MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:TundraTabloids.ITALY: Muslim student allowed to wear headphones during music hour.One exclusive set of rules for them, and another set of rules to govern the rest of us. That’s the route this bending over backwards buffoonery is taking us on. A fifteen year old Muslim girl attending high school in the small town Reggello, not far from Florence, has been allowed to wear hearing protection in the music hour after her Moroccan father threatened to take her out of school unless she dropped to hear the “impure” music, which in his opinion is “some stuff disbelief.”This absurd compromise, which deprives the girl the opportunity to take advantage of some of the teaching curriculum that requires her to have, occurred after an argument between the family and school management last year. This father held the girl home from school so many times that she got for high absence to pass his one-year courses, and thus could not be moved up to the next stages of education. Rector reviewed the relationship with the police, which resulted in a lawsuit that is still in progress against the father because he has not ensured that the girl get their legal education.In anticipation of the matter being settled, and to ensure that the damage in the meantime is minimized for the fifteen year-old, the parents and teachers agreed to implement this farce of a musical education.The father is happy with the workaround, and stated the following in the matter: “My daughter is happy to follow the Quranic commandments. Our religion obliges us not to study music, it is written in the holy books. “The father is also one of the representatives of the Muslim community on-site representatives who could hardly have expressed that they are Islamists in a more convincing way. The imam in Florence – apparently Islamist – is also satisfied with the compromise and said he is concerned that we must find solutions that everyone can be satisfied without creating a stir.School City Government stands blankly at her father’s demands, and so do social Commissioner, commenting: “Our school is for everyone, but Muslims should adapt to the culture of the country they live in.”Hmmmmm.....This is in no way adapting to the laws of a country.Source.

• HT:AmericanThinker.Obama's 'Missing Link'.Like many political Americans, right or left or center, I'm still grappling with what President Obama did this week. I'm trying to get a handle on what it means not so much for the country and the economy, but rather for Barack Obama.On Monday evening came the remarkable announcement by Obama that he had compromised with Republicans on a "framework" to extend the Bush tax cuts. My take on that action was that Obama was motivated entirely by politics and not at all by ideology."These tax cuts for the wealthy -- " said a visibly bitter Obama " -- this is, seems to be, their central economic doctrine." So Frank Marshall Davis was a communist, and it's clear that he influenced Obama's thinking. But how much, exactly? That's where John Drew comes in.Drew was a contemporary of Obama at Occidental College and a Marxist himself. In fact, Drew was a well-known campus communist when Obama was introduced to him as "one of us." "Obama was already an ardent Marxist when I met in the fall of 1980," said Drew, going on the record.But what do you think it says about him today, Dr. Drew?Drew: I can definitely kick down some doors here intellectually by nailing down that he had a very consistent ideology, probably from the time that he was [in Hawaii] until he was there with Alice Palmer and Bill Ayers in Chicago. I think his current behavior demonstrates that he does still have these ideological convictions. Whenever he talks about taxing the richest two percent, I think even though he knows that will harm the economy -- to him, that redistribution of wealth is still extremely important. And I think the problem here is that he never studied political science or economics the way I did. He just went straight to law school.Kengor: No real-world experience.Drew: Right. He never had any real business experience, never had a payroll to meet, and I think he still is locked in a very dangerous mindset where I think if he didn't fight to redistribute the wealth, he would feel guilty -- as if he were violating a John Rawls' Theory of Justice ideology.Read the full story here.

• Iran TV Denies Reports That Woman Sentenced To Stoning Has Been Freed.Iran's English-language Press TV has denied reports that an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning for adultery has been freed. A German-based campaign group, The International Committee Against Stoning, on December 9 said Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani had been released after Press TV showed Ashtiani meeting her son and lawyer, who are also in detention, at home in Osku in northwestern Iran. Press TV said on its website today that the video was shot with the consent of the judicial authorities "to produce a visual recount of the crime at the murder scene." It said the program would be aired later today. Ashtiani, a 43-year-old mother of two, was sentenced to death by two different courts in separate trials in 2006. Facing an international outcry, Iran has postponed several times the sentence of death by stoning against Ashtiani. Officials say she could still be hanged for complicity in her husband's murder.Read the full story here.More here.

