MFS - The Other News

                         Afternoon Posting.

• HT:defencetalk.China :We Will Nuke You First If We're Loosing!China shifting nuclear rules of engagement: report.The Chinese military would consider a pre-emptive nuclear strike if it had no other way to defend itself in a war against another nuclear-armed state, Kyodo News said Wednesday, citing Chinese documents.The policy, called "Lowering the threshold of nuclear threats" may indicate a shift from China's pledge not to first fire nuclear weapons under any circumstances, the report said.It may also fan concern in the United States, Japan and other regional powers, according to the Japanese news agency which obtained the internal documents.The Chinese military's strategic missile forces, the Second Artillery Corps, would "adjust" its policy if another nuclear state conducts air strikes against Chinese targets "with absolutely superior conventional weapons," the document says, according to Kyodo.China would first warn an adversary about a nuclear strike, but if the enemy attacks China with conventional forces, the Chinese military "must carefully consider" a pre-emptive nuclear strike, Kyodo said.The documents suggest that the Second Artillery Corps educate its personnel in worst-case scenarios, Kyodo said, adding that it is rare for information on China's nuclear policy to come to light.US military experts have argued since around 2007 that Beijing may have shown signs of altering its pledge of no first use of nuclear weapons, Kyodo said.Hmmmm.....Obama :"Lets get rid of Nuclear weapons"Sigh.Read the full story here.

• Terror alert as two 'incendiary devices' release smoke and sulphur in Maryland government buildings.Mailrooms quarantined across the state in hunt for other packages.Two people received minor injuries after two packages about the size of small books ignited and released a sulphur-like smell when they were opened at government buildings in Maryland.The fiery devices, one found in Hanover, another in Annapolis, caused the evacuation of mailrooms at government offices across the state. One of the packages was address to Governor Martin O'Malley and concerned officials intercepted two other suspicious deliveries amid the distress, though one was found to be a toner cartridge; the other laptop batteries.The opening of the dangerous packages caused the incendiary device inside to activate, according to State Fire Marshal William Barnard.Explosive material wasn't found in either package that ignited, Barnard said. When one was opened, it produced a 'puff of smoke and a sulphur-type smell, like if you would strike a match'. State police spokesman Greg Shipley added: 'When both packages were opened there was a reaction that caused a flash of fire, a brief flash of fire, smoke and a smell.'This is not to be compared with a significant explosion that you think of when you say that word.'The Annapolis package, addressed in typeface to the recently re-elected governor adorned with holiday stamps, was opened first around 12:30 p.m. local time at the Jeffrey Building, where mail for Mr O'Malley's office is routinely checked. The building is just blocks from the governor's office, which is inside the State House in downtown.That package contained a message from a disgruntled person, a government official familiar with the investigation told The Associated Press.It had a zipper feature and when ripped open, a 'flame popped out'.Hmmm...A disgruntled person,who might bring terrorists to new ideas?Or the TSA installing scanners at every post office?Read the full story here.

• HT:IsraelMatzav.Iran buying Lebanese Christian properties.Last spring, there were rumors of an attempt by Syria and Hezbullah to wall off the Bekaa Valley and use it as a weapons zone.And in August 2007, I reported that Hezbullah was buying land north of the Litani River and turning it into a no-go zone. At the time, I cited a report from Charles Levinson that Hezbullah was attempting to connect its stronghold in southern Lebanon with the Bekaa Valley. There are, however, more sinister accusations. Jumblatt and other Druze leaders have been most vocal with accusations that Hezbollah has a grand plan to Shiitize what was heretofore a mixed Christian-Druze area in an attempt to create a contiguous swath of land connecting the south with Hezbollah’s other stronghold in Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley.Getting rid of this irksome band of Christian and Druze villages would not only split the Druze off from their ancestral home in the Chouf Mountains, but would also mean weapons from Syria would have unfettered access to Hezbollah in the south without passing through potentially unfriendly territory. See the map below which has been floating around various anti-Hezbollah circles and claims, rather dubiously I think, to depict Hezbollah’s secret plans for a Shiite state inside Lebanon.So is this an attempt to expel Christians from Lebanon? (Where are the people who are selling the land going?) Is it an attempt to clear militarily strategic areas of non-Muslims in preparation for war (as the attempt to link the south to the Bekaa clearly was)?Hmmmm.....That peaceplan and outreach to Muslims really works Mr President,you can smell the peace preparations in the air.Read the full story here.

