MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Mayor Bloomberg’s Office Spearheaded Drive for Ground Zero Mosque Approval According to Documents Uncovered by Judicial Watch.Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained documents from New York City Mayor Bloomberg’s office that show his office was instrumental in helping Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, his wife Daisy Khan and their partner Sharif el-Gamal obtain approval for a massive mosque and “community center” to be built in the shadow of Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.The documents, obtained by Judicial Watch pursuant to an open records request and related lawsuit, included email correspondence between top officials inside the Mayor’s office and supporters of the Ground Zero Mosque, a project spearheaded by the Rauf-led Cordoba Initiative.A May 10, 2010, email from Daisy Khan, listed as Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, to Fatima Shama, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs: “Is there a good time to chat tomorrow. We need some guidance on how to tackle the opposition.”A May 7, 2010, congratulations email from Shama to Rauf, Khan and el-Gamal after the Community Board 1 finance subcommittee expressed support for the Ground Zero Mosque project: “Again-congratulations!!! This is very exciting for all of you and the community at large! Daisy, as always – you were AMAZING last night – thank you!”And a lot more letters followed...In July 2010, Mayor Bloomberg told reporters it was “un-American” to investigate the individuals behind the Ground Zero Mosque. Shortly thereafter, on August 9, 2010, Judicial Watch filed Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) requests with the Mayor’s office, seeking contacts between city officials and Rauf and controversial Muslim organizations. On November 4, 2010, after receiving no response from Mayor Bloomberg’s office to its request and a subsequent administrative appeal, Judicial Watch filed a petition with the New York State Supreme Court to compel the Mayor’s office to comply with the open records requests. Judicial Watch received the documents just before Christmas on December 23, 2010.Rauf has made a number of radical and controversial statements regarding Islamic extremism, particularly the terrorist attacks of 9/11. For example, during a 60 Minutes interview about the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Rauf said: “I wouldn’t say that the United States deserved what happened. But the United States’ policies were an accessory to the crime that happened…we have been an accessory to a lot of innocent lives dying in the world. In fact, in the most direct sense, Osama bin Laden is made in the USA.” Hmmmmm...."Where does Obama's endorsement fit it"?Read the full story here.

• 'Human bomb' spills beans on all-women Taliban death squads.Islamabad: Taliban have set up all women suicide squads to carry out deadly terror mission on both sides of the Afghan-Pak border, a captured 12-year-old girl has revealed.Meena Gul, trained to be a 'human bomb' was apprehended from the Munda area, in Dir close to the Afghan border in January, and her disclosures have sent shivers down the spine of Pakistani security establishment. Gul said that women suicide bombers were trained for their deadly task in small cells on both sides of the porous border and were dispatched to their missions with a sermon, "God will reward you with a place in heaven.The 12-year-old Afghan girl was quoted by the Express Tribune as having told the police that she trained in a group which was headed by her sister-in-law Zainab and she battled Pakistani troops dressed as a man. She claimed that her younger sister blew herself up in a suicide attack in Afghanistan, but she had managed to escape as she was too scared to die. Read The full story here.HT:InfidelBloggers.

• HT:BloggerBase.International Judge the Koran Day.Today's email brought a press release from Stand Up America, announcing an upcoming event: International Judge the Koran Day. The new Facebook group has grown from 60 to 72 supporters in the last few hours. It appears that the planned event is inchohate at present. Rev. Terry Jones posted this video in which he asks for our advice about what to do with the Koran. Exactly what he will do March 20, 2011 from 6 to 8 pm is unknown, but I am sure that, whatever it is, it will arouse the ire of Muslims and draw protest from politicians and pundits.I suggest that Rev. Jones open the Koran and read the parts which curse and declare war against Jews & Christians. The parts that mandate genocide should be read along with them. Furthermore, those Korans collected for the canceled bonfire should be distributed to churches, read from the pulpet and preserved in the church's library so that the congregation can read it. When Caliph Umar conquered the Levant, he made the indigenous people sign a treaty of protection, now known as the Pact of Umar. One of its provisions was "We shall not teach the Qur'an to our children.". This little gem comes from an early attempt to codify Islamic law. Malik's Muwatta Book 21, Number 21.2.7: Yahya related to me from Malik from Nafi that Abdullah ibn Umar said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade travelling with a Qur'an in the land of the enemy. Malik commented, "That is out of fear that the enemy will get hold of it." Why would Mohammed fear the enemy gaining possession of Allah's book? Why would Umar forbid teaching it to dhimmi's children? Could it be that it contains incriminating evidence? Read the full story here. Facebook page.

