up for American taxpayers regarding potential Pigford-related fraud, Obama is also opting to write a check for billions American taxpayers can ill afford – all to satisfy what can rightfully be called a campaign debt.Hmmmm.....The "smell" gets stronger from the "DungHill"?Read the full story here.

• Indian envoy searched at US airport by TSA, MEA enraged.India's Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar was recently pulled out from an airport security line and searched by a security agent in Mississippi.The search - carried out despite Shankar mentioning her diplomatic status - has left the Indian government enraged.The incident took place on December 4 at the Jackson-Evers International Airport where a sari-clad Shankar was about to board a flight to Baltimore after attending a Mississippi State University programme.Shankar presented her diplomatic papers to officers and was escorted by a Mississippi Development Authority representative and an airport security officer. In spite of knowing that she was a VIP guest, US airport officials took her off the security line and had her patted down by a female transportation security administration agent.According to reports, security agents told Shankar she was singled out because she was wearing a sari.Hmmm...Talk about profiling?Read the full story here.

• EU offering to okay Iran nuclear program in return for UN supervision’.The European Union is proposing that Iran be allowed to continue its uranium enrichment processes if it agrees to tight United Nations supervision of its nuclear program, diplomatic sources told Haaretz on Wednesday.At the two-day talks, the powers sought to put concerted pressure on Iran to agree to discuss its nuclear work, which the West suspects is aimed at producing atomic weapons. Iran denies this, claiming that it only has peaceful nuclear ambitions. Diplomatic sources told Haaretz on Wednesday indicated that the offer would be discussed in further detail at the next round of talks, scheduled to take place in Istanbul at the beginning of next year.
  Hmmmm....Istanbul....Turkey.....Erdogan ....Ahmadinejad ...full circle..and no control?Read the full scam story here.

• Video.Suspect in Maryland terror plot has ties to Boston.In the second time in just a matter of weeks that an alleged terrorist plot in the United states has been uncovered, and the man whose bomb-plot target was a military recruitment center in Maryland has connections to Massachusetts.The alleged target in this case and the arrest took place in Maryland, but the suspect under arrest is married and his wife is a college student here in the Boston area.Antonio Martinez, 21, also known as Muhammad Hussain appeared in federal court, charged with a homegrown terror plot to blow up a military recruitment center in Maryland.According to court documents, Martinez dreamed of committing jihad on U.S. soil for months and tried to get others involved, including an undercover FBI agent. In the documents, Martinez is quoted as saying, “Every soldier we see in uniform will be killed on the spot. They will be killed until they stop waging war against Islam.”Read and see the full story here.

• HT:Barenaked Islam.American-born Orthodox Jew turned Muslim demonstrates Islamic taqiyya (deception) on CNN reporter.Source.

• WikiLeaks cables: Lockerbie bomber freed after Gaddafi's 'thuggish' threats.Megrahi case led to threats against UK's Libyan interests, while Scots who released him had turned down 'a parade of treats'.The British government's deep fears that Libya would take "harsh and immediate" action against UK interests if the convicted Lockerbie bomber died in a Scottish prison are revealed in secret US embassy cables which show London's full support for the early release of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader, made explicit and "thuggish" threats to halt all trade deals with Britain and harass embassy staff if Megrahi remained in jail, the cables show. At the same time "a parade of treats" was offered by Libya to the Scottish devolved administration if it agreed to let him go, though the cable says they were turned down.The Megrahi cables may do much to explain why he was released in August 2009, supposedly because he was on the brink of death from prostate cancer. The decision incurred American wrath. More than a year on Megrahi is still alive, having been feted when he was escorted back to Tripoli by Gaddafi's son.Public congressional hearings in September were told by a US prostate specialist that the official reason for the compassionate release – that Megrahi was within three months of death – was "ridiculous".Anger with the British persists in some American circles, and UK ministers, Labour and Tory, have attempted to distance London from the release insisting it was purely a Scottish decision.In January 2009, six months before Megrahi's release, the US ambassador to Libya, Gene Cretz, confirmed that "dire" reprisals had been threatened against the UK, and the British were braced to take "dramatic" steps for self-protection.The Libyans "convinced UK embassy officers that the consequences if Megrahi were to die in prison … would be harsh, immediate and not easily remedied … specific threats have included the immediate cessation of all UK commercial activity in Libya, a diminishment or severing of political ties, and demonstrations against official UK facilities."[Libyan] officials also implied, but did not directly state, that the welfare of UK diplomats and citizens in Libya would be at risk.""The cables confirm what we always said – that our only interest was taking a justice decision based on Scots law without fear or favour, which was exactly what was done, and that our public position was identical to our private one."They also show that the former UK government were playing false on the issue, with a different public position from their private one - which must be deeply embarrassing for the Labour Party in Scotland - and that the US government was fully aware of the pressure being applied to the UK government."Hmmmmm.....What has become of "No negociating with terrorists"?Read the full story here.