• Federal Agency's Claims of Jobs Saved by Stimulus Were 'Unclear and Misleading,' Says Inspector General.The Small Business Administration, which received $730 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to increase the availability of credit to small businesses, is making claims about the number of "jobs saved" that are “unclear” and “misleading” and which cannot be verified, according to a report issued by the agency’s inspector general.“The lack of a definition for ‘jobs retained’ and the discrepancy in the forms used to collect job statistics from 7(a) borrowers and lenders has resulted in a performance metric with questionable clarity and transparency,” the inspector general said.Under the Recovery Act, the SBA is required to report job creation and retention statistics in its monthly Recovery Act Program Performance Report, which is published on its Web site.Neither of SBA’s two major loan programs, known as the 7(a) program and the 504 loan program, require loan recipients to tell the government whether those loans helped them to create or save jobs, the IG noted. But the banks and financial institutions that loan out the money do require small businesses to state on their loan applications how many employees they have.From this data, lenders determine the number of jobs created and retained and send the information to SBA. According to the inspector general, however, only one of the programs asks on its application about how many job are to be saved -- the 504 program.Read the full story here.

• British links to Mumbai-style machinegun plot.Suspected terrorists arrested on their way to launch a Mumbai-style machinegun attack on a Danish newspaper had links with a network in Britain it can be disclosed.Three men were arrested last week with a submachine gun, silencer and ammunition in the boot of their car after traveling from Sweden to Denmark to launch attacks in which they apparently planned to raid the offices of the newspaper and kill as many people as possible. A security source said the network was still being investigated but it was not thought the men had received “operational” help from Britain. However CagePrisoners, a British group campaigning for Muslim prisoners, used one of the figures arrested in the alleged Danish plot, Munir Awad, as a case-study for unjust imprisonment after he was arrested on separate trips to Somalia and Pakistan.CagePrisoners, which is supported by the Joseph Rowntree trust and Amnesty International, has previously helped publicise the work of Anwar al-Awlaki, a senior figure with al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular.The Kashmiri network in Derby was uncovered by MI5 when David Coleman Headley, an American working with Kashmiri, travelled to Britain in August 2009 to meet two men who were to help him with an attack on the Danish newspaper.They, in turn, sent him to meet a contact called “Farid” in Sweden, a businessman of North African origin living in an apartment in central Stockholm.Farid apparently told Headley he could not help because he was being “continuously watched,” according to a later interrogation of Headley.Headley was arrested in October 2009 after a tip off to the Americans from MI5 and has pleaded guilty to planning the attacks on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper. The plan was called the “Micky Mouse Project” because the attack was in revenge for cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed.Read the full story here.

• Israel - Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon :"Who Is Afraid of Transparency'?There has been a lot of commotion and misunderstanding about a proposed parliamentary panel of inquiry that would investigate the funding of Israeli NGO’s. Tired epithets such as ‘McCarthyism’ have predictably been thrown around as a result.Lately this term has taken on an ironic twist when groups or individuals increasingly use to it to defend themselves from any democratic process that they decide to stand against. These groups turn ‘McCarthyism’ on its head by bandying it around in an attempt to silence all dissenting opinions.Israeli society was awakened to the idea of NGO’s as tools of foreign political agendas, by the episode concerning Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) fundraising attempts in Saudi Arabia. According to the Wall Street Journal, an HRW spokesperson, Sarah Leah Whitson, attempted to open the pockets of the Saudi elite by highlighting HRW’s battles with pro-Israel groups. That an organization ostensibly concerned with human rights would choose to fundraise in perhaps one of the worst human-rights abusing nations in the world, and use Israel as bait, should disturb us all.This may or may not be an extreme or isolated example, but it is evidence that NGO’s can become hostage to foreign interference through the funding it receives.The Knesset panel of inquiry is simply about transparency. If there are groups who receive funds from foreign nations then the Israeli public deserves the right to know. Some voices have mistakenly declared that this type of inquiry is reminiscent of undemocratic regimes. Perhaps they should take a look at America’s Foreign Agents Registration Act which is, according to the U.S. Department of Justice website, a “disclosure statute that requires persons acting as agents of foreign principals in a political or quasi-political capacity to make periodic public disclosure of their relationship with the foreign principal, as well as activities, receipts and disbursements in support of those activities.”It is understandable to want to identify those citizens or organizations that are being paid to act at the behest of a foreign government or organization.Furthermore, a cornerstone of the European Transparency Initiative (ETI), adopted by the European Commission in 2005, remains to provide public information on the recipients of EU funds. In reaction to this initiative, the EU Civil Society Contact Group that brings together eight large rights and value based NGO sectors, called for “better publicity and accountability regarding EU funding, enhanced ethical rules for EU institutions and more transparent lobbying”.The concepts of accountability and transparency in funding have been endorsed by the U.S. and the European Union, including by its civil society representatives. So why do some Israeli NGO’s cry foul? Simply put, if they have nothing to hide, they have nothing to fear.In Israel’s democracy, we welcome and are proud of those who serve as civil society’s checks and balances. After all, the Knesset is the reflection of the will of the Israeli people, who can choose to become active in a myriad of social or political causes. However, when the will of the Israeli people is superseded because of the deep pockets of a foreign nation or organization then this is plainly undemocratic.Hmmmmm....Spoken like a true statesman.Read the full story here.