• HT:Debka.Pakistan makes two nuclear weapons available to Saudi Arabia.With an eye on the nuclear arms race led by its neighbor Iran, Saudi Arabia has arranged to have available for its use two Pakistani nuclear bombs or guided missile warheads, debkafile's military and intelligence sources reveal. They are most probably held in Pakistan's nuclear air base at Kamra in the northern district of Attock. Pakistan has already sent the desert kingdom its latest version of the Ghauri-II missile after extending its range to 2,300 kilometers. Those missiles are tucked away in silos built in the underground city of Al-Sulaiyil, south of the capital Riyadh.At least two giant Saudi transport planes sporting civilian colors and no insignia are parked permanently at Pakistan's Kamra base with air crews on standby. They will fly the nuclear weapons home upon receipt of a double coded signal from King Abdullah and the Director of General Intelligence Prince Muqrin bin Abdel Aziz.The only detail known to our Gulf sources is that the Saudi bombs are lodged in separate heavily-guarded stores apart from the rest of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal.This secret was partially blown by Riyadh itself. In recent weeks, Saudi officials close to their intelligence establishment have been going around security forums in the West and dropping word that the kingdom no longer needs to build its own nuclear arsenal because it has acquired a source of readymade arms to be available on demand. This broad hint was clearly put about under guidelines from the highest levels of the monarchy.Partial nuclear transparency was approved by Riyadh as part of a campaign to impress on the outside world that Saudi Arabia was in control of its affairs: The succession struggle had been brought under control; the Saudi regime had set its feet on a clearly defined political and military path; and the hawks of the royal house had gained the hand and were now setting the pace.
  Hmmmmm.....Well IF true the Saudis won't be able anymore to point the finger to Israel when it comes to nuclear weapons,and what's the US role in this "deal"?Letter and phone call to the king?Read the full story here.

• HT:TheAmericanDream.In 2011 The Baby Boomers Start To Turn 65: 16 Statistics About The Coming Retirement Crisis That Will Drop Your Jaw.Do you hear that rumble in the distance? That is the Baby Boomers - they are getting ready to retire. On January 1st, 2011 the very first Baby Boomers turn 65. Millions upon millions of them are rushing towards retirement age and they have been promised that the rest of us are going to take care of them. Only there is a huge problem. We don't have the money. It simply isn't there. But the millions of Baby Boomers getting ready to retire are counting on that money to be there. This all comes at a really bad time for a federal government that is already flat broke and for a national economy that is already teetering on the brink of disaster.So just who are the Baby Boomers? Well, they are the most famous generation in American history. The U.S. Census Bureau defines the Baby Boomers as those born between January 1st, 1946 and December 31st, 1964. You see, after U.S. troops returned from World War II, they quickly settled down and everyone started having lots and lots of babies. This gigantic generations has transformed America as they have passed through every stage of life. Now they are getting ready to retire.If you add 65 years to January 1st, 1946 you get January 1st, 2011.The moment when the first Baby Boomers reach retirement age has arrived.The day of reckoning that so many have talked about for so many years is here.Today, America's elderly are living longer and the cost of health care is rising dramatically. Those two factors are going to make it incredibly expensive to take care of all of these retiring Baby Boomers.Meanwhile, the sad truth is that the vast majority of Baby Boomers have not adequately saved for retirement. For many of them, their home equity was destroyed by the recent financial crisis. For others, their 401ks were devastated when the stock market tanked.Meanwhile, company pension plans across America are woefully underfunded. Many state and local government pension programs are absolute disasters. The federal government has already begun to pay out more in Social Security benefits than they are taking in, and the years ahead look downright apocalyptic for the Social Security program.If we are not careful all of these Baby Boomers are going to push us into national bankruptcy. We simply cannot afford all of the promises that we have made to them. The following are 16 statistics about the coming retirement crisis that will drop your jaw....