• Report: Lockerbie Bomber in Coma, Near Death.A source close to the family of the Lockerbie bomber Abdul Baset al Megrahi told Sky News Thursday his death is imminent and every day is "expected to be his last."Suffering from prostate cancer, the Libyan's health has rapidly deteriorated -- and his relatives said he has been in a coma and on life support for around a week.Al Megrahi -- who was convicted of killing 270 people by bombing a Pan Am jet in 1988 -- has been unable to walk for a number of weeks and is not expected to recover.A source close to his family told Sky News: "He is on life support and has been for some days. Many people have been waiting for him to die."That day is coming very soon. Every day, his loved ones expect it to be his last."British relatives have been vociferous amongst a group of campaigners who believe the Libyan was wrongly convicted and have long demanded an inquiry into the investigation and court proceedings that convicted him.Read the full story here.

• The 'Islamophobia' myth.When that provocative question appeared on the cover of Time in August, the accompanying story strained to suggest, on the basis of some anecdotal evidence, that the answer might be yes. The FBI's latest compendium of US hate-crimes data suggests far more plausibly that the answer is no.Yet the story conceded frankly that "there's no sign that violence against Muslims is on the rise" and that "Islamophobia in the US doesn't approach levels seen in other countries."In fact, as Time pointed out, while there may be the occasional confrontation over a Muslim construction project, "there are now 1,900 mosques in the US, up from about 1,200 in 2001." Even after 9/11, in other words, and even as radical Islamists have continued to target Americans, places of worship for Muslims in the United States have proliferated. And whenever naked anti-Islamic bigotry has appeared, "it has been denounced by many Christian, Jewish, and secular groups." (Case in point: the wall-to-wall repudiation of the Gainesville pastor.)America is many things, but "Islamophobic" plainly isn't one of them. As Time itself acknowledged: "Polls have shown that most Muslims feel safer and freer in the US than anywhere else in the Western world."That sentiment is powerfully buttressed by the FBI's newly-released statistics on hate crime in the United States.In 2009, according to data gathered from more than 14,000 law-enforcement agencies nationwide, there were 1,376 hate crimes motivated by religious bias. Of those, just 9.3 percent -- fewer than 1 in 10 -- were committed against Muslims. By contrast, 70.1 percent were committed against Jews, 6.9 percent were aimed at Catholics or Protestants, and 8.6 percent targeted other religions. Hate crimes driven by anti-Muslim bigotry were outnumbered nearly 8 to 1 by anti-Semitic crimes.Year after year, American Jews are far more likely to be the victims of religious hate crime than members of any other group. That was true even in 2001, by far the worst year for anti-Muslim hate crimes, when 481 were reported -- less than half of the 1,042 anti-Jewish crimes tabulated by the FBI the same year.Does all this mean that America is in reality a hotbed of anti-Semitism? Would Time's cover have been closer to the mark if it had asked: "Is America Judeophobic?"Hmmmmm.....or is the world Judeophobic?Read the full story here.