• HT:Aim.Church Bomb Attack Foiled in Iraq.Mosul (DPA) -- Iraqi police said Thursday they foiled an attempt to bomb a church in Mosul, located some 400 km north of Baghdad.A security source said they found six improvised explosive devices and belts ladened with explosives near the church.The Chaldean Orthodox church, where the suspected attack was to take place, celebrates Christmas Jan 7 with evening mass Thursday night.Police stopped short of saying who might be responsible for the planned attack.Also in Mosul, a bystander was killed Thursday by security forces who were firing at unknown gunmen.'The Iraqi civilian was killed when clashes erupted between Iraqi army forces and unknown gunmen in eastern Mosul,' a security source told DPA.Mosul is among the most ethnically diverse and dangerous cities in Iraq, where insurgents mount near-daily attacks.Just last week, two separate attacks on security killed nine policemen and a military commander.Hmmmm....Makes you wonder who would do this?Read the full story here.

• HT:JudicialWatch.Obamacare Waivers Go To Allies.In the latest of many scandals to rock the administration that promised change and a new level of transparency, a disproportionately high number of Obamacare waivers are being granted to the president’s allies in a secretive process.Essentially, the administration is exempting its financial supporters from some of the more burdensome provisions of the healthcare reform law, which President Obama touts as a “new set of rules that treats everybody honestly and treats everybody fairly.” Political appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services decide which companies are off the hook and Americans are being kept in the dark.In early October Judicial Watch filed a public records request to obtain information on the shady deals, but the Obama Health Department flipped the finger and Judicial Watch was forced to sue a few weeks ago. The agency blew off its legally required deadline to produce the records without providing any sort of justification for withholding them, a common occurrence when the government wants to keep damaging information from the public. A senior White House adviser under George W. Bush sheds light on what that could be in this particular case. In a story (“ObamaCare Rewards Friends, Punishes Enemies”) published this week by a mainstream newspaper, Karl Rove reveals that most of the 222 waivers granted so far have gone to administration allies.Over a third of the more than 1.5 million employees covered by the waivers are union members even though unionized workers make up only 7% of the private workforce, Rove points out. So far 43 union organizations have been granted Obamacare waivers and the number could easily keep growing, although the true extent won’t be known until the process becomes transparent.Obama is also shamelessly helping those who supported his hostile takeover of the nation’s healthcare system. For instance, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), a key player in passing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, is exempt from many of the law’s most costly provisions. Among them are mandates and rate reviews on its lucrative health plans and hefty new taxes on insurance companies. AARP will also be exempt from a $500,000 cap on executive compensation for insurance executives.It’s the president’s way of thanking the influential and politically-connected national group for spending tens of millions of dollars on ads and lobbying on behalf of his healthcare overahaul.Hmmmm....As i said long ago.what did they pledge in return for the waiver?Read the full story here.