• HT:AHN.Judicial Watch Sues Bloomberg Seeking "Ground Zero Mosque" Documents.Judicial Watch is seeking information about communications between New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf concerning the Islamic mosque and cultural center he plans to build a few blocks from Ground Zero.Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) - Judicial Watch announced Thursday that it had filed a lawsuit against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Iman Feisal Abdul Rauf seeking information about communications between them regarding an Islamic mosque and cultural center that Rauf plans to build a few blocks from Ground Zero.The so-called Ground Zero Mosque has drawn criticism.Now Washington, D.C.-headquartered Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, has filed a petition with the New York State Supreme Court asking it to force Bloomberg to comply with a public records request for communications between he had with Rauf and controversial Muslim groups, Judicial Watch said in a statement.Hmmmm.....Finally some real action.Read the full story here.

• Russia calls for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be given the Nobel Peace Prize as Putin lashes out at America.Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Russian officials said this afternoon.The Kremlin urged non-governmental organisations to consider 'nominating Assange as a Nobel Prize laureate'.A source from inside president Dmitry Medvedev's office told Russian news agencies: 'Public and non-governmental organisations should think of how to help him.'Maybe, nominate him as a Nobel Prize laureate.'The statement appeared to be designed to antagonise Washington over leaked US diplomatic cables. Elsewhere, Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin lashed out at the United States, saying the West had no right to preach to Russia about democracy.When asked about cables which cast him as Russia's 'alpha-dog' ruler of a corrupt and undemocratic bureaucracy, Putin snapped: 'Do you think the American diplomatic service is a crystal clean source of information? Do you think so?'He then went on to criticise the West over the arrest of Assange, who turned himself in to the authorities in Britain this week.'If it is full democracy, then why have they hidden Mr Assange in prison? That's what, democracy?' Putin said.'So, you know, as they say in the countryside, some people's cows can moo, but yours should keep quiet. So I would like to shoot the puck back at our American colleagues,' Putin said at a briefing with his French counterpart Francois Fillon.The phrase is a colloquial term which is a Russian equivalent of 'the pot calling the kettle black'.Read the full story here.

• Rashad Hussain, Obama's special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Turkey "The US ‘mourns' for Mavi Marmara".Rashad Hussein arrived in Turkey on Wednesday for a three-day visit, which is the first visit to this country in his current capacity. Hussain's mission is described as seeking to deepen and expand the partnerships that the US has pursued with Muslims around the world as stated in Obama's landmark speech delivered in Cairo in June 2009.The deterioration of bilateral relations between Turkey and Israel was another issue highlighted during Hussain's round-table meeting, as he expressed “deep mourning and regret” over the deaths of eight Turks and one Turkish-American during an Israeli commando raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on May 31.“There is an ongoing investigation under the leadership of the UN secretary-general. Also an investigation being conducted by Israel so during the course of time, we will wait for the outcome to see the conclusions about a tragic loss of life that, of course, the United States deeply mourns and deeply regrets,” Hussain said, when asked whether a meeting with the Humanitarian Aid Foundation (İHH), the charity organization that was among the groups organizing the Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla in May, was on his visit's agenda.Hussain didn't openly and categorically reject the idea of a meeting with the İHH, yet underlined that the UN probe into the raid should be concluded first and that there was no plan to meet with the İHH during this visit.The İHH, banned in Israel as the Jewish state claims it supports Palestinian group Hamas, vehemently denies ties to radical groups. The İHH is not among some 45 groups listed as terrorist organizations by the US Department of State's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism and, in June, Washington had conceded that it had no hard evidence to prove any ties between the İHH and al-Qaeda.Hmmmm....Strange even one Iranian expert says that the IHH is a Jihadist organisation?"They don't trust me because of my middle name"looking for Turkish troops to impose a peace plan?Read the full story here.