• Jordanian kills sister over 'bad behaviour'.A Jordanian was charged on Wednesday with killing his 16-year-old sister because he suspected she had "bad behaviour," police said."The 17-year-old strangled his sister last week because he claimed she had bad behaviour," in the southern city of Maan, a police spokesman told AFP."Her family forced her to get married a few months ago but she was divorced more than a month ago. After she returned to her family, she escaped but police sent her back."The police spokesman added that the girl's family "tied her to a bed to prevent her from running away at night.""Last week, her brother woke her up and strangled her. Her family claimed she was ill but an autopsy and investigation showed she was murdered," he said.The girl's mother and another brother have been arrested and charged with being accessories to murder.Hmmmm.....Another classic example of the DisHonor murderers.Read the full story here.

• Constitution Halts Government Food Grab.It appears a Senate screw-up has killed the food control bill, also known as S510: the Food Safety Modernization Act, for now.It seems a “sticky” provision in the United States Constitution — Article 1, Section 7 — got in the way. That little Constitutional provision that says, “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives…”Section 107 of the bill includes a set of fees that are classified as revenue raisers, which are technically taxes under the Constitution, the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call reports.So House Democrats had their feathers ruffled and are expected to use the blue slip process to block the bill’s completion. This process would force Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to drop the bill or try and force it through after the House passes a new version. To pass in the Senate, a new bill would have to receive unanimous consent to limit debate, and Senator Tom Coburn (R.-Okla.) has said that won’t happen.Read the full story here.

• HT:DougRoss.One Chart To Rule Us All.Using data from the Office of Personnel Management, I generated the following graph that depicts the number of federal employees, year by year, since 1940. I purposely omitted the Department of Defense, which it turns out is actually a legitimate function of the federal government.Some striking observations:

1. • The raw growth in bureaucrats during Barack Obama's first year in office appears to be the largest since WWII.
2. • How did we ever survive before the Department of Transportation was created in the sixties?
3. • Are there really 100,000 Agriculture Department employees and, if so, what the hell are they doing?
4. • It would appear that we now have about 175,000 Homeland Security employees, yet we can't seem to secure the border with Mexico.
5. • Is anyone else curious about the roughly 300,000 employees marked "Other"?Hmmmm....I for one would love to see the current state on the chart of homeland security.Read and see the full story here.

• Mullen Criticizes China Over N. Korea.SEOUL, South Korea — The top American military officer lashed out at China on Wednesday for failing to intervene diplomatically with North Korea, as he met with his South Korean counterpart to discuss possible armed responses to future provocations from Pyongyang.Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sharply criticized Beijing for not condemning North Korea’s artillery barrage against a South Korean island two weeks ago. Two marines and two civilians were killed in the attack, which has frayed diplomatic nerves in the region and brought both militaries to heightened states of alert.“China has enormous influence over the North, and therefore they have a unique responsibility,” Admiral Mullen said after meeting with Gen. Han Min-koo, chairman of the South Korean Joint Chiefs. “Now is the time for Beijing to step up to that responsibility and guide the North, and indeed the whole region, to a better future.” “Even tacit approval of Pyongyang’s brazenness,” he said, “leaves all the neighbors in the region asking, ‘What’s next?’“Admiral Mullen, who described North Korea as “a rapidly evolving threat,” also made a point on Wednesday of affirming the military alliance between Seoul and Washington. “We have been at your side for six decades, and President Obama wanted me to assure you that we will be at your side for many more,” he said, adding that the alliance was distinguished by “a shoulder-to-shoulder approach.” But he stopped short of saying there would be a wingtip-to-wingtip approach in the event of any quick South Korean response to a future North Korean provocation. Planning, yes. Bombers in the air, no. South Korea’s newly appointed defense minister, Kim Kwan-jin, said last week that airstrikes against the North are now one of South Korea’s options under Seoul’s new rules of engagement.Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Iran placing ballistic missiles in Venezuela that can reach the US. If any of you in the US still think Iran is only a threat to Israel and the Gulf countries, and therefore wonder why you should be at all concerned about it, perhaps this will change your mind: Iran is placing medium-range missiles that can reach the United States in Venezuela. According to Die Welt, Venezuela has agreed to allow Iran to establish a military base manned by Iranian missile officers, soldiers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan missile officers. In addition, Iran has given permission for the missiles to be used in case of an "emergency". In return, the agreement states that Venezuela can use these facilities for "national needs" – radically increasing the threat to neighbors like Colombia. The German daily claims that according to the agreement, Iranian Shahab 3 (range 1300-1500 km), Scud-B (285-330 km) and Scud-C (300, 500 and 700 km) will be deployed in the proposed base. It says that Iran also pledged to help Venezuela in rocket technology expertise, including intensive training of officers.And for those of you making the obvious comparison to the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.... Back in the 1962, thanks to the stern stance adopted by the then Kennedy administration, the crisis was defused.Nowadays, however, we do not see the same firmness from the present administration. On the contrary, we see a lax attitude, both in language and in deeds, that results in extending hands when our adversaries have no intention of shaking hands with us. Iran is soon going to have a nuclear weapon, and there are no signs that UN sanctions will in any way deter the Ayatollah's regime from completing its nuclear program.Hmmm......in not a single way Obama can be compared to Kennedy.Obama is a mere shadow of that great statesman.Read the full scale story here.