• Questions Multiply in Death of Former Pentagon Official.WILMINGTON, Del. -- Questions about the death of an ex-Pentagon official multiplied Wednesday as police reported he had been wandering downtown Wilmington disoriented in the days before his body was found at a nearby landfill.Two days before John P. Wheeler III's body was found, parking garage videos showed him in a black suit with no tie, wearing only one shoe even though there was snow outside. He was carrying his other ripped, tasseled burgundy loafer.He told a parking attendant he wanted to get warm before he paid for parking, but police said his car wasn't there. He also said his briefcase was stolen and repeatedly said he wasn't drunk.The last time he was seen alive on video, he was wandering an office building and had refused help from several people who approached him, police said.About 14 hours later, he was found in the landfill.Investigators consider Wheeler's death a homicide but have been mum about who killed him or how he died. Police also have refused to say what injuries, if any, were on Wheeler's body when it was found Friday morning at the Cherry Island Landfill in a truckload of trash collected from 10 bins in Newark, 15 miles away."We believe it was a homicide because it was ruled a homicide by the state medical examiners," said Newark Police Lt. Mark A. Farrall.Late on Dec. 28, several smoke bombs of the type used for rodent control were tossed into the Marini house, scorching the floors, Chief Deputy State Fire Marshal Alan Brown said.Farrall said the dispute remains one facet of the investigation.Read the full story here.

• Israeli Foreign Minister Says Turkey Beginning to Look Like Iran on Eve of 1979 Islamic Revolution.JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has likened Turkey to Iran on the eve of its 1979 Islamic revolution, saying Ankara's policies were to blame for the breakdown of ties with the Jewish state.Writing in Thursday's edition of the Jerusalem Post under the headline "We will not be Turkey's punching bag," Lieberman offered to meet his Turkish counterpart as part of a "frank and honest dialogue" on how their alliance might be restored.But in the latest rhetorical broadside to follow Israel's deadly interception of a Turkish-sponsored aid flotilla that tried to breach its Gaza blockade in May, far-rightist Lieberman put the onus on the Islamist-rooted government in Ankara."The completely unilateral change in the relations is not reflective of our actions; rather it is the result of Turkey's internal politics," he said."Unfortunately, recent events in Turkey are reminiscent of Iran before the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Like Turkey, Iran was among Israel's closest allies and the two nations held good relations between both governments and people."The Islamic Republic of Iran is Israel's arch-foe and routinely calls for its destruction. That has stoked Israeli and Western concerns over Iran's nuclear programme.To Israel's dismay, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan urged engagement with the Iranians, chafing at U.S.-led sanctions on Tehran as well a plan by NATO -- to which Ankara belongs -- for a regional missile shield that might help Israel.Hmmm...If it were not for a majority of the army generals who are staunch defenders of Ataturk’s secular principles ,Turkey would be already a second Iran with 'Imam' Erdogan ruling the country.But more and more Islamist are joining the army so it's only a matter of time.Read the full story here.

• Turkish investigators unearth mass (PKK?)grave at military post.Bones belonging to at least 12 different people have been unearthed in the eastern province of Bitlis in an area used as a landfill for a gendarmerie station, news agencies reported Wednesday.Excavations began Wednesday in the Mutki district after repeated calls for investigations in the area by relatives of people missing since 1999.Relatives said nine people were killed by soldiers as they traveled to join the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. The additional bones are believed to be those of PKK members.A Bitlis public prosecutor, Bitlis Bar Association head Enis Gül and Peace and Democracy Party, or BDP, Bitlis provincial head Mehmet Can Demir were present at the scene along with members of the Human Rights Association, or İHD.Serdar Çelebi, a member of the İHD’s central board, called on those responsible for the deaths to be brought to trial.Several hooks were also found beside the bones, but their purpose remains unknown.The excavations centered on four locations in a vacant lot near the Mutki-Kavakbaşı road next to the local gendarmerie station.The families of missing people have pointed to other suspected burial locations, Çelebi said, adding that they would follow developments closely.It is claimed that at least 36 people were killed and dumped in similar mass graves in the area between 1993 and 2003.Read the full story here.