• Stuxnet Worm Still Out of Control at Iran's Nuclear Sites, Experts Say.Iran's nuclear program is still in chaos despite its leaders' adamant claim that they have contained the computer worm that attacked their facilities, cybersecurity experts in the United States and Europe say.The American and European experts say their security websites, which deal with the computer worm known as Stuxnet, continue to be swamped with traffic from Tehran and other places in the Islamic Republic, an indication that the worm continues to infect the computers at Iran's two nuclear sites.Eric Byres, a computer expert who has studied the worm, said his site was hit with a surge in traffic from Iran, meaning that efforts to get the two nuclear plants to function normally have failed. The web traffic, he says, shows Iran still hasn’t come to grips with the complexity of the malware that appears to be still infecting the systems at both Bashehr and Natanz.“The effort has been stunning," Byres said. "Two years ago American users on my site outnumbered Iranians by 100 to 1. Today we are close to a majority of Iranian users.”He said that while there may be some individual computer owners from Iran looking for information about the virus, it was unlikely that they were responsible for the vast majority of the inquiries because the worm targeted only the two nuclear sites and did no damage to the thousands of other computers it infiltrated.At one of the larger American web companies offering advice on how to eliminate the worm, traffic from Iran has swamped that of its largest user: the United States.Hmmmmm......Last thing i read here,the worm is American born and bread?Read the full story here.

• HT:JammieWearingFool. Great News: Iranians Building Fleet of Kamikaze Speedboats.A FLEET of suicide ships is being built by crackpot naval commanders in Iran.More than 9,000 speedboats have been made with deadly explosives engineered into their hulls.The vessels - to patrol the Persian Gulf where UK forces operate - will be piloted by extremist "martyrs". They can be rammed into the side of "enemy" ships and each carries enough explosives to rip a seven-metre hole in a boat's keel.Around 30,000 kamikaze captains are being trained to steer the ships, a source claimed.There are plans to build 15,000 of the six-metre vessels. Their C4 explosives go off when rammed into larger ships.An Iranian defector asked to design the crafts revealed the secret plot after fleeing the country - led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The ex-military engineer, said: "They wanted me to help build a vast fleet of suicide boats. It's shocking. That amount of explosives is deadly. I love Iran and that's why I'm revealing this. No one in Iran wants a war." But There's more!Hmmmm.....is this why Obama retreived this week his carrier from the Gulf?Read the full story here.

• Israeli envoys warned of Iranian revenge. Defense officials urge country's representatives abroad to take increased precautions for fear of attack aimed at avenging killing of two scientists. Israel's envoys abroad have received a particularly alarming warning in recent days: "You may be targeted by Iran and Hezbollah as an act of revenge following the assassination of nuclear scientists in Tehran," said a message sent from Jerusalem. The warning was conveyed by Israeli security officials, alongside a request to take increased precautions, to all of the country's emissaries abroad: Ambassadors and diplomatic staff, scientists and academics, and hundreds of representatives of Zionist organizations worldwide.Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi threatened this week that Tehran would not turn a blind eye to the recent incidents. "There is a limit to our nation's patience," he said. "Our enemies are in for a painful fate." These accusations join Hezbollah and Iran's unsettled account with Israel following the assassination of senior Hezbollah commander Imad Mugniyah in Damascus almost three years ago.Israel estimates that Iran views the scientists' assassinations as a red line which has been crossed, as these operations took place on the Islamic Republic's sovereign territory rather than in a third country. The fear that Iran would try to act against Israeli officials have prompted the defense establishment to warn all of Israel's representatives worldwide to take extra safety measures.Read the full story here.