• Child molester sentenced to death in Saudi.A Saudi court sentenced an Arab expatriate to death after he was convicted of molesting nearly 200 children in the past five years, a local daily said Thursday.The court in the eastern port of Dammam found the man guilty of the charges after he confessed to some of them, Alwatan said.The unnamed man, a taxi driver, was arrested after a Saudi father told police that the defendant was molesting his eight-year-old daughter while driving her to school in the morning, the paper said.“The man was charged with rape and molestation of nearly 200 children and teen agers…he confessed to some of them but said he had done so because he is suffering from psychological problems,” it said.The court gave the defendant 30 days to appeal the death verdict.Source.

• HT:FloppingAces.A Guide To The Loss Of Your Rights.Once long ago the Colorado River was unimpressive. Over time it eroded the stone through which it coursed and the landscape was forever transformed.Not long ago, Barack Obama was an unimpressive river. Now he erodes the Constitution as he courses through his Presidency. He promised to “fundamentally transform” this country from a Democratic Republic into something else.Obama has surrounded himself with a cadre of czars- a shadow government. Cass Sunstein is one of them. Sunstein believes that a population can be “nudged” into doing the “right” thing. Barack Obama and his left wing czars are the arbiters of what’s “right.”The meaning of “right” is unfolding in front of our eyes.Hmmmm....How to transform a free country in a policestate?A Must Read !Read the full story here.

• Makeup-wearing men convicted of indecency.But the amateur models spared lashes and imprisonment.A Sudanese court convicted seven men of indecency after police accused them of wearing makeup during a fashion show in Khartoum, their lawyer said.The men, amateur models at the “Sudanese Next Top Model Fashion Show””in June, were arrested by the public order police, a body known for its crackdowns on perceived indecent dress and drinking in the Muslim north, one defendant told Reuters.All seven were found guilty on Wednesday and each fined 200 Sudanese pounds ($80), as was a woman who faced the same charge for applying the makeup, said lawyer Nabil Adib.“The court thought that they were indecently dressed ... The judge thought that wearing makeup could be offensive for men and allowing a woman to put makeup on men was against the law,” said Adib.The lawyer said he had argued in court that men, including religious preachers, regularly wore makeup for appearances on Sudan’s state television station.The defendants could have faced a maximum punishment of 40 lashes and imprisonment, said Adib.Sudanese UN official Lubna Hussein was briefly jailed for wearing trousers in public after being found guilty for the same offence in 2009, a case that drew international criticism.Hmmmm...."Men, including religious preachers, regularly wore makeup for appearances on Sudan’s state television station"?Read the full story here.