• U.S. teenager tortured in Kuwait and barred re-entry into the U.S.Gulet Mohamed is an 18-year-old American citizen whose family is Somalian. His parents moved with him to the U.S. when he was 2 or 3 years old, and he has lived in the U.S. ever since. In March, 2009, he went to study Arabic and Islam in Yemen (in Sana'a, the nation's capital), and, after several weeks, left (at his mother's urging) and went to visit his mother's family in Somalia, staying with his uncle there for several months. Roughly one year ago, he left Somalia and traveled to Kuwait to stay with other family members who live there. Like many teenagers who reach early adulthood, he was motivated in his travels by a desire to see the world, to study, and to get to know his family's ancestral homeland and his faraway relatives.At all times, Mohamed traveled on an American passport and had valid visas for all the countries he visited. He has never been arrested nor -- until two weeks ago -- was he ever involved with law enforcement in any way, including the entire time he lived in the U.S.Approximately two weeks ago (on December 20), Mohamed went to the airport in Kuwait to have his visa renewed, as he had done every three months without incident for the last year. This time, however, he was told by the visa officer that his name had been marked in the computer, and after waiting five hours, he was taken into a room and interrogated by officials who refused to identify themselves. They then handcuffed and blindfolded him and drove him to some other locale. That was the start of a two-week-long, still ongoing nightmare during which he was imprisoned for a week in an unknown location by unknown captors, relentlessly interrogated, and severely beaten and threatened with even worse forms of torture.All of this underscores the rapidly expanding powers the U.S. Government and law enforcement agents within the country are seizing without a shred of due process. For the government to put an American citizen on the no-fly list while he's traveling outside the U.S. is tantamount to barring him from entering his own country -- a draconian punishment, involuntary exile, meted out with any due process. In June, the ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of several citizens and legal residents who -- like Gulet Mohammed -- have been literally stranded abroad and barred from returning with no hearing, simply by being placed secretly on the no-fly list. Add to that the growing seizures of the laptops and other electronic equipment of American citizens re-entering the country without any warrants -- or even yesterday's ruling from the California Supreme Court that police officers can search and seize someone's cell phone without a warrant when arresting them -- and (even leaving aside the administration's ongoing due-process-free prison camps and assassination programs) these are pure police state tactics.Hmmmm.....Memories of the East German stasi and the KGB are surfacing?Read the full story here.

• HT:Debka.Iran builds new Eastern Front in Iraq against Israel, Jordan.The urgent phone call Jordan's King Abdullah II put in to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Wednesday Jan. 5 dealt only marginally with stalled diplomacy with the Palestinians. The king pressed for answers on what Jerusalem and Amman can do to curb Iran's advancing domination of Iraq in the face of America's inaction.Referring to Hizballah's role, Abdullah commented to Netanyahu: First Iran's missiles had you jammed from the north and the south, now Iran and Hizballah are cornering you from the east. The Americans are not lifting a finger to stop this happening."The call, which came through the day before the Israeli prime minister met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for lunch at Sharm al Sheikh, elicited no real practical replies. Netanyahu confirmed that Israel still stood by the guarantee of support its armed forces and security services had granted the Hashemite Kingdom and its ruler for the past 60 years.Both the king and the prime minister appreciated that words are not enough. Since both their military and strategic policies are synchronized with Washington, the total disintegration of American strategic positions in Baghdad Wednesday, Jan 5, was an alarming setback to both Jerusalem and Amman.On that day, the anti-US radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr, a close friend and ally of Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah, came marching home from self-imposed exile in Iran, and the new Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi paid his first visit to Baghdad – both in full sight of 50,000 US troops.Sadr was greeted by thousands of supporters on his return to his old stronghold in the holy city of Najef south of Baghdad three years after his armed militia was defeated in bloody revolts against US forces.The two arrivals from Iran, the cleric and the diplomat, made it plain that Tehran has Iraq by the throat and plans to impose on Baghdad its regime structure, which rests on two focii, the political capital and the clergy. Prime Minister Nouri Maliki is already in Iran's pocket; he is beholden to the radical Sadr's support for his appointment. The same cleric – and therefore Iran - will control his fate - both by means of the 40-member Sadrist faction in parliament and the authority he wields from his seat in the religious city of Najef.Tehran has also not neglected to carve out a position of influence in Baghdad for its Lebanese protégé, Hizballah, whose officers and instructors have been training the commanders of Sadr's powerful militia, the Mahdi Army, alongside Iranian instructors.The two ultra-radical Shiite leaders, Sadr and Nasrallah, are now bound closer together than ever before in an adventure for bringing Iraq under pro-Iranian Shiite domination. Iraq's neighbors, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, could only shudder at the sight of the two black-turbaned Shiite extremists taking charge of Iraq on behalf of Revolutionary Iran against no opposition.This pair and Maliki have taken out of the hands of Washington and Baghdad the decision on whether a reduced US force stays on in Iraq after the main force departs in 11 months' time. Moqtada Sadr has vowed to remove every last American from Iraqi soil and no one shows any sign of stopping him. US troops will be replaced by Shiite-dominated Iraqi forces, the Shiite militias commanded and funded by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Al Qods Brigades and Hizballah militia detachments transferred from Lebanon.Iran will in the coming months consolidate the Shiite takeover over Iraq. Hizballah will win a place in the sun and strategic depth after being squeezed between Syria, Israel and the sea.After US troops exit Iraq, the Iranians will be able to deploy their missiles and Hizballah's rockets in the bases the Americans leave behind in Iraq and point them at Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.Hmmmmm....As i said before operation "New Dawn",but a new dawn for whom?This is the result of the weak Obama administration.Obama: "If We Work Hard, Afghanistan Could Be a Success...Like Iraq!"Yeah whatevah!Sometimes you really wonder on who's side he really is?Source.