1. Beginning January 1st, 2011 every single day more than 10,000 Baby Boomers will reach the age of 65. That is going to keep happening every single day for the next 19 years.
   Hmmmmm......And they have not enough to cover the pensions of those currently on pension.Read the full story here.

• HT:BigPeace.Simon Deng: ‘No More Enslavement… Islamization, and No More Arabization’ For Southern Sudan.Since the 1950’s, war has raged between the Islamist government of Sudan based in the capital, Khartoum, and the Christian and animist South. Between 1955 and 1972, one and a half million Sudanese Christians and animists were killed by Sudan’s Islamist government. From the early 1980’s until 2005, 2 million South Sudanese were killed through violence and the withholding of food aid, according to escaped slave and human rights activist Simon Deng. Thousands were enslaved.This political, racial and religious drama played out tragically for the children of South Sudan, including Deng. At age 9 he was kidnapped by a slave-dealer and enslaved by an Arab Muslim family – a common practice during the decades-long war between the country’s Muslim North and Christian South.Heather Robinson: Let’s speak about the January 9th referendum. Do you think the Southerners will vote for secession?Simon Deng: Yes, one hundred percent. If Sharia Law is the law of the nation, how can you tell me I have a place? I’ll speak for myself and my family …We’re fed up. Enough is enough. Four million lives perished in the name of ‘unity.’ … We want freedom now. No more enslavement. No more Islamization and no more Arabization. We are not going back into enslavement.Read the full story here.

• HT:BloggerBase.Strike First!Caroline Glick has written another well thought out piece titled The Wars of 2011. Her points should be heeded for they are true. I have been saying similar things for the past 7 years. Whether the war with Hamas takes place this year or a bit later, the point is still valid. There is a war coming. Israel cannot sit and wait while Western leaders continue their empty approach at peace with people who don't want peace.Israel is going to be forced into action whether Mr. Netanyahu wants it or not. It won't be the words of Avigdor Lieberman or agitation by right win political groups that spark this war. It will be the continuing escalation of rocket attacks as well as the increased rhetoric coming from Hamas and it's handlers. In case you live in a cave, the handlers are situated in Tehran and Damascus. Now Turkey has publicly joined the ranks as well as certain South American and Asian nations. Throw in the cowardly capitulation of the West and you have a recipe for death.If there is to be a war, it needs to be on Israel's terms. It also must be a war that will eliminate the threat of Hamas and any of it's supporters. If Israel is to commit it's military resources to fighting in Gaza then it must be done with the intent to eradicate Hamas and it allies completely and thoroughly. The people must be made to know they can no longer continue their hate filled, anti-Jew existence. If they can't love their children more than they hate Israel, then they need to fear Israel more than they fear the islamic hand that they have enslaved themselves with.Read the full story here.

• HT:MiddleEastForum.Delegitimizing the Jewish State.In a move that caught the Israeli government and the Jewish world by complete surprise, on October 21, 2010, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared the Tomb of the Hebrew Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem "an integral part of the occupied Palestinian territories," admonishing the Israeli decision to add these biblical shrines to the list of Jewish historical and archaeological sites as "a violation of international law."What is less known, however, is that the driving force behind "the attempt to detach the Nation of Israel from its heritage" (to use Israeli prime minister Netanyahu's words) was the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which pressured UNESCO to issue the declaration and drafted its initial version. U.N. secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has recently described the OIC as "a strategic and important partner of the U.N." In fact, it has been the OIC that has successfully exploited its marked preponderance at the U.N.—where it constitutes the largest single voting bloc—to turn the world organization and its specialized agencies into effective tools in the attempt to achieve its goals, two of which are to bring about Israel's eventual demise and to "galvanize the umma [Islamic world] into a unified body."Judging by Israel's growing international isolation, the OIC's sustained effort to delegitimize the Jewish state has borne substantial fruit. Not only is Israel's right to exist constantly debated and challenged in Western public opinion forums, but sixty-three years after establishing the Jewish state in an internationally recognized act of self-determination, the United Nations has become a foremost purveyor of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incitement.Time and again, year after year, its Commission on Human Rights discusses Israel's supposed abuses while turning a blind eye to scores of actual atrocities around the globe. This world organization has 192 member nations, but its Security Council has devoted about a third of its activity and criticism to only one of those states—Israel.As UNESCO follows suit by denying the Jews some of their most cherished historical and religious symbols, the OIC scores yet another palpable hit in its ceaseless hate campaign.Hmmmm....How long before the OIC replaces the United Nations by starting the Islamic Nations?Read the full story here.

