MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• HT:AhmadiyyaTimes.Pakistan: Lawyers shower governor’s killer with hugs, kisses, roses.LAHORE: Lawyers showered the suspected killer of a prominent Pakistani governor with rose petals when he arrived at court Wednesday and an influential Muslim scholars group praised the assassination of the outspoken opponent of laws that order death for those who insult Islam.Mumtaz Qadri made his first appearance in an Islamabad court, where a judge remanded him in custody a day after he allegedly sprayed automatic gunfire at the back of Punjab province Gov. Salman Taseer while he was supposed to be protecting him as a bodyguard.A rowdy crowd slapped him on the back and kissed his cheek as he was escorted inside. The lawyers who tossed handfuls of rose petals over him were not involved in the case.As he left the court, a crowd of about 200 sympathizers chanted ”death is acceptable for Muhammad’s slave.” The suspect stood at the back door of an armored police van with a flower necklace given to him by an admirer and repeatedly yelled ”God is great.””The supporter is as equally guilty as one who committed blasphemy,” the group warned in a statement, adding politicians, the media and others should learn ”a lesson from the exemplary death.”Jamat leader Maulana Shah Turabul Haq Qadri paid ”glorious tribute to the murderer … for his courage, bravery and religious honor and integrity.”Mumtaz Qadri told interrogators Tuesday that he shot the liberal Taseer multiple times because of the politician’s vocal opposition to the harsh blasphemy laws.Hmmmmm......Perhaps the Obama administration could give another couple of Billion Dollars to this "Sick" society?Read the full story here.

• Wikileaks .The payroll dilemma:Who is actually receiving PA paychecks in Hamas controlled GAZA?The PA contends that Hamas, ability to pay its workers, salaries each month combined with the inability of the PA to do so causes further deterioration in support for PA/Fatah relative to Hamas . The GOI, on the other hand, believes that many of the estimated 77,000 wage earners on the PAs payroll may actually be Hamas members or affiliates. Israeli security analysts argue that a considerable portion of the civil service salaries that the PA attempts to pay each month to its Gazan employees actually find their way to Hamas or Hamas supporters.Observers speculate as to the amount of shekels circulating in Gaza. The BOI has established a history of routinely approving all requests from the Palestinian banks to exchange spoiled shekel notes from Gaza for new notes. This is not a security issue as it does not increase the total number of shekels in circulation.Unfortunately, since Gaza tends more and more towards a cash economy based upon movement of goods through its tunnels to the Sinai, it becomes increasingly difficult to estimate this amount with accuracy. Udi Levi (strictly protect), a high-ranking official in the Israeli security establishment, commented to Econcouns in October that at least 1.8 billion shekels are currently unaccounted for in Gaza.Hmmmm.....Someone is saving up in a piggybank?Read the full story here.