• Echoes of the 30s as rabbi warns German Jews not to wear identifiable religious symbols after spate of neo-Nazi attacks.Jews living near the German capital Berlin are being warned not to wear items of clothing that identify their religion as fears of neo-Nazi attacks rise.Sixty five years after the end of World War Two and the Holocaust, a leading rabbi in the state of Brandenburg is urging Jews not to wear yarmulkes (skullcaps), traditional long coats, hats or other 'identifying symbols'.Brandenburg, the state which surrounds Berlin, is a hotbed of neo-Nazi activity and its new chief rabbi Shaul Nekrich said its streets are no longer safe for Jews.'As a Jew it is dangerous to wear things that identify you as such unless you are well versed in martial arts.'The rabbi said he had not reported the incident because 'it makes no sense'.In the six areas where he is responsible for teaching there are some 1,300 Jews.After reunification Brandenburg became the fulcrum of neo-Nazi activity in Germany.Skinheads invaded campsites, chased black people to their deaths, firebombed refugee asylums and marched in menacing groups flying the imperial battle flags of the Kaiser.Towns like Bernau or Schwedt gained a reputation as 'brown towns' - after the brown shirts that the original Nazis wore during their rise to power - and tourist guides declared whole sections of the state 'no-go areas' for foreigners.Hmmmm....History repeats itself ,all the elements are there,only to lit the fuse remains.Read the full story here.

• Hitler mania: First postwar exhibition so popular it has been extended three weeks.So many people have been flocking to Germany's first postwar exhibition devoted to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler that it has been extended by three weeks.Over the past three months, 'Hitler and the Germans' has attracted more than 170,000 visitors.The Berlin exhibition, which will now run until February 27, explores explores the links between German society and Hitler's rise to power in 1933, and how he managed not only to win power but to cling on to it it even as total defeat loomed.It features a hoard of bizarre Nazi artefacts including propaganda posters, busts of Hitler, a card game helping players to learn the names of top Nazis, SS cufflinks, toy soldiers and a red swastika lampshade.'There has been great interest among Germans and also international tourists,' said German Historical Museum spokesman Rudolf Trabold. 'They have come from all over Europe.'The museum was especially pleased with the numbers given that the exhibit probes Germany's legacy under the Nazis, including World War II and the Holocaust.'Hitler, Nazis, war and their relationship with German society is not a nice Christmas theme,' Trabold added.'In no way do I consider it a glorification,' Stephan Kramer, secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said.Hmmmmm.....Opinions may differ ,i doubt that this will bring forth anything positive.Read the full story here.

• Fixed-term marriage website a hit in Iran.Iran practices strict rules on sex and relationships. Porn sites and Facebook are blocked and you’re advised not to show too much affection in public, let alone kiss your lover in the streets of Tehran. However, a website that promotes temporary marriage, accepted in the Shia Islam but frowned upon by many Iranians, has gained more than 22,000 members since it was set up less than five months ago. Hafezoon, with a homepage presented in a remarkably similar style and colour to Facebook, has fewer than 1,000 female members, while the rest are men. Only a very small number of them use profile pictures.The site is essentially a matchmaking service that gives users a platform to meet and then marry for a fixed period of time. While it is free to sign up, fully-fledged members must pay to send messages to each other or see and display contact details. One month’s membership costs 50,000 rials (about three euros) and an annual subscription sets users back 120,000 rials (around seven euros).In its ‘About us’ section, the site’s creators say they want to unite men and women for whom, for financial or other reasons, permanent marriage is not practical. It allows these people, the site claims, to enter into a relationship according to the Sharia instead of forming illicit street friendships or worse, being drawn into promiscuity.When registering for Hafezoon, members are asked to provide their height, weight, marital status, skin colour, ethnicity, religion, and education. They are also required to rate their degree of “beauty” and “handsomeness” on a scale of 1 to 5. Married people are not allowed to join and the site doesn’t permit “man-seeking-man” or “woman-seeking-woman.”“The website is a virtual community and its managers do not introduce anyone for temporary marriage,” according to an e-mail from the site’s support staff in response to questions. There are other websites active in the field, but Hafezoon has attracted attention because it offers “a new quality of service”, the e-mail said. Hafezoon is an Arabic word that means ‘those who protect or guard.’ The site’s homepage displays a line from the Koran that translates as “and those who guard their chastity except from their wives.” One page presents the Ayatollahs’ advice on temporary marriage, while another is a price list for various types of membership and how the payment process works.Hmmm..........Read the full story here.HT:TROP.