• HT:Memri.Video : Archbishop Athanasius Toma Daoud, Representative of the Christian Iraqis in the UK: "There Is a New Plan to Kill Us by the Dozens".Source.

• Lebanon at stake: Turkey must reveal its cards.The timing of the Turkish prime minister’s two-day visit to Lebanon could not be more judicious. Lebanon’s enemies have been banging the drums of war louder than ever before. All the malevolent plans hatched following the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri are about to converge for one formidable goal: to destabilize and weaken Lebanon, disarm Hezbollah and allow Israel to return, uncontested, and wreck havoc on the tiny country, the way it remorselessly did in 1982.Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan seemed clear in his intentions during his trip to Lebanon. But considering what is at stake, maybe he wasn’t clear enough.Israel is full of “uncertainties” and it is “not definite what it will do,” he claimed, according to Turkey’s state Anatolia news agency. “Does [Israel] think it can enter Lebanon with the most modern aircraft and tanks to kill women and children, and destroy schools and hospitals, and then expect us to remain silent?” he asked. “We will not be silent and we will support justice by all means available to us.”Erdoğan’s words seem decisive, but they are as decisive as the strong messages he’s conveyed earlier, including in response to the Israeli war on Gaza (2008-09). Israel is yet to heed any of his warnings.But Turkey can prove Israel’s estimate wrong. However, promises that Turkey will no longer stand idle as children and women are killed no longer suffice. Israel seems unmoved by words, perhaps betting on Turkey’s military and economic ties to the West. If Turkey is indeed serious, it must reveal some of its cards, and send a clear message to those fanning the flames: that 2010 is not 1982, that Lebanon will no longer be testing grounds for Israel’s and US lethal weapons, that the times have changed for real. Lebanon and the Middle East are counting on Turkey, not as a wild card, but as a true and lasting friend.Hmmmm.....Asking Israel to apologise and at the same time prepare to intervene against Israel ?Get Turkey out of NATO!Read the full story here

• House Passes DREAM Act Immigration Measures.The House of Representatives approved a bill that would grant thousands of young, illegal immigrants the chance to become American citizens Wednesday night.Called the DREAM Act, the proposal would permit young people brought illegally into the U.S. by their parents the opportunity for citizenship. However, that's contingent on them completing two years of college or military service.Supporters say the measure would strengthen the U.S. economy and boost military readiness.Critics contend that the legislation offers what they call "amnesty" for illegal immigrants.The Senate plans a vote Thursday to try to summon the DREAM Act to the Senate floor. It is expected to fail.Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), one of the main backers of the DREAM Act, believes this is the last chance he has to pull this legislation across the finish line."Once the Congress of the United States changes hands and the House of Representatives is in the hands of the Republican Party, I don't see any movement on comprehensive immigration reform," Gutierrez said.Read the full story here.

• Syria to Iran: We won’t attack Israel in retaliatory strike.Damascus claims Israeli jets will fly over Syria to bomb Islamic Regime; claims IAF drones already scouting out radar bases. The Syrian leadership in Damascus told a senior Iranian delegation to Damascus last year that it would not assist Iran in retaliating to an Israeli strike against its nuclear facilities, according to an American diplomatic cable published on Wednesday by Wikileaks.Written by the United States Embassy in Damascus, the cable dated Dec. 20, 2009, summed up the visits earlier that month of Iranian National Security Advisor Saeed Jalili, Vice President and head of the Environmental Department Mahammed-Javad Mahamadzideh and Defense Minister Ahmad Ali Vahidi to Damascus.The cable cited an unnamed Syrian official who claimed that in the talks the Syrians told the Iranians that they would not participate in an Iranian retaliation to an potential Israeli strike.“We told them Iran is strong enough on its own to develop a nuclear program and to fight Israel,” the Syrian official was quoted as saying in the cable. “We’re too weak.”According to the cable, Syria resisted Iranian entreaties to commit to joining Iran if fighting broke out between Iran, Hizbullah and Israel.Read the full story here.