• The Death of the Hard Drive.Stop worrying about when the hard drive in your computer will die. Google wants to kill it permanently anyway.The new Google Chrome operating system, which was unveiled Tuesday, as well as hints and suggestions from Apple and Microsoft, offers us a preview of the PC of the future. And it will come without that familiar whirring disk that has been the data heart of the PC for the past 25 years. The Chrome OS will at first be available on all-black laptops from Samsung and Acer. And because the new platform stores everything -- files, applications, data bits and bytes, literally everything -- on online servers rather than on your home or office PC, those new PCs running it won't require gobs of storage. In fact, they won't require any storage at all. The new Google laptops come without hard drives, in other words.It's all about "the cloud," the generic term for storing data online and off your computer. E-mail apps from Yahoo and G-mail and Hotmail kicked off cloud computing, since the e-mail application you're running and the data you're accessing is all stored online. It's reliable, easy to access and convenient ... so for data in general, why store it on your desktop PC at all? Google's Chrome operating system takes that idea and runs with it -- down the street, up the next block, and straight on into the sunset. The Chrome OS assumes you’re always in your browser -- which is the access point for most of your files anyway, right? Web pages, e-mails, documents on Google Docs, photos stored at Flickr, video chats, streaming music from Pandora and on and on. Think about it: Most of what you do is online, isn't it?"Today’s operating systems were designed in an era where there was no web," Google spokesman Eitan Bencuya told FoxNews.com. "Google Chrome OS is designed for people who spend most of their time on the web. It’s our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be."Skip the traditional desktop and save time, simplicity and memory, Google argues. And because it doesn’t load a bunch of background stuff, Chrome OS boots almost instantly. Demos Google show the Chrome OS booting in 7 seconds or less -- significantly faster than traditional operating systems from Microsoft and Apple.Yes, the cloud may be the future, but hard drives will still persist -- they're just too deeply ingrained in what we do, at least for the time being. And even if they are ultimately pulled from computers, hard disks could persist, just not in a format we're used to. After all, even data and content online has to live somewhere, doesn't it?"All that data stored in the cloud isn't on droplets of airborne water," Rubin joked. "It's stored on hard drives."Hmmmm......The Ultimate Big Brother cooperation between Google and the government perfection achieved?Read the full story here.

• More states enter debate on sharia law.Muneer Awad's opponents label him "a foreigner" trying to change Oklahoma's laws.Awad, 27, a recent University of Georgia law school graduate born in Michigan, says he's standing up for the U.S. Constitution. "I'm trying to defend the First Amendment," says Awad, director of Oklahoma's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).At issue is an amendment to Oklahoma's constitution passed overwhelmingly on Election Day that bars judges from considering Islamic or international law in Oklahoma state courts. Awad sued, and last week a federal judge temporarily blocked the law from taking effect while she determines whether it violates the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits establishment of a state religion.Although Oklahoma's law is the first to come under court scrutiny, legislators in at least seven states, including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah, have proposed similar laws, the National Conference of State Legislatures says. Tennessee and Louisiana have enacted versions of the law banning use of foreign law under certain circumstances.Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House, is pushing for a federal law that "clearly and unequivocally states that we're not going to tolerate any imported law."Supporters of sharia bans, including Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, say Islamic law is creeping into U.S. courts.Earlier this year, for example, an appeals court in New Jersey overturned a state court judge's refusal to issue a restraining order against a Muslim man who forced his wife to engage in sexual intercourse. The judge found that the man did not intend to rape his wife because he believed his religion permitted him to have sex with her whenever he desired.The case "presents a conflict between the criminal law and religious precepts," the appeals court wrote. "In resolving this conflict, the judge determined to except (the husband) from the operation of the State's statutes as the result of his religious beliefs. In doing so, the judge was mistaken."Gaffney's think tank recently published a book that argues jihadists who want worldwide Islamic rule try to establish sharia courts to weaken democracies. "I think you're seeing people coalesce around legislation of the kind that was passed in Oklahoma," Gaffney says.Hmmm....Clearly when they state "We don't want to take over your country " it is pure Al-taqiyya, because changing the laws is the first step in doing so!Read the full story here.

• HT:TundraTabloids.Julian assange accuser heads for the West Bank town of Yanoun.One of the women accusing Assange has fled to an Arab town in Judea and Samaria (known as the WB) as an NGO worker in “Christian outreach group” trying to bridge the gap between Arabs and Jews. Most of these groups are highly anti-Israel and follow a strict politically Left leaning agenda of delegitimization of the Jewish state. When viewed in light of what Beck reveals about the two women, something is really, really wrong with the entire picture. You have to ask yourself, what could be next?Anna Ardin, one of the two complainants in the rape and sexual assault case against WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, has left Sweden, and may have ceased actively co-operating with the Swedish prosecution service and her own lawyer, sources in Sweden told Crikey today.Ardin, who also goes by the name Bernardin, has moved to the West Bank in the Palestinian Territories, as part of a Christian outreach group, aimed at bringing reconciliation between Palestinians and Israelis. She has moved to the small town of Yanoun, which sits close to Israel’s security/sequestration wall. Yanoun is constantly besieged by fundamentalist Jewish settlers, and international groups have frequently stationed themselves there.Hmmmm....sounds more and more like a setup?Read the full story here.

