MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• London, tuberculosis capital of Western Europe.The number of people infected with tuberculosis has jumped by 50 percent in London in the last decade, making it the tuberculosis capital of Western Europe, a new report says. Unlike other countries in the region where tuberculosis is dropping, the disease is on the rise in Britain, particularly in London. In 1999, there were about 2,309 cases. By 2009, London had 3,450 cases of Britain's more than 9,000 cases, according to an article published Friday in the medical journal, Lancet. Since only about 70 percent of active tuberculosis cases are picked up, those numbers are an underestimate. "We are concerned to see cases of TB at their highest levels since the 1970s," said Dr. Ibrahim Abubakar, head of tuberculosis surveillance at Britain's Health Protection Agency, in a statement. He was not connected to the commentary. "The key to reducing levels of TB is early diagnosis and appropriate treatment," Abubakar said.While tuberculosis remains rare in the U.K. - about 15 people per 100,000 people are infected - that is still higher than elsewhere in Western Europe. In France, an estimated 10 people per 100,000 have tuberculosis. Once known as the "white plague" in England because of the loss of skin color in patients, tuberculosis was virtually wiped out after the introduction of drugs and vaccinations in the 1960s. But it has surged in recent years, including drug-resistant strains. Most tuberculosis cases in Britain are in people born overseas, although not in recent arrivals. About 85 percent of people with tuberculosis have been in Britain for at least two years, meaning the disease is not being imported, but circulating locally.Hmmm....I thought most tuberculosis cases were in the Russian prisons?Read the full story here.

• Canadian court increases sentences for 3 convicted Islamic terrorists.A Canadian court increased the sentences Friday for three convicted Islamic terrorists and ordered the extradition of two Sri Lankan men facing terrorism-related charges in the U.S. in a series of judgments.The Ontario Court of Appeal raised the sentence of Mohammed Momin Khawaja from 10 1/2 years to life in prison for participating in an al-Qaida-inspired plot to bomb British targets in 2004. Khawaja must now serve at least 10 years before being eligible to apply for parole.The 31-year-old Canadian was accused of collaborating with a group of Britons in a thwarted 2004 plot to attack London's Ministry of Sound nightclub, a shopping center and electrical and gas facilities. The suspects were all of Pakistani descent.Khawaja was convicted of five charges under Canada's terrorism laws, including financing training at a camp in Pakistan and providing a house and other assistance to his five conspirators in Britain — all of whom received life sentences after being convicted by a British court.The appellate judges said Friday that the original trial judge who sentenced Khawaja had seriously underestimated his fanaticism and the role model he could become for future jihadists."He was obsessed with the cause, fanatic in his determination to establish Islamic dominance, seemingly at any cost, and eager to assist in bringing about the destruction of Western culture and civilization," the judges wrote. "The trial judge ought to have found that the appellant continues to pose a serious threat to society and is likely to do so for the indefinite future."Khawaja was the first to be charged and sentenced under Canada's Anti-Terrorism Act, passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.In another ruling Friday, two men convicted of participating in a homegrown plot to set off truck bombs outside Canada's main stock exchange and two government buildings also had their sentences raised.The two were ringleaders of the so-called Toronto 18 plot whose goal was to pressure Canada into removing its troops from Afghanistan. Of the 18 men who were arrested in 2006, 11 of them have been convicted and seven had their charges stayed, which means that the government won't proceed with prosecutions.Saad Khalid, a Canadian citizen born in Saudi Arabia to Pakistani parents, had his 14-year sentence increased to 20 years. The sentence for Saad Gaya, born in Canada to Pakistani parents, was raised from 12 years to 18 years. A third plotter, Zakaria Amara, a Jordanian-born Canadian citizen, had appealed his life sentence but that was denied Friday.Hmmmm....Merry Christmas it's the season of giving.Read the full story here.

• HT:WZ.Video: Elmo Now Pushing White House Propaganda, Pimps Michelle Obama’s Food Police Law.“And because of this new law that was passed, we’re going to make sure that all food in school is healthy, nutritious and delicious.”Hmmmm....The program has been hijacked by the "FoodPolice'?Read the full story here.