• HT:NewsBusters.Helen Thomas: Revoking Honorary Degrees a Violation of 'Freedom of Speech'.Someone should inform Helen Thomas that the First Amendment does not protect one's right to honorary degrees.The disgraced former White House correspondent lashed out at her critics Tuesday, and stood by her vicious anti-Semitic remarks - both her most recent claims that "Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists" and the remarks that led to her resignation.According to the Detroit Free Press, Thomas issued a bizarre threat - unmoored from any coherent legal understanding of "freedom of speech" - to Anti-Defamation League president Abe Foxman, who had called for Thomas to be stripped of all honorary awards:"I'm going to tell the Anti-Defamation League to back off," Thomas said on the radio show. "They think they have the right of intimidation.""They already got my job. They want to get my honorary degrees. I mean, who are these people? What's the matter, they can't take freedom of speech?"She added: "I'm getting tired of this intimidation. I'm going to report him (ADL director Abe Foxman) to President Obama and all the proper authorities. He better stop intimidating me. He has to shut up everyone in the country who is against Israeli tyranny. That's his job. That's what he is paid for."Of course Americans' right to free speech protects them from being censored by the state. It does not police relations between private citizens. So Thomas clearly needs to brush up on her constitutional law (one would think a journalist of all people would be familiar with the nuances of the First Amendment, but alas).Foxman responded thusly:"It's very sad that a woman of her stature, at this point in her life and career, just can't stop lashing out in anger and in bigotry and hatred. It's very sad. She's exercising her freedom of speech. We're exercising our freedom of speech. That's not intimidation."Foxman added that "we have a right to say you're a bigot and if you're a bigot that you don't deserve to be celebrated."…Thomas "is full of vitriol and prejudice and stereotyping and conspiracy," Foxman said. "We're saying, this is not the American way. This is not the standard of behavior and respect that" institutions should be honoring with awards."That's the beauty of this country. The constitution guarantees your right to be a bigot, but there are consequences.Hmmmmm....."I'm going to report him (ADL director Abe Foxman) to President Obama" Somehow he doesn't look like the boogieman even with a cut lip?Read the full story here.

• "The War On Christmas".ACLU Warns Tennessee Schools Against Practicing ‘Unconstitutional’ Holiday Activities.The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee has warned school officials across the state about holiday celebrations.In a letter to the 137 public school superintendents, the group reminded them that holiday celebrations focusing primarily on one religious holiday amount to a school’s unconstitutional endorsement of religion.The ACLU said in a news release that it was responding to numerous complaints from families about such school activities.Hedy Weinberg, ACLU executive director in Tennessee, said it is especially important for people to embrace the constitutional guarantees of the First Amendment in order to ensure that religious freedom flourishes.Hmmm.....My Answer! Art 18 of the Human Rights Charter : "Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance."Get my point yet?Read the full story here.

• Caught on CCTV: The sickening moment Muslim diplomat's son battered labrador puppy 20 times because he was 'having a bad day'.A diplomat's son who viciously kicked and punched his puppy because he was 'having a bad day' after being turned down for a job has narrowly avoided being locked up for the horrific attack.Mohammed Abou-Sabaa, whose father is a prominent Tunisian official, was caught on CCTV raining down more than 20 blows on his labrador, Poppy, as she cowered in terror.In a final, sickening, attack, the 21-year-old student was filmed kicking the blameless pet down a flight of steps outside his luxury city centre flat.Hmmm....Islam and dogs "Muslims generally cast dogs in a negative light because of their ritual impurity,According to a generally unaccepted Sunni tradition attributed to Muhammad, black dogs are evil, or even devils, in animal form." 99% of Tunisians are Muslim.Read the full "story" here.