• HT:NewZeal.Video : Radical Muslims Threaten the Pope in London.This has to be seen to believed.R-r-r-r-r-adical Muslims Confront Pope Benedict XVI - at a Saturday 18 September demonstration in London. Check out the segment from 4.20 to 4.35 for an example of religious tolerance. "With the ideology of truth, we will dominate over all other ways, democracy, secularism, Christianity, Hinduism, Bhuddism. All of them will be under the foot of Islam. And so what?The following commentary is taken directly from Michael Waller's Political Warfare blog;"In this YouTube video, shot September 18, 2010, the protesters can be seen threatening the leader of the world's Catholics with their "Pope Benedict, you will pay" chant, and holding signs calling for the seat of the Catholic church to be controlled by shariah law. (See the Center for Security Policy's new report, Shariah - Threat to America, also released this week.)The words are not overheated rhetoric - they are calls for the pope to be murdered, and a declaration of war on Christians and others.At 2 minutes and 26 seconds into the video, a militant named Anjem Choudary changes the chant to "Pope Benedict, you will pay/Justice is on its way.""Justice," under shariah law, requires Christians either to convert to Islam, be killed, or submit to Islamic rule as dhimmis.Amid cries of "Allahu akhbar," another militant, Abu Rayah, implies that Pope Benedict is a military enemy of Muslims, as a leader of the "crusades." He exhorts listeners to recall that "this war against Islam and Muslims is military and ideological as well."Abu Rayah denounces Pope Benedict for criticizing Islam, and expresses hope that, "inshallah," the pope will meet "the lions of Islam."The militant adds that anyone who insults the prophet Muhammad "deserves capital punishment." (4:44-4:50)Hmmmm....Obama "Islam is a great religion".Read the full story here.

• HT:WZ.AG Holder To Kiss The Address Bay Area Muslims Over FBI Surveillance Distrust.Bay Area Muslims caught between a national concern that they cooperate with the government to root out terrorists and their own concerns about privacy and loss of freedom will hear from the nation’s top law enforcer Friday evening.U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will talk at an annual dinner banquet hosted by Muslim Advocates*, a San Francisco-based organization that has fought the Department of Justice on some issues and praised it for others. (Ed. Note: Praise? Not according to their website.)The visit marks the first time any U.S. attorney general has addressed an event hosted by a national Muslim group, and it could not come at a more important time because of anti-Muslim sentiment, said Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates.Another advocacy group fielded more than three dozen calls this year from Bay Area Muslims worried after the FBI visited their homes, workplaces or community gatherings.The Obama administration believes building a network of informants is an effective way to protect the nation from harm. Muslim leaders counter that the surveillance intimidates their communities and impairs their rights to freedom of speech, religion and association.“This has been a year, for American Muslims, of living dangerously,” Khera said, citing acts of hate against mosques and Muslim people throughout the country.Khera said she believes the Obama administration has done a good job combating bigotry against Muslims. The Department of Justice has increased its prosecution of violence motivated by anti-Muslim hate and this fall sided with a Tennessee Muslim group that wants to rebuild a mosque that had previously burned down. A local group had sued to stop the mosque’s construction.Zahra Billoo is pleased with the way the Obama administration has responded to anti-mosque attacks.“They’ve been great in terms of condemning Islamophobia and combating anti-Muslim bigotry,” said Billoo, director of the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Unfortunately, that’s where I think a lot of the good work ends.”Billoo, who plans to attend the Holder event Friday, said the FBI could have arrested the Baltimore and Oregon suspects much earlier, rather than enabling them to commit the crimes and thereby inflaming anti-Muslim sentiment after the high-profile arrests.Hmmmm......A pitty the FBI statistics don't confirm any "Islamophobia" but do confirm Islamic Extremisme.Read the full story here.