• Turkey says parliaments should stay out of apology row with Israel.A special session held at the Knesset over Turkey’s demands for an apology and compensation for the killing of eight of its citizens aboard an aid ship that tried to breach the Gaza blockade has sparked a reaction in Ankara, with a senior government official warning that the Israeli government should not misuse its parliament for justifying its grave mistake. Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Çiçek on Friday said the Turkish government has no intention of launching a similar move and carrying the dispute between Turkey and Israel as well as Turkey’s firm demands for the normalization of bilateral relations with Israel -- the offering of an apology and compensation to victims’ families -- to Parliament.“Repeating the mistake that they have made is out of the question,” Çiçek told Today’s Zaman. “Such a move would be neither smart nor appropriate and it would also constitute a step which would harm the strength and value of Parliament,” Çiçek added.It is a principle for Turkey not to confuse state affairs with government affairs, Kapusuz said, adding that the government does not need to have a parliamentary decision for its demands from the Israeli government. “We have the power to receive parliamentary authorization for the demands from Israel, but we don’t even feel a need to get such support because murder was committed here and the Israeli government is well aware of the crime it committed,” he added.Hmmm...Talking of murder : Both Çiçek and Kapusuz slammed arguments suggesting that the powerful Jewish lobby in the United States may support pending resolutions at the US Congress for official recognition of Armenian genocide claims if no progress is made in Israel-Turkey relations by next spring.Armenians mark April 24 as the beginning of a systematic genocide campaign against Ottoman Armenians. Turkey categorically rejects the genocide claims and says Turks and Armenians were killed in internal strife when Armenians revolted against Ottoman rule in eastern Anatolia in hopes of carving out an independent state in collaboration with the invading Russian military.“This whole issue has begun to crumble. We are tired of having so-called claims of genocide hanging over Turkey’s head like a sword of Damocles, as an element of threat. Let them do whatever they please. Decisions made by parliaments cannot stain the history of the Turkish nation,” Çiçek said.Hmmmm....But perhaps the blood of so many innocent people butchered will stain Turkye's history,recognised by DEMOCRATIC parliaments!Read the full story here.

• HT:Serbianna.Albanians deposited Serb organ profits in Islamic charities, prosecutor.Serbian war crimes prosecutor says that the Kosovo Albanian criminal boss, Hashim Thaci, used bank accounts designated as Islamic charity to deposit profits he earned by selling organs he extracted from captured Serbs.The prosecutor’s office says that Thaci deposited his organized crime money in Swiss, German and Albanian bank accounts.Names of some of those accounts are Help For Kosovo, Medicare, Caravan, Al- Haramajin, Taibah International. etc.Serbian prosecution says that the FBI has also uncovered these accounts after the 9/11 attacks but it is not specified why the FBI withheld the information about Thaci.Persecution says that it has sufficient evidence to initiate a “deep” investigation of the Albanian organ trade.Hmmmm....I thought the Jews were trading organs??Read the full story here.

• HT:TheRightScoop.DeMint: The destruction of our country may be just 10 months away. Jim DeMint spoke with Mark Levin this evening and he said that they will start reading the omnibus bill at 7pm tonight (already started) and it could take as much as a couple of days to finish. But he also said this rather alarming little tidbit, talking about the earmarks in the omnibus bill:It’s almost well over six thousand special interest earmarks that people have spread all over the country and to almost every senator. They’ve put some in for South Carolina. I mean every senator has a hard time voting against something once you put something for their states in it. But this is the pattern we’ve had for years. This is how we got 14 trillion dollars in debt and if we can’t stop it we are going to destroy our country. I don’t think it’s 10 years off, I think it may be 10 months off.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:BacktoBasics.Obama, Gates ignore national security failure.While patting himself and his warfighting team on the back over successes in Afghanistan, President Barack Obama – as well as Defense Secretary Robert Gates — is ignoring the recent defense failure on Wednesday.A long-range interceptor missile fired by the U.S. military failed to hit and neutralize its target in a test over the Pacific Ocean.“Many military and security experts are wondering when Obama and Gates will stop worrying about treaties — like START — and start making certain what weapons systems we do have are operating properly,” said political strategist Mike Baker.The Vandenberg Air Force Base conducted the missile defense test on Wednesday with disappointing results. It launched a Ground-Based Interceptor (GBI) missile that failed to destroy an incoming intermediate-range target missile launched from Kwajalein Atoll.While the White House staff and the Defense Secretary and military chiefs of staff were silent, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) spokesman Richard Lehner issued a statement: “Program officials will conduct an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the failure to intercept the target.”“The next flight test will be determined after identification of the cause of the failure,” Lehner added.Unfortunately, according to defense experts, the GBI is the only long-range missile the U.S. possesses. And this latest test is the third major failure in two years and the first test firing conducted in January 2010 also failed to take out its target.Hmmmm...."We can absorb another terrorist attack"?Read the full story here.