• Iran 'detains US woman on spying'.State media says authorities arrest 55-year-old woman who entered the country without visa and with "spying equipment".An American woman has been arrested in Iran on charges of spying, the Associated Press news agency has reported.Authorities arrested the 55-year-old woman near the border town of Norduz, 600km northwest of the capital Tehran, after she entered the country without a visa, the news wire quoted the state-owned IRAN newspaper as saying on Thursday.The report said that the women was carrying hidden spying equipment, without elaborating on what that equipment was or when she was arrested.Customs police were reported to have made the arrest after the woman had travelled from neighbouring Armenia to Iran.There are already two Americans in detention in Iran for spying allegations and illegally crossing into the country from northern Iraq.Shane Bower and Josh Fattal were arrested in July 2009 with Sarah Shourd, who was released last September.They deny that they were spying and the US has cast doubt that they crossed into Iran at all.Hmmmm....Here we go again?Read the full story here. Updated here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.Why Israel Is Losing the Information War.Many people who are informed about what's actually happening in the Middle East constantly wonder why Israel fares so badly in the information wars. The following example gives us a pretty good idea why.Jawaher Abu Rahmah, a "Palestinian" activist, died on January 1. Saeb Erekat, the right fork of Yasser Arafat's tongue, claimed that she died during a demonstration in the "Palestinian" town of Bil'in, killed by "poison" contained in tear gas fired by Israeli soldiers at the demonstrations after it deteriorated into what could best be termed a riot."Palestinian" President Mahmoud Abbas called Abu Rahmah's death a "new Israeli crime carried out by the occupation army against our helpless nation."She was given a martyr's funeral as the victim of an Israeli "war crime," with crowds of mourners and the usual "Palestinian" stringers who work for the dinosaur media in attendance.The real story? According to the IDF, there's no evidence that Abu Rahmah was even at the Bil'in demonstration, nor does she show up on any of the videos. There's no evidence that she died from inhaling tear gas (if it was in fact "poisonous," why weren't there other deaths?), and the death certificate shows the cause of death as "Inhaling gas of an Israeli soldier according to the family."That's an indication that no doctor actually examined Abu Rahmah, but that the death certificate was simply filled out by a nurse or orderly. And the accounts of her actual health are contradictory.Was Abu Ramah the victim of an honor killing exploited by the PA? It certainly wouldn't be the first Pallywood production we've seen.And really, none of the facts matter at this point.In today's media climate, you're left foundering, trying to decipher the facts while the other side has already made its impact.This is the sort of thing that happens when you play defense instead of offense: the other side controls the game, and you're limited to reacting.That's why Israel has been losing the information war.Israel would be far better off going on offense by publicizing the Palestinian Authority's inherent corruption, the status of women and homosexuals, its official endorsements of terrorism against Israel's civilians, and its refusal to make a single concession in any negotiationsAs for Abu Ramah, instead of reacting to the "Palestinian" narrative with frantic attempts to dredge up facts, Israel would be far better off simply calling out Erekat and Abbas for lying, challenging them to prove that Abu Ramah was there and that the IDF killed her, and reminding the world of all the other fairy tales the Palestinians have spun over the years.Hmmm.....The best defence is the attack..!Read the full story here.

• HT:FOX - Video : Should Americans Continue to Vacation in Mexico? I Don't Think So !Read and see the full story here.

• Saudi parliament to debate allowing women to drive.Saudi Arabia’s appointed parliament is set to debate a law to break a long-standing ban on women to drive cars after receiving a letter signed by more than 100 people, newspapers in the Gulf kingdom reported on Wednesday.The letter, signed by 128 men and women, was addressed to Shura Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al Shaikh, asking him to open a debate on a law allowing women in the conservative Moslem nation to drive.“The Shura council agreed to discuss the issue of allowing women to drive in Saudi Arabia at its sessions in the next few weeks,” Kabar daily said.The letter noted that many Saudi women drive cars outside the kingdom, the world’s largest oil exporter, as they hold international driving licences. The signatories said the new law is needed to match the development of the Saudi society and save women from daily agonies of trying to find a taxi. “You and any Saudi national should not accept that the dignity of the Saudi woman is spilt on streets every day as she struggles to find a taxi cab to go shopping, or to go to work, hospital or school…we ask you to discuss allowing women to drive and enforce this law on a trial basis in the beginning.”The papers quoted a Shura member, Abdul Malik Khayal, as saying driving is “a natural right for women” on the grounds there are no “legal or security barriers.” Hmmmm.....Welcome to the "Normal" world where men curse women drivers?Read the full story here.