• Obama Resubmits Judicial Nominations to Senate. President Barack Obama on Wednesday resubmitted a batch of federal judicial nominations that didn't clear the Senate last year, including four that provoked strong objections from some Republican lawmakers.Obama sent 42 names to the Senate. They include 35 nominees for federal district courts and seven for the appellate courts.The most controversial of the four is Goodwin Liu, a dean at the University of California, Berkeley, law school. Liu was renominated for a seat on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. He also is seen as a potential Supreme Court pick by a Democratic president.Republicans have criticized Liu for negative comments about then-Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, now a justice on the Supreme Court.The others contentious nominees are Edward Chen, Louis B. Butler Jr. and John J. McConnell Jr., all nominated to become U.S. District Court judges.Republicans now control six more seats in the rearranged Senate, making it less likely that lawmakers will approve the most controversial of Obama's picks this time around.In fact, Sen. Orrin Hatch, a former chairman and still a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, pledged immediately to vigorously oppose Obama's "most extreme judiciary nominees." Hatch, R-Utah, said their "activist approach would control rather than follow the Constitution."Republicans criticized Liu's nomination from the start.At the dean's Senate confirmation hearing, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., noted Liu's criticism of Alito after President George W. Bush nominated him to the Supreme Court.Liu said at the time that Alito's vision of America is one "where police may shoot and kill an unarmed boy.where federal agents may point guns at ordinary citizens during a raid, even after no sign of resistance.where the FBI may install a camera where you sleep.where a black man may be sentenced to death by an all-white jury for killing a white man absent. analysis showing discrimination."Kyl called the comments vicious, and emotionally and racially charged."With Congress out of session last week, Obama bypassed the Senate and gave Cole what is known as a recess appointment. That means Cole, who is a close friend of Attorney General Eric Holder, can serve in the post until the end of 2011. Republican lawmakers had blocked his confirmation partly because of questions about his role as an independent consultant for American International Group before the insurer's near-collapse led to a government bailout in 2008.Hmmmm......Nothing but America's "Finests" indeed your "friends" tell a lot about a person.Read the full story here.

• HT:IslamTodayOregon.Pictures of Muhammad,Islamic Group Declares War on Religious Films.A new ruling reiterates ban on religious character depiction in film and televison.An international Islamic organization has declared war on cinematic depictions of the prophet Muhammad and his companions, arguing they denigrate Islam's most revered characters.Yes, we all know how the camera denigrates someone by adding 20 pounds.The Fiqh (Islamic Jurisprudence) Council, a body of the Muslim World League, said in a statement issued Sunday that the images not of the prophet himself but of his companions were creeping into films and television series and prompted the new ruling, which was adopted during the 20th conference of the Council in late December."The council reiterates its previous decision banning the production, promotion … and viewing of these films and series," the statement read. "These [portrayals] may cause the denigration and devaluation of the figures and be used as an excuse to ridicule them."It's OK to denigrate Jesus, or the Pope, or even the President, but watch out if you devalue Muhammad and his companions. A sick double-standard which ultimately shuts down critical conversation.Hmmmm.....Better order that copy of "El Cid" with Charlton Heston now,while you still can?Read the full story here.