• The Muslim Observer.  USA : Julian Assange : The True Democrat.Julian Assange is the real Martin Luther of our times. Luther posted his epistles on the doors of Catholic Church in Germany challenging the power of the Pope. Assange has posted the information buried in the secret archives of governments on the Internet challenging the power of government.What is being done against Julian Assange is nothing but persecution. He is paying the price for being the voice of reason and truth. His personal life is of no consequence to people. There are hundreds of public officials all over the world including Sweden who have committed worst than what Assange is accused of, yet no one talks about him. Sweden is an ally of our Administration and no wonder, Sweden is responding to the panic call of our power elite.Assange may not be allowed to live for long by these hidden power elite. Yet through is courage, he has created an environment where even his death would not stop the movement for transparency. Assange is the best example of a living democrat and he deserve to be supported in his work without any fear. An attack on Assange is an attack on democracy and freedom and we must say that loudly how much feeble our voices may be.Hmmmm....Wel at least now we know how American Muslims feel about Wikileaks and Assange they LOVE Them ! Read the full story here.

• HT:VirtualJerusalem.US Eases Military Pressure on Iran.Shortly before the Six Power talks with Iran resumed this week, US President Barack Obama ordered the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier to withdraw from Gulf waters opposite Iran and redeploy in the Aegean Sea.This action signaled Washington's switch to diplomacy and the search for middle ground on the nuclear controversy with Iran through engagement, debkafile's US and military sources report.The mighty carrier with more than 70 warplanes on its decks was accordingly instructed to exit the US Navy's Fifth Fleet Command which covers US military operations in the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea and join the Sixth Fleet which is responsible for US naval and air activity in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.Obama thus abandoned the military posture he adopted only six weeks ago to bring its rulers to heel by a buildup of naval strength opposite Iran's waters. It was then that he consigned the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Persian Gulf, raising the number of aircraft carriers deployed there to three, including the French Charles de Gaulle.When he visited the Lincoln the next day, Gates praised its crews' contribution to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, but did not mention Iran.The first day of the Geneva talks was taken up with an 80-minute harangue by Iran's lead negotiator Saad Jalili, which omitted mention of his country's nuclear projects, but railed instead against American and Israeli "crimes" of terrorist attacks on Iranian nuclear physicists.Hmmm....why wouldn't they harangue them,he shows nothing but fear.Sometimes you wonder on who's side he is?Read the full story here.

• HT:RollCall.Profanity, Anger Spill Over in House Democratic Caucus Meeting.The frustration with President Barack Obama over his tax cut compromise was palpable and even profane at Thursday’s House Democratic Caucus meeting.One unidentified lawmaker went so far as to mutter “f--- the president” while Rep. Shelley Berkley was defending the package the president negotiated with Republicans. Berkley confirmed the incident, although she declined to name the specific lawmaker.“It wasn’t loud,” the Nevada Democrat said. “It was just expressing frustration from a very frustrated Member.”Rep. Jerrold Nadler (N.Y.) was also overheard saying that “we can’t trust him” not to cave to Republicans and extend the tax cuts again in two years, according to a Democratic source.The anger aimed at the bill was widespread. As Democrats moved to block the bill from coming up on the floor, chants of “Just say no!” could be heard by reporters outside the room.Hmmmm.....Et tu, Brute ?Read the full story here.