• HT:CreepingSharia.Legal expert: ‘Dangerous’ for feds to get involved in Muslim’s hajj lawsuit.A legal expert says it’s a “dangerous” precedent for the federal government to sue a suburban Chicago school district for denying a Muslim middle-school teacher unpaid leave to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.Matt Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, tells OneNewsNow the government’s action is unprecedented. “This is an absolute bully club being used by the federal government in this lawsuit against the school to literally force this school to go out of their way to make unreasonable accommodations for a Mecca pilgrimage,” he says.The attorney argues this is a “dangerous path for the government to plow” because it blazes a trail for similar requests.“…Once you then say that you can take a three-week pilgrimage to Mecca, then there really is no stopping — you can take five sections of the workday out to go pray; you can have a certain kind of ritual washing built into the school or to the workplace to be able to do your ritual cleansing,” he suggests. “It just literally opens up Pandora’s Box — and the federal laws were not designed for that kind of accommodation.”Staver says while his group advocates for religious freedom, this particular case “literally distorts religious freedom.” Liberty Counsel, he adds, would be willing to help defend this school district.Hmmmm....“It just literally opens up Pandora’s Box"....No....it impliments Sharia Law in America !And the Obama administration knows that.Read the full story here.

• Indonesian Christians say no to Christmas protection by Muslim radicals.Indonesian Christians have criticised the Islamic Defender Front (FPI), an Islamic fundamentalist group, for saying that it would protect Christian communities during Christmas celebrations. “Why would this radical group, which is notorious for its anti-Christian violence, want to be so nice to us? We say no to their offer,” a Catholic man from Semarang diocese said.“Let Christians celebrate Christmas in peace. It is their right and all Indonesian citizens should respect that,” FPI chief Risieq Shihab said during a meeting with Police Chief Timur Pradopo on Tuesday. Yet, the peace and protection he has in mind would only be for those Christian communities that respect Indonesia’s strict religious laws. For Shihab, his group would stop any Catholic or Protestant celebration held in violation of the law.Andreas Yewangoe, chairman of the Synod of Christian Protestant Churches, said that the FPI did not issue any official statement in regards to security measures. Even if it had, very few Christians would actually like to see it present during Christmas celebrations, he said. For the past seven years, the FPI accumulated a track record of violent attacks against Catholic and Protestant communities. The recent episodes of intolerance in Bandung (West Java) are evidence of that. On this occasion, Muslim extremists destroyed two house churches and five homes belonging to local Christians.
  Hmmmm.....Obama .."Indonesia is an example of religious tolerance".Read the full story here.

• US House may vote on 'Armenian Genocide' bill Tuesday.The U.S. House of Representatives, Congress' lower chamber, may vote on an "Armenian Genocide" resolution on Tuesday, but as time passes, the chances of the bill passing the full House is decreasing.The Armenian National Committee of America, the largest and most influential U.S. Armenian group, reported in its website Friday that "the House is set to vote on the genocide resolution,” without giving a specific time.The House, which failed to pass the measure Friday, is scheduled to meet the next time on Tuesday.Suat Kınıklıoğlu, Turkey-U.S. Inter-parliamentary friendship group chairman and a deputy of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, told CNNTurk in an interview broadcast late Friday that “If the resolution comes to a House floor vote, it will pass.”“President [Barack] Obama's administration is putting serious pressure on [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi to not schedule a vote. As time passes pressure will increase on Pelosi, and eventually she may decline from holding a vote on this matter," one anonymous source told the Daily News.The opposition Republican Party won the House's control in midterm congressional election on Nov. 2, and the Armenians hoped to schedule a full House floor vote on the "genocide" bill before Pelosi cedes her post to the Republican John Boehner, the present House minority leader, who will become the new House speaker in the new year.Turkey warns that its bilateral relationship with the United States will deteriorate in a major and lasting way if the U.S. administration or Congress adopts a "genocide" measure. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu called U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on late Friday to discuss the matter, Turkish officials said.Hmmm...."President Hussein Obama's administration is putting serious pressure on Pelosi to not schedule a vote."Read the full story here.

• HT:TheHill.Food safety bill looks dead, though Democrats say they haven't given up.Democrats say they haven't given up on legislation that would overhaul the nation's food safety system, but a Republican Senate aide said the bill is dead after the omnibus spending bill it was tacked on to was defeated Thursday night.The Food Safety Modernization Act was included in the proposed omnibus spending bill that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) threw out Thursday night when it became clear it didn't have the votes to pass. Reid said he would work with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) Friday morning to propose a short-term continuing resolution."We are working with our Republican colleagues to include [food safety] in the continuing resolution," a Reid spokeswoman said.However, a Republican Senate aide told The Hill that the food safety legislation will not be included in the new continuing resolution.If the legislation is not included, it would likely mark the end of the bill's torturous path through Congress. The bill passed both chambers by wide margins. But the Senate's 73-25 passage of the bill last month was voided after it was discovered that the upper chamber had tacked on a tax provision that is constitutionally required to originate in the House.Hmmmm....Christmas the Barer of Merry tidings?Read the full story here.