• HT:BackToBasics.Green Jobs in America, How many do you see?First lets listen to what Pheadara Ellis-Lamkins has to say about Green Jobs in America. Pheadara is the CEO of Greenforall.com. She was put in this position by none other than the publicly avowed Communist, Van Jones.Van Jones and his ilk like John Kerryless, Barbless Boxer, Nasty Pelosi and even Lindsey GrAmnesty have been pushing this green agenda for many years now. I wonder how well the Green jobs growth is looking in the Green Industry. Lets have a look at a few hundred thousand of these employment opportunities and perhaps get an idea of how many and just what type of Green Jobs might be available across our VAST country.Currently Solarjobs.us/ shows it has 23 jobs available in the Solar industry jobs located across America. Wow 23 Jobs… lets look further, surely this isa fluke number, it is too low, it most certainly cannot be typical of Green employment across America.Lets jump over to the other side of the Green coin, Wind Energy. Windindustryjobs.com has on its jobs page a massive 144 current job openings across America as well. WOW! 144 Jobs open!Holy Crap n Trade Batman thats 167 Green Jobs so far! Lets look for more!Jobsinwindpower.com as of this articles posting showed 97 job openings in the Green industry. Not sure if any of these are cross posted with the windindustryjobs.com and solarjobs.com sites or not. But I can tell you that these 97 jobs are across BioFuel, Wind, Solar and Geothermal.Well melt my ice cap Tonto, thats 274 Green Jobs that are currently available across the USA. This should put a BIG no HUGE no no GINORMOUS dent in our current 9.8% unemployment rate we now see under the leadership of our now retired, (thank God) 111th Congress and its Marxist Master Obama! Ah, true leaders in our time.So from our previous searches we see that 274 Green Jobs available from sites prior to our Monster.com search. Lets add the Monster results to this and we should be able to eliminate the unemployment in America. Yep… thats got it. Look out Spain here we come!So 274 + 220 + 82 +2 + 34 = 612 . Interesting that with all those millions of Green Jobs Van Jones talks about we can only find 612 of the ‘MILLIONS’. Looks like this Green Jobs movement is only about one thing. Keeping a Marxist president in office long enough to finish off the Capitalist economy that made this nation great. I can assure you of this much, the Green Jobs Movement”, is not about Green Jobs.Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericaBlog.Video : NYC sanitation workers destroy car during blizzard - caught on film. Did they really think smashing into a parked car over and over was really the best option? They obviously weren't counting on someone recording the event and posting it online either.Read and see the full story here.

• There Are More Slaves Today Than At Any Point in History. We Need to End It.The holidays are noted for being stressful, so what better time to take a moment, greet perspective, and reflect on how wonderful it is to possess our own free will? Currently, 27 million people are enslaved across the world. Sadly, that’s actually more than at any previous point in history. But there is something you can do to help. Free the Slaves is a fantastic non-profit working to, yes, free slaves in a sustainable way. And there’s a stunning book you can buy to help them do so.Slavery, particularly for Americans, often brings to mind the antebellum South, when hoopskirts and contorted logic enabled slavery to exist in this country. But there are more human slaves on the planet today that ever before in modern history – and this includes the time going back to Columbus. And worse, (yes, it gets worse,) the average cost of a slave is roughly $90. This means the life of a slave is considered virtually “worthless,” leaving injured or troublesome slaves at the mercy of owners who easily dump and kill them. These are men, women, and children, kidnapped into bondage of all natures.But this doesn’t include the United States, right? Sadly, there are at least 14,000 slaves trafficked into the United States every year. They work in fields, brothels, restaurants, homes and more. As Safe HS reports, the CIA “estimates 50,000 women and children are transported each year throughout the United States by being conned and forced into a life of sexual exploitation.” Further, the average age of a child prostitute is 13-years-old.Read the full story here.