• Israel urges 800 Turkish workers to leave country.A total of 800 Turkish workers employed in Israel by a Turkish firm are having tough days as Israel urged them to leave the country by the end of this month. Israeli call came after a disagreement between Turkish and Israeli governments who have not renewed a part of an offset agreement for modernization of Turkish tanks. This part involves Turkish construction firm Yılmazlar.Israeli authorities sent a notice to Yılmazlar on January 4 and urged its 800 workers, who have been working in Israel since 2002, to leave the country by January 31.Yılmazlar, operating in Israel for more than 15 years, said it informed Turkish government about their ordeal and called on Turkish government to deal with the problem."Thousands of Israeli firms are operating in Turkey without facing any problems. We expect Turkish government to step in," Yılmazlar said in a statement on Thursday.Ahmet Arik, top executive of Yılmazlar in Israel, said the company could face multi-million compensation in case of a suspension of projects when its workers are forced to leave Israel.Yılmazlar is one of the top three construction firms in Israel. Total size of its operations in Israel over the past 15 years is worth more than 1.5 billion USD.Hmmmmm.....Things are not improving it seems.This is going to escalate and be blown out of proportions !  Mark my words !Read the full story here.More here.

• TranslatingJihad.Son of Imam Blames Islam for Backwardness of Muslim World; Receives Death Threats.A Muslim author living in Germany, the son of an Egyptian Imam, dares to criticize Islam, and other Muslims issue death threats. This on the heels of the governor of Punjab being killed for denouncing Pakistan's blasphemy law, the same law that would probably be used against this author if he were unfortunate enough to live in Pakistan. It's a wonder we don't hear more people in the Islamic world speak critically of Islam...Hamad 'Abd-al-Samad: I Consider Islam Part of the Problem in the Islamic World.What would the world lose if the Islamic nations disappeared from the map? Almost nothing, says Hamad 'Abd-al-Samad, and he adds that the Islamic world has stopped innovating, and become a burden on the civilized nations. Indeed it has become a breeding ground for intolerance and violence. The researcher at the University of Munich says in his book, which was published in German and Arabic under the title "The Fall of the Islamic World," that the Muslims are fixed on the past, and are unable to answer the difficult questions of the future. Therefore they flee to the successes of a glorious past."The book has caused serious controversy since its release in Germany, between those who accuse 'Abd-al-Samad of disseminating and establishing stereotypes, and those who consider him a "brave writer" who has placed his finger on the problem for many people, calling on Muslims to take charge of the reform of their own societies. In this book, 'Abd-al-Samad considers Islam a part of the problem in the Islamic world, and he looks at the Qur'an as a stumbling block in the way of Muslim development, due to the enormous influence the text of the Qur'an has over Muslims. The author has received a number of death threats, and also received accusations that he--the son of an imam of a mosque in the Egyptian countryside--is swimming in the current of hostility to Islam and Muslims.Hmmm....."Islam the religion of peace".Read the full story here.

• HT:Hapblog.Lawrence O'Donnell To Allen West: Do You Want to Retract Saying The President Should Put Himself In Harm's Way?West answer : NO !Read and see the full story here.

• And now for something completely different.Sex bomb: Jilted lover arrested for 'making exploding sex toy to send to ex-lover for Christmas'.A jilted lover has been arrested after he allegedly wedged gunpowder, buck shot and BB shot into a sex toy to make it explosive.Police claim that Terry Allen Lester planned to hand the device, found in a container labelled ‘Christmas Gifts’, to one of three ex-girlfriends over Yuletide.The 37-year-old from Waseca, Minnesota, has been charged with felony creation, possession of an explosive or incendiary device and felony terroristic threats. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment and a £13,000 fine if convicted.On New Year’s Day police officer Kari Kalow responded to a call about a civil matter and went to a residence in Waseca.Mr Lester was evicted from the apartment on New Year’s Eve, but he left behind some bags – and he had told one of the women what was in the luggage.The contents of the bags made the women uncomfortable so they contacted the police and took them to Mrs Kalow.One of the bags included a container with the words ‘Christmas Gifts’ written in black marker – and in there were some sex toys.According to the criminal complaint, Mr Lester had made some modifications to a sex toy.He allegedly put gun powder, BB shot and buck shot from shotgun shells into one with black and red wires that connected to a trigger with a battery port. However there was no battery inside the device.The complaint went on to say that Mr Lester planned on giving it to one of three women – in each of those cases, the relationship had ended badly.The Bloomington Bomb Squad was contacted by Waseca Police Sergeant Scott Girtler. The squad arrived two hours later and X-rayed the devices after first inspecting them.
  Hmmmm......"Sexbomb" suddenly got a whole different meaning.Read the full story here.