• HT:IMRA.PMW Bulletin: Allah, kill Christians and Jews to the last one.A video on official Hamas TV calls for Allah to kill Jews, Christians,Communists and their supporters. The video asks Allah to "count them and kill them to the last one, and don't leave even one."As Palestinian Media Watch has reported this call for the killing of non-Muslims was a regular pronouncement by both Palestinian Authority (Fatah) and Hamas political and religious leaders for many years starting in July.For years, sermons by religious leaders on official Palestinian Authority TV under Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas routinely presented the killing of Jews as a religious obligation and a fulfillment of the Islamic ideal. Due to PMW's exposure of these sermons, which led to international criticism and pressure, Mahmoud Abbas, whose office controls PA TV, has been forced to prevent the broadcast of sermons calling for extermination of Jews on PA TV.The latest sermon of this nature on PA TV was in January 2010.The following is the transcript of the Hamas video clip:"Allah, oh our Lord, vanquish Your enemies, enemies of the religion [Islam] in all places.Allah, strike the Jews and their sympathizers,the Christians and their supporters,the Communists and their adherents.Allah, count them and kill them to the last one, and don't leave even one."Hmmmm......Obama :"Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.The sounds of silence. the 'Palestinian' blogger who has been arrested for calling the Muslim God a "primitive Bedouin" and Islam a religion of "irrationality and ignorance," I'm sure you've all heard of him. In fact, on Tuesday, he apologized to his family and to the 'Palestinian people' for insulting Islam.Some of you might already have concluded that apology was not Hasayin's own doing, and in fact it was not. Local reports indicate that Hasayin has been tortured. I'm wondering how many of you noticed the reactions of 'human rights' NGO's to Hasayin's arrest and torture. Anyone? I suspect that none of you have noticed their reactions and there's a good reason for that. There haven't been any reactions. The 'human rights' NGO's have reacted with silence.Human Rights Watch (HRW) is the sole NGO to have issued a press statement addressing Hasayin’s detension (“West Bank: Free Suspected Blogger,” December 5, 2010). In the Palestinian Authority, insulting religion is illegal, and Hasayin faces a life sentence if convicted. According to local reports, Hasayin has been tortured. He is not allowed to receive visitors or speak to a lawyer. Officials at the local intelligence headquarters told the New York Times that Hasayin “was being detained partly for his own protection.”Hmmmm.....Outrage from the the US President......nothing....probably probably planning his Christmas holiday?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Bra Cup Size Choir Goes Viral.Forger the lame old "do, re, me" - How about bra sizes a through g?Though it would do wonders for 3-D TV sales, this viral ad is actually advertising a line of bras.To exactly whom, we can't be sure.The 'La Senza' lingerie company has notched more than a million hits since this clip debuted on YouTube just a week ago.The video introduces the so called " Cup Size Choir " members by their measurements, then features each one singing a corresponding note to the tune of “Deck the Halls.”The company also features a website where uses can "Play the Cup Size Choir" themselves, using the keys on their keyboard.'Tis truly the season to be merry.Hmmmm....Guys don't fall for it women prefere household appliances as a gift.Source.

• And now for something completely different.Louisa The teenager who sleeps for 10 days.While most teenagers struggle to get out of bed in a morning, Louisa Ball might take 10 days to fully wake from her slumber, due to a very rare neurological disorder. So what's it like living with Kleine-Levin Syndrome?Louisa has slept through holidays, friends' birthdays and half of her GCSEs. In 2008, aged 14, she had been suffering from flu-like symptoms. She was at her school in Sussex when she started nodding off in class and behaving strangely. "I didn't know what I was doing, what I was saying, everyone thought 'hey this isn't right,'" she recalls."I was hallucinating and after that I don't remember anything. All of a sudden it just went blank and I just slept for 10 days. I woke up and I was fine again." Her parents Rick and Lottie watched their daughter becoming fidgety and with unusual facial expressions as she sank into sleep. The first time was a frightening experience for them, although Louisa herself says she wasn't scared by the episode, more puzzled."It was really weird, no one knew what was wrong, we just thought it wasn't going to happen again. And then four weeks later it happened again." She was finally diagnosed with Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS). There is no known cause or cure but Louisa says it was good to know what it was and that it wasn't life threatening. Read and see the full story here.