• GARY SHILLING: And Now House Prices Will Now Drop Another 20%.In October, Gary Shilling of A. Gary Shilling & Co., predicted that house prices would fall another 20%. In the two months since, house prices have resumed their decline. Below, Gary outlines why he thinks the recent drops are just the beginning.Hmmmm.....Happy New Year Depression 2011?Read the full disaster story here.

• HT:RightTruth.The Islamic Tsunami :Israel and America in the age of Obama.Issuing an impassioned clarion call to the Western world on the litany of existential dangers that radical Islam represents to America's cherished democratic principles, author David Rubin's meticulously researched monograph reveals that Islam is in actuality a political ideology predicated on a pernicious dogma, rather than the "religion of peace" that its proponents purport it to be."The Islamic Tsunami: Israel and America in the Age of Obama" (Shiloh Israel Press) is an exceptionally well documented treatise on the gamut of commonalities that are endemic to both Israel and America in terms of religion, politics and culture. Rubin calls on all free peoples, especially Americans, to take serious heed of the escalating dangers that Islam represents in terms of the perpetuation of bellicose actions bent on mass murder or the more insidious and subtle kind of aggression that is manifested by the potential silent incursion of Sharia law into American jurisprudence. He exhorts both Jews and Christians alike to carefully examine the Judeo-Christian value system that has bound them together for centuries and strongly suggests that they create concrete alliances in order to thwart the nefarious agenda of radical Islam; thus preserving "Western civilization" as we know it. Rubin speaks with authority as he explains the Islamic concepts of dhimmitude (slave status for all "non-believers"), how the Koran metes out punitive measures against infidels, and outlines the ultimate goal of Islamic global dominance in the form of a Caliphate. Rubin is neither an alarmist nor he is suffering from paranoia and to his credit he does not posit himself as an abstract theoretician or a think-tank denizen. Having studied the Koran, the Bible, as well as plumbing the depths of resources on American history as it pertains to the views of the founding fathers and more recent events, Rubin's book is replete with a plethora of highly enlightening quotes from these sources that help to state his case. While there is a virtual laundry list of hard hitting points that leap forth from the pages of this book, what really stands out is Rubin's assertion that Obama's Harvard law school education was financed by Saudi petro dollars. Says Rubin: "The tentacles of Islamic aggression reached their highest levels of American influence when it was revealed that Barack Obama's higher education was likely financed and guided by the anti-American, anti-Israel alliance of secular leftsts and Islamic ideologues." He qualifies this by saying that the radical American Muslim ideologue Khalid al-Mansour, (a.k.a. Donald Warden), a former mentor to Black Panthers founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale was "raising money for Obama, apparently for his education, although the reason why al-Mansour would be raising money for a virtually unkown young student was not divulged."Hmmmm....If he wanted to destroy America would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• Kazakhstan to chair Islamic organization in 2011.Kazakhstan will take on the chairmanship of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC, in 2011, reported Kazakh news portal tengrinews.kz.“We are looking forward to the opportunities which Kazakhstan’s chairmanship provides; to promote progress and sustainable development in the Muslim world,” said Abdul Moiz Bukhari, the OIC secretary general.Kazakhstan may face some serious misunderstanding with OIC states due to its future presence in Afghanistan, according to Andrey Grozin, a political analyst at the Central Asian division of Commonwealth of Independent States Institute. “The reaction of the organization member states will depend on the size of Kazakhstan peacekeeping military forces, which are now being formed under the influence of the U.S.,” said Grozin.According to Grozin the Taliban threatened to attack states which actively fight on the territory of Afghanistan instead of staying on the military bases. Grozin explained that this would be the reason why Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan support the international coalition, but do not take direct part in the military actions.The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations which has membership of 57 states spread over four continents.Hmmmm....Sounds more like the OIC wants to replace the UN by the Islamic Nations,like Ahmadinnejad is advocating.And dictate it's members not to cooperate with the US or NATO?Read the full story here.