• He's back: Fears of sectarian violence in Iraq as radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr returns from exile with eyes firmly fixed on grabbing political power.Hundreds of supporters mobbed the radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as he returned home to Iraq after nearly four years in self-imposed exile in Iran.The sight of the firebrand, once dubbed the 'single biggest threat to the U.S. in Iraq', will be a depressing one for American troops and politicians.He left Iraq in 2007 an unpredictable leader of a street-fighting organisation with huge popular support but returns a legitimate political figure likely to play a key part in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's new government.A swarm of al-Sadr's bodyguards - dressed in black clothes and flak jackets and toting automatic rifles - deployed around his house in the al-Hanana neighborhood in central Najaf where followers were waiting to meet him.One of the youngest among those gathered outside al-Sadr's house was nine-year-old Mohammed Sadiq, who was accompanied by his uncle. 'I'd like to kiss his hands and tell him: I miss you and don't leave us again,' said Sadiq.Supporters hung banners on nearby buildings, one of which read: 'Yes, Yes to our leader. Here we are at your service our Master Muqtada.' Another banner said: 'We renew our allegiance to our leader Muqtada al-Sadr.'The cleric was believed to be meeting with Iraq's most revered Shiite figure, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, today.Al-Sadr's implementation of Sharia Law is also strict. In 2006 he banned the use of shorts and even executed the coach and two members of the national tennis team.He has tried to ban football, claiming sport is a Zionist plot to distract Arabs from religion, and two weeks ago banned Iraqis working with foreign companies.His fervour is likely to have been increased by his last few years studying Islam in Qom, Iran, the seat of Shiite education. The sojourn was a way for the 37-year-old cleric to burnish his theological credentials, but he also faced an arrest warrant for his alleged role in assassinating a rival Shiite cleric.Al-Sadr visited the holy shrine of Imam Ali, revered among the country's Shiite majority, wearing a black turban distinguishing him as one of the descendants of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.Hmmmm.....Obama "If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!" Yeah that's clear by now.Read the full story here.

• HT:Arstechnica.Warrantless cell phone search gets a green light in California.The contents of your cell phone can reveal a lot more about you than the naked eye can: who your friends are, what you've been saying and when, which websites you've visited, and more. There has long been debate over user privacy when it comes to various data found on a cell phone, but according to the California Supreme Court, police don't need a warrant to start digging through your phone's contents.The ruling comes as a result of the conviction of one Gregory Diaz, who was arrested for trying to sell ecstasy to a police informant in 2007 and had his phone confiscated when he arrived at the police station. The police eventually went through Diaz's text message folder and found one that read "6 4 80." Such a message means nothing to most of us, but it was apparently enough to be used as evidence against Diaz (for those curious, it means six pills will cost $80). Diaz had argued that the warrantless search of his phone violated his Fourth Amendment rights, but the trial court said that anything found on his person at the time of arrest was "really fair game in terms of being evidence of a crime." The decision was not unanimous, though. "The potential intrusion on informational privacy involved in a police search of a person‟s mobile phone, smartphone or handheld computer is unique among searches of an arrestee's person and effects," Justices Kathryn Mickle Werdegar and Carlos Moreno wrote in dissent. They went on to argue that the court majority's opinion would allow police "carte blanche, with no showing of exigency, to rummage at leisure through the wealth of personal and business information that can be carried on a mobile phone or handheld computer merely because the device was taken from an arrestee's person. The majority thus sanctions a highly intrusive and unjustified type of search, one meeting neither the warrant requirement nor the reasonableness requirement of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution."Gershowtiz suggested a number of possibilities for how courts could distinguish between an appropriate cell phone search and an inappropriate one, but no such rules exist yet. In the meantime, California citizens may want to be extra careful about what gets stored on their devices, lest the police find a reason to dig up your sexy texts or communications with your private "dispensary." Hmmmm....You don't want those highly compromising pics on your cellphone?Read the full story here.

• UFC Fighter Jacob Volkmann Calls Out President Barack Obama, Gets A Visit From the Secret Service.UFC lightweight Jacob Volkmann, following his win over Antonio McKee, declared that he wanted to fight U.S. President Barack Obama for his next fight. His words got him a visit from the Secret Service on Wednesday.Volkmann, who is based out of Minnesota, told MMAFighting.com after his win over McKee that he wanted to face Obama because he disagreed with many of his policies.Well, if anyone ever wondered if a potential threat against the President goes unnoticed, you just got your answer.The Secret Service showed up at both his residence and during his youth wrestling camp to interview him about the potential threat made to the President.Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav. Video : Great news: TSA stealing stuff at checkpoints.Channel 7 news in New York reports that TSA employees have been stealing. No, not from your checked bags, at least according to this report. Rather, they are stealing things from people going through the checkpoints who remove jewelry, watches, laptop computers and other valuable items in order to go through the checkpoints.Hmmmm....Don't you feel safe?At least terrorists wont destroy your stuff?Read the full story here.