• HT:BigGoverment.Senate Republicans to FCC: No net neutrality.Next week, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is anticipated to try to push through net neutrality regulations in the course of its December 21 meeting. But as a letter released this week by thirty Republican senators makes clear, key members of the legislative branch are having none of it, and will force a confrontation on the Senate floor if the FCC proceeds.[The FCC has] admitted in published statements that the legal justification for imposing these new regulations is questionable and “has a serious risk of failure in court.” It is very clear that Congress has not granted the Commission the specific statutory authority to do what you are proposing. Whether and how the Internet should be regulated is something that America’s elected representatives in Congress, not the Commission, should determine.Rep. Fred Upton, who is set to take over the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction where net neutrality is concerned, has already signaled his disapproval of the move in a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, which reads in part:The FCC does not have authority to regulate the Internet, and pursuing net neutrality through Title I or reclassification is wholly unacceptable. Our new majority will use rigorous oversight, hearings and legislation to fight the FCC’s overt power grab.As yet, it is unclear whether either letter will force the FCC to reverse course, but in the wake of Senate Republicans having forced Majority Leader Reid’s hand on the omnibus bill, some observers say they remain hopeful.Hmmmm...."Change has come to the Senate"?Read the full story here.

• Texas teachers examine Turkish education system.A delegation of school managers and teachers from Texas have come to Turkey to examine the Turkish education system as part of efforts to make Turkish an elective course at state-run schools in the United States. Three state-run schools in Texas, which is a pilot region, are already offering Turkish as an elective course to their students.The Texas school managers and teachers came to Turkey as part of an initiative of the Raindrop Foundation.Raindrop Foundation President Mehmet Okumuş said the first support for their project to make Turkish an elective course at state-run schools in the United States came from Austin.“Currently, three state-run schools in Texas have begun to offer Turkish as an elective course. This trip of the Texas delegation is important so that our project can be applied all throughout the US,” he said.Turkish is seen as an important language by the US, particularly with regard to the issue of national security. The Raindrop Foundation gives Turkish courses to US nationals in regions neighboring Texas: Oklahoma, Mississippi, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Arkansas. The Raindrop Foundation also organizes the Turkish Language and Culture Olympiad every year to encourage students to learn Turkish.Hmmmm....Turkish important to national security?A Guide to the Gulen Movement's Activities in the US,surprise the raindrop foundation is there.Goals of the Gulen movement.How the U.S. Gulen Charter schools serve the Gulen movement.And what's the Obama's administration and Gulen their "Relation"? I think the new Congress has loads of work ahead.Read the full story here.

• Dutch minister gives Turkish deputy a lesson on freedoms.Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner has opposed critical remarks by Socialist Party (SP) deputy Saadet Karabulut about the Gülen movement, inspired by internationally respected Turkish scholar Fethullah Gülen, and said the movement is very successful in integrating into Dutch society. Putting emphasis on freedom of religion and human rights, Donner said the Gülen movement does not pose any threat to the Dutch state, as the deputy argues, but stands as the most successful group among Turks living in the Netherlands with regards to integration.The Interior Affairs Commission of the Dutch Parliament yesterday discussed the Gülen movement based on a report prepared by anthropologist Martin van Bruinessen of Utrecht University upon a request from the Ministry of Integration. The meeting was scene to heated debates between SP’s Turkish deputy Karabulut and Interior Minister Donner.Hmmmm....Same schooling system they want in texas and the USA."Fethullah Gulen's Missionary Schools in Central Asia and their Role in the Spreading of Turkism and Islam .Read the full integration story here.

• HT:RightSideNews.Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" for 2010.It’s that time of year again! As the nation’s largest government watchdog organization, each year Judicial Watch publishes its list of Washington's "Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians.” The purpose of the list, which is widely distributed in the press, is to put the spotlight on the year’s most egregious incidents of secrecy, corruption and abuse of power. This list is a powerful tool to educate Americans about the bipartisan problem of corruption in Washington, so please share it far and wide.The 2010 list, in alphabetical order, includes: Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) , Rahm Emanuel , Former Obama White House Chief of Staff, Senator John Ensign (R-NV) , Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) , Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL) , President Barack Obama , Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) , Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) , Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) , and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) .Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) is Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. But it appears she still needs an ethics lesson. Boxer presided over a year-long investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee into whether two of her Senate colleagues, Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Kent Conrad (D-ND), received preferential treatment from Countrywide Financial as part of the company’s “VIP” program. (Senate ethics rules prohibit members from receiving loan terms not available to the general public.) In fact, according to The Associated Press, during an Ethics Committee hearing Boxer asked “the bulk of the questions .”However, Boxer failed to mention (or disclose on her official Senate Financial Disclosure documents) that she and her husband have signed no less than seven mortgages with Countrywide ! At the time of the hearing, Boxer reportedly indicated she had paid off two Countrywide mortgages, but did not mention the others.Read the full "Story" here.