• Fighters against illegal immigration against burning Korans at New Year night in Red Square.Moscow, December 29, Interfax - Burning Quran in Red Square at New Year night can result not only in massive actions of radical groups, but of Russian friendly Muslims as well, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration said at its official statement. "In connection with lately spread information that radical activists intend to burn Korans in Red Square the Movement Against Illegal Immigration urges to renounce the action," the statement says as posted on Wednesday at the movement official website. The document says that burning Koran can result in massive actions and eventually "innocent people will suffer."At the same time, nationalists believe that only Muscovites can celebrate the New Year at Red Square. "We urge official authorities to remove thousands of guest workers from Red Square and other places of Moscow traditional for festival celebrations at New Year night," the statement stresses. In mid-December after the Manezh Square events one of nationalistic leaders Alexander Belov publicly offered to burn Koran in Red Square at New Year night. Read the full story here.

• HT:AstuteBloggers.Discovery Has "Potential to Position Israel as Natural Gas Exporting Nation".The natural gas reserves in the Leviathan structure total 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, based on preliminary results of the production tests received in the past few days. This was same amount estimated from a recent 3D seismic survey. The quantity found is double the gas reserves at Tamar. The results were reported Wednesday by Noble Energy Inc., which owns 39.66% of the prospect.According to Noble Energy, "The well encountered a minimum of 220 feet (67 meters) of net natural gas pay in several subsalt Miocene intervals. Apparent reservoir quality is very good, and the intervals discovered are geologically similar to those intersected at Tamar."Noble Energy CEO Charles Davidson said, "Leviathan is the latest major discovery for Noble Energy and is easily the largest exploration discovery in our history."Hmmmmm......There's a reason why they want Palestine recognised as a state it's called GAS ! Read the full story here. And then read this MUST READ!

• Suicide bombers hit Iraqi police HQ, kill commander.Three suicide bombers attacked Iraq’s federal police headquarters in Mosul on Wednesday, leveling the building and killing the top police commander in the northern city, a prominent figure who had escaped several past assassination attempts, officials said. While violence has subsided significantly in Iraq in the past years, insurgents frequently target the country’s government institutions and security forces in an effort to destabilize the US-backed Iraqi authorities as American troops prepare to leave by the end of next year.The attack in Mosul, a former al-Qaeda stronghold, began when three men with explosives vests slipped through an opening in the blast walls surrounding the compound housing Iraq’s 1st Battalion of the National Police at around 6 a.m. on Wednesday, police said.Police shot one of the attackers in an open-air yard, and his vest exploded -- but under cover of the blast, the other suicide bombers charged into the police headquarters building.One of the bombers entered the ground floor office of the battalion’s commander, Lt. Col. Shamil al-Jabouri, where he was sleeping, and blew himself up, killing him instantly, a police officer at the scene said.The other bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest on the ground floor of the building shortly after the first blast, police said. The twin explosions were so powerful that they brought the whole building down, burying the slain commander and possibly others under the rubble, police said.On Monday, two suicide attackers blew themselves up in front of a government office in Iraq’s provincial capital of Ramadi in Anbar province in the west, killing nine people and wounding dozens.In a separate incident Wednesday, five civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb hit an Iraqi police patrol in eastern Baghdad, police and hospital officials said. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.Hmmmmmm...Obama: If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success…Like Iraq ....Read the full story here.