• Proposed bigger government cut of gas field revenue roils Israel.A panel reviewing Israel's policy on oil and gas resources has recommended more than doubling the government's take of profits. But Israeli and U.S. firms behind recent discoveries are fighting back.Big natural gas fields found recently off Israel's coast could be a game-changer for the small country, pumping billions of dollars into the economy. But the prospect of huge profits is igniting a battle to divide the spoils, long before drilling gets underway.A government committee appointed to review Israel's policy on oil and gas resources recommended late Monday more than doubling the government's take of production profits to as much as 62%.Committee Chairman Eytan Sheshinski, a retired Hebrew University economics professor, said the revised rate, which still must be approved by the parliament, would create a "balance between the companies' profitability and the public."But a consortium of Israeli and American companies behind the recent gas discoveries is fighting the move, warning that the higher rate could make the project unfeasible.The previous 30% rate, established in 1952, reflected a period when the young country had no funds for exploration and no known natural resources. The low rate was designed to encourage private companies to undertake risky investment.Read the full story here.

• HT:RightWingNews.Obama Plans another Massive Land Grab.Nothing better sums up the Left's antidemocratic and antihuman agenda that the Obama Administration's policy of circumventing Congress to seal off our own land from use.An Obama administration directive designed to preserve more public lands as wilderness is stirring anger in the West, where ranchers, sportsmen and energy companies say they could lose access to acreage they count on for their recreation and livelihood.The regulatory change … directs the Bureau of Land Management to survey its vast holdings stretching between Alaska, Arizona, California and Colorado, in search of unspoiled back country. The agency can then designate these tracts — potentially millions of acres — as "wild lands.""Wild lands" are lands expropriated from the human race on behalf of the lizards and chipmunks. If we aren't allowed to use them, they may as well have fallen into the sea. Not only development, but drilling, mining, cattle grazing, and even recreational activities may be forbidden. Obama's latest power grab does not require legislative approval, but there is something Congress can do, in the unlikely event Republicans show some spine.House Republicans, who will hold the majority in the new Congress that arrives next week, say they plan hearings on the new policy and perhaps seek to cut funding to the BLM for identifying and managing wild lands.They had better. Like the nefarious EPA, the BLM exists to grow the government and shrink the economy.Given moonbats' disdain for cowboys and for eating the meat we require for proper nutrition, it's unsurprising that ranchers stand to take a beating.Some worry that American land is being used as collateral, and will end up being seized by the communist Chinese when it becomes clear that there is no way we can ever pay back the massive sums of money Obama has been borrowing and squandering. But if ChiComs owned the land, at least the resources wouldn't be completely wasted.Before the income tax, land sales to the private sector constituted a major source of revenue for the government. Now it works the other way; the government eats up land, growing ever larger as America grows smaller.Hmmmmm......Look at the Map "They are dividing America in two parts! WHY?Perhaps restitution to the Native Americans? Read and see the full story here.

• Could you pass a US citizenship test?In order to become a US citizen, immigrants must pass the Naturalization Test. American citizenship bestows the right to vote, improves the likelihood of family members living in other countries to come and live in the US, gives eligibility for federal jobs, and can be a way to demonstrate loyalty to the US. Applicants must get 6 answers out of 10 in an oral exam to pass the test. According to US Citizenship and Immigration services, 92 percent of applicants pass this test.You must get 58 or more of these test questions correct in order to pass.Read and take the test if you wish so here.