• HT:HotAir.ObamaCare kills discount drug deals to childrens hospitals.Nancy Pelosi told us that we needed to pass the ObamaCare bill to find out what was in it, but apparently we needed to pass it to find out what wasn’t in it as well. Thanks to one of the 2800 pages that apparently no one in Congress read before voting on the bill, the new law has drug manufacturers canceling discounts to childrens’ hospitals that helped provide medicine to children suffering from rare diseases. The change will cost these hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars, and will almost certainly curtail access to critical care for children  : Actually, it’s unclear whether anyone in Congress actually knew of the shift at all : In an unintended consequence of the new health care law, drug companies have begun notifying children’s hospitalsaround the country that they no longer qualify for large discounts on drugs used to treat rare medical conditions.A House Democrat who worked on the health care law said the situation had resulted from “an honest mistake in drafting,” and he added, “No one intended to take away any of the drug discounts that children’s hospitals already had.”Normally, that would be a little hard to believe, and obviously someone intended to curtail the discount. It didn’t end up in the bill as a “mistake in drafting”; the tradeoff is rather transparent. Congress wanted to expand a mandate on drug manufacturers to sell their most expensive products at steep discounts to rural hospitals as well as the community centers and clinics, and the drug manufacturers balked at eroding even more of their revenue, much of which goes to development of new medications and therapies. Congress therefore cut out the children’s hospitals to strike a balance.There’s no mistake in the drafting here, nor is this an unintended consequence, as the New York Times calls it. There was a mistake in the priorities of Congress, and a big mistake in voting for a 2800-page bill without actually reading it. But otherwise, this is precisely the kind of rationing that Congress intended to impose on the American health-care system. And it’s the children who get to pay for it first.Hmmmm.....Children and elderly are the weakest so they might become the main "Target"?Read the full story here.

• Teen Arrested in the Netherlands in Hacking Attacks .Dutch authorities said they arrested a 16-year-old boy suspected of being involved in attacks on the websites of MasterCard and Visa that were allegedly mounted by sympathizers of document-leaking website WikiLeaks. Police arrested the suspect at his home in The Hague late Wednesday night and said he had acknowledged being involved in the attacks on the websites of the two credit-card companies, according to Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch prosecution office. Police also seized computers and data-storage devices. The boy, whom authorities didn't name but confirmed is Dutch, remains in custody and is due to appear before a judge on Friday. A lawyer for the boy couldn't be reached.Dutch police believe he is part of a larger group of WikiLeaks sympathizers behind the so-called denial-of-service attacks, in which computers flood a server to prevent it from displaying a Web page, Mr. de Bruin said. Dutch authorities say the group conducting the attacks are doing so under an effort called Operation Payback. The police are continuing their investigation, including exploring the potential involvement of others in the Netherlands.Read the full story here.

• Let it Burn: California ‘Bomb’ House Being Destroyed.Officials say it's the largest cache of homemade explosives ever found in a single location in the US. They were found inside a house in the suburban Escondido neighborhood just north of San Diego, which is now being called "the bomb" house.The man renting the home, 54 year old George Jakubec has pleaded not- guilty to a series of federal charges for possessing and manufacturing explosives as well as bank robbery. The indictment says investigators recovered nine detonators, 13 grenade hulls and unknown quantities of high explosives.The high explosives include PETN -used by the military and by the failed shoe bomber-and HMTD, described as “exceedingly shock sensitive” and potentially ignited by merely opening the container in which it is stored.They were found in large quantities in mason jars and containers filled with liquids and white powders packed from floor to ceiling in the home as well as strewn across the floor in clumps. Neal Langerman, a chemical expert for Advanced Chemical Safety, said that Jakubec could have taken out the entire neighborhood in one fell swoop with the amount of explosives he possessed.Authorities decided that the extreme danger these hazardous materials present, burning the house down is their only option. More than 50 agencies, including bomb squads and hazardous material experts have elaborately planned the burning taking place today and have taken strict measures to make it effective and safe.The bomb squad and Fire Department will ignite remote control incendiary devices to set the fire, which is intended to reach upwards of 1800 degrees. If all goes as planned the fire will neutralize the toxic chemicals in the home in about 30 minutes and will simply look like a home fire.In total, nine pounds worth of explosives were removed from the home by authorities. With the criminal investigation still underway, there is no telling what Jakubec intended to do with these hazardous materials.Read the full story here.Pictures and more here.