• We're still alive: LAPD deluged with calls from women claiming to be in the 'Grim Sleeper' photographs.Authorities release 180 pictures from the thousands found .The Los Angeles Police Department has been overwhelmed with hundreds of calls since releasing photographs of 180 Grim Sleeper 'victims'.A number of those calls have been from women claiming they are among those pictured.Five women have now been positively identified from the scores of women whose photos were found at the home of the 'Grim Sleeper' serial killer suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr.LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said today: 'I cannot give you an update on their well-being or status', but added that officers were trying to locate the women.He said the initial identifications were all based on tips from the public.Det. Dennis Kilcoyne who is leading the task force that tracked down Franklin said: 'The information coming in is voluminous'.He added that detectives have had phone conversations with a number of people claiming they are related to women pictured in the photographs.A number of the women had either been missing for years or had been the victim of unsolved murders some of the family members said.'We will make sure we sit down across from anyone like that and have a face-to face conversation to make sure we do everything possible to figure out what happened', Det Kilcoyne said.He added: 'Right now, my goal is just to sort all the information coming in, organise it and in the days to come we'll start meeting with people'.Authorities released the images yesterday after they were seized from the home of suspect Lonnie Franklin Jr. He is accused of murdering ten female victims.Hmmmm.....Instead of the "Grim Sleeper" try the "Grim photographer"?Read the full story here.

• Steven Spielberg was target of Arab League boycott, WikiLeaks cable shows.Leaked dispatch reveals diplomats from 14 Arab states voted to ban the director's films in response to his donation to Israel.Steven Spielberg was blacklisted by the Arab League's Central Boycott Office after making a $1m (£645m) donation to Isreal during the 2006 conflict in Lebanon.A US embassy memo released by WikiLeaks reveals that during a meeting of the group in April 2007, diplomats or representatives from 14 Arab states voted to ban all films and other products related to Spielberg or his Righteous Persons Foundation.At the confidential US briefing, the head of the Syrian regional office for the boycott of Israel, Muhammad al-Ajami, said that Algeria, Iraq, Lebanon, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen had agreed to ban all Spielberg's works.Malaysia, Iran, Pakistan and Indonesia were also present at the meeting and voted in favour of the boycott. The memo from the US embassy in Damascus to Washington says that "they and other countries will likely implement their own bans" similar to that adopted by the Arab states.At the same meeting, cosmetics giant Estée Lauder was added to the blacklist while financial services behemoth Merrill Lynch was placed on a "watchlist".The only Arab states which did not attend the meeting were those who have signed separate peace accords with Israel, namely, Egypt (which also has a thriving film industry and holds the annual Cairo film festival), Mauritania and Jordan. Djibouti and Somalia were not present at the meeting either.Steven Spielberg set up the Righteous Persons Foundation in 1994. Using his personal profits from the film Schindler's List and, later, Munich, the Foundation is dedicated to helping create a strong Jewish community in the United States.Hmmmm....A pitty they don't give Oscars for Holocaust denial they might win them all?Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Beneath the Dead Sea, Scientists Are Drilling for Natural History.Five miles out, nearly to the center of the Dead Sea, an international team of scientists has been drilling beneath the seabed to extract a record of climate change and earthquake history stretching back half a million years. The preliminary evidence and clues found halfway through the 40-day project are more than the team could have hoped for. The scientists did not expect to pull up a wood fragment that was roughly 400,000 years old. Nor did they expect to come across a layer of gravel from a mere 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. That finding would seem to indicate that what is now the middle of the Dead Sea — which is really a big salt lake — was once a shore, and that the water level had managed to recover naturally. “We knew the lake went through high levels and lower levels,” said Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham, a leading Dead Sea expert and the driving force behind the project, “but we did not know it got so low.” Professor Ben-Avraham, a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and chief of the Minerva Dead Sea Research Center at Tel Aviv University, had been pushing for such a drilling operation for 10 years. Read the full story here.