• White House Issues Negative Response to Request for Pollard Clemency.The White House stressed today that Jonathan Pollard was guilty of “the most serious crimes” after a public Israeli request for clemency. Israeli Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu made the unusually public appeal to President Barack Obama on Tuesday, and the White House said Tuesday it was reviewing the issue.But many observers feel it is unlikely that Obama would immediately grant the request, reasoning that the US intelligence community is opposed to such a step.“I think it is important to underscore that Mr. Pollard was convicted of some of the most serious crimes that anybody can be charged (with),” said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.Gibbs would not be drawn on the manner of the request, which saw Netanyahu, who has had a sometimes rocky relationship with the Obama administration, read out a letter to the US president in the Israeli parliament.“‘Honourable president, in the name of the Israeli people I am turning to you to request a pardon for Jonathan Pollard,’” Netanyahu said.But Israelis say Pollard’s punishment and the longstanding US refusal to commute his sentence have been particularly harsh, given that he gave information to a friendly nation.Hmmmm.....Somehow the US has no problem releasing (Swap) Russian spies?Read the full story here.

• Straight into battle: High-tech anti-whaling vessel clashes with Japanese fleet in freezing Southern Ocean.Anti-whaling campaigners have clashed with the Japanese fleet using a state-of-the art interceptor vessel as they bid to disrupt the annual hunting campaign.Activists on board the £2.57million Gojira trimaran catapulted glass bottles at the Yushin Maru-2 and threw ropes aimed at its propeller in the second clash already this year.Two ships belonging to campaign group Sea Shepherd have been pursuing Japanese whaling factory vessel the Nisshin Maru for the last six days after discovering the fleet on December 31.Since then, the two fleets have covered more than a thousand miles as the whalers attempt to shake off their pursuers.Confrontations have become increasingly hostile, with activists firing stink bombs made from rotten butter on to Japanese ships as well as trying to get ropes wrapped around the propellers and rudders.Japanese ships have responded with water cannons, acoustic weapons and even stun grenades.Sea Shepherd has managed to severely disrupt the annual whale hunt, where the Japanese fleet attempts to capture and kill more than 1,000 whales.Read and see the full story here.

• Turkey considering Iran’s invitation to visit nuclear sites.Turkey is among countries that were invited by Iran on Tuesday to visit key nuclear facilities, officials said, while noting that the invitation was conveyed to Turkey’s permanent representative to the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna. Iran’s surprise invitation, which was also conveyed to representatives of Russia, China, the European Union and others, left out Britain, France, Germany and the United States -- the countries most opposed to its nuclear program.Turkish diplomatic sources, speaking on Tuesday evening, confirmed that Iran’s permanent representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conveyed an invitation to Turkey’s representation in Vienna. The same sources said no final decision has yet been made and that Turkey is still considering its response to Iran’s invitation.Hmmmm....Erdogan being the shadow of Ahmadinejad the answer is pretty predictable,probably just stalling just to have some air of credibility?Read the full story here.

• U.N. Data Notes Sharp Rise in World Food Prices.World food prices continued to rise sharply in December, bringing them close to the crisis levels that provoked shortages and riots in poor countries three years ago, according to newly released United Nations data. Prices are expected to remain high this year, prompting concern that the world may be approaching another crisis, although economists cautioned that many factors, like adequate stockpiles of key grains, could prevent a serious problem. The United Nations data measures commodity prices on the world export market. Those are generally far removed from supermarket prices in wealthy countries like the United States. In this country, food price inflation has been relatively tame, and prices are forecast to rise only 2 to 3 percent this year. Joseph Glauber, the Agriculture Department’s chief economist, said that rising world commodity prices could be expected to have their greatest impact in this country on meat and dairy prices because they can push up the price of livestock feed. As feed prices go up, farmers often cut the size of herds, meaning less meat ultimately reaches the market. Beef, pork and dairy prices rose faster last year than overall food prices and are expected to continue that trend this year.Read the full story here.