• HT:CreepingSharia.Canada: Islamist conference hijacks 10 Commandments on Christmas.As was the case last year, it wasn’t just Muslims in the U.S. plotting how to Islamize their country on Christmas. In Canada, Muslims spent Christmas listening to many of the leading Islamists and stealth jihadists in the world. via Muslims across Canada spend Christmas weekend renewing their faith.From Friday to Sunday, more than 17,000 Canadian Muslims will gather at the ninth annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention, a meeting that offers Muslims a renewal of their faith just before the new year through sharing meals, group prayers and listening to lectures from prominent speakers.The conference, created after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, also offers young Muslims a discussion about Islam and applying its practice in a North American context, event spokesperson Ayman Faris said.“As Muslims in the West, we have a responsibility to communicate and talk about our faith, but 9/11 has just heightened that responsibility to show the true Islam, the true religion and what it stands for.The Christmas conference chose to hijack the Ten Commandments and show the many ways “the increasingly decadent west” would be better by adhering to Islamic sharia law.Hmmmmm....."Thou shalt not kill"?Read the full story here.

• HT:SultanKnish.Who's Afraid of Israeli Democracy?Haven't you heard, Israeli democracy is in danger. That's the latest media talking point on Israel. And where is the threat to Israeli democracy coming from? From its democracy. Confused? That's probably because you think that the word 'democracy' has something to do with the popular vote and the right of every person, irrespective of their religion, country of origin or accent to vote for the party of their choice. As misguided as the vote may be. When it actually means the right of media pundits, academics and elitist judges to dictate how the country is run based on the values of a entitled upper class scrambling to hold on to power.Israel isn't one thing or another, it's many of them. It's the source of many of the world's religious ideas, and the place where they all get together to meet and fight it out. It's breathtakingly socialist and capitalist, secular and religious, multicultural to a ridiculous degree and just as prejudiced. You can meet Japanese Rabbis, Jewish anti-semites and people who fancy themselves the reincarnation of King David, without having to travel more than a kilometer or two. Which is to say that Israel is a lot like America or the more democratic parts of the world, and so unlike so much of the undemocratic Middle East, where differences are punished and dissent is a crime. And that is exactly what Israel would turn into if the professional worriers for its democracy got their way.Zionism, like every national movement, is an idealistic springboard for a real society. And real societies are ugly. They have their grand moments and their ugly ones. For every noble speech, there is an ignoble scandal. And for every virtue, there is a crime. For those who worry so fastidiously for Israeli democracy, there is a simple enough solution short of demonizing most of the country because it doesn't vote your way. Move there and vote for yourself.Read the full story here.

• Taliban border between Afghanistan and Pakistan 'is impossible to seal'.The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan which Taliban fighters slip across to attack British troops is impossible to seal, a top military commander has revealed.A U.S. colonel said the 1,600-mile rugged frontier, dotted with mountain passes and treacherous routes, would take ‘an inordinate amount of resources’ to secure.It is the most frank admission by the U.S. over its inability to control the crucial frontier.The Taliban often pass along little-known routes and back over the border into Pakistan to take injured fighters to hospitals.Colonel Viet Luong, of the U.S. Army, said Western diplomats should also try to foster greater co-operation from the tribes inside Pakistan who often provide Islamist fighters safe passage across the frontier.Read the full story here.

• Almost fifty imams and muftis killed in North Caucasus by Wahabis - Islamologist.Moscow, December 29, Interfax - Renowned islamologist Roman Silantyev cited statistics according to which about fifty Islamic spiritual leaders were killed in the North Caucuses for fighting against Wahhabism. "Almost 50 people were killed. These people could have formed a big muftiat," he said in the The Faith and the World program on the Voice of Russia radio. According to the islamologist, there are few such people left in Russia: "they are killed almost every month, losses in some muslim boards are irreplaceable, the greater number of people who were able to actively fight against Wahhabism have been killed.""Others are demoralized and stopped opposing or just deserted to the enemy. The situation is critical," Silantyev believes. He is satisfied that Russian authorities ordered to give security guards to Muslim spiritual leaders in the North Caucasus, "or we can just stay without allies.".Hmmmmm....."We don't want to take over your country"?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.It's not a photo! Believe it or not, this is actually the most amazingly realistic PAINTING.Read and SEE the full story here.