• HT:Memri.Protest in Kuwait over Municipal Council's Refusal to Allow Christians to Build Church.In early November 2010, the Kuwait City Municipal Council denied without explanation a request submitted by the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry for a permit to build a Greek Catholic church in the Al-Mahboula region of southern Kuwait. It was reported that during the council meeting at which the request was denied, four members walked out in protest. Several articles in the Kuwaiti press claimed that the denial contradicted Islamic and Kuwaiti values of tolerance and openness, as well as the Kuwaiti constitution. The articles even contrasted the religious fanaticism and extremism spreading throughout Kuwait and the entire Islamic world to the West's openness vis-à-vis Islam despite the many terrorist attacks there in its name."The refusal to [allow] a Catholic church to be erected in the Al-Mahboula region [also] highlights the religious intolerance [in Kuwait] and contradicts demands that Muslims be allowed to build their mosques and houses of worship in the countries of the Christian West. There is no better proof of this than the demands to build a mosque in New York near Ground Zero – site of the [World] Trade Center that was struck by terrorism on 9/11."There is no doubt that the standpoint of most members of the Kuwait City Municipal Council is based on the extremist thought of keeping [the other distant] – [thought] aimed at harming all sects and faiths [other than their own], even Muslim ones. This is the same way of thought that pushed [some individuals] to dispatch the explosive parcels to Chicago... [and that pushed] a group of terrorists to storm the Our Lady of Salvation church in the Al-Karrada [neighborhood] of Baghdad, Iraq – causing the deaths of over 50 innocent Iraqi civilians."The extremist acts that hide behind Islam... will exacerbate the tension [in the region] and cause thousands of citizens to emigrate out of fear of terrorism, violence, and loss of jobs and livelihood. This is evident in the increased emigration of Iraqi Christians, who belong to one of the country's most ancient cultures. The Copts likewise suffer from violence and discrimination in Egypt, which is considered a land imprinted with peaceful relations and religious and social tolerance..."Hmmm.....They don't accept our values ,why would we accept theirs?Read the full scandal story here.

• Terrifying moment Charles and Camilla were surrounded by a baying mob and their car attacked in tuition fees riot.Prince's limo paintballed on way to Palladium. This was the terrifying moment that a mob of anarchists attacked Prince Charles and Camilla's car outside the London Palladium tonight.The couple were due to attend the Royal Variety Performance, which was taking place very close to the epicentre of a day of violent protest in Parliament Square, when it was swarmed by people supposedly protesting against the rise in student tuition fees. Protesters had thrown paintbombs at police throughout a day of protests and the burgundy 1977 Rolls Royce Phantom VI was hit by an explosion of white paint on Prince Charles's side of the car. A window was smashed, two rear panels were dented and the aerial was broken.Clarence House said that the couple were unharmed in the incident on Regent Street, but onlookers said Camilla looked extremely shaken after the attack.The Prime Minister, David Cameron, described the attack as 'shocking and regrettable'.One protester who witnessed the attack said: 'We were headed up towards Regent Street and there didn't seem to be a lot of police about and people were throwing things at shops. 'Then out of nowhere came this car and when you looked into it you could clearly see Prince Charles and Camilla inside it looking incredibly confused.'We all stood there for a millisecond in stunned silence and then people started lunging towards the car from all sides. It all happened very quickly.'Despite the attack, Charles and Camilla were said to look calm as they arrived at the venue for tonight's Royal Variety Performance and the couple did not appear to have been delayed.The car in which they were attacked was the one that Charles and Camilla drove from their wedding in Windsor in the summer or 2005. It was loaned to Charles by The Queen who had been given it as a gift by the carmaker at her silver jubilee.
  Hmmmmm......."Shaken ...not Stirred"?Read the full story here.More here.

• And Now for something completely different.Is this the world's most brazen burglar? Thief digs out and de-ices car... while casually chatting to neighbours.Casually chatting to neighbours as he dug out and de-iced a smart car before driving off, everyone thought the well-dressed man worked for a repair centre.As he disappeared down the street, unsuspecting residents had no idea that the polite gentleman was in fact a thief.Stockbroker Mark McMullen, 36, returned home to find that people had watched as the man stole his new white Audi A4.The burglar had broken into his house via the back door and walked out with the keys and a laptop.Mr McMullen's neighbours, some of whom are members of the neighbourhood watch scheme, thought the man was a garage worker taking the car away for repair.'To break into my house, steal my keys, then boil the kettle and clean all the snow off my car while chatting to my neighbours, then to put the key into the ignition and away he goes - it beggars belief. It is ludicrous.'I am just glad my wife and daughter weren't in the house at the time.Hmmmm.....He might have slept with his wife also?Read the full story here.